Monarch Training 2

[Sir Clive]

OK - I think I am up. I got it !!

I will play either tonight (UK time) or tomorrow ( I have a day off work ) If I can't get it finished by tomorrow evening I will ask for a skip as I will be abroad with no internet access for 3 days from Friday morning .

May post some pre-turn thoughts tonight even if I don't have time to start playing.

 

[danz]

After looking at my previous posting, I couldn't help noticing that I write a lot more than other people do about their turns. Am I going overboard with the descriptions? Should I just keep it down to major events like wars and revolutions? What's everyone's preference?

 

[SesnOfWthr]

lurker's comment: My $0.02

As a rule, people tend to put major events in their logs. You have to be trusted to make all the minor decision for yourself. Things like city assaults, etc are generally logged in a bit more detail, showing the result of each battle.

However, since this is intended to be a training game, a bit more detail, especially when it reveals motivations for a particular decision, is probably good.

More than anything though, it boils down to personal preference. If you're more comfortable writing more detailed logs, then have at it, but if you like a more 'efficient' version, that's generally Ok too. Just so long as you give enough info that the team can pick up where you left off pretty seamlessly.

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

I tend to brevity when I'm pressed for time. Tend to get bored writing 'warrior fights warrior and wins after redlining'. As Sesn said, note the significant events such as "warrior survives assault of 15 barbs without losing a HP." Your general strategic thinking should be noted, tactical innovations and brillance as well. Go with whatever blows your skirt up. If someone is not providing enough detail and it makes you wonder WTH, it's fair game to ask for an explanation. I'm a complete idiot, so I expect and welcome people to question me. An important part is not to take anything personally.

 

[SesnOfWthr]

An important part is not to take anything personally.

That's absolutely correct, AK. I dunno, maybe it's time to upgrade you to "mostly idiot"?

In games I participate in, I encourage people to critique my play, as it seems to be the surest route to improvement. It is important to just critique, rather than being outright critical. Maybe a fine line, but I don't appreciate when someone gets bent out of shape because of something I did. However, if they say "this is what I would have done, and this is why" then it makes it a more positive experience for all involved.

For good examples of accepted turnlog practices, lurk in a couple of the higher level games. It's impossible to give examples of every situation, but those games are generally more 'veteran' players (excluding myself ) and will give you a more accurate feel of what needs to be conveyed.

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

if they say "this is what I would have done, and this is why" then it makes it a more positive experience for all involved.

concur.

@ sesn - I spent alot of time getting all the parts togethor, not sure I'm ready to downgrade.

 

[Sir Clive]

Really sorry all - fully intended to play the 10 turns last night before I went away for my trip but only managed 2 turns before RL took over.

Wont be back until Monday so need to take a skip

Once again - sorry all (and GL )

 

[Keiji]

Seeing as how sir Clive skips, I guess that means I'm up. Got it.

Preliminary thought:
Netherlands has tech parity with us, which means they are also in the middle ages. Pretty soon they'll have feudalism and get their unique unit the Swiss mercenary. It seems to me that if we want to go after the Dutch next we will need to have feudalism and/or engineering, preferably both.

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

@ clive - thanks for not leaving us hanging

@ keiji - before we proceed with the dutch, let's pause for a moment to consider how we get feudalism and engineering. If there's a scientific civ in the game, we can gift/trade techs to get them into the middle ages, then buy their free tech and trade it around. I'm going to have a look at the save and will try to post by noon eastern US time.

@ lurkers - can someone post a better explanation of what I'm talking about with the scientific civs?

 

[Bede]

@ keiji - before we proceed with the dutch, let's pause for a moment to consider how we get feudalism and engineering. If there's a scientific civ in the game, we can gift/trade techs to get them into the middle ages, then buy their free tech and trade it around. I'm going to have a look at the save and will try to post by noon eastern US time.

@ lurkers - can someone post a better explanation of what I'm talking about with the scientific civs?

lurker's comment:
To make it work you need to own optional AA knowledge or at least one MA tech to trade for the free tech the scientific nation receives on entering the MA.

The process:
Find a one or more scientific nations that lack one or more required technologies and either Literature, Monarchy, Republic or a first column MA tech but has at least some cash and/or credit available. Then sell, and , if necessary, give them knowledge to the entrance of the next age. They receive a free tech which if you are fortunate you can buy for the optional AA techs or your MA tech or the money they just paid you, or some combination thereof

This technique works best on the transition from the MA to the IA as there are more optional techs to deal with in the MA.

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

Thanks Bede

 

[Keiji]

Allright let's see, we have the following scientific rivals:
Ottomans - already in MA has engineering. Will cost us Rep + Lit + 1020g
Germans - already in MA has feudalism. No deal possible
Russians - still in AA. Needs half a dozen more techs, has no money

So we could only use the proposed 'trick' on the Russians. They have nothing to offer us for the required AA techs and won't give us gpt (gee, I wonder why ). However when we do get them into the MA we can give them 3 optional AA techs and we could also bully them into giving us the free tech.

 

[Detlef Richter]

Have the russians already settled?

