RB24 - Big Brother

[Kylearan]

Realms Beyond brings you another whacky variant game, this time a reprisal of a Civ 3 classic.

RB 24 - Big Brother
Civ: Rome
Opponents: 7, aggressive AI
Level: Monarch
Map: Pangea, low sea level
Speed: Epic
Victory: All enabled, but must lose(!) by spaceship


Taken from Sirian's original game concept, modified to fit with CIV:
We are Romulus, of the Romans. Our objective is to seek out the Lost Tribe of our brother Remus, then bend our entire civiliation to helping him win the game! Like any good Big Brother, we love our Little Brother to death and would do anything for him, including playing second fiddle to him in his hour of glory.

Variant Rules:

1) All Victory Conditions enabled. However, anything OTHER THAN a Space Race victory by our "Little Brother" civ, will be a defeat.

2) First Civ we meet is Little Brother (or Little Sister...).

3) What Little Brother wants, Little Brother gets.

* Any demands he makes are granted.
* Any deals he offers of his own spontaneity are taken (no matter what!).
* As soon as either of us knows Alphabet, any tech we acquire that he doesn't have, we offer to him (by the end of our turn, doesn't have to be immediately), then accept the deal he offers us. If we don't like the deal, then just GIVE him the tech.
* Any strategic resources he lacks, we must offer to supply to him. We will take whatever he offers in return. If that's not good enough, just GIVE it to him (we may renegotiate the deal later).
* Any resources we need, we look to Little Brother to supply for us, and pay whatever price he asks (if we can't afford, then we must wait). ONLY if Little Brother does not have any of that resource to offer, are we allowed to look elsewhere for a supply.
* Any and all deals we wish to offer, we must take what he offers in return.

4) We believe in the same gods. If Little Brother converts to any religion, we must follow suit as soon as possible.

5) Little Brother's Birthday! At the end of each player's turn, they must bestow a gift upon our Little Brother if possible. Try not to spoil him! (No giving away cities, nor exorbitant amounts of cash, make it a reasonable gift).

6) Nobody Picks on Our Little Brother.

* Anybody who declares war on our Little Brother, we immediately declare war on them AND MAKE AN EFFORT to go help.
* We do not make peace with the offending civ until Little Brother first makes peace with them.
* If one of Little Brother's cities is captured, we must make an effort to liberate it, then give it back to him. ONE of the enemy's cities must also be razed in retaliation. We do not rest until this is done.
* If Little Brother loses a city, we will found a new one on the same spot and give it to him (unless he takes care of it himself before we can arrive). THREE of the enemy cities must be razed in retaliation! (And we do not rest until it's done).

7) We do not pick on anybody who leaves our Little Brother alone, UNLESS they start a spaceship. Anybody who threatens to steal Little Brother's glory by launching sooner, they have to be "roughed up". Get the picture? (Roughed up, not exterminated. OK?)

8) Nobody pushes us around. We don't cave to threats, ever. (Unless it's Little Brother flexing his muscle, then we go along).

9) If Little Brother declares war on us, we defend ourselves, but never attack his cities. Whatever he wants for peace is OK, too, EXCEPT FOR cities. We don't give him cities. (Even beloved little brothers need some limits set now and then).

10) We want to maintain Friendly relations at all times, if possible, with our Little Brother. (Will take time to get to that point, but once there, we want to stay there). We will never ask Little Brother for a Defensive Pact, but will happily agree to one if he asks us (he will know best when to sign one!).

11) Obviously, we must prevent any other civ from winning, with all the options on the table!


Roster:
Kylearan
theGrimm
Sirian
Atlas
T-hawk
Bede

You have 24 hours to post a "got it", then another 48 hours to play the game. However, overtime won't be a problem if you make sure to keep us posted about your progress.

[Berrie]

Indeed whacky

All the more reason to lurk this one!

Subscribed!

[Kylearan]

Here is our starting position:



Moving the warrior reveals nothing new, so I found Rome on the starting spot. Two spice resources are revealed.

Normally, I would start with building a worker. However, we are desperate to find the long lost tribe of Remus, our little brother, so I built a warrior instead to help us in our scouting efforts. Research is set to Agriculture nonetheless.

Our warrior moves east. He finds two tribal villages and desperately asks the savages if they have heard something of Remus, but alas! they have not. We get some gold as compensation, though.

But then we spot an orange border to the east...a foreign civilization! Maybe they know something about the whereabouts of our little brother?



Her name is Catherine (what a nice name that is!). "Hello there Romulus", she says. "It's a pleasure to meet you at last!". Meet you at last...? Does she know us? Does our name have a meaning to her? "I'm always looking for closer relations", she continues, but I think I misunderstood her - after thinking about the words in this foreign language, I think the right translation would be "I've been looking for a close relative". Might it be possible...maybe she is...Oh my god, I'm so nervous. I ask her about Remus...and she knows him! She's his daughter!

