**Spoiler - Chamnix's Crusade in Civ IV Team PBEM

[Chamnix]

Due to popular demand, here is my spoiler for the Team's Civ IV PBEM. Gbno1fan, Calis, and dutchfire are not welcome here .



This sentence is completely meaningless except to take up space.



I am Napoleon of the French. I’ve never been him before…

Password = PW3abaR8

Here is my start:



I’ve got some piggies, lots of forests, and a tribal village. I don’t think that’s a particularly good start, but what do I know?

I am aggressive and industrious. Aggressive makes it look like I should be attacking someone (free Combat I for melee and gunpowder units and ½ price barracks). Industrious is good for wonders and forges.

I start with The Wheel and Agriculture. Based on my start, I think I want Bronze Working for chopping pretty quickly and Animal Husbandry for the pigs.

Gbno1fan is Japan (aggressive and organized, starts with The Wheel and fishing, UU replaces maceman), Calis is Spain (spiritual and expansive, starts with fishing and mysticism, UU replaces knight), and Dutchfire is India (spiritual and something depending on leader, starts with mysticism and mining, UU=fast worker). It looks like I could have my pick of wonders.

OK, enough goofing off. Since I don’t know any better, I settle on the spot. The villagers provide me with a map that shows I have no resources nearby, but I do have 2 tribal villages nearby. There are some clams just out of my capital’s fat cross. Start building a warrior, set research to Animal Husbandry, and send the game on its way.

[Chamnix]

Nothing really to report obviously, but I’ve been thinking about my short to mid term plans. Also, I want to keep posting spoilers so nobody can glean anything from when I post . Here is what I’m thinking so far:

Research will be Animal Husbandry, then Mining, then Bronze Working. I was thinking Masonry next and use my Industrious trait to build the Pyramids, but I’m not sure they are that great – I was confusing Representation with Bureaucracy. Maybe it is worth it anyway, but it will be a while before I have to make a decision on my fourth tech.

My initial warrior is heading southwest, then will go back southeast to enter the tribal villages with maximum exploration. He will continue generally south from there. The warrior that is being built now will explore generally west – with water to 2 sides of me, I think the chances of an early sneak attack are negligible.

My capital will finish its warrior, then I think it will start a barracks which will be changed to a worker as soon as it grows to size 2. After the worker completes, the barracks will be allowed to complete, then a third warrior will be built for MP. Future builds will include a warrior to protect my next settler, another worker, a settler, possibly a work boat for exploration depending on the land form, and maybe the Pyramids.

[Chamnix]

My warrior continues wandering - I see some more clams and some more jungle. This looks like a pretty ugly starting position so far.

[Chamnix]

Big shocker this turn. I found gems, and I also found…



… Calis!! I definitely didn’t expect contact already, but I guess tiny maps on Civ 4 are indeed tiny. I sent him this message:

Hi Calis,

I am shocked to tell you that we have already met in game. I guess there is not much to talk about yet, since we can't even discuss techs, but I am looking forward to an age of cooperation and prosperity.

Chamnix

A question for the Civ 4 experts… what is the order of moves in civ 4? Suppose when I receive the save, Calis’ warrior is 2 tiles away from my city, and I have a warrior to be built in 2 turns. The next turn Calis’ warrior moves next to my city, and it says warrior built in 1. Will my warrior complete in time to defend my city?

I can move my first warrior back in time to defend, or I can speed up the warrior build going on, but I don’t want to miscalculate and build my warrior 1 turn too late.

Now for some other analysis. Here is the demographics screen. What does this tell me?



One person is working a tile that provides 1 gold, everyone else (including me) has no gold being worked.
One other person (besides me) is working a tile that provides 1 hammer, the other 2 are not.
One person is working a tile that provides 3 food, everyone else (including me) has a 2-food tile being worked.

Probable working –

Me: 2 food, 1 hammer.
Rival 1: 2 food, 1 gold.
Rival 2: 2 food, 1 hammer.
River 3: 3 food.

Soldiers – I have 5000 (1 warrior and The Wheel)
Gbno1fan – 5000 (1 warrior and The Wheel)
Calis – 1000 (1 warrior)
Dutchfire - 3000 (1 warrior and Mining)

No new information there.

Land Area – I have 8 tiles, 1 other person has 8 tiles, the other 2 have 7. From the victory conditions screen it appears Calis is one of the people with 7.

From the life expectancy I guess someone has more forests than I do, and the other 2 have less.

Well, that was a big waste of time, but I’m new at Civ 4, so I thought there might be something useful there *sigh.

[Chamnix]

Calis sent back a positive message:

Hey Chamnix,

Now that was really quick.

I agree to your proposal of peaceful and friendly cooperation.

A conflict, especially that early, would only bring disadvantages to both of us,
as I experienced in a former PBEM game, where a close competitor acted quite
aggresive in the beginning. Eventually we fell back far far behind our two other
competitors.

