Noble House of the Vikings

Welcome to the Noble House! I know there are already a TON of games being played on this forum, but there are few being played at lower levels. TMIT currently has the Noble’s Club series, which is great, but, as I was learning the game, I found it more useful to see the full game played out by the poster, such as Mad Scientist’s RPCs.

Essentially what I want to do with this game (and any subsequent games if there is a demand) is to show lower level players, who seem to be quite numerous on these forums right now, some of the techniques that I use to win on Noble difficulty. Of course, I will post the save and ask for others to comment or give advice as none of us really learn anything unless we work together on it.

I have only been playing Noble for a couple of weeks, to be honest, so I haven’t always won, but I guess that’s the fun of this whole game. Watch this, my first game online, be a total failure; even then, however, we can all learn from my foolish mistakes.

Here are the settings for my first game:

Map Type: RandomMapScript (excluding Pangaea, as I’m not really a big fan of it all the time) EDIT: I forgot to leave off Pangaea, so I guess if I get it, I'll take it this time!)
Speed: Epic (Feel free to change it if you want to play it at a different speed)
Standard Map Size
All victory conditions are possible

Special Rules:
Choose Religions

I chose to take a completely random leader, since I like the unpredictably of the play that way. (NOTE: I am playing BTS; I just like the original background and start music of vanilla Civ4)



And now our glorious leader, the Noble House of the Vikings



Alright, the Viking UU is the Berserker, a replacement for the Maceman who receives, besides the 50% vs. melee, an additionally 10% city attack and is Amphibious, meaning no penalty for attacking from a boat or across a river (Yippee!)

The UB is the Trading Post, a replacement for the Lighthouse, that allows all naval units to receive a free Navigation I promotion adding 1 movement. With the circumnavigation bonus, that makes the Viking vessels pretty mean travelers!

And the start



Well, we’re on the coast (either on the north of south side of the map), but no seafood that can be seen right now. Two sheep and furs will provide some extra money, given that Ragnar is financial (probably from looting all the English monasteries in the 8th and 9th centuries! (Sorry for any extra history I may provide, I have a master’s in medieval literature!)).

So what do you think? Animal Husbandry seems in order to hook up the sheep, then probably mining and BW. I hope there’s at least ONE seafood resource in the BFC, but we’ll have to wait to find out.

If you are new to the game, or this forum, feel free to add your two cents (or two gold ) or ask any questions. This forum is FULL of helpful people.

I love Ragnar and think I will shadow the game tonight! I have been trying to reset my "Marathon" mindset a bit now that the RPCs are done and this may be a good way to (as well as shadow the ALC).

What is the randommapscropt generator? If it makes completely randon maps, that is what I have been looking for a long time!

Since I do not have the save at home yet, I will offer my starting advice

1) Move scout to SSW hill

2) Settle in place.

3) Build a worker first unless there is a hidden seafood in the fog, if there is a workboat.

4) Resarch Animal Husbandry for the sheep as food looks a little slim.

To be honest, I'm not sure where I acquired the RandomMapScript (I probably downloaded it a long time ago and it stayed in My Documents folder with other junk for games so CIV probably just grabbed hold of it when I rebuilt my computer).

EDIT: Basically, the RMS chooses a map type from a larger list than Shuffle but it also allows to remove certain map types if you don't want those. After more thought, I think I downloaded it from this site!

I am sad to see the RPCs gone. I never contributed to them, but I have read many of them and found them quite useful for learning. Now since I've noticed so many low level players asking for help, I thought this would be useful.

I planned on settling in place; I'm not really big on moving around before settling. Plus, given this start, it's probably best.

Settle in place seems fine - I rarely move the settler much at all, even playing emperor or immortal. Not that significant a difference in the whole scheme of things IMO.

Worker/AH makes sense to me too. I might shadow if I get a chance, although there are two hockey games this weekend which will limit my civ time.

I'm going to shadow it noble/quick.

I think moving the scout NW is more important to see if there is additional food in any of the 3 tiles the scout would reveal.

