Blid-01- A ring to rule them all

[sooooo]

OK, I'll play tonight. I'll probably be building full-on military. In my opinion the great lighthouse can wait until we capture it.

As I understand it, MM and Hatty are our friends. Hatty is buddhist now? OK. Asoka is our temporary friend. Come to think of it, everyone except MM is only a "temporary" friend. HC is probably next in line for the . But we can only turn our attention onto him once we cripple Alex and Khan. I'll see if I can do something about that on my turnset, and investigate that barb town in the north. We have to be aggressive before our immediate enemies get feudalism.

Tech-direction? Without iron, I propose a push towards gunpowder to get our UU.

 

[angeleyes]

@Blid: - overread your closingborder point and didn't thought about it myself, my mistake
- Asoka didn't want feudalism for cs anyway, and if it was possible, then i was not certain Hatshy would accept going to war with GK for cs because the value of cs would have dropped ( now i use your argument against you ... ) , so i had to deal with Hatshy first anyway imo.

@kikinit: the army was small but good proportioned, and i was lucky the AI allowed the spearman to take on the keshik in the city

@sooooo: (probably to late) maybe switch research to drama because some city's can use a cheap theatre
- finishing Great Lighthouse means sooner possession of the iron and is this way also military important (only 3 turns). If there was no iron problem, i wouldn't have build Colossus nor Great lighthouse)

 

[sooooo]

@sooooo: (probably to late) maybe switch research to drama because some city's can use a cheap theatre
- finishing Great Lighthouse means sooner possession of the iron and is this way also military important (only 3 turns)

It's not too late - I will play this in about 5 hours so any more discussion before then is valued. If the great lighthouse is only 3 turns away then obviously I will finish it. To be honest theatres do not concern me. Neither does the loss of iron. In the age of gunpowder, only cannons require iron. Before that, catpults are fine at taking cities pre-longbow. Can you remember if Alex has feudalism? If he does then I'll have to change my plan.

 

[angeleyes]

@sooooo: Alex and Genghis are very backwards. When conguering city's, i always build or rush theatre's first, and ours are cheap, and our just conquered mongol city neads a border expansion to get the copper.

good luck

ps. a worker south of Reims will do nothing first turn unless you wake him. He can chop forest in one turn, but maybe you don't want that.
(cannons are very powerfull..)
and for the one's concerned about our army: we have already 3 city's on military purpose, and within 3 turns Paris will join them

 

[blid]

Asoka didn't want feudalism for cs anyway, and if it was possible, then i was not certain Hatshy would accept going to war with GK for cs because the value of cs would have dropped ( now i use your argument against you ... ) , so i had to deal with Hatshy first anyway imo.

Well, I did say I was not sure it would have worked and not taking risks with Hatty bribe was wiser. I was saying that as info and am sorry if I say something u know already. I do repeat myself too much

@sooooo : concerning techs, try to grab something with trading value. If that is on gunpowder path, then it's even better

EDIT : we are creative. Don't worry about Ningh-Hsia culture

 

[angeleyes]

EDIT : we are creative. Don't worry about Ningh-Hsia culture

you are right, totally forgotten

 

[angeleyes]

(8): finally Battle of Hing-hsia:
> catapult dies but causes good damage,
> swordsman (67%) defeats archer,
> swordsman (70%) defeats spearman,
> spearman (70%) defeats keshik,
> axeman (99%) kills archer > We capture Hing-hsia without losses !

i took dying catapult for granted...

 

[blid]

I loaded the save and apparently, HC already took the barb city. Good it is not Mansa. The shore is secured from him now.

I guess Genghis is having a hard time against Hatty (look at power graph). I'd declare on him again before Alex and try to grab another coastal city. With some luck, Alex will declare on Mansa. He is furious at him and only annoyed with us.

We are not very far from leaders on tech field. With GL and Colossus, we should be able to get back on par with them once the cities grow and work sea tiles

Lyons need a farm to grow faster. I would not build cottages there as HC will probably hurt them during war. Let it work sea tiles and farms, forests

Let's keep plains forest at Rheims. This city is very production poor

Guilds sounds good. No one has it yet

Good luck sooooo.

