Immortal University V - Cyrus of Persia

[Shurdus]

4000BC - 800BC

Spoiler :

I decided to settle 1 north. I miss the health bonus from freshwater but gained an extra plains hill and FP plus coastal can build harbours. Techs went AH, Mining, Wheel, Fish, Sailing, BW, Writing currently learning Mysticism very slowly. I scouted the island pretty quickly as its not very big popping a little bit of gold from 2 huts (sorely needed later). Decided the best idea was to attack Kublai . I don't think anyone else will take this route . I built a city for the Eastern horses then builds went barracks, immortal, immortal, immortal etc you get the idea.

Then it was a case of attack, attack and a quick shot of Kublai's last city just about to become Persian.

Probably a mistake but I kept all his cities and now comes the hard bit of getting my economy back in order. Currently showing a loss at 0 science is never good at least I have some money in the bank. I've whipped a few libraries and will run some scientists in all cities. Now off to search the unknown. Isabella sent a wb my way so I know were not alone.

My new lands.

Spoiler :

Well done. I think this island is pretty much forcing you to crash your economy, but whatever, you will not need a huge standing army of immortals any more anyway.

How did you make those screenies? I take them by pressing print screen and pasting them in paint, but yours look like they have been taken in Civ itself.

Good game, now up to beat the crap out of the rest.

 

[Sleepless]

@ Shurdus

Spoiler :

The screen shots I upload them to Photobucket then link them in the post. Reading one of mad scientists posts taught me that.

Regarding the game now comes the hard bit of getting my economy up and running again. Planned tech route is to head for CoL or Currency asap unsure what one to go for but probably currency.

 

[Shurdus]

@ Shurdus

Spoiler :

The screen shots I upload them to Photobucket then link them in the post. Reading one of mad scientists posts taught me that.

Regarding the game now comes the hard bit of getting my economy up and running again. Planned tech route is to head for CoL or Currency asap unsure what one to go for but probably currency.

Spoiler :

Currency should be an excelent choice.

About the screenies, did you make them in the game? I can't seem to find an easy way to make screenshots other that using print screen and alt-tabbing out.

 

[Sleepless]

@ Shurdus

Regarding the screenshots I just press the prt scr button. Or if I want to add a title shift/prt scr. To crash the game ctrl prt scr works quite well.

Then I just upload them to photobucket. I don't touch paint at all. Not that I've got a clue how to anyway.

 

[Shurdus]

@ Shurdus

Regarding the screenshots I just press the prt scr button. Or if I want to add a title shift/prt scr. To crash the game ctrl prt scr works quite well.

Then I just upload them to photobucket. I don't touch paint at all. Not that I've got a clue how to anyway.

Ah, nice. I never noticed the screenshotfolder before.

Now that I know this, I can play and log WAy faster because there is no alt-tabbing any more.

 

[Gliese 581]

Ah, nice. I never noticed the screenshotfolder before.

Now that I know this, I can play and log WAy faster because there is no alt-tabbing any more.

If you press shift+printscreen you can name the image, it can be tricky to get popup info this way though (although it's possible on many occasions).

 

[Olodune]

Cyrus, Chapter 1

Up to 1080bc

Spoiler :

Well I decided to move 1NE, once I saw the river/floodplain I was very happy In fact its such a good capital I almost feel bad

Tech went AH->Mining->BW->Wheel->Myst

I built a settler at size two (with a farmed floodplain, and working the cows).

We quickly meet the Mongolian, and no one else ...

City #2 went to eastern horses, and got the horses in the first ring ... see where this is going?

4 workers are out chopping, and by 1520 we have 6 immortals, 4 which head straight into Mongolian territory:

1 archer And Stonehenge too. Next turn we capture the Mongolian capital at the cost of two immortals

The next city is autorazed, 4 warrior partisans pop up, and one kills an Immortal

The last city falls in 1080bc at the cost of 2-3 more Immortals (hill city). A warrior built out of Kara actually finished off the last archer:

Well, now its time to play a builder game At least we have plenty of workers -- and fishing nets in place (if we only knew how to fish ..)

