Carthage -- emperor level game thread

[Kool Keith]

I am going to play out an emperor game in this thread. I have messed around on emp level, but have never played past the middle ages. I have started this thread here rather than the stories and tales forum because my intent isn't to tell a story. Rather, I am looking to use this more as an educational tool for me and anyone else who cares to follow and/or participate in my pursuits. (Hopefully this is fine with the mods.) My goals are to a) win the game, b) generate some discussion (like there isn't enough already ), and c) gain some experience with story telling so maybe I can do some of it later.

I set the level to emperor, map size and barbs to standard, but everything else is random, including my civ. I drew Carthage, and frankly, my starting location looks pretty nice.



I'll play out some turns later on, after the Pistons game.

 

[Kool Keith]

I set up shop right where I was. Upon settling Carthage, I find that I have an extra spices to the west and a sugar to the north. Nice. I set science for pottery, full blast and moved my worker to the cow and told him to mine. I set my town production to warrior. On the same turn that I pop out my first warrior and complete the mine, a powder blue-clad enkidu warrior stumbles across my puny little town. Seems a little early for this. He must be close by and this FRIGHTENS me. Luckily we were able to reach a trade agreement: my masonry and alphabet for his pottery, bronze working, and 10 G. Thank you very much.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/75524/3750.JPG

Due to the early meeting with Gil, I am thinking I might produce a few extra military units than I might ordinarily be inclined to. With BW I can produce my Numidian Mercenary, but I'd rather pump out a much cheaper warrior instead. I set my science for writing. I'll most likely hit philosophy first, but I'm not sure I can hit the republic slinger on this level.

Okay, 3400 BC, my region looks pretty sweet:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/75524/3400.JPG

What to do, what to do... I want to get that sugar irrigated but it's going to take a while to make it happen. I think I'll wait till I get another worker; for now I'll mine and road a BG square. I don't feel very good about this. I decide to go with the granary after my curragh.

Looks like we have a arch map. In 2630 I meet the Aztecs--a loooong way from home--and trade masonry for WC and 10 g. I turn around and trade WC to Gil for CB and 25 g. Gil, incidently, is WAY too close to me. An early war is unavoidable.

2310 BC, I found Utica. 'BOUT TIME. But my settler factory in Carthage is just about ready, and thanks to trade with Gil and that dirty s.o.b. Montezuma, I have all the first level techs and Mysticism.

I made a pretty awful blunder (among others ). For some reason I thought if I irrigated the sugar I would get the extra food because it is a bonus tile. As you know, this is not the case.

2110, I meet Joan. She has nothing of use for me except 60 gold. I decide not to sell her a tech yet unless she can do better than that.

1990 BC, I am the most advanced nation in the world. Good to know. The Republic slinger is mine!

1350 BC. Gilgamesh finally tries to extort something out of me. My military is allegedly stronger than his and my towns are well defended, so I tell him to stick it where the sun don't shine. He backs off. Guess what else...he's dead. It's only a matter of time.

1225 BC, it hit philo AND the Republic. Life is good. I'm going to revolt immediately, and I think I'll go mess with Sumeria as soon as I'm in Republic. Here's what things look like:



In addition they have two towns to the NW, one of which contains iron, and one town to the SW. They have not researched HBR nor IW.

I think I'll call it an evening and reevaluate things in the morning...

EDIT: I don't understand why my first two pics aren't working. They were fine earlier, though I have working with this post for a couple hours now.

 

[Kool Keith]

It's 590 BC and things have been pretty smooth. I've just hit the middle ages with about 5 turns left in my Numidian Mercenary-induced GA. I've been in Republic for about 15 turns and I have all but wiped out Sumeria. We are at peace, they have 1 town left, I am just gearing up to go wipe them out.

Is it the archipeligo map that is making this so easy? I have a good-sized tech lead, but I am usually behind at this phase of the game.

Here's my territory:



And here's the histograph:

 

[Kool Keith]

I am really not sure where I want to take this game. I suppose since I have a seafaring civ, I should just go for a conquest or domination, but I am not really in the mood to go island-hopping all game. A space race victory sounds doable right now.

I don't have any experience with the island maps. Is it going to be a real pain if I decide to warmonger the rest of the game?

 

[gmaharriet]

I am really not sure where I want to take this game.

I'm trying to figure out just what you've had in mind for this game. If you didn't want it to be just a story for posting in the Stories and Tales forum, and if you seriously wanted feedback on your playing, it would make more sense to post maybe 20 to 30 turns and then wait for 24 hours to get other members' comments. It's not like posting a Chieftain or Warlord game where several of us might jump in with suggestions. The pool of folks available to advise on an emperor game is much smaller and it would take far more time and effort to provide helpful feedback. I know I certainly wouldn't take that time and effort to help if you were likely to play ahead before evaluating and making use of my input.

With a lower-level game, most of us can spot the n00b mistakes that everyone does when first starting out, so responses can be quick and easily helpful. It's not possible to do that for an Emperor level game, so I recommend you be very specific about what sort of help you're asking for and how much time you're allowing for responses. Succession Game-style logs would be helpful in aiding us to follow what you're doing. And please allow adequate time for us to analyze and comment.

