BOTM 20 First Spoiler - 1 AD

BOTM 20 First Spoiler

Reading Requirements

Stop! If you are participating in BOTM 20, then you MUST NOT read this thread unless EITHER

• You have reached at least 1 AD in your game, OR
• You have submitted your entry

Posting Restrictions

Note the early cutoff - 1 AD, not 500 AD.

• Please do not discuss anything that happened after 1 AD,
• Please do not divulge your final result if that happened after 1 AD.
• Please do not discuss the location of resources that may not show up before 1 AD (Iron is alright to discuss).

Where did you settle and why?
Did you get any use for your fast UU?
How did you get along with your neighbors?

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

Maybe I was a little ambitious taking on an Emperor level game! It wasn't helped by the fact I lost my first 3 scouts to animals! I was hoping I would be able to out run them or at least fight them off on the hills - but it wasn't to be! I lacked commerce so was near the bottom of the tech pile for most of the BCs, at 950BC (the nearest save I have to 1AD) I have 6 cities with a total population of 10 My research is set to 0% and I am getting -1gpt (yes MINUS 1!!!). I am currently producing Impi's to try and take some land from Alex... And it took me a while to figure out the Ikhanda acts as a minor courthouse! I think I need some practice!

Sorry for wasting your time if you read this!!! Although I'm having a lot of fun playing! And hopefully my pathetic attempt will make someone smile!!

AS

No way I'm ready for an Emperor level game, so I downloaded the Adventurer class game to play at Monarch. (Thanks for making that the Adventurer option!)

I settled Ulundi 2N of starting position. By 1 AD, I've settled two more of my own cities and captured two barb cities. And I've completed my first war (375 BC - 125 BC), against Alexander, from whom I've taken Argos and Knossos, plus Masonry as the price of a peace treaty.

No doubt, others are doing far better, playing at Emperor. But so far, so good.

At this point in the game, I'm feeling pretty good. 7 cities. Middle of the pack score. Decent research and trades. A large-enough army. I've played the game to be nice-nice to everyone and carry a big stick. The AI can put together a mighty stack at this level.

Nothing interesting happens until later.

Challenger save (immortal with occassional sloppiness).

I decided to settle 2n for the extra hammer in the city centre and (hopefully) more river tiles. Scout went SE to check the original BFC. However, moving the settler and thus finding the nearby gold had me change my mind – I settled NW+N instead. Unfortunately this lost plenty of river and 2 flood plains. I didn’t know at the time so I haven’t thought much about which spot is better, but the gold at least enabled early alphabet instead of researching everything myself. Settling where I did probably influenced my choice of VC a lot as well -- but more on that later.

AH -> mining -> writing -> alphabet -> currency (IIRC).

I declared war and stole a worker from Sitting Bull ~2200 BC. Alphabet in around 2000 BC -> bribe Alexander into war against SB for writing and trade for all that I need.
No copper within my borders, but city #2 was to get it shortly. This city gets the honour of producing my first GS as well (academy).



Wasn’t planning to rush anyone initially, but after scouting Charlemagne and finding that he didn’t have any copper I prepared a late impi war. I declared just before he’s about to hook up iron (825 BC). I bribe Alexander into the war immediately (for Alphabet) as he’s made peace with SB.



I commit one of many sloppy actions/blunders and forget to check whether he had any units within/nearby my borders! I fail to notice a chariot and end up losing Nobamba (and its library) temporarily – horrible blunder!

I successfully capture Aachen, a tundra city and Vienna and accept a peace treaty for masonry and meditation around turn 94. I’m already planning a second wave after the peace treaty expires.

At some point in the BCs I decide to convert to Judaism to bring Ramesses up to friendly. I can’t remember exactly when, but after looking at my screens it was later than it should have been. I had Judaism for centuries before converting.

1 AD: I’m still at war with Charlemagne having taken 2 OK cities and 1 crappy in the second war. I discovered civil service 50 BC but have forgotten to revolt so far. Now’s the time to consolidate after the war – grow cities and make good friends. I'm making about 200 bpt at 1 AD without CS (but -100 or so gold). For reference my capital has ~35-40 commerce -- so CS would add a lot to that. I have ~400 gold stored. I have +/- 11 cities, but some of them are marginal. Leading the scoreboard by about 150 points IIRC.

