Arabia to the stars (Goal:IMM fastest space colony)

[Manco Capac]

Trade routes to Dutchland are also crucial to get asap. 1 or 2 workers should be devoted to it asap. Chopping infra taking a little priority on that, though.
The earlier you get to Alpha, the better your range of possibilities. It might be possible to go for a late shot at wonders. GLH comes into mind as a good, opportunistic gamble.

The problem effectively lies here: I get fishing and a shot at the GLH, but I cancel my chance for an Engineering Bulb path.
I suppose given Engineering will come so late attempting the GLH is a decent gamble?

 

[Manco Capac]

Fourth Turnset (Second Part)


T80​

Nice! PH in one turn. I go for a late Oracle shot. If I fail, my back up plan is to use my fail gold for speeding up math, so to get GLH.

Spoiler :

T81​

Let's get started. I whipped my worker for a pop and got some OF into Oracle. Now, the worker is working hard to chop one forest at a time with two of his companions.

Spoiler :

Finally, I decided to make a wait for IW and get those instead. If ever I happen to get a nice Hinduism/Judaism spread, perhaps I'll switch to OR for better chops into GLH.

Spoiler :

After all, Sailing was good. I got one more happy resource.

Spoiler :

Let's grow to size six, then start a settler. Given the high food spot, I'll get faster OF production from whipping 3 pops into a settler. And I'll need settlers once I get GLH. If I get it. I am starting to prechop for math incoming. That plain tile worked at St.Petersbourg is just for finishing the madrassa this turn instead of the next one.

Spoiler :

Oh! Darius has invested 51 hammers into something...

Spoiler :

Finally, my trade routes.

Spoiler :

T82​

Oracle still available!

Spoiler :

Hmmm..now 62 hammers into something. Can still be a settler or some building. We don't know yet.

Spoiler :

T83​

Willem got Math.

Spoiler :

T84​

We meet the other one Shaka mentioned. Nice set of AI's.

Spoiler :

Still available! Sorry for the typical shifted screenshots. I didn't see that.

Spoiler :

Oh gosh! Next turn I can have it! Please because I made some inefficient chops...

Spoiler :

My first 3 pop whip in Moscow. There's a nice fish city near. I prepare the settler to settle on the wine as soon as I get the GLH or a more stable economy.

Spoiler :

T85​

I assure you I have nothing to do how this game became so rigged! This is a crazy game and further I go, better the chance for a <1750 AD space colony goes.

Spoiler :

More exploration. Nice lands.

Spoiler :

T86​

And I oracle Currency. I know MC is a stronger trading chip, but earlier Currency, stronger the falls. Suddenly, my tech rate is starting to rock. Perhaps, I will be able to self-tech Engineering instead of wasting GPeoples. GLH still available.

Spoiler :

Time to start growing my capital. But I wonder if I should give up my coppers to both Willem and Wang Kon, so to mass build warriors. Perhaps pillage one of them. I made the mistake to road the second copper.

Spoiler :

Next turn math is in and I will start to efficiently chop.

Spoiler :

Now, what to do? I need to redefine my goals. MC? Shame I still don't have Marble. I terribly need to explore that island. Perhaps it is Wang?

Spoiler :

 

[Thrar]

How can you see the hammers invested from the espionage screen?

 

[shakabrade]

Perversion...


Edit: Was actually thinking about one more try, but, why...? Why?

 

[kossin]

That plain tile worked at St.Petersbourg is just for finishing the madrassa this turn instead of the next one.

Spoiler :

Minor detail but the grass forest would have given you 1 more food.

