Superslug Monarch #1 2B

[superslug]

1320ad: Running workers deep into Greece has suddenly reminded me of this time my roommate used a plumbing "snake" (long coiled metal something) to try and remove a clog from our toilet. Although I seriously doubt Alexander would like the analogy...

 

[superslug]

13??ad: My eyes got too blurry to even read what year it was before I shut the game down (1345? 1350?). Anyway, I rampaged through 65% of Greece in one turn and still had 248 Cavalry sitting idle in my stack. I hate to end my marathon mid turn, but I've run out of gas...

 

[superslug]

1345ad: Still haven't finished the turn, but Greece was reduced to only four cities. Two are out of range this turn due to being remote jungle/marsh settlements that aren't roaded yet (and never will be). The other two towns I could have gotten to, but they're behind forest/hills. I accidently sent my stack over a nonrailed road tile and burned a movement point.

Oh well...

I looked over the Persia/Korea island. There's no free tiles whatsoever. I'd hoped to establish a port, rail them and then rock their worlds, but I guess not...

 

[superslug]

It dawned on me last week that even though I prefer to do a turn by turn gamelog (for sake of my own focus) there's no need to update a thread like that, so I'm going to post my notes by century as I complete them. (That way this thread doesn't keep rocketing back up to the top every hour when all that was added was 'Yay, burned another town down!')


1355ad:
2:07 AM 4/17/2004
After exterminating Sumeria, Germany, Byzantine, Babylon and 98% of Greece, I finally get an MGL when hitting one of the few Persian settlements on Uberisle! This will be my first chance to use a C3C army.

2:15 AM 4/17/2004
Last Korean settlement on Uberisle razed.

2:39 AM 4/17/2004
One coastal town on Splotch set for construction of a Harbor in order to reconnect the island to the network. All other city production switched from Cavalry (currently have 399 remaining) to Artillery. I don't ever recall using Artillery before, but I have a hunch use of it will be required in my next game so I might as well practice now, right?

Science budget cranked back up, Sanitation in three turns.

1360ad:
3:12 AM 4/17/2004
I didn't realize you could use Artillery to fire at naval vessels. The first batch constructed was used to bombard ships off various coasts of Uberisle. The bombardment and occasional Settlers were getting annoying. Hopefully now that they're wounded they'll bug off...

Remaining Artillery was added to the stack of Cavalry, Settlers, Cannons and Riflemen being shipped over to Deux.

1365ad:
3:42 AM 4/17/2004
Persia booted from Uberisle. Greece eliminated entirely...the others will have to wait until tomorrow.

11:23 AM 4/17/2004
War declared on the Mongols just so I could get the last AI city off of Uberisle.

1370ad:
1:55 PM 4/17/2004
Generated a second MGL while attacking the second Persian city on Deux.

Between the turns, Xerxes called up asking for peace. I stacked the deal with Espionage and got Free Artistry and an alliance against the Koreans out of him. I obviously redeclared war immediately...

Workers on Uberisle are focusing on nothing but railroads so I can preprare for repositioning and milking. I'm keeping the offshore towns I invade and setting them all to their own workers. As islands become milkable I'll just tweak Uberisle as needed.

1375ad:
12:59 AM 4/18/2004
Definitive turning point in the game from my perspective. While combat still ensues offshore, I got the last AI city off of Uberisle. Considering that my 395 Cavalry and 70 Artillery are hitting Spearmen slightly more often than Riflemen, I've decided to end military unit construction and gone entirely for a batch of Settlers followed by Workers.

I do hope one of the AI talks to me soon so I can sign (and break) a peace treaty to get out of Mobilization. I've decided to do a Palace jump with MGL2.

1380ad:
11:50 AM 4/18/2004
Signed a peace deal with Korea to end Mobilization. Now I can use MGL2 on a Palace.

1385ad:
9:13 PM 4/18/2004
Used MGL2 to rush a Palace where Germany used to be. I also loaded a bunch of workers onto boats to land on Deux. Since not everything is railed together there (slacker Persians and Koreans) my superior forces are taking longer than I care to wait. Having a road crew will expedite the violence.

1390ad:
9:13 PM 4/18/2004
Waiting between turns was kind of fun. Some of my units had a front row seat to the Persian-Korean border war. The Persians
lost two cities that the Koreans will likely lose now from me!

9:32 PM 4/18/2004
The Palace jump reduced waste an appreciable amount where Germany and Sumeria used to be.

9:34 AM 4/19/2004
Turn only took an hour. Not bad!

