aCK-1 Behaving Ourselves

[Liquidated]

As for the islands, where the advanced settler is now is really nice 'resource-less' location as it's 100% coastal/nice lands... nice place for cottages. 90% chance of coal there btw

For the settler chilling in Rostov and anymore coming, whore as many fishies and sheep as you see fit as the north is a playground of resources. Spam towns where you see fit as the only time super sensitive one was Krazy, before that Giza pos town's culture closed in on it.

Watch out for barb galleys!

Not a bad idea to escort galleys with a trireme as losing a settler+ xbow would be super ugly.

Be sure to promote the explorers to combat -> medic btw

We can afford to cut a few turns off liberalism by sliding the beakers to 60%.

When silver says pete has nothing much to build... purple love and black still needs confusion forced (after AnkorWat is built) not to mention we still need to replace a few of those effing wwarriors serving as garrison.

It's not marked on the map but the crap plains around smol can be cottaged as it has the fish for food.

Oh and that lone jungle square just west of rostov can get a fort placed on it so the ships have a port to heal =p

Btw just in the last 30ish turns (since after my Turnset) we went from under 100 beakers to over 150 at 50% science. It'll only get faster as the workers

15ish turn sets now

Cheers!
-Liq

 

[goblinmarine]

Ok, so when Pete is done with the Angkor Wat it'll send forth a few missionaries. maybe send a few missionaries to boud for extra cash. not a bad idea to spam it to all the AI cities we can, free gold after all.

 

[sturick]

Goblin: I think it is wise to send one the missionaries through Ramesses land to get an idea of how things progress. A little scouting report never hurt anyone. When he is finished scouting you can just convert a town for the gold like you said.

 

[Liquidated]

Orange Dot (yek yak yar wtfever) is almost done on a monastery so that's a good missionary dump as well.

Actually whichever pos town has jew should spam that to orange(who can build it's monastery fast) as well so to cover our 'bases' when the ap goes jew. Not saying spread Jew around, just have the ability to spam a few misses around fast to avert a dip loss.

Anyway time to begin to try and explain 'bulbing' badly I guess.

As the difficulty level rises (the AI gets increasingly grievous production and research bonuses on emp+) an interesting dynamic happens between Self-Research vs Brokering of Techs.

To explain...
Self-Research is hopefully obvious pick a tech path and brute force it via your choice of Economy. Key here is to have a path in mind as you clear past the worker techs you need to hook up the crap around you. The tech path is game dependent for the most part (well optimally) as sometimes you can stall outright gun techs for more butter while other times you just cannot get catapults out there fast enough to slap your neighbors around. Trading techs isn't prohibited by any means, just that at prince level the average AI techs too slowly to be of much value.

Brokering relies on the average AI tech level proceeding at a rate one cannot actually keep up with. What happens here is that you as a player target techs primarily in order to trade them against the AI. Key techs here are aesthetics and philosophy which most AI's just sort of ignore unless given a lot of time. Research Aesthetics and trade it for say IW + Cash then use a combination of cash + aes + IW to grab say Metal casting where you can use MC to pick up techs like calendar construction monarchy etc. read one of the many immortal SG's and notice the clumping of trades centered around the event of a new tech getting researched hehe.

So really in a prince game with sporadic tech trades, each beaker spent towards a tech is maybe 1.7ish applied after all is said and done as you can sometimes offload a tech. With brokering, if you can trade off a tech researched to 3 other people that's 5.0+ beakers applied for each beaker you toss into the Libraries as you are trading the new techs around for even more.

So then in order to get techs like philo and Liberalism before the AI on the higher difficulties relies heavily on great people, more notably great scientists, to Bulb the techs you want.This is where the external link comes in!

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/greatpeople_tech.php

All hail DaveMcW for this amazing info...

Lets look at the great scientist's mating habits then..Orange tagged techs are generally the ones people beeline and notice if one avoids machinery altogether, you can bulb on up to liberalism straight.

