*Spoiler1* Gotm20-Spain-Continent Map+Middle Ages

[BillChin]

Open class, Civ 1.29f

Edit (oops: rankings were at 1750 BC when I made contact)
466 Ottomans
348 Keltoi
321 Zulu
319 France
286 England
280 India
195 Spain

Rankings at 1000 BC
782 Ottomans
623 Keltoi
546 France
519 Zululand
501 India
468 England
417 Spain

I wanted to save gold so built a granary rather late, avoiding heavy use of the luxury slider and upkeep on the granary. I prepared for barbs but was thankful there were none, though a squid attacked my first galley.

16 cities at 1000 BC as I prepare for war against France

 

[serttech2003]

When can I get a city named after me? Bamspeedy got one and so did Ribnnah as well as one that had a reference to Moonsinger i think. You can call mine....Cidade de Perderdor. (sorry for the Portuguese, Loser City).

Think I'll go check the names of the other Civs.

 

[Takeo]

some of you are getting some good trades out of writing.
i did the 40-turn research and everyone else already had it
except the English. i ended up only getting 30g out of it.

 

[drewshark]

I made the mistake towards the end of the QSC of not paying tribute to the Zulus. I figured they were way too far away to transport any real problems via attack. I was pretty much right, but they got several other civs at different times to join in. At first is was the Indians, no big deal as they were far away too. The English were second then the Celts right at the end of the Ancient Era. I have been able to hold them off and build up a bit, but no leaders so far and my growth has been affected. A quick question for those that payed tribute, when was it you paid and did they come back for more quickly or did they declare war anyway?

 

[Ebomb808]

Originally posted by drewshark
A quick question for those that payed tribute, when was it you paid and did they come back for more quickly or did they declare war anyway?

I paid tribute several times and mostly it was maps + Gold<100. I think on deity unless you are powerful enough to handle a war and/or have enough money to bribe someone to your side, always give in. Always.

 

[Tarquin99]

CONQUEST - Civ1.29b2 (mac)

Well, so I've never played a game above Monarch (!), but I thought I'd give the GOTM a try since Cracker has made it so easy and accessible to all users! Yay Cracker!

Anyway, I'm obviously playing on Conquest and I've been really pleased with the bonuses it has provided. I'm not good with pasting images, but I'll try to let you all know where I am currently in my game.

The Year -- 900 BC

I just entered the middle ages by gaining construction (more on that later). I have just sling-shotted slightly ahead in tech except for the Ottomans who are the clear leaders in my game (MAJOR culture, MAJOR rudeness) and who already have Monotheism (I'm unfamiliar with them, are they scientific? They must be).

I have 13 cities and two settlers en route. My score places me in 2nd (!!!) place (not for long, I'm sure) with 578 points, behind the Ottomans with 689 points.

Now for some more specifics about my game so far and what I've done....

The Start

So, I have never really tried planning out a "Settler factory" before but after reading about how to do it I think I got it working pretty well. Using Conquest, I built madrid at the starting spot and my 2nd city (with free settler) on the first forest S/SE. Closer than I'm used to, but that was recommended for diety. I used two treasures to rush a defense and a warrior by turn three . My third treasure was used to rush a defense in my second city. I met the English, traded wheel for pottery (I wanted the grannery ASAP), started Madrid on grannery and started my 2nd city on a temple. I used one of my workers to begin improving terrain (irrigate cattle, wheat, mine hill) for the settler factory, and the other to road the incense (yay for luxuries!).

So, in not too long I was pumping out settlers between every 4-6 turns, which seemed like a miracle. My 2nd city was doing so well after its temple that I built a few more warriors and then started on more defense!! It was suggested in the Conquest strategy forum that building LOTS of defense early and then upgrading them only after bronze working later would make a good strategy. So, I tried this. By 900 BC (and some upgrading) I have 11 defense and 9 spearmen for my 13 cities. Feels good....

The Politics

I really like France. Joan always has money and is generous with the technology she researchs. I hate England. Right after map making was discovered she demanded my world map (!) and some gold, so I rejected her puny offer. She sent over 8 warriors which were decimated by the walls of my defense. Ha!! I never sent a single warrior her way, but she gave me peace easily after losing a bunch of power.

