FRFR - Finally Ready For Regent!

[Sirian]

So the conversation went something like this...

Charis: "I'm long overdue in writing you and thanking you for all your encouragement to me, and for the fanatastic job you've done with not only the RBCiv Epics, but in kicking up Succession Gaming a notch with the RBE series. The Epic response was stronger than I expected, but you had a winner of an idea, and did the hard work necessary to see it fruitful. I've had a *blast* with the ones I've played so far."

Charis: "I definitely do want to play some game with you. Name the terms, since I'm in an unusually fresh state of 'everything is great fun and it's all new!'" "So name the venue and the restaurant/soup, I'll be there with a bib on."

Sirian: "I'll have to get back to you after the current feast period quiets down, and I don't know how soon that might be."

A month passes.

Sirian: "You had asked me, last month, if I had any games I wanted to play with just us two. I said I had some ideas, but it wasn't a good time. Well, perhaps now is a good time."

Sirian: "There's this one difficulty level, see. I've only tried it once and there was no victory. ... It's called Regent."

Charis: "I love it, great idea! I'm not sure I've ever played Regent."

Sirian: "I know it's a daunting possibility, but I think we can pull it off. At least it's worth a try, right?"

Charis: "Feel free to generate the map and start it off whenever convenient."


WOOHOO! We're finally ready for Regent! :jump:

Civilization: India
Map Size: Large
Difficulty: Regent
Terrain: Archipelago 30%
Climate: Cold, Wet, Flat
Opponents: Eleven
Barbarians: Sedentary
Victory Conditions: Domination only, all others disabled

ROSTER:

Sirian
Charis

Hey, wish us luck! :shotgun:

 

[Charis]

I think I'm ready for this one! It'll be new ground, so be careful and don't think this is going to be a walk in the park!

India... this reminds me already of RBD1, but this time, I promise I won't irrigate desert before cows! I think we can dispense with the dotmaps for this one though, I'm sure we can figure out where to put cities here.


Charis

 

[Sirian]

I'll be careful! If I get in too deep, though, you'll have to bail me out.

OK, here's our position to start.


I settle immediately, dial up Pottery for research, set the rate to max, and start us off on our way to military domination... with a temple.

Early turns: Temple completed. Pop one goody hut, we receive 25g.

Middle turns: Pottery researched, start Writing. Granary completed, start training settlers. That wheat sure comes in handy! Pop a second goody hut, we learn Bronze Working!


Late turns: Hmm, no contacts yet. Our units have explored the western portion of our land mass. We have some dyes over there. There's a large fresh water lake just west of the capital. There's a grassy patch with some cattle in the southwest. I found a third hut in that area on the way back, and it supplied us another 25g.

Our second city is founded in a patch of ivory!

There are a couple more dyes in the tundra to the north. Also another river up there. I found our third city on a small lake near the large lake, with a cattle in range. Both our new cities are constructing temples.


Game file from 1750BC emailed to Charis (no sense clogging up the file server for now -- though we'll probably upload some eventually. I remember from RBD SG9 how I uploaded a whole series of saves to show how I pulled it out vs the Persians, and nobody at all bothered to take a look! ).


- Sirian

 

[Charis]

Looking fine so far. (It wasn't actually mentioned, but this is being played under PtW 1.14.)

Early:
- Everything seems in good shape here. I think on this difficulty we can afford
to go after a wonder or two, so with two other cities to produce settlers,
our capital goes to wonder mode. In fact, I think we should target getting two,
probably Pyramids and Great Library, or if we're feeling extra commercial, Colossus.
Middle:
- Things are quiet, so I swap from settlers to granaries, thinking longer term
- We see a ton of dye luxuries, and will surely want to get a harbor or two going
before too long to get those lux to where they need to go! (And make some cash)
- As you might guess, our initial worker is quite busy. Thankfully he won't have much (any?) jungle to clear
Late:
- Aha, we are indeed on an island. There's another island barely visible to the SE.
Our eastern scout is keeping an eye for something to pop up and say hi there.
- Our military is better off that what you left me, but still light. It should be fine for our island start with sedentary barbs though.
- Colossus due in 3. (It will mean the GA, typically a waste, but might be useful
in zooming after Pyramids next)

Good luck,
Charis

 

[Nad]

oh dear, oh dear...

talk about biting off more than you chew....

