Darkness
Shadow creature
IgrOK[SU] said:
If those cities are on rivers and have good growth potential, then it should be possible to get writing in 15-20 turns.
Conquests 01: First Spoiler. End of ancient age.
- Thread starter ainwood
- Start date
If those cities are on rivers and have good growth potential, then it should be possible to get writing in 15-20 turns.
I didn't say I got Writing in 15-20 turns. What I said was that after I build my second city I was able to research it faster. I don't remember exactly the date, but it was close to Darkness' one. Maybe one or two turns earlier.
Edit: This are the correct dates:
Writing: 2350bc (31 turns)
Code of Laws: 1675bc (18 turns)
Philosophy: 1500bc (7 turns)
Edit: This are the correct dates:
Writing: 2350bc (31 turns)
Code of Laws: 1675bc (18 turns)
Philosophy: 1500bc (7 turns)
Smoking mirror
Ships Captain
Hmm... interesting that there are two main strategies, slow research high gold--> or high research rush towards republic.
So why did I end up with the third way?
seems not many of the experienced players rate monarchy as a good choice for the ancient age, supose its an optional tech right at the end of a tech peninsula, perhaps not worth the effort. I have to say, I've never thought of taking the republic route, I prefer to wage "continous" wars, where if an attack fails you just build up an new army and send it right back in (this happened several times in my war with the arabs, a stack of 6-8 3man chariots died fighting two spearmen in a size one city, so next time I sent 10 ). Because of this I Build LOTS of military units which doesn't fit in well with republic. I wouldn't say I had a bad strategy, just a different one. I dont expect to be lucky in my combats (I almost never am, especialy not in conquests) so I simply remove luck from the equation (or make it as small a factor as possible.
So why did I end up with the third way?
seems not many of the experienced players rate monarchy as a good choice for the ancient age, supose its an optional tech right at the end of a tech peninsula, perhaps not worth the effort. I have to say, I've never thought of taking the republic route, I prefer to wage "continous" wars, where if an attack fails you just build up an new army and send it right back in (this happened several times in my war with the arabs, a stack of 6-8 3man chariots died fighting two spearmen in a size one city, so next time I sent 10 ). Because of this I Build LOTS of military units which doesn't fit in well with republic. I wouldn't say I had a bad strategy, just a different one. I dont expect to be lucky in my combats (I almost never am, especialy not in conquests) so I simply remove luck from the equation (or make it as small a factor as possible.
Smoking mirror
Ships Captain
Bibor said:
Dunno, how the pros do it, but I find that almost no AI attack can beat a defence that out numbers them. I build a fast response team of warriors or archers (the defensive bombard helps) and place them in a border city while a worker uses the "road to" command to link my cities. I also find that catapults are quite usefull for protecting against early attacks from slow moving units such as warriors or archers, as they can attack twice (once when the unit is next to the city and secondly in defence) and almost certainly reduce the attacking enemy by two HPs before he even starts the combat. (of course they are expensive toys, but worth it for adding protection to your core attacking strike force).
The key to quick expansion is build raod networks, keep the AI happy (and scared) and use localised weight of numbers superiority to ward of attacks (only cities under attack need a defender, so make sure your defenders are where the attack is. (also I build dispersed and then backfill, usefull in this game because of the reduced corruption, but less so in regular games as it reduces your tade).
I aslo found it handy to start a quick war with the arabs capturing thier scouts early on, by the time thier warriors reached my capital they were ready to give up and go home, and I'd grabed every goody hut on the island. MWAHAHA!!
I see that the responses have gone a little past IgrOK[SU]'s question. Bremp's result is based on good random events happening - he got a Settler from a Hut, and in a good location to found his 2nd city. Many people will not even get a Settler (I didn't, but I did get a town), let alone near a really good city position (that Gold/Hill site is awesome!). But Bremp has the skills to take advantage of the good fortune he experienced.
Smoking mirror: Republic is definitely advantageous vs Monarchy for very small (low military cost) or very large (large military support) empires. There's a place in the middle where Monarchy provides a temporary gpt advantage, but that's usually overcome fairly quickly. And, with the Philosophy slingshot effect, Republic is just that much more desireable. Not being Religious, you only want to do one revolt if possible. Besides, by declaring peace after taking a couple of towns, you can extort small cities from your opponent, which adds to your unit support and gold income; pro-longed continuous warfare doesn't seem that desirable.
Smoking mirror: Republic is definitely advantageous vs Monarchy for very small (low military cost) or very large (large military support) empires. There's a place in the middle where Monarchy provides a temporary gpt advantage, but that's usually overcome fairly quickly. And, with the Philosophy slingshot effect, Republic is just that much more desireable. Not being Religious, you only want to do one revolt if possible. Besides, by declaring peace after taking a couple of towns, you can extort small cities from your opponent, which adds to your unit support and gold income; pro-longed continuous warfare doesn't seem that desirable.
Predator
Tech choices
Unlike others, I went for Monarchy as my free tech instead of Republic. I wanted to give away polytheism as soon as possible so that my neighbors could build Temple of Artemis for me. They were too slow, however, so I eventually built it myself. I discovered monarchy in 1050 BC.
Early expansion
I found the flood plains to the SSW and Hattusas was founded within reach of three flood plains in 3800 BC. Like IgrOK descibes, I cut down trees to get a farily quick granary. I subsequently built another granary in a town southeast of Hattusas. This town had 3-4 flood plains, plains and 2 hills in its radius. A change of government was important to make the hills productive in this town. The second granary was hurried around 900 BC. Maybe it could have been pop-rushed earlier but I think not.
