MB4 - GOTM24 Redux [civ3] Roster A

[Sir Bugsy]

Alan,
I think we Yanks understand irony when it is spoken in American. However, when it is spoken in English it often goes right over our heads. Having visited your lovely country many times, I am always struck by the vast differences in the way we share a "common" tongue. Same goes for the language spoken by our Down Under cousins.

Britian reduced the weight of her coins? I just remember walking around with a pocketful of coins and I seemed to walk with a list. I remember trying to trade in 20P coins (schillings?) to get some pound coins to try and reduce the weight.

Bugs

Edit - Have you seen the score graph? Looks like we're going to be in a dogfight with the PTW team.

 

[AlanH]

Have a look here. The pictures are pretty close to full size on my monitor and it gives weights and diameters (in gms and mms, though ).

It's difficult to read precise trend differences from MB's graph. I'd say we are probably on a faster mean trajectory than PTW, given that we only settled one city during Smackster's turn but still made the same increase in score as them, and population and area are the dominant factors in score at this stage.

 

[Gengis Khan]

I got everything downloaded & it was working fine, unfortunatly my girlfriend decided since I have no family in the area she would show up out of the blue & decide Thanksgiving would be a great time to meet her parents. I got a couple turns into the game, but don't have time to finish it before I get dragged off. Hell, she's tugging on my coat as I post this now.

I will be back Sunday AM, if you guys can skip me or slot me a turn or two back in the rotation I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks & sorry for the inconvience!

 

[AlanH]

Another 48 hours ... No, wait, I promised to lay off the pills

CivGeneral's turn now.

 

[AlanH]

In the absence of an update by mad-bax on the first page or here I have PM'd CivGeneral. I'll also state it explicitly:

CivGeneral: You are UP.

[EDIT] I guess the silence around here could have something to do with the recently reported turkey shoot, which means that our 'Merkin team members will need an extra 24 hours at least before they are sober enough to play again, or even to post "Got it".

 

[AlanH]

Originally posted by smackster
Oh, oh, oh, oh, I nearly forgot. Those renegotiated peace deals are about to expire, so we should sign them up again to get us some more cash.

... but only the ones with civs we don't want to declare war on. It's important to get the tech pace slowed down to prolong the active life of our UU, and some proxy wars are a good way to do it.

 

[mad-bax]

Teknoice: You are UP.

Guys, the roster has been amended. Temporarily you are down to four players, but Karasu is back from his holiday next week. When he gets back I intend to ask him when he wants to play, and slot him into the roster accordingly.

Hope this is OK by you.

 

[AlanH]

No problem here with a four player roster rising to five. I have no plans that are likely to get in the way, so I should normally be able to play and post all my turns within 24-48 hours as and when they come up.

Happy Thanksgiving

 

[smackster]

We've actually been playing with 4, so no problem here either.

 

[AlanH]

Hey Smack. I see you haven't submitted your GOTM25 yet. Only two days to go, get those hordes in gear!

 

[smackster]

2 days to go, 300 tiles to go, 3 turns from Tanks, I think I'll finish, but this is my worst GOTM for ages. Sneaked attacked four times now at th e worst possible moment. I'll tell you the funny part in a PM.

 

[mad-bax]

I'm away for the weekend, so you guys are going to have to fend for yourselves for a couple of days.

I have PM'd Teknoice, and I guess that you will have to decide how long to give him to pick up.

 

[AlanH]

Thanks for the warning, mad-bax. Have a good weekend.

As Teknoice has been AWOL for over 30 hours I propose we skip him and put Sir Bugsy in the hot seat. What say you, guys?

 

[Sir Bugsy]

OK then, I'm in the hot seat. Seems like every Saturday night I get to play this SG. I have it posted by Sunday evening Pacific Coast Time at the latest. My band has a gig for a church group tomorrow PM, so I'll try to get it done by then.

 

[AlanH]

OK. Sir Bugsy is UP

I'll take that last message as a Got It.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

Pre-flight – 350 BC – First I open an embassy with Kuroda for 39G. Kyoto is running 70% science, has wine, fur, and dyes hooked up. No strategic resources.

Next, get MA with Takeda against Tokugawa for MA against Mori, 13gpt, 10g and WM.

Then I trade Kuroda for MA against Mori, currency & 5G 1gpt.

We start construction with our lone scientist, due in 50 turns, but I doubt we’ll get there. Construction is already out there.

Check our cities, do a few MM changes. Hit enter.

IBT – Chosogabe want to swap TM’s. We’ll do that.
A Tokugawa archer tries to retake Shimoda, but our horseman kills him.

The barb SOD is at the gates of Ichinomiya
Azuchi: Horse=> horse
Nagoya: Temple=>Kensai
Moriyama: Kensai=> Kensai
Hikone: Footman=>Temple
Karasu: Barracks=>Kensai
The people love us. We get some cool steps and a nice lawn for our cave. Probably the coolest cave in all of Nippon..

