COTM 09 First Spoiler: Ancient Age

[CKS]

Open, attempting 20K

I settle in place and start on writing, pretty quickly. I build warrior, curragh, curragh, settler, then a mix of settlers and curraghs for quite a while.

After writing I learn CB, so that Bergen can build a temple, then philosophy. I don't think I can learn CoL first, so I pass on the free republic and take lit for free. Then I learn CoL and Republic. I revolt via the big picture, but it doesn't help - seven turn anarchy and it stays that way.

I send out lots of suicide curraghs, and they die, over and over, mostly within sight of land. This is discouraging. Three died one tile before safe waters before I made contact with anyone, and two more died later the same way. These hurt a lot more than the ones that died in the middle of nowhere. I finally made contact in 850 BC.

Bergen is my 20 K city. It builds temple, library, great library, aquaduct, colosseum, statue of zeus. I'd thought I'd need the GL to catch up in tech, but trading worked fine. I finished the GL a turn after entering the middle ages, so I didn't get many techs from it. I built it for the culture, though, so that's not a big deal.

My plan is to head for navigation and start a war. If it goes well, I'll try and collect some more land and people. If it goes poorly, I'll probably wait things out and hope for 20K before anyone else wins. Not a great winning strategy, but easy to try. If this happens, I'll at least have gotten rid of a bunch of extra units.

 

[Drugged_Unholy]

Has to be said this is a great game, I've done some really unexpected and radical things in the IA.

 

[Jason Fliegel]

Open class

4000 -- I send the worker west. He doesn't make me see anything that makes me want to move, so I settle in place. I start research writing on minimum and begin building a curragh.

3950 -- I begin mining.

3650 -- The curragh is finished. I start building another. I send my curragh northeast along the coast. I begin building a road.

3500 -- My borders expand and I send the worker to hook up my ivory. Meanwhile, my curragh has spotted some gems near a volcano.

3400 -- My second curragh heads out as I begin building a warrior.

3300 -- I now have ivory in Trondheim. I move my worker to the northwestern BG. Meanwhile, my southern curragh crosses the coast from my island to the next one as my northern curragh makes its way to the coast due west of Trondheim.

3250 -- I finish my warrior and begin a second warrior. I send my warrior to scout up by the gems as my worker begins a mine. Meanwhile, my curraghs discover that the small island to our south doesn't lead anywhere. I'm going to have to use a suicide curragh if I want to see what's out there. I see a couple of promising places to make the attempt, and I'll start moving my curraghs that way.

3100 -- Trondheim finsihes its warrior and starts building a settler.

2950 -- One of my suicide curraghs exhausts all the potential sea squares and I don't want to risk him in the ocean yet. Meanwhile, my warrior has scouted out the whole island. I pick a spot near some gems and send my warrior that way. Careful inspection reveals that a couple of the squares are forrest, not jungle, so I have to be sure not to settle on those! My second city will be on the jungle square southeat of the gems. That way, I'll be on a coast and have access to the two forrest squares before expansion. The trick is going to be getting workers out to clear the jungle while still settling the island.

2750 -- I lose a curragh in treacherous waters! Tragedy. The settler who will become Bergen is born. I switch to wealth for one turn.

2710 -- I switch Trondheim to building a worker.

2630 -- I lose my second curragh in treacherous waters. Darn it!

2590 -- I found Bergen and start building a curragh.

2550 -- I finsih my worker and start building a curragh in Trondheim.

2350 -- Trondheim finishes one curragh and starts another.

2270 -- Bergen finishes its curragh and starts another, even as my suicide curragh commits suicide.

2150 -- Trondheim finishes a curragh and starts another one.

2030 -- Trondheim finishes yet another curragh. This time, I start a barracks.

1950 -- I finish a curragh in Bergen and start building a worker. Some jerk historian says I am the least advanced nation in the world. Jerk. I bet I have more money than everyone else, though. Yet another curragh sinks.

1910 -- Yet another curragh sinks. I *still* haven't found anything useful with these suicide missions!

1870 -- Our barracks in Trondheim is complete; we start working on a warrior.

1790 -- Arrgh! My first mistake (at least the first one I'm aware of -- I'm sure the more advanced players reading this log have spotted 40 or 50 by this point!) -- I built a worker in Trondheim instead of a warrior. Meanwhile, a barbarian approaches Bergen.

