G-Major 24

[WastinTime]

I'm curious how players are finding the protective trait with an aggressive approach, rather then defensive.

It's kinda nice, when you capture a city, to have 1 "super defender archer" to hold the city. The real problem with the protective trait however is you can't let them stomp thru your land and destroy improvements. Even if you're going to "turtle up", you need to attack units that enter the fat cross. Free City Garrison promo doesn't help defend a gem. Protective is obviously added to make certain AI difficult to attack. It's not meant for the human player. Maybe if you had a really nice map that has a choke point, you could put a blockade there. It wouldn't be one of your culture cities most likely.

P.S. super archer = protective + barracks + totem pole + archer.

 

[WastinTime]

Protective would also be nice, early in the game against barbarians. By the time real AI civs attack you, you have too many nice improvements to protect.

But who plays barbarians? I thought about turning on Raging for this gauntlet because it's so crowded, you probably won't see many.

 

[LuckyAC]

I have found them very aggressive, especially Ragnar. I had 4 at once attacking me despite no negative modifiers besides close borders. The game I started with random personalities was a love-fest while it lasted, though. I am playing BTS, if that matters.

 

[cas]

Protective would also be nice, early in the game against barbarians. By the time real AI civs attack you, you have too many nice improvements to protect.

But who plays barbarians? I thought about turning on Raging for this gauntlet because it's so crowded, you probably won't see many.

I tried the raging barbs not realizing how crowded the map is. One game they were raging...mostly against me because I was relatively far from the other civs. Several other starts with raging barbs was like normal or no barbs because of the crowded landscape.

I'm not very fond of crowded pangea with agg AI at this point.

cas

 

[WastinTime]

I tried the raging barbs not realizing how crowded the map is. One game they were raging...mostly against me because I was relatively far from the other civs. Several other starts with raging barbs was like normal or no barbs because of the crowded landscape.

cas

That's exactly why I didn't play raging. I figured if I got lucky enough to have an isolated start location, barbs would just ruin the game.

Regarding aggressiveness, my game is plenty aggressive now. In fact, it almost seems like a requirement that they each be in a war now. I just thought they'd start earlier. Too bad you can never seem to get them into a 2nd war.

In my game I finally decided to stab Ragnar in the back. That war lasted 5 turns or less. It was ended early by a random event. Fine by me I got the city I wanted. Later he attacked me back. Even during that 2nd war, he still liked me so much that he was "cautious" instead of annoyed or furious. During the war, not just after.

 

[Jimmy Thunder]

I'm curious how players are finding the protective trait with an aggressive approach, rather then defensive.

Protective didn't help me that much. I'd done most of the conquesting I wanted to do by the time I had chokuno's so the extra first strike chance wasn't that great.

However...

Spoiler :

Chopping walls with stone hooked up for 300% efficiency was handy once or twice

 

[Heroic]

Ok. At the risk of sounding mildly heretical...

Is it possible to achieve cutlural victory if you are someone's vassal?

If so, I'm thinking maybe the AI would think twice about coming after you...

 

[Ozbenno]

Yes, you can still win the game as a vassal to the AI.

 

[azzaman333]

I don't think it;s possible to become a vassal.

 

[WilliamOfOrange]

an ally, maybe, but not a vassal

 

[bestje]

its definitely possible to win culturally as a vassal unfortunately humans can't be vassals

definitely having problems militarily though even when I have a modern and huge army the AI keeps invading and when you have dealt with one of them another decides to invade, at least i'm surviving longer than izzy and toku though
anyone got any suggestions for how to balance teching, having a huge army and building culture

 

[Mitchifer]

Just finished my first attempt at this gauntlet game, which makes it my first win on Monarch, with Gilgamesh, finishing at 1932.

However, I admit I got pretty lucky. I wasn't attacked by the AI until turn 164, which gave me plenty of time to build up my defenses and found several religions. Although when it did happen, both Khans DoW'ed on me on the same turn, they being on either side of me, along with a barbarian uprising of swordsman, so I guess my luck balances out a bit .