So let us stay peaceful!

Calis

Of course that doesn’t mean I trust him…first concern on opening the save – where did Calis’ warrior go?

He is out of sight when I open the save. Nobody answered my question about the timing of my warrior build, so I set up a test game. It looks like I can change to working a hilled forest next turn and still complete the warrior before Calis can capture my city.

There is a good chance Calis already entered the near tribal village, but I figure I will head that way anyway in case he came from a different direction – besides the tribal village on the east coast should be available.

After moving my warrior, I can see Calis’ warrior – he approached my city, so hopefully I am right about my warrior completing in time. Otherwise this could be a very short game for me. Although actually I wonder… if Calis’ warrior moves northeast, then my city culturally expands, his warrior should get bumped, yes? There’s too much I don’t know about Civ IV mechanics yet!

Anyway Calis’ warrior moved northeast last move, so his city is probably to the southwest – I will have to explore there when I finished with the villages…

As I hit end turn, my city expanded – Calis will have to declare war if he wants to approach.

[Chamnix]

Calis moved his warrior to just outside my borders. His next turn he can declare war and move next to my (undefended) city. However, by the time he gets to move again the following turn, there will be a warrior waiting for him. We'll find out just how trustworthy he is...

In other news, I moved my warrior toward the tribal village, but Calis beat me to it.

[Elear]

Never trust a human AI!

Though yes about the warrior thing (kinda late on that though)

I'm kind of dumb with Civ4, I don't play it much, too busy with Civ3.

[lost_civantares]

Personally I think he's just finding out what he can of your capital before your borders expand too much, it's what I would be doing.

[Chamnix]

I'm also not sure about the visibility in Civ 4 - IIRC, his warrior is on a hill right now, but there is a forest between him and my capital. Will he be able to see my capital is undefended? If he can, I would expect him to declare and move towards it - that's probably what I would do .

[Elear]

edit: this post has been deleted

[Chamnix]

Calis didn’t declare. I’m actually a little disappointed – we are probably going to have to fight somewhat early considering how close we are (and since I am kind of trapped in a corner), so I was hoping he would declare so I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about attacking later.

I can see the border of his city now. My warrior continues toward the eastern tribal village.

Gbno1fan’s score increased – I guess that means he learned a new tech (via research or popping).

[Chamnix]

From the demographics screen, Calis gained another 1000 "soldiers" - probably means he completed a warrior. I complete my warrior as of the end of turn. Nothing else to report.

[Chamnix]

My warrior “officially” completes, and I start a barracks. The barracks won’t be allowed to complete yet – it is a placeholder until I reach size 2, then I will start a worker.

According to the demographics, it appears dutchfire completed a warrior as well – that makes sense, since he comes first in the move order but founded his capital on turn 2. Gbno1fan does not have a warrior yet, but someone (not Calis) grew to size 2 – gbno1fan is probably working a 3 food, 0 hammer tile. Scratch that – it is dutchfire who grew to size 2 based on the top 5 cities. So dutchfire has the most powerful tile for his capital – gbno1fan may have been the one getting the extra income.

Regardless, I am sending my second warrior out exploring also. If Calis didn’t try to attack earlier, I don’t think he will try now that defense is easier with the cultural bonus. The second warrior will see what’s to the west. My first warrior will scout close to Calis’ territory, enter the tribal village, then go home for defense.

The world so far:

[Chamnix]

Calis’ capital (Madrid) grew to size 2 – he has corn in has fat cross. He also has land to his south that I can’t get to without passing through his territory. I’m getting less and less happy with my starting position. Other than that, nothing of note.

[Chamnix]

I discovered Animal Husbandry and start research on mining due in 6 turns. I have several hills near my capital, and I want Bronze Working soon, so Mining was the obvious choice. There are no horses anywhere in sight.

My warrior entered the tribal village, and I picked up 47 gold.

My capital grew to size 2, so I switched from barracks to worker due in 12.

[Chamnix]

Continued exploring and continued finding nothing - lots of jungle and no additional resources...

[Chamnix]

I found some rice to the west, but resources still seem awfully sparse...

[Chamnix]

I found some horses and some stone - Calis obviously found them as well (I wonder if he has Animal Husbandry ).

[Chamnix]

I discovered Mining and started Bronze Working. I see my first barbarians - some lions wandering around, but after I hit end turn they disappeared instead of coming toward my warrior.

[Chamnix]

Here is the situation that greets me as I open the save:



I don't mind getting a little experience, but it seems multiple fights in 1 turn in Civ IV are very dangerous relative to Civ III. I decide to move my warrior NE to the hill to (hopefully) take on 1 lion this turn, then the other after healing.

After pressing enter, I get to watch my warrior kill the lion, but I guess I don't find out how injured he is until next turn.