Conquest 03: First Spoiler (end of ancient age)

[Denniz]

1.22f - Open

I moved the worker west and the settler northwest next to the cow. I Settled there and moved the worker to irrigate the cow. I didn't see the game yet and I didn't fog gaze. I built Curragh, Curragh, Warrior, Warrior, Settler. I think I did better this way as I put my second city on the coast north of the game. I chopped the forest and irrigated the game.

Once I had graineries in both cities they really pumped out the settlers! By 1000bc, I had 10 Cities with a total of 20 pop plus 3 settlers and 8 workers. I also had 1 Archer, 1 Spearman and 6 Swordmen. I had lost a couple warriors and 3-4 curraghs. I used the Lux slider exclusively to manage happiness and did some micromanagement to balance food, shield and commerce. I was able to pull off a Monarchy slingshot by trading for Poly the same turn I research Philoosophy using the 'Big picture' option to switch to trading. (At least, I think I did in this game, I have done it before so I may be mixed up.) After a 3 turn Anarchy, my government was monarchy in 1475BC.

I think this is the best start I have had in any civ game I have ever played!
This is very encouraging to me and I thank all the folks that have posted articles and spoilers and answered my questions.


By beginning of the MA in 650BC, I was up to 13 cities with 35 pop and 2 settler and 12 workers. My military was 5 spearmen, 10 Swordmen, and 1 Dromon. I had used the Dromon to put a city on the small island SE of the Dutch that had Iron and Horses. In the picture below, he had just dropped off a second settler.

Research - I think I only researched Writing and Philosophy myself:

4000BC Bronze Working; Alphabet (Starting techs)
2590BC Pottery; Warrior Code
2390BC Masonry; The Wheel
2270BC Ceremonial Burial; Mysticism
2070BC Iron Working
2030BC Writing
1870BC Horseback Riding
1725BC Mathematics
1575BC Polytheism
1550BC Philosophy; Map Making; Monarchy(Free Tech)
1350BC Construction
900BC Code of Laws
670BC Literature
650BC Currency; Monotheism


Of course, I self-destructed in the MA and then reloaded so I won't be submitting.

I think that settling that island. (I sent a third settler there later.) Was the first symptom of my MA malaise, where I gradually fall behind in tech, military, and culture. One of the things that happenned is India slipped a city towards the north end of the continent. My fixation on that city and my realization that I had fallen behind so much led me to a really bad choice. I decided to attack India and split my forces between the north and south. Not to mention that Military Advisor said I was weak. (It was 4am at the time but still no excuse.) The result was the initial attack failed in both places. I eventually got the city to the north but I lost so many units that I couldn't hold the bottleneck cities. When I quit India had broken through and I was down to one defender per city and no offense.

I reloaded from before the attack 310AD and played it to around 700AD when India attacked me. I had done some expanding overseas and did even worse dispite having muskets.

Since then I have gone back to 1000BC and play forward again. Time I stayed on the home island and kept India to their half. In the AA, I refused to give them HBR and they DoW, but were unable to break the bottleneck. That and a second war in the MA, I started after a flip, chewed up all their extra units. And since I had concentrated on building Warriors/Swordmen, I was able go on the offense with MI in the early MA and grab 2 of the 3 westmost indian cities, get my GA, and get the last western city for peace. So, I think I may have worked out what I need to do different next time.

I am look forward to the next game.

 

[Civgeek]

COTM 03 – Byzantines (Open)
Civgeek

Ancient Times (4,000 BC – 530 BC)
QSC 7 cities, Pop 19, 16 techs, 19 units, 477 gold, 45 gpt, 25 spt.
Middle Ages 10 cities, Pop 34, 3rd to enter MA.

Pre-History:
First Demigod game so only one goal; survive as long as possible.

Opening Sequence:
Moved worker W revealing cattle and two bonus grassland tiles along the river. With forest tiles to the southwest, this looked like a good starting location (bonus food, good spt) so moved settler NW. Next turn moved worker NE to cattle tile, revealing river continues north with ivory besides the river. This would be in expanded radius of city if I settled this turn. Considered exploring further, but decided this was a pretty good location given the difficulty level and expected rapid expansion by the other civs. Constantinople founded 3950 BC. Set initial builds to curragh, warrior and settler requiring 55 shields, which was achievable by expansion to Pop 3. Worker improved plains/cattle (irrigate, road), then bonus grassland (mine, road), then plains/ivory (road, irrigate). Roaded the ivory before irrigating to coincide with second expansion to Pop 2 of Constantinople. Generated 330 shields over first 50 turns of production, which I consider very good for me (usually aim for 285 – 300 shields).

Exploration and Expansion:
First curragh went north, following coast, rounded tip of peninsula and came back south then west to explore the northern coastline of our continent. First warrior started by heading west, discovered forest/game tile, which looked like promising site for second city, then continued west and southwest following the land bridge to western part of continent. Second curragh went south and then west to explore southern coastline; third went south and then east, northeast looking for crossable stretches of ocean. First contact was with the Indians in 3000 BC. Sequence of contacts was as follows:

3000 BC India
2750 BC Russia
2470 BC The Dutch
2390 BC Ottomans
1625 BC Vikings
1125 BC Persians
1000 BC Carthage

Eventually lost all four exploring curraghs and one exploring Dromon to barbarians or treacherous waters. Barbarian galleys seemed quite tough (or lucky). Cities were founded as follows.

