001 Monarch Series--Germany

[serttech2003]

as stated, that wheat needs irrigation no mine. but also it should have been worked first, before that other BG.
personally i would have walked another tile to the SW of where the cap now is. would open up that nice position 3NE for a harbour town to share the wheat with the capital whenever appropriate.
with a granary the cap can easily become a 6-turn combo (warrior+settler) factory.
t_x

Thanks, I'm not very good at seeing 6-turn Combo Factories. I remember thinking it was important to mine the BG first for some reason. This is the stuff that keeps me from moving up to EMP level.

 

[Lord Plebian]

Got it! Will play 20 then, or whatever to get us to an even turn number around there. I also like the Writing->CoL->Phil->Republic. I'm a little rusty, so it's going to be an interesting set.

 

[Lord Plebian]

Preturn: Change the worker to irrigation. Debate changing a citizen working BG to Tobacco. This would give us the settler with growth so we'd only go down to size two and we get Alphabet one turn quicker. I decide against it because I want to get our settler out ASAP to claim that land.

Turn 1: Explore some. Incans now have Alphabet! The only thing they will trade us for WC now is Alphabet and all their gold. I decide to take it, as having a little gold in the bank for deficit research is always helpful, and because I'm afraid that not trading soon would make us lose out all together. Writing in 27 turns.

Turn 2: Zzzzz

Turn 3: Zzzzz

IT: warrior kills barb, promotes to vet

Turn 4: Zzzzz

Turn 5: Settler->Settler. I head for the South red dot first.

Turn 6: Zzzzz

Turn 7: Berlin to size 2. Contact with Babylon via a warrior south of the Inca. They have Ceremonial Buriel, but not Alphabet. I debate on trading, and decide to put it off one turn. If it looks like he's heading towards the Incan borders, I'll go ahead and make the deal.

Turn 8: Found Leipzig. Start on Warrior. Find borders of Babylon. They're close, just south of us.

Turn 9: Zzzzz

Turn 10: Babylon isn't heading towards Inca, but Inca also know Ceremonial Burial now, so I missed out on a possible trade. I decide to go ahead and trade Babylon Alphabet for Ceremonial and their 10 gold.

Turn 11: Find barb camp close to our borders. Hope nothing bad happens.

Turn 12: Adjust Babylon to get Settler next turn (It wasn't going to grow before the settler anyway).

Turn 13: Berlin Settler-> Settler. Leipzig Warrior->Settler. Decide to go for Southernmost Yellow dot next, as with the Babylonions to our South that land is just as important to grab. Warrior kills barb and disperses camp.

Turn 14: The most eventful turn. We get a palace expansion! Nothing else of note happens, but hey, come on. It's exciting stuff.

Turn 15: Contact with England to the West of the Inca. They know Masonry, Pottery, and The Wheel, but unlike the Inca, they don't know Ceremonial Buriel or Warrior code. Give them Ceremonial Buriel, Warrior Code, and 42 gold (yes, I checked to get the lowest amount) for The Wheel and Pottery. We have two sources of Horses, one next to where the next city will be, and one just NW of our capital (will be in next border expansion)

Turn 16: Our settler uncovers a Barb camp. Crossed fingers as I hit enter

IT: our settler is killed by barbs . Sorry, I'm used to playing with Sedentary barbs, so I don't usually escort my settlers.

Turn 17: Zzzz

IT: Warrior kills barb, gets elite! ( and off a barb, too. Good old Militaristic trait)

Turn 18: Barb camp is destroyed with great animosity. However, revenge will not bring back our fallen brother. Warrior learns a great life lesson, also gets 25 gold.

Turn 19: Zzzzz

Turn 20: see an English settler pair. Not much else of note.

Turn 21: Zzzzz (took the 21st turn to get us on an even turn number).

Notes: Writing will come in soon. I probably wouldn't trade it for a while so we have a reasonable shot at getting Philosophy first. That barb killing the settler really set us back . We probably have the NE corner of the map as "our land," so I would focus on South and West expansion first. I have a feeling the Inca might end up being the 800 pound gorilla of this map, so it might be best to play nice with them for a bit. Alternatively, they could be our early war to try and keep them down. Babylon is not much of a threat right now. They have no gold and are behind us in tech.

 

[serttech2003]

Got it, i"ll play tonight.

 

[serttech2003]

T1 2110 Babylon has IRON, but won't trade. play with sliders, WRITING in 3 +4 gpt.

T2 2070 England got IRON, now Babylon will trade IW for POTT/WHEEL. Iron in the mountains to our East,

T3 2030 Berlin->barracks. Reasoning: can't build settlers unil size 3, if we can push out some archers or swords in the meantime, we can maybe whack someone.

T4 1990 WRITING-> CoL in 30turns, 0gpt.

T51940 zzzz

T6 1900 Lepzig->barracks. Hamburg founded. warrior, then worker.

