[PTW] GOTM 178 India, Monarch -- Spoilers

GOTM 178 India, Monarch

 

In this game, you will rule over the Indians, who are Religious and Commercial and start the game with the knowledge of Alphabet and Ceremonial Burial. This is a Monarch-level game. The Indian Unique Unit is the War Elephant, a Knight with an extra experience point. Neither Horses nor Iron is needed to build an Indian War Elephant.

Starting Position



For discussion and planning ahead, you again get a greater picture of the surroundings of your start position. Please note that in the game, those tiles will not be uncovered.

Scope of the Game

Standard Map
Archipelago, 70% Water
Wet, Temperate Climate
5 Billion Years old world.
Sedentary Barbarians

The game is released on April 1, 2020.
Submissions are due by June 30, 2020.

PLEASE NOTE THE DATE!

Game Release Page

Game release page

Spoiler Limit

Industrial Times or Game Submitted

Spoilers are allowed covering the game up until reaching Industrial Time or having submitted the game. The results of getting and trading bonus technologies at this stage are a permissible topic as well.

No spoiler information from after fulfilling the spoiler requirement is allowed!

(This limit will be changed as the game progesses.)

 

The game starts tomorrow!

We have a severe dearth of resources of any kind. Perhaps a good idea would be to move the Settler towards the river? I can't see if that is Forest or Jungle. But the starting tile, BG on River, seems to be the strongest of all, and can then be improved and worked from the get go.

 

OCN or Size 12

Spoilers are allowed covering the game up until reaching the optimal city number, i.e. being allowed to build the Forbidden Palace, or reaching the size 12, in one of your cities, whichever comes earlier.

No spoiler information from after fulfilling the spoiler requirement is allowed!

 

As Gandhi looked out over the lands surrounding his people, he was not impressed. No part of the land was much better than the other, it was all pretty mediocre. His advisor, lord Più, said: Lets at least move 1SW into the Forest, so that we can work this Bonus Grassland! Thus Delhi, the capital of the Indian Empire, was founded on the River Ganges in 3950 BC.

The Indians toiled the land constructing a road and a mine while Più was busy in the capital constructing i Granary, which he had told Gandhi would greatly improve the rate at which his people would multiply. For this purpose, he had also told the Gurus to contemplate the art of Pottery. Until this knowledge had been disseminated in the Indian Empire, Piú pretended that the Granary was just a Barracks.

The Indian Empire now grew and its borders expanded. From the south-western border rumours began to spread of incredible riches in food. In a lake, fish were jumping so abundantly that you could catch them with your bare hands, it was said, and on the pasture next to it, large herds of Cattle were grazing close to a great River called the Indus. Alas! It was just outside of the feeding limit of Delhi. Più said: Hey! Look, Gandhi, lets leave this rat hole and move towards these better lands! Soon enough, new plans had been drawn and the Barracks project had been converted into a great Settler operation. In order to halt population growth at this stage, specialized Scientists were employed and parts of the land left untilled.

Thus Delhi was abandoned by the Indian people, and a new capital called Bombay founded a hundred years later by the Fish Lake 2W. Quickly, with the knowledge of Pottery, the Granary was now constructed in Bombay instead. This would make a lot of sense, because here new Settlers could be produced every four turns indefinitely, lord Più explained. The Granary was finalized in 2510 BC. Here is an excerpt from lord Piùs Book of Records from this time:

Domestic Activities

3950 BC Found Delhi
3350 BC Abandon Delhi
3250 BC Found Bombay
2190 BC Found Madras
2070 BC Found Bangalore
1870 BC Found Calcutta
1700 BC Found Lahore
1675 BC Connect Furs
1600 BC Found Karachi
1525 BC Found Kolhapur
1350 BC Connect Horses
1325 BC Found Jaipur​

Foreign Relations

1790 BC Pop Hut Maps
1625 BC Pop Hut 50 gold
1625 BC Meet Spain Unwilling to trade! Three Connections! Sell Writing for 14 gold…!
1600 BC Meet Rome Buy contact from Spain
1600 BC Meet Greece Buy contact from Arabia
1600 BC Meet Carthage
1600 BC Meet Arabia Buy contact from Spain
1525 BC Pop Hut Technology
1400 BC Pop Hut Maps​

Research Activities

4000 BC Discover Ceremonial Burial
4000 BC Discover Alphabet
3400 BC Discover Pottery
1870 BC Discover Writing
1600 BC Learn Warrior Code
1600 BC Learn The Wheel
1600 BC Learn Masonry
1600 BC Learn Iron Working
1600 BC Learn Bronze Working
1525 BC Learn Mysticism
1350 BC Discover Code of Laws​

At this time, the Indian Empire with the founding of Jaipur reached a size known to the Gods as the Optimal City Number and was able to construct a Forbidden Palace with which the size and reach of the Empire could eventually be doubled. The story of the Indian Empire will be continued in another account at a later time.



That Spearman is on his way to block the choke point near the Carthaginian capital. Jaipur in the north-east by the Wheat will be the first city outside the Inner Ring (at distance 3) around Bombay. In the south-west, two new sources of Luxury have been discovered!

 

Middle Ages

Spoilers are allowed covering the game up until reaching the Middle Ages. The results of getting and trading bonus technologies at this stage are a permissible topic as well.

No spoiler information from after fulfilling the spoiler requirement is allowed!

 

A bold move that was not anticipated in the game design!

 

Industrial Times or Game Submitted

Spoilers are allowed covering the game up until reaching Industrial Time or having submitted the game. The results of getting and trading bonus technologies at this stage are a permissible topic as well.

No spoiler information from after fulfilling the spoiler requirement is allowed!

 

I like AI's choice (strong neighboor Carthage, weak platzdarm holder Spain, then horsemen stoppers Greeks, ironless Rome) but dislike landmass, full of stinking shoals. It consumes time for boat management but not prevent AIs from reaching each over early and trading defence techs like Feu,Gpw and, what even worse, to colonize all these minor accursed islands around the world. Even two 1-tile ones, which becomes additional pain for conquest path.

 

Good move!

In my game after Spain I waited few turns for Chi and then go to Greece straitforward, with freshly upgraded elephants behind. Capture first city and then saw roman' archers en masse marching to former Spain. Greeks had RoP them but nobody give them iron (no connections). While my army marching through Greece, dealing also with their red-clothed "Legion Etrangere", I had my most disastrous, in civ3 experience, siege ever. Athens falls only after 3 major assaults, spreaded over 70 years! 6 elephants and several others died in process. For some reason AI stuffed inside around 10 hoplites! Should make embassy before declaration...

 

Only GWl. For Monarch, anyway, it was too much. Carthage, for example, at that moment have 2 wonders and build 3rd, but have only 2num inside.

I think Athens had 5-6 regular defenders, but since visible room for expand, include islands, was exhausted for Alexander at that moment - 3-4 settler parties was added over.

 

I played very quickly, since I was running out of time.
I moved off the BG to settle, and then did 20k very slowly in a town on the coast, between the cow and the river.
I had trouble keeping Carthage out of my lands, and I spent a lot of time at war with them. NM are painful when you just have archers and horses, but eventually I got iron hooked up. Despite the long wars, I didn't get a great leader until very late - in fact, Carthage only had one town left on a small island when I got the leader (on that small island, where I had no towns). Luckily there was one free space, so I shipped over a settler so I could make an army so I could build the Heroic Epic.
I didn't hit 20k until 1890, but I made it before the end of the month, which is the important thing. Now to see if I can finish up the Korean game in time.