3950 BC Constantinople, 1 tile NW of start, beside cattle.
3050 BC Adrianople, 1 tile NW of forest/game.
2270 BC Caesarea, on hill choke point to W.
1550 BC Nicaea, on forest tile adjacent to three ivory.
1250 BC Varna, 4 NW of Nicaea on coast beside river mouth.
1100 BC Smyrna, 1 tile N of iron in hills.
1100 BC Heraclea, 4 tiles south of Constantinople on volcano peninsula.
900 BC Trebizond, 1 tile SE of horses on northern peninsula.
825 BC Chalcedon, 2 SE, 1W of Nicaea on coast (fill-in territory boundaries).
800 BC Sardica, 1 S, 2 SW of Caesarea; forward outpost against India.

City placement was pretty tight for me, but I think it worked well for maximizing resources and income; wanted to get as many river tiles and high gold tiles worked as soon as possible.

Military Endevours:
None. Fought no wars and had little trouble with barbs on land (except for one embarrassing sacking of Constantinople for 29 gold by a lone barb horseman). Barb galleys were another story however; killed 3 of our 4 curraghs and a Dromon.

Technology and Trading:
Had good success with trading, but not much luck with researching. Started out on Writing at minimum, but India developed it four turns before we did. Tried for Republic slingshot by researching Code of Laws at maximum, but India developed Philosophy 7 turns later. Disappointing, but not sure I could have beaten them to Philosophy anyway; it was 9 turns on max for me from developing Writing. They than also beat me to Code of Laws by 1 turn. India seemed to proceed at a blistering research pace directly to Republic in my game, so interesting to note the number of people who accomplished the slingshot anyway. Luckily was able to broker few good deals for techs, being “technologically advanced” a few times. Techs were gained as follows:

4000 BC
Alphabet (Start), Bronze Working (Start)
2750 BC
Pottery, Warrior Code (from Russia for Alphabet, 120 gold and 3 gpt)
Ceremonial Burial (from India for Pottery and 10 gold)
Net: -110 gold/-3 gpt for Pottery, Ceremonial Burial, Warrior Code.
2030 BC
Iron Working (from India for 95 gold and 6 gpt)
Mysticism (+40 gold) (from Ottomans for Iron Working)
Masonry, The Wheel (+20 gold) (from India for Mysticism)
Net: -35 gold/-6 gpt for Iron Working, Mysticism, Masonry and Wheel.
1725 BC
Writing (researched)
1600 BC
Horseback Riding (+95 gold) (from Vikings for Mysticism)
95 gold (from Dutch for Horseback Riding)
83 gold (from India for Horseback Riding)
Polytheism (from Ottomans for 395 gold)
Mathematics (+1 gold) (from India for Polytheism)
230 gold (from Ottomans for Mathematics)
200 gold (from Russia for Mathematics)
Map Making (from Vikings for Polytheism and 175 gold)
Net: +155 gold, Horseback Riding, Polytheism, Mathematics, Map.
1550 BC
+198 gold (from Ottomans for Map Making)
1425 BC
Philosophy (+240 gold) (from Vikings for Mathematics)
1300 BC Code of Laws (researched)
1150 BC +50 gold (from Dutch for Philosophy)
975 BC Literature (researched)
650 BC Construction (from Carthage for 520 gold)
550 BC +53 gold plus 21 gpt (from India for Construction)
530 BC Currency (researched)

Ended up researching more than I would have liked and disappointed I couldn’t get much for Code of Laws or Literature. Biggest problem was not getting Monarchy or Republic, but I just couldn’t pry these from anybody. Turn I entered the Middles Ages I offered India Construction, Currency and 500 gold for either Republic or Monarchy and was rejected harder than a sleazy door-to-door salesman hitting on women half his age in a seedy out-of-town bar ….. seriously considering going Feudal in the Middle Ages.

Wonders:
Didn’t go after any except Statue of Zeus once I determined nobody else had any ivory. Could have started earlier or done a pre-build, but really wanted to get as many settlers out ASAP. Was 2 turns away from completion as I entered MA with nobody else building so looks like I will get it? Ottomans lead with three wonders (Oracle, ToA, Hanging Gardens), Russia has two (Pyramids , Great Library) and Vikings have two (Colossus, Great Wall). Dutch got Great Lighthouse. My “mighty” neighbor Gandhi, despite kicking serious butt in the expansion race, ended up with only the lowly Mausoleum.


Overall I am doing better than I expected, but still being in Despotism is very worrying. Will change ASAP, however, looks like India is getting ready to attack us as stack of warriors is heading south from Pune. Would hate to be in anarchy if that happened. Outlook for Middle Ages; hard to say.

 

[grs]

@Civgeek: congrats on your well thought city placement
I have tripple checked, but we really have all cities in the same places - even the India city to the north is in the same spot. The only difference are the names, i.e. the order in which they were founded.

