COTM 15 First Spoiler: Ancient Age, Contacts

[PaperBeetle]

Open, going for a fast military victory.

Capital is founded 1W, worker heads straight to the moo and starts mining Nobody thought of that strategy did they? Two turns later, disturbed by the pick-axe animation, I cancel the mine and start irrigating. A great start to my micromanagement... I make several other mistakes during the QSC, including a couple of riots.

Capital's build orders are warrior, settler, warrior, granary, becoming a 6-turn warrior/settler factory, later building barracks and stepping up to spear/settler. Second City is founded 1E of the gold in 3200bc. This is RCP3 so I make sure that all other cities are RCP4 or further so as not to corrupt Second City. Its build orders are warrior, worker, granary, then becoming a 6-turn settler factory.

I meet the Vijaya in 3150bc and Lan Xang in 3100bc. I don't explore aggressively and only find Sumeria in 2150bc, Persia in 1990bc and Arabia in 1950bc. In common with many west-bound starters, I had 'my' gems stolen by the Lan Xang. The Vijaya also settled close to me; RCP5 south of Capital, while I was concerning myself with expanding east/west along the rivers, and north for the scattered iron deposits and horses.

Research is straight for the Republic slingshot of course; the new government is inaugurated in 1600bc. The same turn, Fa Ngum extorts Riding from me - his military is only the same strength as mine (i.e. paper-thin) but I think he looks genuine so I give in. Fa, you just made my list!

I begin my preparations to attack Lan Xang, starting with hooking up iron in 1400bc. The Lan Xang are very weak, with only four or five towns, so I will use a small squad of swords for this one. They have a good Oracle build going in their capital, and I'll wait to see that succeed or fail before I start the war.

My final contact, Japan, comes in 1325bc. Toku is rather behind of course, and it will be a long time before he meets anybody else. On the same turn, I pop my only hut of the game, getting barbs, who all promptly start scrapping with nearby Persians (this is up on the north coast). My warrior just wanders off again, leaving these thugs to their brawling.

The Lan Xang finish their Oracle in 1275bc, but my task force isn't ready yet, so I let them live a little longer. They still aren't building much military; on completion of the Oracle, their capital moves straight on to the Mausolleum

QSC stats...
10 cities with 31 citizens and 126 tiles.
95 food in the bin, 67 shields in the box, 89g in the treasury.
2 granaries, 4 barracks, 3 temples.
2 settlers, 9 workers, 5 slaves, 5 regular warriors, 2 veteran spears, 8 veteran swords, 1 regular galley.
All ancient techs except Currency (356/426 beakers).
All contacts, 2 embassies.

The medieval is reached 975bc; I could have made it in 1125bc, when I traded Republic for Construction, but I hand-researched both Literature and Monarchy before doing Currency, intending to use these techs as bargaining chips when bringing the scientific civs up into the medieval.

 

[denyd]

I was preparing the outline for this spoiler when I noticed the big gap in reporting necessary to stay within the boundaries as I entered the Middle Ages in 875 BC but did not meet Japan until 430 AD via a trade with China and did not know where he was until 600 AD when I acquired my first WM from Persia.

Basically something like, discovered Currency and entered the Middle Ages, then lots of stuff happened (to be detailed in spoiler # 2) and found out where Japan was in 600 AD

 

[denyd]

Gandhi was quite pleased to have been selected to lead the colony team to this new world. As he viewed the survey of the landing site, his thoughts turned to a quiet, peaceful life of art, music and religion. A society built on a culture of understanding and acceptance like the galaxy had never seen was his goal. Based on the divine intervention of a coin flip, Gandhi led his followers east to the site of the city of Delhi. Work began on training a warrior for scouting and research began on the science of the written word.

Thor had a successful trek meeting Vijayagar in 3300 BC, Lan Xang in 2630, the Arabs in 2150 BC and Sumer in 1790 BC. His contacts with other tribes led to trades for Warrior Code, Bronze Working, Pottery, Masonry, Iron Working and Mysticism. With the founding of Bombay in 2750, Madras in 2430 and Bangalore in 1790, India was the largest nation on the planet in 1550 BC, when thanks to a gift from the heavens (Republic Slingshot), the Republic of India was born.

Things were proceeding nicely as the Gandhi ended his third millennia with ten cities, half with temples and the other half building them. India stood as the world leader in culture, science and economy, with only the knowledge of construction keeping Gandhi from the Middle Ages. His neighbors in Ur had just finish celebrating the construction of the first of four ancient age wonders, the Pyramids and were competing in all areas with India for planetary dominance. The Persians and Arabs were right behind Indian and Sumer at the top of the world power charts.

