SGOTM 07 - Unusual Suspects

The build order looks fine, IMO we should still take astronomy with Liberalism and not Nationalism even if another civ has it. I'm not a huge proponent of trying to get the Taj Mahal. Compare the hammers that costs to build it -vs- the hammers that we gain in 7 turns of a goldenage, add in the commerce we gain as well. I think the actual cost of the Tag Mahal may actually be higher then what we gain.

Anyone want to do the actual math there? I'm not positive on everything that we gain from a golden age.

Next thought .. after liberalism I think we should dive for the defensive pact. The sooner we sign that with our PA target the better IMO. I keep trying in my own games to get a PA partner and it never happens.

Build Order
Harbor
University
Caravel
THEN missionary IMO
Forge
Oxford (no point building something that costs this much without the 25% hammer increase)
Skip Taj Mahal
Observatory

Note: May need to reevaluate if our power gets too low.

About the diety level of units --- show how often I play on deity ... wasn't thinking of needing that many units ;)

Space Race should be our top target !!! ;)
 
I think that we might need to build some mor units since we could soon be attacked. But if we are able to get an DP with JC then Cathy will not attack us since she is good friends with JC right now, but that could change.
 
Sorry to hear that.

Well, you can still officially lurk and post your opinions. However, if you want to start looking at other teams' threads, you need to resign officially on the maintenance thread. You won't be able to post game-related opinions here in that case.

If I don't have the time to even read all the stuff you guys post, how could I read the other threads too? :p
 
Spoiler :
Beijing finishes: Harbor
Attitude Change: Huayna Capac(Inca) towards SGOTM07(China), from 'Cautious' to 'Pleased'

Turn 124/460 (225 AD) [08-Jun-2008 08:51:08>

Turn 125/460 (250 AD) [08-Jun-2008 09:01:29>
Attitude Change: Frederick(Germany) towards Julius Caesar(Rome), from 'Cautious' to 'Pleased'
Attitude Change: Huayna Capac(Inca) towards Julius Caesar(Rome), from 'Pleased' to 'Friendly'
Civics Change: Elizabeth(England) from 'Barbarism' to 'Bureaucracy'
Civics Change: Elizabeth(England) from 'Slavery' to 'Serfdom'

Turn 126/460 (275 AD) [08-Jun-2008 09:10:46>
Attitude Change: Frederick(Germany) towards Washington(America), from 'Pleased' to 'Friendly'

Turn 127/460 (300 AD) [08-Jun-2008 09:17:00>
Attitude Change: Kublai Khan(Mongolia) towards Washington(America), from 'Annoyed' to 'Cautious'
Attitude Change: Kublai Khan(Mongolia) towards Elizabeth(England), from 'Annoyed' to 'Cautious'
Attitude Change: Alexander(Greece) towards Elizabeth(England), from 'Furious' to 'Annoyed'
Attitude Change: Catherine(Russia) towards Frederick(Germany), from 'Annoyed' to 'Cautious'
Attitude Change: Catherine(Russia) towards Elizabeth(England), from 'Cautious' to 'Annoyed'
Attitude Change: Huayna Capac(Inca) towards Washington(America), from 'Cautious' to 'Pleased'
Civics Change: Frederick(Germany) from 'Despotism' to 'Hereditary Rule'
Civics Change: Frederick(Germany) from 'Barbarism' to 'Bureaucracy'
Civics Change: Frederick(Germany) from 'Slavery' to 'Serfdom'
Civics Change: Alexander(Greece) from 'Despotism' to 'Hereditary Rule'
Civics Change: Alexander(Greece) from 'Barbarism' to 'Vassalage'
Civics Change: Alexander(Greece) from 'Slavery' to 'Serfdom'

Turn 128/460 (325 AD) [08-Jun-2008 09:19:00>
Contact made: Persian Empire
Beijing grows: 13
Attitude Change: Huayna Capac(Inca) towards SGOTM07(China), from 'Pleased' to 'Cautious'
Attitude Change: Huayna Capac(Inca) towards Washington(America), from 'Pleased' to 'Cautious'

Turn 129/460 (350 AD) [08-Jun-2008 09:29:18>
Tech learned: Liberalism
Civics Change: Tokugawa(Japan) from 'Barbarism' to 'Vassalage'
Civics Change: Tokugawa(Japan) from 'Slavery' to 'Serfdom'