 

[predesad]

I'm not realy good at Fog Gazing, but wish I was, I wish I could have see the game after moving worker w like others did, but i did not, settler i tile SW was surely the best spot to build, instead i went settler NW to get cows ASAP and then worker n onto cows to irrigate then road.

i decided not to pursue pottery but to try to trade for it, a mistake because my exploration strategy did not reveal anyone with pottery soon enough to my liking, i went writing 10%.

my first builds were curragh, curragh, settler, warrior, curragh, settler, curragh. my curraghs headed off around my continent, te first north, the second south. my second city was 4 squares s of capitol, not a good city spot, but i wanted some early coastal cities for commerce and this site was fone for a small pop city. my third city was on the hills at the choke point. i planned to get some settlers across the choke to settle Ghandi's lands, but he was on top of my before i could get one there, i concentrated on securing my section of the continent.

basically i contacted everyone by 1700 and i held an early tech lead and amassed 1000 gold quickly. i had a war with russia and the dutch because i refused their demands when theyu had not found me yet. russia did manage to find me and took a city, i got it back a few turns later with swords & russia agreed to peace for 20 Gold. the dutch never found me and eventualy agreed to peace. i gave in to most demands, but refused to trade ivory, which caused a second war with dutch, this time they knew where i was, but everytime a dutch galley approached, dromon bombardment convinced it to go the other way and we eventually had peace with no battles.

i also settled the island to the SE of the Dutch, although the dutch has one city in the north, this gives me 2 horses and 2 iron for trading since that island has one of both.

barbs have been a problem, i built several curraghs, but lost all but 2 to barbs, one managed to get upgraded, another is elite at 1 hp and is still exploring while i rush settlers in dromons to the islands the curragh uncovered. also, the northern and southern portions of my empire are not connected because there is still a barb presence, but a sword / med inf are taking care of the matter as we speak. i have 11 cities,3 on the island beside the dutch, plus one more i cannot found until barbs are controlled better.

i chose to build SoZ late, focusing instead on expansion, built a couple harbors and one library at choke to get culture there, otherwise it has been units (granaries of course are an exception) and will continue for sometime in that direction.

i got ROP with everyone, most had to pay 20 - 30 gold, in my experience, having an ROP seems to keep demands down because they don't want the rep hit of violating the ROP (although the Dutch did DoW during ROP) i also managed to trade for every luxury except spices, do not know how long i can continue to do that.

backing up a bit, about 7 trurns before i got writing the vikings had discovered it, so i traded with them for it then phil 100%. by the time i got philosophy i had managed to trade for polytheism and so i took monarchy as a free tech. i then researched lit myself to help use that as trade bait, since AI goes for it last. after that science went to 0%.

it took the AI forever to research the last tech (currency) i forget who was first, but i waited several turns until about 3-4 had before buying, they all seemed to want to research everything i had but had not yet traded before going to currency.

i took feudalism as free tech. i then traded with all scientific civs (btw, is it fair to set up a demi game where 3 other civs have each of our traits?) even gifted a tech or two to put them in MA, hoping they would get mono and eng. none of them got feud, they all got engineering. a few more trades and i was bringing in 100+ GPT the very same turn i entered the MA.

i do not know how much longer this good will last, i am planning to wait to research some of the techs in the upper half of the tree that I know the AI will avoid, but i will stay at min research when doing so.

now that i have SoZ, i plan to trade away all 4 of my ivory for other luxuries, this keeps 4 different civs sorta happy with me and hopefully i wont havew to worry about them and can stop buying ROP, i should actually get gold through these lux for lux trades sonce the AI is larger than I accordong to the way the AI computes the value of luxuries. I will also be looking to trade an iron and both horses, ancient cavalry will provide horse units.

i am planning to build pikes / med inf / trebs and take out india, this had not gone well for other players. i will concentrate on trebs & hope my artillery advantage tilts the scales my way.

it should also be noted i established embassies with every civ as soon as i traded for writing, in my tesat game last weekend an AI put an embassy in my capitol, which gave them my city view and lov\cation and robbed me of the chance to get a view of their capitol, a few turns later they Dow on me. I did not make the same mistake twice.

i am thinking about a prebuild for KNight's Templar, but will probabaly stay out of wonder race and go for units. i have no victory condition in mind, i would just like to take india out to claim the whole continent.

 

[Psychonaut777]

I can't wait to see the outcome of this. I'm playing on the easiest mode and so far the MA has gone pretty poorly. I don't even know how I'll ever defeat India let alone get anywhere in this game. The tech pace is simply out of control now and I have no hope of catching up. =(

 

[bed_head7]

Where is the Great Library in your game, psychonaut? Maybe you can do a bit of late catch-up. I must say, I am impressed by the games of a lot of the other first time demigod players. You all seem to have done a much better job expanding than I did, probably meaning that you planned better and dealt with the barbs better.

 

[ainwood]

I can't wait to see the outcome of this. I'm playing on the easiest mode and so far the MA has gone pretty poorly. I don't even know how I'll ever defeat India let alone get anywhere in this game. The tech pace is simply out of control now and I have no hope of catching up. =(

Well, a good option in demigod is to not reseach very many techs yourself. You can set the research slider to (say) 10%, and generate a lot of gold to buy techs - buying from one and selling to another.

If you also research the techs that the AI doesn't (eg literature in my playtesting games), then this can be very valuable to sell (after you've built the Great Library, BTW)

As for defeating powerful enemies in the MA and later, cannons and artillery are great! The AI doesn't use them much, and this is their weakness.

 

[solenoozerec]

I can't wait to see the outcome of this. I'm playing on the easiest mode and so far the MA has gone pretty poorly. I don't even know how I'll ever defeat India let alone get anywhere in this game. The tech pace is simply out of control now and I have no hope of catching up. =(

You are not alone. I lost 10 cities to India in MA including capital and FP city:-(. Only one city left on homeland peninsula. Now I am planning a recover.


I do not think about tech, the main task is to survive. Tech tends to become cheaper with time.

 

[Randy]

Open class COTM03 1 of 2

I'll start by saying I play 90%+ of my games on PtW (since it came out) so I'm still in a steep learing curve for c3c. I got c3c for X-mas, played a few tiny worlds and one huge world but stopped when my FP went neg corruption (before any patches) got fed up with the bugs. So I put it away until COTM01.

