BOTM 69 -Rome- First spoiler to 1AD

[kcd_swede]

BOTM 69 First Spoiler - 1AD

Reading Requirements

Stop! If you are participating in BOTM 69 Augustus of Rome, then you MUST NOT read this thread unless EITHER

• You have reached at least 1AD 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 1AD.
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 1AD.
Do not post any savegame file from the game. Discussions and screenshots are fine but not actual games.

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

So... where did you settle? Why?
What was your opening strategy and how did you have to modify it?
What are your goals from here?

 

[Ronnie1]

I'm first!

Settled 1E and expanded to 4 cities while beelining Alphabet. Traded for as much as I could get and started building troops everywhere in anticipation of piling on Sitting Bull who is not well liked by all those who know him. Then Napoleon declares on me from the east even though SB is his worst enemy. Going to be an interesting game. Immortal AI techs so fast, it is getting hard to have anything to trade and I am falling behind in military techs.

 

[neilmeister]

So... where did you settle? Why?
I settled 1E, because it looked awesome! Lots of food, lots of hills, lots of FP's, fresh water....what was not to like.

What was your opening strategy and how did you have to modify it?
My opening strategy was to rex as fast as possible, and to beeline Alphabet. On Immortal+, getting Alpha first is essential. As it was, I didn't get it first, Boudica got it before AH & Fishing

At 1200bc I notice that no wonders have yet been built, so I attempt Stonehenge & Oracle, missing both by 1 turn

Monty DoWed me, and attacked with a single archer!

I didn't realise there was a gap in the mountains until Napoleon's scout appeared in the east of my empire, I saw the wall and had scouted all but the top tile, which of course wasn't a mountain.

Starting building Praets while researching Construction, and I built them up in preparation of attacking SB, who then spammed a huge pile of units. The army had to then march back across the empire to attack Napoleon. At 1ad I have Lyons, and have started bombarding Paris.

What are your goals from here?
Conquer Napoleon, probably go after the Celts who have half the wonders so far. Will try to get the others to dogpile SB, as that should keep them occupied nicely.

 

[georgjorge]

My goal was to go for space, so I wanted to conquer a good number of cities (20ish) early on while building up some core research cities as well (moved the Palace to the Floodplains city beneath my capital).

My big mistake was overestimating the evilness of the mapmaker, thinking for all his talks about Praetorians he wouldn't provide us a close source of Iron. So I went for the slower but more secure route of Elephants...Oracled Horseback Riding (also built Stonehenge) and was very disappointed when I later traded it around for Iron Working and found I could have started warring much sooner. So I just chopped out lots of Praets instead of Elephants, a couple of Axes, and a bit later Catapults and went for Napoleon, since Sitting Bull seemed to be a very useful target for all the warmongers to have around. Took his first two cities when Boudicca declared on me, luckily my stack is big enough to deal with a bunch of Gallic Warriors and Chariots (few Axes so far) and still continue taking cities...I think.

Also met everyone on the map, think I'm going to take cities clockwise, leaving Sitting Bull alone. That way, I can't be caught unaware from the other side since Sitting Bull doesn't have open borders with anyone.

 

[PattonTwo]

My big mistake was underestimating the evilness of the mapmaker (or the mapmaker overestimating my skill =)

Had 3 cities by 2240 bc and added a 4th in 975 up to the north east just to culture block France and the gap.

I did an okay job (for me) of getting ready for my first war and attacked the Natives with 9 praets and 3 axe in 350 bc. I still need to learn how to get up and running faster because reading the first two posts I'm clearly behind.

So I took the first city and was nicely positioned to take the 2nd and then march on the capital when what should appear but Dog Soldiers! Not playing BTS much I was completely unprepared for the evil mapmaker to have put an early UU which perfectly foils the Praets right next door.

I stumbled around for a while with my Praets and Axe trading some units, lost the city I had taken and finally threw all my units at it to retake it and lost.

