NCG 5: The Revenge of the Ottomans Pre-Game Show

[Hackapell]

For the next NCG; I will be playing as Mehmed II, in celebration of having obtained Warlords(finally!). This will be my first serious game with Warlords: I have played some quick games, and I can confirm that I can compete with the smarter AI at the Noble Level. I am not sure that I have the latest patch; as Mehmed is described as not having factories half-off, even though he is organized.
Speaking of traits, here's the fact sheet on Mehmed:
Traits: Expansive(+2, double production speed of Worker, Granary and Aqueduct), Organized(-50% civic upkeep, double production speed of Courthouse, Lighthouse, and Factory)
UU: Janissary(Replaces the musketman) 9 , +25% vs. melee, ranged, and mounted units.
UB: Hamman(Replaces the aqueduct) +2 and

Mehmed gets the old JC traits, an excellent pair without the warlords beefing up. The Hamman lets you support 2 pop extra, and helps with early happiness problems. the Janissaries pone anything that comes before them, and I find that I can usually pick up Gunpowder at around 1000 AD when unfocused. I'm looking at a fighting game, aiming for domination in the gunpowder age, along with the calvary rush. Also, we will make sure that we kill Catherine if we find her, as revenge for Sisiutil's loss to her.
Those are the basics. Thoughts?

 

[frob2900]

Go for big cities. Get a nice trade route income going and beeline gunpowder (if you have a good GP farm going then bulb through the education route to get gunpowder, otherwide go via feudalism/guilds). Once you have gunpowder then next step is Nationalism and you've won.

Are you playing Continents? In that case I'd say try to get a good number of GSes coming in so you can bulb to astronomy. Given that it's Noble I'm pretty sure you can invade the other continent with Janissaries (i.e. the AI won't have time to get Rifling)

Mehmed is a really good leader. Good UU and good UB

Just check you have the cheaper factories patch (2.08 I think). It's a really big deal. I also think the +50% worker production speed came with that patch.

 

[r_rolo1]

^^Agreed. Mehmed is a really great leader to play ( and a pain in the @ss as a AI ). His UB helps you to get big cities ( HR or Rep are welcomed too ) and his UU... well, if you manage to get it earlier than the AI, they are at your mercy . My games with him normally get a super expansion phase during the jannisar era.
If you want ideas about using, you can always search the ALC 15 pre-game thread ( not kiding, it has a lot of ideas about getting the biggest use possible of the traits, UB and UU of Mehmed )

 

[Hackapell]

Frob2900, I have found that on my fractal maps, I keep getting stuck on a small penninsula with Shaka or GK surrounding me, so I will probably be playing Continents for this one.
r_rolo1; there's a reason why I named it the revenge of the OtStoImaTnsH...

 

[Hackapell]

I checked today and I don't have the patch. Unfortunatly, I have a mac, and the patch seems to only be for the pc. I will see if it works, but if someone can confirm that a mac can obtain the 2.08 patch, that would be great.

 

[r_rolo1]

There is a equivalent of 2.08 patch for macs ( I know players with macs that have it , like Welnic and willpax ). Try the downloads area here or search for upgrades ingame.

 

[Hackapell]

I got it, and it's working fine.
I took a look at the ALC 15 pre-game show and saw that the main questions were pottery or BW first and how to extend the life of the Janissary. I know that I can usually obtain the Janissary circa 1000 AD ( appor. time I have gunpowder available) and usually by that time, everyone has just picked up feudalism I'm unsure whether going through the upper, normally liberalism path is better than the economical southern path to gunpowder.

 

[Gnarfflinger]

I found that getting to paper and then Lightbulbing part of Education works best. You get Code of Laws for Courthouses, Writing for Libraries, Currency for Marketplaces. You'll likely want BW for Axes and Spears, Iron working if there's Jungles, pick up worker techs as needed. You'll want Construction for Catapults as well.

I tried that theory today. I got Gunpowder around 1100 AD, and was in constant war after that. First off, Mansa Musa declared war on me for no reason. Then while I was holding an active defense, Roosevelt stuck his nose in where it didn't belong. When I started hammering him (taking the Buddist Holy City, his capital, a City with a few wonders and a couple other cities, he signs on as a vassal of Wang Kon. By this time, I'm finding that Knights are trouble, Longbows can defend cities from Jannisaries, and the computer got Grenadiers before I did. Finally, I gave Wang Kon two cities I took from the Americans.

All goes well for a little while, but while I'm trying frantically to keep from losing the Buddist Holy City to cultural borders from the Americans, Tokugawa drops an invasion force off near my capital. When he can get enough units to enable a Samurai to take out not one, but two rifleman on consecutive turns, it's time to bail on the game...

I do like the traits, UU and UB for MehMed II, but still think I might try the Turks with Tokugawa when I get BtS...

 

[Hackapell]

The NCG starts here