1750 -- We discover writing as one of my suicide curraghs *finally* meets another civ. The other civ has Bronze Working, Masonry, Pottery, The Wheel, and Ceremonial Burial, but not writing. I buy Pottery and Ceremonial Burial for Writing and 103 gold. Bergen switches over to a temple to start giving me some cultural expansion. Trondheim has one turn to go on its warrior, and will then start a granary. I start researching Code of Laws on maximum. 38 turns to go, but that will decrease as my population grows (I hope!)

1725 -- IBT, Bergen fends off a single barbarian with no problem.

1675 -- My sole remaining galley meets a second civ. He has Bronze Working, but I have no techs he needs. He wants most of my gold for Bronze Working, so I hold off for now.

1575 -- My veteran warrior loses to a conscript barbarian. That jerk!

1450 -- I finish the granary in Trondheim and start a warrior. Time to get rid of those barbarians (I hope). I meet another civ and again, I have no techs he wants. The good news is, nobody has Philosophy (or any other post-writing techs), so I may still win the slingshot.

1225 -- I meet a fourth civ and buy Bronze Working and the Wheel in exchange for 28 gold and writing.

1200 -- I found Copenhagen and start building a spearman.

1125 -- IBT, I lose both of my warriors to barbarians, but the good news is my curragh fends off a barb galley, so he can continue to explore and meet new civs!

1000 -- My brave little curragh falls to a barbarian galley. It's particularly frustrating because I was in sight of a new civ, but not close enough to meet them. Darn it! I do some trading, and at the end of the turn, I have:
3 cities
2 spearmen
2 warriors
4 workers
1 Temple
All the first tier techs
2 second-tier techs (Writing and Iron Working)
2 third tier techs (Map Making and Code of Laws).
As soon as I finish my settler in Trondheim, the plan is to build the Great Lighthouse. Nobody else is building it (as far as I know), so I have a shot.

875 -- Another civ builds the Oracle. Thankfully, the ensuing mini-cascade does not make anyone start building the Lighthouse.

775 -- I win the race for Philosophy and chose Republic as my free tech. I won't revolt until I finish the Lighthouse (or, God forbid, lose the race to the Lighthouse).

190 -- I finish the Great Lighthouse and head into anarchy. Destination: Republic.

150 -- Another civ is building Sun Tzu's, which means I'm definitely behind in techs. For the record, I am 3 techs (Polytheism, Currency, and Construction) away from the Middle Ages. I have Literature, so maybe I'll trade that around. I decide to trade the Republic and 80 gold to one civ for Polytheism and Construction. Then I swap Construction to a second civ in exchange for Currency and 3 gold. Voila! Middle Ages. Next step: start building galleys, research my way to invention, and establish a beach head on the mainland.

So, it's 150 BC. I have 2 more turns of anarchy. I have 5 cities. I have an army of four spearmen and 4 warriors (and 5 workers). And I have one wonder (The Great Lighthouse). I suppose I could be doing worse.

 

[Nichelle]

COTM 9 OPEN BARBS FIXED

I never seem to have time to do write ups for the treads, but this time I do……so here we go. Even though I have been playing the COTM for a while, I still consider myself a relative newbie and would love any input on anything. I have noticed that I do OK in the QSC, but I seem to fall apart in the Middle Ages. That comment is for all the games I play. The QSC page has been most enlightening. I wish we all had time and there was a way to have a comparison like that for each age…..but….
What I think is my problem is I am not much of a warmonger and that slows me down in the Middle Ages. I played this particular game more for fun and made many, many, many mistakes. I didn’t truly plan my build times….I guess I just wanted to see where my skill level is just based on instinct. But enough of that…. On to my first ever attempt at a spaceship victory condition?!?!?!?!?!? What follows are important turns from my turn log.

4000 BC, turn 1 found Trondheim in place and set to war, worker w to bg, set tech to writing @20%-thinking of going for rep slingshot

3750 BC, turn 6 built war, set city to cur-trying to get units built for exploration

3500 BC, turn 11 set city to barracks (if we are on a small island and someone else is here too-want and need good defense)

2350 BC, turn 36 meet Babylon and traded alph for pot + 10g, switched city to granary, it took me 5 curraghs to fine them

2310 BC, turn 37 founded Bergen, met zulu

2150 BC, turn 41 met America

1790 BC, turn 50 met Celts

1750 BC, turn 51 got writing, traded Celts writing for wheel+ cb+ 15g, trade America writing for mason+ 58g+ myst+ bw, traded bab writing+ wheel for iw+ 36g, bought horse from Celts for 300g+1gper, set tech to col@70%

