BOTM 54 First Spoiler - 1AD and All Civs Met

[DynamicSpirit]

BOTM 54 First Spoiler - 1AD

How is your game going?

Reading Requirements - note the unusual conditions

Stop! If you are participating in BOTM 54 and haven't yet submitted or abandoned your game then you MUST NOT read this thread until:

• You have reached at least 1 AD in your game, AND
• You have met all surviving AIs.

(The additional condition to have met all AIs is because exploring on a rainforest map can be slow, so it's plausible some people may reach 1AD on this maptype without having met everyone)


Posting Restrictions

• Please do not discuss anything that happened after 1 AD,
• Please do not divulge your final result if that happened after 1 AD.
• Please do not discuss the location of mid-game resources (horses and iron are fine, coal,oil and later is not).
• Do not post any savegame file from the game. Discussions and screenshots are fine but not actual games.

 

[Solyaris]

Settled 2NE to have all food resorce within borders and use it as settler/worker pump before turning it into GP farm.

Tech:
Agri -> BW -> hunting -> the weel -> pottery -> AH -> writing -> fishing -> alphabet

Worker -> Warrior (wipped) at size 3 -> Warrior (overflow) -> settler/worker/settler/worker ect at size 4 (wipped whenever out of anger). Unusual to wipp warrior, but turned out to be a smart move consider barbarians!

Creazy amount of barbarians! Had a bit of luck with the odds initialy

Killed most of Isabella and converted to budism, after a while when I met the other AIs I realized I was the only one in buddism. Normaly that would result in disaster, but consider how the map and game turned out (war all over the place), it wasnt that bad afterall!

Got 7 cities (35pop), 52 Beakers +4GPT @ 1AD (less then usual, but not that bad). Researhing HR and will conquor rest of Isabella + 5th aztec and go for domination victory!

PS: only stonehenge and TGW been build at 1AD^^ and an extremely slow techrate!

 

[SilentWatcher]

Well.. Good game so far.. some swerve balls! Settled where the warrior started as that seemed to be where the medal winners were aiming, Ok no hammers but lots of whipping available.. In hindsight would have moved south to get SOME hammers.. but its kinda worked anyway. happy cap was a problem with whipping. Decided I was gonna go great wall. Had problems with a botm a long time ago with raging barbs and on replay found that GW changed the game. Realised early that my cap was NEVER gonna finish the GW as you cant whip it so went for settler early and moved south to grab FP and some hammers from Isabella. knew that would add a close borders prob but figured id live with it. A turn after settling my ambassador made a faux pas (guess that was scripted?) And I started building some holkans to defend my self. Missed the GW by 25 turns! normal for me! just cant time the early wonders right. Found my holkans were dealing with the (not so raging really) barbs without a hitch. As long as I lured the barb from the jungle I could get 96% odds and just grab the XP. Expanded north to gems etc and followed the coast. 2 chariots out scouting. Met Monty the 5th? and Monty the 2nd? huh? Oh bloodbath.. Ok! Got oracle, First time ive ever built it! and only because everybody talks about it.. figured I have to do some reading on that as I was no where near nicking CS from it. took metal casting as it was worth the most beakers and forges/workshops will be handy. Been peacefull so far. Every one is cautious +1 for long peace and I have 1.8 strength against Isabella and hayuna. As of 1AD I have 6 healthy cities, just got monarchy/hereditary rule so excess happiness..(at least 2 holkans per city) 1st in GNP, MFG, CROP, Soldiers (hence peace) 2nd in POP!!? and LAND. Now entering rapid expansion. Spare the whip! Economy needs fixing but that is now doable. will stay peacefull till I am tech leading then remove isabella and go from there, unless the aggressive buggers change my plans.

 

[drizzt.titan]

Returning to civ after a lengthy absence and this was my first game. Settled where the warrior started. Lost my first settler to barbs. Decided not to build GW and elected to wipe out Isabelle instead. Montezuma the 5th & Joao were my closest neighbors and were both running Judaism, decided that would be a good idea. At 1 AD still working to restore my economy and hoping for a space race.

 

[WelshGandalf]

It's 835AD and I have finally met everyone!!! So now I can post about my game as of 1AD Fortunately I wrote about it at the time...

