LK40 - Monarch Challenge, Batters Cage

NOTE: All games must be save with the format NAME-YEAR.sav.
IE: LKENDTER-4000BC.sav
I reserve the to not rank players clearly above Monarch (such as the RBE crew).

>>>>>Don't read the thread until after playing your turn.<<<<<

This game requires PTW with patch 1.14.

See the thread: LK40 - Monarch Challenge, Managers Cage for the current turn.

Now you have really peaked my interest!!! I was wondering what LK40 would bring.

Hotrod

LK40 Round 1 We drew the English - . Oh well.

4000 BC (0): We like the start on a river with 2 wheats but I see coast to the west and move the scout first. After seeing a cattle in the forest and sure enough there is a coast I decide the movement isn't worth it. This spot has and excellent food bonuses, bonus grass and is on river. Found London - and start a scout, a granary will come shortly. Start research on Ceremonial Burial, due in 14, it's the cheapest and with scout out I want to get more expensive tech from huts.

3950 BC (1): Begin irrigation of the wheat. Move the scout out of the forest and head south to take advanatage of the fast movement.

3900 BC (2): Scout continues see coast with fish and game nearby.

3850 BC (3): Continue moving scout.

3800 BC (4): more of the same

3750 BC (5): Scout moves, and a new scout finishes in London start granary. New scout will head NE.

3700 BC (6): MOre scout moves, ice to the north, and plains to the south.

3650 BC (7): zzzz

3600 BC (8): More scout moves, London grows.

3550 BC (9); Spot grape way down south.

3500 BC (10): Culture expands. MM to worker the forest to get granary in 10 turns.

3450 BC (11): Spot ivory way out east. CB is due next turn, research down to 90 but net no gold . Where are all the huts?

3400 BC (12): Learn CB start warrior code. Spot dyes to the South east and more grapes out east.

3350 BC (13): ZZZZZ

3300 BC (14): zzzz

3250 BC (15): Mine completed start roads. MM to use the new mine, granary still in 5 turns, growth in 16.

3200 BC (16): Jungle to the East, lots of ground covered but no contacts and no huts.

3150 BC (17): zzzz

3100 BC (18): zzzz

3050 BC (19): zzzz

3000 BC (20); [dance] granary is finished start on warrior. MM to max food. will grow in 3 turns requires to go 10% lux but Warrior has been started and will serve as MP. Spot a Brown boarder way out to the South East. Will have contact with Carthage next turn.

Went for the settler/worker factory. With 2 wheats and many bonus grass and forests an early granary can make all the difference.

Here is the save:

http://civfanatics.net/uploads3/LK40-HOTROD-3000BC.zip

Where are all the huts?

There are NO huts. I took them out to avoid the luck debate from LK33.

posted by LK in the Managers cage: Monarch, Standard Size, Random Land Mass, Climate, Temperature, Age, *NO* Barbs

Click to expand...

Now thats what I get for not reading properly nice touch though, kinda kills the advantage for the Expansionist trait though. England is a poor civ to begin with. The only thing going for it is the huts.

Hotrod

(1) Nice! worker to bonus grass across river, scout up and left. Decision: found city where it is as it is perfectly situated from the cost. moving to the coast is too far along the river, leaving river is a
Research to 100% as there are no huts, Burial selected to get Temple for possible Wonder-City available soon, also some quick culture is very helpfull. Asdie from that will a Granary and a Temple give London the ability to produce settlers every few turns.
Warrior ordered as for exploration 1 Scout will do right now. A second one can then come later to get contacs.


(2) road started (tax bonus is more important to me than the few shields I lose). Scout frind snowed-in forest in the north, will go east along the Tundra-Grass border.

(3) nice bonus grass there! The first forest/tundra on the norhtern river shore will make a good city site with atm visible 2 river-bonus-grass and two more bonus-grass. Also, no Aqueduct here --> good city for settler/military/let-grow-mix.

(4) Scout on mountain in the east sees 2nd river with good land around it.

(5) worker starts mining the roaded tile.

