Nobles' Club 302: Louis XIV of France

Update T206
Spoiler :
We grabbed Dresden this turn by the skin of our teeth. 15 cuir remain. (and 91 died)
Unhappiness is not manageable anymore (80% culture slider last turn)
We cease fire with the plan to raze the last 2 german cities in a few turns... We'll need a couple of galleons to make it a 2 turn war maybe.


^^ Making use of OR to build stuff


62 years life expectancy :cooool:
Sitting Bull just built Kremlin and is spying on us furiously (surprise :nope:)
Monty and Justy are warring. We're sending an explorer to take a closer look :nya:
We might be first to chemistry.
We have 32 worshops atm. It may be time to build a few more workers...

But where is our great engineer going to come from :confused: Fusion?

Finances:

Expenses on the right column will get higher and higher (inflation)
Income will increase as we improve our shrine (bank next turn!) and we add more hammers to wealth.
Commerce has reached a plateau obviously (no cottage) but research will improve with the slider and as we build a few extra libraries.

Spoiler :

It seems the war is going well :clap: The war tactics plan drawn by @ BiC is awesome :goodjob:

A little surprised that Biz is the largest AI in your game, mostly because Justy and Monty are still fighting, not capitulate. In my game Biz lost a city to Boudica while Monty capitulated early to Justy, which let Justy become the largest one :crazyeye:.

But... looking back at your empire's financial situation on T179 and T186, these strikes seem too close to the reality :eek:. SNCF's service quality is among the highest levels of the world, though their service sometimes is affected by the strikes.
And you're planning to found a corporation which will be unlocked by Railroad :eekdance:
(It's a little weird that Railroad technology enables Mining inc. Logically, Railroad should unlock some railway companies :hmm: )

Seriously though, I agree with @ BiC, SP is generally cheaper under Normal speed, especially with Deity maintenance and inflation penalty.
But if you really want to have fun with Corporations, there is a recent Deity space win with Corps for your reference : actually @ Anysense used "strike economy" after spreading corporations. At the end of that game, - 40000 :gold: per turn :crazyeye:.
(Once again, the strikes with a corporation unlocked by Railroad... a little too realistic :hide:)
 
@konata_LS
Spoiler :
Last time we researched anything by ourselves was T159 (military tradition)
Since then we've been staying just above the STRIKE line, quite an experience indeed! (and I'm not speaking about Paris :vomit: public transportation system :lol:)

Now I expect more chill but have a plan for the GE :o
  1. GPP 600 & 700 by Athens > keep for golden Age
  2. Levee > Ironworks in Tolosa > Hire 4 engineers
  3. Research Assembly line (hope to trade for Corp) and build a factory in Tolosa > Hire 7 engineers. Start Golden age (+Pacifism) > get 800 engineer points
  4. Railroad. Enjoy the power of corps.
  5. ....
  6. Space :scan:


When you realize there is a whale that you haven't used for a thousand years (facepalm)
 
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Update T216
Spoiler :

We research Chemistry T208, one turn ahead of SB.
We use it to backfill with Justy

We dow Biz one last time T210, under the cover of Anarchy (switch to Free Religion) because my citizens are mad (because of eternal war :cringe:)

We are a bit tight with the numbers and throw everything East.

Third turn of the war, after we razed Duisburg & Leipzig, we have to suffer one turn of 90%:culture: to appease the angry populace.

Then we start cruising on the Whatever Economy train.

This turn we've reached Steam Power (monopoly) and can start the levee dream.
Steel in 4 turns, quite convenient for Tolosa.

I thought Pagodas gave plenty of bonus even outside of a state religion, but in fact they give only +1 for incense. :undecide:
Yet we might be back in OR in the future (space parts buildup) and then they're a full +3 joy building.

Bad news : only 2 sources of coal on our continent.

Good news : our dear friend Justy is trying his best to acquire mining resources (on our behalf hopefully)

 
Spoiler :
Are my eyes deceiving me...or was Monty going for a cultural victory :dubious:?
 
Spoiler :
Are my eyes deceiving me...or was Monty going for a cultural victory :dubious:?
Spoiler :
IDK :crazyeye:
As good as Monty performs vs the human player, he does not handle well AI vs AI situations most of the times :rolleyes:
 
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Update T128
Spoiler :
Turns become somewhat quicker.
Our main activity is now to manage the few mega cities that are important.
Most cities are currently stagnating.

