COTM48 - First Spoiler

[civ_steve]

COTM 48 First Spoiler - the Ancient Age!

Reading Requirements

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

Posting Restrictions

• Feel free to discuss AI contacts, Diplomacy and Trades, but do not reveal AI locations. Limit Screenshots to the starting continent. Do not post a minimap.
• 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!

Did you like the starting position or did you move elsewhere to found your capital? By now you know that you are alone on your starting landmass, and its fairly large - were Barbs a problem at all? And has the AI intruded at all? Do you have (or plan to have) any off-continent possessions? And have your Dromons played a role so far?

 

[DWetzel]

No huge writeup, as I didn't bother much with notes and I'm on a library computer so can't even go into great detail. My goal for this game was to win, somehow, and preferably not by spaceship. Diplomacy seemed like the best theory.

I think I made it clear last time that I hate raging barbarians.

Worker to the sugar, and settled in place with a silent prayer for semi-decency. Built a couple warriors for exploration/MP/barbarian punching bags. After that it gets a little hazy, but suffice to say that I don't think making someone watch the first couple of thousand years of this game would be a Geneva Convention-approved interrogation technique. Did you guys hire a proctologist to design this start?

Good things I did: had the sense to mostly explore south to the start, where the relatively good land was. Did a decent job of managing citizen moods.

Bad things I did: Got hammered in tech (probably expected). Took a long time to get a boat on the water. Probably did a poor job in city location. Terrible resource grabbing. Allowed the AI to turn the southern third of my island into their summer cottages (along with a couple of settlements in the far northwest and northeast). Military buildup was alternately too much (kept expecting a neighbor) and not enough (I could swear that at one point the "Most Powerful Nations" note came up and I was eighth behind the barbarians).

Got (temporarily) caught up in tech with the build of the Great Library (a desperation shot) in 230 AD, which netted me four middle age techs and ten in total.

 

[barbslinger]

"After that it gets a little hazy, but suffice to say that I don't think making someone watch the first couple of thousand years of this game would be a Geneva Convention-approved interrogation technique. Did you guys hire a proctologist to design this start?"

"Allowed the AI to turn the southern third of my island into their summer cottages"

"(I could swear that at one point the "Most Powerful Nations" note came up and I was eighth behind the barbarians)."QUOTE]

Funny stuff! Hope to see more of your write-ups.

 

[DWetzel]

Glad you enjoyed. Suffice to say, I think I'm decent enough at this game, but I am definitely NOT going to be in contention for top score awards. In the professional Civ leagues, I would definitely be the David Eckstein rather than the A-Rod.

Oh, who am I kidding. I'd be some AA washout who hit .230 with no home runs.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

Predator, going for space. But it's slow...

There is nothing quite so bad as Demigod, on an island by myself, with raging barbarians - without the ability to build spears. And without a coastal start - yuck.

Highlights: didn't lose any settlers to the barbs. Didn't lose all that much money or pop to them, either - because I had no money and they kept overrunning pop 1 towns

oh - and I got the republic slingshot, which surprised me some.

lowlights - for some reason, I traded my way into the middle ages, which immediately had the barb camps spew barbs, as opposed to waiting...

 

[DWetzel]

Oh, I do remember one other probably smart thing I did. Input gratefully sought on whether this is brilliant, expected, or stoooopid.

Suffice to say that basically all my expansion in the AA (what little there was) was to the south and west. My capital was more or less on the northeast fringe of my "empire". I planned to head north for what land was there (and the resources, of course).

However, as I was preparing to do that, the "massive barbarian uprisings" began. Multiple stacks of a dozen or so horses were appearing , and, well, they were probably more powerful than my mighty armies.

So, I built a town (if I show any screen shots later, it's named Sacrifice), ran away from it with the escort, found something to trade most of my gold for (I think I was left with under 50).. and watched the barbarian hordes sack the town, 1-2 gold pieces at a time. I suffered a few other losses, but nothing nearly as serious as it could otherwise have been.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

I think that's a smart way to deal with the barbs...