PART II - The Noble House of the Vikings

Advice Directions for Players: City Placement; Research Orders

I'm not sure what happened to some of my screenshots. There is a long strip of ocean and ice to the left of most of them. Anyone know why?

EDIT: Why are the pictures cropped? Do I need to change the settings on PhotoBucket to get them to look right?

Ragnar is most displeased with his lot in life! How can the mighty Vikings plunder coastal cities when they have very little with which to build their army?

Ragnar takes the advice to move the scout SW to the hill and he is quite angry!



ICE???

In the hopes of lands to the north, Ragnar settles in place and finds…



A tiny island we inhabit! Ah well. I’ve had this happen one time before, so we’ll see what happens. To the north there is a tiny bit of landmass. Hopefully this connects us to a larger land mass for further expansion. My only concern is running out of gold paying for those offshore cities.

Tech order went: Animal Husbandry/Sailing/Mining/BW/Agriculture/Wheel

The scout popped a goody hut for 63 gold. I’ll move him around the coast to see if we have any seafood anywhere and then wait until we build a galley in Nidoras to transport him to other lands.

Build order for Nidoras went: Worker/Warrior/Warrior (partially completed while waiting on sailing to research)/Galley/(finished)Warrior/Settler

AHA! Seafood. Maybe I should squeeze another city on this small island? Maybe not?



Additionally, there is more land to the east, but it doesn’t look too promising (mostly tundra from the looks of it right now).

Sadly, in 3650 BC we met up with a really fun leader



He came from the small landmass to the north. I’ll need to establish a city there as soon as I can, Ragnar thought, but that proves to be a bit difficult as you'll see.

After researching AH, we find that we have no horses in this barren land of the Vikings. Not long after meeting Hammy, Christianity is founded somewhere. Later, Hammy founds Buddhism (rich shrine gold from the Babylonians?).

After building my first pasture on the sheep on the plains, I moved the city working tile to it so that growth could speed up a bit (NOTE: I didn’t move it earlier so as to get the warrior out first).

Once the galley was finished, I loaded up my scout and went north. I made landfall right as BW finished, but…



No copper, no horses. What shall the Vikings do?



It looks like Babylon is fitting pretty tight on that island like we are. Hammy only has mostly desert to his SW. Meanwhile, my galley continues to hunt for more suitable land. While traveling further west, we meet up with a fishing boat and this man:



After picking up our scout from the Babylonian lands, we drop him off on the landmass to our west and find



I saved here to speak about city placement. I have a settler who is 10 turns from completion, but I have a worker chopping a forest for a farm so the Vikings can eat something. I’m usually not one of those players who counts food tiles for city growth prior to placement. I usually place cities where they would be most beneficial for resources or for specialization. Given the landmass to the west, I think my first settler would do well being placed one tile east of the copper on the coastline so I can hookup the copper for Nidoras. Thoughts?

Additionally, what do you think of my tech path? There are times when I’m playing that I’m never quite sure what to research next. I chose Wheel after Agriculture so I can hookup any copper or horses that I may find as well as to hookup my sheep and furs.

What about Babylon? They’re close by, have a holy city, but they have those nasty bowmen!

i'd let Babylon grow till you get one of two things ... Horse Archers or Bezerkers

City placement ... well ... depending on what there's on that island otherwise either E or NE of the Copper

Build Great Lighthouse as fast as you can ... i'll support your economy making it next to uncrashable

Looks like an archipelago map to shadow - tailor made for the Vikings. I didn't want to spoil too much for me, so I skimmed your pics, but I agree - 1E of the copper is a good site.

I also agree with the previous poster about GLH - huge on this map. Also, important to think differently about overlap on these small islands. A lot of players don't like to have cities close together where the BFCs overlap (I'm not one of them - I learned awhile back that overlap is fine, and often useful when you have overlap with a good food resource). On these types of maps - totally ok to pack in cities and let the ocean commerce and overseas trade routes help you continue to power your economy.

I haven't played an island type game in awhile, so I'll definitely shadow tonight.

