GOTM 48 first spoiler

[ainwood]

GOTM 48 first spoiler - entering the middle ages.

This spoiler is to talk solely about the ancient age, and your expansion on your home continent.

To qualify for it, you must have reached the middle ages. You must have a map of the coastline of the entire starting continent.

You are free to talk about any civs that may settle cities on this continent, but please refrain from discussing aything that happens off-continent. This includes the locations of any offshore islands and the paths (successful or otherwise) of any galleys.

As you began to explore the surrounds from the starting location, you would have had to make some strategic decisions with how to approach the ancient age expansion phase. What did you choose, and why? If you played it again, would you do anything different?

 

[shumble]

I was looking forward to this game of the month armed with all the knowledge from my two previous games of the month, but this turned into a nightmare of a game. Do I qualify for this spolier? I never hit the Middle Ages. The Persians wiped me out long before that.

What would I do differently if I played again? Many things. I have actually already played it again twice with much better results, but I made some critical mistakes early on. I attacked a city on a hill (that's where the stupid iron was ) with only 4 archers. Am I stupid??

My game ended in 975BC. here is my timeline. I challenge anybody to have done worse.

3900 – Founded Seoul, 1 S - 1 SW of starting position
Researching Pottery – Eying Map Making
Warrior – Scouting
3550 – Meet Persians (they only have Masonry, will delay trading Alphabet)
3300 – Finish Pottery
3100 – Find Persepolis. Persia is very close. They have water and cows.
3000 – Trade Alphabet for WC and 10 Gold. Need some Archers.
2800 – Spot another island to the North. Need to finish off Persia before any contact is made.
2300 – Set Science to 10% to save money for the 8 Archers being built. Hope to get Techs after Destroying some of Persia.
2070 – Persia Declares War after I refuse to give Pottery (only have 5 Archers at this time)
1870 – First town of Susa falls. Is razed due to lack of population. Lose 2 Archers to 2 spearmen. One elite. Wait to recover while more archers join.
1650 – Finish Researching Writing. Heading toward Map Making.
1425 – Not enough money to support troops so begin attack of Persepolis with 4 Archers. (Stupid in hindsight. My next two games I attacked with 8 archers, very easily took over and wiped Persia out in both games by 300BC. Not enough money?? Just move one of my population to the coast!)
1325 – First Persian Mercenary appears. Need to finish off Persepolis quickly. Road almost finished so Archers will soon arrive faster. Where is Iron working?
1325 – Make Peace in exchange for Iron Working and Ceremonial Burial from Persia. Need to remove that Iron immediately.
1150 – Break the Treaty
1000 – My Army is gone. They have Persian Mercenaries and I have Archers. This could be a short game.

1 City

975 or 875?? – I am dead.

It took me about 30 minutes to die. Guess I should have done more thinking and less clicking of Next Turn.

I haven't submitted my game yet, but I guess I should do it soon. Maybe I'll get 1 or 2 Jason points.

I am looking forward to seeing how early the conquest victories occur, and could denyd actually pull of a non-agressive game. That would be super impressive. I don't see how it could be done without getting wiped out by Persian mercenary pretty quickly.

 

[Randy]

Goal: 20K but will change. I’ve wanted to try a 20K for sometime. But after seeing the start I think maybe I’ll do domination or conquest.

Opening moves our worker walked to the south wheat. Over the next few turns he will road and mine the 2 wheat tiles. Seoul is founded in place in 4000 BC. We start a warrior to scout and may be start a war. We study “Warrior Code” first. My reason was the start city would not have a granary, I will most likely move it. If we are not alone I want a jump with the archers and an early war to grab land.

Our first warrior heads south. In 3450 BC we meet Persia, no trade yet. They will give me all they have soon enough. They already have a warrior in the field, this means they already have two spearmen and must be building a settler. As our warrior scouts around the north side of the Persian capital we see it’s on a hill. At this point I decide not to attack yet. I’m 4 turns from warrior code so I’ll try an archer rush.

