NC LXXVI: Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire

Creation script, which leads to a lot less land per civilization than a "typical" map, with lots of "valleys" between mountain ranges. The examples I saw seemed rather food-poor. There are lots of choke points where a fort (or throw-away city, if you can afford one) can easily defend your land from invaders. Charlie's PRO trait might help with such defence, and IMP might help get settlers out faster so you can claim what land is available nearby before a neighbour gets it. A more crowded map might mean your empire is relatively small, negating some of the advantage of the Rathaus.

In each scenario file you can select your level of difficulty, but that doesn't give the AI the right bonus techs by itself. Use the Noble save for all levels at and below Noble. The Monarch save gives all the AI Archery. Emperor adds Hunting; Immortal adds Agriculture; Deity adds The Wheel

1. Zoom in all the way so you can't see the rest of the map.
2. Use the CTRL-W key (or the menu) to enter the worldbuilder. Avoid looking at the mini-map in the lower right corner.
3. By default you're in "player" mode (look in the box in the upper right; the icon that looks like a person should be selected). You'll get a drop down menu labeled with your leader's name. Barbarians are at the bottom, so cover the rest of the list with your hand if you don't want to see who else is on the map. Select "Barbarians".
4. Select the "Technologies" tab in the box on the left.
5. Find Archery (the arrow head icon; 8th row, 3rd column from the right) and click it.
6. Exit the worldbuilder.
7. Zoom out again after the map fades, and start playing.

I would go for a quick settler rush for the fish/sheep/wheat site.

-SIP: I'm not going to sweat this decision at this point in my development. I'll be taking note of other player's choices.

-Build Worker ->Worker/Warrior ->Worker/Settler->Absolute latest point for settler

-Tech: Agr->AH -> Mining->BW-> Wheel->Pottery->Writing
-My thinking behind this is get to AH to pasture the sheep; make sure BW is in before I settle my 2nd city; wheel so I can hook up bronze; Writing through pottery

Looking at that list again, cutting Agriculture and Pottery out might make more sense.

I'll appreciate any help I can get

Here goes...something?

-SIP
-Decided to move my scout S then move clockwise (more on this later)
-Begin Worker-30 turns (will cut this down by working Sheep when borders pop)
-Turn 16 - AH is in; Horses in the BFC. I decide to delay BW and begin working on wheel
-Turn 22 - Worker completes, Aachen starts on another worker
-Pasture Sheep then start on connecting horses.

At this point my exploring efforts are being frustrated by the giant wall of mountains North of Aachen; I kept expecting to find a way to around/through them. I never did and decided to turn around. This makes me think I probably should have bypassed 2nd worker for a warrior to help with exploring. My next build will be a chariot to allow Aachen to grow and help with exploration.

Turn 17 - Wheel is in; begin mining->BW
Turn 34 - Mining is in; I meet Zarab coming from SW; this is also the area I've done a poor job of exploring
Turn 40 - 2nd Worker finishes; horses aren't ready yet so I work on a settler for 2 turns before switching to a chariot
Turn 52 - BW is in and Aachen grows; immediate revolt into Slavery; will research writing next. . . bronze is in a terrible location. I may have to be content with horses until Iron
Turn 55 - Whip Chariot for +45 overflow into settler - Will send chariot SW
Turn 63 - Settler finishes after 1 chop;

My land



My capital
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My problem at this point. Where do I send my settler?

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-red has OK potential as a Moai hybrid/chokepoint
-orange is OK compared to other options
-My gut tells me to escort my settler SW with my chariot. I can see clams and grassland. Also, that is the direction Ethiopia is in (I assume), so the land is probably more contested.

SIP. Build worker --> warrior --> 2x archer --> settler. Archer is a placeholder build.

Lost scout to a bear. Only 2 archers built due to mountain ranges blocking us in.

Teched AH --> Archery --> Mining --> BW. Chose BW due to the number of forests at secondary city sites.

Found Zara to the south. He looks to close to try and sneak a settler past and there are lots of forests blocking my path, although I have one waiting

capital - could see almost everyone else cottaging this capital to make a super bureau capital, however, I think we need the food to work the hills instead - capital could be an excellent site to pump wonders if we get the marble hooked up.

