6otM 122 Opening actions Report

Knowtalent

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Welcome to the 6otM St 122 Opening Actions thread.
STOP - Please do not continue reading this thread until you have completed at least 80 to 100 turns in your game.
This thread is used to discuss the game once you've started playing through your first 100 turns. Apart from normal decency, the only posting restrictions are to please not post videos until the deadline is finished and to use the spoiler tags for screenshots. Here you can post questions related to the game and share your achievements/anger/frustration/victories while you play. Please remember that we are running a family friendly site, so express anger or frustration with this in mind. :)
Please use this thread to discuss your goals for the game and your opening moves through the first 100 turns. Anything after that should be posted in the After Actions thread once you have completed your game.

- Where did you settle your city?
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
- What was your build order?
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
- How did you place your districts?
- Did you bother with Religion Culture??
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
- Were your neighbors peaceful?
- Any surprises?
- How were the zombies?
Please use spoiler tags for any surprise details you'd like kept hidden.
 
We don't see too many responses in opening actions threads anymore, but this game is pretty unusual for a Prince game and I'll be interested to see how others approach it.

I'm at turn 104. I settled on the incense but still didn't get Religious Settlements- took Earth Goddess instead. Was fearful of zombies so made founding a religion a priority (so I would have the option of Turn Undead)- so far I am the only one who's made any Great Prophet points at all. Took Choral Music and Tithe as my beliefs.

Build order was scout, slinger, settler, warrior, then holy site. Had to fend off a really vicious zombie attack from around a very close barbarian camp but managed to do so without losing any units, so as not to feed the beast.

So far I have 6 cities (incl one from a stolen settler from Vietnam) and have built Temple of Artemis. Only just getting to think about districts (beyond the holy sites). Have met Vietnam and Persia but still a lot of the continent unexplored.

Had a Dark Classical but have accumulated a lot of faith and will have a heroic Medieval, I believe, which should allow me to really get things rolling. Lots of Wonders available but not sure it's very helpful to build them....

Zombies have again been a constant menace- at +21 mutation strength so far and keep popping up everywhere. Gadzooks.
 
Well, I decided to do this with a proper reporting, and made an almost turn by turn log of my first 100 turns, for my own fun as well, among other purposes. All is in the spoiler tags together with a few pics. Reveals two AI and a fair part of my landmass. There were ups, and very serious oops, and then ups again :)

Spoiler :

Settled 1 tile SW on 1f2p riverside hill for 2f2p capital. Initial warrior crossed the river SW, as desert to the W seemed unappealing.
Warrior continued S, found a TV which delivered the eureka for Irrigation - fantastic result, given the surrounding luxuries and absence of farmable bonus resources! Going for AH first.
T6: south warrior reached coast, got bumped into by a barb scout. Attacked him into the forest for 43 damage, suffering 19.
T7: barb scout withdrew to the W. Warrior goes opposite direction to check out the SE-E coast. It is much nicer there, possible 2nd city.
T8: first build- scout completes, onto a builder. Madrid forecasts expanding onto sheep NE. Fresh scout hugs the NW coast. Warrior climbs on a rocky and hilly promonitory SE - nice spot for a harbour city.
T9: Warrior to the W and rediscovers the damaged barb scout sneaking back to the capital. My scout continues W to discover a thermal fissure and some mountains. Continental split nearby?
T10: First zombie spotted! Spawned over the thermal fissure NW, 1 tile away from the scout. Mutation strenght 1, making them 21 CS. Looks like a barb outpost there, another tile NW.
My scout withdraws over the river SW to see another thermal fissure. Warrior enters the forest E to cows, to block the barb scout. It would be nice to scare him further away, I dont want many zombie spawns close to my capital.

