Charlemagne Emperor Cookbook!(EC)!! Let the games begin!!!

[dualmaster]

Round 2 to 400 AD:

Spoiler :

I'm very interested to see where other people land. I delayed additional expansion for a while in favor of growing cities and strengthening the economy. I picked up Monarchy very early on a trade and spammed warriors while growing. The tradeoff is that expansion was slower so I still haven't settled the whole peninsula and the southern cities still need a lot of development. But I already have a significant tech lead.

Picked up Great Library in Prague. It's not a great GP farm but needed to build it somewhere with production. National Epic almost finished there.

The Good:
- Good teching (I think), at the least well ahead of AI
- 83% chance of a GS in 3 turns, can be used to bulb education leaving Liberalism open
- Solid economy
- Good bureau capital with an academy

Not so good:
- Still haven't taken barb city near gems
- Southern cities still need a lot of infra
- Still not much of a military, but with the diplo/terrain I don't think there is much need for it

Overall I think this save is set up for a serious AI stomp. The AI doesn't appear to be teching very quick (heck they don't even have machinery or CS) and there has been a fair bit of war. We already have a tech lead that can further be leveraged for a major renaissance war (could go Curis, cannon/musket, etc).

 

[kossin]

@dualmaster

Spoiler :

Didn't look very carefully, but it looks like another strong round. Delaying expansion is definitely a good idea - just farm/windmill/ build granary to the peninsula and whip a lot to get the infra up in no time with OR

 

[MaximumPain]

Ok Im still voting because its part of the exercise

#1 I really like Mikin's save lots pop and great placement of cities.

#2 Duel master has great city placement and of course the GW and Stonehenge.

#3 MJG Good tech and going for Ascetics good tech rate.

 

[Steve250]

Round 2

Spoiler :

This round went by fairly uneventfully with lots of expansion, teching and trading. I got the glib up in the capital with the national epic and the pantheon in Prague. Used wonder failure cash to fund a lot of deficit research. Tech rate is decent and there shouldn't be any problem getting to lib first, also just popped a gs in the cap on this turn.

Only thing that is worrying is Sitting Bull isn't pleased yet, despite giving him a bunch of lopsided trades and resource tribute . There's alot of religious diversity otherwise I would of just switched to Buddhism.

 

[javidbing]

Round 2: put up a save this time in the rare chance someone might vote for mine

Spoiler :

Prague got mids to go with stonehenge

Aachen got GL

tech rate pretty slow as i'm usually a prince player so getting used to the difficulty however i got a 85% chance of GS in 2 turns

major con is a lack of any form of military which i'm gonna risk and leave it til post lib

Built mainly to the SW and took over the barb city Bantu coz it had rice/cow nearby so should be good city.

 

[MaximumPain]

Spoiler :

Thought I was going to bulb theocracy and snatch Christianity but Justin got it first. I also learned that the great people points needed go up for each person for the whole empire not just the city . But I got the spy first of course and had to rush in a missionary to rush a temple to get him in then not be in time. So I put him in the capital. Should I have used the great spy yet? I think the intel of the scouting is to valuable to burn him this early and I have not gotten regular spys out.
I feel I did well smacking the barbs and having an army in sitting bulls face.

I did a bunch of tech trades on the last turn and begged zara is that considered bad form for a game like this?

 

[Ambro]

I'm curious, and don't take this as me complaining because it's not.

I thought I had one of the stronger saves, depending on how much one valued the early wonders. Yet, I received zero votes. This is good I think, since it means I can learn something.

Where did I go wrong here? Is my tech order bad? Does the lack of scouting drag it down too far? (All the AI's came from the east so I assumed SW was clear and focused on spawn busting around where I wanted to settler.)

I think maybe I'm valuing things incorrectly and am not aware of it.

