Open Class, going for Conquest.
I decided to take very detailed notes this game as this is a good way to improve, and then I said to myself, well, why note use them and try the QSC again? (The last couple of months I didn't submit a QSC file, as I never had the time to take notes and write a good QSC report before the deadline...) The process of taking time, writing notes and thinking everything over really seems to have payed off: my QSC score now was twice as much as the last time I tried (COTM42).
Anyway here is now my QSC report, a summary will be available at the end. Screenshot is in the attachments.
4000 Scout to mountain, settler 1S. Then it took me 10min to come to a decision whether I should walk my settler S-SE-SE and start the settler factory right away, or whether I should settle in place and use the second town as settler factory, which would then be 19 turns later. (Ok, I miscalculated at that point, it was only 18 turns. See comment in 3150.) In the end I decided against the 3-turn walk, because it looked like there might be quite a bit of desert within my first circle of towns, if I move my capital south. I wanted my capital to be right in the center of the "good" land.
Andronicus and Chamnix indeed opted for the 3-turn walk, so it will be very interesting to compare our QSC results. At first glance it looks like there's not too much difference in our progress?! Perhaps settling 1SE, the most popular choice among the ones who published here, would have been best? This didn't occur to me, because I didn't realize that the 4-turner would have been available from that location as well. But Più Freddo's results look the most impressive: he is the only one who got two MA techs before 1000BC! This means, his Ansar steam roller will get going centuries before mine...
My strategic goal will be Conquest, as I think this can be achieved easier than domination on this kind of map. And I want a fast game this time, no more milking, thanks...
As this is going to be a military game, I opted for the "Monarchy Slingshot" this time. In retrospective I'm not sure, whether this was a wise choice: my research felt like it could have been a bit faster, considering my fast expansion.
Mecca starts a scout, research is set to Mysticism.
3750 Mecca completes scout. I found out that I still have time for another scout before I need to start collecting shields for the settler. Found two huts close by so far, but didn't pop them yet. Will wait till I have a warrior. Don't want to risk loosing my scout, if the huts are full of barbs. Also, if a hut contains a tech, I might get a more expensive one, if I wait till after I've found some neighbors and traded their initial techs. The huts are very close, so no risk loosing them to the AS.
3650 Third hut!
3550 And fourth hut! civ_steve, what have you done to this game? This is already more huts than in all my GOTMs combined...
3500 Mecca completes scout. Start on settler. Necessary food will take 7 turns, shields 8 turns (or so I thought...) Worker completes road & mine on the square 1S of Mecca and moves 1SE to build the road for the settler.
3450 Fifth hut... And contact with Zulu. I guess, now I urgently need to start "harvesting" my huts, before the Zulus start exploring.
3300 Road completed. Worker goes to the square 1E of Mecca to start bringing the cow some water.
3150 Mecca grows to size 3, the missing two shields are automatically collected from the temporary +1 forest square and settler completes one turn earlier than expected... Completely forgot about this... Settler uses the road to immediately reach its final destination S-SE-SE. Mecca starts warrior.
3100 Founded Medina, starts warrior.
2950 Discovered Mysticism, traded with Zulus for Warrior Code + 10g. Set research to Polytheism. Mecca completes warrior, starts temple.
2900 First hut pops Bronze Working
2850 Medina completes warrior, starts worker
2800 Second hut pops warrior
2750 Meet Mongols
2700 Medina completes worker, starts granary. Third hut: Damascus decides to join our empire -- in the middle of the desert...!
Starts a temple to get at least one green tile into its radius.
2630 Fourth hut: The Wheel. Trade with Mongols: Mystery + 2gpt + 4g for Masonry.
2550 Mecca completes temple, starts settler.
2510 Meet Iroquois, trade Ceremonial Burial + Masonry for Alphabet + 10g.
2470 A barb is approaching Mecca. Switch settler to warrior. Fifth hut: 25g. Meet Ottomans: no techs
Sold them Pottery for 10g, that way I can continue my -3gpt until Polytheism is finished. Meet Sumeria: no techs
2430 Mecca completes warrior, starts granary. Sixth hut: Iron Working!
2350 Sold Masonry to Zulu and Warrior Code to Iroquois for 25g each.
2310 Sold The Wheel to Ottomans for 25g.
2150 Clean barb camp for 25g. Meet Russia. Sold them Mysticism for 25g, sold Mongols Alphabet for 93g and Ottomans Alphabet for a worker.
