Time for another edition of the Nobles Club. This time, we turn our sights to Catherine of Russia!

A known backstabber, Catherine has traits that truly excel when REXing. CRE means fast border pops and IMP means fast settlers. But beware, overexpansion is a very real possibility in the hands of the human player.

Here is our leader, along with her UU and UB:
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj80/Bleys_bucket/NC%20XI%20Cathy/Civ4ScreenShot0181.jpg
Her UB is a late game beefed up Laboratory, awesome if your still in an SE this late:
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj80/Bleys_bucket/NC%20XI%20Cathy/Civ4ScreenShot0183.jpg
Her UU is a very nice upgrade to the Cavalry, with an additional 50% bonus vs Mounted units.
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj80/Bleys_bucket/NC%20XI%20Cathy/Civ4ScreenShot0184.jpg
And finally our start. You will all be happy to hear that this is a much more conventional map this time.
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj80/Bleys_bucket/NC%20XI%20Cathy/Civ4ScreenShot0185.jpg
And this edition is the start of a new feature in our club, called Rolos Map Tips. Since they are in a spoiler, you can choose to read them, or play it "cold". I will no longer be offering any information about the maps outside of these tips, so that those who like to be surprised will be able to play along with those who want a bit of direction.
Well, the lesson here today is....

You guessed, how to REX responsibly.

Well, in this game we have a lot of land to use and your nearest neighbours are out of a rapid rush radius.
So you have to choose how to develop your land and wich cities to settle first ( a thing that can make a huge diference ). And there are no particular easy choices on that....

A final small tip: REX is not only about spamming settlers. you also need a army with that..... There is no need for you to make cities for a more agressive AI to pick

And here is the standard cut and paste of our Club Doctrine:

There are no hard and fast rules here, fun and learning are our primary goals, but we do request that you update your progress at various points in the game, using the Spoiler feature of the boards.

Tentative posting updates are suggested at:

4000 BC (starting thoughts, no spoiler required for that discussion)
1000 BC or so (how you decided to progress up the early tech/build paths, which AIs you have met, etc)
500 AD or so (after establishing some cities and a possible plan of action)
1200 AD or so (mid-game, Lib race, wars or peace, or whichever happened or didnt, met other continent if applicable, etc)
1600 AD (or when you have decided on a course of action and a specific victory condition)
End of game (Victory!!! or defeat, no shame in losing, especially if you tried a higher level. Learning is what we focus on, not fastest win or biggest empire)

Remember, these are only guidelines. What we really want are your thoughts as the game goes on, so if your strats dont fall into line with those dates, feel free to adjust your reports accordingly.

We also welcome players to ask for specific game advice, as we have a number or stronger players who lurk and help out with solid tips, and of course, we help each other. Replies to specific questions should also be in spoilers, with a simple "@" in front of the person the answer is directed towards.

Once again, special recognition goes out to r_rolo1, our Map Maker, who sets these up for us (so I can play without peeking, heh, the WB needs to be modified) and also to Krick19, who came up with the idea of running a series like this for the less confident players. It is our goal to get folks to play and post without feeling self-conscious about being a "n00b" or asking dumb things. There are NO stupid questions! Learning this game is a process, not an event.

The WB-save is attached (zipped, they are bigger than standard saves). To play, simply download and unzip it into your BTS/Saves/WorldBuilder folder. Start the game, and load your favorite MOD (if you use one, if not, I suggest checking out the BUG MOD), select "Play Scenario", and look for "NC XI - Catherine". This allows you to play with your favorite MOD at the Level and Speed of your choice. From Quick-Warlord to Marathon-Prince, all are welcome! We stuck with the name "Nobles Club" because it has a cool ring to it.

Also, it should be noted that although this is a "pre-Monarch" oriented series, you are welcome to play it at levels above Prince. However, the AIs will NOT get their full set of bonus techs. The main difference is Archery, which the AI normally gets for free at Monarch and above. The main affects of this are in the AIs starting units (warriors instead of archers) and it also creates a tad "slower" AI, since they now have to tech Archery themselves.

In addition, because of the variations of using the Scenario menu, your starting Scout/Warrior may not be in exactly the same spot as the one shown.

Interesting start, dunno exactly where to settle. In place looks not too bad, I want to believe one of the openings in the forest to the west is some interesting hidden resource. Moving 1NE would give cows as well in the BFC but sacrificing one grassland tile and are we sitting on a plains hill? I can't see it clearly on the pic. Anyway, capital site looks like a production center more than anything else to me, depends on what's hidden in the fog. But with all those hills and leeves it can make quite some hammers. Though it's a bit food shy.

Edit: umm, I just assumed the river touched the hill where the settler stands, perhaps it doesn't, then leeves is out and then I'd probably move 1NE unless moving the scout 1SE+1SW shows something more interesting.

Great, thanks Bleys! It looks like a good start, and I'd be willing to be there's another resource in the fog. I'll probably settle 1NE; Losing a bit of grassland won't matter for the cows.

I will follow the update format for a change. 4k BC is all I can do till I get home.

I'm a little torn here. We have a good chance at metal if we settle in place but we don't get cows (or riverside) then. 1 NE looks a little better for early production (more hills, and they're the more efficient grassland variety) but a little weaker for rushing if we're giving up BFC copper (not MUCH weaker though).

Note: The capitol itself is very poor in commerce at the moment. IMO a lot of players don't realize the effect early passive commerce has on the feasibility of REX. The gold mines in the zara game (and his ORG trait) basically let me cover a HUGE area and REX 6 cities before I had courthouses up and not mind much. In that game we also had seafood - we do not here. REX, but tread carefully if the surrounding tiles don't have much commerce to pay for it.

As for me, since we're creative and I can probably hook up metal (or horse!) even if I move 1 NE I'll probably move 1 NE to grab the cow. An extra, guaranteed early tile is just worth it to me (even if the special resource is iron, the delay is a bit much, and if it's horse it's OK to not have it in BFC as cows are better tiles just to work).

As usual my game will highlight a lot of war. OK, back to work now.

looks like a resonable start, 1NE looks a good move, maybe it would be wise to move the scout 1SE then 1SW just to be sure there's not some goodies just out of view.

Not convinced there are enough hills, all look like grassland hills, capital will be food rich but commerce and production low. I'd like to aim for a strong food & commerce second city with the 3rd as a commerce centre. 4th and 5th cities should be military orienated if possible. All this sounds good in theory, untill the map is explored we have no idea of what is possible.

I'm sure first build will be worker, first tech will be Bronze Working, then choppity, choppity, chop!

I had a great first segment, and I think I REXed alright. Not great, but hey I need advice.

Prince-Epic
2000BC


Opening Info:

Build Paths:

Moscow: Worker-Warrior-Settler-Settler(partially whipped)-Worker(whipped)-The Great Wall(I whipped a settler in the middle)
St. Petersburg:Worker
Novgorod:Warrior

Tech Path: Agri.-AH-BW-Masonry-Wheel-Pottery-Myst.


Play Segment:

Well, to start off, my scout was in a completely different tile, giving me an interesting view. I settled 1NE to grab the cows, and I got a pleasant surprise: Riverside pigs!

Opening shot:
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0002.jpg

Moscow:
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0003.jpg

I research Agriculture, and dial up a worker. A few turns later, Ag is in, and I start on Animal Husbandry.

http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0000.jpg

Around this point I meet Ragnar (yay).

http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Ragnar0000.jpg

With my worker done, I started a warrior, and sent my worker off to farm the corn.

I discovered AH and I proceeded to study BW for Slavery/Chopping.

http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/AH0000.jpg

After I finished my warrior, I started a settler. Soon after this, in rapid sucession I meet Pacal(Thanks Rolo!) and Shaka(Thanks even more!) ;):

http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Shaka0000.jpg
(I forgot a Pacal pic)

I then discovered BW, and whipped out a second settler. (I started Masonry) With two settlers, I quickly settled one for cows/stone/some FPs...

http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0004.jpg

I noticed I had no copper and decided the horses had to be a top priority to keep my power up. So:

http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0005.jpg

St. Petersburg started a Worker; Novgorod a Warrior. Moscow whipped a worker for Novgorod.

With Masonry in, I started on The Great Wall, mainly for the espionage points. This time, I'm trying to have a good espionage game as well as REXing. I also started researching the Wheel for Chariots.

After some chopping for TGW, I think I'll get it. I also whipped a third settler when Moscow became unhappy. And that's where I ended.

My land(the sign is where my third settler is going):

http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0007.jpg

Moscow:

http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0008.jpg

St. Petersburg:

http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0010.jpg

Novgorod:
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0009.jpg

Strategy: Finish TGW, REX, and try to turn Pacal and Shaka against each other!



Advice?

Going to go with emp/normal.
Basic outline of my pre-game plan is this:
Imperialistic/Creative fueled super REX teching towards currency and CoL for Caste and courthouses followed by a hard beeline for mil trad and rifling for cossacks.

SE + Cossacks = Domination/Conquest.

Decided to try on prince just for the kicks of rexx.. I'm up to ~1500BC now, might do a report later.

@Krick19:
A couple of things:
Why does Moscow have no garrison? It's unhappy at size 3!!
Why are you researching mysticism? I don't really see the need for monuments as creative leader.. Writing for libraries would be more important, especially with high-food capital.

Zanttu:
You're right I need a garrison. I used my warrior for settler escort. As for the mysticism, I was considering the Oracle, but changed my mind, and I decided just to finish out the tech.

Going to give this a shot at Prince/Epic. (I've come to love Epic. Everything is so much easier to course-correct, given my sloppy tendencies.)

As for the start, I am going to give something a shot that I learned in a Nobles discussion here in the forums, and that is I will probably take a little stroll with my settler before dropping down. As TheMeInTeam said, it would be nice to find a little commerce in the capital if I can.

Monarch/Normal to 1000BC


First time as Cathy, not the same since the Cossack was nerfed and the BTS cavlary > Rifling. Boo.
Settled 1NW to get the river and the cows, my scout was to the 2SW (where i'd planned to move him) bagged a Hillpig in the BFC, cows+corn. Luckly there are 2 plains hills in the BFC, easlier to see on a normal view rather than some fancy mod ;)

Built worker and researched BW -AH -AG should have done AG first as potenial growth time was wasted waiting for AH.
Worker also built mines as irrigation and pastures were not available - school boy error.

Popped 2 maps from huts, could just see the Zulu in the south, popped warrior and some cash.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185651&stc=1&d=1218560204

Made the following dotmap, need to settle the southern cites first keep old shaka at bay,
i choose to settle to the edge of the jungle, too much work to clear it, i'm going to let shaka sette and clean for me.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185652&stc=1&d=1218560204

Will settle 1,2,3 then city to the right of 2 claim the gems.

I explore further south and meet Pacal, he and shaka are now on the edge of the jungle and i have not one city, really need to spam settlers quick.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185653&stc=1&d=1218560204

I'm not too worried about Pacal, he never seems to build quickly, always likes to go relgious and have 3 or so cities, i use him to build shines and found relgions, then take his cities and retire him.


I decided to settle site 2 first, then site 1,
3rd went to the left of 2 to claim the Gems,was going to settle on the X SE of Cap but then found a barb city. Also pacal may expand before i can get there and by working 2 Gems it should equal out maintenance costs. Stonehenge was built in cap around the time of the 1st settler, helped by chop. I plan to settle the prophet to help with commerce.
Missed the GW by 1 turn - very annoyed :mad:
I'd skimped on warriors due to the REX, immeadilty after losing the GW I now have serious barb incursions, I emergency tech to Archer then IW.
Luckly the barb city is staffed with warriors, helpful as i have no metal. Will take it as my leisure as it's cut off from the AI.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185654&stc=1&d=1218560204

Plan is to build an Army soon as i see Iron, fingers crossed. If not, archers then take the barb city for horse.
If i have iron, i'll then raise barb city and settle next door.
Short term peace is the way, consoladation and organic expansion.

Unless shaka comes knocking then it may be all over.

Think i will give this a shot.

From the starting shot i agree with TMIT about moving 1 to the Northeast to get the cows and have a great production capital. There are a couple grassland river tiles for cottages for bureaucracy. If i do end up missing strategic resource it will be close by for a second city or in the 3rd ring of expansion of the capital.

Noble/EpicOK, it's Noble's club so I played noble.
4000BC. My scout started in a different spot and revealed pigs 2E1S and grassland cows 3S1E. So I moved my settler 1SE for the river bonus. I settled on a hill so there is going to be a little less production.
Started researching BW but popped it from a hut 3 turns later so i switched to agg-AH. I should have both completed by the time the worker is completed and the corn is farmed.
Worker done. Started him on the corn then the cows. Cows are better than the pigs at this point because of Imp bonus to settlers and because with the cows and corn I don't have food issues. Started a warrior in Moscow while researching Archery since BW reveals i have no copper. Worker begins mining the pig hill. I do this when I have multiple food resources since it provides a food nuetral grassland mine. Once I can raise the happy cap I will pasture the pigs. Archery finishes a couple turns before the warrior so i put two archers in the build list then a settler. Researching masonry because I spot stone to the south. I settled 2S of the stone to claim some rice as well. I have a couple grasslands a floodplain and rice for food and nice hills. This will be my military city. I like the location strategically because it is down by my southern border where the Ai is located. This means troops are closer to any problems. I researched pottery next to start dropping cottages. 2nd city went 5W of the mititary city. Farming the corn and three flood plains means I can cottage the plains and grasslands. Probably about 12-14 cottages. Built GW in Moscow because barbs annoy me. Next city went 1W of the eastern gems. This effectively seals off my lands. teched IW and discovered Iron where we thought it would be. Settled 1W of it to claim the clams and settled north to grab the crabs and silver. Another city claimed the plains cows and the northern wine. With the final city for the round going 5 west of moscow for the rice and remaining wine. I have this sick sense of dejavu. rolo? you haven't been a naughty boy have you? Anyway. I have cottaged moscow pretty well as well as the city to the SW. I think I will hold off on a GP farm until I capture Madrid. Ooops it isn't madrid. Maybe I'm just Greedy

Having just joined this club, playing Noble/Normal without the map spoiler, I am a tad confused by the opening comments.
Cows? What cows? My 4000 BC 15 tile opening save has none. Mind you, while trying to correct things the computer displayed something rather useful.
That said, I'm inclined to take the extra hammer by settling in place, build a scout, research bronze (barbarian uprising-burned, more than once) and BFC-Rex if the connections are close to workable.

I have this sick sense of dejavu. rolo? you haven't been a naughty boy have you? Anyway. I have cottaged moscow pretty well as well as the city to the SW. I think I will hold off on a GP farm until I capture Madrid. Ooops it isn't madrid. Maybe I'm just Greedy

Yup, exactly what you are thinking ;)

Before you start calling me lazy boy, it was Bleys that asked for it and it was him that asked for the things that are diferent.....

BTW, congratulations, you were the first one to notice :beer:

I'll be playing Noble/Epic.
@r_rolo1: I think that map note is exactly the sort of thing I needed. Thanks!

Yup, exactly what you are thinking ;)

Before you start calling me lazy boy, it was Bleys that asked for it and it was him that asked for the things that are diferent.....

BTW, congratulations, you were the first one to notice :beer:

It dawned on me when i was considering puting the maoa statue on the tip at the NE...which is where I put them when i played the Mansa map.

I am a tad confused by the opening comments.
Cows? What cows? My 4000 BC 15 tile opening save has none. Mind you, while trying to correct things the computer displayed something rather useful.
Due to the nature of the WB file save, the starting unit for the human player can appear in a variety of places. In fact, if you re-start the scenario 3 times, you will likely get 3 different starting spots for your Scout.

The screenshot I put in the OP shows some cows, and if your scout started due south of the settler, you would have seen more cows, so no worries, heh, theres LOTS of beef on this map.

Ok, I though I'd be the only one, normally Monarch level player going noble, but seems some others got my idea as well ;)

Well, anyway, it's going to be a fun game nevertheless, I'm tired on constantly getting way behind in tech from my recent "monarch starting in isolation" games.

So here goes
Noble/Epic 4000BC-825BC (I had intended to post the BUG-MOD log so you all could read all the important steps that happens, but unfortunately, I must've misconfigured it as it didn't log anything...) will fix that for next post.

If you haven't researched IW yet there may be a bit of a spoiler here... So don't read unless you want to know all early strategic resources placements.



First thing first, I will try to play a monarch level inspired Noble game, thus I won't aim for every wonder, actually, no early wonders is on my plan atm. I will rex peacefully as hard as I can and stop when I'm on the verge of strikes.

Ok, I settled Moscow 1NE, gaining Cows, Pigs and the corn in the BFC.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0022.jpg

Research path went: AH (to connect cows and pigs, Agri can wait a bit) -> BW (we want some bronze, but unfortunately, no Bronze around)

Here I decided for my first city, with no Bronze I really wanted chariots, so second city had to hook up Horses, placed St Petersburg to the East of moscow, gaining Rice, Horses and two wine.

After BW, research went to The Wheel to be able to hook up horses, the Agri, pottery, writing, IW (YES, Iron just outside capital BFC), Alphabeth

Building in Moscow went something like worker, warrior, warrior, settler, warrior worker, warrior, settler, chariot (I may have missed a warrior or added one somewhere, I had hoped the log would provide me with this...)

I was somewhat lucky with the huts, gained a warrior and a scout, some money and some maps, no techs though.

I found three happy neighbours, Pacal, Ragnar and Shaka. Oh my all down to the south, when writing came around I decided to open borders with Ragnar but noone else, I want to block Pacal and Shaka in before they can expand north, Ragnar seems to be way down south so no worries he'll expand up to my parts for some time.

So my Rexing became a fairly aggressive placement strategy. I did manage to get most cities where I wanted them, though Shaka spoiled one citysite but the backup plan wasn't too bad.
Here's the land at 825BC:

Southern russian empire:
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0033-2.jpg

Northern russian empire:
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0034-1.jpg

Do notice I haven't chopped any of Moscows nice forests, I do intend to keep them around. Unfortunately Moscow will not be my capital when my cottage heavy commercecity is founded south of moscow. Moscow will be a forest heavy, GPP/production site until National park comes around, I've always wanted a city with food sources for GPs and 10+ forests for free specialist from the NP.

And the all interesting powergraphs, I'm afraid I'm low on spypoints on Pacal and Ragnar so only Shaka is shown, but to be fair, Shaka is my main early concern. I've just set production to massproduce swords and axes, there might even be an early war in the next segment.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0035-1.jpg

Research so far, nothing much to brag about:
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0036-1.jpg

Next I will see what I can get from the AI after Alphabet is done (probably all the religion ones, saving me researching them to reach CoL and Monarchy which is my main research priorities atm. I need monarchy for happiness reasons, for HR and to hook up the wine. Calendar will be needed on this map pretty early as well.

That's all for now, see you all in the next segment.

Invisible GP and Missionaries, possible bug?


The Icon for the GS is missing, on the unit toolbar above the sleep button. If i fortfy the GS then he disapears, you have to move the stack out of the city and then one by one move the units off the tile, then the GS reapears. Same for the missionaries. It can look like you have a great warrior! or a Hindu Archer. Is this just me?

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185676&stc=1&d=1218573397

@KingMorgan: I think its the MOD you're using, you have to click the button that displays the stack differently. I am not familiar with that MOD, so I am not sure which button, but I am assuming its the one on the far left with the multiple rows of small boxes, that should display "all units". I think you are set to display only "combat units" and a GS is not a combat unit.

I'll be taking this on Prince/Epic.

Yay! A non seafood start! Finally! :)

I'm not going be able to start until tommorrow :sad: but I like the look of this start, I'm also looking at moving the settler 1 NE which looks like a sound move, however I'm also liking the idea of settling on the plains hill for that little extra boost right at the start.

Ok, now I know how to get killed with that one...

Hm... How do I prevent them from getting up into my area without killing my economy?

Oh boy. This one is fun. I'm off to a roaring start.

Prince/Epic ~ 800 B.C. I believe.

A quick post here. I'm on a break from cleaning my apartment before I move out *prays to get full security deposit back*

So, it's about 800 BC in my game and Pacal is dead. I took his capital which was the Hindu holy city and had Stonehenge (Great Prophet coming in a few dozen turns for shrine goodness). I'm done fine with tech thanks to the two gems that were above Mayan lands.

I thought Pacal would put up more of a fight, but I had to kill all of three warriors to conquer him. I had a stack of about 5 chariots, since I had nothing to build in my cities for a few turns. (My tech path was something like AH -> BW -> HBR for awhile, switched to IW when I realized I could take the jems.

Build order in Moscow was Worker -> Warrior -> Worker -> Warrior -> Settler -> Settler (both at least partially chopped).

Five cities currently. Moscow was settled 1NE, St. Petersburg was settled 1NW of the horses (to the east of Moscow), 3rd city was 1NE of the eastern jems, 4th City is 2N of the Rice near the peaks (also taking the Stone and has two FP in the BFC. There's enough food here to allow me to build all kinds of Plains mines :D, and Mutai was captured.

Writing has been researched, currently working on Alphabet so I can back fill the religious techs and get Monarchy for the happiness.

Immediate plan: Keep cranking out the Swords and Axes and go take out Shaka.

Screens soon, I promise.

First time poster, long time lurker... so be gentle :)

emperor/epic to 10AD

Settled on place, afterward thinking there might have been better places to settle for river and extra cow. But then again, now i got iron in my BFC for extra hammers.

Got agriculture, wheel and some money from huts

AH -> BW -> masonry -> writing -> IW -> alphabet -> beeline to literacy after that CS

Plan was basicly settle near the stone and build pyramids in moscow. With some luck and lots of chopping pyramids were up fast so i made Great Wall also. Great Wall turn out to be great investment cause my unguarded 3rd city got that barbarian event and 4 spearmen appeared next to its borders.

Iron mine was up right at time and i managed to get some swordmen to capture barbarian cities ( 3 total, kept 2 ). The money from them really helped with research.

Diplomatic situation at this moment is following: friendly with pacal and pleased with other 2. Whole continent has same religion.

Situation at 10AD:
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/riveri69/Civ4ScreenShot0002.jpg

Normally i would continue to riflemen/cavalry and have war there, but now i have already so many cities and still room for few more good ones that I could just stay peaceful and go for space victory. Also i have no idea who is on other continent (assuming that this is 2 continent game ). Shaka, Ragnar and pacal are warmongers, but maybe other civs are all techers and going war would put me behind them... :confused:

Playing this one myself, so here is my first report,

Emperor, Epic, 4000 BC - 380 BC, with Iron Working done:
I chose to settle 1SE, since my scout started in a new spot when I restarted that showed me more cows and river that way. I started my Worker, and my scout promptly popped another scout from his first hut. That allowed me to get a bunch more huts, and by the time I had explored my area and found my neighbors, I had a solid 300+ gold in the bank, as well as a free tech, Archery.

With Shaka to my SE, and Pacal to my SW, and a lot of land in between, as well as plenty to the east, west and north, I decided to be VERY aggressive settling. Also, after spotting the Stone, I decided I would be after two of the stronger wonders on this kind of map, The Great Wall and The Pyramids.

So I got a 2nd city out FAST, and claimed the Stone, Rice, 2-Floodplaiin site toward Pacal. I got the Stone up and running quickly, and used whip-overflow to bust our a few more settlers while building those 2 stone-based Wonders. I actually sort of forgot I was playing Emperor level, and over-expanded badly. Luckily, I had headed to Writing pretty quickly, so I was able to chop/whip out Libraries in all my cities, but I have been running at 0% slider for a lot of turns, heh. Once the Mids came in, though, I was teching pretty well for 0%, although I am well behind the AIs. I am not worried though, I have some solid cities that will be SE-powerhouses once I get them up and running at full-steam. Here is a screen of my current Empire. I settled the Iron a couple turns ago, since I was gaining a couple gold a turn at 0%, heh.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj80/Bleys_bucket/NC%20XI%20Cathy/Civ4ScreenShot0186.jpg

I love how the Barbs have settled 2 spots I had in mind for future cities. I will take them soon once I hook up the Iron. Might even get enough culture to flip them, heh. Next up is the Wine-Cows, and Crab-Silver areas, as well as the Iron to the NE. Lots of room for fillers later too, my kind of map, once I get near Rifling, I will probably drop in a few more cities to draft from.

Heres the Cap:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj80/Bleys_bucket/NC%20XI%20Cathy/Civ4ScreenShot0187.jpg

Popped a GS already, so I am not doing to baddly on beakers at all. Decided to settle him, he wont be my first, and I dont really have the beakers yet for an Academy. Next one will likely be an Academy, followed by bulbing Philosophy and then maybe part of Education if needed for the Lib race, but I think I will have a pretty solid tech rate soon enough. Pretty straightforward, proven formula, really.

As I said, quick 2nd city grabbed the Stone-Rice-Floods, 3rd city got the Banana-Dye area to cut off Shaka (2 tiles north of the spot I wanted GRR, he beat my settle by a couple turns), 3rd city got the Gems-Cows (which was a big reason for the early IW, the other, of course, no copper and the Barbs grabbed my Horses), and the 4th city got the Cows-Floodplains on the West Coast, serving to complete the "line of blocking cities". I have a nice chunk of land left to settle as well, with a solid mix of resources, production, rivers, etc. I hope folks are enjoying this one, its a great map to REX on, and the temptation to over-REX is hard to resist, heh.

Bleys:


Nice one. Heh, I ended up ALMOST on strike but I got those gems down SE mined really fast, and I made it. I see I took a similar strat to yours, I must be doing something right! :)


My report:

2000BC-10AD:



I nabbed two wonders this round: TGW and the Pyramids, both of which will be useful, and were speeded along by the Stone. I had a nice report planned out, but I accidenly lost it, so I'll just give a summary and pics. I REXed some more nabbing 4 cities, and built up more of an army. I teched through currency/CoL and my economy isn't horrid.

Pics:



http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0000-1.jpg
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0001-1.jpg
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0002-1.jpg
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0003-1.jpg
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0005-1.jpg
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0006-1.jpg
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0007-1.jpg
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0008-1.jpg

Screens, as promised:


Capitol and 2nd city:
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll329/viaarete/Civ4ScreenShot0003.jpg

3rd and 4th cities:
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll329/viaarete/Civ4ScreenShot0002.jpg

Close up of Roston (anyone else see a production-center here?)
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll329/viaarete/Civ4ScreenShot0005.jpg

Mutai (captured Mayan capitol):
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll329/viaarete/Mutai0000.jpg

Domestic Advisor:
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll329/viaarete/Civ4ScreenShot0006.jpg

Early Tech Tree:
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll329/viaarete/Civ4ScreenShot0000.jpg

Score Chart (for my ego):
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll329/viaarete/Civ4ScreenShot0007.jpg

Lastly, my soon-to-be-conquered neighbor :devil::
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll329/viaarete/Civ4ScreenShot0004.jpg


@ Bleys & rolo: Thanks for the game. It's been a fun one thus far!

@KingMorgan: I think its the MOD you're using, you have to click the button that displays the stack differently. I am not familiar with that MOD, so I am not sure which button, but I am assuming its the one on the far left with the multiple rows of small boxes, that should display "all units". I think you are set to display only "combat units" and a GS is not a combat unit.
Yep. That's BUG mod 3.0, not a bug. The crossed swords button is clicked which means only military units show up. Click it again and you'll get to see everything on the tile.

4000 BC: Scout SW revealing sheep, wheat, floodplains. Settler 1 NE.
I want to do this for levee later if the game goes that far.

3960 BC: Settle Moscow, start a worker and tech agriculture, he will farm the corn first, settling also revealed the grass hill pig, a solid GP farm so we'll likely move the capital later on for the Bureaucracy bonus. Scout moves SE to the hut and:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0033.jpg
3720 BC: Scout has swung around to NE and pops the hut there for 37 gold.

3600 BC: Agriculture in, start AH next for cows + pigs

3560 BC: Pop the hut directly west of the borders and get a scout, he goes back NE.

3440 BC: Buddhism FIADL.

IBT: SW scout whacks panther and takes woodsman I

3400 BC: pop a hut in the north for:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0000.jpg
Start archery for barb defense, not going to gamble on bronze with our super capital :lol:

3360 BC: Finish worker, start warrior, go to the corn.

3320 BC: Meet the first AI, Ragnar:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0001.jpg
LOL, just kidding... We make nice, for now...

3240 BC: Meet Shaka and take a short break while I go kill rolo.

*returns to keyboard*

Okay.. Where were we??

3120 BC: Finish Archery, start BW. Pop a hut in the south:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0002.jpg
Also popped a map in NE this turn.

3040 BC: Shaka adopts slavery.

2920 BC: Shaka DoW on me and I promptly quit. :wallbash:






Kidding again, of course :p, but I did lol at this:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0003.jpg

2880 BC: Warrior finished, start archer, it'll finish at size 5 for our second worker, then settler.

2480 BC: BW finished, start IW, also have one turn into the settler now and have a worker on the way to our spot, which you'll see in the review screens.

2160 BC: Have finished yet another worker and have archer -> settler queued and have chosen another spot, here's a map:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0004.jpg

The "1"'s signify what I hope to settle in the first "wave", or, the best blocking spots, "2"'s are 2nd wave, but still priority and the "3" is backfill material. the 1 in the north looks marginal as a city but has a silver, and can feed itself up to pop 9 IIRC.

2120 BC: Found St. Petersburg and start an archer:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0005.jpg
1760 BC: Found Novgorod and start an archer:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0006.jpg
Had to move it 1N because Shaka is fast :eek:

1680 BC: Settler finishes and heads to another good spot, also this event:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0007.jpg
1480 BC: Rostov founded but I lost the screen. Got IW and started Writing

1360 BC: FINALLY mine a gems by St Petersburg and can push slider up 20%

So here's the situation:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0008.jpg
I've completely crashed the economy very fast. Stay tuned for Part II: RECOVERY!
PS: The "2" near rice + wines is going 2 south, I labeled it before AH ;)

Save:

Here is my attempt. Its only my second try at a noble difficulty game its not in bad shape. I am playing at marathon speed.
I forgot to take initial screenshot:blush:
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm20/xl_single_malt/opening-moves0000.jpg
I marked settler and scout starts (both AH resources hidden), along with initial scout move which revealed cows. The rest is self explanatory. Build order was warrior, worker, settler, archer (I popped archery from a goody hut:)). Research queue was AH, agri, wheel, BW, Pottery, writing, then the CoL line, IW. I had a lot of luck with goody huts - archery, gold, exp, a scout and warrior...not a bad haul, considering I did not go out of my way for em:). The screenie for the resultant scouting and my meeting of Shaka, Pacal and Ragnar are all corrupted unfortunately:mad:

Empire at 1840
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm20/xl_single_malt/my-empire-18400000.jpg

1380 CoL done (no slingshot, was beaten to oracle), and Confucianism founded. I didn't change, as I was unsure as to religious situation as Pacal had Hinduism, and Shaka converted to it.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm20/xl_single_malt/conf-founded0000.jpg
With CoL done it was straight for IW, and in 1200 (when I realised a few turns after researching) iron outside Moscow's BFC
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm20/xl_single_malt/iron-at-12000000.jpg
Then onto masonry and Monarchy. State of affairs at 930BC
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm20/xl_single_malt/state-of-affairs-at-930-bc0.jpg
Not looking the worst. I had the luck of having lots of cash from goody huts, allowing me to research at 30-35 BPT while REXing, now my courthouses are being built, and cottages maturing, so by AD I should have better BPT again. There is one more city to settle in the tundra up north 2 silver and horses. The military build up will begin now that iron is had. Swords and horse archers, here we come.

Who to hit first though? Shaka or Pacal? They share religions, Pacal is small from my recon, while Shaka has a larger empire (He beat me to a spot I had in mind for banana and dye). I am thinking Shaka, cos afaik he has not got iron or copper yet (he does have unused iron [no tech for it yet?] in cultural borders). And he will cause problems later. I have not opened border with anyone bar Ragnar as he is furthest away and I want to protect my back from settlers. I will have to get the whip out for the first time tomorrow regardless who I choose to DoW.

I might peacefully build up army and economy first though, as it is probably a little fragile to withstand a war in its current state.
I attached saves if anyone wants a closer look. Its my second attempt at a noble difficulty game, so any advice is appreciated.

:crazyeye: 610 AD


Well... as I said in my previous post, Shaka was my next victim. He went down fairly quickly and I still had a loaded stack, so, once I healed up I decided to go for Ragnar. The power rating still had me at about 1.5 compared to him, so I figured it was worth the effort.

Ragnar went down without putting up much a fight, so the continent is now mine. I'm sitting at 0% research and still losing about 30 gpt. I can keep this up for about 9 turns before units start disbanding, but whipped courthouses should be able to pretty well negate the gold pouring out of my treasury. I'll wait till my economy is out of the gutter before posting a somewhat more detailed update. The save's included if you'd like to take a look.

Got sort of involved in this game, here's another set for Emperor/Normal, a good comparison for Bleys game (same time frame). Be warned, it's not as nice as his, because I didn't get masonry yet, which means, no 'mids :p
1360 BC: Well I need some cash really bad here, so I pull a little swap and put hammers into stonehenge at Moscow.

1160 BC: 'Henge BIADL. I'M RICH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (read: I got 73 gold) Crank up tech for writing in 3 :p

1040 BC: Writing in, start Wheel towards pottery.

1000 BC: Whip libraries in Novgorod and Moscow.

950 BC: Hire some scientists at last :p

900 BC: Wheel in, start Pottery (4)
Let's take a peek inside Rostov, which is shaping up to be an absolute production MONSTER:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0000-1.jpg
Just look at that, stone, a bunch of hills and a nice river which will take watermills later on!

800 BC: Pottery in, start Aesthetics.

700 BC: Everyone is Buddhist at this point so I immediately sign OB with all to start gaining diplo, hopefully I'll get a random spread too :)

625 BC: Yaroslavl founded, start a work boat. Worker goes to hook up silver. This city is mostly to grab the silver, so I can grow to size 6.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0002-1.jpg
575 BC: Novgorod pops borders, completing the seal on the north:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0003-1.jpg
Found Yekaterinburg and start a granary, lost this screen.

350 BC: Important turn, buddhism spreads to me so I convert ASAP for diplo. Also settle GS in Moscow.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0007-1.jpg
Stopped at 325 BC, a good comparison point for this game and Bleys (both emperor). Bleys is in better shape at the moment, but I think I'll soon take off once I get my cities up to happy caps.

Some review screens (These are from 375 BC, not much has changed :lol:)
Map:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0004-1.jpg

I hope to be at 8-9 cities before AD crossover, and to that end, I have another settler in the queue at Moscow. I also have blocked off enough land for 10 good cities peacefully, as if that's possible with Shaka and Ragnar......

Demo:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0005-1.jpg

This is looking very nice, GNP didn't slide too far and I'm tops in Production and Land, which are the best stats to look at in the BC years, especially on Emperor+ and even more so in a REX.

Power:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0006-1.jpg

Not too shabby considering the quick expansion.. I can start deleting archers as axes/swords come in to save on unit costs.

EDIT: Also wanted to add that I'm about 95% sure that Nobamba (Shaka's city near Novgorod) will flip to me. He has 0 culture in it so far and it's currently 97% Russian :D

@schwartz:
I am doing all that great actually, heh, in a week or so I will explain why. Some actually already know, but I dont want to spoil it for everyone.

You are doing an outstanding job mate, get those Libraries up and you will be fine. Lots of excellent tiles to work in this game, thats for sure.

1000 BC debriefing.

Hey, Bleys: Thank you for the cow "de-confusion"; invisible cow disease would have been too aggressive. To the game, as the Steve McQueen character in The Magnificent Seven related, "So far; so good."
The scout strategy did not net the cash I sought (151G) but I had the meet and greet with Pacal II, Shaka and the other trouble-maker on their own turf. The tech path was BW, AH, Archery, IW, Masonry, Pottery, Agriculture, Writing, Alphabet. The four Russian cities string 1NW of the horse to 1W of the wheat, on the line south of Moscow which has the GW (so, barbarians are not my pals). Unhappiness is approaching and two of the neighbours are not gentle folks so I am going to try to chop out the Pyramids in Moscow for HR.
The puzzle? Continue REXing or tech to HBR in case of an opportunistic war.
Does the puzzle have a third element?

@Bleys:
Yeah I'm not too bad so far, I'm going to tech off Masonry after Aest. and build the 'Mids in Rostov while turning Madrid into a scientist farm to settle or bulb my way to lib.
The main thing is that I feel lost without Spiritual, I have 5 wins at immortal, all spiritual civs (Gandhi, Mansa, Hatty, Asoka, and Justinian) so I've come to rely on the trait too much :(
I have no doubt that I'll win this game without too many problems, because even Shaka can't touch me right now :p

My game on Noble, Epic Speed only option Choose Religion

Research went Animal Handling-> Agriculture-> Bronze Working-> Wheel-> Writing-> Mysticism-> Polytheism-> Priesthood-> Aesthetics-> Literature
Build Order
Moscow: Worker-> Warrior-> Warrior-> Warrior-> Settler-> Warrior-> Worker-> Warrior-> Settler-> Library-> Great Wall-> Stonehenge(biadl)-> Oracle-> Pyramids
St.Petersburg: Barracks ->Chariot ->Chariot -> Settler -> Chariot -> Chariot->
Novgorod: Library ->Granary -> Worker
Rostov: Granary ->
4000bc Move 1 NE to settle by the river.
3975bc Founded Moscow
3700bc Christianity was fiadl - choose religion option
3600bc animal husbandry discovered. Horses to the East by South East
3400bc Worker finished, Random Event(Industrious Villagers built a pasture on the pigs 2S1E of Moscow) very nice event at this stage of the game
3350bc Agriculture discovered. Judaism fiadl. Pop a hut for a Map that revealed the Zulu to the South... great war it is. Let not meet them yet.
3250bc Pop a hut for a scout. Find the ocean to the east
3175bc Warrior finished. Start another one as i work the Cows and Pigs to grow with a bit of production thrown it. Warrior goes North to check the tundra.
3125bc Meet Ragnar via a Scout of his East of Moscow. More fun but at least i can usually work with him.
3100bc Get the health quest... yeah i take the happy hit for the moment and have +2 health Civ wide. Meet Pacal II. More fun... he usual hates me. No one with religion yet.
3050bc Finish 2nd Warrior start 3rd one. Pop is at 3 and happy cap until the health event unhappiness goes away.
3025bc Warrior in the tundra pops Masonry from a hut. Moscow popped 2nd boarder expansion
2975bc Meet Shaka via a scout south of Pacal II.
2950bc Finish 3rd Warrior start a Settler. 1 turn from growth but i am at the happy limit for the time it will take to build the Settler (9 turns)
2875bc Bronze Working in. Start on the Wheel. No visiable Bronze on the map. Need to grab the horses then. I bet one of these AIs have some in there BFC. Shaka if past games are any clue. :P
2725bc Settler finish send him a warrior toward the horses. I will end up 1 off the river but other wise it looks to be a good production site. Need to make the next city a commerce city if i am going to fund much expansion.
2700bc All Melee receive Cover.... nice this is almost becoming too easy. Warrior done start Worker.
2650bc St. Petersburg Founded. Need a boarder pop to get horses and rice but hey Cathy has it covered.
2600bc The Wheel is in and Writing is started.
2500bc Worker finished. Start Warrior.
2475bc Warrior done. Start a Warrior.
2450bc St. Petersburg boarders pop. I now have horse in my culture and 2 workers getting them hooked up. So no more warriors.
2325bc Warrior to the east on fog busting duty got ate by a bear...
2250bc Settler finished started Library.
2150bc Ragnar reminds me to Open Boarders with everyone. No Religions on this content.
2125bc Novgorod Founded to the south in a great cottage area. It grabs Stone and grassland cows. With 3 flood plains and the cows this will grow pretty good and the stone/cows and 2 hills will give it some production to get important building. I will be really interested where everyone else founded.
2100bc Moscow Library done start Great Wall. Pottery in start Mysticism
2075bc Moscow about to grow into unhappiness. Switch to Slavery (1 round Anarchy)
2050bc Drop Granary into the Queue in Moscow
2025bc 2pop whip Granary in Moscow MM the city to grow back to 5 pop in 14 turns so the max production will be used before unhappiness wares off
1975bc Discover Mysticism start Polytheism.
1950bc St.Petersburg finish Barracks starts Chariot. MM to use mine/horses/flood plains farm. Hooking up Stone in Novgorod.
1900bc Stone hooked up. Great Wall finish time drops to 6. 1900bc and no wonders does not seem like there are any industrious leaders around. I figure stonehenge should have fallen by now.
1775bc St.Petersburg Chariot finish. Start another Chariot. Polytheism is in start Priesthood.
1750bc Moscow finish Great Wall. Start Stonehenge. Might as well leverage this stone.
1675bc Stonehenge can no longer be worked on(62 gold).. still waiting for the biadl message... oh well we would rather work on the oracle anyway. Moscow -> Oracle. Priesthood in start Aesthetics. Library whipped 1 pop in Novgorod.
1600bc Content Explored.
1475bc St.Petersburg finish Chariot. Start Settler.
1425bc Horse Whispering quest pops up... do think i will actively pursue it.
1400bc 2pop whip Oracle to finish 2 turns earlier. 2 pop whip settler in St.Petersburg
1375bc Oracle in for Metal Casting. Start Pyramids in Moscow. St.Petersburg starts a Chariot.
1300bc Rostov Founded by gems and cow on east side. Starts Granary.
1250bc St.Petersburg Finish Chariot start Chariot.
1225bc Novgorod finish Granary start worker.
850bc Novgorod finish worker starts barracks.
800bc Moscow finish Pyramids switch to Representation immediately. Start Barracks.
775bc Stop here for this round
The North
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185700&stc=1&d=1218602773
Mid
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185701&stc=1&d=1218602773
South
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185702&stc=1&d=1218602773
Ragnar is below the south pic but his lands are not really a concern yet.



