mb2-a space oddity

[Hooray]

Okay, here goes.
I'm not going to put down every single city production, due to lack of time. All you need to know is that I mostly just built Ansars, some Muskets, and a few Banks here and there. Anything deviating from that will be noted, though.

Pre-turn: Oh man, do we even have any Elites? Oh, there's one...just one...

960 AD: Viks want TM trade. Ok.
Bab Longbow kills an Ansar, and a Knight kills an Ansar.
Aleppo Worker->Aqueduct
Vet Ansar kills a Longbow. Vet Ansar kills Knight, and goes Elite!
Vet Ansar dies attacking Ellipi. Elite Ansar wins.
Vet Ansar wins. Vet Ansar wins, and captures Ellipi.

970: Renegotiate Greece ROP deal. I guess I'll renew. It makes them Polite, at least.
Ur flips back to Babylon! Damn! We just lost a bunch of troops.
A Vet Ansar easily retakes Ur.

980: Renegotiate some Dyes deal with Vikings?
Greece wants TM trade. Aztecs want WM trade.
Indus Worker->Harbor Sippar Temple->Aqueduct

990: Fez riots.
Vet Ansar kills a Longbow. Vet Ansar kills and MDI.
Babylon finally begins to starve.

1000: Uskudar Worker -> Temple
Some Babylonian boats are floating around down near old India. I upgrade a few Horses so I can deal with them if they land.

1010: Mongols and Vikings sign a Peace Treaty. I think all the AI wars have stopped for now.
Renegotiate some gpt-luxury deal with Aztecs. They refuse to renew.
Vet Ansar kills a Knight. Vet Ansar kills a Knight.
Temple in Ur is hurried.

1020: Our glorious Golden Age ends.
Ur suddenly flips AGAIN!! Man, I'm pissed off.
Suhar Barracks->Aqueduct
Vet Ansar retreats from Ur. Another Ansar then retakes the city.
Temple in Ellipi is hurried.
A Vet Ansar retreats attacking Samarra. Vet Ansar wins.
A Vet Ansar wins, and captures Samarra. This cuts off Babylon's source of Iron. I pillage it just incase they somehow retake the city.
Hmm, Egypt has Democracy. I guess I should steal it.
Whoops, they declare war. We're at war with Egypt now.

1030: Ellipi Temple->Worker Aydab Aqueduct->Temple
Lots of pillaging around Uruk and Samarra.

1040: Tabuk riots.
All right! Babylon is down to size 6! Time to attack.
Vet Ansar retreats. Vet Ansar retreats. Vet Ansar retreats.
Vet Ansar wins. Vet Ansar dies. Vet Ansar wins. Vet Ansar wins. Vet Ansar wins.
Elite Ansar wins. Vet Ansar retreats. Vet Ansar wins, and goes Elite.
An Elite Ansar wins, and captures Babylon.

Democracy and Chemistry are out there, but I don't want to risk any more steals.
I send Gems, Wines, Furs, WM, and 1200gold to Vikings for Democracy.
Gems, Wines, Dyes, WM, and 200gold to Aztecs for Chemistry.

1050 AD: Bab Longbow dies attacking an Ansar. Another Longbow manages to kill an Ansar.
An Elite Ansar kills a Longbow.

Here's the save. Sorry, no interesting screenshots.
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads5/mb2_1050_AD.SAV

 

[a space oddity]

Well played, Hooray.
At least we have three Elite units now and some bab cities left to try for that elusive leader.

In all honesty maybe we should think about a different location for the Palace as an emergency scenario. Handbuilding it in 900+ turns is not a realistic option. Unless we find a way of effectively transfer the shields from other cities (disbanding units). This wastes a lot of production, but maybe somebody can do the math to see whether this is feasible.

 

[Hooray]

Disbanding units won't work. I think the Palace is a lot like a Wonder in that shield-gaining methods like that, or cutting down trees, don't work. Actually, I could be wrong, I just always assumed.

War Weariness might start becoming a problem if we keep leader-fishing. Thankfully we're Religious, so we can go back to Monarchy if necessary.

