COTM 117 America - 1st Spoiler - End of Ancient Times

[Kuningas]

This thread is for your reports of events and progress in COTM 117 America up to the date where you are able to research a Medieval tech.

Do not read or post in this thread until you meet this condition. You may reveal Medieval bonus techs from the end of the last Ancient turn and discuss your plans for continuing the game.

Please do not post information here relating to later dates, and please only post maps of your home area and no minimaps.

 

[tjs282]

Platform: WinXP laptop, Intel Celeron processor
CivAssist used

Short-term plan: scout to map out 1st-ring -- build at CxxC to CxxxC if possible (~distance 4) and meet the nearest neighbours
Aim to set up Settler-pump in cap
Max. effective SCI% for Writing and Republic-sling...
Medium-term: ...and get at least 1 coastal city founded to send Curraghs overseas
Long-term: win using whatever VC seems most appropriate/fun -- probably Domination if this really is a Pangaea...

Turns 0-10

Spoiler :

4000 BC: Washington founded in place, Scout begins exploring, Alph chosen as max-research target. Worker set to roading and irrigating all the Cow-Plains (1+2+3T per tile)
3950 BC: Scout acquires local maps
3850 BC: Second Scout built
3650 BC: Third Scout built
3600 BC: Scouts pop CBurial and BrWork
3550 BC: Approximate dotmap prepared based on what the Scouts have found so far. Since my 'island' contains no rivers or other lakes, I decided to go ICS (which I never usually do) to maximise town numbers for unit-building/maintenance, in preparation for militaristic expansion

Spoiler :

Labels indicate names of all towns founded before revolution on Turn 95. Crosses indicate sites that were later rejected, and additional red ellipses show where future Towns will be (/have been) founded to date (as of current game-state, 560 AD-ish)

3500 BC: Washington builds an Axe (for MP), then starts on a Granary for a Settler-pump -- my Scouts have located and are now moving along 3 landbridges (NE, NW, SW) away from our homeland

Turns 11-20

Spoiler :

3400 BC: Scout pops more local maps
3350 BC: Scout pops WarCode
3300 BC: Scout pops Myst
3200 BC: NW Scout finds grey borders
3250 BC: We meet the Indians, and sell them WarCode for Alph+10g. Next target: Writing for the Republic-sling. NE Scout finds pink borders
3100 BC: Worker now moves to mine+road the Sugar-Plains (1+2+4T). We meet the Arabs, but they have nothing to trade

Turns 21-30

Spoiler :

3000 BC: Toynbee says we're the smartest guys in the world!
2950 BC: Washington completes its Gran (1T late, because I forgot to increase the LUX% on growth to Pop4) and starts the first 4T-Settler
2800 BC: SW Scout finds purple borders
2850 BC: We meet the Iroquois and sell them CBurial for 10g
2800 BC: Our Scout meets a Russian Scout and sells Alph for 10g. I assume (wrongly, as it turns out) that I have now met all my immediate neighbours
2750 BC Washington's first Settler is built: it will be sent 2S, while our Worker roads+mines the Wheat in between Washington and the intended city-site
2670 BC: Washington builds Axe (had some time to do that while it refilled its Gran)
2630 BC: New York founded, and starts building a fourth Scout to go SE

Turns 31-40

Spoiler :

2510 BC: Washington finishes a second Settler, and the 4T-Settler-pump is primed to go

Spoiler :

At Pop3

At Pop4

2430 BC: NY builds Scout (2nd Axe from Washington now garrisoned here), Boston founded 2W of Washington

All towns founded from here on (will) build a Warrior first, then a Worker (as they hit Pop2) to improve their immediate surroundings for 2FPT, 1SPT, 1CPT (per land-tile) at minimum -- this will mostly mean roading + irrigating Plains-tiles -- then start on a building for their intended purpose: inland towns will build Raxes (and then mil-units), coastal towns (mostly 2nd-ring) will build Harbours and then Libs for research

2350 BC: Washington builds Settler no.3
2230 BC: Philadelphia founded 2N of Washington. Everyone I know now has the Wheel
2190 BC: SW Scout pops the Wheel for us! And meets a Russian Axe coming the other way. Writing is learned, and CoL is set as the next target
2150 BC: We have Horses (near Philly), but so do Gandhi (plus IronWork) and Abu (plus HbR) and Hiawatha!

