CTIV-6: Germs! Germs Everywhere!

[Rem]

Got it, playing now

 

[Rem]

Turn 173 (1130 AD)
Antium finishes: Archer
Neapolis grows: 5

Turn 174 (1140 AD)
Antium begins: War Elephant
Archer promoted: City Garrison I
Rome finishes: Hindu Monastery
Cumae grows: 11
Samarqand grows: 2

Turn 175 (1150 AD)
Rome begins: War Elephant
Neapolis finishes: Aqueduct
Shangian grows: 3

Turn 176 (1160 AD)
Neapolis begins: Work Boat
Antium grows: 10
Samarqand's borders expand
Samarqand finishes: Granary

Turn 177 (1170 AD)
Samarqand begins: Aqueduct
Tech learned: Feudalism
Rome grows: 13
Rome finishes: War Elephant
Antium finishes: War Elephant
Cumae grows: 12

Turn 178 (1180 AD)
Research begun: Civil Service
Rome begins: Longbowman
Antium begins: Longbowman
Cumae finishes: War Elephant

Turn 179 (1190 AD)
Cumae begins: Hindu Temple
Shangian grows: 4

Turn 180 (1200 AD)
Rome grows: 14
Rome finishes: Longbowman
Neapolis's borders expand

Turn 181 (1210 AD)
Rome begins: Longbowman
Longbowman promoted: City Garrison I
Antium finishes: Longbowman
Cumae grows: 13
Neapolis finishes: Work Boat

Turn 182 (1220 AD)
Antium begins: Theatre
Neapolis begins: Lighthouse
Longbowman promoted: City Garrison I
Rome finishes: Longbowman
Shangian grows: 5
Shangian finishes: Aqueduct

Turn 183 (1230 AD)
Rome begins: War Elephant
Shangian begins: Theatre

Summary: Not much going on, just built up some culture and military.

Save and screenies:

 

[ChrTh]

Longbowman promoted: City Garrison I

Please tell me this is a mistake in the autologger.

 

[JesusOnEez]

Not just me then...

We all ought to put a post it of the variants on our monitors, and refer to it before upgrading/changing civics etc...

 

[ChrTh]

Not just me then...

We all ought to put a post it of the variants on our monitors, and refer to it before upgrading/changing civics etc...

I'm thinking tattoos on foreheads with a mirror attached to the monitor.

I have it, will likely play in a little bit or tomorrow. The troops will be disbanded this time.

 

[ChrTh]

Turn 0 -- 1230 AD

I DISBAND THE ARCHER/LONGBOWMEN WITH CITY GARRISON

Situation Assessment:

We have 6 cities, and they aren't in violation of the variant rules.

Religion we're in good shape being Organized, Hindi, and on good terms with Toku

Techwise, we're 3 turns from Civil Service ... but I'm definitely going for Compass next as Harbor is a Variant requirement, and then towards Guilds for the Grocer (and Knight, and Mace along the way).

Of course, everyone has Compass, and Code of Laws is known by most. I accelerate the process. I trade CoL + 120 gold to Toku for Compass. I'm unable to trade for Metal Casting, but perhaps when Civil Service comes in ...

Hrm, I recheck the variant rules, and nothing says we have to immediately switch over to Harbor, so I don't. I hope I don't give myself a for that.

Since Rome hasn't put anything towards the War Elephant, I switch it to Harbor.

I LOVE how we're not going to end up building any Praets in this game

Turn 1 -- 1240 AD



Alexander's bitter enemy, by the way, is Elizabeth, so we might not want to trade with her.

Turn 2 -- 1250 AD

Notre Dame BIFL.

Antium: Theatre > Harbor
Cumae: Hindu Temple > Harbor (It's been over 10 turns so I whip)
Rome: Harbor > War Elephant

I rush the Theatre in Shangian as well.

Turn 3 -- 1260 AD

Civil Service comes in. I start on Metal Casting for now, but I'll need to do some trading first.

