Prince Shadow Game

[michmbk]

What I'll also say with respect to zara is scout his territory! If you're not early rushing, then go through his land and see what strategic (metals, horse) resources he has. That can have a major impact on how you attack.

But I agree, pottery & currency are useful techs to go after now, but as the previous poster said, you don't want Zara around too long, because he gets really tough after gunpowder.

 

[jmwalker]

ive got the free confu missionary in zara's terrotory, so he might do a bit of exploring for me while hes there.

 

[pigswill]

Playing a shadow. Up to 1ad.

Spoiler :

Settled 1 north, agric>mining>AH>BW>mining etc, got a worker then built warriors while growing then started on settlers and workers.

Having had an explore I decided to rex rather than rush. Built six cities. Missed out on early wonders coz I was settler-spamming.

Went for lit after basic techs. Then went currency>Col. Picked up monarchy,IW and mono in trade. Got Glib, SoZ, Parthenon due in 3. First GS bulbed philosophy in 25bc for Taoism.

Ham founded Judaism and we're happy co-religionists, Ham is friendly, Zara is pleased.

Overall, not too bad. Wondering about going for optics before starting on lib beeline and try for astro slingshot. Be nice to explore a bit and see who else is around.

Theology is kind of tempting however even though Chsitianity is founded so I can share it with Zara, fave civic and shared religion should get us up to friendly.

 

[jmwalker]

Techpath went pottery-> maths-> construction-> alphabet-> aesthetics-> polytheism-> currency-> literature-> metal casting-> calendar-> drama-> civil service-> iron working-> machinery (part)

This section I plan to aggressively settle toward Zara, and get ready for war
I used my missionary partly to scout Zara’s land, but also to pop some huts right outside his border (he clearly hasn’t scouted to well!) I got a warrior and 59 gold for my troubles.
After I scouted Zara’s land:

He only has horses, and in his cities has built nothing better than archers. After using the settler I built I decided just to spam axemen / spearmen in Mecca.
925 BC I found Damascus in the East:

Another supply of horses (you can never be too sure), and a bit of grassland for cottaging.
May I just say, Zara’s capital is food galore!

I’ve also marked on what I think will be a good draft city. At size 5, working the 3 seafood, corn and farmed floodplain we can draft once per turn- which apparently is very good!


Eventually, I get round to giving Aksum confu, which Zara adopts. Hopefully he’ll spread it to his cities before I attack.

After construction I consider going for Horseback Riding for the jumbo’s, but I’m feeling pretty confident about my chances, so I go for alphabet- might as well get a few techs off him.
375 BC- pyramids are in. I switch to rep.

In 200 BC I get a great prophet, which I settle in Mecca.
After Alphabet, I see what techs Zara will give me:

Ah. Notice he founded Christianity and coverted.
Finally, at 1 AD I ring up Zara...

Lalibela fell easily

Giving us the Christian holy city. Gondar was a bit more tricky, being on a plains hill and all, but I managed to take it.
I sue Zara for peace, as I’ve ran out of siege.

Pretty decent haul I think.
Did I mention I was building the shwedagon paya in Mecca?

I thought it has nice synergy with spiritual. I swapped to theocracy, with the intent of changing to Pacifism once the war is over.

375 AD I get a great engineer in Babylon, thanks to the pyramid. I use him to rush the great library there:

Eventually, I get a big enough stack to declare on Zara again:

And Aksum is ours!

Some nice wonders there too.

Following the Battle of Aksum, I got my first Great General, which I settled in Mecca.
Shortly after I get a great scientist, which I use for an academy on Babylon.
While warring Livy gives me some useful information:

I didn’t expect that, seeing as I’ve only traded once. ( when suing zara for peace)
After civil service I switch to bureaucracy
I then take Yeha- leaving Zara with only one city.

Finally, Zara is destroyed.

This seems like a good place to stop. View of our empire:

Tech situation:

Demographics:

I don’t think I’m doing too badly. My main aim for the next section is:
• too take over that barb city
• too settle the rest of the island
• too meet some other civs

How do you guys think I’m doing? I probably could have taken Zara out a bit earlier, but I got a bit distracted by wonders, which is strange as I don’t usually. I guess I still have to learn to be a bit more focused, like you said pigswill.