1395ad:
10:31 AM 4/19/2004
Generated MGL3 on Deux! Time to jump the Forbidden Palace! Likely location is somewhere in Greece.

10:57 AM 4/19/2004
Acquired my seventh luxury while going deep into Korea.

12:14 PM 4/19/2004
My Korean campaign ran out of Settlers, so I reset almost every town in the Empire to make just those. Hopefully I can generate enough before Uberisle is ready for reposition. There's only a few dozen tiles to be cleared and railed. Well, only a few dozen tiles of flat terrain to be railed. I'm not bothering with mountains or tundra.

Finished Scientific Method, projection on Atomic Theory is eight turns, but that may vary depending on when I reposition. I'm going to quit research with Electronics. I already have a prebuild of Hoover's on Uberisle.

 

[Svar]

Originally posted by superslug
3:42 AM 4/17/2004
Persia booted from Uberisle. Greece eliminated entirely...the others will have to wait until tomorrow.

Your dedication to your game is commendable however many years ago I discovered that going to bed earlier was more productive in the long run.

I remember many years ago when I first started playing computer games like Civ that when the game showed up at my door I was in for about 36 hours with no sleep but nothing I did was very productive, I just couldn't stop playing. These days when I want to play a really good game I have to get away from it every couple of hours and think about what I'm doing wrong. I also try to get to bed before 2:00 AM because anything done after that is usually junk anyway.

It sounds like you are having fun though and in the final analysis that is the most important.

 

[superslug]

Originally posted by Svar
Your dedication to your game is commendable however many years ago I discovered that going to bed earlier was more productive in the long run.

I couldn't possibly agree with you more! Why I find this hilarious is because I work third shift. My normal bedtime is between 8 to 9am, so 4am was very early for me!

Originally posted by Svar
These days when I want to play a really good game I have to get away from it every couple of hours and think about what I'm doing wrong.

Another point we agree on entirely. Friday and Saturday I went out to dinner with friends, Sunday I went to see a movie with another friend and in a few minutes I'm going hiking for the afternoon with some coworkers. CivI I let detriment my social life, but I've long since learned my .sav files aren't going anywhere. Social life always takes priority these days...

Whether or not I'll think about Civ, I don't know. I usually save 'braintime' for work when I'm bored. I've found a turn by turn gamelog immensely helpful as I can completely forget the game when away from it and still review notes with fresh thought before resuming the game.

 

[superslug]

This post is less of an update and more of a gripe/request:
Folks, don't let me play someone other than the Mayans ever!

 

[fret]

Originally posted by superslug
This post is less of an update and more of a gripe/request:
Folks, don't let me play someone other than the Mayans ever!

A rare moment 'slug where I disagree with something you post.

Variety is the spice of Civ! Dont fall into the newbie trap! You are better than that!

 

[EMan]

........since he's a Milk-Man only (by his own admission)...........I have to agree that Mayans are one Hellova Good choice.....You have my vote.....if a particular civ has many advantages, why not use it ?

Which raises a couple of other points:
1.Dave McW used the Celts to win the only (so far) posted win at Sid-level on a Tiny Map....can this be done with another civ?

2. On non-C3C Milk Runs, I love the Egyptians!

 

[superslug]

Originally posted by fret
A rare moment 'slug where I disagree with something you post.

Variety is the spice of Civ! Dont fall into the newbie trap! You are better than that!

Much as variety is the spice of Civ, disagreement is the spice of forums. EMan already partially clarified what I meant, but I'll do so further. My comment was in regards to huge/milk maps only (which are all I usually play for HoF), and I've settled on the Mayans due in large part to having tried all the various attributes and realizing Ag/Ind are the most powerful individually and combined.

That doesn't mean they're the best for other type games though. If I were going for a Huge/Fastest Finish, I'd probably visit the Ottomans or even Chinese again, due to UU's. For Tiny/FF, the Aztecs and Celts seem to be the way to go. And I would never consider the Mayans for my occasional side-dabble in OCC. I usually try the Babylonians there.

Originally posted by EMan
IF 'SLUG IS STILL ON SABBATICAL???........

Perhaps I should clarify 'sabbatical' while I'm here. I'm not visiting the forums of my own accord until I finish my game. The only two threads I'm responding to are this and my PBEM, and that's only when an email shows up indicating there was a response. So, while not absolute, sabbatical is as good a term as any.