In 3150 BC we learn “Warrior Code” the same turn Persia learns it. Our warrior has a good view of Persepolis. A Persian warrior has been making a beeline home. Persepolis is size 1 so I’m guessing a settler will pop out in 1 or 2 turns. My brave little warriors are ready. I will have my first settler in 2 turns. I have a road laid so the town will be founded in 3 turns. If I can stop the Persian settler I should have a 2+:1 advantage over Persia. If I fail Persia will out produce me due to their better city tiles.

We study “Writing” next. I would rather have “Iron Working” but as this is a GOTM I’m betting we have no iron or horses. If there is iron on this island I’ll bet it under Persepolis or on the mountain next to it.

In 3050 BC after waiting 2 turns a settler and warrior escort step next to one of our warriors. We attack and win. Our 2 new slaves head to our mountain ridge, they will build a road over it when they get there. The next turn we get our first settler, we start an archer (7 turns). Persepolis went from size 2 to size 1, they must have rushed an archer. My wounded warrior retreats to a mountain with the other going there also for protection. I will not try to take on Persepolis with my only 2 warriors. Instead I will play a cat and mouse game until my archers start to arrive. To my surprise the Persian warrior is chasing my unescorted slaves and not going after the warrior pair on the mountain.

2950 BC P'yongyang founded on spice. Because I’m building a road south from Seoul over the mountain range both towns get the spice.

Finely in 2850 BC both warrior are healed. I did not see an archer so I don’t know why Persepolis dropped in population. I move both warrior south from their mountain camp to a hill over looking Persepolis. Between turn a Persian archer runs out and attacks, well that was an option I didn’t think of. The Persian ambush failed but took one warrior down to 2/4hp. The only other Persian offence I can see is a warrior 1 tile behind those fleeing slaves, run Esther run.

I left my warriors on the hill to heal, the warrior in pursuit of my slaves has turned back. I’m now starting to think the AI will not attack units on a mountain if another target is available. After my warriors are healed I jump back on the mountain. From our viewpoint I see the Persian warrior. He again turn back after the slaves, but now they are way out of range. I leave the warrior pair on the mountain to watch Persepolis. I will jump off for 1 or 2 turns to draw the Persian warrior. I also have a warrior and an archer on the way so this may not work. Persia will sign a peace deal so I can do as I want for now.

Well the next turn all of my plans change. Persepolis again send an archer, but this time after the pair on the mountain. Both warriors jump off the mountain to a tile away from the archer. I will lure him to a better tile for attacking. I did get the archer were I wanted but their warrior pop out next to it. Veteran warrior attacks archer, wins but now 1/4hp. Regular warrior attacks warrior, the Persian warrior is now at 1/3hp and my warrior is dead. The next turn my 1/4hp warrior is attacked by the 1/3hp warrior, we win and are now 2/5hp. He falls back to the mountain to heal. Reinforcements are almost in attack range.

In 2350 BC with my attack force is in place and more archers on the way I remember Persia knows “Masonry”. I don’t want Persia to take this to their grave so peace is made. Persia gives 10gp, Masonry, and worker for peace. In 2310 BC we reenter Persian territory. Between turn they ask us to leave, we declare war instead. Finally in 2270 BC my elite warrior dies but Persepolis fall.

Are people learned to write. We study pottery next. Our goal is map making, we want off this rock. I’m not sure how big our island is but I have not seen anyone else so I am assuming we are now alone or this is a very big island. I’ll put my money on alone.

1990 BC Wonsan founded it starts the Colossus as a pre-build for The Great Lighthouse. Wonsan is 4.5 distance from Persepolis. I plan to jump the palace to Persepolis. Finally 1675 BC the palace jumped worked, our new capital is Persepolis. The settler from Seoul heads south to found a town in the ring around Persepolis.

Not much happens for a while. The following as some dates:

1625 Pusan founded.
1600 Namp'o founded.
1575 scout island done.
1225 map making.
1175 Cheju founded.
1100 Hyangsan and Ulsan founded.
1075 Inch'on founded.
1025 philosophy.

