Immortal University 101 - Julius Caesar

[soundjata]

Imm, Normall, Lib

Spoiler :

I told myself I'd go for a military victory, as they're less common on Islands, but my god teching so easy...

Agr - AH - BW - TW - Sail I think it went, but the start is pretty standard. Got TGL of course, but the Colossus dropped mega early which was a shame, I imagine someone Oracled MC and got it.

Anyways it's just been crazy expansion up to this point, only Asoka is anywhere decent in tech.

One thing I saw a lot of people doing is filling out the starting island quite soon; I think after the capital, the Clams/Corn and north Rice city the only ones worth settling before you get Calendar. The gold city is much more important, and two additional island cities for trade routes.

Trading with everyone except Persia, who's fighting Alex. Will likely Lib Astro to speed up expansion to the West, and also to connect to Hatty and Sally.

Got the circumnavigation bonus, hoping I can get the Taj before Hannibal, only have @10 turn headstart on him.

I might still go military, but with such a hammer poor map I dunno if it's possible even with the tech advantage; will weigh it up at the end of expansion

The map may be hammer poor but you want to perpetually whip out the coastal tiles and keep island cities at size 4~6

Key to warring (and I kind of gave up on my game due to laziness) is to balance out the production of soldiers, siege and boats. You must be familiar with galleon chaining to war efficiently on this map.

 

[UnforcedError]

You must be familiar with galleon chaining to war efficiently on this map.

Good ol' times...

Robert FIN:

Spoiler :

To add to what soundjata already said:

Pretty ambitious warring without Currency, CoL or GLH, but Currency will save you from the crash, and yes, you need CoL (and HR) badly. Resume warring as soon as you're in position, but do not neglect settling good sites around you, especially happy resources. You should use the whip more often, though. It's quite impossible to war effectively on water maps without constant whipping. I wouldn't let Praetorians sit around for MP in cities, use warriors for that.

You don't want your cities growing onto unimproved tiles. More pop costs more maintenance, so unless the worked tile can counter that it should rather be whipped away. Cumae would be better off whipping both the workboat and the lighthouse.

Interesting GG unit choice Mostly making the first GG into a supermedic is better, but maybe this was the way to go in a pure Praetorian war.

Apart from that... GLH is still available...

 

[Robert FIN]

OK. Thanks for the tips, guys! It sounds like I accidentally posted some of my earlier checkpoints, but its fine, I can continue from that. Better chances to change the direction in my game. I try to hurry CoL. By the way, is it good at all, to give intependence to your colonies in islands map?

 

[soundjata]

@ Robert:

Spoiler :

Keep Hanni's land imo. He has one of the best island out there

For others, it is fine to capitulate them and give them back all cities.

Spoilered as per Dubioza request

 

[Dubioza]

Please keep any map & AI revealing details in spoilers.

 

[pandamancer]

Thanks a lot for the good advises. So now I restarted my game and this time focusing more on expansion. Here is my progress so far by 1 AD.

Spoiler :

Notes:

• By having more cities, I find that my research rate is even faster now! This is because the seafood tiles contains some commerce + the trade routes from GLH. Moreover, the commerce gained offsets the maintenance cost which encourages you to expand further. If over-expansion stifles your economy, this is one of the few scenarios you can bypass this rule.
• I tried to build the GLH earlier now. I was planning to build the Shwedagon Paya but Alex gains a great engineer and finish it in one turn!!! Ow well... I find the AI so good now compared with the AI in noble difficulty.
• If you look at the image I posted, there is a "found gold" caption. Somewhere along the line, I got lucky (unlucky?) to discover gold there. True that the additional commerce will be helpful in research but sucks in a sense that I lost 1 in that tile permanently.
• I plan to settle another city in the iron resource soon. Go vassalage and crank out praets. Right now doing catapults, galleys and future warriors before it turns obsolete.

 

[Jelloholic]

@soundjata

Spoiler :

Unfortunately Hanni and Sally have picked up the pace with tech, so I'm not sure even with the whip would I be able to amass the forces.

I also set my mind on beating your city count (peacefully), so from here I think Space is the best way. It's a bit boring, but I think with Sushi and workshops I think it's possible to get a pretty early date.