As for now, the Ottomans have been declaring war on people. Currently they're quibbling with the Zulus. Previously it was the Indians. I don't know what the outcome of all this will be.

The Expansion

With 13 cities by 900 BC I'm feeling pretty happy, although I still have a lot of room left on my corner of the world. I blocked the gap early so no one has exanded into my land yet. France is behaving herself.

The Tech Race

I have spent most of the game behind by 3-5 techs. I gave away the Wheel early in order to get pottery. I was making some good cash early on (17 gpt) on minimal research, so I could by most early techs for around 100-140 gp. I resisted bronze working until early on. I reached writing 2 turns behind everyone else. I was able to sell some of the techs I bought to other civs in exchange for more tech. I tried building the Great Library but fell short by 11 turns.

{that all changed with one set of lucky and good decisions}

A few things I want to comment on and pose to the group:

Barbarians: So I found the elusive jungle goody hut, popped three picts but my warrior survived. These are the only barbs I've seen ALL game excluding squiddies. Yay!!! Squiddies scare me though, I have yet to do battle with one (galleas's??).

Angering through trade? : So when I arbitraged Monarchy to all my continental friends in 900 BC I asked what they would give (typically 100-200 gp plus world map), so I left out the World Map (already had it), and took all their gold --whatever my advisor said they would agree to. But then, AFTER the trade, they didn't like me as much!!!!! Does anyone have any clue why this happened??? India dropped to Annoyed, Zulu to cautious. Only France didn't drop. <snip>

Conquest vs. Open: I have to say, Conquest has been really enjoyable. Defense gave me confidence and strength to deny the English barbarians what they desired. The treasure plus settler and our faithful sidekick Sancho Pazza helped me get a quick start. I know I will be utterly defeated in the end, but it'll be a challenge just to see how far I can go!

Now the final question: what do I (we?) do now that the middle ages have been entered???

good playing (and sorry this is lengthy....)

 

[RocknOats]

I GOT GREAT LIBRARY! I GOT GREAT LIBRARY!!!

I followed the plan someone posted for the 40 turn Writing/Lit gambit with a side order of pre-build, and it paid off!!! I settled Madrid at the start and started pumping out the citybabies. I put barcelona in the middle of all those BGs and hills to the north and worked the heck out of the mines. When I got writing I traded it for parity(my second instance after the intial meet and greet) and then rode out Lit with a lot of sweating. I got it first and held out trading it until India learned it on their own. {let us avoid discussion of things beyond our starting continent for this thread} I traded the heck outta {of civs and got} a lot of GPT deals from {my rivals} for tech and World maps and I was sitting pretty with no research and 2 lux, taking in 150+ GPT! I used the money to start jacking my military. I've advanced further but won't speak of that yet. It's not as sunny as my start. I wish I kept a timeline. I had about 12-15 cities and zulu was the man, but india was tops in science. England wiped out the celts and me and zulu ran the ottomans down to one city. as the middle ages started I was preparing for france. . .

 

[cracker]

Tarquin99 and RocknOats,

Sounds like you guys are enjoying yourselves a great deal and getting a great deal out of the game. We can sense your excitement and sense of accomplishments.

(let's all avoid discussion of the New World issues in this spoiler and save them for the excitements of Spoiler #2 early next week)

 

[Ambiorix]

v1.14f Euro.

opening play : I settled on the spot, and after discovering the wheat and cattle, build a similar scenario to practise some sequences. I eventually came up with this : worker south - irrigate - east - irrigate wheat - road - go west - go southwest - hook up incense - go back into Madrid - go north - cut forest while building granary - road - go northwest - irrigate cattle - road. About creating a look-alike scenario: I thought carefully before doing this; making sure it wasn't cheating. But I didn't work on the actual game-file, so I never saw the tiles beyond the city-sphere until I returned, and it's just easier to play it than doing the maths on paper. I would even dare to promote this approach.

city management : I built a 4-turn settler factory in Madrid, and kept it up all the way to 1000BC. I either built warriors, workers or popped temples (since I have this delusion of going for a cultural win). In 1000BC I have 16 cities with 32 citizens. there's still some room to put a couple of cities more.

