GOTM 35: First Spoiler (End of Ancient Age)

[Randy]

Open PtW (Latest patch)
Goal:
1) Pre 1000 AD Domination Victory. 2) Win in the MA. 3) 10000+ score.

4000 BC: Sogut founded. Worker goes SE toward wheat. Studying Warrior Code @ 90%.
3300 BC: Warrior is at the boarder of the Carthaginians.
3250 BC: Warrior turns S and met a Carthaginian worker. No trade was made
3200 BC: Got “Warrior Code” set science to 100% and study “Pottery”. Start war with Carthaginian, captured their worker. Sending worker W.
3150 BC: Got first settler heads SE.
3100 BC: Warrior follows Carthaginian warrior and settler.
3050 BC: Attack warrior & settler, WIN! & now vet 2/4. Captured workers head W.
3000 BC: 2 Carthaginian warriors are after my warrior, time for cat and mouse.
2750 BC: Got “Pottery”, set science to 100%, study “The Wheel”.
2710 BC: Slaves connect both cities with roads.
2470 BC: Met Zulu scout, trade “Masonry” for “Ceremonial Burial”, “The Wheel”, & 10gp.
Uskudar founded this hooked up dye.
1750 BC: Peace w/Carthaginian for alphabet & 10gp.
1700 hook up ivory.
1150 BC: 2nd Carthaginian war.
1125 BC: great leader
1100 BC: Carthage captured. This was the only city they built!
1050 BC: Used GL for Pyramids in Carthage.
975 BC: ainwood fixed my game. (thanks)

This is where I stopped my detailed notes.

At some point I met Arabia and traded for contact with Greece.

I started a war with Zulus just before the MA. I got a second great leader, I used him for the Great Lib. in Denizli in 390 BC. This started my GA.

City list:
Sogut 4000, Iznik 2950, Uskudar 2470, Izmit 2150, Aydin 1750, Antalya 1600, Bursa 1575, Edirne 1525, Istanbul 1150, Konya 975, Adana 900 (built on horse by land bridge), Sinop 900, Kafa 875, Davidiople 825, Alexmanika 800, Emanopidu 800, Ankara 670, Salonika 650, Mugla 470, Denizli 430, Bolu 370, Urfa 350, Bingol 350.

Captured cities:
Carthage, Umfulozi in 330 BC the same turn I entered the MA. So I don’t know if it counts for the AA.

At this point I have only built 2 wonders (by GL’s), 2 libraries, settlers, workers, and offense units only (no defense).
I am building 3 temples & 9 libraries.

England built Oxford between Zulu and Ottoman around 350 BC so I meet the rest of the AI’s. I also have every ones maps.

I have 3 lux’s and both horses & iron.

Score:
Ottoman 515
Scandina 354
Zulu 350
Arbia 330
Greece 318
England 297
France 278
The Late Carthage 67

Enter MA on the turn after my screen shot.

Edit: about barbs. I saw a lot of barbs shortly after the start of my first war. This was not a problem I was still milt. so most of my warriors and swordsmen were elite by the time I sent them to carthage. I did take out a lot of villiages. The Zulu had some problems, I saw a barb get their scout.
By the MA the only open land was at the bottom of the land bride. When the 2nd civ got to the MA all the land was full so no mass uprising!

 

[Randy]

@bradleyfeanor, I would add maybe a factor for captured cities.

.5 for a captured city that could return back to org civ.
.5 for each citizen of the org civ in the captured city.
1 for a captured city of an AI that has been killed off.

I do have captured cities before 1000 BC, but not in this game.

My "Bradley Score" using the SirPleb formula:

11 cities 11 pts
18 citizen 18 pts
3 settlers 6 pts
2 workers 2 pts
5 slaves 2.5 pts

Total 39.5 pts

 

[bradleyfeanor]

My "Bradley Score" using the SirPleb formula

Your game is a perfect example of when measuring raw expansion pre 1000bc would not be a good guide for indicating the strength of the game. Nice, bold early attack! With Carthage captured, that civ all but subdued, and the Pyramids built, you are ready to spread over the map like a plague--and also making me very, very envious . The size of your Civ at 1000bc is no indication of your true strength. I look forward to the QSC Gods finishing their work, so that we can have a scale for measuring a game like yours. (Hint, hint to those ambitious creators)

I was wondering when someone would be able to use the military trait to their advantage before making the switch to scientific. Nice job!

