Dealing with two very isolated starts (C3C)

Sea exploration:
Spoiler :
  • Turn 66, 1350 BC: Barb camp w/2 warriors spawns next to Groat, just in tundra. Curragh makes the crossing, finds what might be a 1-tile hill island. Found Tabriz -> granary as prebuild for GLH.
    2014-05-10_16-47-06-0013.jpg
  • Turn 67, 1325 BC: Barb advances to hill. Ta-Tu size 4, MM it. Archer kills him uhurt. Almarikh curragh -> curragh. Curragh move around little island, it is a 3-tile island, one hill and two plains tiles, one with wheat. :undecide: .
    2014-05-10_16-53-01-0012.jpg
  • Turn 68, 1300 BC: Almarikh size 2. Karakorum archer -> archer. Kazan curragh -> curragh. Archer wipes out barb camp, hurt to 2/3. First curragh spots more land on the other side of the island. Other curraghs will head that way.
  • Turn 70, 1250 BC: Ta-Tu settler -> settler. Change Almarikh to granary as galley prebuild.
  • Turn 71, 1225 BC: Kazan size 3. An archer takes over Groat's watch, Groat and Penny will move to whever my galleys will be built (Map Making due in 4),
  • Turn 72, 1200 BC: Tribes reported near Ta-Tu. I have two curraghs by the larger island, it's about 20 tiles, but there is another landmass beyond!
  • Turn 74, 1150 BC: Map Making! Decide to go for Republic slingshot, CoL at max available. Karakorum size 8. Change builds to galleys and GLH.
    Some babbling planning I did after Map Making:
    Spoiler :
    Turn 74: I recently reached Map Making. The research went faster than I thought, but my development was slower than I thought. On the other hand, my focus was to build the core cities and research quickly. Well I researched quickly and got the core established, but it's still growing. I think I should have founded the second lake city (Tabriz in this game) sooner to get more growth, but at the time I wanted to get the fish tiles worked. And the next city I put to the W to grab some extra land for Ta-Tu...that has helped, though, so maybe it was a good idea the sequence in which I settled.

    What now for research? I could shut down research and build cash for trades, but being Regent I think I still have a shot at the Republic slingshot after Map Making, so I'll keep researching full-speed to that goal then evaluate what is best.

    Is Republic what I really want? Yes, I think so. I'm already geared up for commerce, and if/when I decide to stop or slow self-research I can use the gold to support more troops.

    I have a slow start on GLH, but after this next settler I'm going to pump workers out of Ta-Tu, road up the core, improve Tabriz's lands and then join workers to make it size 12. That should help speed things up.

    I was encouraged by finding more land, but there's nobody on it! I think I should find someone in the next 20-30 turns at most. If I don't find anyone on the island chain I'll soon have more suicide galleys going.

    I just had an idea; I'm going to speed up archer building in the capital and disband them in the galley cities to speed production.
  • Turn 75, 1125 BC: Karakorum size 8. Found Ulaanbaatar whose main purpose is to capture the fish tile for Tabriz and claim the area from the barbs. I don't expect much from it. Set to harbor. Lead curragh finds that the third other island is small, about 5 jungle tiles with jungle and marsh. No fresh water on these isles. Well, I reached Map Making, stop for a strategy reformulation.
  • Turn 76, 1100 BC: Tabriz size 2. Ta-Tu settler -> settler. I had just decided to start on workers, but I really need to place two more settlers to capture a couple of good tiles; placing this one settler alone is a bit of a waste for now.
  • Turn 78, 1050 BC: Tundra archer battle: reg archer wipes out barb, promotes to 4/4. Found Hovd -> worker. First curragh takes suicide stab S, spots edge of coastal tiles to SW.
  • Turn 79, 1025 BC: Almarikh size 3. Ta-Tu size 4. Curragh lives! Finds land, but is in danger again of sinking. MM Ta-Tu.
    Spoiler :
    (I don't seem to have noted it, but this curragh sunk :()
    2014-05-10_17-59-19-0008.jpg
  • Turn 80, 1000 BC: Spot a barb horse in the tundra. Vet archer wipes out barb camp, ends up next to horse. 2nd curragh makes a suicide run behind the first.
  • Turn 81, 975 BC: Kazan size 3. Vet archer attacks barb horse, wins, promotes to 4/5. 2nd curragh lives, takes the next two steps, still in danger.
  • Turn 82, 950 BC: Livy says I'm the third largest civ behind the Russians and Zulu. The curragh sinks. Civ crashes. D'oh! Load from autosave, replay last turn, got same visible results. Ta-Tu settler -> worker. Almarikh galley -> galley. Load Groat and an archer into the galley.
  • Turn 84, 900 BC: Found Darhan -> worker. Drop an archer on the 3-tile island to keep barbs off of it.
  • Turn 85, 875 BC: Ta-Tu worker -> worker. Ulaanbatar size 2; change it to galley as it can put together 2spt and maybe 3 after roading it up.
  • Turn 86, 850 BC: Tabriz size 3. 3rd and last curragh makes a suicide run far S.
  • Turn 87, 825 BC: Code of Laws, and Scientific GL Ulan Bator!!! -> Line up Philo and Republic. Switch Tabriz to harbor, wasting 39 shields, move the SGL there for GLH next turn. Curragh survived; if I had been thinking I would have walked it back to wait for GLH, but instead I pushed it forward into mortal danger once again.
 