research & trade : I started going full-out on pottery. Got that in 20 turns. Then researched writing in 40 turns, but I was far from the first to get it. I waited until then to do any serious trading, trying to keep research slow. Here are my notes from the QSC on that trade :
Everyone has the 3 level-one techs I'm still missing. English and Celts are the only ones without map making. I'll buy that tech first. Not from the Zulu, since they are the most powerful, and I'd like to get a war started against them. France will probably offer a good price. Looks like I'm the weakest civ, so no peace-renegotiations. Treasury : 333g.Buy map making from France for world map and 212g.Get bronze, masonry, warrior code, mysticism and territory map from Brennus for map making, world map and 15g.Get horseback riding, world map and 23g (all) from England for world map and map making. I now have a pretty complete map of the continent - nice !Establish embassy with India - they will be my favorite civ.Further trading would put me in debt, so decide to stop here, despite not getting iron working and mathematics (and possibly currency and construction) : first want to settle the remaining land and hook up a couple of resources - don't need the tech yet anyways.Oh wait, first get some gold back by selling my world map :Sell world map to Ottomans for 49g. Darn - forgot to check first who would offer most money.Sell world map and 5g for zulu's world mapSell world map to India for their world map and 11 gold (all)Sell world map to Ottomans for their world map and 1g.Sell world map to Celts for their world map and 16g (all)Sell world map to France for 50g. Treasury : 221g.Set research to Philosophy, 0% (no research).

5 turns later the Ottomans got Code of Laws and the Zulu got philosophy. I buy philosophy but CoL is still too expensive. I can only buy it much later when India and France also discover it on their own. In general I don't manage to close the tech-gap until 1000BC, when I enter the Middle-Ages, but that's for the next spoiler.

AI : Zulu got a power-start, obviously. England and Celts are weak. Everyone's at peace still. I think the named tiles are just decorative. They seem to be more or less correctly placed, except for Andalusia (although : someone hinted that it might be indicating settler-directions - seems plausible. I never made the link myself though).


Status :
16 towns harboring 32 citizens, 1 settler on the move
9 workers
17 warriors, 1 spearman, 1 galley
1 granary, 7 temples
All ancient techs except Republic, trailing 1 to Ottomans.

 

[DaviddesJ]

I don't have my timeline cleaned up yet, but my game is a lot like Moonsinger's (edited previous comments out after reading her timeline more closely). I got Polytheism monopoly via min research in 975BC, and promptly traded for the six techs I was behind, plus all of everyone's cash. Unfortunately they don't have any gpt to give me, but I'll end this turn with over 1700 in the bank, I think. I did let the French beat me to the ivory, an unfortunate mistake/oversight.

The QSC rankings this month are going to be pretty screwed up, imho, because anyone who did min research successfully will have much higher QSC score in 975BC than in 1000BC (assuming they moved to the hill on turn 1, which is clearly best given the map). Cracker, what do you think of accepting 975BC submissions instead of 1000BC (with some adjustment factor) for people who have much higher scores one turn later?

 

[DaviddesJ]

Ambiorix, how/when did you get Monarchy? Having a better government puts you significantly ahead of me at 975BC, I think.

 

[Zwingli]

1.29b Open Class

With such a generous start position, blessed with a food bonanza and sheltered to the North and South by restrictive terrain features, many people should be getting their first deity win. In fact, the start was so promising, that I made a pivotal decision which would normally be suicidal at this level.

4000 BC- I open the save and clearly see a floodplain wheat sticking out of the fog. Moving the worker to the NE hill reveals two cattle and some bonus grassland. After making some calculations I find that the land should be able to support two settler factories with some heavy terrain improvement. To get these improvements up and running quickly, Madrid is founded immediately, and the very first build is a worker. Research is set to writing at minimum science, hoping to trade for Pottery.

2150 BC- My writing gambit does not fully pay off as France and England get it first. However, it made the following trades possible (what they give is on the left, and what I give is on the right).

