DG01 - Snake eye

[Dimy]

Turn 1 1520 AD:
Checking out the map and continents, we finally have an idea how the world looks like. We're doing quite bad in Economics and Military...we really need to work on that. We're currently losing 23 Gold/turn with only 70% science...that's pretty bad.

Turn 2 1525 AD:
Mao demanded Paper in between turns, of course I declined.

Turn 3 1530 AD:
Genghis Khan demands Banking.... what is it with these AI's demanding stuff from us but not willing to make a trade. I tell him no. Our Great Merchant arrives at Antium and I conduct a trading mission for +1700 Gold, I put science to 90% and we're losing 83 Gold/turn now.
A new Great Merchant is born in Tenochtitlan! I put him on a Caravel and send him off to Antium as well for a new Trading Mission (ETA: 14 turns).

Turn 4 1535 AD:
Bank is finished in Tenochtitlan -- > start Grocer for another finance boost.

Turn 6 1545 AD:
Astronomy is discovered, I queue up Education and Economics, if we discover Economics first we'll get another Great Merchant and can switch to free market civic. A settler is finished in Teotihuacan and starts on Bank.

Turn 7 1550 AD:
Two more settlers are finished this turn in Tlatelolco (starting Forbidden Palace) and Golden Iron where I start Barracks. I don't think our economy can support 3 more new cities though... all settlers are on the move to a new city site.

Turn 8 1555 AD:
Grocer in Tenochtitlan finished, starting Maceman and queuing up Longbowman. We need more military now. Some of our cities are pretty badly defended and I'm expecting an AI sneak attack soon...

Turn 9 1560 AD:
We do some trading with Cyrus:
Incense for Gold, Spices for Bananas and Whine for Silk.
Library finished in Tlaxcala, starting Courthouse.

Turn 10 1565 AD:
Nothing really happens. Here's a screenshot of our Finance Advisor, Info Screen and last but not least...the minimap:

 

[Dimy]

Roster:
Dimy - just played
ThERat - up
Till - on deck
Gufnork

 

[Gufnork]

Stop producing the Forbidden Palace, we will need it when we conquer a second continent. I think we'll want to build it somewhere in Incan territory.

 

[ThERat]

sorry, didn't see that comment about FP, it was built....

save

Pre-Turn
hmm, we are #7 in military, an open invitation for a AI sneak attack
we got to do something about this
MM a little, out capital will pump military for quite a while now

1. 1570AD
found Tlacopan near the horses, maybe we can trade them
other than that nothing much to do

IT France demands PP now, of course decline, sell him our WM for 20 gold instead
we get education, next economics in impressive 4

2. 1575AD
sell our WM for around 250 gold in total, not a bad deal I think

3. 1580AD
Teotihuancan has a bank now, mil builds next
Gufnorkiopia finishes a rax, also mil

4. 1585AD
Aztecs have economics already, but we nevertheless want to go for it as fast as possible
reduce research to 80% so we can actually have some benefit of our banks, economics still in 2
we are now at -49gpt

IT Aztecs demand that we cancel deals with Germans, yawn

5. 1590AD
our income is getting worse and worse, well well

IT economics is in, next nationalism

6. 1595AD
let's see what we can trade for this tech
try to get gunpowder from Cyrus, well he wants 420 gold to boot, ok no choice
get philosophy + 40g from Frederick
change research to liberalism in 5 at 90%

7. 1600AD
conduct the next trade mission for 1700gold, now remember that we should change the civic
go for free market and our income is now at -61gpt at 90% science

8. 1605AD
the FP is built to further improve the situation

9. 1610AD
and as usual in this game frederick discovers liberalism on turn ahead of us getting the free tech

10. 1615AD
it's an odd date to stop, but somone here played less turns I guess
though we are up a few techs, everyone refuses to trade, even the +4 Caesar
I really love this Civ4 feature
there are still 2 settlers in place on the dot, didn't found the cities yet due to our financial situation
went for chemistry next, but can be changed

at least we are now #5 in terms of military, but much more can be done here
I built some knights and LB's

our improved economy

 

[Gufnork]

I loaded the save to check things out and my game got screwed up once again. There's something in this game that screws up my graphics settings somehow. I hate computers, especially dealing with bugs. I think I'll have to pull out of this one, since I don't have the patience to find out what's wrong. This error has only occured after I loaded a save from this game.

Btw, do you guys know how the Forbidden Palace works? It acts as a second capitol for purposes of distance maintenance. Meaning that if you build it right next to your capitol, it doesn't help much at all.

 

[Till]

Sorry to hear about your troubles Gufnork! Weird that it only happens with this save.

Inherited Turn:
Hmm the Emporer is wouldn't have minded a greater distance between his and his Lady's palace, but the Lady was adamant. Oh well, he'll just do a lot of "inspection trips" to far away cities in the future!
Galleons are in so it is definitly time to muscle up. Not that we need it, but i sell our map around for ~150 gold. We could get drama for liberalism. Umm... no.
*enter:

(1) 1625AD:
I start a longbowman in Tlatelolco, after baracks complete. Woah Orlean has the Jewish and Muslim shrine.
Jummy!