Turn 130/460 (375 AD) [08-Jun-2008 09:34:11>
Tech learned: Astronomy
Research begun: Nationalism (10 Turns)


I've been moving the scout sort of aimlessly. Otherwise I've not had too much that we didn't talk about. Judaism in both KK cities, no need for reserve missionary. Built Harbor, then start on Univ (3 turns). No WHEOORN unless it just showed up in 375AD. Cathy getting testy, though, and canceled OB! I think this is getting dangerous with her. Would suggest more units asap. I opened borders with HC, hope that's ok. Nobody offers much other than Theo+WM+cash for pap, but now Cathy has paper so we should start gifting it/trading it right away anyhow. I haven't tested the new trade options with astro and Lib to offer, but we should be able to get engr + guilds, I would think. JC is now at +8. Iron slowy becoming less English. I cancelled all the gpt for nothing deals. We are at size 13 and the extra pop was put on the farm. And we met Cyrus. I now try to attach lots of screenshots. I will then upload the save as soon as I post this. Lets talk and decide whatto do now.



Looking good to me, but Our power needs boosting quickly. Maybe Guilds and Engr will do that? Let me know what to do and if you want someone else to take over or should I play out a few more. Lets say some feedback in the next 24hrs please.:cool:
 
Who speaks with authority if their is difference of opinions?
For those matters, I still do. However, I don't see that being really needed, as is has not been an issue so far.

I believe that decisions should be made by consensus. However, if there is no clear consensus or argument for a certain course of action, I think it is best for the active player to decide. The one who plays should understand the current position more than others. Of course, the player should explain why he chooses one thing and not the other.

Vra379971, I would like to have you in the game, hands on! What's the situation with the save? You can't really tell what is best to do if you can't open the save.

This game is rather difficult, especially if we want to win anything. The competition is tough, we have to do our best. We need strong team effort.


Here are some things to think about:


Wining conditions.
Are we sure that other teams won't try Domination? Could it be that Domination is faster than Space even in this game?

Politics. We need to decide what will be our strategy with every civ. Who do we help, bribe, convert...?

Resource trades. We have new options. What should we do?

City management and production order. We are working a forest tile at the moment. Is that really optimal? We are not growing much and we are not hiring so many scientists.

Let's think about this for the next 24h.

kcd_swede, I think you should take us to Nationalism, let's play a bit longer turnset this time. What are your opinions?
 
We should get Oxford up ASAP. Stone + Industrious is already a 150% boost, 25% from Forge is insignificant. We should also get our Power up. Cathy has Astro, so she could send ships over to cause trouble. Hopefully, we can regain the Iron & build Frigates. We are Alex, Toku & Izzy's worst enemy and possibly Cathy's too. We should get the DP > PA with Caesar up ASAP and that probably means getting him to switch to Rep for 'wise civics' points if shared religion isn't enough to get to +10. There's a chance that shared religion will get us the extra +2 we need, but certainly Rep would cement the alliance.

Land count:

Us: 22
Liz: 27
George: 14
Asoka: 39
Alex: 24
Huayna: 21
Fred: 34
Toku: 12 (that are visible)
Isabella: 20
Caesar: 25
Kublai: 22

Total: 260
We need 51% of 554 (= 283) to hit Domination limit, so even if we conquer our entire continent, we're coming up short.

At this point, let's focus on securing the PA with Caesar first and then reassess our options. Both Dom & Space should still be viable options, but Dom will require attacking the other continent. And even if we go for Space, we should take over some more land to increase the chances of popping needed resources.

We should try to pick up some cash to upgrade Archers to Longbows if possible. Begging is acceptable. :mischief: Also, Caesar & Asoka are still locked in WFYABTA and won't trade any techs. This is where hitting WFYABTA by trading for a cheap, useless tech like Mono is putting a crimp on our options. Because we can't trade with them anymore, we're forced to trade with other AI's, which in turn digs the WFYABTA hole even deeper. Once Caesar gets to Friendly, more options will be available. But it is to our advantage to keep as many viable trade partners out of WFYABTA as long as possible, nonetheless.
 
Hi, OK I can take it to Natl.

