Paradigm Shift

[ParadigmShifter]

OK, I moved the scout SE.



No resources. Just to be sure I wouldn't be better moving the settler 1E, I moved him 1SW as well. Nothing except more hills with no food. I settle in place.



Hut pops for gold, can't remember exactly how much, event log says "a little gold". Informative. (EDIT: Now I can se the screen shot at full size, it's 44 gold, not bad).

15 turns to build a worker working the unimproved cow. 12 turns to research animal husbandry to please Cathy, 15 turns for bronze, exactly when the worker is finished. I'm thinking animal husbandry so the worker can improve the cow, the best tile. We can wait to build a mine (and chop forest), food is more important. The scout can also get looking for horse locations nearby. But then, the worker has nothing to do after building the pasture. When the capitals's border pops in 5 turns we can work a plains river tile for 1F1P1C, to speed up bronze a bit (will slow down the worker), but meh, I'm thinking maybe get a warrior in the build queue first. I hate workers standing around with nothing to do. We don't have the wheel.

We also missed out on rice by settling in place, never mind, there was no way we could know.

 

[Bhruic]

Napoleon lost due to his charismatic trait giving an extra happiness which basically means playing prince games with noble happiness levels

Just a FYI, in BTS they changed the happiness bonus - it's identical from Warlord difficulty level up.

Bh

 

[Rattus Deus]

great thread, I've just moved to Prince myself and not doing to well. keep getting surrounded by protective civs, those free promotions are a killer, especially sitting bull, good archers for defence and then xbows for attack.

Interested to see how you play at this level

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Just a FYI, in BTS they changed the happiness bonus - it's identical from Warlord difficulty level up.

Bh

Are you sure? According to this exellent pdf reference sheet http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=236346, the bonus is

+3 health/+5 happy at Noble
+2 health/+4 happy at Prince/Monarch
+1 health/+3 happy at Emperor and above


I keep forgetting Cathy is creative, so the border pop will be in 3 turns rather than 5 with her. I'll be able to work the plains river tile for 1F1P1C from that turn. I'm still thinking of putting some hammers into a warrior before building a worker. Until I get animal husbandry and bronze working, the worker wont have much to do.

I'll probably play the first round in a bit.

EDIT: And being Creative, my normal domination plan of getting stonehenge isn't really necessary either. So I could build another early wonder instead. But we'll see.

Plan for the first round: scout for goody huts, get a worker and some warriors built, tech animal husbandry and bronze, find some victims (err... the neighbours), and look for good 2nd city sites. Finding the coast is also important on continents. I'll need to build boats at some point.

 

[Bhruic]

Are you sure?

Yup, quite sure. I double-checked with the .xml file before posting. It's:
+4 /+6 at Settler
+3 /+5 at Chieftan
+2 /+4 at Warlord+

Bh

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Hmm, OK, that means the reference sheet is wrong then.

 

[Groogaroo]

Yay! a prince walkthrough. Great idea.

I can regularly beat Noble, but always get spanked on prince, so I will be following along and see if I pick up any tips.

I know its a bit early in the game yet, but what kind of economy do you usually run?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Bhruic is correct, the reference sheet is wrong.

Happiness: +4


Health: +2


In other news (editor's corrections section), I don't need to wait for a border pop to work a 1F1P1C tile, I can work the grapes



That will make the worker appear in 20 turns and reduce animal husbandry to 11, bronze to 14 research time. So by the time the worker is out and built a pasture, I could have both the techs I need for early improvements. So I might skip putting some hammers into a warrior.

@Groogaroo: Normally, specialists and farms for me. This capital demands some cottage spam though, the food surplus just isn't high enough (when I get monarchy, the wineries will only give 2F). That's better for bureaucracy anyway. I want to find a high food site fairly soon.

I'll build a library in the capital ASAP and get running at least 1 scientist however, I want a great scientist to build an academy for +50% research (+75% with library).

If I get the pyramids I will probably go full on SE.

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

15 turns to build a worker working the unimproved cow. 12 turns to research animal husbandry to please Cathy, 15 turns for bronze, exactly when the worker is finished. I'm thinking animal husbandry so the worker can improve the cow, the best tile. We can wait to build a mine (and chop forest), food is more important. The scout can also get looking for horse locations nearby. But then, the worker has nothing to do after building the pasture. When the capitals's border pops in 5 turns we can work a plains river tile for 1F1P1C, to speed up bronze a bit (will slow down the worker), but meh, I'm thinking maybe get a warrior in the build queue first.

First thing I note is that the only tile in the fat cross which could conceal an early resource is the one your scout is standing on. But that's a riverside tile, which means if the river is "real", then none of the early strategic resources can appear there...

It follows that finding out where the horses are on turn 12 isn't going to do you any more good than discovering them later would do.

Second thing I note is that you are starting with Hunting. There are only a few ways to take advantage of that, but one of them is the early scout; as a rule, the earlier the better (because you want him exploring pre-barbarian, and while there are still huts to be harvested). You could push the scout out on turn 5....