Out of game musing re: Genocide, GAs, GWonders and Govs (DL the Timeline.txt for the Director's Cut!):

Spoiler :

Given that I'm aiming to play a military game (but honourably -- no deal-breaking or RoPing, if I can help it -- at least not until rep/attitude cease to be major considerations), I decide to target my neighbours in order of potential/ immediate threat combined with relative strength: the Iros first, then the Arabs+Indians, then the Russians. In the meantime, I would aim to (pre)build (ideally) Colossus and GWall to trigger my GA in the early Mid-Age. After toying with the idea of going Feudal (of my planned towns, only Washington and Philly can get to Pop12 without a Duct), I crunched some numbers and concluded that Republic would still be best, so long as I could deal with the WW (since I only have Spices on my turf, this will likely require relatively high LUX%-spending, and importing 1-2 Luxes).

Turns 41-50

Spoiler :

2070 BC: Atlanta founded 2E of Washington
1950 BC: The Arabs now have Maths, and appear to have sold it to Gandhi for IronWork
1910 BC: Chicago founded 4SW of Washington
1870 BC: Philly builds its queued Worker as it hits Pop2, starts on Colossus -- no-one else is building it yet
1790 BC: SW land-bridge now clear... The Chinese contact us during the IBT (not sure how, I didn't see any of their units), and offer us HbR for Writing (Mao also has IronWork), but I don't want to sell it yet
1750 BC: Seattle founded 4NW of Washington

Turns 51-60

Spoiler :

1725 BC: Russians begin Colossus in StPete -- and Cathy knows HbR as well. SW Scout finds dark-green borders in the Jungle
1700 BC: We contact the Aztecs! We have more towns than Monty does, but he is also up IronWork+HbR!
1650 BC: Horses get hooked, but only to Philly, since I didn't notice that Philly wasn't hooked to the rest of the network yet *facepalm*
1625 BC: San Francisco founded 4SE of Washington; this will be my FP city, after it's built its Axe+Worker. Chinese + Arabs just got Writing, breaking my monop -- I only need 2T for CoL, so I shop Writing around:
Cathy gives Maths+IronWork+10g, Gandhi gives HbR, Monty and Hiawatha have nothing (and Hiawatha doesn't have HbR yet either -- phew!). We have 2 Iron-sources on our homeland!
1600 BC: CoL discovered, Philo set as next target (7T at -3GPT: Treasury = 20g, but we should avoid a deficit with completion of roads and projected town-growth)
1525 BC: Miami founded 4NE of Washington -- smaller '1st-ring' is now complete
1500 BC: Arabs begin Oracle

Turns 61-70

Spoiler :

1425 BC: Houston founded on coast due south of NY. We get to Philo first! Republic chosen as free-tech, target set to Construction (25T). No revolution yet, because I still haven't chopped+roaded any Spice-Forest tiles (Workers have been busy with other jobs, and I didn't need Luxes while towns were still small and Axe-garrisoned). We can now build our FP, so SF starts that now (200T)
1400 BC: Tech-trading round: Writing is gifted to Gandhi so that we can swap CoL+Philo for Polytheism (the only other monopoly-tech); CoL sold to Mao and Abu
1375 BC: Abu demands Philo in tribute, and DoWs us for refusing! Our first war will be fought with Horses, Archers -- and Swords once I get some Axes upgraded, and the Iron hooked
1350 BC: Buffalo founded 2W of Houston, 2S of Chicago
1275 BC: Embassy built in Bejing, Mao bribed with Philo to help fight Abu. We haven't actually seen any Arab units yet...

Turns 71-80

Spoiler :

1225 BC: Indians have learned MapMaking. Embassy built in Moscow, which is central to their island, i.e. pretty much due south of Washington/ NY/ Houston
1200 BC: StLouis founded on 1st NE choke-Hill. Spices get hooked
1175 BC: Iron-Colony founded on Hill 2SE/2NE of Atlanta/SF, since I've built no Culture-buildings yet, and I want that Iron right now, not sometime after the next Settler gets built, moved and planted on our eastern coast. Seattle builds a Curragh, to explore NW
1125 BC: Newly-founded Fustat (on the land-bridge) is captured and auto-razed, 1 vHorse promoted
1100 BC: Washington begins Pyramids as prebuild for GWall, since the Arabs have just learnt Construction
1050 BC: Indians begin ToA
1025 BC: Miami builds a Curragh, to explore NE
1000 BC: CoL+Maths sold to Hiawatha in exchange for MapMaking (which is now known to everyone except Cathy)

For a Summary at 1000 BC (QSC-submission), see the Timeline.

