COTM 19 - First Spoiler: Ancient Age, Local Area

[Karasu]

Welcome to the first spoiler for COTM 19 - The Netherlands

In order to read and post in this spoiler, you need to:

1. Have reached the end of the Ancient Ages (i.e., as usual, be able to research a Middle Age
2. Have explored your immediate neighbourhood and have gained contacts with -at least- the four closest civs.

Concerning condition two, the spirit of the criterion is to discuss events related to the "local" area.
Of course, your initial exploration of this Archipelago may have been extremely efficient or extaordinarily unlucky: in either case, please keep in mind the scope of this thread and use your best judgement before you post anything that can spoil someone else's game (you can always add more details later!).

In any case, I would leave out of this spoiler anything related to far-away islands.


And now, how was the Ancient Age?
How fast the tech pace, how important exploration and expansion? Any trades, any... wars? Tell us!

 

[Obormot]

Predator, going for conquest.

I settled in place, built a warrior to look for future city sites and then a granary that was complete on turn 15, 1 turn before growing to size 4. Then my capital became a combo factory building a curragh or warrior followed by settler or 2 workers every 6 turns. I usually don't like combo factories because they require more worker turns/growth, but this start had so many shields that it didn't cost me anything. I didn't build an early curragh because we start with both important techs. Worker irrigated and roaded the cow, chopped forest and roaded furs. And that's all. Chopping plains forest was not necessary since i had enough shields already. I sent the worker to irrigate the wheat for my worker factory instead Second city became a 2-turn WF using the wheat and one of the wines. I produced occasional settlers from there too, hurrying them with a forest chop. I also built some settlers and workers in other cities. I only built settlers workers, MP warriors (sometimes after barracks for later upgrade possibility) and few boats during my AA. I made a mistake of not building a galley early enough to grab the cow island and any of the lux islands

I thought that generously selected opponents means no Alphabet, but it came out to be just non-seafaring. So after looking at F10 screen i abandoned the idea of free republic and went straight for Philosophy. I max-researched all the way even though it took me 45 turns to get Writing. I was lucky as while i was researching Philosophy Americans and Mongols learnt polytheism and i managed to make the monarchy slingshot. Monarchy was estabilished in 1450BC after a 5-turn revolution When trading i used the reverse tactics from what i normally do, trying to slow the AI down as much as possible, for example i distributed polytheism to everybody, but kept monarchy away and AI wasted a lot of turns researching monarchy. Slowing them down was much easier then i expected, i thought that maybe by the time i get Literature they will be in MA and i'll have to do some serious trading, but to my surprize i got Literature while the AI were still busy with monarchy, so i started Currency and got it first too in 825BC Only 2 AI civs knew Construction by that time, and one of them (Hittites) didn't know a bunch of other techs, so i could enter MA without giving Currency to anyone. Researching Literature was propably a waste since it was possible to keep up in tech without trading it away and i don't want to let AI build libs and unis. When mongols demanded it i refused and got a phony war with war happiness. I have only warriors, but can upgrade some in case of emergency. So far mongols didn't land anything.

My QSC stats:
10 towns (49 total population)
17 workers
16 warriors
2 galleys
2 curraghs

My island at 1000BC:

 

[The-Hawk]

4000 BC: Found Amsterdam in place. Ministry of Information begins a propaganda campaign to convince local sailors that there are vast riches to be found for those brave enough to cross open seas . Begin to research writing at full beakers. Amsterdam will do 2 curraghs, then granary, then settlers.

2950 BC: Curragh 1 sees an American warrior – and promptly sinks!
2850 BC: Alphabet to America for Bronze Working and 20g
2800 BC: Found Wassenaar NE of wheat, reveals wine to W.

2670 BC: Curragh 2, despondent because he never found any sign of life in almost 1000 years, decides to commit suicide by heading to sea… and immediately discovers the Zulu. Alphabet to Zulu for Warrior Code plus 10g.

2590 BC: Found Rotterdam N of wines. Decided to stick to coastlines to fit in more cities and take advantage of seafaring civ. Will pay the price later when I need to build Aqueducts.

2510 BC: Curragh 3 finds the Mongols. Trade Alphabet to Mongols for Ceremonial Burial
2390 BC: Found a town with a very strange name (‘s-Gravenhage) on hill S-SE of Amsterdam.
2270 BC: Workers working, curraghs sailing.
2230 BC: Curragh 4 discovers Hittites. Trade Ceremonial to Hittites for 10g.

2190 BC: Found Noordwijk E-NE of Amsterdam. The-Hawk notices that his Settler factory sure is wasting lots of shields, probably did too much early mining.

2150 BC: Brave curragh 2… after a long open sea suicide run… sinks within sight of a red border… but not close enough to make contact with that civ.

