You too are 'able to win under any conditions' on prince ?

You are able to beat an Always War AI on Noble ?

You have read (and are still reading ;)) all games by Sisutil, Snaaty, Unconquered Sun (and many more) and all on-going and past SGs ?

You too know Sullla's walkthrough by heart ?

Still, you never risked yourself on Monarch, because you have heard about the enhanced AI, research too fast etc.
Don't fear any longer :)

This game is for you.
Myself, I'm rather a Prince guy, trying Monarch for about two weeks now.
I've just finished it, and found it great as a 'step' game from Prince to Monarch.

All is in your hands now.

Here is the setup of your playground:

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/2869/willemt0settingshj8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Meet your first winning Monarch leader, Willem:

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/8571/willemt0leadercq5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Willem is great for many reasons.
Financial is, IMHO, the most powerful trait in the game.
Coupled with creative for cheap libraries, research shouldn't be a problem.
Also, his UB is great for a late-game domination or space (Moai Statues everywhere :love:).

And your start could have been much worse :

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/9605/willemt0startbo8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I encourage everyone to try this one.
If you're already a Monarch player, you will find it pretty entertaining but not challanging.
If you play Prince, this one is for you :D
If you learned with Orion how to beat Noble and are confident with it, you may jump on this one too.

No reporting required.
Feel free to take the save and play on.
I will answer all questions posted in this thread - should you need any advice, shoot ahead :cool:
Any game-spoiling questions and answers should be posted in [SPOILERS].

Good luck everyone!

Let this one be a 'first time' for the most of us :)

Thank you fo this 3D!

I’ve switched on Monarch a bit ago but I have to learn a lot yet!
I won my first game with Elyzabeth and now I’m attempting with Ragnar (I already restarted several times).

Anyway, these are my ideas for the this start:

1) There is no reason to move the settler, so place it here.
2) We don’t have UU/UB soon avalaible, and we need copper/iron ASAP and cottages (we are FIN). We don’t have resources which requires Hunting, AH orMasonry, so the early tech path should be very simple:Mining/BW/Wheel/AH/Pottery
3) We could start with a worker: he could soon improve the rice (we start with Agriculture) while researching BW and then chop for a second one. But I’d start with a fishing boat 'cause it allow to work a 4F/3C tile (instead of a 4F "only"), very strong in the start. Of course, when we reach size 2, it’s time to build the worker.

Some others remarks for early strategy:

- we'll have soon a dye resource avalaible, so Calendar could be a priority in order to raise the happy cap.
- we need coastal cities in order to emphasize our UU/UB. So, we can manage to prefer scouting the coasts rather the in-land with the idea to find soon the better spots for our coastal cities (of course, it doesn't mean that we'll neglet to scout the in-land, especially around the capital).
- looking at the tiles we can see in the BFC, we have at this moment a +7 food surplus simply improving the clams and the rice (without farms). Of course it's incomplete, but this city has a strongly vocation to become a GP farm/SuperScience city (we also have 3 sweet foodplains for the cottages). Another good reason to go for Writing (build soon a Library) /Maths/Sailing/Calendar after Pottery (of course, if we'll have no copper, or if a resource which requires Hunting or Masonry will appear, we'll have to do different considerations).

Where am I wrong?!? :) :) :)

Thank you fo this 3D!

I’ve switched on Monarch a bit ago but I have to learn a lot yet!
I won my first game with Elyzabeth and now I’m attempting with Ragnar (I already restarted several times).

Anyway, these are my ideas for the this start:

1) There is no reason to move the settler, so place it here.
2) We don’t have UU/UB soon avalaible, and we need copper/iron ASAP and cottages (we are FIN). We don’t have resources which requires Hunting, AH orMasonry, so the early tech path should be very simple:Mining/BW/Wheel/AH/Pottery
3) We could start with a worker: he could soon improve the rice (we start with Agriculture) while researching BW and then chop for a second one. But I’d start with a fishing boat 'cause it allow to work a 4F/3C tile (instead of a 4F "only"), very strong in the start. Of course, when we reach size 2, it’s time to build the worker.

