BTS Roleplaying Challenge: Solomon

[slobberinbear]

BTS Roleplaying Challenge: Solomon

Hello again. After a lengthy (!) hiatus, I am returning to post another quasi-historical, storytelling strategy game. I will be posting my storytelling bits in spoiler tags for those of you who wish to peruse my prose, such as it is. I am a fairly quick player so please get your comments in.

For this game, we journey back to the Old Testament, to the days of King Solomon. Can we rule as wisely as the legendary king to lead our people to glory?

(NOTE: This is a game. I am not interested in a discourse about the relative historical merits and flaws of various religions and peoples. Please save those comments for another discussion board. If a game about the Middle East upsets you, please read no further.)

Leader: Solomon (Hammurabi, Aggressive/Organized)
Civilization: Israel (Babylon)
UU: Bowman (an archer with a 50% bonus vs. melee units)
UB: Garden (a colosseum granting +2 bonus health)
Map: Oasis (a flat, non-cylindrical map)
Difficulty: Emperor
Speed: Epic

Other Rules:

• Only Diplomatic, Conquest, and Domination victories are enabled
• We may only build world wonders that generate prophets, engineers, and merchants. All national wonders are allowed.
• We may not use the Slavery civic
• We must try to found our own religion. Once we have done so, we must never leave that faith.

AI Civs: Gilgamesh, Ramesses, Alexander, Saladin, Hannibal, and Darius

Here is the start and save:

 

[slobberinbear]

The response is deafening. Nay, thundering.

*ahem*

I went ahead and moved our warrior, Abdon, south to pop the hut:

Whereupon we found the lonesome Maimon, a hunter, nearby a herd of cattle. Eager to follow King Solomon, Maimon explored further, so that Israel could be founded in the most advantageous location.

Where to settle, oh Israel? Settling in place on the plain hill gives us a bonus hammer and access to some food: a cow and two farmable grassland tiles. It would be hard to grow this city, but it would be very nice for early production. At size five, we could work the cows, a grassland farm, a grassland hill, and two plains hills, for a whopping 15 . The alternative would be to settle on the plains forest hill 1W of Maimon the scout, which would be riverside and still keep the cows. It is unclear how much grassland is on that river, however.

Given the presence of the jungle in the south, it appears we are near the southeastern corner of the map.

We may as well discuss overall strategy, too. Given the hammer-heavy start, we're in good position to crank out units (military or civilian) and possibly a wonder. Settling a few commerce cities will be critical.

We start with Agriculture and the Wheel. We will need Animal Husbandry for the cows, Mining & Bronze Working for the hills, Hunting and Archery for Bowmen, and Pottery for cottaging our commerce cities. Later, we will want Construction for our Garden (UB) and Code of Laws for cheap Courthouses from Organized. Masonry, Writing, and Mathematics all lead to those Classical techs. Long-term, Civil Service will be very handy for chain irrigation to grow Jerusalem.

Accordingly, I am considering this early tech order: Hunting, Animal Husbandry, Mining, Bronze Working, Archery, Pottery, Mysticism.

Spoiler :

Solomon looked out from his tent at his tribe. His people. The men were anxious but ready to work the land; the women determined to guide their families to health and happiness. All depended on his decision.

Lead me, God, he thought. Guide me to the home of your people.

 

[JTMacc99]

I'd settle in place. It seems likely that one of those uncovered tiles in the second ring will have a strategic resource, so you've got that going for you. Not being able to use slavery is going to be a pisser, but at least it works well with a low food capital.

 

[shyuhe]

I'd move to the river. Grassland cows as your only "food" source kinda sucks.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I disagree with your settings! Not on historical terms, but on the fact that these AIs are annoying .

Anyway, I'll settle in place for a shadow.

With slavery banned, the oracle ----> CoL slingshot (which is our religion, too) makes too much sense.

 

[JTMacc99]

With slavery banned, the oracle ----> CoL slingshot (which is our religion, too) makes too much sense.

I meant to say the same thing. CoL is the way to go.

 

[slobberinbear]

I'd settle in place. It seems likely that one of those uncovered tiles in the second ring will have a strategic resource, so you've got that going for you. Not being able to use slavery is going to be a pisser, but at least it works well with a low food capital.

Yeah, until civil service enables chain irrigation, we're looking at size 9 at the most ... with the other 4 population working grassland cottages (the first five working as described in my second post). Even with Civil Service, farming those tiles will only let me work two more plains hill mines. Looks like the Israelites need to study up on Biology.