Any comments would be appreciated.

Bleys & Patagonia - Many thanks will check it once i'm home, guess it's my fat fingered mistake.

Okay I've made a start, I'm already liking this map!

Here's my report, I've also made a small dotmap for my first few cities so please have look and also I posted a question in a seperate spoiler

Update 1975BC - Prince/Epic

Intial thoughts

I going to try out some things that I don't normally use this Nobles Club. I never use mounted units, so as Cathy's Unique Unit is a cossack I'm going to try and make better use of horsies this game. I rarely use espionage so again I'm going to put a bit more effort into that too (Not a fully fledged espionage economy or anything). So I'm going to be using spies/mounted units in my early wars.

With Cathy being Imperialistic I'll have a go at building the Great Wall and maybe let it generate a couple of spies before I go chasing scientists for bulbing stuff and acadamies.


Start 4000BC

Moving my scout to the south revealed pigs & a grassland cow

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk316/groogart/GrooNCIX2000BC_02.jpg

So I decided to settle 1 South East for Corn/Cow/Pigs plus its riverside. I also have the option of not needed to go for bronzeworking straight away as there are four decent improvable tiles that don't require chopping.

My opening build was a Worker while I teched Aggriculture > Archery (I hate building warriors!) and my scout managed to get quite a few huts, not that it helped me much, popping Mysticism, Map, Map, Map. My scout finally popped something useful, a warrior, which then died in the next few turns when he popped a hostile village.

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk316/groogart/GrooNCIX2000BC_03.jpg

Met the Neighbours Pacal, Shaka and Rags.

After the worker I started to build Archers while growing and improving tiles, then switched to building workers/settlers my tech path went... Animal Husb > Wheel > Masonry > Bronzeworking (No Copper). I connected stone with my first city and whipped a worker into the Great wall and finished it of with a forrest chop.

My plan from here is to go Pottery > Ironworking while I settle to the south towards Shaka and Pacal.


The Capital

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk316/groogart/GrooNCIX2000BC_04.jpg


St. Petersburg which I'll be using primarily as a unit pump.

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk316/groogart/GrooNCIX2000BC_05.jpg

Dotmap

Here's my opening dotmap covering the south which I'm thinking of settling first to grab all those city nice sommerce sites. 1, 2, & 3 will just be Commerce cities, 4 I'm planning to use as a GP farm.

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk316/groogart/GrooNCIX2000BC_01.jpg

My Question

My main dilema is I still have 27 Turns before Iron working is in, but need to get those southern jungle sites settled quickly so do I just settle them anyway? even though they'll just be a drag until I get thge forrest cleared. Should have made Ironworking more of a priority I guess.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Groogaroo -
Comments on the dotmap:
I'd move #1 1SW to add rice, you can beat Shaka there if it's on Prince.
$2 is fine but don't steal the rice tile from the production beast up there :D
#3 is good but you'll probably only get either that or #1, not both, so if you miss here, move it 2N, 1E
#4 is good where it is, but not much of a GP farm. The capital is much better for that
You have to settle those cities ASAP, you're not going to get them if you wait 27 turns for IW. Settle #1 first, it has some cleared spaces to work while IW comes in.

@groogaro

You do want to settle those southern cities quickly, else I'm sure Shaka will be up and atleast spoiling your city marked (1). With city 1 and 2 you block of Shaka good enough, followed up with 4 he's not going anywhere north without taking to his warlike obsession. Pacal on the other hand didn't expand north in my game at this point in the game. But on the other hand, you want the gems hooked up quickly for a boost in the economy. I put my gemcity on the grassland 1N of eastern gem (SW of cows). Sure, you'll loose rice and dye but on the other hand, you can get it up and running before ironworking.

Recovery Part I - To 880 AD
325 BC: Start moving swords towards Visigoth near the Rice+Wines site.

275 BC: Aesthetics in, start Masonry.

225 BC: Burn Visigoth for 62 gold.

200 BC: 'Mids BIADL. AHHHHHH!

175 BC: Masonry -> Polytheism towards Literature.

100 BC: Found Yakutsk, start workboat.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0000-2.jpg
50 BC: Polytheism in, start Alphabet (no one has it)

25 BC: Start the Parthenon in Moscow.

1 AD: Start ToA in Rostov.

75 AD: GS born in Moscow, he builds an academy there.

200 AD: ToA and GLH BIADL. More money :D

225 AD: Ragnar gets alpha, finally, so do I, start literature.
Russian revolt in Nobamba :woohoo:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0001-2.jpg
250 AD: Some trades with Pacal:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0002-2.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0003-2.jpg
For some reason he wouldn't give me all that for Aest + Alpha :huh:
325 AD: Literature in and start Currency.

400 AD: Vladivostok founded and starts granary.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0004-2.jpg
425 AD: Currency in and start CoL.
More trades:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0005-2.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0006-2.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0007-2.jpg
500 AD: Start GL in Rostov because I'll miss it otherwise :(

560 AD: CoL in, revolt to Caste and HR.

600 AD: Shoot CoL to Rags for HBR.

620 AD: Wines to Pacal for Silk. Also get 160 gold for free from him.

640 AD:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0008-1.jpg
Hoping the NE + Parthenon artists pollution won't spawn a bunch of those :(
760 AD: GS born in Novgorod, he bulbs Philo. Tao founded in Yakutsk.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0009-1.jpg
Miss the GL this turn, bleh.

780 AD: Shot Philo around a bit to catch up tech-wise. I traded with Shaka first, because he's only pleased and therefore may fall into WFYABTA if I trade with Pacal first.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0010.jpg
Here's how the tech screen looks after that:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0011.jpg
800 AD: Wines to Shaka for fish, I need + diplo here because he's back at cautious due to -3 close border.

Shaka poaches my city site, he will pay, mark my words.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0012.jpg
860 AD: CS in so start Machinery. Revolt into Bureaucracy and OR.

880 AD: CS to Pacal for Machinery + 40.
Stop here, see next post for cities, GNP, Power, and analysis.
Save:

Recovery Part II - 880 AD State of The World:
Cities:http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0013.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0014.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0015.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0016.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0017.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0018.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0019.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0020.jpg
St Petersburg is getting irrigated right now so it can grow.
GNP:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0021.jpg

This looks encouraging, I'm climbing again.
Power:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0022.jpg

This? Not so much... Need to get my cats + HAs rolling out quick (Rostov will help after the court.)

From here, I need to boost power while teching along towards lib I hope to follow Paper -> Edu (part bulb) -> Gunpowder -> Nationalism -> Lib (Mil Trad) and wipe Shaka out with Cuirassiers while teching to Rifling and continuing forward with Cossacks.

Thanks for the tips :)

Emp/Epic --- 10AD - 990AD

10AD - 100AD: Ragnar started to run around my area with horse archers so i pushed out fast some axemen to capture last barbarian city. Ragnar's troops did me a favor and weakened the defences so finishing it was easy job for my axes. Razed the city cause it wasnt on the best spot.

100AD - 150AD: Build settlers for 2 more cities. One filled the gap near shaka and pacal, its going to be nice production city later in game. And second one took the resources next to razed barbarian city.

200AD: Shaka declares war on me, i bribe pacal into it and i basicly just defend my cities.

After CS i researched currency so that i could trade money from AIs to speed up my teching:
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/riveri69/Civ4ScreenShot0017.jpg

400ADish: War ended.

500AD: I trade world maps with pacal

Situation looks like this on world map:
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/riveri69/Civ4ScreenShot0018.jpg

Between 400-800AD didnt happen much... Ragnar vassalized pacal tho :sad:
so I cant bribe him into war again.

Pacal teched really fast partly because my cheap tech + money deals, so race for liberalism was quite close one. I got it 10 turns before pacal, year was 870AD.
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/riveri69/Civ4ScreenShot0019.jpg
I took nationalism cause i really didnt have any plan what to do with the free tech.

Situation atm:
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/riveri69/Civ4ScreenShot0022.jpg

Shaka got CS 50 years ago so he has macemen now, so i have to upgrade my defences fast before he gets idea to attack vs me. Tech wise shaka is still way behind me when pacal and ragnar are at same tech level with me. Still no sign of other civs from other continent, so im guessing they are not ahead atleast.

If nothing unexpected happens i can take shaka's cities on my next turns and head to space victory. Attacking ragnar feels abit risky...

@Googaroo, I saw in the moscow screen shot that you are working a grassland forest while building a worker. Working the corn gets the worker out faster. Excess food counts as hammers for workers.

One of the interesting things about Scenario start is that your own scout can start someplace different from the one in the posted starting position. Mine started 1NW of the picture, so I know where the cows are despite not initially seeing them.

Given 2 food sources and a river vs one visible source and a plains hill, I think I'll move 1NE as some have suggested, hoping that at Noble level the loss of 1 hammer for a while doesn't turn out to be a problem.

I think I'll tech Agr > husb > BW and build worker > warrior, delaying the first settler until it's possible to see horses or copper. Then let the REXing begin.

BTW: anyone know why Catherine went from Cre/Fin to Cre/Imp? Was it just to make room to have Willem be Cre/Fin?

Catherine went fron Cre/Fin to Cre/Imp in warlords.... Someone thinked that a Cre/Fin leader with a 18 str cossack avaliable with only MT was a little OP :p OTOH Preatorians and HC are just fine ;)

Monarch Marathon 4000bc-910bc Havent played Monarch mush but I am trying to learn.

Moved settler 1 NE and it gave me a wonderful food/production capital

http://i518.photobucket.com/albums/u343/orzion/Civ4ScreenShot0086.jpg

I found stone nearby and quicly seteld to claim it. Evrythign looked great until I met the AI shaka and ragnar. Normaly I would rush shaka as soon as I see him but no damm cooper nearby so had to put that of the planes. Started wonderspaming the stone wonders .

2110 GW
2040 Stonhenge only took 2 turns so why not
1660 Mids
1560 Choped oracel from st petersburg and free COL

Then I went on a wild settler spaming/ rexing.
And quicly convinced shaka to join my religion

My empeor 910 bc
http://i518.photobucket.com/albums/u343/orzion/Civ4ScreenShot0087.jpg

Cites
http://i518.photobucket.com/albums/u343/orzion/Civ4ScreenShot0088.jpg

Now to my problem

Power Numbers
http://i518.photobucket.com/albums/u343/orzion/Civ4ScreenShot0089.jpg

And shaka
http://i518.photobucket.com/albums/u343/orzion/Civ4ScreenShot0090.jpg

Now I do have around 10 archers but as always shaka is a crazy troop spammer. And I forgot to say he just finished reasershing construction in 1000bc. My plan is to spread connfu around and gt the holy shirne but if it is me shaka is after I am in some serious troubel.

Small Update

2 turns after this shaka decided to declear war on me. Lucily the AI stupied war moment kicked in his stack of 7 units decided to attack my city with 5 Archers SC promoted. The city also had a wall and 50% culture defense. The problem is what to do now he can obviosuly build catapults and all I can throw on him is archers. SHould I try to make peace as soon as posibol or try to pilage and anoy him with the archers.

@Googaroo, I saw in the moscow screen shot that you are working a grassland forest while building a worker. Working the corn gets the worker out faster. Excess food counts as hammers for workers.

Ugh! Another one of my bad habits! I took off the corn to avoid growth and forgot to put it back on when building the worker :crazyeye:

Prince/Epic
To 2275 BC
Got a nice view of the north with my scout, decided to give some room up north to for some other city's, and moved SW
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185763&stc=1&d=1218662619
not bad, food and some hills, not alot, but thats what watermills and workshops are for at least i can cottage the rivers for now and work the food while rexing.

In Moscow i went Scout,Worker,Warrior, Warrior, Settler,Barracks

was gonna put settler 4th, but i forgot to switch the warrior off while i was letting it grow a bit, i have poor micromanaging skills.

Met Pascal, don't know much about his personality, any hints???
Met Shaka....great:cry:
Pascal founded Buddhism
...im thinking this continent should be mine before rifling

popped some money from huts, got a map,woo hoo:rolleyes:,managed to snag a warrior from a hut right next to pascal territory, next turn the borders popped, close one.
met Ragnar, i have no idea where his land is, im thinking in the deep south, in tundra...probably a crab,fur,silver in overabundance surrounded by ice city i haven't seen yet, saw his scout so he's on the continent..hopefully he might become shaka's plaything and not me

something quite interesting happened that will have consequences on the other continent
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185764&stc=1&d=1218663512
thats mighty interesting, and quite hilarious, will lead to two superpowers on the other continent however.
so i researched bronze working last, yeah i know i should have done it sooner to whip out a settler or two, no copper around so im gonna aim for that horse city.
i settled a city 2 turns before the round ended
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185766&stc=1&d=1218663763
and here is my attempt at a dot map, not sure about the sequence of citys, or if i want to try snuggling up next to shaka and pascal. either one may be suicidal, shaka's power and pascal's Buddha culture capital, so im thinking of not going into the jungle belt
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185767&stc=1&d=1218663994

any help would be appreciated, this is my third prince game, and second epic speed game, so i would like it if anyone could give me some feed back on anything, next round i will probably rex a lot harder

Emperor/Epic to 1k BC

Settled 1 NE. Went AH BW AG early. Scouted a bit. Worker warrior worker.

Scouted around to see that zulu and maya are immediate neighbors - maya are buddhist others nothing. AH revealed horses, I don't see nearby bronze.

In 2150 I've circled shaka and I don't see bronze there either. He DOES have gems though. Basically I've already pegged him for a chariot rush, and settled my 2nd city accordingly.

1575 I get some luck and moscow pops gems. I settle my 3rd city towards shaka (ideally a rush uses 2 cities and is sooner, but his lack of copper, distance, and maya proximity dictate otherwise. I'm teching IW to see if he has iron and where, so I can pillage it ASAP if need be. I can abandon the rush and still have room to expand easily also.

1150 I find zulu iron but where it is located I think I can pillage it.

1000 I'm nearly ready to hit zululand - I intend to take Ulundi and uMgungundlovu then call it quits - expanding into my own territory also then.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk134/themelnteam/nc%20cathy/975zuluwarprep0000.jpg

The route is through the south to pillage Iron 1st turn. Scouting is very important - I know that's his only source of metal which can easily mean winning vs losing the war.

Ugh! Another one of my bad habits! I took off the corn to avoid growth and forgot to put it back on when building the worker :crazyeye:
Thats one of mine as well. I tend to over-micromanage my tiles for optimum whipping and chopping overflows and such, and I am constantly forgetting to switch to "full on" for Workers and Settlers.

Query: This is 3.17 with Solver's Patch, yeah?

WBs saves are not patch specific, except in very rare cases. This one is not one of them, so you can play with 3.13 with or without Bhruic patch or 3.17 with or without Solver's one.

Emp/Epic to 550 AD

775 BC - I declare on shaka. I have 14 chariots and actually equal power rating to him. I capture a worker on this turn, next turn I can hit ulundi and pillage iron.
750 BC Ulundi and another worker are mine. I know he has an impi or so somewhere, but his iron is gone now and therefore shaka is down metal. I took some heavy losses just hitting the archer/sword/axe combo in ulundi so I will need to regroup.
625 I capture the 2nd city I was targeting - this should cripple shaka really badly. I'll now seek peace with my 227 gold, -5 gpt, and actual trade network. Of course, shaka does have a 3 impi 2 sword 1 cat stack on the counterattack. I may wind up razzing a city of his and camping to get him to take peace.
525 Shaka's stack beats out 4 archers and 3 chariots to take novgorod over 2 turns, eh.
425 Shaka's impi shredded my counterattack chariots left over from taking his cities :(. I am camping novgorod with axes to take it back.
380 I recapture novgorod :). This allows me to take peace with shaka, keeping all his cities also.
230 BC - I settle the SE gems city to wall off Pacal, and to of course get gems. -24 GPT at 30% science :(. I'm already very backwards too :(. I drop science to 0% so that I'm only losing 8 gpt - I have 150 gold so this can buy me some time.
10 AD I start researching aesthetics - only because it's a tech none of the AIs have and it will probably help me buy monarchy and some other stuff. I'm very behind in tech but that's to be expected. Here's the empire:
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk134/themelnteam/nc%20cathy/10adnorth0000.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk134/themelnteam/nc%20cathy/10adsouth0000.jpg
355 AD I capture Vandal to get to 8 cities. I traded aesthetics for math and monarchy, nobody has currency yet so I'm headed for that planning to trade it for CoL. This is going to be a SLOW tech game for me :(. On the bright side, we're all 1 religion, only shaka hates me enough to DoW me, and he's actually WEAKER than me :).
370 I was attempting paya (yeah right). I get some gold :).
550 AD things look a bit better. One of the things I tell a lot of players on here is "if you can take land without getting yourself killed, take it". Losing money at 0% slider seems bad but With enough land cities you can always bounce back if you don't get attacked/slaughtered. In my particular case due to sharing religion/diplo/power (over shaka) I'm actually pretty safe. Also, shaka is screwed :). I was behind earlier but now things are looking better since I shopped currency around - courthouses are about to be built in all cities, I'll backfill everwhere after that, and the lib race looks like I'm still in it unless the other continent went hog wild techwise. Obviously I'm a military player and I'm going for my usual win via war tactics in this one. Actually, I plan on giving the UU a whirl (even though its special properties won't help me much) to take over the continent - pacal is small and shaka is crippled. Doubt rags can hang onto the kind of production advantage I'll have :).

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk134/themelnteam/nc%20cathy/550ADnorth0000.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk134/themelnteam/nc%20cathy/550adcentral0000.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk134/themelnteam/nc%20cathy/550adsouth0000.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk134/themelnteam/nc%20cathy/550ADtech0000.jpg


Edit: Pics are in for the first 2 segments now.

@TMIT:
LOL you rush on a map that is just MADE for the peaceful REX. Love it! I waited until Cuirassiers to attack Shaka (MT off lib.) My war set will be posted within a little while :D

@TMIT:
LOL you rush on a map that is just MADE for the peaceful REX. Love it! I waited until Cuirassiers to attack Shaka (MT off lib.) My war set will be posted within a little while :D

Not only did I rush, I used STOCK CHARIOTS on SHAKA :rolleyes:.

It looks like I'm the most tech-poor emperor player in this thread :p. I saw the same "lots of land" everyone else did. I then thought "I can settle this peacefully, but there are warmongers here". Then Pacal founded a religion, and I decided to weaken the only threat that remained near me then. IMO I still blocked pretty effectively, and this will allow me to get pretty huge very soon.

Pacal is weak sauce - he only has 5 cities. Rags can't be bribed to declare on the others at pleased so I think I'm ok too (although I do have the power rating to kick him down anyhow - I think I have like .7-.8 of his power). I do worry about the revenge of Shaka but eh - as long as that power thing shows greater than 1.0 at the bottom there I don't think shaka will get too fussy. I'd actually be ok/happy if he did though - I have well over 10 units of mostly axes/few swords, some with CR II and 2 with CR III. I'd be more than happy to take the cities I've isolated from the rest of his empire without diplo penalty.

Actually all the emperor submissions currently look like wins :). You said you were in bad shape and had recovery segments and you actually out-teched me :lol:. Good luck!

The third set, aka: "How to crash your economy twice"
900 AD: In anticipation of the Cuirassiers idea, I start a stable in Moscow after the monastery there finished.

920 AD: Hurricane in Yakutsk.... Lose the stable
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0023.jpg
940 AD: Shaka poisons Yekaratinburg.. :coffee:
Also Ragnar decides he loves me, so send him Philo + CS for Compass, Feudalism + 90.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0025.jpg
980 AD:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0024.jpg

1000 AD: Paper done, so start education.

1020 AD: Moscow pops a scientist, bulb edu to 3 turns.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0026.jpg
Found Smolensk and start a Granary.

1050 AD: Finish Education and start gunpowder.

1090 AD: GS born in Yekaratinburg, he starts a golden age to burn through
gunpowder -> nationalism quickly.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0027.jpg
On the way to miltrad I send Compass + Paper to Pacal for Music, Map, 120.

1120 AD: Pacal gets Nationalism, and WILL trade right now, so I will make a deal for it ASAP.

1130 AD: Paper + Music to Ragnar for: Engineering, Map, 60.
Shaka founds Islam :lol:

1140 AD: GS born in Moscow, settled, run Merchants now.

1150 AD: Edu + 55 gold to Pacal for Nationalism, now it's a flat race to Lib so build wealth all around and tech at 100% (5 turns to lib)
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0028.jpg

1190 AD: Lib due next turn so trade Ragnar Education for Guilds, Drama, and 90.

1200 AD: Lib -> Military Tradition.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0029.jpg
Start some cuirassiers, science to 0 so I can upgrade some HAs that I prebuilt. Choose PP towards RP and Rifling.

1230 AD: Nationalism to Ragnar for Optics, Theology, Map, 90.

1260 AD: GM born in Moscow, send him for a trade mission.

1290 AD: Shaka poisons Moscow..

1310 AD: Trade mission in Nidaros for 1100 gold upgrade most HAs to Cuirassiers. Here is the stack:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0030.jpg
1320 AD: Pacal has MT so send Lib + MT to Ragnar for Chemistry, Banking, 470, map.

1340 AD: Shaka poisons Novgorod and that pisses me off, but he's been WHEOOHRN for a few turns so I wait

1350 AD: And the wait pays off! IT'S ON!!!!!!!!!! (Shaka DoW and loses a boatload of obsolete crap attacking my stack of cuirassiers. I steal no fewer than 4 workers from him on the spot that he poached from me earlier.
The fighting gives me 2(!) GGs and I move one towards Rostov to settle. The other is attached to a cuirassier for a medic III

1360 AD: Capture and keep Nodwengu (the one that Shaka stole from me!) It has a settled GS.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0031.jpg
1370 AD: Capture and keep Nobamba.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0032.jpg
Chemistry to Pacal for economics + 130
The fighting nets me a third GG which is settled in Moscow.

1380 AD: Take a look at the power graph after our fights :p
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii8/jsschwa/NC%20XI/Civ4ScreenShot0033-1.jpg
1400 AD: Had a CtD in 1430 so I have to restart from here. :wallbash:

1430 AD: Capture and keep Ulundi, start theatre. It had the SoZ (I had 14 WW in many cities...) and the GLH. Also has a settled GG

1440 AD: 0 attacks on the BT so I think Shaka is gassed.
Capture/keep uMgungdlovu (sp?) start theatre. It has the Spiral Minaret and the Great Library. Shaka = Wonder whore? wth?

1470 AD: Capture and keep Bulawayo. Start theatre.
Take peace with Shaka for Nongoma.

1480 AD: Finish PP, start RP. Shaka vassals to Ragnar (no surprises, this means I can go after Pacal next)
Stopped here after yet another CtD
Tech and Demo is so abysmal I'm not even adding it :lol:
I'm 99.5% sure I have this one won though.

Emp/Epic

Had to get dinner there...back to this! To 1460

640 AD - HR + religion + gift resource = friendly ragnar. If I keep my power rating with shaka, I'm immune to war (nobody has anything on their hands)!
700 Pacal gets the AP - I was kind of hoping it would be built on the other continent so I wouldn't have to deal with it. On the plus side, I already have tons of the religious buildings in place! Also, it does mean that if I wipe my continent clean I can shoot for AP diplo - cool.
730 As anticipated the courthouse completion + currency has shot me up to 50% science, 15 gpt, 135 BPT. I'm definitely running CE here so its all up from here. It's not great BPT but with careful tech choices/trade whoring with friendly AIs it will suffice, plus I'm far from stopping here anyway ;).

I also start to backfill cities.
760 I actually manage to found taoism. Time to whore philo around a bit!
900 At some point shaka vassaled to ragnar, which means my first target once I get the military power is buddhist founder Pacal. It won't even drop ragnar out of friendly ^_^.
990 I get CS and revolt to bureaucracy
1050 I beat my neighbors to paper and start on sankore. Yay. Pacal is 6 turns from gunpowder :(. Nay. 15 turns on education (just started it) and beelining lib.
1150 Univ of sankore completed :). I'm at 300 BPT now.
1180 I beat pacal to education by 3 turns. Lib race may just be a bit tight.
1210 Pacal completes his shrine :p.
1230 How is pacal researching so fast? He only has 5 turns on liberalism, much faster than me event at 328 bpt! Ah, but since I had a head start...I'm going to win by a turn ;).
1255 I meet hammy. The other continent is behind, somehow.
1260 I win liberalism (by 3 turns actually, apparently pacal was going with deficit spending). I take nationalism, mostly because nobody has it so I can trade it. No marble for taj :(. I'm pretty big though so I might try for it anyway.

I gift hammy 50 gold and trade him education for backfill :p. I also trade lib to Pacal for theology (haha pacal, you give me tech) and to ragnar for guilds. Hammy gives me his map in the deal too...
1285 Shaka renounces protection of ragnar. Oh joy. I need to spam out some military then to protect myself.
1295 He vassaled to ragnar again :rolleyes:
1355 Meet izzy - hindu like hammy. Only ottomans are left. Izzy is way behind.
1385 I meet mehmed - he's teched as if he were isolated thanks to him being the only jewish leader. It's actually pretty tempting to hit him ASAP but I want Pacal's shrine and Ragnar is a bit dangerous to border...it's gonna be a brawl on my continent :p.
1390 He captures a spanish city...I have no idea how. Many his swordsmen watch anime and can cut bullets in half.
1395 I grab democracy. Shaka breaks free again. I check for copper around the world. Pacal has only one :(. I revolt to emancipation/free market (HR I stay in for ragnar).
1420 Shaka declares on me instantly (no WHEOOHRN).
1425 AP stops the war :p.
1460 I'll cut this here. I don't think screen shots are necessary - I only backfilled a couple cities and teched. I have a massive tech lead on all but pacal/ragnar, and am currently just spamming some rifles to deal with shaka (he also has rifles thanks to the vikings, but I can grossly outproduce him and will do so soon). I'm getting 33 gpt and 684 BPT at 70% science and emancipation should push some more towns my way soon. If shaka doesn't vassal again he and pacal will be easy pickings- then and only then will I leave HR for US - it will just be a spam war against ragnar for the continent. The other continent is backwards/weak so my continent is FTW

Hi

Noble, marathon, around 1440 AD.

I moved 1 ne to get cows in cap's bfc. I started with a scout first to try and go on a goody hut binge. Good news 6 goody huts grabbed. Bad news 5 of them maps :( and the other one 73 gold.

The map has tons of elbow room but 3 very annoying neighbors. My tech is kinda like AH, AG, BW, masonry wheel, pottery. I settle my first few cities southwards to try and cut off the AI's. And then backfill in north later. I chop GW so I wont have to worry bout barbies coming at me from the north while I settle south.

I also manage to get 'mid's done. No bronze and with TWO AI's who have spearman uu's horseys aint gonna cut it so I tech IW so I can make swords and axes.

Things seem to be going ok. I am settling some nice cities. IW gets teched and then I start making units. Now one of my theorys of this game is a dead shaka is a good shaka so he at top of list. Plus I get lucky break as I am getting ready to attack he DoW's on Pac. So I am thinking coolies while his stacks are attacking Pac i dont have to worry too much for counter attack. That war goes go pretty much without a hitch. I kill off shaka take his best cities and get two GG's out of deal.

At this point I am just building up what I have. tech slider is pretyy low at this point but thanks to mids and free rep my beakers are still pretty good.

I settle some cities to north. manage to get HG, Notre Dame, GL. and Uni of sank built. I also manage to found Confu and Tao. But since both rags and pac are buddhist I wait till buddhism gets in my cities and convert to that.

I actually do pretty nice with gp's. My first gp was a spy so he got settled in moscow but after that 4 great scientists in a row. First one makes an academy in moscow, next one bulbs philosophy, next one bulbs paper, next one bulbs edu down to one turn so now I am thinking I am sitting pretty for lib race :).

Then halfway to lib rags DoW's on me :(. he takes one of my cities in first attack grrr. I have a decent sod stationed in last city I took from Shaka. I kept it there since it was on border near both pac and rags plus it was under BIGTIME culture pressure from pac's cap. I send it after rags nearest city whch has a good size garrison figuring if I kill it then war would be in my favor. BIG mistake. I had upgraded MOST of the stack to maces but NOT all and maces were ONLY upgrades I made my spears were still spears not pikes. So FIRST cats suicide on my stack. Then TONS of knights start attacking my weakend maces some die but a few win or retreat both of which are MURDER on my cats and trebs. I have to pull back and regroup. Meanwhile rags takes TWO more of my outskirts cities grrr. Not only was that failed attack pianful unit wise but it was SOOO ugly that THAt all by itself was enough for WW to start being a problem. My bigger cities are ALREADY starting to get unhappy faces. whats even worse is the cities he took were all in old zulu territory. After those 3 cities go down he starts attack two diff cities at once. And I am not 100% but it doesnt seem like even AFTER a civ is TOTALLY destroyed all the culture they placed on tthe tiles where they were stays behind. So even though shaka is dead and the battales on those two cities are in MY territory since some of shaka's culture still around it adds to ww. So even though after I lose those three cities I am now holding steady not losing any more and killing off invading stacks the ww is piling up which is slowing down making units.

But I finally get lib done and take gunpowder for free tech so i can make muskets to help counter rag's zerks.

Around this time another gp pops but instead of another GS it an GE. So after lib all done and gunpowder picked I tech towards nat. while all this is going on I am SLOWLY rebuilding army. I rebuild my stack enough to go back on attack and take one of rags cities. That good news. Badnews is rem how I said one reason for basing stack in city where it was cuz of culture pressure? well as soon as stack leaves to go take rag's city the city under pressure revolts grrrr.

So now it even slower to build up since a BIG chunk of units go to that city to keep it from flipping. By this time I am alos upping espionage slider on rags and building spies since LOTS of his cities have castles AND he built chicken pizza so I DONT wanna waste time trying to drop def with seige.

So next few turns are big loooong slog of me frantically building and whipping units to defend my cities from rags attacks and pacs culture and to reinforce my attack stack so it can get more cities. It takes awhile but I FINALLY build enough units to go on offense again and take two more cities. So war at this point is we each have taken 3 cities from each other. Only diff is rags took 3 lil border cities and I took 3 of his CORE cities including his cap :). By this time Nat is done. I use GE to rush Taj to start a GA. I KNOW most ppl hate GA's in wartime BUT only thing worse than a GA in middle of war is Anarchy in middle of war so as soon as Ga starts I switch to Police state and mercantilism. I dont go vas cuz my cap has a settled gg so I didnt want it to lose production on building units. I didnt go theo because those cities NOT building units are building theaters or temples ASAP to counter what ww police state isnt so I stuck with OR. Now with a GA fueling production rags is toast :). My first big stack is staying in Rag's old cap to make sure I keep it. It has GLH, Collossus, MoM and Chicken Pizza and TWO settled GG's so I dont wanna give it back. But I quickly get another stack going that takes another of rags cities PLUS retakes the 3 cities I lost at beginning. Rags is at point now where he ready to cap but he aint gonna be that lucky. He ticked me off so I am killing him to teach him a lesson, its for his own good so in way i am being nice and doing him a favor :).

Oh other things going. After Nat I teched optics and built caravals and won circumcised the globe race and now I am tech Mil Trad for Curriassors. So I have now met the other ai's on other continent.

Izzy built AP but she is christian and Mehmed and Ham are hindu so it wont be that big a deal i am hoping.

One wierd thing is Ham is able to open borders with me which I ASSUME means he have astronomy already BUT if he does he never made one single caraval since I never saw him until my ships reached his lands it just seems strange that he wouldnt build any ships and I dont think open borders would be an option unless he had astronmy and I dont think you can get to astronmy without teching optics frist. :/.

Anways thats it at this point. After rags is dead pac is next. I'm gonna feel nad about pac since he HAS been friendly most of game and even gave me drama and Theology free when i asked for em BUT he also refused to help me against Rags so i think it just gonna be best if I have whole continent to myself hehe :).

After that I guess I will try for conquest win. Mainly just cuz I dont wanna waste all thes sttled GG's. I settled one in moscow and two in antoher city. One of Shakas cities I captured had a gg settled so I settled another there. Then I got an event which put a gg in another city PLUS rags had two settled gg's in his cap. so right now I have THREE cities with 2 settled gg's and two others with one gg settled there and with imperialistic trait at least one more by time I get done with rags and pac isnt unrealisitic so that would mean FOUR cities all with equivalent of west point and it would be a shame to waste em :).

Kaytie

PS at rolo or bleys

I noticed in one of the spot reports someone did screenie of tech screen and it had list of will trade and wont trade AND something listed in cant trade. I always thought things only showed up on cant trade list if tech brokering is turned off. So does that mean it is turned off for this game?

@TMIT:
LOL you rush on a map that is just MADE for the peaceful REX. Love it! I waited until Cuirassiers to attack Shaka (MT off lib.) My war set will be posted within a little while :D

Heh - I'm playing along but cheating a bit because I'm, frankly, not that good. But I'm learning a HECK of a lot from shadowing this game. My spoiler tag is probably not appropriate here because i realize I AM cheating but I'm going to post it anyway.

I, uh... tried an earliesh rush. With less sucess. And ended up in a war with Shaka, Pacal and Rags. OK, bad plan - I made it through it sort of - I played it out that much, but I was SO FAR behind even using SE (which again I'm learning a lot about) my own continent much less the other that I rerolled because Shaka was also DoW on me every 10 turns and I just couldn't get the advantage.

Re-roll2 - Used Schwartz' excellent REX plan which I'm bad at because I tend to, even with creative, settle the filler cities first instead of the blocks. Given the reload I wonder why I'm so scared of my economy. In any evernt it was reload/play 2 and while it went better it wasn't for long, naturally.

I've not re-rolled 3 yet. Here's what I found in 2:

* I'm almost convinced that Noble is actually more of a handicaped level than the others. Maybe I should play Prince. They don't tech fast enough for you to take advantage of an alternate path (they either want to hang onto them and not trade or they just haven't gotten there yet)

* I did a lot better in trading, diplomacy than I though but referencing the earlier point, not as well as I'd hoped. SE worked and worked well - maybe I should have just followed the tech path of everyone else and punked 'em instead of waiting until they were ready to trade.

* Power level and whatnot was good for a good long time but see... I had tons of units and mixed units. They were just not appropriate for what everyone else teched (see point above) so after a while I was the backwards hick from Podunk.

* What made that worse was that Shaka vassallized Pacal and, well, everyone LOVED shaka... This was pretty much when I quit.

I'm sort of sad no one plays these as noble so I can learn - Schwartz was great for a while but then I outstripped him and the AI in techs and following along to see what happens sort of fell apart. Should I just ignore the fact that I lose on Noble more often than not and play Prince?

My last save is from this morning, I did most of this since but I didn't save, should have but didn't think of it.

I didn't build a lot of wonders (just GL and Parth) I just didn't ... I dunno! Maybe researching the tech path less traveled is a bad plan on Noble.

@schtick:
You make a lot of fair points. At noble, you can do more self-teching as opposed to trading. If you're watching my game you see how much I shuffle techs around to keep up after the opening REX. At Noble, you can usually outpace the AI the whole way with a good opening and solid economic play. The way to take advantage is to war when you're ahead (at any level, it's just easier to have the HUGE advantage at lower ones). You don't necessarily need to trade, if you get a tech advantage and are moving along faster than the AIs, just hold on to what you have, because trading is going to help them more than you.
I'll take a peek at the save there tomorrow and offer some advice if I can.

I noticed in one of the spot reports someone did screenie of tech screen and it had list of will trade and wont trade AND something listed in cant trade. I always thought things only showed up on cant trade list if tech brokering is turned off. So does that mean it is turned off for this game?
Its not on, there is nothing extra turned on at all in these (although you can choose Custom Scenario and turn those types of options on if you wish)

You get a "Cant trade" if you traded for a tech that opened another tech. For example, you trade with one AI for Hunting, then Archery will show up in the "Cant Trade" column for the rest of that turn. Next turn, those Cant Trade's move to either the "Will" or "Wont" column.

@ Schwartz:

You can take a look at my game. I hardly tech-traded at all since I have been at war up to this point. More info in the spoiler:

At 610 AD I'm the only one left on my continent. It's probably going to be several hundred years before I make contact with the other continent, so the next round should have a lot of info. on playing in isolation. I'll try to make my next report fairly thorough for the benefit of providing "rebuilding economy/teching in isolation" experience.

I'll take a peek at the save there tomorrow and offer some advice if I can.

While it might be nice (though likely embarassing) and I'd welcome it I'm not sure that you need to spend your time doing so. I do appreciate the offer though.

I'll put the rest in spoilers becuase I'm not sure what it gives away to others.

Basically with your post you confirmed what I sort of suspected, and thanks. Your REX plan was and probably still remains excellent and actually did help me a lot. I either sprawl too much or not enough and I think I sort of got a sense for it (and how to economically manage it) this game. So that was great.


I think my mistake at this level, given my city placement is really that I approached it from a "keeping it up with the Jones' when I should have treated it as "Get off my lawn!" to use some suburban metaphors.

I DO like the tech path I (ok, you) chose I just think maybe I would have fared better at this point by alternating learning trading techs and military ones that no one would trade. I think if I'd done that I would have had maybe tech parity but also closer military parity (or at least better military foils) as well and some few trading morsels not to mention some useful SE wonders.

