Emperor Cookbook - Napoleon!!

[Teelman]

Here is my attempt

Spoiler :

My goal for this road was to begin preparing for war ASAP because we need land. Obviously, there is a huge techer on another island since we lost Lib race SUPER EARLY. Anyways, we were helped out by a random event in 760AD. We got IRON next to LEONS!!!! Woot Woot, also we got gold near Marseeilles during the same event!

Before the iron I was teching straight for GP to utilize musketmen. However, I think upgraded cr II/III maces are just stronger than the muskets, so I started switching production to maces after I got the iron. Also, william founded hinduism which has been spreading and is now in half my cities and everyone on the island is also hindu now.

Here is the land

Notice I founded four more cities. Three on the island to make use of all the resources there and one in the desert to make use of incense/bananas. I have used the whip sparingly therefore, my cities are growing to nice size. Also, during one of the last turns I was able to culture flip the cows at marseille near mao which has upped the production of that cities quite a bit.

Here are the tech and rating screens

Tech wise I beelined GP and then nationalism. I got Nat 3 turns ago and already revolted. I am a little behind JC but ahead of Will and WAY ahead of Mao. Diplomatically, every is happy with each other especially since we are all same religion. However, JC can be bribed to delcare on both Will and Mao. And Mao can be bribed to declare on Will if need be. I think we need to clear the island for ourselves ASAP to compete with this unknown insane techer to have any chance at this game. So, I am building a stack to go after Mao first since he is the weakest by far. Will has a littel better land but i think the tech weakness of mao makes him a better first target plus there is less of a chance of him vasseling to JC, who I think will be the toughest on the island to get rid off. Here is my stack I have so far.

I have most of my cities making military units. Paris/Lyons/Orleans/Tours all have forges now and can make a mace in about 6 turns each. I'm teching engineering for trebs but Mao only has 2-3 cities on hills the rest on plains/grasslands so either a few spies or some seige can help with those. I think Mao can be taken pretty easily. Then straight for Will after maybe with early currisaar rush? Then save JC for last if possible. Anyways let me know what you all think.

 

[Nares]

Spoiler :

I think Mao can be taken pretty easily.

Spoiler :

One thing to remember about Mao is that he's Protective. After reading through Lenowill's round, it looks like WvO is the better target; non-Protective plus WvO neglected to bolster his military, which I suspect will be consistent throughout each save posted for this round.

 

[Lenowill]

Spoiler :

Yes, WvO is a breakable candy-cane, at least as of the moment that I attacked him. I play protective leaders a lot and decided I didn't want to deal with the extra turtle-power I knew Mao would have, and I saw WvO was very light on defenses in his closest city. So yeah.

Then again, Mao's trying to defend with Cho-Ko-Nu in a lot of cases, which isn't helping his odds nearly as much as a solid Longbow defense would. In my own file if it's picked we just might be able to do a land grab on two different fronts at once using the draft, although it's very risky.

 

[Teelman]

@Nares and Lenowill

Spoiler :

Ahh good point I did not take that into account. None the less it would only take a few turns to transfer the stack to the other side to attack Willheim. Plus in 4 turns another round of 4 macemen are built which i think would be enough to take at least two of will's cities.

 

[Gumbolt]

Need to write a report.

Spoiler :

I have not gone the tech route. I liked Kossin idea from last round of rushing with Phants and catapults. (I need training for my Sury game. ). I was shocked when Mansa got lib. So i gave up on that. Teched construction and whipped elephants and catapults. it was pults/phants vs Mao lb/spear/axe/swords.

I eventually reached Mao capital and took it. Lost quite a few units on the way and whipped my cities heavily. I also lost Rheims and retook it.

I need to take a few cities now. At start of the war i bribed JC into a war with Mao. I did see his stack about 5-6 turns ago on Mao border but no city has fallen yet. My tech rate is somewhat behind other spoilers i have just viewed.

I have gunpowder now and traded it to Mansa for techs. I need to start whipping these and finish off Mao.

My save is only save so far to show entire map of both continents. I think Soirana has certainly made this interesting game.

I hope my save offers something different to the rest.

If only we had rushed with Phants earlier, This was why i was shocked so few voted Kossin save last round. Its weird this save has no religion on our continent.

Pictures!!!

Spoiler :

The world map

Tech situation

The cities

Top 5 cities

Tech tree

 

[dirtyparrot]

From quickly scanning everyone's writeup, I don't think that anyone went the route that I chose.

Spoiler :

From the looks of it, I was not quite as lucky as others popping iron or gold mines. And whoever was going for Liberalism was in surely for a bad surprise, with it going somewhere in the neighbourhood of 600-700AD. I made a run for TGL and lost out on that too (turns out that Pacal has been building himself quite a few wonders). But it was not a complete failure as I was able to sell Literature and Aesthetics for something like 900 gold.