1550 BC, turn 59 sold Babylon horseback for 51g

1500 BC, turn 61 meet china

1450 BC, turn 63 meet hitties

1425 BC, turn 64 Celts establish embassy

1375 BC, turn 66 sold writing to Hitties for 38g, sold China alph for 35g

1300 BC, turn 69 meet Netherland

1275 BC, turn 70 founded Copenhagen

1250 BC, turn 71 sold china writing for 25g

1100 BC, turn 77 got col, traded Babylon col for mm+ 46g, sold col to Celts for 214g, traded America mm+ col+ horse+ 27g for poly, bought phil from America for 167g, set tech to math@100%

1050 BC, turn 79 founded Reykjavik

1025 BC, turn 80 traded China mm for 42g+ math, sold phil to Netherland for 17g, sold col to Zulu for 52g, set tech to currency @100%

1000BC STATS
4 CITIES POP-9 ( 2-HAPPY, 6-CONT, 1-UNHAPPY)
330G -5GPER LUX@0% TECH@100%
DESPOTISM
IVORY HOOKED UP
1 SETTLER 3 WORKERS 5 WAR 5 ARCH 1 CUR
BUILDING WAR, COURT, GALLEY, HABOR
CONTACT WITH ALL CIVS
CULTURE 140
MISSING CONSTRUCTION, LIT, REP, MON, CURRENCY DUE IN 24 TURNS
2 RAX, 2 GRANARY, HARBOR BUILT
SCORE 137-IN LAST PLACE



875 BC, turn 86 founded Oslo

825 BC, turn 88 sold zulu poly for 15g, sold poly to china for 25g, bought lit from bab for 166g

730 BC, turn 92 founded Stockholm

590 BC, turn 99 hitties demand lit-refuse-they declare, sold zulu lit for 21g, sold amer lit for 47g, sold dutch lit for 31g

550 BC, turn 101 dutch demand poly-refuse-they declare, set toconstruction @ 100%

530 BC, turn 102 got horses hooked up

470 BC, turn 105 celts demand currency-refuse-they declare

430 BC, turn 107 celts+ zulu have declared on us

410 BC, turn 108 founded Birka, got peace with hitties for them giving construction+ 21g for currency, sold curr to bab for 103, sold china curr for 45g, traded America monarchy for construction, gifted bab constuction, set tech to feud, ENTERED NEXT AGE

Not my best start but looking to build up infrastructure and researching as fast as I can to
try to get the space ship done.

 

[OneFastWarrior]

Playing open. I did not write much, however I did turn in a QSC. I enetered the MA in 230BC with a pretty good tech lead on all other civs. I was incredibly lucky, as I settled on spot, built 2 Curraghs and sent them each way around the land, which I found out that it was an island. When I found that out I sent 1 Curragh west from the furthest point west on the island and lo and behold it made it all the way to land and eventually made it all the way around that land and discovered all civs. I built embassys and declared war and signed and broke alliances just to get them all going to war with each other. Eventually the Curragh was hunted down and sank by barbs.
I entered the MA in 230 BC with a 2 to 4 tech lead on all other civs, and I want to try to send some Berserks over there before Navigation(At least try) so I want to keep ahead in tech. I don't have much in military, but I only had 2 cities left to place on my island. so I am building archers and Galleys and trying to build some librarys also.
I did build the Great Lighthouse which I did not finish until 2 turns into the MA, but maybe that will help get troops over without sinking.

Thats about it. I don't remeber my QSC stats but I did have 7 towns. and very low population. I also screwed up the philosophy slingshot as I have never played a regular conquest game and did not realize I had to get COL and Philosophy to get my free republic, so I got COL as a free tech. and then researched Republic and eventually switched government. So, Lesson learned.

 

[Balton]

Open Class, going for 20K...

I got lucky and my 1st curragh survived for 4 turns reaching the "new interesting World". By just looking at the previous posts, those going for 20K have somewhat similar stats. But consider myself lucky reaching the other side so early...

My initial research was max CB, then BW. Then when found the new world, lots of trading which kept the AI focused on certain paths. I was going for the Republic slingshot and searching CoL when a civ researched Poly which enabled the Monarchy instead. So a quick swithed to Philo enabled an early Monarchy.

