LK104 - AWM & 20K

[ThERat]

I was thinking of white dot the moment I saw the map, great progress Bugs, tough game huh

I agree with Smiths and Magellan as backup. After economic we should beeline for steam.

As for expansion I would not go the way of least resistance but hurt the dangerous Civs, namely America, they got salt, where in the world is it? We need to secure it before Cav's show up, their move 3 would make working near borders extremely troublesome.

 

[LKendter]

great progress Bugs, tough game huh

For "only" being monarch this game has been brutal. We continue to expand, but not that fast.

The game has improved a lot since the BC time frame. While the date is still late, at least 20K can happen. The work force went from horrid to decent and the free workers continue to pour in with another 6 coming home shortly.

Killing off the Inca really helped with us getting SoZ for free military and lots of culture. Did you know that SoZ and Shakespeare tie for the best culture per shield? What was better is we got the key early resources of horses and iron.

I agree with Smiths and Magellan as backup. After economic we should beeline for steam.

That is a good point to push ASAP toward steam. Even military tradition doesn't make sense until we secure salt. I would save metallurgy for the last mandatory tech of this era to get as many free AC as possible. AC will stay effective for longbow killing for the rest of the game.

As for expansion I would not go the way of least resistance but hurt the dangerous Civs, namely America, they got salt, where in the world is it?

We are on the same page. Step 1 is securing the southwest. From there we can plot the next section to lock down. Since Rome has no luxuries or resources expanding that direction doesn't help much.

I am starting to think securing the other section of the lake may be next. Replace Byzantium and two cities coming up the row from Bonn. This secure that flank before the hard push north.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

Securing the northeast is a good idea, however, we should send an army exploring in that direction. Perhaps when our crusader army is filled it can get some terrain intel for us. Right now we just know we have mountains to deal with up there.

 

[LKendter]

I just had a really interesting thought.

As rough as this game as been, what would it be like if the AIs build both unit wonders?

 

[Tatran]

This thread is a pleasure to follow.
You guys are doing great.
You were unfortunate with the resources,but had
luck with the late first contacts.
You survived,managed get the necessary resources,
owning the SoZ + KT.Victory is just a matter of time.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

Victory is just a matter of time.

Way to jinx us! I have had too many games go the wrong way to ever take something for granted.

 

[ThERat]

Victory is just a matter of time.

I don't really agree, this game is brutal and could easily go wrong. We have no salt and none can be seen. We have several really tough opponents streaming in from 3 directions, this is not won yet.

 

[LKendter]

Got it, will wait for wonder discussion.

I don't think we are going to get much more on wonders. Have you started playing?

 

[dl123654]

I've started, finishing up now.

 

[dl123654]

Save

Preturn 850AD:

IBT:
Carthage lands a knight in the south

Turn 1 860AD:
Kill the knight

IBT:
Rome founds a new city near our site

Turn 2 870AD:
Capture more slaves

Turn 3 880AD:
Banking->Econ in 5

IBT:
Rome contacts us, willing to give 2.5 of top cities for peace

Carthage lands a settler pair in our south

Turn 4 890AD:
My elite dies attacking the settler pair no other units in range

IBT:
Carthage founds a city in the south

Turn 5 900AD:
Mayans start Shakesphere

Turn 6 910AD:
Found Heidelburg taking the iron
Auto raze Saldae (Carthage southern city)

Turn 7 920AD:
Raze Caesaraugusta (Romes new iron city)

Turn 8 930AD:
Carthage finially finishes Leoardo

Turn 9 940AD:
Cascades go to Bach and Shakesphere
Found Salzburg in the south

IBT:
America offers peace
Mayans land a knight near Frankfurt

Turn 10 950AD:
Mayans complete Bach
Iroquois cascade to Magellan and finish it
Econ in 1 so no production loss

 

[LKendter]

Iroquois cascade to Magellan and finish it

Well that bites. The AI usually sucks for Magellan. I thought we could get those points later.
At least with Bach's, Leo's and Magellan gone the cascade is breaking. Now if Sistine would go away before soon to totally break it...

Signed up:
LKendter (currently playing)
ThERat (on deck)
Sir Bugsy (vacation Aug 5 to Aug 7)
Kaiser_Berger (dropped)
Dl123654


Remember 10 turns per round - STRICT 24 hours got it, total 48 hours to at complete.

Additional restrictions:
Armies may NOT be used more then 5 tiles from OUR cultural borders.

Leaders may ONLY be used for armies or to rush a building / small wonder in the 20K city. If you can't form an army the leader must go to the 20K city.

The game MUST be won by 20K - period.

This is the standard LK AW type game with NO initial trading.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

Didn't some one already get Sistine?

 

[LKendter]

Didn't some one already get Sistine?

Yes, but there are still 2 civs building Shakespeare. I hope it is built before any AI learns economics.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

If memory serves (BTW, that is a very big IF) Magellan's would have been completed aroud 1010-1020 AD. I wonder if we can hold them off for 6-7 turns to get Smith's.

 

[LKendter]

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/LK104-1050AD.zip


950 AD
I am not sure if building Salzburg was a good thing or not. Getting another city is nice, but it ends the AI settler parade trying to get to that spot. I never argue with additional labor.

We really need another luxury. I hate having specialist in our core cities.

What I like is the troops concentration is a lot less then the last round I played.

My only complaint is workers at the edge of the empire. I have lost workers to many times to a unit buried in some annoying fog spot that I missed. These workers wound up having to cancel tasks when the AI approached.

