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Most of you guys seem to agree that Phoeni is much better in boat booming than Minoa. I couldn't believe it and tested a few things in singleplayer games.
It is divided into two parts:
--> 1. From start until first dock is built.
--> 2. From then on.
--> overall conclusion
--> 1 From start until first dock is built.
I played with Minoa first and found out that before the first boat can pump out of a dock, you have 1 granary, 1 storpit, 5 houses, 1 dock, a total of 120+120+150+100=490 wood. You already start with 200 so you have to chop 290 wood.
I recorded the time a Minoan needs to chop down a 75W tree with zero walking distance. Result: after 136 minutes, the tree was depleted, giving Minoa a 0.55 wood/sec gathering rate.
Minoa needed 290 wood like I said, so 1 Minoan vill can do it in 290/0.55 = 527 seconds = 08:47 minutes with zero walking distance.
Phoeni has a faster chop rate than Minoa.
Minoa chops 10W in 10/0.55 = 18.18 secs
Phoeni chops 13W in those same 18.18 secs
So the chop rate for Phoeni is actually 0.715 wood/sec.
Phoeni also needs the 290 wood, but they get it in 290/0.715 = 406 seconds = 06:46 minutes.
Conclusion:
For Minoa, it takes 8:47 minutes for one vill to chop constantly at zero walking distance before the first dock is built.
For Phoeni, it takes only 6:46 minutes. The difference is exactly 2:00 minutes.
Now there is one big problem. In real games, your amount of vills grows and doesn't stay at 1. I'm not sure how to interprete this and hope someone can help me. Here is some more data: By the time the dock was built (at 06:28) I had exactly 20 vills. Before starting to chop the first staggler at 01:58, I had 8 vills (6 on berries) and 2 houses. From those 20 vills, 6 were continiously on berries, all other 14 vills were used to chop, to build and to scout for the forest & sea. Also note there is a delay for the tree to get down first.
I think I'll try nelkaz his way of testing next time. Save a game and do it over one time with Minoa and one with Phoeni. I'll let you know what the difference is.
--> 2. From then on.
Suppose each civ with 1 vill.
Minoa needs 35 wood and gets it at 0.55/sec. So the vill gathers the wood needed for one boat in 35/0.55 = 64 seconds.
Phoeni needs 50 wood and gets it at 0.715/sec. The vill gathers the wood needed at 50/0.715 = 70 seconds.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Phoenician trees will deplete faster, making bigger walking distances or extra wood for more pits.
But also, Phoeni uses the chopping bonus for buildings, Minoa doesn't.
OVERALL CONCLUSION:
--> 1. Before the first dock: It's obvious Phoeni rules here.
--> 2. At first sight Minoa rules slightly when boats start pumping out. But taking extra buildings into account, I think it's about equal or maybe a slight advantage for Phoeni.
--> 3. In post iron, when fish spots are depleted, Phoeni rules again.
So I'm surprised but I have to agree that Phoeni is way better than Minoa for the boat booming.
As promised, I will do a test with both civs on the same map and see at which times they get that first dock up. I'll let you know.
Brey