r_rolo1
King of myself
Welcome to the 59th 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 59th game in BTS the chosen leader was again Pericles of the Greeks:
Pericles is probably one of the most loved Phi leaders in the game, given his trait combination making one of the buildings more used for GPP generation half-priced ( the library ) ... and it was also a sensible decision from Firaxis to include a Greek leader that was actually Greek beyond doubt ( atleast I think no one will discuss that Pericles was a Greek, unlike people do with the other Civ IV Greek leader
). Anyway, the combination of the traits ( Phi/Cre ) also makes a already arguably very good UB half priced, a thing that adds nicely to a very synergistic trait combo. The UU is nothing to shun about ( basically is the Vanilla axeman with a better look ), in spite of being radically diferent of what it was in Vanilla and warlords ( some would say for the better, others would say for the worst ), and only may look a little moot if the oponents don't use chariots ( that is , mainly SP with stock AI ). Anyway, Pericles is probably the best leader to run a specialist based game up to the very end instead of being forced to go Emancipation ( I've done a SS win the previous LHC with Pericles using only a cottage and Caste until the end, and that cottage was only there because it was a unirrigatable grass tile ) due to the UB 
bonuses. Will be interesting to see what it can be done...
His UU
The phalanx in BtS is a axeman replacement that has a bonus against chariots while defending. This makes him the reincarnation of the Vanilla axeman, and ,because of that, all the classic axe strategies work wonders with them ( unlike it happens with other axe based UU ). Well, a lot of players will consider the bonus vs chariots a little underachieving, but in the end chariots are the main threat of a axe-based army and, like I said before , I would definitely prefer to have 10 BtS phalanxes than 8 axes and 2 spears in the times of the classic axe rush ... the issue is that the stock AI does not make active defense with chariots when they see axes aproaching, so in SP the phalanx tends to look like a normal axe with a brighter armor
In isolation, things get a little less good for them, given that there is no one to rush and that barbs can't build or spawn chariots. So, the Phalanx in isolation is nothing more than a normal axe....
His UB
It is me or the civilopedia has a blatant error in here?
Well, the Odeon is a colloseum with a pretty heavy list of bonuses on top of the regular building: more per culture slider using ( unlike it says in the special abilities in civilopedia ), 3 base and some more from hit singles ( obviously this is not a factor for a while , but helps a lot in late game ). On top of that, the Cre trait of the leader we are using makes it half-priced, a somewhat rare case in Civ IV.
In isolation... well, isolated starts are normally enviroments where is more important than in regular games. So, having a lot of extra from a half-priced building is definitely a blessing.
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 ):
And here we have again one of the rarest tiles in game if you use the more mainstream map generators ( btw this is a Fractal map ), riverside plains fur, one of them in the hill version. For food resources we have cow and crab ( beaver + crabs jokes aproaching, I guess ... ), a small river and grass tiles, some forest to chop, but only 3 hills ( 2 grass ones and the already mentioned plains hill riverside fur ). Also signs of water tiles south and of desert to the West.... It is definitely not the dream GPP farm starting spot, but I guess it is not that bad after all. Atleast if you decide to start either with a WB or with a worker, there is guaranteed work for them even at t0
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 earlier ) and 3.17 ( and later ) 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 59th game in BTS the chosen leader was again Pericles of the Greeks:
Spoiler :
Pericles is probably one of the most loved Phi leaders in the game, given his trait combination making one of the buildings more used for GPP generation half-priced ( the library ) ... and it was also a sensible decision from Firaxis to include a Greek leader that was actually Greek beyond doubt ( atleast I think no one will discuss that Pericles was a Greek, unlike people do with the other Civ IV Greek leader
). Anyway, the combination of the traits ( Phi/Cre ) also makes a already arguably very good UB half priced, a thing that adds nicely to a very synergistic trait combo. The UU is nothing to shun about ( basically is the Vanilla axeman with a better look ), in spite of being radically diferent of what it was in Vanilla and warlords ( some would say for the better, others would say for the worst ), and only may look a little moot if the oponents don't use chariots ( that is , mainly SP with stock AI ). Anyway, Pericles is probably the best leader to run a specialist based game up to the very end instead of being forced to go Emancipation ( I've done a SS win the previous LHC with Pericles using only a cottage and Caste until the end, and that cottage was only there because it was a unirrigatable grass tile ) due to the UB bonuses. Will be interesting to see what it can be done... His UU
Spoiler :
The phalanx in BtS is a axeman replacement that has a bonus against chariots while defending. This makes him the reincarnation of the Vanilla axeman, and ,because of that, all the classic axe strategies work wonders with them ( unlike it happens with other axe based UU ). Well, a lot of players will consider the bonus vs chariots a little underachieving, but in the end chariots are the main threat of a axe-based army and, like I said before , I would definitely prefer to have 10 BtS phalanxes than 8 axes and 2 spears in the times of the classic axe rush ... the issue is that the stock AI does not make active defense with chariots when they see axes aproaching, so in SP the phalanx tends to look like a normal axe with a brighter armor
In isolation, things get a little less good for them, given that there is no one to rush and that barbs can't build or spawn chariots. So, the Phalanx in isolation is nothing more than a normal axe....
His UB
Spoiler :
It is me or the civilopedia has a blatant error in here?
Well, the Odeon is a colloseum with a pretty heavy list of bonuses on top of the regular building: more
per culture slider using ( unlike it says in the special abilities in civilopedia ), 3 base and some more from hit singles ( obviously this is not a factor for a while , but helps a lot in late game ). On top of that, the Cre trait of the leader we are using makes it half-priced, a somewhat rare case in Civ IV.In isolation... well, isolated starts are normally enviroments where
is more important than in regular games. So, having a lot of extra from a half-priced building is definitely a blessing.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 :
And here we have again one of the rarest tiles in game if you use the more mainstream map generators ( btw this is a Fractal map ), riverside plains fur, one of them in the hill version. For food resources we have cow and crab ( beaver + crabs jokes aproaching, I guess ... ), a small river and grass tiles, some forest to chop, but only 3 hills ( 2 grass ones and the already mentioned plains hill riverside fur ). Also signs of water tiles south and of desert to the West.... It is definitely not the dream GPP farm starting spot, but I guess it is not that bad after all. Atleast if you decide to start either with a WB or with a worker, there is guaranteed work for them even at t0
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 earlier ) and 3.17 ( and later ) 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
, warrior, map
I'm baffled by Vicky in my game though; never seen her fail to expand beyond 3 core cities.