General tactics
I wanted to acquire a small number of swordsman to take horses from Arabia. This was easy. Because Mecca started to build Temple of Artemis, I was thinking about leaving it alone but as I said, they were too slow. Arabia was a good victim to suck the marrow from. Once their towns were captured they would need no looking after since I was Arabia's only neighbor.
I had pretty much decided not to worry about research and instead go for territory and that was pretty much the whole plan. The main questions were: will cavalry be necessary? Will astronomy or the Lighthouse be necessary, or even navigation? I would have preferred the Lighthouse over astronomy but I may have started to build it too late.
The map
Truly a great map! Even though the neighbors seem surprisingly weak, it will be a challenge to finish this in as good a time as the higher difficulty GOTMs.
Some notes
3700 (c.) --- settler popped. He is moved to distance 4.5 from Hattusas (yeah on the "Gold/Hill site!") The new town is then set to produce warrior/worker, working a bonus grassland. The warrior will be good to keep unhappiness down as Hattusas builds gramary.
3500 --- Built scout.
3350 --- Met Arabs. Traded Alphabet to get Warrior Code + 10g. Built scout. Built worker.
2750 --- Learned The Wheel. Tradeed it to Arabs for Ceremonial burial.
2710 --- Met Babylon. Traded Bronze Working before popping a hut. No luck, only 25g.
2670 --- Met Sumeria. Behind.
2470 --- Bought worker from Sumeria for Alphabet. Discovered masonry. Want mysticism but the Arabs won't trade, so I research nothing (well, writing at 10%).
2070 --- Traded Wheel to Babylon to get Mysticism and worker. Full research on Poly, 29 t. initially.
1400 --- Traded Poly to Arabs for Math + 100g. Traded Iron working+25g from Babs for Poly. Gave Poly to Sumeria for 13 g.
So far 2 or 3 diseases in Hattusas.
1375 --- Traded Horseback riding from Arabs for Iron Working+8g
1225 --- Discovered Writing. Embassy Arabs. Only 1 defender in Mecca...
1050 --- Discovered Philosophy, chose Monarchy as free tech. 4-turn Anarchy.
1000 --- QSC: 11 towns, 9 workers, 1 scout, 5 warriors, 1 archer, 3 swordsmen, 1 spearman. This is an "average" military compared to all 3 rivals, so I'll claim Arabian Horses. Mecca is now building temple of Artemis. Thinking about a wonder build myself.
950 --- Monarchy. Trade away writing for about 130 gold. Starting to research Map Making. Turned off research to be able to hurry a granary, a temple (to claim gems), and the odd warrior upgrade. Harran was built on a hidden iron resourse so there'll be no mass upgrade. Re wonders I think I should start the lighthouse soon!
730 --- Declaring on Arabs to claim horses and deny iron. Unfortunately, no trading possibilities for the other 2. Giving them all the techs that Arabia has to avoid alliances.
530 --- Golden age initiated to help construction of Temple of Artemis in Harran. First galley. Two 4-turn-settler factories during GA for a total ot 10 settlers.
350 --- Temple of Artemis due in 14 t., now running at 22 shields per turn.
330 --- Enter Middle Ages. Somewhere between 24-28 cities. (I checked in CRpMapStat but only had saves from the years 350 and 310.) Building chariots. Just started on Great lighthouse, probably too late and not in a good town. I even had to clear march to get it in decent shape.
About this time I made peace with Arabia, gaining 3 towns and leaving them with 1. This was a good deal because the towns were all size 1, not "capturable."
Tech choices
Unlike others, I went for Monarchy as my free tech instead of Republic. I wanted to give away polytheism as soon as possible so that my neighbors could build Temple of Artemis for me. They were too slow, however, so I eventually built it myself. I discovered monarchy in 1050 BC.
Early expansion
I found the flood plains to the SSW and Hattusas was founded within reach of three flood plains in 3800 BC. Like IgrOK descibes, I cut down trees to get a farily quick granary. I subsequently built another granary in a town southeast of Hattusas. This town had 3-4 flood plains, plains and 2 hills in its radius. A change of government was important to make the hills productive in this town. The second granary was hurried around 900 BC. Maybe it could have been pop-rushed earlier but I think not.
General tactics
I wanted to acquire a small number of swordsman to take horses from Arabia. This was easy. Because Mecca started to build Temple of Artemis, I was thinking about leaving it alone but as I said, they were too slow. Arabia was a good victim to suck the marrow from. Once their towns were captured they would need no looking after since I was Arabia's only neighbor.
I had pretty much decided not to worry about research and instead go for territory and that was pretty much the whole plan. The main questions were: will cavalry be necessary? Will astronomy or the Lighthouse be necessary, or even navigation? I would have preferred the Lighthouse over astronomy but I may have started to build it too late.
The map
Truly a great map! Even though the neighbors seem surprisingly weak, it will be a challenge to finish this in as good a time as the higher difficulty GOTMs.
Some notes
3700 (c.) --- settler popped. He is moved to distance 4.5 from Hattusas (yeah on the "Gold/Hill site!") The new town is then set to produce warrior/worker, working a bonus grassland. The warrior will be good to keep unhappiness down as Hattusas builds gramary.
3500 --- Built scout.
3350 --- Met Arabs. Traded Alphabet to get Warrior Code + 10g. Built scout. Built worker.
2750 --- Learned The Wheel. Tradeed it to Arabs for Ceremonial burial.
2710 --- Met Babylon. Traded Bronze Working before popping a hut. No luck, only 25g.
2670 --- Met Sumeria. Behind.
2470 --- Bought worker from Sumeria for Alphabet. Discovered masonry. Want mysticism but the Arabs won't trade, so I research nothing (well, writing at 10%).