I decided to take a different tact. I lost out, like I bet everyone did at getting a religion from Philosophy. I decided to go for some sort of trade route economy, while building up an army to stomp on WvO and finding the other AI's for intercontinental trade routes (to make up for the economic hit from DOWing WvO). I know that this is somewhat of a risky strategy considering that there have been a couple GG's getting popped in FIDL, so I decided to merely OB and trade resources until I get the complete picture of who else is out there. So, I've already teched Astronomy and OB with Pacal, plus traded for a few happy and health resources. I've sold a couple of resources for 17GPT. I've also built a few habors.

So, as it stands right now, I'm stacking elephants, trebs/cats, eventually some musketeers (once I tech gunpowder, although I'm an idiot and decided to go through Education instead of Guilds). From the looks of it, WvO seems like the softer target. He's not protective, he's been building wonders, his iron is within spitting distance of his border city, and we can use the terrain for protection. If anything, after gaining access to iron, we can also steamroll him with cannons or cavalry.

The Screenshots:

Tech Tree

Spoiler :

Tech Situation

Spoiler :

Diplomatic Advisor

Spoiler :

Military Advisor

Spoiler :

Resources and deals

Spoiler :

The Empire (East to West)

Spoiler :

Wonders

Spoiler :

JC's price to DOW WvO

Spoiler :

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

Guys, I'm terribly sorry I didn't vote in the last round. I had to move and saw myself with no internet connection. Is it ok if I keep playing this?

 

[Lenowill]

Fine by me.

 

[kossin]

@ all

Spoiler :

This round turned out to be the most interesting so far, with several different strategies! It'll be fun to see towards which approach people will vote once the round is over. I'm kinda surprised by all the Spy Specialists being run by everyone and some of the MM that isn't done though - not that I'm good at it either - it really makes a big difference to get 20+ bpt when your rate isn't that high, multiplied by 50 turns it's always a nice amount. Trading to MM like that can be dangerous, he could be someone's worst enemy and in turn you'll net yourself that title when you meet that person.
IMO the window for a war was rather thin and should be about done by now: we have to get back to teching to match Mansa or he'll run away.

@Gumbolt

Spoiler :

Very nice cutting through Mao, that was my idea from last round. Unfortunately it looked like JC was going to declare on me and I had somehow neglected a bit of infrastructure at the cost of the army so I guess my save didn't look that appealing to many (plus the heavy whipping ) Looks like you didn't plant a third city on the island sadly.

@dirtyparrot

Spoiler :

Bold move going for Astro this soon - your techrate is almost as good as mine at 100%. I'm a bit surprised with some of the resource deals you have though. Crab for sheep? I'd rather trade it to Mao's gpt. Beelining Astro I would have thought that you'd hook up the Whales. I think it's too late for a elepult war now as the AIs have LBs, investing hammers in buildings (harbors!) might be a better imho. Overall a very interesting save.

@Teelman

Spoiler :

Good luck on the island popping silver and iron. Trading Ivory to WvO might not be the best idea if you decide to go against him - at least get his gpt in the deal. I would have whipped a lot more because starting a war in 1100AD+ with Macemen/Catapults/Elephants is late and costly against LBs from my experience.

@cripp7

Spoiler :

You seem to have a lot of garrison, why's that? It's costing you an extra 9gpt/turn. You could whip in several buildings to get a better techrate easily (libraries!) Development is lacking somewhat on the island, OTOH you are the first save I look at that doesn't have any spy-specialist so

@Lenowill

Spoiler :

War will stall against WvO since you need a lot more catapults to bombard/take out LBs. Taking a ceasefire/peace might distract him from building more LBs while you bring in more catapults. Why aren't you running any Scientists? Or any GP besides your new acquisition? Unfortunately Diplo is a bit of a mess, but it's not a problem given how wussy the AIs are from lack of production.

 

[Lenowill]

@Kossin

Spoiler :

Canceled most specialists for the time being in the name of getting out more army, faster. As for WvO, I'm pretty sure the current stack and incoming reinforcements can take at least one to two more towns before needing further reinforcements. WvO was that badly defended. One non-protective longbow per city doesn't cut it against muskets. You can't see it on the current Fog of War in my game, but if I remember correctly the city I'm moving toward doesn't even have a longbow in it; it's being guarded by a maceman and two weaker units. *boggles*

If I could capture the Hague plus the city I'm already moving my army toward, I'd consider this round of the war to be a great success, and probably switch to beating on Mao's western front for additional land grabbing.

But yeah, I agree that any further hitting we do needs to be very fast. Epic speed helps us with that a bit thankfully.

p.s.: Err...what map type is this again? How did we end up with rice on a hill in Mao's area? *blink blink*

 

[Soirana]

p.s.: Err...what map type is this again? How did we end up with rice on a hill in Mao's area? *blink blink*

used to be big and small, before i put my dirty hands on it. At least i did not put pigs on floodplain...

