Gliese's Deity Game #2, Zara Yaqob

Round 1, 4000 BC - 2480 BC (38 turns).
Round 2, 2480 BC - _825 BC (44 turns).
Round 3, _825 BC - __50 BC (31 turns).
Round 4, __50 BC - _760 AD (35 turns).
Round 5, _760 AD - 1250 AD (37 turns).
Round 6, 1250 AD - 1400 AD (15 turns).
Round 7, 1400 AD - 1575 AD (25 turns).
Round 8, 1575 AD - 1680 AD (21 turns, the end).

This is my second attempt at getting a first win at deity after having failed the first attempt with Pericles of Greece.
I kept the settings from last game; Standard Fractal Map, normal speed, all other settings default.
The leader I chose this time is Zara Yaqob of Ethiopia.

Like last time, everyone's invited to participate by giving tips, advice or asking questions of me or other players that choose to participate. All I ask regarding shadow games is that any spoilers do not proceed beyond the number of turns already played and posted by myself.

The start after moving the scout:



What are your thoughts?

First thought: why did you move the scout there... clearly there's ocean down there and the blue circles suggest other resources that might have influenced where you want to settle? It's ok though; this looks like a fine start; settling in place gets the coast, river, and extra hill hammer.

Short term: Zara Yaqob has some really good starting stats for Deity. You're gonna want to claim as much land as you can, obviously since the AI have two settlers. I'd go with a standard worker, warrior, settler; since you are creative this first settler is crucial. Normally you can go straight for bronze working and chop; however this looks like too good of an opportunity to pass up animal husbandry right away.

Long term: well, you obviously have to see how it plays out. You're not in a position to found religions really so I'd just follow along choosing a strong ally or two for diplo. The push for war with the UU (Oromo warrior) is a solid plan; leverage whatever you can from the early game into beating the AI to this tech and go steamrolling. Of course, there will always be extenuating circumstances on deity; even a start that looks great (like this) can run into some stupid barb problem or something. Nevertheless, good luck!

Settling in place seems the only sensible option.

Earthling: Both of those circles are in completely unrevealed land though and both would require I sacrifice 2 turns to settle on turn 3, I'm hesitant to sacrifice more than one turn on a deity start.
Since settling by the river seemed intuitive I moved the scout to see if there were any enticing resources 2 tiles south of the grassland hill that I wanted in the radius. The forests and grassland hill blocked my view south so I only knew there was ocean to the west. If there had been corn for example down there it would have been a great discovery.

Worker first is 12 turns and AH is 15 if I settle in place. I could mine the grassland hill before starting on the cows. I could also build a scout or a warrior and grow to size 2 in 8 turns, and get a worker in 10 turns after that, delaying him 6 turns.

This is a fairly nice start with a strong leader.At a quick glance the beginning of the game is fairly easy here, AH is the keytech and i'd like to tame the animals right away. So i'd start with a worker, mine the grasshill and pasture the animals next.

Hard to see how BW wouldn't be next, then archery if nothing found in BFC. Hard to say right now but getting enough early research might be a problem here (also happiness btw).Capital is ultimately ok for that with some grasslands but cottages without rivers are very slow so you may need to look elsewhere for the first 3500 years. Hard to say though without some exploration being done, for all i know you might hit 3 goldmines, since there's desert to the north east.

Settle in place.

Worker first.

Animal Husbandry first.

Round 1, 4000 BC - 2480 BC (38 turns).

Techs: AH, BW, Archery
Builds: Worker, Warrior x4, Settler, Worker

4000: I settle in place and start on AH and Worker, my scout explores east.

Another incense in bfc.



3520: Worker finishes and I start on Warriors. The worker moves to mine the grassland hills while waiting for AH.

3400: AH finishes and I start on BW. I meet Napoleon. Horses are discovered southeast.



3320: Scout killed by barbarian warrior.

2960: Pasture on sheep finishes and is destroyed same turn by locusts.

2760: BW finishes. Napoleon has the only known source. I start on Archery for barb defense.



2640: After building 4 warriors and timing it with growth to size 3 I finish a settler in Aksum aided by a chop and start on another worker. Settler moves east to horse+wheat spot.

2560: Found my second city.



2480: Archery & worker finishes and I put queues to Agriculture and archer (sped up by a 2nd chop) before ending the round. A forest burns down as I have no cash to save it.

Empire shot:



Once again not the most exciting land but not horrible. An aggressive neighbour with copper on the same continent and another unknown landmass to the west by the crabs. I need to spam troops at the beginning of round 2 to fight barbarians and explore. Ag and TW are key techs.
I'm coastal this time and on an agreeable landmass, what about the GLH? My first instinct is that it would be wrong here but what do you think?
Just how aggressive is Napoleon, should I be worried?

According to screens Napoleon beats you on espionage, there might be third civ on the same landmass. Nappy will attack one of you, I'm afraid...

