GOTM 29 Spoiler 1

[ainwood]

This is the first spoiler for GOTM 29: Egypt.

To qualify to participate in this spoiler, you must:

a.) Have reached the end of the ancient age (please don't discuss middle-age happenings yet!)
b.) Have contact with 7 other civilizations.
c.) Have explored the entire starting continent.


Items that you may want to discuss:
Where did you settle? Were the barbs a problem? How did you handle your neighbours? How did you balance shield production v food production? Were their any early wars? Did you manage to secure horses, and if so, did you initiate an early golden age?


As regards maps and mini-maps, please don't post anything that shows details outside of the starting continent, nor anything that shows resources not available in the ancient age.

 

[zamint3]

I have got 3 questions:

1. How does disease work? First time Thebes grows to size 4 disease strikes 3 turns in a row so I'm back to size 1
Since then I haven't had a single strike of disease (I'm now at 200 AD)

2. How do raging barbs work? Very early in AA I had two barb horsemen (!!?) ( together with one warrior) destroying settler produktion plus two pop in a northern city.

3. Why can't I upgrade my warriors? Is there a bug or did I miss something?

 

[Salte]

edit: oops, ptw 1.27, open

Well this is probably gonna be my worst gotm so far. I entered the middle ages in 610BC with 9 cities, 0 gold, no wars fought, on par with the others on tech, and with republic in 29 turns and collosus due in 5. My land area is small, and my neighbours the Zulu and the Greeks are also my best friends.

I settled one tile west of the starting point, to get the forests and the wheat that wasnt there (but lucky break, i got another wheat instead). I detest FP starts, and could never really get going. Didnt know where to settle my cities (ended up with a ring at distance 4 wich has worked out ok) and could never make all that food count. Luckily i got three sources of iron and two horses despite my tiny land area. I was soon fenced in and babylon and rome sent settlers to try and found cities in my neighbourhood (terrible spelling i'm sure).

Regarding research i felt really unlucky. I tried gambling first on polyteism (after mysticism at max), then on writing, then on philosofy, non of the attemts succeeded. Somehow the usually ******ed zulus were scientific monsters in this game. So i was always a bit behind, and had to rely on wheeling and dealing to keep up.

I have no idea how i'm gonna win this one, and thats not a good sign.

I'll try to attach a screenshot from my area at the end of the AA

 

[Salte]

Originally posted by zamint3
I have got 3 questions:

1. How does disease work? First time Thebes grows to size 4 disease strikes 3 turns in a row so I'm back to size 1
Since then I haven't had a single strike of disease (I'm now at 200 AD)

Disease is streaky. If u get one, odds are you're gonne get at least one more. Disease hits u when citizens work floodplains or jungle as far as i know. The more of those tiles worked, the bigger chance of disease.


2. How do raging barbs work? Very early in AA I had two barb horsemen (!!?) ( together with one warrior) destroying settler produktion plus two pop in a northern city.

Raging barbs means a lot of agressive barbs. How they get horses or other more powerful units i dont know, but i guess this is decided by the mod.


3. Why can't I upgrade my warriors? Is there a bug or did I miss something?

To be able to ugrade any unit the unit must be in a city with a barracks, and u must also have the money neede for upgrade available. In adittion to this u might also need resources to be connected to the city where u want to upgrade. (Warrior upgrade to Swordsman requires iron)

 

[test_specimen]

I've got to pass on this one. Since I tried the AA at least four times, I won't be sending in a game (and if I do, you can call me a cheater and link me to this post). What's worst about it: the first try was probably the best, because I easily managed to build the Great Library and timed my first war with the end of anarchy for Republic. However, from then on it went completely wrong and I gave up.

I hope a lot of the good players participate in this GOTM, I guess there is a lot to be learned.

