Immortal University XII - Joao II of Portugal

[silverbullet]

Welcome to the 12th semester in the immortal university.
I believe we have a challenging leader and start this time.



Hopefully the unique unit and building will see some use in this game.

NOTE: as with all immortal university games, please post your progress inside a spoiler tag with the year outside the spoiler. Discussions that reveal details about the game (opponents name, location, etc.) should also be in spoiler tags.

It is preferable (but not required) that you post your progress in chunks of 50~100 turns, so that other players playing the game can peek into your games without spoiling too much.

 

[Gliese 581]

Weee another challenge!

From the initial screenshots it looks like a trade route economy might be best. Could we hope for a strategic resource 1NE of settler?

 

[ese-aSH]

I had a try on it...

Well... good luck (dont read spoiler before begining) !

Spoiler :

immediatly boxed by Willem, tried a axe rush but he settled on the plain hill nearby South. I lost 6 axe without taking the city :'(

 

[Dirk1302]

Good diversion from the hard and sometimes humbling deity struggles, immortal can be quite hard too sometimes though. I like the start here though we're a bit rich on salt water.
I think i'll settle in place and may move the capital later if i find a good spot.

 

[Belisar]

Hopefully the unique unit and building will see some use in this game.

Hopefully this is just a peninsula and not St. Helena so that the UU doesn't have to see much action

 

[DMOC]

I think there is a strategic resource up there. The start only has 3 1/3 resources (sugar=1, cows=1, clams=2/3rds of a resource each so 4/3 for 2), and it's not a great start anyway.

 

[DMOC]

I think there is a strategic resource up there. The start only has 3 1/3 resources (sugar=1, cows=1, clams=2/3rds of a resource each so 4/3 for 2), and it's not a great start anyway.

 

[Dirk1302]

Wow that UU from Portugal is pretty bad, i like their UB though. I changed my mind about settling in place, moving 2 tiles south getting 6 resources in BFC and securing a second city site sees better. If i needed to chop the GLH because it's archipelago i'll regret it.

 

[Sleepless]

- 1080 BC

Spoiler :

I thought about moving but knew there was a hill hidden to the east so at least reasonable production if I went for the GLh. I soon found out there was only 1 real way to go. Tech path went BW whilst building 2 x wb, barracks then Axes, afterthought I built a spear as well just in case Wil had horses. I knew he had bronze as my intial warrior found it when scouting. Met Ghandi as well. Judging by the EP points there is no-one else nearby but could be proved wrong.

After BW I went wheel/hunt (for the phants didn't realise at the time I wouldn't be settling there but Agr for AH seemed a waste as nothing to farm) AH/Sail/Writing. Declared on Wil in 1540BC. I was pleased to find his first city was built on a plains hill and also the Jewish Holy City with 40% cultural defence. Luckily it only had 2 Archers although one had the guerilla promotion to top it off as well. Pleased I built a spear as a chariot appeared after I entered his borders. With the loss of 2 Axes I took the city then on to Amsterdam. 60% defences with 3 archers and a chariot. He had a worker building the bronze mine so I got there just in time. Amsterdam fell with the loss of another 2 axes when I stopped. Wil still has 2 cities but I need to consolidate my troops (and rebuild ) before finishing him off. The other problem is my troops will take to long to get to the front so 10 turns of peace would be a good idea?

So future plans will be kill Wil then depending on the lands trim Ghandi down a bit or settle the lands and take Ghandi down later. Hopefully he will build some shineys. There is also a very good chance I will move the Palace to Amsterdam. Lastly I need to get a wb out scouting especially the island to the North and see if there is anything there.

 

[Gliese 581]

I played 100 turns, info with pics coming in a later update.

 

[PaulusIII]

Call me insane but I'm going to try again on immortal. Even though I've had issues with playing Portugal (for some reason, I always, always, play poor with Joao...) I'm going for the IU again.

 

[Gliese 581]

4000 BC - 375 BC

Spoiler :

I decided to settle in place. Start on WB and research BW. Grow to size 2 then stagnate growth as I finish the WB.

5: Pop the hut in bfc for 41 gold.

After WB I start on a Warrior after discovering great risk of getting boxed in by Willem, I figure Warrior + grow to 3 then settler for imp hammer bonus.

16: I can relax as BW reveals copper within BFC. I next go Hunting->AH->TW.

