SOR01 - Special OCC

This is a one-city challenge.



Roster:

(I'm looking for 4-7 players here. I'll wait until I have enough, at which point you will see "CLOSED" at the bottom of the roster. This will be updated when I see requests. When you request, make it is clear you want to join. I will add in the order I see posted.)

AndrewN
Grimjack
yoshi74
Nad
Kaiser_Berger

CLOSED


Game Settings:
Version: Conquests 1.15
Size: Standard
Land: Continents 70% water
Barbarians: None
Climate: Normal
Temperature: Temperate
Age: 4 billion
Difficulty: Monarch (subject to change, depending on comments)
Default victory conditions are on, cultural conversions are on, AI respawn off, culturally linked start optional
Civ: The Byzantines (for the reason of traits (Scientific for the reason that it is the best in this case - cheap libraries and universities, free science each era, and better chance at getting a SGL, and Seafaring for the reason the we are near the coast so that we can build coast-required wonders and be able to explore via the seas and meet other civs in the early stages to benefit more from our, if we can/will building it, Great Library.)


Variant:
Aggression: is on highest! This will be one of the greatest challenges!



Requirements:
You must be familiar with diplomacy and reputation - we are playing with aggression! Also, if we plan to win via culture, which is very likely, be well versed in the concept of culture, and all the wonders. This, especially because of the high aggressiveness, will be very difficult, probably harder than it seems., so, generally, you should be a good civ player.




Rules:
No Roprape (doubt you will need it), scout resource denial, and other exploits.

each session will last 20 terns.


Others:
While I am the admin, I will not be playing. Once we've established the roster, or at least a good part of it, the first person will begin.

This isn't a requirement, but more a suggestion/request: if you guys can, please post screenshots. Sometimes it isn't exiting cuz it's only one city, but if something may be interesting, post it (the first and last turn definitely.)

Also, try to tell us what happened each turn. This will be a lot easier since it's only one city.

Feedback is much appreciated and encouraged, as is requests to change the settings.

So, anyone want to play?

I'll play

Are you providing the start? If so don't make it too difficult. OCC is not fun with a dry tundra start

Originally posted by AndrewN
I'll play

Are you providing the start? If so don't make it too difficult. OCC is not fun with a dry tundra start

Click to expand...

No, you will be. Because this is monarch OCC with high aggression, you are allowed to restart in order to get a good one.

Glad you could join!

I will bite, I am fairly certain an OCC would fit in nicely with the low impact on my time.

Grimjack

Getting enough wonders in one city without rush ability (exept SGLs) and no prebuild fp/palace this should be real tough at monarch. But i will give it a try. Sign me up.

Actually, the hardest thing is to not get stomped by the AI during the medieval age when you are constantly building wonders, and tend to lack in military. The aggressive setting makes this much harder.

Grimjack

I'm really glad you guys want to join

This will be very difficult, especially because of the high aggression. The AI will constantly demand tributes, etc.

If you want, Andrew, you can start now. Plug in all the data.

But before he does, does anyone object to anything?

tend to lack in military.

Click to expand...

We will always lack in military, no matter how much we build. A too big military will eat our income like nothing, with back in tech and very few resources we wont have much to offer anywhere in trading. From the late ancient age we will get toasted when a neighboring ai declared war to us.
I have to admit i doubt it possible to win this one on monarch. Not because we will get stomped. Its not too hard to keep the peace when were are no a threat. But i see only two winning conditions: culture and diplo. And we need good tech with both.

I can't play at the moment, I'm at work

I'll start tonight and play 20 turns, OK?

I will have to disagree with you, having recently completed a game on emperor, where I used pointy-stick on the AIs as a research tool.
This worked really good as long as I could get by on horse- and swordsmen. It worked extremely well, and that was in a PTW game, where armies were not as strong as now.
This was in a small game though, and the AIs could not grow so terribly big.

I am not saying we should do this here, I am saying that it is possible to use pointy stick during ancient age, should we want to do it.

( The gameplan was to spawn lots of leaders to rush wonders. It backfired, as constant warfare slowed down the AIs enough so that I couldn't build university before 750AD. )

Grimjack

I would like to join . I've already got a SG I'm playing at the moment, but OCCs are usually very quick to play. I love OCCs but haven't played one in a while.

I'd be interested to try to win by space race. In case anyone hasn't read it, Aggie recently completed a monarch OCC with the Byzantine's on space! I'd be interested to see if we could replicate that (or perhaps better it ). Here's a link:

Aggie the Magnificent

Originally posted by AndrewN
I can't play at the moment, I'm at work

I'll start tonight and play 20 turns, OK?

Click to expand...

No worries. Play whenever you can.

20 is fine, it's going to be the offical number.

I'm looking forward to it!

and that was in a PTW game, where armies were not as strong as now.

Click to expand...

