Open Challenge: Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor (BtS)

[azaris]

Alright, here are my opening moves. Played 61 turns to 1560 BC since that's when Oracle completed:

Spoiler :

Settled in place.

Tech order: BW -> AH -> Mysticism -> Meditation -> Priesthood -> The Wheel -> Pottery -> Metal Casting (Oracle).

Builds in Beijing went Worker -> Warrior -> Settler -> Warrior -> Warrior -> Warrior -> Oracle.

Finished Oracle in 1560 BC, took Metal Casting.

Had lots of trouble deciding on the 2nd city spot. Decided to forego fresh water and founded Shanghai on hills next to pigs.

Some barb archers roaming about, thankfully Joao's scouting archer took one out before it attacked Shanghai.

What to do next?

First off, get some axes out and then a forge for the engineer.

I could try an axe rush against Joao, he's not too far away. Or then I will try for the Pyramids. The second strategy seems to fit China much better. I can wait until Machinery to conquer Joao if I pull off the GE -> Machinery slingshot. Oracle in Beijing interferes with that, but I could not safely chop around Shanghai due to barb archers.

 

[shyuhe]

@azaris

Spoiler :

why did you forgo both the sea and the river? I'm guessing you planted Shanghai for the 3 food sources in the bfc? You miss out on the pigs/gold city with this placement which could have fueled a very aggressive early land grab. I started playing a game (I need to find my save) in which I settled one city on the river between your Shanghai and Beijing and put my 4th city (3rd went north) on the coast to claim the two seafood + river.

Rivers are awesome lategame in BTS and you really need a compelling reason to settle one square off of them, especially since you're limiting the production of Shanghai by removing one of the hills in the bfc.

Unless you're planning on doing some sort of wonder economy, I would grow Beijing at max speed while building axes, then whip out settlers for 3-4 pop. With a granary, it won't take long to grow to pop 6-8 given the ridiculous food that Beijing has.

Also, HR or pyramids should be a priority because Beijing can be a monster city in the early game if you can find a way around the

Just some thoughts

 

[Johan^^]

Tech order: BW -> AH -> Mysticism -> Meditation -> Priesthood -> The Wheel -> Pottery -> Metal Casting (Oracle).

Builds in Beijing went Worker -> Warrior -> Settler -> Warrior -> Warrior -> Warrior -> Oracle.

Finished Oracle in 1560 BC, took Metal Casting.

Had lots of trouble deciding on the 2nd city spot. Decided to forego fresh water and founded Shanghai on hills next to pigs.

First of, You did good with the worker start, ´BUT it ends here. You must determind what strategy you are aiming for. From 4000BC --> 1AD says alot about how the game is going to end up. So you still got time to make up for the first turnes...
What are you going to due with all those warriors ?

Lets look at the techs:
You should go for Fishing due to the extreme starting location by the water. 2nd should be BW, so there you are doing good.. BW will allow you to chop a workboat which is really nice and help with research due to the extra

What you do after this really depends on your strategy. Though since you have non or not explained your strategy, it´s really hard to say more about the techs.

2nd City is a disaster in my point of view. Always settle at rivers if possible(health bonus, Leves, fast trade connections early) and definite ALWAYS settle an early river city with gold due to the BOOST this gives in tech !

I´ve played this start my self and will post an 1AD Empire overview tomorrow. Played it in the weekend, just haven´t had time to do a write up

 

[shyuhe]

ok, I played up to 1520 BC.

Spoiler :

I completed the oracle two turns ago, then went into anarchy to adopt Confucianism. It was founded in my second city which will nicely pop its borders soon. My current plan is to build axes and whip out at least two settlers, probably 3 in relatively quick succession. Once HR is complete, I will swap into HR/caste to bulb some GS's. If I get a GP, I will probably pop theology and take the cheap AP route. I have only met Gilgamesh so far in my game...

