GOTM 152 Spoiler

[Inkerman]

I have just mentioned in the game thread that I will be trying EC (Early Conquest) for this game. The aim is to conquer as quickly as possible.

We have map analysis thanks to Ali:

Resource seed is 3 or 35. There are two specials hidden by grass within the visible area. One tile over NE is a 4 special location but it is on a hill and with only 1 settler not a great choice. Home continent is number 1 so black clicking is useless.

Not knowing who is in the game (none as of the start), or even how many rivals there are, gives us no clue as to how many key civ holes there are.

If I were to play OCC (have not decided yet and will not for quite sometime), I would tip the hut and then go explore the river for a better spot with ocean access.

The uncertainty over the AI competition is important to OCC and spaceship plans, but not so important to EC. Planting trees to reveal specials may or may not be relevant later, but for now I do not worry. Of course I want to get my city as soon as possible, and being near some river is good. But the hut is tempting - a NON military unit to explore would be nice - and I judge it worth trying for that although it will mean two turns of moving. The basic approach is to build cities, head for monarchy (I am never sure what off-path technology to take en route), and explore as much as possible.

4000- Hut:25g.
We notice the Spanish are in.
3950- Go west to ensure can place worker on forest, in case want size 1 settler (with the money to help.) It will mean delaying discoveries?
3900- Found Berlin (44,54). Start on CB.
(Note that Berlin is built on one of the specials hidden by grassland, so it will not be everyone's choice.)

3850- RB warrior, switch to settler.
......
3450- Discover CB -> Alphabet.
3400-
3350- Complete settler, who moves along river.
3300- Settler moves further along river.
3250- Found Leipzig (48,50).
3200-
3150- RB warrior Berlin.
3100- Warrior moves - this is a mountainous place. We are by a small lake, in mountains.
3050- Discover Alphabet -> Writing. Still same 5 cities on top cities list, but we are 6th on some measure in demographics.
3000- Hut: 50g. Warrior Leipzig moves north - find a whales in lake.

Another lake is east of Leipzig. The ocean is either side of a 2 space wide "neck" hills/mountains SW of Berlin.

2950- PRB Leipzig.
2900- Delhi visible in leading cities list confirming Purple is in as seemed likely.
2850- Hut(54,48): nomads! - a stroke of luck - they go south.
2800-
2750-
2700-
2650- Discover Writing -> CoL. Nomads found Hamburg (54,56) - a coastal site, but nothing special.
2600-
2550- Berlin settlers.
2500- Leipzig settlers.

2450- Found Konigsberg (47,53).
2400- Hut: mercenary archers supported from Hamburg.
2350-
2300- Discover CoL -> Monarchy. Found Frankfurt (41,47).
2250-
2200- Hut: mercenary chariot supported from Hamburg.
2150- Rehome chariot to Konigsberg.
2100-
2050- Leipzig warriors are “near Bombay”!
2000-

1950- Discover Monarchy -> MM (5/66). Find Bombay and meet Indians - Peace, give Alphabet, no tribute.
We are Supreme.
1900- Give CB to Indians. Revolution.
1850- Become Monarchy. Hut:chariot. Meet Russians, quite near Berlin - peace.
1800- Attack Russian chariot, as it has cut us off from Berlin.
1750- Attack Russian archer. Hut: it is Munich (51,71). Found Heidelburg (46,44). Hut: nomads.
1700- Give CB to Russians, get Peace. Give Writing to Indians - they have Masonry.
Find Delhi.
1650- Discover MapMaking -> HBR. (3/77). Give MM to Indians, see a Zulu warrior to north. Hut: it is Nuremberg (57,73).
1600- Nomads found Cologne(56,42).
1550-
1500-

Stats.
pop: 10; cities: 9; techs: 6, gold: 57; Monarchy. No trade routes. cost/turn: 0.
units: 4 settler, 5 warrior, 1 archer, 2 chariot.

The last three huts - two cities and one nomad, have been kind. Everything in view so far is continent 1, but there is planty of ocean too. Indians are to our east, Russians to our west, on the same continent.

 

[Major Advantage]

I played most part of the game during the olympics and thus have adapted the spirit to play as peacefully as possible. No conquest, no bribing cites, just some self-defense.

The early game was played rather badly in terms of city sites, warrior code from a hut delayed monarchy until -825.

-4000 Archer from hut
-3650 Berlin founded @42,60
-3600 Research Alph
-3250 supported Archer from hut
-3050 empty hut
-2800 Nomads
-2750 Leipzig founded from nomads
-2700 Another empty hut
-2500 Burial->Bronze
-2400 Meet russians, peace, no tech trade offer, get 50g tribute
-2300 Hamburg founded
-2050 Warrior code from hut...

Stats at -1950
pop.: 70k; Cities: 3; techs: 3; gold: 27; Gov.: Desp; wonders: -; TR: 0D/0F
units: 1 warrior, 3 archer

-1850 This map is terrible, only one continent, lots of hills and mountains, possible SSC-site at 31,55 (gold, 2*wine, fish, not much for growth though)
-1800 Bronze->Laws
-1500 Königsberg founded, none-horse from hut, horse meets spanish, peace, 100g tribute, no techs
-1350 Kiel founded at SSC-site, München founded
-1300 hut: AT(Heidelberg)
-1250 Laws->Mapmaking
-1200 Russian sneak attack my Archer they had trapped for centuries, but lose
-1150 Sign peace with Russia
-1050 50g + currency from huts; mapmaking from Spain

Stats at -1000
pop.: 110k; Cities: 7; techs: 7; gold: 77; Gov.: Desp; wonders: -; TR: 0D/0F
units: 2 settler, 1 warrior, 3 archer, 1 horse

 

[Peaster]

I agree with the Major that this map is terrible. Meaning it is hard to grow fast, overseas trade looks unlikely, etc. Though if you like such challenges, you might call it a good map. I am playing fairly quickly, and not too well, I guess, but I have also had pretty bad hut luck:

100g (good!), Arc, weeds, 50g, Arc, 50g, barbs, barbs, barbs, nomads, construction (mostly bad).

