[BTS] Let's Play - Immortal Hammy

Did some calculations. Without chopping I can get 7 unpromoted axemen out by T60: 3 in Babylon by 2pop whipping a granary first, growing back to size 4 while finishing the first axeman using the whip overflow, then 2pop whip another axe and finish the third one with the overflow. Stack up some unhappiness but I can manage that for now. Akkad and Dur-Kur can both slowbuild 2 axeman, maybe use a 1pop whip when they reach size 3, since they have only 2 nice tiles to work. Workers can add some extra hammers here by chopping around Akkad and Dur-Kur.

In retrospect, I should have gone writing first if I would decide to execute above-mentioned plan. So maybe I have to abandon this plan and continue peacefully: Grow Babylon on cottages, generate failgold from GW, build settler for wheat/corn site, tech Maths and chop/whip Mids...
 
With cheap aggressive barracks (only 25H), would it pay off to build them before the Axe buildup?
 
I think if a city produces say 3 units before attack, a 25:hammers: barracks is a good choice. Because Zara is being so slow to expand, I think you should use espionage-screen to see when he is producing a settler. He will escort it with at least 1 archer, leaving Aksum more lightly defended. 7 axes (+ maybe 1-2 warriors), if some of them are promoted, should be enough at that point.
 
Turnset T45 - T54

Followed my turn-by-turn spreadsheet without any unexpected situations. Plan is to set up barracks asap in all cities, then crank out a battalion of axemen, and pay Zara a little visit.

T45. Quickly switched into anarchy, and let the workers mine 1 turn on the copper. They will continue working on the road on the FP to connect DurKur next turn.
T47. A wounded barb archer approaches from the barb city in the SE. He is no match for my warrior awaiting him.
Spoiler Barb attack :

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T50. Akkad finishes the worker and starts on a barracks. Worker will add a little chop in a few turns.
T51. Nicely timed granary whip in Babylon will finish the barracks with the overflow.
Spoiler Granary whip :

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T52. Workers finish a cottage 2N1W of Babylon, and both move to forested hills to contribute to the axeman buildup with some chops.
T54. Writing is in. Paused. Only Stonehenge has been built, but not by Ethiopia.
Spoiler City plans and empire overview :

Opened borders with Ethiopia (so I can sneak around my future countryside), China (direct neighbour to the west and no worst enemy of anyone), and Korea (who managed to build SH).

Babylon will finish an axeman on T56, with 4:hammers: overflow into next axeman. Will grow to size 4 on T57, so I can 2pop whip with maximum overflow, finishing 2 axeman in 2 turns.
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Akkad has massive overflow due to chopped forest 1S, finishing the axeman on T56. Will grow on T61, and since it has no more than 2 good tiles will whip this citizen straight into another axeman.
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Dur-Kur will finish the current axeman on T56 with additional chop. On T59 DK will grow to size 3, immediately whipping away this citizen, allowing to finish 2 axeman in 2 turns.
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This all gives 9 axemen by T62. That will be enough to (at least) take Aksum, although chariots will be annoying.

Empire overview:
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Zara has a sabotage production cost of 115 right now. What would that mean?
Planning to road towards Zara to speed up attack. What would be the best route? Target for the forested hill 1S of Aksum?
 
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Everything looking excellent. :thumbsup: I actually don't think you need many more than 9 of those axes. Maybe like 10-12 total is enough? I'd assume you can't lose more than like 4 on Aksum, and the rest should be easier. I am also assuming you are not planning to take out more civs than Ethiopia right now. There might be some tasty barb cities for them, though.

I'd start to concentrate on capital growth very soon, getting up a library then turning tech back to 100%. At size 6 (current :)-cap), working 2 farmed fp, 3 cottaged fp and a gh-mine you are still +8:food:. You need to get some :)-resources in the next say 15 turns. This means your workers have lots to do, after chopping those axes I think roads should be a priority to establish foreign connection not only for +:commerce: from trade routes but also for resource trades. Capturing a worker in war might be more valuable than a weak city.

