Lonely Hearts Club, BtS Edition, Chapter LXXIX:Roosevelt!

[i_imperator]

Welcome to the 79th edition of the Lonely Hearts Club for BTS. In the Lonely Hearts 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....

America! America! And its one of the great military leaders of the second world war! Franklin D Roosevelt!

Spoiler :

Traits Industrious and Organised! Bring on those wonders!!!!

Starting Techs are Fishing and Agriculture! Not a bad combo in my humble opinion!

Unique Unite: The Navey Seal! A replacement for the marine with march! A handy bonus if you want to go for lots of late game warfare with amphibious invasions!
(which is so much fun by the way!)

Spoiler :

The UB:The Mall

Spoiler :

A nice building once you get it, but most players would have finished the game by then. Generally one of the weaker UB's in the game as a result.

And the Start!

Spoiler :

Well at least we have food right?! And no plains cow thank you very much!

Note on the unit positioning for different saves

Spoiler :

Map is standard world size hemisphere's with 6 continents (so we are isolated this time )

I have noticed that some of the saves position the warrior in different locations, so you may get more or less vision of the start than in the above photo. Apologies for this, i'm not too sure how to fix it at the moment.

And now for a standard copy and paste!

You will find the zipped saves below.Also for Monarch and above please add archery to the barbs, otherwise the ai will be killing kittens and we dont want that Choose your level then (more precisely) then choose your speed and get underway. Suggestions for updates are:

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).

Finally, a thankyou to r_rolo1 and all those that came before him in this series' initial run to TheMeInTeam for the map creation guides, Hrun for reviving the series, and to ecuwins for co-hosting this series. Enjoy!

Also apologies for the delay on uploading this, been busy, and i presumed that most people would be on holidays in June.

 

[i_imperator]

Reserved

 

[The Oz-Man]

Man, if there's one thing I love doing, it's going to the mall to see all the latest Hit Musicals.

I like Roosevelt and Marine war, so maybe this one's worth a shot.

 

[Giant Wolfman]

@imperator re: starting warrior positioning

Spoiler :

I'd guess if they are starting in different places, then when you edited the WB file you deleted all the BeginUnit/EndUnit lines. You need to delete those for all the AI's so that they will start with the correct units based on the difficulty level (2 archers & settler on Monarch; 3 archers, 2 scouts, worker, & settler on immortal; etc). However, you need to keep those BeginUnit/EndUnit for the Human units (ie those that have "UnitOwner=0") to have the warrior stay in the same place. See below:

BeginPlot
	x=33,y=38
	FeatureType=FEATURE_FOREST, FeatureVariety=1
	TerrainType=TERRAIN_GRASS
	PlotType=1
	BeginUnit
		UnitType=UNIT_SCOUT, [B]UnitOwner=0[/B]
		Damage=0
		Level=1, Experience=0
		FacingDirection=4
		UnitAIType=UNITAI_EXPLORE
	EndUnit
	TeamReveal=0,
EndPlot

Bold added for emphasis.
Not a huge deal but FYI

 

[i_imperator]

@Giant Wolfman

Spoiler :

Ah ok i understand that now, thanks very much for telling me. I'll try and have that fixed for the next LHC.

 

[vranasm]

from the look at the starting screenshot it for sure screams to me GLH...

to the east there are visible couple of islands which should be settled after GLH for city 5/6 if the main land offers enough place for first 4 cities ;-)

 

[lymond]

Is that start for real?

 

[GKey]

Start could be better if we switch warrior and settler positions

 

[lymond]

It's actually okay if you move...lose 2 turns. SIP is 100% pure suck. I honestly can't believe the generator would give someone that start, but I guess I have seen some bad starts.

Spoiler :

what is really laughable is that clam is the only early resource, assuming you pop coal or aluminum later

I'm dubious about the IMM save. First, did anyone find huts in the non hut save. I don't know, maybe I picked the wrong save, but I'm usually don't. No events though thank goodness. I only got a little gold and a freaking map from the huts.

Here's why I'm skeptical:

Spoiler :

It's really based on the usual timings of things.

First, as mentioned, I moved to the PH to the south to get clams, fish, and sheep. Teched to BW>Sailing>Myst>Masonry while pumping out 2 workboats and lots of warriors for busting. 2 popped a worker.

No barbs issues really after busting thoroughly. Luckily, one Spear did appear as I moved a warrior in place but he died at high odds to my unfortified warrior. Also, a barb city spawn 2 tiles below a warrior near the fur/deer in the SW...odd really. Took it out later with swords.

Built GLH, ofc, and Mids. Popped 2 GMs early which throws off the Astro timing a bit, but I did bulb Currency and MC which helped a lot, especially not having to sidetrack to Currency.

Big mistake was not going Aeths earlier for TGL, which went VERY late in 700AD. I just missed it regardless. Instead I went Alpha first among other things to build research early.

So here I am circa 1030AD and have met 5 AIs, beating them soundly to Optics. I pretty much new Asoka was iso when I met him, so I traded immediately. When I met Izzy, I took a gamble that she had dominated her landmass with her religion and had a bunch of friends. Therefore, I gave into her usual immediate request for tech, which was Calendar of all things. She did not have Calendar yet! wow

Then met JC and SB, backfilling some techs. Got Monarchy from Cathy when first met her, so all AIs are Pleased. Good Diplo win setup here. I expect the last AI is probably near Cathy and hopefully Friendly with her or not.

I've already put one GS bulb into Astro and currently in Caste to starve out a second one due in 6 turns. Different city so 100% guaranteed GS.

