GOTM 29 Spoiler 1

[AlanH]

I was quite surprised at the slow growth of the AI civs. I was way behind until after 1000 BC, but by the end of the Ancient Age I had actually caught most of them in city count, and there were still some spaces left to settle around their home locations.

I only had wool in my home territory and traded for incence to get some extra happy pills. I guess I was slower than most getting futher south, so I have two local iron sources, with another one close by in neutral terriory near the Zulus that I'm going for with a cultural battle.

 

[akots]

PTW 1.27f predator

It seems that ainwood and gotm team have put a lot of design efforts for this map. Now, unlike the previous gotm, there are many resources but few luxuries. And rather unpleasant neighbors again. But no Xerxes! What a big relief!

I moved settler W to get closer to forest and was lucky to have wheat in radius after culture expansion. Thebes was set up as 4.5-turn settler factory (2 settlers every 9 turns) and all other cities followed tight build at RCP 3.5 radius. Shield/food production in Thebes was rather difficult and required lots of micromanagement every other turn. One northern forest had to be chopped and the resulting grassland mined. Another forest remained intact and all plains were mined and flood plains irigated. Thebes never worked more than 3 flood plains and did not have disease. The cycle was 3 irrigated flood plains plus 2 mined plains/mined grassland for 2 turns and 2 flood plains plus other tiles plus forest for 2 or 3 turns. Other cities had some disease but fortunately, they were both size 2, so only one citizen was lost in each of them. Barbarians were not a problem, Zulu and Babylon took care of them.

Tech trading and brokering was very smooth and peaceful allowing to enter Middle Ages in 1000BC through standard Mysticism-Polytheism gambit. QSC stats: 11 towns, 27 population, 5 temples, 2 barracks and modest military of 8 regular warriors and 4 veteran chariots. Embassies with everyone but Germany (did not meet them yet at 1000BC). All AA techs except Monarchy (23 turns away) and Republic.

Chariots are not so good against Zulu (no retreat against impi) and Greece (defense 3 hoplite), so no early wars this time. Probably will have to wait to Chivalry and use chariots to pick up some archer just to start Golden Age. Knights might be the main fighting force.

 

[Sabre]

Open PTW 1.21f

Thebes

The start location didn't appeal to me at all with it's lack of shields. Noticing that the 3 NE squares were all desert and reading the rumors of a wheat to the SW, I started my worker on irrigation immediately and moved my settler 1 square SW - no wheat! Well, I'm not wandering all over and I did gain a shield or two in the move so I settle there and discover the wheat that really was there.

Thebes built 2 warriors to start. The first began an amazing journey of discovery on a path due west, meeting civ after civ before finally reaching the sea and turning back along the southern coast. The second headed south, met the Greeks and did a little exploring. Warrior1 happened to notice a sheep near the FP wheat as he began his travels and a slight detour found a second, so Thebes built a settler quickly as this site seemed nicer as a settler factory than Thebes. Thebes would then spend time building a few warriors, a couple more settlers and a worker or two.

Memphis

Memphis was to be my settler factory and the capital once our territory was filled. A granary was my first build here and according to my math a 4-turn factory was possible. Problem was, when it came to building the settlers I realized I failed to account for 1 shield lost to corruption. Ugh. After a few times struggling to get on track I just let Memphis go on it's own. It was still putting out settlers 4 turns alot of the time, but a few 5 turners were in there I'm sure. It was good enough as I got the land I wanted, settling in a 4-ring around Memphis in anticipation of a palace move. This may have slowed me a bit to start, but I felt the MA+ benefits would be worth it and corruption wasn't too big a deal early on.

Tech

Started on Alpahebet in 40t but ended up trading for it early. The Zulu must have done some great early trading as they had around 5-6 techs when I discovered them. I next started Writing at 40t and was too late with that one too. By this point I had a good base of cities all on the river (except Pi-Ramesses up by the wool) and alot of cash so I researched Philosophy at max. (9t) I was first to Philosophy which led to a nice round of trading netting me Map Making, Mathematics, Polytheism and 190g. Code of Laws was next at the same 70%. (15t) I was first again but this time there was little to trade for so I kept it to myself. I'd go for the Republic 80% (27t) and get Currency and Construction whenever someone else got around to it. Russia beat me to Republic, but since she refused to trade it I managed to get near-monopoly prices. Another round robin of trading netted me Construction, Currency, 2 MA techs as the science civs advanced during trading and 573g. This trade sent me to the Middle Ages in 410bc.

