GOTM 04 - First Spoiler (starting continent)

[ainwood]

GOTM 04 Spoiler 1

This is the first spoiler for GOTM - 04.

As a general guideline, it is suggested that you limit your discussions to issues that happen before 500 AD, and you should have reached at least 0 AD (unless you completed the game earlier than this).

1. You must have a full view of the starting continent.
2. You must have met all civs on the main continent.
3. You must know the locations of all iron, copper and horses on the main continent.

You MAY discuss any events up to 500 AD, provided they occur on the home continent. You may discuss other civs not on the home continent, provided you DO NOT post screenshots showing off-continent details (eg. discuss civs that you made contact with). Please also DO NOT post any screenshots showing strategic resources other than horses, iron & copper.

The focus of this spoiler is the early game, and how you coped in developing your fledgling empire to gain a foothold on the continent. As such, please limit your discussions to only discuss events on the starting continent.

The final spoiler for discussing the rest of the game will be opened in 3-4 days time.

 

[Jastrow]

With the exception of for several test starts played using the maps generated by various posters in these forums, and which I never played out past about 600 BC, this is my first ever game on Emperor, so I was not (and still am not) quite sure what to expect. As of 500 AD however, I am still alive and kicking. In fact, I think I am doing all right, but others can judge that based on the following…

When I saw the settings and leader, I decided that I should play to the leader’s traits, which meant a game with lots of wonders and civics changes. My first tough along this line was some form of oracle slingshot, but in testing I was not able to reliable pull it off on this start, so I decided this was too risky. Similarly, I decided to pass on an early religion as I could not reliably get one in tests. Instead, I decided to aim for the Pyramid to take advantage of representation early, and a swapping from Police State to Representative for war and peace, taking advantage of the no-anarchy civic changes.

I started building my empire in 4000BC, founding in place, beginning research into Fishing, and producing a warrior. I sent my existing warrior due west to explore, and in 3840 sent my second warrior on a north-westerly trek. I then built a third warrior to guard my capital, and two workboats for the clams as soon as fishing came in (I inserted the 1st workboat during the time Warrior3 was being built).

My exploring warriors only found one hut (toward the North-West, North of Alexander’s capital, in 3280), which yielded a barbarian warrior. At least my warrior survived the battle and got experience. No other huts were around…. I don’t know if I was just unlucky and had the AIs beat me to them, or if the start was just short on huts. On the plus side, my exploring warriors did bump into a lot of neighbors, which was good for reducing research prices, and for trading as soon as Alphabet comes in.

After Fishing, I researched BW, getting it in 3000BC. Hunting and Animal husbandry followed so that I could get the production bonuses near my capital. In 2920, I started building the first of two consecutive Fast workers, to start taking advantage of these technologies. The first Worker chopped the second one. Then came two settlers: the first chopped with two forests, and the second whipped in 2200.

The settlers were used to found first Bombay and then Madras in the location seen on the first screenshot. I was initially thinking of founding Bombay on the other side of the river, one square NW of its actual location, with the idea of gaining a little more space, and having a few extra forests to chop. I was intending to fit another city in one square east of the horses later. However, with my settler sitting on the copper square, (and a warrior on the marble hill), I saw a settler of Alex (archer escorted) in the forest next to my target site. Fearing he would build a city there next turn, I decide to move my settle only one square, and found no. So, Bombay was founded in 2240BC in a location that I at the time though lest than optimum, but which turned out to work very well, as will be come clear in a bit. I founded Madras on the northern coast in 2080BC to start getting the trade benefits as soon as possible. A key ingredient in selecting where to put Bombay was the availability of nearby forests, which I planed to shop into a pyramid. Madras began producing a fast worker, while Bombay started with an obelix (Both cities guarded by my two early built warriors, who made the trek back home safe and sound.

I researched sailing (for lighthouse and great lighthouse in Delhi), followed by Masonry for the Pyramid. In the meantime, I put up Stonehenge in Delhi for the GP points, and after the Obelix, Bombay pumped out a couple of warriors while waiting for masonry. (At this stage, I realized that my plan did not include researching the wheel, so I could not hook up the copper for axeman. This may have been a strategic mistake, but as it turns out, I got away with it.). I get Stonehenge in 1800BC, and begin the Pyramid in 1600BC, and the great lighthouse in 1440BC. The screenshot from 1400BC shows both being built, and workers helping out with chopping near Bombay.

I (finally) discovered the Wheel the turn after that screenshot, and began hooking resources in parallel with continuing to chop the pyramids. Madras finished a worker shortly there after, who joined in the effort, and brought the Pyramid to fruition in 1080BC, followed by the GL in 900. Libraries followed in both cities. A great Merchant appeared in 675, and since I did not have enough knowledge of the map to scout a profitable trade route (the minimap in the 25BC screen shot shows how limited my knowledge of the world was), and was planning to soon trade for the tech he was offering, I converted him to a super-specialist. On the research side, Writing and Alphabet followed the wheel, with the later coming in at 625 BC. During the period, all was peaceful, except for a couple of barbarians wandering by, but my fortified warriors dealt with them efficiently.

Upon getting Alpha, I looked around, and found I was the only one who knew it. I decided to hang on to the exclusivity. A couple of civs where however still missing writing, which I trades in exchange for Meditation, Pottery, Agriculture, and Polytheism over the period of two turns. I began researching Literature on the way to the great library. I learnt Literature in 450, and began Math, heading to Music for the free artist. I started work on the Great library in Delhi, and on the National Epic in Bombay. A couple of turns later, another civ got Alpha, so with my exclusivity broken, I now spread alpha to everyone, but in exchange, I got all outstanding techs, including Preisthood, Monotheism, Archery, and Ironworks.

