GOTM113 - First Spoiler

[civ_steve]

GOTM 113 - First spoiler, Mongols, 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.

Past time to get some spoilers out. What decisions went into the founding of your capital, and how did you run it? Map settings give you a bit more land, but it may be a bit harder to use - any troubles setting up your initial empire? How did early contacts go? Any good trades? And how are things going into the middle ages?

 

[SpiffyKeen7744]

This looked like a good low difficulty game to get back in the groove with. I have not played Civ3 in a while, but I am really enjoying getting back to it! I did not spend any time planning out starting moves, because I wanted to just play. I did send my scout twice south and saw better lands, but it all seemed too far away, so I just settled where I was. After playing the map for a while I realized that I probably should have moved my settler south.

Anyway, no city rings, but I made contacts quickly and I did pop a city from a hut, but it was west in a very dry location. I popped a lot of techs, but I made the mistake of doing so while researching alphabet and writing, so I missed out on popping techs on that track. I researched everything up to Republic on my own, and I used those techs to trade around for everything else in the Ancient Age, well, except I had to research Currency, too.

I plan on having a quick war with Greece and Azteca with horses. I am definitely running out of room, and those two are the obvious choices. The Aztecs demanded from me early on and I gave in because I was in a weak position, but now they will pay for it (and they also block lots of good land to settle). The Zulu demanded and declared when I said no, so then I allied the Iroquois. That kept them plenty busy and they never bothered me. Based on what I have been building in my cities and where I have been settling, I will probably go for culture, diplomacy, or space.

 

[LethalLogic]

Due to a bad defeat in a previous XOTM, this time I decided to go for conquest class. After a few turns I realized that I was more than keeping up with the AI and then decided to make the game more challenging for myself with the following restrictions:
1. Go for diplomatic victory only
2. Would have a maximum of 8 cities at the end of any turn
3. Would build no Wonder except the UN to ensure that I could hold the elections
4. As map is also Pangea. Would build no naval capabilities
5. No self declaration of war, even if a resource I craved was in AI territory

As of now am quite resonably crusing to victory, except that 2 GHs game me two cities one of which I had to later give up when I built my 9th city. Gave it to America which was quite far from the city and stood the least chance of benefiting from it.

Declined to pay tribute to Zulu and they declared. Got all other AI in a joint war and captured one city of the Zulu's which had to give away to Aztecs. This also managed to make the Zulu less powerful as they are my competition at the moment.

Have also decided to go for GL as well as UN because I would like to minimize research and focus all my attention on building a very efficent well connected empire of 8 cities.

 

[Più Freddo]

I realized that I was more than keeping up with the AI and then decided to make the game more challenging for myself

Shouldn't trying to achieve a diplomatic win early be challenging enough?

 

[LethalLogic]

No plan for "early" diplomatic victory. Just want to play long enough. Usually lose interest somewhere in the middle and build a huge military to get rid of the rest. This time I want to play like I actually do want to build a civ that stands the test of time.

 

[Nata]

It's been a while since my last visit, or last Civ play.
Nice to have a Regent game to ease back in!

I decided to do a conquest, but it's could have been a nice 20K game too - Regent on a river with bonuses and military tribe for GLs. But too late now.

Settled in place, warrior, scout, settler, granary, then 6-turn settlers.
Built in RCP3 and RCP5, with the 1st city on the North to share the Wines and build workers.

2 Scouts popped many GHs, got mostly money and maps, plus a distant tundra town, CB and HBR.
They were killed within the sight of Greece, after meeting Aztecs and Iroquese, but all the contacts were bought later from Iroquese after they got Writing.

At 1000BC we had 11 towns, 26 pop, 1 settler, 5 workers and 3 slaves (bought), granary, couple of barracks, 6 swordsmen, 1 horseman and some stray warriors.
All contacts, world map, missing Code of Laws, Currency and Construction.
We are a Monarchy, self researched! AIs helped with Writing and MM and couple of 1st techs.

