Monarch Student^ XIX Zara Yaqob

BigTime

BigTime

Prince
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Welcome to Monarch Student Prime! Our leader this week: Zara Yaqob!

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Zara has a great trait set in creative and organized. Creative lets you forgo monuments and be more lax in placing your cities, as well as allowing you to rush some city spots early in the game. Organized gives a nice maintenance reduction throughout your empire, which is always nice. It can also allow some otherwise punishing expansion.

His UU is the Oromo Warrior:

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A musket with an immunity to first strikes, a free first strike of its own, and starts with drill 1 + 2. I love this UU. It's a great draftable, and goes very well paired with cannon. Promotions up the drill line are very viable with this. The Drill 1 + 2 promos also stay when it upgrades, so Drill line promoted rifles and infantry are viable as well.

His UB is the Stele:

Civ4ScreenShot0296.jpg


A monument which also provides a 25% bonus to culture. I'm a little iffy on this one. You don't really need the culture boost since you're creative, but for a non-creative leader this would be nice. It's glory shines during culture victories where you ignore astro, as the 25% culture increase is nothing to scoff at.

The start:

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Irrigated corn, crab, and the rare plains fur. Fur are very nice in the early game, acting as mini towns that provide a +1 happy. Pretty good start IMO. 1NE offers both benefits and bonuses... Decisions, decisions...

Fractal map this time

Huts and Events are OFF, add events in the custom scenario if you wish. (just make sure to cover the top part with your hand so you don't see the AIs :p)

And a cut-and-paste from Meatbuster's Monarch Student games:

Save the file and place it in your Documents/BTS/Saves/WorldBuilder folder. Then unzip it into your Documents/BTS/Saves/WorldBuilder folder. Then use Playing a scenario to play your desired level. Or use custom scenario if you want to remove huts and/or events.

Recommended Checkpoints:
*1000BC or 1AD
*500AD
*1000AD or Liberalism
*Victory!

Please remember to put the journals of your adventures inside spoiler tags.

For Monarch+ players please try to add archery back to the barbs in WB. If you don't, AIs will capture cities with archers very early in the game, which is no fun. If you prefer easymode barbs, that's fine too, just don't go wondering why an AI captured a barb city in the very early BCs!

Thanks go to TMIT for making an excellent map creation guide and to mjg5591 for getting this series back on track!

And finally, the save!
 

Attachments

1NE gives you 2 tundra hills but deer and a possibility of more seafood, tough call.

Hm, anyone else unable to open the save? When I try the monarch one my game freezes (starting from custom scenario to set speed etc.)
 
Monarch/epic, played a quick round to 1000BC:

Spoiler :
Moved my scout to the tundra hill east of the deer. No seafood spotted so settling in place looked fine.
Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0223.jpg


Met JC to the north, definitely calling for a rush. Teched agriculture then BW. Improved the corn then fur, build order was worker ->warrior->settler.
Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0224.jpg


Copper in the capital's BFC, axe rush it is. Still a use for my second settler as it beat JC's settler to the second copper source by a single turn, no axes for you!
Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0225.jpg


1450BC, Roman civilization destroyed by axemen, their second settler was about to move to a horse site north of Rome, no chariots either!
Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0226.jpg


Lincoln was looking like easy pickings for my veteran axemen at this point, so I decided to take at least a few of his cities. Easily took his closest city that hadn't even had a border pop yet, and Washington had just 3 archers when I last scouted it. So now the question becomes: take out Lincoln completely, or leave his jungle cities for a possible second attack wave when I've got my economy running? I have plenty of land now, and with Washington taken I'll probably have room for a good 5 or more cities to settle.
Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0227.jpg

 
Nice! Was looking forward for another Monarch Student game.

Emperor / Normal

~ 900 BC
Spoiler :

I too struggled between setting NE or in place but decided to settle in place. Not a great capital tough.

Met Julius Caesar at north, so I though: I either take him down now or it will be a problem once he has the praetorian. Besides, not taking him down quickly would mean having only a few cities.