1000 stats

9 towns
16 citizens
1 settler
3 workers
3 slaves
1 warrior
4 archers
1 granery

I'll post the rest of my AA after I get home tonight.

 

[AdrianE]

I moved the worker S and saw a poor starting position so I settled on the spot. I figured with a shortage of land and number of AIs I'd need to archer rush my first contact so I researched warrior code at max.

I built a warrior and sent him off exploring and pretty soon he contacts the Persians. Uh-oh. I change my build to spear to guard Seoul and then start on barracks.

The warrior continues south and sees Persia has a mined cow, and an irrigated wheat flood plains. Uh-oh squared! However I end the turn with Persia's worker adjacent to my warrior and I just saw Persia send a settler/spear combo off. Persiopolis is size1. Hmm.

I declare war and capture their worker. I send him to Seoul where he colonises the spices and gives a free road through jungle!! The warrior manages to pillage all of Persiopolis' improvements
before he is killed. Meanwhile Seoul is pumping out 3 turn veteran archers. My archers gather on the base of the hill North of Persiopolis and kill off Persia's wayward archers. I'm building 3 turn archers and he is building 6 or 7 turn archers. I let his archers approach me so I can attack.

Eventually I gain enough archers to raze Persia's other city and then gather a strike force of 6 to 8 archers to take down Persiopolis. I make peace, take all Persia's gold and techs and then kill them off.

Around 1000BC I only have 3 towns, 1 of which is Persiopolis.

Build order was warrior, spear, barracks, archer, archer, archer ....

Research order was Warrior Code at Max, writing at min and then full speed to map making.

I built a ring of cities around Persiopolis and and hand built the fp there. Once the FP was complete my empire's productivity skyrocketed.

I could have built up a lot faster if I used the palace jump exploit immediately after capturing Persiopolis.

Pillaging Persia's improvements was the key to victory. It cut down their growth by a lot and cut their cash flow so they couldn't research Iron working. Given the location of iron, that was a very good thing for me.

 

[tao]

1.29 Open

Worker south only shows jungle beyond the plains. With 80% water and 11 rivals , it will get crowded. Thus I settle on the spot and decide to go the military way. No pottery - better trade for it. Since we know alphabet , I start min research on writing, saving money for trades. The early build sequence is warrior (scout), warrior (mp), barracks. Soon we meet our favourite neighbour Xerxes and know the going will be tough. Without food-rich territory, blocked by jungle and mountains, peaceful expansion is out of the question.

X-Man is stupid enough to sell us warrior code. Five vet archers are trained and go south. We now know we are alone with the Persians. We declare war, capture a worker and kill a settler escort giving 3 slaves; valuable workforce for cutting the jungle. In 1700BC the band of 5 attacks Persepolis: 2 spears are killed, one attacker dies, and the next kills the last defender and captures Persepolis. Next turn Xerxes agrees to give us iron working, wheel, masonry and Susa for peace. Iron is under Persepolis, horses north of it.

Already in 1525BC we brake our peace deal and attack Pasargadae with 2 vet and one elite archer. Regrettably, we get no Great Leader, but the Persians are destroyed.

In 1200 I mm Seoul to no growth, and with the settler completed next turn, the capital is moved to Persepolis. Now I switch to tech race mode towards map making, which we learn 1150BC. Wonsan starts to work really hard on the Great Lighthouse (and succeeds 390BC). Immediately after learning mm, I start sending out (suicide) galleys.

In 290BC the Koreans learn republic and switch government with only 2 turns of anarchy. The Middle Ages are entered 10BC and we of course learn monotheism. Our troops prepare to board their ships. 15 workers and 3 slaves are busy improving our lands.

 

[Salte]

Open, domination

I settled Seoul S - SE of the starting location and my first worker turns was roading and mining both wheats.

