ST4 - Emperor Tweak

Got it!

(1) scrap our ancient no-war rule,

This made me chuckle. Took less than a turn; I figured it would be at least 2 or 3 turns before you recanted :)
 
I just did like I was tole, and filled in the dot map :)

Preturn:
Switch to writing, 0.8.2 -1
Note-to-self: Have to go back to 30% lux next turn before Paris grows.

BT: nada

1,2550: 0.7.3 -1 (so paris doesn't riot). Single warrior up mtn. Settler toward red dot.
Worker roading towards Orleans.

2, 2510: de nada; writing due in 30

3, 2430: Paris settler->settler. Sending settler to yellow dot.
Still up CerBur on Temmy. Back to 8.2.0 while Paris grows.

4, 2390: Orleans warrior->warrior. Worker roading game.
Lyons founded on red dot, warrior.
Pulling warrior out of northern mountains, heading back southwest.
There's a bit of gold in one mountain but it's rocky country.
Expecting barbs from the peninsula.

5, 2350: ...

6, 2310: Settler moving to yellow dot sees Mongol scout vanishes down western arm.
Reseach/lux back to 0.7.3 so as not to riot Paris when it grows to 5 again.

7, 2270: Rhiems founded, warrior (yellow dot), starts warrior
Paris settler->settler, settler towards orange dot.
Worker roading wheat (as part of military road to Rheims)

8, 2230: Orleans warrior->worker
Hmmm. I misassigned a tile micro on Paris.
It'll still grow to 5 in time for the settler, but only just :smoke:

Mongol explorer returns from the western arm,
so it very probably is an island we're on.

9, 2190: Orleans grows to 2. We are still up CerBur on Temmy.

10, 2150: Tours founded (orange dot), starts warrior.


And that's it. All peaceful; no barbarians seen.
(Temmy's warriors have probably kilt a couple, they wandered down into the fog on both arms.)
There could be a hut down south of Paris by now.

Playing with the lux rate as paris grows does get a few extra beakers, btw, although not much.

(Should we just do it at min?
Archipelago MM stuff always goes wrong for me; if I gamble
on an early visit, and save cash, they never come, and if I try to push for MM,
I get an early visit and have no cash to buy techs. I dunno.)


Here's the save

st4-21501.JPG
 
Paging Mr Jackson, Mr. Ted Jackson to the white courtesy telephone.
 
In my opinion we must expand towards the Mongols ASAP. We must deny them to as much land as possible. Then we can expand down the two arms and hopefully blockade the Mongol settlers as they try to make progress through our land, it only takes 3 warriors. Anyway, good luck to Ted Jackson, May the force be with you ;) .
 
This made me chuckle. Took less than a turn; I figured it would be at least 2 or 3 turns before you recanted :)

:) Oh, and :goodjob:, wow, 10 turns is enough to found three core cities! Actually, now that we seem to be out-expanding the Mongols big-time (the Mongols' territory appears to be awful), I think we can relax a bit -- I don't think it's necessary to launch an early attack, though I do think it's likely we'll be attacked ourselves.

We probably want to plonk down our next settler somewhere in that grass between fair France and foul Mongolia, though exactly where is hard to tell with all that fog around. That's up to our next leader, TedJackson. :)

If I were soloing this, I would be sorely tempted to try building the Pyramids in Paris after a couple more settlers. Even with such a late start, our start position is so strong that I think Paris could outrace the AI's, since there is only one industrious civ among our opponents.

Orleans could build a granary and supply us with more workers and settlers; with three food bonuses, it's a good site for that. (Irrigate one of the wheat tiles, mine the other, and leave the forest on the game tile unchopped -- that way Orleans will make +5fpt in Despotism.)

Sharing an island with exactly one AI is in my mind the worst situation to be in. As long as you have contact with only that AI, you're buying techs at monopoly; and often the AI will come after you as soon as the last possible city site on the island is claimed.

It looks like we're going to end up with the lion's share of productive land on our island, so unless Temujin attacks very soon we'll be in great shape. We should get a warrior over to that western peninsula, just so we can figure out where to plant cities over there (I don't know if purple dot is the best site).

