CO-1. Emperor, Continents, Epic. Just win

I've been thinking about starting this for a while now, just to get some thoughts on strategy.

Leader: Washington
Difficulty: Emperor
Map: Standard size Continents
Opponents: 6 random AIs
Victory Conditions: Any
Speed: Epic
Variants: None

One of the great things about continents maps is that game's are generally very different. If you start on a massive continent you can play it like a Pangaea, or if you start on a smaller one the game's likely to last longer.

Roster:

Colony
Mutax2003
Grogs
Methos
Fbouthil

I might add another place if there's enough interest in this game.

Our start location:


It doesn't look like a great site, but I think I can also see more Floodplains to the South. Any ideas on where to settle (unless I have a reason, such as gold one square away I don't like moving much)?

I'd prefer to keep this to the standard 24/48 hour guideline for getting it and playing it, but just ask if you need more time. I'll start with the first 20 turns, Mutax and the 3rd player the next 15 each, and after that 10 for the rest of the game.

@colony: changing your profession?

No, this is not a sign up. Emperor is way beyond me.
Consider this lurking ... just can't resist --- "Thou who lurk shall be lurked upon".

I'll join if you'll have me. Maybe we can get the entire 'stuck between monarch and emperor' group in here.

Like you, I only move my settler if I see a definite benefit to doing so. My fog-reading skills aren't the best, but it looks like we've got at 3-4 floodplains. Combined with the pigs, Washington could get a lot of milage out of pop-rushing. I'd prefer to be coastal (for the possibility of the GL/Colossus) but I don't see moving 2 turns just for that - besides, that would bring several less than ideal tiles into the city radius. We can always build our 2nd/3rd city on the coast if we want to pursue those wonders though.

Let's see. Washington may just be the best leader we could ask for on Emperor (probably why you picked him.) Financial is obvious. Organized means a lot on Emperor since we'll be able to research at 100% at the start. It also makes civics that are just too darn expensive (like Organized Religion) viable. We also get half-priced lighthouses, courthouses, and banks. Starting techs are agriculture and fishing. I'd rather have mining than fishing in that start location, but it should still prove to be a useful tech down the road. Agriculture gives us a useful worker tech immediately, which is nice.

Grogs said:

I'll join if you'll have me. Maybe we can get the entire 'stuck between monarch and emperor' group in here.

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Well hopefully some of them will see this . Actually my main reason for picking Washington was that I've never used either of the American leaders. As well as that I want to get myself out of the habit of relying on a decent Ancient UU, or a great Medieval one to take control of the game. To win at Emperor I feel like I'm relying on conquering massive amounts of land in a short space of time with my UU before it goes obsolete, with all the problems this causes, generally forcing me to go straight for domination at that point or risk not getting an important military tech first from recovering from the extra upkeep.

I'll update the first post in a second

@Greyfox: There I changed it just for you

There is quite a few trees in this start and mines so it looks like Washington is going to be a production city with commerce coming in from those tiles next to the river once cottages are built. I'd go for mining and bronze working and rush the first settler. Im not a big fan of the forest chop strategy but in this start this strategy is probably best.

I want to join but i've never played an SG before i've always wanted to just never got around to it.
Im having trouble posting saves at the moment though.

It's your call if you'll have me

EDIT: Nevermind i think i'll just organize my own. I don't think i have enough consistent wins on emperor level and i don't want to mess things up for you guys.

Colony you should probably move the warrior SW first and see if it's viable to move the settler. I personally like to settle on the spot as well but i have a feeling there's something over there.

Usually there are two bonuses near the start, so I like to be a knights move away from one of them to increase the chances of grabbing another. You can move the warrior onto the hill to see some more tiles. I'd probably move the settler one south to reveal the maximum number of tiles, then if nothing is there you can still settle on the grass one west of the start, only wasting one turn, and saving a forest for chopping.

And Washington is ideal for Emperor level play, with the Navy Seal being surprisingly useful, as they get a bonus vs. artillery, which the AI is fond of beelining to and then sneaking with. Since they get defensive bonuses, they're often better than tanks for defending your lands, especially cities.

@ T_Racoon: You're in if you want. SGs seem to make the game slightly easier anyway, with all the discussion about strategy, and MM becomes a lot less tedious when you're only playing 10 turns

If we settle in place I can definately see 4 Flood Plains (1 West, 1 South, 1 NW of the visible one), and with the hills the capital could be a good production city.

I am reluctant to move though, because I seem to find Copper or Iron 1 square away from my capital whenever I do

@Bezhukov: That's a Plains square to the West of the Settler BTW. Plains and Grassland do look very similar with Blue Marble terrain, but I do agree with everyone about moving the warrior onto the hill to reveal more terrain first.

Thanks but i have never played an SG before so i don't think playing an emperor SG game would be the best place to start, ill be lurking though. Im playing an SG game of my own though to get some experience so maybe next time.

I've been considering this one ever since you first mentioned it. I'm currently working on my first Monarch attempt (an OCC game) and have far surpassed everyone in tech. An Emperor SG would be equivalent to a Monarch game so this one sounds doable.

Keep me in mind.