Well, it didn't go well but it'll be interesting from here on...

I settled south west somewhat on the sugar. My second city went in the "canal" spot you can see in the starting screen. Eventually I got a third due east on the flood plains, and unexpectedly got a 4th as a scouting holkan eventually killed 4 barbarian warriors to take a barbarian city I teched fishing (2 clams!), the wheel, BW, hunting, agri, pottery.

However, things then went downhill, as the Aztecs declared on me with a stack of 1 axeman, spearman and 3 archers at around 1150BC. I had a little bit of warning, and thought that 4 holkans with 20% cultural defences should just about be able to hold them off. How wrong I was... first I lost one at 9% odds when I tried to move a barb warrior off my horses. Then their stack took the city with me only killing 1 of them in return! I checked the odds and basically they won 2 out of the 3 fights that they were fighting at 15%-45% chances. Grrr. Then a lone barb axe got lucky too and took my outlier city, despite it being on a hill. So I'm down to 2 cities, and about 3 troops. Game over surely?

Well from that epic low point, something resembling a fightback happened. Enough to keep me interested anyway. First an Aztec archer came from nowhere to my undefended city, but my city got to size 2 just as the archer moved next to it, so I was able to whip an archer of my own, the aztec didn't attack it then. Next up I finished iron working and found iron next to my 2nd city! Brilliant, I can finally build some reasonable troops. Then I decided that I was so far back now that I'd need to try somethign crazy to get back into it, so I started building the Oracle whilst researching Monarchy. Amazingly I got it in 180BC and took Feudalism. Where was this luck last game when I missed out on it in 725BC at a lower difficulty level?!?! Also the Aztecs never pushed on to my last 2 cities - it looks like they were kept somewhat busy by the rampaging barbarians. Also finally getting monarchy meant I could grow my cities beyond their insanely low happy cap... there were no happy resources around and I was whipping a lot so Monarchy made a massive difference.

So, I still have 2 cities, but a large tech advantage over the world. The plan is to get that city back off the Aztecs, and, after getting maths & construction (ball park! catapults!) heading for MC- > machinery -> guilds. With my horses and iron that will give me Knights to go attack with. It makes a change to the usual head for cuirs tech run, and seemed the best option with the resources I have and being able to oracle fuedalism.

 

[Manco Capac]

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BTW, DynamicSpirit , thanks for your beefed up CG3 and C1 archers. My, I've lost 3 HA's without scratching them at all...at different moments in the game. And goddammit, I've lost the first war against Monty 5th as copper city didn't fall (1 beefed archer and axe) to my 4 HA's.

I got lucky no GA happened to the DoWed AI's.
Shame no GA happened to when Monty 5th DoWed me.

And nice disposition of Izzy resources, you indeed placed them to avoid easy early worker stealing.
Shame HC was my first easy victim as enslaved nation.

Where are Monty the first and the two others, DS?

(ball park! catapults!)

Ouch! I forgot the ball park. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[nocho]

Wandered off south with the settler and eventually settled on the coast with clam, pig, sugar, some flood plains and a hill (omg!).

Izzy's cap really close by, chariot rushed her when her top archer decided to take out a barb. Could take that archer out on DoW which netted 2 holy cities and Izzy dead.

8 cities, currency in, calendar nearly, to significantly improve happy.

Also wondering what happened to 1st and 4th Aztec empires, but I guess they never spawned.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Also wondering what happened to 1st and 4th Aztec empires, but I guess they never spawned.

According to rumours there was a blood feud a couple of centuries prior to 4000AD. Terrible tragedy. Entire cities razed. Terrible. Montezuma the 7th only escaped by clinging to a wooden raft in the middle of a lake and then fleeing with some trusted advisors by a small boat across the oceans, never to be seen since. He was very embittered, you should pray that if he is still alive, you don't meet him in any future GOTM...

 

[Jastrow]

Like WelshGandalf, I had to wait an extra bit (not as long as him) to meet everyone and be allowed into this tread.

At 1AD, I was on the steps of madrid (already had taken Barca), and had about 5 of my own cities. I was looking good to secure the west strip of the continent for myself. It is big enough to eventually fit 15+ cities on it, so that should be enough to form my empire. I will probably, if the maniacs allow, play this out peacefully towards space.

