r_rolo1
King of myself
Welcome to the 9th edition of the Lonely Hearts Club for BTS. In the Lonely Hearts Club we explore strategies to cope with one of the most dreaded situations in Civ IV ( possibly the main reason for reloads after the military collapse one 
): starting in isolation....
For the 9th game in BTS the choosed leader was Tokugawa of the Japanese:
Oh, the mr " The rest of the world may burn in hell, I just don't care " .... IMHO the more realistical LH of the game ( the only one that does not look like a cartoon picture ) and the more
AI ( someone described Toku AI as a waste of space... i tend to agree ) : A guy that doesn't trade even the most useless thing.... 
But lets talk about Toku traits: Agg + Pro .... This traits together make a high yield war machine if used properly, adding to a superb UU ( IMHO that's the reason why Toku AI is so .... if he traded like mansa, no one would stand in his way after CS + Machinery ). If can mount a good infra , you can conquer the world easily with samurai or with drafted gunpowder units ( the traits give 3 promos to them.... )
Of course that comes with a drawback: the complete lack of economical/scientifical traits... a serious handicap in isolation.
His UU.
Oh, the samurai.... IMHO one of the 3 best UU of the game ( Preats, Immortals and them ).... A mace with drill I + 2 first strikes ( and with combat I , due to Agg trait ). I lost count of the times I smashed foes with them.... a good stack of them cuts like butter the enemies armies ( due to the FS ) and have quite decent chances even against more advanced units in cites.
In spite of that they look to come too early for a isolated start....
His UB.
IMHO the worst part of Toku package.... a somehow beefed coal plant. In the same way that samurai got a boost in BtS ( with the free Drill I promo ) , the Shale got a downgrade with the power =
thing in BtS .... and having a extensive use of a unhealth generator in a isolated start is somehow problematic. Besides that it comes a little late....
So, here are the settings( from noble save ). Game is Fractal :
And the start:
A food resource ( and a calendar one ), woods ,coastal, a lake... seems pretty decent to me. It has enough food for whipping and drafting, and the woods and the hills can give a decent prod..... and that hill without forests is suspicious, isn't it?
About saves: As usual, pick the level you prefer in the end of the post. Deity save is in the next post.
Again a small request ( not mandatory ) :
We ask the participants to do, if possible, a write-up with the victory save and a description of your game ( strategies, techs researched, wars,...). All the info should be in spoiler tags ( to not disturb other people's games ). If you want ( we would like to ) post reports at this moments of the game:
Checkpoint 1 - when we have explored the island and are aware of what resources it has. Its not so important when this is, but this is a time to discuss city sites etc. Don't look into a checkpoint 1 spoiler until you have reached this point yourself.
Checkpoint 2 - first contact - when we have met all the other AIs. At this point we can discuss our strategy to get to this point and our plans for dealing with them.
Checkpoint 3 - when we are committed to a victory condition (or at least think we are).
Checkpoint 4 - Victory (or defeat).
As was suggested by InvisibleStalke, I'll let some considerations about the map ,some hints and a evaluaiton of of the game dificulty . Open at your own risk
The last words are to wish good luck to all
. And let the games begin!
P.S We don't have any kind of problem with defeats and reruns. Just play and enjoy
): starting in isolation....For the 9th game in BTS the choosed leader was Tokugawa of the Japanese:
Spoiler :
Oh, the mr " The rest of the world may burn in hell, I just don't care " .... IMHO the more realistical LH of the game ( the only one that does not look like a cartoon picture ) and the more
AI ( someone described Toku AI as a waste of space... i tend to agree ) : A guy that doesn't trade even the most useless thing.... But lets talk about Toku traits: Agg + Pro .... This traits together make a high yield war machine if used properly, adding to a superb UU ( IMHO that's the reason why Toku AI is so .... if he traded like mansa, no one would stand in his way after CS + Machinery ). If can mount a good infra , you can conquer the world easily with samurai or with drafted gunpowder units ( the traits give 3 promos to them.... )
Of course that comes with a drawback: the complete lack of economical/scientifical traits... a serious handicap in isolation.
His UU.
Spoiler :
Oh, the samurai.... IMHO one of the 3 best UU of the game ( Preats, Immortals and them ).... A mace with drill I + 2 first strikes ( and with combat I , due to Agg trait ). I lost count of the times I smashed foes with them.... a good stack of them cuts like butter the enemies armies ( due to the FS ) and have quite decent chances even against more advanced units in cites.
In spite of that they look to come too early for a isolated start....
His UB.
Spoiler :
IMHO the worst part of Toku package.... a somehow beefed coal plant. In the same way that samurai got a boost in BtS ( with the free Drill I promo ) , the Shale got a downgrade with the power =
thing in BtS .... and having a extensive use of a unhealth generator in a isolated start is somehow problematic. Besides that it comes a little late....So, here are the settings( from noble save ). Game is Fractal :
Spoiler :
And the start:
Spoiler :
A food resource ( and a calendar one ), woods ,coastal, a lake... seems pretty decent to me. It has enough food for whipping and drafting, and the woods and the hills can give a decent prod..... and that hill without forests is suspicious, isn't it?
About saves: As usual, pick the level you prefer in the end of the post. Deity save is in the next post.
Again a small request ( not mandatory
) :We ask the participants to do, if possible, a write-up with the victory save and a description of your game ( strategies, techs researched, wars,...). All the info should be in spoiler tags ( to not disturb other people's games ). If you want ( we would like to
) post reports at this moments of the game:Checkpoint 1 - when we have explored the island and are aware of what resources it has. Its not so important when this is, but this is a time to discuss city sites etc. Don't look into a checkpoint 1 spoiler until you have reached this point yourself.
Checkpoint 2 - first contact - when we have met all the other AIs. At this point we can discuss our strategy to get to this point and our plans for dealing with them.
Checkpoint 3 - when we are committed to a victory condition (or at least think we are).
Checkpoint 4 - Victory (or defeat).
As was suggested by InvisibleStalke, I'll let some considerations about the map ,some hints and a evaluaiton of of the game dificulty . Open at your own risk
Spoiler :
limited
The last words are to wish good luck to all
. And let the games begin!P.S We don't have any kind of problem with defeats and reruns. Just play and enjoy
![[party]](/images/smilies/partytime.gif "Party [party]")
I hope that you make a lot of good posts in here 
. Its getting a little late for me to be able to trade education, and I had wanted to trade for philosophy and other techs. To win, I think I'll need the AI's to be mediocre all around, so that I can conquer or just catch up. A strong AI might do me in. But its really nice to have a game thats a significant challenge 
). 
