My game on Immortal II - Willem van Oranje

[Deity player]

After playing and reporting my first game, I decided to continue. The aim is to improve myself.

Game difficulty is Immortal, settings are Pangea with random shoreline, everything else is standard.

The leader.

Spoiler :

The start.

Spoiler :

Links

I. Exploration
Round 1 4000 BC - 3080 BC

II. Expansion
Round 2 3080 BC - 2040 BC
Round 3 2040 BC - 1040 BC

III. Improving the land, growing, teching...
Round 4 1040 BC - 200 BC
Round 5 200 BC - 1000 AD

V. Cavalry rush
Round 6 1000 AD - 1300 AD
Round 7 1300 AD - 1440 AD
Round 8 1440 AD - 1505 AD
Round 9 1505 AD - 1540 AD (victory)

 

[Gumbolt]

SIP. I think the grassland below in the fog may have a further resource. Looks to be surrounded by forest.

You have AG. So Mining-BW as first techs. Then start chopping some of this forest for workers/ settlers once your city gets to size 3/4. Hopefully while you tech BW your workers can farm the corns.

Then consider Oracle using marble? See what land the AI allow you first i guess.

 

[vranasm]

we maybe look like we're not watching but we certainly are ;-)

looks like ideal start for some marble abuse.

I am almost afraid that the game is already won :-D

 

[Deity player]

we maybe look like we're not watching but we certainly are ;-)

I will play the first round now.

looks like ideal start for some marble abuse.

I am almost afraid that the game is already won :-D

I would like to be so optimistic You probably overestimate my abilities.

 

[vranasm]

very important would be the order of techs... just form the eye I would probably think about

mining->bw (the same as gumbolt) then TW->pottery!->myst->poly!->PH->masonry

you can then make some fail gold on ToA once marble is connected and have very good chance on oracle itself.

 

[Deity player]

4000 BC - 3080 BC

Spoiler :

So I moved my warrior and settled in place.

Spoiler :

Do you see the costline? We missed out a fish resource!

Spoiler :

The first AIs.

Spoiler :

I researched Mining and then BW.

Spoiler :

Look, good news!

Spoiler :

This is our land.

Spoiler :

 

[vranasm]

the copper is actually bad news... totally ruined my cottage plan ;-)

now I would not tech pottery like at all...

you seem to have plenty of good land for yourself though should be enjoyable game for you

 

[Deity player]

I see three possibilities now.

1. Build some blocking cities to secure all the good land.
2. Build some axes and kill SB (but he is protective and his UB is annoying).
3. Chop Oracle.

I think that 1 or 2 is better than 3.

 

[michmbk]

I'd say 1 would be my preference. Good luck trying to take down SB on immortal - I've tried that a time or two and failed miserably.

Ironically based on the first post I was thinking about settling on the marble - would have worked out as two more cities could have then squeezed in and claimed all the good stuff south.

Sure wish there was a river running through all that grassland though. Looks like late game state property production land to me.

 

[Gumbolt]

I see three possibilities now.

1. Build some blocking cities to secure all the good land.
2. Build some axes and kill SB (but he is protective and his UB is annoying).
3. Chop Oracle.

I think that 1 or 2 is better than 3.

Erm dog soldier??? +100% against melee units? Resource free? Did you mean UU or UB or both.

Cities to grab?
1.Crabs/Rice/copper is a good city. Your capital has plenty of good land to cottage.
2. Corn/sugar city.
3. Rice/Ivory city. Just for Phants later on to rush SB.
4. 2xfish/copper/sugar city.

So 5 easy cities. Could you sneak GLH on coast too if you skipped Oracle? Perhaps too late.

Probably build oracle without marble and chop it. To get wheel/masonry may leave it too late. Probably take monarchy as you may not have time for writing. With all that juicy land and food resources you will need plenty of happiness.

Looks an easier map this as all the neighbours are somewhat religious or peaceful.

 

[Gumbolt]

I'd say 1 would be my preference. Good luck trying to take down SB on immortal - I've tried that a time or two and failed miserably.

Ironically based on the first post I was thinking about settling on the marble - would have worked out as two more cities could have then squeezed in and claimed all the good stuff south.

Sure wish there was a river running through all that grassland though. Looks like late game state property production land to me.

You can't really plan for all those resources packed in like that. He can use most of them still apart from the fish below the capital. Not a disaster. The marble is a nice production commerce title.

 

[vranasm]

what about this dotmap





I admit that B is 1 off coast, but works so much better, make it 1E and you lose all production! and make it 1W you lose corn...

this way it has some balance of food, hills and riverside for commerce

ignore in the 2nd image the position of B... it was initial idea, which was bad

 

[Deity player]

Erm dog soldier??? +100% against melee units? Resource free? Did you mean UU or UB or both. .

