Monarch Student V - Catherine

[Ai Shizuka]

Weekend is here, I'm bored and stuff, so here is the new installment of the Monarch wannabes serie.
Another "middle of the pack" leader, mostly known for her backstabbing tendencies and her...controversial behavior in the diplomacy window. Usually, in the hand of the AI, she becomes a rexing monster, with her cheap settlers and early culture pressure:



The Russian UU is a cavalry replacement with an extra +50% vs mounted units. Nothing to write home about, but far from useless:

Spoiler :

The Russian UB usually isn't a factor, as it comes very late on the tech tree. It's a laboratory replacement with 2 extra free scientists and an extra bonus to SS production:

Spoiler :

And finally the starting position:



A couple notes about the map. Nothing weird in the script, but it's not a very common scenario. Let's say it's a hybrid between two very common map scripts.

The rival AIs, however, are not random. There are no pushovers like Wang or Mansa and no psychos like Shaka and company. I've tried to pull off an interesting combination, with some good techers and some good rexers in the mix. None of them will neglect his military, still keeping the army at a manageable size (no Monty-sized-2-eras-outdated stacks).

As usual, no hard rules. Just keep your progress in spoilers. Suggested reports are the usual 1 AD - 1000 AD - 1500 AD - end.

Let me know if the WB save isn't working.

edit: added .zip file

 

[Ai Shizuka]

Part I, monarch/epic, to 10 AD:

Spoiler :

techs: agri - ah - bw - masonr - wheel - pottery - writing - alpha - fishing - currency - iw and myst (Zara) - archery, sailing, meditation and poly (Augustus) - CoL - aesthetics - literature - math and mono (Zara)


4000 - Settled in place.

2800 - First AI is Augustus.

2700 - Followed by Suryavarman.

2525 - St. Petersburg founded at the gold/fp spot to the SW.

2075 - GW done. I build it in most of my games and sometimes it's a waste. Not this time, a lot of barbs coming from the northern ice.



1727 - Event:



1625 - Novgorod founded at the clam/silk/cow site to the W. I want to seal my part of the continent.

1450 - Third AI is Zara.

1175 - Rostov founded to close my southern border:



825 - Yaroslavl founded S of Moscow. Iron/fish/cow.

550 - GS builds academy in Moscow.

365 - Yekaterinburg founded in the tundra, to claim marble/deer/fur.

110 - I usually don't mind random events, but this one is . .. .. .. .ing ******ed. Unrest at St. Pete and I've lost a farm, a mine, a cottage, library and granary:




Empire at 10 AD:





Tech board:



Glance:



Will settle 2-3 more cities and then probably medieval war vs Sury. He's small and not doing well. And Augustus doesn't like him.
Still need my good production city. I think Yaroslavl will be decent, with Moscow's rice.

 

[Single Malt]

Shizuka, you need to re-upload the file as a zip, as not everyone has winrar

 

[futurehermit]

I would not call Cathy a middle-of-the-pack leader. Some of my highest-score domination wins have been with her. She is AWESOME for rexing or an early rush. The only start I do not like with her is a coastal start. If she starts inland with room to rex or a close neighbour, she is money imo.

 

[Ai Shizuka]

Forgot I've .rar set as default. Added the zip file, thanks.

FH, I like Cathy and her rex abilities in the early game, but still consider her slightly above average. Cre is good, but Imp is considered by many one of the weakest traits. UU is nice, UB is rarely relevant.
I'd say she's a balanced leader. Not bad by any means, but far from the best.

 

[Gumbolt]

Hmmm half price libraries, rexxing at start although plains/hills would help.

The UU is amazing for its era. Albeit weaker than the strength 18 one. If you can beeline the right techs you will have a great start.

The library 2 scientist approach on this game should be easier too.

The creative trait is really quite useful come higher levels.

The UB shouldnt really be required as Cathy should really be played for a domination win.

 

[assass1n]

And I was under the delusion that I was going to host Pericles

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Hmmm half price libraries, rexxing at start although plains/hills would help.

The UU is amazing for its era. Albeit weaker than the strength 18 one. If you can beeline the right techs you will have a great start.

The library 2 scientist approach on this game should be easier too.

The creative trait is really quite useful come higher levels.

The UB shouldnt really be required as Cathy should really be played for a domination win.

Those 18 STR guys while she was FIN/ORG were just ridiculous.

This looks like a "settle in place" map for me.

 

[djvandrake]

I've never played Cathy. Any suggestions on tech priority?

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I've never played Cathy. Any suggestions on tech priority?

Russia starts with hunting/mining. Unless you settle and see we have a strong livestock tile or something, you'll probably build a worker and research AG ----> Bronze. What happens after that depends on the surroundings.

 

[Ai Shizuka]

assassin: I don't want to sound like a jerk, but you didn't ask anything. You just said "I'll post a Pericles game". I really don't know how to put it, but that's not how it works. This is a serie with a few different hosts, all from the Toku NC game, where we decided to step up to Monarch in a public game.

We already talked about me hosting the 5th installment, after Single Malt's Boudica game, and I've had already planned a Cathy or Zara game.
Still, if you think that Pericles game is interesting, you can host it on MS VI.
Just be sure to have the ok from me, gcm or Single Malt. Not that we have the exclusive about the serie, it's just to avoid confusion.
You don't see random people posting NC or LHC games, after all.
Sorry if this reply sounds rude in any way, it's not my intention.


