Bz9 - Ad Astra Per Sid

[betazed]

Bz8 is going to be a glorious victory. I just remembered today morning how Bz3 was an ignominious defeat. That too was a AWE and it was not even a 5CC AWE. Yet we were wiped out before we could reach the middle ages. The main difference was that while Bz8 was a continents small map, Bz3 was a large pangeae. This goes to show how difficult games can become when the map is bigger and all connected. So I decided to try a straight Sid game on pangeae huge and go for a space race victory..

Map Settings:
Type - Pangea (maximum landmass)
Size - Huge
Climate - Warm, Wet
Geography - 4 billion years old.
And of course since this is a Bz game, No barbs.

Game settings:
All victory conditions enabled. However we are going for space only.
Normal AI (not more or less aggresive).

Ag12 (which is also a space race Sid) showed us the importance of alphabet. Just because we did not have alphabet in that game that game is seriously in doubt. Now alphabet is not that important in a pangeae game but even then it is a nice starting tech that has lots of trade potentials. So as one of the first tech I decided to have alphabet.

What about the second tech? I decided on pottery, agricultural combination. The agricultural trait gives a extra food bonus which helps in expansion of the empire. That extra food is huge. Plus with pottery we can immediately start on granaries for our settler factory and on science we can start on writing.

So thinking all these things I decided on the Iroquois. The 11th start throwed up a very good start. We see a lux and we can start up a settler factory and we see hordes of incense that we can trade later.



Can we win this? Can we go to the stars (Ad Astra) thru Sid (per Sid).

Roster:
Greebley
Arizona_Steve
Mark1031
Grahamiam
open
betazed

I have put myself at the end of the roster so that the game can proceed while I am out from tomorrow till 7th of July. In the meantime players can start playing. Remember the first player takes 20 turns and 10 turns from then on.

However, before we start playing let us discuss our Ancient Age overall strategy.

The Start save

 

[Greebley]

My only experience on a huge pangea sid map was playing AWS and trying to survive until 1000 BC (almost did it with the Sumerians - I was 6 turns away in one game).

One problem I noticed with Huge Sid is the initial tech cost. I think doing min research on writing may be best.

I think we should settle where we are. With two cows and agriculture, we can mine the cows and still get +5 food when we grow to size 2. I think this will get us up and running fastest.

For builds, I think 3 warriors to explore and then a granary.

My thought on overall strategy would be to get a settler factory ASAP and get as many cities as we can quickly; while using the warriors to make contact and try to stay in the running in terms of tech (may not be possible).

 

[Aggie]

How many civs are your opponents? Did you make a custom map?

 

[betazed]

@Aggie: max opponents. Standard game rules; no customization.

@Greebley: I agree. Min research on Writing immediately is the way to go. After that depending on the situation we can go for a philo gambit or min on Lit and go for the GL.

 

[Arizona_Steve]

Woah... Huge map and maximum opponents. I think we'll be down to five turns per player by the middle ages.

 

[Aggie]

I just counted the SG's that I'm in and with pain in my heart I have tell myself not to join this one

 

[betazed]

@aggie: Sorry to hear that. Well, you can at least cheer us along.

@steve: if it comes to that we will set it to 5 turns but my turns on huge map do that take that long. But then again I play on a monster machine.

 

[Arizona_Steve]

Actually my machine isn't that bad (Athlon XP 2400, 1GB, 9700 Pro - and of course a Dell 2001fp LCD monitor ), I was thinking more from a micromanagement perspective, as there will be tons of cities on a huge map.

Still waiting for the motherboard makers and ATI to get their act together. Next gaming rig will be FX53 / 2GB / X800XT-PE. Yes, I have money to burn. Been planning this for the last six months

 

[betazed]

That's a nice rig, Steve.

Check out mine. I have the 3.2 Ghz processor and 2GB of RAM version. I use it for lot of number crunching too so it really requires all that RAM.

 

[jb1964]

Playing Emperor has been a stretch for me. Sid just seems insane. I think A few more SG's under my belt at ~Emperor are needed before I can contribute to a game like this one.

I've already added it to my lurk list.

 

[Mark1031]

Too tempting a challenge. I'd like to join. May need a skip or 2 this summer though.

Strategy: This really is a perfect start. We'll need it. I agree with 3 warriors to explore first. I would do a settler then before the granary to get a costal city and currgah's out in both directions. Rapid contacts and trading will be critical and it may be difficult to get warriors through the other civs. My first inclination was to move to the coastal hill to found but I don't think the 2 move delay would be worth it. Obviously then the most rapid land grab possible. Our main problem will be that the AI's will all know each other and so the tech pace will be unreal. The human really benifits from suicide exploration on other maps.

