Nobles' Club 370: Napoleon of France

[AcaMetis]

The Nobles' Club series started out as a way for Noble-level (and below) players to improve their game. Most of the original participants now play at much higher levels, so this has become a way for advanced players to help others learn to play better. You can play your own game at any level and with any mod, but it would be nice to comment on the games of other players and give them advice.

Our next leader is Napoleon of France, whom we last played in NC 353; we last played the French under De Gaulle in NC 364. The French start with Agriculture and The Wheel.

• Traits: Napoleon is Charismatic and Organized. Charismatic gives every city, Monuments and Broadcast Towers +1, and decreases the exp required for units to level by 25%. Organized cuts Civic Upkeep in half, and gives a +100% bonus to Lighthouses, Courthouses and Factories.
• The UB: The Salon, an Observatory with +1 free Artist, providing +1, +4 and +3 GA. Not a bad bonus for cities facing cultural pressure, but your Great Person Pool will never be free from Great Artist pollution again.
• The UU: The Musketeer, a Musketman with 2 instead of 1. If you're attacking someone with Mounted units and are afraid of Pikeman sniping the strongest units in your army, bring along Musketeers as stack defenders. They can keep up with their allies on horseback. Somehow .

And the start:

Spoiler map details :

Inland Sea, Temperate Climate, Medium sealevel, +1 AI to balance the board.

Spoiler edits :

Two strategic resource swaps.

The WB-saves are attached (zipped; they are bigger than standard saves). To play, simply download and unzip it into your BTS/Saves/WorldBuilder folder. Start the game, and load your favorite MOD (if you use one, if not, check out the BUG MOD), select "Play Scenario", and look for "NC 370 Napoleon Noble" (or Monarch, etc., for higher levels). You can play with your favorite MOD at the Level and Speed of your choice. From Quick-Warlord to Marathon-Deity, all are welcome! We stuck with the name "Nobles Club" because it has a cool ring to it.

Spoiler what's up with specific difficulties :

In each scenario file you can select your level of difficulty, but that doesn't give the AI the right bonus techs by itself. Use the Noble save for all levels at and below Prince. The Monarch save gives all the AI Archery. Emperor adds Hunting; Immortal adds Agriculture; Deity adds The Wheel.

Spoiler what is demigod :

The difference between Immortal and Deity difficulty is akin to the difference between Noble and Immortal. Players eventually reached a point where Immortal was too easy, but Deity was still out of reach, and so neither difficulty provided a fun experience. "Demigod" is an otherwise standard Deity game where the AIs are only given their Immortal level starting units, in an attempt to bridge the gap.

Spoiler for players on Monarch or above :

You should add archery as a tech for the barbarians (if you don't, the AI will capture their cities very early). This cannot be done in the WB save file and must be done in Worldbuilder as follows:

Spoiler how to add techs to the barbarians :

1. Zoom in all the way so you can't see the rest of the map.
2. Use the CTRL-W key (or the menu) to enter the worldbuilder. Avoid looking at the mini-map in the lower right corner.
3. By default you're in "player" mode (look in the box in the upper right; the icon that looks like a person should be selected). You'll get a drop down menu labeled with your leader's name. Barbarians are at the bottom, so cover the rest of the list with your hand if you don't want to see who else is on the map. Select "Barbarians".
4. Select the "Technologies" tab in the box on the left.
5. Find Archery (the arrow head icon; 8th row, 3rd column from the right) and click it.
6. Exit the worldbuilder.
7. Zoom out again after the map fades, and start playing.

If you're playing at higher level than Monarch, consider also giving them Hunting at Emperor, Agriculture at Immortal, and The Wheel at Deity.

Spoiler huts and events :

Note: The standard saves have no huts and have events turned off. If you want tribal villages and random events, choose the saves with "Huts" in their names. If you want huts but no events, select the Huts saves and use Custom Scenario to turn on the option that suppresses events.

 

[AcaMetis]

Warrior 1NW to check the empty riverside grass tile, settle 1W if it's food, otherwise...settle 1W anyway? I'm not sure what to do with this situation bar pray that Bronze Working comes early. Oh, and obviously not make the mistake of settling a tile south somewhere to get the Furs in BFC. The capitol's third culture ring will grab those soon enough, and moving into tundra just to get some low food value commerce tiles isn't great.

