Nobles' Club CXLIX: Shaka of the Zulu

3 Custom Continents

In each scenario file you can select your level of difficulty, but that doesn't give the AI the right bonus techs by itself. Use the Noble save for all levels at and below Noble. The Monarch save gives all the AI Archery. Emperor adds Hunting; Immortal adds Agriculture; Deity adds The Wheel.

For players on Monarch or above, you should add archery as a tech for the barbarians (if you don't, the AI will capture their cities very early). This cannot be done in the WB save file and must be done in Worldbuilder as follows:

Note: The standard saves have no huts and have events turned off. If you want tribal villages and random events, choose the saves with "Huts" in their names. If you want huts but no events, select the Huts saves and use Custom Scenario to turn on the option that suppresses events.

killing somebody early is going to leave you isolated or semi-isolated, since the civs are spread over three continents. Not a very palatable prospect, so a most un-Shakalike peaceful opener is probably the soundest plan.

Yeah it's an interesting choice for Shaka!

The map type doesn't always separate continents with Oceans. Quite often all opponents are reachable with workboats, so grabbing your whole continent for yourself might not be that bad.

Given the map type, quick stomp of neighbor then expanding peacefully might be a good option

eek turn 22,no-one to rush(yet as afaik),bronze outside the bfc,a shame but the ikhanda is there all game ,even if impis are not

this was the idea at first, figured that was my first few cities. Plan stomp was abandoned soon after as there was plenty of room, and the 2 civs have a +4 peaceweight. also, bismark had bronze about the same time i did or earlier, and london and that land was covered with jungle:


thats how i actually ended up settling the first few


here i considered snagging a few workers with my 2 movement, it seemed a shame to get no use out of such a neat unit, and he only had archers. I figured no point in starting trouble though with cheap workers as it is.


lol, love when this happens.



this is where i finished glib, which i had no real competition for at least on my continent.


this is where im at now,

thoughts:

ok, at the start i figured rush, but no bronze would have made that impossible anyway, having bronze but others having axes makes it silly, and going after people too far away is a zero sum outcome anyway, so i opted to expand and pick up mids with stone isntead, problem was i started so late it wasnt clear that I would land them, i did go masonry early though because i wanted some fail gold if i didnt manage to build them. I did land mids, and about 100 fail gold between great wall and mids in another city. Most wonders went late, i managed to snag parthenon and MoM very late as well. Mids became even more important because happy was a problem until i connected my last city which had ivory, the wine/spices were useless at first, and getting that fur just seemed a waste.

After i landed mids, i just grew and whipped out libraries, and have been working 2 specailists in each city nonstop, the first scientist came relatively early - I decided to academy it even though i dont really plan on having a heavily beauro'd cap, i figured with marble and a big headstart to lit, that 4 guaranteed 6beaker specailists( i think the glib ones give 9 under rep) + whatever river commerce i could get was enough, that combined with wet corn/rice and some farms is enough to keep that city going with specailists and production, the gold that pop'd there was nice as well.

It was a shame i didnt get any use out of the impi's for attacking or worker stealing but not alot i could do.

With rep and running scientists all game though, i decided that id do whatever i could to land parthenon/mom if i could, so at some point i had improved 6-7 tiles in most cities, and working specalists in all of them they basically stopped growing and i used my 12 workers to prechop everything in sight.

ARound the time i finished glib... lol i realized i had neither horses or iron so cuirassiers are out and it turned out my 3rd gp was an engineer I always think about engineering when im getting fishing, so it has crossed my mind. I ended up teching MC using it to trade for some things, and now... I can bulb ~1200 beakers into enginnering, then pick up vassalage while i stomp on bismark and grab the profitable hindu shrine. This seems like the best course of action. I decided to tech HBR as well, because with no iron means no swords or crossbows, But without pikemen, trebs + elephants should do it. I had like 6 cities while both bis and church had 3, so it was clear this game was in my favor long ago. Ive scouted most of the land, the best they can field is ha's and LBs. I think is probably the best option though except for maybe drafted rifles and cannons. Someone founded taoism in like 100AD, and is i hope close by church because he has toaism in one of his cities, but no holy city on our continent, so she must have trade routes with someone i havnt met yet.