I meant UB since I forgot about his UU . Ok, I will let him alive for now (to keep alive myself ).

Cities to grab?
1.Crabs/Rice/copper is a good city. Your capital has plenty of good land to cottage.
2. Corn/sugar city.
3. Rice/Ivory city. Just for Phants later on to rush SB.
4. 2xfish/copper/sugar city.

All these cities are nice. But I think I should also setlle some cities NE since it looks like NW is some peninsula which would be nice to block. It depends on what we explore next. Btw, the good exploration so far is due to a map from a tribal village (and we also have some gold from another).

 

[Zechnophobe]

You want a city EE of A. No reason to lose both the fish AND the clams. It can time share on the copper with the capital if it needs production early on.

 

[vranasm]

You want a city EE of A. No reason to lose both the fish AND the clams. It can time share on the copper with the capital if it needs production early on.

hmm well truth that's why i throw it out ...

I kind of thought that you can't place it 2E ;-)

 

[Deity player]

what about this dotmap





I admit that B is 1 off coast, but works so much better, make it 1E and you lose all production! and make it 1W you lose corn...

this way it has some balance of food, hills and riverside for commerce

ignore in the 2nd image the position of B... it was initial idea, which was bad

This looks fine. I only need more exploration to see
1. whether there is a sea resource near the city B spot,
2. whether there is a better spot for a city with the SW rice so I could settle the clam + crab + copper city whithout the rice.
And as I wrote in my previous post, I should also settle towards NW.

 

[CaF]

I wouldn't bother with rushing or wonders for now. There is a game winning amount of land waiting to be blocked. You can of course rush into 0,1% winning odds with city raider 3 if you feel like it.

I suggest settling 2 cities near the capital(on water side sugar, 1N of crab, somewhere near west rice), then one near or on the jungle rice near the warrior, then a blocker north of the jungle rise around whatever resource you might find. Then city #6 around the capital again.

Crab/clam should work on the great scientist, sugar/corn should get cottages in. To not go broke you probably have to cottage every single tile you can work, so i'd even cottage this capital, even though it's not so strong for cottages.

From here you can just settle all the cities you need. Sitting Bull is going to eat all the hatred for you while you build up the game win.

Tech path from here: wheel, pottery, writing, alpha(trade for IW/AH/Monarchy/building research), monarchy prerequisites, currency.

What i see so far:

- This is probably going to be a free speech game as opposed to bureau.
- 3000 BC and only met 2 people? Sitting Bull might be blocking you off from the rest of the continent. That's super good if you can secure a game winning amount of land. If i remember correctly he is more passive on cautious than Ghandi, so he is no threat.
- Wonders aren't needed here.

 

[Deity player]

I have a question which also has a slight connection with the city placement. I don't want to repeat the mistake from my previous game where I didn't build any cottages in time. We have a financial leader this time and so we probably want some commerce cities. But what number of commerce cities would be optimal?

 

[Deity player]

I wouldn't bother with rushing or wonders for now. There is a game winning amount of land waiting to be blocked. You can of course rush into 0,1% winning odds with city raider 3 if you feel like it.

I suggest settling 2 cities near the capital(on water side sugar, 1N of crab, somewhere near west rice), then one near or on the jungle rice near the warrior, then a blocker north of the jungle rise around whatever resource you might find. Then city #6 around the capital again.

Crab/clam should work on the great scientist, sugar/corn should get cottages in. To not go broke you probably have to cottage every single tile you can work, so i'd even cottage this capital, even though it's not so strong for cottages.

From here you can just settle all the cities you need. Sitting Bull is going to eat all the hatred for you while you build up the game win.

Tech path from here: wheel, pottery, writing, alpha(trade for IW/AH/Monarchy/building research), monarchy prerequisites, currency.

What i see so far:

- This is probably going to be a free speech game as opposed to bureau.
- 3000 BC and only met 2 people? Sitting Bull might be blocking you off from the rest of the continent. That's super good if you can secure a game winning amount of land. If i remember correctly he is more passive on cautious than Ghandi, so he is no threat.
- Wonders aren't needed here.

I agree with almost everything what you wrote but I am not sure about that 'cottage every single tile' point.

 

[CaF]

I agree with almost everything what you wrote but I am not sure about that 'cottage every single tile' point.

Well, IF you block super aggressively like i suggested you will probably dance with bankrupcy for a very long time. Let's see what you decide to do. The important part is to notice that early enough so you have some +3 commerce cottages running when you need them.

I usually play a bureau style with 1 cottage city and the rest is production and food. But with this map layout, great blocking potential, so many yummy city spots and so much green I would really cottage every tile in sight. Hills excluded

So really the optimal cottage city number is somewhere pretty damn close to X - 2. X is the number of cities you have. 1 city should be food for national epic (capital?) and 1 main production city for ironworks or heroic epic (capital?)