I will post a log soon, but will say that Inkerman seems to be about 300 years ahead of me at the end of his post. I am now at approx 500 BC with 21 cities, HG+MPE. One redeeming feature of this map is that tribute is pretty easy. I have not conquered anything yet, but now have barracks and a few ellies in motion, maybe a few targets. I see that restarts are on ... it is a clear sign of rust that it took me so long to notice this. But I have not decided whether to play for EC or just for conquest so this isn't too important yet.

 

[Inkerman]

The Major's comment about SSC site (in my game the place suggested is in Russia!), suggests a spaceship goal. I have gone for quite a dense packing of cities around the starting location, with little thought to more than a few workers for each. I will report my log to the same date: I have many more cities but perhaps not so well-placed. With so much being continent 1 an offshore island would be best for trade, and I have yet to find anything in 1000BC.

I agree Peaster's hut luck is not at all lucky. So that and "rust" has helped give me a 6-turn or so "start", but unless the rust is resolute I think a map of this size with restarts=on will put a lot more turns in play! Meanwhile I note from early thoughts we will see a different order of techs, and Wonders too, when the time comes to report on them. Also, that my experience with getting tribute was not so positive - I probably don't ask enough, being lazy and fearing being given a tech I don't want, or maybe it's the way I ask

1450-
1400- Discover HBR -> Polytheism. Hut: Barbs.
1350- Found Hannover (48,56), Bremen (44,48). Hut: Chariot (Non) - explore unit is nr Toledo. RB vs barbs takes us down to 1g.
1300-
Indians brag about pottery.
1250- Bribe barb horse using 41 of our 45g.
1200-
1150-
1100- Meet Spanish(5) - finding Toledo. Decline BW (they want MM.) Agree peace.
1050- Discover Polytheism -> BW. Finish finding the pheasant by Konigsberg.
1000- Hut: It is Stuttgart (48,20).

Stats.
pop: 20; cities: 12; techs: 8, gold: 59; Monarchy, trade routes: 0D0F; cost/turn:0
units: 4 settler, 5 warrior, 1 archer, 2 horse, 2 chariot, 1 dip.
wonders: None. Supreme and Honourable.

 

[Inkerman]

The discovery of trade is the next target.

975- Swap MM to Spanish for BW.
950- Start on Currency. Hut: Literacy. Give BW to Indians, swap maps.
Chinese capital moved to Canton.
925-
Russians kill a warrior.
900- Found Bonn (53,53). I do not expect this place to grow very much!
875- Discover Currency -> Masonry. Swap Polytheism to Indians for Masonry.
850- Start on Trade. Found Salzburg (54,74).
Zulu capital moved to Bapedi.
825- There's space for another city in our start area: Found Dortmund (45,51).
800- Found Brandenburg to the north, and Hansa, Gelsen, Nubbe, to the south.
775-
750-

725- Discover Trade -> Construction. Found Istwo (on land#2), Lake26 (61,51).
Chinese start Pyramids. Reduce science. Build some vans.
700-
675-
650- Found Isby (on land#2.)
625-
Spanish kill an Indian warrior explorer.
600-
Ele (on a mountain) lost to Russian attack.
575- Attack Spanish. Bribe Salamanca for 128g (30g back.) Take WC.
550- Found Potsdam. Signs of unrest in size 3 city.
Ele lost vs Spanish.
525- Raze Spanish Valencia. Meet Zulus - get 75g. Indians decline tribute. Found Pola. More unrest.
500- Found Stettin.

Stats.
pop: 42; cities: 26; techs: 14, gold: 196; Monarchy, trade routes: 0D0F; cost/turn: 0
units: 4 settler, 5 warrior, 2 archer, 2 horse, 2 chariot, 4 ele, 4 trireme, 1 dip, 2 vans.
wonders: None. Supreme and Dishonourable.

Footprint:
Berlin and 10 other cities in and around the start area.
2 cities further east on our side of lake 26.
5 cities across the sea to the north (but still continent 1) in conflict with Spanish.
2 cities on island 2.
6 cities across the sea to the south (but still continent 1)
Some exploring SW from Berlin in conflict with Russians.
Map swapped with Indians who are much further to the east (we have no presence there) and that shows continental lands beyond lake 26 where the Zulus will be found.
No indication where Chinese are yet.

We have trade so we can build some wonders; the AI has only started Pyramids so far. At King level, and it having gone OK so far, we can be quite ambitious as to which ones to take. Will definitely want HG because unrest is already costing, and MPE so that we can get maps and to assist managing re-spawns later on. Sun Tzu is less costly than building barracks, and when new small cities are built near AI it makes their first rushed unit vet. I find it tempting to compete for Pyramids too.

 

[Peaster]

4000 - Popped a hut for 100g, founded Berlin on grass, RB'd a Settler asap using the Size 1 trick.
I'll play for conquest as usual, but probably not as a perfectionist this time, no map analysis, very little black-clicking, etc.
3000 - Have 2 cities, Archer, warrior, 41g, cb --> bw.
2600 - bw --> c.l, some "nearest city info" about Russian and Zulus. 4 cities.
2000 - Still 4 cities, but have 4 settlers, poor hut luck but have a 2nd Archer, will disband one.
1800 - 7 cities, monarchy --> curr, lost warrior to hut.barbs, but then they harrass the Zulus.
1650 - Govt = Monarchy, 8 cities.
1400 - begin roads.
1200 - Had to grovel for peace with the Russians, and accepted warrior code from them, because my position with them was weak. Unhappy with the slow science rate, I raised it from 30% to 70%, to get Trade, MPE, etc.
1050 - Curr --> Trade, 11 cities.

1000BC: 12 cities, monarchy, pop 180K, 43g, 7adv, 5S+1A, peace with Russia. I am a bit frustrated with the slow pace of my game (see posts above). Possibly, I should have researched map making earlier, to expand to better terrain, but I was planning to get that through Trade / MPE and was uncertain about the value of LH on this map, where almost every tile is a "1".

925 - Trade, 14 cities.
675 - MPE ---> +4 adv's, 4 maps, just a little trouble with icy Chinese, 17 cities. It is now clear that overseas trade will not play a role here, but I do gather roughly 1000g in tribute over the next 10 turns (after building a small army).
575 - Peace w India because of exposed German outposts. Poly --> Maps. I probably started on a few barracks about this time.

