[BTS] BOTM 228: Hammurabi, Noble - First Spoiler - 1AD

[DynamicSpirit]

BOTM 228: Hammurabi, Noble - First Spoiler - 1AD

Use this thread to tell us what happened in your game, up to 1AD. Which save did you pick? And if it was challenger, did you try worker-stealing despite the warnings about the AI defences?

Reading Requirements
If you are participating in BOTM 228, 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

 

[MarleysGh0st]

I took the challenger save, mostly because I'm unlikely ever to want to do so again. I did not try worker-stealing, partly because I respected the warning, mostly because I habitually never go in for those early wars. Probably a bad habit, but there it is.

Still, I was curious to discover exactly what units you had given the AI to protect their cities and workers. So when the report arrived that someone had circumnavigated, in 3320 BC, I was more that a little perplexed. Whatever units could do that, and however many there were to string together such a feat, it didn't sound like they'd have any defensive value. Then Sitting Bull made contact with me, sailing by on his frigate, followed by contact with Joao on his carrack. Ah, well, I definitely don't remember any hints about those in the pregame thread, or any speculation by others that included them. But, for most of the AI, it seems that their best defense from early worker steals was the mundane fact that they were just too far away to be reached!

Anyway, I settled in place. I built the GLH, but lost the Oracle to Augustus when I was a turn away from being able to finish it (although I was planning to delay for a couple more turns, to finish researching math for the CS-sling). I was a bit worried that there was no copper nearby, and further worried about iron being so far away, but I managed to expand up the coast and claim that before WK did. So, by 1 AD, I have eight cities, I've just started a golden age and switched to HR and Bureaucracy, and all is peaceful.

I'm content with my situation, although it's probably well behind how some of the others are doing.

 

[Conquistador 63]

Contender save.

Seafood start without fishing? No thanks.
I took my chances and fooled by the blue circle, I moved to the PH 1E of corn on t0. Not thrilled with this choice, on t1 I once again followed the blue circle and ended up settling t2 on 2N of corn, on a site that could end up being a half decent Bureau cap.

Soon enough the neighbours started to appear, and except for SB`s frigates, it looked to me that the AI had received their UU as the starting unit bonus. At least judging from Rome`s praetorians, Korean Hwachas, Persian Immortals (they did not have horses) and Portuguese carracks.

Due to this settings, I decided to expand peacefully in the BCs. Built Oracle (CoL) and GLH to help with REX, at 1AD we have 10 cities and 37 pop. I guess I made some inefficient choices in my tech path (e.g. Currency before Alpha), so we are still 2t away from CS and 130bpt/-11gpt @70%. Still undecided on the VC, but should involve some warring in any case.

 

[WastinTime]

SIP, challenger
I like fishing when there are no gold/gems to jumpstart the economy.
I didn't even get close to getting GLH which is a painful loss, but I Oracled CS and I settled all the way up to Gold, Ivory, and even Gems-Island. Sadly, no stone, but then Rome built Mids for me after I started my Maceman war and took a couple cities, so that will be mine.

 

[Tonny]

Playing the contender save.
State of my empire:
11 cities with 59 pop
at 100% +302bpt -80gpt, at 0% I have +139gpt.
Built the GLH and oracled CS.
Currently prepping my army for an elepult rush to finish the game. I'm going for either conquest or domination.

 

[Pangaea]

302 beakers is very impressive, Tonny

Took the contender save and SIP. Was also surprised by super-early circumnavigation. Made sense once I saw a Portuguese Carrack and at least one Native American Frigate. SBull got it, as the Carrack was only 3-move. Not much action in the game otherwise. A REXing game, mostly peaceful. Stole two workers from Augustus since he was silly enough to park them right in front of a chariot. 2000 years later he opened borders

Oracled CS around 1000BC, and got a very late GLH from slowbuilding it in the capital. Working on MoM and GLib now. Much less impressive research rate at 202 at full pelt, which we can do most of the time. Wang stayed at 1 city for a bonkers long time, because he figured it was more important to build Artemis... We settled most of the land, up to gold. Sadly a settler got eaten by a barb spearman that I couldn't have known about, so that sucked a bit. Still, we have 11 cities and 54 pop. Mostly poor trade routes, mind you, since I don't have any island cities. Recently landed a warrior on what looks like an atoll, and seems like we ought to put a few cities over there. Didn't bother with a city south of the capital, since there was no food on the south side. Better trade routes would have been nice, but meh. The capital needed its food, since I gave the corn away. And SIP does ruin a crab.

Got done with Construction+HBR this turn, so maybe I'll go for some elephant action. We'll see. Augustus beat me to the jungle big-ears, but we expand borders in 5 turns to grab the one near Wang. Empire isn't ready for war, though, so probably won't be an instant thing. Not sure what win to try to go for here, but either way we need to smack some AIs. Perhaps we may as well bide our time and let them fill out a little more of the land. Cyrus has done a decent job at 8 cities. Don't know where Joao, SBull and Kublai are, but I suppose they must be east of Cyrus somewhere. Big blob of blackness over there. Sadly my scouting Woodie2 guy got snagged by a barb spearman. Those buggers have messed us up a little this game. Killed a settler plus the nice woodie2

Maybe I'll go to space if I can be bothered, but for that I need a lot more land. Otherwise it's probably a slow-ish conq-dom game.

Only had negative events and huts (several maps, no techs), with one exception. Confucianism spread to 5 cities (4 of our own + Rome) after paying 26. That was pretty nice, as several of those already had Taoism, and I was in Pacifism so couldn't build missionaries. A three-turn slave revolt blew, particularly as it was in a large city that was working on the first GS. Postponed Monarchy, or whatever it was, for two turns.

 

[Tonny]

302 beakers is very impressive

Thank you. I did not know that's a lot.
Maybe it is because I have 3 island cities at 1AD and a total of 9 coastal cities. Also having 7 finished libraries.
To compare, I oracled CS 500BC and finished the GLH 575BC.

Good luck on finishing the game!

 

[LincolnOfRome]

I built TGL and oracled CS. I got hit by a barbarian uprising event with four spearmen circa 960 BC. All I had were warriors and chariots. I defended my four cities at the time by cities by building a lot of warriors, but it was costly. Also, I didn't seem to have any iron or bronze around. The spearmen wandered from city to city until I wore them down with forested defenders. Had they been axemen or archers, my chariots could have handled them.

It is nice to mix things up a bit with random events, but sometimes something really unfortunate does happen. The hammers I put into defense could have been used to conquer a neighbor. I did give this one up and replayed with much better results. The islands were great for intercontinental trade routes.