TSG41 Game in Progress

Welcome to the TSG41 Game in Progress thread. This thread is used to discuss the game once you've started playing. There are no posting restrictions as such (apart from normal decency), although we encourage players to use the spoiler tags for screenshots. Here you can post questions related to the game and share your achievements/anger/frustration/victories while you play. Please remember that we are running a family friendly site, so express anger or frustration with this in mind.

STOP - Please do not continue reading this thread until you have completed at least 80 to 100 turns in your game.

Please use this thread to discuss your goals for the game and your opening moves through about the first 60 to 80 turns.

- What were your initial priorities?
- What tech path did you follow?
- Any early wars and who started them?
- What Social Policies did you choose and why?
- How did you organize and improve your chosen city site?
- What is different in your G&K start versus what you would have done in vanilla?
- Did you find any other civs and when did you meet them?

Was pumping out culture with good religion traits for plantations and wine, but now I'm getting steamrolled by Augustus :/ I've never played on Emperor before so this is very very challenging. Not sure if I'll make it out alive.

I dislike the AI in this game for the constant backstabbing. I was on excellent relations with Augustus when he declared war :/ Kinda got frustrated by it. So saved the game and will continue later (if I can survive the onslaught!)

I also went for Wine/Incense traits which is working out well. Augustus attacked me too - he pretty much always does this once he gets his UUs. I was able to hold out, if only barely, and once my first Cataphracts showed up, he retreated. He won't agree to peace though, which is understandable given that he already wiped out Dido. I don't think he'll be much of a threat now though.

I'm a bit past turn 100. Rome has taken Carthage out and has a massive army about to take me out. I only have 2 archers left.

I built Stonehenge and Petra. I missed Hanging Gardens and the Great Library by 2 turns on both.

Pantheon - +1 culture from plantations
Founder - Tithe
Follower 1 - Cathedrals
Bonus - Monasteries

At this point I saved the game and shut it down. I'm seriously considering not finishing this one, because I can't stop Rome from taking my capital.

After 100 turns, I barely survived Rome's first attack. Dido now has a three city wall between Rome and me. So, hopefully that will slow down Rome. Rome has taken out one CS and is at four or five cities.

I had just one city for most of the first 100 turns. I built a second city on the southern tip of the continent with a free settler from one of the social policies. I wasted many turns before founding the city, because I thought I could build the city in another spot that turned out to be to close to an already built city.

I think I might have to abandon trying to get a culture victory. I probably should start building a military in order to survive this game, since this is my first Emperor level game. I currently have two spearmen and a scout. The scout is just beginning to explore beyond the initial continent, and was the first to find two CS and one natural wonder.

This is the first game where I have been picking from two different social policies at the same time, Tradition and Liberty, instead of finishing one before starting the next.

Went for wine/incense pantheon as well. Settled on hill next to river to the north.

Early build order:
scout
shrine
monument
worker
2 settlers

Tech;
Pottery
Calender
Then to mathematics to get Hanging gardens

Tried to race to gold hills near rome and carthage, and settle in place to get sugar and wheat as well as gold but rome beat me, settled antium NE of wheat.

In the end I settled Adrianople between the sugar and the mountain, possibly a very bad idea, too close to AI civs... but most people so far seem to be getting attacked early anyway.

Nicea founded with next settler west of capital on coast near all hills with sheep.

Rome asks me to join him on attack on Carthage, I decline then a few turns later Dido declare on me; quickly bought a couple of archers and these with my starting warrior were just managing to hold off Dido's warriors and archers from Adrianople. The tradition policy that boosts city fire power with a unit garrison helped a *lot*.

Then Rome declares war - on me

Luckily Caesers and Dido's troops kept getting in each others way. Dido eventually settled for peace. Used first great general to place a Citadel in the hills north of Adrianople; and was so glad I did, the romans second wave of troops (4-5 Legions and 4 ballista) got beat up trying to force past the citadel.

After buying one and building 3 cataphracts and a catapult I managed to capture Antium. Got 2000 gold, marble and iron from Rome. And I need the gold; had to disband 2 workers just to keep my army in the field

I just hope Dido goes for him next, not me again.

For me, Emporer is too hard. Rome flooded me with his legions. He had more forces than Ive ever seen. I was friendly with Dido and we both where at war with Rome.
I had almost the whole Honor tree completed. Unfortunalty it was not enough.

Settled in place. Capital started with : scout-worker-shrine-warrior-settler(to 5 )-worker. Yes, 5 . I found not 1 but 2 pop ruins . Also found a culture ruin and 70 gold. So it was a pretty good start overall.

Sold first wine to Dido. Rush bought a settler at turn 24. Sold 2nd wine to Rome and loaned some gold to rush buy another settler. Next 640 gold went into 2 workers. Stole a worker from a cs.