Cumae: Harbor > War Elephant
Shangian: Theatre > Courthouse

It looks like Alex got Civil Service so I can't trade it to him. I don't see any deals beneficial, though, with Liz (no roughly-equal techs). And Toku has Civil Service. I'll look again next turn.

I revolt to Bureaucracy.

Turn 4 -- 1270 AD

We meet Catherine of the Russians. She must be behind Toku. She's Jewish, and despite a good score, we have techs we can trade her. And she doesn't know Kublai. Elizabeth doesn't like her, but we don't really like Elizabeth either so that's no big whoop. I trade her Drama and Horseback Riding for Metal Casting and 20 gold. She's now pleased with us.

Everyone else has Machinery so it makes no sense to start researching it when we have tradeable techs. I start on Theology because it's cheapest.

Ah, Catherine isn't behind Toku, she has Caravels. She must've researched Optics after Machinery.

Turn 5 -- 1280 AD

Elizabeth offers Music + 10 gold for Civil Service. I tell her it ain't happening.

Alex completes Sistine Chapel.

Rome: War Elephant > Longbowman. I promote the War Elephant to Combat I in order to remove temptation.

I did some ... I can't get CoL/Calendar for Machinery from Catherine, and since all my allies are Annoyed with Elizabeth, I don't want to trade Civil Service to her for it. Man, this Diplomacy thing is complicated, huh?

Turn 6 -- 1290 AD

Antium: Harbor > Courthouse
Neapolis: Lighthouse > Harbor

Kublai adopts Vassalage. Hmmm...

Turn 7 -- 1300 AD

Rome: Longbowman > Longbowman. Promoted to Combat I.

Ah, now Catherine can trade Civil Service for Machinery, I do so even though I've researched it a bit. I start Guilds, due in 13 at 60%. Elizabeth is the only one who has it. Everyone else has Optics, Toku and Elizabeth both have Machinery.

Turn 8 -- 1310 AD

Rome: Longbowman > Catapult. Promoted to Combat I.

Angkor Wat BIFAL.

Turn 9 -- 1320 AD

Antium: Courthouse > Maceman
Cumae: War Elephant > Maceman
Shangian: Courthouse > Library

We finally have a metal online!

And we have 5 million souls!

Looking at the Demos, amazingly enough, we're only 5th in soldiers ... however it's pretty tightly packed from top to bottom. Population we're way ahead.

Turn 10 -- 1330 AD

Rome: Catapult > Maceman


I'm going to play 2 extra turns to get us evened up.

Turn 11 -- 1340 AD

Rome celebrates WE LOVE THE MONARCH DAY!

Turn 12 -- 1350 AD

Elizabeth wants Open Borders. Denied.

Rome: Mace > Courthouse (since it'll only take a turn and will save us 1gpt)

You better believe I'm promoting the Mace to Combat I.

I rush the Library in Shangian.


Ok, we're still building strong. We have a nice little relationship going with Toku, Alex, and Cathy (although she's dropped to Cautious because of religion). I think, though, we're going to have to take out Alex. Too bad.

Guilds (and Grocers!) in 6.

Here's the save:
View attachment 118420

Oh, by the way: ANYONE CAUGHT BUILDING A FORGE WILL BE SHOT

Roster:
ChrTh > Just Played
hamtastic > Up
JesusOnEez > On Deck
Sina
Gaspar~
Rem

 

[Gaspar~]

Nice turns ChrTh. Usually a good rule of thumb is when you're weak attack weak, strong attack strong, so Alex does make sense as next target. Sad, since we built such a good relationship. That said, I suspect we'll see a Kublai attack long before we're ready to take down anybody.

Y'know what would help in the war effort? Forges.

 

[ChrTh]

Nice turns ChrTh. Usually a good rule of thumb is when you're weak attack weak, strong attack strong, so Alex does make sense as next target. Sad, since we built such a good relationship. That said, I suspect we'll see a Kublai attack long before we're ready to take down anybody.

