Nobles' Club 274: Hatshepsut of Egypt

[konata_LS]

Congrats on the win, but good lord what is that font...

Thanks. I still have a lot to learn about this game.
For the font, I don't know why it's like this. But it's still readable, right?

 

[shakabrade]

Deity to 400BC

Spoiler :

Moved to PH for faster worker. Turned out it was away from Horsies. But okay. My first tech is AH, which was not good. I was just curious if we had horsies for some early rush.

T2 WK contact, let's see how near he is. T9, I take the worker. Let's see whether I regret it this time. I should have gone BW before AH. So many early chops could have been done... I decide against the WC rush helped by the stolen worker chops as it would just be immoral.

I do not know why WK wanted peace after 17T. But let's take it and go peaceful. For some time.

Barbs start visiting, I guess. WCs start to get built.

Oh, there is a friend as well.

Mopped the floor. With normal Chariot this would have been one nailbiting experience.

Expanding. I leave both WE's intentionally to the AI. I just want to see the expansion with one extra worker from the start, no elepults or whatever. REX only.

Party is here. I guess I have to settle that gold. City spot is intentionally bad. I simply did not want to lure myself into an elepult.

This chap was around for some time and fortunately he got bruised and in the range. Yummy. The economy looks dead to the untrained eye, but 6-7 cottages are coming online soon and 10 more mid-term and Library with 2 scientists is almost there as well. I just need Aesthetics in some decent time and that will happen.

Glib is mine. Not really essential for this map and the leader but nice to have. My score is already like an AIs, crazy. Such is the power of one extra starting worker.

GA is here as well! The game is in the bag. I have trading chips, a decent failgold in Shwedagon Paya, Parthenon and the AIs will probably get something. Where to go. Military or Space? (I actually finished this game so only 50% of the type of the suggestions can be accepted).

 

[Fish Man]

Deity to 400BC

Spoiler :

Moved to PH for faster worker. Turned out it was away from Horsies. But okay. My first tech is AH, which was not good. I was just curious if we had horsies for some early rush.

T2 WK contact, let's see how near he is. T9, I take the worker. Let's see whether I regret it this time. I should have gone BW before AH. So many early chops could have been done... I decide against the WC rush helped by the stolen worker chops as it would just be immoral.

I do not know why WK wanted peace after 17T. But let's take it and go peaceful. For some time.

Barbs start visiting, I guess. WCs start to get built.

Oh, there is a friend as well.

Mopped the floor. With normal Chariot this would have been one nailbiting experience.

Expanding. I leave both WE's intentionally to the AI. I just want to see the expansion with one extra worker from the start, no elepults or whatever. REX only.

Party is here. I guess I have to settle that gold. City spot is intentionally bad. I simply did not want to lure myself into an elepult.

This chap was around for some time and fortunately he got bruised and in the range. Yummy. The economy looks dead to the untrained eye, but 6-7 cottages are coming online soon and 10 more mid-term and Library with 2 scientists is almost there as well. I just need Aesthetics in some decent time and that will happen.

Glib is mine. Not really essential for this map and the leader but nice to have. My score is already like an AIs, crazy. Such is the power of one extra starting worker.

GA is here as well! The game is in the bag. I have trading chips, a decent failgold in Shwedagon Paya, Parthenon and the AIs will probably get something. Where to go. Military or Space? (I actually finished this game so only 50% of the type of the suggestions can be accepted).

Oh, nice job! Please tell me you went space?

I'm interested in how we did following the "most effective" path of different strategies, because I took a very different approach ...

 

[jnebbe]

Demigod T80-118

Spoiler :

Construction finishes, just need hbr now

Genghis dows cyrus, im seriously considering attacking genghis instead and stealing his ivory before he get's to elephants, but he's running police state from pyramids so I'll attack cyrus instead

I'm like 6 turns away from hbr but I accept just so I don't get any penalties, I wanna keep this guy as happy as possible

The next turn.... this could get messy

I have chariots all over since I was scouting cyrus hard and they got teleported out.
I'm sending a couple elephants north since the north cities are lightly defended, and send the main force to that flood plain city

Sury's army spotted, not much but my army is already spread pretty thin...

razed his north city
I also steal a barb city from hannibal and another city in a much nicer spot spawns a turn later

Sury gives me 40g for peace after killing a random axe in wang's land

Main force, a little scary since cyrus just got longbows but it goes pretty well

currency finishes, beelining monarchy now

Take persepolis 1 turn before genghis

genghis in his infinite wisdom sends his stack of keshiks to the crappy city north instead of east which lets me capture all the good land

Peace made on this deal

War went really well, captured 4 cities and genghis only got 1
Going to send whats left of my army north to hopefully capture the barb city with fish+marble, might be worth going aesthetics for failgold
Might settle 1 more city on the northern coast as well