Trades
2900bc - Masonry, Ceremonial Burial to Greece for Alphabet, Bronze Working, Pottery and 13g
2630bc - Masonry, Alphabet to Babylon for the Wheel and Mysticism
2310bc - Mysticism to Greece for 56g
...............Mysticism to Russia for 25g
2030bc - Alphabet, Mysticism and 64g to Germany for Horseback Riding
...............Horseback Riding to Babylon for Iron Working and 63g
...............Iron Working to Zulu for 51g
...............Iron Working to Germany for 73g
1450bc - Writing to Germany for 94g
1429bc - Embassies established with every civ
1225bc - Philosophy and 311g to Zulu for Map Making
...............Writing to Rome as a gift
...............Philosophy to Russia for Mathematics, 87g
...............Mathematics, Philosophy, Map Making to Rome for Polytheism
...............Polytheism to Zulu for 179g
...............Mathematics to Greece for 115g
...............Map Making to Babylon for 120g
900bc - Wool, 22g to Zulu for Incense
875bc - Peace, Polytheism and Map Making to Germany for Peace, Construction and 10g
Construction to Rome for 152g
670bc - Peace to Russia for Peace and 40g
470bc - Wool and 45g to Zulu for Incense
410bc - Polytheism and the Republic to Greece for Currency and 46g
..............Currency to Russia for 513g
..............Currency to Zulu for Literature and 95g
the Republic, Currency and 570g to Rome for Monarchy
(more trades involving MA techs and a whole lot of gold)

Wars

I had 3 wars started because I refused to give in to demands by any rulers not named Shaka or Alexander. Russia and Germany were both cold wars, but Tokugawa shocked me by having a ship just out of sight when I dismissed them as harmless. The turn after I refused their demand they landed a warrior next to an unguarded town at the river's southern mouth. Argh - I had just moved that area's guard across the river after a barbarian and I have no way of defending the town! The town is taken, but 2 warriors take it back a few turns later. Other than a few barbarians, that was it for AA conflict. No archer rush this time!

Disease

I had 1 instance of disease in Heliopolis that dropped it from a pop of 4 to 1. Luckily nothing struck Thebes or Memphis.

Were the barbs a problem? Eh, not really. More of an annoyance. No barbs got to my cities, but I did have to build a few warriors to keep an eye out. It helped having the Zulu and Greeks nearby as the wilderness between our civs dwindled quickly.

How did you handle your neighbors? Greece and the Zulu were my buddies through the AA (the AI is so naive! Bwuhahahahaha!) The Zulu were especially handy as they provided a nice barrior to the outside world, letting me laugh at the other civs demands. When trading, I tried to keep Greece out of the loop as they were to be my first target later on. Greece ended up being a bit behind by 410bc, but trading was fierce among the other civs.

Horse? Golden Age? I did connect my horses along the line and even built some War Chariots in anticipation of upgrades, but I didn't need to use them in the AA and had no early Golden Age. I'd much rather have that during the early MA.

Goals

I'm going to go for a Space victory this time. My plans for the next age are to invade the Greeks and the Zulu and maybe 1 or 2 of the smaller civs nearby and start revving up my research capabilities. So far it's been pretty easy going. I was able to fill out my territory pretty quick and the other civs have been a great help with research. Gold is plentiful and life is good.

 

[yoshi74]

Hi,

first i won't submit the game for score because i did an importent reload . But it was a critical point and since this is my first emporer game its more importent to me to play this one through and get more experience than submitting a bad loss...

