[BTS] BOTM 210: Mayan Fool, Noble - First Spoiler - 1AD

[kcd_swede]

BOTM 210: Fool, Noble - First Spoiler - 1AD

Use this thread to tell us what happened in your game, up to 1AD
Where did you settle, and why?
Were you happy with your choice, or do you now feel foolish?
What have you used your amphibious war elephant for?
Did you forget about 2 free wins against barbarians at Noble level? Does that include when you attack, idk!
Did Quick speed give you problems, or was it good for you, too?
Anything else you want to share?
Reading Requirements
If you are participating in BOTM 210, 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

 

[WastinTime]

Settled stone, very happy with that choice
Elephant: did nothing except a little exploring.
I've never seen barbs unload from a galley, so I was surprised and needed the 2 free wins when 2 archers landed next to my empty city (with 1 turn left on a warrior)
Later, 2 archers again unloaded. Does this happen normally? or do I just not play that many barb games?

Barbs have longbows already and I don't even have Feudal (or archery)
I'm not sure their cities are all that special. I guess the water resources are better than nothing in the water.

I know of 4 other AI. I won't say who in case ppl didn't find them.

The AI is pathetic and don't have Alpha yet.

My tech is screaming since I have Henge, GLH, colossus and I Oracled Civil Service and bulbed Education.

After playing a lot of tundra/ice or limited resource games in 2020, this is a nice change.

 

[kcd_swede]

@WastinTime Barbs started with all acncient era techs, so with the cities they have its a pretty short step to Feudalism, I guess. I saw the same in game testing, but usually the first offloaded barbs were LB's.

 

[nocho]

Funny game so far, seems kcd yet again fancies quadrants, this time with this choice between production, food, happy and commerce!

I also settled on the stone and like I guess most people will, went wonderwhoring with Stonehenge, GLH, Pyramids, Oracle (CS), Colossus and MoM, all in the capital.

The barbs certainly gave me a scare when 2 longbows parked next to a city with 1 warrior, desperately whipped another warrior but also had a holkan and the elephant in the neighbourhood in a boat, so had some hope of regaining my city after what seemed an inevitable loss. Of course didn't remember the free wins until both warriors handily saw off the LBs. Shortly after that got Metal Casting so with triremes kept further potential intruders at bay.

Just 7 cities so far, the resources are abundant but land pretty scarce. That is, closeby land, seems I only occupy 22 tiles out of 1173! Mapped out barbland and met the Babylonians and their map showed the existence of 2 other AIs I haven't met yet. Tech is up to paper and optics.

 

[MarleysGh0st]

After originally saying in the pre-game discussion that I'd settle on the sheep, then switching my mind to the stone, I ultimately went with the argument for settling on the happiness. Not that it mattered much in this position; my next two settlers went to the stone and sheep.

Reading the other reports, it appears that that kcd_swede had a particular April Fool's joke in mind. I also saw a barb galley approach my shores and then turn around. Since I hadn't built any fishing boat yet, I hadn't been concerned. Then I looked closer, "why is there a red circle in the woods outside Mutal?" Because two archers had landed there, that's why! I had one warrior defending the city, so I started hoping the barbs would try to keep the city, rather than razing it. But one archer died in the attack and the second one just sat there until my elephant was brought back to dispatch it.

At 1 AD, I've settled six cities of my own and captured Foolsville. My stone city has built Stonehenge, the Oracle (for CS), and the GLH. And at this point I still haven't met any of the AI.

 

[Smiregal]

Yes. I am the first aprilsfool. The galley with the two archers did not appear near my capital but near my empty fourth city on the gold, silver gems island. Subsequently razing it since it had not grown yet.
A lesson hard learned. It of course set me back but I still managed to get a good snowball running. I settled on the Hitmusical by the way.
Quick speed magnifies the decisions made to a deegree that since I did not play it often (once) I feel my timings to bee a little off.

Still love the map my inner builder had awoken.

 

[kcd_swede]

Funny game so far, seems kcd yet again fancies quadrants, this time with this choice between production, food, happy and commerce!

Hexes weren't available until CivV.

