NC CLXVIII: Boudica of the Celts

[Seraiel]

I have Windows 7. I have download winrar. Don't use IE.

Not Internet Explorer, Explorer, the Windows-key + E!

If you have Win7, you don't need any program to read zip-files. You can still leave WinRAR on your disk though, because many people pack things as .rar's, and it's actually the best and easiest program out there, except 7zip can compress even higher, but that program is also more complicated and is mainly only for the .7z format.

 

[Pangaea]

I recommend 7zip. It's a free version and can open pretty much anything.

 

[Izuul]

Like Seraiel mentioned, if he has Windows 7 he should just be able to open the zip file and run the save game right from there without unzipping.

 

[pp07]

Well i zoomed in to add Deity starting techs for the barbs and...

Spoiler :

Horses 1W of the settler. No way to avoid that spoiler

To avoid spoilers when adding barb techs you can select a corner region of the mini-map. That way you reveal an irrelevant area (for the first few turns).

 

[Pangaea]

To avoid spoilers when adding barb techs you can select a corner region of the mini-map. That way you reveal an irrelevant area (for the first few turns).

Agree that is a good way to do it. However, it's difficult to not notice some of the opponents when clicking the dropdown box to select Barbs.

 

[pp07]

Agree that is a good way to do it. However, it's difficult to not notice some of the opponents when clicking the dropdown box to select Barbs.

You can do as follows:

1. Position cursor on drop down menu
2. Click (while looking away)
3. Press and hold down arrow on keyboard for 3 seconds (while looking away)
4. Press enter on keyboard (while looking away)
5. Barbarian will be selected

 

[dalamb]

I wish they'd given us a way to set up barb techs in the WB save file, but they didn't.

 

[diegovelasco45]

Gave it a go on emperor.

Spoiler :

Expanded too much too early... good spots but cities working unimproved tiles. Fog busting was pretty succeseful.

Spoiler :

Started to stack catapults and elephants to invade the vikings... but by the time I attaked, rome found me and was way advanced in tech. The war against the vikings dragged for too long so I quit.

Decided to try again in Monarch. Got to polish my plan to tackle this scenario.

 

[pp07]

Normal Speed, Deity, No huts, No events, until 1 AD. I’d like some advice on how to go from here and on overall progress. I never won deity yet.

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Tech path: AH->Wheel (to get chariots)->mining (to improve mines by city #2)->bronze-working (for chops near city3)-> agriculture (to improve corn city #3)->pottery (finally to get cottages running)->writing->(waited for library)->fishing(for city#5)->aesthetics->had to self-teched alphabet->(traded alphabet+aestetics for IW, sailing, and masonry to Wang)->currency (traded currency for maths+meditation+gold to Wang and aesthetics for gold to Ragnar)->drama.

Decided to SIP, worker first and put espionage on Wang. Barbarian pressure was very intense; I had to build a total of 10 chariots (6 died), but I kept mostly 3-4 at any given time. I peacefully expended to 7 cities and captured a barb city.

I built an academy in the capital and got a lvl 10 unit. Currently building my last settler for the future city down south, and another to donate to Ragnar, as he now made peace with Wang and they share religion. I still don’t have any religions, and fear Ragnar is coming for me soon. I don’t plan to expend north, as I don’t see any good spots. I can’t trade my extra resources. My research slider is currently down and I’m going for music (great artist still not born). Capital pre-build 2/3 of the statue of Zeus for fail gold. Sent one chariot to explore the continent.

My plan is research music, trade for CoL, research CS, paper, education (maybe 1-2 GS bulbs from city #4?), lib nationalism of MT and go for a cuirassier war.

Any advice? I’d especially like to know if I should have gone for pottery faster and settled cities #4 and #5 before, at the expense delaying settler/worker production. I feel 127 bpt is quite low at 1 AD, and this might be due to city placement.

 

[dutchfire]

I finished in 1903 with a diplo win.

Spoiler :

Capped Wang Kong and used him for some techs. Then I shipped my cavalry to the other continent to cap Monty and Mehmed. Meanwhile, I was shipping in cannons (and later infantry) to take on Augustus. Cavalry and cannons hold up quite well against infantry and even marines and tanks. Augustus interrupted my supply routes with destroyers, so I had to do it with the units I had, but I managed. After capping Augustus, I was getting ready to build nukes and knock out Asoka (who was ahead technologically), but UN victory came first.