The barbs have been quiet as well - I have one axe wandering around but I need a few more axes before I settle two more cities as I apparently won't have horses until my 5th city or so. I'm thinking of settling a city on the east coast as #3, then #4 up north with the cows and ivory. #5 will go north of #3 for the horses. I'm hoping I don't have to go into the tundra for #6... I need to scout further north though.

 

[azaris]

Spoiler :

@Johan^^: You're not being entirely fair. Yes, not founding on a river tiles loses fresh water. I said that. The forests make up for that a little. I can still work eight river tiles, that's only one less than if I'd settled on a river tile. Of course I'd have liked to settle on the coast, but there's a peak there, don't you know? I still have room for a riverside gold hill city and a coastal fishing town. I think it's better that the 2nd city is a production city that can get workers and settlers out quickly and the 3rd and 4th cities are commerce cities that can fund the growing empire. But like I said, it was a difficult choice and I felt I had to compromise.

Perhaps I should've gotten Fishing in there, but I didn't want to take any risks losing Oracle. It only takes 5 turns to grab it to connect the cities at the moment.

 

[shyuhe]

I just finished playing this game... azaris, are you aware that it's a monarch game and not an emperor game? I didn't realize until I saw my final score and thought it was a little low for the date. I looked closer and realized that it's monarch!

 

[Johan^^]

Maybe i was a bit hard.. okay

Though i still feel you haven´t got any plan on what to do in this game

 

[sveint]

No time to play this but:
-Fishing should be first research (food builds settlers)
-2 settlers for a total of 3 cities (river or coast please), expand TOWARDS AIs, grab resources, minumum 1 special food tile per city
-Wonders are good, but why Oracle? I'd have gone Great Lighthouse (economy) or the Wall (safe expansion, send those barbarians to Joao). Oracle fits better with religion -> Code of Laws.

 

[sveint]

Just looked at screenshots:

Spoiler :

Ideal 2nd city is adjacent to gold and rice. It also grabs horses. No, it's not a great long term city, but it's almost ideal in the early game. Chariots beat axes against barbarians, for scouting and for settler escort.

 

[sveint]

Spoiler :

Example of good 3rd city placement - plain hills near river: deny iron from Joao. (I stole screenshot from someone else"s play).

Hope this helps.

 

[Johan^^]

Played until 1000 AD, but ill start by posting from 4000BC-1AD

My strategy for this game will be wonder span (hopefully i´ll get them all) due to this very nice Capital location and the Industrius leader. With this starting location I´m thinking i´ll focus on The Great lighthouse and The Tempel of Artamis. The Colossus will be a nice wonder aswell, so oracle for MC pup is a good idea to. This will give me a wonder economy and boost my research. All the GP from the early wonders will be settled to form a super city.!

Besides i´ll try to expand fast towards the AI since this normally slow the AIs expantion down. If we get into a war due to boarders our Protective trait will help out here and ofcause the UU

I must admit that I´m a bit leasy so im going to post screenshots and let them tell most of the story from 4000BC-1AD.

Spoiler :

This is so lucky wuhu (puped scout in another hut earlier.)

I founded my 3th city near Joao II to slow down his expansion. Look at this now. The stupid AI is going to give me a city. I expect this city to fall to culture later in the game !

Empire overview at 1 AD summed up here :

Tech view:

I´m abit worried with the fact that I´m going to grab CoL due to religion on the other contient. If "we" grab all the religions on this continent it might backfire later with a allaround happy continent where the AI is tech trading like hell, spending all their gold on research.

Though i could use it in this game to convert gilgames, so i dont get 3 buddas against me. If founded in the 3th city if will help with culture So i´m going for it. Though ill try to leave out any rel grabbing from now on. Have Jud allready...

City view:

Last but now least

This could look like a happy AI family, so spredding confu. to gilgamesh is vital !

The 3th city placement is really nice. It will slow the AI down i hope and it makes for great defense if i get into a war. Protective and with a hill city. GL to the AI

Ill post my 1000AD empire update tomorrow

PS. I got all the wonders so far Even pyramids in the 2nd city which is really nice. Had to chop a bit. Getting Math EARLY helped the chopping