China: enter industrial era before 1200!

[youtien]

3000 BC monarch, China is strong as ever.

This time I tried different strategy: research hunting - mysticism - masonry - polytheism - AH - writing - priesthood - fishing - sailing.

Luoyang build settler at 2 pop, found Fuzhou on stone as 2nd city. Luoyang build the Hanging garden and the Pyramids! Also oracle for currency.

Found 2 cities on Japan gold and silver, that helps a lot in both commerce and happiness.

After math: calender - construction - metal casting - MACHINERY, build the Grand Canal! Then theology and feudalism. Finished these by about turn 160, then conquer India.

This time I haven't popped any techs in huts, and still rocks. Check my savefile in turn 185, civics is Theocracy - absolutism - slavery - guilds - OR - levy armies now. Feel free to do any kind of victory.

 

[citis]

Did you manage to get the 1st UHC? What's going on the 2nd UHC?

 

[youtien]

Did you manage to get the 1st UHC? What's going on the 2nd UHC?

Forget the academy/pagoda quest, it slows your development and you don't want to achieve historical victory. (If you want, you can win before 1000 AD.)

Tech quest: compass - bulbed by second GS. Paper, gunpowder, printing press - research, very easy.

4 times(32 turns) of Golden age: With Mauseleum of Mausollos, you need 3 (36 turns) only. 2 GP first, then Verseilles, then Taj Mahal, done.

 

[ales_]

How can one win the Chinese UHV before 1000 AD?

 

[Atlantic Pacf.]

Why do you need to research hunting first?

 

[citis]

Why do you need to research hunting first?

I don't really know. I speculate these:
*You will be the first to discover it, so it is cheaper due to chinese UP.
*You will be able to build scouts and take advantage of goody huts.
*There is a dear, so you can aquire it early on.
*You will be able to have the anit-horse spears as soon as you discover bronze working.

 

[youtien]

I don't really know. I speculate these:
*You will be the first to discover it, so it is cheaper due to chinese UP.
*You will be able to build scouts and take advantage of goody huts.
*There is a dear, so you can aquire it early on.
*You will be able to have the anit-horse spears as soon as you discover bronze working.

1st-3rd is correct. And I also use the first scout to prevent Varanasi spawn(turn 35), you can use initial warrior to step on it too, but he should march west.

No need for spearman - barb comes with warrior first, and I should have completed the Great Wall by the time.

 

[youtien]

How can one win the Chinese UHV before 1000 AD?

The record is 950 AD. It's easy, really.

 

[ales_]

The question was how.

 

[Atlantic Pacf.]

Do you trade for Bronze Working?

 

[Chep]

I have tried to follow your approach, but what do you do with the japanese cities? I mean they help a lot with the gold/silver/traderoutes...but they will never grow...after the discovery of calendar these cities suck :/
flipping them to japan seems bad, as I want to destroy japan immediately, but then I'm stuck with them forever...

 

[Tomorrow's Dawn]

Just let it happen. Make sure you're prepared for the sudden -2 Happy Drop when it comes as well.
If Fresol and youtien taught me anything, it's that China should be looking West, not East.
Japan is nice to have, but not really necessary unlike the other way around.

 

[Tomorrow's Dawn]

Actually, I'm testing out your strat, youtien but it seems like I'm always getting beat to the Mids before Polytheism is done.
Are you playing on Epic or Marathon speed by chance?

 

[Fresol]

The only time I was able to build the Pyramids was when I settled Luoyang and sent a group of 3 warriors to harass Babylon and Egypt on start. Otherwise they are likely to have built the Pyramids and the Oracle really early. The Pyramids is very nice to have and the Oracle is certainly a must.

The two Japanese cities on gold and silver sounds like a very interesting idea, I like it although I haven't tried it yet.

 

[Tomorrow's Dawn]

I was only able to get Mids once out of about 8 starts.
Babs and Egypt really like beelining for it.
Also, delaying Oracle that long is so risky. The AI loves building it too so Currency is never within reach.