Tech situation
1 turn from monarchy, honestly not far behind at all which surprised me.
I have 1 GS waiting around from a while ago, probably just col->philosophy.

hannibal+sury are fighting wang, and genghis will finish off cyrus. Basically nobody likes each other besides me and genghis, I'm thinking cuirs to attack the civs to the west? Wang only has 4 cities, sury 5, asoka 7. In other games I started making cuirs by T160 and I'm not sure I get there within the next 42T

 

[konata_LS]

Deity to 400BC

Spoiler :

Moved to PH for faster worker. Turned out it was away from Horsies. But okay. My first tech is AH, which was not good. I was just curious if we had horsies for some early rush.

T2 WK contact, let's see how near he is. T9, I take the worker. Let's see whether I regret it this time. I should have gone BW before AH. So many early chops could have been done... I decide against the WC rush helped by the stolen worker chops as it would just be immoral.

I do not know why WK wanted peace after 17T. But let's take it and go peaceful. For some time.

Barbs start visiting, I guess. WCs start to get built.

Oh, there is a friend as well.

Mopped the floor. With normal Chariot this would have been one nailbiting experience.

Expanding. I leave both WE's intentionally to the AI. I just want to see the expansion with one extra worker from the start, no elepults or whatever. REX only.

Party is here. I guess I have to settle that gold. City spot is intentionally bad. I simply did not want to lure myself into an elepult.

This chap was around for some time and fortunately he got bruised and in the range. Yummy. The economy looks dead to the untrained eye, but 6-7 cottages are coming online soon and 10 more mid-term and Library with 2 scientists is almost there as well. I just need Aesthetics in some decent time and that will happen.

Glib is mine. Not really essential for this map and the leader but nice to have. My score is already like an AIs, crazy. Such is the power of one extra starting worker.

GA is here as well! The game is in the bag. I have trading chips, a decent failgold in Shwedagon Paya, Parthenon and the AIs will probably get something. Where to go. Military or Space? (I actually finished this game so only 50% of the type of the suggestions can be accepted).

Wow it's amazing indeed

Would you mind posting the screenshot of the Foreign Advisor on 400 BC, please? As all the AIs are plotting or at wars, many readers would love to know who is fighting against whom.

And how did you handle diplomacy? Did you bribe some AIs into wars?

For the victory ... In Pangaea map, I think attacking with Cuirs is usually faster than Space.

Spoiler :

With Music and ice marble, I guess you build Sistine Chapel and win culture <-- just joking

 

[shakabrade]

Oh, nice job! Please tell me you went space?

I'm interested in how we did following the "most effective" path of different strategies, because I took a very different approach ...

Why don't you post anymore? Not too many posts here but seing another game and approach would really be great to see and keep the forums vivid. I did go space in one of the two games I have played last 10 days.

Wow it's amazing indeed

Would you mind posting the screenshot of the Foreign Advisor on 400 BC, please? As all the AIs are plotting or at wars, many readers would love to know who is fighting against whom.

And how did you handle diplomacy? Did you bribe some AIs into wars?

For the victory ... In Pangaea map, I think attacking with Cuirs is usually faster than Space.

Spoiler :

With Music and ice marble, I guess you build Sistine Chapel and win culture <-- just joking

Spoiler :

Regarding the relations, from the memory, GK attacked Cyrus. Asoka and Sury had a war of their own. Here we still do not see the outcome but Sury really had limited land to settle. WK is not plotting but he hates me since I declared on him and Carthage has started plotting. I am worried about Carthage as I am the only land target and therefore all my tech trades are focused to go through Hannibal to get "you shared your tech discoveries with us bonus" which should get him to pleased. I have also started a settler to gift it to Carthage and have started training some War Elephants for defense if I get attacked. I have also refused a demand from GK while he was at war with Cyrus.

So, my situation is actually quite dire and I am taking actions to be able to defend if the war from West or the East breaks, focusing my unit deployment on the Carthage more. Since WK is not plotting, he can only dagger attack me (fewer units). Fortunately, all AIs are relatively small and they need a lot of time to build the stacks up and Hannibal is losing some units tryng to get a barb hill city while I am camping with 3-4 WCs waiting for the Sheep+Fur city to be reduced to 1-3 wounded barb Archers. I will switch to Hannibal's religion once he catches something. I did get Buddhism which is AP religion, but I have to spread it myself as well as WK and Asoka don't have OB.

 

[shakabrade]

Deity from 400BC to 300AD

Spoiler :

Le overview. Still need Buddhism in Mephis to be able to push the GS from it in Pacifism. Will need to stop Shwedagon Paya and build some missionary. Hannibal is plotting and has no religion. I should have spread something to him but now that he is plotting, it is a bit late. Settler to get +4 diplo is on the way and being double chopped. But my first push is to take him to pleased with techs and beg. Hanny started plotting around T99. Not too much time left if it is me.

