GOTM74 - First Spoiler

civ_steve

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GOTM 74 - first spoiler, the Ancient Age




Reading Requirements:

  1. Must be able to research a Middle Ages Technology.
  2. Contact with all remaining civs on your starting continent.

Posting restrictions

  1. No discussion of middle-ages (or later).
  2. AS ALWAYS, do not post Spoiler information for ANY other 'X'OTM contest.


What a difference between COTM43's SID level and GOTM74's Monarch level! Especially in the AI's unit count. :) Unlike a couple of month's ago, this Pangaea is a true Pangaea. There was a lot of discussion about Jaguar Warrior rushes - did you try that and how did it go? After seeing the map come up, I couldn't help placing a couple of the civs on those landbridges just to form a road block of sorts. :mischief: These were the Minor Civs (Babylon and Egypt), and with early UU's and no need to expand anymore, it was my design that they would be a little tougher to take out than a typical Monarch level AI. Were they any problem?
 
Initial builds:
2 jags(3750 and 3600), which go off scouting to the north and west,
worker(3450)
granary(2950)
settlers every four turns between sizes 3.5-5.5

Cities:
Settle 7 cities at rcp 3 between 2670 and 1700. Then I start rcp 7 at which I have 9 cities so far with space for 3 more. It would have been possible to put one more in in the inner ring but at the cost of settling on 2 bgs. The inner ring cities build a few jags for barb control/plunder, a few workers, and a temple in each. Several also build a settler, the one S-S of the capital builds a granary, and the one NE-NE-NE is currently about 150 shields into the Glib. All others currently are building libraries.
All second ring cities are building temples.

Diplomacy/Research:
3450- Pottery(start Alphabet)
3200- Babylon
2800- Egypt
2700- Spain, trade for Alphabet and CB(start Writing)
2190-England, Iroquois
2150-trade for Writing, Masonry, Wheel, BW, Mysticism, IW, HBR, all remaining contacts, 2 slaves
1790- research Philosophy, trade it to Babylon for 2 slaves
1725- get an English worker for Philosophy
1550- research COL
1525- get Maths and slave from Babylon for COL
1125- research Republic and revolt
1000- trading Republic around gets all remaining AA techs except Monarchy(which no-one knows), I gift Babylon to MA, and buy Monotheism from them.

Quick Start Stats:
17 cities/39 pop
2 settlers, 5 workers, 6 slaves, 6 jags,
7 temples, 2 granaries
All AA techs -monarchy, +monotheism
193 gold
460 culture, 16 cpt

An interesting game. The minor tribes are useful for me as they should slow down the others' expansion, hopefully allowing me to claim a lot of land without contestion. It may also be useful to get some wars going going among the AI to further slow their expansion. I'll put off serious fighting until I really need more land for more culture, which will hopefully be a long time in the future. I also need to decide whether or not to keep research going beyond Education. It's rails and communism versus lots of cash for rushing. Currently I'm thinking that research should go off, at least for a while.

Is there anyone challenging me for the 100k award? Also I'd like to hear about predator level wars- I expect that the normal AI will have lots of cities defended only by archers, due to their emphasis on Offence and Growth- which should be easy pickings for Jags!
 

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Not going for 100K - 20K is what I'm seeking.

I enter the Middle Ages in 650 BC, quite early by my standards. I am alone in the Middle Ages and leading in technology. My six cities is not many compared to what I usually have, but with most of the civs bunched together isn't too bad. My army consists of 12 Jaguars and 1 Archer, but my defence is quite poor as most of my Jaguars are exploring and killing the many barbarian camps appearing in the still-great fog. The great jungle to the north is still completely unsettled, and I have yet to expand north of the small desert north of Tenochtitlan. To the west, I have expanded only as far as the westernmost ivory. Thebes blocks expansion to its south, Egypt being a minor civ, and Babylon keeps the rest of the west unsettled. Two Jaguars blocking the passageways further inhibit exploring Babylonian units. The minor civs have been a great boon to me, greatly slowing down AI expansion and allowing me the luxury of a slow expansion on Monarch.

