King of the World #10: Charles de Gaulle

[Neal]

Round 0: Bonjour! (4000 B.C.)
Round 1: A Huge Target (4000 B.C. - 1775 B.C.)
Round 2: Finding Religion (1775 B.C. - 700 B.C.)
Round 3: High Gear! (700 B.C. - 235 A.D.)
Round 4: Get Off My Lawn! (235 A.D. - 890 A.D.)
Round 5: Untangling the Web (890 A.D. - 1190 A.D.)
Round 6: Living Green (1190 A.D. - 1495 A.D.)
Round 7: No more Mr. Nice Gaulle (1495 A.D. - 1704 A.D.)
Round 8: Stack Bustin' (1704 A.D. - 1806 A.D.)
Round 9: Out of This World (1806 A.D. - 1866 A.D.)
Alternate History: To the Stars! (1806 A.D. - 1955 A.D.)

(NOTE: Due to the massive size of save files on a 34 Civ map, all De Gaulle saves except the opening have been removed. I have them on my hard drive, though, so if you want one for posterity's sake, just pm me.)

Welcome back to the 10th installment of the King of the World series. As you probably know, this series focuses on various Earth maps in order to place the various leaders in context and, well, because taking over Eurasia is more fun than conquering a random potato-shaped blob of dirt in the middle of the ocean.

In this game, we will return to the 34 Civ map (and leave it messy and crowded) in order to lead a One-City Challenge with the Free French, led by Charles de Gaulle:



Charles is Industrious, which is huge for a One-City Challenge (especially when surrounded by hostile cultures) and Charismatic (less helpful, but those extra happiness will help until the Globe Theater is built, and the military boost might save our butts during wartime). His Unique Unit is the two-move Musketeer, which is kind of limited in use, but may come in handy. The Unique Building is the Salon, an Observatory with a free Artist. Kind of a minor addition, but, hey. Every free specialist helps!

So how does France look?



... Crowded. First off, do we settle in place or maybe make a move (perhaps 1N)? That would put us into direct contention with those Creative Dutch, so I dunno. Paris is such a powerhouse spot that we may as well not mess with success.

Second, what should our Tech path be? I'm thinking that we should go straight for Mining-Masonry and maybe even Bronze Working and delay Animal Husbandry. We'll be running such a food surplus that getting those Quarries up and running would seem to be more important than having babies that we can't keep happy.

Third, how many Workers should I build? It feels to me like even a second one would be a waste of hammers, though I am notorious for going Worker-light. It just seems like even a single Worker can build improvements at a pace equal to population expansion, especially once Specialists start getting assigned. Then again, early on, there's not a heck of a lot to build in Paris...

Finally, how nice should I play this? I'm tempted to send my lone Warrior to kill off Herr Otto, if only so that I could meet some more Civs before borders can be opened. In addition, someone will inevitably refound the spot, but this'll give my culture a big start on the eastern front.

Long term, I don't know that I really expect a win like I have in the past games in this series. I think that if we survive into the 20th century and make a good showing for ourselves, I'll be happy. Of course, this doesn't mean that I won't try, but the OCC is kind of foreign soil for me, so I'm not going to get cocky. Oh, and Permanent Alliances have been turned off.

Here's the initial save (remember to load The Mod first):

 

[Civman33]

Cool! Charles De Gaulle is my favorite French leader. And if you change the terrain again, ( Huayna escaping, Panama, Giving GK a floodplains, ) that would be great. Woot! Woot! First post!.

 

[Civman33]

Just settle in place, it is best if you are allowed. Just watch out for AC, praetorians aren't so nice...

Anyways, it's too risky to try to eliminate Otto, what if he gets 2 warriors right off the bat? ( Get it? Warriors carry bats. ) Just try to get swordsmen and rush Boudica, how about that? Take out England so you can get another jerk off your diplomacy screen. Oh, and why is England's leader still Elizabeth other than Churchill?

