GOTM 35 First Spoiler - 500 AD Max
- Thread starter AlanH
- Start date
Markus5
Code Monkey
Wandered around a bit to find a spot to settle. Only got 4 cities. Mansa expanded rather quickly. No matter. I'm easily keeping ahead in techs. Built the Great Library and farming Great Scientists. Building lots of axes and plan to attack Mansa in the middle ages.
Htadus
A and L's dad
Going to space. And writing by memory 
Settled NW as planned and built a worker to get gold connected. Settled first city near Mansa capital by the lake with marble in the initial 9 tiles and to get the copper after the expansion. Built the oracle in there to make sure there will be enough culture to take the copper tile....also hoped that Mansa would not found a religion there. CoL gives us our first religion and Mansa asks us to convert to confusionism
.
Settled the copper city to the south and the deer (and future iron) city. Mansa was heading to the deer so instead of getting the fish up north we settle the blue circle which had the iron later. Capital ended with the Mids and GLib in the early game, and HE and Oxford later.
Prophet found Christianity and GS's build an academy and bulb Philosophy (Ashoka would not trade) and part of Education. With total of 6 Cities we were going to play nice but Ashoka had other plans.....OK we were not going to be nice with him since he was not sharing knowledge, English had two smallish stacks near two of his cities defended by just archers and Spears, and were waiting for a chance when he DOWed and the English research path changed towards Miltary Tradition (after getting Astro for free from Liberalism). By the way this went on past 500AD but there is no spoiler in the statement that after two wars India was not in the game.
The tech pace was fast but poor ol' Mansa ended up with just a few Cities and was not up to his typical speed. But he is still fast.
By the way I am proud to say I pop rushed a good bit in this game but
think that I completely forgot to build the Gpeople increasing National Epic Wonder(?) Crap... it is probably not worth building in 1300 AD era. My hope (not a calculated plan) is to Launch Before 1750 AD. Is it even possible?
Settled NW as planned and built a worker to get gold connected. Settled first city near Mansa capital by the lake with marble in the initial 9 tiles and to get the copper after the expansion. Built the oracle in there to make sure there will be enough culture to take the copper tile....also hoped that Mansa would not found a religion there. CoL gives us our first religion and Mansa asks us to convert to confusionism
. Settled the copper city to the south and the deer (and future iron) city. Mansa was heading to the deer so instead of getting the fish up north we settle the blue circle which had the iron later. Capital ended with the Mids and GLib in the early game, and HE and Oxford later.
Prophet found Christianity and GS's build an academy and bulb Philosophy (Ashoka would not trade) and part of Education. With total of 6 Cities we were going to play nice but Ashoka had other plans.....OK we were not going to be nice with him since he was not sharing knowledge, English had two smallish stacks near two of his cities defended by just archers and Spears, and were waiting for a chance when he DOWed and the English research path changed towards Miltary Tradition (after getting Astro for free from Liberalism). By the way this went on past 500AD but there is no spoiler in the statement that after two wars India was not in the game.
The tech pace was fast but poor ol' Mansa ended up with just a few Cities and was not up to his typical speed. But he is still fast.
By the way I am proud to say I pop rushed a good bit in this game but
think that I completely forgot to build the Gpeople increasing National Epic Wonder(?) Crap... it is probably not worth building in 1300 AD era. My hope (not a calculated plan) is to Launch Before 1750 AD. Is it even possible?
azzaman333
meh
To put bluntly how the early era panned out for me, Mansa stole all the land, but as the continent was a big happy Hindu lovefest, Asoka, Mansa and myself were teching fast. Fast enough that trying to building an army from scratch after researching MT would be difficult to do without Mansa or Asoka obtaining Cavalry themselves, or just researching Rifles to completely shut a war down.
