I've played round 3. This round, I'm going to present a little differently. I'm going to give a turn by turn account for a detailed look at everything I did from city builds to worker improvements to tech choices. Let me know if you like this form better. I'm also going to put the screen shots in spoiler tags so the page will load quicker for those with slower connections.
The goals for this round are to continue developing the economy, expand the empire by founding more cities, and begin building a military to protect from barbs (and Jao if necessary), and scout the continent.
The tech plan I decided on:
The first priority was to get CoL, not so much for courthouses, but for Confucianism and to work towards Civil Service for Bureaucracy. Caste System is also very handy for a spiritual civ as you will see later. Having a religion is in my opinion the easiest path to increasing our happy cap a bit, and by skipping Monarchy for Hereditary Rule (at least in the short run), we get Civil Service quicker. Since we will want Monotheism for Organized Religion, and 1 of the techs (Polytheism) is on the way to CoL, I saw no harm in pursuing Judaism first. There is no sign that anyone is running away in tech, and our economy is humming along. So the tech plan is:
Polytheism, Masonry, Monotheism, Priesthood, CoL, Mathematics, Civil Service.
Polytheism before Masonry because it is on the path to CoL, and if anyone founds Judaism, we immediately switch away from either Masonry or Monotheism to go straight to CoL.
The plan for increasing the economy other than tech-wise is for Djenne to create a Great Scientist for an Academy in the capital as early as possible, and for the capital to continue to work cottages and grow as the happy cap increases. At some point, we also want a library in the capital.
The plan for military is for the capital to build at least 2 axemen once iron is hooked up. One to secure a city location, one to start scouting out Jao. The long term plan is for military production to shift to Djenne and and the eventual copper town. Our capital has one overriding purpose ... fuel our economy by working cottages as much as possible.
The plan for expansion is for Djenne to eventually whip settlers after it finishes the Great Scientist. There is an excellent commerce site in the jungle, and a decent production site by the copper. Although the copper site would be nice to settler first for the production, it is probably more strategically sound to grab the jungle site first to prevent it from falling into Portuguese hands.
I had all of this thought out before starting the round. At Prince level, and to a lesser extent on Monarch, an experienced, solid player can usually just go through the motions and win a game. A less experienced player really needs to have a plan to get everything working together and accomplish meaningful goals. Above Monarch, I imagine all but the best players will usually struggle without a clearly thought out plan. In CivIV, circumstances vary greatly, and strategy must fit them to do well.
Well on to the round. At the end of Round 2, we had just completed Iron Working, and Iron showed up in both Djenne and Timbuktu.
Turn 63, 1480, start researching Polytheism, start building both Iron mines
Turn 65, finished granary in Timbuktu, started on library. Whipped library for 2 pop in Djenne.
Turn 66, finished Polytheism, started Masonry. Put the overflow from the library whip into a settler.
Turn 67, Switched Djenne to barracks so it can grow. Although iron mine is complete, still working both food tiles for growth. We needed to build the settler for a turn to store the overflow hammers in the settler. What we really want to build next in Djenne is a settler, but the Scientists are the priority, so we have to grow, and switch away from the settler. First Jao unit sited ... a lone archer just west of silk tile.
Turn 68, Finished Masonry, started on Monotheism. 3 turns to research, may get Judaism! Djenne size 3 and one turnfrom size 4, but still needs 2 turns for unhappiness of whip to wear off, so working just clams and running 2 scientists for this turn.
Turn 69 Road on iron by Djenne finished, so switch Timbuktu from library to axeman. Although I really want a library in the capital, military cannot be ignored. It is getting too late to just have warriors. Switched Djenne from 2 scientists to corn and iron. Next turn one of the unhappies wears off. By working corn, clam, and iron, will grow to size 4 in one turn.