2110 Medina completes granary, starts temple.
2030 Mecca completes granary, starts worker.
1950 Sold Russia Iron Working for 25g + worker. Mecca completes worker, starts spearman.
1910 Meet Hittites, sold them Masonry for 20g. Medina finishes temple and finally takes up settler production!
1870 Trade Zulus Iron Working + Alphabet + 35g for Horseback Riding, Ottomans Iron Working for 25g.
1830 Finish Polytheism, start on Writing.
1790 Mecca completes spear, starts settler.
1750 Medina settler.
1725 Sold Russia Horseback Riding + 45g for Writing, switch research to Philosophy.
1700 Found Baghdad, start granary.
1650 Mecca completes settler, starts barracks. Medina Settler.
1625 Damascus finishes temple, starts worker.
1600 Found Najran, start spearman
1550 Finish Philosophy, start on Literatur. I didn't revolt immediately, as a settler was due to finish in the same interturn. Medina finishes settler, I go into the city and from the city screen pressed F1. Never expected that this would work, but it did! Start revolution and get two turns anarchy?! (Isn't "religious" supposed to get no anarchy??)
1525 Found Kufah, "started" granary.
1475 Monarchy established. Sold Ceremonial Burial to Hittites for 25g. Research reduced to 10% to invest some money in infrastructure.
1450 Chopped forest near Baghdad and then rushed granary for 136g, starts worker in the IT. Found Basra, start granary.
1425 Medina settler.
1375 Barb approaches Kufah. Switch granary to warrior, which will complete next turn. Najran switches spear to granary. Bagdhad finishes worker, starts another one. Kufah completes warrior, starts its granary again.
1350 Sold Russia Polytheism + Philosophy + 53g for Map Making. Sold Mongols Polytheism + Writing + 3gpt for Mathematics. Sold Zulus Philosophy for 46g. Sold Russia Mathematics for 123g. Sold Iroquois Philosophy for 25g.
Established embassies in Moscow (51g), Karakorum (?g), Zimbabwe (31g), Salamanca (49g). ROP with Iroquois and Mongols.
1325 Mecca completes spearman, starts another one. Medina settler. Damascus completes worker, starts another one.
1300 Found Khurasan, start granary.
1275 Baghdad worker, starts another one.
1250 Mecca completes spearman, starts settler. Sold Sumeria Alphabet for 23g.
1225 Medina settler.
1200 Found Anjar, start granary.
1175 Baghdad worker.
1150 Rush granary in Najran for 20g, start worker. Establish embassy in Istanbul (41g), Ur (65g), Hattusas (53g). Mecca completes settler, starts spearman.
1125 Hook up dyes. Medina settler.
1100 Baghdad worker, Najran worker.
1075 Sold Sumeria Iron Working for 20g. Mecca completes spear, Damascus worker.
1050 Found Fustat, start worker.
1025 Rush granary in Kufah for 52g, start temple. Found Aden, start granary. Sold Russia Monarchy for Code of Laws + 25g. Medina settler. Baghdad&Najran complete worker, start temple.
1000 Rush granary in Basra, for 72g. Found Yamama, start granary.
QSC statistics:
Towns: 12
Pop: 24
Score: 242
Techs: 17
5 granaries, 3 temples, 1 barrack
1 settler, 12 workers, 2 slaves, 7 units
Horses, Dyes
7 contacts & embassies
QSC score: 4757
Research:
4000 Pottery, Ceremonial Burial (starting techs)
2950 Mysticism
2950 Warrior Code (from Zulus)
2900 Bronze Working (from hut)
2630 The Wheel (from hut)
2630 Masonry (from Mongols)
2510 Alphabet (from Iroquois)
2430 Iron Working (from hut)
1870 Horseback Riding (from Zulus)
1830 Polytheism
1725 Writing (from Russia)
1550 Philosophy
1550 Monarchy (free tech)
1350 Map Making (from Russia)
1350 Mathematics (from Mongols)
1025 Code of Laws (from Russia)
Towns:
Never got any gpt deal from the ASs. I'm completely puzzled... Not even if I offered 4 valuable techs.
