Emperor Cookbook IV: Suryavarman II

[ChromiumL]

Alright--its votin' time! (thought I posted this last night--but apparently I didn't hit 'post'. Woops!)

We will go ahead and vote for 2-3 days (Late Friday or early Saturday for me in Pacific US time) and then we will tally up the score and start the next round.

Just a reminder--you don't necessarily have to vote for the 'best' save (though you can certainly give props if one save is really good), you can also vote for whichever save is 'best' for learning. Of course, these will probably overlap most of the time, but may help weed out some of the strongest saves.

Some saves went over time period (and Tempesta13--that's partially my fault, sorry about that. Unfortunately we can't include those. Soirana has also removed their save from the running so it won't be included (but good to look at as an example!)

Saves submitted for votes:

Pnaxigahn (this save is a little over (1400 BC) but I don't think that's far enough off to not include it--just take it into account when voting)

Gumbolt


MkLh

Sian

RJM

Plattfuss

KingMorgan

Calouste


Ai Shizuka

feralminded

JFleme

Ipex

ChrisShaffer --Remember to rename your save with your name next time!

ChromiumL

 

[ChromiumL]

Spoiler :

*planned production city* - worker is cottaging FP.

Goes to check his views about reality.

Gosh darn it! I meant to irrigate! Really I did... *whaps self in head*

Also fixed the lit/writing screw up in my description of my round... this is what I get for playing/posting late at night

 

[Fleme]

My votes.

Spoiler :

3 pts: Plattfuss. What can I say, I like the gold. Beyond that, the start looks really promising.
2 pts: Ai Shizuka. Reminds me of my own game and I can't not like that.
1 pts: ChromiumL. I like the libraries.

 

[plattfuss]

my votes

Spoiler :

tough choice
3 points to chris for having 4 cities up
2 points for JFleme this is something I would be interested in continuing due to the wonders
1 point for Chromium since this is probably very good and balanced start

 

[feralminded]

Damn lot of submissions. I'll put up the votes tonight when I get a chance.

 

[Ai Shizuka]

Votes:

Spoiler :

3 pts - ChromiumL: libraries and scientists up and running, good fogbusting, cottages available.

2 pts - Pnaxigahn: library in capital, Great Wall, researching pottery. Good balanced start.

1 pt - Gumbolt: 4 cities, library in capital almost completed, good fogbusting.

 

[Gumbolt]

grrrr too many to vote for!!!! Will take a look tomorrow. I really must get in bed before midnight for once. Failing as ever.

 

[pnaxighn]

Spoiler :

3 points: plattfuss - Tons of commerce output (yay, gold!). Everything else looks acceptable, too.
2 points: JFleme - 14 commerce output/turn, wonder 1 already up, 1 more coming, maybe GLH eventually, few cities, few workers...
1 point: MklH - 15 commerce output/turn, 2 good cities, one ok, no wonders, pile of warriors

 

[ChrisShaffer]

Spoiler :

3 JFleme
2 pnaxighn
1 ChromiumL probably too good

 

[MkLh]

Votes:

Spoiler :

1. plattfuss, Clearly the best save, boosted by gold but good playing too. But why research Alphabet? Luckily it can still be changed.
2. ChromiumL, good research speed, only 3 workers, Pyramids too far from finishing
2. JFleme. The Pyramids mostly built, they would solve our happiness problems.

 

[RJM]

Surely we don't need to put spoiler tags on the votes.

In my view, all of the saves are viable to continue with. I chose my votes based on the number of technolgies already discovered and the current tech rate. My apologies to those who have nearly completed a useful wonder for not giving this any credit. I thought long and hard about Platfuss and the gold discovery. In the end I decided to go with the flow, so my votes are:

1. King Morgan
2. ChromiumL
3. Platfuss

RJM

 

[plattfuss]

Votes:

1. plattfuss, Clearly the best save, boosted by gold but good playing too. But why research Alphabet? Luckily it can still be changed.
2. ChromiumL, good research speed, only 3 workers, Pyramids too far from finishing
2. JFleme. The Pyramids mostly built, they would solve our happiness problems.

If I am not isolated I usually try to tech broker. But with only one trading partner I agree, the benefit of alpha will be / would be limited.

 

[feralminded]

(I could not vote for gold or anyone who settled adjacent to the sheep, my apologies)

#1 - Sian - Just altogether rock solid. I like the early sailing to either go GLH (which will be insane on this map) or to just get the hell off our island. Definitely my favorite save here.

#2 - pnaxighn - The late pottery is a bit scarey but this game is really set to take off. It might take longer to get our economy up but its still looking good.

#3 - Chromium - Just another solid start. I would probably not complete the 'mids here and instead switch gears but to each their own. Good start.


An interesting note is I was surprised how many people went GWall but I guess in retrospect without copper it isn't a bad idea. Still I am definitely favoring the starts which are getting out onto the water early. Our island is nice and cozy but it won't win the game for us.

 

[Gumbolt]

probably.

1. Jfleme for mids build. (If he gets it!!) (Although part of me is against a pyramid start for learning this level)
2. king morgan for oracle shot and 30 science a turn!! Needs to expand and could use more infrastructure. Risk with archers too.
3. Chrom solid science base. Easy liberalism push!!

