SGOTM 06 - Chokonuts

[Ozbenno]

Now we're above 50% and have Currency, I agree with ngraner, military and settlers only. Lets have a huge army ready and declare and invade as soon as galleons are available. We should spread the faith for cash and city border expansion as well.

If we can't get the GS pop for Astronomy, then CS is probably better first (bureaucracy and mace upgrades).

 

[Terminator3k]

Sorry for being out of it for a bit.

MD: You didn't play out of turn. You just took my turn while I was occupied on other matters!

This is the official "I got the game" post. I will play in the next 24 hours. Reading the most recent posts I will focus on troops, settlers, and civil service.

 

[cubbiesin08]

Terminator...should I go ahead and play or will you be able to play in the next day or so?

 

[Ozbenno]

I think at this stage, its best if you go ahead cubbies!

 

[Terminator3k]

I'm back (finally). It has been a crazy week. Since Cubbies didn't post a "got it" note, I am going to play my turnset now before anything else comes up.

 

[Terminator3k]

Turn Summary:

The Hagia Sophia and the Spiral Minaret were discovered in distant lands.

Cities of Canterbury, Coventry and Warwick were founded. Warwick needs religion and Corinth will provide a missionary in 4 turns if religion does not automatically spread.

Met Cyrus in 1370. His Caravel came into our territory between Thebes and Athens. He has a pretty good score lead on us (1490 to 1284 at the end of my turnset).


Cyrus uses his caravel to attack one of our galleys. Our galley is victorious and we gain a great general. I moved the GG to the capital for the group to discuss the best use for him (merge or great general maceman).

Civil Service completed. Civics switched to Bureaucracy and Heriditary Rule (3 turns of anarchy). We come out of anarchy on my last turn.

Astronomy in 21-26 without rearranging the economy.

Our first trebuchet is built and on its way to Athens. Our first maceman will be built next turn in Nottingham. A couple of additional galleys were built and a caravel is in production in Athens.

I started an irrigation project outside of Nottingham to evenually get irrigated farms up to the rice. Two forests were chopped and the first farm is underway.

The island northwest of London looks promising. The goody hut is an added bonus.

At this point, I would recommend choosing our expansion cities carefully to limit the economic drain and start cranking out macemen. Kumbi Saleh will produce another settler in 5 turns.

It would be nice to pop the two goody huts we can see to the northwest and northeast of our continent. Thoughts?

Cubbies, it's all yours!

 

[cubbiesin08]

I've got it and will report shortly.

 

[cubbiesin08]

Not much happened in my turn set - mainly built macemen to prepare for eventual warfare.

A Great Scientist was born and is currently in London...not sure what to do with him. He will beaker Philosophy, but I don't know if that's what we want.

I used an explorer to pop the goody hut to the west for 50 gold. We need to put him back on the caravel and head east to pop the other goody hut.

I'm currently collecting all of the troops down by Athens because I'm assuming that's where the boats will be built.

I also dropped a new city to the east (missionary is on the way there). I didn't start any other settlers because our economy is already fragile.

 

[ngraner42]

Continued on with the plan of building an army and researching Astronomy.

1478 We meet and declare war on Saladin. As best as we can tell he is Cyrus's equal in technology, but we are ahead of him in score. He found us with a Caravel, but then I found his cultural borders to the north of the Indians\Vikings on the next turn. Since they are near each other they may have comparable technology.

1490 Our Trireme kills an Arabian Caravel.

I have a Settler on a suggested spot, but I did not settle to allow discussion. I also did not use the Scientist or the General. I would like to see us get a golden age with the Scientist and I left the general as a possible uber Maceman.

We have Astronomy. I put the tech slider down to zero to get gold for upgrades. Later, I would recommend either a push to Gunpowder if needed or Literature to pick up the Heroic epic.

We have 20 Macemen, 6 Trebuchet, 5 Catapult and several more Trebuchet in production (that can be rushed if need be). Rock and roll, Oz.

 

[Ozbenno]

OK, it seems as if we're ready to start waging war. I think we should start an invasion. I'll go ahead on these lines.

Our tactics should be to rush towards domination from here I think, so I'll use the settler to start up a new city. I'll capture any cities we take.

Litertaure would be OK, probably not too long to research. Feudalism and Gunpowder also good.

 

[Ozbenno]

Well I start off by trying to upgrade our galleys to galleons to launch the invasion.

Literature is the best tech choice as we need Drama, as we'll need the culture slider to expand our borders towards Domination quicker.

Unfourunately, William the Conquerer our uber-axe is fortified at the other side of the empire. He may make it over in time for the fleet to sail.

We're up against rifles but you gotta love trebuchets, we lose two and make our first capture, the islam holy city.



Literature comes in and we have many issues to address, Feudalism seems the best choice as we have to get to Chemistry as quickly as possible.

I would like to use the Great Scientist for an Academy but have left him for Discussion.

We're parked outside Nidaros.





IIRC, that's his capital so hopefully there are some goodies inside.

We should look at quick conquests here, ie take Nidaros next turn to avoid giving the AI time for upgrades. We should be able to do this with sheer weight of numbers. We just need to have a steady supply of trebs.

I've started building pikes as Ragnar has knights as well.

I've still got Athens as the rally point. We have 8 galleons ferrying troops to the front.

We are vulnerable to a counter-attack once the AI discover Astronomy (none have it at the moment), so we should look at upgrading archers to longbows and trying to have 2-3 defenders in each coastal city (currently most have only 1). Start sending over longbows to our nex conquests as well. It is really important to check regularly if the AI have Astronomy.

We are at 33.28% land, so have a fair way to go. I settled two new cities, both to maximise the area they take up (both need missionaries). Two settlers will be ready next turn. One (or even both) I'd send down south to the icy wastes or start settling the islands.