Turn 1 – 330 BC – In order to get rid of our cash, I open an embassy with Chosogabe for 53G. That leaves 9G for the barbs. Chosogabe have furs, ivory, horses, and iron hooked. They’re running 30% science. Their city is in serious need of some MMing as their capitol is only producing 2spt with pop 5.

5/5 kensai kills 3/3 Tokugawa warrior (-2hp)
Have to hire a tax collector in Kita-ku and Suzuka. Kita is switch to a temple.

IBT – Tokugawa moves a footman over towards Shimoda.
The barbs carry away our 9G, then pillage our work on Kensai Oda about ten times.
Shimoda riots as the resistance ends.

Turn 2 – 310 BC – Much maneuvering.

IBT – A Tokugawa archer attacks our horse and dies.
Shimoda flips back to Tokugawa
Kasugai: Footman=>Temple (we need some culture)

Turn 3. 290 BC – The going price for Construction is 17gpt & 100G.
More Manuevering. The siege of Tokugawa’s capitol begins next turn.

IBT – An archer from the capitol attacks our stack. The elite Kensai on top wins with loss.
Azuchi: Horse=> Horse
Nagoya: Kensai=> Settler
Ise: Kensai=> Kensai
Koromo: Horse=> Horse
Ogaki: Horse=> Horse
Handa: Horse=> Horse

Turn 4. 270 BC – Siege of Hamamatsu: 4/4 Kensai is killed by 4/4 Footman (redlined)
4/4 Kensai kills 4/4 Footman (-2hp)
4/4 Kensai killed by 3/3 Footman (-2hp & promotes)
5/5 Kensai kills 3/3 Footman (-1hp)
5/5 Kensai kills 2/4 Footman (-1hp)
5/5 Kensai kills 1/4 Footman (no loss) Hamamatsu and The Oracle are ours. Three resisters. Capitol jumps to Kofu which should helps us keep Shimoda next time.

IBT – Mori are sending a footman our way to pillage.
Yokkachi: Horse=> Kensai

Turn 5. 250 BC – On the eastern front: 5/5 Kensai kills 5/5 Tokugawa warrior (-1hp)
Found Alanville.
Dispatch the barb camp that spawned the barb SOD.

Siege of Kumano: 4/4 Horse killed by 3/3 Footman (-1hp)
4/4 Kensai kills 3/3 Footman (no loss and promotes)
4/4 Kensai kills 2/3 Footman (-1hp) and Kumano is ours.
3 resisters.
Maneuvering for the Second Siege of Shimoda.
Upgrade two warriors to Kensai

IBT – Tokugawa wants peace. He’ll give Construction and a city for it. Oh, sorry, we have a deal with Takeda, you’ll have to talk to him first. He said to talk to us. Take a hike!
A Tokugawa archer retreats a horse of ours.
Komaki: Horse=> Kensai

Turn 6. 230 BC Siege of Shimoda: 4/4 Horse retreats from 3/3 Footman (-1hp)
4/4 horse kills 2/3 Footman. Shimoda is ours again.
Found Gengisgawa (Gengis’ River)

IBT – Nagoya: Settler=>Settler

Turn 7. 210 BC 4/4 Kensai is killed by 4/4 Mori Footman. Move Kensai out of Moriyama-ku and hire a clown.
We’re going to have our wines disconnected next IBT so I bump up lux to 20%
I buy Construction from Chosogabe for 7gpt and 269g. Start researching Feudal Warlords. So in this year of 210 BC, we enter the Middle Ages.
Our lack of culture is making it harder to subdue resisters. In the future, unless there is a wonder in the city, I’m going to start razing.

IBT – The Mori Footman heads for our undefended city and doesn’t pillage our wines.
Azuchi: Horse=> Settler
Ogaki: Horse=> Kensai
Handa: Horse=> Kensai
Koreans build the Great Wall.

Turn 8. 190 BC – 3/3 Kensai kills 3/3 Footman (-1hp & promotes)
Our 3/3 Kensai kills the 2/4 Mori footman and promotes.
Maneuvering for the next attack.
Knock lux back down to 20%

IBT – A Kensai is killed by a Tokugawa horse. Our footman kills an archer.
We finally subdue three citizens. One each in Shimoda, Hamamatsu, and Kumano.
Ise: Kensai=> Kensai
New Azuchi: Warrior=> Temple

Turn 9. 170 BC – 5/5 Kensai kills 2/3 Murderous Horse (-1hp)
Siege of Ina: 4/4 Horse kills 3/3 Footman (redlined)
5/5 Kensai killed by 3/3 Footman (-1hp)
5/5 Kensai kills 2/3 Footman (-1hp)
4/4 Horse kills 3/3 Archer (-1hp) Ina is ours. Of course we have a resister.