Finally, I am the only one with machinery so I may try for an ealry optics, and hopefully snag a few trades out of it, by the time anyone dow's me from across the world i should own the whole continent anyway. I still need col and courthouses but my cities are big and with OR, should be easy to whip them in any time i need them.

Settled in place as nothing else seemed better.

Went mining/BW first as AH seemed a weak play here. This is a hammer heavy capital.

I have found a nice HE spot east of the capital. I count 6 mountains and a cow resource. I was going to cottage this but the production is so amazing it's too good to give up.

I may switch tactics and cottage the capital early on instead. I may use the cities east of the HE site. A barb city has also appeared there that would be worth capturing.

Need to think about mids here. Is it worth it?

Also where to put GP farm. I am thinking double corn/wheat site.

May also rush the Germans. I am planning to settle his way anyway.

Lots of idle thoughts on how I may play this out.

Found 2 Ai with strong capitals to capture. Need to keep an eye on this or they could tech fast.

Looks an interesting map. Plenty of land to play peacefully for now.

So my planned attack on Germans hit a stumbling block. He had metal and had spammed units. Ooops.

So with my 3 cities and 7 workers I chopped out nearly 15-20 axes. Lost 3 on his capital. Sent remaining 10 units plus 2 reimnforcements to his new walled capital near the pigs. Lost 4 units taking this. Captured GW in his capital.

Meanwhile the English have grabbed a few cities north of me.

My capital is now running 5 cottages. Happiness has become a huge issue here. Hopefully get gold soon.

Economy is tanking. Germans have 1 rather useless city left and I am thinking I want to keep them alive for now. English will tech fast if I don't stop them. Only got 6 cities and I think I need more soon. Would love to catch GLH in English capital.

I have chopped out mids in the German capital. Just completed.

Still not settled my GP farm due to war build up. Moving units up now to attack English. Hopefully get some free techs from them.

So the game went super easy from the last post, i took some s/s's but I think this game will work out so easy for others theres no real point.

My trebs and elephants destroyed bismark, gave me a 25ish commerce shrine, and silver/crab and iron. I landed taj for a 12 turn GA before I had even started a first ga. I had so many troops left over after bismark i went after churchill a bit later, in the meantime i cranked out a ton of gps. Not sure of the total, but so far during the game ive used 1 for academy, 1 into edu, 2 into astronomy, and 3 into electricy, and i lib'd physics, and was the first to communism for the free gp's on both of those, i was also the first to economics for that gp lol, and all this while I was stomping down bismark. Just as i had taken churchills first city, i lib'd physics, which was nice because those protective drill hilled citied LB's are a real pain even vs cr3 trebs, so id hit each one once with an airship, and I took 3 or 4 of his cities, i went into my second GA, switched out of nationalism/free market from the first ga, and switched into FR and SP, which put me at a great research rate, i started teching democracy so can get statue of liberty and after putting 1 turn and 3 scientists into electricity i started on broadway as well. The game is over so i probabyl wont finish it, but basically I have democracy/electricy, and will finish biology and radio in a few turns. Meanwhile except for qin the rest of the world hasnt even finished education yet, the farthest anyone is yet is education and gunpowder.

I actually ended up having to stop my war with churchill because even after hitting his lb's with airships, after taking 5 of his cities, by the 6th city i ended up suiciding 8 trebs and 4 or 5 maces and elephants each to take, he spams those longbows and if you get unlucky... well it was ugly. He had enough to put 5 in each city no problem, and had a reasonable stack of elephants running around as well. I did want to put up a screenshot of my awesome guy though:

I managed for the first time ever to get a medic3/woodsman3 guy this game. something like 45% heal for units on the tile lol... AT this point in the game i could easily tech to rifles or grens/cannons and cap the world, maybe with nothing more than cuirassiers, but if I do continue the game it will probably be just to try and get a diplo win

1250lib is lame, but i was sitting at 1 turn from lib or quite some time.

