From the Earth to the Moon (Challenge)

[bioelectricclam]

Oh, and since there's an invasion coming, making an invasion plan seems in order. So here's my proposed invasion route:

1. The Yellow line represents a force of fast units like Chariots and Horse Archers; their goal is to hunt down that Settler and his Chariot escort (the yellow circle), or else demolish the city that the settler builds.

2. The Red line is my main force; it will be heavy on the siege but also have a good amount of macemen and a few pikes, in case we get some elephants/horses. The circled cities I plan on keeping, and I'll tear down the X ones.

3. Finally, the Green line will be a smaller force; their goal is to capture that coastal city which we know is there but our outdated maps do not show. Afterwards I'll decide what to do with them; depending on how the Red line is doing I might send them in to reinforce, or else have them hit Gondar.

I'll have to pull this off pretty fast; it can't be too much longer until the Ethiopians get longbows, which will make this a bit harder. Hopefully I can turn out a decent force quickly using upgrades and my super production centers.

Anyways, feel free to comment. I'll likely play the next round latter this week.

 

[fugazi]

It's a little late for this advice now but with stone, I'd have surely built the Great Wall if possible and then grabbed Code of Laws with the Oracle and city-spam as much as I could. Zara is an insane land-grabber and you need to block him from expanding even more. Besides, a lot of cities means a lot of production which means a lot of units which means you'll have an easier time overwhelming Zara with whatever you could throw at him at that time in the game.

As for personal experience with Elizabeth, I always got fast starts techwise but after that it just slows down. I'm not sure whether it's just me who sucks with her .. but you really gotta grab some more land and claim this continent for the Brits and the Brits alone! You got two options right now and that's to either rush out quite a few settlers and claim all the land that's still free out there on your continent and the other is to ready an army and finish Zara or at least take Addis Adeba, Lalibela and Adulus. That would put him out of business for a while and giving you the necessary breather to fill up the rest of the land with cities.

*rambles on*

 

[Commodore Nate]

It's a little late for this advice now but with stone, I'd have surely built the Great Wall if possible and then grabbed Code of Laws with the Oracle and city-spam as much as I could. Zara is an insane land-grabber and you need to block him from expanding even more. Besides, a lot of cities means a lot of production which means a lot of units which means you'll have an easier time overwhelming Zara with whatever you could throw at him at that time in the game.

As for personal experience with Elizabeth, I always got fast starts techwise but after that it just slows down. I'm not sure whether it's just me who sucks with her .. but you really gotta grab some more land and claim this continent for the Brits and the Brits alone! You got two options right now and that's to either rush out quite a few settlers and claim all the land that's still free out there on your continent and the other is to ready an army and finish Zara or at least take Addis Adeba, Lalibela and Adulus. That would put him out of business for a while and giving you the necessary breather to fill up the rest of the land with cities.

*rambles on*

lol I think he's going to war on Zara exactly for that purpose! Which I would agree with. Albion must expand to the horizon, and when it reaches the end of it, up into space.
Plus I'd bet a bowl of ramen that the Great Wall has been built already. Someone usually finishes it before anything else (it's fairly cheap, and someone usually starts with stone).

My only quip with your invasion plan is with the keeping of Addis Ababa or w/e, but it's largely because the place likely won't grow past its current population (or much larger, at least). But upon more thought, I see your reasoning.


On a side note as to settling the rest of Albion: my city recommendations (from the battle plan map) are 2 west of the yellow circle to grab those cows and whales and 1 SW of the silver (on the forest) for fish, silver, and copper.

 

[fugazi]

Yeah I typed that as he was posting his invasion plan sorry. As for Addis, with civil service he can irrigate those grass and plain tiles.

 

[bioelectricclam]

Yeah I typed that as he was posting his invasion plan sorry. As for Addis, with civil service he can irrigate those grass and plain tiles.

Not to mention it gives me some Silver for happy faces/wheeling and dealing w/ Danelaw.

 

[OTAKUjbski]

Sounds cool. Theoretically, The Space Elevator leads to the moon aswell ...

-- only indirectly. The Space Elevator leads to space ... where you go from there is mission-dependent.

I usually wouldn't point out something so small, but the Space Elevator is the greatest building project ever conceptualized (at least IMHO), so I can't help but to.

Not to mention it gives me some Silver for happy faces/wheeling and dealing w/ Danelaw.

Aksum has 1 silver in its BFC, and Lalibela is only 3 border pops away from grabbing the 2nd one south of Addis Ababa.