Considering the habit that I've developed over the months of playing/posting/playing/posting/playing/posting, avoiding CFC should allow me to finish my game within weeks instead of months. This has two advantages:

1) My three posted HoF games were huge/pangaea. Milking was easy: throw the Palace out to the middle of nowhere, cash rush everything and move my workers as a sliding wall across the landmass irrigating and railing. Milking under Communism on an Archipelago is a much different story...
2) Mapfinder's already generating maps for my next run...

 

[Darkness]

Originally posted by fret


A rare moment 'slug where I disagree with something you post.

Variety is the spice of Civ! Dont fall into the newbie trap! You are better than that!

I agree with Fret! Playing only as the Mayans would be boring IMO...

Corruption seems more of a problem in C3C, so I thinbk I'll give the commercial civs a go sometimes (Iroquois, Agr/Com, Mounted warriors)

 

[fret]

Yeah if its every game then boring. Having said that, aftre Ive finished my currnt game I'm going to instal Conquests and give the Mayans a bash first

Any update on the game Superslug? I see you already generating maps for the next run, are you nearly finished with this one?

Have you got a score projection - it looks like Darkness and Drazek are ging to turn the Chieftan and warlord HOF tables on their heads, are you going to do it to Eman on Monarch as well?

 

[superslug]

Originally posted by Darkness
Corruption seems more of a problem in C3C...

Not in Communism...

Originally posted by fret
Any update on the game Superslug? I see you already generating maps for the next run, are you nearly finished with this one?

I'll post a gamelog update in the next post. The reason I'm already generating maps for the next run is so I can have a couple of thousand (if not more) to try from and sort out when I'm ready for the next game. In regards to being close to finished with this one...I have no idea when I'll finish. I'm playing every day, but it's taking time.

Originally posted by fret
Have you got a score projection - it looks like Darkness and Drazek are ging to turn the Chieftan and warlord HOF tables on their heads, are you going to do it to Eman on Monarch as well?

I think a score projection is very premature at this point, considering I'm not properly placed for cities, nor have I even eliminated the Mongols or even all the wetlands. However, I've got a score of just under 7000 with 260+ turns to go and a domination limit of over 4300. I'm fairly certain EMan's score is toast...

 

[superslug]

1400ad:
12:11 AM 4/20/2004
Boredom with this game has seriously kicked in. This turn took me nearly six hours to complete. Preparing Uberisle for reposition and milking when combined with trying to finish off three AI on four different islands is really stretching me mentally. Fortunatly, I gave the Mongols a tundra city a while ago so I can take/burn the rest out.

Use of Artillery has paid off beautifully. It's really helped keep my Cavalry for the most part safe and intact. Despite my overwhelming advantage over the few AI survivors, I'm reluctant to lose Cavalry. At this stage I'm viewing them less as military units and more as 20 shields in a can...

I landed a bunch of Settlers on Deux, so finishing off the Koreans will go quicker. The Persians and Mongols will sadly take a little longer due to naval restrictions, although I've expedited the process by starting to disband some Cavalry to rush Galleons.

I did finally get a beachhead on the laughable excuse of the Mongol island. The city already had a Barracks and I disband- rushed a Harbor. Now, to fetch me some slaves...

1405ad:
2:37 AM 4/20/2004
At the end of the turn I called up the other guys and offered peace treaties. Korea and Persia were nice enough to give up a town each. Peace with the Mongols for a turn or so might be nice. I can regroup my troops from both landing points before I smash his nose in again.

1410ad:
5:38 AM 4/20/2004
Korea eliminated from the realm of existence. The island of Deux is fully under my control.

City with Forbidden Palace was abandoned. Relocated much further south with MGL3.

1415ad:
7:52 PM 4/20/2004
Aside from a few garrison units for remaining resistors I piled all military units on Deux into boats or on the shoreline for extraction. Six Galleons are headed in pairs carrying Artillery and Cavalry for the three remaining Persian cities on an island I haven't named yet. The rest are headed to Uberisle for shield disbanding.

It occured to me that I've seriously wasted precious time with workers and settlers on Uberisle. When on the offensive, I really should have burned everything down in my path (aside from wonders, immediate luxuries, etc). That way I could have been laying out my cities a lot earlier. At the time I thought my production base couldn't handle coughing up Settlers and Cavalry. However, now that I've realized the power of Artillery, my next war campaign will be much closer to the "perfect" tactical campaign I've sought for many years.

(Whatever my next game is, worker's will likely be easier on me. Now that I've had a taste of playing someone nonIndustrious, I don't care to do it again. You'll likely see me as no one but the Mayans from now until the end of time. Or Civ4, whichever comes first.)

