I had the very good fortune to have a really boring day at work during
which I could study the pre-game thread picture of the starting island
very closely and making several spread-sheet calculations of the
starting moves. It seems amazing now that no one writing a spoiler so
far appears to have discovered the Two-Turn Settler Factory at the
site W, SW from the starting location. It certainly looks designed for
this purpose with its Cattle, three Flood Plains and Wine on
Hill. Apparently, you have more interesting jobs than I.
I knew I wanted to get the Two-Turner running as soon as possible, so
I needed a Granary -- fast. With only 40 gold in the kitty I could not
cash-rush it outright, so I made different calculations involving
disbanding the apparently useless military units. The best
calculations used Democracy with its overpowered Workers. Workers
would already be "PtW Industrious" due to the knowledge of Replaceable
Parts. Under Democracy, with a further 50% acceleration, they would
road flatlands in one turn. I also made calculations for Monarchy,
which weren't all that much slower, since irrigation would be the same
and mining only one turn slower. After the initial phase, the
advantages of Worker speed and lower corruption would be less
important. We have a small island on a large map and only need a
handful productive cities for the spaceship. Lower corruption would
never outweigh War Unhappiness. (Fascism, of course, has even faster
Workers and no War Unhappiness, but it would be better only for
irrigation, and not having the ability to cash rush would make the
Two-Turner impossible in any case.)
Now, since I had decided to move the Settler during two turns, it
appeared to me that revolting in 4000 BC would be for free. Research
was already done, culture and shield production was not possible
without having a single city.
There was a free choice of
Government. Having the options of Democracy and Monarchy, Republic
seemed to be a poor alternative, a mere compromise. Owing to fear for
eventually setting-in War Unhappiness, and not wanting to revolt again
mid-game, I opted for Monarchy from start. Again, luck struck, as it
appears that a bug in C3C make War Unhappiness much worse than could
be expected under Governments that know it.
So, in 4000 BC, the Settler moves W, the Worker SW to Cattle, the
Conquistador fortifies W, SW and the Mechanized Infantry moves there
as well. Spain revolts. In 3950, the Worker starts mining the Cattle
tile (uselessly, as this half Worker turn is eventually lost) and the
Mechanized Infantry fortifies. In 3900 BC, after Monarchy has been
established, Madrid is founded on the Hill and starts working the
Cattle for two spt. Two turns later, with four shields in the box, I
short-rush six shields using a Worker pre-build for 24 gold and then
disband both military units for 17 and 27 shields, repectively, for a
total of 54 shields in the box. Disbanding also reduces the
maintenance cost, leaving more gold for rushing. Since the Mine is
due, production is now up to three spt and the Granary is built
losslessly in 3700 BC just before the very first population growth in
Madrid.
Using the Cattle and a Flood Plain, Food Surplus is now five fpt,
perfect for the Granary. For ten fpt, all three Flood Plains would
have to be irrigated. Anything in between would count the same as five
fpt, due to the Granary. I would like to have ten fpt Food Surplus
just as I strike a population of four (Cattle plus the tree Flood
Plains), so after an initial Settler, I build a Worker for the SW
Flood Plain. These Units are both built using harvested shields, but
from this point onward, all Settlers will be short-rushed using a
Walls pre-build. The first (five-turn) Settler will cost 12 gold, the
second (three-turn) one 36 gold and the following two-turn Settlers
will cost 48 gold each.
The first, early, Settler I sent to the Dyes tile in the west, which
appeared to be the strongest location with its Game Forest. It started
putting its shields into a Rifleman, but this I later changed to a
Galleon, which was then the first build outside the Capital and sailed
off immediately with a Settler onboard. I wanted to colonize three of
the little islands with the missing resources. To defend the islands,
I would need two Horsemen per island, the cheapest Military Unit
available with full scientific knowledge. I also wanted to use
Horsemen, or something on their upgrade path, to defend the home
island. So the two Workers, after finishing the Factory, were set to
work connecting Barcelona and Horses, respectively.
At this early stage, I didn't know how much cash I would have and
whether it would run out before I had produced all the Settlers I
needed. I thought I would have to build one-turn Workers in between in
order to save cash, but it turned out that churning out Settlers
founding cities producing gold, and connecting Luxuries, was enough to
keep the money flowing. After initially sinking for each Settler, the
cash reserves soon started growing again in spite of the constant
cash-rushing, and I could even short-rush some of the (regular)
Horsemen being produced in other cities as well.
Having an adequate cash flow was important, since switching the
Factory back to Settlers after having built Workers would cost 120
gold each time. I did make that switch once at the end of the Factory
Phase in Madrid in order to produce a Settler for Jaen on the marshy
south-eastern point and one more Settler which I thought I would need
for a city on the mainland with the purpose of generating Great
Military Leaders and generally drain the AI forces. At this time cash
was no longer an issue.
I settled the island from the top down starting with the strongest
locations. In 2150 BC with three Settlers underway to the last
locations (except Jaen), I switched to producing one-turn Workers in
Madrid. Until this point I had had only the two initial Workers, which
were busy most of all with connecting cities and Resources. The
Workers spewed out from Madrid now started improving the lands, again
from north to south.
In 1725 BC the first AI tribes entered the Middle Ages and in 1450 BC
the first Galley arrived. I sank it with the Galleon. Later visitors I
would let sail all the way to the vicinity of Madrid, where they would
drop one or two pathetic units in the unworked Forest tile, promptly
to be killed by now veteran Horsemen. I wanted to rush the Forbidden
Palace and/or Apollo Program with a Great Military Leader, but it was
not to be.
At this stage I still had fear for the military capacity of the AI, so
I built a Destroyer to hunt down some Galleys after they had deposited
their leader fodder. It was eventually sunk attacking one of these
Galleys. I didn't replace it.
I put off connecting the Iron in order to be able to build Horsemen
for upgrade. I also thought I wouldn't need Railways and Factories
until later, when most tiles had gotten the basic improvements.
Towards the end of the Quick Start Challenge period I connected the
last Resources and let Madrid stop producing Workers, but grow in size
instead. I also cleared the Marshes in the south-east and founded
Jaen, mostly for aesthetic reasons. It never played a role in the
game.
4000 BC Establish Anarchy
3900 BC Establish Monarchy
3900 BC Found Madrid
3700 BC Build Granary
3200 BC Found Barcelona
2900 BC Found Seville
2750 BC Connect Wines
2750 BC Found Toledo
2670 BC Found Santiago
2630 BC Found Salamanca
2590 BC Connect Horses
2550 BC Connect Dyes
2510 BC Found Murcia
2350 BC Found Valencia
2310 BC Found Zaragoza on Uranium Island
2270 BC Connect Furs
2150 BC Found Pamplona Switch to Workers
2110 BC Found Vitoria on Aluminum Island. Apollo Program becomes buildable.
1950 BC Connect Ivory
1950 BC Found Santander
1830 BC Found Asturias on Oil Island
1750 BC Connect Spices
1750 BC Connect Gems
1725 BC AIs enter Middle Ages.
1500 BC Connect Silks
1500 BC Connect Rubber
1500 BC Connect Uranium
1450 BC Connect Incense. First Galley arrives. Sink it with Galleon.
1450 BC Connect Coal
1400 BC Connect Oil
1375 BC Connect Aluminum
1250 BC Connect Iron
1125 BC Connect Saltpeter. Madrid leaves Factory Mode.
1000 BC Found Jaen on the south-east end.
 