I won't bother playing any further. Was already last in the game and needed some war victories to have any hope of a victory. Back to my original 4 cities with no army left even settling for peace leaves me too far behind to have a chance. Even though this carries slightly past 1 AD I figured it was okay since no info was revealed and it's my final game summary.

Have to read up more on getting a good immortal start and try again.

Look forward to seeing a description of the winning games!

 

[Gregonar]

Bit of a stumble start here as well. Settled on hill 1N of wheat. 2nd city on hill 1S of corn. REX'd too fast and can barely get my tech rate to 50% even with all that good cottage land. At 5 cities, 20ish Praets, traded Aesthetics for some back fill techs. Built Henge, Statue of Zeus and Shwedagon (the latter because I just can't afford any more units, was hoping for fail gold....). Waiting on currency still....

Wanted to go for Sitting Bull because I shared Buddhism with Nap and Boudica, but maybe not such a good idea to go praets vs dogs....I think I can still make it work with elephants later though. The whole game will likely be a slug fest Dom win. I have Zeus on my side.

I was wondering why my first city's name was Antium...then I found the 7th player. Hah.

 

[Folket]

I'm really tired and my memories are fading fast.

I started with settling three commerce cities and then settled three more cities for support and production. My first game at immortal and I expected it to be more difficult. The gap from deity to immortal is huge. It felt like I could do anything and not fall behind. I decided to challenge myself by playing a religious game. Build the wonders that gives bonus to religions, spread my own religion and convert AIs.

 

[Deckhand]

Played to 1AD on 8/18 and have been waiting for this spoiler to open so I can continue.

Spoiler :

didn't check the last couple days

Please do not reveal names or locations of civilization not accessible by galleys.

I wondered about this, as all civs seem accessible by galleys. Ah, it is standard for first spoiler.
See screenshot.

Discussions and screenshots are fine but not actual games.

Screenshots enclosed: Empire and world at 1 AD, Techs at 1AD, Wonders at 1AD, example of barbarian archer winning at low odds (< 1/3) - I also lost to a warrior w/ 20% odds early, Sitting Bull converts to my religion and I missed Code of Laws by one turn at 200 BC.

So... where did you settle? Why?

1E

Spoiler :

I don't know why, just to be different?

What was your opening strategy and how did you have to modify it?

REX (Rapid Expansion) - that was achieved reasonably well.
Possible Praet Rush - that plan was abandoned when I learned who my neighbors were.

Barbarian Harappan was south of capital on the seashore. It was full of archers and intimidated my axemen, so I waited for a couple praets. Then it shrank (from 4 to 2) because of my culture

What are your goals from here?

Soon, Conquer Sitting Bull with catapults and praetorians.
Above posts make me wonder if I shouldn't go east instead. SB is hard (but so is Napoleon). Nappy is biggest unit spammer - I hope he and Boudica have a falling out. But I want SB's wonders.

Teching Aes now to trade it and to get The Great Library if possible. Hope to trade for construction.

At 1200bc I notice that no wonders have yet been built, so I attempt Stonehenge & Oracle, missing both by 1 turn

I built Stonehenge in 1520 AD (didn't wait for Stone to be hooked up) [after building a monument or two]; and Oracle in 1000BC - took metal casting as I wanted to Oracle asap and deny it to AI.
Traded metalcasting by misclicking.

Spoiler :

forget now, bot either partial alphabet or iron working, and traded for the other as well, by intent

Also lost two settler turns by rightclicking to close BUFFY DotMapper and (it was closed, so) moved settler instead.

Bulbed Theology with great prophet. Building AP to deny it to AIs. And for the hammer boni. And hope to manipulate Napoleon by it. Hopefully he will adopt it. Sitting Bull is Christian, so that will make the war more difficult. Only converted to build the AP. Maybe I will switch out once it is built.

Long term goals: Conquer Native America, then more. As usual, haven't selected a victory condition yet, so will probably go for domination.

