[BTS] Old player leveling up (starting with Monarch)

[isomittari]

Plan for this turnset:

* Tech Machinery -> Eng -> PP
* Switch to Vassalage + Slavery + Theo 1 turn before the end of GA
* Whip Barracks in some cities and start preparing for Cuirs whipping

Spoiler 149-164 :

T149: Lib done, I pick MT. I start teching Machinery next. Uxmal gets a GS. I trade MC + Music + 15GP to Feudalism with Brennus (for Vassalage). I give Marble to Brennus for Bananas.
T151: KK demands Nationalism - I refuse... Luckily we are still Friendly. AP has been built and I am up for election. I switch to Vassalage + Slavery + Theo. I whip Barracks in several cities and after this they start producing Cuirs. I double-bulb PP.
T152: I win the vote, fortunately. Altun Ha 2-whips a LH.
T153: I send a Warrior to meet Monty in order to get more information about Justinian's and his relationships.
T154: Engineering is done, I start on Chemistry. I trade Ivory to Incense with Justy. He also gives me 100GP for Literature.
T155: Brennus gives me 3GP for Sheep. Justy gives me 3GP for Crab.
T156: I meet Monty, and he is at war with Justy. This is actually good for me as it slows him down a bit while I take out Brennus and KK.
T158: Brennus wants to become my peace vassal, but I would rather just destroy him.
T159: I DoW on Brennus.
T160: I raze Verlamion. He should be cut from Iron now. I capture Vienne.
T161: Taj is finished in Lakamha. I raze Gergovia. I capture Bibracte. A spy destroyed my Winery so I will trade Marble to Wine with KK to avoid unhappiness.
T162: Justy asks me to convert to Buddhism, I decline.
T163: I capture Tolosa.
T164: I raze Camulodunum and the Celts are no more.

Spoiler Map :

Analysis

I got a bit carried away and played a longer turnset. I wanted to finish Brennus...

Some issues to solve:

1. Technology - Almost done with Chemistry, after which comes Steel and Cannons. I believe that these will improve my conquests immensely.

2. Civics - I am in a GA so I could switch Civics easily, but I maybe should have done Caste + Pacifism earlier as I have only 5 turns left... I could have gotten some more GP's for another GA.

3. Army - Do I just keep whipping troops or should I stop at some point? Brennus' cities will be under heavy whip once they are pacified. Would the next target be KK? Would this game suitable for Space Race? I was thinking of taking KK's best cities and start a peaceful climb towards the stars...


Edit: AGAIN I forgot to raze Brennus' lands... I really have to remember this when I attack KK.

 

[Anysense]

A bit overdone with razing; Verlamion had good food and could whip units. I think it would be more prudent to leave Brennus with Comulodunum+Verlamion and make him your vassal. Every vassal gives you +1. That would save you a few turns as well => earlier DoW on KK.
Cutting off iron was sort of a good idea, but Brennus already had Feudallism ( longbows).
2. You could, but too late now. Its good to time your GA's with research phases. That is when you stop whipping for a while, switch to caste and pacifism and let your cities grow to leverage the benefits of GA. If you planned to do that, then you should not have whipped in Mutal.
3. Of course, you can go for Space after finishing KK. You have enough units for that and can stop whipping new ones. Still its more efficient to take out Justinian and Monty as well, beause they are quite useless as trade partners and their land would be much more use in your hands; bigger empire generates more .

 

[isomittari]

Plan for this turnset:
* Tech Chemistry -> Steel -> RP (requires Guilds)
* Hopefully trade Guilds (or get it as a tribute from KK)
* Conquer KK and save some of his nicer cities.

Spoiler 164-176 :

T164: I raze Camulodunum and the Celts are no more.
T165: I am moving my troops towards KK's borders. I take a short break from whipping in order to grow my cities a little bit.
T166: Justy gives me 150GP for Compass.
T167: Chemistry finished, I start on Steel. I DoW on KK.
T169: I raze Tabriz and capture Turfan.
T170: I raze Samarqand - I think KK is missing Iron now. Mutal gets a GS.
T172: Karakorum falls to my hands, and so does Beshbalik.
T173: I pillage Sanchu. I trade Bananas to Spices with Justy. I also trade Dye to 3GP with him.
T174: New Sarai falls to my Cuirs. Old Sarai has been razed.
T175: Tiflis has been liberated. Ning-Hsia has been razed to the ground. Finally, Otrar falls and the Mongolian empire is history.
T176: I am building some Galleys and Triremes and head for Justy next.

Analysis

The war against KK was a success, as his army was surprisingly small. German empire is on an island to the east from KK's old lands.