That's my take, anyway. What do the experts think?

 

[a pen-dragon]

Warrior 1NW seems best, the south is for later, and going east will not provide immediately useful information.

Now speculating about the dark tiles, it looks like 2E1S of the settler is a PH without forest, so I think it is likely to hold a resource. All other second ring tiles look like forests, which at best hold mediocre calendar resources.

Sheep as only food resource does not look inspiring, as AH is quite expensive and I would like to chop ASAP. With another food tile the sheep can be mined for the early game.

If there is no farming resource to the west I think a longer settler walk may be in order. Maybe towards 2N, keeping the sheep and some forests and later rexing with a fur/sheep chopping city?

 

[AcaMetis]

It's hard to see in the screenshot, but IIRC ingame you can see that 2N1W of settler is a green tile without a forest on it (can't check ingame right this second).

 

[chinemol]

with char, the fur is less valuable at the start.
going NW would grab the sheep and the northern resourses the SIP BFC would have, just not the eastern. settling blindly sounds contrary to NC's games though
think I might explore with the settler for a couple of turns, finding good food sources is important. organized makes it forgiving to overexpand a bit, doesn't reward having a compact, small empire.

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

I would move settler 1N and settle blind. I want the city on the hill to defend against barbarians.

 

[skarpa]

I've played the first 100 turns a couple times now mainly cos I forgot CHA adds happiness, that border pops need monuments, that monuments themselves are useful now for cheap +1 happiness and some other stuff (spoilers). Basically did the same moves but better

Turn 100

Spoiler :

Moved warr NW which revealed a green river tile, decided I wouldn't settle N on the hill as further away from green river and maybe I'd want to mine the hill. Went NW with settler which would keep the sheep in 2nd ring if I settled. Immediately found wet corn 1 tile N and decided to settle. First time I did this I forgot Wet Corn is better than dry sheep and teched AH first. This time I decided chopping asap looked pretty essential and whipping wouldn't hurt (much) either so teched Mining and BW. The sheep could wait.

Paris started worker. Warrior went to scout further west along the river. Tech came in nicely with worker finishing wheat. Decided build warr until size 2 then switch and chop and maybe whip settler. Thought I'd settle close in because I wasn't exploring the map and wanted to settle on the basis of what I could see this time. Hence Orleans 2720 BC which shares some cottages usefully with Paris.

Adopted slavery, research Pot and then AH. Cities built warriors when recovering from whipping workers and settlers. I chopped everything I could too and basically produced as much of both as I could. This is why cities are still small. After AH teched Myst for monuments (I usually play CRE so forgot about this first time).

1st warrior built went NE along river to scout and FB. 2nd built went NW to FB and found FPs and Gold. Decided as Perry and Ragnar both close I should claim this with 3rd city (Lyon 1760BC). Next warr to SE to FB and scout. He's still there. Having not found any copper IW seemed essential next tech as had seen a barb spear wandering E of me. Iron popped up nicely near Paris but as I didn't want to build expensive Axes when Archers would do for most defence I then teched hunting and Archery. After that it was Math to boost chop yield.

Barb spearman died to my Axe who himself was killed when healing in a forest by a Barb archer, I thought his odds were good enough to risk it. They weren't, or the archer got real lucky. Paris had to build another Axe and it was clear I'd need some archers too so production shifted and it wasn't until 1000BC I got my 4th city settled. Opted for coast rather than next to FP SSE. Thought I'd need a second border pop to get piggies anyway and I would settle X later to fill the gap. Still haven't.

With Rheims settled the warr went to explore up the coast and found dyes and marble. Since Greek border was close I settled these next with Tours 800BC. Marseilles was settled to stop Perry getting the Cow and Incense. Cities might have been better arranged but Lyon was settled without using hindsight where I put it first go as I hadn't scouted to the W yet. Still may settle for the wheat if Perry doesn't get there first.

An archer pushing east to FB found Gold, and Wet Wheat - both good, and Ragnar, bloody not good. Rushed to settle Chartres 525 BC. Decided Gold and WW would have to be in second ring as I wanted best defensive position. A Library will help secure them culturally after the monument.