But my QCS results are rather dire. From what I remember only 3-4 towns with Trondheim at 6-pop. But the following AA wonders/culture buildings are in place(order of built): Temple, Colossus, MoM, Great Lighthouse (missed HG due to Cascade), GL, Library and SoZ (to trigger GA).

I am now into MA and just completed Knights Templar.

I wonder how we fare up, between us 20K club??

 

[Paul#42]

open. Barbs fixed.

4000 bc settle in place, writing at 100%,
warrior-curragh-curragh-settler, worker W, road, mine, n, road-mine
first curragh south, second north

2900 bc settler build. curragh sinks.

2750 bc second curragh sinks after third turn. MORE Curraghs!!
bergen founded to east near fish

2510 bc third curragh sunk.

2430 bc four and five on their way...

2350 bc number four rip. five alive. KEEP ON!!

2310 bc number five's alive! sees red borders. just one more tile...
writing is known, finally. - go for CoL in 30.

2270 bc five survived! Meet the babs - they have pot, cb, bw, no alphabet.
Decide to wait for more contacts before trading alpha.

2230 bc meet zulus - bw, mas, pot, tw, cb.
zulus - trade alpha for pot, cb, 58g.
babs - trade alpha for bw, 3 g
writing stays my secret
both towns build granaries

2150 bc meet the americans. Seems all others are on the same continent. How atypical.
americans have mys, wheel, mas. zulus also iw.

2110 bc saw something strange: water devides the land - they call it river...

2070 bc sixth curragh sunk.

1950 bc granary built. now settlers

1790 bc met the celts. They lack alpha. they give masonry + 9g

1700 bc Copenhagen founded. Trondheim tries Colossus.
Wonder, what Copenhagen looks like, if the volcano erupts...

1625 bc my vet warrior loses to a barb...

1575 bc settler build

1500 bc Reykjavic founded.

1475 bc researched CoL. Same turn as Babs researched writing and I wanted to sell it...
zulus give iw, 14g, amis wheel, 25g. Celts just 10 of their 145g.

1450 bc amis give myst, 25g for iw.

1425 bc barbs sunk my brave curragh

1200 bc republic sling shot. head for mm.

1150 bc Anarchy - four lost turns.

1050 bc Republic Scandinavia!

1025 bc saved without looking at the year - guess I should have played that one turn, too...

1000 bc zulus give hr, 3g for Philo
babs give mm, 25g for philo, hr
SAVE for QSC
Achieved: 4 towns (6,3,3,2), 3 workers, 2 archers. Colossus, 2 Granaries.
Republik, tech lead (of the known civs)
met Babylon, Zulus, America, Celts.
Forgot to save again... :shakehead

900 bc Zulus demand CoL. No way. They declare. So it be.
Trade CoL to America for Poly, 10g.
Ally with Celts against the Zulu for CoL. Wanna seed some trouble...
gifted 50g to Babylon, then traded CoL for rop, 80g. They love me

850 bc researched maths. Now Lit.
rop with Celts. They love me, too.
established emassy in Washington. They finished building a settler and need 4 turns to size 3...

730 bc Oslo founded on horses. Want to do some fishing.

710 bc rop with America

670 bc researched literatur. Now construction. We need Aquaeducts.

490 bc researched construction. Now currency.

430 bc founded stockholm next to gems.
Trondheim built aqueduct, with perfectly timed forrestry.

370 bc Celts traded monarchy, 32g for construction
Zulus offer 20g for peace. Than take 2g for rop. Immediatly friendly
gifted Babylon 60g. Then traded construction for currency (1 turn left), 78g, rop.
Babs love me, too
diplomacy rulz.
giftet Americans 50g, but they gave me just 98g for construction

Anything goes: Trondheim could go for 20k, Berserks for domination.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Open

This map is great! Thanks Renata.

We start off by founding Trondheim on the spot and researching pottery on maximum. Although I am temped to go straight for the Republic slingshot, I am convinced I can get Pottery first. In 3400BC we research Pottery and start making our way towards Republic. We found Bergen on the east coast (2390BC) and Copenhagen on the west coast (2030BC) before researching Writing in 1950BC. Reykjavik is found in the fertile land to the north (1700BC) and Oslo is found on the north east coast (1400BC). After many suicidal curragh runs, we realise the only way to escape off of this island sooner rather than later would be to build the Lighthouse, so we start a prebuild. In 1350BC one of our curraghs survives a very rough trip and meets the Hittites. Next turn it meets China. In 1200BC we are the first to reach Philosophy and so are granted knowledge of the Republic. Our revolt will last 5 turns. We manage to trade for Bronze Working, The Wheel, Ceremonial Burial, Masonry and Iron Working! Birka is found on the south coast (1125BC) just as we meet the Celts. We learn Mysticism, Horseback Riding, and Mathematics. In 1075BC, the Republic of Scandinavia is born. 1025BC sees us learn the art of mapmaking, and Bergen production is immediately switched to work on the Lighthouse.

