*Spoiler1* Gotm17- Early Specific Map

[Erik Mesoy]

Yndy: *14* cities??? ICS^2?
I met egypt, without mapmaking after my building the great Lighthouse in carthage. Oh, and I got the colossus there afterwards. I had moved my worker SW to scout, and founded 2 tiles SW...
I had 8 cities on my island. I found the 4 workers with the funn names. The mountain Theon Oikema was pretty cool, i never knew Civ supported thsoe funny letters.

 

[pterrok]

Moved the worker 1 onto the mountain and decided that Yndy was right to wipe out the jungle in his pre-game analysis; so moved settler 2 and founded Carthage there. Had 8 cities (7 coastal) and eventually put a ninth in on the northern interior.

1700 BC Got Map Making!!! Utica, founded exactly where Renata's is, starts on Great Lighthouse.

1350 Got Ceremonial Burial. Not sure what I was thinking here--I should have gone for Republic after getting Iron! Didn't even build a temple for the longest time...

1150 BC Got Code of Laws.

1025 BC Got Philosophy.

I had a couple of warriors and a granary in Carthage, the rest was workers and galleys and ONE Hoplite!


800 BC Meet the Egyptians! I got Map Making that much sooner than Moonsinger yet I must have spent more time colonizing the islands instead of heading straight out to explore. I also noted that Egypt had a city on an island when they did not have Map Making--there better have popped a hut for a settler!

Of the two huts on the island just to the west of Egypt, I forgot to trade to get the lower techs I was missing and so when I popped the first one I got something like Warrior Code; the second one gave angry Warriors.

Unlike last GOTM, in THIS one I used the fog to advance my regular units as much as possible; I DID lose a couple galleys along the way trying to clear whales and fish...

It was a bit of a task setting up the water-taxi service to be able to move uints from the homeland to the Egypt quickly--I could have done a MUCH better job, especially if I had taken the time to transfer units 'at sea' to make them move quicker when roads weren't yet built on the islands. Oh, well...

Very interesting game!

 

[scubagtr]

Well this is my first post and first experience with the GOTM and I must say I am having a great time. This GOTM17 could not have been a better game for me to start with, since I usually play archepelago or continent on Regent. Being an ex-Navy officer, I enjoy taking and dominating my island and then using my superior Navy to rule the world. I am reading the experiences of others and seeing how and more importantly when they do things. Boy do I have a lot to learn. I am currently at war with the Egyptians. I was at peace until they took one of my cities and then I responded by taking two of theirs. I am currently in the process of invading their home island. I have taken 7 Egyptian cities so far with 5 left to go. I guess I let them get a little out of hand multiplying like rabbits, but now the hunter is here. I will eventually kill them, but it is time consuming and the captured Egyptins keep having a problem with me killing and destroying their motherland.

I have learned a few things so far. Like 1 - Keep a timeline and save the game on certain years. I kinda got so excited about playing that I lost track of the time and just kept building, exploring and fighting. 2- Attack and kill faster, and then I wouldn't be going against Musketmen. 3- Build a lot of cities close together. I only have 6 on the main island.

I love the graphics and gameplay associated with the fog, volcanoes and the squid. I thought of using the fog as a barrier to my islands to help create a chokepoint. It seemed to work for awhile, but them the Egyptains decided to start clearing some of the fog for me and that was fine as well.

Based on the map so far, my strategy (of course subject to change, based on what else I find) is to finally defeat Egypt, colonize their entie land mass, and go for a scientifc space win, while building my super navy to protect the shores and to throw a little smack down on some punk country that tries anything.

 

[Phantom Lord]

4000BC Used worker to explore map looking down from mountain in the west

4000BC Decided to move settler east in order to have a costal capital, spotted an island to the east

3950BC Founded Carthage, decided to go for mapmaking from the start, started producing 2 warriors

In the meantime: While both warriors explore the island as they were told, Carthage produces a Settler to expand the sphere of influence.

2850BC Warriors report island to be fully explored. Utica is founded west of Carthage and is given the task to organize future settler production.

In the meantime: Decided to invent literature before mapmaking in order to be able to build a libraries to give citizens the possibility to gain a cultural identity.

1950BC Founded Leptis Magna in the south, populations of elephants will further increase my supply of ivory, which my people love to posess

1625BC Founded Hippo on the western shore of the island

In the meantime: Began to lay foundations for a huge building in Carthage, the foundations are suited to either base a giant library on them or a to build a big tower as a landmark on them.

1350BC The overwhelming food surplus in Utica leads to another overpopulation, settlers leave the city to found the city Plebis Magna in the area north of Hippo.

In the meantime: With the borders of the island being exactly known, it will be necessary to expand to new islands. Therefore Carthage puts all its efforts in building a unique lighthouse instead of a great library. In fact we don't have enough books of our own to fill such a library, and the lighthouse will greatly help our ships to find their way home and allow them to travel the seas far from our shores. Maybe they then can trade books with other cultures out there behind the sea and we will reconsider building the great library once again.

