Nobles' Club CLIX Mao of China

[TheMeInTeam]

Disagree on settling in place. On stone gives you a 2 hammer city tile and instant access to the resource with masonry (not even building a quarry time) while accelerating your earliest turns. You lose 1 plains hill and a hidden tile (might be resources), possibly gaining a seafood.

Gunning stone wonders looks like an okay bet here, maybe sneak in GLH too since you'll probably need sailing early also. It should help with the maintenance issues early too.

 

[vranasm]

Disagree on settling in place. On stone gives you a 2 hammer city tile and instant access to the resource with masonry (not even building a quarry time) while accelerating your earliest turns. You lose 1 plains hill and a hidden tile (might be resources), possibly gaining a seafood.

Gunning stone wonders looks like an okay bet here, maybe sneak in GLH too since you'll probably need sailing early also. It should help with the maintenance issues early too.

actually as I said on first page it's worth considering, but imo here plays big role the difficulty level you will play on.

I think the lack of at least 1 plains hill and improved quarry will cost you some non-trival amount of hammers and you will need a lot of turns of natural production, so in the end I think it would be safer to settle on stone on Monarch then on Immortal, because generally speaking you have a lot more time on Monarch compared to Immortal.

 

[dalamb]

@vranasm: Did you really mean settle-on-stone is better at Monarch than Immortal? I'd have thought it's the other way around -- settling on stone for the extra right away might be a necessity on the higher levels, but you have time to wait for some production at Monarch and lower. Settling on stone loses some of the visible hills, so longer-term production might be lower.

Spoiler post-exploration observation :

It would be nice to see if peoples' opinions change once they see the rest of the food-poor map.

 

[vranasm]

@vranasm: Did you really mean settle-on-stone is better at Monarch than Immortal? I'd have thought it's the other way around -- settling on stone for the extra right away might be a necessity on the higher levels, but you have time to wait for some production at Monarch and lower. Settling on stone loses some of the visible hills, so longer-term production might be lower.

Spoiler post-exploration observation :

It would be nice to see if peoples' opinions change once they see the rest of the food-poor map.

well I said this and I even mean this (edit: I mean only on this starting position ofc! other cases will be pretty different)... from my experience 2 hills is very low number for Mids construction and even though the capital has 2 food sources if you abuse the whip button you will kill your capital for very long time and you still can miss out on the Mids.

one very small advantage at this case is that the stone is riverside so you delay the hooked stone for only 8 turns (to build quarry) and you will have much better natural production.

soo I think the typical date for construction of Mids on Immortal and Monarch really can mean the difference if you land it when sip or sos.

 

[Mikehendi]

I normally see settling on stone as a good move, but here you lose 3 out of your 4 production tiles (2 hills + quarry), AND the stone is riverside (thus connected - no need to tech the wheel), AND you can have it online on t25. ( and the warrior can reveal the possible seafood spot).

I think settling on the stone here is a mistake on any difficulty, and will lead to a slower 'mids date if you gun for that

 

[Noble Zarkon]

soo I think the typical date for construction of Mids on Immortal and Monarch really can mean the difference if you land it when sip or sos.

I agree - but on Monarch, and with the Stone being riverside, you have plenty of time. At that level starting on Stone is a weak move IMO, on higher levels sure which is what I thought you were saying.

 

[dmd175]

First ever emperor game and victory.

Spoiler :

Took out Willem with cavs/cannons and it was sweet. Banished him to the NW arctic islands and he was a faithful vassal. Got tanks at end of WvO conquest, and like Patton, went immediately to turn the cannons on Wang, but I noted that he got tanks too...and Mansa built Apollo that turn, so I foresaw losing to someone while mopping this continent. Of course Mansa only had 3 cities and no industrial base, and was constantly warring with Egypt. Nevertheless, I figured I'd hit space while culturing and diplo. I was constantly 4-10 votes away from the UN vote, even after spreading Sid Sushi to get extra pop...I even flipped two Korean border cities and was close to flipping his inner circle (I had culture touching 2 of the 3 cities in his first ring). Landed SS 1952. Fun, and I feel like I can at least play emperor now.

 

[enKage]

HMMM, I always wanted to try 100% espionage game, this stone is tempting for it, Mao suits best in role-play criteria, but traits dont favor it so much, maybe except cheap castles

 

[enKage]

My first immo espionage focused game. The former esp game I played (only once in whole life! monarch lvl)was won, but let say was very hard

Please comment my current position (25AD) and strategy.

Any sugestions about esp game will be very appreciated


Immortal, NH/NE, Normal speed 25AD

Spoiler :

5 cities only, planning 2 more + take a barb city.

Now I finally researched CoL so it is time to shut off research, concentarting only on spies + wealth + units.
Want to take Willem first (he will declare anyway) and keep Wang alive for tech stealing.

I have Mids, Oracle, Mids. Missed GLH for 6 turns

I am not sure how to divide esp points between 2 of them.

No libraries, no markets, should I put some? What bulbs I should go for?
Religion distrubution does not allow to steal from Mansa .
Than take Mansa , Egypt and whatever comes next


Not sure about civics. Police state seems clear to me soon, but dont know slavery/caste, as caste can be useful to speed up great people or keep some merchants aside spy to help economy running.

 

[Mikehendi]

After a couple deity fails, got my revenge on immortal

Domination win 1600AD

Spoiler :

Stayed really small, covered my costs almost completely with resources for gpt. Stocked up on 1000's of gold from tech trades and one 1500 gold GM trade mission.

I didn't pre-build knights (cities were not ready yet), but built/whipped about 30 cuirassiers and DOWed Willem 1110AD. By then I was already close to rifling. Willem/Wang/Mansa were ahead in tech, but democracy can't defend against cuirassiers.

DOW Wang in 1250 with Cavalry, he also didn't put up a fight. Built some boats, and shipped my troops to the mansa/ramsesses continent. Wanted to go for ramsesses first, but changed to Mansa when I saw he started researching rifles. I took 3 of his 6 cities on turn 2 of the war, and he capped.

I kept willem, wang and mansa at 3-4 cities, they are excellent research partners. I bribed them into stop trading with each other, so I would be the one to take advantage of the tech trades.

Ramsesses was wiped out completely, DOWed Ceasar next. While extremely backwards (he had just gotten gunpowder), he put up the biggest fight, but no match for experienced cavalry and fresh infantry stacks.

Game over, revenge feels good

 

[pigswill]

Emperor epic 1490. no huts.

Spoiler :

Domination/conquest victory. Settled 7 cities peacefully, all on home island. Built Glight, Parthenon, Glib. late Pyramids (?350ad). MoM. Ignored cho ko nus completely and went for lib>miltrad cuirassier/cavalry rush. Willem and Mansa were always ahead of me in tech but fortunately spent time researching DR and democracy even while they were being invaded .