During this period, my cities were growing calmly... I scouted more terrain, and found that the ice-bar in the south contained a reasonably nice city site, with access to fish, silver, copper, and deer. Bangalore was founded there in 500 BC. The great library finished in 150BC (with use of the whip, a habit which continued for years to come), and two turns later, out popped a great scientist, which I converted into the academy. Delhi was now a full fledged science city!

All was peaceful with the world until exactly the year zero AD, when Vicky decided to visit. She showed up with a stack of one each, axeman, spearman and swordman, (with a second wave a few turns behind). These can be seen ready to invade in the 25BC screenshot. I was defending with Archers and Axeman, and did not dare take her on in the open. Instead, I set up a "wall" along the river next to Bombay, placing units in the city and in the tiled directly north and south of it. Vicky did some pillaging damage on the west of the river, but ended up suiciding her first wave into this wall. The wall also held the second wave (4 more troops), with damage, but only one casualty (she did not suicide all these, only one, then waited for more reinforcements).

The 3rd wave arrived in my land in 175AD, and *might* have penetrated the wall. Things would have been a bit dicey, so I decided to ring up Alex (who was not too happy with Vicky), and gave him one of the religious techs to declare war. This got Vicky’s attention, as her troops U-turned into his territory, and while we did not sign peace for another 200 years or so, the war was effectively over.

During the English skirmish, I learnt CoL, and traded it for Currency and Monarchy (I did not have exclusivity in CoL), and proceeded towards CS, which I learn in 325 AD. Two turns later, Euclid becomes my next super specialist. I also learnt paper before 500AD.

So I now stand as indicated in the third screenshot. 4 cities, but well cultured, and well educated. Workers are preparing the cite for my fifth city, which I plan to found two squares south of the western marble, giving me access to the marble, fish, and fur, and taking a bit more land. The future looks bright... I am leading in science, and have moved out of last in score. I plan to take out Athens shortly, as Alex’s dealings with Vicky have left him weak. Probably a Maceman rush is on the card for that. After that, we will see what the future holds...

 

[Leifmk]

A much briefer post since I haven't kept as detailed notes as you obviously have (no screenshots, either).

I'm playing the Adventurer version since this is my first GOTM (and the only time I've won on Emperor previously it was as the Incas with all 18 civs crammed onto a standard-sized map, which really isn't fair). I'd done a couple of partial test games on the same setting and figured that an Oracle slingshot strategy was going to be too darn risky, while getting one of the first religions was doable. Not a lot of margin there, though, and the administrative overhead from starting with a two-city empire would make it impossible.

First thoughts: Playing without the option of reloading and trying something else makes me go MUCH more slowly than I'm used to since I feel the need to think things over more thoroughly. Brings back memories of playing Alpha Centauri in iron man mode.

On turn one, I took a long look at the map and decided to proceed as follows: Move the worker one tile to the northeast for scouting purposes. Discovered there was fish out at sea, did a bit of soul-searching and decided to found my capital one tile east of where the settler began so that fish could be in the city radius. Started mining the plains hills and researching Meditation. Sent the second settler and both archers on a little scouting trip.

Over the next few turns I said hello to Alexander (often a troublesome neighbour), popped a hut to the northwest (an angry tribal warrior attacked, fortunately my archer made short work of him) and located a couple of candidate sites for my second city. After a bit of thought I decided to found city #2 on the southern shore (two tiles south of where Jastrow's Bombay is situated) as that spot seemed best for rapid population growth and commerce. Meanwhile my worker finished mining the hills around the capital and went on vacation for a bit (no jobs to do at the time, which really felt wrong but there you have it).

I decided to gamble just a bit and plonk down city #2 one turn before getting Buddhism (in order to get that as my holy city instead of my capital -- the benefit from this being that both cities then get culture). This paid off. Next research projects in order: Hunting, then fishing, then the wheel, then pottery, then farming and animal husbandry (hey! I have horses!).

The next stage was more expansion -- I saw that by putting city #3 on the north shore of my peninsula (on the hill tile just east of where Thermopylae is in Jastrow's screen shots) I could secure another food resource plus marble. Furthermore there was a promising site to the northwest of that one with a bit of jungle but also access to fish, cows and eventually bananas. Both of my original cities were set to build settlers and both sites were claimed. At this point my research was pretty much dead in the water until my cities could grow and pull in more commerce, leading me to question the wisdom of such rapid expansion. My civilization would remain quite backwards for a long time. The only things of interest that happened during this phase of the game were my successful completion of Stonehenge in city #3, the spread of Buddhism throughout (and beyond) my empire, and a couple of warriors wandering around discovering most of my home continent and making friends with the other civs on it.

Some other jokers were able to build the rest of the early wonders, and I could do no more than curse at them. Also, when I finally discovered Bronze Working I was a bit annoyed to see that the copper tile right next to the marble was just outside my city radius -- but at least it could supply me with the strategic resource so I could build some axemen and feel a bit more secure. Another bright point was the fact that the other religions were being founded one by one by some unknown civilization or other, so all my home-continent neighbours were adopting Buddhism (making it by far the #1 religion in the world) and making friendly noises. After I built my shrine this really turned my finances around and allowed me to start pulling properly out of the research hole.

As for overseas affairs, the only thing I'll say so far is that I sent a workboat east to explore the shores of that other continent I could spot across the water from my capital, and learned who was founding all the other early religions.

By the final centuries BC I had a reasonably healthy and happy empire, which unfortunately was a small backwater populated by illiterate hicks (still just those four cities, with nowhere to expand except possibly across the water -- though I did not yet have Sailing). I was dead last in everything except culture, my only advantages being that I had the holy shrine for the world's most popular religion, was friends with nearly everyone and only had land borders with one other civilization.