We have found the lost tribe, and have met our little sister! Oh sweet sweet Cathy! Look how lovely our little sister is! How a well-spoken young lady she is!



And yet, she has something vulnerable about her, something fragile. We shall look after her, and make sure her tribe will rise to glory!

Drunken of love, our warrior dizzily continues to scout the lands, when only two turns later he gets rudely awakened out of his dreams about our lovely sister by this horrible sight:



Oh how ugly she looks! How blunt her greetings are! How rude her manners! How glad I am that it is not she who is the head of our long-lost tribe...quickly I agree about peace, and hurry on.

We also meet Napoleon, Bismarck, Montezuma and Hatshepsut. Montezuma has founded Buddhism and Hatty is Hindu - we shall see what out little sister will believe in later. She will know who the true gods are!

Now that we've found our cute little sister, we built a worker after the warrior had been finished. After Agriculture, we've researched the Wheel and Pottery so that our worker has something to do after irrigating the corn. Normally, I would go for Bronze Working next to see if we might be able to skip Archery - but with aggressive AIs, I've decided to take the safer route instead. Hunting will come in in 2 turns, and can be followed by Archery next.

Alas, I was not able to gift Cathy something for her birthday! Maybe we should prioritize Writing after looking for metal, so that we might gift her our heroic warrior who found her, to serve as ambassador between our tribes?

[Kylearan]

Our capital in 2800BC:



Note that we have no hills. Being expansive, we could make our capital a cottage heaven, but then we would have almost no hammers - so I propose to keep the forests intact, to put lumbermills on later.

I've not made a dotmap yet. First, I never make dotmaps - I just build a settler and then decide where to settle based on the current situation and needs. And in this case, I think we need to find out where the metal is first anyway. But if other players like to do a dotmap, go ahead.

Roster:
Kylearan
theGrimm -> UP NOW
Sirian -> on deck
Atlas
T-hawk
Bede

I've played 40 turns, the next player can play 20, then the rest 15 for this first round, then we'll go back to 10 turns per player.

-Kylearan

[Kylearan]

A shot of our lands:

[slowcar]

lurkers comment

a very nice idea indeed. no picking means no war from your side, right? but would it be allowed to "advise" your little sister about a good target with your axes (or praets?) ready?

i hope i'll see some nice diplomatic moves here

[Kylearan]

Hi,

Originally Posted by slowcar

no picking means no war from your side, right? but would it be allowed to "advise" your little sister about a good target with your axes (or praets?) ready?

No, I'd rather prefer this game not to become a standard "cripple all AIs by early conquest" game. Ideally, it will need a real effort until the end to help her launch the spaceship! So, if she doesn't get attacked or does not start a war of her own, we'll have to remain peaceful.

However, I've set the AI to 'aggressive' so that there will be some action going on, sooner or later.

-Kylearan

[theGrimm]

Consider this a "got it".

Tonight will be a little busy, I fear, and I'd like to play my first SG turns as carefully as possible. Tomorrow night will be fine.

Edit...
Let me be the first to express gratitude at getting Cathy and not Viccy! And also the first to head off any future "closer relations" jokes.

[darrelljs]

That is a poor capital site, I don't think I've ever seen one without a single hill. There almost has to be a metal and/or Horses hidden there. I notice from the screenshot your niece is hitting on you

Darrell

[Atlas]

Checking in.

Head off future "closer relations" jokes? I think not .

I sort of like dotmapping, but I don't think I am going to try with that land, I don't even see any one "clearly" good site. Maybe on that hill west of London that grabs spices, rice and cows . Nothing there jumps out at me. In any event with Monty around and aggressive AIs we will want to get copper to protect our "little sister" (and ourselves since I think Monty probably got the worst start spot by the map generator, looks like tundra town down there).

[sooooo]

lurker's comment: Lol, the idea is great! I'll be lurking this for sure. You've been very lucky to meet Catherine before Montezuma here. It would have been much harder to help the azkteskimos launch .

[theGrimm]

Originally Posted by Atlas*

Head off future "closer relations" jokes? I think not .

"Don't Look Down." Reverse Psychology!

If the capital has neither neither metal, then the second site will almost NEED to have production as a first priority. We need sufficient power to protect not only ourselves but also our little sister from at least one lunatic. The capital, at size 5, has a max production of, uh, 1+4*2=9HPT? And every pop point after that will only add 1HPT. The food situation isn't good enough to whip an army.

I would want a city that can grab some hills (preferably with a production resource, too), and the food resources to work those hills. Spices, rice and cows looks "best" at the moment.

Anyway, we should have Bronze Working before our first settler is available, and that will clear the picture up somewhat. Hopefully.

[Bede]

I could sing an ode rhapsodizing bee stung lips, chestnut hair and a chin like the chine of a well built frigate...but Abbot Grimm has rudely reminded me of my vows, so I'll keep it to myself. And Mother Victoria of the Order of the Holy Water Buffalo is watching.

