B1 - Aztec Succession game

[BrianJ]

Yes, my last save was with the patch. Let me know if any of you see any strange effects though.

For instance, the graphics are acting strange now. I occasionally see foreign units moving in territory we have never visited, leaving a spot surrounded by darkness that is lit up as if we controlled it.

 

[Nanook]

310 BC: Mathematics discovered. Research into Mysticism begun. Was able to drop the science rate 20% and still maintain a 4 turn discovery rate.

290: Moderately bad news. The Greeks have finished the Pyramids.

270: Jag warror completed in Tzin. Temple began.

250: There's a race between our settler and an Iriqouis one for that little bit of good land to the west. I moved our Jag warrior that was in the area in an attempt to block them. We shall see if it works.

230: Mysticism completed. Aiming for Monarchy, should be there in ~15 turns, give or take. Raised science rate 20% to cut Polytheism to 5 turns.

210: Ouch. This is a crappy turn. Civil disorder in Tenochtilan. The French complete the Great Library. a good 15 turns before we were scheduled to. That hurts. Switched to the Oracle. since its the only Wonder available to be built, and I don't want to throw away the shields. And the thrice-damned Iroqouis went right to the location I wanted for a city. Changed directions with the settler, gunning for the horses just to the south.

190: Order restored in Tenochtilan. 7 turns until the Oracle is built. I may try and finagle it so that I can switch it again to the Hanging Gardens instead, depends on how long Monarchy will take to research.

170: GRRRRRR! The Iriqouis dropped a settler right next to the horses, cutting off our settler. And then the %^^*^%#$ Americans built the Oracle. All those shields are going to waste now, nothing I can do about it.

God this was such as ugly round I feel compelled to retire in shame and defeat and hope that someday the people will forgive me.

 

[BrianJ]

Nanook, you did fine. The events like other civs beating us to the wonders were going to happen anyway..

The Iroquois will get theres soon We will need a bigger military..

 

[BrianJ]

Brian
Nanook
LKendter (playing)
Shdwlord (on deck)
Arizona_Steve

 

[LKendter]

Preturn -
The truly pathetic Aztecs flush away a ton of shields in teno...

150 BC - I go for the path of least resitance, and start on code of laws.
110 BC - Fishtown is formed, our final city unless we find an island. Take one look, and you will understand its name. Rome gives us Code of Laws for World map 4 turns saved. Switch to philosphy. Never mind, Egypt gives us Philosphy for World Map. Switch to Republic in 28 turns. Our best shot is to build a strong economy.
70 BC - Upgrade what we can afford in jaguar to swordsman.
10 AD - The Germans are building the Great Wall.
30 AD - The Egyptians, and French join the Great Wall party.
50 AD - America jions the Great Wall party.
110 AD - India has found the Greeks.
130 AD - Get contact with England from Greece. We are broke.
[dance]Kahnawake flips to us[dance]
230 AD - The Russians issue a demand, I want war so I refuse!
250 AD - We have a ROP with Iroqoius, use it well.

Summary - Keep a couple of jaguars, or we may not see a golden age. We have the Colussus which is religous. We need a militarisic wonder - The great wall, Leo's, Manhattan, Sun Tzu, Universal Suffrage.
I never realize it before, but Shakespeare's can't trip a GA for anybody!
The settler / spearman is to use place another city in the Junlge. You never know where the coal will show up!
All cities with production, except Texcoco building military. Texcoco will join the party in 2 turns. The library is to close to throw away all those shields. Get us a leader.

 

[shdwlord]

I will see what I can do about getting GL

 

[shdwlord]

Inherited: minor tweaking of the production allows 60% science, republic in 7 turns. I want to be in republic before the golden age starts.

260 France politely demands our territory map and 10 gold. She goes back to her palace and pouts when we say no. Indians start the Hanging Gardens.

270 India gets upset that our galley violated their border. Iroquois start Hanging Gardens. Egypt starts Hanging Gardens.

280 I get the feeling that this game is going to be a cascade nightmare for awhile as the French start the Hanging Gardens.

290 Russian bowman defeated outside Tonawanda.
Counterattack kills 1 of our spearmen
America starts the Hanging Gardens.

300 2 Russian bowmen defeated near St. Petersburg. The Greeks start Hanging Gardens. Germans start Hanging Gardens.

310 We learn republic. we fall into anarchy.

320 We are now a republic, science dropped to 20%, currency in 4 turns.
Russian bowman impales himself upon our spearman near Tonawanda.