Who are the people in your neighborhood? Contact:
Spoiler :

  • Turn 88, 800 BC: Tabriz harbor -> GLH. Ta-Tu worker -> worker. Hovd worker -> worker. Curragh survives! And finds Egyptian settler! They don't even have Alphabet! But they have at least the rest of the first-level techs. She only has 5 cities. My military is stronger than hers. She won't trade any tech for Alpha straight-up, so either she knows others who have it or is researching it herself. I'll wait and see who else I meet. SGL hurries GLH. Change Kazan to harbor. MM Karakorum to 10spt for barracks and archers for guarding my islands. Change other builds around as I want to start building harbors for food and maybe courthouses for the edge cities. I'll have Philo and likely Republic in 6 turns, and then it will be time to shut down research for a while.
    Spoiler :
    Howdy-ho!
    2014-05-10_18-49-57-0006.jpg

    (Note that the galley with the help of the Great Lighthouse would have made the crossing safely if the curragh had sunk.)
  • Turn 89, 775 BC: Tabriz Great Lighthouse -> galley. Egypt got Alphabet in the interturn. You're welcome.
  • Turn 91, 730 BC: Groat lands in Egypt next to Pi-Ramesses, and a GLH-sped galley and curragh are exploring the continent.
  • Turn 92, 710 BC: Galley spots blue borders.
  • Turn 93, 690 BC: Meet America. Damn, he has Writing. And Philosophy. I'm 2 beakers away from it. No slingshot for me. He does not have CoL. Since I have two ships and a scout searching their lands I won't trade yet.
  • Turn 94, 670 BC: Philo -> Republic at max available.
  • Turn 95, 650 BC: Meet Russia. They have Writing and Philo but not CoL. They are the most powerful civ so far. I have more pop, they have more land and score.
  • Turn 96, 630 BC: Decide it's time to start trading. Writing and 45g to Egypt for BW and Wheel. There's a horse on the 19-tile island, but not my home isle. Map Making to Egypt for Masonry, CB and 68g. Cleo is short Math to the others. Philo and 12g to Egypt for IW. CoL to America for Math, HBR and Myst and 31g. All three have Poly, and Russia also has Construction. CoL suddenly isn't valuable to anyone else. There is iron on the horse isle, go figure. Sell Col to Russa for 202g. Math and CoL to Egypt for Poly and 25g (all she has). I have most of the money, and Russia is up Construction. CoL is the only net-new tech on their continent. I got 8 plus money in trade. :-) Establish embassies with everyone. Russia has iron and horses, Egypt has iron, America has no strategic resources. Oh, Egypt and Russia haven't met! Nobody's completed a wonder besides me yet. Briefly consider going for Colossus, but Spain, a seafaring civ is in the game. No, I will go for it; I have 8spt in Tabriz and it will grow more. (Note added later: The reasoning here is that the AI civs won't likely have very productive cities besides their capitals, and seafaring civs start on the coast, and Colossus has to be built on a coast. Ergo, I doubt a non-seafaring civ would be building Colossus in a productive city, but a seafaring civ probably would be or would cascade to Colossus if they are beat to another wonder.)
  • Turn 98, 590 BC: Take out a barb and a barb camp. No horses this time, and no boats yet. Land 2 archers on the horse/iron island.
  • Turn 99, 570 BC: Oh hai Spain! So, um, building any Colossuses lately? She doesn't have Writing, HBR or Poly. She has 3g and doesn't know America or Egypt. And she's building Colossus in Madrid, as I feared, but now I can build an embassy and peek. It's due in 52 turns, so I can beat her to it. I doubt anyone else has the production to beat me to it.
  • Turn 100, 550 BC: Oh. England is also seafaring. I didn't notice them until just now, when they completed the Colossus. No prob; Tabriz will slow-build galleys while working the sea hard for commerce. I need to start settling the islands and searching for the remaining continent; I'm guessing I found everyone in the known lands of the world.
  • Turn 101, 530 BC: Zulus complete Pyramids. I now have archers deployed watching all three islands so no barbs can spawn. Send the first suicide galley looking for yet another continent: it spots coast and a border, just need to live through the turn. Another galley is finding sea tiles in the ocean to hop towards the border.