The Map
Heres where I was at 500AD. From the start I was intending to go for my usual spacerace. Maybe this time Ill beat conquistador63
The Start
I moved the warrior SW to reveal the cow and sent the settler 2S to the plains hill, initially thinking of settling there to get the extra hammer. When I got there and saw nothing but desert beyond, I re-thought. Next turn the warrior discovered the fish. Oooh, quandary. I regard fish as one of the best resources to have in your capital, but how to get it without losing other good tiles? I seriously thought about settling on top of the cow to get the fish and floodplains, but in the end I plumped for the woodland SW of the cow, losing the fish, to keep the rice. I very quickly came to regret not settling on the cow when it became apparent Id have to give the rice to my second city anyway: York went by the northern gold to umm, youll never guess yes thats right, to get the gold, but it thereafter gave me continual problems with lack of food.
Tough map this btw. If you moved the settler West, youd get the gold and have the option to pick up the fish later; if you didnt (and Im guessing most people wont have), you end up with a lot of trouble trying to get either resource. And overall not a lot of food or happy resources around.
The Disaster
Third city went down by the jungle-river. You can see it on the map. Yep thats the one, those city ruins just NW of Gao. The city was a city for about two turns before becoming city ruins, courtesy of some thoughtful barbarians.
It got worse.
My other warrior, returning from exploring the incense just too late to save the city spotted Mansas settler, about to become Gao almost the instant that my beloved city copped it. Mansa even had a skirmisher lurking around. Couldve killed the barbarians for me, but no, he had to sit around and watch my city. MY THIRD CITY go up in flames. Only two cities left.
The Recovery
After Id calmed down, I poprushed another settler to found Hastings by the copper/clams before Mansa grabbed that site too. And I realized that, me now being completely boxed in with only three cities, there was no choice but to destroy Mansa Musa. Skirmishers or no skirmishers. So I beelined construction, and declared in 225BC with around 6 catapults and a couple of axes/spears to defend them. Id never have done that if I hadnt been forced into it, what with Mansa being a good trading partner and Mansa having skirmishers. (Did I mention by the way that Mansa has skirmishers? +50% city defence! I mean who needs longbows?). But it seems that by forcing me into that war, the barbs did me a favour. You see, it was easy. Before the weight of my catapults, Mansa just seemed to curl up and well die, really. In what seemed no time at all I had six cities. Though I did rather regret not razing Gao, so I could refound where my razed third city was, as that wouldve made an amazing production location, especially now I knew it had iron. I left a Mansa a couple of weak cities to the south and made peace.
The Science
Since I didnt have stone or marble, I didnt bother with any fancy wonder tactics, I just cottaged as much as I could and with the science from that plus the proceeds from looting various Malinese cities, science seemed to be going well. I realized from the lack of AI contacts that me, Mansa, and Asoka were likely to be the only guys Id meet before caravels, and with Mansa weakened I wasnt going to get many trades from Asoka. So I decided to beeline for optics, ignoring my usual strategy of heading for civil service/literature.
And thats where I was in 500AD. 6 turns from optics very pleased with that because I cant remember ever getting optics before about 900AD before. Slight downer that I hadnt made any use of the philosophical trait no specialists at all so far, thanks to the lack of wonders or of any city sites with enough food for specialists (Id be interested to know how other people coped with that problem btw). But that just means when I do start using specialists, Ill get a lot of great people very quickly.
So far it looks like easy sailing to an early spacerace
Heres where I was at 500AD. From the start I was intending to go for my usual spacerace. Maybe this time Ill beat conquistador63
The Start
I moved the warrior SW to reveal the cow and sent the settler 2S to the plains hill, initially thinking of settling there to get the extra hammer. When I got there and saw nothing but desert beyond, I re-thought. Next turn the warrior discovered the fish. Oooh, quandary. I regard fish as one of the best resources to have in your capital, but how to get it without losing other good tiles? I seriously thought about settling on top of the cow to get the fish and floodplains, but in the end I plumped for the woodland SW of the cow, losing the fish, to keep the rice. I very quickly came to regret not settling on the cow when it became apparent Id have to give the rice to my second city anyway: York went by the northern gold to umm, youll never guess yes thats right, to get the gold, but it thereafter gave me continual problems with lack of food.
Tough map this btw. If you moved the settler West, youd get the gold and have the option to pick up the fish later; if you didnt (and Im guessing most people wont have), you end up with a lot of trouble trying to get either resource. And overall not a lot of food or happy resources around.
