GOTM 25 - First Spoiler

[Jastrow]

Thanks for the comments, Jastrow I am indeed used to being able to build at least 3-4 of the early wonders without hurting in any other areas.

Actually, reguarding the wonders, I have to correct myself a little... I looked to quickly, and tought you had build the great LIBRARY, which is one of the top wonders, imo. Now I see (thanks to Robertthebruce's comments) that it was the LIGHTHOUSE. Not nearly as big a fan of this move, for the reasons already mentioned.

On Washington, I had ideas about it - but not of making it into a GP farm. To be honest, I was a bit too focused on my war objectives that production (and washington has plenty of it) was foremost in my mind and other tasks got lost in the mix.

Note that early production and GP farms are NOT at odds, but often complimentary. In both cases you need a lot of surplus food tiles. In one case, to feed specialist. In the other to feed minors. Washington is perfect for swithing from one role to the other (especially since we are spiritual... Run phil+cast+representation for a while, with tons of specialist; then switch to millitary civics for unit production with all the specialist going back to the mines)

One thing I'm particularly bad at is using specialists, and I have never even attempted to run a SE in any game, so my GP farms usually come from a mix of wonders and one or two specialists to boost the % chance towards the type I want.

Well, to put things simply, that is not going to be effective at higher levels. You simply will not get enough wonders to acheive critical mass in production spead of GPP. You need one city where you run specialist if you want GP.

I know this is out of order on the comments, but settling on the silk resource also didn't really occur to me - perhaps stuck in the thought of "don't settle on a resource".

I know the feeling. One key which I have recently gotten into the habit of doing. If you dont know it by heart, as soon as you see a resource, check the civopedia to see what the squares yield will be after the resource is improoved. Get that info before deciding if settling on a resource is bed. For example, I would never settle on gold or corn... The improoved square is just to good. Silk on the other hand is actually a pretty bad square with its improovement!!

I grabbed IW before Alphabet, hoping to boost my attack capabilities vs. cities with walls before catapults came into play - disappointed again when no iron was near any of my cities.

Yep... If you KNEW there was iron, it would be different, but the odds of getting Iron are not all that great, which is why it is often too large an invest for my taste.

Alphabet was shortly after, but none of the neighbors would trade anything at anything approaching a reasonable trade, so I don't think I was really missing out.

Again, this is an issue of you not being use to the level... You should not expecte reasonable trades. You will not get any of those. You need to make unreasonable trades to catch up!!

Tech-wise, the only really useful one that they had (since I didn't really have a religion spread yet) that I didn't possess was Math, but I wanted Math and OR for Alphabet and Monty wouldn't budge.

3 things...

Firstly, ALL techs are useful. The aim is to catch up. You need the religious techs eventually to move down the tree.

Secondly, you were a bit late to alpha (see the Iron working diversion). A bit earlier, and you could have traded writting for some early techs.

Thirdly, you should have taken math for Alpha. Math is a nice tech... Chopping bonus, on the path to cats, currency, etc... Why not give up Alpha? What was that worth to the person you would have traded to (who was it anyways?)

On the second DoW against Izzy, I was worried about cultural pressure from that city stealing my access to the copper (not so much the worker, that was just a bonus).

How bad was the pressure? What was the tile percentage for the copper? For the squares next to it? If there was a real danger of losing the copper, then I agree you had to defend against that, but I wonder if the danger was real, or just perceived??

 

[Trynthlas]

How bad was the pressure? What was the tile percentage for the copper? For the squares next to it? If there was a real danger of losing the copper, then I agree you had to defend against that, but I wonder if the danger was real, or just perceived??

On this, I'm not sure - however the tile was guaranteed to be at least partially spanish already, since barcelona was Izzy's city to start with - I probably didn't need to worry as much as I did, and could have avoided the second DoW in all likelihood.

Thirdly, you should have taken math for Alpha. Math is a nice tech... Chopping bonus, on the path to cats, currency, etc... Why not give up Alpha? What was that worth to the person you would have traded to (who was it anyways?)

It was Monty, and I think expecting more for my Alphabet is just me not being used to the difficulty level

On the wonder, yeah, I think that (the GLH) was probably a bad choice - I wanted to get the Library as well, but was too busy with the war against Monty when I could have built it.