You have a strong save. For me it was (if I remember correctly) a couple of issues mostly revolving around tech situation and economy. I would probably have voted you above my own save but like I said in my voting I think writing is a major factor at this stage. Economies will be starting to crash now and with a 5th city this is going to be even worse. You'll probably have to limp to writing before turning tech off and saving up a relatively small amount for the academy 100% slider charge. The land isn't great for cottaging which indicates to me that economy and teching are going to be quite dependent on building wealth, trading and specialists (at least in the early stages) and without writing in it just looks like currency is a long long way away.

 

[lymond]

oh crikey!

Spoiler :

Well, I'm posting a save but I don't feel very good about it, especially after seeing the others above. At least I'll learn something. Well, I'd say my first big mistake is settling near SB to get the marble, which is something I avoided doing in the earlier round. Second big mistake was to deny his request for Alpha because he's a bahstahd. 3rd big mistake was trading Lit too soon to Justinian while building the Great Library. Justin absolutely must have used a Great Engineer to finish because he complete just 2 or 3 turns later. Oh well.

I should have avoided that marble and stabliized the empire and expanded in my part of the world. I reason to guess that I did not play the map very well.

Anyway, Sitting Bull attacks with lots of chariots, swordmen and cats. Regardless of my mistake in settling here in the first place, sometimes I think this game is rigged. He fell on the sword with his first wave - not as many cats. I lost a few good men but quickly worked to bring over more spear, axe, archer while whipping wall and more archers in Ausberg. SB would not agree to peace without giving up the city. That's not usually my play. Next wave more cats. My protective archers did jack squat as well as anti seige axe. No cats - I mean no cats - died in his first attack. I bring 4 to 5 cats to a city and I'm lucky if one survives. I might have lasted out that attack. Oh well. I'm still at war with SB and working on getting an army of Horse archers - a small group of which already took down a smal SB SoD on its way to Prague. SB's a funny cat - you ignore him and he disappears or you do one thing wrong and you have an enemy for life.

Obviously though this whole deal proved detrimental to more important things. I don't think the loss of Ausberg was that huge and I would certainly get it back eventually - SB is in a tech whole - but the whole ordeal just sucks you down.

The fact that I haven't taken the barb cities or settle the fish and gems to the south is bothersome. I am about to take he rice/cow city on the next turn. Had to sends men east

Things I think I did well:

1) Focused on getting more workers out and a couple of settlers. I think I did a good job of improving the land quickly and the whole empire is improved. I have calendar resources working too.

2) Actually, for Emperor level, I thought I was doing okay techwise. Usually, I get way behind in tech. However, trying the new tricks and making sure I make good and timely trades kept me ahead of most. Then I come here and see guys like Dual are almost done with Education and I'm like . Well, it's still an improvement for me though.

3) Was first to Currency which netted me some nice techs in trade

4) Not sure if there's anything else I did well. Mortgage Prague for units in a mindless war. My save will get no votes but feedback is appreciated.

 

[Ambro]

Arg, spoiler text, spoiler text.

Hopefully I haven't subliminally acquired too much information

 

[MaximumPain]

Arg, spoiler text, spoiler text.

Hopefully I haven't subliminally acquired too much information

Still have time to fix it you can edit it in.

 

[dualmaster]

@Steve250

Spoiler :

Once again it looks like your round is pretty similar to mine. Very similar tech situation with you a bit further along on education but I have a few other techs (though you could probably back trade for the same ones). Similar expansion and city placement - I like Augsburg to the east.

Biggest complaint is that you're not in Budda and thus not running OR. Budda would gain diplo with SB. You'd take a bit of a hit with some of the other leaders, but they are far away and hate other people more so it's very unlikely you will get attacked. OR would be soooo useful for getting all that infrastructure up (in my game I think there is a little more infra and that may be the difference).

I also don't like seeing Vienna and Nuremberg with such low pop and almost no developed cottages.

Otherwise everything looks pretty good. A solid save.

@Javidbing

Spoiler :

Your city placement is confusing. Bantu should be 1N to work more land tiles (including iron!) or east on the desert tile to work the wines (which SB is threatening to overtake with his culture). Ulm has no food to grow - settling 1E on stone would let it work the fish.

You should also look to make a number of tech trades. Currency (very important), Monarchy (connect the wines), metal casting, machinery.

