I'm back, from what has to be one of the most hectic weeks of my life. I've just gone through an excruciatingly difficult interview process with a company that, the more I learned about, the more I wanted to work for.
The process consisted of a phone interview (complete with logic problem to solve live), followed by the completion of a very long "written interview", followed by flying to Austin to interview in person 2 more times with 2 more people with 2 even more difficult problems to solve, with the interviewer watching me as I sweated over them. All this to find out late this afternoon that...
Spoiler:
I just received a job offer for more money than I've ever made in my life.
So, with all this, they want me to start on Tuesday. That means I'm going to be more than a little bit busy over the coming days, getting ready to go down there and start work, beginning to learn Japanese, making sure I have enough pages in my passport, and getting ready to live in Tokyo. I feel like I'm letting the team down a bit, and I'm sorry for that, but I have to make sure that this all goes off without a hitch. I don't want to blow this opportunity. So, I'm going to need to go on autoskip for at least the next week, if not longer.
On topic: I've found Stonehenge + 1 artist from Caste System a very effective way to pop borders fast in a size 1 town. Any chance to get that combo, or another way to get culture effectively?
On topic: I've found Stonehenge + 1 artist from Caste System a very effective way to pop borders fast in a size 1 town. Any chance to get that combo, or another way to get culture effectively?
Right, Civ!
the map thing takes longer than i thought, i'll finish tomorrow, sorry
but i'm sure the result will worth the effort.
Here are the SSs, a very hard job
is a zip file with 5 jpg
- 3 are the plain map (the world map) divided in central, East and West.
- 2 are the dotmaps for central and East
- West is land to fight for, and conquering 4 cities will net us some 48 tiles.
Now i play my TS. and since this post is the last, here is the report:
London finishes: Crossbowman A Hamlet was built near Utica
IBT:
Turn 314/660 (1532 AD) [11-Feb-2008 23:38:13] London begins: War Elephant (2 turns) A Farm was built near Utica London finishes: War Elephant York finishes: Catapult Athens finishes: Galleon Carthage's borders expand Carthage finishes: Galleon Hadrumetum finishes: Forge Timbuktu finishes: Longbowman Saxon grows: 5
IBT: While defending in the wild near Saxon, War Elephant defeats (6.24/8): Barbarian Archer (Prob Victory: 100.0%) State Religion Change: Hannibal(Carthage) from 'Hinduism' to 'Islam'
Turn 315/660 (1535 AD) [11-Feb-2008 23:44:12] London begins: Catapult (2 turns) York begins: Catapult (3 turns) Athens begins: Galleon (6 turns) Carthage begins: Galleon (6 turns) Hadrumetum begins: Galleon (11 turns) Timbuktu begins: War Elephant (12 turns) War Elephant promoted: Combat III A Winery was built near Saxon Tech learned: Guilds A Town was built near Corinth Nottingham grows: 7
IBT:
Turn 316/660 (1538 AD) [11-Feb-2008 23:49:18] Research begun: Civil Service (4 Turns) A Pasture was built near Saxon A Watermill was built near Utica London finishes: Catapult York finishes: Catapult Athens finishes: Galleon
IBT: Civics Change: Ragnar(Vikings) from 'Organized Religion' to 'Theocracy'
Turn 317/660 (1541 AD) [11-Feb-2008 23:58:27] London begins: Knight (3 turns) York begins: Knight (6 turns) Athens begins: Galleon (6 turns) Corinth finishes: Catapult A Village was built near Corinth Hadrumetum grows: 9 Djenne finishes: Market Timbuktu's borders expand Kumbi Saleh finishes: Galleon A Hamlet was built near Nottingham
IBT:
Turn 318/660 (1544 AD) [12-Feb-2008 00:01:43] Corinth begins: Catapult (5 turns) Djenne begins: Barracks (25 turns) Kumbi Saleh begins: Harbor (6 turns) A Watermill was built near Utica A Mine was built near Hastings London grows: 14 London finishes: Knight Utica finishes: War Elephant John Dalton (Great Scientist) born in Athens Timbuktu grows: 15 Nottingham finishes: Courthouse A Town was built near Saxon
IBT:
Turn 319/660 (1547 AD) [12-Feb-2008 00:06:17] London begins: Knight (3 turns) Utica begins: Axeman (4 turns) Utica begins: Crossbowman (6 turns) Timbuktu begins: Grocer (13 turns) Nottingham begins: Barracks (13 turns) While attacking in Carthaginian territory at Sicca, Crossbowman defeats (2.94/6): Carthaginian Axeman (Prob Victory: 82.8%) Razed Sicca While attacking in Carthaginian territory near Leptis, War Elephant defeats (3.92/8): Carthaginian Catapult (Prob Victory: 77.1%) A Winery was built near Saxon Tech learned: Civil Service York grows: 12 Utica grows: 13 Djenne grows: 10
IBT:
Turn 320/660 (1550 AD) [12-Feb-2008 00:14:26] Research begun: Banking (5 Turns) Crossbowman promoted: Drill II War Elephant promoted: Medic I Utica finishes: Crossbowman Athens finishes: Galleon Carthage finishes: Galleon Djenne finishes: Barracks
IBT:
Turn 321/660 (1553 AD) [12-Feb-2008 00:18:49] York begins: Grocer (7 turns) Utica begins: Crossbowman (5 turns) Athens begins: Crossbowman (6 turns) Carthage begins: Barracks (4 turns) Djenne begins: Crossbowman (15 turns) While attacking in English territory at Athens, War Elephant defeats (1.60/8): Persian Maceman (Prob Victory: 50.0%) While attacking in English territory at Athens, Longbowman defeats (3.60/6): Persian Catapult (Prob Victory: 60.2%) A Farm was built near Djenne A Cottage was built near York A Cottage was built near Saxon A Mine was built near Hastings London finishes: Knight York finishes: Knight Nottingham grows: 6 Hastings's borders expand
IBT:
Turn 322/660 (1556 AD) [12-Feb-2008 00:23:57] London begins: Knight (3 turns) Longbowman promoted: Drill II While attacking in English territory at Hadrumetum, Galleon defeats (4.00/4): Carthaginian Galley (Prob Victory: 98.7%) War Elephant promoted: Combat II While attacking in English territory at Athens, Chariot loses to: Persian Catapult (3.10/5) (Prob Victory: 35.3%) While attacking in English territory at Athens, Axeman defeats (1.40/5): Persian Catapult (Prob Victory: 96.0%) Athens begins: Work Boat (3 turns) Corinth finishes: Catapult A Hamlet was built near Nottingham
IBT:
Turn 323/660 (1559 AD) [12-Feb-2008 00:29:03] Corinth begins: Catapult (5 turns) Catapult promoted: City Raider I Catapult promoted: City Raider II While attacking in Carthaginian territory at Thapsus, Catapult loses to: Carthaginian Longbowman (3.96/6) (Prob Victory: 19.5%) While attacking in Carthaginian territory at Thapsus, War Elephant defeats (6.56/8): Carthaginian Longbowman (Prob Victory: 66.2%) While attacking in Carthaginian territory at Thapsus, Axeman defeats (3.30/5): Carthaginian Longbowman (Prob Victory: 95.6%) Islam has spread: Thapsus Captured Thapsus (Hannibal) Razed Thapsus Thapsus lost While attacking in Carthaginian territory at Leptis, Catapult loses to: Carthaginian Longbowman (4.56/6) (Prob Victory: 1.5%) While attacking in Carthaginian territory at Leptis, War Elephant loses to: Carthaginian Longbowman (1.62/6) (Prob Victory: 41.2%) While attacking in Carthaginian territory at Leptis, War Elephant defeats (2.96/8): Carthaginian Longbowman (Prob Victory: 44.9%) While attacking in Carthaginian territory at Leptis, Axeman defeats (0.60/5): Carthaginian Longbowman (Prob Victory: 62.3%) While attacking in Carthaginian territory at Leptis, Crossbowman defeats (2.10/6): Carthaginian Archer (Prob Victory: 85.8%) While attacking in Carthaginian territory at Leptis, Catapult defeats (3.85/5): Carthaginian Longbowman (Prob Victory: 96.1%) While attacking in Carthaginian territory at Leptis, Crossbowman defeats (6.00/6): Carthaginian Spearman (Prob Victory: 100.0%) Islam has spread: Leptis Captured Leptis (Hannibal) Carthaginian Empire has been eliminated Leptis begins: Forge (180 turns) A Cottage was built near Saxon A Cottage was built near Hastings Knight promoted: Combat I Galleon promoted: Combat I
and a small report:
IT 313 - 1529 AD
very few small MM adjustements
t314
Cyrus is first to Liberalism
we own 317 tiles out of 780 + 6 when Hastings will pop its borders
t319
a Persian galleon is coming from south of Athens (so we know what tech he choosed)
a GS is born in Athens
our brave troops razed, with an amphibious attack, a newly founded carthaginian city and with the same technique destroyed a catapult
a galleon took care of a Carthaginian galley, gaining his first star.