T11: Warrior pursues barb scout SW into the jungle, my scout bumps into a mountain chain and heads S around the lake Enol. I don' want to go near zombies with him. It starts to look like some cutoff peninsula.
T12: AH completes and bingo! There are 1 source of horses in the second ring SE of the sheep. Nice! Onto Pottery, I'll probably go right to Irrigation with TV early eureka.
Barb scout flees W, my warrior enters the jungle and spots some mercantile CS borders further SW. I'm not alone with those zombies :)
T13: Barb scout is pressed agains CS borders. My scout moves into the forest to block an reconnoiter, and makes first contact with Venice.
+1 gold on a trade route per lux at foreign destination. In zombie mode. You gotta be joking. What a downer. I'd make 'killing Venice' into my religion, but it's close enough to be saved and traded with later.
Mph. Lucky bastards, they'll probably live. Moved in with a warrior and realised just in time that I'd better not be making a kill right on the doorstep of Venice. Flee, you fool!
T14: Builder completes and heads to improve the sheep tile, that's just been accepted into the burgeoning Realm. I'll push out a quick slinger now, to feel a bit safer, and then settler.
Barb scout flees SW past Venice. My scout goes N of Venice to the W and discovers a new continent, for the Free Trade inspiration. Warrior heals in the floodplains of the river and keeps an eye on the barb scout.
T15: Barb scout goes E along the river shore, my warrior heals in place.
My scout goes 1 tile NW and sees another horse source on the new continent and a damaged zombie to the W. Mutation strength 2. Dang! I flee back.

T16: Code of Laws completes, into Craftsmanship. Sheep improved for HR eureka. I plan fight off zombies with multiple ranged and mobile cavalry. Hit from afar, hit and run, and movement is king.
Barb scout vanished SE into the fog. My warrior goes back closer to the capital to fog bust. Last thing I want is a zombie spawning barb outpost forming there.
I slot in Urban Planning and Survey. Need more production now and maybe a lucky break for the scout. I don't plan to start killing anything just yet. My scout goes into Venice territory. Too much of LoS blockage.
T17: Scout crossed the river SE next to Venice, too risky to go over a jungle into an open flatland, when there were zombies nearby. I'll continue checking out the South.
Warrior closer to the capital. Builder moves onto the horses. It shows expansion in 5 turns there, but I buy the tile now for 50 gold (out of 93) and improve it now,
Madrid will get a new pop next turn and be size 3 and will work the horse at once.
T18: Slinger completes and goes S to fog bust, builder with the last charge will move a bit W to fogbust there, starting a Settler (7 turns). My scout checked out S shore of the Venice river, the damaged barb scout is still there.
T19: Scout finds more jungle and bananas in the S.
T20: Pottery done, to Irrigation (9 turns). Scout moves further S next to a second Tribal Village. And there's another river and an industrial CS border visible.

T21: TV yields 20 faith. Hm, switching to work the unimproved incense tile. Pantheon, here I come!
T22: First contact with Buenos Aires, it is almost half-damaged, and I see a barely alive warrior. Unfortunately, the damage is not from flooding, by all signs.
No zombies visible, but they must be there. Damn, BA is a nice CS, but they are too far and they will probably die before I can assist them. Whelp. My scout stays on a hill with 1/3 MP. Too dangerous to go down there.
T23: My scout moves E along the Buenos Aires river and finds a barb outpost. I'm outta here, good luck, BA, my thoughts and prayers with you!
T25: Settler complete, I'll put a few turns into the monument. Still working the faith tile, we'll see if I can get a settler from there. My scout climbs the hill to block barb scout and sees a zombie one tile away to the W. +3 Mutation strenght.