Winning cond: I think whether we go space or domin, the strategy for the short term is still the same. I am guessing that space elevator will be hard since we can't build it ourselves, so dom is likely faster. I think even if we go space, we will need to conquer a few rivals nonehtelless.

Some notes from the game I may have forgotten to mention (like the KK asking us to switch to HR): HC asked for OB, I denied. Next turn I checked glance and reconsidered and gave OB. It didn't seem to affect relations with anyone as I didn't think it would, but keeps HC happy. Cyrus urged us to stop trading with his bitter enemy, Alex. We aren't even trading with Alex, are we???

OK, that's all I've got.

Edit to add: this post was written before I saw Melior's, thx for the tile count!

Politics: My opinion is that Cathy is brewing up trouble. Cancelling OB scared me, at least. We are lowest in power again. Would guilds/engr give us higher power, or do we start building more units (cats, or LB's?) or both. We could start bribing Cathy but it might not help if she's alrady made up her mind. KK "encouraged" us to adopt HR, which I refused, btw. If we want to convert him to Jude, then we need to do something for him. HC seems stable. JC doing good. Izzy hates us more each day, but can't do much about it. Toku is making himself irrelevant techwise.

City mgmt: I think we should emphasize growth until we reach health limit. But if its the diff between a unit in 1 turn vs a unit in 2 turns, then a little MM is called for, imo.

Resource trades: I'm not sure what you are considering here.

OK, I'll see you all tomorrow. Some advice on strategy for the next ten turns - esp the diplomacy/power equation would be greatly appreciated. Monday night Stockholm time would be best time for me to play the 10 turns to natlism -- that is 24 hrs from now.

My own thoughts on immediate plan: we start gifting paper to folks who want it, or maybe just for max cash. Then we trade edu/liberal/astro or some comination to get guilds and engr, if we can. Paper seems to have little trade value (unless you want WFYBTA from Music and Theo), but the others are still juicy. Build a cat and an LB (or upgrade an archer?) to boost power to above Izzy, assuming the tech trades don't do it alone. Units before caravel in queue. Emph growth, mm if called for. See if can get another health resource in trade? Keep grooming JC, avoid fat trades to his enemies. Oh yeah... try to buy a map from Cyrus. That'd be cool if the price is right.

Sound's good? How can I make it better?
 
Yeah, this game really requires effort. Here are my thoughts:

Diplomacy

Let's get our brothers of the faith from pleased to friendly as much as possible. We need that "fair and forthright" trade relations. So, sell Paper for cash + WM to Fred, Wash, JC, Asoka.

Cyrus could become an important trading partner and we need the maps too, so sell Paper to Cyrus for WM + 60 gold.

Kublai is important for our plans, too. Sell Paper for gold +map to him also. If this doesn't get him to pleased, give him Philosophy too. He doesn't have Guilds nor Engineering, we will bribe him and convert him eventually.

EDIT: Capac We want him too, sell Paper to him for maps and cash. Yes, OB with him are a good thing. We were holding back before because of Washington. OB with Cyrus are needed too.

Alexander, Isabella and Tokugawa can't reach us, they are not that dangerous.

Cathy is dangerous. She also has open borders with Liz, this is very bad for us. WHEOOHRN must be checked regularly. DP with JC ASAP is the only thing that can help us. Scouting caravel is important too, I would like to see those Galleons on high sees, not on our shores.

Paper selling will yield a total of 580 :gold: This is more than enough to upgrade the axeman and archers. Btw, use the scout to scout our enemies, Alex, Izzy and Toku.

Resource trade

We shall soon gain back Fish and Iron. Note that Cathy has Fish for trade, but we don't have anything to offer. She won't take the Crab, but we should cancel the Crab trade to Capac and buy Incense or Dye from Cyrus. We shall see what Cathy doesn't have when we buy maps and sell Dye/Incense to Cathy. We can sell the Fish we take from Liz later. :crazyeye:

Cancel the Silver to JC for gold, try to negotiate a better deal. Give JC one gold if he has some gold to offer to begin with. If he doesn't increase the offer, don't give him more money!

Sell Fur to Capac when you cancel the Crab deal.

We also need to connect the Whales, a work boat is needed. But there are more important things to build first.