T7 1870 zzzz

T8 1830 zzzz

T9 1790 Konigsberg founded. warrior then worker. IVORY is hooked up.

T10 1750 Berlin barracks->settler in 10.

T11 1725 Hamburg warrior->worker

T12 1700 zzzz

T13 1650 Leipzig barracks->archer

T14 1625 zzzz

T15 1600 Hamburg finished worker, start barracks for vets. mm Berlin for settler+growth in 3.

T16 1575 zzzz

T17 1550 zzzz

T18 1525 Berlin settler->archer(v), Leipzig archer(v)->settler, Konigsberg worker-> barracks. mm sliders for CoL in 4, -1gpt

T19 1500 move settler from Berlin south.

T20 1475 China warrior appears. We are up ALPH, they have MASONRY. They will trade MAS for ALPH straight up.

I'll end here and hand the game one. I left you some things to do/think about. Suggestions:

(1) Plant the settler either SE of the mountain or E of the mountian. My suggestion would be SE giving the city 5 BG in its core. We will have a border with Babylon (Ashur). If you decided to settler W of the mountain,the city will have 3 BG+horse.Your call. See what anyone else lurking suggests. (see the squares outlined in red on the map.)

(2) TRADE ALPH to China for MASONRY. They wll get ALPH eventually so get somthing for it.

(3) Berlin can be switched to settler instead of the archer(v).

(4) Code of Laws in 2.Hopefully we can still get PHIL since INCAS and ENGLAND researched writing on their own.

(5) I didn't build any granaries, figured we could spawn settlers from out cities. Might have been a bad move.

(6)Green dot might be a worker factory in REPUBLIC.Worth thinking about 4 settlers down the road.

(7) When we have gold, build embassy with Babylon and INCA. If one of them doesn't have iron they might be out first target.

(8) Think about starting Forbidden Palace in a good location?

Your turn. Have fun with the settlers.

 

[serttech2003]

And a map

 

[serttech2003]

Roster if anyone wants to join.

1. serttech2003
2. Lord Plebian
3. ???????? maybe you if you have time.
4. ????????

 

[Lord Plebian]

Got it, but I might have to use close to my 48, just so you know.

 

[serttech2003]

There is no hurry. We can take 48 any time.

 

[Lord Plebian]

Preturn: Nothing to report.

Turn 1: China will no longer do a straight trade Alphabet for Masonry. I have to throw in 19 gold to make the trade, and I go ahead and do so. It was a better deal than Babylon, and we have nothing to trade the others.

Turn 2: Zzzz

Turn 3: CoL in. Philosophy in 10 at -1. Frankfurt founded in the East spot (so we don't need a culture building before getting horses, and it keeps our cities within 3 spaces of each other). Starts on warrior.

Turn 4: Barb comes out of the fog in the East. Must be a camp out there. Not much else though.

Turn 5: Berlin Archer -> Granary. I want to take advantage of our wheat a little better. Konigsberg warrior dies trying to off the barb near our borders (it was near a worker). Thankfully, the archer from Berlin can reach the city before the barb can. Exploring warrior disperses another barb camp, getting us some needed cash.

IT: Incans come demanding Code of Laws. Considering the fact there's an Incan warrior right beside our new city, I give in.

Turn 6: Hamburg Barracks -> Settler. Can be vetoed though in favor of some spearmen or something.

Turn 7: Leipzig Settler -> Spearman (v). Something more than paper defenses might be nice with the Incans knocking on the door asking for techs.

Turn 8: Uncover some more barbs to the East, including a barb galley. Well, jokes on them, because we don't even have a Navy to raid!

Turn 9: Konigsberg Barracks -> settler. Again, I'm in full land grab mode, feel free to veto.

Turn 10: Move settler into position at Northern dot (I want to be able to clear out the Eastern barbs first). Kill barb one to the East, no promotion. Can't adjust the sliders without delaying Philospohy, which I would really like to get first.

Some final notes: Philosophy comes in next turn. I'll let you (or if someone else wants to join, them) be the one to find out whether we made it or not . I didn't have the excess money to fund an embassy this set, but from what I have seen, Inca have Iron within their borders but not hooked up, and Babylon has Iron near their borders, and not hooked up.

If we go for an early war, I would probably choose Babylon since their weaker. Then maybe we can set up a war between the Inca and the English, since I think they're trading techs back and forth. Also, I can already count 7 Incan cities, including one close to the English, so maybe it'll slow them a little bit. We should have horses in the next couple turns, so they're an option, even though I rarely use horsemen.

As far as whether we want to switch to republic right away, that's your call. I'm usually all for switching right away, but if we want to build up a little something to take Babylon with first, that's fine too.

 

[templar_x]

there are so sweet spots in the E and SE, why on earth would you settle your next town in the eternal ice?
t_x

 

[Lanzelot]

lurker's comment: And why didn't you put Hamburg one tile NE of where it is? That way it would be on the river and would be able to share the wheat with Berlin on every third turn. (I assume you already have a granary in Berlin by now?) (Edit: I just see, you don't. )

 

[serttech2003]

Well I messed up the Hamburg placement. I was thinking 3 steps from Berlin and missed the river placement.