Raze Addis Ababa and wait for the border pop, unless you're certain those Horses and Silver are going to be worth the ~10 per turn it's likely to cost you across the empire.

If you're that desperate for another source of Silver, found the Fish/Silver/Copper city west of Addis Ababa. That city would grow much larger much faster and bring in significantly better through international trade routes and by working its Financial Coastline.

Your research rate (203 beakers/turn) is quite low for this stage of the game considering you're playing a financial leader and you have cottages ...

QFT.

Looking back, I think you went wrong here:

Although the Hereditary Rule suggestion was a good one, I decided to go with Representation in the end because it meshes so well with Caste System. Already I've got a Scientist working in London, with plans to found my GP Factory in the very near future.

First, you're a Financial leader running a -heavy "Cottage Economy" with little GP settling, so I'm not sure how the + boost from the few specialists you're running was worth passing up 15 extra Village-Towns you could be working right now from all the + of HR.

Second, Financial leaders should [arguably] make their capital a super- center by working as many Cottages as possible under Bureaucracy. That means growing the city as large as possible as quickly as possible with minimal production demands along the way.

So, I don't fully understand why you've built so many wonders in London and made it your GP Farm. York and Nottingham both have great food and production potential, so there's no reason why either shouldn't be your Wonder-spamming GP Farm right now.

-------- IMO --------

Finish the war with Zara quickly (I don't even think his land is worth taking in the first place, but w/e).

Keep Aksum, but don't chop the remaining forests -- save them for Forest Preserves and the National Park.

Settler-spam your entire continent -- paying special attention to grabbing the Fish and Crabs in the West.

Stop working production tiles in London and start working only & tiles (except when building a University and Oxford).

Relegate London to building only Archers in preparation for a switch to HR ... the goal is obviously 3 per city.

Mine-spam Coventry and put it to work training your army for the rest of the game ... settle your first GG there.

York has good Production-Commerce hybrid potential, so I'd use York for cheaper defense & siege production in wartime and "dirty" (Artist ) Wonder-spamming in peacetime.

NOTE: I'm not certain, but York, Coventry and London are the only cities that look like potential candidates for the Space Elevator. If you get another Great Engineer, you might want to save him for just that -- especially if Canterbury turns out to be the only city in "the zone".​

Build your "clean" Wonders in Nottingham, which should be your primary GP Farm.

Use your tech lead to grab the Free Great Merchant from Economics. Use him to found Sid's Sushi.

Stay friendly. Albion has all you need to get into space. All you lack now are friends to help you backfill as you beeline towards your goals.

(i think that's it)


-- my 2

 

[vicawoo]

Should have built great wall, which would have been easier with a faster first worker. And be less reluctant to chop earlier for wonders.

 

[bioelectricclam]

Just wanted to say thank you for all the advice . Part of playing these challenges is to learn what it is that I do well, and what it is that I screw up. In retrospect, there are definately a few areas that could have been better:

1. The mid-game Wonder spam in London was silly...I'll admit part of it was I got distracted by all the shinnies.

2. Running Caste System and Representation in the game ultimately proved pointless; I never was running enough specialist to justify it. HR would've been a better civic, and maybe possibly Slavery (but my problem is I tend to whip too often...and I was worried about not growing large populations in my cities).

3. I should have tried harder to make some friends; for instance, had I of gotten the Great Wall I might have been able to spread out before Yaqob became a nuisance and thus could have made Yaqob my buddy.

4. Should have spread myself out sooner and farther - since I have raging Barbs on Great Wall should have been my first priority.

Anyways, all that being said, it was a great challenge. I'm working on the final round now, so just be patient and you will see if I fail or succeed .

 

[dankok8]

1. well you didn't wipe Zara out .. gotta do somethin'
2. even if you run a single specialist, caste system is better than slavery unless you whip an early army for a rush cuz those slave revolts occur pretty often and can be quite devastating from my experience (but they are good since slavery is no longer overpowered)
3. you should have made Brennus into a friend but not Zara; your continent is small and he needs to be wiped out for you to secure the win
4. yep.. the great wall would have been great

 

[OTAKUjbski]

Anyways, all that being said, it was a great challenge. I'm working on the final round now, so just be patient and you will see if I fail or succeed .

I think you'll pull it off. You have a strong base and plenty of turns in the future.

 

[bioelectricclam]

We begin this round with an important advance:

Time to get working on universities. After discovering Education I went straight for Gunpowder so that I could lightbulb Chemistry with Liberalism; it seems we will need it sooner rather than latter:

Ragnar seems to be doing quite well with his war; I probably should have joined him instead of sitting on the fence, but hindsight is twenty-twenty.

