COTM 22 First Spoiler - entering the middle ages

[ainwood]

COTM 22 - first spoiler

To qualify for this spoiler, you must have reached the middle ages. You must have contact with all other civs in the game, and know the location of their capital city. Please don't post screenshots that show middle-age (or later) resources.

Where did you settle? Did you follow the shallow waters, or risk a trip across the oceans? Did you struggle getting a foothold on the main continent? Did you have to change your plans from your normal recipe for a monarch game?

 

[azzaman333]

My people got lost in the sea, giving me a conquest loss in 3800BC without scoring.

 

[Più Freddo]

Went east, saw game but a border close by. Went south, found a nice spot, settled, met the Germans, who fairly soon took both my capital and my horse and iron city. Game over.

Given the late start and that the AI had three to five cities at start on a very confined space -- and that it went so badly -- this felt more like demigod than monarch.

 

[TheHaze]

My first post ever and only my third GOTM/COTM.
Well, as I finished COTM21 too late for submission I started early on this one. I settled on the first spot I found and met my neighbouring civs soon. They had 4-5 cities (Monarch???). I managed to found 3 cities (one of them had iron) before I was completely surrounded and only fighting for survival.
But hey, I made it to the MA on tech parity. From then on it only went downwards, but that would be for another spoiler.

 

[Abegweit]

I did the obvious thing and followed the coastal squares to the east, founding MacOsten at the first reasonable spot in 3900BC. I researched Pottery and then went for the Republic slingshot, obtaining it without trouble around 1450BC.

The AI threatened me several times. I usually backed down but when the Program threatened me around 2000BC, I decided to tell them to screw off in order get some war happiness. I brought Linus into the war to distract Denise.

As other have noted, the AI grew at a frightening rate. I did manage to put down eight towns before being hemmed in, the last one in 1000BC. I learnt Currency and traded around to enter the Middle Ages in 975BC. The world then went up in flames. I tricked the Virologists into declaring war and brought the Satan and the Dells along. Gatter and I both drew Engineering as our free tech

QSC stats:
8 towns, pop 25
10 workers and 5 slaves
3 horsemen, one hoplite, one warrior, three cats
3 granaries, 1 harbour, 2 barracks
All AE techs except Construction, Currency and Monarchy.
Currency and the Middle Ages due in one turn.

 

[Wotan]

Opening moves
Similar to Più Freddo, I too moved east, spotted the Game and was happy for just a moment until I moved another tile east and looked upon a black border. Went South and Settled on a hill next to a GH.

First builds
The GH gave a Warrior so he went out into the world to explore it. First in the direction of the black border. I actually built another two warriors and sent them out, one to check out the immediate area the other headed west. Had some luck with a GH giving me a Settler and founded Glendale with him. Another Settler finished in 2800BC moved SW to claim the incense. After this I built a Granary in Macosten.

Meeting the neighbours
Virologists in 3700BC
Consoles destroyed in 3650BC
Linux in 3450BC
Windoze in 3450BC
Programmers in 3350BC
Dells in 2390BC

Research
Started researching Writing at 100% with a plan to get Republic from a Philosophy/CoL gambit.
Masonry traded from Virologists in 3700BC
The Wheel and WC from Windoze in 3450BC
Pottery and CB from Virologists in 3450BC
Mysticism from Programmers in 3350BC
IW from Windoze in 2950BC
Writing researched in 2470BC, unfortunately Windoze gets it the very same turn so chances of me getting CoL and Philosophy is too small to be worth the gamble. I go for Philosophy to at least get a free tech.
Literacy from a GH in 2270BC
Maths and HBR from Dells in 2030BC
Polytheism from Programmers in 2030BC
Philosophy researched in 2030BC and I pick Monarchy as my free tech. Revolt and 4 turns of Anarchy. Next tech to research; Currency
MM from Windoze in 1870BC.
Construction from Dells in 1550BC
Currency researched in 1525BC
None to trade CoL with so I start on it.
CoL in 1350BC? And I enter MA w. Engineering as my free tech.

Builds in new cities
I had a somewhat different approach in this game with Libraries being the first builds in most cities. With Literacy available in 2270BC and being a Sci tribe it sort of made sense, at least to me.