That’s all I can remember right off the bat. I’d need to look at the saves to go into more detail.

Playing as Shaka of the Zulu’s for BOTM 20 – Emperor difficulty save

Well - the wandering Zulu tribe journeyed 2 North, 1 West above the pig on the coast for our capital. I researched Animal Husbandry first to work the Pig and Sheep, then Mining and Bronze to find my resource for the U.U. I settled the 2nd city left of the Copper and started building my army of 7 Impi’s.

I bee-lined my research next for Alphabet and after reaching that, traded for several techs while still peaceful. Charlemagne completed the Oracle in 1320 b.c. and I assembled my army and took it and his capital from him and he gave me three techs for peace. After 10 turns, true to Zulu aggressive behaviour, I again attacked and took a couple more cities and for peace he handed over two more techs, Monarch and Mathematics. A very handy settlement offer, taking me to the lead - tech wise, which I couldn’t have achieved with my poor financial and research ability.

These 7 cities now were draining my economy so early in the game and now I headed for Code of Laws (for Courthouses) to put an end to the corruption in my lands. If I hadn’t built Ikhands’s I would have been even worse off without the 20% reduction in maintenance. I built the Great Library to overcome my nations shortcomings in self research by 1 A.D., and spent my time and efforts or many centuries building libraries, courthouses and Ikhanda’s in all my cities. To spam my units I built Heroic Epic and will start National Epic to double my GP’s, to be fully kitted out with a solid base for my next major offense.... which will still be quite some time off as I recover.

In preparation, I’ve made 10 Swordsman, 8 Axeman, 7 Impi, 4 Archers and 2 Chariots, and have 1 Great General Swordsman to lead the next offense.... more to come.

I just made the jump to Emperor, so I gave it a shot on the 'regular' level.

After establsihing a good base of cities, I decided to go for the obvious first target - Charlemagne. Charlemagne was Buddhist, Alex was Jewish, and there was an additional Hindu bloc to the north. I had one city get Judaism, so I converted. However, while I was assembling my invasion stack, Charlemagne spread Buddhism to every single one of my cities. Judaism just sat in the one. I needed the happy cap bump. So . . . I changed targets. I switched to Buddhism, moved my stack from west to east, and started warring.

To start I need a high scoring game. I've been fiddling around with cultural victories too much lately

Goal: Quick start. Worker Steal. Hook up Copper. Harrass two nearest agressive AI's with Impis. Attack capitals with axes, chariots, impis. Recover economy. Bee-line construction. Attack!! Then re-assess the situatuion. Decide on VC (although I like the idea of conquest with no raze option)

3960BC: Settled 2N - yes there is flood plains!! I've got a nice capital!

The story begins with a young boy named Titikaka. The divine leader of the Zulu nation that has just formed, Shaka the divine one, commanded Titikaka, his lone scout the venture into the unknown areas around Ulundi to see what exists beyond our borders... riches?? other tribes?? Titikaka first stumbles upon a village of weak women and children who provide the boy with a map of the area to help him in his quest. Revealed in this map is another small tribal village to the west, and what looks like the beginning of a city named Aachen... hmm..

The scout works his way quickly to the other tribal village; he tells them that the other villagers from the east sent him, and they present Titikaka with 54 gold pieces. Shaka will surely be pleased. The scout works his way to a leader of Aachen whom is named Charlamagne. He meets this 'charlamagne' fellow and finds that he is polite, and has archers in strategic protective positions defending his city. He must report this to his leader Shaka when he returns.

Upon returning to Ulundi the young boy Titikaka finds that his divine leader Shaka has ordered some workers to quickly build pastures on a nearby hillside with sheep, and has sent them to also build another pasture to the southwest to protect some pigs. This will surely provide the city with more than enough food to grow into a major city. Titikaka reports to leader Shaka about his journey and has mentioned his meeting with this 'Charlamagne' leader. Shaka is quite jealous of the lush resources over there and confides in the boy that he has a plan to build a vast army of specialist warriors who are as quick as the water that flows through the city and as stealth as the night. Shaka plans to bring an army of these to the east to confront Charlamagne (as yet he seems to be the only other civilisation in this world. And Shaka has plans to conquer it.

