Emperor Cookbook I: Ghandi

[TheMeInTeam]

Hey Bleys, if you want to learn a little about early game warmongering, remember 2 riverside cottages are similar to a gold mine after growth, and also that cottage growth can match the benefits of GLH on many maps! Snaaty's emp+ guide gives you a very good idea on the #s of workers you want to accomplish this. No working unimproved tiles, and work cottages especially when pressed.

My round here is pretty strong, thanks in part to reading a little bit about Unconquered Sun's approach in BOTM 10 (Oyzar pointed this out as a probable hole in my early game which was preventing me from very early tech power, and I of course took a look). I'm a bit behind some others techwise although the tradeoff is more cities...we'll see how the voters feel about which they'd rather deal with (they all look playable to me).

I actually managed to win madscientist's first lawless hammy RPC - if ever you needed an idea of how to warmonger early and not crash, it's there (no courthouse rule! gah!).

Balance commerce, growth, and units is all practice. What I didn't realize, until very recently, is JUST HOW strong 1-2 CS scientist cities can be, both for bulbtrading and pure research in an otherwise weak empire.

That said, the 1500 BC save isn't in a position to attack again immediately IMO. You want cottages and DEFINITELY some before you move again no matter what - cities are kind of gimped working 3-4 cottages, turn that into 6+ per and you'd be surprised how far you can take it.

 

[carl corey]

You know, I've rarely played on more "watery" maps. I tried Big&Small and Medium&Small (that's how it's called, right?) a few times, but I'm not very good at settling those pesky islands. I think it could be interesting to have a Big&Small Emperor Cookbook. That said, we should finish this one first. I haven't managed to finish my round yet, but I'll try to do it before Wednesday.

 

[KingMorgan]

Might not get a submission off me, will be in Netherlands for a week with work, I might get it up if i have time. Doubt it though.
EDIT; Save added

Spoiler :

Made time to upload. Sorry played till 415AD. Key points:

8 Turns to paper, 2 G scientists are ready to bulb Education. No Phil, though
All 8 cities have Lib and other Infra

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=192653&stc=1&d=1225106010

 

[Jkaen]

I thought I would swing in and have a go, won't burden you with the save though

Spoiler :

Tried to stabilse the economy mainly but then became worried about the holes in my empire being taken, so ended up backfilled. I have 4 new cities and a stable economy, but am so backwards techwise I will be in real trouble soon.

 

[colony]

I was planning on playing this yesterday, but due to poor planning ended up spending the whole night writing Matlab code instead

Haven't read through everyone's games yet either, the game looked to be in an interesting position at 1500BC.

 

[RRRaskolnikov]

Hi everyone,

me too, I will try to play tonight the second round...

Cheers,

Raskolnikov

 

[carl corey]

Round 2:

Spoiler :

Finished Writing, started on Alphabet while all cities switched to libraries.
Signed Open Borders with everyone. Will need to build some roads to them to provide some foreign commerce.
Founded a 6th city that will work a ton of floodplains and also will switch working the pigs with uM-city.



Hammy gets Alphabet, nothing to trade to him.
Fred converts to Hinduism.
Vicky also gets Alphabet, looks like we're a bit behind...

Great Prophet born in Ulundi, going to settle him in Delhi.

Meet Cathi, she's top of the table, but not by far.
Buddhism in a few of our cities so I convert to Buddhism, as our low happiness cap is killing us.
Not sure which will be our HE city. Ulundi looks ok, but its high food output means it's more interesting for NE/GT. We'll probably go for Izzy first, so I decide to settle the GG in the capital as it is closest to Izzy's lands, even if it won't be the HE city.

Get Alphabet, and Cathy immediately asks for Writing. She's probably quite far considering when she found us, so I decline.
Izzy has horses so we'll want some spears; I get Hunting and Fishing for Writing from Freddy.



Research Maths next, and will pop a GS to bulb Aesthetics (going for GL).

Get IW for Alphabet from Freddy. (no trading for Sailing as GS would bulb Compass instead of Aesthetics).



Iron in Delhi!



