SGOTM 01 - Xteam

[AlanH]

Welcome to your C_IV SGOTM 1 Team Thread. Please use it for all internal team communication, turn logs and discussions. Subscribe to it to receive notifications, and do not visit the other team threads for this game until you have finished. Please also subscribe to the Maintenance Thread for this game, where teams and staff may post non-spoiler information of general interest. I hope you enjoy the game.

This game will be played in Civ4, patched to v1.61.

This first SGOTM will not feature any advanced variant.. the winner simply will be the team that wins the game at the earliest game date with either domination or a diplomatic victory. All victory conditions are still enabled though, with exception of Space Race, so you have to avoid getting another type of victory (and of course prevent the AIs from winning).

Individual start files for all teams will be available on the SGOTM Progress and Results Page at midnight, server local time, at the start of May 12.

Here's the start position.

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Map Parameters
Playable Civ - Hapshepsut of Egypt
World size - Standard
Difficulty - Monarch
Landform - Mystery
Game Speed - Epic

Permanent Alliances are turned on (can form permanent alliances after either communism or fascism is researched)
Space race is disabled.
Egypt is locked into war with Huayna Capac of the Incas.
Egypt is locked into peace with an unknown civilization.

The map is hand built, and therefore may not have a standard configuration.

Please visit the following links to ensure that you are adequately prepared:
Civ4 SGOTM reference thread

Notes:

A. ONLY Civilization4 v1.61 is supported for this SGOTM. All teams will compete for a single award - the Gold Laurels.

B. All teams must play the sponsored variant - victory will be awarded for the fastest victory by either domination or diplomacy.

C. All saved game files uploaded to the server are parsed through software that extracts and archives data about your save, including reload count for each turn set.

Good luck to your team, and remember rule #1: Enjoy your game

 

[leif erikson]

Leif signing in for this most excellent SGOTM!!

 

[Bede]

Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door!

 

[Redbad]

And here I am.

Question: when should we decide if we're going diplo or domination?

 

[Bede]

And here I am.

Question: when should we decide if we're going diplo or domination?

Domination will come sooner if we focus on it, unless there are some things hiding in the map we don't know it, like a civ on the moon (I suspect Gyathaar is capable of putting a nation on the moon should he want to do that).

But if we commit to early domination then we will make getting to the tech for a successful UN vote much harder. Judging from what I can see we have a very strong position for an early domination.

And I don't think the Inca Quecha is too much of a over match for Hattie's War Chariots (unlike Mansa's Skirmishers which eat chariots for breakfast). It means we can't depend on archers for defense, though.

Settler to the hill 1SE and away we go would be my vote. Research Animal Husbandry, then Pottery if we have all the enabling tech (we start with wheels but I forget if AH or AGRI will unlock Pottery ). Then the Mining to Bronze Working Boogie.

Send the warrior south to find the mouth of th Nile.

 

[DJMGator13]

I'm here also.

I think everyone is aware of who our reserved spot is for, so hopefully he'll return before this kicks off.

@Redbad and romeo - I know romeo has followed our games in the past but this is my first SG with Redbad. I've followed your G/COTM adventures so I jumped at the chance to add you to our group. The Xteam is usually a pretty laid back group, we like to win if possible but we like to have fun. We pride ourselves on learning and suggesting many different strategies. And we do like to discuss things. So I welcome you both to the team and encourage you to post questions, comments and even criticisms freely.

Question: when should we decide if we're going diplo or domination?

I know we need to decide VC early but I'm not sure where a deadline for the decision occurs. Alot will depend on the map and how quickly we can meet all the others in the game. I've not played a diplo game so the relationship of religions and maintaining good relationship is new to me. We are locked in war with 1 civ so that can have a major influence depending on if they found religions.

 

[leif erikson]

I know we need to decide VC early but I'm not sure where a deadline for the decision occurs. Alot will depend on the map and how quickly we can meet all the others in the game. I've not played a diplo game so the relationship of religions and maintaining good relationship is new to me. We are locked in war with 1 civ so that can have a major influence depending on if they found religions.

Hi everyone and welcome to the XTeam.

I'm not as familiar, nor as successful, as some of you guys. But, it seems to me we should make a decision on VC fairly early as a good tech plan is key to early victory.

@Bede, you're reading my mind! Agriculture unlocks Pottery, and this start is made for cottages, imho. BTW, did you mean the hill that the warrior (SE) is standing on or the hill to the SW? I kind of like the SW hill myself because of the Cow on Plains.

 

[Bede]

Gack! I meant 1SW (my other left).

Looks like the path is AGRI to POT to ANHU, then the Bronze Working Boogie.

