Nobles' Club LXV: Washington of America

dalamb

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May 9, 2006
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Kingston, Ontario
The Nobles' Club series started out as a way for Noble-level (and below) players to improve their game. Most of the original participants now play at much higher levels, so this has become a way for advanced players to help others learn to play better. You can play your own game at any level and with any mod, but it would be nice to comment on the games of other players and give them advice.

Our next leader is Washington of the Americans, whom we last played in NC XXXIII. The Americans start with fishing and agriculture.
Washington.jpg
  • Traits: Washington is CHArismatic and EXPansive. CHA gives extra happiness and faster promotions, while EXP gives faster workers, +1:health:, and faster granaries; they both help with early expansion.
  • The UB: The Mall is a supermarket that gives :gold: and :). It comes quite late in the game, so some players consider it very weak compared to other UBs. The extra cash might be useful in keeping research at a higher rate in the late game, where it could make a difference in a space victory race.
    Mall.jpg

  • The UU: The Navy Seal is a Marine with March (can heal while moving) and 1-2 first strikes (one of few late-game units to have them), making it a very strong late-game military unit. Like the UB, some players consider it weak because they're in too strong a position at that point to need it (or have won the game already).
    SEAL.jpg
And the start:
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Spoiler map details :
Tectonics, 60% water.
Spoiler edits :
Regenerated until we had both agricultural and seafood resources in the BFC. Added one river. Swapped a nearby nasty neighbour with a nicer one.
Spoiler which ones :
Shaka swapped with Frederick.
Finally, a cut and paste of our standard doctrine:

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 didn't, 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 strategies 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.

Special Thanks go to Bleys and TMIT, who really made this series a great one, r_rolo1, mapmaker extraordinaire, for his maps for most of the series, and all of you for playing.

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 "NC 65 Washington Noble" (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! We stuck with the name "Nobles Club" because it has a cool ring to it.

Note for those who hate goody huts: open the WB save file with a text editor and delete all lines that say
ImprovementType=IMPROVEMENT_GOODY_HUT
 

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I love playing washington. That cha+exp combination is really great for bigger cities early game.

what should i expect from this map type? never played it.
 
@ dalamb:

Spoiler :


If you didn't add extra AI tectonics 60% water is pretty brutal on higher levels, although it should be manageable on the levels this series was intended to be played.

I still remember back when I was a NC host and made a tectonics map; people complained :lol:. Still, it is a good setup because massed plains have to be treated differently than a more standard map. I'm probably going to struggle a bit on immortal when someone has a 20+ city empire, but for the REAL noble's club players, this should be a good learning experience in adaptation to terrain...hopefully you're not holding our hand too much and switching all the nearby plains off or something :).
 
Should be intresting as im not too used to tectonics other than the NC Mansa game, signing in Emperor/Normal.
 
Our next leader is Washington of the Americans, whom we last played in NC XXXIII. The Americans start with fishing and hunting.

Where is my scout? I just checked - Americans start with Fishing and Agriculture.

Got new computer so now I downloaded this one and will give it a try. I will also work on getting a photobucket account going so that I am not posting save games or thumbnails.
 
Noble normal to 1440 BC. have a question (:-( realized after awhile... when i started Custom scenario didn't check properly the diff :-()

Spoiler :

I SIPed, at start I basically ignored the clams and went with both corn (wet!).

teched AH->mining->TW->myst->BW (or something along the lines), masonry probably before BW but certainly after myst.

seeing the land I settled the north rice+gold spot immedietaly and started there stonehenge.

Then I teched for Oracle. Then writing->math. I am currently 1T from finishing math.

Huts gave me total of 300gold! it's like failed wonder...wow.

Now the question. What to take with Oracle, I will have 3 options Currency, CoL and Monarchy.
Monarchy I don't see as priority, even though there is wine to west, for CoL it's a bit too soon, that leaves me Currency.

I don't have pottery, will tech it after Math for cottages since the land is wet as hell, will make some great cottages.

I have a bit headache with production in south-south east corner and to the west where i want to make plains+food city.

I think after oracle I will rex as mad. should be doable.

screens
Spoiler :

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@V

Spoiler :
CoL seems pretty obvious to me here. I rarely prioritize Mon with Char leaders. You get the religion and temples for even more happiness too. I did this in my game.

I think it's best to settle North and East to block much of the land south, although much of it is marginal.
 
Here is what I have done up to Turn 75 (1000BC)

It took me a few tries, but here it is - The photo shoot:
Spoiler :
The settler is sitting on lots of food so I settled in place and moved the warrior to explore the area southward.
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The border popped at Turn 5 and also popped the hut to the tune of 65g.
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I got Bronze Working from a Hut:
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...but waited until I built a Settler before changing to Slavery:
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This is what Washington looked like at Turn 37 with the food tiles and the marble developed:
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Lots of food - should be good for building and whipping in the early game and specialists in the later game. New York founded on Turn 38:
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Boston Turn 53:
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Philly Turn 54:
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Atlanta Turn 68:
yanksturn68atlanta.jpg


This is what the game looks like at 1000BC or Turn 75:
yanksturn75.jpg




Special thanks to Metzi for his "How to Post" article. http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=370542

Opponents Encountered:
Spoiler :

Frederick of Germany (11)
Alexander of Macedon (57)
Shaka of Zululand (72)

They appear to be very far away so I should be claiming territory.


