Nobles' Club 292: Suleiman of the Ottomans

[Implo]

@CarpoolKaraoke

Spoiler :

I run max i between 9-15 GP's for about 12 turn = 500-800 beakers and 100-200 gold. Not worth it. The extra happiness was ok i guess. You are right! should have tried to lib either RP or rifling! Would probably saved 4-5 turns on my attack date! Which is huge!

Spoiler :

No iron opens up the usage of Janissary! I saw you went for jan + cat! and liked it! Hm the golden ages and nationhood and everything to set up. I think the 14 strength over the 11 actually gives the added flavor to just keep rolling

No iron = cavalry! I realized way later that cav dont require iron! Which in retrospect probably would give a faster dom.

Spoiler :

But as from your game Thinks are looking mighty strong! Whats the next move?

 

[Implo]

Spoiler Turn 150 - T166 :

OK, fokus is army buildup! Identifying the correct targets.. I think ill just cap fredrick quick and see if I can leverage Joao and giggels fighing.

So! Army buildupfase. I need enough techingpower to get to steel. Currently I'm sort of fine.. But i will loose golden age and switch out of byro. Ideally should i have had 2 more GS 1 for chem bulb and 1 for another golden age.
But i guess a little bad planning and unlucky on my part made me get 2 Great artist at 10 % and 5 % odds.. and i obviously should have Lib either rifling or RP!

Another note is that i will probably have 4 k - 5 k gold. So I can run a pretty high slider and i do actually have uni's up and oxford..
Rep + some GS in uni/library cities is probably sufficient to get Chem, steel in a reasonable time. I'm counting og getting MT from peace/trade.

Nice little bonus that Nationalism give 25 % in all cities! So I'm going to get some spies.. And take down some walls! No way ill lose my momentum with a 4-5 turn city bombardment..

T154 - Managed to pull Fredrick on Stalin! Lucky with the war situation.

Giggels is also stealing a city from Joao II. Så the power-balance is pretty even.

T155 Our army is rising!

T156 the turn of war deck!

T160
Have taken 3 cities. Hamburg i "spied" down the castle.. Dortmund was without castle. Cologne had castle but flat land. I assume he will cap after Berlin!.

Managed to trade for MT for constitution with giggels.. Upgraded a couple expencive Cavs.. Now I'm, 2 in soldiers! Steel in aprox 6 turns. And about 2000 k gold for upgrades!

And.. Cav dont require Iron!! (realized it earlier.. but a reminder for future games! )

T164 - Berlin falls.. Fredric capitulates and i get city in the trade. That is going to be where i upgrade 20 trebs into cannons
Next on the block is Augustus! He is currently in a winning war against stalin! He took a city turn 162!

And I got another GM!! No golden age for me :/ (23 turns until next guy!) And that is still about.. 50 % chance of a GM…
Just realized that Fredric had Statue of Zevs.. I was wondering why my cities was that angry.. Slavery/draft is happiness intense but.. It was on a pretty unreasonable level..

Now we are back in the "green" nice!

August took another city!!

Have to hurry so Stalin wont peace-cap!

 

[Implo]

Spoiler T166 - finish :

Augustus is closing in on rifling! But next turn.. Got to appreciate the timing on iron/steel

Turn 167 upgraded 16 cannons! August is poorly defended.. The army is in stalins terretorie. No riveling yet!

Carthage and Joao made peace.. Hannibal is still fighting Isabell! Might have to take Hannibal next.. (after august)


T168 - I spot a small part of augusts army! He also is going for Military science (5 turns).
This is going much better than expected!

Then.... i just finished the game.

Comments about the endgame:

A pretty grosse game in a good way! The attacking order:
Then i just finished.. no need to improve army. It was just about draft/whip rifle, cannon and cav. (mostly cav to support the army in front faster)

The only "hard" figth was against giggels PRO grenadiers.. That fight was 7 turns long

This army fought against (sort on Buit) and killed these units:

Same turn but sorted on 'Killed'

Was rifeling/steel up on everyone most of the game. Really nice being that far ahead.

Then when giggels was 1 turn away from assembly line I caped him and had infantry on everyone.

The game ended with a T209 Conquest victory!