One other thing. Where the heck are the lux? :eek:
 
Looking good so far :goodjob:

Play later


regards

Ted
 
Looking good so far. A few comments:

We must send a scout down that western arm - there could be a lot more land that way, and possibly another civ, although I doubt it. Even if there isn't, we can set up a blockade in our own territory in Rheims. Everyone make sure you know about the exploitative blockade rules.

Great job Puzzlinon - we are expanding well.

Everyone remember that it's not if Temujin will attack, but how soon.

Current Roster:
Dark Savant -
Puzzlinon - Just played
TedJackson - Up!
Jmansell - On Deck
Lord_all_Mighty
Snaproll
Ozymandous (skipped awaiting check-in)
 
It looks "interesting" so far. ;)
All I can say is barracks and military cities - your going to war!
 
Pre-flight checks OK :goodjob:

Dotmap for 7.5 Ring
ST4-dotmap-2070bc.jpg


Objectives
1. Settle on the remaining 7.5RCP sites
2. Produce some more Workers
3. Build barracks

Pre-turn
Spot Incense up in Mongol territory

Press the button

1 - 2110BC
Worker road to SW
Warrior arrives at Rheims
Warrior S (explore SW arm)
MM Orleans for 1spt (all that's needed for Worker) & 4fpt
Can't MM Paris - no options
Don't press Mongols to leave as MA believes they are stronger than us
Hold onto CB until Mongols have something worth trading for
Mongol start must be really food-poor as we're romping away at the moment.

IBT
Paris Settler - Settler
Orleans Worker - Spear
Rheims Warrior - Worker

2 - 2070BC
Worker (Orleans) W, irrigate (Wheat)
Settler heads for Red (on my dotmap)
Warrior (N Rheims) heads for Red
Warrior (Rheims) fort - until Mongol Warrior moves away. Then SW
MM Lyons for warrior in 1 turn

IBT
Barb warrior kills Mongol warrior SW of Paris :) then retreats SE
Lyons Warrior - Worker

3 - 2030BC
Warrior (Lyons) fort
Warrior (Rheims) SW (Mongol warrior gas returned N)

4 - 1990BC
Worker irrigate - SW, irrigate
Warrior SW
MM Paris for +5fpt
MM Lyons for growth in 1 turn
Mongols have Iron Working! But, obviously, we can't afford it.
Switch Rheims & Lyons from Workers to Spearmen :(

IBT
Tours Warrior - Spear
Barb warrior shows up ESE of Paris (again)

5 - 1950BC
Warrior fort Tours
Marseilles founded (Red dot) - Spear
Warrior SW
MM Lyons for 3spt
Mongols still only have 2 cities - still unable to trade for IW

IBT
Barb warrior move to SE of Paris (unimproved tile) - I could attack him now but it's dodgy. If I leave him he could move to S Paris in order to pillage or SW Paris (forest). If he does that then I'd have to attack across the river so I attack him this turn and keep my fingers crossed.

6 - 1910BC
Warrior fort Marseilles
Worker irrigate - SW, irrigate
Warrior S (SW arm)
Worker road - irrigate
Warrior kills barb Warrior (SE Paris) :D
Lux 40% (had to move Paris garrison)
Research 60%
MM Paris for +5fpt
MM Orleans for growth in 1 turn
Mongols have settled their 3rd site (Kazan) but still won't trade IW

IBT
Paris Settler - Settler

7 - 1870BC
Settler heads for Green spot
Warrior re-garrison's Paris
Workers irrigate - road to cow
Warrior SW (SW arm, hill) - spots Ivory :)
Lux 10%
Research 90%
MM Paris for 5fpt
Still no deal on IW

8 - 1830BC
Warrior fort Paris
Warrior SW (SW arm, spies more Ivory)
Warrior (Orleans) joins Settler as escort
Lux 20%
Research 80%
MM Orleans to avioid wasted shield

IBT
Orleans Spear - Worker (Orleans will be an ideal Worker factory in the short term)

9 - 1790BC
Spear fort Orleans
Warrior SW
Workers road - irrigate (Cattle)
MM Orleans for 3spt + 4fpt
MM Lyons to avois shield waste on Spear (due in 2 turns)

IBT
Rheims Spear - Barracks (up for debate)