Research:
Spoiler :

Animal Husbandry (11) - I saw the cows.
Mining (17) - Opens Masonry and Bronze Working
Masonry (25) - I have Marble in the BFC
Bronze Working from Hut (26)
The Wheel (32) - Opens up Pottery
Pottery (38) - Start the whip economy
Iron Working (49)
Sailing (53)
Hunting (55)
Mysticism (57) - I should have researched this long ago with a charismatic leader
Writing (61)
Mathematics (69) - Making my way to Calendar


General Comments:
Spoiler :

I probably should have placed Atlanta to claim the Silver but I chose the river instead.

The stone seems pretty far away and it will be a good bit later by the time I claim it so I am likely to leave the Pyramids to somebody else. The amount of food I have favors running a lot of specialists. I do have marble and I am in a position to have my workers chop up a wonder. Perhaps I should go for the Parthenon.

After Calendar I am thinking about going towards Code of Laws. This is the next religion up for grabs.


Should I upload my Turn 75 save?
 
Anybody know why I can't unzip this file with my dell laptop with windows 7. I can do it with my desktop that has windows XP. I'm guessing its dell software or windows 7, but i don't know for sure....
 

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Immortal/Normal to 1200BC (turn 70):

Spoiler :
Other than IC games, I've never tried Immortal, so this might be ugly. :)

I managed to do quite a bit of exploration (cut off on the maps shown below), but only found one neighbor:

Spoiler :
Civ4ScreenShot0058.jpg


Freddy isn't a bad neighbor, but if I can't find another one I'll probably quit the game since I don't enjoy semi-isolation at all. There is a LOT of available land, which means one thing: Barbarians! They killed a few of my scouts and fog-busters, so in the interest of controlling their impact on my empire I built...

Spoiler :
Civ4ScreenShot0059.jpg


I'm surprised I pulled it off, makes me wonder who else is out there. With all those forests, I can probably do the Pyramids if I want. I thought about the Great Lighthouse too, but I'm not sure I'll have enough coastal cities to make it worthwhile.

Here's the current situation:
Civ4ScreenShot0060.jpg

Lots of food in the area, copper just outside the BFC, Marble for wonders, Gold in the BFC of an early city, and some other luxury resources close by makes this potentially very strong. I'm going to want to get a city in the horse/ivory area before someone else grabs that, though, but the maintenance is gonna suck. I need to get more explorers out, and now that barbs are starting to settle cities I should have better luck with them surviving. That, and no need for big city garrisons thanks to TGW.

Cities:
Spoiler :
Civ4ScreenShot0061.jpg

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Washington is in an insanely strong position, with four food specials and several hills. It'll have to serve as both GP farm and production center, in the short run. I'll have two libraries soon, at which point it is time to switch back to research.

Tech situation:
Spoiler :
Civ4ScreenShot0064.jpg

Freddy doesn't have Alpha yet, so no trading or idea how he's doing. I need to think about what to go for next.
 
Anybody know why I can't unzip this file with my dell laptop with windows 7. I can do it with my desktop that has windows XP. I'm guessing its dell software or windows 7, but i don't know for sure....

You should be able to just right click on the file and Open it. That's what I did with Windows 7, and it worked like a charm.
 
I played out it on the Noble with SS victory at 1830.

Spoiler :

didn't kill any AI's to not abuse the diff even more then I did.

I got basically every wonder there is. I think I missed only Great Wall.

ugh... dunno if I will replay on higher diff.



@Harv
if it's on Noble, you can compare with my save from 975BC. and posting the 450AD save too if you want to see/compare later.

Spoiler :

from that save you can certainly get Pyramids and more wonders... I got literally everything.
 
Immortal/Normal

1915 Space

Spoiler :


I settled in place because there wasn't any incentive to do otherwise. AH ----> Mining/Masonry ---> priesthood ----> writing ----> BW ----> math (oracle). Also went for hunting/sailing/currency/calendar or so since I got mids.

Actually, I wonder spammed the bejeezus out of this game. Mids, gwall, oracle, ToA, parthenon, great lib, AP, sistine, hanging gardens to name just a few. This sort of gameplay probably reminds the forum more of obsolete than TMIT play, but I hate settling bad plains land early so I kept that to a minimum. Picked up some barb cities later on using axes.

In the 100's AD alex declared on me while I had nothing but a lot of culture. New York whipped walls then mass axes to deal with 3x cats, 3x axe, and 4 swords or so. Washington and one other city helped a bit; I held.

Later I hit lib/nat (got taj too) and then just as I had a mass of cavalry ready to attack fred wang declared on me...and I promptly took the 3 cities he had on the continent. THEN I joined Alex in a war vs fred, also using cavalry. Fred had assembly line but not rifles yet; I didn't give him any time. Capped him, but not before he bribed ragnar on me. AP made everyone DoW ragnar. I capped fred. I had also allocated EP to willem pre-emptively because it looked like he might even have infantry by the time I got to him. He was starting to, but massed CHA cavalry with stuff like combat III/pinch or combat II pinch don't struggle and he wasn't upgraded yet; with spy support and a big production lead I beat his culture whoring super tech empire down and capped him.

Finally I turned back on Alex, who didn't even have rifles yet while I was getting tanks. easy cap. However, that wasn't enough for UN, sadly. Not wanting to bother even with attacking one of the remaining weaklings, I pounded out space parts (capitol could build an engine in 6 turns but many many cities could build casings in like 10) and just ended it that way.

This game pretty much ended when I beat Willem; his culture attempt was the only thing that even kind of sort of looked like it might win other than me, and for a CHANGE I did OK on high level tectonics.

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Wonder tastic

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