Lol. One barb archer. If Hanny had 1-2 units more to attack. I take this city with 1WC at some low odds. I really did not need luck here but it is okay.

A barb city in the jungle south of Hannibal has been razed so I need to push some settler to put it there if possible.

Pacifism is here but I still need buddhism in mephis to actually start the GAge.
I beg and the fist disappears. So, it was definitely me!

City is liberated and Hanny gets Buddhism before I spread it to him. Nice.

GK who is at war with Cyrus declares as well. I am not sure if the AI at war can be bribed. It was most probably just me refusing his demand. Tech situation is typical for this date. Asoka did really nice with Colossus and I have managed to trade with both Buddhists and Hindu due to religion switch.

.... and the Koreans have declared on me. Dagger attack. I can have 3 WCs and one Axe to defend the stack of 5 units he has sent to Memphis. And 3-4 WEs are on their way from the East to West. I should have sent them when I begged successfully. But WK has low unit courage and can only attack fast across the river. I bribe Hannibal to help me deal with this during Golden age as my focus should be GPP.
My WEs are at the frontline, Hanny is there as well. I pull the trick from the AI bag of tricks and build a Wonder to help me defend. I just think I have enough with Hannibal in range in 2T.

I am really trying to do a GAge here no matter what. Also, some failgold is being produced. There was an AP vote to stop war aginst Hannibal. Fortunately, he will clean the most of the WK stack.

Bulbs happened and I take MT. Getting a bit more predictable, I guess.
My write-up should have ended here and some pics are mixed a bit but you get the point. No Keshiks were injured during this write-up. I have some spare units and will take Cheju from WK for his insults.

 

[AcaMetis]

Spoiler :

I am not sure if the AI at war can be bribed.

No AI in the game can be bribed to go to war when they're already plotting/at war, they'll refuse because of WHEOOHRN. Although a few AIs can choose to start plotting war while already in a war. Monty in particular, I've seen him throw himself into a two-front war over a refused demand (to join the war that I bribed him into, ironically).

 

[Fish Man]

Why don't you post anymore? Not too many posts here but seing another game and approach would really be great to see and keep the forums vivid. I did go space in one of the two games I have played last 10 days.

Spoiler :

Regarding the relations, from the memory, GK attacked Cyrus. Asoka and Sury had a war of their own. Here we still do not see the outcome but Sury really had limited land to settle. WK is not plotting but he hates me since I declared on him and Carthage has started plotting. I am worried about Carthage as I am the only land target and therefore all my tech trades are focused to go through Hannibal to get "you shared your tech discoveries with us bonus" which should get him to pleased. I have also started a settler to gift it to Carthage and have started training some War Elephants for defense if I get attacked. I have also refused a demand from GK while he was at war with Cyrus.

So, my situation is actually quite dire and I am taking actions to be able to defend if the war from West or the East breaks, focusing my unit deployment on the Carthage more. Since WK is not plotting, he can only dagger attack me (fewer units). Fortunately, all AIs are relatively small and they need a lot of time to build the stacks up and Hannibal is losing some units tryng to get a barb hill city while I am camping with 3-4 WCs waiting for the Sheep+Fur city to be reduced to 1-3 wounded barb Archers. I will switch to Hannibal's religion once he catches something. I did get Buddhism which is AP religion, but I have to spread it myself as well as WK and Asoka don't have OB.

Spoiler :

I've been meaning to post games stretching way back to the Gilgamesh NC but just haven't had time, and really depressed/burnt out in general...dealing with severe mental health issues.

This particular map was disappointing. I war chariot-rushed Cyrus, which was nice. But then high sea level meant that even with a perfectly-executed cuir rush taking out 4 civs in 30 turns and bringing me to 62% land, I still didn't have enough cities to work enough tiles for the raw hammers/beakers needed to blaze through the lategame tech tree fast, despite about 1000AD communism. So, victory was assured, but sub-t250 space on deity just doesn't seem possible here.

 

[shakabrade]

Spoiler :

I've been meaning to post games stretching way back to the Gilgamesh NC but just haven't had time, and really depressed/burnt out in general...dealing with severe mental health issues.

This particular map was disappointing. I war chariot-rushed Cyrus, which was nice. But then high sea level meant that even with a perfectly-executed cuir rush taking out 4 civs in 30 turns and bringing me to 62% land, I still didn't have enough cities to work enough tiles for the raw hammers/beakers needed to blaze through the lategame tech tree fast, despite about 1000AD communism. So, victory was assured, but sub-t250 space on deity just doesn't seem possible here.