Relations with other tribes
Tried to keep them happy and on my side at least during the AA. In 1790BC Programmers demanded Philosophy and DoWed me when I declined. Them being on the other side of the known world made the war a real phony war. I quickly entered into negotiations with the other tribes to form a grand alliance against them but when I had established embassies with them all only Linux was in contact with Programmers. They did enter the war on my side for Literacy.

Military might
Having a beneficial trading program with my immediate neighbours, paying them all gpt's for ROP's, luxuries and resources, made them happy enough to stay out of armed conflicts with me.

Locations
Macosten 3800BC
Glendale 3500BC
Miniton 2670BC
Intellimac 1375BC

Summary
Squeezed in between Windoze and Virologists. This had a huge impact on my game, at least as a monarchy game. I had fewer locations than normally at the end of the QSC period but entered the MA at about the normal time for a monarchy game. Building Libraries did help in in keeping the tech pace with so few locations.

After the initial expansion and building my libraries I totally converted to a military approach with Barracks and an occational marketplace the only civics built. But that is for another thread.

Map is of my save at 1000BC but the area owned here is eqivalent to the area I managed to expand peacefully into.

 

[FlowKey]

My cotm was very ... educational ... as in: testing my ability to lose a game without quitting beforehand or throwing my comp out of a window.

I have a full page log, but the short version is: I got crushed by 280AD, just a few turns into the MA.

I was actually wondering if the cotm_open.sav wasn't the predator-game by mistake, since my rival civs had 3-4 towns by the time I settled and my tech pace was near stand-still ...

 

[Nata]

C3C Open.

4000BC - Load the galley, go East.
3900BC - Unload Settler on the G, Worker on Game. Galley sails North, meets Viruses. Trade Alpha&BW for CB, Pottery & 10g.

3850BC - Capital founded. Builds warrior and granary - a mistake in hindsight, should just have built settlers & warriors. Research Writing.

3600BC - meet Linux. get WC+10g for Pottery&CB
3500BC - meet Programmers. Get Wheel for Alpha+20g.
3300BC - exploring Warrior sees Horses and 1st Barbs.
3050BC - Granary completes. Start Settler.
2950BC - meet Windoze. Get Masonry+25g for Pottery.
2430BC - ship settler to the South river but get beaten by Windoze to the location. It's the one with Flood Plains & Insense.
2390BC - Get Mysticism from Windoze for Alpha.
2310BC - Glendale founded.

2310BC - Writing researched. Get Worker+80g from Abe for Writing. Get Hbr+40g from Windoze for Writing. Get IW from Linux for HBR+40g. Get Math from Virus for HBR+50g. Start Philosophy as AIs seem to be researching very fast, no hope for a slingshot.

1950BC - Miniton founded to grab Iron & Cow.
1910BC - See Windoze Archer heading our way. Trade Math to him for 77g and gift him 1gpt.
1790BC - Research Phil 1st and pick Lit. As I dare not hope for a slingshot in this game. Trade Phil around for a lot of gold.
1675BC - Console have been destroyed by somebody. Satan?
1650BC - We hear that Satan are building Glib, so trade Lit to Programmers for MM+40g.

975BC - forgot to save 1000BC. At this point we have: 5 towns, 17 pop, 1 granary, 2 barracks, 3 libraries, 5 workers, 10 warriors (mostly Vet), 2 Hoplites, 1 galley. Missing Curr & Poly.

950BC - Dells meet us, we get Poly+6g from them for Construction.

800BC - Research Republic, sell it to Dells for Currency+Monarchy, enter MA, draw Engineering, same as Programmers. Germany has Mono. Sell Republic to Linux for 60g+11gpt. Germany wants all our money +Eng for Mono. We'll wait, as need money to upgrade to Swords. Revolt. Draw 2 turns of Anarchy!

At this point we are undesided whether we should go military route or do fast research. But the nearest plan is to add land of Viruses to ours.

We are at 975BC:

 

[Caesar of Rome]

C3C Open
I settled in a similar spot to Wotan. On the way to this site I saw the black border but didn't stop. I landed near the goat and then when the galley showed up a blue border decided settler must walk a few squares before settling. Galley managed to tour inner sea before being destroyed.

Barbarians took first worker and looted city.
I managed a warrior and then a worker. Barbarians camped on the hills then came in to destroy improvements.
I decided on second city by incense and went out with Hipolite. Started on temple. Settled third city when second city switched to blue. I rejected first cash demand and thereafter all but Dell declared war.