 

[exitpoll]

First game of GOTM for me! I'm used to playing on emperor but not with the strict "no-reloading" rules. This meant I was forced to play it much safer than I would normally do.

I don't remember all details but here are the general path of my early game:

Fishing, work boat, worker, BW, worker, settler. Managed to built stonehenge (only early wonder).

Being next to Alexander forced me to act quickly. His third city cut me off from expanding to the north, so I decided to take him out.

Settled 2. city on bronze, built barracks and started chopping city raider axemen.

A succesful, but rather long war followed. Alex was eliminated around 400 BC. There wasn't any bronze in his territory, so in retrospect I could have delayed the war. (This would have been too huge a gamble though.)

The NW landmass was barb territory. 2 barb cities were in prime locations with 2xivory and 2x clams+ cows respectively. My upgraded army of axemen took these two cities and razed a third.

So at 325 AD, I had 9 cities (see screenshot). Research took a heavy blow as I hovered around 0-10%. As can be seen from screenshot, all cities are building research to compensate. Libraries + scientist specialist also helps.

I am planning on going to calendar as soon as possible and hook up all the nice plantation ressources.

I have already played beyond 500 AD (in fact: to the very end) , so I won't reveal any further details.

Happy gaming to everyone and best of luck!

 

[toller pretzl]

Some people say that GOTM's are often easier than a normal game on the same level. Not this one though, I should think. Compared to the test-games I played with the same settings:
- In this game I only got one hut, and it was baddy: six barbarian warriors popped out.
- The AI settled very aggressively in my direction.

I managed to found Hinduism and Judaism and build Stonehenge as planned. What didn't go so well: just as I had built my first settler, Alexander built Thermopylae on the likely spot (west-west-west-west-southwest).

I then founded my second city west-west-southwest of Thermopylae and started culture-bombing it. As of 500 AD, I still only had two cities though.
So I think it's safe to say that I should have waited with Stonehenge (or skipped it), to get the second settler out faster.

Egypt beat me both to the Great Library (25 AD) and Music.
After that, I was holding on for dear life.

 

[Skallagrim]

Hi! This is the first gotm I have tried because my computer is really slow (1,30 GHz)... Only tries Tiny/Duel maps be4, so this will be exciting !

Havnt taken notes, so this will be short... this is what I remember:

Build a worker first, went Scouting --> Animal H.

Then build warrior, stonehendge, settler, worker, worker in capital... (Went for bronze working, all three early religions where taken...)

Now I am usually a peace-loving guy, but the greeks where a little bit too close for my taste...

Found 2. city on top of marble; build barracks.

Bronze near Bombay! Hurray ! Chopping forests and puking out axes!

Build 3. city on snow, just to get the horses, fur and silver inside city radius (dont mind an extra bronze either). Need lux, has stoneh...

Declear war on greeks early (has 6 axes + 1 facing som barb in the snowland)!

Raised first a city very close to Bambay, dont remember the name... lost 1 axe...

My axes surrounded Athens, first 4, then 5 archers defending; needed more...

Now and then an archer would attack my axemen... stupid fools ... one actually won...

Attacked Athen with 10 axes, lost 4 (5 archer defending). Victory!

Captured then Sparta (new capitol), and finally raised their last city (it has good, but I HAD to raise it; had 100% gold and was still losing). No more greeks!! (Dont know when, but beetween 800 BC - 1200 BC).

Now, I never play this offensive, so early; my ecomony was reeeaaally bad!! Had stopped producing unit some turns ago - but I just couldnt build anything!!
All my cities focused on commerce, has leading in score (met all but egypt and france at this point; probably because I had much land score (stoneh.)), but I thought I has doing really bad (normally I lead in science in emperor game, but have HALF the number of cities than my rivals...). With the gold I got from capturing the cities I just got polytheism be4 I had to have 100% gold till about 100 BC (because I took a barb city too 300 or 400 BC)!

LEARNED ONE THING: I didnt have pottery (or agriculture) all this time; horrible - cottages could really have saved be from this long dark ages... but I couldnt afford inventing it!

Got the Parthenon (or something), but others build the Oracle and The Great Lighthouse (I love those wonders, love almost all wonders actually)... (too slow inventing)!

Dont remember dates, but now I am at 350 AD, and I know I invented Alphabet (traded it to all others, who had invented far, FAR more than be... for things as Agiculture, Pottery, Sailing, Meditation, Monotheism, Iron Working, Monarky) - THAT REALLY HELPED (build many cottages..), Litterature (all but one had invented this at that time, but I build The Great Library first! Yeah!) and CoL last turn - started on MANY courthouses!

350 AD I am still leading, met all but france; but the game is really slow! Dont know if I will continue (at least on this computer )...

Founded no religions, chop-build The Hanging Gardens in Athen very recently (yeah, traded Math to me as well!), all reli. but islam has been founded (quite long ago too...), but my economy is raising! Can now have 30 % science with out losing money! After the courthouses has been build, I reacon my science will speed up greatly!

Question: Didnt take screenshots, but cant I just add my 350 AD save... or?

 

[ungy]

Went straight for Hinduism and got it. Was disappointed that Alexander plopped his second city down by the marble, and his third down by what I would later learn was the horse. I was able to hook up the bronze with my second city and it was obvious that war was coming.

I figured I should chop oracle so that when i got alpha I could have something to trade and fill in my missing techs. Blundered with it, however, as I took it before writing, thinking i would take metal working but could only get monarchy. In 2 test games oracle came around 1250--I was worried about an early oracle. In retrospect COL and another religion would have been very important. But as war was iminent I also needed to get the bronze hooked up.