COTM01 I was 169 of 185 (my first game of any mouth)
GOTM32 I was 72 of 121 (still learning some GOTM tricks like moving your first settler.
COTM02 I was 113 of 170
GOTM33 I think was my best yet.

So any help with the step up to c3c will be great help.

Also I'm not the world worst speller but I am in the top 10, so sorry for all the misspellings. I looked all over the house for the dictionary but can't find it or as my wife may say I stuck my head in a room or 2 and just gave up.

My game in the AA. (Highlights)

4000 BC: Worker went NW, Settler went SW.

3950 BC: Constantinople founded, worker starts road, studying Writing @ 10%, gold +4gp/turn.

3800 BC: Road finished, sent worker to build road on cow. We see ivory!

3750 BC: Got warrior #1, started curragh. Warrior #1 will scout to the west.

3600 BC: Started irrigating first road to cow.

3550 BC: Sending warrior home. (MP)

3500 BC: Got curragh, started spearman. Curragh heads E.

3350 BC: Fortify warrior in Constantinople. Curragh finds goody hut. This will be gone before I will get a unit to it.

3200 BC: Got spearman, fortify in Constantinople. Start settler. Worker goes to ivory to build road. Curragh finds goody hut on mountain.

3150 BC: Met Netherlands, they will not sell pottery and they have 2 cities.

3100 BC: Netherlands popped the goody hut and got barbs. That's just to bad.

3000 BC: Finished road on ivory, road to game. Found new land in the north.

2950 BC: Found out I’m the least powerful civ. Curragh can see a green boarded.

2850 BC: Got settler, settler & spearman will head to the ivory. Started spearman. Netherlands now have Warrior Code.

2800 BC: Met Persia they have Warrior Code & Masonry.

2750 BC: Founded Adrianople. This hooked up ivory!

2670 BC: Found Vikings.

2550 BC: Sold Alphabet to Persia for Warrior Code, Masonry +33gp. Netherlands bought Masonry for Ceremonial Burial & 35gp. Bought Iron Working from Persia for Ceremonial Burial & 65gp. Traded Ceremonial Burial to Vikings for Pottery. Sold Pottery to Persia for 67gp. I’m Iron Working up on the Netherlands and I have eneryones gp. Constantinople gets spearman starts settler.

2510 BC: Curragh finds new island east of Vikings. Worker finished road on game sent to build road to iron on hill. Switched production in Adrianople for spearman to archer.

2470 BC: Met Carthaginian sold Iron Working for Wheel & 32gp.

2350 BC: Adrianople builds archer starts settler. Archer will go SW to look for barbs.

2310 BC: Curragh met barb galley, I hope I can win this battle.

2270 BC: Yes!!!, My curragh was attacked and won not even 1 HP loss! Constantinople builds settler starts spearman. Settler and spearman leave for iron city. My curragh pass an other barb galley and village with 2 horse and 3 warriors.

2230 BC: Yes!!! A 2nd win with my curragh. My archer found a barb village with 2 warriors.

2190 BC: To my surprise the archer was not attacked. So he attacked the village and won losing 1 HP, now 2/3. worker finished road in woods. Worker will road 2nd BG space. The curragh reaches southern tip of Carthaginian island and sees gems. He’ll now head E. The Carthaginian now have Mysticism. They will sell it for 1gpt + 313gp or 331gp. I pass for now.

2150 BC: Curragh finds new land and Ottomans. They buy Alphabet for Mysticism + 16gp. That last decision turned out to save me big bucks! The curragh will go N around their island. My archer finishes off the barb village and finds 2 Indian warriors on a hill. Sell Masonry for 60gp to India. Founded Caesare on hill with Iron. Started swordsman. So far no other civ. has iron.

2110 BC: Indian warriors move NW off the chock point hill. My archer 1/3HP will stand guard on this hill. I’m nervous about Writing I’m 10 turns away with science set to 10%, I check every turn but it won’t help to raise it.

2030 BC: Worker will start road to chock point hill. Curragh reaches Ottoman north shore and will head E in search of the last civ. Vikings and Carthaginian have Writing. Carthage wants 210gp and Vikings wants 229gp for Writing. Bought it from Carthage. Sell Mysticism to Netherlands for 100gp and to Persia for 75gp. Studying Philophy @100%. This will be close! 16 turns.

1990 BC: Constantinople grows to size 2, Philophy in 13.

1950 BC: Barbs south of Constantinople. Constantinople switch to swordsman.

1910 BC: My curragh can see the last civ bourder. Warrior from Constantinople attack barb and wins.

1870 BC: Met Russian.

1750 BC: India gives Mathematics and 51gp for Writing.
Adrianople builds settler starts swordsman. Settler heads to chock hill. Constantinople builds swordsman starts Statue of Zeus. Caesare builds swordsman starts swordsman. Swordsman will go N.

1700 BC: Ottoman have Polytheism but not Writing & Mathematics.

1675 BC: Trade Writing & Mathematics for Polytheism & Horseback Riding.
Sold Mathematics to Ottoman for 198gp.

1650 BC: Curragh was attacked by barb galley lost 1 HP. Swordsman south of Constantinople kills barb horse.

Note: At this point I’m worried about tribute, 693gp and a three tech lead over some civs. My Science is at 100% and 0gpt. Philophy in 3.

1600 BC: Russia builds Colossus. +25gp from barb village south of Constantinople. Founded Nicaea (on chock point hill) start settler, fortified archer on hill in Nicaea.
My swordsman to the north is 8 from my closest city he will come closer to home next turn.