 

[WillowBrook]

Vanilla Civ, Open Class

First Game of the Month here, and only my fourth or fifth Civ III game, but since I can handle Civ II deity, I figured I'd go for open class.

I kept really bad notes, but I got a 4-turn settler factory set up (lost a number of turns to bad micro-management ), had about 12 cities in 1000 BC, and entered the Middle Ages about 400 BC. So I feel like I'm holding my own.

The Carthagians and Zulu both declared war on me at some point, but not much happened before we signed peace treaties. I got a city next to the horses as soon as I could after I found them. A certain other civ settled in Zululand, so I got contacts all around without any suicide galleys. At the end of the Ancient Age, most of my cities had libraries and my land was crawling with workers.

If I have time to play more (unfortunately, real life should be taking all my time in the near future), hopefully I'll take better notes and maybe some screen shots for the next spoiler.

Thanks to all the experts who share their wisdom on this forum! I doubt I would have spotted the settler factory, and certainly would know nothing of RCP without y'all.

 

[eldar]

To all those people who had Carthage build the Pyramids... you lucky, lucky people! One of the Civs 'across t'pond' built it in my game. I'm reminded of how COTM04 went for me - all I got was The Oracle and The Great Wall!!

Neil.

 

[Nikolaos Lacon]

Well, I bought Civ3 in a bargain basement some 2 months ago, I have been hooked since, especially when I found this site. This is my first attempt at Gotm, although
I have also tried GOTM34 and replayed a couple of previous ones.

It also was my first play at Monarch level...

3950: Sogut founded (1 tile SE from start point)
Warrior. Pottery. Then Settler then Granary, Settler, Settler, Warrior, Settler
3350: Warrior Code
3250: Settler built
3150: Iznik founded (1 S of Dyes)
Prod. Warrior
3100: Road Sogut-Iznik
3000: Thucydides says Puny Ottomans are 5th/8
Iznik to produce Worker, then Barracks, Temple,
2850: Contact with Carthage, they would not trade Alphabet for Pottery
2630: First barbs attack
2390: Iznik pillaged by barbs, lose 6 rounds of work
2310: Both our Warriors get attacked, both become Vets
2150: Get Alphabet + 35 for Pottery + WCode
Uskudar founded 2N of Ivory
1950: Tacitus gives us 2nd place
1790: Meet Zulus, they’re 3 techs better than us; buy CB for 40 g
1750: Izmit built on the other sea coast (East)
1450: Aydin founded near the Iron on the S coast
1325: Antalya founded near the mountains/incense
1300: Bursa founded midway between Sogut and Uskudar
1200: English complete Colossus;
1050: Edirne founded (by mistake not at the coast); Zulus complete Oracle.
The last five or so cities were not very well judged as to timing, location etc.
I am afraid I could exploit a lot better the settler rush. In the meantime,
I have shifted production to Swordmen, as soon as I acquired Iron.
975: Carthage asks us for tribute; we call her bluff. Coincidentally, seeing that
both AIs were far more advanced in techs and that Carthage for some reason
did not have iron yet (as I saw when negotiating trades) I decided to strike
at the heart, take Carthage. So we direct our ready Swords there.
850: Approaching Carthage, we encounter one SpartanHoplite escorting one settler; we attack with 3 Sword; they are on mountains, so we lose one Sword. We are at
war!
730: Carthage completes Pyramids; we obtain an elite Sword after a barb attacks; Athens complete Library; we are 1st in population/ land.
650: Carthage talks peace, offers too little (one tech plus 20 g)
590: Istanbul founded
570: Zulu asks small tribute (5g + TerrMap), we give it because we have other fish to fry.
490: After a slugfest, my 6 Swords take Carthage; a couple of Elites are produced but no Leader; our forces being crippled, on the same turn we make peace with C. taking CodeOfLaws and 28G and a worker. It turns out Carthage city has horses -the city was built *on* the resource tile so I couldn't see them earlier!
470: Get a glimpse of a red city West of me, on the W coast of our continent.
410: We get a glimpse of a green city just S of the red one. (Shall I name names?)
We now have 10 cities, 28 units, 38 citizens. Score 324 (Carthage 270, Zulu 302 but both are more advanced !) Nearly all cities are now producing temples.
390: We sell contact with "Reds" to Zulu for Polyth.+34 and to Carthage for WM+25 only.
370: News of a massive barbarian uprising near Edirne; contact with
"Greens"; the contact was already sold by the "Reds" to the other AIs, just as I was afraid. Should I make the contact with the two new Civs simultaneously or trade it simultaneously? Frustrated, I attack the Red city by the W coast with a Sword!
350: X. was defended by two Warriors, so it is taken; 2 slave workers.
330: Konya founded very close to the "Green" coastal city
310: Masses of barbarians invade our incense colony which provokes civil unrest to three cities as this luxury is gone.
290: Barbarians attack Antalya; all three defenders (2 Sword and 1 Spear) become Elites but are crippled; three or four Barb Horsemen go elsewhere, the rest die at Antalya gates.
230: The last of the Barb horses overrun our Ivory. We get another Elite (Archer)
We propose peace to the "Reds": we get Liter+Currency giving just 15 gold!
At this point, we get free Monotheism so I guess we concluded AA.