 

[Spoonwood]

Well, I didn't quite get the rules and I messed up the game for posting a results game if I ever finish it... but I did find this game interesting and I may as well say something. I suspect a lot of the players play at a higher level than I do. I don't usually play with barbarians on at all. When I first played I loaded the game in open class. I did expect problems, but I thought that for my worker I could use the warrior in Constantinople (at the starting location) to defend it. Of course, before I had even built my 2nd town a horseman came up from the fog and destroyed my worker. I basically turned Constantinople into a settler factor through irrigating the deserts before my worker got sacked. I had sent my settler out WITHOUT escort and BARELY founded my second town before it got sacked. I played a few more hundred years or so until I had four or five cities, now using spear-escorts for my settlers... which, of course, along with barbarian pillaging of my mines and having to rebuild them, slowed my settler-factory down quite a bit. I also used escorts for my workers. This certainly slows things down for someone who doesn't usually play with any barbarians. I had researched pottery, then beeling to philosophy and discovered it first (this surprised me a bit since I thought this wouldn't come as possible at this high a level... but it surprises me less so the more I've read here about how basically all the AIs undervalue the middle-tech roads... especially literature).

After a bit of frustration (sure... low frustration tolerance) I decided to leave that game and try other randomly-generated games with raging barbarians on Monarch and Emperor. I didn't always play these games to completion, but I did basically go to the end of the barbarian age. I played one with the Byzantines on a 60% archipelago map on Monarch where I ended up using a whole fleet of Dromons to bombard a few stacks of barbarian horseman in an isolated coastal spot, until I got some decent archers and horseman to finish them off. A lot of fun in retrospect.

After that I decided to replay the game in Conquest class (with the extra settler and spearman). I did a little bit this time... I decided I might try and use something of a modified version of Drakan's builder strategy for higher levels and pivot off the GL. SNIP ... SNIP ... SNIP I successful built the Great Library, and I think 10 or so cities, and had staved off barbarians for a while and started putting multiple spearman for the stacks of barbarians I saw coming everywhere. I thought they would attack my outer cities, but a good number of them decided to ignore my outer cities down near the start of the jungle, and just head for my inner cities (and my workers without escorts now, since I dumped them into the outer cities or as escorts). A few turns of the barbarians heading into towards Constantinople from the far east, another stack or two roaming around and around in the West near iron and dyes, another stack or three in the north east threatening to attack but just roaming around... actually up around this northeastern coastal town I had successfully built a SINGLE dromon which bombarded barbs for a few turns... well barbs from three different directions... none from the direct south of Constantiople... I had successfully build towns down there... barbs from three different directions... AND I had spotted an encampment up in the tundra... which I didn't see how I would get rid of until deep, deep in the middle ages, and my frustration came back, so I quit again. I had tried to start stockpiling gold after researching Literature, and I didn't quite understand how to get rid of my gold all that intelligently. Maybe I'll go back and use the strategy of just letting these barbs "join the party".

So, you asked... did I like the starting location? Yes... definitely. Even though I didn't have a costal bonus, the food and produciton bonuses seemed nice along with the floodplain challenge. "By now you know that you are alone on your starting landmass, and its fairly large - were Barbs a problem at all?" Laughs... laughs again. They didn't just provide a problem when I didn't know anything at all about what I should do. They provided so much of a problem that I basically thought Theodora might declare herself (prematurely) "victorious" if her armies could defeat them. Ever. I know someone did have a city on my continent... I don't know if I can legally say who. Off-continent possesions??? I seriously couldn't get enough possesions on my continent without barbarians stealing them... or seriously threating to do so. And again... SNIP ... SNIP