10 - 1750BC
Spear fort Rheims
Workers irrigate - 3NE (need to road then irrigate between Orleans & Marseilles)
Chartres founded (Green dot) - Spear
Warrior SW
Warrior fort Chartres
Lux 30% (Paris)
MM Paris for 5fpt
Finally! We have an average military, according to our MA

The World according to Ted
ST4-1750bc.jpg


Notes
Most of our towns need careful micromanagement. Nowhere has an natural ideal shield and/or food surplus.
Paris is happily producing Settlers.
Orleans has the makings of a worker factory
I've started a barracks at Rheims. We should probably do the same at Lyons.
Tours could use a temple to bring the BG (2NW) into play for both Tours & Lyons.
I've settled 2 of the 7.5 ring. IMHO this ring is too close (and too overlapped) to be of any real long-term use but will suffice to deal with the Mongols.
There is Ivory to the SW so it could be a better choice to settle there before completing the 7.5 ring. If so then we need to work out the optimum ring distance before committing ourselves. 11.5 would put us on the hill N of the Ivory and capture the Cattle as well. It depends on how well the Mongol territory fits with this.

The save is > here <

Good Luck JMansell

Ted (from sunny Norfolk)
 
<offtopic>

I know RCP hasn't been addressed in the Epic rules yet, so I'm not trying to criticize anyone at this point, but I imagine the issue will be dealt with at some point.

RCP is a powerful strategy that takes advantge of a loophole in the rules that I believe the game designers did not intend. This makes it, in my opinion, a strategy that should not be relied upon, as it isn't within the spirit of the game. The AI doesn't use this tactic. I understand that this hasn't been dealt with formally at RB because placing restrictions on city placement opens up a gigantic can of worms that no one wants to deal with. I'm not trying to open that can - I just want to let the players here know that I don't really want to use RCP as a major strategy in this game and for now, this game only.

I want to make it clear that this is just my opinion, and I know it is shared, at least to some extent, by other players. As Sirian put it in ST2 (in reference to the "sweet" boost RCP gives):

The production boost of ICS is also sweet. So is the benefit of setting up a Right of Passage sucker punch. If you rip the soul out of the game and play by formula, min/maxing every statistic, exploiting every design flaw, what is the use of playing?

Please note that the players there also voluntarily agreed not to use RCP. That's all I'm asking for here.

Now that we have that said I want to stress the fact that I am in NO WAY criticizing your play TedJackson. RCP has never been mentioned in any form as bad in any context as far as I know, and therefore I completely understand why you did it. It is very powerful. Of course, you noticed yourself that

IMHO this ring is too close (and too overlapped) to be of any real long-term use but will suffice to deal with the Mongols

I agree. The thing with RCP is it totally destroys most efforts at placing cities optimally allowing for proper positioning and overlap. We now have several cities with some severe overlap. If the other players agree, I would like to see Marseilles build a barracks and units, and then disbanded in the future, and re-settled in a better overall position.

Other than that little tirade, your turns looked good Ted Jackson. Again I want to state that I in no way fault you for using an RCP strategy. I welcome all the other players to please sound off on this issue - I may be totally off base here. I mean no offense and I just wanted to make my feelings known. I am by no means the strongest civ player and I wll defer to those more experienced if the arguments warrant.
 
Current Roster:
Dark Savant -
Puzzlinon -
TedJackson - Just played
Jmansell - Up!
Lord_all_Mighty - On Deck
Snaproll
Ozymandous (skipped awaiting check-in)
 
Hi,

I just looked at the positions of the already established towns and noted that they were all at similar RCP distamces. I simply followed what was there, not really giving much consideration to whether or not it was by design or coincidence :)

I'm not sure that this setting is particulary suited to RCP anyway. but it did fit with a strong border against the Mongols. I would probably ended up with the same sitings for strong defence.

If the other players agree, I would like to see Marseilles build a barracks and units, and then disbanded in the future, and re-settled in a better overall position.
I agree snaproll. Once the Mongol hordes are driven back into the sea then we should re-assess both Marseilles and Chartres.