Spoiler :

I hope you'll get better and back in shape. I know that Civving can be too much when dealing with other stuff as well, come back at your own pace.

Regarding the game and wish for sub T250 space, yup, you need more land and more AIs to tech for you who also need land so, no can do. I had cities and and economy like I did WC rush someone. I do not think that what you need to get to space is so much in the late game. I see more turns to shave off in the early and mid game. Something to be done with the help of tech trading AIs, them being Mansa or Vassals who can tech. Like Pacal and some others. In any case you need much more land. But my best Space is probably some GOTM around 1550AD. so not bad but no expert. I should try something faster.

 

[jnebbe]

Demigod T118-140

Spoiler :

cryus is dead

Here I possibly make a big mistake, I go machinery+guilds+feudalism to get gunpowder instead of going through paper (it was like 200 beakers cheaper than paper+education), I forgot I need CS for nationalism anyway and spent a lot of turns not running beauru




At least I got some nice trades

Genghis plotting

After 1 turn he dows hannibal, he doesn't like anyone besides me so I should be fairly safe
He captures that city on the copper then immediately makes peace

guilds finishes, grab another nice trade

Tech situation, I'll probably tech music last and hopefully someone will trade it at that point

Sury peace-vassals to genghis
Real shame honestly, I was going to run over wang+sury+asoka with cuirs

Surprisingly nobody has nationalism yet, I'm building a settler to settle the north marble after asoka razed the barb city. Regardless of if I build the taj mahal or just get failgold, either will be nice
I'll probably be ready to build cuirs by T170? Not an amazing date for it but the civ's I'm attacking are all very small so it should be fine

I'm just afraid genghis is running away fast. He'll inevitably swallow up hannibal, then that leaves me vs genghis+his vassals. I'm keeping up this game but I don't know how to actually win from this spot
He's pretty far behind in tech, maybe I abandon the cuir plan and go rifles+cannons for his elephants+keshiks?

 

[konata_LS]

Demigod T118-140

Spoiler :

cryus is dead

Here I possibly make a big mistake, I go machinery+guilds+feudalism to get gunpowder instead of going through paper (it was like 200 beakers cheaper than paper+education), I forgot I need CS for nationalism anyway and spent a lot of turns not running beauru




At least I got some nice trades

Genghis plotting

After 1 turn he dows hannibal, he doesn't like anyone besides me so I should be fairly safe
He captures that city on the copper then immediately makes peace

guilds finishes, grab another nice trade

Tech situation, I'll probably tech music last and hopefully someone will trade it at that point

Sury peace-vassals to genghis
Real shame honestly, I was going to run over wang+sury+asoka with cuirs

Surprisingly nobody has nationalism yet, I'm building a settler to settle the north marble after asoka razed the barb city. Regardless of if I build the taj mahal or just get failgold, either will be nice
I'll probably be ready to build cuirs by T170? Not an amazing date for it but the civ's I'm attacking are all very small so it should be fine

I'm just afraid genghis is running away fast. He'll inevitably swallow up hannibal, then that leaves me vs genghis+his vassals. I'm keeping up this game but I don't know how to actually win from this spot
He's pretty far behind in tech, maybe I abandon the cuir plan and go rifles+cannons for his elephants+keshiks?

Spoiler :

Sury peace-vassals to GK? That's a little unexpected, as Sury is not GK's Land Target according to the game mechanics https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/game-mechanics-beyond-the-sword-3-19.669018/#post-16069468

You're playing on a diffuculty level much higher than I am (as you see in this thread, I play on Prince), so I'm unable to give you any useful advice. But I think it's good timing for you to pause and wait for suggestions from high level players, as you will soon make choice between Cuirs or Cannons.

You're really lucky because GK did not declare on you! You handled the diplomacy with GK better than I did. IMHO the diplomacy is one of the "tricky" parts in this map, as GK is to some degree "blocked" by the human player, he may DoW on Egypt sooner or later.

 

[krikav]

@jnebbe

Spoiler :

Such things are always situational and can't say for sure without checking save throughout, but when dudes like Khan/Monty/Ragnar and other unit spammers start to roll away then siege is usually the way to go, that is unless you can arrange for someone else to join the war and soak up some units too.

 

[CGQ]

I played the whole game. Here's part 1

Spoiler Immortal to 1220 AD Part 1 :

After taking almost 6 months off and decided to get back into it. This was probably the easiest game I played and a lot of luck was involved. Here's how it went:

I settled 1S and gained an extra FP. I wish I settled 1 SW so I would've gained the rice but no biggie.

I teched Mining>BW first so I could chop a settler. Then I teched Pottery>AH>Writing. Found horses by capital.