  • Turn 102, 510 BC: Suicide galley sinks. The sea-tile-hopping galley finds a safe path, will reach the other continent next turn!
    Spoiler :
    2014-05-10_21-18-46-0000.jpg
  • Turn 104, 470 BC: Finally road a gems tile. Meet Hittites, they have Construction and are down CoL. Suck it, Russia. Very tempted to buy it now for CoL and 28g, but I might as well meet another civ on that continent then trade.
  • Turn 105, 450 BC: Spot an English warrior and make contact. They are also up Construction and down CoL. Crap, now I can't trade CoL straight-up for Construction with either of them. Someone on their continent must have just finished it. I don't have an immediate need; I'll wait some more.
  • Turn 107, 410 BC: Meet Zulu. Zulu of all civs has both CoL and Construction. Oh, that's everyone, I know the world now. Sell HBR to Spain for her 55g. CoL and 142g to England for Construction. Not trading with Hittites cost me 167g...or did it? Sell CoL to Hittites for 189g. Okay, that's better. Land settler & worker on iron-horse island. MINE! Change builds around as I have 4 galleys and don't seem to be in danger of losing them. Aqueducts, courthouses and such.
  • Turn 108, 390 BC: Egypt knows Monarchy, of course won't trade straight-up for Construction.
  • Turn 109, 370 BC: Found Dalandzadgad on the iron-horse island claiming the iron. -> harbor. Russia has Monarchy and still hasn't met Egypt. Score for me, because now Construction gets me Monarchy and 35g from Egypt. Decide to go for THG in Karakorum, but will probably lose it to cascade. Oh, now I have to decide if I'd rather go Monarchy than Republic. I expected to get Republic first on a slingshot, but I missed that and now I have Monarchy first. I'm Mongols, yeah I'll go Monarchy, right now...well, next turn due to some builds and forest chop timings.
  • Turn 110, 350 BC: Revolt, get 5-turn anarchy.
  • Turn 113, 290 BC: Hittites have Currency, will trade it and all their 29g for Monarchy. Decide to wait for a two-fer and/or a chance to get a MA tech with Republic.
  • Turn 114, 270 BC: Damnit, England got Monarchy and bought Currency. I don't have a deal now. Penny lands on the new continent.
  • Turn 115, 250 BC: I am now a Monarchy. Found Mandalgovi for the horses -> worker.
  • Turn 120, 150 BC: Republic -> Literature with lone scientist. Come to think of it, not sure why I didn't go min research when I went for Monarchy.
  • Turn 123, 90 BC: Penny observes Hittites and Zulu at war. Found Choybalsan on the jungle/bananna island.
  • Turn 125, 50 BC: Egypt completes Oracle. Found Erdenet on the Zulu/Hittite/England continent! There's still open land, and I found a faster safe sea-tile-hop to it. Zulu and England have Republic. Trade Republic to HIttites for Currency and 11g (all they have). Nobody has MA techs yet.
  • Turn 126, 30 BC: England has Lit.
  • Turn 127, 10 BC: Ah, there is a way their 4-move galleys can reach my island, but I'll probably start warring with the E continent before they do that. Or maybe I can place a blocking curragh.
  • Turn 128, 10 AD: Rush a harbor on the iron-horse isle hoping the GLH connects the harbors via sea.
  • Turn 129, 30 AD: Yes! I have iron and horses on the trade network. Found Tsetserleg on the E continent.
  • Turn 130, 50 AD: I'm the 2nd-most powerful civ.
  • Turn 131, 70 AD: Defend against 1 barb warrior and 2 barb galleys, my galley redlined.
  • Turn 132, 90 AD: Russia demands Republic. I tell her to shove it. She DoW's. LOL, Spain has RoP with Russia and will take an alliance straight-up. I throw Monarchy in the deal so she can produce better. Republic is on that island; I won't be able to trade Republic to Russia for their free MA tech. Give America 4gpt to fight Russia. Give Egypt 6gpt to fight Russia. Russia is the monster on that continent, so I just dogpiled them. I don't think I'll bother to go over there and fight them. I have closer lands to secure. Disband Groat as he is in the middle of Russia. Change research to Feudalism, minimum for now.
  • Turn 133, 110 AD: Lower lux to 20% because I have war happiness
  • Turn 134, 130 AD: Found Baruun-Urt by 1-tile lake.
  • Turn 135, 150 AD: Karakorum completes Hanging Gardens. Lux to 10%.
  • Turn 136, 170 AD: Found Ereen on the 3-tile island.
 
