.01 - Guerrillas!

[dot]

I like highland maps. I like them because they are challenging in many ways. Sooooo seems to have been thinking along these lines recently, too.
And since I always wanted to start a SG, :

Civ: Brennus.
Difficulty: Monarch.
Opponents: Nine.

Settings:

Spoiler the UU :

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Spoiler the UB :

​

IMHO both, the UU and the UB are MADE for highland maps!

Before setting the Variant Rules I'd like to hear the thoughts of those who might be playing. I've been thinking about the following:

• Even though all victory conditions are enabled we might want to limit that for us.
• In order to achieve a victory we must have ...
  • destroyed at least one civ.
  • a least one vassal.
  • founded a religion and have a "spread percentage" of >40%.
• Make use of the UU and the UB to learn about them.

As for the Roster, I've been thinking about five players and maybe two reservists. VQ vets have the first right to take slots, so does soooo since he's already tried sth alike. Lurkers are warmly welcome and encouraged to post ideas/thoughts.

Etiquette:
The usual 24/48!

Players:
dot
Scowler
bobrath
GreyFox
Crotazzo

Reservists:
open
open

Well, let's see how this goes! Discuss!

disclaimer

I am well aware that with BtS coming/being out there might be no interest in this. If so the SG will not die but be postponed!​

/disclaimer

Edit:
Well, the disclaimer has a point there. So here are a couple of things that are different on a Highland Map:

1. Traderoutes are way harder to establish due to the lack of coastal trades. And roading is slightly more difficult due to the hills.
2. The settings Ridgelines + Dense Peaks is letting the entire map be more like a maze at some points. That is also affecting trade routes and even more military strategy.
3. From 1. and 2. concludes that the economy is usually not growing fast, hence expansion is limited.
4. From 1. and 2. follows furthermore that religions need to be spread mostly actively! With ten civs in total on the map that might be a nice additional challenge!
5. Brennus is chm/spi. The charismatic trait + UB + Vassalage or Theocracy + barracks = Guerrilla III!

I hope this helps raising a tad more interest.

 

[dot]

Greetings from Celtia​

 

[Crotazzo]

if you dont mind a prince-never-tried-monarch player that never played a highlands, and will need some guidance because is new to the forum player then sign me up.
Im pretty excited about playing a SG, but the one i intended to start failed misseribly.

 

[bobrath]

I won't be upgrading to BtS so as long as that won't be a problem (patching wise), then I'd be willing to help out.

 

[dot]

if you dont mind a prince-never-tried-monarch player that never played a highlands, and will need some guidance because is new to the forum player then sign me up.
Im pretty excited about playing a SG, but the one i intended to start failed misseribly.

Hey Crotazzo, thanks for the interest. I've had a look at Lizzy's Wallet before I started this one. Might be an interesting idea to go with. I think you'd need to specify it more, though. And you're welcome on the team if the other vets don't disagree. From what the forums shows it's nearly always possible to play one level up in a SG - compared to your SP level.
And it's the best way to start with some of the "old guys".
I've had the pleasure to start with the VQ guys.

Talking of those: Bob, you're in! Thanks for signing. Any ideas from your side how to possibly make this more challenging/interesting?

 

[GreyFox]

Verified that the saved game for 2.08 and 2.13 are compatible (like the case of non-patched Warlords and 2.08), so there shouldn't be any problem for Bob.

 

[bobrath]

No heavy duty thoughts, but then part of that is because I don't have the "story" in my head of this game. Is there a ... plot (nefarious or otherwise) to wrap this all together?

 

[dot]

Verified that the saved game for 2.08 and 2.13 are compatible (like the case of non-patched Warlords and 2.08), so there shouldn't be any problem for Bob.

Thanks for the information, GreyFox.

@bob:
Well, I don't really have a story in mind. I'd really like to try to max out the benefits of the UU and the UB. So it tends to a nefarious story, after all!

I'm not sure, whether you have any experience with playing highland maps so far. I've experienced sometimes that my economy needed some extra attention due to the lack of easy trade routes and due to the hillyness (? spelling ?). So maxing out the benefit of religion based income might be a possibilty.

I've never really tried to specialize in CE or SE. So that's definitely up for discussion, too. I'd think that it will most likely be a mixture of both - depending on the available in each BFC.

