First Game on Monarch!

[LeHam]

Thanks to civfanatics, I can now call myself a Noble player! [Commence fanfare and dancing ]

Now, in order to really test my skills, I have decided to move up straight to Monarch!

I will be playing with these settings (with twelve AI):

Spoiler :

I am playing the Legends of Revolution Mod, since i am most used to it. If anyone isn't familiar with it, you can check it out in the Modding Projects forum or follow the URL here: (http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=359). If you want I can play the RevDCM mod which doesn't change as much of the gameplay.

I decided on Washington of America since I figured his traits would be favorable. Enlightened gives a +10% science bonus and Charismatic extra happiness, both of which will be important for keeping up in tech and building up my cities. Remember, Washington's starting techs are Fishing and Agriculture

I doubt I will win, so my goal here is at least to do several things:

1. Survive
2. Keep up in tech (at least same era as most AIs)
3. Expand to at least five or six good cities by somewhere in Medieval Age
4. Lose no cities to enemies (if I cap them back it still counts as not having 'lost' it)
5. Have at least one of my cities in the top 5 by 1000 AD
6. Conquer/vassalize at least one rival before the Industrial Age
7. Found a prosperous city in the New World
8. Reach Liberalism by 1250 AD [I don't know what a good date is if anyone can suggest one]
9. Reach Future Tech by 2000 AD.

Here is the start:

Spoiler :

Personally I would settle either in place or move 1 North (though I would hate to lose that hill). My Warrior has a move so I can see more of my surroundings if you guys want another screenshot.

Either way, this looks like a great start for me. The Calendar resource won't be usable for a while, but since I already have Fishing and Agriculture I can start improving those corn and clam tiles right away! My city build order could be Work Boat-->Worker-->Warrior? I think I'll probably want to beeline Bronze Working in the meantime so I can chop those forests and mine those hills, not to mention all the whipping I can do (which is how I survived a recent Multiplayer game). Plus, having a freshwater lake and Cows up North gives me a great idea for a second city.

Give me your thoughts,

זייַ געזונט! Goodbye for now!

--Gary

 

[The Oz-Man]

Out of curiosity, what does Enlightened do?

SIP is pretty good. 1N is probably a little bit better, but I hate losing a green hill like that. I wouldn't fret too much about it, though.

 

[Archon_Wing]

I wouldn't want to lose the green hill either though I don't see the advantage of 1N besides reducing the water tiles. SIP also lets you place a city 3n1w which can borrow the corn and give out a decent amount of production.

If we find that speck of land 2s2w is an island, this can be a GLH map.

 

[The Oz-Man]

1N also gets that worthless plains island out of the BFC. It trades that and two water tiles for a lighthouse-able lake and two green tiles. The green hill will be lost, but he'll get another green tile out of it at least.

 

[LeHam]

I'm currently studying for finals, but when I have time, I'll post a screen after moving the warrior 1NE. I'll also post what the trait Enlightened means, although from memory I can tell you it reduces the revolution penalty from non-state religion in a city and also increases research by 10%.

 

[Killroyan]

Good luck. Brave jump upwards from noble to monarch. At least the start is very good.

 

[The Oz-Man]

Noble to Monarch isn't too bad a jump. I largely skipped Prince anyway. The biggest difference between Noble and Monarch--and indeed the biggest headache--is that barb archers appear super-early compared to earlier difficulties. It's totally winnable, but securing a resource to protect yourself is a much higher priority.

 

[gorf37]

I used to think one tile islands were useless, but having read OneLeggedRhino's writeups, I now know that they can be huge economic additions, even as good as a shrine in the right circumstances. The key is the higher-value internal trade route you get from overseas trade.

I wouldn't prioritize it right away, but especially if this map lends itself to getting the great lighthouse, you should put a city on that one tile island. Don't worry about the proximity to your capital, cities on other landmasses ignore the 3-tile city separation rule. As your cap has a fairly good amount of food, it should be able to spare one or both of the clam to the island city while it whips a lighthouse, granary, forge, library, courthouse. Overflow from those whips can go into the Moai Statues (or it could, if you want to build the moai there).

 

[strijder20]

Good luck with Monarch, you'll ne-
Oh wait, you're playing LoR
If you played your noble games on another mod/the default game, you'll almost not notice any difference. After all, all your enemies tend to implode Still it would be really great if you could beat Monarch coming from Noble.
Why those goals? If you consider this a game for fun, ok, but some of them really don't fit for learning (like colony foundation or getting Future Tech - Space Ships don't require Future tech after all ).
Good luck!

 

[LeHam]

Wait so are you saying playing Monarch on LoR is harder than on the normal BtS?

I think I made it harder on myself by enabling raging barbs and Aggressive AI. The way the map looks, though, I suspect I am on what would be the Spanish Peninsula.

 

[LeHam]

I have a Calculus final today, I'll post after I'm done with it.

 

[strijder20]

No, I'm claiming that Monarch on LoR is easier than BtS. I have no trouble at all with winning on Emperor as any civ on LoR, and can recall an easy Immortal game as the English, while I have quite a lot of trouble with Monarch on default BtS.