I did real bad at scouting at the beginning, got nailed by barbs and unhappiness in my place and didn't even met one of my close neighbors (the greek). I settled my land and managed to get all three iron at my half of the land. Build a army and went war against zulu. Then i meet the greek and traded one iron for some tech, because my own research could not keep up. Got my GA, good for unit production, at last. Got a GL during the fight for his second last city. Rushed the FP in a former zulu city.
Made peace with the zulu when they were down to one city, got some tech. They were wiped off by the japanese shortly after this.
Had a big pile of units, so i waited till my trades with greek to expire and attacked. Not much problems exept those cursed diposings .
First was Corint. No problem, lost two or three units, took them back quite fast. Next was Athen. Losses were acceptable, took them back and razed them. Next was sparta with its three importedt wine deposits). Foolish it was to capture them after the two disposings before. Lost 10+ units, after i made peace. Had a gpt trade made during peace for some techs, so i could'nt attack next 20 turns without trashing my rep. There i had to decide to play on in a really bad situation or to learn from my failure instantly and change history to allow me play on in a better position. I reloaded, razed the city and build a new one on its place. Now i'am techwise close to the other, shortly before the IA. Will see, how it goes on...

 

[samildanach]

Originally posted by Offa


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.

Just before I began my offensive against the Zulus I got the the massive barb uprising message form my southernmost city. So I sent my war chariots down to "investigate". The barb village had popped between my city and a zulu city and there was over 20 barb units in it ( I thought there was only supposed to be ten). I caught the bulk of the barbs still in their beds before they spilled out to cause havoc - I lost a couple of chariots but got around five-six promotions. When I turned my attention to the zulus my forces were spearheaded by elites.
The barb village popping where it did was a lucky break ( or perhaps due to my slow expansion ) - I usually can't be bothered using Moonsingers barb harvesting trick for promos as it doesn't seem to give a decisive advantage in most games.

 

[denyd]

Edit: PTW 1.27

I think my entire game so far can be summed up by the phrase “adapt and adjust”

My initial plan was to:
1.Use the F10 to find out who was in the game and select a first level tech to research at max
2.Have my worker irrigate in place and move the settler west to take advantage “invisible” wheat under the fog
3.Find horses as soon as possible and get 10-15 built quickly to take out the weakest neighbor
4.Move tech pace quickly to get to knights and then cavalry to take over my island
5.Explore the whole island quickly and worry about building boats until early conquest complete.

Well, the first 4 went out the window by 2000 BC, as it turned out that all of the first level techs were in the game (if Tokugawa is Japan), the wheat under the fog must have been so tall it cast a 2-tile shadow, finding Zulus with fast spearmen (Impi) and Greeks with pikemen (Hoplites) meant my War Chariots would be kabobed if I started an AA war. Soon it became obvious I’d be struggling to keep up on tech.

I got a couple of early breaks to put me in good position to win this game. First my western settler move, though initially an error proved to gain wheat anyway, next my first warrior going west managed to contact the western AI (and later return home safely), while my second warrior met the Zulu & Greeks. By switching citizens from FP to woods, Thebes managed to avoid ever (so far) having disease strike. I also got help from the Zulu and Greeks in barbarian control, having to only switch a temple to spearman once during the expansion stage. It also helped that there were a couple (Germany vs Russia, Tokugawa vs Babylon & Rome vs Zulu) of early wars to slow down the tech pace. I joined with Babylon vs Tokugawa for 5 slaves one time & Map Making the other. My biggest break was researching literature and getting the Great Library. I turned off research and let a slow tech pace bring me & the AI in the middle ages in 150 BC when I got Currency, Republic, Monarchy & 1 MA tech from the recently built GL. The amount of gold collected from skipping science allowed 30+ Warrior upgrades for my future conquests.

Only one blackmail (Zulu for 26g) in the AA and only researched Mysticism (Babylon beat me by 1 turn) myself of my 3 40-turn gambits (Polytheism & Currency).

I ended the QSC with 10 towns, 27 happy people, 3 swords & 12 warriors in 4th place with 296 behind leader Germany with 412.

My golden age has been saved for infrastructure (marketplaces & library) building and a production boost during the beginning of the upcoming Greek invasion.

At the end of the Ancient Age, I’ve got 2 horse & 2 iron sources and just wool as a native luxury. With the Zulu and Greece lacking connected iron, they have move from hunter to hunted on the food chain.

 

[civ_steve]

v1.21f

This has been a rather bizarre game for me so far! And it seems that random factors are having some (or a lot) impact on the different games!

I moved the Settler West one space, did not find Wheat there but it was one space further away, and this move did put it within Thebes' expanded radius. My worker got busy on improving the floodplains spaces. I got 2 warriors out to explore, a 3rd to stay home, and started on a Settler. I decided to start research on Mysticism at minimum, and save my gold. Fine so far.

