GOTM 41: Pregame discussion

[budweiser]

It makes little difference who the opponents are. The immortals will beat any ones out there.

I was thinking of making the first city a wonder city and making a pump someplace else. That site should have so much production possiblities that at least one or two ancient wonders should be possible. I will get pottery then Iron Working to expose the iron, then straight to monarchy and build the Hanging Gardens. I would also like to get the Great Lighthouse (for later). Then I would make 6-8 barracks cities and start pumping out veteran immortals unitl the first continent is mine. I am going to try and time the GA for when I have monarchy and most of my towns have markets in place. Then turn off science and get the most from the immortals and bank the cash. I am going to try and have so many immortals that a town is falling every turn or two turns. Once the continent is secure, hopefully before 600AD at the latest. I will switch gears to culture and try and win a 100K with a ton of cxxc cities.

That's my ambitious plan. We shall see what happens.

 

[DBear]

It makes little difference who the opponents are. The immortals will beat any ones out there.

Let's make sure we have iron first...

 

[MOTH]

I am contemplating an early barracks aided by one of the chops. I might also go with a farmers gambit before this if I can swing an early granary. I've had zero time to do my usual pre-game micro-management planning.

 

[budweiser]

I put Iron Working second on my list just to make sure I can see where it is ASAP. The second settler should come pretty soon given that start and if the iron is near then no problem. Otherwise the industrious trait should give a good boost in helping get there first.

 

[davidcrazy]

i played two test games with a 20k goal. in one game the AI got the great library before i even started it. i build temple 1st, oracle 2nd, and hanging garden 3rd. i did not even build the Colossus. so which wonders are OK to miss? colossus? oracle or hanging garden? It seems even if i do build the GL first, AI might get the hanging garden from the cascadel

 

[Methos]

Irrigate 3xFPs = 6 turns;
Chop+Irrigate 2 Furs = 14 turns;
Irrigate Plain = 2 turns

Already 22 turns plus moves, and you need all those tiles improved for the factory to work. Without a second worker, that factory won't be running 'til well after 3000BC.

As I recall until we get out of the current government irrigating the floodplains won’t gain us anything, correct? I thought no tile could produce 3 or more shields, food, or commerce.

It seems to me that the last few starts (lower difficulty) have been modded (changed map) to make them considerable more difficult than the actual level posted.

I’ve suspected this too but am not bothered by it. The way I look at it is I expect to either not have certain resources or have the other civs so far away it’ll be forever before I meet them. I expect something difficult, because of this it’s making my normal C3C games much easier.

 

[Niklas]

As I recall until we get out of the current government irrigating the floodplains won’t gain us anything, correct? I thought no tile could produce 3 or more shields, food, or commerce.

Not quite correct. Any tile that normally produces 3+ of some commodity produces one less in despotism. So irrigating flood plains yields 4-1=3f.

 

[denyd]

Above Monarch, the best way to have a decent shot at the GL is to start with a Commercial Tribe (Alphabet) and then research Writing at maximum, using a palace pre-build in city #2 for the wonder city.

As Persia, going for a 20K win, I'd try to put my 2nd city on the coast and build Colossus (we start with BW) and research CB, Myst, Poly & Monarchy. That would give my wonder city Colossus, Oracle & HG along with a temple for 13cpt to start with. You'll probably be able to trade Poly for Writing and with luck research Literature and go for the GL using HG as a fall back. The problem with that is having to revolt more than once (I prefer Republic).

I'm thinking about a Space Race Win for this one to take advantage of our scientific trait.

 

[budweiser]

I was just toying with the idea of building the pyramids so I started a practice game with a standard 5 billion wet warm world. I skipped pottery and went right for iron working. But very little iron ended up showing on the map. In fact I only saw one iron tile. This could end up being a problem.

 

[donsig]

We're starting on a mountain? Or am I seeing things?

I'm excited about this one! Anyone remember GOTM 1? That was my very first Civ III game ever. We played Persia. Don't remember the level we played at but I recall starting out on this little peninsula with the Aztecs to the south. Got into a war with Monty and couldn't get anywhere! It reminded me of WWI with entrenched infantry and artillery and lots of units dying but neither side getting anywhere. I hope I've learned enough in the past 40 GOTM's to be able to avoid that this time if I meet up with old Monty...

 

[Methos]

I believe I’ll attempt a 20k victory in this one. I went for a Domination or Conquest in COT10 and didn’t do so well. I realized I’m more the builder type and rather suck at war so I might as well stick to what I know.

I’ll move my settler SE and settle on the furs and attempt to turn the capitol into a settler factory, or something close to it. I’ll have my 2nd city be my culture city.

I don’t believe I’ve ever played the Persians before so they should be interesting. I may attempt to force out some of the other civs with my Immortals, though maintain my rep. I learned in COTM10 just how bad it is when you screw up your rep and attempt to trade. Hehe. Biggest mistake, believing your rep doesn't matter at all (in the AA) when striving for a Domination win.

 

[citizen001]

@Ainwood: you're a rugby union fan? we don't have many of those at Civfanatics!

Anyways, why not settler 1 tile south so =river+lux+shields+food?

 

[davidcrazy]

As Persia, going for a 20K win, I'd try to put my 2nd city on the coast and build Colossus (we start with BW) and research CB, Myst, Poly & Monarchy.

what's the chance of getting a spot for ur second city that is close to your capitol, adjacent to a river, enjoying decent terran, next to sea?

 

[davidcrazy]

I believe I’ll attempt a 20k victory in this one. I went for a Domination or Conquest in COT10 and didn’t do so well. I realized I’m more the builder type and rather suck at war so I might as well stick to what I know.

I’ll move my settler SE and settle on the furs and attempt to turn the capitol into a settler factory, or something close to it. I’ll have my 2nd city be my culture city.

Methos, what research sequence and building sequence are you planning for ur culture city?

 

[Methos]

Methos, what research sequence and building sequence are you planning for ur culture city?

First off let me admit I've never won a culture victory, either 100k or 20k. Let me also admit that I always turn off the culture victory condition in my normal games.

As to my research sequence I'm not entirely sure. I'll definitely start out with Pottery than possibly Iron Working. I'd like to located that Iron resource so I can get Immortals. After that probably Ceremonial Burial, Mysticism, Polytheism, Monarchy. One thing I'm not to for sure about is whether I should go for the Great Library. It has a lot of culture but it'll take several techs to reach it and they don't have the wonder possibilities as does the bottom level of the tech tree.

To be honest, I was hoping to learn from past saved 20K games as well as to hear what others are planning from this thread. As I said, I've never attempted a 20k win so am looking forward to the challenge. I'm a builder rather than war-monger, so I feel more comfortable with this goal.

Edit: To be honest I'm not exactly positive I'm going to research Iron Working second. I just don't like not having the iron resource available. I also realize that if I research Iron Working it will put be further behind in techs that could gain me culture.

 

[The Moose]

When's the game due to be downloadable?

 

[Tubby Rower]

When's the game due to be downloadable?

Usually by about 3am EST on the 15th. But since Ainwood is only human and doing this out of the kindness of his great civ heart I don't usually question when things are late.

 

[eldar]

When's the game due to be downloadable?

Look up the NZ rugby fixtures somewhere, work out when they finish, and extrapolate from there

Neil.

 

[Mistfit]

But since Ainwood is only human and doing this out of the kindness of his great civ heart

Wait just a second! Am I the only one paying my GOTM dues to Ainwood?

 

[Tubby Rower]

Wait just a second! Am I the only one paying my GOTM dues to Ainwood?

huh?