COTM16 First Spoiler: Middle Ages, Starting Continent

[Karasu]

First thing to do upon returning from holidays: open the spoiler thread!

So here it comes.
In order to read and post in this thread, you need to:

- Have reached the end of the Ancient Age and be researching a Middle-Age tech
- Have full knowledge of your home continent

BTW. We haven't heard from GOTM-AI in a while, but I know it has downloaded the save...

 

[BuildCityWalls!]

I've been playing this game like I usually do, trying to conquor the world. Up until today I'd totally forgotton that the other civs can win by UN or spaceship!! Now they are probably going to beat me to it, dammit.

No spoilers here but I'd advise getting off the continent ASAP.

 

[compmage]

At work now so I am writing this from memory, will update tonight with details when I can check my saves and logs.

First CotM I've played and only my second Monarch game (first was GotM 45). I'll probably submit this although victory has not yet been asured.

I was pleased to notice that we had 4 continental luxuries but not very impressed that there were NO horses anywhere to be found, I wonder how you can research Horseback Riding without any horses to ride?

Anyway, as a result early warfare was slow and my city placement, which was setup to take advantage of the 2 move UU and horsemen for quick attacking and defending and to give the cities slightly more room to grow, proved to be a pain later on.

I also seemed to have developed the unwanted skill of picking research topics that the AI was already busy with. Needless to say that tech trading was scares and virtually no-existant later on since everyone already knew everything that I could research.

Will update with QSC stats and more details later tonight.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Open - 20k

The screenie from the pregame thread made me think we were on a coast. I was gonna possibly use that "coast" for a 20k site. No BG's were found by the worker and scout, so I settled in place. To my good fortune, a most excellent 20k site was just a few tiles NE on the river. I was pretty glad about this because I can now go for my first GOTM 20k attempt.

Timeline
2150BC Temple
1400BC Colossus
1225BC Library
875BC Mausolleum of Mausollos
590BC Statue of Zeus, Golden Age
250BC The Great Library
250BC 1st MGL, builds army
210BC GA ends
190BC revolt
150BC Republic begins
90BC enter MA

As you can see I built the Mausolleum before the SoZ. A pretty huge mistake. I would've taken me maybe 20 turns to get Ivory connected, so I had to build the Mausolleum first to get it out of the way and start on the SoZ.

QSC Stats
3 cities
14 population
2 workers
2 warriors
2 Impis
all AA tech but Code of Laws, Construction, Currency, Polytheism, the Republic, and Monarchy.

My QSC stats were very weak as I focused every bit on 20k site...well, sort've. I don't think a 2150BC Temple is good at all. I'm in the late MA now and so far this game has been good fun.

 

[ionimplant]

Open - 20k

Timeline
2150BC Temple
1400BC Colossus
1225BC Library
875BC Mausolleum of Mausollos
590BC Statue of Zeus, Golden Age
250BC The Great Library
250BC 1st MGL, builds army
210BC GA ends
190BC revolt
150BC Republic begins
90BC enter MA

very good progress! i daresay if you're lucky to get another great leader to rush the heroic epic soon, you'll win the fastest 20k.

 

[ionimplant]

my ancient age was quite peaceful since there's a lot of room for expansion. only two wars were waged and a few cities were conquerred. however the major battle to reunite the continent was to begin in the MA. didn't get any great wonder and the two AIs on the home continent were too slow in building wonders...
didn't get the republic slingshot and instead opt for map making (should have chosen codes of law). researched republic and by trading it with the AIs on the other continent, enter the MA (forgot the date). only highlights being got 2 great leaders, the 1st one formed an army while the 2nd one rushed heroic epic.

 

[Markus5]

I retired from this game in the IA from frustration more than anything else. Neighboring AIs were very aggressive and I couldn't get a break from the RNG.

 

[Redbad]

Open, going to space

This monarch-game was the worst I played in at least a year.