First, my warriors were both killed by Barbs before they found anyone other than the Zulu and Greeks. For the longest time I thought we were alone on a small continent (then suddenly a Roman Spear/Settler stack comes by to say hello!! I build an embassy, and see a BLUE border next to Rome, so there are at least 2 more civs here. Actually, a lot more, as my Galleys eventually found out.)

Next, I get hit by disease TWICE before that Settler was finished!! Ended up changing it over to a Granary (after making a deal with Shaka for Pottery). So I eventually end up with 1 Worker, 1 Warrior and a Granary before I build anything else. (Kind of weak, if you ask me.) During the QSC period Thebes is hit with disease THREE MORE TIMES, for a total of 10 population points lost before 1000 BC. (Another city, Elepantine, is hit at size 2, and loses one population point.) Anyway, at 1000 BC I have 7 towns, and a small army (I'll add the stats in later.) (EDIT: here they are - 7 cities, 17 citizens, 10 Warriors, 5 Workers, 3 Archers, 4 Temples, 1 Barracks, 1 Granary)

My minimum research of Mysticism fails, as Shaka gets tons of Techs, but I finish it out (EDIT: traded it for Wheel with Greeks; earlier, traded Masonry for Alphabet with Greeks, and Alphabet to Shaka for Pottery; bought BronzeWorking and WarCode around 1450 BC ). I then start a minimum research of Math, which concludes in 975 BC. Shaka knows Math, of course, but the Greeks don't, and I at least get to make a trade for Writing (EDIT: at this time, bought Philosophy from Zulu and traded it and Gold to get Map-Making from Greeks). Along the way I've traded or bought Alphabet, WarCode, Pottery, BronzeWorking, IronWorking (EDIT:, bought it in 800 BC), MapMaking and Philosophy. Not having learned my lesson, I start a minimum research of Currency. My Galleys set forth, and I start making other contacts. Let's see: I'm trailing by several techs, I'm rated Weak to just about everybody, I'm giving in to demands left and right - HA HA, I've got the AI just where I want them!!

I get Iron hooked up, and start upgrading lots of Swordsmen. The Zulu and the Romans have had an alliance against Greece for several turns now; time to join the Alliance. Zulu actually give me CodeOfLaws to join; I can now see they have Republic, and I know they have Monarchy (cause they is one), so I now have a better idea of just how far behind I am! Anyway, my Swords start slashing through Greek territory; they were very weak offensively, and their regular Hoplites put up hardly any resistance to my Veteran Swords. I capture 3 cities (including Swazi, which the Greeks had taken), plant an Egyptian city or two, and grant peace in 250 BC for Poly, Construction, Literature and HorseBackRiding. 6 Turns later, in 130 BC, I finally learn Currency, and I'm in the Middle Ages!! Meanwhile, the offensive forces are now focused on Shaka; his turn is coming fast!!

Now, not that I'm complaining or anything, but several other civs have both Governments, and all first tier Middle Ages techs already. And I've gotten notice that one of the other civs has started on the Sistine Chapel!! This seems pretty advanced compared to several other games that have been reported here, especially since I've contributed nothing to the research rate. I was able to swing a deal or two, and get Republic and two of the 1st tier Techs in 130 BC, also, and I'll say more about that in the next spoiler.

(EDIT: here's the map of my main territory in 130 BC; my forces are concentrated in Elephantine, and Ngome is right in the line of fire:)

Anyway, I've completely founded my territory, the Sheep spaces, down to the Iron hill, so I have the 3 Iron sources, 2 Horse sources and 2 Wools connected. And I own the Northern Third of Greece. Roughly 16 cities or so, about 25 Swords, and 10 WarChariots at this time. I'm still in Despotism, but if I get an opportunity to start my GA against the Zulu with a WarChariot, I'll switch to Republic that turn. I've built several Temples, so I'm culturally ahead or equivalent with most. Going in I was hoping for one large land mass, and maybe an opportunity to try milking to 2050 (never done a histrographic victory). It looks like my wishes have materialized; time to see if I can act on them!

 

[Sir Bugsy]

Conquest

This has played much easier than a normal emperor game. I think the C3C variants have made the game play to the human more. While map trading isn’t critical, not being able to trade contacts really cripple the AI.