The small persian stack (1mace+2cats) was wiped at the cost of a useless chariot Hanni is no more, at the cost of 2 cats+1WE. I kept Leptis, it's stupid to build a settler, the position is good, too.
I waited to revolt to CS, 2 turns of anarchy, so i started banking, and we can revolt to mercantilism in the same turn, saving 1 (probably).
My dotmap is already obsolete, Timbuktu popped its borders, so we can perhaps avoid 1 city or 2, please someone try to analyze my work on maps.
There's also a decent island south, not much more revealed by scouting.
We need also a detailed plan, sincerely i played almost casually.
I think also it's time for "Merum's XP plan (tm)" to be put on duty, perhaps revolting in the same turn.
My comments about land claiming is that it's better not bother with 1-tile-islands, or use a settler for only 1 to 3 tiles: we need some escort, too, so better fight for 1 more city in the rival mainland.
hmmm, ok i edited the last post, but updated the first page, too.
I suppose you know i maintain a post with the link to all our saves, don't you?
I've not played casually, don't worry, but without a plan, i built the most useful things at the moment, not much fun on it.
Sure if an AI has Astro, we must begin to protect our coasts.
And not let forested tiles in the coast near a city, damn a mace there from Cyrus, luck he moved to pillage the copper, so i could wipe him.
In other words, chop that forest near Athens and connect the copper!!!
While protecting the workers!!!!!!!
Kudos to Culdeus, you completed a huge task by counting all the tiles,
I don't see how CRC could have finished so quickly. They would have had to learn Astro to get to the other Continent. Without being able to make peace and get a City from the AI on their continent, You couldn't get a foothold to speed things up. I also don't see how they could conduct the required research in that time. They have very few posts per turn. I see that x-team is slightly ahead of CRC on the power curve. I am thinking that perhaps they are at the point of having eliminated the AI and Barbs from our continent and are trying to plot out a strategy.
Um, I haven't contributed much of anything this time around. Holding out for a BTS or Vanilla game.
CRC has no posts and no saves in 3 weeks. They are finished. The activity level on every other team is still high, but there are a few teams that have yet to hit 845 and have some better stats than CRC did at at that point.
A lightbulb astro strategy is doable. If they'd even need it. What about a war based domination? In any situation I'm confident they are done. They were pumping out saves at a rate of one every 3-5 days consistently. Unless this undersea cable cut has kept them out of internet for all this time they found a way.
Okay, I've taken a look at the save and should be able to play within the next couple of days, depending on how much discussion we have. We're at a pretty critical juncture here.
A few things that I think I see as priorities:
1) Civics changes. The time has definitely come for Merum's XP Plan (TM). We've hit a point where we need a LOT of research before we can realistically expect to have units much more useful than those we have, and I don't want to wait that long before accomplishing our military goals. While our UU is among the best in the game, it will take too long to get to it. It's 63 turns of research away at our current rate, which we can't sustain.
So, we focus on military. We are 2 turns from banking; during those two turns I will:
1a) Use our prophet to pop Theology. I was hoping to save for the shrine but it doesn't seem worth it at this point.
1b) Revolt to: Police State, Vassalage, Caste System, Mercantilism, and Theocracy. Changing all 5 civics. Wow. Something I don't think I've ever done with a non-spiritual leader.
1c) Sit around through 4 turns of anarchy. Ouch. But it has to be done. These should hopefully be the civics we end the game with.
