GK2.2 - Trading Exercise

This exercise is not new, it was first posted by Moonsinger in May 2003. Here is the objectives of the exercise.

Moonsinger said:

Recently, there are couple players asking me how to keep up with the tech pace while getting rich at the same time. So I thought it may be fun to have a little practice session on that. While awaiting for the next game, let's have a little friendly learning competition here. The rule for this thread is as follows:

1. I will post a random save game and each of us will play zero turn (that means you can do whatever you want after you load the game but do not go to the next turn).

2. You must write down all the steps that you did and post the result here. A simple result would be fine; there is no need to upload your save game here.

The winner will be the one who have made the best possible deal or the best sequence of transactions. What do you really win? The reward = the experience to help you on your next game.

Let's play. In this save game (vanila Civ3 with patch v1.29f), your civ is falling about 6 techs behide, it's your job to bring your civ to even tech parity with the tech leader and to become the tech leader yourself. Feel free to make any deals with the AIs and post your transactions here. Please remember that all transactions must be made within the current turn. Have fun and good luck! I will post my result later. I'm sure we will have a lot to compare. Chances are I'm going to learn something new as well.

Click to expand...

Here is the Save file it is an unmodded Civ III v1.29f version (GOTM mods not needed)

Moonsinger's Trading Exercise

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Bremp was kind enough to upload his trading exercise that was included in the original May 2003 posting. Again it is an unmodded Civ III v1.29f version. It is at Diety level but the point of the exercise is trading only so level does not matter.
Here is the objective of the exercise.

Bremp said:

With only 4 gold and one new contact you must get all the ancient techs and collect all the gold from the AI.

Click to expand...

Bremp's Trading Exercise

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EDIT: Since this is Civ III and not C3C, there are some civs available to trade with that do not show from the F4 screen. They can be accessed thru the Diplomacy Button or by using "Shift D". You can also "Shift rightclick" on a portait to change it to another civ. There is a maximum of 8 portaits at any time.


I have started this as a new thread so that people aren't tempted to read the prior results. I'll give everyone a few days to play and then I'll post a link to the original thread results. I'm still trying to acquire a Greebley's trading example that was reference in that thread.

I would also like to give a special thanks to AlanH for finding the file for us.

Please don't read past here until you have played - Results are posted below


Here is the link to the original posting of Moonsinger's Trading Exercise. It was played by some of the top and most knowleadgable players like SirPleb, Bamspeedy, Qitai, Ronald, Greebley and of course Moonsinger.

anyone can do it?

Slicknick1136 said:

anyone can do it?

Click to expand...

Yes, it open for anyone. Same as our first exercise which showed the power of "skirmishing".

Wait, I think I'm supposed to post this elsewhere....but I couldn't find where, so here you go.

Easy!

1. Rome: 276g for Code of Laws
2. Japan: Code of Laws for Philosophy
3. Zululand: Code of Laws for Literature
4. India: Literature, Code of Laws for Polytheism
5. Zululand: Polytheism, 180g for Mathematics
6. England: Literature, Mathematics, World Map, 250g for Map Making
But I didn't stop there.
7. Russia: Code of Laws for 21g
8. Persia: Mathematics for Contact with Babylonians, 39g
9. Babylon: Mathematics for Contact with Greeks
10. Greece: Horseback Riding for 50

So there you go. We've got more tech than anyone else (Zululand is missing Map Making), met the Greeks and Babylonians, and have 176 gold while everyone else is bankrupt.

This is the right place to post the results.

I messed mine up, when I played. I did not realize that 3 other civs were available (thru the Diplomacy button) to trade with until I had completed most of the trades. (I can't remember what the hot key is for showing more civs on the F4 Screen in van Civ III.) But I didn't do too bad.

1) Trade to Persia 386 gold & 5 gpt for LIT & CoL
2) Trade to Japan CoL & LIT for PHIL, contact w/BAB & 1 gold (all their money)
3) Trade to India CoL & LIT for POLY
4) Trade to Babylon LIT for contact w/Greece
5) Trade to Persia contact w/ Greece for 60gold
6) Trade to Greece IW for 50 gold (all their money)
Found that RUS was available to trade with - I initiated contact
7) Trade to Russia CoL for 21gold (all their money)
Found that ENG & ZUL were available to trade with thru the Diplo Button
8) Trade to Zululand POLY, CoL, & contact w/GRK for MATH
9) Trade to England LIT, MATH, Wmap & 268 gold for Map Making
10) Trade to Persia MATH & MapM for Wmap & 328 gold
11) Trade for Wmaps around the horn, giving up my maps & various techs - gaining view of the entire known world - I save trading my Wmap with England for last (because they have the most money left)
12) Trade to England Wmap for their Wmap & 199 gold
13) Trade to Persia Tmap for their Tmap & 34 gold

Overall, I end with a net gain of 39 gold (my treasury is at 814 gold); and I learned LIT, CoL, PHIL, POLY, MATH, MapM; gain contacts with Babylon & Greece; and have view of entire known world; while giving up 5gpt from where I was at beginning of turn.