(6) mountains with Gems in the east, good lands. I bet there's a civ behind the mountains that is closer to the Gems than I. Warrior completed, marshes east to possibly worker-grab or even settler-grab them. Another to protect London.

(7) Indeed, blue border sighted. Germany? If so, no settler-grab as they will have Spears by now.

(8) Bizzy gives me Warrior Code and 10 for Alphabet - bad for him as I now can build Archers. This means I will grab a worker if I can, then wait until he marshes up then sue for peace. He'd also give BW but I prefer the offensive.

(9) checking out German territory.

(10) 2 cows near Berlin but both just out of range. If I keep the pressure on Bizzy I can maybe slow him down before he becomes a problem - after all there will be iron in hte hills close to him (there always is in my experience, while the humans next iron is far out). Left alone Bizzy will be a bad neighbour to have.

(11) Warrior and growth in London. Warrior stays, Granary ordered (may after all still be changed later). Auto-selectin chooses Wheat. I am not convinced this is smart atm. There will be war so I rather select the other bonus-grass, worker roads there. Game in view downstream, very nice.

Lee: should I leave this out?
Looks like OCS around here. Shifting eastwise will put a city on the forest 3 east 1 south from london for minimum overlap - good site. Next southwest from that would then also be on a river - even better.


German Archer in sight, luckily he's not coming west atm.

(12) Germany has excellent lands
CB found, Writing at minimum as max costs 5GPT to shorten research to 36 turns - not worth it. Do not trade as haing a tech for the peacetalks is a good idea.

(13) closing on Germany with the warrior. meet Abe, give Alphabet and Warrior Code for Masonry.

(14) take German worker, move him away west (my luck he was on the western side of the city).

(15) worker on the run, warrior retreats to mountain. Scout south as east coast is found.

(16) German Archer attacks across river into mountain and dies doing no damage, Warrior promotes Decision time: move in and pillage or stay as threat? Decide to pillage, maybe the Archer from before is far enough away. Incencs found in the far west

(17) US border found - expanded --> will be Washington. Pillage mined tile.

(18) Archer attacks .eek: but reg vs. vet makes him lose on the warriors laast HP

(19) Abe offers straight Bronze for CB - deal. Germany offers the Wheel for peace - Dela! The worker grab has worked! Horses in 1st ring

(20) explore a bit more, captured worker starts raod on forest next to planned spot for city No 2, will then road to bonus-grass across river, then on to london. other worker goes to the wheat to road. Wounded warrior retreats, will then heal on mountain.



Summary: a simply worker grab with extra risk (that paid off) got me the wheel and a worker for free. Slight (if at all?) rep hit for the sneak attack.


http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/KILLER-3000BC.zip

4000BC: Looking around, I send the scout to the west, then south, to see if the water nearby is a lake or a sea. It is revealed to be a sea, but I decide to still settle on the river instead, to get the maximum tile usage, and claim the commerce bonuses from the river early on. Worker moves to wheat, and London is built on the starting position, starting a scout. Max research on The Wheel as the AI usually neglects it early on if it doesn’t start with it; due in 27 turns.

3950BC: Scout movement- the first scout heads south, as one of the logical directions found by examining the minimap. The worker starts irrigating the wheat.

3900BC: Movement.

3850BC: Movement.

3800BC: Movement.

3750BC: Second scout built; worker #2 started. Worker #1 roads the irrigated wheat on the London side of the river. Scout #2 heads east.

3700BC: Movement.

3650BC: Movement.

3600BC: Worker moves to bonus grassland tile on same side of river, as we now have a bonus food resource ready. Scout #2 has revealed gems on the map, to the west, and blue borders- possibly Germany or Korea.


3550BC: Scout #1 busts black area around London to help highlight possible future city sites. Worker starts mining bonus grass tile.

3500BC: London builds a worker, sees its borders expand, and starts a warrior, working the irrigated wheat tile. Worker #2 joins worker #1 to help speed improvement of the capital. Scout reveals Berlin, size 2. He has Bronze Working and Warrior Code, and lacks Alphabet or Pottery. I wait for huts or non-monopoly prices to trade. At least one spear currently defends his capital. The gems are right outside his capital, as well- if there isn’t any more lux close to home, they might have to be taken from him as he’ll probably settle to bring them in immediately.

