NC XXIV: Wang Kon

[OJimiJam]

Emperor normal, all the way through:

Spoiler :

I was gonna do a proper report honest, but i started playing on auto pilot a little bit and didnt take screenies or notes after about turn 50...

Anyway i settled 1e on the sugar, as i think many of you did. Obviously with hindsight more tasty cities could be fitted int thee, but its a good start and a faster worker cant be bad. After scouting i saw that the north and toku had pretty rubbish land, while east and qin looked tasty. I love gems . I stole a worker from qin and settled very aggressively towards him, leaving time to build SH in capital.

This left him blocked to a couple of cities, which i took off him with a stack of swords and axes. I didnt get to cats in time to use them but numbers overpower even pro archers. He was left with a little city on surys continent and i jsut left him alone. Happily he had built the GLH and founded tao (choose religions on i think it was the CoL religion). After that i had nice land and plenty of space and blitzed the ai in the tech race, taking medicine from lib and winning the free GM. Toku declared once, but the AP stopped the war and after that he got to pleased and left me alone. Didnt really pay much attention and one an uncontested but late (i was very unfocused mid to late game) space race.

@Pohjalainen: Id definitely put D 1e, stone's not really that useful. are you actually planning any stone wonders? the health and trade routes of coastal are far too good to pass up imo.

 

[Bleys]

LOL got a minor update. My game is boring, but its a good lesson in semi-isolated turtle-teching to Space, so I am playing it out.

Emp, Normal, 1550 AD:

Spoiler :

Asoka DoWed on me! LOL, how amusing. I was 2 turns from finishing Rifling, and have been saving up GPs for Golden Ages, so I popped one off, drafted a few Muskets for defense, popped some Curissars I was saving up into the mix, and demolished his landing stack.

As punishment I think I am going to take out his Holy City and the AP. He has it, but is the only AI with any real votes. Maybe I will raze them both, that will teach him. Also wont have to worry about some back-door thing.

Guess I am loading Rifles and Cannons on Galleons after all, sigh, I am a sucker for a good war.

 

[SteelCityBlade]

Noble, Normal, Diplomatic 1884, 40k

Spoiler :

I always start out saying I will do a full report, screen shots and all, but I have given that up by turn 50.


Settled aggressively towards Qin, blocking him to 2 cities on the continent. Took Toku out first keeping his capital, raising the rest with Swords and Cats against his Archers & Axeman. I delayed the war beyond when I should have, ending the war with loads and loads of units to maintain. By the time I marched them down to Qin (I wanted his double holy city) he had teched to Feudalism and I didn't fancy Protective Longbows. Spammed settlers right around the coast at 3 space intervals, working the coastal and any good land tiles. Building infastructure and taking the tech lead (Qin's small town empire had given him the early tech lead). Bee-lined to Rifles & Cannons, dropped the science slider all the way down, upgraded the Hwcha & Swords to Cannons & Riflemen. Took his 2 cities, he capitulated, rinsed and repeated. Teched to Mass Media, built UN. Job done.

Thanks for the game. Look forward to NC XXV. I'll try and do a proper report.

 

[pigswill]

The Noble Epic of Kon the Merciless. Chapter 3 (1275ad).

Spoiler :

Conquest Victory 1275. Disappointing score of 28k.

I basically built a few more cities, built and worked cottages and got a healthy tech lead. Cyrus's last city was razed in 500ad. Hwacha/Maceman war against Sury, captured and razed five cities 550-950ad. Meanwhile I nabbed music for free GA, built MoM and had an extended golden age. Picked up optics for circumnavigation and ship movement bonus. Got engineering for trebs and pikes to counter Khan's keshiks. Teched to guilds and then discovered I had no horses .
Declared on Khan in 1000ad. Captured and kept Persepolis for the horses and started building some knights. Captured and razed another five Mongol cities before Khan was ready to capitulate. Then declared on Asoka 1200ad. Only captured and razed one of his cities, get stacks in place ready to capture another three and it was only then that he decided that discretion was the better part of valour and capitulated in 1270.

In previous Noble Club noble games I'd gone for lib>steel>cannon>win. This game I thought I'd go medieval. I teched somewhat inefficiently. The key techs were CS and machinery for maces, engineering for trebs and pikes, feudalism for vassalage and capitulation, optics for ship movement and drama for theatres so once research was done I could up the culture slider and forget about war weariness. Everything else was really unnecessary.