Some others remarks for early strategy:

- we'll have soon a dye resource avalaible, so Calendar could be a priority in order to raise the happy cap.
- we need coastal cities in order to emphasize our UU/UB. So, we can manage to prefer scouting the coasts rather the in-land with the idea to find soon the better spots for our coastal cities (of course, it doesn't mean that we'll neglet to scout the in-land, especially around the capital).
- looking at the tiles we can see in the BFC, we have at this moment a +7 food surplus simply improving the clams and the rice (without farms). Of course it's incomplete, but this city has a strongly vocation to become a GP farm/SuperScience city (we also have 3 sweet foodplains for the cottages). Another good reason to go for Writing (build soon a Library) /Maths/Sailing/Calendar after Pottery (of course, if we'll have no copper, or if a resource which requires Hunting or Masonry will appear, we'll have to do different considerations).

Where am I wrong?!? :) :) :)

You aren't :)

In fact, Pottery and Writing are early important goals for a financial/creative leader we got in here.

Those 3 floodplains just call for cottaging, and cheap library makes the Great Scientist pop slightly faster than on average for an early academy.

IW will be a must here for the northern jungle, and BW for slavery (this is a very High-food spot - it would be a shame to leave it far from a whip).

As for the civ-specific, you're right for the coasts. Financial + Lighthouse + Colossus is a great shot, and works better than cottaging in the early game.
Still, you will need some inland cities - jungles often cover grasslands, so a river/jungle spot is highly advisable.

I hope you'll enjoy this one as much as I did :)

As for the civ-specific, you're right for the coasts. Financial + Lighthouse + Colossus is a great shot


Just a little question.

I didn't mention any wonder (at least the earliest) 'cause we don't need Stonehenge (we are creative), it seems there's no need for Pyramids (we are financial, so we are naturally oriented towards a CE) and GW (at least if we'll have no stone).

I tought about the Colossus too, but it becomes relatively quick obsolete in this game (we have to bee-line to Astronomy to unlock the UU), and we are not sure about how many coastal cities we'll able to have.

Is it a good investment anyway?

I think my wonder decisions will be on whether there is stone or marble nearby. Not sure of the long-term value in any of these early wonders (although Pyramids is always easy enough to get even without stone).

I actually settled 1 East on the hill for extra hammers and it turned out to be the right call I think. The fresh water bonus on the river is almost canceled out by the flood plains and there are plenty of good resources for 2 cities to split those flood plains.

Regarding the Colossus, its value is of course determined by the surrounding terrain. Given the start, I have been tempted to give it a shot.
You're right about Stonehenge being quite useless.
This being Medium & Small (sorry, I forgot to mention it earlier :blush:), GW is rather irrelevant.
Pyramids are always nice, especially given the food surplus @ the capital.

@LlamaCat - nice decision to settle 1E - I think it pays early in the game, though the late game capital is a pure wonder when settled in place :)

My take ...

Early builds ... workboat, working the 3H tile, then start another workboat, working the clams until size 2, then the clams + 3 hammer tile. Grow to size 3 working both clams while building a warrior (finish the warrior with the 3H tile after size 3), then a worker. I would then start a second worker, chopping the plains hill to help, then grow to happy cap while prioritizing mines. When chopping a hill for a mine, switch to a settler for a turn to use the chop hammers on the settler. After at happy cap, and mines are built, build cottages.

I would prioritize monarchy after pottery and writing, and of course CS for Bureaucracy. If there are several neighboring AIs, it may be best to trade for monarchy and just beeline CS. AIs like to get monarchy pretty early anyway. After CS, compass for harbors and possibly guilds for grocers. Raising the health and happy cap will be a primary goal to get the most of this food heavy start. I think the Great Lighthouse is a better wonder than the colossus most of the time. The output of the 2 is similar, but the GL lasts a long time before going obsolete, while the colossus can obsolete very quickly if you go for naval supremacy. Also, Metal Casting is expensive and doesn't get you going towards the best techs for a CE ... Civil Service and Monarchy.

I usually only consider the colossus a reasonable goal if I have 2 or 3 mining happy resources (and so want to prioritize forges) and have copper to speed it along.