Tech order Poly-fish-bw-priest-wheel-writ-alpha (I think)

trade monarchy when got alpha
I try to keep alpha until a few AI's have it as often you get trading monopoly for a long time.

So stuck pinned in w/2 cities started building axemen.

Alex declares on me in 650--unfortunately he has iron by then. Stuck playing defense for a while then manage to take out his iron. He had a lot of units--it all takes a while. By 300 AD I have the two cities I need from him and am faced with a decision on how to proceed. I am starting to slip behind in tech and Vic has feudalism already so I decide to settle with Alex and go for a cultural. I have only 4 cities but can found 2-3 more down on the ice. Could go either way --should be able to avoid a war other than maybe Alex again who is gimped.

 

[DonaldKipper]

Played on Contender.

Have played Emperor several times before - its the level i play at as i find Monarch can be a bit easy.

First move was to move the warrior west. Only a grassland so i planted first turn and started building a warrior and researching fishing.

I decided to skip an early religion for 2 reasons. First, i felt i was unlikely to get one unless the civs had been doctored to prevent Civs starting with Mystcism as i could not work a commerce tile.
Second, i did not want to annoy my close rivals by being in a different religion.

After Fishing, i built 2 workboats and started on Bronze Working. Once the first boat was done, i switched one tile to the Clam to increase my science.

My first warrior went West following the high land and then the forests, meeting Alexander in 3680BC. He is CLOSE. As i move my warrior to circle him i see a cow and decide to stop. After some deliberation i decide i cannot stay at peace for too long with Alex so close so i go for a worker steal and wait by the Cow.
I get lucky after only a few turns a worker shows up. I nab him and move him to my second exploring warrior. The warrior making the steal is killed by one of Alex's archers but hopefully that will slow his expansion somewhat giving me a bit of time to fill my peninsula.

After Bronze Working i go for Wheel to enable me to hook it. Im already thinking to chop Stonehenge in 2nd city and potentially to grab pyramids as well - as there is a lot of forests between me and Greece.

Hunting followed the Wheel as it would improve both cities and was only a 4 turn research. Normally i would not research Hunting myself, prefering to trade for it later.

in 2640BC Alexander finally settles for Peace, a few turns afer his archer lost attacking my warrior fortified on a forested hill.

In 2600BC, Delhi finished its first settler.
I spent a long time thinking where to put second city. No where seemed ideal and i was torn between one north and one south or just one city in the middle of the peninsula.
In the end i settled on the silk to grab the Wheat and the Dear while having the Marble, Copper and 2 Plains hills in its radius. I planned to put another city in the south to grab the furs and cottage spam the grassland. My plan was for Bombay in the north to become my Production Center - after chopping the early wonders.

In 2560BC i did my first ever Hurry Production - for a worker. 1 unhappy face for 10 turns seems a nice payoff. I then start producing another worker so the unhappy face will have no impact. I plan to do a lot more whipping as Delhi has very good growth but pretty low production.

Bombay is founded in 2480BC and start producing Stonehenge.
Hunting is discovered this turn and i start on Masonry.
Now considering whipping Oracle in Delhi as Marble will boost production.
Delhi finishes 2nd worker and starts work on warriors to protect wokers while chopping and generally 'fog bust' to keep barbs at bay.

2160BC sees Stonehenge Completed and overflow shields mean a warrior is done in 1. 1 turn to Masonry so will start Pyramids next turn.
Have decided I will try for Oracle as even if im beaten to it, the gold bonus will be very handy in pushing my research to alphabet - as long i dont miss out before i can build much of it. I therefore start Meditation after Masonry

In 1840 Meditaion is discovered and i start on Priesthood. a couple turns later my exploring warrior in the west is killed with only Hatty yet to be contacted.

In 1600, I discover Priesthood and start researching Pottery. Delhi starts building the oracle but will hold off completing it until i get Pottery so i can get Metal Casting. I still have one forest by Delhi which will contribute 75 shields to the Oracle .

In 1440BC i complete the Pyramids in Bombay and start work on a barracks. Switch to Representation.
In 1360 i complete Pottery - Oracle will be built next turn - netting Metal Casting
Writing in 1080, alphabet looks like it will take a while.

Madras is founded in the south, one square above the dear in 1040BC. The dear will help it grow. The plan is for this city to be almost pure commerce putting a cottage on every available grassland. The Dear will also let me use the hill. I doubt i will work the Fur, as the cottages will become much better tiles in time but the extra happiness is a nice boost. Im considering a 4th city further south to grab the silver after my warrior spots a fish down there.

in 900BC i start builidng an axe army in Bombay with the plan to take Athens.
In 650BC, just as im ready to send 6 axes to Alex, he declares war on me - sending a handful of archers at me. These archers serve to upgrade my axes to City Raider 2 with no losses . At this point im pretty pleased but less so when i get to Athens and find 6 Archers in there. Would normally expect 3 tops, hence i brought 6 axes, but i guess wartime means he's building more :-(.

I start to aim for his other cities while i build more units. Meanwhile he keeps attacking my axes with archers - i lose the odd axe but he taking far more losses than me.

in 475BC, i finish the colossus in Delhi and also discover Alphabet.
Unfortunately, I do not have a monopoly already on alphabet - Vicky also has it - so i trade it to Saladin for Animal Husbandry, Sailing and Agriculture and to Louis for Iron Working and Archery. I do still have Metal Casting thet noone else has but there is nothing to trade it for.
Louis wont trade me Monarchy, Saladin wont Trade Polytheism, Victoria wont trade me Code of Laws and Isabella wont trade Maths or Polytheism.
I decide to research Maths as i want catapults.