Upon downloading the game I had a deep thought about how to start and decided for first scout W and N and second worker SE. No bg’s and no sea, in fact it was all rubbish I saw. So for not to waste any turns I just settled in place.
Started building a granary which I whipped in 3150BC. Next a worker and then settlers and some workers.

I thought I was clever to start research on the wheel.

so perhaps it's a good idea to start research on the Wheel…. it should be good trading and it's always handy to know where the horses are.

Well my neighbours didn’t know alpha (stupid Monty had both the same starting techs and Inca only had masonry as a new tech), so had to start research alpha anyway. And we all know where the horses are on our continent. Before research was finisched I could trade for alpha. In 1225BC Philo was researched but no free tech. I guess we wont be in Republic for some time to come. In fact I stayed a despot all AA and became a Republic about 300AD.

When going for spaceship we need the whole continent in order to have enough weight to maintain a fast research pace. But with no horses getting rid of the Aztecs and Inca will take a while. I succeeded however in building the SoZ, so some mounted units were available.

I had hoped to get rid of the neighbours before we met other civs. So fighting ugly wouldn’t be a problem. But the Carthagians came before we managed to destroy Aztecs and Incas. It was all my own fault as the wars dragged on for ever.

First Aztec war started in 875BC and lasted ‘till 775BC. Getting some gold and techs. Then regroup and second Aztec war in 575BC. This one lasted until 330BC. Now the northen part of the continent was under my control but both Aztecs and Inca’s had some islands colonized.
Troops to the south and in 210BC war against both Aztecs and Incas. It would last until the fourth century AD. MA came in 50BC.

I didn’t build any imps to prevent a GA

It went all not well. Research was slow rsulting in a bad MA-date, warfare was slow resulting in the destroying of my reputation and missing out on the free tech was unexpected and painful. And I may add that things didn’t improve in the MA. On the other hand I was entitled to some setbacks as the recent few games went very well.

 

[eldar]

All I can say is, I'm not likely to finish this game - it's going horribly.
1. I forgot to build the Statue of Zeus. With no horses, this was a silly, silly, mistake!
2. The Inca sneak-attacked me well before 1000BC and walked into an undefended city; that hauled my expansion plans way back as I had to scramble units instead of the planned settlers/workers/warriors.
3. My first army, secured against the Aztecs, I stupidly moved to the frontline with only a single unit in it; it was attacked and died.
4. (MA spoiler-ish, but not giving away resources, contacts, etc.) My second army has just escaped from Inca territory with 1HP, and Cuzco just built Knights Templar.

I'm wondering whether or not its work continuing. I can win, but not prettily, and I don't want two non-pretty wins in a row (GOTM46 was such a game too - two wars of attrition followed by a dull tech race.)

 

[kojimanard]

Conquest class. Settled in place, with the second city (Ulundi) east on the river and coast and third (Bapedi) west to the ivory. I took literature with the philosophy free tech and then beelined to Mathematics. The shield rich Ulundi started the Great Library, switched to SoZ, and back to the Great Library. After Math, I researched the Republic and changed. The Aztecs attacked the Mayas, and I declined both offers to get involved; they fought to a stand off and made peace. Expansion was slow during the AA, and I entered the MA in 70 AD. With only eight cities, I was behind my neighbors in cities and territory, but ahead in tech from the GL and trading. The Zulus’ peaceful existence was come to end shortly after this point, the results of which lead them to erect a shrine to Zeus to thank him for his divine Ancient Cavalry.

I’ve had more time to play the last few weeks and have been improving (e.g., getting decent at MM) and have been doing reasonably well at Emperor. I was tempted to try Open class, but, having failed to win any of the COTMs I’ve tried, I thought I should stay with Conquest. From some of the comments in this thread, I think that was a good idea.

 

[Megalou]

@Redbad,
It sounds to me like you disregard the fact that this map is not very easy (Well, OK, you could actually say dull )

I am also going for a sci-fi victory. Here are some of the problems I encountered:

* It took forever to get a substantial amount of workers. I hardly built any military but still.
* It took forever and ever to get rid of a substantial amount of jungle.
* I was sneak attacked by Inca. A gut feeling had made me build an impi who saved an ivory town but also triggered GA too early.
* The map didn't seem to lend itself to any particular victory condition (except maybe 20K) so I decided too late on a victory condition.