Save is one turn before victory. Just chat with Asoka for capitulation.

 

[GGS]

950 BC Checkpoint 1.

Spoiler :

The huts were very kind - scout, 67G, 51G. The first contacts were less so - Qin Shi Huang 3640 (near-instantly worst enemy of Wang Kon), Tokugawa 3520. Ethnically appropriate and it could have been worse. The land to the east looked great for the planned Korean peaceable expansion. But as they say in a different old country, "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft a-gley." Co-habitation had developed a dream-like quality. Pre-emptive war seemed to be the way.

Target Tokugawa. Why? Beijing was on a hill, Kyoto was not and it was closer. With the Japanese leadership there would be no open borders, no tech trading, no secure peace, etc. So, after the worker and barracks the build order was axemen and more axemen. The tech path was meditation, BW (the copper location was a bonus), wheel, agriculture, pottery, writing, masonry. In 1280 Tokugawa actually converted to Buddhism - way too late, way too little. In 1200 ten axemen (two more on the way) crossed the frontier between the Japanese capital the second city (4S).

Piece of cake? Not really. Five axmen were lost and four damaged taking-out four archers and a settler. It could have been quite different if the archers had been commissioned in barracks or if Tokugawa had not sent at least one out on a walk-about mission. In any event, the Koreans were able to nominated Kyoto as the GP farm and Osaka was razed in 1040 eliminating the northern threat.

The current appreciation? Cash is fine at 222 -5GPT, 100% science. IW is just around the corner. Soldiers 3rd, land 4th, population 2nd. No idea about techs but QSH has the Great Wall. The plan? Eastern expansion to the extent that it is still possible. The major mistake? Korea should have adopted slavery.

 

[SlipperyJim]

Whoops, played clean through to 1000 AD. This game is my second play on this map, because I followed Bleys' advice to start the game, plan city locations, and restart. So my game is a bit spoiled, for those who care about such things.

I'll only post through Checkpoint One at 1000 BC for now. Playing Noble / Epic (with Choose Religions):

Spoiler :

Moved the Settler one tile to the west and founded Seoul in 3975 BC. Started building a Worker and researching Bronze Working.

Met Tokugawa in 3950 BC. He sure is close!

Buddhism FIDL in 3800 BC. I'm not chasing religions, so I don't really care. (For now ... more on this topic later.)

In 3550 BC, Korean crafters put down their stone tools and learn how to work with Bronze. Oh, look, we have Copper in Seoul's BFC! Time to rush Toku!

In other news, the discovery of bronze working enabled the Korean warlords to enslave their people. The oppression of slavery would remain for many millennia....

Seoul finished its Worker in 3400 BC. The Worker headed over to mine the Copper, and Seoul started to train a second Warrior.

Christianity FIDL in 3175 BC. That's too late for Izzy or Justinian, I think. I wonder who's the founder?

In 3000 BC, Seoul finishes training the Warrior (having grown to size 2 while doing so) and begins a second Worker. Korean explorers also meet Qin of China, who is one of my very least-favorite opponents. Yeah, he's gotta die next, after Toku....

Meanwhile, Korean research is going Wheel > Agriculture (gotta farm the corn) > Fishing > Pottery ... let's get some worker techs, because unimproved tiles are no good.

Seoul recruits a stack of six Axemen between 2875 BC and 2075 BC. They're for defense only, honest!

In 1900 BC, our noble defenders arrived at the Japanese border. Toku hadn't attacked yet, but it was only a matter of time. C'mon, it's Toku! So Korea declared a state of "preventative defense" with Japan.

In 1875 BC, Korean researchers learned about Writing. This advance will make it a good bit easier to record the glorious epic of Korean history. Speaking of glorious epics, our Axemen reached Kyoto in 1850 BC to teach the Japanese about proper defensive tactics:

While attacking in Japanese territory at Kyoto, Axeman loses to Japanese Archer (1.08/3)
While attacking in Japanese territory at Kyoto, Axeman loses to Japanese Archer (1.92/3)
While attacking in Japanese territory at Kyoto, Axeman (3.10/5) defeats Japanese Archer
While attacking in Japanese territory at Kyoto, Axeman (2.75/5) defeats Japanese Warrior
While attacking in Japanese territory at Kyoto, Axeman (4.05/5) defeats Japanese Archer
Captured Kyoto (Tokugawa)
Japanese Empire has been eliminated

Operation "Get All Up In Tokugawa's Grill" was a complete success. Please ignore the slurs about "attacking"; it was a purely defensive action!