Techpath was Agriculture -> Bronze Working -> The Wheel -> Fishing -> Animal Husbandry -> Pottery -> Writing (I actually made a mistake and started to tech for writing before pottery ><) -> alphabet

Luckily there was Copper at capital and more Copper at north. So I made my second city near that. Being cultural was nice because I managed to get the cow quickly and had more trees to chop axes. I don't like cultural wins so I don't think I'm going to build the UB unless I get close borders with Lincoln (met him at NW and Montezuma at his west)

Pic of my second city:
Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0053.jpg


After that I just chopped Barracks and Axes until I had around 10 and declared on JC.
Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0055.jpg


I made the right call here, he already had a Praetorian, if I had took longer maybe it would be a problem to take him down. I lost half my axes to take his capital and then went with a few to take another city down (NE). This one never got to 2 pop so it was razed. His last city was at NW in a hill, I had more axes on the way so I managed to get it, lost most of my axes tough.
Pic:
Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0056.jpg


I'm thinking about making Rome my capital, it's a MUCH better city then my actual capital. Check the pic:
Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0057.jpg

 
Immortal/Normal ~1500 BC
Spoiler :

Built 13, 8 left so should be able to raze his last city shortly. Iron in his cap! I attacked with a stack of 7 chopped axe early, but he still got a praetorian out - it just died to my first axe. Stonehenge is the only wonder out so far my game, wonder if I can pick up some late stuff. Pyramids?!

Civ4ScreenShot0531.jpg

 

Attachments

Decided to have a little fun and play the start. Look like the possibility of a tough map, so I dropped down to

Emperor/Normal to 750BC:

Spoiler :
Settled NE (which eventually turned out to be a copper hill. That being said, I needed the extra food. I can't honestly remember my tech path or build order (and I'm not in the mood to load the game and check my save).

Quickly ran into our pal Julius and figure that I was boxed into a peninsula if I didn't rush him. Struck out on horses, success on getting copper. I had his land for the most part scouted and he was nice enough to settle his 2nd city by the stone and build the GW for me.

Here are his defenses for Rome:

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And JC wiped off the face of the map after here (note: to add insult to injury, he lost a couple of 20+% battles against me):

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Overall view of the Empire:

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I don't think that I'll play much further than this. The map turned out not to be as difficult as I anticipated after the successful rush. I've met all the players. Monty is relatively far away (although that's no guarantee) and Giggles is on an island to the NE. Should be able to peace expand into that vast swath of land up North. I would also move my cap to Rome. I'm currently building the Pyramids in my cap although I might have to chop it out (but I would be disappointed if I got some failure gold instead).
 
Monarch/Epic to 175AD - (Although I consider myself pretty much Emperor and primarily play that I decided to drop down to Monarch level this time as I've been stagnating a bit on Emp recently. Just want to get a good win.


Spoiler :


Funny though that when you drop back down things seem so much easier.

After finding JC and teching a few worker techs and prioritize metals (both Copper and Iron to get axes and SEE iron in JC's land). Getting IW in prep for war turned out to be a good move as it finish shortly before moving my stack to JC's border. Lo and behold he had an iron mine near the cap. Not sure if he yet had IW as he had no Praets but I sent half my stack directly for that iron while sending the other half to take his copper city to the south. At first I was dismayed that the copper city auto-razed, but that probably turned out better since I needed every man on JC's other two cities.

I actually got his copper city with one axe and then sent both stacks directly to Rome after taking out his iron. He had 1 axe and an archer in Rome so I took it easy on the next turn. I didn't exactly have a massive stack of axe - maybe 9 at most with 1 on the way. I sent about five or 6 to the his last city - the stone/pig to the north. I had some terrible rolls on that last city and LUCKILY took his last archer with my last axe just as he popped a GG, which would have been not good if attached. Really BS losses on that last city but I did get some lucky rolls earlier.

Lay of the land

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6 cities with a settler near horse/fish east of room that will settle next turn. Code of Laws in for Conf and cheap courthouses. Louie got Oracle of course and actually got Feud with it. However, I appear to have a decent tech lead on the group. I just got Lit in so the TGL will be a give and I should get Parth easy too.

