LotR11: Mayan Menace

Civilization: Mayans
Leader: Smoke-Jaguar
Barbs: Restless
Difficult: Demi-god
Map size: Standard
Map type: Mid-land pangea
Climate/temperature/age: Random
Variant: Most Aggressive set for AIs

First map taken.



The worker moves south to scout...and sees a wheat, which is enough for a 4-turn settler factory for an agricultural civ starting on a river, so the settler moves one southwest, too.

Chichen Itza founded in 3950 BC and begins work on a warrior. Alphabet @ max ordered up (which I think turned out to be but I wanted to get to Math ASAP to hopefully get a tech first!)

3650 sees the completion of the first warrior and another is started. The first warrior is ordered to explore south, the most likely direction of contact.

In 3450, he found something!!! Not another civ. IVORY!!! [drool] Temple of Zeus. Close enough to our capital to not be terribly corrupt. ME WANT VERY MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!

By 3250, a second warrior is out exploring and he sees a goodie hut. Crossing fingers and toes, I enter...to gain 25 gold. WHEW!

3150 gets us contact with Carthage almost due east of our start, on a chokepoint of land. They will sell us none of their horde of techs and need nothing we know. Bummer.

3100 sees the Ottomans appear very near our capital. We sell Pottery for Bronze Working and 24 gold. Still NO chance at getting Alphabet. Bummer.

We end with a settler who should probably move one south and found between three deers. This guy may well want to build barracks and units for a LONG LONG time. Consider Chichen Itza's current order a chicken build. I didn't know what else to do, so I ordered that. A granary will be needed for a 4-turn settler factory, but it's growing pretty rapidly as is....

We know a bit of the world....


Whoever signed up in the general LotR thread can claim and play 10 turns now. We'll set order after one go-through. Discussions are welcome and encouraged.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads5/lotr11-3000bc.zip

Have fun! I'm off to try a quick game.
Arathorn

And so it starts. I spent this evening test-driving the game (Hittites @ Demigod level, with all the new civs), so I'm planning to pick up this game tomorrow evening - around 6pm MST.

If anyone wants to jump in ahead of me, by all means do so.

No game yet. Will be scouting the stores again tommorrow.

Variant: Most Aggressive set for AIs
The LotR extereme variant series continues.

Hm, looks like some fertile land around, nice
Have a nice first round team.

Btw, can someone post the AI-spec. for Demigod-level and the advantages
of the agr. trait?

Agricultural benefits:
- Extra food in the center square of the city (so it's 3/1/? instead of 2/1/?). This bonus food is normally hit by the despotism penalty, but the penalty is waived if the city is by a river (for whatever reason)
- Cheaper aqueducts, recycling, and solar plants (my guess is half price, but I'm not sure)
- Irrigating desert gives +2 food instead of +1, so it functions like an irrigated plains

Demigod-level specs:
I don't really know, for sure. 70% cost factor, extra worker to start??? Haven't checked, sorry.

BTW, make it clear if you are claiming.

@Lee: That was clear in my initial draft for this game, wasn't it? I want a lot of war in this game.

@All: I think our second city should build barracks, and then units for all time -- hopefully lots and lots of javilineers. I want to test out enslavement!!!

For discussion:
-Worth using 4 units to blockade Carthage in to the east of their double-choke?
- Dot map?
- Third city clear south by ivory for Temple of Zeus? Or just try to get there naturally?

Arathorn

@Arathorn - I totally missed the hyper aggressive thing. The current GOTM is in PTW using the demigod settings. I was sweating bullets most of the AA in that one.

With the number of free units at demigod this will get ugly fast. Ancient age UU pretty much insures our GA will be wasted in despotism.

I agree with barracks and units like crazy. We are going to need units ASAP.

I believe the Demi-god AI civs receive a bonus settler. Good luck and have fun, guys! I'll be lurkin'.

@Lee The "official" term for Arathorn's variant tendencies is AMIMV (Arathorn Massively Insane Masochistic Variant--or if you want it even shorter)--though I think this one is just another AMV or AIMV --if it were on deity...that would be another story.

San Diego is still asleep at the switch. No C3C for now. If you know a store willing to fedex please let me know. thanx.

Originally posted by Coffee
San Diego is still asleep at the switch. No C3C for now. If you know a store willing to fedex please let me know. thanx.

Click to expand...

Amazon.com

Ok, did that. Maybe tommorrow but I doubt it. Thanks again.

Edit: Well no luck. Delivery shows as the 10th. I'll have to keep scouting the stores.

Well I haven't see an official got it.

I am playing right now.

3000 BC (pre-turn)
There is nothing to change.

2950 BC
I have located the Ottoman cities.

2900 BC
Copan is formed by the triple dear spot. If there is a city for pumping out military, this is it. Forming Copan shows a barb in range. I dial up the Ottoman and pay $53 and $3/turn for Burial. That is much better then giving it to barbs.

2800 BC
I can see a brown border across the sea, but can't contact them.

2670 BC
I am shocked as we get the warrior completed in Copan, as the barb never attacked.

2550 BC
That was an inlet, so the next play should contact the mystery brown civ.


Summary:


http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads5/LOTR11-2550BC.zip

This is an OFFICIAL "I got it"

(0) Inherited turn.
Well I should have an easy time here, playing after Lee and Arathorn - both of who are harsh critics of any moves.
Take a quick look at our two cities, and totally agree with the current build choices. Lee has left me with everything well set-up. We're umm... a little behind in techs, and using a substantial portion of our meagre income keeping our citizens happy - this will be offset once the settler completes in four turns at Chicken-Eats-Ya.