 

[oyzar]

Settle on the marble, doesn't lose a turn compared to 1E(and isn't really much worse since it can work the iron) and gain more pigs than 1N. Tech path something like myst -> masonery or maybe mining ->myst->masonery(depends on how worker actions match up). Build henge(mostly for the culture, but it also gives 1 happiness, and it is cheap, though the GPP is rather uneeded) then mids. You are taking the first turn so you get control over the stone and the wheat right? Otherwise this plan won't work too well... After that something like AH->writing->BW(or maybe alpha first) seems best...

 

[r_rolo1]

You gain exactly 0 in killing the Iron Chanceler.

 

[Civman33]

One more thing, why don't the Celts start in Ireland in the Celtic Ireland version?

 

[Camikaze]

Kill the Celts early to ensure your access to horses. And I reckon more than one wonder wouldn't be a waste of production, as long as it is a good wonder. They could make all the difference. And it's Paris. You have to build wonders.

 

[gskyes]

I second the vote for settling 1NE on the marble. That spot will have access to 6 food resources in the BFC.

 

[Power_of_Beer]

One question on OCC, i have no experience there: Can enemy capitals be flipped and so be destroyed (like normal cities)? I'm pretty sure London and Bibactre would flip somewhere in the middle ages ...

 

[r_rolo1]

OCC = can't build settlers and foreign cities are razed upon capture ( this includes flips, but not IIRC AP/UN assign cities vote )

 

[GeorgeF]

I usually like settling on Marble, but 1NE loses you Horse and a Hill in your BFC, that is too much early game production to lose.

 

[Soirana]

IMO, settle in place. If i understand mechanics correct getting horses and hill from Boudica will be major battle. So if you want kill someone kill her.

Besides you can squeeze warrior between Otto and Charlie before borders pops, that will introduce yourself to half the world.

I would go Mysticism/Masonry. Afterwards BW and towards Priesthood.

I did tested some of mine ideas in practice

Spoiler :

By 1450BC i managed to built [with some chopping and whipping] Stonehenge/MIDS/Oracle [taking MC]/ToA. Settled GE an running representation. Got pigs in north [with pasture before i traded for AH]. Traded for basics like AH/Pottery/Writing. Currently building Forge and teching maths for hopefully Hanging Gardens.

Incredible as it is, Horses and hill still belongs to Boudica, although i am putting real pressure now.

Few things: i liked farming wine, whipping was unavoidable as where is not enough production tiles arround where.

 

[Ormur]

Just settle in place Paris has the best city location on the map and that's saying a lot for this map. Maybe you should try killing Boudica so you wont have to wait for the flip to get horses but you shouldn't kill more than one European civ.

 

[huerfanista]

One more thing, why don't the Celts start in Ireland in the Celtic Ireland version?

Because the WB save is set up wrong. I posted a fix in Neal's Throne Room (link is in his sig). Personally, I find it really stupid to have the Irish start in the french Riviera.

@Neal-

Settle in place and wonderspam. You should easily be able to take henge, oracle, mids, ToA, perhaps others. What else do you have to do? With some aggressive wonderspamming I think you'll flip London and Biberacte, and will starve tiles from Berlin. Early tech path I'd take would be msyt, mining, masonry, BW (for slavery, not much need for chops), poly (ToA), PH, pottery (to take MC from Oracle), writing, IW. Build worker, henge, warrior (for happy cap), oracle, mids, ToA. You should be safe from barbs with all of the crowding in Europe, so I'd wait until IW for serious unit builds. If you get MC from Oracle you can probably build Colossus as well, even without copper.

 

[mystyfly]

Why do you bother with emperor?

 

[Gwynnja]

I vote for settling on the marble. I don't think you need the horse in the bfc, there will be plenty of production from the stone, cow, iron, and settled priests.

 

[Insanity_X]

Personally, I find it really stupid to have the Irish start in the french Riviera.