There is a barb city with two longbows. I have a treb on the way but it may need more troops. We were building troops in cities without barracks, which is a no-no as well.

Research wise, Feudalism, Guilds, Gunpowder, Chemistry, Steel should be what we are aiming for (maybe Drama at the end game for border expansions). That's why I want the Academy in London as I think we need the extra beakers.

I didn't start Heroic Epic anywhere but Athens seems a good pick as it will be producing military for the rest of the game.

All in all, it'll be a hard slog but we're still pretty well placed for a win here, just may take a while. Have no idea how the other teams managed to finish so early.

 

[Terminator3k]

Good job Oz! I think you've good a plan going forward. Using the GS to build the academy in London and building the Heroic Epic in Athens makes sense. Advancing tech to grenadiers and cannon seems right as well. I would absolutely second the warning to watch the AI's quest for Astronomy on a turn by turn basis.

 

[McArine]

Ok, got it, and I'm playing now. I'll follow Ozbennos suggestions.

 

[McArine]

Ok, lots happened.

We captured 3 of Ragnars cities and are able to capture another this turn, just wanted your opinion on keeping or not. (I say no)

Nidaros has an academy, The Great Library, The Spiral Minaret and Notre Dame, so rather nice.

I also built two cities in the south ice. And took the barb city to the north.

We only lost 3 trebuchets taking the cities, and one trebuchet beat a rifleman at 3% , unfortunately it seems the game engine felt like making up for that, by letting one of Cyrus's catapults beat our GG at 7%

Ragnar became a vassal under Saladin when we took Nidaros. All three opponents have been sending small attack forces at us, currently there's one at Bjørgvin. I've dealt with the rest.

There are two settlers ready to be moved to settle on the islands. They are located in Khoisan.

A lot of units were built, and many are still being built, I cranked out some Longbowmen for defence. But we really need riflemen for that.

And on the subject, gunpowder is 6 turns away. And our economy could use a boost again.

War wise, I suggest we find out if the south of the other continent is a peninsula, before we send more troops northward. If it is I'd suggest that we take those cities first.

Spoiler :

Preturn: I build an academy in London with the great scientist.

Turn 1: Corith, Carthage Settler -> Settler.

Turn 2: We loose two trebuchets, one Maceman at 95%, but take Nidaros. It has an academy, The Great Library, The Spiral Minaret and Notre Dame. I start a courthouse there.
Ragnar becomes a vassal of Saladin.
Turn 3: Thebes Galleon -> Galleon. Athens Pikeman -> Heroic Epic.

Turn 4: Feudalism arrives. London Observatory -> Trebuchet. Canterbury Granary -> Barracks.

Turn 5: York Pikeman -> Longbowman. Hastings Barracks -> Missionary.

Turn 6: Warwick Pikeman -> Longbowman. Dover is founded, building courthouse. Haithabu is defended by three units. It is taken with the loss of 1 trebuchet.

Turn 7: London Trebuchet -> Longbowman. Nottingham Observatory -> Longbowman. Argos Trebuchet -> Trebuchet. Carthage Settler -> Missionary. Coventry Lighthouse -> Courthouse. We capture Assyrian with no losses.

Turn 8: York Longbowman -> Longbowman. Carib Trebuchet -> Trebuchet. Warwick -> Longbowman -> Trebuchet. Brighton is founded -> Courthouse.

Turn 9: Guilds arrive. London Longbowman -> Longbowman. Corinth Settler -> Missionary. Thebes Galleon -> Galleon. Cuman Forge -> Barracks. Hastings Missionary -> Trebuchet. We capture Bjørgvin, one trebuchet beat a Rifle at 3%.
Our great general is beaten by a catapult.
We are being hit by persia, at the cities we've grabbed.
Turn 10: Nottingham Longbowman -> Maceman. Carthage Missionary -> Maceman. We can take Roskilde, no losses on it so far, I would raze it.

Postturn: Settlers are parked in Khoisan and await deployment. Gunpowder is in 6 turns.

 

[Ozbenno]

Nice progress.

I think we need to get a stack of knights in production.

I don't see a piccie of the Viking city we can take but I'd take every city we can on the way to domination. We need to whip out the unhappiness in the Viking cities as well (consider libraries for the culture and knights and courthouses).

Economy doesn't look too bad. We can build a grocer in the holy city and keep spreading the word or put cities on building wealth (or employ merchants).

I meant to mention in my report that we are paying for our lack of scouting before. We really need to try and get a feel for the lay of the land.

What's our percentage land now? Once we get near 50%, we need to try and get Drama and up the culture slider I think.

 

[McArine]

Completely forgot to take a screenshot of it, so grabbed one today.

 

[Ozbenno]

I'd say take it.

We shouldn't split up the forces too much. We become vulnerable to counterattack, travelling in large groups is much safer.

 

[Mighty Dwaarf]

I think we need to take majority of cities we can. I agree in principle with Oz's thoughts on splitting troops, but the way the land has panned out we have created two fronts, one to north and one to south. I think the best we can do is to fortify in our northern city on the thin strip of land, forgot the name of city, whilst we clear up the cities to the south at a guess there are apporx four more there. Hopefully these will be lightly defended sattelite cities of viking and persia. We can then move norhtwards as one into remaining viking cities and Persian/Arabian mainland.

As we are up against mainly rifles I'm not convinced Knghts are our best option. I think e should stick to maces and muskets until we can upgrade to grens.

Now who is up next?? I should be able to play either Sat/Sun.

 

[Ozbenno]

I think you're up Mighty, then Terminator!

 

[Terminator3k]

Go get 'em MD!