Looking for people to join Monarch Trainer (I need training)

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

You must be very lucky to have several Settler factories. Building a Granary/Settler in slowly growing cities is a waste. What we'd need to get up is a Worker factory; but for an IND Civ, this isn't that crucial.
And, we are only in turn 40. We have 4 cities in spread-out but optimal locations + a Settler, and our Settler pump just began working. Plus, we have a neighbor with a tundra capitol, and another one with swamplands, so we are under no pressure from the AI. I wouldn't even mind if the Aztecs found some more cities closer to us, we'll grab them easily.

 

[King PJ]

oh ok I see. I guess I play differently because I usually play huge maps with 7 other civs and you HAVE to spread out fast or you will have no chance of winning. My latest game I got really lucky, the first goodie hut had a settler and the second gave me pottery(I had Barbarians set to raging and I am not an expansionist civ). Plus, I found my first 5 cities right next to two rivers so I wont have to build Aqueducts for them. One of the best starts I have ever had on Monarch, hoefully this will be my first monarch win.

But anyways, like I said I will be following this game with interest and maybe I will learn a thing or two.

 

[eldar]

Re: My participation

Okay, so I know I fussed about being 'missed' back there, but RL commitments are also starting to pile up - I probably won't have the time to fully keep up or play turns in the next few weeks (GOTM35 will probably be all I can safely commit to), so I'll drop out. I'll still be lurking, of course.

Neil.

 

[geonnyboy]

Looks good

Thank you sir. I try my best.

*Philly doesn't need a Temple now; Washington's 100cpt border expansion will happen soon, and get us the Iron. Should switch to Curragh.

Okay that’s good. I wasn’t sure what to make next but I figured, since it was my last turn, I could put it on anything and not lose any shields in a switchover.

*Speaking of the Iron: I wouldn't connect it now, we need quite a lot Warriors for MP duty before (Washington especially begs for one). Since Washington is supposed to be 5/7, I'd simply build a Warrior there now for MP.

So the best route for our worker would be to road 1 right and 1 up to avoid the iron for now (since the Aztec settler seems to be frozen.) Hey cool, that means the worker will have to road through a hill and two grasslands instead of one grassland, a mountain, and a grassland, or (since the Aztec settler is blocking our way) a grassland and two mountains. So my mistake may help in the long run. Yay dumb luck!!

The Aztec Settler: Guess its escort was disbanded due to lack of gp; the AI normally never uses unescorted Settlers.

Actually he was completely unprotected when he showed up. Usually when the AI escorts settlers they move the guard first, then the settler. This time only the settler showed up. It stuck me as odd when he appeared, but I think it’s even more odd that he’s just standing there. Is he waiting around for a second escort to show up?

 

[Bigfoot]

Checking in. Looking pretty good guys. As per my earlier post, I play and win at Emperor consistently, so I don't consider myself a noob. However, I don't usually play OCP type games, so this is somewhat new territory for me (I tend to go for tight builds and early conquest). So go ahead and slot me in wherever you like, I am pretty flexible on that score.

A couple of quick questions for Doc: what is the reason for researching COL before Phil.? I usually go for Phil. first, take COL as my free tech, then research Republic. Aren't we risking that somebody will beat us to Phil? Also, is it really best to slow down our expansion by building M of M in Washington? Even with OCP we will still have a lot of territory we need to settle once we learn Phil. Washington will not grow beyond size 7 until it is done pumping out settlers, making happiness less of an issue, and we can always put in some MPs or adjust the slider on the turns it grows to size 7. Once we build M of M it will be approaching size 12, and no longer suitable as a settler pump. Mind, I am not second-guessing you here, just asking.

 

[tmarcl]

Checking in. Looking pretty good guys. As per my earlier post, I play and win at Emperor consistently, so I don't consider myself a noob. However, I don't usually play OCP type games, so this is somewhat new territory for me (I tend to go for tight builds and early conquest). So go ahead and slot me in wherever you like, I am pretty flexible on that score.