On the upside I will say that this game (even though I didn't play it right), and the games I've played thereafter have inspried me to write a strategy post (perhaps done better or better written somewhere along here... but I didn't really find anything I found comprehensive enough) about how to deal with raging barbarians while ReXing (it's basically worked well in some Monarch games and an Emperor game or two... although I didn't use all of my own tips to their fullest extent I suppose). Some people basically suggested the "join the party" strategy there of "So, I built a town (if I show any screen shots later, it's named Sacrifice), ran away from it with the escort, found something to trade most of my gold for (I think I was left with under 50).. and watched the barbarian hordes sack the town, 1-2 gold pieces at a time. I suffered a few other losses, but nothing nearly as serious as it could otherwise have been." Were barbarians a problem??? Seriously... I doubt you could ask that with a straight face anywhere but on the net.

Moderator Action: Post edited to remove information regarding map layout. In the first spoiler it is best to limit discussion of the map to just the starting landmass.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[civ_steve]

This is exactly why games like this are set up - give players the chance to discuss the barbarians and how they handled them. If you had AI around, they'd hunt them down with their extra starting units and take them out, but there's no AI on your starting landmass. I usually try to establish a perimeter of units - the camps can't spring up where your cities or combat units (scouts, settlers, workers don't count) can see the terrain. A handful of warriors spread out can restrict the areas where camps can pop up, allowing you to concentrate your active barb hunting units. Some players like barb camps for the fairly easy combat and promotion opportunity.

Your strategy at the age change-over is good! Get rid of your gold (buy Tech, trade for gpt, trade for luxuries, give away, etc; your Scientific so you'll have a Medieval Tech to get the gold back in trade, if you wish), and watch the barbs die by the dozens for a gold or two each. You don't want to lose a lot of military units defending these cities.

 

[MarleysGh0st]

Open Class: Trying for...survival.

Raging barbs were also my nightmare in this game. For a while, I wondered if I would survive them at all!

I settled in place, sent the worker N to the sugar. I got the Republic slingshot in 900 BC, but I didn't start the revolution in the AA. I had founded my seventh city when a report of a massive barb uprising arrived in 550 BC. From from the numbers of barbs running around, I think there must have been two massive uprisings, on opposite sides of my territory.

And for the rest of the Ancient Age, it was all I could do to deal with them. Learning Horseback Riding but not having horses didn't help. I killed a number of barbs by holding defensive positions in the mountains, but any time my warriors or spears went on the offensive, they were vulnerable to counterattacks.

My curraghs did make contact with four of the other powers and I was able to trade Republic to them for a fair number of other techs, but there was no way I could consider sending settlers across the seas.

I entered the MA in 190 BC.

 

[MarleysGh0st]

I usually try to establish a perimeter of units - the camps can't spring up where your cities or combat units (scouts, settlers, workers don't count) can see the terrain. A handful of warriors spread out can restrict the areas where camps can pop up, allowing you to concentrate your active barb hunting units.

An idea so simple that I'm slapping my forehead for not thinking of it before! And we have so many mountains to extend the view of our pickets! I don't know if I consciously realized that rule, although I remember noticing that effect in the last COTM; barbs were popping up in a mountain square outside my borders until I positioned a unit to wait for them, then there never were any more barbs in that spot. But, of course, that meant the mountain was in my unit's view.

I also like DWetzel's idea of building a Sacrifice city to draw in the barbs. Letting them destroy themselves in low-value plunders seems like the way to go, when you can't produce units quickly enough to defeat them.

After this game is over, I think I need to replay the AA for practice in better handling these blasted barbs!

 

[DWetzel]

This is exactly why games like this are set up - give players the chance to discuss the barbarians and how they handled them. If you had AI around, they'd hunt them down with their extra starting units and take them out, but there's no AI on your starting landmass. I usually try to establish a perimeter of units - the camps can't spring up where your cities or combat units (scouts, settlers, workers don't count) can see the terrain. A handful of warriors spread out can restrict the areas where camps can pop up, allowing you to concentrate your active barb hunting units. Some players like barb camps for the fairly easy combat and promotion opportunity.