Turn 70 Djenne grows to size 4. Work corn + clams + 2 scientists. Will have GS in 16 turns. Switch back to settler. Now that we are size 4 with 2 scientists, we can build the settler. Growth no longer necessary. Worker near Djenne starts on mine for plains hill. Missed Judaism by one turn. So switched immediately to Priesthood to go for CoL. there is no reason to complete Monotheism, even though only 1 turn away. Organized religion will be useless til we have a religion anyway.
Turn 71 We will get the benefits of Judaism after all. Jao converts to Judaism. Timbuktu worker starts on 5th cottage. Since we missed Judaism, I changed civics away from slavery (was waiting to see if we got Judaism to do Organized Religion as well). If you are spiritual, change out of slavery if you don't need it. The slave revolt random event is no fun at all. Also the Great Wall is built in a far away land.
Turn 72 finished Priesthood, started on CoL.
Turn 75 finished axeman in Timbuktu. Will build library for 1 turn so it doesn't degrade, then another axe. Both workers now near Timbuktu building more cottages, and roads towards new cities.
Turn 81 screenshot 850 BC
An eventful turn. Code of Laws completed, and spread to Timbuktu the very same turn! Never have seen that before. Settler in Djenne also finished, and went back to partially built barracks. Converted to confucianism for the happy. If Jao doesn't like it, our macemen will convince him otherwise. The axeman has gone to the site of city 3. The worker has been building a road there, and will now chop the jungle over that rice. The axe will move 1NW to check for barbarians first. We can also see Jao is 4 turns from Iron Working.
Turn 82 Finished second axe in Timbuktu, and sent him to scout out Jao. Back to work on the library. Finished Monotheism, and switched to
Organized Religion. Started on math.
Turn 83 Kumbi Saleh founded 1S of Rice. Used free missionary here. The culture from confucianism will pop the borders. Signed open borders with Jao.
Turn 84 To take advantage of OR, swithced Timbuktu from 2 cottages to two mines. Build time drops from 7 to 3 turns. I have a shot of both so we can discuss if this was a good idea:
Build library slow pic:
Build library faster pic:
We lose 5 commerce, growth of 2 cottages for 3 turns. In return, we get a library 4 turns earlier and can start building something else. I'm pretty sure this is an almost dead even trade on commerce, so the extra hammers make building the library fast the better move. The library could have been built in 2 turns by going max production, but this is probably a bad trade off.
Turn 85 moved science slider from 90 to 80 to avoid dropping below 50 gold. One worker developing city 3, other worker moving into position for city 4, the copper/corn site. I plan to whip the settler in Djenne once the Great Scientist pops out.
Turn 86 Enrico Fermi born in Djenne. Will now build a warrior to garrison city 4.
Turn 87, 700BC screenshot
A look at our fine capital after a Library and an Academy. Just a turn ago, beakers was at 31, 80% slider. Now with Library and Academy beakers up to 56. Math completed. Civil Service is now down to 13 turns. It was 31 when
the round started in the tech screen, and the capital has only grown by 1 since then. Started on a temple which will be completed 1 turn after unhappiness, and switched back to cottages. Hopefully soon Djenne and city 4 will pull most of the military production weight, and Timbuktu can totally concentrate on cottages.
Turn 88, Switch to slavery in preparation for whip in Djenne.
Turn 89, warrior completed in Djenne, back to barracks, 1 more turn to pop 6, and after a turn or 2 of work, a settler can be whipped for 3 pop.
Turn 91 screen shot 600BC, A view of Portugal.
We can see Jao has a rather fine capital, and what looks to be pretty bad land otherwise so far. Note that Jao has little military, only 2 archers and an axeman in the capital. But the idiot has done nothing to develop the capital other than hook up the resources. A human player with this start with all those hills and forests could have slaughtered me, and there would be nothing I could have done about it. We can see some useful resources. Marble, deer, gold, and wine so far. Later on, Lisbon will be the production powerhouse of our empire. Barracks completed in Djenne, switch to settler. A side note here, the Oracle can still be built, and in only 11 turns in Djenne. It's getting pretty late for such a cheap early wonder, but whipping a worker there, putting overflow into the Oracle, and chopping a forest would get it done a few turns earlier. We could research meditation quickly and choose philosophy. But I am purposely going to skip the oracle. We are crushing this game already, and when you play harder levels, you can't rely on using the Oracle for a nice tech in general. It is often a mistake unless you are industrious or have marble. The last emperor game that I was industrious, I had marble, and a high production city and didn't delay starting the oracle very late at all. Still missed it by 3 turns.