2070 --- Traded Wheel to Babylon to get Mysticism and worker. Full research on Poly, 29 t. initially.
1400 --- Traded Poly to Arabs for Math + 100g. Traded Iron working+25g from Babs for Poly. Gave Poly to Sumeria for 13 g.
So far 2 or 3 diseases in Hattusas.
1375 --- Traded Horseback riding from Arabs for Iron Working+8g
1225 --- Discovered Writing. Embassy Arabs. Only 1 defender in Mecca...
1050 --- Discovered Philosophy, chose Monarchy as free tech. 4-turn Anarchy.
1000 --- QSC: 11 towns, 9 workers, 1 scout, 5 warriors, 1 archer, 3 swordsmen, 1 spearman. This is an "average" military compared to all 3 rivals, so I'll claim Arabian Horses. Mecca is now building temple of Artemis. Thinking about a wonder build myself.
950 --- Monarchy. Trade away writing for about 130 gold. Starting to research Map Making. Turned off research to be able to hurry a granary, a temple (to claim gems), and the odd warrior upgrade. Harran was built on a hidden iron resourse so there'll be no mass upgrade. Re wonders I think I should start the lighthouse soon!
730 --- Declaring on Arabs to claim horses and deny iron. Unfortunately, no trading possibilities for the other 2. Giving them all the techs that Arabia has to avoid alliances.
530 --- Golden age initiated to help construction of Temple of Artemis in Harran. First galley. Two 4-turn-settler factories during GA for a total ot 10 settlers.
350 --- Temple of Artemis due in 14 t., now running at 22 shields per turn.
330 --- Enter Middle Ages. Somewhere between 24-28 cities. (I checked in CRpMapStat but only had saves from the years 350 and 310.) Building chariots. Just started on Great lighthouse, probably too late and not in a good town. I even had to clear march to get it in decent shape.
About this time I made peace with Arabia, gaining 3 towns and leaving them with 1. This was a good deal because the towns were all size 1, not "capturable."
![[c3c]](/images/smilies/c3c.gif "Civ3 Conquests [c3c]")
1.22fOK. Never having played Conquests before, I was quite tempted to play in Open, but after seeing it was Regent, and Predator played somewhat like Monarch, I decided to stay with Predator.
Starting location looked bleak, but I thought where there are Rivers and Desert there's usually Floodplains, so I sent the scout off to the North while Worker and Settler went Eastish, I saw one Floodplain in 3900 BC and founded Hattusus in 3850 BC. Unfortunately only 1 Floodplain within expanded city radius, so this wouldn't be exactly 4 turn Factory Material but it was better than the initial location, and the extra Food was helpful.
Hut Results:
A town (Tarsus), in 3050 BC (way off on the West Coast)
2900 Cer Bur
2190 25 Gold
1790 25 Gold
1750 local maps
1675 HorseBackRiding
Those are the ones I documented; there might have been one or two more with Gold or Maps.
Initial Builds: Scout (3450), Worker (3250), Settler (2550). Floodplain doesn't add production, so slow builds. It took me a long time to see that Forests get cleared in only 4 turns!! (I started playing before SirPleb's report was posted.) I wanted to Settle to East near Hills/Floodplains, but a Barb camp popped up before I could do that, and my Military was non-existent, so the Settler founded at the Dye location to the North. Ugarit was founded in 2430 and became my initial military building machine.
Research and Trades: I started on Wheel at Maximum (40 turns, but I thought that would shorten as additional towns were brought onling). Met Arabs in 3650 and Babylon in 2800; at that time traded Alphabet to Arabs for Myst (already gotten CerBur from Hut) and 10 Gold, and to Babylon for BronzeWorking, WarCode and 10 Gold. Contacted Sumer in 2710; they were behind in Tech so no trades. Finally learned Wheel in 2550 (27 turns, and Horses are not conveniently located!!), and decided to let AI learn Writing so started on Masonry. In 2550 traded Pottery to Babylon for a Worker. In 2070 see that Sumer has learned Masonry; Trade CerBur for Masonry and 10 Gold (12 turns have elapsed). Still letting AI learn Writing, so start on Math. 1750, see that Babylon has Iron-Working; trade Masonry and Mysticism for IronWorking; sell Masonry to Arabs for 50 Gold. 1450, Arabs demand IronWorking; I decide to comply at this time (but I'm going to take your Horses before you get Iron connected I silently declare!) 1375, Learn Math (23 Turns), still no Writing; AI doesn't seem to have a priority for Writing in C3C. Start on Writing; trade Math and HorseBackRiding to Arabs for Polytheism and 42 Gold; Sell Math to Babylon for 25 Gold. 1175, Babylon knows Writing (finally); Trade Poly to Babylon for Writing and 87 Gold; Sell Alphabet to Sumer for 25 Gold
; Start on Code of Laws.That's my research (all at 100%) and contacts/trades through the QSC period. End up with 6 towns, 14 citizens, 6 Workers (+1 traded for from Babylon), 2 Scout, 13 Warriors (4 Vet), 1 Archer, and 1 Curragh that Tarsus built, which has been scouting around the main landmass. I know all 1st and 2nd tier AA Techs, along with Poly, HorseBackRiding, and about halfway through CoL.
Waiting for the AI to research Writing definitely slowed me down, and I had completely forgotton about the Philosophy free Tech (I'd read about that in posts, here and there, but never played C3C). I still got it, as I finished CodeofLaws, Philosophy, and got a free Republic in 690 BC.