Turns 81-90

Spoiler :

950 BC: Russians begin building Pyramids
925 BC: Najran (due east of the Arab end of the landbridge) captured and razed -- Horses then head north towards Baghdad (on the coast NE of the landbridge); my approaching Swords will meet them on the way, to guard their advance
825 BC: Aztecs and Arabs now have Currency, and have entered the Mid-Age! Baghdad captured and razed
800 BC: Detroit founded on 2nd Hill on the NE landbridge, victorious troops sent back to hold 3rd Hill
775 BC: MA with Mao vs. Abu is cancelled (the Chinese are still fighting them), and Abu gives Construction, 48g, Khurasan (south-east coast of Arabia) and Basra (on SE land-bridge from Arabia) for a PT. Both ex-Arab towns are 1-shield-wastrels, unreinforceable, and flip-risks from Mecca, so will be Settler-abandoned (if I can hold them that long!). Khurasan is also besieged by a German Archer+Axe, and unhappy from whipping.
Germany is the last Civ we contact, and Otto buys CoL for 18g. He only knows Monty and Abu so far. Research target reset from Construction to Lit (needs 8T)
750 BC: Curragh spots a Settler-pair already on Baghdad's ruins. Washington's prebuild switched to GWall (16T to completion with current tile-configuration)

Turns 91-95

Spoiler :

730 BC: MM between Philly and Washington gives us Colossus still in 2 IBTs, and GWall now in 13T. With all our Horse-builds + Sword-upgrades (SCI% was minimised while we were fighting the Arabs)) for the Arab war, we are now STRONG vs everyone. Despite this, Monty demands Republic -- but he's bluffing, and folds when I call it
710 BC: We build the Colossus! One down, 1 to go, but now the cascades start... Aztecs build Pyramids in Tenochtitlan!
690 BC: Iros build Oracle in Salamanca!
670 BC: Russians build MoM in StPete's! And switch to GWall in Moscow!
650 BC: Gandhi has just learnt Republic, so I sell it off, mostly for pennies, before he can. Monty gives us Currency, which gets us into the Mid-Age -- and in my enthusiasm, I set a beeline to Astro, which wipes out 6T worth of research on Lit. Of all my stupidities so far (e.g. glitching my Settler-pump, allowing cities to riot because I overlooked the CAII warning), this one truly takes the biscuit. But it's a GoTM, so no reloads are allowed...
I now need 7T to finish GWall under the Despot-penalty, so I take a risk and hit the button for a revolution. Just to add insult to (self)-injury, I draw 8T of Anarchy...

Here endeth the spoiler(s)...

 

[serttech2003]

Well, finally back after an intercontinental move, new computer (win10 so had to solve all those problems) and a speaking tour (I do non-profit work so had to give reports)

Settled in place, started on a granary right away to get settlers out. Long story short...here is the summary:

4000 Washington
2710 Boston (2 turn worker factory)
2630 Philadelphia
2390 Atlanta
2270 Chicago
2110 Seattle
1950 San Francisco
1725 Miami
1625 Houston
1500 Buffalo
1350 St Louis
1325 Detroit
1250 New Orleans
1225 Baltimore

Baltimore was my last city in the expansion phase. I delayed revolt into Republic for 2 turns to finish Baltimore. Entered the Middle Ages in 800 BC. Currently involved in a phony war with Russia after I refused a demand.

Literature came in 11 turns or so after Republic so building swords waited until libraries were completed. Going to use workers to join to cities.

I' going to try for conquest, so the only buildings I plan on building are some combo of barracks-library-marketplaces with selected locations getting universities.

 

[Più Freddo]

libraries

What role do Libraries play in your strategy for conquest?

 

[serttech2003]

What role do Libraries play in your strategy for conquest?

To get to Cavs asap basicially. I'm sure better players can do it without, but I always seem to lag behind without them.