I am hoping for a strategic resource, but remember this is an Oasis map, where there is an uneven resource distribution. With just one good resource tile, I can go on a little Old Testament style rampage with all the hammers I've got and being Aggressive.

Originally Posted by TheMeInTeam
With slavery banned, the oracle ----> CoL slingshot (which is our religion, too) makes too much sense.

Works for me. I just need to get Priesthood and Writing fairly soon, then.

 

[Monsterzuma]

There is only one tile without a forrest or hill on it that you would gain by settling 1 west (I'm pretty sure the westmost three tiles that are barely visible have either forrests or hills on them). The chance that there is a food resource on that tile is extremely small. I would settle in place and enjoy my free hammer and grassland hills. The city will perform well through the first two eras, which is arguably the most important thing.

Another option, though, is to skip one turn, move the scout to the west and then decide.

 

[cas]

I would move toward the river, but I always have 'happy feet' syndrome in hammer rich / food poor starts. I prefer a capital on a river for obvious benefits.

Seeing you are in the southeast slot out of the 8...maybe a little closer to the rust belt than toward the southern border...the only strategic resources you have a chance at in the immediate area are copper, coal, uranium...and a very small chance of iron on your northern borders if you are close to the desert. You might find rice, gems, dye, banana, sugar, pig scattered around your area.

All horses are in the north greenbelt on oasis, so your initial army is going to be axe or mace. You won't have any fast (2movement) troops prior to tanks unless you conquer north past the rust belt or make a very friendly trading partner who trades strategics resources (horses).

Conquest on oasis with its larger land area in which the AI spreads fast...with no 2mv troops is hard. Diplo is also going to be hard with your religion limitation and opponents. Dom or cheesy dom->vassal->diplo (see TMIT) are the likely VC.

cas

 

[slobberinbear]

Round 1: the Promised Land, 53 turns

Spoiler :

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; To give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1: 1-7

Teach me Lord, that I may be worthy of the blood of David.

Solomon arose, his decision made.

Well, I settled in place:

I started building a worker. Upon further reflection, I decided to research AH first even though Hunting would give me a nice discount on AH's cost. My reasoning: by the time the worker finishes, I want to be able to pasture the cows, my best tile. My builds this round: worker, warrior, warrior, warrior, settler. Techs were AH, Mining, Bronze Working. I will eventually come back to Hunting and Archery, though.

Popped a hut with Maimon the Scout (heading westward, to the river) for 133 gold. Meanwhile, Abdon the Warrior headed north along the eastern map edge. Maimon later learned Fishing from another hut. Ah well, one step closer to Calendar, right?

We then met the king of mascara, Ramesses. His scout nabbed a hut the turn before Maimon got there. I hate that.

Anyway, Ramalamb appears to be somewhere to the north. I also met Saladin, whose homeland may be westward.

Our first tech came in:

But no horses in sight. I decided to go straight to Bronze Working via Mining.

In other news, Maimon the Scout was lion food in the harsh northwestern wasteland. Abdon the Warrior later died entering a barbarian village and was last seen being circumcised in a non-traditional manner.

One small bonus of having popped the hut for Fishing -- i was able to work the lake tile for a little extra commerce. I decided to grow to size three before starting my Settler, working a grassland farm, the grassland cows, and the lake tile. As a happy bonus, BW would come in on the same turn the Settler finished, allowing us to (hopefully) settle near copper.

The tech came in ...

And yes, we have copper, though not in a terribly convenient location. So we have our settler and two warrior escorts ready to setle more of Israel, while another warrior, Menach, continues scouting.

As you will see below, we are indeed in the SE corner of the map, with no neighboring territories in sight. This is making a compelling case for a REX and grabbing Code of Laws from the Oracle.

For the time being, I am researching Mysticism and building a worker, but I am open to suggestions.

Here are two dotmaps I've prepared. My main goal is to get some commerce going and hook up the copper while beating the AI to the Oracle. The first dotmap, of the map-edge skirting jungle belt:

It's not bad land, but I can't use it until I get Iron Working and a small army of workers ready to work it.

And the mid-map floodplain region:

Note the unusual desert corn tiles.

My inclination is to settle Orange (copper city) first, then lay down two floodplain cities at Red and White. Orange can crank out military units while Jerusalem is REXing and building the Oracle.

 

[cas]

Round 1: the Promised Land, 53 turns
...
But no horses in sight. I decided to go straight to Bronze Working via Mining.
...
It's not bad land, but I can't use it until I get Iron Working and a small army of workers ready to work it.
...
Note the unusual desert corn tiles.