19: Willem founds Hinduism and converts. I finish 2nd warrior start on worker since I now have copper I don't need a settler straight away. I opt to rush Willem instead (surprise!).

21: Willem boxes me in with 2nd expansion on the plains hill pig/ivory spot south of Lisbon. My settler wouldn't have made it. I adopt slavery and whip worker. He starts to premine hills as I slowbuild barracks.

40: TW finished, start on Pottery. I should probably have gotten TW before AH for a slightly faster rush.

46: Gandhi founds and adopts judaism.

50: Finish Pottery, start on Writing.

60: Finish Writing start on Sailing until broke, puts research at 0%.

64: DOW Willem.



67: Decide to Bypass Utrecht as it has 7 archers garrisoned.

70: Move Southeast to the copper in Amsterdams BFC and pillage it.

72: Capture Amsterdam.





Hindu holy city, Stonehenge and TOA, not bad.

85: TGL built in faraway lands. With the rush there was virtually no chance of getting it.

89: Gandhi completes The Oracle. Joao proves how stupid the AI is again by moving the greater parts of his archer force around, leaving Utrecht weakly defended. I decide to gamble on 4 axes attacking 2 archers left but fail, only killing one archer.

90: GP born in Amsterdam, construct Hindu shrine, Gandhi constructs Jewish shrine.

91: Lisbon has a slave rebellion. I capture Utrecht and decide to keep it although it's 1 of coast. It's getting late in the game for city #3 and TGL is gone.

Stupid stack left outside:



Garrison within:



The city hold nothing of interest.

92: Confucianism founded in distant lands.

100: I end the segment.

Some empire screens:






This war is dragging out and both of Willems remaining cities are built on hills. I think he's going to built another city to the southwest as well. It's a good thing Gandhi is a pushover since he's getting a good lead.
I'll probably move my capital to Amsterdam and cottage up there and make Lisbon my GP farm. Unfortunately I have no forests left for Tg library in Lisbon so perhaps I'll build that in Amsterdam anyhow if I go for it.

 

[PaulusIII]

Spoiler :

Dismal fail from me. I'm probably not going to try immortal for a while.

 

[SnowlyWhite]

oh no, not that joke of a leader...

 

[vicawoo]

Spoiler :

Stole an early worker from willem, choked him until I surrounded him with cities, and crashed my economy. I have every gold resource on the continent. Missed lighthouse by one turn. Simplest to just kill everyone now. Ghandi got hinduism, judaism, and oracled theology, and seems to have mostly archers, I'm slowly checking for copper/iron. Axe/sword/cat (or elephant/cat) should be able to most of ghandi, then if I keep both of them small, I have two trading partners.

Then probably kill willem when we get optics, and that should be enough land to win.

 

[ungy]

up to 175

Spoiler :

I have an easier go here than most. Settle in place, get boxed in by Utrecht (jewish holy) on hill like most. Bronze. I build my army and research out to writing. Send my SOD through Willem with OB then attack Amsterdam from the rear (actually got snagged a bit by an unexpected culture pop).

Dutch put up little resistance, I continue research to alpha, pause and take a bunch of little tech prior to finishing Willem off:



Research monarchy, COL then out to con to attack Gandhi with cats/jumbos. At the moment fixing economy. Gahdhi has really settled a lot but I'm not expecting problems.
I get the vandal event but then I pop gems!

 

[TheMeInTeam]

TMIT returns to immortal after some polishing, but this was not the best game to jump back into immortal . I switched the speed to epic and killed random events and barbs .

I'm in bad shape IMO but the situation may be salvaged due to an IMBA resource. Maybe. It's going to be a reeeeaaaaaaaaaaach.

To 520 AD:

Spoiler :

Not much choice here. My return to Immortal after the Pacal debacle isn't an easy one - axe rush or bust. Let's not bust just yet, right?

I whipped/chopped 8 axes before 2000 BC but hill cities are brutal. I had to war for cities and take peace repeatedly. This was a drag out murder war and I even lost a GG , which is very rare for me. In 520 AD I JUST knocked idiot Willem off the map. I have -10 with Gandhi because he was already pissed for DoW on friend and because it mean 6 workers or so. Some pics of my current situation:







Yikes, pretty terrible. Beakers are even worse. I STILL don't have enough cities either, and the gold one over there has no food, so here's the deal:

I am behind Gandhi and with 6 cities that isn't likely to improve soon. He is far ahead in tech and has feudalism, but not MC yet, no paper.