I think you 2 newbies will need some real help to get through this one. Don't hesitate to ask for help when you need it

 

[Chieftess]

This should be interesting, seeing two very good players play on regent. I played as Indian in Tourny 3-1, and had the game in hand when I saw this Chinese horsemen wandering too close to one of my cities...

 

[Sirian]

OK, I opened the save file. Charis, how are we supposed to zoom after the Pyramids when our civ doesn't know masonry yet! Should I divert to masonry? Or continue the half-complete min sci on Literature? Well, I'll think it over. ... ... OK, I thought about it. We won't be getting the Pyramids.

It's been so long since either of us built the Pyramids, we don't know wtf we're doing!

The Colossus is still a good plan, though. I'll make sure we don't squander the early golden age. With granaries already built in our first two cities and almost done in the third, the lack of Pyramids won't stand in the way of a reasonable expansion pace.


- Sirian

 

[Sirian]

IT1125BC: Nothing to change.

Early: We build the Colossus, first great wonder to be completed!



Middle: Madras completes granary, starts settlers. Founded some new cities, temples started.

Late: Founded more cities. Watched the treasury increase. Watched some grass grow. Did some fishing on the southeast coast, where Charis wanted a unit stationed to keep an eye out for any passing AI's. The only thing passing is a lot of Zzzzz's as the units try (and fail) to stay awake through their duty watch.

My round ends in 750BC, and from here out we'll be playing ten turns apiece.


Sorry for the boring report, folks, but we're alone on this landmass, nary an AI unit nor even a barbarian to harass us. We have nine cities, a couple more on the way.



That's about where I was at this point in time for GOTM14 Deity, and I managed to win that. We'll just have to wait and see how it all turns out.


Charis is up. Amazingly enough, that means I'm on deck.

Hey, for an SG, this puppy is really sailing. We've played ninety turns in the first twelve hours.


- Sirian

 

[Arizona_Steve]

When I read the title I thought this was another training game...

An interesting game in that it introduces the concepts of doing your own research and building your own wonders...

 

[Charis]

Masonry??? I thought we could build the Pyramids with Elmer's Glue!!??
(That's what you get for playing at 2am!)

These turns flew by, more settlers, temples, and a barracks. In the middle Salamanca
finished the Oracle. We settle next to a trio of dyes, so looks like, as good Indians,
we'll have decent trading opportunities between those and the multiple ivory.
When the GA ended, we loose just 5gpt, not TOO bad. I settle a few more towns and
we're now eligible for the Forbidden Palace. I wonder if given our domination goal
we should hold off and rush it on another continent. Otherwise the dye spot 5 SW of
the chokepoint is a decent spot where it can be built naturally.

Hopefully we can snag the Great Library. That's what you're supposed to get
on Regent, right?


Charis

 

[Padma]

Like Arizona Steve, I thought this was a TDG when I saw the title. But this is even better! it's great watching two of the best players I've seen tackle the challenge of Regent!

 

[Sirian]

Another quiet turn. (I thought Regent was going to be more exciting than this. What's that? Just wait until we actually run into some AI's? Oh, OK then).

Early: trained two more settlers. Discovered Masonry (aha!). Started on mapmaking.

Middle: Got some granaries going, and some harbor prebuilds. (Which are which will be up to Charis). Trained some military.

Late: Increased the work force. Whipped some temples.


Well now, that was more exciting than last round! I actually had a few things to do!

Interestingly enough, we're now tops in the world in territory, population and shield production. (Truly shocking!) We got quite the boost thanks to that early golden age!

350BC. "Sill nary a sign of intelligent life down here, Cap'n. Aye, we'll send up some tricorder scans when we find anythin' of interest."


- Sirian

 

[Unique Unit]

So do you guys find yourselves micro-managing as intensely here as you do at deity?
A thought just occured to me: turning on automated workers might make for a challenging game. Think of it as an un-modded way to implement a new form of government: federalism.

 

[Charis]

What is "micromanaging?"

Last night I saw the second effect of getting a savegame file after 1am one night. The next night you see this happen:

"Honey, it's not even 9:00! You're not going to sleep are you?"

(from bed) "No, no, of course not, I'm just... resting for a minute"

.... .... ....

"Good morning! Do you feel well rested? You got 11 hrs sleep!!"