3450BC: Movement.

3400BC: Scout reveals wines in hills a ways SE from London.

3350BC: Workers finish mine and start a road in the bonus grassland tile.

3300BC: Scout reveals incense east of Berlin.

3250BC: London grows to size two. Workers go to forest to speed future granary production once the warrior is finished.

3200BC: Warrior in London fortifies for MP and anti-AI empty city automatic threat reflex, and London starts the granary. The workers start chopping down the forest there to help the granary build.

3150BC: Movement.

3100BC: Dyes revealed in jungle far south of London. Pale blue borders revealed by scout near Germany.

3050BC: Contact with America, near the incense SE of Berlin. They have an unescorted settler going out to found their first city. Abe knows Bronze Working and Masonry. Bismarck has The Wheel now, and lacks Pottery. Neither AI has Alphabet yet. I should have researched Ceremonial Burial instead, but at least I'll know where the horses are.

3000BC: London is size 3, The Wheel is due in 1 turn, and size 1 brown borders have appeared near the dye in the forests- Carthage. Carthage has Bronze Working and Masonry, but lacks Pottery. Trade waits until the next turn, when The Wheel is discovered, and multiple brokering opportunities open up. The workers will chop down the forest in 1 turn, speeding the granary two turns, and London is due to grow in 7 turns.
Carthage has an additional city, America has a settler, or had a settler if Bismarck killed it, and Bismarck probably has a settler as Berlin is now size 1.

Borealis 3000 BC

After reading some of the earlier Batters' Cage game (LK33), this one looks fun – the next logical progression from a training game in many ways. I download the save, fired up PtW and note that we draw England – deja vu from Sirian's Training Game.

4000BC 0) Seeing coast, I move the Scout W/N and confirm the immediate coastline, with the Worker moving S to one of the grass/wheat tiles. Founding London at the starting position will not leave any coast tiles in the radius of a non-coastal city (good), so with excellent food and shield tiles in the area, London is founded and another Scout started. Ceremonial Burial is researched at maximum rate as it is the cheapest tech, and I don't yet know who the other nations are, let alone what they already have.

3950BC 1) The first grass/wheat tile is irrigated.
3900BC 2) Scouting.
3850BC 3) Scouting.
3800BC 4) Scouting.
3750BC 5) Irrigation done, road grass/wheat.

3700BC 6) Scouting.
3650BC 7) MM London to boost food with Scout in 1.
-- London Scout.
3600BC 8) Road done. MM London and swap to Warrior.
3550BC 9) Mine bg. Ivory seen.
-- London expands.
3500BC 10) I note some of the other nations (F11)...
Carthage- starts with Alphabet and Masonry
America- starts with Pottery and Masonry
Spain- starts with Alphabet and Ceremonial Burial
France- starts with Alphabet and Masonry
...to gauge my next line of research.

-- German Archer seen. Now my path is clear... Ceremonial Burial done, Mysticism at max. The other choice is The Wheel, but the others will surely go for that. Mysticism leads to Polytheism, one of two (the other is Mathematics) little researched techs and perfect trade currency.

3450BC 11) 10% Lux as London is now size 3. Germany lacks Alphabet, Pottery and Ceremonial Burial.
-- London Warrior.
3400BC 12) London swaps to Granary. 100% Science now that London is garrisoned.
3350BC 13) Scouting.
3300BC 14) Scouting.
3250BC 15) Mine done, road bg. Wines seen. Germany hasn't got anything new.

3200BC 16) London size 4, 10% Lux.
3150BC 17) Scouting.
3100BC 18) Road done. Scouting.
3050BC 19) Mine bg as Irrigating second grass/wheat doesn't speed the immediate growth rate and the extra shield will get us closer to the magic 6spt rate for good Settler builds.
3000BC 20) MM London, size 5 and boost Lux to 20%. Sure enough, Germany now has The Wheel. All I need to do is find another nation and the trading can begin! Not this round though...