Might be another of my builder habits I need to break/ween myself of.

 

[Più Freddo]

George Washington fathered the American nation by founding the city
that bears his namn right on the first available spot, by a lake in
the middle of the wide prairie where bisons graze and sugar canes
sprout. He sent out his trusted Scouts immediately and trained one
more troop of Scouts, which were sent out in 3800 BC. He then turned
his attention and hard work to the rapid expansion of his realm, for
his was an industrious and expansionist people.

The workers of the fields were told to irrigate the prairie by the
Bisons and build roads only later. This way, by the time the Granary
of Washington was inaugerated in 3200 BC, population was just about to
reach four units. Said Washington: "I could produce a Warrior to each
Settler, all in four turns, but what shall I do with so many Warriors?
My land is a limited spot of a peninsular pangaea." No one knew where
and when he had learned to speak such excellent Latin. "I expect
neither civil unrest nor Barbarians to be of great concern." Washinton
instead ordered an Archer to be produced for every second Settler, all
in eight turns. This pattern was settled in 2850 BC and kept up until
America became a Republic. "There's no need for a Barracks. Real
Americans train on the job."

These are the cities of the American nation. New York was a village of
savages which couldn't refuse an offer to join America in its very
early days. In return they got a few glass pearls.

4000 BC Found Washington
3600 BC Found New York
3200 BC Build Granary
2900 BC Found Boston
2670 BC Found Philadelphia
2670 BC Connect Spices
2510 BC Found Atlanta
2190 BC Found Seattle
1675 BC Found Houston
1450 BC Found Buffalo
1375 BC Found St. Louis
1250 BC Found Detroit
1150 BC Found New Orleans
1150 BC Found Baltimore​

Indeed, the American Scouts did their duty with honour, contributing
not only the city of New York, but also maps, technology and warriors
suitable for policing the inner cities as well as contacts with many
an alien tribe.

3700 BC Pop Hut Warrior
3600 BC Pop Hut Town
3500 BC Pop Hut Maps
3400 BC Meet India
3300 BC Meet Arabia
3200 BC Pop Hut Maps
2850 BC Meet China
2800 BC Meet Russia
2750 BC Meet Aztecs
2710 BC Pop Hut Technology
2630 BC Pop Hut Technology
2390 BC Meet Iroquois
2190 BC Pop Hut Warrior
2110 BC Pop Hut Technology
2030 BC Meet Germany
1950 BC Pop Hut Maps
1870 BC Pop Hut Technology
1700 BC Pop Hut Warrior​

Apart from learning useful Technologies from savages, the Americans
progressed by showing skill in both research and scientific trade.
Very soon they had unearthed the secrets of The Republic and collected
quite a few foreign Slaves to aid the native Workers.

4000 BC Discover Pottery
4000 BC Discover Masonry
3400 BC Learn Ceremonial Burial
3400 BC Learn Alphabet
3300 BC Learn Warrior Code
3300 BC Learn Mysticism
3250 BC Learn Bronze Working
2710 BC Learn The Wheel
2630 BC Learn Horseback Riding
2510 BC Discover Writing
2150 BC Learn Mathematics
2150 BC Learn Iron Working
2110 BC Learn Literature
1990 BC Discover Code of Laws
1870 BC Learn Map Making
1750 BC Discover Philosophy
1750 BC Discover The Republic​

After having suffered 150 years of Anarchy, George Washington
established the American Republic in 1600 BC. He now set the Capital
to produce a Worker on every turn. There was land to be developed and
roads to be built. "Our ... hrm ... friendly missions to the other
tribes will not arrive timley unless we road the isthmi." There he
went again with his Latin.

The first war was fought with Archers against India. Later, Horsemen
would fight most American Wars, beginning with Arabia, taking the fast
passages to the north-west and north-east first. All cities built
Veteran Horsemen all the time except Boston south of Washington, which
remained a four-turn Settler factory throughout the game. Many
Horsemen were short-rushed.

1750 BC Establish Anarchy
1600 BC Establish Republic
1500 BC War India
1475 BC Learn Polytheism
1175 BC Discover Currency
0825 BC Learn Construction from the Iroquois
0825 BC Enter Middle Ages
0825 BC Learn Monotheism from Germany
0825 BC Learn Feudalism from Russia​