COTM45 - First Spoiler

[civ_steve]

COTM 45 First Spoiler - the Ancient Age!

Reading Requirements

1. You must be able to research a Middle Age technology.

Posting Restrictions

• You may discuss contacts and tech trades with off-continent civs; please, no screenshots and be somewhat discreet.
• No discussions of the middle ages (or later)
• No screenshots of any middle-age (or later) resources.
• Absolutely NO discussion of any other currently active 'X'OTM!

Were you a little surprised at the # of AI civs on your continent? Did that make things easier for you? COTM45 has a 'few' challenges in store for you. Like ... strategic resources! There's some access but you have to be quick. Were you quick and did you gain those resources, or are you having trouble gaining them? Have you had any direct experience with the AI's more powerful UUs, and how did that go?

 

[Red Horse]

I was excited to see we would be playing the Ottomans. I really like the Sipahi. This unit being the key to the game, I researched the wheel and sent my warriors packing. What they found, of course, was nothing. I had suspected as much, so now I needed floaty things. The alphabet was next. My row boats found the ponies, and iron for that matter, so now I needed a boat that could carry something. I researched Philo with the idea to take map making. I was successful and quickly shipped my waiting settlers to the appropriate locations. The rest of the AA was uneventful as I concentrated on settling my islands completely. Being alone, I believe, was a big help.

I decided very early on that I would try for a conquest victory (my first). Failing that it would be domination. My strategy then was to build horsemen and race to Military Tradition. I did not want to risk an early horseman rush since everyone else’s UU would be in their prime in the AA and early MA. With the help of some tech trading I left the AA first, leading my known rivals (Egypt, Rome, Persia and Greece), but with Cleo gaining.

 

[krakedhalo]

So this will be my first xOTM, after messing up GOTM75 by playing in Conquests. Oops. Doing much better here anyhow, this is a little too easy! This will be the about the 3rd Monarch game I finish, but with a starting loc. like this, how could we not rule? Initial plan is either space, if I feel peaceful, or my first conquest victory after a few dominations if I don't.

(Open class)
Worker S to cow, spots 2nd cow, so Settler goes SW to found capital. Immediately begin improvements to set up 4 turn settler factory, the first time I've ever had one of those going. When I see the silks nearby I get scared for my life - why on earth would we get 3 cows and silks? I must be about to get crushed by someone. Top cities show all AA UU's, so all cities besides capital start cranking out defense.

Finish exploring homeland and realize that won't be a problem. Send curraghs in all directions, and spot roman and egyptian borders, as well as the southern incenses. Research goes Alphabet > Pottery > Writing. I meet Cleo same turn I finish writing, and trade it for CB and WC. Go for MM next. Meet Xerxes and sell him Writing for IW and all his gold. Spot iron on nearby island, but I'm not in danger of losing it so first seaborn settler heads toward incense. Xerxes trades Wheel and Mysticism for MM. Go for Philo. next, and take Poly as free tech since it was the most expensive available. Curraghs meet Greece, and I trade him Writing for all his gold, hoping to cause economic problems, which apparantly worked.

1000BC: 10 cities, plus settler will found 11th next turn. 4 workers, 12 warriors, 3 galleys, 3 spears, 1 archer, 1 curragh. Contact w/4 civs.

This is definitely my best start ever.

Things slow down a bit toward the end of the AA, but not terribly. I found 3-4 more cities on Horse Isle, and 3 more on southern end of Incense Peninsula and further East, getting cities on skinny points to ensure faster shipping lanes later. No one goes for gov't techs, even after I gift prereq's to all but Persia and Egypt. China has GL, Persia has 3-4 Wonders, and Rome has one. Persia is the main competitor, he hits MA with me in 300bc. Egypt has two cities, they'll be out of the game as soon as I go on offense. Haven't had any interactions with UUs, though Xerxes seems to be chomping at the bit with those 5.2.1 Immortals. Plan for now is to head for MilTrad quick, and stock up on upgradeable horses/knights for a quick sipahi swipe through nearby continent.

Errors: I messed up thinking China would get a bunch of techs from GL. They're so isolated, and Carthage and Celts so backward, that the GL really wouldn't have helped them. I forgot that contacts don't trade early in C3C, so I gifted them all the techs they would have gotten from the GL as soon as Xerxes and I knew them. Ah well, they're still backward.

Question: Twice I had boats who could see foreign borders, but no units. I couldn't contact these civs, as expected. Next turn, no units of that civ come out to spot me, their chiefs don't contact me, but they're now on the diplo screen. What gives? This didn't happen a 3rd time I could see borders.

