Prince Shadow Game, Pangaea/Arid/Med Sea, Noob Player

[Yeah_Sure]

Hey Everyone, long story short I've been playing this game for awhile but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to win in this game. I've been playing a few prince games since it's the most balanced between player and AI. I figured I'd ask you all for some help since I'm running blind, you all have expertise on this game, and apparently the war academy guides are outdated.

Here's what I'm working with at the moment. I picked tokugawa on purpose as I've read his traits are weak compared to other leaders. I don't want any kind of advantage until I fully understand how this game works. If there's a better leader for that purpose, I'll start a new game and use that one instead. That said, here's the screenshot and save. I marked where I plan to settle the first city.

 

[Whisker]

Settling on plains hill is always solid. Remember to move your warrior first though, they might see something to change your plans. There's some snow visible behind the hill North and West from your soldier so that is unlikely to be very interesting. Move your warrior to that hill SW and if there's nothing there, move settler first to the sheep before climbing the hill you plan to settle. There is small change something is revealed to influence your decision there.

 

[Whisker]

As a general tip, be patient and play short turn sets so you have time to receive feedback. Until you have settled and made your first tech choice you should play a turn at time and then in sets of 5-10 turns and making extra stop each time you encounter interesting choice. If you don't understand given instruction ask, folks here are generally pleased to expand.
Also if you have not yet done so, please read through the first pinned threat of this sub-forum, that will give you solid base knowledge.

 

[pigswill]

Why Arid? Sound advice so far.

 

[Jellybug]

If you get sick of Toku you can try Charlemagne he's pretty bad too.

 

[Yeah_Sure]

Thanks Whisker, I'll try to be patient and play in short turn sets. I'll read the sticky in a few as well. Pigswill, I didn't pick Arid it was chosen randomly in settings. And thanks Jellybug I'll keep that in mind.

Here's where I am on T2. For tech I was thinking Agri->AH->Mining->BW, and for units Worker->Warrior to grow to Size 2 or 3, then settler. The reason I'm thinking Agriculture instead of Hunting is so I can farm the Flood Plains. I'm somewhat familiar with the concept of turning food into hammers via whipping, although I'm not great at it. Either way is this a good idea or should I do Hunting->AH and put cottages on those FPs instead? As for scouting I was planning to move the warrior south 1W to the wine and then moving eastward and circle back.

 

[lymond]

I'd say AG is probably best, and farming a FP here for lack of anything better is good. You will def eventually cottage all the FPs but the extra food early will help with settlers. Ag gives the bonus to Pot as well, which on this level I might actually consider heading to right after AH.

Toku is a fine leader for learning. I also oft recommend Washington as sort of a neutral leader - good but not overwhelming traits and flexible starting techs, as well as irrelevant uniques.

 

[krikav]

@Yeah_Sure This opening is quite a puzzle... I could theorize quite abit about it, but the cut and dry path forward is just to go Agri->AH. Toward AH because the green sheep is a awesome tile, and through Agri because farming floodplains is kind of good and agri is almost certainly useful later on, where as hunting might not be.


But theorizing then... If the aim is to put a pasture on that sheep, maybe growing to pop2 on a warrior and then building a worker working either two floodplains or floodplain+lake while teching hunt->AH could work out.
In theory that would give you the fastest possible sheep.
Rather unorthodox thinking, and I'm far from certain that it would work out though.
And with such a opening, you would forfeit the farmed floodplain, but otoh the city would grow up in size dramatically quickly, and even though the worker would be stuck just pre-roading alot of stuff, the faster large city might compensate.

 

[krikav]

Growing to pop2 on a warrior and then starting a worker at pop2 while teching agri->AH looks very nice.
Worker is set to be finished T19 and AH will be in at the same turn.

T9, truncated screenshot to avoid T6 borderpop spoilers.

Spoiler :

 

[krikav]

A size1 city working a farmed floodplain yields exacly the same as a size2 city working two unimproved floodplains.
So while one takes 12 turns to get out a worker and then 7 turns to farm the floodplain, the other approach to grow just takes 8 turns.

 

[Yeah_Sure]

On T10, I took your advice and went warrior->worker to start off. I marked where I think the second city would be, is that a good spot? I was thinking 1S so I can work the gold immediately after researching mining, but if I settle on the hills instead I could go AH->Pot->Sailing and build a lighthouse there. As for the second warrior, do I use him for scouting or have him fortify on the spot I plan to settle my 2nd city? I'm never sure about this. I always figure I fortify a warrior there so that way my settler/worker can get there faster without risking being killed by an animal.