Turn 92 Whipped settler in Djenne for 3 pop. Switched a tile in capital from cottage to mine. This will complete the temple in 1 turn, and pop is going up in one turn. No wasted commerce as I will work 2 cottages next turn
instead of 1 with an unhappy face.
Turn 93 Settler done in Djenne, started on temple.
Turn 95 Temple finished in Djenne, started on axeman. Gao founded at corn/copper site. My axeman finds a barb warrior in Jao's land, a little damaged, on a pillaged rice square. Yeah free experience. My worker at city 3 finishes the rice and a road and starts chopping a forest to finish the granary. I also made a switch to caste system and hired an artist in our new city of Gao. This is a tactic to remember, especially when spiritual. In 3 turns the borders will pop with no wasted missionary or forest.
Screenshot500BC: I make a blunder:
Barb warrior revealed NW of Gao when settled. The warrior in Gao and the axemen in KS will switch places. Notice the horses. I made a mistake here. I should have scouted just a little bit with my axeman at the city 3 site ... he had a few turns before the settler showed up. I could have claimed horses and stone with this city. Stone alone, I didn't think worth it, but horses too would have been nice. The city will still be a fine city without those tiles, but the option of more production is always nice.
Turn 97, KS finishes Granary from chop, starts on library. Worker starts building cottages along river. Temple of Artemis built in a far away land. The other worker starts chopping the riverside plains forest tile near Gao.
After this chop, he will improve the corn, then come back and irrigate the plain (CS will be done) to give the corn +1 food. Eventually this chain irrigation will reach the corn in the capital as well.
Turn 98: I hire 2 merchants in Djenne. This allows me to go from 80% science with -1 gold to 90% science with no gold loss or gain. +10 total commerce. running 2 scientists would have gained me 7 or 8. This is another tactic to remember, and a good use of caste system. Since the capital is producing most of the commerce, and has beaker multipliers, getting gold from merchants in another city to increase the slider produces more beakers (and commerce over all) than running scientists.
Turn 99: axemen completed in both Djenne and the capital. Djenne's sits tight to guard the south (can easily reach the capital for defense if a barb shows up), and the capital's heads west to KS. The warrior at KS heads back to Gao. The axemen that went from KS to Gao to take care of the barb is now scouting. Djenne starts on another axe, and the capital on a worker. 2 workers is no longer enough, and we have a lot of jungle to clear. The capital is at happy cap, and a worker is a good way to keep a city from growing while still working all the best tiles.
Turn 100 375 BC screenshot: Civil Service completed. A view of our capital, producing 113 beakers in the BC era:
The capital has gone from 35 beakers in turn 86 with 90% slider to 113 beakers at 90% slider in only 14 turns!!! Just think of the beakers once we have oxford, printing press, and 8-10 more cottages. I was going to end the round here, but decided to research alphabet to see Jao's techs, which after raising the slider to 100% will take only 2 turns.
Turn 101: The list of the largest civs in the world puts us at #3 with Jao #2. That's going to change soon.
Turn 102, 325 BC: Finished Alphabet, and ended the round.
A shot of our current tech choices:
Everything is cheap!
And a shot of Jao's tech situation:
Not shown, Jao can also research Archery MC, Aesthetics, Construction.
So what techs does the backward fellow have? Looks like:
Hunting
Masonry
Mysticism
Polytheism
Monotheism
Meditation
Sailing
Agriculture
The Wheel
Pottery
Bronze Working
Iron Working
Writing
I think that's all.
Overall, an extremely successful round. All goals met, and the economy is completely dominating the AIs. I may post the demographics screen later today. Our commerce is about 5 times the best AI.