France: Contact with Keltoi <---> 94g
Keltoi: Contact with Zulu <---> Writing
Zulu: Mysticism + Contact with Ottoman <---> Writing + 8g
Ottoman: Ironworking + Contact with India <---> Writing +60g
Keltoi: Masonry + Warriorcode + 9g <--->Ironworking + 3gpt.

1650 BC- Polytheism minimum gambit fails. Trading ensues.

France: Polytheism <---> 9gpt + 90g
Keltoi: Horseback Riding + Slave + 5g <---> Polytheism
Ottoman: Mathmatics + 5g <---> Polytheism.

1500 BC- Map making becomes affordable, and the ensuing trading gains most of the price back. I end up shipping France an additional 7 gold per turn while purchasing the tech (This may have had unintended consequences).

1300 BC- The top portion of the following screenshot shows my dual settler pumps in action, with Barcelona and Madrid each sending out a settler every 4 turns with constant micromanagement. Also notice that France has two undefended settlers wandering around in search of a bodyguard. The only explanation I can think of is that my gold per turn deals with France somehow caused them to go bankrupt, disbanding the settler escorts (ie they traded away the gpt, then one of the deals expired causing bankrupcy). In any case, the French settlers waited to get new escorts, which delayed them enough that they never got a chance to found a city.

1150 BC- The Ottomans demand 31g + TM, and after consideration I foolishly refuse, sparking a war which would have continent-wide consequences.

1125 BC- War happiness lets me lower the luxury tax, and I buy France and England against the Ottoman Empire for a total cost of 68g + 12gpt + Philosophy (this includes the price of embassies).

1100 BC- India Allies against me.
1075 BC- Buy Embassy with Zulu for 54g but am unable to bring them against India. Notice that they are at war with the Ottoman already. Buy Embassy with Keltoi for 30g, and they are already at war with India, and they pay 25g for an alliance.

1050 BC- India pays the Zulu to declare war on me.

1025 BC- Construction buys the Keltoi against Zululand.

1000 BC- I have 13 cities, 3 settlers in the pipe, and the world is at war. The alliances were quite costly, but it will slow down the tech pace and economic development on the home continent without effecting my own buildup too much.

Diplomatic front as of 1000 BC

850 BC- Peace with India for 4gpt
810 BC- Entry into the Middle Ages.

 

[DaviddesJ]

Zwingli: Do you think having two settler pumps was worth the delay in getting them set up? I also built two early granaries, but I set up Madrid to pump settlers (every 4 turns), and Barcelona to pump workers (every 3 turns). I suspect (from your final position) that this was much faster to get going, and probably as effective. Eventually, you can get more cities than me, but that won't happen until around 20 cities, I think, and cities past 20 aren't worth much anyway. Also, because I could do my pumping without fully utilizing the bonus wheat and cattle resources every single turn, my other cities benefited by occasionally getting to use those (on "off" turns). And I bet I have a lot more workers, which is pretty useful.

 

[Wolp]

CONQUEST - Civ1.29b2 (mac) -- long post

This is my second GOTM that I will be submitting (played 17 & 18 after they closed). I usually play Emperor level on huge maps so I am pretty experienced, but rarely play Diety so I decided to go Conquest. Plus, I wanted to see some new units and make sure I could stay in the game long enough to at least post during the first spoiler discussion!

I got off to my best start ever I think. Used the treasure chests to scout the NE hill and S areas to look for the best city sites. Wow, what a great neighborhood to grow up in!!! Saw all those wonderful bonus tiles and decided that I would put Madrid right where I was and moved the other starting settler E - NE over the hill and founded Barcellona just a few tiles away with more overlap than I ever give to my opening cities.

At that point I got punch drunk with all those extra units and started exploring with the chests and first warrior. I had most of the greenbelt region of my side of the continet explored before meeting my first neighbor the English. 1 turn later I met French, Keltoi and Ottomans and traded my wheel and contacts for the few techs available except Bronze. I had decided to use the conquest level Defence units to guard my cities and thus ignored bronze until quite late. Went for writing on a 40 turn gambit and I think I was 2nd to get it as only the English didn't need it when I traded. I then tried for Lit and gambled on the Great Library. I had already decided to do that early on after using 2 chests to build a temple early on in Barcellona and a grainery in Madrid. Used the capitol as a settler factory and pre-built a palace for switch to GL when it was time.

