GOTM105 - First Spoiler

[civ_steve]

GOTM 105 - First spoiler, Korea, the Ancient Age

Reading Requirements:

1. Must be able to research a Middle Ages Technology.

Posting restrictions

1. Feel free to discuss distant contacts and trades, but be discreet about locations or directions of any AI.
2. No discussion of middle-ages (or later) including resource locations.
3. AS ALWAYS, do not post Spoiler information for ANY other 'X'OTM contest.

I apologize for this late spoiler opening; I didn't have quite enough time to post it in the final mad scramble to catch my flight. So what do you think about Korea's initial location? Where did you establish your capital and why? How did contacts go? Any great trades or deals made? And what are your plans for the Middle Ages?

 

[Megalou]

GOTM 105, Korea, predator.

I left the pursued victory condition open for a while, then settled for Spaceship or Diplomatic. The conditions are not ideal, with so little fresh water and no rivers at all. But I was hoping that powerful AIs could help a lot with the research. Indeed, in the ancient age I only researched Writing, Pottery, Map Making, Literature and The Republic myself. In the next age, everything will depend on how well and quickly I can set up a second core on the continent. It won't be easy. It will take time to conquer towns and the ban on palace jumping to a remote and isolated town is a big disadvantage to players with honorable intentions in a situation like this.

Back in the core I set up two rings, one at distance 3 and one at distance 5. But in my eagerness to settle my first town on the gold to the northwest, I limited the number of towns at distance 3 to seven. This was obviously a mistake since I chose to research Writing in 40 turns anyway. (I do believe that this min research was the best choice, even though starting with Pottery from the beginning was probably better.) The distance 5 towns suffer little corruption and will have universities but won't need courthouses very badly.

Settled in place. Writing full blast was later changed to writing at min speed.

3800 - Warrior.
3750 - Warrior reveals coast to the east. We slow down research.
3600 - Worker.
3000 - Popped barbs in mountains.
2950 - Settler.
2710 - Popped deserted hut near Seoul.
2190 - Writing finished (40 turns.) Gathered 194 gold.
1990 - Pottery (6t)
1600 - Connected incense.
1325 - Barb sabotages galley prebuild. We must join a worker and whip the prebuild.
1375 - Map Making. 1 galley finished - I thought, but forgot about the predator obstacle.
1175 - Met Zululand.
1150 - Zululand has sold us to USA, Japan, India, Mongols. We also meet China, the weakest AI. They will probably be our first target.
1125 - Literature. We acquire contact with Persia. Tech par.
1100 - Japan and Persia have C & C.
War on USA. War on Japan.

1000 BC, QSC stats: 9 towns, 20 pop. 5 workers, 1 galley, 9 warriors /1 vet, 1 elite. 1 granary, 1 barracks, 1 harbour, 1 library. Missing Polytheism, the two C's and the governments. Republic 17t. All contacts, 2 embassies.

750 - War happiness from China.
690 - Republic comes in. Only one other civ has it. Naturally, we trade first with Nitwit Japan, owners of The Great Library. Then we get Currency from Zululand. Enter Medieval Age.

 

[templar_x]

i won´t be able to participate this time, ´cause i accidentally restarted after a couple of turns. i practically did everything the same way, as i was sure we were on an island, but still it´s clear that my game disqualifies by the rules.

but i can shadow your games if anyone is interested in my results.

my early game was a lot like Megalou´s. i built 7 towns at distance 3 as well, but i do not think this was a mistake. i would not like to settle the grass 3sw for the 8th town... and the gold hill was just too juicy to let it pass.

very unlike Megalou i encountered big trouble on the barb island. they sunk quite a few of my expensive galleys before they could make it over to the pangaea. so i only see borders of another civ in 800 (!) and can make contact only next turn. in 590 i finally know everyone and trade up in 550 and draw ENG.

in 1000bc i had:
10 towns, 27 pop
1 settler, 8 workers, 19 warriors, 1 galley
Philo in 6, then Rep

and if i find the motivation to finish this game, i will defenitely NOT go for a science VC!

templar_x

 

[Megalou]

Well, you had better qsc stats, as usual. Why not ask if the administrators can let the game pass? The consequences of the restart seem rather similar to a game crash.

