Emperor Cookbook Shaka

[cabert]

a few notes:

IT : seems I'm not the only one who left workers sleeping ...
I'm not totally convinced of your land use (mostly missing some chain irrigation), nor totally convinced of the lack of slavery when there are unis to whip.
I can indeed see a diplo win from there.

Ambrose : lack of confidence leaving your stack unmoved when you can take the capital in the same turn? Strong position anyway.

Kossin : great game, but who's surprised? I'm a bit disturbed by your position though. no machinery for instance means a lot of backfilling to do, and you can't really afford to trade that much at that moment. Well, better than being 20 turns away from lib

Gumbolt : I need to check a bit better your game, but I'm not totally sold on the first look. KK needs to get killed, and you're at peace and have no army. There are trades available that could help greatly your position (for instance gpt to be had from selling stuff) if you don't go to war right now.

Solon : I'm not sold on the first look, because it looks like my own game with more things missing.

 

[kossin]

@Cabert
I do have Machinery. Took a (stupid) trade with BK: Education<->Machinery+Feudalism

 

[cabert]

@Cabert
I do have Machinery. Took a (stupid) trade with BK: Education<->Machinery+Feudalism

I must be confusing things after checking saves in a matter of minutes, sorry.

 

[Gumbolt]

@ Cabert and Kossin. I went into war with just enough units to do the job.

HRG does have a stack on my game but its only 8-9 units strong and he is unlikely to dow @ friendly/pleased.

In all truth KK will not expand further into my lands. I prolly should of started my war a few turns later to build a larger army. Make no mistake in mine or Kossin game KK will be hugely weaken by his capital being captured.

As for teching I held back trading with KK as I was about to go to war with him and I didnt want to help him towards engineering.

If were going for domination/conquest then perhaps i should of continued. I think KK with 12-13 cities was too big to take down in one go with longbows.

I need to look at the saves before i vote.

 

[Solon70]

1. kossin - got the furthest in war with KK, 1 turn from lib, what's not to like?

2. gumbolt - solid performance against KK, economy in good shape

3. IT - very impressive peaceful save!

 

[Ambro]

My votes:

1. IT - Putting this first as t seems the most interesting save to try and play from. You can still pick war, continue with peace or go on a hunt for the other civs while letting our continent trundle along.

2. Kossin - Still seems like plenty of options available, I've got some plans already if this one gets picked.

3. Gumbolt - Like the diplo situation here. Once again leaves options hopefully meaning we get lots of different saves after the round is done.

Honourable mentions for everyone. If I was in a slightly different mood this list could look completely different. Some saves that if I was just going for the best position would have leapt up the list are Cabert and MJG's.

 

[Ambro]

Ambrose : lack of confidence leaving your stack unmoved when you can take the capital in the same turn? Strong position anyway.

The reason I didn't take the capital sooner was because I thought it might be fun for people to start off the save doing it. Not particularly tactically sound but I don't like to start these saves up by having to press enter myself so thought I'd leave stuff to do.

@Ambro
Nice alternative, good success against Charley there. Soirana really set the map well as now in either saves one of the other AIs is really big. I would not stagnate the Capital though.

Not much to say here other than oops, must have forgotten to take that off from earlier (some whipping issues I seem to remember).

I might have put Ambro here but Charlie is close to teching ENG and his UU. This will halt the war IMO. Also no Hindu shrine.

Good point. I planned to take Aachen and then sue for peace, stalling the war. Perhaps that would be a mistake as it will give him time to build up some troops. Either way Charlies glory days are behind him, losing the capital alone should be enough to make sure of that and it creates a total choke point for him even trying to access our land until he has a fleet (by which time he'll be so far behind it shouldn't be an issue). Think I need to take a little more notice of the strengths, weaknesses and styles of the specific leaders in my future play.

 

[Gumbolt]

4 votes so far. It would be nice to get a few more votes in on this before we close the round. I dont think IT will be voting.

That leaves ME, Heurfanista and Cabert. I know Cabert left some notes but not sure if he/she intended to vote.

Scores so far. If theres no further votes it could be down to me which saves wins. Although the rules do state you have to vote for your save to win the round. It seems at present we are all just shadowing Kossin game. She clearly has a great understanding of some of the games basics. Chain irrigation, trade routes, peace weightings. etc.

Votes so far.

Kossin 8
IT 7
Gumbolt 6
Cabert 2
Ambro 1

 

[huerfanista]

4 votes so far. It would be nice to get a few more votes in on this before we close the round. I dont think IT will be voting.

That leaves ME, Heurfanista and Cabert. I know Cabert left some notes but not sure if he/she intended to vote.

Scores so far. If theres no further votes it could be down to me which saves wins. Although the rules do state you have to vote for your save to win the round. It seems at present we are all just shadowing Kossin game. She clearly has a great understanding of some of the games basics. Chain irrigation, trade routes, peace weightings. etc.

Votes so far.

Kossin 8
IT 7
Gumbolt 6
Cabert 2
Ambro 1

I'm on the road, so I may not be able to check all the saves. Let me know how long you intend to keep voting open, and I can let you know whether to go on without my vote.

 

[cabert]

4 votes so far. It would be nice to get a few more votes in on this before we close the round. I dont think IT will be voting.