A couple of quick questions for Doc: what is the reason for researching COL before Phil.? I usually go for Phil. first, take COL as my free tech, then research Republic.

Oooh! Oooh! I can actually answer this one! You research COL first, then Philo, because then you get Republic as a free tech (which, if IIRC, is more expensive than COL).

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

The correct answer is: Because it's Monarch
Wouldn't try that on Deity...but of course, it's the best you can get from the Philo free Tech.

Btw, I don't go fro OCP placement in general, I just prefer a good core; I use tighter cities outside of it.
And the MoM...guess it's not really that helpful below DG; but here, you cannot get any wonders outside your capital (unless you have a loooong Palave prebuild, for something like the GLib).

 

[bed_head7]

I had actually been thinking along the same lines as you on MoM, Bigfoot. But it is a relatively cheap wonder so I don't think it would throw us off too much in getting the factory running, and in the short term I could see it being beneficial to our research and treasury at the cost of a few units. The reason for increased gpt being that Washington would be the only city large enough to have happiness issues, and those would be resolved, so luxury slider can stay at 0. And fewer units, and I suppose infrastructure as well, because our expansion would be however many turns behind from building MoM, so towns are founded later and begin building later. But as Doc has pointed out, the AI growth opportunities are somewhat limited, so settling space or taking it should not be a problem, and I was interested in trying out the MoM->settler factory plan. Basically, we would need to decide whether our gains would be enough to offset the hampered early expansion, and I think at Monarch they would.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

MoM is 200sp, a Cathedral is 160 for us. The MoM provides culture and tourism bonus. And, don't forget we want a GA...and we need to trigger it with Wonders. Either Suffrage or Hoover should be safe, but there is only a single EXP wonder that's not coastal (Copernicus). So the MoM not only helps us early (since, as bed head already pointed out, we could set back the Lux slider), but even more on the long run. But of course, 4 Settlers/cities OTOH are nice as well. Not really decided yet; if we'd have limited space to expanse anyway, I'd surely go for it.

 

[tmarcl]

So, who wants next?

Currently having played are:

Doc
tmarcl
geonny


That leaves:

bedhead
bigfoot
Michaelangelo


Michaelangelo has committments through Thursday, so it's between bedhead and bigfoot.

 

[Bigfoot]

I can take it.

 

[tmarcl]

I can take it.

It's all yours, then.

New order is:

Doc
tmarcl
geonny
bigfoot
Michaelangelo
bedhead

Since you're experienced and Michaelangelo isn't, I stuck him between you and bedhead. If bedhead and/or Michaelangelo want to switch their order, that's up to them.

 

[Bigfoot]

Status Check @ 1750BC
- 292 gold, +6 gpt
- Writing due in 15 (slider at 5-1-4)
- 1 settler, 3 workers, 2 scouts, 6 Warriors
- Rome is down Myst, HBR; Aztecs at tech parity; Iroq. down IW, Myst, HBR
- Mil. advisor says we are weak compared to other civs; all are polite.
- Worker building road to gems; somewhat early for this (no happiness problems yet) -- I would have assigned him to chop forest instead to finish rax sooner. Only 5 turns left to complete the road so I let him.
- Phil. changed from Temple to Curragh; we need to make more contacts for some tech. brokering.
- Settler headed S. towards green dot; give him an escort out of Wash.
- Aztecs have poor starting position, should be easy pickings; Rome looking pretty arctic too; Iro. appears to have the best land (other than ourselves).
- Lots of jungles and marsh up north, we are going to need lots of workers in this game.

1.) 1725 BC

- Solo Aztec settler heads back N. during interturn. Not sure what the Wa. (Charlie) on the Horse is doing there; move him N. to keep an eye on what the Aztecs are doing.

- MM New York to build Wa in 1 instead of 2 turns.