Another early game priority, after settling a few more cities, is to get a library up and run a couple scientists to get an academy. By the time CS is reached, should have 100+ beakers/turn from the capital with Bureaucracy and an academy.

Cottages should also be put down on all of the grassland river tiles early. One of the problems with so much food is you can't work all your good tiles without growing past the happy cap. some lower food cottages are a good idea. It should be decided what to do with the hammers from those forests though. I see 2 good options, settlers and workers or the Great Lighthouse.

1) There is no reason to move the settler, so place it here.

...Where am I wrong?!? :) :) :)

I, personally, would be very tempted to push the Settler one tile east. It's something of a gamble, but this location has so much food I don't think the second clams is going to be very important (since it can feed the city that will be placed on the western coast).

It looks as though the trade is a clams and a plains mine for a floodplain, an extra grassland river tile, a plains hill city. Plus or minus a forest.

I'm speculating that the move is the right call if you go worker first, but settling in place is correct if you decide to start with workboats. I might be wrong about the latter. I'm much more confident in the former case.

Even with workboat first, moving on the plains hill loses only the turn to move on building the workboat. There will still be a 1F2H tile to work, and with the extra hammer from the plains hill, the workboat still gets built with 4H/turn. Bonus of an extra food per turn while building the workboat. So the move is worthwhile in the early game. The risk is you can't see the tiles you are gaining from the move. You know you will lose 2 hills of production. You hope you will get at least 2 hills or other useful tiles from the move. 1E is clearly a superior placement for the first 20 turns or so. An additional consideration is losing the fresh water bonus. There is plenty of food to offset this early in the game, but it may be a liability mid-late game.

Yes, maybe moving 1E is better, but I didn’t see this possibility so I’ll play this game in the way I’ve planned.

I’ve played 57 turns (1720 BC) and it’s time to take some decisions:

I've builded 2 work boats first and when reached size 2 I've builded worker/worker/warrior/settler (I did for him my first whip at turn 45)
I’ve catched 2 huts gotting mining and a scout (great!) but no gold.
I've researched Mining (for 2 turns but then I’ve got it) /BW/AH (I've discovered cows in the BFC and then horses ;) ) /Wheel.
Meanwhile I’ve discovered the copper NW a bit far from Amsterdam. Anyway, to hook it, I could found a coastal city with fish, pigs and Ivory in the BFC, so I did it!
I’ve stolen a worker from Louis XIV (turn 46) and I’ve already stop the war with him.
Now I’ve got 3 warriors, 2 chariots, 3 workers and I’m building my third settler. Soon I’ll have the copper (2 workers are building the mine that is already linked).

So:

1) Early rush?!? Against who? Shaka and Darius are a bit far and probably already have their early UU. Louis is far from Amsterdam but not so far from Utrecht, he has founded hinduism, so Paris has to be an holy city and I’ve weakened him stealing his worker. But I’ve seen that he has copper. Of course I’ve chariots, so I’d to have to build a mixed army of Axemen and Chariots.

2) Where to place my third city? Here is my DOTmap idea (white are the two cities that already exist):

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/124363/DTLnorth_3_.JPG

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/124363/DTLsouth_3_.JPG

3) to whip or not to whip? I’m in the position to whip my third settler (pop 4, requires 2).
But I don’t know if it could be better to leave Amsterdam grow. I can raise quite easily the happy and health cap with a lot of resources, I want to run ASAP two scientists and, besides this, I need to work the commerce’s tiles 'cause I haven't gold in my tresury.

Here is the tech tree (after IW, I’ll research hunting and writing):

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/124363/Tech.JPG

The glance:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/124363/Glance.JPG

Amsterdam:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/124363/Amsterdam.JPG

Utrecht:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/124363/Utrecht.JPG

I don't think a rush is a good idea here. 2 cities, and you can block the AI. The northern cow/rice city, and a city ESE of the capital. I would move the city ESE of the capital to 1E of the cows to also get the rice.

Block the AI, develop the economy, expand your empire, tech to CS and then machinery, build macemen. You have plenty of room to expand, and could even delay a war to riflemen or cannon. If you choose to block the AI, make sure to build enough units to keep your power up.

