casual 800 acre oop

[lastunicorn]

I might just be bad at math, but I think I've been doing protection wrong. Instead of initially exploring 166 acres, what if I build my lands, then explore 400 acres after all buildings are in? After even 10% mills are in place, I should be able to explore it all in one chunk and not have to deal with the increased explore cost I would get if I started exploring immediately, and I still won't hit the max pop cap at 16 hours if I have draft on the whole time.

[nooblet]

I think the optimum is to explore a few acres, skirt just outside the range of an increase in soldier cost, then maxexplore once mills are in. With the explore cost formula reworked that's not possible, so waiting on exploration might make sense without taking too many risks.

There's a reason I don't do protection strats... :/

[TheNemesis]

i dont think you would have enough soliders to explore the full 400...

after the first hour you would have about 7 soldiers... based on 1% pop draft i think you will be short...

didnt work out the full math but i think my guestimate would be correct

Would be a great idea to test on a simulator though..

if it was feasible to explore that much right away it leaves you only 24h to build the acres and draft enough to protect the acres aswell (that might be harder)

[nooblet]

I did math last age, and with the original homes kept in place provinces have narrowly enough soldiers to explore 400 acres 16 hours after freeze time.

[lastunicorn]

i dont think you would have enough soliders to explore the full 400...

after the first hour you would have about 7 soldiers... based on 1% pop draft i think you will be short...

didnt work out the full math but i think my guestimate would be correct

Would be a great idea to test on a simulator though..

if it was feasible to explore that much right away it leaves you only 24h to build the acres and draft enough to protect the acres aswell (that might be harder)

You start with 6000 peas and 500 solds. Even if you simulate having 0 peasant change, you will get 60 soldiers every hour. 16*60+500= 1460 which at 3 soldiers/acre is enough to explore 486 acres (but you can only double acres). Maybe nooblet is on to something with exploring just a few acres at first.

[I_am_Spartacus]

dont build mills, just explore 400 the first tick you can

[Ethan]

The age I went oop at 900 acres (as Faery/Sage Attacker) I needed a funny balance of max explore start *and* big explore as soon as mills hit. The larger size when mills arrive allowed more acres explored (you can't explore 1x your current size, can you? I thought it was .5x) and the unbuilt acres got speed built for super cheep. The speed build land asap is actually the main point in many ways - for much of the early part, your main limiting factor is the number of *jobs* you have.

My one serious try and a big oop is clearly not the definitive word, however - and of course the age changes mean we are all winging it anyway.

[Petrified]

I am not feeling particularly lucky. If you explore a tiny bit too much at first the cost might go up to 4 solds by the time you are ready to do a big explore and make you a sad panda.

[Bishop]

The explore formula is revised. It is now significantly cheaper to explore at smaller sizes compared to both previous ages.

Note the word "significantly, then note how i bolded it. Go nuts.

[goodz]

Note the word "significantly, then note how i bolded it. Go nuts.

it seems the way to scale exploring to be cheaper for smaller provinces would be based on relative kd size. Which could mean explore formula at the start would be the same!

If trying to grow big like 1200 or so then your going to need to be exploring the whole time. If just doing 700-900 you should be fine to wait 16 hours for mills and then explore, but IMO unless a T/M its not worth it. Better to just do a max dump off the start and then turn draft off until pop maxes. Then just attack :P with a better pumped province that didn't have to rotate buildings etc.

[Bishop]

Attacking and then growing would make for cheaper exploring later. That part of the formula is unchanged.

[nooblet]

dont build mills, just explore 400 the first tick you can

^ this

[Landro]

The top kingdoms will thank you for the free acres you will be giving them.

[lastunicorn]

I don't think I'll be giving away too many acres, there will be much easier targets.

[Ethan]

My past experience suggests you can almost count on some moron attacking the first thing he finds with acres and not huge defense. So if your kingdom is willing to take on anyone, get that offense and double him back - otherwise, be ready to eat 1-2 hits from bad players in good kingdoms, no matter how good your province.