...reading your spoiler makes me quite awed, as I wasn't able to get to CS and macemen until much much later (and I didn't even bother trying for the Oracle). I think the speed of teching early (with the gold) probably makes the game entirely different at the start. That's a point in favor of moving the settler.

Well, we'll see how the game turns out for me, and I may give it another run just for fun to see how I could have played it differently (obviously better, with foreknowledge of the map). I just hope GOTM26 isn't Immortal or Deity!

 

[Jastrow]

My reason for moving west was b/c I thought that in order to build a lighthouse the city needed to be on the coast. So, the only way to get those coast tiles to support themselves was to move west.

You do need to be on the coast to build a lighthouse, but the starting tile is on the coast.

My second build was a barracks b/c I didn't want to start building a settler before I had grown to 3. The moment I grew to 3 I started a settler and bronze working came in around that same time. I didn't wait to send the settler with a skirmisher that I built it was the one that I was given in the save.

Ahhh... I forgot about the free skirmisher, I was only thinking of the worker. Still, I question the decision to wait until size 3. Having missed out on the gold/rice spot, and given a crowded map, you need to be very quick!

Consider that you are at size 2. You can work the cow and silk... Cow is 6 production (food + hammer), silk 3, and 3 from the home square is 12 total. You need to feed your 2 citizens which is 4. So, you are left at 8, and will need 13 turns to build a worker.

If you grow to size 3, you add 3 production (forest grassland), and need to feed one more guy, so a net of +1. At 9 per turn, you need 12 turns to build a settler. The extra citizen is not providing any commerce either. So, is waiting to grow to size 3 really worth it??

The reason for the self research of IW was b/c I wanted iron since I had just lost out on the copper to Izzy. Even with that I still got Alphabet before Izzy and Rosey. I can't remember if Monty had it before me or not.

Its not a question of getting alpha before the others. That is easy... The issue is to get alpha in time to backfile all the techs you need without having to research them yourself. If you get to alpha in good time, you can often trade Writting for a couple of early techs, and then alpha for a few latter ones, saving greatly on your research time.

Now, if you knew you were going to get Iron, it would be different, but without knowing, I just dont see how to justify the risk.

Again, thank you for your suggestions. I am starting to look forward to playing this game again to try some of these new tactics.

Good luck. The first issue is that I assume you will settle the capital to grab the gold/rice this time. I assure you that this drops the difficulty level by AT LEAST one level, and maybe even two. That, and a few other tweaks should let you have a much improoved game.

 

[Jastrow]

On this, I'm not sure - however the tile was guaranteed to be at least partially spanish already, since barcelona was Izzy's city to start with - I probably didn't need to worry as much as I did, and could have avoided the second DoW in all likelihood.

From the above, I am not sure if you just did not check, or if you dont know how to check. In case it is the later... Note that if you hover your mouse over any square in either yours or a rivals territory, it gives the percentage ownership (60% for example). If a square has culture from 3 or more civs, things can be a bit tricky, but in the case that only two civs are involves (like here), the quare simple goes to the civ over 50%, so by looking at it, and watching it for a few turns to see how it moves, you can get a very good idea as to the real risk.

It was Monty, and I think expecting more for my Alphabet is just me not being used to the difficulty level

Sometimes hogging Alpha makes sence, but here, what was Monty going to do with it? Did Izzy and FDR have any good techs that he could trade for with them? Unlikely since you were beating them up. So in this case, Alpha was almost useless, and you could happily give it up for a nice tach like math. Remember that the beaker cost of a tech is not always a fair representation of its value (another good example is music... Being first to it has a nice prize in an artist, but apart from that, the tech is only so-so. Once you get the artist, you can happily trade the tech for less than its beaker value, and still have it be a good deal.)

On the wonder, yeah, I think that (the GLH) was probably a bad choice - I wanted to get the Library as well, but was too busy with the war against Monty when I could have built it.

Well, it went quite early in my game. That does not always reproduce from game to game, but it might be a sign that getting it will be tricky at these settings.

...reading your spoiler makes me quite awed, as I wasn't able to get to CS and macemen until much much later (and I didn't even bother trying for the Oracle). I think the speed of teching early (with the gold) probably makes the game entirely different at the start. That's a point in favor of moving the settler.

