[Emperor] of Rome

[strijder20]

Hello everyone!

I am a long-term player, and I've already completed many normal games on Prince and Monarch. On some mods, I've even achieved higher difficulties, but in the main game, I'm kind of stalling at Monarch. I hope to get some advice from both expert players and less expert players who are still able to point out the obvious mistakes in my play

So, without further ado: the game!

Options:
Speed: Normal
Size: Normal
Maptype: Fractal
Difficulty: Emperor
Leader and civilization: Random (although the title already gives away who I got)
All other options have the normal settings (feel free to ask)

And here he is, the Princeps civitatis:

Spoiler :

Industrious is a nice trait: forges are a top-tier building, and getting extra speed on whatever wonders we plan to build is great too. It makes fail-gold (if we have stone or marble) very viable too.

Imperialistic is less to my liking, but with Rome's Praetorians, an early war seems reasonable, which will give us an early GG for a supermedic and the HE. Furthermore, faster settlers is something I won't say no against either. Not the greatest trait, but hey, it's better than Protective!

Forums are meh, IMHO. Markets are expensive and not that great, although currency is a tech we'll probably get early on. The 20%:gpp: will enable us to shave some turns of great people, but not much more than that. Furthermore, considering Great People tend to come out of one or two cities, it's bonus is wasted in all others.

Praetorians are great. However, Iron Working is expensive, and as you will see, we're not in a jungle start. On top of that, it's not certain we'll have iron - making the beeline a waste of beakers. If we have iron and a close neighbour, it will give us a great opportunity, but other UUs are more reliable.

Spoiler :

The start! Crabs synergize well with our starting tech Fishing, and so do unforested hills with mining. The forests are also good if we decide to go BW-IW. Silk... well, it's a happiness resource, I'm not complaining, but it's only enabled by calendar. Still, better than nothing.

I took the liberty of moving the Warrior NW (assuming that moving east would probably not be suggested) and revealed...

Spoiler :

not much.

Seeing no more resources, I settled in place.

Spoiler :

Revealing the corn

Of course, I couldn't have possible known that without wasting another turn. Three food resources would probably be a bit overkill for one city, though.

Now, as for advice:

-I'm a bit puzzled what to tech. BW seems the way to go, but I've no idea what to do with those forests but to chop out settlers and workers, and I don't have experience with maintenance on emperor.

-Should the first build be a worker or a workboat? The worker can currently only build mines.

 

[CivNoobie]

you should always post a save from the beginning

 

[lymond]

crabs synergize with jack squat

that's a terrible start

In general with a fogged coastal start, depending on where warrior stands, you want to move in a position that will possibly reveal more sea resources. Moving him onto the sheep tile would have done that. In hindsight, yeah, it didn't reveal anything. However, with a start this bad I would have considered moving inland, which, in hindsight, would have been the right move.

If you play this, there are two options I think you can take. AH is a must in option one as your food is so terribad. Option two is beeline GLH and then spam coastal sites, which is often a good play on Fractal.

Ofc, with Fractal you can often get Iso starts or more Pangaea type maps. GLH can be pretty good in iso though, especially if you have some small islands off the coast.

 

[Tatran]

Moving the settler on the silk to reveal more tiles was a better option.
Settling on the silk would have been the best choice.
The silk tile isn't food neutral + corn + irrigation chain link (farming the forest plains) + saving a grassland with access to fresh water.

 

[MarigoldRan]

Worker first, get BW, chop workboat.

Based on that screenshot, your surrounding land ain't looking so hot. At least there's no tundra or swamps.

 

[strijder20]

So, I followed Lymond's GLH plan. It had already popped to my mind (Fractal+Industrious+Coastal combination) and I thought it'd be the best in this situation.

T41:

Tech path went Sailing -> BW -> Masonry -> Agriculture (->AH)
Build order was WB -> Worker -> Lighthouse

Spoiler :

Warrior revealed nearby land and everything close is a floodplains galore with triple gold. Yes, guess not. I revealed one more resource on the northern peninsula (plains cow... hurray!). On the plus part, there seems to be a nice city north of the stone. What places should I settle?

Spoiler :

We met this guy at T20:

Spoiler :

He should be a reasonable distance away, right? T20 is pretty late. I met his scout on the landbridge, about 5S of the stone.

I don't know much of this guy. Is he a warmonger? The Pickelhaube doesn't look reassuring, nor does the military uniform.

However, as we find out 20 turns later, he's probably a neighbour to pick on:

Spoiler :

Now I know how this guy acts: like a complete wimp. A pity he isn't close to us

Discovering Bronze Working made our start a tad better:

Spoiler :

At least we have no worries about strategic resources.

Rome can build TGL in 13 turns at max production. I have already started chopping, that should be no problem. Right?
(Notice that I was running another micro configuration giving 4 surplus in game - just showing the optimal completion date).