The Disaster
Third city went down by the jungle-river. You can see it on the map. Yep thats the one, those city ruins just NW of Gao. The city was a city for about two turns before becoming city ruins, courtesy of some thoughtful barbarians.
It got worse.
My other warrior, returning from exploring the incense just too late to save the city spotted Mansas settler, about to become Gao almost the instant that my beloved city copped it. Mansa even had a skirmisher lurking around. Couldve killed the barbarians for me, but no, he had to sit around and watch my city. MY THIRD CITY go up in flames. Only two cities left.
The Recovery
After Id calmed down, I poprushed another settler to found Hastings by the copper/clams before Mansa grabbed that site too. And I realized that, me now being completely boxed in with only three cities, there was no choice but to destroy Mansa Musa. Skirmishers or no skirmishers. So I beelined construction, and declared in 225BC with around 6 catapults and a couple of axes/spears to defend them. Id never have done that if I hadnt been forced into it, what with Mansa being a good trading partner and Mansa having skirmishers. (Did I mention by the way that Mansa has skirmishers? +50% city defence! I mean who needs longbows?). But it seems that by forcing me into that war, the barbs did me a favour. You see, it was easy. Before the weight of my catapults, Mansa just seemed to curl up and well die, really. In what seemed no time at all I had six cities. Though I did rather regret not razing Gao, so I could refound where my razed third city was, as that wouldve made an amazing production location, especially now I knew it had iron. I left a Mansa a couple of weak cities to the south and made peace.
The Science
Since I didnt have stone or marble, I didnt bother with any fancy wonder tactics, I just cottaged as much as I could and with the science from that plus the proceeds from looting various Malinese cities, science seemed to be going well. I realized from the lack of AI contacts that me, Mansa, and Asoka were likely to be the only guys Id meet before caravels, and with Mansa weakened I wasnt going to get many trades from Asoka. So I decided to beeline for optics, ignoring my usual strategy of heading for civil service/literature.
And thats where I was in 500AD. 6 turns from optics very pleased with that because I cant remember ever getting optics before about 900AD before. Slight downer that I hadnt made any use of the philosophical trait no specialists at all so far, thanks to the lack of wonders or of any city sites with enough food for specialists (Id be interested to know how other people coped with that problem btw). But that just means when I do start using specialists, Ill get a lot of great people very quickly.
So far it looks like easy sailing to an early spacerace
Conquistador 63
Deity
Is that a challenge or what?
Now seriously, my goal when I started this game was the much coveted fastest diplo award.
But at 500AD I believe there is still room for a change of plans...
Initial moves
I moved warrior SE, found cows and settled 1SE next turn on the river mouth as planned and stated on the pre-game discussion thread. Initial builds in London were worker/warrior (2x)/settler/explorer WB.
What went well...
Tech wise it was Agri/AH/Wheel/Pottery/Wri/Alpha (t56). Couldn't pass up the trading opportunity offered by having Mansa and to a lesser extent, Asoka. From then on , the Oracle techs for the CS sling(t78, 925BC), a bit late as I chose to build it in my 3rd city.
Still according to my pre-game plans, I went for the GLh next in London, which was done t94. To leverage it, after CS, I beelined Optics (25AD)/Astro (475AD - it took me whopping 17 turns as I got no GS by then
). I hope it's not too spoilerish to tell that by the cut-date I had met everyone else.What could have gone better
By 500AD I had only 5 cities! In the early exploration phase I even dotmapped some 6 additional city sites but forgot to tell Mansa, so he took a couple of those for himself!
And with him as my Confu buddy and tech trading partner, I chose to let him keep them. But I can't promise the same to Asoka about his lovely jungle coastal cities...Addressing the lack of cities issue
From the autolog...
Spoiler :
Last but not least: AlanH, good job on the map and settings - normal speed and high seas - gotta love it!
azzaman333
meh
Not only would moving the settler west give more options, but it would make life more difficult for Mansa, who REXd much faster than I expected in my game. I was thinking he'd try and build Stonehenge/Oracle, or try and found a religion, but he just kept expanding and stealing all the land.
Gosha190
King
AlanH gave us complicated map. I mean choosing strategy. The best potential friend is our neighbor - MM! So he looks like first victim. Very pity! Evil AlanH!