Yep, the gold is huge... Consider that with your start position, at size 3, you will be working Cows, Silk, and probably a forrest. Your commerc is 8 from the palace, 1 from the home square, and 1 from the silk. Total 10. I get to work rice, gold, and cows. 8 from palace, 1 from rice, 3 from home square (+1 for silk, +1 for river because building on it removes forrest, +1 financial for a 2C square), and 6 from gold. Total 18. Almost double your research speed. Add to that that I actually grow faster because of the rice, and grow bigger because of the +1 happy for gold, and I bassically will double your research speed because of the settling spot, without even having to do anything better than you.

Now, compound that with the fact that I emphasized develloepemnt with a granary, library, and scientist for an academy, and by 1000 BC, I probably had 3 to 4 times your research rate, which gets you down the tech tree quite fast.

Having said that, I certainly did not plan the CS slingshot from the start. I simply got to the point, once I had the religious techs that I realized that the oracle had not been built yet, that I was researching CoL on my natural path, and that the build time for the oracle matched (to within a turn or two, I matched it exactly with a bit of MM) to the CoL research time. Once I saw that, I decided that it was worth the risk to try it. Worst case, I would miss the Oracle by a few turns, and get a bit wad of cash to fund research. Not that big a loss, compared to the gain, which was to bassically DOUBLE by measure rate.

 

[Grampaw]

I moved the warrior 1S to see if there was fish. No fish, so I moved the Settler 1NE and saw the GOLD! Settled right there on the 1st turn. I started a worker, and had my warrior explore south., then east. When I saw Washington’s borders, there also was a worker! I’ve rarely had success stealing workers at emperor level, but it seemed so easy to do, so… I stole him! Then I switched production to another warrior in my undefended capital in case Washington’s archer came calling. My original warrior escaped, and so did my capital.

My research was BW first, then since I was going to need some protection, I went Hunting, Archery, AH. Research was fast with the gold.

I only built the 1 extra warrior before I started building skirmishers and chariots. I finished my worker and operated with just the 2 workers for quite a long time. I built no settlers in the early going. I did very little pop rushing in my capital.

Wars
I ended the first war (worker steal) with Roosevelt after the obligitory 10 turns, and turned my eyes to Monty, since Roosevelt was already crippled without his worker. Monty had stone, and after I researched Writing, Monty wanted open borders, so I saw where he had Iron, after I discovered IW in 1680BC. Monty and Roosevelt both were defending their cities with only archers, so I figured neither had copper and hadn’t researched IW yet. I built an army of skirmishers and chariots, and attacked Monty in 1520 BC. I took his stone city (Teotihuacan) in 2 turns, but his iron city (Tenochtitlan) was much better defended and churning out archers, so I needed to research Horse Riding before I attacked there. That city fell in 775BC, after I had upgraded a couple of chariots to Horse Archers.

By then Roosevelt had just discovered IW so I needed to attack there. I made peace with Monty (for 3 techs), and shifted my forces south towards Roosevelt. He only had built one Axeman in Washington, and had 2 archers there also. I attacked in 600 BC, and destroyed his Iron in the first turn and took his capital on the second turn. My force was Horse Archers and Skirmishers Roosevelt had 2 other cities to the south that I took also. I only razed 1 city during the entire game, which was an Aztec tundra city. I made peace with Roosevelt in 150BC, leaving him 1 city, Boston (3NE of my Capital), because I needed to concentrate on Izzy by that time, and my research economy was weak.

After I got Masonry from Monty, and Teotihuacan came out of disorder, I started building the Pyramids there. I lost out by 3 or 4 turns to our unknown neighbor across the seas, but the resulting gold helped speed my research of Code of Laws, which was needed for its Courthouses, since my economy was slowing down. I discovered Construction in 450BC, and CoL in 275BC.

I attacked Izzy in 250BC. She was the only one with copper, and had never researched IW, so had never hooked up her Iron down by Madrid. Fortunately, she never built many spearmen or axemen, and by this time I had cats and swords and horse archers, so I made my way down the continent, cut her copper, and eventually took Madrid in 225 AD. I made peace, leaving Izzy with one port city to the south. She gave me Monarchy, Calendar, and Monotheism for peace.

Economy
Having the gold in the fat cross of my capital in the early going was key to this game. It effectively doubled my early research. By the time I was marching down the continent, my research rate had dropped to 0%, but after pop rushing courthouses in my captured cities, and building the Forbidden Palace, I eventually got my research rate back up to the 30-40% range, which was sufficient considering I was also fueling research from the gold of captured cities.