Any more questions? Any more players?

Edit:
To put it more clearly... I'd have three priorities with this game.

1. I'd like to learn a lot about Brennus' UU and UB.
2. I'd like to learn even more about economy on a highlands map.
3. I'd like to achieve 1. and 2. while seeing fun and respect in sharing and discussing.

And I think that for the sake of learning a SG will always beat a SP.

 

[Scowler]

Please sign me up for my free SG fix - highlands-style.

 

[dot]

@Scowler: Cid!

 

[dot]

Well, I've edited post #2 with the screeny and the save.

How do you guys feel about maybe starting with four players only? If someone wants to join he'd be warmly welcomed! Let me know what'cha think!

 

[bobrath]

I'm ok with starting up at 4 peeps. Course having 5 means there's more chance for someone to catch my mistakes and fix them before they get back around to me!

 

[dot]

I'm ok with starting up at 4 peeps. Course having 5 means there's more chance for someone to catch my mistakes and fix them before they get back around to me!

Yeah, but isn't that true for all four of us? Everyone ! So, just make it fun to read when reporting!

@ all:
What would be your idea for a start? Where'd you go, which techs would you choose and what victory would you go for?
I'd say move scout NW and maybe move settler NE to settle on the lake if I guess it right from the screeny! But that'd be up for discussion.

 

[GreyFox]

I would join. Put me behind Bob

 

[dot]

I would join. Put me behind Bob

Oops, now that we've got the Fox, this might turn out to be one hell of a trip!

Way cool! You're in, Fox. Any thoughts?

I think I'll play tomorrow. I'd like to go 20 each for the first cycle. Thoughts please, gentleman!

Roster:
dot >> Up for 20.
Scowler >> On deck for 20.
bobrath
GreyFox
Crotazzo

 

[GreyFox]

Thoughts for what? Just load up the save and play already

Oh .. you referring to the starting location ...

crappy start. With only one corn and 3 peaks? I would've moved around in seek of better places but chances are it's same everywhere. Damned highlands map. So I suggest settle in place and hope for the best.

Prod wise, I would go for: getting another scout out, then warrior, then worker.

 

[Crotazzo]

well, by looking at the starting position i would move the scout south before settling.
at east we have ice and north we have a lake. we probably are near the adge of the map, not sure wich direction tough.
We have a LOT of forest there, so researching bronze working will be a must for us, maybe after getting a religion (?). after settling will be clearer to decide if we should get agriculture first.
one major decision will be to decide what to build with all that wood.

 

[dot]

Always, I mean always, remember: We're on Monarch with RB!

Well, what I'd like to do is the following.

Techwise: Meditation >> Archery >> Masonry.
But I think that we'd need to sneak in agriculture somewhere.
If Izzy is not around we might have a good shot at meditation. Archery and masonry would allow us to build a dun which - combined with a barracks would grant us Guerrilla II archers from scratch! And Guerrilla III after one battle. I think that might help against the raging barbs for quite some time. We could drop meditation and go for another religion later. But keeping in mind that we'd have to get >40% " spread" we might want to start with one of the early three.

I'm not sure about the scout, Fox. He wouldn't be faster than the warrior on highlands but less strong. And I've had a couple of better starting spots ... but I wanted it to be rather tough! And hilly!

Crotazzo, with all those woods we might be able to get The Great Wall and possibly the Mids, methinx. Stone would certainly help! I'm not sure about moving the scout south, though. See post #13. What do you guys think?

 

[dot]

Well, gentlemen, I figured that moving the scout wouldn't reveal much to us and that losing a turn or two would suck big time. So I trusted the AI against all better judgement and settled. Here's a screeny and the save.



I tend to go worker >> warrior since we have hunting. And I'd pop that hut with the scout.
What would our research path be? We start with hunting and mysticism.

So now, that you have a tad more information to base your discussion on, discuss!


...
Let's go with the player knows best as long as there's no major stuff coming up. And I'd appreciate to see all our turn reports ending with such a picture post card with the save. Do you agree?
...

 

[Crotazzo]

I would let the city grow 1 pop before the worker. because after camping the deer he wont have anything to do for a long while (researching Meditation >> Archery >> Masonry). i think we should start the barracks until growth and then go for the worker.