(IT) I lost a pike that covered an exposed elite knight. (0-1)


960 AD
I killed 3 Mayans, 2 Americans, and 2 Aztecs. (7-1)
(IT) One Mayan died. (8-1)


970 AD
I killed 1 Iroquois, and 4 Americans. (11-1)

I just found out the Iroquois are also a major threat as they have salt and muskets built.

I razed Dallas for $1 and 1 worker.


980 AD
I killed 2 Iroquois, 1 Aztec, and 2 Romans. (16-1)
(IT) The American focus just changed toward Kaiserberg and Nuremburg.


990 AD
I killed 2 Carthaginians, 1 Aztec, 1 American, and 2 Romans. (22-1)

I razed Sulcis for $0 and 2 dollars.
(IT) The AI unit density is increasing again.
Of course this would happen just as a ton of setters are heading to the western front.


1000 AD
I killed 4 Romans, 2 Americans, 1 Carthaginian, 1 Iroquois, 1 Aztec, and 2 Mayans. I lost a knight to 1 HP legionary.
(33-2)
I just gave Rome a GA. This is going to increase the ugly factor in the near-term.
The kills included a 1 pike landing by Frankfurt that almost cost us a crusader.

Antium is burned to the ground for $0 and 1 worker.
St. Louis, *a silks source*, is burned to the ground for $0 and 2 workers.
I dial up American, and this was there ONLY source.
That is how you slow down AI production.

I build another army. That is our 6th army with 24 cities. We are done for now with armies. Now I need to scrounge up 4 knights to fill the army.

We lost our monopoly on economics, and Shakespeare wasn't built yet. There is a very high danger of losing Smith's to a cascade with nothing to swap to.
(IT) A pike died on the iron mountain. (33-3)

Now the Iroquois complete Shakespeare.


1010 AD
I killed 1 American, 1 Mayan, 3 Iroquois, 1 Carthaginian, and 2 Aztecs. (41-3)
(IT) The Maya are building Smith's. This is probably a cascade from Shakespeare.


1020 AD
I killed 2 Americans, 2 Iroquois, 1 Roman, 1 Carthaginian, and 2 Aztec. (49-3)

The leader simply goes to Leipzig as required.


1030 AD
I killed 5 Carthaginians, 3 Aztecs, and 4 Mayans. (61-3)
I lost the Magic Crusader.

The knight reserve paid off as I killed a landing by Salzburg.

New Leipzig is formed at green dot.

Rusaddir is razed for $0 and 3 workers.
(IT) A Mayan knights dies at New Leipzig. (62-3)


1040 AD
I killed 2 Carthaginians, 1 Mayan, and 2 Iroquois. (67-3)

New Hamburg is formed at grey dot.
(IT) 3 knights land in our rear by Salzburg.


1050 AD
I killed 1 Mayan, 4 Aztecs, and 4 Iroquois. (76-3)
This includes one of the invading knights. I scramble as many troops as I can to make sure no city can fall. I am forced to hire temporary specialist in the nearby cities.

Gayagaahe is razed for $0 and 4 workers.
Chalco is razed for $0 and 3 workers. We destroyed an Aztec iron source.

==========================

Summary:
While I made good progress, this game could still turn ugly very fast. I still haven't found a salt source. I don't want to be fighting AI rifles with knights.


The other problem is we still haven't expanded enough to have specialist cities. All of our cities are at least somewhat productive.


I merged our natural workers as we are running out of safe worker tasks. With cavalry possible any moment, I don't want to work within 3 tiles of the borders except with heavy protection. There isn't any spare protection at the moment.
I have delayed city founding due to lack of pikes.


Smith's is a big question mark. The AI swapped to it when we had 13 turns to go. The shield difference is 150 shields between Smith's and Shakespeare. The question is how close was the AI? 12 shields a turn is certainly possible from the AI. I do hope the cascade breaks before Newton's. Newton's is near the top of the list for best culture per shield.


The leader is next to Leipzig. We are up to 26 cities. If we get another 2 cities we can build another army. I am not sure if rushing a market is worth it. Of course, the revenue boast would be large.


Signed up:
LKendter
ThERat (currently playing)
Sir Bugsy (on deck) (vacation Aug 5 to Aug 7)
Kaiser_Berger (dropped)
Dl123654


Remember 10 turns per round - STRICT 24 hours got it, total 48 hours to at complete.

Additional restrictions:
Armies may NOT be used more then 5 tiles from OUR cultural borders.

Leaders may ONLY be used for armies or to rush a building / small wonder in the 20K city. If you can't form an army the leader must go to the 20K city.

The game MUST be won by 20K - period.

This is the standard LK AW type game with NO initial trading.

 

[LKendter]

The below is the southern front. Not much is happening here.

The below is the northern path of devastation.
Notice all of the new rubble?

 

[LKendter]

This is what I would like to be the final southern expansion for now.
Yellow dot was previously proposed.
Dark green will make that front shorter.
After this we want to expand toward the silks. While we still need salt badly, even a third luxury will help. If we could get rid of just one clown in Berlin we would hit 15 shields for every other turn pikeman.

 

[LKendter]

This is what I see for the initial northern expansion. We clearly need a lot of roadwork done.
This step of the expansion at least gives us luxury #3. We can then explore a bit more in the direction of the white arrows. It looks like that area has desert, hills and mountains. It gives us more possible salt locations. More hills and mountains also increase the chances of finding coal.

 

[LKendter]

IMPORTANT: I didn't realize the save was from my fooling around about Berlin hitting 15 shields. It needs a clown now.

 

[ThERat]

got it

we know that America has salt, it must be somewhere in the desert/plains in the east. I will try and expand towards the silks and maybe send out a knight to bust some fog to find out what's around there. Near the silks is jungle, more possibilities for coal as well.

How many more turns do we have for Smiths now?