My Opening plans for a GOTM 25 OCC
In reading the opening GOTM 25 thread (not the spoiler thread) we notice:
Monarchy
Revealed Map
Raging Hordes -- soon to be my good friends.
Two excellent pluses for a conquering OCC, the barbs & an open map.
On the downside, the opening pic matches the New Zealand shape for a very large map -- great distances to travel for conquest. Also, my tactics for early battles are far from an experienced level.
To do: Reread Kevs account -- done.
Draw up desired Wonder List & tech plan. -- done.
Draw up basic battle plan.
Given the opening site, Shields will be a BIG problem at the start and throughout the early game. KRC will be key. Also given the opening site, we expect to be far away from everyone else -- so speed will be required to meet folks & conduct business. By implication, this means that MPE will be valuable as well. Questions -- pop nearby huts (expect a few in Australia)? Same comment about the South pole & SE Asia.
Expect 4 civs on Eurasia/Africa, & two in the Americas; maybe well get lucky and an odd civ will be on an island.
Wonder List:
Anc.: Col = 4; LH = 2; GW = 3 (I dont want it, but I dont want it in my way either). Prefer that Pyr not effective, and GL not effective. HG & OR irrelevant.
Ren.: MPE = 4; Shakes = 5; KRC = 5, Copes = 4; Sun Tsu = 4; Eiffel = 1, Mikes =1; This should be the toughest part of the set of decisions.
IR: Leos = 4; IN = 4; Magellan = 3; Statue = 3 (Im thinking of using Fundy ASAP); Darwin = 2; JSB = 1; AS = 1.
Mod.: WS = 1; UN = 2; HD = 3; SETI = 2; Cure = 1; Manh = 2; Apollo = 2. If the game lasts well into this stage, Im in serious trouble.
Basic Plan part 1 -- get boats & dips out for Non units. These will be the core of my early army, hopefully taking out a civ before 1 AD.
Plan part 2 -- typical OCC for science, wonder building, trade & especially TRIBUTE. I think that having a friend or two supplying funds will greatly put the caravans into Wonders and let the Wonders get me where I need to be.
Plan part 3 -- if my allies can be at war, then the science of both sides should be slower and the growth of both civs similarly less.
Plan part 4 -- I dont have to do this alone -- hopefully, my soon to be good buddies, the barbs may take a few cities -- decreasing the need to raze everything.
If we start in Monarchy, then the first techs needed will be Map & Write for boats & dips. Trade has to come soon after & Seafaring as well. Im up in the air about Poly & Mono -- having those units early are nice, but attention there comes at a cost of perhaps a couple of key wonders that I want; after the Wonder Wars, I might be better off getting knights. Also after the long travel to meet the other civs, my eles will be meeting archers or legions
a little defense would be nice as well.
Note -- I think that after trade, the research path must be straight for Engineering with one side turn for Medicine. With Shakes & KRC firmly in hand, the techs for science wonders and Sun Tsu look inviting.
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Wonders. Col is nice, very nice in OCC & desired here as well. LH can be useful, but triremes can make it to Asia & along the South Pole to the Americas as well. So LH is not required. I dont want GW, but Id prefer it (and the other ancient Wonders) to not be a factor against me. I figure that rather than Kevs slow tech plan, Ill have more tech in my game, partially due to my desire for trades & tribute and partially due to the greater distances involved. A civ with the GW will just be cycled to a later conquest with tech being a factor.
MPE is early enough and cheap enough to be considered an early Wonder. It too is highly desired, but there are workarounds with dips & the revealed map. On the down side, the workarounds are imperfect if there are civ splits, in that new embassies will be required. in short order, if tech is moving along, KRC, Shakes (both KEY), and Copes could all be at risk at the same time. Just after those three, Sun Tsu, Leo & Magellan should all be at risk. (And I want to be spending my time & resources smacking down civs.) IN & the Statue come a bit later, and should be the last of the Wonders that Im really shooting for.
My rationale for Copes & IN are insurance for an edge in the late tech stages, should the game progress to that era. Similarly, if the game gets close to Industrialization, I may have to switch to a rapid tech drive to get to miniaturization & back to a decent level of production capability so I can field modern units.
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Tactics to consider -- Use of Non Settlers to build a South Pole road, South America road & Asian road -- decreasing the pressure of creating and maintaining a boat chain.
If barbs are close see if they can finish off/take over a city. Maybe make a few barb towns this way -- more units for purchase, maybe more units to press the other civs. I wonder if a lot of barb towns would decrease the other types of barb activity.
Ideally, my builds should be: a few boats at start & some infrastructure & a Wonder, and nothing but camels & dips until the modern era. If enough barbs can show up, get purchased I may be able to get away without having to build & then ship supported units (perhaps unhappy ones at that in a Rep or Dem without Shakes) many, many spaces away.
Grow my one city to good size via We love -- the better to get arrows for $$$ (and shields with KRC). Also a few trade routes would be appreciated. The Col & KRC pay off much more nicely with a city than a town (duh).
Alternate plans -- missing out on a few of my desired wonders will alter plans -- missing Shakes makes the Statue (and early Fundy/Commy) more attractive. Ditto with missing KRC.