After Maths it was time for Curr and then F and Sail to allow me to tech Cal - 6 turns away and will allow me to get incense and dye and Silk for happiness and trades. Monty is tech leader!!! (No one else has Alpha at least) and demanded IW off me. I'm not stupid so he got that and hope someone else will pay the price. He is now pleased with me. Ragnar however has just decided I'm his worse enemy. I dunno what to do about that. He surely will attack me. Monty is willing to war with him but dunno where is and he won't accept Curr as payment but he will trade Alpha + 10 gold for it. Should I go for it?

I have also have a settler just whipped in Rheims. Does he go to settle 1 south of Chartres to share Wet wheat and grab copper? If so do I risk settling E of the river to have deer too? Will 2 frontline cities support each other or split my defenders too much?

Decisions... decisions.

 

[Kernigh]

I opened it in the game. I suspect that the tundra hill 2S1W of the warrior is on the edge of the map, so there would be no ocean, and no seafood near the furs. I would settle in place unless the warrior (moving NW) finds a good tile. I don't want to waste a turn moving the settler, if there is a chance that the move doesn't help me.

I made a turn 0 save but have not yet moved.

 

[skarpa]

I opened it in the game. I suspect that the tundra hill 2S1W of the warrior is on the edge of the map, so there would be no ocean, and no seafood near the furs. I would settle in place unless the warrior (moving NW) finds a good tile. I don't want to waste a turn moving the settler, if there is a chance that the move doesn't help me.

I made a turn 0 save but have not yet moved.

perhaps not a big help but the settler is sat on a juicy river grass tile. Maybe a move to a river plains tile to utilise a less cottage-able tile?

 

[chinemol]

perhaps not a big help but the settler is sat on a juicy river grass tile. Maybe a move to a river plains tile to utilise a less cottage-able tile?

depending on the difficulty level it may not be worth compromising a present move for hopes of a better future.
I'd say above monarch or so, just kill the green forested river tile if nothing else is involved

 

[skarpa]

Warrior 1NW seems best, the south is for later, and going east will not provide immediately useful information.

Now speculating about the dark tiles, it looks like 2E1S of the settler is a PH without forest, so I think it is likely to hold a resource. All other second ring tiles look like forests, which at best hold mediocre calendar resources.

Sheep as only food resource does not look inspiring, as AH is quite expensive and I would like to chop ASAP. With another food tile the sheep can be mined for the early game.

If there is no farming resource to the west I think a longer settler walk may be in order. Maybe towards 2N, keeping the sheep and some forests and later rexing with a fur/sheep chopping city?

depending on the difficulty level it may not be worth compromising a present move for hopes of a better future.
I'd say above monarch or so, just kill the green forested river tile if nothing else is involved

I'm on Monarch - I think @a pen-dragon is deity and seems to be willing to risk a turn 3 settle if the warrior finds nothing to the west. Fortunately for anyone deciding the warrior can usefully scout 1W or better still(?) 1 NW before deciding to move the settler or SIP @Kernigh

 

[Kernigh]

Spoiler Emperor, 1960BC T51 :

• 4000BC T0: Warrior moves northwest, finds 2 tiles without forest: a grassland river 1S3W of my settler, and a grassland hill 2S3W. If the river tile hides a copper or horse, then I want to settle 1W. If the hill hides something, I can't reach it unless I lose the sheep. Settle in place my capital Ajaccio. See a river corn 2N1W of Ajaccio. Begin to build a worker and research Animal Husbandry (for sheep). Next techs will be Mining, Bronze Working (to chop forest).
• 3040BC T24: Ajaccio begins a Settler at size 2.
• 2720BC T32: Bell for Bronze Working. I have a sheep pasture, corn farm, and 2 tiles of road 1N and 2N1E of Ajaccio. Begin to chop forests. Next techs are Mysticism (for Monument), Hunting (for deer), Pottery (for cottage).
• 2520BC T37: Settle Bastia 2S4W of Ajaccio. It needs a Monument to reach its deer.
• 2040BC T49: Bell for Pottery. Revolt to adopt Slavery.
• 1960BC T51: Settle Calvi 3W of Bastia. It has sheep, needs a Monument to reach its horse.