This means I have a large window where axe/cat/elephant will be able to take cities. I REALLY want theocracy or vassalage to get some CR II on my cats but it doesn't really look like I can without risking my advantage. I can probably sell out on theo if someone completes Chichen Itza (I have 4 turns to go on it for cash).

Can I make it? Can I off Gandhi and not get murdered by either him or an astronomy AI? It's going to be really hard IMO, but if I can hack it I'll have enough cities to come back...probably.

Damn. Hard map.

Edit: I do have a save but it's in HOF mod apparently. Smooth.

 

[SnowlyWhite]

sometimes marathon is ******ly easy...

Spoiler :

yarr for the crappiest leader! assorted with a crappy location

Moving the warrior south reveals more jungle, so I decide to settle in place, as much as I'd hate it. I go bw while sporting a wb since I doubt I'll see many barbarians from the start in this remote corner. Plus I'll need to chop the settlers/workers, not that there's much to chop...

I meet willy soon; TOO soon!



And wannabe UN guy - ghandi...

Minions, prepare me the axe! Border pop pops a hut, and I get bw! I have bronze, and I like willy only when I play with him. Obviously, I go wheel

3 gold in a spot, yet no food... gah, I hate it!

I have phants, I don't have water, I already have fishing; so I go hunting after wheel, probably followed by ah. Willy also has bronze in his fat cross... what a party spoiler...

Ghandi - hindu; budism - somewhere

Ok paps, go build a shrine too, I'll need the cash...

Dumb willy sets Utrecht on a hill 1 tile from the coast... God, I hate them when they do that...

Ah in, willy doesn't appear to have ponnies



Spy says it's only the 3 of us on this island; or someone north... However, since it ain't ooc, glh can be forgotten, need to club neighbors.

Ghandi founds juda too... damn, it's gonna be a love fest on the other continents! Stupid old man...

Mysticism in, pottery next.

Oranje - 11 turns from mining... might be too late bubba...



Pottery in, writing next; willys worker finished the cottage, so... showtime. 9 axes vs a hilly city definitelly ain't enough, but...



Every dog has it's day... lose 4 axes to kill 1 archer...



2 archers in amsterdam... and he can't whip... yuppie



I recoup the bad luck, so 1st axe wins at 23%

amsterdam mine at 1 axe cost

revolt to slavery for monument whipping and crap.

2 archers in hague on a hill; me 4 axes



I wait for 5th axe and... buh, bye



"learn to go bw, kek! pw00nz00r!!!111eleven". Whatever... bye willie.

Ghandi ain't in slavery... and I could chop quite alot in amsterdam.

I keep lisbon at pop. 5 as I intend to make amsterdam capitol.

Ghandi - slavery; Ghandi - 31 turns to IW and judging after the place where bronze is, hopefully he doesn't have another one in his territory. I don't have spears, thing I hate, but... time to wipe you out...



ok, he has ponnies(found them with an axe sent ahead scouting). I hate having to keep bombay, but it's a holy city and apparently ghandi built stonehenge.



delhi mine



Since I'll probably be isolated, I go straight hr.

Varanasi and the copper - razed



he sure had his day... 5 axes lost



buh, bye.. what a buncha weaklings



doubt I'll continue tbh; there's enough land to win even if drunk...

 

[royal62184]

Just amazing snowlywhite. You still got to recover your economy, that would still be informative to some of us **hint hint**

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Just amazing snowlywhite. You still got to recover your economy, that would still be informative to some of us **hint hint**

Spoiler :

1. Play marathon
2. Build lots of axe
3. Luck out in that first target opponent doesn't get bronze early and hook up copper
4. Control entire continent.

I attacked with a very similar stack at close to the same year (epic passes turns at different years), and willem had axes. I still (eventually) killed willem off, but at great expense. Marathon gimping the whip vs walk rate and no copper was a HUGE boost for snowlywhite. Don't forget, unlike other difficulties units are scaled to be cheaper vs buildings on marathon, but the AI doesn't adjust for this. Humans can. Nonetheless, snowlywhite is a very good player (better than me) and played through this part very well too, so what you're seeing is a combination of somewhat rigged settings with very solid play.

There's your answer .