Fully agree with xanadux. Early expansion to block the AI is the key - especially if you can do it easily.

Moreover,


Be ware of Shaka, he is a pain in the @$$ if you let him develop.
I would block him first, and stock a nice stack in the blocking city, because Shaka WILL attack you sooner or later.
You can also rush him, but need many units...
Louis is a wonder-monger, his army stays usually at the minimum, so let him build all the wonders for you and smash him later. He will surely manage a few of them and even found the shrine ;)
Darius is a great teching partner and can very easily be blocked ( and with few risks ) to his sub-landmass.

Tech-wise, I would go for Writing, Alphabet, Currency. Then beeline Maces & Cats.

The perfect third city is the light blue (cow-wine east of Amsterdam). It blocks Shaka expansion and limits his striking force that should come after you in the next 50-70 turns. Maybe it will stay low in food, still can become a nice production city.


Hey, your game seems well on the wheels :)

Good luck!

I’ve played about 100 turns (425 BC). Some bad news, some good news.

I’ve founded the third city (light blue DOT) to block Shaka. Iron appeared in his BFC :)
There was a lack in the scouting: I’ve not seen that to box Darius I have to found ASAP a city 1W from the rice here.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/124363/BOXdairus.JPG

Meanwhile, Louis founded a city north of Utrecht.
So, I reconsidered my DOT map, and I think that this one is better:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/124363/DTL_wide_2_.JPG

I could still block Louis but Darius beated me founding a city inside “my land”.
So I founded the green city on the north (with rice, Ivory, Iron and a lot of forest), and then the orange city on the new DOT: it’s anyway a good city that will allow me to raise the happy cap and I didn’t want to lose it by Darius. Besides, in such way it blocks his expansion.

Meanwhile, I’ve built a Library in Amsterdam and I’m running two scientist (a GS will appear in six turns), I’ve finished Alphabet and I think it’s better to go for Maths/Calendar to exploit the great amount of luxury resources that I can have.

Some SS:

Shaka-block (and the army to protect it):

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/124363/ShakaBOX.JPG

Amsterdam:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/124363/Amsterdam.JPG

Utrecth:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/124363/Utrecth.JPG

The Hague (the third city):

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/124363/The_Hague.JPG

Rotterdam (the green DOT):

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/124363/Rotterdam.JPG

Nijmegen (the orange DOT):

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/124363/Nijmegen.JPG

The powergraphs:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/124363/POWER.JPG

The demographics:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/124363/Demographics.JPG

Top cities/wonders:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/124363/cities.JPG

I have a couple of questions:

1) My economy is suffering the REX, and I think it’s not a good idea to found another city right now (maybe except for the yellow DOT which allows to work a gold mine).
I need to grow a bit to consolidate it, and it seems that the only way I have is to go for Calendar, isn’it?

2) Judaism spread to Rottardam.... could be a good idea to spread it in my cities?

3) Once I’ve got Alphabet, surely Shaka will demand a lot of techs.... I have to satisfy him to avoid the war? But is it wisely? In my experience, he’s a crazy “REXer”, and builds a huge army, but he’s always very back in tech, and often he has chariots and impis when I’ve Macemen and Caths....

4) Specially, what about Darius? As you can see, he has built Pyramids and GW (Louis has built no one despite he has stone!). It seems he hasn’t horses, 'cause I’ve not seen any Immortal.
It could be a funny idea to raze Susa, found the cyan DOT (blocking him definitively) and then try to capture Persepolis and his Wonders......

I have a couple of questions:

1) My economy is suffering the REX, and I think it’s not a good idea to found another city right now (maybe except for the yellow DOT which allows to work a gold mine).
I need to grow a bit to consolidate it, and it seems that the only way I have is to go for Calendar, isn’it?

2) Judaism spread to Rottardam.... could be a good idea to spread it in my cities?

3) Once I’ve got Alphabet, surely Shaka will demand a lot of techs.... I have to satisfy him to avoid the war? But is it wisely? In my experience, he’s a crazy “REXer”, and builds a huge army, but he’s always very back in tech, and often he has chariots and impis when I’ve Macemen and Caths....