We keep changing farms to workshops and workshops to farm around Tolosa
(and thank you Bizmark for the few extra workers in the end!)
Ironworks completed last turn and we started hiring 4 engineers immediately.
We'll hire 2 more in a couple of turns, at which point we should be ready to launch a golden age :), except if the game gives me the 7% merchant [pissed]
20 turns later we could have a 100% pure bread Tolosean great engineer :king:

Look it's a native american encroachment on our continent ^^

There are just enough cities building wealth for the slider to be maintained at 100%


Monty vassaled to Justy and I would love to have a friendly relationship with Sitting Bowl. Anyway can do?



Edit:
Spoiler :
and Athens gives us a great scientist. :woohoo:
 

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Anyway can do?
Hum...
Spoiler :
I dont know about getting him to Friendly but :
If you're willing to get him to Furious, then that lil' city of his, Nanih Waiya, makes for a very convenient spying spot. At the moment, stealing Rifling over there costs in the 2500 :espionage:
Spread Tao & spam Jails + Intelligence Agencies are the requirements.

Jail + Agency + Courthouse = 24 :espionage: / turn / city. It's kinda huge. Combined cost of the two extra buildings is 300 :hammers:
I might do it or I might not but, in your position, I'd think about it.
 
@konata_LS
Spoiler :
Last time we researched anything by ourselves was T159 (military tradition)
Since then we've been staying just above the STRIKE line, quite an experience indeed! (and I'm not speaking about Paris :vomit: public transportation system :lol:)

Now I expect more chill but have a plan for the GE :o
  1. GPP 600 & 700 by Athens > keep for golden Age
  2. Levee > Ironworks in Tolosa > Hire 4 engineers
  3. Research Assembly line (hope to trade for Corp) and build a factory in Tolosa > Hire 7 engineers. Start Golden age (+Pacifism) > get 800 engineer points
  4. Railroad. Enjoy the power of corps.
  5. ....
  6. Space :scan:


When you realize there is a whale that you haven't used for a thousand years (facepalm)

Spoiler :

Don't bother with that. Just go communism, state property, spam workshops, and get massive production to win any way you want.

My space attempt failed because even though I had the game in the bag after capping Bismarck (lib physics + 1120AD communism, 20 cities and about 700bpt at 100%, break-even at 60%), the global tech pace was just too slow for me to trade enough to win space under turn 250 (my self-defined limit). Sitting Bull was roleplaying Mansa in this game, with his freaking almost HoF-worthy start (but of course he wouldn't give me anything, lol).

As for how I avoided Alex DoW - simple. Die enough times and eventually you'll get him to pleased via religion/open borders/resource gift before he starts plotting. At any rate, construction is pretty early and once you start building up an elepult force even 10 swordsmen or something can't do anything to you. Early space requires cutting a few corners...not that I succeeded here, unfortunately.
 
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Spoiler :
Gotta be honest I didn't even pay attention to the actual land the other continent has. I just saw Sitting Bull sharing a continent with Monty and assumed that neither was ever going to accomplish anything. Instead I got Sitting Musa teching up a storm like it's going out of style :rolleyes:.
 
Spoiler :
Usually I spam those in this kind of context but in the end, many spy points are wasted aren't they?
Yes, sure.
Spoiler :
Once you take off over him, those EP will be wasted.
But, like, right now, he has in the range of 25k beakers over you. That's a whole lot and he's still teching.
I suppose another way of looking at this is Tech Path. If the techs he has over you are high priority, then espionage becomes less attractive (because you need to set up some). If you can go some other path (e.g. Biology), then it gives you time to set up some steals.
Looking at it a little more closely, it seems unavoidable to self tech some of what he has over you :undecide:


Early space requires cutting a few corners
Yeah but what about Late space ? :trophy3rd::clap::woohoo:
Sorry about your game, you seemed in very good shape in the first update and I know the time and effort you put into those.
 
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Spoiler :
Gotta be honest I didn't even pay attention to the actual land the other continent has. I just saw Sitting Bull sharing a continent with Monty and assumed that neither was ever going to accomplish anything. Instead I got Sitting Musa teching up a storm like it's going out of style :rolleyes:.

