Immortal University V - Cyrus of Persia

[Olodune]

@JBossch

Spoiler :

Nice job with the Nukes -- I nearly decided to take that route as well.

Saladin's power at the end was very impressive, perhaps his liberation turned out to be a good thing? It certainly helped you capitulate Churchill more quickly.

Fun read

 

[Olodune]

@Gliese

Spoiler :

I think you just had bad luck with those Keshiks -- many games saw later wars, but no Mongolian UUs. Still, they should be manageable (no def bonus, right?) with 2-3 Immortals per Keshik. In very early rushes (like this game) going straight for the capital seems to be the best play (as you noted).

 

[silverbullet]

I have had such a busy week with no time to play at all
Almost everyone else have finished the game and I have not even started

I will try to catch up today, but if I play too fast I will definitely lose. I find that when I try to play an off-line game on immortal I almost always lose, but in the univestity threads I mostly win. The diifference - playing slowly, writing reports and THINKING about the situation, as well as your generous advice and feedback.

I will try to be disciplined and post a save whenever I am not sure what to do next.
Since most of you have already finished the game please try not to reveal any spoilers in your advice.

Thanks

 

[Olodune]

The diifference - playing slowly, writing reports and THINKING about the situation ....

Its funny how much this helps

Looking forward to your game

 

[silverbullet]

Played until 1560BC, and now I am not sure how to continue.

Spoiler :

I moved the settler 1N, and on the second turn I decided to move it 1W to settle on top of the silk and get some flood plains and riverside.

Research: AH-wheel-mining-BW-fishing-mysticism-pottery-writing (in progress)

Our scout dies early by 2 attacking lions. The scouted area so far (3480 BC):

I decide to settle the horse city next.
1 turn later KK shows up and I think it's time to try this immortal rush everyone is talking about.

At 1640BC I manage to scout the mongolian border

Also, Stonehenge build in a distant land.

1560BC - I realize I am not sure what I am doing so I decide to stop and think .

The persian empire:

I stop here since I am not sure if my rushing plan is good anymore.
KK has been slow settling the north, I could whip & chop settlers and crush my economy blocking him.
Regardless of whether I rush him or not, great lighthouse looks attractive for this island, especially if we meed foreign AIs. scouting with another workboat is important here.

I am not sure how to prioritize all the options. If he gets a metal the rushing window is over, so I need to hurry up there, but then I will lose the GL.
If I want the GL I should probably have 2 workers in Parasgadae and chagne research to sailing->masonry, but that will slow down the rush.
I could also rush to the stone and build pyramids, but I think it is less attractive on early game for charismatic who gets +2 happy right from the start.

I know it is difficult to give advice without spoilers if you already played this game and know some key factors (are we isolated? does KK have metal?), but please try to base your advice on my game so far rather than your game.

My current thoughts - there is no bronze on this island, and I don't think KK has iron working yet. I could try to do both rushing and GL.
Paras will build/chop GL, while the other 2 cities will do immorals.
I don't think the island is big enough for both of us, so peaceful settling doesn't seem attractive, even if I manage to block.

 

[Sleepless]

@Silverbullet

Spoiler :

Without trying to spoil. All your plans seem good to me. Regarding rushing you should be aware by now we are on a small island with an Agg/Cre leader for me that is 2 traits you don't want to have adjacent to you in this position. If you decide to rush him remember you can always pillage squares if needs be.

I really enjoyed this game and looking forward to reading your reports.

 

[Gliese 581]

silverbullet

Spoiler :

I think you can produce an army quickly, you've barely touched the forests around the capital, I chopped so much I had health problems (but then I didn't settle by fresh water). Just chop for all you're worth if you want to go for it. Like Sleepless said, Agg/Cre is not good on this landmass, you'll fight difficult culture battles and KK is liable to attack you later on. On top of this, you haven't secured any bronze and there's no telling if you can get iron so delaying a war could be dangerous.

 

[JBossch]

@Olodune

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Saladin's power at the end was very impressive, perhaps his liberation turned out to be a good thing? It certainly helped you capitulate Churchill more quickly.

You may be right. There were definitely some pluses to this decision. Saladin and my other vassals had destroyers all over that helped significantly and Sitting Bull even landed a force on the far side of Churchill's land. Even this, though, ended up being annoying because he didnt take the city he went for and then his remaining troops standing around meant I couldn't nuke it.
This really should be changed IMO. We should at least be allowed to nuke our vassals' troops. We could just suffer a little negative diplo. Maybe -1 "You incinerated our brave soldiers in your nuclear holocaust!"