I decided to try for a 20K culture victory this time. To that end:

3550 BC - Tenochtitlan completes a Temple.

1550 BC - Tenochtitlan completes The Oracle, slightly ahead of the competitors.

690 BC - Tenochtitlan completes The Great Library, giving me a bounty of technologies I had neglected, including the Bronze Working and Masonry lines.

Tenochtitlan is currently building a Library; The Great Wall is an option and Monarchy is currently being researched for The Hanging Gardens. Every civilization remains in Despotism at this time.

Despite TGL, I am keeping research on to maintain an advantage in the completion of Wonders. After getting Monarchy I plan to beeline for Sistine and J.S. Bach's.

The key for survival will be claiming the majority of the unclaimed land. I must use my proximity to overcome the greater numbers of the other civilizations. The land is very rich, and control of it will likely prove crucial.

Maintaining a technology lead is requisite for culture and wonders; for the short term I have a good two-tech lead, but long-term I'll need greater control of my general area. Fortunately my barbarian camp raiding has left my quite rich despite my lavish technology spending (291 at this point), so I can continue to spend large sums on research even if my balance goes negative for awhile during expansion.

Babylon actually leads me in culture at this point, with The Pyramids and The Colossus, but Tenochtitlan must be close. Our manufacturing (26) is first, with a high percentage of that at Tenochtitlan (15).
 
...the Minor Civs ... with early UU's ... my design that they would be a little tougher to take out...
I had some trouble with Babylon - though I attributed it more to the vagaries of the PRNG. I went after Babylon with an archer rush that failed rather dismally. As I recall, a single, redlined elite spear took out my last 4 veteran archers. Since I had just triggered their GA, ol' Hammi seemed to have a relentless supply of reinforcements. It took some doing to pry them off the Great Library.
Is there anyone challenging me for the 100k award?
Though I did not play the game at predator level, I did pursue a 100k game... so at least we can be assured that the fastest award and slowest "award" will go to different players.

I'll post a proper spoiler later.

Edit: Brain cramp. I just looked at my stuff...and I made a mistake... I did not pursue the 100k condition in this one. Sorry, that was the Egyptian game. :blush:
 
Expected a crowded playing field, but got a Christmas present instead. Plenty of everything one could wish for, and so much expansion room!
No need for early combat, except against the barbs. Of course, for combat hungry types, it isn't exactly Christmas, as the AI's are so.o.o far away. But Christmas will come to them also once they develop out and go into combat build mode. Probably could take all the AIs on at once and still have combat production to spare.

Merry Christams to all, and to all a good fight, er, night.
 
I started off pretty well but things quickly went downhill when all the civs except one declared war on me in the course of eight turns. That put a big damper on my plans.

One civ got knocked out before I made it to the MA's.
 
swordsman_small.gif


Settled in place. The build order is jag -> settler -> jag -> worker -> granary, then the 4-turner is set up and Tenochtitlan will produce settlers for the whole ancient age;

Cities are built at RCP 4; town 2 is founded south to take advantage of the 2nd moo and produce a few workers; city 3 is placed east to hook the ivory and after training a pair of jags and workers starts the long task of building the Forbidden Palace from scratch, using palace as prebuild;

Exploring jags are sent N and W; Babylon is met very early; Egypt follows soon; during its trip the northern jag stumbles upon english, american and french explorers, then the remaining civs are met once Writing is known;

Research goes is set to Alphabet at max; with trading we get Pottery and some initial techs, then we go toward Writing at full speed. The tech pace is unusually fast, thanks to the two extra civs that have extra settlers from start. Once there we go for Code of Laws, Philosophy (gained from a hut) and Republic at full speed. The rest of tech is traded with the AS.