- MM Boston for growth in 4 and +1 gpt (rax still due in 14 -- the extra shield from working the forest was being lost to corruption, BG works out better). We now make +7 gpt.

- Settler and Wa move SE towards green dot.

- Worker by New York finishes road, starts mine.

- Scout by Iro. (Fred) explores; other scout (Harry) explores.

<No trading opportunities; hit enter. During interturn Aztec settler continues back home; Wash. grows to size 5.>

2.) 1700 BC

- NY builds Wa., starts horse due in 10 (move citizen back to lake for extra commerce).

- Settler/escort Wa. S. towards green dot.

- Charlie NW to keep tabs on Aztecs.

- Fred and Harry explore.

- In Wash. move citizen off of forest and onto BG to keep it at +5 fpt.

<No trades; hit enter>

3.) 1675 BC

- Wa. moves into Wash. for MP.

- Charlie NW

- Settler & escort move to green dot site.

- Harry and Fred explore.

- Move slider to 0% lux. (I should have done this earlier ). Happines still OK, gpt now +15.

<No trades available. During interturn Wash. builds settler, starts another.>

4.) 1650 BC

- Atlanta founded on green dot site, starts rax.

- Settler & Wa. escort head N. towards blue dot.

- Charlie NW.

- Worker finishes road thru hill, E. to continue road towards Philly.

- Gems now hooked up.

- Fred and Harry explore -- still no huts.

<No trades; gpt now at +16; our borders expand during interturn; Boston grows to size 2.>

5.) 1625 BC

- Settler & escort N.

- Worker moves from NY to build road towards blue dot site.

- Charlie W.

- Worker roads towards Phil.

- Worker in Boston NW to mine BG tile.

- Harry and Fred explore.

- MM New York to work BG made available from border expansion, NY now makes 5 spt (net of corruption).

- Extra citizen in Boston works forest, rax due in 7.

<No trades available; we are making +16 gpt; during interturn get announcement that Iro. is building Pyramids. Considerate of them to build it for us.>

6.) 1600 BC

- Worker moves to road toward blue dot city site.

- Settler & escort N. towards blue dot.

- Charlie NW (still no sign of Aztecs).

- Fred and Harry explore, Harry narrowly escapes a barb.

- Wash. grew to size 5 during interturn, move citizen from forest to BG.

<No trades; we now make +17 gpt; during interturn get announcement that Aztecs are building the Oracle; a Roman Wa. appears near New York, but just one so it looks like he is exploring.>

7.) 1575 BC

- Fred and Harry explore.

- Workers road.

- Settler & escort move to blue dot.

- Charlie W. to mtn. near the wheats, sees Aztec settler pair.

<Still no trades; during intertrun Aztec settler pairs heads towards wheats; Wash. settler --> settler; Phil. curragh --> curragh.>

8.) 1550 BC

- Found Chicago at blue dot, starts worker.

- Settler heads towards red dot (see new dotmap at end of this post).

- Fred and Harry explore.

- Curragh moves out of Phil.

<Buy worker from Iro. for 100G; interturn a barb kills Harry; NY horse --> horse.>

9.) 1525 BC

- Worker roads S. towards Atlanta.

- Horse towards wheats (maybe we can delay Aztecs long enough to get a settler there).

- Worker near Boston moves to road towards Atlanta along a path of BGs.

- Fred explores, still no huts.

- Curragh moves, will follow coastline to the N.

<Rome learns Writing, they want HBR, Myst and 110 G for it ; we will learn this tech in 6 turns anyway, so no thanks; we now make +18 gpt; during interturn Aztec settler pair passes by the wheats and heads farther W. (probably towards a site with Iron or Horses); our next settler can still claim the wheats!>

10.) 1500 BC

- Fred explores.

- Workers building roads to Chicago, Atlanta and red dot city site.

- Curragh moves.

