NC LXIV: Louix XIV of France

[vranasm]

it indeed seems like easy map.

I rexed a bit until 1010AD

Spoiler :

the happy cap was a bit issue in cities that are not rep happy based. But now I think everything seems allright.
AI's tech a bit slow. I think I will beeline cuirs and wipe Justy. I have beachhead there.
I have 4 swords on the move to get last barb city on the Mehmed continent. would be good to get there another beach head.

I will eventually fill up the north, could get there at least fish+copper city.

Spoiler :

 

[vranasm]

Yep, this is definitely one of the easier games. I'm playing IMM and doing VERY well.

otoh it's very fun.

I am interrested in hearing from people how they solved hapiness... I came for Rep, but someone could probably go with monarchy?

 

[FlyingSwan]

otoh it's very fun.

I am interrested in hearing from people how they solved hapiness... I came for Rep, but someone could probably go with monarchy?

I went culture vic so Happiness became a non issue after theartres,but if i had gone for conquest and missed the pyramids then i think a combination of monarchy,some early sea exploration(to find the happiness trades-and they were out there)and founding 1 religion would probably of got me through.(no foriegn religion spread to me for ages on this map)(just checked save-no religion spread)

Also building barracks when running nationalism gives you 2 happy faces,and theres forges-both of which id build in most citys if i was going for conquest/dom victory.

 

[huerfanista]

otoh it's very fun.

I am interrested in hearing from people how they solved hapiness... I came for Rep, but someone could probably go with monarchy?

I got calendar early and traded it to the AIs once I finished MoM, then traded for their resources - copper was a good trading chip, netting me 3 resources. Buddhism spread to me early from Justinian, so I adopted that. I founded confucianism and taoism, so there's a couple more happy faces. Forges + gems was another one. Not that hard, really. I didn't grow any really monster cities until later, focusing on grabbing wonders and building settlers/workers. My large cities were around 14-16 until biology. No problem staying happy at that size. [EDIT]: Oh, and I built the SP and switched to FR early, so lots of from religion, even without the temples.

 

[huerfanista]

1630AD pics:

Spoiler :

Paris (I'm running all those priests temporarily to get another GP for a GA civics swap):

GP farm:

Resource trades:

Techs:

 

[vranasm]

1908 "diplomatic" victory emperor normal

good map, but boy this is big... it's more like large map.

Spoiler :

Just check the number of cities on one of pictures...
I have 48 cities. My vassals 10+9+3, Next biggest AI 22 and last one 17...

To the actual gameplay

Spoiler :

well last time I think I was in the middle of nat before lib. After nat I did lib to 1T, then teched music and then finished lib to get MT thinking how clever I am...weeeell not. Because I timed MT with finishing TM for whipping cuirs I used the TM GA for teching gunpowder and then a bit building cuirs. I had a bit problem with civics switches because I wasn't that sure if I want to be in slavery or caste and switched at least 3 times between those 2, probably should have sticked with caste.

The reason being that old continent was hammer specced and there was no need to whip. And new continent didn't seem to have enough food and kind of didn't whip there anything usefull anyway.

That leads us to... which continent it was? Well Justinian. I used army of 5-6 galleys to transport all cuirs to justy. Since he teched engineering I declared 1-2 turns sooner then I wanted with only 18 cuirs wiping his 1st sod in 1st turn of war. I slowly fought through his land to the east. Somewhere in the middle of the continent I built forbidden palace.

My tech target after cuirs was rifles for cavalries and then SM->Phy->Bio->Com, then inevitably switch to SP.
After Justy I went after Tokugawa thinking how clever I am....
Well do you remember the island city which should be beachhead against Ottomans...well now THAT was clever...Ottoman thought that it's good city to have and declared with his peace vassal Germany and the city eventually fell :-(.