The 999 method showed that they had 27gpt available at that moment. I'm 100% sure that I did nothing all game to trash my reputation. So I was limited to selling my techs for lump sums, but most ASs usually had only 20-30g in their treasury (if they had any at all...) Once I was lucky and got 123g for a tech, but otherwise I had to sell under value to get any income at all.
Did quite some wood chopping to reduce prices for granaries. Not sure whether this is wise or whether workers should better be used on roading/mining/irrigating that early in the game?!
Stopped taking notes after 1000 BC, but the next events are reported quickly: entered MA in 610 BC. My core ring of 7 cities has pretty much completed a granary, temple and barrack each and is now training horsemen. The two or three power towns also got a library and market place meanwhile. I don't think I will do my first conquering with horsemen, even though I had originally planned this. I'll just postpone it till after getting Chivalry. My next neighbors will certainly still be at spearmen at that point, so I hope to make up for the lost time by taking full advantage of the Ansar-power. (A horsemen rush now would certainly suffer some losses, which would need to be replace before going into the next war. An Ansar task force might get through Zululand unharmed and proceed to Iroquois.
)
And finally: was quite disappointed to see the GOTM77 announcement yesterday...! A Deity game! How I would love to go for that! But that would mean giving up COTM46, and as I think I got a really good start this time, that would be a shame. So I'll stick with COTM46 for now.
Lanzelot
I decided to take very detailed notes this game as this is a good way to improve, and then I said to myself, well, why note use them and try the QSC again? (The last couple of months I didn't submit a QSC file, as I never had the time to take notes and write a good QSC report before the deadline...) The process of taking time, writing notes and thinking everything over really seems to have payed off: my QSC score now was twice as much as the last time I tried (COTM42).
Anyway here is now my QSC report, a summary will be available at the end. Screenshot is in the attachments.
4000 Scout to mountain, settler 1S. Then it took me 10min to come to a decision whether I should walk my settler S-SE-SE and start the settler factory right away, or whether I should settle in place and use the second town as settler factory, which would then be 19 turns later. (Ok, I miscalculated at that point, it was only 18 turns. See comment in 3150.) In the end I decided against the 3-turn walk, because it looked like there might be quite a bit of desert within my first circle of towns, if I move my capital south. I wanted my capital to be right in the center of the "good" land.
Andronicus and Chamnix indeed opted for the 3-turn walk, so it will be very interesting to compare our QSC results. At first glance it looks like there's not too much difference in our progress?! Perhaps settling 1SE, the most popular choice among the ones who published here, would have been best? This didn't occur to me, because I didn't realize that the 4-turner would have been available from that location as well. But Più Freddo's results look the most impressive: he is the only one who got two MA techs before 1000BC! This means, his Ansar steam roller will get going centuries before mine...
My strategic goal will be Conquest, as I think this can be achieved easier than domination on this kind of map. And I want a fast game this time, no more milking, thanks...
As this is going to be a military game, I opted for the "Monarchy Slingshot" this time. In retrospective I'm not sure, whether this was a wise choice: my research felt like it could have been a bit faster, considering my fast expansion.Mecca starts a scout, research is set to Mysticism.
3750 Mecca completes scout. I found out that I still have time for another scout before I need to start collecting shields for the settler. Found two huts close by so far, but didn't pop them yet. Will wait till I have a warrior. Don't want to risk loosing my scout, if the huts are full of barbs. Also, if a hut contains a tech, I might get a more expensive one, if I wait till after I've found some neighbors and traded their initial techs. The huts are very close, so no risk loosing them to the AS.
3650 Third hut!
3550 And fourth hut! civ_steve, what have you done to this game? This is already more huts than in all my GOTMs combined...
3500 Mecca completes scout. Start on settler. Necessary food will take 7 turns, shields 8 turns (or so I thought...) Worker completes road & mine on the square 1S of Mecca and moves 1SE to build the road for the settler.
