Lonely Hearts Club, BtS Edition, Chapter LXXIII: Peter

Welcome to the 73rd 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....

Our next leader is Peter of Russia.

Traits: Philosophical & Expansive
Darn good traits in this situation, IMO. Cheap: bulbs, workers, granaries, and harbors.

Techs: Hunting & Mining
Not much to say about hunting. You may find it mildly useful here

Mining is good, nuff said.

Unique Building
The Research Institute
A Laboratory that gives two free scientist specs. That's interesting and all, but I'd still only build this if going for space. Even then, it's still debatable.

Unique Unit
The Cossack
Cavalry with a 50% bonus against mounted units. Yummy!

The Start


For those who are new to total isolation, you may want to take a peek at r_rolo1's guide, You, Yourself and your shadow : Some lessons on isolated starts

You will find the zipped saves below. Choose your level then choose your level (more precisely) then choose your speed and get underway. For Monarch+, don't forget to add Archery to the barbs. No huts & no events are selected.

Suggestions for updates are:

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).

Finally, a thank you to r_rolo1 and all those that came before him in this series' initial run and to TheMeInTeam for the map creation guides, and to everyone else who co-hosted this series. Enjoy!

plains cow glitch? really? you hate us...

Just scout the land, you will be fine

I see 7 FP in the starting BFC ( + a possible another fogged ). lack of food would not be a issue even without mr plains cow ( that is in company of one of my favourites as well, mr forest plains silk :/ )

r_rolo1 said:

I see 7 FP in the starting BFC ( + a possible another fogged ). lack of food would not be a issue even without mr plains cow ( that is in company of one of my favourites as well, mr forest plains silk :/ )

Click to expand...

I like "spike" food better, but you're right to a degree... at least we are expansive to not have that big of health issues.

btw anyone has drawn eyes on the PH north and south as me?

Smells like a worker/worker opening ...

Plainscow start in isolation? Strong troll is strong.

Just kidding. Anyways, playing on Emperor/Normal, probably going to lose.

It's not isolated, you can contact an AI via workboat.

JammerUno said:

It's not isolated, you can contact an AI via workboat.

Click to expand...

^might as well put some mountains reaching out into the ocean on a continent and call it isolated. Isolation is different because you lack trading partners for tech, not because you can't invade (as in this case I'm sure TR are possible).

Anyway some WB action will fix this, so that's what's happening to my save.

Emperor/Normal, No Huts/Events, 1950 AD Space Race Victory. Basically the game was over once I got Communism.

JammerUno said:

^might as well put some mountains reaching out into the ocean on a continent and call it isolated. Isolation is different because you lack trading partners for tech, not because you can't invade (as in this case I'm sure TR are possible).

Anyway some WB action will fix this, so that's what's happening to my save.

Click to expand...

Nevertheless, there is precedent for pre-contact astro in R_Rolo1's games too. Both Egyptian leaders come to mind off-hand, as well as one of the earlier Rome games could use a border pop for contact w/o ability to trade.

A tech trade partner is a mixed bag if you can't pull trade routes. You run afoul of both worst enemy map hack possibilities as well as the potential to feed techs to AI without brokering them. It's not gimme situation, and in LHC history there's nothing strictly wrong with such a start either.

Not to go into this too far, but the fact that previous iterations of the series also weren't isolated doesn't really change the fact that this definition of isolation makes no sense.

Presumably you wouldn't be isolated if you started on a landmass with Toku, but following this definition that's actually as isolated as it gets, since there's not even techtrading then.

You're missing TMIT's point. If it's just you and Toku, then there's no danger of Toku brokering your techs or you getting "Traded with worst enemy" demerits.

vranasm said:

plains cow glitch? really? you hate us...

Click to expand...

Not a glitch. 1 Food source + flood plains/grassland special or two food sources is the minimum.

There are a few things you can do semi-isolated that you can't do while isolated.

Obviously you can trade at friendly (synergizes with getting a religion, improving caste/pacificism).
But a big one is great merchant trade missions, if you can get a galley over.

@mtr12 this is partially in reference to your Archery thread

& also Checkpoint 1ish

vicawoo said:

getting a religion

Click to expand...

The guide says something about no auto-spread pre astro in this case. I could be missing something, though.

Religion can spread through trade routes if the cities can be linked by Galleys.

JammerUno said:

Not to go into this too far, but the fact that previous iterations of the series also weren't isolated doesn't really change the fact that this definition of isolation makes no sense.

Presumably you wouldn't be isolated if you started on a landmass with Toku, but following this definition that's actually as isolated as it gets, since there's not even techtrading then.

Click to expand...

My point is that the lonely hearts club was never defined as limited to "true isolation", even by its original host(s).

Indeed; technically speaking the game defines "lonely heart" rather differently! You only need to be on your own continent . And yes, the code apparently actually uses the phrase "lonely heart", which is where r_rolo1 got the idea for the title of the series if I'm not mistaken...

Therefore it is well within the scope of this series to have pure isolation AND situations like in this game. Dealing with the fairly unique considerations each situation entails is part of the appeal of this series as well as part of the learning experience it offers.