4) Specially, what about Darius? As you can see, he has built Pyramids and GW (Louis has built no one despite he has stone!). It seems he hasn’t horses, 'cause I’ve not seen any Immortal.
It could be a funny idea to raze Susa, found the cyan DOT (blocking him definitively) and then try to capture Persepolis and his Wonders......


Thanks for your reports CPBE. Always funny to see how things can go other way than when I played it ;)

Anyway, here are some answers - not the only way to do it, but hey, it's worth what it's worth :D


1. Yep, I think you rexed pretty much :lol:
Anyway, nothing is lost. Just get many cottages up, land an academy in Amsterdam and research Currency ( I don't know if you already did )
Yellow DOT Is great because of gold. You will need this ressource, and Louis will claim it if you don't. Maybe, in parallel, you can put this city online too.

2. Don't adopt Judaism, nor spread it. You don't want negative modifiers with the AI you are blocking, believe me you really don't need it :) Still, if a foreign Jewish AI gets AP, spread it in all your cities to block the Religious Leader vote (or claim it :king:)

3. Accomodate Shaka with non-military techs while waiting for Cats and Maces. Believe me, he is really blocked and you want to make everything possible to keep him happy with you (actually, in my game, I've rushed him with swords in turn 60-70 - it was managable but costly in armed forces).
Still, your cats and maces will overhelm his impis later on.

4. In my game I selected Louis as my second target, because he has went wonder crazy. I waited very long until attacking Darius. In your game though, Pyramids is a juicy stuff. I might give it a shot with promoted-on-zulu maces :) I don't think Darius have horses neither, making his early game advantage nil.
But if you don't get the cottage economy online asap, he may fly away techwise and you will face muskets instead of longbows :sad:



Great job CPBE!
I hope more players will share info like you do - it's always very instructive to compare games :)

You really need monarchy soon, and more workers.

palwelo, In your first post I see 'another' interface in your s/s (meaning not the standard one).

Are you using a mod, if yes, which one?

I use the BUG interface ( stands for Bts Unaltered Play ) - it provides you with a whole lot of information accessible in a very easy way without altering the game rules.

You can find the related thread in here :

http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=268

I highly recommend it to everyone around - once you get used to it, you are addicted :)

I use the BUG interface ( stands for Bts Unaltered Play ) - it provides you with a whole lot of information accessible in a very easy way without altering the game rules.

Do you mean, that you only installed that BUG thing :) or do you also have other mods installed, meaning that BUG only makes mods work together so you dont have to play with only one mod at a time. I dont really understand all the things in the threads in your link... :(

BUG is composed of many different game-unaltering mods, meaning that you only require to install BUG through their standard install file.

Some great feutures in BUG:
- alerts when your city reaches happiness / health cap
- alerts when your city is "whippable/rushable"
- Great Person bar informing you where a great person will be born next and what is the most probable type
- Glance - showing all the diplomatic relations between all leaders
and many more

Try it :)

PS. I have received no money for this praise :lol:

PS. I have received no money for this praise

:D

I downloaded it and I instantly loved it :D:D

ty very much for that link !

pawelo, when i find the time (i think i saw soem hiding underneath a rock ~ better go check that out), i'll take a crack at this.

I've been keen on trying a Pottery-first gambit for those civs who start w/both it's prereq's, and Willem may be just the ticket (though w/CRE and FIN, it'll get even better!)

Dropping by to see how it went ;)

As many of you have downloaded the initial save, can you give me your afterthoughts (for those who finished this game) ?

CBPE, I'm curious about how your game went ? Was it a score ? ;)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it like I did!
Feel free to drop by and report your game in a few words - I always loved to compare different ways to play the same situation.

I'm sorry, but in these days I'm just lurking a bit the forum but I have no time to play.

