pigswill said:
Sisiutil:its a bit of a minor quibble but could you post when you're starting to play your next round coz otherwise you get out-dated suggestions (like my previous post).
The irony of this is that I think I followed your suggestions in that post almost to the letter, without even reading it.
You're like my psychic friend. You should get a 1-900 number.
You're not sitting by the computer, waiting for me to post, are you? Still, I usually check here before playing a round to re-read all the suggestions and check for anything new, so I suppose a quick "next round underway" post wouldn't be too onerous a task. Still, I wouldn't want to stifle debate. One of the best things about these threads is that the game is often a springboard into more general discussions of finer points of Civ. I'll try it and see.
vormuir said:
Sis, I find this very interesting, because this sort of thing has happened to me more than once. It's exquisitely frustrating to see that last defender just sitting there mocking you.
More generally, I'd be interested to see more about episodes like this that, well, don't go so smoothly. These are very much part of the game, and we can all learn a lot from them. (Like, in this case. Did you not bring enough firepower, or was it just crappy die rolls?)
It was a case of not enough of a specific type of firepower: Catapults. I knew I needed them and had said as much before. But I only had the one in range; I had a couple of others built, but they were going to take several turns to reach Monty's capital. So I decided to take a chance and see if I could seize the day--and the city. The Cat removed the defenses and then did one round of collateral damage, from which it withdrew at 0.5 strength, leaving 4 Archers at about 2.5 and a Chariot at 3.0 or so. I actually had lousy odds but got a couple of good dice rolls, but it still wasn't enough. Lesson learned.
Cats, as we all know, make a huge difference. I took the last city, Tlatelolco, with all of 6 units: 1 Axe, 2 Swords, and 3 Cats. Of course, that city wasn't on a hill, either.
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Cabert made some very good points regarding cultural wins and being aware of years, turns, etc. I usually have had to go to 0% research and as high on the culture slider as I can to get a cultural win.
For overall strategy and approach, I like Krikkitone's suggestions and will likely, generally, try to follow them.
Now to a couple of finer points. Given the number of turns that went by in that round, I didn't feel like a single post did things justice. So first of all, here are some additional screenshots. Let's start with some maps.
The northwest:
I unfortunately cannot put one city up there that gets both the fish and the whale in its fat cross. I will have to settle, I think for the fish and the iron (city on the snow tile NW of the iron) and get the whale on the second border pop. But that's later, obviously after I get rid of Toledo.
The northeast:
There's definitely room for another city here, but where? There's a lot of useless desert, too. Before settling here I need to get onto that hill east of the cows and see if, perchance, there's any seafood out there in the fog. If not, I'm thinking of building a city inland, 1 tile south of the iron. It would get the iron, cows, oasis, and those two cottages Monty was so kind to build. 6 desert tiles and a desert hill, too, unfortunately. Not a great city location, but it also would eliminate the barbs I'm getting from this corner of the continent. And you know if I don't settle it, the AI will.
The north:
Darn barbs pillaged both my fur tiles, so I'll have to fix those. Before I go after Isabella, I think I should take the earlier suggestion about some Flanking/Sentry Chariots. I should also use one to scout Spanish territory and garrisons.
The south:
Another reason I kept those three Aztec cities which are strung out east-to-west on the continent is that they will serve as buffers to protect my northern, core cities. Notice that two of them are on hills as well; nice in case they come under attack. And the Spanish city NW of Texecoco or whatever is a definite target because it's got that gems tile.
And the 50-year power graph:
Always nice to be ahead, but Washington is keeping pace. I'll have to keep an eye on that. I could definitely go the peaceful coexistence route, but once I have Redcoats, it's going to be SO tempting to take him out.
And the civics:
I'm thinking of a brief switch to OR to get some religion spread. Then again, maybe I should just bite the bullet and build monasteries.
I'm disinclined to switch from Slavery just yet, though I am indeed making less and less use of it. I believe it was Cabert who pointed out in the previous game that Caste System is most potent when combined with Mercantilism, so I'd rather wait until I at least have Banking. And in the past I've often found myself switching back to Slavery during a mid-game war anyway--to pop rush a key unit or to quell dissent and starvation in a captured city (all those griping citizens are a very useful way to quickly get a cost-saving courthouse in place).