In 325 AD I took Boston, finally eliminating Roosevelt, and in 450 AD I started the final war against Monty.

By 500 AD, I had 11 cities, Monty only had 3 cities on the east coast, which I was closing in on. Izzy had her one city on the south coast, and the barbs still had a city on the northwest coast. I had all of the interior of the continent. The northern ice field was unsettled.

Without actually counting squares, I was trying to figure out if the continent actually had 68% of the total land squares so I could get a domination win out of just taking my continent. It looked close, but I thought that it was just a little shy of the mark, so I figured I would have to beeline to Astronomy and invade my distant neighbor. I’ll cover that in the next spoiler.

Overall, I’m happy with how things went. Usually at this level the AI gets Longbows before I can take them over, and then I have to re-tool with stronger units, but this time the proximity of the neighbors, and the ability to have Skirmishers and Chariots early, and of course the gold at the beginning, made the difference. For those of you who settled in place, I really don’t know what that blue circle was all about, but it was dead wrong. Having the Gold and the Rice, in addition to the Cows and Horses, all in the fat cross, meant I only needed to build my one city.

 

[Jimmy Thunder]

That was a fun game, quick and simple.

But I pity the player who settled in place

A similar case to wotm14 where moving the settler first turn was the difference between a whole lot of goodies or a whole lot of empty grasslands.

I used horse archers for my battles , they worked extremely well right from the first war to the last.

I built two workers first, then some warriors while chopping one settler that moved to the 2nd silk along the river NE of the starting spot. I had two production focussed cities that were enough for taking over the home continent. These were the only two indigenous cities I had/needed.

My goal from the start was conquest, so unfortunately I didn't manage to finish up in the first spoiler period (but I was elated to meet 3 out of 4 AI in the first few turns).

 

[Trynthlas]

From the above, I am not sure if you just did not check, or if you dont know how to check.

Simply didn't, which was a poor oversight on my part - I learned very very early on how to watch cultural borders. The first game of CIV I played, (I played noble, having played Civ and CivII in the past) I was totally overwhelmed and smashed because I had no idea how to manage culture or economy at all - units on strike, research at 0%, all kinds of bad. Obviously I'm a bit past that now

On tiles, I actually started out working two grass-hill mines until I got the cows/horses hooked up -> switched to those (and then added the mines again) for maximum hammers early on, since I was focused on building lots of skirmishers.

 

[morpheus11]

You do need to be on the coast to build a lighthouse, but the starting tile is on the coast.

I must have missed that. I didn't think it was on the coast.

Consider that you are at size 2. You can work the cow and silk... Cow is 6 production (food + hammer), silk 3, and 3 from the home square is 12 total. You need to feed your 2 citizens which is 4. So, you are left at 8, and will need 13 turns to build a worker.

If you grow to size 3, you add 3 production (forest grassland), and need to feed one more guy, so a net of +1. At 9 per turn, you need 12 turns to build a settler. The extra citizen is not providing any commerce either. So, is waiting to grow to size 3 really worth it??

This is probably the biggest reason I am weak. I don't do enough calculating while I am playing. This stuff never goes through my mind when making any decision.

Now, if you knew you were going to get Iron, it would be different, but without knowing, I just dont see how to justify the risk.

How would this be possible without prior knowledge of the map? Is there any other time that researching IW would be a good idea?

 

[sebtanic]

This was a really challenging game for me! I just finished but I can't tell you the outcome yet, so here is the chronicle of my first 4500 years:

I settled in place. First mistake. Of course I immedately saw the gold and rice just out of reach If only I had settled on the silk... Would have given me one happy resource and some extra gold immediately. Oh well, I would have to build a city to the east to claim the gold and rice then.

Researched BW and sent warrior scouting in a wide circle towards the east. When BW came around, I saw the bronze to the south and decided my 2nd city would go there, 3rd city to the east to claim the gold.

Founded Djenne 2400BC on the floodplains 1NW of the copper. Second mistake. I though settling on FP gives you one extra food. Not so. But at least I had fish and clam in the FC. Later, I thought it might have been smarter to settle one city 1SW of the copper to claim the southern fish (which I never noticed until much too late) and the clam, and another city to claim the cow and the other fish between there and Timbuktu.

