[BTS] BOTM 194 (Lockdown game), Monarch - First Spoiler - 1AD

[DynamicSpirit]

BOTM 194: Lord Lemme-Out!, Monarch - First Spoiler - 1AD


How did you find the unusual map? Have you met all your opponents yet?

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

Reading Requirements
If you are participating in BOTM 194, 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

• Do not disclose ANY events or information gained post 1 AD.
• Do not reveal your final result if that happened after 1 AD.
• 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

 

[Fine_Distinction]

First of all, thank you DS for this wonderful game, I enjoy it immensely! It is true that it is not like any one I played before. I decided to settle 1W, was planning to sandbox it properly vs. SIP and 1N, but it looked so good on paper and I really wanted to start to play this unique game, so I just went for it. Oops, my health cap turned out to be 3 and all my carefully MMed plans to grow to size 5-6 soon went out of the window ... May still be good, do not know, was too busy playing to go back and check.

The other thing I noticed, before playing even the first turn, is that #1 soldiers count was insane - 174k! After accounting for starting techs and two starting cities, that is equivalent of 27 (!!!) Jaguars Yes, DS, I see what you did here

So I was initially building warrior after warrior and scouting very minimally at the nearest vicinity of my borders only and anyway lost one warrior to barbarian animals ... But I survived

This game, there is not much to report in terms of neat civ tricks, I have 8 cities with 49 pops and are a score leader, but not by much.

Instead, I was playing this one more like kid in a candy store, instead of trying to do well, just rushing to see what is ahead I loved the notes, DS, made me smile each time I saw them And city names are the best My absolute favorite is "Bleach cures it honest", maybe cause I live in US. And I wonder, where picking names for our cities, did you have any ideas where kitchen, living room or bedroom should be?

Also, when my son was very young and starting to play civ, his favorite thing to do was to ask AIs what they think about each other (which was making his turns go on forever ), he especially loved when AIs hated each other and came up with elaborate insults ... Now I found myself doing the same! "Bolsanero, what do you think about COVID-19"

And I guessed right who Nurses would be, but not Pathogens. And Super-markets are super-annoying Anyway to switch them off? I guess will have to kill them, or otherwise will accidentally mis-click give them all my techs BTW, this guy is younger Sid, right?

Again, thank you very much DS, and back to playing

 

[Powerfaker]

Really funny scenario. haven't scouted everything out yet, but player/city names => hilarious.

And a nice map to play actually.

The other thing I noticed, before playing even the first turn, is that #1 soldiers count was insane - 174k! After accounting for starting techs and two starting cities, that is equivalent of 27 (!!!) Jaguars Yes, DS, I see what you did here

Didn't notice that. To me this sounds like he started with something such as a tank. Glad I missed it by the way. I happened to send my warrior first SE then straight to the corridor and met the Pathogens almost immediately because of a workboat.

The Pathogens were quickly forgotten though once I met Forbidden Fruit. She totally got my attention. Such great land. I happened to place Little Bedroom at her doorstep. She kept pushing it with her presence and snatched the gold away at some point. It looked like a firm muscle demonstration was in order. Throwing overwheliming chariots and axes turned quite bloody, but her cities changed ownership.

At 1AD now 12 cities and 2 underway to be founded within 5 turns. As often around this date the empire gets a boost from CS/Bureau, GLib/GP city up and running, more happiness.
So looking forward to procede soon. Think Bolsanero is next.
(this is contender save)

 

[Fine_Distinction]

Didn't notice that. To me this sounds like he started with something such as a tank. Glad I missed it by the way. I happened to send my warrior first SE then straight to the corridor and met the Pathogens almost immediately because of a workboat.

Yeah, looks like I was too chicken, discover Isabella very late, corridor even later, I actually thought it was an isolation start for most of the BCs.

I was thinking ton of "weaker" units like jags, to mimic real life viruses (individual once not that dangerous, but overwhelming us by their sheer numbers. But if that is true, maintenance may be killing Pathogens, unless the mapmaker gave them ton of $$$).

BTW, if you are right about the tanks, they are "only" 30k soldiers each, so that would mean 6 of them Thank you very much, I would rather stay home safe on my island, until I have something really good to deal with them.

 

[MarleysGh0st]

I took the Contender save and settled W on the PH. All of the city names are very entertaining, although my city/room placement makes the architecture of my house somewhat unconventional.