 

[Stewie0416]

Being a prince beginner as well, I think you've done amazing! I've never really done well with the early axemen wars. I think you should prioritize meeting other civs. I think thats what your doing right now right? Mach->Compass->Optics? Has anybody taken Philo yet? I usually use it to gauge how advanced I am if I'm isolated ( I never really trust those top 10 things, its good but sometimes it can't be too accurate.)

 

[jmwalker]

tbh i think it was quite a late axemen war for me. At noble at least i can usually manage to take two civs out before the AD's. Damn the AI production bonus!

Yeah, i want to meet other civs, but i also want to win the liberalism race. so i'm thinking compass-> optics then hopefully with a bit of help from great scientists i'll go down the lib path.

I don't know if philo has been discovered, ill look when im on again. if it has i'm thinking i just go straight for lib.

btw, im in wales till friday, so no civ for me

 

[pigswill]

Played on up to 1070ad.

Spoiler :

Stopped at 1070 coz I've just done lib>astro.

Built two more cities (far SW and SE island). Finished Parthenon, completed U of Sankore this turn.

I was kind of lucky that Zara learned theology, he wouldn't trade it to me but traded it to Ham who would trade it to me. Once Zara and I adopted theocracy and Ham and I adopted bureaucracy diplo bonus for wise civics kicked in and despite some border tensions we're good friends.

Techwise beelined optics (bulbed in 580), then headed for CS>lib which I've just got.
Nice thing about keeping Ham and Zara alive and friendly is that I picked up theology, HbR, calendar, feudalism and drama in trades.

Doing ok according to demographics screen:

Got circumnav in 820ad. Met some neighbours (serious spoilers ahead)

Spoiler :

There's a couple of barb islands waiting to be nabbed once I've got some galleons built. Pinching the city to the south of Egpyt looks tempting as a bridgehead (and I won't pay colonial maintenance on it). Maybe look to polish off Justinian as a bridgehead to that island. The Wang/Vicky coalition is the only serious threat so far so need to deal with them sooner rather than later. Egypt and China can wait.
Techwise I want steel for cannon and a navy, communism for SP. Probably in that order. Maybe look to pick up milsci after steel and before heading towards communism.

 

[pigswill]

On to 1500ad...

Spoiler :

Played largely as per plan, except that I went for economics before steel coz a GM TM gives cash for major upgrades.

Techwise it went: engineering, guilds (trade), music (trade), gunpowder, banking (trade), economics (free GM), chemistry, divright (trade), nationalism (trade), steel, milsci, scimeth, constitution (trade), communism (free GSpy). Now researching physics. Keeping Ham and Zara alive and friendly is definitely helping on the research front.

Built Notre Dame in 1270. Zara beat me to Taj Mahal. Ham built AP but I got residency due to majority population.

Popped a great artist that I used for my first golden age. GM got a 1700g TM (trade mission) in London. Great Spy is loitering around waiting for physics GS for a second golden age.

Declared on Justinian in 1280. Captured and kept 3 cities, razed 2 more, Just was finally annihilated in 1480. My casualties were minimal because I spent a huge hunk of money upgrading cats and trebs to cannon.

I noticed that communism opens up Permanent Alliance. However I need several turns of common war or defensive pact before I can get a PA partner. Declared on Hats in 1490 and bribed Zara to join in. Ham wouldn't play, saying he couldn't declare on his friends even though Ham and Hats are only cautious.

Settled a couple of cities on a small island to stop anyone else claiming it, with overseas trade routes they should pay for themselves and its extra pop/land.

Still ahead on research:

Still leading on demographics:

All quiet on the western front (for the moment):

On the eastern front I'm going for more of a defensive stance to eke out those turns at war for the PA:

I'm wondering about going for mass media for UN and diplo victory, Vicky would be the opponent and neither Ham nor Zara should vote for her, probably involve vassalising Wang.
Alternatively I could go for straightforward domination in which case I'd head for artillery followed by railroads and combustion. This would still involve a war with Wang, but as a prelude to defeating Vicky.

@jmwalker. Had another look at your early game. I posted earlier about deciding on a strategy then focussing on it till its done. Your early game was fine up to taking out Babylon. By that point you had presumably worked out that it was only you and Zara left. I think that Medina was a mistake. If you were gunning for Zara then either you should have not bothered with another city or you should have built towards Zara. Probably you'd have been better building axes in Mecca and chariots in Babylon and wiping out Zara asap. You'd probably have lost the Oracle but eliminating Zara over a thousand years earlier would have compensated quite easily.