Kyoto and Seoul both started infrastructure. My past experience told me that Korea would have to defend itself against Qin and the wicked Chinese, but that would have to wait. Anyway, I really want to play with Hwachas!

In 1675 BC, a Khmer Workboat sailed into Korean waters. Hi, Sury! I really hope he isn't holding a grudge from NCXXIII....

Research shifted to Meditation > Priesthood > Code of Laws. Not only did I want the Oracle, but I also wanted Courthouses. Assertively defending the Korean empire could lead to a lot of corruption, and I wanted Courthouses to control the costs. Also, founding a religion would be a nice plus. Yeah, I said I wasn't chasing religions. That was then; this is now! Anyway, I'm desperately in need of some happiness to keep the unruly mobs in check....

Kyoto started the Oracle in 1350 BC. A free tech is a free tech, right? Meanwhile, Seoul built a Library. When the Library was complete, I hired two scientists and started a Settler.

The Settler left Seoul in 1125 BC, taking Seoul's garrisoned Axeman along with him for safety. This move left my capital undefended until I could train a replacement, but I really wanted to get that Settler out there. Lots of good land, and I didn't want Qin to claim too much of it. More Chinese cities would just make the eventual defense of the Korean homeland more costly....

In 1025 BC, our intrepid Settler founded P'yongyang just to the east of Seoul. P'yongyang claims Corn, Clams, and a bunch of hills. Seoul was getting cottaged to the hilt, so P'yongyang would become my new production center. Meanwhile, Seoul had finished it's replacement Axeman and started to build the Moai Statues.

Right at the first checkpoint -- 1000 BC -- a Mongolian Workboat sailed into Korean waters. Hello, Genghis! Great, now there are two attack dogs in my neighborhood. Qin is still the bigger threat because he handles his economy better ... but I can't let myself lose sight of the mighty Khan.

And that's where it stands now. One opponent dead, and plenty of other fish to fry. I'll post more of the Defense of Korea later.

 

[SlipperyJim]

And here's the next chapter of the story. 1000 BC through 1030 AD:

Spoiler :

Hinduism FIDL in 975 BC. Whew, so many religions....

As the Oracle neared completion in Kyoto, I noticed that my research on Code of Laws would finish at approximately the same time. I considered trying a CS slingshot, but then decided against it. I haven't played enough to know when the Oracle usually gets built on Noble, so I didn't want to delay it. (In fact, I had a few Workers chopping some trees to speed the process.) I still needed Mathematics in addition to Code of Laws. Given how quickly wonders were falling, I didn't want to risk the Oracle.

Advice requested: Should I have tried for the slingshot?

Anyway, Kyoto finished the Oracle in 925 BC. The spirits of our ancestors appeared in the form of a master blacksmith to taught the Korean people how to work with metal even more efficiently than before. (Metal Casting from the Oracle.)

And in 875 BC, Korean scholars codified the rules of society into a Code of Laws. While their intent was to provide a better system of managing the government, a venerable sage named Confucius took it upon himself to transcribe these laws and adopt them into a personal code of ethics. This new way of life -- called Confucianism -- began to spread among the citizens of Kyoto....

I noticed that Genghis and Qin hadn't adopted a state religion yet, so I switched to Confucianism. If the faith spreads to them, I'll get some diplomacy credit. Anyway, the Korean citizens were starting to grumble, and a state religion would appease them for the moment. Sury became Annoyed with me, but my power rating was higher than his.

Somewhere along the way, I noticed the my power rating was only 0.7 when compared to the Mongols. Yike!

Kyoto cranked out another Settler in 725 BC. He took an Axeman escort and headed south toward the Wines-Marble-Corn spot near the center of the continent.

The two scientists in Seoul spawned a Great Scientist in 675 BC, who promptly built an Academy. I considered putting the scientists back to work in the cottages, but I decided to go for another Great Scientist to settle in Seoul.