By 1 AD, I've built seven cities and completed the Pyramids. I declared on Queen No!!! in 325 BC and quickly took one of her cities with my horse archers. Now she has spears guarding her remaining cities, so I'm going to have to wait for catapults to finish her.

 

[WastinTime]

Now she has spears guarding her remaining cities, so I'm going to have to wait for catapults to finish her.

bait them with chariot sacrifices, then kill the spear with an axe.

I also love the creativity. I put a 'bedroom' near the horse. DiningRoom near Copper. I let Queen No have as much space as she wanted so I could capture a lot of cities, but alas, she only built 2 settlers. She did steal the coastal Corn site, so I had to do Clam+Banana in order to cross the South water.

I also could not resist the curiosity and explored east down the road. Survived one lion, Explored the Supermarket and Hospital, and I won't say what's beyond in case people haven't explored that far. My DiningRoom (East coast) quickly built a galley and headed north around the house to see what it could find. Again, not sayin' what's there.

Later I went West, that's where the real creativity is!

I destroyed the Flu. Two diseases left I assume.

I wanted to go for fastest culture game ever, but the added requirement to destroy the Pathogens might prevent me.

 

[Fine_Distinction]

I took the Contender save and settled W on the PH. All of the city names are very entertaining, although my city/room placement makes the architecture of my house somewhat unconventional.
.

I wonder what the "right" floor plan is. Mine also does not seem to make a lot of sense

 

[Fine_Distinction]

bait them with chariot sacrifices, then kill the spear with an axe.

I also love the creativity. I put a 'bedroom' near the horse. DiningRoom near Copper. I let Queen No have as much space as she wanted so I could capture a lot of cities, but alas, she only built 2 settlers. She did steal the coastal Corn site, so I had to do Clam+Banana in order to cross the South water.

I also could not resist the curiosity and explored east down the road. Survived one lion, Explored the Supermarket and Hospital, and I won't say what's beyond in case people haven't explored that far. My DiningRoom (East coast) quickly built a galley and headed north around the house to see what it could find. Again, not sayin' what's there.

Later I went West, that's where the real creativity is!

I destroyed the Flu. Two diseases left I assume.

I wanted to go for fastest culture game ever, but the added requirement to destroy the Pathogens might prevent me.

Do you think this game is good for culture? other than stone, marble and high mfg (to build wonders, I guess?). In my simple view, Nappy seems good for warring.

 

[WastinTime]

Do you think this game is good for culture?

Yeah, what you said. I figure it gives me something else to juggle since war is required. However, since I'm generating mostly artists and not planning to do much research, I'm bettin' the farm that Astronomy is not needed to kill the Pathogens. I'd have no way to bulb it with GS's or research it, so I'd have to retire.

 

[Fine_Distinction]

Yeah, what you said. I figure it gives me something else to juggle since war is required. However, since I'm generating mostly artists and not planning to do much research, I'm bettin' the farm that Astronomy is not needed to kill the Pathogens. I'd have no way to bulb it with GS's or research it, so I'd have to retire.

Thanks, makes sense. Pathogens do spread, though, and we need to kill all of them . I still keep my options open wrt Astronomy. I wonder if in this game, Pathogen units will disappear when we kill their last city, or not? Will be an interesting variation, but probably difficult to implement?.

 

[WastinTime]

Pathogen units will disappear when we kill their last city, or not? Will be an interesting variation, but probably difficult to implement?.

There's a game setting for that. 'Require Complete Kills'. Woulda been a good option to turn on, but I don't think it is.

 

[Fine_Distinction]

There's a game setting for that. 'Require Complete Kills'. Woulda been a good option to turn on, but I don't think it is.

Ah, thanks, interesting, will try to play it one day.

 

[Fine_Distinction]

BTW, I chose not to build Oracle in this game, and seeing Isabella, I was sure she would build it, but no. I thought Isabella typically builds Oracle? Especially in a game like that with no Ind leader (I have met so far).?

 

[DynamicSpirit]

There's a game setting for that. 'Require Complete Kills'. Woulda been a good option to turn on, but I don't think it is.

Yes that's correct. If 'Require complete kills' was turned on then you'd be able to see that option listed in-game in the F8 game settings screen. And more to the point, it should be listed as one of the game options in the pre-game announcement. (Theoretically of course, the map-maker could forget to list one of the options in the pre-game announcement, but I didn't forget )

For what it's worth, a very long time ago, we did try a game with Require Complete Kills - and it turned out not to work very well for a competition. The problem is that an AI could have a scout or something exploring some faraway land (maybe even inside another civ's territory that you don't have open borders with) and you have no way to find that unit other than pure luck - and looking for it isn't always that much fun. That's potentially game-changing if that unit is the only thing keeping an AI alive, and thereby either preventing a conquest victory or keeping a war going and giving you lots of war-weariness, and not surprisingly, quite a few players said they didn't like the experience. For that reason, I for one would be very careful about using that option in any future game.

