eldar08: Gridlocked!

[Hynsterider]

The city name scheme is unique, also!

I just started reading this thread and yes, I see where you're coming from (and why you're playing while the lady is away!)
Just to assure you: I happen to come from the same land as a famous lady of company called Mata Hari. This country (when it was still a country) also happens to be the first country that recognised the independance of the U.S.A. So I should be alright in this game.

 

[CommandoBob]

Preflight
Republic, 7.1.2
228 gold, -4 gpt
Feudalism in 5 turns
Our continent is now owned by us and the Barbarians.

Military
02 Settlers
41 Workers
56 Slaves
01 Scout
02 Warriors
07 Spears
40 Swords
03 Horses
18 Catapults
01 Galleys
02 Army

Allowed Units: 44
Current units: 117
Cost per turn: 146 gold

Resorces Connected to Mayflower 871
02 Iron
02 Horses
01 Dyes
01 Incense
02 Silks
05 Gems
No imports or exports.

Drunkard Villa is not connected.

International
Babylon - Peace
Greece - Peace
Zulu - Peace
Japan - Peace
Carthage - Dead
Persia - Dead
Iroquois - Dead

We need to get overseas and build a city.

Our gridding demands a city 1SE of Nippur (3), then CxxC, 1 NW of Zariqum (5), CxxC, a city in the sea, CxxC, Sippar (2) of Babylon is on the grid.

So is Marathon (2) and Argos (5) of Greece.

Both will require our galleys to spend a turn in deep water.

To get to Astronomy (Galleons and half-deep water) we need Feudalism (5 turns), Montheism, Theology, Education and then Astronomy.

Geek farms or cash.

Everyone has learned Monotheism and Feudalism; Babylon and Greece also know Engineering, which would help us move faster.

However, no one will trade with us.

Looks like we're on our own for a while.


City Report
Mayflower 871 (8): wealth -> settler in 3.
The Emperor Club (7): market in 6.
Spitzer's Shack (6): aqueduct in 4.
Drunkard Villa (1): warrior -> wealth.
Moonlight Bunny Ranch (7): market in 6.
Capone's Crib (2): rArcher -> settler in 17.
Chicken Ranch (6): aqueduct in 10.
Egyptian Ranch (4): settler in 28.
Whaling Station (2): worker in 1.
Playboy Mansion (2): settler in 4, grows in 1.
Found (1): rSpear -> wealth.
Tad's Jungle Mansion (6): aqueduct in 2.
Plain Jem Mansion (2): catapult in 5, zerp growth.
Indian Gem Adult Resort (1): barracks -> market in 86 (not sure about either build).
St. Silky Jungly Mansion (2): settler in 7, grows in 3.
Bordello Bluff (1): worker in 2, grows in 2.
Shady Lady Ranch (5): courthouse in 12.
Golden Ranch (6): settler in 1.
Farmer's Club (4): settler in 3, grows in 7.
Wild Horse Adult Resort (5): settler-> courthouse in 27 (50% corrupt).
Rusicade Ranch (4): settler in 10, grows in 1.
Horse Ranch (3): settler in 11, grows in 1.
Soapland (4): market in 5.
Oea Ranch (3): harbor in 25.
Ahh, Sugar! (2): worker in 7, grows in 5.
Breeder Complex (1): worker in 10, grows in 7.
hadrultica Ranch (5): worker in 7, grows in 7.
Puzzled Villagers (1): worker in 1, grows in 1.
Persepolis Ranch (4): settler in 20, grows in 7.
No. 1 Geisha (4): harbor in 8.
Bunnyranch Two (1): settler in 28, grows in 3.
Sharon's Brothel & Bar (1): worker in 5, grows in 5.
Bella's Gentlemans Club (3): barracks -> settler in 25, grows in 7.
Salt Wells Villa (3): harbor in 25, grows in 5.
Bunny Beach Inn (3): baracks -> courthouse in 31.
Moose Ranch (4): settler in 22, grows in 4.
Oralndo Adult Resort (3): barracks -> aqueduct in 83.
Carthage (4): settler in 23, grows in 1.