Production and city management

Yes, Oxford is very important. There are 10 turns to Nationalism. 2 turns to finish the University, 8 turns for Oxford. However, I suggest we build a Caravel after the University to scout for Russian Galleons. Switch from forest to a farm for more growth, but do some MM to finish the Caravel in 2 turns.

GP will be born in a turn or two. 20% for GA, 70% scientist, 10 %GE. We need more population and scientist specialists, that's too many artists, IMO. Anyway, settle everything, except the GE. There is a good chance that we won't get the GE anymore. We could build the Space Elevator in Madrid or Kyoto one day. :mischief: Yes, JC would have to start building the wonder, but we can hurry it ourselves.

Technology trading

We have a monopoly on Education. Cyrus and Cathy both have Astronomy, so it is logical to trade Astronomy first. However, it is best to do the last minute sell like before. We want to slow down AI as much as possible. We also want a lot of stuff: Guilds, Engineering, Gunpowder, Printing Press, Banking, Chemistry, Replaceable Parts...Postponing trading to get better options is the way to go. Selling Paper will also open the Education trade options to other civs and friendly relations will give better opportunities as well. So, checking how much our techs are worth to the AI regularly and selling things a bit later is best, IMO. Check the WFYBTA limits, too. Btw, what's the limit for Cyrus? Personality file is also important. For example, Cathy likes to trade things soon, 20% is the limit.


Well, let's think this through. :) I'm hoping to hear more input from other players. :)
 
OK, I'll see you all tomorrow. Some advice on strategy for the next ten turns - esp the diplomacy/power equation would be greatly appreciated. Monday night Stockholm time would be best time for me to play the 10 turns to natlism -- that is 24 hrs from now.

Let's see how much input we get till that time. Maybe we should postpone this for Tuesday.
 
OK, waiting is fine by me. I'll check tonite and if nobody else has posted I'll wait some more - though Euro2008 becomes a factor on the 10th ;-)

Your plans sound good and are in line with what I was thinking, except about the power curve -- I'll bow to your experience on that: caravel for early warning, and watch that Cathy hasn't landed troops in England.

As for Cyrus, his WFYBTA limit is 10+20% = 12.
 
OK, waiting is fine by me. I'll check tonite and if nobody else has posted I'll wait some more - though Euro2008 becomes a factor on the 10th ;-)

Your plans sound good and are in line with what I was thinking, except about the power curve -- I'll bow to your experience on that: caravel for early warning, and watch that Cathy hasn't landed troops in England.

As for Cyrus, his WFYBTA limit is 10+20% = 12.

Good luck on the 10th ;)

Actually, I would like to see more input on the power curve, too. Maybe we should build some units after the Caravel, but that postpones Oxford a bit. Well, we can't have it all. Unit upgrades will give some power, building units can give some, techs can give some. This won't be much, DP is what we need ASAP. Friendly relations with Jewish civs are also important. It is quite possible that we will need to research Constitution before MT, we can only get +3 from JC for same religion. That puts even more value to fast research.

Keep an eye on Gunpowder, this brings 12000 soldiers. Guilds bring 8000, Engineering nothing :confused:. We can't get Gunpowder yet, postpone trading a bit, let them research things for us.

Scout can watch England, Caravel should move to the high seas. Cathy could land elsewhere, you will now better when you buy a map from Cyrus. Thanks for the WFYBTA info! :)
 
OK, waiting is fine by me. I'll check tonite and if nobody else has posted I'll wait some more - though Euro2008 becomes a factor on the 10th ;-)

Play and post a report tomorrow if you can. If you can't, do it tonight to keep us moving.
 
Play and post a report tomorrow if you can. If you can't, do it tonight to keep us moving.

OK. There's still at least 5-6 hrs for other team members to have a say on the turns up to Nationalism (10 turns). Perhaps 24hrs, but the game starts at 20:45 tomorrow and I have meetings until 18:30 and some domestic duties too, but I'll consider my schedule carefully before deciding when to go. I'll stop if I see any galleons heading our way or any WHEOORN.

Most likely I'll start today about 21:00 (Stockholm) which is 3pm New York. I'll look here first right around then. I'll alt-tab if anyones around and I need help with something but I'm anticipating a smooth ride.