Started research on pottery at max (beeline for mapmaking)
Seoul initial build order: warrior, granary, settler, spear, settler, spear, colossus (prebuild for lighthouse)

I've never tried an archer rush before, but in hindsight that was the only way in this game (for a good domination win at least).

This off course led to a very bad AA, and for a long time I just played without any particular goal or purpose. Here are some of my AA events.

3450BC meet persia, exchange Alphabet for Masonry + 5g (now we're even in tech)

3250BC research pottery, start writing

1600BC discover writing, start ceremonial burial
trade writing + 60g +1gpt for warrior code and iron working with persia

1450BC discover CB, start mapmaking

1000BC stats
5 towns, 13 citizens
1 granary
3 workers, 2 warriors, 3 spears
contact: persia
all first level techs except wheel, writing and iron working from second level, mapmaking in three
prebuild for lighthouse

925BC discover MM, start Math

875BC finish Great Lighthouse in Seoul

690BC persia are getting ready to sneak attack, buy horseback riding and mysticism for 20g and 16gpt

650BC persia sneak attack, settle Cheju on another island

630BC persian immortal kills my warrior, probably kicking off their GA

490BC make peace with persia, then trade math for philosophy, territory map and some gold

110BC discover construction, start literature

100BC trade poly for COL with persia

320AD discover currency, enter MA, get Engineering

at this point I had also met quite a few other civs, but to get the most out of my advantage from the great lighthouse i had done very little in terms of tech trading. No doubt this will be a low scoring game, but it might still be a fun one.

 

[killerkid]

I am going for histo but very late in game i might be forced to win 100K since it might get to 100,000 before 2050.

I may have been the only one to settle in place. I made Seoul and P'yonyang before the mountain/ hill border. All of my other cities were below the mountains. I did palace jump later in the game. I did not build the Lighthouse. My goal was to claim a LOT of land. I normally are very bad at off continent attacks. This game however at the point where i am at I have killed 8 of the 10 rivals.

I decided to kill Persia immediatly. I knew my spears couldn't resist immortals. Persepolis was on his iron. I used mainly archers and ruined my rep by making "peace" at least once for cities and techs. I had to abandon Persepolis after I captured it because he had a spear and an archer next to it and I only had an archer with 2 hit points and i didn't want to waste archers retaking it. I ended up killing Persia around 1000 B.C. Then i cranked out settlers to settle thr land which, once irrigated, would be fertile. I had to self-research almost the whole AA. I might have traded with another civ though.

I am almost done my game. It is 1993 right now.

 

[AluminumKnight]

Ugh... I didn't die, but it was touch and go for awhile... I think I didn't attack Persia early enough.

Founded on spot, sent worker to road and mine wheat
Build some warriors for exploration, didn't actually find Persia for awhile... I must have forgot to write down when contact was made, but it was after I founded Pyong'sang in 2800 BC near the spice.
Once I realized Persia was right next to me, Pyong'sang immediately went barracks
I decided to get in another city SW of the mountain range, but Persia founded a city S and I had to readjust the position

Then I finally really began getting my military set. In retrospect, I should have stuck with just Seoul and Pyong'sang and just went right for X-man's throat. I was hoping I would get some iron, however.

I captured Susa in 925BC, but after I captured it the first Immortal appeared... bad news

I knew I had to move fast, so I attacked Persepolis with ~4 archers and failed, although I had 2 elite spearmen and an elite archer left on the mountain next to the city. I reinforced with ~6 archers and tried again, this time narrowly taking it in a horrible 290AD. Was still hoping Persia didn't have contact, but then England found me...

I destroyed Persia in 720AD (yuck!). I think I can still win this game, but it won't be pretty, and it's probably gonna have to be domination, as I have no wonders and my rep is most likely ruined for finishing Persia. The British are the biggest by far (London has collosus and lighthouse), so my first order of business is to get them off the neighboring island to the west.

Overall an evil start and a yucky game...

Another thing that hurt me is, when trading for a tech from Hammurabi, I accidentally selected the gpt option when I thought I selected lump sum... so I paid Hammurabi 35 gpt for 20 turns...

