Lonely Hearts 4 - Roosevelt

[InvisibleStalke]

No word from the lonely hearts club? Do people still want to play isolated starts?

Anyway, if there is interest I have an isolated start save for Roosevelt I can post tonight. The starting continent looks pretty promising - a lot more land than last time.

Edit: Here is the Savegame. Its a generous sized landmass (to make up for last time). I think Organized should do well. Good luck.

 

[r_rolo1]

I'm interested.... Did you have talked with willpax? He had been around, but strangely didn't started the LHC 4

 

[InvisibleStalke]

Nope - hopefully he'll see the post and respond. I don't want to hijack the series from him. I was just missing my fix.

 

[Lord Chambers]

I would appreciate if the next save wasn't from 4000bc. It's silly to know from the start you are isolated, which makes grabbing early religions possible.

I'd also prefer to play Emperor than Monarch, but no sweat.

 

[InvisibleStalke]

The trouble with that is that people have different playstyles. My approach to Roosevelt may be different that yours. By the time you find out its an isolated start you have committed several early techs and builds. I'd rather not start with someone else having already made some of the most critical early decisions.

I trust myself not to alter my early gameplay because I know in advance its an isolated start. My opening for Roosevelt in this game is very similar to the opening I used the last time I played him. But it might be very different from your opening.

Honestly I doubt I would start much differently knowing it was an isolated start anyway. I wouldn't rush towards an early religion, I'd want to secure military defenses against barbarians and optimize my leader traits with my early techs. Which wouldn't change just because I am isolated.

If you think there is something you would do in the first 50 turns or so only because its an isolated start (I can't think of anything), then just don't do that thing.

Emperor is OK with me. The save I have is Monarch though. If people prefer Emperor I can try and generate another map, or maybe you could start another thread and post an Emperor game. I'd play it (maybe after this one though).

 

[svv]

I'm in as soon as you play one in Vanilla.

 

[Dirk1302]

I'm also interested,4000 BC start is fine with me, as you said barbarians will keep you on your toes anyhow.I would slightly prefer emperor, somewhat more of a challenge.

I think there is a difference knowing you're isolated, i tend to build more warriors to fogbust and i don't build barracks concentrating on getting axes out as early as possible. In the end these are not gamebreaking choices though.

 

[InvisibleStalke]

I think there is a difference knowing you're isolated, i tend to build more warriors to fogbust and i don't build barracks concentrating on getting axes out as early as possible. In the end these are not gamebreaking choices though.

By the time you do that though you usually know you are isolated. My usual first builds are worker then warrior slowly while I grow to size 2-3. If I haven't met anyone by the time I have built that second warrior, then I am definitely not going to be preparing for an axe rush. If I am not isolated then any other civs are a long way off.

Barbarians would be my immediate worry then whether isolated or just a long way away. So my priorities would be either great wall, fog busting or several early axes/chariots.

 

[pigswill]

I agree that knowing its an isolated start isn't game-breaking. Decisions about early religion for me depend on a favourable start (mysticism and a commerce tile). Usually you'll find out you're isolated about 2500-2000bc depending on size of landmass.

In terms of level I'm fairly comfortable on monarch and thinking about moving up to emperor (though I'll probably get bts and see how I handle improved AI).

 

[InvisibleStalke]

OK, lets begin. Save posted above. I'll start a new thread for Emperor. No reason why we can't have two going at once - I'll play both and probably alternate.

 

[willpax]

I'm interested.... Did you have talked with willpax? He had been around, but strangely didn't started the LHC 4

My apoogies: I generated a save with Roosevelt, but haven't posted due to a busy week this week and a vacation week (without computer) next week. But this one looks much better.

I won't be able to do much playing until 8 July. What I has thinking abut doing was breaking it down into stages:

1. Intitial exploration and taking stock of available resources. How much happy, health, strategic resources; agricultural potential, and so on. It might be nice to get some discussion about what things people look for to help them decide on a development strategy, so if people would be so kind as to post some sort of spoiler discussion about what they play to do after they've seen the whole island, that might help us better understand things.

2. Some sort of assessment around 1000-1200 AD, which is close to first contact in most games. How well is the economy doing? What is working well or poorly in this moment right before you make contact?

3. Some discussion of early trading and diplomacy. As InvisibleStalke has pointed out, isolation gives you an advantage in the diplomacy game--how do you handle it?

4. The final stage is much more conventional playing out of the position and endgame, and, as such, is less interesting to our purposes except to validate or complicate the early decisions.

So, when I get around to playing these games, I'll try to follow this general pattern. With Roosevelt, a basic decision will involve wonder-building, I'm sure.

 

[Dirk1302]

@ Invisiblestalk, Indeed, no reason not to have 2 threads. I'll also try them both.
@Willpax, Probably a good idea to break the game down in stages just as in the "calling ce enthousiasts" thread. To follow a report that spans
a whole game is a bit much at once.

 

[r_rolo1]

Good to see you, willpax !

Maybe i'll try both ( the emperor start is promissing), but it will take some time ( and this week and the next one are of lots of work to me )

About Roosy.... I'm not very keen of wonder building in isolation ( as I already stated in the other LHCs ) besides Oracle ( for Monarchy or Metal casting ) and maybe GW ( more for the GE poitns than anything else ).

About the start: it's a nice one. My hint is to settle in place.

 

[budweiser]

How does this work? Do we each play our own game and compare?

With the 4th of July coming up, I was planning on playing America soon. I could try this one.

 

[r_rolo1]

Exactly, budweiser. Welcome to LHC, by the way

 

[futurehermit]

vvn start imho. several early wonders should be baggable especially if stone and/or marble nearby. stone would be outstanding for gw/pyramids so you don't have to worry about military at all.

i'm thinking organized = 4 early cities

industrious = some early wonders (stonehenge + oracle in one city; gw would be nice even if no stone; and parthenon should be no problem since the ai delays it). toa would be nice if marble present. gl is a no brainer imho.

cultural victory i think is the way to go here.

 

[budweiser]

I would research AH 1st and build a worker for this map.

Then I dont know what. Since we know its isolated, then we have to deal with barbs somehow. I'm not sure how long to put that off vs teching towards pottery and writing (I like to lightbulb math). Meanwhile, After that I would go for Oracle/Col to leveage our cheap courthouses for even more cities.

 

[InvisibleStalke]

The thing for this game I think is to see which wonders help us and which are a waste of time.

My vote and gameplan are:

- Great wall - great for an isolated start. And "ABigCivFan"s games on Immortal have convinced me it is pretty good for non-isolated too.
- Pyramids - I plan to run a hybrid using representation for happiness and research to allow me to expand rapidly. Later switch to cottages.
- Oracle - early COL will be powerful.
- Stonehenge - free culture for my organized REX rush.
- Great Library - you know why.
- University of Sankore - extra research from lots of cities.

Any others are opportunistic depending on resources.

I am going to play for domination - mainly because I think Roosevelt should be awesome in the modern age. Navy Seals are great and I plan on having awesome production and the ability to sustain a huge empire.

 

[futurehermit]

parthenon will be easy to pick up and it's a great, though underappreciated, wonder.

 

[InvisibleStalke]

Checkpoint system
------------------

I'd like to propose we check in at the following checkpoints (using spoiler tags as we aren't all playing at the same speed). Posting saves is helpful, but not essential.

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).

If you disagree please let me know.