Actually, we're no longer weak. We've moved up to 3rd in the rankings, behind Liz and Cathy. Our number of soldiers is still 5th, but a couple more builds and we could move up to 2nd. Alex is already refusing to trade techs with us (not so necessary techs like Theology and Music) because "we're getting too advanced". I think we can take him. Toku, on the other hand, should be building Samurais now, and I don't want to face that.

Y'know what would help in the war effort? Forges.

NOT. FUNNY.

 

[hamtastic]

I think the save is broken. It's smaller than it should be, and CIV4 crashes every time I try to load it. Care to reload?

 

[ChrTh]

I think the save is broken. It's smaller than it should be, and CIV4 crashes every time I try to load it. Care to reload?

I'm able to download and open it (it's larger than the last save, so it ain't a size issue) without any issues. Are you saving or opening when you download? Is anyone else having a problem with it?

 

[hamtastic]

I save when I download, then try to open - the same as normal. I don't know. It ends up being about 90k when I download it, and the last one was about 200k. Care to reload it?

 

[ChrTh]

If you look at the properties of the one uploaded before, it's 200k. I'll try uploading it again, but so far it won't let me.

Try opening the link directly instead of saving it.


EDIT: I put it in the Uploads folder, see if you have more success with it from there: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads11/CTIV-6_AD-1350a.Civ4SavedGame

 

[hamtastic]

The new save works for me. I'll play and post today.

 

[hamtastic]

So... I built a whole lot of stuff these turns. CLEAN stuff, mind you.

IHT: Switch Rome to a war elephant for no apparent reason. Question: is it better to use overflow shields to build something you get a bonus on, or better to get lots of overflow shields from something you get a bonus on and then apply those to other things?

1360: Rome: War elephant -> Courthouse

Neapolis: harbor-> courthouse
shangian: library->courthouse

1370: ANtium: Mace->hindu monastery
I whip courthouse in neapolis for 2 pop

1380: Rome: courthouse->maceman
Neapolis: courthouse -> longbowman

1390: Cumae: Maeceman -> Maceman
Samarqand: Aqueduct -> harbor

Hmmm. I see a message noting that a forest is chopped near Samarqand for 67 shields - a cottage is plopped down there, so in case I was worried about htis, it was not me! I ponder restarting and instead leave it as a reminder of our humility in uncertain times.

1400: Our people learn the secret of gathering together to fleece the public. Encouraged by this, we research these "banks" for more moneys to pay our doctors' bills.

Rome: Maceman -> catapult
Shangian: barracks-> grocer
Samarqand: harbor -> grocer
1410: St. Augustine says we are the 3rd wealthiest. Amusingly, there is still 1 unkown civ.

Rome: catapult -> maceman
Antium: monastery ->grocer
hagia Sophia built elsewhere

Alex won't trade us much of anything incidentally, seems to think we're too advanced. Thanks, old buddy Alex. Glad we're friends with you.

Cathy is willing to trade us theology, optics and 10 gold for guilds, but I hold off for now.

1420: Cathy offeres music & 30 gold for guilds.

1430: Rome: maceman -> maceman
Well, we finally gain access to iron.

1440: not much

1450: Rome: maceman ->grocer

I MM Cumae for an additional scientist. It doesn't slow growth at all and helps us with science. I don't do any more specialist there in case anyone wants a 100% chance of getting a great scientist.

Sooo. Them's my turns. We become slightly wealthier and slightly more powerful. I didn't really have any idea of who to attack, so I attacked noone. We could hold off on attacking and just switch all our production to wealth and science, trying to get back up in the tech races.... Or just go crazy with science and merchant specialists for a while... but anyway. See below for the save!

Oh yeah: for my last turns, I switch all cities to forges and whip them all. Just kidding.

 

[ChrTh]

Hmmm. I see a message noting that a forest is chopped near Samarqand for 67 shields - a cottage is plopped down there, so in case I was worried about htis, it was not me! I ponder restarting and instead leave it as a reminder of our humility in uncertain times.

