RBDL1 - Cossack Charge - Monarch/Emperor

So, since I've been waiting ages for a spot to open up in a good game here, and missed getting into Sullla's Emperor game, I'll try starting one.

I've lurked at Realms Beyond and the Lurker Lounge for ages, hence the game name. Any other RBD/LL regulars/lurkers are especially encouraged to join, but anyone good at the game is welcome. This is the first SG I've played, but I've been reading the RBD ones since they started.

We'll play as the Russians and seek to take advantage of the Cossack. The variant is this, fairly simple:

1. Once we enter the Middle Ages, we beeline for Military Tradition and do not research anything that isn't on the path. (Trading for other tech is fine.)

2. We may not build more Tanks than we have Cossacks. (Mech Inf and Modern Armor are unrestricted.)

Other standard RBD SG rules: no RoP exploiting, no extended Goto orders, no worker automation, etc.

Civ - Russia
Map - Standard size, Pangaea, other factors random
Barbarians - Restless
Difficulty - Monarch
Victory options - All available

36 hours to post "Got it", 48 to play & post from that time. 30 / 20 turns to start, 10 after the first two. Once per player, take an extension to 15 turns if you need.

Signups are open, go for it

FINAL UPDATE:

Roster:
T-hawk
God
Jersey Joe
Exsanguination
Kevinicus
ChrTh

I'm prepared for the roster to be flexible over time. So these rules: anyone not heard from for 21 days will be considered dropped, and the roster will be open for new signups anytime the roster drops to four or fewer active players.

Game has started!

Sorry you didn't get into my game T-hawk, but I can only have so many spots. Best of luck with this game, though!

(BTW, are you playing in the Realms Beyond Epics? Just curious, is all )

I'll play on Monarch, if its possible. Don't want to play a complete emperor game as SG, because I don't want to ruin it for the rest of the group.

Originally posted by T-hawk

2. We may not build more Tanks than we have Cossacks. (Mech Inf and Modern Armor are unrestricted.)

Click to expand...

How exactly do you envision that working? If, for example, at the beginning of a turn the Russians have 45 tanks and 50 cossacks with 5 tanks being built What happens if 10 cossacks get killed and now it is 45 tanks and 40 cossacks.
Do you have to stop building the tanks?
Do you have to change 5 of the cities building tanks to building cossacks?
In the above example, what if instead of 10 cossacks killed it was 6 cossacks giving you 45 tanks & 44 cossacks. Would you have to change 3 of the cities from tanks to cossacks?
If you have to change cities from tanks to cossacks is it the cities which will first complete the cossacks, even at the lose of shields?

If the count for tanks and cossacks includes those being built, what if I put every "super corrupt", nonproductive 1 shield city building cossacks?

A tank may not be begun or switched to if we have more tanks, including those in production, than active cossacks, excluding those in production. If we notice a violation, a tank in production should be switched off. So in both of your examples, switch everything off tanks (even if it means losing shields -- but you can switch to something else, doesn't have to be a cossack.) Don't sweat it too much; if we accidentally build an extra tank or two, or if casualties during the AI turn put us in violation during our next-turn builds, that's okay. It's the spirit of the rule that counts.

Still looking for players; if we don't see any more by the weekend I'll close it down. Monarch is fine, don't want to scare anybody away.

Sullla: Yeah, I'm doing the Epics, or at least hope to finish it by Monday.

Guess I should have mentioned in my previous post that you can sign me up.

Originally posted by T-hawk
It's the spirit of the rule that counts.

Click to expand...

I like that philosophy I only asked about that rule because I saw the potential for abuse.

What about requiring that the first techs we research in ancient times are those that get us horseback riding?

this sounds interesting, sign me up.

Be forewarned: I've only played one Monarch game (in progress ), and have never played the Russians. Count me out if you want, but I would like to give it a stab.

See the first post for an update.

Hey Joe, whereabouts in Jersey are you? I'm in Hoboken, in fact.

As for your other suggestion -- it's not a rule (doesn't have anything to do with cossacks), but you can do it on your turn if you like

I have no preference on order.

I am in Montville.

Can I play too?

That's five. I'll start it as soon as I finish the Realms Beyond epic (which should be tonight); may not get to it till tomorrow.

Something just came up; I won't get to play until real late tonight if at all (tomorrow for sure). But here's a peek at the start position:



Remember that wines give an extra food! This looks SUPER promising.

wow, that's an AWESOME starting position. *pray for iron works*

Is there room for one more in this one? If so, let me know and I'll join in.

Here we go!

4000 BC: Scout finds a hut 2 tiles SE of the start position, gets Warrior Code! There's also two Flood Plains tiles over here! Set research to Iron Working; it's usually good to research a second-level tech to trade for other civs' first-level tech.

Found Moscow where it stands. Worker to start irrigating the cow.

3750 BC: Moscow builds Scout, starts another. First Scout pops another hut and gets Ceremonial Burial!

3550 BC: Another hut gives us Mysticism! We find the Germans to the south. They don't have any tech that we lack!

3450 BC: Contact India to the west. They have Alphabet... and a WORKER! That's ridiculously valuable to get this early. Trade them Mysticism (useless) and Warrior Code (don't expect early war, especially not against India) for Alphabet, a Worker, and their 10 gold. Switch Moscow from the shield grass tile to the forest, since it needs 6 food to grow, two turns of +3 surplus will do it.

