Lonely Hearts Club, BtS Edition, Chapter XXXIII : Louis XIV

[BakingTheArt]

@ Kaytie

Spoiler :

You play more like a monarch player than noble. Next time, try going up to prince. Even if your city specialization isn't perfect, 10 bucks says you dominate.

 

[IPEX-731BA5DD06]

@Ai shizuka

Spoiler :

well done on the cultural win, I didn't think you had a hope to be honest, You really need to tech trade more, Electricity, is a prime tech to gain many others, even if you trade for less value, but do it 5 times and your in front.

Oh yes and when you tech trade, wait one turn for the other techs to be come available, I offloaded Radio, for Railroad, industrialism, waited 1 turn then gained combustion as well (railroad opened it up), I then offloaded mass media for flight and something else,but mainly so a Vassal of Surry, Gilgamesh would build the U.N. and be up against his master for vote, so No diplomatic win, and Gil, rolled over rather easily to Surry, so wasn't about to free self and lose U.N. to Surry.

You needed to settle more land too, those Northern spots are prime production spots, grassland hills, 1 or 2 food bonuses, I ended up building my iron works city to the far north with Pigs/clam food, No 1 hammer city.

If going for a cultural win, Free speech is No 1 civic. I ran this from Liberalism to end, and your placement of Moai statues was far superior to mines, that city was my No 3 in culture and allway's struggled for hammer production, what you did was an excellent choice.

Constitution, is another big tech, you could have traded for, it enables Representation, and you get +3 science with each Artist specialist. This help you stay up with the tech pack. Run you capital as Science central, as the wonders will make this cultural city No 1, WITHOUT any artists. I virtually ran artist specialists in other 2 cultural cities from Caste system, with Settled scientists in Lagging cultural city for the +2 per specialist settled, Nothing worth bulbing at that point and golden age cost 3 specialists, and I was culture bombing with 2 artists, so no.

Again well done, I would have given it away probably, but I play the Specialist economy more so.

 

[Ai Shizuka]

Ipex

Spoiler :

I was about to give up, too. But I think I've learned more in this ugly game than in my last two, where I pretty much steamrolled everyone. Luckily, Peter and Toku joined just to keep Sury the maniac happy. All those starving cities wasn't pretty, but I wan't so bad, after all.
Sury's stack in 1964 was scary, and probably wouldn't have survived that. But he probably remembered the last beating and my 2 defensive pacts and went for Kubilai.


Sound advice on tech trading in general. I think it's one of the main differences from Noble to Prince and I really need to improve it. Sadly, when I had electricity on everyone, Kubilai was the only one willing to talk.
I managed to get something with Industrialism, but nothing really amazing. And giving tanks and marines away wan't the brightest idea, at that point.

And I agree on the extra prod city. Actually, I had a "city" sign in the middle of those juicy grassland hills from the very beginning of the game but never managed to settle it.

Oh, and that "1 gold per turn" trick looks interesting. Gonna giving it a try.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[semirami]

I haven't started the game yet, but:

Well, the Salon is the french version of the Observatory, that comes with a free artist. Like I already said elsewhere, this screams for Representation, Sistine and cultural wins. It has certainly it's uses, but I'm really not a fan of this particular UU ( if you're not aiming for a cultural win, it is dificult to find a decent use for that artist.... )

Is it just me, or there is a great synergy here:

Oracle(MC)+GLH+mids+early Astro bulb+ whipped salons everywhere.
You can build The Great Lighthouse even with landlocked start and mids without stone, because you are IND. That's 6 beakers for every Salon + the usual Observatory bonus + intercontinental trade routes. For me this is realy powerful UB, even without playing for cultural victory.

 

[IPEX-731BA5DD06]

@ Ai Shizuka

Spoiler :

, its actually only 1 gold request and not the standard 10, for 10 turns of peace, costing only 1 gold piece from the AI. Of course, they have to be pleased with you to give it up, and when they don't and have WHEOOHRN mode, its YOU they want.