@MaximumPain

Spoiler :

You're definitely slow on tech. Perhaps you need to work on researching monopoly techs and then trading for other key ones. For example, Aesthetics is usually a great tech to research as the AI doesn't prioritize it. At emperor level, once you finish teching it it can often be traded for Alphabet, IW, and math, and maybe pick up some gold along the way. Try to avoid researching anything that someone else has - plan to trade for it instead. For example, right now you could research Compass, then trade for Metal Casting, Construction, Calendar. It is also worth selling tech for even relatively small amounts of gold.

Also keep an eye on the diplo situation - you've wracked up quite a few "Traded with our worst enemy" points. Now a couple people won't trade tech with you.

A few other things:
- You're running Caste, but not really taking advantage of it. Might be better to just be in slavery.
- Mainz should have built a workboat first to get those fish going.
- You're building spears? You'd be much better off getting a few longbows out.
- You have unconnected furs to the north.

@Lymond

Spoiler :

Well you're in a bit of a rough spot and you already pointed out the mistakes. Settling near SB was certainly dangerous due to the minus diplo for borders. Refusing the tribute was the big mistake. Giving in nets you +1 for helping, and possibly +1-2 for fair trade which probably would have sent SB after Ragnar or Washington. And obviously the war has slowed you down a lot and your cities are now small due to heavy whipping.

Considering the war I'd say you're not doing too bad in tech. If you could get peace (in fact you could buy out right now) and focus on economy and research it's possible you could still take Lib.

You have Budda in most of your cities so you should probably be running OR.

You could use some longbows.

Mainz is in a weird place. If you build it on the coast, all those lakes become 3 food tiles with a lighthouse.

 

[Gumbolt]

Ok Im still voting because its part of the exercise

#1 I really like Mikin's save lots pop and great placement of cities.

#2 Duel master has great city placement and of course the GW and Stonehenge.

#3 MJG Good tech and going for Ascetics good tech rate.

Not an issue. Just wanted to move the round on. Most had voted anyway and you cant assume everyone will vote. I am happy for Mickin as he is getting a lot of positive comments. Seems not settling the silver site earlier cost him a bit techwise.

You live and learn. There were some strong saves last round and you do find if 1-2 saves are strong other saves get ignored a bit.

 

[Nares]

Spoiler :

I should have avoided that marble and stabliized the empire and expanded in my part of the world. I reason to guess that I did not play the map very well.

Spoiler :

If anything, reaching for marble sounds like you're too engrossed in playing the map.

 

[lymond]

Okay, I took the liberty of replaying from the start. My last effort was so poor primarily due to anger which has bogged down my past play at times. When I get attacked I just want to destroy the other CIV. I took a much different and relaxed approach and think I did 100 times better than before and, in general, considering I'm not really Emperor level yet.

Anyway, I can certainly understand if this is against the rules. I won't replay again and have learned my lesson. I'm fine either way if you choose not to except this save for further consideration. It was definitely worth the experience regardless to play this one again.

Spoiler :

I did much better all the way around. Wars were avoided although Ragnar and FDR are currently going at it. I turned down both of their requests to join in as for one I'm shunning both in favor of Zaqob and SB (just to keep him off my back and were the Bud triumveirate) and FDR is universally disliked. I assume that will flow the same for everyone in this game as far as FDR. Zaqob has been my main trading partner and generally rather equitable trades. Nice trades with Just and Hanni too.

At least I'm teching Edu at the moment and have much of my little strip settled. Just gotta get down to gems/horsies and north to the copper/clams/fur soon. I reckoned for the time being those spots were safe but someone could do a galley/settler bomb soon.

Just whipped National Epi in the Cap. Maybe not the ideal spot for what's turning into a fine bureau cap (and i'm running it), but it has the Great Library and can run a specialist or two as need for the time being. Built the Pyramids in Prague which is turning into my unit pump for now.

Unfortunately, Justin just build a Conf AP. I rarely build it myself but at least Zaqob could get on the ball with his Buddhist self.

