Emperor Cookbook I: Ghandi

[Supr49er]

Welcome to the Forums Soirana and Arsonist.

 

[Monsterzuma]

My entry of round 1; played yesterday night

Spoiler :

Techs: Agriculture -> Bronze Working -> the Wheel -> Pottery -> Hunting -> HALTED -> Writing
Builds: Worker -> Size 2 -> Worker -> Settler -> Worker -> Barracks -> Spearman -> Axeman * infinity
Worker: Farm Corn -> Mine Sheep -> Chop and build mines as coordinated with growth time -> ...interval... -> Cottage
Civic changes: none.

A succesful by-the-book rush on Shaka.

Current Situation: we own 4 cottagable cities; we own the stone Henge; we own Gems; we own 5 workers; 1 killer rival is eliminated; enough of an army left for creative ventures; capital outchopped but plenty of forrests left in other places
Plans: cottage every flatland tile in sight; settle the floodplain spot; possible harassment rush on Isabella or Elizabeth

Story: found out that Shaka was nearby and bronze was just one tile outside of my culture borders (sadly 50 turns away from popping) and decided that "predictability" was the better part of valor. I settle near copper at a spot where I can still get Cow with a single border pop. I do the regular boring army buildup chopping thing and attack when I'm at a production peak with a sizable army (12ish). DoW on Shaka around 1750BC. 1 turn and 2 hilled archers later uMungundlovu is mine, but I raze it because it's food excess makes it useless in my situation (as if I can PAY for extra workers/settlers; I need cottages...). I press on to Ulundi to find moderate resistance and capture it despite a river crossing attack, securing Stonehenge. Nobamba fell @ 1500 BC with help of reinforcements from the north as can be seen in the screenshot. The end.

 

[Arsonist]

Report and Save

Spoiler :

Preparing axes to take Shaka, who built the Henge. Haven't yet executed it but 6 axes are sitting in my capital with a couple more being chopped out.

I settled in placed and went Agri>BW. Went Worker, Warrior, Warrior, chopped out a settler and built Bombay so it could work the copper once the borders popped.

The Empire

Delhi

Bombay

 

[colony]

Just finished my turns, looks similar to what a lot of others have done.

Spoiler :

Settled in place, researching Agriculture then BW. Started off building worker, warrior, worker, warrior, settler. Had to delay the settler with the second warrior as my starting warrior got eaten by a lion fairly early on. I wanted the copper as soon as possible as land tends to disappear quickly with Shaka around, and even if he wasn't there I dislike having to research Archery. After BW I then went: Wheel, AH, Writing, and am halfway through researching Pottery. I only settled one city, unit maintenance is costing a lot ATM. I have 8 axemen on their way to Shaka's territory, with more being produced, and the library in Delhi will be finished next turn, giving me a much needed research boost.

I don't tend to go for early rushes very often, mainly as I never seem to have the resources close enough to get an army ready in time, so I'm a bit out of practice at it, probably explaining why I wasn't as fast as some of the other games. I also let Delhi get an unhappy citizen, although at least it can be turned into another axeman. Not my best start, but still a reasonable position.

 

[KingMorgan]

Here is my report.

Rolo, could you not have shoehorned Monty in there somewhere?

Spoiler :

Settled 1 south.

Techs; AG-AH-BW-TW-POT-WRI-ASTH

Builds; FW-WAR-WAR-SET-FW-WAR-SET-Axes



I have 6 axes heading Shakas way, hopefully they will be enough to take his capital. Possibly could have left that 2nd settler and built a few more axes, still marble will be usful, although the city sucks quite badly, personally i blame the vodka and a long days work.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=191707&stc=1&d=1224273132

 

[carl corey]

Round 1 report:

Spoiler :

Hmm, 1S looks a bit more interesting, getting us on the river. Considering the capital is probably going to be our most developed city a late levee should still be worth 1 early turn.
Warrior doesn't find anything much to the south, just more river tiles. But we seem to have only forested tiles among the hidden ones in the fat cross, so a move south might hopefully net us some resources. Unless I'm losing one 2N from our starting position!

Going Bronze Working first, chopping seems the name of the game.
Warrior - Worker.

Wow, Shaka's scout on turn 3! He's gotta be close!

My warrior already finds his borders...


Meet Izzy, founder of Buddhism.

Copper in the capital! Bye-bye Shaka!


Going second Worker -> Barracks -> Axes.

Spain is very close by too, but Shaka has to go first.


And in 2050BC:


Capturing Shaka's capital two turns later, granary inside. Quite a few casualties, but it's worth it.


Second city down, comes with a worker and a granary.


And game over Shaka (and thanks for another worker):


Had to whip an emergency warrior in uM... to protect from a wandering barb.
Oh, and by the way, we have a level four Axe, so heading for Literature seems in order, although we'll need some cash support for our cities first. And there are some jungle covered grassland gems...