(2) 1630 AD:
A Knight saddles his horse in Technotitlan. I order another one.
Same story in Teotihuacan. The goal is to get strong enough to take on the Mongols soon.
The search for the Nothern Passage fails.

Two Galleons show up... empty.

(3) 1630 AD:
Gurfnorkiopia produces a Longbowman. I start work on a catapult for future use...
Cyrus is ready to sell us Nationalism for Liberalism and 1230 gold. No way.

(4)1635 AD:
Chemestry comes in and i go for Nationalism. Drafting would come in nicely. Plus it is on the way to Military Tradition.
Tlacopan finishes a courthouse and i go for a libary to give it some culture.

(5) 1640 AD:
Another Knight is ready in Technotitlan. I start a Grenadier. Same in Tlatelolco. We are now #3 in soldiers.
A few more and we can think about paying Genghis a visit...

(6) 1645AD:
Teotihuacan builds a knight. Start a catapult. We need some artillery and i found that it doesn't matter that much, if the artillery is outdated, just as long as it does colleteral damage.


(7) 1650 AD:
I try to position our caravels in a way to widen our line of vision.

(8) 1655 AD:
Nationalism comes in. Start on Military Tradition.
Start another catapult in Teotihuacan.
Calixtlahuaca finishes a harbor but needs an aquedect on top of that.
Northern Post gets his court, and starts the work on the "Northern Pillar", a lighthouse.

(9) 1660 AD:
Grenadier ready in Technotitlan. Start an observatory. It is only 4 turns and will make a difference in our science capital.

(10) 1665 AD:
Teotihuacan starts another catapult.

---------->The Save<----------​

We are doing pretty good in all departments but commerce now. If we build a few galleons we should be able to go after Mongolia. The problem is only that this would cripple our already torn economy even more. I didn't found any cities during my turns, that is up to the next player to decide. Also we could draft a few units in several cities. Our waters are popular targets for galleons, but they were empty thus far.

 

[ThERat]

actually I don't think we can afford to keep those cities just yet. Maybe we simply go for a razing spree and generate more cash so that the next war could be better.

 

[Gufnork]

I've found out how it causes things to screw up. It messes with my graphic drivers, but I have no idea how. I discovered that I can only select 600x480 and 4 bit colors after exiting the save. The only way I have of fixing it is to reinstall the graphics drivers, which isn't something I'm prepared to do after every game I play.

Of course we (I'll still take credit if we win) can keep the cities. If we had the Forbidden Palace built closer to Mongol territory in say Golden Iron it would have been easier, but I still believe they'll be worth it. First of all we're in Free Market with many open borders, which means that coastal cities will have trade that makes them worthwhile. We just have to switch to slavery (if we don't have it already) and whip up the most important buildings (courthouses most notably). Who has the Versaille? I'm unsure how capturing it works, but that might be a good idea. Remember that even if we have to lower the science slider we might still have higher research.

My plan is to participate in the discussions and planning just like before, the only difference is that I won't do any turns or ever open the evil save to check things out. Feel free to post more pictures to keep me updated.

 

[Till]

4 bit colours is evil. I'd say we keep the larger cities and raze the other one. Currently, we are running on Gonomy (Great leader economy) That won't last forever. Pillaging would allow us to keep running a high deficit after our current money is spend, but then we'd have to deal with war weariness.

 

[Dimy]

Sorry to hear about your problems with this save Gufnork Strange thing it's happening only with one save.
It sounds like a good plan to keep the Mongol cities and pop-rush buildings like Courthouses. I'll build some more units to play with during my turn. The report should be up tomorrow.

Roster:
Dimy - up
ThERat - on deck
Till - just played
Gufnork - hopefully on temporary suspension

 

[Dimy]

Turn 1 1665 AD:
Checking out our situation… dialing up all other leaders, but no fair trade possibilities there
Put up on Artist Specialist in both Tlacopan and Xochicalco to let their borders expand.

Turn 2 1670 AD:
Catapult ready in Gufnorkiopia, starting another Catapult.

Turn 3 1675 AD:
Catapult ready in Teotihuacan, starting Galleon. Another Great Prophet is born in Tenochtitlan, he can discover Drama, but that’s too cheap… I wait for another tech.

Turn 4 1680 AD:
Military Tradition discovered, Drama in 1 turn next. Observatory ready in Tenochtitlan, building Cavalry. Granadier build in Tlatelolco, building Bank next. Borders of Tlacopan and Xochicalco have grown, removing specialists.

Turn 5 1685 AD:
Drama discovered, Scientific Method is next. Lighthouse finished in Dimychicalpo, building Granary. Turns out we can’t discover a new tech with our Great Prophet… so I decide to let him join the city as a super specialist for +2 hammers and +5 much needed gold.

Turn 6 1690 AD:
University constructed in Golden Iron, starting Bank. Library is build in Xochicalco, Granary next.

Turn 7 1695 AD:
Galleon ready in Teotihuacan, starting another. Put 3 Cats in Galleon and move Galleon towards coast west of Golden Iron which is close to the Mongolian border.

