[BTS] Hesha's Random Questions

Alright, I played another EMP map and I think it is safe to say that EMP is too easy for me at this point, at least if it is a map that invites me to build the GLH as much as this one did. I think I will go Pangaea next and see how I fare there. And yes, I am fully aware, that I probably still make a lot of bad decisions :D But I am learning, I do feel I am progressing.

I've attached two saves, the initial and the one from the turn before I won. It was another diplomatic victory. To be honest... I don't quite understand how I won. For some reason my opponent in the UN elections flipped from America to Ottoman, I would not have won against America. As a plan B I was gearing up for war against China, because they would have given me the votes needed once vassalised. I was well ahead in tech all throughout the game, but fell behind a bit towards the end, not sure why.

If anyone feels like looking at the saves, I would like some feedback on city placement (and order of placement). I also have the suspicion that I was building too many buildings in the cities, is it generally suggested to just stick with building wealth at a certain point?

I also finally understood the colonialism rule. It only applies to more than 2 cities on the same island. So I could have tons of cities in this game without incurring the colonial expenses, because I never had more than two on the same landmass.

Another oddity of this map was the resources. Of couse this was a wonderful map for a GLH game with sea-loving Elizabeth, but resource-wise I felt it was pretty poor. Few resources, few resources being traded. Especially health resources. There was one one crab on the map, for instance, and I think only very few sheep and pigs. Haven't seen this before.
 

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On this map the AI are limited to 4-6 cities each. So you have peacefully gained 20 cities. No idea why Dutch never settled all their land by 680ad.

The Ai voted for you as you had land/population. Plus 3 AI at friendly.

Try playing a pangea map on emperor with normal map size and see how you do. Small map sizes cripple the AI.You actually reduce the difficulty level by playing smaller maps.
 
I second what @Gumbolt says.
In many ways, you can also gain the same effect by having low sea level.
When the AI doesn't have land, they can't get really scary.
 
I believe you guys. But... I already stop micromanaging my cities in the middle ages because it turns from game to work. I just... can't imagine how much I would hate a game on a standard sized map. But if I don't get to experience the game properly, that's a shame as well.
 
I tend to favor the smaller maps too, but I usually achieve that with high sea level on normal sized maps so there's about ~900 land tiles. The issue I have with larger maps is the AI settle such complete junk cities. Taking out your neighbour becomes a pain in the ass when they have 12-13 cities but only maybe 5-6 are worth keeping. If you just take the good ones you get cultural pressure + motherland anger, so you kind of want to wipe the rest out or capture them as well. In order to do that you need to sacrifice a lot of units, and that sacrifice doesn't feel as "worth it" when it's for a city you don't even want..
 
I just find that whole experience totally tedious. I mean... having to conquer 6 AIs with 10+ cities each is just nothing but work to me. The novelty of warfare really wears off after the first one or two cities for me.

That being said, that game I just uploaded didn't have a single war. Not even between the AI. Which is funny, because at least two of the AIs had been plotting for more than 1000 years!
 
How are you guys playing war?
I think that is one of the more interesting and fun aspects of the game. The micromanagment leading up to a war can be tedious but once you DoW the fun starts. :)
How to move the units, how to promote, with what unit to strike first, etc etc.
 
And is that taken care of in some technical way or is this an honour system?
 
And is that taken care of in some technical way or is this an honour system?
Saves are vetted through an automated system
 
So, I am seeing the light finally. No, I'm not dying, but I have finally seen what it can do for you to wage war early on. I rolled Pericles, I realise from my survey (which sadly only two people have taken so far) that he is a very strong leader, so this is not representative. But I attacked the Celts early on, took two of their cities, razed a third one (size one), then the Spanish attacked me, I wiped them out, waited a little, then attack the Portugese. By the time I declared war, Joao had Longbows (I had only finished Alphabet!), but I had enough highly experienced Phalanx units to take him on regardless. Then I stopped and gave myself a bit of time to catch up. With half the cities in the world being greek now, my economy was quite weak, running at -26GPT on 100% taxes, but I soon managed to fix that by micromanaging my cities, employing specialists and producing wealth once I had currency. I don't quite understand how this was possible, but I built the mids in Bibracte, started the build quite late and couldn't believe I beat the AIs to it. This made specialists very attractive, it's actually been a great learning experience, because I've never had like 6 turns to research something like Engineering while running 100% taxes.

If you feel like giving me feedback, I'd appreciate it! I have uploaded the initial and final saves.

That's three victories on EMP now, one Domination, one Diplomatic, one Conquest. I think I will do one more Pangaea (this was Pangaea, but funnily enough a pretty decent map to build GLH regardless, I think! Didn't get it, though, because I prioritised Mids) and them maybe move on to IMM.
 

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Another question... it seems to be a valid strategy to beeline for the Oracle in order to gain early access to Construction for more effective rushes.

Now... Oracle seems to be the single most coveted wonder by the AI. In every game I see some AI build it astonishingly early, so I wonder how to actually get it? Specifically:
1) What is the tech order when attempting this?
2) What are the required preconditions?
3) Is this strategy valid for all civs or only specific ones?
 
Founding good cities is way stronger than teching the not very useful religious line and spending 150:hammers: to get ~600:science: in return. Those hammers should be spent on expanding! Also, losing the Oracle will also hurt your game a lot. Of course, sometimes you can go for the Oracle. Especially if you've met everyone on pangaea and have alphabet you know where you are in the race. Having marble (maybe a city settled on it) makes the wonder so cheap it becomes attractive. Thus, a late Oracle can certainly be worth pursuing, but an early one, no.

Anyway, I wouldn't recommend beelining for the Oracle at all. You mention taking construction with it, which isn't going to be easy since you need math, but perhaps a PHI leader can bulb math. Pericles is the obvious choice due to cheap library.
 
Thanks guys. I thought I saw Fippy talking about doing it on Deity sometimes, so I figured it must be a valid strategy.
 
Sometimes yes, but it's very rare, and when it's the likely best path forward, it's usually not far superior to alternatives either.

Pyramids and GLH are much more common, GLib is common too (even more so).
 
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