Nobles' Club 393: Washington of America

[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 Washington of America, whom we last played in NC 341; we last played the Americans under Lincoln in NC 382. The Americans start with Agriculture and Fishing.

• Traits: Washington is Charismatic and Expansive. Charismatic gives every city, Monuments and Broadcast Towers +1, and decreases the exp required for units to level by 25%. Expansive adds +2 to all cities, gives a +100% bonus to Granaries and Harbors, and a +25% bonus to Workers (note that the worker bonus doesn't apply to excess directly converted to ).
• The UB: The Mall, a Supermarket with +20% and +1 with Hit Musicals, Hit Singles and Hit Movies. Generally regarded as a useless UB that comes far too late to make any sort of difference, it nevertheless manages to be a welcome addition to a rush-buy strategy for its increased gold output, or a standard Caste/State Property hammer economy to help offset Emancipation anger.
• The UU: The Navy SEAL, a Marine with 1-2 First Strikes and a free March promotion, allowing the unit to heal while moving. Usually dismissed as irrelevant since few games ever reach the era in which these guys show up, Navy SEALS nevertheless set a new standard for terrors from the sea that Ragnar's Berserkers only manage to reach due to taking City Raider promotions into the gunpowder era.

And the start:

Spoiler map details :

Fractal, Rocky climate, Medium sealevel.

Spoiler edits :

A few strategic resource swaps, and moving impossible to work seafood.

Spoiler isolated? :

Full iso.

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 393 Washington 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]

Awkward start. SIP doesn't get a T0 EXP bonus on a worker, but can get one starting T5. 1S would get the EXP bonus T1, but the worker spends an additional turn moving to the pigs, and the land the capitol moves into is generously described as "uninspiring" - though what land was moved away from is a largely blind guess at the same time. Also a lot of coast, so the possibility of ruining seafood has to be considered. Plus, the Warrior isn't really in the greatest position.

Honestly, I'd probably just SIP and call that "good enough" in this case, but in terms of optimization I have no idea how to play this opening. Any experts that wish to weight in?

 

[Izuul]

SIP or maybe wander 2W to the river PH if you are feeling adventurous. Starting warrior position is a bit unfortunate.

 

[Thrasybulos]

1NW.
Why such a weak suggestion?
Because SIP, 1S, or 2W prevent a second city 2S1W or 2S2W.
But why the hell would I want a second city there?

Because your challenge, should you accept it, is to beat this map with no coastal city. Zero, zilch, nada.

Spoiler After a quick look at the map... :

Well, probably not doable on Immortal and certainly not on Deity, but below that... maaaaybe?

Spoiler Question, with actual spoiler :

Could someone who understands such things explain the southern blue circle?
I thought it was a dead giveaway of sea food out there... and there's nothing!

 

[AcaMetis]

Spoiler :

Could someone who understands such things explain the southern blue circle?
I thought it was a dead giveaway of sea food out there... and there's nothing!

TL;DR: The game heavily overvalues coastal cities in some cases. Not sure exactly when or why, but you can find blue circles on the coast purely because it's on the coast, not because there's I.E. a good selection of resources there. Or any at all.

Alternatively it's possible there's some hidden late game resource around there, Oil or Uranium or etc., but that's obviously not a major concern circa 2000 BC or so

 

[Build2Much]

I’m not sure how I could choose anything but SIP, wasting 2 turns blindly hoping for better is too high level a move for me!

I have mostly used Roosevelt with the Americans and i definitely would have gone boat first with him. Washington demands worker first I assume, basically have to go AH>Mining? Warrior will be working out to the west to find a spot for NYC.

 

[sampsa]

With a non-fishing starter 2W would seem like a possibility, though with this warrior placement it is risky anyway. And we are a fishing starter.

Not sure if I understand rationale of going boat first with Roosy and not with Washy. I probably want the GLH anyway and would likely skip AH.