Your strategy at the age change-over is good! Get rid of your gold (buy Tech, trade for gpt, trade for luxuries, give away, etc; your Scientific so you'll have a Medieval Tech to get the gold back in trade, if you wish), and watch the barbs die by the dozens for a gold or two each. You don't want to lose a lot of military units defending these cities.

I tried the perimeter technique. Well, sort of. It was sort of a point defense system. I think I had bad luck in addition to my other problems... a couple of warrior vs. my fortified-warrior-on-mountain combats didn't go my way.

I had seriously considered trying a no-military (or very low military) approach to things, and in retrospect I think I wish I had. I may mess around with that. If the settlers can get to the perimeter and settle, I think that would help establish a nice little core within. I could be wrong though.

Edit to add: First, I think it's cute that you think my medieval age tech was going to be worth anything. I think I grabbed three or four of them from TGL. Second, my comments about the barbs are mostly tongue-in-cheek, if it wasn't clear. They're frustrating little buggers, but that's okay.

 

[Spoonwood]

Thanks for the response and the edit civ_steve. Sorry about giving away too much. I did actually know about the "keep-an-eye" out techinque... and I think I didn't read it anywhere, but I forgot about while playing this game. Go figure.

 

[greatbeyond]

Ah, raging Barbarians, the strongest civilization in the game for the first 4,000 years or so....

After having played the last Deity GOTM game with raging Barbs and making the mistake of trying to expand before they appeared ( and getting nearly wiped out by the Barbs), I went with lots of Warriors to do fog busting and hopefully keep the Barbs away. Fat Chance! I know you meant well Civ_steve, but with it being such a large continent and there being no other Civs with us, it was still brutal. I used sacrificial towns to lure Barbs and they would send a couple of units in and then head for other towns. The RNG seemed determine to defeat me all by itself. Elite units losing to conscript and regular Warriors and Horsemen. Even when sending Warriors out in pairs they were massacred. I sent out pairs of Archers, then Trios and watched them die. The best combination was 2 or 3 Archers and a Spearman. I fell so far behind in Techs building just military units and the occasional Settler that just as I got the upper hand on the Barbs, 2 other Civs started landing on the Southern shores, and then the eastern shores. I used denial techniques to slow them up a little and was able to keep most of the rest of the continent to myself.

Having all the other Civs close enough to trade with each other, let them trade techs so that they are several ahead of me, even though my tech pace has been pretty quick.

Explore 1S with the Worker and decided, on Deity, settling in place was best. Started producing Warriors every 5 then 4 turns and sent them out to fog-bust. Eventually settled several cities and realized that we were probably alone on a huge continent by ourselves. If not for the Barbs This would have been too easy. Got Philo first and took MM as my bonus, this was before I realized we wer alone and it turn out to be a huge waste of research. Taking Literature and getting the GL early would have been the best choice. I believed that when the description said "Archipelago" that there would be lots of smaller islands and MM would be crucial.

So after finishing MM, I researched Lit in fairly quick fashion and at the same time started a prebuild (M of M, IIRC), it was about this time that I started meeting the other Civs and saw that they were pretty advanced. Great plan! Get the GL and learn all their techs for free!!!!....... .. . Yeah right! Usually the AI doesn't go for Lit, so starting an early prebuild almost guarantees it. I finished Lit and noticed that all the other AIs had it. I was beaten to the GL by about 27 turns ( the M of M was built about 5 turns before this) and lost lots of shields of production. Yes, I started it in my capital which was producing the most shields, by far, so I had to switch to a Library. This is why you usually shouldn't do a prebuild in your capital, but with the raging Barbs, it was the best choice.

Now there is a long road ahead of me. Try to catch up on techs and perhaps a fake war or two to remove the few AI cities that are on my continent before they get too strong. For such a huge continent we are on, there is a dearth of resources that are tradeable. Did you manually edit the continent Civ_steve.... bad dog!