Berlin I messed up 3 ways
(1) Didn't irrigate the wheat from the start
(2) Didn't build a granary
(3) Didn't think about a 6-turn combo warrior/settler factory. Bad bad habit I have. If its not obviously 4 or 5 turn factory, I turn to a spawning start, ripping a settler out of a city when it gets to size 3 or 4.

I don't ever think about tile-sharing because.......I need to spot and use that technique. I don't do the Beade system of checking every city every few turns. Does anyone have a link to a game that shows a tile sharing example?

 

[serttech2003]

This is also my "got it"

 

[jiikoo]

there are so sweet spots in the E and SE, why on earth would you settle your next town in the eternal ice?
t_x

Its okay. A very resfeshing sight to see a "normal" game. Not a perfect game trying by "rat" people.

 

[serttech2003]

Preturn

mm Berlin to get granary to complete one turn before growth. will need to check every turn to play with this.

Change Frankfurt from warrior to barracks. no point in producing regular units any more.

English have: Myst

Inca have: Myst, Maps

Babylon lack: CoL

China lack: CoL

PHIL in 2, 30gold in the bank,+7gpt

T1 1225 Decide after much yelling to leave the settler where he is and finish our core. Munich is founded. Pulls horses under our control. Set to carragh for exploration.

T2 1200 PHIL->REP pays off with REP and a GREAT LEADER. So....use now for a Wonder (Pyramids!!) or save for FP. LIT in 14. Going to wait 4 turns to revolt in order to get one more settler done. Decide to use the GL for the Pyramids in Berlin. Change Berlin to worker to use the stored shields. Find China cities to the south.

T3 1175 Berlin worker->Pyramids! Trade PHIL to England for MYST/70g. INCA won't trade MM.So they can bite me.

T4 1150 Berlin Pyramids-Settler in 6. And everyone has a granary! Leipzig spear(v)->archer. Move spear to Leipzig for settler duty.

T5 1125 zzzzz. Why in the world would the English trade PHIL to the INCAS for 33g? Now the only trade bait I have is Republic and I'm not trading that to anyone right now. LIT in 10

T6 1100 Hamburg setter->archer(v) Frankfort barracks->archer(v) and we get 6 turns aranchy. Of course we do. Set 1 scientist in Berlin to keep LIT moving along (useless I know.)

T7 1075 zzz.

T8 1050 So....on a miss click when I was checking INCA trade us HBR/MM/60g for Republic and England trade us POLY/66g. Now we can unleash the horsemen!

T9 1025 We lose our Berlin scientist to a clown.

T10 zzzz



Its all yours. NOTES:

We have 2 turns of anarchy left.

You have a settler pair to plant.

Berlin should be able to produce a settler every 4 turns or a worker every 2. With granaries everywhere we will grow fast so I always plan on 2 workers per city. Pair them up to work faster.

You can start thinking about a spot for the FB. Up in the NE corner by the mountains should be a high shield spot for late game building. Irrigate the BG and you can build mines in the Mountains. BUT if we pick a different spot on a river (like to the SW in that uncovered spot) we should get Hoover Dam no problem. We should keep it in our 1st or second ring.

 

[templar_x]

i don´t know what "trying by rat People" means, but i would not call it "normal" to found a town with coast as the best workable tile when you have wonderful settling places left... there lies a broad field between perfect gameplay and crass mistakes, and that field has not yet been touched a lot.
but yes, with all that ice, 'refreshing' it is!
t_x

 

[serttech2003]

and a map. With archers/horseman we should be able to whack the Babylons. Don't wipe them completely since at era change they get a free tech we can use them even if they have a single city for a quick jump every era. Like our own scientific vassal state!

 

[LKendter]

i don´t know what "trying by rat People" means,

I suspect that is a reference to the player THeRat, and the rest of us crazy enough to play deity (me included) on my large world map, and CCM that is even larger. MM review of every city every turn. Big debates on optimal early stuff, etc...

 

[serttech2003]

i don´t know what "trying by rat People" means, but i would not call it "normal" to found a town with coast as the best workable tile when you have wonderful settling places left... there lies a broad field between perfect gameplay and crass mistakes, and that field has not yet been touched a lot.
but yes, with all that ice, 'refreshing' it is!
t_x

[sarcastic-fake belligerent voice on---think drunk frat boy type]

What you saying t_x!! You saying we aren't playing optimally? Are ya ? Are ya?

[voice off]

I've played so carelessly at monarch for such a long time I have lots of sloppy habits to break.City placement is up there. I know I'm focused on core ring first that I over look other/better options first. I hope to use a few SG to shake these habits before trying and emperor game.

All criticisms welcome.