----------------------------------------------------

QSC stats:

7 cities, 14 pop, 2 settlers in production.
135g, -3gpt, Lit in 5 turns.
Missin techs from AA: Lit, Poly, Mon, Cur, Construc.
3 contacts.
4 workers, 1 curragh, 2 warriors.
1 granary, 2 harbors.

-----------------------------------------------------

In 900BC, we meet America and learn Polytheism from them. In 875BC we learn the art of literature and found Aahrus. In 825 BC, the Hittites build the Oracle and we realise that the Ancient age wonder cascade has begun. Grabbing the Lighthouse may be trickier than we had imagined. We meet the Zulus and Babylon around 750BC. In 710BC, we learn Currency, and Stavanger is found on the little three tile island south of our nation. We hear that Babylon has built the Pyramids in 630BC, and start to plan our assault on them... In 570BC we found Odense and then meet the final civ, the Dutch. Next turn, we found Hareid, and learn Construction, which launches us into the Middle Ages...

The Viking warriors are nervous. As soon as the Lighthouse is built, Radnar will attempt to find his men a safe passage across the vast ocean to launch an assault on Babylon. But will the Lighthouse be completed on time, or will the volcanos at the north of the island erupt and decimate the hard working citizens of Scandinavia?

 

[Megalou]

Predator, noaipatrol=0
Goal: quick military victory.

I will not be competitive in this game. As much was made clear after a bunch of careless mistakes and it became even more apparent when I skimmed this thread . I see this COTM as a chance to get reaquainted with Conquests. Here are my notes, unrevised to save some time and probably quite boring to read.

--- Action ---
4000 BC - Worker W, settler SW.

3950 - Worker S, reveals only hills, possible fish W, W, NW. At least 3 settler steps to food bonus. Trondheim founded. Building curragh. Full research on pottery.

3850 - Worker roads BG.

3700 - Worker mines.

3600 - Curragh complete. Prebuilding barracks in case there are no food bonuses. Edit: warrior.

3550 - Curragh E,NE,NE.

3500 - Curragh E,N,N. End of island?

3450 - Expansion reveals nothing. Curragh N,N,W, reveals gems. Changed to settler pre-build.

3400 - Curragh N.N.NW. Worker NE. Pottery discovered. Writing 43t. Granary 12.

3350 - Curragh NW,W,W. Worker roads.

3300 - Currragh W,SW,S

3250 - Curragh W,S,S. Possible marsh/lake revealed.

3200 - Curragh S,S,E. Writing 33t. Worker E.

3150 - Curragh SW,S,S. Worker chops.

3100 - Curragh S,S,S.

3050 - Curragh S,E,E. Hilly island spotted. (Iron?)

3000 - Curragh SE,S,S

2950 - Size 3, luxury 10%. Worker W. Curragh rounds island, returns north. Granary complete.

2900 - Worker SW,SW.

2850 - Worker roads.

2800 - Warrior1 fortified. Science 100%. Building settler.

2710 - Warrior N,N. Worker NE,N.

2670 - Worker roads, warrior NW, fresh water spotted.

2630 - Warrior N, most of the isle revealed.

2590 - Warrior N. Settler2 done. Building settler3.

2550 - Settler NW, W. Curragh goes suicidal. Worker mines.

2510 - Curragh survives. Bergen founded. Building curragh.

2470 - Curragh survives. Out of gold.

2430 - Curragh sinks.

2310 - Worker mines 3rd BG. Settler3 complete.

2270 - Settler3 NW,N,N.

2230 - Settler3 NW (with warrior1). Curragh2 finished.

2190 - Copenhagen founded, building worker. Mis**** cost me granary. Building archers/curraghs.

2150 - Predator warrior appears.

2110 - Curragh2 goes suicidal.

2070 - Sinks. Predator warrior killed, warrior1 promoted to vet. Writing discovered. MM 25t.