I scouted all the way over to Wang with a galley and scout. Of course, once I found Wang he hated me for all the transactions done prior with his enemies.

I think this game should be won at this point. I should be able to get Oromos somewhat soon and destroy the world. Dom/Conquest for the win here.

This peninsula really limits overall land early but at least we have all the necessary strat resource and enough productions to get out some good units.

Oh...was really surprised I got the Mids. I expected not to and expect to get fail cash. It went late to me in Rome. I switched to HR though to cozy up to Gigs/Louie. I think Louie will be the biggest problem in this game for multiple reasons. i rarely get along with him.
 
Why is it that noone settled INE, on the plains hill, so as to get the deer? was it to avoid tundra? given it'll be a while before the city reaches size 21 (and needs to work those tundra tiles), i would have thought it was a pretty obvious move.

Spoiler :
Having seen the rest of the map and the fact that copper popped on this hill, i think in place works better for future city placement, but I am still confused.
 
@ CarlH:

You mean 1NE right? The 2nd part should probably be put in spoilers.

Spoiler :
I did, and would have probably still done it knowing that copper was there. While the production there is not great, you can get by on it. The food thought is not great, so your expansion is going to be slower than usual.
 
~ to Liberalism
Spoiler :

After taking JC down, I started settling my land and got a barb city. Got Currency and traded some techs around. Gilgamesh was in an island to the north. I switched the capital to Rome by 150 BC. I was the first to get Code of Laws so I founded Confucianism (at 25 AD).
Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0059.jpg


I managed to make Lincoln convert to it but Gilgamesh converted to Judaism. At 250 AD I bulbed Philosophy and got Taoism.
Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0060.jpg


I decided to go down the Aesthetics path to get The Great Library. I made Gilgamesh convert to Confucianism and got him to Friendly, he was either Friendly or Pleased for the rest of the game.

So, I founded 2 religions, had Hinduism in one of my cities, the 2 closest civs where either pleased or friendly with me so no danger of war... So I thought, wth? I don't like it but this map was screaming for a cultural win, so I decided to do it.

I managed to build The Great Library, The Sistine Chapel and the University of Sankore. I tried to build the Parthenon but failed.
Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0063j.jpg

Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0064.jpg

Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0065.jpg


After that I got Liberalism, got Divine Right with it and founded the religion.
Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0066.jpg

Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0067.jpg



~ 1740 AD Cultural Win
Spoiler :

Nothing much to be said here. After getting Liberalism I putted the research slide to 0% and the cultural slide to the maximum I could at the moment. Gilgamesh founded Christianism and switched to it, I was still at Friendly though. I built The Spiral Minaret by 1300 AD. I put the 4 religions in all of my cities and was since a long time building all the cultural buildings. I flipped 2 Lincoln's cities. Got a few Great Artists, the 3 cities where really close in culture, so I used them to bomb at the end. First was Antium, then 1 turn later was Rome, 1 turn later was Aksum.

Pics of the 3 cities: (I had more artists running on these cities but they "went away" after it became legendary)
Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0071.jpg

Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0072.jpg

Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0078.jpg


Victory pics:
Spoiler :
civ4screenshot0073.jpg


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civ4screenshot0076.jpg


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Fast game, I usually take 3 to 6 more hours to finish a game!
 
CarlH said:
Why is it that noone settled INW, on the plains hill, so as to get the deer? was it to avoid tundra? given it'll be a while before the city reaches size 21 (and needs to work those tundra tiles), i would have thought it was a pretty obvious move.
Click to expand...

I decided not to settle in there to make another city use the deer.
 