BTW: Melior Traino is on deck. To keep things moving, he should at least check in soon. Shikee up after that (IIRC). Hope you guys are keeping track!
:cool:

Hopefully my large number of posts up to and during this turn set isn't putting anybody off. It's better to endure my verbosity than have to endure a game-ending war from my inexperience, I hope.
 
Cathy's original Caraval was on Toku's side of the continent not on Liz's.

Trading, at this point I'm not sure what exactly we should do. I'm not that worried about the trading limit as we are hitting friendly real soon.

Power curve -- yes more units. I really don't like being down that low. Many of the civs will attack pleased targets some even friendly with power being as low as what it is. My immediate targets. University, Caraval, Longbow, LongBow then Oxford. We need to also try and get Gunpowder and Guilds for that extra power.

As for end game target, I have really been thinking about this. With proper unit builds and preparation we can stop the our continent clean very quickly. Problem is getting the other continent, I don't think we will be able to do that, so space race it is IMO. Now with that said I still think we should stomp our continent clear. This will give our PA partner more production and research compared to the rest of the world and we will zoom zoom past them all.

Immediate though -- get that DP with JC ;)
 
Oh ya, sorry about double post. About working the forest.

Forest 2f / 1 H -- 3 turns == 6f 3h
Working Farm for 2 turns and stone for 1 turns == 6f 5h

We are better of swapping back and forth then ever working the forest directly.
 
Thx for pointing that out Marconos! I'll write it down.
 
OK. There's still at least 5-6 hrs for other team members to have a say on the turns up to Nationalism (10 turns). Perhaps 24hrs, but the game starts at 20:45 tomorrow and I have meetings until 18:30 and some domestic duties too, but I'll consider my schedule carefully before deciding when to go. I'll stop if I see any galleons heading our way or any WHEOORN.

Most likely I'll start today about 21:00 (Stockholm) which is 3pm New York. I'll look here first right around then. I'll alt-tab if anyones around and I need help with something but I'm anticipating a smooth ride.

BTW: Melior Traino is on deck. To keep things moving, he should at least check in soon. Shikee up after that (IIRC). Hope you guys are keeping track!
:cool:

Hopefully my large number of posts up to and during this turn set isn't putting anybody off. It's better to endure my verbosity than have to endure a game-ending war from my inexperience, I hope.

Your large number of posts? ;) :mischief:

Melior Traiano is on deck, Morganknight after him. I've send Morganknight a PM, we haven't heard from him in a long time.

Well, it would be nice to hear more opinions, but it appears that they have RL too. :mischief: ;)

Cathy's original Caraval was on Toku's side of the continent not on Liz's.
This is important to know! We will be smarter after the map trades.

Trading, at this point I'm not sure what exactly we should do. I'm not that worried about the trading limit as we are hitting friendly real soon.

Let's hope that we will. :) That's the plan, but you never know. Liz and Asoka will adopt free religion and stay at pleased, not so good.

Power curve -- yes more units. I really don't like being down that low. Many of the civs will attack pleased targets some even friendly with power being as low as what it is. My immediate targets. University, Caraval, Longbow, LongBow then Oxford. We need to also try and get Gunpowder and Guilds for that extra power.

Order of things, it's difficult to say what's better. Maybe just one LB before Oxford? :) Gunpowder we can't get yet, so more waiting is needed...Liz and Asoka have a relatively high "attack at pleased" factor. I don't think that civs attack at friendly, but I would have to check the personality file for more info.

As for end game target, I have really been thinking about this. With proper unit builds and preparation we can stop the our continent clean very quickly. Problem is getting the other continent, I don't think we will be able to do that, so space race it is IMO. Now with that said I still think we should stomp our continent clear. This will give our PA partner more production and research compared to the rest of the world and we will zoom zoom past them all.

Well, we shall talk about this more! If we are able to conquer our continent, we can get some land from the other, too. We'll see later what can be done.


Oh ya, sorry about double post. About working the forest.

Forest 2f / 1 H -- 3 turns == 6f 3h
Working Farm for 2 turns and stone for 1 turns == 6f 5h

We are better of swapping back and forth then ever working the forest directly.