We have both Hinduism and Confucianism. Vicky is the founder of Confucianism, and she converts to it.
We finish Maths and get Aesthetics with the GS.
Our math monopoly doesn't last long as we get a fair trade from Hammy:



Ask for Priesthood from a pleased Izzy, she accepts. Also ask for Masonry as tribute from a weak Vicky (as only Cathy and Vicky wanted to trade it) and get it.
Get Monotheism from Izzy (and archery in the process), we'll need it to build the GL and maybe the Parthenon.



Monarchy from Cathy.



I capture the barbarian city and decide to keep it (there's Iron nearby). I get a 10XP unit in the process. Things are gonna get epic! Heroic Epic, that is.



As I think short term >>> long term I'll build HE in Delhi after all. GL and NE go in Ulundi.
Currency after Literature.
Parthenon finished in Nobamba and GL in Ulundi. We have all the ingredients of an impressive GP farm. I also settle a GS as an Academy in Ulundi.

Vicky gets Currency. She's quite the tech powerhouse, but she doesn't have enough land to compete. I'm planning to build a horse city down south and get some chariots out there to scout.
Finished Currency, going for Construction.

Izzy asks to cancel trades with Vicky. I accept, which unfortunately means I don't get to scout her lands first. It's ok, I'll scout with Swords.

Finished CoL with help from gold from several trades. Calendar next, we've got a bunch of calendar resources. Plan for drama for GT in Ulundi, then Bureaucracy. I bulb Philo with GS from Ulundi.

Izzy ask for Currency and I agree. She becomes Friendly! Alright! Get Theology from her for CoL and HBR.

Switch out of Slavery and from OR to Theocracy. Will switch back to Slavery if needed, or CoL for scientists in Ulundi.

Cathy asks for CoL. I politely tell her to go away until she learns how to do a proper naval invasion.



Popped a Copper in Ulundi. By the way, Ulundi has: Library, NE (add the Parthenon effect from Nobamba), GL, Academy and 4 Monasteries! Once it gets the Great Theatre it will turn into a monster research + GP farm city! I won't even mention what happens once we get a cheap University in there!

Freddy also asks as for Currency. Ok, what is this? Charitable inc.? Go away!
And this is where the round ends. Once Drama kicks in I plan to whip theatres, then raise the culture slider while whipping units to take out Vicky.


Overall situation:
- 10 cities (lost one planned site to Izzy after I razed a barb city and didn't have the settler near enough; she built her city in the same damned place while I wanted it 1E to get Cows, Rice, Iron and Spices)
- Delhi is producing a few more cats (we have 6 with 5+XP) then it will switch to Swords
- Bombay builds a few Spearmen for defense
- uM... builds Swords and a few Axes for stack protection
- Ulundi doesn't care, just keeps on growing
- Nobamba has Stables, will build some Horse Archers to counter anything that Vicky gets in our territory; likely it will be workers, and very likely in her territory, not ours
- Vija... also has Stables, will build two more chariots for medics (we already have two with Sentry)
- the rest of the cities are just getting up to speed
- workers: building roads to get us close to Vicky's cities fast, and plantations all over the place
- research-wise we're ok, and will improve once we start growing Ulundi. Most advanced techs we have are Philo, Theology and Code of Laws. Philo is a monopoly. Tech plan: Bureaucracy, Metal Casting, Machinery, while we bulb Paper and 2xbulb Education. From the techs out there we only lack Metal Casting (and eventually Machinery, doubt that Cathy or Hammy have it) and Music.



