GOTM 39: Spoiler 1 - The Ancient Era, All Contacts

GOTM 39 Spoiler 1: Entering the Middle ages.

To qualify for this spoiler, as this is a pangeia map, you must meet ALL the following criteria:

1. Reached the middle ages.
2. Have contact with all the other ELEVEN civs.
3. Have a map of the majority of the land they all occupy.

Do NOT discuss or disclose ANY events, discoveries, actions or decisions that took place that related to Middle Age technologies or resources.

Please Note Also: Once you have opened the starting save, PLEASE DO NOT POST IN THE PRE-GAME DISCUSSION or GAME RELEASE THREADS, and please do not post any information about this game outside these official spoiler threads until the game is closed.

How did you develop your early civilization? Did you have any early wars with your neighbours? How did you make contact with everyone, and how soon?

Wow- looks like I’m the first! Open, Mac Vanilla.

This isn’t the most organized or detail-filled post- sorry! My note-taking quickly went by the wayside, and I didn’t end up recording a lot of key details (such as when I entered the Middle ages). Is there any way to get a replay such as you get when you finish the game?

Also- AlanH- what is the Mac OSX command for minimizing Civ and getting to the desktop? This would definitely help me in my note-taking. Has anyone come up with a macro that records all actions, or at least the important ones?

On to the game… my start was pathetic! I definitely need more practice with crowded maps at higher difficulty levels (for me at least). I am more and more amazed at how good you pros are if Monarch is a step or three down...

Its been an interesting game though. Since I just got the GOTM installation, it’s the first time EVER that I’ve met Arabs, Ottomans, Keltoi, etc.

My ancient age was marred by not encountering a single goodie hut, and only dispersing 1 or 2 barbarian encampment (not including the one that killed my veteran warrior) . Also, I managed to get boxed in and not get a coastal city (this will change in the middle ages, but more on that later).

My starting move was to send the worker north, and I saw the extra bg, so send settler NE and founded Berlin in 3950BC. Went with Pottery at 100%. Builiding queue was something like warrior_> warrior-> spearman _> warrior > settler > granary (if I can read my notes).

I send my settler S to settle SE of the hill next to the incense patches- seemed important to grab at least one luxury. Liepzig founded 2350.

From there, pretty much just tried to fill in cities around Berlin, grabbing an Iron hill (I researched ironworking after pottery) a few spaces to the west. These cities generally researched either a worker first or temple to increase cultural boundaries

At 1000 BC, Munich, my 6th city, was founded. At this point I think I was tied for 6th among the known (non-Asian) civilizations, although #’s 4-7 were all within a few pts.

Research seemed slow, but I was able to work some trades and I think ended the AA only a tech behind the leaders, but missing Republic too. After iron working, I had traded for alphabet, then researched writing and literature. Literature got me mathematics and horseback riding, as well as about 200 gold from various civs (sorry, don’t remember who), then I was able to buy philosophy with gold and trade literature +philosophy to get two more techs (mapmaking + code of laws). Techwise, after this I went for Monarchy, which then allowed me to trade for the three Asian contacts and construction or currency, I think in 390 BC. Middle ages was not too far off after this- not sure of the date. The only bright spot in this picture was a 1 turn anarchy as I was crowned king.

I basically never was able to make a serious play for any of the AA wonders, and as I didn’t go to war, never had a GL to rush with. The Arabs and Romans were both quite strong (Romans took a dislike to the Greeks and had taken about half of their cities by the end of AA). These guys demanded money, techs, etc, and I was a big wuss and gave it to them… Even without that problem, I was far enough behind that I wasn’t really able to make a living off of tech-trading. Didn’t seem like I had enough units to start a war, so I just kept filling in cities in adjacent territorial gaps and building temples and libraries to try to make my culture competitive. Also started to build up some military. My relative score was increasing, I think 5th by the end of the AA. China #1, Arabs #2, can’t remember who’s 3, 4, maybe Keltoi and Romans?

While a victory any time before late industrial/modern age is out of the question, I’m still hoping I can pull out some kind of win. Short term, I hoped to keep culture going to maybe instigate a few flips (Zululand and romans each have cities partially surrounded by my territory). I have a palace pre-build to hopefully snag either Sun-tzu or Leo’s. Also want to continue wedging in a couple more cities to the west along the lower western peninsula, hopefully to make it out to the water and connect the furs. Longer term, I’ll try to not get left in the dust with the tech race, find a weak neighbor or two to pummel to get some more territory. At this point, I’ll re-evaluate- see whether I can get research going fast enough to go for spaceship/build UN, or whether its going to have to be conquest/domination/histographic.

