Use this thread to post your (hopefully) winning saves and the writeup of your game.
Old World Monthly Challenge - September 22 - Writeups
- Thread starter Ozbenno
- Start date
This being the first monthly challenged, I figured I'd give it a try and also write something reasonably educational to hopefully highlight some aspects of OW. Let's see how this goes!
Our start then:
It's a good starting position, there's mountain ranges nearby and also resources. A bit awkward how three resources are next to urban tiles but we can work with that.
The first choice is where exactly to found the capital and what family to pick. In this case, I don't see that any of the tiles provides a major advantage, the southern Wheat will still be within the borders, but founding on the northernmost tile will get my borders closest to that second mountain range, which looks like a promising one, requiring just one border expansion, so I will found there. The family choice isn't too difficult, Landowners seem like a great choice. A Landowner capital is rarely a bad idea and here we have two crops as well.
First order of business, I make Hatshepsut the governor of Waset. As a Builder she gives -1 turn to improvement construction, so I can then start building a farm on the Sorghum that will only take 2 turns. My Scout moves as close as possible to the revealed ruin. For research, I decide to go with Divination - we're on a low difficulty so there's some extra Stone and it seems like some early shrines could be beneficial. So the first year in the great land of Egypt concludes as below.
Turn 2, I pop the ruin and get Sacred Tomb. I'm usually a fan of the science bonus option, but this early on I'll leave the tomb undisturbed. That makes Hatshepsut Gracious, for +4 Civics, which will amount to ~120 over her lifetime and give a higher boost if she earns more charisma. Neferure, the heir, gets to study Philosophy, which is my preference for the first heir most of the time.
I move the Warrior east towards the Barbarian camp and assign Horemheb as a General, that will be some free XP.
On Turn 3, Neferure gets the study event On Wealth. Making her Ascetic is too much of a risk - she'll be the leader one day - but playing on a somewhat lower difficulty, I'll go ahead and make her Debauched in exchange for +2 Charisma. High-stat leaders are really good and I can easily absorb the extra discontent when it kicks in.
I also marry Psamtik, who is a pretty good husband. We'll see if I have time to assign him as a governor somewhere but he's boosting my yields in any case.
Thutmose meanwhile gets to study Tactics because early Egypt lacks training.
Back in Waset, Marble is the next resource to be improved - very nice to have 2-turn improvements.
Turn 5, we meet Carthage!
They have a score of 1, so that AI rolled no extra cities. Means they're not a threat and I don't care about their opinion, I'll fight them for the courtier and I immediately order my new courtier to tutor Neferure.
Meanwhile, my Settler in Waset is done and I have an interesting choice. The barbarian camp immediately to the east is almost cleared, I usually prefer to settle camps before my free city site. On the other hand, the Barb site doesn't look that great. Tundra (yuck), limited resources... but okay, there's a Marble source and some nice mountain-adjacent tiles so this should be an alright Stone producer and an acceptable city for probably Sages. Fine. I'll move my Settler in that direction, the Worker farms the Wheat, and Waset will get started on another Settler straight away, I want to fill available sites ASAP.
(the next turn will reveal there's another Marble nearby, not so bad after all).
Turn 7 opens with a very lucky roll from an earlier event (and a minor bug I note while taking screenshots...) as Neferure becomes Righteous, which removes Debauched.
This same turn we found our second city, which is much better than I'd suspected at first. I go with Sages because this is a great Civics city and I build a Worker first. The free tech I get is Drama - not a great roll - while over in Waset, I am going to buy a great stone tile. All three resources there are now improved so I send my Worker over to this tile west of the city to buy it - next turn I can start an excellent 12-stone Quarry over there.
Turn 8 is Neferure's graduation and she also gets a +1 Discipline from tutoring. Alright, that makes her 1-Wis, 2-Cha, 1-Dis as she graduates and her archetype options are Builder or Judge. I always feel this is a bit of a gamble with Egypt. I like an early Builder so if Hatshepsut dies early, it's not bad too have a Builder heir, but otherwise a Judge might be good. We recently changed the Hold Court mission to give a 20% chance of providing courtiers, so I'll make Neferure a Judge, I want to use Hold Court some more. That boosts her Charisma and Discipline by 2, I'll certainly be doing well for Civics and Money.
We also get the first ambition pick, I go with an ambition to have 3 connected cities but it doesn't matter too much, the first ambition's easy.
The most interesting choice here is research and the Free Settler card is up, so I'll pick that. Just 3 turns to research, I'd maybe have preferred it a bit later but I'm a sucker for free Settlers. This will unfortunately cause me to discard Aristocracy but I'll make up for it.
Starting Turn 10, I have two Settlers (one from Waset and one from the bonus card, was able to pick up a research bonus through an event the previous turn), I found another free city site (forgot that exists!) and another Barbarian site. Okay. I'm researching Administration, because I will want Rhetoric as well, and I get the prompt to choose between Slavery and Freedom because I have the 400 Civics, but I'll skip that for now - I'm considering starting the Pyramids shortly and neither law gives me much of an immediate benefit.
For my next build in Waset, I go with a Sorghum farmer, will only take 2 turns and seems worthwhile. And then I start Pyramids in Waset, choosing this tile because of border expansion. Pyramids will grab the urban tile to the north, which will in turn expand to give me much of the surrounding woods and also the Game tile. Seems like a good deal.
For my final moves, exploring around the western city site gives me an event that boosts culture in Waset, making it hit Developing, which gets me the Confucius culture event. I invite him onto the court because he's a really good courtier
At the conclusion of the first 10 turns, Egypt has two cities, two Settlers on their way to two more city sites, Landowners and Sages both at Pleased (lucky break with the Sages, their oligarch is Gracious as it Hatshepsut, for a shared +20), we've found Carthage and the Danes, and good amounts of money are rolling it. Things are looking alright!
(to be continued unless I'm booed right off the stage)
Our start then:
It's a good starting position, there's mountain ranges nearby and also resources. A bit awkward how three resources are next to urban tiles but we can work with that.
The first choice is where exactly to found the capital and what family to pick. In this case, I don't see that any of the tiles provides a major advantage, the southern Wheat will still be within the borders, but founding on the northernmost tile will get my borders closest to that second mountain range, which looks like a promising one, requiring just one border expansion, so I will found there. The family choice isn't too difficult, Landowners seem like a great choice. A Landowner capital is rarely a bad idea and here we have two crops as well.
First order of business, I make Hatshepsut the governor of Waset. As a Builder she gives -1 turn to improvement construction, so I can then start building a farm on the Sorghum that will only take 2 turns. My Scout moves as close as possible to the revealed ruin. For research, I decide to go with Divination - we're on a low difficulty so there's some extra Stone and it seems like some early shrines could be beneficial. So the first year in the great land of Egypt concludes as below.
Turn 2, I pop the ruin and get Sacred Tomb. I'm usually a fan of the science bonus option, but this early on I'll leave the tomb undisturbed. That makes Hatshepsut Gracious, for +4 Civics, which will amount to ~120 over her lifetime and give a higher boost if she earns more charisma. Neferure, the heir, gets to study Philosophy, which is my preference for the first heir most of the time.
I move the Warrior east towards the Barbarian camp and assign Horemheb as a General, that will be some free XP.