 

[sooooo]

OK I finished my turns. I did them before reading your post, but I worked out most of the things you said. I could not declare on Genghis because the peace treaty will last for another 9 turns. We have a very small army (6th most powerful). The colossus hasn't helped anything yet because our cities have enough land tiles to work. Working coastal tiles severs production. Later on when our cities grow it will be a help, probably about the same time that it obsoletes. However, we got the great lighthouse and that did help. Sparta started the Heroic Epic, and with the help of a chop will be ready in 2 turns. We have copper now in Ning-Hsia, so less worry about the iron.

I'm not sure what the point of this city is:



It is working the dyes, which is stopping Paris working them. We are in beuraucracy and Paris has a library. It could work the cows, which stops Sparta from growing. I do this for now. I guess its only use is to build a lighthouse and work the coast.

I extorted 100GP from Alex and then declared on him for something to do. Razed Delphi and Pharsalos for the loss of 1 catapult total. Killed a few stray horse archers. Captured a worker. We should push on and raze Athens then declare peace. I felt this war was necessary to avoid us having to keep a decent defense force near Alex for when we attack HC or Khan. Rheims is now able to work the corn, which makes Paris healthy again. It also means Sparta can work the cows and grow.





Guilds finished and I picked engineering. No one has it yet and it will be useful to transport our troops around the ring quicker. I wasn't able to beg anything or trade much. Asoka will trade Drama, Theology and 120 gold for Guilds, so make that trade on your turn if you want.

My apologies, but I accidentally pressed enter after my 10 turns. The next turn is started but I haven't done anything. The save:

 

[blid]

That is just like you sooooo, always seeing war opportunities. Those 2 cities razed are great . I think heading for Athens is a good idea too. It is in the middle of Alex empire, so Mansa can't get there. Alex will settle it again but then all infra, population and pyramids will be gone

I think I will switch Rheims to lighthouse. We don't really need a barracks there. Let's work sea tiles and make use of the colossus. I am thinking also of settling another filler city between Sparta and Kolhapur. We can use such a city with a lot of sea tiles and 4 trade routes

Genghis seems like a juicy next target. If he don't manage to get feudalism before we attack, it will be a game for cats/maces

I'll try to play tomorrow night. Any comments/advice is welcome until then

 

[angeleyes]

(mistake.)

 

[angeleyes]

I'm not sure what the point of this city is:



It is working the dyes, which is stopping Paris working them. We are in beuraucracy and Paris has a library. It could work the cows, which stops Sparta from growing. I do this for now. I guess its only use is to build a lighthouse and work the coast.

Rheims was founded by the settler made to fill the gap between Sparta and Ningh-hsia. Purpose is money making and taking the corn one day, i wrote this in my turnlog

Rheims is now able to work the corn, which makes Paris healthy again.

you answers yourself

Alexander is already a lame duck. I'm afraid Mansa will go to war with him and eat him up ..

 

[blid]

Turn 1 : I traded Guilds with Asoka for theology, drama and gold. Mansa was offering very little for it so I guess he would have researched it quickly and value would drop. SO now is the time. Compass will be useful but we have time to trade it with HC or someone

I don't think that Sparta has been a good choice for heroic epic. It has only one hill.
Paris and Orelans are far better candidates. At least, preserve forests there.

Units need to heal a bit.

Turn 2 : heroic epic in. Start a maceman. Alex sends a horse archer.
Worker starts a new farm at Lyons. Some units are advancing to Athens

Turn 3 : Alex HA pillages a road. I attack him with spear at 87% chance and loose . Longbow finishes him and get some xp

I give HC drama and literature for compass and gold. I don't give him theology as I don't want him to start using theocraty and get experienced units. It is already enough that he is aggressive. Asoka is already at WFYABTA with us

Units are at Athens doors. Well, this is not what I will call a weekly defended city.

