One Score and 11 years ago.... I was born on Abe Lincoln's Birthday. I'm also named after the old fellow in real life and for my birthday this year my wife bought me Beyond the Sword, so it only seemed fitting that I play my first Monarch game as Lincoln with the help of posters here.

It's a Pangaea map and I intend to win via warmongering as domination and conquest victories are also new to me and I figure as a birthday gift to myself I'll get the help of the posters here on achieving this victory condition.

My basic early plan is to either expand rapidly or take out one neighbor with an early war then run specialists to tech up while rebuilding my economy. Since the start has stone close by, I think the pyramids is a viable option for early representation. I'd also like to snag Stonehenge since it goes well with Charismatic.

Here is the start. I like the fact that I'm on a river and we have stone near by. I'm going to tech to bronze working while exploring so I can start chopping and to reveal copper so I can grab axes. My worker won't have a lot to do until then so I will likely build a warrior first to help explore then a worker at size 2 to chop out a settler. then bust out Stonehenge.

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/6544/cleverbeansstartmw4.jpg

And here is the save.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/118223/Cleverbeans_Birthday_Game_4000BC.CivBeyondSwordSav e

Its my birthday today too, never realised I shared it with such great historical figure!

Happy birthday! :)

With that kind of start plus Abe, dont even bother warring early, just ReX and then once there is nor room to expand you can war, but hook up the stone, and chop Stonehenge and Pyramids, that will win you the game.

Sorry for the double post.

4000BC - settled in place and revealed rice. Started a worker and took mining as my first tech.

3960BC - popped 50 gold from a hut.

3720BC - met Shaka with my warrior. He's close and dangerous so he's an excellent early rush target. I sent my warrior in the direction he came from to find his capital which is close.

3640BC - met Zara Yaqob when he wandered past my city from the west side. I assume he's either west or north and plan my exploration accordingly. I have "choose religion set" so Zara took Christianity.

3320BC - after finding Shaka's capital I sent my warrior west and popped a scout from a hut.

3080BC - Met Mansa. He's close but not as close as the others and he's a real pain because of his teching. He has copper in his BFC and gold to the south where I assume he'll put a second city. He might make a good early friend while we whack Shaka and Zara then we'll turn on him next.

2920BC - I stopped here. My second worker is about to hop out then and will head north to a pre-chopped forest to pump out a settler while the other to head to the second city site to get the gold. Once the settler is out, I hope to have mysticism and the wheel while building Stonehenge. I will use the second city to foster expansion while my capital works on wonders and growth.

I would like to settle the blue dot to the north however because Zara is creative he's already preventing that with his borders. I'm trying to decide if I should just let it go for now and whack him first then double back for Shaka. I could also kill them in clockwise direction starting with Zara then hitting Mansa and finally going back to Shaka although I may have to wait for Catapults or macemen depending on the success of the other wars.

I have not yet revolted to slavery since I didn't have any population to whip and it saved both the upkeep cost and the possibility of a slave revolt. I'd appreciate on feedback on dot-mapping and war planning.

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/6033/dotmaphelpaz8.jpg

Lincoln is one of my favorite American leaders, in the game and historically.

Lincoln with stone early is insane. You can easily get the happy cap through the roof which allows for huge cities early on. Also since he's philo you'll be spawning lots of GS's if you're running an SE (Which you should if you have the pyramids and is philo) while teching steadily simply from big cities and representation. He can also war quite well due to the char trait which again is a strong point of SE, the ability to switch between production and science.

Better get that copper though with Shaka on your doorstep or things might get ugly.

I like Lincoln. He is an excellent leader.

Alas he's saddled with the Americans. We're a late-game civ, and generally I like the early game. Americans are kinda blah during the stone age.

-abs

As much as you'd love to Warmonger it up in the Ancient Era, I'm not sure that's the best plan.

Philosophical and Charismatic lend themselves to the Pyramids (for a strong specialist-based economy) and Stonehenge (for the free :) via Monuments) ... and Ancient Era Wonderlust doesn't always go well with Ancient Era rushing.

