LotR9 -- OPEN eXtreme Variants

[Arathorn]

Civilization: Persia
Leader: X
Map size: Small
Map type: Middle-water pangea. Rest random
Opponents: 5 random
Barbs: Just the 5 above
Difficulty: Regeant
Variants: OCC, AW, Infantry, Despotic, Conquest

X was an odd child amongst a weird family, making him beyond extreme in his views. When he came to power, he vowed to only have one city. "One city is enough for me to rule...and it's enough for me to take over the world. ALL shall know my intentions to dominate." Thus was this game begun.

For those who don't know....
OCC = One City Challenge -- no other cities built or captured ever
AW = Always War -- at war with all known other civs all the time
Infantry -- no mounted or fast units
Despotic -- no leaving despotism
Conquest -- must conquer the world

I checked that the map we're on is a true pangea, but I know little of it beyond that. But we can win without taking to the water -- an important point.

Strategy:
- IMMORTALS, IMMORTALS, IMMORTALS
- Crush our foes quickly with waves of immortals
- Get our one city up to 15 spt quickly and crank immortals every other turn until the end of time
- A 4/2/1 unit? Use it!
- Captured slaves should build roads to connect our city with the front(s) as fast as possible, as well as forming colonies to import luxuries.
- Kill opponents as fast as possible

I know this is do-able. I've done it before.

OPEN GAME RULES:
Claim whenever it's free. Play within 8 hours of claiming. With only one city, turns should go fast. If you build something besides immortals, you better have a DARN good reason for it. 10 turns per player, after my initial turns.

Start:

Arathorn

 

[Nad]

what an awesome idea! I love ridiculous variant games! This is not a got it but I will be looking to play a turn this weekend after my other SGs.

 

[Arathorn]

I actually moved one NW of our original starting location, to get more bonus grass in range faster. So, in 3950, X Ville was founded, from which point X would launch troops to conquer the world!

The first build was ... a barracks. We're gonna need veteran troops and lots of them. Barracks are a necessity. Iron working is researched at max, of course.

The worker irrigates the cow (and roads, of course), then starts mining and roading the abundant bonus grass in the area.

After the barracks completes, a worker is ordered. His job will be to road to and colonize iron. Then a spear for defense and MP. I would've liked to have built an immortal next, as IW was done, but the road to the iron wasn't built yet. SO...a warrior was built.

It wasn't until 2800 BC, a full 1200 years after X took power, that the first immortal was built and dispatched to go pillage, plunder, and destroy.

He didn't make contact with anyone until 2510 BC (yes, turn 31), when he found the Aztecs. War was declared.

2470 saw the first immortal action, as X's finest did one damage to a jag (I attacked) and died. This gives Monte a GA, but it should be a short-lived one.

In 2350, an immortal actually won, giving us a GA. We're getting close to the "magic" 15 spt while in a GA, but losing the GA shouldn't hurt shield production much, really.

In 2150, I step aside for the next leader. Yes, that's 40 turns, which is a lot, but I had to make sure a few things were viable before passing it off. Everybody should play 10 turns from here on out.

Arathorn

 

[Arathorn]

Save file
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads5/lotr9-2150bc.zip

Next leader:
Crush the Aztecs.
Make sure there's no landbridge west (normally there wouldn't be ona Civ3 generated map, but we can't afford surprises).
Improve a few more river squares around X Ville and start roading east.
Keep the immortals flowing.

Arathorn

 

[Sir Bugsy]

Arathorn is this in 1.29 or PTW?

 

[Arathorn]

This is PTW, 1.27f. I should've mentioned that. All my games are PTW these days. Really, though, 1.21f could probably play, but it has to be PTW.

Arathorn

 

[Hooray]

These variants together are insanity, I say! It should be an interesting game.

No, this isn't a got it. I think I'll probably participate in the future, though.

 

[Belisar]

Got it.

 

[Belisar]

Preturn: We make exactly 15 spt

2110: Got an elite immortal at Teotihuacan.
If I ever play in an SG with the Aztecs, I will rename ALL towns
Send the warrior scouting NW.

2070: We raze the town, was defended by a spear and a Jag.

2030: Spot the next Aztec boarder.

1990: A Babylonian warrior stops south of the Aztec city.
We could trade with IW, but why should we help them to get techs?
We will do better with a very slow tech pace, so I hold off.
Declare war and kill the warrior.

1950: -

1910: Spot Aztec settler pair.
The city we are approaching seems to be the capital.

1870: Kill the settler pair, our first two slaves.
This is the difference between swords and immortals, zero casualties.
I advance towards Tenochtitlan.
Finished scouting NW, no landbridge, nice.

IT: A Bab warrior impales itself on our immortal fortified in the forest south
of the Aztec capital, we get the second elite unit.

1830: Only one spear at their capital, no problem. We get a third slave
and the first AI is history.