It's all in stand-by :(

Hey sg buddy :)

I'm about 100 turns in (99, it's a nice even number)

First moves were a long time ago, but I believe they were:


Mining(popped from that 1st hut)>AH:crazyeye: >BW>wheel>pottery>writing

work boat>worker>warrior

worked clams, 2nd clams (switched this to fp when cottage was up), plains hills mine



and more recently:
(Don't let this worry you too much for DM VII :p )


I got the academy pretty quickly (~t85) but whipping stuff delayed it a bit. After looking at CPBE's game, I'm going to re-hire the scientists. Expansion was pretty slow, but the economy is still strong, and currency up next will boost that more. Techs are in one of the screens below, I really regret taking horseback riding now. With the 20 turns that took, currency could be done. Everyone is on my land, but the French can still be blocked by a city between Utrecht and Vandal. Bulawayo was founded just a turn after The Hague :mad:. I'll fight the Zulu as soon as I get a few more swordsmen

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee79/trieste4136/Civ4ScreenShot0140.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee79/trieste4136/Civ4ScreenShot0141.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee79/trieste4136/Civ4ScreenShot0142.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee79/trieste4136/Civ4ScreenShot0143.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee79/trieste4136/Civ4ScreenShot0144.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee79/trieste4136/Civ4ScreenShot0139.jpg
(Out of the first 2 columns I'm only missing mysticism(still), meditation, masonry, and polytheism)


I might just reload and take Shaka out early.

Any suggestions?

Hey Trieste!

Glad to see the thread get a second breathe :)
I see your game going pretty well.


All this ugly jungle, once shredded to pieces, is a pure wonder in terms of cheese economy - be sure to claim it soon enough ;)

Shaka seems still doable, especially given the fact he lacks copper and must go for chariots/archers only. Go ahead and smack him!

I'm amazed at how far you have sent the 2nd city. Is it only for blocking purposes?


Good luck!

Hope you'll keep me updated with how the game went :D

Always nice to bring back a fun thread from the oblivion beyond page 1 :D

Utrecht was for copper, the Hague was for blocking - if it wasn't, 1 north would have traded some desert for grassland, but I built it when Shaka had a more powerful army and the hill defense bonus seemed especially nice.

Thanks for the bump, I missed this first time round. I've won a total of one game on Monarch, and after getting my behind kicked on a couple of occasions, wanted a confidence boost again :)

Interesting game, I'm just over 100 turns in as well. I went a little differently to most others, in that my early game tech was:

Wheel -> Pottery -> AH -> (Mining - popped) -> BW

...mainly because I wanted to get workboats out in a hurry, and get cottages online as soon as possible. This seemed to work out - initial builds were, like most others, WB-WB-Worker-Worker-Warrior-Settler. It worked out because I popped Mining, basically - this coincided my first worker with the discovery of Bronze Working, meaning I could chop and whip to my heart's content with my high food tiles.

Next tech after BW was Sailing and Writing, which seemed a good idea, and so it proved. It meant I didn't need roads to hook up my cities, and I was able to trade with Shaka. Once open borders were signed, I was getting 2 commerce per city - highly useful with 3 coastal cities and 15 total commerce otherwise. I also managed to trade fur with him, upping my happy cap by one.

Then went Maths -> Calendar for all the resources, then Alphabet for trading. Not exactly a usual research pattern, I know.

Founded my second city on the isthmus to the west, which was immediately productive (thanks to the plains cows) and grew like a weed (thanks to the fish). This city was useful in that I threw up a lighthouse, library and ran a couple of specialists, netting myself an early academy in the capital.

Third city was founded on one of the dyes to the north - fourth was to the east, semi-blocking Shaka - fifth, sixth and seventh all in the jungle (annoyingly, I wasn't quite quick enough to get the pig-iron site to the north - Louis beat me to it!). So I now have an army of workers clearing the jungle, plopping cottages anywhere and everywhere that's on a river, and research is really starting to fly. Currently researching CoL in 100BC, next will be CS for some smelly cottage/Bureaucracy/Academy cheese! Happy caps are up at 10 as well, which I plan to use in a hurry.

Bit worried about my production, but I'm just managing to stay on the 0.8/0.9 power ratio cusp with Shaka, which should be enough. I'm considering bribing him to take on Darius, which might keep him occupied for a while. Otherwise, I fear an attack may be imminent.