 

[Randy]

I was going to post the rest of my AA but the only things of intrest are not allowed. So I will save it for the next spoiler.

 

[klarius]

Open PtW

Settled 2 south. Science pottery 100%. Build order granary-settler.

3900 Seoul settled
3300 pottery researched
3050 Persian warrior says hello, swap masonry for alphabet
2590 P'yongyang settled
2190 Wonsan settled
1990 writing researched, trade for WC and IW
1700 Pusan settled
1375 Namp'o settled
1225 literature researched
1200 trade for TW and MM using literature and gpt; declare on Persia
1150 capture Pasargadae
1100 capture Susa
1050 make peace; get Code of laws, Bactra, Arbela and Antioch in treaty; Persepolis is building pyramids - so we will develop what we have now and wait.
1025 philosophy researched

Two galleys are underway so the rest of the AA is beyond this spoiler.

1000 BC:

 

[azzaman333]

I was kicked off the island

 

[Dimy]

Open PTW

Being on an archipellage map with loads of water and 12 civ's I knew it would get crowded.... and since this is a GOTM we'd probably have a nasty neighbour on our starting continent, so my strategy was to get rid of that neighbour asap.
I founded Seoul on the spot (and what a horrible spot it was!), put research to 0% and started cranking out warriors. I figured since this is a Regent level game, I would easily get up to speed with the AI tech-wise and culture wise again after I claimed the starting island for myself. Focus was WAR at all cost for now!
When I had saved up a stack of 10 warriors I started moving them south over the mountains... and met the Persians, right...nasty neighbour indeed! Seoul was now building Barracks. Persia had to die. They already founded their 2nd city at what later turned out to be next to the horses. I traded techs with them then declared war and pillaged their city, the city was defended with a spearman and obviously this spearman promoted twice killing off 4 of my warriors. I moved further south and on the way south I met a Persian Immortal.... this was bad...very bad. Persia had access to IRON! I lured the Immortal in a trap where I could attack him from the mountains, this worked...costing me 3 more warriors though.
Meanwhile the barracks were finished and I started building warriors again, my 3 remaining warriors were send to Persepolis to watch the city. Luckily no more immortals came out, I killed off a settler/spearman and got myself 2 slave workers. When I had 8 warriors I decided to attack Persepolis, again many warriors were lost, but I did take the city and decided to abandon it, I didn't want to waste warriors defending a city while the Persians were still alive! They had one city left in the west, but I only had 2 warriors now... 1 of them Elite. I made peace in trade for all their techs and gold. Changed production in my city from warriors to archers. 1 more settler/spearman came my way, I declared war again and captured two more slave workers, producing a great leader with my Elite warrior in the way! I decided to keep this Leader to build a FP on the spot Persepolis had been.
I attacked Persia's last city with some warriors and archers and killed them!
Now I could finally start building infastructure and a civilisation that will stand the test of time! My first settler found a city next to the horses, and my 2nd settler on the Iron Hill where I rushed a FP with my GL. I quickly colonised the rest of the island which was now my priority. I build some galleys to explore the piece of land I saw northeast of our position and later build 3 new cities on that Island. I also claimed the small empty island in the southwest and build about 7-8 cities there. In the process the Vikings made contact. I traded some techs and entered the next age soon after.
But the game was already decided at this point... the rest of the game would be a walk-over. But that's for other spoiler threads.

 

[tR1cKy]

Vanilla, predator class. Initially i had the intention to go for another 20k attempt, but things may change

Settler S-SE and worker immediately improving the 2 wheat plains. Seoul founded in 3900BC, on a spot that seems ideal for a 20k city, since 10 spt may be reached in short times. Research is set on Alphabet at max speed. The planned build order is warrior -> warrior -> warrior -> settler -> Colossus. That's what i was thinking, until in 3600BC a persian warrior shows up just outside the borders of Seoul. Yuck! Persia already knows Bronze Working and i have nothing else to trade for Masonry.