Except that the Celts were originally from mainland Europe. (Brennus attacked Rome, the Gauls were said to have originally been called Celts), not to mention that Genetic evidence suggests that they were originally a medditaranian people who first settled in southern France in around 11,000 BC. so it makes perfect sence for the Celts to start in southern France.

 

[Joshua368]

Don't warrior rush anyone... it'll ruin the fun of killing them with culture! Plus its an OCC, so you should behave like the AIs and not declare until 1000 BC at least. Plus if you must warrior rush someone, you'll gain absolutely nothing from killing Otto, Willem and Boudica will be the only civs threatening your good tiles. I suggest staying put until Writing.

Also, settling in place is fine. It's a strong city.


As for tech path, food is already taken care of with the wheat. (and farmed pigs) You're absolutely right that you won't really need more than one worker, until maybe later if you're losing tiles to pillagers or spies.

So without having to worry about workers, settlers, or military (AI won't declare for a first few thousand years) you get to build wonders, wonders, wonders! Wonderspam like a total newb, it's okay! Enjoy it! Your early tech path should be along the lines of Mysticism --> Masonry... then maybe Mining and Bronze Working. Animal Husbandry isn't too important, in fact Willem should be kind enough to build one of your pastures for you.

Stonehenge is your first priority. Go mysticism first and start working on it as soon as the worker is done. (in fact I suggest working at least a 1-hammer tile until the farm is set up to enjoy the free industrious hammer) Normally in a OCC Stonehenge isn't an extremely high priority, just great for early great prophet points, but this is a unique case. Simple fact: It gives a lot of culture. 1 from the monument, 8 from the wonder, the latter of which quickly doubles to 16. And you're going to need all of it!

After that I'm sure you know that Pyramids is the only wonder really vital to an OCC. Have the stone hooked up and build it right after stonehenge. You need representation if you hope to keep up with the AIs in tech, but with it your tech rate will be insane. After the pyramids, the other wonders don't really matter much... just build them for the great people points. You want to get most of your GPs from wonders, not specialists.

You won't have much to spend hammers on (after your defensive military...) so feel free to blow over 250 hammers on say 2 Great Prophet points, things like the Hagia Sophia, Chichen Itza and Angkor Wat are fair game. Just think twice before building great artist wonders... make sure they're worth it. (Parthenon is pretty nice.) Also Oracle --> Metal Casting slingshot might be a nice idea. Temple of Artemis is a pretty nice OCC wonder (+5 great people points!) so consider it.

And I'm not entirely sure how familiar you are with the basic rules of an OCC, so here's a summary...

- Build pyramids, run representation, build various other shinies
- Whip sparingly, might want to stay out altogether to avoid nasty revolts
- Mine hills, farm flatlands, don't bother with cottages; workshops may be okay
- Don't worry about running too many specialists, most of your great people should come from wonders
- Settle every great person immediately. Don't bother with shrines, wonder rushing, trade missions, culture bombs, spy infiltration, golden ages, or bulbing. The only exception is build an acadamy with your first Great Scientist.
- Think over any offensive military campaigns carefully... what exactly will you gain?
- Don't wait until declared on to begin building basic defense. Though it can wait until around 1000 BC, don't expect any declarations before then.

 

[DMOC]

I will also advocate settling on the marble. It takes away a production tile, that's for sure, but in the long-term, it will provide the city with more food. And, since you only have 1 city, you won't be able to take the food with a second city so you want to maximize the capital's growth.

I think Paris should get 1) Oxford 2) National Epic 3) Iron Works 4) Globe Theatre 5) Up to debate...Wall Street is a no-no...Moai isn't so appealing...Heroic Epic might not be needed with so much production already...National Park will reduce the impact of the Iron works....

 

[UWHabs]

Also, the Great Wall is a pretty nice wonder for a OCC. Since all your battles are within your borders, getting extra GG points isn't bad.

Now, since you're going to want to culture flip cities, high culture wonders are nice. So, I wouldn't worry about the GA points, I'd still build wonders like the SoZ or the Mausoleum for the culture.