A few turns latter, Ragnar asks me to cancel my dealings with the Dutch. This time, I believe I accept - his score just shot way up, and it is only a matter of time until he comes after me. I might as well delay the inevitable at the Dutch's expense, and the Dutch don't have anything useful left for trade as is.

Another Great Scientist pops, and I use him to bulb Printing Press.

And sorry I had forgotten about it, but Nottingham had been busy with a certain wonder:

I had decided to go for this one way back in the day...before I even realized how close I really was to rifling. Oh well, at least it will help me during the coming Ethiopia campaign, even if only for a little while. And it turns out it is going to be a very little while:

I'll save that Engineer either for hurrying Oxford or possibly bulbing a tech...maybe even a Golden Age is in order.

As for founding new cities, I decide that getting some fish isn't such a bad idea:

Yes it is close to Canterbury, but those hill tiles will make Warwich a decent production center and I could use that fish to fight off unhealthiness in my larger cities.

Finally, war is taken to the next step:

I believe I am the first to discover Gunpowder (at least nearby), so it is just about time to put my newfound technology to use. To that end, I decide to take down that lone Celtic city:

My plan had been to capture it for the gold, then immediately make nice with the Celts...it turns out that this brilliant "strategy" of mine was anything but, and I will soon rue the day that I crossed swords with Celtia!

Why did I make this stupid decision? I wish I had a good explanation, but to be honest I think I fell into the trap of "superior technology = invincibility"...sort of figured that the Celts and their friends, the Vikings, would just be pushovers since they were still "hopelessly backward". In a way it is similar to what happened in the real world when Europe got to setting up colonies...but now I'm getting off topic, haha.

Anyways, my crazy warmongering aside, tech wise we continue to triumph:

I also make the switch to Free Religion...saving me a bit of hate with the peoples of Danelaw. Ethiopia still despises me though, but let them squawk!

And then we get yet another Great Engineer...seeing as how he'd be bulbing pointless technologies and there is nothing worth building, I let him nap too.

By the way, we are now rich, rich I tell you!

Have to love the financial trait.

About this time, the Dutch came to me asking me to cancel my Viking dealings...I refused that request but did settle for some tech trading:

At this point I don't think it will be possible to placate Ragnar, so I start thinking about walling up the coastal cities. In fact, we don't seem to have any friends at all, outside of the mostly demolished Dutch...defense is going to be pretty important at this rate.

I'm still not all that ready for a full-scale invasion of Ethiopia (not enough siege), so I give in to a meager demand/trade:

Have to <3 how the AI gets this exaggerated sense of their own self-importance. Soon Yaqob, I will crush you. Very soon.

And then Brennus strikes back!:

Now I get to deal with those pesky resolutions like "give back the Celtic city to its rightful owner" and "make peace amongst our brethren". Oh, the joys of being on the wrong end of the AP.

Well, with all that in mind I decided to make my peace with Brennus before he pulls Ragnar into the war. Fortunately, my tech lead is getting bigger:

Now my roads look too much like railroads. And getting some Iron is a top priority (yeah, I still haven't leveled that cottage), but fortunately, there happens to be a lovely source of iron within Adulis city limits.

(Next Page)

 

[bioelectricclam]

I finish up this first half of the final round with a few tech trades; this time I'm mostly backfilling so that I can get Banking sooner rather than latter:

My tech path after that went Scientific Method -> Guilds -> Banking.

The semi-round ends with a Prophet being born...I let him snooze so that he can found the Christian shrine once we capture the city. Feel free to post comments (even though I know most will be "you moron why'd you attack the Celts??!!!!<angry faces<111??!), I've already finished the final round but need to stop for lunch/picture sorting out. And yeah, as we will soon see that small city is going to cost me.

 

[bioelectricclam]

At long last, the final round!

We begin with a nice boost to our coffers:

Time to get cranking on our unique building!

While the home front is looking good, it seems that there is a new power rising in Danelaw - a power that will give Albion a run for its money!:

Don't I recall Ragnar mentioning something about rich, poorly defended coastal cities? Better keep an eye on Canterbury...

Since Brennus had the audacity to build the Apostolic Palace, I've been busy spreading Taoism amongst my cities...just as he has been busy coming up with (surprisingly beneficial) resolutions:

That won't last long, I'm afraid.

