BOTM 18 First Spoiler

Niklas · May 17, 2009

Reading Requirements

Stop! If you are participating in BOTM 18, 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

Note the early cutoff - 1 AD, not 500 AD.

Please do not discuss anything that happened after 1 AD,
Please do not divulge 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 alright to discuss).

Where did you settle and why? Did you stick to the desert close to the start, or did you go on a hike?
How did you fare against the barbarians? Did you live to see 1 AD?
Did your step-brothers give you much trouble in the early game? :mischief:

Adama · May 17, 2009

Not too much to say. I presume I made some very bad choices, but I can't really say where at this point. :confused:

Will be interested in reading the spoilers that others post to figure what would have worked.

I had settled only one more city by --0-- AD. I had several Axes, but couldn't find any way to effectively utilize any of whatever advantages I might have been able to scratch out.

I expanded westward... probably the worst choice. But I knew the map would be desert in the middle, so looking back, I have to ask myself, "self, why did you go west, young man?"

I had finally secured 1 GS for an academy by 0 AD (library in Capital, academy in 175BC). Also built a granary (thinking whipping) and a Hammam. Other than that, nothing except barracks and axes.

I had killed 27 barbs by -0- with no losses-- they seemed a little more manageable than I had feared. I am researching CivSvc at -0- AD.

Got Alpha at 172oBC. Played sloppy, slow, and achieved very little. "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?"

I'll post my stats, but they have a very limited use. The C.E. years, after -0- AD, are not going to be much to write home about, or so it appears at -0- AD.

At least, I suppose, I can say that I lived to tell the story....

Spoiler :

Looking forward to seeing how it should have been done. :crazyeye:

Adama

haphazard1 · May 17, 2009

I second Adama -- I am looking forward to posts describing how this should have been played. Because my game certainly was not that.

I settled on the hill 2N of the starting position, built worker first and teched Mining->BW. Copper in the fat cross, OK, this could work. Health problems at size 2, not so OK, will put a sizable dent in production from the whip. Corn and granary will help, but take hammers and worker turns (and have to be defended).

The barb assault began with two barb warriors on turn 43. I had three warriors ready to defend, with the Great Wall just started and copper just getting hooked up.

Barb warrior vs my first warrior...I lose, barb is unscratched.

Barb warrior vs my second warrior...I lose again, barb takes some damage but is still strong enough to double-team my remaining defender. :mad:

I had to stand on defense in Istanbul, and lost my copper mine, gold mine, and roads. :cry:

Great Wall was delayed to build emergency defenders, many crucial worker turns lost....

I was just a few turns from being mostly safe with a couple axes, but the barbs do not wait -- I was too slow to get ready for their attack. The bad combat luck certainly did not help.

I did survive and finish the Great Wall, but the land grab was going fast and I was not quick enough expanding. At 1AD I had only two cities and AI borders were already closing around me. Gilgamesh was especially annoying, running an unescorted settler about a dozen tiles through the open desert to steal a promising site. :mad:

I was successfully trading techs and was doing OK relative to the AIs, but my land situation was so poor that I do not expect to be able to compete going forward.

As said above, I look forward to seeing how the stronger players handled this scenario.

Markus5 · May 17, 2009

I settled 2N and all was well. Barbs showed up early in force, pillaging and winning against the odds. Its took some time to recover, but the barbs disappeared for a while. Too much randomness. I was able to get out one settler, but am pretty far behind. The Great Wall was built really early, too. That surprised me more than anything. I always got the GW in my test games, even without stone. I might be able to squeeze in a couple more cities, but I think I'll need to raid a weaker neighbor or some barb villages.

ssjos · May 17, 2009

Settled 1S and cursed my location serveral times.... Copper outside cross corn outside cross nothing . .. .. .. .ing inside cross - most useless place ever.

TBH, if you scout ~~10 S of start settle placement thier is an awesome spot at the edge of the destert, I think this would have been insanly much easier if you had left the destert early on and settled in the greenlands.

