[C3C] My current Sumeria Domination game

[jarred!]

Spoiler Lay of the Land :

Spoiler Sumer, 1200BCE :

Cities 13
Military
Workers 9
Enkidu Warriors 5
Curragh 2

The first game I've played in a while, Standard size map on Emperor. Got MapFinder and CAII working and found this nice start right away (2 cow on a river). Sumeria is dark blue because I changed the names of a few of the civ palette .pcx's. We won't see them here but I also swapped French Pink and Barbarian White. This is a nice thread about civ colors https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/new-team-colours.85016/ .
Playing against scientific opponents: Byzantines, Greeks, Koreans, Germans, Russians, Persians, Ottomans. Tech went CB and then set slider to 0% and waited for a decent round-robin trade opportunity to get Alphabet and bank a little cash, then went for the Republic slingshot. I got philo first and the first screenshot is immediately after coming out of Anarchy. Going for Lit next and then currency. I'm way low on workers. Sumer will have to switch to workers for a while, but I still want to grab some of the land to the east, south of Greece. I also want to expand to the northwest toward frankfurt and hamburg. We consider the Ivory circled in the first shot sumerian clay, so there is already tension with our neighbor. They had units stationed between varna and Isin for a while, blocking me from finishing the trade route. Another goal is claiming both Irons to the east, but I don't want to overextend myself grabbing the northern source. AI aggression is set to Least.
Zabalam, Isin, and Kisurra will swap to libraries when able, and lagash will build the FP after this worker. The pyramids still aren't built yet, but being built in Seoul and Persepolis.
I'll probably post an update when I'm done expanding, the overall plan is to wait for cavs, rails, and artillery then steamroll these dummies.

Happy civving

 

[jarred!]

Forty turns later...

Spoiler Sumer, 310BCE :

Cities 26
Military
Worker 29
Enkidu Warrior 4
Curragh 2

Might hit RepParts around turn 150? Which is another 40 turns away, but will probably take more than 50. Still want more workers, especially because several are out building trade routes. Currently I'm increasing culture, science, and happiness while letting towns grow to cities. This usually looks like a library, university, marketplace, and courthouse, but temples might be used where cultures clash.

Ottos are off alone on an island and are useful at era changes because I can sell at monopoly price to them after selling at monopoly price to the continent. Greece will be an easy first target: a lot of flat land and it won't leave me with huge borders right away. Tech is currently Invention.

 

[justanick]

This is looking good. Thanks to a dense settling pattern a low ratio of workers to towns still yields a good result. In the late medieval age and the early industrial age you should be a powerhouse. At the chance of overestimating you: After winning this game you should try Demigod. You do seem to have the skill. But getting the slingshot gave you a big boost which is less easy to reproduce at Demigod, so maybe these good results here not the strong indicator they appear to be.

 

[jarred!]

(Posting from my phone) Some more screenshots from 10 CE, turn 128:

Spoiler Eastern Kingdom :

The east is poor and corrupt. Currently, Babil is at 80% corruption says CAII. New Ur, Apisala, Dabrum, Kutha, and Nagsu are also >70% corrupt.

Spoiler Western Kingdom :

Higher HDI in the west.

Spoiler Wastelands North of Persia :

North of Germany and Byzantines are the Persians. North of them is a large area of land that is quite fertile and didn't have a start location (or it didn't get used). Seems resource rich, too. Bummer that Germany is so cramped while this space exists.

Spoiler Duchy of Byzantium :

Nice food and good luxes in Byzantium.

Spoiler Duchy of Germany :

Germany had a decent start, but is quite close to neighbors on all sides.

Spoiler Whipping Boy, Greece :

Greece had a jungle/marsh start and has no strat res.

This is looking good. Thanks to a dense settling pattern a low ratio of workers to towns still yields a good result. In the late medieval age and the early industrial age you should be a powerhouse. At the chance of overestimating you: After winning this game you should try Demigod. You do seem to have the skill. But getting the slingshot gave you a big boost which is less easy to reproduce at Demigod, so maybe these good results here not the strong indicator they appear to be.

Thank you. I have won on Demigod before, but I haven't played in a while and wanted to knock the rust off. I'll probably play demigod game next, with some bonus food at the start, but I also want to play an Always War Emperor game and a No Tech Research game, probably also on Emperor.
Are you also implying my settling pattern is too close for hospitals to have a positive effect? I agree. Ur, Sumer, Lagash, Umma, and Der are very close together.

 

[justanick]

Thank you. I have won on Demigod before, but I haven't played in a while and wanted to knock the rust off. I'll probably play demigod game next, with some bonus food at the start, but I also want to play an Always War Emperor game and a No Tech Research game, probably also on Emperor.
Are you also implying my settling pattern is too close for hospitals to have a positive effect? I agree. Ur, Sumer, Lagash, Umma, and Der are very close together.