1990 - Curragh3 finished.

1910 - Sinks. Predator warrior killed, archer promoted. Curragh4 ready.

1830 - Archer captures barb camp. Curragh4 goes suicidal (east this time). Curragh5 finished.

Worker2 finished. Curragh4 sees nothing.

1750 - Curragh4 possibly sees sea tile.

1725 - Lost!

1600 - New granary finished.

1525 - Curragh5 lost. Worker4 fin. Predator warrior killed.

1475 - Settler4 fin.

1425 - Jungle cleared - irrigating towards ivory. Wonder prebuild in Bergen.

1400 - Reykjavik built on jungle ivory (mistake - why not hills?)

1350 - Predator warrior killed.

1325 - Map Making completed. Barb horseman appears. Bergen accidentally builds granary. I've just

about had it...

1275 - Oslo built.

1225 - Amsterdam builds Colossus.

1150 - disgusting looking predator galley appears.

1125 - Encampment taken.

1075 - Predator warrior slain, warrior elite.

1000 - Stockholm founded. Researching philosophy. (Forgot about the free tech & it's surely too late for rep. sling shot.)

QSC:
6 towns
5 workers
1 archer
2 warriors
1 galley
2 granaries.

875 - Met America + Zulu. Philosophy AND CoL learned. Science turned off.

800 - Babylon found.

775 - Traded all first tier techs, Math, Mysticism, Polytheism, Iron Working. Researching Monarchy.

Building libraries. Switch to Statue of Zeus.

710 - Met Netherlands, who are virtual illiterates/isolated. Their Colossus build in Amsterdam came at a price. Embassy in America.

690 - The Dutch are at war with someone.

670 - America has Construction, and someone other than my contacts looks to have bought it from them. SoZ finished. Building barracks.

610 - It seems clear that Babylon and Holland are at war. Holland is doing poorly. I trade them Math, getting HB. (It seems clear that I won't be building many chariots before the end of AA.)

570 - Hittites contacted. they have construction independent of America. Embassy. Hittites at war with Holland. Alliance against Holland + MapMaking gets me Construction+25g. Embassy with Babylon, alliance against Holland for Construction. Sold construction to Shaka. First ancient cavalry pops out.

550 - Aarhus founded. Predator galley appeared near the Hittite's land. My galley attacked and won but was redlined.

470 - Met China, who doesn't have alphabet! There's our first victim.

430 - Predator galley approaches. I land my red-lined galley on a sea tile; it's my best bet. Monarchy discovered. 6-turn revolt. Reroll with no change. Galley sinks.

390 - Camp dispersed.

370 - Hittites make peace with Netherlands, breaking alliance.

330 - Monarchy.

310 - Ancient cavalry promoted to elite.

250 - Gems hooked up. Iron source appears underneath Copenhagen! This invites the possibility of knights.

350 - Babylon completes pyramids.

190 - Bought currency (1t) from Zulu for 13g to enter Middle Ages, still one contact short. Gave currency to Hittites for new alliance v/s Dutch. Embassy with China, who doesn't know the Dutch. I Give Currency to Babylon; they get Engineering. I'm researching Monotheism although I want Feudalism too in order to try the feudalism government, which should be good for unit support while building an army, awaiting Navigation.

 

[Redbad]

@Megalou

I see you got your cd back

btw I think the jungle ivory was actually in a forest.

 

[Megalou]

@Megalou
I see you got your cd back

btw I think the jungle ivory was actually in a forest.

Yes, that's what I meant & all the more reason not to build on it.
Yes, I realized there are no other games that really interest me (except "Prospero's Island" which never seems to be released on PC, just talked about) so I'll stick around.

"Mis**** cost me granary." Why is it that when I try to write M-I-S-H-I-T the word becomes autoformated like this?

 

[Megalou]

I don't expect the galleys to be much more than a minor annoyance, either, but it's probably better than my first thought, which was to remove your starting worker. You can thank Ainwood for telling me that would probably be an unpopular option.

Renata

Honoured staff-members, I've been playing predator every time, even when cracker removed the starting worker, and I'm telling you I would go open if that option came up again. The attacking barbs in this game were exciting and made me squeeze out a "coastal" catapult. I've quit COTM9 now, rather than rush through it, and I must say the different spoilers were very educational and impressive.