T26: Pantheon time: Religious Settlements gone. Oh, well, Desert folklore it is then. I should squeeze in some three +6 HS in that Tabernas desert some time later. Swithching into another settler then.
Zombies moved onto BA, I saw at least 2 of them. But BA is fully healed now, let's hope they hold a while. Scout 1 tile NW between BA and Venice, through the woods. No I need a natural wonder pronto.
T27: BA warrior almost killed barb scout. Soon he'll be just another zombie. My scout moves W. More open land and a thermal fissure. I stay in the jungle with 1 mp left, I'm that paranoid.
T28: Cordoba founded SW from Madrid, in between lakes. Onto the Monument.Builder moves to improve cattle and score Craftsmanship inspiration, but I'll leave it 1 turn to completion, switching to boosted Foreign Trade.
BA warrior kills our long time barb scout who never got to see Madrid, and almost gets owned by a zombie attack, but barely survives this turn.
My scout moves W and there is Teide and some AI borders! I will not move onto a hilly thermal fissure just yet.
T29: Irrigation done, Mining now, I will need to chop some trees.
Scout onto the thermal hill to make contact and it's Vietnam. Their capital is 121/200 garrison health. Lovely. Writing also boosted, which is swell.
T30: I accept Vietnam's delegation. A nice contribution to my new builder. Scout crosses Venice river SW of Venice.
I also sell Vietnam all my 26 horses for 109 gold and buy a builder.

T31: First luxury - citrus - improved, everyone is back to Content. Scout discovers another horse W of Venice. Thankfully, no zombies in sight.
T33: Just when I was starting to feel too comfortable, a barb scout from NW outpost sweeps in and sees Madrid. Darn it! 2 turns to finishing settler, 2 turns to Craftsmanship and Agoge, I'll need some troops. Already pulling the warrior and slinger from the South. The quiet has ended.
My scout continues W north of Vietnam, all is well there, so far.
T34: Cordoba grows to pop 2, I buy another and improve the second cattle there. Builder now will fogbust the south untill the settler arrives.
T35: It starts going south really friggin' fast. Two zombies spotted NW of Cordoba, and there's now a new barb outpost south of Madrid, where I was thinking to found a city. Just great. It will spawn barbs an zombies. They are +5 mutation strenght now! Could not be better. Or worse. I slot in Agoge, keep urban planning. Keeping civilian units close to cities. Going for FT for now. And Archery. Yet unknown Deity, help me! Building warrior in Madrid, slinger in Cordoba. Please be fast.
My scout in the West sees borders of a third city state.

T36: Scouts makes not a first contact with Lahore. PP boosted. Cordoba pincered by two zombies. Oh my. And another 2 zombies coming up. Cordoba's dead.
T37: 5 zombies in sight, and barb spearman is approaching. Slinger got hit by a zombie and almost got owned. Retreating via woods into Madrid. Cordoba looks unsalvageable.
Spoiler :


T39: Very sadly, but predictably Cordoba got eaten. There goes my explosive growth strategy. A settler and two builder charges down the drain, topped by a cistern of vain hopes. One unlucky scout and one even unluckier spawn due to a moment of panic turned what had to be a zombie free solid three city base into a zombie infested nightmare. From now on it will be blood, tears, suffering and long grind.

T41: Slinger earned garrison promotion. As the spearman left the outpost, I'm maneuvering my builder towards it with the hope to clear it. Zombies are uninterested in builders for some reason. You can use builders to block them.
T42: Slinger kills a zombie for the Archery eureka, warrior kills off the barb scout for Bronze Working eureka. But now it is a long way there.
T43: My one charge builder sneaked in the southern outpost and cleared it! At least some consolation.
T44: Archery done, onto Writing. Both slingers upgraded into archers. Builder fogbusts south. Scout explores Western woodlands.
T45: Darn it, lost a warrior. That's a second lost warrior already, the first one died in Cordoba.