Fun game! Thx for another great NC

 

[CarpoolKaraoke]

Spoiler T149-T179 :

My game became a bit of a wash. T153 Steel + ~1000 gold = full upgrade. Rome takes Russia as a peace vassal; I declare war anyways. The Buddhist Bloc declares a Holy War on Rome, and then declares another Holy War on Germany. I tech Banking and Parts, and trade for Rifling/Economics/Constitution. A 2nd GA swaps me back into Nationhood, and when Rome capitulates, suddenly there's so much happiness to go around for drafting.

The world is at tech parity, but I have reached top power and double crop yield. There's still a 4th Holy War going on against Stalin, so I think the game is pretty much over.

 

[Anysense]

After getting smashed in NC291 I tried this map. Barbarian activity is a touch more insane than usual, but its only 4 barbarian cities in the vicinity, nothing that I can't handle. At least AI's haven't stolen that land yet, as it happened in Lain's game.

 

[Heathcliff]

Spoiler Finish :

Won domination without problems on immortal, probably one of the easiest maps ever in nobles club. Great land, friendly neighbors and balanced amount of land for all AI.

 

[Anysense]

Write up for turns 0 to 57.

Spoiler :

Playing Deity/Epic. SiP seems automatic, particularly as the warrior can't reveal anything meaningful, and I think with double wet corn and so much wood BW is mandatory, sheep can wait a bit. Another good thing is that we start with the Wheel and can connect to the river by building just one road.

After SiP there two directions where to send the warrior. I chose southwest to have a look the river, which is apparently rich with floodplains and probably is a good location for second city.

Such a good land with pigs, floodplains, gold and some forests. I parked my warrior in a forest but a bear turned up shortly thereafter.

The brown bastard kept chasing me. Perhaps, it was more prudent to stay on that forested hill, but I decided to move to a forest just east (or may be north) of the pigs. Met a barbarian warrior and invited him to a fight in the forest. Won but gained only 1 exp.

Turn 35: Bronze Working. Copper is revealed but I can't wait for an axeman, so Istanbul is working some hammer tiles, while second corn is being improved, to get a couple of warriors to secure location for second city. So far I have met only Frederick and I haven't seen his units fo quite some time, which means that AI's units got slaughtered and barbarins birthrate is pretty high with virtually zero spawnbust. If there was no copper I think I'd go for archery. As it is I'm going to tech AH next.

Spoiler :

Met Hannibal on turn 37. Took a (insane?) risk moving second warrior to a hill ang he got kiiled by an archer

I decided to settle on this nice tile with three sides protected by river and just station my warriors there and stay put until I have axemen. I have just settled second city but barbs already can enter my territory! The game hangs on a 13.9% fight which I win.

Spoiler :

I whipped second worker and send him to mine gold. That was premature, I think. Better was to chop a bit to get an axe quickly and, may be, another worker. Copper is connected and axemen are in the queues. Everything is fine and the game is under control now, but that stupid archer is forcing me to make another 1-pop whip in Istanbul.

Spoiler :

 

[Anysense]

T58-95

Spoiler :

More barbs are coming from all directions. Finally, I can do a bit of scouting. I need to search for new cities locations now that I have the means to fend barbs off. There is one obvious spot near pigs but I need more because new settlers will come very quickly. First thing I found was a barbarian city, though.

Pigs+FPs site is better than wheat one, but since Frederick can grab the latter at any moment I have to settle there first. See why improving gold early was a mistake? Edirne isn't even working it after whipping a worker. I will need a filler later to share the two golds between 3 cities.

Another axeman has been sent to explore east. There are horses and a long river with floodplains, which is great. But there are also two barbarian cities

Turn 81: third AI met - Isabella.
Turn 84: Writing. About to settle the pigs and connect Ankara to Germany, will need 2 more roads to connect other cities. Istanbul is slowbuilding a settler because it too unhappy to grow and Ankara is about to 1-pop whip a granary after a chop. I think the pig city will also get a granary in that manner - the initial rush is over and I can afford to build some infrastructure.

Found corn in the east. I think next settler will go there unless Frederick beats me to it. Or I could settle a bit closer home with fresh water, floodplains and forests in the first ring.