Is gems city next?

~~~

That being said, at this rate of luck, <1750AD should be a relatively easy goal. What you need to do is evaluate how to keep expanding.

Now that you have Fishing, have Damascus do a 2t wb to explore islands. Alternatively, gamble and make a galley right away. There are at least 3 offshore tiles that we can tell of - which are sufficiently spaced to allow for 2 cities... if food is there.

Finally, you have to balance out further expansion (war) with your research. Once you have settled your planned cities, you'll be reaching the limits of a GLH-fueled expansion without additional islands.

War will provide the usual spoils (good) but also kill your traderoutes (bad)... but if you get 2+ islands, grabbing all those juicy Dutch cities is the way to go.

Establish your warring techs and the number of turns until you
1) DoW
2) finish WvO off
This will give you the better estimate of how much time you have to get going on war.

Since WvO still lacks Monarchy, you have maybe 20 turns until Longbows if you're lucky. Enough to get rid of 1~2 cities.

I'm guessing WvO is working on Hanging Gardens in Amsterdam... Aqueduct can be seen and the sabotage production as well is going up. Plus, he might shrine Hindu within the next 15 turns.

~~~

Early game is my biggest civ4 weakness, I always learn from good openings
Your code diving is also quite interesting.

 

[BornInCantaloup]

Nice decisions!

First the Russian are dead... Your warring is amazing. Such is the power of the settler player. I knew. I don't know. I think I know. Gosh, I wish I knew.

Going for Priesthood was justified and paid off great!
It was a good choice not to mine the hill in Damascus and go all chops. With whipping, chops saved 1 turn compared to mining the hill. You did use two more forests to get that security, though.

GLH might seal the deal.


@Tech choices:
I'm not sure I agree with Kossin, above. I think I should but I'll provide a more conservative advice. You're starting from scratch now if you want to consider war plans (no horde to mop up).

You have the following covered for some time:
- Happy cap is secured via Monarchy
- GLH will provide research power
- Future expansion can be sustained peacefully

Pretty sure some more exploration is needed. If only to make Renaissance plans.
With that, I think it might be the right moment to put a dent on the Ais Liberalism path, which will let you complete your peaceful expansion.
So set up to found Confucianism or Taoism and build the 2-3-4-5 settlers you need..

Now, Wang's favourite civic is Caste System, so there's a risk he goes Code of Laws before you can.
Going for it yourself might be the thing to do, though. St Pet and Moscow seem fitted to provide future GPs so you can easily consider founding Taoism.
CoL is a prereq to Civil Service, which could shine. You could probably make some use of Caste System now that Scientists have limited use for your warring.
CoL is a medium-cost tech for you and it can help you propel in any direction you need. Trade mission could fund your research to Engineering.
Researching CoL may buy you the time you need to make better long-term decisions, at the cost of forcing you into Longbows...


What you don't have covered:
- Military tech, notably. Metal Casting won't be an easy trade so it may be good to tech yourself - the happy boost is for naught, however, now that you have Monarchy. With GLH, military tech can probably be subordinated to peaceful expansion, though. Colossus is neutral, I think. Combo with Caste System is legit but max cottages is useful for space.
- Engineering: to research or to trade? All things relative, trading is better for larger Empires.
- War Elephants: that is something to tech, surely.
- Trading chips. Not sure what your policy should be, here. You mentionned the absence of Marble. Aesthetics -> Music can serve to trade towards (for) Engineering and ensures a golden age but is stronger with marble. Compass -> Optics (-> Astro?) is another trading line that may not offer the same benefits.
- Renaissance tech targets. Education vs Banking comes to mind. More exploration is needed (again). I'm biased towards Banking as I think it is both very hard and very important to get an early Wall Street in a dominant holy city. The Dutch have a holy city. Wall Street (vs Oxford) makes science multipliers very desirable, and that is the more economical way to build the Empire. Mass Banks + Wall Street = Markets+Grocers for health&happy cap or super-commerce cities.

 

[shakabrade]

Very simple and best advice for your future:

Go to Cuirs ASAP. Moscow can bulb MT in no time. Thanks to GLH, you'll be able to keep your economy afloat. Now, it is time for peaceful expansion and settling islands if not too far.
Civic: HR.
Conquer to around 35 cities by 1200-1300AD (easy with having Moscow so early), which will allow you to have some vassals for some techs, then, corporations, then victory.
If you don't get GE, go to WB. j/k



Thread alive!

 

[Manco Capac]

Hurray! Tomatoes time.

Anyways, I have another plan in mind to salvage this thread. But that will involve a new game (and enforced rules).