The Settler reached his destination and founded Wonsan in 650 BC. Another production city....

In 625 BC, a Persian Workboat sailed into Korean waters. Hi, Cyrus! Why don't I even get Darius as the Persian leader? Ah well, Cyrus is probably less annoying.

In 525 BC, the mighty arrogant Khan demanded that Korea provide him with some Crabs. (Stop snickering, you!) With an eye on that baleful red power score, I agreed. However, I drew the line at also providing Khan with butter for the Crabs. A man has to keep his dignity! Clearly, Korea would need to consider preemptive defense against the Mongols at some point ... but I already knew that.

Some time ago, Korean researchers were instructed to beeline Construction. (I'd like Hwachas please, with a side order of Chinese pain.) But first, we need to learn some basic math! In 500 BC, a suspicious Muppet with a strong accent taught the Korean people to count. Unfortunately, he also taught them to laugh whenever they were finished counting, which made the Mathematics lessons really annoying. Annoying or not, they were effective, and the Korean researchers were able to start working on Construction right away.

The first Barbarian galleys appeared in 395 BC, trashing Kyoto's fishing nets and sinking my scouting Workboat. Must. Build. Triremes.

In 320 BC, Korean scientists figured out how to build stuff. Stuff like -- Hwachas! Fear me, Qin! Next research goal was Alphabet for tech trading.

Seoul finished the Moai Statues in 200 BC and started building a Trireme. Kyoto and P'yongyang were already building Triremes. Leave my fishing nets alone, stupid Barbarians!

Korean researchers developed an Alphabet in 140 BC. I traded around and picked up Archery, Animal Husbandry, and Iron Working. Korean scouts reported that there were no Horses on the home continent. Um, dang. That's okay, though, because Macemen + Hwachas will do just fine.

In 35 BC, Korean scholars discovered how to pass the Throne from father to son. Since I'm immortal, I don't really expect to need an heir. However, this knowledge is still useful, because I can now order my troops to keep the peasants in line!

Qin offered Calendar for Code of Laws in 25 AD. I accepted. Korea has some Calendar resources, so we might as well unlock them. Besides, Qin doesn't seem to be expanding much, so Courthouses won't help him.

Seoul built a Confucian Monastery in 70 AD and began training missionaries. Must spread the faith!

In 160 AD, the Chinese ambassador relayed a message to Wang Kon. Qin was requesting that Korea share their ancestral knowledge of Metal Casting! Rather than dishonor the spirits of the Oracle, Wang Kon refused the request. Let him build his own Oracle! By sheer coincidence, P'yongyang started to build the first Hwacha that same year.

In 190 AD, I officially panicked about my low power rating, especially with respect to Mongolia. Every city in Korea trained an Archer to bolster the homeland defense.

In 235 AD, Korean scholars built on the foundation of our Code of Laws to develop a system of professional Civil Service. Korea instantly switched to a Bureaucracy, and heavily-cottaged Seoul (with an Academy!) became a serious science powerhouse. Also Civil Service is one-half of Macemen. Next research target: Machinery!

Also in 235 AD, I smacked myself in the head and ordered a Worker to build an overdue Winery in the vineyards near Wonsan. Wine will make my people like me!

P'yongyang continued building Hwachas. For defense only, mind you!

In 295 AD, a Great Prophet was born in Kyoto. He immediately built the Kong Miao. Go go, shrine economy! Sury asked for Mathematics, and I was only too happy to send the demented Muppet over to annoy him for a while.

Korea started shifting to more military production. Must keep a strong defense!

To emphasize the necessity of a strong defense, Khan came calling again in 415 AD. He wanted 90 gold. The Korean government quickly approved the Crazed Warmongers' Bailout package, and we sent the Khan his money. Now go away and let us focus on the Chinese!

Finally, in 640 AD, Korea had a strong defensive force of Macemen and Hwachas. They marched up the Chinese border and began to conduct defensive maneuvers. Sadly, Chinese scouts misinterpreted these peaceful exercises, and the situation escalated out of control. Before anyone could stop it, Korea and China were at war. Truly, this was a tragedy! However, circumstances forced our hand, and we carried out our duty with reluctant hearts.