Only 2 or 3 GH on the whole continent which seems abnormal for the size. Not that the the angry Barbs popping out weren't fun! I did get a free Worker out of one, which really surprised me.

A word on Barbs popping. Fog busting only prevents new camps. If you see a camp but don't destroy it, eventually it will produce a STACK of Horsemen on Deity level.

 

[Più Freddo]

Predator class
Domination goal

As predicted in the pre-game discussion thread, I didn't build a
Granary in Constantinople in the early days, but instead created an
eight-turn factory producing two Warriors for each Settler. Before
establishing Republic, the factory ran three complete rounds, but two
Settlers and a Worker had been produced at unripe stages before that
together with Warriors and Wealth filling up the growth phases.

4000 BC Found Constantinople
2430 BC Found Adrianople
2070 BC Found Caesarea
1725 BC Connect Incense
1625 BC Found Nicaea
1475 BC Found Varna
1275 BC Found Smyrna
1150 BC Found Heraclea
0950 BC Found Trebizond
0875 BC Found Chalcedon​

It would be interesting to compare the expansion with that of a game
with a Granary.

The first town went to the south by the Wheat to become a Worker
factory. The second town went to the north-west by the Incense. Nicaea
went south-west of Adrianople by the river mouth and produced Curraghs
with the aid of forest chops. From then on the towns were placed
mainly so as to claim land from the Barbarians and protect the core
cites by simply being in the way. For this reason, the juicy land to
the south-west of the capital was inhabited only later, as it was easy
to claim with Warriors alone. Perhaps a mistake?

One advantage of not building the Granary was hoped to be better
chances of the Sling-Shot, since quite a few beakers could be saved by
not researching Pottery.

4000 BC Discover Alphabet
2270 BC Discover Writing
1475 BC Discover Code of Laws
1275 BC Learn The Wheel
1275 BC Learn Pottery
1250 BC Learn Warrior Code
1250 BC Discover Philosophy
1250 BC Discover The Republic​

Apparently, the Sling-Shot could be achieved also with a different
strategy, although it's unclear how fast. Being able to trade depended
on getting the Curraghs out fast, which would also be delayed by
researching Pottery. We learned Pottery at our first foreign contact
only in 1275 BC, much too late for basing a Granary-strategy on
trading for it.

1500 BC First Curragh
1275 BC Meet Arabia
1250 BC Establish Anarchy
1200 BC Pop Hut Warrior10: Barbarians
1200 BC Meet France
1100 BC Establish Republic​

Under Republic Constantinople started building six-turn Settlers at
population three to five. Still no Granary. With three forest chops,
Adrianople got one and then produced a Worker every two turns. Our two
brave Curraghs survived many Barbarian attacks and even hiding at Sea
from such attacks, and eventually, all Contacts had been made.

1075 BC Meet Ottomans
1075 BC Embassy Ottomans (Iron. Pyramids ready in 32)
1075 BC Embassy France (Wines, Spices, Horses. Pyramids 2/3 done)
1075 BC Embassy Arabia (Horses. Pyramids 2/3 done. Ready in 13)
1075 BC War Arabia
1075 BC War France Oops!
1000 BC Meet India
1000 BC Embassy India (Furs, Ivory. The Great Wall in 25)
1000 BC War India
1000 BC Alliance Ottomans vs. India
0900 BC Meet Spain
0900 BC Embassy Spain (Horses. Pyramids in 13)
0875 BC Peace Arabia
0875 BC Alliance Arabia vs. France
0825 BC England builds The Pyramids
0710 BC Meet England
0710 BC Embassy England (Horses, Silks.)​

Although we have so far failed to entice our neighbours into declaring
war on us, we have still learned many secrets from them:

1200 BC Learn Iron Working
1075 BC Learn Polytheism
1075 BC Learn Mysticism
1075 BC Learn Mathematics
1000 BC Learn Construction
0900 BC Learn Horseback Riding
0710 BC Learn Currency​

Somewhat surprisingly, England was able to trade us Currency although
it was still unaware of Writing. We entered the Middle Ages and
discovered Feudalism. Bracing for the Uprisings, we gifted the
Ottomans -- for no avail. They discovered the same.