Thanks for your reporting v8_mark! Seems like a great start :thumbsup:


I'm not sure that he'll attack you with this power rating. Still, as you have blocked him in his small isthmus, he may be forced to. Have you considered stacking a nice force in your border city to decimate his stack and counter attack ? This is the greatest psycho in the town :lol:

Regarding the jungle, it's a priority to get these trees down as there are monster commerce cities to run there, especially financial. Good start btw with all these cottages - did the same in mine and it payed off well.


Keep it going! Good luck!

I think I'll try this game out. Monarch is a little scary though, since I'm only a Noble player... :mischief:

Actually, I haven't even played the game since my last Noble walkthrough, so this would be a nice game to get me back on my feet. Not to mention that I'm a big fan of Willem.

I'll try it tonight and post a report this weekend.

I think I'll try this game out. Monarch is a little scary though, since I'm only a Noble player... :mischief:

Actually, I haven't even played the game since my last Noble walkthrough, so this would be a nice game to get me back on my feet. Not to mention that I'm a big fan of Willem.

I'll try it tonight and post a report this weekend.

You're not alone (big fan of Willem I mean ;));

I hope you'll aprreciate this one - it's been a great deal of fun for me to play it.
I will surely learn a lot from your report :coffee:

Played to 1120AD. :king: State of the world is:


Northern Empire:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/126377/Northern_Holland.JPG
Southern Empire:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/126377/Southern_Holland.JPG
Border with Persia:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/126377/Eastern_Holland.JPG

...as you can see, I've been at war with Persia, taking his northern city (Ecbatana) which had sugar and bananas. I didn't push from there because I was worried about a) my lack of troops, and b) my economy. However, Ecbatana should be a very useful production city in the not too distant future. I had planned it so that I would, with my cottage economy, be able to steal Philosophy from Darius as soon as he discovered it, then declare peace. Unfortunately, and annoyingly, the spy failed at 69%, so I'm going to have to research it the hard way. I declared peace anyway.

As you can see, cottage/Bureaucracy/academy cheese is in full effect. I have quite a lot of land, but I may well need it, with Maya (who I've just met) doing very nicely for itself over the water. Tech is coming along swimmingly, though I delayed the Liberalism race a bit for Engineering. I normally hit Liberalism on Prince with enough of a margin that I can afford to do that, but it may be silly on Monarch. I think Liberalism will be close - Education in 7, as you can see, I still need Philosophy (3-4) and Liberalism itself will be 6-7. 17 turns for Liberalism is, what, 1280AD? Close, I think. I'll take Astronomy if I get there.

Diplomatically, things are very interesting (and good, from my point of view) - Zulu eventually attacked Persia even without my provocation, and took their southern city, as you can see. However, it was expensive, as they dropped behind both myself and France in terms of power. I then bribed France to declare (only cost me Drama and Compass) and their stack of jumbos and cats is on its way now. Louis loves me (at +18 or something silly) and Shaka likes me too (he's at +9ish).

Game's gone well so far. Next move might be to finish Persia off, if I get the chance.

v8_mark


Really good game going on :thumbsup:

Happy to see the CE working so perfectly as in this one, with all these chopped jungles and grass and rivers.

You have managed beutiful diplo (I never got Shaka to +9 - usually he is dead or too powerful before :lol:).

I would go for Persia - I assume Darius has landed some nice wonders in Persepolis so it can be a nice and fast pay off. Also, wouldn't it be nice to Rifle some Zulus in not so far future ?

With Maya on the other side of the world, I would go for Lib asap (I assume you do) as it won't last. Hope it will work for you.


Waiting to see how it turns out :)

Thanks pawelo. Played a few more turns last night: Eventually traded for Philosophy once I'd finished Education, and then was first to Liberalism (took Astronomy). Traded that for Banking, Guilds, then got Economics for the Great Merchant.

Then annoyingly popped a Prophet, so used that to bulb Divine Right (which I could see Louis was 4 turns away from), finished off that research and got myself Islam. With Judaism and Hinduism already in my lands, the plan will probably be to spread them early and go into Free Religion soon.

Things not so good diplomatically - Louis vassalized Darius. I didn't think he'd manage to take a city with that small stack, but he did, which is a bummer.

