BOTM 96 - First Spoiler to 1AD

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BOTM 96 - Willem van Oranje - First Spoiler (to 1AD)




Use this thread to tell us what happened in your game, up to 1AD! How did it go?
Had any wars?
Conquer any Civs?
Build any Wonders?
What did you do with all that food???



Stop! If you are participating in BOTM 96, 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

  • Please do not disclose ANY events or information gained post 1 AD.
  • Please do not reveal your final result if that happened after 1 AD.
  • Please do not discuss the location of resources that may not show up before 1 AD. (Iron is OK, coal and oil are not)
  • Please do not reveal names or locations of any civilization not accessible by galleys.
  • Do not post any savegame file from the game. Discussions and screenshots are fine but not actual games
 
I felt fit yesterday and took on the save. Got to 1 AD today and stopped.

There's been some crazyness.
Research has risen above 520 bpt before the discovery of Astronomy, this very turn. Went down do about 480 bpt once the Colossus got obsoleted.

15 cities, Amsterdam is size 17, Tenochtitlan size 10, Ulundi size 9.
Got some wonders : Oracle (1240 BC), Great Lighthouse (1200 BC), Colossus (475 BC), Hanging Gardens (275 BC).

Only produced a single GP, a scientist.

The early game was very satisfying.
Tech path went : Mining, Bronze, AH, Sailing, Iron Working (!)
a) I got an early galley
b) Spotted that Tenochtitlan was on a hill, so was reluctant to invade with Chariots
c) Spotted jungled gems
So City 3 could settle Iron, 2, 3, 4 Swords were produced,
2 swords unloaded by Tenoch, met an Archer and a Warrior, a third unloaded and the city was captured : 1600 BC.

When I got to Ulundi, the city had several Archers to my 4 swords, so I played it with patience, pillaged and retreated in waiting for 2 more swords.
This let me capture a couple workers, then Ulundi fell in 900 BC.
2 Civs down, 2 to go.

From then on, it's been an expansion + research game.
I went for Civil Service and then Astronomy, hoping for a fast Conquest.

In retrospect, I may try to maximize my score a bit (i.e. grow cities rather than end the game)... I'm not sure exactly how to go about it (max pop vs speed) and how Astro fits in that plan (a gain or a loss) but I'll see how it goes.
In any case, it's been fun thus far.

Amsterdam :
Spoiler :
 
Looking good!

Tips on maxing score are to grow population - thatäs the biggest component. Early biology helps a lot. Keep checking the "score by ending this turn" when you hover the mouse over your score,,, when you can't keep that increasing, its probably time to end it, unless you are just about to get biology or Sid's Sushi or such. Good luck!
 
Yes, I realized that after the fact :)
When I entered the game, I was all about earliest conquest. Then I paid attention to the Laurels and saw that the medals were awarded by score.
Did a quick search and found this post, which made me understand I'd get a lousy score with earliest conquest.

Now, I very much suspect that Education would have been a better tech to get, rather than Astronomy. Such a path would likely reach Medicine several turns earlier, especially considering the Colossus.
Losing on the Colossus is kinda bad when growing coastal FIN cities :lol:
Maybe I'll be able to settle more and earlier thanks to East Indiamen but it seems unlikely to offset the delay in research.

Well... you play, you lose, you learn.
 
Decided to play an culture-thru-espionage game once I saw all that food. :)

Teched Mining , BW, Sailing at the start hoping I could warrior rush someone after checking demographics first for extra military.
It a good strategy on Prince in my experience.

It is very interesting when 4 warriors at 2:strength: fight 1 warrior at 4.5:strength:.
I like holding down shift to get the odds breakdown.
Something like 50% chance to do little to no damage, and 50% chance to do a moderate amount.
If the 1st attack goes well you'll win, but if the 1st fight does no damage, you are in big trouble!

Got lucky when Monty moved his scout out of his capital and the 1st attack took half the defender's hp.
Spoiler :


1AD is going very well.
Got all 3 legendary cities picked out and am done teching.
Shaka is being kept alive and guided into an appropriate religion for my later -40% religion bonus. :pat:
Am hoping to finish with win before 1000AD.
Spoiler :

Notice the technical difficulty with Utrecht in the top right.
Once I give away Utrecht, Amsterdam, and The Hague to Shaka to spread culture, my capital's 500:culture: ring won't touch Utrecht.
So I won't be able to do any spread :culture: missions there. :sad:
I'll have to add in an extra city somewhere to overlap Utrecht with a 100:culture: ring. Maybe to the north?
Another option would be to DOW Shaka and retake each city once it crosses legendary and then cease fire, but I hate losing the open borders bonus if I got it.
(Zulu Bait City spot is to get a Shaka city on my main continent if needed. AI are picky about not taking cities on other continents once they get a 4th city.)
 
Warrior-galley rush seems very gutsy but extremely effective as well,
Props for playing with no fear ! :clap:

Thanks! :)

I knew Monty started the game defenseless with a Scout because he starts with Hunting, but with his plains hill I felt 1800BC was probably too late to warrior rush his capital.

DOW'd to steal a worker using my galley, then Cease Fired.
Saw 1 warrior guarding the capital, saw he didn't have slavery, so then at 1800BC I DOW'd Monty again with 4 warriors.

I thought my odds went bad when Monty's scout moved into the capital (would need 6 warriors instead of 4), but 1 turn later the scout left the capital and my first attack avoided the 25% chance to do no damage. :lol:

So decent amount of luck sure, but if it went badly it would have been worth losing 1 or 2 warriors to try.
Or I could have retreated and been content with 4 garrison warriors.
Kept picking off workers from the coastline using galley.
 
Kept picking off workers from the coastline using galley.
This is a nice move :goodjob:

Imho, the risk against Monty would rather be him researching Archery (starting with Hunting is double-edged - good point with the Scout weakening him).
Even 1 hill archer could be devastating against attacking warriors, I guess.
But it seems your timing was good enough. Warrior on warrior fight is fine, besides warriors have some later garrison utility.

Fear of archers is what drove me towards Iron Working.
I got to Tenochtitlan later than you did (5 turns) and faced a lone Archer, against which I got lucky (no loss).
Swords also allowed me to follow up with Ulundi's capture but this is irrelevant to your game, since you were so intent on a Culture win.
 
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