Can't see if sheep city is on hill or not, if it really is plains hill that could be a decent spot to defend yourself. I'm afraid you need plenty of archers!

Yes it is a plains hill. HBR is a possibility but there's more to explore.

I would not suggest settling on the plains hill 2 tiles east of the sheep.

Rationale:

• The city center is extremely close to one of Napoleon's early cities that was seen on the turn 15 screenshot you posted. This means that you will have a huge cultural battle just to keep the city from culturally flipping to Napoleon, as he will no doubt settle another city near your proposed sheep city. Deity AI's can pour enormous amounts of culture in a city (I unfortunately experienced that). I once had, in the Qin game that homeyg posted on these forums a while ago in the thread "homeyg and deity," a city with 3 religions and various religious buildings, the Hermitage, several Artist specialists, a theatre, and a library, only to see it be culturally flipped by a city owned by Pericles. While Napoleon is arguably less of a cultural threat, he is also a more aggressive threat which brings me to my next point.
• The sheep city increases your border with Napoleon. Simply letting him settle east of your second city would minimize border tensions and thus, make him less likely to declare war on you.
• The sheep city is far away from your capital and brings a high maintenance cost for questionable benefit. If the "benefit" is production, your capital and your proposed cow/wheat city is better for this purpose.
• There are also better city sites to explore to your north, where there doesn't seem to be any immediate threat. Don't forget to check that clam...there's at least 1 more land tile to the west of your capital.

DMOC: I agree on not settling the sheep. Not with my next city anyhow. The north looks better. I can't see any other city than Paris to my east so far though, look at the screen from turn 31, also I'm creative meaning I'll quickly start dumping huge amounts of culture into the 1st ring (after only 5 turns). But sharing borders with Nappy is a bad idea if it can be avoided, as you mentioned.

Napoleon is tough...we just have to hope he doesn't rush too early (or at all). To the east there is both a possible sheep and cow city; I agree it's not time yet but letting him get both would box you in. Through espionage you might eventually pick up what he's teching (not suggesting using the slider; just the default 4) and if you meet anyone else, I'd focus all the espionage on Napoleon anyway. As far as barbs go, if you get the horses hooked up I think chariots are a superior option to archers, they fare much better against barb axemen. I'd also keep a unit with an eye on those northern city spots; I always hate the tendency at higher levels for a barb city to pop up where you were going to found and it takes work to conquer. I wish I had some suggestions on tech because out of everything that seems the hardest; no easy money and no happiness resources in sight, but it could still work out through monarchy+cottage.

Yeah with only the incense and no marble or stone thus far Monarchy seems a safe bet unless the situation changes, but there's to many unknown factors as of yet. More land to explore and possibly more AIs to meet pre Optics.
The land looks decent for cottaging though it's a bit dry, less good for running lots of specialists. I'd still like to hear everyone's thoughts on the GLH, I'm not industrous but at least I have half-price lighthouses and a good production at the capital. It's difficult to tell the map-type thus far (as it's supposed to).
The traits seem good for REXing in any case with early COL, maybe appease Nappy with Confucianism even, though I don't know if that's easy to get first on Deity.

you... and nappy... on the same island... not nice

might not be marathon, but should still be enough turns to fail a check; plus I can hardly remember the times he didn't declare at pleased.

also, crappastic land; 1 tile river and a lake... meh.

That crab looks interesting; plus you have only 4 health as far as you explored(with granary). Especially since probably many cities will be coastal and also many will lack fresh water bonus. The crab and glh, both actually look interesting. That if you'll survive nappy and you'll pull out some commerce... somehow... I'd drop agri and go fish and try sailing - masonry(working some coastal tiles in lack of anything better then pottery(eventually via agri). Also, be careful where you put the cottages, not to screw the whole chain irrigation engineering you'll have to pull out later. But coast seems the only early commerce, especially if you'll attempt glh.

Since it's fractal - the crab will be either tiny island(60%), another landmass with others(35%), an island with 2-3 cities, eventually between you and another continent(5%). That supposing north is clear and it's only you and nappy on the rock(which I'd say it's 80% from the shape of what you explored, but it isn't very much exploration - rip that scout)

also, if you want to settle something to the east, should probably do next(preferably on a hill ). It ain't lonely heart(plus it's so easy to repel a lonely heart) and, if you're alone with him(which is very probable due to the lack in diversity of resources), you'll be checked normally. You'll have enough border anyway, and, even if you don't settle aggressively towards him, you know the ai... he'll sooner or later settle next to you and then complain about border tension due to his stupidity And with steele you should be ok culturally for a while.

another plan might be fishing(the only early commerce available soon enough for this) - priesthood - oracle - writing - col/confu. Which, with a confu wedding or some open granaries would bump him to friendly. But... given the commerce at hand, pulling this out would be the eighth wonder of the world . Plus at optics, you'll stick out like a d*** and everyone will hate you for being the religion founder. I don't know if events scale with speed, but I have enough in a marathon game; but then, I wouldn't survive enough to matter on marathon...