 

[eldar]

Question: Twice I had boats who could see foreign borders, but no units. I couldn't contact these civs, as expected. Next turn, no units of that civ come out to spot me, their chiefs don't contact me, but they're now on the diplo screen. What gives? This didn't happen a 3rd time I could see borders.

All cities have line-of-sight 1 tile outside their borders (but not diagonally from a corner). So if you end up next to a border, then your unit will be "visible" to the other Civ. Note you must use the Ctrl+D screen to make contact - the AI won't show up on F4 right away.

Anyway... my AA spoiler.

Predator, open-minded to start off with and still so in the AA.

First off, I moved the worker south to the cow, and got a nice surprise:

Okay, TWO cows. It looked like there'd be room for another city by the sea to the NE, so I settled in place. Not so good - no real room for that seaside resort - but....

Stone the cows, three of 'em! And a couple of BGs too. This meant I could run a 4-turn Warrior+Settler factory - the Holy Grail of such things (aside from some truly insane things possible during a Golden Age, or after rails have been built). Handy for the raging Barbarians we'd been promised.

Better, that plan only used two cows (one grass, one plains), so the third could go to another city. A truly food-rich start, which pretty much got my suspicions cranked up. No way at Monarch we'd be given so much scope for expansion, and the actual room to fill up easily....

By 1000BC, my suspicions had been fully realised:

This dictated my research path: after the Republic slingshot (no immediate revolt - it just didn't "feel" right), I researched Map Making.

I had found the "local" resources, though, and was well on the way to securing them with no apparent trouble.

In 1000BC I had:
16 cities, 33 population
232 gold
176 shields
159 food
All AI techs except: Maths (94 beakers gathered), Currency, Construction, Polytheism, Monarchy
2 Granaries, 1 Barracks
2 Settlers
21 Workers
21 Warriors
4 Galleys
5 Curraghs
3 contacts

I reached the Middle Ages in 510BC (with an additional contact), drew Feudalism as my free tech, was able to buy Monotheism from A.N.Other Scientific Civ. My immediate plans were:
- Send some Archers after nearby Civ A, whilst waiting for Iron & Horses to be hooked up.
- Research Chivalry, then go up the bottom of the tech tree to enjoy some Sipahi-based fun.
- See where to go from there.

[Edit]
I was in Republic by the time I entered the Middle Ages, having drawn a 9-turn Anarchy!! However the abundance of food meant I could run a lot of scientists so it didn't really hurt my research rate all that much.

I didn't go to war during the AA, so my experiences with the "beefed" AI UUs won't appear 'til later.

 

[killerkid]

I don't remember exactly, but I colonized my whole island quickly, although the Northern half was less productive. Egypt DoWed me early, causing for great War Happiness. I was able to land a settler on the incense near the southern peninsula thing, giving me an extra luxury.

Resources were obtained easily, I got iron before I finished colonizing my mainland. I built the GLIB, as I wanted to save money on a horse>Sipahi upgrade. I entered the MA around... 100 A.D? Somewhere around then. I got Feudalism.

I am in the Modern times now, and hope to finish soon. I will milk the game, and hopefully either come out with

A) 100K or
B) Diplo

 

[mc-red]

This game i played open class the same as my first attempt in COTM 43. I found this much easier and similar to killer kid. I build Great library and great lighthouse and made contact with everyone while in ancient age. No problem getting both resource islands. Held of switching to republic till taking out the capital of my nearest neighbour. Currently have researched flight and looking for either conquest or domination victory with three rivals left.
It was interesting how the various aa unique units lined up. In particular the 3.2.2 werent able to overrun their defensive united neighbour. Also, my nearest neighbour despite being constantly at war with me held off the 5.2.1 immortals who made no in roads.
Barbarians were a non event except i finally lost all my curraghs to barb galleys but not before their job was done.

 

[Red Horse]

I built the GLIB, as I wanted to save money on a horse>Sipahi upgrade.

Ummm, am I missing something?

 

[killerkid]

GLIB gives you techs that 2 known civs have-I was at 0% science, with on scientist, so I was gaining 30-60 gpt. I stayed caught up technologically, because I was always getting the same techs as the top civs.

So, I was getting enough gold for the 210 cost per horse.

 

[Tasslehoff]

I've colonized my Island quite quickly, sent out suicide curraghs and met everybody before sending out the galleys. I've got two cities on the Egyptian land, a city on Ironland, and three cities on Horseland, with another coming soon. I had originally planned for a SS victory, but seeing my total dominance techwise (two techs into MA, everybody's at least two techs behind), even with me trading them cheap techs, I may decide to head for a late MA conquest instead.