On Turn 3, Neferure gets the study event On Wealth. Making her Ascetic is too much of a risk - she'll be the leader one day - but playing on a somewhat lower difficulty, I'll go ahead and make her Debauched in exchange for +2 Charisma. High-stat leaders are really good and I can easily absorb the extra discontent when it kicks in.
I also marry Psamtik, who is a pretty good husband. We'll see if I have time to assign him as a governor somewhere but he's boosting my yields in any case.
Thutmose meanwhile gets to study Tactics because early Egypt lacks training.
Back in Waset, Marble is the next resource to be improved - very nice to have 2-turn improvements.
Turn 5, we meet Carthage!
They have a score of 1, so that AI rolled no extra cities. Means they're not a threat and I don't care about their opinion, I'll fight them for the courtier and I immediately order my new courtier to tutor Neferure.
Meanwhile, my Settler in Waset is done and I have an interesting choice. The barbarian camp immediately to the east is almost cleared, I usually prefer to settle camps before my free city site. On the other hand, the Barb site doesn't look that great. Tundra (yuck), limited resources... but okay, there's a Marble source and some nice mountain-adjacent tiles so this should be an alright Stone producer and an acceptable city for probably Sages. Fine. I'll move my Settler in that direction, the Worker farms the Wheat, and Waset will get started on another Settler straight away, I want to fill available sites ASAP.
(the next turn will reveal there's another Marble nearby, not so bad after all).
Turn 7 opens with a very lucky roll from an earlier event (and a minor bug I note while taking screenshots...) as Neferure becomes Righteous, which removes Debauched.
This same turn we found our second city, which is much better than I'd suspected at first. I go with Sages because this is a great Civics city and I build a Worker first. The free tech I get is Drama - not a great roll - while over in Waset, I am going to buy a great stone tile. All three resources there are now improved so I send my Worker over to this tile west of the city to buy it - next turn I can start an excellent 12-stone Quarry over there.
Turn 8 is Neferure's graduation and she also gets a +1 Discipline from tutoring. Alright, that makes her 1-Wis, 2-Cha, 1-Dis as she graduates and her archetype options are Builder or Judge. I always feel this is a bit of a gamble with Egypt. I like an early Builder so if Hatshepsut dies early, it's not bad too have a Builder heir, but otherwise a Judge might be good. We recently changed the Hold Court mission to give a 20% chance of providing courtiers, so I'll make Neferure a Judge, I want to use Hold Court some more. That boosts her Charisma and Discipline by 2, I'll certainly be doing well for Civics and Money.
We also get the first ambition pick, I go with an ambition to have 3 connected cities but it doesn't matter too much, the first ambition's easy.
The most interesting choice here is research and the Free Settler card is up, so I'll pick that. Just 3 turns to research, I'd maybe have preferred it a bit later but I'm a sucker for free Settlers. This will unfortunately cause me to discard Aristocracy but I'll make up for it.
Starting Turn 10, I have two Settlers (one from Waset and one from the bonus card, was able to pick up a research bonus through an event the previous turn), I found another free city site (forgot that exists!) and another Barbarian site. Okay. I'm researching Administration, because I will want Rhetoric as well, and I get the prompt to choose between Slavery and Freedom because I have the 400 Civics, but I'll skip that for now - I'm considering starting the Pyramids shortly and neither law gives me much of an immediate benefit.
For my next build in Waset, I go with a Sorghum farmer, will only take 2 turns and seems worthwhile. And then I start Pyramids in Waset, choosing this tile because of border expansion. Pyramids will grab the urban tile to the north, which will in turn expand to give me much of the surrounding woods and also the Game tile. Seems like a good deal.
For my final moves, exploring around the western city site gives me an event that boosts culture in Waset, making it hit Developing, which gets me the Confucius culture event. I invite him onto the court because he's a really good courtier
At the conclusion of the first 10 turns, Egypt has two cities, two Settlers on their way to two more city sites, Landowners and Sages both at Pleased (lucky break with the Sages, their oligarch is Gracious as it Hatshepsut, for a shared +20), we've found Carthage and the Danes, and good amounts of money are rolling it. Things are looking alright!
(to be continued unless I'm booed right off the stage)
Turn 11, Thutmose goes Tactician - I don't expect him to become the leader so Tactician will be good. Over at the Sages seat, the situation is interesting with three Marbles.
I don't see a way to grab two of them with a single border expansion, so upon some thought, the tile where I sent the Worker seems optimal for an urban building. It will grab the eastern Marble - which is sort of in the direction of Carthage and I like expanding towards the opponent - and the forest tile SE of the Worker will then also become eligible for a building to grab the middle Marble. Okay. Which Shrine do I build there? I want Osiris to make use of the adjacency, perhaps Ra as well. Neith should be in a city that will produce military units, which the Sages seat definitely will not, so I settle on Isis. That one has poor adjacency bonuses anyway, +2 Growth per adjacent Grove but Groves come late and I don't have multi-Grove spots anyway. There is one at the southern city site but the tile in between two Honeys is a marsh tile, unfortunately, so it will not have a building anyway. So the above Worker goes for a Shrine of Isis. The city itself will build another Worker, it's not yet ready to build more useful stuff so I might as well take the Worker. And I'm an order short to settle at the western site, made a mistake by moving my Warrior too early. Not great but not a huge deal.
Turn 12 looks like it's going to be eventful. First, research. I got Administration and I'll opt for the Free Worker card. I'm going a bit too hard on the building here, but I think I can afford to do so. The extra worker will be available in 2 turns and I'll probably double-stack him on the Pyramids, and that means I won't need more Workers in the short term. So Free Worker it is. I also have Settlers on two city sites, where I want Clerics (they're really cool now with free Monasticism) and the western site will have stronger culture, so we found there first. Welcome Tjaru, the holy city of Zoroastrianism:
A Disciple right away to start making use of Monasticism, and I think it will work out well.
Over at the southern site, we meet Babylonia - more on that in a moment - and have to decide on a family. I need to start taking my military seriously, and this site has Horses, which bodes well. Landowners seem to be a good choice because of the abundance of resources. Within the immediate borders, there's Horses, Sheep, Wheat and two Honeys, with a third just outside. Disregarding the Honeys for now, that's a Farmer and two Ranchers, 180 civics to produce, while Landowners will cut that to 90. I'll eventually want Groves as well so the return from Landowners seems considerable.
Definitely the last Worker for now, I promise! (I'll be so embarrassed if I lose due to having so little of a military)
Babylonia, then. We have the Injured Babylonian event.
The score says they have 2 cities, and they dislike me already.
I don't really see those factors going away soon, so I'm doomed to have a bad relationship with Babylonia. I can take another -20 for the money. It will make them Angry (-100) but the opinion will bounce back to Upset shortly as the memory degrades, and what is Nebuchadnezzar going to do anyway, declare war (famous last words)? No, really, he's a Scholar which makes him less likely to declare war, and the Normal AI aggression means I'm safe here.
The final decision for the turn is what to build in Waset, and I go with a Warrior. That will take 7 turns but the city's Developing now so I'll soon rush it, though not straight away. But I need units to keep clearing city sites.
The main event of Turn 13 is discovering Scythians (got a Militia out of it) and, next to their camp, the Hittites. There are 3 Hittite cities now, making them the strongest of the three opponents we've discovered so far. They even have the audacity to want tribute... but I'll pay some money, they want just one turn's worth. Fine.