2070 BC: Curragh 4 finds France. Trade Pottery to France for The Wheel and 18g.

1990 BC: Mongols finish Writing 1 turn before we do. Starting to wonder if passing Alphabet around early on was a smart move.

1950 BC: Finish Writing, start Philo at full beakers. Found Utrecht at the elbow in the NE river that allows a coastal, river town.

Strategy Check - Decided to focus on Maps and try to get some of the little local islands settled. Concerned that another civ will grab a close island and put culture flip pressure on my mainland. So, I’ll use Philo to get Maps, then start to focus on galleys to carry Settlers. Probably will take a run at GLib in Noordwijk to keep up on Techs.

IBT: Zulus done Writing, another civ in the race for Philo. Thinking about trading Writing to the others, decide to wait to keep the others out of the Philo race.

1870 BC: Switch Noordwijk to granary as a pre-pre-build for GLib. Will switch to FP when I have enough cities. Start moving workers towards Noordwijk to improve bg’s for GLib run. In hindsight, should have made this decision several turns ago.

1830 BC: Hittites get Writing, decide its time for me to trade it to remaining Civs. Trade Writing to America for Iron Working and 53g. Trade Writing to France for Mysticism, Masonry, 4g. Trade Masonry to Zulu for Horseback Riding and 1g. Curragh 4 sees red border, but no contact yet. Hope he doesn’t meet the same fate as the last curragh that approached the red civ.

1790 BC: Curragh 4 makes contact with Romans, one civ to go. Mysticism to Romans for 41g.

1750 BC: Found Groningen to NE so that it covers iron and cow. Trade Writing to Rome for Mathematics. Now have all techs discovered by all civs.

1700 BC: Found Grolsch on SE tip of island. Start temple (want to culture expand to cover the small wheat island). Getting nervous about Philo, switch a second civilian at Wassenaar and 1 at Rotterdam to scientists to drop Philo to four turns.

1600 BC: Complete Philo, get Map Making! Start researching Literature. Mongols start Great Lighthouse. Looks like the rush is on for island settling!

1575 BC: Change Noordwijk production to Mausoleum of Mausollos as GLib pre-build.

1525 BC: Curragh 4 makes contact with Chinese. Trade Writing for 47g. Beginning to get nervous about losing race to close islands, so I decide to rush galley at ‘s-whatchamacallit.

1500 BC: America demands Philo… oh well, this is no time for a war… we wimp out.

1475 BC: Zulu, Hittites, and French building Great Lighthouse. The race is on, but I have a small head start. Found Eindhoven in tundra at NE of island.

1425 BC: Found Arnhem on a small island with Dyes. Start harbor.
1400 BC: Curragh 3 goes blub blub blub.

IBT: Aarrrgh! Zulu settles small island between my mainland and the dyes island! I am glad I rushed a galley to get the dyes.

1300 BC: Found Maastricht on cow island. Found Scheveningen on horse island.

1250 BC: Decide to make friends with the locals… establish embassy with Zulu (and see he has 35 units in his capital!) and with Mongols (he only has 24, lol). Add two workers to Noordwijk to bring pop up to 6 and speed pre-build… only to find I miscounted food…. one civilian needs to work an unmined grass tile to provide enough food! Doh! Decide I should scale back research. No real reason to finish Lit before my pre-build runs out of turns… might encourage someone to demand it from me and start their own GLib.

1225 BC: Pay 2 gpt for RoP with Zulu. Shaka gracious. Pay 2 gpt and 5g for RoP with Mongol. Temujin polite.

IBT: LOL, so much for making friends with the locals. My new buddy Temujin demands 23g immediately after we sign RoP. I pay.

1200 BC: Found Haarlem on iron island.
1175 BC: Arnhem: rush harbor to connect dyes.
1125 BC: Philo to China for Code of Laws and 3g.

IBT: America settles tundra island to my north! Was hoping I could get away with leaving that one for a while. Two french galleys near Wassenaar, hope they aren’t looking for a fight.

1100 BC: Rotterdam: Harbor complete, dyes connected to main island!

IBT: France lands a spear and a sword near Rotterdam, defended by 1 warrior. Ruh-roh.

1075 BC: Finished Lit, change FP to GLib in Noordwijk. 22 turns to complete. Straw grasping time! Build embassy in France. Pay 3gpt to France for RoP on the slim chance they will decide not to declare. Probably just making it easier for Joannie to hit my weaker cities, but I’d prefer that to Rotterdam. Move all available units towards Rotterdam, only one Warrior makes it this turn. Looks like I will be defending with two warriors, one of whom will not be fortified, vs. a spear and a sword . Pop-rush units in Groningen, Utrecht, Rotterdam (wonder if it will survive long enough to get it), Wassenaar, Grolsch, and Eindhoven. Diverting last galley with settler to the small wheat island near Grolsch. Decide to found a city on it since Grolsch still has no temple and needs to make units.