Note: My curragh is almost home after 1900 years.

Worries: 2 Indian warriors got behind my lines before I could guard the chock point in 2150BC.
One is on the mountain range in the north (just out of sight). I saw him amost loss a battle to a barb warrior 1 HP left. The second I don’t know.

Persia has 8 cities.
Carthage has 8 cities.
India has 11 cities.
Russia has 6 cities.
Ottoman has 8 cities.
Scandinavia has 6 cities.
Netherlands has 6 cities.

We have 4 cities and 1 worker.

No horses in my area but India has in their’s. I can’t believe there is iron under Caesare. So I’ll bet coal will not be on this island.

I didn’t scout well yet so east of Adrianople may be a land bridge to India. My curragh will know soon. I also don’t see much in the north.

Possible Goal 1: Get map making for free tech. Finish Statue of Zeus. 3 or 4 more cities, science at max, try to trade with all but India and keep up. Build swordsman and cav. from Statue of Zeus. Go after India. Also settle on Netherlands island before they can fill it up.

Possible Goal 2: Get lit. for free tech. Switch to great lib. Then do goal 1.
I could set science to min or max.

Possible Goal 3: Go for Rep. fast and expand the best I can.

(I want this island to my self).

I set science to 40%, Philophy in 1 & 11gpt.

Adrianople change to settler in 9 turns.

1575 BC: I got Philophy first! Map Making for my free tech, science back to 100%. Studying Code of Law in 19. Decided to expand first and research to Republic.

1550 BC: Curragh sees east of Adrianople, and there is a barb village there. Carthage & Ottoman both got map making.

1500 BC: Caesare builds swordsman, starts worker it can’t get larger than size 2. Swordsman heads to barb village.

1475 BC: India builds the Oracle in Delhi. Everyone is building the Pyramids.

1450 BC: Curragh arrives in Nicaea.

1425 BC: Caesare builds worker starts Dromon. Swordsman get barb village. Worker heads to Constantinople to road and mine BG.

Sell Horseback Riding to Netherlands for 100gp & Persia for 86gp.
Sell Philophy to Carthage for 147gp, Ottoman for 87gp & Vikings for 49gp. I don’t think I can monoplyize this any longer and that too much money to pass up.

Science @ 100%, 0gpt, 1218gp, & Code of Law in 12 turns.

1400 BC: Attacked by 2 barbs and won both with one swordsman promoted to vet. A now healed curragh will scout the south coast of India but it will have to out run some barbs (3 to be exact). My swordsmen will patrol for barbs.

1375 BC: Adrianople builds settler starts swordsman. Worker finishes road to Nicaea. He will go improve other cities. My curragh see a lone Indian settler next to Nicaea.

1350 BC: I’ve seen 3 Indian warriors, I hope their not going to attack.

1325 BC: India has Construction. They want Map Making & Polytheism or Polytheism + 516gp. I’ll pass.

1275 BC: Founded Varna NW of Adrianople. Building worker in 10.

1250 BC: Sold Philophy to Netherlands for 75gp. Now India wants Polytheism, Polytheism, + 630gp for Construction. I’ll still pass this is more than last offer.

1175 BC: Caesare builds Dromon.

1150 BC: Carthage has Construction. Scandinavia has Code of Law they beat me by 1 turn.
Set science to 10%. Curragh reaches west side of India. Dromon killes barb galley.
I see an Indian worker building a road on Iron.
Sold Map Making to India for 61gp.

1125 BC: Got Code of Law, set science to 100%, Studying Literature. Curragh heads home.

1100 BC: Nicaea builds settler starts temple.
Trade India Code of Law for Construction + 2gp
Sell Code of Law to Persia for 66gp, Ottoman for 51gp

1050 BC: Russian city of Moscow builds Pyramids. Indian city of Delhi builds Great Wall. Viking city of Trondheim builds The Great Lighthouse. Persian city of Persapolis builds The Mausoleum of Mausollos. Russia put a city on the small Island east our land.

1025 BC: Statue of Zeus built in Constantinople start settler.
Sell Mathematics to Netherlands for 105gp.

1000 BC: Smyrna founded.

Stats: 6 Cities. 2 Workers. 2 Warriors. 1 Archer. 3 Spearmen. 4 Swordsmen. 1 Dromon. 1 Curragh. Statue of Zeus in Constantinople. I’ll have Literature in 10 turns if I have to study it. Currency is all I need to enter the Middle Age. I don’t have ether government but nether does anyone else. 1597gp, 0gpt.
Carthage, India, & Russia are at the same tech level I’m at. It will not be long until 2 civs are in the MA and I expect a mass barb uprising to the north.



975 BC: Curragh will scout our north shore. Dromon will pick up settler in capitial to move to new location.
India has Iron.
Russia has Monarchy. They want 1045gp for it.
Ottomans has Monarchy. They want 1002gp for it.

925 BC: 1 new settler from Constantinople & 1 swordsman in Caesare both start swordsman.
Curragh finds horses in north.

900 BC: 1st Ancient Cavalry. Curragh finds barbs 6 horses.

875 BC: Curragh is attacked by 2 barb galley, the first takes it down to 1 HP. The 2nd promotes it to a vet.
Founded Heraclea 3 spaces south of Constantinople.

850 BC: Curragh is attacked again, no damage. Dromon is being chased by barbs.
India ask nice for a scout swordsman to leave, I said sorry but continued. Road to Smyrn.
I have 16 of my allowed 28 units.