Are you playing with no sea food on??? I have to say that the land sucks so far. And Nappy next to you isn't going to make it better. Good luck with this one. Subscribed.

IMHO by settling eastwards beyond the isthmus you will only do yourself a disservice, since this will make you a valid land target for Nappy. If you can avoid this (< 8 land tiles adjacent to his territory) you are safe from limited wars (Nappy's favourite war, rand 40 vs. 100 for total war) plus you can decrease or even most likely completely avoid close border tensions. An isthmus is also much easier to defend. So I recommend settling your western half and aiming for the great torch, Deity = big AI cities = big trade income!
Good luck!

ah, right, it's 8 land, not 8 any tiles...

Right, that is a good observation Dan. By halting my eastward expansion I can limit my eventual shared border to 5-6 land tiles.

Round 2, 2480 BC - 825 BC (44 turns):

Techs: Agriculture, Fishing, Sailing, Masonry, The Wheel, Pottery

The first barb unit enters my borders on turn 39, the first turn of the round. My first archer is finished on the same turn and successfully defends on the sheep-hill. I continue building archers in my cities as the barbs keep coming. I lose 3 archers in total before they start to settle down.
I decide to get agriculture first then go for the GLH after discovering that we're on a rather long continent with lots of coast, going ag first turns out to be a mistake however.

2400: Meet Joao's archer coming from the east. Stonehenge BIDL.

2280: Nappy builds TGW. Judaism FIDL.

2080: Agriculture -> Fishing.

1880: Fishing -> Sailing. My research is slow due to lack of commerce, I start working some coast tiles.

1840: Meet HC's archer coming from the east. He is the founder of Buddhism.

1560: A settler is ready to found my third city but I fortify him and time mining of the plains hill with completion of the Sailing tech so that the chop is put into a lighthouse in Aksum.



1400: Sailing -> Masonry. Oracle BIDL. Christianity FIDL. I found my third city.



My cities are mostly focusing on getting as much commerce as possible and queue swapping between workers/settlers.

1320: I OB with Joao.

1280: OB with HC. TOA BIDL.

1200: Masonry -> TW. Start on GLH in Aksum.

1160: Confucianism FIDL.

1120: Sign OB with Nappy.

1040: Pyramids BIDL (Inca).

975: TW -> Pottery.

900: Jew Shrine BIDL.

850: I complete the GLH in Aksum after chopping the rest of the forests there. I was really lucky to get it this late, I clearly underestimated the unit upkeep as well as tech cost on deity thinking it would be alright to get agriculture first before going for it. This did not only delay the GLH by one tech, it also delayed my ability to work coast squares for commerce.
Buddhist Shrine BIDL (Inca).

825: I finish Pottery. HG BIDL (Portugal). I end the round here.

Empire shot, settler en route going north then I'm planning on getting a galley to explore the landmass to the west after I finish the worker:



Shots of the rest of the continent:







I hope there's some religious tension here in the future, so far though it seems that HC is the only one who's founded a religion (possibly several).

The northern lands:



Marble and my slow development thus far hints at Aesthetics -> Literature route and get TGL and trade for Alphabet, HC and Joao are usually good techers, what do you think? Perhaps I don't need marble in second ring though and can put that city 1S and use the creative trait + lib to get 3rd ring in time?
Libyan could be razed in favour of a GP city 1N, hopefully with some forests left for chopping TGL. I could also have a 4th city north of it claim the fish. That would give me another city with the GLH trade routes and save me a settler but give a less potent GP farm (although with 3 sea tiles, cow and rice it enables 4 specialists at size 10), it also gets fresh water, hmm it seems better to keep it, what do you think?
Getting one or more cities on the landmass west of Aksum up quickly would also be great for the intercontinental trade bonus.
Then there's room for a filler city on the northwestern coast of the mainland as marked.

much better in a way... you ain't isolated, just the rng decided to give you all the crappy land for yourself

problem is nappy's land doesn't seem much better then yours(also, even for an ai, quite remarkable how bad he placed the cities); as always hc probably ends up with all the goodies...

glh spoils the pool and according to murphy, you'll get the gm at the worst possible time(right when you'll need the gs for bulbing 2nd part of edu )

aesth seems the way, though it'll delay compass; but I'd go aesth too. Even with marble in 3rd ring, should be in time imho(but that's only gut feeling).

I'd keep the barb city; your land is remarkably crappy as it is, wouldn't waste any more hammers on a settler. Plus leaves room for another city with 3 trade routes. Though I don't know with what you'll exactly take it; hopefully, being normal speed, your troops will reach before the ai, due to shorter distance.

see if joao's wb survives, if he goes to explore the crabs; this way you'll be able to explore yourself with a wb only, instead of a galley.

anyway... you got a very grim land... hopefully nappy will prefer joao over you.