Middle Ages were reached at about 550BC, in the midst of wiping out Aztecs with swordsmen and horsemen, with workers making jungle/mountains roads and settlers settling Aztec borders.

Greece was gifted, got Feudalism which we bought from them for Monarchy and all our cash - up front and per turn (29 per turn). After that the war was declared on them too.

The plan is to upgrade swordsmen to ME and beat on Greece while making horsemen and researching to Chivalry. And then just have fun with Keshiks with the rest of the guys.

 

[CKS]

I decided to go 100K, though the cow/wheat/hills site south of the start almost made me change my mind and go 20K.

The AI are causing lots of problems at Regent because they are so slow to grow. I'm currently at war with both the Aztecs and the Greeks, but they have mostly size one towns which I don't want to raze. I'm not getting settlers out fast enough for a speedy 100K, but I'm chugging along. I popped a town early on, but it is up in the tundra, so it won't make very much difference in this game, unlike the last time I popped a town.

It's been fun so far.

 

[Raliuven]

Settled in place. I think I"ll go for a nice, torturous space victory this time. My goal will be to create a trading partner and keep them up on techs. At Regent is will be no probelm to outpace the AI's research. I practically gave them all republic so they could get on the same page as me. My expansion has not required any wars of yet. The Aztecs are so backwards that it is a joke. The greek have been pillaged back to the stoneage by barbarians. The Zulu and Iroquois are trading with each other and that is keeping them in the game.

I'm in the middle ages at 350 BC.

QSC Stats – 8 cities, 24 citizens, Income 44 gpt, treasury: 216gp. All required AA techs except Construction, poly & Phil (due in 4t). 1 settler, 5 workers, 5 slaves, 2 scouts, 20 warriors. 1 luxury connected. 2 embassies.

Log:

Spoiler :

GOTM 113

4000 BC – move worker to BG. Found city in place. Move Scout to the south.

For some reason the always wait at the end of turn was turned off.

3950 BC – Set research to Alpha at max. Worker irrigates. Scout to the East. Find cows and game.

3850 BC – GH – 25gp. Gee, thanks.

3800 BC – second scout builds, send west.

3550 BC – find second GH, spices.

3450 BC – GH = pops a city. Great, its only half a world away. Ta-Tu starts a warrior.

3400 BC – find 3rd GH.

3350 BC – see green border.

3300 BC – 3rd GH = CB. 2nd scout sees 4th GH.

3250 BC – 4th GH = map. Great. See FP w/wheat.

3100 BC – meet the Iroquois. I have alpha, they have BW. They won’t trade. Meet the Aztecs, I have pottery and Alpha, they have nothing, only 10gp.

3050 BC – meet the Greek. I’m up CB, they have BW. The Iroquois have picked up alpha. I trade Greece CB & 25gp for BW. Guess that 25gp came in handy after all. Sell pottery to the Aztecs for 10gp.

3000 BC – find 5th GH right next to the Aztecs.

IBT – I rank as Mediocre in the Largest Nations of the World.

2950 BC – 5th GH = 25gp. Hmm. Lux to 10%. Warrior builds at Ta-Tu, start worker.

2670 BC – Granary builds, start warrior. Find new borders.

2630 BC – meet the Zulu – they are behind on a lot of techs, but they have the wheel. The will give me the wheel & 9gp for alpha and CB. I see there are horses nearby. Very good. Greece is close to the Zulu so I decide to sell them the Wheel for all 41gp of their treasury. I now have all the gold.

2590 BC – build warrior, fortify, start settler in Karakorum.

2550 BC – see my first barbarian warrior walking around. Scout avoids him.

IBT – Barbarian chases my scout back north.

2510 BC – Ta-Tu builds a worker. Set to warrior. Looks like the Zulu have all the resources.

2390 BC – settler builds, send out with warrior escort. Start worker roading towards new city. There are two zulu workers hiding in the capital. Barbarian troubles? Greece has IW. The Iroquois also have IW and still lack the wheel. Trade them the Wheel & 30gp for IW. Thanks. I see we have iron close by. That’s nice too.