825 BC: Ottomans build The Temple of Artemis.
An Indian Galley is heading to our north shore.

800 BC: Russia builds Hanging Gardens.
Set science to 70%, +9gpt, Literature in 1.
Bombed barb galley to 1 HP.

775 BC: Ottoman demand 98gp. I say ok. (I was just waiting for this to start.) (I hit ok by mistake I wanted no)
Set science to 100% going for Rep.
India lands settler and spear on hill in north, I attack with swordsman! Win promoted to vet. Attack Karachi. Win. Attack Dacca with 1st Ancient Cavalry and takes city! (I think I blew some or all my rep. I still had a swordsman in India when I attacked).

730 BC: Take Karachi.
Sell Literature to Russia for 93gp and 12gpt.
To Netherlands for 80gp.

710 BC: Vikings demand Lit. I say no! They declare WAR!

690 BC: Destroyed Indus.

670 BC: 4 swordsmen & 2 archers for India are heading to Karachi.

EDIT: I wanted to show the pics but I did it wrong.

 

[Randy]

2 of 2

650 BC: India will give the city of Punjab for peace. I’ll attack some first.
Sink Viking galley, start GA!
Found Trebizond.
A Viking warrior and settler are on are north shore by the horses and barb village with 7 horses. I have a swordsman next to them.
Made peace with India they gave Punjab and 7gp.

630 BC: Netherlands demand 100gp, I say no WAR!
Persia demands Lit. I say no, I don’t believe it no war! I demand 10gp, They say no, I say goodbye.
Attack and kill new Viking city of Odense. Take 1 GP.
India has 12 cities now.
We have 10 cities.

610 BC: India, Ottomans, and Russia has Republic, I’m 12 away.

590 BC: India droped an other settler and warrior on the north shore.
I’m going to let them build the city, It’s next to Trebizond and I have a settler on the other side. I will try to culture flip it and if that does not work I’ll take it after the piece treaty.

I’m worried that 2 civs will enter the MA any time and this will fill the land in my area so no mass uprising!

570 BC: Great news India did not build their city, I founded Chalcedon. Now there is no room for them.
A Viking ship is heading for Punjab, I have no units in this city yet. The Vikings will give 2 of the following cities for peace: Hareid, Aarhus (a size 2 tile island), or Birka. I only can see the 1 city. I want Aarhus but it is close to Netherlands and I’m at war so I will take the other 2. They also give me 20gp of their 32gp not bad for a war that I only kill 1 boat, 1 Warrior in that new city that I destroyed.

Now if I can end that other war, I would maybe pay that 100gp to save those new cities.

Note: Hareid may be in danger of mass uprising.

Persia has 11 cities.
Carthage has 11 cities.
India has 12 cities.
Russia has 7 cities.
Ottoman has 17 cities.
Scandinavia has 8 cities.
Netherlands has ? cities. I can see 6.

530 BC: It looks like Persia will attack Birka next turn, I think I will gift it to the ottomans. A Netherlands galley is in rang also.

510 BC: Persia is coming! The Dutch landed! I’ll gift the city.

490 BC: Persia didn’t attack Ottomans.
Set science to 30%, +45gpt. Republic in 1 turn, everyone but the Vikings have the Republic.
After Republic I’ll set science to 0% and buy Currency. It would take 12 turns to get it and I think the other civs are close.

470 BC: The Dutch will make piece if I give them 80gp. I’ll wait.

450 BC: Almost everyone has Currency.

Persia does not have it.
Carthage wants 411gp.
India does not have it.
Russia wants 452.
Ottoman wants 433.
Scandinavia does not have it.
Netherlands will do peace and currency for 434gp.

I’ll get from Cartage.

I got Monotheism as my free tech.

India gives 77gp + 4gpt for currency (India got no free tech I thought they were science) nope I checked their not. Oops.

I know the Ottomans are science so they must have gotten the same tech.

Sold currency to Persia for 74gp. They got Eng. They want Monotheism, 1708gp all I have and 6gpt for eng. I’ll pass.

Russia must have gotten Monotheism also.

Sold Monotheism to Cartage for 425gp.

Hello Middle Age, I didn’t think I would last this long.

Stats: 12 cities, 1 settler, 3 workers, 2 slave workers, 1 archer, 5 spearmen, 14 swordsmen, 1 dromon, 5 ancient cavalry, & 1 curragh. 2133gp 16gpt if science stays at 100% or 66gpt if science goes to 0%. I’ll decide tomarrow.

I’m still at war with the Netherlands but they will make peace. They want Monotheism. I’ll pass I’ve got troops on the way.

I shoot my reputation so no gpt deals for me.

5 GA turns left.

Set science to 0%.

EDIT: I had no problems with the barbs, but India lost at least 2 warriors to them,

 

[Longasc]

danman, how about trying this:

Try to get Artillery and Infantry. Fight with a large Stack of Doom defensively, bleed India out. I hope you have a strong core and little corruption.

Get Marines later on an bring them in position to prevent enemy SS-Victories... -> destroy their Capital if you see their SS-Parts reaching a critical number.

Even a small nation can do this, Artillery being a great equalizer. You could also play hate-monger and be friend and ally of everyone, trying to provoke wars between anyone else and lean back and smile.

 

[Tone]

And if you have end of turn switched on, would it then be possible to fortify a unit and then go back, unfortify and give new orders to that unit before having to end the turn?

Unfortunately you only get the +1 visibility after the end of your turn. BTW thanks for the tip, Dave.