A few turns later I trade Metal Casting to Saladin for Polytheism and Monarchy.

I take and keep Corinth in 450BC - it's by the Cow and Iron ne of Athens and has the Dye in its Radius. I raze Delphi in 300AD. Delphi was southwest of Athens in the tundra.

All units then converge on Athens and i eventually take it in 50AD. Was pretty lucky on RNG only taking one loss. Had 8 full strength axes and two damaged ones against 4 archers so i would have taken it anyway, but still, few losses speeds my progress for his remaining cities.
The same turn i get 290 gold (iirc) as i miss the Great Lighthouse by 1 turn.

In 125AD i eventually found Bangalore in the south by the Silver and the Fish.
I get Constuction in 175AD and start on Music after trading Construction to Louis for Literature and Monotheism.

In 225AD, i take Sparta without a loss - tho i am now using city raider 3 axes, and net 4 free workers .

In 250AD Louis demands Metal Casting and I refuse. Up until now, I have all good relations except for Alex.
Nobody will trade anything to me at the moment. Vicky has Code of Laws and Currency, Saldin has Theology, Calendar and Horseback, Isabella has Calendar, and Louis has Horseback. Still havent met Hatty.

I will stop here as what happens next may contravene spoiler rules...

 

[Thrallia]

Starting Positions
I began with 1 settler, 1 fast worker, and 1 archer on a plains hill, and 1 archer and 1 settler on the coast to the South.

It was tough to decide which settler to found my capital with, so I used my fast worker to get a quick 3 tile exploration done to the west. I found marble directly to my West, so I marked that as my second city site, decided to conserve my northern half of my peninsula for a future city, and founded Delhi on the Southern coast, where the clams and cows would be within my expanded cross.

Opening Moves
Barbs aren't usually a problem for about 600-900 years so I decided to use my fast worker to do some additional quick exploring while I had nothing for him to do in Delhi.

Because of this, I met Alexander earlier than perhaps others met him- in 3920BC!
Athens was only one city radius farther away than the fat cross for my marble city would end up, so I sent one of my archers to watch his cows and continued exploring with my Worker. I quickly met Victoria and Saladin while exploring, but unfortunately I couldn't find either homeland, so Alexander was my only worker theft possibility. My worker headed home after scouting all the land surrounding Athens.

Delhi began construction of Stonehenge my first turn as well..I was hoping to either get it quickly and get a GP, or miss out and get some cash for research.

By turn 13, 3480BC, Alex had sent a worker to pasture those cows, and I declared war to grab it. This move was a success, as I now had 2 fast workers, and was able to park my archer near Athens and distract him for awhile.

Tech Strategy
I decided to go Fishing-> poly -> masonry, to get use of my coastal tiles early and perhaps crank out the pyramids quickly as well.
Fishing was discovered after 7 turns, but Hinduism was founded a mere 4 turns later(Darn that Hatty!) luckily, I had gone for fishing first, because I wouldn't have founded it even if I'd gone poly first.
I decided that Buddhism was out of my reach by now, and quickly switched to masonry rather than finishing poly.
Once I fnished Masonry I quickly went Hunting->Wheel->finished Poly->priesthood->BW

It took me awhile to get BW, but once i got it, I was able to hook it up quickly, and already had a great infrastructure in place from my stolen worker and starting worker.

After BW, I went Writing->Agriculture-> Iron Working-> Animal Husbandry-> Alphabet
At this point, my best units were warriors and a couple archers still, however, thanks to the copper I found near Bombay, I was able to build a few axemen for defense. I found a source of Iron on the grasslands at the North end of my peninsula, good thing I hadn't built a city there yet.

I learned Alphabet in 125BC, and remarkably, I was the first on my continent to discover it. Unfortunately, it was also the only tech I had that most of the others did not, so I had to use it for trading, I got pottery for Writing from Alexander, and Mathematics and cash from Victoria for Alphabet. After getting Literature, I traded it to Saladin and Victoria for Monotheism, Meditation, Archery, and Sailing along with enough cash to put me back at 100% research for awhile.

Neighbor Relations
Alexander doesn't like me...I crippled him early and get up the pressure, so he's even behind ME in score. (More in the wars section)

Victoria is cautious with me, but was happy that I don't like Alex, apparently he is already her enemy.

Saladin likes me, but I still have yet to find any of his territory...he must be on the far side of Victoria, as I've not explored there yet.

Louis XIV I haven't met yet(at the time of this writing, but I know he's there cause I've finished my game now...hopefully this doesn't disqualify me)
He never explored because he was cut off from the rest of the continent early by saladin, and they don't like each other-no open borders treaty.

Isabella contacted me in 100AD, she's not sure what to think of me and is behind victoria in score. Victoria is #1 on my continent.

Internal Affairs
Bombay was founded in 2960BC, after I discovered Masonry and was ready to work the marble I had found. It was founded to the west of the first marble site, so I could reach both marble, Deer, Sugar, and Wheat all within my fat cross. I promptly built a warrior and started the Pyramids in Bombay.

StoneHenge was completed in 2640BC in Delhi, and was a great boon to my expansion because Bombay was able to expand its borders without having to take time off from the Pyramids to build an obelisk.

In 1600BC, I began the Oracle in Delhi, it had a built time of 22 turns thanks to my marble, so I was hopeful to build it, especially as BW was only turns away. Unfortunately, in 1240BC, the Oracle was completed in Spain and Confuscianism was founded, I learned BW the next turn and hoped to put that to use in building the Parthenon instead.
Chopping began on my great forest surrounding Bombay with one worker, while the other chopped tundra forests for Delhi's Parthenon.