Anyhow, I founded a second city where I shouldhave built my first and let the barbs invade my capital, retook it, to change place of my palace. Took Egyptian capital in 500 BC but died a few axes in doing so

Still Im way behind the AI in tech by 1 AD and I hardly feel like I wanna keep playing with my extremly suboptimal starting settlingplace.

kcd_swede · May 18, 2009

Hej ssjos... Like you I moved my capitol by letting barbs take my capitol. Howver, in my case it was totally unplanned. Instead of putting axe on sentry, I had fortified him. So of course he let a barb warrior walk right past him while my other 4 axes were taking care of a wave of barbs on the other side. I just totally missed due to lack of attention until it was next to an undefended capitol, and I couldn't whip a defender. But I had already settled a city to the north, and had a settler moving west to take iron, and had 4 axes 1 turn away from retaking capitol so I did not quit. Basically it cost me a granary and 1 pop.

But I digress...

I settled on the desert hill to get both invisible corns. This hill had copper on it. Hence axes were no problem. I had farmed 1 FP, and 1 corn, mined gold and a bunch of FP cottages. Unfortunately, being on the copper made me short on hammers. I cracked the whip more than ever before (and frankly I think I'm getting a lot more effective with slavery because of bullcrap starts like this -- every cloud has silver lining). But it meant I couldn't think of building the GW until city 3 (iron/cow). And I missed it by 6 turns. :mad:

My first settler went north on the river, securing the cow just S of the mountains... green pastures up there. Gilga was spamming Jewish missionaries like they were West Bank settlers, and so I have Judiasm as state religion to save the PITA of building monuments and such to get the border popping. My second settler went west to get cow/iron. I settled a fourth city down on the river at the other edge of the green, somewhere around 1AD (don't remember exactly). At this point I no longer have trouble with barbs because the AI have filled the whole world.

I am first to alphabet, and am suprised at how slow the AI were teching... I pick up some decent trades, but nothing to propel me to the lead, really. The entire river is North to south is cottaged, which is why I'm still in this game. However, my size will prevent me from keeping up in the mid-game. That's if it doesn't get me killed. I could squeeze in a city or two more within my culture borders, but what good is another crappy desert city anyhow? I've gotta bust outta here, and the longer I wait, the harder that will be.

I'm building swords, but I don't know where to put them. I enjoy good relations with all my bordering fellow Jews, and I'm afraid of harming potential allies (esp since they are all stronger than me

). Only neigbor Justinian is a Bhuddist, and he hates me, but he is the most powerful civ. I think I'll need a few more swords. :rolleyes:

The need to fight barbs really slowed me down this game. Being in the desert makes it worse because they can come from every direction, which is a significant advantage for the AI. Also, having desert land (though not that bad with so much cottageable FP) is a further problem. If I knew that the GW would not have been attainable I think all this makes it a no-brainer to move to the edge. However, Gilga was very close in the north, so unless you had the luck to move southwards, (about 4-6 tiles would do it), you will start this game in a hole that will be hard to climb out of.

If I fail to climb out of this hole, I will wish I had lost my capitol to barbs before settling my next city. If I manage, it will be some awesome comeback that I'll remember for a long time. (Smart money is on the former :blush:

)

Trystero · May 18, 2009

My game went similarly to Adama and haphazard1's. I settled 2W next to the corn, while still getting the gold in my BFC, and keeping the riverside tiles. This was probably the best choice I made as I found copper 1N of me. I teched Mining first, but then switched to Hunting>Archery, then BW, and Masonry for the Great Wall. I lost my warrior early on, to a barb lion, the lack of scouting ended up hurting me. The Barbs came flooding in around turn 48, and pillaged the gold mine. I had just finished mining the copper and was working on the GW. I sent an archer out to defend the copper mine (since I could pull him back into Istanbul if needed), and had one other as a city defender.

My archers did OK against the barbs, but boy there were a lot of them. After whipping an extra defender, I kept working on and managed to complete the GW. I then teched Pottery>Writing>Alphabet and managed to trade it around to backfill the worker techs.

I sent a settler south, hoping to get out of the desert, but the AI civs are quickly gobbling up all the good land. I did manage to settle my 2nd city 8S of the original starting position, next to the river, but I am already fighting Ramesses culture.