Turn 14, time to pick research. Rhetoric and Aristocracy are available, I want both but will go Aristocracy first for the Ambassador.
Turn 16, the World Tour event with Carthage lets me give them Drama in exchange for a random tech. I go for it - Carthage is at 2 points from Carthago being developed, and has still not managed to found another city. I got Husbandry. Nice! Had to discard it and I have pastures to build. The Clerics seat has its first Disciple and I go build another, the Sages seat starts work on a Marble Quarry and an Acolyte while waiting for the Quarry to be built. Things are looking okay except for Zoroastrianism now disliking me due to the matriarch - I'll influence next turn. Another Barbarian site cleared.
Turn 17, Pyramids complete! I get to work on the first Monastery, a +4 Culture Shrine of Osiris in Waset, start influencing the Zoroastrian head and, most importantly, time to pick laws. With 400 civics, I can now afford two laws, so I go Freedom and Monotheism. Freedom is superior in this scenario, and Monotheism doesn't yet do anything but I'll be investing into Zoroastrianism as the state religion soon. Gathering stone for the Garrisons as well.
Turn 19, I send the Hittites another insignificant amount of money and reject the third marriage proposal for Neferure - she's getting terrible candidates offered. I also get to appoint an Ambassador that gives me a whopping +65 foreign opinion, I just don't like that I am yet to meet the fourth opponent. Need to scout more.
Turn 21, I make this site Cleric as well.
It was mostly because that allowed me to bump all three families to Pleased, but also the Grove could be nice. Time to pick a tech and I go Spoked Wheel - I'll want to get a couple Chariots out and start doing something actually useful.
Turn 22 is an important one, picking the second ambition to field 4 generals (the first ambition's already done). And two cities got Garrisons. Confucius goes into the Sage seat, and then I'm at 99 civics so just 1 short of assigning a second governor. No problem, that will be a good one anyway - a Warlike governor that will make Tamiat a decent military city. Here it is on turn 23:
Horses will be available soon and Spoked Wheel, so this city will be able to produce Chariots. I'm also working a bit on getting some iron income flowing.
Turn 24, Babylonia wants me to declare war on the Danes. That's something I intend to do anyway, so might as well for the relations boost.
Turn 25, I decide to ignore Trapping once again because Portcullis is available - I have a couple of good Spymaster candidates so, if they don't die soon, Portcullis will be worth it. I can deal without Trapping so far.
Turn 27, Neferure finally gets a decent husband. She's 37, so it's not like she has much time to produce kids.
Turn 28, my husband dies as mostly expected, Neferure has a kid and I adopt Epics as I'm moving out against the Danes. I also complete the four-general ambition.
Turn 29, time for another ambition. Let's pick building the Oracle for the Sages - I can afford that and was considering the wonder anyway.
Turn 30, start on the Oracle in the ever-expanding Waset, and I will be soon clearing the first Danish camp.
Summary after 30 turns:
I'm very comfortable, preparing to adopt the fourth law for Strongholds, I'm still expanding and my science is good. Haven't been able to spare the civics to adopt Zoroastrianism but it's by now in 3 cities so should become a priority. Of note, Carthage seems to be totally stuck, I guess they're cornered by my borders so cannot expand. I'll have to take their one city eventually.
I don't see a way to grab two of them with a single border expansion, so upon some thought, the tile where I sent the Worker seems optimal for an urban building. It will grab the eastern Marble - which is sort of in the direction of Carthage and I like expanding towards the opponent - and the forest tile SE of the Worker will then also become eligible for a building to grab the middle Marble. Okay. Which Shrine do I build there? I want Osiris to make use of the adjacency, perhaps Ra as well. Neith should be in a city that will produce military units, which the Sages seat definitely will not, so I settle on Isis. That one has poor adjacency bonuses anyway, +2 Growth per adjacent Grove but Groves come late and I don't have multi-Grove spots anyway. There is one at the southern city site but the tile in between two Honeys is a marsh tile, unfortunately, so it will not have a building anyway. So the above Worker goes for a Shrine of Isis. The city itself will build another Worker, it's not yet ready to build more useful stuff so I might as well take the Worker. And I'm an order short to settle at the western site, made a mistake by moving my Warrior too early. Not great but not a huge deal.
Turn 12 looks like it's going to be eventful. First, research. I got Administration and I'll opt for the Free Worker card. I'm going a bit too hard on the building here, but I think I can afford to do so. The extra worker will be available in 2 turns and I'll probably double-stack him on the Pyramids, and that means I won't need more Workers in the short term. So Free Worker it is. I also have Settlers on two city sites, where I want Clerics (they're really cool now with free Monasticism) and the western site will have stronger culture, so we found there first. Welcome Tjaru, the holy city of Zoroastrianism:
A Disciple right away to start making use of Monasticism, and I think it will work out well.
Over at the southern site, we meet Babylonia - more on that in a moment - and have to decide on a family. I need to start taking my military seriously, and this site has Horses, which bodes well. Landowners seem to be a good choice because of the abundance of resources. Within the immediate borders, there's Horses, Sheep, Wheat and two Honeys, with a third just outside. Disregarding the Honeys for now, that's a Farmer and two Ranchers, 180 civics to produce, while Landowners will cut that to 90. I'll eventually want Groves as well so the return from Landowners seems considerable.
Definitely the last Worker for now, I promise! (I'll be so embarrassed if I lose due to having so little of a military)
Babylonia, then. We have the Injured Babylonian event.
The score says they have 2 cities, and they dislike me already.
I don't really see those factors going away soon, so I'm doomed to have a bad relationship with Babylonia. I can take another -20 for the money. It will make them Angry (-100) but the opinion will bounce back to Upset shortly as the memory degrades, and what is Nebuchadnezzar going to do anyway, declare war (famous last words)? No, really, he's a Scholar which makes him less likely to declare war, and the Normal AI aggression means I'm safe here.
The final decision for the turn is what to build in Waset, and I go with a Warrior. That will take 7 turns but the city's Developing now so I'll soon rush it, though not straight away. But I need units to keep clearing city sites.
The main event of Turn 13 is discovering Scythians (got a Militia out of it) and, next to their camp, the Hittites. There are 3 Hittite cities now, making them the strongest of the three opponents we've discovered so far. They even have the audacity to want tribute... but I'll pay some money, they want just one turn's worth. Fine.
Turn 14, time to pick research. Rhetoric and Aristocracy are available, I want both but will go Aristocracy first for the Ambassador.
Turn 16, the World Tour event with Carthage lets me give them Drama in exchange for a random tech. I go for it - Carthage is at 2 points from Carthago being developed, and has still not managed to found another city. I got Husbandry. Nice! Had to discard it and I have pastures to build. The Clerics seat has its first Disciple and I go build another, the Sages seat starts work on a Marble Quarry and an Acolyte while waiting for the Quarry to be built. Things are looking okay except for Zoroastrianism now disliking me due to the matriarch - I'll influence next turn. Another Barbarian site cleared.