 

[mad-bax]

I don't think we need to panic as far as the palace goes. We will get a leader eventually. Just make sure the Ansars start and finish their turns outside Babylons cultural borders and WW will take a long time to kick in. Democracy would be helpful right now for the faster workers for jungle clearance. This will help boost the populations of the southern cities ready for the new capital.

vbraun: you are UP.

 

[a space oddity]

Mad, I hate to disagree with you, but we have the grand total three (hurt) elite units , we should have a contigency plan.
If we continue like this the Bab forces will get weaker each time. Maybe we should not attack cities anymore, just troops. In that case Babs force will remain about the same, and chances of getting a leader before the war is over increase.

 

[vbraun]

Im busy all weekend so skip me this round.

 

[mad-bax]

Brewster: You're UP.

 

[Brewster]

I got it.

I see we are fishing for leaders rather than go hell-bent on the elimination of the Babs.

 

[Brewster]

I'm at work right now so I don't have access to the game but I wanted to let you know I've started. After the first four turns (all I've been able to play so far) we have had a few units promote to elite and we have lost a few of the elite units we had. We are now at war with Babylon, Egypt, and Mongolia so there will be plenty of opportunities for a GL (I have yet to get one for our cause). Rather than sit and wait for Babylon to send units at us, I've been taking the fight to them and succeeding (except for the GL part).

I will be getting back to the game when I get home in the morning and will have the results posted later this evening. Wish me luck.

 

[a space oddity]

Good luck, Brewster, may the RNG be with you.

 

[Brewster]

Preturn
As previously mentioned, we control the entire continent and are currently fishing for a GL by fighting the Babylonians. I see we have three injured elites and tons of troops scattered throughout what is left of Babylon. We have 3901 gold and are making 246gpt. We have 3901 gold and are making 246gpt. We are at war with the Egyptians so I may amass some troops for deployment.
IT – One of our Ansar Warriors defended against a Bab longbow and promoted to elite (we now have 4 injured elites). I don’t have a lot of time to play so I will forgo most of the build orders for this set of turns.

T1) 1060 ad
I take out a Bab galley with a caravel en route to the Bab’s island. I decide to soften up Nineveh with some of the surrounding troops before sending in a few of our elites. One vet AW wins over pike. One vet AW redlines and retreats. We lose AW to pike. We have a healthy elite. Nineveh is down to its last defender (1/3). I take him out with one of our elites (does not promote). Things are going slow in Antalva so I decide to rush build a courthouse and get back to the Palace next turn.

T2) 1070 ad
Workers working. Upgraded galley to caravel. Moving troops.
IT – Mongols and Egypt have signed a MA against us. Both have declared war on us. If we keep it limited, we may get our GL yet. Aztecs are building Shake’s Theater.

T3) 1080 ad
Move troops and wait for Babs to send out troops.
IT – We lost our supply of silks. Egypt landed some chariots next to our city in Northern Korea. The Koreans move some MI to the same city. Things are looking grim. We lose an elite AW to a knight.

T4) 1090 ad
With things in Buto looking very extreme (we have a reg warrior, they have 1 war chariot, 1 sword, 1 spear, and 2 MI). I decide to sell off the improvements and raze the city myself.
Attack Uruk with elite AW and win (no promo). We lose an elite AW on the walls of Uruk. I promote a vet AW to elite. Lose another elite attacking Uruk.
IT – Vikings are building Shake’s Theater. Bab longbow redlines AW (retreats).

T5) 1100 ad
Elite victory outside Uruk (no GL). We capture Uruk with no fatalities and one elite victory (still no GL). Moving units and building roads on our newly acquired lands.


As I am pressed for time these days, I will just take 5 turns and pass it on to the next person. I just can't get over the poor luck we have been having regarding GLs. It seems we can't even buy one.

Here is the save

 

[mad-bax]

Well, leader fishing seems to be difficult in all my games ATM. Well played, but hard luck Brewster.

Space: You're UP.

 

[a space oddity]

Look around at our empire, things look could but can be even better. For want of a second core I will up the lux slider so we'll get WLTK to up production a bit, 20% seems to be enough. I really want to have a shot at Smith's so I'll switch the palace pre-build to Cathedral, we will have to remember to switch back in 77 turns... :crazyeyes:. Medina will start to pre-build to at least have a shot. The other thins I want to do is switch some of the still hopelessly corrupt cities to workers, we still need some.