Shortly after Titikaka's meeting with Shaka the boys hurries off to the east to see what is out there. He finds another group of friendly villages who also give him gold in return for Shaka's protection. Shaka will again be pleased. The boy also stumbles upon another civilisation named Greece, with a leader Alexander. Titikaka has read in his mythic scrolls about such a vicious warrior and his relentless backstabbing attacks on friendly neighbors. Titikaka quickly runs back to shaka to warn him.

Upon his return Titikaka is slaughtered by a raging lion in the woods.... the boy departs this world of mortals and fades into the unknown. It is in this transition that Titikaka has a vision. In this vision he tells warns Shaka of the evil plans of his neighbors and tells the divine leader to never stop pillaging their lands and taking their cities until they are dead from this earth. In this divine meeting with Shaka, Titikaka learns that Shaka has already established another city to the west named Umbfbkfndlbknf;b... in 2720BC. He has also dispatched another settler to the southwest to create a mining village at some newly discovered copper.

Shaka listens to the boys metaphysical experience and sends a few Impis to the west to capture Charlamagnes workers, and he also sends a few to the East to do the same to Alexander's workers. After weakening their lands he sends in troops to conquer what is rightfully his

675BC: capture Athens
250BC: capture Aachen which had 5 2city garrison archers!
125BC: Shaka creates his greatest creation thus far... a burial chamber in honor of the young scout Titikaka, he calls these triangular shaped tombs THE GREAT PYRAMIDS!!

The year is 25AD. Shaka has just finished construction of another temple to devote to this boy Titkaka known as the Parthenon, which will acts as a vessel of knowledge producing many scientists to help with this pursuit of space. Shaka has a vision with the little boy and tells his of the state of his vast lands...

7 Cities
34 Pop
3rd in score
3 turns from Great Library
3 turns from construction

Biggest disappointment this far (missed the Oracle in 1040BC by 5 turns)... that will hurt because my city maintenance is becoming a burden even with the super barracks. I need to research CoL to built some courthouses.

The victory condition I am thinking right now is space or conquest... (although conquest with no raze isnt nearly as challenging with vassal states... maybe space?? until then other lands must be conquered... including this celtic warrior Boudica

Never won above Prince level, so playing the Adventurer save.

Based on reading pre-game discussion thread, decided to settle 2N on plains hill. Moved the Scout up there first, because with my luck, if I'd just moved the Settler to the hill, there would have been a big bad barbarian bear just on the other side waiting for a nice meal to wander by. But, no pesky barb animals to be seen, so settle on the plains hill on turn 2/3960 BC. Build Worker while researching Animal Husbandry.

Scout checks out the neighborhood, gets gold from two Goody Huts.

Worker built; building Ikhanda while researching Mining/Bronze Working. Adopt Slavery Civic when completed.

Build two Warriors & Settler while researching Wheel/Pottery (cheap Granaries and Cottages for those riverside flood plains).

2440 BC - 2nd city founded 3SW & 1W of Capitol, on riverside plains hill next to Copper.

2120 BC - 3rd city founded 2NE & 2N of Capitol, next to Corn and near Gems. Got there before Alexander! Discovered Mysticism.

1680 BC - 4th city founded 5S & 1E of Capitol, on coast next to Spices and near Marble.

Temporary hold on new cities, as research down to 60%

Researched Masonry/Polytheism/Priesthood.

Started building The Oracle in 2nd City while researching Writing.

Alexander completed The Great Wall before I did used cash windfall to upgrade some Warriors to Axemen

Discover Writing. Chop/Whip The Oracle in 2nd City. Take Code of Laws as free tech. Confucianism founded in 3rd City in 800 BC. This is a nice break! As a Holy City with two potential Gem Minds in the Fat Cross, it will make a nice Wealth City once I build the Confucianism Shrine there. Put mines on the two nearby Grassland Hills with Cottages on all the Grassland tiles. The Cornfield will let me run some Merchant Specialists!!