IBT: As expected, France declares and attacks. Swordsman and spear both attack Rotterdam. Swordsman dies without even nicking my fortified warrior! The spear tries and only hits the fortified warrior once before dying as well. SUPER-WARRIOR promotes to veteran! French archer and spear land near Wassenaar. Two more French galleys off coast near Wassenaar. Oops… chop near Grolsch finishes and is wasted since I had rushed . Oh well, will probably need that horsey anyhow. If I’d thought of it, I’d at least have stopped the worker. Last exploring curragh sinks. Ministry of Information stops propaganda campaign and build a memorial to all the brave curragh crews in Amsterdam.

1050 BC: Amsterdam and ‘s-Gravenhagendaz: both switch to horse and pop-rush. Found Hertog Jan on a small island to SE. Establish embassy with Hittites… 34 units in their capital! Debate bringing them into alliance vs. France, decide not to. Hoping to buy early peace with France without sustaining too much damage, don’t want rep hit for breaking alliance.

IBT: French archer attacks spear in Wassenaar and dies! French spear heads towards wines tile, looks like he wants to pillage. French galleys turn… one heads down towards Amsterdam, the other disappears… hope it’s not heading to one of my lightly defended islands.

1025 BC: Horseman from Rotterdam kills French spear and heads towards Amsterdam. Horseman from Wassenaar moves to forest SW of Amsterdam and horseman that had been heading north from Grolsch moves to hills SW of that forest. Might as well make Joannie land on open terrain instead of terrain that will give her a defensive bonus. Found Holwerd on small wheat island. Wassenaar and Rotterdam pop-rush spears.

IBT: French sword lands on open grassland near Amsterdam. Two more French galleys heading that way.

1000 BC: Horseman from Wassenaar dies attacking French sword. Horseman from Amsterdam finishes off sword. Philo to Zulu for 29g. CoL to Hittites for 82g and RoP.

QSC: 6387
15 cities, 9 on mainland, 6 on islands.
37 population – lost approximately 14 pop as a result of unit rushes to defend vs. French
46.7% explored, all civs contacted
4 workers, 8 warriors, 14 spears, 4 horsemen, 3 galleys

My main island at 1000 BC.... does not show 4 of my small islands.





975 BC: 3 French archers and 1 spear land near Amsterdam, this might be close! Horseman attack, hits spear once, then retreats. 2nd horseman kills spear, promote to veteran. 3rd (already wounded) horseman kills archer. Spear from Wassenaar kills 2nd archer. Spear in Amsterdam dies attacking 3rd archer. Spear from Noordwijk dies attacking 3rd archer, who promotes.

IBT: 3rd French archer dies attacking horseman in Amsterdam. French archer and spear land near Amsterdam. Chinese have Literature!

925 BC: Horseman kills spear. Veteran spear kills archer. Change Wassenaar production to barracks and rush (might as well get some veterans into the game to try to get a leader).

IBT: China building GLib! I have 16 turns to go, wondering how fast a Sid AI can build it.

850 BC: French will negotiate, decide to wait with hope they’ll land some troops so I can go for a leader.

730 BC: Establish embassy with Rome, 30 units in capital. Rome gives me 2g for RoP. Establish embassy with America, 25 units in capital. Pay 2 gpt for RoP with America. Establish embassy with China… 30 units in capital… 11 turns left on Chinese GLib ! (at this point, I have 8). Pay 1 gpt for RoP with China.

IBT: Pay Zulu 2 gpt to renew RoP. Pay Mongols 2 gpt to renew RoP.

710 BC: French seem to have lost interest. Make peace so I can get my galleys out to sea and fortify my islands against flip risk. Also sign RoP with France.

690 BC: Need workers, wasted so much time because of war . Wassenaar and Rotterdam switch to workers.
670 BC: Found Middleburg in tundra to protect that part of the island from AI settlement.
630 BC: France declares on Hittites
590 BC: Complete GLib in Noordwijk!
IBT: Learn Polytheism, The Republic, Construction

550 BC: Trade Lit to America for 143g and 22 gpt. Trade Lit to Hittites for 19g. Trade Lit to Mongols for 12g. Trade Poly to China for 154g. Decide Wassenaar needs space, rush temple. Will change govt. next turn.

IBT: Pay 1 gpt for RoP with Hittites. Zulu declare war on Mongols

530 BC: Start revolution.

IBT: Learn Currency. Into Middle Ages! Finally, lost a lot of time at war!

Self Critique and two questions for the forum:

Shouldn’t have mined near Amsterdam, was wasting shields on every settler. Early worker effort should have been on connecting and improving other towns.

I didn’t initially get my settler factory going on all cylinders… needed to let the population get a little higher. Should have stuck a warrior build in earlier so I’d have a MP and more population.

