Fall from heaven SG - High to Low

[Fleme]

Oh snap. I'll go for 20 turns.

Edit: We're building a settler that takes 44 turns with the current setup - warriors would be coming out in 10 turns so in this segment I could get out 2 warriors making our total 5 by the end of my set. I'll play 2 alternative sets, one with 2 more warriors and one with 20 turns into the settler as I'm uncertain of what we've decided.

 

[Brian Shanahan]

I think we've fairly well decided on war.

 

[Fleme]

Well that's good because I warred.

I extended my set but have the 20 turn save too - the rest that I played were uneventful and just wearing Mahala down. Urslo was eventually taken at no losses on turn 82 by the super warrior alone.

I kind of went in the set with autopilot on but this got my attention in a big way:



Oh yes. Oh yes. OH YES! Boy started healing and the plan started coming together.

Soon after this came in though:



Which obviously wasn't too encouraging in the scope of things.

Garduk kept building the settler a few turns at the beginning of the set because I suck but turned to warrior pumping soon after (2 or 3 turns lost, later turned out irrelevant). When I had 6 I moved on Urslo but it turned out that the regular suckers were no match for the Beastmen as far odds were concerned so superman was given the grim task. He got march from his first fight and consistently had odds on the beastmen. At the end of the grinding down he is level 8, has Combat V Drill I and March on top of the old mutated promos. And no, he's not diseased anymore. This guy is scary good for this point of the game and can easily take down other AI's if we so choose.



Finished myst, swapped to GK, started on Agriculture. Garduk is building a settler and we have 6 warriors + superman + scout.

Posted are saves for T60 and the turn of Urslos fall. (82), you can decide on either one. The advantage of the latter obviously is the fact that you won't have to do all the clickery, because that's all that was going on during those turns besides superman grinding down Urslo.

 

[Jusos2108]

Nice! It seems that we are gaining ground.

We should continue on the latter save, since the beginning turns are uneventfull anyways.

 

[Brian Shanahan]

Looks good (the turn 82 save) though we could do with the elder council in Garduk. First build in Urslo needs to be the monument just for the corn, so we can get settlers and workers out pronto.

 

[Fleme]

Yeah I do admit that there is a distinct lack of micromanagement or indepth vision in my set as it was just warrior* and then finding out that superman can do the deed on his own. In that sense the set could've been played better but it's still a very good outcome. Mysticism was finished 2 turns ago I think and there aren't really lost turns as far as an Elder Council is concerned. Do we want one though? We'll be leaving the tundra soon.

The end result did get me thinking though. Is it best to switch soon or would it be better to find out all the AI's on the continent first to see who we're swapping to? Superman can take out a capital without breaking a sweat now and atleast Rhoanna is withing acceptable walking distance so it's realistic to think that we could be switching by T120 at the latest if we so choose.

It's my first game of High and Low so I'm not at all versed with the variant but to me it seems like it'd be best to know all the AI's on the map to see whether or not we have some control over where we wind up and in that sense have a say on the matter. For example, finding some total pushover who has settled in the jungle or between mountains would enable us to make plans to kill said weakling in order to avoid swapping there - same logic as with Mahala although these AI's will definitely be further away. Dunno really, and this is pretty much just me thinking out loud and doesn't necessarily need to bear any weight.

All I know for sure is that if this wasn't High and Low, we would've already won the game with that warrior.

Who's up? Post roster if you don't mind.

 

[Jusos2108]

Beeri Bawl seems like a possible choice to switch into at the moment, maybe we should take him out now..? Although, now that I think of it switching to Beeri wouldn't be that bad, just get a couple of cities running then cast the Wordspell and then hammer the opponents around you.

It is Ozbenno's, Bill Bisco's or Ichabod's turn. Basicly whoever out them can play.

 

[Brian Shanahan]

Roster:

1. Ozbenno
2. Jusos2108
3. Brian Shanahan
4. Fleme>>done
5. Ichabod >>UP
6. Bill Bisco >>On deck

If Ichabod or Bill are both not free then it goes back to Ozbenno.

 

[Ozbenno]

If we have a super warrior, maybe best to just hammer on whoever else is in the neighbourhood. Remember we're not concerned if we leave Auric with maintenance issues in his cities...

 

[Ichabod]

Guys,

I'll be away from home for quite some time and my notebook can't run CIV IV. So you should put me on auto-skip until further notice.

But I can still give some opinions

Fleme, I shall obey the kitty from now on. That event was a real bless. Now, we don't even need to worry about taking Mahala after the first switch. Very nice play

About trying to switch fast or looking for weak civs to get rid of: I normally look for the weaker civs while preparing for the last switch. The first switch I try to do as fast as possible. The reasoning is because this way we take a civ with less AI . In the other hand, when it's time for the second switch, some AIs are in a hopeless situation and need to be eliminated.