I do 3 Warriors each time too, but Ashirittu Bowmen just obliterate them no matter what, even if I'm just trying to sneak through and not fighting,
and passing through Jerusalem is hard as well.
Also, a lot of this seems just plain impossible without self-researching BW.

After a number of tries, I just do: Masonry -> BW -> Mysticism -> Poly -> Writing
But I'm not getting any good results, and the AI will usually beat you to good things like Oracle and Mids.
Fastest I can get the Wall up is around turn 130 as well, and then I miss out on TGL because Greece goes for it all the time.
The maintenance in the beginning is too punishing I think as well, constantly switching between 0 to 100% on my slider for research.

I'm honestly thinking a lot of this is just based on luck.

 

[Chep]

I'm playing epic and I use my first warrior to meet babylonia as soon as possible, taking only the 1 village on the way (not even looking for the hut in china). On normal this should probably lead you there in time to capture their worker while he tends to the sheep. On epic there is still some tume to take the hut in Turkey and the one on the balkans bevor returning. It is a gamble with the pyramids but in 2 out of 3 tries I got them.

 

[Tomorrow's Dawn]

The thing is:

1. Normal speed is the standard, and the one I'm assuming youtien is doing this on.
2. The Warriors that you send West are supposed to stay in Greek/Roman territory for contact and tech trading. They won't be coming back.

 

[Fresol]

I was only able to get Mids once out of about 8 starts.
Babs and Egypt really like beelining for it.
Also, delaying Oracle that long is so risky. The AI loves building it too so Currency is never within reach.

I do 3 Warriors each time too, but Ashirittu Bowmen just obliterate them no matter what, even if I'm just trying to sneak through and not fighting,
and passing through Jerusalem is hard as well.
Also, a lot of this seems just plain impossible without self-researching BW.

After a number of tries, I just do: Masonry -> BW -> Mysticism -> Poly -> Writing
But I'm not getting any good results, and the AI will usually beat you to good things like Oracle and Mids.
Fastest I can get the Wall up is around turn 130 as well, and then I miss out on TGL because Greece goes for it all the time.
The maintenance in the beginning is too punishing I think as well, constantly switching between 0 to 100% on my slider for research.

I'm honestly thinking a lot of this is just based on luck.

I usually go Hunting-AH-Writing, then go for BW and Sailing, then Priesthood. Early on I have to rely on scientists for research.

 

[Tomorrow's Dawn]

I usually go Hunting-AH-Writing, then go for BW and Sailing, then Priesthood. Early on I have to rely on scientists for research.

You can skip Fishing?

Also, my Warrior path is generally:

1st goes above Babylon, gets the Anatolian hut and the Greek, Spanish & continental European one.
2nd goes to squat Varanasi.
3rd explores the steppe and grabs the Nordic hut.

I will have to say, after having tried it myself.
Founding Qingsen & Lu-erdao does help somewhat with the commerce,
but more importantly, with the early Happiness pre-Calendar.
You have to be careful though, because the last try I did, trying to generate youtien's conditions for myself,
Confucianism was founded in Qingsen, which would mean the Holy City will end up going to Japan.

 

[Chep]

I meant I use the warrior to declare war & take the (unguarded) worker and then move towards the 2 continental huts while Babylon builds archers en masse as they think they're in a war

Contact to Egypt is then often only achieved after the Greek spawn but I wouldn't have anything to trade with them anyway.


But could you please explain me why Hunting ->AH->Writing is better than Mysticism ->Poly->Priest->Writing? (escpecially if, like youtien you go all the way to Poly anyway?)

Neither the bonus from the pigs nor the deer seem big enough to warrant this, in my opinion. And once the Phoenicians start, you get these 2 techs anyway.

I like Xian (1SE from the start) as my capitol (especially with the canal later on - I think I've never seen a 10commerce-tile before that^^), but I agree that there probably are a lot cleverer places to settle.

How do you usually get the Alphabet? GS or buy from Phoenicia?

about the religion-founding: if you whip it down to size 1 the probability that that city is chosen should be pretty low, but yes that's a legitimate concern.