Yes, forests are for health and recreation, not real work! :cool:
 
Here is the save:
http://gotm.civfanatics.net/saves/civ4sgotm7/Unusual_Suspects_SG007_AD0560_01.Civ4SavedGame

Screenshots:


Write-up will be brief, but I will supplement tomorrow 12 hrs.
Got map from Cyrus, now see whole world.:goodjob:
Cathy is FAR FAR away, so I am feeling a bit safer for now. However, she is now at -7, and this is probably due to trades with Liz. I tried aggr trade with JC and then with HC, but it did not work either time so cancel the gift gold in 2 turns please. I only did one thing that wasn't scripted... I traded Liberalism to Liz for Banking and 220gold. I hope this wasn't stupid, but I got greedy I guess. We have Engr from Wash for Astro, and Guilds from Liz for Astro. Astro still has trade value with 4 civs, but nothing to get for it more at this time.
GS settled.
Madrid has 6LB,2cat,2ax,2spear and Kyoto has 10LB, 1cat. All our units upgraded and we have tons of cash but running slight -1 deficit at 100% sci.

autolog:
Spoiler :
Attitude Change: Frederick(Germany) towards SGOTM07(China), from 'Pleased' to 'Friendly'
Attitude Change: Cyrus(Persia) towards SGOTM07(China), from 'Cautious' to 'Pleased'
Attitude Change: Kublai Khan(Mongolia) towards SGOTM07(China), from 'Cautious' to 'Pleased'
Attitude Change: Huayna Capac(Inca) towards SGOTM07(China), from 'Cautious' to 'Pleased'

Turn 131/460 (400 AD) [09-Jun-2008 21:47:40>
Tech learned: Engineering
Tech learned: Guilds
Beijing finishes: University
Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (Great Scientist) born in Beijing
Attitude Change: Frederick(Germany) towards SGOTM07(China), from 'Friendly' to 'Pleased'
Attitude Change: Kublai Khan(Mongolia) towards SGOTM07(China), from 'Pleased' to 'Cautious'
Attitude Change: Catherine(Russia) towards Washington(America), from 'Cautious' to 'Annoyed'

Turn 132/460 (425 AD) [09-Jun-2008 21:57:10>
Beijing begins: Caravel (3 turns)
Attitude Change: Catherine(Russia) towards Frederick(Germany), from 'Cautious' to 'Annoyed'

Turn 133/460 (450 AD) [09-Jun-2008 22:00:34>
Beijing finishes: Caravel
Attitude Change: Frederick(Germany) towards Catherine(Russia), from 'Cautious' to 'Annoyed'
Civics Change: Kublai Khan(Mongolia) from 'Barbarism' to 'Bureaucracy'
Civics Change: Kublai Khan(Mongolia) from 'Slavery' to 'Serfdom'

Turn 134/460 (475 AD) [09-Jun-2008 22:02:08>
Beijing begins: Oxford University (8 turns)

Turn 135/460 (500 AD) [09-Jun-2008 22:04:39>
Attitude Change: Julius Caesar(Rome) towards Frederick(Germany), from 'Cautious' to 'Pleased'
Attitude Change: Julius Caesar(Rome) towards Huayna Capac(Inca), from 'Pleased' to 'Friendly'
Attitude Change: Elizabeth(England) towards Julius Caesar(Rome), from 'Cautious' to 'Pleased'

Turn 136/460 (520 AD) [09-Jun-2008 22:06:35>
Tech learned: Banking
Attitude Change: Washington(America) towards Frederick(Germany), from 'Pleased' to 'Friendly'
Attitude Change: Asoka(India) towards Washington(America), from 'Pleased' to 'Friendly'
Attitude Change: Elizabeth(England) towards Washington(America), from 'Pleased' to 'Friendly'
Attitude Change: Kublai Khan(Mongolia) towards Frederick(Germany), from 'Annoyed' to 'Cautious'
Attitude Change: Huayna Capac(Inca) towards Washington(America), from 'Cautious' to 'Pleased'

Turn 137/460 (540 AD) [09-Jun-2008 22:10:25>
Tech learned: Nationalism
Attitude Change: Cyrus(Persia) towards Frederick(Germany), from 'Cautious' to 'Pleased'
Attitude Change: Catherine(Russia) towards Frederick(Germany), from 'Annoyed' to 'Cautious'

Turn 138/460 (560 AD) [09-Jun-2008 22:15:21>
Research begun: Military Tradition (9 Turns)
Contact made: Aztec Empire


 
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