I made some little mistakes (such as rushing when a chop was scheduled to finish). I suspect this QSC score will rank pretty low. First time I’ve tried QSC, it is a great way to learn… forces you to think things through, pay attention to details, and analyze the consequences of decisions. Next time, I’ll play a little more methodically and try to make less mistakes.

I surely lost QSC points because of France’s attack in 1075, ended up wasting time and consuming a bunch of civilians in pop-rush’s (which also made the survivors sad). Oh well, luck of the draw

Question 1: Don’t know if I should have researched Writing at full beakers? Finished in 42 turns, would it have been better to go 10% beakers and finish in 50? Probably would have saved a few hundred gold, but then I may have missed Philo.

Question 2: Was using Philo to get Maps a bad idea? Most people seem to go for a government and then trade for techs, but I was very concerned about getting out to the islands early to prevent flip pressure. I did end up with 6 islands including dyes, extra iron and extra horses. Hopefully, getting GLib will make up for not having gotten Republic for tech trading. Certainly made me take longer to get to MA.

Appreciate any advice from the predators!

 

[Obormot]

Question 1: Don’t know if I should have researched Writing at full beakers? Finished in 42 turns, would it have been better to go 10% beakers and finish in 50? Probably would have saved a few hundred gold, but then I may have missed Philo.

I researched Writing in 45 turns, but don't regret doing so because those 5 turns could have made the difference between doing a monarchy slingshot or not. But to be honest i don't know what was better in this case. The main benefit of a min run is not even the gold, but that you can skip roads for some time and just irrigate food bonuses and therefore need fewer workers. BTW, 4 workers at QSC is a bit too few imho. The more workers you build, the better. When you can everything improved you can just join them. This is very profitable, because when you build a worker in a town with less then 7 population and with a granary it costs you 10 food, and when you join him to a big town without a granary it costs you 40 food You shouldn't be so scared of a war with an AI, even at this level. Also horsemen provide better defense then spear because they are mobile and also help against pillgers. I see you have wines mined, this is a mistake imho since irrigating will give you food even in despotism. The same thing about floodplains.

Question 2: Was using Philo to get Maps a bad idea? Most people seem to go for a government and then trade for techs, but I was very concerned about getting out to the islands early to prevent flip pressure. I did end up with 6 islands including dyes, extra iron and extra horses. Hopefully, getting GLib will make up for not having gotten Republic for tech trading. Certainly made me take longer to get to MA.

Researching or taking for free Map Making is usually a bad idea, because this tech is one of AI favourites. In my game AI learnt MM even before i was done with philosophy. This depends on the RNG of course, but i guess you could take another tech, say CoL or Currency and trade for MM. This doesn't matter of course if you plan to build TGL, but i don't like relying on that wonder.

 

[Xevious]

Open

I decided to take DaveMcW's advice and built 2 curraghs and then a granary. I roaded and then irrigated the cow, trying to get Writing as fast as possible. What I forgot to do, was cut and water the plains fur. I cut and mined the grass fur instead. My curraghs went east and west, and quickly met Hittites, then a few turns later America and then Mongols. Make some trades in 2630 getting me the Wheel from Hittites. Meet France right after that. Suddenly a few turns later everyone knows the Wheel and I lose my trading opportunity. Finally get Writing in 2030(turn 43) and head for Philosophy. I take a gamble and trade Writing to France for Iron,WC and some gold. Mongols have the next turn so trade to America for HBR and gold. Hittites demand HBR, I refuse and get a phony war. America learns Poly around 1790 giving me a chance at a Monarchy slingshot. Meet Zulu in 1675, and make peace with Hittites the next turn. Get Philosophy in 1625 and via Big Picture trade it plus81g to America for Poly. Trade Phil to France for Map Making and gold. Get free Monarchy and revolt drawing 7 turns, wince. Start Lit at max. Give Phil to Mongols when they demand it in 1550 (I have like 4 warriors at that point). America demands Monarchy 2 turns later, but I don't want to give THAT away, and they declare. Become Monarchy the next turn (1475). Meet China in 1350, they are way down, and Rome in 1300, also way down.