Let's go, Defense!

While attacking in Chinese territory at Nanjing, Heavy Footman loses to Chinese Axeman (0.60/5)
While attacking in Chinese territory at Nanjing, Heavy Footman (6.72/8) defeats Chinese Swordsman
While attacking in Chinese territory at Nanjing, Heavy Footman (6.08/8) defeats Chinese Spearman
While attacking in Chinese territory at Nanjing, Heavy Footman (8.00/8) defeats Chinese Axeman
Taoism has spread: Nanjing
Captured Nanjing (Qin Shi Huang)

Nanjing was the Taoist Holy City. Cool!

More preventative defense in 775 AD:

While attacking, Hwacha escapes from Chinese Longbowman
While attacking in Chinese territory at Shanghai, Hwacha loses to Chinese Longbowman (5.04/6)
While attacking in Chinese territory at Shanghai, Heavy Footman (2.56/8) defeats Chinese Longbowman
While attacking in Chinese territory at Shanghai, Heavy Footman (2.00/8) defeats Chinese Axeman
Christianity has spread: Shanghai
Hinduism has spread: Shanghai
Captured Shanghai (Qin Shi Huang)

Qin has Longbowmen. Oh, bother. Well, Macemen still beat Longbowmen, so the defense of Korea must continue!

In 890 AD, Korean theologians finally defined their craft. The Korean government immediately used this knowledge to form a Theocracy that would make our defenders more efficient. Yay, defense!

Speaking of defense, the Korean army closed in on Beijing in about 900 AD. Concerned that the walls would pose a safety hazard to the Korean people, our Hwacha teams started to demolish them. Fifty years later, the walls were down, and our troops applied to doctrine of Preemptive Defense to China's capital:

While attacking in Chinese territory at Beijing, Hwacha loses to Chinese Longbowman (2.88/6)
While attacking in Chinese territory at Beijing, Hwacha loses to Chinese Longbowman (3.12/6)
While attacking in Chinese territory at Beijing, Hwacha loses to Chinese Longbowman (2.22/6)
While attacking in Chinese territory at Beijing, Heavy Footman (3.44/8) defeats Chinese Longbowman
While attacking in Chinese territory at Beijing, Heavy Footman (6.48/8) defeats Chinese Longbowman
While attacking in Chinese territory at Beijing, Heavy Footman loses to Chinese Horseman (0.24/6)
While attacking in Chinese territory at Beijing, Heavy Footman loses to Chinese Axeman (0.05/5)
While attacking in Chinese territory at Beijing, Heavy Footman (5.44/8) defeats Chinese Horseman
While attacking in Chinese territory at Beijing, Heavy Footman (3.92/8) defeats Chinese Longbowman
While attacking in Chinese territory at Beijing, Heavy Footman (8.00/8) defeats Chinese Horseman
While attacking in Chinese territory at Beijing, Heavy Footman (8.00/8) defeats Chinese Axeman
Christianity has spread: Beijing
Hinduism has spread: Beijing
Captured Beijing (Qin Shi Huang)

When the smoke cleared, Korea had acquired four new World Wonders: the Great Wall (defense!), the Great Library, the Great Lighthouse, and Chichen Itza (more defense). See, I told you we were only looking to defend ourselves!

(Wonderspamming much, Qin?)

Anyway, the Chinese empire was down to one weak city: Guangzhou. I probably could have left him alone, but Qin is just too much trouble. Plus, he blamed me for all of his troubles. Go figure! So the pre-emptive defense of Korea continued until the "annexation" of Guangzhou in 1030 AD. China is no more. Now that's defense!

 

[Pohjalainen]

Thanks for the comments for dotmap and Bleys thanks, you gave me the final nudge to try the Bug mod. It's very good.

So, here's my second update up from 350BC to 1060 AD.

Spoiler :

I didn't stick exactly to the plan I laid out last time. I was supposed to peacefully settle all peninsula and then go after Qin. Well, when I noticed that he had only three cities I decided to hook up with iron, build some hwachas and swordmen and conquer. I found Pusan and Wonsan and then started building up army again.

