[Shadowing] "Role Play Challenge: Stalin's Iron Fist!"- need an advice

[semirami]

This is my first OCC game and I need an advice.



1st: What to do with Thomas Edisson? He is born long long before electricity.

2nd: Oracle. I am thinking for Aesthetics. It is a great trading tech and also on the path of NE, GT, HE and GL, P-n, SoZ. I can hold on the wonder, until Writing is done. But I am also tempted for Horeseback Riding and an early war against Ragnar. He does not have copper. So

- Aesthetics- Literature and we use Edisson for GL
- HR, settle Edisson and we whip Ragnar. Without him the game will be a lot more easier.

The both options are very nice, I just cant decide. What do you guys think?
BTW. MC is a bad choice for me and I dont have Pottery yet.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

What tech you take should fit what you want to do (I took theo in my failed run). However, I'd say settle the GE. It's not that hard to get wonders in this. You're the sole industrious leader with stone. I build SoZ in like 5-6 turns without chops or whips, and I don't think I had metal casting then yet...

 

[r_rolo1]

Settle the GE... I rarely rush a wonder in OCC and it is a even bigger sin doing that with a Ind leader ( GE hammers do not scale with Ind ). A Settled GE will give you the equivalent of a mine and some nice beakers ( I presume that you're in Rep )

Given your current situation maybe Oracling CoL ( delaying the Oracle 6 turns ) would be a good idea... it would give you a bigger happy cap and that makes a huge diference in a OCC ( until you have Globe, OFC )

 

[molson]

i would keep it for the Great Library. I built the Parthenon and National Epic and with farms my GP output was really great, you will get plenty of GP to settle later or pop techs if you wish. I never settler GE. Popping a wonder is way too good compared to settling it, of course, not every wonder is worth it, but you are playing OCC against 4 other civ you MUST kill to win. You MUST have a tech lead which will aloow you to build advanced units and counter being outnumbered. Popping the GL with the GE is the best option in my opinion.

 

[Johnpecan]

It's an OCC, so the answer is settle.

 

[siggboy]

I have shadowed this game.

1st: What to do with Thomas Edisson? He is born long long before electricity.

Keep him around. I built the AP with an Engineer to keep it out of the hands of the AI. You could also rush West Point much later or The Pentagon. If you plan to start building units soon settle him ASAP.

2nd: Oracle. I am thinking for Aesthetics. It is a great trading tech and also on the path of NE, GT, HE and GL, P-n, SoZ. I can hold on the wonder, until Writing is done. But I am also tempted for Horeseback Riding and an early war against Ragnar. He does not have copper

Horseback Riding? What a waste. I did a Civil Service slingshot in my game. If that still seems possible for you, go for it. If not, take Metal Casting from the Oracle. You are Industrious.

 

[semirami]

Thank you!

3 hammers and 7 beakers now, 18 beakers later is obviously the better option. I have some forests, outside of the BFC for GL.

@rolo, I dont understand, how CoL would increase the happy cap. Yes I will found a religion, but probably I can't accept it, so it's only the temple. However AIs will spread their religions to me soon, so if I want to accept a state religion, or build temples, I can, or maybe I am missing something?

I have some more questions:

- If I whip Ragnar, what's next? The land will be claimed from Joao very soon, no doubts. I know Ragnar is more dangerous, but with double land avaliable Joao can be a real monster later in the game. So what's the point for early war in OCC?

- Liz. Well, she is dangerous. She is a backstaber and very good techer. The last thing I want to meet is redcoats. So if I decide to go in early war, isn't Liz a better target? Ragnars UU and UB are kind of useless on this map. The same for Hannibal and Joao.

- SoZ. Is it worth? WW isn't an issue in OCC. Yes it is only few turns with ivory, but dont forget the artist polution. I must build NE, HE and GT, all with artist points. And 2-3 great artists in row could be a disaster.

 

[siggboy]

- Liz. Well, she is dangerous. She is a backstaber and very good techer. The last thing I want to meet is redcoats. So if I decide to go in early war, isn't Liz a better target? Ragnars UU and UB are kind of useless on this map. The same for Hannibal and Joao.

I sent Ragnar onto Liz through a bribe and that kept her out of the equation completely for me. You might also exploit the fact that your lone city is blocking her in completely, so if you don't open borders you can actually raze all her cities and the AI won't be able to fill in that land quickly. For that reason alone, Liz is the best target for an early war. All the other civs will resettle their cities or the land is going to be taken by a rival AI, only making them harder to battle later on.

- SoZ. Is it worth? WW isn't an issue in OCC. Yes it is only few turns with ivory, but dont forget the artist polution. I must build NE, HE and GT, all with artist points. And 2-3 great artists in row could be a disaster.

I built the SoZ to harass the AI, but I honestly don't know how big a difference it makes on Monarch difficulty. If you have the SoZ, they declare on you and you end up fighting them in your own lands (not entirely unattractive with the Great Wall and only one city to defend), then the SoZ might hurt them BADLY. The problem is that it will really pollute your GP pool with artists, and that can be very detrimental (I got a few Artists due to having NatEpic, Parthenon and SoZ, burned them for Golden Ages).

 

[semirami]

Well, not a bad game for first OCC. I learned many things:

- Settled engineer rocks
- Aesthetics from Oracle is a great choice. I went for the culture path, Math, Literature, Music, bulbed Drama with the artist. I chopped every forest outside of the BFC and got Hanging gardens, Great Library, National Epic and Globe T at 100 BC. These techs are great for trading, but useless for the AI. I got Alphabet, Mono, HR, Construction, Meditation, Monarchy, Feu, Banking, Theology, Currency, from the culture techs only, so I went straight to Liberalism, got it at 700 AD
- Be friend with the power, I accepted hinduism and got friendly status with Ragnar and Hannibal, pleased with Joao, furious with Liz. It allowed me to neglect the military, until much later. I declared a medieval war on Liz with jumbos and catapults, razed 4 cities(with London) and pillaged every improvement, sending her in the stone ages
- Dont build wonders, you dont need, like UoS or Angkor Wat.
- Cossacks rock, They eat grens and muskets for breakfast


The most ridicouluos random event, I have ever seen:



And the end:













And the scores is a disappointment, I expected much more:

 

[r_rolo1]

Brave man, attacking 2 civs in a OCC at the same time

Score in OCC is always low becuase of the low empire pop... nothing to do about that. But it is a quite respectable one for the format ( and Ass Line in 1650ishs )

 

[siggboy]

I'm very impressed, especially with how many great techs you managed to squeeze out of the culture stuff through trades.