 

[IPEX-731BA5DD06]

@ Semirami

Spoiler :

I agree with you, with Rep, caste system, Astronomy and whipping/building Salons all over they produce large amounts of Science. In my late game, with Uni's + labs as well for 100% science, I was getting over 125 Beakers / city WITHOUT any scientists hired. I was able to sit on a science rate of over 500 going zero science and 70% culture. Industrious is just great, for building those wonders when not in Bureaucracy, its effectively a Bureaucratic city all over empire, combined with Organised religion that's 75% production bonus to wonders.

 

[ungy]

Checkpoint 4. (immortal, normal)

Spoiler :

continuing on the wonderspam game, I decide on the lib path but oddly enough it's Toku who beats me to it. I make nice with the AI and benefit from the AI being pretty peaceful when I make contact, which let's me trade a bunch w/o the worst enemy problem.
After my lib mishap, I beeline astro, then rifling and draft up an army for defense. Then demo and SOL and some late wonders. I get sushi.
I stay in FR the rest of the game, my only war is a brief phony war to keep Sury (who was becoming a powerhouse) happy.
I launch my ship in 1900 and the AI are not close to any kind of victory

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Hey Ungy, I'm curious where lib went in your game. I might have just gotten REALLY unlucky

Spoiler :

When it went to Pacal in 660 AD on EMPEROR

 

[RRRaskolnikov]

Is it just me, or there is a great synergy here:
Oracle(MC)+GLH+mids+early Astro bulb+ whipped salons everywhere.

Hi,

sure it's nice... but even with an ind leader, this is nothing but a gambit. if you can start a game planning on that just looking at your traits and not the map, you are probably playing an easy level for you
The mids fits really nicely Louis's features though (cheap lib, salons)...

Cheers,
Raskolnikov

 

[BakingTheArt]

Domination Victory (1910 AD, Noble/Epic)

Spoiler :

King Louis paced down his halls, sweating like a dog. He had been amassing his forces in Galleons outside of the port of Atlanta ever since the Mongolian war, and his closest advisors told him the time was finally right for a full scale invasion. Still, he had his doubts. The Americans were a third-world country, small and poor. The greatest weapons he could muster were the Knights in shining armor, like those in the fairy tales of old. They could not stand up to the rifles used by the French army. It would be another massacre, like the Mongolian war. Still, their people were poor and hungry. Under the glorious French empire, they would be better off.

Louis gave the order to secure Atlanta immediately.


Cities fell like dominoes. The historic capital of America, Washington, was burnt to the ground to intimidate the remaining free cities. Unfortunately, this show of brute force backfired. Roosevelt went to President Peter of Russia, where together they put together the Monroe Doctrine, stating that no overseas country (Read: France) could interfere with any independent states in Russ-ameri-pan-ca. In exchange, America would become a possession of Russia. Peter declared war on France in response to France's unwillingness to recognize the deal.



This did not stop the French army, however. Finally, in 1857, Boston flew the blue banner of France. Roosevelt attempted to flee once the battle began to turn in favor of the French, but he was shot by his own soldiers.

Even after Roosevelt's passing, Peter took it on himself to stop the global power that is France. He was, however, caught off guard by massive breakthroughs in military science made by France, including semi-automatic rifles and sniper rifles. These overpowered Russia's outdated rifles, which required lengthy loading periods between shots.



The war culminated in the battle of St. Petersburg. Russian spies had taken blueprints for both the assault weapons used in the French infantry corps and machine guns used in defensive warfare. Russia, however did not have the money to effectively mass produce these rifles, and St. Petersburg eventually fell with considerable losses to both sides. The French offensive could not go on, as there were only two intact regiments left when the smoke cleared.

An uneasy peace broke out between the Holy Empire of France, as it was now known, and the Republic of Russia after the battle. Both sides gathered forces on the border, supposedly "defensive forces." These defensive forces broke out in a skirmish on April 13th, 1874, culminating in the destruction of the French Fort Detroit. The French retaliated, sending all of their spare forces into the Republic. The capital, Moscow, fell a few years later. Peter fled to the mining outpost of Orenberg. This was quickly converted into a state-of-the-art fortress city, which French forces could not take. Louis instead converted the Republic into a province of his empire, leaving Peter as a puppet leader.

There was peace, for a time.

