RBTS8 - Rhye's of the Mayans

[Sullla]

(0) 1425AD Not much. Get familiarized with the game and make a few tweaks, but mostly leave things alone.

(1) 1430AD Still quiet. Preparing to move out against the Mongols next turn, as suggested. I did swap away from Liberalism to Gunpowder (4t), so that we'll have it when meeting the Mesoamericans, as several suggested.

(2) 1435AD Wow, talk about a busy turn. First, Suryavarman came to us asking to be our vassal. I went ahead and said yes to that:



On the negative side, this does plunge us into war with Arabia (and their vassal, the Ottomans). On the positive side, I'd like to see them reach us, when they're also at war with India! Haha, suckers! Also, Persia collapsed this turn and has dissapeared from the list of civilized nations.

In MORE news, we also meet Inca, and score the Conquistador event:



Free murder and mayhem in the Americas? That sounds good to me! On a lesser note, I moved out the army of doom against the remanants of Mongolia too. Whew!

(3) 1440AD I decide to hold off on invading Inca until the plague runs its course in their cities. Our small army is fortified just outside their borders.

(4) 1445AD The game just hates me whenever I go after the Mongols. We lose a treb in the initial attack (75% odds), which is understandable. Then our City Raider III samurai dies in a 98.5% attack, which is a lot less so. At least the rest of our units win and burn down Karakorum:



(5) 1450AD Relatively little this turn. Healing up our Mongol attack force and preparing to go after their last two cities.

We have a Great Scientist in Kyoto, not really sure what to do with him. Probably burn on beakering a tech (?) Not much else all that useful. Liberalism is due in 5 more turns. I'd normall suggest Astronomy, except we have the Colossus, so maybe Printing Press instead. We can also delay the tech for a while in the hopes of grabbing something more expensive. No one else has Education as yet...

I only played 5 turns, partly so we can get back on even dates (1450, 1500, etc.) and partly because it feels like I just played the save. I'm fine with giving the save back to mostly_harmless if desired. What does the rest of the team want to do?

 

[Kodii]

Send it back to m_h. I don't want it back so soon

 

[AnotherPacifist]

You do realize that there is no free lunch? Your military expenditure increased with the conquistidors. It's actually good to vassalize Inca right away (without waiting for the plague) because otherwise they'll hook up the copper and you'll have a much harder time killing them (seeing that you didn't get gunpowder in time). They also have an annoying habit of hiring highly promoted mercenaries (like a pikemen or elephant) which will render your knights much less powerful.

You didn't want to get Astronomy which is understandable. But if you conquer any Incan or Aztec cities, your maintenance will increase substantially. If you're stable enough I suggest liberating them back to them after you vassalize them.

A great thing to help yourself with vassals is to demand all their resources (or exchange it with just one of your spare ones), and to give them techs so that they can research what you need. (e.g. you give them aesthetics while you direct them to research literature or drama, while you research other stuff. ) Khmer isn't so great as a vassal because they're stingy. Mali's nickname, on the other hand, is the great tech whore.

 

[Lone Wolf]

because otherwise they'll hook up the copper and you'll have a much harder time killing them (seeing that you didn't get gunpowder in time).

I've never had problems conquering Incas at Monarch even with the Knights.

 

[AnotherPacifist]

Yeah, the Incans get way too many conquistidors so it's usually not a problem. But I once made the mistake of contacting the Aztecs in 1280 (without gunpowder) in the days when optics didn't need guilds (so I didn't have knights). And since they had a boatload of cash when they spawned, they hired some expert swordsmen and axemen which killed my catapult, and without bombardment it was impossible to kill them. Never made that mistake again.

 

[say1988]

Did that once and the Aztecs hired an elephant, forced me to beg for peace (in an Arabian game where a single Carthaginian elephant had previously wiped out one of my stacks).

Is it possible for them to hire elephants now? Or other European units? I know some change was supposed to have been made a while ago, but I don't recall what they did.

 

[Feyaria]

If an AI gets the conquerer event, you can help the natives with putting some good units on the mercenary market.

In my last russian game, monty hired a musketman from me and even added a GG to it..... too bad all promotions are lost if you call your mercenary back.

 

[Garath]

What is this 'mercenary market', and how does it work?

In other news, my housemates appear to have fixed the network connection on our PC, so I should be able to play my turns normally after mh.

Garath

 

[AnotherPacifist]

See that little hammer on the left upper screen? Don't ever go near it (it'll cause a CTD sometimes). The best way to call mercenaries is to do Alt-M. You can hire mercenaries for a fee, and then pay a little premium to keep them each turn (anywhere from 1-4 g/turn). The mercenaries will show up in your capital (it used to be that they show up in your most recent conquest which is way more useful). Obviously, hire them only to suicide them for attacks, but in dire situations (like when you're playing Maya in emperor and have stacks of dog soldiers against you, or if you're playing Carthage whose UP is cheap mercenaries) sometimes you want to keep them around. You can also hire out your own soldiers to the market for money.
Mercenaries expire (i.e. they literally die) with the discovery of nationalism, so don't leave your cities defenseless (like I did once in America and allowed some dog soldiers to capture my Denver).