Ongoing Trades
None

Terrain
Slowy chopping trees, razing jungles and draining marshes.

Drop luxury slider to 10%, no one gets upset; +11 gpt.

Hit Enter.

[IBT 0450 AD]
Whaling Station worker -> wealth.
Golden Ranch settler -> settler in 6.
Ahh, Sugar! worker -> wealth.
Puzzled Villagers worker -> wealth.

1 0460 AD

Begin to move some miltary units back towards the capital.
Breeder Complex worker -> settler.
Start a chop 1SE of Breeder Complex.
Persian Diversion is founded, gridded by Shady Lady Ranch and BunnyRanch Two; grows in 10, wealth.

TURN OFF THE AUTOMOVES!

This is such a needless irritation. Nothing in the turn log about units on automove, so I as the next player cannot stop the automove by clicking on the unit before the IBT. I didn't get a good look at where they were on the map, so now I have to hunt them down and either stop any further automoving or disband the automoving unit(s) because I am pissed at them.

If a player wants to use automoves on their turns, fine. Just make sure that the automove is done or stopped before the game is passed on to the next player.

Anyway, back to the game.
Find two workers building a mine on a hill we will never use, between Farmer's Club and Bordello Bluff. The hill is outside our borders and we cannot build a city to claim it.

Disband 2 Warriors and 4 Spears that are needlessly guarding established cities.
​

[IBT]
Tad's Jungle Mansion aqueduct -> market in 13.
Bordello Bluff worker -> wealth.

I think we have enough worker/slaves for right now, and expenses are very high. We need settlers more than workers at this point; more cities means more unit support. Plus, if we need more workers these cities will have grown large enough so that we can rush a worker and not harm the cities growth by too much.

2 0470 AD

I found the three units that were on automove. I'll kill them later. One worker, one settler and one eSword.
​

[IBT]
Mayflower 871 settler -> settler in 3.
Playboy Mansion settler -> market in 34.
Farmer's Club settler -> courthouse in 40.

3 0480 AD

The city of Found will have to abandoned. It is not on the grid.
The same is true of Drunkard Villa.
Abandon Found.
Build Fond of Females NE of the ruins; grows in 20, wealth.

Offending worker, settler and sword are disbanded.
​

[IBT]
Spitzer's Shack aqueduct -> market in 10.
Rusicade Ranch settler -> settler in 30.

4 0490 AD

We can now buy Monotheism, for all of our gold and almost all of our gold-per-turn. Not quite yet. Lets get more cash and buy something outright.
​

[IBT]
Zulu are building Knights Templar (Chivalry).
Greeks are buidling Leonardo's Worshop (Invention).
Japan is building Knights Templar.
Babylon is building Sistine Chapel (Theology).
Babylon is also building Knights Templar.

5 0500 AD

Drop science to 0%, hire a geek in The Emperor's Club (it was cranky) for one turn to learn Feudalism this turn; +35 gpt.
​

[IBT]
We learn Feudalism and start on Monotheism, due in 50 turns at one geek speed.

We decide not to revolt to Feudalism.

The Emperor's Club market -> granary in 7; fire geek and granary in 6.
Soapland market -> courthouse in 27 (50% corrupt).
Sharon's Brothel & Bar worker -> wealth.

Babylon is building Leonardo's Worshop (Invention).

Mayflower 871 settler -> settler in 4.
Bunny Ranch market -> granary in 6.

6 0510 AD

Hire a geek in Salt Wells Villa.

Simones de Paris is built SE of No. 1 Geisha; grows in 10; wealth.

Check tech prices.
We can get Engineering from the Zulu for 355 gold down and 13 gpt, or 615 gold total.
Monotheism is the same price.
And those prices don't vary.

We have +49 gpt right now. In just a few turns we can buy one of these techs for just gold. So I'll keep the lone geek learning Monotheism while we build up our bank balance.
​

[IBT]
St.Silky Jungly Mansion settler -> market in 100.
Golden Ranch settler -> settler in 10.
hadrultica Ranch worker -> wealth.
No. 1 Geisha harbor -> market in 50.