Spoiler :

SB is not a terrible techer - it's just that he rarely gets to friendly with other civs, is stingy with tech trades, always spams espionage to poison random peoples' water, and is a hate magnet for every warmonger that breathes. That means that he usually can't start or join in three-way-friendly lovefests which basically result in half the map giving each other free stuff for the entire game, which is as responsible for an AI's quick tech progression as innate economic ability itself. Isolate the self-teching ability from this variable and SB isn't that bad; behind the S and A tier AIs but still not Genghis-level awful. His flavors/personality are also not bad either: growth flavor means he prioritizes actually useful techs/builds somewhat instead of going entirely military, or declaring pointless wars that tank his economy. Give him flood plains wet corn gold and he can do quite a lot. And here, he had Buddhist buddy good-guy (high peaceweight) Justinian to bounce off, who also acted as a buffer against Monty.
 
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Spoiler :
A good lesson not to underestimate what an opponent is capable of just because circumstances are usually different, as I've just learned, I suppose :D.
 
Spoiler :
A good lesson not to underestimate what an opponent is capable of just because circumstances are usually different, as I've just learned, I suppose :D.

Spoiler :

Unlike the most recent Star Wars trilogy, your NC maps never fail to "subvert expectations" but in a good way :). This time it was Sitting Mansa, while a few NCs ago it was "Monty goes off the rails and wins domination", or "you can phalanx-rush 2 AIs because they start with no metal".

Also, I forgot the exact number, but there was a De Gaulle NC quite a while ago where Sitting Bull became the dominant AI/techer on the other continent because he got decent land and 10-11 cities. Of course, the other continent was pretty bad anyways (whereas you started isolated in wonderspamming heaven), but still, he's had a precedent of showing promising aptitude here and there.
 
@BornInCantaloup damn you are right!
Spoiler :
Sitting Ball has everything I need.


Can't I just run the espy slider high instead of building all those prisons?
And also... Hmm... regarding the spread of Tao... Missionaries are a commodity I can't afford (no monastery :o)
Does it matter? Will I get a discount still?

The slider gives us
1500 beakers at max research and
1000 spy points at max espionage...


T233
Spoiler :
Just a quick look at Berlin for drools.

Don't worry it has not reached its full potential yet :drool:

Emancipation is under control (-5 here). Can we keep it that way?

Edit: Stacking hammers. Thinking of doing 150:hammers: (out of 160) into a Palace next for 3254896:hammers: overflow into the 3 Gorges Dame maybe... :smoke:

Eddit: and Scotland Yard so... Yeah!
 

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The slider gives us
You can use the slider, sure,
Spoiler :
But the rate on those buildings is extraordinary. I mean : just the passive. It's real strong.
Lulz, props for obsoleting Monasteries before building one :lol: I think the religious discount is like 50% or something overpowered like that, if you control the shrined holy city (which you do).
But then, if you're going to use the slider to multiply commerce (which is not the base of your eco), keep in mind that Jails/Agencies also act as freaking 50% multipliers !

I mean, if you're hesitant between a Jail/Agency and a Market, well...
What you rightly point out is that : you don't need to go all in to use espionage.
I believe those buildings pay off really fast but maybe you don't need to spam them.
 
Civilization IV my beloved :love: Lately I have been yearning to play it more, but it had been years since I last picked it up.

Did a first game as Hatshepsut on Noble, had a pretty easy time. Afterwards started a game as Elizabeth on Prince, and I absolutely failed at expanding, my closest neighbor easily having twice as many cities as I did. Decided to leave that game, and try Prince again from the beginning, this time as Mansa Musa, but I was so boxed in by other civilizations I could only fit two cities before I had to conquer Korea. That worked well, but then Cyrus decided my civilization didn't deserve to exist and I promptly died. :sad:

This to say, Prince is maybe a bit much for me, but I did really want to beat it. On Reddit someone mentioned these games, and that beautiful start had me really excited to try!