I don't think this is going to end well. I have major health issues in my capital, thanks to all the flood plains, only 2 cities at 1 AD, neither of my cities has a lot of production potential in the near term, and land is disappearing quickly. I'm doing OK diplomatically, but I'm starting to fall behind in tech, and military expansion doesn't look too feasible.

In retrospect, this was probably a poor choice for my first game at Prince. The openings are usually the better part of my game, but perhaps I've become too accustom to the rather good starts you typically get for the capital. The combination of the desert start, raging barbs, and extra AI civs competing for land made this really tough.

titanvol · May 18, 2009

move warrior NW to hill, move settler 2sw to oasis, turn 2 settle Istanbul on desert N of oasis to claim both corn for capitol. warrior begins exploring SW waiting to be sacrificed to barbs.

Build worker, warrior*3
res - mining, bw (slavery), mas

3680 - meet MM, warrior heads N from there to begin circle of capitol before being sacrficed to barbs

3560 - pop 26 g from hut

2960 Herbalist event - decide to take maximum risk for best chance of increased health, think I can afford the -2 happiness, hope I dont lose a pop, but even if I do lose the pop the +2 health is sorely needed. Meanwhile warrior has been bumbling about, managed to pop 68 g from a hut despite hitting the wrong key a couple times, I really need to use the mouse for movement.

2880 meet Gilgamesh after popping 42 g from hut previous turn

2760 meet Hammurabi

2440 meet Justinian, initial warrior still survives and has continued to pop gold from a couple huts, realized I did not let him fully heal from a previous animal battle, decide to continue to explore as much as possible with him, he will die soon if even I do heal him

Builds: axe*2
res: ah, pot, writing

herbalist decision seemed to do nothing but give me 2 unhappiness

2280 first wave of barb warriors show up a few turns earlier than expected, I have 3 warriors, one in capitol, one on copper, one on gold (w/ worker who is mining) axe has been just been built, kill one barb w/ axe, upgrade 2 warriors to axe thanx to popped gold

1920 meet Ramesses

1480 build GW in Istanbul, not a great start considering I still only have one city & 1 worker, but I do have 4 axes, 2 warriors for mps, no concern about barbs entering my lands, & a GSpy on the way. Start building settlers

res: math, alph

1000 BC settle Edirne near Egypt on Grass NW of copper GH, hammer city

975 meet Zara

850 meet Saladin

800 settle Ankara in middle of desert near incense/corn, cottage city not worth much, this city was missettled as I looked at the screen wrong & thought I would have both incense in my borders and be able to run a few cottages

725 discover alph, trade Writing to Ram for Myst & Fishing, trade Pot to Justin for Hunt

700 GSpy born in Istanbul, joins city; trade Math to Ram for Archery & IW, trade Writing & Fishing to Gil for Poly

675 trade Math to Saladin for Priest & Mono

650 settle Bursa NE of Istanbul in the middle of fp near iron

575 trade Mono to MM for Sailing, trade Writing to Justin for Med

400 settle Konya

225 settle Samson

75 BC hatch a complicated plan to found a religion in either Bursa or Konya, both of which would make a good Wall ST city capable of runnning several merchants, plan does not fully unfold until after 1AD . . .

Have 6 cities, but fear I am too far behind the AI expansion wise and poor lands, not sure if I will be able to fully capitalize on building GW so early

kcd_swede · May 18, 2009

Interesting. I had wondered if my predicament (slow early expansion and development) could have been improved had I prioritized the GW before a settler (which is the only way I would have gotten it). From the sounds of the spoilers so far, it would have just created a different sort of problem... being boxed in even worse than I was.

I think I managed to grab enough land to at least give me a theoretical chance at victory. The amount I was slowed by barbs appears less than the amount a GW-first strategy would have slowed me.

And by 1AD the GW is irrelevant (obsolete in all but name) since barbs can't spawn anywhere around me anymore. Rough guesstimate: the GW has about the same barb-protection effect as 4-5 axe. Difference being that the axe are still useful and can later be upgraded to highly experienced maces. You can whip the axes a lot faster than you can build/whip a GW without stone. Of course, if you really really want a GSpy... I guess it isn't a total bust.