7 0520 AD

Wake up some catapults and send them towards Mayflower 871.

Price for Engineering drops to 465 gold and 7 gpt or 605 gold.
​

[IBT]
Plain Jem Mansion settler -> aqueduct in 50.
Shady Lady Ranch courthouse -> market in 25.

Greeks are building Knights Templar (Chivalry).

8 0530 AD

Drunkard Villa is abandoned.
Lecherville is built SW of the ruins; grows in 10; wealth.
Pussycat Ranch is built SW of Fond of Females; grows in 20, wealth.

Engineering is now at 519 gold and 4 gpt, or 599 gold.
​

[IBT]
Palace Expansion; we plant some grass in the front yard.

Japan is building Sistine Chapel (Theology).

9 0540 AD

Stardust Ranch is built SE of Orlando Adult Resort; grows in 7; wealth.

We can buy Engineering from either Greece or Babylon at 568 of 589 gold.
Monotheism cost 549 gold from either place.
​

[IBT]
Mayflower 871 settler -> settler in 4.
Capone's Crib settler -> wealth.
Chicken Ranch aqueduct -> market in 15.

10 0550 AD

Dovetail Ranch is built SE of Simones de Paris; grows in 10; wealth.

We can buy either Engineering or Monotheism this turn, but that can and should be discussed first. At least we have a choice.
​

[IBT]

 

[CommandoBob]

668 gold +76 gpt
Monotheism in 45 turns

Military
05 Settlers
46 Workers
56 Slaves
01 Scout
03 Spears
39 Swords
03 Horses
18 Catapults
01 Galleys
02 Army

Allowed Units: 51
Current units: 118
Cost per turn: 134 gold

We are strong compared to everyone else.

We have a bunch of vSwords encamped around Mayflower 871, along with some eSwords and catapults.

Overseas, the land is just as swampy and ugly as ours has been. Fast units won't have much of a chance to show off, leaving most of the work to foot soldiers.

I've pulled back our military in Old Carthage to allow barbarian camps to spawn for Elite fishing. I've protected the workers/slaves in the area, but little more than that.

Gridding Overseas 450 AD

This just expands on what cities we want to keep when we get overseas.

Trading
We can buy either Engineering or Monotheism for just cash, no gpt. Without libraries, and since our science farms are still forming, we seem to be better off by purchasing knowledge instead of learning it.

We don't have embassies with anyone across the big waters. We may need to build them in order to make sure their pot is kept boiling. The more they fight amongst each other, the less they can learn.

I think we should buy a tech first, plant embassies, take advantage of any wars (or create one on our own), and then buy a second tech. Which will take time. Embassies will cost, total, about 350 gold. Zulu's will be 100 gold; Japan's is 66, Greece and Bablyon are in the 80s.

 

[choxorn]

lurker's comment: Do all nations on the continent have either both Mono and Engineering or does any one of them have just one?

 

[CommandoBob]

lurker's comment: Do all nations on the continent have either both Mono and Engineering or does any one of them have just one?

All four of them know those two, plus Literacy.

 

[CommandoBob]

Hynsterider, are you ready to take a turnset?

 

[Optional]

Hynsterider, are you ready to take a turnset?

Am I up? I was waiting to get a nod, possibly from Eldar, but if this is a nod, I'll take a set.
And Optional has got a password again. Needs to chalk that password down everywhere now. Talking about bad memory: I remember a former neighbour who had written in bold grafitty the word 'Headlights' on her front door. Too often she had been caught out by a car that wouldn't start due to a battery that had ran flat because of lights left on...

 

[CommandoBob]

eldar has more important things to do than SGs. He has a very young daughter to enjoy!