Discover Monotheism and Iron Working.

375/350 BC - Alexander gets a Great Spy (from building The Great Wall?), but uses it to start a Golden Age. At least he didn't use it to build up a big espionage advantage over me I would have settled the Great Spy in my Capitol where I was trying to build The Great Wall, and started building up those espionage points.

275 BC - Capture Barbarian City 6E of Capitol. It is sitting between Cows and Iron

175/150 BC - discover Monarchy/adopt Hereditary Rule and Organized Religion. Alexander converts to Confucianism

125 BC - trade Monarchy to Alexander for Archery and Fishing.

50 BC - Found 5th City 4W & 1N of Capitol, on riverside desert hill between Gold and Iron.

25 BC - Trade Code of Laws to Sitting Bull for Alphabet/Meditation/Sailing.

My Zulu Empire at 1 BC...

Five cities founded and one Barbarian City captured = 6 total cities.
Currently researching Theology, might found Christianity.

The Good: I'm in 3rd Place with a score of 506.
The Bad: There is still one AI Civ that I haven't encountered.
The Ugly: I'm 6th in Soldiers and 5th in Land Area

I need to build up my military! It's 1 BC and I haven't fought any wars yet, I'm wasting that Aggressive Trait Better do it quick before somebody decides I'm a weak target. Charlemagne is annoyed with me (he's the Buddhism founder) and he's right next door and in 1st place. Alexander is annoyed with Charlemagne; maybe a joint ops Holy War with Alexander against Charlemagne

There is another Barbarian City to the East of the one I just captured, need to grab that one before Alex or Sitting Bull does. Maybe it has Horses????

Will research Feudalism after I am finished with Theology, and adopt Theocracy and Vassalage Civics to build up those military promotions. After that, I'll probably go with Mathematics, Civil Service and Machinery to continue that military build-up.

BREAKING NEWS: Here is a picture of my Zulu Empire at 1 BC that was taken by a UFO making a low pass over the planet

Save: Contender
Goal: Space Race Victory

Given the start, I was intending a peaceful REX, while Oracling CS and then beelining Education. After a few quick tests in which the Oracle went too early for my liking, I decided to go for fast Alphabet and self-tech to CS. Settled NNW for the gold. I lost my initial scout to consecutive panther attacks on something like t8, which really cramped my style. Second city went 1N of wheat for the other gold. Early tech order: AH / Mini / Writ / Alph / Math / COL / Curr. In the late 1000's BC, I had 4 cities and was teching Currency, when I realized that nobody was building the Oracle. I took a sidebar to PH, and rushed Oracle in 3t with some whip overflow and a few chops, to score CS in 900 BC.

Stats in 1000 BC: 4 cities (Pop 4,5,2,1 = 12), 5 workers, 49bpt, 10t from Currency

My plan was to build good relations with Charlie (my confu brother), while starting a military build-up towards an expansion east (Alex and a nice barb city), and teching towards Education with a few sidebars. It was going swimmingly until I attacked Alex, only to have Charlie (+8 or 9 in relations) dow me 1t into the Greek war and show up with a stack of swords. This forced me to divert a lot of my troops west in defence. I was planning to grab 4 cities from Alex and 1 from barbs by 1AD, but ended up with only Argos and Athens before having to get peace with both.

Stats @ 1AD: 7 cities (Pop 7,7,5,6,3,3,3 = 34), 9 workers, 147bpt (w/ -40gpt), 1t to Machinery.

I didn't really wanna tech Mach at this point, but I made a decision to go for maces and try to take Charlie down a notch. I already have a very decent standing army of swords, axes and impis, and a few cats. The plan now is to grab 3-4 of his best cities, and then go after Alex again for a few. If I can get this done, and get Educ (bulb) by 500-ish AD, I'll be a short building spell away from full-on tech mode. In short, I'm well behind where I planned to be at this point, but ahead of the AI's in tech by quite a bit and easily leading in score. See how it goes...