In 3300BC i spot the Persian borders. In 3200BC i see Persepolis, built on hills and protected by spearmen. Quite a crappy start. I like it, it's the ideal for a total war game. No 20k game, then.

After improving the wheats, the worker moves S to connect the spices, and build a road to city 2 (Pyongyang) that is founded 4 tiles S of Seoul in 2710BC. With Seoul busy with barracks, the new city produces a worker that is sent to work the wheat plains and grab a few extra money for our stripped coffers. In 2470BC Alphabet is mastered. Research is set to Writing at minimum. We trade Alphabet to Persia for Warrior Code + 10 quids. That's all i need for the moment. The rest will be extorted.

It takes some time to build a decent archer force to take over Persepolis. While Seoul focuses on military production, Pyong trains another worker, then a settler, then starts barracks. City 3 (Wonsan) is founded in 1725BC, its location being the ideal startpoint for the capture of Persepolis. But at this point i'm already surrounded by the enemy:

A tough opponent with lots of good land. And if they start to train immortals they will become quite scary. We need to cripple them before it's too late.

In 1200BC, Writing is researched. I put an embassy on Persepolis and figure out the defenses. 3 spears, 1 archer, 1 warrior and 2 settlers are in the city. Persia already knows Writing, Map Making, Iron Working, Pottery and probably something else. I buy pottery for world map + 80 quids. Research is set to Literature at minimum. In 1175BC, enough troops are ready. War is declared, then 8 archers + 1 spear move outside Persepolis. In 1150BC the city is owned, but losses were significant. The 2 settlers were still in the town, and so 4 fine slaves are captured.

In 1125BC we attack Tarsus and the enemy city resists. But with the 1st elite win of the game we get a leader. In 1100BC city 4 (Pusan) is founded on the eastern tip of the homeland, near the fish. In 1075BC, Tarsus is finally destroyed. In 1000BC, the settler is ready to build the replacement city for Tarsus. QSC: 5 cities, one to be founded next turn. Military not in good shape, the casualties were high.

City 6 (Namp'o) is founded in 975BC, 1 tile SE of the former Tarsus. The idea is to build cities at RCP 4.5 around Persepolis and place the forbidden palace there. At this point, peace is signed with Persia. They shell out Iron Working, Map Making and their world map for my world map + 115 quids. The leader is sent to Namp'o where the Great Lighthouse is rushed immediately.

It's interesting to see where the only iron source of the game located. A clear intention, expecially for predator players: be quick to take over Persia or be toast. Actually, i didn't see enemy immortals so far. They had some of them under construction, but they weren't quick enough to employ them in this 1st war.

With the Lighthouse under control, the exploration game becomes full of opportunities. I build 2 galleys then send them to explore in opposite directions. What happens next involves meeting civs oversea and discovering the whole map of the world, so it's not allowed here. A few anticipations:

- Met everyone and got the whole map in the BC. Didn't sell contacts nor key techs. My goal is to have the AS isolated and backwards. Sold maps and backward techs, and earned some good money.

- Persia is obliterated in 250BC.

- Established a monarchy in 30BC.

- Got a golden age by building the Great Library with a leader.

- Made it into the middle ages in 320AD.

Quite an enjoyable game so far. The predator penalty seems quite heavy this time, and this adds fun and challenge to the game. However, this favours too much those who stick with the open class, for scoreboard purposes. A 10% score bonus for the predator class players wouldn't be a bad idea. Anyone supporting this suggestion?

 

[killerkid]

Something odd happened in my game. I got over 100,000 culture points in 2040, but it didn't give me the victory. Bug? I was playing PTW.

 

[azzaman333]

IIRC, u have to be over double the 2nd place culture.

 

[Zeepsel]

Heya

I am currently somewhere in the MA and my game keeps crashing after 270AD(reloaded autosave and tried again several times )... I get a message that a file is missing: art\flics\dal-riada-ancient.flc

Anybody who knows how to solve this?