Not exactly a standard noble game eh?

I second TGL as it will prove mightly useful on a map like this. I wouldnt worry about rushing anyone right now and focus on finding and settling more landmasses.

Also, hope that other civs are similarly screwed, or the game may be over already (although maybe not on Noble).

Honestly, I've never done much city overlap personally. Usually I only end up with overlap when I conquer the AIs' cities.

I agree that the Great Lighthouse would be powerful for this map. Perhaps I should build a trading post in Nidoras next and then the GL?

See, Noble can be a challenge given the right circumstances. I certainly didn't expect a single island for a start, however, but I have done this before with Mansa (however, his Mint really helped out there!).

Thanks for starting a new series, smlJ!

Copper city is definitely the destination for your first settler. You have to get one of the seafood resources along with the sheep to make a decent city, so that means either E, NE or SSE. I might be tempted to go with NE and add Moai statues to that city (I count 9 coast, 2 ocean).

Build a fishing boat to explore to the island to the east. It can eventually come back to fish for copper city.

Looks like an archipellago (sp?) map, so great lighthouse will be a game winner
Your furs plains tiles is much better with forests on it, so avoid chopping that one.

I'll also add my voice to support the building of The Great Lighthouse. That should be your immediate priority after your settler is complete.

Once you get TGL and copper hooked up, you might consider building an army and shipping them to invade Babylon. You're not likely to see much barbarian action, so getting an early war on might be good to have a force of CR2-3 Berserkers ready to go as soon as you hit CS/Machinery.

City to SE from copper (on the forest), so you can get the crabs later. Right?
Also destroy Hammurabi when you get Berserkers, or at least get one or two cities from him, not before, he will slay you otherwise. Try to build better nave than your closest neighbors.

now SE of the copper would be the worst place no question ... misses the Crabs AND the Fish

ran with the save and played it out

Part III - For Trade and Gold

Ragnar has listened to words of wisdom from his advisors, and upon completion of the settler, he began work on the trading post and then the Great Lighthouse! “Vikings need to see at night,” goes the old saying. Impatient with the slow production of the settler, he was “whipped” into shape after the forest was chopped.

Research went as follows: Finished Wheel/Pottery/Mysticism/Masonry/Archery/Iron Working/Meditation/Priesthood/Mathematics (started)

I realize that I should have research Masonry earlier, but I neglected to remember that the Great Lighthouse needs both sailing and masonry! Oops!

Ragnar said we should head towards Iron Working so that we can keep ploughing the tech path after CS and Berserkers, but we’ll see how that pans out.

Nidoras’ build order: Finished settler/Trading Post/Work Boat/ Started Granary/Great Lighthouse/Finished Granary/Archer/Settler

Meanwhile, the scout explored the island and here’s what it looks like:



You’ll notice that Saladin is right next door. Wonder if he’ll jump over to this landmass?

Ragnar, drinking the fruits of exploration, foolishly forgot to send his galley back to pick up the settler when it was finished. The galley arrived nearly 5 turns later, so a little slow start, but we’ll manage.

Build order at Uppsala went: Worker/Workboat/Archer/Moai Started (Or should I build a settler here, too?)
Note: I didn’t need a monument here for the early border pop as Buddhism spread to this city pretty early.

Later, I met this techer:



He came to me on a fishing boat from the east of our starting island.

I managed to settle Uppsala, finally, and I went with the decision to place it NE of the copper and to build the Moai Statues there later. Ragnar would very much enjoy having that silver to south (he likes to make rings, you know!), but the land isn’t the best. The fertile green fields on the northern tip of the island seems like another good place. The scout finally got around to entering that one patch of fog near the center of the island by the silver and popped 49 gold.



Buddhism spread to our lands, but didn’t adopt it yet. I didn’t want the turn of anarchy given that the Great Lighthouse is taking a while to construct (50 turns!). Maybe I’ll readjust the city, huh?

Note to new players or low level players, it is beneficial to check your cities from time to time and adjust the working tiles to better accommodate your construction, growth, specialists, etc.