Zara has a sabotage production cost of 115 right now. What would that mean?
From another thread, quoting WastinTime:

open the Espionage screen.
Look at the cost to Sabotage the city's production.
Divide by the cost to support city revolt
Multiply by 108 (and round up)

Planning to road towards Zara to speed up attack. What would be the best route? Target for the forested hill 1S of Aksum?

Yes, roads 1SE of Akkad and to the floodplain, heading 1S of Aksum. You will be out in the open for 1 turn, but he shouldn't have many/any chariots by then.

Oh btw, I think barbs can spawn 2W of wheat. City borders don't act as spawn busters per se, but of course barbs won't spawn on visible tiles, though. This could be a problem if a barb heads straight to Durrrr-K. Moving your spawn buster 1NW solves the issue, and it also allows a barb city to spawn on your marked city spot, which imo would be great for you.

Edit: Having a warrior with medic in the attacking force would be great, if possible.
 
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Turnset T54 - T70. The Battle for Ethiopia

T54. As planned, I start building up a squadron of axemen in anticipation for the attack on Ehtiopia.
T57. Following the turn-by-turn plans described in my previous post, I pull some nice whip-tricks out of the large hat.
Spoiler Babylon feels the power of the whip :

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T58. Using the espionage calculations of @WastinTime (thanks for looking that up @sampsa ) I keep an eye on the buildup in Aksum. While China builds the GW, Aksum has 46H invested in something.
Spoiler What would it be... :

It's a trap! Eh.. a lighthouse! Good on you Zara[pimp]
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T62. While I'm preparing my battle forces, Zara builds
Spoiler ... :
The Oracle. Outstanding performance. I'm proud of you. Unfortunately I won't tech Alpha in time to extort a nice tech deal.


T64. Given the low number of units my scout can find in Ethiopia, I keep the number of Axes to 8, and let one big overflow in Hur-Dur go into a settler for the wheat/corn spot. Positioning them close to the border means... hammer time!
Spoiler :hammer: :

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T66. Zara chooses not to attack my stack in the open, however he whips a defender on top of his 2 archers and 1 chariot. What would a wise man do... Whip another chariot ofcourse! [pimp]Let the battle begin. My first C1CR1 axe is lucky and wins at 8.1%. Second C1CR1 loses at 17% odds but redlines the only archer left. So 2 C2 axes mop up the chariots, and a C1 axe takes out the wounded archer. Aksum is mine, including the beautiful lighthouse and Oracle. Unfortunately they are of no use yet, cause I don't have neither fishing nor priesthood.


T70. Four turns later I stand at the gates of Gondar with the remains of my army. Which is 7 axeman and 1 warrior. In between Zara decides to whip another defender. And he still has some weed left, cause again I see an extra chariot facing my troops. Tough luck Mr. Zara. I lose the first battle with a C1CR1 axe at 59%, but win the rest of the battles. Gondar is mine, Ethiopia is no more! :dance:

In the meantime, I've completed the settler in Dur-Kur and settled Nippur. It will grow on the pre-farmed corn, quickly setting up a granary. After that it will be time for whipping and math-improved chops. Hopefully I can finish the mids there, and get some failgold of it in Babylon (where I 3pop whipped a library with max overflow in the mids). Will grow to size six again and work some scientists for my academy. I still have some sites to settle, roads to construct, thus an empire to build. Will have to decide what my next move will be after maths. Since I'll both have stone and marble, and plenty of forests around, I could really build myself some nice wonders.

Spoiler Empire overview :

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It looks great! :king:
Also, by some resaon, it looks too easy for you. Why didn't you start Deity game? :thumbsup:
 
It looks great! :king:
Also, by some resaon, it looks too easy for you. Why didn't you start Deity game? :thumbsup:
Thanks! Now I'm gonna have to work my way on from this point, and leverage the gain in land. So here it goes again...