I met AIs and then grew cap to size 2 before chopping the settler. Settled Memphis 3W of capital to take advantage of creative and get cows + rice. Plus that city can work cottages for capital. Grew capital to size 4 to chop/whipped a 2nd settler:

After Writing (Cryus got it first actually) I teched ALPHA>Currency.

Settled Heliopolis 3E of capital to work cow. It also worked wet corn of capital sometimes and would grow into FPs on the east to cottage.

With 3 cities I decided to War Chariot rush Wang Kon:

After currency, I went for CoL. I traded currency for basic techs and gold to further fund my tech rate and war. I was in a deficit but loot gold helped me push through.

Korea's capital was pretty easy to capture. Cut off his copper supply so his northern cities were a piece of cake (no more spearmen!) and I was able to take them out.
Surprisingly, after trading Polytheism, I found the oracle hasn't been built! I decided to go for it (Chopped forest to the east and south of Memphis)

Timing was perfect on this one. I got code of laws and Oracle at the same time. Having marble from Korea's capital helped a lot! I managed to whip it:

Next turn.
550 BC and a LOT happened.
Asoka declares on me. Probably got bribed by Wang Kong as a final attempt to save himself. Big mistake buddy...

Wang is down to two cities. Looks like Sury and Asoka got some failgold. I must've beat Sury to Oracle by very little!

On the other hand, I founded Confucianism and popped Civil Service with Oracle...In 550 BC:

That same turn, I bulbed Philosophy with my first GS and founded Taoism:

I switched to BUREU + CS + Pacifism.

500 BC and Wang Kong is dead:

One thing I learned about rushing that improved me a lot is to keep building units even during the rush. They reinforce your stacks and replace the lost ones. Not only that, I kept building war chariots in the captured NK cities!

Now I still had a nice big juicy stack and decided to punish Asoka for being a complete bonehead:

Bombay was pretty easy to take. Not only that, turns out I took his only source of iron and he had no copper.

Decided to stop here. He learned his lesson...

His other cities were trash and not worth taking. Could've made a push for his capital but just wasn't worth it. Wanted to focus on teching to Lib so I can do a Cuir rush. Later on I actually bribed Sury into DOW on Asoka to get back at him. Then Asoka begged me for some iron and I decided to be nice and give him some to make him a harder target for Sury. Either way, Sury would later take his capital and vassal him.

In the meantime I teched Paper which running GS. I also traded PHIL for techs like Calendar and Currency for Iron Working.
Turn 106 I spread Taoism to Genghis:

200 BC, almost done with MoM. Built it in my Bureu capital:

After paper I went for Nationalism for a few turns then remembered music for cuirs and great artist! (That's for not playing this game in a while!)

My next goal in the meantime is to get two GS's so I can double bulb Education. Maybe a 3rd one to bulb Lib too. Problem was I ended up getting a Great Prophet instead because of Oracle. Turns out that I captured Korea's holy city of Hinduism.
I thought about gold age with it but decided to save it for a Great Artist. I built this instead:

I would use Seoul to build more Hindu missionaries (Had a monastery there) and spread it to Ai's in hopes they spread/convert later. Extra 10-15 gold per turn. Figured I got more out of that than just settling it or wasting it on a gold age.

Meanwhile I ran scientists while teching Aesthetics>Lit>Music. So far no one even has Aesthetics except Cyrus. He's the only one that could beat me to music but since I needed it anyways I decided to take that chance. Worse case
scenario is I get no GA.

I took advantage of my tech lead the last few turns and bribed Sury to attack Ghengis and Asoka (to get back at him) to slow them down. After teching Literature (I think I traded it I forgot) Turns out no one has built the Great Library.
I decided to go for it since it would help me get a third GS to bulb Lib:

Turn 118 75 AD I get music and free GA. I use it for my first extended 12 turn MoM-enhanced Gold Age.

Turn 119 I managed to build Great Library. I take advantage of Pacifism+Gold age to run scientists for EDU+Lib. Meanwhile I tech for Nationalism:

(I used overflow to build a Hindu Monestary in capital for that extra 10% BKT)

I manage to get two Great Scientists out of the gold age, giving me three total. I double bulb EDU and tech compass so I can bulb lib before finishing Nationalism. I built an University only in my BUREAU capital and went for other marble
wonders for fail-gold. So far Fail-gold and gold from AI's helped me a lot!

I traded for techs like Metal Casting too whenever they became available. I also traded for Monarchy earlier and switched to HDR, using spiritual to my advantage.

At this point, the rest of the game was pretty straight forward. I got Nationalism, partially bulbed Lib, teched gunpower and built HA's in the meantime. Then I teched lib for the last turn and popped Military Tradition.