500BC: 21 cities, monarchy, pop 520K, WoWs = MPE (+ HG in 475BC), 12 advs, War with Ru+Zu. 4S, 2w, 2tri. Have a decent road network. The Russians kill a gone-too-far German Settler this turn.

Rough plan = Growth + tribute until conquest seems possible. I can probably start on the Russians and Zulus or Indians by about 250BC. I need more triremes to explore the coastlines and to expand, a few scattered barracks, elephants, maybe some canal cities. With restarts ON and no hope for Big Trade, I expect a fairly slow colonization of the map with a conquest date around 500AD. To do it any faster will require a plan to reach China quickly, maybe including LH, or canals, or finding a good sea route. It is still unclear which parts of the map must be covered vs respawns.

 

[Inkerman]

Yes so comparing the games at 500BC I have a few more cities and techs, but no wonders and less information about the map. I can only dream of 1000g from tribute in the next period...

475-
450- Discover Construction -> Feudalism.
425- Konigsberg builds Pyramids. Chinese change to GL. Found Narina.
400-
375-
350- Swap Construction to Indians(1) to get Pottery.
325- Leipzig builds Hanging Gardens.
Van, Gelsen-Istwo, Silk, for 84g.
300- Found Looe. Make peace with Zulus(4), they withdraw and give 75g.
Ask Indians(2) - get 75g.
275-
250- Discover Feudalism -> Chivalry.
Van, Hannover-Isby, Wool, for 40g.

225-
200- Capture Toledo from Spanish(5), taking 26g and Iron. Agree ceasefire for 37g. Found Osterley, on Island 11.
175- Konigsberg completes Sun Tzu War Academy.
150- Van, Isby-Munich, Hides, for 72g.
Barbs land by Cologne.
125- Being aware that next tech is 19th, so no demanding tribute or hut pops, or we might have to wait quite a while longer for chivalry.
Population decrease Cologne.
100- Attack Spanish again - not good for our reputation. Destroy Toledo. Fumble vans.
Exploring ship/dip finds StPetersburg. Tweak tax to get discovery next turn.
75- Discover Chivalry -> Seafaring. Found Nock, Hacanal.
50- Konigsberg completes Marco Polo Embassy.

Russians: (3) Receptive, Ceasefire. 4 cities, 5 techs.
Zulus: (5) Unco-op, Peace. 6 cities, 7 techs.
Germans: () Us - 33 cities, 19 techs.
Spanish: (1) Unco-operative, War. 3 cities, 7 techs.
Chinese: (4) Unco-operative. 3 cities, 11 techs.
Indians: (2) Cordial, Peace. 4 cities, 10 techs.

Peace with Chinese, give Construction, Pottery, MM, swap maps.
Give Construction, Literacy, BW, WC to Zulus, swap maps.
Give MM to Russians, they refuse peace, but swap maps.
As turn goes on we hear our ceasefire with the Russians has expired.
Give Literacy to Indians, swap maps.

Pop hut on island 10 off StPetersburg - it is Stan.
Capture Seville from Spanish, with 40g.
Found Bergen.
In inter-turn agree peace with Spanish and give Construction and Literacy, no map swap.

25-
Chinese become Republic.
1AD - Found StIves.
Sweep for tribute, except Spanish. Russians - war. Zulus- 75g. Chinese- ignore. Indians - ignore.

Stats:
pop: 93 (1.88m); cities: 36; techs: 19, gold: 579; Monarchy, trade routes: 3D; cost/turn: 0
units: 9 settler, 19 warrior, 3 phalanx, 4 archer, 2 horse, 2 chariot, 10 ele, 8 knights, 8 trireme, 3 dip, 11 vans.
wonders: Pyramids, HG, Sun Tzu, MPE. Supreme and Poor.

We are maximising tax now and have some trade revenue on the way too - this needs to go into ships and troops in the right places. We have made good progress against the Spanish, and it looks like they do not have a lot left, but the others are both numerous and a fair way away. And then there is the question of re-spawns - rather a lot of the world is still out of view, so I envisage we will need to go to places we can't yet see too.

The furthest AI city at the moment is a Zulu one - it is about 15 turns away. I may be able to get the nearer cities of their six by land, but it will be ships for their heartland. I will need to build against the Russians, Chinese and Indians at the same time. The scale of forces needed compared to resources suggests PRB to the 20-pt and 30-pt marks, with city shields for the start and end of units. Fortunately we do have quite a lot of shields with all these forests, and the odd mine too. Pyramids have helped with workers too, but not all are happy.

 

[Peaster]

Log from 500BC...

450 - China upgrades to "uncoop" so we make peace, etc, and swap maps and we get +50g tribute. We have 3 barracks now.
425 - Spanish want war (and Russians too, next turn). Tech trades with China: mas+wri.
300 - 27 cities, 400g mostly from tribute, 6 eles, 14S
250 - ele's and an archer take Moscow, mys --> lit. We take or raze the Zulu capitol (my notes on vague on this. Anyway, the Zulus build a new capitol before I can take advantage). 31 cities, and am starting to spread out more, but not to the East, which is controlled by India + Zulus.
175 - Bribe St Pete for 29g, hut = seaf, 37 cities. No notes for a while...
25 - Lit(?) ---> Phil

1AD: 40 cities, pop 1.1M, 112g, monarchy, 19adv @Phil, WoWs = HG, MPE, Pyr (with LH coming in 40AD). 3 barracks. War: Ru, Zu, Sp. Peace: Ind, Chi. 7S, 14ele, 10tri, 2dip, 5vans, 2exp, a few misc. We have lost approx 6 ele's in combat, a rather bad stat. No van trade yet, but a few island colonies may do so soon.

It looks like Inkerman is still ahead of me by at least a few turns, with more gold and units, especially vans (4 of my 5 are going into LH). But it might be close. I have a few more cities, but smaller ones, and mine are rioting rather badly. His Spain is sinking, while my Russia is sinking. I can't touch China yet, but do have a slow plan in motion. I may have a shot at Madrid or Calcutta soon, but do not dominate either of those civs yet. I expect Phil + Mono soon, allowing crusaders. His STWA is an edge, but I'm not sure how much.