Spoiler :

Turn 86: Frederick is teching Alphabet.
Turn 89 (1775BC): Hannibal's got Alphabet! The Pyramids has just been built and the Oracle was built 5 turns previously, both by some unknown civs.
Turn 90: met 4th AI - Augustus, who is incoveniently Buddhist.
Things are rather a mess: still not connected, chop in Bursa is late, only 4 workers with so much to do, nowhere near enough gold to start teching etc, etc.

Spoiler :

 

[Anysense]

Turns 96-135

Spoiler :

Met Joao on t96, the founder of Buddhism. In spite of haveing different religions they are all perfectly OK with each other, so I open borders with everybody. And Izzy is spreading Hindu Frederick has only 3 cities Probably, got hurt by barbs very badly.

Spoiler :

T104: met Gilgamesh. Frederick also received a Hindu mission and converted immediately. On t107 Isabella demands that I convert to Hinduism, I was hoping for this free +1 diplo, not that it is a big deal.

I settled the eastern corn (Fred is still being very slow) and now have my eyes upon this nice size 6 city with 3 first ring forests, floodplains and wet corn. There is one more good spot to settle in the far east but I think that capturing this city is much more benefit than building settlers for fresh size 1 cities, even with Imperialistic. And then with replacements I can take other barbarian cities.

Spoiler :

T118 Aesthetics. Four civs have Alpha now and Hannibal's got Math. Still no open borders with Gilgamesh, because Isabella and frederick hate him. But I may trade techs with him later. It will probably earn some negative reaction and there is no need to stack 'you refused to stop trading with our worst enemy' on top of it.

Spoiler :

T120 I trade Aesthetics for Alpha with Joao. Gilgamesh oracled MC and built Artemis and Mids. Three civs have Math but nobody is trading it. Fred is teching Math so I think it will become available soon.

Unfortunatelly, Uzbek shrank 1 size after I killed an archer on a floodplain. Still, size 4 after capture is very good. Eight cities and six workers. Although this city is rather far off, but it will hopefully secure the whole upper right corner of the map for me. I think I can afford some financial burden now that I have a good trading chip and with Philo bulb on the horizon.

Spoiler :

T127 Met Stalin. I saw his workboat some 20 turns previously but we did not 'meet'. Apparently because he could not see my axeman on a hill through barbarian city. Frederick got Math and now I can get Math from... Gilgamesh! And so I do, and I also get 210 from Hannibal. Next turn I trade Math for Poly and Sailing with Isabella. On t129 Stalin asks Aesthetics and I give it to him. I can't hope to get anything for it and a bit of diplo bonus may be useful later. Full steam to Literature but Hannibal has already got there

Spoiler :

I settle the double gold filler and capture two more cities, sell Aesthetics to Augustus for 300 (he would not give 310). Here, after building a monument for happiness in Istanbul and forgetting to finish chopping into a granary in Uzbek I decided that I need a break;

Spoiler :

 

[Anysense]

Spoiler :

So, we have 11 cities (1 more than the best of those AI Deity losers) and 12 workers, of which two were captured from barbs. I gave up on Music because my economy isn't really up to this race. I have gold, but 10 turns is just too long a time to seriously hope to win it. Instead I go for Drama - decent value combined with Lit and will give me access to Philosophy.

*****ing hour for AI: Joao demands to convert to Buddhism, Stalin demands to stop trading with Romans, then to DoW them...

Anyway, on turn 140 I get Drama and after border pop in Uzbek I can hook up marble at last and make some use of overflow. I don't even have Calenda but MoM is already gone. I trade Drama+10 gold for HBR with Hannibal then Aesthetics+HBR+10 to Frederick for Currency. Nice to have 22 just out of thin air. In the meanwhile I research PH and Meditation. Can't afford to trade for small stuff with this crowd around: I'd run into WFYABTA too soon. Its already happening but at least I can expect Isabella to become friendly before long. I trade Currency+HBR for Monotheism+Monarchy+35 and thats what we have on the next turn

Spoiler :

Next turn marble is connected and what do you think? The Parthenon has been built Of course, there are NE and the GL, but both require library - that will slow things down a great deal. I wish I could do Heroic Epic but my most experienced axemen got killed.