2310 BC – learn writing. Set for MM. I see that most of the civs don’t know each other yet. The Zulu know the Americans – trade Zulu IW & 45gp to meet the Americans. America will give me Masonry and 25gp for IW – the Zulu would not give me Masonry for anything less than writing or contact with other civs.

2270 BC – find 6th GH.

2230 BC – miss riot in capital. Stupid, stupid. Lux to 10%

2190 BC – found 3rd city to take horses, iron, FP wheat, and cow.

2110 BC – Ta-Tu builds warrior, start worker.

IBT – barbarian wandering near Kazan.

2070 BC - 6th GH = HBR. Nice. Settler builds at capital, send out with warrior escort. Start building a replacement warrior. Trade Iroquois Masonry for 59gp – all his money.

1990 BC – The Zulu have 2 workers in their capital – they will trade me both workers for contact with the Greek and contact with the Iroquois (the Greek & Iroquois know each other so I might as well sell them as a package deal). And I trade this for 2 slaves? The Zulu and Greek are so close to each other that I can’t believe they haven’t met yet. I make the trade. Since the Zulu know the Americans, I trade contact with the Greeks for 24gp, all that America has in the bank.

Found 4th city and send new slave workers to make a road.

IBT – Zulu get top billing in Toynbee’s Great History of the World “Most Advanced Nations of the World”. How does that figure? They can’t write or ride a horse? I only rank as fine?

1950 BC – ah, Zulu has Mysticism and found HBR somewhere. The Greek don’t know HBR yet and they have Mysticism too. The Aztecs can’t tie their own moccasins. Better yet, the Iroquois know Mysticism but don’t know the Americans. As the they know the Greek and Zulu, this is a done deal. Trade contact for Mysticism. I still have writing as a monopoly tech and most don’t have HBR and have nothing to trade to the Zulu. I get the Iroquois to throw in 3gp on top of the deal.

1910 BC – warrior finds 7th GH. The Aztecs have a worker in the capital – trade them Masonry for a new slave.

1830 BC – 7th GH = Literature!

1790 BC – settler builds. Send west of capital. Buy Greek slave for HBR & 80gp.

1750 BC – two barbarians approach Almarikh. 3/3 warrior attacks – flawless victory. Now everyone except the Americans have writing.

IBT – 3 barbs show up near Kazan.

1725 BC – 3/3 warrior kills eastern barb invader. Move scout next to barb camp in the fog.

1700 BC – scout survives because there’s no extra barbs to send after him! RUN AWAY! Rename him to Sir Robin. 3/3 warrior takes a risk and attacks a 2/2 barb that is threatening workers. Win but redline.

1675 BC – miss riot in capital AGAIN.

IBT – barbs run away from redlined warrior protecting Kazan. Reinforcing warrior on the way.

1625 BC – more barbs raid from the east.

1575 BC – Sell the Aztecs Alpha for WM & 25gp – all they have.

1550 BC – the Aztecs have suddenly jumped forward – they are actually ahead of the others? Must be some nice GH.

1400 BC – shop Math around – Greece already has it. Math to Zulu for 9gp & WM. Math to Iro for TM & 7gp. Aztecs offer up WM & 50gp.

1375 BC – Warrior destroys barb camp for 25gp.

1350 BC – take down more barbs & collect 25gp for passing go.

1325 BC – MM is out – the Zulu have it. Trade it to Greece for WM & 55gp – all they have.

I have 280gp – all the gold in the world (pretty much). I establish an embassy with the Aztec (29gp) (Capital a pitiful size 1, 7gpt building a settler; they already have a settler in stock with a spearman). Greece (38gp) (Capital a pitiful size 1, 4gpt, building a hoplite).

