Classic 33: First Spoiler (end of ancient age)

[Hergrom]

I suppose I better reply to this since I might be one of the few that went that way, although I noted in the pre-game thread my intention to head south.

That's why I said 99% I remember you saying specifically that you would go south. You made the right choice! You have more guts than I have.

 

[Megalou]

I thought I should make a more detailed write-up this time around. Not that things have been going too well. My 4-turn settler factory took a bit too long to set up, so I didn't get full value from it. (There is a Chinese town in my RCP5 ring.) Barbarians often kept workers and settlers indoors, further hampering expansion. But only once did the barbarians mess up my rather sensitive settler factory by blocking the wines. I also had slightly too few workers around the QSC period, and had to work a few unroaded forests or grasslands temporarily. Of course there was also a lot of forest to cut down, so the demand for workers was endless. As for tech pace, I am very impressed to see so many players reach the middle ages around 1000 BC. Although with a low tech priority, I entered it no sooner than 170 BC, looking roughly like this:

Initial thoughts: Greece is not suited for early militaristic dominion, but I want to do a conquest anyway. It would be my first on this level.
* Lots of timberwork for troops (Troops as soon as worker# is adequate)
* extra care with alliances to avoid tough enemies.
* Instigate war in other continent, if there is one, to slow tech pace/expansion.
* be careful when it comes to settling first town. If expansion is poor, consider friendlier victory condition.
* Try to get lots of horsemen, rather than swordsmen.

Initial research:
Writing is tempting, being a second tier one. More likely to reach that first than The Wheel.

Timeline:
4000--- Worker NE. North would have been better. Settler N. Reveals 2 wines, good, not great. Forests on plains visible. Poor shield area.
3950--- Worker N, settler N.
3900--- Worker N. reveals only grassland. Settler (tough decision) W, reveals game#1. I can now have +3 food. It grieves me that I could probably have settled 3950. Better worker movement here however.
3850--- Worker NW. Game#2. 4-turn settler factory? If I move NE, there is a chance. More game to the north? There are 2 unseen forests to the north, and one plain. The chance of game#3 is slim. Settling now offers almost no chance at all for a 4-turn settler factory, although there is a chance of cattle on two unseen plains. Settler NE.
3800--- Athens founded. No luck on bonuses. I contact the governor, tick "Emphasize production" hoping the computer will choose forest for me as the automatically selected tile. Then I will have exactly 30 shields. Max on writing (40t). Warrior 4t. Worker goes mine/road on bonus grass.
3500--- Meet INDIA (com,rel). He will have bronze any minute. Do I take 10 gold for it or hope to get a worker later? I don't even think I will get a worker for bronze a turn from now.
3450--- Sure enough, I should have taken the 10 gold. Warrior spots what would have been a great starting area to the west of the river.
3300--- Wasted 1 turn on warrior#3 because I didn't have warrior#2 in the town at the time of pop growth - an entertainer was autoselected. It is strange that at the beginning of a game, entertainers will be autoselected, but not later, in bigger towns.
3250--- Writing is still at max slowness, even with 6 beakers - darn! And the AI tech rate seems awesome. India has two more, masonry and warrior code. Should I road the game#1? Mine/road finished. Moving worker to wine. Mistake! Cannot be irrigated. Building settler who may have to be delayed.
3200--- Worker roads wine. Ending session 1 in trouble. Can't start granary with barracks prebuild without terrible risk though possibly by doing it while going to 10% science there is a slightly bigger chance of buying pottery in time. But the Indians don't have it and warrior#1 is still trodding thru jungle.
3150--- Switched build order to hoplite. This will mean negative treasure because of five units.
3050--- Hoplite finished. Settler due in 6t, growth in 5. Wines connected. I find out that even 7 gold will not get me any higher than the minimum research rate. So I switch to 10% science, writing in 25 turns. Earning +4 gold. Hoplite moves N toward mountain, will just get back in time. Warrior goes S from Athens towards jungle, while the first explorer has reached the southern coast and turns west. Capital is empty.
2950--- Hoplite spots cyan borders. Darn! So close and I haven't seen any blueshirts at all yet. Eastern warrior spots eastern coast.
2900--- Hoplite moves towards the cyan so that contact can be made. It means 1 turn of entertainment 2 turns from now.
2850--- Discover Shanghai. CHINA (mil,ind) has pottery. India now has The Wheel. Unfortunately I can't trade for either yet, so I have to proceed with settler. No problem, the settler factory would hardly be set up when I hit size 5 without the help a second worker and the growth delay from the settler.
2750--- Chinese warrior dangerously close to my border. Settler finished, prebuilding barracks.
2670--- Chinese warrior moves away. Perhaps my hoplite around Shanghai intimidated him. Southern warrior survives barbarian attack.
2630--- Sparta founded by wheat (dist 5). Building worker, due 8 or 9 turns.
2590--- Warrior#1, kicked out by India in the right direction, pops hut with map. Continent seems to go on to the southwest.
2310--- Barb warrior approaches empty Sparta. Red borders spotted by warrior#1.
2270--- Barb warrior tails off. Buy pottery from China for 38g. Switch to granary.
2230--- ROME contacts me. Barbarians are swarming now. I may have to buy something soon.
2150--- Barbarian redlined my one warrior, while in Athens granary was finished. Building hoplite. All 3 known AI are on equal techs: all first tier + iron working, which means I may not get Writing first. It's due in 3.
2030--- Writing learned. It's a monpoly. Rome has all contacts except French and Ottomans. India and China does not know Rome. Trades:
Buy contacts with Arabs, who seem to be most powerful, for contact with India and China+10g.
Trade contacts with Spain+53g from Arabia for contact with India and China.
Trade contact with Egypt+5g from Spain for contact with India and China.
Trade Cermonial Burial with Spain for Pottery+5g.
*** Egypt, Spain and Arabia have Mystisism. ***
*** Egypt has contact with French and Ottomans. This is surely a pangea map. ***
Trade contact with France from Egypt for contact with India, China, Arabs+80g.
HIT ESCAPE BY MISTAKE!
1990--- And India and Spain have learned Writing. Great. Embassy with Rome. They are at war with Spain. Trades continued:
All first level techs + Iron Working + Mystisism + Contact with Ottomans from France for all my contacts+8g.
Math + HB + 20g from Ottomans for all my contacts.
110g from Egypt for Writing.
Contact with Koreans from Rome for Mathematics and Writing. (Alas, Korea is broke.)
I then empty all the coffers, except Egypt's which remains at 169g, and end up at 403 gold + 2 Arabian workers. I made an embassy with Arabs to see if they were at war with someone, but it seems only a coincidence that they had those 2 workers in Mecca.
1625--- Terrible typo: put settler next to barb warrior for no reason! Oh well, lets see it as a handicap to the AI.