 

[templar_x]

unfortunately it is totally UNUSUAL that my qsc stats are better than yours! let´s have truth live on for a while here....

and especially in this situation it is clear that you aimed for optimal beaker count and not optimal REX. and indeed i believe you got MM earlier than i did (i really need to take down those dates).

MM did not help me a bit anyway for a long time, as the barb galleys sank one of mine after the other, even when they promoted to vets first and were stacked
and with the poor early production and the predator malus, replacements were not to be built easily.

re the restart, i cannot blame anyone but myself. i settled and saved and then drew my spreadsheet (i know you dislike them...), then continued only for a couple of turns. then i left the game alone for a couple of days due to lack of time. stupid me then started again from the 4000bc save

templar_x

 

[Lanzelot]

Here is another one, who can't compete in this one...

Originally I thought, COTM74 would take me much longer than it actually did, so I didn't plan on trying GOTM105 and already read the first spoiler. Now however, it looks like I would still have had time for this one, but the spoiler information clearly disqualifies me.
Too bad: an island start on Emperor with a "pirate island" blocking our galleys from reaching the main continent does sound like a challenge...

 

[Megalou]

unfortunately it is totally UNUSUAL that my qsc stats are better than yours! let´s have truth live on for a while here....

Rubbish. Maybe I sometimes research a bit further before 1000 BC but you usually have more towns, pop and units. Re the barbs I had more trouble with the ones on the home island. The barbs would show up in precisely the wrong moments, destroying my only on-time galley pre-build for exemple. (They seem to know exactly what kind of pillaging hurts the most.) Compared to T_x I had very few warriors and after Republic they are bound to get even fewer because of the need for minimum upkeep.

Btw I will definitely go for spaceship. I don't like it when you are a scientific civ and have to depend on luck to get fission for UN.

Edit: I don't dislike spreadsheets per se. I just dislike the fact that I don't use them myself. Occacionally I try but they soon start to get too complex to write down. Maybe they would get better if I disregard the commerce factor, at least for militaristic games.

 

[Raliuven]

Just a question - did anyone manage to invade the barb islands blocking the route to the main island? I was feeling bad that I didn't get there before the barbs infested the place. I am playing the open challenge, so the loss of a few galleys wasn't so bad - more irritating then anything. Was it even possible to stop that barbs from taking over that island?

However, I did have a huge problem with the barb uprisings on the starting island. They sacked a city and I lost 100s of gp and they destroyed a health area of infrastructure before I got them under control. I took the risk of not making much of a military at the start and paid the price.

 

[milr]

Yes, I was able to invade the island. As I recall, I had two ships with a settler and some swords (regular?) and perhaps a spear lying in harbor by my mainland. One of those ships had previously sailed past the island and located the main landmass, intending to settle on some remaining site. I quickly abandoned that thought when maps got traded around, and returned to the home harbor. When I saw a vacant square after some number of turns, I sailed and landed my settlers and troops. I think one unit was destroyed and the others were severely damaged. But on the next turn, I was able to found a city. I think I then moved my surviving men away so the late arriving AI horses would pillage instead of slaughter. Reinforcements a turn or two later finished the job, and I also settled the other end of the island.

 

[templar_x]

@ Raliuven - no i did not have the chance to ever invade the pirates´ island. all tiles were blocked on every turn that i did see them.

@ Megalou - what will explain the big difference in pop this time surely is our different intended vc´s. you wanted that gold hill commerce asap. this town was only the 5th (!) i founded. before that i followed the 2f-tiles and built, after the capital, the 2 sw towns and the one 2e. only when i ran out of 2f-tiles i built my 5th town on the gold hill.

templar_x