I will enjoy reading other starting posts to see what you all did. My impression is that my poor start had a lot to do with subsequent city placements. My second city was pretty far away and partially in the jungle, and none of my other cities really were all that productive. This meant that for much of the Ancient age Berlin was building warrior-settler and everything else was stuck on Temple. Maybe I should have just done libraries, skipped temple for the time being,, and built up enough troops to claim more territory?

Looking forward to GOTM40…

Also- AlanH- what is the Mac OSX command for minimizing Civ and getting to the desktop? This would definitely help me in my note-taking. Has anyone come up with a macro that records all actions, or at least the important ones?

Click to expand...

The replay at the end only shows when cities were founded and wonders built. It won't tell you when you researched specific techs or changed ages.

Command-H (as in 'Hide' - works for most apps) or Command-P ('Pause') works in Civ3)

No, there's no auto-logging facility for any platform as far as I'm aware. Work started on a Windows one a year or two back, but it never made it past an early beta. I looked at doing one for Mac, but got too busy around here. I might pick it up again one day, but I don't know how to do the mind-reading bit that would be needed to capture the really interesting stuff about your thoughts, strategy and decisions.

Open PTW 1.27f

Opening

The starting spot was not nearly as impressive as last month's and a worker move to the north didn't really give me any reason to move so I just bit the bullet and founded on the spot. It was nice to see two BGs pop up, so the site isn't really that bad. With a pangaea setup and 11 rival civs I figured the 1st tier techs would circulate very quickly. With this in mind I decided to research Iron Working at minimum. My goal for this game is 20k and the capital was definitely not going to be that city. It was vital that I got a settler out ASAP. I built 2 Warriors to find a decent 20k spot and to quickly establish contact with the neighbors. Shouldn't be too hard to find someone in such a crowded setup! Warrior1 headed west and Warrior2 headed north.

Leipzig

From what these guys mapped I almost changed my mind about 20k as nothing really jumped out at me as a good site. I ended up choosing a spot between the SW hill and the gold mountains. There's good shield potential there but it took a LOT of work! I built another two Warriors for further scouting (both heading south) and then built another Settler instead of a Granary. I needed Workers fast and the flood plains to the north were a good Worker site. Hamburg built yet another Warrior and then proceeded to spend the next 2000 years building Workers almost non-stop (a Granary was squeezed in somewhere.) Most of these went to Leipzig, first improving the few clear tiles and then cutting jungle. By 1400bc I had 4 Workers and 4 bought Slaves clearing jungle. Once a tile was cleared and mined one of the native Workers would join Leipzig and be replaced by a new Worker. Leipzig grew quickly this way and developed into a pretty nice producer.

The Neighbors

It certainly didn't take long to meet someone. In fact, they met me! A Zulu Warrior discovered Berlin in 3600, just a few turns after my first Warrior headed out. The Zulu had Pottery and were willing to take Bronze Working for it. Warrior1 headed west and found Arabia, the Ottomans and the Celts. Warrior2 headed north and met the English and found the Zulus. Warrior3 headed SE and met Rome while Warrior4 headed SW and met Greece and America. We are in the middle of quite a crowd! With Berlin producing Settlers, Leipzig building culture and Hamburg working on Workers all the rest of my cities immediately built barracks and Warriors. Luckily we had nearby Iron (and next to Leipzig too ) so an early Sword war was doable. Somewhere around 500bc we gained contact through trade with the Asian continent.

War Begins

In 610bc, I upgraded 11 Swords and declared war on Arabia. I had placed a city on one of the W silks that was right against the Arabian border and was a flip threat so Arabia became my first target. The invasion went smooth and in 270 I had them down to 1 town south of the gulf and traded peace. This was shortly after advancing to the Middle Ages in 390.

20k

Leipzig's culture builds:
1950bc - Temple
430bc - Great Library
350bc - Library

Not a bad start. I was targetting the Great Library and the Hanging Gardens (which I build a little into the MA) and getting both was nice. I was worried about that site but enough BGs showed up to make it work.

1000bc Stats

8 cities
pop 21
1 Granary
2 Barracks
1 Temple
6 Workers
4 Slaves
8 Warriors
All required tech except Curr, Const
346g

Tech

3600 - Pottery (Zulu)
2630 - Ceremonial Burial (Ottomans)
2150 - Iron Working (20% - 40t)
2150 - Alphabet ( Greece)
2150 - Mysticism (Ottomans)
2150 - Masonry (Ottomans)
2150 - The Wheel (Celts)
1000 - Polytheism (10% - 40t)
1000 - Writing (Celts)
1000 - Horseback Riding (Celts)
1000 - Philosophy (Zulu)
1000 - Code of Laws (Greece)
1000 - Map Making (Arabia)
1000 - Mathemtics (Celts)
775 - Literature (90% - 9t)
390 - Currency (Great Library)
390 - Construction (Great Library)

bio_hazard said:

I will enjoy reading other starting posts to see what you all did. My impression is that my poor start had a lot to do with subsequent city placements. My second city was pretty far away and partially in the jungle, and none of my other cities really were all that productive. This meant that for much of the Ancient age Berlin was building warrior-settler and everything else was stuck on Temple. Maybe I should have just done libraries, skipped temple for the time being,, and built up enough troops to claim more territory?

