Dr kossin #5

Welcome to Dr kossin #5, which stands for Daily Round.

Yes, I will aim to get in a update every day - as long as I have the time (work, girlfriend, etc). I might skip a day here and there but I will compensate by playing an extra round here and there.
Now I don't plan on very long updates, sometimes just 10 turns, and will stop at strategic times.

That being said, I'm not a great player but I can manage at times. My goal is to improve and, if possible, help others improve as well. I couldn't beat Noble when I started reading this forum (could barely beat Warlord) and I am now in the process of getting comfortable on Immortal.

That's where you come in. I need your ideas, your criticism and everything else you can throw at me - even if you can't beat Noble. Since I plan on an update everyday, there will be mistakes from my part and I might not always get the best advice going forward. That's life!

You are also welcome to shadow this game, although I would prefer you post it in spoilers and no further than I have already played. You can still shadow the whole game and post it but it is important that no one uses that knowledge (land, AIs) to help me.

Without further time wasting, let's go to the game.

Dr kossin #5

Round 1 One bites the dust

Game settings:
Immortal
Fractal (I've had a friend check that it is not isolated or semi-isolated)
Normal Speed
No Huts/Events
BULL 1.0+BUG 4.2 in Custom Assets
Everything else normal.

The leader this time is Isabella, the fourth Expansive leader in a row I find she is a very good warmongeress.


Fast granaries, harbors, 25% extra production to workers, 2 to every city, No Anarchy, 100% extra production to temples and 50% to Cristo Redemtor iIrc.

Her UB: a Castle that gives +5exp to siege! Combined with Spiritual, you can easily get 10xp Trebuchets/Cannons out of the gate.


Her UU: A Cuirassier with +50% against melee units. Great against pikemen.


We start with Fishing and Mysticism.


Not the greatest combo ever unless you get a 'Spain on a lake' start!

And the start:


Here's what I think is in the fog:


Cows and clams, plus a whole lot of brown tiles

Either settle on place or 2N1E on the plains hill to claim the second clams.
I might consider the Great Lighthouse here, I think I may end up with a lot of coastal cities.

Without further time wasting, let's go to the first game.

Click to expand...

*blink*

My goal is to improve and, if possible, help others improve as well.

Click to expand...

Either settle on place or 2N1E on the plains hill to claim the second clams.
I might consider the Great Lighthouse here, I think I may end up with a lot of coastal cities.

Click to expand...

I respectfully suggest that you invest a little bit more effort than that before throwing it to the peanut gallery....

Fixed the mistake, thanks!

The post is only vague thoughts. There really isn't too many things to be said right now. Looking at the amount of forests to chop, the non-abundant food and not seeing too many land to be cottaged lead to that idea. I'll sleep on it as usual and see if I think of anything worth mentioning.

Unless you've got 2 or so seafood in the fog, this is one bad capitol.

2n1e has 2 clams. Plus 1 production from plains hills.

Current spot is rubbish. You would need 2 techs to even use the cows. Moving warrior to explore would be good idea.

Lets get moving that settler.

Night's sleep thoughts:

I'm guessing we're in the southern hemisphere. It looks like I'm once again on a peninsula, but I think this one doesn't stretch very far to the west by the way the coast seems to go in the fog.

I still think I may end up with a lot of Coastal cities which make the GLH a viable strategy.

Seeing as BFCs normally include 3 improvable resources, seafood counting as 2/3, it is likely there are 2 more resources in the fog. The only possibilities given that there is forest to the west is on the 3 coast tiles south of the settler, on the plains hill in the fog or a resource for which I do not have the tech for yet, for example horses on that plains tile next to the settler.

I'd move the warrior 1SE to see if there's anything on that plains hill (sheep is possible, but that makes a 3 tile only). If there's nothing there, then a hidden resource is somewhere in the BFC or seafood to the south. (If I understand the starting location algorithm correctly that is).

Another option is to send the settler on the plains cows to see if there is any such seafood. I'd lose 1 turn if there is any and 2 if there isn't any. This is the safest procedure which I think I will use if the warrior move doesn't reveal anything.

I would move the settler NE to the plains hills. If he doesn't find any good stuff I would settle in place.

Izzy's fun. Conquistadors, strong siege - great for medieval wars. Especially if you can get conquistadors early, they have no counter unit.

UWHabs said:

Izzy's fun. Conquistadors, strong siege - great for medieval wars. Especially if you can get conquistadors early, they have no counter unit.

