NC CXIV: Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire

[shulgi]

@Robert

Spoiler :

I'd have to say I got lucky, maybe you too. Somehow I thought the date was earlier and those numbers were a guess based on what I attacked Isabella with. If you can scout territory before launching a war do so. From your first save, starting cottages early is a very good practice (unless a site is food poor). I think you also overbuilt archers in your cities and the number of archers and warriors was hurting your economy but since you had (3?) archers in Vienna why not bring them with your army to Justinian's territory. For maintenance problems build lots of rathauses - it's got to be one of if not the best unique building in the game.

I'd say keep going after Justinian (when you have enough troops). You don't want him vassaling to someone else or revolt problems.

Hurrah for victory!

 

[Mylene]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWlUyanBEZw
yay!

 

[WorstChord]

Monarch/Epic (No Huts) - 1000 AD

Spoiler :

Went with Monarch rather than Emperor due to rustiness. Settled in place, built two Warriors, two Workers then a Settler. Settler finished on the same turn as Bronze Working, revealing the Copper South-East of the capital, making the second city seem like a no-brainer. Founded Prague with the Copper, plains Wheat and Gold in the BFC, before building the Great Wall in Prague and raising an army in Aachen.

Went for De Gaulle, as taking him out would prevent me from being boxed in and would give loads of space in the South-East to expand into. Took him and then fortified Aachen and Prague with cheap Walls and Archers as Wang Kon looked like he was going to spring a sneaky attack. In the meantime I expanded into the South-East, converted to Buddhism (Justinian's religion) and built The Pyramids and Hanging Gardens in Aachen for the Great Engineer points and to start running Rep as there didn't seem to be anywhere decent for building cottages.

Rest of the game to this point has been fairly peaceful. First Great Person was a Spy (as planned), used him on Justinian to steal some of his techs every now and then (usually the religious ones). Hooked up the Marble and built the Great Library and the Parthenon. Became BFF with Mehmed II. Got the Rathauses up and running. Made a diversion to Music purely because I wanted the Great Artist for a Golden Age (not used him yet though) and went for Engineering for the very cheap Castles and Notre Dame while my Great Scientists bulbed their way towards Liberalism...

As it stands at 1000 BC I've almost finished researching Education, and have pretty much got a lock on Liberalism here. The whole world seems to be a Buddhist love-in right now. Would like to take a pop at Justinian and Wang Kon at some point though, even though we're on good terms.

Currently running Representation - Slavery - Vassalage - Organised Religion. Have got the Heroic Epic in Aachen.

 

[Pangaea]

@Robert FIN

Tried to check out your game, but it told me I need the BAT mod Think it's possible to install it to the customassets folder. That way others should be able to load it, I think, without having the BAT mod themselves. I have it set up like that with BUG mod, and I think others can load the saves although they don't have it.

Looks like a fun game though.

 

[Dubioza]

1864 AD - Diplomatic Victory

Spoiler :

I tried to get AP diplo, but met Surya kinda late and I had more pop then allowed - as well as in first 3 votes for UN - 4th vote I dropped to 59.91 LOL
Mehmed voted for me - our relations were at +14! LOL

I could've get it sooner I guess, if I didn't go to island east of Mehmed and capture 4 barb cities - was thinking of gifting them to him too...

Good game, learned some, failed some - I've built most WW's again, railroads on almost every tile again LOL ...

http://imageshack.us/f/849/civ4screenshot0029g.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/f/38/civ4screenshot0030c.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/f/145/civ4screenshot0031.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/f/443/civ4screenshot0032.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/f/834/civ4screenshot0034.jpg/

I'll probably get my ass kicked, but I think I wanna try next one on Monarch...any suggestions while waiting for next NC?
As well as feedback on this game, much appreciated

TY for the game!

EDIT:
I just have to ask about this...I can't figure out why creators of games like this couldn't add techs to barbs and then create saves for difficulty levels - shouldn't that be as simple as opening wb - add techs - save?
Ohh ok...I guess then we can't load it so we can change custom options? From what I've seen, most players play no huts&no events and everything else default - that would require adding saves with tech for those? LOL

 

[Archon_Wing]

~1200 AD. Game's in the bag. I'm an idiot and forgot the music line...

Spoiler :

Well, I just wanted to fast forward the game to see what would happen. Apparently Degaulle didn't take the coast so I did, and well, everyone seems so backwards that after whipping those rathauses in, that nothing can really stop me. Mehmed attacks me with 3 galleys, but since I now switched religion, I get a dogpile on him. Meanwhile, I'm gonna tech with 10 cities and backstab my poor friends once they're done. I'd say the events happened just as it needed to. I also have control of the AP in a religion only I have so if I feel like that instead of conquest...

