Climb the Ladder IV: Wang Kon - Monarch

[Bleys]

Get those Chariots out, they are excellent scout + barb killer units.

In my game, each of my continent mates got a different religion, and I got one too (teched CoL, used the Oracle for MC). Whomever got their shrine first is who I am going to kill first, then convert, LOL.

 

[bramirez]

What happened here?
Ended?

 

[dankok8]

No..I plan to continue the game tomorrow. I've been busy for the past week or so. Stay tuned.

 

[dankok8]

2680-1320BC

Ok, here we go... I installed the BUG mod and it really does help. I can move through the game much more quickly as the important information is displayed.

Tech Order: Masonry - Wheel - Writing - Pottery - Hunting - Iron Working

Through this round, I was building mostly workers apart from settler or 2. Not much army at all.

Pyongyang is founded:



.. In South Korea .. so much for historical accuracy.

I met another guy on the continent; can be a tough guy to deal with if you let him off the hook; he and Ragnar are the only Financial leaders that build fairly large armies.



Being Financial myself, having Justinian and Hannibal on the continent is not bad.. they tech ok, but they are kind of warmongerish too so I'll try to befriend them. Both of them hate Gandhi so I intend to convert to Christianity.

I get this random event:



Does anyone know if this is worth it?!? I may end up doing it anyways since I have no metal so far anyways.

Regardless, seeing that even the Stonehenge is not built this late and Gandhi is still researching BW, I decide to get this wonder:



Awesome wonder!! Large expanses of land means lots of barbs and it's good to be protected from those. +100% GG and Great Spy doesn't hurt either.

A city of Wonsan is founded:



I decide to end there:







My Thoughts:
1) We've got tons of land to expand to. I'm gonna settle towards the other civs first and cut them off and then expand east. Gandhi is quite a bit NW of Seoul and Justinian is at that Gold mine at the far west of the map. No clue where Hannibal is, but I hope he's west as well. Lots of green land is good for cottages.
2) I'm gonna convert to Justinian's religion. Gandhi rarely ever attacks so I'm not afraid to make him mad.
3) I'm doing decently in power considering I have 3 warriors and a chariot.
4) I'm gonna try for the Oracle. No one has Stonehenge yet.

 

[huerfanista]

@dankok8
I think the war chariot event is great. Gives you c2 chariots with a barracks, these are great for an early rush - even though I know you're not planning it. In a shadow of mad's Justinian game I had c4 chariots in no time via a rush.

 

[Joshua368]

Your exploration is pretty terrible... lots of black blotches scattered around in nearby land, hard to tell where to settle. Get those chariots out there and fill in the gaps.

 

[dankok8]

1320-300BC

Ok.. Longish round here. The area is really crawling with barbs and it's only near the round's end that we established control. I have a feeling that the Great Wall really saved me some pain. The bad thing is that it also shield the AI's further west from them as well. Oh well; moving on.

Tech Order: Meditation/Priesthood/Monarchy/CoL/Alphabet

I really needed Monarchy to connect the Wine near Pyongyang and enable Monarchy to increase the happy cap. CoL to help fund the upcoming expansion and Alphabet to trade.

As the round started:



No. I'd rather have you hate me then the other 2. Btw, Gandhi is their worst enemy and I wanna keep it that way.

My Woody II warrior died:



My fault for leaving it on a hill ; this place crawls with barbs though.

Monarchy was done and I converted to HR:



and I founded Pusan down near the tundra to grab the Furs and cut off that land in the east for myself.



I plan to close borders if any AI settlers try to pass. That land is mine.

CoL was done and:



Ended up founding Confu for historical flavor although Buddhism would have worked too.

Justinian wanted:



Ok. Hannibal wanted:



Nah. Research it yourself. You're Financial!!

I decide to end there. I have a settler ready to go somewhere and have a small pack of Swordsmen out to claim that eastern barb city. We also finished Alpha so we can trade now.