Meanwhile, I got Iron connected in 775 BC down by the Gold/Hills site (where I founded a city, and built a Temple to include the Iron). 8 Vet Warriors were upgraded (Yikes, 480 Gold; another thing learned about C3C.) 730 BC, War is Declared vs Arabs. I drive towards the Horses in NE corner (also taking Arab Iron along the way!), destroying 3 Arab cities. 3 Workers with escort follow behind building a road to move reinforcements and Settlers along. In 330 BC I destroy Damascus, gaining the strategic Hill section just SouthWest of Mecca, and sign Peace gaining 2 Workers and 3 small remote cities. The Arabs wont be much of a factor from here on out (but they are building Temple of Artemis
) (By the way, Sumeria builds Pyramids in 470 BC; bullseyes are being handed out.)450 BC, I had learned Literature, and began a Minimum research of Currency at that time to build up treasury. 290 BC, Horses are connected; wait until 230 BC to finish some current builds (2 Settlers and 3 3-Man Chariots.) Declare Revolution in 230 BC, only 3 turns (Wow!), and become Republic in 170 BC. Gpt drops in half (55 gpt to 25 gpt), but I should make that up fairly fast.
30 BC, a suicide curragh makes contact with a remote civ. Before reaching the MidAges, I make contact with 3 of the 4 remote civs.
70 AD, large SOD had assembled near Ellipi, a Babylonian city near the Gems to the South. War is declared, and 3-Man Chariots take the city, razing it and enslaving the inhabitants. My Golden Age is on! A Settler with 5 Swordman escort move into Jungle; forming Kanash here next turn will give my 3-Man Chariots direct access through the Jungle zone, allowing them to speed unimpeded towards Babylon's center. 110 AD I get notice that the Arabs have completed Temple of Artemis (but will they hold it long, hmmm.)
In 110 AD I also destroy Ninevah. 150 AD, sell Republic to foreign civ #3 for Construction, Currency, Map-Making and lots of Gold, and I become Medieval.
Here's a zoomed out picture of my main display in 150 AD. I've noted Tarsus, the city I got from a GH early on. I have it connected by roads at this time. I've got 3 cities with Barracks that are building Vet 3-Man Chariots to keep the offense going. Leading forces are at the outskirts of Babylon proper, and are taking defensive positions while reinforcements arrive. After Babylon, Sumer is next with possibly a small side-war with Arabs to take Temple of Artemis. I plan to completely own my continent by the time the other civs might be able to make contact. BTW, foreign civ#3 doesn't know Poly, so none of the other 3 civs I've contacted are in the MidAges with me.
And here's my F3 screen showing my main forces, with edited mini-map. I have 19 towns at this time.
It's been a definite learning experience. (Although the Tech research bug in this game means I don't have a good feel for how the AI researchs; still more to learn.) It was nice not to have an automatic Settler factory for the starting city; adds additional elements of Strategy (and luck, also) into the early part of the game. I've somewhat formulated my approach to the rest of this game; more about that in the next spoiler.
Gnat
Chieftain
Open
Starting Location
Settler moved NE, and built there - don't like hanging around
Exploration
I built 3 more Scouts (total of 4) and had complete map of continent by around 2270BC. Found quite a few goody huts gaining
Settler
Bronze Working
maps
maps
25g
Warrior
Masonry
Mysticism
maps
Warrior
Plan
Get a tech lead and go for a quick Diplomatic victory
Those goody huts helped.
Drawbacks
Those damned Arabs. They really don't like me.
War from 1350 BC to 1050 BC (1 of their cities destroyed, and one given to me for peace).
Then again 210 BC (as we became a Monarchy) to 250 AD, when they gave 4g/turn for peace (having destroyed one of my cities)
Sumeria are very scary culture-wise. Thankfully they didn't get the Temple of Artemis - the Arabs managed that in 250 AD (when peace was declared - they had been building it throughout our little skirmish).
Sumeria are also rather good in the tech front. But lots of trading with them gives me money. The turn after they built The Great Library, I sold them Code of Laws for 26g/turn, and they were bound to get it from the GL. More fool them!
New Plan
Kill Arabs, then Babylonians, then Sumerians, and have the continent to myself (become Republic), and get major tech lead.
How's it going?
Middle Ages in 300 AD - more in next spoiler (when I actually get there - still in middle of MA).
Starting Location
Settler moved NE, and built there - don't like hanging around
Exploration
I built 3 more Scouts (total of 4) and had complete map of continent by around 2270BC. Found quite a few goody huts gaining
Settler
Bronze Working
maps
maps
25g
Warrior
Masonry
Mysticism
maps
Warrior
Plan
Get a tech lead and go for a quick Diplomatic victory
Those goody huts helped.
Drawbacks
Those damned Arabs. They really don't like me.
War from 1350 BC to 1050 BC (1 of their cities destroyed, and one given to me for peace).
Then again 210 BC (as we became a Monarchy) to 250 AD, when they gave 4g/turn for peace (having destroyed one of my cities)
Sumeria are very scary culture-wise. Thankfully they didn't get the Temple of Artemis - the Arabs managed that in 250 AD (when peace was declared - they had been building it throughout our little skirmish).
Sumeria are also rather good in the tech front. But lots of trading with them gives me money. The turn after they built The Great Library, I sold them Code of Laws for 26g/turn, and they were bound to get it from the GL. More fool them!
New Plan
Kill Arabs, then Babylonians, then Sumerians, and have the continent to myself (become Republic), and get major tech lead.
How's it going?
Middle Ages in 300 AD - more in next spoiler (when I actually get there - still in middle of MA).
