Lonely Hearts Club, BtS Edition, Chapter XLVI: Churchill

Welcome to the 46th edition of the Lonely Hearts Club for BTS. In the Lonely Hearts Club we explore strategies to cope with one of the most dreaded situations in Civ IV ( possibly the main reason for reloads after the military collapse one ): starting in isolation....

For the 46th game in BTS the chosen leader was Churchill of the English :

Churchill is probably the least loved of the English leaders, because he is the one that isn't Fin and he's the only one that is Pro .Either way, I think that it is valuable leader and that most of the times, being Cha can be a effective counterweight of not having a more shiny trait to boost, either in peace or war. Churchill also has the best draftable rifles in the game ( except if you want to compare with toku ones and even then it is not a easy pick ), making it a superb candidate to rifle warfare, that is almost always the first real opening in war in a isolated start

His UU

The redcoat is a rifleman that has a aditional bonus vs gunpowder units. It is certain that this UU already had better days in vanilla ( yeah, 18 str cossacks and vanilla redcoats are OP, but the Romans can still have "macemen" with IW ). Unless you get Rifling when your foes have less than muskets or better than rifles, this UU will have a definite advantage compared wtih the regular riflemen and it comes right in time for a galleon based invasion, combined with drafting ( it is the best unit you can draft at the 1 pop/unit ratio ). Probably we'll see a lot of Dom based wins

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His UB

The Stock exchange is a Bank that has a 65% revenue rate instead of the normal 50%. I'm not personally a great fan of banks ( they aren't definitely in my "must build in most cities" list: expensive, in the guilds branch and does not give happy or health like grocers or markets ), but they have definitely their uses and a stock exchange in a shrined city, a GM farm ( GM in here does not stand for genetically modified ) or in a corp headquarter definitely makes a diference.... it is 65 coins instead of 50 for every 100 you feed the bank

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The start (Thanks to DanF for the solution of the unit change of place .... The warrior/scout should appear always in the same place from now on, really ):

The RNG wasn't that good this time and we can only see 10 tiles in the opening screen.... and they do not look that good. Cow and oasis , 2 wines, some green, but not too much..... This does not look like a easy start. We'll see....

Regarding the saves ( if you're using DanF change to the WB files load, skip this ): given some complaints about the efects of the AI starting without archery in high levels ( giving a unfair advantage to AI that have early UU and/or have early warmongering tendencies ), I decided to make 3 WB saves ( all in the same zip file ). The WB saves are equal except for the fact that one of them ( labeled Monarch ) has all of the AI with archery as starting tech ( corresponding to a game started in Monarch ), one ( labeled Immortal ) has all of the AI with archery,hunting and agriculture as starting tech ( corresponding to a game started in Immortal ) while the last is the corresponding to a game starting in Noble ( labeled Noble ). All WB saves are playable in all levels, but ( for a example ) if you use the Monarch one the AI will start with archery ( and archers ) in any level. This has only a slight effect in the human directly ( mainly via the garrisons of barb cities ), but has a huge effect on the AI gaming in the outer lands ( avoiding scenarios like Pacal, Shaka or Sitting Bull to take all the barb cities and becoming moguls ). I strongly recommend the usage of the Monarch save if you want to play in Monarch+ and the Immortal at Immortal/Deity.... All the speeds are working well ( no more games ending in 1900 ) The saves are zipped... you only have to unzip this to the worldbuilder saves or for the PublicMaps folder ( either one will do ) and load it from the scenarios.

Any problem PM me...


P.S WB saves are crosscompatible between 3.13 and 3.17 if they don't have No Espionage ticked. No problem with the patches here And as WB saves are no more than text files and Vanilla and Warlords WB are almost equal, you can play this if you exchange the non-Vanilla ( or non-warlords ) stuff ( in here it will be only leaders and civs eventually )

Again a small request ( not mandatory ) :

We ask the participants to do, if possible, a write-up with the victory save and a description of your game ( strategies, techs researched, wars,...). All the info should be in spoiler tags ( to not disturb other people's games ). If you want ( we would like to ) post reports at this moments of the game:

Checkpoint 1 - when we have explored the island and are aware of what resources it has. Its not so important when this is, but this is a time to discuss city sites etc. Don't look into a checkpoint 1 spoiler until you have reached this point yourself.