What I would probably do with this start is train a scout while focusing on growth - precisely hitting 0/24 on the food bar, then stagnating. Once the scout was out, I would then start training the worker, planning to whip it when Bronze Working comes in. While researching Cows, the worker applies the axe as most appropriate (another worker to speed things up, or a settler to claim some nearby resource, or just clearing the grassland mines while the city focuses on growth).

The key element to this particular starting map, in my mind, is the trees; the board is screaming at you to REx.

 

[StrategeryBush]

Good idea to do this walk at this level. I just moved up to Monarch from Prince, but it always helps to see the thought processes involved in the key decisions, and the decision points are different at these intermediate levels.

My question would have been: Why rush to bronze if you were going to save your forests for the Great Library? But with this start you could only improve one other tile without chopping the forest first. That's a lot of wood in that BFC.

 

[Geoffroy]

Great I'll be following this! I'm able to win on Prince but struggle a lot in my current continents conquest game. I'm sure I can learn from this!

 

[ParadigmShifter]

VoiceofUnreason: too late! I played the first round (to 3040BC).

Disclaimer: my play is in no means optimal You can get away with some suboptimal tactics at Prince level, so I thought I would demonstrate that too

Highlights: got a good tech from a hut, and lots of cash. Met an old friend, and someone from BtS I have played as but never against.

StrategeryBush - I will chop the Great Lib, but there is alot of trees (including on the hills), so I need bronze to build a mine. Also, I want cottages on the riverside grasslands, they have trees on them too.

 

[madscientist]

PS, nice thread. Sorry for not piping in last night, I would have advised settling one spot east to get the river for later levees. Good Luck!!!

 

[Groogaroo]

@Groogaroo: Normally, specialists and farms for me. This capital demands some cottage spam though, the food surplus just isn't high enough (when I get monarchy, the wineries will only give 2F). That's better for bureaucracy anyway. I want to find a high food site fairly soon.

Double Yay! I've just started trying SE and have been pretty happy with the results. It will be good to see your take on it, and how it differs to mine.

I usually use my capital for a mixture of cottage/production anyway to make full use of bureaucracy.

Will stay tuned.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Dominatrix Cathy - Round 1 (to 3040BC)

I get the scout exploring. Looks like desert to the North so I continue moving South.



Oooh... stone. Pyramids. Hmm. The tiles I can see near it are lame though, apart from the cow. Might be better tiles around that can still catch the stone. I can see some coast as well. Have a look there next, move to the cow, and see a hut.



Pop the hut, free tech, agriculture. Excellent, but not much use for the capital at present so I still slow build the worker working the 1F1P1C tile.



There's jungle (I can see a banana in the jungle as well) around where the hut is. I'm going to move the scout to the north a bit to scout more around the area of the stone.

Meet the first neighbour...



He is doing pretty well on the "which leader do you hate the most" poll, apparently he gives you a -2 diplo every time you refuse a demand. He must be pretty close by.

Spot another hut... it pops gold



Meet an old friend



Hmm. We all have our opinions on Mansa the Tech Monster. I'd rather he was on my continent than on the other one.

First threat



I'm not worried. You get a free win against barbarians at prince level. Scout takes no damage from the attack.

3600BC, animal husbandry researched. I had a brief look around Mansaville, but now moving my scout towards the flood plains I saw in the desert to the North when my capital's borders popped. Horses quite close by.

 

[madscientist]

You have alot of open land there. I would consider a city to claim the stone, bananas and cows next, and tech towards sailing to get a trade route on the river. Once you hook up the stone gun for the Great Wall, you are imperialistic so defensive wars get you 4 times the GG pace (it's a multiplier bonus) for teh entire game.

You are also creative so the horses should be claimed fairly early, get lot's of chariots as Sury like to war early. He'll attack either you or MM, then turn on teh survivor eventually.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Note Hinduism was also founded at this time. I start bronze working.

Another hut, more gold




Horses to the North too



And seafood, this looks like the high food site I am looking for



3440BC, Buddhism founded in a distant land. There's gold in them thar' hills too.



... and more seafood, I can probably put 2 cities here in the North on the coast, one high food GP farm with horses, another to work a gold mine.



There's marble around here as well. I'm liking the resources on this map



Sury is really close. I think maybe I should rush him with chariots.



3200BC, worker is done. Switch to the cow tile for growth, build a warrior. The worker is off to pasture the cow, obviously. He will finish as soon as bronze working is discovered.



3040BC, cow pasture improved, bronze working discovered. The capital will grow at the same time the warrior is finished



I stopped playing there. I'm going to get the wheel next to road some tiles to next city site.

Culture map:



Resource map:



Note the scout found some copper to the southwest as well.

I guess it is dotmap time now folks.

 

[grandad1982]

If/when you go for the stone where you going to settle? I'd settle on the stone.
Will make a nice production site a bit later on with some farms and water mills.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I could settle 1S of stone, to get bananas and cows as well as being able to work the quarry for extra hammers, but it's one tile from the coast. Settling on the stone looks better than this option.

I could also settle 1NE1E of the stone, to get the rice, some grassland, and 2 hills. I can chain irrigate the rice for an extra food after civil service too.

 

[grandad1982]

1NE1E would leave a site for another city 1SE of the cows as well.