GOTM 97 (Beware Saladin) - First Spoiler

[DynamicSpirit]

GOTM 97 (Beware Saladin) First Spoiler

Are you proving to be as cunning as the Gods and the soothsayers feared? Or have Athena's precautions succeeded in trapping you and protecting everyone else? Tell us how things went up to 1AD, subject to...

Stop! If you are participating in GOTM 97, then you MUST NOT read this thread unless EITHER

• You have reached at least 1 AD in your game, OR
• You have submitted your entry

Posting Restrictions

• Please do not disclose ANY events or information gained post 1 AD.
• Please do not reveal your final result if that happened after 1 AD.
• Please do not discuss the location of resources that may not show up before 1 AD.

 

[Minou]

Settled 1S, getting Furs, Deer, Pig and lots of Hills for the capital. Seeing the starting area was surrounded by ocean, the next plan was to get the Great Lighthouse. Researched Hunting, Mining, BW and AH while building some Workers.

City 2 built NE by Gold, Wheat, Fish, Banana and (hidden) Iron.
City 3 built NW by Cow, Fish x 2, and Clam.
City 4 built by Dye, Clam and shared Wheat.

Quickly met Sid. It was startling to see a new face in the diplomacy screen! One Warrior passed the icy hills and started meeting other AIs and a spare Workboat was sent to explore the northern part of the ocean. With no more useful land nearby to found more cities, I settled down to grow population, build the Great Lighthouse and whip some Libraries. Used two quick Great Scientists from the fish city both for Academies in 775BC and 325BC.

The worst thing about this game is that I mistakenly researched Mathematics even though it is not needed for the Oracle in Vanilla, which caused me to miss the Oracle by 2 turns. My own fault for carelessness. So, while it seems disrespectful to attack the game's creator, I decided to invade Barbaria for annoying me with demands every turn (although apparently never getting angry when I deny them). The plan is to attack across the water with a stack of 10 Catapults and 6 Longbows, which is almost done. Should be possible to drop the units in a forest adjacent to the capital for defense unless they chop it in the next few turns, and then capture the city which has the Pyramids as a bonus. Even with their Longbows instead of Archers, this seems like a better plan than taking the long southern road to hit a weaker opponent due to the time savings, lower upkeep of captured cities, and better infrastructure.

It is unclear how large Barbaria is, but based on the production graphs it is not too huge - seems to have started with Feudalism and maybe a bonus Settler or two but not anything too crazy. Once Barbaria is out of the way, I hope to send a bunch of Camel Archers along a road I am slowly building across the southern mountains to knock out Mansu and go from there.

1000BC Stats: 4 cities, 14 pop, 1 Library and 1 Lighthouse, 3 Warriors, 1 Workboat, 3 Workers, 37bpt at -8gold (using Stonehenge fail gold), 28C/29P/42F, 1 turn from Great Lighthouse, 11 techs, 4 Health Resources, 2 Luxury Resources.

1AD States: 4 cities, 18 pop, 3 Granary, 4 Library, 2 Lighthouse, 2 Barracks, 1 Temple, 1 Monastery, 4 Workers, 1 Workboat, 5 Warriors, 1 Scout, 3 Longbows, 6 Catapults, 90bpt, 38C/40H/55F, Great Lighthouse and 2 Academies, 27 techs (1 turn fro Metal Casting), 2 Strategic Resources, 6 Health Resources, 3 Luxury Resources.

 

[Optimist]

http://gyazo.com/805b3e94866cec5f49c79ef84de69eb8

http://gyazo.com/c18fc5b45f16c0fac89bf389400c656a

GLH + Oracle, but lost 400 hammers pyramids and lost city by culture. And Sid is crazy, every turn ask for something. Build cats, plan to kill him with macemans.

 

[Optimist]

omg, i didn't play original civ like 4 years, in BTS there are 3 option when you take city, I just burned city with pyramids, idiot.

 

[cas]

...And Sid is crazy, every turn ask for something.

This is super annoying...especially when you get tired of it after 100 turns and accidentally click the wrong option.

cas

 

[Jastrow]

I had a couple hours spare time, so decide to start this one. Not sure I will have time to finish it...

Lots of similarities with Minou, so I am using bits of his spoiler, and modifying it as appropriate:

Settled 1S, getting Furs, Deer, Pig and lots of Hills for the capital. Started exploring, and spotted Sid's capital before needing to decide on a strategy. As soon as I saw it (already very large), I speculated that he would build some wonders for me, and since I plan to take him out anyway, I decided to peaceful rex, and ignor wonders (except for Oracle, which of course you cannot usefully capture.). Researched Hunting, AH, Mining, BW and while building some Workers and settlers..

City 2 built NE by Gold, Wheat, Fish, Banana and (hidden) Iron.
City 3 built NW by Cow, Fish x 2, and Clam.
City 4 built by Beavers and Fish
City 5 built as a Helper on the PH on the east edge of the map
City 6 built on the western Dye.

Quickly met Sid. It was startling to see is face in the diplomacy screen! I had not guessed that from the game description. One Warrior passed the icy hills and started exploring Sid's land. I used the first GS for an Academy, and settled the second in the capital.