The goals for this round are to continue developing the economy, expand the empire by founding more cities, and begin building a military to protect from barbs (and Jao if necessary), and scout the continent.
The tech plan I decided on:
The first priority was to get CoL, not so much for courthouses, but for Confucianism and to work towards Civil Service for Bureaucracy. Caste System is also very handy for a spiritual civ as you will see later. Having a religion is in my opinion the easiest path to increasing our happy cap a bit, and by skipping Monarchy for Hereditary Rule (at least in the short run), we get Civil Service quicker. Since we will want Monotheism for Organized Religion, and 1 of the techs (Polytheism) is on the way to CoL, I saw no harm in pursuing Judaism first. There is no sign that anyone is running away in tech, and our economy is humming along. So the tech plan is:
Polytheism, Masonry, Monotheism, Priesthood, CoL, Mathematics, Civil Service.
Polytheism before Masonry because it is on the path to CoL, and if anyone founds Judaism, we immediately switch away from either Masonry or Monotheism to go straight to CoL.
The plan for increasing the economy other than tech-wise is for Djenne to create a Great Scientist for an Academy in the capital as early as possible, and for the capital to continue to work cottages and grow as the happy cap increases. At some point, we also want a library in the capital.
The plan for military is for the capital to build at least 2 axemen once iron is hooked up. One to secure a city location, one to start scouting out Jao. The long term plan is for military production to shift to Djenne and and the eventual copper town. Our capital has one overriding purpose ... fuel our economy by working cottages as much as possible.
The plan for expansion is for Djenne to eventually whip settlers after it finishes the Great Scientist. There is an excellent commerce site in the jungle, and a decent production site by the copper. Although the copper site would be nice to settler first for the production, it is probably more strategically sound to grab the jungle site first to prevent it from falling into Portuguese hands.
I had all of this thought out before starting the round. At Prince level, and to a lesser extent on Monarch, an experienced, solid player can usually just go through the motions and win a game. A less experienced player really needs to have a plan to get everything working together and accomplish meaningful goals. Above Monarch, I imagine all but the best players will usually struggle without a clearly thought out plan. In CivIV, circumstances vary greatly, and strategy must fit them to do well.
Well on to the round. At the end of Round 2, we had just completed Iron Working, and Iron showed up in both Djenne and Timbuktu.
Turn 63, 1480, start researching Polytheism, start building both Iron mines
Turn 65, finished granary in Timbuktu, started on library. Whipped library for 2 pop in Djenne.
Turn 66, finished Polytheism, started Masonry. Put the overflow from the library whip into a settler.
Turn 67, Switched Djenne to barracks so it can grow. Although iron mine is complete, still working both food tiles for growth. We needed to build the settler for a turn to store the overflow hammers in the settler. What we really want to build next in Djenne is a settler, but the Scientists are the priority, so we have to grow, and switch away from the settler. First Jao unit sited ... a lone archer just west of silk tile.
Turn 68, Finished Masonry, started on Monotheism. 3 turns to research, may get Judaism! Djenne size 3 and one turnfrom size 4, but still needs 2 turns for unhappiness of whip to wear off, so working just clams and running 2 scientists for this turn.
Turn 69 Road on iron by Djenne finished, so switch Timbuktu from library to axeman. Although I really want a library in the capital, military cannot be ignored. It is getting too late to just have warriors. Switched Djenne from 2 scientists to corn and iron. Next turn one of the unhappies wears off. By working corn, clam, and iron, will grow to size 4 in one turn.
Turn 70 Djenne grows to size 4. Work corn + clams + 2 scientists. Will have GS in 16 turns. Switch back to settler. Now that we are size 4 with 2 scientists, we can build the settler. Growth no longer necessary. Worker near Djenne starts on mine for plains hill. Missed Judaism by one turn. So switched immediately to Priesthood to go for CoL. there is no reason to complete Monotheism, even though only 1 turn away. Organized religion will be useless til we have a religion anyway.