- resources: we're selling (among others) marble and copper, as we need neither right now, and Cathy (to whom we're selling copper) already has Iron. Dumb AI...
- trade routes with Izzy & Cathy
- diplo: Izzy is Friendly (only negative is close borders, we're sharing religion and civic), Cathy is Pleased (but is WHEOOHRN!), Fred and Hammy are Cautious, Vicky is gonna be dead.
- military: cats & swords, a ton of axes but only 5 useful to attack as others are doing guard duty, and a few spears; two sentry chariots
- religion: all cities have Buddhism, two lack Hinduism, we also have Confucianism and Taoism (founders)
- world wonders: Stonehenge + GL in Ulundi, Parthenon in Nobamba; Russia has Oracle, Artemis, Sh..Paya, and Hanging Gardens, all in Moscow. England has the Big Light, Izzy the Great Wall, Freddy the Pyramids and Babylon the statue of Zeus in Babylon-central. No shrines yet. If Izzy is incompetent and we get a Great Prophet we might consider gifting it to her for the Buddhist shrine. We're her best pal, so her well-being is our well-being. Her ill-being will eventually be our well-being too, but shhhh...
- national wonders: NE in Ulundi, HE in Delhi (+ MI). Available: Moai Statues (no stone, not interesting yet), GT in a few turns (goes in Ulundi, don't forget to cancel marble trade before building), Forbidden Palace should go in Hastings once we take it.
- demographics: moderate GNP and production, second in food, top in land and soldiers; will be even topper soon
- espionage on Cathy, Hammy and Freddy. Vicky will die anyway and Izzy is Friendly and we already see her, uhm, demographics, if you know what I mean.

 

[RRRaskolnikov]

Hi everyone,

my round:

Spoiler :

Things went very well, mostly due to the very good save provided by Mr. Morph

I settled 3 cities, two production oriented cities west of our land to block izzy (grabbing cow, sheep, iron and a lot of hills) and one in the flood plains zone near the ex Zulu land to run additionnal scientists.

Tech path went something like Aesthetics, Alpha (coudn't trade ), Meditation, Priesthood, COL, math, CS, Currency, Calender, Poly (to enable a litterature trade), Paper.
I traded for Monarchy (had to gift Izzy writing lol), IW, and I think I begged Archery to Izzy...

So that bring to the current tech screen:



We seem OK on that front...
I settled two scientists in Ulundi and put an Academy in the same city. I used another scientist to bulb Philo and found Taoism in one Zulu city (can't really remember the name lol) in 15 AD or something...

Only Freddy and Izzy currently enjoy the joice of war, we are rather safe so far...

Civics: HR-Bureaucraty-Caste-Pacifism (all cities with Buddha)

A view of the land:



and some stats:

Military: 1 sword, 13 axes, 8 spears, 1 GG (Mr.Morph's GG lol) +HE unlocked
8 cities, 66 pop, 197 bpt at -2gpt

Cities:

Spoiler :

Happy voting people

Cheers,

Raskolnikov

 

[Soirana]

made myself home from holiday in Greece. Will play my round today.

edit:due to coffein i actually finished round 2. Pretty okay to my standards.
Will write summary soon. (In short we are on 7 cities with Great Library, Mausoleum, both epics, tech lead, 170 beakers per turn and around ten turns to apostolic palace in christianity. Also maces will be an option in some 5-6 turns. )

 

[carl corey]

We've got some impressive saves this round. Is it time to start voting yet?

 

[Soirana]

some highlights on my round

Spoiler :

Initial thoughts:
Economy: Jesus, we picked the only save which will need to crawl to writing. Working jungle tile in one of cities made me nearly reach for whip instantly.
at zero percent we have +1. Oh well. more or less means more settling is called off (although i do believe cow and silk city in west could make very good production city)

Military: no barracks made me... let say intrigued. Settled great general in Delhi. Most promising wanna be hero casted in marble is 6xp axe with cover.

Espionage: Not my style thing. I would rather prefer to steal something like masonry or monotheism.

Area scouting: non existing. Should i pretend i do not know where is sheep east of marble?

I decided to sent cr2 axe for search of some barb city with warriors. Also ungrouped workers and left banana without cottage. Also dropped slider back to zero hoping someone techs writing so I could get discount on it.

Also noticed we are in chance of getting trade routes with English. If i tech sailing.

The very next turn Hammi reaches writing. (one of nice things about BUG mode)
1275 i finally reach writing and meet first barb axe.
Also Vicky apparently has some islands behind her and some swordsman
Some scouting+some barbs means i get 10xp axe. Actually I hardly ever recall that being a problem.

next tech fishing. (crazy, yes but Aesthetics is not worth much without anyone teching alphabet)
Izzy flooded me withmissioniarries so i accepted buddhism for extra happiness.