Hi guys,

had a shot at this, immortal save

I moved my scout north and spotted gold so settled 2n1w as most I guess
The roster of AIs is quite scary, and the surrounding land quite nice, so I decided to give a miss to the Oracle for more REXing and infra/troops.
Early tech path went AH -> mining -> BW -> TW -> mysticism.
Then pot -> writing -> aesthetics -> litterature -> COL path -> starting CS.

Settling order was: fps/gold in the west -> copper/wheat/deer -> corn/gems (gems in first ring to not get them culture stolen by Alex).

Built the great library in ulundi for GS generation, NE will be up next turn Academy in gems city.
I am building Paya S. for cash, will stop it next turn. Did the same for Zeus. I have 8 cities and room for two more... then I will start the campaign (what campaign? well, we are Shaka, so we must pleased Zulu gods). I am still undecided about next moves, need to figure out what unit combo I'll use

Some pics:


Cheers,
Raskolnikov

Contender save, goal fast space.

Niklas said:

Where did you settle and why?

Click to expand...

After scout moved south, I settled in place and regretted losing the gold.

Niklas said:

Did you get any use for your fast UU?

Click to expand...

The impis really helped me to get some room for expansion. I built a dozen in the BC's, enough to get me 3 cities from the Greeks and another 3 from the barbs. With a couple original cities plus the capital, I had 9 cities at 0AD.

Niklas said:

How did you get along with your neighbors?

Click to expand...

Well, Alex didn't like me much but now he's gone. Buddhist Boudica also doesn't like me for being a part of the Jewish world, but OTOH everyone else goes to the same synagogue as Shaka, so too bad for her...but that is for the final spoiler.

Due to a somewhat aggressive expansion, at that point I wasn't doing so well in tech (currently researching CS by hand, Oracle was built by Ramesses in 1200BC), but I had just chopped the Mids helped by Athens' stone, so things might change for the better in the near future.

Contender Save

I'm writing this log as I play, so I guess it gives a good indication of my thought (or lack of thought) process during the game.

*** Session 1 = 4000 BC -> 3120 BC ***

I started by sending the scout SE where he discovered the Marble. It didn't change my choice about moving the settler, so I moved the settler 1N onto the pigs, revealing the gold. I had planned on settling on the plains hill but the gold made me change my mind - instead choosing to settle 1N of the pigs to include the gold in the city's BFC. It's also on the coast, which may or may not be useful, but misses out on the floodplains.

On turn 1 I had a look at the demographics screen to see if I could figure anything out. The answer is very little. One or more charistmatic leaders... no Mansa Musa or Hammurabi... at least 1 financial leader. The average power of the rivals does tell me that there is one starting with the Wheel, one starting with Mining, and the other 4 have neither Wheel nor Mining. (average power of 18000+16000+14000+14000+14000/6 = 15000). Certainly not enough info to help create a test game with remotely the right players.

A few turns later I check the demographics screen again - no rival has increased their land area = no creative leaders. Still not much info at all, I'll have to meet my rivals the old fashioned way.

I had initially planned to tech AH first to pasture the pigs, but my plan now is Mining -> BW to mine the gold and quickly chop out a second worker + settler and hopefully settle near some copper for Impi spam.

Copper is found close by, and it seems my closest neighbours are Sitting Bull and Charlegmagne - both protective which makes them a little more difficult to rush. Sitting Bull's UU will be a big problem for my Impi's so I'm considering annoying Charlemagne for a few workers and hopefully his capital (he founded Buddhism).

The Oracle is also part of my plan - but I'm unsure if I should target Civil Service (possible with the gold fueling my research) or something easier like CoL or MC. My test game shows that CS is possible - so I'm going to go for it!

*** Session 2 3120 BC -> 2080 BC ***

I meet Boudica (Hindu founder) and Alexander, although I don't know where they are yet. I've found Charlemagne and Sitting Bull's borders so I have an idea of where they are at least.

After seeing all the empty land to my east, I've changed my mind about CS from the Oracle. CoL is safer, and I'd rather spam more settlers and workers.