Read my post above.
1) you never had any chance of horses. They are all in the north greenbelt on oasis maps
2) All iron is north in the rust belt or on the edge of it. So you will not be able to improve jungle until you expand north. There is a small chance of it being on your capital northern border area.
3) desert corn is common on oasis maps

cas

 

[slobberinbear]

Read my post above.
1) you never had any chance of horses. They are all in the north greenbelt on oasis maps
2) All iron is north in the rust belt or on the edge of it. So you will not be able to improve jungle until you expand north. There is a small chance of it being on your capital northern border area.
3) desert corn is common on oasis maps

cas

I am less familiar than you with the details of this map, Cas. Thank you for the information, though . For now, I am just focused on getting some cities down, building a defense force, and getting Code of Laws from the Oracle.

A correction though: you don't have to have iron hooked up in order to improve jungle tiles -- you simply must research Iron Working, which seems likely to be fairly soon in this game, both to access the jungle locations and to find an iron tile for medieval and renaissance units.

On another note, since I will be trying to get a religion, it makes sense to try to get it in a commerce city. By that reasoning, should I not found my second city on the floodplains, and the third city for the copper?

 

[cas]

A correction though: you don't have to have iron hooked up in order to improve jungle tiles -- you simply must research Iron Working, which seems likely to be fairly soon in this game, both to access the jungle locations and to find an iron tile for medieval and renaissance units.

Yes, my brain must have taken a nap when I wrote that.

Not sure how better players will advise you on city placement, but looking at the map I'd probably hook copper up 2nd city (orange dot) and spread north/west.

cas

 

[Lansky]

My 2c would be that the copper city looks really weak, you know you don't have any close neighbors and have archery for barb control. Settle a city with much better short and long term gains than a city that grabs copper and plains(?) corn.

 

[Feyaria]

For roleplaying reasons, you realy should found Judaism. Or do you have the Choose Religion option enabled?

 

[bobbyboy29]

Since you are Solomon (my middle name, i know pretty awesome!) and have founded Jerusalem, wouldn't it make sense to found Judaism, Christianity and Islam there? Also for historical accuracy you should settle near the floodplains, thus having crossed the desert into the land of milk and honey, ironically moving closer to the egyptians, let's hope they don't adopt slavey. Anyway for more biblical accuracy, Moses was a sheep herder so you need a source of those before you can pop a GP. And once you adopt HR you can change your name to David who was the next king. Also I think that you should reserve the right to "part" one body of water and get rid of any lake or river til that you want (did Moses use worldbuilder too?). I also am comforted by the fact that you haven't included Babylon, Greece, Rome, the Ottomans or the English as all these civs at one time would have occupied your promised land! Anyway that's my two cents, looking forward to this one, enjoy!

 

[slobberinbear]

My 2c would be that the copper city looks really weak, you know you don't have any close neighbors and have archery for barb control. Settle a city with much better short and long term gains than a city that grabs copper and plains(?) corn.

Yeah, the copper city is not great. By my count, we have a 5f/1h/1c irrigated plains corn tile, a 3f/2c oasis tile, and a 5h copper desert hill tile. Still, that's enough food for the city to reach size 5.

I hear you about archery. However, since Jerusalem will be pumping out settlers, workers, and the Oracle, city #2 or 3 needs to be a military production city. I'm not really seeing another production candidate other than the (admittedly weak) copper city. I suppose Black dot (on the first dotmap) could be used for cranking out archers after I settle the Red dot for my cottage/holy city.

originally posted by Feyaria
For roleplaying reasons, you realy should found Judaism. Or do you have the Choose Religion option enabled?

I would like to found Judaism, but Choose religion is not enabled and I have no prayer of beating the AI to Monotheism. In retrospect, I should have clicked Choose Religion. No worries. We will pretend that Code of Laws grants the "real" Judaism ... Talmudic Law, anyone?

On the strategic front:

I have done some planning and concluded that many of the key techs that benefit Organized involve civic-granting techs, since Org leaders pay less for civics. Thus, Monarchy, Code of Laws, and Monotheism seem pretty important.

Further planning revealed that there's not a lot of health resources available at the moment ... just cows and corn. With a granary and assuming no forests, that's a health cap of 7 outside of the capital. All the more reason to tech Iron Working to get pigs and rice online, research Mathematics for Aqueducts, and learn Construction to build Gardens. As a bonus, these are also nice warmonger techs.

Thus, I see Solomon's tech path being in the center of the tech tree for the time being.