I used the treasures to explore east and west along the river, and moved my settler 1SW. While I didn't know it at the time, it got the wheat on expansion. The shield poor lands caused slow early development, but once I was able to mine the heights to the north and south of the river, I was able to get some decent production.

I essentially set up a six turn warrior/settler factory and had 10 cities at the end of the QSC. I continued cranking out cities until well into the MA.

I built four warriors, a granary, and then went into warrior/settler mode in Thebes.

Science – Went for Pottery at max. Was successful with a 40 turn gambit on math and currency that put me into the MA first in 490 BC.

Exploration – I used the treasures to explore the immediate area in a circular fashion, bringing them back in time to be used for the granary. Since I knew what was to our north and east, I sent the first warrior south and the second west.

Met Zulu in 3550 BC with good trading - Masonry and CB for Pottery, WC & 10G.

Met Greece in 3250 BC – Masonry for Alphabet, BW & 10G.

Babs - 3000 BC
Rome - 2350 BC
Tokugawa – 2310 BC
Russia – 2270 BC
Germany – 1500 BC

My western warrior made all the contacts except the Greeks, essentially heading due west until he hit the coast and then heading south.

AI wars – The Zulu and Greeks were at war very early on, as were the Russians and Germans. In fact, the way I met the Germans was by walking into a battle. The Russo-German war lasted until 500 AD when Russia was a one-tile OCC island. The Zulu-Greek war hampered the growth of both parties, and I was able to expand to the south quite nicely. The Zulu expanded up to the mountain range. The Greeks were limited to the southern have of the landmass, with only one city, Corinth, in “our” lands.

I was surprised at the abundance of resources. I was also surprised at the lack of barbs. IIRC, there was two barbs that came over the mountains from Zululand. Those foolishly attacked across a river and died at the gates of Memphis. The AI took relish in hunting down the barb camps. My warrior was in the far west at the age change and the barb uprising. I watched a stack of 30+ barb horses run past my guy and wreak havoc on the Tokugawa.

I spent most of the age building my infrastructure and maintaining a defensive military. I didn’t want to use the chariots to trigger a despotism GA, so I stayed peaceful. It is interesting how the different games have played out. I never saw any disease.

In retrospect, the 40 turn gambits and brokering between civs were the keys to my AA success. The math gambit gave me enough cash to get all known techs and have enough left over to continue to buy and trade. By the time currency came in, it was the last remaining required AA tech and it sent me into the MA. I then traded or gifted the scientific civs into the next age, and was able to pull off a series of trades to gain all three first tier techs. So in one turn, I was able to go from the AA to the second tier of the MA.

 

[denyd]

to Zamint3:

What I've learned about barbarians (someone please correct me if I'm wrong)

1. When you pop a hut, if you have no military units anywhere, you won't get barbarians.

2. Until The Wheel is discovered by anyone (you or the AI), only barbarian warriors are found. Once The Wheel is available barbarian horsmen begin appearing. Since Tokugawa (Japan) probably started with The Wheel, barbarian horses are available in the beginning.

3. There doesn't have to be horses on the island to allow the barbarians to have horsemen (example: GOTM 28).

4. Once anyone has Map Making, barbarian galleys will begin to appear.

5. If a barbarian unit attacks a town and kills the last defender or if are no defenders, one of the following will occur:
a. money will be stolen
b. population will be killed
c. production will be destroyed

also, there are any non-combatants (workers, settlers, scouts) or ships they will be destroyed/killed

6. A barbarian uprising will be horses and will happen when once the second tribe (you and/or the AI) enters a new age. Each barbarian village will have an chunk of new horsemen. The number will from 10-20 units.

7. Land barbarians seem to have the following priorites:
a. Killing unescorted settlers
b. Killing undefended workers
c. Pillaging an undefended city
d. Pillaging to disconnect resources
e. Attacking weakened units
f. If none of these available, then run around and wait for someone to kill you

8. To find out if there are any barbarian villages nearby, check with the military advisor, he'll tell you the closest city to them.

9. Barbarian villages never appear on lands claimed by any tribe.

Hope this helps

 

[Sir Bugsy]

@ Denyd - Those are the PTW barb priorities.

