r_rolo1
King of myself
Welcome to the 43nd 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 43nd game in BTS the chosen leader was Huayna Capac of the Inca:
Some people will love it and some will hate it
Well, the truth is this is the only leader that is forbidden in the HoF, due to the absolutely smashing effect it's UU can have in a archer loving AI ( Firaxians... take notes 
). That, combined with two of the more popular traits around ( Ind/Fin ) and a very useful UB, makes HC one of the regular appearances in the "best leader" threads. In the hands of the AI it normally also fares well ( AI handles well fin civs that can pop borders quickly ), but in human hands HC normally destroys a civ or two in the UU usefulness time
In isolation... well, quechuas make extremely good anti-barb units ( atleast until axes ) and the UB definitely doesn't lose shine with isolation ( probably it even gains a little ). The traits are also helpful, regardless of how you want to play the game.
His UU
The quechua is a beefed warrior, that starts with combat I and 100% bonus vs archery units. It also gets obsolete with spears , axes and maces, making that you can make them for a far longer time than regular warriors ( for military police under Hereditary Rule, for a example ). I'm pretty sure that most of the persons around are are familiar with the use of this unit to smash archer garrisons of the AI, a action that is so devastating to the AI that the Hall of Fame forbidden games with the Inca to be posted. The fact is that the quechua has a very short lived military usefulness window, but can deliver a devastating punch to any civ that relies heavily in archery units ( like the AI does ). In the moment the enemy gets axemen, quechua military is obsolete.....
In here... well, as anyone that played Earth 18 civs as the Inca knows, quechuas are extremely good anti barb units until axes appear and there is not much before maces that can dislodge a fortified quechua/axe pair. So probably quechuas will have a big anti barb role here, and maybe in some games a heavy presence as military police under HR. But no quechua rushes
His UB
The terrace is a beefed granary that also provides 2
. As granaries are a almost "build in every city soon" building, this makes the terrace a very good UB to have, especially in the early game. In isolation, this is even more useful, given the fact that all the fogbust has to be made by the human ( and cities are the best fogbusters ) and that having good tiles more easily makes any game easier
The start (Thanks to DanF for the solution of the unit change of place .... The warrior/scout should appear always in the same place from now on, really ):
2 seafood, "enough elephants to open a circus" ( to quote someone in the Boudica game ), a island ( ?) to the NW and desert to the south..... Could had been better, surely... but it is workable
Regarding the saves ( if you're using DanF change to the WB files load, skip this ): given some complaints about the efects of the AI starting without archery in high levels ( giving a unfair advantage to AI that have early UU and/or have early warmongering tendencies ), I decided to make 3 WB saves ( all in the same zip file ). The WB saves are equal except for the fact that one of them ( labeled Monarch ) has all of the AI with archery as starting tech ( corresponding to a game started in Monarch ), one ( labeled Immortal ) has all of the AI with archery,hunting and agriculture as starting tech ( corresponding to a game started in Immortal ) while the last is the corresponding to a game starting in Noble ( labeled Noble ). All WB saves are playable in all levels, but ( for a example ) if you use the Monarch one the AI will start with archery ( and archers ) in any level. This has only a slight effect in the human directly ( mainly via the garrisons of barb cities ), but has a huge effect on the AI gaming in the outer lands ( avoiding scenarios like Pacal, Shaka or Sitting Bull to take all the barb cities and becoming moguls ). I strongly recommend the usage of the Monarch save if you want to play in Monarch+ and the Immortal at Immortal/Deity.... All the speeds are working well ( no more games ending in 1900 ) The saves are zipped... you only have to unzip this to the worldbuilder saves or for the PublicMaps folder ( either one will do ) and load it from the scenarios.
Any problem PM me...
P.S WB saves are crosscompatible between 3.13 and 3.17 if they don't have No Espionage ticked. No problem with the patches here And as WB saves are no more than text files and Vanilla and Warlords WB are almost equal, you can play this if you exchange the non-Vanilla ( or non-warlords ) stuff ( in here it will be only leaders and civs eventually )
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).