We can easily dogpile Egypt, by getting Persia and Korea to declare, but do we really want to slow down the science speed? (because that's what will happen)
In the end we need an evenly balanced world with smallish but healthy states. The more states that are left the better with a smaller number of cities per state (no 100k threat, not too many concurrent SSS part building).

Switch Nineveh to Rax, to heal our troops quicker.
Switch Library builds to Cathedral, as expensive but have a happiness effect as well as culture.

IT:
Persia cancels our 2 lux for 1gpt deal??? Sell him our WM for WM+4g (he's getting very poor)
Damascus AW -> AW
Anjar Caravel -> Caravel
Aden Caravel -> Court
Shiraz Worker -> Worker
New Delhi worker -> worker
Persia and Viks start Adam Smith, we lose Spices.

1110AD - turn 1:
Swap Economics with Persia for Democracy (not the three luxes, if he's in demo he'll maybe able to pay for those...)
Switch Palace to Smith's, I think we've got a shot. Persia is building it in Ergili, Viks in Aarhus.
Hurry production of Barracks in Nineveh for 88g.

IT:
Bab Archer commits suicide on an Ansr warrior.
Aztec asks us to leave? We comply. Seems there was a Caravel on goto?
Korea lands one Archer, they want war, they can get it.
Nineveh Rax -> Temple
Kufah AW -> AW
Khurasan AW -> Cathedral
Mansura AW -> AW
The Aztec, Mongols and Egypt start Smith's

1120AD - turn 2:
I ask Korea politely to leave, they declare. I think it's time to get some friends. I will try to get the Greek, the Persian and the Viks on our side...
As I think Egypt and Perisa are evenly matched I sign in the Persians for Wines, WM and 10gold.
Ally the Viks against Korea for WM and 577gold. I know it's a lot of money but we need them as our friends to be able to buy techs from them.
Finally get Greece in against the Mongols for Democracy and we get 23g and 8gpt as a bonus.

IT:
Mecca musket -> AW
Ellipi worker -> worker
Fustat musket -> AW
Muscat caravel -> musket
The people love us.

1130AD - turn 3:
Vet AW attacks Lagash, redlines spear.
Elite AW attacks reg spear, wins (2hp), no leader.

IT:
The Aztec and Egypt ally against Persia!
Another Bab archer commit suicide.
Shurupac Temple -> worker
Balkh Caravel -> Aqueduct

1140AD - turn 4:
Trade WM for Wm + 15gold with Aztec.
Trade WM for TM + 7gold with Iroquois
Trade WM fro WM + 2g with Greece.

Scandinavia has Metallurgy and wants us to pay for his WM, 11gold, we do. Revisit Aztecs how will pay 11 gold for our new map, they are the only ones (of our friends) that have gold left.

IT:
Damascus AW -> AW
Baghdad Bank -> Cathedral
Ashur riots, gets a clown
Anjar Caravel -> AW
Merw Caravel -> Court
Nimrud musket -> worker

1150AD - turn 5:
Workers try to get water to the dry areas.
Two elite forces move near Lagash, the other heals.

IT:
Korea declares the Persians.
Persia starts Shakespeare's.
Egypt wants to talk, she wants peace, has metallurgy, we're in an allience so tell her no.
Aleppo Aqueduct -> AW

1160AD - turn 6:
Sell Saltpeter to Persia so they can survive the dogpile, we get WM, 10gpt and 21gold.
Sign ROP with the Aztec.
Elite attack at Lagash, first kills a spear, 4hp left, the second exactly the same, no leader.
Attack with vets in hope of upgrade, no way jose, but take Eridu.

IT:
Greece want to renew the ROP, I do.
The Mongols want peace, I say no (they don't have Metallurgy).
Mecca AW -> AW
Cities riot as we don't sign peace while we can, so our first deal of WW sets in.
Kufah musket -> AW
Fuhtat AW -> AW
Konya Temple -> worker
Mosul Bank -> AW

1170AD - turn 7:
A Caravel is on its way to Egypt's isolated city.

