[BTS] SGOTM 25 - Xteam

I have also seen the save. We have 3 cities, all of them at pop 2. It looks like the game designer wanted it to be very easy for an inexperienced team to go for a cultural victory. I'm, however, more inclined to expand using military force and build a big empire early on. That's what the bomber is for :mischief:.

Some unsorted ideas:

  1. The obvious choice for the GSpy is to infiltrate Tsingtao because of the proximity to the capital. We also need to open borders and spread Taoism there.
  2. Probably a good idea to open borders with all AI before adopting a religion.
  3. Research slider to zero. We are far ahead in tech and it seems better to wait for the AI to research something and then trade or steal.
  4. GProphet can be used for shrine or for golden age. Since we are looking at 3 turns of anarchy to change civics to slavery, org. rel. and state property plus adopting taoism there is certainly a case for an early golden age.
  5. The AI have been given longbow defenders so there is probably no immediate rush in the cards. Do we dare a worker steal? Have to watch for praetorians and janissaries.
  6. Scout with the bomber. It can re-base to friendly cities with open borders and do reconnaissance flights.
  7. Kremlin should have high priority. It's a multiplicative bonus on whipped hammers and truly awesome in combination with additive hammer bonuses.
  8. Our southern city is a food monster. Could be used for farming GP's but I would seriously consider making this city a production monster. The road to Globe Theater is short and there is great synergi with Kremlin. Whipping Knigths and maybe even Cuirassiers every turn should be possible.
  9. We have no workers. Should probably whip 2-3 workers ASAP.
  10. We need the AP. Build or capture?
Regarding the grand strategy I'm thinking we can get about 330 points by simply building a large empire and secure control of the AP. The remaining 90-100 points has to come from building extra wonders (4 points/wonder), adding culture (6.7e-4 points/culture point) and spreading corporations (~1.5 points per city with corporation).
 
Yes, Taoism in all three cities.

Agree we need workers. We can have War Elephants and Cats by researching HBR and Construction. We will have Elephants. :thumbsup:

That southern city will have culture competition with Hong Kong. :hammer:

Like going for Kremlin and using GSpy on Tsingtao.
 
No quarrels with Fred's analysis.

I've no experience using bombers, and appreciate the utility of using it to scout, but wondering if it's presence doesn't mitigate the danger of stealing a worker(s)?
 
Realize that Beijing is not capital :crazyeye:. So maybe it's better to spy on the American city close to our capital.

I don't think this game will be a tech race. We are going to steal and trade for most techs. It's only 4 techs to Knights and they should be able to conquer the world with assistance of the bomber. We may need Astronomy depending on the map.

Setting off an immediate golden age will save four turns on the worker builds. Do we expect to save more than four turns by saving it for later? Probably not. The absolute number of hammers/gold gained will be higher but the relative impact the same. However, we can't postpone the civic and religious changes and that speaks for doing it immediately. My suggestion is to start a golden age, change civics immediately to slavery, state property and Pacifism an religion to Taoism. After five (or is it six) turns of the golden age switch civics again to organized religion. This way we get half way to a second GSpy and we get the hammer bonus for building granaries when the workers are done.

I suggest to build workers in the two northern cities and a workboat in the southern. The WB can be whipped after one turn.
 
Perhaps before we decide who to use the Great Spy on we should research Alphabet and see who it is best to steal from?
 
Good point! We don't need to commit our GSpy before we have Alpha. I don't think we need to self research Alpha. It's a tech that the AI will always trade. Better stay flexible and set slider to zero until we know what we need.
 
Had a look at the save. Agree with outline of Frederiksberg as above. Only thing that came to mind is that there is a praetorian and janissarie wandering about. Gunpowder is as yet undiscovered so I wonder if each AI has been given one of its unique units, which might complicate war plans (does Churchill have a Redcoat?)
 
Perhaps we can get things rolling with a short set?

It would be great to have a test game but I don't know if anyone is up for doing this?

I propose the following for the next ~8 turns:

Technologies
Tech slider to zero researching HBR.

Dealing with AIs
Open borders with all AIs before adopting Taoism.

City placement and builds
Yan’an: Worker (1-pop) - Granary
Beijing: Worker (1-pop) - Granary
Guangzhou: WB (1-pop) -> Granary (regrow to pop 2) -> worker (1-pop)

General micro
Yan’an: Worker improve pig -> flood plain (farm)
Beijing: Worker improve wheat -> ivory
Guangzhou: WB -> Fish

Culture slider to 40% for one turn

Civics and religion
Change into state property, slavery, pacifism at T0
Change to Org. rel. 5-6 turns later.
Adopt Taoism at T0.

War
Scout the AI with bomber. Recon + re-base. Try to determine if the AIs have advanced units. No worker steal.

Bigger picture
GProphet is used to start a golden age. GSpy is used to fog bust. We are waiting for Alpha to be available for trade. Worker steals and war awaits intel on AI units and techs.
 
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From the maintenance thread:
Versions
This game will be played in Civilization IV Beyond the Sword, version 3.19, and with the BUFFY-3.19.003 HoF mod installed.
 
From the maintenance thread:
Versions
This game will be played in Civilization IV Beyond the Sword, version 3.19, and with the BUFFY-3.19.003 HoF mod installed.
Correct - I've updated the first page with the final version of the game rules.
 
Agree with Fred's outline for initial turns.

Been a while since I played Civ4, so what is the rule for enhancing the stealing of techs, that the city has to have our religion in it or that the civ needs to share our religion?

England, America, Russia, Germany and Japan all have cities they can liberate to us. Is this anything we can take advantage of?

Started a classical era Deity game and then went into WorldBuilder and checked to see what techs the AI start with. They have:
Mysticism, Mediation, Polytheism, Priesthood, Monotheism, Fishing, The Wheel, Agriculture, Pottery, Writing, Hunting, Mining, Archery, Masonry, Animal Husbandry and Bronze Working. So they are capable of researching Alphabet immediately, will they?

Starting units are 5 Archers, 2 Scouts, 2 Workers and 2 Settlers.
 
Espionage gets a bonus from open borders, our state religion in the target city, stationary spy.

Don't know exactly what the liberation option means except that it apparently puts those cities up for trade. How do you add an AI city in world builder?
 
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