Kaboth
Prince
I pursued an aggressive containment strategy against the Arabs who never got beyond 3 cities before I conquered them. I then crushed Sumeria with swordsmen/MI and some catapults/trebs, though they were hard to get into the action untill I could get some worker roads up.
During my war against Sumeria I enlisted Babylon who appeared to do very little never taking any cities but did distract Sumerian units at least. Sumeria was the largest and most powerful at one stage due to loads of thier cheap warrior UU.
Throughout my wars I produced three great leaders built Heroic epic and am now building Pentagon. Military academy will also be built upon researching Military tradition. I palace jumped from the start location to my current one. I now have 33% of the population and almost all the land. Soon I shall destroy Babylon also.
Check out my massive Army:
Look the Pentagon
, Americans must be so poorly advanced seeing the Hittites will succeed in building the Pentagon before 1200AD. 
During my war against Sumeria I enlisted Babylon who appeared to do very little never taking any cities but did distract Sumerian units at least. Sumeria was the largest and most powerful at one stage due to loads of thier cheap warrior UU.
Throughout my wars I produced three great leaders built Heroic epic and am now building Pentagon. Military academy will also be built upon researching Military tradition. I palace jumped from the start location to my current one. I now have 33% of the population and almost all the land. Soon I shall destroy Babylon also.
Check out my massive Army:
Look the Pentagon
, Americans must be so poorly advanced seeing the Hittites will succeed in building the Pentagon before 1200AD. 
Singularity
Infinite Density
I started out by sending my scout SE to see if there was any hidden river/floodplains nearby, after trekking one move I reconsider and send him north because all I could see was deserts and two hills in the distance. No outline of floodplains or anything.
I decided to trek with my settler for a while untill I found some food in the form of game, cattle or wheat. In 3800 my scout climb a hill and spots tobacco and BG further NW of my settler. Not prime lands, but I was running very short of options and my competition had been settled for many rounds.
With such a start there is allways the question of corruption zones and fertile cities around my capitol. Settling at the edge of the desert with the possibility of even more deserts southwest of there would be quite risky, and my new spot would at least give me 1-2 cities between my capitol and the desert in the SW.
In 3650 we met arabs in the NE, they had 10g and ceremonial burial to offer for alphabetics. I had allways a chance to deny it, but wouldn't pass up the chance to get Mysticism instead of Burial from any nearby goodyhuts... And I was also alerted to the slow AI tech level at Regent level, so I would probably only be doing myself a favour in the long run.
We settled our capitol, Hasttusas in 3600 S SE of the tobacco. I couldn't get it next to any rivers, but I had 4 juicy BG and the tobacco telling me that it would have to do. And it would give me a nice bonus from the hills in a distant future when we would be able to mine them. I started by producing a scout for then to switch to granary to try to gain my lost momentum after my long trek. I started to reserch writing at max research with the aim of getting Philosophy first, and then either going for monarchy or republic all after how my techtree looked when I got there(I believe you can get polytheims from goody huts?).
I discovered the Babylonians in 2550. They gave me Bronze, W.Code and 10G for Alph and Pottery. Then shortly after I meat the Sumerians in 2430 who only could give us 10G for Alphabet. No trade done here.
I claimed 11 goodyhuts in this game, and here is the list when I popped them of what they yielded:
1 - 3500BC: An advanced Sarbadar joined us to form the town of Tarsus. 8 tiles away to the NW of our capitol.(This would be a welcome source of workers to faster improve the terrain around Hattusas).
2 - 3300BC: Maps of the area.
3 - 2850BC: Maps of the area.*sigh*
4 - 2630BC: A friendly Maryuan tribe gave us even more maps of their area.
5 - 2590BC: A friendly Bactrian Settler joined us!!![[party]](/images/smilies/partytime.gif "Party [party]")
I had a very hard time deciding where to send him. He could go N towards our capitols area, or east to fertile lands with Incence and many floodplains. Or he could go to the closest area of opportunity that was by a jungle with gems in it, 5 tiles away from our new settler. I decided on the latter, All though I new I could probably gain three lux resources in total, I needed to be sure as soon as possible that I would actually get them and not have to go to war to get them.
6 - 2490BC: Warrior.(Still no techs).
7 - 2390BC: Warrior.
8 - 2230BC: Masonry.
9 - 2190BC: Mysticism.
10 - 2150BC: Even more useless maps of the Mauryans areas.
11 - 1725BC: Wheels.
What I noticed was that many of the huts where untouched close to the Sumerian and Babylonian borders. They obviously feared barbarians or something....
I finished my granary in 2630
(never been that late before). Before I had time to get my first settler out, I settled Ugarth next to the gems in the south with the free settler I got from the goody hut. My first settler where finished in 2030, just as my capitol grew to size 5(I would keep this ratio and climb to 4-6-4 after I got republic and irrigated my grass). And he settled Haram on the silks 4 tiles SW of my capitol 5 turns later. I made a barracks in Hattusas, and between my settlers I would pump out veteraned warriors to quell any barbarians or hostile neighbors that might cloud my future.
By 1000BC I had 7 cities, a settler, 12 workers and 15 warriors. Both my scouts where disbanded after I scouted as much of our great continent as possible. I where 3 turns away from philosophy and republic. My settler where on his way to the floodplains/incence in the SW, wher I had hooked up the incence, and where in the process of hooking up the iron. All my core cities would build a granary first to get the fast growth. I managed to deny the arabs the iron, but they also denied me my horses. So I couldn't go for my UU. Just as well, since I really loathe an early GA compared to a more mature empires bonuses from it. Not a brilliant start, but with quite much energy stored for a good expansion rate later.