I was wondering why my first city's name was Antium...then I found the 7th player. Hah.

Exactly. I wasn't surprised by the identity of the 7th player. But in the beginning, I forgot there were 7 opponents and checked when I had met the other six and city names weren't as expected.

edit, here are my 1 AD stats:
7 Cities: 8, 6, 7, 7, 5, 3, 1 population
at 0% research: 15 science and 26 gold
at 100% research: 126 science and -65 gold (17 "in the bank")

 

[Folket]

I found I had a save from 1AD so I will post a screen. I have six cities and 15 praetorians. Half of them are in position to capture Tours.

 

[pob]

This is my first proper attempt at a BOTM (I've tried a couple before, but I usually play way too slowly to actually have anything worth submitting).

I've been bumbling through the game with no particular plan. Here's my empire of 9 cities at 1AD:

Spoiler :

My army is relatively small: 5warriors, 1axe, 8praets, 15workers
I'm currently in a phony war with France & Aztecs against the Celts, which is good for relations, but bad for trade connections.

I've just finished the Great Library in Rome, and I'll be first to Music in 3 turns, so I'll be getting a golden age from the great artist. Other than that, I've no clue what I'm doing

 

[Solyaris]

Settled 1E, seemed superior in terms of both hammers and river tiles compared to 1W (even tho that would give PH bonus). Quickly found both SB and Napoleon, 2 terrible neighbors on paper, so I decided to get rid of one of them if iron was within reach. Founded the 2nd city towards SB, and when I found iron already locked up after researching IW I started to plot against SB.

Attacked SB with ~8 prets around 1800BC (at that time he had 3 cities, later I discovered a 4th settled during the war). Had some luck and some misfortune during the war, but ended up getting all his 4 cities. Towards 1AD I spammed workers and settles to cover as much ground as possible. Tech-wise I Oracled MC, and used it to get most of my techs in the BC from trades. Currently a few turns away from CoL.

Stats @ 1 AD
- 15 cities (with space for 2 more)
- 216 BPT (34 break-even) with ~300 gold in the bank
- All the C techs (currency, const., calendar), MC, HR + early techs
- Buddhist along with France and Celtics (pleased)

Goal
- Space seems like the best choice, will try to conquer 2 other civs (toko and monty probably) and stay around the 50% mark
- Get friendly with France and Celtics and use them as main trading partners
- If everything goes as planed I should win before 1700, maybe even 1600 (space victory that is)

 

[Folket]

Settled 1E, seemed superior in terms of both hammers and river tiles compared to 1W (even tho that would give PH bonus). Quickly found both SB and Napoleon, 2 terrible neighbors on paper, so I decided to get rid of one of them if iron was within reach. Founded the 2nd city towards SB, and when I found iron already locked up after researching IW I started to plot against SB.

Attacked SB with ~8 prets around 1800BC (at that time he had 3 cities, later I discovered a 4th settled during the war). Had some luck and some misfortune during the war, but ended up getting all his 4 cities. Towards 1AD I spammed workers and settles to cover as much ground as possible. Tech-wise I Oracled MC, and used it to get most of my techs in the BC from trades. Currently a few turns away from CoL.

Stats @ 1 AD
- 15 cities (with space for 2 more)
- 216 BPT (34 break-even) with ~300 gold in the bank
- All the C techs (currency, const., calendar), MC, HR + early techs
- Buddhist along with France and Celtics (pleased)

Goal
- Space seems like the best choice, will try to conquer 2 other civs (toko and monty probably) and stay around the 50% mark
- Get friendly with France and Celtics and use them as main trading partners
- If everything goes as planed I should win before 1700, maybe even 1600 (space victory that is)

Do you not consider code of laws a C tech?

 

[Solyaris]

Do you not consider code of laws a C tech?

It most definitely is, my bad

 

[Htadus]

What a mess I got myself into. Around 1 AD SB was almost gone, got 3 of Nappy's cities and I was doing some crazy MM to avoid going into strike. I have been avoiding opening the save for a while.