Turnset T70 - T80

Turn 71 - 1160BC: Hatty switches to Judaism, joining Brennus' side. She's won't be good friends with him yet (-5 starting relations), however she hasn't made herself popular with Isa. Korea and China haven't adopted a religion. As for my empire: Babylon has hit the happy cap, and is working 2 scientists and its cottages. This will give me math in just 2 turns.
Turn 72 - 1120BC: Hatties borders expand in my SW corner. Will road towards her for foreign TR's. Warrior reveals a whale in the north, not very attractive to settle there for now.
Turn 73 - 1080BC: Math is in. Workers are busy around Nippur. The wheat is being improved, and one worker was chopping already in anticipation for the increased :hammers:output. Next tech is fishing, so that Aksum can work its crabs. Can research it in one turn with some clever micro. Aksum will do a 2pop granary whip, followed by 2pop library whip when at size 4 again. Will be a nice National Epic spot (I think).
Turn 74 - 1040BC: The axe squadron is healed up and heading towards the barb city close to Brennus' borders. Going to check out whether it is worth keeping or not. Fishing is in, so I switch to 0% research. I'm only making 8:gold: per turn. Dur-Kur is building more workers to improve all the newly acquired land. Or just chop out the mids.
Turn 75 - 1000BC: 1 pop whip the granary in Nippur. Will grow as fast as possible here in order to work all 3 mines currently under construction. Did the calculations, and that gives me more hammers than quickly growing and whipping workers/settlers into the mids.
Turn 76 - 975BC: Nippur finishes the granary and starts working on the mids. Babylon switches to aquaduct, which it will whip into the Hanging Gardens as the time comes. First I want to get the GS for an academy. Aksum has grown to size 4 so I whip a granary. Overflow will go into a library.
Turn 77 - 950BC: Hatty adopts organised religion, she too is going the religious path. No one has alpha yet. My current research (from the scientists) is going in aesthetics. Hope to trade it for alpha eventually, and use the marble to build me some nice wonders (or collect failgold). The barb city is heavily guarded by 4 arches, with Brennus and Qin lingering around. Will be no match for my promoted axemen.
Spoiler Barb city :

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Turn 78 - 925BC: Nothing newsworthy happens.
Turn 79 - 900BC: Babylon will grow into unhappiness so I avoid growth one turn. Working all cottages instead of farms already to slow the growth.
Turn 80 - 875BC: My backup axeman have arrived, to it's time to learn those barbarians some manners:hammer:. CR3 axeman wins at 88% odds against a CG1 archer, but then... CR2 loses at 85%, followed by two C3 losing at 69% :dubious:. Luckily I have enough backup to mop up the wounded archers (even my healer warrior has to join the battle), but eventually Anasazi is mine. To raze! It's at a really crappy location, will settle a city myself 2N1W (or 1N1W) of its ruins. If Brennus won't beat me to it... So that's where I currently stand. I have enough cash now to fund researching Aesthetics in 6 turns. I don't think it's worth waiting for the GS until going 100% research. Still no AI has alpha yet, don't know what they're doing. At the wonder front only Stonehenge, The Great Wall and the Oracle have been built. I have 100:hammers: in the mids at the moment, with 5 forests nominated to be chopped. Can finish it on T87 according to my calculations. Just in time to generate some failgold to continue teching. Hopefully I'll be able to get meditation/polytheism/monotheism in trades, to that I can focus on Literature for the Great Library (which I want to build in Aksum).
Spoiler Empire overview :

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Uploaded the save: rename to *.CivBeyondSwordSave to make it work.
 

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In hindsight I never should have kept Gondar at its current location:nono:. Now it's only contributing in maintenance... and not in a good way. Replacing it 1W or 1E, would have contributed much more.
 
Well even with zero buildings and size 1, it's still 100:hammers:. Yes you need to get a border pop (Aksum border pop if fine for now though), but it's not far away. Do you really need that work boat out btw? I'd consider working coast.

A bit disappointing with the trade routes - you are connected to only two out of five AI left. Those resource trades would do you a lot of good. I think I'd have opened borders with one of the religion founders too, I mean getting them to missionary spam is very very good for you.
 