After getting Republic I had to endure 3 rounds of anarchy, my second go at gov change when I finished the round with the bigger picture and F1 screen gave me a better time than the initial 4 rounds. I decided to upgrade my forces as soon as possible. My small towns gave me some financial worries in republic, as my crew where heavily taxated from the national treasury instead of the bigger cities.
In 875 my worker hooked up the gems in the south. I honestly don't think waiting that long to do it was very clever, as I would've benefitted more from it from the moment I went into anarchy. But it coincided nicely with my entry to the republic goverment. I got polytheism from Babylon in 800BC, besides that I had to do all the research on my own. As I would've expected on Regent difficulty.
In 590 I hurried a suicide galley in Tarsonis. It would serve a purpose by uncovering the hidden lands in the northwest behind the arabian frontier. But is sank after it's three first moves away from the coastline in 370BC. That would be the only suicide galley I got around to build in the AA. Sumeria tried to muscle mapmaking to themself without paying for it. I saw through their empty threats though. Simply because my sizeable swordsman military could whoop his little band of unique warriors anytime.
I got a nice message saying that the sumerian capitol of Ur built the Pyramids in 310BC, that will be a nice loot once in the future. The arabs built the slightly useless oracle in 230BC in their capitol of Mecca.
By 150BC I got tired of oogling the horses right across the Arabian borders, and they also had spices that could proove to be a nice addition of luxury on Hittian tables So I did the inevitable and declared war. But not before I traded away republic so that he would have his fair rounds of unhealthy anarchy while my troops penetrated his lands. By 110AD he only had two cities left, and the second last one would fall in that round. I also ended my research of horseback riding in 90AD. So my ancient age had come to an end. As has this post in this spoiler thread.
I will edit my post a bit later with pictures and notes on my progress. But for now I'm dead tired and should've been in bed a long time ago. I will leave with this picture of my world in 70AD just as my smiling military advisor tells me that we've captured bagdad.
Edit:
I think my decision to move my settler that far northeastwards was a success compared to the games I've read of the ones that settler on or next to start position. The large desert in the SE would cripple half your low corruption cities, and at the same time you open up more expansion possibilities for the arabs in the north. Potentially risking giving them iron as well. It's a bit harder to compare the advantage of settling SE by the floodplains, more settlers for sure. But a worse zone of corruption in the far NW.
I might've gone a bit 'overboard' with building granaries in every city. But the slow worker actions and the huge area to expand to would warrant a healthy bin of food among my cities produce bothe workers and settlers.
It seems that I've been able to snag all the iron from the sumerians. I'm not dead sure here, but I think only the small empire of the babylonians will be able to upgrade to 2. tier units in the beginning of the middleage(unless Sumer attacks Babylon for the iron they've got).
Research was sooooo slow. I think that I would've been better off with 50 turn minimum science writing research. Haven't counted the rounds I took to get it though. Republic before 10AD is all nice and well, but often the sheer number of troops and lack of improved tiles and small towns give you quite a financial 'headache' in the start. I decided to limp forward with high taxes while I half waited for the AI to research maths before me. They didn't, and only Babylon managed to give me poly late in the AA.
My military was slightly weak, not in veterancy. But my early republic didn't exactly encourage me to fill every barracks in my empire with warriors. And the missing horses also dissuaded me from an early military buildup.
The C3C worker tasks is still a bit new to me. I tried to use the forestry actions to get early granaries, but I also found myself counting franticly to time the deforestation round with settlements. I remember one time where I had to stop 4 workers from chopping off 4 different tiles a round before I would've settled my town I had a healthy number of workers in my early years. Often twice the number of my towns. In the end however I found that I still could use more workers to optimize my growtrate and roadbuilding. At least twice, maybe three times the towncount would've been better. But then we have that annoying(for now) republic upkeep of units with mostly < size6 towns.
The middle ages look promising with my status at the end of the AA, and my main aim will be to quickly dispatch with the sumerians, and box in babylon untill I can deal with them. Then I need the big religious wonders of the MA to secure my empires mood in my industrial era
All in all a nice game for me though.
I decided to trek with my settler for a while untill I found some food in the form of game, cattle or wheat. In 3800 my scout climb a hill and spots tobacco and BG further NW of my settler. Not prime lands, but I was running very short of options and my competition had been settled for many rounds.
With such a start there is allways the question of corruption zones and fertile cities around my capitol. Settling at the edge of the desert with the possibility of even more deserts southwest of there would be quite risky, and my new spot would at least give me 1-2 cities between my capitol and the desert in the SW.
In 3650 we met arabs in the NE, they had 10g and ceremonial burial to offer for alphabetics. I had allways a chance to deny it, but wouldn't pass up the chance to get Mysticism instead of Burial from any nearby goodyhuts... And I was also alerted to the slow AI tech level at Regent level, so I would probably only be doing myself a favour in the long run.
We settled our capitol, Hasttusas in 3600 S SE of the tobacco. I couldn't get it next to any rivers, but I had 4 juicy BG and the tobacco telling me that it would have to do. And it would give me a nice bonus from the hills in a distant future when we would be able to mine them. I started by producing a scout for then to switch to granary to try to gain my lost momentum after my long trek. I started to reserch writing at max research with the aim of getting Philosophy first, and then either going for monarchy or republic all after how my techtree looked when I got there(I believe you can get polytheims from goody huts?).
I discovered the Babylonians in 2550. They gave me Bronze, W.Code and 10G for Alph and Pottery. Then shortly after I meat the Sumerians in 2430 who only could give us 10G for Alphabet. No trade done here.