Turn 17, Pyramids complete! I get to work on the first Monastery, a +4 Culture Shrine of Osiris in Waset, start influencing the Zoroastrian head and, most importantly, time to pick laws. With 400 civics, I can now afford two laws, so I go Freedom and Monotheism. Freedom is superior in this scenario, and Monotheism doesn't yet do anything but I'll be investing into Zoroastrianism as the state religion soon. Gathering stone for the Garrisons as well.
Turn 19, I send the Hittites another insignificant amount of money and reject the third marriage proposal for Neferure - she's getting terrible candidates offered. I also get to appoint an Ambassador that gives me a whopping +65 foreign opinion, I just don't like that I am yet to meet the fourth opponent. Need to scout more.
Turn 21, I make this site Cleric as well.
It was mostly because that allowed me to bump all three families to Pleased, but also the Grove could be nice. Time to pick a tech and I go Spoked Wheel - I'll want to get a couple Chariots out and start doing something actually useful.
Turn 22 is an important one, picking the second ambition to field 4 generals (the first ambition's already done). And two cities got Garrisons. Confucius goes into the Sage seat, and then I'm at 99 civics so just 1 short of assigning a second governor. No problem, that will be a good one anyway - a Warlike governor that will make Tamiat a decent military city. Here it is on turn 23:
Horses will be available soon and Spoked Wheel, so this city will be able to produce Chariots. I'm also working a bit on getting some iron income flowing.
Turn 24, Babylonia wants me to declare war on the Danes. That's something I intend to do anyway, so might as well for the relations boost.
Turn 25, I decide to ignore Trapping once again because Portcullis is available - I have a couple of good Spymaster candidates so, if they don't die soon, Portcullis will be worth it. I can deal without Trapping so far.
Turn 27, Neferure finally gets a decent husband. She's 37, so it's not like she has much time to produce kids.
Turn 28, my husband dies as mostly expected, Neferure has a kid and I adopt Epics as I'm moving out against the Danes. I also complete the four-general ambition.
Turn 29, time for another ambition. Let's pick building the Oracle for the Sages - I can afford that and was considering the wonder anyway.
Turn 30, start on the Oracle in the ever-expanding Waset, and I will be soon clearing the first Danish camp.
Summary after 30 turns:
I'm very comfortable, preparing to adopt the fourth law for Strongholds, I'm still expanding and my science is good. Haven't been able to spare the civics to adopt Zoroastrianism but it's by now in 3 cities so should become a priority. Of note, Carthage seems to be totally stuck, I guess they're cornered by my borders so cannot expand. I'll have to take their one city eventually.
I'm not expecting Groves to be critical because they come too late, but I have a ton of Honey and they will be nice for the extra luxuries.
Some players skip shrines if they go for a world religion, but I don't see a reason to skip them in this game. I have a map that can give me enough stone and paganism won't be a problem unless the religion dislikes me, but it's not hard to keep their opinion at Cautious at least, even if my state religion will be Zoroastrianism. Of course Monotheism is the superior choice with a major religion as the state religion, for extra orders.
Heathcliff
Tactician
Jimmy Thunder
King
I also went for an early double victory with the Ishar Gate. I'm kind of sad the gotm didn't last a bit longer lol.
Anyone else want to continue playing their winning save for an unnoffical challenge?
How about all rival nations eliminated?
Anyone else want to continue playing their winning save for an unnoffical challenge?
How about all rival nations eliminated?
(last bit for now)
Turn 31, Hatti want me to declare war on Babylonia. No, not now, I'll have to disappoint them. Hatshepsut is Severely Ill at 64, might be about to die. I'm double-stacking the Oracle for a bit to get some extra progress in even if she dies shortly.
Turn 32 is the first setback - a raid against my Cleric city is from an unexpected direction and the courtier I got way back when from Carthage dies, he was my Spymaster candidate. Also Hatshepsut is Doomed. Alright then, she definitely had a great run.
Turn 33, Hatshepsut dies and Neferure is crowned. Looks like things are fine with her, Sages will need a relations boost to become Pleased but the other two families are Friendly. Neferure did unfortunately become Cruel some time ago, but I'll put her as a governor in Meroe where she can boost civics. The Portcullis gamble hasn't really paid off, I got it now but two high-wisdom characters died, Confucius is old, so my best candidate will just give me +3 science. That will have to do. I'll pick a Free Chariot card (just 1 turn thanks to an Inquiry) next. My nephew needs an area of study - picking Tactics because I don't have much training now - and I pick a new Chancellor because Neferure was one herself. For Neferure's first ambition, I pick revealing 40% of the map - will be easily done by finally prioritizing my scouts some, or through infiltration. I even start another Scout in Waset to make use of some agent networks. Neferure's time is off to a decent start.
Turn 34, Confucius unfortunately dies at the age of 64, but I replace him with another Scholar governor in the Sage seat, though a mediocre one. Sovereignty for the next tech and Waset hits Strong culture with the event that lets me establish the Grain Dole there, that's a good one. I get to build Neferure's first city on a cleared Danish camp, and I find myself with 2 Chariots.
Turn 37 brings a tribute demand from the Hatti. I don't mind paying up, they want money and I have tons, and my army's busy. I finally find Vandals, who I guess have been keeping Carthage at bay, and go to war with them for the legitimacy. Workers are taking a partial break as I need to explore more and find Persia - I know it's Persia because they founded Judaism but I need to meet them and see how strong they are. As luck would have it, I even get Military Drill from a ruin while exploring, which will help. Let the Barracks commence!
Turn 38, I finally meet Persians by completing the Oracle. They hate me.
Well, fine. I'll soon start have to improving relations with someone though, I'm not going to do well if everybody gangs up on me even on a lower difficulty. I send my heir off to study Politics and pick Free Maceman for research - getting such a powerful unit at this point will be very helpful. I start a Hold Court mission because I need more civics and I approach Carthage enough to see that yes, they're hopeless and will not build a second city.
Now, a look at the score suggests that a double victory may be comfortably possible.
Persia did not turn out to be much stronger. I'll need at least 24 VPs to win, does that look reasonable? I'll take another Dane site next turn, there's a Vandal site and I know there's a Scythian site somewhere close. That could be three more cities, get those to Developing and that's 6 VPs. I'll want my religious Wonder for another 2 and, well, some more Wonders. That means more Stone, sure thing. If I need another city, I can take Carthago which is a sitting duck. So the plan now is to double down on the expansion and Wonders.
With this in mind, I choose Tyranny as my next law. Constitution seemed like a better idea but Waset doesn't have that many civics, and I lack good governor candidates. Tyranny will give me more money now (to buy stone) and extra training for Hold Court / eventually attacking Carthage.
Turn 39, I get an illegitimate daughter because of an event the previous turn (hmm, at age 49?) - the husband does of course get upset but he's old and I think he'll divorce himself to the afterlife soon.
Turn 40, Phalanx as the next tech (for Citizenship later) and the current governor of my Inquiry city dies again, but I once again have a Scholar available to assign. Gotta make a couple specialists there though.
Turn 41, I start the Necropolis in Waset and I'll be needing more Settlers.
Turn 42, next research - Civics Boost. I very rarely take this but now the 800 extra civics will be very helpful for wonders and to appoint governors. My Ambassador has also been vacant for a bit. Also got an event to start Infiltrate vs Babylonia for free, that will complete my 40% of the map ambition when done.
