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

[CornPlanter]

I need to reinstall my Windows 'cause it got unusable due to frequent crashes, so if I will not manage to submit a save in time, please go on without me. I will join back at 3d round then, if its allowed.

 

[Ambro]

I should get a save in but if it hasn't happened by Saturday afternoon then it's not happening so don't wait for me either. Looks like plenty of players are in and high standards from the first round so I expect we are fine.

 

[Gumbolt]

I need to reinstall my Windows 'cause it got unusable due to frequent crashes, so if I will not manage to submit a save in time, please go on without me. I will join back at 3d round then, if its allowed.

If you manage to get it up and running we would be glad to see a save from you. I do think theres opportunities still to post a round winning save. If you cant feel free to join the third round.

You dont have to have played the 1st round to play the 2nd, 3rd ,4th and 5th round. This is an open game, just be honest about your current playing level. Emperor, immortal etc.

 

[Gumbolt]

I should get a save in but if it hasn't happened by Saturday afternoon then it's not happening so don't wait for me either. Looks like plenty of players are in and high standards from the first round so I expect we are fine.

We'll stick to the deadline which i think is Sunday 6pm GMT. So theres plenty of time to submit a round.

 

[mjg5591]

Grats to dualmaster for winning round. Going to play my round now.

 

[bobbyboy29]

Round 2 to 400AD. Thanks to dualmaster for the fantastic starting save, really put us in a good position !

Spoiler :

OK so my long term goals for this segment were:
1. Settle the rest of the land available
2. Keep the economy upright with COL and Currency and head towards lib
3. Secure the diplo situation
4. Get TGL and spit out some scientists heading towards lib
5. Set up some good prod cities and a GP farm
6. Unlock HE (putting it in prague)

And I managed to do all of those pretty well I think.

Anyway, on to the short term:
The first order of business was to make sure I didn't get a GPro or Gspy so i whipped prague's library and worked two scientists. Uncertain whether i'd get a GS or GP i consulted an elder, he told me he couldn't tell me where or when the Great Person would appear but he could tell me exactly just how unsure he was (lame physics joke here- see Heisenberg uncertainty principle)

He made an academy in the capital.
After that spot of good luck surely I wouldn't pop another GS in the capital at low odds...

Spoiler :

I did! He bulbed philo, not sure if this was the right choice...

This screenshot shows my early expansion, as you can see 2 barb cities popped up in annoying spots but some swords cleared them up, they were razed and resettled. Also, I know I know, Mainz should have been 1S but i didnt see the second fish... it's not a huge deal. I do like the Augsburg spot though, it's a maoi powehouse

Not much to say on the diplo front, Rags Dow'd on Zara, Roosy then Han in that order. I'm buddhist buddies with Zara, Sitting Duck and Han. Although I did have an interesting conversation with a zealot...
Me: Oh hi Justinian nice to meet you
Just: Not nice to meet you
Me: Oh really, why not?
Just: Well you're my worst enemy
Me: How so?
Just: well you traded with my worst enemy so i hate you
Me: You hate me because... I traded with myself? (creeps away slowly.

Broken AI diplo mechanics aside I built TGL in my cap and used it as a temporary GP farm (Nat epic almost done in Vienna) And then made a 3 turn switch to these civics:

What do you think? And I know its kinda counterintuitive to run bureau and pacifism with a GP farm capital but it saved a turn of anarchy and the capital will go back to cottage heaven soon so i dont think it's a huge deal.

Anyway here's the save, I've basically got this game won, it's a very easy map (lots of room to expand, peaceful neighbour) I'm thinking going for rifling post lib (will nab PP or RP or even Rifling if possible) and taking out bull after that its game over.

Overall i think i have a solid, unspectacular save but I hope it gets at least ONE vote this time!

Main pro's are the tech and diplo situation (Edu almost in, partially bulbed) and the good/lucky GS generation.
Looking forward to seeing other people's saves!

 

[Steve250]

@bobbyboy

Spoiler :

Another pretty strong save but I have one question. Why would you build the NE in Vienna instead of the capital? You have the extra gpp from the glib scientists in the capital and Vienna is not a particularly food strong site for massing specialists anyway.

 

[dualmaster]

@bobbyboy

Spoiler :

Another pretty strong save but I have one question. Why would you build the NE in Vienna instead of the capital? You have the extra gpp from the glib scientists in the capital and Vienna is not a particularly food strong site for massing specialists anyway.

^^Same question

Spoiler :

Otherwise things look quite good. You may have some of the best developed cities of any of the saves. Having HE up is also nice. Strong teching. Decent diplo situation (could trade off extra resources for gpt and beg some gold too). I'm not crazy about some of the city placement - you could have slipped in another two decent cities, but otherwise you have some strong cities.


Man, voting is going to be tough. So many saves that are so close together.