Economically, I'd lean towards a Specialist-heavy Super-Specialist/Wonder Economy (see Obsolote).

Because of this, I would prioritize Stone over Gold. I'd build the Stone/Copper/Rice city 1NW of the Stone.

I'd begin building the Pyramids in Stone City immediately. Not only is it great for your economy, but it will keep pressure on Zara's capital so the city isn't engulfed by its culture.

As a side-effect, your GP points will be split, and you can turn Washington into a Super-Specialist Great Prophet farm and keep the GE points in Stone City (build the Hanging Gardens there, too).

Because Stonehenge is a popular Wonder, I'd probably chop it in the capital before building a 2nd Settler -- which should only take a couple turns with access to Stone.

If Shaka doesn't have Copper in his BFC, it's unlikely he'll build on the Gold before Copper, so I think you have time. If you don't get the Gold, though, it isn't the end of the world.

Fish-Clam or Clam-Cow both look like good #3 cities depending upon what lies hidden SW of all that sugar in reach of the Fish (especially if Coastal, getting Fish and Sugar together would be very good for Scientist GP farming).


If you can keep Shaka Pleased, he makes a good attack dog. Zara will likely be hard to get along with because of your close borders. Mansa will tech great and so should make a good tech-trading partner if you so choose.


With Pyramids and your food capabilities, you shouldn't have to worry about needing too many trading allies if War is your game.


Given any Ancient Era warmongering, you'll very likely be delaying your Warring to around the time of Construction. With the Pyramids buffering your economy, you should be able to beeline Construction before CoL.

If you're especially prudent in the Capital, you should be able to grab Mathematics (or maybe even Construction) with The Oracle!

A BC army of Axes, Swords and Catapults is unstoppable and should be enough to swiftly clear the continent.


-- my 2 :commerce:

Even though Lincoln's Birthday has come and gone, will this game go on? (bump)

No doubt this game will go on, for a long time.

My apologies for not updating sooner, I lost my laptop with the BtS CD at the airport and haven't had an opportunity to play since. I've played out the next series of turns but my notes and save were on the laptop so I will likely have to replay them on my desktop when I purchase a new copy.

Sux, the starting position was awesome, stone+trees to chop=Wonder Lust.

My apologies for not updating sooner, I lost my laptop with the BtS CD at the airport and haven't had an opportunity to play since. I've played out the next series of turns but my notes and save were on the laptop so I will likely have to replay them on my desktop when I purchase a new copy.

If you still have the 2nd BtS CD, you can send it to Firaxis with $10 and have them replace the whole game for you. :goodjob:

I broke the 1st disc and had to do this about 2 months ago.

At long last I'm back to this game. Thanks for everyone's patience while I acquired a new CD.

As much as you'd love to Warmonger it up in the Ancient Era, I'm not sure that's the best plan.

I agree, I'd like an early war to get some GGs and leverage Charismatic but with this start I'm not sure it's optimal to try and rush before construction. To get the most of philosophical I should build some early cities/wonders and attack sometime after catapults but before maces assuming I can claim a metal resource.

I would prioritize Stone over Gold. I'd build the Stone/Copper/Rice city 1NW of the Stone.

I disagree with this assessment. The city will have a lot of overlap with the capital and by the time I research wheel/masonry my borders will pop and I'll have the stone resource anyway. More so, I'd be putting that city next to a cultural leader with a religion which is going to make life difficult. I'd rather stop Shaka from getting the gold.

Because Stonehenge is a popular Wonder, I'd probably chop it in the capital before building a 2nd Settler -- which should only take a couple turns with access to Stone.

I doubt anyone will beat me to this if I chop this with stone. I have a lot of forests and I'll want the perimeter around my capital cleared in case I need to counter-attack an invasion. Washington is going to be a production city early because of the grassland hills so I will easily be able to get the stone wonders.


If you're especially prudent in the Capital, you should be able to grab Mathematics (or maybe even Construction) with The Oracle!

