[BTS] BOTM 146 First Spoiler: 1AD

[DynamicSpirit]

BOTM 146: Victoria's Empire: First Spoiler

Use this thread to tell us what happened in your game, up to 1AD!



Where did you settle? Did starting with a religion influence how you played? What did you do with the missionary? Have you met the AI?

Stop! If you are participating in BOTM 146, 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

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

 

[babybluepants]

Fun game to shake off the rust after 5 years away from Civ4. Thanks, DS.

The early turns took a long time, getting a feel for the unique game setup. I got a sense that a fast domination would be possible pre-Optics, and that elepult would be the way to do it. Exploration would be important, so I focused on getting a WB-pump second city asap. Settled it 1NW of marble, and worked the PH forest until the cow was online, building 3-4 WB as quickly as possible. I was really hoping for early circumnavigation initially, but alas no. The exploration was definitely useful, as I got to see the AI city defenders and map out the land area very early.

Third city went 1W of ivory. I debated the city placement quite a bit, because of the border pop requirement. Then I stupidly lost the missionary to a barb , causing me to research Myst too early and really mess up my worker turns. Didn't bother with any other cities on the starting island, even though pig-iron would be ok. The only other city built was 1E of the horse on the main continent, as a port for my galley chain from marble-1NW.

Oracled Construction in 875 BC, and followed that by building SH in 800 BC. It was still available, I had a few turns of production to spare and I may need it for border pops for the end-game settler spam. Probably didn't need it, as the captured cities all have religion and caste artists are available for the end game.

DoW'd MM at 425 BC and Shaka in 275 BC. MM is dead. Shaka lost his top 3 cities, and I signed a CF in 75 BC to re-group before razing his last couple of cities and going after Gandhi. I initllay intended to kill Saladin, but I think Gandhi makes more sense logistically. Overall the warring is going a bit slower than I expected. Started off badly, when Saladin DoW'd MM a few turns before I was going to and I also had to DoW Shaka 2-3t too early to keep him from connecting copper. Also, I haven't been able to capture any workers.
On the upside, I've got Currency and COL, and no real tech needs. Those Merc/Caste merchants are awesome.

 

[SilentWatcher]

That's a coincidence! Iv'e not been around for about 5 years either.. Found I now have too much time on my hands due to illness so I remembered a great way to eat up the hours and here I am! My city layout sounds very nearly the same as yours, although choices were restricted. 4 cities on the starting continent, 2 over to the east with the others and one settler on the way to the gold island out west. Not gone for war yet as I prefer the long game, maybe space race but it's not written in blood. Got the GL, The colossus, stonehenge, the oracle and the temple of artemis. Bit of a financial and tech powerhouse at the moment. explored the mainland and thinking of sending a few maces, elephants and cats to say hello.. All good fun!
Nice to be back!

 

[DynamicSpirit]

That's great to see some old familiar faces back in the competition - welcome back babybluepants and SilentWatcher (although sorry to hear of your illness SilentWatcher). Look forward to seeing how you guys do in the end!

 

[Pangaea]

Decided to pick up this one after all, as a soft way back into competitive games. Settled in place and settled the 2nd city by the marble, and built the Great Lighthouse there. Looked like a watery map from early exploration, so figured it would come in handy. It has, especially with being in Mercantilism, without foreign trade routes. Still playing at 1AD, so probably too late for the usually rapid conquest or domination wins. Not located the last AI yet, but have seen some borders.

Shaka is dead, but I had to cease-fire once, and then took a 10-turn peace treaty as he was willing to give me Construction (which nobody else had at the time). Oracled Civil Service. Razed one of Shaka's cities, settled a few others for a total of 14, doing 400 . Not too shabby. Oh, and I got Economics shortly before 1AD and switched to Free Market. Most of the free specialists were just common citizens anyway.

Think declaring on Gandhi next makes the most sense, though I don't like those juicy defenders. Perhaps I ought to get out some elephants and more catas first, instead of suiciding a herd of horses.

Can't get used to seeing AI warriors around for such a long time Could probably have done a lot of damage with just chariots early enough here.

There must be a whole team of settled Great Prophers every which way. I've seen 7-8 be born I think. Kinda lost count

Not to complain too much, because overall I've probably been on the lucky/expected side of combat outcomes, but...

Spoiler :

Ooooof!! Half-dead barbs are dangerous

Didn't even give him the Combat promotion, since I expected this to be a gimme, and intended to heal-promote with it.

 

[High King J.J.]

I remember once having lost a fight with only 99.98% combat odds. Can't remember what Botm/Wotm/Gotm it was, years ago.

 

[Deckhand]

Taoism was discovered 3040 BC by Shaka. How the heck did that happen?

Six cities:
London SIP bc4000, pop7; GLib (300bc), stock market
York NW of marble bc2720, pop5; Oracle (950bc, Civil Service), GLH (725bc), Temple of Artemis (425bc)
Nottingham 1W of ivory (horses, wheat) bc1880, pop5 - used missionary to spread religion to pop borders (my team lost free missionary in recent SG, so was careful to keep this one alive)
Hastings1E of iron on gold island,975bc, pop4 ; Confucian Holy City
Canterbury 2E of pigs; 575bc, pop2;
Coventry on island NNW of crab, 450bc, pop2; used confu missionary to spread religion for border

107 bpt, 2 gpt at 70% science

1920 bc revolt to no religion and get open borders and trade
1120bc realize reason no foreign trade routes because mercantilism

25BC, ready to attack Shaka with 6 horse archers and 4 chariots (on continent but not in place). But he has three sources of metal and I've lost my confidence in the assault. Instead, I will build catapults and elephants and take Mansa first as he is weakest. Wanted to keep him as a trading partner, but AIs tech rate is too slow to be much use.