800BC- Pyramids are completed and Moses is born in Delhi-promptly settled in Delhi to give me bonus hammers and 5 extra gold, helps with the science rate.
I changed over to representation and now health is the limiting factor in my cities growth, not happiness.

600BC- I lose out on the Parthenon, and only had 7 hammers left too...so I got enough cash to again raise my science up to 100%, unfortunately, I've only got 2 cities still.

400BC- Madras founded, Northern Peninsula next to the Iron.

300BC- I discover that Alex has no copper and I've built a barracks in Delhi and Bombay...time to build up an army of swordsmen and spearmen to take him down, his best units are still chariot and archers.

125AD- I begin construction on the Great Library, with marble and 3 chops, it will only take me 7 turns to complete.

275AD- Egypt finishes the Great Library...a single turn before I would have completed it! That's 3 close misses on these wonders...at least I got yet more cash to hemorrhage into my 90-100% science

Wars
I had a 600 year war with Alexander from ~3600BC-3000BC that included his loss of 3 archers and a worker to me, and delayed his expansion enough to allow me to get ahead of him in score.
I noticed that emperor AIs are smart though, when I tried to start a second worker war in 2640BC(Alex still had only one city!) he was escorted this time, so I had to leave him alone.

In 200AD, my 500 year preparations are complete...I have an army replete with swordsmen, Spearmen, and Axemen to wreak havok on Alexander. This war is lengthy, but only because of a lack of siege equipment to help batter down his cultural defenses.

In 450AD, Athens is captured after a lengthy siege, leading Alex to offer me peace for 30 gold.
I laughed him off, then proceeded to lay waste to his newly upgraded horse archers with my promoted spearmen.

In 540AD, Pharsalos is captured, and I agree to peace with him, as I'm not losing gold at a quick rate and need to spend a few turns building the courthouses I am about to gain access to.

Results of the war: 2 captured cities, 25 killed units, no incursions on Indian lands, and the taking of Greece's capital...it also put me in range of my first target in the next war, set to begin in soon...his only source of horses is on the border between Athens and his new capital of Sparta.

This Spoiler goes 2 turns past 500AD, but only to finish off the war comments, and I don't think it spoils anything that is not considered early game.

My thoughts: The adventurer bonus seems to have really paid off, as it has allowed me to cripple my closest neighbor, and kept me from getting really boxed in early on by Alex. I will war alex again as soon as I've lowered my city costs, as I think his territory(he's expanded to 6 cities I don't even see yet) will be integral in my achieving a diplomatic or space race victory

 

[Roland Ehnström]

In 2040 BC Greece built a city next to the marble (and copper, and horses, and silk). So I have ONE city, NO resources, and NO land to settle!

I also missed Hinduism by three turns (was founded in a distant land in 3400 BC!) even though I started researching Polytheism in 4000 BC. I got Stonehenge, but what's the use when I have no land to settle?

Crap.

-- Roland

 

[mike p]

I had quite a mix of great ideas and total brain farts in the opening. Technically I'm not sure I'll ever qualified for the first spoiler thread because I didn't actually make contact with the French until 1300 or so. (Despite having open borders with all civs in between for about 1500 years and having purchased a map of their entire territory from a civ not even on the starting continent. Finally I got bored when my workers had nothing to do and sent one over to say hi.)

Initially, I was planning on opening with fishing and hunting and archery to get started, but as I started the game I decided that since I needed a big garrison on Emperor anyway, I may as well get Monarchy ASAP. So I opened up the tech advisor, clicked on Monarchy, saw that Polytheism was a path to get there and figured the AI would go for Buddhism anyway, so away we go. About 6 turns later I notice that I'm researching Meditation instead - working the deer, so no extra commerce. Whoops! But I manage to snag Buddhism anyway. Shortly thereafter I meet the Greeks. Pick up priesthood next and then see some god awful number of turns for monarchy and decide to switch to fishing.

I have a rare great idea and realize that Alexander will declare on me sooner rather than later, so I preemptively steal a worker and harrass Athens with warriors. This slows him down and speeds me up. I'm not worried about the long term relations with Alex because I decide early that as my nearest neighbor, he and I are in a fight to death.

So I pick up a couple of worker techs - hunting, BW, the wheel etc. I usually play on Epic or Marathon and seldom play Industrious, so I saw some ridiculously low number of turns needed for Stonehenge, so I built it for the GP points. Not worried about the culture since I have a holy city already in my only city. My city radius has expanded to the bronze and I hook it up and chop out an axeman to relieve the archer fortified there.

At some point I convert to Buddhism for the extra happy.

Alex is still rolling with archers only so I decide to send out a couple of axemen to occupy his bronze NE of Athens. Brilliant! While researching IW, I see that the Oracle looks pretty doable so I queue that up. I'm too far from COL to think about a Civil Service Slingshot and don't want to tie up my only city trying to time the Oracle for Metal Casting, so I whip it to completion at the cost of 3 citizens in 1360 BC and grab Monarchy - not the ideal use for the Oracle, but it keeps the AI from grabbing a free tech and ends any unhappiness problems. I've only chopped the one forest just west of my city radius - I need the hammers from the forests for capital, as well as the health.

I also see horses in the south and send a settler to the isthmus where it can eventually work silver, horses, furs, deer, and bronze. It's food poor, but strategically vital. Bombay is founded in 300 BC. I don't recall ever building another settler. I realize that my worker has been sleeping in my capital because I had no more improvements needed, though I could have been building roads around my capital as busy work.

I finish IW and start pumping out swordsmen. It takes longer to hook up than it should have because I should have had the city radius roaded already, but whatever. I take Alex's closest city in 100BC, which has two marbles in the fat cross, one of which is quarried, which is nice because I don't know masonry yet, though I'm working towards alphabet next.