 

[test_specimen]

double post, sorry

 

[Offa]

PTW1.27 Open (wimp)

I moved my settler W in search of the imaginary wheat. Of course I didn’t find that, but I did spot the wheat further to the W. I settled on turn 2, one square to the west of the start and I then found that I was 1 shield per turn short of a 4-turn settler factory (please don’t tell me I was wrong about this too). I eventually set the capital up as a 5-turn settler factory, which I think was a bit lame as it wasted a lot of food. It would have been straightforward to set up to produce a settler and warrior in 6 turns and I really should have managed that. Even that is wasteful though, and I dare say some of you have done better. In any event I wasted a lot more food/shields in this game by sloppy play in other cities. I really must learn to tighten up as these early errors are amplified so much later on.

In the capital I made a couple of warriors, then a settler, then a granary and then settlers until there was no more room (about 800bc). I built a ring of cities at a space of 4. Then I placed later cities wherever I could see a reasonable spot (very little room left).

I researched wheel at max, which proved valueless (everyone else already knew it). Then I tried the bottom line research towards monarchy, which I had a bit more success with. I had to resort to buying techs to keep up. I swapped masonry to the Greeks for pottery +19g early on. Later I bought maths from the Zulu in 1424bc for 170g + 10gpt and flogged it to everyone else for warrior code, bronze, iron, writing and horse. In 1300bc I bought COL from the Babs and swapped it for philosophy and MM. I discovered Polytheism (monopoly) in 1000bc and used it to get lit and 360g (i.e. not much). I eventually entered the medieval world in about 500bc.

I found everyone else fairly easily with 2 exploring warriors. I popped only one hut, which was near the Germans (1100bc: empty). I saw very few barbs considering the raging setting.

I had hoped to wage a successful early war but didn’t dare in the end. The Zulu eventually took the initiative and declared against me in 875bc. Unfortunately I was still 10 turns from learning monarchy, and they attacked a war chariot triggering my Golden Age while I was marooned in despotism. I wish I hadn’t built any war chariots until much later as they are a pretty poor unit when the neighbours are Zulu (no retreat from Impi) and Greece (hoplite). I think an initial war with upgraded warriors would have been better.

My place at 1000bc (9 workers, no slave, 11 warrior 7 war chariot, 1 settler, 10 towns).

 

[Megalou]

Predator 1.27f

I'll stick my neck out and say this is one of the easiest emperor games I've played. I won't be among the top scorers, but I've never had any fear of losing this one. Let's see if I'll eat those words...

Target Victory
Domination, conquest or milking if I can see a good way to set it up.

Timeline
4000 BC---> Settle in start location. No granary. Instead I set up three FP cities to build settlers. Pop-rushed a few settlers in Thebes. I eventually start pumping out war chariots and the odd spearman, and later horsemen because of the cheaper upgrade cost. Expansion was successful - I managed to deny both Zulu and Greece iron.
1300 BC - Stalemate war between Zulu and Babylon starts. This is a good reason to attack Zulu later although I would surely have chosen them as first target anyway. Their golden age will be spent on cannon fodder and with a bit of luck they will still have troops stationed in Babland when I go to work on them.
500 BC - Peace between Zulu and Babs
c. 500 BC - Revolt to monarchy
490 BC - I declare on Zulu. Golden Age starts.
270 BC - Capture Zimbawe.
250 BC - Peace with Zulu, leaving them 3 cities/towns. No Great Leaders to build Forbidden Palace but it doesn't feel like a big problem since I will be able to build more horsemen than I can afford to upgrade anyway. The increased distance to my capital might be a problem as my expansion continues. Enter MA.