Checked the save, I think you should OB with Isabella and road to her. Obv sailing is not far away either, which should guarantee you routes to everyone. If you are afraid of demands to stop trading with worst enemy, cancel the deal in 10 turns. You probably do get some missionaries for free in that time.
 
Checked the save, I think you should OB with Isabella and road to her. Obv sailing is not far away either, which should guarantee you routes to everyone. If you are afraid of demands to stop trading with worst enemy, cancel the deal in 10 turns. You probably do get some missionaries for free in that time.
I'll do that, she's close to my eastern borders and indeed a religious spammer. Hopefully she will spread buddhism to Gondar for a border pop.
 
Ok first a reminder to myself: don't make notes in notepad but in a forum post. Forum has autosave, notepad doesn't. :old: My pc just crashed right after a complete turnset... luckily I still have the pictures! So here we go... turns 80 to 88:

T80 - 875 BC: I switch Gondar to work the coast, open borders with Isa. Move northern warrior towards Nippur because it will grow into unhappiness soon.
T81 - 850BC: I spot a settling party of Isa approaching, hopefully she won't target my FP/gold spot. My settler won't be finished until T84 with two chops.
Spoiler :
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T82 - 825BC: Salamanca is settled. :confused: That cannot have been the same settler I saw last turn, so there must have been another one. I'm afraid Isa is definitely targeting the gold site! Better hurry my settler in Akkad... (Aksum is not actually building the settler, was just a placeholder. I think I whipped the library there 4-->2 so I can work scientists there, and pop the borders soon.)
Spoiler :
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T83 - 800BC: Qin builds the Great Lighthouse. Well done buddy. No other wonders yet, my Mids will be safe, I'm sure. Still no alpha...
T84 - 775BC: Settler is finished in Akkad. I spot Isa's settler at the forested PH 2N of the gold. I can't reach my desired spot this turn, so hopefully Isa is going for the same spot and doesn't settle on one of the desert tiles...:shifty:
T85 - 750BC: Lol AI's can be funny sometimes [pimp]. Isa does the expected and moves to the best spot to settle (which is quite good for the AI), however unfortunately for her I am just a bit quicker! Borsippa is settled. Isa is disappointed
Spoiler :
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T86 - 725BC: In the south, Brennus shows up with a settler to claim some of the land of the raised barb city. I trade some animals around with Hatty for better relations. With a final chop I will finish the Mids next turn. Aesthetics is in, will research mysticism in one turn in anticipation of tech trades to come. Need polytheism for literature, so I can build the Great Library and National Epic in Aksum, my future GP-farm.
Spoiler :
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T87 - 700BC: The Piramids are mine! :run: In Babylon a GS is born, I honor him by erecting an academy. The scientists responsible for this memorable fact are whipped away into an aquaduct. Overflow will go into the Hanging Gardens. I switch into Representation, so unfortunately there is one turn of mandatory anarchy.
Spoiler :
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T88 - 675BC: An eventful turn: firstly, I receive my failgold from the mids. Secondly, Brennus settles Camulodunumdududum in the jungle. That leaves my desired future settling spot still available. Thirdly, Hatty is the first to research Alpha! She will trade it for Maths & Aest, chipping in Sailing and Hunting. I'm not very keen on this trade, I'd rather have Poly but she won't trade it to me (she has her reasons...). Should I put one turn into Alpha and try to trade it for Aest alone?
Spoiler :
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That concludes this turnset. I'll get alpha soon and hopefully make some nice trades with the other AI. Mistakes noted: have been neglecting the trade route income, still no roads into Spain. Workers have been too busy chopping the settler and mids. I hope to get a few more workers soon. Feel free to comment on any other mistakes, stupid moves, or any other epic fails I haven't even noticed!

Edit: Note that Hatty switched into Hinduism at T87 or T88. There will be no lovefest on this landmass, that's for sure! :ar15:
 
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Turnset T88 - T99

T88 - 675BC: Will put one turn research into alpha, so I can hopefully trade it next turn with Hatty. OB with Brennus.

