[BTS] BOTM 300 - Sparta, Monarch - First Spoiler to 1AD

[kcd_swede]

BOTM 300: Leonidas I, Monarch - First Spoiler - 1AD

How is the war/peace going?
Use this thread to tell us what happened in your game, up to 1AD

Reading Requirements
If you are participating in BOTM 300, 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

 

[LowtherCastle]

Fun game!

My pre-game study showed me a lot of info could be gleaned T0, pre-and post-settling, especially the AI demo screen power, possibly telling what units the Persians were starting with. On normal monarch, persians start with 11. Other AIs vary from 20 down to 11.

(Archery+hunting+archer=6+2+3)

T0 AI power scores:
14, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 Bizarre!

This told me most likely the AIs started without archery or without two archers.

Because T0 we already know 2AIs, there this could affect the bonus beaker(s) we get when teching the techs they know. In this case, no bonus for Agri but if they have archery, we should get a 1 beaker bonus. Using the same demographic screen (GNP) I determined the Persians did not start with Archery. This made me incorrectly conclude they both started with two immortals (hunting+2 immortals = 2+2*4 =10). This actually screwed me up because when I went through the mountain pass and encountered Darius‘s culture, I decided to not go farther for fear of losing one of my phalanxes. So I waited till I had a second. It also motivated to keep one phalanx at home.

I settled on the ivory thinking I was in a race to control territory. That was when I was able to discover that the AIS did not have archery. But it didn’t occur to me that the AI’s would be so Nerfed by the game settings.

After discovering the wall of mountains with one phalanx and the blocked canal to the south that freed the phalanx at home to join the one at Darius. I didn’t move on from Darius because I just kept those to their two Stone Age him. After discovering the southern canal, I brought the other phalanx to Darius. I could’ve sent one or two on, but I decided not to. In hindsight, that was a blunder because now Cyrus is very powerful. He founded Buddhism, built the great wall, ha ha, and Oracled monarchy.

I have captured three Darius cities and he’s gone. I have fended off Cyrus‘s attacks on me so far. In fact, I still haven’t explored his land yet. His power appears to be much higher than mine, so I think I’m going to research construction and get some catapults before I go after him.

I have limited myself to 11 cities at this point because I can’t afford more really and I don’t want to have 13 and have to have a two turn anarchy. My 12th city will be reserved for a marble tile if I can find it. I could actually settle several more cities that are nice including an iron city which I don’t have yet. We’ll see. I think I’m gonna wait till I go down on Cyrus.

This is an interesting game. The various combinations of war and peace are kind of funny. Definitely adds a complicating factor in terms of having positive attitudes with the AI’s.

 

[nocho]

Pretty entertaining game so far indeed!

Interesting pre-game analysis by @LowtherCastle, I didn't quite do the same analysis and went sort of head in first.

I found the canal relatively early, so I did take my phalanxes relatively early through the mountain pass. Also, I seemed to remember that if you block land access to an enemy AI it basically sees no route towards you, so I stationed a warrior on the mountain pass and indeed no Persian unit ever even approached. Whether that was thanks to that or just to my continuous harrassment of their home turf I'm not quite sure. I had 2 phalanxes guarding blue Persia and even found a way of trapping a worker twice on the corn tile towards the mountain pass. With the phalanxes 2E from the city, the worker would dare and come out, then while it was farming the corn, moving the phlanxes towards it didn't alert it and when they were next to it it didn't have an escape route. Could rinse and repeat the procedure. Meanwhile I had a lone phalanx ravaging the orange Persian lands and taking care he wouldn't hook up the bronze. In the end I got a bit greedy and attacked a worker/archer combo to get the worker, my phalanx survived with 3.5/5 health but was killed on the interturn by other archers.

However, by this time I had a horse archer army approaching. When I saw bowmen rahter than archers defending the Persian cities early on, I decided the way to go was HAs rather than metal units and in any case, that HAs would be a much faster approach.