Spoiler :

Great Scientist:
Writing
Mathematics
Scientific Method
Physics
Education
Printing Press <---- Requires Machinery
Fiber Optics
Computers
Laser (BTS)
The Wheel
Alphabet (BTS)
Philosophy
Chemistry
Fission
Fusion
Optics<---- Requires Machinery
Paper
Astronomy
Biology
Electricity
Flight
Genetics
Compass
Satellites
Aesthetics (BTS)
Sailing
Alphabet (Vanilla & Warlords)
Calendar
Medicine
Ecology
Advanced Flight (BTS)
Iron Working
Metal Casting
Engineering
Steam Power
Liberalism
Agriculture
Masonry
Bronze Working
Machinery
Gunpowder
Refrigeration
Superconductors (BTS)
Rocketry
Fishing
Combustion
Plastics
Composites
Stealth (BTS)
Mining
Military Science (BTS)
Radio
Meditation
Drama
Theology
Music
Civil Service
Democracy
Corporation
Communism
Economics
Hunting
Archery
Animal Husbandry
Construction
Robotics
Monotheism
Mass Media
Horseback Riding
Replaceable Parts
Rifling
Artillery
Future Tech

That's how to 'Figure out' which tech the hopefully Great Scientist will bulb in 8 turns btw.

So idea here for the basic bulb path is to hit aes to clear the early techs and then philo to cover those early heavy weights like Engineering and Guilds. After that the mad dash for liberalism where upon you get to choose how to win unless Hannibal Shaka or Monty own the entire other continent.



Cheers!
-Liq

 

[goblinmarine]

PFC
Do a quick round of all the cities to see how things are going.
wow, purple love dot is a sad sad place right now poor garbage city.

(257) 1120 AD
yaroslalv: confused monastery - longbow
yakutsk: library - x-bow
vladivostok: worker - x-bow (seem to be building lots of military units... hmmm...)

found bryansk, slot a granary

slider to 60%. -31 gpt, 188 bpt

(258) 1130 AD
not much

(259) 1140 AD
not a lot. should get circumnav IBT or next turn (just linked the map, not sure when it tell us if we're first)

(260) 1150 AD
yay, circumnav. ships go much faster now.
degaulle wants OB, um, no
rostov finishes a galley, let it go back to HE

(261) 1160 AD
Pete gets angkor wat, yay - set two confused missionaries to the queue
Yek longbow-worker

(262) 1170 AD
yar longbow-worker
Ap Palace vote comes up... vote for freddy for the dip points

(263) 1180 AD
De Gaulle demands civil services... yeah... no
moscow market-settler
yak longbow-worker
vlad crossbow-confused missionary
scout pops a hut for 108 gold, yay!
scout pops a hut for a map, boo!
germans founded a city blocking the galley from the crab/fish dot on the northern island... BOO!

(264) 1190 AD
novgorod market-monastery
fire two people working less than great tiles and hire two scientists in nov. trying for that great scientist
moscow will still pop a spy/prophet first maybe I missed where i was supposed to do that earlier, my bad
orenburg courthouse-library

(265) 1200 AD
2 pop whip the library in orenburg... saves 61 turns or so
wang wants to trade maps, now why would i show you the world beyond the ocean?
pete confused missionary-jewish monastery (for the beakers)

(266) 1210 AD
yar worker-x-bow
orenburg library-confused monastery
explorer pops a hut for 61 gold

(267) 1220 AD
Education in, slot lib
vlad missionary-trireme



Whoever's up next needs to try and grab crab/fish on the northern island. we're almost done exploring the new world. also, workers still have stuff to do, but we can't build lumbermills (missing replaceable parts)



going to edit the screenshots in. gotta get them uploaded.

 

[Liquidated]

ok well seems we have a race going on with wanger as he's researching astro in about 16 turns to our 12ish. I easily see 15 strong town locations in the new world, 9 of which have 2+(not counting fake food like cows and sheep) food resources and 4 of those whoring 3x effing food.

Spamming all those towns would bankrupt us tho until communism which is so far off. But lets grab some of the better land like asap.

But keep the new settlers + escorts around vlad so that when the first galleon pops out it's all ready to go.

A strong first town imo is 2 east of the clams directly east of Vlad (Bipolar Yellow Dot). Grass pigs (6 food) and coastal clams on a river with minimal coast and 3x riverside plains hills for hammers. Great place to use lumber mills as well. Easy canal action just north.

Next town would be a short distance away at the coastal plains tile between the corn and pigs (Lazy Green dot). 3x food sources in corn (creative irrigation depending on) pigs and fishies in da water! An amazing gp farm town for a non capital spot.

