Wonder-ful Augustus Caeser (Deity/Fractal/normal speed)

[PeteJ]

Hey guys, I was bored this morning and decided to start a new deity game. I hand-picked Augustus and rolled this gem of a start. Its a fractal map which some of you guys frown upon, but I've played enough of the map to tell you that it is pretty well balanced for the most part.

The start:


Here's a slight hint:

Spoiler:

It is wise for you to resist the temptation to settle for the gold mine.

I've already played this to 760BC but I would like to see some shadows before posting any progress. Enjoy!

[Zx Zero Zx]

Hmm this looks like a semi awkward, but nice overall start. I will play along, and see how it goes. I will probably settle for that gold in a second or third city even if it has no food.

[Jester Fool]

50 AD - Not really sure how I am doing...

Spoiler:

Snapshot of land...

Spoiler:

Music is only a placeholder since I don't think I can get there in time to snag the GA. I am thinking Monarchy (to raise happy cap) and then Currency->CoL->CS. Not sure if I could Lib MT but Nationalism should be doable I think. That does assume Izzy attacks Huanya (worst enemy) instead of me.

Advice would be much appreciated. Wonder-ful Augustus Caeser AD-0050.CivBeyondSwordSave

[Zx Zero Zx]

Well I played a little, and I think I messed up my tech path for the land. But I think this is a fairly easy start. You can get 6-9 cities with ease, and after that nothing is hard. I will replay my starting techs, and post how I did at 1 AD.

[Jet]

Originally Posted by Jester Fool

Advice would be much appreciated.

Spoiler:

Going by the screenshot, you should have chopped out Praetorians and taken over Spain.

[Zx Zero Zx]

Well the map is fairly easy as long as you are in the same religion as Izzy.

Spoiler:

I either settled wrong, or you guys got lucky, because in both of my games Izzy settled the Iron cities VERY quickly(pre Iron Working.)

But after Music I will be able to explode, the GA will get me another GS, and allow me to tech to CoL then trade music around, and pick up techs. After I get CS I can either tech Paper, and double bulb Edu or single bulb each. Not sure which I will do.

[Jester Fool]

@ Jet :

Spoiler:

I am not sure I could have gotten IW in time to make it cost effective. The barbs were a pia and although I had plenty of warriors to defend, I really didn't feel safe...so teched archery (wary of gambling on iron). I did trade Aesthetics for Math + IW + Alpha but that only happened just recently.

[Jester Fool]

@ Zx Zero Zx :

Spoiler:

I settled cow city after settling the gold site. Izzy normally doesn't seem to like settling right next to your borders (unlike say Sury). She never even sent a settling party my way. I did notice an archer hanging out right before I settled the cows so that might have changed her settling plans (the archer moved away after I settled).

[Zx Zero Zx]

Originally Posted by Jester Fool

@ Zx Zero Zx :

Spoiler:

I settled cow city after settling the gold site. Izzy normally doesn't seem to like settling right next to your borders (unlike say Sury). She never even sent a settling party my way. I did notice an archer hanging out right before I settled the cows so that might have changed her settling plans (the archer moved away after I settled).

Spoiler:

I see, she sent 4 settling parties my way pre 1500 BC. So getting that Iron was 100% impossible for me. Settling the cow city may have changed her plans, I settled the Horse Fish city first, then the gold city.

[Jester Fool]

@ Zx Zero Zx :

Spoiler:

Any particular reason you went for horse/fish site first? I never have good luck (on Immortal which I normally play) with barb spears when I lack early copper. Unless I plan on HA rush, I don't find horses really all that useful early...too luck dependent imo (hoping barbs spawn axes instead of spears). Otoh, I've seen AI chariots kill barb spears and not even get damaged.

[Zx Zero Zx]

Originally Posted by Jester Fool

@ Zx Zero Zx :

Spoiler:

Any particular reason you went for horse/fish site first? I never have good luck (on Immortal which I normally play) with barb spears when I lack early copper. Unless I plan on HA rush, I don't find horses really all that useful early...too luck dependent imo (hoping barbs spawn axes instead of spears). Otoh, I've seen AI chariots kill barb spears and not even get damaged.

Spoiler:

Because you can spawn bust this with like 4 chariots, hell you don't even need chariots. You can have like a grand total of 2 barbs spawn if you use warriors. But the real reason I settled it second was so I could share the food, and share some cottages to grow them quicker. I have learned from playing WC3, and Deity to settle very compact empires. If you look at my land picture you will see that I have settled 4 cities just outside of my capitals borders in order to reduce maintenance, and share tiles.

[obsolete]

Despite I found myself in a few wars, this was still one of my most boring victories...

Spoiler:

[shakabrade]

@PeteJ
You just stole me a deity thread. I just played the most evil deity map in my life (all warmonger Pangaea Boudica with extra and not on purpose obstacles) and wanted to share it with the rest of the world. But I guess I can wait. Don't want to steal your thunder. Saves are on safe.