Roster:
CommandoBob - just played
Othniel - long term skip
Rodent - long term skip
eldar (de-militarized; lurking)
Tad_Empire_O_o MIA since August 2
Optional - UP!
MooseWarrior - on deck

 

[TheOverseer714]

lurker's comment: I would buy Engineering first, it has more utility than Monotheism. It allows rivers to be crossed and trebuchets to be built, plus leads up the military branch up the tech tree. I would only get Monotheism to go for Chivalry, and that is not really going to be useful with all that jungle over there. Trebuchets, Pikes and MDIs are going to be your workhorse units until you get past the swamps and jungles. Crossing to the other continent is going to require a complicated ship chain with tons of disposable ships, but I see a decent crossing that can be done without risking your troops. It's a three step process that will see about 50% sinking rates, but it can be done, and the only boats that sink will be empty. We did it in the SG Ku-01: The Ancient Romans, and if I can find the posts where it was detailed, I'll put a linky here.

 

[Optional]

lurker's comment: Crossing to the other continent is going to require a complicated ship chain with tons of disposable ships, but I see a decent crossing that can be done without risking your troops. It's a three step process that will see about 50% sinking rates, but it can be done, and the only boats that sink will be empty.

I've never done ship chaining, but you got me thinking, Overseer, and I see how you would do it: you would first bring empty ships over (sink chance) to the other side. Then you would load units in ships. They would go out to meet the empty ships. The ships that carry the units can than sink, but just before that the ships on the other side have taken the units over, and taken the units (and themselves) back to safe waters on the other side.
I've just downloaded CommandoBob's save, and need to take a better look, but will probably play soon.

Edit: I've take a better look, and I see we're up for a decision. You're right CommandoBob; we need to make a decision about buying a tech. The choices are these:
* Monotheism for 544 gold, or;
* Engineering for 568 gold.
I'm not a fan of buying for gold per turn, but buying with a flat fee is fine. However; which one do we take just now? As I see it, this decision will affect our tech route for the whole of the middle ages, so I'm not feeling comfortable about making this decision on my own, and hope for some team input.
Do we take the northern tech branch or the southern one? The southern tech branch will give us Muskets and Cavalry earlier, the northern tech branch has the potential of bringing us at par with the AI sooner.
I have a lukewarm preference for the northern tech branch, but that's probably due to my personal playing style. I don't know how handy it is in this military variant.

The questions that this 'no culture' variant poses are interesting. Normally I would plump the whole core full of libraries here. But we've got a lot of marketplaces. Going zero research at spells could be interesting. But zero research will probably work better once our trading position is better, or not? We can probably not buy ourselves completely at par with the AI.
I think we are still able to do reasonably effective research, due to the size of our empire and Republic being our government.
Looking at our empire now, I think I would try and let a lot of towns grow to city size. I would even let a lot of native workers rejoin towns, to boost the economy. Our empire looks well improved, I have to give this team compliments about that, but right now I think we would do ourselves a favour if most of our workers would go back to work as citizens, and leave those corrupt areas to the slaves.

I'm ready to play, but I would like to hear some thoughts from you about our preferred research path.

 

[CommandoBob]

If we were going for a Diplo or Space Ship Victory, then we should research the top part of the tech tree. But since we are going for a Domination win as barely housebroken barbarians, and that means we hate book-learning, I think we are almost forced into learning the bottom part of the tech tree. Muskets and Cavalry and Cannons.

For a tech right now I think Engineering is the way to go. We have a lot of rivers to cross and some of them blend in well with the terrain. I haven't always seen them until the unit stops moving!

The trickiest part of ship chaining is moving from the proper ship to the next proper ship. This is a case where we really need to name our ships so we can keep track of which ship is done moving and which has moves to use.

 

[Optional]

Thanks, CommandoBob. With this I can play.
You're right about the ship naming. I don't think it needs to be tricky. We could simply call every ship on the other side 'Babylon side' or something, as they will stay on that side once they're there. As long as the communication amongst ourselves is good, there shouldn't be a problem.
I will do a set now.

 

[eldar]

I tend to go with names like "Galley Alpha", "Galley Bravo", "Galley Charlie", etc.

 

[Optional]

Right, I've played what was no doubt an inbetween set. Not much going on. America is trying to get ready for next invasions.