In 1225BC Republic is established; from there it's a continuous struggle to build cities (unit support!) and at the same time build a strike force to be used in war later. Barbs are A LOT, but their presence is more a bless than else. Many camps are killed (money!) and the large amount of fights causes a few losses but at the same time provides many promotions. All the regular jags became at least veterans, and by the end of Middle Ages we have no less than 8 elite units (6 jags, 2 horses) ready to be sent in war. Leaders won't be too scarce, i guess :D

After Republic research is stopped. Iron is connected and the remaining veteran jags are upgraded. During this period Spain researches Currency. In 1025 BC Egypt has completed Construction, but they strangely failed to trade each other. In 1000BC a jag steps into the island hut and discovers Literature! No one has researched it, so we're able to trade into the Middle Ages by giving away Literature and tossing into the deals a total sum of 600 quids;

We then gift Babylon into the MA; they get Feudalism and we can buy it for Republic (still a monopoly!) and Literature. After that, the money spent first is completely regained with the sale of Republic to Egypt and Spain.

In the prior turns we constantly traded maps with the AS, so we were able to locate and destroy all the barb camp around before Middle Ages kicked in, except for one that is going to become our elite production plant:

gotm74-eliteplant.jpg


Here's a map of our empire in 1000BC. The dye colony is barely visible on the top left:

gotm74-mashot.jpg


Our future plans involve the invasion of Babylon with fast units and, most importantly, the invasion of Egypt with swords and medinfs, mainly to capture the Pyramids. Units will be shipped with a galley chain through our inner sea and then tossed into the battlefield. Once our primary targets are secured the invasion armies will proceed in a two-front invasion and (hopefully) take over America, Iroquois, France and England.

We'll need two leaders: one to build Sun Tzu (much useful!) and one to relocate the capital to New York once the surrounding area is secured and the Forbidden Palace is built. Given the large amount of elite units available, it shouldn't be too difficult to obtain them. If this plan succeeds a very quick domination is possible, perhaps even in the BC.

We are researching Monotheism, at a slow rate for the moment, but it should be quite speeded up once the Golden Age is started. It's unclear if Chivalry may be reached in time to be useful, but it's worth trying.

Here are the QSC/MA stats: 15 cities, 34 pop units; 1 settler, 12 workers, 6 swords, 3 horses (2 elite), 2 galleys, 10 jags (6 elite); we have a few barracks and a granary; no cultural buildings except for the palace. We're in the Middle Ages with the knowledge of Feudalism. We lack Monarchy.

Finally, the QSC/MA logs:

Techs:

4000BC: Warrior Code (prerequisite);
2950BC: Alphabet (research); Pottery, Ceremonial Burial, Bronze Working (trade, Babylon);
2190BC: Writing (research); Iron Working (Egypt); Mysticism, Masonry (trade, America); Wheel (trade, England); Horse Riding (trade, Iroquois);
1990BC: Philosophy (barb hut);
1725BC: Code of Laws (research);
1525BC: Polytheism (trade, Spain); Mathematics (trade, Iroquois); Map Making (trade, France);
1225BC: Republic (research);
1000BC: Literature (hut); Currency (trade, Spain); Construction (trade, Egypt); Feudalism (trade, Babylon);

Cities:

4000BC: Tenochtitlan;
3250BC: Teotihuacan;
2270BC: Tlatelolco;
2070BC: Texcoco;
1950BC: Tlaxcala;
1870BC: Calix
1675BC: Xochi
1550BC: Tlacopan;
1425BC: Atzcap;
1300BC: Tzin;
1250BC: Malinalco;
1250BC: Tula
1100BC: Tamuin;
1050BC: Teayo;
1000BC: Cempoala;

Meetings:

3400BC: Babylon;
2950BC: Egypt;
2800BC: England;
2430BC: America;
2390BC: France;
2190BC: All the rest;

I'm some turns into the MA and... not telling :D
 
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