GOTM83 - First Spoiler

[civ_steve]

GOTM 82 - first spoiler, the Ancient Age

I thought I'd give you all a break and start the first spoiler a tad early!

Reading Requirements:

1. Must be able to research a Middle Ages Technology.
2. Must have contact with all remaining civs on your starting landmass.

Posting restrictions

1. Feel free to discuss off-continent contacts, but be discreet about locations or directions of these 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 enjoyed this post from the Pre-Game Discussion:

At least from the conquest class bonus it's save to assume that we're all alone...

Anybody try to win this one without using zerks?

I was just getting the Conquest players started on their 2nd city and some extra help to improve terrain. Was it really surprising to meet the other civs on the continent? In Deity games, the AA is the time for the AI to shine, and the player to try to just keep up. How are you doing? Are you poised to do some Berzerk amphib attacks in the MidAges, or will it take a little longer? And how many civs have you made contact with? (Be discreet with locations!)

 

[templar_x]

started playing open class when i found a little time.

that´s a lot of mountains around... nearly feels like where i live. i cannot remember when the last time i had to take irrigation passageways into account with city placement.

it took me a while to find the french, they were very secreet about their presence.
the nice food bonuses make it possible to set up my settler factory by 2850bc, which i found quite ok. by 1000bc i had 11 cities and started my long preparations for my first war, against spain. tech pace wasn´t much of a problem, all of us have a poor research rate. so the vikings could enter the middle ages together with everyone else.

contacts? with everyone. this being ptw, that´s no big surprise.
zerk attacks? yessir, will try those as soon as possible. there are lots of coast waiting for amphi attacks. if those zerks just weren´t so expensive.

 

[Megalou]

Deity level? Wonderful! And 20K was the obvious victory condition for me. The challenge lies in devoting all energy to Bjoergvin while still pursuing the domination limit.

I'm playing open class, because I don't want to have to build a low culture military wonder to get a golden age. Of course, that military wonder could also be captured, but the timing could really get messed up and you can get your GA too late. All in all, I think the pros and cons for 20K scorewise pretty much even out if you choose open class, while if you choose conquest or domination the predator obstacles are a bit easier to overcome. Or maybe I'm just chicken.

There were no sensational spots for Bjoergvin. I founded it 2 tiles south of Nidaros. Until Engineering comes it won't reach 20 spt (except with WLTKD.) I would have preferred RCP4 over RCP3 but it can't be helped.

Things started to look better when I realized we were not alone. Some trades could be made and we could pretty much devote all our research towards Literature and still not miss out on any culture. We traded what was left of Alphabet and what was left of Writing and popped Masonry (thank god) and earlier CB. I had some wild hopes of popping Monarchy, but at the start of the medieaval period this looked unlikely. Most huts have been deserted and we have gotten nothing except those two techs.

Bjoergvin had Colossus, temple, Great Library, library going into the MA around 500 BC. It was working on FP. A stack of ~15 swordsmen were messing with Spain just to get a Great Leader and maybe horses.

France, the world leaders, got the Great Lighthouse rather early and put us in contact with the rest of the world.

Bezerks? Yes of course, the Great Library left us with lots of cash. We had already stopped building warriors/swordsmen and started on archers at the end of the AA.

This is not a permanent comeback but you may see me try some of these "quarterly high difficulty game."

 

[Nata]

Open, wanted to play for Conquest but got boggled down plus got a Conquest medal for Gotm82, so got less incentive, hee. Maybe I'll shoot for Diplo or Space, but probably won't finish the game.


QSC submission stats, 1000BC: 14 towns, 33 people, 1 settler, 11 workers, 16 warriors, 2 galleys.
1 granary, 4 barracks.
All contacts except one, all WM except of that one civ.
Missing Math and up, Polytheism. 2 turns till Philosophy, have Lit.

