Emperor Cookbook I: Ghandi

My save.

Spoiler :

I was messing around here and I decided to go for a Oracle Metal Casting gambit even though I'm sure an early rush of Shaka was the best move. I don't have much time for a report but here's an overview image
Civ4ScreenShot0006-2.jpg
(note there is a settler that has not been settled yet.
Pros:
Oracle Metal Casting Pyramids gambit likely to suceed which will be a prelude to a good SE
Copper connected to both cities


Cons:
Poor landgrab/no early rush of shaka (although next set it may be possible)
Weak military
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On the off chance my save is selected the "pc" signs stand for "pre-chopped")
 

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Spoiler :
Nothing special. I went for bronze first. I growed my capital to size 2 then started making worker. As soon as I had BW I adopted slavery and slaved worker. First thing to do was mining sheep then I started chopping another worker. Ater BW I was teching or agriculture. I farmed corn and started to tech wheel since there was bronze 1 tile south of my cap. With warrior I saw zulu in south pretty close so i decided to rush him with axes. I chopped settler settled near copper and started chopping/slaving axes. after getting 13 of them i decided to wait for some money to save. At 1675 I started to move that stack. I was pretty lucky on attacks. Didn't lose much on first city 1 or 2 axes. I went for next city which was his capital, crossed river and hit. Also nice luck (I'm surprised because I am used to lose battles with 99.1% odds). Gotten 1 worker and most important Stonehenge. I went for 3rd city by turn 95 it was mine and shaka was dead.

So what i have is 5 workers next one ready in 2 turns. Stonehenge, 11 axes, 1 general (ye i was lucky on attack ;) ) Techs are: bronze working, wheel, animal husbandry, and pottery. Right now I am teching at 50% losing much gold per turn but I have money from attack. I think I will get writing in 9 turns or less. Right now I am cottaging every river tile.

Here are some screenshots:


http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/north0000by9.jpg/1

[URL=http://imageshack.us][IMG]http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/4688/south0000eh7.jpg



 

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PLEASE LABEL YOUR SAVE WITH YOU NAME.
Several points have been deducted in my system as your name was not on your save/screen and i'm too lazy to chase about to find out who you are.

Here are my scores.

Carl Corey = 1st
Mr Morph = 2nd
RJM = 3rd

An unnamed save would have taken 3rd, but there was a points deduction.

The only thing that worries me about Carls save is the upcoming strike / crashed ecom.

I liked a few other saves that hadn't rushed yet, but had writing already and axes on the border. Sorias save was also good, just missed out for not having writing.
 
My votes:

Carl Corey : 1st
Soirana: 2nd
KingMorgan : 3rd

Carl's was clearly the best early rush save. I disagree with KingMorgan about the second best warmongering save. Soirana has Writing already which I think is more important than Mr. Morph's extra gold (which isn't enough to get him to writing). I liked KingMorgan's 3 cities and a upcoming rush which shouldn't put us in quite as much of a hole as the others.
 
Hi all,

Sorry i am late…

Spoiler :
The first screenshot describes what happened well…

Civ4ScreenShot0212-1.jpg


I’ve met Frederick, a by far too close Shaka, and Isabella who obviously found Buddhism…
I have engaged the save on the war path, settling one south east of copper, not the best spot around but the more straightforward. Techwise went agriculture->BW->animal husbandry -> wheel->hunting->pottery->writing (22 turns at 7bpt).

Military: 4 warriors, 2 spears, 8 axemen (one more in 1 turn and 3 turn) … The soldiers can start the campaign (beginning with Ulundi) next turn.

The tech rate is crap but we have pottery and with military losses + gold from captured cities we can make it to writing and the beloved scientists…

Wiew of Zulu land…

Civ4ScreenShot0213-1.jpg


Look how nice Shaka was … he built Stonehenge for us :lol: !!!

Cities

Civ4ScreenShot0214-1.jpg


Civ4ScreenShot0215-1.jpg


I have only two cities and the research tank a little but we have good military, Shaka is metal less so a successful rush can be done I think…
Now I can look at other saves as well! :cool:


Cheers,

Raskolnikov
 

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I also vote for Carls (seems a given now), although since I didnt submit a legal round (I have the with-huts version, I got 2 techs, and the Tin event in the cap, LOL) so my vote may not count. I am planning to submit a real save next round, since it doesnt matter if I know certain things like where the copper and horses are, where the AIs are, etc.
 
There seem to have been three choices for the first tech - agriculture, bronze working or one out of meditation and polytheism in order to found a religion. At lower levels I'd be willing to go for a religion, but at emperor level without additional commerce I wonder whether this is too risky. So if you go for a religion, do you have to sacrifice growth by working the grassland by the river? The price seems too high to me, given that you could still lose the race; what do others think?