So the issue as you can see from the tech screens is that the AIs don't have Guilds or even Engineering yet. Granted it's not the most awesome techers in the bunch I've met and Asoka is iso. 6th AI is probably a techer or psycho (Mansa or Monty mold). Cathy is relatively backwards here though.

I think Lib is certainly a possibility still, which is not common although I have done the Astro bulb then Lib thing on iso IMM before. I'm almost done with CS too, but have to wait for the Astro bulb.

Not sure here. Seems more like maybe a Monarch or Emperor game to me, but could be a factor of no monster teching AIs, iso civs, land, maybe wars I'm not aware of.

Anyway, this game is nicely setup for a Diplo win or Cur assault. Take out Asoka first. Or maybe give those Seals some exercise.

Here is 1020AD after 4 AIs met:

Spoiler :

And next turn after 5 AIs met:

Spoiler :

Central American Empire:

Spoiler :

 

[mscellaneous]

Hmm, encountered something funny.. Playing the Monarch no Huts save, popped Hunting from a hut! (Options say No Huts / Events)

A present from the map maker?

 

[i_imperator]

@Lymond and mscellaneous Hmm, strange about the huts, i remember changing it for the nobel save, i say i may have just forgotten about the imm and monarch saves, i'll have a look at it later, but its not a big deal imo. I can put up with huts, i just cant stand events.

@Lymond,

Spoiler :

on starting position and difficulties, that was the third or fourth roll i did for the start, the other rolls were not isolated, so i just picked the first isolated roll i got. As for the difficulty, i'll double check that later, i did use the handicaps and added the techs into the game for the different difficulties. Again this is a learning process for me, so i'm not going to get everything 100%correct the first time i do it. Least we're definitely isolated this time

Edit: I notice that the save you used is titled nobel, perhaps that is why you think it is easier or is that because there were huts in the imm save?

Great to see plenty of posts on this though , and that people are intrested in playing it!

 

[vranasm]

you have to remove the goody huts from worldbuilder save once generated (it's text file so easy done if you know what you look for)

the custom scenario checkbox doesn't have any meaning over huts.

Events on the other hand can be influenced by the settings in custom scenario.

 

[ecuwins]

Is that start for real?

Roosy is so OP he needs a nerfed start like this

I'm thinking 1E

you have to remove the goody huts from worldbuilder save once generated (it's text file so easy done if you know what you look for)

Open in Notepad.
Press Ctrl + H
Enter ImprovementType=IMPROVEMENT_GOODY_HUT into the "Find what" field.
Leave the "Replace with" field blank.
Click "Replace All".

 

[lymond]

I notice that the save you used is titled nobel, perhaps that is why you think it is easier or is that because there were huts in the imm save?

I definitely used the IMM save. The saves get named based on the Leader Name under "Your Details" which was not changed. I assume "nobel" is a typo when you created the files.

My presumptions that the game might be off or easier than IMM is based solely on the gameplay. Huts should have little bearing on that other than an AI luck hutting some tech that lets them steamroll, but the opposite is happening here. Huts sure did nothing for me.

Again, I could be wrong here. I've played many IMM isos and sometimes I get Astro much earlier (circa 500AD or less) and see these results, but if I hit around the 1000AD mark the AIs are usually pushing Lib or acquire it. I'm using Astro to catch up.

 

[ecuwins]

lymond, it's high sea level

 

[i_imperator]

Is anyone going to upload/writeup a game on this? I mean 38 views and no game writeup's seems kinda weird to me. I will have the next LHC up whiten the next week by the way.

I'll Probably end up playing this when i get the time on emperor

 

[krikav]

Deity saves attached:

 

[krikav]

By the looks of the starting screen, there is offshore island, that coupled with an industrial leader who starts with fishing should give us a very easy game if we choose to pursue GLH.

 

[Excal]

Immortal Difficulty (no huts, no events)
Peaceful Space 1926AD (low score)

Thanks for bringing back some of these iso games

Spoiler :

moved to plains hill for extra hammer and fish/clam/sheep start

tech path: Mining / Bronze / Sail / Mason / Hunt / Wheel / AnimalHusb / Pott / Writ / IronWork / Compass / MetalCast / Alpha / Machine / Optics

built GLH and ended up with GW in second city (originally failgold, but decided to finish after barb trouble)
warrior finds stone, but a long way away, so not enough time to hookup for Mids (failgold good though)
bulbed MetalCast from GM, then two scientists for Astro bulb
optics at 660AD

whipped caravels and found Asoka in east who wont trade so must be isolated, then Izzy / Augustus in west, then Sitting bull, Catherine and lastly Monty who also is isolated

the stone flood plains seems a better bureau site so move capitol and also takeout barb city
quite a few tiny islands but not much resources (later uranium)
despite IND, no marble and wonders go fairly quickly anyway
ORG is helpful on this map, settling mostly coastal for seafood and trade routes

head for civil service then communism, ended up Lib > SciMethod
WFYABTA becomes a problem, but Augustus will mostly trade techs
Asoka mostly tech leader
got a GSpy along the way from GW and sent to Delhi to inflitrate and eventually steal Nationalism

very close race at the end with Asoka - I launch with 4/5 casings, he launches with 3/5 - then he is DoW by Izzy
Izzy was also close in the race

again low score - not really enough cities and too many coastal for a good space win (or maybe just crap gameplay )
wasted abit of time with privateer nonsense (lost internal resource routes due to lack of roads)