Ill health delayed me this month, making this the first month Ive missed the QSC deadline for the GOTM. Although I didnt keep a detailed log after the deadline passed, Ive managed to remember most of the early strategic decisions, and Ive recovered some screenshots of early exploration and terrain improvements.
As per my second strategy post in the prelim discussion thread, I moved my warrior west and worker south. The warrior spotted wheat, and the worker game, causing my settler to move SW downriver in order to use both resources. Sogut is founded in the next turn, and as the minimap shows us further north, the hut warrior headed south. Research was dialed up to 100% on Pottery as usual on Emperor.
I quickly met Brennus of the Celts. He had workers available on the turn I contacted him, and I traded tech and a bit of gold for both of them as workers are more valuable than tech this early in the game. Heres a picture of Sogut as it just hit size 2- having extra workers has netted me extra gold as well as being able to have both the mined plains and irrigation of the wheat already.
I built one settler before a granary, and settled it close to Sogut as the other settler pump. After Pottery, I go for max research on the Wheel, as it has high trade value and will reveal Horses for possible Sipahi to be built. I find Hannibal, but dont trade with him until I get the Wheel and can afford Alphabet.
The first settler out founds Iznik above the dyes and immediately starts a granary, sped by the workers chop of the game forest, which is then irrigated. Once the Wheel is acquired, I swap it around for all the tech to get up to parity, and start 40-turn research on Math.
Both Sogut and Iznik get granaries, and start churning out settlers. Early on, I had planned to micromanage the tile use in these cities each turn, but ill health caused me to write it off, making this month a low one as far as extracting the most from city placement.
Antalya becomes military HQ with an early rax, and early warriors guarded workers against barbs. I lost no workers or settlers to barbs, and only one exposed warrior.
I successfully make the 40-turn gambit on Math, and reap a net profit of gold as well as Writing, Mysticism, and Iron Working. This has slowed down the tech pace and allowed me to build up a large reservoir of gold.
As I can barely see red borders to the south, I decide to go for an expensive, non-preferred tech to research
but not at 40 turns, as if the other AIs know each other, they will make any further gambits useless as soon as Map Making is discovered.
I didnt reach 1000 BC before the QSC submission deadline, but my mock QSC for comparison lists some statistics and a screenshot:
10 cities
3 settlers
3 workers; 3 guest workers
2 granaries
2 temples
1 barracks
18 citizens
8 warriors
7 spearmen
Techs: IW, Math, Writing, Map Making, Philosophy, Mysticism, HBR
Currency is due in 4 turns using 25gpt to do so. Dense placement of cities has cut down on my territory, but has allowed me to work tiles with roads, massively boosting my early income.
Civ score is about 300 or so.
This isnt as good as my past QSCs, but is still a strong start for Emperor, especially when you consider that I about to get luxury #4 hooked up in 8 turns or so. I see that most players have blown me out of the water in city count, which I expected as being ill doesnt inspire me to new heights of micromanagement. Ill make up for it next month as survival will force me to near-obsession with it at Deity level.
After a few more settlers are produced, I reach the limits of space without war, and Iznik becomes a worker factory, pumping them out every three turns as it fluctuates from size 3-4.
After Currency, I research Literature for the cheap culture and boost to research from libraries. I also pick this tech as one that the AI is less likely to research, making it more valuable for trade.
In 825 BC, I make contact with <deleted> and Rome, passing beyond the reach of this spoiler thread as far as map info and contacts.
I've already reached the middle ages, but I'm going to save the little bits of details regarding the last few techs for the next spoiler thread as brokering with <censored> civs was vital in acquiring them. This start isn't bad for a 'lazy game', and the amount of luxuries nearby remind me of Phys1, but without the immediate threat of war that comes from landing in the middle of a pangea. Buying those workers crippled Celtic expansion, as they only attempted to send one settler pair across my territory very late, and turned back almost immediately when I told them to leave. Rome is incredibly strong and well-developed, and I suspect an extra settler or workers or both given to them, as they are usually weak in comparison to other civs in single player games.
The next report in the second spoiler thread will occurr in a few days, once I'm recovered enough to play Civ. The early game so far has been a fun variation on the continents map, albeit with an obviously overpowered Rome. (Rome has no food bonuses in either of its first two cities, and with its city spacing, would have no chance at being this strong without assistance from the mapmaker.)