In Japan I took good number of cities and accepted my new peacevassal. Somewhere on the road I managed to get peace with Ottomans and Germany, but I don't forgett that easily!
After I was ready, it was strike time against germany, which proved to be very tough opponent fielding Infantries at the time I had newly Infantry, but my strike force consisted of 25 cavalries, some artys, some inf and Airships. So the Germany war was veeeery slow.
I eventually got to fighters and tanks, slowly changing my strike force.

Ottomans proved to be unitbuilders and put a fight, but without air support at tech disadvantage you really don't have chance.
After the Ottomans war (which I vassaled as 3rd AI, the germans fell to last man!) I had tech superiority with numbers (27 tanks as in one of those screens).
I built UN some time sooner and when I was resting, loading tanks to ships and moving my carriers with fighters against Boudica the Diplo Victory vote came in. So I took it.
The domination wasn't that far away (would say 10 turns max, if there wouldn't be some surprise with vassaling Boudica to Shaka).

Picts

Spoiler :

Thanks host for fun game... next time maybe a bit smaller land mass ;-) the number of cities is really big

 

[i_imperator]

Emperor/Normal 1874 Cultural victory:

Spoiler :

Not much to say really, i just spammed culture buildings and Great Artists, built the important culture wonders (Noter Dame, Sistine, Spiral, Versailles, The Taj) I got a GE for the SOL but lost it to sully.I founded Toaism but converted to confu for diplo. As for Lib i took Nationlism. Pretty easy map. There was dispute between Shaka, Boudicca, Fred, Justianian, Toku and sully, but they stayed away from me. It was a nice change to go into builder mode, i've been warring alot lately. Here are some pics and a save....

Oh and FYI for those wondering about the happy cap and the happy resources:

Spoiler :

You can get decent happiness from theathers, collseuems, and religious buildings. You should be able to build the Notre Dame aswell for the happy boost on the cointent. Trades with freddy, sully and justianian will help also. Getting the gems hooked up will also help.

 

[dalamb]

good map, but boy this is big... it's more like large map.

That's the effect of low sea levels. I'll put off having a much-land map again for a while, but at some point we were going to try an actual Large.

 

[huerfanista]

monarch/epic 1716AD conquest:

Spoiler :

Just routine, cap Boudica, cap Shaka (he only finished researching engineering the turn after I attacked).

 

[drlake]

Emp/Normal to 125BC (turn 110):

Spoiler :

Basically a building turn set. Popped out some wonders:

Spoiler :

Got a GM for my first GP, so did a trade mission to Byzantium for 1100g.

Only built two more cities, but getting set for some more expansion now. Ran into Fred, and now have trade routes to Justinian after getting a Galley over that way.

The empire:

Spoiler :

Cities:

Spoiler :

Tech situ:

Spoiler :

 

[vranasm]

@drlake

Spoiler :

2 of your cities have only home trade routes, you could use that city on the justy island to the east. I am not sure if you get there in time now, I headed there with 3rd city.

I would doubt the northern city, it's nice that it's coastal, but inland you have great marble+pigs spot and you probably will go with aesth for trades.

 

[drlake]

@vranasm

Spoiler :

The foreign trade routes issue will somewhat resolve as I make contact with more AI civs. That said, I was thinking about setting up a city or two off the main landmass for trading routes. There is enough land over there that I don't think there is much of a time crunch yet. That'll be AFTER the Marble/Pigs city, which was next on the list. I need to get those Gems connected for happiness, too.

 

[dalamb]

First attempt: BC 4000-1320

I decided I'd made a few errors early on and restarted, but my initial game didn't go all that different from the first time.

Spoiler :

I'm giving more detail than the advanced players might want to see, in case some novices find it useful.

I decided to settle marble before stone this time to have it ready for the Oracle, and delay mining the copper until after I produced a bunch of cheap warriors for happiness in the initial cities. Tech order approximately Mining > Fishing > Bronze Working. I then did Hunting to make AH cheaper, even though I didn't need Archery and there were no resources to camp. Then I did Mysticism, needed eventually for the prereqs for Oracle, but right now it made Masonry a little cheaper to research. I thought about Sailing next, but didn't want to go for the Great Lighthouse -- given I wanted a cultural victory, one doesn't want to pollute the Great Person pool with things other than Great Artist, and I was already going to get some Great Engineer from the Pyramids (which I wanted for Representation). So my plan was Meditation > Priesthood (starting the Oracle as soon as possible) > Writing > Sailing.