I don't have detailed timeline, that's all I remember:
Settle in place, build Scout, Warrior, Settler, Granary, then 4-turn settlers.
Settle at RCP4 and RCP7, both RCPs are complete by 1000BC.
Oslo at RCP4 on the Eastern coast was also building workers and settlers while using irr. Cow.

Our 2 scouts met both of our neighbours, and we researched towards Lit and were able to trade up for the rest, including MM.
We built about 6-7 Galleys, most were sunk by Barbs but one made it over and was able to trade for WMs, cash and all contacts except one for our Lit & MM. All overseas Civs were backwards.

Plan was to connect Iron, upgrade warriors with overseas cash, build some libs, build archers and horses and eventually get Zerks and Knights.

The rest of the time before MA was spent building road toward Spain, upgrading Swords and moving them North.
Short-term goal was to capture disputed Mountain region, but especially Spain's Horse town.

First wave of attack started on 850BC and didn't achieve this objective as we split our forces evenly between Western flank attacking towards Horses and Eastern flank attacking Dye town. Dye town proved to be tough, plus there were a lot of reinforcement from Spain, and we wasted a lot of Swords on that front and didn't have enough Swords to capture Horses in the first try.
But our many attacks yeided a GL which was later used for a FP in that disputed mountain region.

MA was achieved at about 500BC still in the midst of this war.

 

[TxCraig]

Open, conquest. Our saga begins in 4000 BC. I was hesitant about playing deity & archipelago; plus, in PTW the Vikings are expansionist & militaristic, so I didn't feel comfortable going for 20K. Maybe my amphibious berzerks can take over the world. We'll see.

I got off to a pretty good (for me) start. Settled in place and worker to road & mine the cow. Scout initially hopped from mountain to mountain checking out the countryside. I think I built warrior-worker-warrior-granary.

As of 1000 BC: 10 cities, 35 pop
1 settler, 7 workers, 1 scout, 10 warriors, 4 archers
3 granaries, 3 temples, 1 'rax

This is the first time I got a four-turn settler factory working but not until around 1790 BC.

Cities
4000 BC. Nidaros. What a beautiful location for a city.
3350 Bjoergvin. A gift from the Vandals. 10 NE on coast near cow & whale & incense. Sweet.
2550 Oslo. 4.5 E on coast by cow.
2270 Stockholm. 4 SE on the frozen tundra.
2070 Uppsala. 4 NE over the hills near the wheat.
1950 Linkoping. 4 SW on coast by wheat.
1675 Goteborg. 4 NW in the middle of nowhere but near a FP.
1550 Jonkoping 7N on incense.
1350 Norrkoping 10N in the hills by the cow. Plan to build the FP here.
Vasteras 13 NNE on the peninsula.

Timeline
3550 Warrior finds incense.
3350 An advanced Vandal village has joined us!
3100 Connected spices.
3000-IBT-2950 Granary done; growth next turn. I love it when a plan comes together.
2750 Contact with Spain. Trade Pottery + 88gp + 8gpt for Alphabet + CB.
2550 The Arabs have been destroyed!
2470 Connected dyes.
1600 France completed the Colossus.
1525 Learned Writing. Literature is 16 turns away.
1450 Japan completed the Oracle.
1350 Contact with England (galley).
1325 Connected incense to the core.
1300 Russia completed Pyramids.
1175 Learned Literature & set research to zero.
1000 Spain demands Literature and declares.
We defended ourselves against their first attack, which made people in the capital inordinately happy.
900 We razed Dye Town. Bought Masonry from England for 6gpt and started building walls in frontier cities.
900-IBT-875 Buy BW from Russia for 5 gpt. Buy Wheel from Mongols for 16gp+4gpt.
690 Completed TGL. Now build a barracks, then a 1-turn archer factory.
670 TGL gives us IW, Constr, Math, Phil, CoL, MM, WC, MM, HBR, Mysticism
630 TGL gives us Polytheism.
490 Peace treaty with Spain in return for their city 10NW of our capital.
430 TGL gives us Monarchy.
330 Entered MA. We'll get Feudalism next turn. Revolt to monarchy.