All Leaders Challenge Game 33: Korea / Wang Kon
Played with the Beyond the Sword expansion pack
Played with the Beyond the Sword expansion pack

Round 0: 4000 BC (turn 0)
Round 1: 4000 BC to 3320 BC (turns 0-17)
Round 2: 3320 BC to 1800 BC (turns 17-55)
Round 3: 1800 BC to 675 BC (turns 55-88)
Round 4: 675 BC to 150 BC (turns 89-109)
Round 5: 150 BC to 75 AD (turns 109-118)
Round 6: 75 AD to 760 AD (turns 118-148)
Round 7: 760 AD to 1050 AD (turns 148-165)
Round 8: 1050 AD to 1240 AD (turns 165-184)
Round 9: 1240 AD to 1826 AD (turns 184-283)
Post Mortem
Introduction
The idea of the All Leaders Challenge is that games are going to be played with each of the Civ IV leaders. With the help of all the posters who participate, an attempt will be made to make the most of the leader's unique characteristics: traits, starting techs, unit, and building. Aside from the leader, the other game settings are (mostly) kept constant for the sake of comparison. I will post the saved game files, screenshots, and status reports here as the game progresses.
Everyone is invited to offer opinions and advice, and to make your own attempt at playing the same game. But if you do play a "shadow game", I kindly request that you refrain from posting spoilers--i.e. any facts or even hints about the map, opponents, and so on--before I'm there myself. I'm trying to play the game as authentically as possible.
In this ALC game I’ll be playing as Wang Kon of the Korean Empire. Before we start the game, a more detailed discussion of Wang Kon is in order.
Traits:
Protective: This trait, lovingly referred to as the worst trait in the game, gives free Drill I and City Garrison I promotions for archery and gunpowder units. It also lets us build walls and castles at double speed. The archer and gunpowder promotions are actually not bad. On defense their benefits are obvious but even when attacking it means that fewer city garrison troops need to be left to defend from counterattacks when the main force moves on. Walls I rarely build and castles I never do. So getting them at half price isn't particularly useful. However, when price goes down, demand goes up (note we're moving along the curve, the curve is not shifting). The question then is, does making castles half the price mean I will build them? The answer is still a pretty decisive nope.
Financial: Being financial means that for every tile that has at least 2





Starting Techs: Mysticism and Mining
Mysticism let's us build monuments, Stonehenge, and get a quick religion. It's not a very good early technology, but since we're not creative we will definitely be needing it at some point which makes it not completely terrible. Mining is much better. It lets us build mines right away giving our worker hopefully at least one or two tiles to improve as soon as he's finished. Mining is also great since it means we can get Bronze Working, one of the most important early game technologies, faster.
Unique Unit: Hwacha
The Hwacha replaces the catapult and is exactly the same except that it gets a 50% bonus against melee units. It might be better than the Landsknecht, but not by much. Catapults are good units for an early war, but they are usually either bombarding cities or sacrificing into the cities best defenders, which are typically archery units. Depending on the map I may be building some, but this unit is not a game changer by any stretch of the imagination.
Unique Building: Seowon
The Seowon is an improved university. A university gives +3




Starting Position
In this ALC game, I'll be playing as Wang Kon, leader of the Koreans. I'm playing the game using the Beyond the Sword expansion pack and its latest patch, as well as the BUG mod. The difficulty level is Immortal (why not), the map is Fractal, and the speed is Normal. I’m leaving all the boxes unchecked except for huts and events, both of which are off. All victory conditions are enabled. If you have any questions about why I picked what I did, feel free to ask.
Here is a more detailed look at the initial game settings:
Here's a reminder as to Wang Kon's unique characteristics:
And, finally, here is the starting position:
Alright, let's get thinking!