875BC After centuries of hard work, the massive efforts of the people in Carthage lead to the finishing of a building like the world has never seen before: A giant lighthouse with everburning fires on top lights the way to Carthage for all to see.

In the meantime: Our shipyards build ships to explore the seas, returning captains tell strange tales of ghostly fogs that can even damage our ships. It takes our hardest sailors and best ships to sail through them, but once parted by our proud ships, the fogs vanish. At least three small islands are reported in the east. Settlers prepare to leave and carry our heritage to new grounds.

510BC Sabratha is founded on the island to the east. The fogs seem to greatly slow down our efforts, but we know they will vanish in the long run.

410BC Bamicus Speedica is founded as the sister city of Sabratha on the same island.

Things look good - yet ...

 

[Moonsinger]

So far, I'm one of the few that failed to contruct the Great Lighthouse. I was just 4 turns away from finishing it, but the another civ from the far away land got it done before me.

 

[Hurricane]

I also decided to go 2 and found my capital on the jungle. The wheat to the south and the flood plains was a nice surprise, and I didn't ever bother to build a granary. I eventually founded 8 cities on the main island. My own island was explored in 3000bc. I never had any barb camps, so the 2 warriors I built had an easy time.

My main goal was to get out exploring as soon as possible. I beelined at max tech for mapmaking (prebuilding the GL) and immediately cranked out a galley and built a city on the neighboring island. That island was cleared in 1475bc.

In 1175bc I saw the egyptian border and popped a hut filled with angry barbs. My warrior luckily survived.

I managed to trade quite a few techs of the egyptians, while still managing to keep map making for myself.

I switched to republic in 290bc. Soon after that I attacked the egyptians, which triggered my golden age.

By this time I had already met some other civilizations (in 670bc), but that you will hear more about in the next thread!

 

[scubagtr]

Hurricane,
I love your negotiator babe !!!!!

 

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by Hurricane
By this time I had already met some other civilizations (in 670bc), but that you will hear more about in the next thread!

I'm looking forward to hear more about that in the next spoiler thread. I can't believe you were able to make contact as early as 670BC.

 

[Yndy]

Hurricane, Please edit your last screen-shot. Cracker specifically wrote that you should not include other parts of the map than the starting archipelago. That includes the empty ocean to the {bleah} of the archipelago. Exploring is an important part of this map and I don't want it spoiled.

On a related issue you probably met the others in 670AD as I don't see anyone in your 290BC pic (that needs to be edited!)

Edit: Thanks cracker. Nice touch.

 

[pilferman]

Originally posted by Moonsinger
So far, I'm one of the few that failed to contruct the Great Lighthouse. I was just 4 turns away from finishing it, but the another civ from the far away land got it done before me.

I don't think the lighthouse was worth building, in hindsight. Concentrating on a faster tech pace and quick colonization probably would have been wiser, I think.


Yndy--How did you plant 14 cities on your home island???? I had 8, and that was pushing it later in the game. Could you post a screenshot? I'd really like to see that.

 

[Yndy]

Lighthouse was worth building at least for the +one movement if you were looking for the others. It was not very useful for the starting archipelago of course.
I lost the Collosus to some other guys who seem to have had their capital on the coast. Grr.

Pilferman, I'll post a pic later. It was all about clearing the jungle as fast as possible. Jungle clearing complete at circa 130 BC.

130BC is also the date when I found the first new contacts with the most incredible luck.

 

[ltcoljt]

I have a question. It seemed to me that in the past when removing jungle square that I would get a mixture of shielded and shieldless grassland underneath. In this game to this point it has always been shieldless. Has this always been the case (faulty memory), is it a feature of the map, or is this something new with PTW?

 

[pterrok]

I noticed the lack of bonus squares under forests and jungles too--but it was just Cracker being completely thorough so that the maps on all the versions would be the same--it's a random occurence if you have it turned on and so could give users of one map an unfair advantage if they got a nice bonus on a critical cleared square.

That 'sCracker, thinking all the time...

 

[Aggie]

I'm going to finish this game, but the start was the opposite of what I like in a game. During the early years I only met one civ, the Egyptians of course.

I managed to build the Lighthouse and TGL, but they both didn't help me much.
I concentrated on exploring and science-wonders: wrong choices . I also got my Golden Age too early, because of two wonders. I feel that luck is a deciding factor in this GOTM. (particularly in the exploration phases)

No screenshots from me, because it looks a lot like the ones I've seen so far...

 

[PzVG]

This is my first post here on the forum and my first GoTM, love the site by the way. I haven't played alot of Civ3, but I am enjoying it again after picking up PTW last month finally (I like alot of the touches they added in PTW).

It seems I am behind the curve a bit in my game, but here is a brief review of what has occured so far in my game.

I built Carthage in 4000 BC on the start location. In hindsight, I think I prefer the move SW as some others did. This would pick up that wheat/floodplain tile that I had my eye on (Carthage's borders would expand due to the palace). I ended up placing my 2nd city adjacent (west) to that wheat/floodplain and irrigating it.

