BOTM 59 First Spoiler - to 500BC NOTE DATE!

[kcd_swede]

BOTM 59 First Spoiler - 500BC

Reading Requirements

Stop! If you are participating in BOTM 59 "Peter and the Mongols", then you MUST NOT read this thread unless EITHER

• You have reached at least 500BC in your game, OR
• You have submitted your entry, OR
• You have abandoned your game and will not submit.

Posting Restrictions
Please do not discuss anything that happened after 500BC.
Please do not discuss modern era resource locations (Copper and Iron are OK).
Please do not reveal names or locations of civilization not accessible by galleys.
Please do not divulge your final result if that happened after 500BC.
Do not post any savegame file from the game. Discussions and screenshots are fine but not actual games.

---------------------------------

So... where did you settle?
Did you survive this long?
Do you have any realistic hope of actually winning the game somehow?

 

[WelshGandalf]

I just played to 1AD and came to post! Well I'll be careful not to talk about things that have happened since 500BC.

I sent 3 keshiks SW and the other one E. 2 barbs attacked on my first go and of course I won those battles. 1 Mongol troop seemed to follow me first go, but from 2nd go on I didn't see them for quite some time.

I scouted lots and came across the Babylonians before long. I thought it would be cool to get a holy city so waited until about turn 12 before attacking, and I took the city and all its cows. Moo! (3400BC)

Up to this point I had got a load of huts, I had over 300 gold, 1 map (which revealed nothing I hadn't already revealed ) 1 lot of experience and 2 warriors. The next hut I found the turn after establishing my first city got me animal husbandry. Great for those cows! I also got Masonry before long too. Perhaps you can only pop techs once you have a city?

Before long however things went downhill as a Mongolian keshik turned up at my one and only city and took it from my 1 horseman who was defending it I didn't even scratch him so I guess that was one of his free victories.

OK.... so I need another city then. Hmmm. The Greeks established Hinduism and I had 2 horsies within reach of Athens, so Athens it was. I liked the look of all the flood plains in his corner of the map too. So in 2480BC 2 keshiks clashed with 2 archers and thankfully won. Huzzah! I'm back in the game!

As of 500BC I had...(checks logs) 2 cities I settled W of Athens with lots of flood plains, including 2 FP-corn tiles (7 food!!!!). I have another settler almost finishing to grab the horses. Might be a bit late for a HA "rush" but since there's no copper around I'd feel safer with some better troops. I have had to repel one attack from the Mongols, and I did so, managing to defeat their C5 Keshik. 3 of my 4 Keshiks are still alive and racking up the experience. I reckon I have iron in my BFC... there are NO resources there at all at the moment, surely there must be one hiding....???

I'm teching towards the great library which will be great with my philosophical trait. The plan is to bulb my way back into contention and through to lib. I've got shocking neighbours in angry Genghiz and the always stroppy Toku. Asoka is happy to trade stuff; I'm trying to figure out if that's a good idea, global diplo is hard to decipher at the moment as religion hasn't spread much. I like all the mutual military bonuses I got for the Mongols being at war with everyone though. +3 with Pacal, yeah!! It tempts me to go for a diplo victory (after wiping out my 2 nutter neighbours of course).

I'm enjoying this thoroughly weird and bizarre opening Thanks for the setup.

 

[SirDrake]

Perhaps you can only pop techs once you have a city?

Pretty sure that's the case. When you want to score an amazing win on Settler level, a good trick is to play with huts and without barbarians. Spend the first 20+ turns (on Marathon) running around popping huts. Every time the script rolls "Tech" it will give you something else instead. I've gotten as many as 8 settlers doing this.


So for this game: No settlers from huts. I just stormed a few AI cities with my keshiks. I lost one keshik on the 3rd city (they had an archer by then) and another to the nemesis (Mongols, or whatever). Then I got a random event to make peace, accepted it, and settled down to REX.