 

[Major Advantage]

Right now I am in the middle of the unspectacular post-launch turns after we launched in 1x00.

Next part:
-925 Meet indians, peace, alliance, map exchange; Nürnberg, Kön founded
-900 Monarchy->Writ.;
-875 Hannover founded
-850 Revolution
-825 become Monarchy
-775 Msaonry from hut, meet Zulus, peace, 150g tribute
-750 Bremen founded, pottery from hut, get myst. from India
-700 Stuttgart founded
-675 Russia demands 50g, refuse, they declare war
-650 Writing->Trade
-625 Peace again with Russia
-550 Bonn founded
-525 Get trade from hut
(Russian sneak attack, kill a settler outside Köln
-500 Research Literacy

Stats at -500
pop.: 250k; Cities: 13; techs: 13; gold: 68; Gov.: Mon; wonders: -; TR: 0D/0F
units: 8 settler, 1 warrior, 3 archer, 1 horse

-475 Russians refuse to talk and we have hardly cared about defenses; Dortmund, Salzburg founded
(München destroyed by Russian horse)
-450 Liter.->Republic; bribe russian horse for 55g; Brandenburg (helper and station city for Kiel) founded
-425 Frankfurt founded; Russian Smolensk razed for 20g
-400 Indians gift HBR
-375 Oldenburg founded, Archer from hut, 50g from Zulu
-275 Cuxhaven founded, 1 van heading for Moskau
-250 Philosophy from hut! Where is my bonus though?
-225 Republic(There it is, box was only half full) -> Math
-200 1st delivery: wool(u) Kiel->Moskau only 22g, guess we need to grow some more
-175 Nomads from hut somewhere in the north
-125 Flensburg founded north of Kiel
-100 gift some techs, get 50g tribute from Russia, 100 from Spain
-75 Math->Medicine; could build Colossus next turn but want to check out cont.#2 before; Kassel founded from northern nomads

stats at 1 AD
pop.: 580k; Cities: 20; techs: 18; gold: 159; Gov.: Mon; wonders: -; TR: 0D/1F
units: 15 settler, 5 phalanx, 1 warrior, 4 archer, 1 horse, 1 dip, 1 boat, 9 vans
Goal: Build SSC on island 2, let Kiel be HTC(high-trade-city)

So I am slightly behind in techs, far behind in population, cities and wonders. You might/could have considered to change plans and go for landing instead of conquest.

 

[Inkerman]

You might/could have considered to change plans and go for landing instead of conquest.

That reference to a recent spoiler made me smile, but I too have realised how hard it is to get larger trade bonuses, and I am enjoying comparing my EC progress with that of Peaster...

I notice from the AD1 stats that I have fewer triremes at that point in the game - 8 vs 10 is not a big difference perhaps, but it might show that I am a shade behind in the matter of planning what is going where. I find it very difficult to get enough ships in the right place, with suitable passenger lists from army/dip/settler/van.

Here's my log to AD300. Most of the deliveries are domestic, to/from islands. I have stopped noting new cities.

20- We find Barcelona.
Van, Leipzig-Osterley, Wine, for 60g.
Van, Franfurt-Osterley, Hides, for 60g.
40- Van, Istwo-Munich, Hides, for 88g.
Van, Isby-Salzburg, Beads, for 84g.
Indians capture Mpondo from Zulus, taking Mysticism.
60-
Pirates land near Stan.
80- Discover Seafaring-> Mysticism. (1/546). Found Brisbane on island 13 as base vs Indians/Zulus.
Van, Hannover-Isby, Silk, for 102g.
Pop hut by Isby - legion.
Spanish reveal Madrid. Zulus declare war when we refuse to withdraw.
100-Swap Iron to Indians(3) to get Mysticism.
Van, Munich-Brandenburg, Dye, for 40g.
Destroy Zulu Intombe.
Bribe barb legion for 82g.
Chinese develop Banking.

120- Start on Philosophy. Konigsberg builds Lighthouse.
Found ports in Spain against China.
Hut(island 15): nomads.
Two knights land on mountain by Moscow.
140- Van, Nuremberg-Istwo, Wool, for 84g.
Van, Nubbe-Isby, Wool, for 72g.
100g from Chinese(4), 50g from Indians(3).
Remove defenders of Moscow.
Zulus develop Polytheism.
160- First building - a temple in Gelsen.
Destroy Moscow. Bribe Minsk for 138g, taking 54g. Bribe StPetersburg for 330g, taking 113g, and a barracks, which we sell.
180- We now have 16 ships, some carrying knights to China and Zululand.
Hut(68,18): Wheel - doh, but it was where we wanted to settle.
May have miscounted science slightly - but anyway set lux to 30 and science to 70 and put workers differently, to max science.
200- Discover Philosophy -> Monotheism -> BB.
Bribe Kiev for 183g, getting 120g back. It has a barracks. Russians out, Romans in.

220- Land invasion captures Zulu Isandhlwana, with barracks, which we sell. We lost a knight.
240- Give Romans 5 techs for map. They are in the north-west, north of where Russians were. We have one city that way but it is not near.
Give Philosophy and Wheel to Indians, swap maps, get 50g.
Rush dip and explorer in advanced cities.
260- Ships are in position - more attacks. Also pile vans into Michaelangelo Chapel construction.
Van, Cologne-Brisbane, Hides, for 60g. Better to have sent a unit.
Attack Indians, knight lost, but other forces raze Delhi the capital.
Attack Chinese, Beijing falls, we take Banking. It has a marketplace. Knight attacks Shanghai, and Ele takes it with Republic.
Bottle out of attack on Zulu capital Bapedi as it has walls (it's always had them, I should have noticed) - we only have 2 knights and 1 ele, and it likely has 2 defenders. More troops are 4 turns away.
Knight lost in Indian counterattack.
280- Konigsberg builds Michaelangelo's Chapel.
Destroy Chinese Canton. Destroy Indian Mpondo. Ele lost in India.
300- Bottle out of bribing Zulu Hlobane (size 3) for 339g using dip built in Isandhlwana, and capture it instead. It only had an archer defense.