Spoiler :

 

[pomthom]

This is what I would do:
BW > Agri > AH

Worker first, start mining sheep then chop in a WB as soon as BW is in

 

[pomthom]

You should have mined the Sheep rather than the Plains Hill IMO

 

[strijder20]

This is what I would do:
BW > Agri > AH

Worker first, start mining sheep then chop in a WB as soon as BW is in

Crosspost

Yes, that'd been an option too Is it better to go for worker first and then WB in situations like this? I went for WB first for faster worker construction, guess I shouldn't have.

Do you guys think there is any hope for a Colossus+TGL combination? That seems to be the only way to get some kind of economy running, as coastal tiles are the only thing I have an abundance of. Depends on what there is in the north though.

If I leave four forests, that should be enough to chop out the wonder in reasonable time with copper + industrious. However, I think it's better to use those forests for settlers and workers - the TGL gambit has stalled my expansion by quite a bit.

 

[pomthom]

Do you guys think there is any hope for a Colossus+TGL combination?

Definitely but don't forget to expand!

 

[strijder20]

Definitely but don't forget to expand!

I'm already a bit behind, eh?

Would avoiding Currency (or quickly researching it) and bulbing MC with my TGL merchant be a good idea? Is T110 too late to reasonably grab the Colossus? Notice that I could still use MC for trade bait.

 

[pomthom]

I'm already a bit behind, eh?

Well yes but you knew that when you chose to rush the GLH. It's a very slow start but it will really help your expansion commerce wise once you get there so that's alright I guess.

What bothers me is that you won't have reached Writing by the time you finish the GLH... you could research AH while building a Settler (mine the Sheep until GLH -- you don't need food just now -- and maybe work a bit of the lake instead of plains forest to speed up the tech pace) and then try to time the GLH with reaching Writing (I suggest scouting the coast with your Warrior to find AI borders aswell)

Once GLH is built you can Pasture the Sheep (or, better, start pasturing ahead so the pasture is improved on the same turn you build the GLH), and go on a Settler frenzy (while researching Pottery for a Granary).

Oh well. That's how I see it anyway

Would avoiding Currency (or quickly researching it) and bulbing MC with my TGL merchant be a good idea? Is T110 too late to reasonably grab the Colossus?

Maybe but don't get ahead of yourself, you have more pressing issues at hand (expansion!)

 

[strijder20]

On a side note, I played another game on Emperor and won It was Darius cheese-immortals though, so it doesn't really count.

Spoiler :

Libbed Steel at about 1200 AD, capitulated everybody. I ended up winning Dom and Conquest at the same time, actually.

 

[strijder20]

I researched AH, which revealed no horses. Followed with The Wheel, for Axemen.





Warrior revealed another two prime food locations. I'm going to settle south of the cows as my third city, but does anyone have an idea where to settle the cities near corn/pig/wheat/fish? I would raze the barb city and build 1W of the wheat, building a city to pick up the corn + gems after IW.

Spoiler :

GLH completed at T50

And we meet this chap, who had already 4 cities by the end of the round.

Spoiler :

He also founded Hinduism. It'd be great if it spread to Washington and Bismarck (who both don't really beeline religions, right?) and me, so we can have a Hindu lovefest, but I don't count on that.

Spoiler :

Whipped Rome for granary, I'll fire the scientists as soon as the slavery runs out.

 

[pomthom]

I'm a bit confused with your screenshots and have a hard time reconstituting what happened lol

Too bad about not finding AI cultural borders, this should be your top priority because it should give an instant ~10 boost to your empire.

Whipped Rome for granary, I'll fire the scientists as soon as the slavery runs out.

You mean Library right? Don't fire the scientists (at least until you get your 1st GS)

 

[strijder20]

I'm a bit confused with your screenshots and have a hard time reconstituting what happened lol

Yes, sorry, they are not in the right order :S

By the end of the round I had founded Antium for 7 turns. I already have another settler out too.
[/QUOTE]

Too bad about not finding AI cultural borders, this should be your top priority because it should give an instant ~10 boost to your empire.

I'll try sending my warrior to the north.

You mean Library right? Don't fire the scientists (at least until you get your 1st GS)

Ok, but will 5 hammers +50% + 1 be enough to get settlers out? That's about 1 settler per 12 turns.

 

[sinimusta]

If you're planning to use praets, why would you want hindu lovefest?

 

[strijder20]

If you're planning to use praets, why would you want hindu lovefest?

For trading with the remaining opponent/making a backstab less likely, I guess. I don't know if I have iron by the way.

 

[plastiqe]

My best advice for a forum game where you want to improve your skills would be patience. Play short turnsets and slow down inbetween posting them to give people a chance to help you. In this game there was room for improvement in the early game from everything to build order to tech order to worker actions. I'm not saying what you did is inherently wrong, just that it could be better. : )

 

[strijder20]

My best advice for a forum game where you want to improve your skills would be patience. Play short turnsets and slow down inbetween posting them to give people a chance to help you. In this game there was room for improvement in the early game from everything to build order to tech order to worker actions. I'm not saying what you did is inherently wrong, just that it could be better. : )

Ok, I'll slown down a bit