The war against Qin was two sided. He didn't have good production city, so his army wasn't very large, but unfortunately he managed to get longbows just before I was going to attack. Together with his protective trait it was really impressive. So, I built more hwachas. By 520AD I was good to go and managed to suprise his border defense in Shanghai. There was only one longbow.

Beijing wasn't that easy. I finally got it but I had to pay high price for it. I lost at least five axeman and as many hwachas. In exchange I got my first GG and created my super medic.

Guanzhou falled 780AD just after I got my first maceman on the field.

The war with Qin was over for now, unfortunately he blocked my naval path so I couldn't explore the map further.

Here's the map I got from Cyrus. And here I'll end this update.

I'm not sure yet where to go from here. I might continue to war with Qin and then the natural way would be to attack Sury. It could open up the way to domination or even diplo if I could bribe the others to to share my military struggle. On the other hand I might try Space victory, because I have now the solid continent of my own Let's see where it leads this time.

 

[Pohjalainen]

Here's my final update. Domination, 1870, 44K.

Spoiler :

After eradicating china from my continent I switched to peaceful builder mode. I got Hagia Sophia and won the Liberalism race as well as Economics and Physic. Kyoto turned out to be nice wonder production city and Wonsan produced GP's. Cottages around my capital and China's old capital Bejing got my economy going and I easily gained big lead in techs. (Maybe I should try Prince)

As planned I found Hyangsan to be my military production machine. The hills on east provided the production power and farms on grassland gave the food. I built there HE and IW which allowed it to produce paratrooper every turn in the late game and a settled GG gave the needed promotions.

After the slow growth period I was first to discover the Astronomy and decided to use that aggressively. I sent my troops to new island habitat by barbarians. I kept two of their cities and razed one which was badly placed.

By the 1740 AD I had the whole island settled, but the maintenance was killing me. So I decided to form a colony. The new leader turned out to be Washington, which made me a bitlittle nervous, but luckily I wasn't playing with England

Then it was time to think victory conditions. I really didn't feel like cultural or space race. I decided to join the fighting on my neighbour continent and aim for domination. Asoka was constantly figthing with Genghis and Sury and when Kenghis gave to me for some help I saw my that my opportunity had come. I sent my army to Calcutta that gained initial experience while fighting with the barbs on the continent that now belonged to Washington.

I conquer two cities from Asoka to gain foothold on that continent and then capitulated him. The match was mostly unfair because it was mainly cavalry and infantry against longbows and muskets. Well, Asoka managed to suprise me and took calcutta back for one turn. I had already moved my intial stack forward and re-inforecements were still on its way when his counter attack with trebs, knights and elephants crushed my wounded infantry which I left to defend the city.

Next in line was Cyrus, who had his empire divided intially by Asoka. Now I had the two citied that divided his empire and as you can quess it offered me an excellent possibility to conquer the southern part easily while my main force defended against the counter attack in the north.

After Cyrus counter stack of curassiers and trebs was complete destroyed, he accepted capitulation and the war was over. Again the fight wasn't fair. Southern cities were lightly defended and my cavalry quickly conquer them.

The last independend civ on the continent was Genghis and naturally he was my next target.

Once more my experienced troops faced the enemy and the result was clear. After two turns of war two cities were captured and Genghis accepted the capitulation which pushed me over domination limit.

After all this warring there were only two independed civs on the map. China, which was down to two cities after our early middle age war and Sury with his compact empire of five cities.

Here are the graphs from the game.

Not my best scores on noble but pretty high 44504.

I was just wondering whether I should improve some weak parts of my gaming with noble or should I move up to prince which might emphasize more my mistakes and improve my gaming faster. What do you think?

And finally: Sorry for the mistakes in grammar. Hopefully you aren't totally fed up with my english. As you definitely can see it's not my first language.

 

[dalamb]

I expect to follow Bleys' advice and settle in place. Noble; maybe Normal for GGS' reasons even though I usually play Epic.

Spoiler :

The last time I played Korea I pulled of the Oracle/Col G Sci bulbs Philo in the same turn. I just did it again here at 825BC.

EDIT: Now its 1909, looks like I will win a 3CC cultural before I get a chance to launch.

Minor issue, but IMHO should have been in spoiler tags.