Turn 44, I choose Architecture to research next because Engineering will speed up my victory. I complete a Settler that heads to this tucked-away Scythian site:
Nice of that site to already have Zoroastrianism! Speaking of, with the civics boost I finally adopt it as my state religion. I also meet Thracians.
Turn 45, the previous ambition completes and I take the one to control four Theaters, which is easy enough but I am not sure I will spend the stone any time soon. I attack the Scythian site and get started on the Zoroastrian Holy Site.
Turn 46, pay some tribute to Babylonians to stop them interfering with my now-peaceful plan, start the Great Ziggurat in the Sage seat, settle the Scythian site. That free Maceman I got some turns ago is very useful now at fighting off raids. I also got a nice agent assigned in Carthago who shows why the city is pretty screwed.
Turn 48, Neferure is doomed. A bit young but it's okay - the heir is 20 and he's a Diplomat, which I picked because having everyone else not hate me will get me to the victory sooner. Found another tucked-away Barbarian camp, which is great. Also got a harvest event that lets Neferure get rid of the Cruel - would have been nice earlier!
Turn 49, King Menkaure the New!
He will do. The Affable helps with Settlers, one of which I complete now.
Time to think again about VPs. I'm at 17. Two wonders (Necropolis and Great Ziggurat) under construction, as is the Holy Site for Zoroastrianism. Those will give me 6 VPs. Just built a Settler to settle that other Danish site I've been holding, so that's 7 VPs without having to do much else, giving me 24. And indeed 24 VPs might give me a victory, unless Babylonia suddenly does very well, but I do have the special victory trick up my sleeve anyway.
Turn 50 - time for that very trick.
It will boost my Weak cities to Developing, giving me a few extra VPs in 13 turns. So I'm now confident that Turn 63 is my victory at the latest.
With that, I'll sign off and finish the writeup another time, although things should be fairly uneventful - the path to a victory is very clear.
Turn 31, Hatti want me to declare war on Babylonia. No, not now, I'll have to disappoint them. Hatshepsut is Severely Ill at 64, might be about to die. I'm double-stacking the Oracle for a bit to get some extra progress in even if she dies shortly.
Turn 32 is the first setback - a raid against my Cleric city is from an unexpected direction and the courtier I got way back when from Carthage dies, he was my Spymaster candidate. Also Hatshepsut is Doomed. Alright then, she definitely had a great run.
Turn 33, Hatshepsut dies and Neferure is crowned. Looks like things are fine with her, Sages will need a relations boost to become Pleased but the other two families are Friendly. Neferure did unfortunately become Cruel some time ago, but I'll put her as a governor in Meroe where she can boost civics. The Portcullis gamble hasn't really paid off, I got it now but two high-wisdom characters died, Confucius is old, so my best candidate will just give me +3 science. That will have to do. I'll pick a Free Chariot card (just 1 turn thanks to an Inquiry) next. My nephew needs an area of study - picking Tactics because I don't have much training now - and I pick a new Chancellor because Neferure was one herself. For Neferure's first ambition, I pick revealing 40% of the map - will be easily done by finally prioritizing my scouts some, or through infiltration. I even start another Scout in Waset to make use of some agent networks. Neferure's time is off to a decent start.
Turn 34, Confucius unfortunately dies at the age of 64, but I replace him with another Scholar governor in the Sage seat, though a mediocre one. Sovereignty for the next tech and Waset hits Strong culture with the event that lets me establish the Grain Dole there, that's a good one. I get to build Neferure's first city on a cleared Danish camp, and I find myself with 2 Chariots.
Turn 37 brings a tribute demand from the Hatti. I don't mind paying up, they want money and I have tons, and my army's busy. I finally find Vandals, who I guess have been keeping Carthage at bay, and go to war with them for the legitimacy. Workers are taking a partial break as I need to explore more and find Persia - I know it's Persia because they founded Judaism but I need to meet them and see how strong they are. As luck would have it, I even get Military Drill from a ruin while exploring, which will help. Let the Barracks commence!
Turn 38, I finally meet Persians by completing the Oracle. They hate me.
Well, fine. I'll soon start have to improving relations with someone though, I'm not going to do well if everybody gangs up on me even on a lower difficulty. I send my heir off to study Politics and pick Free Maceman for research - getting such a powerful unit at this point will be very helpful. I start a Hold Court mission because I need more civics and I approach Carthage enough to see that yes, they're hopeless and will not build a second city.
Now, a look at the score suggests that a double victory may be comfortably possible.
Persia did not turn out to be much stronger. I'll need at least 24 VPs to win, does that look reasonable? I'll take another Dane site next turn, there's a Vandal site and I know there's a Scythian site somewhere close. That could be three more cities, get those to Developing and that's 6 VPs. I'll want my religious Wonder for another 2 and, well, some more Wonders. That means more Stone, sure thing. If I need another city, I can take Carthago which is a sitting duck. So the plan now is to double down on the expansion and Wonders.
With this in mind, I choose Tyranny as my next law. Constitution seemed like a better idea but Waset doesn't have that many civics, and I lack good governor candidates. Tyranny will give me more money now (to buy stone) and extra training for Hold Court / eventually attacking Carthage.
Turn 39, I get an illegitimate daughter because of an event the previous turn (hmm, at age 49?) - the husband does of course get upset but he's old and I think he'll divorce himself to the afterlife soon.
Turn 40, Phalanx as the next tech (for Citizenship later) and the current governor of my Inquiry city dies again, but I once again have a Scholar available to assign. Gotta make a couple specialists there though.
Turn 41, I start the Necropolis in Waset and I'll be needing more Settlers.
Turn 42, next research - Civics Boost. I very rarely take this but now the 800 extra civics will be very helpful for wonders and to appoint governors. My Ambassador has also been vacant for a bit. Also got an event to start Infiltrate vs Babylonia for free, that will complete my 40% of the map ambition when done.
Turn 44, I choose Architecture to research next because Engineering will speed up my victory. I complete a Settler that heads to this tucked-away Scythian site:
Nice of that site to already have Zoroastrianism! Speaking of, with the civics boost I finally adopt it as my state religion. I also meet Thracians.
Turn 45, the previous ambition completes and I take the one to control four Theaters, which is easy enough but I am not sure I will spend the stone any time soon. I attack the Scythian site and get started on the Zoroastrian Holy Site.
Turn 46, pay some tribute to Babylonians to stop them interfering with my now-peaceful plan, start the Great Ziggurat in the Sage seat, settle the Scythian site. That free Maceman I got some turns ago is very useful now at fighting off raids. I also got a nice agent assigned in Carthago who shows why the city is pretty screwed.
Turn 48, Neferure is doomed. A bit young but it's okay - the heir is 20 and he's a Diplomat, which I picked because having everyone else not hate me will get me to the victory sooner. Found another tucked-away Barbarian camp, which is great. Also got a harvest event that lets Neferure get rid of the Cruel - would have been nice earlier!
Turn 49, King Menkaure the New!
He will do. The Affable helps with Settlers, one of which I complete now.
Time to think again about VPs. I'm at 17. Two wonders (Necropolis and Great Ziggurat) under construction, as is the Holy Site for Zoroastrianism. Those will give me 6 VPs. Just built a Settler to settle that other Danish site I've been holding, so that's 7 VPs without having to do much else, giving me 24. And indeed 24 VPs might give me a victory, unless Babylonia suddenly does very well, but I do have the special victory trick up my sleeve anyway.