At -210 we’re still researching Monarchy (and not having got Republic) which we intend to adopt. We have 12 cities, 46 citizens incl. 4 slave workers, 354 culture, 367 score (highest of the five civs that are known). Intending to attack Carthage to deprive her of a potential iron source at North and also to farm a GLeader.

But this will be (perhaps) the subject of another spoiler...

 

[tao]

To all those people who had Carthage build the Pyramids... you lucky, lucky people! One of the Civs 'across t'pond' built it in my game. I'm reminded of how COTM04 went for me - all I got was The Oracle and The Great Wall!!

Neil.

Why do you complain? Why didn't you build them yourself?

 

[Randy]

I was wondering when someone would be able to use the military trait to their advantage before making the switch to scientific. Nice job!

I didn't even know I was military untill I read the post after I took Carthage. I just thought the RNG was extra kind to me.

 

[horragoth]

GOTM 35 Open Class

Detailed timeline of Opening moves

4000 BC	Settler E, Worker SE
3950 BC Sogut founded, built Warrior
	Worker mine, road, go SE, irrigate, road
	Research set to Pottery, Tax 0.10.0
3750 BC Sogut built Warrior, next Warrior
	Warrior sent to explore E and then circle N
3600 BC	Spotted another wheat and Ivory east
	microm. shield overrun in Sogut
3550 BC Sogut built Warrior, next Settler
	Warrior sent to explore E and then circle S
3450 BC Worker to 2nd Wheat to mine/road
3350 BC	Researched Pottery, next Wheel
	Spotted Dyes SW from capital
3250 BC Spotted Incense NE of Capital
	Sogut grown to size 3, used lux. slider
	Sogut build order chaged to Granary
3150 BC	Worker moved to BG+ to mine, road
3050 BC Sogut grown to size 4, used lux. slider
	Granary will be ready in 4 turns, therefore labor was moved from BG+ to F for 1 turn to postpone growth after granary completion
2850 BC	Sogut built granary, next Settler
	Worker move to mine/road next BG E of Sogut
2750 BC Met Carthaginian Warrior: Has 2 cities, Alphabet, lacks Pottery, Polite
2670 BC Sogut built Settler, next Settler

After establishin 4-turn settler factory I started produce settlers and create ring of cities around capital in distance 5. I decided to research horses before Iron, but sadly there were no horses in explored lands. Then I started research writing hoping to trade for contacts and other techs.

Carthage war
Military-wise, I have built mainly warriors and occasional spearman. My army strength was average compared to Carthage, when they declared war to me in 1725 BC, atacking with 2 Warriors city defended by 2 Warriors. Not surprisingly they lost. I have no intention nor means to attack teir cities defended by Numidians, thus concentrated on defense, building more spearmen. In 1500 BC, they become afraid of sheer force of my Warriors/Spearmen and gave me Hippo + 20 GP for peace.
Then I was free to make some trades:

1425 BC Traded Code of Laws for Mysticism, Iron Working + 41 GP to Zulus
	Traded Code of Laws for Warrior Code + 5 GP to Carthage
	Traded Mysticism + 20 GP for Horseback Riding to Carthage

Deciding Strategy
As I was completing first ring of cities, the time has come to form a more precise strategy other than grow big and strong fast. The central position of my capital gave me rather productive ring of cities that were all (except one) on river, so they had a good growth potential. Sadly I lacked productive coastal cities, so that any early sea exploration was beyond my means. Therefore I decided to go for Republic and prepare my military.