 

[dirtyparrot]

@kossin

Spoiler :

Unfortunately, I don't think that we have much choice on going to war against WvO with less than ideal effeciency (unless we go for a peaceful victory). We need a source of iron and his is easiest to take. Now, the good news is that his capital is his only really decent production site and his troops are pretty spread around, so it has a chance to work. I'm probably thinking of taking his capital (I'll take that first) and his border city and then sue for peace. The wb for the whales is being built (had to whip a few things first). I've already built a few harbors up north and will whip them in the south.

As for the health deal with Mao, you're right about that now. I will cancel that deal as soon as I can. Unfortunately, prior to my recent dealings with Pacal and whipping a few habors, health was a problem. It's only recently that it no longer been one.

 

[Gumbolt]

used to be big and small, before i put my dirty hands on it. At least i did not put pigs on floodplain...

You best get the next map ready once were done here!! Perhaps Aztecs? *runs*

 

[Gumbolt]

IT: Happy to wait for you to play! The round was due to close 4 mins ago. We can wait for your save!

I have a few pics to add to my save first.

 

[dirtyparrot]

I actually kind of like this map. It offers something different to the type of map I usually play and offers a whole bunch of different possible paths. I'm usually not used to seeing so much desert, unless I'm playing an oasis map (and even then, you don't get a thin strip of desert like that). For the next ECK can I suggest a snaky Pangea map with an extra AI (the map script is available in the C&C section).

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

Spoiler :

My game was unidimensional: I prepared us for war. When we were researching Paper (I guess) someone completed Liberalism so I let it go and researched Engineering after Education. I did some heavy whipping and we now have (ready to go):

9 War Elephants;
12 Trebuchets;
7 Musketeers;
3 Longbowmen.

That and a couple of Chariots that were already there. Besides that, we have two spies on their way to Mao's only Iron source.

This is what I'm ashamed of:

And this is what I'm proud of:

 

[Gumbolt]

Okay lets get voting!!! IT save is now in. Phew!!!

We will go ahead and vote for 2-3 days. Hopefully finish by Saturday/Sunday. Its not always about voting for the best save but the save that will be most interesting or challenging to play. Anyone that submitted a save is free to vote.

Please rank your top 3 in order.

First place 3 points.
Second place 2 points
Third place. 1 point.

PLEASE NOTE!! To keep voting fair you cant vote for your own save. You are expected to vote for 3 saves and give reasons for your voting. Remember this is a learning game. I would encourage everyone to act within the spirit that the cookbook is intended.

Anyway here are the saves:

Cripps

Kossin

Leonwill

Teelman

Gumbolt

Dirty Parrot

Ignorant Teacher

Voting will end on Sunday 6pm GMT or at the point where everyone from this round has voted.

 

[Lenowill]

My votes:

1st: Dirty Parrot. I just really like the direction the game is going, in this one. It's not the best one from a conquest point of view, but its military buildup is still significant while also providing a definite jump over the other members of our continent in terms of global trade options and the diplomatic effects that can be achieved using it. It has the logical expansions filled and intelligent GP allocation from what I saw looking through it.

2nd: Gumbolt. It's hard to argue with a save that already owns someone else's capital (which was also the city that contained his Chichen Itza Wonder) and is poised with enough units to mop up a substantial amount of the other territory. On the downside, research has taken a hit, and we probably don't have enough units right now to actually sweep the rest of Mao's cities in a hurry. In my estimation anyway.

3rd: Ignorant Teacher. Much like for Gumbolt above, it's hard to argue with that much military buildup. Definitely some of the spiffiest military stockpiling we've seen in this playthrough. The island Rex by WvO is regrettable but also squishable if we end up in a war with him, so it doesn't worry me all that much. The extra health/happy would've been nice though.

 

[Nares]

Spoiler :

I didn't want to deal with the extra turtle-power I knew Mao would have, and I saw WvO was very light on defenses in his closest city.

Spoiler :

See, I saw Mao and figured that he was too backwards to be problematic. But Protective Longbows are more annoying than regular Longbows, which are already annoying enough as it is.

I actually ran an auto-explore scout this round. I really only used it to keep updated population numbers on cities, but I should have paid more attention to it. Seeing WvO's pitiful defense would have made the decision; Mao, while backwards, does have numbers of units.

p.s.: Err...what map type is this again? How did we end up with rice on a hill in Mao's area? *blink blink*

I did a double take when I saw that.

You best get the next map ready once were done here!! Perhaps Aztecs? *runs*

How about Sitting Bull? Or another Philosophical leader (not Liz)? Maybe there's a recent game like that I don't know about?

 

[Gumbolt]

How about Sitting Bull? Or another Philosophical leader (not Liz)? Maybe there's a recent game like that I don't know about?

Sitting Bull would almost certainly just rush a close neighbour. That and Philosphical make for crazy starts. You dont learn higher levels playing him. He is a fun leader though and with the UB and UU makes almost impossible defences to break down.