At this point I've teched Mining -> BW -> AH -> Wheel -> Pottery -> Writing.

My second city is founded on the tundra hill 1S of the copper and a library is a priority for expanding the border and encompassing the marble. I'll also run scientists here for an early GS for an Academy in Ulundi.

I had revolted to Slavery just after producing the first settler, although I haven't used it at all yet since I have some nice tiles to work and cottages I want to grow.

My scout died to a panther at something like 7% odds

*** Session 3 = 2080 BC -> 1 AD ***

Ok, judging from the long turnset I kind of lost my way a little bit. The problem is basically the same as every new game I play - I get too addicted and just keep plowing through turns = not spending enough time to stop and think.

I saw a tasty barbarian city along the coast which had the corn and 2 gems in the BFC. I thought yeah, I'd like that, so whipped out a couple of Impi and sent them on their way. But oh no! Alex has taken the city and before my first Impi arrives there is an injured archer in there. So I make a split decision to declare on Alex and take it for myself (He was Sitting Bull's worst enemy who I figure I'd like to befriend). My impi takes the city, but having already spent my promotion on a (stupid in hindsight) city attack promo it can't hold the city from Alex's archer just sitting on the other side. I lose it next turn. I eventually take the city back within 4 or 5 turns but Alex won't take peace unless I give the city to him.

By this stage (1000 BC) I've teched Mysticism -> Masonry -> Meditation -> Priesthood -> Mathematics and I'm working on Currency. I miss out on the Oracle by two turns! (built in 1120 BC). I popped a GS in uMgung and built an Academy in Ulundi. Not until 500 BC did I trade for Alphabet (I can't remember who from) and I collected Fishing, Sailing, Polytheism, Monotheism, Monarchy, Iron Working and Archery. A revolution to Hered. Rule + Organised Religion was in there, although I'm not getting the production bonus from Org Rel because I haven't yet picked a state religion.

At 1000 BC I have only 3 cities - Ulundi (size 5), uMgung (5) by the copper, and Harrapan (1) by the gems/corn. Not that great with lots of space to my east still.

I meander my way through to 1 AD with a half baked plan that I still want to win by culture, but I haven't been expanding very aggressively. The war with Alex ended with no more losses to myself and me killing a few of his chariots. I eventually paid him 40g to end it.

Tech path has been Currency -> CoL (founded Confu) -> Civil Service. After CS I revolted to Bureau + Caste System. At this point I have 5 cities having founded Nobamba 2E of the incense and capturing another warrior defended barb city 1SW of the cows along the eastern coast. A settler is en route to found a city encompassing the 2 spices and the fish.

It has been a while since I played BTOM. As I builder, I seldom choose a warlike civ like the Zulus.

The starting location pretty much dictated my strategy. Get the Oracle sling shot, to grab a religion and get a shrine. Start a war early (by my standards) to take advantage of of the Impi one of the top UU IMHO.

I didn't want to take an chances on getting on missing the oracle, so I researched almost the bare minimum to get it. AH, wheel, mining, bronze working, mysticism, masonry, mediation, priest, writing.

It looked like I was going to have more pressure to the east from Charlemagne, and the Celtics. So I expanded that direction first. First city SE by copper, deer, wheat. Second city NE on dye to grap the hill gold. 3rd city due east to get desert gold and flood plains. Charlemagne settled close setting up a cultural border battle.

Finally I turned west. My fourth city grabbed the cow resource to west. After hooking up the bronze I built several axes and impi. I wanted to give them some combat experience so I went after a barbarian city to the far west conquered that city. I then went after a barb city on a hill (ugh) luckily Alexander had soften them up making the capture casualty free.

Meanwhile on the tech front. I built Oracle in 1360 BC . I then got Alphabet, I was 3rd and used it to fill in my missing techs and also pick up Iron works. I than went for Ascetics, Currency, and Literature. I completed the Parathon, and was good position to get the GL.