It is a question of forces in the right place, despite now 19 ships. The re-spawn area is unexplored, although we do have some ships on the way, and we have more forces racing to the Zulu and Indian lands but it will take time. We do not have forces for the Spanish now (they went for the Chinese or are on their way to the re-spawn area) but we should be able to build some quickly as we have some cities nearby.

AI cities now:
Roman - 1; Zulus - 4; Spanish - 2; Chinese - 1; Indians - 4.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

Well, at least I made it. Reasearch may as well have been random... i really don't remember the best way to attack that. This would have been even more costly if i wasn't going from conquest.

Also had too much gold in the treasury for much of the game. Should have been more aggressive with purchases/settlers, etc.

Things started coming back to me as the game went on. Still not even close to where i used to be, but it was fun just to play one out.

BC 4000 Hut - Horse
3900 Berlin founded (44,54) on river
3850 Start Cer Burial
3700 tax 60g/40s
3600 Cer Burial ->alphabet
- - hut (40,52) - 25g
3350 size 2
- - hut (38,58) - 50g
3150 settler
3050 Leipzig founded at ne end of river
2950 Alphabet ->Masonry (god, I don't remember what to do!)
2800 hut (22,48) Scroll Mysticism
2400 Masonry -> HB Riding
2300 Hut (54,48) horse (leipzig)
1950 Hut 59,39 chariot (none)
- - Hamburg founded
1950 meet Russians, exchange cer bur for pottery. They demand myst (no). Peace
1750 Chinese start pyramids
- - Koenigsberg founded
1650 Hut HB Riding
- - ->Code of laws
1600 Hut archers near kiev (non)
1550 Indians, give cer bur for alliance
1400 Spain, peace, noalliance
1350 AT Frankfurt way on far side of kiev
1250 Code of laws ->Monarchy
1000 Indians want me to declare war with zulus, whom I've never met. Sure why not
- - Munich


6 Cities, 9 citizens
Russia: Peace, India: Alliance, Spanish: Peace. Shadow war with Zulus.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

975 Talk to indians, who get uppity, I don't give them anything, they cancel alliance. Horsey sent back to leipzig
900 Heidelburg
875 8,32 nomads
825 Nuremberg
775 Cologne founded out on frontier near frankfurt
750 Monarchy -> Poly REVOLUTION
- - oops, guess I got the year wrong.
725 Monarchy kicks in
700 Hanover
675 barbs on the E. frontier
- - Russians move towards Nuremberg, they want 50g, I say no. War. Horseman kills encroaching horse
- - Horse in west kills russian warrior too
650 hut (13,43) nomads
- - Russians are about to take nuremberg, so talk - cease fire, peace, troops withdrawn
- - More barbs in west
600 Other barbs move in on the east
- - Bremen founded in the west
- - kill barb horsey near hannover
575 Polytheism -> bronze
550 switch several productions to elephants
525 indians, spain - won't exchange
- - russians want 590 g for bronze. Um..NFW
500 2 barb chariots attack settler conveniently placed on mountain. Both fail
475 Zulus spotted. Undefended core cities in range of them, so we send a settler to talk. Cease Fire. Peace. No alliance
450 chinese nearly complete pyramid. Hmm...could rush, but we don't want pyramid that bad, so switch to HG
425 chinese build pyramids, change to GL
- - Stuttgart
- - Bonn
400 barbs near stuttgart
- - Bronze -> currency
- - Salzburg
350 Dortmund
- - Brandenburg
- - Naples
325 chinese change GL to Colossus
300 barb horse attacks stuttgarg, archer barely survives
- - indians Map Making.
250 first boat
- - spanish don't want to give tribute, declare war.
- - indians Currency
225 -> Trade
200 indians want us to declare war on zulus again. We decline
- - Trade -> writing
- - spain cease fire, peace
- - russians declare war.
175 Berlin first van
- - Issus
- - Barb leader killed 100g
150 Russians: wheel, No scribes
- - indians - war
125 Hanging Gardens
- - Cunaxa
100 Cremona
- - india cease fire, peace
- - spain war
75 Cannae
- - Capua
- - Spain - cease fire, peace w/d troops
50 See barbs briefly
- - Writing -> Literacy
25 zulus start some wonder…
- - elephants find valencia unguarded. We try to incite war, but no luck. We forego reputation and sack/raze it. 9g plundered + Literacy (also have war code)
- - spain wants 100g to end war. Nope.
1 spain talks-they have iron working… no scribes…
- - russian chariot kills settler. Oops
- - Start -> Philosophy
- - kill russian arch in kiev, but don't take city

22 cities, 38 citizens (pop 580k). War with Russia, spain. Peace with india, china, zulus
10 settlers, 3 warriors, 8 elephants, 2 triremes, 2 camels, 1 archer, 1 horse.
We have Hanging Gardens, Chinese have Pyramids