 

[WastinTime]

I for one would be very careful about using that option in any future game.

Right. could be an exploring workboat. And i think even a spy.
This may surprise you , but I exploited this to my advantage once by gifting a workboat to an AI, capturing his last city, and then gifting him a new city later. (or at least that was the plan, I can't recall if I actually used it)

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Right. could be an exploring workboat. And i think even a spy.
This may surprise you , but I exploited this to my advantage once by gifting a workboat to an AI, capturing his last city, and then gifting him a new city later. (or at least that was the plan, I can't recall if I actually used it)

That would make a lot of sense. I've sometimes thought about trying to manipulate things so I give an AI one city while taking others (although not in a complete-kill setting - always with the AI having at least one city left). Usually it's because I want to keep them alive to prevent a conquest/domination victory, while also taking a nice bit of land or some wonders. Or I want to remove cultural pressure in newly captured land by giving them a city somewhere else. I'm not sure if I've ever gone beyond thinking about it to actually doing it though.

 

[Fine_Distinction]

Really funny scenario. haven't scouted everything out yet, but player/city names => hilarious.

So looking forward to procede soon. Think Bolsanero is next.
(this is contender save)

Why Bolsanero next? He seems the toughest opponent (other than Pathogens, but we have to kill them anyway). He is also the closest, but other neighbors are not that much further.

 

[Powerfaker]

Why Bolsanero next? He seems the toughest opponent (other than Pathogens, but we have to kill them anyway). He is also the closest, but other neighbors are not that much further.

I will attack him with Trebs/WE/Maces/Musketeers (Tech path is going to cannons and communism). Trebs will have to do the work. I doubt he will have maces, certainly not knights by then.
He does have a set of resources that we don't have, including iron. His land is significantly nearer, 3 water tiles away from No-Haircut city. I'm not going to walk down the corridor, way too long. My war infra is on the west side mostly too. No-Beach is HE pump (I have moved a little further then 1AD by now)
I would say knocking down the strongest competitor is a good tactic…… unless you dig your own grave of course.

 

[Fine_Distinction]

I will attack him with Trebs/WE/Maces/Musketeers (Tech path is going to cannons and communism). Trebs will have to do the work. I doubt he will have maces, certainly not knights by then.
He does have a set of resources that we don't have, including iron. His land is significantly nearer, 3 water tiles away from No-Haircut city. I'm not going to walk down the corridor, way too long. My war infra is on the west side mostly too. No-Beach is HE pump (I have moved a little further then 1AD by now)
I would say knocking down the strongest competitor is a good tactic…… unless you dig your own grave of course.

Thanks for an explanation. I was torn on this, that is why I am asking. I think it is situational whether to kill the toughest one first. I mean, I have a comfortable tech lead, I do not think Bolsanero would be a real threat to me anytime in the future, and I would probably go for domination, unless something very unexpected happens, so I am not gonna kill them all anyway - so why not to take an easy route? On the other hand, Bolasanero cities are better developed, I think. Although I agree logistics is a bit more complicated going East. On the other hand, exploring with galleys is such a PITA that I will probably get Astronomy soon anyway, so going East will become much easier - and protecting against Bolsanero.

I have to do some research on city maintenance though. What matters (other than city number) is the distance to the capitol, computed the usual civ way, diagonal 1.5, right? are there any threshold or is it mostly linear?

EDIT: we cannot "kill them all" anyway - unless Nurses declare on us.

 

[Powerfaker]

@final distinction
There's also something to say for going east. In my game they are all Judaist. Maybe I risk a peacevassal party there with Nurses involved.
I wouldn't know who is willing to do that. That kind of data is not in my head.
Likewise with the maintenance. All I know is that it will increase faster and faster (and on deity it's huge). We're Org and it's Monarch level, so it won't slow us down too painfully. I mentioned Communism, for State property obviously. I just want to keep my pace high. There's also the GSpy that will initiate my first golden age. (all GS so far, will keep spending those on bulbing)
edit: and not to forget workshops come to live

I agree wuth you, Bolsanero is not really a threat. And with galleons east or west is no difference.