Somewhere around 300BC economy started going up. Settled flood plains between Dheli and ex Zulu land,settled great prophet.

After getting Alphabet i was surprised.


No one has Maths And with scientist bulb plan was - Trade Aesth for alpha, when for Maths, avoid iron working, bulb calendar, trade for rest.

Well, I had to go through maths by myself. When bulbed calendar (2 happy faces and decent chance to trade for monarchy). Somewhere i traded for Monarchy.
Our first spy was immediately caught by spanish, so i never stole anything

Also soon noticed

She was maneuvering around my borders for 600+years but still no action.

Religions were shaping ugly with me and Izzy being budhists west (Hammy+Freddy) Hindu and east end girls being Confu.
(Luckily until end of round Cathy migrated to Buddhism so we have free go on England)

I also got this



i closed borders which appeared to be damn good. England got great lighthouse, but we are blocking her east and barb city should do that west side. We also got lots of juicy russian trade routes. Next i teched literature and was close to having no marble.

She settled on that island near clams.
Next went Currency, Civil cervice, Metal casting (Cathy grabbed it with Oracle and was not willing to trade it 1500 years later). I am in middle of machinery with no feudalism in sight yet. Where should be a window for cats and maces going on to London.

Now bad things. First my third great person was prophet. instead of settling him, i bulbed theology (Vicky got it next turn). Further i decided to grab Apostolic palace. I did prechop, but... But i thought it has discount on having marble. Somehow i was slightly short on forests, although it is mostly done.

Second - Freddy went into war with our best friend (when we are in buddism that is) Izzy. Not something awfull but Barcelona is already German.

Third - Cathy actually landed on continet and now is farming our hamlets. Well, i prefer to fix with axes, but this time went for culture war. I even was crazy enough to land academy in flood plain city. We have missionaire here, cause well Izzy beated us in converting it by a turn. Keep in mind Izzy has a shrine already.

Tech situation:

We have civile cervice and MC on Vicky so we will have mace advantage for a while. If i am right she finished Currency somewhere two turns ago.
Overall with Freddy being backwards Hammy and Vicky being in their own religions it looks like we have and will keep a lead.

Military: On graps we are first on gold, land, people. And fifth in soldiers. Also second in production.

Expanding. I would say mace kill on England. although there are some barb cities. Cow+silk+iron city is still available as barbs blocked it for us.

General: On Monarch I would say i win easily from here. On Emperor... Need to sleep.

 

[RRRaskolnikov]

Hi all,

I will take a closer look at the saves tonight or tomorrow to make my vote....

@Carl: I agree, with such saves to choose from, the next round will probably be well set!

@Soirana: coffein makes wonder... trust me ... I achieved most of my school graduations thanks to it !!!

Cheers,

Raskolnikov

 

[ChromiumL]

We are almost ready to start voting. Tomorrow I will create a post that will hopefully make it easier to review everyone's submissions. In it I will create links to the post and save of each person who made a submission. After this, everyone can feel free to vote for their top three. We will probably start on the next round on Sunday (depending on how quickly votes are submitted).

My round:

Spoiler :

My round was ok--but it was sorta tough to play given that I just had eye surgery and couldn't see the screen very well!

I spent most of the round just building up the economy/tech and destroying a few barb cities.

I teched to Literature and build the Great Library in a city I built that was next to all of the flood plains. I then got CoL and currency to help the economy. At the end of the round I had just researched machinery and was working on civil service. I traded around with other civs to catch up on old techs so now my tech tree is pretty full.

I built Libraries in just about all of my cities and designated some scientists to boost my tech rate. I also built Buddhist temples after I converted to Buddhism. I finished my round with most cities working on building courthouses.

Two new cities were founded--one in the middle of all the flood plains and the other by all of the dye and iron. I have part of my army heading towards a barb city that is near the marble next to the capital--not sure if it is in the best location though (it misses the marble), so I am working on a settler to go found a city on that peninsula after the barbs are destroyed.

I have spent more time building up my army than I usually do--but it is still small relative to my neighbors.

Izzy and Frederick are at war.

I have built up relations with my two neighbors (Izzy and Victoria), who are also both buddhist. Now might also be a great time to backstab Izzy given that she is distracted by Frederick.