 

[danz]

Allright let's see, we have the following scientific rivals:
Ottomans - already in MA has engineering. Will cost us Rep + Lit + 1020g
Germans - already in MA has feudalism. No deal possible
Russians - still in AA. Needs half a dozen more techs, has no money.

We have some options, but do we really need to excercise them? I ask because we have a decent government, we have a growing military, we can build boats to transport it (galleons are so far off I'm not even considering them for the next war). Why not use what we have against our next victim and extract the techs from them when they sue for peace? On Monarch level, the amount of resistance an AI will put up is not very significant. If we land 5-10 swords, we can comfortably take out 2-3 cities and then sign a very profitable peace treaty.

We can also wait for the techs to be discovered by others. That will make them cheap enough we can buy them fair and square and still leave our economy in good shape. It also doesn't speed up the tech rate, as gifting an AI into the next age would surely do, since they would soon be compelled to give the techs to all the other AI civs, even if we do not.

We don't really need to do a lot of fancy footwork here, just keep building up our infrastructure while shipping an army overseas.

 

[Keiji]

Pre flight check:
Luxury to 20 percent
Nottingham courthouse -> aquaduct

360 AD (1)
Germans finish SoZ

370 AD (2)
The Ottomans founded a city S of the hill our swordman was reserving
Liverpool courthouse -> aqueduct

380 AD (3)
Richmond worker -> harbor
Manchester founded -> harbor

390 AD (4)
Dover Courthouse -> marketplace

400 AD (5)
Nottingham aqueduct -> spearman
Suicide City settler -> aqueduct

410 AD (6)
Germans complete the GL

IBT
The Dutch want 100g, I cave for now.

420 AD (7)
Nottinghan spear -> spear
Coventry courthouse -> aqueduct
Warwick marketplace -> courthouse
The Dutch now have feudalism.

430 AD (8)
London marketplace -> spearman
York marketplace -> catapult
Exeter worker -> harbor
Bristol founded -> courthouse

440 AD (9)
Nottingham spear -> spear
Water's pass settler -> worker
Gloucester worker -> harbor

450 AD (10)
London spear -> spear
York catapult -> catapult

Well not much happened as you can see. I've started to make some spearmen so we can replace the swordsman guarding our cities and send them to war. I also noticed we still have some regular warriors standing around doing nothing. We should probably upgrade or disband them, because they're not doing us any good like this.

We can get either engineering or feudalism for a hefty sum of gold. I'm starting to wonder if we shouldn't get some more civs into the middle ages. Seeing as how we're not doing any research we need as many trade partners as possible. Right now we're limited to only three real tradepartners, none of which I really want to help grow by giving them extra cash.

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

D. Richter (pikeman) -
danz -
Sir Clive - partying in paris
keiji - just played
AK - got it
viper275 - on deck

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

F2
1 horse, 3 iron, 5 furs, 3 silk

F3
2 settlers
36 workers
8 warriors
6 spears
13 swords
1 cat
3 galley
1curragh
1 partridge in pear tree

Otto has GL, Zues and Oracle

The target is Otto

460
Dial up Osman. Get eng. for 97gpt. Otto gives fued, 1gpt, 1g for eng. I sell fued to someone for 72gpt, gold (poor note taking, sorry). Henry gives 40g for currency. Switch Reading and Leeds to galleys. Upgrade cat to treb. Disband some warriors.

470
part rush galleys in Reading and Leeds. Bristol to galley. Get RoP from Otto for 19g +1gpt

480
Found Leicester, Carlisle

IT
Osman building Sun Tzu

490-520
whole lotta nuthin

530
part rush 2 galleys

540
nuthin

IT
Richmond riots (whoops)

550
fleet is almost ready to depart. It should get to Otto just about the time the Rop runs out.

Need some art to send with the fleet. 12-15 galleys should hold enough troops.

D. Richter (pikeman) - on deck
danz -
Sir Clive -
keiji -
AK - played
viper275 - up

 

[viper275]

Got it. Good job on the trades to get those early Middle Ages technologies.

 

[viper275]

Note: I was kind of pressed for time but I'm probably going to be up soon in other games so I played now. If my gameplay was a little that's probably why.
Preturn-Germany has Monotheism but it's expensive. Don't trade yet.
1
We need Galleys! We've got units that can't get to other places because they're stuck! It's an archipelago map... Build a few boats.
2
Built some boats. Not much else.
3
Germany built Art of War in the IBT.
4
IBT: Willie declared war on the Ottomans.
5
Loading more troops into Galleys and building more Galleys (we have lots of MDI production sites.) Incidentally, where are these guys going to go? Attack Willie? Fine by me, but he's kind of on a power run right now and will probably take over his island soon. Perhaps Germany/Spain?
6
Nothing, but I have another question... we haven't built Forbidden Palace yet. Any thoughts? Perhaps it was for later when we controlled another island to put there, I don't know...
7
None
8
Nothing
9
Zzzzz
10
Again, nothing. Note: We are rich. We have 3941 gold. We could buy Monotheism from Germany but I suggest just waiting until someone else gets it. Then it'll be much cheaper. They want 1825 gold for it, which could be cut down if someone else had it.

 

[Detlef Richter]

Got it! I post tomorrow morning.