NC CLXVIII: Boudica of the Celts

dalamb

dalamb

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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 Boudica of the Celts, whom we last played in NC CXXXIII, which was also the last time we played the Celts. The Celts start with Hunting and Mysticism.

  • Traits: Boudica is AGGressive and CHArismatic, two warmongering traits. AGG gives half-price barracks and drydocks, and gives Combat I to melee and gunpowder units, meaning they start a little tougher than other units and get to the better promotions faster. CHA gives +1 and means that promotions happen more quickly.
  • The UB: The Dun, a Wall that gives Guerilla I to units built in the city. Unfortunately this doesn't synthesize with the UU, which already gets Guerilla I. It would be nice if it were "advance one step on the Guerilla chain" but that sort of promo doesn't happen in Civ IV.
  • The UU: The Gallic Warrior, a swordsman that starts with Guerilla I. This gives a small advantage on a map with many hills, but many people think that isn't enough to make this an interesting UU. A Guerilla II swordsman might not be as useful as a Guerilla I/City Raider I on most maps; on a hilly map its ability to get to its destination faster could be helpful..
And the start:

Spoiler map details :
2 custom continents, rocky
Spoiler edits :
Regenerated to get a non-terrible start. Checked that we have iron within shouting distance.
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 suggest that you update your progress at various points in the game, using the Spoiler feature of the boards. You can post as often as you like; here's one suggestion:
  • 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)
This is just a guideline. If you're trying to improve your game, then posting more frequent updates, in as much detail as you can manage, is the best way to get suggestions from other players. If you come to what seems like a major decision and you want some advice, post an update, regardless of what game-year it is.

We also welcome players to ask for specific game advice, as we have a number of 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 in the early days of the series, and all of you for playing.
Click to expand...
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 168 Boudica Noble" (or Monarch, etc., for higher levels). You can 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.
Spoiler what's up with specific difficulties :
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:
Spoiler how to add techs to the barbarians :

  1. Zoom in all the way so you can't see the rest of the map.
  2. Use the CTRL-W key (or the menu) to enter the worldbuilder. Avoid looking at the mini-map in the lower right corner.
  3. By default you're in "player" mode (look in the box in the upper right; the icon that looks like a person should be selected). You'll get a drop down menu labeled with your leader's name. Barbarians are at the bottom, so cover the rest of the list with your hand if you don't want to see who else is on the map. Select "Barbarians".
  4. Select the "Technologies" tab in the box on the left.
  5. Find Archery (the arrow head icon; 8th row, 3rd column from the right) and click it.
  6. Exit the worldbuilder.
  7. Zoom out again after the map fades, and start playing.
If you're playing at higher level than Monarch, consider also giving them Hunting at Emperor, Agriculture at Immortal, and The Wheel at Deity.
Spoiler huts and events :
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.
 

Attachments

  • NC 168 Boudica.zip
    199.7 KB · Views: 306
Hunting and Myst are terrible starting techs but not quite so bad here. Not sure yet how I would approach the opening. It seems at first glance there are quite a few options.
 
Delaying mining could work since the city tile is 2h and the ivory can be camped. The question is whether or not delaying whip and chop hammers is really worth it.
 
Delaying non-math-chops and whips is definately worth it in very many cases. The question is, do you have Horses or do you need to research BW for anti-Barb-defense? If the map can be played with fog-busting-Warriors because the AIs are near, skip BW and trade for it with early Alpha (AH -> Pottery -> Writing -> Alpha) .
 
Well i zoomed in to add Deity starting techs for the barbs and...

Spoiler :

Horses 1W of the settler. No way to avoid that spoiler
 
That screenshot is a great start. That settler is already on hills and river access for the quick double hammer start. Any type of victory, plan or early game ambition could be possible here. Start out with a worker first and then work the pig right next to the city once you research animal husbandry.
 
I went AH then popped The Wheel from a goody hut :smug: so it was pottery then writ/alpha for me.Agree with Seriel on b-lining alpha for trades-thats my most used opening on any map with half decent commerse-unfortunately
Spoiler :
our trading partners on this map are problamatic for early techs
but early alpha is always good to swing the diplomatic tide.

1AD emp/normal View attachment NC 168 Boudica AD-0001.CivBeyondSwordSave

Spoiler :
After worker I built SH then a couple of chariots.Expanded to 8 citys by 500BC,settled a blocker city in Ragnars face just because its easy to defend bieng surrounded by a river and jungle hills.Was expecting a DOW from ragnar but he went for Wang(because I gave into all his demands).Feels like all ive been doing is whipping in workers and settlers and loads more workers.

Plan now is to cottage EVERYTHING and try to Lib democracy-just for a change realy to see how it works out.No plan on an agressive war-im thinking the blocker city with LBs and Cats should stand up to anything till rifling.
 