Maybe Noble's just a zigzag.

As for the warring to take advatage - it almost seemed to make sense (or maybe I was just a chicken after the first bad play or maybe I just need to go kill rolo) to simply tech out and wait out the Holkan/Impi usefulness. Granted that would put me in Berserker range but if I had XBows I could mitigate a lot of that, no?

Maybe the plan should have been to beeline (and by beeline at Noble I man zigzag with a focus) machinery for the mix of XBows/Axes to mitigate the Holkan/Impi/and later, with his distance, Berserkers. as well as get some coastal cities building some triremes for the probably necessary coastal defense from our friend Rags? But also try to pick up some out of the way techs for trading/wonders/stuff and backfilling.

Maybe?

Thanks for the template to follow and the follow up info!

Well, since I normally play Noble and stumbled upon this topic I figured I'd give it a try :D

Game Options:
Speed: Epic
Difficulty: Noble
Settings: Choose Religions
DLL: Official 3.17 for first 60 turns; potential update for the unofficial patch since (might as well get some testing done :p)
Mods (All CustomAssets): BUG 3 (SVN revision 1116) with some personal tweaks, Event Signs 1.0 (landmark version for non-spoilers), Promotion-based unit naming (unreleased; more testing)

Note: I am playing the map as it appears when I load it; any tiles I can't actually see are considered spoilers and won't be factored into my decisions.

Report for 4000 BC - 1425 BC:
Capital: My scout started 2S 1W of the settler meaning the only resource I could see was the corn. Took him further south, revealing a cow and a hut which popped 55 gold. Since I wanted to get the cow in the radius and settle on the river, I moved the settler 1 S. Settling reveals some pigs too meaning major food in Moscow.

Capital Builds: Warrior until 2 pop, then switch to worker, finish warrior. following that: scout & 2 warriors until size 5 then settler, warrior, settler, granary (whipped), settler, settler, barracks, worker, settler, archer. Either 2 or 3 of the settlers were helped by a forest chop.

Moscow at first border pop:

http://www.isarapix.org/pix67/1218690027.jpg


Tech: First went for Agr & AH because of my resources. Next went with Wheel to help hook up resources, but given the cows were on the river that wasn't the smartest move. Bronze next then Pottery mainly for granaries, Masonry since there's some stone around, Writing for libraries (although I still haven't built any). Following that, picked up Fishing & Sailing for the trade route ability since all but one of my cities are on rivers. Also hoping that Pacal's religion will spread to me. In-progress research is Iron Working for clearing jungles and hopefully decent units since there's no copper nearby. A

Exploration/Rivals: Since my scout was already south, he kept going. Quickly met Shaka then bumped into Ragnar's scout and Pacal's border. He explored most of the South during my set and has recently gone back to reveal anything more that he can. My second scout explored the North.

Shaka went back and forth between Annoyed & Cautious with me, others are also cautious. Pacal founded the first world religion (Islam) and it's spread to Shaka already so they've got a mini-lovefest going on. 2 other religions (Christianity early, Confucianism recently) have been founded "in a distant land" and I'm guessing both are on the other continent(s) as I haven't seen any evidence of them yet. Pacal might have done Confucianism though; I can't quite see Mutal.

Expansion: Waiting for Moscow to hit size 5 started me off a little slowly but I went nuts after that and have 6 cities at the end of the set. The turn 100 history lesson puts me first with Pacal (he must have a huge capital and/or went expanding to the South) and Shaka right behind.

http://www.isarapix.org/pix86/1218691475.jpg

First city was put in the South near Shaka to grab Banana & Dyes and block him off since he had already founded his second city to his East. Next city grabbed the stone and rice to Moscow's SE and then 2 more cities went to block off Pacal. First can get 2 dyes and bananas if it can fight off Mutal's culture; second grabs the gems and cows along the East coast. I thought of settling that one 3 further South to get the rice, but that would also be in cultural danger & would be completely surrounded by Jungle. I also have other sources of rice. Final city of the set went along the West coast to grab the cows & wheat SW of Moscow. I preferred getting those in the BFC over getting the fish. After cultural expansion everyone else will be completely blocked from the North unless I open borders.

Cultural summary:

http://www.isarapix.org/pix38/1218692527.jpg


City Layout with resource flags (huge)

http://www.isarapix.org/pix99/1218692576.jpg

WONDERS: Pacal built Stonehenge in 2150 BC and Oracle went BIDL at 2025 BC. I normally get plagued by Wonder Addiction and I've resisted temptation so far while fueling the expansion. Stone'll be hooked up soon so that will test my resolve; it's very late to try the GW and pretty late to start the Mids even on Noble, but I might give one of them a go anyhow.


Overall Strategy: Well the first-round REXing is done so now my three priorities are military to get the power up (see power graph below) and fend off barbs, workers to get the land developed, and possibly whipping some libraries to get the research going again. Speaking of research, I'll probably head toward Math en route to Calendar for resources and CoL for courthouses. Huts got me up to around 400 gold which funded research @ 100% until about the 5th city and I'm now at 70% losing 10gpt on a treasury of 160. Next turnset I'll probably drop the slider a bit more, especially if I can get some libraries running. All these food resources seem to be begging for a Specialist Economy which is something I'm not good at, so this could be an interesting game.
http://www.isarapix.org/pix54/1218692923.jpg


BUG Log:

Logging by BUG Mod 3.0 (BtS 3.13-3.17)
------------------------------------------------
[b]Turn 0/750 (4000 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:04:25]
Tribal village results: a little gold

Turn 1/750 (3975 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:10:47]
Moscow founded
Moscow begins: Warrior (22 turns)
Research begun: Agriculture (12 Turns)
Research begun: Animal Husbandry (12 Turns)

Turn 4/750 (3900 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:31:20]

After End Turn:
Moscow's borders expand

Turn 5/750 (3875 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:31:39]
Contact made: Zulu Empire

Turn 10/750 (3750 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:35:34]
Contact made: Viking Empire

Turn 11/750 (3725 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:36:29]
Contact made: Maya Empire

After End Turn:
Tech research finished: Agriculture
Moscow grows to size 2

Turn 12/750 (3700 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:36:52]
Moscow begins: Worker (18 turns)

Other Player Actions:
Islam founded in a distant land
While defending in the wild, Scout (1.00/1) defeats Barbarian Lion (Prob Victory: 79.5%)

Other Player Actions:
State Religion Change: Pacal II (Maya) from 'no State Religion' to 'Islam'

Other Player Actions:
Attitude Change: Shaka (Zululand) towards Pacal II (Maya), from 'Cautious' to 'Pleased'

Other Player Actions:
While defending in the wild, Scout (1.00/1) defeats Barbarian Bear (Prob Victory: 50.0%)

Other Player Actions:
Attitude Change: Shaka (Zululand) towards Pacal II (Maya), from 'Pleased' to 'Cautious'

Other Player Actions:
Christianity founded in a distant land

Other Player Actions:
Attitude Change: Shaka (Zululand) towards Pacal II (Maya), from 'Cautious' to 'Pleased'

Turn 24/750 (3400 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:44:27]

After End Turn:
Tech research finished: Animal Husbandry

Other Player Actions:
Attitude Change: Shaka (Zululand) towards Catherine (Russia), from 'Cautious' to 'Annoyed'

Turn 25/750 (3375 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:44:42]
Research begun: The Wheel (10 Turns)

Other Player Actions:
Attitude Change: Shaka (Zululand) towards Catherine (Russia), from 'Annoyed' to 'Cautious'

Other Player Actions:
Civics Change: Shaka(Zululand) from 'Tribalism' to 'Slavery'

Turn 29/750 (3275 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:45:42]

After End Turn:
Moscow finishes: Worker

Turn 33/750 (3175 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:47:36]

After End Turn:
Tech research finished: The Wheel

Turn 34/750 (3150 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:47:51]
Research begun: Bronze Working (17 Turns)

Other Player Actions:
Attitude Change: Shaka (Zululand) towards Pacal II (Maya), from 'Pleased' to 'Cautious'

Turn 36/750 (3100 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:57:28]
A Pasture was built near Moscow

Turn 37/750 (3075 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:57:44]

After End Turn:
Moscow finishes: Warrior

Turn 38/750 (3050 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:58:13]
Moscow begins: Scout (6 turns)

After End Turn:
Moscow's borders expand

Turn 40/750 (3000 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:58:54]

After End Turn:
Moscow grows to size 3

Turn 42/750 (2950 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:59:26]

After End Turn:
Moscow finishes: Scout

Turn 43/750 (2925 BC) [12-Aug-2008 23:59:34]
Moscow begins: Warrior (6 turns)
A Pasture was built near Moscow

Turn 44/750 (2900 BC) [13-Aug-2008 00:01:23]
Tribal village results: lots of gold

Turn 46/750 (2850 BC) [13-Aug-2008 00:02:08]

After End Turn:
Moscow grows to size 4

Turn 47/750 (2825 BC) [13-Aug-2008 00:02:37]

After End Turn:
Moscow finishes: Warrior

Turn 48/750 (2800 BC) [13-Aug-2008 00:03:45]
Moscow begins: Warrior (4 turns)

Turn 49/750 (2775 BC) [13-Aug-2008 00:04:41]
Tribal village results: lots of gold

Turn 50/750 (2750 BC) [13-Aug-2008 00:05:02]

After End Turn:
Tech research finished: Bronze Working
Moscow finishes: Warrior

Other Player Actions:
Civics Change: Pacal II(Maya) from 'Tribalism' to 'Slavery'

Turn 51/750 (2725 BC) [13-Aug-2008 00:05:24]
Research begun: Pottery (154 Turns)
Moscow begins: Warrior (23 turns)

Other Player Actions:
Civics Change: Catherine(Russia) from 'Tribalism' to 'Slavery'

Turn 53/750 (2675 BC) [13-Aug-2008 00:07:25]
Tribal village results: map

Other Player Actions:
While defending in the wild, Warrior (1.44/2) defeats Barbarian Panther (Prob Victory: 99.1%)

Turn 54/750 (2650 BC) [13-Aug-2008 00:08:13]

After End Turn:
Moscow grows to size 5

Turn 55/750 (2625 BC) [13-Aug-2008 00:08:47]
Moscow begins: Settler (9 turns)

Turn 56/750 (2600 BC) [13-Aug-2008 00:09:38]
A Farm was built near Moscow

Turn 57/750 (2575 BC) [13-Aug-2008 00:10:10]
Tribal village results: lots of gold

Other Player Actions:
Attitude Change: Shaka (Zululand) towards Catherine (Russia), from 'Cautious' to 'Annoyed'

Other Player Actions:
While defending in the wild near uMgungundlovu, Warrior (1.74/2) defeats Barbarian Panther (Prob Victory: 99.5%)
While defending in the wild, Warrior (1.70/2) defeats Barbarian Lion (Prob Victory: 96.7%)
Attitude Change: Shaka (Zululand) towards Catherine (Russia), from 'Annoyed' to 'Cautious'

Logging by BUG Mod 3.0 (BtS 3.13-3.17)
------------------------------------------------
[b]Turn 61/750 (2475 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:15:35]

Turn 62/750 (2450 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:19:35]

After End Turn:
Tech research finished: Pottery
Moscow finishes: Settler

Other Player Actions:
While defending in the wild near uMgungundlovu, Warrior (1.44/2) defeats Barbarian Lion (Prob Victory: 99.1%)
Civics Change: Ragnar(Vikings) from 'Tribalism' to 'Slavery'

Turn 63/750 (2425 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:20:24]
Research begun: Masonry (12 Turns)

After End Turn:
Moscow finishes: Warrior

Other Player Actions:
Attitude Change: Shaka (Zululand) towards Pacal II (Maya), from 'Cautious' to 'Pleased'

Turn 64/750 (2400 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:25:06]
Moscow begins: Granary (12 turns)
Moscow begins: Settler (8 turns)

Other Player Actions:
While defending in the wild, Warrior (1.90/2) defeats Barbarian Panther (Prob Victory: 96.1%)

Turn 68/750 (2300 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:30:08]
St. Petersburg founded
St. Petersburg begins: Worker (30 turns)

After End Turn:
Moscow finishes: Settler

Other Player Actions:
State Religion Change: Shaka (Zululand) from 'no State Religion' to 'Islam'

Turn 69/750 (2275 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:31:04]
Moscow begins: Granary (12 turns)

Turn 72/750 (2200 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:33:32]

After End Turn:
The whip was applied in Moscow
Moscow grows to size 4
Moscow finishes: Granary

Turn 73/750 (2175 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:46:52]
Moscow begins: Barracks (11 turns)
Novgorod founded
Novgorod begins: Warrior (11 turns)

After End Turn:
Tech research finished: Masonry

Turn 74/750 (2150 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:47:50]
Research begun: Archery (6 Turns)
A Mine was built near Moscow

Turn 75/750 (2125 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:49:07]

After End Turn:
St. Petersburg's borders expand

Turn 76/750 (2100 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:50:30]
Moscow begins: Settler (8 turns)

Turn 79/750 (2025 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:51:42]

After End Turn:
Tech research finished: Archery

Turn 80/750 (2000 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:52:06]
Research begun: Writing (10 Turns)

After End Turn:
Novgorod's borders expand

Turn 81/750 (1975 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:52:44]

After End Turn:
Moscow finishes: Settler

Turn 82/750 (1950 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:53:16]
Moscow begins: Settler (8 turns)

Turn 83/750 (1925 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:53:55]

After End Turn:
The whip was applied in Moscow
Moscow grows to size 3
Moscow finishes: Settler
Novgorod grows to size 2
Novgorod finishes: Warrior

Other Player Actions:
Confucianism founded in a distant land

Turn 84/750 (1900 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:54:26]
Novgorod begins: Warrior (11 turns)

After End Turn:
Moscow finishes: Barracks

Turn 85/750 (1875 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:55:21]
Moscow begins: Archer (8 turns)
Moscow begins: Worker (7 turns)

Turn 86/750 (1850 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:55:57]
Scout promoted: Combat I

Turn 87/750 (1825 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:56:38]
A Mine was built near Moscow

After End Turn:
Whip anger has decreased in Moscow

Turn 88/750 (1800 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:57:03]
Rostov founded
Rostov begins: Granary (30 turns)

Turn 89/750 (1775 BC) [13-Aug-2008 23:58:14]

After End Turn:
Tech research finished: Writing

Turn 90/750 (1750 BC) [14-Aug-2008 00:00:46]
Research begun: Fishing (3 Turns)
Research begun: Sailing (3 Turns)
Yaroslavl' founded
Yaroslavl' begins: Granary (45 turns)

After End Turn:
Moscow finishes: Worker

Turn 91/750 (1725 BC) [14-Aug-2008 00:01:50]
Moscow begins: Archer (10 turns)

After End Turn:
Moscow grows to size 4

Turn 92/750 (1700 BC) [14-Aug-2008 00:02:47]

After End Turn:
Tech research finished: Fishing
Novgorod grows to size 3

Turn 93/750 (1675 BC) [14-Aug-2008 00:03:40]
Moscow begins: Settler (8 turns)

After End Turn:
Novgorod finishes: Warrior

Turn 94/750 (1650 BC) [14-Aug-2008 00:05:05]
Novgorod begins: Worker (13 turns)

Turn 95/750 (1625 BC) [14-Aug-2008 00:05:41]

After End Turn:
Rostov's borders expand

Other Player Actions:
Attitude Change: Pacal II (Maya) towards Shaka (Zululand), from 'Pleased' to 'Friendly'
Attitude Change: Ragnar (Vikings) towards Pacal II (Maya), from 'Cautious' to 'Pleased'

Other Player Actions:
Attitude Change: Pacal II (Maya) towards Shaka (Zululand), from 'Friendly' to 'Pleased'

Turn 97/750 (1575 BC) [14-Aug-2008 00:07:09]

After End Turn:
Yaroslavl''s borders expand

Other Player Actions:
Attitude Change: Pacal II (Maya) towards Shaka (Zululand), from 'Pleased' to 'Friendly'

Turn 99/750 (1525 BC) [14-Aug-2008 00:08:48]

After End Turn:
Tech research finished: Sailing
St. Petersburg finishes: Worker

Turn 100/750 (1500 BC) [14-Aug-2008 00:09:28]
Research begun: Iron Working (19 Turns)
Research begun: Mathematics (19 Turns)
St. Petersburg begins: Granary (90 turns)

After End Turn:
Moscow finishes: Settler

Turn 101/750 (1475 BC) [14-Aug-2008 00:10:49]

After End Turn:
Moscow finishes: Archer

Turn 102/750 (1450 BC) [14-Aug-2008 00:13:16]
Moscow begins: Archer (6 turns)
Archer promoted: City Garrison I

After End Turn:
Whip anger has decreased in Moscow
Moscow grows to size 5

Turn 103/750 (1425 BC) [14-Aug-2008 00:15:51]
Yekaterinburg founded
Yekaterinburg begins: Granary (90 turns)

I'm lacking somewhat in updating my game here. Part of the reason for it is that I decided I wanted to reboot the game, part of it because I screwed up and lost the save.

So I admit, I restarted, I normally wouldn't do that in this kind of game but as it wasn't very far into the game and I tried to ignore my strategic knowledge learned from the first start.

Update will come this weekend, no time until then I'm afraid. I can say as much as I did redo my cityplacement strategy a bit.


The southern cities is now much more aggressively placed than last time, I jumped down early to beat Shaka to really be able to block him of, and the gems city got placed so I claimed rice+dye as well. It was decent as it was before but a bit foodshy pre civil service. Well, more to come in the update. New capital site a bit better located as well. Moscow though placed as last time, I liked that place ;)

Emp/Epic - to the end!

1495 Ragnar and shaka declare on hammy
1505 Pacal vassals to ragnar :(.
1525 I declare on Shaka and camp :).
1530 2 rifles and a TON of trebs enter my borders :p.
1590 I give hammy gold for peace.
1610 I finally go on the offensive, and shaka gets some really silly victories. But, I take a city.
1660 All of the cities that split my empire are mine (by the way, I'm just using rifles + spies here and teching normally, almost 800 BPT headed for infantry which I'll now have in 2 turns). Why did I declare on shaka? I was afraid he'd vassal to ragnar again.
1670 I can now make infantry, headed for arty.
1730 Golden age, US, FS, Eman., SP, Theo. Final civics!
1742 Shaka is eliminated.

The next step in the process is getting my power back up near/past ragnar's. He's slightly ahead of me in tech but nothing meaningful (electricity, no combustion so nowhere near tanks for example). Massed infantry/arty should do the job.

1758 AP vote comes up and everyone but me votes for Pacal. I'm the resident :lol:. Die die die! I decide I'm going to beeline the internet, turn the slider off, and go for ragnar...the whole while massing infantry (which he likely won't manage a true counter to in time).

1774 1119 BPT at 70% science 10% culture. -26 gpt but I have 2.7k. I'm just massing troops while teching, looking good here.

1796 I declare on maya/vikings with .6 viking power and 1.2 mayan. Why? Well, they've been at war with babylon overseas for longer than I'd been with shaka. I checked their land and there's no SoD that will hold up to my 29 infantry/21 arty stack. Un oh :).

1826 - the war is hell. Vikings swept 4 of the former zulu cities, and the siege at mutal stalled because Pacal continuously finds troops out of nowhere. However, ragnar extended his SoD a bit much and after capturing one of the russian cities it was clipped :). I've taken 2 of Pacal's cities and am about to take the capitol - I need to wipe pacal out entirely and that will drop my WW to almost nothing (and get me a lot of power wonders). I might take a breather with ragnar then, but probably not - all of my fighting with him has been on russian soil.

1830 Mutal falls.
1838 The war rages on:
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk134/themelnteam/nc%20cathy/1838defensefront0000.jpg

This is the path Ragnar used on his offensive, his stack took the bottom city and worked up, taking quite a few of my cities.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk134/themelnteam/nc%20cathy/1838offensefront0000.jpg

I went for the Shrine and to wipe out ragnar's vassal, but also switched to massive rush buy to deal with the defensive front so that this stack could continue to attack enemy cities.

1841 Retake Bulawayo...I'm going to win this!
1845 I have all but 1 conquested zulu city back, and all but 2 of pacal's cities. I actually have 231 turns left on plastics, reason being that I had to give up the internet idea (for now) to capitalize on the opportunity to mass rush buy before ragnar or pacal got flight/industrialism. Pacal actually has the latter now, but it's too late!
1850 Paratroopers, eh pacal? Too bad you can't afford to be offensive with your 2 paratroopers, or you'd have even less defending your cities...
1851 I have 1.2 viking power and 5.2 mayan :lol:.
1853 WHAT? Izzy declares on me? Izzy...no :(. I didn't want you to die. I really didn't :(. Same turn, Pacal is gone! No more mayans.
1856 I've mostly ignored spain...um...exactly what can she attack infantry with while lacking both assembly line and rifling :lol:? Cuirassers are excellent units until they're up against tanks!
1858 Izzy sees the light, handing me some minor gold for peace after doing nothing...I think she suicided some units into a city I took from ragnar.
1859 One funny thing is that the vikings won't capitulate yet. By now, their vassal is gone, they've gone from a power advantage to having me 2.0 power to them...and my side forces are marching on nidaros. What more do you want?
1866 Every Viking city on the continent is mine. He didn't capitulate when I wanted him to so he had to wait till I had all continental cities.
1867 It seems like a pain to mass a navy. I don't think I've won space in NC yet. I'll go space.
1868 All cities build wealth because I'm lazy. I set slider to 100% - I also use the captured cristo redentor to swap into rep/free religion - 2719 BPT with very little gold loss (not bad when you have 12k gold).
1900 I went from a lot of turns on plastic, to fusion in that time period ;).
1909 I complete the internet.
1924 Izzy completes the apollo program before me. Too bad I have 1 more tech before I can just go mass media or future tech...
1935 I complete apollo program and every city builds a part :p. I automate workers, set all cities to emphasize hammers, and turn "leave old improvements" off so they spam workshops everywhere.
1945 Izzy declares war and takes a city, which wasn't even building a part. I take it back promptly.
1948 Izzy gives me a LOT of goods for peace :p.
1950 Internet gives me mass media - I have every tech in the game! I'm researching future tech 8.
1953 I launch a ship that had EVERY SINGLE PART BUILT AT THE SAME TIME. Izzy made a docking bay. Hammy has a bay and a life support. Izzy has too much on her hands again, but 15 turns to do something about the launch!

And...

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk134/themelnteam/nc%20cathy/1960spaceracewin0000.jpg

Izzy chose to DoW hammy, apparently trying to tie up 2nd place after getting mauled when attacking me.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk134/themelnteam/nc%20cathy/infoscreen0000.jpg

Yeah I make a lot of stuff. This is either my longest or 2nd longest game ever - kind of a large land mass, no naval strikes, and I went for slooooooow space lol.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk134/themelnteam/nc%20cathy/score0000.jpg

Winning late also gives crap scores but so what. OK, I've won every victory type on emperor now except culture and time (and I don't care about time). If 3.17 didn't break the spread culture mission I'd have gone with that approach, but next NC game I'll probably try to win culture on emperor before moving up to immortal.

BUG mod is very nice, especially for whipping and potential trades/power rating/diplo...man diplo and making enough troops is SO EASY with it :p.


Edit: I have the pics in now...not too many. Wasn't much to see, just a lot of war until later on. If you really want to see big copy/paste stacks I can accommodate another time...

Hello, I'm new here, but I've been lurking since buying Civ4 last month (somehow, I never stumbled upon any community sites when I played Civ3!) I've been working my way up to Noble since then, and only just feel that I've got a strong enough grasp of the game to give it a shot (this is actually only my second Noble game). I just want to say thanks for running a series of threads like this! They are very helpful. I noticed this game today, and I figured I'd sign up and give it a go, especially as Cathy was one of my favourite leaders in vanilla civ4, and I've yet to play her since buying BtS. :)

I'm a bit nervous about moving up to Noble, as I've never been the greatest Civ player, but I've been practicing core skills like specializing cities, tech trading, and war (which has always been one of my weakest things, I found playing a raging barbarians, aggressive AI game as Japan to be VERY helpful there), so I'm hopeful at least. Anyway, I'll be playing on Epic speed.


4000BC-2075BC

Tech path: Animal Husbandry, Agriculture, Bronze Working, Wheel, Archery, Pottery, Mysticism, Masonry

Notes: I decided to go with animal husbandry first due to there being cows and pigs in the BFC to the one corn tile. Bronze working right after for obvious reasons, and then the Wheel so I could get a start at connecting up resources and my cities. I went with Archery next as I was feeling a bit vulnerable, but it probably could have waited as I didn't actually start building them for quite a few turns after (choosing to go for workers instead to get everything hooked up and tiles improved).

Mysticism may have been a mistake, but my thoughts were a cheap stonehenge (I have stone at St Petersburg) to speed up border pops even more, as my thought was to build a couple cities southward as soon as possible to cut off the AIs, but after thinking about it some more, I don't think that's really feasible, given how wide the continent is there. Plus, I want open borders with Pacal so he can spread his religion. Instead, I'll be going with the Great Wall for Great Spy points (hence masonry), and to protect me from barbarians to give me more time to expand and build up an infrastructure before building any kind of serious army. My hope is to use Pacal and Shaka as a buffer against Ragnar until then, as well.

Where to go from here? I'm not really sure. I know I want to make a priority of Alphabet so I can start working on spies. I want to make use of espionage and diplomacy to keep myself strong and safe for the forseeable future. I want to try to focus on building up a strong economy and infrastructure, and delay warring on my part until infantry (and possibly cossacks), and just make a big land grab all at once. I'll probably go for a space victory, or possibly Diplomatic if I get the population. After alphabet though, I'm not really sure what to prioritize next. I know I don't plan to go after any religions (hoping to rely on Pacal there), but i still want to get Organized Religion once Pacal's religion does spread, and with this much food, I could really use the happiness.

Builds:

Moscow: scout, warrior, worker, barracks (one chop added, to make a mine, this allowed moscow to grow to size 3 or 4), settler, settler, worker, worker
St Petersburg: warrior
Novograd: Archer

I went with a scout first so I could quickly reveal the whole continent, and make a grab for as many huts as possible, which really worked out, as it got me a nice buffer of gold to run a deficit on. I delayed settlers a bit, to let Moscow grow, so it could run all the big food tiles, and the one grassland hill mine, making for some very fast settlers. Moscow's now at the happy cap, but I'm hoping to expand quickly to the south, to pick up gems, and hopefully dyes. It's a bit risky though, as the latter is sure to cause border tensions, and the AI's are going to want that land, as the land to their south is fraught with desert.

Future Plans:
Moscow: an archer or two, then the Great Wall (once stone is hooked up and then I'll chop a bit as well to hurry it along to make sure I get it)
St Petersburg: probably a granary or barracks first, then I'll get to work on some archers and another settler
Novograd: definitely a granery (this city is begging for some whipping, lots of food available (3 flood plains, cows, and wheat)), This will likely be a cottage city, and I'l lprobably use it as a worker/settler farm for a bit. I want to get cottages up fast here to minimize my research deficit, but the large amout of gold I got from huts will run research for a long time (over 500 gold from huts!).

Here's my fledgling epire as it stands in 2075BC:
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/2075/ncxicatherineoverveiw20ie6.jpg

I've also set up a tentative dot-map, thoughts? The main problem with the south is the amount of jungle, which would make iron working a priority, and of course, the closeness of AI capitals.

Main goals right now are to get upgrading those city tiles ASAP, and start pumping out some archers, just so I don't invite a war for being weak, and add at least 2 more cities shortly.

Monarch/Normal - to 1978AD


Wiped the floor with Pacal ealry AD's, he was banished to vandal.
played peacefully to Lib, around 1200ad. had a good tech lead - strangely. :confused:
twice shaka - AP builder and resisdant declared on me, the next turn he pops a vote to end the war. 20 turns later he tries again, straight off he calls a resoution for peace. why, oh why or why?

still got a mssive tech lead, so i head towards rifles. then Shaka invades again with Grendairs, so i run for Assembly. By this time i've discovered optics (1540AD) so find the other contitnet. Yep, there all backwards, hammy is the most advance, and a vassal. to Izzy. Mehmeds just plain thick.

hit Ass Line, and steel. Quickly vasslize Shaka and Pacal, pacal was unwilling to capitualte, but straight after peace, i return to diplo screen and he gives it fro free. The AI is well focked up. Settle level AI imho.

To be honest i was bored stiff after Lib and crusied throught the rest of the game. micromangement went to pot, in the end i built weath in all citeis till i had the techs for space. i couldn;t even be arsed to invade Ragnar - my tanks were on his border, eyeing up his riflemen!!

In the end i had a vey easy space victory. The bonuses on this map were generous ;)

I've never seen AI behave like it did on this map, i'll be playing future nobles club maps on Immortal level me thinks.
Noble bonuses and settler level AI? I'll wait a week to find out :goodjob:


All in all a very enjoyable map, perfect for lower level players although not so challenging at the higher levels,

For a Nobles Club perhaps it was little too easy? Maybe wise to wait for Noble feedback though. ;)

Thanks to Rolo and Bleys. :goodjob:

@KingMorgan:
This map may indeed be a bit "easy" for players above Prince level, but believe it or not, there are many issues that Noble level players struggle with here. Its very easy to over-REX and crash your economy with so much land. The dot-map isnt the easiest either, and although there arent many "bad" spots, there are definitely some layouts that are stronger than others. The neighbors arent exactly Peaches and Creme either, Pacal is a known REXing techer, Shaka can get a pile of cities out too, and can be hard to deal with diplomatically, and Rags is one of the biggest backstabbers in the game.

Many of these problems are ones that Monarch+ players are used to dealing with, but at Noble . . . its a tad trickier. Over-REXing is especially dangerous here, all that land, and playing up a level of difficulty can make that even more painful than a player may be used too.

In addition, the last couple NC games were more difficult, so I sort of wanted an "easier" one this round. If you want to be challenged, try NC IX-Jaoa or NC X-Zara. Both of those maps had more challenges than this one.

@Bleys


Thanks for the info, it has surprised me, the differences in the levels, I'm certian Noble level play was alot harder in the past! I've only just moved from Prince to Monarch so was expecting a harder time.

i'll certainly be partcipating in Monarch/Emp games from now on.

500 AD debriefing.

Six cities I have; a possible plan of action, other than eschewing a cultural victory and surviving swords and spears, I do not have.

Things went swimmingly well, though as it turned out somnolently, until 25 BC. The Pyramids were chopped for HR, HBR was achieved for a future war, the eastern gem city was placed for the dye/rice (greed or hubris?) and a connecting city was built 1N of the central rice. The economy was going south in a hurry but I ditched some surplus units and such and still held the power/soldiers #1 rating.
Then, Shaka shows up with 4 Swords and 4 Impis in his little border town while the all-garrisoned Russian army boasted but 7 Archers, 7 Axemen and 3 Chariots. Manageable, but for the sleep-at-the-switch factor. Shaka becomes a co-religionist with Pacal II and Ragnar. The response of axemen building, a few poor trades, letting Pacal II spread Confucianism and converting did some grand good as in 200 AD Shaka declared war on Ragnar. Unfortunately, Ragnar lost his 2nd city and I felt it neccessary to declare war on Shaka in 325 AD. The Russians raised a city at expense with a poor troop mix.
So rather than a plan, I have an intention. There is a defensive position near his western cow/banana city where I can hold-up waiting for the building Cats and such while continuing an essentially opportunistic war. (If only I had Cossacks, Rifles and Cannons, it's reasonable to believe Shaka would be done like a dinner).

If anyone is in the advice business, Moscow has just been blessed with a Great Engineer. The two available wonders - Chichen Itza and the Mausoleum of Mausollos - don't strike me as world beaters. Aesthetics is certain in 3 turns allowing the Statue of Zeus and I have two of the three monuments; the LB is Machinery and Crossbows would be useful. Thoughts?

@GGS
I would burn him on the Mausoleum of Mausollos. If you get 2 Golden Ages it is like turning that Engineer into a third one. And a third Golden Age makes him worth 1.5 GAs and thus the best use for him

KingMorgan, remember, these maps are sort of "Monarch Light" because the AIs do not start with Archery. That slows them down a bit, so dont use these maps as a gauge for the speed of the Monarch AI. Without Archery, they have to tech it themselves, and that makes them late on just about everything else.

I've played through till 800AD, Still not sure quite where I'm heading or what the plan is... but here's my report.

Update - 800AD - Prince/Epic


2000BC - 800AD

After finishing off Pottery my tech path was Ironworking > Fishing > Alpha > Maths > Sailing > Calander > CoL

I missed one of my sourthern city sites, but just about grabbed the other two. Guess I was too slow out of the blocks.

I decided to go Calander before currency to get those Dye's going as I was a bit desperate to get my economy going. I made a stab at the Pyramids and missed them by 3 turns :( but this turned out okay, it gave me a huge wedge of cash and allowed me to push up the slider up and settle more cities :). I then went down the Aesthetics/Lit route before teching Civilservice.

Diplomacy is fairly simple as me, shaka, pacal and ragnar are all buddist so were just a big bunch o happy civ's for the moment.

The best thing is though I'm managing to keep up with shaka power-wise and have an okay military comprising of mainly axes and cats plus a bunch of archers for home defense. Right now I'm torn between waging a war or switching to hereditary rule and spreading out my forces. Probably go with hereditary rule whilst maintaining my army then just wait for a war to start then turn on the aggressor.


Here's how the maps lookin,

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk316/groogart/GrooNCIX800ad_01.jpg

Tech,

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk316/groogart/GrooNCIX800ad_02.jpg

and power,

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk316/groogart/GrooNCIX800ad_03.jpg


I'm away for a few days so I won't get to play this one out till after the weekend. :cry:

I will try my luck at this one. It will give me a chance to work on some of my weakest civ skills - expanding, war and diplo! LOL, just about everything.

Speed: EPIC
Difficulty: Noble

I don't have as much time as some people here so it will take me a couple of days to post some updates!

Emp/Epic --- 990AD - 1940AD ( Space victory )

Its lots of turns so i keep it simple.

After teching MT I started spamming culrassiers out so that i could take shaka out, but seems that he was faster and declared war against me 1220AD

shaka's stack:
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/riveri69/Civ4ScreenShot0023.jpg

I lost that city, took 5-10 turns to get enough culrassiers to kill his stack and get the city back. Soon enough I had enough to attack against shaka's own cities. Things got even easier when i got rifling done and i could upgrade to cossacks. I didnt have any artillery and it would have took too long to build enough that it would have been useful, so i put my espionage points to use and made few spies. Gotta love how fast cavalry + spies takes cities down ( specially when the opponent is way behind in techs ).

http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/riveri69/Civ4ScreenShot0026.jpg
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/riveri69/Civ4ScreenShot0027.jpg

Took abit over 20 turns to take down all shaka's cities.

1600ADish i Finally contacted all other civs, they all hated me and each others, so I didnt see any point on going for mass media and UN. Actually when hammurabi later on built UN, we couldnt even get leader for it, cause everyone just voted themselves or abstained. I think thats first time i see that happen.

Next 200 years AIs pretty much fight against each others, so i had enough time to beeline to tanks and get some defences. All those wars ruined also my relationships to all other Civs (traded with their enemy, didnt help etc ). And finally around 1800AD Mehmed ( and isabella who was his vasal ) declared war. It wasnt that bad cause he was on other continent and all what he got to my side was couple cavalries, which were easy to take down with tanks. Real problems started when Ragnar ( and pacal who was his vasal ) declared few turns later.

Their stacks:
Ragnar
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/riveri69/Civ4ScreenShot0032.jpg

and Pacal
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/riveri69/Civ4ScreenShot0033.jpg

Extra problem was, that the oil what you can see in pacal screenshot, is onlyone what i have so i really shouldnt loose that city.

Ragnar's stack was massive... 25 riflemen, close to 20 cavalries and those damn antitanks, but he had only 2 artilleries in whole stack. Also he devided the stack and attacked 2 of my cities at same time, i dont think i have seen AI doing that before. I just kept my tanks in cities and let ragnar attack, without artillery my tanks were really effective against his crappy units and when he used his antitank units my cussacks killed them, instead of me attacking his stack and getting first those antitank units against my tanks.

Anyway, i lost my border city, but took it back with tanks 10-15 turns later.

I also managed to defend my oil city so i could keep more tanks coming all the time. It was also nice to have so much defensive wars, so after i made my medic unit, i settled rest of them into my heroic epic city. Tank with 17xp every second turn is really nice :)

Made peace with mehmed and directed my tanks towards pacals cities, I also sent some spies with them for revolts. At this point, ragnar pretty much stopped trying to attack so i could concentrate on pacal with full force. He had high espionage level so my spies had lots of troubles getting successful revolts and i lost lots of tanks cause of that.
Pacal was down in 10-15turns:
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/riveri69/Civ4ScreenShot0035.jpg

After that I made peace with ragnar, didnt see any reason why i should attack against him, he still had lots of units left and i lost lot of tanks with pacal.

At this point i changed my civics for cottages, and beelined all space ship techs starting with the one what gives modern armor.

Next 100 turns were pretty boring, mehmed still tried to attack against me, now with much bigger stacks,but he always came to same spot, so it was easy to keep couple modernarmors and marinees waiting for his cavalry stacks :)

1946AD Space Victory, No one else was even near me in techs cause of their continuos warmongering against everyone.

http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/riveri69/Civ4ScreenShot0039.jpg

http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/riveri69/Civ4ScreenShot0038.jpg

It was interesting to play continents map for once. I usually pick pangaen in my own random games and neighbours are closer so that if they are aggresive like shaka i can rush them easier at the beginning and have good relationships with others.

Anyway, thanks for the game, i had fun.

2875 BC, Noble/Epic. I have built my 2nd warrior, have both AW and BW so can see where those resources are and aren't, and expect to soon build my first settler, having explored enough to be pretty sure the location of my 2nd city is within the area I've seen. So, do you think I'd learn more by posting my own dotmap before reading the spoilers, or should I scan through those first?

2875 BC, Noble/Epic. I have built my 2nd warrior, have both AW and BW so can see where those resources are and aren't, and expect to soon build my first settler, having explored enough to be pretty sure the location of my 2nd city is within the area I've seen. So, do you think I'd learn more by posting my own dotmap before reading the spoilers, or should I scan through those first?


Post or at least make your own dotmap before you look at the others. I made my dotmap first, and afterwards I looked through the spoilers. Some of my cities matched the others, but I missed some good production cities. I have to stop being so focused on making hybrid commerce cities.

Post or at least make your own dotmap before you look at the others.

I agree, or if your me... make your own dotmap, get advice/look at other others, then lose all your carefully planned cities to the AI because your too slow out of the blocks! :lol:

Yeah I'm lazy, and it's around 1200 AD.


Pacal voluntarily vassaled; I took it(not a smart move, but hey, I extorted a lot out of him)

Raggy and Shaka declared, attacking Pacal mainly. SO extremely stupid, and I took half of Shaka's empire before taking peace.

It's interesting to see whether players choose to run primarily cottages or specialists on this map. You can make a strong case for either and some of the games so far are showing it :p.

I've been posting here and there, but this is my first time really participating, here goes!



I messed up my initial screenshots so unfortunately I just have a state of the world screenie at 975bc.

Noble, normal speed, default settings.

4000 bc - My scout started right by a hut which revealed map and showed me the cows 1SE 2S of my start and the pigs on the hill and a couple grasslands with rivers next to that. I thought about settling 1SE to keep the food resources but swap some plains for river grasslands, but then decided I'd probably want the plains/hills production for my first city, as I usually end up pumping out a lot of units from my first city. So I settled 1S.