Here is my realm in 1000BC


Forming Republic
In 900BC, I contacted Arabian Galley, get contacts to two other civs from them, made some tech trading, researched Republic and revolted. Quite a busy year. The Ottoman Republic was formed in 750 BC. Shortly after I researched Literature, started building cheep libraries and directed research to currency - last mandatory AA tech.

Start of Medieval Age
In 630 I researched Currency, raded it for Construction and Polytheism, got to MA and acquired Monotheism as a Free tech (quite disappointing).
Research program was then clear to me: Feudalism first and then straight for Military tradition without bothering with CHivalry.
In 530BC the last Settler was produced in Sogut and GL was started as a prebuild for Sun Tzu.

2nd Carthage War
I was planning to start war with Carthage around 400 BC. This effort was thwarted by 2 barbarian uprising waves of horsemen, one from S and one from SE. I have lost a worker, got pillaged 5 important tiles around core cities and had to maneuver with settler, so that Arabs got a foothold on my continent before I managed settle that spot.
Nevertheless, war was declared in 330BC

I had much stronger army than Carthage just upgrading Swordsmen/Warriors to MIs


This is the situation before attack


Carthage capital has fallen in 190BC and in the end of 170BC, peace was concluded, getting another 3 cities from them

In 150BC they have only 2 cities with no growth potential

Note: The minimaps were edited to hide location of other continent

Further plans
Zulus are next on schedule. Just as the Carthage war continued I has assembled two teams of Worker+Slave that are capable of building road in one turn and started build a long road to Zulus. Just 2 Workers + 2 Slaves allowed me to proceed at a steady pace 1 tile of road / turn.

Moderator Action: Good write up However, it looks like it goes well into the Middle Ages. Please confine discussion in this spoiler to the Ancient Age

 

[Hergrom]

PTW 1.21f, Open (scientific from the start)

This month I am going for the Cow award. It is the category that I am most likely to win.

In the Beginning

Despite the promises from sages of more wheat tiles to the south & south east, I decided to settle 1 tile to the E of the starting position, Even with only one wheat, it would be a strong position. As it turns out, the sages were correct, and my capital was to have two wheats! With micromanaging, I was able to get an efficient 5 turn settler pump. My initial build order was warrior, warrior, warrior, granary. My first settler arrived in 2550BC. I decided on a first ring of 3, but I did not really have a second ring. Some were 7, others were 8.

1000BC

At the QSC dealine, I have 12 cities, 1 settler, 8 workers, 25 warriors and 1 archer.

Research

I started my reasearch with Pottery, as always. I NEVER depend on trading for it, as I have been screwed too often. After pottery, I belined down the Monarchy path, researching full at all times. I was able to make nice trades for all other techs.

Other Tribes

I met Carthage pretty early at 3000BC. As others have stated, I saw the red border across the water, and parked my warrior there. I was rewared with contact to (the red tribe) in 2390BC. I did not meet the Zulus until 1750BC. I met the rest of the world's inhabitants through my frineds on my continent. (The orange tribe) settled down by the Zulus facilitating general world communication. I had no wars in the Ancient Age, although the Zulus did decalre war on me in 710BC after I refused a demand (contact with the red tribe). I signed on Carthage in the fight, and never saw a Zulu unit. I figured both countries would trigger their GA's, thus making conquest easier for me later.

Eng of Age Status

As stated above, I did not do any fighting (barbarians aside) in the AA. There was so much room to expand, wars were not needed. In 950BC I reasearched Monarchy, and immediately revolted. 6 turns of anarchy. I reached the MA in 370BC after trading for Construction. My free tech was Feudalism. At this point, I had my invasion force of swords (now to be upgraded to MI) ready on the border of Carthage. I was just waiting for my alliance against the Zulus to end. I was not paying attention, and I was not able to peacefully acquire horses, so I will need to take them by force. More on this in next spoiler.