IT:
India and Aztec ally against Persia.
Persia wants to talk, they want an alliance against India and an RoP. Sign only the RoP.
Najran Bank -> AW
Khursan Cathedral ->AW
Yamama Bank -> AW
Dacca Temple -> Rax
Nimrud worker -> cat

1180AD - turn 8:
The two elite AW attack again kill 2 spears, but again nothing.
Hurry Temple in Ur.

IT:
Aztec sign Babylon against Persia.
Ur Temple -> Harbor
Aden Court -> AW
Muscat musket -> Caravel
Mansura AW -> musket

1190AD - turn 9:
Land our troops on Egyptian soil. Isht has a reg pike defender.

IT:
Babs kill 1 AW.
Mongols land invasion force on Bab island.
Egypt comes rushing in with knights.
Korea lands a pathetic stack in the old Indian territory.
Adana worker -> worker
Punjab Temple -> worker
Korea start Smith's

Attack the stack of 6 Keshliks, tally: 3 AW dead, 1 upgrade to Elite.
Elite attack on Lagash, no leader, but take Lagash.
Attack the Egyptian stack, 1 upgrade to unharmed Elite.
Attack the Korean stackette, one reg MI remains (not enough units nearby), 2 AW defending.
Physics is around too, we can buy Physics and Metallurgy for WM + 2776g straight. I'll leave it to the next player to decide whether this is the right time to do so or we should wait to get it from Egypt in the peace negotiations.

Well, these were not the best turns I ever played, but anyway here's the

----------------> save <-------------------

 

[mad-bax]

I don't know what you're moaning about Space. You're turns seem fine to me.

I guess I'm UP. Haven't contributed to this game in what seems like ages. Really looking forward to it. I think I'll just Kill the Babs just for WW purposes. Because we must get a leader I may direct an army against Greece. Though obviously I don't want to take them out of the game completely.

I may play during the day today depending on work commitments. So if anyone has any suggestions or advice please chip in.

 

[a space oddity]

Errm Mad, I re-signed the RoP with Greece in turn 6, you may want to wait with attacking Greece. We could still leader-fish against the other 3 nations we are at war with.

I'm in doubt about the diplo moves I made, but thing is, Civs stay furious for a long time if you've been at war with them. By signing some of them in, they'll not declare for a while. I was very surprised to see Korea declare. Must have something to do with the scetchy defence down south.

Persia is at the bottom of a dogpile, but I think we'll want them to survive. Luckily they are on their own island, which ups their chances.

 

[mad-bax]

Sorry Space I missed that in your turnlog. It's just that Greece is so inviting, and Ted wants a holiday villa there.

 

[a space oddity]

We may use Greece for that purpose in the future, they currently are not adding much to the tech rate. OTOH the are scientific so if we gift them all the missing techs they'll get a usefull one for free in the imminent age change.

 

[Brewster]

Good set of turns Space. This game is leaving me confused. We must have had at least 20 - 30 elite victories so far and no GL. The terrain in the southern part of our empire is sparsely defended so I would recommend sending some units down there to deter any attempts by Korea and Mongolia. Since we are at war with three different nations, buying techs in the future (when we really need them) may pose a bit of a problem. Good idea to bring in the Vikings and keep them on friendly terms. With their Beserks, they could wreak havoc on our coastal cities in the south.

Good luck with the RNG mad-bax.

 

[mad-bax]

Well, here we go again.

1200AD: Pre-turn check OK
Trade Aztech Metallurgy for WM + 1386g
Trade Metallurgy to Persia for Free Artistry + WM + Tmap +35g. They are now penniless.
Change Mecca to Shakespeares. The Eight unhappies made content are not worth much now. But I just can't help myself.
Don't trade for physics yet. I'd rather wait until we can offset the cost.

IBT:
Various Egyptian units attack the stack at Lischt One ansar killed 2 promoted to elite.
Persian MI attacks and redlines ansar, promoting him to elite.

1210:
Elite ansar kills pike in Lisht.
Vet ansar kills pike in Lisht but is redlined.
No more attacks as I wait for elites to heal.
War Weariness increases (a lot).