This time I am going to SR.
Settled NW. Second city settled near MM - NW to the cow. 3 and 4 cities settled like Gao and Hastings at DS picture. 5-th city covered deer and iron.
CS form oracle. 1st GS - academy, 2,3,4 attached to my capital.
Research after CS: Literature, currency, MC, Machinery, compas, optic...
It looks like a very strange research path to my mind. But I can not find a best decision.
There is only 2 libraries before 1AD!!! 5 cities and very slow research rate.
Evil AlanH!This time I am going to SR.
Settled NW. Second city settled near MM - NW to the cow. 3 and 4 cities settled like Gao and Hastings at DS picture. 5-th city covered deer and iron.
CS form oracle. 1st GS - academy, 2,3,4 attached to my capital.
Research after CS: Literature, currency, MC, Machinery, compas, optic...
It looks like a very strange research path to my mind. But I can not find a best decision.
There is only 2 libraries before 1AD!!! 5 cities and very slow research rate.
Darn MM... took all the good land. I started off by building the Oracle, getting Metal Casting, and building up my economy with all the Gold. Then I noticed that MM took the land south of the mountains. In the end it started to seem like a "culture off" between myself and MM. Trying to take all the good resources (a.k.a. Iron) from my plan of keeping him economically/militarily crippled. I guess the next thing to do is to beat his head to the ground. Pity, he was a good tech trading partner.
At 500AD I feel like I've made some smarter choices than I sometimes make:
The plan was to go for domination. I settled on the rice and promptly stole a worker from Mansa Cottaged the fp's and just looked to expand and claim resources. I didn't think Alphabet would do much good on Noble, so I went for IW instead. Found some iron, hooked it by turn 61 and was ready to take out those skirmishers. I don't know exactly when I learned it, but I took construction early also so that we'd claimed Timbuktu (Stonehenge) and Kumbah Saleh with help from cats in time for the second peace at 600BC.
Ainu was a barb town. Popped a GS for London's Academy, built the Great Library in York (didn't even try for the Oracle), used 3 settlers to this point. Military was quickly chopped, hand-built, some whips too. Having a lot of cities early meant an overwhelming army was possible... at noble.
As of 500AD I'm mostly trying to keep research up- money is starting to be a problem. Also, I should not have traded for Meditation- it means the GS wants to study Philosophy instead of Astronomy. So I'm studying Philosophy myself. This is a big enough blunder that I'm going for diplo instead. If Asoka is destroyed before he meets anyone, or even if not, I can grow a huge population and force the vote.
The plan was to go for domination. I settled on the rice and promptly stole a worker from Mansa
Cottaged the fp's and just looked to expand and claim resources. I didn't think Alphabet would do much good on Noble, so I went for IW instead. Found some iron, hooked it by turn 61 and was ready to take out those skirmishers. I don't know exactly when I learned it, but I took construction early also so that we'd claimed Timbuktu (Stonehenge) and Kumbah Saleh with help from cats in time for the second peace at 600BC.Ainu was a barb town. Popped a GS for London's Academy, built the Great Library in York (didn't even try for the Oracle), used 3 settlers to this point. Military was quickly chopped, hand-built, some whips too. Having a lot of cities early meant an overwhelming army was possible... at noble.
As of 500AD I'm mostly trying to keep research up- money is starting to be a problem. Also, I should not have traded for Meditation- it means the GS wants to study Philosophy instead of Astronomy. So I'm studying Philosophy myself. This is a big enough blunder that I'm going for diplo instead. If Asoka is destroyed before he meets anyone, or even if not, I can grow a huge population and force the vote.
azzaman333
meh
Hmm! I thought I set this one at Monarch level?
I'm fairly confident it was at Monarch, I've never seen an AI expand like Mansa did on Noble.
How about that! I wasn't grousing about Noble level, I just didn't want to take too much credit for pushing around the AI like this at a low level. The pre-game says it's Monarch now that I've checked... where did I get the idea it was Noble?
This means my secret this time is unintentional overconfidence
This means my secret this time is unintentional overconfidence
Harbourboy
Deity
I was still alive at 500AD, which was pretty cool.
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