 

[LeHam]

Hmm? Why would LoR Monarch be EASIER than normal BtS? Doesn't it use the Better BtS AI or something? Is it because the AI doesn't know the rules as well?

I just play RevDCM or LoR because after the Revolution and Barbarian Civ mechanics regular BtS seems so boring by comparison.

 

[LeHam]

Two finals down, one to go! To celebrate, an update!

I decided to settle in place, with twelve AIs on an Earth2 map I figured it might be a bit crowded and it's best to give me as much room for other cities as possible.

I proceeded to beeline Bronze Working. I already have the necessary techs to harvest the food resources, so why not try to find copper ASAP? San Francisco's first build is a Workboat:

Spoiler :

Pretty soon I meet Degaulle just north of me:

Spoiler :

Me: Oh look, a goody hut! yay!

CivIV: LOL, screw you, Gary! Hope you like barbarians ahahahahahah!

Spoiler :

Of course my starting Warrior was killed.

Soon Pacal's Archers found me. Good thing this isn't Multiplayer or he'd probably murder me in an instant without a defender in San Francisco:

Spoiler :

He's Pleased with De Gaulle, so with Aggressive AI on, I might unfortunately become the butt monkey for these two guys.

The Current World at 3150 BCE:

Spoiler :

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?

After the Work Boat, San Francisco begins building a Worker, and then a Warrior, while the city defender goes off to explore.

Spoiler :

He goes off exploring a little and OH SON OF A-not again!

Spoiler :

So of course I have to build a new one. After that, I decide to build a Settler. I also meet that Bear again and KICK HIS ASS.

[

Spoiler :

img]http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=316689&stc=1&d=1332389441[/img]

Spoiler :

I finally meet Hammurabi, who doesn't like pacal much, so they might keep each other busy for a while.

I've reached the screenshot limit for now, so I'll just have to make a new post.

 

[LeHam]

While my Warrior heals, my Settler is finished and I may now decide where to use him!

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

As you can see, I've identified several spots I could use. getting that Wine and Fish would be good, but I don't want to move my city too close to my capital. On the other hand, I also am afraid of De Gaulle's culture overwhelming my new city. The spot near the plains Cows and grassland Rice looks . . . okay, but not the best. Moving one tile inland above the lake would nab the Cows, but is it worth losing a coastal city?

As you can also see, I believe the Island to the west may be the Spanish "Peninsula." If my own land gets too crowded, I could settle there and not have to worry too much about AI or Barbarians. Iron working is also almost done with nine turns left so maybe we should hold off on building the city yet, considering we don't see any copper?

I just remembered I forgot to take a shot of the City screen for San Francisco, so I might be back to do that later.

--Gary Ham

 

[Archon_Wing]

1st city you need to settle is to the north to stop purple, 4n 1w of capital is fine, but 3n1w won't kill you if he somehow stops you.
Then 3e 1N of capital ; shares clam, and can get cow/rice via whipped monument.

Also, why are you getting IW so fast? Are you trying to kill him? Not a bad idea if he's so close. You can usually trade for stuff like that.

 

[LeHam]

Yeah, it's just that De Gaulle hasn't gotten his third border pop yet, and when he does his culture might overtake my new city. I'll want to research Mysticism so I can build a monument.

Hmm, maybe teching Iron Working wasn't the greatest idea, but if I can take out De Gaulle that would open up a lot of breathing room for me. Actually, that sounds like a great idea to take him out! If I find Iron I'll definitely try to do that.

I think I started teching Iron Working immediately because I've been playing multiplayer a lot and I'm still kind of in that mindset that if I don't find Copper I need to find Iron so I won't get crushed. I forgot that the AI isn't as warlike as humans but on Monarch with Aggressive AI I don't think I can be too careful . . .

 

[Archon_Wing]

You can always place that city a little back.

In general you want at least one food resource for a new city without a border pop if not creative as spending 10 turns (+at least 1 turn to get a monument) will result in a burden city for a while. It's also easier to whip stuff. A city can also borrow food from a neighbor for a little to grow as well.

Degaulle in our faces is troublesome. If you don't scout any good things to the east and also find out he has no copper, then you may consider doing him in with swords but it'd really suck if he gets his hands on copper. Did you get the wheel yet?

 

[LeHam]

No, I did not. I just beelined BW and then IW, which I'm still not done yet. Having to rebuild or whip TWO new Warriors on top of everything else has been a drain on my economy. I didn't realize it could be so hard to deal with barbs.

 

[Archon_Wing]

Ouch, don't whip warriors; they're too cheap for that.

And as for barbs, yes since you jumped up 2 difficulties-- it can be brutal compared to what you're used to. My only advice to you is to only leave one guy in your city. Usually I end up needed one more guy because I mess up and the barbs get in. The rest of them should be on the hills near your cities to sight for barbs and to reduce spawns. Forested hill warriors will take on any barbs til those damned axes. :S If you want to plan about it for a little; mark good locations for spawnbusting warriors as well.

But right now, you really want to scout if he has any copper or one that can be pillaged. If we're doing an early swords rush, axes are going to wreck us. Actually let's just see if we have iron first.