I claimed 11 goodyhuts in this game, and here is the list when I popped them of what they yielded:
1 - 3500BC: An advanced Sarbadar joined us to form the town of Tarsus. 8 tiles away to the NW of our capitol.(This would be a welcome source of workers to faster improve the terrain around Hattusas).
2 - 3300BC: Maps of the area.
3 - 2850BC: Maps of the area.*sigh*
4 - 2630BC: A friendly Maryuan tribe gave us even more maps of their area.
5 - 2590BC: A friendly Bactrian Settler joined us!!
I had a very hard time deciding where to send him. He could go N towards our capitols area, or east to fertile lands with Incence and many floodplains. Or he could go to the closest area of opportunity that was by a jungle with gems in it, 5 tiles away from our new settler. I decided on the latter, All though I new I could probably gain three lux resources in total, I needed to be sure as soon as possible that I would actually get them and not have to go to war to get them.6 - 2490BC: Warrior.(Still no techs).
7 - 2390BC: Warrior.
8 - 2230BC: Masonry.
9 - 2190BC: Mysticism.
10 - 2150BC: Even more useless maps of the Mauryans areas.
11 - 1725BC: Wheels.
What I noticed was that many of the huts where untouched close to the Sumerian and Babylonian borders. They obviously feared barbarians or something....
I finished my granary in 2630
(never been that late before). Before I had time to get my first settler out, I settled Ugarth next to the gems in the south with the free settler I got from the goody hut. My first settler where finished in 2030, just as my capitol grew to size 5(I would keep this ratio and climb to 4-6-4 after I got republic and irrigated my grass). And he settled Haram on the silks 4 tiles SW of my capitol 5 turns later. I made a barracks in Hattusas, and between my settlers I would pump out veteraned warriors to quell any barbarians or hostile neighbors that might cloud my future. By 1000BC I had 7 cities, a settler, 12 workers and 15 warriors. Both my scouts where disbanded after I scouted as much of our great continent as possible. I where 3 turns away from philosophy and republic. My settler where on his way to the floodplains/incence in the SW, wher I had hooked up the incence, and where in the process of hooking up the iron. All my core cities would build a granary first to get the fast growth. I managed to deny the arabs the iron, but they also denied me my horses. So I couldn't go for my UU. Just as well, since I really loathe an early GA compared to a more mature empires bonuses from it. Not a brilliant start, but with quite much energy stored for a good expansion rate later.
After getting Republic I had to endure 3 rounds of anarchy, my second go at gov change when I finished the round with the bigger picture and F1 screen gave me a better time than the initial 4 rounds. I decided to upgrade my forces as soon as possible. My small towns gave me some financial worries in republic, as my crew where heavily taxated from the national treasury instead of the bigger cities.
In 875 my worker hooked up the gems in the south. I honestly don't think waiting that long to do it was very clever, as I would've benefitted more from it from the moment I went into anarchy. But it coincided nicely with my entry to the republic goverment. I got polytheism from Babylon in 800BC, besides that I had to do all the research on my own. As I would've expected on Regent difficulty.
In 590 I hurried a suicide galley in Tarsonis. It would serve a purpose by uncovering the hidden lands in the northwest behind the arabian frontier. But is sank after it's three first moves away from the coastline in 370BC. That would be the only suicide galley I got around to build in the AA. Sumeria tried to muscle mapmaking to themself without paying for it. I saw through their empty threats though. Simply because my sizeable swordsman military could whoop his little band of unique warriors anytime.
I got a nice message saying that the sumerian capitol of Ur built the Pyramids in 310BC, that will be a nice loot once in the future. The arabs built the slightly useless oracle in 230BC in their capitol of Mecca.
By 150BC I got tired of oogling the horses right across the Arabian borders, and they also had spices that could proove to be a nice addition of luxury on Hittian tables
So I did the inevitable and declared war. But not before I traded away republic so that he would have his fair rounds of unhealthy anarchy while my troops penetrated his lands. By 110AD he only had two cities left, and the second last one would fall in that round. I also ended my research of horseback riding in 90AD. So my ancient age had come to an end. As has this post in this spoiler thread.I will edit my post a bit later with pictures and notes on my progress. But for now I'm dead tired and should've been in bed a long time ago. I will leave with this picture of my world in 70AD just as my smiling military advisor tells me that we've captured bagdad.
Edit:
I think my decision to move my settler that far northeastwards was a success compared to the games I've read of the ones that settler on or next to start position. The large desert in the SE would cripple half your low corruption cities, and at the same time you open up more expansion possibilities for the arabs in the north. Potentially risking giving them iron as well. It's a bit harder to compare the advantage of settling SE by the floodplains, more settlers for sure. But a worse zone of corruption in the far NW.
I might've gone a bit 'overboard' with building granaries in every city. But the slow worker actions and the huge area to expand to would warrant a healthy bin of food among my cities produce bothe workers and settlers.
It seems that I've been able to snag all the iron from the sumerians. I'm not dead sure here, but I think only the small empire of the babylonians will be able to upgrade to 2. tier units in the beginning of the middleage(unless Sumer attacks Babylon for the iron they've got).
Research was sooooo slow. I think that I would've been better off with 50 turn minimum science writing research. Haven't counted the rounds I took to get it though. Republic before 10AD is all nice and well, but often the sheer number of troops and lack of improved tiles and small towns give you quite a financial 'headache' in the start. I decided to limp forward with high taxes while I half waited for the AI to research maths before me. They didn't, and only Babylon managed to give me poly late in the AA.
My military was slightly weak, not in veterancy. But my early republic didn't exactly encourage me to fill every barracks in my empire with warriors. And the missing horses also dissuaded me from an early military buildup.