 

[Groin_Apologist]

Hi Fellas-

I enjoyed this GOTM up until I got to 1200 AD. I tried to play open class, which I think I will continue to do in the future (mostly so I can better measure my results against others, although I know the Jason is corrected). I am also continuing my policy of not reloading, which seems to be going reasonably well.
Still, I had problems with this particular game. I had taken the entire northern part of the continent from the Carthaginians, and started down the narrow island chain to engage the Zulu Nation. I sort of look like Randy's game (above) only about 1500 years behind him! However, my research had been equalled by the Zulus, and despite my Sipahis and subsequent Golden Age, the Zulu's cavalry has basically fought me to a stalemate.
At this point, the game has lost its shine for me. My question is, do people generally bite the bullet and continue on (even though its not fun anymore) just to complete the game and upload it, whatever the result? Or would you be interested in me uploading my game the turn after I give up? Or don't bother?
(... I am excited about the next COTM on Regent, though...)

P.S. Horragoth - what graphics mod-pack are you using?

 

[denyd]

G-A:

I think Horragoth is using Snoopy's (look's like it to me).

As for beating the Zulu, keep pumping out those Sipahis, you've got a production edge on him. Also get a couple of defenders (muskets/rifles/infantry) to protect your wounded Sipahis. They aren't great defenders (Def=3), so if you can retreat the red-lined ones to heal in a nearby barracks city, you'll get from having to build new ones. Also two other things, pre-attack bombardment & war weariness. If you can get 10-20 cannon/artillery to bombard the size 12 Zulu cities before you attack you'll have more success and less casualties in you campaign. As for War Weariness (his not yours), raze a couple of Zulu cities and if hopefully he'll switch to either Communism or Monarchy. The anarchy period will help you, as he won't be getting any reinforcements and if he went communism, then he'll probably be pop rushing defenders and that'll shrink those cities and hopefully take away some of his defensive bonus. One more thing, if you can get to his horses or saltpeter and pillage the site, you'll stop seeing new cavalry for a while (if you could manage to pillage his iron too, you'd only get spears & longbows unless he's reached Nationalism). Stick it out, you'll eventually reach the point where your killing faster than he can replace and then he'll start to crumble. Try to avoid taking on Zimbabwe initially. Take his coastal cities first, they'll have less defense and you'll end any external trade he might have.

 

[AlanH]

Hang in there and finish it. You never now you might win.

You can't upload an unfinished game (unless you try to fool the system that you suffered a conquest defeat), but every score you register gets added to your Global Ranking total so it's worth submitting.

Please don't prolong this discussion on the Middle Ages. This is the Ancient Age spoiler. The MA spoiler will be up in a day or two and will be the appropriate place to discuss the life and times of your Sipahi

 

[Groin_Apologist]

Thanks for the advice, Denyd. I will revisit the save and see if I can work up some battle-angst.
Sorry about the spoiler stuff.

 

[Denniz]

Thanks for the advice, Denyd. I will revisit the save and see if I can work up some battle-angst.

All great advice. I would make sure you are concentrating your forces. Send a large stack against each city. If you aren't sure how much is enough, send at least 10 verterns attackers against size 6-11 city for a start. For bigger cities send more. For a capitol you should double whatever you would use to take a normal city of the same size. You have to have enough to take your lumps and and still kill all the defenders in one turn. Otherwise they just heal up and you have to start over with fewer units. If you don't have enough, wait until you do.

(One mistake I kept making was starting a war and getting my attackers mauled out in the open by all their extra units. Sometimes it is better to defend until the inital wave is over. Let him pound his head on strong defenses instead of you. )

Another thing is terrain. Ctrl-Shift-M is your friend. Make sure you aren't attacking across rivers. Also, use the defensive terrain as you approach his cities. Keep your units together don't scatter them around as individuals. He'll gang up on them first. With a stack you may take some hits but you are more likely to have wounded untils to heal for the next round. Don't attack his units that are on good defensive terrain unless you have to. Let him come to you on more favorable terms.

Denyd mentioned retreating your wounded units, but you also have to protect them until you can. Make sure you don't attack until all your units are wounded. If that happens, you didn't start with enough or you pushed it too far. Patience is the key.

Once you start winning your battles you will start enjoying your game again.

Good Luck.