On to read about your Immortal rushes ...

 

[ranion]

so i played out a round... about 100 turns or so, immortal is certainly a challenge, normally i'd be ashamed to say this but i reloaded the map and played through the first 100 turns about a dozen times and there were a couple times where I replayed a few turns after making a smaller mistake that cost me bigger than i'd counted on, but hey, i'm a monarch player not an emperor trying to move up, i can do what i want , that said, i did try to maintain as much integrity as i could when it came to making use of my pre-knowledge of the map and situation.

anyways, without further ado, 4000BC - 500BC (95 turns)

WARNING: WALL OF TEXT AHEAD!

Spoiler :

Settled in place, popped the first hut for some gold, started a warrior and began researching AH in a planned AH -> Mining -> BW.

a few turns pass, the scout does his thing and finds that second hut in the middle of the desert and pops it for mining, AH is only about half done at this point, so it allows me to skip a step in my research path. scout goes along his merry way, meets Kublai Khan, oh joy, alone on an island with an aggressive civ... (oaky, i'll admit it a little bit of pre knowledge comes in here, not so much for the hut, but for the fact that im on a smallish/poorish island 'alone' with KK)

its about this time that i discover AH, and the horses off to my east, start on BW, due in 15 turns. 2 turns pass and capital pops out that warrior its been working on and hits size 3, starts on a worker, due in 10 (working mainly those forested silk for the commerce this speeds up progress on bw enough that the worker and bw pop at the same time.)

turn 25 rolls around and i get my worker and my BW and revolt to slavery. start on wheel to open up immortals and another warrior, both to grow the capital 1 more point and to give me an extra escort for the settler that i intend to chop. the worker goes to pasture the cows, then to farm the sugar, i would have chopped it, but by the time the settler was ready to be chopped he would have been finished before the chop would have been, guess i need to learn to pre-empt myself a bit better. Anyways i throw a barracks into the queue after the settler. the worker finishes up 1 turn after the settler pops and joins up with the settler as he moves to the horses.

wheel pops shortly after the settler starts, seeing how far away the planned horse city is i set to researching fishing -> sailing, i learned (mostly through failed attempts at this) that sailing, where applicable, seems to be a more efficient way to hook up a slightly more distant second city than trying to escort a worker along as he builds a road, harder to disconnect too... if i take away nothing else from this game it'll still have been worth it i think.

settler went off and founded city 2 on the plains hill 1 north of the horses in the east. it builds a barracks as it grows, the worker who went along with hooks up the horses and sailing conveniently takes them to the capital for me

start chopping, whiping and building out immortals, after sailing tech path is pottery -> writing -> very slow mathematics (en route to currency)

the first couple immortals out go kill a few barbs to pick up the second promo while they wait for some friends so that they can go kill kublai. i had 10 of them in position when i declared on turn 73 (1080BC) in retrospect i could have gone sooner, but the war probably still would have taken longer than i wanted. i'm not very good at managing reinforcements, generally my wars end up taking longer than they should because of it, its one of the things i need to work on.

i attacked karakorum first had 3 archers, lost a couple immortals but won the city, turfan was next, again, 3 archers, this time no losses, i spawn a GG and make a medic 3 immortal to be a mash. This is where things sorta slowed down, i kinda dithered around while waiting for the reinforcements i figured i needed in order to take beshbalik. Any time i moved my stack out of karakorum though kublai moved a stack out of beshbalik to menace it and i was forced to move back. instead of just consolidating a smacking him around i used my reinforcements to wipe out 2 of his other three cities. whether this was a mistake or not i don't really know.