The last turnlog is as far as I've played. I know the world, I'm in the Middle ages and the tech leader by 50 BC, although I think I lack Literature which one other civ has.

Early game analysis:
Spoiler :
I definitely think growing the capital early sped me to Map Making, but I think I might have been better off making a second settler out of the capital before growing it.

I'm also wondering if granary-first in the second city was the right move. It probably was, but setting up the tiles and chopping forests to speed the granary took up a lot of the lone worker's time.

I think building the granary in Karakorum was wise, but selling it at size 7 was dumb. I really anticipated Ta-Tu would be producing enough settlers and workers to add pop to the capital after size 7, but I was way behind on both settlers and workers, and I wanted lots of curraghs and galleys for suicide runs, so basically I had one city making all the workers and settlers, and that really slowed down expansion and improvement.

On the other hand, that was a designed trade-off, but if I feel up to it I may replay and see what happens if I pop a second settler out of Karakorum


Sea exploration and contact analysis:
Spoiler :
I really shouldn't be surprised anymore when I have a curragh discover a continent that a galley is right behind it. Galleys are so much faster. But if early contact can be made with a curragh it can enable earlier tech trading, so they're definitely worth sending.

I think I made good trade decisions even though there were three instances of my waiting on a trade to have it become much less valuable the following turn.

Oh, and what luck is it that I get an SGL a few turns after MM? I'm quite sure I would have built GLH before the other civs, but it sure was timely to get it for free!


After-contact analysis:
Spoiler :
My focus when starting the game was to quickly reach Map Making at get off the island. After Map Making I decided to try for the Republic slingshot with the goal of getting out of Despotism.

When I met America and found out I lost the Philo slingshot I really lost focus in self-research. My research choices after that were off-the-cuff and not part of a directed plan, so they were sloppy, and I know I lost some turns of research into Lit because I changed my mind; I think I lost a turn into another tech while not paying attention.

Also, I was behind on developing my continent and slower than I wanted in claiming the islands even though I was at the time of the belief that nobody else can reach them until the late MA. However now I know England will be able to reach them sooner; it's just a matter of time unless I can maintain a naval blockade.

I was able to opportunistically plop two cities on the Eastern continent in good places, and thanks to the seas and GLH I think they will be connected by harbors. I should be able to wipe that continent out and use all its resources before Navigation/Magnetism. I also got iron and horses online, but I'm not ready to produce military to invade. D'oh! What a bad Khan I am!

If I keep playing I'm going to roll over the enemy, but it's going to take longer to get started than I think I should have. Oh well.
 
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