 

[rfcfanatic]

I'm gonna try this on Prince now. Normal speed, no huts, no events. Some initial thoughts about the start.

We have stone in our capital's FC! It's time to start with Masonry and build the Great Wall. That should keep the barbs off. I'll settle on spot and while Masonry is being researched and Aachen builds up its culture, I'm gonna train a worker.

Maybe Stonehenge can also be done, but I don't want to risk with the loss of the GW.

 

[Robert FIN]

I'm gonna try this on Prince now. Normal speed, no huts, no events. Some initial thoughts about the start.

We have stone in our capital's FC! It's time to start with Masonry and build the Great Wall. That should keep the barbs off. I'll settle on spot and while Masonry is being researched and Aachen builds up its culture, I'm gonna train a worker.

Maybe Stonehenge can also be done, but I don't want to risk with the loss of the GW.

Hello again, my estonian friend! Your plan sounds good. I'm looking forward to your game. Remember to use lots of screenshots in your posts

 

[rfcfanatic]

Wow, GW and SH both done by 2200 BC and I managed to train a Settler before them too. Never thought that Settler on pop. 2 would only take 9 turns to train.

Spoiler :

I settled Prague on the hill to the east next to Wheat and Sheep. Trying to follow the advice of experienced players as much as possible - food first!

I forgot that stone helped with Mids too! After getting out the 3rd settler I'll start with Mids.

Spoiler :

Oh, we have met De Gaulle. I'm afraid there will be some competition for Mids. Also, he has an attitude problem - he's annoyed with me for no reason.

My tech order so far: Masonry - AH - The Wheel - Agriculture - Mining - BW (currently researching).

 

[rfcfanatic]

900 BC

Mids got built in 1360 BC and I'm running Representation and Slavery now. Aachen has 2 scientists. Here's how my first 4 cities lay out:

Spoiler :

Vienna was kind of dangerous gamble, because It's gonna troll De Gaulle a lot. Sooner or later, Charlemagne the Holy Roman Emperor will restore his rightful claim by uniting France and Holy Roman Empire under the banner of Frankish Empire.

I currently have Open Borders with Justinian and Wang Kon. I have to build a trade route to Justinian

I have just 4 cities, but maintenance costs are already eating away my research. I'm researching CoL now, so I can start building the best UBs in civ4 - the Rathaus.

 

[rfcfanatic]

Forgot to mention that the first GP I received was a Great Spy. I didn't have much ideas what to do with him, so I built Scotland Yard in Aachen.

 

[Robert FIN]

@Rfcfanatic: Thanks for the screenshot. I quess that if you don't wanna conquer your neighbors yet you should expand to

Spoiler :

west coast.

I don't get it!!!Why is my imageshack turned to ******** mode again!!!
It just wont work!!! Maybe I should join to "photobucket" or something? Well I try to find out if that works....

 

[Nicol.Bolas]

1864 AD - Diplomatic Victory

I'll probably get my ass kicked, but I think I wanna try next one on Monarch...any suggestions while waiting for next NC?

try the monarch club game
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=483579

 

[Pangaea]

try the monarch club game
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=483579

Thanks. I may try that one as well when I finally manage to wrap up this game.

 

[rfcfanatic]

175 AD

Aachen probably has now every stone wonder as it can get. I have 8 cities now.

Spoiler :

With Rathaus in most cities it seems that I have defeated the maintenance costs. I should probably stop building outdated axemen and try it out if building Wealth is really so good as they say.

I'm not in a good situation right now to start any wars. I need to gain some tech lead before I can do that. I don't want any lengthy axe-on-axe wars. This map is not well-suited for using Slavery to whip units. Too little food. Bureaucracy is completely outruled with Aachen as the capital city. Vienna might be, because I built an academy there, but it still has not so much food for growth. I think that Vassalage would work much better on this map.

@Robert FIN

Spoiler :

I tried to expand to the west coast, but Wang snatched a barb city which I planned to attack. He also settled a couple cities in the northern tundra, but I hope these cities will not stand a chance against Aachen's culture

 

[Dubioza]

try the monarch club game
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=483579

Thanks

I started my new game just now, will try it after I finish this one...I was searching here and mostly here, I wander how I didn't find that one LOL

Good luck to guys playing Charly

 

[rfcfanatic]

Dat face

Spoiler :

Things are starting to get ugly.