 

[bobbyboy29]

@ Steve 250 and dualmaster

Spoiler :

The decision to put NE in Vienna is kind of a short term long term thing. Short term, with TGL and pacifism, Aachen does make a great GP farm, but long term i dont really want to move the cap and it really is more suited to oxford so i can squeeze a bunch of GS's out of it now with pacifism (which diminishes the need for the NE) then after that Aachen is the ideal place for bureau + cottages + oxford whilst vienna uses the cow+sheep+ grass farms to get the later GP's (some of whom i may not want to be GS's). This was an awkward time for my save to end i admit, but in about ten turns time i think it will look better as i will have plenty of GPP and the optimum oxford site up and running.

dualmaster:
I've been checking the resource for gpt trades quite regularly actually, unfortunately there hasnt been much up for offer although i do admit that i didn't check right at the end. Also i've had really bad luck with begging, Zara keeps turning down even small demands at pleased, he's at friendly now so that may help.

One other thing of note in my save is that there's a settler being built atm. He could go nab copper and crabs or something but i actually want to settle on the 1 tile duel fish island because i think i can see coast nearby it and the only way to get there pre optics is to settle a city there.

Thanks for the comments guys!

 

[CornPlanter]

Round2 till 400 A.D.

Spoiler :

Not much to tell. Failed Pyramids on purpose, expanded a bit, razed 2 barb cities, built Colossus, failed Great Library (not on purpose this time ), building some army for Sitting Bull or something. Researching paper (with education->liberalism in mind).

 

[Ambro]

To 400AD, think we might have to start thinking about the next cookbook soon

Spoiler :

Felt pretty good about this round. Once again I completely ignored the wonders. Only one I would have been interested in was Great Library and I didn't fancy the two side-tracks (Lit and actually building it).

Made a couple of mistakes, didn't get Silver linked through all the cities early enough. Made myself a bit of a tech pariah with aggressive trading early which slowed me down and my Southern cities aren't in the best places because I didn't plan the land out properly in advance (went for a super city without thinking about what I could fit in around there not thinking that the rathaus would keep economy safe). Also a slight issue up North with Mr Bull and his wandering cultural borders. Would probably slap up a city and use it to beat his culture back or just kick his ass after the liberalism battle is over (arguably already is, no one is even close to me on it).

Tech situation is good. Lib is easily 10 turns away but will probably go for Astro or something for the free tech since noone else has even teched paper. Some nice trades available. Zara and Rag are at war which just leaves Justinian who has wasted the last while building the AP (I say wasted because he is the only one in his religion which doesn't bode well for him winning votes).

Civics are a bit dodgy, have spent far longer in slavery than I'd have liked but with events off it's not a big deal. Not taken a religion and am basically waiting for Lib to grab free religion.

Land is pretty much filled, got a couple of places I could drop a city in but nothing special. Will probably try island hopping as Hannibal has found some sweet land that I'd like to "borrow" from him. Need more military though, I'm walking a fine line between frugal and suicidal with my troop levels.

Yes, I know I'm running 3 little munchkins in my Northern city. I badly mistimed the whip on the forge.

Will take a look at other saves soon. Would probably not vote for mine since I think game is too easy from this position to learn much. Hopefully others will have more interesting/challenging situations to play from. Thanks for the good save Dualmaster, got me back into monitoring my cities more closely.


Edit: After reading other peoples save write-ups it really does seem my unwillingness to take Buddhism for diplo purposes was a mistake. I've only had about 2 GP one settled and the other an academy. The whip savings and extra speed to get buildings up with OR would have helped in hindsight. However, that said I probably did get some more favourable trades because of this and it has kept Justinian on side so I have a better chance of him sending missionaries over to spread the AP religion. Still, my near complete lack of military made me cautious in terms of diplo but having SB as a barrier I should have been a little more confident.

 

[Gumbolt]

@ all

Spoiler :

We have a lot of strong saves science wise. 200+ beakers by 400ad is incredible. Not even sure how we got so far ahead science wise really.

I micromanaged my save 2 turns onfor bur civic and I was popping 256 science beakers at 70% science. Ackkk

I do think the liberalism race is won which ever save we pick. The danger will be a massive stack from Justin or another Ai that wipes us out.

This is one of the reason the rules state if you think your save is too strong remove it and play as a shadow. Perhaps Kossin was too generous with the land we had. Even so I didnt expect us to be this far ahead by this date.

Perhaps the mountain divide wasnt needed. The main objective of stopping the great light house was achieved though.

 

[Gumbolt]

Round2 till 400 A.D.

Spoiler :

Not much to tell. Failed Pyramids on purpose, expanded a bit, razed 2 barb cities, built Colossus, failed Great Library (not on purpose this time ), building some army for Sitting Bull or something. Researching paper (with education->liberalism in mind).

Glad to see you got windows reinstalled.