Oracled CS, and then headed towards guilds, with the plan to take Sid (and his longbows) out with Camel archers (supported by cats). A road around the southern mountains is already being built, and cats will leave while the Camels are being prepared, since they can catch up. If all goes to schedule, will hit Sid with 8 Cats, 1 mace, 1 crossbow, and 2 camels in 10 turns (so on turn 125), with more camels to follow shortly thereafter.

I plan to sweep up the coast, and colleact all his cities, including the Mids, and Great LIghthouse, which he has kindly built for me .

After that, if I have time to play, I will continue puching west to near the dom limit, and from there, either push accross it, or, as usuall, head to space.

1AD States: 6 cities, 38 pop, 6 Granary, 5 Library, 3 Lighthouse, 1 Barracks, 1 Temple, 2 Forges, 4 Workers, 3 Warriors, 7 Catapults, 208 bpt @ 100%, 165 break even, 72C/75H/87F, Oracle and 1 Academies, 31 techs (1 turn from HBR), 2 Strategic Resources, 7 Health Resources, 3 Luxury Resources.

 

[Optimist]

Awesome 1ad results, you should finish it!

 

[Jastrow]

The 1AD results look pretty standard to me... 6 cities as 1AD is the minimum that even qualifies as a rex. On this map, we are simply limited by settling space, and it is just a question of how mediocre cities you are willing to settle with. Getting to 10 cities on these settings (no barbs, no pestering AI, etc.) would be trivial (tho bad play, since there are simply not 10 decent city sites to go around.)

Once you are at 6 cities, the rest of the stats are not special. With the high nobel happy cap, and 3 happy resources availble, population is simply limited by how much you use the whip. Having decide on no wonders, and not needing fog busters, my population could be spared.

Indeed, I only whipped twice (Granary, library) in most cities, and then switched to cast system, so I am already at 1AD running pretty much a specialist economy, which is why the bpt is so high, despite the fairly standard 70 cpt.

Indeeed, if not for the fact that my nearest neighbour has the mids and Glight, this would be a pretty slow start in general (perfectly OK for these settings, but I mean compared to a random game at this level). Capturing the Great light house in 10 turns, the pyramids in 16, and planning on 6 SID city captures, for 12 cities in ~22 turns (turn 137) is the only thing which makes this start reasonable in terms of a decent (say pre 1800) spaceship. I think pre 1700 is out of the question unless I can still take out another 2 AI's behind Sid by turn 160, which seems unlikely unless I get really lucky in terms of them delaying feudalism and letting my Camels run through that late.

Problem with Noble AI's is that they are useless to you alive, since even if you pump them with techs the entire game, they will still never manage to help you with any ship relevant tech, so you have to take their land, and since they are not usually able to improove it decently, you have to take it early enough to have times to chop jungles yourself to devellope space ship building cities...

Still, if real life cooperates, I will give it a try.

 

[MarleysGh0st]

An inattentive start for me. I settled 1S and decided to build a worker first, but I accidentally clicked on building a settler, instead, and didn't noticed my error until it was half complete. So I finished the settler and founded Medina in 3080 BC, then had both cities build workers. Good thing this was noble, so I didn't tank my economy right from the start.

By 1 AD, I have five cities, and I've founded Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. Not bad for a cultural game, but I really don't like playing those, so I'm planning to spite Athena's plans with a conquest win.

Sid's constant demands are annoying, but as long as refusing him doesn't affect his diplomatic opinion, I don't mind.

 

[Deckhand]

Similar Start, so I too am going to edit Minou's report.

Settled 1S, getting Furs, Deer, Pig and lots of Hills for the capital. - 4000 BC
City 2 built NE by Gold, Wheat, Fish, Banana and (hidden) Iron. - 2680 BC
City 3 built NW by Cow, Fish x 2, and Clam. - 2080 BC
City 4 built on Dye, for horses. - 1040 BC
City 5 fish, fur, fur - 175 BC

Started kissing up to Sid right away. Until I realized I couldn't get better than +4 Pleased. Gave into demands for Civil Service, Mysticism, Meditation, converted to Confucianism (thanks), and Priesthood.
OK, that's enough - refused Code of Laws and everything else he asked for from then on. He says he won't forget, but doesn't seem to mind.
His every turn demands are annoying - he must die.

Oracled Civil Service and Build the Pyramids. Sid has Parthenon and GLH. Mali has Stonehenge.

Built road to Mali. Planning a catapult, mace war there first.

1AD States: 5 cities, 26pop, 3 Granary, 4 Library, 3 Lighthouse, 3 Barracks, 2 Monasteries, 2 Obelisks, 1 Forge, 1 Courthouse, Oracle, Pyramid, 1 Academy
founded Confucianism and Taoism
4 Workers, 5 Warriors, 1 Scout, 4 Catapults,
86bpt, 25 techs (2 turns from Machinery)

 

[Deckhand]

An inattentive start for me. I settled 1S and decided to build a worker first, but I accidentally clicked on building a settler, instead, and didn't noticed my error until it was half complete.