Here is Nidoras before:



Notice the production speed of the Great Lighthouse.

Now here is Nidoras after a little tweaking (again, notice the production speed!)



I realize that for many this is common practice, but it took me a long time to finally realize that, sometimes, I need to take control of these cities myself! Ragnar told me to do it, really.

The fishing boat finally managed to scout of the island to our east, and it is small, but it has some resources



Ragnar really doesn’t intend on building a whole lot of wonders. He prefers to pillage coastal cities, and maybe he’ll get to that eventually. In other world news, Islam was founded, but it wasn’t Saladin who did it (perhaps Mehmed is on this map? This is why I like choose religions turned on, you can sometimes guess at who else is around the world.)

The Little Workboat That Could kept on traveling and soon met



He’s founded Christianity, and so there’s another possible holy city to take in the future.

After getting Iron Working, we find that our new island has iron, but in a not so grand location.



Another turn or so later, Ragnar proudly shouted, “Let there be light!”



After finishing the Great Lighthouse, Nidoras finished work on the granary and then worked on an archer and then another settler. Ragnar is going pretty slow with expansion.

In my continued exploration, I meet Ramesses II, the founder of Islam.



After writing, I opened borders with everyone to increase our relationships. Diplomacy is not my strongest suit, and, as a result, it has limited my progress somewhat to higher levels. Mad Scientist’s games always have so much diplomacy and he usually gets AIs to declare war on each other, but I can’t seem to always make that happen, if even. Perhaps that should be a discussion point as well.

Back to the story: The Little Fishing Boat That Could continued to explore and met up with Qin Shi Huang of the Chinese (our last AI...major sausage fest on this map). He’s somewhere to the far northeast of me, I believe.



After finishing the settler in Nidoras, I saved. What to build next, however. No one has the Oracle yet, and it would only take 18 turns to build, but that would cut into my GM points. I should probably settle that iron before Saladin gets his hands on it. What do you think?

Here’s a look at the world:



Saladin is right next door and Babylon is to the northeast.



This is the small island to our east, but it looks like Willem has already made the jump there for the marble and copper.



This is far to northeast where you can see Ramesses, Qin, and Zara next to each other.



Ragnar is not the strongest, yet, but I’m hoping that Uppsala can become a good production city with the Moai statues and eventually build up a small army.

Thoughts, opinions, demands, grievances? For all of your struggling on Noble, look how easy it can be! Just take your time and think things through. Granted, I’m not close to winning anything yet, but then Ragnar hasn’t got the itch to pillage and plunder monasteries yet. Are there other screens you want/need to see as the game progresses?

EDIT: Included the save finally (I keep forgetting) if anyone wants it.

Willem will be dangerous. He is strong at seas, you better stay ahead of him. Think hard if you are going to need that iron before slaying some other civ, I think most of those guys have iron what you can access later on. Just try to use Berserkers, before it is too late. And attack from sea!

Good Job! I am will also shadow this, as i am trying at Noble.

I have a question for all lurkers? does building a city at the shore of a Fresh water Lake (Large, as in the lake can hold good cities no sweat) let you build Water based improvements? (Lighthouse, harbor ect.)

Good Job! I am will also shadow this, as i am trying at Noble.

I have a question for all lurkers? does building a city at the shore of a Fresh water Lake (Large, as in the lake can hold good cities no sweat) let you build Water based improvements? (Lighthouse, harbor ect.)

Click to expand...

I'm glad to see that my game is encouraging others to try a little harder difficulty. Note, however, that this map is a bit more difficult than your average noble game, I feel. Regardless, give it a shot and see how it turns out for you.

As to your question, you cannot build water improvements on a large freshwater lake (no lighthouses, harbors, etc.). At least, I've never been able to.

There’s two ways to play this – one wouldn’t involve the need for much description or screenshots – it’d simply be “build GLH and/or Colossus. Win”. So I’ll go the other route – no GLH, no Colossus. Details to 1 AD in spoiler - I tried to give a lot of detail to hopefully help the aspiring noble players pick up some things.