EDIT: After seeing the RoP deals I added it to mine and got an additional 75gold from England, leaving everyone broke and England with only 67 gold. This brings my treasury to 889gold.I have tech parity with England & Persia and I am at least 1 tech up on everyone else.

Crap! I did the exercise without realizing there were more civs :-X

Missing them completely, I managed parity with Persia at a little more than half my original bankroll and most of my original GPT. I have no idea whether that's good or bad.

I'll try it again with the other civs tomorrow. Haggling for the best price is tedious enough that I don't want to try it again right away.

I have a log for the trades I made in complete ignorance of the other civs if anyone wants it.

@DJM - you might want to mention the other civs in the first post so people don't miss them. You can start diplomacy with any available civ with Shift-D or with the "D" button on the right side of the status panel.

There, I did it the right way this time

Here's my log.

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1. Bought contact with Babylon from India for 32. (743 left)
2. Bought contact with Greece from Babylon for 93. (650 left)
3. Sell Greece contact with Egypt for 50 gold. (Might as well keep him backward, and Egypt is about broke anyway.)
4. Buy Literature from Persia for contact with Greece and 144 gold.
5. Buy CoL from Rome for Literature and 90 gold. Now at 465 gold.
6. Trade Literature, CoL, and contact with Greece to Gahndi for 32 gold, Philosophy, and Polytheism.
7. Trade Polytheism and CoL to Shaka for Mathematics.
8. Buy Map Making and a TM from Elizabeth the Extortionist for Mathematics, 6 gpt, the world map, 168 gold, and Literature. @#%*&. 329 gold, +20 every turn.
9. Trade contact with the Greeks and map making to Zulu for their world map.
10. Trade Map Making to Persia for 184 gold and a territory map.
11. Trade contact with the Greeks and Mathematics to the Russians for their territory map.
12. Trade our world map for Caesar's world map and 90 gold.
13. Trade our world map, Map Making, and Mathematics to Babylon for their world map and 59 gold.
14. Sell our world map to England for 125 gold.
15. Swap Horseback Riding and contact with the Japanese to Greece for their territory map.
16. Sell our world map to Hammurabi for 31 gold.
17. Sell our territory map to Russia for 21 gold.
18. Note that England will agree to a RoP for 75 gold. They are very far away so you could potentially make this deal.

Results:
We are at tech parity with the world. England is still our closest competitor (had to give them a big payoff to get map making, but it was worth it after peddling maps). Zulu are close, I think everyone else is behind at least a little bit.

I am still making 20 gold per turn (only GPT deal I signed was with England for map making), and by selling RoP at the end I was able to get to 914 gold in the bank, for a profit of 139 gold.

England have Map Making. I can trade WM around for tech parity.

England: ROP, 549gp, WM for Map Making, ROP.
Japan: WM for WM, Contact with Babs, 1gp.
Egypt: TM for WM.
Persia: WM for 39gp, Literature.
Indian: WM, MM for Polytheism, WM.
Japan: WM for Philosophy.
Persia: Map Making, WM for Code of Laws, WM.
Rome: WM for Contact with Greeks, WM.
Greece: WM for WM, 50gp
Babylon: WM, Map Making for WM.
Zulu: WM for Mathematics, WM.
Russian: WM for WM, 21gp.
England: Literature, Mathematics, WM for 587gp.
England: Renegotiate Peace treaty for PT, 35gp, WM.

All gold 959 (+184)
All contacts
All techs
Whole WM

I have posted a link to the original players' results. Some of the top players played it and there is some good things to learn.

I tried to get a hold of the other two trading saves referenced in that thread but have been unsuccessful. They were removed from the server awhile ago. If anyone has them please post it here thanks.

The other two trading saves were:

Greebley's example
/uploads4/Greebley_trading_190_BC.SAV

Bremp's example EDIT: I NOW HAVE THIS ONE - ADDED TO FIRST POST
/uploads4/babylon_deity_550bc.sav

I have added a second trading exercise to the first post. Thanks to Bremp for taking the time to locate his save file for us.

I have completed the first exercise posted. I will do the other one later. Here is my rather lengthy log.