Snaproll, I take no offence from your comments and I can live happily with or without RCP according to the wishes of the other players. As I said earlier it was the pre-existence of an RCP framework that lead up this path.


regards

Ted
 
I am no supporter of RCP. To me it has a smell of being a little exploitive. It takes advantage of the way corruption is calculated, and this is something the player takes advantage of while the AI is oblivious of it. RCP is a clever way to combat corruption but it is not what we need here. A 'pelago map rarely suits RCP and I think its not paticularly suited to this map. More than anything else it doesn't seem fair on Temmy or any of the other civs. I reckon, if they can do without it, so can we. On the other hand, I don't think we'll really benifit from RCP, I think non-overlapping city placement will serve us far better is the future, which, according to Sirian's brief is what this game is all about. On this 'pelago map, with powerful marines and paratroopers, this game could get quite interesting.

Oh, and on a slightly more embarrasing note - It has been almost a year since I've played a SG and I've forgotten how to attach a file (The saved game). Do you simply use the attach file utility?

Just to clarify my position I do not intend to use RCP when I play my turns. However, I will wait for a while for the opinions of other players and any comments anyone might have (or advice).
 
Just an aside: the first round of cities wasn't placed for RCP deliberately, it just came out that way; the spots gave the best terrain distribution to the cities.

If it were me, I would settle the two arms next before squeezing more outposts in Temu's direction. He's cramped in on rocks up there; putting towns in the midst of it, before resolving the larger question of his long term survival :mischief: , would just be slowing our own growth. It would also make him more likely to attack sooner ... that's gonna happen, but the more say we have as to timing, the better.

I would settle -both- arms next, to keep the barbarians out of our rear while we're looking north (we don't want to find ourselves facing the golden horde and a couple of tribal hordes at the same time), start temples that might end up as libraries (we got no culture, it's a disgrace), and block early visitors from horning in on the ivory.

JM, there's an "Upload Files" button way way at the bottom of the screen down VVVVVVVVVVVV thataway. You upload saves and images, and then put links to them in the messages.
 
Originally posted by jmansell02
Oh, and on a slightly more embarrasing note - It has been almost a year since I've played a SG and I've forgotten how to attach a file (The saved game). Do you simply use the attach file utility?
Full instructions can be found > here <

Originally posted by jmansell02
Just to clarify my position I do not intend to use RCP when I play my turns. However, I will wait for a while for the opinions of other players and any comments anyone might have (or advice).
The border towns against the Mongols need strengthening and we should try to claim the Ivory.

Apart from that "The world's your mollusc" :)


regards

Ted
 
Snaproll, I take no offence from your comments and I can live happily with or without RCP according to the wishes of the other players. As I said earlier it was the pre-existence of an RCP framework that lead up this path.

Ok, that's good. I'm glad things are working out smoothly - I am beginning to experience the pressures of running a SG! :D

You can see the stickiness of the RCP issue in that it is fairly easy to "accidentally" put the first ring in RCP style without even meaning to. That's why I think this strategy can never be outlawed outright. The rule of thumb I am now using is "don't count"
 
The way I play, I emphasize things like strategic placement, fresh water, resources and lux, city overlap, and whether a site is coastal or not to figure out where to put cities. However, I do apply RCP to decide a close call.

I agree that we should treat the two cities on the Mongol frontier as temporary cities (though temporary cities that will last a while) ... build nothing but barracks, walls, and maybe a temple there. When the Mongols are pushed aside (or push themselves aside :smoke: ) we can disband these cities and put down new ones.

One problem with RCP is that it doesn't account for future locations of the FP and moved Palaces. From the lay of the land, I would probably construct a FP in Orleans by hand (not now ... it needs to make basic infra and units first), and then relocate the Palace later with a leader. We're definitely going military later in the game ... we need to "test" Sirian's balance changes. :mischief:

I think we should try to squeeze in two cities on East Peninsula. West Peninsula, at least two, depending on how much more land is there. I think we should also claim green dot on my original dot map next ... it would be embarassing if a barb camp popped up there.
 
Do you have the game Jmansell? I couldn't tell if that was an "I got it" post up there or not.
 
Yep that was a got it. The report and saved game should be up by midday tommorrow at the latest, hopefully ;) .

JMansell
 
Back
Top Bottom