1790: Some unit movement. X Ville is size 8, 17spt.

1750: Ok, I spot the red guys, will hand over the save now.

1725: Kill a Bab warrior,

Ups, 11 turns...
The warrior in X ville can be upgraded or used as MP.
I built only Immortals, we are up to 10(or 11 with the warrior)
Our army is "strong" versus the Babs
Don't forget to guard the north while hunting the Babs in the east.
Have fun, killratio was 8:0, hope to grab it again

SAVE

 

[Arathorn]

Excellent, Belisar. A punishing start. Bye-bye Aztecs!!! One down, four to go.

While sending 8 or so immortals to crush the Babylonians, it's important to have another few continuing to explore, so that the next target can be found by the time the Babs are gone.

Boy, two ancient age UU foes already. I hope we don't get Carthage or Greece.

As for the warrior, UPGRADE him. Unit costs will eventually become painful and MP costs us just as much gold as lux tax. Send him off to kill.

Who's next?

Arathorn

 

[T_McC]

Got it!

 

[T_McC]

Yes, the short time between "Got it" and the reply was playing first, then checking I could successfully upload the file, then saying I would play.

0: F4 check; Only know Babylon. Goal is to get a luxury colony (or 2) formed. I want to use the native worker to found the colony, to save on unit costs. Dyes appear to be closest, and on the way to the front. # of turns remaining of Golden Age is unknown. Upgrade warrior --> Immortal.

1: Move Immortal out of X-ville (2nd MP), up lux tax to 30%. This cost 2 gpt, and the unit wasn't urgently needed somewhere, so the Immortal completing next turn will stay in X-ville. Meet MONGOL scout in jungle N of ex-Azteca. Since we are researching The Wheel already, trade MASONRY for WHEEL, POTTERY, and 10 gold. Declare war. Research set to Alphabet at 10%, as this gives opportunity to drive for the Great Library, or Currency. I think a Marketplace as early as possible is an economic necessity. Nearest horses are in ex-Azteca.

2: Immortal completes, and stays in X Ville. Lux tax back down to 20%. Smite Bab warrior, and collect Immortals for group advance against Bab city.

3: Stack of 4 Immortals at Bab boundary. Northern Immortal slowly advancing to try to find Mongol cities.

4: Stack of 4 next to Nineveh. Second group consolidating on iron mountain in south.

5: Golden Age ends, X-ville riots. Ugh. Lux tax to 30% again. Nineveh razed (win 2 battles to 0), one slave garnered. Southern group locates Babylon city. Out of the Golden Age the economic fun begins. At 6.1.3 we are at break-even happiness, and are losing 4 gpt.

6: Road to Azteca complete, Bab settler pair sighted near Babylon. Also, three (regular) Mongol warriors appear on mountain east of Babylon.

7: One Immortal chases (Checkmates) Bab settler pair, while stack of 4 moves next to Babylon city. Found Dye colony with native worker, and can move lux tax to 20%, now losing 1 gpt. (Net gain of 3 gpt) Amassed slaves building road to Babylon.

8: X-ville builds Immortal. Lux tax to 30% in anticipation of growth next turn. (Not going to have 2 riots in 10 turns!) I think the settler pair will found on the next turn, so take a chance and attacked across river, into a forest (thought we were a little unit-heavy, and I wanted the slaves). Victory and two more slaves. Spot Mongol border in the north. Attack on Babylon: victory (promote), victory and Babylon burns.

9: X-ville grows, does not riot! (Something about a blind squirrel and an acorn) It now pulls 15 spt, but it is working an unroaded forest, so a couple of slaves should be sent back to rectify that, and to build a gems colony. Spot another (final?) Bab border in the south. Next player has the honor of putting Hammers scalp on their wall (or some other mixed metaphor)

Stop at 1500 BC to be on even numbers.

To next leader, Dyes colony is undefended, will need to correct that as the Mongols are sending a bunch of warriors towards us. (The colony is on the way to the front, so just a last-one-out defense should be sufficient).

For the advance into Mongolia, I have generally been trying to rally the troops at the Iron mountain in former Babylon.

Hope that wasn't too bad. Kill ratio of 5-0, so maybe the next player will also have the "honor" of the first losing battle.


The Save (1500 BC)

 

[Deatvert]

Got it

 

[Deatvert]

PreTurn - Everything looks okay change nothing
Turn 1 Our borders expand, now we don't need the iron colony, We trained another unit of Immortals which I sent a against the Mongols besause the Babs are all from dead. I fortify on Dyes with an Immortal, and kill 3 mogol warriers with no promotions Good news I see the Mogols capital.
Turn 2 The Babs are dying So I decide to send bulk of our Immortals to attack and destroy the Mongols. Use slaves to build roads on front lines.
Turn 3 Another unit of our fine Immortals is produced like the last one they are sent towards the evil Mongols. I moved our one Immortal near the Mongol capital I will attack next turn.
THE BABS ARE DEAD!