Click to expand...

I didn't take any notes. I liked this game so much that I kept on playing last weekend and finished sunday evening.

Something about your questions.
I settled berlin 2 NW and my worker first mined the 2 bg that were workable after expansion and then cut/irrigated the forest/deer. building orders were warrior, warrior, granary, settler. From then on mostly settlers with an occasional warrior and a barracks.

The new cities were placed in a ring around berlin at distance 3x. Their building orders were warrior, worker, barracks, warriors and occasional worker or settler.
Two exeptions though: i founded a city between the cow and the wheat in the NE and one on the floodplains next to wheat to the NW. These cities didn't build military but granary and settlers, workers.

My 1000BC statistics are: 9 cities, 20 pop. , 12 workers and 11 warriors. I have 2 horse connected and 2 iron not connected and no lux. I'm trading horse for wine with miss Elly. I'm researching repulic (28 turns) and missing construction, currency, mapmaking, polytheism and monarchy. Improvements are 3 granaries, 4 barracks and 1 library.

No one has build any wonders yet but 2 are building colossus, 6 great library and 6 the oracle. No one seems to have any interest in the pyramids

I would only consider building temples in case off a cultural attack or if planning for a 100K. At 1000BC I'm building a temple in the city with the library: it is attacking england and culturally stolen englands horse which i then traded back to her for wine.

As one may expect I won't do an archer-rush but I will take up the sword to the villain who dares building the great library.

Playing Open, Civ III

This is my first game GOTM game =P and also my first game with the patch and GOTM Mod.

The initial location of the Germans is very good (very central, iron, horses and luxuries all around). In the center of the continent I placed a city in the starting location and many other cities in a ring around it. My second city was in the Flood Plains to the northwest. It produced settlers at light speed while my Capital hat difficulties keeping up with it even tought it had a Granary. I also built many military units, but most of them were cheap Warriors, just to make numbers.

It was very ease to make contact with almost everyone in my continent since the other civs are majoratly around my start position, were always sending scouts back and forth and I had a Warrior exploring the neighborhoods.

At the start my people started developing Iron Working in order to see those Iron spots and place I city with this resource. Luckly I found that my provinces in the lake to the SW had put the iron in my terrotory. The very big amount of civs is very good for tech trading since there is always someone in position to trade with me.

I Called my capital Fathers of the Country ("Pais da Patria" in portuguese) and each new city recead a german tribe name (Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Lombards, Vandalos, Teutons, etc)

At the start of the map I didn´t pay much attention to the fact that I was in Monarch level, so I followed a Deity strategy and used my Capital to produce settlers and units giving up Ancient wonders. That proved a good strategy, since all computer civilizations ended with small (4 to 7 cities) civilizations while I had the greatest one in the continent by far (about 10 cities).

I built two cities in the lake in the southwest and later one to conect the lake to the ocean, but unfortunately the game did not allow this two cities to build ships =(

While I grew, I was forced to accept blackmail from other civs demanding gold and their troops in my territory to avoid a war in a period I was not ready.

When I grew, I started demanding their troops to withdraw. The Zulus did not, so the became a target. I had the greatest country in the continent, but no wonders, so I decided to go offensive. The zulus are located at the northeast and would get the Piramids latter. Fearing that the Zulus could start alliances against me, I convinced the English to declare war on them. I built a attack force with about 6 units and a Catapult and conquered a Zulu city.

In this moment I needed luxuries and saw that the English had wines, so I broke the military pact (I can still see the computer answering my Mutual Protection Pact offers with: We can´t forget what you did to the English hahaha). First I took their capital and got a cease fire. Then I took the rest and most of the Zulus, leaving only their capital fighting the Roman. Incredbly it survived years of wars with the Romans. Both sides eventually won Great Leaders in this strugle what I did not like, so I decided to but an end to this by crushing the Zulu Capital with many Persian Mercenarys (first time I saw this unit, very cool).

The rest is in the Middle Ages

I must say that the difficulty level is very easy, and governing a huge amount of cities is terribly boring, so I recomed players to aim at winning the game as soon as possible.

Wow,
Another crowded map and such a big difference compared to the game we played as Austria recently.
Monarch level made huge difference and it was so much easier to play.
First, I was suprised when i had to do much of AA research myself but then i realised that monarch level AIs built too few cities until running out of land and it simply wan't enough to generate beakers for fast research.