My very first win at Prince was a diplo victory in 2049 and I have no idea how I got there. At any rate my knowledge has advanced somewhat by now. And what I do know is that a diplomatic victory takes you a long way down the tech tree from the techs you need you need to win a domination victory. That is the real difference between the two.

Having said that I have to ask "Where's the pony?" There has to be one here somewhere, why else the interesting set of locks (war and peace)?

 

[leif erikson]

I'd like to ask Redbad what date he thinks we might achieve with a diplo victory? And I promise not to hold you to it, exactly...

It seems to me that in going for a domination victory, we have more options. Both from the standpoint of war and peace decisions, based on relative tech achievement, and the greater variety of options heading up the tech tree depending on resources available.

I haven't a lot of diplo experience, so I don't want to rule it out if there is a good reason to give it a try.

 

[romeothemonk]

Ok, Checking in.

I have played a bunch of Monarch/prince level games, and know a few tricks.

For starters, have the settler head 1 south, than move to the hill. He still gets there and the possibility of seeing a nice treat is there (Free Scouting is always good.)

For Tech Plan, the best one that I have ever found is beelining to pottery, irrigating a floodplain, and cottaging several others.

First build is without question a worker. Even if the Inca are right next door, they won't attack in our territory for ~60 turns.

AH should be researched ~4th in the tech plan, as bronze is more important to us than ponies. I propose getting pottery, mining, bronze working, AH in that order.

 

[DJMGator13]

I heard from Brad and he is up for playing but is real swamped for the next few weeks, so he may only make an occassional visit until then. I'm going to send Alan a pm so that he officially adds Brad to the team.

 

[leif erikson]

I heard from Brad and he is up for playing but is real swamped for the next few weeks, so he may only make an occassional visit until then. I'm going to send Alan a pm so that he officially adds Brad to the team.

Excellent news, I pray he is doing well.

@Romeo-Why is Bronze more important than ponies? Is it because of forest chops?

 

[romeothemonk]

Yes, Bronze is more important because it shows us where the Copper is. As Bede's oscillating warfare game shows, chariots are lousy at city capture. Axes are more versatile, enables slavery and enables chops.

These 3 reasons are why I perfer bronze to AH.

 

[leif erikson]

Thanks, sounds good to me.

How about Victory condition decision, by when do we need to decide?

 

[Bede]

If we aim for domination we can ensure the diplomatic win, if it is needed because of map conditions. If we aim for a diplomatic win we won't have the flexibility needed to shift gears to domination.

The diplomatic voting is based on population numbers, straight up. You can get a diplomatic victory by diplomatic means if you build the UN and do your your best to manipulate the opponents from the beginning of the game. Or yopu can get a diplomatic victory by having enough population to control the voting, even if you don't build the UN and don't make any effort to make a lot of friends. (That is why over at RB Civ they have disqualified diplomatic victories if the player controls more than 40% of the world's population.)

 

[leif erikson]

I believe, in the distance, I hear a familiar beating of war drums!


Now, to build an economy to support and sustain our efforts?

 

[romeothemonk]

I vote for domination.
If for some unknown reason we can't get the land area, i.e. our peace partners are on a "moon" with too much land, we can build enough cities with enough pop to backdoor dominate.

The initial scouting will be absolutely huge here, so make sure you post maps when the turns are completed.

 

[leif erikson]

I vote for domination.

I agree with this as well.

Do we need to develop a tech plan to keep us focused? I know I get lost in the tech tree at times and lose sight of my objective.

 

[romeothemonk]

Well, I think that the first 4 techs are easily outlined. From there, we need to see the terrain. If there is marble near by, we can try a CS slingshot, if not, I would beeline for Kung Fu and the courthouse factor.

After the first 4 techs, we really need to see what we have before we attempt to arbitrarily pick a tech path. If we have no ponies nearby, we need hunting and archery. If we have ponies, we can avoid those techs till they are 1 turn techs. And so on and so forth (Fat Tony Accent)

 

[DJMGator13]

Domination sounds good to me. At monarch you can still get the CS slingshot if you have enough forest to chop even w/o marble. It helps if you have 2 workers to chop. But we need to concentrate on commerce and research speed.

I noted some dates from our Gator02 game (normal speed) when I was reviewing that game. We established our 2nd city in 2120BC, 3rd city in 1960BC, 4th in 1440BC and finally a 5th in 675BC. With this game being at Epic speed we won't match those dates.

Any thoughts on a roster, I know I do not want to lead us off. I was thinking something along the lines of this.

Romeo (or Redbad)
leif
Bede
Capt
Redbad (or romeo)
Gator

Then slip Brad in the middle of the lineup when he is ready.