T47: All zombies cleared around Madrid, the settler can move out. Phew. I have 3 warriors, 2 archers and another one coming, after that I'll switch policies.
T50: Fighting off barb warriors and archers from the NW triggered outpost, for a change. My scout met Persia far West. They have 2 cities at least! I cover my head in shame.
T51. Foreign Trade completed, 3rd archer gives Machinery boost. A zombie spawns right next to Madrid. +7 Mutation Strenght. I refound A Coruna in the spot of the defunct Cordoba. Continue to State Workforce. Building Trader in Madrid. Agoge out, Discipline in. Persia has Paititi, I have my Astrology boost. One AI is going for Prophet. I sell 40 horses to Persia for 14 gpt. All 3 city states and both visible AI cities are in full health. Hmm... Also, Ancient Era is ending in 10 turns, I'm 2 score short of Normal.
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T52. My Garrison promoted archer comes back to Madrid to finish off the zombie. I'll leave him there to deal with repeaded spawns now. Other archers and warriors will heal up and move to take out the NW outpost. My scout turns back from Persia to uncover remaining unknown land between Persia and me. I forgot to promote him this turn.
T53. Writing is done. Astrology now. Switching to Early Empire. I'll get the boost in 3 turns, and I do need some cities. My scout moves E from Persia, comes to a river and sees a barb captured builder, guarded by a quite damaged barb scout, and a zombie. Zombie can't reach me this turn, so I promote the scout to Ranger. Lots of woods around. Also, the zombie is next to some blue scientific CS borders.
T54. Zombie and barb scout moves to my scout, so he flees NW back to Persia. My 1 charge barb outpost clearing hero builder abandons fogbusting and moves onto the forest next to 3 mountains near Madrid, prepared to chop and place a +3 Campus. Trader completes there next turn. If something spawns there in the South, I'll go full tilt.
T55. Campus shows 88 p and 5 turns to completion. Chop shows 32p. I chop and place Campus: 3 turns to completion. Trader transferred to A Coruna to help them get on ther feet faster. It is the unfortunate 5 tiles distance meaning 30 turns long trade route.
My scout sees yet another barb scout in the north, and goes onto a hill, to contact Geneva. Not a first contact, but still nice! Meanwhile my archers kill the NW outpost scout and finally spot the outpost itself, guarded by a spearman. I'll tear them apart, for all that misery they caused me.

T56. Madrid pop 4, A Coruna pop 2, I get the Early Empire boost. Barb spearman swaps with a barb archer. It will not help them. I get one shot and damage them for 43. One warrior goes South to fogbust.
Trade route from A Coruna to Madrid shows 1f2p3g2fth, but to Thang Long 3p12g6fth, as it is on another continent. It would run through a lot of fog but also through Venice, for 28 turns. My greed is stronger than reason and I risk yet again, trader is off to Vietnam. Please don't get eaten. Currency boosted.
EE is 13 turns away, I realised I'd be probably better off with finishing State Workforce first, back to it. Campus and boost in 2 turns.
My scout was running from a barb scout and moved NW to uncover another outpost with a barb spearman and an archer, both 1 tile away, on the last move. Oh, bugger. It was an honour, sir Ranger, to have you in my service. You've done well. Be a nice zombie now and eat Cyrus for me, will you?
T57. My scout only gets shot by the archer, but the spear stays put, so sir Ranger lives! Glorious! He runs back into the forest out of sight to heal.
The infamous NW outpost sees some action - barb archer dies, spear gets damaged. It's 4 turns to Classical. I'll probably hold off to plunge into the Dark Age. I kinda deserve it. Speaking of which, I remember to switch in Madrid from Campus which is 1 turn off, to the Monument. Campus would've dragged me into Normal. Monument is 3 turns off, good.
T58. Second warrior goes South to fogbust. I finally get full view of the outpost NW, the mountain range completely cuts off the West and Geneva from the ocean to the larger lake. Hm. I think, I might kill Venice, after all.
The scout healing in the woods is found by the bullying barb archer. Healing abandoned, he flees SW, hugging Persias border.
T59. All quiet, I'm waiting for Dark Classical. 2 turns away. I leave Astrology 1 turn off to see if it will autocomplete at the turn of the era, switched to Horseback Riding. Mobility is the salvation.
Bought a deer tile in A Coruna. 1f3p is better than 1f1p.
T60. Monument completes in Madrid, I'll put a turn into granary. The NW outpost, spawns a blocked scout and a zombie, next to my warrior and 2 archers. Zombie is +9 mutation strenght, for total 29 CS. What do they feed them? My troops drive them back into the ground, warrior earns a promotion.
The South down to Venice river fully fogbusted, all AI cities in full health. I'm ready for the Dark Age.