We know all first-tier techs, iron working, writing, horseback riding, and mysticism
We know 8 other civs
We have 775 gold
We have been doing min research in math for 23 turns
Japan knows all we know, Babylon, and philosophy, has 1 gold
India knows Babylon, philosophy, and polytheism, has 0 gold
Rome knows Greece, Babylon, philosophy, code of laws, and polytheism, has 0 gold
Egypt knows Babylon and is even with us technologically, has 0 gold
Persia knows Babylon, philosophy, code of laws, literature, and polytheism, has 39 gold
Zulu knows Babylon, mathematics, philosophy, and literature, has 0 gold
Russia knows Babylon and philosophy, has 21 gold
England knows Greece, Babylon, philosophy, code of laws, map making, and polytheism, has 73 gold
Nobody is building the Great Wall or the Hanging Gardens
Everyone is in despotism
India, Egypt, Zulu, England are polite
Japan is cautious; Persia, Russia, and Rome are annoyed

I buy philosophy from Japan for 129g
I sell philosophy to Egypt for contact with Babylon
Babylon knows Greece, code of laws, and polytheism, has 0 gold, is annoyed
I buy polytheism from Rome for 294g
I buy mathematics from Zulu for polytheism, 180g
I sell polytheism to Russia for 21g
I sell mathematics to Rome for contact with Greece and 58g
Greece has 50g, does not know Japan, India, Egypt, Persia, Zulu, Russia, iron working, mysticism, mathematics, philosophy, horseback riding (I forgot to record how well they liked me)
I sell mysticism to Greece for 50g (in retrospect probably a waste)
I sell contact with Greece and mathematics to Persia for code of laws and 8g
I sell code of laws to Zulu for literature and 22g
I buy map making from England for literature, mathematics, world map, 265g
I know all technologies others know
We buy Greece's world map for world map, horseback riding
We buy Egypt's world map for territory map
We sell world map to Persia for world map, 31g
We sell world map to Japan for world map, 130g
We sell world map to Zulu for world map, 158g
We sell world map to Rome for world map, 236g
We trade world maps with India
We trade world maps with Russia
We trade world maps with Babylon
We sell world map to England for world map, 206g

In the end, I know all technologies and world maps, have 827 gold
Only England has gold (132)
India, Egypt, Zulu, England are polite
Greece, Babylon, Rome, Persia, Japan are cautious
Russia is annoyed
Everybody knows more of map
England gained literature, mathematics, 49g
Japan lost 1 gold
India had limited trading
Greece gained mysticism, horseback riding, some contacts, lost 50g
Rome gained mathematics
Egypt gained philosophy
Babylon gained contact with me
Persia gained contact with Greece and mathematics, lost 39g
Zululand gained polytheism, code of laws
Russia gained polytheism

A couple of times when I traded a technology for money, I should have waited until I got map making. If I had taken advantage of right of passage or renegotiating peace, I might have done better (perhaps making England broke too).

Here is my log for the second exercise.

I know Rome, Iroquois, England, iron working, writing, philosophy, literature, map making, horseback riding, mysticism
I have an embassy in Rome, 3 gold
Math is due in 5 turns at 50% science
Iroquois and Rome are at war
Iroquois has 11g, knows Code of Laws, doesn't know England
Rome has 394g, knows Code of Laws and polytheism, doesn't know England
England has 536g, knows Code of Laws, Mathematics, polytheism, Russia, Egypt, Zulu, don't know other 2
I sell England contact with Iroquois and Rome for contact with Russia, world map, 49g
Russia has 6g. knows Zulu and Egypt, math, code of laws, polytheism
I buy contact with Zulu from them for contact with Rome, 8g
Zulu has 17g, knows Egypt, math, code of laws
I sell them contact with Iroquois for contact with Egypt, world map, 10g
Egypt knows math, code of laws, polytheism, has 66g
I sell world map to Zulu for math, 7g
I sell math and world map to Rome for polytheism, 64g
I sell polytheism to Iroquois for code of laws, world map, 11g
Iroquois knows Republic, lacks math, contact with Russia, Egypt, has 0g
Rome knows Monarchy, lacks contact with Egypt, Zulu, has 330g
England knows construction and currency, has 487g
Russia knows construction, has 14g
Egypt knows construction and currency, has 66g
Zulu knows construction, has 0g, lacks polytheism
I sell world map to England for world map, 163g
I buy currency from Egypt for contact with Rome, world map, 127g
I buy construction and world map from Zulu for currency, polytheism
We learn monotheism as a free technology
I sell mathematics to Iroquois for 1gpt
Russia is scientific
I sell my territory map to Russia for world map, 14g
I sell currency and construction to Rome for world map, 330g
I buy monarchy from Rome for contact with Zulu, world map, monotheism, 72g
I buy the republic from Iroquois for currency, construction, monarchy, contact with Russia, contact with Egypt, world map, 410g
I sell monotheism to Iroquois for 410g, world map, 1gpt
I sell the republic to Rome for world map, 72g
I sell monarchy to England for world map, 324g
I sell the republic to Egypt for world map, 193g
I know all techs, have all of known world map, nobody else has money
Iroquois knows all techs and world map
Rome knows all techs and world map
England lacks monotheism and knows world map
Russia lacks currency, monarchy, the republic, monotheism, knows only my territory map
Zulu lacks the republic, monarchy, monotheism, knows world map
Egypt lacks monarchy and monotheism, knows world map
I wonder what might have happened if Russia entered the Middle Ages (i.e. what technology they would learn)

I acheived the goals given; in addition I learned monotheism. I wouldn't have been able to get the two government techs without it.