 

[grs]

PTW - OPEN - scientific

I moved the worker se and the settler east, where Sogut was founded. It built a warrior, a granary and then settlers till the switch to Republic. I met the Zulu down the choke trail first in 2270BC and the Catharges in 2190BC. I blocked the Zulu with a lone reg. warrior and outsettled the Catharge. I met the red and green civs in 730BC and traded contact with the orange from the Zulu some turns later. I got all contacts at 670BC by trading with orange for the rest.

Research was Pottery - Alphabet - Writing - CoL - Philosophy - Republic - Currency - Construction. I traded for the rest (mostly by trading around CoL and Republic). I entered the middle ages at 590BC and got Feudalism as free tech (is it fixed to the cheapest in PTW or only in vanilla Civ3?).

The revolt to republic was started in 925BC and I used the double revolt after drawing 6 turns first, getting 4 turns in the second try.

I had one short war after the Zulu demanded a contact, we both lost 1 warrior and I captured a settler.

Below is my map from 470BC (3 turns into the middle ages) with 26 cities.

EDIT: just in case you searched for my military - 3 warrior and a horse are all military land units and "most" is down the southern trail.

 

[Groin_Apologist]

Success! I am back in the game now. The advice of pillaging the saltpeter turned out to be the turning point (I guess it hadn't occurred to me, even though its so annoying when the AI does it to you...) Anyway, I now have a Forbidden Palace in Old Zimbabwe and I am working on cleaning up the southern leg of the continent. Thanks all!

Oh- and I figured out that Horragoth is using Womock's terrain - I downloaded it and its great!

 

[delmar]

After trying myself in the last couple of GOTMs and seeing the mediocre score my "instinctive" playing style resulted in, I decided to throw everything I can find at this game. My goal is an early domination victory.

First I read the articles in the War Academy. I particularly liked

• The Four Rules of Wonder Addiction by Ision,
• Ring City Placement by DaviddesJ,
• Free Palace Jump by DaveMcW (this should be extended with the effects of military units),
• What Will the AI Research Next? by alexman along with
• Ambiorix' spreadsheet, and
• Maximizing Your Score by SirPleb.

Then I installed two tools, CivAssist by ainwood and CRpSuite by Dianthus. I also created a scenario to simulate the conditions in the game and playtested many of my moves.

Then I put some effort into fog-gazing. I considered this witchcraft for a long time, until I found Dynamic's comment in the pre-game discussion that he was using an LCD display. I looked at the game (not ainwood's screenshot) on an LCD display and the dyes and the Southern wheat on plains were clearly visible. Encouraged by this, I slightly modified my resources.pcx file so from now on fog-gazing will be an exact science.

Timeline

4000BC I decided to settle South-East from the starting location in order to get immediate access to the wheat bonus and to be able to make a 4-turn settler factory using the plain/wheat visible under the fog. The plan is to build two warriors, a settler, then a granary. The worker will build a road on the bonus grassland and then move on to the wheat to irrigate and build road. I will research Pottery first so that there won't be any issues starting a granary when the time comes.

3700BC The first warrior starts scouting towards South-West, taking advantage of the road and the mountain. It will continue on the montain-range towards North-West.

3450BC The second warrior heads South towards the mountain next to the dyes.

3400BC Pottery is researched. Decided to research The Wheel next as I felt that this would give me the most trading benefit if I encountered another civilization during the early game.

The first warrior reaches the end of the mountain range and spots the shoreline. He will continue towards North/North-East.

3350BC The second warrior reaches the mountain and spots yet another wheat resource, two desert tiles and two other mountains. It appears that the Southern area is uninteresting in terms of early settling so he will continue towards East.

3300BC I increase Luxury spending to 10% to avoid a riot in the capital. I will probably place the second city next to the dyes and connect up the luxury to avoid having to spend money on happiness. With the dyes online and two military units in the cities, population can go up to 5. That will be ideal for the 4-turn settler factory in the capital.

3250BC The first warrior finds another large mountain range. This Northern territory again seems uninteresting in terms of early expansion. It appears that I will have to expand mostly along the NW-SE line. There does seem to be a luxury in the mountains though, so the warrior will continue to explore in that direction a bit more.