If you go BW first and build a fast worker, you can mine the sheep and perhaps pre-chop some forest until you discover agriculture. In this case, there is copper within easy reach and things work out well. But in a lot of my games there is no easy access to copper so presumably there needs to be a plan B.

Agriculture and fast worker gives you plenty to do with the worker - farming the corn and the grassland for example. That will allow growth to size 2 in 7 turns. I was very happy to go Agric followed by AH because it allowed me to pasture the sheep and put me close to writing. However, that doesn't suit the axe rush planned by our aggressive friends.

RJM
 
So many good saves...

Here is my vote:

1st (overall best) - King Morgan -- The rush may be too little too late, but at least the economy is under control. Also, I like the city placement (perhaps because it is almost the same as my save ;)).

2nd (overall 2nd) - Mklh -- Lots of nice cities, but behind on tech. It is particularly worrisome that pottery hasn't been discovered yet.

3rd (just because) - RJM -- great tech, already have a GS settled. Very very little military though, which is not good news with a neighbor like Shaka.

I didn't chose to vote on any of the rush saves because in all of them the economy is going to take at least the next round to recover. If I were to vote on a save with a rush, I would probably pick Mr. Morph because he was lucky enough to get Stonehenge from Shaka. He is a little behind Carl tech wise, but I think is in a better place to recover.
 
@ RJM --

I think Agriculture is probably the best choice overall (even though I chose to found a religion instead). Growth is important, and if you grow faster, you can get to BW quicker, and are then in a better spot to either a) build a settler to found a city by bronze or b) start building axemen. (Assuming it is your plan to rush someone)

I picked to found a religion because it has worked very well for me in just about every game I play with a leader that starts with mysticism (though I haven't every played at Emperor level). Religions are great for the economy in the mid/late game. Of course, you could also just capture the city that founded a religion and then you don't have to go take the risk on the early religion.

I think with Shaka as a neighbor, if you don't rush and kill him right away, you would do best by converting him to your religion. I haven't ever had Shaka backstab me (as long as I gave in to some of his demands--or have a mutual war enemy) when he was my religion. He also makes a great war ally, as he seems ineffective in capturing cities, but still sends floods of units to distract while you sneak in and take what you want ;).

Is founding an early religion really that bad at the higher levels? Is it really all that much better to overextend with a rush and have a crippled economy and poor tech rate as a result?
 
I didn't chose to vote on any of the rush saves because in all of them the economy is going to take at least the next round to recover. If I were to vote on a save with a rush, I would probably pick Mr. Morph because he was lucky enough to get Stonehenge from Shaka. He is a little behind Carl tech wise, but I think is in a better place to recover.

A bit of a strange remark IMO. King Morgan has a tech rate of 7 beaker/turn. If each of us "rushers" puts each of our workers (we have 5 on average) to 6 turns of cottaging and redirects a tile from every city to a grassland river cottage, we have a tech rate higher than Morgan's in six turns.
 
My votes:
1. Carl Corey
2. Soirana
3. Mr. Morph

Would have considered a non-rush save, but I just don't see any that can compete with the huge advantage of having Shaka out of the way and owning 5 cities by 1500 BC.
 
Here's a summary comparison of the different saves. Raskolnikov's been submitted after voting started so I'm not sure whether to include it or not. Due to the big number of saves, some of which were without your names on, I might have made some errors when looking through them. Please tell me if there's anything wrong (or if I missed a save...) and feel free to complete with your own remarks on each save. I'm putting this in a spoiler since it's pretty long.

Spoiler :

andersw

Cities/total population: 3/9
Treasury: 7 gold
Research at (or closest to) 0 gold per turn: 12 beakers per turn at 0 gpt
Techs: BW, Agri, AH, Pottery, Wheel, Writing, 3 turns with current finances
Units (other than warriors): 4 workers, 1 axeman (which for some reason doesn't show up on the F5 screen...)
Religions: None

Remarks: More axemen to come, but weak military so far. Already working cottages, more to come. Looks like Shaka popped a gold in his capital...

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Arsonist

Cities/pop: 2/8
Treasury: 23 gold
Research @/near 0gpt: 7bpt@0gpt
Techs: BW, Agri, AH, Wheel, Pottery, Writing in progress, 5 turns with current finances
Units: 2 workers, 6 axes
Religions: none

Remarks: Too few cities/workers, no rush so far. Shaka's Stonehenge means we'd have to go through powerful cultural defenses to win the capital. Looks like Izzy founded Buddhism in Madrid, so that capital is also going to have high cultural defenses.

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Berkobob

Cities/pop: 2/4
Treasury: 151 gold
Research @/near 0gpt: 4bpt@1gpt
Techs: BW, Agri, AH, Wheel, Writing, Masonry in progress, 7 turns with current finances, will still have lots of money left
Units: 3 workers, 10 axes
Religions: none

Remarks: Shaka has a settler ready near the southern copper (SE of Ulundi). Would have to rush now or face axes, but we're in good shape to do it. We also have roads linking us to Shaka.