Barbs were a bit of an annoyance early one. I even lost one border city to them at one point (just after settling, so really the price is just the settler, not much more.), but I hope I have them under control now.

 

[WelshGandalf]

The lack of hammers is just crazy. Whip anger throughout my (2 city) empire was up around 45-60 turns for a long time. But judging from the tech pace it doesn't look like anyone else got an awesome position. Or perhaps it was the constant war that slowed everyone down

I was terrified when I met the "5th Aztec empire" and was mildly happier to find that there are only 3. It's good fun when Monty asks me to declare war on that treacherous Montezuma

Oh, and thanks for giving them different names. I still get a bit confused but there was a GOTM a while back when there were two Chinese Empires and no way to differentiate them.

 

[raistlin1967]

Man I hate barbarians. I'm on my 4th try at this. Izzy took my capital in the first game at like 12% odds. 2nd game, jungle overgrew 2 of the initial rices. 3rd game, tried to get horses hooked up as quickly as possible, setteled 2nd city for iron and promptly lost it to barbs. Really, really hate barbs. Even on prince they are relentless. 4th try is going the way I wanted 1st to go. Still learning how to play this infuriating game. On to the next one.

 

[RD-BH]

Not waiting for history to repeat itself (sorta),
... befriended Spain and Portugal
... declared war on just about everyone else (one hold out)
... settled mostly north of lake
... pumped out some buffed explorers (they mostly survived ... mostly)
... rented iron to Spain (gotta keep her alive; good buffer she is)
... growing slowly (jungle ... yecch!)
... need caste for hammers, but goin' serfing first
... absolutely no idea on victory at this point (diplo?)
... have cottaged to excess
Havin' FUN 8) 8) 8)

Vacation 'til mid June ... hope I can finish this map.

 

[kcd_swede]

I took Izzy's double holy city, then everything else she had. Chariot rush. Then, barbs started showing up... geez, I had forgotten about that. And the Toroidal wrap city maintenance is brutal.

Was able to whip a few more Chars and hold everything I have, but I lose two of my first 3 settlers to stupidity.

Lost a lot more units in war than the odds would suggest. At 1AD I had considered abandoning the game at two different junctures.

Sticking it out... what else have I got to do that is this much masochistic delight?

Maybe... just maybe.... being the only hindu in a sea of Confucian maniacs is not the best strategy for a nice peaceful space race. But with 3 crazy Monte's, I figure making them angry is no more likely to getting DOW'd than making them pleased.

At 1 AD I own a North/South stripe about 10 tiles wide. Hard game for being Prince level.

 

[Manco Capac]

I took Izzy's double holy city, then everything else she had. Chariot rush.

Can't believe everyone get lucky with chariots while me unlucky with HA's against Izzy.

 

[WelshGandalf]

I can't believe that any of you are complaining compared to my start!

 

[kcd_swede]

Can't believe everyone get lucky with chariots while me unlucky with HA's against Izzy.

I tend to suck at HA rushes, because they get to be so slow it isn't a rush anymore.

Being Prince Level game, the opponents won't have archery at the start so I wanted to get someone with chariots before they had built a bunch of archers. I anyhow lost 4 out of 5 chariots, so I didn't feel very lucky at the time.

 

[Greeder]

I founded Mutal 2Nw from Warrior position. I suppose in 4th turn. This gave me a lot of food (Fish was a bonus) and 2 hills to mine. And that was the main reason I decided to settle there - 2 hills.
Agri -> BW ->AH -> TW ->Pottery
Stolen Worker from Isabella. If I remember correctly I also pillaged her land quite a lot.
IW -> Writing

Second city I placed due south in order to block Isabella , on the riverside with 3 FP. Later on Iron popped nearby, 3 food resources - nice spot.
Uxmal went to the same river E, near lake to claim eventual desert resources. That was wrong decision, it was my worst city.
W from second city went another on coast with Rice, Clam and Sugar.
5th was E from capitol (Rice, Banana, Pigs) and 6th N from it near Gems and Dye. It was razed by barbs just before ADs and I rebuilt it.
95 BC I converted to Hindu to befriend all Montys. Jao and HC were Jude and Isabella Buddist.
50 BC I discovered Alpha and traded for Poly, Sailing, Hunting, Priesthood, Mono, Archery.