And I couldn't help but giggle like a teenager when it said "Your Peter has destroyed an archer!"

 

[kcd_swede]

And I couldn't help but giggle like a teenager when it said "Your Peter has destroyed an archer!"

OK... one more in the "the mapmaker never saw that one coming" category.

 

[WelshGandalf]

I had a listing of the "most cultured civilizations" or whatever come up, and I was listed as "Peter the Great the Pathetic"

BTW SirDrake, we discussed huts a bit pre-game, it's not possible to get a settler from a hut at Noble level.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I'll also have to report from memory as I wasn't expecting a 500BC spoiler so didn't take any notes for that date Penalty for enthusiastically opening the save too quickly

On the first turn I moved all my keshiks out to avoid the barbarians. Genghis then moved three of his to the NE and one to the SW. Not wanting a battle at this point I then circled all my keshiks around as quickly as I could to take them all South. The early exploration was more exciting than usual not only because of the Mongol war, but also because I forgot to check from the starting thread what the map type was, so spent some time at the beginning trying to figure that out from the land I was seeing.

I got quite puzzled because although all our keshiks had great generals attached they didn't have the corresponding experience points - When I opened the save I presumed I'd be able to immediately give someone Supermedic (although I didn't want to just yet - save the promotions until I see what's actually needed). I kept swapping between the keshiks trying to figure out why I couldn't give some promotions (which was even more confusing because a couple of them had got experience from barbs so I had a couple of keshiks that I could give promotions to and a couple that I couldn't. Eventually I figured it out. Durrrr!

Anyway, I stumbled across Babylon - amazing city. Waited a little while to capture it in the hope of picking up a worker but when I saw the population grow from 2 to 3 I figured Hammurabi wasn't building a worker so just took it anyway. Because I was worried about Mongol keshiks coming round, I beelined to archery and even stopped building my first worker when I had it, so I could build an archer as soon as possible. But after the first couple of turns, throughout the early game I saw no sign of the Mongols, so those two defensive decisions probably unnecessarily cost me quite a few turns. Guess I was a lot luckier than WelshGandalf in that regard. I did also make sure that I always had two keshiks within easy reach of Babylon, just in case.... That did however slow down my exploration quite a bit. Watching the Mongols' score suggested to me that they delayed a lot longer than me before capturing anything but eventually did take a city - presumably somewhere in the NE so a long way from me.

Meanwhile my keshiks discovered Athens. Not a particularly great city spot but a city, and with the advantage of being so far to the SW that a surprise Mongol attack there was unlikely, so I took it anyway - and then Tokyo and Persepolis. I was a little worried about maintenance costs if I took a 3rd city so early (and besides, Cyrus had archers and culture by the time I discovered him - I really didn't want to risk losing any keshiks) so just declared war on both of them, took a worker off each of them and pillaged them to slow them down.

And that's probably as much as I can say given that I don't know the dates of what happened after that

 

[WastinTime]

I sent my units in all 4 directions to collect huts and look for the best cities.

I made peace with GK on turn 10. Was I not supposed to do that?

 

[WelshGandalf]

I made peace with GK on turn 10. Was I not supposed to do that?

lol.... he wouldn't talk to me for ages, then I think he would talk but wouldn't agree peace, then he was willing to take peace in exchange for one of my two cities...

@DynamicSpirit

I beelined archery too. I had about 20 beakers in it when I lost the city. Still, whilst I walked around trying to find a new city to take, I was getting my 1 beaker a turn, which I wasn't before I captured & lost Babylon

 

[Greeder]