Research Path
The Wheel (Full research)
(Trade Warrior Code)
Mysticism (Full, then trade halfway)
Polytheism (Full)
Monarchy (Minimum IIRC)
Curreny (Full)

Were the barbs a problem?
They delayed my connection of lambs which made me use the luxury slider for a longer time than usual. Other than that, they were surprisingly harmless and I didn't see any sign of an uprising when two of my rivals entered middle ages before me.
How did you handle your neighbours?
They didn't provoke me at all, even though we did not trade. Maybe I deterred them by building lots of military and little infrastructure (except temples). Also, Zulu probably knew quite a few other civs, so the probability that they would attack me was smaller.
How did you balance shield production v food production?
Settling in the start location made this something of a problem. I did not work the hills to the south of Thebes in a long while, but there were lots of plains around the core cities that could contribute after just a small worker effort. Considering the fact I got no wheat for Thebes, I'm satisfied with my choice to use three (rather slow) cities for settler production. But it will be interesting to compare with other people's choices.
Did you manage to secure horses, and if so, did you initiate an early golden age?
I went straight for Monarchy so could well wait for that before attacking anyone, initiating my Golden Age in 490 BC. I will have a decent part of my golden age in the middle ages and so will hopefully be able to make a good tech trade with the weak Russians or Babylonians if they are scientific.
Biggest single mistake
I must have blacked out when it was time to found Elephantine. You can see Elephantine in the bottom right of the map below. It makes me unable to add another town at distance 4 from Thebes.

 

[dojoboy]

Open 1.29b2

With only a handful of emperor level victories to my credit (none in the GOTM), I went in to to this one with a few aims in mind: (1) be fundamental, IOW, don't just play by the seat of my pants, (2) choose the line of least resistance re: victory, and (3) exploit opportunities created by the AI civs.

I took the first turn to move my settler west to balance shield output w/ food production. Built Thebes in 3950 BC. Began researching Pottery @ 90% (15 turns). After Thebes' borders expand, I'm able to work a wheat tile to the SW. After discovering Pottery, I began a research que for Literature (Great Library) and switched production over to granary.

Conatc made w/ the Zulu (Polite) in 3000 BC, trading Masonry & 9 gold for Bronze Working.

After Thebes reaches pop 4, disease strikes twice (2750 BC & 2670 BC). I fight back a panic attack. Play on!

In 2470 BC, contact is made w/ Greece; trade Masonry, 1 gpt, & 14 gold for Alphabet & Warrior Code.

Finally, in 1725 BC, Thebes produces its first settler. I felt my earlier turns were sensible, but I really feel like I'm way behind (especially on emperor). But, I begin to expand very rapidly from this point.

Meet the Babylonians in 925 BC and trade for 2 techs.

I had beelined for Republic after Literature, and switched from Despotism to republic in 50 AD. I had hoped to build the Great Library but missed out which may have turned out to be a good thing, forcing me to be more aggressive. I steadily built up stacks of swordsmen near Zulu settlements.

In 150 AD, I declared war on the Zulu, capturing 2 settlements. A peace deal in 230 AD, brought Egypt the knowledge of Polytheism and Map Making.

Conact made w/ Rome (260 AD) and Tokugawa (300 AD) prior to entering the Middle Ages in 350 AD.

The Barbs never presented a problem; in fact, I didn't even lose one settler (all unescorted). I did purposely avoid an early Golden Age, saving it for a more aggressive war later. Outside of my poor relationsip w/ the Zulu, diplomacy is polite w/ my other nearest neighbor (Greece).

By the start of the Middle Ages, I've 11 settlements. I don't feel out of the woods yet, but beginning to feel a little more in control of my game.

Egypt - 260 AD

 

[JimmyNeutron]