Some issues to solve:

1. Technology - Steel coming in a few turns, this gives me the edge to obliterate both Justy and Monty. Still no Guilds, I guess I will have to selftech...

2. Civics - I feel like my army is big enough even for Justinian, as I have 38 Cuirs and 7 Trebs (soon to be Cannons) - Maybe I should switch to Rep + Bureau + Pacifism? That would be 2 turns of Anarchy...

3. Army - I have a relatively big army but I expect Justinian to get Cataphracts soon. He only has one source of Horses, maybe if I just destroy that real quick? Only two of his 12 cities are on a hill, so conquering should not be too difficult.

4. Cities - I found some nice spots for new cities, are these worth it anymore?

 

[Anysense]

The war against KK was a success, as his army was surprisingly small.

Of course his army was small, its an Emperor AI with just 10 cities.
1. You already have everything you need for domination, so its hard to advise without any a goal. May be Steel-> Guilds-> Banking-> Economics. Economics will be finished about the time you capture MoM (Constantinople). Could use a free GSpy from Communism, and state property would be great, but that route is longer and GL obsoletes with Scientific Method.
2. Representation and pacifism won't do you any good without caste. Better focus on building galleys.
3. The ratio of 1.6 is an overkill, usually with ~0.8 its very easy. You also have a technological advantage. Its important to learn to estimate how many units you need, sop not to waste hammers on units which will only add to the maintenance.
I don't think horses are important, a few Catahracts won't make any difference.
Rather than wasting your units storming those hill cities, it would be wiser to make Justinian your vassal and use his culture for a sneak attack on Monty.
4. You will, probably, need more cities to reach the domination limit, whether they are nice is irrelevant. Keep in mind that the game will last 20, may be 30 turns more, i.e. new cities and buildings don't have much time to pay back.
This game isn't suitable for learning Space. A lot of thing should have been done differently if you wanted to play for Space.

 

[isomittari]

Plan for this turnset:
* Tech Steel -> Guilds -> Banking
* Attack and vassal Justy
* Attack Monty

Spoiler 176-206 :

T176: I am building some Galleys and Triremes and head for Justy next.
T177: I start producing Settlers in several cities to prepare for domination victory.
T178: I whip four Settlers.
T181: Steel is finished, I start on Guilds. I DoW on Justy. Zama has been found.
T182: Dorylaeum has been captured.
T184: Angora has been conquered. Justy's main stack is closing on me, I try to take him on open ground.
T186: Justy's main stack has been demolished, and he should be ready to capitulate any time now. I will take Constantinople first, though.
T187: Antioch falls, and I am closing on Constantinople.
T189: I conquer Constantinople and vassal Justy. Next target is Monty.
T190: I DoW on Monty.
T191: I finally meet MM and Bismarck. I start teching Economy. I meet Monty's stack on open land and destroy it with zero losses.
T194: Monty capitulates.
T206: I win Domination victory.

Analysis

I finished the game with a domination victory. I probably could have done it faster as I did not pay too much attention during the end, but all in all it was a nice game.

Next game will be on Immortal difficulty.

What did I learn:

1. Technology - Not self-teching stuff that I do not need, and also preparing for bulbs.

2. Army - I think I overdid my army a little bit, maybe next time I can plan wars with smaller army.

3. Cities - I learned a LOT about city placement and finally realized what are the key factors in making a good city

4. Workers - Again, I learned more about micromanaging Workers

5. Whipping and chopping - These concepts are becoming more and more clear to me, and I think I am starting to understand how to use them effectively.

 

[Anysense]

Yeah, all in all that was a good game. Your economy went out of control at some point, but you don't care about it when you are heading to domination; in that case you are fine so long as you are not in a strike.
It takes a lot of planning: keeping your empire in good shape, getting GP's on time, managing diplomacy and many other things. That is why Fractal isn't very good for learning, it makes the game too chaotic and unpredictable. You have to make a lot of decisions based largely on instinct and experience, rather than analysis and planning. That also makes it difficult to explain why this is good and that is bad or just unlikely to work.
I suggest you start next game on Pangaea, that will be a good opportunity to learn a few things in a more controllable environment. And of course it must be Immortal (or Deity, if you feel brave), enough bullying kids in a playground

 

[isomittari]

Hey, just wanted to let you know that I am still alive and completely addicted to Civ 4, but am not in condition to play right now... I will return once I have recovered from recent events.

 

[Anysense]

That's all right, we all have real life, even true civ fanatics like WastinTime. I'm too a bit preoccupied with real-life issues at the moment.