Did I do that?!? ... ummm ... (see I can get as good as I give)

Roster:
ChrTh
hamtastic > Just Played
JesusOnEez > Up
Sina > On Deck
Gaspar~
Rem

EDIT: I must've thought it was a jungle...my bad.

 

[JesusOnEez]

Got it! Will play tonight.

 

[JesusOnEez]

Turn 205 (1450 AD)
JOE's comment: Trying to figure out why we have a Priest specialist in Rome and can't so I make him a Scientist instead. Rome has 2 now.
Tech learned: Banking
Antium finishes: Maceman
Cumae finishes: Maceman
Shangian grows: 9
Contact made: American Empire

Turn 206 (1460 AD)
Research begun: Paper
Antium begins: Grocer
Cumae begins: Grocer
Maceman promoted: Combat I
Maceman promoted: Combat I
Research begun: Paper
Research begun: Education

Turn 207 (1470 AD)
JOE's comment: I fail to see why we aren't in Caste System for the Science potential, so we are now. I checked the variants and there doesn't appear to be anything against this.
Neapolis finishes: Longbowman

Turn 208 (1480 AD)
Neapolis begins: Grocer
Rome grows: 19
Cumae grows: 18

Turn 209 (1490 AD)
JOE's comment: We met Roosevelt (in 6th) and trade for Open Borders and (after checking the variants again) Cows (we had two) for Sheep.
JOE's comment: Again, checking the variants, I set a worker building a Cottage next to a river as it's not a Flood Plain, just a plain Plain (see screenshot)
Rome finishes: Grocer

Turn 210 (1500 AD)
Rome begins: Bank
Shangian grows: 10
Samarqand grows: 5

Turn 211 (1505 AD)
Tech learned: Paper
Neapolis grows: 12

Turn 212 (1510 AD)
Tech learned: Optics
JOE's comment: Alex asks us for Banking in return for Theology. I can't see that it'll benefit and change the deal.
JOE's comment: I change the deal to Optics and 50 gold for the Banking.
Shangian finishes: Grocer

Turn 213 (1515 AD)
Shangian begins: Bank
Cumae grows: 19
Shangian grows: 11

Turn 214 (1520 AD)
JOE's comment: Roosevelt wants Banking for Music & 20 Gold! Not likely. I try to get Engineering but he didn't like that idea.
Rome grows: 20
Rome finishes: Bank
Antium finishes: Grocer

Turn 215 (1525 AD)
Rome begins: Catapult
Antium begins: Bank
JOE's comment: OK. We're at +1gpt at 70% Research so feel free to change that for higher research at a loss. There are more Banks and Grocers to come so we should be OK at 80% for a while.
JOE's comment: Education (9). We need to start racing for Space!
JOE's comment: Cumae is +1 Unhealthy, but this will right itself in 4 when the Grocer is finished.
JOE's comment: Shangian is +1 Unhappy, so maybe change from a Bank to Colloseum or some other happy building.
JOE's comment: Also, would it be a good idea to start building Temples where available as they will give us some Science benefits and are quick to build.

 

[JesusOnEez]

Roster:
ChrTh
hamtastic
JesusOnEez > Just Played
Sina > Up
Gaspar~ > On Deck
Rem

 

[JesusOnEez]

I know it's still pretty early on in the game, but I'd just like to put a couple of cents in.

When we get to building the Apollo Program, would it be worth saving a couple of Great People for a Golden Age to build it quicker? Or, if not that, using a Golden Age to boost research into the techs we need to build the parts, or use the Golden Age for added production to build the parts themselves?

In my experience, a Golden Age is pretty useless unless you've got a large empire. If we can take Toku's land and cities at some point, it'd give us a nice sized empire for a Golden Age to really kick our research/production into the forefront.

EDIT: Or we could expand the other way and take Alex/Kublai.

 

[Sina]

Got it and will play soon.

I don't think Toku will leave us a choice who to war. We are his direct neighbour and he'll want more land at some point.

I agree that we should concentrate on the space race. I'll comment more when I have had a look at the game.