 

[kossin]

I did say it wasn't a hard map. What it really shows is most players here get the basics but the difference between saves is usually 1 or 2 wrong decisions and the decision to be bold in certain cases.
I expect it'll be more interesting in the rounds to come.

Personally, I enjoy much more the added discussion from more people playing it rather than 3~4 struggling at it.

If I make the next map, it will not be this easy, but not hard either. I expect the opening round will be much more important in the outcome of the game

 

[Gumbolt]

I did say it wasn't a hard map. What it really shows is most players here get the basics but the difference between saves is usually 1 or 2 wrong decisions and the decision to be bold in certain cases.
I expect it'll be more interesting in the rounds to come.

Personally, I enjoy much more the added discussion from more people playing it rather than 3~4 struggling at it.

If I make the next map, it will not be this easy, but not hard either. I expect the opening round will be much more important in the outcome of the game

Its always been the hard thing about EC. if you have a lot of emperor players and you pick the best saves it effectively becomes monarch level.

I agree on difficulty. There a middle place between your save and Soiranas cookbook save.

I didnt mind the challenge from Soirana's save. It made some challenges on the first few rounds but also made certain strategies too obvious like GLH. Downside was a tough first two rounds.

That being said give us stone and we will happily churn out the mids. That being said these are all parts of the game.

As for this game does anyone want to extend the next round to speed up this game?

1400ad then 1700ad?

I can see a early cavalry or curs rush to polish off a few Ai.

 

[dualmaster]

As for this game does anyone want to extend the next round to speed up this game?

1400ad then 1700ad?

I'd be in favor of combining/extending some rounds. The majority of the saves are nicely set up for a variety of renaissance war options - Curis, Cavs, cannon+musket/rifle. It'd be nice to have a long enough round to allow people to plan and execute one of these strategies (I guess a peaceful approach would be ok too ). I'm not sure how long the round needs to be to do this, but I think it is worth doing.

 

[Gumbolt]

I'd be in favor of combining/extending some rounds. The majority of the saves are nicely set up for a variety of renaissance war options - Curis, Cavs, cannon+musket/rifle. It'd be nice to have a long enough round to allow people to plan and execute one of these strategies (I guess a peaceful approach would be ok too ). I'm not sure how long the round needs to be to do this, but I think it is worth doing.

It would be nice to see where people decide to take liberalism next round. Not sure what time scale would be realistic for us to reach cavalry. Thats assuming a 30 strong stack doesnt pop up somewhere.

Peaceful strats would drag this save out a bit unless someone can manage a diplomatic win.

We could consider a 1100ad reporting round till a 1500ad end of round. Then play it out to one glorious win around 1750ad if we walk the map.

 

[pigswill]

400ad.

Spoiler :

I played on from my 1300bc save rather than the (admittedly far superior) official save.
Got Glib and Taoism, still got a philosophy monopoly. 3 turns from paper and 3 turns from next GS to bulb a hunk of education. Zara is however tech leader. Religions are a bit complex, split mainly between Judaism and Buddhism. I swopped to Buddhism to keep SB happy, SB later swopped to Judaism and I got fed up and swopped to no religion. Later on SB swopped back to Buddhism.
I settled the northern ice cities thinking that if I didn't an AI would and mess up diplomacy completely. Haven't settled the last south west city but a settler's being built for it.
Not the strongest save by a long margin but not a complete disaster either.

 

[bobbyboy29]

Just on the map, I think that everyone can agree that it is quite an easy map, but the main problem I think is that it really only lends itself to one strategy which is expansion followed by peaceful teching to lib and a renaissance war due to:
a) the sheer amount of land which has been blocked off naturally for us
b) having sitting bull as our only neighbour making peace easy and war expensive

while this is not a bad thing on its own it kind of makes all the rounds similar at this stage of the game. I was really looking forward to seeing if anyone would have the cojones to attack SB this round but clearly this was by a long margin an inferior route to take.

Anyway, at least the next round will be much more interesting with different choices of renaissance units available to attack with open as well as the peaceful option (maybe someone will even try culture... maybe not)

 

[Gumbolt]

Just on the map, I think that everyone can agree that it is quite an easy map, but the main problem I think is that it really only lends itself to one strategy which is expansion followed by peaceful teching to lib and a renaissance war due to:
a) the sheer amount of land which has been blocked off naturally for us
b) having sitting bull as our only neighbour making peace easy and war expensive

while this is not a bad thing on its own it kind of makes all the rounds similar at this stage of the game. I was really looking forward to seeing if anyone would have the cojones to attack SB this round but clearly this was by a long margin an inferior route to take.

Anyway, at least the next round will be much more interesting with different choices of renaissance units available to attack with open as well as the peaceful option (maybe someone will even try culture... maybe not)

Spoiler :

There was always the HA rush option but it was far from optimal for the diplomatic hit. Protective Ai are still a pain to take down.