Moving right along, I discover Replaceable Parts - my eyes are set on Rifling. I also have been building Colosseums, and am getting fairly close to winning the quest, though I won't have enough cities until I start taking them from Yaqob. And speaking of quests:

What is it with military-oriented quests? They always start long after the particular unit would be useful...sheesh. Oh well, considering I am nearly done with my Rifling research, that quest looks hopeless.

With my next Great Person, a Great Scientist, I decided to bulb the rest of Scientific Method - there are still enough forests around Nottingham and ...was it Hannover???...to make Forest Preserves useful, and war is coming. That's right, at long last I feel confident enough to take on the Ethiopian war machine. But it is proving to be a bit more challenging than I had hoped; not only is our tech lead not very high (Musketmen vs. Longbows...remember I have to take down Abdis before I have Iron and thus cannons), but most of his cities seem to be on hillsides - my siege engines were decimated. So after taking Lalibela, I called for peace. The final push will wait until I get some Redcoats and Cannons on the front.

Anyways, here are the highlights from that campaign:

All in all that went okay; we learned a new tech, got some gold, gained access to iron, and now have a third shrine city with a Prophet just ready to shrine up. But not everything is the bee's knees in Albion:

Of course, I have to give in to all of those demands...not only is my navy lacking, leaving me wide open to Viking pillaging, but some of my most productive cities have Taoism and I just can't afford those extra frownie faces. Looks like Brennus got his revenge, and I learned a valuable lesson: if it isn't a shrine or a wonder city, burn it down so you don't have to deal with culture problems like these. Am I right or am I right? Haha.

(next page)

 

[bioelectricclam]

With ten turns of peace before me, I decide to tie up a few loose strings:

With a new shrine under my belt and Newcastle pumping out the iron, it is time to upgrade my armies:

*Glee* time to let loose the dogs of war! And they are wearing frilly red coats!

You may have noticed that tech wise I went Optics->Astronomy. But weren't we at war?:

I decide to cut out the heart of the beast first, then deal with its giblets, so my first target is Aksum itself. Deep inside Ethiopian territory, the fools left it lightly defended, never expecting that the English forces would dare to press so far into their turf. With Aksum in British hands, the Ethiopian forces are divided between their frozen Eastern seaports and their Western fisheries, a doomed people waiting for the death knell that is the stomp stomp stomp of the Redcoats marching in unison.

There would be no rohirrim for Gondar:

And soon Debre Berhan and Addis Ababa follow in Gondar's wake:

With the fall of Ababa, the spine of Ethiopia is broken - I can pick off its remnants at my leisure. Now penitent, Yaqob offers the last of his meager treasures up to the altar of British superiority:

Out of pity, our gracious Queen accepts his meager offerings, confident that Yaqob will never threaten the rightful English rule of Albion ever again.

Of course, let us not forget that there are other forces that would stand against a Pax Anglia:

If not for the sheer dumb luck of having that Frigate near the border, there is a good chance that Ragnar would have taken me completely by surprise. Fortunately, I did happen to notice the stack thanks to my constant vigilance, and was able to respond in time by upgrading Canterbury's defenses to Red Coats (using the spoils from the Ethiopian suppression). The Viking raiding party (mostly knights and catapults) were decimated, with minimal loss of a few nearby cottages. As for the ships themselves? Splintered by the might of Chemistry! I left Ragnar to lick his wounds, for our time limit was fast approaching. The final hour is at hand! Will Britain ingenuity and genius triumph in the face of superstition and religious fervor? Can we make it to the moon before 1865? Find out in my next post!

 

[dankok8]

How is your tech situation?

And .. you still didn't meet anyone from the other continent .. Ragnar probably has so he's getting a research boost .. that guy is becoming a problem it seems!! Post the domestic advisor, the tech situation and the power graph...

 

[bioelectricclam]

Those with sharp eyes might have noticed that I have popped a Golden Age; the victim was a Great Scientist, since we will soon no longer prioritize research and there was nothing useful left for him to bulb. Doing so helped me to keep my economy afloat during the Ethiopia campaign, and led to the rapid research of the last key techs on the road to the Moon: Physics and Artillery. It is down to the wire now, our final task at hand. Get ready for bang, zoom, to the Moon!

An excellent Great Person lineup going into the final rounds...or so I thought! I will soon learn that projects can't be rushed! Seems those Engineers will have to find another use.

Fortunately, something else is about to give me a helping hand:

Exxxxxcellent *rubs hands shiftily*. Now there, at least, is one quest that isn't impossible to complete. Glad for the free Golden Age, I prepare myself for the final push:

So it is the year 1810 A.D., and as it turns out the Apollo Project cannot be rushed bought, and will take a long time to build. This is going to be very close, so to bad my odds I decide to grab Communism (for State Property) and Steam Power (for the levee). I've been reading about how strong late-game waterwheels can be, so I think it is time to put it to the test. To that end, time to rally the Workers to London!