330 Russian warrior defeated near Tomawanda. Dark Blue border spotted north of Russia.
Rome starts the Hanging Gardens.

340 An extremely backwards people, the Babylonians, are discovered. World map traded for their world map and their treasury (130 gold). Go to establish an embassy with them and note we have no embassies. Hmmmm, here we go.
America gives monarchy and construction for contact with the babylonians, Currency, territory map, and 6 gold for our world map. No welcome to the next age screen, Monotheism left, as it has 6 turns, and everything else had at least 29, I think our beakers carried over to it.
Iroquois give us their territory map and monotheism for our world map and contact with babylonians. Theology auto selected at 38 turns, still no pop-up asking what I want.
Rome is broke, but refuses to give us their world map, contact sold for their territorty map, and their treasury (1 gold)
Greece also refuses to sell their world map for less than republic + WM + gpt. Contact with babylon sold for 30 gold.
Egypt gives territory map for contact.
England gives territory map and 1 gold for contact and world map.
France gives 7 gold and territory map for contact, 50 gold for our world map.
Germany gives territory map and 4 gold for contact.
India gives territory map for contact.
Wow, since the patch, the computer civs have no gold.
Science bumped up to 40%, theology in 20 turns.
Russian bowman attack and lose to a Jag Warrior,

we have entered into a golden age

France has completed the great wall. Germany switches to Hanging Gardens. India switches to Hanging Gardens.

350 Pillaged russian cow.
Americans are building the Hanging Gardens. Romans are building the Hanging Gardens. Greeks are building the Hanging Gardens. Egypt is building the Hanging Gardens.

360 London is on the coast, great lighthouse in 44 turns. Tlaxcala switched to the great lighthouse, 19 turns. Russian bowman defeated outside Minsk. 2 spearmen defeated inside Minsk.
English start Hanging Gardens.

370 Minsk, and large supply of silks, are captured.
Swordsman defends against 1 bowman near St. Petersburg, barely loses to 2nd.
French start Sun Tzu's Art of War.

380 defeated the wounded russian bowman near St. Petersburg.
Germany starts the Art of War.

390 Babylonians are building the Hanging Gardens.

400 Russian spearman defeated outside Minsk

410 Russians lose a spearman, we lose a swordsman on attack of St Petersburg. Babylon is on the coast, great lighthouse in 25 turns.

420 Massive unrest plagues our empire. Russians suspected of steroid use as 1 spearman defeats 3 swordsman.

430 St Petersburg falls into our hands. With war weariness becoming a problem, peace is negotiated. We get feudalism for 7 gpt. Teno begins the Art of War, 30 turns to its completion.
America starts the Art of War.
Greeks start the great lighthouse.

440

450 Theology learned, education ordered. Tlaxcala switched to Sistine Chapel.

Kahnawake's 1 citizen is still upset at all the whippings. There are 12 swordsman in St. Petersburg, 3 turns away from taking Moscow if they declare war on us. They are furious with us. I would have taken Moscow if so many of our cities hadn't been starving due to war weariness. We still have 18 turns of peace with them unless they declare war. Tlaxcala can probably get the great lighthouse before anyone, but we risk losing the Sistine Chapel to a cascade. Right now, no one has theology except us, but who knows what will have happened in another 12 turns. Several marketplaces will come online soon, our economy needs a boost.

Up next -- Arizona-Steve

 

[Arizona_Steve]

I will play tonight as I have to head out to work now.

Now Playing

 

[Arizona_Steve]

Not much to say. We need infrastructure badly, our economy is in the toilet despite being in a Golden Age. I'm keeping an eye on the Russians, but they turned out not to be the problem. All swordsmen are fortified in St Petersburg in the hope that the Russians will declare war.


Inherited turn:
All improvements left as is.

(1) 460AD
Cleo wants Theology in addition to an exchange of territory maps. No deal. The longer we keep Theology, the bigger the jump we get on Sistine. Some improvements completed. Cathedrals are started if unhappiness is imminent. Marketplaces elsewhere to improve the economy. Some harbors started.

(2) 470AD
Rush temple in St Petersburg as it is too near the Russian capital for my liking. If we remove all those swordsmen in there when a war starts, it's in danger of flipping. Library started. More marketplaces and harbors started.

(3) 480AD
A Barbarian galley is sunk. No promotion. ROP with Iroquois is renogotiated for 25 Gold. Cathedral started in Whaletown. Berlin (Germany) completes Hanging Gardens, causing a cascade to Sun Tzu's. The Greeks demand Theology. We tell them to stuff it where the Sun doesn't shine, and they declare war. I can't even see them on the map, so assume that they're stuck on an island and out of harm's way until Navigation is discovered. Despite that our Foreign Advisor pulls a face not unlike what you see at the World Gurning chanpionships. Everyone wants Theology for a Military Alliance against the Greeks. Decide it's not worth it.

(4) 490AD
Micromanage cities as jungle is cleared around them.

(5) 500AD
More infrastructure built. No-one in Xochicalco working that iron square. Two shields and some gold added to production. Jaguar Warrior junps off a galley to kick some barbarian butt.