I settled my 4th city on the south end of the island just north of Frederick, so that its cultural border expansion would give me a path to the southern continent. This gave me eventual access to Fred and Sulieman. It was one of few places that had 2 food sources so I made it my Great Person farm; by 1290 AD it had produced only 1 Great Artist, with another coming in 5 turns (plus one from Music). I speeded up GPP generation by building the parthenon and national epic there, plus ran Pacificsm as soon as I got Philosophy.

I knew from the first game that getting Confucianism would be a little tight, but I guessed that I might have the time to go Math (for the bonus chopping ) > Currency (for a better economy) > Code of Laws (which also benefited from having its other potential prereq, Priesthood). It worked out OK, and eventually it spread to all my neighbours. If I'd failed I could either restart or just prioritize some of the other religions -- Taoism and either Christianity or Islam would have been enough to get 2 cathedrals in each legendary city, which should be enough accelerators). As it turned out I got all 4 late religions, which is likely overkill. I first went Polytheism > Monotheism (and switched to Organized Religion) > Theology for Christianity. At some point I did Aesthetics, hoping to trade for Alphabet, but that never worked out and I researched Alphabet on my own to trade for some other techs like Iron Working.

After Writing I turned off research for a while to build cash while building a library in Paris; this means not wasting any of the 25% bonus. I was too busy building things in my first three cities to be able to allow Paris to run 2 scientists right away, so eventually wound up getting a Great Prophet. I used the first to build the Confucian shrine and a second to partly bulb Divine Right for my 4th religion.

I researched Civil Service, switched to Bureaucracy, and started on the Liberalism path (Paper, 9 turns from Education, 10 for Liberalism). I'll take Nationalism as in jesusin's guide, for the Hermitage and Free Speech. At that point jesusin advises shutting down research, but I'm a little scared of having a non-Confucian AI show up and attack when I have only macemen, horse archers, and longbows -- so, given the UU, I'll go for Gunpowder. I'm not sure whether Astronomy for the Salon is appropriate. It gives another +25% to culture, but that may not have much additional effect given pacifism, free speech, the parthenon, and four cathedrals (+100%+100%+50%+4*50% = +450 already). The monument's +2 base (doubled from +1 after all the time that has passed), which gets multiplied, is probably worth more.

Spoiler detailed chronology :

• To 400 BC: Founded Paris in place, Orleans by the marble, Lyons by the Stone, and Rheims on the south end of the island (meeting Frederick).
• 1000 BC:Completed Oracle in Paris, accelerated by IND and marble. From the first game I realized I could postpone Confucianism a bit:
  
  
• 250 BC: Finished Pyramids in Lyons, accelerated by IND and stone.
• 100 AD: Finished the Hanging Gardens in Lyons.
• 400 AD: Built the Confucian shrine in Tours; I figured I would spread this to my neighbours, so it was a good use of the first Great Prophet from the Oracle.
• 680 AD: Statue of Zeus in Paris, without ivory. I forgot to see if I could trade for it. This isn't normally worthwhile in a peaceful game, but I wanted the Great Artist points for a cultural victory. I planned originally to build only GA-generating items in Paris, but postponing the Oracle until one of the other cities could build it failed in an earlier version of the game,
• 820 AD: Apostolic Paris in Lyons under Christianity. This meant I could keep control as long as I spread Confucianism to my opponents, making sure nobody else could use it against me. Also, the +2 each from temple and monastery in each city helps a lot! Plus another +2 in the 3 cities that will have cathedrals.
• 880 AD: trade with Sulieman:
  
  
• 980 AD: trade with Fred:
  
  
  
  While exploring the jungle east of Fred, north of Sulieman, my scout encountered:
  