Overall nothing exciting. Slow expansion, but I managed to be in the middle of the tech flock. The only bright point was that I managed to get 2 or 3 Woodsmen3 thanks to barbs.

 

[Chris1229]

Settled in the south between the rice and the floodplains. I didn't get my second city out until 2350 BC. I settled my second city even farther south between the Crabs and the Grass hill to block Izzy.

Right about this time barbarians started pouring out of the fog that my warrior had created scouting the map. Suddenly i remembered that i should have been producing more troops to fog bust.

My single warrior in Mutal fended off several waves of warriors and then i started whipping out archers since the stinking barbarians were pillaging my farms. It took me 20 or so turns but I finally got the barbarians under control about the time I researched IW and found that my capital had Iron.

I have since settled 5 more cities on my way north, and

Spoiler :

captured a very nice barbarian city, that has wet rice, 2 wet piggies, Iron and silk, just west of the northern pass in the mountain range mine and Hyuna Capac

I beelined metal casting thinking i would use workshops to make up for lack of hammers, but haven't been able to force myself to build to many of them, whipping seems more effective. I did trade it for alphabet though and a couple other techs i can't recall now. I am three turns from Machinery and intend to build a lot watermills and of course crossbows.

Only one short war so far. I accidently dowed Jao while exploring when i clicked the wrong option after telling one of my exploring archers to enter his land when we didn't have open borders. I plan to change that by dowing izzy soon since she is buhddist and everyone else i share borders with is hindu. only confu are jao and 2nd Aztecs.

btw: I am in the bottom half of the pack in all categories except tech were i consider myself the leader.

 

[zamint3]

Settled on the warrior spot.

Expanded nicely to 7 cities, not much barb trouble due to some ok fogbusting.

Stole 6 workers from Izzy in 3 short wars.

Maintenance was a problem so I took Currency from Oracle 380BC for some very nice trade routes only to get DOWed by the 5th Aztec a few turns later (335BC), losing them all again.

5th Aztec had Joao as worst enemy and we did not have that close borders so I felt safe when he went into WHEOOHRN mode. He came with a stack of 2 Jags, 2 Spear and 1 Axe all heavily promoted I think they are fighting a lot of Barbs on their eastern frontier.
I was not prepared and had no metal hooked up. Luckily the whole stack chased my workers for a while (I sacrificed 2) which gave me time to hook up iron and whip 3 axes. A few turns later all 5 died attacking my axes in the capital...

I'll take one more city from the 5th Aztecs next turn and then make peace for Masonry, Math and some gold I hope.

Spoiler :

I don't like "Random Events", but they are quite interesting for a change. I just got the notice that "The Philistines have gathered an army of spearmen and are on the march". I wonder how serious this is?

 

[Conquistador 63]

Settled 1NE of warrior. Corn, 2*Rice, 2*Pigs, banana and 3 lake tiles as financial in BFC. Is is even possible to lose a prince game with such a nice start? Granted raging barbs are on, but we do have a resourceless early UU.

After some early exploration, while some Monty and Izzy scouts found me, I found an unescorted incan worker. Captured it, got peace and sometime later captured a 2nd one.

Man, this is going way too easy. I think I fogbusted well enough and sent the 1st settler unescorted to get me some fish to the W. But there was a lion hiding out there, so I lost the settler.

Time to whip a holkan to handle those pesky barb warriors. Should have a 2nd easily from whip overflow but decided to use the overflow for a EXP granary. It's only prince, I tell myself.

But lots of barbs warriors start to enter my lands. I lose city 2 to a lucky barb warrior. at less than 10% odds? Now some other barbs will capture 2 or 3 workers next turn, unless I move the holkan to kill one barb. Time to ragequit, I ask myself? Not yet.

I attack the barb warrior with the holkan...and lose the battle.

Suddenly, I find an irresistible urge to play the Noble level WOTM, I think it should be better suited to my current level of Civ expertise.