I settled in place and although we didn't have much food for the good settler factory i managed to capture largest junk of land. I was afraid of Shaka and started collecting troops along Zulu borders since beggining of the game, but Shaka was surprisingly polite towards me. Instead, Arabs were the ones continiously demanding gold so they finally pissed me of and i declared, signing MA alliance with Osmans against them.
Arabs were weak and were quickly shreded to 2 remote cities.
Although Shaka was nice and polite I declared on him next anyways and
by the end of AA zulu empire laid in ruins.
It's early MAs i need to regroup troops and England is going to be my next target. I've been trying to keep good relatioships with Ceasar and Alex. I don't want to deal with their UUs until i have at least knights.

Open 1.29f

Well, it didn't take long to see where the "creators" wanted us to go with this game. Iron, horses, freshwater, and luxuries nearby. Not only for us, but for our rivals as well. AlanH is a self-professed warmonger. But,....

My initial plan was to expand to the point where I could build my FP, with aspirations of attempting a late conquest with those original cities only. I remember a GOTM by Zwingli where he conquered the world with only 2 cities in the modern age. I thought I'd have a chance to pull it off with 6 - 8 cities. But, things changed.

Relatively early, the Arabs delcared war on me for denying their extortion attempts. I was a little concerned of a pile on by the AI, but it never materialized. I lost one city, which dropped me down to five cities. This is where I altered my goal. I then settled on a 5CC. Technically, not a pure one, but one just the same. The war with the Arabs eventually ended, with them paying me for peace. WW did them in. I didn't capture a single Arab settlement.

I entered the Middle Age somewhere just before or after AD. The images are of 110 AD. I need more workers atm. Outside of researching through most of the Ancient Age, I'm now buying techs only, from here on out. I don't really want to war and raze cities because the harm it will cause my reputation if a diplomatic option presents itself. Resources for a possible SS victory will likely be a difficulty. Conquest with five cities,...

dojoboy - I have a fondness for the 5CC game and actually tried it 4 times in a row in GOTMs last summer (2 losses, a Diplo win and a Conquest win - also had a 5CC 20k with the Vikings a few years ago.) I'll be interested in seeing how you dealt with the challenges of this style as compared to how I dealt with them (or failed to as the case may be!) Good luck!

Open, Civ III.

The Zulu attacked me very early because I had little military. The took a couple of my cities, but when the war was over one Zulu city after another flipped to me and in the end of AA they had only 2 cities so I captured them with ease. And still 3 civs are dismissive of my culture.

Open, PTW

Officially this is my first GOTM, though I played a while in GOTM 38 only to familiarize myself with the "old" way of things in PTW. Usually for fun I play on demigod or deity in Conquests, generally losing over and over with a very rare win, so PTW rules are a bit different from what I am used to (though I've played every civ since the original).

Anyway, diving into it head first I realize now that I didn't take care to keep track of my strategy. I remember a good amount of what happened, though for some frustrating reason I don't remember it terms of when I entered particular ages. I can say a little of what I did in the AA, but to be really sure I'd have to go back to some of my save games to remind myself of what I did.

I saved as a I went along every few hundred years, because 1) I have kids and pets and computers occasionally turn off on me and 2) I get occasional crashes.
I know you aren't supposed to go back to an earlier save game to play fairly, but is it okay to do this for the purpose of remembering my strategy? If so I'll go ahead and do that.

In the meantime this is what I remember of the AA:

I hoped for a conquest win, though I was open to other possibilities. Given the close quarters of this map I decided to develop a very warlike early strategy.

Opening moves:
Worker went north to the game, settler settled on the spot. I suspected grabbing land or going for a quick rush would be aided by starting a city immediately, plus nothing looked great nearby. My worker started chopping and I built Warrior -> Warrior -> Granary (aided by chopping) -> Settler -> Barracks -> chariot -> Horseman

I quickly researched pottery sent warriors north and west, very quickly ran into zulu and arab scouts and then english warriors. Through rapid trades I acquired everything from all 3 of these civs while researching the wheel at 100% followed by horseback riding. I traded the wheel for more stuff. My first settler moved the the flood plains the the north (with the wheat) and started a 4 turn settler factory. I built cities in a ring 4 spaces away from the capital. My capital became a veteran horseman factory with a few spearmen and my other cities quickly built barracks and produced additional spearmen and horsemen. I met all the civs fairly quickly by trading for communications, though I met the Americans and Romans personally.