--------------

Onto a small summary

I figured that the starting position was so bad that I would try the archer-rush, so max to warrior code, settled on the spot. Builded warrior-warrior-barracks-archer-archer-archer-archer-archer-settler

My 2 warriors started scouting south immediately, the first was lucky to be on a mountain southwest of Persepolis when a warrior-escorted settler appeared on the hill south of him. I decided to declare and I won After that 5 archers took down Persepolis with ease... Only needing 3 archers to take down the 2 spears.

After that I palacejumped after building a settler, settled 2 spots south into the luxes and started working the terrain for a 4-turn settler factory and the rest is quite easy from there...

But now I am at 270AD and I can't continue So please help

 

[Xevious]

It seems like everyone settled relatively close to the starting point. I didn't like the low food area so I went on a walkabout. Being a regent game I didn't figure losing a number of turns would be a problem. I wandered over the mountains straight south, finding the grass wheat, but I see a glimpse of water SE, so I start the settler SE along hills and worker S to the wheat and then SW to explore a bit further. The settler found the salty water ruling out irrigation, meanwhile, the worker moved to the hill finding a cow and the blue border that looks like Persia. Decide I'd better settle soon. Settler heads toward the cow. Worker S to cow finds another cow next to it and meets Persia on a hill. I immediately trade Alpha for Masonry and 7g. Settler moves to spot NE of east cow and founded Seoul in 3500BC, just after Persia expanded. I think that is the furthest I've ever trecked, but I have room to expand and I'm in a spot where a settler factory can be built without irrigation.

I forgot to set reasearch on the first turn (it's been a long time since I've played a game and it shows ). Set to Pottery at max. My first build is a settler, since I've already spent some time exploring and know I need to gain some ground on Persia. A little later I decide I'll just go for the granary first, using the Pyramids as a prebuild. Granary finishes in 2670BC, and I start on a settler. This gets switched to a warrior next turn as I realize it will get me to size 4 and ready to run a 4-6 settler factory. Warrior done in 2590BC, starts exploring and my first settler pops in 2430BC as my 4 turn factory gets running. I wrestled back and forth with running max or min science on writing, and ended up wasting some coin and losing out to Persia anyway (by 10 turns )! I buy it from them in 1675BC for 10gpt to get started on Map Making sooner. I expect to attack Persia soon and break the deal anyway.

My first town went 3NW of Persia, the plan being to try and squeeze Persia out of their territory. They start settling south and west. My next settler was heading SE to try and block as much of the SE side of island as possible. But then decide I should try and grab the ivory the warrior found. I head to the hill by the ivory and THEN realize if I go west one I can steal the irrigated wheat and flood plain from Persepolis. This is too good to pass up, so I do it. I now have Persepolis pinned in on three sides. Meanwhile another settler has popped and I settle Wonsan NW of the desert mountain finishing the pinning of Persepolis. Persepolis only has room to expand SW. Because of the way I settled, Persia is able to settle a town on the far SE corner of island, but I have control over the rest of the NE. Another nice thing about where I'm settling, is all my towns so far are rcp3 around Persepolis. This will be good later on if I can build the FP in Persepolis and jump the palace off island later.

On a side note, I had to give 20g to Persia once as I was in no state for fighting yet, and I also sent a worker to colonize the southern ivory.

At this point I trade Pottery, 1gpt and 29g for Warrior Code from Persia. I don't think I have time to build barracks first so I start building archers in all towns (including one in Seoul). Continue settling RCP3 around Seoul, N and NE, and also settle on a spice jungle. I'm also heading for Map Making as fast as possible. Create one spear to help protect archer stack that will attack Persepolis, and another to guard the ivory.

In 1325BC, I move spear onto ivory, declare on Persia and move a stack of 7 reg archers, a spear, and by mistake a settler onto mountain by Persepolis. I take Persepolis (defended by 2 spears), losing 2 archers. Decide to head for successive capitals in Persia. Susa (far southern capital) is up next, attack it in 1225BC, destroying it . Does it have to expand before it can be taken at size 1? Move out of Persia and make peace for Wheel, 183g and Antioch.