Don't read the turnlog, as there's absolutely nothing of note in there. Not that I didn't do anything. I made a drastic schange in the management of the empire. A very drastic change.
Where there were 46 native workers at the start of my set, there are just 10 left now. And where there was 45 turn research at the start of my set, there is just 5 turn research at present. I could even have researched both Invention and Gunpowder (Gunpowder in 4 turns), but only at a slight deficit, and I think we should hang on to some money for upgrades.
Don't get my wrong, by the way; I do not underestimate the value of a healthy workforce, but here they were crippling us, not helping.
I made a start of building up a fleet, and barracks towns are producing units again. What are we without units, after all? Oh, and I bought two embassies; one with Babylon and one with Greece.

I think I'll just upload the save now, and take a break before writing the turnlog. You'll get the turnlog, no worries, but as I said: there's not much exiting in there!

 

[Tad Empire_0_o]

im back i didnt have much time for civ as football season is comming and we have team practices and i didnt have much time

 

[Optional]

I guess it's time that I pay my dues and type out the turnlog. Tad, you seem to have dropped your post right inbetween a game save and a turnlug: that's a clear sign of a man who likes to be in the thick of things!

I guess I'll spice my turnlog up with some comments, that's not something I would normally do, but if I'm restricting myself to the naked facts it becomes more like filling out a tax form. So here we go:

Spoiler :

Situation at start of this set is already excellently described by CommandoBob; the perfect excuse for me to skip describing this bit.
Individual towns look well managed. I'm still changing a couple of builds.
Moonlight Bunny Ranch is currently building a granery, I'm changing that to a courthouse. A granery in a town already at size 7 is not effective. A city has a foodbox twice the size of a town to fill, so if you want to boost growth you can better have a small town as a worker factory and let those workers join the bigger places. But even that's not applicible here, as cities above 7 will give happiness problems.
A couple of small corrupt towns that are set to a market or a courthouse I'm setting to an aqueduct. There are not many build choices for those small towns; it's usually either a market, aqueduct or wealth. Wealth only gives one extra gold per turn. An aqueduct has the potential of boosting unit support, because a city supports two more units = 4gpt - 1gpt for the aqueduct itself. But it costs 100 turns to build an aqueduct in a corrupt town, so it'll take an awful long while before it'll earn itself back.
Dovetail Ranch and Simones (why plural?) de Paris I'm setting from wealth to Galleys. We'll need galleys to invade the other continent.
Diplomacy: I'm buying Engineering from Babylon for 568 gold.
Research goes to Invention at 30%, coming in in 15 turns.

Hit space: what??? Did I see that right?
Reload and space again: That looks like a flying Greek archer!
Reload again, hit space again: Yes, it's true, I've never seen anything like it!
I'll have to upload this one in the general discussions, this is too weird not to share! I wonder whether anyone would have a clue to what's going on here.