War:
The English and Zulus quickly went to war and the english razed a Zulu city, while the zulus pushed back hard and wiped out a lot of the English forces. I almost declared war on the zulu being close by and engaged in the war, but those special zulu spearman being fast units discouraged me from my horseman strategy. Instead I turned West to the arabs who appeared strong enough to be a threat worth elminating fast, but weak enough to be a good bet. My horsemen quickly took one city after another, eventually leaving the arabs with 2 western coastal cities. Meanwhile the Roman legionairres began their own campaign vs the greeks and expanded their already decent sized city base. After 2 separate peace treaties with the arabs (I even let the first one go all 20 turns) I had acquired all of their techs and in the 2nd treaty 2 of their 4 remaining cities.

At this point I forget a lot of details, and in particular when I reached the MA, so I will stop here. If, however, it is safe to look at my older saves I can probably give a little better update. I would have entered the QSC, though I forgot to make a 1000 bc... I have a 1050 bc save, but didn't remember the QSC until a few hundred years later!

This may be monarchy, but I'm not used to such crowding... definitely a challenging and different environment from what I usually play in.

Krexent

Welcome, Krexent.

I know you aren't supposed to go back to an earlier save game to play fairly, but is it okay to do this for the purpose of remembering my strategy? If so I'll go ahead and do that.

Click to expand...

Not a problem if you're just revisiting them for old time's sake

I send my worker to NW but dont see anything fancy so settle in place and plan is to mine and road NW before chopping game forest. I produce 3 warriors to meet my neighbours as soon as possible. Then I start granary. The granary is done in 2800BC and I start my first settler. I started out with zero research since I saw lots of civs had alphabet and pottery (F10 - my new friend). I thought at least some of them would have to be close to me, and that was correct.

By 2800BC I have meet arabia, zululand, england, ottomans and rome. I have been able to trade for all first level techs except the wheel and also one worker from zulu. England also had a worker for sale but did not want to trade it even for masonry. I got alphabet in 3400BC and started then writing on minimum speed.

In 2030BC I have in addition traded for the wheel, writing and mysticism. I start literacy at max speed. I want to build a couple of cheap libraries.

In 1990BC I trade for two new workers, one for writing (ottomans) and one for 106g (greece). In 1750BC I trade for yet another worker from celts, giving only well known techs. They are way behind.

In 1550BC I trade for horseback riding from the celts and using that getting iron working from the english.

I discover literacy in 1425BS. I will soon build libs in four of my cities from prebuilds. I start philosophy on max. I discover philosophy in 1275BC. I start code of laws on max. I trade for code of laws in 1250BC. Starting republic on max.

I trade for mathematics in 1150BC.

QSC stats:
7 cities
22 citizens
1 settler
5 native workers
4 slaves (purchased)
20 warriors
275 gold
6 libraries

3 barracks
1 granary

Missing poly, construction, currency and republic (10 turns)
Contact with civs on home continent only. But game finished so still qualify for spoiler.



I discover republic in 730BC. I get 3 turn anarchy.

I go to war against the zulu in 800BC. I give peace to the zulu in 690BC and leave them with 2 remote cities. I have gained one lux, their capital and 2 cities, one of which I will move to fit into my RCP 5. One city was unfortunately autorazed.

I declare on the English in 590BC, raze one city and get my first leader. No interesting wonders available so will in the next turns build FP in London.

I declare on Ottomans in 510BC to get the incense. They only have 3 cities and should not pose any problems.

I make peace with english in 390BC for one city, currency and construction. We enter MA and we get monotheism as free tech. I grant techs to all scientific civs (except ottomans) and I get all the 3 first level techs. I start chivalry.

Well, as I've mentioned is 1 or 2 other places, I've made a return to CIV after about a year or more of wandering the dangerous lands of Neverwinter Nights.

Having to learn everything from old threads, and re-learning many things, I was somewhat apprehensive of monarchy, as I recall at my peak (what others might call a foothill ) I struggled on emperor, and rarely won. Given that, I had no specifically chosen strategy (not ideal, I know) which meant that I went for strength, and then a decision on how, if possible, to win.

Well, I can now say I was pleasantly surprised - this map certainly has given me an enjoyable game that I really should win, given my current position.

Now, to the specific spolier details. My detailed notes go to 1000 bc, after that, I wing it

After reading up again on how to build a settler farm, and still only partially understanding it (sighs ), I figured I had to settle NW, to get the free aqueduct, and and chop N to get irrigated game.

I set off on Science for IW @ 20%, trusting 11 civ's to mean a LOT of tech trading ( good call, me ).

Met the Zulu's VERY early 3500 bc ... not a smiley face - them with that ancient age UU, and me not likely to see mine for a little while Still, I bravely traded, and got Pottery for Bronze working and 4gp.

3350 BC an English scout pop's in for tea and crumpet's, but refuses my best effort's for the alphabet (warrior code + 32 gp + 3 gpt).

