MMS Game II: "Prepare for Glory!"

Lao Tzu · Mar 16, 2007

Main purpose of Monarch Mastery Series is to improve playing skill of both readers and player and ultimately to move to the next level. In the first MMS game I was playing as Huayna Capac(financial & industrious), very strong leader, especially with CE. Victory was achieved by flying to the stars.
Now I'd like to try something completely different - mixed economy with focus on SE.
Alexander was chosen for that game, because of his traits. Agressive will help me to claim some territory in the early game and philosophical is great for economy. I was planning to turn that game into culture-gathering festival, but only before neighbours started showing up.

Round 1. BC4000-BC2520

Starting position looks really great, especially for leader with fishing as starting tech. Some hills for production, river for initial commerce and even strategic resource. I beelined BW for early whip and some chops.

Gold is great, but it was the only hut I managed to reach

Our explorer also met some neighbors. Shaka in the north(he's probably the closest one), Napoleon in the east and Churchill in the north. Now you should understand why I doubt possibility of cultural victory.

With 2 seafood resources building worker is just a matter of some time. RNG for some reason likes to "give a man a fish".

That is really nice. Now Alexander can exploit his trait and go kill somebody.

He was fighting bravely but couldn't escape his destiny

Game as I left it. After BW I researched wheel to connect copper and agriculture for rice, mysticism started for culture in new cities.

So, what strategy should I use in that game?
Last MMS was about some early wars and later peacefull development, now I want total war. Building axes to harras neigbors and then kill them with swords looks like a good plan to me :mischief:

Where should I settle next cities? Any help with dotmap will be appreciated.

Initial save:http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/103818/AutoSave_Initial_BC-4000.CivWarlordsSave
Save at BC2520: http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/103818/Anniba_BC-2520.CivWarlordsSave

namliaM · Mar 16, 2007

If I were playing this one, mine would look like this.

Purple and Yellow can be the early military production centers that you are looking for. While the others can carry cottages to finance your production centers.
Purple can later be transformed to cottages as well, the northern fog is all jungle-ish => Grasslands, hope for some food tile there or farm the plains and mill the hills.
For SE, the red city's banana can be farmed pre-calander as well as the spice. This will give nice coins too...

I would shoot to settle Purple if possible, it will get culture battle with Paris... But that IMHO should be your first target.

I presume with all those calander

this will be on your short list for research?!

Galileo44 · Mar 16, 2007

Hard map. Not any really good site near you for city 2. I think that one of the outer ring of yellow, blue and purple is best. Probably blue because yellow is pretty far and purple has no 3food tiles at all.

pigswill · Mar 16, 2007

First thing that occurs to me is that this is a tough map at the start of the game. Once the jungle is cleared and turned to cottages it'll be fine but it could be a challenge to get that far. Blue is probably the best bet.

I'd have to say that your first game seemed more like a demo than a play-along game. Its difficult for people to make comments on your strategy and tactics if you play 100-200 turn rounds. If you're after feedback it would be helpful to play shorter sets (maybe 40-50 turns) and give people a day or two between sets to look at your game and post comments.

ratrangerm · Mar 16, 2007

You are in good shape with your first city. I'd have it concentrate on production to start, then switch it to a science city. You'll have plenty of food to run a couple of scientists.

When that Marble is hooked up, then the Great Library should be easily acquired.

Did you research Animal Husbandry yet? Knowing where Horses are will help you in determining future city sites. Right now, the blue site looks to be the best to prevent Napoleon from getting the Marble. It will do as a pretty decent production city.

Beelining to Iron Working would be a good idea, so you can clear the jungle and make the red city site more attractive. Once the jungle is cleared, that will work nicely as a commerce city.

flamingzaroc121 · Mar 17, 2007

id build up Phlanlaxes/ axes and go take Paris

namliaM · Mar 17, 2007

flamingzaroc121 said:
id build up Phlanlaxes/ axes and go take Paris

Yep Getting paris is going to be a big boost, as capitols are allways good cities. And it is close enough that even this early you can keep it

pigswill · Mar 17, 2007

Paris as second city looks the best option at the moment. You'll need enough troops to overcome culture defence (probably 40&#37

.

Lao Tzu · Mar 17, 2007

So, my plan for that round:
1) Found yellow dot. It's a great spot and I'm afraid Shaka is going to build city there, so it's top priority.
2) Found city 1E of blue dot(more workable hills). If France build it for me -> great, less work to do.
3) Build 7-8 axes
4) Capture someones capital

The real problem is who to declare first. I'm more afraid of Shaka, because he tends to run away in power in the midgame. And it's hard to have peace with him if there is no shared religion bonus. Nappy on the other side likes to declare war but only with small and harmless stacks(I'm going to kill him anyway, but later). What do you think?

carl corey · Mar 17, 2007

One thing before I take a look at the situation. If you want people to get more into your games you'll have to keep us updated pretty often and play short rounds. That means no "shooting to the stars" in three rounds.

namliaM · Mar 17, 2007

Moving blue one east can work but... you cannot work the Cow untill the border pops.