PTW1.27 OPEN


I started by moving the worker W to see what was there. Moved the settler NW and settled Thebes there on the Next turn. I set research to 0. I will buy the Techs. In 3450bc I met the Zulu and traded for Pottery, and started my Granery. 2670bc I finished my granery and started a temple, but had to switch to warrior, barbs started showing up. 2630 met Babylon and traded for BW. 2550 met Rome He wouldnt trade. In 2470bc I finished my 1st settler, and sent him with a warrior towards the sheep. I had already had a worker roading towards there when he met barbs. Had to do some side stepping to avoid when a zulu warrior shows up and kills the barb. So I send the warrior/settler and settle Memphis finally in 2230. I had the warrior fortified in Memphis when another barb shows I move the worker away and try to attack the barb and lost. barb moves into Memphis, Zulu warrior moves toward Memphis. At this point I have no defender warrior wont be finished for another 2 turns. Zulu warrior attacks the barb and wins and is in Memphis city limits with now defender. He could have destroyed the city but didn't. instead he moved towards the barb camp. In 1750 i made a trade with the Greeks and ended up with Writing and IW for 4gpt+70g and try a 40 turn for Lit. Already had a prebuild for the GL. On to 1200bc I made another big trade, Trade Russia 100g+4gpt for Code. Trade Babs. Code for Math+10g. Trade Rome Math+Code for MM+23g. In 1125bc Tok. learns Lit. and I trade 36g+3gpt for it. and switch to building GL.
1000bc I have 9 Cities, 23 citizens, 1 Settler, 5 workers, 10 warriors, 1 spearman, and 3 warchariots. I still need Horseback Riding, Poly, Monarchy, Republic, Currency and Construction AA techs. I am researching Republic in 36 turns. Lux varys from 30-50%
900bc I met Germans and trade for Phil for Horsebackriding+11g.
On to 270bc I was falling way behind in tech. and Greeks had just built the GL. I had been building up my army and had just finished researching Republic. So I switched to republic and upgraded all warriors i could and on the next turn declared war on Greece. In 190bc I took Pharsalos and Corinth, and started my GA. In 150bc I took Sparta. Then headed for Athens to take the GL. In 30bc I started me attack on Athens, I had a Stack of 15 mostly horses. Athens fell on the 3rd attacker. I now have the GL.
10bc I am equal in tech now thanks to the GL. I enter the Middle Ages. My plans are to take out the Zulu's next.

 

[samildanach]

PTW 1.27f Open
I researched the wheel at max. then I turned off research. The aim being to get my techs with pointy stick research and build up a war chest for eventual upgrading of my war chariots to knights.
I ended the QSC period with only six towns perhaps this was due to not building any granaries but I did have lots of war chariots:devil2:
The obvious first targets were the zulus as their lands abutted ours. As Offa has already mentioned they are not ideal targets for War Chariots and I would have sooner waited for knights to take them out. As it was it didn't hurt too much - I averaged one dead WC per Zulu settlement which was lower than my reinforcement rate. I had left the Zulus with one city by the time the Egyptians entered the MA in 500 BC and had opened up the path to the Babylonians to the North with the prize of the Great Library within striking distance.

 

[Offa]

Originally posted by samildanach
PTW 1.27f Open
I averaged one dead WC per Zulu settlement which was lower than my reinforcement rate. I had left the Zulus with one city by the time the Egyptians entered the MA in 500 BC

That is pretty impressive. They were defending with Impi I presume. A vet war chariot has a 50% chance against a reg Impi fortified in a town, so I guess if you attack in numbers it isn't that bad. Another opportunity missed by my nervous Mercian hordes. You should be able to get a very good finish after a start like that.

 

[Stagger Lee]

I was playing on Conquest Vanilla Civ, as I've never won above Regent before. Didn't keep a good timeline, since I'm not turning this in, and it's not fast enough to be interesting anyway

Barbs - never saw one? Or at least not that I can remember. So probably not a problem.

Neighbors - A real pain, when your UU is the War Chariot, and your two neighbors sport an Impli and a Hoplite. I was going to wait to hook up iron to fight, but the Zulus were insistent on crossing to the back of my territory with a settler, and about the 4th time I protested they declared war.

I had to play defense for awhile, as I was trying to skip the Chariots completely, but soon started churning them out, and with the benefits of an early Golden Age took Ngome, Bapedi, Tugela, Intome, and Swazi.