 

[civ_steve]

Barbs 'fixed'

I've looked through this thread, and have seen a few posts about how unuseable the Viking Berserk is with this map, or how important a factor luck has been. I didn't find either to be the case (more about that in the next thread ), and I wanted to comment on that a bit. I suppose we could play the Vikings with an archipelago map ... but that wouldn't be exactly unique or much of a challenge. A GOTM/COTM, should have some uniqueness or challenge, or why call it a GOTM? Many civvers have a very set manner of play, and this COTM will torpedo players who play by a standard manner. Again, if one could play the GOTM/COTM every month using the same techniques, it wouldn't be much of a GOTM. It is much more interesting to see how players can adapt their strategies and techniques to tackle new and different problems presented by the game. You can expect these challenges here, so you should be ready to adapt to what the game presents to you, not vice versa.

That having been said, I do find it a bit disturbing that the mass upgrade to Knights/Cavalry tends to dominate the standings. But, as Gato Loco noticed (and others I'm sure), the lack of Iron on the starting island(s) puts this fast unit approach in the same 'boat' as the UU - how do you bridge the oceans to reach the other AI's, and how do you get Iron for your upgrades?

Regarding Luck: almost everyone who attempted the Republic slingshot was successful (sorry DocT ), so I would say it was likely to be achieved unless really bad luck got in the way. Huts and their contents will certainly sway these results. If it required really good luck to get a good result, I would say that Luck was a factor; IMO not the case here, where getting Free Republic was the norm for those following the strategy.

Same thing for Suicide Galleys/Curraghs - making contact should be the norm for a serious attempt; only very bad luck or a bad attempt would normally prevent contact.

My game: Trondheim founded on the spot. Built Warrior, Curragh, Curragh then Settler. By this time I'd mapped out all available space; we are alone. Other than Settlers, and a couple more Warriors to take care of Barbs, my first few cities build lots of Curraghs. I send out a group of 4 in the mid-2000's; 1 survives to make contact with China. I send out a 2nd group of 4 in the late 2000's; again 1 survives to make contact with Babylon. By 1500 BC I have all contacts. I lost 75% (6 out of 8); I think that's slightly worse then the odds I'd expect sending out single ships, but I was quite satisfied with the result. Not sure if sending single units out, or groups (like I did) works better; I think the group is more likely to make contact at that time, while with single units you might make contact earlier or later. I built a lot more Curraghs; the extra ones were stashed around my starting landmass to prevent Barbs from popping up.

In my game, America already had Alphabet before I contacted him. Huts were definitely mixing things up! Contacts allowed me to trade Techs around fairly easily; this was even easier since many civs did not have full contacts with all the others.

Research: Pottery first (and I never built a single Granary!), then on to the Republic Slingshot. My early contacts got me all the first tier Techs. Hittites got Writing before I'd finished researching Code-of-Laws, which concerned me a bit. I held off trading, learned CoL, started on Philosophy, and a few turns later traded Writing for most 2nd tier Techs (Abe knew Math, Iron-Working and Mysticism were also out.) Got Philosophy in 1225 BC, and a Free Republic right after. Totally forgot about the extra commece coastal cities Seafaring civs get, so I didn't actually revolt until the early mid-Ages; didn't feel my civ was large enough to absorb the unit and luxury costs. Kept building Settlers when getting to Size 3 or 4. Connected Ivory first; gems later. Researched Literature, Map-Making. My main cities started building Libraries to speed my research. Finally learned Currency uniquely in 570 BC, and was able to make other trades for Construction and Polytheism without using Currency, so entered the Mid-Ages all by myself. Wanted to keep it that way, so started a few wars to occupy most of the AI.

Renata! I really enjoyed this map! There's a challenge to consider for using the Berserk; likewise for using Knights/Cavalry, although one can build the SoZ to get access to some pseudo-knights. I'm amazed at how similar many games are - Republic slingshot in the 1300-1200's BC, and entering the MidAges in the 400-600's BC. I don't think mine was much different then most of these, including city count and layout. For me, the game became really low-maintenance required once contacts were established; just research as fast as possible, spread out, take care of Barbs, make Trades as desired. And plan for some Medieval fun!