Blue Persia fell quite swiftly, in the end he did settle a second city, so that gave me two cities there. Orange Persia was a bit harder nut to crack. After my phalanx perished, Cyrus obviously connected bronze and also an iron more to the east, so I did face several spears. However, by 1AD I have conquered 3 of his 4 cities, he only has the iron city to the east left, but I got his marble filled capital, where Stonehenge is located. The fall of the Orange capital was actually sped up thanks to our friend Alex. Alex played his usual psychotic self, seemingly had declared on the Zulus after shouting something ugly accross the channel that separates them, and he assembled an army to go clockwise around the whole map. Meanwhile Shaka got both Persians to declare on Alex it seems, so Alex had actually more foes than we did! Anyway, just when I was attacking the Orange capital, Alex helped by sacrificing a bunch of units on the defenses there, just before I attacked. So the horse archer campaign has been quite succesful, though I've lost no less than 12 of my 14 HAs. Will need reinforcements to eliminate the last Persian stronghold, but the era of fighting is already practically over now. I'm thinking of just filling as much turf as possible and going to space.

On the tech front things are looking better since I could bulb alpha around 250 BC. I practically never do that, but here it was of great help, mainly for building research. It allowed me to get to currency, CoL and metal casting (1 turn away from it), I did have calendar before that which I pursued basically after HBR for the happies. That allowed me to grow, so pop is doing ok at 73, 12 cities total.

 

[Conquistador 63]

Another very enjoyable game setup by our mapmaker @kcd_swede
Great games by @LowtherCastle and @nocho , as usual.
I am also doing ok (by my own lower standards, that is ).
Sent the scout Southwards and 2 phalanxes East. After getting to the canal, scout went all the way clockwise to meet the rest of the AI.
Figured out the lay of the land and was able to choke blue Persia with the phalanxes, but did not venture further East to disturb Orange Persia.
1AD stats: 7 cities, 38 pop. 208/t, -65; 125 /t breakeven.
Techs: CS, Currency, Calendar, Construction, HBR, Monarchy, 4t to MC.
In hindsight, some very questionable decisions on my gameplay, especially regarding Civics.
Only change was in 275BC, to Bureau+HR (NO slavery or religion changes yet, even though I founded Confu, which has spread to most of my cities).
Also, I am playing a Philo leader and my GPP count is currently ZERO!

 

[MirrorGuard]

I tried to play a cat and mouse game. My original plan was to use the AI I had permanent war with as a worker and great general point farm. I managed to steal 3(or 4?) and had a great general settled in capitol. But Alex spoiled my plan. He kept sending archers and chariorts so that AI worker wouldn't get out to work...So far I founded 10 cities and captured none. I founded both Judaism and Confu. Built 0 wonders yet.

Spoiler How to catch 2-movement mouse with 1-movement cat? Btw to the north there is another captive. :

Spoiler iirc I never killed a worker....how did that kill happen? :

 

[Teneight]

Settled 1N. My original plan of elepult was revised to a beeline CS into engineering rush after seeing how much good quality land we had, plus me getting spooked when I saw the bowmen and wondered if there was any other surprises. Skipped mysticism and used confusianism plus odeons plus calendar for happiness. Alexander is at war with persia as well and sent a stack of chariots which captured teal's capital briefly before being recaptured. Currently 6 cities, 48 pop, finished machinery this turn and will start engineering after a few turns of 0% research.

 

[kcd_swede]

I tried to play a cat and mouse game. My original plan was to use the AI I had permanent war with as a worker and great general point farm. I managed to steal 3(or 4?) and had a great general settled in capitol. But Alex spoiled my plan. He kept sending archers and chariorts so that AI worker wouldn't get out to work...So far I founded 10 cities and captured none. I founded both Judaism and Confu. Built 0 wonders yet.

Spoiler How to catch 2-movement mouse with 1-movement cat? Btw to the north there is another captive. :

View attachment 750193

Spoiler iirc I never killed a worker....how did that kill happen? :

View attachment 750192

About the worker you killed, I am just curious if it may have been one that was disbanded in a strike, or just deleted by you to reduce maintenance? Not important, but it's always interesting to me to explore the inexplicable.

 

[NightOnEarth]

T0: I sent my scout SW and the three phalanxes in the other three directions to explore my territory and determine my position as quickly as possible. I founded Athens on the Ivory, with view to +1, elephants, and catapults. After a few turns, it was clear: I was stuck in the NW corner, with Alexander to the south, my ally against the Persians and my rival for land, shielded from the rest by the canal. Nice land with plenty of good spots for founding more cities.

My breath caught in my throat on turn 4 when I spotted a road to the north. Was the Persians that close? Then I discovered the road network leading to the pass and the mountain range down to the coast. Aha! I advanced further and discovered the cultural boundary of Darius, but couldn't see his city. Should I stop, bypass it, or continue exploring? I deliberated for about twenty minutes before advancing diagonally towards the city. Now, an attack on me would only be possible by crossing a river. Phew, lucky me! Two Bowmen and a warrior who didn't attack me. The other two phalanxes had done their job and advanced. The three of them have been blocking Darius ever since, preventing him from leaving his city.