Before I could claim the gold, Roosevelt built Boston 1E of the rice which was exactly the spot which I had envisioned for my 3rd city. Thus I built some axes with my newly connected copper and took over Boston in 425BC. It was protected by 2 archers only, so an easy bait.

After signing a peace treaty to further build up my army and get some cats up and running, I redeclared on Roosevelt in 300AD and took Washington 425AD with 6 cats and 2 axes. Monty had also declared on Roosevelt meanwhile but I definitely did not want him to get any good American cities.

At 500AD, the war raged on, America seemd manageable enough and I was on pleased terms with Isabella as I had wisely adapted her religion (Buddhism).


P.S. I wrote this text before the spoiler thread opened. Having read all your posts, I am awed by some people being able to take over the continent by a date when I was still fighting my first opponent! Maybe axe rush was not so good an idea after all... But a chariot/horse archer rush never really came to my mind for some reason, although we got horsies right by the capital.

 

[Jastrow]

I must have missed that. I didn't think it was on the coast.

At least that explains the decision to move west

This is probably the biggest reason I am weak. I don't do enough calculating while I am playing. This stuff never goes through my mind when making any decision.

This comes with practice. I very rarely ever calculate anything in the game, but I usually can guestimate must numbers pretty well just based on experience.

How would this be possible without prior knowledge of the map? Is there any other time that researching IW would be a good idea?

Of course, it is not possible without knowing the map, which is why I pretty much never research Iron working.

Now, I am sure many will disagree with this, but my feeling is that, at emperor and above, where the danger of a runaway ai is real, that research Iron working pre alphabet is almost always a bad idea.

There are some situations that would make it more likely that I would research Iron early, including:

1. Your unique unit comes with Iron working.
2. You are on a pangea map and plan to conquer the world very early, so there is no danger of a run-away tech leader on another continent.
3. You have no horses, bronze, or elephants, and dont have an appropriate defensive UU.
4. No tech trading is activated, or you are on a continent with only one other civ, and it is not Mansa.

As you can see, the present game is about as far away from that as possible. You have a nice defensive unit, and horses to provide some counter treath. There is a civ far away that will have a continent to itself, and could run away with a tech lead, and you have enough neighbours to get some tech trading in before you wipe them out.

 

[greatbeyond]

Contender Start (I have been trying to ween myself off the Adventurer bonuses even though, I have probably only won 3 or 4 of the Civ4 contest games, most were horrendous losses.)

Despite advice to the contrary I settled in place. In the long run, it didn't seem to matter to much, though perhaps I could have won sooner.

Started building a warrior and researching Hunting
Met all three other civs, sent warrior exploring, started another warrior, and researched Archery

3040 BC The war has begun, declare on Monty and steal his worker, use my warrior to harass him and keep his Archers from heading to my house!

Once my 2nd warrior is built, start another, as Archery is not yet done. W2 heads for Washington, finds worker and .....
2920 BC, while still at war with Monty I declare on Roosevelt, steal his worker and get it home safely. Finally during this, Archery is done and Skirmishers appear, I quickly build several and they head for Washington. Start researching Bronze Working. Workers are mostly chopping to build military units.

Make peace with Monty in 2280 BC, still at war with Roosevelt.
2120 BC, It's that time again, I declare war on Isabella. My skirmishers attack two Spanish archers escorting a settler towards the area between me and Washington and send the resulting worker to my capital.

Washington is too heavily defended so I head to New York which is captured in 1880 BC. I make peace with Roosevelt in 1880 BC

My Armies head towards Barcelona just South of Washington, capturing it in 1760 BC. Meanwhile I'm making axemen and Chariots.

Finish BW, then AH, Fishing, pottery, then Horseback Riding, briefly switching to get mysticism.

1320BC Attack Monty again and capture his second city.

850 BC Horse Archery has been learned, it won't be long now...

This pattern of declaring and making peace while capturing workers or cities, continues until 300 BC when Roosevelt has been eliminated.

100BC Monty is eliminated, now to finish up Isabella

Just after the cutoff for this spoiler, Isabella is eliminated. She seemed to take the longest, but after eliminating Monty, I started building infrastructure. Looking back, I should have just continued with the military units and eliminated her much sooner. I didn't build a single settler until this point.

Now the continent is mine! What to do? I estimate that there aren't enough tiles for the Domination win. But, I didn't count. Will someone prove me wrong?

