GOTM88 - First Spoiler

civ_steve · Feb 21, 2009

GOTM 88 - first spoiler, the Ancient Age

Reading Requirements:

Must have contact with all AI civs remaining on your continent.
Must be able to research a Middle Ages Technology.

Posting restrictions

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

Where did you settle the capital and why? While the initial area is rough in places, there's still some good food and shield production to allow you fast expansion - did you take advantage of that? (I hope so!) How was the AI doing? I did have to add some benefits to one of the AI - which one do you think that was (and why), and how did it impact the game so far?

Megalou · Feb 22, 2009

Settled in place when I saw the white behind of the deer in the forest. The other cow wouldn't be necessary. The goal was a 4-6 settler factory using the wine:

Size 4: 2s+0+1+1+2=6
Size 4.5: 2s+0+1+1+2+2=8
Size 5: 2s+0+1+1+2+1=7
Size 5.5: 2s+0+1+1+2+1+2=9

This factory was up and running in 1910 BC.

Karakorum build order:
warrior-warrior-granary (3050 BC)-worker (off to work the wines)-scout- settler(Ta-Tu 2510 BC) -settler (Kazan 2310)-settler (Almarikh 2070)-settler (Tabriz 1870)-settler (Ulaanbataar 1675) -settler (Hovd 1575) - settler (Darhan 1475) - settler (Dalandzadgad (N ivory) 1350) - settler (Mandalgovi (horses) 1250) - settler (Choybalsan (furs) 1150) - settler (Erdenet 1050)

Worker orders:
SE, Irr cow, road cow, SW, irr plain, road plain, SW, chop game forest to go into first settler,...

4000 BC:
100% on Alphabet. (The possible tech pop next turn will be rather worthless anyway, CB instead of Bronze.)
Building warrior.

3950 BC: Popped 25 gold.

3700 BC: Northwestern penisula mapped out.

3300 - Met Iroquois scout.

3150 - Met India. Traded Alphabet (10t) for Warrior Code and 6 gold.

2750 - Met Spain. We trade CB for pottery and 3 gold.

2510 - Met Russia.

2150 - Met France.

1575 - Learned CoL, traded Math, Maps.

2070 - Met Egypt.
Trade The Wheel, Writing (3t), Bronze W, Iron W, Masonry, Mysticism.
Still, no one knows the 8th civ.

1125 - The distant Egyptians declared war. India is making 2 futile attempts at wonders
and so they can be attacked at basically any time.

1050 - Allied Russia and France against Egypt (Peace-dependent.)

QSC stats: 12 towns, 1 granary, 3 barracks, 1 settler, 14 workers, 2 horsemen, 3 archers (2 elite,) 3 warriors,
3 luxuries. The Republic 12 turns. All contacts but one.

775 BC - Russia declared war on us via alliance tied to peace. Iroquois joined them. Learned Republic. I could have bought it from France one or two turns ago, but didn't want to miss the re-roll.

First roll yields 7 turns. Too much!
We trade Curreny and Construction from India. We trade lit from Spain.
Second roll gives 1+4.

750 - Declared war (a kind of leader-war) on India.

730 - Captured Kolhapur.

710 - Captured Banagalore.

690 - Destroyed Jaipur (using the two now useless MP warriors from Karakorum.)
Republic.

670 - Captured Delhi. Some Iroquois loafers threaten Bangalore.

650 - The defense of Bangalore yields first GL.
Its life is put in a little bit of jeopardy,
but the Indians are usually very peaceful.

630 - Bangalore was lost but now retaken. Enter MA. The leader will create FP in ex-India, when things have quieted down a bit more.

Because of the missing 8th civ, which might require quite an effort to reach, I have more or less decided to go for domination.

In answer to your question, civ_steve, I suppose the unusually strong nation is France. Paris has loads of cows around it. My guess is that you wanted to make sure that France got the Pyramids so that this supreme wonder would never be built too close to our home country. For example, if the Pyramids had been built in Delhi, I would have gotten a huge advantage from sheer luck.

Racinante · Feb 22, 2009

Predator start, working on Piu Freddo's conquest challenge and making a ton of mistakes. This was a very interesting starting position.

From the beginning:

Spoiler :

QSC
1000 BC: 5 towns, 1 city, all first and second tier tecks except Maps, 3 turns to Poly, behind Maps, Constructions, Philosopy, Code of Laws, 8 workers, 4 warriors, 6 archers, 4 horseman, resourses of horses, wine, ivory (fur just outside of border) at war with Russia, Spain, Iroquois, met all but England (Warwick is on coast north of me), total culture 138.

and for the rest of the AA:

Spoiler :

TxCraig · Feb 26, 2009

(I've been playing too much GalCiv2; not used to how unforgiving civ3 is.)

Just curious whether anyone placed their cities to be able to irrigate the plains to the north?

Settled 1W (thanks PaperBeetle) and got the 4-turner working.

QSC: 9 towns, 19 pop, 1 temple, 1 granary, 22 units

Built TGL in 410 and got Republic in 310. Neglected my military and wound up on the bottom of an AI dogpile.

Egypt and Russia fought an early war and signed a peace treaty in 730. In 590, France declared on Russia and India, and pulled in the Iroquois with a MA vs. India.

I might try again, putting the 20k city to the SW and giving in to more of the AI demands. Or crank out settlers, take India's lux, and go for dom.

civ_steve · Feb 27, 2009

Megalou said:
Paris has loads of cows around it.

The Cows were placed naturally by the map generator and I chose to 'nudge' the French Settler among them. It's amazing how many bad starting locations the generator sets up!

PaperBeetle · Feb 27, 2009

TxCraig said:
(I've been playing too much GalCiv2; not used to how unforgiving civ3 is.)

Just curious whether anyone placed their cities to be able to irrigate the plains to the north?

Settled 1W (thanks PaperBeetle) and got the 4-turner working.

Actually, after my scout revealed the game, I decided to settle in place to save worker turns in setting up a 4-turner. Later, I regretted this, and wished I had gone 1W after all for reasons of RCP. For the same reason, I also didn't get water across the hills, and as of the end of the ancient age, I am still planning how to irrigate those plains using the next available water source to the northeast.

Megalou · Feb 27, 2009

PaperBeetle,
You're either a true perfectionist, or going for a science victory, or both. Yes, it would have been nice to get the water through to the northern area but my rather plentiful workers were pretty busy anyway. There are lots of hills to the south. For my part, this answers TxCraig's question too.

PaperBeetle · Mar 2, 2009

Both, although (as of the end of the AA) I hadn't yet decided whether to go for diplo or space. As usual, I didn't really get enough workers out. In this case, I just couldn't find enough food, despite the many bonus resources. The plains in the NE would have been ideal for AA worker production, if only they could make +2fpt, as they are far enough from the core that they would be corrupt under despotism. So I do feel that not getting irrigation over there was a significant error.

Megalou · Mar 2, 2009

Yes, you might well be right regardless of victory condition. I never build enough workers.

Più Freddo · Mar 3, 2009

There was a Hill in the north east with water supply. I founded a city on it and irrigated backwards. The workers were there anyway building the War Road.

GOTM88 - First Spoiler

civ_steve

Deity