In 1250 a crucial thing happens. The last of the ancient wonders is finished, except for Great Lib. I hadn't started a prebuild because I figured I would lose to a cascade, but now, I think maybe I can go for it. Switch Amsterdam to a prebuild as Lit is due next turn. I get it and turn off research. I trade Monarchy to France for Currency and gold the same turn. At this point French galleys are starting to come accross the two tile sea gap. I should have blocked that coast tile sooner. Send curragh to block it, but not before 5 French galleys have made it through and started exploring around my continent. Meanwhile I'm moving all my workers towards Amsterdam to rush improving the rest of the land there. I had done just what I needed for settler builds and now I want to build a wonder. France demands Lit in 1075BC and I have to refuse. My GL build isn't even half done and with AI at 40% of my rate, they would surely beat me to it. They don't declare, probably because they were polite from my Monarchy trade. I thought I had dodged a bullet, but I was sadly mistaken. France starts dropping troops in my territory the next turn next to undefended cities. I ask them to leave and they declare. At least I can get some reverse war weariness. I build embassy with Hittites and MA them for Currency. My notes get sketchy from here since I'm just playing to survive, figuring it will be over soon. I had seriously considered just quitting at QSC end, with 3 of my towns gone and little military to repel the invaders. I start cash rushing horses and then swords after I lose my horse town. I end up losing cow island, wheat island, and three cities on south end of continent. They are dangerously close to my GL build in Amsterdam. About 850BC a horse produces a leader on it's first elite win. This allows me to build a sword army (2 initially and later a 3rd joins it), allowing me to turn the tide and take back my cities on the continent. I drop a sword on wheat isle and take out spear and then archer to get it back. I finish the Great Library in 690BC and trade away Lit for some gold, and make a lux trade with America (they have lighthouse). In 670BC I learn Republic and Construction, enter Middle Ages, and learn Feudalism. I am about to drop some swords on cow island to get Haarlem back as France just will not give it up in peace. Must be something good there, or maybe just the fact that it is size 6.

Well, it's looking better than it did at the QSC end. I've got a barracks due in Amsterdam and will start building my military. Research is off to build gold, but I will have to turn it back on before long, I imagine, as Education can't be too far off. I have a FP going in Rotterdam. Where I go from here is anyone's guess, but I'm not out yet.

 

[Twonky]

Amsterdam was founded on the spot and the worker proceeded as planned: irrigate and road the cow, chop and road grassland furs, then go for more roads. Initial build order for the capital was 2 Curraghs, Granary (on turn 17, right before growth to size 5), 4-turn settlers.
Everything went nice and well until around 2800BC, when I had multiple crashes with the diplo screen that could only be cured by a complete reinstall. That done, I played on a little overexcitedly and lost my Granary due to money deficit. Please, no comments on this. It took me 7 precious turns to get the factory back to work. That´s basically like abandoning the towns #4 and #5.

Exploration went smoothely with only 3 Curraghs, the last civ is met in 1200BC, though I missed out the Hittites until 1790BC. I could close the "jump point" in that direction, but missed out the others until it was a bit too late.

I researched Writing full steam (got it in 1990BC) and got Philosophy in 1600BC, choosing Literature for free. Considering the relativly slow AI tech pace, I should rather have gone for the Republic slingshot full steam (might have worked), or gone with min research on Writing (and still grab Philosophy first). The way I did it, I got the worst of both options. Tech trading was done carfully, in order not to accelerate the tech pace. After buying CoL in 1375BC, I´m now on a lone scientist run for Republic.

Though being everybodys buddy, the Zulus paid me a rather unfriendly visit in 1075BC:


Luckily I could pull 3 units into Rotterdam, so I kept the town. I lost a spear, a warrior and a horse until I finally got rid of them.
Unfortunately, the Zulus then relocated their landings towards my precious, undefended offshore towns - I lost 3 of them (including 2 ressources) until I could make peace.

QSC-stats:
16 towns and a city with 48 Pop, one Barracks, 3 Granaries and one harbour. 2 Settlers, 18 Workers, 1 Warrior, 2 Archers, 4 Galleys, 3 Curraghs.

I entered the MA in 390BC, when Currency could be bought at a reasonable price. The Great Library was built by the AI in 530BC, and I constructed my FP in 570BC.

My core in 390BC:

 

[Capt Buttkick]

Must say I'm surprised to see everyone so far going for big cities instead of the increased commerce of many 6-12 sized cities. I've squeezed 16 or 17 cities onto my home continent, with 1-2 more coming.

I liked the way you could leave a lot of island cities practically undefended in this game. I brought a unit, often a warrior along with the settler. When the first worker or two was built, I had enough units to keep the AI from landing

The island to the north was left alone very long in my game. I finally settled it with two towns, the same turn the Hittites disembarked there (I had planned to settle it for some time and the settlers were ready, but I didn't have any galleys nearby, which nearly costed me the island).
The turn after I settled, I brought 2 horses into one of the cities and told Hittites to leave or declare and they declared. Which was pretty ok, cause after I had defeated the escorting archer, it meant I could leave 1 horse and 2 slaves on the island to prevent the AI from landing

 

[Ignatiuz]

I have been playing my first Sid game, COTM 19.
I know i cannot submit the game, since my computer crashed (see other thread)

On lower levels i never seen the AI been this aggressive.

I tried to expand fast so no other Civ could place a city on my island - ok!
Next step was to get a strong city defense - I thought it was ok
I tried to keep all other Civ happy, trade tech and gave them what they wanted not to declare war...