There were some minor Barbarian annoyances during this period but nothing like I expected.

 

[beeflow]

Initially moved the warrior NE first and then moved the settler NE (originally planned on settling on the silk). Once I saw the rice and gold, decided to move SE the same turn and settle on the plains tile. With this, teched agriculture and then BW and built worker first.

The plan for the worker was to irrigate the rice and then mine the gold for early science. Met Monty 3880 BC to the east, 3680 BC met Izzy to the south. Monty founded Hinduism.

Met America 3480 BC and to my surprise they founded Buddhism in Washington.
After BW came in, didn’t see bronze anywhere (didn’t scout enough to the south near Izzy very well I guess). Because of this and with Monty near by, I decided to research hunting and then archery. Started building Skirmishers mainly to deter Monty from attacking me and maybe for an early(ish) rush. Somewhere in there, I built another city to the NE that contained flood plains and a lot of grassland river tiles for a commerce city (C1). I used my capital for producing military units. Learned IW in 2360 BC and noticed neither of my 2 cities had iron, but Washington had iron, 2 food resources surrounded by grassland river tiles (looked like a good GP farm), plus it was the Buddhist holy city. Washington is my first target.

Izzy founded Judaism in 2160 BC. Declared war on America in 1520 BC and took I think 10 skirmishers against Washington. Captured Washington in 1400 BC (with 10 Skirmishers against 2 archers was probably over kill but I wanted to ensure I took the city). I attempted to take out New York which America built between me and Monty near the stone but was unable to take it due my poor logistics on my part. I wasted about 4 skirmishers in the process. This turned out to be a good thing later on since New York built the pyramids for me. Peace with America followed shortly there after. I noticed that Monty had built a load of military units and knew he would be coming for me sooner or later so I decided to tech towards construction in order to build cats.

Monty declared war on Izzy in 950 BC but there wasn’t really any way for him to get to her since America and I were between them. However, this bought me time to set up for the impending war with Monty. After trading for animal husbandry, noticed horses in my capital. I maybe should have traded for animal husbandry earlier as this would have helped my production.

Built a temple in Washington and assigned a priest specialist to pop a great prophet to build the Buddhist shrine. Confucianism founded in a distant land in 725 BC.

After construction came in, built cats every where for the upcoming war with America (New York was getting on my nerves).

I began building Glib in Washington (GPP/Commerce) as soon as literature came in. In 325 BC, America switched to universal suffrage? Looked at New York and there were the pyramids. I’m glad now that I wasn’t able to destroy the city during my first war. Re-declared war on America in 75 BC, 25 BC captured New York, 175 AD captured Boston. Left America with 2 cities (one in the tundra north, and the other near Izzy in the south. I thought leaving America alive would help me with tech trading. I gifted America all obsolete/useless techs to help me trade techs with Izzy.

After taking the Pyramids, I switched to Representation for the +2 happiness and for the +3 beakers per specialist. I did not use this to full effect since Washington (GPP/Commerce city) was the only city with assigned specialists. Maybe I should have used Monarchy for the happiness? At the time, I was hurting for happiness since it was quite late until I got Calendar.

In 250 AD, after getting Civil Service, it took me awhile to determine what to tech next; either go for philosophy or metal casting to machinery for maces for the impending war with Monty. After thinking about it I decided to go metal casting and then machinery. This would allow me to increase production and add a happy face since I had gold. Also, it would allow me to build maces since it won’t be long until Monty has longbows. I also figured that I could pop a great scientist to light bulb philosophy for me.

Throughout the early game, I tried to keep Izzy and Monty at bay diplomatically and America was just out of luck. My plan from here is to attack Monty and become Jewish too please Izzy to avoid a 2 front war. We’ll see if this works.

Spoiler :

Initial build: worker, warrior, settler (needed to get to pop 2 to work the gold)

Research: agriculture, BW, hunting, archery, IW, pottery, writing, alphabet, mathematics, construction, Literature, Code of Laws, Civil Service, Metal Casting ,machinery.





Some of my mistakes:
- Be sure to bring enough units to take an enemy city the first time around. (I know, this should be obvious).
- I built the Buddhist holy city but I didn’t actively spread Buddhism around.
- Use “Gap” cities. I had a settler wait around for a long time instead of settling him in the gaps between my better cities. A gap city could be used to grow cottages for larger cities
- Didn’t worker steal at all.