In 1175BC, after moving next to Pasargadae, I attack Persia again, and get rioting. I forgot my ivory is connected through Arbela. Take out Pasargadae and get Map Making in 1150BC. Destroy Arbela in 1050BC leaving only Tarsus on the far W,N tip of island. Make peace for HBR and World Map. I slowly move my troops over there, and finish Persia off in 900BC. I should have probably kept Persia around to get their free MA tech, but I wasn't sure if I'd be able to keep them from meeting anyone else first. After breaking gpt deal and peace twice, I didn't want that.

At end of QSC I have 11 cities and am building galleys to explore the world. I've started research on Repulic in 825BC but at this point I'm about to exceed the bounds of this spoiler so I'll stop here.

 

[shumble]

Some very impressive games here. Especially Klarius, Randy and Xevious. It's amazing how quickly you expanded. For some reason, I am never able to take over cities with only 5 archers. The AI always wins or wins by leaving me so weak that I am open to attack.

 

[Redbad]

Susa (far southern capital) is up next, attack it in 1225BC, destroying it . Does it have to expand before it can be taken at size 1?

Yep, unless it has some of your culture. But that's of course not so in this case.

 

[Marc Aurel]

Hi everybody,

so this was the second GOTM, I participated in - and here is my AA :

(open; PTW)
As I said in the pregame discussion, I first went 2 tiles south to settle there and road/mined the two wheatplains. For my plans, this was a great mistake – I never build a granary there or grew the city beyond the size of four. I had no advantages of this site compared to the starting position, so I lost two precious turns! When I had spotted by my 2. reconaissance warrior that Persia was nearby and had good tiles for development in the center of the island I chose to go to an early archer war. I traded Alphabet for Masonry and 7g with them. I thought, that there would sure be iron somewhere in Persias reach and I had to be very fast to avoid meeting the Immortals on the battlefield. I researched WC at max science and then build in Seoul : (baracks, 6 archers; 2 settlers ). I don’t know why I was convinced I would meet three spearmen in Persepolis, but I wanted to have a ratio in unit numbers of 2/1 in the attack, because the Persians were fortified on hill ground.
Short before my army was assembled (1 archer still on its way) Persia declared war on me.

1910 BC : I immediately drove my army to Persepolis and destroyed the defences of two spearmen, losing one archer. –
Wow; that’s it for the question, whether I would survive this start!

View attachment 101501

1790 : I negotiated peace with the Persians and got Arbela and Susa + Iron Working.
1725 : Pyongyang founded on the peninsula NW of Persepolis, where the two cows could be worked.
1600 : After I build my second settler in Seoul I jumped my palace (FPJ) to Persepolis disbanding Seoul. Now a phase of peaceful development followed which resulted in these 1000 BC stats :

6 towns
18 population
5 workers
1 warrior
6 archers
5 spearmen

View attachment 101500

The stupid thing is that I wanted to build an RCP 5 constellation, because I foresaw the tiles around Persepolis only for this city, which I wanted to make a 20k cultural city. But that way I lost the place for one city in the south west. – Should have planned better – Arrrrrgh!

1025 Pusan founded
850 BC Nam’po founded

I let the Persians survive in the west of the island to take their land when they had it a little developed for me. They should research more for trade with me. The eradication of Persia started in 610 BC

590 BC Pasargadae captured
530 BC Cheju founded
330 BC Ulsan founded and Republic researched. I went immediately to this gov with a 2 turn anarchy.
310 BC Pyongyang builds the Great Lighthouse
250 BC with the capture of Tarsus the existence of the Persian civilisation ends. I went with 3 galleys exploring the world, so everything further is beyond this spoiler. So lets hear (read) again in the next one. See (read) you!


@ klarius, Randy and tao : congrats – very good results in my opinion so far!