Turn 50 - time for that very trick.
It will boost my Weak cities to Developing, giving me a few extra VPs in 13 turns. So I'm now confident that Turn 63 is my victory at the latest.
With that, I'll sign off and finish the writeup another time, although things should be fairly uneventful - the path to a victory is very clear.
Finished mine with no more noteworthy events past turn 50, hitting a double on turn 56.
I finished the game without early techs like Polis or even Trapping. With better scouting (I found Vandals very late and they have several sites), I'm sure the same general strategy as I tried can give a Double Victory before turn 50.
Some thoughts:
I finished the game without early techs like Polis or even Trapping. With better scouting (I found Vandals very late and they have several sites), I'm sure the same general strategy as I tried can give a Double Victory before turn 50.
Some thoughts:
- AI Aggression is of course what immediately comes to mind when thinking about difficulty levels, but tribe strength also makes a massive difference. In this easier game, with Normal strength tribes, I was reminded of how much calmer things are. Raids are rare and tribal units are weak, and a couple military units are sufficient protection. This allows for fast expansion.
- The AI itself would of course not allow such complacent play on Noble or above.
- Egypt is a great fit for this kind of game, lots of Workers and a massive economic buildup with Wonders.
- I really enjoy Clerics as they are now, with free Monasticism - you end up building those Monasteries which provide a very good amount of science.
Jimmy Thunder
King
First of all, thanks to the staff for giving us an Old World monthly challenge. This takes me back 15 years to my Civ 4 days and that feeling of meticulously planned moves and discoveries within the player writeups.
Playing for a fast victory meant that my plan from the outset was a Double Victory. The primary goal was a generous stone and civics supply, backed up with a military force to strike against the second points leader if needed.
For me, the game’s biggest twist happened in the first turns and involved both my heirs and a pet monkey, which I will explain shortly.
But first the opening...
I wanted a Landowners capital with the aim of buying tiles and going crazy with quarries. Because I settled on the SW tip (to improve access to arid mountainous terrain) I missed vision of the barbarian camp you can see in Solver’s screenshot. I sent my scout to the goody hut and then out to the west on future turns.
I play this game hungry for science (probably far overvaluing it!) so naturally I sent Princess Neferure to study philosophy. This was the first step of her Einstienesque trajectory. On T3 a philosophical monkey helped Neferure get the “Educated” trait at the same time as I was contemplating her half-brother's future. It then dawned on me that Hatshepsut the Founder would be abdicating her throne (but keeping her pet monkey) in this monthly challenge. My plan was to send Duke Thutmose exploring while making Neferure the ruler, using her Educated trait to make the most of “Inquisitive” responses to exploring events.
This option paid off in spades. On T6 my philosophy studies brought an “Uncanny” event where I could get a free tech with an inquisitive leader. So it was at this fateful moment that Hatty and the monkey removed their crowns and handed Neferure the New the keys to Egypt (letting her capitalise on her own tuition event with free Rhetoric!). The Duke’s exploration events did not disappoint, and the wise purple emojis began to flow. It wasn’t long before Queen Neferure the Ambitious hit double digits with 10 wisdom on T19, rising to 13 wisdom on T33, and later hitting a lofty peak of 14 wisdom.
While my young Queen was getting her wisdoms, and extolling her “Frugality”, Egypt was growing. My first settler went west to the free city site to found the Clerics seat - which immediately built a Zoro disciple to plant some monasteries. Waset decided to sneak in an additional worker before its next settler so that I could build an early Pyramids (completed in T20). Plus I wanted to delay my Sages seat until I had juicier free tech potential.
My first visible barb site was NW so I started moving my warrior. Normally I always attack the first site I find but this one looked particularly unimpressive with the tundra and lake catchment. So my warrior sheathed her blade and followed the scout further afield – eventually meeting the Danes and deciding that I was unafraid of war (and needed the legitimacy boost with Hatty’s abdication still fresh in Egypt’s mind).
In a nail-biting series of combat rounds my Stepmother Isis, Matriarch leader and Zealot of Zoro, singlehandedly felled the defiant Danish defense – refusing to give those tall, blond, and tattooed infidels the pleasure of her death! (Yes that means surviving on 1HP).
Shortly after this conquest I had two settlers ready to plant their flags. The Sages founded on the Danish site, and the Landowners went SE from Waset to the land of horse and honey. After reading much about single player Spymaster and Agent upside on the OW discord channel, I had been targeting Portcullis as the Sages’ free tech (I had researched the prereqs) with perhaps Doctrine as the runner-up prize. My Sages ended up giving me Metaphysics, doh. I researched Portcullis the old-fashioned way (T27) hoping to follow it up with a timely Oracle build.
A further benefit of my leader’s wisdom was being able to quickly get a free chariot (just my 2nd military unit) and a free settler to turn the last Danish tribal site orange. This gave me my second Clerics and fifth overall Egyptian city (T27). I sat happily at an empire of five cities for a good long time.
On the foreign nation front I’d met scouts from Hatti, Carthage, and Persia by T15 in that order. Contact with Vandals, Thracians and BabyIon came later by T28. I had a protectionist foreign policy, ignoring tribute demands and avoiding overly friendly reactions. This was a risk given that I would not tech to Aristocracy until T36, but I was banking on the low difficulty level and AI settings giving me some breathing space.
It was around the time of Aristocracy when things got real serious and I started counting points and charting a course to victory. The Ishtar Gate was my critical path so I bought all the iron I could over the next turns, harvesting horses and ore where possible, before spending my last dime getting construction under way. This gave me a ticking clock with which to clear three more sites, build and distribute the associated settlers and a short window to get the Zoro ABM erected.
For the remainder of the game everything was focused on this goal. My free chariot, free light chariot and free maceman packed all the punch I needed to send the Thracians and Vandals packing. Weirdly both tribes left elderly imbittered courtiers as parting gifts before exiting the continent for good. The only thing left for me now was riding out the remaining turns in a friendly and unassuming way in the eyes of my rival nations.
With three token new cities founded, and two wonders built, the final two turns gave me a 13-point swing ending the game with a Double Victory!
Some stats: No national wars, but 15 units killed with 0 losses. 28 technologies discovered. 7 workers produced. 5 military units produced. With a 43-year reign belonging to the Glorious 14.–1.3.2 Queen Neferure!
My one regret was the circumstances surrounding my dear mother Hatshepsut’s death. She developed a nasty rivalry with the Head of Saite, my hardworking Chancellor (who had developed an unrequited love towards her). I tried to quell her objections over multiple events but eventually it came to a head, and I had to come down hard on her for the sake of my noblest of families. In her boomer years she was forcibly exiled as a fugitive of the state. Sadly, the very next year she died of natural causes without any ties to her formerly beloved Egypt. Alas - if only I could have siphoned some of my wisdom toward her to help avoid her sticky end – embarrassingly she chose to cross the Egyptian border via the treacherous marshlands otherwise known by locals as the “Honey Trap”. The final whereabouts of her pet monkey remain a mystery.
Playing for a fast victory meant that my plan from the outset was a Double Victory. The primary goal was a generous stone and civics supply, backed up with a military force to strike against the second points leader if needed.
For me, the game’s biggest twist happened in the first turns and involved both my heirs and a pet monkey, which I will explain shortly.