Never mind the red borders btw hehe.

The moment Liberalism comes in, pick astronomy and revolt to free speech. Next tech is printing press as we watch nova's cottages SPLODE!

If the gp out of Moscow is the Odds Favorite(TM) spy, embed him into Moscow directly.. better late than never he......(What Liq is really saying is when the great priest pops, prolly best to run him north to Rostov and embed him).

1. S.ilver
2. goblinmarine <---- Hut busting super scout.
3. Diamondeye<---- UP
4. sturick<---- Voice of Reason
5. Liquidated
6. PeteyP

Cheers!
-Liq

 

[Diamondeye]

I'm up and will take a good luck at the save tomorrow, I think (Then again, I'm going to see Bob Dylan live tomorrow, so it might be monday after all!).

Techs are Lib (Astro) -> PP, I guess... Any other special plans? Wanna kill someone soon?

 

[sturick]

Uh gang if I am the voice of reason we are in trouble

Hut busting superscout is however an apt description for you goblin.
Very nice...the New World is much less foggy than I thought it might be.

There are some primo city locations available to us. FishPigCorn spot is top shelf!

Even though Wang is working on Astro we have the advantage of being closer to the new world and our galleons would definitely beat his in a race so we definitely should snag all the prime real estate.

Jealous over here DE...have fun seeing Bob Dylan.

 

[goblinmarine]

So what's our long term plan? I know our plan over the next few sets is to get astro and cherry pick the best city spots in the new world and maybe grab another city in the northern islands.
How do we want to win this? Domination seems doable fairly soon. Not sure what % of the land is in the new world but I'm sure it's a good bit.

 

[Liquidated]

On second thought about a great spy, best to actually plunk that puppy into nova instead of Moscow as it's beakers and silver was talking about moving capital there.
Great spy : Embed into Nova
Great Profit : Embed into Rostov.

Also, since education is done (wow that was fast ) we need to get 6x universities out the door and get Oxford Cooking in Nova. Problem here is we need to get the settlers/escorts going before we have to force feed galleons. Also need a shipment of hut popping xbows going to punk those guarded huts

Towns that are obvious university dumps...
Nova: Absolutely required
Pete: Nice hammers & beakers
Moscow: Nice hammers & beakers
Yaro: ok hammers ok beakers.
Yek: meh!

As for the 6th not sure, not a great idea to name rostov nor vlad as they both need to be pissing ships. Orenburg maybe for a 5 pop whip

The other 2 major town locations for cherry picking of the new lands are in the northern segment around barb town of Sakae which needs to get leveled. Problem is there's fog off the coast in a huge chunk so rather see the full map than map them out now.

As for long term plans, domination/diplo is best in this sort of epic speed SG (where we do not merely whack next turn out of boredom in a solo game) but there's an issue with this... ForeverRex!

Basic problem with this sort of effing map btw (silver picked it, not liq) is that it's 1220 AD and yet we are STILL are in REX mode Normally at this stage of the game, we would be all flush borders with each other and tempers would be flaring and we'd be waiting for an opening to stick a knife into Egypt or Korea.

instead lets see what we are building in our towns....
3x workers (nice! <--no sarcasm)
1x settler (need more!)
1x xbow for garrison (need more for the new lands)
3x monestaries (get them done now before we obsolete them.
1x heroic epic
3x core essentials (new towns)
1x trireme to protect the nets from effing barbs.

That's not the build queue of a stagnant empire looking over it's neighbor's shoulders, eyeing their flood plains

So thinking ForeverRex in this installment of aCK for the near/medium term... sigh.

Next time back to bog boring conts, least it has an end!!!

Cheers!
-Liq

 

[Liquidated]

oh crap, just realized Vlad has a chop going into that one turn trireme, best to change that to a harbor before you hit end turn DE.

Oh and Fire that spy in rostov lol

Cheers!
-Liq

 

[Liquidated]

Ok so De's 'tomorrow' skips the weekend again so pass him until he is able to play it within 48 hours of saying got it.


1. S.ilver
2. goblinmarine <---- Hut busting super scout.
3. Diamondeye<----Tomorrow never comes
4. sturick<---- UP
5. Liquidated
6. PeteyP

Cheers!
-Liq

 

[sturick]

Alright...I got it and will play tomorrow morning. I'll throw together a plan later on today to have it proofread for mistakes.