Rifles for Shaka sounds like a good idea to be honest, or even infantry - need to find some way of upping my production in the meantime. My first instinct is to wait until Chemistry, go US/Caste/FM/FR, and use lots of workshops in my high food cities. At 4 hammers/tile, they're nothing to be sneezed at. Assembly Line will give me factories, hopefully before everyone else, and I'll be laughing.

Still a very interesting game; this is normally the point at which the wheels start falling off at Monarch.

v8_mark


Looks like it's a little bit more cheesy than the last time. Too bad Louis vassalized Darius - they will be hard to deal with if you go military. The only one left is Shaka.

Or you may tech peacefully into space - this option is pretty open too.
With three religions on hand, you can also try the Culture win - temples/caths spam, broadway, R&R and Hollywood along the way and here you are with Uber-culture.

:)

Game is over - space win, 1927AD! Quickest space win ever, quite comfortably, and it wasn't over until my superior production and 2 golden ages (helped by Mining Inc) made the difference.

State of the world:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/126377/Civ4ScreenShot0047.JPG

Demographics and stuff:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/126377/Civ4ScreenShot0048.JPG

Some other misc screenies from the end:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/126377/Civ4ScreenShot0049.JPG

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/126377/Civ4ScreenShot0050.JPG

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/126377/Civ4ScreenShot0051.JPG

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/126377/Civ4ScreenShot0052.JPG

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/126377/Civ4ScreenShot0053.JPG

Tale of the tape was basically that I declared on Shaka with infantry. Unfortunately I mistimed it slightly, in that he had Machine Guns just as I was invading, so I had to beat a couple of those, which were expensive. But I easily had the numbers, and vassalized Shaka having taken all of his mainland cities. I probably could (and should) have taken a few of his island cities, in retrospect. He did do me one big favour though - incorporated Mining Inc just before I got to his capital, which I spread amongst my main production cities. It made a big difference.

With everyone else peaceful, it was always going to be a race to Alpha Centauri from there, and so it proved - my production was always just about the best, but I started lagging behind in tech to the alliance across the water. They were best of friends, and exchanged tech indiscriminately, but wouldn't with me.

By the time it came to the spaceship, my research was flying anyway - and the production was what made the difference.

Save is here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/126377/Willem_AD-1926_space_win_Monarch.CivBeyondSwordSave).



Big thanks to pawelo for posting this, and sorry I was a bit late. How did you do in your run through of this game, btw? :)

@v8_mark


:thumbsup:

Great job man! Very nice space victory.
Btw, I achieved it a year earlier :lol:

Here it is how it went.
I settled the same spot that you did for Amsterdam.
I went up to two cities while researching BW/IW followed by the pottery. Once the iron was discovered (near my second city), I chopped a party of swords and went after Shaka. It was harder than usual - Shaka is a powerful early gamer - still swords vs chariots/archers, I was victorious. Shaka left the game before 1000BC. Several settlements later (and many many turns later) I attacked my friend Louis (around 800AD) with Maces (über-swords from the Shaka war)/Cats, taking his mainland cities in 2-times war. He has landed a huge share of wonders in Paris, plus religions. I couldn't let him be :D
I vassalized him around 1400AD, then I made a stop to tech up to Rifles. With Rifles/Cavalry I went after the best part of Persia, getting main cities quite fast. I don't recall if I vassalized Darius or not...
Afterwards, it was downhill. Tech to space with my magnificent cottage power ( never had such a great CE ), got Sid Sushi to get my cities even bigger.
Here are some screenies of my last turn.

The continent:

http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/9100/willemt345mapai4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Amsterdam:

http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/7122/willemt345amsterdamup3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Score (my best one on Monarch :king:):

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/2391/willemt345hofiy5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I'm happy to see you enjoyed it! I did enjoy it greatly :)


To every1 who tried it and enjoyed, thanks a lot for giving it a shot!
Hope you'll be here for the First Win on Emperor challange (not yet;).

Haha, great stuff. Funny that you beat me by one year.

One of my main weaknesses is that I'm too much of a builder; more land earlier would have given me a much better platform, long term. Although I may not have been able to hit Liberalism first. Still, it's a win :)