I set to work researching agriculture, as it took 7 turns and AH was like 11. Plan is to hook up one food resource while I get bronzeworking and locate some metals. Started building a warrior for lack of anything better.

Turn 9 - 3640 - Finished agriculture, grew to size 2 so I started on a worker. Researching BW

3560 - Hindu was founded somewhere in the world and a couple turns later...
3360 - Meet Pacal, and he happens to be the Hindu founder. Interesting... I see a war for the holy land in our future :ar15:

3320 - Buddhism founded. Seems a bit late.

3160 - Finished worker and BW, researching AH. Set worker to improve that corn. Unfortunately I don't see any copper anywhere and I have whole top portion above my starting area to where the tundra starts scouted, east to west, as well as east to west about 5 tiles south of my start. I might have to pick up IW sooner than usual.

2960 - Moscow hit size 3 so I started a settler, assisted by chopping.

2840 - AH finished and starting on IW.

2640 - Founded St. Petersburg. I went for the stone plus some floodplains and river grasslands. Figure this will be a nice cottage science city, with just a couple production tiles to get those improvements up. Notice (you can see in my state of the world screenie at end) that there's some overlap with Moscow. I usually overlap my cities at least 2-3 squares. It takes forever to get cities to work all the tiles, so it's usually not worth it to go out of the way for no overlap, and you end up wasting more land than it's worth.

2560 - Started my 2nd worker in Moscow. St petersburg is building a barracks since no granary is available.

2320 - I got the herb event and went for it, risking some population and unhappiness for a 90% chance at +2 health. It seems worth it- I have great food to regrow any pop I lose and the health will help much with these flood plains. Of course, this is noble difficulty so I probably dont *need* it all that much.

2200 - Finished IW and man am I glad to see some just NW of Moscow, within my borders. I set my workers to hooking it up.

2040 - Finished the wheel (snuck it in there) debated whether to go for masonry for the stone and stone wonders or pottery. Well I am creative so stonehenge is kinda useless. I don't have a religion, so don't need the prophet points, although pacal's hindu capitol is nearby. I decide to go for pottery because I really need to get some commerce and granaries going more than I need semi-useful wonders.

1960 - I found my 3rd city, novgorod, exactly 5 tiles east of st petes. No overlap here, novgorod seems perfectly suited to be a production powerhouse with two flood plains for food to support all those plain hills mines and later some waterwhees on plains.

Oh I ran into Shaka and Ragnar a while ago, nothing eventful about it.

1920 - Iron is finally hooked up. Took a while to build roads through those forests. Swap to slavery for whipping some units. I guess I could've been whipping sooner but none of my cities are happy capped except Moscow which just hit it.

1800 - Pottery is done, going for masonry now.
1760 - St petes hits size 3, switch to worker.
1640 - Going for writing.
1520 - Shaka founds his 3rd city just south of the two mountain tiles on the coast to my south west. Looks like there will be some competition for the middle map. I debated beelining to those dyes in the middle, but all those jungles are daunting, better to let the AI settle it and take their cities with my awesome production ones to the north pumping out units.

1400 - I have no religious techs at this point, and I'm pining for CoL. But, religious techs are easy to trader for, so I decide to do alphabet. It's only 14ish turns.

1320 - Both stonehenge and the oracle are built in far away lands.

1280 - Sign open borders with Shaka to scout his land. Pacal comes asking for them to and I accept. Rostov is also founded exactly 5 tiles west of St petes, no overlap. Now about Rostov's placement, I noticed a fish out there to the west that seemed juicy, but to get it I'd lose the cows. Now Shaka's city to the south could grab the cows, and I could capture his city, but it seemed like better overall placement to be barely on the coast and have some nice hills, grasslands and wheat, instead of trying to squeeze in a city later for the wheat and having a city with almost all coast squares (although moi statues would've worked there...) I don't really dot map, probably a major flaw in my game, but this seemed like the best spot for city no3.

1240 - Wow! So far Shaka's 2nd and 3rd cities have 2 unpromoted archers each and ulundi has 1 archer and 1 impi. He has access to iron, but man, weak military. I expected more from him... first time I've ever played him tbh, I only got BTS a week ago :cool: Shaka will probably be my first target, before he gets too big. Moscow is building swords as we speak, er write, er, you know what I mean.

1120 - Man I've bungled my whipping. I hate whipping away 1 pop cus that doesn't really solve happy problems, but I also hate empty queue whipping, and sometimes I just forget to whip altogether, like now. Moscow is size 6 and angry :mad: So I whip away 3 for a library. Take that you ungrateful wretches! Yeah, the next pop will still be angry, but whatever. Need to improve on my whipping for harder difficulties for sure.

975 - Nothing too eventful. My empire:

http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/8827/civ4screenshot0003cx6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Shaka's empire:
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/1848/civ4screenshot0004ro2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Power graph:

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/1255/civ4screenshot0002rc4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Surprisingly, I'm really close to Shaka and above pacal, with only 4 warriors, 1 sword and 2 axes. I guess 4 cities helps?

Tips appreciated, especially in regards to my city placement and whipping. What's next? Well I'm probably going to keep peacefully expanding north until cats and then cat/sword SoD shaka into oblivion. I'm thinking right around 1-200AD if everything goes right.

First off a warning i got a weird event i have never seen before but for 11g one of my Scouts showed me where all the oil reserves in the world were in the early ADs long before Scientific Method.

I started the round by blocking off the AIs from north and settling cities at a rate that kept me between 20% and 40% research but with the Great Library and Pyramids (Rep) i kept a good pace Research wise.

I founded both Confucianism and Taoism with Confucianism spreading like wildfire before Taoism showed up. 4 Religions were founded by unknown AIs other then grabbing a hand full of early wonders and religions nothing much has been done by them. I suspect they all have a religion and hate one another but the balance of power has been that no one will declare.

Ragnar declared on Pacal II while Confucianism was spreading but nothing came of it. I move my mobile stack to the border and was considering dog piling Pacal II when Shaka declared on me. I was ahead of him in power but i guess the cultural pressure was too much. Enough to get him going. I was mostly a paper tiger no real good units just a few swordsmen who i was going to pick off a couple of Pacal II's northern city with before he could reinforce them. I ended up teching Construction and Machinery with the Money I made from failing to get the MoM (Pacal II got it when i was 2 turns away). So i pushed Shaka off the mainland. He has 1 city left on a 1 tile island in the far south. I have no ships so i took a ceasefire as he has nothing i want.

My new lands.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185868&stc=1&d=1218769532

The PLAN
Since i am geared up for war and have a good number of CR3/Combat 1 or 2 Macemen I think i am going to declare on Pacal II asap. He just got fudalism and does not have very many Longbows. Once i wipe him out and get the MoM i am going to fire off my Great Artist for my first GA. While this is going on i am going to get nationalism and try for GA #2 during which time i will attempt to get to Rifling. I will then declare on Ragnar. I would like to make him my Vassal and then gift him back his Cities. Then I will declare on Shaka and let Ragnar take him out as i prepare an invasion force of Cossacks for the as yet unseen lands. Going for the domination win.

Pacal II main holding
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185873&stc=1&d=1218770220

I can hardly believe how well I am doing.

Any thoughts

sorry to be such a n00b.. but can someone define REX and REXing for me plz? lol i see it constantly and I have no clue what it is...

It is short for Rapid Expansion. IIRC it was ultra popular in Civ III due to how upkeep/maintenance worked in that one, though I barely played that version.

I'm sure you can use the above definition to get a feel for what REXing might stand for ;).

It is to be done with care in Civ IV due to maintenance mechanics, but it may be worthwhile especially if the land supports it. Certain leaders (imperialistic, organized, financial, creative, and expansive for different reasons) are better at it than others. Catherine, holding 2 of those traits, is among the best at REX in the game, which is one of the reasons she's usually a dangerous AI (along with her questionable AI personality :)).

thanks TheMeInTeam

I assumed the acronym was Rapid Expansion, but i dont understand the logistics to it..
Pretty much, pump out cities without crushing ur economy?

"without crushing economy" is open to interpretation.

That's the idea though, expand as quickly as possible, although try avoid strike and keep a serviceable research level.

Appropriate expansion timing deserves its own article probably, and opinions differ as to how much is too much. This game wasn't the first or the last that I was losing money at one point with 0% research pre-currency, but to do that without meeting drastic consequences you need a pretty good feel for what the tiles do for you and what will get keep you from going into strike at least. Just remember that even if an economy looks bad at the moment if you can secure enough *improved* land and enough :) to support working those tiles, you'll catch up eventually. Diplomacy comes in there though too - you don't want to die ever, and that includes before catching up!

Rave69 and I won in very similar fashion at the same difficulty and speed, but the openings and even mid-game looked completely different! It's one of the things I love about this game - the variety in approaches and solutions, often allowing a player to pick something that suits his play style.

Some things you pretty much always want to do:

1. Work improved tiles, the more the better. Remember, you want to grow this amount at an optimal rate, so it doesn't mean expand until you can't tech at ALL, because then you'd not get access to techs that ultimately lead to more tiles, either through war, :) cap growth, economy funding expansion, etc...although don't forget that there are ways to research at 0% science!
2. Trade intelligently with the AI - which on higher levels may mean researching something they don't have with the intention of trading it, but also means keeping AIs from declaring on you with a combination of diplo/military.
3. Specialize cities, and do so based on your victory plan.
4. Play what advantages the map provides you (and to see this you need to SCOUT).

I'm probably missing a few, but the point is other than these the map is up to your preference/plans. If you see a means to win and want to go that route, whatever works!

Hi

Noble, Marathon 1763 AD just biding time having fun with privateers :)

Okies I didnt kill off Rags as planned. Pacs culture cut me off from his last two cities so I made him give me one of the cities, all his gold, gold per turn to be my lap dog then just to give him another penalty for dowing on me I made him give me his iron :).

After that it was pac's turn he didnt have a chance. By this point the big first stack I made that took cities up to Rag's cap then stayed their to hold it linked up with the second big stack I made to finish off rags. Also by then I had mil trad done and all my knights where curiassors. His capitol went down first which was really his ONLY good city and after that it was just mop up.

This gives me control of entire continent with exception of Rags lone city that I have boxed in now pretty well. His city has NO resoruces NO trade routes and is stagnant at pop 3. That will teach him for picking one me!! Plus right after he capped to me very next turn "Ragnor adopts pacifism. I LOVE when war monger AI's attack me then when it over get beat so bad they decide they rather be pacifists hehe :D.

At this point the game pretty much over. I have HUGE lead tech wise on other continent. Mostly due to FOUR golden ages including back to back to back GA's. It was like I rushed taj to get a golden age. During that one a GA poped so I bruned him to add to it. Now during this I got the stadium sports league quest. Well Pac had SoZ in his cap so I was thinking maybe try to time it so I take his cap then complete quest for GA. But then I thought Nah way game has been going I have two GA's back to back plus I think happy bonus would be better choice anyways so I just went for that one instead.

BUT like turn turns after I complete stadium quest and take happy bonus I get gunpowder quest. Now I already had waaaaaaaaay more than enough muskets built and since I was in GA already I switch to vassalage and next turn quest is done and I pick golden age reward then 5 turns later switch back to beauracracy :)

Then a little bit later I get a spare great merchant and then a great priest and decide to burn them for a fourth GA.

All those golden ages with a TON of land and cities meant TONS of everything so at this point I am on pace to get flight before the remaining civs even get astronomy :/.

I decided to hold off invading the other continent just because of AP. Izzy is only civ running ap religion but she managed to spread it EVERWHERE on that continent. SO unless I just went in razing everything or just make beeling for her cap and raze it it would be major headache. So I figured I would just wait till I get mass media and then invade and capture madrid asap that way I take it out and dont have raze a very nice city.

So what I been doing in meantime is just playing sim empire building stuff in my cities having workers build railroads, upgrade garrisons from archers and crossbows to more mdoern units and wonder whore when I can.

I also built a TON of privateers. and since NO AI on other continent has astronomy then been having FUN. After war with Pac I needed like 260 or GG points to get another gg and they killed enough galleys and caravals to get him :D. I also got gg from getting fascism so total gg's this game is 8. Between them and other gg's settled by rags and pac and shaka I have 4 citties with two gg's each and one has HE and two have mil academies so when time comes to pump out tanks and marines to go say hi to other continent they should be rdy :D.

And when the privateers arent sinking ships they doing this:

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll203/KaytieKat91/lonelyhattie/Civ4ScreenShot0018.jpg

Only a little gold per city blockaded but it does add up :). Although it is kinding hurting in another way. I am trying to run sid's sushi but only enough seafood on my continent for 10 extra food and right I cant get any extra since thanks to blockade of pretty much all of the other continent NONE of the other civs have ANY seafood whatsoever much less extras to trade. I think maybe fact that no seafood which is limiting growth plus no trade routes from all those blockaded cities plus pretty much not being able to work ANY coastal tiles at all is also reaon why I am getting so far ahead techwise. I think ham has teched chem but it took him like 50 turns to get that he not even trying for astronomy at the moment. I thought he had it earlier when he wanted open borders right as we first met but I got confuse and remembered you dont NEED astronomy for open borders you just need it to get trade routes. So my privateers should still have lots of chances to bloackade and rack up freebie gg points while I just tech away until I get madd media or just get bored and go invade before then hehe.

Game really pretty much over I think. I just have to keep eye on hammy who seems to be going for a culture win. If his cities get to high for my liking I may send some cossacks over to raise one of his cities but other than that I think I will just wait until I get mass media and see how many cities I can take before I get dom win.
Kaytie

Noble, Epic, to 2875 BC
Commentary (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7146868&postcount=116) on what a few others did.
2875 - 470 BC (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7162714&postcount=139)
470 BC - 1255 AD (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7166231&postcount=141)
1255 - 1655 AD (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7192740&postcount=150)

Here's my dotmap. I have AW and BW, so I see horses and lack of bronze.

The dark blue city looks to me like a bad placement but I wanted to ask: does putting a city there join up the two river systems into a trade network? In the Rome always-war raging-barbs GOTM using rivers for commerce made a big difference in avoiding razable roads. Irrelevant here, I think.

Commentary after the map:

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/dalamb54/NC/11%20Catherine/NCXICatherine2875BC0006.jpg

Red is poor placement, with tundra and low food, except that it gives early access to two happiness resources: silver, available now, and wine, available after monarchy. I got the Health Herbs event so my only limit early on is happiness. I don't think I can get CoL before someone else, so won't have an early religion, so have to wait for something to spread to me, so can't get happiness that way.
Yellow, white, and brown make a good southern boundary to limit Ragnar and Shaka, my two aggressive southern neighbours; brown gives me an immediate happiness resource but is mediocre on food.
Light green gets stone. It has cows, 3 floodplains, and 3 grassland hills, making it good for production and commerce both (with cottages on the FPs).
Grey has 3 plains hills, 2 floodplains, sheep, and wheat, so makes a good production city with a little commerce from the FPs.
Light blue, 'way north, is bad; it gets the other silver and the horses but doesn't have enough food.
So, I think I should go light green first for production, then brown for gems and south boundary. After that I'm not sure; grey gives more production but white shores up the south boundary.

With two potentially nasty neighbours I need military before too long, so priorities might be archery for early defence and iron for axes and swords. I'm inclined by nature to turtle up and might normally opt for archery, but the lack of metal bothers me, so I'm waffling. I think I need one of those next (switching away from wheel, which I just started this turn and so has 0 research yet), then wheel and pottery for improved whipping, then the other.

I'd really appreciate advice, since I'm still making the transition to noble.

Hi All, I thought I'd play this game as a instruction/semi walk through, for people on Noble level or below. But one where I try put in my reasoning for my actions, and not a Do this and don't do that.

I'm far from the best Player, I'm trying to get a hold on Emperor, but can dominate Monarch easily.

Generally I find I can do this once I can dominate my continent pre liberalism, i.e kill anyone else, and then power away for a win how ever I choose.

I'm not one to 'wait until ....' before I attack. I attack with axes, swords (favourite against bow's/longbows) or maces.

Normal settings, Marathon speed, Noble level, ver 3.17, bug mod 3.0 unofficial patch, all these are located in the Mods Forum under stick labels (at the very front/top of list)

And Away we goooooooooooo



My scout started to the NE of my settler, I moved it SE, SW for 1 move through open land to the hills pigs. I'll move the settler 1 SE.

Why you ask, and if not, you should? Reason is as follows;

1.To gain the Maximum resources in by BFC or Big Fat Cross which is the 9 tiles surrounding the city plus 3 more on each edge for a Big Fat Cross look. Each will be in 2nd ring, or the outer part of Cross and will need 1 boarder pop.
2.To gain the Maximum number of River side tiles, and by having my city along a river, ie irrigated tile, if you hold the mouse over it, it allows me to build Levies post steam power, and gain 1 hammer per river side tile. Easily offsetting the 1 hammer loss from moving off a Plains hill ( and not desert/grassland)
3.I'm not going to Cottage Moscow, going farms/specialist economy in all other cities. Unless I take over an A.I. City with a Shrine and greater cash generation potential.
4 I pick up a fresh water lake, this can be noted by the 2 food it produces and 2 commerce, all without a Lighthouse, if I was financial, that's 3 commerce, 2 food good as a Village, from day 1.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/BFC.jpg

Starting Square, ALLWAY'S GIVES; 2 food, 1 hammer, 1 commerce no matter what type of terrain is under neath, be that desert, snow, tundra, plains, grassland, or floodplains, Ice you can't settle/develop.

Exceptions are the PLAINS HILLS;

Plains hills -Settle upon 2 hammer 2 food 1 commerce

So your initial builds have a 1 hammer IMMEDIATE BONUS, and 1 hammer for all game. This can Exponentially expand all game. I.E. Earlier settler, workers, earlier this and that and so on.

Initial builds; Worker, worker, Barracks, defender.
I build the worker using the River side cow as it has equal highest food (3) and 1 commerce extra over the corn. The hilled Pig is equal to the cow, so doesn't make a diff which to use.

Initial research; Mining, (we start with) and then bronze working. (Chop those forests)

Barbs won't enter your lands pre 2500 BC or so, and animals NEVER. Depending on starting tech's and resources that you have, you adjust your research accordingly.

Here we have;

Cows +1 food, +1 hammer on grassland 2 food, which gives with Pasture + 4 food, +2 hammers.
Corn + 3 food, with Farm +2 food, with Biology + 1 food, for +6 food post Biology.
Pigs on grassland hill +2 food + hammer, giving a mine that feeds itself initially. Very important early on for growth and production..
Pigs Pastured, +5 food, +1 Hammer (2 with levy), +1 Commerce.

List is build 1 worker, mine pigs as we start with Mining/hunting techs. Once bronze working is in, chop out 2nd workers (ie, chop a forest for 90 hammers Marathon) then tech Animal husbandry for Cows (Hammers and food), then Farming to farm the corn. Pottery is next tech for Granaries (½ of food is stored to next pop) then on to writing for Libraries.

My Initial tech path http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Initialtechpath0000.jpg

This is all subject to finding stone/Marble/resources.

Scouting about your territory is most important, and something I still don't do enough of.. Knowing who and where your opponents are, what resources are available and how to best control them long term makes a huge difference.

Topography of game (how resources as spread) Runs in bands, as on our planet, Top most is the ice caps, then a band of Tundra , then Plains, grassland all 3 of which can contain forest, then a Jungle band for the Equator, and the reverse to the other pole.

I scout down to the Jungle band, Knowing that Pre Iron working, it won't be settled/used extensively.

So now I complete a coast to coast scan of the jungle layer, and then scout north looking for other civ's. When scouting, its best to end on a Jungle/forest tile for protection, or a hill for Greater Viability, a hill with jungle/forest, won't give as good, as you “can't see the wood for all the tree's” so to speak. Also, uncovering all the coast, or having no 'black fog' on a Sea/coast square, allows trading on coast line/rivers post sailing tech.

BC 3535, I've built my first worker, so strong, so eager,

“Hmm so MALE”, coo's Catherine, like a love sick dove.


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Myfirstworker0000.jpg


“Off to the mines with you, we want some PIGIRON From those mines”,

Well, pig iron I don't get but mined pigs I do. Feeds itself, and with 6 to go on bronze working, I build a barracks to grow for 6 turns. Once I have bronze working, it'll be chop a forest, and when the chops completed, the worker is places AHEAD (Control-Worker) for one turn to absorb the hammers from the chop, and the barracks is place back in front to allow growth of the capital. I won't adopt slavery, due to a fear of Slave Rebellions, Ungrateful wretch's. I stay on the cow's, for maximum growth due to food, and not for production of barracks, Population is what we want NOW!!! FOOD, FOOD AND MORE FOOD, with a devo song here and there..”Duh dah dun dah..Whip it....Whip it good...”

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Forestchop0000.jpg
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/forestchoppedforworker0000.jpg

I realise I've made my first error already, I should have researched Agriculture first, built a farm then bronzeworking, but Chopping 2nd worker with pig/mine may be just as good. Pigs give 5 units to worker build with 1 commerce, IRRIGATED CORN (next to water source) gives 6 units to worker build, with no commerce. Quicker worker, or research, better to have improvements, IE gold mine, to offset that 1 commerce loss.

Note, I'll research both methods, but keep current save to play from.

My scout survives a lion (1 move) and a wolf attack (2 moves) to gain 1st promotion after healing to 100%, I don't Immediately promote, as I can heal 50% of damage with that promotion. So if I get unlucky and fall to 0% health (< 10%, I can promote and move back to 50%, and heal up the rest. (Max healing is half of damage) 80%-90%, 40-80% etc.

A village has now given my scout extra experience 7/10, Now I have woodsman 2 available to him. Even though I'm at 100% health, I take the woodsman 2 promotion to gain 100% movement through woods, with the 50% defense bonus on top of woods 50%. Now it has 100% V's animals and 100% in woods/jungle, giving 300% cumulative bonus V's animal attacks from a forest/jungle square, add in 25% for hills and you've got a super scout.

Other options are take Combat 1, medic 1, and you have a medic who'll allway's defend last. In one game I did this, promoted to Explorer with an attached Great General for a GG super medic, 1 point from 26 and next promotion though, oh well I thought. I attacked an ai's city, Charlie to be exact, and defended against a counter attack. Mr Medic actually got to defend against 1 attack, A cross bow from memory, and was successful, gaining the next promotion, that I thought never would happen, So don't ever think your medic scout/explorer won't have to defend.

Now as you can only gain 5 points V's animals and 10 v's barbarian units, baiting the bear is pointless, so I move 1 away from the bear (1 movement).
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Bearbait0000.jpg

I have also just met Ragnar's scout from the SW, just above my western blocking city, as no one's in the north. This city gains 1 flood plain, cow and Banana in jungle (Calender resource) and is along a river for Levies ( I love levies) being 2 away from coast. It has 2 mountains, but 2/19 worked squares late game, won't matter, as I'll be working scientists/Merchants anyway, and won't use all 19 available squares. (Central square is allway's worked)

I've now mined the pigs, and have 15 to go on Aggie. Time to chop a Forest, I chop a forest in the 1st ring, so as to maximize hammers (they decrease the further out you go from city) and leave the max forested tiles about it to allow regrowth. Hills or plains won't matter this early as I can't work them, but forest about does.

My Not so Super scout at 80% Health, had to stop in a forest as there was a wolf on the hill I was aiming for, and In Between Turns IBT, it was attacked by a panther 2 strength (2 moves) and killed by the wolf 1 Strength (2 moves)..Sigh..I still haven't uncovered all the hidden tiles as yet to the north of the jungle belt. Holding the mouse pointer over the worker, will give the remaining time till the task is completed. Here I have 3 turns for chopping the forest.

I now move the worker to the head of the production queue, for 1 full turn to absorb the wood chop, timed to perfection by complete accident, I hit 2 pop on same turn..Now I maximize production for worker by gaining max hammers+ food in total. As can be seen 60 hammers went into the worker, dropping its production time to 8 turns, with 4 on Aggie and 28 to grow. I could chop another forest for 60 hammers in total, and set 2 workers onto farming the corn, whilst building a barracks. Or build the 2nd worker for the 6 turns remaining with no growth, but have the farm produced twice as quick, doubling growth over those turns of the Forest chop above the normal production. Or I could build worker to within 1 turn, while chopping forest, 2 on barracks, then chop/complete worker with whip, and get a 3rd worker immediately, and you can never have enough workers early on.

Plan is to build worker to within 1 turn (7) adopt slavery (2 turns, turn 9), and whip worker on completion of chop for 90 hammer + 60 from chop + 4 from food/production giving 154 hammers or 2 workers in 2 turns + 34 Hammer over flow for the cost of 1 population (154-120 worker=34 over flow).
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Noottoandoverflowchop.jpg

The excess hammers over and above the 3rd worker production, were turned into 34 extra gold for our budding empire

“OOOhhhh goooolllddddd” Catherine exclaims in Ecstasy,

as you can not overflow into more than 1 build.

Note production OUTSIDE cities continues during anarchy, but production in cities does not.

Side note to game, the Ottomans have been Eliminated. I wonder who or what did that??

Now I have 3 workers, Agriculture tech, and corn being improved for max growth. Upon completion of Barracks, 1 scout will be produced for elimination of remaining Black northern squares, then heading south to explore Raggies lands and any others.
I did as outlined above, but it only resulted in 24 over flow hammers, I still received 2 workers in 2 turns, and now have 3 working the corn.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/3resources3workers.jpg

6 turns remain on the scout, then barracks, then defender are builds, all the while growing and eliminating the 30 turn whipping anger.

“Ingrate slave's” Mutters Catherine while fondling her whip

Scouting out the remaining fog, I uncover stone to the SE of our capital, and 2 floodplains, with numerous grassland hills bordered by a river, Levies, floodplains and stone say's only one thing to me...IRONWORKS CITY. Yes this early on, you should be thinking about future city specialization. Production+ food+rivered hills (with levies, did I say I :love: levies) Stone also means building of the Great wall and the Pyramids. This is our 2nd city site Catherine, and future IRONWORKS city.


“Oooohhhh so pretty, so ruggered, so strong, so like Muscles on my pretty pretty men...” Purrs Catherine with Wide eyed look


Our scout No 2, heads south, doing what he does best, dodging animals and resting in foliage.

We shortly meet Pacal, Bachelor No 2, so we can trade techs at least, with 3 people. He has rice improved already, by border, South of the Jungle Zone. Blocking cities are looking a go. http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/4cityblockadeofnorth0000.jpg

Here I ended the turn, as there were no Forests, hills or jungle to enter, I rest by a river on the west, south, Pacal to the east, and north I came from so its clear (I hope IBT).
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/endturn0000.jpg
Some turns later, further south by the Snow of the Southern Antarctic circle (No Ocean here), I come across Shaka's exploring warrior. Having also met Pacals just north. Both Civ's have Spearman Unique Units (UU's) Pacall is resourseless, Holken, Shaka's Imp's are not. Where did Raggy come from?

Hmm done by the Antarctic Tundra, I've found Rag-a-muffin, Now where's Shaka located??

Moving the scout 1 place onto Marble, I find 2 lions either side, I use the remaining movement point, to move south of the northern 2 lions, Hence, try not to end turn in open, and if you do, try to enter spots AI's were at the turn previous or hide with rivers, Every bit helps.

The lion IBT's moves to block my passage NW from the hill I'm upon, so I wait one turn and hope to survive and move on. Success, the lion moved to the NE Allowing our passage NW.



Part 1 4000 BC-2280 BC Meeting the Neighbours (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7142436&postcount=93)
Part 2 2280 BC-1150 BC Settling the basis of Empire (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7142786&postcount=94)
Part 3 1150 BC-280 AD Butting heads on the Border (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7145696&postcount=104)
Part 4 280-770 AD 1st War with the Neighbours (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7148446&postcount=119)
Part 5 770-1180 AD Taking possession of the Continent (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7160643&postcount=138)
Part 6 1180-1572 AD Meeting new enemies oversea's (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7164539&postcount=140)
Part 7 1572-1690 AD The end (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7168510&postcount=142)

Back to the Capital, I'm at pop 3 with all 3 resources improved, time to mine some hills as well, and ramp up hammers in prep for settler spamming at max pop.

Note: Settler production is Faster at Max city population, Thanks to Obsolete and his walk through's.
Obsoletes index of games (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=274013).

Now we have found Shaka's starting position. It seems to be Due West of Pacal, with Ragnar Due South in the middle of both of them.

Priorities:

1.Get Blocking cities up and running
2.Build the Great Wall=No barbs for me, as North will be enclosed in fog
3.Continue to scout the South
4.Build wonders in Ironworks city, with Capital assigned the Science central/Wealth building.
5.Build some DEFENSIVE MILITARY. OMFG...Rag's the rapist :viking:, and Shaka the Shafter :spear:
6.Protect Catherine from these men's Lusts

“NO..NOOO..NOOOOO!!!!” Screams Catherine

2nd Mistake, that i've picked up, I didn't pre tech Masonry for building the Great wall in the 2nd city, or Ironworks as its now called. (click on city name in city screen to rename). Will this cost me the Great wall?? Ironworks builds a Granary, while awaiting the knowledge of Masonry.

All the while, I'm searching the South, and chopping out settlers at 5 pop. I built warriors till I reached 5 pop, sent a few to fog bust, sit on future cities, and to keep my power rating up.

Rag's has 2nd city out now, and has ARCHERS... Hmm yes...its Noble setting...but I'm 1.2 of power?? with Warriors??

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Ragsand2ndcity0000.jpg
I now have 3 of the 4 blocking cities out, I've just whipped a 4th settler for 2 pop, and plan on blocking the west coast above Shaka with him. The blocking settler with 3 dye's and jungle, I'll move 1 east, as it keeps the block, access a river still and removes a mountain peak from BFC, Commerce city this one.


Ok position, I have all 4 blocking cities up, fortune favours the brave, and punishes the foolish. I fog busted the sites and path to the blockading cities with the warriors I built while reaching 5 pop. Thus I have a defender and city, I did take some turns in open with settler, but as no animals were about, it worked. Being Creative, I don't need stone henge for boarder pops, or Monuments either. They are all placed 5 tiles away from each other, in a line along the Northern boarder of the Jungle. I didn't go into Jungle, as I won't have iron working to develop this for a while, and its a good mark of ½ of continent, though my Northern ½ narrows out http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/North0000.jpg

, and the South Flattens.http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/South0000.jpg

With my 3 workers, I'll build a quarry on the stone, farm the 2 flood plains and build the Great wall in Ironworks, the other will get developed with their own produced workers. Each city is building a Worker 1st then Granary. Ironworks is the exception, who'll go onto the great wall. Chopping it out, as its time for it to arrive. I've only roaded as far as Ironworks through the stone, so once stone is online with Quarry, its double speed build.

My scout is moving through the northern jungle, Pacal has some cows just below the Jungle belt, here's hoping jungle entangles the beef, Moving West to were Shaka's starting position is.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Cultureshock0000.jpg

Once I gain the Border pops to blockade the north, I'll close borders and horde the north for myself. Tech's now are Writing (½ way through), whip Libraries and run Scientist, with farms. I'm currently bleeding 14gold /turn at 100% research, and I achieved 896 gold from all the huts with 1 map, 1 experience and 24 overflow gold from Whipping/chopping workers.

Soon I'll have 6 workers, 2 pairings of 3, as this meets Marathons speed best. Develop the Blocking cities and Tech Archery for Defense.

Further wonders to look for are;

Great Wall No barbs allowed in city culture, Stone
Hanging Gardens + 1 Population in each city, (needs Mathematics) stone.
Pyramids Allows all Government civics, ( Representation +3 beakers per Specialist) as I'm aiming for Specialist economy, Stone.
Great Library - 2 Free Scientists in city built, look for high food city to build in, Marble.
Shewagdon Pagoda. Allows all Religious Civics, (Free religion for 10% Science) Needs gold
Parthenon 100% Great Person Birth Rate in ALL CITIES, Marble.
Statue of Zeus Keep it out of AI's hands, 3 Monuments required.
Mausoleum of Mass 50 % Golden ages, Marble.
Great Lighthouse +2 routes per Coastal City. Nice to have but won't break game.
Temple of Artemis +100% trade route yield in city built. Very nice to have, Marble.
Stonehenge Free Obelisk , Bah, Besides Cathy has OTHER ideas about obelisks :blush:, stone.

Plan from here;

Wonders Build Great wall, Pyramids, Hanging Gardens, Great Library 1st. 2nd Aesthetics wonders, 3rd Marble wonders or take them with Military, Probably Military.

Techs Archery/ defense, Iron working, Mathematics 50% wood chops, Col's, Aesthetics, Literature, with Theology hopefully for Apostolic palace.

Diplomacy Take is as it comes, face Shaka south, Rag's NW and Pacal can grovel.

Ultimate Plan of attack, Pacal 1st, then hit Shaka with Ragnar, and turn on Ragnar at end. City in Middle of all 3 to contain Forbidden palace, keep Moscow as Science Central, move capital to Ironworks (Ironworks & Heroic epic).

No city for Cottages, PURE SPECIALIST ECONOMY. Ok cottages at 3 dye, Happy now.

To take a line from Obsolete, and modify if for myself, “I've settled 5 cities the games now won”..Ok I need 6th to open up Oxford/forbidden Palace.

I'm also using a “Wonder spam economy at Monarch” (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=237561)method.

Some note so far;

Oracle was built 1st :wow:, in 1790 BC, then Stonehenge a bit later. OMFG...this is Noble :help:

I've 4 cities up all encompassed by the great wall, coast to coast, it looks great...
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/GreatWallIsUP0000.jpg
Strength wise, I'm either in the green at 1.2 or red at 0.8 and I've only warriors, Promotions must matter, 1 archer I built for a nosy Barbarian, who didn't enter territory, and can't now.

Lost my 2nd scout to a barb archer, when I had to end in open next to him, oh well, jobs done anyway.

Teching iron working at 100%, bleeding 14 gold/turn still, but I have 2 time the cities of my opponents, Size does matter Girls

Cathy coo's..”OOO...it surely does”

Great that's all I needed another male self doubt confirmed..

Judaism was only JUST founded, Here's hoping it was Pacal. If not CoL's here I come.

Open boarders with all civ's, but no trade routes as no sailing or roads to Cities of theirs, and missing roads to one of mine. (rivers in cultural boundaries count as road, outside they don't until sailing)

With Great Wall, and CoL's as next Tech target, I can rex to my hearts content. North http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Plannednorth0000.jpg
and the South http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Plannedsouth0000.jpg

All cities builds will be worker, then Granary, then Library to be whipped ASAP for creative bonus when building such. Workers will build mines/farms to enable 2 scientists in each city. Ironworks will be Wonder city, and Moscow my Troop city. Archers to go to all Border towns in South Jungle belt 2/city Min Preferably 3, with Warriors sent to fog bust the north/camp on city sites.

Once I have CoL's for Courthouses, Again Whipped. Then its Caste System and max Specialists, Currency/Calender for dyes and Civil Service for Bureaucracy. http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Currentstats0000.jpg

I have 21% of population against Shaka's 16% and nearly 12% of land to Shaka's 6%.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/f80000.jpg

5 Rivals are left, 3 here and 2 over there.

“Where” Exclaims Catherine breathlessly, with a glint in her eye.

So on other continent, as its a continents game, 2 civ's, who won't trade pre astronomy, unless friendly with each other, who have Buddhism and Hinduism each, (300 years apart in 3625 and 3325, with Judaism only just now in 1650.) Religious war's I hope. Nb: actually they have that as well.

Huge Free Kick for other civ that Conquers the Ottoman Barb Capital, very unlikely an AI rush at that early stage, even if undefended, 2850 BC? Judaism wasn't founded with Oracle either. I suspect Ragnar with Marble did it. Note, It wasn't Ragnar...

Horse for Chariots, I haven't even looked yet ... duh... Mistake No 3.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/No1intop40000.jpg

I've only just realized I'm No 3 in Pop, so other continent has Massive cities, but No 1 in land??


Resources Available;

F4 trade screen, gives more info, but from Visible continent:

1.Only 2 Horses visible both in north, here's hoping.
2.2 Silver, again only in North, Again here's hoping.
3.4 Dye, and I've got a 3 monopoly. 1 open.
4.3 Corn, 2 rags, 1 me.
5.Wheat, sheep, cows, Banana, rice, we all have.
6.2 Gems, both mine, but Shaka has 1 to trade.
7.1 Pig, me.

“You surely are” Shouts Catherine in Frustration, gazing south.

8.4 Silk, up for grabs in South.
9.4 Wine, in North.
10.1 Incense in south.
11.No Gold..

“No shiny Gold for meeeee!!!!!!” Wails Catherine.

12.2 Stone

“Like your heart” Retorts Catherine,

13.1 marble in south, Rags. :viking:

A few Black squares in Enemy BFC's to be uncovered. But, we have the start of a continental domination here...

“Kneel at my feet, and lick my boots, like the true dog's you men are” , Sneers Catherine with a Twirl of her head, and a pout.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/f80000.jpg

And so onwards we go.......
Granaries are really the Only building that should be whipped initially, Why? Because they store ½ of the food they make towards the next population growth, faster growth, more whipping/more specialists. Most times you'll only whip for 1 population, as its initial build, but in captured cities without a granary, whip them for 2 pop, with 1 turn building, or 3 if your going to lose 1 pop to starvation anyway.

The next 2 build will be a Wall, for cities along the Blocking boundary, and a barracks, for power rating. Yes Virginia, Barracks do count towards power rating.

“I'm CATHERINE, not Virginia” Pouts Catherine..

Don't allway's blindly follow what the “blue Circle” suggests, it only looks at the immediate area, and not the over all picture as you can, plan our your cities, Coastal for trade routes, Max resources to work, Min Desert/Mountain peaks, and River side for Levies. Even the Mouths of rivers on coasts count as a river tile for levies.

My 6th city will be to the north, capturing the 2 wine and 1 silver in its BFC, along with being coastal. I think I'll aim for the Great Lighthouse, over by the Gems/cow on East Coast. Probably Rags will get it in Capital, but gotta try. Actually Rags in Capital would be better, as no troop/settler builds and I get gold for trying/failing.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/6thcity0000.jpg

Moscow can now whip a settler for 3 pop with 115 Hammer overflow, (actually whipped it for 4 pop...:wallbash:!!!, Hammers will decay for units, but not buildings) I continued to build the Pyramids till Moscow grows into 2 unhappy faces, why? For a 3 pop whip, its 2 unhappy Citizens eliminated, plus 3rd Happy citizen who'll come off the food production, all for a net of 1 Angry citizen. I'll then slow grow Moscow back to Max, with developed silver and gems, I'll eliminate the unhappy pop from whipping while growing past the 30 whip penalty. I initially missed the Whip at 1 turn to grow, but this method seems better. (hence the decayed hammers for the settler build)

Sailings now in, decision time. I decide to go Currency/Code of Laws for 76 Turns in total. Risky, but I'll need currency for 1 trade route, wealth building, and Code of Laws for Courthouses, Confucianism is Secondary. http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/74TURNSofresearch0000.jpg Its actually quicker to go Myst, Poly, Priest, CoL's, but I want Currency as well, plus future trade opp's. Bearing in mind, that Rep from the Pyramids will speed up research, as will hanging gardens boost Pop. [party]

The 7th city will go on West coast, 2 south of Iron the arose, taking the cows, corn shared with capital, Sheep and wheat, all of which can now be fully developed. This city also seems a good candidate for West Point (4 points experience) and my main naval base/generation.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Idiotbarbs0000.jpg

Moai statues will go to the far North, 1 below the silver to gain 13 sea tiles, the horses for production and food, and unfortunately picks up a useless Ice Square, but that's only a factor at pop 20... http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Landsend0000.jpg

Unlikely without Sid's Sushi. Remember, its only at Pop 20, that you work the full BFC, and if you run a couple of specialists, at Pop 25, you could have 6 specialists and 19 worked tiles...what's 1 ice/mountain/desert square.