From there I switched to Slavery and whipped up an army of about 12 Cuirs to start. Decided to rush Persia since he hasn't even got pikeman or elephants. I built wealth to upgrade some of my promoted chariots and newly built HA's (before I had MT/Gunpowder)
From this point on, nearly all my cities were building Cuirs for reinforcement and to later attack the rest of the AI. Capital built Taj Majal. I waited a bit on it and build some Cuirs there first to take advantage of BUREU since no one else had Nationalism so I'm not worried about anyone beating me to it anyways. That free 12 turn gold age will just bring victory that much sooner

760 AD I lucked out and got a Great Merchant:

Got 1100 Gold by going to Khmer's capital!

At 820 AD I finish the Taj Mahal.

840 AD I take Susa and Cyrus capitulates

I would've taken him out all the way but with a city on so far from here it just wasn't worth it.

Got another Great Scientist in Thebes and used him to finish Printing Press.

 

[CGQ]

Spoiler Part two :

920 AD I declare on Genghis. At this point, through bribing, I have effectively turned the whole world against him hehehehe

Say your GG's Genghis.

Note Hannibal's stack that finally made their way to him (I'm the one who bribed him to attack him).

At this point my stack of over 20 Cuirs was up against:
A longbow, two axemen, a great general, a galley and 4 workers. Just Wow.

A lot of AI's have done that in this game. He's just giving me the city at this point. I almost felt bad for doing this.

Eh. No one liked you anyways.

1060 AD Turn 167 Ghenghis is dead. Didn't take long either. He only had 5 cities all conveniently near each other.

From there, I whipped up more Cuirs and went for the last target: Hannibal. He had pikeman so I knew I was up against more this time. Khmer and Asoka had their vassal and I didn't want to deal with his muskets or elephants. He's been at war too many times so they're likely promoted a lot too. Plus Hannibal had more land to take which would win me the game.

I had 42 Cuirs before DOW on Hannibal.

I managed to catch Hannibal's main stack from earlier just outside his border.

His stack is completely obliterated. From there it's smooth sailing. I did lose quite a few cuirs especially to pikemen so he put up a good fight but sadly, he was vastly outnumbered and outranked:

Turn 180 1200 AD After taking a couple of his cities, Hannibal capitulates. I didn't even need to tech rifling and didn't have to DOW on Khmer who was my only real friend in the game haha

Turn 181: From there as soon as Hadrumetum comes online, it's GG's.

Turn 182 1220 AD: Domination Victory!

This was my best game I played so far.

 

[Donald Duck1]

As Hatshepsut is my favourite leader I could not skip this NC. Played on monarch, as always .

Spoiler : :

Went for cuirassier rush; peacefully expanded to 7 cities and teched/bulbed the required techs, attack started ~700AD, Conquest victory in 1090AD. Built ~50 cuirs, lost ~20, most of them in the final turns when they were mass-suicided to save some turns

142/640AD: Time to whip cuirs. First target will be Hannibal, who was vassalized ~760AD. Next target was Cyrus, but that Korean coward peace-vassaled to me to save his *ss from the Mongols, so I took out the Mongols first, then mopped up the rest.

score was ~190k; all conquered cities were gifted back except for final AI and some stubborn guy who had to be wiped out.

I could probably move up a level, but I hate having to put much effort in maintaining good relations with other AIs until break-out, while I can handle that easily on Monarch, usually.

 

[Gumbolt]

Finished this off on demi god settings. 1350ad.

Spoiler From what I remember, :

I started off with war chariots to take down Carthage. I then focused on Sumerians to weaken and make Koreans friendlier. Next persians with GK help. Persians become GK Vassal. Ack.

At this point I raced to cuirs. GK had a 51 strong stack. Including phants, kk, mace and pikes. Thankfully he attacked Korea allowing me time to whip 40-50 cuirs. He took peace with Korea 2-3 turns after I declared on him. His troops teleported back to his own land and the stack split up which made it easy pickings. I took out Persians. Then reduced GK to 4 cities. Ceasefire to heal my 40 units. Then wiped him out with 2x20 strong stacks. Settled a few cities and attacked Koreans wh capitulated.

Techwise I had a GSPY and stole a few techs like machinery, IW and engineering from Persians. Traded for other techs. Koreans were great religion and friends wise. Indians easy at pleased. GK could of used better management albeit was backwards for a long while.

Only real issue this game was GK spamming units.

 

[Kernigh]

I saved my game in April and didn't open it until July.

Spoiler 300 BC T103, Emperor, new cities :

To recap, I settled 3 cities by 2200 BC T45: Shroom City, Westephant, and Eastcow. I declared the Southward War against Cyrus in 1360 BC T66 and captured his city of Susa on the same turn. It is now 700 BC T87 and Cyrus has 4 units near Susa.

