You must be able to research a Middle Age technology.
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Please be discreet about AI locations; however, feel free to discuss contacts and trades. For this game, no screen shots beyond the starting land mass and the 2 closest islands.
No discussions of the middle ages (or later)
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Absolutely NO discussion of any other currently active 'X'OTM!
I imagine no one had any difficulty taming their starting continent. How did contacts go? Any good trades? Any aggressive moves made yet? Any difficult AI or are they pretty much under control? Plans for the rest of the game?
An agonizing need for settlers and workers characterized the start of this game. Not only did I have too few workers to improve the core properly but there was also the need to reach the horses south of the marshes and jungles.
I dealt with this problem by deciding that there was no big hurry to connect the horses. I could connect/disconnect the iron after chivalry. I only built one granary, in Moscow, but I should probably have built one in the banana town too, because it ended up building quite a few settlers.
Colossus and The Great Lighthouse both felt useful, and at the end of the age I had started Mausoleum of Mausollos for a golden age. (Moscow would have been a good place for 20K.)
There was definitely an advantage in the predator obstacles. The maximum agressiveness of the AI made them declare war every time I refused their demands. I had a useful quadruple war happiness for a long time.
My notes from this age are mainly about contacts:
popped map, 25 gold.
2510 - Hittites.
2110- Aztecs, trade pottery
1725 - Babylon, IW.
1575 - Colossus.
1550 - France, Mysticism.
1350 - Germany. Rep. slingshot. 3 turn anarchy.
1050 - Double War Happinnes. No lux needed. Math in 4 turns.
HB from Germany.
825 - Lighthouse.
710 - Iroqouis. Babylon declared - triple war happiness.
Building fleet now, while waiting for horses to be connected.
630 - Lost attack on Aztec galley.
650 - France demands, quadruple war happiness.
650 (Ca) - Horses connected.
570 - Enter MA. Free Monotheism.
I went 20K, too, and was amused by Megalou's comment that Moscow was a good place for 20K. The lack of accessible food and water made for a bit of a struggle in the early game, not in terms of dealing with the AI, but trying to get some growth going while building wonders in Moscow with only 6 citizens.
@CKS, Yeah, well it was just a reflection I had after building three wonders with some ease, seeing there were four BGs in the starting radius. It depends on your aim (1375 AD?) but it's not likely anyone will break records going for military VCs either.
What a bad Map.(Sry,Steve )
Makes no fun. Don´t know what i do now.
Military (seems to long), Space (lasts longer) or Resign (the shortest way ). Make a break
I like "bad" maps, it's a real challenge and difficult to play. Very interesting and unusual game. Anyway, 1375 AD is probably not going to be beaten...
After the usual slingshot, which was reached around 1200BC, I beelined for Construction, cash-rushed an aqueduct and joined workers from the "banana town" to get to size 12. Otherwise progress was quite slow. I think I had 3 or 4 towns in 1000BC, probably my worst QSC result ever... And absolutely no military worth speaking of.
But I managed to get every AA wonder except SoZ (no ivory), the Lighthouse (too little culture for my taste) and the Pyramids. I reached the MA very late as I also kept money for partly cash-rushing lib, temple and colosseum. Can't remember the date, but it was in the ADs...
Edit: there is no second spoiler, so should we post the Middle Age here?!
Edit: when looking at the game, I noticed that there were two more AA wonders I didn't get: the Great Wall (again too little culture) and Artemis (always had cheaper c-4 wonders to build until it was finally built by an AI).
I logged every turn through 1000 BC, but civ locations may be too obvious, and it is overly detailed, so I'll just put decision babbling below and post the whole QSC log in the last spoiler.
I haven't played a *OTM in a long time, and I rarely finish games. There is only 6 days left on this one. What the heck, I'll at least get through QSC and into the Middle Ages and compare notes and see how I am doing. I usually play Emperor, but this is Regent. I'll go Predator for the first time.
Temptation is to move scout to mountain, but my first question is do I settle here or move? I think only a good foot bonus might tempt me to move, so I adjust my first moves accordingly.
Partial turnlog through 1000 BC:
Spoiler:
0: Scout E, S, no food spotted. Marshes & jungle to SE. Was going to move worker NW, but think I'll move SW as I don't want to lose the hill. See no reason to move, settle in place. Peek at F10 screen to see my opponent civs. Hmm, 4 civs with AA UU's, an MA UU and an IA UU. At least two are normally aggressive anyway, and I find the Hittites to be pushy, and the Babs' UU is to be feared. (I was confusing Babylon and Persia when I wrote that. I didn't realize I had them confused until I saw a bowman.) Okay, my predator save has the aggressiveness amped up, so I need to go early military in case I have close civs. Start WC at 100%, but will build a second scout.