The Greeks also went to war with the Zulus, and signing an alliance made them Gracious towards me, which was nice as they were the tech leader.

However my inexperience showed, as I signed a peace treaty with the Zulus in exchange for 2 techs, which pissed the Greeks off, and I soon was in a war with them as well.

I guess I just don't understand the tech research at this level - I made a beeline for Monarchy, and still by the time I got it almost everyone else already did. And for whatever reason no one will trade techs with me, being insulted even when I offer two for one.

I ended the AA with the most power of those that I'd met, but behind everyone important in technology.

 

[Stagger Lee]

City Timeline:

Thebes, 1 square to the west in 3950
Memphis, S-S-SW of Thebes in 2710
Heliopolis, S-S of Memphis in 2150
Elephantine, S-SE of Heliopolis in 1500
Alexandria E-E of Elephantine in 1300 BC
Pi-Ramses SW-SW-SW of Elephantine in 1150 BC

This was in order to grab as much of the river as possible., hoping to keep people out of my territory and filling it in later. It's what started a war with the Zulu., as Pi-Ramses was about 3 squares from 3 different Zulu Cities, and eventually closed off the front.

The mountains allowed for some neat tactics, as when the Zulus infaded I filled them with excess fortified Warriors, which led the AI to waste a bunch of archers, then finally herd them through the mountain pass, where they were easily ambushed by Chariots.

Giza E-E-E of Thebes in 1050
Byblos E-E-SE of Memphis in 775
El-Armana SW-SW-W of Thebes in 730
Heirconopolos N-N-N-NE of Thebes in 590, finally getting the wool (I had had to waste my extra worker on a colony previous to this)
And Abdyos N-N-NE of Thebes in 290 completed my immediate filling in.

 

[pindicator]

This is going to be my first complete Emperor game ever, so here's hoping it goes well. By the way, go Ainwood! Way to give us War Chariots as a UU and then have Zulu and Greece be our neighbors. I was riotous with laugher when I discovered each neighbor civ.

So I can't remember off the top of my head and I didn't write it down or put a save near it, but I ended the AA sometime around 400 BC. As for teching, I researched Pottery and half of the Wheel, then I just traded Zulu or Greece for everything else. This kept both of them polite, though Greece grew cautious (they could see the doom that would befall them). I was able to get techs for a pretty decent rate that way, and a lot faster than if I tried to research them on my own.

Anyway, with Zulu so polite, it made it hard to pull the trigger on an early war. But with Iron Working researched, I saw that neither Greece nor Zulu had any iron hooked up! A quick reconnaisance of their territory showed ONE iron between the two of them and not within either's cultural boundaries. Quickly every city began producing Barracks->Swordsman->Swordsman... and so on. When I had 30, I attacked.

My biggest regret is that I didn't hook my iron up immediately after buying Iron Working, and once I did I was still hesitant about provoking war. I had to think it through, and realized that if this was going to be my first complete Emperor game then I had better take the fullest opportunity of any decisive advantages that come my way. So I bought Greece into attacking the Zulu, and then attacked them myself.

At the end of the AA I my armies had taken the nearest Zulu cities and were beginning their march on the Zulu capital. Even though the Zulu were more advanced than I and already in the MA, the worst they could throw at me were horsemen and the occasional Longbowman. Also, the Zulu hardly built any culture, so not one of their cities flipped on me. Having Greece diverge Zulu's troops was a big bonus. But that Iron was going to be hooked up any turn now, so I knew I had to push my advance quickly. Also, Greece had picked up their own Iron now on a nearby island by Zulu-land; they hadn't built a harbor yet, but it was only a matter of time until they did, and I wanted the eastern part of the continent all to myself.

 

[AlanH]

Open 1.29b2

This one is going to test my ability to recover from a bad start! I've made bad starts before in GOTM attempts, and not pressed on, but this one has made me very cross, and I'm ready to try to see it through.