3450 Fifth hut... And contact with Zulu. I guess, now I urgently need to start "harvesting" my huts, before the Zulus start exploring.
3300 Road completed. Worker goes to the square 1E of Mecca to start bringing the cow some water.
3150 Mecca grows to size 3, the missing two shields are automatically collected from the temporary +1 forest square and settler completes one turn earlier than expected... Completely forgot about this... Settler uses the road to immediately reach its final destination S-SE-SE. Mecca starts warrior.
3100 Founded Medina, starts warrior.
2950 Discovered Mysticism, traded with Zulus for Warrior Code + 10g. Set research to Polytheism. Mecca completes warrior, starts temple.
2900 First hut pops Bronze Working
2850 Medina completes warrior, starts worker
2800 Second hut pops warrior
2750 Meet Mongols
2700 Medina completes worker, starts granary. Third hut: Damascus decides to join our empire -- in the middle of the desert...!
Starts a temple to get at least one green tile into its radius.2630 Fourth hut: The Wheel. Trade with Mongols: Mystery + 2gpt + 4g for Masonry.
2550 Mecca completes temple, starts settler.
2510 Meet Iroquois, trade Ceremonial Burial + Masonry for Alphabet + 10g.
2470 A barb is approaching Mecca. Switch settler to warrior. Fifth hut: 25g. Meet Ottomans: no techs
Sold them Pottery for 10g, that way I can continue my -3gpt until Polytheism is finished. Meet Sumeria: no techs 2430 Mecca completes warrior, starts granary. Sixth hut: Iron Working!
2350 Sold Masonry to Zulu and Warrior Code to Iroquois for 25g each.
2310 Sold The Wheel to Ottomans for 25g.
2150 Clean barb camp for 25g. Meet Russia. Sold them Mysticism for 25g, sold Mongols Alphabet for 93g and Ottomans Alphabet for a worker.
2110 Medina completes granary, starts temple.
2030 Mecca completes granary, starts worker.
1950 Sold Russia Iron Working for 25g + worker. Mecca completes worker, starts spearman.
1910 Meet Hittites, sold them Masonry for 20g. Medina finishes temple and finally takes up settler production!
1870 Trade Zulus Iron Working + Alphabet + 35g for Horseback Riding, Ottomans Iron Working for 25g.
1830 Finish Polytheism, start on Writing.
1790 Mecca completes spear, starts settler.
1750 Medina settler.
1725 Sold Russia Horseback Riding + 45g for Writing, switch research to Philosophy.
1700 Found Baghdad, start granary.
1650 Mecca completes settler, starts barracks. Medina Settler.
1625 Damascus finishes temple, starts worker.
1600 Found Najran, start spearman
1550 Finish Philosophy, start on Literatur. I didn't revolt immediately, as a settler was due to finish in the same interturn. Medina finishes settler, I go into the city and from the city screen pressed F1. Never expected that this would work, but it did! Start revolution and get two turns anarchy?! (Isn't "religious" supposed to get no anarchy??)
1525 Found Kufah, "started" granary.
1475 Monarchy established. Sold Ceremonial Burial to Hittites for 25g. Research reduced to 10% to invest some money in infrastructure.
1450 Chopped forest near Baghdad and then rushed granary for 136g, starts worker in the IT. Found Basra, start granary.
1425 Medina settler.
1375 Barb approaches Kufah. Switch granary to warrior, which will complete next turn. Najran switches spear to granary. Bagdhad finishes worker, starts another one. Kufah completes warrior, starts its granary again.
1350 Sold Russia Polytheism + Philosophy + 53g for Map Making. Sold Mongols Polytheism + Writing + 3gpt for Mathematics. Sold Zulus Philosophy for 46g. Sold Russia Mathematics for 123g. Sold Iroquois Philosophy for 25g.
Established embassies in Moscow (51g), Karakorum (?g), Zimbabwe (31g), Salamanca (49g). ROP with Iroquois and Mongols.