Pros to save:

Pretty significant tech lead
Strong economy
GL and Academy built in crazy FP city
Halfway done with Heroic Epic (and I still have that great general sitting around--I wasn't quite sure what to do with him this early in the game!)

Cons:
Not the best military--small but experienced
Not in the best position for expansion--though there is a golden opportunity to backstab Izzy, especially if her war with Frederick keeps going.

 

[Soirana]

to chromium:

Spoiler :

any specific reason of having machinery before civil service?

and not trading corn for wine? You could use some extra happiness

took second look at save. You have marble inside your borders. Why you need barb city and settling it? That one blocks Catthy's invasion ideas very nicely.

 

[ChromiumL]

As promised, here are links to the posts and saves of everyone who submitted a round. Lets vote for the next day or two, and hopefully start the new round on Sunday.

IPEX-731BA5DD06: Post, Save

Monsterzuma: Post, Save

MkLh: Post, Save

RJM: Post, Save

TheMeInTeam: Post, Save

KingMorgan: Post, Save

carl corey: Post, Save

RRRaskolnikov: Post, Save

Soirana: Post, Save

ChromiumL: Post, Save

@ Soirana:

Spoiler :

I finished up Machinery because last time I played I got pissed when I forgot that you need it before you could build macemen--but in retrospect, it would have been better to get Civil Service (and bureaucracy) first. Thanks for pointing that out--this isn't at all my usual tech path, so I am still experimenting with it.

As for the corn for wine--I just missed seeing that. I just had eye surgery and my vision sorta sucks.

I don't know exactly why I wanted to take the barb city. I guess it was just an instinctive response to having a barb city so close to home. I also didn't realize that Cathy was in that direction... though in retrospect, especially if I think about saves from the previous round, there isn't really any other place she could come from.

Thanks for pointing these things out. I am not at all used to playing at this level, or with the more aggressive strategy--so I need all the pointers I can get .

 

[Soirana]

had some time so wrote some summary. Just my two cents, so take no offense.

Spoiler :

ipex-
marble wonders none
tech situation - dreadful
expansion - +dye city
scouting - non existant
verdict- hapiness and growth should have been a problem to solve millenia ago, not now.

Monterzuma:
marble- no mable (it is in your borders just need quarry), no wonders
tech situation: advantage, 230 beakers. I was puzzled by early gold age, but draging out of hapiness problems and early growth might not nbe bad idea.
Still -1 gold age.
expansion-+seville+floodplains city. Dye will robably be claimed by spanish (Their settler is alreadey coming).
Military: persaonally i would not run towards liberalism. You can get metal casting (and horse back riding) in trade so it is 6 turns to machinery.
Spain will be soft target for a long time. Althgough not having HE and no single siege...
Although Spain has no shrine, Izzy built Pyramids. Joining happy Hindu family is nice option.
RELOOK: NO IRON! that cottage should have been mined ages ago. Although maces can be made on copper.
Catthy- claimed some land on west.
Scouting- with paper on. It is a shame. You can try get Hammi map, or demand one from Vicky.
Verdict: Nice one.

Mklh:
Marble: NE in Ulundi
Tech: Disadvantage? Damn, AI's teched faster for you, or you missed some trade oppurtunities? 100 beakers without deficit.
Expansion - marble and dye cities. Some space near rice in south
Military: No conctruction, no maces in very near future. Vicky has lonbows. I do not see attacking options in near future.
I honestly do not understand why all you keep out of religion while spiritual.
Catthy - has some forpost on continent and clam island.
Scouting- reasonably good.
Verdict- How on Earth AI's are so advanced? Reasonable but needs some work to get somewhere.


TMIT:
marble: NE in progress
tech: disadvantage at 30 beakers/turn (I tried maxiong scientists nowhere close 150 TMIT claims more like 60-70).
Expansion: A+. Cow+iron city, two Cathy's cities+dye city.
Mlitary: no construction, i am not sure how far Vicky is from having maces. If she gets them and unleashes on us...
Catthy: put back to her island empire.
Scouting: Good.
Verdict: We probably can recover around rifling. Although i do not like religion situation. It is need to watch for Cathy and she is somewhat
capable of galley based invasion.