But first the opening...
I wanted a Landowners capital with the aim of buying tiles and going crazy with quarries. Because I settled on the SW tip (to improve access to arid mountainous terrain) I missed vision of the barbarian camp you can see in Solver’s screenshot. I sent my scout to the goody hut and then out to the west on future turns.
I play this game hungry for science (probably far overvaluing it!) so naturally I sent Princess Neferure to study philosophy. This was the first step of her Einstienesque trajectory. On T3 a philosophical monkey helped Neferure get the “Educated” trait at the same time as I was contemplating her half-brother's future. It then dawned on me that Hatshepsut the Founder would be abdicating her throne (but keeping her pet monkey) in this monthly challenge. My plan was to send Duke Thutmose exploring while making Neferure the ruler, using her Educated trait to make the most of “Inquisitive” responses to exploring events.
This option paid off in spades. On T6 my philosophy studies brought an “Uncanny” event where I could get a free tech with an inquisitive leader. So it was at this fateful moment that Hatty and the monkey removed their crowns and handed Neferure the New the keys to Egypt (letting her capitalise on her own tuition event with free Rhetoric!). The Duke’s exploration events did not disappoint, and the wise purple emojis began to flow. It wasn’t long before Queen Neferure the Ambitious hit double digits with 10 wisdom on T19, rising to 13 wisdom on T33, and later hitting a lofty peak of 14 wisdom.
While my young Queen was getting her wisdoms, and extolling her “Frugality”, Egypt was growing. My first settler went west to the free city site to found the Clerics seat - which immediately built a Zoro disciple to plant some monasteries. Waset decided to sneak in an additional worker before its next settler so that I could build an early Pyramids (completed in T20). Plus I wanted to delay my Sages seat until I had juicier free tech potential.
My first visible barb site was NW so I started moving my warrior. Normally I always attack the first site I find but this one looked particularly unimpressive with the tundra and lake catchment. So my warrior sheathed her blade and followed the scout further afield – eventually meeting the Danes and deciding that I was unafraid of war (and needed the legitimacy boost with Hatty’s abdication still fresh in Egypt’s mind).
In a nail-biting series of combat rounds my Stepmother Isis, Matriarch leader and Zealot of Zoro, singlehandedly felled the defiant Danish defense – refusing to give those tall, blond, and tattooed infidels the pleasure of her death! (Yes that means surviving on 1HP).
Shortly after this conquest I had two settlers ready to plant their flags. The Sages founded on the Danish site, and the Landowners went SE from Waset to the land of horse and honey. After reading much about single player Spymaster and Agent upside on the OW discord channel, I had been targeting Portcullis as the Sages’ free tech (I had researched the prereqs) with perhaps Doctrine as the runner-up prize. My Sages ended up giving me Metaphysics, doh. I researched Portcullis the old-fashioned way (T27) hoping to follow it up with a timely Oracle build.
A further benefit of my leader’s wisdom was being able to quickly get a free chariot (just my 2nd military unit) and a free settler to turn the last Danish tribal site orange. This gave me my second Clerics and fifth overall Egyptian city (T27). I sat happily at an empire of five cities for a good long time.
On the foreign nation front I’d met scouts from Hatti, Carthage, and Persia by T15 in that order. Contact with Vandals, Thracians and BabyIon came later by T28. I had a protectionist foreign policy, ignoring tribute demands and avoiding overly friendly reactions. This was a risk given that I would not tech to Aristocracy until T36, but I was banking on the low difficulty level and AI settings giving me some breathing space.
It was around the time of Aristocracy when things got real serious and I started counting points and charting a course to victory. The Ishtar Gate was my critical path so I bought all the iron I could over the next turns, harvesting horses and ore where possible, before spending my last dime getting construction under way. This gave me a ticking clock with which to clear three more sites, build and distribute the associated settlers and a short window to get the Zoro ABM erected.
For the remainder of the game everything was focused on this goal. My free chariot, free light chariot and free maceman packed all the punch I needed to send the Thracians and Vandals packing. Weirdly both tribes left elderly imbittered courtiers as parting gifts before exiting the continent for good. The only thing left for me now was riding out the remaining turns in a friendly and unassuming way in the eyes of my rival nations.
With three token new cities founded, and two wonders built, the final two turns gave me a 13-point swing ending the game with a Double Victory!
Some stats: No national wars, but 15 units killed with 0 losses. 28 technologies discovered. 7 workers produced. 5 military units produced. With a 43-year reign belonging to the Glorious 14.–1.3.2 Queen Neferure!
My one regret was the circumstances surrounding my dear mother Hatshepsut’s death. She developed a nasty rivalry with the Head of Saite, my hardworking Chancellor (who had developed an unrequited love towards her). I tried to quell her objections over multiple events but eventually it came to a head, and I had to come down hard on her for the sake of my noblest of families. In her boomer years she was forcibly exiled as a fugitive of the state. Sadly, the very next year she died of natural causes without any ties to her formerly beloved Egypt. Alas - if only I could have siphoned some of my wisdom toward her to help avoid her sticky end – embarrassingly she chose to cross the Egyptian border via the treacherous marshlands otherwise known by locals as the “Honey Trap”. The final whereabouts of her pet monkey remain a mystery.
Halfdan Helgrim
Chieftain
Attaching the completed save as requested.
Duskblood
Chieftain
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2010
- Messages
- 42
Score victory, turn #174
Overall:
I still kinda noob to the game, so didn't get the win anywhere near where others here did. I'm gratified in that I did get the win after almost resigning the game midway through, so I'll submit my results.
After playing the game for a bit, seemed like I was consistently in the lead scorewise, so thought I'd play peaceful and try to attain victory via score or ambitions. However, it felt like I was constantly being dragged in war as I got a lot of events whereby 'go to war with them, otherwise with us' without the option of not going to war at all.
At one point, Persia attacked without any kind of indication. They sent wave after wave of troops and did a job on what little military I had up to then. The only thing that seemed to save me was the main city they kept attacking had walls and a unit that had a general that gave them the ability to fight back on melee attacks. Constant healing and repairing walls every turn turned out to save the city.
I was able to finally get a truce. Learning my lesson I went full-out making military units, upgrading and promoting. When Persia resumed turns later, I was ready. They were relentless once again, but luckily I had just gotten a leader with Diplomatic trait and was able to score an alliance with Carthage. Without them I probably would have lost all my cities, but instead was able to withstand their barrage and turn the tables. Persia started asking me for truce, but Revenge is a dish served cold, and I would have none of it.
By the time I won with score, Persia was down to their last city.
I had one big issue with playing that made it extremely fraustrating to play. Midway through the game, I felt like some units were not active for their moves. I determined that using the <Spacebar> to skip units turn was actually skipping multiple units. Switched to using the UI buttons instead and determined I had a bunch of units that could have been doing active things all along. Having to use the UI button to skip turn really slows down the game. Searched online and found some posts of others that noted similar, but nobody had a good fix. Anyone else experience similar or know of a fix?
Game was otherwise enjoyable and thanks to Ozbenno for getting it going! I look foward to reading others writeups and replaying to learn from my mistakes.