Recap:

- 330 gold and we make +19 gpt; Writing due in 5.
- We have 1 settler, 4 workers, 1 scout, 7 Was., 1 horse, 1 curragh; our military is rated average compared to Rome, Aztec and Iro.
- After settling the red dot site, recommend build Wa. --> Temple; once worker completes the road to the red dot it can chop nearby forest to speed the temple build and uncover more grassland.
- Our next settler should try for the wheats. I would have moved the last settler that direction, but I thought the Aztecs had already beaten us to it. You can use Charlie as a garrison and start on a granery right away. Once it gets to +5 food and 5 spt it will make a nice 2 turn worker pump. It could also throw off some settlers if need be while Wash. builds M. of M. You can use Charlie and the horse to discourage settler pairs from moving in. NOTE: on the new dot map the blue site should be one tile N. ,right next to the wheats.
- I would dedicate New York, Boston and Atlanta to building horses. Aztecs are already accumulating shields towards Oracle, but I am guessing they would need at least another 30 turns to get it. By then they will probably be beaten to Oracle and could cascade those shields towards S of Z, assuming maths are known by then. We should be able to produce at least 20 horses by the time S of Z is done, that should be more than adequate to claim it for ourselves.

Current situation:

 

[geonnyboy]

Wow, that's a lot of progress! Good job.

Are we going to build up for war already? I thought we were going to build some infrastructure before wiping out the Aztecs (although that is one nice back door into Tenochtitlan just north of Chi-town.) Should we concentrate on expanding east (after taking the blue dot) or is the east pretty much ours, so we should concentrate on north via pointy stick.

Also, we need a moment of silence for the unfortunate death of Harry. We hardly knew ya buddy!

 

[Michelangelo]

Great progress indeed. I could take it up next and play tonight.

I noticed the zip-file contains a picture, not a .SAV and also couldn't find it in the upload folder. I don't think any save has yet been put in the upload folder. I'll start then and use the format SG_TMARCL_YEAR.zip.

From what I've seen so far I'll continue building up the Great Army of Horsemen.
I will try to produce settler(s?) on regular basis to claim the east (and eliminate barb threath) and later on during the war any empty spots.

As we learn how to Write in 5 turns I'll try some serious tech-brokering. Any ideas what to research next?

M.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Build Horses and a few Swords.
Continue to expand, explore, making contact.
Research: Do *not* spend any money for techs. Trade Writing, no use in holding it when Rome knows it. The AI will research MapMaking then. We must research @max CoL, then Philosophy, and grab Republic as the free Tech. Our cash reserve will not be a problem, but the happiness slider will, since Wash needs to be as big as possible to research fast. Get a second MP there, that will allow it to be at size 7 with 10% Lux. Try to get a MoM prebuild, when Philo is about 14 turns away. And don't hesitate to use Scientist in corrupt towns.

 

[Michelangelo]

Doc,

Why not use any money. I can understand not giving to much, but if it requires 10gold or something like that, it couldn't be that bad

How about getting money for techs? Is there a minimum, you think writing is worth, as the AI will offer allmost everything they have, which is not allways that much.
I use the new civassist from ainwood, to find out the basic cost of the tech. Is there a rule of thumb how much a research-cost point should be in gold.

M.

 

[tmarcl]

Very cool, bedhead. Quick question: Are we playing 10 turns or 20?

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Why not use any money?

Nothing wrong with spending some small change. But we have "only" about 350gp, and will research at 80 or 90% for the next two techs, running a deficit. And any money left I'd better spent for upgrades.
I mean, what Techs do you hope to get? I don't see anyone having MM (which we don't need atm), so Mysticism is the only Tech that may be around anyway.
On Tech prices: Hard to tell; in trades, too much relates to the # of Civs you know with that Tech. And on any level below DG you hardly get Market Prices for Techs, since the AI simply has never enough gold.

tmarcl: 10. Only the first player gets 20.

 

[Michelangelo]

Very cool, bedhead. Quick question: Are we playing 10 turns or 20?

I assumed 10.

But I can't play because there's no SAV. Anyone knows a way to contact bedhead??