 

[grahamiam]

i'd like to give this a go as it is indeed a tempting challange not only the difficulty but the time between turns

 

[Aggie]

i'd like to give this a go as it is indeed a tempting challange not only the difficulty but the time between turns

Time between turns a challenge on a huge map? Just have a look at AG3 j/k

Regarding the start: You not only have a settler factory, but it's even better. You should be able to build a warrior/settler every four turns!

 

[betazed]

Welcome aboard mark and grahamiam.

I think we have a quorum. There is still one slot open.

Greebley you can start whenever you are ready.

Greebley ----> Up
Arizona_Steve ------> On deck
Mark1031
Grahamiam
open
betazed ------> Out from tomorrow till 7th July.

 

[Greebley]

Got it. I will start playing it. According to TechCalc writing is 800 beakers. We will be doing a lot of min research I suspect.

 

[Greebley]

4000 BC: Move worker onto E cow (which irrigates both cows a turn faster than NW). I start min research on writing.
3750 BC: Build a warrior who will generally go S following the E coast. Grow to size 2 so Raise Lux to 20%
3600 BC: Build a warrior who will head NWish
3550 BC: Grow to size 3 so raise Lux to 30%
3500 BC: Build last warrior; granary in 12. 3rd warrior will go SW.
3250 BC: That looks like an Ekidu. Hello Sumeria. I trade Alphabet for 11 gold and Bronze working. They have WC too.
3150 BC: Lux up to 40%. Granary works out very well: Growth in 4, Granary in 3.
3050 BC: Sumeria has CB as well.
3000 BC: Build Granary and start a worker.

Notes:
I would build a worker and then a settler. We can get to a warrior and settler in 4 turns faster.

So far we look good

 

[Greebley]

Here is a map of the known world so far:

 

[Yom]

I, too, am tempted to join, but I don't want to be in too many SGs at once (though I'm not nearly in as many as Aggie). Hopefully Sling3 will end soon as it's basically in the bag, so sign me up.

 

[Arizona_Steve]

(0) 3000BC
We're already running 40% luxury tax, so I'm going to pop a settler after the worker completes. Gilgamesh is up Warrior Code and Ceremonial Burial.

IBT
Sumaria boots our exploring warrior from their territory.

(1) 2950BC
Luxuries are raised to 50% as Salamanca grows to size 6. It's going to grow in 2 turns, so I swap it's worker build to a settler. Then switch one tile to an incense hill to prevent the city reaching size 7 before the settler appears, as this would be very inefficient in terms of food usage.
Salamanca will do nothing but produce settlers from now on.

(4) 2800BC
Salamanca pops it's first settler and starts another. Drop Luxury tax to 40%.
An Arabian scout appears next to Salamanca, and I note that he has Masonry in addition to the two Sumarian techs. He refuses to sell it however.
I send our first settler North to settle near the forest deer, as a coastal city is a definite requirement for Curraghs and contacts.

(6) 2710BC
Luxuries back to 50% as Salamanca grows. I notice that science can also be turned down to 10%.

(7) 2670BC
Niagara falls is founded next to the forest deer and starts a Curragh. I thought about moving one tile to the east, but it looks like there may be a river estuary further east, which would be worth settling once we block the Sumarians and Arabs.

(8) 2630BC
Another settler pops out of Salamanca. I want to send him South to squeeze the Sumarians a bit, and to get a military factory going.
Lux tax back down to 40%.
Summarians got Masonry before I was able to trade with the Arabs

(10) 2550BC
Lux tax to 50% as Salamanca reaches size 6.

There is a settler in transit. He needs to move one tile South (onto the grassland) and settle to lock up the incense there. Once the next settler completes I would switch to two-turn worker farm to get us up to par on workers.

 

[Mark1031]

Pre turn: No changes

2510: Move settler into position

2470: Found Grand River. Salamanca Set->set. Niagra Falls currgah->currgah. Send currgah west. Arabs start Oracle.

2430: Egypt gets Colossus. Move settler toward river forest.

2390 zzz

2350: See Summerian settler headed toward our land. Dance around with 1 warrior to try to delay.

2310: Salamanca Set->set Maya get Pyramids

2270: Grand River warrior->worker. Niagra Falls currgah->worker. Send Currgah east.

2230 Summeria boots us to the south. Inca get Oracle

2190: Salamanca Set->set. Found Allegheny in river forest. Found Cattaraugus.

2150: Summer settler heads further into our territory.

2110: Niagra Falls worker-> warrior


Tried to expand as aggressively as possible into our very lush and well shielded lands. Summeria is getting pushy. I don’t know where the summerian settler is going but try to stop/delay him. We have a settler that I was sending to the red dot on the map. No trades on my turns which is a bit worrisome. I hope we get writing 1st and meet some of the other folks. I think a GL run in Grand River would definitely be worth a try. I’d start prebuild as soon as we get writing and hopefully can trade for Masonry. So far so good but we have a lot of territory to uncover. At least no ones built Sun Tsu’s yet .