Maybe I misunderstood what you had in mind for this thread but, the way it's been presented thus far, it really does belong in Stories and Tales.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

I just saw this, so didn't have a chance to post before.

A few thoughts:

1) Yes, irrigating the sugar under despo is useles But it does mean you didn't have to redo it later...
2) I'm not terrifically thrilled with your city placement 1200 BC - the 2nd best tile in the area is the plains cow on the river, and there is no city next to it. You have a fair amount of fresh water, but half your cities will need aqueducts, and you are seafaring, but have only two cities on the coast.

More specifically: I might have put Utica 1 to the West - yes, that's farther away that CxxC, but it gets the cow in, plus a BG.
Leptis Minor might be 1 W, too, and Leptic Magna S, then SW, catching a cow and 2 sugars, plus the coast. Hippo I might have dropped on the forest near the horse, or even right on it, but I probably would have tried to get on e on the lake first.

As far as why this is going well:

An arch map tends to make things easier for the human, especially a seafaring one - you get all the contacts and the AI can't trade, plus you get a head start on the slingshot
3) You haven't irrigated the grass cow in your settler factory... why not?
4) The spices still have forests - I would have chopped those (help drive the granary) and be able to grow and work tiles with a commerce bonus.
5) I'm not sure why you are building MoM - do you already have the lighthouse? Lighthouse is very important an on arch map.

It looks ok, btw. You need to expand, of course, still. Have you built libraries everywhere? If you are going to spaceship, you will want them, and a GA is a great time to build them...

 

[Kool Keith]

Maybe I misunderstood what you had in mind for this thread but, the way it's been presented thus far, it really does belong in Stories and Tales.

Agreed. I've never done this before and I wasn't sure what I was doing. Once I started playing my game, I got into it and just kept on going.

I suppose it's a bit narcissistic of myself to even start this thread, but what the heck. If nobody wants to read it that is there business.

ATM, I don't have time right now to review your comments. I'll get back to you.

 

[gmaharriet]

ATM, I don't have time right now to review your comments. I'll get back to you.

I don't expect a review of my comments. I only posted what I did to help you get the most out of doing this exercise. It can be a terrific way to learn, but is generally slower than just playing out the game. Good luck with it!

 

[AutomatedTeller]

no, dont' worry about it, Keith. people ask for help all the time - it's not narcisistic - we are all civ fanatics!!

 

[Miles Teg]

Just some comments:

Use the MoM as a pre-build for something, Sun tzu's, Leo's or the Sistine.

City is a little to tight in the south, thats your core, so let it grow big. to be specific I would have placed Theveste one tile west thus grabbing a cow.

You don't appear to have iron, so hurry a temple in that city just out of the screen shot. divert some workers to hook it up.

All in all your doing better than I did on my first emperor game (Finished yesterday)

 

[Kool Keith]

I just saw this, so didn't have a chance to post before.

A few thoughts:

1) Yes, irrigating the sugar under despo is useles But it does mean you didn't have to redo it later...
2) I'm not terrifically thrilled with your city placement 1200 BC - the 2nd best tile in the area is the plains cow on the river, and there is no city next to it. You have a fair amount of fresh water, but half your cities will need aqueducts, and you are seafaring, but have only two cities on the coast.

More specifically: I might have put Utica 1 to the West - yes, that's farther away that CxxC, but it gets the cow in, plus a BG.
Leptis Minor might be 1 W, too, and Leptic Magna S, then SW, catching a cow and 2 sugars, plus the coast. Hippo I might have dropped on the forest near the horse, or even right on it, but I probably would have tried to get on e on the lake first.

As far as why this is going well:

An arch map tends to make things easier for the human, especially a seafaring one - you get all the contacts and the AI can't trade, plus you get a head start on the slingshot
3) You haven't irrigated the grass cow in your settler factory... why not?
4) The spices still have forests - I would have chopped those (help drive the granary) and be able to grow and work tiles with a commerce bonus.
5) I'm not sure why you are building MoM - do you already have the lighthouse? Lighthouse is very important an on arch map.

It looks ok, btw. You need to expand, of course, still. Have you built libraries everywhere? If you are going to spaceship, you will want them, and a GA is a great time to build them...

I see what you mean about my city placement. Placing Utica one square W never even occurred to me. I wouldn't have wanted to have both the extra distance and the river to cross. In general though, it sounds like you don't think that sacrificing some extra city space is a big deal. That surprises me a little since tight city placement is so often preached here.

As far as the MoM is concerned, I don't have a good answer for that. In fact, building wonders is exactly opposite of my normal tendencies. I never ever built wonders on Monarchy level. I didn't think about building the MoM until my GA due to the extra shields, and it just seemed eminently buildable. I didn't think I'd be able to finish the GL.

Here is my latest save if you want to take a look. Thanks for your comments, ATM.

View attachment Hannibal of the Carthaginians, 290 BC.SAV