Good things I did:
- Had a plan as to what to research and how my worker was going to build improvements
- Moved the settler to determine if there was a better spot to settle my capital

 

[Trynthlas]

Ok, so I know this is the 'First spoiler' thread - so I won't reveal any information about the game past 500 AD.

I just wanted to post that I won!!







...took me 'til ***a really long frikkin time*** to do it, but who cares?! First Emperor game I ever play, a huge jump from my Noble/Prince level, and I win!

ps...so um, how do I submit this thingy?
pss - I just noticed that it looks like I reloaded 3 times in 4000 BC (when I was regenerating maps to practice with). Is that a problem? I would think that it's rather obvious that I didn't peek at the map or anything since I didn't settle near the gold, but...? *worried*

 

[Htadus]

Trynthlas

Mansa moved NE and found gold on a nearby hill and moved closer to build his capital next to Gold. Seeing rice nearby, his viziers learned Agriculture to grow the new city fast. He trained a worker to irrigate and mine the land nearby. Next his seers learned the art of bronze working and informed Mansa of the secret of Oracel and the path to bureaucracy. Along the way he founded Djenne to the south to claim seafood and met cute little izzy, crabby old monty and plain ol Rosey.

After founding the Confusionism in Djenne, the advisors guided Mansa to learn Math and establish the Alphabet for the exchange of knowledge. Once the knowledge of Animal husbandry and archary was learned, Mansa's fledgeling army of skermishers and charioters captured a nearby Barbarian Camp in the north and chose to keep it since there were fish nearby.

Almost immidiately after learning Construction, Mighty Monty and his band of grumpy men demanded the knowledge of Alphabet. Remembering his last life as Saladin and the consequents of not giving tribute to a mighty neighbor, Mansa the reincarnated gladly gave the tribute and made Grumpy Monty cautious. (you'll be sorry Monty ). Next monty declared on Rosey just to move his army out, out of the way of a Vengeful Mansa, who declared and slowly captured 6 of 7 Cities Monty built with minimum losses.

During the war, Timbukto built the Itzen, GLib and the National Epic. Exchange of knowlege was fast and furious. Learning currency and monarchy early allowed Mansa to gain knowledge at 100% science and little unhapiness, for most of the time. Two GP's and a GS were born in the capital and an acadamy was built.

The captured Monties Capital will build a Fobiden palace and will build an army for world domination or space.

 

[Htadus]

I, for one, only like to build on top of Ivory to get two shields. I figured that it is better for the short or long run to farm that resource tile and get 3 food and 3 commerce. Later I can always build a plantation or cottage as needed.

Thanks to the gold and settling within reach made this game so much fast to out tech the AI. Very different from the WOTM Japan game.

I actually let monty hang around and develop one of my Domination Citied in a crappy place. Hopefully it will pay off.

 

[Harbourboy]

Nice work, Htadus. Miles better than my sorry effort!

 

[Harbourboy]

Right. After submitting, I have replayed this start four times, following some of the more optimal tips discussed here so far. But in not a single one of these starts have I been able to sight an enemy worker to steal, even with foreknowledge of where they should be. How come it was so casually easy for the rest of you to pull this off?

 

[Jastrow]

Trynthlas,

Congradulations, and I am happy to see the enhousiasm, but I suggest you delete your finish date from the above post. Some of the purist might consider that a spoiler.

Reguarding the apparent 3 reloads at 4000 BC. That is normal (the number can vary a bit, from game to game, so it could be 2 or 4 instead, for example), and comes from whatever actions the staff needs to make to set up the map and the various levels before you downloaded the save.

For submitting:

The form can be found by going to the "game of the month" section of the site, and then using the submit option on the right hand frame. A direct link to the form is:

http://gotm.civfanatics.net/submit/civ-gotm-new.php

From then, just answer the basic questions about your details, and upload the file as instructed.

 

[Jastrow]

But in not a single one of these starts have I been able to sight an enemy worker to steal, even with foreknowledge of where they should be. How come it was so casually easy for the rest of you to pull this off?

Well, there is to be sure, some luck involved in grabbing a worker, but a big part of it is a bit of patience and taking advantage of AI stupidity.