Also, a bit aside, but how do people generally go about getting the AI out of Mercantilism? I may have to gift Lib/Eco to some, but I assume once a couple switch into it the rest will follow suit?

 

[pandamancer]

I did not finish the game... lost in liberalism!

Spoiler :

-Declared War on Hannibal on 660 AD
-Took his cities Utica and Carthage
-Treasury running low because trade routes are cut off by him. Additionally Barb city (Jute) at the right is blocking the trade route to Alex.
-3 Turns later Sued for peace due to not enough units for campaign
-Asoka stole my island at the SE
-Create more units for 2nd Campaign, also plans to destroy the barb city on the right (Jute)
-Beeline Liberalism (Some trades for Engineering and Optics)
-Met Cleo
-In 1010 AD, liberalism in 6-7 turns (see pic)
-Hannibal got liberalism first 2 turns later!!!

Lost but still enjoyed the game

 

[Izuul]

I did not finish the game... lost in liberalism!

Spoiler :

-Declared War on Hannibal on 660 AD
-Took his cities Utica and Carthage
-Treasury running low because trade routes are cut off by him. Additionally Barb city (Jute) at the right is blocking the trade route to Alex.
-3 Turns later Sued for peace due to not enough units for campaign
-Asoka stole my island at the SE
-Create more units for 2nd Campaign, also plans to destroy the barb city on the right (Jute)
-Beeline Liberalism (Some trades for Engineering and Optics)
-Met Cleo
-In 1010 AD, liberalism in 6-7 turns (see pic)
-Hannibal got liberalism first 2 turns later!!!

Lost but still enjoyed the game

Spoiler :

What kind of units did you launch your first war with? Later wars are a lot easier on this sort of map. Perhaps you could've won Lib first then gone for rifles or cannons.

 

[UnforcedError]

I did not finish the game... lost in liberalism!

Spoiler :

Losing Liberalism does not mean you lose the game, despite what many forum posts suggest...

 

[Robert FIN]

I gave up..

Spoiler :

I was in situation around 1500s, when I had captured half of Hanni's Empire long time ago, and then Saladin and his puppet Hanni attacked me when I had almost no units.. Sucks..

 

[Jelloholic]

Map observation

Spoiler :

I like that a lot of people went for Conquest victories when the map doesn't necessarily lean that way, but as Izuul pointed out, there's no need to attack pre-Lib.

There's plenty of islands you need to settle in the initial land-grab, early wars are more expensive on this type of map, and if you focus on tech until Lib, Hanni and Asoka will be the only ones able to keep up so you can't crush the rest very easily.

 

[pandamancer]

@Izuul

Spoiler :

What kind of units did you launch your first war with? Later wars are a lot easier on this sort of map. Perhaps you could've won Lib first then gone for rifles or cannons.

Mostly Praets and Catapults with Spears and single Axe. I remembered that the Carthagian UU has anti-Melee so asked Asoka for Elephants. Numidian Cavalry are surely monsters in the field!

But then the war has already started and logistic is a problem. Would take about 3 turns to reach Hannibal's Island.

I think it would be better that I use the barb city as a target practice for my Praets to gain a level 3 guy and do a heroic epic. That will hasten my troop production and secure my trade route later.

 

[pandamancer]

Spoiler :

Losing Liberalism does not mean you lose the game, despite what many forum posts suggest...

Yeah it is still playable but Alex is already in Police state. I know he is pumping troops. I'm not sure who he is plotting at but I only see myself as the target since he is not annoyed with anybody else. My relationship with him is +3 btw.

On the other hand, Cleo has many cultural wonders. Assuming Alex does not attack me. I think Cleo should be my next target.

Asoka has overexpanded. I have no idea how he managed to steal my SE island when my galleys cannot pass through the coast tiles to his empire!

Saladin has a poor land. Once I switch to Hinduism, he won't likely to attack me.

Cyrus is doing well. He has banking at 1010 AD. I have no idea on what he is doing because I have no astronomy yet.

Hannibal is a troll! He intentionally beeline to Liberalism when all the AIs don't have Education yet.