Back to the game, to 1000AD:

Spoiler :

Uneventful round with some wars amongs our neighbors.

techs: literature - philo (bulb) - monarchy (Zara) - music - priesthood (gift from Aug) - MC + calendar (Zara) - feudalism (Aug) - hbr (Zara) - paper - construction (Zara) - education (2/3 bulbed) - compass - liberalism (partially bulbed) + nationalism

85 - GS bulbs Philo

100 - Sury declares war on Augustus.

145 - And Zara declares war on Sury.

265 - Completed in Moscow:



280 - Great Artist from Music. I think he'll sleep all the way to the Taj's golden age. I may settle him in a border city fighting Khmer culture, but Sury is my first target, so it's pointless.

980 - Free tech from Lib:




Empire at 1000 AD:







Continent:



Tech board is good:



Diplo situation is nicely fitting my future plans. Sury for some reason converted to Taoism at some point, while everyone else is judaist:



Augustus is in WHEOOHRN and will attack Sury soon. This time I have a good army of swords/cats ready to join the war and I'm researching machinery for maces.
Yaroslavl is a decent prod center at this point, but I need to capture a better long-term prod city.

I actually focused on great people in this game, wich I usually neglect most of the times. Generated 5 scientists so far: 1 academy, bulb philo, bulb edu, bulb lib and settled the last in Moscow. I think I'll switch to merchants to upgrade my units.

 

[Tempesta13]

I also don't think i've played Cathy before - sounds like an interesting game. I'm gonna try and play this one (or most of it) this weekend. Looks like an ok start w/ floodplains, 3 hills(at least)/rice. Wonder if there are any other resources around other than the rice?- probably have to just settle in place and find out after. Always wondered why settlers don't start out with at least SOMETHING mapped around them... they did all their hunting/gathering before deciding to settle just in that one tile or what?

 

[futurehermit]

Forgot I've .rar set as default. Added the zip file, thanks.

FH, I like Cathy and her rex abilities in the early game, but still consider her slightly above average. Cre is good, but Imp is considered by many one of the weakest traits. UU is nice, UB is rarely relevant.
I'd say she's a balanced leader. Not bad by any means, but far from the best.

On its own, imp is pretty unimpressive, but combined with creative it is quite impressive imo.

My dictum is "land is power". Cathy can secure land early like few else can. Hence, I consider her to be quite powerful. As acidsatyr (one of my civ4 gurus) used to say: once you have the land, traits are irrelevant.

 

[Sian]

Ai Shizuka ... i've allready agreed with gcm that i'd take MS IV

 

[Ai Shizuka]

Mm, looks like I've missed that completely.
Ok then, assass1n and Sian want to host a game, so VI and VII are "taken". Just decide who's next and the other will host MS VII.

It's nice to see some enthusiasm about the serie, but we have five different hosts at this point: me, gcm, single malt, assassin and Sian. Enough, I'd say. We'll have to arrange a rotation or something.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

times sure have changed in a good way. I took over PYL and NC because games were coming up what was IMO too slowly . To see fights over hosting a series! Haha. I'll share if someone wants, either PYL or NC. I don't mind hosting them at all since it's so easy to set them up, but that always does take away a tiny "unknown" element of the map, after all .

 

[assass1n]

Well this was the last week when I could play so Sian go ahead and post the game I will be inactive for a long long time
I have some crucial exams coming up so PC time -> 0

 

[Sian]

okay ... i resuffle my map for NC XXI

 

[dankok8]

@futurehermit

That Acidsatyr made a good point; it's true that traits are irrelevant when you have a lot of land. Still, Cathy is not the best REXer imo; that honour goes to Joao II.

 

[Phil725]

Played the first round, so far, its going a lot better than the Boudica.

Monarch - Epic - To 365 BC:

Spoiler :

Settled in place, it looks like a very good start. Rice, Cows, flood plains, and a little later horses popped up. My plan was to do the Cathy thing, and REX like crazy. I didn't plan to defend my cities, so I need the Great Wall. I got the GW out around 2600BC, and immediately began cranking out settlers.

My scout showed a ton of land to expand into, and I thought this was the perfect start, until I ran into our neighbor, Sury. A good REXer, plus his creative trait cancels out ours. Definitely can't expand too slowly now. I settled 4 cities this segment. 3 for blocking, and 1 to pick up iron (popped Iron Working from a hut,) as well as being what looks like a great future city. I stopped early because Sury has enough on his hands. I'm almost certain he's going after AC though. They are worst enemies (gotta love peace weights sometimes.) And he has a -2 for close borders over my -1. Unfortunately, if he does declare on me, it's almost certainly game over. Here are my blocking cities:



I actually got my cities in pretty good spots. I beat Sury to the bottom right spot. Unfortunately I'm going to need to really pump it with culture to control the sugar tile, but it's a good city regardless. Sury beat me to the copper in the middle, he settled right on top of it. I still got a cow, wheat and horse city though, so not terrible. Sury beat me to the top left city too, but he settled in a horrible spot, and I got my desired city. As a bonus, we combined to completely destroy one of AC's cities due to culture pressure. One more border pop for these cities (not far off with a creative leader,) and I will be able to take my time to settle the north. I need time to recover because I'm barely breaking even at 20% research.

Here's my capital, this looks like one of the games where 90% of your research will from it:



Not much to say here, but both cities show promise, and once I get my happy cap up a little, they should thrive.

My plan for the future is to recover the economy, back fill the rest of my land, there looks to be 5 or 6 more solid city sites left. After that I should be able to kill the others in production, and hopefully I can team up with AC and Zara to take out Sury.