T61. I pick Free Inquiry for the dark age dedication, probably the biggest potential for more era score. Persia in Normal, Vietnam also in Dark.
Astrology, did not autocomplete, it was short just a smige, I swith into it back and then further to Horse Riding. Switch to Early Empire again, as State Workforce only needs a boost, so Madrid will complete Campus next turn and fulfill the quest from Venice. Maybe I will not kill Venice, after all.
The NW barb outpost, that almost drove me back into the Stone Age, dies. Rest in pieces, @#$%!
T62. Campus completes for 3 era score and State Workforce boost, but it is short of completion probably by one or two culture. I get an envoy not only in Venice, but in Lahore as well.
I buy two desert tiles for Madrid and A Coruna and place two +6 Holy Sites, but Madrid will complete granary first (4t) and A Coruna the Monument (1t).
T63. An unmet city state defeated. Probably eaten alive.
A Coruna completed the Monument, onto the HS. Horseback Riding 5 turns away now. My horse count is up to 26 again. I'll have one horseman in emergency if necessary.
T64. State Workforce complete, Early Empire 1 turn away. Governor time. I debate between Magnus for the chops and Liang for more charges, and pick Magnus. Good ol' Magnus. There are things to chop and too few pops to lose.
Urban Planing remains, Conscription is in for +3 gold. One warrior stays behind in NW to fogbust. My scout is healed and goes again into the yet unknown Middle Earth.
T65. Political Philosophy next, 9 turns away. I take Liang after Magnus. I'll get that 3rd title somehow, now I need builder charges. Magnus in A Coruna for an eventual GP, boosting further 3 HS, Liang to Madrid.
T66. Madrid completes granary, onto HS, 6 turns away. A zombie appears in NW next to the warrior, darn, the warrior flees, archers turn hastily back.

T67. Another zombie spawns NW!
T68. Zombies are now +10 mutation strength.
Horseback riding done. I start on Masonry. There's a stone south of A Coruna, let's hope, Venice doesn't grab it, or else... I will probably kill them.
T70. My trader reached Thang Long! Safe journey back! Archers retreat taking shots at the two zombies. Zombies are almost dead again. Liang established, I buy 4 charges builder for 230g.
T71. Archers finish off both zombies, warrior heals in territory, builder improves Madrid incense. Back to Content.
T72. Madrid finishes +6 HS for 3 era score and will run a couple of rounds of prayers. There are now 2 AI going for a prophet at +1 gpp, the closest is 17 gpp away. I might get the first religion.
Ranger scout explored the Middle Earth and will probably move around Geneva to the north.
Masonry is a boost away from completion, I switch to Bronze Working.
T73. A zombie spawned next to Geneva.
T74. PP done. To Mysticism, 2 turns, I may need Revelation. Besides, it is a nice short time slot to use Land Surveyors. Builder has arrived in A Coruna, and I need to buy some tiles to chop. HS completes in A Coruna, a round of prayers now. I take Autocracy, and slot in Conscription, Urban Planning, Charismatic Leader and Land surveyors for 2 turns. 3 tiles bought in A Coruna (84+84+56): a forest and stone in the 3rd ring, also a site for the GP next to two HS, soon to be three HS.
T75. Madrid completed one prayers, onto another one. That and A Coruna round should do it. Builder runs down to improve stone first for the Masonry boost, as a tech and civic are about to complete, to have better chops. I buy two more jungle tiles for A Coruna in 3rd ring, for chopping.