 

[pandamancer]

Also, a bit aside, but how do people generally go about getting the AI out of Mercantilism? I may have to gift Lib/Eco to some, but I assume once a couple switch into it the rest will follow suit?

Send your spy to their city. Assuming you are running FM, let your spy perform change civic action.

Or through trade but I find it unreliable unless the AI is friendly

Or conquer them and force them to do so...

 

[pandamancer]

I just want to ask a few questions:

Spoiler :

1) what should you do if your first GP is a Great Merchant?

For me, I settle it in Mediolanum (right of my capital). My reason is because the city site has no food resource so might as well give a boost to the city. But what if I do a bulbing or trade mission, do I get a bigger gain?

2) Is the Great Merchant better than a Great Scientist? In case that I get a Great Scientist, should I bulb or create academy?

3) Is the Gold resource in my Capital a good or bad thing for me?

4) What is the galleon chaining idea that was mentioned in the previous post?

 

[Izuul]

I just want to ask a few questions:

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

1) what should you do if your first GP is a Great Merchant?

For me, I settle it in Mediolanum (right of my capital). My reason is because the city site has no food resource so might as well give a boost to the city. But what if I do a bulbing or trade mission, do I get a bigger gain?

2) Is the Great Merchant better than a Great Scientist? In case that I get a Great Scientist, should I bulb or create academy?

3) Is the Gold resource in my Capital a good or bad thing for me?

4) What is the galleon chaining idea that was mentioned in the previous post?

Spoiler :

1) Trade mission is almost always the best option.

2) GM vs GS just depends on what you are trying to do. There are reasons to go for both and both can be very valuable. As for the what to do with the GS, that depends too If one city is generating most of you commerce (ie a good Bureau cap with a lot of cottages) you typically want to get an Academy there early. Beyond that bulbing is often the best use.

3) Almost certainly a good thing. You popped the gold from a mine? You lose 1 hammer on your mine, but gain a good bit of commerce and possibly happiness in all of your cities.

4) Using a long string of galleons to ferry troops between islands or across oceans. You can transfer troops from one galleon to another on the same tile without using any of their MP and this allows you to move them a long distance in 1 turn.

 

[Smilingrogue]

4) Using a long string of galleons to ferry troops between islands or across oceans. You can transfer troops from one galleon to another on the same tile without using any of their MP and this allows you to move them a long distance in 1 turn.

How does that work? I thought embarking and disembarking from ships ate up a movement point?

Or do we have a galleon in a city where units embark and then it moves to the next galleon, dumps the cargo, that galleon moves to the next, repeats until the final galleon drops the troops off on a land mass?

 

[UnforcedError]

How does that work? I thought embarking and disembarking from ships ate up a movement point?

Or do we have a galleon in a city where units embark and then it moves to the next galleon, dumps the cargo, that galleon moves to the next, repeats until the final galleon drops the troops off on a land mass?

It doesn't necessarily have to be in a city. Embarking a unit eats up its movement points, true, but the unit can still embark on another ship on the same turn. So just position your ships in a chain so that they can reach each other with a single move and use the embark button of the units, not the unload cargo button of the ships.

 

[Jelloholic]

Imm, Normal, Space, 1913

Spoiler :

Ground it out in the end. Coming up to the end I was a bit disheartened at the approaching date, but it turns out it was my earliest on Immortal.

Not sure how many others played past Lib in this map, but I found my tech pace really falls off once I (over-, perhaps) expand to all the islands south of Arabia. I grabbed a total of 29 cities without war, and whipped like a mad man until I finally got Medicine.

From there, Sushi caught me up with Hannibal pretty quickly. Only spread it to around ~10 cities on account of the huge corporate payments, but could then switch into Rep and flew through the techs.

Probs should have continued to spread it to AI but there was no need save for a bigger score.

Production pretty low meant I actually have around 25 turns after all relevant techs researched until I can launch.

The AI's were too busy pounding on Cleo to get close to a Culture victory.

Question: Twice the Global Civic: Environmentalism passed, yet I remained in FM, what happened here?

Cheers for the map, the effort of changing colours/names was a nice touch.