3150BC The worker finished improvements on two bonus grasslands and the wheat on the grassland. Chossing the next improvement is not trivial and partially depends on the location of the second city. I decide to build the second city between the dyes and the Southern mountain mainly because I am thinking to build the Forbidden Palace city two tiles to the East from the capital, and that way this second city will fit into the 5-tile distance 2nd ring around the FP city. It's a pity that this city will not be able to take advantage of the 4th wheat immediately, but I think it will need to build some units first anyway, so reaching 5 shield per turn (with presumably 3 population and zero food surplus) will be sufficient for a while. Later on I will either build a temple there or build a city on the other side of the wheat so that the wheat falls within my cultural border.

Accordingly, I move the worker to the plain/wheat tile near the capital in order to irrigate it. The second city will use this tile while the capital is building the granary, as in that period population growth in the capital is not critical.

The first warrior confirms the location and type of the luxury: it's two counts of incense in the North.

3100BC First settler built, heads towards the previously discussed spot. The second scouting warrior spots another luxury, probably Ivory (still under fog).

3050BC Ivory to the East confirmed, plus another wheat seems to be hiding under the fog in North-Eastern direction. Way too far to be of immediate interest though.

The capital is at pop 2 again. It's amazing what an irrigated grass-wheat tile can do. There is no way to finish the granary before population grows to 3 so I keep one of the two citizens on the wheat tile for now. Some luxury spending will be necessary again soon.

3000BC Dyes City is built. Starts producing a warrior, which will be used to suppress unrest in the capital.

2900BC Warriors spot game, a coast or lake, and most importantly a Carthaginian warrior. They have Alphabet but wouldn't trade. According to the power-graph, I am not far behind them, but they do lead the point race 80 to 71.

2800BC The blueness SE from the capital is sea. Looks like we are on an L shaped continent. Or maybe this is an inland sea and the continent is a donought-shaped one??? Well, fortunately it doesn't matter yet.

The Wheel will be ready in 5 turns, hopefully the Carthaginians are busy researching Warrior Code or some such and I will be able to trade.

The capital is at pop 3, I temporarily need to increase luxury spending and I move the citizen away from the wheat tile to the 3rd bonus grassland to make sure the granary finishes before the next pop growth.

2750BC 3rd warrior ready, moves to capital, luxury back to 0%. Given the relatively slow current population growth in the capital, connecting the dyes is not as important so the worker first irrigates a plain tile next to the river.

2670BC One of the warriors finds the NE shoreline and 3 games next to the Carthaginian border (but outside of it). There also seems to be some wheal in the sea. I guess the Carthaginians don't need to think much where to settle. The other warrior finds another source of dyes as it continues on the shoreline. The sea here seems to be real one, not inland.

2630BC The Wheel is researched. The nearest horses are like 15 tiles away from the capital. I will have to send a warrior to explore the Southern and SW-ern regions to look for more -- if I can't find any nearer, then an extremely fast expansion towards the East will be required.

Hannibal would give Alphabet for the Wheel + 10 gold, or Alphabet + 10 gold for the Wheel and Pottery. I opt for the latter, even though this is a sweeter deal for Hannibal. I don't want him to spend effort on researching something I have already. Along the same lines, I choose to research Mathematics next; according to the Holy Excel Sheet Oracle, that's the least likely to catch Hannibal's attention as a research target.

2590BC Carthage has Warrior Code (be the Holy Excel Sheet Oracle praised!) now, and also a worker for sale, but the price is ridiculous so I pass.
2550BC[/B] 4th warrior is built. Given that the dyes will not be online for another 3 turns, this warrior will be needed for happiness.

2510BC Granary in the capital is ready, settler factory starts.

2470BC One warrior reaches the Eastern shoreline, the other the SW shoreline. Barring narrow land bridges, the only direction this continent can continue is NE. The third warrior will be heading that way. The other two will walk the shoreline to make sure I didn't miss any land bridges.

2390BC New warrior is built, will explore the South looking for horses. Dyes are finally online.

2350BC The warrior in the NE found something that looks like a land bridge: a mountain range going into the sea.

2310BC Second settler ready, goes East to found Forbidden City.

It dawns on me that I need one more 2 shield tile for the settler factory in the capital to function properly. This is where a forrest would come handy, but I don't have any. I could mine one of the hills, but that will take a relatively long time. So for now the plan is to mine a BG. First of all though I need another worker as the existing one will be busy improving the tiles around the Forbidden City.