My mistake at the start was having my tech rate too low, and researching bronze working first. After bronze working, I beelined to map making but bronze working took me 40 turns (I was rich at this point but big whoop there was no one to buy from ). I ended up with 6 cities on the initial island, 2 on the one to the east, and 2 on the one to the south. I rushed harbors in on both islands to get the incense and ivory shipped throughout the empire. I started building the Colussus in my 3rd city (south of carthage on the coast), missed it by 3 turns, switched to GLhouse and missed that by 6 .

I put a barracks in Carthage rather early and have a big pile of vet Num Mercs which is now getting ready to crush the Egytpians. I did not find them until 370 BC. We traded alot of techs, they already had map making when I made contact, but not Republic (which I was in), so I gave them that to backfill all the tech I was missing. I was very late getting temples built, so my culture is low. We will see how that plays out during the war/ Egypt. They look weak, though having to ship troops over to them will make for a slow fight probably.

I will have to look thru the FAQ to try to find how to save and put screenshots in posts as they make it so much easier to follow. It is fun to read what other people do during the game .

I was also unsure exactly what the fog/volcanos would do, but I just sent my brave troops into/on top of them and came out ok. The 4 workers helped alot on the islands. I also spied that squid swimming to the north, but havent encountered it with a boat yet.

 

[Green Light]

Originally posted by Yndy
I’d like to see some hut results. I got two techs and a warrior.

Pottery, warrior, deserted - in that order.

 

[dales]

This is my first attempt at participating in either the quick start or the game of the month.

I decided to found Carthage right where I was. It might not be the most advantageous spot, but I figure with some good scouting the rest of my cities around the area would be so it would be better to get cracking.

I continually adjusted my science to get pottery and then writing as fast as I could.

In 2850BC I founded Utica down on the SE end of the island.

In 2030, I had Utica start on pyramids, as a pre-build for the lighthouse.

In 1950BC I founded Leptis Magna Due west of Carthage, near the food plains.

In 1790BC I had pottery and writing, and was going full bore for map making to get me off this bloody island.

In 1350BC, I founded Theveste north of Leptis Magna.

In 1200BC, I finished Map Making, and switched to Literature. More on my logic for this in a moment. I switched Utica to the Lighthouse, and started Carthage on the pyramids as a pre-build for the Great Library.

In 1000BC, I settled Hippo on the island next to the starting island, just NW of the volcano.

At the end of the quick start, I had five cities, and was 9 turns away from getting the Lighthouse. I had science down to 10 because the library wouldn't be ready that soon anyway.

OK, here is my thinking on the Great Library. I feared that the combination of fog and 80%+ water made it likely that it would be a long time before I met up with other civs, particularly if the fog was regional. I could envision the other civs all being neighbors and swapping like mad while I had to plow through on my own. I made the calculation that I would likely be behind in techs when I met up with the other civs. Also, since the setting is regent, I made the assumption that to make it a challenge, we would not be blessed with a wealth of resources, so trading would not be from a position of abundance. So I decided that I wanted both the library and the lighthouse.

Anyway, that's up to the quick start age.

 

[Green Light]

A nice screenshot from the game Mmm a moment to remember.

 

[Renata]

Originally posted by pterrok
I noticed the lack of bonus squares under forests and jungles too--but it was just Cracker being completely thorough so that the maps on all the versions would be the same--it's a random occurence if you have it turned on and so could give users of one map an unfair advantage if they got a nice bonus on a critical cleared square.

That 'sCracker, thinking all the time...

Really? It's random in-game, the same way battle outcomes are? I assumed it was random, but set pre-game when the map was generated.

Renata

 

[Lesch]

This is my first attempt at a GOTM, and I have to say it's been a lot of fun so far.

I started by moving my worker SW onto the mountain, and the view of the floodplains decided my start. Settler moved 1 square NE and founded my first city. Utica was second just SW of the wheat on the floodplain. Took the time to build a granary in Utica, and irrigated for a Settler factory there.

Focused tech towards Map Making initially. Science was set at max, with minor tweaking for happiness.

Using Utica to expand, I got Carthage building the Lighthouse ASAP, and completed it in 1175BC. Researched toward Republic from there.

My first galleys explored to the East, and discovered the Egyptians. Sent Settlers as fast as possible over to the tall, bow-shaped island to create a wall of cities between territory I wanted and the Egyptian lands.

Over the next years, was repeatedly attacked by the Egyptians and had 3 separate wars with them. Remained Despotic until I had finally established cities in the empty space between us. Finally launched a large strike force against Thebes & captured it, triggering my golden age along the way. Thebes almost immediately culture-flipped back, and I sued for peace yet again. Used Golden Age production to try and build up marketplaces and other improvements.

All in all I had established what I thought was a pretty good power base, and Egypt was definitely no longer a threat, but I was very concerned that I would have lagged behind many of my unseen competitors. Forbidden Palace is coming along (very slowly) near Egyptian border, and Democracy should help. It will be interesting to see what the future holds...

Sorry, no screen shots. PrntScreen didn't seem to like my dual-monitor setup. Anyone got advice on how to get around that?

Lesch