In straight 1.29f - ythey seem to be

1. Attack any undefended settler/worker
2. Attack any unit in the open going for the weakest units first.
3. Attack cities going for the weakest first.

 

[bluebox]

here's my ancient age report: i setup a special goal in my game - to build the pyramids. why and how can be read in the pregame discussion. dojoboy should be familiar with this approach

shields
i settled on spot, irrigating a flood plain tile first, then plains in the north. this gave some shields. later mined hills in the south. in 2900bc thebes had built a warrior and a settler and started on pyramids. alexandria was founded by the double fish and the wheat in 2750bc. Never had a desease stike.

my world in 2510bc

contacts
I met babs in 2470bc, zulus in 2350bc, romans and toku in 1950bc, and finally greece in 1830bc. my exploration was handicapped by not getting through other civs' territory, i was thrown out constantly. moreover, i lost some galleys through 'bad moves' onto sea tiles.

tech
i started out on researching myst at 100% and could sell it for BronzeW, WCode & Wheel. then i reserached poly at 10%, succeeding again and traded for IronW, Pottery, Writing and a lot of g, so i could afford to buy maths, HBR, Phil, CoL. Stopped research then.

warfare
I couldn't get monarchy till my pyramids were finished in 800bc and triggered ga. a few turns later zulu declared war. i wasn't sure of my military abilities on emperor, so i signed a ma with the greeks for gpt, and conquered several cities of the zulus before i made a peace deal. war chariots were quite good against impis. the war yielded a leader who rushed the GLib in Thebes. zulus and greeks never put an end to their conflict.
the babs also declared war, which gave me the opportunity to raze an external city of them next to thebes and resettle the area and a gpt peace deal.

what's up?
all in all, it's pretty good for me. a few months ago i wasn't even able to set myself up for a particular goal. i considered those who did as jerks - now i'm one of them !

 

[Arphahat]

As I am fairly new to CivIII, and had never played above Warlord, I took quite a beating. Although I have finished the game, I technically am not allowed to post, as I never saw the entire continent.

Timeline

Once I determined that it was futile to continue, I constantly wondered if there really was any benefit to keep playing a game I was obviously going to lose. Amusingly, I feel that I have developed more in this crushing defeat than in other games I have played. The importance of tech trading has been beaten into me. Additionally, I found that it may be better to actually give into the demands of a vastly superior race. And, I really learned some super micromanagment.

Now that I am done with the GOTM, I started another game on Warlord difficulty. Although I am not far into the game, I already notice a huge difference in my play style. In the GOTM, I was way behind in tech and made poorly planned attacks. Now, there is a greater deal of thought put into each move. Maybe I'll be more of a competitor for next month, but in the mean time, I am hoping for the Red Ambulance award.

 

[denyd]

Arphahat: What you might try to do is go back to an earlier GOTM and play one of those and compare what you did to the Quick Start Challenge (QSC). The GOTM 17-20 have timeline postings of the first 80 turns from many of the top players. You'll find reading what players like SirPleib, Moonsinger, Qitai and others did to achieve their top scores.

 

[Arphahat]

Hey, that's not a bad idea. I think I will. Thanks, denyd.

 

[Leibniz]

Hi,

this is my first post. I have played gotm28-open before and made a very late spaceship victory. Now i will try my first game on emperor level. Heres my report until i reached MA.

4000BC: Settled one tile west and founded Thebes. Although theres wheat in city radius it has due to the lack of shields no chance to become a settler factory (at least not 4 turn). Research: Pottery at max.

3450BC: Met the Zulu. Traded Masonry vs. WC and 10g.

2900BC: Founded Memphis SW of the wheat with the two sheep in city radius. I thought one can set up a 4 turn warrior- settler factory there but due to the corruption i only got 36 shields in 4 turns. Memphis will build a temple first and then a granary, Thebes builds barracks.

2850BC - Met Alexander who has BW, Alphab and 35g.
Trade Alphabet vs. Pottery and Masonry, 5gpt, 8g.
Trade with Shaka Alphabet vs. BW.

2740BC - Alex and Shaka have Mysticism and The Wheel. We want to trade
for the wheel. Shaka wants 3gpt and 43g, Alex 3gpt and 40g. We make the deal
with Alex. We have horses one tile from
Thebes, and the east cost as well as in Zulu Territory near the incense.