Turn 8 1700 AD:
Cavalry ready in Tenochtitlan, starting next Cavalry. Moving Cavalry to Teotihuacan where it can board the next Galleon once finished. Aquaduct finished in Calixtlahuaca, building Frigate.
As I connected some more spices I dialled up some leaders to look for a good deal on them. Louis offers us +8 Gold/turn for spices, seems like a good deal so I take it.

Stopping here:
1803 Gold in treasure, -44 Gold/turn at 90% science. We’re still ranked 3rd in Soldiers/Military.

Played only 8 turns, but now we're on a nice ending date again. Till could you please save the game at the end of your last turn? So before clicking the button to go to the next turn.

 

[Dimy]

 

[Till]

Sorry 'bout that, Dimy!

 

[Dimy]

Sorry 'bout that, Dimy!

np

 

[ThERat]

got it...

so, war is in the books...good

 

[ThERat]

save

Pre-Turn
it will take a while until we have our forces ready to ship over
with high sciece we run, bank are hardly useful, swap to unis instead

IT get sci methods, go for RP so we can get rifling soon

1. 1705AD
Frederick is willing to trade with us now
get constitution, WM and 130gold for drama and mil tradition
we do have 2 sources of oil in our land

2. 1710AD
workers work...

3. 1715AD
sending 3 galleons (upgraded 1 galley) north for the coming war
found another town on our continent

RP is in, go for biology

4. 1720AD
nobody except Cyrus wants to trade with us

5. 1725AD
check out Karakorum and that's what we can expect there

6. 1730AD
trying for more trades, but nothing is moving here

7. 1735AD
more units are moving towards that starting spot for Mongol invasion

8. 1740AD
a frigate joins the 3 galleons up there

9. 1745AD
and more units arrive

IT we get biology, go for rifling

10. 1750AD
these are the forces we have built up so far, 1 Cav and cat are on the way

wait for 3 more units to arrive and go for Beshbalik first, hope the looting can finance our research, we could run at 90% at deficit

 

[Till]

Got it. Might not be able to play today, though. Karakorum sure is packed!
In case i get to conquer cities, we agreeded to keep them and whip them up to shape, right?

 

[Dimy]

yep sounds good to me

 

[Till]

Inherited Turn:
Nothing to do. All looks fine
*enter:

(1) 1750AD:
Cavalry finishes in Technotitlan. I build another one

(2) 1755 AD:
Hmm we could get Corporation for Liberalism and 420 from Cyrus. Corporation gives us +1 trade routes , so decide to go for it.


(3) 1760 AD:
Income went from -8 to +4. Nice. Waiting for one Cavalry to board the ships and then it is of to Mongolia.

(4)1765 AD:
Lighhouse finishes in Tlacopan. I start a much needed forge.

(5) 1770AD:
Harbor gets done in Tlaxala. The city is still unhealthy. A market will give it +4 health, but we are at happiness maximum anyway. Start a temple to remedy that.
Granary finishes in Nothern Post. Time for a forge.

Hmm Caesar is under some culture pressure here!

(6) 1775AD:
Rifling comes in. I go for democracy.
Technotitlan finishes a Cavalry. I another one.
D-day...

Beshalbik has no catapults and a nice hill to land on. One of our caravels get pwned by a Mongolian frigatte. Oups.. better beef up our fleet a little. Would hate to lose full Galleons.
A Mongolian Galleon appears out of nowhere and tears up a fisherboat. Definitly going for a Frigatte build asap.

(7) 1780AD:
Bombard. Next turn the city should be ripe for assault.

(8) 1785 AD:
University finishes in Technotitlan. Start on a frigatte.
Observatory completes in Calixtlahuaca. Start another frigatte. Better be safe than sorry.
Commence assault on Beshalbik. First a catapult. 5 units suffer colleteral damage! Odds are even.
Decide to sacrifice another 'pult. Again it hits 5 defender. Odds are 16.5 to 12.8 now. Going in...
First Cavalry withdraws. It has 2.3/15 left.
Next cav wins!
And another victorious cav!
The next Grenadier bites the dust against our cavs. We are almost out of units to attack with now.
Our Grenadier gets rid of an longbowman and that's it for this round.

(9) 1790 AD:
Cavalry gets ready in Technotitlam. The city really could do with a university, but we need reinforcements. Start another cav.
The siege of Beshalbik enters its final state.
A cav wins against a musket. Has 1 health left now.
Another cav attacks and...
VICTORY!

(10) 1665 AD:
catapult finishes in Gufnorkiopia. Start another one.
We have our foothold in Mongolia now. Cost us two 'pults, which is fair, think. Most of the units are injured and many have not been promoted yet.
Khan has lost about 10 units and hasn't been much a opponent yet. The main annoyance is that he can tear up our fishing nets at his leisure, but the frigattes should take care of that.

---------->The Save<----------​

 

[Gufnork]

Try and get one of our allies involved, preferrably Caesar. Common wars is a great relationship booster. They rarely do any actual fighting and even if they do one can generally steal the cities from under their noses with some good timing.