By 100 AD my Empire was good size with 7 cities and room for an good 8th city to NE and potential 9th city to get the crabs to the south. I was in 3 way battle for the lead, but behind Egypt tech wise and slightly trailing Charlemagne in military techs. My economy was decent shaped between the shrine, Ikhanda, and selling old techs I was generally able to run science at around 60-70%. Still I hadn't completed my first courthouse yet. Militarily Charlemagne had built an impressive army in a border city.

Where did you settle and why?

Click to expand...

On the spot. I moved my scout, saw the marble, and reasoned if I didn't settle there I probably wouldn't be able to get the marble into a decent early city. Was wrong about that, but oh well. Second city went 2W of the copper (had the settler ready to go the turn after BW and was a little fortunate in having sent a warrior down towards the wheat just ahead) and the third city on what turned out to be the iron, up by the floodplains and gold. After that I got a little bogged down building the Oracle (Metal Casting, which is still a monopoly, heh) and three libraries. Made a ton of little mistakes and suffered a little barb harassment, but doing OK -- now have 8 cities (1 was barbarian) and 32 population.

Did you get any use for your fast UU?

Click to expand...

Just some late scouting. Like one of the previous commenters, I had atrocious luck with early scouts. I popped a second scout on turn four from a hut, only to lose it two turns later to a panther that came out of nowhere; two turns after *that*, my original scout walked into a two-lion ambush. Oh well! So I didn't even know where the AIs were for a very long time. Then I decided to gamble on a better long-term position for my copper city, and it was ages before I had copper. So yeah, no fun with Impis.

How did you get along with your neighbors?

Click to expand...

So far I'm still at cautious with everybody, kept safe because everybody hates somebody who's not me. Alexander and Sitting Bull are at war with each other (with a little encouragement from me ...), and Boudica just recently finally got up the nerve to attack Churchill, who's at the head of the large Jewish bloc in the west.

I'm teching CS technically (still at zero percent), trying to decide what's next -- I need about a half dozen more workers, for starters; I'm not quite sure how I got to the point of fewer workers than cities. Need to decide tech path, and who to attack, if anyone. Will need some thought first: The upcoming 100 or so turns are the weakest part of my game.

Screenies:


Edit: I forgot to add that this is my first time ever playing Emperor, and I only finally won at Monarch last week.

That's some nice game guys!

@Renata: seems you are "en route" to your first emperor win then... situation looks really good
Beware of SB, he really likes his troops though (I see an undefended city, make sure you can react in time in case you see incoming troops)

Cheers

That's actually three undefended cities. The axe by the dyes is headed up to SB's nearest city to see what's going on; I have other units floating about here and there. I'm still toast if he brings a large stack in the next few turns, though.

Like I said, this is my REALLY BAD part of the game coming up -- took me several tries at Monarch to get from a start at about this level to actually winning a game.

A lot of really great write-ups by some newer faces.

I'm playing regular save, and hurrying because I need to patch to 3.19 soon for SGOTM. So as always, when I hurry, the game actually takes longer because of many inefficiencies.

So far, all peaceful. So much land I can't see any point in conquest at this stage. Organic growth to about 7 cities. Oracle (for CoL and Confu) in about 1100Bc. Building lots of libraries for popping borders so I guess I'm headed for space eventually... got the academy in capitol to prove it.

I had barbs pillage my copper before I built my first impi.

At 1 ad I'm starting to build culture buildings to push borders, even though I still have room for 2 or 3 more good cities in my space. Too late for culture vc, though.

World is 4 hindu and 2 bhuddist. I have no state religion because I border with both. Confu isn't that useful, therefore. I feel like I'm doing a lot of that kind of aimless mistake. Expect I will kill someone eventually, though needs to be soon if it will help my space finish date. Maybe I get real lazy and use no military. Obama's way is actually much simpler than Bush's.

BOTM 20 Spoiler 1 Contender Save

Because of a recent dual install, I played to 25AD with autosaves every 4 turns, glad my machine was stable.
But that is the closest save I have to 1AD.

This game is a PERFECT example of how I play! Jump in head first, without even knowing all the rules!