Will play this map. Gold resource and an abundance of forrests call for Praet rush. Will even self tech IW. Could be lot of fun.

[PeteJ]

@Shaka
I don't think there is anything wrong with me posting what seems like an easier deity map and you posting your evil map at the same time. Thunder will not be stolen as it will probably be a different type of game and personally I really enjoy trying and failing those types of maps. I tried out your Mao game a few times actually and fell flat on my face each time. Didn't really achieve anything worth posting.

Looking forward to seeing you pull off a praet rush. I've never actually attempted a praet rush on deity as it relies on a bit of luck finding iron close by and the start has to be good to pull it off. Definitely settle for the gold if you wanna go that route.

[sossos]

Victory is not a problem for this map, but it's still interesting to look for a fastest one. I'm going for AP victory.

Spoiler:

Here's the save of turn 121. Wonder-full built 7 wonders: Pyramids/TOA/GLB/AP are built while the Patheneon/Hagia/Shadow might be kept for cash.
4 civ got the AP religion and the other two(SB and Shaka) will belive in it soon. Need Optics ASAP to spread Chritianism to the 7th civ.
At the same time, I have 7 cities with military strength 1/3 of the strongest one. It's enough to defend even if Izzy DOW me. She's cautious to me though I converted to the same religion with her several turns before.
I'm the first one to discover music, so the tech stand is OK. 3 techs away from Optic and I still have a free GA on hand.
Can this map be won by turn 170? It's possible.
I think Augustin can show almost 80% of his strength in this map. Praet is still useful to vassal Spain if well played.

Thank you Peter for sharing this map.

[PeteJ]

Good stuff guys. It seems like everyone had a relatively easy time with this map. Anyway here is my progress up to 760ad:

Spoiler:

I SIPed after much thought and was pleased to see the stone along with the marble in my capital. Researched ag>masonry>wheel>BW and went on a wonder building spree. I got the GW, mids, ToA, GLH, G.library, NE, Taj, and Angkor Wat all in my capitol. I popped out 3 G.Spys total plus 3 scientists and a merchant. 2 of the spys were settled and one of them infiltrated Izzy. Scientists built an academy and put a bulb into education and lib. The merchant did the obvious thing that merchants do. I stole both CS and Paper from Izzy on my way to lib and I still have something like 2200 points on her. Lib was won in 660ad and MT was taken as my tech. I'm now in the process of pumping out horse archers for upgrading and I have a spy in each of Izzy's 4 closest cities for revolts. I still don't have iron so in a couple of turns I will have to trade for iron from Izzy to upgrade. Her iron city can be captured on day 1 of the war so its no big deal.

Some pictures:
Izzy's 2 stacks. I'm probably going to wait for her to declare on someone and move her stacks before I start the war.

Spoiler:

My land.

Spoiler:

My capitol.

Spoiler:

Tech.

Spoiler:

[shakabrade]

You wanted Praets, I give you Praets. I forgot I played this one a bit. Too many games at once.

Proof Praets were used:

Spoiler:

Proof Praets were used for killing:

Spoiler:

Edit: Wanted to say I didn't go totally praet rush, but settled an ok sized and developed empire before. Praets are too huge of a gamble. You stop conquering a bit and maintenance kills you. And also worth noting, more cities you have, the faster those praets get out. They become Zergs.

[Zx Zero Zx]

@Shaka Yea I have this one all but won at like 100 AD. I have 12 cities, and I am about to finish off Izzy. HC is about to declare on me with a stack of 1 Xbow, 3 chariots, 2 catapults, and 1 swordsman. I think he might be able to take a city I just took from Izzy, as my prats are damaged, but if he doesn't take it the first turn I can shift forces to keep it, then proceed to take his cities too. It is a won game that I have kind of given up on winning.

[shakabrade]

@Zx

But HC is very huge and stopping him is very challenging. I attacked him only to take Colossus and UoS from him. With 17 cities he had, mostly coastal, it was just too huge of a boost for him.

I agree your game game is winnable but no way it is won. SB is a pain too with his demands for all your gold and can DoW if you refuse. Sury is a backstabber. HC is huge and crazy techer. And they can dogpile you. I wouldn't say game is won, not if you don't have friendly relations with most of them. If you manage to survive until nukes, game is won.

[Zx Zero Zx]

Originally Posted by shakabrade

@Zx

But HC is very huge and stopping him is very challenging. I attacked him only to take Colossus and UoS from him. With 17 cities he had, mostly coastal, it was just too huge of a boost for him.

I agree your game game is winnable but no way it is won. SB is a pain too with his demands for all your gold and can DoW if you refuse. Sury is a backstabber. HC is huge and crazy techer. And they can dogpile you. I wouldn't say game is won, not if you don't have friendly relations with most of them. If you manage to survive until nukes, game is won.

I am like 1.6 his power though, I think I forgot to add that. I also am 2 turn hammering out Prats from 1 city, and constantly 2 pop whipping them every where else. In a cycle of 5 turns I will have produced like 10 Prats. The game is won with that production this early.