560AD:
Emperor club granery -> worker. Worker to join Soapland, so both Emperor club and Soapland are at 7, instead of one at 6 and one at 8.
Horse Ranch settler -> wealth.
About a dozen workers join towns, which allows the research slider to go up to 40%; Invention in 10 turns now.
IBT: Greece boots our scout. What? Booting a scout? I didn't even know it was possible!
570AD:
I'm disbanding the scout. He's not worth the upkeep, and they won't even let him scout.
Emperor club worker -> wealth (it seems a bit wasteful to set a good town like this to wealth, but I don't know what else).
I buy an embassy with Babylon for 82 gold.
Babylon: Iron, Horses, 4 lux in the box, at peace with everone. 6 pikes are defending the capital.
More workers join towns; research slider up to 50%; Invention in 6 turns now.
580AD:
Bunny Ranch II settler -> settler.
590AD:
Mayflower settler -> medieval infantry (at some stage I also put the Emperor Club back to units, I forgot when).
Spitzer's Shack marketplace -> medieval infantry
Moonlight Bunny Ranch courthouse -> galley
The founding of Hayloft Adventure and Marsh Mellow Dreams, I think I put them both on wealth.
600AD:
The founding of Eastern Whale and Monica lurks Cigar, set both on galleys.
610AD:
We have researched Invention. Next: Gunpowder, to come in in 5 turns. Currently Japan and Zulu have not yet got Gunpowder, so we're catching up.
Tad's Jungle Mansion marketplace -> pikeman
Shady Lady Ranch -> settler aqueduct
I buy an embassy with Greece for 80 gold.
Athens: Iron, Horses, 4 lux in the box, at peace with everyone. 4 hoplites are defending the capital.
IBT: Zulu have completed Knight's Templar in Zimbabwe.
620AD:
Emperor Club medieval infantry -> medieval infantry
Bunny Ranch galley -> galley
Moose Ranch settler -> wealth
The founding of Babylon Crossing. This town gets set to a barracks, as it will be the last port of call before our unit will make the crossing to the other continent, so: last upgrade chance. Maybe someone wants to rename this town to Last Chance Saloon; that might be more in keeping with our city naming scheme.
630AD:
Mayflower medieval infantry -> medieval infantry
Spizer's Shack medieval infantry -> medieval infantry
640AD:
The founding of The White House (I admit; the names are getting sleazier).
650AD:
Moonlight Bunny ranch galley -> galley
Persepolis Ranch settler -> galley
Bella's Gentleman's Club galley -> galley
Salt Wells Villa harbor -> galley
Breeder Complex settler -> gall...no, this town did not border the sea, so no galley; what on earth did I set it to? Someone will find out.
The founding of Iron Mountain.

During this whole set hardly any messages came through from the other continent. They're annoyingly peaceful there, and hardly seem to know of our existance.

Notes for next player/situation now:
Gunpowder to come in in one turn. Zululand and Japan still haven't got that one.
There's a settler in the west that can go to the island; galley is near.
Unit builds: I mainly built medieval infantry, which is the best unit we can build now, but I wonder whether we shouldn't switch to horses. Medieval infantry will go obsolete soon, while horses upgrade to cavalry, which is the unit of the future. If we're facing muskets or riflemen it's cavalry that we need.
One town was a bit tricky for building; I think it was Spitzer's Shack. It produces either 9 or 11 shields per turn. I always switched a tile halfway a medieval infantry build, as I'm allergic to waste, but a player that doesn't have this allergy (or doesn't like to finnick about all the time) is probably better switching to the 11 shield option for permanent.

 

[choxorn]

Hit space: what??? Did I see that right?
Reload and space again: That looks like a flying Greek archer!
Reload again, hit space again: Yes, it's true, I've never seen anything like it!
I'll have to upload this one in the general discussions, this is too weird not to share! I wonder whether anyone would have a clue to what's going on here.

lurker's comment: Do you have a pic of this? Please show it if you do, that sounds really weird.

 

[CommandoBob]

Simones (why plural?) de Paris

Well, that is what it is named. This link ( ) gives a little more information about it, but not much.

EDIT:
The link is in the smilie.

 

[Optional]

Yeah, the mystery is solved though; the preference setting 'animate friend moves' was off, so those archers moved really fast. This is how I got the game, so at least one of our team likes to play with that setting off. I'm not used to it, so it caught me by surprise. I uploaded the save in the general discussions, and the answers of other player helped me figure out what was going on.

The game right now will still have this setting off, so the next player should also see fast moving, unanimated AI units. At least we know how to solve that.

 

[Optional]

Well, that is what it is named.

Yeah, I thought it was some American guy trying to have a go at French; for some reason you're putting an 's' at the end of every French word. In the French cities there's also 'Lyons' instead of 'Lyon'.
But I'm glad to know our 'Simones de Paris' has a genuine real life background. I have to admit this is not the case with every city I put on.
Oh, and my previous post was an answer to Choxorn of course, I should have quoted him. Maybe by now, CommandoBob, you've realised that your(?) preference setting 'don't animate friend moves' has caused some confusion. At least with me. But it's alright, it didn't affect the game or anything.