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 43nd game in BTS the chosen leader was Huayna Capac of the Inca:
Spoiler :
Some people will love it and some will hate it
Well, the truth is this is the only leader that is forbidden in the HoF, due to the absolutely smashing effect it's UU can have in a archer loving AI ( Firaxians... take notes ). That, combined with two of the more popular traits around ( Ind/Fin ) and a very useful UB, makes HC one of the regular appearances in the "best leader" threads. In the hands of the AI it normally also fares well ( AI handles well fin civs that can pop borders quickly ), but in human hands HC normally destroys a civ or two in the UU usefulness time In isolation... well, quechuas make extremely good anti-barb units ( atleast until axes ) and the UB definitely doesn't lose shine with isolation ( probably it even gains a little ). The traits are also helpful, regardless of how you want to play the game.
His UU
Spoiler :
The quechua is a beefed warrior, that starts with combat I and 100% bonus vs archery units. It also gets obsolete with spears , axes and maces, making that you can make them for a far longer time than regular warriors ( for military police under Hereditary Rule, for a example ). I'm pretty sure that most of the persons around are are familiar with the use of this unit to smash archer garrisons of the AI, a action that is so devastating to the AI that the Hall of Fame forbidden games with the Inca to be posted. The fact is that the quechua has a very short lived military usefulness window, but can deliver a devastating punch to any civ that relies heavily in archery units ( like the AI does ). In the moment the enemy gets axemen, quechua military is obsolete.....
In here... well, as anyone that played Earth 18 civs as the Inca knows, quechuas are extremely good anti barb units until axes appear and there is not much before maces that can dislodge a fortified quechua/axe pair. So probably quechuas will have a big anti barb role here, and maybe in some games a heavy presence as military police under HR. But no quechua rushes
His UB
Spoiler :
The terrace is a beefed granary that also provides 2
. As granaries are a almost "build in every city soon" building, this makes the terrace a very good UB to have, especially in the early game. In isolation, this is even more useful, given the fact that all the fogbust has to be made by the human ( and cities are the best fogbusters ) and that having good tiles more easily makes any game easier The start (Thanks to DanF for the solution of the unit change of place
.... The warrior/scout should appear always in the same place from now on, really ):Spoiler :
2 seafood, "enough elephants to open a circus" ( to quote someone in the Boudica game ), a island ( ?) to the NW and desert to the south..... Could had been better, surely... but it is workable
Regarding the saves ( if you're using DanF change to the WB files load, skip this ): given some complaints about the efects of the AI starting without archery in high levels ( giving a unfair advantage to AI that have early UU and/or have early warmongering tendencies ), I decided to make 3 WB saves ( all in the same zip file ). The WB saves are equal except for the fact that one of them ( labeled Monarch ) has all of the AI with archery as starting tech ( corresponding to a game started in Monarch ), one ( labeled Immortal ) has all of the AI with archery,hunting and agriculture as starting tech ( corresponding to a game started in Immortal ) while the last is the corresponding to a game starting in Noble ( labeled Noble ). All WB saves are playable in all levels, but ( for a example ) if you use the Monarch one the AI will start with archery ( and archers ) in any level. This has only a slight effect in the human directly ( mainly via the garrisons of barb cities ), but has a huge effect on the AI gaming in the outer lands ( avoiding scenarios like Pacal, Shaka or Sitting Bull to take all the barb cities and becoming moguls ). I strongly recommend the usage of the Monarch save if you want to play in Monarch+ and the Immortal at Immortal/Deity.... All the speeds are working well ( no more games ending in 1900 ) The saves are zipped... you only have to unzip this to the worldbuilder saves or for the PublicMaps folder ( either one will do ) and load it from the scenarios.
Any problem PM me...
P.S WB saves are crosscompatible between 3.13 and 3.17 if they don't have No Espionage ticked. No problem with the patches here
And as WB saves are no more than text files and Vanilla and Warlords WB are almost equal, you can play this if you exchange the non-Vanilla ( or non-warlords ) stuff ( in here it will be only leaders and civs eventually )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).
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
, Temples, Monasteries etc worth it on their own??