Tradition is my tree of choice. I picked the +1 culture and +1 faith Pantheon from wine/incense. After 50 turns my empire looks like this :



Turn 60 : Working on libraries while researching Philo.



Turn 70 : Roman DoWed me. I place fortified warriors and i build 2 more archers. NC will take 6 more turns before completion. Rome is easily repulsed thanks to a good natural protective land.



Turn 80 : Tradition is completed. I'm aiming for Drama and will eventually full Piety for my 2nd tree. NC is close from completion. Another city has started Oracle. Some quests gave me influence and Dido turned hostile For some reason Brussels doesn't want to connect his whales



Turn 90 : Tradition is competed. Some amphitheaters has started. I foud a 6 iron tile and will soon upgrade some warriors. I also have some CBs in some turns. Rome will probably make another try with superior units.



Turn 100 : Religion founded. Tithe and free cathedral have been taken. Rome is still calm. Dido ordered his troops to ''dance'' around me but nothing else happened. 3 allies so far, Oracle will give me influence for Quebec. Workshops online soon. My scout is finally exploring the south part. I hope to find some civs soon.



I picked Desert folklore for my extra belief. Antioch is in a desert but no tiles are producing faith. Does the extra belief(even if it's a extra pantheon) absolutely need to be connected to a religion?

@Tabarnak - I think the tiles need to be worked to get the faith bonus, I didnt realise you could pick 2 pantheon ones.

I managed to grab the oracle very late (turn 110+?) and got hanging gardens early, but missed petra by 20+ turns.

BigChiefLizzy said:

@Tabarnak - I think the tiles need to be worked to get the faith bonus

Click to expand...

Of course, but as you can see Antioch can work nice desert tiles(and they are) but nothing. I will see if it's really particular for Byzantium. Capital can produce extra faith from oasis and foodplain tiles but he has his religious symbol.

BigChiefLizzy said:

I didnt realise you could pick 2 pantheon ones.

Click to expand...

Me too!

My game is summarized very quickly:

Yes the Bonus belief for Byzantium can be from any category. So you can have 2 pantheons, 2 founders, 2 enhancers or 3 followers.

Turn 110 : Dido DoWed me as well...i'm now playing a ''no trading'' game until i see other civs. But for now it's time to build wonders in each cities. Adrianople is working on the Pyramids to please Quebec. Constantinople si building Chichen Itza. Nicaea and Antioch will respectively work on Haga Sophia and Petra after workshops. Only Antioch doesn't have amphitheater but Petra gives one for free.

I swimmed south of the continent but only saw some cs so far. I think i need Astro for further explorations.



Here is the proof that you need the religion icon in your city if you pick a 2nd pantheon as Byzantium :



+8 fpt when i connected Antioch. I picked my 3rd policy from Piety(33% culture in cities with a wonder) and started a free golden age. But CI isn't finished yet. I couldn't skip that policy even with CI incompleted. In 20 turns a free ge and ga will spawn from my capital and i will use the ge for Sistine. I can get Acoustics in like 12 turns but i will probably get Astro before that. With a university or 2 i will gain enough science to get both techs in approx. 20 turns.

I'm kind of late about Astronomy but that's because i went for workshops first to let me build important buildings/wonders at a good rate.



WHY BRUSSELS DOESN'T WANT TO CONNECT HIS WHALE TILE?!? He does have access...sigh.

I'm at Turn 80 and just had to beat off Rome... barely... I thankfully had my scout watching our border. He went at me with 4 Legions, 1 Warrior and two archers. I had 2 Archers soon to be Composites, a Spearman, a Warrior and a Scout. Lost the Warrior and Scout and managed to kill off his Legions by having him attack my Spearman in the woods while flanking his legions with my scout and warrior. That bought me enough time to get Construction. I got lucky and was able to nab Great Library for Drama which saved me turns. Carthage on the other hand has been real friendly which is the only reason I'm alive (Three T's of War I tell ya)

Hey Tabarnak, I put my cities in the same spots

Policy wise I went Liberty for 1 reason: Quick Engineer... that and the Free Settler...
Two reasons: Quick Engineer and a Free Settler... the Free worker was nice too...
Three Reasons: A Quick Engineer, a Free Settler, a Free Worker... and a reduction in culture costs from cities...
Amongst the many reasons I picked liberty are: A Quick Engineer, a Free Settler, a Free Worker and a reduction in culture costs from cities...

Edit: Augustus finally accepted peace after I destroyed his army again. At least he was smart for once. Cataphracts were just around the corner Also Petra on turn 95. City placed where Tabarnak placed Antioch.

Nice S.K. It will be interesting how games will follow.

