ALC Game #25: Celts/Boudica

[whakamole]

Only problem with razing Medina is that it will leave a desert river tile behind, rather than a floodplain tile.

Medina already has a desert tile in its BFC. Depending on what the land looks like to the north, you could move the city location 1 tile NW to be on the grassland forest.

You'd trade the current desert tile for the desert river tile, and would also place the city on the coast (for a better naval shipyard than Bibracte on the south pole), allow Vienne to have the cattle and have room to plant a city to the east to claim the other cattle and iron.

The new city would be a nice combo of floodplains and hills, ensuring a nice production city and/or cottage central.

EDIT: Looks to be another desert tile to the north of the proposed new city center, so it would be a 2-for-1 desert tile swap, but still worth considering, IMO.

 

[Sisiutil]

Sorry for the delay, everyone. I had some time off work and the wife decided I needed time off from everything. And I agreed with her.

I'll be back at it later this week. Promise.

 

[CivCorpse]

Sorry for the delay, everyone. I had some time off work and the wife decided I needed time off from everything. And I agreed with her.

I'll be back at it later this week. Promise.

Oh sure, but you have time for those guys over at Apoloppy.com and their fancy shmancy podcasting. We feel betrayed. But are a forgiving lot so I guess it is ok. I figure 3 weeks will be enough for you to sort through the absolute mess we have made of our "polite suggestions". Really, they have all been polite. Not a flame amongst them. Enjoyed the podcast. Didn't learn anything from it since I had the volume down while looking at nekkid women on the internet.

 

[Dr Yes]

Sorry for the delay, everyone. I had some time off work and the wife decided I needed time off from everything. And I agreed with her.

I'll be back at it later this week. Promise.

Did you tell her the whole world is watching you? 24,000 views and only two rounds played? More than 300 posts to date?
Anyway, good luck with the game. Hope it works out well, the game looks too familiar, and it will be tough to win it. Don't gamble, that wouldn't be very educational...

Are there any forums for Civilization widows?

 

[DMOC]

Good luck on the next round.

 

[Lord Chambers]

I'm a broken record. But I notice a correlation between people who make posts about the dangers of the economy "crashing" and encouraging one to "get the economy up" and being turtling losers.

There is no economy. There are only techs that let you conquer your rivals, techs that enable space ship parts, and a tech that enables Free Speech. The game is easier to win when you get to those techs faster and so Writing, Code of Laws, and Currency are super cool. But they're always going to be there. They don't disappear into another dimension when you don't pay them attention. Now, concerns about getting hopelessly passed by the AI is are valid. So why would you ever, in your wildest dreams, advocate sitting in crapland between tundra, ocean, and tundra so that you can avoid getting hopelessly passed by the AI? That's like avoiding car accidents by ramming people off the road. Here's a solution to getting passed by the AI: settle on copper and own some faces. Then, instead of pretending you need to "rebuild" an "economy" before taking on your next opponent, go eliminate another opponent. No one is left to pass you by, no one can compete with your 15 cities.

I can understand being confused by the "economy." It sounds daunting. But what I can't forgive is thinking that there is anything in this game which could stop this start from smashing Saladin. All he's got in this world are his Walls and his Archer horde, and Boudica will break them for nothing. You've got a hammer-heavy capital and a city settled on the goddamn copper that can't do anything but produce troops. What exactly is missing from this equation that makes someone think it's balanced? Oh that's right, Boudica's units start with Combat 1, earn City Raider 2 after one fight, and City Raider 3 after two to three more fights.

Its mystifying that anyone can think we should wait for Catapults. It's like math isn't being taught in school. It's like they've been playing Civilization for 2 days. What exactly would these two cities build while we spend the first 150 turns of the game going for Catapults? AND WHY WOULD WE DO THAT when we have every advantage in the game, Aggressive, Charismatic, Metal, Hammers. My God, the humanity. Will someone please think of the leverage?

 

[Babibo]

I concord with Lord Chambers. Saladin has very good land, and has spent time building wonders instead of an army. With such a land, your economy will recover fast.

I must admit I played this game this week end. Here are some remarks (I put it in spoiler tags, but I think I don't give that much information about the game)

Spoiler :

I actually crashed my economy by conquering Saladin (something like 5 /turn during 50 turns) but by using some tricks I won't reveal, I managed to get to Currency/Code Of Laws, and the game was in the bag. Note that in my game, Saladin didn't build these shiny wonders, so it should be even easier here ! However, I think Sisiutil was a bit slow in building his troops. By starting with 2 workers at start, I could chop all these forests faster.