 

[Civgeek]

@Civgeek: congrats on your well thought city placement
I have tripple checked, but we really have all cities in the same places - even the India city to the north is in the same spot. The only difference are the names, i.e. the order in which they were founded.

I noticed that as well; what are the odds? Then again, it looks like quite a few people had very similar city placements, although not exact matches. I suppose it is a case of great minds think a like while fools seldom differ.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Open Class

I have never played DemiGod before. Until a few weeks ago, I considered myself a novice Monarch player, so based on the upward trend of GOTM difficulty, I have been recently played a couple of Emperor games, which I did win, by both Space and Domination. They were tough, but they taught me how to cope with the enhanced AI build rate. I’m not sure they prepared me for this though!

Once I had explored the coastline of the Indi/Byz continent, I realized that I probably should have started the game with a different build order. Curragh-Warrior-Curragh-Warrior-Granary-Settler was nice for exploring but an extra city early on may have been useful. Lesson learnt.

I realized the Indians were beginning to fill up their allotted section of land, so I quickly raced a settler to the chokepoint. From this point on, I think I was lucky to place towns where I did. I only had one encroachment from the Vikings onto the hilly area in the Northern part of the continent. I’ll sort that out later! :devil2:

Made use of enhanced ship travel and knew all civs fairly early. Used my position to be the knowledge base of the world, and was slowly collecting a bit of cash. I just missed out on the Phil-Rep slingshot by a couple of turns – Doh!

Towards the end of the Ancient Ages, India just declared war on me, for no reason. I had been giving in to demands from all civs for quite some time, so I was in their good books. It was at this point I quickly realized how rubbish my army was. Quickly switch all towns to build archers (I haven’t connected up the iron yet – stupid!) and run to the chokepoint. I manage to hold off the first wave.

In another bout of stupidly, I attack an Indian galley with a Dromon and trigger a despot GA. I haggle for Republic and after 6 turns of Anarchy (ouch!), I enter my Republic GA.

Call for peace with India so I can use my enhanced production to beef up my culture. In retrospect maybe I should have continued the war with India a little longer, I knew I could have coped (SoZ would have been ready in 6 turns), and it would have slowed them down a bit. I’m sure if I’d had an iron supply I probably would have. Oh well…

Enter Middle Ages in 510bc
9 cities, 2 granaries, 1 Barracks, Statue of Zeus, and 2 Libraries
6 workers, 8 warriors, 4 archers, 9 spears, 2 dromons
1309 gold, still roughly 5 turns of GA left

Bring on the elephants Gandhi!

 

[zagnut]

OPEN CLASS:

Trading was the key to the Ancient Age in my game. One Curragh explored the entire world and met all of the other civs by 1650 BC. Since none of the other civs explored this meant that I could trade techs among the other civs. By 1650 I was the tech leader and had all of the gold in the world.

I settled one square NW of the start. I built one Warrior and then a Curragh. Sent him north and it took a while for him to get around that peninsula and finally meet the Indians. But after that I was meeting other civs every couple of turns. The Curragh never met a barb Galley until the turn after it met the last civ, the Dutch. Then 2 barb Galleys showed up and my Curragh was history.

I started researching Philosophy in 1870 at 30 turns. At that time I only had 3 cities and India had 8. I wasn’t sure I could beat them to Philosophy so went for it directly, without researching Code of Laws first. I figured it was better to get the free tech than try for the Republic slingshot and miss it. By 1830 I had reduced the research time to 14 turns at -3 gpt. When I discovered Philosophy in 1500 I took Monarchy as my free tech because it was the most expensive and would provide me with a productive economy while I researched or traded for the final AA techs.

In 1175 the Ottomans declared war on me but they were too far away to do any damage. I succeeded in founding a city on the hill at the choke point, which it appears everybody else did also. India declared war on me in 950 and lost a lot of units trying to attack along that narrow neck of land. I stationed a Droman there and bombarded them as they came. That worked well.

The barbs were a problem for me in the north, but not in the south. I read above that the barbs will only attack you if you are NW/SE or SW/NE of them. I never knew this and camped some units east and south of them and wondered why they never attacked! What was Firaxis thinking???

Anyway, the barbs were a problem in the settlement of the northern areas of the continent. I entered the Middle Ages in 800 BC and the uprising delayed the settlement of that area for many years. But it ended happily as I eventually beat the Dutch to the Horses by one turn.

 

[predesad]

2 things to remember here in regards to C3C barbs that help.

first: barbs only attack or move if a unit is SW/NE or NW/SE of it.

this is wrong, barbs only attack if you are NW / SE but you can be SW / NE and they wont attack, i actually founded a city guarded by a warrior one tile SW of a stack of 20 barb horses fortified on a mountain. but you do not have to be one tile NW / SE, if you are in the line which runs that direction they will move toward you

also, one a barb is bombarded they might move form that square, this is how i eliminate that stack of 20 barb horses on mountain, dromon bombards horse, next turn horse moves to grass, then i attack 1 HP horse with med inf, city to SW is never attacked.

 

[grahamiam]

this is wrong, barbs only attack if you are NW / SE but you can be SW / NE and they wont attack, i actually founded a city guarded by a warrior one tile SW of a stack of 20 barb horses fortified on a mountain. but you do not have to be one tile NW / SE, if you are in the line which runs that direction they will move toward you

also, one a barb is bombarded they might move form that square, this is how i eliminate that stack of 20 barb horses on mountain, dromon bombards horse, next turn horse moves to grass, then i attack 1 HP horse with med inf, city to SW is never attacked.

good to know! thanks i always thought they attacked in an "X" but now i know better i'll keep the bombardment trick in my back pocket when i go for those barbs to the north. thanks again!