It will be interesting to see what the 3rd way (wandering settler) produced. Or if there is a fourth way I don't know about? My gut feeling is that those who moved south found more space than those who moved north. But I'm sure there are a number of players who could have done well choosing either (while playing the challenger save).

Personally, I'm not looking forward to finishing this one. Well, ok, I've got the start of the makings for a SOD and am curious how far that can go... but other than that, not a lot to look forward to.

titanvol · May 18, 2009

kcd_swede said:
Interesting. I had wondered if my predicament (slow early expansion and development) could have been improved had I prioritized the GW before a settler (which is the only way I would have gotten it). From the sounds of the spoilers so far, it would have just created a different sort of problem... being boxed in even worse than I was.

I think I managed to grab enough land to at least give me a theoretical chance at victory. The amount I was slowed by barbs appears less than the amount a GW-first strategy would have slowed me.

And by 1AD the GW is irrelevant (obsolete in all but name) since barbs can't spawn anywhere around me anymore. Rough guesstimate: the GW has about the same barb-protection effect as 4-5 axe. Difference being that the axe are still useful and can later be upgraded to highly experienced maces. You can whip the axes a lot faster than you can build/whip a GW without stone. Of course, if you really really want a GSpy... I guess it isn't a total bust.

It will be interesting to see what the 3rd way (wandering settler) produced. Or if there is a fourth way I don't know about? My gut feeling is that those who moved south found more space than those who moved north. But I'm sure there are a number of players who could have done well choosing either (while playing the challenger save).

Personally, I'm not looking forward to finishing this one. Well, ok, I've got the start of the makings for a SOD and am curious how far that can go... but other than that, not a lot to look forward to.

Unless I am wrong you seem to only have 4 cities by 1AD, while I have 6 & I am not yet quite boxed in at 1 AD. Another factor with the GW, if the barbs cannot enter your lands, they will hamper the AI more, or at least it seems that way. I did want the GSPy & hope to make espionage a significant factor in my game.

Olmo2 · May 18, 2009

Well, at least I survived the barbarian age.

Settled 2N on the hill. Build order: worker-warrior-warrior.
Founded Edirne on the hill between the mountains NE, the spot I wanted N of the capital on the river was already taken by Gilgamesh when I arrived there.

Then barbs showed up and killed my fortified warrior on the copper while I was building my first axe.
So stick to plan B and go for archers. Managed to rebuild my copper mine and the streets and could whip axes.
In the meantime, a barb acher took my 2nd city. I tried to retake with an axeman and a warrior but failed.
Then I built another city south near the egypts and a 3rd one in the east to get the iron.

I also guess it will be humiliating to play on but hey may be I can take a few cities from Ramesses and improve my position.

cas · May 18, 2009

I moved north and settled on turn5 or turn6 in a decent location. No horses, though...which completely screwed my initial charriot rush plan. I'm thinking Niklas edited/removed some of the horse in this map based on their distribution accross the north greenbelt. Got bronze in the BFC and tried to axe rush my nearest neighbor, which was protective unfortunately. Failed on some unlucky RNG...maybe 1-2 axes short of what was needed and most of the forest chopped. Been playing catch-up from that early failed rush to 1AD.

Couple of good notes. I did manage Oracle-CS sling by bulbing math with a GS. and since I was squished between 2 AI, the barbs were less 'raging' and more like normal setting.

Not sure how much to comment on specific AI in the first spoiler, but in general the AI's chosen by Niklas are making this game much harder for my chosen VC (dom or conquest since it fits the story-line). I see almost no chance of winning at 1AD and this will be a long fruitless march to defeat.

cas

BigChiefLizzy · May 18, 2009

Settled capital 2N of start and next city on the river to the south when I had a couple of axes, and tried to start building the great wall there but production was bad and was not helped by having to have my worker there keep running away from barbs.

Was nowhere near completing the GW when someone else built it. The next turn I get the barbarian spearman event and 4 barb spearmen turn up right on the river 2 tiles north of my south city, on the 1 square wide strip of land not covered by my culture :cry:

The defending axe killed 2-3 spears then the remainder captured the city. I recaptured it fairly quickly but had to use the axeman guarding improvements around the capital - some of which were then promptly pillaged by 2 barb archers who turned up...

