Isolated Immortal Game

[sampsa]

@InovA

Spoiler :

The civ out there can't ever gain culture on a tile without yield showing, i.e. he can only claim 11 tiles. Thus the only way for pre-optics contact is a sentry chariot.

 

[InovA]

@sampsa Ah! Good Call. Ok, then I'll just try and have a work boat there when Optics hits.

Spoiler Up to 1040 BC :

Tech: Agg - AH - Mining - BW - Archery - Wheel - Pottery - Writing

City's Settled: T1, T37, T47, T64. (3960 BC, 2520 BC, 2120 BC, 1440 BC)

Spoiler Turn 26 :

T26: I've made 3 warriors and lost my scout to barbs. I've been applying extra worker turns towards a plains river farm while waiting for Mining to finish. This is also the moment I realized I'm isolated, with maybe a chance for a boat to go to another continent on a peninsula tip over westward, but I'm not counting on it.

Spoiler Turn 45 :

T45: The 2nd city location seemed obvious. Flood plains + the ability to share the wheat and/or pigs with the capital allows for rapid growth while the capital works the mines to produce more Settlers and Workers. I lost 2 warriors to barbs further influencing my need for Archery after spotting no horses or copper on my continent. 3rd city location was either between the pigs NE or the wheat SW, but grass pigs give +6 and this city can share cottages on the flood plains. The SW wheat is only +4/+1, so it's a pretty clear 3rd city location.

Spoiler Turn 74 :

T74: The 4th city could've also been the pigs + clam spot just east of the wheat + marble location, but the wheat + marble spot is A) good enough, B) able to share a +4 mine and a grass cottage with the capital, and C) 2 distance shorter in distance maintenance cost.

I have 3 Archers out spawn busting, with a 4th en route. Barbs shouldn't be as much of an issue. If axes start roaming I can whip a few more archers in time.

Maybe my 4th city should've been/5th city could be one which works the silver to the north, connecting it to the empire. This seems sub optimal though.

My main issue here is deciding on my next tech! (Just finished Writing.)

Alphabet will allow Research building and costs 405.
Math + Currency allows Wealth building and gives an additional trade route to cities (+1 per city atm) and costs 878.
Fishing may be squeezed in for the Pigs + Clams city, costing 65.
Masonry will give me the Marble resource, as an improved tile and as a bonus towards wonder building/fail gold, costing 92.

Masonry would be a reason to also go for Aesthetics + Literature for the Great Library and eventual National Epic, but this costs an additional 674.
768 spent for the Great Library - which I might not even gain - seems like a large cost, especially after the tiles I've scouted and being in the arid climate meaning I likely won't have a good GP farm to take advantage of National Epic really well. The fail gold from this line is the best benefit.

Meditation + Priesthood + Monarchy allows Hereditary rule for plenty of +, costing 593.
Meditation + Priesthood + Code of Laws could introduce Confucianism so that I have a religion, allow Caste System switches so I can abuse cities at high and towards and instead of flopping around, with nothing good to whip. It also allows me to go towards Civil Service (928 after Math). This CoL line costs 593. It also unlocks the UU sacrificial altar. Monarchy/CoL could be teched after whichever isn't for 405.

Ultimately, I want to grab Optics so I can meet other civs. This line requires Fishing + Sailing + Metal Casting + Iron Working + Compass + Machinery + Optics, a total of 3098.

My thought is to go for Fishing, then the Med + PH + Monarchy route, Hereditary rule will help solve the crisis, albeit at the extra cost of +1/t per from the unit support cost. Also is a slight backup against barb axes/spears. After Monarchy, I think I'd want Math + Currency for Wealth building along with the +1. Alphabet seems like a better choice in the short run, but since I have a 3100 mountain ahead of me, the +25% from Libraries leads to a higher :1.25 with : ratio than : with :. This should save roughly 620 and give +1/city from the trade route, more than making up for the 473 additional cost over Alphabet. From here I'd plan to go straight for Optics. (Fishing + MC + Sailing + IW + Machinery + Compass + Optics)

Maybe going (Fishing), Monarchy, then Math + Currency, then CoL (reducing the cost by 68 due to another prerequisite tech), then Civil Service, then Optics route is better though. Bureaucracy will be a ton of help and this detour costs 860 more. If roughly half of my tech is coming from my capital after the 1st academy and a good number of cottage++, the 3100 mountain is ~1500 teched by the capital, meaning the +50% boost (and +50% : Wealth building) is so helpful that the detour practically pays for itself by the time I hit Optics.

Another question here is where should my 5th city be? Pigs + Clams next to my 4th city, or Crab + Silver to the north for the + Silver. I think it should be Pigs + Clams, with 6th at the Crab + Silver, remaining coastal but rushing monument while a work boat from the 3rd or 4th city grabs the clams.The more I think about it though, the more I like reversing the order.

Spoiler Up to 75 AD :

Tech: Fishing - Meditation - PH - Monarchy - Masonry - Poly - Aesthetics - Literature
Future tech: Sailing (T120) - MC - IW - Machinery - Compass - Optics

City Settled: 275 BC

I decided to abandon the idea of Math/Currency/Alpha after seeing all the fail gold my cities can work towards. I'm used to having closer to 8 or 9 cities at this point, so Wealth building could almost always be done in a few cities in that case, but here Currency isn't as needed. I settled my 5th city north, at the Crab + Silver spot. I feel like the western city spot with flood plains would've been nicer, but this city is better in the short-term, helping rush towards Optics. The + from silver is practically +5/t since it can save me from needing additional units towards growth (if I plan properly). I feel like in the past 20 turns or so I've learned a lot about balancing specialists, cottages, happiness, and fail gold prepping. Definitely enjoy this game, if not just for the different flavor!