Some good breaks:
* I got the Republic sling-shot in 1200 BC.
* I got SoZ.
* I came out on top of the early war with Incas.
* I got a decent MA date, 630 BC although my research capabilities at this time was very limited. I wasn't really ready for MA.

More long-windedness and a few poor choices will follow in the MA. So, Redbad, I think there will be a good fight between us.

 

[Redbad]

More long-windedness and a few poor choices will follow in the MA. So, Redbad, I think there will be a good fight between us.

I would like to think that, but you have to screw up somewhat more. You're 29 turns ahead of me entering the MA. Though after the wars things slowly improved it still wasn't untill the IA that I got on top of things.

Nevertheless I'm anxious to see too how our games develop. And perhaps with me being such a builder, I still might have a chance against you.

 

[Megalou]

Alright Redbad, here's some more consolation: When I entered MA, in a golden age mind you, it said Monotheism 11 turns.

 

[chunkymonkey]

After seeing that others have had trouble with this game, I may continue from where I gave up in frustration a couple of days ago, although I'm not sure if I'll be able to salvage anything decent.

I decided after sending the scout to the NE, that the grass must be greener up there, so sent the settler on a trek, and eventually settled Zimbabwe amongst the BGs in 3800BC. I think the trade-off between these 4 lost turns and no food bonus, against a few BGs was too costly, considering the misfortune I had from here on. I think it all came down to not being able to throw out workers quick enough.

I generally had a string of bad luck all the way through the early game:

- I missed the Republic slingshot, so I had to self-research it. Although when I eventually finished I could trade this with an overseas power for remaining AA techs in 390BC.
- I lost out on SoZ by one turn, so I built the Lighthouse instead (i suppose it may come in useful in the future).
- I got a 7 turn anarchy
- I got pillaged by barbs a couple of times.

The bad luck continued and worsened into the MA, but that's a story for later.

Meagre QSC stats:

7 towns, 13 citizens
2 settlers, 3 workers, 5 warriors, 5 archers, 1 impi, 1 curragh.
still chasing Republic slingshot.
2 rax, 1 granary.
2 contacts.

 

[Redbad]

@chunkymonkey
Welcome to the club. It looks like you're in perfect shape for the spacerace competition.

@Megalou
You've convinced me. If that's the amount of turns you get out of a republican GA it's truly awful. I think I must have had something simular being despot with no GA.

 

[eldar]

After reading the tribulations of the others, I may go back to the game.
After all, I have been building Libraries and Markets during my GA, which I at least managed to save for the mid-Middle Ages

 

[Salte]

open, going for domination

This will be my worst cotm by far in terms of score.
Partly because of a difficult starting position, but probably even more related to mistakes made out of frustration.
I sent my scout S and E without finding any good land, so in a desperate attemt i sent my worker E, but still nothing, so I settled in place and followed Redbads advice to research the wheel at 100%.

My initial build was scout, settler, warrior.

3400BC: Meet the Aztecs, but no tech trade options.
3250BC: Meet the Incas, they have Bronze W and Masonry, but i have nothing for them.
3050BC: Discover the Wheel. Trade Wheel for Masonry with the Incas and Wheel for BW + 10g with the Aztecs. Start research on Horseback Riding (what a waste, didnt even check for horses)
2750BC: Found Ulundi along the river by the coast and start building granary.
2110BC: Found Bapedi by the wheat on BG.
1500BC: Found Hlobane next to the incense and floodplains.
1225BC: Found Isandhlwana on an elephant.
1175BC: Another waste, discover Philosophy, no free tech for me
1125BC: Found Intombe on the coast, west of Zimbabwe
1050BC: Found Mpondo by the lakes south of Zimbabwe

