A lonely start for Yekaterina

[CaptainJewbeard]

So, having a pretty good but lonely kick-off for my little Tsaritsa.

Playing on a continents map, Chieftain (don't judge, I'm new to this thing!) I find I'm the only civ on a decent-sized continent (about a third of the world). 2 city states, one is maritime and on the other side of the landmass, 1 is cultural and is on a small island just off my southern shore.

Soo... fast forward, I've taken over the maritime one (after learning, twice, the hard way, that you can't send 3 spearmen to take a city-state), and have a pretty much perma-alliance with the cultural one.

Have met NO other Civs (I think it's about 1000 AD right now), I'm in the Renaissance, and I'm about to start cranking naval units to see what's out there and put a lock down on the seas. Meet 2-3 civs, turn them against each other, and pick off the weakest ones.... (cackle).

Probably will go for spaceship victory, since it's dear to my heart - but any day now, the Cossacks will be available... and then we'll probably flip a coin.

I'll let you know how it goes! (I've never done a play-by-play, just trying to get a feel for it. This is my 2nd post ever, so I hope to improve!)

 

[nihil8r]

Don't forget that you don't need a naval unit to explore the ocean, all you need is a land unit that can travel over the ocean via embarkment. But watch out for the barbarians if you are scouting with embarked lands units!

 

[Feanor01]

Next time take the culture CS and friend the marine CS. You will benefit better, usually, from the extra food. Regarding isolation... it does make for a slow game. You will find you are either ages ahead or ages behind. Next time up the number of opponents.

 

[CaptainJewbeard]

Good advice both!

Actually my one weirdly transcendant moment in Civ 5 so far came when I was escorting a swordsman down to clear out the encampment near the allied CS. The music was soft and plaintive, and it was just a very (weirdly) tender moment. Turn after turn, shepherding the little defensive unit... gah, Civ is making me sentimental.

As far as getting the food-producing one, I think I am still in the mode of "it's OK to be small", but probably I need to boost my population more. I am hearing it's tied to research, etc, so I'll have to teach myself to be a mite more aggressive.

 

[Jaaboo]

Yeah, I can think of zero reasons to invade a Maritime city-state. It's far better to become their friends. Militaristic & Cultural you could probably take over their lands if you want their resources with out having to pay gold (upfront), but you're losing a lot of food from Maritime. Also, keep an eye out for maritime city states being taken over - they are opportunities for a military to make a permanent friend by declaring war and liberating the city. The names of the city-states are always the same, the Maritime ones are Cape Town, Copenhagen, Rio, Olso, Stockholm, Helsinki and Venice, I think? I might be forgetting some. Ragusa perhaps?

 

[CaptainJewbeard]

Not that it really needs it, but I figured I'd update you on the truly glorious jailbreaking off my lonely little continent.

I got my fleet together in pretty short order: a caravel to do the advance exploration, and 3 frigates to blow up whatever it found. (Mind you, even as of about 1600 AD no one but me has built any ships... not sure why, but there you go).

Sailed east, and discovered The Big Continent, which held:
-China in the North - weak army, 5 cities, lots of fun luxury resources. I was reaching for my knives even as we were making diplomatic introductions.
- The Greeks in the South, where Alexander was being an absolute animal and rending the living flesh from the last vestiges of his immediate neighbors (city states, India, and Persia).
- Persia, who had 1 city perilously perched on the coast, hiding from Alexander.

(Exploration westward yielded an island chain chock full of city-states that no one had discovered yet. Seriously, like 6 CSs, and they were all mine! I befriended the Maritime one, and took over a cultural one because they asked me to).

Back on the main stage, Greece was ahead of me by about 200 points. Big Civ, lots of units - but my tech was waaay ahead. So when he asked me to join in a war against China, it seemed reasonable. I built some pikemen and horsemen/knights and walked them across the sea. (Is there a faster way to get them places? Can they still sail on boats?)

When they arrived, my frigates pounded the Chinese defenses, and I took 4 of the 5 Chinese cities in about 3 turns. On the last city, I miscalculated... I left it all-but-dead, but didn't have a unit with moves left to take it. So Alexander, that rat bastard, swooped in and stole it!

I tells ya, it was exactly like the US and the USSR staring at each other over a divided Germany.

Long story short (as I'm starting to bore myself!):

I knew I had to get the jump on him, so I took a few turns to ramp up production of units, and then went to town.

Knights went mid-way into his territory to destroy his mines and trading posts at cities I didn't feel like taking. Crossbowmen and longswordmen walked along together to pluck 3 cities from him and draw out his units. I lost about 4 units, and he lost about 15, and 3 cities.

He begged for peace, and offered 7 cities, all his gold, and open borders. (Ha!) I took him up on the offer.

My goal this whole time was a spaceship victory, so I'll probably keep gunning for it. Worst-case scenario, I'll beeline his capital and that of Siam (sitting by themselves on a small island), and call it a day.