[RPC] The Great Automaton

[Gooblah]

Hello, and welcome to the Great Automaton. This game will detail the struggle of a civilization guided by the computer, and their human leader who's there only to press the Enter Key!

First of all, the game's unique options. All promotions, improvements, and missionaries, and executives will be automated.



Second, the settings (again, mostly random):



Thirdly, the Leader and Civilization:



Well, well, well. Hatshepsut, who is Spiritual and Creative. Egyptian starting techs are The Wheel and Agriculture. Cross your fingers for some Corn, Rice or Wheat...



Well. This is a let down. Now, for the unique rules:

1) All cities will have Automated Production on. This means the computer chooses the production.
2) All technologies will be one of the two recommended choices in the initial pop-up.
3) All options as shown above will be checked.
4) All cities must be founded in the computer-recommended blue circles. If this means moving the initial Settler...so be it.

Finally, strategy:
Space Race is out of the question. Why? The computer never (IIRC) picks Spaceship parts for production. Domination and Conquest will be equally difficult, since amassing an army is at best random, and the promotions wont necessarily be what we want. A Cultural, Diplomatic, or Religious Victory will be key. Diplomacy will have to be top-notch, since our weak power rating will inevitably lead to war.

So, are you ready to accompany the Egyptians on a digital glide to a most likely doom? If so, here's the start! (I'll be posting my stuff, and please feel free to post yours, but in spoiler tags. Thank you!)

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Er...cultural is impossible...you won't get the cities to make the right buildings.

It's dubya all over again . At least we have some diplo control. If it were just automated workers I could do it, but the buildings and techs ?

Manipulation of production will matter here a lot since we're on monarch. The only way I can envision winning at all is troop spam via early war winning land.

 

[Quotey]

Role a dice for all diplo actions, and do not initiate diplomacy. Control? PAH

 

[Gooblah]

Yeah, it'll be hell. Cultural isn't as much of a long-shot as the military victories though; the AI (in my experience) favors building Monuments, Theaters and other culture-producing buildings. And, the human still has (limited) control over Specialist assignment and the sliders.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Yeah, it'll be hell. Cultural isn't as much of a long-shot as the military victories though; the AI (in my experience) favors building Monuments, Theaters and other culture-producing buildings. And, the human still has (limited) control over Specialist assignment and the sliders.

More important is that city governor icon. It will affect what automated workers build.

 

[PaulusIII]

Dubya II?

I've got a feeling this will be yet another testament to the stupidity of city governors, automated workers and the like.

 

[Zanttu]

Again - Monarch is way too hard. Space race is out of question, since you will be so far behind in tech. Military victories are really hard, because the cities will start producing military units only after all buildings are in place. Time victory is not an option, unless you somehow manage to get on top of the score chart - which isn't likely to happen. Cultural could be possible actually, but will take forever without wonders/specialisation. Diplomatic is your only change, but how to get in as a candidate for votes? You aren't likely to build those wonders, and I doubt you will have the highest population.

 

[Gooblah]

I tried this twice (using other maps and leaders). Basically, my plan is to find a religious bloc consisting of close neighbors and use triangle-trade to form a nice Friendly local group of powerful allies. Looking back, I should've toggled Permanent Alliances as a last-ditch effort, and even now it may not be too late. Oh well. My tech plan (even though it's controlled by the computer):

Fishing-Animal Husbandry-Mining-Polytheism-Bronze Working-Pottery-Writing-Aesthetics-Literature.

The latter two tend to be avoided by the AI and offer good trade opportunities once the AIs snag Alphabet. From there, I should be able to establish tech parity.

 

[dubrown]

I do love the Dubya thread, this one will probably be even more enjoyable to see the mastermind of the automated civ. In the Dubya challenge he could atlest choose the build from the advisors suggestion, atleast giving some option. You'll be totally in the hands of the AI governor. Do the buildgovernor whip as well or do you have some control over that feature?

I look forward to following this one. Good Luck Gooblah!

 

[Munch]

While the tiles/specialists your cities work will be decided by the computer, you can influence the decision by using the emphasis buttons. I find it's particularly useful to "emphasise " in my great person farm, for instance. So are you allowed to, say "emphasise "?

 

[cripp7]

While the tiles/specialists your cities work will be decided by the computer, you can influence the decision by using the emphasis buttons. I find it's particularly useful to "emphasise " in my great person farm, for instance. So are you allowed to, say "emphasise "?

That's probably the the best way to really manage cities

 

[Gooblah]

The Great Automation:
Round 1: 4000 BC-3025 BC

Well, it begins. And it's already looking tough. As required by Variant Rule 4, I clicked on the Settler and searched for a blue circle. Were the RNG gods kind to us?



Well. That answers one question. It was a two-turn trek to the city site, and the Warrior was put on automated explore. Finally, in 3950 BC:



Not too shabby, I guess. Silk, Clams, Cows, a floodplain, and a few forests. Could be worse. However, the automated production selected Barracks as our first build. The Warrior, meanwhile, had popped the nearby hut for 63 Gold.



A few turns later, a wandering Archer sighted my Warrior, and we met...



Well. This keeps on getting worse and worse. A tough early opponent, but he slows down near mid-game. I really hope we don't start warring. I hate Dog Warriors. Thankfully, the tech choice was a ton better. The computer had me choose between Pottery and Fishing. And what did I take?



The next technology selected was Animal Husbandry. A few turns later, from the northern isthmus, appeared another Archer, this one belonging too...



Suryavarman II! This keeps getting better and better! At the same turn, we also met:



Buddhism was founded at 3625 BC. A panther assaulted our brave Warrior (now knee-deep in Jungles to the north), but he survived. Hinduism was founded in 3325 BC. We met our fourth AI opponent a few years later:



Isabella. But wait! Where's the Buddhism and Hinduism symbol?! Apparently, there is a Gandhi, Asoka, or some Spiritual leader with a high commerce tile nearby...never good. Animal Husbandry came in a turn later:



This was followed by another revelation:



Everyone's favorite warmonger, leader, and scoreboarder Carthiginian, HANNIBAL!!!! Around that time our brave warrior was attacked yet again. He survived to obtain a Combat I promotion. Our brilliant digital leaders have defied common sense once again!

The last tech of this round came in:



It was part of the Literature shot plan, so I went with it.

Our tech options:



I'm leaning towards Pottery, since the floodplain is looking appealing. However, Sailing would establish trade routes with Sitting Bull and maybe Suryavarman II. I dunno. Hopefully, we're blessed with a Worker build soon.

I'll update with a map and the save a tad later.