So tonight I wanted to play as mighty Askia of Songhai with raging barbs on.

[bhavv]

Got such a wonderful start, mountain and riverside with jungles and bananas, what could possibly go wrong???


Link to video.

 

[HanNorwood]

You really didn't see that coming when you sent your settler off on it's own?

 

[bhavv]

On turn 2? NOOOO!

 

[cinattra]

me

you

 

[bhavv]

me

you

Wrong. I was more like:



But on the other hand, after reloading, what a beautiful start:

Spoiler :

 

[OnceAKing]

LMAO how did you happen to film that greatness? I noticed you had no commentary so it wasn't a lets play right?

By the way that is now the impregnable city.

I would have fun just turtling and building the Great Wall then being the most belligerent leader this side of Kim Jong Un and just dare an army to invade

 

[bhavv]

Well it happened, and then I reloaded and recorded the same moves because it was funny.

 

[Mutineer]

it is not advisable to move on this settings. I did loose settler moving on normal barbs.

 

[bhavv]

So I was thinking of opening and taking the top left policy in piety after Honor, Tradition, Aristocracy, then using legalism to get 4 instant UBs.

But with the piety discount that would be a waste of hammers, better to build the pyramid temples and get free ampitheatres.

 

[bhavv]

So the eventual 4 city plan:

Spoiler :

Sugars, Wine, Salt, Gold and Desert Folklore for Tombouktu

Spoiler :

Ivory, Silk, Gems, Faith wonder

Awesome map, and so much gold from the UA, very underrated civ. I purchased 1 worker, 3 settlers and 4 archers so far.

 

[Ryika]

Awesome map, and so much gold from the UA, very underrated civ. I purchased 1 worker, 3 settlers and 4 archers so far.

Not really underrated, tier lists are geared to standard speed. Askia is one of the leaders that are SO much stronger on marathon. You should really get some additional archers and search all the foggy lands around you for additional camps. ^^

 

[Doktor Vic Tim]

I'd say that Songhai gets less effective the higher the difficulty. At higher difficulties, the AI is faster at cleaning barb camps and on Deity you have to put up with Axemen right off the bat.

But someteims that 75 gold makes a difference on standard speed. Every bit of extra cash early game helps.

I could be wrong, though.

 

[bhavv]

I've searched all the way up to AI borders and didnt go past them, its just all the nearby AI civs beyond the remaining fog. I'll be purchasing more archers and keeping them spread around to get camps asap.

And yea I suppose Askia is much stronger on marathon than on standard, 3x gold and the construction cost increase and rush buys are less than that.

 

[bhavv]

Theres something seriously wrong with Carthage's AI though ...

Spoiler :

That city should have been settled where my archer is. 5 sea resources wasted.

 

[tat501]

What you going to do with the faith? I always though Askia was begging to have pilgrimage and holy warriors combined - conquer the world and build mud pyramids everywhere to keep that train rollin'.

 

[bhavv]

Hmmm, dunno. This is the first time I've taken Piety so early simply to make best use of the UB. Only the second time I've played Songhai, first since BnW.

I did Honor > Tradition > Aristocracy > Piety > Top left one (+1 faith per shrine and temple) > Legalism for ampitheatres and then build discounted shrines and pyramid mosques, and on my religion so far I took desert folklore, tithe and mosques, and want to add pagodas so I can spend the faith on on them. I have ashurbanipal stuck on one city because my desert city blocked him off, and Dido just needs to pay for wasting all those crabs. Generally I play peacefully though, so I would spend all my faith on great people.

I just want those crabs. I must have. It will definitely be a good idea to take any faith cost cheapening stuff, and maybe even unit purchasing, I've never taken reformation yet.

I think Im going to go through most of the civs because I also have an itch to play Greece, Siam and Maria with patronage because I rarely use city states.

I may as well settle a fifth city near some cotton too since I dont have that yet, and maybe another near more sugars to trade, but I need to get NC + NE built first.

In a few guides I read, it recommended taking the +2 from temples belief, but having both mosques and pagodas is way better, unless an AI steals pagodas.

 

[bhavv]

Well I captured the stray Assyrian worker that was near dido, which had originally belonged to her but ofc I kept it. I killed one assyrian warrior ... which was pretty much all he had, and a little later he gave me his only other city for peace, which I'm razing.

No tile improvements, no worker:

Spoiler :

Sure its only on prince, but usually hes attacking me with hordes of siege towers and other units.

 

[wydon]

On the Carthage AI city placement. This was a definite Facepalm, but the AI probably had crab in its capital and wanted to secure the silk (additional unique resource). Any decent human player would have taken the crab shore city and placed the other city between the silk and wine. I guess the AI doesn't think that far ahead.

 

[Tyrvos]

Theres something seriously wrong with Carthage's AI though ...

Spoiler :

That city should have been settled where my archer is. 5 sea resources wasted.

Well...uh...I guess it's touching water at least?

 

[bhavv]

On the Carthage AI city placement. This was a definite Facepalm, but the AI probably had crab in its capital and wanted to secure the silk (additional unique resource). Any decent human player would have taken the crab shore city and placed the other city between the silk and wine. I guess the AI doesn't think that far ahead.

Oh yea, Carthage had 1 fish and 3 crab too (access to the leftmost in the screenshot), but then there were 3 more crabs and a fish along the coast, and the silk could still be claimed too by settling on my archer's hex.