I went W with 3 Keshiks. The last one has been sent SE looking for huts.
Genghis wasn't following me very far W.
Till 3200 BC I've got 141 gold 2*exp and a map. Well, map was first faraway E, and I saw that Genghis razed some AI's city (later on I discovered it was Asoka's capitol). So I left NE unexplored by my scout and went SW instead.
Stalin and his pack found Cyrrus and Shaka. I sent 2 Keshiks against Shaka, as his UU is murderous against horses.
Stalin was exploring terrain around Cyrrus territory.
My scout found Babylon. 3120 BC I razed Babylon, as it was very far S (maintenance) and I had just one unit there. The same turn Shaka lost Ulundi. He had one Archer and one Warrior if I recall correctly.
The same turn Stalin went for Persepolis and attacked it next turn. Odds were about 76%, and he managed to win.
2440 BC Genghis captured Ulundi. I recaptured it 2080BC killing Archer, 2 Warriors and 1 GG Keshik. Stalin was lucky again killing Mongolian keshik at 70% odds. I still had 4 GGs. I've sent 2 or 3 of them E looking for Genghis, but found weakly defended Mutal instead.
1760 BC I captured it, but Pacal already had BW and Holkans! Wow, they are horse-killers! So I sued for peace and started short developing period.
1480 BC Stonehenge, 1280 BC my first peacefully settled city, S from Persepolis, near Copper, Horses, Cows, Wheat and Wine. 1080 BC I settled Petersburg between Persepolis and Ulundi.
In the meantime my 3 Keshiks attacked and captured Kyoto. I built GW there 1000 BC.
725 BC Mids in Persepolis and Representation.
I hooked up Copper in Moscow and built roads from Persepolis through Ulundi to Mutal. With the stack of 3 Axmen my Keshiks attacked Pacal again.
500 BC I captured Lakamha, losing all Axmen.

So at 500 BC I had 7 cities (only 2 settled myself), 5 civs destroyed and Pacal half-dead.

 

[MarleysGh0st]

Three of my Kesheks moved towards the east, one to the west. One of those got ambushed and destroyed by the Mongols and my other two easterly Kesheks weren't in position to counterattack.

Then I saw a Mongol border expand, from Delhi, it turned out. It was defended by one Keshek; I attacked with two and lost both of them.

My one survivor captured Athens. By 500 BC, I've reinforced that with archers and settled Moscow. I'm still in the game, but it's not going to be pretty.

 

[WastinTime]

Fun little scenario. I won already. No, not conquest, but I wonder how fast that can be done? Maybe I'll try a replay.

I'm not going to post any spoilers here. cya in the final spoiler thread.

 

[zamint3]

Sent the Keshiks in 4 different directions.

3480 BC: Babylon auto-razed
3680 BC: Ulundi auto-razed
3520 BC: Kyoto auto-razed
3440 BC: Athens captured (size 3)
3360 BC: Persepolis auto-razed

Genghis Khan razed Asoka's capital, so now it's just me and Pacal

Not sure I wanted to hunt down every scout and warrior still alive for a complete kill, so I just harassed Pacal, taking 3 workers and pillaging almost everything - but then he got Holkans

No civs are dead yet!

I got copper so I might go for Pacal and then play as the only civ with a city until we reach the stars!?

 

[unclethrill]

I sent all 4 keshiks in different directions. Took over 3 cities. Razed all the rest. Genghis razed Asoka's city. I killed Mother Teresa around t10 and Khan asked for peace so I let him wander around killing at will. T28 -2880 BC Won a Conquest VC

 

[keiselhorn13]

First I had to check random Worldbuilder respawns to know what Great Plains maps actually look like cos I never played one

sent my keshiks to all 4 directions to avoid barbs and also reveal the most land I could... 3 mongols went E and 1 after one of mine, then in the E hi defense terrain I decided to let them come, I took a gamble and wanted to eliminate the mongols.
It was a technical tie, I lost 3 keshiks against 3 GK losses... only Putin (bonus vs. archer) survived... I let the last hurt mongol disappear into the fog, now I raced against time to find a town size 2+ to take.

Ended up in Persepolis, only 1 warrior, not bad spot w/ all the cows just a bit too much in the map's edge... built a warrior (worker stolen from Cyrus) and decided to send Putin S to explore and see if it was feasible to score another town. Found Kyoto (archer+warrior), and took it too. From that point started my empire.