 

[pandamancer]

IMM 1830AD Cultural Victory (again )

Spoiler :

 

[pandamancer]

Disclaimer:

Spoiler :

I have played the game halfway once, before retrying for culture. Therefore, I have an idea how the map looks like in my continent as well as the AI (Ragnar and Wang). However, I have no idea who the AIs are in the other continent/s although I know that many wonders were completed late so a possibility that all other AIs were non-IND. Also, to compensate my map knowledge, I decided not to change my city placements from the first game.

The motivation for going culture

Spoiler :

To be honest, a domination victory makes more sense in this kind of map + leader traits. After my success here with IU Gilgamesh, I was wondering if it is possible to win culture with no good traits (arguably Charismatic can be a little help here) and no decent strategic wonder resources like stone/marble. So I took the road less taken and prepare up for the challenge.

The plan for going culture

Spoiler :

• Grab oracle and slingshot to CoL for Confucianism
• Bulb Philosophy for Taoism
• Spread a foreign religion in there is any
• expand to 6 or 9 cities depending on the number of religions
• Sistine Chapel is a must. Status of Zeus if possible... Parthenon for fun
• mass cottages for 2 legendary cities, farms and food tiles for the 3rd city to run Great Artists
• Be first in liberalism (hopefully this time)
• Micromanage to set the 3 cities to legendary the same turn

The game itself

Spoiler :

AH > The Wheel > Agriculture > Pottery
SIP and went for AH. Found out that there are horses nearby. The map presents lots of forests and jungles making barbs a little problematic. Early HA rush is not very attractive due to slowdown from jungles.



The next problem I encountered is where to place my second city (see screenshot). 3S of the capital enables the sharing of cottages and pig as well as gems to boost research. Although the jungles covering the gems will require a detour to IW make it productive. The 3NE is a possibility as well. Although we will not share tiles with the capital, it is a strong cottage spot but poor production spot.

Mining > Meditation > Priesthood > BW > Writing > CoL (Oracle slingshot)

Settled the 2nd city 3S of the capital hopefully someone will trade us IW later. Went for Oracle, finished it at around 1240BC. Not a good wonder date but like I said wonders pop up slow in this game.



Rather than going 3NE for the 3rd city, decided to settle it here (see screenshot) to block Ragnar and Wang once and for all. In retrospect 1S2W of the 3rd city should be better spot but no alteration of city placement as stated in the challenge.
After that the huge chunks of land around my territory were mine to the taking.

Mathematics > Iron Working > Fishing > Alphabet > Archery/Masonry/Sailing (trade)

Wang and Ragnar did not have alphabet ready so I have to self tech everything . The abundance of jungles hurts me . Perhaps I should have settled my 2nd city 3NE but will need to detour to fishing for the WB.

Philosophy
I have a GS poped out. Rather than going for an academy, I followed the advice of some great players and bulb Philosophy. I got Taoism as a result. I would also like to mention that the 3rd city is also important to grab copper. Why? Because both Confucian and Taoist Cathedrals gain production bonus from copper. I have to start whipping and chopping temples and monasteries for my three legendary cities. The 3rd city (Gergovia) was lagging behind and I was experiencing some barb troubles (one hamlet was pillaged ).

The autospread of Confucianism allowed Ragnar to switch religion. I switched to that as well to gain some diplo points from him. Just as the same turn I switched, Wang switches to Taoism. Now it gets interesting!


75AD Screenshot

Currency > Aesthetics > Monarchy (trade) > Polytheism > Literature > Drama > Music > Monotheism > Construction (trade) > Civil Service

Went for the typical culture setup. Tried Statue of Zeus but lost it due to several detours early in the game. Did not even attempted Parthenon because it is silly without marble . A few turns later, Ragnar declared at Wang. In the meantime, I am busily expanding and cottaging. I made a mistake for not getting monotheism after Polytheism. OR should allow a more efficient whip though. I restrained myself from building courthouses and libraries in the auxiliary cities.

Paper > Horseback Riding/Feudalism/MC (trade) > Education

Another mistake again for not going Bureaucracy soon Damn! The 2nd city (Vienne) is building Sistine Chapel. I think it would be better if the capital went for sistine and Vienne going for Cathedrals. That will allow faster Sistine Chapel completion and more culture in Vienne, which snowballed badly later in my game.

Poped out a Great Prophet. Used him for a golden age.

Compass/Machinery (trade) > Liberalism > Nationalism (Lib slingshot) > Optics/Engineering/Guilds (trade)

Hermitage in the capital. National Epic in Gergovia and Global Theater almost completed. Around this time, I met Mehmed. We traded maps and noticed the fog of war to "prove the world is round" is thin. So I grabed the opportunity, upgraded my trireme and sailed to the other side of the globe (see screenshot). Met all the AI and gained lots of gold and tech as a result.