3400: Hut to the north pops a warrior. Moscow to size 3, raise the lux. Three scouts exploring now; Moscow is building a granary. This may seem crazy, but follow along...

3150 BC: Granary is 19 shields away from completion. Pop rush it. Check out the math of this: it converts 10 food (by having it in place before Moscow grows again) to 19 shields, and will pay back its 10 food in another five turns. Moscow can take the unhappiness for a bit; wines are hooked up thanks to the Indian worker, and it'll build one warrior for MP duty. Moscow should now produce EVERY settler for our empire.

China calls us up, and offers Masonry for Mysticism + 6 gold. I'll take it. That puts us quite short on gold.

3050: Meet France to the west. They don't have any tech we lack either. Trade them Warrior Code (since everyone else has it now) for their 13 gold.

2950 (turn 21): Meet an English scout to the south.

2750 (turn 25): Settler built, heads west to claim the incense.

2670 (turn 27): We research Iron Working. There's iron just OUTSIDE Moscow's 21-tile radius. No Iron Works

China has a worker to trade. Iron Working is all we have to trade them, but it's worth it; workers are just so good to have early. Also take their 13 gold.

2550: Found St. Petersburg. It's not in the most fertile land, but I wanted to make darn sure to claim the incense before India did. It does have a bunch of 2-food freshwater squares.

Also, our scouts find two more huts, for The Wheel and Horseback Riding!

I took the liberty of plotting out a dot-map.



Purple stars are the highest priority, awesome city locations. Blue stars are good locations too. Red stars are filler cities at low priority. The white stars are to claim luxury resources; not important immediately, but go for it if it looks like an AI settler is heading there.

I'm not sure if God is still checking the thread. If we don't hear from him sometime on Thursday, Jersey Joe can take it and let God get in next or whenever he's around.

GOD << UP NOW
Jersey Joe << STAND BY

Here's a link to the save:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads/RBDL1-2550BC.zip

BTW, ChrTh, you're in.

Currently researching Writing at max, and we're at least two techs ahead of every AI we've met.

As for Moscow - the word of the day is micromanage! Moscow can crank a settler every 6 turns if you micromanage it. It needs to run 4 food surplus for one turn, then 3 for two turns to grow without any food waste; then do that cycle again and it'll pop the settler. Only Moscow should be producing any settlers at all; every other city should get military and warriors going. One of the high-food flood plains cities - probably the first purple star that has a settler right next to it now - should probably make a bunch of workers.

Next player take 20 turns, then 10 each after that.

I'm no pro, this is just my opinion - shouldn't we build our next city in a fertile, productive spot so as to get a good core going? We already basically lost a city to the incense (good call, BTW) - the incense will help but that city looks pretty useless otherwise. So, if we built our 3rd city near the flood plains, in the desert, thats 2 cities pretty much gone. I may be wrong, if any vets are reading this correct me if need be.

EDIT: looking at the dot map, a city built directly one-tile west of the purple square to the north (in the mountains, near the iron/horses) would be prime. We could hook up horses immediately, expand to get iron, AND it would be "optimally placed" (no overlap or unworked tiles).

I've got it. Will play this evening most likely.

I've played monarch games before, and IMO building our first city for a luxury wasn't the best idea.

I think we should waited for our 3rd or 4th city. But looking at the Indians being very close to the luxuries, it may have been a good idea.

We'll see how this affects us later in the game.

I think the next city to go for is on the jungle south of Moscow.

I will have to lower the research for Writing because soon we will start to lose units.

As for money, keep checking the AIs and sell them some tech whenever they get up to 15-20 gold in the bank. That's what I was doing, at least. Plus we'll be multiplying like rabbits now and founding cities. If we stick to the Moscow settler plan, I guarantee you we'll have close to double any AI's city count by AD times.

St. Petersburg isn't useless at all. Those water tiles are fresh water (two food) -- it can reach size 9 before railroads. It'll be a great commerce generator, plus it can poprush stuff if necessary. (So can any floodplains city, especially with two lux coming online early to cover the unhappiness.) Or it could be a worker factory. I forgot to mention this - I'd rather have a Library (we're scientific) than the temple there, so see if we can get Literature before the temple completes and switch.

Looking at it now, I agree the flood plains location probably isn't that great. I sent the settler there first because there was a road going that way, and it might help block India. Both other purple stars are probably more important - both are on rivers and get the horses after expansion. Northeast mountains purple could be one W, but that takes it off the river, and cuts down on Iron Works chances. North purple could also be one W for less overlap, but that would take it off the coast (we need at least one good coastal city.) I'd found the current settler on West Purple anyway, since Moscow will make another in 6 turns.

Blue star south as God mentioned is good too; it may help block Germany, and it's got two or three shield grasslands although not on a river. It could also be a square S or SW so as to not overlap Moscow.

I'll shut up now and let some of you play instead of trying to run the whole thing

Blast it. I'll get the game in tommorow. I'm having exams this week and next, and have been studying and posting a bit on Civfanatics.