Since Izzy has access to Philo I think its best to bulb it now - that should prevent her from teching it. I'm not going to trade it away yet, but I want to make sure it is a monopoly and it comes with a free 2 scouting unit. Joao is feeling *****y again. I gave him Drama because otherwise it would be near impossible to trade with him later and he is likely to be useful.

Isabella has Music and she is friendly! I get Feudalism from Joao and Theo+CoL from Isabella for Philosophy. Now I have 4 good techs to trade with others and I can put some hammers into Hagia Sophia.

Spoiler :

Next tech is Compass - I need it for bulbing reasons and it has good value for trading. In the meantime I get MC, Construction and Machinery. I don't feel like I will be bulbing Liberalism, there are plenty of other bulbable techs. TGL has been built, I made only 522 Now its just NE and Hagia Sophia and I need NE soon. I have another GS but I'd rather use the next one which will have a chance of becoming an artist. Economy is still in terrible shape and there are issues with happiness and I still need workers (14 now). I'm going to settle a permanently size-1 city to get silver. Not perfect but the alternative is to wait for 2nd border pop.

Spoiler :

Oh yeah.
Turns 136-159

Spoiler :

T159 Civil Service. Next turn I finish NE with 930. No idea what these guys are up to, its like they just stopped teching. Izzy and Hannibal have Music but the rest have nothing to offer and miss 4+ techs.

Spoiler :

 

[Anysense]

Up to turn 195.

Spoiler :

T164 Paper. Education is next obviously. Made some trades, but nothing of great importance. Just waiting for a good trade for Engineering.

T167 Lavoisier has been born in Istanbul! Time for great change. Switch to HR, Bureau, Caste and Pacifism. Suddenly I can tech at quite decent speed. Edu bulb will take place on the next turn after a bit more growth.

Spoiler :

T169 I get Engineering+100 from Gilgamesh for Music and Philo. Izzy and Fred are not very happy about it, but who cares?
T170 Education. Now I'm going to prepare Lib and wait for GS to bulb Printing Press and Chemistry.
T173 Isabella asks me to declare war on Gilgamesh and I agree - it will help to keep the Hindu club friendly.
T174 Francis Bacon has been born in Istanbul, he will bulb PP (again with a little delay, because a few cities will grow). I finally realized that I had too much gold and switched to building research. Teching a bit faster now - 468. With that and hopes to double bulb Chemistry and lib Steel around 200AD we enter new era.

Spoiler :

T177 Printing Press. Golden Age is over and bpt is down to 380 On the bright side: Aryabhata (a GS) has been born in Edirne.
T179 Gauss has been born in Bursa.
T183 Gunpowder. Isabella's got NationalismI was hoping to pick this one up on the way to Steel. More AI's are getting Guilds. Not that I really need it, but I will want it for Rifling.

T185 John Stuart Mill (GM) has been born in Istanbul and second Golden Age begins. I sold Paper to Isabella for some gold and then traded Education for Nationalism. Still waiting for another GS.
T188 Hannibal has built Hagia Sophia. Now I have 2050 but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it because...
T189 Banking, Zu Chongshi (GS), Chemistry. Switch to Theocracy, Slavery, Nationhood.
T190 Liberalism, Steel.

Spoiler :

I have to pay an arm and a leg for iron. I can't tolerate it for much longer, so on turn 195 with 15 cannons its time to unleash hell!

Spoiler :

 

[Anysense]

Won 1090AD domination.

Spoiler :

Last war was against Joao (910-1040). I had a lot of siege but too few regular units. The city which I expected to take first was only captured third because his doomstack came there and reinforcements kept coming. I only had a dozen cavalry there, that were killing 10-12 units every turn after cannons reduced them to 2-3. Finally, after 5 turns of continuous massacre I took that city. All in all killed 40-50 units on the same spot After that there were only the usual 8-10 units per city to grind through. Then settled a few fillers to get a bit more land. Only Isabella got Rifling (pretty early actually 640AD), but I left Spain untouched, she was a good girl and helped me a lot in this game (religion, Nationalism, MT, Rifling a whole lot of other good stuff).