 

[rfcfanatic]

1070 AD

I have to agree that building Wealth is quite a good thing if you do it in production cities. I was able to keep my research slider at 100% for many turns. I pretty much stormed through medieval military techs. For example, I got Engineering in 600 AD and completed Notre Dame in 880 AD. Haven't done so well for a long long time!

Spoiler :

I guess it's time for Justinian to die...

 

[WelshGandalf]

@rfc

Spoiler :

I got Engineering in 150BC

Looks like things are going OK for you. Yay for building wealth! What are you teching towards at the moment? Cannons? Could you take Steel with Liberalism?

As for economy - you look in a decent shape, quite a few cottages. Hopefully you're in representation too for the extra beakers from specialists - most cities should be able to run 2 from the library. One thing I notice is that the wheat in prague isn't wet - you should work towards that - I presume you have civil service by now...?

Anyway, my game ended in a 1630AD domination.

Spoiler :

I attacked the French at around 1AD with my trebs/landsneks. They had expanded a lot and built little military. I took 6 of their cities, leaving them with 6 more. Waited 10 turns during which I rebuilt my economy including whipping lots of rathuses, declared again as I went into a music-GA-GA, took a mere 8 turns to take the rest of his cities.

Great people production was going well - my capital had 7 wonders so was producing lots of GPP, and I put the National Epic in Paris, which had a huge food surplus, so these 2 cities between them did a good job of giving me great people.

Next up was Justantin who only had 4 cities!!! Things got a bit tougher as finally some troops were coming on board that could cope with my uber pikemen - namely, archery units - crossbows and longbows. Still, the trebs did a good job, and I added in a maceman or 2 for variety. They died and I got their shiny shrines. Next up, the Koreans. The turn before I declared, they offered to peace-vassal! Decided against it - I had taken most of my continent, now I wanted it all! Muahahah. Was slightly slow going, but riflemen appeared near the end of the war to finish them off.

Now it was the run to victory. I settled lots of cities on the lower-left island. Switched to State Property. Declared on the Ottomans - wiped them out - then ran straight onto Sitting Bull. The difference in tech levels and military size was obscene - I really shouldn't be playing Monarch difficulty anymore Anyhow I took all but 1 of the Native American cities on their home island in about 6 turns, I was at 60% land and he offered his capitulation. I took it, then next turn I won.

Finished in 1630AD with 48 cities across 6 land masses, and a Domination win. Most built units were 42 riflemen, 39 landsnecks and 39 trebs. Quite a few CR3 landsnekcts got upgraded to rifles.

 

[rfcfanatic]

@WelshGandalf

Spoiler :

Yep, Steel was a logical choice after Chemistry. But before that, I discovered Military Science in 1250 AD (for Grenadiers). Steel got discovered in 1400 AD. Btw, I did all this without Lib and I actually lost the Lib race around 1500. My tech choices were such that I had missed a lot of pre-requirements for Lib. And Grenadiers in 1300 are still better than Rifles in 1600 . I haven't really used Grenadiers+Cannon strategy before.

I'm also running Representation. In 1070, I had assigned 2 scientists in Vienna and one in Aachen. Instead of Bureaucracy, I went for Vassalage.

1892 AD

Spoiler :

The main difference between Noble and Prince is that on Prince, War Weariness hits really hard. This picture shows a lot of red faces:

I should probably inject a factory to cities that are building Wealth. Bonus from forge and factory applies before hammers are converted to gold.

I already possess 50% of the land area (64% is required for Domination). The island where I started is completely under my control since 1730 AD. Justinian is my Vassal. He had moved to another island and my War Weariness was really bad to continue the war any longer, so I accepted capitulation. After Justinian, De Gaulle and Wang Kon got finished. Mehmed is pretty much finished.

I think that going after Sitting Bull is an easier way to achieve domination than conquering Suryavarman's island. Sury is more advanced and powerful than SB. He DoW'ed on me, but I managed to make everyone DoW on him via AP resolution. Poor Sury has no foreign trade routes That explains why he was still researching Railroad in 1890s.

If I still want to go after Sury, I need to reassign a couple of Wealth cities on military units. Augsburg has HE, WP, military academy and 4 GG's. In the mess of war between 1400-1600, I settled 3 GG's in Aachen too and built Ironworks. It was a no-brainer then, but now I regret it. I need Ironworks to build late-game wonders too.

Btw, getting Great Spies in early game is not so bad My first GSpy built Scotland Yard in Aachen and my second one settled in Aachen. As a result, I was able to see what's going on AI territory and what they are researching. Sury is an exception. He has a fixation to Communism and The Kremlin. I infiltrated a GSpy in his capital, but he out-espionaged me soon.