There is marble 8N2W of Ajaccio. I mulled settling a city on the marble, connecting it with a long road, and building The Oracle, but I prefer to settle better cities and not research Priesthood. My map has no copper and a single horse. I aimed for the horse (7W of Ajaccio).

I might have settled my 2nd city by the horse. I instead put my 2nd city closer to the capital, and my 3rd city by the horse. I don't know which way is better. The gap between the horse city and the capital would prevent a trade route. My 2nd city Bastia fills the gap and provides a trade route (via a chain of river tiles inside my borders), but Bastia also slows my growth (by having less food in its 1st ring).

The barbarians are nearby and the other civilizations are far away. I want to send out more warriors before I settle another city. I have no cottages yet, but I have chopped some forests to make room for grassland river cottages. My next techs might be Writing and Alphabet (to trade techs).

 

[skarpa]

(Monarch) Late Domination Win 1822 - I had to cap every AI to make it over the land threshold.

Spoiler :

I developed as in my post earlier and settled just about everywhere I coud. Ragnar I bought off with gifts and a military build up in my vulnerable cities but Joao launched a surprise attack on me at Tours on the other end of my empire - I'd refused him tribute ages ago. Fortunately he was slow to develop the attack and I got defenders in there and then counter-attacked the besiegers. For good measure I bribed Monty into war with him. His remaining chariots ran off and we made peace. I adopted Ragnar's religion too and eventually he became friendly. This was Monty's religion as well which was a bonus but no one else's. The others were in another religion and Perry in his own which made him diplomatically a soft target. I teched to Cuirassiers 1110AD having been late to Lib in 1040 - I couldn't bulb it as usual but I was still first.

Cyrus went to war with Perry and I joined in. I wasn't really ready but I didn't want to risk Cyrus capping him. I took Corinth with Grt Lib and Parthenon and then Athens. He capped to me 1420. I got rifling by 1450 and converted nearly all my units to cav before war with Cyrus 1650. Before then I spread his AP religion throughout my cities so I could block his chances of a diplo victory and hopefully outvote any unwelcome peace votes etc. He swiftly capped in 1580 after I captured 2 cities and his capital, one of which I liberated to Perry to help him like me. I converted to Cyrus's, Shaka's and Charlies religion to help them like me thinking I might be able to conquer my way to winning an AP victory

Charley was next and was even easier meat than Cyrus. War 1630, peace after I took Vienna 1645. Shifted forces to my other front and DOWed Ragnar 1675. A handy AP vote in 1690 got my co-religionists to pile in and he capped after I got Nidaros in 1700. I went to war with Monty while Nidaros was still burning and got him capped at 1750. Then in a futile attempt to butter up Joao and Shaka in the hope they'd vote for me I gave them some tech including rifling. This was a dumb move as I decided I'd have to take out both to win quickly.

Portugal gave in quckly but Shaka wouldn't talk to me even after I took his cap in 1815. He got infantry too during the war making my cabalry army less useful and an AP vote for peace after I took his cap was vetoed by him. I had my own infantry of course by now but I'd neglected to build railroads (or do anything with my cities apart from churn out units) so my infantry we a long way off if he managed a counter-attack. I did minor attack from Charleys' territory and in 1820 he suddenly decided to throw in the towel.

Domination win 1822. Things were scrappy and ill organised in the end but I just wanted to get the game done. Civ has the one disadvantage as it's often patently obvious who's gonna win long before they actually do and grinding out the victory is tedious. I did see the developers of Civ 7 talking about people not finishing a game and so splitting the game into Eras(? is an attempt to make finishing a game more fun. I tried a Civ VI demo but didn't really like it and there seems to be a move towards more and more gimmicky traits and units which are often hopelessly broken and overpowered and I suspect Civ 7 will be more of the same.

Anyway, first time I've played this kind of map. Definite shock finding the edge of the world. I can see how this can give a more balanced game by ensuring each civ has 2 neighbours but I won't be deliberately looking to play more. Exploring the world is part of the fun and in Iso games I get to do it twice.