I make peace. Cyrus accepts a 10-turn peace treaty. I keep Susa, so I have 4 cities and Cyrus has 2 cities. (Later, I will open the spoilers and check if someone else gained more than 1 city in an early war.) I end my war because I can't conquer Cyrus's walled cities, but he might liberate Susa with his 3 swords and 1 spear. I had pillaged 2 cows and 1 horse, but Cyrus kept his iron mine; his spears of iron would continue to slay my War Chariots.

I had lost 8 War Chariots to Cyrus or the barbs. I am left with 10 War Chariots, 3 Warriors, 1 Archer, and 4 Workers. I am paying gold to upkeep units. I don't disband any unit, but I do stop production of 2 Horse Archers. (I am stupid to research Horseback Riding and then not build any Horse Archers.) The last enemy unit is a barb Spearman. I produce another Archer in T88; the barb slays my new Archer, but I slay the barb in T89.

In 675 BC T88, "Confucianism has been founded in a distant land!" The founder researched Code of Laws (probably after Priesthood) while I still don't know Writing. Some civs know Alphabet and can trade techs. My first such trade is in 625 BC T90, when I give Horseback Riding to Suryvarman, who gives Meditation, Fishing, Writing to me.

I settle my 5th city of Sweetpaper in 600 BC T91, because I want the iron, and I don't want Cyrus to settle there.

The city count in T91 is 5 for me, 5 for Genghis Khan, 4 for Wang Kon, 4 for Suryavarman II, 4 for Hannibal, 3 for Asoka, 3 for Cyrus. My gem mine near Susa has rescued my finances. I want to grow my economy with a 2nd gem mine by Sweetpaper, roads to Wang Kon's Korea and Genghis Khan's Mongolia, and libraries in my cities.

I get some religions (Hinduism from Asoka, and Confucianism from Hannibal), but don't pick a state religion. The missionary from Hannibal might be the free one from founding Confucianism.

In 350 BC T101, I rank 1st in Gibbon's "The Largest Civilizations of the World!" In 300 BC T103, I settle my 6th city of Wet-Dry World near some gold.

The east, where Hannibal settled Kerkouane and I settle Wet-Dry World, might have the last open land on the map. The peace treaty had freed my War Chariots to explore the continent. I opened borders with most civs. I found Asoka's India, Suryavarman's Cambodia, and Korea on a small peninsula to my west. I found Mongolia and Cyrus's Persia on a small peninsula to my south. I found only barbarians and Hannibal's Carthage to my east. Carthage is so far away, it is the only civ with no land border with any other civ. The continent is unfair to India, Cambodia, Mongolia, and Persia, who have no room to expand. Korea, Carthage, and my Egypt will take the open land and grow larger than the other civs.

The city count in T103 is 6 for me, 5 for Genghis Khan, 5 for Wang Kon, 5 for Suryavarman II, 5 for Hannibal, 4 for Asoka, 4 for Cyrus. My civ ranks 1st in food, 4th in production, and 6th in commerce. I like being 1st in food and having room to expand, so I might do well in this game; but I will die if too many of my neighbors war agaist me.

 

[konata_LS]

so I might do well in this game; but I will die if too many of my neighbors war agaist me.

Spoiler :

An efficient way to prevent your neighbors from war against you is eliminating one of them before they can declare war on you. Especially when you have War Chariots .
Research AH-Mining-BW. Worker-warrior-barrack-War chariots.

I only built 1 worker, but captured 3 from WK (the captured settler automatically became worker).

Your choice of tech is decent. HBR is not a bad tech choice even you don't build HAs, because there is Ivory nearby and War Elephants need HBR.

If you play on Deity, War chariots rush may be a little too risky. But on Emperor, War chariots work well, even against PRO archers.

Attached the save at Emperor on T57.

 

[Kernigh]

@konata_LS, thanks for the advice. This is my first game at Emperor, after I won a few at Monarch.

Spoiler :

I forgot that War Elephants need Horseback Riding! It's like when I forget that Macemen need Machinery. I do have Horseback Riding and ivory, so I do get War Elephants after I reach Construction. I use many elephants in the next spoiler.

In your game, Pyongyang was on flat desert. In my game, Pyongyang was 1 tile east, on a desert hill, where Archers would defend better. I suspect that enough War Chariots can conquer a hill city, but I didn't do it in my game, because Susa wasn't on a hill.

I continued my game and gained some cities in another war.

Spoiler 1260 AD T186, Emperor, the Westward War :

To recap, I settled 3 cities (Shroom City, Westephant, Eastcow), conquered Susa from Cyrus, and settled my 5th and 6th cities (Sweetpaper, Wet-Dry World). It is now 300 BC T103. The continent's east has open land to be split by Korea, Carthage, and my Egypt. The other 4 civs have no room to expand.