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

20 chinese nearly complete colossus
- - take kiev (raze). Get The wheel :Shrug:
- - russia wants to chat cease fire, peace
- - Turin
40 Beijing colossus
- - spain and barbs show up near northern settlements
- - kill barb horse. Can't get to barb leader due to stupid zoc from spanish warrior
- - hut (53,65) supported legion
60 russians - ask for tribute, get war. Kill roaming warrior near cologne, warrior that was near site of kiev
80 spanish warrior dies against the shovel of our mighty settler
- - Philosophy -> Golden Age -> Monotheism -> Republic
- - Genoa
- - Crete
- - Verona
100 Salamis
- - Hut 51,71 AT Lisbon in deep south peninsula
120 New Kiev founded on site of the old one.
140 Prague North of New Kiev. Spot nearby russian warrior so ask them to withdraw troops.
160 Mike's
180 2 hut 50g
- - Salzburg
- - attack cordoba kill phalanx, settler (razed)
240 pop > 1m
260 hut 50g
- - Bergen
280 Republic -> Math (damn I really don't remember what to research. I'm all over the place) no revolution
- - Dortmund beads to seville (demand) only 84g
- - take seville (raze) 21g plundered, Take iron working over war code
- - meet spanish near madrid, they want cease fire. Nah
- - Venice
- - Milan
300 barbs near crete
- - Russians war.
- - kill warrior in minsk, take city (raze) 5g plunder,
- - lose a boat because I can't count to 3
320 kill archer, phalanx in Madrid, capture city(sz1), 49g plundered, must take Warrior Code. Has a barracks
- - ack notice russians w/in range of empty salzburg. No defenders can reach
340 russians take salzburg 16g plundered + map making. I f***** lost a city to the AI?!?!
- - kill russian settler to allow movement near moscow
- - Ghent
- - Pisa
360 Wipe moscow off the map. It seems the russians got even worse land than us.
- - Liberate now smaller salzburg from the russians
- - attack, capture Toledo(sz2), 89g plundered, Spanish destroyed
- - Dublin on shores of lake 2
380 Toronto
- - indians want war
- - Melbourne
400 locate isandhlwana which is size1 and empty. Not far from Bombay
- - Indian peace. give indians lots of techs, get them to cordial but still won't exchange maps
- - Sydney
- - Chinese give us Construction.
420 barb boat appears at prague
- - take measures to deal with barbs near prague (block landing except on 2move spot, bring in reinforcements)
- - Zulus want war…isandlwana razed 1g plundered
- - Finally find boats that are "close to" chinese cities
- - Next city wants to be Berlin again so we call it Doppelganger
- - Achtung founded
- - cease fire and peace with zulus
440 Barbs land near prague (only saw 1 legion)
- - Zulus change from lighthouse to oracle as we complete Lighthouse
- - Revolt in St. Petersburg for 171g, 34g plundered.city is size 2 with whale, buffalo, barrack, mines, phalanx, warrior
- - indians want war again.
460 Peace with indians again
- - hut scroll Engineering.
- - Poltergeist founded
- - Hinterland founded
480 barbs near bonn
- - Angst founded
500 Tsingtao located

48 cities, 98 citizens (Pop 1.74M), War with russia, peace with china, india zulus. Spain gone
19 settlers, 22 Crusaders, 9 elephants, 13 trireme, 7 camels, 1 dip, sundried others
HG, Lighthouse, Mike's
Chinese have pyramids, Colossus