 

[Red Horse]

GLIB gives you techs that 2 known civs have-I was at 0% science, with on scientist, so I was gaining 30-60 gpt. I stayed caught up technologically, because I was always getting the same techs as the top civs.

So, I was getting enough gold for the 210 cost per horse.

Oh, OK. I get it.

I never had much success with the GLIB. It always seemed like the AI rushed right to Education and traded it around just to screw me.

Perhaps a pre-build for Leo's?

 

[Aigburth]

The goal was a space victory from the outset, like Eldar I moved the worker to the cow, spotted the other cow and settled in place. First research was pottery which was completed in 3350bc. Next was, what else, but bee-line to Republic slingshot which I achieved in 1500bc becoming a republic in 1425bc.

After becoming a republic, I researched literature (4 turns), maths (4 turns), currency (5 turns) and construction (5 turns). The remaining ancient tech were all acquired from the AI during this time and I entered the Middle Ages in 975bc.

QSC:

11 Cities
46 Citizens
1 Settler
15 Workers
1 Warrior, 1 Archer, 3 Curraghs
2 Granaries, 6 Libraries
466 Gold
All ancient age tech except Monarchy and Construction (464 beakers collected)
6 Contacts.

 

[bluebox]

Being on an island made things much more easier for me. Actually, the starting location fit my plans perfectly.

I decided to move away from the coast after I discovered the 2 cows. I found the wheat next and settled 3S. I built up a 6-turn settler factory without a granary that helped me settling the continent quickly.

My first settler settled 2SW from the initial start to built up my 20k-City. First, it used the bg's and the plains cow, later it worked the other cows, too. My first government change was monarchy to get HG and to get rid of the tile penalty.

I had some 2nd hand experience with Celts' UU - they conquered Carthage quickly and completely. Except from a small conflict on the horses island - I took 2 Egyptian cities to own it completely, there was no war activity on my side ... until much later ...

 

[ignas]

Predator, going for fast research game

Move worker and spot one more cow. Settle Istanbul in 3950BC 1SW. Early in game capital build 2 warriors, 2 settlers and a granary. Second town built nearwheat and produced 4 turn workers in despotism and later in Republic 6 turn settlers without a granary.

Research was pottery, alpha, writing, CoL, philosophy (Get Republic slingshot in 1575 BC and become Republic in 1475 BC), currency, construction, polytheism. Traded for other techs with AI and entered MA in 1000BC. Gifted sci civs, bought their 2 different techs and got Theology for free. Research to Education, due in 10 turns

In 1000BC i had:

6 contacts
14 settlements
40pop
a settler
21 workers
3 libraries in high commerce towns
1 granary
1 barracks

Food rich and very fun start. Plan for MA is to get Golden Age ASAP via Mausolleum and Hanging Gardens. Also some warfare to get more land for score and specialist farms.

 

[Aigburth]

Predator, going for fast research game

Move worker and spot one more cow. Settle Istanbul in 3950BC 1SW. Early in game capital build 2 warriors, 2 settlers and a granary. Second town built nearwheat and produced 4 turn workers in despotism and later in Republic 6 turn settlers without a granary.

Research was pottery, alpha, writing, CoL, philosophy (Get Republic slingshot in 1575 BC and become Republic in 1475 BC), currency, construction, polytheism. Traded for other techs with AI and entered MA in 1000BC. Gifted sci civs, bought their 2 different techs and got Theology for free. Research to Education, due in 10 turns

In 1000BC i had:

6 contacts
14 settlements
40pop
a settler
21 workers
3 libraries in high commerce towns
1 granary
1 barracks

Food rich and very fun start. Plan for MA is to get Golden Age ASAP via Mausolleum and Hanging Gardens. Also some warfare to get more land for score and specialist farms.

Wow many similarities in our games here, I was also building those two wonders for early medieval golden age, will be interesting to see how things turn out!

 

[ignas]

Yeah, i thouht the same after seeing your report. Competition is good!

 

[Othniel]

Open class, going for fast conquest. I normally would play predator at this level, but I'm rusty, just coming off a 3-month Civ burnout break, and I want a somewhat competitive score.

I didn't feel like keeping a detailed log this time, so I'm reconstructing this post from memory and from screenshots. By the way, ScreenShotAssistant is a really handy program! I've been using it for a long time now and it makes being a frenetic screenshot-taker such a breeze.

Anyhow...

Overall gameplan was to blitz to Military Tradition, build Leo's in sync with researching Mil Trad, and then upgrade my scads of horsemen to Sipahi. I was hoping to make a dent in the nearby opponents with just the horseman and then use a Sipahi rush as the coup de gras.