Click to expand...

Careful when you say NO counter unit. Elephants, which are cheaper and usually comparable in terms of promotions, can match them just as well as any cuirasser. Protective/hill longbows are an issue too, though generally conqs are quite stout. I hate medieval wars in high level normal speed play in this game, and will only do it in situations where it is unusually advantageous.

Fortunately the castle can apply its bonuses to cannons or even artillery if you are willing to forgo economics ---> assembly line. You'll probably want pinch cavalry or machine guns + anti tanks (once needed) to cover your backside-raping CR III arty. I usually just use pinch cav + arty then work in ATs to deal with tanks or air.

The nice thing about arty is that nothing until gunships can flank it. Large stack battles are therefore quite easy to win even when behind in tech when you have 10 XP arty, and once you clear out the large stack most of your fighting will be against sitting ducks in cities.

Careful when you say NO counter unit. Elephants, which are cheaper and usually comparable in terms of promotions, can match them just as well as any cuirasser.

Click to expand...

It's true that elephants are counters, but the Conquistador will use defensive terrain unlike Cuirassiers giving it an advantage in many situations. In addition, Ivory is a relatively rare resource and even then can be pillaged by a few Spies or the Conqs themselves.

There is sort of an antisynergy with Spain in that the ultra-strong siege (CRIII Cannons from Citadel can be considered a second UU easily) slow down the Conq charge. As Spain, I think getting Mil Trad early, wiping out a neighbor and in the meantime getting Steel for CRIII Cannons is the way to go. The Conqs can even protect the Cannons pretty well given their defensive bonuses. Just make sure you secure a source of Iron playing as Spain.

No time today...

kossin said:

No time today...

Click to expand...

This is the daily round not the weekly round!!! Sheeeesh

Round 1

I botched the game and got a few bad rolls

Sent the warrior NE to see if there was anything worth moving for, but it wasn't the case. Settled in place for an extra clams in the BFC.


Started on a workboat working a 12 tile and then switched to the plains hill 3 on turn 5.


Research went Mining>BW (no bronze)>Sailing>Masonry(the mistakes)>Hunting>Archery.

My exploring warrior was cornered by 2 lions and a panther and died in the far north of the landmass. Much later, this guy found me:


Turn 34... this meant that there was a lot of possible barb activity near me and I was not ready at all for it.

I still managed to get a city out to claim the clams+cows just north of the capital. It had an archer as defense but...


I did manage to grab the Great Lighthouse on a positive note.
Of the 2 archers you saw in that shot, one also died at very bad odds :S while the other went east for some fogbusting.
I researched Ag>AH next and of course there were horses in the BFC but...
My fogbusters weren't in place soon enough which lead to...


And after more bad rolls...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Post-game

My big mistake: going too hard after the Great Lighthouse without having proper fogbusting to get rid of some of the barbs.

The real biter:
I lost 5 70~90% odds battles in a row this game. Exploring warrior, defending Archer, 2 fogbusting archers, 1 defending archer+warrior

This game is definitively winnable but not when you make the mistakes I did and get screwed by the RNG.

That being said, I'll start Dr kossin #6 as a loss is a loss and I will not replay this map, or at least won't post it if I replay it.

oh dear

This is officially live streaming fodder but FIRST, I have to finish Washington, then go out of town to finish that little dock project, then Thanksgiving, and THEN it's back to my usual game spam .

I'll be watching

All of that could of been avoided if you started on the hills.

Just a few words of advice. Try to not wonder spam. Concentrate on the basics like fog busting.

Least you had the courage to post the screenshots.

A single wonder isn't "wonderspamming". But the combination of feeling a bit to comfortable and a few bad rolls can do this. I say this shows kossin needs to move up to deity to stay focused

@Gumbolt, Starting on hills costs a turn and a food resource. From glancing over some of his other games i know Kossin knows way more than the basics. Also you have to take some risks to get GLH on immortal. Can't always build 10+ archers early game to be secure against everything. Seeing the amount of barbs in the last screenshot something did go wrong though, what Kossin said himself i think, there seems to be a whole lotta nothing in the north east and you need fogbusters out there or a road network with axes around your cities to defend if you really get hit hard by barbs.

Agree with Windsor actually , on deity you're on your toes usually as barbs'll hit hard if they've got breathing room.

edit, gumbolt has already been addressed before me. Thanks Dirk/Windsor.

Looking forward to the next one kossin.