Shaka vs Nappy
You said "I think shaka is closest" and "am afraid shaka will steal yellow dot"
This means shaka is due south, counting tiles you can see 10 tiles east of Athens' borders are Paris' borders, 10 tiles south (white cross, as it happens to be) or your borders is nothing, so Shaka is further away than nappy. Therefor it makes (to me) more sence to get nappy first as you can actually keep Paris, where you have to raze Shaka cause of distance.

Lao Tzu · Mar 17, 2007

Well, round played and that one was surely not easy. Shaka did get that yellow dot, Paris turned up to be on hill with 5(five!) archers with CG and I'm now running deficit research. Good news - army has now some much needed promotions, Nappy is dead last in score with 1 city left and I founded a new city which will become a science paradise after IW. Despite Churchill running away with territory, the game isn't lost, imo. I'll write the full report later

Lao Tzu · Mar 17, 2007

I put report in spoiler to save some scrolling time later.

Spoiler :

Lao Tzu · Mar 17, 2007

Second part:

Spoiler :

I think to have any chance I need to kill Shaka now(while he has no metals) and finish Nappy before he'll capitulate to Churchill. With jungle areas of north and production cities of south I'll be able to recover quickly and claim developed lands of England with cats & maces. Some other suggestions?
Also I'm thinking about plan of killing Shaka now. Maybe beeline to capital with my veteran troops, capture it, cut off his horses, sign peace, regroup and take his cities-on-hills with swords later?

shyuhe · Mar 17, 2007

Orleans was not worth razing. It's not in a bad spot and it forces you to waste a settler for re-settling. Also, you have a ton of food specials in your capital. I would whip out the library in a hurry (do you have pottery yet? You'll want granaries too). I would have skipped masonry and gone for writing-alphabet first - you can just trade for masonry normally since it's on the monotheism/religion route that the AI loves to go. Masonry won't have much merit (asides from the single quarry) until you prepare for the GL. I would worry more about getting farms and mines up if you're going to be running SE.

To go after Shaka, I would just bulid 1-2 phalanxes for your stacks and just head south. Skip the eastern city but send one phalanx to kill the metal source and Shaka will go down easy.

Lao Tzu · Mar 19, 2007

Also I still have no clear plan for game after Shaka & Nappy will be gone. If I'll finish them before 1AD cultural looks doable, but if not? Conquer the whole continent and attempt domination? Or peacefull space race? Should I expect problems(war declaration or crazy science development) from Churchill? Any advices?

hm, too many questions...

cabert · Mar 21, 2007

Lao Tzu said:
Also I still have no clear plan for game after Shaka & Nappy will be gone. If I'll finish them before 1AD cultural looks doable, but if not? Conquer the whole continent and attempt domination? Or peacefull space race? Should I expect problems(war declaration or crazy science development) from Churchill? Any advices?

hm, too many questions...

I wouldn't finish off France. Too much of a drag, too little to win. Let him rebuild a few good cities to take when you're able to

.
I'd switch to Shaka right now.
Noone will capitulate to noone, since noone has feudalism.
+ You can maybe sue for peace with favorable terms.
Given your military developpement, you can't expect to stay on par with the AI if you don't extort some techs.

Also, whipping a library in athens now seems the best thing to do.
I can't understand why you would use a 2H tile over a 4F tile.

Glouglou · Mar 21, 2007

Hello,

I'm wondering if you're using a mod???
I don't have all the information provide to you (that I find very helpfull) :
- your city will border pop
- your city will reach size 2
- your city is unhappy
and all those information ...

did I turn something off in my game???

Thanks

cabert · Mar 21, 2007

this is the HoF mod.
Doesn't change much to the gameplay, but gives some useful tools.
The exotic foreign advisor is really handy.

namliaM · Mar 21, 2007

Hmz, I would have waited the 7 turns to see if (after Alpha) I could have extorted some tech from Nappy.
Dont go after Shaka now, just block him off by settling counter clockwize, White and Orange will be around a while for you to take, Red is in (minor) risk of beeing taken by Shaka and red in real danger by both Nappy and Shaka.

Get some settlers out ASAP and start cottaging Corinth and why build a Monument there?? Start building a Granary and/or a library, skip the Monument!

Get IW before going after Shaka, he might have Iron hiding somewhere...

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