Edit: Forgot to mention I met Justinian

 

[pigswill]

That's a lot of floodplains, good reason to play an Arid map. There might be an issue with health but looks like pottery next. It looks like a lake rather than inland sea , it needs a lot of water tiles (?12+)) before a lake becomes a sea and can support a lighthouse.
How many turns before you complete a settler? Your warrior can certainly explore a bit while waiting then return to escort settler.

 

[lymond]

I settled 1E of the gold, but settling on the spot you have marked has some merit ,albeit nothing to do with the lake and...no ...you cannot build a LH there. Your spot is probably the better move on higher levels You have some city overlap to help work some tiles for Kyoto, and only 1 road needed for trade route between Kyoto and the river. Slightly less maintenance from closer city but that is not really felt much at this level. Down side is you need border pop for the gold. Having gold to work early by a secondary city like that can be a huge boost.

That's a lotta FPs you have there. Cottage paradise. Commerce is certainly not gonna be a problem in this game.

If you pop horses, I'd def think about shortening Justy's lifespan.

Turn on your scoreboard.

 

[Yeah_Sure]

On T20, looks like settler is gonna take awhile. I did some more scouting and I marked where I think my 3rd city should be. Looks like I might lose one of my warrior to the bear. Since I'm not chopping for awhile, what should my plan be at this point? Lymond, you mentioned I should take out Justy if horses pop up, which it has. The question I have is do I expand towards him until our borders touch and then take him out, or should I do it sooner than that? His capital is a holy city, so I'm guessing it would be a good idea to take it, but wouldn't that also make it harder without siege units?

Edit: Lymond, was there any particular reason you settle 1E of gold? Would you research myst and build a monument for a early border pop in that case?

 

[lymond]

I'd grow to size 3 or 4 here before starting a settler...with sheep online soon you should grow fast and the horses will help too.

I settled 1E of gold expressly so I don't need a monument....well, that and the fact that the city has a ton of flood plains.

Wheat spot you have marked is perfect, but location of copper might determine your 3rd city.

How I settle has no bearing on killin' Justy...he's close enough for a chariot rush on Prince...heck on IMM.

Note: I stole 3 or 4 workers from Monty.

You might have some free kills left against bear? Those desert bears are fierce.

spawnbust your future city spots.

An option here is to focus on chariots even with one city. Get a few out soon and you might face warriors against Justy..easy pickin's. Meantime you grow and 3 pop settlers later after BW.

 

[konata_LS]

Welcome to forum!

Toku is a crappy leader for a high score attempt, but a very good leader for improving game skills, as his traits offer zero economic help and you must rely on your own skills to win the game.

Unconventional shadow from a clumsy noob (me):

Spoiler :

Move warrior NE, and decided Pottery-Hunting-AH. +1- from Fur and +1 from Deer would be nice. Worker cottage the flood plains.


Chariots/HAs rush Justy. Captured 2 cities and sent him to heaven. Got Agri and some small techs through trade. Then there is nothing interesting in trade.


Capital on T80. For leaders like Toku, if there is no Gold/Gem in the capital BFC, I preferred grow cottages very early. Capital build a settler before Library, because there are many nice land to settle nearby.

 

[pigswill]

Given BFC horses and proximity of Justinian you could consider one city chariot rush and make Byzantium your second city. Forget this settler and pottery nonsense, research mining, connect horses, grow on rax then kill kill kill.

 

[krikav]

@Yeah_Sure Settler at size2 here feels wrong. You have a green sheep that gives you fast growth, and you have enough floodplains that each pop you grow adds another +1 food. I would probably want size4 to start a settler. Only reason I wouldn't go pop5 is that it requires a warrior stationary in the capital.

I like second city 3E of capital acually. Sharing the sheep and those 3 floodplains would help int he early game and maintinence is as low as can be.
That second city would then be able to focus on production with 3 hills. The two floodplains south of that second city could be farmed to help wheat city grow super fast too.

 

[Yeah_Sure]

T30 here, I tried to combine all the advice given by everyone. I'm assuming I'll chop out 4-6 chariots once BW is done as to have a 2 to 1 ratio for my attack? I also marked the order that I plan to settle my first three cities. Should I rethink anything? As for tech I'm thinking after BW to go with Pot->Writing->Alphabet. That said if I messed up anything here or moving forward, I'll go back and replay the turns.

 

[Yeah_Sure]

One other thing I forgot to ask. For spawnbusting to be effective, am I suppose to plant the unit on the spot I plan to settle, or 2 or more units away from it?