The total absence of Barbs allowed me to gamble early on with unescorted settlers a bunch of times. This allowed me to really expand quickly. Pop rushed a defense or temple in most cities to start. One mistake early on was not closing off the NE choke point early enough, The English and Keltoi got 2 cities on "my" eastern shore.

I was in second place the whole way into Middle ages behind a very strong Ottoman tribe. They dominated the ancient world culturally and militarily until I got the Great Library in 900BC. I had Literture 1st by quite a few turns but I was afraid to give it up until I built the wonder. It was very fortunate that I did build it because I was dead last in Tech by then until the power of the written word sent me back to the top.

The Middle Ages started for me just after starting the first war on the continent against the French. They kept sending wave after wave of settlers into my territory untill I got POed...and got the library and was able to upgrade my 20 odd units to swordsmen. In 650BC My first suicide galley made it all the way across to a far Eastern shore only to die a horrible death at sea prior to spotting any inhabitants. He did send word of areas that showed signs of intelligient land use... A New World maybe???!!!

I was amazed that there were no wars of any kind that I saw until I started one against the French. No Barbs and no goodie huts as well. I held on to Lit way too long but getting the GL caught me up and allowed me to upgrade like crazy when I switched govts.. It was the Library that brought me over. i paid tribute early to Otto and Kelts but wasn't worried too much.

My 1000BC Stats:
12 Cities, 2 Settlers at new sites, 3 workers, 13 warriors, 2 charriots, 11 Defense.
Ottomans: 835
Spanish:646
Keltoi:558

All and all a great start and time will tell if I can ride this beginning to victory...

 

[Zwingli]

@DaviddesJ

Setting up 2 settler factories did take some time, and I may indeed have ended up with fewer workers (11 native + 1 slave @ 1000BC). Barcelona actually built a few units and workers before starting the granery, by which time I had confirmed that there might be enough free land to justify such a project. The opportunity to effectively double so much "corruption free" (close to the capital) food ended up being too tempting for me to resist, and I delegated worker construction to southern Floodplain cities.

 

[rrau]

I forgot to move the resourse files from the folders that were included with the download and started playing without any resourses - except the ones that were where the names were. When I tried to build on them, I didn't get the resourse so I went back and read the instructions again ( if all else fails - read the directions!) and moved the resourses files and the new resourses that I could access came up and the old ones that I couldn't access showed up as those names - I think la mancha was gems, and I can't recall what the others were - I hope it helps

 

[Txurce]

As my map attests, the Zulus are the runt of the continental litter in my game.

Moonsinger, I have 117g + 20gpt at 1000BC. Unlike your financial situation, it's not enough to stay even through the Middle Ages - I'll have to conduct a few wars to catch up more quickly. I intended to war, anyway, but the point I'm making is that you are playing well enough to have the option of remaining peaceful. I also didn't seal off the NE strait, but was lucky to fill up almost all of the territory ahead of the English and Kelts. They weren't fighting, so I don't know what they were doing.

Drewshark, I paid tribute to the Kelts and then France, and neither came back.

Tarquin, you are playing so well that advice seems uncalled for, but... you don't need THAT much defense! The AI has so much more production than you that you basically can't afford such a luxury. Since you're already behind in tech, in the Middle Ages you should focus on both building markets in republic to raise the cash to buy your way back into a broker position in the tech race... and probably beat up somebody so they'll give you some techs for free. Your overall goal should probably be to position yourself for a late charge at the ToE.

Rocknoats, congratulations on the GL. I didn't try for it this game, but you're right, the cattle made a great spot for building it. Now how did you get so much gpt from the AI in the ancient era? I can never get a gpt deal in this era - they usually research to the wall in this period.

Zwingli, I thought of building two factories as well, but didn't bother because expansion was going so well. I wonder why you didn't end up with more cities? Your continental war pits Europe against the rest, which is pretty fun. Good work getting yourself out of your jam with the Ottomans.