 

[LukeUeda-Sarson]

AFAIK, mercenaries cost (to maintain) 1 gpt plus an extra gpt per promotion they have when you hire them; since mercenaries frequently have lots of promotions - including ones not normally allowable to the uni type concerned, they not infrequently cost 7 gpt to maintain. Note there is no difference in price depending on the uni type - a 1st level rifleman cost the same as a first level warrior (of course, these two exemplary types will not be available contemporaneously).

Cheers, Luke

 

[mostly-harmless]

Got it for 10 turns.

mh

 

[mostly-harmless]

IHT: Looking around. And decide I will go for the plague stricken Incas right away. Who knows when the plague will end. They are free units anyway. Might as well burn them!

T1: Workers work, Armies march.

T2: The same.

T3: I grab Economics with Liberalism to grab the Great Merchant. I prep him for a long journey to get cash. If he is still around at the end of my turnset we can decide if a Golden Age is better (together with the Great Scientist). Does Golden Age do anything to stability? Another question: do great people die from plague???

The Incan capital gets burned to the ground.
As gets the next to last Mongol city.

T4: A mad dash with the Magellan Caravel around Cape Horn gets us the movement bonus.
Doh! Movement through desert costs 2 movement points for Knights?! That screws up my attack plans against Mongolia a tiny bit. They still cease to exist!

T5: I guess the settler was intended for the Manila spot?
The next Incan city gets burned. Still no capitulation.

T6: Khmer capture Lhasa.
The Great Merchant nets us 1500 in Delhi.

T7: India and Arabia make peace.
We do likewise and get World Map, 30 gold & 2gpt from Saladin. Not bad for not having met them in a single fight.
We do a sheep vs. pig trade as well to get some unhealthiness sorted out.

T8: Meet the Netherlands, which are tiny and unstable.
Printing Press is in. Go for Constitution next.
The Incans are history. The army will go for some healing and looting and then head north.

T9: From the ashes of the Incan empire it seems some barb dog soldiers have spawned.
Also we spot an Aztec workboat on a scout mission.

T10: Monte is officially met and gets the plague. Our scouting of Australia has so far only gained 30g and a map.
Our army is done pillaging the Mongol lands for some cash.
Manila is settled and workers and military is transferred over there. You want to move the knight back on the continent for scouting maybe. It was at the time the quickest way to get military cover over there.

Ah, yes, and by this being 1500AD we should have fulfilled our first victory conditions, although it is not noted yet. Maybe at the end of the turn.

Good luck.
mh

 

[Quotey]

New world civs an't hire Ellies, but CG3/G3 Crossbows are bad enough...

e: You razed the Incan cities? :O

 

[AnotherPacifist]

That is not true: I've have seen Incan merc elephants (available after construction).

The Incans will often not capitulate until they have 1 city left, and only if you don't burn their cities. (note your stability went down with each razed city)

Now that you've circumnavigated, it would be a good time to meet all the Europeans (again if needed) and sell them your map for about 500-1000g, depending on how many civs you can sell at the same time. (Obviously don't do it piecemeal because the AI trades maps quite liberally). Afterwards you can sell your map for 5-10 g each turn to each civ, netting you maybe another 50-100g, so explore the map.

Dog soldiers spawn in the mountains (inaccessible to you).

Note that by knowing economics (but still in decentralization) you've incurred some civics stability penalty. But the risk of Great Depression is often not worth the switch, so having vassals and mercantilism is often the solution until state property and environmentalism.

 

[Quotey]

That is not true: I've have seen Incan merc elephants (available after construction).

Ah, sorry then. I thought the new world civs could not hire mercs using resources they don't have (horses and elephants), but it was probably the tech.

On razing: I thought that you got 2 stability for capturing a city, then razing it cancels the bonus out. Am I wrong again?

 

[AnotherPacifist]

Actually, razing will cost you 3 stability points, but the points you gain from capturing a city is rather complicated, depending on whether the city is a capital, how many cities you and your opponent have, and what civic you're running (occupation). So in some cases, it is worthwhile razing a city.

 

[brucedecatz]

Actually, it is time for the players to stop and think: how are you going to win the game?

If you want to win the game by UHV, you can basically hit enter every turn, build some army, and sit back.

But if you want to colonize all of SE Asia/Oceania/America, be careful, your stability is going to hurt and your research will suffer.

It is an entirely different game from BTS. It is not "there is great land, grab it at all cost!"

Winning domination on your second try is difficult. I suggest not doing it.

 

[Kodii]

Actually, it is time for the players to stop and think: how are you going to win the game?

Actually, if you take a look at the early posts, you will notice that we have already planned and decided to win by UHV, thus our second pick of Japan, which is relatively easy compared to most others. One of the biggest goals for this game, however, is to provide some sort of "introduction" RFC learning experience for players who otherwise would only play CIV.

 

[Garath]

I see it and will try to play in the next hour.

 

[Garath]

Well, I downloaded the save without problem, and played. However, with the network failings . I'll get the report (hint: not much happened) and save up tomorrow.

Garath