NCG 3: The Rebirth

[ParadigmShifter]

Hatty will have horses and chariots, and she doesn't seem that close to me.
Get the third city with horses and ellies up before going to war I say. Get the rice in there too, you have stonehenge so you don't have to settle next to the resource.

Seems to me you are going for alphabet too early (this is only Noble level after all, you should be tech leader anyway, especially with 2 techs popped from huts).

Go for priesthood and get Oracle building. Otherwise Hatty might build it she has got marble after all.

 

[Greeneyedzombie]

@para, we are building the oracle.

 

[mice]

Go for priesthood and get Oracle building. Otherwise Hatty might build it she has got marble after all.

Oracle is half done. I agree that there won't be much to trade when alpha comes in.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Ah didn't realise you already had priesthood. Looking at the tech chart posted at the beginning of the round.

What tech are we going to pick? Code of Laws I presume for another religion.

 

[Greeneyedzombie]

CoL is what we most likely pick? So we can city spam a bit, or cripple hatty an juliius a bit. They have stone and marble.

 

[Greeneyedzombie]

Oracle is half done. I agree that there won't be much to trade when alpha comes in.

It gives libraries. And I thought hacky was going to try his hand on a SE a bit.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Libraries are available from writing, are they not?

EDIT: Yes, look at the tech tree screenie on page 2.

Alphabet is just tech trading only IIRC.

EDIT2: Code of Laws enables caste system though, and Gandhi is spiritiual so can nip in and out of slavery willy-nilly.

 

[Hackapell]

awwww, you've given me a pet name! the series must be good!
to try to answer all your posts; I went for alpha early b/c first, I'm not confident about my city defense without archers as a fallback, and I want to get to that ASAP. We are lacking the hunting and fishing lines, and we don't have meditation yet, so I am looking to kill time while the AI researchs techs I can use to backfill. this is just one of my idiosyncracies, but I think archery is highly underrated. archers tear into warriors, and by the time barb axemen show up, I usually have some axemen left over from an axerush.Although, all this could be my own paranoia these forums have given me Also, I am somewhat paraniod about expansion early. I've figured out that to win on noble, you can't go wonder-happy without seriousconsquences later on. So I either do an axe-rush ASAP or churn out settlers in a REX, but with following the 60% rule. so that's why I'm a little fidgey about rushing the parthenon; it's not essential to our goals. I'm much more concered about the GL and it's massive bonuses. Plus, Hatty has marble, and she isn't willing to give it up. So I think that she's probably building it herself, which would explain why it seems that she only has one city. So, I was thinnking to pick up CoL for the courthouses, alpha to catch up, and an axe-rush on someone soon. Another reason I want the Oracle done ASAP and without going for a construction slingshot is that in my experience, the oracle is done before the BC's on noble, so I want to get that out of the way and start setting up my SE soon, while researching techs and building wonders that will increase the power of my SE.
Sorry if this is seeming a little like a rant, but I'm trying to do this to the best of my abilities. this has been harder than I thought, and I really understand now what Sisiutil and aelf go through setting up these games. but not to fear; the NCG will continue on! Keep those comments pouring in!

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I forgot alphabet is needed before literature. Don't trade it to Hatty with her marble though since you want the GLib. In fact, try and avoid trading it to anyone I'd say. Just pimp code of laws to everyone after getting it from oracle.

Are you going to build GLib in your second city for GP point purity (got gold there too), Oracle and stonehenge churn out a lot of prophets. When is your prophet due?. Are you running a priest in the capital to speed it along (need a temple for that though)?

I lent my vanilla disc to my friend so I can't look at the save, BTW.

What game speed is this on by the way?

 

[Hackapell]

I will probably build the Glib in Bombay, which is why I'm hesitant to waste our forests on a helpful, but unnecessary wonder over an essentially mandatory one. The Prophet is due in 37 turns, assuming we have the oracle. Also, no temple yet, but it will take 9 turns post-oracle to build.
Assuming no preist;
{150-28( the number of GPP we have currently)-26(points from stonehenge alone)}/4=24(number of turns with both oracle and stonehenge)+13(turns with points coming from stonehenge alone)=37.
And finally, the game speed is epic, the world, fractal. All other settings are default.

 

[mice]

. I've figured out that to win on noble, you can't go wonder-happy without serious consquences later on. So I either do an axe-rush ASAP or churn out settlers in a REX, but with following the 60% rule. so that's why I'm a little fidgey about rushing the parthenon; it's not essential to our goals. I'm much more concered about the GL and it's massive bonuses. ush onPlus, Hatty has marble,

A good rule of thumb is, before currency, no more than 4 cities. I would forget about Parthenon and get some axes up. Settle that jumbo horse city and then let Hatty clear her jungle for you.

You dont need another religion IMO. One shrine is enough and the hammers for missionaries are better used for military. But Oracle to CoL is probably the best.

 

[Hackapell]

as always, good comments guys.
what I really need guidance at this point with is with the tech path. I s my alphabet strat OK or should I move on to another path?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

You may as well go with alphabet unless you want to risk a slow build of Oracle (If so, I'd get a temple there in the meantime to hurry your Prophet) to get a better free tech. But Hatty having marble I would be a bit worried.

You need a library in Bombay ASAP and run a scientist so you don't get another prophet as your 2nd GP, unless you want to lightbulb theology which means you need to get monotheism in a trade. When you get CoL and confu. you get a free missionary but even so it isn't worth building 2 shrines so early I don't think.

 

[mice]

I just remembered you're shooting for a cultural victory, so scrap what I said about not needing another religion. Hatty is probably going for Oracle so it would be good to press on and get it.