Turn 130 : I built CI, HG and Pyramids but i missed Petra. It's not a big deal but i definitively started this wonder too late. The AI seems to prioritize this wonder a bit more than others.

Now my plan is to get a gg and connect the sugar tile. 3 cs are demanding this luxury. No time to lose.



Turn 140 : I'm hard building operas. Culture is rising a bit more and Dido turned immediately hostile when i stole his luxury I'm still fighting Rome but when they throw units they are gang banged by me and Jakarta and retreat like a little girl. Still searching for other civs(it's getting late...)



Turn 150 : Almost all operas done. i add Macchu into Nicaea. Found almost everyone and finally traded some luxuries and ressources. Happiness is flourishing.



Turn 175 : Built Oxford for Archeology. Had picked 2 policies form Liberty but now switched for Freedom. Rush bought 4x museums and running 5 g. art. everywhere. Only capital is also running 2 gs. I don't have enough food to run 7 specialists for each cities! These cathedrals and monasteries are really helping the game. 5 policies to go before Freedom finisher with a rate of 1 policy per 6 turns. Not bad so far.

You are a beast. My game crashed on turn 251 but I see myself winning around 320 I don't understand how you get your cities to grow so quickly... well I'm assuming you went Tradition OPener so it makes some sense but damn man Do you get insanely lucky with the Maritime CS cause I can't get my Capital to explode for the life of me despite having like 20+ happiness all the time and working all the food tiles in range. I'm definitely gonna have to try this gain later.

Rome DoWed me again and tried to get uppity. Funny thing was by the time HE wanted peace, I had two Crossbows with Range and Logistics... he lost a few cities before I gave him what he wanted. I only settled 3 cities myself instead of 4. Not sure how that affected my results. Ended up capturing a city that Rome captured from Carthage 1 tile NE of where you placed Nicaea.

My game started much the same as most here. Rome DoWed on Carthage. knowing what Rome are like I sent what little army I had and Dowed Rome and slowed down his descimation of Carthage. This gave me time to get some Cataphracts and Iron, Rome made peace and continued his destruction of Carthage.

Then I set up what I like to call the 'Meat Grinder'. I had my Army positioned in the hills between me and Rome leaving lanes between Brussels and Jakarta. I had most of the CS as Allies at this point after finding a Natural Wonder. Apart from Brussels who were Romes Allies. Rome started marching his Army between the lanes . That's when the fun started. I bought Brussels to bring them on as allies and Dowed Rome again. His units were now caught between Jakarta and half of my Army to the north and between Brussels and the rest of my Army in south. He didn't stand a chance, and I've pretty much done this to him 3-4 times now .

I'm closing in on the 200 turn mark and will soon be sending a Fleet of Privateers/Frigates around the northern cape of Jakarta to launch a suprise attack on Rome. Probably when his troops are making there next pass through the 'Meat Grinder' . I'm thinking I might leave him with 1 City with no borders surrounded by Citadels as a training ground for any new troops I build just to teach him a lesson .

I was going really well but I got attacked by 4 legions, 3 ballistas and an archer. I thought I had reasonable defenses but my city just got walked over.
Not a real fun GOTM imo.

Allright. I did 326 but I can do better. Round Two, FIGHT! *Ding Ding*

IIIIIINNNN THE RED CORNER! She's never been seen standing, does she have legs? Who cares, it's THEOOOOOOOODOOORRAAAAA!!!

Aaaand in the blue corner... we have the most despised man in the Senate, the face-rolling roman, CAAAAAEEEEEESAAAAAAAR!

And for your entertainment tonight, joining us in the ring is the Queen of the Quinremes, DIIIIIIIIDOOOOOOO!
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Alright this game started off much better. I got out four cities, settled in the same spots that Tabarnak picked since let's face it, those are the best spots to settle. Perfect Petra location, two river locations and a mountain location with 3 luxes(1 of which was blocked by Dido)

Knowing Caesar is a dick I got Writing and Calendar and went for Trapping and Masonry followed by Horseback Riding. I used the Great Library to get Philosophy. Still can't grow my cities as stupidly big as Tabarnak but it's definitely better than my last game.

While I got two Cataphracts out in time for Caesar to DoW me something funny happened. Dido kicked his ass... I think. See she expanded into him and created a wall so he couldn't march into me And what did make it through died quickly to my defenses.

Turn 120

I finished GL, Stonehenge, Pyramids, and Petra. Terracotta is on the way. I spread them out so all my cities would get the +33% boost.


My tech is also doing much better. I'll be building Universities right after each cities current project is done. Now to get to Alhambra and Acoustics.

Moderator Action: Once you open the save, please do not post in this thread as you may reveal spoiler info, like what is in the above tags.

edit:
Moderator Action: Decided to move this to the Game in Progress thread to remove temptation.