Details:
Reign of Queen Hat:
Wierd Transition period
So, Hat has died. A choice came up for daughter Serethor if she wanted to have Uncle Thutmose be King Regent until she was ready, and she seemed cool with it and her response to allow it seemed to have no repurcusions. A bunch of events happened that turn, so even though Thutmose was technically acting King, all the Xp points from the different events still went to Serethor. The very next turn Serethot charges into the Throne room demanding the Throne. The options indicated if you dont give it to her she will start scheming to overthrow Thutmose. Being that I want everyone to be happy, I had Thutmose abdicate the Throne to her. Just surprised how it went from being congenial to cutthroat in a matter of one turn.
Reign of Queen Serethor
Reign of Queen Nitiqret:
Reign of King Psamtic:
Reign of Berenib:
Continuance of Persian War. Completed capture cities ambition and started two more. One for 6 legendary cities (already have 4) and another for techs (My science/wisdom is rocking and feel good on this one also).
Reign of Titobastis:
Overall:
I still kinda noob to the game, so didn't get the win anywhere near where others here did. I'm gratified in that I did get the win after almost resigning the game midway through, so I'll submit my results.
After playing the game for a bit, seemed like I was consistently in the lead scorewise, so thought I'd play peaceful and try to attain victory via score or ambitions. However, it felt like I was constantly being dragged in war as I got a lot of events whereby 'go to war with them, otherwise with us' without the option of not going to war at all.
At one point, Persia attacked without any kind of indication. They sent wave after wave of troops and did a job on what little military I had up to then. The only thing that seemed to save me was the main city they kept attacking had walls and a unit that had a general that gave them the ability to fight back on melee attacks. Constant healing and repairing walls every turn turned out to save the city.
I was able to finally get a truce. Learning my lesson I went full-out making military units, upgrading and promoting. When Persia resumed turns later, I was ready. They were relentless once again, but luckily I had just gotten a leader with Diplomatic trait and was able to score an alliance with Carthage. Without them I probably would have lost all my cities, but instead was able to withstand their barrage and turn the tables. Persia started asking me for truce, but Revenge is a dish served cold, and I would have none of it.
By the time I won with score, Persia was down to their last city.
I had one big issue with playing that made it extremely fraustrating to play. Midway through the game, I felt like some units were not active for their moves. I determined that using the <Spacebar> to skip units turn was actually skipping multiple units. Switched to using the UI buttons instead and determined I had a bunch of units that could have been doing active things all along. Having to use the UI button to skip turn really slows down the game. Searched online and found some posts of others that noted similar, but nobody had a good fix. Anyone else experience similar or know of a fix?
Game was otherwise enjoyable and thanks to Ozbenno for getting it going! I look foward to reading others writeups and replaying to learn from my mistakes.
Details:
Reign of Queen Hat:
- First goal was to explore and expand. Found the Danes (2 colonies) and spots for 2nd and 3rd cities. Got the ambition to found 4 cities, hoping to acheive that with further exploration. Had tough time finding location for 4th city.
- Lesson learned: I should have gone for the Exploration law sooner, as I had a lot of scouts that got caught behind other Nations borders and couldn't embark them to get them out.
- Went to war with Numidians. Not by choice, but it was the only option available. Managed to take out their city, and sent settler there for 4th city to get the ambition.
- Started another ambition for 6 techs. Got two from trades with other Civs. Was able to get the other 4 needed for my second ambition
- Married daughter to Danes since they had more colonies and could be a good ally. Unfortunately she's a bit wanton and slothful, not too happy shes my heir. Would like to make it Duke Thutmose with much better traits, but concerned about changing the heirarchy so close to my death.
- Made peace with Numidians, but Babylonia keeps demanding tribute. Generating plenty of $$ so I paid, but my patience runs thin and I am attempting to build up my military.
- Built Oracle.
Wierd Transition period
So, Hat has died. A choice came up for daughter Serethor if she wanted to have Uncle Thutmose be King Regent until she was ready, and she seemed cool with it and her response to allow it seemed to have no repurcusions. A bunch of events happened that turn, so even though Thutmose was technically acting King, all the Xp points from the different events still went to Serethor. The very next turn Serethot charges into the Throne room demanding the Throne. The options indicated if you dont give it to her she will start scheming to overthrow Thutmose. Being that I want everyone to be happy, I had Thutmose abdicate the Throne to her. Just surprised how it went from being congenial to cutthroat in a matter of one turn.
Reign of Queen Serethor
- Got ambition for improving groves, camps, etc, but since the throne changed so much in the past turns, it has become a legacy, so don't expect to achieve it. Ended up doing better than expected and came up one short when it expired.
- However, got Ambition to create 1000 food which was easily accomplished in a few turns.
- Marriage to Persia, as they are the only other Nation that is unhappy at the moment.
- Got new Ambition to create 10 specialists. Suspected it should be easy and it was. Built Ziggerhaut.
- Got new Ambition for Elder specialists, which I expect should be easy as it should be congruent with the ambition for general specialists.
- Found the Numidians are everywhere and spread out, so decided to keep them on my good side by trading goods and declaring a formal peace. Unfortunately they ultimately gave me a choice to attack the Vandals or go back to war with them. Chose the Vandals. Was fine as they werent close, but they did attack some of my scouts. Eventually was able to call a Truce.
- Finally discovered Egyptian Paganism, and it is spreading like wildfire throughout my Civ.
- Got my two kids married off.
Reign of Queen Nitiqret:
- Finished Ishtar Gate. Completed 20 Specialists ambition.
- Had another event where I had to choose between war with Numidians or Hittites. Numidians are getting rediculous with these war demands so no more nice guy with them. Noticed at that point that many of their colonies have already been captured by other Civs. Should have declared war on them earlier. War lasted such a short time, I believe because another Nation killed them off.
- Then without provocation, Persia attacked me. They kicked my butt, but I was able to make peace before losing any cities. Determined to focus on military moreso.
- Many years later in Queen Nitigrets later years, I determined the Hittites are at war with Persia. Determined that Persia seemed dominant militarily I decided to see if an Egypt/Carthage alliance would work out to create 3 against 1.
- However, I dont have the Diplomat trait, so can't get an alliance. But I'm 70 and my heir has such trait, so lets wait a bit more.
Reign of King Psamtic:
- Sure enough, Nitiqret passed and Psamtic has the diplomat trait.
- Built Via Recta.
- Allied with Carthage (noticed they have a bunch of units) and Persia attacked shortly after. War was rough for a bit with a lot of waves of Persian troops, but withheld long enough until Carthage and I wore them down and the waves slowed. Captured 3 Persian cities, and got ambition for 5 more.
- Had ambition to kill (20) enemy units. Good timing.
- Also had ambition to capture 5 foreign cities, again good timing.
Reign of Berenib:
Continuance of Persian War. Completed capture cities ambition and started two more. One for 6 legendary cities (already have 4) and another for techs (My science/wisdom is rocking and feel good on this one also).
Reign of Titobastis:
- Continued crushing Persian cities.
- Acheived points victory turn #174. Had 8 ambitions and close to completing another 2.
Dale
Mohawk Games Developer
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2002
- Messages
- 7,602
I use the "2" key and "3" key to quickly flick through the workers and military queues instead of the spacebar.
I'll be closing this off very soon if any other late comers have a game to submit.
bonfireg
Chieftain
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2020
- Messages
- 43
Similar threads