 

[LKendter]

v1.21f

This is my position as of the end of QSC period.
2 settlers
9 natural workers
10 imported workers
15 regular warriors

12 cities
3 barracks
3 temples
1 granary

I shot myself in the foot big time for the QSC, as by moving my capital I won't get credit for Polytheism, Currency, Literature and Construction. A double 40-turn gambit hits turn 81 with the QSC being 80 turns.


4000 BC to 975 BC is the period of quite expansion during the ancient age. Not much of significance occurs during this era outside of the amazement that I have keep up with tech without a problem.

750 BC marks an unexpectedly early Republic, when tech backwards India gets it. I have to give up my 4 tech lead on him, but it is well worth it to get the lower corruption and extra revenue. This will greatly speed up getting the fp on-line. I do sell Republic for a couple of the Civs that decent amount of cash. A courthouse is rushing shortly after in Pamplona so that work on the fp can begin.
Note: I didn't have middle age tech yet.

My awesome start comes down to the 2 40-turn gambits and a 3rd great trading round:
2110 BC - It isn't a monopoly, but I still make out nicely with writing. I give France Writing, Contact England and $25 and get Contact Ottomans, Contact India and Mysticism. A 40-turn gambit begins on polytheism. I sell India writing, contact England and $13 and get Bronze Working and Warrior Code. I sell the Ottoman writing and get Masonry and $25. I sell England writing and get Iron Working and $15. We give the Ottoman contact England and $105 and get Horseback riding ($40 discount).
I wind up getting the 2 remaining contacts, Mysticism, bronze working, warrior code, masonry, iron working and horseback riding for a net cost of ~$80.

1650 BC - Time for what I hope will be a nice multiple trade. I buy Code of Laws from India for Horseback Riding, $72 and $4/turn. I sell Code of Laws to the Celts for Math and $6. I know it favors the Ottomans, but I sell him Code of Laws for Philosophy. I sell Math to India for $85. At this point Horseback riding doesn't have much value, so I sell it to France for $36. In the end I got 3 techs for $25.

975 BC - The 40-turn gambit for Polytheism completes and I get Construction (via monopoly price), Currency, Literature and ~$220.


For those curious how I handle the food situations.

I let Madrid become a 5-turn settler factory with 2 irrigated cows.
I avoid any possible rounds of killer disease by letter Barcelona work the flood plains wheat to build workers every few turns. Barcelona has done wonders for getting a decent size worker force going.



Are we sure this is a deity game? I usually have problems in the ancient age, but I kept tech parity without any problems. I managed to buy a huge number of imported workers, and I am not last in score. My city count is better then several civs. The FP may be hand build in the BC time frame. I know deity can pull a surprise at any time, but so far this one feels like a blow out!

What I can't believe is that I haven't had a single demand so far. Was the play nicely switch set on for the AI?

 

[DaviddesJ]

Did anyone have any flood plain disease? I didn't have any (through 975BC). I suspect cracker turned it off, in order to eliminate the random variable (or just to help us out). I also didn't have any demands by the AI, but other players have certainly reported them, but perhaps that depends significantly on playing style.

As for, "Are we sure this is a deity game?" certainly cracker made it one of the easiest deity games ever, by giving us lots of space and crowding the AIs together, by turning off barbarians, by giving us great bonus resources at start. I'm perhaps a bit disappointed that it's so easy, but I can understand how it makes sense for GOTM. I'll be more likely to play Predator next time, though (but even that looks like a pretty easy win).

 

[Xerol]

Overrun by french in 10ad. Final score 258. Last month didn't even get to AD, so I feel lucky this month. The RNG gave me a little luck as one spearman was able to hold madrid off from the slew of french horsemen that came through in 1000bc, but it went downhill from there.
I've never won anything higher than monarch. I've got a feeling that this isn't gonna change anytime soon. Hopefully next month won't be emperor or diety :/
I didnt have contact with anyone other than french & english, and never got map making so I didn't get any maps. I settled on the hill but kept getting my growth stunted by disease. As a result I wasn't able to put out a settler until somewhere in the late 2000's bc (2200 or something around there).

So i definitely need to get some practice at higher levels...if i can fix my files...instead of changing the names i moved them to a different folder but the folder disappeared and windows search returns nothing...maybe i'll play again just for practice