2430 - Met Hammurabi, who has horses, Mysticism and 22g.
Memphis has completed its temple, switch to granary.

2270 - Thebes has completed its barracks and will build war chariots now.

1910BC - Trade Writing
with Alex and pay 8gpt, 16g. Trade Writing and 30g with Hammu for IW.
Have Iron in city radius of Memphis, SE from Memphis, 3 tiles NW from
Thebes.

1550BC: Founded Elephantine.

1500: researched Myst, now Literature at min.

1400BC- We buy Phil fromm hammu for 12gpt and 41g and sell
to Alex for13g and to Shaka for 16g. Bad deal. Research Literature at min

1325BC- Hammu demands 23g from us, which we denied. He declared war.
Thats ok, because we have now 12gpt more gold and he must be relatively
far away from us although we dont know where its territory is.

1300BC- Killed regular Babylonian spearman and triggered our golden age.

1075BC: We give Hammu a peace treaty and 2g for peace Treaty and HB.
We give Shaka 23gpt and 18g for CoL. Trade with Alex CoL vs.
Math. and 14g. Trade with Hammu CoL and 308g for MM and Poly.
Now we have Tech parity.

1000BC: Established embassys in Greece and Babylon, because a Bab. warrior
and a Greece archer apprioached my borders. We saw pink borders
near the Bab capital.Hammu has RoP with Alex and Shaka. Buyed
construction from Hammu for 22gpt and 12g. We give Alex
Construction and 1gpt for Military alliance vs. Shaka.
We declared war on the Zulu to get cheap techs.

710BC - peace treaty with Shaka for Literature and 19g.

350BC: Meet the Romans. Traded with Alex Currency for 15gpt and 12g. Trade with
Caesar Currency vs. Monarchy and4gpt and 238g. Entered MA.

I think one of my main mistakes was to build War chariots and the
early GA. Also they were in the Zulu wars not strong enough. Next time i will build only sworsmen and horsemen.

i had no problems with disease, because i worked not too many floodplain tiles.

Also i never !!! saw one barb ??? thought they rage. Probably the Zulu and the Greeks eliminated them.

Now i want to fight the Zulu. But i dont want to capture all cities because i want to have a buffer between the other civs so that i can concentate in eliminating the Greeks and own the right half of the continent.

Heres a map of my territory in the first MA turns:

 

[wshuts]

I am a civilization “newbie.” I started playing for the first time ever in january 2004. So this is my first GOTM. I had a rough time due to lack of experience – but I hung in there and actually completed the game without any “do overs.” So eventually I will turn in my results.

Here is some highlights (and lowlights) of the ancient era.
Open Class - PTW 1.27f

3050bc:
many mistakes already
spent too much time scouting city locations
plus disease strikes on the flood plains!
founded capital on coast – low production – high corruption for other cities
1 worker, 1 warrior
only one city and still 13 turns to make a settler

2430bc:
I finally have my second settler! 2390bc to actually found 2nd city
Already getting boxed in by Zulus and Greeks

1990bc:
barbarians are becoming troubling – my military is down to 1 warrior
traded/bought all 1st level techs
working toward literature for the great library (what was I smoking?)

1600bc:
third city founded

950bc:
nothing but trouble
greeks are building great library
I finally get literature and my most productive city is currently eeking out 5 shields per turn (great library would take 80 turns – no great library for me)
A 7 unit military (soon to be 6) to fend off the persistent barbians to the NE

390 bc:
giza had been founded (730bc) right on the zulu boarder in an effort to grab as much land as possible. I am working on cultural improvements in giza – but I fear a culture flip is in my future. It is becoming obvious that I am falling behind in techs.

110bc: great wonder update:
Tokugawa owns oracle 1250bc
Germans own the pyramids 775bc, colossus 875bc, lighthouse 370bc
Romans own great library 750bc
Babylonians own great wall 750bc
Zulus working on hanging gardens

270ad:
monarchy
7 cities
2 horses, 3 iron, 2 wool
income only 74 total per turn
palace location lousy for corruption
Memphis, Alexandria decent production 9,12
Otherwise <5
3 miltary fortified per city but Entertainers still needed for happiness
Behind in techs a lot
10 workers, 8 spearmen, 14 war chariots
disbanded warriors to save on support

Screenshot shows raging barbarians in 950bc:

 

[AlanH]

Originally posted by wshuts
I am a civilization “newbie.” I started playing for the first time ever in january 2004. So this is my first GOTM. I had a rough time due to lack of experience – but I hung in there and actually completed the game without and “do overs.” So eventually I will turn in my results.