"Tokugawa, thank you for coming to this meeting," Louis said to his last remaining ally.
"It's my honour. Why did you call this meeting?" Tokugawa asked
"Well, as the chairman of the Alliance of Kingdoms, I believe it would be better for relations if everyone of the member states were to accept the same religion,"
"So, you have finally accepted the Buddha?" Tokugawa chuckled.
"Well, we would, but the other member state, Russia, has almost no people following Buddhism." Tokugawa looked at Peter, who nodded. "So, it would be better for all three of us if you were to accept Taoism as the one true way. Does Japan agree?"
"And what if I don't?" Tokugawa furiously sputtered. This had gone from a friendly meeting of allies to a religious argument. He was eager to get out of there.
"Well, other than being cast down by Laozi, you will be expelled from the alliance" Louis calmly stated.
"Louis, damn you. And damn your taoism, and damn your Laozi. Our people will never give up our beliefs." Tokugawa charged out of the room.

Louis was furious. Tokugawa must die for this offense, he thought. We must do the work Laozi, and destroy the heathen.

Japan was quickly invaded by veterans of the Russian war. Kagoshima and Satsuma were first to fall, and both were razed to the ground. In the city that bears the name of the emperor, Tokyo, every man, woman and child was executed. There were no survivors.

As Louis prepared to take the long voyage back to Paris, after staying in the wartime command post at Phrygian for a time, a Russian messenger boy walked into his chambers.

"What is it, boy?!?" Louis snapped.
"The Incan and Japanese nations have surrendered to the might of France! The entire world is conquered!"





That was too easy. Next game I'm moving to prince.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I haven't started the game yet, but:



Is it just me, or there is a great synergy here:

Oracle(MC)+GLH+mids+early Astro bulb+ whipped salons everywhere.
You can build The Great Lighthouse even with landlocked start and mids without stone, because you are IND. That's 6 beakers for every Salon + the usual Observatory bonus + intercontinental trade routes. For me this is realy powerful UB, even without playing for cultural victory.

Oracle, GLH, AND mids in isolation huh. Sure, if you can do it you'd want all 3. With any leader . Ind does help at least.

 

[semirami]

Oracle, GLH, AND mids in isolation huh. Sure, if you can do it you'd want all 3. With any leader . Ind does help at least.

Metal Casting from Oracle, whip a forge go for Judaism. Ind+forge+OR= 100%. That's like stone/marble with additional advantage that is applicable also for wonders immune to resources, like The Great Lighthouse. Without coastal start and/or easy stone is impossible, or at least very hard to build all 3, if you aren't ind.

I am talking about the synergy here. Trait/Astro/UB effect. Even without the mids you can go for Constitution from Lib. The UB shines much more in isolation, just because Astronomy is very important tech in isolation.

 

[RRRaskolnikov]

@semirami: I agree with you that the synergy is great...

You have a point that this is particularly viable in isolation, because as you said astro is the priority in this case, and also that is one of the situation where early wonderspamming can be the good solution (because no competition for the REX)...

Cheers,
Raskolnikov

 

[semirami]

@RRR

That's exactly what I mean.

 

[semirami]

Checkpoint 1: Emperor/Marathon (Do not contain knowledge about strategic resources)

Spoiler :

So I decided to execute my plan
This is a game, where Pottery first would be the best choice. However I need hammers much more than beakers, so I started with Mining first. The southern hut popped for Mysticism, since I am going for Judaism and OR in this game, I decided to go Polytheism next. The northern huts popped for Masonry and gold. Great since it's on my tech path and unlocks 3 wonders and I want to build 2 of them. Surprise, or not but:





Good, I don't need to race for Judaism now.

At this point I am on a big decision point. Do I want cultural victory, or not? If I do, I should go for Mono next, but it will be a big mistake otherwise. In my view cultural victory is easy and boring, especially with this leader, so I decided to pursue another victory condition. Pottery, BW, AH and so on. At least the last hut close to the capital was crappy. It popped for nothing(aka map that I already have). A mini dot map:

 

[ungy]

TMIT:

Spoiler :

don't remember exactly but it was not too early--maybe 1050 or so

 

[semirami]

Checkpoint 2:

Spoiler :

So:











I got this guy, instead of scientist. It's not a loss, he'll lightbulb Machinery, instead of 1/2 Astronomy.