State of the World:



Barb NW:



Barb E:



Domestic:



Military:



Tech:



Graphs:



Demo:



Seoul: (Bureaucracy capital!!)



Pyongyang: (Commerce city - also Confu shrine)



Wonsan: (?)



Pusan: (Port?)



My Thoughts:
1) I need to expand, expand, expand. It really wasn't easy cuz of those barbs. You guys know I love to expand and I'll double my empire size in the upcoming round.
2) Army, army, army. I'm not doing bad, but I need an army to stave off potential invasions. I'm thinking Math/Calendar/Feudalism/Construction in that order. Protective Longbows + Hwacha will make me safe while I REX that eastern expanse.
3) Gandhi is the enemy. I'll try what I can to appease Justinian and Hannibal. At least for now. Hope Christianity spreads to me soon.

Anything else?!?

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Just so everyone knows, vikings and carthage have considerable disparity between unitprobs (40 to 30). Hannibal is closer to the likes of say washington in unitprob than ragnar! There is also another financial leader who spams troops equally ----> Darius. Darius has a higher peaceweight of course, but there's something else to consider when playing a map like this that's more relevant:

ALL THREE of your immediate neighbors? None of them declare at pleased. Not even hannibal (though be careful, as his peaceweight is low and a dow is likely @ cautious if you're weak).

Also, you generally want to stick cities in the direction of the AI to make room for more cities later. This means a blocking city near the mountains to the west of the capitol, and as much southwest blocking justinian as possible.

I didn't build Gwall or prioritize copper early and just torched the barbs with archers anyway (IIRC I got a tile pillaged at one point because I was playing too quickly and splitting time between actually doing so and deciding what to write). Still, even with a wonder or two by 300 BC you can easily have 5 cities, and especially if you put up gwall -----> gogo block justinian and claim a gold, pusan's location can come later.

In hindsight I wish I'd built the wall in this one because it makes sense. You can really, really abusively warrior expand/block then, and there's plenty of room. You still have time to take advantage! Get those settlers out.

 

[Gliese 581]

You should have given Monarchy to Hannibal if you want to befriend him, it's a small price to pay in the long run.

 

[vicawoo]

You shouldn't be building courthouses so early. For instance, fur city, one courthouse saves you 2 gold. Working the deer gives you 5 commerce. More cities are more important.

 

[dankok8]

300BC-580AD

Lots of things happened here. War too...

Tech Order: Math/Feud/Currency/Sailing/Calendar/Machinery

On the first turn of the round, I pulled this trade with Justinian:



..and fixed an obvious blunder:



I don't know what I was thinking not working the Fur...

An annoying event:



GSpy is born:



I infiltrated Justinian so I can steal some techs from him.

My workers were getting a bit idle so I made them cottage and Hannibal converts to Justinian's religion:



Nampo is founded on the east coast:



...and our troops surrounded Hsung-nu:



I notice this and get pretty worried:



It better not be me... Hsung-nu is captured:



Nice event:



Finally... I convert:



If Justinian has not already decided to attack, I'm safe since both he and Hannibal are Pleased now. Thanks for the info TMIT.

A barb city NW is surrounded and taken at the cost of one sword:





Then:



Told ya there were wars. Those 2 guys quickly signed peace with no city changes. I founded another city NE and headed for Calendar so I can work those Dyes and Banana:



My spies made in Justinian's city - we did it!!





More spies:



Lost 2 spies at 77% odds. Oh well. I don't need Hwacha anyways.

A trade with Hannibal:



and as the round ends yet Hyangsan is founded on the east coast:



State of the World:

Korean Empire:



Future Korean Land:



Domestic:



Military:



Foreign: (Yea, Justinian declared on Gandhi!!)



Tech:



Demo: (#1 in Land)



Seoul:



Pyongyang:



My Thoughts:
1) I need more Workers... I built too many Libraries, Barracks, and Walls in the last round. Those jungles are not gonna clear themselves.
2) I'm safe from attack (I hope) so I'm not gonna build a big army. My focus in the next round is gonna be to take the economy to the next level.
3) I gotta REX that space NE asap and try to grow my cities. Banana once connected and larger garrisons are gonna help.
4) I'm gonna build a few offensive troops so I can pummel Gandhi if others hep me join.