As allway's, if get a lemon, make Lemonade, or if you mess up, preach like you know what your really doing.

“You certainly have no idea about WOMEN” Catherine Catterly calls, as she stares forelornley South

One Note: A personal habit of mine is to Mine Jungle hills, and not chop/mine. It takes the same time, but you don't allow a Jungle to grow back after you've chopped it, a road only reduces the chance or regrowth, but doesn't Eliminate it. Why take the chance. Forests, well, its another chop for more hammers...BONUS...

Cities, don't be afraid of Overlap in BFC's, again, its Size 20 Plus that you work all available tiles. A Succession Game Demonstrated this to great effect, and was a Real “Hoot” to Read... 3 city tile over lap challange (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=261986&page=1)

“What?? Where??, Now!!, How??” Panted Catherine, as she whipped her head around...

(Ausie Lingo MATE!!!) Rhymes with boot, coot, hoot, loot, moot, ....,soot, toot.

Don't have city plans set in stone, I initially planned a 2 wine/stone/cow city by a mountain peak, but they have a habit of Erupting, So I send it to a planned levied city north of Moscow, and planned other city to Desert square on East coast. Capturing the stone/horse. The two wine will be picked up by another city 1 north of the Center of the wine/stone Line of 3 squares. Ha 3 cities out of 1 site. :hatsoff:
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/alteredplans0000.jpg

Over lap, yes, but again, its only post Size 20, and Sid's Sushi, and I plan on Specialist economy. If your planning a Cottage Economy, a new city can work those cottages while an established city works the matured cottages for Max commerce.

Now on Corporations, yes its early, but don't be Dogmatic, set on Sid's Sushi or nothing. I played one Continents mapped game, 2 continents, I concurred my own with swords/maces/cats. Shaka, Zara and Qin, Shaka went early, as he was Close to my capital, 10 Squares Close. Remaining 2, they got to muskets, while I was on Maces only, but they still died to my MASSIVE production/army.

On my home Continent, I had a GRAND TOTAL OF 5 SEA FOOD...5 OF THEM.. 4 in the Tundra area of the north as well and 11 Cereal Resources. This was a rare occasion where Cereal Mills Provided a better return, and was non Pillageable by the Other continent. From Memory it went in Beijing, as it was inland, and had 1 shrine, giving me 11 extra food, plus any resources trades I made, very nice. Usually Sid's will be better, but not allway's.

Back to the task at hand. Pacal beat me to my 4th dye city spot, as his existing city is within 2 tiles of where I planned my 7th, so I had to move it settle a planned northern city. http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/blockadingAI0000.jpg

The Barbs, Planted a city, 1 SW of where I've planned my West point/naval base :mad: and its attracting the AI's like flies to Sheezzee..Umm you know. So 2 cities have now to be burnt down. I'm currently at 50% research with a small loss and 47 gold in bank. Rex Rex Rex Rapid Early Expansion. 1050 BC still considered early?? http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Idiotbarbs0000.jpg

City 7 is the planned levied cow/rice to the North of Moscow, this will help to link the Northern Silver/wine city. Planting of 8 in the wild NE and 9 on the Dual sea food of Clams/crabs on the NW.
10 will be on far west of Moscow to block out Shaka/Ragnar via sea, t lighthouse city on the east coast, dual Gems/cow, does to Pacal. St Petersburg has just started a Lighthouse, with a forested hill to be mined, and the Great Lighthouse to be attempted to be built after wards.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/GreatLighthouse0000.jpg

All the while, I'm building the Pyramids in Moscow, while growing back population, and a Aqua duct "Must RESIST MONTY PYTHON QUOTES..."in Ironworks for the hanging Gardens and +1 Pop to all cities.

"WHAT have the ROMANS EVER DONE FOR US!!!!!!!"

Its 1050 BC, and I'm up to 7 cities, 50% research and losing only 2 gold/turn. Moscow is the ONLY city with a Library, and 2 scientists, with a Great Scientist due in 15 turns to be Absorbed into city. Boarder cities are all building walls/barracks/archers in that order.

Northern cities are being settled without a garrison, as they need to reach size 5 before it become an issue, and unhappy citizens can be whipped for production.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/No1intop40000.jpg

Don't be afraid to grow into unhappiness, when you can whip for 2, If your about to Hook up a happy resource you don't have, or you can trade for one, 1 unhappy, 1 for regrowth. Maximizing Population will go along way to boosting your production/research/commerce. As I now have sailing, rivers act as roads for Trade, as does the coast line.

Roads speed along my Armed forces/workers, so more roads, mines and farms are needed. Currently its 7 workers, 2 groups of 3 and 1 single worker in the north. Each new city builds a worker (then grouped into 3's), granary then Library, as workers build farms & mines for production + food + specialists.

Part 3 will deal with Diplomacy (damm I'm weak at that), Tech trading (ha, I hate tech trading), and resource trades (yeah, me like)
7 hours, but really only 1 of game time...most spent typing this.

Moscow can now whip a settler for 3 pop with 115 Hammer overflow, (actually whipped it for 4 pop...MOJOR DOH!!!) I continue to build the Pyramids till it grows into 2 unhappy, why? For a 3 pop whip, its 2 unhappy, plus 3rd citizen who'll come off the food production. I'll then slow grow Moscow back to Max, with developed silver and gems, I'll eliminate the unhappy pop from whipping while growing past the 30 whip penalty. I initially missed the Whip at 1 turn to grow, but this method seems better.
Some misinformation here.

A 3-pop whip is still only worth 1 unhappy face, so you must have another from something else. Is there a garrison unit in the city? Did you whip previously and it hasnt faded yet?

Also, beware of the overflow listed when whipping Settlers. The IMP trait has a 50% bonus, and that bonus gets listed, but will be removed when it calculates for the next build. Now, if you are whipping into something that also has a bonus, then you will get that bonus, but not both. So the IMP whip overflow will be reduced, but if the Mids is getting the hammers and you have the Stone, that bonus goes into effect.

I meant, and still do, I grew Moscow to the point it had 2 :mad:, citizens, then whipped a settler for 3 population. It was still accidently done for 4

Now I grow Moscow slowly back to happy cap.

Sorry its 4 am, I'm 1/2 asleep, and my screen in unfocused. Blearly eye's.

Thanks for the note on Creative whipping, or any bonus whipping for that matter.

About crushing economy...
I actually had strike for one turn and lost warrior ( my own fault, i didnt keep eye on my treasure ), but i got my gem mine up and put all my cities work riverside/coastal tiles so i managed to get my economy back on before loosing all my workers and defences.

I love SE for recovering economy, even if im running with 0% research im still doing fine tech wise. But when im trying to recover with cottages its just not working for me :( . I get the economy back up, but it takes so long that im way behind in techs already so its pointless. I have tried to look walkthrough games what people have posted on these forums, but i still dont get the idea behind it i guess.

We have a good chance at metal if we settle in place

How'd you work that out?

About crushing economy...
I actually had strike for one turn and lost warrior ( my own fault, i didnt keep eye on my treasure )

Hah I did that on the Warlords vanilla GOTM, I got so bloodthirsty I didn't pay attention to research or money! I solved it by pillaging more... It all worked out though, course granted it was only Warlord.

@histoire68

Not to answer for TMIT but often (unless you're playing a Rolo map) a conspicuosly non-forested tile is often a resource that's only revealed by researching a tech (like copper, iron, or ponies). Not always, for sure, but it does seem to frequently the case. It's a gamble.

Again, unless it's a Rolo map, if it's that you can guarantee you're not getting what you need from that tile. It's just there to taunt you. (in lolcat: srsly haet that gai)

That was a lot of fun. Glad I did this.


I followed my plan that i out lined in my last post. And won a Domination in 1862 with every one but Pacal II on his 1 tile island Capitulating to me. I messed around a lot when it became clear I had won. I have not really used Vassals before and I do not think I will again.
Info Screen
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185965&stc=1&d=1218857046

Score (about 3x my other best scores. Reading these forums and paying attention to what i was doing for the write up helped a lot.)
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185964&stc=1&d=1218857046


Thank you for posting this Bleys. It was a lot of fun. One question for anyone who knows


WTF?
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185966&stc=1&d=1218857328
+30 Net diplo but
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185967&stc=1&d=1218857328
We do not like you enough????

Hah I did that on the Warlords vanilla GOTM, I got so bloodthirsty I didn't pay attention to research or money! I solved it by pillaging more... It all worked out though, course granted it was only Warlord.

@histoire68

Not to answer for TMIT but often (unless you're playing a Rolo map) a conspicuosly non-forested tile is often a resource that's only revealed by researching a tech (like copper, iron, or ponies). Not always, for sure, but it does seem to frequently the case. It's a gamble.

Again, unless it's a Rolo map, if it's that you can guarantee you're not getting what you need from that tile. It's just there to taunt you. (in lolcat: srsly haet that gai)

That sums it up basically. The map script is coded so that the way he describes it generally holds true.

Unless Rolo tries to screw you.

1200 AD debriefing

War, peace, war and a near lunatic battle while accomplishing not all that much in terms of the suggested posting date list. Special thanks to Shadowkx for the advice on the Great Engineer deployment, but the Crossbowmen were just overly required.

The 1st Shaka War was an ugly little affair which I had to end because I could not match the Zulu field army. To be fair, the effort was aimed at keeping Ragnar alive and it resulted in the the netting of the Zulu cow/banana city, a Great General, a tech, gold and tribute payments from 660 AD.

In the interregnum the Russian economy was somewhat rehabilitated, Moscow added the National Monument, Notre Dame and the Statue of Zeus (but massively missed the Great Library). The Imperial Army focused on Macemen and Trebuchets as Shaka had no mounted capacity which may well explain his original assault on Ragnar who does have such. The civics of Bureaucracy and the Caste System were adopted and that two silver/one horse city was founded.

Then, a Russian spy discovered a whack of Zulus in the city EEEN of Ulundi, so the not-yet-ready-for-war Army was once again deployed. And then, Shaka sends that suicide squad in-waiting into the field. The butcher's bill? He lost it all. Sixteen units at a cost of three. Zululand now lays exposed to a rather bruised batch of Slavs.

The enemy could well have held. Go figure. And as if a further bonus needed to be presented, Catherine is now but two funerals away from a second Great General.

@GGS

Do not let up. Press the advantage.

Part 3 280 AD

Diplomacy: Well its all just been shot all to pieces. 1st turn in and Shaka requests my aid in a war against the Mayans..I refused, but also got a random food transfer event for +3 relations.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Favouratecivics0000.jpg

As can be seen, hereditary rule is 2 of their favourate civ's, but I'm going Representation. Police state for Shaka, but again, the bonus only applies when they actually run it themselves.

To the far left, next to the open boarders icon, you see the trade I'm making from each civ from open boarders. Currency is certainly a worthwhile tech


I've got barracks building in boarder cities, with archers next. Behind wall's they'll be enough to hold out.

All 3 are rather pleased with me, as I am too..:clap:

A war arose from Close boarder tensions, Between Shaka and Pacal, of which I have none at the moment.

As I've no intention of warring as yet, I really want the wonders 3, Pyramids, Hanging Gardens and the Great Lighthouse. Along with Currency and CoL's and found Confucianism. Hopefully its just a small boarder skirmish. Ragnar, seems to be only +1, so the boy's should play amongst themselves

“Sob, no one wants to play with MMMEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!” Wails Catherine

It seems the first part of my Shaka busy work is working already, and I did nothing to enable it :woohoo:

Techs:

No Alphabet for any one, so nothing to say, I won't tech it, only get the moron demands, requests and trade deals. Currency, Code of Laws (found Confucianism), then....decide.

Demographics:

I'm actually No 1 on this continent, but No 3 overall. :yikes: that means the other 2 have big cities as I'm No 1 in land, they must have Monarchy (From Oracle) 1790 BC in Noble!! :help: They MUST BE FRIENDLY, and the same religion. As Ottoman is now gone, in 2780BC they would only trade at Friendly. Here's hoping one founds a different religion and strife breaks out.

Plan:

Build 1 silver mine
More workers...MORE WORKERS.
Farm the jungle so as to allow growth and Scientist specialists.
Build/Whip libraries (creative get 100% bonus)
Get Iron mine hooked up, and build some Swords to raid a city or 3.
Settlers for more cities.
Hook up horses and scout with them.

960 BC the first of my Great Scientists is born, I could hold him for bulbing Philosophy, or build an Academy (50% Science boost), but he's best off being settled for the 6 Beakers and 1 hammer bonus, 9 beakers with Representation and +2 Great Scientist points. 2 Rep scientists with an Academy is only 18 beakers, ½ is 9. That's with 2 specialists, if I remove them I lose the 18 beakers and Great People points, but a merged Scientist is eternal, till the city is burnt down. Bulbing Alphabet, I said...NOOOOOOOO Illiterate Peasants...He get's Merged, taking 5 turns off currency.

“Ugly and dirty SERF'S, gouging in the dirt like pigs” Snorts Catherine in distain.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/1stGreatperson0000.jpg


760 BC I've just built the Pyramids, and I'm 2 off building the Hanging Gardens. The Great lighthouse, was Built by Ragnar as I said, and I received 76 gold for my effort...Bah only a few turns..

Currency has also just come in, being greatly reduced by the Settled Scientist and a few library builds, with employed scientist specialists.

I've currently 2 Settlers on order, 15 or so turns away, and have built up some of my defensive army with archers.

The war Between Shaka and Pacal, fizzled out rather quickly, but I've not fallen below Shaka on power stakes, so more troop builds are needed.

2 more cities to settle, Iron in the NW is Urgent, and levied fish towards Shaka, above my blockading city No 4 is also needed.

After this more workers are required.

“Yesssss, more slaves to do my bidding”, Hisses Catherine between her lips.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/NeedMOREworkers0000.jpg

More I tell you ...more!!! MORE!! MORE!!!!! Screams out Catherine, From her bed Chambers :blush:


Pacal now has Alphabet, but will only trade it for Mathematics and iron working, too much in his favour, or will trade Alphabet and Myst + 90 gold for currency. In both deals he's applying a monopoly bonus to the tech. So I'll research a few turns to see if he loosens' up a little.

Hurrrmmmpphhhh!!!! they'll come around, a shake of my hair and a pout to liven up their miserable little lives Say's Catherine, as she dismisses the current state of affairs.

A couple of turns into Alphabet, as Pacal doesn't have a line on any of my tech's as yet, judging from the trade screen. I'll see if I can offload Mathematics to him for Alpha, as I now have the wonder, and its a pre req for Construction.

Shaka has Iron working, but what else I can only guess, I've seen no archers, and trade screen doesn't mention horses. Hopefully my horse Monopoly holds still.

Other monopolies I have are stone, silver, Wine (Monarchy), Pigs a whole 1..:lol:

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Resourcetrades0000.jpg
On resources; Resources that require a specific tech, such as iron working/Calender to utilize, the jungle banana's and dye. Your better off to farm them till your able to fully improve them. Others, it may seem only 1 is really worthwhile to improve, Sugar is an example, with only +1 commerce, and +2 food, many people only develop enough to trade/self and farm/cottage rest.

My Banana's I've farmed till Calender 3 food, and plantation will give 5 food. Dye with a Plantation are allway's worthwhile to develop, +4 commerce, with +1 from river is a Riverside town. Add in the Levy bonus of +1 hammer, and your only -2 from a full free speech town much earlier, and easily replaced if pillaged/destroyed. Add the +1 Happy face and tradeability of the resource its very worthwhile.

The Hanging Gardens build has added +1 to my overall health, as well as the + 1 population. If the AI beats you to this wonder, don't despair, you still can benefit from the +1 health bonus, by capturing this wonder.

As I now have Representation available, I'll research a couple of turns into Alpha to soften up Pacal, trade and access the situation then. I will wait till Civil Service is in, before I do a double switch of civics.
success, I've been able to make the trade of mathematics +20 gold for Alphabet to Pacal. Now I look at the other 2 to see what they are up too??

I hold off on Representation switch, till I build the Hanging gardens and make the Alphabet trade.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/techtradesucess0000.jpg

So now what is the new lay of the tech lands, Ragnar and Shaka both have Iron working, but Pacal Doesn't. Warmongers going for a war tech.. But they both want Mathematics, which I've traded to Pacal. Hopefully he'll go for Construction now and I can trade Code of Law's for it.

The post war relations between all the boy'shttp://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/PostwarDiplomacy0000.jpg


Both Shaka and Ragnar :viking: will now start to annoy me with requests/demands for Mathematics, or will Shaka threaten Pacal again. Shaka wasn't Pacal's worst enemy, or Visa versa, so no demerits there, but I now have the Close boarders and war aid refused demerit, but with +2 from past events, I'm ok. Rag's :viking: and Pacal are both lower than me.

Gotta stay on Shaka's good side, but he's so Ugly, it doesn't really matter.

Yuk, such a UGLY BRUTE OF A MAN .. Nothing like my Pretty pretty boy's Catherine laments while looking out the window, Southwards

With the build of the Hanging Gardens, 2 cities went into unhappiness, with a 3rd doing so a few turns before, these are my highest population cities and with Representation, they'll have more head room for growth, so Carrying unhappy population isn't allway's a bad thing.

With the Tech situation, looking at what your opponents can research, can give you and idea of how advanced they are, if they are in front or behind you, if they can't trade a tech, you need its pre requisite, if you can't they need a prerequisite. Noting that they all only have Myst on me (Meh), and I have 2 on all, I'm not concerned, Complacent YES..concerned NO..

I make the change for 2 turns of anarchy, leaving 19 + 2 anarchy in total for Code of Laws.

After I come out, My cities are all happy, with room to grow, and I've dropped to 14 turns for Code of Laws. I could whip 2 libraries, for 2 population, but that's like giving up the 2 scientists and 18 beakers+25% = 22 beakers rounded down * 2 cities = 45 Beakers (including the ½ multiplied by 2)
Be careful of where and what you whip, you may get it earlier, but cost yourself in the long run.

A note on whipping, if you whip and your city will grow into unhappiness within the whip anger time frame, build a Settler or Worker, to avoid growth. You allway's need more Settlers/Workers and holding growth to allow the whip anger to fade, can only benefit you. You only really should carry angry citizens if your sure you can use them/turn them around again soon.

Using my Civs attributes, as a creative leader, I should, NEVER whip libraries, Especially under Representation, I'd need to grow those 2 citizens back before I can benefit, the exception would be if I had 1 or 2 angry citizens, I want to put to use.

Looking at the Demographics screen http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Demographics0000.jpg

I've hit the lead again in Population, while my opponents have stalled. Production has Doubled my nearest Opponent. Tech's to pursue would be Metal casting for forges, Whipped in all cities, as they will provide +2 happy immediately with silver and gems, +25% hammers, further stretching my lead. Next, Civil Service for irrigation spread, then its Machinery for crossbow/maces to combat the expected Longbows, and possibly trading for Construction for the Catapults and teching Engineering for Treb for city raids, +1 road movement.

Guilds and Knights seems like over kill, as I should kill all 3 with just maces/crossbow/horse archers. Courthouses will go up all over my land, whipped again, for reduction in upkeep and spying bonuses.

Looks like I've lots to whip, Caste system won't generate any benefits in the short term, but will once Forges/courthouses are up, with libraries. Keep an eye out for tech/resources trades/availability
Confucianism is now in and I've founded the Religion.

It was founded in of all cities-

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Foundconfussionism.jpg

Novograd, my potential Wall Street city. Now this was just too good to be true, I've adopted the religion, it should spread like wild fire over the lands, now all I need is a Great profit, for the shrine. Next tech to research will be Calender, to plantation those Dyes and exploit the cash. I'll whip courthouses where possible, research metal casting after and whip more forges after the 1st whip anger has died down.

Some times the Blue circle can agree with your ideas, that's an added bonus. Then you know your doing something that the AI agree with.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/weagreeforonce0000.jpg

But to remember to keep your long term plans in hand, why settle here, what's it for, what does it claim. Allway's keep a view to long term. How apt that it ended up being named Vladivostok

380 BC, and Shaka's decides he's had enough of our, -4 close border tension, he declares war with 1 Swordsman, but another with an Impi in my back yard. I have to whip an archer defender in Yekaterinburg as Shaka's sword reaches its border in 1 move on the diagonal. I've dialed up a wall after, hopefully it'll be rushed along with archer.

Its seems not, I lost Yekaterinburg, to the sword attack, and now its garrisoned with a sword and Impi, but it's under so much cultural pressure, it'd flip to me if it could, but won't. Time for some swords and some ole fashioned attacking.

Yekaterinburg revolted the turn before I attacked, I took it back, destroyed the ex-barbarian city that was blocking my heroic epic city and burnt it down, as well, I eventually made peace with Shaka, for the price of;
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/WarMoron0000.jpg
Also, during this war, Ragnar :viking: saw fit to declare war upon Pacal, nothing much seemed to come of it, and it fizzled out fairly quickly. They are now both back to being please with each other.

Shaka on the other hand, is Quite miffed, that I saw fit to burn down his captured barbarian city, and I still have -4 for close borders, so I'm close to flipping 1 city, below my blocking line.

So its cost Shaka a total of;
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/buildsafterwar0000.jpg



Back to some peace and Quiet now. Oh I got 1 GG out of that 'defensive war'. Settled in Ironworks.

Onwards I go towards civil service, in 250 AD, I produce a great Engineer, who I merge into Moscow for the 6 Science and 3 hammers production bonus.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/GEngineer0000.jpg
this will give a greater long term benefit, then rushing the Great library or any other building.

I've now researched civil service. I have chain irrigation now available, and a civics switch to Caste system and Bureaucracy. I first do a final round of Whipping where feasible, or wait one turn to get some hammers into critical builds so as to avoid the penalty for no hammers. Once I've done a full circuit of cities, whipping, adjusting, I'll do a civics switch to Caste system and Bureaucracy. Next tech to research is Aesthetics for 8 turns, then lit and build the great library.


Just a final comment, upon looking at the top cities, 2 are founded in 4000bc, and each has a religion. Now due to the distinct lack of GG's being born, anywhere. I have to assume that the Ottomans were the founders of one of the religions, Hinduism, as they aren't Spiritual, and don't start with Mysticism. The other City, founded Buddhism, but its evenly spread along with Hinduism. Judaism and Christianity are only 1 city it seems.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/ReligiousDiversity0000.jpg



As well, with the founding of Christianity in 200AD, I can reasonably expect to find the Apoc Palace will end up being built as a Buddhist or Hindu structure. Demographics, I'm easily No 1, and double in most cases of my opponents next best effort. Building/whipping forges/courthouses, can only extend this lead further. Combined with the settling of the remaining 4-6 cities I could place.

In the next part, war will come to those who dared oppose us. Swift and brutal it shall be.:folding:

@Shadowkx:
Tech trade attitude is based on an overall team attitude which is an average of attitude levels towards individual members. Didn't read your whole summary but if there were other allies or vassals on your team that Ragnar didn't like, the +30 toward you wouldn't really matter.

@histoire68

Not to answer for TMIT but often (unless you're playing a Rolo map) a conspicuosly non-forested tile is often a resource that's only revealed by researching a tech (like copper, iron, or ponies). Not always, for sure, but it does seem to frequently the case. It's a gamble.

Again, unless it's a Rolo map, if it's that you can guarantee you're not getting what you need from that tile. It's just there to taunt you. (in lolcat: srsly haet that gai)
That sums it up basically. The map script is coded so that the way he describes it generally holds true.

Unless Rolo tries to screw you.
Hehe.... for both of you.....
In case you didn't noticed it yet ( some did a big while ago ), This map is the Mad's Greed III one with some leaders changes ( Bleys requested it to make the game more interesting :p

And I don't take forests of the maps just to tease ppl :p . In fact I try to make as few WB changes as possible, to not unbalance the maps. The maps I post are maps you could easily get in a normal game ... in fact they are maps that I got generating as normal ;) OFC that i handpick them ;)

One question for anyone who knows


WTF?
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185966&stc=1&d=1218857328
+30 Net diplo but
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185967&stc=1&d=1218857328
We do not like you enough????

That is a known bug.... if you want a more technical explanation , read this (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=281541) , but basically in some circumstances the AI will react to you as if it was cautious with you regardless of the actual diplo status

One thing to remember about those unforested tiles, they could be late game resources as well as early ones, Oil is common on grassland, Aluminum on bare plains hills, Uranium seems to pop up everywhere, etc etc etc.

Spoiler for those who have played most of the game:
So the cat is out of the bag, rolo and I pulled a fast one and re-used a map that was in an active RPC game. We did switch the leader and the AIs, (Izzy and Rags were in the original game, they simply changed positions in this one). Thats the biggest reason I had such an easy time, even on Emp, I knew from the start exactly what I was going to shoot for.

I may do this again, as well. Randomly generated maps are fine, but quite often, I see games and think to myself what solid educational maps they would make. As soon as I started Mad Scientists Mansa Musa GREED III game, I thought "Wow, this is what the NCer's could use, a good REX lesson map with a REX leader and a couple REX opponents to compete with land for", and I think it was a huge success. I TOTALLY tanked my own economy (unplanned, LOL, I forgot I was playing Emp, not Monarch/Marathon, which is MS's settings for his RPCs), yet I managed to pull it out by getting Writing early and running those scientists. Diplomacy was also very important here, Rags and Shaka are both hard to deal with, known unit-spammers, etc. I am actually still playing mine (Shaka and Pacal are my vassals, I left them each about 4 cities, I have all the good one), I didnt write another report because I felt it was kinda lame of me to post such a strong successful game when I had a LOT of preknowledge. So I think this game was a full-success? Did you all like the new "Rolos Tips" feature? Lots of good stuff this game for sure, I hope everyone got a solid lesson in REXing.

@schtik and TMIT

Thanks both of you, I did not know that!

To those who've played through most of the game(esp. Bleys):


UGH! I almost figured it out when I placed my horse city; I actually remembered how MadScientist had a similar problem. Too bad I didn't connect the dots :P

@BLEYs

I dare you to use the Suryavarman map for one of these challenges. Go ahead, I dare you!

:D

I was pretty much just teasing Rolo anyway with my above comment. I didn't notice what some other players did, because I was getting wrecked by a 180 page group project and my activity in Civ dropped (relatively speaking).

@Shadowkx:
Tech trade attitude is based on an overall team attitude which is an average of attitude levels towards individual members. Didn't read your whole summary but if there were other allies or vassals on your team that Ragnar didn't like, the +30 toward you wouldn't really matter.


At the time he was my only Vassal. Later i added some others but at no time would he trade any techs.



Edit: thx for the link r_rolo1.

Checking in again for report number two.

1425 BC - 490 AD: Under Attack!

Recap of options:Game Options:
Speed: Epic
Difficulty: Noble
Settings: Choose Religions
DLL: Official 3.17 for first 60 turns; potential update for the unofficial patch since (might as well get some testing done :p)
Mods (All CustomAssets): BUG 3 (SVN revision 1116) with some personal tweaks, Event Signs 1.0 (landmark version for non-spoilers), Promotion-based unit naming (unreleased; more testing)

The plan here was to build up the military and train some more workers then slowly fill out the rest of the North continent while maintaining economic stability. Things have gotten a lot more interesting than I expected, though.

Early on, I decided to feed the Wonder addiction. With only a couple of Wonders built by AIs and stone newly hooked up, Moscow made its run at Great Wall and Pyramids. I wanted the GW for barb protection since I wanted to focus my military along the southern border and the 'mids for Representation since I'm using this game to try and learn about running an SE.

GW took about 6 turns with a little whipping to finish it up in 1150 BC. The 'mids will take quite a while longer but at this difficulty and the slow wonder pace so far I think I have a good shot. Around 900BC, Islam finally spread from Pacal to St Petersburg and I get to join the Muslim love fest with Pacal and Shaka. Iron Working finishes up soon after and I start on Mathematics. Luckily, there is an iron tile inside my borders next to a planned coastal city site so it gets hooked up pretty quickly to give me the ability to train decent melee units.

Over the next couple turns Islam spreads quickly through Russia eventually winding up in all but 1 of my first 6 cities. The 'mids took around 20 and were finished in 575BC and then Moscow built a library as libraries were starting to finish in my other cities too. Novgorod, my main military producer, has been cranking out Archers for city defense and Moscow chips in the odd unit too. A barb city popped up just East of Moscow so a couple of swordsmen were built to take it on. It didn't fit well with my other cities and the economy was still questionable so I razed it; got a free worker though. Around 475BC Raggy gets Islam too so the entire continent is unified under its only religion.

Mathematics comes in around 400BC and Alphabet is picked next. That comes in around 215BC and the next move is Currency. No decent trade possibilities were available, so I held onto both. Things are quiet right now, workers are chopping jungles & building farms, Rostov is building Archers for every city along with some Axemen to go to the front lines, and Moscow builds an Aqueduct and starts the Hanging Gardens. A couple of fog-busting scouts and warriors can't hold up against Barbarian archers and melee units, so some other axemen are trained to go out into the wild.

I had opened borders with the AIs in order to get a little trade going and scout their territory but when the Vikings tried scouting mine, I closed back up with them. Same thing happened when Shaka tried to send a scout and an archer to visit. Thankfully, Pacal wasn't interested so I was able to keep that border open and get a little trade income. Pacal kindly sent a missionary to spread Islam into my other big city just before the turn of the millenium and around then I started moving an occasional settler out to found new cities.

Then things got interesting. A little mini-stack of Zulus appeared on my borders just as I had finished researching Calendar and so we went into panic mode. Power ratios were about even but all of Shaka's units have Cover from the Tower Shield event and my military is spread out. The timing wasn't too bad though because with Calendar I was able to do some wheeling and dealing and get Construction from Ragnar. I quickly queued up catapults in my 2 border cities as well as the Military center Rostov and a 4th nearby city. Then next turn, all were 2-pop whipped as Shaka declared and entered my borders. Taoism was founded in a distant land at this point which probably meant that Theology is out on the other continent. I didn't even notice that until looking at the BUG log to write up the report.

Luckily for me, Shaka wasn't too bright. His little stack headed for an unimproved Dyes tile which had its jungle cleared in preparation for a quick Plantation. They stopped and pillaged the road there and that's when I hit him. I lost a suicide cat and 2 axes but took out his whole stack:

--------- Excerpt from BUG log ---------
Turn 178/750 (70 AD) [16-Aug-2008 13:17:45]
A Mine was built near Rostov
While attacking in Russian territory near uMgungundlovu, Catapult loses to Zulu C1 CR1 Cover Swordsman (Swordsman) (1.92/6) (Prob Victory: 33.7%)
Axeman promoted: Combat I
While attacking in Russian territory near uMgungundlovu, C1 Axeman (Axeman) loses to Zulu C1 Cover Shock Axeman (Axeman) (3.60/5) (Prob Victory: 44.1%)
Axeman promoted: Combat I
While attacking in Russian territory near uMgungundlovu, C1 Axeman (Axeman) loses to Zulu C1 Cover Shock Axeman (Axeman) (1.70/5) (Prob Victory: 70.2%)
Axeman promoted: Combat I
While attacking in Russian territory near uMgungundlovu, C1 Axeman (Axeman) (2.45/5) defeats Zulu C1 CR1 Cover Swordsman (Swordsman) (Prob Victory: 88.4%)
While attacking in Russian territory at Rostov, Axeman (5.00/5) defeats Zulu C1 Cover Shock Mob Impi (Impi) (Prob Victory: 95.8%)
While attacking in Russian territory at Rostov, Axeman (3.50/5) defeats Zulu C2 Cover Mob Impi (Impi) (Prob Victory: 97.3%)
Erwin Rommel (Great General) born in Moscow
While attacking in Russian territory near uMgungundlovu, CR1 Swordsman (Swordsman) (1.92/6) defeats Zulu C2 Cover Mob Impi (Impi) (Prob Victory: 80.8%)
While attacking in Russian territory at Rostov, CR1 Swordsman (Swordsman) (6.00/6) defeats Zulu C1 Cover Shock Axeman (Axeman) (Prob Victory: 98.0%)
While attacking in Russian territory at Rostov, CG1 Archer (Archer) (0.66/3) defeats Zulu C1 CR1 Cover Swordsman (Swordsman) (Prob Victory: 79.4%)
Novgorod begins: Catapult (5 turns)
--------------------

The GG was settled in Rostov so that it could make 5xp foot units. After healing up, I sent a group of 2 swords and 3 axe into Zululand for some pillaging. I also sent a Galley near Ulundi. Strangely enough, even though Shaka had a C1 Galley himself, he let me pillage his fish before he attacked and killed mine. The same turn, CoL came in and I founded Judaism. None of the AIs had Alpha, Currency, or CoL so I was looking to do some trading. Since Pacal and Rags both had Monarchy and I could use the happiness from hooking up wines, I quickly researched Polytheism (2 turns) and Priesthood (1 turn) in order to make it available to me. I then swapped Currency to Pacal for Monarcy & Meditation and to Ragnar for Monotheism and HBR. They probably both threw in a little gold too.

Shaka sent another pair of troops my way (sword/impi) and after losing more suicide cats they were taken out. Meanwhile, my pillagers took out a Hamlet and Village near his closest city (uMgungundlovu) and then headed towards Ulundi for some more destruction. Shaka sent another raiding party of a sword and 2 impi. Once again, I waited for them to hit flatland and suicided some cats before cleaning up with my axemen. It's so nice of him to attack with purely melee units so I can focus on building cats & shock axes and not worry about dealing with mounted units or archers; he must not have any horses.

My pillaging stack was able to take out a rice farm, corn farm, gem mine, regular grassland hill mine, and iron mine around Ulundi over the next several turns while I was countering his mini-stacks. He tries a new approach on his next assault bringing a cat with his melee boys but once again gets caught on flat land when Pacal clears a jungle from bananas on our border. He is willing to talk peace but I'm close to a second GG and have a 9xp axe nearby so first I suicide a cat, then kill 2 of his guys with axes and get my general. Then I call him up and make peace along with getting 120 gold.

The war is over but my illusions of getting along with my neighbors have been shattered. I need to seriously consider abandoning plans of peacefully settling out the rest of the North and instead go on a rampage and expand by the sword.

In other areas, I teched Feudalism and have started Civil Service. I swapped it with Pacal for Metal Casing and Aesthetics and may trade HBR for literacy if he's willing soon too. Once CS comes in, I intend a major civics change to Bureaucracy and OR. I'm undecided on Caste System or Slavery though as I've relied heavily on the whip and may need to continue to do so.

Moscow has spawned two great spies thanks to the great wall. One was settled and the other build scotland yard so it's generating 32EP allowing me to watch everyone's tech choices and keep ahead in EP ratio without touching the slider. The next GP will probably be a scientist from one of my cities that runs 2 sci specialists from their library.

I'm having trouble with the whole SE thing. Between the amount of jungle that needed to be cleared in my southern cities and having to whip out troops dealing with Shaka I haven't been running as many scientists as I wanted. And I need a second (or even third) troop producer to complement Rostov. I may settle the second GG in my west coast city since it has the gem mines and some hills that will probably allow it some decent production. The two border cities, my East Coast city, and Moscow can all run 2 scientists and then I can get some more with growth in some of my newer cities. I think I'm doing okay as I'm basically even in tech (or a bit ahead) of Pacal and definitely ahead of Shaka and Ragnar, but it's new territory for me so it's a little weird.

Current Empire (South):
http://www.isarapix.org/pix91/sm/1218925391.jpg (http://www.isarapix.org/pix91/1218925391.jpg)

Current Empire (North):
http://www.isarapix.org/pix89/sm/1218925494.jpg (http://www.isarapix.org/pix89/1218925494.jpg)

Score Graph:
http://www.isarapix.org/pix36/sm/1218925470.jpg (http://www.isarapix.org/pix36/1218925470.jpg)

Power Graph:
http://www.isarapix.org/pix79/sm/1218925520.jpg (http://www.isarapix.org/pix79/1218925520.jpg)

At the time he was my only Vassal. Later i added some others but at no time would he trade any techs.


Do you have a save from there? The bug r_rolo1 linked should only affect resources, civics, and religion and I'd like to see if there's something else we need to get fixed...

Haha, I figured I recognised the map from somewhere... :lol:

Anyway.

Here's my start, midupdate, and endreport in one (I'll put it in sequence spoilers so if you're not all the way to the end yet, you can still read parts of it)

As I posted earlier I had to do a restart on this one due to some technicalities. As IPEX has done I intended this one to be of a somewhat educational new noble level players, though I guess I forgot that somewhere along the line as everything I did wasn't quite optimal (I got lazy after realising that I'd would win very early on...)

Noble/Epic - Mainly Cottage economy intended, with a fully utilized National park city for GPs (thanks for all the forests). As you will see the economy became more something like "I need to war else I'll go broke and thank heaven for Great Merchants and trading missions"

4000BC-1AD


I settled Moscow 1NE of startingposition.
Initial Buildorder: Worker, Warrior, Warrior, Settler, Worker

The second warrior was to let Moscow grow so I could whip the settler. Do take note that I didn't chop many of Moscows many forrest, I wanted to save most of them, only the hills I cleared to make place for mines, those chops I did save for the great wall.

I was lucky to get The Wheel in my second hut which I was thankful for, it's one of those techs you always need but don't want to research.

Research went: AH, BW, Agri, Masonry, IW

After BW we found no Bronze, so IW became a priority, it was so anyway because I was about to settle jungle with my third, fourth and fifth city. Here's my "Dot-map" and it's actually how it turned out as well.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0067-1.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0066.jpg

Plan was to REX responsibly and get an empire of atleast 7 cities before glancing at the neighours, which I now had met, Shaka, Pacal and Ragnar down south. I settled St Petersbourg first as it was to be my capital fairly soon, after that the southern 3 cities in quick succession, I did crank the whip hard at that point, I wanted to beat Shaka and Pacal to those lands. After that I settled the Moai city, the horses (military prod city), and the late production site (that one became a killer porductionsite after Workshops got it's full worth).

I managed to claim some early wonders, not really that hard on Noble. I did want Great wall for some easy GG points when Shaka declares (he will do that, he always does that...), Pyramids for early represenation and Great Lib for the science. I also managed to get The Parthenon, I only built it for the cash but managed to get it anyway, what a surprise (and man I was poor at that point...)

Well, as I took a huge chunk of the continent in my initial settling it wasn't long before Shaka came calling, but as you can see I was prepared
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0014-1.jpg
(Here I've actually already annihilated Shakas tiny little stack, I don't know why he always suicides...)
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0015-1.jpg

Well, I took peace with him this time cheaply for Shaka as I wasn't ready to do a full scale invasion just yet.

At the end of this stage my economy wasn't good, but I did have somewhat of a techadvantage anyway, despite sitting in a low 30% researchrate most of the time, the tip here, get those libraries built and run some scientist wherevery you can. It'll boost early research quite alot.

And here we end the first part.


1AD-1400AD

Shaka came again as expected.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0020-2.jpg

This time I took his capital and razed another of his nearby cities. Shakas capital became my HE city instead of my previously intended military city which just had to produce units at a high rate without the HE.