The following result was submitted for the Quick Start Challenge:

_7 Towns
18 Citizens
_4 Contacts
_1 Settler
_7 Workers
10 Warriors
_2 Curraghs
_1 Luxury
no Improvements​

QSC Score: 4262

 

[PaperBeetle]

I would be interesting to compare the expansion with that of a game
with a Granary.

QSC Score: 4262

I did put a granary in the capital and ran it as a 5-turn settler factory (and the only source of settlers), as I suggested in the pregame thread. I can't necessarily provide a meaningful comparison as I'm playing 20k, but just in terms in terms of towns and citizens I was ahead of you by QSCbc. My QSC score was comfortably more than half of yours . But in retrospect, was it possible to make a 4-turner down in the wheatfields to the south of the start?
My 20k town is located in the hills to the southwest, and I let it grow on its own rather than pumping it up; I was going to use population from a worker factory in the wheatfield but somehow never got around to it.


In Search of Paradise
I settle in place and start an axe, whose job it will be to find a good spot for the 20k town. He makes a bad job of this task, by exploring north at first. I am following the rivers of course, as I once swore never to build another 20k without fresh water (emperor Egypt, we started on a peninsula seperated from the pangaea by a huge mountain range; remember it?). I also expect to use an inland location, especially as getting Colossus on demigod is not a realistic goal. Anyway, realising that the land to the north is far too food-poor, the axe circles anticlockwise, passing by the river source in the southwest, and then on to the mouth of the major river system. After some beard-stroking, I decide that the wheatfield, though powerful, is simply too food rich, so I choose the hills and flood plains southwest of Constantinpole.

The 5-Turner
After the axe, Constantinople pops out a second worker, and then goes straight into the granary - I don't use a pre-granary settler for the 20k town. The granary finishes in 2590bc, with Constantinople at size 4.13. It is followed by two 5-turn settlers, and then runs as an axe / settler combo factory. The location is 1 shield per cycle short of running as a standard 4-turner, but oddly it is strong enough to make an axe on turn 1 of the cycle, followed by a settler in turns 2-5. These extra axes are not in any way sufficient to deal with the barbs. My main solution to the barb problem is the "grin and bear it" gambit, but although I lose one worker (even though the barb could have sacked a town instead) and a lot of cash and accumulated shields, I do manage to keep the barbs out of my capital and 20k town, and I don't lose any settlers.

The Optimism Slingshot
So my first research is Pots for the granary, and my second is Burial, so that I can get an early temple in Theodorinople, my 20k town. My research is rather depressed by the barb situation, as their constant sackings prevent me from using the treasury flexibly, and furthermore I feel that I have to keep topping the treasury up a little bit in the hopes that the barbs steal gold rather than precious shields or citizens. Still, I am in an positive mood (or maybe just drunk), so I decide I may as well give the full Republic slingshot a try. I start Writing in 2750bc, and finish it in 1600bc (31 turns). Laws takes until 1125bc (19 turns) and I finally reach Philosophy in 925bc (8 turns). My optimism is rewarded with Republic for free, and I immediately revolt for 8 turns of anarchy. The new government is inaugurated in 750bc.

Civilised Contacts
My early build order coupled with the heavy barbarian activity means that I don't get to do much exploration, but eventually I realise that we have been marooned on a large continent (Beta) with no AI friends to save us from the barbarians. Harsh. I expand only gradually, as I don't want to risk sending settlers far from my borders with only light or non-existent escorts, so my first coastal town is Chalcedon, founded in 1150bc in the southern grasslands. The first curragh puts to sea in 1000bc, and heads anticlockwise. It isn't until 670bc that I meet another civilization. They are the Arabs, and although we could trade techs, I am in no particular hurry to do so. In fact, after finishing Literature in 650bc, I start self-researching first-tier techs. It isn't until I meet the English and Spanish in 470bc that I start trading techs, and indeed that one trade round nets me Masonry, riding, Bronze, Mysticism, Polytheism, Maths, Ironwork, Currency, Mapping, Construction and a couple of hundred gold, without even having to relinquish my monopoly on Laws, let alone Republic. I find myself in the medieval era. Arabia goes medieval two turns later, and that's when the barbarian activity really kicks off. Up until then they were just joking around!