I've decided I really like slavery and hereditary rule together. Whenever you whip something, use the left over hammers to get a head start on an archer and you quickly produce a unit that nullifies the unhappiness penalty. It's a nice synergy I never noticed before this game.

After meeting Saladin and Victoria I decide to revolt to no state religion since they are both Hindu, though I'm sending Buddhist missionaries to my cities to increase my shrine income.

I sack the city that Alex founds next to the bronze north of Athens and eventually move on Athens, I can't quite take it, and decide to ask for peace for all time. Ten turns later (around 480 AD) I move my stack of six swordsmen with cover into Alex's territory intent on taking Athens. He still only has archers and chariots to defend, so I expect to crush him.

At this point I've traded for most of the early techs. I have decent relations with Saladin, Victoria, and the civ across the water to the east. The other civ not starting on our continent has founded a city in the north of it, so I've met them too. No one likes Alex. So diplomatically, I'm in a decent place. I've got a weakened neighbor to prey on and am poised for growth.

On the minus side, I have no long term strategic plan. I tried a new opening strategy for my first time in prioritizing Monarchy and then switched away from it two techs in. I have small population, and only a few cities. But my capital is in a whip-tastic! location so I'm able to keep enough troops in the field. My only real strategy thus far has been to hamstring the Greeks, but at least it's been working. I've made blunders like starting with Meditation that paid off. I certainly haven't optimized my worker orders, but I'm still in the game. I also probably could have done better with the Oracle than just grabbing Monarchy, but things happen so fast on normal speed!

In the short term, I need to continue to take cities from Alex. It would be great to get Hinduism spread to my empire so I can cozy up to Vicky and Saladin. I feel like if I had more specific goals I'd be more effective, but other than aggression towards Greece I've basically been in a back-on-my-heels reactive mode all game thus far.

 

[The-Hawk]

In 2040 BC Greece built a city next to the marble (and copper, and horses, and silk). So I have ONE city, NO resources, and NO land to settle!

I also missed Hinduism by three turns (was founded in a distant land in 3400 BC!) even though I started researching Polytheism in 4000 BC. I got Stonehenge, but what's the use when I have no land to settle?

Crap.

-- Roland

Same thing happened to me... only faster. In 2720 BC, before I had even chopped out my first settler, Alex had settled by the marble and copper, boxing me on the peninsula. With no copper, I figured there is no way to win, so I rush his city with warriors. I saw no point in trying to buy time, I would only get further behind the tech curve. I lost a TON of warriors to three archers defending, but didn't know what else to do. Eventually, I took his city and had the copper, but it really just prolonged the inevitable. At this point, I was way behind in everything. Alex just rested up, declared again, and pillaged the copper. Being stubborn, I didn't abandon and survived until 1430 A.D. But, once he redeclared, he would not make peace until I was finished. I chewed up many, many Greek units, but couldn't last. I don't know why one of the other AI's didn't whack him, he must have been very low on units.

I consider myself a good player (top 50 in GOTM2, and I suspect pretty high in GOTM3), but once Alex blocked me, I think there was nothing I could do. I suspect the people playing adventure have a real good shot with the extra settler, but if Alex behaves this way for everyone, a lot of contender and predator people are going to struggle.

Oh well, maybe I'll win the ambulance.

 

[ungy]

I think this month there will be a huge divergence in games based on where Alex settled. If u were adventurer, NP you got the good spot. For the rest of us, some will have problems, some BIG problems, and some no problem.
I was boxed in but could build a second city and get the copper so game had plenty of play (although far from ideal). I think very difficult to win if you can't build another city and have to get IW before you can build any offense.

 

[AU_Armageddon]

I started off with no plan except only to play a long game this GotM. I finished the last 2 with renaissance domination/conquests and wanted more value for my GotM buck this time. Unfortunately, 'long game' is not really good plan strategically (havn't finished playing but floundering about in the 20th century still deciding what crappy score to win with).

Started like a rocket though. After ridiculing the concept of going for religion first, and then checking top 5 cities turn 2 and seeing Saladin and Isabella both listed, I did what I thought was the stupidest thing that has never worked for me before and went for fishing first, and then polytheism. Praise Ganesh! Seemingly miraculously I got founded Hinduism proving I know absolutely nothing about Civ. Saw that Marble hill on the river and was excited as it meant I could go most of the wonders (marble hill = 3 hammers in start city). Meant no time for workers, so I built warrior first, then boats, then warrior while I lucked out stumbling on to Alex's worker and declared war taking it.

I never found any huts, but by the sounds above, that appears to have been a blessing!

I researched fishing - poly - priesthood - masonry - writing - bronze
Made my first city quick (as soon as I hit food cap which was fast from fishing). Built Stonehenge in the 2nd city followed by Oracle which I got quite quickly. My 2nd warroir made introductions to greece, england, arabia, and france, and isabella said hello fairly quickly. I took a different route to normal and chose Alphabet with Oracle which was built very early, so early in fact that most of them didn't even have writing so I was able to trade writing away to get practically all the early techs. Soon after, sacrificed Alphabet to get me Iron Working, Sailing, Monothesim etc while I researched Literature.

That above combo of planting early on marble hill, and getting so many techs so fast (and having industrial) allowed me, with chopping, to get every single wonder (only 2 I missed all game were Ankor Wat & Hagia Sophia). I used my early swords to cripple Greece, razing a few cities and kept Pharsalos, alos planting south on the ice to grab silver (not low enough for the fish cos the horses kept it's production valuable). After that I made friends with Greece who adopted my religion and everyone else hated me cos I refused everything they asked and differing religions, so Greece proved a good buffer, and I sweetened the relationship up with some generous trades.