So, I'd try to switch as fast as possible. But then again, if we switch into the Khazad with an all hills capital, things can get ugly.

 

[Fleme]

Yeah, all hills, jungle... desert, those would really throw a cog in our gear as far as rapid progression goes and with that in mind I'm really advocating heavy scouting before going for the swap. We're at a very open position now in the sense that we can swap if we want but we can just shoot ourselves in the leg by doing so if we do not have a grasp of the big picture.

The general idea however seems to be that we should be switching soon and if that is indeed the decision we agree on, I'm fine with it. I'm just voicing my concern.

 

[Ichabod]

The problem with exploring is that it'll take quite some time (it's very difficult to explore Erebus maps without hawks), we'll need to tech hunting, build the hunter building and hunters and hawks.

I agree that if we switch without this knowledge, we could end up in a very bad situation. But the situation will be worst if we take the turns explore (and there's the possibility that the bad starting spot civ is in a spot that we need water transportation to get, which will take a long,long time) + we can't be sure we'll be able to do something about it.

 

[Brian Shanahan]

Bill wants to get a PM for his turns, could someone take care of it for me please? My internet at parents' home is slow (246kbps) and annoying. Also we could remind him to pay closer attention to the thread, for discussion especially.

 

[Bill Bisco]

Hey, I see the thread. I'll try to play 20 turns and have a new save up within 24 hours!

 

[Bill Bisco]

Played the save from Turn 82. Immediately switched to Building Elder Council in the Capital and Monument in the conquered City. There is no need to build Settlers when a super-unit is able to conquer nearby cities. Science and Tech is much more important.

Chose to take 2 slaves due to an event:




Immediately proceeded to attack the Hippus Civilization to the South, and conquered it quicker by switching a Great Commander amongst units:





Conquering the Hippus and capturing a new city placed us at the top score, and now we get to play as the Sidar:





I technically have 2 turns left, but I would rather let the group decide what to do for the beginning of a new civ. Ancient Chants and Agriculture have been Researched. I suggest Finishing Fishing then go Mysticism-> Overlords to stock up on Drown and Help Promote our super warrior unit that I hope to get.

Beeri is nearby. I expect him to be weak comparitively and we should start mass producing warriors to steamroll him and gain civ score.

Save is attached below:

 

[Fleme]

Looks to me like a well-played set. Good job. Also, seems like my fears of ending up in a desolate place were unfounded as that capital is superior to the one we had before except for production - and I'm not hating the surrounding land either.

As far as techs go, I'd opt Fishing->AH->Myst->Whatever, have that settler finish, claim the Sheep spot and then proceed on with plotting against Beeri.

Edit: Alternatively the settler could go north and share the Pigs from the capital as it won't be needing them. Good hilly location for production purposes would be nice even though only one of those hills is minable from the getgo and even that requires a monument. Hmph, just thinking out loud but it's a possibility as the cap really doesn't need more food. Doesn't erally matter whether it's 3N 1E of the cap or 3S 2W since both are productive locations. The latter has the benefit of actually being workable sooner but then again we can't mine yet can we? I'm rambling so I better stop.

Either way, a very solid set and I'm glad we ended up where we did altough I'll miss the Illian superwarrior. Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[Jusos2108]

Maybe going north is wiser, since we won't have any competition in colonising our little peninsula. Is there any food around, if we settle 4N and 2W (Land is needed for getting first again)? I don't have civ here, so I can't check it myself. Of course we can farm those grasslands and adopt the farms +1food -1pro civic, since there aren't any plains around anyways. Other cities could be 1N of the sheep and 5E from Celo. Too bad there isn't more seafood around, or is there?

 

[Bill Bisco]

It might be indeed a good idea to see if there is another fish, clam, or crab nearby. They are an excellent source of commerce and food of which we both need. I am thinking that Saverous could be a good Hero to get to eventually begin the process of Conquering other Civs. Our 2nd city must have a good source of food which may require that we get Animal Husbandry and settle nearby the sheep to the south.

The Sidar is not a bad start, just may require a little build-up to really get strong

 

[Bill Bisco]

Roster:

1. Ozbenno>>UP
2. Jusos2108>>ON DECK
3. Brian Shanahan
4. Fleme
5. Ichabod
6. Bill Bisco>>done

 

[Brian Shanahan]

Bill sorry don't mind me, I was a bit blunt last post due to dial-up level of internet making my posting very rushed. Good turnset by the way. It seems that the Sirdar have just been hurt badly by that barb placement and the dire AI. The position looks doable in a reasonable timeframe.

Now Sirdar are a power I've never played or gone up against in FFH, so if anyone could give a basic rundown I'd be happy. I've no manual either.