(...)
5: Moscow Scout -> Warrior. Rename new scout Sergey. Sergey N, NE to mountain, spots goodie hut and apparent shape of northern half (?) of home island (?). Start wondering if sprint to MM will be necessary. The GOTM page said there may be competition for space, and I was wise enough to wonder if they meant on the home landmass or elsewhere. Scout S, W onto hill, hinting at shape of what may be the southern half of a starting island.
6: Sergey takes hut, gets maps showing landmass to the N one coastal tile away. Strongly suspect I'm alone on an island, but I'll finish researching WC. That might be the wrong move, but I may need the archers to handle barbs, anyway. Scout E, S, spots goody hut and only source of fresh water I've seen so far, a coastal tile in the middle of desert.
7: The only food bonuses are a nearby banana that will take a while to develop and an oasis to the S. Change Moscow to spearman as shield production far outstrips food, and I don't want to go over my support limit since I apparently need to research everything myself. Oh yeah, I just remembered that should be easier on Regent, but the AI will still be able to trade before I find them. I think. Worker N to another BG. I have 7 turns, 21g into WC. Seriously thinking about aborting that and starting pottery and a chopped granary for Moscow after the first settler. It's possible I have a land bridge to the E, but I doubt it. If I switch to Pottery now it will be finished by the time I have the settler built. Yes, trashing 7 turns of research and switching to Pottery as I'll need population to keep up with research which at the moment is more important than even workers and settlers I think.
(...)
20: Pottery -> Alphabet at 100%. (I determined many turns ago I'm definitely alone on an island, now beelining for MM.) Moscow Settler -> Granary. Almost disband first scout to save on support costs, but I have 40g I can't do much with, and I don't know anybody, so I can spare a few turns of 1g to keep both scouts until the settler settles. City placement: The plains to the N are mostly useless until I get irrigation up from 11+ tiles to the S, after clearing jungles and marshes. The jungles and marshes need clearing to get much else useful done, so I'll settle two tiles east of Moscow to eventually claim two hills but immediately have access to 4 BGs (one shared with Moscow) and some forest chops. I'll build a granary there, keep the capital pop high and bring workers out of city 2 to start clearing the wetlands and concentrate on research. I'm sure I'll find some shields to build barb fighters between settler and worker builds. I may go for Colossus in the capital. Yes, I will. Settler E.
(...)
22: Worker clears forest, 10s to Moscow towards granary and BG is revealed. Worker S to silk forest. Found St Petersburg -> Granary. Southern scout spots landmass to W, 2 coastal tiles away. Good thing I didn't disband him and kept him peeking from every coastal tile! Well, maybe. How long would it have taken me to find it after MM or even Alphabet? I plan on checking F3 every turn now for warnings of barb camps while I have one spear and two cities.
(...)
32: Moscow granary -> The Colossus. No contacts to demand my money, so running at -1gpt with 38g. St. Petersburg grows to size 2.
(...)
41: Alphabet -> Writing. Sci to 100% at -2gpt, 32g. St. P. Granary -> warrior, although considered both worker and spear. Worker starts one-tile road connecting both cities.
(...)
60: Moscow The Colossus -> Worker. Sci/lux to 20/10, Writing in 1. Moscow expands, bringing another BG into borders for St. P.
61: Writing -> Map Making. Sci/lux to 90/10 at -2gpt, 38g, MM in 15 turns. Moscow Worker -> Curragh
62: St P Worker -> Settler. Start thinking about expansion. I need to improve some more tiles before clearing the wetlands, and I just hit my support limit. I think I'll place a city to the N so it can use the whale. I'm not usually a fan of whales, but those plains aren't being irrigated in the AA, and I'll probably use those tiles on the N landmass for my first overseas settlement. Meanwhile the whale city will allow me another 4 workers (no need to garrison it yet) to clear wetlands. I just realized I may want to hurry up and fill my island before other civs start sending galleys my way. Well, I'll know better once the curraghs get to the neighboring lands.
(...)
68: Moscow Curragh -> Curragh. Found Novgorod on plains with whale access, set to granary as prebuild for harbor. Now at -2gpt, 7g.
(...)
