[BTS] BOTM 144 First Spoiler to 1AD

[Deckhand]

Use this thread to tell us what happened in your game, up to 1AD!
Although game starts at 1960BC it is simpler to keep this spoiler to 1AD as normal.

Where did you settle?
What were your first builds?
How many cities?
Wars?

Stop! If you are participating in BOTM 144, then you MUST NOT read this thread unless EITHER

• You have reached at least 1 AD in your game, OR
• You have submitted your entry

The AIs

Spoiler AI Selection :

All civilizations are Charismatic.
The resulted in 3 pairs. (no other charismatic civs)

There is one other twist: be careful with your diplomacy.

My apologies for any confusion in diplomatic dealings. And colors.

Tell us about your religious experience

Spoiler The Religions :

I assigned the early 3 religions by country so that the civs with same name had same religion and would be friendly with each other. I gave the holy cities to the civs further from you.
The six AIs start with religion and the player doesn't.

He tried to warn me:

Well, with 6 AI each having a religion, and 7 religions in the game.. my experience as mapmaker with non-ancient starts is that about turn 6 the player (or opponent) will get the 7th religion for free. I say this because if you only give out 3 religions to prevent random disturbnces, there are still 3 religions handed out by the game (even when the tech for that religion is not known).... I had to hand out all religions to prevent random spawn. That said... no guarantees the last religion goes to the player... an AI could get 2. Just saying. Meh.

This is what I expected:

It should just be religions for techs that have already been discovered.

But I just played the start and was surprised that Hannibal discovered a religion - my choice of the remaining four with other 3 undiscovered.

Did you learn a religion early thru no effort?
Did you notice if any AI had more than one? Were the remaining 3 discovered later?

edit,
Note that you need caravels to find the LC easter egg. And you need galleons to settle on iron/copper isles.
Did any mines spawn metals in your game?


Posting Restrictions

• Please do not disclose ANY events or information gained post 1 AD.
• Please do not reveal your final result if that happened after 1 AD.
• Please do not discuss the location of resources that may not show up before 1 AD. (Iron is OK, coal and oil are not)
  
• Do not post any savegame file from the game. Discussions and screenshots are fine but not actual games

Moderator Action: Corrected thread title --NZ

 

[LowtherCastle]

Didn't notice this spoiler before.

I got a choice of the remaining 4 religions on t6 (iirc) and I chose Confu. I was already teching CoL because I decided I wanted a religion for OR and it was annouying that I had already put beakers into Col, especially since I was dumb ennough to take Confu without thinking it might be a waste to tech CoL. But after taking Confu, the screen still showed Confu available from CoL so I had some hope I'd get another religion. Sure enough, I did, again a choice of the remaining. Weird.

So it seems that we get a choice if the three religions are pre-planted but if they're not pre-planted, we might or might not get a religion. Wonder what happens if all 7 are pre-planted. Probably nothing.

Off the top of my head I forget where I settled but I focused on a strong capital with cottages. Planned to expand and build the GLH. Got screwed by de Gaulle on 25BC, 2t before I would have finished.

 

[kcd_swede]

I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!! LOL! I took Islam, for the specific reason of not screwing up the availabilities. Glad to knw it did not matter. Not really, but thought I should say so to be nice.

 

[LowtherCastle]

I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!! LOL! I took Islam, for the specific reason of not screwing up the availabilities. Glad to knw it did not matter. Not really, but thought I should say so to be nice.

Okay, but why only one of the four remaining?

 

[kcd_swede]

Okay, but why only one of the four remaining?

I chose, and then it was founded, and I got the choice again... I chose Christianity but did not get it. Consider it a bug. No reason why, it just is what it is.

 

[LowtherCastle]

I chose, and then it was founded, and I got the choice again... I chose Christianity but did not get it. Consider it a bug. No reason why, it just is what it is.

Yeah, same here. Forgot to mention that.

 

[Deckhand]

I chose, and then it was founded, and I got the choice again... I chose Christianity but did not get it. Consider it a bug. No reason why, it just is what it is.

Oh, so you got additional choices after picking Christianity but they had no affect?
Not exactly what I just wrote in announcement thread.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Oh, so you got additional choices after picking Christianity but they had no affect?
Not exactly what I just wrote in announcement thread.

Just one time after. In other words, I got my choice of all four remaining religions and picked one. Got it. Then the same pop-up screened appeared again with only the three remaining religions, I picked one, didn't get it. End of cycle.

 

[kcd_swede]

Just one time after. In other words, I got my choice of all four remaining religions and picked one. Got it. Then the same pop-up screened appeared again with only the three remaining religions, I picked one, didn't get it. End of cycle.

Same here- I just chose Islam as my first choice to demonstrate that this is how it works, and the tech for the choice you get is not needed. Hopefully EVERYONE got to choose a religion, if any did not they would be at a disadvantage.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I settled 1NW, losing one of the clams, but picking up the sheep. This was mainly because I realised in-place had no land-based bonus tiles, and so risked growing very slowly despite the extra hammer from being on a plains-hill. This also had the advantage that I could leave the eastern-most clams for a 2nd city by the horses, which would otherwise have no food.

Later on, I was very glad I settled 1NW because barb galleys showed up very early, which meant it was a constant battle to keep the fish working. I think I may have lost them at some point, but can’t fully remember.

I also had a bit of a shock when barb axemen started spawning. At one point, three of them heading my way at the same time. Of course – Deckhand may have removed all the copper and iron to stop us and the AI building melee units, but that wasn’t going to stop the barbs. Luckily I didn’t see any barb spearmen – that could’ve been a disaster. As it was putting the 2nd city by the horses meant I had a few chariots to take care of the axemen.

My impression at 1AD was this was turning out to be a difficult game because there are very few places good to settle early. I’d mapped out lots of places on the mainland I wanted to settle, but they were all either dependent on seafood (useless until I had some triremes to ward off the constantly spawning barb galleys), or were things like banana under jungle, needing iron working and calendar. Luckily I also explored the island to the North which was a bit better, revealing a good production site (settled) and a potential GP farm (settler on the way). This meant at 1AD I had just 3 cities, total pop 9, and sustainable science of just 25bpt. To be fair, the classical start means 1AD is only turn 63, far fewer turns into the game than a normal (ancient) start would be. And I had been whipping a lot in the capital, which was therefore rather small on that turn.

For religion – I started researching code-of-laws thinking I could nab an early religion. But then, like other people, the game offered me a religion after a few turns. I took Taoism, and immediately swapped my research to mathematics. No need for two religions! At 1AD I have maths, alphabet, monarchy, metal casting and iron working. 7 turns from calendar. Would really have loved to beeline bureaucracy, but the needs of food and barb defences are too pressing for that.

 

[neilmeister]

I settled in place, and I chose Christianity.... 3 times before the popups went away...but I got it.

My second city went over to the west to get the sheep and be a helper for my capitals cottages. Third city went east to grab horses. The barb galleys were a pain, but they made me build a galley earlier than I would have otherwise, so that was a good thing.