[BTS] BOTM 262: Saladin, Prince - First Spoiler to 1AD

[kcd_swede]

BOTM 262: Saladin, Prince - First Spoiler - 1AD

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

Reading Requirements
If you are participating in BOTM 262, 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

 

[nocho]

Kind of a tough game for Prince! I decided to settle 1W on the hill when the warrior discovered nothing of note to the east. However, the silk I got 1W was hardly noteworthy either of course, although it did add some commerce later. With all the jungle to the south and not many stellar settling spots available early on, decided to expand early on with chariots. I stole a worker from the Japanese with a warrior and saw he had a nice capital, but protective archers on a hill crossing a river didn't look appealing with chariots, so decided to attack the Ethiopians instead. So with a city count of just 2 I started cranking out chariots and first captured Aksum. Zara was so friendly to have built Stonehenge there, it was also the home of buddhism. I also captured his second city down at horse/rice/banana while his third and last city was autorazed. With tight finances at the time, I didn't mind that too much. It was nice to get the ivory and stone in the process as it allowed to build the Pyramids more easily, also in Aksum.

The only downside to killing Zara was that initially I had eliminated my only potential trading partner. Conquest cash allowed to get to alpha, but Stalin wouldn't trade and Toku was being his good old self, whether he was pissed about his stolen worker earlier or not. So it was a happy surprise when Wang's workboat made contact who did want to trade all he had, even if mainly just small stuff and IW, which was badly needed for the jungle. I teched Calendar next which also allowed to get something useful out of that pesky rainforest to the south.

I conquered a barb city in the south at wheat and dyes. By 1AD I have a very decent happy cap with the calendar resources, a gold that popped and representation from the mids, so I can finally stat growing. I'm at 8 cities and 46 pop, with 2 settlers on the road. Tech is up to currency, CoL and calendar, CS is half way done. I got a GE in Aksum which I used to rush the MoM.

 

[Jimmy Thunder]

This has been a great game so far full of tricky decisions. A real puzzle to work out the best way to approach this game. I'll definitely do a proper spoiler about my game where the main points would be "hammer economy" and delicate diplomacy.

Great write up @nocho. With 1AD hindsight, I did wonder if some people had success with chariot rushing. Sounds like you did!

 

[Jimmy Thunder]

@nocho Also, did the gold pop in the capital? And when? That's good luck.

 

[Xcalibrator]

I took the Immortal save and settled 1E on the hill (= 1N of pigs). My stats are a little bit behind nocho's: 7 cities, 24 pop. City2 went east to block Zara, 2S of the rice; C3 was to the SW, E of banana; C4 was West with the 3 silks and sharing cows with the capital; C5 to the NE, 1E of the copper (and I was very glad to be able to build axes just as the barbs became a problem); C6 to the SE, NW of the rice to block Toku, who beat me quite handily to the stone. My score is 458 (last of 4) vs Russia's 715 (1st). There's a barb city down around the dyes, and one on the south coast with copper, but the AI are pretty well blocked from claiming any of MY remaining land.

 

[Jimmy Thunder]

First off - What a fantastic situation for early game dilemmas; without obvious power moves/gambits (or gold resources) to head straight for.

This is my 4th GOTM since coming out of my "dark ages" and in each previously game I've been woefully behind on the 1AD statistics. So my goal for this game was to have the highest number of cities by the 1AD timestamp out of everyone!

I settled in place - that's one extra turn to work on maxing my city count, and also hoping that this would mean bronze, horses or iron in the BFC.

With no commerce or easy resources to hook up there was no wiggle room for luxuries like going for religion. Early tech was Agri -> AH -> Mining -> BW. At least this would keep my capital worker busy.

I prioritised exploration - given my desire for REX and also knowing there would be a few goody huts. I got a Scout and 2 x gold reserves with the tribal huts. I saw early that there would be plenty of room for peaceful expansion which luckily lined up with my idea for rapid settlers.

First city went to the NW on coastal plans hill next to silk and sharing the capital cows. This could give me some decent hammers on unimproved tiles for workers and settlers.
Second city went NE on the coast 1N of rice.
Third city went S on top of the sugar to share improved tiles with the capital.

My early game tech was abysmal - and was further tanking with every new city placed. I went on a full Writing - Alphabet beeline to try to trade my way out of traouble, and at least then my hammers could build research.
Yes - this means no pottery - eeek!

I don't have a good understanding of the AI personalities, so was pretty naïve about what tech trading would open up (or not!) after Alphabet.
Zara Yaqob was the only one open to trades so I only picked up cheap scraps for my techs. I tried gifting a few cheapies to Stalin to see if he would bite, but no joy there.
Fortunes changed when a Buddhist Russian Monk walked through the Jewish Japanese and Ethiopian lands to enlighten me of his teachings. Bingo! Now I could get some decent trade going with more than one partner.

I took a risk and decided to go for the Great Lighthouse - despite not having researched either Masonry or Sailing myself. I rushed a granary and lighthouse in Second City and started prechopping.
My only Pre-1AD great person was a Scientist who I bulbed to get Mathematics just in time to boost forest chops and improve my tech tradebait. I got GLH in 375BC which convinced me to double down on my plan to REX onto coastal tiles.

I teched Currency and Calendar and with this load was able to get most of the fill in techs as well as Monarchy, and still have some decent trades up my sleeve for future.

I took one barb city by the wheat and dyes. Not exactly where I would have placed it, but hey, pillagers can't be choosers. Rest of my cities have been placed on the coast - starting from the stone near Japan and proceeding clockwise.

Ethiopia built the Great Wall and Pyramids in Aksum - not on a hill, not too far away, not particularly well defended, and I couldn't see any metal inside their borders. I decided I would go to war with Swordsman and Catapults (with War Elephants not too far behind that) to get the tastiest chunk of Zara Yaqobs land.

So I'm at 1AD with:
10 cities (8 coastal) + one settler in transit
31 pop
GLH
Construction in 5 turns
3 barracks and a couple of swords/spears
Have got Stalin to Pleased (+6)
No knowledge of Korea - in hindsight it would have been good to keep my exploring warrior on the eastern tip for this very reason
Might try for Hanging Gardens since I have stone

Also, have built exactly 0 cottages. Never done that before!

 

[antimony]

My game on immortal was fairly similar to @Xcalibrator, got 7 cities and 29 pop in 1AD, though I settled in place (for 6 other ciites, not in order, got one south for the rice and bananas, one east for sugar and sharing rice with one NW for copper, one west on silk, one SW for cow and clearing jungle for cottages, then the last one far south for fish). Will get rice/stone spot next if Toku doesn't.

Just finished Currency (next Sailing->Calendar). Was a fairly slow game because of all the jungle, economy was pretty bad due to trying to block land and produce units for barb defense. (Writing around 1000 BC but no Alpha until 400 BC, after which building research makes things smoother.) After Alpha, got IW and Math from trades. Diplo is OK since everyone converted to Zara's hinduism. Long term plan is CS then Astro as early as feasible.