King Morgan: Palace is nearly moved to Bombey, which i am not sure about. To close to orginal place for my taste
marble wonders: no marble, no wonders.
tech: disadvantage, with no COL. Beakers - 40per turn. Theology should be traded immediately. Calendar and Code of laws are to good to pass.
Expansion: cow/silk/iron city+floodplains. Third one is more filler for me.
Military:neither construction, nor maces in near future. I do believe taking gunpowder from liberalism is probably faster to gain some edge.
Catthy: has one city cripling our floodplains, The only way to fix is sent bunch of axes.
Scouting: England scouted.
Verdict: reasonable, although i prefer claim land with war not settlers.

Carl Correy: Getting Paper before CS is strange for me, but well again i am not expert in emperor.
marble:HE in Delhi, NE+GL in Ulundi
tech:Advantgae. 80 beakers per turn.
expansion: A++. Floodplains+marble+some production on west
Military: No maces no attack option for me. Although we have horses and HBR qucik tour on south spain to get ivory and then we can kill someone
Pitty Spain have no more wonders or shrine.
Catthy: under control. That is good.
Scouting: Russia scouted for good. Some near arrea also.
Verdict: Nice round. To little options for conquering, but that is just my taste.

Raskolnikov:
marble: no marble (you need only quarry) no wonders. GL built in uunknown land of Russia.
tech: advantage at 190 bneakers.
Military: no cats, no maces, horses in England zone. No attack in near future. Vicky is hindu, so keeping buddhism is not so bright idea.
expansion: cows+iron/fresh city on floodplains. Not sure about Paliputra being great city (i'd rather had floodplains)but at least we have more land.
Pitty since I would like stab Izzy.
Catthy: blocked by barbs.
Scouting: present in other saves.
Verdict: Tech lead is good, but when we are going use it for good? While building spaceship?

Soirana: That one somehow fits my taste
marble: HE in Delhi, NE+GL in Ulunfi, MoM in Nobamba. AP mostly built. This one was probably my mistake, but in general it is safest moment to spend some time in christianity
and i like having backdoor for win condition. Still lots of hammers which could go other way.
tech:advantage at 170 beakers per turn. Although Vicky has Philo on us. Bulbed it if i understand situation okay.
Military: Cats being made, maces in 6 turns. Although need for buddism+ttheocracy intersects with AP building. (stupid wonder.)
I was in cold war with Vicky for 600 years. Worried about not seing her SoD (7-8 units) which was maneuvering south of Ulundi for half millenia.
Either she is trying ouitflank us, or decided to stab Izzy, or decided to remove barb city blocking her trade. I am afraid war with England is not questiobale.
Luckily we are prepared. Although production is somewhat low, cities are high on population so whiping in theocracy should do the thing.
Expansion: marble+floodplain cities.
Catthy: Farming our floodplains Still i don't feel like going to war for 2 cottages. I've already put all culture i can in that city and still i am loosing control of tiles.
Creative Cathhy.
Scouting: I should have put some warrior on galley scouting Cathy to see the inland.
Verdict: It is my save so i cannot vote for it. Also i would like to play further from someone's else. Just to see different angle.

Chromium: Machinery before CS for spiritual.
marble: GL in floodplain city (interesting choice). No epics. Marble in borders but without quarry (well it is within borders for few turns)
tech: somewhat lead, but no calendar? 140beakers per turn
Military: Maces are comming, still need siege. Probably should target Spain, although Izzy has no shrine (but Russians do).
Expansion:dye and floodplains cities.
Catthy: blocked by barbs for good.
Scouting: good.
Verdict: Very reasonable.

My votes:
1. Monterzuma (I like war, screw the GA)
2. carl correy
3. Chromium

 

[RRRaskolnikov]

Hi all,

currently looking at saves...

@soirana: My plan (if I had to play from my save) would be an english attack with maces +trebs after landing liberalism... my floodplains city is planned to run scientists (something like 10 once at size 17 if I am not smoking...) and the two western being prod...