IBT:
Iroquois and Egypt sign MA against Persia
Big stack of 12 Egyptian MI move in to attack our ansars at Lisht. I decide to evacuate if I get the chance. One elite ansar lost
Korea want peace. I decide to accept straight peace to give us the option of declaring whenever we like in the future. Couldn't get a city or tech anyway.
Despite putting the lux up several cities riot. Mainly the ones with tax collectors.

1220AD:
Evacuated troops at Lisht
Waiting for elites to heal and move into position.
Because of immense WW I sign straight peace with the mongols and peace with the Egyptians and get 340g in return.
Vet ansar attacks pike in Nippur and is promoted.
Trade WM + 2785g to Aztecs for MT and Physics. This is only 100g more expensive than a quick steal.
Trade physics to Greece for WM + 19g +11gpt to help research a bit. May give away MT later.

IBT:
We get kicked out of Egypt.
Greece and Egypt sign MA against Persia
Egypt completes Shakespeares. I should take more notice of the turnlog. Change Mecca to Cathederal losing 14 shields.

1230AD:
Attack on Zariqum
Vet ansar against pike loses and dies
Elite ansar against injured Pike, wins generating leader
vet ansar against spear loses and dies
vet ansar against spear wins and is promoted
vet ansar against spear wins
vet ansar against archer wins and captures city.
Attack on Nippur
Vet ansar against spear wins and is promoted
Vet ansar against spear wins and captures city
Babylon must have a settler in a boat somewhere as they are not out of the game.
I make straight peace.
Fire more clowns than you could safely shake a stick at.
Lux slider to 0%
Space should be happy now.

IBT:
Persians, Iroquios, Vikings and Aztecs start Smiths

1240AD:
Begin to Evacuate the former country of Babylon.

IBT:
Egyptians start Newtons.

1250AD:
Gift Chemistry, Democracy, physics, free artistry to Korea.
Gift phisics to Iroquois
Wines, dyes and incense to Egypt for 71gpt
Wines to persia for 9gpt.
Could get spices from the vikings but it's expensive and we don't need them ATM.
Gift physics to Persia.
Gift physics to Mongols
Moved a lot of stuff around.
Several civs have TOG, but I'll wait for a while b4 buying or stealing.

IBT:
Vikings and Egypt start war with Persia
Vikings start Newtons

1255AD:
Moved stuff.

IBT:
Aztecs start Newtons

1260AD:
Found Sana'a
Moved Stuff

IBT:
Mongols and Persia sign MA against Iroquois.

1265AD:
Moved stuff

IBT:
Babylon and Mongols sign MA against Iroquois.
Renew Silks deal with Iroquois and give them iron in exchange.

1270AD:
Sell MT to Persia for WM + 144g + 15gpt
Chemistry to Babylon for WM + 138g
Wines to vikings for23gpt
Saltpetre to Egyptians for 37gpt
Gift MT to Mongols
MT to Iroquois for 20g
Gift MT to Korea
Buy TOG and Magnetism from Aztecs for WM + 2968g

IBT:
Greeks want to swap WM. OK

1275AD:
Found Shihr
Found New Mecca. Not on the river coz it would be too close to another town.
Found New Medina

EOT

When I signed the peace deals I knew I was breaking two MAs. However I had clowns in most cities in the end and was only making 83gpt net. I didn't think this would break a gpt agreement. We must have signed an MA for gpt. This is one of the problems with being away from a game for so long and then scan reading the thread. I always do something stupid on my turns, and this is no exception. I think I've just made our objective a little more of a challenge

Anyway, yet another turn I have to apologise for a stupid error.
Will I ever learn?

Once Smiths completes and the Palace is built I think we should switch to democracy.
We should also probably gift the Greeks into the new era once we have a bit more cash.

Here is our (rather impressive) military.

Here is the <<save>>.

 

[mad-bax]

Other notes:

I didn't have time to group all the elite Ansars together. I see no need for a mass upgrade yet, I would wait until the scientific civs have gone into the new age and we have had that trading round.

I completed my personal project to dig an irrigation channel from north to south on our main continent, so this has slowed jungle clearance somewhat.

There are 3 settlers wandering around aimlessly. One is on Goto for a forrest square that will allow a previously unavailable gems tile to be worked. The other 2 can go anywhere.

I wonder how much gold we can make in democracy with Smiths?
1000gpt?