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carl corey

Cities/pop: 4/6
Treasury: 79 gold
Research @/near 0gpt: 0bpt@-2gpt
Techs: BW, Agri, AH, Wheel, Pottery, Writing in progress, 3 turns with current finances
Units: 4 workers, 8 axemen
Religions: none

Remarks: Need some cottages fast as we're in the red at 0% research and we're already building a settler. Shaka is dead. One level 4 axeman.

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ChromiumL

Cities/pop: 2/5
Treasury: 12 gold
Research @/near 0gpt: 12bpt@0gpt
Techs: BW, Agri, Wheel, Pottery, Masonry, Polytheism, Monotheism in progress, 15 turns with current finances
Units: 1 settler, 3 workers, 1 axeman
Religions: founders of Hinduism (Delhi); both cities Hindu

Remarks: We have Stonehenge in the capital and a prophet out in 22 turns. A few hammers in the Pyramids. No real military to speak of, and Shaka's the strongest AI from those we've met. Might lead to troubles.

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Civman123

Cities/pop: 2/7
Treasury: 37 gold
Research @/near 0gpt: 37bpt@0gpt
Techs: BW, Agri, AH, Wheel, Meditation, Priesthood, Pottery in progress, 7 turns with current finances
Units: 1 settler, 2 workers, 1 axeman
Religions: none

Remarks: Should chop the Oracle as we're in danger of missing it. Shaka powerful. Not sure if he's got copper already or not, if he has we're in for a ride...

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colony

Cities/pop: 2/8, 1 unhappy (why?)
Treasury: 0 gold
Research @/near 0gpt: 2bpt@0gpt
Techs: BW, Agri, AH, Wheel, Writing, Pottery in progress, 48 turns
Units: 3 workers, 10 axemen
Religions: none

Remarks: Going for Shaka. Need to do it fast as we're running out of money and don't have Pottery for cottages yet.

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KingMorgan

Cities/pop: 3/12, 1 unhappy
Treasury: 0 gold
Research @/near 0gpt: 7bpt@0gpt
Techs: BW, Agri, AH, Wheel, Pottery, Writing, Aesthetics in progress, 75 turns
Units: 2 workers, 7 axemen
Religions: none

Remarks: Shaka has 5 cities, so he's likely founded a copper city. Cottages already built, so research will go up soon. Need to connect 3rd city (no trade route, no resource connection).

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MkLh

Cities/pop: 4/9
Treasury: 21 gold
Research @/near 0gpt: 5bpt@0gpt
Techs: BW, Agri, AH, Wheel, Writing in progress, 9 turns with current finances
Units: 2 workers
Religions: None

Remarks: No military might become a problem very soon. Gold city, but far from our borders and not yet connected, meaning happiness from gold will not be available in other cities. Pataliputra also not connected.

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Monsterzuma

Cities/pop: 4/9
Treasury: 365 gold
Research @/near 0gpt: 0bpt@-1gpt
Techs: BW, Agri, Hunting, Wheel, Pottery, Writing in progress, 13 turns with money to spare
Units: 5 workers, 9 axemen, 1 spearman
Religions: none

Remarks: Shaka's pushing daisies. Stonehenge in Ulundi! Free monuments in all new cities, woohoo! Too bad about razing Shaka's third city, we'd have had the money to support it. Two axemen at 9XP, 1XP away from 4th level. Great save all around.

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Mr.Morph

Cities/pop: 5/14
Treasury: 94 gold
Research @/near 0gpt: 0bpt@0gpt
Techs: BW, Agri, Wheel, AH, Pottery, Writing in progress, only finishable @ 0% research with current finances; of course things will change with cottages already in place and we can run a higher research slider
Units: 4 workers, 11 axemen, 1 great general (!!!)
Religions: None

Remarks: Shaka bit the dust. Stonehenge in Ulundi again! And we have a great general which means we'll be able to build accuracy catapults if we settle it in a city. I'm afraid this save beats Monsterzuma's, although not by much.

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RJM

Cities/pop: 3/6
Treasury: 9 gold
Research @/near 0gpt: 19bpt@1gpt
Techs: BW, Agri, AH, Wheel, Masonry, Writing, Meditation, Math in progress, 24 turns with current finances
Units: 1 worker
Religions: none

Remarks: One settled great scientist. Won't do much good if the capital is captured by the approaching barb archer... No military to speak of, only one worker to chop it. Too slow.

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Soirana

Cities/pop: 4/8
Treasury: 143 gold
Research @/near 0gpt: 0bpt@0gpt
Techs: BW, Agri, Wheel, Pottery, Writing, Aesthetics in progress, finishable only @0% research with current finances, but libraries are being built, we have cottages and there's one more Shaka city to capture.
Units: 3 workers, 6 axemen
Religions: None

Remarks: Shaka has one more city, likely dead very soon. One axeman with level 4.