T76. BW and Mysticism done. There's an iron under Madrid's HS. Gotcha! :) On the other hand, no boost for IW and Wheel. Bummer. I'll go for Currency now and approach Military Tradition for the Maneuver card and some horsemen. Time to kill Venice. I'm sorry, I meant Vietnam. They got Iron mine down there and no walls. Some 4 horses should do the job.
Builder build stone quarry and I have Masonry. I have 3 turns window until MilTrad, and both prayers to complete. Both AI now goes at +2 gpp, closest is 12 gpp away. I risk and do not slot in Revelation, but take Inspiration instead. Hypatia is first in line, uncontested, and I'm 14/60. I'll come closer to her.
Ba Trieu would buy 40 horses from me for 14 gpt. Thats very tempting, but I got other plans. I sell 10 horses to Cyrus for 2 gpt+6 g.
I also bang my head into the wall because I forgot to slot in DiploLegacy. Could've had 2 envoys in Geneva already.
State of play at t76:
Spoiler :


T77. Cyrus levies Geneva and Venice's troops. There's some action going north of Geneva and Persia, with an outpost there.
T78. Cyrus founds Tarsus. It is suspiciously quiet on the zombie front.
T79. MilTrad done, Drama and Poetry next, will probably hard tech it, going towards Theology now.
Both prayers complete, I got the first prophet, John the Baptist, he moves on the Madrid HS and has no movement left to get religion this turn. Oh, well. Builder chops the closest cattle to A Coruna to bring it to pop 4, and I place a GP next to HS, then switch to horsemen here and in Madrid.
Conscription out, Maneuver in, also DiploLeague in, UP and Insp stays. I'm missing out on Monasticism hugely, but what to do - I want Hypatia and I want Drama faster. A first envoy sent to Geneva where he is immediately cloned and becomes two envoys.
T80. Ba Trieu declares on Lahore, generating 50 grievances to me, of which it remains only 41, when I can finally act. I hate this detail. Why there's no delay so that I can use all 50? Anyway, let her have her fun for now, I will not bother with denouncing.
I send an envoy to Buenos Aires to take first Suzerainty there for 2 era score, 25/33 to Heroic now, they have a warrior and three archers fighting off a zombie. No further contacts discovered, but 2 tribal villages. I'll have to send a horse there.
Meanwhile, John the Baptist founds Catholicism. I take Work Ethics - a worthy pick for such adjacencies. Another pick is Defender of the Faith. I expect zombies to reduce enemy capitals for me eventually, and I'll take more CS in my own lands against all kind of hostiles. First religion, +3 era score, 5 to go to Heroic. I see Golden Monumentality in my future.

T81. First horseman completes in Madrid and brings the inspiration for Mercenaries. Madrid builds shrine in waiting for enough horses. I buy another 4 charges builder.
T82. Curency done, I'll dip into Wheel now. A Coruna made a horseman and now onto granary.
Cyrus declares on Lahore! Come on now!
T83. Jungle chop in A Coruna, to pop 5. Both horses cross the river near Venice into the south. Buenos Aires have a zombie to kill.
T84. Madrid completes a shrine, A Coruna - a granary. I start on Pyramids in Madrid, why the heck not? 9 turns. A Coruna starts on GovPlaza. My Trader returns and completes the route! They did not get eaten. Great success. To Geneva next, 3p12g1sci6fth. 26 turns. Please don't run into a zombie. Second incense improved and sold to Ba Trieu for 87 g. I rebuy 22 horses from Cyrus for 107 g. No time, both of my cities will make another quick horseman.
T85. I leave Wheel a boost away, switch to IW.

T86. I leave Drama and Poetry a boost away and switch to Games. As I'm building the Pyramids, I'll probably get the boost for Drama. Magnus and Liang switch places. Builder wil be sent to Madrid to chop one forest, but first they improve cattle for A Coruna.
T87. Horseman SE checks a TV for 40 gold. Meh. But I'll take it :)
T88. I have 4 horsemen, start converging on Thang Long. Just a quick check on another TV in the deep South.
T89. Deep South horse makes first contact with Singapore. Nice. TV yields 75 g. Back to Vietnam now. 2 zombies spawn next to Buenos Aires and my horseman. Get the heck outta there!
T90. Ba Trieu takes Lahore! Thank goodness, she does not raze it. I'll get it back. GPlaza completes in A Coruna and Mathematics is boosted. Ancestral hall now. I give Provision to Magnus, getting ready for Golden Monumentality. Somebody builds Stonehenge. I sell 26 DF for 118 g to Cyrus. He has yet another settler!