 

[Bandobras Took]

Here's a solution to getting passed by the AI: settle on copper and own some faces. Then, instead of pretending you need to "rebuild" an "economy" before taking on your next opponent, go eliminate another opponent. No one is left to pass you by, no one can compete with your 15 cities.

Good idea, let's avoid building courthouses and libraries and cottages in and around those fifteen cities! All we need are lots of troops that are absolutely free!

 

[azzaman333]

Good idea, let's avoid building courthouses and libraries and cottages in and around those fifteen cities! All we need are lots of troops that are absolutely free!

As long as you aren't in debt with the slider at 0%, there is no problem.

Mecca has to fall quickly in a war with Saladin, otherwise he'll be able to pump out a lot of units to defend with (unless he's building the Mids, which we hope he is)

 

[Sleepless]

Apologies if anyone else has posted this but I'm not going to go back and check.

One point about going for Sal now. I'd advise turning off research for a few turns to get some money in the bank otherwise there is a good chance your troops will get to Mecca, your troops will say @@@@ this were not getting paid and go on strike. Nothing like watching your army dissolve around you. Haven't had it happen in a long while but it's quite annoying when it does happen.

Regarding using cats I already said I would have teched writing first and used scientists to help with research (I think I would be building troops during this time by the way) so now it would be best to attack Sal at the earliest opportunity which should be just a few chops/whips away.

 

[CivCorpse]

As tempting as it is to respond to Lord Chamber's little rant, I am going to pass. Instead I am give you CivCorpse's Revised Aggression Plan. Yes folks, more C.R.A.P.

Tech path. Writing->Med->Priesthood->CoL.
Build order. Bibracte finishes the granary then begins a settler, chop once then whip. Settle a city that claims the NE cows and deer. Then begin GW's.
Vienne finishes the granary and builds a spearman followed by GW's
One warrior should be scouting Sal. One axe went with the new settler to found the 3rd city. That leaves 1 warrior and 3 axes as the current army. When sis has chopped/whipped 5 GWs send the spear and 1 axe from Vienne to the border near the iron. And the Send the 5GW's and one axe to take medina. That should be enough. The axe/spear team crosses the border to pillage the iron. They stay there and make sure it stays out of commision. At this point Sis has 4 cities. And can whip/build a pretty big force of GW's. Saladin is denied his metal and can only produce archers for defense. true they are probably going to be cg2 but GW's will make short work of them if we bring enough. It might be worth the 3 turns to build a road from Vienne to Sal's cows. This not only makes resupplying the front lines a little faster. It connects us to Sal. Not so much for the trade route but for the intel. We can use the trade screen to see if Sal has any other sources of metal.

 

[Bandobras Took]

As long as you aren't in debt with the slider at 0%, there is no problem.

Uh, yes. That was sort of the point of my admittedly facetious post.

 

[CivCorpse]

Good idea, let's avoid building courthouses and libraries and cottages in and around those fifteen cities! All we need are lots of troops that are absolutely free!

And then we can march with our enormous pile of GW's and axes to defeat the weak Mansa and his X-bows, L-bows and knights sitting behind their walls and castles. Maybe we should wait the 287 turns to research construction so we can use cats. Well after the 172 turns to research Math. Of course it is so clear now, the troops can research the techs for war.

 

[Jet]

I played this game this week end. Here are some remarks (I put it in spoiler tags

The policy for ALCs is "no spoilers, not even in spoiler tags."

 

[marstinson]

Dang! Over 30 hours without a post. Looks like everyone is waiting with bated breath for the next round. Oh, in case you forgot, Sal must die.

 

[popejubal]

Will someone please think of the leverage?

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[Stewie0416]

I no this is kinda a random question but Sis, does it feel weird not posting and playing ALCs? I personally think you are deserve a break ( especially is the wife demands it) Have fun!

 

[Rodwell]

I did not select Aggressive AI because I find that it only makes the early game a little more challenging; if you survive, you'll rocket ahead of the AI in technology while it struggles to pay for all those extra units.

Just wanted to stop by and say that this is not true on Immortal or Diety. But Aggressive AI games tend to get a bit tedious in the late game with all the units.

 

[Bandobras Took]

What really happened is that Sisiutil built a Dun and building a wall reminded him too much of the Saladin game.

 

[Julian Delphiki]

Sisutil, what's the update status? No rush with this game it seems..