70: Moscow Curragh -> Barracks as prebuild for GLH as I think this may come in handy this game. Decide W landmass is probably bigger, send Curragh 3 in its direction. Lux to 10% as Moscow size 5.
(...)
72: Hire a scientist in St P for a turn to bring Writing in 2, just before rax/harbor prebuild in Moscow finishes. Curragh spots red border. Curragh spots 2 green Aztec reg warriors. Montezuma has 2 cities besides his capital and is up The Wheel, WC and IW. I am used to Emperor AI's demanding my cash, so hire a taxman in Moscow, sci to 100% for 0gpt, Writing in 2, 9g. Change my mind, forget GLH, I have two civs nearby to slap around. Fire all specialists, Sci/lux to 80/10 at 0gpt, MM in 3. Moscow will finish rax, change St. P from Spear to rax. Move warrior into Novgorod so all cities are garrisoned; don't want to appear too weak.
73: Babylonian (red) worker steps into view of curragh. Babs have 2 extra cities and are up Masonry, CB and the Aztec techs. Curragh invades Bab waters, sees Nineveh and 2xincense. Other curragh spots border that looks a bit blue but might be Aztec green.
74: Aztecs settle Texcoco on their E shore. That border was green, not bluish. Darn. Sci to 30%, MM in 1.
IT: Get Writing, big picture, F4 to trade screen. Masonry and WC from Babs for MM and 10g. Crap, should have got CB. I forgot how stingy Aztecs are with trading. Best I can do is Wheel and 5g for MM, Masonry and 1gpt.
75: Moscow rax -> Galley. I have horses on the southern part of the island, but not close enough for now. MM Moscow for 10spt giving St P 8spt.
76: Spot furs on island owned by Aztecs.
(...)
80: Moscow Archer -> Worker. Curragh sees reachable coastline SW of W isle. Earlier the other curragh saw sea squares that are worth sending a galley to soon. Decide on city spot on [an] island that will cover all the grass, a hill and two mountains after expansion. I'm not an ICS guy. Change Novgorod prebuild order to harbor.
QSC:
3 Cities (last place of known civs), 1 city to be settled next turn on other landmass
Pop: 13 (1st)
2 Civs met
Tech: BW, Masonry, Alpha, Pottery, Wheel, WC, Writing, MM. Down CB and IW from other 2 civs, IW due in 2 turns.
18g at 0gpt
(Mfg goods 1st, Land area 7th, Annual Income 1st)
2 overseas lands partially explored, another coast spotted, another sea spotted suspected of being near land
Summary: Settled in place after Scout E, S, and Worker SW. Started game expecting to fight early aggressive neighbors, then trashed 7 turns of WC research to get Pottery and then on to MM as I found I was almost certainly alone on an island. Went with early granaries, only two cities and up to 5 workers to speed up early tech and production rates to faster meet other civs and enable tech brokering. Built Colossus in Moscow. As MM was near due and curraghs started exploring, decided to get GLH, but the turn or two after that I met two other civs and decided against GLH, built 2 rax and plan on fighting my way through the other civs' lands. With no food bonuses but two granaries, 5 workers I should be able to start clearing the wetlands and rapidly get two more productive cities established before the other civs start trying to settle the south of my isle and I'm ready to advance on theirs. The first wave will be archers as I won't have the horses hooked up for a while, but perhaps in two turns I'll find some nearby iron?
-----
(5 or so days later, 19 hours until submission deadline)
I just got back from a business trip and will unwind by playing CivIII all day. I'll pick this game up, although I now wonder if I should have filled my island faster. My normal isolationist strategy--especially on Emperor, which this isn't--is to get MM ASAP by growing the capital to max size, developing it quickly, and building Colossus if possible, which it always is if I'm on a coast since the AI is busy expanding. After the submission deadline I might try replaying this start and see if there is a better balance between growth and speed of obtaining Map Making to find contacts. Also, on this map I could have put curraghs to sea sooner and likely found the close neighbors.
On second thought, I'll just read what others did and compare their starts to mine.
Yeah, I goofed on this start. I'm probably going to have to go to war to own my island as I just traded away MM and still have a lot of wetlands to clear before effectively settling the south part of the island.
Strategy going forward: Work on owning my island and [an] island. Hopefully Aztec will settle first, plan to war with Aztecs to finish my island (presuming they settle here first), ally Babs against them and get my foothold on [another] isle. We'll see where to go from there, but my plan is to own the three big isles in my starting area. Or maybe I'll leave the Babs a little land as a tech partner. Hoping to put FP on [another] isle, but I don't know much about the isle yet, and I'll pretty much need a leader to build it there.