4000 BCI pondered the start position for a long while, trying to see the mythical wheat under the fog and failing. Eventually I moved my worker north for a better look. As someone said, that gave the largest number of new tiles to examine. All he saw was more plains (good) some mountains and a coast. Not promising. Further cogitation brought no new enlightenment, so I mentally tossed a coin and moved the settler NW to get nearer the plains. I figured there might be somewhere better for settler production, so I'd build up pop as fast as possible, and rush a settler to build another city.

I researched Wheel at max, built a warrior, and irrigated and roaded as fast as possible around Thebes. When Thebes expanded in 3500BC I saw the wheat and that had to be my next city location. The warrior wandered off west then south, finding

3150 BC - Thebes reached pop 4 and I whipped a settler. That reduced my pop to 3, and then the first plague struck and I was down to pop 2 and my settler was not going to arrive! I switched my 30 shields to a barracks, licked my wounds, and moved right along, as the inevitable second plague hit next turn and I was down to pop 1. Right back where we started, folks, and now with added unhappiness

2800 BC - We finished Wheel and, as we'd met no one I thought I'd better learn about Pottery. The first bit of good news was that we had horses on one of the hills west of Thebes. There were also some on the east coast. In 2750 BC Thebes completed its barracks and started on a warrior.

2470 BC - Thebes back to pop 4 and our second warrior. Was there ever a slower start to a gotm? I was beginning to think about pretending I'd been planning an OCC all along .

2430 BC - Hold off on whipping a settler - let's wait, and then we meet our first contacts - Greece and Zululand. Just as well we stayed our whip hand - the third and fourth plagues hit. I should have fixed that baby Moses when he was found in the flood plain bullrush beds!

Both new "friends" have Bronze, Alphabet, Pottery, Warrior Code and Mysticism. We trade Masonry for Warrior Code and Bronze Working. We have Pottery in 2 turns at a 1 gpt deficit and can't afford the others. We find Wool on the northern cape. 2350 BC and we're down to pop 2 again. We learn Pottery and start Iron Working at minimum.

2270 BC - Both AI contacts now have Iron Working as well as Mysticism and Alphabet and who-knows-what-else.

2230 BC - Our big cheese, Cleo (Liz Taylor in drag) meets and falls in love with Anthony of Rome (played by Richard Burton). He knows Iron and Alphabet, but not Mysticism, so Cleo uses all her feminine wiles (tart!) to trade for a 2-fer. Buy Mysticism from Greece for 4 gpt and sell it to Rome for Alphabet and 2 gpt. Switch research to Polythesm at minimum.

2030 BC - A warrior scout has wandered into Zulu territory and we see a Blue unit in the south west, but we are so busy micromanaging our fragile economy and saying "Yes Sir" when Shaka complains that our warrior is auto-ejected and forgets to say hello After giving our warrior a very severe talking to and turning him around, we finally get to meet Babylon two turns later in 1950 BC. Meanwhile the Babylonian had razed the Zulu city. Babylon has Iron, Writing and HBR.

1870 BC - We meet Russian troops visiting Rome. By this time our fragile gold reserve has drained down to 2 gold and we're running at -1gpt.

1830 BC - Our first Settler
She builds Memphis near the wheat and starts a Granary.

1725 BC - The fifth and sixth plagues arrive in Thebes. Frogs from the sky, and it feels like the end of the world. Well, Moses is off to find the "Promised Land" tomorrow, so perhaps that'll buy us some rest from these incessant attacks of disease. By 1675BC we are down to pop 2. We'd be at pop 1 but for a last minute pop increase to counter one death. All our contacts are at least four techs up. So we have two cities with a total population of 3, two warriors, one worker, and we are behind in techs by half an era. Never mind, let's see how long we can last.