Geography. Assuming four civs on the Eur/Asia/Africa continent will attract my initial forces. By going after them first, I hope to decrease whatever combined activities they may pursue, so my ideal case would be four civs close to one another, at war with one of them my ally giving me tribute. Meanwhile two other civilized perfectionist civs are growing only slowly and both passing $$ my way. Finally, my friends the barbs visit them often for fun and profit.
Tech plan:
Alpha
Write
Map (may switch with Write depending upon potential Scenario Status)
Bronze
Currency
Code
Trade
CB
Myst
Lit
Phil
Rep
Mas
Const
(HBR -- hope for a trade here; maybe avoid it altogether if I can get Wheel and later Chiv in a timely fashion)
Wheel
Eng. Key tech -- KRC will be the second most crucial Wonder for this game
Math
Astro
Medicine -- Shakes will be the most important Wonder unless I can get Statue & go Fundy
Pott
Sea -- This may have to be moved up the list -- Harbors required for real growth to size 12 & beyond
WC
Feudal -- Sun Tsu would be very nice to have
Chiv
Inv -- Leos is another very nice to have
Nav -- Magellans is a nice to have
IW
Gun
Lead
Uni
Metal -- End of GW
TG
Bank
Demo
Conscrip
Tactics
New variables to consider -- with the initial opportunity for Monarchy, can a tech drive for Trade allow me to use camels for my first Wonder (Col)? Depending upon huts & Barbs, the Warrior techs might be deferred & the army could be Nones -- so $$ will be key. Third, a major effort will be undertaken to cultivate allies primarily for gifts and secondarily for military actions.
A boat chain to North America might be the way to go if I luck out with a Hides repeater.
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First couple of turns survey the board; Top five cities show four other colors.
3900 -- Found Auckland on the open grass; revolt
3850 -- Monarchy; begin research for Alphabet
3700 -- Learn Alphabet, on to Write
3350 -- Learn Write, on to Map (buy the build to Barracks, switch to Library; building because extra warriors would take up shields and provide no additional value)
2850 Finish the Library, start a Dip (None Settler is improving the North island)
2800 -- Learn Map, on to Bronze
2550 -- Finish my first boat, load a warrior & sail to the South Pole
2250 -- Discover Bronze, finish a Dip, load the None Settler head south (for Asia)
1900 -- Were third most advanced (and we view this with mixed feelings)
(1850 -- We see 4 Orange, 2 Purple, 2 Dk. Blue and one Yellow cities; no other colors yet)
1700 -- Discover Code of Laws, on to Currency
1350 -- Carthage begins Colossus; hmmm were not happy, we were hoping that the other civs would start HG & Pyr
1300 -- Disband Warrior at the South Pole. Weve seen no huts anywhere, and the suspicions mount
were beginning to think that well never see huts this game. Strike two for the basic plan.
1200 -- Discover Currency, on to Trade. well continue with the gamble to use camels for Wonders at the start; hopefully the boat/Dip gambit will payoff with tech and cash to justify their early shields.
1000 -- The None Settler is in Asia building a Himalayan road. Squeezing him back into Auckland didnt make enough sense given the long route for future traffic. Ill keep him in the hills and mountains, decreasing the odds that hell get bumped off and decreasing the odds that another civ will come along and plant a city too soon in the way.
975 -- Meanwhile my boat/dip is on the NE Asia coast with Barbs Archers close by
and I only have 44 coins in the treasury. (toggle for more gold
)
875 -- Finally have 60+ gold, buy a None Archer; but the Leader gets away
775 -- Big trade with Mongolia brings in three techs (CB, Wheel, & HBR) and $100g; Tech hit is 10 turns for next advance it now takes 16 turns for each advance)
625 -- Ask for gift, get
nothing (We see 7 Orange, 4 Yellow, 5 Dk. Blue, & 4 Purple cities -- looking like only 4 other civs)
575 -- Discover Trade, on to Myst (Vikings start Pyramids); Commodities available = Beads (3 potential customers), Salt (zip) & Gems (one potential customer).
550 -- Carthage builds Colossus.
Were NOT happy with this. OK, lesson learned, if you want an early Wonder, the first one needs to be worked the hard way if you expect one city to do it all by itself. Science the old fashioned way will be slower as well as the other ($$) benefits reduced. The only (dim) bright spot is well get to see Flight sooner.
500 -- Carthage starts Sun Tsu. Uh-oh; bad for at least two reasons.
250 -- 200K pop., were third largest city and we blow up.
225 -- (Back with a smilie)
125 -- Trade Lit/Myst, and ask for a gift -- get IW
25 -- (Vikes build the Pyramids)
Status check -- one embassy, no wonders,
no huts, no barb leaders, low on funds,
slow on science.
Looks less than optimal.
I did manage to colonize Australia, South America, the India sub-continet and a little piece of China and the East Indies. It was interesting and at least I survived to retire. 
Establish embassy with Carthage. dye (d) to Gades = 384g.
The Vikes give up & Carthage gets Marco Polos as the silver medal.
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