Turn 71 We will get the benefits of Judaism after all. Jao converts to Judaism. Timbuktu worker starts on 5th cottage. Since we missed Judaism, I changed civics away from slavery (was waiting to see if we got Judaism to do Organized Religion as well). If you are spiritual, change out of slavery if you don't need it. The slave revolt random event is no fun at all. Also the Great Wall is built in a far away land.
Turn 72 finished Priesthood, started on CoL.
Turn 75 finished axeman in Timbuktu. Will build library for 1 turn so it doesn't degrade, then another axe. Both workers now near Timbuktu building more cottages, and roads towards new cities.
Turn 81 screenshot 850 BC
Spoiler :
An eventful turn. Code of Laws completed, and spread to Timbuktu the very same turn! Never have seen that before. Settler in Djenne also finished, and went back to partially built barracks. Converted to confucianism for the happy. If Jao doesn't like it, our macemen will convince him otherwise. The axeman has gone to the site of city 3. The worker has been building a road there, and will now chop the jungle over that rice. The axe will move 1NW to check for barbarians first. We can also see Jao is 4 turns from Iron Working.
Turn 82 Finished second axe in Timbuktu, and sent him to scout out Jao. Back to work on the library. Finished Monotheism, and switched to
Organized Religion. Started on math.
Turn 83 Kumbi Saleh founded 1S of Rice. Used free missionary here. The culture from confucianism will pop the borders. Signed open borders with Jao.
Turn 84 To take advantage of OR, swithced Timbuktu from 2 cottages to two mines. Build time drops from 7 to 3 turns. I have a shot of both so we can discuss if this was a good idea:
Build library slow pic:
Spoiler :
Build library faster pic:
Spoiler :
We lose 5 commerce, growth of 2 cottages for 3 turns. In return, we get a library 4 turns earlier and can start building something else. I'm pretty sure this is an almost dead even trade on commerce, so the extra hammers make building the library fast the better move. The library could have been built in 2 turns by going max production, but this is probably a bad trade off.
Turn 85 moved science slider from 90 to 80 to avoid dropping below 50 gold. One worker developing city 3, other worker moving into position for city 4, the copper/corn site. I plan to whip the settler in Djenne once the Great Scientist pops out.
Turn 86 Enrico Fermi born in Djenne. Will now build a warrior to garrison city 4.
Turn 87, 700BC screenshot
Spoiler :
A look at our fine capital after a Library and an Academy. Just a turn ago, beakers was at 31, 80% slider. Now with Library and Academy beakers up to 56. Math completed. Civil Service is now down to 13 turns. It was 31 when
the round started in the tech screen, and the capital has only grown by 1 since then. Started on a temple which will be completed 1 turn after unhappiness, and switched back to cottages. Hopefully soon Djenne and city 4 will pull most of the military production weight, and Timbuktu can totally concentrate on cottages.
Turn 88, Switch to slavery in preparation for whip in Djenne.
Turn 89, warrior completed in Djenne, back to barracks, 1 more turn to pop 6, and after a turn or 2 of work, a settler can be whipped for 3 pop.
Turn 91 screen shot 600BC, A view of Portugal.
Spoiler :
We can see Jao has a rather fine capital, and what looks to be pretty bad land otherwise so far. Note that Jao has little military, only 2 archers and an axeman in the capital. But the idiot has done nothing to develop the capital other than hook up the resources. A human player with this start with all those hills and forests could have slaughtered me, and there would be nothing I could have done about it. We can see some useful resources. Marble, deer, gold, and wine so far. Later on, Lisbon will be the production powerhouse of our empire. Barracks completed in Djenne, switch to settler. A side note here, the Oracle can still be built, and in only 11 turns in Djenne. It's getting pretty late for such a cheap early wonder, but whipping a worker there, putting overflow into the Oracle, and chopping a forest would get it done a few turns earlier. We could research meditation quickly and choose philosophy. But I am purposely going to skip the oracle. We are crushing this game already, and when you play harder levels, you can't rely on using the Oracle for a nice tech in general. It is often a mistake unless you are industrious or have marble. The last emperor game that I was industrious, I had marble, and a high production city and didn't delay starting the oracle very late at all. Still missed it by 3 turns.