Finally:



The situation a turn before Astronomy:



and after:



You see the difference. Bureaucracy and salons will add even more.

The Diplomacy situation:

Well, founding an early religion isn't the best thing in isolation, that's why I usually go for Confucianism. Lesson learned. There is a big happy family and an isolated AI. Not the best possible combination

Sury- crazy backstaber
Peter- backstaber
Gilga- I really hate this guy
Toku- idiot and one trading partner less
Pacal- could be useful, but will be vassaled sooner or later
Kublai- non factor

 

[cripp7]

Spoiler :

Hi, I missed checkpoint 1-2, so here's 3. I just took Kuby Island using gallions/frigate to ship musketeers/trebs. I took Astro with Lib. Teching to infantry/cannons to take the world, raze every non key city. some screenies

World

Techs

Glance

Info Graph

Demographics

Top 5 Maya wonderwhore


I still need better specialization of cities (Mad's Fred game will help!) someone take a look at my save and tell me where to improve my cities plz.

 

[semirami]

Checkpoint 3:

Spoiler :

So I just traded for Theology and, the leaders of Hinduism have a vision:



I saved the game here. I'll replay from here later, just to show how easy is the AP victory.

So I can't be safe with these backstabbers around, so I decided to go for military oriented victory. Domination/Diplomation/Conquest, we'll see. As usual I went for Communism from Liberalism. I usually don't cry for The Great Library too much. Used a scientist to bulb PP, than teched Liberalism to 1 turn and than went for SM:



and:



Settled the great spy. He is the first settled great person. I used all for bulbing, except 2 for academies.

The new cities all are farmed and workshoped, however I switched to state property when the Taj was done:





Now I see this:



but the idiot just demanded gold, so we are in peace treaty. Very good thing, since I don't have enough Ironclads in this area and only a rifleman and a chariot in the city. He just gave me enough time to bring whatever I need. Few turns later:



Sorry dude, but now you don't have a chance. Forgot to mention, that I have def pact with Peter, so he declared on Sury and because Sury has def pact with Toku, he declared on Peter. Now Peter asks me to declare on Toku, I do and he brought Gilga against me Great fun

Few turns later:



and a random event ends the war with Gilga. I actually never saw any Sumerian unit. Strangely, but Toku, who is very backward, captured few Russian core cities and now Peter is useless partner.

So I went in war mode, adopted Theocracy and used 2 engineers to bulb half of Combustion. I am falling in research, so I used 2 saved scientists and an artist from random event for 2 golden ages to research AL faster.



I'll spam Infantry next. My naval force is ready:



And I have enough Canons:



Sury is first, Pacal is right after. I'll go for zero WW war(PS+jail+MR)

 

[IPEX-731BA5DD06]

@Cripp 7

Spoiler :

for a start you've just changed civic's, I assume its INTO slavery from Emancipation, 1st thing I'd do is set up the forbidden palace in Besabalik, in the middle of the Mongolian lands.

Placement of Avaganon, missed the 2 fish, a city most people grabbed.

You've missed the pigs in the SW, with your placement, and can easily swap the wheat between the two cities, don't be afraid of overlap, it can be very powerful, in working cottages/sharing resources between cities.

City in the Far North with pigs/clam, I'd make this my ironworks city, kill the cottages and build workshops as your in State property. If you plan to stay there, forbidden palace is moot, but Free market is very powerful with many civ's to trade with, your call.

City specialization, the North is Production, the South is Great People, Middle is cottages on grassland/work shops with state property.

Mongol Island, well, it just sucks, personally, I'd spin off a vassal.

On diplomatic front, Surry is in WHE..Mode, so a Pacal dog pile is on.

Research; Why Steam power, you have 1 city on river, no rifling, which is needed for infantry, and factories, well, you really need some proper defence/offence 1st.

You need more happy as your at or over limit in most continental French cities, Run up the media line post industrialism, with Factory/coal plants, you can build them anywhere you want.

Winning condition; Looks like your set on domination/conquest, run up to mass media for Boardway (happy)/Chriso Redentor(1 turn change), then over to tanks and go conquer the world