I decided to play this save, on Noble (in case that first Noble game wasn't just a fluke). Unfortunately I didn't take screenshots during my playthrough, but I hope I can still participate:
Spoiler T270 :

Decided to settle in place, exploring around my capital revealed stone, gold, silver, and Alexander to my east.
Knowing I wanted to secure those resources, and hopefully box him in to cripple his chances of expansion, I quickly settle to my east:

(I know this is only Noble, but I was able to found my third city before some AIs even had a second one. This is probably nothing special, but I do feel like I managed to shorten the time I usually take to settle)

After building up a defensive army to deter any early aggression, somehow I managed to build the Pyramids and the Oracle in Paris (I'd like to send my thanks to stone, marble, and industrious :bowdown:).
Chose Code of Laws as my free tech, founding Confucianism in Orleans, and sent the free missionary to Alex.
This was very much the correct choice, with a shared religion I was able to pacify him - and the religion quickly spread to Boudica and Bismark as well, and the entire continent was one happy Confucian family. :please:

Settled two more cities to my north, one of them to grab those elephants and horses. North of those, two barb cities were founded (one by the dyes, another to the west of it), and both Boudica and Bismark got one each - I wanted the one by the dyes, but I was too late with building an offensive army.
In the meanwhile, Alex was boxed in his small peninsula - settled two cities and decided to build wonders. :hmm:
He also got to found Christianity, but never did anything with the religion. What he did not do, however, was build units. Uhhh... Alex, are you alright?
At the same time I noticed I was boxed in to the north, so I decided to put him out of his misery. Had just connected elephants to my trade network, so it was a matter of researching Construction and hit him with a stack of catapults and war elephants:


Meanwhile, as you can see, those two barb cities captured by Boudica and Bismark sparked tensions in their relationship. They kept exchanging hands the entire game - since it kept them both my neighbors busy with each other, I figured I would just let them duke it out while I wondermongered to victory. :thumbsup:

And that's exactly what happened, won a Cultural victory on turn 270:


Lots I know (in hindsight) I did wrong and the only reason I survived was due to the low difficulty level.
I was basically building wonders non-stop, my improvement choices were weak, at some point I basically gave up on improving my land myself, I didn't whip nearly often enough.
Alex was uncharacteristically a pushover, the other two were too busy with each other to bother me, the other continent had such strong tensions due to differing religions they couldn't quite keep up with my tech - so despite all my faults, I still cruised on by.

If anything, I think this is proof that Noble truly is too easy for me, and I should be giving Prince a try, let it kick my butt until I straighten up my game.

Anyways, the French Empire by 1800AD:



And her capital, the city of Paris:

(As the eagle eyes among you noticed, yes, I did pop one extra Silver in Paris - as if I didn't have enough commerce! :smug:)


Basically, all wonders were mine. I missed out on Stonehenge and Great Wall, and Alex built the Great Lighthouse and Apostolic Palace for me. Everyone else was too busy hitting each other with sharp sticks to contest me.

Reading everyone else's posts, I hope to learn something for my next game! :) I'll be sure to do it more proper next time, so I can get feedback during the game.
 
^ It looks like a good run to me, it certainly is a fine write-up. This is what those threads are all about.
Yeah, it could be improved... is that really important ? Your focus on military seems rather light, you could try to role-play a warmonger some other time, see what it gives.
 
Update T240
Spoiler :
We are practicing spying on the Spy Lord himself.

At the moment it costs (3:espionage: for 1:science:) but stationary and spending will improve that a little bit I guess.
Nanih Waiya people, please convert to Tao :please: it's a wonderful religion :nuke:

Built a bunch of :espionage: buildings (after factories) in high :hammers: cities and we are getting closer to Bull in espionage spendings:


We also built 15 extra workers (now they're so cheap) as we need to workshop, mine and railroad.
I think 40 workers is good for flexibility in the late game (convert 2 fully grown cities in a single turn)


Update T246
Spoiler :
Our research keeps accelerating ; we have a monopoly on both Electricity and Industrialism.


Espionage efficiency still bad.
I think we need to self research Combustion (we are beelining Plastic for Dames)
(For the cost of a monastery and a missionary we could be earning thousands of :science: right now :run:)

During the last 20 turns we have gathered many great people points.

Several cities need to slow down to let the Tolosean engineer happen first.

How about we go fishing for another couple of golden ages?

Mining is coming :bounce:
 

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