1325 Mecca completes spearman, starts another one. Medina settler. Damascus completes worker, starts another one.
1300 Found Khurasan, start granary.
1275 Baghdad worker, starts another one.
1250 Mecca completes spearman, starts settler. Sold Sumeria Alphabet for 23g.
1225 Medina settler.
1200 Found Anjar, start granary.
1175 Baghdad worker.
1150 Rush granary in Najran for 20g, start worker. Establish embassy in Istanbul (41g), Ur (65g), Hattusas (53g). Mecca completes settler, starts spearman.
1125 Hook up dyes. Medina settler.
1100 Baghdad worker, Najran worker.
1075 Sold Sumeria Iron Working for 20g. Mecca completes spear, Damascus worker.
1050 Found Fustat, start worker.
1025 Rush granary in Kufah for 52g, start temple. Found Aden, start granary. Sold Russia Monarchy for Code of Laws + 25g. Medina settler. Baghdad&Najran complete worker, start temple.
1000 Rush granary in Basra, for 72g. Found Yamama, start granary.
QSC statistics:
Towns: 12
Pop: 24
Score: 242
Techs: 17
5 granaries, 3 temples, 1 barrack
1 settler, 12 workers, 2 slaves, 7 units
Horses, Dyes
7 contacts & embassies
QSC score: 4757
Research:
4000 Pottery, Ceremonial Burial (starting techs)
2950 Mysticism
2950 Warrior Code (from Zulus)
2900 Bronze Working (from hut)
2630 The Wheel (from hut)
2630 Masonry (from Mongols)
2510 Alphabet (from Iroquois)
2430 Iron Working (from hut)
1870 Horseback Riding (from Zulus)
1830 Polytheism
1725 Writing (from Russia)
1550 Philosophy
1550 Monarchy (free tech)
1350 Map Making (from Russia)
1350 Mathematics (from Mongols)
1025 Code of Laws (from Russia)
Towns:
4000 Mecca
3100 Medina
2700 Damascus (from hut)
1700 Baghdad
1600 Najran
1525 Kufah
1450 Basra
1300 Khurasan
1200 Anjar
1050 Fustat
1025 Aden
1000 Yamama
Contact:3100 Medina
2700 Damascus (from hut)
1700 Baghdad
1600 Najran
1525 Kufah
1450 Basra
1300 Khurasan
1200 Anjar
1050 Fustat
1025 Aden
1000 Yamama
3450 Zulus
2750 Mongols
2510 Iroquios
2470 Ottomans
2470 Sumeria
2150 Russia
1910 Hittites
Comments:2750 Mongols
2510 Iroquios
2470 Ottomans
2470 Sumeria
2150 Russia
1910 Hittites
Never got any gpt deal from the ASs. I'm completely puzzled... Not even if I offered 4 valuable techs.
The 999 method showed that they had 27gpt available at that moment. I'm 100% sure that I did nothing all game to trash my reputation. So I was limited to selling my techs for lump sums, but most ASs usually had only 20-30g in their treasury (if they had any at all...) Once I was lucky and got 123g for a tech, but otherwise I had to sell under value to get any income at all.Did quite some wood chopping to reduce prices for granaries. Not sure whether this is wise or whether workers should better be used on roading/mining/irrigating that early in the game?!
Stopped taking notes after 1000 BC, but the next events are reported quickly: entered MA in 610 BC. My core ring of 7 cities has pretty much completed a granary, temple and barrack each and is now training horsemen. The two or three power towns also got a library and market place meanwhile. I don't think I will do my first conquering with horsemen, even though I had originally planned this. I'll just postpone it till after getting Chivalry. My next neighbors will certainly still be at spearmen at that point, so I hope to make up for the lost time by taking full advantage of the Ansar-power. (A horsemen rush now would certainly suffer some losses, which would need to be replace before going into the next war. An Ansar task force might get through Zululand unharmed and proceed to Iroquois.
)And finally: was quite disappointed to see the GOTM77 announcement yesterday...! A Deity game! How I would love to go for that! But that would mean giving up COTM46, and as I think I got a really good start this time, that would be a shame. So I'll stick with COTM46 for now.
Lanzelot
Impressive! 
![[pissed]](/images/smilies/pissed.gif "Pissed [pissed]")
He didn't even do himself any favours by popping it, as he would have had Mysticism by the end of my next turn anyway!