Be seeing you...

---> TBC (leaves The Batters' Cage)

TBC - 3000BC

I had a half-hour to kill between other things tonight, so just for the heck of it I wanted to see what I could do with this, and hey, I'm not above a wee bit of showing off Feel free to disregard me for scoring purposes.

4000 BC - city founded on starting square, of course. Worker moves south to wheat to start irrigating. Scout moves 2 squares south - that direction because we're in the northern part of the world. Another scout ordered. Minimum research on Writing started. With Pottery, there's nothing else that we need immediately, and the beginning of the game is the best time to do a 40-turn. If I knew it was to be a warlike game, I'd do Bronze at max.

3750 - irrigation finished, worker builds road. London grows at end of 3750 BC.

3700 - London assigned to work wheat instead of bonus grass.

3550 - second scout goes east, warrior ordered (there's no barbs, but for police.) Worker starts MINING second wheat, since the city is already at the +5 food threshold and can't do any better than that (+6 doesn't help you, and it can't reach +7.)

3500 - London is size 3, lux to 10%.

3350 - Germany contacted. Alphabet traded for Bronze Working + 10g. We don't need Warrior Code, and I like letting the AI wait a bit before giving them Pottery and letting them start a granary.

3300 - London is size 4, warrior produced, granary ordered.

Carthage contacted. To get Warrior Code from Germany would cost Pottery + 57 gold. I'm going to guess that large cost differential means Germany is presently researching Pottery and will get it soon. I get WC from Germany, and trade it plus Pottery to Carthage for Masonry + 10 gold. Then Masonry traded back to Germany for the 57 gold.

3250 - mine complete, worker begins road.

3100 - London is size 5, lux to 20%. Worker has finished road, moves to the bonus grassland NE of London. I choose this grassland to improve, because a road on this square will be the most likely to help in moving a settler later (remember that roads on the other side of the river won't help.)

Note that I planned this from turn one, in choosing to irrigate the wheat on the far side of the river first, so that the worker would be on the same side of the river as this target square after finishing both wheat tile. Thus it can use the road to enter the city and get onto the target square this turn instead of wasting a turn moving across the river.

3050 - worker begins mining.

3000 - America contacted, they have only 10 gold and no techs that we lack. Not worth selling Alphabet or Warrior Code for only 10g.

Germany has The Wheel but it isn't worth paying Masonry + 60g for.

London is at size 5 with 10 food in the box and 28 shields, getting +5 food/+5 shields/turn. In two turns, it will grow, and auto-pick a forest for the extra shields to reach exactly 40. At that time I'll whip the granary, thus finishing it in 2900 BC. London will then reach size 6 again at the end of 2750 BC, and have a settler out before it reaches size 7 (since you waste food if it reaches size 7 before shrinking.)

Treasury is at 67 + 7/turn. 21 turns remaining on Writing at minimum. Known tech: Bronze, Masonry, Alphabet, Pottery, Warrior Code.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/lk40-T-hawk-3000bc.zip

Like I said, feel free to not consider my game for scoring.

Like I said, feel free to not consider my game for scoring.


Don't worry, you won't be.

You clearly fall under
I reserve the to not rank players clearly above Monarch (such as the RBE crew).

The round is closed.

Review will be posted tomorrow.

Lee: explaination on round one: worker roads outside city radius as first settler will go where he is now and found city next to that forest. So i road towards capital instead of move there and road out - I did the maths and it comes out the same, lost turns for move vs. later roads for city two....

playing

edit: ignore the turn numbers, some of the empty ones msut be doubles
preturn: mming makes Granary come faster, then the settler after that, too - I go for it. Granry in 3 but growth in 20. Well, growth is fast to 3 then from 3 on.

