Harv
Emperor
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2008
- Messages
- 1,983
In the past few weeks, there were some threads asking about how to play the Mali on Earth 18. Here is a stab at the very start.
(Granted, I do prefer early game to end game - and play until either I realize that I could have started better - or I get to a point where turns take a lot of computer time and it has been decided for a while.)
Level: Monarch
Speed: Normal
Raging Barbarians
Choose Religions
RNG Exploit, Plenty of Autosaves, Plenty of Reloads, Unlimited Ammuntion
What is interesting about playing Mali is that the start is isolated, but Mansa Musa has access to 14 of his 17 opponents. He has plenty of room to expand with very little competition, but the land's wealth is limited. Africa seems to have a lot of mineral resources, but very little food resources.
I chose to build the capital 3E, 2S (Credit to BakingTheArt and his earlier discussion) because it gives access to Cows, Elephants, and Gems as well as four Floodplains Tiles. The
factor is 2, cancelling the effect of fresh water, but this goes down to 1 when the jungle is cleared.
Settling 1W is still tempting just because at the Turn 50 border pop, I have lit up the entire SW corner of Africa and there are only two directions left the Barbarians can come from.
Note, Spoilers are used only to make the post shorter. Coordinates are expressed as E,N) from the Capital.
For exploration and huts, with some luck and RNG Exploits, I got the following:
Research was as follows:
Builds were as follows:
My first priority was to get an economy started. This meant cottaging the flood plains. The settler will build a city on the Ivory Coast and go immediately to work on the Crabs.
My goals going forward are:
1. Defense - Getting the Skirmisher machine going
2. Expansion - Next targets are Carthage and Morocco while they are still available.
3. Fogbusting - I should fogbust the Sahara Desert and then the Barbarians should only be coming from the jungle.
Mali needs some
Interesting developments:
1. Spain did *not* get Christianity.
2. Egypt built the Great Wall.
Here are some screenshots and a couple of saves.
Thoughts? Is this start on the right track? When I meet the goals above, should I peacefully expand into the Jungles of Central Africa, or should I attack? Should my first victim be Egypt or Spain?
(Granted, I do prefer early game to end game - and play until either I realize that I could have started better - or I get to a point where turns take a lot of computer time and it has been decided for a while.)
Level: Monarch
Speed: Normal
Raging Barbarians
Choose Religions
RNG Exploit, Plenty of Autosaves, Plenty of Reloads, Unlimited Ammuntion
What is interesting about playing Mali is that the start is isolated, but Mansa Musa has access to 14 of his 17 opponents. He has plenty of room to expand with very little competition, but the land's wealth is limited. Africa seems to have a lot of mineral resources, but very little food resources.
I chose to build the capital 3E, 2S (Credit to BakingTheArt and his earlier discussion) because it gives access to Cows, Elephants, and Gems as well as four Floodplains Tiles. The
factor is 2, cancelling the effect of fresh water, but this goes down to 1 when the jungle is cleared.Settling 1W is still tempting just because at the Turn 50 border pop, I have lit up the entire SW corner of Africa and there are only two directions left the Barbarians can come from.
Note, Spoilers are used only to make the post shorter. Coordinates are expressed as E,N) from the Capital.
For exploration and huts, with some luck and RNG Exploits, I got the following:
Spoiler :
Research was as follows:
Spoiler :
Builds were as follows:
Spoiler :
My first priority was to get an economy started. This meant cottaging the flood plains. The settler will build a city on the Ivory Coast and go immediately to work on the Crabs.
My goals going forward are:
1. Defense - Getting the Skirmisher machine going
2. Expansion - Next targets are Carthage and Morocco while they are still available.
3. Fogbusting - I should fogbust the Sahara Desert and then the Barbarians should only be coming from the jungle.
Mali needs some
Interesting developments:
1. Spain did *not* get Christianity.
2. Egypt built the Great Wall.
Here are some screenshots and a couple of saves.
Thoughts? Is this start on the right track? When I meet the goals above, should I peacefully expand into the Jungles of Central Africa, or should I attack? Should my first victim be Egypt or Spain?
. What else do you not understand?
. Would I have been better off to claim the Crabs instead?
when all the good expansion is done.
imp: I am peacefully expanding into Subsaharan Africa. Sorry.
machine much sooner. There is something about being financial that makes me even more a builder addict.
Farm going.