Kublai was eliminated in 550BC, the only city of his i kept was karakorum, mainly because i didn't want the upkeep, although i probably could have dealt with it. I spawned a second GG sometime near the end of the war, but haven't decided what to do with it yet, no rush though.

anyways, this is what my 'empire' looks like

you can see i've ear marked a city to be placed asap, it'll be good because its nice and close to my capital for low upkeep and all that riverside grassland makes prime cottaging land. i've already added it up and unless i made a mistake i think it falls in at +2 food when it works every single tile.

once those libraries are finished and currency comes in i can probably start stomping out some more cities, but i can almost guarantee that i won't, again something i need to improve on (note: this is now retrospective and indeed what happened, i actually kept playing and doing other things while i was trying to figure out what to write for this...)

looking at that shot now, i think i could probably have made better use of the whip in getting those libraries out... oh well too late now...

at this point i figure i'm probably in such a huge tech hole that i won't recover before rifling if i recover at all. at any rate its time to go out and see how far behind i am. this aught to be a good lesson in constructive bee lining and diplomacy

i'd post a save, but a) i doubt anyone would really want one, and b) i kinda kept playing and forgot to take one...

also, i apologize for the wall of text, i'll try to remember to take more pictures (and maybe be a bit more succinct?) to make it more interesting next time.

 

[Sleepless]

800BC-75BC

Spoiler :

A very important but quiet session. The first momentous occassion.

Yippee positive cash flow at 0% science. Usually CoL/Curr are important for economic recovery but there is another one. So next tech was masonry and.

Very surprised to get it this late but I chopped all the forests in Karakorum and was able to get it. I did build a city on the stone and tried to chop the Pyramids in the Capital but I've just lost them with 2 turns to go. On the plus side I have got some cash again.

Techs learnt Masonry, Pottery, Aesth, Med/IW (traded with Churchill), Alpha traded with Isa. I have also met Pacal. Interesting religious situation with them all having different religions. I can see trouble ahead there.

Tech situation.

Not to bad it shouldn't take to long to catch up. Liz has Theocracy as well. I'm trading horses and fish to Churchill for Gold/Ivory/Wine so no need to rush to monarchy for the happies. Pacal has gems as well which I will trade for.

The power of the GLh in use.

Lots of lovely trade income there.

Demographics.

Not looking to bad. I'm planning a quick 3 more cities on the island to pick up the pigs, marble and 3rd horses. There is a barb city near the horses but I will raze that (edit just looked again and think I will keep it). Give my remaining Immortals something to do.

Overview of my lands.

I've set research to Maths possibly going for the Hanging Gardens but might go for CoL and run caste system as most of my cities seem to have plenty of food. Currency is another possibility at max research they will only take 3 or 4turns each. My current finances will allow me to tech 2 of them quickly before I go bust and have to turn the slider down again. I have a GS which I was going to use for Tao but might change my mind and an academy for the Capital seems a good idea.

Thats about it for now.

 

[Shurdus]

Spoiler :

On to read about your Immortal rushes ...

Shut up.

 

[patagonia]

Turnset 2: 725BC - 125AD (34 turns)

Spoiler :

This was a more-or-less uneventful round of trying to get the economy afloat (like Sleepless, I was losing money at 0% science after eliminating Kublai and holding on to 3 of his cities.

I finished researching Sailing, which proved to be a key tech since I met Isabella shortly afterwards. 3 trade routes in each of my cities is what's keeping me afloat at the moment. That and a bunch of scientists including my first GS who I settled in the capital. My second one's due out of Karakorum in 5 turns and I'm trying to decide whether to go for a philosophy bulb to back-fill or settle him again.

I'm part of a happy Buddhist brotherhood with Isabella and Pacal (waited to adopt Buddhism until Isa asked me to for the extra relations boost), so there should be good opportunities to trade. Unfortunately Pacal built the GLH in my game, but I'm planning on going for the Hanging Gardens in Turfan; that'll be +3 overall with Persia's UB. Would it be better to just build them for the cash though?

In terms of tech, I went sailing > maths > (IW in trade from Isa) > masonry > currency. Once currency's complete, I plan on building some more cities. I want to get the west of this island settled before Isabella looks to expand any further. She's already got a couple of cities on the island between us, although I'm getting some units ready to capture Cimmerian (the barb city over there).