Peace again, well, atleast we did have peace a few years, but Shaka came calling sooner rather than later and this time, he did bribe my buddy Pacal to come with him. I had expected Shaka and didn't quite trust Pacal, but I didn't think he'd declare that early. Anyway. I had Maces, Shaka didn't, Noone else had horses but me either so that was another bonus. Though Pacal had maces but almost no army so no big worries there.

I made peace with Pacal when the option became available, got some gold from him, I decided he would have to wait so I could take Shaka alone first.

Shaka was soon a beaten warrior and became my vassal
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0041.jpg

I may have to explain now that I've set my victory of choice. I did build the AP, uniting the Buddist family as the AP religion. The whole continent was Buddists so it seemed a good option. I had also met the other continent, with Izzy, Memed and Hammy, all happily fighting with eachother with different religions. So I decided to spread the religion to them later when I knew I had votes at home to win it. To be able to do that, I needed Shaka and Pacal as vassals and Ragnar as the opponent in the election. Ragnar wasn't bothering anyone this game, living a peaceful happy life in his southern confinement.
More about that later.

Now, Shaka under my control, time for Pacal:
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0044.jpg

And it was soon over, I took his capital which was the Buddist shrine city and another of his cities that had another shrine. I razed a few more and soon he was willing to talk capitulation which netted me Drama, and alot of gold + plus a vassal to win me the religious victory.

The end of this warlike part.



1400AD-1722AD Religious victory.

I though I would bag the game in just a few turns now but no... I wasn't actually surprised that the religious nutheads on the other continent refused open borders to me. So I thought I'd do the "gift caravel with missionary" trick. It didn't work though, I guess it may have been changed in the last patch or something that an AI in Theocracy will not use the missionary or all of them just failed. Anyway, it didn't work. Any bribing didn't get me anywhere with them either so I decided for the direct approach instead.

I teched up to Astro as quickly as possibly, the other continent was hopeless behind in tech as well so it'd be easy if I just could get my army over there.

When the armada was ready, I started with Izzy. It did go great, took 4 cities, decided to keep 3 of those and the 4th I spread buddism to. I was to give that one back to Izzy after the war. Unfortunately Memed saw his chance and declared on Izzy and before I could finish my campaign against her, he did vassalise her.

So a turn later I declared on Memed. As it turned out he had a city in Babylonian lands, that one I took and spread buddism to and gifted to Hammurabi, who now was a happy buddist with very few votes.

The war against Memed took some time, he had quite alot of troops and his Elephants wasn't always a walk in the park for my curiasses, trebs and maces (I had neglected to bring alot of pikes....) And the shipping of additional troops took some time with the ocean in between.

Anyway, it worked out in the end, I took peace with Memed and Izzy (who still was a vassal to Memed despite me hammering her down to almost no cities) I gifted one city to Izzy and one city to Memed, both with Buddism.

Now all we have to do is wait. The victory is secured:
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0056.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0057-1.jpg


And quite some time later the vote came up and in 1722 the victory was confirmed. A bit later than I had hoped, if the initial plan with gifting missionaries had worked it'd been over in the 1400-1500AD but well, a few 100 years more isn't much...
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0063-1.jpg

The fine Russian empire in the end:
Northern homeland:
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0058.jpg
Middle:
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0059.jpg
Southern (former Shaka and Pacal cities, the Shaka city in the middle is actually one of Pacals old cities, which I almost had conquered to raze but ran out of troops due to bad planning so Shaka managed to sneak in and grab it...)
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0060.jpg
And finally the colonial, former Spanish empire
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/Elenthrial/Civ4ScreenShot0061.jpg

Quite fun game, a needed change from my constant struggles of lately on higher difficulties. It didn't turn out as educational as I had intended, but I hope someone will have learnt something anyway.

To 2875 BC with dotmap (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7142216&postcount=92). The following is comparison with what other people did. I'm puzzled by a lot of the differences (as in, which choices are better?) and would really appreciate comments. Absolutely nothing I say here is meant as a criticism of anybody; y'all are very likely making better choices than me.
My choice for first city (light green) is 1SW of yours (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7131563&postcount=6) (Prince). Your Novogorod is 1W of my orange city. I see from later comments you used your initial warrior for settler escort, but I figure creating my 2nd warrior is better -- I might use it for both cities, though, expecting one or the other to make its own warrior.

Your "city" marker to the west is nowhere near any of my theories; it appears to take in cows, wheat, 2 flood plains, coast, and one plains hill, so it has a fair bit of food and not much production. What were you planning to do with it? Specialists?
Your #1 city was 1W of Krick19's, getting both cows and stone like both his and my choices but with other differences. Not sure what's up with that; I see 1FP, 2 rice, 3 plains hills -- a production centre? Your #2 is the same as Krick19's (apparent) 4th, south of mine from that region. I see you're going for the gems with the X that you said would be your next (planned 4th, earlier because of barbs near 3); I was thinking of that for my 3rd, to get gems earlier.

You've explored further south than me, so I see where Shaka and Ragnar are; now I'm wondering if I need to go with my brown and white cities first, as blockers, before the ones closer to Moscow. However, it also sounds like barbs become a problem in between 2nd and 3rd new cities, so 1st or 2nd needs to have good production for military.
Your #1 (after moscow) was apparently 2S of the stone, which is 1NW of my white "opponent blocker" city. Your location might be a really good production centre, with rice, 1FP, farmable grasslands, 3 plains hills, 1 grassland hill. It doesn't get dye inside the BFC, but now I'm wondering if maybe there's no point in that? It doesn't look like building a plantation improves anything one works, so the benefits from hooking up the resource are needed. :confused: For your 2nd city did you mean 5W of stone instead of military city? It's 2E of the previous 2 guys and N NW of my inferior "yellow" city. 1W of Easter gems misses the coastline and cows; is it that much better a blocker?

I may be able to look at a few more later, but commentary / reactions to the above is very much welcome!

@dalamb

Just a few suggestions on your placements. Your placements isn't bad or anything and your idea with each city may be different from mine but some comments.

white city: Explore more south, it can be moved down. Sure it's alot of jungle but there's some more goodies.

Yellow and grey city: As white city, yellow can move down, thus making room for a better placed city on that river/ploodplains/plains/wheat/cow spot between your yellow and grey spot. That can be either a huge, lategame productionsite if you run all the workshop improving things. To do that grey city could be moved up to claim clam+sheep, decent Moai city actually.

Orange: I placed my city 1W of your spot. It then claims a floodplain as well to be more productive pre-civil service.

Brown: The spot is a bit short of food pre civil service. There's is a good place to claim the gems just south of them, explore a bit more.

The northern most, light blue, city: Not really worth it until maybe late game.

@Dresden

I did some checking and what happen was he was in the "We do not want to trade this tech away just yet" mode. And during that time i Liberated a City on the other continent to form an over-seas colony (new AI in the game) and so he ended up not liking my "team" enough. Something about that seems so broken. I if i keep the high maintenance city i newly acquired my Vassal likes me enough to trade but i form a colony he no longer will do business with me. Seems like the colony should inherit my standing with everyone rather then start fresh. But like i said this was an experiment with the Vassal system. Seems like the implementation is broken on some levels and they have a very limited use as is.

All in all. Thank you for the info.


As to your game. Very nice aggressive settling to block off the north. Much further south then i tried. You look to be at a decision point. You could stock pile troops in the south and expand in the north or you could cleanse the continent. Space race or Conquest/Domination. Seems like a good time to choose. With either Shaka will most likely be trouble again it is just in his nature. I would be interested to see your plan before the next segment is played.

Part 4 280 AD-770

We start off our Empire in 3 turns of Anarchy, with a civics change to Caste System and Bureaucracy. As I'm aiming for a Specialist Economy the two most important early techs are CoL's to enable Caste System, and Civil Service to enable irrigation spread, with Bureaucracy as an added bonus to your capital.

And onwards we go.....

Reviewing the cities, I have my Iron works city set out and re-named as such. My Wall Street city, that had Confucianism founded in it, with 3 dye's. This city is set to be farmed to allow the maximum Merchant specialists to be used. Future corporations founded with be HQ'ed here. Moscow is to be re-named Science Central, as it has 10 surplus food at moment for 5 scientist specialists, with more farms to be built as forests are chopped.



Upon looking at the map further, I've decided that Mutal should be the site of our National parks city. Pacal has only chopped one forested hill, for a mine, and has 2 food resources. The National park gives one free Specialist for each forest Preserve, Scientific method, in its BFC, but you don't need the population to enable that specialist.

If you have 10 Preserves in the BFC and a population of 1, you automatically get 10 specialists, 10 are free specialists, and don't consume any food but use the forest preserve tile. The 1 pop citizen will be there to provide the food needed to enable growth. This Becomes available with the Biology tech, along with +1 food for all farms.

Further looking at map, I've decided that the city that Pacal settled to the SW of his capital, would be an idea site for the forbidden palace. West point will be Placed in the city we are about to settle, containing 3 resources and hills for production of our naval forces. Moai Statues will go to the Far North, below the northern most silver, as this gives the maximum number of workable sea tiles, with one ice. Other sites are just fillers, with a 4th Dye tile to be founded below the dual gems city.

Pacal's two existing cities will be Burnt down and 2 new ones settled on the coast and along the river.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%204/TopofMotherRussia0000.jpg


Army: We have Maces and Crossbow's available, I've seen no horse units from any of the AI's as yet, but I still need to complete my Recon work to confirm that fact. 1 additional wine tile is located in the south, along with 1 gems tile. 4 silk and 2 incense are located in the south. Metals 4 iron are spread along the southern 1/3 of the map with Pacal having the only source of Bronze, Required for my production of the Colossus in St PetersBurg.

Plan is to Trade for Monarchy with Pacal once it becomes available, meaning I need to research both Polytheism and Monotheism. Meditation shall be avoided for the moment, for light bulbing of Astronomy. Trade also shall be made for Construction where available.

As I have Maces V's archers/axes in max 60% city, and production/numbers on my side, I won't need Catapults, but will use SPIES to reduce the Culture for 1 turn. Got to use up those spy points, I'll also spread my culture into newly captured cites to use up spy points, or steal a tech or 3.

Upgrading of a few City garrison 2 archers to Crossbows, and building of an offensive army now take precedence. Building of Marble enabled wonders will be forgotten, as I have none, pursuit of the Great Library, while good, is not essential, As I plan to Bulb Scientific method ASAP, and try taking Biology with Liberalism.

1st its the war Preparations.
2nd is Great Library
3rd is Liberalism race, Bulbing Scientific method, taking Biology.
4th is Astronomy and Circumnavigation bonus.


War: Attack Pacal from the North, Raise the 2 northern cities, replacing them with my planned 2 cities, moving on then to Mutal, taking it and holding it for my planned National parks city. Moving further south, I take the city bordering Ragnar and build my forbidden palace there, from here I either completely eliminate Pacal, or invite Ragnar to do so.

2nd phase: I build a 2nd attacking stack and hit Shaka from the North and the East out of Pacal's old lands. I burn down his Northern city, replacing it with my choice. I then move my 2 stacks to jointly attack his capital. After taking the capital, I send 1 stack down the West coast, with the Eastern stack heading South East. Again I invite Ragnar to attack Shaka, building further mutual war bonuses.

3rd Phase of my war, will involve Hitting Ragnar with the 2 stacks, reinforced with new troops and taking his cities in a SE from Shaka, and SW from Pacal Merging to take his Capital of Nidros. I plan on taking no Vassals, and not researching Feudalism.

2 planned trades I made were;

1.Pacal Currency for Monarchy and 235 gold
2.Ragnar :viking: Currency for Construction and 210 gold.

Currency @ 1560 beakers has netted me 1365 (construction) and 1160 (Monarchy) along with 435 gold for deficit research/upgrades. Shaka has nothing to trade to them, but will probably get it as a gift/request, or a war bribe from Pacal, so I'd better get to Shaka 1st

Horseback riding is next for 6 turns, to Counter some Catapults I'll face and hit and run pillage attacks.

Horseback riding is in, I'm building stables in 3 cities, my main military cities of Science Central, Ironworks and Rostov. Rostov is a Fortress against Shaka's aggression, and he's in WHEOOHRN. OR We Have Enough On Our Hands Right Now. So he's planning a war, Probably me, but oh well.

I move my stack of Maces/Swords/Axes/Crossbows to 1 tile diagonally away from the first city and Declare on Pacal.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%204/Pacalwar0000.jpg
This allows me to move 1 diagonally to the next coastal target, both of which will be burnt down. Notice that I have vision into Pacal's cities now, this is due to my switching spy point to a 3/1/0 to Pacal/Shaka/Ragnar.

My first attack has been a success, no losses and destroyed 4 units. I first attacked with the city raider 2 Macemen, then followed up with 3 crossbows. This was to give the crossbows more experience as I plan to get them to City garrison 3 if possible, and then upgrade them to Machine guns.

Machine guns, DO NOT have the City Garrison promotion enabled, but Crossbows and Grenadiers do, both of which, are upgradable to Machine guns with Railroad. Plan for the long term.

I heal up, cover my last attacker who's left stranded on the old city tile now burnt down with a mace/axe, and move onto the next city. My woodsman 2 Axe, stationed in Rostov, to attack the Jungle by its walls, is moved to the attack group, as its a Designated Great General Medic 3 Potential, along with Woodsman 3 for an extra 15% healing, combined with Medic 3, its 50% extra healing.


I deliberately left the ruins of the sacked cities in place due to a bonus that may occur, from searching through them. I got the option, for some additional cash to try for additional research to Engineering, I take the option and receive
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%204/Ruinsbonus0000.jpg Nothing..


Oh well, Shaka has now Declared war on Pacal, looks like I weakened him enough, and it cost me nothing :hatsoff:

Pacal's 2nd city was attacked, taken and burnt with the loss of 2 maceman, and 1 swordsman.

I reinforce with 1 mace, 1 axe and 1 crossbow. My spy in Mutal was also discovered, I'll need to replace it first before attacking, but I can lay siege outside in mean time. Shaka, is trying to take back a city Pacal took off him in their previous war, but is attacking from across a river. Shaka took the city, as he had 4 Catapults with him, but Pacal has come across a source of horses, it must be in the remaining fog to the Extreme SE.

Pacal is Researching Aesthetics for me, I'll just steal it as soon as he does, so he won't be totally eliminated, I'll stop after I take Mutal. Ragnar now has Calendar, and combined with his Marble source, I hope he'll build the MoM for me. As Paper is now in, I can either research Engineering for trenchbuckets, or Education for Universities. I go for Engineering for the +1 road movement as well, and the Castles, boosted by stone.

Neither Ragnar nor Shaka :evil: will trade maps with me, where is that source of horse at, I must pillage it with my spy. Pacal is building Stables and Horse archers, I need some pikes or spear men it seems at the very least, he's got out 1 chariot, that I killed with a sword, now promoted to a mace. 0% Research rate, I'm powered along with my Scientist specialists and caste system allowing > 2 in cities. Science central takes a break from building units, and builds the University of Sankore, as I plan to spam Temples and monasteries to all cities eventually.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%204/Techsasof535ad0000.jpg

My spy causes a 1 turn revolt in Mutal, and I attack. My 2 macemen, promoted before attacking to heal up from the Catapult assaults, both kill an axeman. Next my swords line up to attack at 68% each one succeeds and one loses, My axes are next attacking a 2 horse archers, promoting them to city raider 2, one wins the other loses with scratching the horse archer, but the 3rd axe at city raider 1 wins through. Now its just Swordsman, chariot and axeman V's Crossbows. I attack with the least experience at 75% promoted to city Garrison 1, it wins against a sword. As city garrison has no effect attacking, its best to attack with the weakest first, or least promoted in this case. The 2nd Loses at 86% against a Chariot, idiot shot off into the jungle and not at the Chariot. The remaining 2 win, with one gaining city garrison 3 and the other moving to 8/10 points.

2 Great Generals have been born Sun Tzu for me in Ironworks (medic 3) and Ivan the Terrible for Pacal in Mutal. As he only has 1 Chariot left, I wait 1 turn hoping the he'll fortify him in Mutal. The chariot is at 0.3/4, and I have 2 maces to attack at 60% culture odds, even if he whips 1 archer, I can over come it.

No additional defender, So I attack with my Designated GG Axeman at 96.8% I take the city. Unfortunately, Pacal hasn't merged the Great General into the city, but he has merged 1 priest, combined with the cows that are pastured and the mined hill, with all the forests, I have a Great National Parks city.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%204/NoGGinMutal0000.jpg


I've finally uncovered Pacal's source of horses Its located in the Extreme SE of the continent, and he's built a city upon it

I rest up, and continue the attack until I've take my designated forbidden palace city. This has some nice looking floodplains, and very pillageble cottages. Leaving Pacal to research Aesthetics for me so I can steal it, and switch my attention to taking on Shaka.

I make peace with Pacal Once I take his city of Lakemba, I'll build my forbidden Palace here. Pacal wouldn't give up the city of Calakmul, for peace, so I took the following :deal:
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%204/PeacedeaPacall0000.jpg


605 AD The war with Shaka:

Its a bit late, but I assign 1 spy specialist in all cities where available. Mainly to catch up with Pacal so I can steal Aesthetics, but to build up extra points overall. I'm building a 2nd army in both Rostov and Wall Street, combined with my 1st army from the Pacal war in Lakemba, and restocked from Iron works, I'll hit Shaka from the East and North.

I plan to take his city in the east along the river,so I have the river as cover from Shaka, and the northern city, which I've designated as burning down. From there, I'll move to take his capital and another city further westward, then roll up the rest of his cities. Ragnar and Pacal are now officially non events.

Further note I've just scouted out Ragnar's capital, and wouldn't you know it, he has http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%204/RagnarsCapital0000.jpg

Yes, Horses and Copper.

While preparing for my war with Shaka, extra spies/maces/upgrades, I received a random event to sent food to Uppsula, I elected to send all food stores and gain a +3 from Ragnar. This should keep him off my back while I'm busy with Shaka, who'll already has the option open to attack Pacal, but would do it for gold, but not attack Pacal for Monarchy.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%204/foodtoRagnar0001.jpg


Oh well, I have vision into Shaka, and he's only got swords/archers @ 40% cultural defense, and is busy Teching Monarchy.


I'm about ready to launch my war. While this and the previous war was going on, I was busy building the University of Sankore (Science Central, with 4 Scientists, 1 spy) and the Colossus (St Petersburg, 1 spy with Mutal's copper). Iron works, my Military city, has been busy pumping out Maces/spies, along with Rostov. Wall Street, is busy building a Grocer, and I'm holding off on the Plantations till Shaka's dealt with, due to his Impi's 2 movement points.

I've a spy on the way to Pacal to steal Aesthetics, and Rag's I've stopped all Espionage too, but I think he's going for Priesthood/Monarchy, due to the offer to buy Priesthood for 175 gold.

I found out the cost of Stealing Aesthetics from Pacal was 1840, even with a 50% discount, its too much, so I opt instead to spread Culture to Lakemba. As the 10 turn peace treaty had expired, and Pacal's no real threat, and with 4 of the 5 workers on my border, I declare and opt to empty my city of all defenders and steal the 4 workers. Pacal only has a Catapult and an archer in the nearest city, with 1 tile of my culture between his and my border, with my 2 troops in the way (an archer and Crossbow) hopefully Pacal won't try take any workers back, but if he does I'll only lose I archer and 2 workers I never had anyway. I also sell Ragnar Priesthood for 175 gold, seems he wasn't researching it. But I've now got 10 turns of peace, No bribing Pacal OK...


A 5th worker, was alone and I was unable to grab it...I grabbed the 5th worker next turn as Engineering had just came in for 3 movement points on my roads, and river crossing without penalty, 5/5 a 100% success rate. Pacal also built a settler in Lakemba

I'm nearly ready to launch against Shaka, just moving last maceman into position. I might see if he'll join in against Pacal.

Pacal attacks my archer with the Catapult, and nothing else...”Oh dear I'm at 20% health, with 2 workers what shall I do.” I also move my crossbow back to forbidden palace along with the 2 workers.

I have 3 turns on the Uni of Sankore, and the Colossus in 6, I also have a spy sitting on Shaka's iron, that I've pillaged once with a spy, to do again, also I have 2 spies in the city about to be attacked, but as it has 5 Cat's and 5 other troops, I won't have enough to take in 1 turn, so will have to do over multiple turns. Reinforcing from Iron works and Science central.

1st turn of war-, I revolt city with spy, attack with 2 maces against a Bow and sword, both win at 95%, then I realize I didn't upgrade the 2 axes to Maces Duh...only 68% odds, better upgrade, 2 crossbows attack at 79% and both win against Catapults. 2nd city to attack I move troops on diagonal to city walls, Shaka has 1 worker chopping something I take it with my horse archer, as he has only 1 sword defending and won't attack the horse archer.

2nd turn of war-Shaka has Abandoned Nongoma, leaving only 1 Impi, and moving out the remaining cat's and Impi's. I must be careful...As I plan to Burn the city, and it's my culture once I do, I'll have to defend out in open, but same as defending in city, just no city garrison bonus. I decide to wait 1 more turn and see what he's doing with the 1 cat and 4 Impi's he moved out. In the 2nd city I'm attacking, I hit 1 archer and 2 swords with maces, all winning easily. The last unit is a sword, and I use my city garrison 2 Crossbowman to attack, he wins @ 75% but with only 0.3 health, A close thing, but now he can go to city garrison 3 and 2 more maces and a horse archer were moved in to defend, the other 3 are being healed by my GG Medic, who's still an axe.

Turn 3 of war- I re-adjust espionage points :blush: to full on Shaka, the Cat and Impi's have moved out of 2 turns of city and my sight?? I take the city and burn it down. I'm now building 1 setter in Science Central, and 1 in ironworks for my 2 planned cities.

I've found his stack, it seems to be heading towards either Forbidden Palace or his former city, but he'll need to attack across water to take it back, I move 2 maces to forbidden palace as its in open building walls (17 Turns). Shaka kills a horse archer I was sending to take his 4 workers based upon the iron. He's trying to take back his former city, I send all maces back and brace for attack. My northern group falls back to Rostov to heal and regroup. I have 1 sword of Shaka's in my back area, but covered by 2 crossbows, and an Axe of Pacal, that's not moving near national parks in open territory, Probably looking to resettle the burnt city.

I was right, Pacal had another axe with settler sneaking East of national parks, I attack with my city garrison Crossbow at 78% into woods and win, netting another worker. More experience if it survives IBT's. As it was reduced to 0.6 health, I guard with spearman, leaving National Parks unguarded, but Pacal has no roads to walls, and no 3 movement troops (I hope). My X-man, is at only 0.6 health, with 1 worker in tow, Pacal's axe is at 2/5 and he's killed my defending spear already, trying to grab it back, must be hard up for workers, losing 6 in total :trophy: I move 1, City Garrison 2 crossbow, from Forbidden palace to national parks.

Shaka unwisely moves his Attack stack across the river into the jungle by my new city. I first attack with the maceman GG, who has Woodsman 3 (50% attack bonus into woods/jungle) I follow up with 4 maces, 3 wining but the 4th losing at 80% to a catapult..(Jeezzzz I hate that :mad:). My city garrison crossbow attacks the remaining Impi, killing it and leaving 1 cat badly damaged at 2 health.

What have you been doing with all my pretty soldiers, you've gone and taken them all away from me, I want my pretties BAAAAAAAACCCCCCKKKKK!!!!!!!!, Wails Catherine in Anguish, if not actual Physical pain.

Shaka seems fairly much spent now, its just a matter or rolling up his cities, his capital is only guarded by 2 bow's and a sword, but he's researching Feudalism. I'd better take it before he gets too close, as he's over 40 away now, and losing capital with Gems will set him back another 40

Last turn I took Calakmul off Pacal, as it was a keeper, on a hill, as it only had 1 archer, and 2 newly arrived Axes. I also plan to take the city SE of National Parks and burn it down, relegating Pacal to 3 cities in the SE corner of the map, and obsolete. I'll heal up my maces and move out from there.

Now I'm about to attack Shaka's Capital, I have 4 spies there to revolt the city, I can't spread culture yet as I don't have drama, but to research is Music, for the free Artist, which hasn't gone off yet, then Education @ 42 turns at )% losing money. I need more Courthouses to come online.

National parks has been assigned the task of Generating a Great Profit, Iron works is building 3 crossbows then Notre Dame, Science Central the Parthenon and St Petersburg the SoZ. Shaka is mine as he can't re-mine his iron, and I'm about to take capital and head east to roll him up, I just need a few turns to reduce spy cost, from 481 (10%) down to what I've got 350+38/turn

I have now taken Shaka's capital with the loss of 1 spy trying to incite a revolt.

YOU ARE REVOLTING, TAKING AWAY ALL MY PRETTIES Screams Catherine with a look of Anguish upon her face.

I heal my troops up in in Ulindi, Shaka sent 1 sword north to try take Wall Street, which only had a warrior guarding it. I swapped the warrior with an archer from Rostov, and upgraded the archer to a Crossbow. To do this I had to set all cities onto wealth making for 2 turns, so as to gain a buffer in treasury. Also a great Artist has just been born overseas, looks like Music is a bust, and I'm on the clock with the Aesthetics wonders and the Great Library.

I now rush a settler down to the SE coast, to a spot I've nominated along the coast as a replacement city, this is to stop Rag's :viking: from settling in there himself. I also re-arrange the garrisons so a garrison 3 crossbow goes to the new city on the front line, and the warrior goes back to St Petersburg for happy police again. West point is in unrest due to no garrison, its grown faster then I thought, so I rush a crossbow out of science central to calm them down.

I've now taken Um-pronouncablename-u by converging my east and westerly stacks either side and revolting the city with a spy. I make Peace with Pacal, as he only has 3 cities in the SE tundra area.
Here's the :deal:, sorry snap shot taken after I accepted. :blush:
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%204/Pacalpeaceno20000.jpg

This cost Pacal over 250 gold, 3/turn, adopt paganism and world map. He wouldn't give up the horse city.

I've also made my peace with Shaka, as I've now reduced him to 4 cities in the SW desert area, here's the :deal:
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%204/ShakapeaceNo10000.jpg
I also got him to adopt paganism as well


I'm currently bleeding 50 gold /turn at 0%, time to recover my economy. Courthouses and the Forbidden Palace are No 1.

Looks like Rags may have to wait, until I have a more stable economy. He now has Monarchy, as he's asked me to Adopt hereditary rule, as all the :cool: civ's are adopting it. :thumbsdown:

770 AD:, the SoZ has just been BIAFL :gripe:, I've more then doubled my workforce from 11 to 24, :dance:

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%204/Workers240000.jpg

my lands from 17% to 26.53%, Rags is now No 2 with 7% .

Victory screen-

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%204/Victory0000.jpg


I'm far and away the No 1 in most categories

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%204/Demographics7700000.jpg

The only problem I have is my chronic bleeding of gold. As all my builds are now buildings, I'm doing a civics switch to Organized religion, for shared civics bonus and 25% hammers to buildings. This will cost 3 turns of anarchy, but is worthwhile now.

War Stats to date

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%204/Stats770AD0000.jpg

Considering I have a fairly woeful army, my quality of troops must be pushing me to the top. I'm 6 turns from music, but I fear the Great Artist is gone, then its onto Education/Philosophy/liberalism to 1 and then Astronomy, Scientific method, for a Biology grab from Liberalism. Its been very Quiet on the GG front overseas, but they have an even spread of religions, so either they are pally, or they are trying to gain a lead on each other.

Finally the Tech Screen http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%204/techs7700000.jpg


Hear I've got my 3 well and truly covered. More crossbows are needed for the new border. More farms for the specialists and more merchants to be employed. All in all a very satisfying round of war. I didn't get to Rags, but he's boxed in nicely now, and Shaka and Pacal, look very tasty at the moment for his Expansion.

P.S. I've changed my mind about Vassalage, I'll research it next, vassal both Shaka and Pacal, and Take Nidros and Rags as vassal, then again I may not, Shaka maybe, Pacal I'll eliminate, Rag's depends on Nidros wonders.

Ipex you should put your posts in spoilers, we want the game to stay secret ;)

Dalamb


I don't really plan out my games, so I usually end up with crap cities, and no specialization. Hence why I'm on Prince.

Ipex you should put your posts in spoilers, we want the game to stay secret ;)
Heh, I agree, but those are great reports, keep up the good work IPEX (but use spoilers :) )

Hear, hear: I was disappointed to see the name of a leader I hadn't met yet, whose existence could conceivably have changed my strategy if I were a better player. You can have spoilers-within-spoilers, so you can still keep your spoilers-to-hide-big-stuff inside your main spoiler.

Religious Victory 1726
Prince/Epic


Yeah lazy here too. I vassaled Ragnar, and Nidaros gave me enough pop to win.

http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0009-1.jpg

http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc325/CivKrick19/Civ4ScreenShot0010-1.jpg

Lulz my vassals gave me an abnormally high score.

My apologies for not fully spoiling my walk though, I've now fixed that up, and I hope its been instructional, if a little long winded..... A little, a little Screams Catherine I've been able to turn off all the heating here in Moscow, with all that hot air coming out of you Turning her head from behind to Sneer with disdain at me.

That was a lot of fun. Glad I did this.


I followed my plan that i out lined in my last post. And won a Domination in 1862 with every one but Pacal II on his 1 tile island Capitulating to me. I messed around a lot when it became clear I had won. I have not really used Vassals before and I do not think I will again.
Info Screen
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185965&stc=1&d=1218857046

Score (about 3x my other best scores. Reading these forums and paying attention to what i was doing for the write up helped a lot.)
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185964&stc=1&d=1218857046


Thank you for posting this Bleys. It was a lot of fun. One question for anyone who knows


WTF?
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185966&stc=1&d=1218857328
+30 Net diplo but
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=185967&stc=1&d=1218857328
We do not like you enough????



It was my understanding that the AI will never trade a tech required for a space race win. Rocketry is required for that right?

Rocketry is not considered a SS tech ( it is possible to trade for it... not that the AI will sell it cheaply ;) ). And if it was that the case the AI would say that it would rather win the game ;)

1600 AD debriefing

The war, peace, war stategy was adjusted to - war, peace&economy, war because Team Russia entered this period with a Great Artist and a fine shot at a Great Engineer.

With his field army gone and after losing a couple of more cities Shaka was ready to capitulate but somewhere he had the Mausoleum of Maussolles and Russia was reseraching Nationalism. In 1350 AD the four city (including Uppsala) Zululand capitualition was accepted, a third Great General was available and Catherine commenced upon a glorious, if not overly-well managed, 24 turn Golden Age.

A century later Pacal II built the AP for our continental quad of Confucian civs and the Russian building spree took a decidely religious tilt and Holy Catherine became the Resident. Military Tradition was taken from Liberalism and in 1525 the army-upgrading Great Merchant was granted by Economics.

As matters advanced the three fleets discovered the tech-weak other continent the folks of which were all "annoyed" (by the voyage of discovery?) and will not allow open borders. So, a religious/diplomatic win looks a tad sketchy; domination or space race look doable. As a result, the rather expensive Imperial Army invaded the Maya lands in 1590 (even though Pacal II had pleaded for a defensive pact) with its somewhat shaky supporter Shaka. The annoying failure was letting Ragnar build that iron city in the north-east.

Three options open; actually, four if one includes defeat. My plan? Flexibilty.

Hi

noble,marathon,1902 AD dom win.

Well from last report I spent most of time just playing sim empire messing with my cities and building stuff and trying to see if I could get enough freebie gg points to get a second gg from my privateers.

It's Hammys fault he had chem forEVER but he took his darn sweet time teching astronomy. You'd THINK with dozens of privateers reaking havoc off his shores it would be a priority but guess not :/.

So for turn after turn nothing really interesting happened. I did get a couple of events though. For this old fave.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll203/KaytieKat91/finnccathy/blessedevent.jpg

The Blessed Sea Event. Short description in case nebody is new and hasnt seen it before. The Blessed Sea Event (more commonly called the BS event for short)--Upon getting the BS event you will get the BS assignment and if you so choose you may try to complete it (if you do PLEASE make a post about since you will be the first who ever bothered :P). And upon completeing the BS assignment of the BS quest you will get a BS reward.

Yeah it a sucky quest so what so interesting bout it? will read the text you fail the quest if you reach indy age before quest is completed. now notice I am ALREADY in indy age and I am pretty sure I havent completed this quest mainly since on this map its IMPOSSIBLE to complete cuz there ISNT 10 diff land masses.

And it NOT an accident since sevral turns later it still up and running.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll203/KaytieKat91/finnccathy/blessedseastill.jpg

It did finally register as failed quest at some point. I am NOT sure but I THINK it happened when I did mass upgrade of naval units. Which in pre 3.17 patch caused quest to fail if you upgraded ship assigned the queest. but is NOT
supposed to happen in 3.17. I guess it is still VERY buggy.

I also got an event I have never seen before which is kinda neat.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll203/KaytieKat91/finnccathy/unknownevent.jpg

other options were 400 free esp points or 300 free esp points plus free great spy.

Well it took FOREVER but hammy finnally teched astronomy which meant frigates which meant no more privateer ramage so I called em home to be ugraded and decided it time to stick fork in game since frankly it been done a loooong time ago hehe.

So I build a stack and go say hi to Izzy and her master Meh so I can take out AP to keep it from being a headache once I start capturing cities with ap religion.

To give an idea how war went this is screenie of russian forces taking the AP city.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll203/KaytieKat91/finnccathy/unfairfight.jpg

Maybe just a TAD lopsided hehe. But come on give me break I took my sweet time building stack to let AI tech to better units but sheesh I am in multiple future techs and NOONE even has railroads yet :/. It NOT my fault AI's tech slowed in this game. And BEFORE you start saying I am guilty of AI absuse in my defense I DID keep number of ICBM strikes to under 30 so :P hehe.

Well war lasted like 4 or 5 turns or so after which Izzy broke free and then Meh was willing to cap and next turn I got dom win :).

Final score:

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll203/KaytieKat91/finnccathy/finscore.jpg

Not bad, one of my highest NC scores and I THINK maybe my 2nd highest overall NC score :).

Final demographics:
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll203/KaytieKat91/finnccathy/findemo.jpg

It was getting a tad lopsided by end but it was fun seeing the privateers plunder their lil hearts out there a screenie of it in my other report :)

Final privateer tally.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll203/KaytieKat91/finnccathy/privdam.jpg

239 caravals and cpl dozen galleys and some triemes enough to get 2 gg's all by themselves and also a few got to lvl 6 so I could make westpoint. and then later to be upgraded into HUGE destroyer fleet :).

A few screenies of my empire.

Russian north:

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll203/KaytieKat91/finnccathy/north.jpg

SW

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll203/KaytieKat91/finnccathy/sw.jpg

SE

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll203/KaytieKat91/finnccathy/se.jpg

That gives idea of how I settled my original empire. rest of empire was settled by AI or just settled as filler cities.

I THINK I did decent job but that mostly cuz land was so nice cities would have been nice pretty much anywhere. So while they ended up being good cities, not sure if they were the BEST cities I could have made on the map.

My cap:

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll203/KaytieKat91/finnccathy/moscowfinal.jpg

my number one beaker city and one of my better hammer cities.

My top hammer city

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll203/KaytieKat91/finnccathy/stpetefinal.jpg

It might have been a lil better to have settled st petey a lil bit more eastward to grab some hills along with stone but it still turned out ok I think

Top money city:

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll203/KaytieKat91/finnccathy/mutalfinal.jpg

With shrine and two corp HQ's it goold out put not bad especially consider slider is at 100% science.

Rag's city.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll203/KaytieKat91/finnccathy/roskilde.jpg

he DoW'd on me AND took THREE of my cities. But I took em back plus rest of his cities but was merciful and let him live so he could think about why it not nice to pick on me :) And yeah those 4 cities round him spent whole game doing NOTHING but making culture buildings to keep him boxed in as much as I could hehe.

So thats bout it. Game went pretty smoothly. I was able to spread out pretty fast without ever going on strike or getting far behind in tech. Being able to take shaka out early was big advantage too. After that game was probably won. rags DID cause a headache by Dowing when I wasnt ready and it it DID slow me down but even at that point I was like Wow even after slowing up to deal with rags I am STILL ahead of the AI's just think what might have happened if rags hadnt slowed me down hehe. And by time I took over my whole continent and choking the EINTIRE coasts of the other contient with 50 something privateers the rest of AI's had no chance to keep up. But really the privateer thing was their own fault they all had Chem for AGES but seemed to go after EVERY tech EXCEPT astronomy for hundreds of turns.

I didnt really get to use Cossacks but did take advantage of Cathys traits to settle cities in the south fast to block off land and used creative to keep it blocked and fight off pac's culture while I dealt with Shaka and rags. And got LOTS of use out of UB building it everywhere for HUGE bpt by end.

So fun game and fun map even though it was a BIT naughty of rolo to put just ONE copper and ONE aluminum on ENTIRE continent hehe :P.

A bit one sided by end but one sided games are still rare for me and after getting WHOMPED so much recently in NC games it was kinda nice to have a bit easier time this round :)
So thats it. Thanks again bleys and rolo and cratz on everybody else who finished and good luck to everybody else still playing :)

Kaytie

So fun game and fun map even though it was a BIT naughty of rolo to put just ONE copper and ONE aluminum on ENTIRE continent hehe :P.
Ok, it looks like I got a little :devil: fame ... :(

As you already finished the game, kaytie, read my spoiler in this post (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7145778&postcount=106) and stop griping on me :lol:

2 things:

- Do you have a save from the time you got the Blessed sea quest? It might deserve a outside ( read Solver ) test ;)

- Don't you know that Barrage promos in armoured units are of null effect on 3.17? ;)

Hi

well it not MY fault u got lil devil rep :P (maybe that could be your forum title hehe "cfc lil devil" :) ) besides even if you didnt do it this time you knew bout it and didnt tell me so that should count too so there :P hehe

and no I didnt keep saves from blessed sea event sorry :(.

as for barrage tanks solvers patch makes barrage work for amour units u just have to make sure when you use solvers patch u DONT use the part of patch that takes promo away from them. if you do that then they will work on armor again but really it still nerfed so much compaared to damage it could do pre 3.17 it probably isnt worth it.

Kaytie

edit: just figured out the thing bout BS quest. I THINK I just confused "reaching Industrialism" to me mean reaching industrial era when it prolly means getting Idustrialism tech. In THAT case then quest working like it should. Although it STILL sucky quest hehe and still one you cant finish on this map since I dont think you get 10 landmasses even if you count every lil 1 tile island on map.

Sorry, no screens. Still not in the habit of doing that. ^^;
2000BC-~1700AD


I ended up getting mathematics before alphabet to improve my chopping, though I haven't been chopping as much as I initially thought. I decided against building the pyramids, largely because I planned to use hereditary rule for both diplomatic bonuses, and the extra happy in cities, and monarchy was an important target anyway (to hook up wineries, and get feudalism).

I completed the great wall in 1500BC, and then went to work expanding a bit further. I founded a city down by the gems, and the other by the rice and horses. The AI had already built cities at the dyes, which is probably just as well, as those cities will take quite a bit of work to get going, and my economy was starting to stretch a bit thin (down to 60% science after those two cities were founded).

Pacal took his sweet time spreading buddhism to me (spreading it to shaka and ragnar first), but eventually he did, and then he really stepped it up spreading it to multiple cities), the extra growth from this, and from taking currency after alphabet went a long way to fixing my economy.

After that I took Iron Working, so as to hook up the gems. I then picked up Code of Laws so I could get working on courthouses, and then started getting caught up in the religious techs.