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TheMeInTeam

Cities/pop: 2/7
Treasury: 0 gold
Research @/near 0gpt: 9bpt@1gpt
Techs: BW, Polytheism, Agri, AH, Wheel, Pottery, Pottery in progress, 8 turns
Units: 3 workers
Religions: founders of Hinduism (Delhi)

Remarks: One settler finishes next turn. Zilch military power. Likely to miss on Oracle this late in the game.

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vicawoo

Cities/pop: 5/9
Treasury: 54 gold
Research @/near 0gpt: 0bpt@0gpt
Techs: BW, Agri, Wheel, AH, Pottery, Writing in progress, forever with current finances, will improve as we're working cottages
Units: 3 workers
Religions: None

Remarks: No military. Shaka might have something to say about that although he's currently teching Masonry. Settler almost finished in the capital.
 
Ranking:

1. Mr.Morph (5 cities; Shaka--; Stonehenge; GG)
2. Monsterzuma (4 cities - so close...; Shaka--; Stonehenge; close to level 4 axe; Hunting vs Morph's AH; great finances)
3. carl corey (4 cities; Shaka--; level 4 axe opens Heroic Epic)
4. Soirana (4 cities; Shaka to be killed but not a problem; level 4 axe; no AH compared to my save; good finances)
5. Berkobob (no rush yet)

Votes: 3 points for Mr.Morph, 2 for Monsterzuma, 1 for Soirana.

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I have a question: why on earth are people voting for my save over Mr.Morph's or Monsterzuma's? Both those saves have captured Stonehenge while mine didn't. Yeah, I know, I'm fighting against my own save, but I feel both mentioned above are better. :p
 
Hi everyone!

i don't mind my save not being taken into account... I am here to learn... no problems as I was late. I willl try to play the secound round in time ;) ...

A lot of early rush saves! as mine... but some are really well implemented (I had only the time to build the army as Berkobob it seems)... i am thinking of Monsterzuma, Mr Morph and Carl Corey who have all successfully rushed Shaka... nice job!

My votes are 1 Mr Morph 2 Carl 3 Monsterzuma (I dislike your Bombay placement but nice job overall)... Soriana has also submitted a nice round, it was really hard to come up with only 3 votes :lol:

Also first lesson: I teched AH early and that seems to be a mistake (i usually play marathon and that seems more forgiving): those who have mined the sheep were able to raise an army sooner than what I was able...

looking forward to the next round!

Cheers,

Raskolnikov
 
Carl corey points out that my saved position will be pretty much worthless if the capital is captured by the approaching barb archer. Perhaps someone could help me evaluate the odds here. The archer has strength 3. My warrior has strength 2 with a 25% fortify bonus and a 25% city defense bonus. AFAIK this gives my warrior an effective strength that is also 3. In addition, there is a 40% bonus from culture in Delhi. How does this work? Does it add .8 to the effective strength of the warrior? Assuming it does add in this way, we have strength 3 vs strength 3.8. How does this translate into probability of winning? How is the probability affected by the archers first strike capability? From previous game experience, I believe the odds are heavily in my favour, but is this true?

RJM
 
RJM, that was a bit of a joke. You do indeed have good odds, plus you have the population to pop a second warrior and be beyond problems for now. Well, unless the random generator gods *really* dislike you. :) I almost lost one of the cities I captured from Shaka to a barb archer, but popped a warrior just in time and it won even without cultural defenses or fortify bonus. The criticism of your save has more to do with the fact that early on what you want is land (settlers), workers and military => production. Tech comes in second, so working scientists to get a GS that early is most probably not best play as it slows your production. (Wonders are another thing, but we have no multipliers for wonders in this game - until we connect the marble - so our hammers are better spent elsewhere.)
 
RJM, that was a bit of a joke. You do indeed have good odds, plus you have the population to pop a second warrior and be beyond problems for now. Well, unless the random generator gods *really* dislike you. :) I almost lost one of the cities I captured from Shaka to a barb archer, but popped a warrior just in time and it won even without cultural defenses or fortify bonus. The criticism of your save has more to do with the fact that early on what you want is land (settlers), workers and military => production. Tech comes in second, so working scientists to get a GS that early is most probably not best play as it slows your production. (Wonders are another thing, but we have no multipliers for wonders in this game - until we connect the marble - so our hammers are better spent elsewhere.)

I wasn't seeking to defend my save - I've played the early moves again and there is plenty of room for improvement. I need to try increasing early production and taking the hit on tech researh.

However, I was seeking enlightenment as to the mechanics of conflict - how the cultural bonus works, how the first strike works and how it all translates into probability.

RJM
 
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