[Sirian]

Well, that's as close to Civ3 Joanie as we could have come. It must be destiny.


- Sirian

[·Imhotep·]

Well, Cathy definitely is more shapely than Xerxes ever was... Good luck, I'll be lurking !

[theGrimm]

Well. As it turns out, I found some time to play tonight. Though the report took a while. Bare with me as I navigate the growing pains of “advanced” forum features (i.e. pictures and attachments.)

Also, comments on my turns welcome. This is my first SG.

***

Ah. It’s 2800 BC, and Julius looks out over the fine riverlands that mark the borders of Rome…no finer lands there are, Julius thinks, but for the lands of our darling Catherine. Nearby, across the river, workers toil on the fields, while in the forests, men chase wildlife with spears. They have not caught anything yet, but soon…perhaps if they tried throwing the spears…

Some few years later, Julius’ advisors report that the lands are farmed, and that the men in the forests have succeeded in catching some tasty wildlife. 50 men managed to surround a large beast with horns, killing it with their long spears. Julius, however, had a hunch that throwing the spears might yet be more effective, and so, men began to look for ways to cast spears through the air at their prey. The farm workers, meanwhile, were instructed to build huts along the banks of the river. He scoffed at suggestions that the workers should build roads to allow speedy access from the huts to the farms. (“Romans don’t build roads,” he said. “Let the lazy buggers walk.”)

Back at the ranch, er, Rome, men had been set to patrol the city with large wooden clubs. It made people feel safer from the nasty horned forest wildlife. The city workers began to build a large structure to store grain from the farms for winter.

One fine day, as Julius was preparing to visit Cathy for a spot of tea, an excited hunter came running in to his office to demonstrate a fine new weapon…called a “bow”. With this strange curved object, a small sharp spear could be fired quite a distance, hopefully imbedding itself in its target. Hunters could now catch the horrid horny forest creatures without fear of being impaled on their horrid horny forest horns.

Julius, inventive fellow that he was, immediately saw another application, and instructed the city workers to leave the granary be, and begin the construction of bows and bow-spears. That strange fellow with the feathers and bird skulls on his head was creepy, and Julius had no desire to see his pet parakeet on Monty’s head.

Later, over tea with Cathy, Julius heard Cathy tell of how they had implemented a new system called “slavery”. Apparently, it had to do with the beating of hard soft rocks into interesting shapes. Julius was unable to see the relationship between slaves and interestingly shaped rocks, but clearly, if Cathy thought it a good idea, it must be. (Needless to say, back at the ranch, er, Rome, Julius’ men gave him a wide berth for several days after his attempts to describe Cathy’s soft hard rocks.)

Before Julius left, though, Cathy had something to say:


Perhaps the “archers” (as Julius dubbed them), would be useful for more than looking mean when Monty was around.

[theGrimm]

Turn summary

-I followed the research oath Kylearan suggested: Hunting->Archery->Bronze Working (due in 4)

-Having completed the warrior, a granary was ordered up to fill the gap until archery came in. I was tempted to finish the granary, but the archer will at the very least be handy to escort our first settler, and I don’t know what aggressive monarch civs might do.
Rome gets cheap granaries, and the capital isn’t FLUSH with food. I suspect we can whip the first settler AND the rest of the granary in one swoop. The archer is due in one; I’d go settler next, personally.

-The worker has put up cottages. In the spirit of T-Hawks micromanagement tips, I finished the farm and both cottages before starting a road, which brought the extra commerce in, uh, four turns earlier per cottage. NB: The worker finished a road on my final turn; I’ve left the movement points to the next player.

-Rome was focused on growth until it reached size five. The five best tiles are all in use. I’d road one more tile, by which time BW will come in and we can start roading towards the bronze.

-The explorer around Russia spent most of his time healing, but is mapping out Cathy’s territory. He also met an envoy from Saladin.

-The western explorer mapped the region around the elephants (not too promising), and then headed between France and Egypt. He’s almost run out of room.

-Still no gifts for Cathy!

Rome (Note that Cathy is tops! Woohoo, Cathy!):


The western scout:


The Russian envoy:


And the game:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/upload....Civ4SavedGame

And the roster:
Kylearan
theGrimm
Sirian -> UP NOW
Atlas -> on deck
T-hawk
Bede

[·Imhotep·]

lurker's comment:

For anyone who seeks the origin of this one just go this way: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showth...threadid=43926

This will be a fun one...

[theGrimm]

Well, aside from the large picture causing screen scrolling badness (sorry, won't do that again), I think I did that okay. Not sure if I uploaded the save properly, but it's late, and I need sleep. If it doesn't work, I'll do it again properly in the morning.

[Sullla]

Thanks to the link to RBD19 SG version 2, Imhotep, but I was just reprising Sirian's idea. THIS is the link to the original Big Brother SG:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showth...threadid=18255