T89 - 650BC: Confucianism in Korea. Isa expands to 9 cities. Borders of Aksum pop, so Gondar can finally work the sheep. Start building HG in Babylon, will add some chops. Trades: Aest for Alpha with Hatty, Math for IW with Wang. Find iron at Borsippa. Luckily I was able to snatch that city under Isa's nose. Need to get libraries up so I can work Rep-scientists. Will whip one in Nippur next turn. Can't get medi or poly yet, maybe next turn... Meanwhile doing +9:gold: at 0% research.
Spoiler :
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T90 - 625BC: Temple of Artemis built by Egypt, so polytheism get available on the market. Trade Math for Sailing and Poly with Hatty, and clams for crabs with Brennus. Whip library in Nippur. Start researching literature (3 turns). Want to build GLib in Aksum
Spoiler :
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T91 - 600BC: Start putting some hammers in Panthenon for failgold. Same for Maoi in Nippur. Trade Sailing + Writing for Monotheism with Brennus. Still Hatty is the only Civ with alpha, so all the others are starting to trail behind (see trade screen). Next turn I'll try to get PH for Mono from Wang.
Spoiler :
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T92 - 575BC: Trade PH for Mono.
T93 - 550BC: Finish Hanging Gardens! Start settler in Aksum to whip into GLib, workers start chopping. With extra citizen from HG i whip the library in Dur-kur.
T94 - 525BC: Buddhism and confucianism spread. I got all religion, if I need to switch into one. Isa, Brennuns, Wang and Hatty are all in different religions. No wars yet, but definitely some worst enemies. Maybe I can start a war somewhere...
T95 - 500BC: Wang uses Great Spy to start a GA. Whip granaries in Borsippa and Akkad. Whip Library in Gondar.
T96 - 475BC: Whip settler in Aksum, overflow will go into GLib. Got some chops ready for it.
T97 - 450BC: Chop 4 forests into GLib.
T98 - 425BC: Trade Meditation for Mono with Qin.
T99 - 400BC: Finish Currency. Sippar is founded. Will finish GLib next turn with one extra chop, will start with NEpic in Aksum next. This will be my GP farm.
Spoiler :
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Have to decide on my next tech now, and what I'm aiming on further. Could easily peacefully continue to lib MT and do a classic cuir outbreak. Especially now I can fund my research by selling outdated techs.
 

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From the pictures, It looks like you have very good position. So, having 8 cities and horses it looks like Cuirs rush should bring to easy win. Most of you cities have good amount of food, so, whipping cuirs you can easily have overhelming army.:king:
 
Ok first a reminder to myself: don't make notes in notepad but in a forum post. Forum has autosave, notepad doesn't. :old:

Get Notepad++, it retains open tabs across shutdowns, as well as being a better editor of just about every file type.
 
I agree with the Notepad++ comment.

Turn resource bubbles on in your screenshot :)

I would consider a helper city for the capital, to work more cottage tiles pre-bureaucracy. E.g. 3W1S. That site also has plenty of food to later turn into a cuirassier whipping center.
Is there room for a city in the North?

What is the research plan? Do you want the Colossus? Doesn't seem especially useful here. A Music Golden Age, or Civil Service, would be my default options.
 
I agree with the Notepad++ comment too :)

There is space for a city up north, with marble, horse and whale. No food however so I don't know whether it will be of much value any time soon. Was considering to squeeze in an additional city in the SW, will add some border tension but I do see the added value of this. Will see where I will get the extra settler from.

Tech-wise, Metal Casting was just a placeholder. Music is not really competed yet, since only Hatty knows aest, however I probably will trade this tech around for all the cash. Maybe I will add drama, it will give me a discount for music and can always be used as a nice trade bait. Maybe Wang will trade me CoL in the meantime, so I only have to tech CS myself. GA from music and bureaucracy from CS are the main targets now.

Edit: drama is also required for Philosophy (bulb?) -> Nationalism (Taj)
 
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