Nobles' Club LXXIX: Kublai Khan of Mongolia

[dalamb]

Folks: by custom any mention of game specifics (like opponents, map details, resources, the existence of other continents) should be in spoiler tags:

[spoiler=some title]...[/spoiler]

It's not too big a deal with the last couple of messages, which just mention some opponents people should meet fairly soon -- but consider somebody posting a 2000-BC dotmap who hasn't met one of them yet: s/he would be looking for useful advice on just that preliminary information. If, for example, Monty or Shaka were on the map but not yet in contact, one would play differently than if one didn't know they were nearby.

That's one of the reasons for the boilerplate text's suggested report points: it helps people read what others have done, but with less chance of reading "spoilers" for later points in the game.

 

[dalamb]

@Gazurtoid: If I recall TheMeInTeam's horse archer strategy correctly (as mentioned in the 2nd post), one keeps pumping out keshiks in some cities for a long, long time. The mantra is "conquest is self-sustaining": apparently if you keep going your economy is kept afloat by conquest income. Also, the combination of Flanking II keshiks as "siege" and combat II kheshiks as "mop up", with enough units, can keep conquering for quite a while even when "obsolete".

I cannot verify this by my own experience; one of my many limitations is psychological difficulty in taking games much beyond the early ADs.

The "some cities" part is worth noting: if you settle or conquer a good cottage city, it's probably best to cottage it as quickly as possible for the day when your kheshik rush runs out of steam -- which it will do on any map where you need Astronomy to find the last AIs.

 

[SamSniped]

@Tycho-you didn't download the file. Your position is invalid.

 

[Archon_Wing]

@Gazurtoid

Spoiler :

You need many more workers. In fact you should stop producing everything and produce only workers til you have like 10 of them. The main priority here is that you must chop down all the jungle and start improving farms or cottages. Developing land is far more important than any building you could build right now.

Also, research Civil Service so you can run bureaucracy in your capital. Construction doesn't really help much here. You should also turn your slider to 100% and use up your extra gold.

Trade Gilgamesh excess resources for gems.

 

[Tycho]

@Tycho-you didn't download the file. Your position is invalid.

My bad, I did download the file, just didn't access the save. Rather I did the one that I had started about a half year ago.

 

[Gazurtoid]

If you don't mind I have another save game for critiquing.

Spoiler :

I started over (again) and took out Ethiopia to the south and the Mayans to the east. I'm at 1000AD with 6 cities and I'm not sure where I should go next. Keep conquering with Keshiks or should I focus more on improving infrastructure and teching ahead?

Anyone have any guides they can recommend with regards to espionage? I never really dabbled with it before as I tend to turn it off in my games.

 

[Archon_Wing]

If you don't mind I have another save game for critiquing. I started over (again) and took out Ethiopia to the south and the Mayans to the east. I'm at 1000AD with 6 cities and I'm not sure where I should go next. Keep conquering with Keshiks or should I focus more on improving infrastructure and teching ahead?

Anyone have any guides they can recommend with regards to espionage? I never really dabbled with it before as I tend to turn it off in my games.

Spoiler :

That seems like a good spot you're in; I'd place a city east of Ngia sia to grab the banana and all that food.

You are pissing everyone off besides Hannibal with your religion. I think it'd be better if you had no religion, or find a way to get yourself some Buddhism.

You could keep up the attack, but it doesn't seem like you have that many guys left. I'd get education/nationalism, and then pick up Military Tradition with Liberalism; conquer with cuirassiers-- it doesn't seem like everyone's close anyways. Cuirassier/Cavalry wars pretty much dominates without fail on noble.

As for espionage, it depends on what you want to do. Usually you set your espionage ratios to focus on the people closest to you. Typical missions are counterespionage to make it harder for them, and to steal technologies or start city revolts (city defense goes down to 0% for 1 turn, so you can attack)

 

[GGracchus]

If you don't mind I have another save game for critiquing. I started over (again) and took out Ethiopia to the south and the Mayans to the east. I'm at 1000AD with 6 cities and I'm not sure where I should go next. Keep conquering with Keshiks or should I focus more on improving infrastructure and teching ahead?

Anyone have any guides they can recommend with regards to espionage? I never really dabbled with it before as I tend to turn it off in my games.

Spoilers please.