Welcome

Tough game!, but stick with it. I'm exactly one year on from your state of Civ-ness, and I can still remember how traumatic my first gotm experiences were. And I didn't have the nerve to publish my first faltering steps, so good for you! Gotm is the fastest learning experience I know for this game, I'm sure you'll be playing great games before long.

Just looking at your 950 BC screenshot you were ahead of my city count at that stage, but your workers have been resting on their shovels, so that's something you might want to work on in your game.

Have fun and keep on posting

 

[civ_steve]

wshuts: Welcome to CFC and GOTM!! I think you've stated some of the conclusions based on the progress of your game; Thebes was founded after moving the Settler several times, and in a low-production spot. This really hurts for your capital to be low production. I'd recommend reading the pre-game discussion thread; several players will comment on what they see in the initial view and how they plan to approach the game initially. This led me to move my Settler West one space and settle, primarily chasing a Wheat that I couldn't see (but others claimed was present), but also to bring an additional Forest space into play, which would help my low production Floodplains terrain. Good Luck; it would be an awesome story for you to turn your game around!!

Leibniz: Welcome also!

Arphahat: I like your spirit! Denyd's suggestion is very good; the QSC timelines that are available are a good way to see how the top players start their game, and should help one improve their game.

 

[CKS]

PTW 1.27 Open

I started this game with the goal of not losing by conquest. I'm pretty sure this isn't what bluebox means by having a particular goal but this is my first emperor game and I've never won on monarch.

I settled one square west, to get some hills and forest and then built two warriors before a settler. The warriors went south and west. The one going south eventually came back to help against barbarians, but I didn't end up seeing many in my territory - maybe 5 total. The west one ended up dying eventually, killed by a barb. Later I sent out a third, who got trapped in no man's land for a while until Japan took a bunch of Babylonian cities and the borders contracted. My third warrior made it eventually out nearly to the western edge before being trapped in a tiny pocket again. I've left him there; it's been interesting to watch the steady stream of military units going to and from the front lines. (It looks rather like Germany against the rest of the world and it has been going on for ages.)

Thebes has built settlers and infrastructure depending on population. I wasn't very fast at getting settlers going, and I made a poor decision on where to build first that resulted in the Zulu getting a city on the wool to the north. I had delayed long enough for them to send a settler in a ship. I plopped my own city down next to it, though, and took back one wool when I got a temple built. I also have problems getting workers out early, but I'm getting better. I have a pretty good system of roads, irrigation, and mines going before I hit the middle ages.

I haven't had much problem with disease so far. One city got hit once.

I tried researching something (pottery I think) at max, started meeting others and trading, and went to 10% once I finished pottery. I was falling way behind even at 90%, and that left me with no money, so I basically quit. Later I went to 0 with one scientist. I've had problems with doing no research, as I can't get people to sell me techs then.

I enter the middle ages in 380 AD, incredibly early for me. I'm way behind in techs, but I'm not last. I buy one of the last techs I need to leave the ancient age, and I trade it to the Babylonians for the rest plus republic. Tokugawa has nearly wiped them out (and they are still ahead of me in score). I have 9 cities and 31 gold. I revolt to republic immediately, and am now earning 47 gpt.

I've given in to many demands from the AI, even far away civs, in pursuit of my goal. I've traded iron and horses regularly, and I have a nice deal with the Russians - my only wool for their excess furs and other stuff (lump sums, their world map back when I had basically no maps, etc.). Thank you to the people here who gave me the idea to trade luxuries I didn't have an excess of. It's worked out nicely for me.

Overall, I'm pleased. I don't expect to win this game, but it is going much better than last month's. At this point (I'm nearly half way through the industrial age) I'm still alive and hopeful of avoiding loss by conquest.

 

[Salte]

I kind of envy CKS and the other newbies. Playing civ was more exciting back when survival was a challenge, and winning (no matter at what time or in which way) was a thrill.