 

[shakabrade]

Jeez, Tachy, there is j/k next to world buildering GE. No dolus in it.
It had more relation with my game in which I did't get GE despite the good odds of getting it from 7 GPs. If I had WB'd GE in that game, I'd be only half ashamed. That much frustrated I was.

 

[BornInCantaloup]

Anyways, I have another plan in mind to salvage this thread. But that will involve a new game (and enforced rules).

Hey, don't feel forced to restart! Space race is a long game. You took a great start but many things are still to happen. Aren't you curious to see how advanced you can get?

Don't feel forced either to keep giving the amount of details you've been giving. Can get tedious as the game grows. You're the better judge to detail what matters to you.

So... what about your target date? And your medium-term objectives? Preferred improvements? You'll have to mass some.


I'll definitely land my SS by 1850, by the way. I'm almost there (3 techs to go on 1720 AD) but I've had to pay a lot more attention from the midgame to make up for some earlier clumsiness. Ain't a guarantee of flawless play at all. Civic switches, in particular, are always hard choices for me and make good saving/loading point. Didn't really consider SPI trait for half the game, though.
Finally, if that's an incentive, I can promise you saves to compare with from 275 BC, my DoW date and first save. I'll be interested to see if & how your game is better all around.

 

[shakabrade]

@BiC

Well put.
I'd also like to see how far it goes.

I'll definitely land my SS by 1850, by the way. I'm almost there (3 techs to go on 1720 AD) but I've had to pay a lot more attention from the midgame to make up for some earlier clumsiness. Ain't a guarantee of flawless play at all. Civic switches, in particular, are always hard choices for me and make good saving/loading point. Didn't really consider SPI trait for half the game, though.
Finally, if that's an incentive, I can promise you saves to compare with from 275 BC, my DoW date and first save. I'll be interested to see if & how your game is better all around.

If Ecology was your last tech, you'll finish around 1780AD? GAge for the end?

I'll post the only thing I did right in the game when I get to my computer.

 

[Manco Capac]

Giving up on this game wasn't my intention. But I intent at some point in this week to start a parallel random game where the primary goal is the 115 first turns: How to manage a balance between ReX and teching. I'll ban some practices like conquering some AI's (which can lead to some unbalance) and possibly worker stealing. Ideally, no AI near us (which eliminates race for city locations)...not as much as Peter was. Someone who doesn't intent to tag along will check if any AI near.

People will submit their results and we'll discuss what was good/bad. If the resulting amount of hammers gained through your path brings good or is his/her path with commerce was better.

 

[BornInCantaloup]

If Ecology was your last tech, you'll finish around 1780AD? GAge for the end?

Ecology it is, with a vassal having Fission. GA is for next turn but it will only be the 3rd. Taj Mahal would have guaranteed 5.
Appolo is also for next turn - late. 3 Gorges Dam in about 5 turns. I'll have to spread ship parts production. Didn't break 5000 beakers/turn.

I'm not sure how turns scale at this point. Maybe 1780 AD is in range.

 

[Manco Capac]

@BiC

I often use some HoF tabs to guide me in dates. Like this one coming from the challenger serie #1:
Here.

Up until 1800 AD, each turn is worth 5 years.

I see T266 is 1780 AD.

 

[kossin]

I remember an old Mansa Deity map with a lot of expansion room if you don't mind the difficulty

 

[Manco Capac]

I can take deity, but deity has a prime example (and that is why I took IMM as learning tool) of total random outcome. And less human control over the flow of the game.

Inland Sea, Mansa. The last DR Kossin ever.

 

[kossin]

No, this one:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=349880

 

[Manco Capac]

Greatest bureaucratic capital evaa.

 

[FlyingSwan]

awww,ive been loving watch this game unfold please continue it?

 

[Mitchum]

awww,ive been loving watch this game unfold please continue it?

+1

I was looking forward to seeing how you would optimize the end game, which can still hold quite a bit of learning opportunities for all of us. I also want to see if you will achieve the 1 tech/turn rate seen in all of the top Space games.