In 875 BC India discovered construction and was the first to enter the Middle Ages, however would not meet Japan until 430 AD and would not locate Tokugawa’s nation until 600 AD.

[Editor’s Note 1 – At this point in the game, I feared either a Sumer 20K win in Ur where the four wonders were built or a Persian conquest as they had expanded with little constraint and were second to India in both land and population, a dangerous situation with Xerxes in control.]

[Editor’s Note 2 – I am nearly done at this point and had thoughts that maybe my 100K Culture win might be medal worthy, but reading about Kunnigas’ exceptional game, my best hope for an award is lowest scoring 100K win.]

 

[DBear]

Middle Ages

DBear's CotM15 Ancient Age--Open:

Here a moo, there a moo
My first decision is which cow do I start with first. To the west is more BG but probably more jungle. It will take an extra turn to start in the east, so west it is. Delhi is founded in -3950 after a walk west, starts a warrior for defense. We start researching writing at max. Worker moves to irrigate cow. The first warrior is built in -3700. Our second warrior is built in -3550 and starts exploring.

Welcome to the jungle
Dyes are spotted in -3500, and Delhi's expansion follows. Delhi starts a settler in -3250 after building another roving warrior. This one heads west into the marsh. The Vijayanagar (hereafter refered to as the Vijay) are contacted in -3050. Trade them alpha for pot + 10. The next turn a blue border is spotted dangerously close to where we planned our second city.

The population boom
Delhi pops a settler in -2950. Bombay founded in -2800. The Lan Xang (hereafter referred to as Laotians) have already built Viangchan nearby to claim the gems. We trade them alpha for warcode + 10. In -2590 we contact Sumeria, trade alpha for BW + 20. Laotians refuse to trade mason or wheel for CB. In -2390 we learn writ, start law, going for the republic slingshot. We find an Arab scout, but they have nothing to trade. We trade writ to Laos for mason + slave and to Sumer for mystic + 25. Madras built in -1990, starts a temple so it can work better land.

Heathen hordes
In -1950 we trade Vijay mystic + 10 for wheel. We don't see any horses. In -1750 we connect Madras, just as 2 Laotian warriors appear. Send a warrior to defend. Bangalore is built at this time, starts a temple to pressure the encroaching Laotians. It turns out they were barb hunting. In -1650 we learn law, start philo. Trade law to Laos for IW + 100 and find that we have loads of iron. Calcutta is built next turn and embassies are opened to Vijay and Laos.

Broken slingshot
In -1550 we trade law to Sumer for poly, then trade poly to Laos for map + horseback. A century later we learn philo, start republic--NO! I switch to lit. None of my neighbors have philo, so who does? We finally see some horses. The Chinese are contacted next turn, they are backward. WTH has Philo? Lahore is founded in -1400 next to the horses, Karachi founded two turns later, as Sumeria starts pushing into that area.

Just say no
The Arabs try to extort philo in -1300. I refuse, they declare. I bribe Vijay to fight them with poly for 38. Karachi is roaded at this time. Learn lit in -1200, start math. Trade lit to Vijay for math + 13, switch to currency. The first battle takes place next turn, as our sword makes a clean kill vs. wounded Arab horse that had killed a Vijay warrior. No promo. A Vijay settler is spotted on mountains to the south, bring warriors up to block. The Vijay settler ends up settling uncomfortably close to us. We are forced to found Kolhapur in -1075 at a less than optimal place. They start a temple for cultural pressure. Bangalore gets a galley onto the water in time for the QSC.

QSC stats
Score: 215 Firaxis, 3838 Jason. We are last among the known countries.
Land: 110 squares, 8 towns.
Population: 11 happy, 9 content, 2 unhappy.
Units: 6 workers, slave, 4 warriors, archer, 5 swords, galley.
Experience: 3 vets, 8 regulars.
Buildings: 2 rax, grain, 4 temples.
Production: 71 food, 150 shields, 25 gold
Tech: All ancients except currency, construct, republic, monarch. We have 243 beakers gathered toward currency.
Diplo: 5 contacts, 2 embassies.

Eastward ho!
Swords pillage horses outside Damascus in -975. The next turn, Arabs sign Laotians against us. We kill a jav and take 2 slaves outside Viangchan.
Meanwhile our galley has been exploring and spots Japan in -875. They are backward and on an offshore island. In -800 we learn currency, trade it for construct + 108, moving into the MA. We also make peace with the Arabs at this time, making them pay 103 for reparations. All units are shifted toward the eastern front.