IBT:
Spear/settler pair move out from an undentified Ottoman city.

(1) 2510BC
The interturn played a little too fast, so I switch the animations back on.
Not sure what the warrior SE of Copan is doing, so I'll send him west to fog-bust our territory.
40% luxuries remains enough to keep Chicken-Eats-Ya from rioting (I also note that it's one of those 4-turn settler factories, so I will manage the worker appropriately to get enough shields and +5 food).

IBT:
A guy clad in a pink diaper comes into view.

(2) 2470BC
I contact the man in pink, and suggest that he changes into something a little more... erm... manly. He turns out to be Arabian. The Arabs are up in tech on us by Alphabet, The Wheel, Warrior Code and Mysticism.
Although there is probably a three-fer available, I cannot trade due to lack of funds (currently 43 gold + 2 gold/turn).

IBT:
Chicken-Eats-Ya spits out a settler, I order up a worker.

(3) 2430BC
I'm going to send the settler to grab the Ivory SW of Copan, getting us a badly needed luxury (and I believe Ivory is required for the Statue of Zeus).
I'm able to drop luxuries to 20%, but only gain 1 gold/turn out of it. I'm still unable to trade for any techs.

IBT:

(4) 2390BC
Our warrior moves up to the "Mystery brown civ" mentioned by a previous ruler.
Luxuries back to 30% as Chicken-Eats-Ya grows to 5.

IBT:
Chicken-Eats-Ya builds worker, starts settler.

(5) 2350BC
Luxuries back to 20%.
Contact the "Mystery brown civ", who turns out to be Russia. After admiring Catherine's "great beauty", I duly note that she has Alphabet, Iron Workng, Warrior code and The Wheel.
Arabia also has Iron Working now.
We are deep in the hole for tech, so I'll need to keep up the city building in an attempt to get enough cash to catch up.
There is a barbarian on a mountain not too far from where I want to put city #3 - as long as he remains fortified I won't be worried.

IBT:

(6) 2310BC
Attack a barbarian warrior. Our warrior is redlined, but promotes to veteran. His move reveals a barbarian camp on a hill two tiles away.

IBT:
The barbarian camp is destroyed by an Arab warrior.
Capan completes barracks, starts spearman.

(7) 2270BC
Chicken-Eats-Ya is fully set up for 4-turn settler production, the next one to appear in two turns.
Luxuries to 30%.

IBT:

(8) 2230BC
Palenque founded next to ivory. Barracks started.
I'm still unable to trade for Iron Working or Mysticism, both of which would help considerably towards catching up in techs.

IBT:
Chicken-Eats-Ya builds settler, starts another.

(9) 2190BC
I send our latest settler towards the coast, ESE of Chicken-Eats-Ya.
Luxuries to 20%.
Chicken-Eats-Ya autosets to 5 food/turn + 7 shields/turn. When it grows it should auto-assign 9 shields/turn to produce a 4-turn settler. I see no reason to change this for the forseeable future (although an extra MP will help with luxury tax).

IBT:

(10) 2150BC
Move the settler. He is now one tile from his settling target (across the river and on the coast).

The Arabs have Mysticism, which could form part of a two-fer for Iron working from Russia. This (and other trades with the rest of the civs) would help us catch up on tech, but we are woefully short of cash right now.
Chicken-Eats-Ya is set up as a four turn settler factory. I recommend keeping things that way.

Our fledgling empire:


And the save file - 2150BC

Not sure what the warrior SE of Copan is doing

He had just finished fog busting in that area.

Nice turns, Lee and Steve. I like getting the second worker out of Chichen Itza. Nice job both of you on the 4-turn settler factory. Four contacts, too, is a nice start -- that'll help tech prices down the line.

Without looking at the save, I would like to suggest the following....

Acquire warrior code however we can (without shooting ourselves in the foot -- it should be cheap) and start javilineers after the current spear build in Copan. Farm barbs for workers as MUCH as possible -- free labor is a major benefit of our UU and we'll want to make as much of that as is possible (war with another civ or two later is a distinct possibility but barb slaves work very nicely).

Let's get a dot map going. I'll try over the weekend if there's not been discussion before then.

Have our new city's first build be a curragh and let's go hunting for even more contacts.

Keep the exploring warriors out exploring for a LONG time -- my solo game is IA and they just finished a few turns ago. The exploration is worth more than the MP or the upkeep saved.

Keep up the -free turns!

Roster:
Arathorn
LKendter
Arizona_Steve
Coffee -- in the sad San Diego area
Belisar -- needs a week at least

Looks like there'll be a bit of a time lapse now. Once Coffee plays, though, we might skip Belisar for ONE ROUND and be sure to catch him the second time around. Depends on how exciting/interesting the game situation.

Arathorn

At some point we're going to have to start escorting settlers to their destination (I nearly always play "Sedentary" barbarians, so through force of habit I neglected to do this).

I know lee likes this setting too, so just a simple reminder, or someone's going to lose a settler...

On city placement: My thoughts were to get the first ring going as soon as possible. As for specific sites, the aforementioned "Across the river" site for the current settler, and also I would recommend settling ON the tobacco to the W of Chicken-Eats-Ya - it'll waste no tiles (I dare someone to rename our capital, I can just imagine Lee's face turning red while he jumps up and down ).

That would complete our first ring of cities that are next to rivers. There are a couple of other first-ring sites - one is three tiles NE and one tile North of the capital, by the coast in unexplored territory (looks like a hill - and I'm assuming there's coast there), the second would be three tiles due West of the capital, also on the coast.