Ribannah
Fighter Druid
Contender, going for marble wonders
I didn't expect to get one of the early religions and it turns out that indeed there was no chance. The AI got them very quickly:
3640bc Buddhism
3400bc Hinduism
2480bc Judaism
From what I read in the reports, the AI's seem to avoid any research that the player has already started, regardless of the fact that they haven't met the player yet.
So perhaps I missed my chance because I didn't settle on turn one.
I didn't??
Nope. The location itself looked nice enough, but:
- the lack of luxuries meant that the enormous growth potential would go to waste for quite some time - unless one would grab several of the early religions, of course;
- there was no big forest to chop;
- it seemed to be less than central, near the south 'pole' and in a corner of the continent, so unless we would start by building a settler before anything else, there would be a good chance of getting hemmed in on emperor.
So all in all, I would have to rely on luck too much and if that was the case, I might as well gamble on something more consistent: an alternative starting spot inland.
As it went we found ourself a good spot with deer and marble one tile west of the river, in a thick forest. This would ensure our claim to the land e/se that we left behind. Later it appeared that we just missed the copper but we got the wheat in return.
City-wise, the plan was to found a coastal town nearby, have that build 3 Work Boats while Fast Workers build a long road, and only then settle back on the starting tile. But before that, we aimed to get all the marble wonders and race to Alphabet and a religion before empire size would hamper research.
Our initial Warrior continued exploring almost straight north-west towards the centre of the map. He found a hut and popped it for a Scout, which in turn found another hut and popped it right before the competition would, for my first hut tech ever: The Wheel, which made us quite happy (although it does not compare to Bronze Working or Writing, of course). During the course of the bc years we had a lot of trouble finding enough animals and barbs to nurse him up to 10 experience, but we managed.
The scout went on exploring and found everyone on the continent. After signing Open Borders with all, he met Egypt as well across the water, before he was killed by a barbarian Warrior (our only other loss so far was a forest-fortified Archer which died to a barb Archer ...). Finally, Spain (lots of gold tiles!) was discovered by a Work Boat.
It is now 1AD, we are in third place but the potential to grow is enormous, with 37GP points a turn already. We have plenty of room for now but are starting to look at nearby Greece. Culture pressure is on Athens but it won't flip, of course (in a test game, I once looked for a 100 turns at a zero-culture, one-tile town in the middle of my empire that didn't succumb even to several culture bombs.)
Research
4000bc Mining, Mysticism (starting)
3600bc Hunting
3280bc The Wheel (hut)
3200bc Masonry
2680bc Polytheism
2440bc Priesthood
2000bc Writing
1960bc Alphabet (The Oracle)
1960bc Animal Husbandry, Archery, Agriculture, Fishing (trade)
1920bc Bronze Working, Pottery (trade)
1560bc Monotheism
1480bc Iron Working (trade)
1240bc Meditation (trade)
1160bc Theology (Moses)
925bc Literature
875bc Sailing (trade)
500bc Monarchy (trade)
475bc Mathematics (trade)
After Literature, we put science on hold, waiting for Library, Monastery and Academy, partly to improve our canches to trade for tech as well. Part of the money was used to upgrade our starting Warrior to Axeman (Woodsman II, Combat I).
Great People (all in Delhi)
1200bc Moses (prophet), discovered Theology
450bc Homer (artist), joined Bangalore in 175bc
25bc Plato (scientist), Academy in Delhi
Contacts
3920bc Greece
3320bc England
3040bc Arabia
3000bc France
1880bc Egypt
825bc Spain (by Work Boat)
Towns
3840bc Delhi (2 marble, deer, wheat)
1320bc Bombay (iron, cow, banana, dye)
475bc Madras (horse, copper)
175bc Bangalore (iron, fish, 2 clam, deer, cow)
1ad Calcutta (copper, fish, deer, silver, fur)
Delhi
3840bc founded
3680bc expands (2)
3560bc =2
3080bc Fast Worker
2840bc =3
2800bc Warrior
2480bc =4
2320bc Stonehenge
2240bc expands (3)
2000bc The Oracle (Alphabet)
1960bc Warrior
1720bc Fast Worker
1400bc Settler
1280bc Fast Worker, expands (4)
1200bc Moses (Theology)
1160bc Archer
1120bc =5
900bc The Parthenon
825bc Archer
775bc Granary
750bc =6
675bc Christian Temple
525bc Settler
450bc Homer (to join Bangalore)
375bc =7
350bc Library
200bc The Great Library
100bc National Epic
25bc Christian Monastery, Plato: Academy
Bombay
1320bc founded
1160bc Christianity, expands (2)
1000bc =2, Work Boat
875bc Barracks
800bc Archer
725bc expands (3)
650bc Granary
625bc =3
575bc Archer
500bc Work Boat
425bc Archer
400bc =4
275bc Settler
225bc Work Boat
100bc Settler
25bc Christian Missionary
Madras
475bc founded
275bc Fast Worker
250bc expands (2)
75bc =2
Bangalore
175bc founded, expands (2)
50bc =2
Calcutta
1ad founded
Playing sessions: 10
I didn't expect to get one of the early religions and it turns out that indeed there was no chance. The AI got them very quickly:
3640bc Buddhism
3400bc Hinduism
2480bc Judaism
From what I read in the reports, the AI's seem to avoid any research that the player has already started, regardless of the fact that they haven't met the player yet.
