Nobles' Club CXII: Ragnar of the Vikings

[dalamb]

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 Ragnar of the Vikings, whom we last played in NC LXXII. The Vikings start with Fishing and Hunting.

• Traits: Leader is Aggressive and Financial. AGG benefits the UU; FIN helps pay for the kind of empire you get with aggressive behaviour.
• The UB: The Trading Post, a Lighthouse that give Navigation 1 (+1 movement) to all ships built in the city.
  
  
• The UU: The Berserker, an amphibious Maceman with +10% city attack. They also get Combat I because Ragnar is AGG. Especially when delivered by 3-move galleys they're great medieval invaders against anybody with coastal cities, just like in Real Life. If you plan on a late-game war, you might still want to make a bunch of berserkers since the promotions carry over when you upgrade (although the +10% doesn't). CR II Amphibious riflemen, oh, my!
  

And the start:

Spoiler map details :

Islands, low sea level.

Spoiler edits :

Regenerated to ensure at least one AI reachable pre-Astronomy. Ensured iron was reasonably nearby.

Finally, a cut and paste of our standard doctrine:

There are no hard and fast rules here: fun and learning are our primary goals, but we do suggest that you update your progress at various points in the game, using the Spoiler feature of the boards. You can post as often as you like; here's one suggestion:

• 4000 BC (starting thoughts, no spoiler required for that discussion)
• 1000 BC or so (how you decided to progress up the early tech/build paths, which AIs you have met, where you're thinking of putting cities, etc)
• 500 AD or so (after establishing some cities and a possible plan of action)
• 1200 AD or so (mid-game, Lib race, wars or peace, or whichever happened or didn't, met other
• continent if applicable, etc)
• 1600 AD (or when you have decided on a course of action and a specific victory condition)
• End of game (Victory!!! or defeat, no shame in losing, especially if you tried a higher level. Learning is what we focus on, not fastest win or biggest empire)

This is just a guideline. If you're trying to improve your game, then posting more frequent updates, in as much detail as you can manage, is the best way to get suggestions from other players. If you come to what seems like a major decision and you want some advice, post an update, regardless of what game-year it is.

We also welcome players to ask for specific game advice, as we have a number or stronger players who lurk and help out with solid tips, and of course, we help each other. Replies to specific questions should also be in spoilers, with a simple "@" in front of the person the answer is directed towards.

Special Thanks go to Bleys and TMIT, who really made this series a great one, r_rolo1, mapmaker extraordinaire, for his maps in the early days of the series, and all of you for playing.

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 112 Rangar 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 Noble. The Monarch save gives all the AI Archery. Emperor adds Hunting; Immortal adds Agriculture; Deity adds The Wheel.

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.

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.

 

[dalamb]

Reserved.

 

[Robert FIN]

Why no one is interested in vikings?

 

[JSS]

I have not had the patience to finish a game in a long time. Will do this now on Immortal and hope to have it in me to do it since there's not much to do on christmas anyway.

 

[dalamb]

I think a few people diverted to SoM's Pacal, posted on the same day. But there's no time limit; if folks don't start this until New Year's Day there isn't a problem.

 

[rfcfanatic]

I decided to took the challenge and started the game on Noble difficulty (with Huts on).

900 BC

Spoiler :

By 1000 BC I managed to settle 4 cities. I got a technology from a hut - Mining. Since there are not many happiness resources, I decided to go for Monarchy. I'm also trying to use the research slider trick of running it on 100% as long I have gold in my treasury and then turn it down to 0% so I could accumulate gold. Seems to be a neat trick. I learned it from this Immortal University game as Mao Zedong posted by TheMeInTeam.

500 AD

Spoiler :

By 500 AD I'm running Hereditary Rule, Bureaucracy and Slavery and have converted to Charlemagne's religion. Only 2 wonders completed - The Great Lighthouse and The Colossus - but I guess these are pretty useful in this map.

Uppsala has produced 2 Great Scientists so far. I used the scientists to build academies in Nidaros and Haithabu. I also received a Great Artist from Music. I think I'm gonna use the artist to run a golden age as soon as I get Paper.

What do you think - is it a good idea to turn the research slider down to 0% during the GA? What I want to do is to accumulate a lot of wealth during the GA so I could sweep through techs afterwards with the slider at 100%.

As a conclusion, I guess I'm doing quite well tech-wise, but my expansion and production are quite poor. There simply aren't any good hammer sites except the far end of the island. I can train berserkers and crossbows but the process would be very slow.

And the expansion... it always happens in my games that I get 4 cities done in reasonable time, but starting from 5th city I lose the momentum. While I had 4 cities by 1000 BC, in 500 AD I'm still about to settle my 6th city.

I also attached the saves. BTS 3.19, unmodded.

 

[rfcfanatic]

An update from 1200 AD.

Spoiler :

After researching Paper, I went for Education. Then Meditation - Philosophy, self-teched Nationalism, discovered Liberalism in 1060 AD and picked Military Tradition as the free tech.

