PCVIII: Qin Shi Huang

Hello Forum, and welcome to the PC! This series was started a while back and was purposed around getting Noble level players to Prince; and prince to Monarch. Also, the second, (and equally important) is to have fun! It is also advised for some of the more advanced players to help out the people asking questions by giving solid advice.

This is the eighth run in the series.

Our leader this time around



Qin Shi Huang is Industrious and Protective. This is a fair blend of traits great for cheaply fending off enemy stacks early on due to Protective and good for wonder spamming and quick forges. He is decently balanced trait wise.

The Unique Unit



The Chu-Ko-Nu is a very interesting unit. It substitutes for siege almost entirely, as it gets collateral damage in itself. This makes it a great independent unit. I am curious about the outcome of the game as I personally haven't used it extensively before.
The Unique Building



The Pavilion significantly improves culture and happiness... It is great for a cultural win or suppressing enemy borders.

The Start



Map Is:

The Save
View attachment PCVIII Qin Shi Huang.zip

Finally, a cut and paste (and another slight edit) of the Nobles Club standard doctrine:

(I hope it isn't rude to use the same doctrine, as It applies to most forum games.)

There are no hard and fast rules here: fun and learning are our primary goals, but we do request that you update your progress at various points in the game, using the Spoiler feature of the boards.

Tentative posting updates are suggested at:

4000 BC (starting thoughts, no spoiler required for that discussion)
1000 BC or so (how you decided to progress up the early tech/build paths, which AIs you have met, where you're thinking of putting cities, etc)
500 AD or so (after establishing some cities and a possible plan of action)
1200 AD or so (mid-game, Lib race, wars or peace, or whichever happened or didnt, met other continent if applicable, etc)
1600 AD (or when you have decided on a course of action and a specific victory condition)
End of game (Victory!!! or defeat, no shame in losing, especially if you tried a higher level. Learning is what we focus on, not fastest win or biggest empire)

Remember, these are only guidelines. What we really want are your thoughts as the game goes on, so if your strats don't fall into line with those dates, feel free to adjust your reports accordingly.

We also welcome players to ask for specific game advice, as we have a number or stronger players who lurk and help out with solid tips, and of course, we help each other. Replies to specific questions should also be in spoilers, with a simple "@" in front of the person the answer is directed towards.

The WB-saves are attached (zipped; they are bigger than standard saves). To play, simply download and unzip it into your BTS/Saves/WorldBuilder folder. Start the game, and load your favorite MOD (if you use one, if not, check out the BUG MOD), select "Play Scenario", and look for "PCVIII Qin Shi Huang" (or Monarch, if you want the AI to start with its usual Archery bonus tech, or Immortal for Archery+Hunting, or Deity to add Agriculture). This allows you to play with your favorite MOD at the Level and Speed of your choice. From Quick-Warlord to Marathon-Deity, all are welcome!

Have fun playing the forum game!

Three things CivIVMonger:

1- If the series is for Prince players, please start the map on Prince, which means no Archery for the AIs. Don't start a map on Monarch and post it as a Prince map. It screws warrior rushes, as KatyeKat found out last installment.

2- There's a line in the WBSave that reads It should read because people may want to play it on Epic or Marathon (or even Quick, but that's rarer). If you keep it the way you did, the games will abruptly end earlier. Please, be kind enough to read TMIT's guide to series creation again.

3- Finally some decent pictures! Way to go!

Ignorant Teacher said:

Three things CivIVMonger:

1- If the series is for Prince players, please start the map on Prince, which means no Archery for the AIs. Don't start a map on Monarch and post it as a Prince map. It screws warrior rushes, as KatyeKat found out last installment.

2- There's a line in the WBSave that reads

Code:

MaxTurns=500

It should read

Code:

MaxTurns=0

because people may want to play it on Epic or Marathon (or even Quick, but that's rarer). If you keep it the way you did, the games will abruptly end earlier. Please, be kind enough to read TMIT's guide to series creation again.

3- Finally some decent pictures! Way to go!

Click to expand...

Sorry, got too exited about the Photobucket Screenshots. Will fix the max turns right away! Sorry about the starting on Monarch; It is my standard difficulty level and I just forgot.

EDIT: Fixed the save entirely. Now you won't be able to see the opponents, I put the standard difficulty at Prince, and edited the Turns to unlimited. Sorry IT... At least I fixed it though.

personally, i never learn how to use cho-ku-no properly. First, it requires machinery, which takes a lot input to pull off before ai start getting feudalism. Second, it only has 6 str and it's weak against horse archers and knights. Third, it doesnt get city raiding promo, so catapults will do the job better. Fourth, it requires iron and a lot of hammer to build. Fifth, it only does max 50% collateral damage, while catapults can go lower.

The only good thing is that it gets an extra first strike, good defense against counter melee and solid def against longbows. Personally i have never prioritze machinery so i build them too late for them to be deadly.

I hope to learn how you pull off this game.

IMM/Normal

1822 Conquest

Immortal/Epic to 670AD:

Good job TMIT. I do have a question though. How did you win Conquest without killing the AI?

MkLh:
Good job, just keep pressing Zara!

I am just *very* happy that I finally got the series up to good quality.

CivIVMonger said:

Good job TMIT. I do have a question though. How did you win Conquest without killing the AI?

MkLh:
Good job, just keep pressing Zara!

I am just *very* happy that I finally got the series up to good quality.

Click to expand...

Everyone capitulated.

Oh...

Deity / NSC

Start to Liberalism (940 AD)

Infantry#14 said:

personally, i never learn how to use cho-ku-no properly.

Click to expand...

I built a few chariots while working towards the bulb, then some swords once iron was hooked up. Unfortunately, a prophet popped ~500BC at 44% odds. I wonder if I should have been more patient and tried to pop it in another city. There weren't alot of forests around except for the capital, and they were absolutely necessary for oracle at least because I didn't start it until close to 1000BC.

I figured the CKN would suicide for some collateral, then my swords/chariots would mop up. Their two free first strikes and chance to promote up the drill line hopefully help them pull through.

In all fairness, I probably would be better off pushing for catapults, as construction doesn't seem any longer a path than the bulb (probably faster tbh).

1849 UN diplo victory, monarch/epic:

Immortal / NSC (The Benchmark)
Init --> 1120 A.D. (Liberalism)

I decided to re-do my pre-lib game in Immortal, but stick to the same policy and see how different things go. Sure enough the difference in ease is like normal is to epic.

obsolete said:

Immortal / NSC (The Benchmark)
Init --> 1120 A.D. (Liberalism)

I decided to re-do my pre-lib game in Immortal, but stick to the same policy and see how different things go. Sure enough the difference in ease is like normal is to epic.

Spoiler :

I even settled 1 less city this game, while leaving Zara to squeeze in an extra in my territories. And I am most definitely kicking his ass. Everyone’s in fact.

Pyramids worked out, so did everything else. I haven’t even gone on the aggressive side but without a doubt I will stop over Zara soon, despite he is a giant.

Early on Mansa dog piled on the Japs and became a dangerous master, but I was able to get him dog piled on, so things have been stack over in that side of the world.

I decided to tech up nationalism first (that’s rare), and then use Lib to take off military tradition. Now, I just need to finish off gunpowder, and BOOM I’m going to have such a massive army in 10 turns the AI won’t know what hit em.

My tech dragged off a lot because after a billion great people, I only just now popped a scientist FINALLY for my academy. I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to get it.

Anyhow, I will continue later on this evening.

Click to expand...

Got to love positive income with 100% science slider

Immortal / NSC
1120 A.D. To End-Game