I planned on settling 2N before I opened the save, so I moved to the hill with a "single" move, instead of
moving 1 tile at a time. It would not have mattered in the long run, as I still would NOT have traded the
Flood Plains for the Gold...but still.

It wasn't until I captured my first city that I knew "NO CITY RAZING" was checked.

So what did I do.....

"Where did you settle and why?"
I settled 2N for the extra hammer, I planned on Conquest from the beginning(remember no knowledge city razing rule).

"Did you get any use for your fast UU?"
Absolutely, a very effective unit, more details to follow.

"How did you get along with your neighbors?"
Some of them like me, (those not closest ofc), but Charley and Alex....not so much!

Tech Path...
AH>Mining>Wheel>BW>Myst>Masonry>Meditation>Priesthood>Writing>CoL(founded Confu)>Math>Alpha+IW from Charley for peace>
Monarchy+Archery(trades)>Fishing(trade maybe)>Pottery+Poly from Alex for peace> researching Currency

Important Dates...
1000BC Missed Oracle
950 - Founded Confucianism
850 - Dow Charley
775 - Capture Aachen
750 - Capture Ainu
650 - Peace with Charley for Alpha + IW
500 - DOW Alex
450 - Capture Argos
400 - Dow Charley
350 - Capture Vienna
350 - Capture Nuremburg
350 - Capture Knossos
225 - Peace with Alex for Pottery + Poly
100 - Capture Prague

Builds, Cities, etc...
Worker first>warrior>warrior...no notes...
City 2 SW by Marble and Copper
City 3 NW for Gold
All other cities were captured...

Statistics at 25AD
Pop = 43
Cottages = 0 built, a few captured, working 0
Monument = 3
Library = 1
Ikhanda = 8
Granary = 1
Courthouses = 4

Archer...built 2, killed 17
warrior..built 5, killed 8
Impi.....built 7
Axe......built 26, killed 5
Phalanx...........killed 2
Sword....built 6, killed 6
Great Scientists = 2, settled 1st in Ulundi, 2nd = don't remember, but no Academy, not sure....
Great Generals = 1, settled in Nobamba(gold City)

Screens...

Contender save, goal: fast conquest. This is my first Emperor game so I'm going to play it relatively safe.

I was lucky enough to move my scout to see the gold to the northwest, and I settled Ulundi to the north to get it in my BFC. The second city was next to the copper. I would be relying on conquest to add cities, rather than REXing, so I only settled a few cities: a GP farm at the floodplains site to the NW, a cottage site at the gems along the coast, and only a few more by 1AD

Pleasant surprise #1: Popped a Great Engineer out of my GP farm (my specialists came from Forge and Library, so <33% chance). I used it to rush the Pyramids for Representation. My research is coming from a weird mix of cottages in the gem city to the east (with Academy), improved tiles in Ulundi, and Rep beakers from specialists in the GP farm. Not very specialized!

Pleasant surprise #2: Got metal working from a hut.

The desert and mountains formed a natural barrier to the west, so I expanded westward to block any peaceful expansion from Charlemagne toward me, and converted to his religion, Buddhism. This resulted in a lovely +8 shared religion diplo modifier, and Charlie helped spread Buddhism to each of my cities for a nice OR and Theocracy bonus.

My aggression was directed eastward toward that untrustworthy neighbour Alex. He was No State Religion and not particularly friendly with anyone so it was safe to DOW him with Impis and Axes. I'm not a particularly fast warmonger - by 1AD the war wasn't finished yet and I'm sure others could do better.

Still, it's looking good at 1AD. The plan is to finish off Alex, attack and vassalize Boudica, but leave SB alone (other AIs hate him, so he's a useful scapegoat, and he's not particularly dangerous). Then wipe out the rest. Rameses has tons of tempting wonders but is difficult to reach - I'll probably attack England first as I need to "ensure unlimited access" to English roads and cities. For the final move, maybe I can trick Charlie into declaring on Sitting Bull, then wipe out his undefended homelands ...

Probably the trickiest bit will be staying under the Domination limit (after I realized No City Razing is on ...). Should I liberate cities to my vassals, or slave down the population?