That leaves ME, Heurfanista and Cabert. I know Cabert left some notes but not sure if he/she intended to vote.

Scores so far. If theres no further votes it could be down to me which saves wins. Although the rules do state you have to vote for your save to win the round. It seems at present we are all just shadowing Kossin game. She clearly has a great understanding of some of the games basics. Chain irrigation, trade routes, peace weightings. etc.

Votes so far.

Kossin 8
IT 7
Gumbolt 6
Cabert 2
Ambro 1

I'm not really ready to vote.
If my vote is needed, I'll spend some time checking the saves a bit more indepth.

 

[Gumbolt]

Theres no rush. I'll have someone prepare you a cup of tea or coffeee. One sugar or two? Milk too? Would you like a biscuit with that?

 

[cabert]

Theres no rush. I'll have someone prepare you a cup of tea or coffeee. One sugar or two? Milk too? Would you like a biscuit with that?

Is there a rush?
It's obvious kossin's save is superior, so there is no real point in checking very much the rest.
I have put a few notes together towards voting. I should be done in a few hours .

edit:
here is my late vote
- Kossin 3 votes
- IT 2 votes
- gumbolt 2 votes

Some notes on the games submitted, this time with all the care it requires:
- Kossin
not much to say. 1 trade you missed is selling rice to charlie for 13gpt. You don't need it, and 13 is a lot.
I don't like this "no defender needed" thing. Means too much micro for me.

- IT
optics before lib seems best, in order to get astro from lib, and get a foot on the UN track. Many trades are possible, resource mostly. Also selling compass for aesthetic + 60 gpt may be worth it. You have too many farms in your western city. whipping your temple in the capital could be good.

- Gumbolt
KK is broken, and trade is still possible. I would trade civil service for feudalism with KK then civil service for machinery with charlie. resources trades are possible too.

- ambrose
your economy is so far down it's going to be hard to save. you could do some good trades with KK, and since he is only pleased, it may be worth having a lasting resource trade for diplo reasons too. Charlie is broken, I wouldn't be too afraid of knechts in the first place. They aren't immune to collateral damages.
You could take a few more cities from charlie then get him to peace for a large extortion.

- Huerfanista
you're a bit late in the fight aren't you?
not enough economical progress for a peaceful save.
Loads of trades available with both KK and charlie.
You're out of slavery when there are unis to whip. too bad...
There is a lot of work to do in the land, and you certainly need to trade more

- MJG
KK is broken, and charlie is happy, so you're set for a nice war with KK. Not much you can do at this point except going further into mongol territory.
You could sell the rice to charlie for 9gpt, and possibly sell machinery for some change. No love for forges with gold and gems?

 

[Gumbolt]

Thankyou for your vote Cabert. It looks like we are shadowing Kossin game for now. There was no real rush but I like rounds to be completed in 7 days and we are slipping back 48 hours.

@ kossin: I wonder if you are out growing the Emperor Cookbook? Perhaps finish this cookbook and decide if you play as a shadow in the next one. It would be nice to give some of the Monarch or less developed players a chance to win the rounds. That last round felt a lot easier after your strong save before. It is fascinating to see how you micro manage and play each round compared to everyone else.

I would probably vote Kossin or IT as 1st or 2nd. Either way Kossin Save would win the round. I need to update the usual information for next round.

Congratulations to Kossin the winner of this round!!!

The next round will be played over the next 3-4 days with voting over Friday-Sunday.
The round will finish Friday/Saturday time 1800hr GMT.

The next round will be played from 1100ad-1500ad. Lets get playing people.

Here is the winning save to be used for the next round:

Kossin save

Please ensure when you post save you rename with your name.

Round 0: The starting save -
Round 1: 4000 BC - 1500 BC- Completed
Round 2: 1500 BC - 400 AD- Completed
Round 3: 400 AD - 1100 AD- Completed
Round 4: 1100 AD - 1500 AD - Playing
Round 5: 1500 AD - 1700 AD - upcoming
Round 6: 1700 AD - 1820 AD - upcoming
Round 7: 1820 AD - 2050 AD - upcoming

 

[Gumbolt]

It might be interesting one round to play with the save withe the least votes for a bigger challenge.

 

[kossin]

I guess I'll start shadowing then it seems.

 

[Gumbolt]

I guess I'll start shadowing then it seems.

Its nothing personal you are just in your own league at times. Immortal level is more your challenge and this is effectively Monarch by playing the best saves.

 

[cabert]

I guess I'll start shadowing then it seems.

The good thing would be to play but keep your save out of the "competition". After several rounds, it's clear emperor is no challenge for you, and we all acknowledge your skill. And your insight certainly proves useful for us mere mortals.
But there is no point in voting when there is 1 clear winner every time + it gives us all the feeling emperor is easy .

 

[kossin]

It is easy

 

[Gumbolt]

It is easy

lol. If you ever lose a emperor game now you will eat those words.

That being said I would like to see us tackle a map where barbarians are more an issue early on. This map and last we have been well protected by coast next to our capital. Maps where you start with an expanse of tundra at the top are much harder to deal with unless you fog bust properly.

That being said Soirana map creation has been somewhat inspired at times. These cookbooks are certainly a challenge for map makers as you need to stop every game turning into a early rush.

 

[kossin]

Next game I bet will have no close horses and be boxed in by SB