A Maya Game

[Fresol]

As requested, here goes the 4th episode of our Illustrative Strategy Guides for Dawn of Civilization series: Maya!

Unlike the previous three civilizations -- Portugal, Moors and Mughals -- a Maya game requires more luck on your side, so my game can only serve as a reference of sort, but not a 100% dependable guide.

This game is played under SVN revision 972, on Regent/Normal. We are going after a historical victory.



Here we are all alone in a continent that's separate from the rest of the world.

The 3 Mayan historical goals are:
- Discover Calendar by 600 AD.
- Build the Temple of Kukulkan by 900 AD.
- Make contact with a European civilization before they discover America.

 

[Fresol]

We settle Yax Mutal 1N to reach the crabs. Yax Mutal starts building a workboat.



The barb holkans appear either 1W of the corn or on the silver hill. It's best to station our 2 holkans on the corn tile IMO.



Attack the barb holkan for exp. Right now it's safe to stand next to the native city of Danni Baa.



Hurry the workboat and start building a library in Yax Mutal.



Barb holkan appears quite frequently. We kill it for exp, while keeping our holkans safe from the natives.



Our holkans are quite safe before Danni Baa trains any warriors.



Improve the corn and silver. Build a road to connect them so our holkans get to cover the silver mine.

 

[Fresol]

Killing more barb holkans. There are a few warriors in Danni Baa now.





We hurry the library and start building a granary.



After Sailing, we now have Mathematics. Mathematics unlocks ball court, we'll build one in Yax Mutal after the granary is finished.



After killing another barb holkan, our holkans were attacked by the natives. It's useful to have a holkan unpromoted until he reaches 10 exp after killing the barb unit. In this way you can promote him to level 4 before the end of the turn.

We are lucky to have killed the two native holkans in defence, and didn't lose any of our own. On the other hand, if we don't take the chance to kill the barb unit and move our holkans near Danni Baa, the barb holkan would just feed exp to the natives and it'll be much harder for us to take Danni Baa next.





After the two native holkans were killed, we can just retreat to better defend the barb holkan harrassment as we are running out of free wins.

The natives will try to harass, too. Kill them for exp and Great General points.

 

[Fresol]

We are running out of free wins so just defend.



After finishing ball court, start training a catapult and then a holkan.

We have discovered Calendar. Research Code of Laws next.



Historical goal 1 achieved!

 

[Fresol]

A barb holkan appears on the silver mine. We can't do anything but to wait for him to come down to flat land. We want to improve the dye but we don't know Iron Working yet. Alternatively we build a fort on the dye.









Not having full health, our holkans can only defend, till the right moment. And there's more barb holkan and native warriors to come.

 

[Fresol]

A GG is born in the war against the natives. We have bombarded Danni Baa's defence down.



With our great medic in place, we are ready to take Danni Baa.



Start the siege! Well there are only 2 warriors in Danni Baa.



Danni Baa conquered.



Let Danni Baa grow as soon as the revolt is over. It's our only productive city so we'll build the temple of Kukulkan there.



Killing more barb holkans.

 

[Fresol]

We have discovered Code of Laws. Hurry the pagan temple in Danni Baa and start building the Temple of Kukulkan. The pagan temple is necessary for culture expansion.



Barb jaguars are approaching. They are our nightmares since our only defending units are holkans.



We have settled Zapotitlan for economic growth. We need more cities if we want to discover Optics in time.



Pray to the God of Random Seeds!



The God has answered and we are going to honor him by settling Cuba.



The Temple of Kukulkan is finished in Danni Baa. After Code of Laws, research Bronze Working(chopping) -> Iron Working(rainforest plantation) -> Currency(building wealth). And then go for Optics. Remember to research the all the necessary classic era techs before entering the middle ages.



2/3 UHV achieved.

 

[Fresol]

Uxmal is settled. We still need more cities! It takes quite a while until Uxmal can really contribute to our economy.



But! Somehow the Colossus hasn't been built by anyone!

We'll take it then. Without copper, it takes a while for Danni Baa to build it. Meanwhile, we pray to god(of random seeds) that our fortified holkan come out victorious against the barb jaguars.

And I'm not settling any new cities, though ideally I should be. More cities in th Caribbeans seems to be the most logical choice.



A bit of bad luck. It doesn't matter.



A GS is born in Yax Mutal but he can't bulb anything useful. I'll have him join the city.



We're entering the Middle Ages through discovering Machinery.

 

[Fresol]

The Colossus is built in Danni Baa! It brings us an extra ~20 . I don't know whether we would've won without it. One thing's for sure: without the Colossus, we need to found more cities.



For new cities, build pagan temple->harbor->granary->library. Let your mature cities supply the workboats.



All cities build wealth.





I totally forgot about the Aztecs! You'd want them to spawn at peace, like in this game. Otherwise build a few more holkans to defend Danni Baa.