After Zulu's get Aplhabet, I am able to trade for it (3100).

Given the GPT deals I entered, I did some fairly tight MMing of units, growth etc. to avoid breaking gpt deals, and going bankrupt. I think I made it by about 2 gp (thanks to the turn of wealth I added). at this point in time, I've created a barracks, and have a few archers - not an archer rush, by any means.

2430, I find that Zulu's and English have IW, Masonry and the wheel - I am still 8 turns to IW. big sigh.

2350 finds me at the bottom of the civ tree, with the newly discovered Arab's and Greeks above me as well and the English and Zulu's - not too promising at this point in time, but we persist.

Emphasizing my slow start, my first settler is built in 2350, and Leipzig R1 is founded in 2270.

Fortune favours me, and in 2110 I finally get IW, and greece and Arab's don't have it. I end up getting the wheel, masonry and 154gp for IW, and manage to achieve tech parity. still haven't given Greece IW or Masonry, and they are cash strapped due to my dealing

1950, we meet the Roman's. Big trading times, sinec they know the American's, Ottoman's and CElt's. after a massive trading binge, everyone knows everyone, and I have writing, mysticism, 203 gp and a worker, and have to give 3gpt. Only greeks,arab's and ottoman's have tech parity with me, others are behind, and basically penniless

By 1000 BC, I have:
Bronze Working, Masonry, Alphabet, Pottery, the Wheel, Warrior Code, Ceremonial Burial, Iron Working, Writing, Mysticism, Mathematics, Philosophy, Code of Laws, Literature, Map Making (and LOTS of map trading), Horseback Riding, and am researching Polytheism. I have 5 cities a sadly slow start that get's rectified later... and I am trying to build the Great Library, and behind, as far as I can tell.

The Zulu's get's aggressive, and yb great good fortune, a veteran archer goes elite, and I get a Great Leader, giving me the Great Library. This was a sign of things to come, as to date (not finish), I have GL'd 5 wonders in Berlin. Building by Pointy-stick !!!

The period from 1000 BC to 210 BC was extremely exciting, and effectively set me up for the game - the Great Leader Great Library (GL^2) really was the turning point in a game that was looking lost. By 210 BC, I had been in Middles ages for a while, was well into a revolt to go to republic (from despotism - 7 turns!! ), and had maps and contacts to all civ's. I was up to 9 cities, had 9 pikemen and 5 Medieval Inf, and was ranked 4th on the Civ ladder.

See ya in the next spoiler... and hopefully, I will have won by then...

The planetary survey data lay scattered on his desk. The holiday parties had taken quite a toll on Mursilis and it was now time to get back to work. A new colony mission was leaving this weekend and he hadn’t selected a team leader yet. The planet looked relatively benign and the proposed landing site was quite neutral. As he began perusing the list of available candidates his mind wandered to a promise made to his wife to give his brother-in-law a chance. “Hey, this one’s pretty easy. How can “Wrong Way Otto” screw this up” he thought.

Bismarck was elated to finally have a chance to create a society his way, full of culture and class and built on a solid foundation of science. As the colony pod settled to the soft grassland, he got to work. “We’ll settle right here” he ordered “let’s start training a scout and I think we’ll need to learn how to deal with our soon to be dearly departed”.

As Fritz the scout approached the hill and Zulu scout appeared on the horizon. Shaka, the Zulu leader had nothing he was willing to trade. However, an English scout at the base of the mountain was willing to trade pottery to Fritz for a small sum of gold. Hans (brother of Fritz) was also successful in meeting other nations (Ottomans & Arabs), yet he had no luck in finding new technologies or minor tribes. With the discovery of Ceremonial Burial, a building originally designed as a barracks, was now destined to become a temple. A quick trading session parlayed this new technology into Masonry, the Alphabet and Winston, an English slave.

In 2470 BC, Leipzig, the second German city is established and the nation finally began to grow. Meanwhile, Hans & Fritz are busy meeting new neighbors. The Celts and Americans have been added to Bismarck’s fellow islanders. Once again Otto goes to the trading table and this time returns with Iron Working (from the Celts), Mysticism (from the Arabs) and The Wheel (from England). A Roman archer meets Fritz and another contact is added, along with 66 gold pieces the now archaic knowledge of the Wheel. The German empire is growing slowly as in 2070 BC Hamburg joins the nation.

As 1700 BC arrived Otto looked at his map and realized he was getting quite contained. With only a small amount of land to the southeast available, Germany was going to have to fight to obtain enough lands to become independent. As another trading session ended (with Germany gaining Horseback Riding, Writing and contact with Greece), Bismarck ordered his builders to start barracks for trained troops once the temples they were building were complete.