(1) nothing
(2)
(3) mm back to wheat, granary next turn either way.
(4) Granary, settler ordered. in 6 and growth in 5 or in 5 and growth in 15 - I decide to leave worker in wheat to get the next settler faster.
(5) mine or irrigate the wheat....I irrigate to insure fast growth for London, this will have to be changed later. For a while this will enable running at 1 scientist w/o lux tax, then 1 entertainer.
(6) the Wheel and 60 Gold get me a worker from Abe. He roads towards next city site.
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10) London grows,. lux to 10%, mm for growth as settler done next anyway.
(11) settler built, another ordered, growth in 2. Meet Carthage, no techs to get there, only 10 Gold.
(12)
(13)
(14)
(15)
(16) warrior and settler meet on forest 5 tiles up-right from london, order more mines around London.
(17) York founded.
(18) lux to 10 again.
(19) settler done, another. lux back down. heads for the forest nex to horse (i.e. horse in 1st 9 tiles, OCP distance). Cover can be provided from York (warrior due in 3 for that purpose)
(20) nothing

(extra) see pink borders
(extra 1) York builds warrior who goes towards the planned new city site.
(extra 3) nottingham founded. meet the Arabs - they want two techs for Mysticism while Abe wants 80 Gold, bartered down only 68. I decide to wait as noone is a real extortion danger now and there will not be a tech for us soon that could then get demanded in exchange. Lux to 10 as London has grown, settler next turn
edit:

a few words on these turns: nothing new here, just using London to build an inner ring of cities, then possibly get a Temple in London and gho for a Wonder (great Lib?). A scout will come, too, but London may not grow too much as long a no lux is hooked up. So: weak turns as a base for soon exponential expansion, Germany is VERY quiet atm No new cities, no new techs there


http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/KILLER-2150BC.zip

Lee, this is 20 turns, do you REALLY want us to play to 2150BC? It is now 2310 BC!!!

Error in my post - please PLAY TO 2310 BC!

LK40 Round 2

3000 BC (0): Cancel worker orders to road the woods. Everything else continues.

2950 BC (1): Worker moves toward home. Wounded warrior to the mountains to recouperate. Continue moving scout south to see the lands below America.

2900 BC (2): Warrior near germany foritifies. Scout continues south. German worker moves to bonus grass to the NE within London radius.

2850 BC (3): Granary completes next turn. Scount continues south. German worker is mining bonus grass.

2800 BC (4): London builds granary starts settler. Warrior continues to heal, a german archer is in the area. Scout moves further south. Worker is irrigating wheat.

2750 BC (5): Warrior is healed and will just hang out near german to see if anything is heading our way. We still have 14 turns of peace.

2710 Bc (6): Nothing but Jungle to the Sw of Washington. Research on writing continues.

2670 BC (7): 10% lux required in London.

2630 BC (8): MM london to go 2/2 growth and settler. Irrigation of the wheat completed move to second wheat. Scout spots brown boarder to the South. We now have contact with Carthage. They have 3 cities total but lack Pottery, the wheel and CB. They only have 10 gold for trade so I hold off.

2590 BC (9): there is a lot of jungle near Carthage but they have silks. Worker is irrigating the wheat.

2550 BC (10): Settler is complete start another. Will supply MPs from the second city. Begin moving settler toward the horses in the East on the river.

2510 BC (11): zzz more scout movement south, it is slow through the jungle. Settler continues East. Wake warrior to go to city site for MP duty.

2470 BC (12): MOre movement, the germans have 2 archers to the North East of London.

2430 BC (13): Settler in postion for second city. On the river with horses in the radius after expansion zero overlap with London and high shield potential.

2390 BC (14): Found York and start warrior. Diplo check reveals that Carthage has a worker for sale, pick it up for pottery and 35 gold. Decide now is a good time to sell CB for his 45 gold, he is now broke. Decide to couple the slave together.

2350 BC (15): German archers look threating, move the workers to safety and forced to switch to spear in London wasting 9 shields .

2310 BC (16): London builds spear, starts barracks on max shields, due in 4. Workers continue to flee the german archer. Warrior arrived at York. Archers are in our territory . Request from Bizzy that they leave, he agrees.

2270 BC (17): Bizzy doesn't move the archers, change london to archer due next turn. Ask Bizzy again, he refuses and declares war. Leave both units foritfied in London and hope he attacks over the river and dies.