My scout has been exploring the world along the coast (sailing, trading!) and getting to know the competitors. A fun mix of war and peace. I initially overlooked Cyrus, who's quite a distance from Darius. What a shame! I don't know which resources he has connected (horses, iron, copper) because he has expanded since then, and my scout will probably get lost if he enters his territory. Cyrus is quite far ahead in the score (second only to me) and also militarily strong.

I'm fascinated to read how far you good players have progressed with your empires – technologically and in terms of cities/population. I myself have only founded six cities based on key resources to keep my expenses from spiraling out of control, and I'm no further along than construction, calendar (happiness resources), and soon alphabet (mainly to see how far Cyrus is advanced technologically). The Odeon is very helpful, both in terms of population growth and whipping.

6 cities, 38 pop., 119 /t, -70, miserable 35/t breakeven

In the next few turns, I'll try to overwhelm Darius, but my strategy doesn't seem optimal. Right now, there are six catapults, four elephants, four swordsmen, one horse archer, and three phalanxes at his door, but he has eleven archers and two bowmen. More forces are arriving, but I'm bad at judging when I'm strong enough. Alexander and Saladin also sent troops. Since they're at war with each other, they've been bashing each other's heads in, so Darius has decimated the pitiful remnants of both armies and created a Great General a few turns ago. Bad luck!

It's a very entertaining and exciting game that I'm really enjoying. If I manage to beat the two Persians, I'm still completely unsure how I'm going to win. Is it possible to win through domination by peace-vassaling the other civilizations?

 

[DynamicSpirit]

The first game I've had a chance to play for ages, so I suspect I'm a bit rusty.

The start was a massive dilemma. After moving the generous supply of units on T0, this is what I saw:

No food anywhere around . Settling in place was generous for flood plains but would give such slow growth in the early game. There are hints that SouthEast is more lush but it would take ages to move there and if I saw no food resources, I'd regret it. I thought it over for ages and in then decided to take the risk of moving the settler to the hill N-NW to see what was there. That revealed the grassland cows to the North so I instantly settled there, with grassland cows, plains cows, two ivories and the wine in the BFC. Enough to let the capital be a decent settler/worker pump in the early game.

With hindsight I came to regret that choice: It gave me early growth but no commerce opportunities and put the capital further away from where I realised I needed most of my cities. Worst of all - it turned out with my capital on that hill, I could see no sensible long term way to place cities that would put the starting gold in the BFC of any city. As at 1AD the gold is unused, and I don't believe I will ever be able to use it. That must surely have crippled my early science compared to the people who settled in place.

Exploring: I sent one phalanx East, another South, and kept the third for defence. Of course I quickly discovered @kcd_swede's cunning way he'd protected us from the South, at which point all Phalanxes went to sit around Persepolis and basically stop Darius from building anything. Somewhat to my surprise, Darius gifted me several workers: Literally! His unescorted workers simply wandered out next to my phalanxes, like they were begging to be captured. Nice touch by the way @kcd_swede, starting him with bowmen to stop an early capital-capture.

Heading South I quickly spotted the beautiful river area with FIVE dyes, realised that once the jungle was removed, it would make the perfect spot for a CS capital. I resolved that I HAD to settle that area before Alex did. So basically most of my BC years turned into a land-grab around Alex. This resulted in a very lopsided expansion to the South and a beeline to iron-working/calendar, which has not helped my early growth and I just hope will be worth it in the future. I also expanded further South to try to box Alex in culturally (wondering whether I might be able to get a domination victory if I can grab enough early land from the always-peace AIs). Unfortunately Alex just beat me to the lovely spot in the far South with fish, clams, corn, horses and silk, leaving me with a couple of rather useless cities that lacked any resources. Ooops!

I forgot to take a save at 1AD, but this was my situation in 150BC. I actually still don't know where Cyrus is, except that he must be somewhere beyond Darius.

 

[LowtherCastle]

@DynamicSpirit

No gold? Ever? I'm afraid to ask what kind of wedding ring you bought...

Btw, that GLoryland city to the far south was one of the first cities I settled. Hurt my maintenance costs but with the game settings I wasn't taking any chances.