 

[JBossch]

@silverbullet

Spoiler :

Without spoiling my advice is to start the war ASAP. The more you hesitate, the sorrier you will be.

 

[silverbullet]

Spoiler :

I missed the great lighthouse and was too slow with my rush as a result. I faced swordmen, keshiks and pikes, and died horribly.
I briefly looked at other starts, and it seems like a fun game.
I am going to restart and try to execute the rush better this time.
So what if this is cheating? I still enjoy it

 

[Olodune]

Spoiler :

I missed the great lighthouse and was too slow with my rush as a result. I faced swordmen, keshiks and pikes, and died horribly.
I briefly looked at other starts, and it seems like a fun game.
I am going to restart and try to execute the rush better this time.
So what if this is cheating? I still enjoy it

Spoiler :

pikes? I assume you mean spears ...

After reading the other early games I think that speed is really crucial for Immortal rushes-- the GLH was a good gambit for this map, but probably would lead more naturally to a catapult/sword war rather than Immortal rushing.

 

[Dirk1302]

1740-1925 AD

Spoiler :

I teched this one to space 1925. Nothing much to say really, i got a lot of great spies due to the GW and the specialist spy that the games assigns everytime you're not watching. Finally managed to found Mining and Suhi though. Once KK was gone the island was large with great cities so i think reaching Alpha 1925 AD going peaceful is a mediocre result, i never seemed to get into this game fully. This also shows up in the saves, i forgot to save 1925 AD so i'll post the last save i have, 1876 AD.

 

[silverbullet]

Try 2 -
Up to 750 BC

Spoiler :

Spent 2 rounds 1N and then 1W before settling on the silk.

Techs: AH -> Wheel (hut) ->mining->BW->fishing->Mysticism->pottery->writing->sailing->alphabet(partial)
Build: worker->warrior->warrior->worker->settler
Whip the worker at 1 turn left to use the overflow for settler, to enjoy the 50% bonus to the overflow hammers.

Turn 8 - find KK cultural border - close enough for a rush (well I already knew that since this is my 2nd try, but I had to have an "honest" reason to try it on this time)

Going to settle the eastern clam/horses site to get horses in our first ring.


Turn 47 (2120 BC) Pasargadae founded
Time to start the immortal rush. My workers have been busy building a road, so now I only need to wait for a pasture.

1080 BC With about 10 immortals I declare. The 3 main cities are captured by 750BC, but he managed to run away with a settler and there are 2 more cities to go.

At 800BC we met Izabella.

At 750BC we have 238 cash, -24 per turn, and alphabet in 8 turns. Izzy doesn't have it yet, so I hope to trade it for something useful.

2 Mongolian cities left, and we start to have war weariness. I might have cease fire with KK to heal a bit, but I am afraid he will build walls.

 

[Olodune]

@silverbullet

Spoiler :

Nice rush. I'd keep pressing, you have more Immortals a few turns out, and pure rebuilding when KK is finished is probably easier.

At 750BC we have 238 cash, -24 per turn, and alphabet in 8 turns.

Good timing

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Continuing a run of old IU games...

IMM/Normal 1925 Culture

Spoiler :

I settled on the sugar, since that was the best way to use it for a while. Opening build was settler, settler, workers/archers. I peacefully rushed out 6 good cities on the main continent and captured a barb city on the hatty continent. Heavy prioritization of setting up foreign trade ASAP and Gscientist made sure early tech rate was ok.

I wound up getting 4 religions in my borders (one of them the AP) and having a secure diplo situation, so I went for culture again:

UN forced FR right at the end. I had DP with kublai and izzy for most of the game in a buddhist bloc, and none of the other AIs really disliked me so I had it easy. Hatty went for culture too but I was outracing her, and then churchill/SB piled her and she lost a city anyway.

A couple cathedrals, hermitage, and emancipation cottages again carry the culture day. If I ever actually want to do this and decide on it from the start I'll be able to do it a lot faster, but as it stands it seems that without a human driving the tech rate the AI gets kind of slow. As for me, I never attempted to attack anyone or take cities, so this was a peaceful game mostly (was in a 3 turn war w/ pacal honoring a DP when he declared on izzy, but I paid 175 gold to get out of it ).