Isabella declared war on me earlier than I expected and nearly took Delhi, which had me in a panic. After getting the Great Library, most of my GP went into techs and I went for construction making many (many!) catapults, and then guilds making some knights to accompany. Then it was full invasion of Spain during which time I beelined for cavalry upgrading all my knights as soon as I took Madrid (3rd city I took). I hung and quartered Isabella in no time with that force, keeping every city which made finances tight for a while, but I had that entire island to myself, predeveloped and without costing me a single settler. Chopped every single tree to kickstart forges, courthourses and a Forbidden Palace in Barcelona and I was suddenly way above 2nd place and rockin the clock.

But still with no overall plan to my strategy. If I did have one, I am sure I coulda made a solid go at a nice victory. Score listed for 'if win this turn' was under 40k and dropping fast last I looked. Highlights the importance of a proper game plan as every expert here keeps pointing out. Even with this grand start, it was fluttered away idly while I built everything buildable for no particular reason, and my final victory - prolly time lol, will likely be a huge step downwards on the ladder to rub salt in the wound.

Anyway, the East well secured with my new island totally controlled and the upgraded cav to make sure it stayed mine (dirty Louie tried to take it from the other side! - he failed dismally sending swordsman and cats to invade cav), I turned my eyes west...

 

[Thrallia]

it seems that if you didn't take alexander's worker early, then he was a huge thorn in people's sides...I'm glad I managed to do that, or I would have been in huge trouble from him early on, even on emperor

 

[toller pretzl]

Same thing happened to me... only faster. In 2720 BC, before I had even chopped out my first settler, Alex had settled by the marble and copper, boxing me on the peninsula. With no copper, I figured there is no way to win, so I rush his city with warriors.

That's a few people now who have reported this mishap with Alexander taking the ideal spot for the second city. Glad I wasn't alone

In my game, the culture from my capitol blew the territory of Thermopylae away, so getting the copper was no problem (though getting Thermopylae was, and still is).

Kudo's to you for finishing the game after such a bad start. I have built a second city that is also rich in culture. There have been a couple of close calls for this city sofar, and I doubt whether I would have had the stamina to continue playing if it had been conquered.

Luckily for me, my game is still interesting and I'm learning a lot.

 

[solvero]

This was my first game on any level more difficult that noble, so I wasn't ready at all for everything. I'm playing the advanturer level.
I began by settling in place with my northern settler, starting to explore with one of my two archers and moving my second settler, second archer and fast worker into my city. I researched buddhism (founded by me in Delhi) and then fishing while building two warriors I think. after that I built my second city south of the marble. My third city came after that with a chopped settler to the north. And then, becuase I never played any games on such difficulty, I didn't suspect I'll get attacked by Alexander who had +1 with me. He took 2 of my cities, and only after sacrificing a few warriors and my two archers (I didn't research archery becuase I didn't suspect I'll be attacked), I managed to sue for peace. This is where I am: with one city, and such a good one, trying not to get attacked again. I know I'll lose, but I just want to stay alive for a while. Anyway, I learned many many things from this game. The most important thing is that aggressive leaders do attack you without any reasons, and that even in games that are aimed to be won by peaceful ways, you can't neglect building an army.

 

[Syntherio]

I missed GOTM 01 and loses early in 02 and 03 (not submitted). Before GotM 04 I played some test-games with same settings and was losing without any chance... Ive never played on Emperor before that.

With a pessimistic mood I decided to play adventurer-class (the easy one). First I thought I had a good start, but after a rapidly decreasing research and a massive lose of chariots against a barbarian city, my "Empire" stagnates. I think I expanded too fast - without cottages... a bad idea.

When I reached Alphabet, the Techtrading helps me to recover, but the Others were away in score. So I decided to focus on a peacefull-cultural-way with 3-5 Citys.

Victoria don´t like Alex and Isabella don´t like me, so Greece and India stand side by side against the aggressors. It helps to keep a good relationship with Alex, while the "close borders"-malus increases by the time.

The real challenges occur after 500 AD, so I will tell you in the next spoiler...

 

[The-Hawk]

Kudo's to you for finishing the game after such a bad start.

Thanks for that.

I went back and looked at the replay, he actually settled on 2760 BC, I didn't notice until a turn later. In hindsight, I might have tried settling another city on the copper itself, but since the borders would have clashed, he probably would have come right after me. Also, the location would not have been too good for much else.

Was a little frustrating, I had done quite a bit of practice at culture wins before starting. That strategy lasted about 1/2 hour (but I did learn a lot about culture wins, maybe will try again next month).

I hope this doesn't sound TOO petty, but after I lost, I spun up a game vs. Alex on a dual map at settler difficulty. I played Julius. Feeling much better now!

 

[jayeffaar]

Well, this was a very short game for me.

I knew I was in way over my head with this month's difficulty level but I decided to play the contender level game anyway, figuring I would at least die playing the game that had been discussed for a week on the pre-game thread instead of the "easier" version.

I was actually doing alright until around 300 BC but i was done in by a major silly mistake on my part: I never realized our closest neighbour was Alex, and not Saladin. For some reason (and I'm not colour-blind), that rather important detail never clicked. I guess I was too focused on the big picture to notice the important details. Out of the blue, Alex declared war on me when my defences were not even close to ready and within a few turns, it was game-over.

Oh well... at least I didn't wast more than a couple of hours on this one... It's sad that I spent way more time preparing for this game, reading about it, planning my moves than I ended up spending playing it... Now that I submitted my humiliating loss, I should probably reload the save and play it again with my two eyes open, for my own benefit... maybe later this week.