Thanks to Charis's excellent tale of his 5CC victory, I decided to have a go at it. 5CC game, conquest only (but all other victories enabled for the ai).
Having beat emperor for the first time earlier this week, I set difficulty on monarch.
After some thinking, I decided I wanted militaristic and scientific. Blah, that means the uber-cheesy Germans. Well... too bad, I'll still take them for my first try.
World is pangea, standard size (7 opponents), sedentary barbs (never liked them), every other setting average (30% landmass, temperate, 4 billion old).
I founded Berlin up north on the coast. It has 3 cattles, some hills, so it should turn out nicely production-wise in spite of all the coastal squares. My other cities would all be inland.
After scouting some, my initial plan took form.
I would settle 3 more cities. No overlap, netting me incense and gems, nice production while sustaining size 20-21 without a problem. I would also control enough hills / mountains that iron or coal shouldn't be a problem. I even controlled desert for a additional chance at salpeter and later oil. I would also have only one front to defend, which was very nice.
Only drawbacks: I chose not to settle on fresh water, and until irrigation / border expansion, only Berlin would grow easily.
As for my 5th city... well, London was on a very nice spot, with a mix of grassland / hills, freshwater and wine.
Then came the first shocker: in spite of all those hills/mountains, I had no iron.
Worse, I couldn't see any on the map.
So I went archers and still set my aims on London. The capture was easy (they were building the Pyramids so couldn't rush defenders). I made peace 3 turns later, getting also cartography in the deal.
And then... several more shockers: as I suspected from the fact we had contact with only the Celts, Russians and English, the "pangea" turned out to be "continents". And only the Russians had access to iron, way down south, all across our landmass from me. Argh ! Only two iron sources on a landmass shared by FOUR civs. Silly...
Also, bad news for the future, it seems that even combined, the Celts and English will be no match for the Russians. So I'll need to go after them sooner than later, but with no iron it didn't bode too well. By the time I got catapults / spears / horsemen to them, they'd have a knight army. *sigh*
Well, now that I had cartography, Berlin built a galley that was sent West: I had spotted a coastline there. Turned out to be a largish unsettled island with fertile land and two (!) iron sources. Also spotted a border and made contact with the Japs, Chinese and Mongols, trading myself into tech and gold leadership. The Spanish seem to be isolated on an island, probably south of the Asian continent. Nice "pangea" indeed.
Alright, here's my dilemna now (other than "what the hell am I gonna do about the Russians??"):
I could abandon London and settle on West island (red dot): that would be a very fine city (freshwater, cattle, wheat, horses, iron via a colony, very good food / production) but it would be corrupted (far from Berlin), which is kinda sad for a 5CC. I would also lose a lot by abandonning London. And a full blockade to protect a wine colony there doesn't seem very realistic. I have enough spare units for a land blockade (I think), but a galley with a settler onboard would find its way there rather soon I expected.
Option two would be to keep London, forget about how nice a spot red dot is, and found an iron "colony" on green dot. Problem being that unless there's something I don't know, colonies don't work overseas unless they're connected by road to a city with a harbour. So the "colony" in question would be a city that I'd keep at size one with only a harbour in it... but still it would be my sixth city, which isn't allowed under strict 5CC rules.
Option 3 is forget about West isle entirely. But without my own iron source (none of the Asian civs have it for trade), with the biggest threat on my landmass happening to have a monopoly of it.... getting to the age of cavalry with a winable position seems a tall order.
So what do you suggest I should do?
Option 1 : abandon London and found on red dot.
Option 2: found a colony / city on green dot.
Option 3: forget about getting iron and pray.
Option 4: if you have any other option, I'd like to hear about it.
Screenshot:
Having beat emperor for the first time earlier this week, I set difficulty on monarch.
After some thinking, I decided I wanted militaristic and scientific. Blah, that means the uber-cheesy Germans. Well... too bad, I'll still take them for my first try.
World is pangea, standard size (7 opponents), sedentary barbs (never liked them), every other setting average (30% landmass, temperate, 4 billion old).
I founded Berlin up north on the coast. It has 3 cattles, some hills, so it should turn out nicely production-wise in spite of all the coastal squares. My other cities would all be inland.
After scouting some, my initial plan took form.
I would settle 3 more cities. No overlap, netting me incense and gems, nice production while sustaining size 20-21 without a problem. I would also control enough hills / mountains that iron or coal shouldn't be a problem. I even controlled desert for a additional chance at salpeter and later oil. I would also have only one front to defend, which was very nice.
Only drawbacks: I chose not to settle on fresh water, and until irrigation / border expansion, only Berlin would grow easily.
As for my 5th city... well, London was on a very nice spot, with a mix of grassland / hills, freshwater and wine.
Then came the first shocker: in spite of all those hills/mountains, I had no iron.
Worse, I couldn't see any on the map. So I went archers and still set my aims on London. The capture was easy (they were building the Pyramids so couldn't rush defenders). I made peace 3 turns later, getting also cartography in the deal.
And then... several more shockers: as I suspected from the fact we had contact with only the Celts, Russians and English, the "pangea" turned out to be "continents". And only the Russians had access to iron, way down south, all across our landmass from me. Argh ! Only two iron sources on a landmass shared by FOUR civs. Silly...
Also, bad news for the future, it seems that even combined, the Celts and English will be no match for the Russians. So I'll need to go after them sooner than later, but with no iron it didn't bode too well. By the time I got catapults / spears / horsemen to them, they'd have a knight army. *sigh*
Well, now that I had cartography, Berlin built a galley that was sent West: I had spotted a coastline there. Turned out to be a largish unsettled island with fertile land and two (!) iron sources. Also spotted a border and made contact with the Japs, Chinese and Mongols, trading myself into tech and gold leadership. The Spanish seem to be isolated on an island, probably south of the Asian continent. Nice "pangea" indeed.
Alright, here's my dilemna now (other than "what the hell am I gonna do about the Russians??"):
I could abandon London and settle on West island (red dot): that would be a very fine city (freshwater, cattle, wheat, horses, iron via a colony, very good food / production) but it would be corrupted (far from Berlin), which is kinda sad for a 5CC. I would also lose a lot by abandonning London. And a full blockade to protect a wine colony there doesn't seem very realistic. I have enough spare units for a land blockade (I think), but a galley with a settler onboard would find its way there rather soon I expected.
Option two would be to keep London, forget about how nice a spot red dot is, and found an iron "colony" on green dot. Problem being that unless there's something I don't know, colonies don't work overseas unless they're connected by road to a city with a harbour. So the "colony" in question would be a city that I'd keep at size one with only a harbour in it... but still it would be my sixth city, which isn't allowed under strict 5CC rules.
Option 3 is forget about West isle entirely. But without my own iron source (none of the Asian civs have it for trade), with the biggest threat on my landmass happening to have a monopoly of it.... getting to the age of cavalry with a winable position seems a tall order.
So what do you suggest I should do?
Option 1 : abandon London and found on red dot.
Option 2: found a colony / city on green dot.
Option 3: forget about getting iron and pray.
Option 4: if you have any other option, I'd like to hear about it.
Screenshot:
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