So perhaps I missed my chance because I didn't settle on turn one.
I didn't??
Nope. The location itself looked nice enough, but:
- the lack of luxuries meant that the enormous growth potential would go to waste for quite some time - unless one would grab several of the early religions, of course;
- there was no big forest to chop;
- it seemed to be less than central, near the south 'pole' and in a corner of the continent, so unless we would start by building a settler before anything else, there would be a good chance of getting hemmed in on emperor.
So all in all, I would have to rely on luck too much and if that was the case, I might as well gamble on something more consistent: an alternative starting spot inland.
As it went we found ourself a good spot with deer and marble one tile west of the river, in a thick forest. This would ensure our claim to the land e/se that we left behind. Later it appeared that we just missed the copper but we got the wheat in return.
City-wise, the plan was to found a coastal town nearby, have that build 3 Work Boats while Fast Workers build a long road, and only then settle back on the starting tile. But before that, we aimed to get all the marble wonders and race to Alphabet and a religion before empire size would hamper research.
Our initial Warrior continued exploring almost straight north-west towards the centre of the map. He found a hut and popped it for a Scout, which in turn found another hut and popped it right before the competition would, for my first hut tech ever: The Wheel, which made us quite happy (although it does not compare to Bronze Working or Writing, of course). During the course of the bc years we had a lot of trouble finding enough animals and barbs to nurse him up to 10 experience, but we managed.
The scout went on exploring and found everyone on the continent. After signing Open Borders with all, he met Egypt as well across the water, before he was killed by a barbarian Warrior (our only other loss so far was a forest-fortified Archer which died to a barb Archer ...). Finally, Spain (lots of gold tiles!) was discovered by a Work Boat.
It is now 1AD, we are in third place but the potential to grow is enormous, with 37GP points a turn already. We have plenty of room for now but are starting to look at nearby Greece. Culture pressure is on Athens but it won't flip, of course (in a test game, I once looked for a 100 turns at a zero-culture, one-tile town in the middle of my empire that didn't succumb even to several culture bombs.)
Research
4000bc Mining, Mysticism (starting)
3600bc Hunting
3280bc The Wheel (hut)
3200bc Masonry
2680bc Polytheism
2440bc Priesthood
2000bc Writing
1960bc Alphabet (The Oracle)
1960bc Animal Husbandry, Archery, Agriculture, Fishing (trade)
1920bc Bronze Working, Pottery (trade)
1560bc Monotheism
1480bc Iron Working (trade)
1240bc Meditation (trade)
1160bc Theology (Moses)
925bc Literature
875bc Sailing (trade)
500bc Monarchy (trade)
475bc Mathematics (trade)
After Literature, we put science on hold, waiting for Library, Monastery and Academy, partly to improve our canches to trade for tech as well. Part of the money was used to upgrade our starting Warrior to Axeman (Woodsman II, Combat I).
Great People (all in Delhi)
1200bc Moses (prophet), discovered Theology
450bc Homer (artist), joined Bangalore in 175bc
25bc Plato (scientist), Academy in Delhi
Contacts
3920bc Greece
3320bc England
3040bc Arabia
3000bc France
1880bc Egypt
825bc Spain (by Work Boat)
Towns
3840bc Delhi (2 marble, deer, wheat)
1320bc Bombay (iron, cow, banana, dye)
475bc Madras (horse, copper)
175bc Bangalore (iron, fish, 2 clam, deer, cow)
1ad Calcutta (copper, fish, deer, silver, fur)
Delhi
3840bc founded
3680bc expands (2)
3560bc =2
3080bc Fast Worker
2840bc =3
2800bc Warrior
2480bc =4
2320bc Stonehenge
2240bc expands (3)
2000bc The Oracle (Alphabet)
1960bc Warrior
1720bc Fast Worker
1400bc Settler
1280bc Fast Worker, expands (4)
1200bc Moses (Theology)
1160bc Archer
1120bc =5
900bc The Parthenon
825bc Archer
775bc Granary
750bc =6
675bc Christian Temple
525bc Settler
450bc Homer (to join Bangalore)
375bc =7
350bc Library
200bc The Great Library
100bc National Epic
25bc Christian Monastery, Plato: Academy
Bombay
1320bc founded
1160bc Christianity, expands (2)
1000bc =2, Work Boat
875bc Barracks
800bc Archer
725bc expands (3)
650bc Granary
625bc =3
575bc Archer
500bc Work Boat
425bc Archer
400bc =4
275bc Settler
225bc Work Boat
100bc Settler
25bc Christian Missionary
Madras
475bc founded
275bc Fast Worker
250bc expands (2)
75bc =2
Bangalore
175bc founded, expands (2)
50bc =2
Calcutta
1ad founded
Playing sessions: 10