Roaded in the Iron but only after justin plonked a city right next to it.. had only partially built one sword when it culture flipped to him.

In short things are not looking good :crazyeye:

unclethrill · May 18, 2009

I had very little problems with Barbs as I built the GW. The downside is that I had time to build only 1 other city. I have almost no production, am completely surrounded and everyone else just keeps rolling huge stacks through my land. I did get botht he copper and the iron between the two cities. Not that I can build much with them.

DwarfSleepy · May 19, 2009

Short summary so far:

I settled on the hill that turned out to have the copper, which meant that after my warrior and worker I built Axes mostly, and the barbs weren't really a problem. I settled a city in the south near Ramesses (copper and corn) to become a production powerhouse, and managed to grab a spot north near stone and corn. I was lucky that Iron turned out in the fat cross there as well!

I started late with GW, and it was built by someone else a few turns after I started, but like KCSwede, I'm glad I prioritised settlers and Axes. What sucked more was losing priramids by a few turns, having chopped heavilly into it

.

I'm also a part of the jewish fellowship, trying to nurture Gilgamesh as a buddy to turn him onto someone else, but so far no luck...

I now need to decide how to continue: what victory condition, whom to attack, and such...

JacktheBodiless · May 19, 2009

Hi all, long-time mostly-lurker.

On my first attempt I settled 1W to have corn in fat cross. Got a couple decent hut pops with my wandering warrior, my worker improved stuff (in the wrong order, I later figured out... production sucks so bad in the initial spot that intense whipping means one will rarely be able to work the gold spot, making it a much lower priority to mine it than to farm the corn and a couple of flood plains... plus, the health from the corn more valuable than the happy from the gold given we're sitting in a malarial swamp in the middle of the desert). Got all happy when I saw the copper in Istanbul's fat cross, but unfortunately there was nobody within a reasonable distance to use it on except barbarians. Oh, yeah, by the way... now I know why they call it "raging" barbarians. Sheez, I was not ready for that. All my pretty infrastructure got crippled, I got beat to the Great Wall (which I made the cornerstone of my strategy too late), and by 0 AD I had two very nicely developed cities, a little bit of a tech lead (I . .. .. .. . you not) due to my focus on getting the most out of Suleiman's philosophical bent and my just deciding to build the GL since I knew I was going to lose anyway, surrounded on all sides by AIs... speaking of which, the only thing aggressive about these dudes is their land-grabbing. It was easy to keep them mollified diplo-wise, even though my power graph was quite sucktacular.

If my civ was an AI, and I was one of the board-leaders, I would be next on my own list for destruction. Doubt I will play it out, maybe later just to see if I can pull off some huge comeback.

But I can't submit now because I also replayed it two more times from the beginning. Replay number one, I made the same mistake as my initial attempt: wasted hammers/slaves on barracks, for which there just isn't time in this start. Was one axe short when the first big wave of barbs came, lost my copper mine and gold mine (since if I hit one, the other just strolls into Istanbul), and quit in disgust.

The third time, I got it "right." Managed to micro the whip pretty well, to get me 4 axemen and the Great Wall (the latter mostly with whip overflow) by 1000 BC, Istanbul is nicely improved and almost finished with the hammam, and I am getting ready to settler spam. If I don't win this time, in my next replay I will try dispensing with the GW and the barracks and just build axes and settlers. In hindsight, this (given the cheap settlers Sully gets) seems like it might leverage the leader's traits better than the GW. Plus, now my beautiful Philosophical-driven pool of GPP is tainted with spy points. That might not be a bad thing, since I am trying to learn my way around the BTS espionage system... I just don't like it.

My big question in my current replay is: what to do with these 4 decently-promoted axemen. I am thinking I will build them a little sacrificial company, then my buddy Ramses needs a little visit from the ole' bronze-wielding angel o' death. I just wish I could lure him onto my turf so that I could get the extra GG points from the GW.

VerbalKint · May 19, 2009

Gave up the game after I failed GW by a few turns, was beaten to the place I was gonna settle my 2nd city by a few turns and beaten to Judaism by a few turns ( original plan was cultural victory ).