 

[Joshua368]

You're supposed to leave spies stationary for five turns for a 50% espionage bonus... as long as you're spending a decent amount of ESP on your target you have good odds for not getting discovered.

 

[CreeDakota]

I assume Civil Service if next tech priority?

Pyongyang may need some farms long term to work all its tiles. Plan out where you will chain irrigate before you build up your cottages.

Definitely wait for the 50% espionage bonus, also be sure to go to a city with your religion.

I wont worry about hurting Ghandi. Join if you get asked but the longer and better he fights Justinan and Han the slower they will expand. Where is he anyway? you should scout out your neighbors land.

 

[dankok8]

580-1100AD

Tech Order: Machinery-Civil Service-Paper-Education (not done)

Not a long round here, but a lot happened.

I decided to keep spies in the city for 5 turns + our success rate was much better too. We ended up losing no spies.

As the round started off:



K, I'll join ya. Gandhi cannot even get through Hannibal's territory so he cannot attack me. Maybe I'll even build an army to kick his butt..

Ulsan is founded in the far NE; I didn't settle it 1S where the blue circle suggested because I would lose that grassland as a workable tile + I want those Cows as part of the barb city.



Here you see Korean spies coming into Justinian's city:



Doesn't have the same religion, but I think it's cheaper to steal from. Maybe it's closer to my capital... We stole these techs over the course of the round:











Justinian built the AP:



Not too bad...

I asked Hannibal for a favor and he gave it to me; that's why you want friends people!!



Cherokee was surrounded:



and captured with no losses:



CS was done a turn later so we switched to Bureaucracy and Caste System:



A happiness trade with Justinian:



And then something I feared:



I better get a piece of Gandhi before these vultures do Luckily I was prepared for the occasion:



and it was captured with no losses. I scouted his troops earlier and saw that Gandhi had no mounted units so I built a few Hwacha and Macemen. Hwacha reduce horseless armies to nothing in seconds!!



Fearing he would cap to someone else, I reluctantly:



I really wanted his capital.. I think he even built a wonder or 2; Justinian would not make peace with Gandhi if I gave him Paper and Hannibal wanted 3 techs if I remember right.

Regardless, I end the round there.

State of the World:

Continent:



Unclaimed Southern Tundra:



Domestic:



Military:



Foreign:



Tech:



Power:



Demo:



Victory:



My Thoughts:
1) 10 Workers is way too few. A few of my cities could use a few more improvements.
2) I'm gonna convert Gandhi to Christianity. I'll convert the city I captured, gift it back and then ask him to convert.
3) Given the military focus of my neighbors and their friendliness + the fact that I won the previous 2 games by domination, I think I should give peace a chance. Maybe Space?!?

What do you guys think?

 

[Stewie0416]

I think hannibal should be your next target. Space would be close, hannibal being fin. and Char. in the late game makes him a dangerous enemy. If you can weaken him now you wont regret it

 

[dankok8]

1100-1500AD

Ok. An interesting turn in this game as you will see. On one hand, we are well set for space, but there are a few potential sources of trouble.

Tech Order: Education - Compass - Optics - Philosophy - Printing Press - Nationalism - Liberalism - Mil. Tradition (took as a free tech)

I managed to build quite a few workers this round.

As the round starts off, a GSpy is born and I infiltrate Justinian again; he techs pretty well and I can just keep stealing his techs. I stole Engineering, Guilds, Music, Gunpowder, and Drama off of him this round.

I gave Gandhi that city after converting it and:



Just to avoid trouble with my other neighbors. Gandhi did switch back and forth from Hinduism and Christianity.

I pulled a decent trade with Justinian; let him have Ivory; I don't plan to attack him as long as I can steal techs.