  
  
  I was surprised to find a hut so late on an occupied continent, but I suppose Sillyman lived up to his nickname by not exploring those jungles. It was especially nice because I got:
  
  
• 1060 AD: trade with Justinian:
  
  
• 1010 AD: Hagia Sophia in Lyons. This maximizes the Great Engineer points; along with the Pyramids and Hanging Gardens this reduces the chance Lyons generates a Great Prophet.
• 1070 AD: Mausoleum in Paris. More GA points, plus extending any Golden Ages I might get. I wouldn't spend a Great Artist on this, but an extraneous Great Prophet in Lyons would be used for a Golden Age.
• 1120 AD: trade with Sulieman:
  
  
• 1220 AD: Sistine Chapel, for the culture in each city and the GA points.
• 1260 AD: trade with Frederick:
  
  

I got a few nice events, and only one nasty (a slave revolt):

Spoiler events :

• 975 BC:
  
  
• 125 AD:
  
  
• 1280 AD: I'm nearing Education, so I may not have time for this quest (it fails in the Renaissance):
  
  
  
  According to the event list, the possible results are:
  

  Quest3:
  Horse Whispering
  Prereq: ANIMAL_HUSBANDRY AND Horse resource
  Obsolete: NATIONALISM or PRINTING_PRESS or EDUCATION or GUNPOWDER or ASTRONOMY
  Active/Weight: 25/500
  Aim:
  Build default number of players for this world size stables (7 for standard)
  Result:
  1.you get default number of players for this world size Horse Archers (6 for standard)
  2.All mounted units get the Sentry promotion
  3.All stables provide +1 food
  
  i've complete this quest and been rather disappointed with the results. stables are not needed in seven cities, ever, and the rewards are lackluster.

  Personally, on a fairly food-poor map, the +1 might be worth it.

Spoiler 1290 AD status :

• The world as I know it:
  
  
• Charts: I'm ahead in all categories, which is to be expected at Prince I suppose (not quite ready to tackle Monarch):
  
  
• Victory conditions: None of my known opponents is a threat yet, but I think I need to go for compass/optics at some point and build caravels to find the other AIs to check them out.
  
  
• My western territory:
  
  

 

[Danelius90]

Monarch - Epic
4000BC ~ 55AD

My first try on monarch on nobles club (done a few incomplete attempts on monarch before) but as commented, the map is quite easy. Notes are a little sparse, and I forgot about screenshots. Was really ill yesterday, and didn't get into taking notes on what I was doing. Hopefully you can find something to say from what I have...

Spoiler :

SIP - Gonna tech fishing first, then mining/BW and masonry to get the stone up, mids are probably a good choice here, with an industrious leader too.
Animal Husbandry next, next city I plan to put here
Built the mids in 1300
empire so far:


Bit late getting the commerce city up, the capital has good production, but will soon get a second city up.


So, seems that I'm a little isolated - when I met Justinian I didn't see his unit
Founded confucianism. Been bearing in mind about the cultural stuff mentioned above. So see how it goes

empire at end of turn 177

the save extends a little beyond those notes...

Spoiler :

had a spree of wonder spamming, since I had the marble now. National Epic is up and running

edit* why was I building research and not Wealth in Tours? oh dear..
And I realise I'm still low on workers. But I don't seem to have been pushed for worker turns so far..

 

[vranasm]

@danelius

Spoiler :

capital is too low pop (6 is low) at this point of the game at least 11-12 should be your standard min. size if you're not whipped uni 1t ago. I don't see there enough improvements around and I would not cottage the capital.

Why build cottages around the stone city on east coast? Best coast production center for you... watermill/workshop+enough farms for feeding the city. Build HE there.

Rheims 1 off coast? why?

You underexpanded... 6 cities are fine in situation where are you a bit boxed in, in this game you should have at least 3 more cities and you didn't get the gems...i wonder why since you are battling unhappiness

edit:

Spoiler :

the exploration isn't the best too.