@Methos: You're on the list if you want. I'm not necessarily looking for a win here, I just want to compare different approaches to the same game, which I know for me depends on a lot of early warfare. I feel as though this is a habit I need to break, so builder players are especially welcome, if you are one

colony said:

so builder players are especially welcome, if you are one

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Yep, I'm a builder. In fact I believe that's what is causing me not to move up in difficulty level. I need to work on my warmongering but just can't get myself to do it. Building is more fun.

Count me in. I'm curious how Emperor plays out.

I will subscribe to this thread so I can see all those great discussions about emperor difficulty with the various stuck between monarch and emperor players come to fruition here. Also I'd personally move my warrior to the right into those woods to see if there is a resource you'd be missing out on if you moved your settler. Can't quite tell with the blue marble terrain if the square to the left of the settler is a plains or grassland but building there (if you don't lose any resources), would net you 1 extra tree!

T_Raccoon said:

EDIT: Nevermind i think i'll just organize my own. I don't think i have enough consistent wins on emperor level and i don't want to mess things up for you guys.

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That's the joys of an SG though. With all the discussion mistakes are not typically as bad as in a SP game, since they are noticed quicker and action is taken quicker.

My first ever SG was on Emperor level with Bede as a trainer back in so I see no reason why you shouldn't join us.

Moving the warrior to the hill to the west is my preference. I'm also a little confused with the blue marble terrain.

"I feel as though this is a habit I need to break, so builder players are especially welcome, if you are one"

Well, I'm a builder with several Emperor (and one very lucky Immortal) wins, but also enough losses to teach me that in Civ IV one needs to arrange early wars, even if you're not the one doing the fighting.

I'd like to play, but have two other games going. Will be lurking along though. Good luck!

Hum. I have been looking to join a SG so I will sign in. I have NEVER played a game on emperor level yet, but since people usually play one level better in SG, I guess I should be ok. I usually discuss my plan a lot before I play, so I guess you should be able to pick on my mistakes before I do them. I am not a builder, sorry.

In preparation for the SGOTM3, I played some practise games on Monarch and tried the early chop strategy. I literally crushed the AIs, so I am now a big fan of it. I do not chop every tree, but most of them.

Moving the warrior W or SW could help us decide on settling W while moving it E or NE could help us decide on settling in place. Therefore, I suggest we move the warrior in the direction to challenge our current decision. Personally, I would prefer to settle W to have one more tree to chop, so that would mean moving the warrior E or NE.

As for research, I prefer to improve our best resource before I go for bronze working, so that would mean animal handling, which we can research since we start with agriculture. That would also mean start building a worker first. With that many flood plains, pottery is also interesting to get early.

Bezhukov said:

"I feel as though this is a habit I need to break, so builder players are especially welcome, if you are one"

Well, I'm a builder with several Emperor (and one very lucky Immortal) wins, but also enough losses to teach me that in Civ IV one needs to arrange early wars, even if you're not the one doing the fighting.

I'd like to play, but have two other games going. Will be lurking along though. Good luck!

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I agree with Bezhukov you need to have some luck to play emperor level and go for a peaceful builder strategy. Maybe if you have a religion and are able to spread it then you can try and be friends with the most powerful civs attack the weaker civs for there land and go for a diplomatic victory you don't even have to have discovered the religion yourself just jump on to the bandwagon and lay low, i don't know just a quick thought.

My first ever SG was on Emperor level with Bede as a trainer back in so I see no reason why you shouldn't join us.

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I don't usually play on emperor level though i like to play on prince or noble cause i just like to have fun. I have to think and MM on emperor too much so i usually take a little longer than usual playing a game on emperor then i do on lower difficulty levels and i just don't have the time to do that. but now that you mention it i kind of want to play on higher difficulty levels now so ill probably play some emperor games and brush up on my skills ( they've probably deteriorated from playing too many prince games ) im definitely in for the next SG though.

Having played (way) too much CivIV since it came out, I think I can safely say that (for now) Emperor is the toughest level one can win regularly without luck or exploits like Moonsinger's. I'm looking forward to the tortoises that figure out how to pass this hare, and the strategies they develop. There are of course other factors than difficulty level that come into play. I think the toughest game I've played so far was RB Adventure 2, which was only Monarch difficulty, but featured a tundra/ice start.

I've found its actually usually better (depending on your traits) to avoid founding a religion, in order to more easily adopt the religion of the nearest aggresive civ. Give in to a couple demands, trade some resources, and next thing you know you've got a new best buddy who's just chomping at the bit to try out all his shiny new units attacking the civ of your choice.

Methos and fbouthil: Added you both to the roster.

I'll play the first 20 turns when I get back from uni later.

Also, start position without Blue Marble:


With all those Floodplains going for Pottery first could work very well, even more so as we are Financial and only have to research The Wheel before Pottery. After that Mining and BW would probably be my next choice. I think I'd move the warrior 1 E, just to check there aren't furs or something else interesting there

As a "in-between monarch and emperor" club member myself, I am interested in trying this game out for challenge. With GW as financial, and the cottage spamming strategy, we should be able to roll in the commerce later in the game. I do have a couple of wins at emperor level games (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=157177 ), so maybe that experience will come in useful in this SG game.