Thanks for the feedback and no issues if the save is not considered. If so, I'll delete the early post.

 

[kossin]

Actually, I think re-playing should be encouraged to get a feel of how to do things, rather than just how to not. Of course for the Cookbook replaying isn't allowed for voting but nothing prevents you from doing it on your own to learn.

It's basically the point of this thread and the point of the map. I've made plenty of land available, plenty of good cities available and also put up traps to learn distraction prevention.

 

[Gumbolt]

Very little to report.

Spoiler :

Okay I started by keeping science at 0% while libraries built. Completed ast tech and moved towards currency. Traded alphabet off Zara.

I built a 5th city and had a 6th settler in waiting.

I popped 2 GS one for academy and one for Philosphy, a spy that I added to capital and a great engineer gaining dust in my city. Taj mahal? Oh I built the mids and used scientists for science and great people.

Over built wealth and science in many cities. Built a few swords too.

I am about 5 turns off liberalism so not bad for 400ad. I wonder if Dualmaster save was a bit too good for this early stage in the game.

In terms of the Ai they have happily battled it out with each other.

Overall i need unis now and perhaps build a few defenders.

Tech wise I am short on a few techs but most will be traded once liberalism and other techs in.

Photos

Spoiler :

 

[dualmaster]

@Gumbolt

Spoiler :

Get over your pyramids addiction man!

It looks like you put those rep powered specs to good use though. You're certainly on track for an early Lib....though I would strongly consider delaying it until you can pick up a more expensive tech - none of the AI are anywhere close to it.

Don't forget to connect those silks.

All around a solid game.

 

[Gumbolt]

@Gumbolt

Spoiler :

Get over your pyramids addiction man!

It looks like you put those rep powered specs to good use though. You're certainly on track for an early Lib....though I would strongly consider delaying it until you can pick up a more expensive tech - none of the AI are anywhere close to it.

Don't forget to connect those silks.

All around a solid game.

Spoiler :

Needed some happiness in my big cities before the happiness resources were hooked up and i had the techs for them. I figured even if the Ai beats me to mids I get a few hundred gold to burn on science. The great engineer will certainly make my save more interesting.

I would probably tech to 1 turn of lib and switch till I got a tech further down tech line. Nationalism or maybe steel. All of this ignores the fantastic UU we will have come engineering. Good use till the Ai techs gunpowder.

I do think lib by 400ad could be possible if you get lots of GS.

Be interesting if anyone posts a save where a few HA are running over Sb capital. overall any Ai attacking us has to go through SB land to reach us.

 

[Steve250]

@dualmaster

Spoiler :

In hindsight not running Buddhism and OR was a mistake, but there's still plenty of time. It was interesting to see how similar our saves ended up, the thing I like most about your save over mine is that someone built the Buddhist ap in yours. The extra hammers are very powerful and using it stop wars is always useful. Lets just hope the 14% great prophet chance doesn't come back to haunt us

@gumbolt

Spoiler :

I don't think it was specifically dualmaster's save that put us in such a strong position, but simply the map itself. With so many different peace weights, religious fanatics and a heap of good land to expand into. Barring an early DoW this map starts us off in an incredibly strong position. In regards to your game, is there some reason you're still running barbarism instead of bureaucracy

 

[Gumbolt]

@dualmaster

Spoiler :

In hindsight not running Buddhism and OR was a mistake, but there's still plenty of time. It was interesting to see how similar our saves ended up, the thing I like most about your save over mine is that someone built the Buddhist ap in yours. The extra hammers are very powerful and using it stop wars is always useful. Lets just hope the 14% great prophet chance doesn't come back to haunt us

@gumbolt

Spoiler :

I don't think it was specifically dualmaster's save that put us in such a strong position, but simply the map itself. With so many different peace weights, religious fanatics and a heap of good land to expand into. Barring an early DoW this map starts us off in an incredibly strong position. In regards to your game, is there some reason you're still running barbarism instead of bureaucracy

Spoiler :

I forgot to switch! Realised that when i submitted my save.