 

[mscellaneous]

I abandoned the game on T39

Settled on the Stone and started exploring with the Phant on a galley and quickly expanded to 3 cities. With barbs having Sailing I thought that early MC would be strong play, 4C sea tiles with Colossues also seemed attractive. Felt smug when the first barb galley appeared on T35 near Gems island. So next turn I will Oracle MC and... But wait! Undefended Lakahma was captured next turn by an amphibious barb archer!! Grrrr... Luckily I had my Phant nearby as it was coming around from another scouting trip. So attack barb archer.. And lose a 95% battle. That was enough for me

 

[LowtherCastle]

I was playing perfectly. Four cities, a pair bsrb galleys appesref, captured one city with two arches then a second with another two archers, meanwhile my we’re elephant was far away on a galley. I figured OK I’ll bring it back, re-capture, but next turn to archers in one city upgraded the long Bowman. Rage quit.


Only exclamation I can think of is karma payback for all the April fools jokes I played on other people.

Got my first Covid shot a week before April 1. April 1 I text my daughter that it’s in the news that the vaccines in my area had a bad batch and there’s a chance that mine was bad. She was really pissed off. Then she realized it was April 1.

 

[Lawrence]

I also got fooled hard.. I didn't kill the barb galley and then with the first galley 2 longbows descended on my capital which only had a warrior. I rushed an Axe hoping that he would at least fend off 1 of them, then I can rush another one. This worked and the Axe actually defeated both longbows! This made me a bit complacent and then the next batch of longbows descended I thought my single War Elephant would be enough -- forgetting that WEs don't get defensive bonuses. So that fell my Gold city. I thought OK I should be able to re-take it before the longbow get fortified by rushing 4 Axes, which I tried, and didn't work -- turns out 1 longbow defending a city with no bonus is better than 4 axes... Much later I was able to re-take it with 3 maces. But lost a lot of turns in that sequence. With that, I am still stuck with 4 cities at 1AD.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Oh blimey.... reading everyone else's spoilers, I now realise how lucky I was! I was very conscious of how much my cities were dependent on seafood, and because of that, basically from the instant that the first barb galley appeared, I made sure I had enough boats of my own to destroy every barb galley the instant it appeared. I therefore had no inkling that the galleys probably contained barb archers that would've caused havoc if they'd landed. Phew!

Well that is, until 1AD. More on that later.

In the end I settled on the hit musicals. 2nd city on the NE island to get the production+stone+marble, and like so many other people, built Stonehenge, Great Lighthouse, Oracle, Pyramids and Colossus. And then in my first master-move, I Oracled CS in 800 BC (turn 55) and then forgot to change to bureaucracy. I finally realised in 200BC (turn 70) and promptly changed - 2 turns before completing the pyramids which meant I couldn't use the revolt to get representation!

Meanwhile I expanded to 5 cities - island to the SW to actually get some land, N to get the gold and silver. And hook up the gems that were in the capital's BFC, but of course lack the trade route without a city on that island. And settled Chichen Itza on the island NW between horsies and fish. And to my delight, the elephant, helped by an axe, managed to capture Foolville. Unfortunately I then sent all my units in the vicinity to attempt to capture Fool's Gold (brilliant name btw with the unusable gold there - very clever!), leaving those cities undefended. The turn before 1AD, Chichen Itza produced a catapult, which I promptly loaded onto a galley to join the Fool's Gold invasion force. I debated whether I should have Chichen Itza build an axe (1 turn) or another catapult (3 turns). i decided a catapult would be more useful. There was a barb galley nearby, but it was in an ocean tile in barb culture, so I'd have to deal with it next turn. No risk because barbs don't put units on boats do they, and I could destroy it before it reached my fishing boats. Next turn - 1AD - say two barb archers sitting in Chichen Itza. A one-tile island on a hill, so going to be very difficult to capture back too! AAAAAAARRRRRGH!

On the upside, Fool's Gold probalby won't be able to hold out much longer, seeing as the barbs still only have archers (I was luckier than some people there). And I have a settler about to settle the gateway island to the East that will allow my galleys to reach Sumeria. I've already got paper and shared maps, so I know how much better the AI land is than our starting area!

Oh and I'm 2 turns from philosophy (barbs founded Confucianism very early in the game, in Fool Me Twice, so I'll have to have Taoism instead)

 

[krikav]

@WastinTime
I have one and only one game ever seen an amphibious attack from barbs. Lost a city that was guarded by a warrior to two archers who came out of a galley.
Was completely baffled by the incident.
It was some time ago, but I have a hard time to belive I was dreaming.

So I think it's something that can happen, but that only happends very rarely.