Unfortunately, nobody was trading anything (not even fishing! and I was the only one who didn't have it), but thanks to price cuts I picked up fishing and sailing it just a couple turns, and gained a couple trade routes.

This brings us to the AD's where shaka declared war on me unexpectedly. I haven't played against this AI yet, so I don't know if it's standard fare for him, but I was a bit surprised, as relations between all the civs on the continent were going pretty well. I was mostly worried for my tile improvements, as all my border cities had 3 archers and walls, and two of them (novogrod and st petersburg) had an axeman each, along with a fair bit of cultural defense. I whipped out 2 more axemen to try and save my tile improvements, and then set moscow, novograd and st petersburg to build swordsmen. I wanted to at least capture a city with this diplomatic-penalty-freeish war, and espionage told me shaka was nearly finished researching construction, so I wanted the war to end quickly.

I managed to take care of Shaka's initial stack, but I lost a few units on unlucky rolls, but at least I got a great general out of it, who I promptly attached to my new stack of swordsmen and axemen, and I set out to capture Nobamba. This, unfortunately, turned out to be a lot more difficult than I had hoped, especially as no one was willing to go to war against him. Shaka was really clever about it. While I was still healing up a few wounded units before heading to the city, he brought in another stack, and fortified in a forest just inside my borders. I couldn't just leave them there to later wreak havoc around novgorod, but taking them out beforehand would delay my attack for QUITE a while. I ended up losing at least half my units. Before finally making it to Nobamba, I fought off three more attack stacks, replenishing a few lost units twice, despite having sent in spies to ferment unhappiness in his nearest production cities. Eventually I made it to Nobamba, took the city on the last legs of my military (and he very nearly retook it with a couple impa, but one unit heroically managed to survive, and I was able to move the remainder of my units into the city, and sued for peace the following turn (in 505AD, yes, a 500 year war for one city, on epic, heh. Shaka deployed a TONNE of delaying moves/tactics). Worse yet, this capture later proved to be a mistake, as cultural pressure from shaka's other cities stifled it, and all it got me was a banana resource.

Throughout this 500 year war, Pacal managed to slip ahead technologically, and after making peace, I made a few trades to him to get caught up a bit (picked up construction, horseback riding, calandar and monotheism). I also got a great spy shortly after the war began, whom I used to build scotland yard in moscow.

From here on, it's written by memory, so tech paths and such aren't included.

From here, I just expanded and built up some infrastructure. ~100-200 years later, Shaka and Ragnar declared on Pacal, and they shortly asked me to join in. I debated this with myself a bit, as Pacal was thus far, my greatest ally, and certainly MUCH more reliable than shaka and ragnar, but the deciding factor was greed for the buhddist shrine (and the entire continent was buhddist). Shaka took a city very quickly, and i followed him up by quickly taking the two cities south of the gems. Things slowed down a lot at this point, as my units needed to recover, and Pacal upgraded to longbows. I sent down additional long bows of my own to further fortify the captured cities (they already had two, but this also left none for the shrine city, which was my next target). I moved my main two stacks out of the cities and headed to the shrine city, which was, incidentally, his capital. In the same turn, Shaka and Pacal made peace, which was unfortunate, because Ragnar wasn't accomplishing anything. Shaka and Pacal suddendly went back to being bestest buds, and Shaka could not be bribed back into war. The very following turn, Shaka declared war on me. Swooped in and took one of my captured cities, which only had 2 long bows at that point (though those two long bows took out every single one of his offensive units bar one, despite being hit with FIVE catapults). The lone impi killed the last longbow, and captured the city.

This took a lot of the wind out of my sails (mentally). The shrine city was not going to be an easy capture. It was well defended, and would likely take a very large chunk of my existing offensive force, but I wasn't willing to talk peace yet, as that city was the whole point of the war. I also didn't have the units free to devote to recapturing the city Shaka took. War weariness was really taking it's toll as well. I ended up taking a break at this point to think over my plans.

Unfortunately, the next day, I played a new game, and lost the auto-saves; having forgot to make a new manual save the previous night. >.< My nearest manual save is around 10 AD where shaka first declared war. I had planned on pushing forward for the shrine city, whipping some swordsmen or axemen to retake my lost conquest (hoping that shaka wouldn't reinforce it too much), even though this would cripple my nearby cities with unhappiness for a while. Then, take peace with both. Pacal was still pleased with my while at war, so he would go back to being a friend, and Shaka would be seeing an invasion from me at the nearest opportune moment. I was also nearly finished building the AP, and if I could make peace and rebuild diplomatic relations before it was finished, I felt I'd have a good shot at being elected the seat, but probably not a diplo-victory (ragnar would likely vote for me, but I imagine shaka and pacal would be for pacal; and that's assuming I could spread buhddism to the other continent).

Some self criticisms for this: I clearly made a mistake in not going for Shaka early as he was continually a source of annoyance throughout the game. He was more than happy to war against me despite being pleased and lower in power (well, lower in power the second time).

I probably could have REXd more and faster, stretching my economy to it's limits early on. I think I did pretty well there (especially as it isn't my strongest area), but I did play it a bit safe (keeping my research slider at 70 or higher). Economy wise, I was largely running a hybrid SE/CE, but I'm not sure if this was best. I may have been better off going for a straight SE (though I'm very new to it; hence working on a hybrid one), and rushing Shaka early, and possibly going for Pacal's shrine city before feudalism.

All in all, I should have been more aggressive.



So, for now, I'll take the forced-retirement, but I'll certainly give it another shot when I work up the motivation to replay a very big chunk of my lost game . If nothing else, I HAVE learned a fair bit about early expansion, and it's already started to show in my other games, and I've learned not to trust Shaka, hehe. The other reports have also been very informative, so thanks to the others!

@tenera


Seems like you learned something from this game. Never trust Shaka! He's one of those AI that you can count on will attack, the question is when and then it's more often earlier than later. The other AI of this calibre is Monty.

Now, it's hard to do a good analyse of your game above but to me it seems you had a pretty good start, you had defense in your cities. You made some minor mistakes in the wars. It may have been better to press Shaka further in the first war to really minimize him as a threat from the start. Sure, you hadn't prepared for war but to set up most of the cities to military production would've covered a good enough stack in not that long a time. Taking his capital and forcing him from his better northern possesions would clearly have crippled him alot.

In the second war, it may have been better to wait to declare on Pacal if you didn't have enough troops to reach the goal you wanted with the war. You never know how long the AIs will fight each other, and as in this case, if they share the religion they'll be pleased with eachother right after the war in most cases.

Oh, and I almost never research alphabet, it's a tech I know most AI will get sooner rather than later anyway and will trade to me when that time comes. If I research other techs instead, I'll have something to trade for it. The only time I do trade it is if I get the feeling the AIs I know isn't really up to the techrate and I need to get it. But at that point it's usually a bit cheaper.

Ok, it looks like I got a little :devil: fame ... :(

As you already finished the game, kaytie, read my spoiler in this post (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7145778&postcount=106) and stop griping on me :lol:

2 things:

- Do you have a save from the time you got the Blessed sea quest? It might deserve a outside ( read Solver ) test ;)

- Don't you know that Barrage promos in armoured units are of null effect on 3.17? ;)



I made the same complaint about the Aluminum during the GREED!!! game although at that point I had it locked up! ;)

At the moment, for the life of me I cannot remember where the damned copper was in that game, but I do remember the power of HA's to fend off Monty (or Ragnar from this game if I remember).

Did the alu not appear in you borders, if you claimed the gems? Oil, on the otherhand, was in enemy hands...unless you had an aggressive ReX

Did the alu not appear in you borders, if you claimed the gems? Oil, on the otherhand, was in enemy hands...unless you had an aggressive ReX


Don't know about alu, my game didn't last long enough for me to research tech to show alu, come to think about it, I don't think I managed to research coal either, I had a bit of a strange final researchpath... but oil I did find and it was within reach from a not very aggressive settling, sure, you needed to go into the jungle but not much further down than to get gems.

@tenera


Seems like you learned something from this game. Never trust Shaka! He's one of those AI that you can count on will attack, the question is when and then it's more often earlier than later. The other AI of this calibre is Monty.

Now, it's hard to do a good analyse of your game above but to me it seems you had a pretty good start, you had defense in your cities. You made some minor mistakes in the wars. It may have been better to press Shaka further in the first war to really minimize him as a threat from the start. Sure, you hadn't prepared for war but to set up most of the cities to military production would've covered a good enough stack in not that long a time. Taking his capital and forcing him from his better northern possesions would clearly have crippled him alot.

In the second war, it may have been better to wait to declare on Pacal if you didn't have enough troops to reach the goal you wanted with the war. You never know how long the AIs will fight each other, and as in this case, if they share the religion they'll be pleased with eachother right after the war in most cases.

Oh, and I almost never research alphabet, it's a tech I know most AI will get sooner rather than later anyway and will trade to me when that time comes. If I research other techs instead, I'll have something to trade for it. The only time I do trade it is if I get the feeling the AIs I know isn't really up to the techrate and I need to get it. But at that point it's usually a bit cheaper.



Thanks for the comments. :)

You're right, it probably would have been better to keep producing units and make another push into Shaka's territory. I had fought 3-4 stacks of his units just on the way to the city I captured; likely the majority of his army. The main concern would be whether or not he had the production to match the units I could get down there (especially as getting roads into the south took quite a while).

I did have the units to acheive the goals I wanted with pascal (3 cities), as I had already been building an army in anticipation of going after Shaka again, but I didn't have the units to support two wars, though there was no risk of shaka taking another city, as they were much better defended. Lesson learned though. In hindsight, it would have been better to deny Ragnar the war with Pacal (as he wouldn't be a problem for quite some time), and to capitilize on Shaka being at war to take his core cities.

You're right about alphabet. It definitely could have been put off. It was a while before I had the time to devote to building spies, and longer still until they were useful for anything other than counter-espionage. Focusing elsewhere would have probably allowed me to have a stronger military to take on Shaka during the first war. Though I did get some nice trades out of trading alphabet away. Getting alphabet early was a habit I picked up while playing on Warlord, as trading it away let me collect a lot of skipped techs (giving a strong boost to getting and keeping a strong tech lead), and it was often the only way to get it at a reasonable date. Pacal likely would have gotten it by the time I would have wanted it in this game, though.

In playing other Noble-level games, I have learned now that it's often better to just research those early techs yourself after the first couple key b-lines, as their drastically reduced costs make them take very few turns, and trades can be better spent on other, more worthy techs.

Monarch/Epic 1897 domination victory:

Settled 1S for riverside, got some good gold from huts and popped mysticism from a hut. Open tech path was AH, BW, masonry, IW. Build order was worker - warriors until size 4. First settler (whipped for 2) went SE to get the flood plains and stone. Re-grew to size 4, then made another settler and a couple of workers. Grabbed to SW dye/banana, then built the GW, timed with border pops to encircle all 3 cities. I then made 2 more quick settlers (love imperialistic!) to block off the entire north half of the continent: took the dyes S of St. Pete, and settled the last south of the gems to the SE. Number 1 rule when playing against Shaka: settle towards him and grab as much land as possible. The bigger he gets, the harder he'll be to deal with. Plan for an early war with him.

IW revealed iron in Moscow's BFC, so I started cranking out axes and swords. I built walls in all my border cities and sent workers to clear away the jungle in the city perimeters. Tech path was something like ag, pottery, writing, math, construction, currency, CoL. Once writing was in I assigned mucho scientists, as the rex was digging into my cash (probably around 30% with a small profit). No early religions were founded on this continent, so when I founded confucianism from CoL, I pretty much had the game in the bag. I sent the free missionary to Pacal, and it quickly spread to Shaka and Ragnar. OFC, with no priest wonder it took forever to get a GP for the shrine (almost until the end of the game :cry:), but with all that juicy cottage land I was really set. After the early rex I built the mids and HG in the capital, and got several GEs later on.

True to form, Shaka DOWs not long after I got construction (great timing, big guy :lol: ). Needless to say, I slaughtered his stacks at the cost of a couple of cats. The GW is truly "great" when playing against Shaka, and combined with imperialistic to give a total of 200% GG emergence, I was able to build 2-promo units and a super-medic. I took peace + cash from Shaka twice early on, building up my military all the time. Tech path went aesth (built the Parth in the SW city with a GE for cultural pressure on Shaka), lit (built GL in Moscow), MC, mach, CS, eng (built ND in the south-central city with a GE for +2 :) everywhere - more cultural pressure).

Built up an army of maces/trebs to take Shaka out, when out of nowhere Ragnar DOWs me when my power was 20% greater than his.:eek: What a jerk. Wiped out his pathetic HA/sword stacks and took peace + cash. I was now ready to take out Shaka. Thanks to the cultural pressure from the Parth +creative, I had pushed my borders to within 1 tile of Ulundi, his capital). I took it in 2 turns of treb bombardment, cat suicide, CR2 mace attack. Grabbed uMgundulovu a couple of turns later and vassaled him. Sent more units south and moved the stack towards Ragnar's capital. I took 2 of his cities in quick succession (he was rather small and boxed in by Shaka and Pacal) and vassaled him. Moved my stack of a dozen CR3 maces +trebs back to my border with Pacal (just N of him in the center of the map). Again, thanks to cultural pressure from Notre Dame I was only 1 tile from his first city when I DOWed him. I took his capital next, and vassaled him.

I easily won the lib race, taking RepParts (lots of back-fill trading with Pacal and Ragnar - Shaka was a boat anchor tech-wise, as usual). Sent some caravals off exploring and met the other continent while proving the world is round. Mehmed had vassaled Izzy, and they were all pissed at me (what a shock :lol: ). They were quite backwards in tech, and I gave them nothing. Tech path was rifling, chem, steel, steam, RR, combustion, assembly. I traded Ragnar for Nat, but had to research const/demo myself (Pacal was a real tightwad with techs). All of my vassals were at pleased due to shared religion.

Once assembly/combustion were in I turned the slider to 0 for a few turns to get a pile of cash. I also finally got a GPriest in Moscow for the shrine, which was a big boost (build academy and 2 temples for 5 priest specialists). I upgraded my frigates to destroyers, galleons to transports, rifles to infantry, and trebs to cannon. I set every city to military builds and set sail for the new world. Mehmed, the tech leader on the other continent (he had grens and trebs) was the first target. I basically had to take all but 3 of his cities to vassal him, so it was a bit of a slog (but very few losses due to a pile of CR3 inf). I then DOWed Hammi and took 2 of his cities. He was quick to vassal, and I got domination on the next turn. At then end I was teching industrialism, having taken commy (for SP), electricity (built Broadway), radio (built CR, RnR, Eiffel), Mass Media (built UN, hollywood), flight (bombers).

Some keys to this game:

- early rex to grab the good land to the south and block off the north, while limiting the size of my rivals. Imperialistic is fabulous for this.

- grabbing the Great Wall. This got butt-loads of GGs in my early wars so that I could build superior units. Plus, you will never go wrong planning an early war with Shaka. He needs to be taken out or limited (or both) fairly early.

- grabbing the mids/HG for GE gpps, enabling me to get 2 GEs so that I could build wonders in my border cities to put cultural pressure (in addition to creative) on my rivals. This made my invasion of Shaka a piece of cake.

- assigning as many scientists as I could once writing came in, so that I could keep my tech rate up in spite of the early rex. Comined with rep + the :) bonus from the mids, I was able to get both military techs and confucianism. Only when I was at war did my relations go below pleased on my continent.

Part 5 770-1180

I start off the round, with 3 turns of Anarchy again, with a change to Organised religion for the 25% production bonus to buildings.


The Review:

As I'm currently losing 50gold/turn, I need to leverage the advantage of Caste system more, by employing more merchants. Combined with Representation 3 beaker bonus/specialist, we should be able to maintain a reasonable teching rate. 5 turns to go on Music, but I fear the Artist is gone already.

Of the 3 Opponents we've meet so far, 2 have been sufficiently curtailed to be of no more concern, with our 3rd, Ragnar, effectively boxed into the South, and sufficiently neutered already.

The tech plan, finish of music, move onto Philosophy, found Taoism, to remove the attraction of another religion to add to the 4 overseas already, and to allow the Adoption of pacifism?

This brings us to the Wonders list;

1.The Parthenon, for 100% GPP's Generation.
2.The Sherwadon Pagoda, for running of all the religious civics, notablely, Free religion and pacifism.
3.Notre Dame, for the +2 happy on this continent.
4.The Great Library, Though, as we plan to go through Scientific Method, ASAP, for Biology from Liberialism, not a big one.

Buildings;

1.Courthouse in all cities and the forbidden palace.
2.Markets were economically feasible.
3.Barracks in all cities for troop production, and +2 happy under Nationalism.
4.Libraries in all cities for running of Scientists, or markets for Merchants.

Tech's;

1.Finish Music, though I fear the artist is gone.
2.Tech off Philosophy, to remove the Religion, from the AI's grasp and desire.
3.Education for the Liberalism bee-line.
4.Astronomy and associated pre req tech's for Scientific method, and Observatories.


I shall ignore the need for knights/grocers/banks, as it takes us off our beeline, post optics, I may build a couple of Caravels, and send them off with a spy each in tow, or hold over till Galleons if short enough time frame.

Why go through Astronomy, its actually longer in tech path,?

The reason is Observatories for a 25% research bonus, and 1 additional Great Scientist. Plus the overseas trade routes and use of Galleons.

Any Great Scientists, will be merged into Science Central, for the 9 Beakers +25% Library, +25% University, +25% Observatory, +100% Oxford University,+10% free religion, giving a net return of +185%, or [25.65 beakers/turn + 1 hammer]/ Settled Great Scientist, or 17.1/Specialist Scientist @ 0% tech rates. Our current 4 specialists + 1 settled would give 94.05 beakers/turn from 1 city post Astronomy @ 0% tech rates.

Upon reviewing the cities, I set 1st Courthouses, then markets 2nd, as we'll need many merchant specialists. I fully develop Wall street, creating plantations on the 3 dye's and farming all the available lands for merchants as they'll give 3 Gold + 25% market Immediately no waiting. Cities that aren't building these 2 building, can now go onto Cash generation, as barracks can wait.

Workers:

I have 8 groups of 3 workers each, urgent projects, I'll merge 2 or 3 groups together to complete, otherwise, they clear jungle, build roads or farms/mines.

Army:

My current army is Technologically superior to my 3 southern neighbors.

Boars, that's all they have been, no dancing, no witty conversations, no discussions of Philosophy, NO PAYING ATTENTION TO ME , utter Pigs all of them., Screams Catherine, as she stares at the empty parade grounds.

And I have sufficient espionage generation, they pose no immediate threat. I continue to build the required Crossbowmen as City Garrison guards to hold the New Southern Frontier.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%205/SouthernBoarders7700000.jpg

Plan:

1.To bring the economy back into the green and raise the science rate above 0%.
2.To await the Building of the MoM in Ragnar's capital (I hope)
3.Continue to build the wonders, either reaping the wonder itself of the cash for failure.
4.To consolidate my Hold on this continent; by eliminating in order; Shaka, Ragnar, Pacal.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%205/Techpath17700000.jpg


Upon ending my 3 turns of Anarchy, I find out that the Mausoleum of Maussollos was built by None other then SHAKA :wow: in Nobamba. :goodjob: My first targeted city.

I've taken all the spy specialist away and assigned them either to merchants for cash production, or hammers for wonder production. My loss of the SoZ from the previous round has brought my gold balance up to over +900, and the Russian Economic Miracle has transformed the loss making economy into a +1 gold at 0% science. With the +900 treasury balance, and no upgrades required, I deficit research.
BEFORE

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%205/Finances7700000-1.jpg

AFTER

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%205/EconomicMiricle300000.jpg

National parks has been assigned the task of Generating a Great Profit, and to that purpose it is building the Shwedagon Pagoda (+2 Great Profit) and then Angkor Wat (+2 great profit) 3 priests allowed, with Philosophy spread to National parks and 2 temples built (2 priests), it will be able to run 5 Priests in total.

West Point, which has had a 3rd Great General settled into it, for building, level 3 Ships, straight off combined with a Drydocks and West Point & Heroic Epic.

National wonders:

1.Ironworks built in iron works :confused:
2.Heroic Epic and West point in West point.
3.Oxford University in Science Central, along with National epic.
4.National Park and Globe Theater in National parks :ack:
5.Wall Street to be built in Wall Street :gold:

World wonders under Construction:

1.Great Library in Science Central, all Scientists fired.
2.Parthenon built in Rostov.
3.Notre Dame built in Ironworks
4.Shwedagon Pagoda in National parks
5.Statue of Zeus Attempted in St PetersBurg
6.Mausoleum of Maussollos, Not attempted, but built by Shaka in Nobamba. :goodjob:

Thanks to the Russian Economic Miracle and Caste System merchants/Representation. I've been able to raise the Slider to 30% for a loss of 50 gold, funded by the loss of the Statue of Zeus and deficit research.


I also took advantage of the 3 turns of Anarchy to move my happy police troops about. Crossbowmen went south to the front lines, archers to the north/1 per city, and warriors to the inland cities of at least 2 from coast. I have a setter positioned to create a new city, as its interior, along a river and access an already plantations on dye resource, to pay for itself immediately.

Currently I'm using my spies to scout out the lands of my 3 boy's

Boy's playing at adult games of WAR Sneers Catherine.

Keeping an eye on their troop production/deployment. As Shaka has now produced the one wonder I was awaiting on, and I've gained another +3 dip with Ragnar due to food transfer.

On warfare:

As I have a technological advantage over my 3 opponents, and a research advantage as well, combined with the flexibility to change my economy and deficit research from war booty, I push on with my conquest of our Neighbor.

Ugly, smelly, nasty little men, both in idea's and ideal's, Taking all my Pretties away from me. distantly Catherine dismisses the thought of any others sharing HER Continent.

Now it would be quicker to take them out with Knights, but that is off our beeline path, and Currisair's require a further deviation. I accept a longer war, for the beeline outcome.

Further, as ALL my cities are at least 6 below the happiness cap level, I move out all crossbow's to the front line with either the Shaka attacking stack, or with Ragnar, who I've found has an offensive stack in a city, right below a recent conquest. That city will be targeted first in my war against him.

Remember, you only need Garrison troops to either;
1.Defend against an attack by an A.I.
2.To provide 'security' for the citizenry.

If your under no threat of attack, or have sufficient room in the happy cap for the -2 “we fear for our safety, use it to free up additional troops.

Shaka War Part 2:

I have 5 turns of enforced peace remaining with Shaka, St Petersburg is assigned the task of producing archers to relieve the Crossbows in my internal cities. With all spy points assigned to Shaka, I move my army to take Nobamba, as this is Shaka's new capital, it must be his best city, and will cripple him the most, from here I plan to split into 2 groups, heading down the west coast in a southerly direction, and SE along Ragnar's borders. I leave a horse archer in defense of my last conquest, moving my army of Maces and 1 city garrison 2 crossbow to the borders awaiting the ending of enforced peace. I move spies into position to reduce the Culture where deemed necessary.

The A.I., being its usual programmed self, has spent the 10 turns of peace building a settler, and sends it IN FRONT OF my attacking stack on the very turn the peace treaty ends :confused:, what will I do?

I immediately go to the diplomatic screen (F4) and cancel the peace treaty that has just expired, as it would otherwise stay in force till I've ended my turn. I attack the 1 axeman defending the settler on a grassland hill with a crossbow, and the 2nd axeman now in a forest with another crossbow, killing both. I move the rest of my stack towards Nobamba on the diagonal to arrive in 2 turns.

I take Nobamba with no losses and receive for my troubles http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%205/TakingofNobamba0000.jpg
I take the remaining 3 cities of Shaka in short order, losing no troops until the 2nd last Archer of the last city on the Continent, when I lose a mace man city raider 3 at over 92% odds :mad:, I clean up with my remaining maceman and Crossbow. Shaka is now reduced to 1 city offshore, that he has just settled :gripe: I call a peace treaty at this point and move to attack Ragnar. This has taken 8 turns, no spies were used and no catapults.

I also captured an additional 6 workers 1 Iron source, 1 Incense, 2 cows, 1 rice, 1 sheep and 1 clam for the loss of 1 maceman. My Great General Medic won 2 battles to further improve his experience points, having taken the Leadership promotion for 100% combat experience, once promoted past 17 points as promotions now cost > 9 points each.

such a Brutal, Savage, but MUSCULAR MAN!! Laments Catherine as she survey's her new lands.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%205/MynewlandsfromShaka000.jpg

Ragnar war:

I begin my preparation for war with Ragnar, by first bringing all my offensive troops into position by the border with Ragnar. Upon doing this, I now realize what Ragnar has been researching all this time. From this I can only conclude one thing, Ragnar is now Researching Civil Service, to enable his Unique Unit the Berserker. http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%205/RagnarsLongbowmen0000.jpg

This puts a new requirement on my troops, as Ragnar also has a horse archer nosing about my southern borders. Pikeman and Trenchbuckets shall be required.

To this end, I begin the production of some trenchbuckets and pikes in my main military cities. Am adjustment of spy points to 3/1 Ragnar/Pacal is made and I await the production of my army of Conquest.

Notice how I've now fallen to -18 research, due to my chronic warmongering. Even with making wealth in Wall street, now that the market is complete and I have improved the 3 dye's, I'm still making a loss, but my Beaker/turn is sitting at 94, with No scientists employed, only merchants.

885 The Great Library is now in, Science central, goes into troop production mode, generating the Trenchbuckets and pikes I'll need for my attack, along with a couple of Horse Archers required for pillaging/catapult defense. Before starting on Horse Archers, a Confucian Monastery is built for the 10% Science bonus, and to enable production of Missionaries.

920 AD Taoism has been founded in Yaroslavl, in my far north, I send the free missionary down to National Parks to enable another Priest specialist. I also spawn a Great Scientist, who can do 2 things;

1.Discover the rest of Education Immediately, saving me 36 turns of research.
2.Be absorbed into Science Central, and receive 12.15 Beakers/turn growing further.

I elect to Absorb the Great Scientist, as I plan on further war's of conquest, and having the ability to build Universities, will not be taken up immediately, but when my war of conquest against Ragnar and Pacal is completed. This boosted my beakers/turn form 127 to 145 again with no scientists employed at 0% science and making a loss of 20 gold/turn, using deficit research.

985- The Shwedagon Pagoda, Notre Dame are both in. I've built 4 Trenchbuckets and have a stationary spy in the targeted city. Ragnar, who has been able to Tech Civil Service, or steal it more likely, as he now has Berserker's ready, but as I have Crossbows, I'm covered, and I'll be on the only road to my cities.

I launch my attack, Sorry Rag's.

HERUMPT... Its about time you either used my pretty soldiers, or GIVE THEM BACK TO ME!!!! Cries out Catherine, as she paces the Empty parade grounds, muttering to herself.

1115 ad 18 turns later and Ragnar is no more on the continent, he's down to one lonely island city along with Shaka, I've taken down 4 of Ragnars cities for the loss of 4 trenchbuckets, and a couple of mace's the last at 95% odds. I also lost 2 groups of 3 workers to Ragnar rampant horse archers, who were chopping forests around National Parks.


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%205/takingofUppsala0000.jpg
Taking this city destroyed Ragnar's Stack, after that it was just a matter of Mopping up.

Next was his capital, I want the Great Lighthouse.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%205/TakingNidaros0000.jpg

No more horses, No more Ragnar now, the next city I took was founded on iron, and then 2 more to round out Ragnar off the continent.

I now make peace with Ragnar, as there is nothing further to gain, for war, I accept Theology as the spoils of war
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%205/RagnarPeace0000.jpg


War with Pacal:

Immediately moving on from Ragnar, I declare on Pacal, who is now researching Feudalism, and is 30 turns away, best to kill him, then take remaining 4 cities and control MY CONTINENT..

MY CONTINENT, is what you mean isn't? errr yes..Catherine, your continent.

OMFG, the Apostolic palace still hasn't been built, I dial it up in national parks, my top hammer city, and great profit generation city, for the + Great profit points and the hammers due me under religion.

1180 Pacal is no more, 4 marginal cities were taken 3 were kept, the 4th Mutal the 2nd built on desert/shore with no resources, was burnt to the ground.

And so ends the Continental war, with 2 islands remaining to be taken.

Wonders being built now are;
1.The Hagia Sofia for the Great Engineer points in Iron works
2.Angkor Wat, for the Great Profit points in National Parks.

Other wise, all cities are building forges/courthouses/markets/harbors or making gold to recover the Economy. A 2nd Economic Miracle is required in the Russian Empire.

BAH, Tax the Peasants, Work them harder, Raise my treasury to the lofty heights it deserves Manically Catherine gloats, as she admires her Victorious army marching through the Palace gates.

So in the space of 25 :huh: err 77 :goodjob: Turns, I've managed to;

1.Complete the 5 turns of Music's research.
2.Research Philosophy.
3.Research Education, Compass, Optics and start on Astronomy (Observatory)
4.Eliminate my 3 opponents, 1 completely with the other 2 reduced to 1 tile islands.
5.Increase my land holdings, worker stocks, begin building Universities.

Upon further consideration, I've decided, NOT to eliminate both Shaka and Ragnar, Mainly due to the fear of a spread of the Apostolic Palace religion to one of my cities, and my losing a to a religious victory. By leaving Shaka and Ragnar Stranded upon a 1 tile Island, I greatly reduce their chances of picking up the religion, and increase mine of gaining it, and being able to spread it widely to negate a possible victory. Though this will involve 'home land' unhappiness, I won't take either as a vassal either. I shall leave them as Independent home lands.

My current required tech path is as follows http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%205/techpath11800000.jpg
I still have many tech's to research.

BEHOLD THE RUSSIAN ECONOMIC MIRACLE

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%205/BeholdtheRussianEconomicMiracle1180.jpg

Again, your greatness Catherine, your economics advisers have preformed an economic miracle. We've arrested the Negative income of 86 gold /turn @ 0% and turned it around to -12 gold @ 10%. This has had the effect of reducing the time for Astronomy From 44 Turns under your previous MISS MANAGEMENT, to 23 Turns under our enlightened guidance, @ 353 beakers/turn, through Merchants only.

ENLIGHTENED, MISMANAGEMENT I'll have you lot managing the salt mines of Siberia Screams Catherine at her Bevy of assorted advisers.

How was this done? This was achieved through the power of employment of Merchants under Representation. I managed to drag the slider to a position of + 19 gold @ 0%, while still fully building the required wonders of;

1.Hagia Sofia (Great Engineers)- Ironworks
2.Apostolic palace.(Great Profits)- >
3.Angkor Wat (Great Profits)- > National Parks.
4.Chitzen Itza (Great Profits)- >

If I didn't have the Pyramids available on my continent, I would have to Beeline constitution to allow Representation, or mass build markets/Grocers/Banks. This would require a detour down the Economics branch.

Plans for next round:

1 .Build Caravels, Load up a spy into each and meet the remaining civ's and see where we exactly stand in the Tech stakes. Astronomy for over seas trade benefit to myself, and not my customers and the sale of Surplus resources to my new found friends. Maintain closed borders with Shaka and Ragnar, Initiate a war for worker grabs on mainland, and harassment of these two.

2.Tech to Scientific Method, and hopefully be able to grab Biology from Liberalism.

3.Tech Nationalism and build the Taj Mahal.

4.Tech onto Railroad for Machineguns.

5.Build Courthouses, Libraries, Universities, Observatories.

:crazyeye:

4000-2875 BC (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7142216&postcount=92)
Commentary (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7146868&postcount=116) on what others did up to that point
2875 BC dotmap (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7142216&postcount=92)

470 BC - 1255 AD (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7166231&postcount=141)
1255 - 1655 AD (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7192740&postcount=150)

@dubrown: thanks for the comments; they were helpful, even though I didn't wind up following them completely.
I restarted twice: once when I realized that creating a 5th city to the west near the iron and seafood, pre-currency, had crippled my economy, and once after Shaka invaded when I was unprepared. Reflecting on both, I realized I also hadn't created enough workers, so now I have 6. I have opened borders with Pacal and Ragnar, hoping for the popular Judaism to spread to me, but kept them closed with Shaka so he can't scout.

St. Petersburg (south central) is building swords preparatory to taking over the barbarian city, which has horses; Rostov will join it when developed a bit more. I expect to delay the takeover until after Currency; is before CoL safe? After CoL I expect to create at least one more city, likely west near the iron with access to the clams and sheep.

Here's my situation a couple of turns after finishing the pyramids. Moscow is building an aqueduct preparatory to the Hanging Gardens, and is running two scientists hoping the 2nd GP will be a Gt Sci -- the first is likely a Gt Spy because of the Great Wall, which I figured I needed because of all the open land northeast of me.

Approximate tech path agr > AH > mining > BW > wheel > pottery > (IW via hut somewhere here) masonry > writing > math. Now currency > CoL > alphabet


http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/dalamb54/NC/11%20Catherine/NCXICatherineglobe03.jpg
As a newbie to Noble I'd appreciate comments.

Turn 6 1180-1572

Upon Reviewing the game, I find that I'm losing 12 Gold/turn @ 10% research rate, teching Astronomy in 21 turns.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%206/BeholdtheRussianEconomicMiracle1180.jpg

I've initiated a build of a Caravel in both West point and St Petersburg, with a spy heading to each city.

As I have no peace treaty with Ragnar, and he has 3 workers stranded on the mainland, I plan to declare war in 2 turn and grab all 3, negating to an extent negate the damage he was able to inflict around National Parks with his Horse archers.

As well, I'll declare on Shaka, to remove that one annoying swordsman in my back area with a mace/crossbow I have stationed near by. This will require some turns of unrest in Ragnar's and Shaka's old lands, but nothing I can't handle.

Tech wise, I am on a Scientific method Beeline, with a plan to grab Biology with Liberalism, a very important Tech for the specialist Economy with +1 food / farms.

Afterward, I plan on teching Nationalism and building the Taj Mahal for first Golden age of prosperity, and a possible civics's switch to nationalism and Pacifism.

A review of my resources gives the following situation;
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%206/Resources0000-1.jpg

Looking at the map,I have 14 possible sea food bonus,and 13 Cereal bonus, Although Cereal mills gives a lesser return, my cereal crops are not as readily pillagable, are already developed, without additional cities.


A review of my cities finds that many are under the happy cap, and are slowly growing, if at all, due to the need to run maximum Merchant specialists to remain solvent. All cities are constructing buildings, with only 2, St Petersburg and West Point, both building Caravels.

Economically since my last review in 770, I've managed to over triple the Beakers/turn, double the Commerce, but with a subsequent increase in maintenance and civ upkeep.

I also realize the need to fully spam Confucianism to all my cities and Monasteries.
The Demographics; http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%206/Demographics11800000.jpg


and the Current Tech situation, showing I've been stolen blind by Ragnar; http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%206/Tech11800000-1.jpg

As there is NO WAY, he could have teched Civil Service, and Code of Law's so quickly, with his small empire, if he's taken this long to get this far.

1185 The Apostolic palace has been built under the Buddhist religion, Oh well, I had to try. At least I get some gold, 'dumb play to wait so long for such a strong wonder, now I have to be careful of religious Victories. To that end, I resolve to neither Vassalize Ragnar or Shaka, nor to fully Eliminate them, I leave myself open to 'homeland longing', but that's the price I must pay to avoid a religious Victory till I can spam Buddhism myself.

That Turn I declare war on Ragnar again, to grab the 3 workers he had stranded on the mainland BEFORE, he see's fit to disband them. I also take this time to review my own forces, as Ragnar only has 1 longbow, 1 Berserker and 1 Trireme active. http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%206/1185Army0000.jpg
Smallish army of Quality troops, looking good for a switch to Pacifism.

1195- I have a great Artist born out of Rostov due to the Parthenon are great artist pollution. This is not a Disaster as widely seen by many people, but an opportunity to launch a golden age in Conjunction with the Taj Mahal build, giving me 48 turns of a golden age. :goodjob: :trophy:

Next turn, as I have my Woodsman 3 Great General in position, I take out Shaka's last Sword on my continent.

Its about time you removed that cattle yard stench, from MY LANDS Catherine comments.

I reorganize my stack so its now centrally located in Wall street, with all maces/Trenchbuckets, and I place City garrison 2 crossbow's in all coastal cities, preferably two/city, with one Pike.

I also send my stacks of workers south in groups of 3, to heal the war ravaged lands of the south. Courthouses, Libraries and Universities are the builds of choice, followed by Barracks and Markets.
Observatories will be built as soon as Astronomy is in and the Universities are built. The National epic is constructed in Science Central. My first Caravel is sailing SE from St Petersburg, with a spy on board.

1260- The Hagia Sofia is built, and I've spawned a Great Merchant, whom I set aside for Cereal Mills, 14 food resources, and I have no plans to fully develop the sea food as yet. Research is dropped to 0% for a 9 gold loss, with a reduction of 39 beakers/turn, still no scientists employed. The Economic recovery continues apace.


1270 and I finally reach the other continent, the first civ I find is ; http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%206/HammiBaby0000.jpg

I check out his cities, he doesn't seem to have Istanbul or Ankara, or what ever was the Ottoman capital, He's also a Hindu, with the Apostolic Palace built under Buddhism. What else is there to discover. Judging by the Tech's I”m way out in the lead.

1275-Angkor Wat is now in, and I've met the final Civ, and its....
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%206/Isabella0000.jpg
Judging by the tech's, she's further behind than Hammurabi is. Again I don't see any Ottoman cities in her list, and I've met all the remaining civ's. As she's a Buddhist, and Hammie's a Hindu, they've probably been at each other throughts most of the game. Our Biology Gambit is looking safe.

1300 I trade 125 gold for Hammurabi's world map, its worthwhile, as I also gain open borders, my gold/turn shoots up to 41. Looking at the map, it was the BARBARIANS who eliminated the Ottomans, and the city is still Barbarian. Looks very juicy too. Hammurabi has managed to found no less than 3 religions Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism. Leaving Isobela with only Buddhism, and myself having both Taoism and Confucianism. Hammurabi, doesn't even have metal casting as yet, and seems to be seriously behind, or going full on the religious techs.

I may yet tech Divine right, to remove the religion and the wonders from the A.I.'s equation.

1380- A great Engineer is born in Science Central @10%, I save him for Mining corp. All my great People are being stocked up in wall street, my future capital, as I'll tech Divine Right,and build Versailles to the North in Yekaterinburg.

1388- A very nice random event occurs, I spend the 330 gold and get http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%206/Militaryacademy-1.jpg
a very nice return on my funds

1464- We're the first ones to Liberalism, as if that was ever in doubt. I opt to take Biology as the free tech. I have gone the long way around,making a detour via Astronomy, when there was no need to, but I felt I needed the overseas trade bonuses, and the Observatories for research.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%206/LIberialismgrab.jpg

With the taking of Biology as my free tech, it has put turbo charged the Economy, it immediately leaps up in both research & gold generated. This allowed me to raise my research rate to 40%, and still be making money. The Beakers/turn jumped hugely, as many specialists were auto assigned by the computer.

Having teched Nationalism and building the Taj Mahal, I burn the Artist I generated out of Rostov to start a 48 Turn golden age. 48 turns of Glorious golden ages of discovery and production, I switch civics's to Nationalism, Free Market, and Philosophy, my Income rises by over 100 gold to 235/turn at 30% research rate. I've also just teched, corporation, accessing the Wall street wonder, but I need 6 banks, and as I will be the first to Economics, I will gain the Free Great merchant, (Sid's Sushi).