I certainly wasted a couple of turns walking the settler. I couldn't believe my second city would flip so early on. I only survived so long because my golden age was triggered and hoplites were suddenly quick to come by.

Initially I managed some tech trades. It wasn't long before i was impossibly behind.

A very quick game. Barbarians robbed me and I didn't recover.

 

[Crakie]

Open

Early Moves

I went east and settled on the grass next to game in the third turn. I was tempted to move further but the idea of raging barbs and an undefended settler did not strike me as particularly appealing.

Research
Research to writing at max, hoping to still make a slingshot of some sort. For this I initially held back on trading Alpha to our, very close, neighbours the virologists but as soon as I met Linux I realized that would not work. As my galley sailed counterclockwise around the inner sea, I met two more opponents and I brokered techs to keep up. This also got me a decent amount of money and two additional workers. I met the Dells by an exploring warrior, a civ called 'The Console' was destroyed pretty early IIRC.

I was not the first to get to writing, but I came in second. Next was philo with construction as our free tech. After a few heavy rounds of tech trading I was in the MA while self-researching the republic. I ended up trading for it when I got a good roll of the dice with Feud as my free tech (traded for engineering with the Dells).

Expansion

Initially I was thinking to make a stack of archers and hoplites to take on the virologists. Those hoppies would make me practically invincible! But I ended up expanding peacefully, getting about 8 cities, claiming incense, two furs, horses and two iron.

One anomaly was that I got my second city from a goody hut settler! I thought this was impossible in xOTM! I did not benefit from it that much though, as it ticked off the Satan who declared. I barely survived using archers only, I really did not want a despotic GA. In any case, I had to devote all my resources to producing military for a good number of turns. Had the Satan not been fighting the Programmers as well, I would have been crushed.

 

[Twonky]

Another safe-sailor here. Macosten was founded on the hill NE of the game, dispite the black borders. Seeing how advanced the AI was already, I decided to go for the ultimate in farming and chopped the gameforest for an early granary. Boy, this one backfired! Without the bonus vs. barbarians, they did wreak havoc, destroying ~40 shields in Macosten in 3450bc. So no early granary and all those important turns were wasted. My plans for an archer-rush were buried too, of course. Instead, I had to pop-rush the granary after getting 2 warriors out and built my first settler in 2310bc only. Shortly thereafter, barbs kill 2 citizens in Macosten. At about the same time, they also took my worker and a slave I had aquired.

QSC-stats:
6 towns with 12 citizens, 1 granary and 1 barracks
5 workers, 1 (satanic) slave , 3 warriors, 1 hoplite
missing Currency, Republic, Literature, Monarchy
69 tiles owned and 777 gold in the bank

I don´t really recall my research-path (I think I made a futile attempt for the slingshot), but that doesn´t matter, as I didn´t self-research a single AA-tech for the first time in my Civ3-career!
So I had to buy my way through the tech-tree, which brought me into the MA in 730bc.

This is easily the toughest game start I have played since joining the Cotm-competition. I still cannot believe how much of a pain a monarch-AI can be!

 

[socralynnek]

I settled on hills NE of game.
I only founded 4 cities and then build swords and hoplites. When the Virologists declared on me, I was prepared. They didn't have iron, so slowly I captured their cities with swords. My GA was in Monarchy which I bought for much money.

As the Virologists hat the GLib in their capital, I captured the surrounding cities until they only had the capital and a city very far away. I captured the GLib city and went to the MA far in the ADs.

What really helped me is that the Virus never went out of Republic, even after a few turns of anarchy. WW has crippled them.
And it was the first time where I pillaged land I soon wanted to capture.

has anyone met The Console? They got destroyed in 3600 BC in my game.
Where did they start?

 

[klarius]

Open

I took the safe route and settled as soon as possible sw of the game.
Science writing @ full.
Build 2 warriors then granary.
Between the galley and one conscript warrior (the only good thing I got from a hut) all surviving civs were met by 2590.
A demand from Linux lead to a long phony war starting in 2150. No real war action in AA.


Cities
3900BC Macosten
2430BC Glendale (towards Satan by the incense)
2150BC Miniton (east near cow; grabs iron)
1750BC Geefive Towers (horses se)
1725BC Intellimac (backfill towards Glendale)
1525BC Firedwire

That's all in AA, though 2 more cities settled before 1000BC.