This game is kickin' my rear! It's too grueling! (Although I better read some other threads and try to figure out what this micromanaging thing is all about)

Charis

(PS I'll get the game tonight. Glad you increased the workforce, a few more settlers, and started mapmaking. Things should really heat up when we meet some other civs! CharisGandhi was starting to wonder if there was a cuban cigar under his pillow?!?)

 

[Sirian]

If there is one thing we simply WILL NOT ALLOW in this SG, it's automated workers!


- Sirian

 

[Charis]

If there is one thing we simply WILL NOT ALLOW in this SG, it's automated workers!

Ya just gotta draw the line SOMEWHERE!

By some miracle, everything looks to be in order. Early on, a settler is sent
down SW to a spot with two cows and a fish, and another sent NE toward coast with whale.
In the middle we get Map Making done, and I start Wheel, to see where the horses
are. It turns out later that we have three, so I hook one up at Jaipur.
Two of the temples are whipped, others grow quietly. No galleys out yet but one
due in Bangalore soon. In fact, a settler will be there as it completes.
New research just started now, so pick (Iron Working or Mysticim come to mind)
The Jungle tiles we've been working on will finish clearing this round too.

Delhi is the 'top' city, btw. We're dead last in military service, good thing we have some spears coming soon.

Charis

 

[Sirian]

Inherited turn 150BC: decrease food, increase shields at the capital.


Early: Zzzzzzz...


Middle: Following the Charis Plan, settler boards our first ship. I also send a warrior. Yep, those are islands off the east coast. They are food-rich islands: a pack of game spread across them, and a few fish in range. I select a site to settle. Also spot a border for the first time, east of the islands. CONTACT! It's Russia. They also know Germany.

Um... on the same turn I made contact, in 50BC, France completes the Pyramids. Now get this: Moscow cascades to the Hanging Gardens!

The good news: Russia does not even know alphabet yet. With them knowing only one other civ, I decide not to buy contact and wait and see if I can find Germany on my own. They must be sharing a continent.

Back home, we've got some inland cities cranking spears for defense and MP. I trained a few regular wars at towns that had built their temples already, and were threatening to exceed their happiness levels. Most coastal towns are either on granary, settler, or harbor.


Late: Yep, found Germany. OH... MY... GOODNESS... Just *LOOK* at Germany!

When Charis asked me not to go with "too cold of a start", I think this is the kind of nightmare he was asking me to avoid!

After making contact with Germany, I bought embassies. Germany had alphabet, so I traded that and our territory map and some change to Russia for their world map. Then I traded our territory map and change to Germany for Mysticism @3rd.

Founded three cities in the west to close out my round. Charis is set up to grab another good spot in the Game Isles.


The cascade has not taken out the Lighthouse. Perhaps the cascade has ended for everyone but Russia and their early Monarchy tech. (I wonder if they popped Mysticism or Poly out of huts? Or did they just beeline?) I think this bodes well for our chances at the Great Library.

I finished researching iron working, then turned research off for a round. We have two iron, so that's good. Both are out in the boonies, but on a flat map like this, just having any is as good as we could hope for. Charis can decide what, if anything, to research next to start his turn.

Not really any whipping opportunities on my round. I've set up a bunch for Charis, though. Finally we are out of the snore fest! YAY! There are things to be doing!

I feel like we are doing OK so far, all things considered.

We've survived into the AD years. That's not much accomplishment considered no enemies of any kind pestered us, but at some point things are going to get harder. (Right? Right!) I am posting some screens below. One is largish, so I don't want it to widen my report and make some have to scroll left and right. The save file was emailed to Charis.


- Sirian

 

[Sirian]

OK, here we are exploring the Game Isles when the first border was spotted.



Between turns, Joanie built the Pyramids. Next turn I made contact with Catherine.


Now here you see Germany in all its splendor:



That is called an Epic Fourteen Dud Start (TM).

The worst part is the complete idiocy of Novgorod city placement!


Now here's a shot of the revealed portion of the map at the end of my round.




- Sirian

 

[Sullla]

Novgorod: very carefully placed to avoid getting a single one of those fish and whale tiles! But the truly amusing part is that you KNOW it was placed in that awful spot to grab an aluminum or oil resource that won't appear for thousands more years. You've gotta love Cathy sometimes.

 

[LKendter]

I just want to know one thing -
What is the goal of this game, since you downgraded to regent?