Your tech path seems fine. It will be interesting to see what the others have. If you get working that gold you should be able to stay ahead of them without trading.

 

[Hackapell]

Playing the next round soon and will update before 3:30 EST

 

[Hackapell]

Round 3; Part 1:1120 BC to 140 AD
A lot of things happened this round, so this will be a two-part post. Diplomacy is strained, and your assistance is required to it's full.
I started by opening my borders with everyone:

well, everyone expect Hatty. She can't get over our religious differences.

Then, Machiavelli wrote a horrid little book concerning our military standings:

What?!?!? LAST IN THE RANKINGS!!!!!
ah well... you can't bribe them all...

More interesting intel from Hatty:

yup, she's got ponies and therefore can build the dreaded war chariot. Or does she?!?
But before that; thanks to a crack of the whip:

Confucianicism was founded in Bombay the next turn:

and then more bad news:

she kept that city, too. By now, her cities outnumber mine 2 to 1, and so I'm really looking at her as my next target. She's also moved her borders right next to mine, perfect for an axe-rush.
An important tech was finished:

and work was commenced on literature.
I went shopping for techs; first to Hatty:

Two revalations come from this screenshot. One, Hatty sees me as her worst enemy. Second, take a gander at what techs she doesn't have! No Priesthood?! NO AH?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? WTH?!? WHAT IS SHE DOING!?!?!?
The next person to shop for techs was JC, and he was a little friendlier:

I also traded with peter: writing for archery, sailing, and pottery, but it happened so fast I couldn't take a screenshot. Sorry.
Here though, I made a strategic error. When I recieved my GP, I used him for this:

as the cards fell, this was a total waste, but you'll see later why.
More of my "friends" showed up asking for favors, clearly taking advantage of my weak army:

Uhh, let me think, uh, NO.

This one I actually considered. sailing wasn't that essential to me; I have no coastal cities anyway, and JC has probably connencted all his cities by road anyway. He was cautious, and had IW, so the chances were good that he also had Praets. I let him have what he wanted.

Continued in the next post...

 

[Hackapell]

Round 3; Part 2: continued from above...
I finished literature:

and hatty showed up with a demand:

I turned her down. Even though the oracle is already finished, I want to keep her as technologically backwards as possible.
Madras was finally settled in the right place:

and another book was written mocking my military:

Curse you, early-age pundits!
I finished IW as well, and look where the Iron is:

oh the Iron-e of it all!
JC came over wth another trade:

Why not? As it turns out, JC became Jewish a few turns later, and thus that was the last trade I had with him.
A few turns later...

now no one shares my religion! well, if you can't beat 'em...

oops, wrong screenshot. to make a long stroy short, I decided to convert to Confucianisicm
Then, from the blue...

I think my jaw hit the keyboard so fast that I ordered my axeman to chop down the jungle it was in. NO WAY! She had just let me get full, up-to date intel on every single city she had and SHE'S MY NEXT TARGET! WOOHOO!
while on the line, I made a tech swap with her:

And finally, just before the trade, I had recieved word that someone had built the parthenon in a far away land. but when my warrior reached Thebes...

Clearly, not so far far away. Those of you who said not to build the parthenon and wait for hatty to build it, good job,.
I ended the round there. A look at the domestic advisor:

Mostly civilian builds: the Glib is due in 33 turns.
and a look at everyone's attitude towards Hatty...

Peter's not too thrilled with Hatty, now is he! He shares a religion with me, and it is likely that he will dogpile on hatty if I declare war. I have 7 axemen ready to roll, and Hatty keeps professing the might of her archers.
this next round should be fun...
I'm currently working on Drama, should I switch? I also may want to re-settle some of Hatty's cities, so should I be preparing settlers? I am also the clear tech leader, but I'm not sure what to aim for now. Any ideas with that? And finally, Hatty is an excessively lucrative target; marble, untapped grassland, many luxuries, the parthenon, and a holy city are all tempting tagets, especially when all she has are archers. IS she our target, and how shall we go about conquering her?
I've attached a save. your comments are welcomed.

 

[a0161613]

You need more military.

7 axemen may take 2 cities but you will struggle if she manages to build chariots in the meantime, due to a sheer lack of variety.

 

[Hackapell]

All that you say is true, but two things:
One, the AI has no clue how to use chariots correctly at this level. I once axe-rushed hatty in nearly the same way as Alexander, but with simply more axes at noble, and what did hatty do with her chariots? She left them in the city when they could have been used to destroy my axemen. Two, I am not planning to go to war just yet; you are right in that I am lacking units. So I will wait, and plan to take her out piecemeal, probably splitting the wars into two; one of conquest, and one of annihalation.

 

[Mu'min]

@ Hackapell,
I open your save and saw that Hatty's capital is not where judism was founded. From the position of the borders i would say that there was a city north of your 2nd city, due north of the horses and somewhere to the left of the dyes, and since this city seems to have large culture borders i think you should send that warrior over to check it out.

Also, you need to get access to the iron ASAP, have a look at the nearest cities culture to see if and when a border pop will give you access to it. Maybe you should consider putting a city down next to it? i know it will probably not grow beyond size 1, but it would give access to iron which is more important.

Finally, get one of Hatty's cities ASAP and convert to judism as soon as possible. Hatty and ceasar are both your neighbours so keeping them sweet is vital, it doesn't matter if peter is mad at you, what is he going to do?, he's on the other side of the continent. Plus ceasar has praets so keeping him happy is doublely important. Besides if you go over to judism you can build a few missionaries and send them of to peter to convert him too.

ps. could we have a few 'state of the continent' screen shots so we can see what is happening overall.
thanks