I think its important to land mids/parthenon if you can this game, that with NE landed so many gps its ridiculous, even without the MOM it would have been silly. I was in pacifism for quite some time, in any event, right after i got optics, by accident i had figured there was no need to tech CS because i had no iron and no beauro cap + lots of cities to upkeep. So because no theo/cs my bulb went to astro, which i double bulbed and gave me a quick 100ish gpt, 5x from better routes, and the rest from trade. I think getting astro early is very important in this one, especially since you have a big lead to begin with theres not much chance to trade for it. Cant put a price on +100 gpt. Allowed me to go from 20% slider to 60% and break even.

heres some s's/s


superman


finishing off bismark



sent stack to churchill but forgot to grab this barb city so had to race to get there


part of the stack that attacked bismark, with being stuck in pacifism till i was ready for a 2nd ga in the capital, was costing me something like 75 gpt.


lib physics


the switch into SP and airship/treb attack


where i stopped



tech situation before i got gunpowder from churchill for peace after losing 20ish consecutive rounds on 60% odds. I could mop up the rest of him pretty quick though, he has no techs that i dont now so.. could go cannon him, as that protective trait is a pain. He had chicken pizza in his capital, and i had been trading him stone most of the game so he had walls/castles in practically every city.

final thoughts: Getting to astronomy quick will fund alot of mistakes and will get you some easy resource and tech trades. Going after bismark with trebs works great on Imm, its before he really takes off, but after it would be problematic. Churchill is easy to get rid of but annoying in the sense that you may actually have to whip some cities and stop building wealth to do so. Most of the flood plains i cottaged, but for the most part my research is coming from running 2 scientists in each city and an engineer + an academy/university/observatory capital running 3 scientists/2merchants/glib/1engineer under rep + river tiles.

Took peace with Bismark once he had alphabet. Took alphabet and HBR for peace. He has since regrown to 3 cities. Less of a threat but has metal still.

War with English was prolonged and I spammed many axes. Average losses were 2 axes for 1 archer. I razed 2 of his cities for gold. Eventually took London which had GLH, Colosus, parth and a forge. He only had archers. Could of used construction really.

Took a bunch of techs for peace including monarchy, med, sailing and archery.

I popped a Gspy in Berlin and I have since stole MC from the English. Hopefully steal Calender at some point. He has no other techs I need. I have a slight tech lead on this continent but I am rather behind compared to my usual games.

10 cities overall. 1 turn off music. The real threat now is Phants from the English.

14 cities now. Captured 2 barb cities all coastal. Settled a marble city. Settled the ivory/gem city near English.

Been building forges in most cities. That and the below wonders complete.
NE built in london.
Glib in capital.
MM in holy city.
HE in city east of capital. Producing phants in 1 turn now. The final assault is not far off. Although I presently have no stack.
Will try for fail gold on SW wonder. (3 turns from completion.)

Took golden age once I reached COL. Got CS during golden age and switched to Bureau. Also switch to org religion and caste at start of golden age. Been spreading jud to all my cities too.

Stole English treasury 185 gold. Stole Calendar too.

Suprising that no Ai has beat me to any of these wonders.

This is a rather slow game tech wise. Finally met another Ai Chinese. Who needed 5-6 of my techs. He did have philosophy which i needed.

War with English is nearly over. His capital fell with no losses. His second city took out a pult of mine. His final city has an axe and is fending off 2 mace. Germans will be next target. I suspect I have enough units for them.

Starting to build a few unis. Probably should of whipped them but still in caste.

The other continent has been at war but hard to tell who is winning. The Ai do like to throw stacks at each other getting nowhere. All I get is the great general notices.

Techwise I have Paper, edu, compass, machinery and most of PP. Not gone for lib yet. Could get a crazy tech at this rate.

How nerfed were the other Ai starting locations? The start for Shaka was amazing! Did the other Ai have such good starting locations?? The one Ai i have met at 1060ad lack feudalism and 4-5 other techs I have?

I had a look later on, i think it turned out poorly because qin had alot of water, and they do bad with that, alexander had crap land. Bismark had pretty crappy land too, london had solid land but lots of jungle on it, had a great capital though. The real surprise was the ottoman and joa, the ottomans had great land and i can only assume jao did too, I think maybe they have negative peaceweights so they didnt trade till shared religion, there was no war in my games except for mine. Just shows how powerful tech trading is for the ai..