With that strat in mind, I decided to avoid Chivalry entirely. I could pump horsemen far more effectively, and with Leo's and enough gold, mass rush Sipahi. Of course the horseman --> Sipahi upgrade costs a bundle, 210 without Leo's; 105 with it.

Avoiding Chivalry was also partially due to the fact that I somewhat stupidly settled directly on the nearby iron source, making a connect/disconnect tactic a moot possibility. *slaps forehead* I also wanted to avoid making Swords because I had no intention of upgrading them later, but the presence of certain enhanced UU's nearby changed that plan slightly.

The Gory Details:
Moved worker to cow, saw the second cow, and unlike many others, moved 1SW before settling.

Sipahi Central (Capital) built Warrior--Warrior--Warrior--Settler--Granary.

I thought about turning the capital into a 4-turn axe/settler factory like eldar did, but I realized early on that we were on a small landmass and didn't want too many warriors because of my horseman strat. So the capital became a four-turn settler factory for the whole AA, as did another city founded 3NW by the plains cow.

Contacts were made with the nearby landmass sometime early in the game. Phony war with the nearest neighbor was started in 1625BC and I signed MA's against that civ with two of its other neighbors. I simply used renegotiate peace to accomplish the MA's.

Research was Pottery, and then the Republic slingshot, gaining Republic for free in 1525 BC and revolted immediately. I drew a fortunate three turns of anarchy.

At this point I made a bit of a research error by going for Map Making next. Greedy me, I wanted galleys asap to settle the nearby islands. But of course, Maps is just about every AI's favorite tech to research, so I could have saved some time by by letting them research it for me.

QSC Stats (the ones I know)
17 cities, 2 settlers
46 pop
2 granaries
2 barracks
FP prebuild, due in 21
4 galleys and a couple of curraghs (I think)
1 spear
4 warriors
10-12 workers (not sure)

In 670 BC I squeezed in a city near the incense hills inside enemy territory. I simultaneously started to ship over my first stack of horseman to prosecute an active war on that civ.

In 650 BC I reached the Middle Ages by trading for Construction (I had previously gifted Maths to the strongest researchers in hopes they would get Construction for me). Monotheism was our free tech and when I gifted up another SCI civ, they got Monotheism too. Double .

I've been back and forth on how I want to start a golden age. Build MoM and the Hanging Gardens, capture the right wonders and build Leo's, or just use Sipahi. In the end I've decided to use Sipahi for the task to free my best cities up for more horse builds. Very possibly a suboptimal decision but we'll see.

Still, things have been going pretty well in the Middle Ages. But that's all for another time.

 

[TheOverseer714]

Welcome back, Othniel! Glad to see such a good player back in the XOTM's. I'm glad one decision I made in my game was correct, and that was the move of my settler. The only thing better than 1 grassland cow is 2. Anyway, and I'm sure you will double my score.

 

[Othniel]

Welcome back, Othniel! Glad to see such a good player back in the XOTM's. I'm glad one decision I made in my game was correct, and that was the move of my settler. The only thing better than 1 grassland cow is 2. Anyway, and I'm sure you will double my score.

Thanks, but I highly doubt I'll double your score. Your SG team scores have been rocketing higher each time and I know you've been a big part of that.

Yeah, moving that settler has worked out pretty well. I think it was worth the one turn delay. The really big thing for my game, I feel, was getting two 4-turn settler factories up and running. Looking at the posted QSC stats so far, it seems like my city and pop numbers were pretty high, although I didn't have tons of workers.

 

[PaperBeetle]

Oh, OK. I get it.

I never had much success with the GLIB. It always seemed like the AI rushed right to Education and traded it around just to screw me.

The AI likes Feudalism a lot, but is not much interested in Engineering. So left to their own devices, there is a fair chance that they will favour the top branch of the medieval. If you want to get the most out of the Glib (short of using gift-away-and-recapture) you could try getting hold of Engineering as soon as possible, and giving it to all the AI. With the option to research Invention and then Guns, they might well be tempted away from Monotheism / Theology for a while. But if your goal is just fast research, the Glib isn't worth the shields at this level.

 

[Red Horse]

The AI likes Feudalism a lot, but is not much interested in Engineering. So left to their own devices, there is a fair chance that they will favour the top branch of the medieval. If you want to get the most out of the Glib (short of using gift-away-and-recapture) you could try getting hold of Engineering as soon as possible, and giving it to all the AI. With the option to research Invention and then Guns, they might well be tempted away from Monotheism / Theology for a while. But if your goal is just fast research, the Glib isn't worth the shields at this level.

Thanks for the tip,PB. I'll have to try that now (though not in a xOTM game ).
Usually at that point of the game (late AA, early MA), I'm still playing catch up in the tech race.