Ragnar and Shaka were definitely the most aggressive, often coming at me with stacks that had no chance of winning. Montezuma ended up being vassalized early to Genghis.

Besides those two and the initial wave of Khan attacks, I wasn't in very many wars. After spreading my religion around and converting Isabella, I was able to tech peacefully while the AIs fought each other from time to time.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable and interesting game.

 

[Jimmy Thunder]

One thing about this gauntlet is that the quicker your finish – the easier the game actually is. A typical cultural game will have a period near the end where you stop research and set culture slider to 100%. In my game I only had macemen and musketeers at this stage. The game will get pretty tough if the aggressive AI neighbours start teching past you and start building rifles/cavalry and grenadiers. However, if you can hit the cultural victory while you still have a tech lead or at least tech parity then there’s not much to worry about.

Starting at one end of the Pangaea is good since you only need to station strong defence at one edge of your border.

Building military is not that much of a distraction if you can dedicate an early production city for making troops.

I think you should be looking to conquer one or two of the nearest civs and maybe even ****** the progress of a couple of other civs. You will want bronze near your first city, concentrate on getting axes out as soon as possible.

Also, don’t trade away techs as freely as you would in a peaceful game. I only needed one tech partner; Isabella was happy enough to trade with me even though the rest of the warmongers hated me.

My first (only) game was in the 16th century and I was happy enough with it, although I messed up with calculating great people and making the best use of the ones I got.

 

[Infantry#14]

I have found them very aggressive, especially Ragnar. I had 4 at once attacking me despite no negative modifiers besides close borders. The game I started with random personalities was a love-fest while it lasted, though. I am playing BTS, if that matters.

yea, I am encountering a problem in this game

I took out Kublai Khan easily, but then shaka and genghis dow me. I crushed their army and peace w/ them for catapults. Later, got my catapult army and capture genghis' capital...but shaka decided to molest my workers and backstabed him w/ his impis. I lost all my workers in that tile. In order to rush back to save my capital, I have to liberate gengis' captured capital back to him . All that hard work wasted and back to squate 1.

I think I am going to use that random personality, I would like a Gandhi shaka neighbor next time

 

[LuckyAC]

Random personalities aren't allowed for the gauntlet anymore, though.

 

[Infantry#14]

I think warlord version is definitely easier than Bts for a number of reasons

1. No need to worry about spies pillaging improvement and inciting unhealthiness and unhappiness

2. Ai not as tactical as in Bts

3. Ai techs slower and dont emphasis on alphabet (in my opinion)

4. A stack of catapults can win -> less unit maintanence

 

[Methos]

I think I am going to use that random personality, I would like a Gandhi shaka neighbor next time

Random personalities aren't allowed for the gauntlet anymore, though.

Correct. For this gauntlet and probably future gauntlets with specific leaders random personalities isn't allowed.

 

[Jack L'Eagle]

After a whole lot of tries, I finally got this, my first major gauntlet!

If I _ever_ see that bunch of psychos again, it will be too soon.

Finished in 1877, after fighting at least 4 major wars.

Jack

 

[Mr. Bill]

After a whole lot of tries, I finally got this, my first major gauntlet!

If I _ever_ see that bunch of psychos again, it will be too soon.

Finished in 1877, after fighting at least 4 major wars.

Jack

Beat me by a year! Same thing here, a bunch of tries and a bunch of wars, my finish was 1878 in BTS. I've tried a few more games on Warlords but no luck. It seems like it should be easier on Warlords cause the AI doesn't spam units like they do in BTS, so I'm going to try a few more games.

 

[cas]

Bleh. 1720AD. Had a great map and implemented a couple of good strategies...but my capital ended up with ~140K culture because I concentrated too many wonders there. And I made several other mistakes...like teching too far...but I was concerned GK might bring a 30-40 unit stack against my longbows. Shaka did that in a previous game and it was not pretty.

A better player could have easily shaved 200yrs off that date.

I improved my skills quite a bit and enjoyed this Gmajor a lot.

edit: Another good map and I was able to decrease the date to 1670. Not going to win me a top spot, but not bad for me. I'm interested to see how many ppl win in the 1500's.

cas