I thought i was doing ok, working on my infrastructure and army...

The Hitties and Zulus invaded my island and just took over all my cities in a few turns...

I restarted the game and placed my cities little different.
Worked on a stronger defence, before working on the infrastructure...
This time the Hitties invaded my island...

I will follow the spoiler for the game to see how other player do this.
Anyone with a savefile of this game so I can see how your defence looks like, micromanagment and infrastructure or do I have to wait untill the COTM 19 is closed?

 

[Nata]

C3C Open.

4000BC. Settle in place. Build curragh->granary (turn 15 before growing to size 4) ->warrior->settler.
Worker irr/road Cow, chop/road furs. Research Writing on Min.
3300BC. Granary completes, warrior in 2 turns and then 4-6 4-turn settler factory. Curragh explores south.
2950BC. Wassenaar on Furs south, with another 4-turner potential.
2670BC. Rotterdam on the Lake/Wheat/Whales. Sheesh!
2510BC - s'Grovenage btw Northern Wines.
2390BC - 2nd curragh launches West from Rotterdam and immediately sees a border!
2350BC - They are Hitties, and they have Writing already! And we are 16 turns from it and can't knock a single turn off, but they won't sell it to us.
2310BC - find China. They don't have Writing.
1950BC - contact Mongols. Don't have Writing.
1910BC - See wounded Roman Archer in Chinese borders. They have Writing too, we'll have it in 5 turns. They can sell it to us for 410g. Chinese got Writing too this turn.

Writing - bought for 350g from Chinese.
BW,WC,Wheel,CB - bought from Mongols for Writing +40g.
Start Philosophy.

1830BC - meet France.
Masonry,IW,Myst,50g from France for Writing.

1725BC - meet America. They have HBR & Poly.
HBR+80g from Hitties for Masonry.

1600BC - find Zulu.
Philosophy.
Poly from Mongols for Phyl+80g.
CoL(yess!)+Math from Hitties for Phil+Poly
MM from France for Philo+Poly
Sell techs around and end up with 688g.
Get REPUBLIC!!!

But we see Hittie galley close to our borders and we have only 3 warriors in our empire. So don't revolt yet.

1475BC - revolt after building 3 more settlers as Hitties were heading for nearest islands. Got 4 turns of Anarchy.
1400BC - Hitties drop a warrior near unprotected Wassenaur, and take it next turn. We take it back with an archer and ally France. Luckily granary in Wassenaar survives.
1375BC - we loose a Galley but sink 2 Galleys of Hitties. Hopefully France will keep them busy.
We are a Republic! Researching Lit.

1175BC - France and Hitties sign peace, and Hitties talk peace. We agree, trading our Republic to their Construction. Meanwhile we got Literature and building GLib.

975BC - forgot to save QSC.
We have all AA techs except Currency and Monarchy, all contacts, almost all WM, we are a Republic.
We have 15 towns and 53 pop. 2 granaries, 1 barracks, 1 library, 3 harbours, 7 turns till Glib. 4 Lux hooked up (including Dyes and Ivory.)
1 settler, 10 workers, 14 warriors (mostly Vet), 1 archer, 1 spearman, 2 Galleys and 3 curraghs.

825BC - Build Glib.
Get Currency from Hitties for Literature. Enter MA.

We are at 975BC (Ivory town is off the map):

 

[BuildCityWalls!]

I basically expanded until I'd occupied all my home island and four others nearby. The Americans beat me to the second iron supply in the north though (grr).

As I'm playing the Dutch I decided to go for the Great Library rush. I got this easily (as always with the Dutch) and then turned my civ into a tax empire whilst I tech traded for money. I kept up with the AIs due to the Great Library whilst bringing in 100gpt to improve my cities and army. Now, it's 190AD and I've got Med Inf. I'm torn between building up peacefully with my massive science rate or staying on 100% tax and buying a massive invasion army.

I'll probably conquer the world. It's the only victory condition that's any fun anyway...

 

[Kuningas]

Predator (no agri trait)

I settled in place. Went straight to granary and then a settler. Second town founded two tiles south and begun granary. This town become four turn settler factory while capital built warriors, curraghs and settlers. I could share the cow every other turn between those two towns. Later I set a worker bump near the wheat in north as Obermot did.

Contacts came late, but it was easy to stay in tech parity. Just like Obermot I went for Monarchy slingshot. Writing learned in 45 turns and then philosophy at max rate. Should have learn writing with a lone scientist.

QSC stats
10 towns razed one
41 pop
12 workers
4 warriors
2 curraghs
2 galleys
3 granaries
4 harbors

all techs except The republic and Currency.
Ivory
Dyes
Wines
Furs
Spices (trade)
phony war with am
SoZ build going in capital.

Am I only who builds SoZ
In 650BC I traded for Currency and entered the MA.