Hans had completed his northern exploration and was heading back to Berlin, when he spied a small group of Celtic archers & warriors heading south. He hadn’t heard of any conflicts yet and was concerned that his homeland might be their target. “Celtic troops coming our way” Bismarck rumbled as he read the message. Get that iron to the city now, and get those warriors working on their blade work.

As the Celtic troops approached Berlin, Bismarck was concerned. He had three defenders and the Celtic stack contained four attackers. For once he got lucky, and the Celtic force split up. When the Celtic troops entered his lands his demand that they leave was greeted by a declaration of war from Brennus, the Celtic leader. His warriors dispatched the first stack and before the second could reach Berlin, the first of his trained swordsmen reached the city. At this battle an event would happen that would be a recurring theme, as a veteran swordsman would lose to a regular spearman without damaging the spear. The remaining swordsmen easily dispatched the remainder of the attackers.

When Rome’s demand for Mathematics was rebuffed, Otto suddenly found himself in a two front war. Needing an ally, he quickly found one in Osman of the Ottomans and the Celts would no longer be an issue. A quick trade of Mathematics for Map Making and Greece would join his fight against Rome. In the first encounter with Roman troops another veteran swordsman would die to a regular spearman, though another would kill the spear and capture a pair of slaves.

As 1000 BC arrived, Otto looked at the sum of his sorry empire. Only six cities (though most had temples and half had barracks) and a small, yet potent force of swordsmen heading for Pompeii.

Pompeii lay in ruins and his troops were standing in the ashes of Pisae, yet his allies had now signed peace with the Celts and Rome. The Celts had been barely scratched, so their world map was his only tribute. Rome however was a different matter. Caesar had suffered greatly, losing two cities and numerous troops. He was forced to consent to the German demands for Philosophy, Code of Laws, Polytheism, a slave and gold. A quick trade with England and literature was quickly acquired. The discovery of currency and the subsequent trade to acquire would lead Germany to be the first nation to enter the Middle Ages. A mild wonder cascade had landed the Pyramids in Zimbabwe, the Great Library in London and Colossus in Washington and as of yet, no off islander has been heard from (either via boat or wonder completion).

As the Middle Ages began, Otto began assembling troops to begin conquest of his island, but that is for the next chapter in this saga.

denyd said:

as of yet, no off islander has been heard from (either via boat or wonder completion).

Click to expand...

Nice story as usual, denyd, but please note that you were supposed to have met all the civs by the time you read this spoiler. Otherwise you will probably learn map data here you haven't discovered for yourself yet.

Vanilla Civ, Open Class

Well, I went for conquest, played quickly (and consequently sloppily) and took abyssmal notes.

Initial moves: settled NW, mined and roaded starting tile before chopping the deer. Built warrior, warrior, granary, settler, and lost at least two turns to mis-micro-management. I started ring-3 and ring-6 placement, but other civs interfered.

research
I self-researched IW, math, and polytheism, and was working on a 40-turn monarchy when I got the last required AA techs in a peace settlement somewhere around 500 BC. As I said, my notes are bad, but I'm pretty sure I traded for everything else.

War
I gave into early demand from Greece, Rome, and Arabia. When I finally got fed up with Ceasar, I paid for it by losing a town. Later, I reduced the Zulu and Englich holdings with archers and was well on my way to taking out the Ottomans with archers and horses when I entered the middle ages. A phony war with Greece happened sometime in there, too.

Overall plan
Towns that weren't working on settlers, workers, or MP-warriors built barracks and military units. Pretty much the whole game.

1000 BC stats
6 towns (but for the Romans, there would have been 7)
19 pop
4 barracks, 1 granary (I'd already sold one granary)
147 g
1 settler
7 workers
7 warriors
5 archers
1 spearman

Not a great start, but my Fixaris score ends up being my best one yet.

Okay after looking back at my saves here's a little more accurate info.

2950 bc I built my first settler, 2800 bc Leipzig was built at the flood plains directly to the NW. At 2950 bc I only knew England and the Arabs, apparently I met the zulus right after that.

By 1550 bc I still had only 2 cities but I had just built my next settler and was producing veteran horesmen every 3 turns from Berlin. I also knew every civ other than the Asian civs and had every basic tech, IW, writing, and horseback riding. I was ranked #1 in population,
#1 city being Berlin, and was 4th overall. I was researching polytheism.

At 1350 BC I was still #4 with 3 cities and just built a new settler, and was at war with the #1 ranked Arabs (who had nothing more than archers and spearmen).

950 BC my settler had died and I was still stuck at a pathetic 3 cities, with a new settler just built. 2 turns away from polytheism (which I would be the first to discover), still fighting the Arabs, gradually gaining the upper hand. I am now ranked #6, Arabs at #2. Man this is looking bad!