1500BC finds us with
- 4 cities
- almost a settler, for either the marble spot or the floodplains between us and the former Shaka lands
- 8 axemen (with another in the pipe in Delhi, used for growing the city to happiness cap)
- 4 good-for-nothing warriors
- 4 fast workers

Techs: BW, Wheel, Agri, AH, Pottery, 3 turns to Writing (enough money to get us there).
All in all, an interesting round. Would have probably had enough place to REX, but I don't trust Shaka enough to let him alive, and this is the best chance for a rush I've had in a looong time!

 

[Diamondeye]

Won't participate although I like playing Gandhi. Will link in MC OP though.

 

[Bleys]

Well, I played mine with the huts and events on first, so I am not going to enter this round. Knowing where that copper popped is too big a "known thing". I will play from the chosen save though, wont matter then.

 

[PickledDictator]

I won't have a chance to play this one, exams for the next two weeks, but once they are over I intend to give it a shot.....

I will lurk however

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Round 1

Spoiler :

Settled in place. Worked riverside and built a warrior...founded hinduism. Lost a warrior to one of those pretend barb animals but the others scouted a bit. Eventually found copper and have it hooked up...no axes yet though and only a 2nd city with a 3rd very close to being founded. Unlike others I was planning to hit buddhist Izzy and take control of diplomacy early...

Looks like I don't have a competitive save as some teched bronze immediately and were able to pull a rush by now, but oh well...it's not like my position here is bad just took the wrong risk this time .

View attachment 191763

 

[vicawoo]

I'm further refining peaceful REXing for now.

Spoiler :

Agriculture bronze working. Fast workers are dominant choppers, and this is a forest heavy capital.
Build worker (grow on warrior) worker warrior settler due to the desire to chop. First worker builds farm then mine on sheep, then chops. After 2nd worker, I build a warrior on max food, while chopping. both chop 2 grasssland forests, then one moves to the grassland mine (chops then mines), other one chops grassland forest. 2nd warrior fogbusts for the settler, settles on optimal copper city, and one of the workers prechops a forest there for a faster monument.

Barbarian city pops up at the gold/wheat spot. Teching to wheel. Spent a few turns on pottery then switched to animal husbandry for additional production, in hindsight that was a mistake.

Capital spends one turn getting to size 3 (those turns of growing help), then switches to a settler. 2nd city switches to a settler at size 2.

Shaka has taken the southern food city (which I did not try to take due to fear of impis before I got copper). Capital produces 3rd settler, due to the barbarian city, I send him west to the cow/corn/mass hill area and he settles there. Research painful. Capital produces a warrior to fogbust and starts on 4th settler, but before I decide to grow to size 4 so I can work a riverside tile, and I build a worker the 4th settler..

My workers were chopping the 3rd settler and chopping around the 2nd city, then I sent one to chop a monument and build a mine for the 3rd city.

3rd city went granary and then worker to help with cottaging, then another settler.

I delay the axe at one turn remaining to build a barracks. In retrospect, I should have built it and sent it to the barbarian city, but I didn't realize they warriors, not archers. Isabella takes out 2 of 3 warriors and suicides her damaged medic chariot on the last warrior, and my warrior razes it. the 4th settler from the capital city (actually 5th) had finished, and he is settled in the nicer spot for the gold/wheat/cows.

The 2nd cities' settler settles the floodplains to the southeast to deny shaka. Perhaps I should block off with a city on the 2 silks, but maintenance is too painful at this point.

2nd city is about to finish a barracks, and though I want a granary, an axe for each of my shaka border cities first. My scouting has shown there is a western gap south of isabella, so with 3 cottages having been built and more incoming, I will settle those. Teching writing off of the barbarian city gold, and I'm thinking about which city will start on the scientist. Probably the cow/corn city, with some scientists at the western 3 floodplain city. Once my economy starts up, it should be easy to sweep through shaka, and I can corner isabella from taking up too much of the west.

 

[andersw]

Oh my this is above my leage (used to easier games).

Spoiler :

Beeing too afraid of the difficulty my biggest error was probably to not go agri-bw for an early rush.
I went agr-AH-bw-wheel-pottery-writing

Not used to the fast teching AI, well may have something to do that probably each AI got gold in the BFC.

Well, the save got some workers (4), quite a lot of forest still in BFC, a challenge for the rest of then game you might say.

Capital got granary+barracks.
Bombay got monument+granary and almost finished monument.
Viawhatever got monument.
5 warriors is built.
One 4 exp axeman is out and the too late chop is.... well chopping.

Overland map


Tech

edit: better add the save also
View attachment EC I BC-1500.CivBeyondSwordSave

 

[Monsterzuma]

Spoiler :

The main reason for me to go Agriculture -> Bronze-Working was that the hilled sheep could just as well be mined as they could be pastured. Since there was already a lot of food from the corn, any additional food from the sheep would just be spent on whips anyway, so why not turn them into hammers right from the start. This allowed me to forgo AH entirely, which gave a lot of tech- and commerce relief.

The worst impulsive decision I've made was probably to raze uMgungundlolvu (it was in the same spot as in carl corey's game)... should have just kept it and whipped a libary there.