Literature is now available.

IBT – Outside of Hamamatsu our elite Kensai kills a horse.
Resistance in Hamamatsu ends and of course the city riots. The entire city is forced to put on clown suits until they can act like mature adults.
Nagoya: Settler=> Barracks
Moriyama-ku: Kensai=> Kensai
Restisatnce in Ina ends.

Turn 10 – 150 BC – Manuevering.
4/4 Kensai kills 3/3 Archer.
Tokugawa is getting more desperate. He’ll give us all his techs, 2 workers and 2 cities. Of course we can’t make peace yet.

After action report: There is a settler heading west. I didn’t have a plan for him, probably in the area east of Hamamatsu.
There is a settler just south of smackster. I was going to settle him at the “X,” but that’s the next player’s call (Alan?)

I would imagine that at least the three southern Tokugawa cities could be taken in the next 10 turns. That would leave them with just the three northern cities on the peninsula.

We still have 11 warriors that can be upgraded..

Score – 573 We’re now third from the bottom and climbing. Tokugawa is still leading, but the lead is shrinking. Not having fast units slows things down a lot. The Kensai kick butt, however they are slow. The Horses are nice, but the 2 attack isn’t great. When we get Samurai, we will be able to kick some serious butt.

>>SAVE<<

 

[AlanH]

Well done Bugs.

As I can't update mad-bax's first post, here is the roster status. I'll post an update each time we play until MB gets back in the saddle.

Karasu (Returns 5th December)
Sir Bugsy
AlanH UP
smackster On Deck
Teknoice

I've D/Ld and loaded the save, so I've Got It. As it's after midnight, I'll probably play tomorrow morning GMT and post by the time Smackster is up and about in Boston. I hope he's recovered from perfidious Keltoi in GOTM25.

One small point, Sir Bugsy. When I'm subduing captured cities I set all the non-resisting citizens to taxmen rather than clowns, and if the pop is large I set the build to a worker. That way you get useful tax revenue, you ethnically cleanse the city, and you can further reduce the foreign population by exporting a useful worker.

 

[smackster]

I think we need to switch research to Monarcy as we are probably losing a lot being a despot still.

I will be ready to play tonight, which puts Teknoice up again

 

[AlanH]

Sorry for the delay. I've not finished yet, but:

I think we need to switch research to Monarcy as we are probably losing a lot being a despot still.

Funny you should mention that:

I started this morning, and the preflight took a lot longer than usual. I renegotiated peace with Chosogabe, Takeda and Kuroda and sold an alliance to Chosogabe against Mori (we are already at war with Mori anyway), and I managed to squeeze Monarchy out of the deals at a net negative cash flow of about 8 gpt. I immediately revolted, having decided that even a few more turns of Golden Age in Monarchy would probably pay for the one-turn switch and some of the cost of the Monarchy deals.

Pre- and post-revolution tuning also took some time. I didn't want to lose any population, so I had to MM some cities to keep from starving, and I pulled in a few gold pieces from taxmen during the revolt.

I then played three turns of war, took a couple more of Tokugawa's cities, tuned for minimum lux/maximum productivity, and we are now running at 60+ gpt. Each new city we take knocks a few more gpt off our bills as we are running over 20 more units than our current city count will support for free. I have seven more turns to go. We are about to complete the Forbidden Palace and launch our first junk, and we should be able to minimise Tokugawa during these moves.

My worst deal was to renegotiate peace with Takeda. I didn't even get a lot out of him - 1 gpt! I knew he had 7 gpt available, and I was hoping to minimise the impact of buying Monarchy. Once you have committed to a peace renegotiation, of course, you are stuck with what you can get

So we may be in a position where we'll be done with Tokugawa in ten more turns, and ready to wade into Takeda, but we would break our treaty if we do. Of course, we could just decide to do it anyway

I had other business this afternoon and now it's dinner time, so I am going to finish my moves and post around 10:00 pm GMT / 5:00 pm EST. Hope that's OK with you Smackster.

 

[smackster]

Alan,

Well, its 5.04PM EST and now I'm concerned as you have missed your dealine

On the theme of deal neogitation, I find it hard to tell if the original deal I proposed (in any game) is best. For example if you were getting 3GPT for a peace deal, when that expires you can often just keep it running at 3GPT forever. If you try to change it you will get nothing.

In another game I was playing I exchanged Incense for Spices + 3GPT from my friend. When it expired they would only give me Incense for Spices, but if I go back and play from that point when the friend comes up with the renogotiation then I can keep it at 3GPT forever. If I try to renogotiation then I get nothing from it.

I think for the size of your land area makes a difference, so as we grow then our resources have less value (in the eyes of the AI).

Smackster