What are you trying? Just wandering around randomly? A key to worker stealing is finding a resource that you know that the AI will improove as soon as it can, but is not improove yet. Corn, wheat or gold, for example are perfect since they get improoved with a leval 1 tech. Something like Cows or horses (cheap level 2 tech are next best), or even stone or copper can work, tho those are usually a bit later. Ideally this resource should be two square from its city (specially in warlords, when the captured worker cant move). Once you spot it, simply camp next to it and wait for the settler to come an do his job.

 

[azmodean]

I recently quit playing a MMORPG in order to concentrate on some Tertiary studies, so of course, I am back to playing CIV. Previously I have suffered some nasty losses in Emperor GOTMs and usually I play Monarch, so I chose to use the Adventurer bonuses. Turns out I probably shouldn't have worried so much.

Anyway, settled 1NE. Had my free worker off to the gold mines while I got the Cows domesticated. Then saw the Horses as well, and decided on a Military victory. Grabbed Archery for some more Skirms and started on to Horseriding. Think I got BW first, maybe.

As Roos was like 2 centimetres away I sent over some Skirms to take out a worker (but missed!) though ended up shutting down Washington so it couldnt grow. Eventually captured with the help of some new Horsies, I also settled Djenne to the north to get the Corn & Sheep. Roosy still had a city off the East somewhere but I made peace for a swag of techs around 1600BC.

3 cities, Fishing, Wheel, Hunting, Mining, Pottery, Animal Husbandry, Archery, Horsies, Bronze Working, Writing, Alphabet.

Monty is higher score, but Isabel is closer (and I reckon crazier) so my Horsies head south to take Barcelona. At some point I pop Stonehenge in Timbuktu and also switch to Hinduism, which is spreading around by itself nicely. I try to go take Madrid and bounce off her Cultural Defence, so follow a road West and take Seville near the Western Copper. Bonus! Isa would have been problematic if I hadn't fixed that up. Peaced for some more techs 875BC.

5 cities, Fishing, Wheel, Agriculture, Hunting, Mystcism, Mining, Pottery, Animal Husbandry, Archery, Meditation, Polytheism, Masonary, Horsies, Bronze Working, Writing, Alphabet.

With holes all over my borders, Monty was crusing around looking for spots to settle, so I had to DOW him almost immediately. Got some more workers from settler parties. Texcoco was on a hill upriver NE from Timbuktu so I went around that to hit Teotihuacan further East on grass. I came back for Texcoco once I had a couple of Axes to use as softeners. The army then turned around again to go take Tenochtitlan. Roosy had taken this opportunity to stroll across the continent and park a city 1S of the dye SE from Timbuktu. Since I now wanted to finish Roos off, I peaced with Monty around 350BC for some 80 gold or so.

8 cities, Fishing, Wheel, Agriculture, Hunting, Mystcism, Mining, Sailing, Pottery, Animal Husbandry, Archery, Meditation, Polytheism, Masonary, Horsies, Priesthood, Monotheism, Bronze Working, Writing, Alphabet, Mathematics, Monarchy (just starting on Construction!!) 1093 score.

Destoyed the new American city in combat then went and captured New York near the East Coast. No more Roosy. Having neatly divided Monty from Isa, I settled on a short period of consolidation. I changed tech and got CoL and Drama before Construction. I tried to build the Pyramids but missed out by ONE TURN to the unknown Civ. The gold actually helped me get CoL faster so I didnt care (much).

Courthouses for everyone! Eventually got my Research above 0% and could stop having to build beakers to learn anything! By 350AD I was 1 turn from completing Iron Working (for Compass, for Optics, etc) and was building my first Catapults. Would be DoW on Isabella very shortly...

9 cities, Fishing, Wheel, Agriculture, Hunting, Mystcism, Mining, Sailing, Pottery, Animal Husbandry, Archery, Meditation, Polytheism, Masonary, Horsies, Priesthood, Monotheism, Bronze Working, Writing, Alphabet, Mathematics, Monarchy, Construction, Drama, Code of Laws, 1772 score, 10 workers, 14 Skirmishers, 5 Horse Archers, Stone Henge, Hanging Gardens, The Kashi Vishwanath, 44.36% POP, 39.43% LAND. Domination looks more likely than conquest.

I should have grown a GS for Academy. Shouldnt have bothered with Drama (yet.) Regardless, final result is quite respectable.