Calendar (trade) > Theology (trade) > Banking/Gunpowder (trade) > Printing Press > Divine Right (trade) > Military Tradition (trade)

The setup has already completed. Slider set to 100% culture. Ragnar ceasefire to Wang. Because Vienne wasted lots of turn building the Sistine Chapel, it is lagging behind in cottage development; thus, poorest in culture. Around this time, something interesting happened:



That's right, defensive pact with Ragnar. Eliminating the possibility that other AIs will DoW at me. So after 60ish turns or so:

 

[wongfu]

I used to be an Emperor player. Trying out Immortal this time:

Immortal, normal speed, no huts, 575BC:
View attachment NC 168 Boudica BC-0575.CivBeyondSwordSave

Spoiler :

Settle at starting location.
My tech order:
AH (to work the pig)
The wheel (to keep my worker busy)
Fishing (for my second city... and it is cheap)
Pottery
Mining
BW


Ragnar asks me to stop trading with Wang. Since my first contact with Wang was pretty late, I thought it doesn't matter pissing Wang off [and I don't want to make Ragnar angry from a very early stage]. Indeed I regret that decision - I simply lost Wang as my tech trading partner.

At this point, I just want to expand as quickly as possible... the first priority is toward the huge jungle in the south and then push aggressively toward the west. Planning to use Tolosa as GP farm.

 

[wongfu]

pp02:

Spoiler :

I don't see the rationale behind your city#2 placement. Sure, it can share the pig with the capitol when growth is needed, but it is surrounded by jungle. It is certainly an useful city... but after Iron Working.

 

[pandamancer]

@wongfu

Spoiler :

Quoted from the disclaimer

Also, to compensate my map knowledge, I decided not to change my city placements from the first game.

Indeed 3N3E for the 2nd city would be a better option. In my first game, I settled in that spot assuming Ragnar is very near. In terms of jungles, yeah the hurts a little bit but no way the spot is unworkable. You can whip, cottage or assign scientists if possible; it is also a decent production site.

I have decided that the 3N3E be my gp farm early on so IMO the 2nd city is my best candidate for 2nd legendary city spot.

 

[wongfu]

@pandamancer

I read your game journal. That's interesting, I never thought of doing a cultural victory in this game. You said "OR should allow a more efficient whip though."... What does OR stands for? I can't find it in "Commonly Used Acronyms in the Civ Community".

My game status:

Spoiler :

Immortal, no hut, 1150AD.
- Met everybody in the other continent. Tech level of Indian and Roman are comparable to that of Wang and the rest are pretty backwards.
- Got a Great Artist from discovering Music. Built a Great Library.
- The placement of Gergovia is a mistake. I should use that city to grab copper and wine as well.
- I used my second great scientist to bulb philosophy.
- GP farm Tolosa is up running. I am trying to get a Great Merchant / Great Engineer.
- I like to settle the land in the north eventually. But it is slow due to a lack of attractive spot.
- Plan: Complete oxford university, heroic epic. Direct my research toward Military Tradition. Then, start building up my army. Haven't decide who to crush first.

 

[Pangaea]

You said "OR should allow a more efficient whip though."... What does OR stands for? I can't find it in "Commonly Used Acronyms in the Civ Community".

OR stands for Organised Religion. When you have your state religion in a city and are running OR, you get +25% while building buildings, which also means better whips when building buildings. Do note that it doesn't affect units, however.

Or+Forge gives you 45 per citizen whipped on normal speed, but just for buildings.

 

[wongfu]

I like OR for the building 25% bonus, but I don't adopt a state religion in ~70% of my games. I try to avoid the diplomatic mess. As a result, I often shoot for Shwedagon Paya and then switch to free religion.

In the current game, if Wang and Ragnar adopts the same state religion, I will join the family. Unfortunately they don't. In Pangaea games, if all my nearest neighbors adopt the same religion, I would probably follow.

 

[Seraiel]

You don't have to be afraid of causing a diplomatic mess, if you bribe all civs to fight someone else .

Shwedagon Paya an Free Religion are usually both weak choices, OR, Pacifism or Theocracy are all better.

 

[wongfu]

Under what circumstance you will consider Shwedagon Paya + free religion?

I had games in which AP owner asks everybody to fight me. How do you minimize the occurrence of such incident?