I think I had a miss click and got something other than planned CoL from the Oracle. I too settled on the plains tile to east and was surprised to get both metals in the BFC. First 3 new cities claimed gold, Ivory and the copper toward Nappy.

 

[Seraiel]

Absolute idiocy.

First: Got raped by Barbs (lost 3 Warriors) .

Wayne.

Rexed to 5 cities.

Build 30 Praets and attacked 500 BC: Lost 20 3 of Napoleon's cities, of which none had Food.

Didn't give up and build 50 more Praets supported by heavy Siege 'til 500 AD: Lost 40 more to Knights, a tech Sitting Bull got gifted from someone else while being in war.

Lost my favourite GG -> Ragequit.

Really nice for a my first SGOTM.

Game itself could have been good, settled 1S, got Stonehenge and Oracled Currency, beautiful land and I'd really liked to submit the game as I think I played really good, but I cannot do anything, if I have the accumulated luck in this game equalling out all luck I had during the past 3 HoF games (#1 Domination, #1 Conquest and #1 Diplo) .



GL to you others, chances are very well you'll have a lot of it today, think I've successfully sucked it up .

Seraiel

 

[georgjorge]

Just out of interest, how do you go about Oracling Currency with a start like this? I always thought you'd need at least one Gold or Gems to get enough beakers for Alphabet/Maths, and while the start is nice it's not the strongest commerce-wise.

 

[Folket]

Perhaps it was a chance. At least for me the wonders were very late.

 

[Seraiel]

I follow a specific way lately, which is to get up Cottages as early as possible, and to beeline Alpha, to be able to see whether going for Oracle is worth it or not.

With this start, there were only 2 techs needed to have until beelining Alpha was possible, and that was Agriculture + BW (I knew that the mapmaker would have hidden some Copper for us, when noticing the game was with Barbs, I even knew where it was because of knowing it had to be riverside) . Agri is very cheap and not to talk about, while BW was the greatest delay to me Oracling in normal games, because normally, I simply skip it and get it by being first to Alpha.

With getting Cottages really soon, and also with i. e. founding the 2nd city so it has a river-TR to the first one, being first to Alpha is something assured in almost all games to me, because I reach it earlier than 2000 BC. I produce the first Settler at size 3 in 90%+ of the cases, and then grow to size 5 (sometimes even 6 or 7) afterwards, and here, Gold even isn't that much of an advantage to i. e. a Floodplain, because Gold cripples growth, while Floodplains (especially with having a strong source of Food already) can make a city explode, so while it's slightly less powerful at in the beginning, it leads to the city catching up really fast really soon.

I don't remember the date at which I oracled exactly anymore, but I think it was somewhere at around Alpha, so about 1800 BC, because the 3 Workers I had at that time, allowed me to easily chop it out with few Forrests because of IND.

1800 BC btw. is also the date at which I oracled Civil Service in the game I played before, and that was one having a start only having 1 Gold, so basically, I generate a lot more Commerce a lot earlier in my today's games, while skpping every tech that's not Agri / Pottery (or alternatively AH, but then I don't research TW -> Pottery at all but go by Palace and TR Commerce) and beeline Alpha, because then, I can see if any Civ researched Priesthood, and maybe trade for it, but definately see if they began on constructing the Oracle already. If they did, I'll skip it, but in many games, only 1-2 AIs even went that route, and most often they havn't started on it at that time, and with this way, there's nothing to lose.

 

[Deckhand]

... and beeline Alpha, because then, I can see if any Civ researched Priesthood, and maybe trade for it, but definately see if they began on constructing the Oracle already. If they did, I'll skip it, but in many games, only 1-2 AIs even went that route, and most often they havn't started on it at that time, and with this way, there's nothing to lose.

How can you tell if they have started the Oracle?

 

[Folket]

If they say. We have our reasons when you look if they trade the tech they are building a wonder that tech unlocks.