In the meantime, I take advantage of the fact that there is no Anarchy when you are under a Golden Age to make a few changes:

Obviously converting back to Confucianism steps on Ragnar's Taoist toes, and there's always the chance that Emancipation makes my people unhappy (in retrospect Slavery was pointless as I wouldn't of been able to rush buy Apollo Program anyways...but I didn't know that at the time), but none of that will matter since we "win" if we finish Apollo on time. So the future be damned, the next few turns decide everything! Also, since I've discovered that projects can't be rushed in any way, I burn that Great Engineer and Artist to start yet another Golden Age, and settle the remaining Engineer in London.

With the discovery of Steam Power, my Workers are now furiously tearing down cottages to make room for super watermills in the greater London area, while at the same time we briefly divert our productions away from Apollo in order to build a levee in London. Let's hear it for the London Corp of Engineers! Huzzah!:

With the discovery of Railroad, the Apollo Program is sealed and delivered. Our rocket thunders into the sky in the Year of Our Lord 1856. Bravo and hurrah, we have done it!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

In closing, I would like to thank everyone who helped me on this challenge. Obviously, there is still a lot of things I have to learn, judging by people's responses. I also hope that I might have taught some new players a thing or two, but I somehow doubt it .

Some things I learned from this challenge:
1. Constantly going to war with your neighbors isn't always the best strategy.

2. You can skip some wonders; I have a feeling that if I had spread out a bit earlier and farther I might have reached the moonshot even earlier.

3. Knowing what city locations are best for certain types of city is very important. Sure, London did alright as a GP factory, but Nottingham would have done even better had I developed it properly.

4. You can't assume that technological superiority wins the day...just look at how much I got smacked around by guys like Brennus, or how long it took for me to properly dish out the hurt on Ethiopia.

5. Great Wall: How I wish I had gotten it!

6. Don't neglect your navy!

7. Choose your civics wisely. For instance, Hereditary Rule would've gotten me a lot more mileage than Representation.

Anyways, here is the final save in case you want to finish up the game with a "real" victory, and please feel free to post your own thoughts and feelings about this challenge.

Also, be sure to tune in on my next challenge, in which I will try my hand at an Espionage Economy by taking charge of a Ninja nation. I am ninja; everything is my weapon: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=262651

 

[bioelectricclam]

How is your tech situation?

And .. you still didn't meet anyone from the other continent .. Ragnar probably has so he's getting a research boost .. that guy is becoming a problem it seems!! Post the domestic advisor, the tech situation and the power graph...

Good advice, sorry I've neglected those. In my next challenge game I'll try and make it a special point to do so, especially since diplomacy is going to play a bigger role.

Feel free to point out anything else I've missed/requests; these last few turns were pretty down to the wire and I think I might have neglected some points that other people would like to know about.

 

[Draknith]

This has been a great read so far, please keep it up, and I can't wait to see how it all falls together, or apart...haha

 

[OTAKUjbski]

I enjoyed the read, but the game felt rushed in some places.

In many cases, there was very little downtime between posts, so in a way, it felt structured more loosely as a "walkthrough" than an "online game".

I think to get the most out of an online game, pace yourself to shorter rounds and at least 48 hours between them. Anything less gives us very little time to feel involved.


Specifically related to this game's play, late-game SP production is largely boosted by self-sustaining Workshops boosted under CS. Next time you switch to SP, consider the CS+SP synergy.


Otherwise, a success is a success is a success.

 

[bioelectricclam]

I enjoyed the read, but the game felt rushed in some places.

In many cases, there was very little downtime between posts, so in a way, it felt structured more loosely as a "walkthrough" than an "online game".

I think to get the most out of an online game, pace yourself to shorter rounds and at least 48 hours between them. Anything less gives us very little time to feel involved.


Specifically related to this game's play, late-game SP production is largely boosted by self-sustaining Workshops boosted under CS. Next time you switch to SP, consider the CS+SP synergy.


Otherwise, a success is a success is a success.

Good point actually...my next game I'm going to run it at a much slower pace so that I can hopefully get more feedback...one thing I noticed though is that this thread tended to get pushed onto the second page many times, so maybe part of it is I'm just not well known enough to get an audience (and thus more feedback). But I will certainly try my best to avoid this in my next challenge, especially considering that you aren't the first person to point this out.