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%206/48turngoldenage0000-1.jpg

As can be seen, I have insight into all the research the AI's are now conducting. I choose to research Divine right, to deny the 2 wonders and the religion. As well, I've decided that I'll just burn down the Apostolic palace city, to deny any chance of a religious victory. Since I'm doing this, both Shaka and Ragnar can die, but didn't have to, Immediately, as I actually did :blush:.

While having destroyed both Shaka and Ragnar, I now must burn down the Apostolic palace located in Salamanca

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%206/AposPal0000.jpg

For this I will have to fight through with maces and Cannons. I will bribe Hammurabi into war with Isabella before I launch my invasion.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%206/apocplaburncrew0000.jpg




1560, Isabella, has just declared war on Hammurabi, I only want to land troops and burn down the Apostolic palace. My plans fall into place.

1564, Replaceable parts is in, I choose Steam power for the Levies and the extra hammers generated. I'm now rushing through the techs. I now invade Isobella with my Apostolic burning army. I have only 1 aim in this war, BURN THE APOSTOLIC PALACE. Troops are expendable.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%206/Invasionforce0000.jpg

I move up to the defenses of Salamanca, and revolt the city with my 1 spy, its defenders are inadequate, to say the least. http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%206/ApocDefences.jpg

I attack with the cannons first to soften up any likely defense. I attack a city, with walls upon a hill. My fist cannon wins (raider 3), the 2nd loses (barrage 1), 3rd and 4th promoted to barrage 1 win, then the mace men all win, with the last a newly produced mace winning and burning the city down, So ends the Apostolic Palace threat. By checking the members section of the Victory screen, I can see that it is no more...:goodjob:http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/part%206/NoApostolicpalace0000.jpg

( F8-Victories, Members tab)

4000-2875 BC (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7142216&postcount=92)
Commentary (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7146868&postcount=116) on what others did up to that point
2875 BC dotmap (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7142216&postcount=92)
2875 - 470 BC (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7162714&postcount=139)

1255 - 1655 AD (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7192740&postcount=150)


Most of this time involved dealing with Shaka. He's now down to 3 fairly weak cities in the far south. The war gave me 2 great generals, the first of which settled in St. Petersburg, and the 2nd of which I joined to a single unit, horse archer, getting the Medic III promotion.

Pacal vassalized as soon as I researched Feudalism, and Ragnar is pleased with me. He just circumnavigated the globe; pursuing war techs meant I didn't get to Optics until quite recently.

I received the Harbour/Caravel quest, which I'm considering pursuing -- any opinions on whether to do so?. I had 2 of my own coastal cities, captured 2 from Shaka, and just captured a barbarian coastal city in my northeast. The 2 remaining locations in my own northern segment are fairly poor locations, red being a little better than brown because of the crabs and silver.

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/dalamb54/NC/11%20Catherine/NCXICatherine1255AD03.jpg

Of course Shaka might have a city or two down south, which I think I'll explore with caravels before I go for the weaker northern cities. Or maybe just conquer him anyway?

Part 7 1572-1690 THE END

As I'm now so far in front of the other AI's I feel that this has lost its instructional value.



I go through all my cities adding barracks/Drydocks where needed, to the ends of the build queues. I'm still in organized religion, as I'm building many banks and other building, with a few troops.

I've naval domination, and my cannons will continue to dominate the land battles. I'll now move my troops to Istanbul, to establish a base for my continental operations.

I direct all troop production to my city in the NE, from which I plan to launch my attacks and re-enforce Istanbul. The method is;

1.Holding down the Control (ctrl) button while clicking on a city to select all.
2.Holding down the Shift button, click on destination city to remove it from group.
3.Holding down the shift button, Right click on destination city to select grouping point for production

Now all produced units will auto move to destination city, be they Land, sea or air units.

To cancel this at anytime, Hold down (Control button for all cities, Shift to group cities to cancel), and then holding down the shift button, click on any city to cancel.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%207/DestinationVladivostock0000.jpg

I've take Istanbul, and with the excess great people I've generated,I've launched a 3rd golden age with a scientist and Merchant, granting an extra 24 turns. http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%207/GreatPeople0000.jpg Taken at games end, I had another golden age available if I wanted it, or Corps.

I am now researching at a rate of near 2K/Turn, reducing the research times down to a couple of turns. All the while, I'm making cossacks and other troops non stop in my main continent http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%207/Researchrates0000.jpg

My army of Cossacks has gone on a burning and pillaging rampage, here's a screen shot of the fall of Babylon http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%207/FallofBabylon0000.jpg
I didn't take one of the fall of Madrid :blush:

ON CORPORATIONS

Hitting Shift-F7, and moving the mouse Cursor over the Relevant corporation, you can get an idea of what benefit each corporation would bring to each city at what cost.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%207/CerealMills0000.jpg,


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%207/SidsSushi0000.jpg


Here you can see that they provide the same food benefit, with Sid's Sushi providing additional culture, great if your going for a cultural win, or fighting cultural battles on your borders.

Cereal Mills provides it at a lower cost per city, add in inflation rates of 50% (Current) and the cost differential can quickly add up.

Mining corp, will nearly allway's provide more hammers, and production is power. An extra hammer at the start of a game, by settling on a plains hill, can mean a big boost early on, when you can leverage that advantage, as you could with extra food/resources in BFC's of cities.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%207/Miningcorp0000.jpg


Also be aware that certain resources are used by more than one corp, and two corporations who use the same resource, can't be domiciled in the same city. An excellent post on this is contained here Corporations, benefits, resources and clashes (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5701209#post5701209)
If your going for a Cultural win, 3 corporations are of benefit for extra Culture; Sid's Sushi (Medicine), Creative Constructions (Combustion), and Civilized Jewelers (Mass Media).

Back to the game, as I've now taken sacked and burnt both AI's capitals, I decide to capitulate them both and end the game in a Conquest win.

Really, ever since the Ottomans were destroyed by the Barbarians and the Capital wasn't taken by either one of the other AI's until 1400's, I was easily going to win,and I just decided to go for a slash and burn, domination win.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%207/DeathofOttmans0000-1.jpg

I hope this was an instructional demonstration of how to cope at Noble level, and how to utilize the specialist economy.

I did nothing that any other player could do, and with some fore knowledge of the map, I deliberately set out to not play to optimal standard. The blocking cities is a strategy that should be employed in all games.

blocking cities
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk264/IPEX-731BA5DD06/CIV%204%20PHOTO%20SHOTS/Nobles%20club/Catherine/Part%207/Blockingcities0000.jpg

You'll also notice how I was able to settle all the cities close together in time frame,this was due to growing my settler pump to maximum population before building settlers as its faster, and in doing so, it allowed me to dominate the game.

Using certain features of the map as reference points, such as the jungle belt for the centre, Tundra for the North/South of map. Building your cities to claim vital resources for both Production and growth. Having a long term outlook to your cities, specializing your cities to the available terrain. A good example would be how I used Mutal, Pacal's capital as my National Parks city, due to the Large number of tree's left in the BFC, of which I chopped four down to enable more farms for further growth.

War's with set goals in mind, building up your troops, and using the internal city caps to your advantage, I.E Excess unhappy population for whipping, excess happiness caps for extra troops, and garrisoning appropriate troops to the appropriate cities.

Play your game to match your available resources. Hereditary Rule, Troops for extra happiness. Representation, Libraries and scientists. Caste system, farms for food/mine for production. Organized religion, build building and HAVE a religion.

Don't be so set on getting an early religion, other tech's are more vital early on. Extra food/production at this stage of the game can set you up.

Most of All, don't be afraid to ask a Question, we all started new to this game, and we all continue to learn, be that a new level, a new Economic method, or just how to play to your own set external rules to experience a different game experience.

I thank you for your time taken for reading this, and hope its been of some instruction and entertainment value.


:lol:

Delete me!!!!!!!!!!! :please:

Prince, 675BC



This game started off well. I meet Pacal, Shaka, and Ragnar in that order. 2 aggressive civs. I popped Iron Working, Masonry, and like 150gold from a hut... There is iron in the BFC!! :crazyeye: I can build Swordsmen pre-2000BC. It sucks that the nearest opponents are pretty far away though. 20 turns just to get to their capital + it would be cruel to use this unfair advantage. AI often has one archers per city prior to like 1000BC so it would likely be a cakewalk, but I would suffer from maintenance as well.

I decide to REX and block off the enemy since I've almost researched Currency.

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff255/dankok8/EmpireOverview675BC0000.jpg

Seems like I'll be able to manage to settle 12 cities without any fighting at all. In the process, I build military so Shaka and Ragnar don't get any funny ideas. The result is decent and I'm #2 in power from the demo screen so only Shaka is slightly ahead. Good stuff.

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff255/dankok8/Power675BC0000.jpg

My thoughts:
As Cathy, I have loads of room to expand which works to all my advantages. Imp/Cre is great for REXing. The continent has 2 dangerous wormongers and peaceful techer - Pacal. I don't think he'll last long especially since I plan to attack. Note that I switched to Pacal's religion - Buddhism. I did this to improve happiness as he spreads it through my cities + there is no other religion on the continent so Shaka and Ragnar will also be Buddhist soon.

I have already played on, but my plan here was to build more military (I'm researching Construction) and attack Pacal while trying to stir up war between Shaka and Ragnar.

Hi, guys!

I have one question regarding the messages that are appearing under the research progress bar. How do u set the game to show all that useful info ("Shaka will trade....", etc.)?

Thanks!

I would guess its BUG mode.

BTS Unaltered Gameplay (http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=268)

1908 AD final debriefing

It ended, at last, with a 47,824 domination victory for Catherine; a hard decision that I'm still not sure about and a plan that did not work. In other words, things could have been finer and faster.

The Mayan War went well, taking the Kong Miao cash cow and the Apostolic Palace early on. In 1615 Russia circumnavigated the world. Mehmed II finally allowed open borders unlike Hammurabi and Isabella, so I suspect the reader can see the plan coming, right - ship over a whack of Confucian missionaries and hyper-nudge Hammurabi/Isabella into successful war(s) with Mehmed II and with Confucian captured cities the poisoned pill is swallowed and Catherine wins an early diplomatic victory which had not looked promising. Before the Ottoman border cities were religously peppered and prepared war broke out on its own and the Buddist Mehmed II adopted theocracy. Oh, well.

Meanwhile, as the Russians were prosecuting the Mayan War (1670), a Viking Great Merchant entered that theatre. The operational policy was to seek Pacal II's capitulation because he was treasure rich and had two techs, including astronomy. But, he wasn't ready to give it up and he was holding the waiting-to-be-conquered Islamic hometown. The Russian Army was probably strong enough to fight both the Mayans and the Vikings, however, that Viking iron city east of Moscow came back to haunt as northern garrisons had been stripped to supply the southern army.

Nearly coin-toss time. The Great Merchant was let go. Right, wrong? In 1685 the Mayan Accord was inked and in 1745 Catherine invaded Ragnar's lands where the bundle had been spent on upgrading berserkers. No Viking lived beyond 1802. With a solid Russian lead in most catagories the game was effectively over. Isabella and Mehemed II were eliminated with 102 tanks to spare.

Looking back, the key to this contest was probably Shaka's 200 AD decision to declare war on the Vikings rather than the Russians.

Other than confirming that flexibility is a decent plan, what was learned?

Eight Great Generals are rather useful. The inclination to build, rather than take wonders (excepting The Great Wall) must, for me, be tempered. Post Napoleonic-era play boredom could be replaced by a disciplined assault on the number 47,824 next month.

Finally, this is an excellent gaming community - you teach and do well. Special thanks to Bleys for explaining the apparently inexplicable and Shadowkx for the advice and encouragement.

GGS - glad to see the end report. I would not worry about the GM too much. If you have any marginal techs on the Vikings you could attempt to sell them and get some of that cash as long as he did not burn it the same round he got it. I would not declare war to stop a GM unless you were just about ready to declare anyway. Then it becomes icing on the cake

4000-2875 BC (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7142216&postcount=92)
Commentary (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7146868&postcount=116) on what others did up to that point
2875 BC dotmap (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7142216&postcount=92)
2875 - 470 BC (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7162714&postcount=139)
470 BC - 1255 AD (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7166231&postcount=141)

I got this far without much direction or focus, still not having decided on a victory to aim for. :confused: I suspended this game on August 22 and am just now considering picking it up. I won't restart yet again -- I'll either finish this one or abandon it permanently.

I spent most of this period subduing Shaka, finally reducing him to a single city on an island to the south, which I despaired of conquering anytime soon -- so I either offered vassalage or he capitulated in 1355. On reflection I figure I could have managed; the attack from the sea would have been more expensive but I had, and have, a lot of troops.

Since then I've been trading technology back and forth with Pacal, my more useful vassal, exploring (finding the Mehmed/ Isabella/ Hammurabi continent), and building up my cities in a fairly generic way. By default I guess I've been aiming for a space race victory, my usual at Warlord level. However, I have 3 religions in various cities (having founded Confucianism and had Judaism and Hinduism spread to me), so I suppose I could go for a 3-cathedral-fueled cultural victory.

M-M-M-M-MAXIMUM BUMP-BUMP-bump...bump...



So had to do this damn write up all over again cause firefox crashed. humour me.

For starters, I renamed myself to 'you' purely because it's hilarious when civs contact you because it seems like they're flirting with you. You'll see what i mean in the diplomacy screens

So i settled where I started and began my escapade across the continent. My scout had the decency to pop tons of scouts from huts and soon I had a zerg army of scouts running up and down the continent. My intention this game? To REX like hell. Went worker worker settler, Agriculture and bronze working

I meet my first compadre

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0026.jpg

Oh mother of god where the hell did you come from?

Of all the neighbours I could possibly get, I end up with Shaka, destroyer of worlds, a one man whirlwind guranteed to either poison a continent or dominate it. This time, I was to be the 'cure' to the poision. There's no way baldy is getting his way this time

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0027.jpg

I meet the man child next. Never really is a problem, he is. Easily mouldable and easy to manipulate. I had 'plans' to say the least

and of course, no Isikien game would be complete without this blockhead

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0028.jpg

Seriously, I don't know why people find ragnar a problem. Not only is he an underadequate techer, he's also a strategist of moronic proportions. Even if you turned Sun Tzu's art of War into a magazine with pictures and gave it to him, the next day he'd still be throwing his men into forlorn hopes just in a wild hope that the body count will get so high they might form additional walls round his citadels. A grade A Philistine by any stretch of the imagination.

And as my scouts reached the end of the continent I realised I was stuck with these total plonkers. There is no way this continent would not go up in flames if my neighbours had anything to do with it. I guarantee that these two would get cabin fever long before the game was over. Drastic measures were needed. Necessary evils were schemed. I would bite them in the arse first. Starting with the savage.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0029.jpg

But first, much REXing was needed. And after a couple of years worth of deforesting later:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0030.jpg

whoa. I'm stunned at what a bunch of sweaty men with axes and acres and acres of wood can do for an empire, and with plenty of gold to spare I proceed to cottage spam. The south east city is going to be my bum rape city, i.e. military spam, my capital a hybrid of both cottage, the city to the south of that a GP farm and my other two cities will be cottaged to hell and back.

Still, no bronze yet, and I'm slightly on the worried side. Until I get Iron Working that is. Next to my capital. Aha... HAHAHAH....

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0031.jpg

Thanks Augustine. I sodding needed that. On top of that you put the savage on top and give him his own little pedestal. Don't worry, I'll be chopping that down with a critical mass of swordsmen.

Speaking of swordsmen, i proceed to spam soliders until they're coming out of my ears and pretty soon, the power graph numbers are looking safer

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0032.jpg

Of course, the Shackmaster doesn't give a flying flaming crap about numbers and graphs, most likely because he's too busy killing the people that are trying to teach him how to work the bleeding things, so it wouldn't be long before he turned up on my doorstep with a knife

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0033.jpg

Which is why I'm going to turn up in his window... with a molotov...

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0034.jpg

OK. WHO THE HELL IS PASSING SHAKA THE CLASS NOTES UNDER THE TABLE? Mother of mercy please explain to me how he got calender and construction in FIVE TURNS. BLOODY KIDS! IN MY DAY THEY USED TO CANE YOU FER THAT! IN FACT, IT IS MY DAY!

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0036.jpg

IMA KILL ALL YER MENS!

Now, my battle plan slightly deviates from 'DESTROY FECKING EVERYTHING' to 'DESTROY FECKING EVERYTHING with seperate stacks' largely due to Shaka's sudden capability to build catapults... out of nowhere... so after razing that fairly useless city I then advance on his capital

For some reason Shaka suffers a brain annuerism (probably due to me declaring war on him - shaka's mind can't handle role reversal) and continously runs his forces on Hari Kari missions. This results in me dropping through said metaphorical window from earlier.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0037.jpg

Right now his drawing room is up in flames, and I've scrawled insulting messages in Russian on the walls in his bedroom.

For clarification Shaka, the shoe is now on the other foot. After many times of you raping my capital, your capital is now mine. Quoth Isikien... LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0038.jpg

Huzzah my first GG is born. Foaming at the mouth and ready for the rigours of frontline combat, I then reward his patient and years of war study by settling him... He wasn't pleased, and proceeded to vent by going postal on his local town centre the next day.

But seeing the position I'm in it would be better for a long term plan. Shaka has 'sort of' regrouped. So I sue for peace and get a little bit of gold in the meantime. Not to say I'm going to stop. Oh sweet holy mary no. In fact I take the time to rebuild my army and a couple more catapults as well.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0039.jpg

This made me chuckle. Shaka sends settlers up to rebuild his crappy city only to realise that Pacal's set up camp there. Frustrated, he then wanders his settlers around for a good couple of years before they suddenly disappear, never to be seen again.

I've got a craving for Zulu that just won't quit. Time to finish this, and finish I do, taking out the two cities that were culture pressuring his previous capital...

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0040.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0041.jpg

WHERE IS YOUR PEDESTAL NOW?!

My men pat each other on the back. I pour myself a rum and lemonade when:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0042.jpg

GODDAMN IT MAN. STOP BUILDING! Nothing worse then a hasbeen warlord trying desperately to stay in the game. Now I have to move my men a whole four squares. Mothertrucker....

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0043.jpg

Pliny tells it how it is. I masterbate furiously over this factoid for five hours when I finally realize again I still MUST DESTROY SHAKA!

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0044.jpg

Endgame my good sir. After capturing Shaka I proceeded to take him back to my capital, cover him in ye olde candy floss and feed him to my forbidden army of clowns. Now only the chicken and the idiot remains on my continent.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0045.jpg

and it's looking an awfully snazzy shade of red I must say so myself

Scarily I build the pyramids in the next couple of turns. What's so frightful about that I suppose you wonder? Check the date

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0046.jpg

Is it me or should've the wonderspammers on the other continent snapped this ol' chestnut up already? Unless... Oh god... there are no wonder spammers... Suddenly, I have a vivid preminition of a million other psychotic warmongers and backstabbers sharpening their knives and giving children in their empires swords and axes instead of hammers and chisels. I shudder at the thought of a backwater continent. 4/1 odds on Monty, I flipping called it

back to the task at hand, I realise that for the sake of space I need to dispose of someone on my continent. It would be pacal, being closest, but frankly he's getting really... close... I dunno, I'm having doubts... I reroute my forces on his borders, but fate wants us to be together:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0047.jpg

DAMN IT DAD! I CAN'T LIE ANYMORE! I LOVE HIM! I LOVE HIS TINY FEET AND I LOVE HIS TINY HEAD!

Ok so I decide against attacking Pacal because the Random Event Generator seems to think we're destined for each other, and there's no way I can argue with the logic of a omniscent 8-ball. So that leaves the blockhead down south, which I am totally fine with, since the horn headed moron makes an excellent punching bag.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0048.jpg

Apparently Ragnar thought the same thing about Pacal. Notice how Pacal is still torn with his old flame and me. Don't worry, he knows it's either me or him, I'll give him time, he'll come running...

In other news, I change my name from 'you' to something else for an extra laugh in the diplomacy screen. I then went into full spasmodic convulsions when my advisors got a message from Pacal:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0049.jpg

Told you he'd come running. He told me that Ragnar was a rough lover, so in kind I responded to Ragnar by going one step above postal on his arse, and that level my friends, is referred to as Dalec.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0050.jpg

WHERE... IS... THE... DOC---TEEERRRR?!?!?

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0051.jpg

EX-TER-MIN-ATE! EX-TER-MIN-ATE!

Thus I took three of Ragnar's cities in no time at all. Possibly the sight of all my men imitating a fictional alien made out of a oversized tin can traumatised the Vikings so much that they couldn't fight.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0052.jpg

AAAAAAND the continent is mine, ragnar convinentely capitulates to me and we have an overview of my empire and my vassals

Thoughts: pacal is still pretty big in terms of culture and size but he wont be a threat once i get my infrastructure going. hell I still have the tech lead on these two so they won't be able to catch up. The real question is, what's at the end of the yellow brick road on the other continent?

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0049.jpg

:lol: Okay this DID totally make the name worth it

OK, since this thread is bumped up. I'll get my game posted.

Noble/Normal, target: fast space win.

1000BC

Early exploration showed i'm at north of a continent with no other AI in sight. So, REX first. St Petersbug is up.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pq3E1XPnyRFtlNSeJNTJh_nNpFK55t-G-EPHuyHr63BYJkLzup2du1JIwm-nYFzdQWSsFcIxi7LRtyuvQiHXX_Q/Civ4ScreenShot0090.JPG

Early tech plans, added The Wheel and Pottery to my usual Currency persue for early Cottages.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1p-5eL4LhhpOmhjCozNGDjf3etyKaX1XiZ8pKyAbrAtPJjEhGTzxp jzKEnLNFcDdBpYwxrIWYkT086N5EOuSOBCg/Civ4ScreenShot0091.JPG

City planning, early edition

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1phjRz_9zZshIpt4GSRJl_tVaRsXrjzrDK1bT6GHzmmKeTwRA 7MO3qRnQPICEhUPAWfsPDnVWJPTFIUsAuA2zJqg/Civ4ScreenShot0092.JPG

Novgorod is up heading south in order to block both of my not so immediate neighbors.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1peuFe3AVB5TitvoW7kRzvEGf2FExULpMRg6JUks-4aey5ce1anupkMFNkhwcS73_caY9-Uvl66ZjnooWg22G6Rw/Civ4ScreenShot0096.JPG

4th City and Shake is blocked off. Fogbusting extensively.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pv-2DVeyr9F6uUT4H4KxhrojFUwrjFQPMCqSaLF9u43tQT85EVkDX 4IPhDbCuy-zwWZqA50ihYjfYQUYCLJGF-g/Civ4ScreenShot0098.JPG

1000BC, the 5th city is up north to get the silver and lift happy cap by since all other cities now at happy cap. According to log, somebody built Oracle at 1720BC. Is it a Noble level game? :mad: Anyway, I'm going to bother early wonders anyway, with Creative, who cares about SH? :D

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pcjNTb59qq2bXfewD0IwQFG8cTUI95RU8aqAr6iJtO-Eo1D8JbikYXto_PfP-IXx6A6UsdoPUm9vLk7tyPpO7wg/Civ4ScreenShot0101.JPG

1AD



600BC, 7 cities, and the 8th is about to settle. No where nearly crashing my economy yet.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1prTgBQ581W3veDPvg_3wmswkatuXccfq9EfpizZjR20Zln5Q PmvayjenFXPgUaqSmSUImvJUmvc-rOy_MSK6czQ/Civ4ScreenShot0106.JPG

Trying to use a spy to explore the southern continent, but perished to Ragnar merciless espionage force justing pass through his territory... OK, so much for the spies in this game.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1piit7fiZ8iBJdePj1exT7ZfWvvy2_NVjVqDkfA26djpmmoUe SvNHyXRTwsKgI2miGs50uGpKnkSw53ywtm5Zp2A/Civ4ScreenShot0107.JPG

I was so eager to adopt Pacal's buddism, and built a road into his home to welcome to priests. So far no buddism anywhere in my empire... :mad: On par with military strength with the southern neighbors, so I guess i'm safe for now.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pra2fbwZv0NtjVvUBHhl-VCz-qTiuBKXb6rBbantdUvw8Z9Gplz-ny2OBsKCU0_6OgBm71lyFZbkuP8DOhT-_zg/Civ4ScreenShot0109.JPG

Teching fast and all by myself to 1AD, Once machinary is researched, Maceman will start rolling. The northern continent is settled. I'm going to switch to war mood until all my neighbors on this continent are gone.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pISlA8nJGeyLHgWmtY-1kZvSz7uSERXXZuNhUmuAdSN7xpPCTs3f3CenqseGKG55aVAZn Kcobei-pZFujWaeTlQ/Civ4ScreenShot0112.JPG

10 Cities at 1AD

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pH5UddVEsknhOag1o9qYupdtNdtWfdkrYmX5s5ttSO2AueYm jDyO3OMCP9CkTnfr_1CD25yJG-WAJZaEvd-zoGg/Civ4ScreenShot0125.JPG

500AD


Almost all cities switched to unit building mode to get as many Cats and Macemen as possible. Engineered Shaka to attack Ragnar so that his mobile army is either away or weakened by Ragnar. Finally got Buddists in my border and switched to make Pacal happy. Now it's time for war. "Shaka, you are blocking the way. Give me your cities!"

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1p6bnu7tgjIOkjiDim_csAPpZAJZlRrkF9uVEprWZTiZXPZRm 2Km9P0T48IQ7UEcP3tb6r_Wi5xuqejCeTaK3S0A/Civ4ScreenShot0133.JPG

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pu9TS4BwVTGZVJDmubdn0q-Iy_l5IwKsOrWzWYNtDZmKaPo54MpRpFj0BxAUAghDITDDlorFW 8DQVe6l_IfY4NQ/Civ4ScreenShot0134.JPG

There goes the war. And my initial attack force with more troops being built and on their way down south. Already got Engineering, and Trebs are available for Archers. :lol:

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pyhJtMx_LonJcW8GZmyW4irzOWe2Zrn6yt6NrcWGGA_zNIIj HL8EFzvQfND6YhuT01_ooWwro_bsxtErBBBDs_A/Civ4ScreenShot0135.JPG

Capital fallen, with GLH. Hmmm... When did shaka become a wonder lover? Power ratio is 2.4:1, this should be easy, just city after city. Oops, it's 580AD, I should stop here.
http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1paspyuJLUSPeEtWx4DpCUR4HheeK1sZVFCnHMRm-2bhaPZgZV314Fa93_BW43xFzny1f66LZQMq2n_PiJlna6EA/Civ4ScreenShot0136.JPG

1200AD



Got all Zulu major cities and offered peace for techs. Need cherish the time before Pacal could research longbow. DOW on 700AD and he's willing to sign peace the next turn. :lol: No! I want cities not the treaty.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pwm2PNoV5XWM2BCo1D05Mc76br9IG22gMalhUE9TykghwnzN yg8I0Xd1Q0SRRFo13dOfJa_P6MJoQ5a1PBo5LZw/Civ4ScreenShot0138.JPG

Pacal's cities fell in order.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1poVn66TWGb6Ph5OXa5zHtQhkcFZpE37ULTjD3bdWxS9oaotb 1URqcYt4JDqLofpb-SB0Ij1hbdyztXgB8sbh-cQ/Civ4ScreenShot0140.JPG

Economy, on the other hand is looking bad. But still afloat.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1p5R6W2w_joOs0bSbsVvhvREFIbyF6gt4gT97b1ixqmsPDab3 jEBR508mmUCjATJKjkwlVlwLOUTqwkEB70f1gWA/Civ4ScreenShot0141.JPG

Bad news! Ragnar got longbows...

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pDr9Dd6PH_v37YFJmmqnp8627uQAiMAQG36BhIMHHGxuvslA f4ulsP7OK6bSvd5e-YBmPrCd9fJMZXkp1syh0lQ/Civ4ScreenShot0146.JPG

Signed peace with Pacal when he's down to 2 cities and he offered one of them for the treaty. Decided to take on Ragnar regardless his longbow when I counted my Trebs. :)

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1p0q5KrJzaQ__c2-bhzUy3YGmUt8OWNThVdPcvGNi6UJ1vFTrtaABcFZbq6MzZs8qt kgEekrL9A3q-Pm12Y2uxsQ/Civ4ScreenShot0149.JPG

War with Ragnar, 2 cities already fallen, and heading to his super food capital. It's 1000AD, 20 cities. BTW, I didn't notice in the game, Ragnar DOW Shake right before I declared him.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pC5QZ3v-djXegTrrcjqDIGDKXvuGYMrYd72Yi5HMn556usuNzHEgnsGHUb 4mt9p8R3V9qpBSHuQ9t3cSdjFtOSw/Civ4ScreenShot0151.JPG
http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pKV6vAp56tJXcRBG5uzELCwkq-HOc8pywQpMj5HV28_Hw_Djc8GVGeiI3eDKAQHjnZJA1JkJKi2p B8auavJoR-Q/Civ4ScreenShot0153.JPG

I later declared to Shaka again to sent him away before I left Ragnar one city for peace.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1p6qi8krc_SftkT75J0DgITEClfN2pq5kf5UZK53t5emGf7nQ oQSg5NtYuW2avcOv9QGu00-n9jw6q_V5La093jw/Civ4ScreenShot0159.JPG

1200AD, met all 3 other AIs on the other continent, pretty backward, and military weak. However, I was persuing a quick domination or conquest. So, I'll just leave them alone and as long as they provide the much needed oversea trade route. BTW, I had to switch back to no state religion to everybody there talking to me.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pJlbeE4Dc8BPK-e-v8gqeKGRCSkGCLLVE914cf5Qwep3ocKHyRbr5UiurL1o3x7Z8C hz-P4e4IhnN4xPs2u3i9Q/Civ4ScreenShot0161.JPG

1770AD Space Win



To recover my economy, settle a city on the island. See before and right after.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pA0j6eynoXK_av8SYKlEy3fm-Lh-Wvcq3SLVJrT-IeruPhfy2OqK98-eRK7aFd9tuOsmTFgimYnzmAarzah087g/Civ4ScreenShot0162.JPG

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pqA_jDLFTHZyAZX0OiLoxgtehE7gO224OTVld5UmAXUwQGm0 KSMLB2uU038nhtDao-0eYOv2OIW-Dg1Ay0-fQ1w/Civ4ScreenShot0163.JPG

Got 2 more barb cities overseas. Good for economy with minimum colony fees.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pXcf87xjZlRhXkvrCoNbIKTufXzENgzFVcklzr--bd9Kzu9tMbGVtUiw-sYz7K52Cv1BI3VgGFW47tQdtPuPSNw/Civ4ScreenShot0164.JPG

Got a much needed GM and sent him to Mehmed. And the science ratio is back to 60% range. +748/T. Tech is on the Biology beeline.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pRBH3h1kqfPOP3XL3FcS14MWNhd_6XD_uYeh4Dlf5fYv-IPIfAedFky0ONWqBO3EmoOxjOh_yJ5V9_a5FQlrUzA/Civ4ScreenShot0165.JPG

My science city at 1400AD

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pb5-uD524QvvWnVtpvqC6UkWVlyspMsIVSyu3PX5TDjVIM1pkf5SSV jE6G9g6lpfAAh0bKMeBx3DuA04k-2M_2A/Civ4ScreenShot0059.JPG

First golden age

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1p_6h-DBRVANww1Ex5f9JxmvAGe_FvQxfAsdUpW9y0khD3h5CLlJjPSA LvMFsWVakdwNFKKbNe1rPqFkh1aIQQ5A/Civ4ScreenShot0061.JPG

Now the beakers are really flying, 2k+/T, switched to US/FS/Eman

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pz6YRSnmXPzvgsSazpDpZ7vrh-BcJDXUjACorWt2vhWgmlG8DFRCrhpfe8ZVaWs_Xd0MBv9lWgQZ IwJm4zSyouQ/Civ4ScreenShot0062.JPG

Teching Industrialism next, then Rocketry. And got a GE through the Mids/HG capital, and Mining Inc, here we go

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pG0JFwoaVaFQyOBqz0JQ8kM1KVUa5Y_40Lt98W4f_UECm3DX 6k8iQzNJWWKSbQ3JmxbreknwcK7NzSytzh3ZbCg/Civ4ScreenShot0067.JPG

The final push, 1580AD, 12 techs to go. 2880 beaker/turn. Many cities are still going through the indurstrialization process.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pCS_raH6nE5IedM8zY5BwtauRmsgx6Hb7_YPz4_N4UN03TGw wrMJUbH3UraMIvi30kLKvfgUvNBXmGOD2L7Zk1g/Civ4ScreenShot0072.JPG

1700AD, all techs are finished. 4 turns to go. In 3rd, and 4th GA, used 2/3 GPs respectively.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pac4cM7u0l0-I5kBcwBbG1VYkikwGUZnRRJFhTCjE3rHz5Wd6o1cjM05fs2xLL EeMdQb_XWNnQB3_yIkOnK_Mlw/Civ4ScreenShot0075.JPG

The economy

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pRnyD-fo5JAWp-mGJS9d8_u-cmS5FcbaBFbzsdNat2RXbQqB3B_YQNfgaeytrtW-hu2DqgBeJ-YJIJpaWVStSGw/Civ4ScreenShot0077.JPG

Launch! 10 turns to go.

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pCybtBPfocuHdF3UhuYXqoKN6p0ZtCBMg-hJQhdAEQ3b9FCDOvIklD1GOG2q6VWcUjGkuMoQhZcEnVa-gORy5Yw/Civ4ScreenShot0079.JPG

Built some nukes in my spare time and... :D

http://uhxq8w.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pekEtiZ0KXQO5tGfhNQJYVX3tg3amUxnx67zZYZS64Ey4ZV9 H-Rq1HCRGWptvGZzuOKaa7s63R99KH7_HlEDGvg/Civ4ScreenShot0082.JPG

Ok. I am off my face. And I have destroyed fecking everything. I am the endgame. The more I drink the more I want to destroy, while being capable of (mostly) strategic decisions. Does that make me more like the blockheaded horn helmet moron? Or the bald savage? Perhaps I am both.

We start by rebuilding infrastructure. This begets the inevatable destruction that the other continent faces. It seems I have inherited a dark streak from destroying Shaka. I wonderspam, tech spam and go for teh liberalism, at the same time getting my vassals to research useless techs. Well, useless for them at least. Haha... hahahahahaha....

I get caravels and send them from my eastern coastal city and i find...

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0053.jpg

the zealot... urgh. I will destroy her first for her rigid perspective on spirituality.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0055.jpg

Mehmed is also on that continent, and despite him being small is packing a punch. Shame he doesn't have astronomy to contest me, whereas I'm well on my way to grabbing it. For that reason I pity Mehmed's men for lacking the ability to do 10.000 miles of frontcrawl. Hammy is also on there but Hammy being Hammy I expect him to do feck all this match apart from vegitate for a bit and attract Declerations of War from other civs.

My tech lead is massive and overlording. I will win this when I choose to.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0056.jpg

I grab hold of the sistine chapel cause I can.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0057.jpg

Laughably I grab hold of the Taj Mahal as well, coining a second golden age.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0058.jpg

Circumnavigation of the globe. I despaired at the inferiority of my erstwhile opponents.

My favorite part of this segement however was popping a Great Spy. The reason for this is was because Pacal, despite me being his overlord, didn't deem himself my technological equal, and was being suspiciously stingy about some techs. So I interpreted that as 'Please, find my top scientests and extort the techs from them', sent my GS on a mission to pop a ton of EPs, aaaand...

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0059.jpg


http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0060.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0061.jpg

Voila! Instant boil in the bag back fill without any need for seasoning. A healthy alternative to victory.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0062.jpg

I love building wonders just for the fecking sake of it.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0063.jpg]

I'll explain why I screenshotted this one. not only was it my third golden age, on top of that because of the RNG giving me this quest and the criteria of building 7 coliseums WHILE i had 7 coliseums and the Statue of Zeus, made this game all but stupid. On top of that I had the classic literature quest that had the same criteria of 7 libraries despite me having 7 bloody libraries. THE. DICE. ARE. LOADED! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!

In the midst of this Herodotus realised something obstinately futile.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0064.jpg

On top of that the other continent wasn't exactly a united front.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0065.jpg

Thus began frequent turns of Mehmed and Co. begging me to get involved in their petty little squabbles

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0066.jpg

...

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0067.jpg

Sod off!!!!

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0068.jpg

For crying out...

To continue to maintain my attention span to the AI's spamming requests, I changed my name yet again

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0069.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0070.jpg

Mein gott man! Will you stop your . .. .. .. .. .ing?! You've got enough to totally zerg Hammy off the map, stop asking me for moral support!

Eventually my supply of Valium ran out and I went Guy Shisisho on everyone on their . .. .. .. .ing continent, starting with the Bible Basher for simply existing.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0072.jpg

And thus beginnith the moment where the rivers run red with the blood of Spain

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0073.jpg

I took Barcelona first

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0075.jpg

OOO!!! MADRID!!! BONERUS! ILL HAVE THAT THANK YOU PLEASHE!?!

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0076.jpg

And that THANK YOU PLEASHE.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0077.jpg

Meanwhile, back at home I manage to hook up bronze. YEESS! NOW I CAN BUILD AXEMEN! AND TRANSPORT THEM ALONG WITH TANKS... tanks................... FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF............

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0078.jpg

And again

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0080.jpg

And again. Soon this continent will be mine, I will hammer in the final blow on Isab-----------

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0081.jpg

STOP... GOD... JUST STOP ALREADY!!!! Someone get me some damn horse tranquilizers for the turk, he's too content in shooting off his mouth at EVERY POSSIBLE MOMENT EVER!!!!!

Meanwhile back in the homeland my pet dogs performed tricks for me. Ragnar won the award for 'most improved at self degredation'.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0083.jpg

And another one of Izzy's cities fell

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0084.jpg

Now after this point we ran into a slight hitch. Izzy was willing to capitulate for a while but I didn't take it, purely because I wanted to see her suffer. So she then takes her case to Mehmed, who suddenly went quiet amidst a cyclone of war horns the next turn as Izzy gave herself to the Turkmiester.

How could I refuse? This time it was a vastly backwards series of stacks full of macemen and trebuchets vs tanks... lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of tanks

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0085.jpg

WOOP WOOP! RUSSIAN PARTY TIME!

Hilariously I figured out that in my drunken stupor that units could be airlifted in without a retrieving airport in a city. That sure shaved a lot of time off my intercontinental warfare. Thank you civ as always for being utterly unrealistic.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0088.jpg

Third city i believe in the above screenshot

continued in the next post

When we last left off, I was DESTROYING... EVERYTHING.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0089.jpg

Wait, I didn't even know I was building that damned thing... wut?!

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0090.jpg
And another city from Mehmed

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0091.jpg

And ze capital. Izzy breaks away at this point and I cap her. But I don't desire him as my vassal yet, not until I get rid of all this fecking collateral culture around his capital.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0093.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0095.jpg

And with that my good sir you can go now, and join the other vassals in the kennel.

Meanwhile I turn my sights on Hammy and in one turn

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0096.jpg

Yes. I am keen.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0097.jpg

Throughout the blood lust I realise I've won. Aww, didn't even get to build any ICBMs.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0098.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u241/Isikien/Civ4ScreenShot0099.jpg

Not the easiest of the Noble's club but definately the more exciting. I also had the best luck ever coupled with a fantastic start. Chopping settlers and workers is an insane tactic if you've got enough forest near you. I know, it's not exactly news but it shows how sodding easy this one was, considering my traits. I could've additionally gone for conquest then space, however Pacal was closer to cultural.

Woe is me. I wanted to whore all the victory conditions