We'll see, I don't often try to cap the Oracle without marble and I expect representation while running scientists should give me enough of an edge early. Mainly I don't like going up the religious tech path, and it's often too late to attempt it after alphabet is in.

A BC army of Axes, Swords and Catapults is unstoppable and should be enough to swiftly clear the continent.

That's the plan, we'll see how well I execute it as I'm normally not much of a warmonger.

Here is the turn.

2920BC - My scout finds a second source of stone to the east. There are some great resources that direction, however they are a relatively long distance away and I may have trouble claiming them before Mansa or Shaka claim them. My scout dies at the end of the turn to a panther. Yuck.

2880BC - worker is created, I switch to a settler. I send him north to chop the forest while my other worker keeps chopping the hill.

2600BC - AH is in and I pick The Wheel while switching production to a warrior with the settler at one turn from completion to let the capital grow and provide and escort for the settler. After chopping the forests one worker built a mine then moves to the cows and the other worker moved to a hill and chopped/mined that hill as well. AH also reveals horses to the west near the sugar. I decide to build my third city in that direction so I can build chariots for an early defense.

2300BC - Washington grows to size 2, and the forest to the north that I chopped out earlier regrows. That's some excellent luck.

2240BC - the Wheel is in and I begin researching masonry. My workers are sent to chop/road their way to the stone. Somewhere in here the warrior/settler team is created and I make another warrior while growing then make another settler at size 3.

2120BC - New York is founded to claim the gold and begins on a worker. Shaka had an archer/settler combo ready nearby so it looks like I got there in the nick of time.

2080BC - Tin discovered at one of the mines giving +2 production to the only grassland hill not on a river.

1720BC - Boston founded on the coastal sugar square. This turns out to be a mistake because if I had scouted the area properly I could have moved one more square to the west and gotten a fish resource as well. In any event, this city is surrounded by jungle so I start building a worker.

1760BC - Masonry was in and I had just switched to Mysticism which was going to take 6 turns. My workers had just completed a road to the stone and one worker would take 6 turns to build the quarry. I sent one worker to pre-chop forests while the other hooked up the stone and Washington put some turns into the great wall while growing.

1640BC - Mysticism is in and the GW is nearly done. I switch to Stone Henge and chop like crazy. I start researching writing.

1560BC - Stone Henge is completed in two turns, overflow from the chopping goes to the GW.

1520BC - the Great Wall is completed. Production switched to the Pyramids.

1400sBC? - I lost track of what I did during these turns, but it was mostly chopping/improving squares. At some point writing completes and I start on Alphabet. My apologies for being new to posting my games. ;)

1160BC - Shaka asks for open borders one turn before writing is in. I decline as I still have no defense in Washington and I'd rather he didn't scout me out. Once I get chariots built I'll consider opening them up.

1120BC - I get the pasture event in Boston while my workers are building a road in that direction. This will speed up my ability to get chariots.

1040BC - our first Great Person is a Prophet who I settle in Washington. The extra gold allows me to put the research rate back up to 100%.

900BC - The Pyramids are complete. I'll end my round here before I revolt to representation.

My next session I plan to build units to prevent Shaka from getting any ideas, and build some basic improvements in my cities such as granaries, libraries and barracks. Alphabet will be in shortly then I plan to trade around and try to pick up iron working to clear Boston's jungle and see if I have any metal laying around.

Here is a shot of the empire currently.

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/1420/900bcempiredl8.jpg

And here is a shot of Washington.

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/9645/900bcwashingtongq0.jpg

Questions/Comments/Concerns? :)

One comment, although you might already have dropped early war: Monarch AIs start with Archery. Shaka is very aggressive and has many troops, Mansa has a UU archer, and Zara is creative. I'd go for being buddies with Shaka and Mansa early on, get Zara down (he is good at uniting AIs under his religion - a feat that is hard to do without cities or a head, hint hint :mischief:). After that, Build up and get Mansa down once trebs roll around. Be buddies with Shaka if you can, you will be able to outtech him later (which you not necessarily can with ZY or MM).