Turn 92 Whipped settler in Djenne for 3 pop. Switched a tile in capital from cottage to mine. This will complete the temple in 1 turn, and pop is going up in one turn. No wasted commerce as I will work 2 cottages next turn
instead of 1 with an unhappy face.
Turn 93 Settler done in Djenne, started on temple.
Turn 95 Temple finished in Djenne, started on axeman. Gao founded at corn/copper site. My axeman finds a barb warrior in Jao's land, a little damaged, on a pillaged rice square. Yeah free experience. My worker at city 3 finishes the rice and a road and starts chopping a forest to finish the granary. I also made a switch to caste system and hired an artist in our new city of Gao. This is a tactic to remember, especially when spiritual. In 3 turns the borders will pop with no wasted missionary or forest.
Screenshot500BC: I make a blunder:
Spoiler :
Barb warrior revealed NW of Gao when settled. The warrior in Gao and the axemen in KS will switch places. Notice the horses. I made a mistake here. I should have scouted just a little bit with my axeman at the city 3 site ... he had a few turns before the settler showed up. I could have claimed horses and stone with this city. Stone alone, I didn't think worth it, but horses too would have been nice. The city will still be a fine city without those tiles, but the option of more production is always nice.
Turn 97, KS finishes Granary from chop, starts on library. Worker starts building cottages along river. Temple of Artemis built in a far away land. The other worker starts chopping the riverside plains forest tile near Gao.
After this chop, he will improve the corn, then come back and irrigate the plain (CS will be done) to give the corn +1 food. Eventually this chain irrigation will reach the corn in the capital as well.
Turn 98: I hire 2 merchants in Djenne. This allows me to go from 80% science with -1 gold to 90% science with no gold loss or gain. +10 total commerce. running 2 scientists would have gained me 7 or 8. This is another tactic to remember, and a good use of caste system. Since the capital is producing most of the commerce, and has beaker multipliers, getting gold from merchants in another city to increase the slider produces more beakers (and commerce over all) than running scientists.
Turn 99: axemen completed in both Djenne and the capital. Djenne's sits tight to guard the south (can easily reach the capital for defense if a barb shows up), and the capital's heads west to KS. The warrior at KS heads back to Gao. The axemen that went from KS to Gao to take care of the barb is now scouting. Djenne starts on another axe, and the capital on a worker. 2 workers is no longer enough, and we have a lot of jungle to clear. The capital is at happy cap, and a worker is a good way to keep a city from growing while still working all the best tiles.
Turn 100 375 BC screenshot: Civil Service completed. A view of our capital, producing 113 beakers in the BC era:
Spoiler :
The capital has gone from 35 beakers in turn 86 with 90% slider to 113 beakers at 90% slider in only 14 turns!!! Just think of the beakers once we have oxford, printing press, and 8-10 more cottages. I was going to end the round here, but decided to research alphabet to see Jao's techs, which after raising the slider to 100% will take only 2 turns.
Turn 101: The list of the largest civs in the world puts us at #3 with Jao #2. That's going to change soon.
Turn 102, 325 BC: Finished Alphabet, and ended the round.
A shot of our current tech choices:
Spoiler :
Everything is cheap!
And a shot of Jao's tech situation:
Spoiler :
Not shown, Jao can also research Archery MC, Aesthetics, Construction.
So what techs does the backward fellow have? Looks like:
Hunting
Masonry
Mysticism
Polytheism
Monotheism
Meditation
Sailing
Agriculture
The Wheel
Pottery
Bronze Working
Iron Working
Writing
I think that's all.
Overall, an extremely successful round. All goals met, and the economy is completely dominating the AIs. I may post the demographics screen later today. Our commerce is about 5 times the best AI.