I would do this in about every third game when I was playing friendly multiplayer.

so I'm planning to spite Athena's plans with a conquest win.

I don't know who to blame, Athena or Sid. She didn't quite finish the mountain ranges to keep us fenced in. And he doesn't seem to care what we do or where we go.

Sid's constant demands are annoying, but as long as refusing him doesn't affect his diplomatic opinion, I don't mind.

Well, you can't leave him alone forever and get a conquest win.

 

[neilmeister]

omg, i didn't play original civ like 4 years, in BTS there are 3 option when you take city, I just burned city with pyramids, idiot.

OUCH!!!

Its my first Vanilla game in a few months, and I am thoroughly enjoying it.

I HATE Sid, demand/beg every damn turn, it is this reason, above all else, that I DoWed him just before 0ad. Longbows or not, he is going to pay!

Maybe his demand every turn is the developers having a laugh about how demanding he was.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I don't know who to blame, Athena or Sid. She didn't quite finish the mountain ranges to keep us fenced in. And he doesn't seem to care what we do or where we go.

Oh she definitely finished them. I believe the problem was that in the following millennia there were some geological shifts etc. and some warming of some of the ice sheets. Sid was supposed to maintain the barriers to make sure Saladin stayed blocked in, but over the years living as a mortal he got a bit soft and started to neglect his duties....

 

[Falabello]

The beginning and cities:
#1- Mecca 1E – Worker / Warrior / one Scout to understand what happens with this world and what there is behind those mountains ...
#2- Medina 1S3W (2120 BC) – 1 fish, 1 clam, 2 fur
#3- Damascus 3N4W (1880 BC) – 1 fish, 1 clam, 1 cow
#4- Baghdad 6N (975 BC) – 1 wheat, 1 fish, 1 gold, 1 horse, 2 dye

The game:
- Yes, it was a great surprise! Sid, you here !
- The choice for my second city was to build my naval force (yes, I think I'll need some Galleys to transpose the lands and attack Sid ...). With pigs and two mines shared I’ll have several Work Boats and Galleys from it…
- I resolved to build Stonehenge to my borders. Karakorum is expanding very fast and invading my borders quickly. I have to change the city locations .
- Hey! Each turn Sid also asked me to cancel the deals with the Indians??? Is it a kind of bug?
- This game will be difficult! I already did a great mistake – I researched Horseback Riding guessing that I could win Sid with Horse Archers. But began to appear several Longbowmen in his cities. I had to change my idea and go to Construction. Lost all the time doing this . This war will take a long time. Sid has various cities and all of them with Longbowmen and Keshiks …
- My intention is win this game around our days: December of 2013 !

1000 BC Stats: 4 cities, 14 pop, 2 workers, 7 units (5 Warriors, 1 Settler, 1 Scout), 0 strategic resources, 1 luxury resources, 4 health resources, 0 great persons, 1 World Wonders (The Stonehenge), 0 National Wonders, food/production/commerce = 39/19/25, 30 bpt at 100%, 25 bpt breakeven at 90% (+0gpt), 7 gold, 13 culture per turn, 4 great person points per turn, 1 granary, 0 library, 0 religions, 0/0 cottages used, 10 Techs: Sail, Pott, AH, BW, Horseback Riding (1 turns), 0 civs killed, 1:16 hours played, Score: #2 (6 Empires and Sid is the first) – 266 / 27,890.

1AD Stats: 4 cities, 28 pop, 2 workers, 28 units (7 Horse Archers, 9 cats, 6 Galleys, 5 Warriors, 1 Scout), 1 strategic resources, 2 luxury resources, 6 health resources, 1 great persons, 1 World Wonders (The Stonehenge), 0 National Wonders, food/production/commerce = 66 / 24 / 26, 55 bpt at 100%, 30 bpt breakeven at 60% (+3 gpt), 11 gold, 24 culture per turn, 4 great person points per turn, 3 granaries, 1 library, 2 barracks, 0 religion, 8/4 cottages used, 17 Techs: Alpha, Construction, Horseback Riding, Masonry, BW, Sail, Currency (9 turns), 0 civs killed, 1:55 hours played, Score: #2 (7 Empires and Sid's still the first ) – 467 / 31,906.

 

[Deckhand]

Oh she definitely finished them. I believe the problem was that in the following millennia there were some geological shifts etc. and some warming of some of the ice sheets. Sid was supposed to maintain the barriers to make sure Saladin stayed blocked in, but over the years living as a mortal he got a bit soft and started to neglect his duties....

OK
Thanks for the backstory. It adds flavor and makes the games more enjoyable.



edit, hmmn - he does look a bit soft.
The other civilizations leaders are generally badasses that you wouldn't want to mess with in RL. Sid was demanding but didn't have the range of expression or commanding presence.

 

[Htadus]

Humm....I am positive I wrote last night about my game to 1AD. I am definitely getting forgetful.

Moderator Action. No you're not getting forgetful. I moved your original post to the final spoiler because it clearly had post-1AD information in it. Not particularly amused to come back to the forum and find a re-post that also contains post 1AD information. I have therefore moved your new post to the final spoiler too. DS