While I was researching, a Great Merchant was born in my capitol with whom I conducted a trade mission to Aachen. Thanks to the 1300 I received, I was able to keep my research slider at 100% for many turns.

After the lib rush I picked some prerequisites for cuirs (Gunpowder, HBR) and other older and cheaper techs. Unfortunately, my navy is kind of primitive plus I haven't scouted the sea. I probably won't be able to attack anyone before I research Astronomy and get cavs and rifles. I guess I'm not gonna attack my good friend and trading partner Charlie, but I'd go for Pacal or Izzy instead.

As usual, the save has been attached.

 

[rfcfanatic]

1230 AD

Spoiler :

As we speak of Izzy and war...

Izzy trying to settle on my island! Such insolent act shall not go unpunished

 

[stoferb]

To answer your questions about golden age. I think it's better to save moneybeforehand and research 100% during the GA. You'll pay the same in maintaince while getting way more bpt during the GA.

 

[rfcfanatic]

1600 AD update.

Spoiler :

Izzy settled 2 cities on my island. Since they were settled exactly where I planned to settle and I didn't want to raze them, I let them to grow to size 2 before I declared war on Izzy. I captured the cities, took the war on Spanish soil and my cuirs captured Seville and Madrid as well. The cavalry and rifles shall probably finish the job.

After adopting Free Market and Free Religion, my "good friend" Charlie became cautious. While the relations with Charlie have worsened, the relations with Pacal have improved.

3 turns and Taj Mahal will be completed. I'll use the GA to adopt Representation and Emancipation as soon as I discover Constitution and Democracy.

Birka, the city of Moai Statues, is currently working on Ironworks.

I wasn't sure if Notre Dame succeeded or not, but it did in late 14th century. I also received 2 additional GM-s, one of them from Economics. As usual, I utilized them to generate money bombs.

 

[klonoklown]

^ you really gotta spoiler info about the map, so it doesn't spoil it for everyone.

Edit: I mainly mean the AI.

 

[rfcfanatic]

Ouch I'm gonna try to remove the screenshots. Thanks for reminding me that! My first game in Nobles Club you know

Should I remove the saves as well?

^ you really gotta spoiler info about the map, so it doesn't spoil it for everyone.

Edit: I mainly mean the AI.

 

[ecuwins]

Leave the saves.

As for text and screenshots, just use spoiler tags...like this

Spoiler :

...

 

[rfcfanatic]

Leave the saves.

As for text and screenshots, just use spoiler tags...like this

Spoiler :

...

Thanks. I put the text between spoiler tags and removed the screenshots.

 

[rfcfanatic]

1760 AD

Spoiler :

Izzy is out. Now it's time to spam courthouses and banks to combat skyrocketing maintenance costs

 

[Izuul]

1230 AD

Spoiler :

As we speak of Izzy and war...

Izzy trying to settle on my island! Such insolent act shall not go unpunished

Spoiler :

You didn't have your island settled at 1200AD??? Particularly with the GLH, you should have filled that out looooong before Izzy even had a chance to get over there.

 

[rfcfanatic]

Spoiler :

You didn't have your island settled at 1200AD??? Particularly with the GLH, you should have filled that out looooong before Izzy even had a chance to get over there.

Spoiler :

Yes, my expansion was very slow. I probably should have set a better objective than 4 cities settled by 1000 BC. For example, 8 cities by the end of BC-s.

And here's 1935 AD update.

Spoiler :

Although I had military means to go to war in 1760, I was struggling with maintenance costs. So, 1760-1908 I spammed courthouses and banks on the island that used to belong to Izzy and completed Oxford in Nidaros (terribly delayed, I agree).

In 1908, I declared war on Charlie. The CG III rifles caused significant trouble, so the war lasted until 1935 when Charlie got wiped off from the map.

I think the next target will be Pacal. Time to stop him from going for cultural victory.

 

[klonoklown]

no worries rfcfanatic, just wanted to remind you

 

[rfcfanatic]

1944 AD

Spoiler :

I have no idea what Pacal tried to accomplish by defending his modern cities with longbows and muskets. It took 7 years to take all of his cities. One of the quickest wars I've ever fought. Not sure if I even lost a single unit.

 

[rfcfanatic]

1966 AD. Domination victory!

Spoiler :

Declared war on Tokugawa in 1951 and captured Kyoto, using amphibious attack. A turn later Toku capitulated to Justinian (they had a war going on since 1928 as I later learned from the event log). It changed my plans. At first, I planned to go after Hammurabi as soon as I had finished with Toku. But now, in order to resume the war against Toku, I had to declare on Justinian.

Toku didn't pose much a threat, so I directed my attack stack towards Justinian's main island. The attack stack I used to make an amphibious attack on Kyoto couldn't quite reach Constantinople, so I had to strike Justinian's main island from another spot. The main island fell quickly and the rest of the game I spent doing some island hopping to capture Justinian's numerous one-tile-island cities.

The amphibious CR I berserkers from medieval era, which I upgraded to infantry and then to mech. infantry, helped a lot with amphibious attacks. I even didn't use marines in this game.