1350 BC - This time Cleo has a fling with Caesar. Anthony is a bit cut up about it, but we cut a neat deal to buy Maths from Rome and sell it to Greece for Iron Working. We have a local supply of Iron. The following turn we do more trading, buying Polytheism from Greece to sell to Babylon for HBR and to Zulus for Writing. All this leaves us with a 4gpt deficit budget. We set course for Monarchy at minimum.

1250 BC Memphis produces a Granary and starts on a Settler. Could we, at long last, be about to e-x-p-a-n-d ? In 1200BC Rome makes a ransom demand - 22gold for services rendered. Cleo pays up with an enigmatic smile on her lips and an asp clasped to her bosom.

1125 BC - We have two Settlers, in Thebes and Memphis [dance] By 1075 BC we have four cities, with Heliopolis on the west coast and Elephantine near the sheep and the Zulu border town of Mpondo, and that was the state of the Egyptian nation at 1000 BC. A very small and struggling group of four cities, with a shaky economy and pathetic technology. Not a great QSC result!

370 BC - We had expanded to a much more respectable nine cities, and by whipping temples we had quite a reasonable cultural strength against all except Greece - the local 800 lb gorilla. With astute trading deals, we had managed to obtain all the mandatory Ancient Age techs except Map Making. We completed Monarchy in that year, revolted, traded it plus money to the Zulus for Map Making and Literature, and reached the Middle Ages and the end of this Spoiler.

So far the objective had been survival in the face of serious death adnd destruction from the flood plains. Now we could start to look forward ...

 

[Grotius]

I don't think I've ever played Emperor -- the highest level I've beaten is Monarch -- and I'm pleasantly surprised that I'm actually doing better in this game than I do in games on lower difficulty levels. I've already gotten into the habit of tech-brokering on Monarch level, and that tactic works even better on Emperor.

I built Thebes on the spot, and while I did lose one citizen to disease in 3500 BC, and a couple more much much later, in general I was spared too much disease. Barbarians did harass me a little, which made me nervous because I was using Thebes as a settler factory and not cranking out many military units. (In fact, I don't remember what the rule is in PTW: if a barb defeats a city garrison, do you lose the city or just lose some gold? Fortunately, it didn't come to that.)

I had only six cities by 1200 BC, but not long thereafter I built another four or five more. I was lagging not too far behind in the tech race by tech-trading, but I was behind. But then I surprised myself by beating the other AIs to the Great Library. I built it in Elephantine, founded by the wool on the northern tip of the continent. So I was able to turn off research altogether and coast into Republic and the Middle Ages. I forgot to write down the year on which I entered the Middle Ages.

I fought no wars at all in the ancient age, even though I seem to have monopolized much of the iron. I built cities by three different iron deposits! I also had access to horsees. But I wanted to build up my infrastructure, especially marketplaces, so that I could manage happiness and be competitive on research when the GL expires. I'm a builder at heart, which doesn't help me score high in these games; I typically eke out space or diplomatic wins, and that's where I'm heading this time.

The absence of luxuries was the most striking thing to me about this map. I had one lousy extra wool to my name! For the first part of the game, I micromanaged the luxury slider on almost every turn.

Thanks to Ainwood for another fun game. I'm really eager to see if I can pull out a win here.

 

[dojoboy]

I wonder why the increase in strategic resources, particularly iron? It took a while for my expansion to get under way in full swing, and I was still able to encompass three sources of iron. On the other hand, luxury resources were not as prevalent it seemed.

 

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by Grotius
I don't think I've ever played Emperor -- the highest level I've beaten is Monarch -- and I'm pleasantly surprised that I'm actually doing better in this game than I do in games on lower difficulty levels.

I wonder if the difficulty levels have been adjusted to reflect those in Conquests (adjustments for Demi-God & Sid), since so many other Conquests features have been adopted. The start wasn't that friendly, and I too found it easier than I had expected. But, maybe this is a by-product of having participated in the GOTM with more regularity (third in a row).

There could have been some changes in traits among the other civs that affected game-play.

 

[dojoboy]

*deleted double post*