One very interesting thing happened though... the health-event!
90% chance to get +2 Health in all my cities, and I did get it. I think this would have been huge if my game hadn't otherwise sucked.

Did other people also get this event ?

mtt9999 · May 19, 2009

Well. No health event for me.

Overall I would say I had a slightly better start than most people based on the response so far. I would say overall I was a bit dissapointed by the lack of rage in the barbarians in my game... I had the GW early so I wanted them running rampant on my step-brothers!!

My approach, sacrifice everything for the sake of the quickest construction of the GW (before the barbs appear).

Based on my test games, I was able to get the GW by turn 47... with barbs not showing up until roughly T48. Settle 2N

Tech:
Mining > Masonry > BW

Builds:
Worker > Great Wall

got BW on T30... yes we have copper! (although this makes my approach less important)

Was I surprised to see, while moving my warrior back from fog-busting to my capital (killed on the way) on T40 that a barb warrior was approaching Istanbul!! :eek:

This caused me to have to whip a warrior for defense (losing me 1 population and thus hammers)... causing me a delay on the GW until T55 (1840BC) No bother though because barbs didn't really start coming until then, and even when they did I think my neighbors had so many scouts running around that hardly any even formed.

(Im not sure if there werent really any barbs on my part of the map, or if there werent really any barbs in the game... thus it seemed to me at the time that maybe the GW was a great waste)... however based on some of the responses its sounds like the barbs were quite the pest.

Regardless... I managed to even get the oracle and thus Code of Laws for a religion. Oh. Guess I should mention that I decided to go for a three or four city cultural victory (figure that since most of my chance for early expansion will have been lost by investing in the GW - I should simply settle three cities on the river, the captial, one north, and one south... and cottage spam the hell out of them for a victory!!

I would thus be known as the peaceful wimpy brother (as to why I was banished to begin with from my war-mongering step mother and step-brothers) :crazyeye:

(my post-rationalization of the story) :mischief:

And I figured that going for a cultural victory with raging barbs and aggresive AIs would actually provide a difficult challenge (not that the parameters of the game were not already difficult enough!!) :confused:

1AD
Have my three cities (although actually looking for a fourth to the NW of capital for extra science)

Switched to Buddhism (even though I founded conf.) joining the most popular religion of my neighbors (all of them are Buddhists!!)

Bee-lining for music

As long as I can stay close in technology I am hopeful that I will pull a victory... but with these AIs, and my extremely weak defense, if I am surprised attacked I am screwed and game over!! we will see.

I remember one other person in the pre-game forums talking about this rapid GW production strategy (ignoring defense and risking it all??)... did anybody else attempt this??

mtt9999 · May 19, 2009

JacktheBodiless said:
On my first attempt...

But I can't submit now because I also replayed it two more times from the beginning. Replay number one, I made the same mistake as my initial attempt:

The third time, I got it "right."

Jack: have you considered playing the test games?? I used to never spend time with them (always too excited to play the real thing), but they are extremely helpful with how to maximise early moves and decisions) ie. build orders, research orders, rough times that wonders are built, worker orders... etc...

I would urge a lot of players who currently don't use them to give them a try. I have learned ALOT from trying multiple approaches to starts...

and to those that provide the test games... thanks...

civ_steve · May 19, 2009

Whoa! Actually able to post on the first page! :faint:

(Normally I get to see the first
Spoiler after everyone else has finished.)

Weird, I've had not a single random event!

Playing Challenger ('cause it's just not hard enough

)

Warrior to Hills - more corn.
Settler goes NE - incense. I decide that incense is not necessary in the BFC; think about it some more and decide to go NW and settle next turn on the hills 2N of start.

Start on Worker, research Mining-BW, send Warrior on circuit clockwise around capital. See some green not too far to the North! And Cattle. Some Huts. Meet Justinian first and Hammurabi a little later. Eventually dies when 2 Lions attack, but he gets to see the far Eastern Edge first.

Worker finishes - start on Warrior. Worker to Gold.

BW learned - yay, we have Copper and a chance! Worker has more tasks.
Go for Hunting next. After learned, build Scout (after Warrior for garrison duty.) He pops 3 huts for Maps, Gold, Gold. Meets Gilgamesh, who has settled in the potentially nice spot to the North. Eventually dies in desert to East due to Barbs.