QSC Stats
9 towns with 23 citizens and 107 tiles.
110 food in the bin, 124 shields in the box, 1g in the treasury.
2 granaries, 1 temple.
1 settler, 11 workers, 8 axes (reg), 1 curragh (reg).
Alphabet, Pots, Burial, Writing, Laws, 127 beakers of Philosophy.
No contacts, no embassies.
Theodorinople: 42 culture, making 2cpt.

20k Progress
By 470bc, Theodorinople was up to 78 culture, making 4cpt; still just that 1 temple! Gandhi beat me to Mausoleum (= GA for the Byzantines) by 1 turn, and all the other ancient wonders except the Glib fell long before I had a chance at getting them; even the Gardens were gone before I reached the medieval. Not my most glorious 20k run.

 

[Honda[SU]]

Open, Diplomatic or Space

4000 – BW, Alphabet
3850 – Constantinople-city1 (Worker, 2 Warriors, Worker, Granary, 10 Settlers – 4-turn 4-6 Despotism SF)
3050 – Pottery
2350 – Andrianople-city2
2230 – Ceasarea-city3
2030 – Nicaea-city4
1870 – Varna-city5, Writting
1725 – Smyrna-city6
1625 – Heraclea-city7
1525 – Trebizond-city8
1450 – CoL
1425 – Chalcedon-city9
1350 – France
1300 – Sardica-city10
1250 – Philosophy, the Republic and 5-turn Anarchy
1225 – Ottomans
1200 – Naissus-city11
1175 – India
1100 – Arabia
1000 – Literature
. . .
975 – Spain
875 – Incence
825 – England
775 – MA

1000BC:
CM – 386
Culture – 126 (2 per turn)
Land – 132
Gold - 7
Cities – 11
Citizens – 29
Units – 7 Warriors, 1 Setler, 22 Workers, 2 Curraghs
Buildings – 1 Granary
Resources – none
Technologies – BW, Alphabet, Pottery, Writing, Philosophy, CoL, Literature, the Republic
Contacts – Arabia, Ottomans, France, India

 

[Più Freddo]

1250 – Philosophy, the Republic

Interesting. Exactly the same date as I had settling in place and skipping Pottery. So moving the Settler and building a four-turner was certainly the stronger strategy. Well done!

But how did you find the right place!?

 

[Più Freddo]

in retrospect, was it possible to make a 4-turner down in the wheatfields to the south of the start?

It would appear that Honda[SU] did just that.

I lose one worker (even though the barb could have sacked a town instead)

A Barbarian looks NE, E, ..., N, NNE, NENE, ..., (just like the governor or the way timber falls) and then in the four corners clockwise when selecting a target. There is a recent thread somewhere about it.

 

[PaperBeetle]

A Barbarian looks NE, E, ..., N, NNE, NENE, ..., (just like the governor or the way timber falls) and then in the four corners clockwise when selecting a target. There is a recent thread somewhere about it.

Ah, interesting, I'll have to go looking for that thread. I always assumed that they prioritised town sackings over worker / settler grabs. When they do sack towns, is it known how they choose between gold, citizens and shields? Early on in the game I was pillaged many times but only for gold, even though many of the towns had spare citizens or shields. That is why I instigated a policy of keeping a little gold in the treasury to feed the barbs. But somewhat later (perhaps only in the medieval?) they started to take shields and citizens, even when I still had gold to lose.