Against plats save as it has gold. Do we need these sort of advantages for a challenge? Then again 4 cities with lots of cottages.

Overall too many saves to mention.

 

[ChromiumL]

Alright--time for my votes and the tally...

I am voting for:

1st - Plattfuss -- all around good save (and gold too!)
2nd - Kong Morgan -- mmm, science (though behind in other ways).
3rd - JFleme -- If this save were to get 'mids, I think it would probably be too strong.

So that brings the tally to:

13 points - Plattfuss
12 points - Jfleme
12 points - ChromiumL
7 points - KingMorgan
6 points - Pnaxigahn
3 points - Sian
3 points - ChrisShaffer
2 points - Ai Shizuka
1 point - Gumbolt

Congratulations Plattfuss!! You have won the round and we will continue with your save!

The next round will be played through 400 AD. Please try to submit saves by next Wednesday (the 11th).

Just FYI--in future votes, please try to be clear about whether you are giving points (3 points) or place (3rd place) because I can't really be sure what a 3 means otherwise. I sorta had to guess on a few, but I always assumed that the first listed save was first place . Also, 'spoilering' saves isn't a requirement.

 

[Fleme]

Yey, the one I voted for won

 

[Fleme]

Played the next round

Spoiler :

So, taking over someone elses save isn't something I'm used to do but luckily this empire was a clean slate, so to speak so it was easy to pick up where Plattfuss left off. Again, I started building Pyramids in Yasodharapura eventhough I knew I wouldn't get them but I built them for the money. I actually ended up being like 6 turns away from getting them and the yield was some 600 gold, which in turn enabled me to run full research for a long time.

I converted to Judaism which is the religion of Giggles, Suleiman and Burger but I did manually research CoL and get Confucianism.

Built GLH in Hariharalaya, set up 4 more cities on the main island, one on Giggles front yard to claim horses and then one more to an island that was accessible only through my search city at the very southern tip of our island. I didn't have time to explore the islands fully just yet but I did set up one city to claim another source of horses and a few clams and discovered one island with not one, not two, not three but FOUR fish accessible in one city. Ima get me some of that. Also, there's a larger island to the southeast which hosts yet another source of horses. Well, can't have too much of those I suppose.

147 beakers per turn, without deficit - as such I consider myself to be on par with the AI when it comes to tech rate and the tech screen agrees. Pretty happy about this, it's actually feeling better than my original game where I was too set in my ways of Pyramids-Representation

 

[pnaxighn]

Spoiler :

This is the sort of mediocrity you get when playing at a difficulty level you can't handle. I've grabbed a couple wonders (GLib, Papaya), expanded a couple times, researched a couple techs...8 turns until civil service (already thinking liberalism...).

Unfortunately, that still leaves me in the middle of the pack in score...and in victory chances, I think. While the empire is still improving its output, it will never keep up with the AIs, short of war. That'd be a tough route: I have little military, and the world is a giant Jewish lovefest. Plus my techs have been lib-focused, not war-focused. Ugh.

 

[pnaxighn]

Played the next round

Spoiler :

So, taking over someone elses save isn't something I'm used to do but luckily this empire was a clean slate, so to speak so it was easy to pick up where Plattfuss left off. Again, I started building Pyramids in Yasodharapura eventhough I knew I wouldn't get them but I built them for the money. I actually ended up being like 6 turns away from getting them and the yield was some 600 gold, which in turn enabled me to run full research for a long time.

I converted to Judaism which is the religion of Giggles, Suleiman and Burger but I did manually research CoL and get Confucianism.

Built GLH in Hariharalaya, set up 4 more cities on the main island, one on Giggles front yard to claim horses and then one more to an island that was accessible only through my search city at the very southern tip of our island. I didn't have time to explore the islands fully just yet but I did set up one city to claim another source of horses and a few clams and discovered one island with not one, not two, not three but FOUR fish accessible in one city. Ima get me some of that. Also, there's a larger island to the southeast which hosts yet another source of horses. Well, can't have too much of those I suppose.

147 beakers per turn, I consider myself to be on par with the AI when it comes to tech. Pretty happy about this, it's actually feeling better than my original game where I was too set in my ways of Pyramids-Representation

Spoiler :

The sickest thing about 4-fish-land is that it's on a plains hill, giving defense and hammer bonus, too. It's hard to imagine a better Moai site.

 

[MkLh]

My 2. round (400AD)

Spoiler :

Put fishing boat to auto-explore and switched research to CoL-line. Met Suleiman. CoL allowed some tech trading - luckily Gil had Monarchy already so it payed of to research CoL and not Monarchy. Then Aestethics, traded it for Math and then Civil Service









Fish boat found Ragnar and Monte, both were pissed of for trading with enemies.





So now I have 6 cities, and 7th is just about to be founded. Some may say that's not much, but I don't see reason for REXing here. Barbs delayed the 7th city and caused some other minor trouble. Luckily an archer got Drill 3 and unlocked HE. A tech lead is clear I think. Free artist from Music is likely to come, liberalism prereqs expect education (delayed it so most of it can be bulbed by a GS) are researched.



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