Science
3800 traded for masonry, pottery
3450 traded for TW, WC, CB
2900 traded for IW
2550 bought the last turn off writing (virus), trade for mysticism. Decide to go for philosophy directly.
2030 philosophy researched, trade for math then take currency as free tech. Buy HBR.
1950 trade for MM.
1525 literature researched
1450 trade for construction
1275 CoL researched trade for poly, enter MA, get engineering and can trade for mono and feud right away .

With the good science luck, I will go for some high research victory, probably diplomatic.

 

[ainwood]

has anyone met The Console? They got destroyed in 3600 BC in my game.
Where did they start?

I stuffed-up with them. There was a slight bug due to something with the editor, a crappy monitor and dodgy colour-blindness. Fortunately, its the same for all classes.

 

[Rustwork]

i followed the eastern coastal route.

unload as soon as i found land. next to the river and game.

i went min research for writing. was second to it. my tech rate was so slow, and thinking the slingshot was out of reach i went for philosophy. a different civ had code of law and i hoped using the big picture to trade for it and still get republic for free. i missed philosophy be one turn . i went for literature, and with that monopoly i was able to pull even. with still such a slow rate i fell behind again missing currency. i don't remember the year, but after reaching MA i recieved engineering for free. a few trades got me monotheism and feudalism along with the republic. all civs near parity at this point.

because of my weak empire i had many demands made of me for gold. i usually gave in, but finally was fed up with this. (never can i remember so many demands on a monarch game!) i stood my ground when linux made another demand, they declared war and sent a steady flow of archers into my territory. we fought hard. i lost a few units, but no cities. this early war surely held me back. in hindsight i should have given them what they wanted. i was forced to defend with hoplites triggering a discouraging despotism GA.

with so much seemingly against me i was ready to pack it in. i have decided to fight. i have excellent resources for war, and started to push my borders into virologist territory. i believe i will eventually succeed. this is becoming a fun and carefully played game. interesting how a monarch game can be made to be so difficult. excellent map !

QSC

6 towns
14 population
1 settler
4 workers
2 warriors
4 swordsman
5 hoplite
1 granary

 

[denyd]

OK, since nobody else has mentioned it I will. Something's not right about this game. I'm reviewing my notes for my write up and a couple of things jumped out as impossibles.

First at Monarch the AI gets 2 defensive & 1 offensive bonus unit. If they know Bronze Working the defensive are spearmen else they are warriors. If they know Warrior Code the offensive are archers else they are warriors. When I met the American replacement in turn 4 they had a defensive spearmen in their capital even though I traded them Bronze Working. Also they had 4 cities even though it was only turn 3. Later (turn 10) when I met the Viking replacement they also had 3 cities. I suppose they might have popped a city/settler from a hut, but 2 seems a bit beyond wild for the RNG. Also each of the first couple of AI seemed to be blessed with a tech or two. They might have been having excellent hut luck, but again it seemed weird.

Of course it could be that my meds are kicking in, but it did seem unusual.

 

[socralynnek]

I also thought: Is this Predator, I am playing instead of Open?

But I guess, it was not a usual start for them. I guess there was some strengthening going on.

But someone could have placed GH around the starting location of the civs, but still...
Nevertheless the game is hard but fun, so I don't complain.

 

[klarius]

Well, Denyd, this is obviously a hand-built surprise package.
I wonder, if this was originally intended as the April's fool game .
BTW you didn't find the Virologist capital in turn 4 (no way to get there this fast).
Did you notice when this town grew to size 2 ...

 

[denyd]

I think it was already at size 2 when I met it (I'll check later).

My biggest quandry was how the AI grew so fast and how they got a unit without the required tech.

The odds are that I won't win (maybe not even finish) this as I was going for a peaceful 20K which is doable in Monarch. At the current tech pace, the AI will either launch or vote a win long before I reach 10K, assuming they don't stomp on me before that.

 

[klarius]

I think it was already at size 2 when I met it (I'll check later).

No need to check.
It grew so fast that the only explanation is that it existed already in 4000BC (ok short of a FP wheat, which it didn't have).
As found out later, it's 4 tiles away from the capital, so no chance even with a direct town from a scout.
Ainwood has edited in cities.
If you really want to see something crazy, load the initial save and check for top 5 cities.

But nevertheless it's monarch. At some time the AIs will fall back as usual.