GOTM89 - First Spoiler

[civ_steve]

GOTM 89 - first spoiler, the Ancient Age

Reading Requirements:

1. Must have contact with all AI civs remaining on your continent.
2. 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.

There's a LOT of jungle on this map! Resulting in several fairly smallish zones with good terrain that are initially isolated. Were you able to control your area? (Particularly that nice spot to the north with 3 cows; who founded there first?) How has your Ancient Age gone and what plans do you have for the Middle Ages?

 

[Racinante]

Lost my first settler and worker to barbarians, allowing Arabia to expand over the cows and down into the peninsula. France expands into the jungle, surrendering their sweet spot to India. Have contact with everyone, way behind in tech. France, India, and Germany declare war on me, but none can take a town. One town flips to Arabia. Enter MA.

 

[axehaxe]

I died.

On deity level, the barbs get horsemen so fast that before you have enough defense you find yourself being overrun every single turn. Can't build settlers because they just get killed. The problem is not even the AI. I just get whooped by barbarians on such a high difficulty setting. I was trying to build the GL but I couldn't even use my workers to improve a single tile because they were meat the moment they stepped out of the city. So the tale of gloom and doom goes that I was stuck with 3 cities trying to store up shields in a size 3 city for GL. The AI got to literature before me and before I even had 60 shields in the prebuild. So I called it quits.

 

[TxCraig]

Open, just trying to stay alive.

By the time India built TGL, Zimbabwe had produced only about 300 shields. Maybe if I had settled Game Town first and pumped workers into the capital, then I could have built TGL. But then I expect the AI would have snagged the gems and the wine, and I would be playing an involuntary Two-City Challenge. I researched BW first, and I am guessing that was a mistake. Should have gone straight for Literature.

I focused on connecting luxuries, so I chose to found Gem Town instead of Cow Town. With spices, wine, and gems connected, I did not have to build temples until much later. Also focused on "all commerce" (i.e. built Marketplaces rather than temples or libraries). I had never done zero percent tech before. The only two Ancient Age techs I researched were BW and Construction.

Barbs were brutal. Well, one horseman in particular was brutal. He ate a worker and fended off two warriors early on. A French warrior "helped" with barb patrol, sacking a nearby camp. I think barbs thwarted Arabia's attempt to settle by the wine. Their settler disappeared into the fog, but no city was ever founded. With the four-turn settler factory going, I soon had the area carpeted with cities, and warriors stood guard in a couple of places that otherwise would have been dark, so there were no dark squares and no barb uprisings.


4000 BC Settle in place. Irr wheat, chop forest, mine game.
Zimbabwe built Warrior - Warrior - Granary - Worker - 3x Settler - (barbs attack) - 4x Warrior - 2x Worker - 4x Settler

3000 Research BW
3500 Contact w Arabs; nothing to trade.
2850 Contact w Fr; Pottery + 3 gpt + 4 gp for Fr:Alphabet
2550 Contact w everybody
2510 Founded Spice Town East. Buy Writing from India for 7gpt + 18gp
2470 Connected silks
2270 Barb ate worker and two warriors. Stop pumping out settlers and build warriors.
2190 Founded Wine Town
2110 Barb sacked Spice Town East for gold.
1990 Arabs & Celts have Literature
1910 Arabs demand 3gp and we cave.
1830 Fr built Oracle, De Colossus. Founded Gem Town.
1675 Founded Spice Town West.
1525 In TGL (!) Buy CB, Wheel, Masonry, Myst.
1500 Celts Pyramids. Founded Coastal River Town East.
1475 Connected wine. Founded Game Town. UK GLH.
1400 Buy Poly; sell our map
1350 Buy Math
1275 Connected spice
1150 Connected gems
1100 In entered Middle Ages
1025 Buy Currency; trade Currency for IW + HBR
1000 8 towns, 1 city, 19 pop, 7 Impi, 11 Warriors, 11 Workers, 1B,1G,1T
850 Buy Phil & CoL
390 In Sun Tzu
370 UK Sistine
250 Buy MM.
150 Buy Republic. Revolt. 4 turn anarchy.
AD 50 Research Construction. Enter Middle Ages. Buy Feudalism.

 

[Megalou]

410 BC - Mecca flipped - retaken. Captured Bagdad for 6th luxury.
As power leaders, we can get Currency(1t) and 9g for RoP, with Germany. Enter Middle Ages.
---
Interestingly, crippled Arabia is the tech leader together with India. Those two civs have Monotheism. All have Feudalism, no one has Engineering. It is safe to assume that no one has Theology either. A minute ago I was sure I would wipe Arabia out right away to avoid flips.

Now I'm leaning towards a really lucrative peace treaty: Either (1) Monotheism(20-22t), Feudalism(11-12t) and a town or (2) Monotheism(20-22t), Feudalism(11-12t), Monarchy(8t). These two deals would both mean redeclaration of war within a few turns - or I will be eaten up by flips - and a ruined rep. The third (3) option is to wait about 5-6 turns more, capturing 3 of the remaining 4 towns before making the deal and letting the Celts take the last Arabian city after that. While this MAY save our rep, it will delay Chivalry. Chivalry is rather useless without money, but this money can be earned after the discovery of Chivalry rather than before, because by the time I will need new techs (Military Tradition?) I will have reached Delhi and the Great Library.

24 swordsmen, 2 horsemen, 1 archer, 16 warriors, 19 workers, 2 settlers.
Upgraded, the warriors should attack France very soon. India should be allied
against France, since this would deprive France of iron.
For economic reasons, we are still in despotism. The 40 turn research of Republic at least
gave us a few of the mandatory techs in a trade with Celts, who had been maimed by Rome earlier.