Basically over the next few hundred years I crushed the Arabs and the Ottomans and ended up ranked #3 while sending the Arabs to the bottom of the ladder and the Ottomans close pretty close to the bottom, entered the MA and was the first civ with feudalism, which greatly helped my warlike activities. Now it's looking good!

Krexent

As I’m still pretty new to Civ3 and haven’t played above Warlord yet, I thought I’d be better off to run this in the Conquest class.

My basic strategy usually runs to the peaceful builder, so playing a scientific civilization plays to my strengths. I also like the defensive advantages offered by a militaristic Civ and having a Civ with an IA UU will come in handy in the late goings. Because I play builder, I’m used to come from behind victories, so the Panzer should be helpful for a late game rush. Playing the Germans is all about patience.

4000BC – Scout south, then east; worker N; worker NE; settler NE

3950BC – Berlin settled. Workers building roads; Scout SE, S to hills. Research Masonry at 90%.

3800BC – Contact with Zulu – traded Bronze Working for Pottery and 10 gold. Worker to BG to the E.

3750BC – Worker building road. Warrior completed, build Spearman. Scout S to hills. Lots of jungle around here – are we sure we’re in Europe?

3650 BC – Forest road finished – no chop for continuous shield production as we grow. Worker moved to river square and building another road. Scout still working his way south through the jungle. Is that water in the distance?

3400 BC – Scout works his way along the shore of ??? Spearman having been built, warrior is exploring to the east. Contact with the English – Lizzy is tight, offers 10 gold for either of our techs, won’t trade Alphabet for anything. Begin building Granary in order to prime settler pump.

3300 BC – Scout enters a GH and disturbs 3 warriors. Scout promptly eats dirt.

3100 BC – Warrior discovers wine country to the NE, then English border to the N.

2900 BC – Zulus grab the wine – nuts! Warrior explores to the west – now due N of Berlin

2710 BC – Granary finished – let the expansion begin!

2670 BC – Masonry learned. Lizzy loosens up and trades Alphabet, Ceremonial Burial and 14 gold. Shaka, on the other hand, offers nothing of value. Tightwad.

2470 BC – Berlin riots. Give them bread and circuses!

2430 BC – Settler built. Pump 2 quick warriors, then back to settlers.

2350 BC – Leipzig settled.

2270 BC – America contacted. Abe has nothing to trade. Someone green to the NW. Scout working his way north, found source of incense.

2230 BC – Arabia contacted. Abu trades Mysticism for Alphabet. Lizzy has nothing to trade, but Shaka will trade The Wheel for Masonry. Light green guys are Ottomans – very primitive.

2190 BC – Celts contacted. Brennus has no techs to trade. Somewhere in here, we meet the Romans and the Greeks. I didn't really note when that happened.

1950 BC – Settler built. Better build a temple in Berlin.

1870 BC – Hamburg founded.

1625 BC – Highway robbery! Brennus gives me Iron Working for Alphabet and 41 gold. It’s not all bad – he wanted 60 gold.

1600 BC – Shaka extorts 22 gold. Not much choice – he’s got those Impi warriors and I don’t have much of a defense. He’ll pay later…

1550 BC – Construction begins on the Pyramids in Berlin. They will not be finished.

1275 BC – Hamburg builds settler.

1200 BC – Konigsberg founded

875 BC – Frankfurt founded

450 BC – Munich founded

400 BC – Isandhlwana flips to us

250 BC – War begins between the Zulu and the Arabians. Zulu warriors cross my lands with impunity. Let ‘em – so long as they’re not attacking me, I’ll pay no attention.

50 BC – Construction gets me Map Making, territory map and gold from the Ottomans and Polytheism, territory map and gold from the Koreans. I've also met the Chinese and the Japanese, but don’t have their maps yet. Beginning of the MA.

So by the end of the AA, in 10AD, my civ consists of:

7 cities
pop 33
6 worker
5 warrior
8 spearmen
1 swordsman
3 temples
2 barracks
3 granary
4 library
1 marketplace
5 gold

Into the MA - now it gets interesting!!

AlanH said:

Nice story as usual, denyd, but please note that you were supposed to have met all the civs by the time you read this spoiler. Otherwise you will probably learn map data here you haven't discovered for yourself yet.

Click to expand...

Not to speak for denyd, but he may know that info already but didn't see it as part of the scope of this spoiler. When writing my spoiler I had forgotten the other continent requirement and added that info as an afterthought as the first spoiler rarely wants knowledge of the other continent and usually forbids revealing that knowledge. Of course comprehensive reading is an important skill I should have aquired by now.

As for the gaining contact with those civs I'll be interested to see if anyone makes those contacts on their own. Our place on the continent and the numerous "distractions" surrounding us seem to work against any early naval exploration.