Nobles' Club 391: Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire

[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 Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire, whom we last played in NC 339. The Holy Romans start with Hunting and Mysticism.

• Traits: Charlemagne is Imperialistic and Protective. Imperialistic adds +100% to Great General generation and +50% bonus to Settler production (note that the settler bonus doesn't apply to excess directly converted to ). Protective gives all Archery and Gunpowder units a free City Garrison I (+20% City Defence) and Drill I (+1 First Strike chance) promotion, as well as a +100% bonus to Walls and Castles.
• The UB: The Rathaus, a Courthouse with -75% city maintenance instead of -50%. Only really useful lategame if you're heavily using Corporations, since without ORG Courthouses are simply too expensive to justify building early if you don't have to. And if you have to in order to unlock Forbidden Palace for a colony the extra reduction won't be noticed so much anyway.
• The UU: The Landsknecht, a Pikeman with +100% vs. Melee units in addition to Mounted. Fantastic stack defenders that will leave the AI scratching their collective heads for a viable counter (hint: it's Crossbows), although their base 6 makes them fairly weak against units they don't get a massive bonus against. That's nothing a bit of Siege can't solve, though, and Engineering does happen to unlock Trebuchets as well....

And the start:

Spoiler map details :

Pangaea, Tropical climate, Medium sealevel.

Spoiler edits :

A few 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 391 Charlemagne 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]

Bit under the weather, so I'll just throw out "scout 1N -> 1NE, settler 1SE -> 1E -> settle PH next turn" as my guess for optimal T0 moves and hope I'm at least close .

Any experts wishing to point out what anything I missed?

 

[Qactus]

Oh, while I'd definitely move the Scout first (N-NE), it'd have to reveal something really really special 2N to keep me from settling on the bananas. That is just such a beautiful capital, and Hunting for the green riverside jumbos already as a starting tech

 

[Fippy]

Easy Touchdown.

 

[Thrasybulos]

Yeah, can't really see what beats SOB here.

I'm not really sold on the suggested scout moves, though: what could be revealed 2N2E or 1N3E which would make us change our minds?
I believe I'd start the job of exploring our vicinity right away with 1S then 1W.

 

[Qactus]

...
I'm not really sold on the suggested scout moves, though: what could be revealed 2N2E or 1N3E which would make us change our minds?
...

Spoiler Improbable, but :

 

[Build2Much]

Yeah, can't really see what beats SOB here.

I'm not really sold on the suggested scout moves, though: what could be revealed 2N2E or 1N3E which would make us change our minds?
I believe I'd start the job of exploring our vicinity right away with 1S then 1W.

I agree with SOB based on what I can see - I think this is right - extra food in the Capital and can immediately work forested Plains Hill for an extra hammer on a settler (2 actually?). With flood plains abounding which guarantees commerce and extra food for my 2nd city, I'm thinking settler first and settling City 2 up the river on that plains hill might be a good play? (4 immediate hammers = 6 plus the extra food in the capital). Is that correct? Leveraging these traits is not something I have worried about for 20 years.

I actually want to see what is out to the West and I'm going to be most tempted to move the scout in that direction.

Also, I wanted to try a harder leader and a pangea, so nice pick!

 

[Thrasybulos]

Spoiler Improbable, but :

View attachment 747380

Not "improbable", but "impossible".
As far as I know, only the "start normalizer" can spawn food next to another ressource, and that's no start location yonder...

I suppose that double (or triple, hey, let's fantasy HARD ) gems with NO food, where SOB makes the Corn difficult / impossible to share could indeed be a factor... But I'll take the odds and disregard the possibility.
I'd rather my scout cover the open ground quickly while it's safe to do so, leaving forest/jungle for when animals appear.

 

[Build2Much]

Immortal T223 1565AD Conquest/Domination fueled by Cats/Trebs. SOB , build settler first, have 2 cities and 2 workers working before T30. I'm positive I could have done better, there are high scores to be had on this one. Last 3 Civs vassaled after losing 1 city.

Spoiler My core cities map, etc. :

 

[soundjata]

Reporting T103

Spoiler :

Imperialistic means win can quickly settle... Horrible land

We captured a barbarian (pig) city, razed another one and we are almost ready for the next juicy grab

There is a huge barrier between us and stupidos inc., and the diplo situation is chaotic.
Justi attacked Kong and a dogpile might ensue

Swheegeedeeee! (Nuremberg is key I think)

Tech path went Agri, TW, Pottery, Archery, AH, Writing, Aesthetics, Meditation, Priesthood (trade for Alpha, Monarchy, IW) Fishing, Sailing, Drama (trade for Math and Calendar) Music and Compass (trade for Col and Currency)

Our friends Jao and Capac still have many goodies to offer. We need Philo, MC and HBR. (We have plans for those ) Feudalism is not necessary.

GP production so far 9/100

 

[Hairy Tuttle]

Settling on the banana seems like the obvious t0 move.