Gotm 28

[Duke of Marlbrough]

This month you command the grand empire of the Greeks as Alexander.

You have inherited the throne from your neighbor’s sister’s nephew, twice removed from her father’s side.

It is now 1950 BC. That's right, an accelerated start-up.
Emperor Level with Raging Hordes.

You now command two great cities, Athens and Sparta.

And have a wealth of items at your disposal

And Knowledge

And Improvements

You’re playing on a Normal sized map, with a couple other Civs, no restarts.

GOTM 28.sav
Games are Due June 7th, 2003

 

[ElephantU]

Well, looks like OCC is out this month...

Still in Despotism, with no Code of Law? This one's pretty miserable... I guess the Greek's Military Advisor made most of those choices. Too busy to pop that hut, too. Sigh.

 

[cliff]

Early conquest? We have Map Making and some strong defensive units that can be fortified outside enemy cities. We have to research Polytheism or Mathematics first and then off we sail!

 

[ElephantU]

Funny how belching off lunch gets you to thinking. How did those Y-shaped tile groups get revealed without revealing the ones beside them? Download the map: AHA: except for the north, they are all water, so the AI ignored them! Strange the things the AI can get away with! We have a Chariot without Wheel or another hut around, too. Very strange. I think I'd like to have a talk with this "nephew", if he isn't cowering in a bunker with a guy whose initials are S.H.... (maybe he's the "Information Minister"?)

 

[ElephantU]

Originally posted by cliff
Early conquest? We have Map Making and some strong defensive units that can be fortified outside enemy cities. We have to research Polytheism or Mathematics first and then off we sail!

The Archer and the Chariot are the only useful ones; the rest need to stay at home to keep the peace. I'd build a few more cities and get out of Despotism ASAP. DoM implied there are only two other civs on a Medium map, which could take some serious searching if you want to bang heads. AC landing will be tricky if we are short on civs, as the KeyCiv thing gets screwed up when civs are missing. From the screwy shape of the southern part of this island you dont know if he has thrown us another curve with a custom map, either. There was some talk about island maps with no chance of early boat connections before Navigation or Lighthouse.

Old n Slow had my hopes up for a Democracy vs Communism contest...

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

It is a normal randomly generated, accelerated game. I did nothing to the game beyond creating it, so I have no idea what the set-up is. When the game started I did have to pick a tech to start on, so I picked everyone's favorite tech, Masonry.

 

[ElephantU]

Looks like it waited till 2000BC to actually start on it...

 

[Old n Slow]

Hmmm we have a size 5 city already? Oh to spawn settlers (or perhaps to Xin?) -- I wonder if the best players will think that this is a slow start & if the other players will truly feel that this is an advanced start?

I wonder how fast the sleazers will be up & running?

Masonry? The most celebrated, discussed early tech, Masonry? The most critical early tech for every strategy, Masonry? I like it -- probably the most NEUTRAL tech of the early choices.

I like the surprises.

I think that the Duke may soon hit us with a forced Democracy Deity level game & call it…D&D. No actually, the surprise will be some really low level game -- I’ve only here for about a year & haven’t seen any game lower than King -- what if the Duke were to hit us with a “fast start” Chieftain level & click away to 1000AD (Set science to zero, build barracks indefinitely, taxes = 60%, Lux = 40%, should get pop up to unpopular levels & be generally unproductive for a long time)? Hmmm -- just think no disbandable cities…

 

[GaryNemo]

Duke, your wit is marvelous. Truly you are torturing us this time.

The great cities, wealth of items, knowledge, and improvements

Btw, King is a good minimum.

 

[ElephantU]

Just starting to analyze this setup, found one key question:

Were there any starting/freebie techs to the setup? If I CIV2PLAN out the first 7 techs, I cannot get MAS as the 8th tech without at least one freebie. The critical part is whether there were one or two, because if there was only one, selecting CoL after Mas gives me no option for Monarchy next, but if there was two I get Monarchy right away. Since research is at 18 turns and I still have to do CoL this means an extended stay in Despotism.

 

[anarchywrksbest]

Can't you guys just PLAY THE GAME?

 

[ElephantU]

No.

 

[ElephantU]

The answer to my question above, which I had to find out the hard way, is that there is only 1 freebie tech, so the choices after Code of Laws do not include Monarchy. I don't think this belongs in the Spoiler Thread as it involves info we should have had at the "start", and may greatly affect our early plans.

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

When you start an accelerated game, it does not show you any 'free' techs you start with. It just shows you the total techs you start with.

After some quick testing it looks like the 'normal' amount of techs that a similar accelerated game starts with is 6, so our game does indeed look to have one 'free' tech.

As an interesting side note, for an accerated start in 2000BC, the game will have a road that connects your two cities. It will build the road on any terrain that is between the cities, even going around ocean, but will not build it over a river.

The game will also start you with 6 additional irrigated, roaded squares.

 

[ElephantU]

But yet irrigation does nothing for us stuck in Despotism for another 1000 years...

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

Results:
http://www.civfanatics.com/civ2gotmstats28.shtml


Saved Games:
http://www.civfanatics.com/gotm_games/GOTM28.zip

 

[la fayette]

4 turns sooner than smash = fine
... but chofritz is well ahead = hat down