I agree, my save is not made for a mace-cat war, I don't find them effective once AIs got feo... and anyways, I have yet to hook up marble and build HE...

Cheers,

Raskolnikov

edit: and yeah, thanks for the summary... I am too freaking lazy...

 

[carl corey]

Nice summary Soirana. Thanks!

About my save: you missed the fact that I have the Parthenon as marble wonder, which will also help with GS generation in Ulundi. And I don't have Paper yet, although I do plan to bulb it. I don't care if it's cheap, as with 20 surplus in Ulundi once we get all the plantations online that means 10 specialists, plus 2 from the GL. With Philo, NE and Parthenon that is 84 GP points per turn from the specialists alone, plus those from the GL itself, the NE, Stonehenge and the eventual Great Theatre. I don't think we'll lack GSs. And right now using them for bulbing seems the best option.

Some questions and remarks for the other saves:
- ChromiumL: why do you have unhappy faces in three cities? They cost money and don't produce anything. Switch the tiles around so as not to grow into unhappiness, or, since you're in HR, just build a unit that will turn into a . You're also building all sorts of buildings without using OR... Remarks: there are three Buddhists around including us, meaning we're pretty much safe from attacks except from Cathy. Whose land we should actually take. Not sure why we refused to stop trading with Fred when Izzy asked us, she'd probably be Friendly with us by now. Plan: get Astronomy, take out Cathy, then continue through Izzy's land and attack Freddy and Hammy with Izzy and Vicky's help.

- Soirana: great save! I'm a bit sad to see that Cathy managed to settle on our continent, but that can be corrected with a few Maces. Although that'll piss off Izzy. The alternative would be to adopt Buddhism and be friends with both Izzy and Cathy while we take down Vicky. Why are we Christians anyway? If it's for the AP only, well, we can switch to it on the turn the AP is built. For now it only serves to make everyone mad at us, while being Buddhists gets us two friends, and makes us safe from backstabbing while we take on Vicky. Plan to switch to Buddhism next turn. Also, why is our GP farm city working cottages? It should get out a GS as soon as possible for an Academy, then further GSs to bulb everything in sight. Other than this, the cities are all very well developed, and we're in a great position. Again, very good save!

- RRRaskolnikov: we'll never get Angkor Wat without stone or OR. Not sure why we're building it anyway. We need literature for HE and NE. Plan: research Metal Casting and Machinery, followed by Construction, while Paper and Edu are bulbed. Probably Engineering after those, to take down Vicky, although Maces + cats should be enough. Cathy hasn't met us yet! All in all, a good save, with even better potential once we take down Vicky. Izzy pleased with us means we don't have to worry about backstabbers.

- Monsterzuma: with 3 Hindus and us attacking Izzy we should switch to Hinduism. There are some trades to be made, and we need to get to Literature for HE/NE. An Academy in the capital while it has a MI is kind of a contradiction: will we use it for research or for military? Cathy has two cities on our continent, no fun, but I guess not much of a problem. Although we could have done well without. Plan: switch to Hindu, trade for MC, research Machinery and take down Izzy and Vicky. Too bad about the early golden age, but once we'll all be one big happy Hindu family we can pretty much settle back for Space or Diplomacy, as we're quite advanced and we'll have lots of land.

- IPEX - save from 395BC instead of 400AD. Can't consider it for this round.

My votes:
1. Soirana
2. Monsterzuma
3. RRRaskolnikov

 

[carl corey]

I agree, my save is not made for a mace-cat war, I don't find them effective once AIs got feo...

Actually, I've done Swords+Cats words vs Longbows, and it worked just fine. Just be sure to bring enough cats to take down the cultural defenses fast, a few for collateral, and then the Swords can mop up. Vicky has no military trait to help her, no great generals which means all her troops have at most one promotion, maybe two when/if she switches to Theo or/and Vassalage. Plus she has too few cities to resist a full scale invasion. As long as each city capture is done in one turn (meaning no Longbow is let to get experience from defending things should be ok. Maces vs Longbows won't even be a contest.

 

[RJM]

1. Monsterzuma
2. RRRaskolnikov
3. Soirana

RJM