Attacking here means a lot of losses. Maybe just pillage and declare peace or wait for him to attack at forest across river. I regret I have only one sword there

IBT : trade wine with Hatty for silk. Alex attacks. He Looses an axe and we loose two swords

Turn 4
We kill Alex HA. Athens seem more easy now. Sparta start to spit maces out.
Cpital finishes another mace


IBT : Asoka founds Islam

Turn 5 :
Mace kills Alex War chariot
Lyons start lib
HC has too many units wandering around. The mace produced at Lyons is kept there. We need to start being cautious with HC. He is aggressive after all and as a backstabber as any of them.

Turn 6 :
Hatty comes asking for help in her war. Our troops are not positioned to do that. So to my deep regret, I had to refuse
I start harbors at capital and Orelans. With great lighthouse, +50% trade routes is a nice boost.
Bomabrd is finished at capital. Wait for troops. Engineering is in. Go for gunpowder for our UU


Turn 7 : zzzz. Troops are getting delayed to deal with Alex wandering troops. I position lot of cats at Athen door
We got engineering but there is nothing beneficial to trade, so I refrain

Turn 8
Hatty has captured a city of Khan ... at the coast (old Sarai)

And Alex wants to put a new city. Well, we got a free worker

Turn 9
Time for Athens battle :

The cats do a massacre at Athens.
Not a single one looses. I was just grabbing units that can get a promotion with a win. Burn Athens. Pillage a hamlet, pasture and farms then sign peace same turn. Only 2 g per turn as ransom. The guy was broke

Turn 10 :
MM asks us to convert to confucianism and I agree. Asoka drops to cautious but Hatty and HC are still pleased. I want to preserve relations with Mansa. This is +1 in place of -1 for a net +2. We can get back to no state later.
Only Lyons has confucianism so it won't help us much here, even if we change religious civics

Capital starts settler for a filler city (lot of sea tiles to get a use for colossus) :

Hatty is still mongering with the Khan. Sparta is at full maces pace. I guess we can start the war with Genghis in a few turns. Now engineering is in, troops movement is far better.

Don't neglect defences on HC side. We don't need to stay long at war with Genghis. He is backward so even at unfavourable numbers, he will not be able to do much harm once we take his coastal city and raze another one or two. Then concentrate on HC. Hatty is trustworthy in my experience, Huayna is not. And he is a financial bastard. He would eventually outtech us and trade like mad with the other malinese techwhore.

Acid is on auto-skip till saturday, so I am putting Kikinit UP. Post a got-it when you are able to play. If acid is back before, he can play his turns without swapping

Fellowship :

blid -- just played
acidsatyr -- On deck
Kikinit -- UP
Asperge
soooo

The save

 

[blid]

I forgot to mention that we have a great merchant. He can discover banking, which we can research pretty fast. We can send him to Delhi too, on a great trade mission

We can use a galley to see new situation at coasts. Can prioritize it to settler in capital or build it in Orelans

 

[Kikinit]

blid, I am not likely to get it before Saturday myself as I'm up in SGOTM and will be playing that tonight. If I do have time, I'll post a got it.

By the way, Nice turns . Razing Alex's capital has to have pissed him off. He will want revenge with us and will be scheming to hurt us from here out.

 

[blid]

Kikinit, fair enough. Concentrate on SGOTM
We can wait for the week end for the next turnset
As for Alex, he will have to work hard to get the forces to retaliate. And he will be so backwards, it will be maces vs rifles

 

[Kikinit]

Sure he won't be able to do us any real damage but if he sees an opportunity he may try and attack us later. We just need to keep all our cities with a reasonable defense. Unlike a normal game where some cities are shielded by the border ones, in this case all our cities are exposed & vulnerable. Cultural borders will help and the damage done to Alex now will mean that we will be winning the cultural war for the rest of the game. We will need to do it to each AI in turn.

 

[acidsatyr]

I'm back but i still can't play civ4 so skip me this one.
Nice game everyone, btw.

 

[blid]

Well, Kikinit you are definitely UP

 

[Kikinit]

I am going out with my family this morning but can play this afternoon.