Great news that is, we also got 2 slave groups.
After razing the Capital I see they were on a chokepoint into unexplored lands send 3 Immortals down there so if another civ is found we can possibly destroy them.
Turn 4 This turn was mostly building roads and moving units I attack the Mongol Cap. the elite Immortal loses 2 HPs but kills one spear.
Turn 5 Again we train some fine men to send into battle,a new unit of Immortals is created . The elite Immortal attacks the spear in the Mongols cap. and loses 3-0 whats up with that?
We also kill a mongol warrier and win but still no promotions.

Sorry I could only play 5 turns but I have some RL issues to deal with.
LOTR 1375bc

 

[Deatvert]

we should continue to advance to kill the Mongols then look for more civs down past to chokepoint

 

[T_McC]

Another nickels worth of free advice to the next leader: In Deatvert's screenshot, two luxuries are visible near the ruins of the last Babylonian city. Since our road network is going that way anyway ...

 

[6thGenTexan]

I've got it. Be back in about an hour or two.

6gntxn

 

[6thGenTexan]

Look around. I'll leave the healing Immortals at the land bridge and send the rest against the Mongols. Too many people left going somewhere. Leaving dye colony unguarded. There are too many Immortals between it and any enemy.

1350BC-1 Moving a slave to road that last forest around X-ville.

1325BC-2 First Immortal created. Ivory colony created. Move 2 imortals south to see who is there.

1300BC-3 Ivory and Incense colonies connected. Three lux allows us to drop to 10% tax and only losing 3GPT.

1275BC-4 Second immortal. Defeat mongol archer 3-1 and find Ta-Tu. Find settler pair leaving Karakorum.

1250BC-5 Defeat settler pair 3-1 and get 2 more slaves. Mongol scout emerges from the fog next to our dyes so he dies.

1225BC-6 Third Immortal.

1200BC-7 Four Immortals ready to attack Karakorum, one versus Kazan and one verses Ta-Tu.

1175BC-8 Fourth Immortal. Karakorum spear1 loses 3-0, spear2 loses vs. elite 3-1, spear 3 loses 3-2 and that is the capital with one slave. We lose our first Immortal 4-2 attacking Kazan. They will be avenged. Defeat one spear in Ta-Tu 3-3. Movement reveals an Ottoman warrior. Speak to Osmond and he has Mysticism and Alphabet 10g and 4 other cities. He has no contacts so I let him know who our next victim will be for Mysticism and 10g. Now that he knows the Mongols he will quickly learn who we are so I declare war.

1150BC-9 Our palace gets a second story. X-ville is up to 10 and I give them a scientist to save the tax increase. Ottoman warrior fortified but he should have run away. He dies 3-0.

1125BC-10 Another Immortal. We now have spices. The scientist goes back to work and add the science bact to 10%. Defeat first spear in Kazan 3-2 and the second dies 3-0. An archer did leave the city before it fell. Best attacker is the 4hp elite attacking uphill but we win 3-1.

1100BC-11 Sorry guys. I had to avenge the lost Immortal and defeated Ta-Tu 3-2 and thus ending the Mongol race.

The slave near X-ville will need to road the other 2 forrest squares. The governor likes them. After that we can send him to be a gem colony. The rest of the slaves are building the road to the former Mongol capital. The Mongols were nice to road their furs but did not build the road to us. The Immortals are all heading to the spice colony since that is where the road ends.

-6gntxn

THE GAME

 

[LKendter]

Well I got a few minutes to kill.
Ten turns coming right up.

 

[LKendter]

1100 BC (pre-turn)
First thing I notice is we are really screwed up on the years. I am going to play to 750BC to get us back on track.
10% science and losing $3/turn. This game will end during the ancient ages, so I turn of science. We won't get anything better then immortals for a long time.


1025 BC
We finally spot an orange border.

975 BC
I get to kill something - scratch a warrior.

950 BC
Once again we kill a warrior.

875 BC
Not my typical style, but the SoD is still to far away. We take a whack at Izmit, and drop to 1 hp. However, it only had 1 defender and is destroyed!

800 BC
Our injured immortal gets away with killing yet another warrior.
It is cheaper to hire a tax man, then up luxuries.

775 BC
We will be bankrupt shortly, so I continue an atypical piecemeal attack. This sounds sick, but we need to lose some troops. There is one less spearman in Bursa.

750 BC
Bursa is auto-razed. We gain 2 new workers to keep building a road-net to the Ottomans.

Summary:
We are in really bad shape. Bankruptcy in less then 10 turns, and that means the barracks will be sold off and random immortals will be vaporized. We need the wines colony to fire the taxman.


http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads5/LOTR9-750BC.zip