Thanks to @Lain for pointing out the bulbing path for Astronomy being a large factor in tech choices here. Paper/Philo preventing Astro bulbs could really slow down foreign trade routes and resource selling. My 4th/5th city locations could be a bit better if I'd taken the floodplains to the west and mistakes in early techs left me with nothing to build and slower cottages, but I'm happy with this spot overall. As I said in another post, once this turn set began I deleted a Warrior and 2 Workers to reduce Unit cost by 3/t. 3 Workers have been more than enough for my 5 cities since then. I now pay 11/t, but this is because of Monarchy's +. Other than my fresh 5th city, only 1 city has an excess +1 right now, so I feel like I'm balancing it well! The Great Library should finish in 5 turns (I'm at 166/350, so 184 to go, with 14 base production. Next turn I'll start a warrior, then whip 14/15 for +29+14=43x2(Marble)=86 applied. Do this twice after my 28 from this turn, will have 8 or 16 overflow, not sure if the x2 multiplier affects overflow.)

Silver should be hooked up in about 8 turns. (3 turns for border pop, 4 turns for mine, additional (+1?) turn for building on tundra)

Now my focus becomes having 2 GS ready in time to double bulb Astronomy. If I think I can get this, I won't even bother with 0% tech slider after Optics because I won't need to spend on Astronomy.

 

[InovA]

Spoiler Up to 920 AD: :

Overflow on the Glib didn't work as intended, only giving +15 (x2) instead of the full +29 (x2) expected. Maybe overflow can't exceed the base cost of what was produced.

T120: Parthenon fail gold comes in! 456 total, very nice.
T125: Glib finishes, starting National Epic in capital. (I do stop this for 2 or 3 turns so other cities can put full fail gold into NE, but should it maybe have been delayed so I could focus even more on fail gold?)
T140: NE finishes, 279 in failgold.
- 10 Turns away from Optics, starting 3 settlers now.
T141: GS is born in 2nd city.
T147: GS born in capital.
- Joao II has optics, so he spots my work boat first!
- I have NO techs I can trade him

Spoiler Tech Deficit: :

T149: Optics finishes!
T154: 2x Bulb Astronomy (needed to apply another 100 or so to finish)
T155: Astronomy kicking in, resource trading/selling (+22/t, +2 from spices and wine)

Spoiler New Tech Deficit: :

I'm noticeably behind and have 2 civs left to meet. Portugal and Khmer are plotting or at war with a civ I haven't met yet. Greece shows "-1 You have declared war on our friend!" towards Khmer, so I'm assuming that war is still ongoing and that explains the red fist. Portugal is Cautious with both the French and me, so tough to say. I assume the French (at 13 cities) have a good ratio to them though, so Portugal isn't likely to plot on them. He may be plotting on me for my low power, but can he plot on me while he doesn't have Astronomy? If so, I certainly won't trade it to him, and want to scout the rest of his continent anyways.

Aiming for Paper and another GS (bulb Edu) in 4 turns, think I can win Liberalism. Not sure what I'll use it on, depends on how long I can delay getting it after seeing the others' techs at the time. My main goal is to get to Steel so I can begin cannon production and drydocks, because of this, there's also the thought of ignoring Liberalism route, and rushing Steel now.

Guilds 1160
Gunpowder 1625
Chemistry 2089
Steel 3250
Total: 8124

Paper 812
Education 2437 (- ~1620 bulb, which makes Edu cost 1087 after prereq scalars)
Philosophy 928 or 812 if I can trade for Drama beforehand
Liberalism 1625 (Free Chemistry, Steel, or Nationalism?)
Gunpowder 1625
Chemistry 2089
Steel 3250
Total: 8150 to 9427 (assuming I win Liberalism)

Seems like Lib route is too good to turn down. Nationalism (2089) is another possible detour for Taj Mahal - getting as much fail gold as possible before finishing. It's also going to take 17 turns after my next GS to finish my 5th GS, which is another ~1640 which goes towards Printing Press, bringing it down to about 1000, then divided by 1.6 for prereq techs: 625. Applying 625 of my own towards printing press sounds good, but delays Steel. Should pick it up after Steel.

I've also never actually used the Steel rushing route for invasions, I assume my army should be composed of ~60 - 70% cannons, the rest musketeers/riflemen? Maybe cuirs/cavalry if I had horse.

 

[Lain]

Looking quite reasonable. A save or two would be helpful to give better feedback. It seems like you might have expanded too cautiously (stayed on 4 cities for a long time?). It's a balancing act and I still spend a lot of time thinking about that. I feel that seafood in 2nd ring is best ignored until Optics is secured, but it's hard to give general guidelines.

Generally speaking, I've come to ignore Lib in my isolation games. It's a good tech path when you can bulb towards it and pick something expensive (Military Tradition being a classic example). Here, we already blew a few bulbs on Astronomy. So the next GS is more expensive. Paper/Education/Lib by themselves are rather useless. You won't build Oxford before launching the first attack (I think). If you can lib Steel, that's great, but in that case you are so far ahead that you can pick a win condition. But if you have to lib Nationalism or something, I don't know... I'd argue that just beelining Steel and blowing a GS on a golden age or Chemistry could be better.

Stack composition... yeah, mostly cannons. They are your strongest unit on defense and offense for a long time. Just mix it up for the rest. I tend to have more Macemen than other things. A few Pikes and Musketmen to guard cities, maybe. Depends on what your enemy is likely to have. Here is a stack from one of my better games. Consider the time of attack aswell. Was a hell of a game.

Spoiler :