Have a trireme ready so when Optics is finished you can upgrade it to caravel immediately. And have enough for the upgrade(~30).

 

[Fresol]

Finally we have researched Optics.







AAAnnnd we get to contact the Old World. Where's our conqueror stacks?





We win a historical victory the next turn.





This has been a quick one. Unfortunately I can't get to play DoC until two weeks later. So until then my friends!

p.s. I'll still be here on the forums.

 

[Eric Cartmenez]

OMG bro, you are so productive looking forward for next chapters soon

 

[citis]

The colossus happens, but it is required some luck not to be discovered by 1415.
The most important IMO is the first city and the few units you used to conquer Dani Baa.

 

[Fresol]

Luck plays a huge role in a Maya game. Settling the Caribbeans increases the chance of being discovered by Old World caravels but fortunately it didn't happen. The Europeans aren't teching too fast in recent revisions.

BTW, I wonder what if a non-european(e.g. Arabia) civ discovered Maya first? Would that make the 3rd goal fail?

As for Danni Baa, quite often you can catch 1~2 native holkans outside the city, but you need luck for your own holkans to survive. Prepare 2 City Raider III catapults(use a GG) and 3 holkans for the attack if you are not lucky enough to kill the native holkans in open field.

 

[Publicola]

Agreed. The strategy I took was to leave one holkan as 'bait' from the beginning -- you have a 50% chance of winning the battle when the native holkan attacks, and if not, just reload from the beginning. Then gang up two-on-one, take the loss of a holkan, and grab Danni Bla much earlier than possible if you had to wait for catapults.

The other big strategy was to plant cities in North America, above the Aztec spawn zone. I went for the best city spots available -- New York, Chicago, Denver and Vancouver, though not in that order. They have massive growth potential and can drive your economy much more easily than other lesser cities like Fresol's Zapotitlan. You take a stability hit (and I'm not sure how much more severe that would be in the SVN than in the v1.12 that I play, so ymmv) but I found it was very much worth it.

 

[Fresol]

That's interesting. So when did you discover the Europeans? Oh or is it a "Be the first to discover Astronomy" goal in 1.12?

I didn't think about settling New York etc. because I thought: 1. It's too faraway; 2. I fear the jaguars and dog soldiers. How did you solve the barb problem?

 

[LacsiraxAriscal]

Did you do any reloads in that game, just out of interest?

 

[Theodorick]

Wait, the Europeans aren't sailing to America in the 13th century anymore? Wow, I am going to have to retry the new world civs again. For the longest time the only one I could win as were the Inca. For the Aztecs, I'd barely be settled before a conqueror stack would spawn.

 

[Publicola]

That's interesting. So when did you discover the Europeans? Oh or is it a "Be the first to discover Astronomy" goal in 1.12?

I didn't think about settling New York etc. because I thought: 1. It's too faraway; 2. I fear the jaguars and dog soldiers. How did you solve the barb problem?

I was playing on Marathon, so my victory date was 1384 AD (turn 778). It was the 'first to Astronomy' goal, though I also listed the turn I discovered the Europeans.

Here's my post on the 1.12 UHV thread.

The barbs weren't nearly as much of a problem once you connect the bronze in Vancouver and are able to reliably build axemen. There's also an iron in Chicago if you perfer that one.

 

[Fresol]

Did you do any reloads in that game, just out of interest?

Surely I did. There were strategical reloads(to the first turn) and combat reloads(holkan on hill defending jaguars). Nothing too cheesy though.

Wait, the Europeans aren't sailing to America in the 13th century anymore? Wow, I am going to have to retry the new world civs again. For the longest time the only one I could win as were the Inca. For the Aztecs, I'd barely be settled before a conqueror stack would spawn.

The general tech pace has slowed downed quite a bit. For example in my Mughal Regent/Normal 600 AD game the Italian conquerors appeared in the 15th century.

I was playing on Marathon, so my victory date was 1384 AD (turn 778). It was the 'first to Astronomy' goal, though I also listed the turn I discovered the Europeans.

Here's my post on the 1.12 UHV thread.

The barbs weren't nearly as much of a problem once you connect the bronze in Vancouver and are able to reliably build axemen. There's also an iron in Chicago if you perfer that one.

Interesting read. A lot of things have changed since 1.12, like settling on resource and new culture rules. Also on normal speed it's significantly harder to settle far away cities, and I've never tried to play without a city in core!

 

[Theodorick]

I just tried a few games, and the conquerors spawned in the mid to late 15th century almost every single time. I don't know what Leoreth did, but finally the conquerors are coming at a realistic time. Time to refine my Aztec strategy and see what I can do; I hope this isn't changed in the mean time.

The Incas are going to be buffed nicely by this. From my experience they're already the easiest new world civ to play.