Gandhi wanted a favor and I gave him:



I founded a city far on the northern tip of the continent:



Shouldn't have. Maintenance skyrocketed after that one. My research rate could have been 10% faster and instead I built his craphole...

My caravels scouted the new world:



Shaka.. yep. He's the founder of Taoism and so doesn't like me. His power is also ~2X mine and he's fighting a very weak Liz as we speak. That can't turn out well.



Speaking of Liz:



Yea. Nice and pretty redhead. I pulled that trade to quicken the tech pace over here on my continent.

I completed this wonder mostly for denial purposes:



Liz wanted a favor:



Nah. I don't want trouble with Shaka right now. You're on your own babe.

I meet a 3rd AI on another continent and he's waiting to fight someone:



I figure Liz is toast... Funny how they are all the same religion yet they fight.

Justinian and Hannibal managed to research Education by the end of the round so I didn't want to take risks. I researched Lib and took Mil. Trad.

State of the World: (no need for other screen; not many changes)

Other Continent:



Domestic:



Tech:



Civics:



Demo:



Seoul:



My Thoughts:
1) Shaka has potential to be a real problem. Going for Dom or Conquest means we must fight him and that won't be easy. Even if we don't, an invasion of our homeland seems likely.
2) Space seems like a forgone conclusion if I can clear Hannibal and I plan to. During the Golden Age, I'll switch to Free Speech, Free Market, and Theocracy and pump out some Cuirassiers. Those will be good against Shaka too if need be.
3) We are far ahead in tech, but losing momentum. Justinian and Hannibal are getting stronger in research and techs are becoming expensive to steal.

What do you think?!?

Btw thanks to everyone following these games!

 

[DMOC]

You've done a good job so far. I would recommend beelining to Rifling to get a Cavalry + spy based army. Focus all EP on Hannibal or Justinian (whoever you plan to attack -- make sure you also bribe the other into war as well) and use powerful Cavalry to get cities quickly. 2 move cavalry + spies can take down several cities on the very first turn of a war. The reason I suggest a cavalry based army is that you probably have some espionage left on your neighbors as well as the Military Tradition technology (needed for Cavalry).

After you get your continent, no more tech stealing is needed.

EDIT - Just noticed you're heading for Economics. In that case you could also pre-build some horse archers (maybe 8-10?) and then upgrade them to Cavalry after you get Rifling. As an alternative, you could build some City Raider 2 (they need 5 XP for this, though) macemen and then upgrade them to Riflemen using the gold from the Economics Great Merchant. This assumes you'll be the first to get to Economics for the free Great Merchant, though.

 

[huerfanista]

Well, infantry + bombers/fighters will take out Shaka without breaking a sweat. It goes without saying that he'll be very backwards in tech. IMO, you can choose your victory condition at this point. If you're going for domination, just beeline rifles and take out Justinian first (as DMOC said, with cav/spies it will be a snap) and then optionally Hannibal (if you can keep him pleased/friendly he won't be any competition). Shaka will have huge stacks of less powerful units (probably grens - he'll beeline MilTech), so you just need the production to wear him down. I'd go RP/ rifles/ astro/ chem/ steel/ steam/ AL/ RR/ SciMeth/ comb/ physics/ flight. Shaka WILL attack when he gets astro, so make sure you have a navy.

If you decide to go for space, you'll still need defense against Shaka. An oil navy and infantry at minimum. You may want to take Hannibal out in that case - he'll be a strong competitor.

Dom will be the quickest win path, IMO. You have a huge tech lead, and rifles/cav will be overwhelming on your continent if you get there first (as in right away - forget economics). Once you have all that great and well-developed land, your tech lead will get even bigger. But if you're not a happy warrior, go for space. Great job so far.

 

[Divaythsarmour]

I see that Taoism was founded in 3320 BC. How is that possible? Did an AI get Philosopy from a hut on Monarch difficulty?

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I see that Taoism was founded in 3320 BC. How is that possible? Did an AI get Philosopy from a hut on Monarch difficulty?

Choose religion.