I had lost my trade connection to Hannibal's Carthage. I find, in 25 BC T114, the barb city of Vandal that cut Carthage's Sailing route to my Egypt. On the same turn, I see a war stack from Cyrus, 3 tiles away from Susa. I prepare for war, but Cyrus's stack turns away. I am slow to expand into the open land, as Hannibal settles Leptis and Thapsus on my 2 best spots, before I settle my 7th city of Taltalmountain (225 AD T124) in the space between Wet-Dry World, Leptis, Thapsus, and Vandal. Roads across the Carthage-Egypt border will reconnect trade.

Between T124 and T125, I join Suryavarman's war against Wang Kon. When Suryavarman asks for help, I know that he is fighting both Wang and Genghis Khan, but don't know who started the wars. After I declare, I learn that Suryavarman declared on Wang, and Genghis declared on Suryavarman. I declare on Wang, and one turn later, Asoka declares on Genghis. Only Hannibal and Cyrus stay at peace.

I get Currency and Alphabet in T125, but I am missing Construction (to unlock War Elephants and Catapults). Genghis already has Construction and moves Keshiks, War Elephants, and Catapults through my open borders. I slay a few Korean units (and capture a Worker) because Wang Kon has too few units on my front. I send 5 War Chariots to pillage near Seoul, but they all die. In 425 AD T132, my civ is the last in the game to learn Construction, and I begin to produce War Elephants and Catapults.

Suryavarman and Wang Kon make peace. This leaves Genghis versus Suryavarman and Asoka, and me versus Wang. There is a chance for annoyed Cyrus or cautious Hannibal to ruin my game by attacking me, but they don't go to war. Wang makes stupid invasions of my Egypt with too few units, who die. I make the first city capture of these wars, as I sacrifice 2 catapults to conquer Pusan (my 8th city, 660 AD T143).

Between T143 and T144, Genghis conquers Bombay from Asoka, who capitulates to Genghis and declares on Suryavarman. Later, Hannibal attacks the barbs at Vandal, but leaves a wounded barb Archer, so my Horse Archer conquers Vandal (9th, 720 AD T146).

Wang's Koreans become tough for about 10 turns. They import ivory from Genghis, build a few War Elephants, move a stack, and liberate Pusan between T148 and T149; but I retake Pusan in 820 AD T151. Pusan splits Korea by cutting the road and coast. East Korea is mostly tundra. I invade West Korea and conquer Seoul (10th, 1050 AD T165) and Wonsan (11th, 1150 AD T175).

While I fought Korea, Genghis made peace with Suryavarman and attacked Cyrus, who lost a city and capitulated. Then Genghis attacked Suryavarman again, but I had closed borders with Genghis. His units can't reach Suryavarman, unless he builds them in Bombay. Suryavarman tries in T185 for a Diplomatic Victory with his Hindu Apostolic Palace, but fails.

I conquer Pyongyang (12th, 1260 AD T186), the last city in West Korea. I now control the Mahabodhi (14 gold per turn) in Seoul, and the Colossus and the Mausoleum of Mausolos in Pyongyang. I get a peace treaty. Wang offers to give the city of Hyangsan, his map, and 110 gold, but I refuse them. The Westward War ends as Wang agrees to give Feudalism, Theology, and Metal Casting. The war was slow: it began in 250 AD T125 and ends in 1260 AD T186; I take 1000 years to conquer 4 cities.

(After I get the peace treaty, the game crashes. I redo my turns from the last auto-save and get the same peace treaty, but lose different units at Pyongyang.)

The city count in T186 is 12 for me, 9 for Hannibal, perhaps 7 for Genghis, 6 for Suryavarman, 4 for Wang Kon, perhaps 3 for Cyrus, perhaps 3 for Asoka. Hannibal, who stayed out of all wars, claimed most of the open land. I ranked 2nd in crop yield during most of Westward War, but retake 1st in crop yield by the end of the war.

I fell into last place in the tech race. Wang had medieval Longbowmen and Macemen while I was still in the classical era. (Late in the war, I became medieval by researching Philosophy.) Those longbows and maces didn't stop my elephants! This war showed the power of War Elephants, and the importance of my ivory camp by Westephant. (Suryavarman never got ivory, so he never built his unique Ballista Elephant.)

Now in T186, I took 3 techs from Wang but am still at least 4 techs behind any other civ. They all have Civil Service, Compass, Paper, and Machinery. All but me and Wang have Music. Some are more advanced: Hannibal has Gunpowder, and multiple civs have Guilds. I fear losing a war to an advanced Genghis or Hannibal.

I never adopted civics after Slavery; I have the last civ in the default civics of Despotism, Barbarism, and Paganism. Now I want to adopt Caste System, make some scientist specialists, and produce Wealth. I would feel better if I can get Nationalism and Gunpowder.