Think some more. Chariots would be nice, so AH next. No horses nearby. Ok, I don't really need Archers now that I can build Axes, so decide on heading to Alpha. Pottery to get Granaries (later Cottages) then Writing.

Worker gets Gold Mined, then Corn Farmed, with roads to connect. Helps the Health a bit. Next Mine and road the Copper. Start on first Axe.

Barbs show up around 2300 BC. Just in time to meet my first Axe!

Very quickly I have a promoted Axe. Build More and Promote. The barbs keep coming, but Warriors against Axes have no chance. No Barracks needed. I manage a Granary in between Axes. During a swarm they do pillage my Gold, but we get it remined.

Writing - sign Open Borders.

Barb Archers start to show up. OK, first promotion is 10% bonus, 2nd promotion is 25% vs Archers. Barb Archers are no problem. Oops, big swarm, they get my Corn! OK, refarm after the swarm is disposed of. My Worker is kept busy and is definitely nervous with all these Barbs swarming around, but the Axes keep him safe.

Once I get to 4 Axes, and beat back a swarm, I send an Axe south to Scout. I see the nice grassland area, with Copper as well. I want that space. And the North looks like its closing up, so South is the way to expand. I also meet Mansa Musa, and later Ramses, who settles really close to the Copper (but I can still get it). I leave the Axe there.

Finally, Alphabet, around 800 BC. Only Justinian doesn't have Writing, so trade that for Archery. Conduct additional trades over the next few turns; get IW, Meditation, Poly, Mono, PriestHood, Fishing, Sailing. I research Aesth next, and get more trades; pick up Monarchy.

Edirne is founded 2S of the Gold, and will be a bridge to the southern copper space. I start on a road to keep my Axes mobile.

Barb Axes start to show up. Just Great! 3rd Promotion is either the double - Star (another 10%) or the 25% vs Melee to counter the Barb Axes. In general I have the upper hand, but I do lose an Axe. And my Corn is pillaged again. Refarm, and keep the road system up.

Istanbul builds a Library, and another Settler, and I own the Southern Copper space. Mine the copper, and work on a Library. (To counter Ramses' culture and gain more useful space.)

Gilgamesh is Confucian, and it spreads. I convert. It spreads to Edirne.

Time to think some more. The Ethiopians and Persians say hi!, so I've made contact with 7 of the 8 AI. I'm ahead Techwise of most of them, with a few exceptions. Some know MC, and Gilgamesh has CoL, but otherwise I'm even. I need to get ahead. Decide on Theology - Paper - Education - Gunpowder, to try to get my Janissaries in play. A few turns into this, MM learns Theo. OK, I keep researching until he'll trade it for Aesthetics. Next Paper.

That's where I'm at, a few turns into Paper reseach. I'm finally running some Scientists in Istanbul and plan to get at least 2 GS's. After finishing Paper I'll bulb Education and start on Gunpowder. Hopefully by the time I finish I'll have enough development to support building the Janissaries and storm a few AI.

If I can pull this off, I think I've got a good chance.

I can't say I've played this really cleanly so far. Going Mining-BW-Masonry might have been better; however, it doesn't sound like GW is the best use of the shields, and as nice as the special building would be, it's also real expensive and I don't know if I could afford those shields either. Would have also liked to use Scientists more (haven't gotten any GS's yet). And I'm probably short on Workers (only 2 so far). It's very weird not getting CoL and CS right away, nor Drama for that matter, but I hope the beeline to Gunpowder pays off more, and it'll certainly give me good Tech trading options. Janissaries in the field before the AI has LongBows would be sweeeeet!

BOTM 18 First Spoiler - 1 AD

Fully Functional

BOTM 18 First Spoiler

Warlord

Dancing Bear

Code Monkey

Warlord

Jag är Viking!½

Deity

Chieftain

Jag är Viking!½

Chieftain

Chieftain

Emperor

Warlord

Why am I up right now?

The Sleeper

Chieftain

Chieftain

Builder of Dreams

Builder of Dreams

Deity

Similar threads