 

[Build2Much]

@sampsa I assumed:

1. Need the pig as food to even work the available mines, bonus hammer to worker is what Wash offers, as well as a little extra happiness.

2. I had not done the math however, to realize the worker may be standing around for a while - mining won’t be done in time if I work the 3H hill to get the worker out, probably need to do some micro on the commerce tiles to make it work, if it is even possible to keep from having a stationary worker

The “skip AH” is something I have almost never even considered if food was available for 20 years.

 

[sampsa]

Well there is the clam, that plus mined pig is still +4. At lighthouse you are +6 with the lake. That can support even some plains hill mines.

You are correct that EXP worker is 2T faster, which might make a difference.

 

[Build2Much]

Well, I definitely should have read the map spoilers before starting this. Might not have mattered.

Spoiler Ran into a slight problem :

Until now, I don’t recall seeing a Barb stack of 3 archers (which I didn’t realize was a stack of 3 archers, thought it was one guy). Lost Boston with 2 warriors in there. Had I known it was full iso from the start, maybe I defend/fogbust better. Or maybe I beeline TGW. Or maybe this happens anyway. In any case, this is abandoned.

Begin again!

 

[soundjata]

Fun map. Nice variation

 

[sampsa]

@Build2Much

Spoiler :

maybe I defend/fogbust better

This. There is a nice fortification spot N of golds. I lost that (~11% odds) which hurt like hell. I think on immortal GLH is autowin here due to the island. It's a great map for learning how to handle the barbs.

 

[Izuul]

I played up to 425 AD on Demigod

Spoiler :

I just finished Astronomy between turns. Wandered 2W with the initial settler. I didn't do it because i thought it was optimal - i just felt like doing it. I did not read the map spoilers before starting so i had no idea this was iso until i didn't meet anyone for awhile. Had i known this was iso, I probably would've gone for SIP and GLH.

As is always the case for me with ISO maps, getting to Astro, meeting the AI, and making trades is the fun part. Everything beyond that is typically a painful grind and i rarely play these out. The city counts here look pretty high, and there's a really good chance that Pericles with 11 cities will capitulate Gilgamesh who is on 4. That would make this even more painful.

 

[Plains-Cow]

What victory conditions are you guys playing for?

 

[sampsa]

What victory conditions are you guys playing for?

There is only domination/conquest.

 

[chinemol]

@Build2Much

Spoiler :

This. There is a nice fortification spot N of golds. I lost that (~11% odds) which hurt like hell. I think on immortal GLH is autowin here due to the island. It's a great map for learning how to handle the barbs.

Spoiler :

built TGL on immortal, still it's a hard map!

 

[jnebbe]

heh, maybe couldve expanded more

Spoiler :

I never play iso so level of play wasn't very good lol, optics by t134 feels pretty slow. Didn't know if the island would pay off soon enough

Did trades and then killed off a civ Izuul hasn't met yet with trebs+grenadiers and filled in the rest of my island, now at 28 cities. Probably won't finish this one either, just a lot of pressing space bar when I know the game is already won.
Thus we see the eternal problem of playing civ

 

[soundjata]

T101 Deity

Spoiler :

What a nice micro haven

Handled the barbs with 3 chariots and a few reloads
The first GS came from Boston and planted an Academy in Philadelphia this turn.
New York and Washington are bound to produce a couple more GS by T146 max.
One more city (before Astro) on the island will be lucrative I suppose.
We can punch Numidian for XP or gold or both
Philadelphia, with decent care, will eventually become a fine bureau cap (do levees give +1 to riverside peaks )

Because we have so much gold and silver and stone, Mining inc. could be an interesting development down the road...

 

[Izuul]

Getting the Engineer for Mining Inc is always the major sticking point. You almost have to plan for it from the early stages of the game.

 

[soundjata]

@Izuul Forge / Ironworks / Factory / Golden age / Pacifism possibly (54 GE points/turn)