 

[Dynamic]

1) I've looked through this thread, and have seen a few posts about how unuseable the Viking Berserk is with this map, or how important a factor luck has been. I didn't find either to be the case (more about that in the next thread ), and I wanted to comment on that a bit. I suppose we could play the Vikings with an archipelago map ... but that wouldn't be exactly unique or much of a challenge. A GOTM/COTM, should have some uniqueness or challenge, or why call it a GOTM? Many civvers have a very set manner of play, and this COTM will torpedo players who play by a standard manner. Again, if one could play the GOTM/COTM every month using the same techniques, it wouldn't be much of a GOTM. It is much more interesting to see how players can adapt their strategies and techniques to tackle new and different problems presented by the game. You can expect these challenges here, so you should be ready to adapt to what the game presents to you, not vice versa.

2) That having been said, I do find it a bit disturbing that the mass upgrade to Knights/Cavalry tends to dominate the standings. But, as Gato Loco noticed (and others I'm sure), the lack of Iron on the starting island(s) puts this fast unit approach in the same 'boat' as the UU - how do you bridge the oceans to reach the other AI's, and how do you get Iron for your upgrades?

3) Regarding Luck: almost everyone who attempted the Republic slingshot was successful (sorry DocT ), so I would say it was likely to be achieved unless really bad luck got in the way. Huts and their contents will certainly sway these results. If it required really good luck to get a good result, I would say that Luck was a factor; IMO not the case here, where getting Free Republic was the norm for those following the strategy.

4) Same thing for Suicide Galleys/Curraghs - making contact should be the norm for a serious attempt; only very bad luck or a bad attempt would normally prevent contact.

1) I agree with you about interest to see how players can adapt their strategies in the different environment. Of course, sometimes we need in classic map but if it's repeated game by game it's became too boring. After series of 4-turn settler factory in the past games some players want to see it in each GOTM/COTM and in other case said the game isn't interesting. Of course, bad map isn't good for some victory condition especially if it was decided before game was starting. But sometimes we can switch our plan for more appropriate fun and result.

2) Choosing between Knights and Berserks depends on current game situation. Knights are better if AI haven't Muskets yet and if you have Iron access. Navigation can resolve this problem.

3) Unlike other players I hadn't early contacts in this game and don't know when AI researched Philosophy. I have first contact in 875BC and some AI already knew this.

4) By mistake I did only one early suicide attempt and miss it. I repeated my try only with galleys much later and have 50% success.

 

[civ_steve]

...

3.) But you did a successful Republic slingshot (1350 BC IIRC); I'm pretty sure it's only the first civ on the whole map to reach Philosophy that gets the free Tech, so contacts aren't that important if you know Alphabet already.

4.) I suspect the Shields you didn't put into early Curraghs, were well spent building early Granaries! Your 50% rate with Galleys was better than my 25% rate with Curraghs, and the later contacts didn't really hurt you.

 

[hendrikszoon]

Open

Normally I go the direct slingshot way to get republic. But in this environment a granary was necessary. Starting with alphabet in monarch I believed that I have the time to research another technology. So I settled in place and started to build a granary (prebuilding and 100% research on pottery).

Then I went the normal slingshot way and got republic in 1325BC. I changed my government immediately (4 turns anarchy).

Because I planned to get as many Berserkers as possible, I didn't build warriors, but only archers.

Around 1800BC it was definitely clear: Ragnar alone on island. So two curraghs were sent out - one to the west, one to the east. The one going west sunk after two turns, but the one sailing east reached the continent. This curragh sailing along the coast line contacted all the other civs.

When I reached the continent no contacted civ has researched writing. Americans and Zulus didn't have alphabet. I waited with exchanging writing until I had contact to 5 civs. Then I got bronze working, ceremonial burial, iron working, mysticism, masonry, wheel and a lot of gold for alphabet and writing.

When anarchy ended one AI had mathematics (I don't remember who) and so I could exchange mathematics and gave it immediately to all other known civs. After getting currency I stopped research to earn gold for the planned upgrading phase. In the meantime other civs have researched polytheism and map making. So I had only to wait for construction.

710BC I could get construction from the Babylonians. I used the time not only to earn gold but also to expand my civilization on the island and to build a lot of archers.


Status at 1000BC:
9 workers
4 archers
2 curraghs
9 towns
20 population
1 barrack
1 granary
all technologies known with exception of construction, literature and monarchy

PS The barbs were very harmless. But they helped to get some gold and to upgrade archers.

 

[Dynamic]

...710BC I could get construction from the Babylonians.

Your Babylonians was very fast! And AI researched Math very early also.
In my game I don't know when AI got Mathematics but China got Construction in 450BC only.