I'll probably wait until after completion of this game to thoroughly analyze the numbers, but on initial impression, jumping the Palace and FP farther away from each other in Communism does seem to have some productive affect on production waste (obviously none on corruption).

1420ad:
6:16 PM 4/21/2004
Renamed all towns off of Uberisle according to their island names. I also renamed any Uberisle cities with useful wonders so I know not to abandon them...
NOTE TO SELF: Whipped through 256

7:07 PM 4/22/2004
NOTE TO SELF: Whipped through 429
7:37 PM 4/22/2004
All towns to be abandoned next town have had Settlers or Workers whipped when possible. All possible units drafted as well.

1425ad:
8:00 PM 4/22/2004
Persia reduced from three towns to one. The Mongols five remaining towns (aside from Quarantine) are holding decent ground, but that's largely due to my own slow logistics in regards to that front.

1430ad:
8:59 AM 4/24/2004
First chance to play in two days. Thought I'd get to kill Persia, but the dropped a Settler in the fog.

I forgot to abandon and reposition towns before hitting 1425 end of turn. Oh well...

 

[Darkness]

Originally posted by superslug
Not in Communism...

True, but communism is quite far down the tech tree....
Besides SirPleb seems to do well with the Iroqs on sid level...
Also, Iroqs mean no automatic GA after the pyramids are built, and the mounted warriors can trigger the GA anytime I want...

Great game, EMan's score is very tough to beat, so if you even come close is a great accomplishment. Off course that would definately be bait for me to try also...

 

[fret]

Originally posted by superslug
1 Milking under Communism on an Archipelago is a much different story...

I'm still pre-conquests and so I havent really given communism much of a go yet, but, I'm with you on the milking archipelego maps bits.

I've almost finished the conquest phase of my emperor game now and a BIG mistake I made was only producing enough galleons for the military conquests - I have stacks of idle workers on the homeland and vast swathes of un-developed land overseas because the military units have to take priority when it comes to transporting units off the mainland. Transorting the workers has just been a trickle where i can fit a few in.

Edit - ...and if you do beat Eman's score it wont just be Darkness racing to whoooop your arse I want my top 3 place on Monarch

 

[superslug]

Originally posted by Darkness
True, but communism is quite far down the tech tree....
Besides SirPleb seems to do well with the Iroqs on sid level...
Also, Iroqs mean no automatic GA after the pyramids are built, and the mounted warriors can trigger the GA anytime I want...

You've really caught me off-guard Darkness. I thought you were one of the more avid fans of the Mayans! Granted, SirPleb is doing well with the Iroqs on Sid, but I suspect that has more to do with the player than the civ, and we've not seen too much of Moonsinger's run with the Mayans yet, so only time will tell.

As a disclaimer, let me add this: My current Monarch run has shown how very picky/indecisive I can be. I'm generating maps as the Mayans, but if I abandon starts for a month or so, I may be inclined to switch.

Originally posted by Darkness
Great game, EMan's score is very tough to beat, so if you even come close is a great accomplishment. Off course that would definately be bait for me to try also...

I'm actually pretty sure I've got his score licked and kicked, but I'm not going to publicly proclaim so until I've actually done it. I'm more concerned with staying focused in what's proving to be a much different milking situation than I'm accustomed too.

Regardless of the outcome, I am finished with Monarch. The maps I'm generating are for Deity. I won't know until I play the maps whether or not I'll play on Deity or drop to Emperor or Demigod.

 

[superslug]

Originally posted by fret
I've almost finished the conquest phase of my emperor game now and a BIG mistake I made was only producing enough galleons for the military conquests...

It's hard to know how many boats to make. I've tried to leave some stationed at every strait, just because I'm constantly fiddling with where to send units. I got very lucky with this map, considering "Uberisle" is almost pangaea sized.

Originally posted by fret
Edit - ...and if you do beat Eman's score it wont just be Darkness racing to whoooop your arse I want my top 3 place on Monarch

Even if I raise the bar, the bar is still open to paying customers. [/bad pun]

 

[boogaboo]

Slug.. just passing through, and I see where you are at , but..

SCORE ASSESSMENT!!!
What do you predict? Is that sure?
The civilians want to know!!

 

[fret]

Originally posted by superslug The maps I'm generating are for Deity. I won't know until I play the maps whether or not I'll play on Deity or drop to Emperor or Demigod. [/B]

The top 3 Diety scores are going to be rock-hard to beat, I doubt I will ever even attempt it. Emperor on the other hand