Cyrus founded hinduism, I was just waiting for him to get GP from his Stonehenge and build the shrine. Fourtunately the holy city was not too far from Kyoto. Prepared chariots in advance and rushed the town, conquered 475bc. Had to stop the war though, Putin and his 5 hurt chariots wouldn't be able to take Persepolis (4 bowmen and hi culture def bonus). Built some other cities too.

In 475bc, had stolen hindu shrine, chariot army and almost in city lead. And Genghis Khan's lone Keshik didn't manage to take a single town, mongols powerless . I'm glad the gamble worked, I just didn't want a keshik army in near permanent war against me. Pacal might become a problem though, Cyrus also upset.

Also I will have to deal with maintenance costs, the empire is quite spread.

The REALLY bad thing: DIDN'T FIND A SINGLE HUT! Before reading this thread I even thought the mapmaker didn't place huts at all.

Genghis Khan razed Asoka's capital, so now it's just me and Pacal

If it was Civ3 you would be able to do a great milk

 

[Falabello]

My original intention was to run away and join the cavalry, so:
I’ve sent Stalin and Peter to the western hills and I joined Putin and Catherine in the eastern mountains. Stalin/Peter was followed by Mother Theresa and Putin/Cath by Kublai Khan. I chose to join the two pairs in Northern lands and came across Asoka (3880 AD). But Cath had no luck and died in combat on a 75% defence hills (3840 BC) by Mongols . I also met Pacal further North (3680 BC). I joined the three remaining and went straight to Asoka, but the Mongols arrived first. So, I went till the Maya Empire and attack him. One single Warrior defending Mutal: it wasn’t hard (3240 BC) . So I started my own Empire! I sent one comrade to explore the South map on the same side, but he found a great lake. After that he was in search of distant lands to the west.

Other events:
- Good Huts: #1- Scout; #2- 75 gold; #3- 75 gold.
- Scout died by Atila.
- Peter died in combat by Kublai Khan.
- Other meetings: Togukawa (1280 BC), Cyrus (1080 BC) and Shaka (925 BC).

AT 500 BC: the Indian, Maya, Zulu and Persian Empires lost their cities, but they’re still in the game . (I don’t know, but there must be remaining units wandering around ). The Russian, Greek, Japanese and Mongol Empires dominate the world, lacking even an empire (it must be beyond the Great Lake...). The intention is the same of everyone, but I want to settled the four directions before the final Conquest !

 

[Jastrow]

died in combat on a 75% defence hills (3840 BC) by Mongols .

Defence??? Am I missing something??

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Defence??? Am I missing something??

Replying to both you and Falabello - it looks from what Falabello said as if he thinks the keshik should have got a 75% defensive bonus and so should not have lost the battle. (@Falabello - have I understood correctly?) But of course keshiks, in common with most other mounted units, do not receive defensive bonuses, so the fact the hills were notionally 75% defence would have made no difference at all to the outcome of the battle.

 

[Chris1229]

First off i rode my horsies around and took everyone's cities. Ulundi was only size one, so it auto razed when I captured it. Toku had two cities, and I took them both.

The maintenance was getting a little steep; so i gifted Mutal to Asoka, and Persepolis to Hammurabi. Now they are my friends forever.

 

[keiselhorn13]

But of course keshiks, in common with most other mounted units, do not receive defensive bonuses, so the fact the hills were notionally 75% defence would have made no difference at all to the outcome of the battle.

And that's the mistake I commited... forgot horses don't get def bonus lucky me 1 keshik survived

 

[Falabello]

@DynamicSpirit

Yes, you understood correctly and thanks to the advice !

@keiselhorn13

And that's the mistake I commited... forgot horses don't get def bonus lucky me 1 keshik survived

Hey, I did the same mistake. Before that I didn't know this detail ! Now I see that my strategy to climb the hill did not help me !