As far as cities go, here's the plan and rough order:

Jerusalem: hammer capital, cranking out settlers, workers, and the odd wonder
Red Dot: cottaged floodplain holy city / Wall Street
Orange Dot OR Black Dot: military production city
White Dot: farmed floodplain GP farm, probably running Merchants under Caste System
Green Dot: gold & oasis city
and then the southern jungle cities after I have iron working.

Techwise, a rough order:

• Mysticism to pop borders
• Pottery to build cottages in Red Dot
• Polytheism
• Priesthood
• Writing
• Code of Laws (from Oracle)
• Hunting (hopefully I can get this in a trade)
• Archery (from trade?)
• Monarchy
• Monotheism (from trade?)
• (change civics to Caste System/HR/Organized Religion)
• Iron Working (from trade?)
• Masonry (from trade?)
• Mathematics
• Construction

 

[DMOC]

Whoa, this map script is unusual.

Hope to see more.

 

[slobberinbear]

Round 2: I Am that I Am, 110 turns

Spoiler :

We sought God, Solomon thought. And through His mercy, He has found us.

But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. Proverbs 1: 33

Round 2 was very exciting. The main issue: could I get the Oracle built before the AI and thereby nab Code of Laws/Confucianism, while keeping a steady stream of barbarians off my back, while at the same time founding some new cities in good locations before the AI beat me there?

The first order of business: settling a suitable holy city site. I opted for white dot, as it would be easier to connect to the trade network and had two oases for instant food and commerce. So after a few turns, Haifa was founded and a worker sent there to begin its many improvements:

I quickly chopped out another settler for the copper city, so military units would begin flowing. Thus was founded Masada (I couldn't resist):

My tech path in the early round: Mysticism, Pottery, Polytheism, Priesthood, Writing.

And just like that, it was time to start on the Oracle. I became increasingly paranoid that I would get beaten to it, because many of the AI civs start with Mysticism or are Industrious. To be sure, I had pre-chopped three forests around Jerusalem to allow a burst of production power. Our prayers were answered!

I immediately started on Hunting and Archery for some additional defensive capability. Soon, Hebrew Bowmen were defending Israel's cities and hills.

After meeting the remainder of the AI civs (more on them later) I founded our GP farm city, Tel Aviv:

With two corn tiles and several floodplains, we should be able to run a slew of merchants or scientists.

With Code of Laws secured, I started researching Monarchy. CoL also gave me some nice trade bait, and I went shopping. Gilgamesh (on the opposite side of the map), Darius, and Alexander became my main trading partners. I had no dealings with Saladin or Ramesses, each of whom had founded their own religion and were annoyed by me. Here are some of the trades that I did:

And at the end of the round, now that I had Iron Working, I settled the village of Galilee for some extra health and happiness:

My tech path for the second half of the round: Hunting, Archery, Monarchy, Monotheism. Everything else I got from trading around Monarchy and Code of Laws, essentially.

At the end of the round, I was running Hereditary Rule, Caste System, and Organized Religion. I plan on staying in those civics for a long time.

Here are some map screenies. Ramesses is my closest neighbor and of course Israel's historical enemy. I think he needs to feel our Hebrew fury.

Spoiler :

And the city screenies:

And the tech screen and power rating graph:

Overall, I am happy with the round, though I had hoped to have more cities and commerce/beaker production by this stage in the game. I put a lot of hammers into the Oracle and military units to deal with barbarians, and my settler/worker production suffered, though I am in good shape power rating wise. Having the low food start also contributed to the slow expansion problem. I anticipate having a lot more beakers shortly, once Tel Aviv (the GP farm) gets bigger and Haifa's cottages mature.

Some discussion questions:

* Tech path? I am presently working on Construction (I really want the extra health from Gardens), but also need Calendar and Currency.
* Where to put my hammers? My inclination is to build up my military and take out the barbarian cities to my north and west, respectively, then either (a) attack Ramesses when I have Construction and Catapults or (b) keep my power rating up while settling the jungle west.
* Victory / Endgame thoughts? The Hindu bloc is comprised of Saladin, Hannibal, Darius, and Alex, whilst Ramesses and Gilgamesh are Buddhist. Gilgamesh is the current points leader, followed by Ramesses. My knee jerk reaction here is to pound Ramesses and convert Gilgamesh (my best trading partner) to Talmudic Judaism (Confucianism), then see if I can break the Hindu bloc.

 

[JTMacc99]

Your knee jerk reaction makes sense to me. When and with what kind of units will you move into Egypt? Also, while it is not my style, it seems like this is the kind of map where some rampant pillaging might be in order. It's too bad you don't have any two move units.