My worst start ever

[Zink]

Just wanted to share this "fun" game.

Played with Charlemagne, Continents, Monarch and all standard settings.
I soon discover that i'm alone on the continent with Shaka which translates into "always war"
Making things worse: i can't rush him since he is located on the far end. So i start rexing towards a desert seperating us.
But that does not hinder him to settle IN the desert right at my border...and the DoWs begin.
I am able to fend him off but like a clock after every 10 turns of peace he redeclares. So i'm teching horribly due to the wars and ofc i can't trade so infact i can consider this as isolated with "raging barbs"

I got 2 gems and a bunch of ivory as only happiness source, infact i only notice in the 1500s that there is not one calender resource on the entire continent No religion ever reaches me either. So my happy cap is 9 pop.
When Montezuma (of all civs) revolts to Emancipation and i'm still teching Education my cities become unhappy and i give up



Actually i would have quit much earlier but i wanted to see if i can get out of that tech mess somehow: fail.
My biggest mistake was not going for Monarchy straight away but i noticed the lack of calender resources too late. Wonder if it would have made a difference...

 

[ViterboKnight]

Did you destroy Shaka? This would have given you an entire continent for yourself, alone allright, but a lot of land (and, as someone always says, "land is power"!!!). Maybe this could have been a possible way, and about happiness, well... a specialist economy, and a high culture slider, could have worked.

 

[Zink]

I was at war with him when i quit and on the way to his capital. I probably could have killed him earlier but i was already teching at only 20% (even with most cities building wealth) and didnt want to incure the additional upkeep. Probably i should have done it anyway since this way i could have disbanded my military.

As you can see in the pic, i can't build culture
I was mixing military techs (to keep up with Shaka) and infrastructure techs.

 

[Fluxx]

You think thats bad? I found myself once in a tundra/artic island, with about 20 squares before I hit mainland

Was in vanilla though

 

[kossin]

Learn to use Hereditary Rule for unlimited happiness with MPs.

 

[ViterboKnight]

A slow start can pay in a long term, if you succeed to obtain a large empire (larger than the other civs).
A happiness tech (monarchy, or drama) must be researched ad a certain point, to avoid your cities to stay stagnant too long. You can't delay such techs too long, so perhaps as soon as you discover your position (isolated with zulus), grant yourself some war techs (iron), and then assure your cities can grow (granary and happiness) and research fast.

 

[Zink]

Yeah, i know it's not a bad "start". Just pretty disappointing how everything turned out.
On the other hand, i've never played anything like this out before, perhaps that's why i find it so funny.

Btw, i would have lost anyway since the other continent were all vassaled to Sury.
But note taken: happiness is the key

 

[futurehermit]

Culture slider, hereditary rule for

Wipe out Shaka (easier said than done, of course) and then prioritize optics so you can get some trading partners.

However, I'm not surprised that your worst game ever was with HRE. HRE and Toku consistently slug it out, imo, as the worst leader for a human vs. the AI.

 

[ViterboKnight]

....a lot of land (and, as someone always says, "land is power"!!!).

Culture slider, hereditary rule for

Wipe out Shaka (easier said than done, of course) and then prioritize optics so you can get some trading partners.

However, I'm not surprised that your worst game ever was with HRE. HRE and Toku consistently slug it out, imo, as the worst leader for a human vs. the AI.

Land is power. Land is power. Land is power.

Speak of the devil......