Dyes City reaches pop 3, produces 5 shields and thus is excellently suited to churn out military units.

2230BC Forbidden City founded, starts Palace as a prebuild for the Forbidden Palace. Warrior sees a purple border (probably Arabs) on the other continent but no units so no contact is made.

The capital builds a worker. I debate with myself whether to build a settler now or another worker. The settler factory won't be fully functional for at least another 5 turns. I have 6 warriors, 2 workers, and 3 cities. If I build a worker first, then it will be at least 8 turns before a a new city can be founded. If I want to avoid paying for unit support, then Dyes City has to slow down building those warriors. Well, it could build barracks.

I decide to go for yet another worker.

2190BC The Nothern mountain range was not a land bridge.

2110BC A warrior spots another coninent to the West. No land bridge though.

Dyes City changes production to barracks to avoid unit support issues.

2070BC The warrior spots purple border (arabs?) but no unit, so no contact is made.

1990BC Mathematics is researched. Cartahge has only Warrior Code to offer, which is a bit light so I decide to wait. I choose Currency next according to the guidance of the Holy Excel Sheet Oracle.

Third settler ready. It will build a worker factory on the other side of the Eastern river, 4 tiles away from the capital. The idea is to be able to use one of the grass-wheat tiles and to fit on the future 3-distance ring around Forbidden City. Incidentally the new city is also the same distance from the capital as the Dyes City, which is advantagous from the corruption's point of view.

1950BC Carthage now has Iron Working and Warrior code but they won't give both for Mathematics. Should I get Iron Working from them to be able to see the ore deposits? Or should I get both Iron Working and Warrior Code for Mathematics, 3gpt, and 30 gold? That would mean that I am financing their research at the expense of slowing down mine. I decide for this option as I want to take advantage of whatever they research, plus they are more likely to be friendly to me as long as I am paying a per-turn. Along these lines, I change the deal to 4gpt and 8 gold.

There are several iron sources on our continent, one pretty close to my territory. Acquiring it won't be a problem, it seems.
1910BC A city called Worker Factory is founded and starts a granary.Once the granary is ready, a 3 turn worker factory is feasible but will require heavy micro-management (reassigning tiles at least once every 3 turns). I will also need to mine a plain tile to get the crucial extra 2 shields out of the population growth.

1870BC It is now confirmed that I can't reach the Arabs over land. I will park a warrior on the nearest tile, maybe the put a unit where I can see it.

1830BC Another settler is ready. Where should it go? Candidate sites include the ivory source and the wheat NE (would be nice to get both at the same time but that would mess up the future rings around the FP), the horses, one of the iron sources, the NW or SW shoreline as a preparation for galleys, and the rich grasslands NW from the capital.

Bah, text too long... Where the settler went will be revealed shortly.

 

[AlanH]

Encouraged by this, I slightly modified my resources.pcx file so from now on fog-gazing will be an exact science

Wait one!

That sounds suspiciously like the sort of exploit that caused Cracker to create a special set of resource files for GOTM. Modifying game files in such a way as to improve the visibility of resources under the fog is considered cheating, as it provides information that is not available in the out-of-the-box game for other players. If that is what you've done then I recommend you do not use this approach.

 

[delmar]

Wait one!

That sounds suspiciously like the sort of exploit that caused Cracker to create a special set of resource files for GOTM. Modifying game files in such a way as to improve the visibility of resources under the fog is considered cheating, as it provides information that is not available in the out-of-the-box game for other players. If that is what you've done then I recommend you do not use this approach.

That's what I did. If it's a banned exploit, it should be mentioned in the GOTM code of conduct (or whatever it is called). Is it?

I would have to say though that it would be silly to make this a banned exploit. As we can see from the pre-game discussion, players have very different abilities to look under the fog. Having access to an LCD display improves your visibility a lot, IMHO. A modified resource file can even the odds.

Also, as we can see from the spoiler threads, people are using a gazillion different graphic mods, many of them geared towards increasing visibility of resources, smiley faces (I mean the mod that makes it easier to distinguish citizen moods), borders, etc. Why exactly increasing visibility of stuff halfways under the fog would be illegal?