T91. I chop a forest for the Mids and they complete, also completing Drama and Poetry. I have Medieval Heroic in the bag. Switching to Theology now for temples, 7 turns away. Switch away from IW to Construction. Madrid will build walls now for Engineering boost, 3 turns. Magnus back to A Coruna, Liang to Madrid.
Policy changes: Maneuver out, Conscription back in, saves 7 g already. UP stays. Charismatic Leader back in. Inspiration out, Monasticism in, finally, +10.4 sci, -2.9 cul. I'll live with that. Hypatia comes next turn.
T92. A zombie next to Madrid! +14 mutation strenght. I hope my garrison archer will deal with it, walls will complete in 2 turns, and they can't eat capitals anyway.
Hypatia comes to my service and boosts Education. She moves onto campus at once and build a Library there.
Cyrus founds its 4 th city, Susa, but his second one, Zranka, is at 46/200 garrison health. Is it being eaten? Buenos Aires build walls, good for them, they're first ones.
My scout discovers a zombie at Lahore and Lahore is at 57/200. Oh no, it's starting.
T93. Second zombie next to Madrid. First one dies to the archer.
Lahore vanished from the map. Bon apetit, I mean, RIP. Zranka is at 26/100. My 4 horses move into position next to Vietnam capital. She has Apadana and Hanging Gardens under construction there. No walls. Next turn I will make Cyrus proud.
T94. Cyrus sends me a delegation, in anticipation probably :) Ba Trieu is worried, but my horsemen are just passing by. Walls in Madrid complete for Engineering boost and just in time, there's another spawned zombie next to Madrid. +15 mutation strength. I'll have a spearman there, for an eventual boost.
Zranka vanished, Cyrus is one city less, zombies are on the rise. Let's add to the mayhem. I surprise DOW Vietnam. I'm the worst, I know. She has 7 army score, almost zero troops.
3 horses hit, 4th is delayed by a river, they're down to 111/200. No surprise walls and next turn they're done?
T95. One zombie dies at Madrid and another one immediately spawns it its place. Goodness me. Camp on the deer in A Coruna.
Thang Long survives 4 horse hits and remains at 4/200. Bugger, but now they're under siege.
I switch away to Mathematics. There's quite a few techs waiting for the boost now. I sell Cyrus incense for 53 g or so.

T96. Zombies continue to spawn at Madrid. A Coruna completes the Ancestral Hall, now a Shrine. Where is my Medieval? Not in sight yet. I promote Magnus to Black Marketeer. Strategic resources will not be an issue anymore. I chop second jungle.
Last horse hit on Vietnamese capital and its mine. Wheel and IW complete, as they have an Iron Mine. They also have an Encampment with Barracks, so I boost Military training as well. Loyalty is falling at -4, but Monument will repair in 3 turns and I move Liang in to help. I get a builder there, they have 3 unimproved cocoa, and improved furs. All cities at Happy. No unit kills in Vietnam, so hopefully, no zombies? She has two more cities, as far as I can tell.
I buy a water mill in Madrid and boost Construction, so I squeeze it in for quick finish before Mathematics.
I sell my 12 now dwindling DF to Cyrus for 57 g. Looks like he's next on the block, when I'm done with Vietnam.
T97. My Thang Long taking horseman promoted to Caparison, aiming for Depredation, other horses heal. A Coruna completes the shrine and I'll build walls there, just in case. I'm becoming nervous and don't want this city to go where Cordoba went. There's non stop zombie spawning at Madrid. Spearman done, moves onto foresty hill. Archer next, need more ranged. Zombies at +16 mutation strength. A mine built at A Coruna and a lumbermill, for Mass Production boost. 2 turns to Math and Theology.
T98. Another unmet city state bites the dust.
T99. Maths and Theology done. I move to Apprenticeship, yet to be boosted, and Games 2 turns away. Madrid will build Temple now. Thang Long repaired Monument and I start walls. Eff it, I'll take no more risks. My trader will probably get killed by a Vietnamese scout, but I'm afraid to defend it with my half-alive scout. I don't need more zombies next to Geneva.
I replace Urban Planning with Scripture. +14 faith and production. Crazy.
T100. Trader lost to Vietnamese scout, ugh. But my horses are fully healed and retribution is coming. Next victim is Hue, wallless and at 29 cs. A Coruna has walls and now is building Temple as well. Zombie infestation at Madrid has finally stopped.
State of play at t100:
Spoiler :