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

520 Math -> Invention
- - Zwei founded on lake #2 of course
- - Finally realize where smolensk must be. Not where I was looking.
540 Chinese warn me to move elephant, then move a horseman in to block my path out. Morons
- - Barbs land in china
- - spend almost entire treasury to incite Smolensk. 40g plunder, barracks, phalanx size 2 (about to grow soon)
- - Interesting, the russians were still not destroyed. Cease fire and peace with them since I have no idea what they have left or where
- - hut barbs
- - China wants peace treaty. Funny, I thought we already had one. :shrug:
560 hamburg hides (no demand) to beijing 100g
- - heidelberg gems to beijing (no demand) 100g
- - Dortmund salt to beijing (demand) 220
- - Chinese will be tough nut to crack. Lots of walls, forts, big cities. Beijing on a river.
- - hut 25g
- - zulus want war
580 Barb leader exposed near chinese ugh. I managed to move all units out of range of the barbs, so I can't reach the leader
- - Marco Polo's Embassy
- - peace with zulus again
- - gift russia Warcode, iron, philosophy, share maps to find their one puny city
- - talk to egyptians via embassy. Peace, gift trade, philosophy, share maps. Ugh, they are in the middle of nowhere north pole.
600 uh-oh, unrest in heidelberg
- - pop > 2m
- - kill barb leader for 100g
- - Indians decide war is good, we raze madras
- - New S. Moscow founded
- - Chinese want war, so we oblige and take Tsingtao, 14g plundered, Take Banking size 2 w/ market and aqueduct
- - Capture Xinjian too. 9g plundered. Have to take feudaliam Probably should have thought of that. Oh well. Bye-bye first row. city size 1, no improvements
- - chinese talk, we accept cease fire, peace to consolidate forces
640 Capture Delhi (down from 4 to size 1, 12g plundered
- - Find Calcutta. Gandhi wants to talk, nah, incite revolt for 171, 17 g plundered, size2, free phalanx
- - zulus war. Attack intombe, lose a crusader. 2nd one razes city.
- - Kitsch founded
660 ruskies order us to w/d from odessa. Damn. OK, our rep is bad enough so we do.
- - Invention -> Gunpowder
- - Find bangalore, Indians want cease fire, nope. They offer to throw in 50g (they only have 75). Hmmm. Tempting, but No
- - Bangalore taken, 15g plundered, size 1, wheat, about to grow
- - Ooh, interesting. Only one ele was w/d from odessa. They'll do war now, so we oblige. Odessa razed, Russians destroyed. Celts show up… somewhere
680 Hmm. Celts seem to have no cities, but are in republic.
- - ooh chinese have a catapult already (on the turn they got the tech)
- - bloody up a crusader on a chinese settler who appeared not to be working. - vet status.
- - Kill the chinese catapult too, no vet status
- - Poor planning: Empty bapedi but no units to occupy it
- - Candice founded (near Bergen )
700 barbs near nanking
- - zulus kill 2 crusaders outside bapedi because I'm an idiot
- - Capture Bapedi 15g plundered size 1
- - Kill the phalanx that killed our 2 crusaders near bapedi
- - Tannenbaum founded near where barbs landed, cuz I'm that guy.
720 Strum founded
- - Drang founded
- - Find lahore, raze it
740 Gesundheit founded
- - Bloody vet healed, and last shipment for a while is in range so... Begin assault on Beijing
- - took about 12 vet crusaders to kill 3 defenders, but Beijing captured. Size 7 w/ full food box, 71g plundered, market, Colossus. Hire a couple elvii to quell the masses.
- - corruption apparently kills any value of Colossus
760 3m citizens
- - Revolt in Canton for 186 (disorder, cheaper than I expected), Size 5, 53 gold plundered, no improvements, 2 archers, about to grow.
- - Lederhosen founded
- - little expeditionary force starts to attack bombay, but first unit loses, so back off
- - Chat with celts give map making, pottery, invention (worshipful)
- - holy cow, cardiff is size 5 with full irrigation only a couple turns after it was created.
- - Dummkopf founded
- - Hasenpfeffer founded
780 Oops famine in cannae
- - gahh. Chinese cities no longer in disorder, so price of inciting went up. Have to wait.
- - Hut barbs
- - hut 50g
- - Zeppelin founded
- - Eiswein founded
- - ooops. we'll need to starve hannover down to 2 to quell the city
800 Kill a barb leader
- - Incite revolt in Shanghai for 406, 57g plundered Size 6, barracks, market, walls, Pyramids, 2 archers
- - Hofbrauhaus founded
- - Kill 2 defenders, take Zimbabwe, 36g plundered, size 3, barracks
- - buy a settler near nanking by accident when checking the price. Glockenspiel founded where he stands as it gives a canal to inland sea #2
- - Since there aren't many major powers left, It's probably time to take a comprehensive look at our production and shift some cities away from the war machine. More settlers, camels; less dips and crusaders
820 nanking goes into disorder again
- - sell Shanghai barracks,
- - incite Nanking for 165g, 48g plundered, size 5, barracks market, 2 archers; Chinese destroyed.
- - Sell nanking market to afford Ulundi
- - Ulundi revolt for 228g, 47g plunder, size 3, barracks, phalanx, legion, warrior
- - Huh. Apparently the indians killed a crusader around bombay - we're one short. That city is really pissing me off
- - Kill 2 units in Bombay, take city, 27g plundered, size 1 about to grow. Indians destroyed.
- - Dip stalking Hlobane runs into archer. Buy him for 66g to have cover for the dip.
- - Schweinsteiger founded
- - sell barracks madrid
840 Pop > 4m
- - Hut mercenaries crusader (Supported)
- - Talk to our new friends the americans, They demand invention, no. Give pottery, Then invention (worshipful), Map making, exchange maps
- - Ooh, they're right near where I thought they might go. Too bad i'm not very close to there
- - Hut barbs
- - Hut AT Ozil
860 barbs(luckily only one legion) land at unguarded stuttgart
- - SunTzu
- - divert a settler over to stuttgart to buy some time with the barb landing.
- - Revolt in Hlobane 165g, 36g plundered,size 2 about to grow back, barracks, piker, Zulus destroyed.
- - Muller, Lahm, Mertesacker founded
- - Sell walls in Shanghai, aqueduct in Tsingtao, Barracks in Nanking, Smolensk, St. Petes, Munich, Hlobane, Ulundi, zimbabwe,
880 sacrificial settler in Stuttgart killed, but that saves the city from being captured
- - Leo - upgrade warriors to pikers, elephants to crusaders. (oh , I'm gonna downgrade my vet elephants. Hope celts don't build walls)
- - Boateng, Klose, Khedira, Neuer founded
- - stop work of all settlers to plan their final resting places. develop Ubermicromanaged plan for lots more settlers, enough caravans for a couple more wonders, switch some cities to horsies for cheap garrisons
900 hut 50g
- - Klinsmann, Beckenbauer, Matthaus, Ballack, Kahn, Graf, Becker, Nowitzki, Shrempf founded
- - Kill phalanx which razes Washington, Americans destroyed. No replacement appears. That's 3 now, so we're probably good.
- - Huh. Screwed up calculations so I have more gold than I expected… look for purchase opportunities.. Another settler or two.
920 Founded: Langer, Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Handel, Strauss, GrossartigMauer, Wagner, Shumann, New Minsk, New Moscow, Telemann, Delphi, von Weber
- - Egypt ignores our threats. Oh hell we're already dishonorable. Apparently, there's something about these yellow civs that makes me backstab them.
- - Kill a couple phalanxes, take Thebes, 17g plundered, size 1, about to grow, market, Egyptians destroyed.
- - Oh look, now we're despicable…
- - And... no new yellow civs on the board.
- - hut 50g now that there's not much to spend it on
- - aha. Found why I had so much extra money - forgot to build in genoa last turn, now won't be able to reach a site if we build there.
- - switch to 70% luxuries
- - Sell market in thebes since it's only size 1
- - buy a market in shanghai, nanking to try to squeeze another happy out of each
940 Great Wall built in GrossartigMauer, Oracle in Delphi
- - can't afford to bribe celt settler, even if I sold the few improvements I have left.
- - Hut barbs
- - Founded: Nietzsche, Kant, Marx,Luther, Liebniz, Schopenhauer, Engels, Grimm, Brecht, Junger, Remarque, Gutenberg, Copernicus, Einstein, Planck, Diesel, Fahrenheit, Gauss, Roentgen, Ohm, Mobius, Geiger, Daimler, Bunsen, Duisenberg, Junkers, Bosch, Braun, Porsche
- - Celts want war…good for them - just take it. Only one piker defending. City is empty, waiting for us to take it.
- - happy the rest of the people up
- - Capture cardiff 20g plundered, market, 4 citizens, (make 3 happy, 1 normal)
- - Celts destroyed

I believe it's 146 cities, 10 wonders.
I made it before 1000 AD, so there's that.

I really got bogged down in the mid-game dicking around with the russians and such. Military expeditions were overall poorly planned so units just kinda dribbled in to various places.

I didn't do hardly any trading because bonuses were so bad with everyone on one landmass. Probably should have done more, but I never really got boats organized either, so it would have been tough. I tried a couple times, but my crusaders tended to get to the other civs before the camels.

However, score-whoring seemed to come back to me fairly well the last few turns. Nearly doubled civ score between 840 and 940.

Now i just have to figure out where to send what files...

 

[Peaster]

@Tim - I enjoyed your log ! I also feel rusty, though I have managed to play a few times over the last couple of years, so not much excuse. Except that I am probably older than you.