 

[Nata]

Predator (no agri trait)

IAm I only who builds SoZ
.

I built it in MA, after GLib in the capital. In about 650BC. But my real wars were fought with Knights and up, so it wasn't much use for AAC.

 

[The-Hawk]

Obormot, thanks for the advice... Very helpful! There is nothing more educational than having an experienced set of eyes look at your decisions. I really appreciate it.

 

[Rustwork]

First Sid attempt. Open. maybe diplomatic victory.

Settle in place and irrigate/road cow.
first build a curragh, then start a settler.

Worker next went NW-NW for a quick road, while Amsterdam finished settler.

Worker to the furs over the grass for a chop giving 10shields for a Granary. Amsterdam became a settler factory after that.

Waasenaar founded in 3250BC NW on the point next to the wheat. first i built a curragh then settlers.

a few warriors built for happiness. then mostly workers, and settlers. a third curragh thrown in for exploration. none sunk, but the map was very safe for exploration. at 1625BC i met the last civ.

Techs
start with writing @10%.
i traded for most of my techs:
3000 BC
Mongols: CB for 119g, +3gpt
Hittites: Bronze, 10g for CB
2710BC
French: Masonry, 10g for Pottery
Hittites: Wheel, Warrior Code for Masonry
2350BC
French: Iron for Pottery, 77g
Hittites: Horseback, 16g for Iron
America: Mysticism for Horseback 23g
1830BC
Hittites: Writing, 17g for Mysticism (i had 3 more turns to research)
1750BC
French: Math 129g for Horseback, Writing
America: Polytheism, 96g for Math
Civ X: Maps for Math, Horseback, 101g
1525BC
Civ X has Code of Laws doesn't have Ceremonial Burial and won't trade.
so i trade it for 93g hoping they will want mysticism more. they still won't trade it.
1500BC
Discover Philosophy
Using the big picture i get Civ X into a war with Civ Y by giving them mysticism
Civ X: Code of Laws for Polytheism, 1g
Discover Republic for free. end up with 4 turn revolt through big picture become Republic in 1400BC
1275BC
trade Writing to some civs for money
France: Construction, 60, +3gpt for Polytheism
1175BC
Discover Literature
900BC
Discover Currency and enter MA. no civ has Philosophy, Currency, or Literature, some have less. not looking for a record just survival so no gifts. i'm sure they'll be upon me soon.

i traded to get writing for a jump on philosophy
i was lucky to trade for maps so early, i had this advantage for a long time. i was able to settle many small islands claiming the dyes and ivory.
i could have chosen republic or monarchy as a slingshot. slightly concerned about the unit cost of republic, but think i can make it work.

Wars
here is where i have been especially lucky
Mongol and America have been at war since i met them. they are at a stalemate.
1650 declare on Civ Y. ally with Civ X vs. Civ Y in 1500BC (couldn't convince them earlier). i recently renegotiated this for some gold. Civ Y is slowly beating Civ X
1075BC declare on Hittites. ally with French vs. Hittites hoping to slow both down with a war. i thought i could keep Hittites from my territory by blocking the northern sea lane. next turn they build GL and now i will have to build some horsemen to defend on my land.
825 BC Civ Y demands Philosophy, we go to war.

i have not fought even one battle yet. though the Hittites are approaching.

QSC

20 towns
60 population
1 settler
12 workers
3 spearman
6 galleys
4 curraghs
2 granaries
3 harbors

i expanded unchecked hoping to hold this advantage
as i continue i will block the small islands from invasion with workers.
i will defend my home continent with horsemen and swiss mercs.
survival has been easy so far. winning i think will be considerably more difficult. the ivory is undefended in hostile territory . my house of cards feels ready to collapse.

 

[bluebox]

I settled on spot and started a SF. Just like Capt Buttkick I have a slightly more dense city layout than mostly seen here.

As many players, so have I been attacked, by the Hittities in my case. They landed a spear and an archer and were brave enough to capture my undefended capital. It took some whipping to produce the neccessary archers to get the city back.

The Hittities miraculously never tried to seize my GLib city next to the capital. I was able to finish it but plans to populate the surounding islands suffered from the attack and the wonder built.

 

[archimandrite]

Newbie warning!

Well, after a random trial Sid game--catastrophic!--I convinced myself that I needed to play this COTM at conquest level. having explored my island from the sea I became a little frustrated by the fact that the rivers were so straight down the middle as I wanted to benefit both from the agri bonus and coastal towns so I ended up settling very densely, even some ICS-ish layout in places. All wine was irrigated for more population, each of three densely packed towns getting 1 wine. Due to some bizarre twists of fate I found the fellows down to the south-west (3600) even before the Hittites (3050) and French (2850), and the Americans (2800) before the Mongols (2590). Last two civs located by 1650 BC. Easy with the Conquest bonus, a more experienced player could have done -much- better.