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I'll stop my turn by turn log now, it gets tiresome :) I see Theocracy, Grand Master's Chapel and faith bought troops in my future. Turnwise, the Thirties (t33-39) were a tragedy, very unlucky two single events, but I recovered enough and things look up now. Unless there's a carpet of zombies spawning next turn :) But it is enough now for an Opening Actions report.

 
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At turn 135 (405 AD) I have six cities, wonders: Pyramids, Machu Pichu, Temple of Artemis and Oracle. A religion, 2 campuses, holy site, encampment and a commercial hub. I started settling to the south west (plains hills), second city to the west (good campus adjacency). I focused in the beginning on slingers, which I soon got upgraded to archers ( I only built one scout). Zombies didn't give me much trouble but I always kept some forces around my main cities. Classical era was dark, but the Medieval now is heroic.

Now I am quite ahead of everyone else but not yet in shape to attack them.

I haven't played with zombies before, but I was warned because of the comments in the anouncement. Let's see where it goes...
 
Lots of Wonders available but not sure it's very helpful to build them....
Yeah, hardly. If you don't mess up the start like me, 3-4 cities horsemen spam and rush should bring you the entire landmass under control, before zombies overrun it. Maybe military wonders. And Pyramids are also amazing - in every city on another continent you take as Spain you get a free builder, with the Mids it's quite a few additional charges.
I played 10 turns more to t110, and four horsemen took out Vietnam - 3 cities, no walls. Magnus Black Marketeer could help with some shortage of horses in the starting area early on.
 
Well, I decided to do this with a proper reporting, and made an almost turn by turn log of my first 100 turns, for my own fun as well, among other purposes. All is in the spoiler tags together with a few pics. Reveals two AI and a fair part of my landmass. There were ups, and very serious oops, and then ups again :)

This was an awesome post. Very interesting and instructive to see the granular detail of your game development. You made very different choices from me in many fundamental things (eg. where to settle, pantheon, religious beliefs etc) which is of course a major part of the fun of the game.

Yeah, hardly. If you don't mess up the start like me, 3-4 cities horsemen spam and rush should bring you the entire landmass under control, before zombies overrun it.

Yeah, it's like that in most (I would say) Prince level games but it didn't work out for me that way. Had to spend a lot of time fending off zombies in the first 100 turns; by the time I got a couple of horsemen free to do anything but fight zombies Venice had already been eaten and Vietnam was down to one city which was about to be chomped....
 
at t102 I think I'm off to a good start with eight cities. I took two cities from Vietnam so far and she is close to being eliminated. I stole at settler from Scythia and walked it back a long way to settle north of Vietnam. Persia and Scythia look pretty easy. Persia has been a good friend of mine all game, but I think I might have to surprise war on him to grab that settler. I guess I need to get working on a navy soon.

Because of the Zombies I started with an unusual build order of slinger, warrior, slinger, settler. The zombies haven't been too bad really. I expected worse. Maybe they are going crazy on the other continent.
So far horsemen and swordsmen are doing fine. I think I'll have to upgrade to men-at-arms and coursers to finish off everyone though.

here's a pic at t102 https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1825640886477222600/454FE757255C8763D6B87ED222C2DCB8E340D156/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=#000000&letterbox=false
 
Yeah, hardly. If you don't mess up the start like me, 3-4 cities horsemen spam and rush should bring you the entire landmass under control, before zombies overrun it
I did this apart from I did not take Scythia until About T130 when I was ready to sail. I had a money shortage, damn zombies kept eating my traders
 
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