2nd city - best site appears to be fish + sheep + wheat, use this to generate early GS, needs to be up ASAP.

Builds - need another archer or two, also need to grow into my hammer tiles. No dire need of worker turns yet, all tiles in capital improved, worker available to help 2nd city straight away. Think I will make one more archer then a worker at size 4.

Techs - need agriculture to improve wheat, fishing to get workboat, however, my planned site is on the hill 1SE of the sheep so both of these are in 2nd ring. I plan to have the city at size 3 so only need to improve sheep + 1 other.

Think fishing is superior to ag as it opens up the clam site as a 3rd/4th city. The other priority is getting the marble hooked up to the capital. I may even settle directly on it.

Next tech writing then fishing. 2nd city can make archer + library + workboat.

Future aiming for aesthetics + lit + music to get access to marble wonders, can build Glib + parthenon, fail gold on Sistine + SoZ (??). 2nd city will have the hammer output to build Glib.

This is way outside my normal game style. I prefer heavy food starts, whipping (cant whip on this land!!), not building wonders and warring. Thanks for the challenge!

Not exactly my favorite leader, but I think I'm in good company. Moved the scout onto the sheep with a desperate prayer for more food, but he comes up empty handed. With a heavy heart I resign myself to settling in place. Perhaps those two remaining dark tiles to the west will please me. It was not to be. Capital gets busy on a worker and first tech of Animal Husbandry seems like a no brainer.

It quickly becomes apparent that the land surrounding the capital is no better than the capital itself. At least some horses turn up in the capital when AH comes in. Mining doesn't seem to be a priority here, nor BW with the scarcity of trees to cut and food to enslave with. So I settle on a tech path of Wheel-Agriculture-Pottery. May as well put that grassland to use. But when that finished, I don't think I actually worked any cottages for some time, so that was probably a whoops. Then I proceeded on to Mining-BW.

Capital makes a warrior than a settler, and then Prague is settled in the only appealing (to me) spot nearby.



Not until 2000BC is my first rival met, Ethiopia. Buddhism is founded extremely late, and no wonders are being built at all. The AI appears to be struggling on this map...

Unfortunately, no copper is sighted when BW comes in. Fishing is researched next, for the benefit of Prague. Vienna is settled to the west, the first of what looks like many awful sites...



It will make little progress until a monument is built. Greener land is sighted to the west, but so is Ethiopia. I'd like that dye/banana/clam spot! I tech writing after fishing almost instinctively, but in retrospect it didn't seem like a great idea. I don't expect many early specialists with this land...

A fourth settler is popped, but to my frustration, the barbarians have claimed the green land to the west. Oh well, I'll make some chariots and fix that.

Meanwhile, Judaism remains unfounded, and still no wonders have been built. So I decide to make a run for the Oracle late. Masonry-Meditation-Priesthood become the new tech goals, and a settler heads north to found Nuremberg to exploit the marble. I don't see Nuremberg growing for a long time, but for a pop 1 city, it has decent hammers, haha.



A fifth settler claims the only remaining site in my "valley".



I consider settling my third city here, actually. I was scared into the (in my opinion) inferior site west when the Ethiopians showed up that way. Stonehenge is finally built in a faraway land, my first evidence the AI is even playing. Priesthood comes in, Prague begins building the Oracle, and I begin researching Iron Working, praying for some iron.



Prague builds the oracle in no time at all. It's quite the city, I've found. Plenty of plains hills and the food to feed them. The only city I like, actually. I take Code of Laws with the free tech. Rational being my economy is suffering and currency is a long way away. A super courthouse or two will work nicely in the meantime! As an added bonus, Prague becomes the Confucian holy city. I like it even more, now. I revolt to that religion next turn.

Ethiopia remains my only met rival, and hasn't the alphabet or a religion. Hopefully mine will make it's way to him. My scouts meeting unfortunate ends in the surrounding valleys to the barbarians, I don't expect that to change till I can build some stronger scouts (come on, iron...). I get the sense the AIs are struggling further. No more wonders have gone, and I don't recall for the life of me if Judaism was founded, but if it was, it was super late.

Just before calling it a night, a few chariots march on the barbarian city of Saxon



They capture it in 750BC, and Charlemagne retires to his chambers to plot a further course of action...