I was wary of much tech trading too early, though I jumped at trading Pottery to the French. I had been researching Writing at minimum speed, so I got Masonry and Ceremonial Burial from the French for Pottery and 134 gold in 2800 BC. Then got Bronze Working, Warrior Code and 10 gold from the Zulus for Masonry. By 2670 sold Masonry to Hittites for Iron Working and 10 gold, then bought Wheel from Americans for Iron Working and 91 gold (perhaps premature), then got Horseback Riding from the Mongols for Iron Working and 59 gold. By 2070 Mongols had Alphabet anyway, so I bought Mysticism from Americans for Alphabet and 24 gold. With the Americans and Mongols, it obviously paid to watch what they were likely doing and trade with both at once or not at all. Finally in 1275, I exchanged Writing and Horseback Riding with French for Mathematics and 198 gold. This sort of trading did not last much longer!

Alas, in 1625 BC I panicked and traded Mathematics, Ceremonial Burial and 484 gold for Map Making from the Hittites. I should doubtless have waited a bit as it seemed later that several other civs had been researching it. Anyhow, I was now tech and population leader. The Hittites then threatened me for Mysticism and I refused. They declared war, which gave me some much-needed war happiness, though I lost a galley or two. Made peace in 1200, exchanging Philosophy for Peace Treaty and 389 gold. Not bad.

By 1350, I had got Philosophy with Construction as bonus, and sold Mathematics to Mongols for Polytheism and 104 gold, and Philosophy to China for Code of Laws and 63 gold. America had Monarchy and lacked Philosophy and Construction, but wouldn't sell Monarchy for any possible price. I was by then researching the last ancient tech (Currency) at full speed.

I landed on the cow island just a turn before the Mongols, but built my city first. Their archer and settler promptly fortified, and as at the end of the Middle Ages were still there--I don't have the guts to warn them off!

In 1275 BC, the American city of New York completed the Great Lighthouse. I have subsequently wondered whether I should not perhaps have prepared a prebuild for this wonder, though it's seldom mentioned in advice for newbies. The problem is, it seems to have given a -huge- boost to the American AI later on--though that belongs in the next thread.

In 1050 BC I got Currency and began researching Feudalism. Percentage of world population 18 (America 14), Percentage of land 6 (xxxx 9), score 712 (America 1075), culture 712 (America 1075). Alas, later on the wheels fell off. Guys, your poor sodding newbie is way way too nervous at these levels!

 

[Offa]

Open

I worked out through my spreadsheet that irrigating the cow and then chopping two forests gave a first settler (after granary) in turn 15, a warrior 2 turns after that and then a 4 turn factory.

Well that was a good plan, but I forgot to reassign the worked tiles after growth, then having stuffed up I let my capital in disorder twice. I really wanted to restart or give up but I decided to press on anyway. I really am a little rusty though as I planted a few towns away from fresh water before remembering the dutch won't get a bonus without H20.

I did 50 turn research to writing and then max to philosophy taking literature. I then built the Great Library in the capital, finishing in 900BC. I didn't trade around on the ibt after getting philo for fear of not getting a free tech. I did sell philo afterwards though to get IW so I could upgrade warriors. An attack when I just had warriors would have been tough.

I met the Mongols and Americans quickly, and the Hittites have been prowling around for a long time. I have just met the French ( it is now 610bc, I entered MA via library in ~700BC).

I have settled the main island, but was very nervous about settling the smaller islands quickly as they could be tough to hold.
The mongols settled the dyes island in the south and I have just relieved them of this: far too elegant for Mongols. Genghis is pretty angry though.

Republic is available now, but I really wanted to hold out for monarchy (or ?feudalism, or is this silly).

qsc:
10 towns, 44 pop, 18 workers, 5 warrior, 7 sword, 4 settlers (hoping to board ships when I learnt maps from the GL),5 curragh, 566 gold, severe learning disability but GL 5 turns away.

I don't know if I will get much further with this, as it looks like a long game, and I was seriously cheesed off by my bungled start. I rather wish I gone predator as the start island is so nice it is easy enough to cover without an agri bonus: I would have explored better too.

 

[nerovats]

Looks like most of you did get the slingshot. Must have been bad luck on my part as I followed same research as most. This set me back big time as I spend lot of turns on now useless techs, and no more option of getting something else valuable first. Was able to get litteracy first but nobody would give techs for it.
Have already had some small wars. Americans settled on my island, Romans demanding stuf which I refused, Hittities just declaring for no apparent reason. No real harm done though, just lost 1 of the tiny islands.

 

[azzaman333]

I was killed very early by an angry Hittite. I think it was 750BC when i was killed. i had played for less than an hour at the time of defeat.

 

[Capt Buttkick]

I think I must have had around 10 hours play time by 750 BC