2) Military buildup. We are still at war with 3 civs, 1 of which is a real threat (and I fear that Cyrus may soon gift Astronomy, or sell it cheap, to the others). Saladin always makes up with volume what he lacks in Tech, and while Ragnar is the weak sister of the 3, he is still to be feared if he gets Astronomy.
I would focus on:
Mounted Units in London. War Elephants and Knights will be the cornerstone of our force, and once we swap civics, those built in London will start with 4 promotions. With the HE, it should provide enough mounted strength for our entire army by itself. Now that we have Guilds, I think the focus should be on knights for mass pillaging. WE's should be treated as semi-pikemen, more useful for countering our opponent's knights than anything.
Naval units in Athens, Carthage, Hadrumentum, and Kumbi Saleh. We obviously need a very strong Navy, and until we have achieved pure sea dominance I don't see these four cities doing much but making boats.
All of our other cities should likely work on catapults, with some macemen in the mix (mostly as a counter to enemy pikemen). We need a ton of siege and a good volume of cannon fodder troops, particularly for the first wave.
We need to start thinking and discussing what our target(s) will be when we invade. My first thought is to hit the Viking mainland with a force of maybe 6-7 full galleons and take Nidaros and Uppsala immediately, then brace for the inevitable counterattack. Both are decent cities with good food resources, and should be able to prevent themselves from starving even with cultural pressure. From there we press on as the situation allows.
I hope you noticed the zip file containing the maps in the same post of my last report.
As always, i'm not sure about PS: for happiness i think it's better Representation, not sure it's worth for the +25% on units production.
Of course i agree that we can't wait until Redcoats are on line, especially since we do NOT need a very long war: i suppose that with some 6-8 cities we can be OK.
We need also to begin the settlers/escorts production: i think the most cheap and affective escorts are our protectives Longbows.
And you're right about Eles: don't forget that Salad has one of the best UU, the CA, and they're the best counter to that.
I have to check the maps Blubmuz made, but I think the next TS will consist of making units as fast as possible.
It may be just as fast to go for the conquest win vs the land dom, as all those settlers will take a lot of time. I guess it depends on how well the first attacks go.
Well at least there are some of us still alive.... I should have time Thursday to look at your Maps. I was going to take a stab at estimating how long it might take us to get a conquest victory. I think the key to this might be changing civics to where we can shutdown research and use the gold to buy units as fast as possible. I think the sooner we get to the other Civs the better, as without any wars for them to get experience, our units are going to be much more advanced/experienced. At this point in research there aren't any new strong units we can't overcome. I think before they have a chance to get to them, we'll be at their door.
On a positive note, The mystery of CRC may be solved, a slight bit of news in the maintenance thread could be considered enlightening
I also see that Trash Team is way out to 1750AD, surely we can beat them. Go team Go!
at least 1 is alive...
strange, usually Civ and Sweeta post when they are out of pocket, as Merum did.
You're right about units, but i think dom vis settlers is faster than conquest.
Anyway we must try to evaluate which option to follow, with a detailed plan, possibly for both.
But sincerrely i don't know if this worth the effort with all those absences.
About CRC: the posts in the maintenance trhead are from the first days of January, so they not explain their stop at 845 AD.
On the other hand, they are not posting in other threads, but we can't know if they finished, and are just reading other threads.
Surely it's difficult they can have reached Astro long before 845 AD, and collect (and use) all the navy, units and settlers to finish the game in that date.
Hiya... I just realised how long its been without a post.... terrible form, I know. There's been a flood of newborns in family and friends, and I've been gadding about meeting those little bags of skin.
I will attempt to have a look at the situation tomorrow.. I know we're at that tough time when victory seems do-able, but only after alot of hard work, and it's possible that some teams finished 500 years ago... anyway, let's push on!
Sorry. I know I said I'd be on this turnset, but things have been busy around here and this kind of just kept being pushed down on my priority list.
I can still play, though if you want to skip that'd be fine with me too. I can definitely play this weekend.
Before I do, I wouldn't mind getting some consensus on what civics we want to revolt to. Theocracy, Vassalage, Caste System, and Mercantilism are mandatory, I think, but last I saw there was some discussion as to whether to remain in Rep or go to Police State. There are good arguments for both choices I think, and I'm somewhat at a loss.
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