Checkpoint 2 - first contact - when we have met all the other AIs. At this point we can discuss our strategy to get to this point and our plans for dealing with them.

Checkpoint 3 - when we are committed to a victory condition (or at least think we are).

Checkpoint 4 - Victory (or defeat).


The last words are to wish good luck to all . And let the games begin!



P.S We don't have any kind of problem with defeats and reruns. Just play and enjoy

I'm back from my friend's bachelor party! Signing in. Start isn't all bad. We can 1E for more hammers/base commerce in the city, after moving the warrior to make sure we're not losing food in the process.

Hmm good point, but I'm thinking of 1 NE, DEFINITELY move the warrior to the NE, to check out what your missing/ Losing. The base commerce loss would only be 1 gold, big early on, but +2 with a winery would make up for that.

Both are levy based, looks like a great start. Lots of hammers, grassland for farming, hills to mine.

Only real problem I can see is too many hills..

Definitely Iron works city in making, but not wall Street.

I'm still going with last game, been struck down by FLU and general apathy for civ playing, tried a cottage/Hereditary rule approach, not sure if I've done it right. 1452 and only 1 has Astronomy, Liberalism hasn't gone, and I'm very much in game...

I could use some pointers, mainly on Hammers and farms needed.


Initial thoughts on start
Initial check point 1
Initial check point 2
Check point 1 redux
Check point 2 redux
Check point 2 Con't re-dux
Check point 4

Odyssey of the English Part 1​

After doing the maths, I come to the conclusion that settling on the Plains hill is better overall in the long run as its +1 greater when all added together, with hammers, foods and commerce having equal value.




Initial thoughts on start
Initial check point 1
Initial check point 2
Check point 1 redux
Check point 2 redux
Check point 2 Con't re-dux
Check point 4

Having dot mapped out our island home for potential city sites, I need to now build the GLH and my 2nd city, along with some workers and defenders.




Initial thoughts on start
Initial check point 1
Initial check point 2
Check point 1 redux
Check point 2 redux
Check point 2 Con't re-dux
Check point 4

Ipex - You are doing nothing wrong

Immortal/Normal/No gayvents

"lol" UN win early 1900's, probably about 30-40 turns before an AI cleared another VC.



Interestingly, I built exactly 0 wonders at all, and had no religion till it spread to me .

Immortal Normal - Checkpoint 1 mostly
450BC Strategic Resources are shown.

Immortal epic 1750bc. Checkpoint1.

Check point 2/3 - 1505AD - Imm/Normal

Check Point deux - 1290AD

Checkpoint 4 - Imm/Normal - 1700

OK. I reloaded again from Check point 1, before I didn't research Currency and I had 15 workers running about, probably too many for that island mass, and that early. Basically I'll do the same wonder routine, but settle cities differently. I'm trying to learn the cottage game, that so many people seem to be in love with {Urrgghh} I'll try specialist till emancipation then cottages approach.



Moving on to Proper check point 2, I fill out rest of Island.


Initial thoughts on start
Initial check point 1
Initial check point 2
Check point 1 redux
Check point 2 redux
Check point 2 Con't re-dux
Check point 4

monarch/epic/670 AD

Moving on FINALLY I move onto to check point 2.



Initial thoughts on start
Initial check point 1
Initial check point 2
Check point 1 redux
Check point 2 redux
Check point 2 Con't re-dux
Check point 4

I resign. As well, 2 AI's are in WHEOOHRN mode, and both don't have ASTRONOMY.

Odyssey of the English Check point 2 con't Redux​

I may have been a bit rash, or a lot, but I decided to continue from the 1000 AD rest point.




Initial thoughts on start
Initial check point 1
Initial check point 2
Check point 1 redux
Check point 2 redux
Check point 2 Con't re-dux
Check point 4

Odyssey of the English Check point 3​

I continue onto where I may decide a check point 3





Initial thoughts on start
Initial check point 1
Initial check point 2
Check point 1 redux
Check point 2 redux
Check point 4

Notes on game:

@ IPEX