 

[Danelius90]

@vranasm

Spoiler :

Thanks for your comments.
Had been whipping the cap a bit, maybe too much. Yeah, should grow it some more...
Think I put Rheims there because of the river, but looking at it now, the most useful tiles would still be in the cross, it's not going to be building unhealthy buildings, plus I would have sea trade. Plus I have Glighthouse. Facepalm

I built the cottages around the stone city because at the time there were no other improvements available, and because of the food resources it grew quite quick - sure I was running some specialists too. (I left machinery and stuff quite late - as I've played on, I now have workshops which was what I intended to get there anyway)
I also completely forgot about boats. I'll blame it on being ill

So yeah, need to focus on making the capital better, think that's something I do all to often.

 

[thbrown81]

I'm taking my first run at both Noble's Club Participation and an Immortal win (Normal speed, no events) all at once. Any advice is most welcome:

Spoiler :

I won't mess with screen shots, my city placement seems to be the same as everyone else's so far (900 BC), although I settled the Marble site 3rd instead of the rice/ cow SW of Paris.

I went with Fish -> Mine -> Masonry -> BW -> AH -> Pottery -> Sailing to open. I wanted to work the clams first as I could improve a tile without halting city growth. I first built a 2nd warrior, then boat, worker (at size 3), settler.

I built the GW (before I even connected stone) to keep away barbs and save some hammers on warriors (also eliminates need to research archery, right?). Someone else beat me to GLH in 1280 BC so I started working on Pyramids once I had my second settler finished.

Second tech string was Myst/ Med/ PH for Oracle, then beeline to Lit for GL.

Oddly enough, I also had Buddhism spread to me even though I haven't contacted anyone yet.

I'll continue expanding to fill out the continent and WonderSpamming. Once I have Lit done, I'm assuming Music for a GA and then Engineering for ND would be the best play?

I've attached the save if anyone wants to look and comment further.

 

[Mantic0re]

Spoiler :

I've sorta lost focus here. I decided since I was guaranteed land and I'd wonder-whore some. Working on Lit atm for the Great Library.

I've not settled my land yet, and debating over settling island and edge of Justinians zone or just filling in the rest of mine.


I don't really have a tech plan or VC (to early for this yet I think). I would like to have an religion so I think I'll push for Currency and CoL next and then just head down the rest of the Lib path. This is my first Monarch game past turn 100 in over a year so I'm not sure what to expect of the tech rate. I will probably loose the Lib race.

 

[Hrun]

Emperor/Normal

Fun game So fun in fact that I kept playing and didn't post updates for advice or anything so its to end with a cultural victory 1828AD turn 284

Spoiler :

Decided on cultural victory as soon as I found we were alone with stone and marble. Initial dotmap was kinda difficult but looking at othe posts I made similar choices to others. Second city was 1N of stone, I really should have made it a culture city went instead for the fish/rice/sometimes cow site south of Paris, mistake I think although I don't think it was too damaging. I was slow in exploring with boats so missed the large island and met Sulieman last, but I managed to grab the western edge of Justinian's continent but I only went for it because Taoism (which I founded along with Islam) was spreading rapidly so I was afraid I would end up with only 1 religion. Needn't have worried as I finished with 4. The AI were backwards all game and only caught up when I turned tech slider down to 0%. Loved all the food loadsa GPs and easy science with representation. Even with 0% science bpt was good enough, from specialists, for me to research stuff to trade for more techs and more score. Wonderwhored quite a lot but missed Oracle, needless to say I was miffed. Sushi was a huge bonus. Nice and relaxing pretty much just pressing enter for the last 30 turns as I cruised to victory. First game I've actually completed on Emperor woo I'll post the save if anyone wants it for comparison or anything.

End game view of cities:

Spoiler :

North:

South:

Rouen:

 

[Charlesbusa]

Hi all! My first noble's club game. I'm planning on a cultural win since I've never done it. Selected the custom scenario with marathon and no espionage. Settled in place. Trying the spoiler thing to see if I got it right;

Spoiler :