 

[Soirana]

to Monsterzuma

Spoiler :

I would not be so excited about skipping AH. Sure in Delhi sheep may stay mined for ever if city goes for more production. (and i do not believe in capital only having corn and sheep, i'd bet one of unforested tiles is iron, if it is plains iron production might be very okay.(Or maybe that will be uranium))

You still want cows south of Dheli, sheep in marble city, pigs east of ex Zulu... Also possibly cows+silk city to block spain a bit and a spot could give some reasonable pruction which othe spots seems to lack. All these suck without animal handling.

In particular my own save would look better with AH pre writing as it reduces cost of writing and it would be better to have AH and few turns untill writing instead of some beakers into Aesthetics.

 

[Diamondeye]

@Chromium or R_Rolo1: Who provided the map? Rolo?

 

[ChromiumL]

Yup, Rolo provided the map.

 

[fugazi]

Damn, I thought of trying a religious win but that's pretty hard to achieve in a cookbook game! Maybe I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

 

[RJM]

What happens next?

RJM

 

[carl corey]

From the first post:

Round one lasts from 4000 BC - 1500 BC.

Please play this Round and submit your Report into this thread by next Wednesday (the 22nd) if possible.

Then we start voting for a few days to see which save is picked as a starting point for round 2.

 

[ChromiumL]

I am glad we have so many people submitting saves! I want to give everyone a full week to play the save and post, so that means we will start voting on Wednesday the 22nd. I hope to vote/discuss for a day or two, then we will start the next round.

Spoiler :

I have to admit that I have been a little disillusioned with Civ at the higher levels. I really am a builder type who usually wins with culture/religion/diplo/space victories. I don't have fun doing early rushes and fighting--but this strategy seems almost essential at higher levels. Despite this, I decided, in this game, my first attempt at Emperor to just do what I enjoy doing, rather than struggling to do some sort of early rush.

Having said that--here is my summary:

Moved Warrior SW, and saw the un-forested plains hill. Knowing that I wouldn't be getting BW right away and would need something for my FWs to do (and some production for Delhi!) I decided to move settler one S and found Delhi. My first build is a fast worker.

Of course, the first person I meet is Shaka (3925). My first thought is to convert him to my religion and then use him to weaken/distract my enemies while I slip in and take what I want. I almost always use Shaka this way--and it works very well .

I continue to move my warrior S to try and find Shaka and in the process discover a ton of tempting flood plains calling out for me to cottage them! This is where my next city will have to go, as I know Shaka will spread like crazy and take it first if I am not quick.

In 3775 Isabella bumps into me from the W. She is going to be an enemy from the start, given that I plan to spread my religion as much as possible. So, I move my warrior in that direction hoping to find a nice little worker to steal. Of course--I have no such luck and just as I get over there (a few hundred years later) her borders pop and I give up on that. I also notice that she has stone--which isn't good news since I plan to build the Pyramids.

In 3625 I meet Victoria, and soon after, in 3575 I meet Frederick. No grand plans with them.... yet....

3475--I found Hinduism and start on Agriculture. I decide not to convert as Isabella just converted to Buddhism and I don't want to irritate her until I am ready...

3400--I finish my fast worker and start on a warrior until Delhi grows to size 2. My worker goes to mine the sheep to the NE.

3125--I finish Agriculture and start on BW. Delhi grows to size 2, and I switch production to a settler.

2675--I finish the settler and move it to the south to take advantage of the FP and cows. I found Bombay and start a warrior there. Delhi resumes work on the warrior--and after that builds another fast worker.

2550--BW is complete (yay!) and I convert to slavery. I see bronze pop up on my already mined lovely plains hill to the south of Delhi. I had really debated moving S to found it, but now I am way glad I made that choice! I decide to tech wheel so that I can connect my copper.

2300--I finish up another warrior in Delhi and start on Stone Henge. I hope I am not too late (I don't know how fast it gets built at Emperor level). I am going to have to chop like mad to get this competed before the AI.

2275--Finish wheel and after much debate decide to tech pottery. I picked this because 1) pottery leads to writing (open borders + missionary is vital to my plans for Shaka!). 2) I can use my lovely cottages to start turning the FP around Bombay into major .

2050--Warrior finishes in Bombay and I start working on a settler there.

1975--Between chopping and whipping, I finally finish Stonehenge!! I start working on another FW in Delhi. I also finish pottery right around this time, and start to tech masonry (for pyramids!)

1750--Finish FW in Delhi and build an Axeman. Right when that gets finished, I discover Masonry and start on the Pyramids. I once again debated over tech, but settled on monotheism because I would like to found Judiasm. But--more importantly, monotheism = organized religion = missionaries without having to build a monastery first.

1600--I finish up the settler in Bombay. My plan would be to move my settler to where I have a warrior sitting next to the cows. But, I decided to end early, so that, if in some hypothetical world my save was actually picked--the next player would have the choice of where to settle the city.

Pros to save:
Founded Stonehenge = culture = GP for prophet = major once Hinduism is spread.
Founded Hinduism
Started work on Pyramids.
Good (lucky) city placement

Cons to save:
Weak military (though I have had little trouble with barbs thanks to close neighbors and a few fog-busters.)
Didn't get Oracle (It was founded fairly soon after I finished stonehenge).
Probably didn't found cities fast enough--though with my strategy, you only need a few cities .