QSC stats (bordering on embarrasing):
7 cities, 14 citizens, 1 settler
1 granary, 1 barrack
all first and second level techs except maths, phil and poly from third (mapmaking in 7).
Units: 7 impi, 5 warriors, 5 workers, 1 slave

After this i build two more cities and then archers, warriors and swords to prepare for my first war.
Also got the great library in 30AD!
Declared on the Aztecs in 10AD an captured most of their cities fairly quick and also kicked off my golden age. Their capital however turned this game from a poor one to a shambles, in my first attemt to take it i lost 10 units (most of them vet or elite swords), almost my entire army, after this i tried again and lost 15 units (medievel infantery against pikes), should have went for his iron first
60AD i got currency from GL and enter the MA.

Here is my world as i enter the MA:

 

[Salte]

On a sidenote (to make things even worse):
I've never been close to having such a bad luck with suicide galleys as in this game. Out of more than 10 attempts only one galley survived one turn in open water (and that was off course off the west coast, so it sunk next turn). If any of my 7 or 8 galleys on the east coast had survived for one turn i would probabably have discovered the other continent.

 

[Markus5]

The only high note of this game was the success of the first and only suicide curagh. I contacted the other civs and milked that for tech parity into the IA. But, as I said, aggressive neighbors and awful RNG luck led me to quit in frustration.

On a lighter note, I started a random game and ended up playing as the Vikings. I've never played them before. I'm a few turns from sending the Berzerkers on a little mission against India.

 

[Nata]

C3C Open.

I see there's kinda a comfort club here, may I join? I too was frustrated with the game and thought I did horrible, but looking at the others I didn't do too bad.

Ok.

4000BC - worker on Wheat. More grass/jungles. Scout - W/N, sees a lake and more jungles. Settler... East. More jungle/grass, but also a hill.
3950BC - Settler East again, towards the hills. More hills! Time to settle, at least it could be productive in Republic.

3900BC - Zimbabwe founded. 1BG will be in radius! Yay! Scout sees some better lands near seashore.
Research: Japan is in the game. Research Alpha. Build ->Scout, Warrior, Settler. Worker improves Wheat, roads grass.

3450BC - meet Inca. They have masonry but won't trade.
3300BC - Meet Aztecs. They have nothing to trade.
2670BC - Ulundi founded on a lake.
2550BC - Alpha learned. Trade it to Aztecs for BW+Masonry+10g, and to Inca for CB+10g. Start on Writing.
2200BC - Bapedi founded on the coast.
2100BC - Writing learned, starting on CoL.
1450BC - CoL learned. Start Philosophy.
1325BC - Trade Writing to Inca for IW+Wheel+50g.

1250BC - Make Republic slingshot! Daren't hope!
Trade Philosophy to Inca for Myst, via Big Picture.

1025BC - Revolt to Republic after connecting Ivory and finishing settler/warrior builds. Draw 5-turn anarchy.

1000BC. save game.
QSC: 8 towns, 14 pop. 4 workers, 7 warriors, 2 archers. 3 suicide curraghs already suicided. 3 barracks.
Missing Math tree, MM and Poly.
In Anarchy, revolting to Republic.

850BC - learn Math, Zimbabwe starts on SoZ.
Trade CoL to Aztecs for MM+70g. Incas have Poly but won't trade it yet.
710BC - Carthage plops a town on our shore. Trade Republic to them for Construction+295g.
650BC - connect Iron, upgrade 10 warriors to swords.
510BC - time to dow Inca. 10 swords, 2 archers pose to take 3 cities.
450BC - learn Literature, sell it to Inca & Carthage for cash, and dow Inca.
430BC - 2 Inca towns captured.
410BC - I have 1 turn till SoZ. Aztecs complete ToA, and freaking Carthage builds SoZ in a Wonder cascade! Switch to GW.
390BC. English complete GW. Have to settle for freaking MoM.
370BC. Aztecs extort Lit and attack us! Impi starts GA.
230BC. Research Currency and enter MA.

Preparing to attack Inca: