Meshakhad
Chieftain
I have decided to dip my toes into the LP waters, and have chosen Civilization 4 as my first subject.
I am running my favorite mod, Next War Epic, which came bundled with Beyond The Sword. The map is Earth18Civs, which, for those who don’t know, is a model of the real world with 18 civilizations on it in their home locations. There are a couple of changes I am making to the world map using the World Builder, not to aid myself, but to ensure that certain AI civilizations are not going to be completely screwed over by geography. I will go over these at the start of the game.
I have chosen a low difficulty setting (Chieftain), primarily because I’ve never actually played the higher difficulties, and this LP wouldn’t be very interesting if it ended early due to conquest by an AI.
Oh, and I will make posts when I feel like it, not according to a schedule.
Other settings:
Speed: Marathon
Victories: Conquest, Dominion, Cultural, Space Race
Options: Random Personalities, Choose Religions
One other warning: if you like to see a lot of warfare in your LPs, you’ll be disappointed. I’m not an aggressive player. Same goes if you want to learn advanced Civ 4 strategy – I have no knowledge of it. What I will be doing is narrating the history of the mighty American civilization.
Earth18Civs doesn’t allow you to choose your leaders. Each civ has one chosen for it. I don’t mind greatly, as Roosevelt is pretty good, especially if you aren’t looking to win by religion or conquest. Roosevelt has the Industrious and Organized traits, which improve wonder production, lower civic upkeep, and double the production times of Forges, Lighthouses, Factories, and Courthouses.
I include this shot because… well, it felt right. We see here that we start with Fishing and Agriculture. That will help our early agriculture. The American unique unit and building don’t come into play until late game, so I won’t bother describing them.
Before I get into the game, I will make the aforementioned changes to the world map.
There are two civilizations that, by virtue of their starting locations, are completely screwed. The Spanish are one of them. The Iberian peninsula is only big enough for one city, and their settler begins inland. Consequently, they will be landlocked. Their only possible expansion is into France, which would necessitate defeating the French. A human player could move their settler, but AIs always start where the settler is placed, so they’re screwed.
To prevent them from total stagnation, I will be turning the circled section of land into water, so that Madrid will be a coastal city.
The other civilization that is screwed is the Inca. They start out on a narrow strip of land between the Andes and the Pacific, with no land route off.In theory, they could use ships to get out, but I have never seen them do that. Furthermore, there is also, for no good reason, a mountain in the middle of Panama. Its purpose is to prevent North Americans from expanding into South America.
The only reason I can think of, given that they’ve already limited the Inca to their little strip of land, is to give the Europeans the opportunity to colonize South America. Personally, I think it’s stupid. So I will create two passes out of the Andes, and turn the mountain into a hill.
Now, we can begin the game!
When they decided to settle down, the Americans found themselves in lush surroundings on the Atlantic Seaboard. The great warrior, William Clark, was sent out to explore the land, while the people ventured north, to the Appalacian foothills. It was here that they founded the city of New York. It is unlikely that they had any idea of the grandeur their city would achieve.
We start on what is obviously the East Coast, with a warrior and a settler. The warrior will be used for scouting. For this reason, I have named him William Clark. I plan to name my units, except for the ones that are consumed by their tasks.
I decided not to settle right away, but move to the north. This decision is, to be honest, based on knowledge from previous games. This also means that in this history, Washington D.C. never existed, and New York was the American capital.
Historians have long believed that fishing was important to the new city, which is likely the source of New York’s love of seafood. However, as the city’s fishing industry predates all forms of writing, solid evidence has been hard to come by. It was only in modern times that archaeologists uncovered evidence of boatmaking as far back as 3985 BC, the approximate date of New York’s founding.
Now, if you’re wondering why I’m building a work boat when there are no fish, clams, or crabs in my territory, here’s why.
New York, as my capital, is generating 2 hammers and 2 culture per turn. A work boat costs 60, so it will be completed in 30 turns. However, advancing to the next culture level – and the first expansion of the city – will only take 15 turns. By the time the work boat is complete, the clams will both be in my territory, ready for exploitation.
Also, training workers puts your city’s population growth on hold. I usually wait until the city has at least 2 population before I start training workers. I tend to think in the long term, so I choose to get my population up as quickly as possible.
Next, I have to choose what technology to research. My options are Sailing, the Wheel, Animal Husbandry, Hunting, Mysticism, and Mining. Animal Husbandry offers little advantage, as there are no cows, pigs, or sheep in the area. Mysticism would allow me to expand my culture, but I have other priorities. I decide to go with Hunting – there are deer nearby, and I’ll want to train a scout as soon as possible.
The name “William Clark” should be instantly recognizable to any American. Tales of his exploits were handed down from generation to generation, often growing to outlandish proportions. While we can discount such stories as his battle with the Great Bear as myths, it is certain that he played a major role in charting the land, enabling the American leaders to plan the future expansion of their civilization. He also learned the secrets of sailing from the Regatta tribe, along with their favored sport of boat racing. Boat racing flourished in the coastal cities, and persists to this day as America’s national sport.
Clark’s done good work. He’s uncovered several resources, including marble, gold, and corn. He also found a tribal village in the Midwest that inexplicably knew the secrets of Sailing. This is really good, especially as Sailing is one of the more expensive technologies at this stage, and being given it by a tribe saves me a lot of time.
Sailing will allow me to construct Lighthouses, which increase the food production of water tiles. This means that a single water tile can support a citizen on its own. My coastal cities will be thriving. I can also train galleys and build the Moai Statues. In time, I will be able to train triremes and build the Great Lighthouse.
Incidentally, I will be going for the Space Race victory, which means teching up as soon as possible.
In 3880 BC, an Aztec scout encountered New York. This marked the first contact between the Americans and another civilization. Relations with the Aztecs were cool to start, so the Americans began diverting resources to learning what they could about their new neighbors.
Now that I’ve met another civilization, I can start diverting income to espionage. I find that 10% is usually plenty. I still have no treasury, but as I don’t have any expenses as of yet, that isn’t an issue.
In 3760 BC, New York grew strong enough to expand its territorial borders, growing to encompass the Red Sox tribe. While the Red Sox were happy to join the American civilization, they found that they did not fit in with the denizens of New York. They elected to found their own city, Boston, further up the coast. In time, Boston would grow to be a proud city in its own right; however, the rivalry between the two continues to this day. The Red Sox name lives on as Boston’s boat racing team.
With the expansion of New York, the tribal village is absorbed by my nation, granting me a settler. I decide to use it to establish a city up the coast, calling it Boston. I start work on a lighthouse.
In other news, a wolf pack attacked William Clark. He kicked their asses.
Of course, hunting for survival is a task even animals can accomplish. However, any hunter can tell you that hunting is more complicated than simply finding an animal and killing it. And traditional methods of hunting rarely obtained more food than the hunters needed to survive.
Archaeologists working in the Carolina Forests have uncovered remnants of sophisticated snares and traps dating to 3700 BC. These tools made hunting game such as deer and beavers much easier. Wall paintings from this period indicate that hunters also took care not to wipe out entire herds, while eliminating other predators such as bears and wolves. Sustainable hunting techniques like these made hunting a major source of food for the American civilization.
I’ve developed Hunting! Yay! I can now build hunting camps and train scouts.
For my next technology, I choose Mining. This will allow me to build mines in the hills, which will prove critical to my civilization’s production.
And that’s the end of the first part. I will continue this soon!
I am running my favorite mod, Next War Epic, which came bundled with Beyond The Sword. The map is Earth18Civs, which, for those who don’t know, is a model of the real world with 18 civilizations on it in their home locations. There are a couple of changes I am making to the world map using the World Builder, not to aid myself, but to ensure that certain AI civilizations are not going to be completely screwed over by geography. I will go over these at the start of the game.
I have chosen a low difficulty setting (Chieftain), primarily because I’ve never actually played the higher difficulties, and this LP wouldn’t be very interesting if it ended early due to conquest by an AI.
Oh, and I will make posts when I feel like it, not according to a schedule.
Other settings:
Speed: Marathon
Victories: Conquest, Dominion, Cultural, Space Race
Options: Random Personalities, Choose Religions
One other warning: if you like to see a lot of warfare in your LPs, you’ll be disappointed. I’m not an aggressive player. Same goes if you want to learn advanced Civ 4 strategy – I have no knowledge of it. What I will be doing is narrating the history of the mighty American civilization.
Spoiler :
Earth18Civs doesn’t allow you to choose your leaders. Each civ has one chosen for it. I don’t mind greatly, as Roosevelt is pretty good, especially if you aren’t looking to win by religion or conquest. Roosevelt has the Industrious and Organized traits, which improve wonder production, lower civic upkeep, and double the production times of Forges, Lighthouses, Factories, and Courthouses.
Spoiler :
I include this shot because… well, it felt right. We see here that we start with Fishing and Agriculture. That will help our early agriculture. The American unique unit and building don’t come into play until late game, so I won’t bother describing them.
Before I get into the game, I will make the aforementioned changes to the world map.
There are two civilizations that, by virtue of their starting locations, are completely screwed. The Spanish are one of them. The Iberian peninsula is only big enough for one city, and their settler begins inland. Consequently, they will be landlocked. Their only possible expansion is into France, which would necessitate defeating the French. A human player could move their settler, but AIs always start where the settler is placed, so they’re screwed.
To prevent them from total stagnation, I will be turning the circled section of land into water, so that Madrid will be a coastal city.
Spoiler :
The other civilization that is screwed is the Inca. They start out on a narrow strip of land between the Andes and the Pacific, with no land route off.In theory, they could use ships to get out, but I have never seen them do that. Furthermore, there is also, for no good reason, a mountain in the middle of Panama. Its purpose is to prevent North Americans from expanding into South America.
The only reason I can think of, given that they’ve already limited the Inca to their little strip of land, is to give the Europeans the opportunity to colonize South America. Personally, I think it’s stupid. So I will create two passes out of the Andes, and turn the mountain into a hill.
Spoiler :
Now, we can begin the game!
Spoiler :
When they decided to settle down, the Americans found themselves in lush surroundings on the Atlantic Seaboard. The great warrior, William Clark, was sent out to explore the land, while the people ventured north, to the Appalacian foothills. It was here that they founded the city of New York. It is unlikely that they had any idea of the grandeur their city would achieve.
We start on what is obviously the East Coast, with a warrior and a settler. The warrior will be used for scouting. For this reason, I have named him William Clark. I plan to name my units, except for the ones that are consumed by their tasks.
I decided not to settle right away, but move to the north. This decision is, to be honest, based on knowledge from previous games. This also means that in this history, Washington D.C. never existed, and New York was the American capital.
Spoiler :
Historians have long believed that fishing was important to the new city, which is likely the source of New York’s love of seafood. However, as the city’s fishing industry predates all forms of writing, solid evidence has been hard to come by. It was only in modern times that archaeologists uncovered evidence of boatmaking as far back as 3985 BC, the approximate date of New York’s founding.
Now, if you’re wondering why I’m building a work boat when there are no fish, clams, or crabs in my territory, here’s why.
Spoiler :
New York, as my capital, is generating 2 hammers and 2 culture per turn. A work boat costs 60, so it will be completed in 30 turns. However, advancing to the next culture level – and the first expansion of the city – will only take 15 turns. By the time the work boat is complete, the clams will both be in my territory, ready for exploitation.
Also, training workers puts your city’s population growth on hold. I usually wait until the city has at least 2 population before I start training workers. I tend to think in the long term, so I choose to get my population up as quickly as possible.
Next, I have to choose what technology to research. My options are Sailing, the Wheel, Animal Husbandry, Hunting, Mysticism, and Mining. Animal Husbandry offers little advantage, as there are no cows, pigs, or sheep in the area. Mysticism would allow me to expand my culture, but I have other priorities. I decide to go with Hunting – there are deer nearby, and I’ll want to train a scout as soon as possible.
Spoiler :
The name “William Clark” should be instantly recognizable to any American. Tales of his exploits were handed down from generation to generation, often growing to outlandish proportions. While we can discount such stories as his battle with the Great Bear as myths, it is certain that he played a major role in charting the land, enabling the American leaders to plan the future expansion of their civilization. He also learned the secrets of sailing from the Regatta tribe, along with their favored sport of boat racing. Boat racing flourished in the coastal cities, and persists to this day as America’s national sport.
Clark’s done good work. He’s uncovered several resources, including marble, gold, and corn. He also found a tribal village in the Midwest that inexplicably knew the secrets of Sailing. This is really good, especially as Sailing is one of the more expensive technologies at this stage, and being given it by a tribe saves me a lot of time.
Spoiler :
Sailing will allow me to construct Lighthouses, which increase the food production of water tiles. This means that a single water tile can support a citizen on its own. My coastal cities will be thriving. I can also train galleys and build the Moai Statues. In time, I will be able to train triremes and build the Great Lighthouse.
Incidentally, I will be going for the Space Race victory, which means teching up as soon as possible.
Spoiler :
In 3880 BC, an Aztec scout encountered New York. This marked the first contact between the Americans and another civilization. Relations with the Aztecs were cool to start, so the Americans began diverting resources to learning what they could about their new neighbors.
Now that I’ve met another civilization, I can start diverting income to espionage. I find that 10% is usually plenty. I still have no treasury, but as I don’t have any expenses as of yet, that isn’t an issue.
Spoiler :
In 3760 BC, New York grew strong enough to expand its territorial borders, growing to encompass the Red Sox tribe. While the Red Sox were happy to join the American civilization, they found that they did not fit in with the denizens of New York. They elected to found their own city, Boston, further up the coast. In time, Boston would grow to be a proud city in its own right; however, the rivalry between the two continues to this day. The Red Sox name lives on as Boston’s boat racing team.
Spoiler :
With the expansion of New York, the tribal village is absorbed by my nation, granting me a settler. I decide to use it to establish a city up the coast, calling it Boston. I start work on a lighthouse.
In other news, a wolf pack attacked William Clark. He kicked their asses.
Spoiler :
Of course, hunting for survival is a task even animals can accomplish. However, any hunter can tell you that hunting is more complicated than simply finding an animal and killing it. And traditional methods of hunting rarely obtained more food than the hunters needed to survive.
Archaeologists working in the Carolina Forests have uncovered remnants of sophisticated snares and traps dating to 3700 BC. These tools made hunting game such as deer and beavers much easier. Wall paintings from this period indicate that hunters also took care not to wipe out entire herds, while eliminating other predators such as bears and wolves. Sustainable hunting techniques like these made hunting a major source of food for the American civilization.
I’ve developed Hunting! Yay! I can now build hunting camps and train scouts.
For my next technology, I choose Mining. This will allow me to build mines in the hills, which will prove critical to my civilization’s production.
And that’s the end of the first part. I will continue this soon!