Monarch/Normal/4000 BC - 1 AD

Spoiler :
Settled in place.
Build order: worker - warrior - workboat - 2xwarrior - settler - worker
Tech path: agriculture - fishing - BW - TW - masonry; beeline to monarchy - CoL(free) - contrcution - literature
Civ4ScreenShot0076-1.jpg


Neighbors
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Civ4ScreenShot0078.jpg


I have copper and a juicy neighbor capital
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2nd city
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I couldn't resist and stole his worker. Then made peace
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War!
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I called off the operation because he had 3-4 archers and i had 6 axes
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Got CoL from the oracle
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First GS built an academy in the capital
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Borders:
Civ4ScreenShot0103.jpg


My land:
Civ4ScreenShot0102.jpg


Noone has alphabet yet:
Civ4ScreenShot0100.jpg


Demographics:
Civ4ScreenShot0101.jpg


I am 5th in land. That's not good but i have an army ready to attack and finish Caesar. After taking his 2 cities Lincoln will be my next victim. He signed open borders a few turns ago. I will scout his territory and wait for a good time to attack. Montezuma is in war mode and his worst enemy is Lincoln. I guess he will declare on him soon. I will join him if he asks me to do.
 

Attachments

BigTime said:
I'll check it out, one sec.

Edit: Fixed, re-download the zip and try again. I'm not sure what went wrong, but I copy-pasted the Emperor save and changed around the techs and it works.
Click to expand...

Changed around the techs? Does it mean the barbs have archers already?
 
Immortal/normal to 1AD

Spoiler :


Meet JC on turn 3 and have copper in BFC... AXE RUSH!!!

Settle northern wheat/deer/marble city first, which whipped out quite a few axes, and DoW with about 13 axes in the initial force. I've learned you need far more axes than chariots in a rush, so here it is.

Civ4ScreenShot0300.jpg


His capital is a gold mine (literally) so I take it :) He managed to get one praet out the whole rush. He had five cities in all (stupid IMP) but a force of axes easily take them all out. Once his main cities (cap, antuim, neapolis) are taken out, there's really no hope for him. He left me some nice stuff though, including the Jewish holy city and the Great Wall :D.

Post-rush:

Civ4ScreenShot0299.jpg


Moved Palace to Rome:

Civ4ScreenShot0301.jpg


Teched alpha with gold from conquest, then built research for currency and CoL. Traded for monarchy as well. I can now survive forever! Gilga will soon be at friendly with HR + Judaism, and I will spam missionaries to Lincoln to make him convert back to Judaism. Then it's a simple matter of teching off to a military advantage and winning.

Tech situation is amazing considering I rushed:

Civ4ScreenShot0303.jpg


Land:

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Now it's time for peaceful teching.


 
Immortal/normal to liberalism

Spoiler :


Continued to peacefully tech, without any threat of war. Picked up a late tao, which was nice:

Civ4ScreenShot0304.jpg


Founded in my old capital incidentally. Teched the lib path and could've won lib in the late 700s, but delayed it, not for what I really wanted (rifling), but good enough. Gilga was teching lib magically all of a sudden:

Civ4ScreenShot0305.jpg


On the line to Demo and Corp. Current lands:

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Civ4ScreenShot0307.jpg


Tech Situation:

Civ4ScreenShot0309.jpg


Now I will tech off to MT and Rifles and claim a huge amount of land by the way of Lincoln and Monty. If I can hit Louis/WK as well I will. Domination should be straightly mop up from here. Gilgamesh will be ignored since he's on his own island.

 
Emperor-normal till 1 Ad

Spoiler :


settled in place, julius was too close for comfort so i decided on a rush. After AG i researched BW and fortunatly got copper. I settled my second city just in time because Julius was 2 squares away with his own settler.

2560BCsecondcityjustintime.jpg


After building a stack of axes/spears i declared on Julius and took Rome. He already had Praetorians but since i didn't have IW yet i didn't know where he got his iron.
It turned out his iron was near Rome so after taking that i only met archers and chariots. I took his other 2 cities, keeping one and razing the other.

1360BCdowonjulius.jpg


1040BCsecondromancity.jpg


875BC3rdandlastromancityraze.jpg


850BCterritory.jpg


575BC5thcitytoblockLincoln.jpg


500BCpyramids.jpg


1ADroomfor1citysouthwest.jpg


1ADroomfor1citynortheast.jpg


1ADtech.jpg



1 AD and i have settled one more city so Lincoln wouldn't settle there. I have room for 2 more cities.

Since i have both stone and marble a cultural victory seems to be a good way to go for now.



 
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