SIP for me. I've scouted around a bit;

Spoiler :
There's lots of land to settle, but I think I'll delay slavery and fogbust with warriors + a chariot or 2. Counting on letting the forests grow a bit and chop a minimum before math. I'm way too lazy to calculate wether this is gonna turn out better than just poprushing, but alot of the sites need border pops to be good long term, so imo there's no haste.
 
Another advantage of the Gallic Warrior - not mentioned in the opening thread - is that it is buildable with copper and doesn't need iron. This can lead to a faster attacks with swords, when you would have to settle iron after teching. Or being able to build them, if there's no iron at all.

Spoiler :
Alas, the nearest source of copper isn't really nice to settle, and I guess attacking one of the "nearby" AIs early with Swords/Axes would seem to not work well. Also there's no stone for faster Duns (in the case one would want to try it out)
 
Dhar Khosis said:
Another advantage of the Gallic Warrior - not mentioned in the opening thread - is that it is buildable with copper and doesn't need iron. This can lead to a faster attacks with swords, when you would have to settle iron after teching. Or being able to build them, if there's no iron at all.

Spoiler :
Alas, the nearest source of copper isn't really nice to settle, and I guess attacking one of the "nearby" AIs early with Swords/Axes would seem to not work well. Also there's no stone for faster Duns (in the case one would want to try it out)
Click to expand...

That's a good tip about the gallic warriors that they don't need any iron. There's peoplethat rreally don't know that even if it seems so obvious.
 
Alphabet in 1240 BC
tech path: animal husbandry, the wheel, agriculture, writing, alphabet.
It has been a while since I could trade for mining...
 
Immortal - To 1030 AD
Spoiler :

Just met the last rivals on the other continent, they are pretty backwards. I hope to get Liberalism, I'm up Education with respect to Wang Kong, we both miss Philosophy, so it is going to be tight. The others, including the other continent, are way behind. Ragnar only has 5 (coastal) cities.
The plan is to lib in the direction of Military Tradition (probably only Nationalism though...), then break-out and conquer Wang Kong. Then Ragnar should be easy to also conquer, and I can chose how to win. Invading the other continent might be interesting.

edit: lol, Asoka just built the Great Library in 1070 AD...
 
Okay, I need your advice on how to continue, save attached.

Spoiler :

Wang is willing to capitulate, should I take it?
I've eliminated Ragnar and the war against Wang Kong has been successful. Conquering him completely will still take a huge amount of time and hammers though, getting through protective longbows. My economy has not been making a single beaker since I got cuirassiers. Capping Wang now will give me a trading partner, and I can try to launch an invasion against the other continent. Plan would be to first cap Monty and then Mehmed, mostly with troops that I still have. Meanwhile, build a second stack to land in India's core. Finally, cap Augustus.
Capping Wang will keep some cultural pressure on some of my cities.



View attachment NC 168 Boudica AD-1520.CivBeyondSwordSave
 
dutchfire said:
Okay, I need your advice on how to continue, save attached.

Spoiler :

Wang is willing to capitulate, should I take it?


View attachment 391593
Click to expand...

Spoiler :
Yes,especially as he has astronomy you can trade off him to continue your over sea conquest.Direct his research to any filler techs you need,and when he,s strong enough major techs.As he,s founded islam and its spread well,Id consider gifting him a GP to build his shrine to improve his tech rate further.

Wang is definately better alive than dead imo.EDIT especially as your going to be facing rifles on the other continent so will need cannons at the very least,and may have to go to assembly line/artillary or flight or both even depending how far the AI(esp ceaser)gets into the tech tree.
 
Any thoughts on how to get winzip??? I appear to only have a trial version. That or can someone post starting 4000bc Immortal save??
 
Gumbolt said:
Any thoughts on how to get winzip??? I appear to only have a trial version. That or can someone post starting 4000bc Immortal save??
Click to expand...

WinZip is usually integrated into Windows, and the Windows explorer can open any files in Zip archives like they were normal folders, and extract them. If your Windows version is too old, you may consider getting yourself WinRAR. There exists a trial version of that program which is free, and it can be used how long one wants, the only difference to the normal version is, that 1 more click for extracting an archive is needed.

WinRAR download
 
I have Windows 7. I have download winrar. Don't use IE.
 
@gumbolt.I had to get new zip software and after much trial and error got "peazip" for free and it works great.The others I tried like winzip wanted to download tool bars and other useless stuff,and the free version just seems to be a trial version.The peazip site IIRC has some ambiguous download boxes on it for spyware,cpu clean up or other nonsence-ignore those and just DL peazip-its free and as far as I can tell permanent.
 
Good idea flyingswan. The issue with downloads is all the major sites like Cnet and others all try to download software with it. So in effect you have to find the actual software site for the company. Or go through the effort of removing all the dodgy extras.
 
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