1300 (c.)--- 4-turn settler factory works well:

Turn#1: At size 5, I have to start by working the forest tile by the river, earning 7 shields.
Turn#2: Then I must switch to the wine, so that Athens grows to size 6, earning another 7 shields because the forest by the river is autoselected (see pic.)
Turn#3: Will yield 5 food and 7 shields.
Turn#4: Will wield 5 food and 9 shields, because another forest tile is autoselected. Back to size 5.

500 BC (c.)
My build orders now follow a few simple patterns:
*Settlers (Athens only.)
*Horsemen (Core towns.)
*Warriors, workers alternately (Weaker cities working bonus grasslands. Warriors are kept as military police and hopefully they can be upgraded to deal with China later.)
*Barracks (Border towns with India and China. For example the town 4 tiles from Dehli and its Great Library. Two barracks have been built in core towns.)
*Library? (only one so far, in my border town with Beijing to avoid flip.)
410 BC --- End of session 2. 13 towns, 1 settler, 10 workers, 7 slaves, 7 warriors, 13 horsemen, 4 hoplites. 1136 gold, monarchy due in 6 turns. Embassy with India. Dehli has only 3 regular spearmen. Incredibly, they only have 21 gold with Great Library. Must take care to bancrupt them before attack, if possible, by selling world map, because they have iron. Yet, if I can take Madras first - it is within direct reach - they will lose their iron.

I am at war with distant Arabia. I want to ally Rome against them or someone else pretty soon. There will be tough battles ahead. ainwood has made sure we will be up against riders, war elephants, ansar warriors and probably sipahi too because Ottomans are so far away.
Barbarians: I managed to keep them out, even at the uprising, but when I thought it was over a horseman showed up and destroyed my work on a horseman. They also pillaged my furs, causing minor problems.

270 BC --- Extortion from Ottomans denied, but they don't declare war.
250 BC --- Alliance with Rome agains Arabia. It cost me 430 gold. But the Arabians are republic and might be pining.
210 BC --- War on India. I take Madras (iron). Become monarchy.
190 BC --- Capture Dehli (Great Lib).
170 BC --- Learned Philosophy, CoL, Currency, Construction, Republic, Montheism (free tech), Feudalism, Engineering, Theology, Invention. Upgrade 7 horsemen to knights.
Ended Ancient age with 16 towns and one settler heading for the ivory to the south. I'm sorry some of the dates are imprecise.