IBWT: German archers attack, kill one but lose the spear.

2230 BC (18): London builds archer starts barracks. Archer kills the alread wounded German archer. No promotions . Decide to try again to wait the 4 turns for a barracks.

2190 BC (19): York builds warrior starts barracks.

2150 BC (20): Form up a small party to go after any units heading this way from the Germans.


http://civfanatics.net/uploads3/LK40-HOTROD-2150BC.zip

I am sure that 2150 is correct. Checked back to LK33 and sure enough round 2 ended at 2150. I played last night before LK and killers post so here they are.

Killer is wrong - I check the date calculater - play to 2150BC




Killer needs to play to 2150BC to count this round.

now where the hell did I loose these rounds.... :hmmm:

Lee: sorry, I really do not know how i lost the three turns

updated post.

Here is my round to 2150BC.

3000BC 0) Having read the description, I still did not understand the reasoning behind the German Worker's road efforts on the forest tile, so I cancel this work. No trade possibilities are evident – no trades are made.

2950BC 1) The wounded Warrior moves to the nearby mountains.
2900BC 2) The same Warrior is fortified in the mountains to heal.
2850BC 3) Having moved to a bonus grass tile in our territory, the German Worker starts a road.
-- London finishes Granary, starts Settler.
2800BC 4) Scouting. The healed Warrior heads south.
2750BC 5) An American Worker becomes available and I purchase for 2gpt and 70g. Abe was Cautious and now is Polite.

2710BC 6) The American Worker joins the German Worker on the bg road.
2670BC 7) With London size-4, luxuries are increased to 10%.
2630BC 8) Scouting.
2590BC 9) All Workers (net of two English Workers) irrigate a grass/wheat tile. At size-5, London gets an Entertainer and luxuries are decreased to 0%.
-- London finishes Settler (with 2 shields waste rather than slow growth from food) and starts Settler.
2550BC 10) Settler heads towards nearby forest tile on river to get horses, plus several bg tiles.

2510BC 11) All Workers now road the grass/wheat tile.
2470BC 12) With London size-4, luxuries are increased to 10% and London is MM'ed to maximize food.
2430BC 13) London is MM'ed, taking a bg tile for 0 food waste on growth.
-- A German Archer is seen outside our borders
2390BC 14) A tense period of time. With the German Archer in close proximity, it would be foolish to found the next town and leave it empty, unable to be reinforced – what with the bad blood between us and Biz, so the (unescorted) Settler continues on to an alternate location. Furthermore, all our Workers are also vulnerable – The London Warrior garrison is called on to guard the Worker stack as they now start to mine a new bg tile. With London size-5 and now ungarrisoned, it is MM'ed, adding an Entertainer, and additionally, luxuries are increased to 10%.
-- London finishes Settler and starts Settler.
2350BC 15) Scouting. The Warrior hurries back towards the alternate town site to provide garrison against any German adventures.

2310BC 16) London is MM'ed, taking a bg tile for 0 food / 1 shield waste on growth.
-- London finishes Warrior and starts Temple. London is MM'ed to maximize food, taking a grass/wheat tile.
2270BC 17) Scouting.
2230BC 18) York is founded on a river with forest/game in range and to claim ivory upon expansion, starts Warrior. The Workers mine a bg tile. London is MM'ed, taking a bg tile for 0 food waste on growth.
2190BC 19) Nottingham is founded as our first coastal city, and starts Warrior. With London size-5, MM to maximize food, and luxuries are increased to 20%.
2150BC 20) London is MM'ed, taking a bg tile for 0 food waste on growth.

London is currently building a Temple, but (should this round be the winner), it can be swapped to Settler if need be. Another German Archer is prowling around York and MAY decide to go for the empty town. The Vet Warrior is close but may not make it in time – someone once said it sometime's pays to be lucky...

Be seeing you...

---> TBC (The Big Chase highlights this round)

TBC - 2150BC

Round is closed
Review in progress.


We need *MORE* players - how about a few more step up for the next round.