Demographics ain't pretty, but that should get better in a few turns.

 

[patagonia]

@ Sleepless:

Spoiler :

Getting the GLH is going to be huge for your game (already is by the look of it). If I was you I'd try to rush a city or two onto the island between Persia and Spain. As long as they're coastal, they'll pay for themselves immediately and it'll limit Isabella's expansion.

 

[Sleepless]

@ Sleepless:

Spoiler :

Getting the GLH is going to be huge for your game (already is by the look of it). If I was you I'd try to rush a city or two onto the island between Persia and Spain. As long as they're coastal, they'll pay for themselves immediately and it'll limit Isabella's expansion.

@patagonia

Spoiler :

I think the GLh has won this game for me. Churchill seems to be my only real competition. Agree with the island but unfortunately Isa has already settled there but I have captured a barb city there.

 

[patagonia]

Turnset 3: 125AD - 1100AD (50 turns)

Spoiler :

This was another builder set, but one in which I hopefully benefited from some of the lessons I've learned in the previous Immortal University games.

The round got underway with the discovery of a key tech:

I'm fast developing the opinion that currency is way more important than CoL for fueling empire growth, something I hadn't really appreciated on lower levels.

I didn't let a low slider halt my expansion either. Stagnating in the Willem game during this period cost me and I wasn't about to let that happen again. I founded 5 new cities on the mainland and captured Cimmerian (the barbarian city on the island between Persia and Spain). Isabella now has 6 cities on that island and only 5 on the same continent as Madrid, so she must be getting killed by colonial maintenance. I'm hoping she creates a colony there to make capturing that and the Spanish mainland a little easier.

I also made sure to sell resources for GPT and hired merchants from time to time to keep the economy ticking over. Missing out on the GLib and Hanging Gardens by a few turns each also helped in that respect. I generated two more GS, one which bulbed philosophy and the other which bulbed most of Education. One thing I have been too slow in doing is getting a GP farm set up, so I need to get the NE built in Beshbalik next round.

Diplomatically, I'm in a pretty good position. Churchill and Hatty aren't speaking to me thanks to the AP and Pacal respectively, but the Mayan's friendly and Isabella's one gifted tech away from being so too (until then, she's WFYABTA). Hatty's got a lot of land and some useful resources, so I'm thinking of taking Nationalism with Liberalism, building the Taj for a GA and then dumping a lot of Cuirassiers on her doorstep (they looked pretty effective in other people's Willem games). I'm going to give her a chance to build Versailles first though (she's got a monopoly on DR and already has the SM). Churchill's got some very nice territory too, but I should be able to go domination or diplo without needing to worry too much about him as long as Spain's a buffer between us.

An overview of Persia:

Demographics aren't wonderful (still dead last in GNP), but are steadily improving.

 

[Olodune]

Cyrus, Chapter 2

1080bc-25ad

Spoiler :

In typical early rush fashion, after taking out the Mongols I had too many units and workers ... and my cities where spread too far apart. Rebuilding was a little slow (and still a work in progress ) but at least all our Persian cities were growing onto improved tiles.

I captured a barbarian city on the stone (Immortals sure are useful), enabling Karakorum to build a wonder:

That will be useful

Our Empire at 25ad:

-We've met Isabella + Churchill + Pacal. Switching to Buddhism has befriended the first two.

-Isabella has just founded a city on my island -- I'm in the process of returning the favor. A border skirmish is in our near future.

-The northern marble has just been settled, and the GLib is under construction. I'm also building the Shwedagon Paya, but expect to cash it in before completion (we're trading for gold from Churchill).

 

[Olodune]

@Sleepless

Spoiler :

Nice job with the GLH -- I also tried for it but missed by about 6 turns (~500bc). The Pyramids were a decent consolation prize I suppose.

 

[Sleepless]

@Olodune

Spoiler :

Yep couldn't believe I managed to build the Glh that late. Fortunately Kublai left a lot of forests for me to chop and had even built a lighthouse for me.