The C3C worker tasks is still a bit new to me. I tried to use the forestry actions to get early granaries, but I also found myself counting franticly to time the deforestation round with settlements. I remember one time where I had to stop 4 workers from chopping off 4 different tiles a round before I would've settled my town
I had a healthy number of workers in my early years. Often twice the number of my towns. In the end however I found that I still could use more workers to optimize my growtrate and roadbuilding. At least twice, maybe three times the towncount would've been better. But then we have that annoying(for now) republic upkeep of units with mostly < size6 towns.The middle ages look promising with my status at the end of the AA, and my main aim will be to quickly dispatch with the sumerians, and box in babylon untill I can deal with them. Then I need the big religious wonders of the MA to secure my empires mood in my industrial era
All in all a nice game for me though.
Bob_the_Silent
Chieftain
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2004
- Messages
- 74
well a little summary too of my game:
Open class
I founded Hatturas one tile east at 3950BC
at 1000BC I got:
8 towns
6 workers
2 warriors
10 swordsmen
1 curragh
researching on republic (unfortunately I forgot to research CoL first and then Philosophy to get free republic )
I entered MA at 90BC and conquered the Arabs, at this time I got about 24 towns
btw, how du know your number of population? do you sum it from every town or can you see it anywhere?
Open class
I founded Hatturas one tile east at 3950BC
at 1000BC I got:
8 towns
6 workers
2 warriors
10 swordsmen
1 curragh
researching on republic (unfortunately I forgot to research CoL first and then Philosophy to get free republic
)I entered MA at 90BC and conquered the Arabs, at this time I got about 24 towns
btw, how du know your number of population? do you sum it from every town or can you see it anywhere?
Singularity
Infinite Density
Bob_the_Silent said:
From the victory screen(the small V on the bottom right side of your screen).
Bob_the_Silent
Chieftain
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2004
- Messages
- 74
thanks now I've found it, so I have 22 pop
The victory screen just shows the % of the world population you have. To get an actual count, you need to sum them up. The domestic advisor may be helpful for that or there may be utilities available.
denyd
Emperor
I think the F11 screen show population and divide by 1000 to get your actual headcount.
SniperDevil
Skipper of Barnegat Bay
Thanks to these forums i found the useful F10-F11 screens which i never knew about before. They can really give you an edge.
handy900
Deity
Interesting game.
Never played the Hittites before.
Cant remember the last time I played an expansion civ.
Interesting that so many people moved the settler so far. I moved him 2 squares from his start position. This made for a food poor slow beginning.
I popped a bunch of techs from huts (I didnt keep count maybe 8 techs?) since I didnt build any military until an Arab warrior got a little too close to the capital.
Popped 1 settler from a goody hut who had to stroll about 15 tiles to get to a decent settle position.
Also popped huts that turned into cities, which were about as far away from my capital as the map would allow. At least they were on the coast, so I just build dinky boats in these cities until they were taken in war action. These were later upgraded to suicide galleys.
Didnt build any UUs for the longest time. The lack of mobility of the UU makes it a stinker. It ought to at least be a 3.2.2 since it is so immobile. Next to worthless on this level since the AI are so slow to build roads. I just built warriors for a big sword upgrade. The only UU battle I remember was to start the GA, and all UUs built were simply with a knight upgrade in mind down the line.
Never played the Hittites before.
Cant remember the last time I played an expansion civ.
Interesting that so many people moved the settler so far. I moved him 2 squares from his start position. This made for a food poor slow beginning.
I popped a bunch of techs from huts (I didnt keep count maybe 8 techs?) since I didnt build any military until an Arab warrior got a little too close to the capital.
Popped 1 settler from a goody hut who had to stroll about 15 tiles to get to a decent settle position.
Also popped huts that turned into cities, which were about as far away from my capital as the map would allow. At least they were on the coast, so I just build dinky boats in these cities until they were taken in war action. These were later upgraded to suicide galleys.
Didnt build any UUs for the longest time. The lack of mobility of the UU makes it a stinker. It ought to at least be a 3.2.2 since it is so immobile. Next to worthless on this level since the AI are so slow to build roads. I just built warriors for a big sword upgrade. The only UU battle I remember was to start the GA, and all UUs built were simply with a knight upgrade in mind down the line.
scoutsout
Minstrel Boy
I forgot to post these "mildly amusing" moments in my game. You know how Ision is so fond of saying that popping a settler out of a goody hut is such a great thing with expansionist civs?
Well, I managed to pop two!!!! [dance]
Umm... let's see, this might not be the greatest spot to plop an undefended settler....I think I'll move him... several times...
...now this looks like a decent spot, if only I had a harbor, steam power, and electricity...
Well, I managed to pop two!!!! [dance]
Umm... let's see, this might not be the greatest spot to plop an undefended settler....I think I'll move him... several times...
...now this looks like a decent spot, if only I had a harbor, steam power, and electricity...
Bob_the_Silent
Chieftain
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2004
- Messages
- 74
denyd said:
I think that can't be true, the F11 screen sums every town's population up, imho. And it's not proportional, for example a town with pop 4 got 100'000 population and a town with 3 counts 60'000 population, so u can't it just devide by 1000: (100'000+60'000) / 1000 = 160 and not 7. (4+3)
sorry about my bad English, for me it's hard to explain mathematical things in english
eldar
ChiefTank
scoutsout said:
I got one settler, one new town from Goody Huts. So almost up with you....
Other than that a very uneventful Ancient Ages for me - Medieval in AD350 or so, with all three rivals still intact, but only Sumeria approaching my size.
As this was my first GOTM in any format (yea, for I too was lured by the support of Conquests), I didn't really note down what I had in 1000BC.
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