 

[Kuningas]

Predator

I moved worker W and spotted game forest. Constantinople founded 3950BC one tile W of starting location inland. I built 2 warriors, one for MP and other explored. After warriors Constantinople completed Granary 3000BC. In 2230BC I MM'd Constantinople for 4 turn warrior+settler factory. Extra warrior was nice against barb warriors.

I neglected the early curragh exploration. I did it to avoid contacts, each contact reduces AI's research cost for Alphabet & Writing. Making it harder to success in the Republic slingshot.

Self researched:
3150BC Pottery (max speed)
1950BC Writing (max speed)
1500BC CoL (max speed)
1350BC Philosophy (max speed)
1350BC The Republic (FREE)
1100BC Literature (max speed)
850BC Currency (half speed)

The Republic slingshot perfectly executed. 1225BC the new goverment formed.

I researched Currency slower than I could have done it. 925BC I was one turn away, I had all the AA techs except Construction and Currency. I turned science on 0%. 850BC Russians have learned secrets of Construction. I gave 250 gold and Literature for it. I triggered the MA era screen on the IBT by finishing Currency. On the "what's the big screen" I went on F4 screen. I gifted Scientific AIs on the MA, and then accquired 3 Initial MA techs with help of monopoly tech the Republic. Then I got free MA tech which was Chivalry. Very nice to have Chivalry 850BC thought I'd prefer Theology or Invention more. You can read more of those tricks on DaveMcW's thread. http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=90177

QSC stats
12 x City
29 x Pop
689 x Gold
18 x Tech
6 x Library
2 x Granary
1 x Harbor
1 x Settler
7+1 x Worker

I tried dense city placement. Screenshot from year 1000BC.

 

[HighDesert]

C3C 1.22 Open

Opening Moves. I had no doubt about the cow and so moved the settler west to get inland. The worker went nw. Then settler west again revealing the Game and 1 Ivory. Worker moves to the cow. A settler factory is assured.

I think at this point I should have stopped to assess the situation, but I had my eye on the non-BG to the NW and moved there, worker roading the cow. The 2nd and 3rd Elephants were revealed. I settled Constaninople in 3850BC and planned on a 5-7 settler factory to maximize commerce and try the Republic Slingshot.

Built Warrior, Worker, Granary, Warrior, then settlers until at least into Middle Ages.

I forgot about the 4-turn chop in Conquests; may not have needed the 2nd Worker as a result, but I don't think I have ever had too many workers.

When the Game forest chop completed, the BG underneath was revealed. Wow! Opens up the possibility of a Settler/Warrior factory. I decided not to go this route as too many units early with a Republic can cripple you with the support costs. So I stayed with the 5-7 4-turn settler factory which pumped out the first settler in 2310BC. There are 5 (at least) perfectly reasonable start locations on the map. It will be fun to see who did what with what.

Research. Pottery at max. India showed up on the doorstep 1 turn after Pottery was researched...could have used that 14 turns. Then Writing at max although it was still 50 turns at that point. This was 1920BC and I had to decide whether to go CoL and try the Free Republic route ot just do Philosophy and take CoL if successful. I took the Philos route and had to research Republic fully. I think I blew it here, the spoilers will let me know soon enough.
3050BC. Research Pottery. 14 turns
1910BC. Research Writing. 27 turns
1650BC. Research Philosophy. 8 turns. Take CoL for free
1650BC. India---give Writing for Burial+Masonry+8g
1525BC. India---give Philos for Wheel+IronWorking+29g
1500BC. India---give CoL for Math+66g
1375BC. Russia---give Math for WC+Mysticism+99g
1300BC. Russia---give Philos+15g for MapMaking
1300BC. Russia---give CoL for HBR+40g
1075BC. Ottoman---give HBR+Alphabet[!]+66g for Polytheism
975BC. Research Republic. 23 turns. revolt 4-turn Anarchy
875BC. Form Republic of Byz
800BC. Vikings---give Polytheism for Construction+93g
710BC. Research Currency. 7 turns


Exploration. I built the first Curragh in 1910BC and generally kept about 4 Curraghs searching the seas for other civs/land. By 1075BC I had met all my rivals.

QSC Stats:

10 towns
24 pop
2 settlers
8 Workers(2 foreign)
5 warriors
1 Dromon
4 Curragh
1 Granary
Missing Currency/Construction...Republic in 1
228g
310 Score (last by 1)
Contact with everyone

I left this game for RL for about a week now; hopefully will be able to get back to it. Seems like India will need to be dealt with soon.

 

[King Of America]

I will have plenty of time to read everyone else's spoilers.

Bad game for me (including 2 revolutions with an average length of 7.5 turns).

I held my own through the AA and then the roof caved in in the MA.

What I learned...

1. Do not let wounded enemies live long. If you make peace with a still living enemy, esp. one who attacked you first, be sure to re-arm in the 20 turn cease fire (call 'em what they are) and then attack. Given the strong advantage the AI has for building, you can't afford to sit back and wait "couple more tuns".

2. Don't start a revultion unless you have enough troops to sustain a sneak attack--an attack in the first turn of an 8-turn revolt is a mega-bummer, especially once the AI sharks smell your blood.

3. In terms of score, if you don't expect to win, hold on as long as possible--the Jason mechanism really penalizes you for an early loss (i.e., yours truly lost in 950 AD and my Jason score was less than half my Firaxis score).