1250 BC – kill a barb by Kazan.

1175 BC – spot a barb horse.

1100 BC – lose a warrior to a 2/2 barb.

1075 BC – most people have come up with CoL. I’m 2 turns from currency. I’m up literature on everyone. Shaka has the best offer – CoL + worker for Lit & 50gp. Send CoL to Greece for WM + 25gp (all they have). No one else has anything to offer.

1025 BC – pick up currency, set for phil due in 5t.

1000 BC – I’ve got top rating in the world with a score of 178. I would throw a celebration but I’m a despotic ruler. I send the slaves back to work after allowing them to bask in my presence.

QSC Stats – 8 cities, 24 citizens, Income 44 gpt, treasury: 216gp. All AA techs except Construction, poly & Phil (due in 4t). 1 settler, 5 workers, 5 slaves, 2 scouts, 20 warriors. 1 luxury connected. 2 embassies.

****

950 BC – the Zulu now have Lit.

925 BC – I move next to Athens and I see that it is completely disconnected. Looks like barbs have been pillaging? They have a mine with a road on game. Nothing next to the capital. I don’t think they’ll be doing too much this game.

875 BC – pick up Phil, start republic in 17t, -2gpt. 266gp in treasure. Zulu have currency now. Looks like the Zulu and Iro are trading partners because Iro is caught up now as well.

IBT – barb horse kills Iro scout on our southern border.

850 BC – 3/3 warrior vs 2/2 barb horse that ran down the Iro scout – win, -2hp, promote.

800 BC – Iro and Zulu both have phil and now have construction.

750 BC – America has a worker for sale. Add 5gp & WM and they get currency.

710 BC - Disperse barb camp for 25gp.

690 BC – start FP in Kazan. Due in 21t. 2nd Luxury connected. Kazan to size 7.

670 BC – Build a spear in the capital by mistake. Wasn’t watching close enough. Drat.

Pick up construction from Greece for Currency, Lit and 30gp.

650 BC – kill some more barbs – warrior promotes to elite. Waste a worker turn ordering it to mine instead of irrigate.

590 BC – Iro and Zulu are in the Middle Ages. Republic is due in 3t. Barbarian uprising notice by Ta-tu.

530 BC – get Republic. Revolt – pull a 6 turn anarchy. Sigh.

490 BC – connect 3rd luxury.

410 BC – the Mongols are now a Republic – with lots of problems. Unit costs are waaaay to high. Poly in 5t at -11gpt. FP in 9t will help.

350 BC – it looks to me as though Greece is probably thinking about attacking me, which is utterly ridiculous.

 

[Yahya]

I decided to finally start playing this, either last night or the night before; I'm not sure.

Sent my scout south and decided it was too far to get to the wheat, so I settled where I was and worked out from there, which went pretty well. I now have a line of cities blocking the Aztecs at 5 cities and the Greeks at 7 (two to the south of the Aztecs), so that's going to become a problem eventually but they are both gracious toward me due to tech trades and military alliances.

The Zulu demanded something from me early on, world map I think, and I declined, and they declared. I brought Alexander and Hiawatha into the war against them, and later both Lincoln and Montezuma as well. All five of us have been at war with Shaka for about 60 turns now, so they can't last much longer. Meanwhile, I have been building up that line from east to west to stop Alex and Monty from expanding northward. Then I just need to fill to the north and I will have a good little chunk of the world.

My plan is to expand, build up my army, then crush the Aztecs who are weak, and start mowing through the pangaea until I get to Washington.

I've been in the middle ages for about 10 turns, running toward Chivalry as fast as I can get there, which is tough. Might have to stop building military until I get more cities down so I can hurry the research along. Of course, if I can get a leader in the war with the Aztecs I should be able to rush a FP (I believe) and even things out a bit.

In Monarchy now, because I don't have Republic and am not worried about it presently. I plan to war these bastards out of existence, and I feel like I'll have it in hand shortly.

We'll see how that goes.