(6) 510AD
Barbarian camp is cleared by Aztec warrior for another 25 gold. Every little helps. Now Germany demand Theology. We tell them to shove it. They're right on the other side of the world anyway, so we'd probably have peace before they even reached us.

(7) 520AD
I laugh as Greece and Germany form an alliance against us. I don't foresee much action in the following turns.

(8) 530AD
French get Theology. Time to broker the tech around and see what we can get for it. Find out that the AI really is MUCH more aggressive when it comes to tech brokering, as the only two civs that don't have it are broke! More cathedrals appear, start building more swordsmen.

(9) 540AD
I am starving Tlaxcala to get an extra shield per turn towards Sistine. This needs to be switched back before the granary empties. There is an empty irrigated tile there. Our Golden age ends. Hmm. Judging from production I would've never thought we were in one, as we drop from 25 gold per turn to -19. UGH!

(10) 550AD
More city micromanagement.

(11) 560AD
Science backed to 30% for positive (+1) cashflow.

(12) 570AD
OK. Looks like we've become the whipping boy for all the other civs as India decides to join in the warmongering. They're right next to us. I try to get allies, but everyone who could possibly help says "can't be done".

(13) 580AD
Steve is voted out of office in disgrace.


The only good thing about this is that the war is on one front. The Russians have kept quiet all through my turn, but seeing that Catharine is insane as well as ugly, I can see her jumping in to make her dull life more exciting.

All our swordsmen are stuck in St Petersberg.

Tlaxcala needs to be unstarved!!

I would rather pass the game on in the hope that the person following me is a better warmonger than I am (that's almost a certainty). I would feel pretty bad if I screwed this up and lost the game for the group.

 

[LKendter]

Originally posted by Arizona_Steve
I would feel pretty bad if I screwed this up and lost the game for the group.

Well, this game was screwed from the start.
This is one of the worst starts I have ever played.

 

[BrianJ]

I'll play tomorrow..

I agree, the start sucks.. Maybe I'll start another one as Aztecs, try to get a better position next game.

POLL: Who wants to drop this game, start a new one?
Dump it or see how it goes?

 

[Arizona_Steve]

I'm for starting a new one... Not only are we hemmed in by jungle, our economy sucks and there's no way we're going to raise a big enough army to fend off the vultures...

I will keep playing the current map if you guys vote that way...

 

[BrianJ]

I'll vote for restart too.

Thats 2 responses and 2 restart. I'll wait to hear from the other guys.

 

[Nanook]

I don't paticularly care for restarting, BUT this isn't going to be very much fun for a group to play. Solo I might take it on for the challenge, but for sucession purposes I think a restart might be in order.

 

[shdwlord]

Part of the learning curve for any game is how to deal with lost positions. I know I learned alot more from my losses in chess than my wins. Just imagine how you will feel if we actually manage to pull this game out somehow We could always start a B2 now, and give up on this one later if it proves to be totally hopeless.

 

[LKendter]

I don't care either way.

However, I have NEVER had a game where I didn't at least try for the Pyramids

I think we can somehow pull something off in this game. The question is WHAT?

 

[BrianJ]

However, I have NEVER had a game where I didn't at least try for the Pyramids .

Again, remember the Zulu game Of course that was a special case.


Brian - Restart
Nanook - Restart?
LKendter - Maybe?
Shdwlord - Keep it
Arizona_Steve - Restart

How about this? We play one more round, if it still looks hopeless, we drop it

Later, if someone wants to play it out on their own for the challenge, they could post updates. A few of us may be more interested in that than keeping it as a succession game.

Suggestion: We could play this one on our own (whoever feels like it) and posts the results as they go and when they finish. Treat it like a GOTM. I'd like to see one or more of us pull it out of the gutter.

Other succession games have started worse off. Look at the Cuba game.

I still want an Aztec game so unless you guys strenuously disagree, that will be the civ I'll aim for in B2.

OK?

Hope you guys will all be in for B2! I'll try to get a better start next time!

 

[BrianJ]

I think I'm cursed as far as starting positions go.. Funny, this game looked quite good compared to what I'm used to!

I tried starting a new game. Got some nice looking sites a few times, only to find they were surrounded by acres of jungle, or desert, or one was on a tiny island! I'd have to crowd to fit 2 more cities on it!

On one start, I ran into an American scout on my second turn! I retired. Turns out the Americans and Greeks were placed almost on top of my start, while the rest of the large continent was wide open!

I finally got one that looks half decent. Not perfect though. Its on a coast, so our palace is wasted in the ocean. I'll play it a bit to see how it goes.

I'll also try to get a turn done in B1..

 

[BrianJ]

I don't have time to play this until the weekend, so if someone else wants to play, please do so.. I'll pick it up anain on my next turn.

 

[LKendter]

Brian (Me)
Nanook (playing) <<<<
LKendter
Shdwlord
Arizona_Steve