r_rolo1
King of myself
Welcome to the first edition of the Lonely Hearths Club for BTS. In the Lonely Hearths Club we explore strategies to cope with one of the most dreaded situations in Civ IV ( possibly the main reason for reloads after the military collapse one 
): starting in isolation....
If you followed this series in the Warlords format, you should know that we had discovered that a strong economical infrastructure ( through the 3 big C techs: CoL, Currency, CS ( you can add Calendar if needed ) is absolutely vital to whitstand the shock with the outerworld, but there was a strong debate if the beelining Lib was a better choice than going to Optics. Of course that was in warlords....
Now in BTS, some things possibly changed this track: BTS AI tech slower, are more reluctant to tech trades and make bigger armies; there are civs with naval UU that can make your day into a bad one ( the Portuguese carrack and the Dutch East Indiamen ( both bad chosen names, but...)), not mentioning the privateers (remember that they make the water tiles they control unusable); the AP; some new buildings ( like the Customs Houses, the industrial Parks,...); the Power = 2
( making 
even more important in late game ), the Corporations ( that, among other things, makes a late start cultural victory a possible aproach ); the new spaceship tech path; the fact that AI pursue victories other than space, etc...
For this first incursion in BTS the choosed leader was D. João II of the Portuguese:
Why this leader?
First of all, his traits: Imp is generally considered a low ranking trait, but it gives a nice boost to the
part of the settler production, and we are going to build more than in a non isolated game ( no enemies to conquer until middle game ) and Expansive ( in spite of the nerfed bonus on the worker ) has that 2 bonus which is a lifesaver in strongly health limited starts like the isolated ones normally are.
Second, his UU.
A naval UU ( a novelty ) that is avaliable with Optics and that can carry all kind of units overseas. In spite of lacking the bombard ability and of only can carry 2 units, can be the backbone of a early intercontinental invasion or for making a colony ( that plays well with the UB (see below )
Third, his UB.
The Feitoria replaces the Customs Houses and gives a boost in intercontinental trade routes and 1 coin per water tile ( think about it like a mini-Collosus that never expires )
Like it the first BTS game of the series, I decided to use a new map script. This map was drawn using the Hemisphere script, 5 continents, standart size ( this settings normally generate a bigger continent with 2 to 4 civs and 4 smaller ones ( sometimes with no civs in it, a real colony maker paradise ).
So, here is the start:
As we are in a wave of novelties, one more: In the previous instalements we had various requests both to up the level and to get down the level
. Because we couldn't do both at the same time, we decided to make versions of the same game in various levels ( from Noble to Immortal ( if someone is bold enough to play it ) ). This will make possible the comparison between strategies in various levels ( the best strategy in Monarch is not necessarly the best one in Prince or Emperor ). Pick the level you prefer below:
Noble
Prince
Monarch
Emperor
Immortal
We ask the participants to do, if possible, a write-up with the victory save and a description of your game ( strategies, techs researched, wars,...). All the info should be in spoiler tags ( to not disturb other people's games ). If you want ( we would like to ) post reports at this moments of the game:
Checkpoint 1 - when we have explored the island and are aware of what resources it has. Its not so important when this is, but this is a time to discuss city sites etc. Don't look into a checkpoint 1 spoiler until you have reached this point yourself.
Checkpoint 2 - first contact - when we have met all the other AIs. At this point we can discuss our strategy to get to this point and our plans for dealing with them.
Checkpoint 3 - when we are committed to a victory condition (or at least think we are).
Checkpoint 4 - Victory (or defeat).
The last words are to wish good luck to all
. And let the games begin!
): starting in isolation....If you followed this series in the Warlords format, you should know that we had discovered that a strong economical infrastructure ( through the 3 big C techs: CoL, Currency, CS ( you can add Calendar if needed ) is absolutely vital to whitstand the shock with the outerworld, but there was a strong debate if the beelining Lib was a better choice than going to Optics. Of course that was in warlords....
Now in BTS, some things possibly changed this track: BTS AI tech slower, are more reluctant to tech trades and make bigger armies; there are civs with naval UU that can make your day into a bad one ( the Portuguese carrack and the Dutch East Indiamen ( both bad chosen names, but...)), not mentioning the privateers (remember that they make the water tiles they control unusable); the AP; some new buildings ( like the Customs Houses, the industrial Parks,...); the Power = 2
( making even more important in late game ), the Corporations ( that, among other things, makes a late start cultural victory a possible aproach ); the new spaceship tech path; the fact that AI pursue victories other than space, etc...For this first incursion in BTS the choosed leader was D. João II of the Portuguese:
Spoiler :
Why this leader?
First of all, his traits: Imp is generally considered a low ranking trait, but it gives a nice boost to the
part of the settler production, and we are going to build more than in a non isolated game ( no enemies to conquer until middle game ) and Expansive ( in spite of the nerfed bonus on the worker ) has that 2 bonus which is a lifesaver in strongly health limited starts like the isolated ones normally are.Second, his UU.
Spoiler :
A naval UU ( a novelty ) that is avaliable with Optics and that can carry all kind of units overseas. In spite of lacking the bombard ability and of only can carry 2 units, can be the backbone of a early intercontinental invasion or for making a colony ( that plays well with the UB (see below )
Third, his UB.
Spoiler :
The Feitoria replaces the Customs Houses and gives a boost in intercontinental trade routes and 1 coin per water tile ( think about it like a mini-Collosus that never expires )
Like it the first BTS game of the series, I decided to use a new map script. This map was drawn using the Hemisphere script, 5 continents, standart size ( this settings normally generate a bigger continent with 2 to 4 civs and 4 smaller ones ( sometimes with no civs in it, a real colony maker paradise ).
So, here is the start:
Spoiler :
As we are in a wave of novelties, one more: In the previous instalements we had various requests both to up the level and to get down the level
. Because we couldn't do both at the same time, we decided to make versions of the same game in various levels ( from Noble to Immortal ( if someone is bold enough to play it ) ). This will make possible the comparison between strategies in various levels ( the best strategy in Monarch is not necessarly the best one in Prince or Emperor ). Pick the level you prefer below:Noble
Prince
Monarch
Emperor
Immortal
We ask the participants to do, if possible, a write-up with the victory save and a description of your game ( strategies, techs researched, wars,...). All the info should be in spoiler tags ( to not disturb other people's games ). If you want ( we would like to
) post reports at this moments of the game:Checkpoint 1 - when we have explored the island and are aware of what resources it has. Its not so important when this is, but this is a time to discuss city sites etc. Don't look into a checkpoint 1 spoiler until you have reached this point yourself.
Checkpoint 2 - first contact - when we have met all the other AIs. At this point we can discuss our strategy to get to this point and our plans for dealing with them.
Checkpoint 3 - when we are committed to a victory condition (or at least think we are).
Checkpoint 4 - Victory (or defeat).
The last words are to wish good luck to all
. And let the games begin!
.
)
Playing on Monarch