 

[sturick]

I think that my first city target will be Bipolar Yellow Dot for two reasons
First are all the reasons that Liq mentioned originally...and secondly for the "easy canal action" that...Liq...(cough)also mentioned previously. Dammit thought I was on to an original good idea.
Oh well.

I think a good long term plan for the new world is to secure the middle of the island. Many of the strong city sites are in that area and we could easily defend our borders and expand outward as we REX. Check it out.

Spoiler :

So yellow first...if we confuse it right away we will be size three in no less than 50 turns...if not then 75 turns later we can canal that isthmus. I think thats the correct fancypants term for it???

Next up would be green dot and its mega food capacity!

Then I would recommend blue dot as it is very similar to green only replacing fish with coastal clams and a few more forest tiles. I think we would need to knock out the barb town first but thats not tough.

Then prolly teal or magenta...you get the idea.

The white dots aren't really dots...more like blobs. A city will go somewhere in the general vicinity. This would give us an 8 city New World starter kit.

Lemme know what you think...This is obviously a few turnsets down the road as I will probably get a settler/xbow galleon on its way during my set but likely won't reach land in my time.

More to come later.

 

[Diamondeye]

I'll never learn, will I? Gah. A serious sorry, guys, but my school decided to throw a large paper for wednesday at me (perhaps I should be trying to finish that now?) and tonight, I'll have to go see a play (I know the actor), so it's probably good you're that fast at seeing through my "tomorrows".

I have a general idea for these ACK! games... How about we play a slightly smaller map? I would personally have more surplus to add those "learning details" that it seems we're fond of?

 

[sturick]

Also our settler currently on a boat in the northern islands...where do we want to plunk him?
Desert tile for the seafood or the horse tile to keep our islands together?
My guess would be the desert tile as the little horse island ain't going nowhere soon.

Build plans will go a little something like this...

Moscow Settler > Uni > Settler
Pete Mon > Uni > Settler
Nova Mon > Uni (This place is having health issues)
Rostov Epic > Tri > Galleons.... (Fire the spy)
Yar Xbow > Worker > Uni
Yek Worker > Xbow > Uni
Yak Worker > Xbow
Vlad Switch to harbor > back to boats
Smol Forge > Settler?? (Not so sure here)
Oren Mon > Uni?? (Again not sure)
Kras Core
Khab Core
Bry Core

I think this plan balances out our current needs.
This is whats in the queue
6 Unis for the Oxford
3 Workers
4 Settlers
2 Towns makin boats
3 Xbows
3 Core buildings

Seems a little settler/worker heavy
Maybe tweak that a little towards military so our power doesn't slip. Just a little tho.

 

[goblinmarine]

Definitely the right idea on the first two or three cities. My only concern is Wang plopping a city in the jungle on the other side of that isthmus and cutting the land route from bipolar yellow to blue.
I see there's already talk of some "a man a plan a canal panama" action going on (what the heck was that Van Halen song going on about anyway?) Am I remembering wrong or couldn't units left in a jungle die in a previous version of civ? Anyway, looks like a good plan.
And the reason it's worker/settler heavy is that we needed workers badly and were just about to REXplode (c). Not sure that's a new one but I like that word. Hehe.
I thought it's better to have the settlers ready to pounce on the new world when lib-astronomy happens than to then have to build them. sure we still have to build the galleons but there're islands up north we were talking about settling too.

 

[sturick]

Then would we rather send the current galley with a settler to Rostov to wait for the fleet of galleons to embark? We could have 3 settler/xbow combos ready to pounce on yellow blue and green in one fell swoop???

Our neighbors can fight over the lousy islands to our north for all I care!

 

[sturick]

If we do send the galley back to Rostov....we could upgrade it to a galleon immediately after astro. Then send it off with a settler and 2 xbows (for hutbusting) or a settler, xbow, and a worker (for some quick bacon....yummy!) Then as Rostov and Vlad finish their galleons they can be similarly loaded up for the other two dots.

 

[goblinmarine]

actually i like that idea better than settling up north
there are one or two decent spots up north but that other continent is much better. And we want to grab the choicest spots first.
I think the settler and 2 xbows is better for the first trip. there are lots of barbs over there and we want to be able to clear things out a bit.