My next log:
80AD - Dip bribes last Russian city. Respawn as Celts at (72,10). As usual, I rush all available troops to that area, but in this case that amounts to one elephant. I pay sea barbs 74g not to sack Dort3.
100 - 1st Van gets 96g at Canton. Leads to
120 - Phil -> Banks -> Mono. Which I do not get for a long, long time. My very fuzzy memory was that Phil usually allows Mono immediately, which was my plan here. I have gotten too lazy to check the tech tree and the 3-cycle, etc. But ellies are OK for now, and they take Madrid. Fresh map from China.
140,160,180 - Indians want war. El's take Hlobane (cap) + Calcutta (cap) + the only Celtic city (sneak / cap). I think the Celts respawned as Celts in the same area; this was a bit unclear. The only AI capitol left is Canton, which is somewhat protected by rough terrain.
200 - El's take Seville, Zimb and a Celt settler. A strange dance begins in Celtland ... my solo ellie is badly wounded, but the only remaining Celt unit is a settler. Eventually the wounded ellie corners the settler on the coast, with a ZOC block. It then fortifies. Even after the ellie healed, there seemed no good reason to kill the settler, so they stayed like that for 200 years, until the respawn zones clarified.
240 - Chinese build Colossus. Spain is reduced to a vacant size one city (but I had no spare unit to enter, so they rushed a unit and fought on to 280)
260 - Sneak attack takes Canton. Dishonorable, but I am happy; at war with all 5 AI, and with no AI capitols left. Ellies raze Madras, lose at Bapedi, bribery near Beijing (size 7 IIRC) snags a warrior in a fortress, which makes the next siege much easier, or allows us a safe pet.
280 - Spain down, to bribery, but respawn as Egypt (83,7). I am NOT covering the respawn zone very well in this game, and allow a few new AI cities in the next phase. Els take Banga+Bomb.

300 - I'll pause here with Inkerman. I don't have many stats handy, but ... we have 29 ellies, do not have Mono yet, have 23 triremes, no new WoWs, not many vans (just a few from islands) and about 60 cities. I expect to raze India + Zulu's soon, with the Chinese evolving into pets. But I have failed to cover the map properly vs respawns, and thus may not conquer by 500AD. Also I may indulge, like Tim, in some gratuitous score-whoring, maybe including a few republic years. This might actually postpone the end to 700AD or so.

I have played another 100 years or so, but may not post much more for a while, not to reveal too much.

 

[Inkerman]

@Tim - I enjoyed your log ! ....

I have played another 100 years or so, but may not post much more for a while, not to reveal too much.

Me too! I have just finished and mailed files (they go to civ2gotm on gmail.) It took between 10 and 20 turns for me to get home from the 300AD position, as Peaster has estimated for his own game. I didn't switch to republic at the end, partly because I was short of dips to use against re-spawns. But then my population was up from having the Pyramids. I did not need anywhere near as many imaginative city names as Tim.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

Except that I am probably older than you.

I don't know how young you think I am when I'm dropping Candice Bergen references in my game, and my username is from a movie made in 1975.

 

[Peaster]

I admit that the data on your age is pretty sparse, but since you are still talking to your offspring, I guess that your offspring is younger than my offspring.

 

[Ali Ardavan]

I don't know how young you think I am when I'm dropping Candice Bergen references in my game, and my username is from a movie made Wein 1975.

Most of us are middle aged. After all, this game came out in 1996.

 

[Ali Ardavan]

So glad to see Peaster and TimTheEnchanter back. This is going to be a fun competition. I hope you guys stay around for a few more.

My original intention was to do OCC mainly because of real time. I kept looking for a suitable site and eventually gave up and decided to do Early Landing instead. Partly because of that and partly because of getting Pottery before finishing my first tech, pushing back Monarchy even further, I have decided to go with early Republic.

Hut luck has been pretty good so far: None Chariot, Pottery, Horseman, empty, none archer, none archer, Advanced Tribe, Nomad, chariot, Advanced Tribe, Warrior Code

Date Notes

-4000 Chariot from hut.
-3950 Spanish are in.
-3900 Russian and Zulu are also in.
-3850 Too many mountains. There are no decent spots for OCC; giving up on OCC.
-3800 Chinese and Indian round up the top five.
-3750 Berlin founded at 49, 55 on the coast with access to whales.
-3700 -> Alphabet. Pottery from hut.
-3550 Horseman from hut.
-3400 Empty hut.
-3300 Alphabet -> Writing (Ceremonial Burial and Code of Laws not a choice). Horseman disbanded.
-3250 Size 1 settler produced.
-3050 Leipzig founded with access to rivers and whale.

Status at -3000
Population: 0.04M; Cities: 2; Techs: 2; Government: Despotism
Gold: 10; Cost: 0; Trade routes: 0D0F;
Wonders:
Units: 1 None Chariot
Goals: Monarchy or Republic, Trade
Russian: no contact
Zulu: no contact
Spanish: no contact
Chinese: no contact
?: no contact
Indian: no contact

-2950 None Archer from hut. This means some rival is close by.
-2850 None Archer from hut. Older Archer runs into Indian warrior. peace -> Indian (2) -> 0g.
-2800 Writing -> Code of Laws
-2700 Advanced tribe founds Hamburg on the east coast at 90, 56.
-2650 Konigsberg founded.
-2500 Delhi discovered south of Hamburg. Indian -> 0g.
-2400 Code of Laws -> Literacy
-2250 Nomad from hut near home. This is the best hut luck in quite some time.
-2100 Chariot runs into Zulu horseman. Peace -> Zulu (2) -> Masonry.
-2000 Frankfurt founded.

Status at -2000
Population: 0.09M; Cities: 5; Techs: 5; Government: Despotism
Gold: 14; Cost: 0; Trade routes: 0D0F;
Wonders:
Units: 2 Settlers (1 None), 1 warrior, 2 None Archers, 1 None Chariot
Goals: Republic, Trade
Russian: no contact
Zulu: no embassy
Spanish: no contact
Chinese: no contact
?: no contact
Indian: no embassy

-1850 Literacy -> Republic.
-1750 Munich founded.
-1700 Chariot from hut.
-1600 peace -> Russian -> 100g. Indian -> 50g.
-1450 Heidelburg and Nuremberg founded. Advanced tribe founds Cologne.
-1350 Republic -> Bronze Working. Republic -> Indian -> Bronze Working. Warrior Code from hut.
-1300 -> Currency. Hannover founded. Revolution started.