 

[Sleepless]

75BC - 840AD

Spoiler :

This one goes down as a quiet builder set. Little bit of violence when I razed and resettled a barb city on the West coast and sailed across the sea to take anothe barb city on the Western Island.

This one will pay for itself straight away and gives me a bridgehead towards Isabella if I need it.

The only wonder I managed to build was the Glib in the capital. All the other wonders I missed. Bit sad abouth the Parth and HG was built before I had Math so no chance of that. At the end of the last round I was unsure what tech route to take but ended up going for Curr/CoL. I've used 2 great scientists for bulbing. 1 for Philo and 1 for Lib. I self researched Edu this time as it didn't take to long. I still haven't met all the leaders but did meet Hattie and from map trading know the missing leader is Sitting Bull. Also managed to get the +1 movement bonus which if I have to attack someone using galleys for transport that will come in very handy.

Overview of my new lands.

Current Tech situation.

Relations are looking good.

Unsurprisingly Isa and Pacal have been fighting. Churchill is in WHEOOH at the moment. He is the only danger I can see to me winning the game so I don't want him to get even more powerful.

Demographics.

Looking good.

Now the question is where to go from here. All victory conditions are possible. I have 5 different religions in my land so could go cultural. On the other hand I'm going to try and get steel from Liberalism and try a cannon/grenade attack. Probably the first target will be poor old Hattie . She has built the AP so I expect I'll be fighting SB as well. I doubt if I will draft much this game but have to see.

Thats it for now.

 

[Olodune]

Cyrus, Chapter 3

25-600ad

Spoiler :

As signs of things to come, even the goodie huts are being nice (from the western island):

The round started off very well. Persia build the GLib (Karakorum) and the Mausoleum of Maussollos (Persepolis). We also have the Shwedagon Paya one turn from completion -- but no one wants to build it

Spain has placed two cities on our continent, I'm not a fan. I get to Music first, meaning that we can get a free MoM enhanced golden age. As it seems like a good time to build up some troops, we do so. The two cities on our continent are quickly captured, and two on the island as well -- the second one autorazes, giving us a nice surprise:

Do I ever hate that event She just got the ability to build these guys too. I call a peace since I don't want to loose my city raider swords, and get the last three turns of Civil Service in the armistice.

Our expanded lands:

We are 3 turns from the Parthenon, but as it was built this turn we'll get gold instead. I don't really want more that 4 cities on the western ilse, so after capturing the barbarian city that's all I'll build for now.

The war with Isabella cut our trade with Churchill, but Hatshepset has been found to the south.

The Tech Position:

And very strong Demographics (we are in the tail end of a Golden Age, however).

I'm not sure what to do next. Chase liberalism most likely.

 

[patagonia]

Turnset 4: 1100AD - 1500AD (40 turns)

Spoiler :

I started the round with an important discovery:

I'd have liked to wait and grab either steel or military tradition, but the AI were too close in tech to safely delay Liberalism by another 10 turns or so.

I did some backfilling with Isabella, Pacal and Sitting Bull and have used the friendly Mayan and Spaniard as round-robin trading partners since then to keep at the head of the pack. Churchill's had a war against Pacal, taking a couple of his cities, but fortunately the AP put a stop to that. I'm hoping the resolutions to return them to their rightful owner's will crop up, to trim back the Englishman.

A GA also helped:

I've used the hammers from that to start getting an army together and I've got a quickly growing stack of Cuirassiers, Cannon and Galleons in Susa in preparation for the conquest of Egypt.

Before I do that though, there's a couple of things I'd appreciate some advice on. The first is whether to declare now, or wait until rifling's in and I've upgraded my Cuirassiers to Cavalry; the second concerns Isabella. She's WHEOOH at the moment. I know she's not going to declare on me because we've been friendly for ages. Would it be better to wait until I find out who she's fighting before starting my own war and joining that one, or press ahead with war against Egypt regardless?

Churchill is WHEOOH too, but as he lacks astronomy I'm guessing it's Pacal or Isabella who's his target.