Well, it seems to me that your best bet is not to wait for hospitals und just go for domination directly. Even waiting for railroads is not needed. Waiting may have the main effect that the territory you conquer will be less underdeveloped. Greece in particular is hampered by jungle and swamps.

What is a bit surprising is that your very limited military does not seem to have triggered any war against you. The free territory in the nordwest seems to entice AI to set different priorities.

 

[jarred!]

I do already feel like I'm waiting, but I'm building military now. Universities were more than I needed, I think. I was hoping the AI would develope their land better (my knowledge of byzantium is out of date as well) but this not did happen.
The AI are all polite to me and four of them have per turn deals with me, which I think helps. Aggression is set to least which is more impactful. They get free techs every few turns for the past 50 turns from me also.
Your comment about the territory in the northwest is accurate as well. I've seen greek and byz settler pairs heading that way for a while, maybe at the expense of not attacking me.

 

[jarred!]

I've played a lot since my last post...I'll try to make a decent update.

Spoiler Sumeria. 210CE :

I've begun 'amassing' military. Wonder build is a placeholder that I forgot...there's enough shields there that I think I'll go for JS Bach's if it's here in time. If not, then Leo's because cannon to artillery is expensive or Sun Tzu's if there's a wonder cascade.

Spoiler 330CE, war preparations :

MilTrad eta next turn, my plan was to fight the Greeks first so that's where a barracks for upgrading is, but I now think I'll attack the Germans first, since I still get silks from Greece. The Unis were for sure overkill, next game like this does not need them. With close settling cities can be restricted around size 9 and shouldn't need a marketplace. This way barracks can be built in the core for vet attack units, and artillery units elsewhere.

Spoiler End of turn, 370CE :

Units are in place to attack next turn. Should look into using resource disconnect to build cheaper troops and upgrade them. I am getting a decent amount of cash from the AI, and with research set to low I could upgrade quite a lot in one turn.

Spoiler 380CE, first turn advances :

Couldn't take Frankfurt, cav is there defending cannons. Newly captured cities will be used for settlers and then for workers.

Spoiler 390CE, second advance :

Cities 30
Military
Settler 5
Worker 35
Cavalry 12
Cannon 10
Enkidu Warrior 3
Curragh 2

Spoiler March on Berlin :

Spoiler 410CE, large :

Spoiler 410CE, up close :

Spoiler 420CE :

Spoiler 430CE :

Capture of Berlin, finally. First leader, made into an army.

Spoiler Start of War with Russia :

The jungle is a slog. Losses are higher since my cannons are blocked by the bad terrain. I have workers railing in this direction.

Spoiler 450CE :

I'm up to about 510CE now. I'll try to post another update later today.

 

[justanick]

You have an incredible undersized military and often just regulars instead of veterans. Even more disturbing: You still succeed.

Usually the idea is to upgrade more than 30 veteran knights to cavalry and then go steamrolling.

 

[tjs282]

You have an incredible undersized military and often just regulars instead of veterans. Even more disturbing: You still succeed.

Sounds like optimal Republic army-management to me!

 

[Spoonwood]

You have an incredible undersized military and often just regulars instead of veterans. Even more disturbing: You still succeed.

Usually the idea is to upgrade more than 30 veteran knights to cavalry and then go steamrolling.

That many units isn't needed to start a war on Emperor for sure. Especially if their best unit is a pikeman.

Though veterans definitely work out better than regulars.

 

[justanick]

Sounds like optimal Republic army-management to me!

I donnot like to disagree that much about that. But if the goal is to simply keep down unit support while facing only pikes at best, then going for only 4/4 cavalry and no cannons and no Enkidus will work better as it will shorten wars significantly.

 

[jarred!]

Maybe I should have said this explicitly: I was choosing victims based on how weak they are. I'm not going to fight the strongest AI first, I'll save them for when I'm at my strongest. That's why I've only fought spears and pikes. The Koreans have had some muskets and cavs. Persia and Byz have riflemen.

By 470CE we have pushed through the jungle to Rostov:

520CE: workers have made it to the road-gap north of Konigsberg.

Got peace with Germany this turn since I got hit with WW from Russia:

The capture of Moscow in 540CE:

The end of that turn:

Finally have rails all the way to the front and artillery. Those are combat settlers at Yaroslavl', Novgorod, and Smolensk.

End of Russia as a threat:

Preparations before the Korean war:

I had a per turn deal that had 2 turns left, so I was able to regroup a bit.

Cities 71
Military
Settler 2
Worker 48
Cavalry 29
Cannon 1
Artillery 21
Army 1
Enkidu Warrior 3
Curragh 2

There's no road between New Susa and Wonsan Or between New Apisala and Ulsan. This will cause some delay.

Korea might mount a counterattack. I fight a few of their cavs this turn. They still have weak defenders but they have had some muskets.