We need 4 cities to form an army, so no armies here

Yup, I made that mistake in my game too. I will see if I can scrounge up a weblink for tomorrow if you want to see a turnlog.

( I was terribly disappointed when I had to settle for rushing SunTzu, instead of an army. )
In C3C a leader is not nearly as useful in an OCC. We would want to use him though, in case we have a chance at an SGL.
Grimjack

I recently won an OCC as the Byzantines on Monarch...it must be a sign

I'll bite, this sounds like fun.

OK SORO1. Roll a new world, standard, continents (70%), no barbarians, normal, temperate, 4 billion. Byzantines, Monarch, aggressive

0) 4000BC.

The terrain look promising. Forest, BG and on a river , there is even a mountain in the distance with a chance for iron. I think I'll settle here. Constantinople founded. I've even got a luxary, I'll keep this one.

The save for any lurkers who think they can do better

and our start position


I start with warrior, curragh and then the Colossus. Research set to writing at maximum in 43 turns.

Worker S to mine and road the BG.

1) 3950BC Worker mine
2) 3900BC Zzzz.
3) 3850BC Zzzz.
4) 3800BC Zzzz.
5) 3750BC Warrior completes, Constantinople set to curragh in 8. Warrior wanders off.
6) 3700BC Exploring.
7) 3650BC Mine finishes, road. Warrior stands on the mountain to have a look round. I see an excellent spot for the second city, shame we aren't going to build one
8) 3600BC Exploring.
9) 3550BC Exploring.
10) 3500BC Borders expand, Constantinople grows, curragh is produced. Constantinople set to Colossus in 50. We have multiple spices for trading.

Bonus, we are playing Monarch so we have two content people. Writing down to 24 turns.

11) 3450BC Worker mine next BG.
12) 3400BC Exploring. The curragh sees some Indian warriors on a mountain.

India is up CB, down BW and has 10g, no extra cities. Unfortunately BW and 10g is insulting for CB so there is no trade.

13) 3350BC Exploring.
14) 3300BC Exploring. Well that explains why India didn't want to trade, they have BW now.
15) 3250BC Exploring.
16) 3200BC Exploring. I see borders. It must be the Indian capital.
17) 3150BC Exploring. It looks like India settled their capital 1 square from the coast, I the AI. Mine finished, road. Colossus down to 35 turns.
18) 3100BC Exploring. India asks us to leave.
19) 3050BC Exploring.
20) 3000BC Exploring. Constantiople grows again. Tax to 0.9.1. Road finished, move worker to next BG.

Thats it.

Notes:

I went for writing to be followed by literature for the GL (Great Library or Great Lighthouse depending on what we want/need). Writing is due in 12.

The Colossus is due in 26, although this should come down as Constatinople grows and mines are built.

It looks like we are on a small island with only India. We haven't travelled round the whole island yet, but there is not much room for another civ. There is land in sight to the south and east for futher exploration, but we can't trade with them as there is sea separating us. With the limited room India won't be able to get very big so we might be able to eliminate them at some point.

My initial idea was to go for lit after writing, but as the island we are on is small we might want mapmaking first. In my experiance the AI dosen't research lit very quickly so we might be able to get both GL's (am I insanely optimistic or what?)

11 squares in our 21 are next to the river. I make that a lot of commerce once the Colossus is finished.

Our current position


and the save

Lots of BG

But one question: why not going philosphie and taking litrature as our free tech? With those nice river extra commerce and beeing the biggest city (not settler ) we should be able to snatch it first

Yeah, I'd say definetely go for Philosophy ASAP. The free tech of Literature makes very good sense. If we're really lucky, we'll pop a scientific leader from one of the two and be able to rush the GL.

Of course, now that I've said that we'll probably never see a leader of any sort at any point in the game

Edit: I was thinking about it some more, and if I'm not mistaken, the combo of Colossus and Great Library will toss us into our GA. Not a pleasant thought while we're in despotism.

With that in mind, we might want to consider what I did in my recent Byzantine OCC. Instead of going for Philo right away after writing, I went for Code of Laws first, then Philo. With that, I was able to take The Republic as my free tech. After a short revolt, I emerged as a research powerhouse and was able to quickly pick up literature and what not.
It can be a bit risky potentially, but I think we'll be able to pull it off, if we attempt it.

Uh-Uh. First code of law, than philo->rep, than litrature. Thats more than 40 turns delay on the GL. With good trading we might don't need it much for techs, but they give us great culture. Through a GA i despo is not great, going for republic first will cost us the GL quite sure.
It definitly makes some sense, but i don't know if another wonder done more quickly will pay off for this...

I'm not so sure it'll cost us the GL. The AI is painfully slow to research Literature in most games. You give the AI a bit too much credit....I've seen them not have lit until the early AD on Demigod, so I'm fairly confident. Then again, perhaps too confident