 

[OJimiJam]

@Pohjalainen: Id definitely try and move up a level, that was a pretty sound domination victory, and im sure you could have won space easily as well. Imo the best way to learn is to win a hard fought and scrappy victory rather than roll over an easier difficulty. Maybe try the next NC at prince, iirc because of the way its set up it will be slightly easier than regular prince.

 

[dalamb]

Checkpoint 1: Noble, Normal, to 1920 BC (dotmap):

Spoiler :

I settled in place, per Bleys' suggestion, which led me to the following dotmap at the point at which I've chopped and whipped my first settler:

I plan to settle blue, the closest, as a production city to help grind out CR 1 axemen; I plan to take over the continent, and I'm going after Tokugawa first before he churns out too many protective archers. Question: is taking out Qin first a better idea, so I get some CR2 axemen? I'm not sure when I'll settle the other two cities on the dotmap. Green, the gold city would be second after blue; after making the dotmap I realized 1N is much better so I can actually work a mined gold tile. however, Qin will get it before I do if I focus on taking out Tokugawa. White is only viable as a source of stone and marble, so I'd likely settle it only around the time I want to build the Heroic Epic.

Korea has recently been voted Most Advanced Civilization:

Settling in place immediately revealed the fish 2S so I teched fishing > BW > agriculture, building a worker until fishing was available, then built a workboat, finished the worker, and started improving the copper and two corn -- grateful that all of them were on rivers! The rest of the tech path so far has been wheel > pottery > hunting > archery > writing.

After the worker I built a barracks until pottery, then whipped a granary, finished the barracks, and started building axemen. When finished with the 2nd corn, the worker chopped the trees from the two grassland hills just to the northeast of Seoul (mining the first before chopping the second -- was this the right order). I whipped the settler on the turn after investing the hammers from the 2nd chop.

Known territory so far:

Spoiler :

The first hut popped a scout, and its first hut popped sailing, so sometime not long after the war I plan to investigate that island to Qin's NE; I expect to miss the GLH despite early Sailing, because I'm warring first. The scout is now on his way back to China to take advantage of open borders, scout out Korea's second target, and see what else is to our east.

Current tech path (post-writing) is math > currency > code of laws to build up my economy after the planned conquest.

 

[Pohjalainen]

@OJimiJam: Thanks for the encouragement. I'm confident too that I could have easily win space.

Thanks for this NC and waiting the next one. It's really good to be forced to articulate your decision.

 

[Yasha]

Wow@all the other scores. I definitely must be doing something wrong seeing as I won with a Timed victory@1910 with a paltry score of only 4210 on Noble, Epic speed. Of course the nearest AI had about 1k less. I even discovered 4 out of the 5 major religions with Buddhism being the only one I missed which I didn't think was bad.

I felt the game was very easy for me on Noble but considering the scores the other Noble players are posting maybe I shouldn't give Prince a try yet

 

[r_rolo1]

Time victory in 1910? Someone needs to learn how to makes speeds work properly with WB files And it is not you, Yasha

MaxTurns=500

This valor has to be 0, mr map maker, otherwise the game will always have 500 turns regardless of the speed you play

P.S. For everyone that has some interest in editing WB saves, I recommend this utility

 

[dalamb]

So if I run at Normal speed I'm OK, but if I want to go back and re-run with Epic I need to edit the WBsave?
Edit: for the folks whose first post is in the AD's -- I'll go back and read your spoilers eventually, but when I'm just planning city placement I can't; I'd learn a lot more if you posted in smaller chunks.

 

[r_rolo1]

For normal speed it works ok, but for any speed besides normal it gives wierd results: speed multipliers apply but the turns are the same.... in epic the game starts showing "100 turns to the end" in 1800ishs and ends in 1910... in marathon is even worse.

I suggest you that you manually edit the WB file or use the file I linked in my last post

 

[dalamb]

Well, my first victim just crushed my invasion team, so I think I'll edit the file as you suggest and start over.

That thread about the WB file fixer says the program deletes leader names from the save; does that mean something like the weird pirate names in a recent BOTM would get eliminated?

 

[r_rolo1]

I never faced that issue.... that probably was from the first version of the utility

 

[KaytieKat]

Hi

Grrrr played all the way to 500 ad b4 I noticed that something is goofy bout game. Even though I had it set to marathon by 500 ad there were less than 100 turns left :/.

Kaytie