Executive summary through start of MA at 190 AD:
After getting IW realized that I could claim 4 sources in short order. Did so with a delayed REX and managed to settle my island an another with no contest aside from a few barbs which are wimpy on regent. I suspected another isle may not have iron and that the civs may come after me for it, but at least one of the other civs has iron, and I was confusing Babylon for Persia, and when I realized that I no longer worried quite as much about the other civs' iron.
I tried for the Republic slingshot, but since my delayed, population-depleting REX killed my capital research after MM, Aztec beat me to it by a few turns.
Notes from 1000 BC through 190 AD, start of MA.
Spoiler:
825 BC: Met Hittites
670 BC: Was checking F3 for barb warnings and noticed that I was average military strength compared to the high-score Babs with only 5 spears, an archer and a warrior. Oh yeah, regent. Suddenly realize I've had writing a while and had some money. Established two embassies, and thereafter established an embassy as soon as I could afford it.
630 BC: Realize I should have sent a scout over to a populated island as soon as I could. Started the process a bit late.
530 BC - 450 BC: Aztecs beat me to Philo and go into Anarchy, obviously got free Republic, and I traded them CoL . Hitties DoW Aztecs, me tech broker some more, start self-researching Republic, Hittites DoW Babylon, Aztecs become a Republic.
350 BC: I complete a harbor on my colonized island establishing trade between the islands.
250 BC: Meet France.
150 BC: Meet Germany. They are up Poly, I'm up Philo, CoL and MM. Trade him MM and Philo for Poly and 81g. Trade Math and 81g to Monty for Republic. Sell CoL to France for 302g. Sell Republic to France for Construction. I am now up techs on everybody but France. I may have given France too much, but I wanted Construction. Perhaps I could have waited. Start Literature in 6 turns because I decided to use a library (cheaper than temples for a scientific civ) to bring the horses into my borders instead of build a colony. Build embassy in Berlin for 38g. Pyramids in 127 turns. Good luck with that. Silks hooked up. I'm not sure I'm ready for Republic, but I revolt now. 7 turns of anarchy. Urgh.
30 BC: Become Republic
10 AD: Lit -> Currency, I am most powerful nation in the world.
50 AD: Iroqouis galley finds my curragh.
110 AD: Finally get horses hooked up. All cities are on the trade network for the past few turns.
Reached Middle Ages in Turn 137, 190 AD.
13 cities (1st)
Pop: 43 (1st)
Land: 160 (1st)
All civs met
All AA techs, snagged 2 MA techs with gifting/trading with other scientific civs and my free tech.
21g at 8gpt
After 1000 BC I was perhaps a bit too generous in obtaining Construction. I also got too confident in my regent researching ability; after sacrificing growth for research to get to MM I ruthlessly shrunk my two big cities by producing a bunch of settlers. They had granaries but no food bonuses. Aztec beat me to Philosophy and they got Republic for free.
I haven't been in a war yet, but I'm planning to attack Aztecs ASAP. I have 3 galleys ready, two scouting spears and my first horseman standing outside his borders. A settler is almost ready to get a foothold on his land. But my economy isn't quite ready for Republic war, and I don't have any cities than can grow past size 6 yet. Still I'm going to try the war to get some resources away from him. Hopefully by the time knights arrive I'll be able to take over most or all of his landmass.
I most likely won't finish before the submission deadline, but I put my QSC in.
Settled in place. Research set to Wheel hoping to use this for trades but quickly found that we were alone on n island. After the wheel was completed alphabet was next with pre-builds used to get 3 curraghs out exploring. Contacts made with Babs (1790bc) and Aztecs (1700bc). WC, Mas and CB were traded. Writing was completed 1550bc, lit completed 1200bc, then CoL and Philo getting Republic for free (925bc).
Hittites were contacted in 1325bc
1000bc
Score 129, Gold 37, Cities 7, Land 90, Pop 14, Units 12 (1 settler, 3 workers, 1 scout, 3 warriors, 1 spear, 1 archer).
HBR, IW and Mys were traded while Maths, cons and currency researched.
Contact made with Germany in 850bc and in 410bc entered the MA.
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How did contacts go? Any good trades? Any aggressive moves made yet? Any difficult AI or are they pretty much under control? Plans for the rest of the game?
)
). Make a break
. Hitties DoW Aztecs, me tech broker some more, start self-researching Republic, Hittites DoW Babylon, Aztecs become a Republic.
