Hopeless?

[Kumquat]

I decided to try emperor again after 2 easy Monarch wins. I picked Persia and started the game. I got off to a bad start (had to move my 1st settler south east 1 square) and got a really bleak hunk of land. Soon it got worse I was on a peninsula with the north half being tundra with no fresh water in sight. So I went south and found gems and claimed them finally things where looking up, that when it got even worse A Zulu scout thats the last thing I wanted to see but it was not all bad somehow I got the alphabet out of Shaka. I spent all my energy expanding south towards the Zulu so as not to be boxed in on my God forsaken peninsula.

I didn't meet anyone else till 50 turns after Shaka (I was starting to think I was on an island alone with Shaka) it was the Egyptians but I was so far behind I couldn't trade Cleo anything so I bought iron working off her so I could get Immortals(luckily I had Iron in the middle of my tundra).The Zulu lands where rich and looked far better than mine so I started building my forces to attack Shaka. I had secured some ivory and was planning to build the SoZ to bolster my forces but just as I started to Shaka finished it I had to attack him soon before he had to many Ancient Calvary units so I declared war (I meet the Aztecs and Carthage but no one wanted to help me out). The war was quick and bloody and I lost most of my men but I managed to keep all my cities (Shaka was an era ahead of me but I inflicted heavy losses on his troops). So now I have a GA which is useless except perhaps to get me out of despotism. The Aztecs are the only ones close to me in the tech race and I have horses, iron, gems, and ivory. Here is my territory at the end of the war and the C3C save. Is it hopeless, should I try again?

Spoiler :

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/110236/Xerxes_of_the_Persians_370_AD.SAV

 

[TheOverseer714]

I see a river near Gordium which would allow irrigating, but yeah looks pretty hopeless. You have maybe 30-40 decent tiles in all of your territory. Your only hope might be massing about 10 Immortals and grabbing a few Zulu cities, but even their land is pretty sucky too. Now if they had lots of juicy green fields....

 

[Nergal]

Rough position, you should be settled tighter, like CxxC for the most part, or CxxxC by the tundra, with the option to put CxC in there. Your only irrigation is down by Gordium by the look of it, so you need a ton of workers to bring it across, but it looks like Impi are swarming over the place so workers arent safe. AC wont help either. 370AD is not the time to be in a position like this. I'd say its a lost cause, unless you can out-produce him, maybe archers immortals and cats he has a huge movement advantage as well as a higher tech troop one. You need peace and Chivalry, get the workers going and build knights.

 

[Kumquat]

Yeah I pretty much gave up hope after he killed my stack of 8 Immortals. I started a new game and am doing well, just having luxury problems(nothing a little violence won't solve).

 

[Chamnix]

I haven't downloaded the save, but from looking at the screenshot... did you build any workers this game, or do you only have the worker you started with?

 

[Mursi lives]

I looked at your save. Nergal is right: your placement is way too lose. You mined tundra tiles and you still have plenty of core grass tile unused. Also why are your workers sleeping instead of bringing water to your core? I suspect you used automated workers.

I am not sure however that it is a lost cause. You can trade horses and one of your luxes with Cleo, and some techs with Moctezuma. May be enough to get out of despotism. Since how many turns did your GA start?

 

[Kumquat]

My placement is awful I usually use CxxxC on large maps I don't know what happened there. I lost about half my workers to barbs (I failed to realize that barbs get a crazy bonus on emperor) and I traded a bunch for a tech. I have pretty much given up hope on this game but I am doing well on my new emperor game except for the luxuries part (I have lots of spice and incense but thats about it). Oh about the mined tundra my workers were trapped there while I killed the barbs in the tundra so I automated them Automated workers do the craziest things.

 

[vmxa]

I think you would have have bit a shot, if you had ICS the land from the moment you knew you had this mess. Then you could have had more unit support and gone for a rush.

The SoZ was no chance, unless you had all the ivory. It just was too late in getting started.

 

[The Professor]

One additional point: Build some boats! By this point in the game, you should have a pretty good idea of what the world looks like; to not even have your own continent explored means that you don't have any idea where the good territory is.

 

[Kumquat]

My curraghs were fighting barbs and the Zulu, I made one early and sent it down the coast but the barbs got it. I did beat emperor though in my other game got a space ship win on a large map

 

[The Professor]

Congratulations! Getting a decent start really helps!

 

[vmxa]

My curraghs were fighting barbs and the Zulu, I made one early and sent it down the coast but the barbs got it. I did beat emperor though in my other game got a space ship win on a large map

You do know you can send more than one right? Don't forget another tactic can be used prior to Astro. End your ships turn in the sea and hope to not get the lost at sea and the AI will not come out to get you, if it would end on a sea tile.

I use that to avoid an immediate sinking, mostly when I have already lost hit points.

PS: best to not learn new levels on large or huge maps as they give the human too much of an advantage.

 

[rysingsun]

I lost about half my workers to barbs ... and I traded a bunch for a tech.

wow ... i'm kinda speechless here ... let me just summarize it with a bit of understatement ..... i don't recommend trading away your workers.

 

[Kumquat]

First time I ever traded workers and the last I was desperate for galleys so I traded so my workers.

 

[TheOverseer714]

I think in all my years of playing, I have never sold a worker, I've bought quite a few. Interesting err strategy there, didn't even know you could trade workers for tech.

 

[SpiffyKeen7744]

The game is not hopeless, especially since this is C3C. However, it would take a lot of work, and you probably need to get a little bit lucky. Plus, once you get a MGL you will be set for the rest of the game. A spearman or immortals army could protect your stacks, and you could go rampant on the Zulu, even if they get pikes.

As for starting this one again, you should have made sure to sent explorers and boats out to contact other civs. By being stuck behind the Zulu, you had to wait for the other civs to meet you. Since this is C3C, you should have built MANY Curraghs after Alphabet (no need to wait for Map Making). Trading with the AI can usually make up for a bad start if you have a large number of contacts. Those shields would not have been wasted, so long as a few made it through. Also, irrigation should have been your #1 priority for one or two of your workers once you settled Pasargadae.

I almost feel like trying to rescue this game. I wonder...