SW8 - Stupid Spacers!!!!

[Vol]

(0) 1500 BC
We have also met the Vikings, definitely the ugly duckling of our current rivals.

Diplomacy round-up:

• England (4 cities): We’re down at least Masonry and Mysticism.
• Spain (5 cities): We’re down at least Masonry and Mysticism, We’re up Writing.
• Scandinavia (4 cities): We’re down at least Masonry.
• Byzantines (4 cities): We’re down at least Masonry.

One worker in 1500 BC just won’t do (although on a per-city basis, its not all that bad!) We have luxes to hook up, iron to hookup, and cities to improve.

Change Rome: Archer in 3 -> Worker in 2.

Luxury slider to 40% to keep Veii from rioting.

Settler factory still needs more shields (at 7 now, but 1 is corrupt). So we need to mine the cow (it has been irrigated), and mine two more BGs, at least.

I decide there’s no way we could hook-up the ivory faster than we could produce two more settlers, so I choose a more long term location for the settler pair, and suggest our next settler after the Iron settler grab the ivory. By then, we should have a worker free from connecting the furs and setting up the settler factory to go connect the ivory. Its really the mountain/lake/BG combination NW of Veii that screws up good city placement layouts.

(IT) Regular Spanish warrior move away from choke, regular English warrior moves closer.

(1) 1475 BC
Veii gets an archer as MP to allow luxury slider to decrease to 30%.

(IT) English warrior heads north instead, barbarian warrior approaches from the NW.

(2) 1450 BC
Rome: Worker -> Granary in 9. I’m hesitant to build any units that aren’t Legions, as they just don’t seem worth it. We’ve been struggling with growth all along, I think a Granary here would go a long way. The worker heads to the furs.

Found Antium, starts on Warrior in 5 as MP for itself or Veii. This also reveals a veteran Viking warrior to our south.

Veii, at size 6 for this turn and completing the settler next turn, needs 40% luxury slider.

(IT) The English warrior kills the barbarian warrior, losing 1 HP.

(3) 1425 BC
Veii: Settler -> Settler in 6. This one heads for Iron with Archer escort.

Luxury slider back down to 30%.

(IT) The Byzantines are building the Colossus.

(4) 1400 BC
Some exploration, archers returning home to be settler escorts.

Luxury slider back up to 40% for Veii. Not like we have much else to do with our cash. Furs online next turn.

(IT)


The Spanish are building the Oracle. The Vikings are building the Pyramids. The Byzantines are building the Pyramids. Barbarian warrior approaches from south.

(5) 1375 BC
The Vikings now have Map Making. They do still lack Mysticism.

Let our barbaric people clothe themselves in Furs!


Luxury slider down to 10%. Woo! (119 gold, +10 gpt)

(IT) The Veteran Viking warrior attacks what must be a barbarian warrior (in the fog), and wins flawlessly. The English are building the Pyramids.

(6) 1350 BC
Found Cumae to grab iron. Starts on a Warrior in 10 for MP as well.

Veii at size 6 requires luxury at 20%. Settler in 2.

Despite the need for shields at the capitol, the Furs worker heads south where all the action is, for Iron, Ivory, and Settler Factory (in that order).

(IT) Nada.

(7) 1325 BC
Antium: Warrior -> Barracks in 10

(IT) Nada.

(8) 1300 BC
Veii: Settler -> Settler in 5. Starts the cycle at size 5 this time, and new BG mine came online this turn. This Settler heads towards Ivory.

Luxury slider back to 10%.

Kill barbarian warrior to south with veteran archer, lose 1 HP.

(IT) Two regular English warriors approach Antium. Suspicious. A veteran one is on the mountain at the Ivory. Two more regulars are in the south.

(9) 1275 BC
I wonder if England is at war with the Vikings (who appear to be to our south). I would also like to know where the English capitol is. For these reasons, it seems worth 40 gold to establish an embassy.

They are a ways to our south. No resources, no luxuries, tropical terrain, 90% on science, irrigated bonus grassland. They are at peace with everyone.

(IT) Spain settles Salamanca right next to the chokepoint. The English units move in non-threatening ways.

(10) 1250 BC
Rome: Granary -> Archer in 3. Subject to change.

Luxury slider up to 20% for Veii at size 6. Note that it now has two corrupt shields (producing 9, 2 corrupt). We need to rethink our settler factory cycle (JB seemed savvy in such arts).

Two Archers left unmoved for next player to decide the fate of.
Settler pair is moving to grab the Ivory by settling SW of the mountain.
Southern worker is headed to connect the Iron.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/SW8_1250BC.SAV

 

[Vol]

The status of the empire:

 

[Vol]

Comments and thoughts welcome.
Black, then Green, are my suggested next sites.

 

[soul_warrior]

seems great Vol.
settler factory is wobbley but seems to hold...
JB? comments on the factory?

IroP UP
JB On deck

 

[jb1964]

Does the Irrigated Cow in Despotism give three or four food? I think we could have a four turn variant

With the corruption I think we can still get a four turn pump going w/ population going from 5 to the brink of 7 and back to 5. With a mined cow, irrigated wheat, 3 mined BG and a mined grass here is what I see...

Sheilds (Production - Corruption)
T1) 9-2 = 7; T2) 9-2 = 7 (14); T3) 10-2 = 8 (22); T4)10-2 = 8 (30)

The assumption here is that corruption level at 10 sheilds is only 2. If it bumps to 3 then I'm a bit confounded.

If we stick to the Wheat, Cow, BG and Grass we'll have 5 extra food each turn to regenerate the two bodies.

Yes, the factory seems wobbly but it's sure a big improvement w/ the granary! And putting the granery in Rome was a great move.

Is Monarchy the next government type? We'll have to really thrash someone to get them to give up a government tech.

 

[Vol]

Four food from a wet cow, JB.

I definitely agree that Veii is our life-saver. All those Settlers coming out is great. Producing escorts for them, while still ramping up for our next war, is a challenge for the next few players.

Monarchy for sure. Getting it out of someone is going to be real tough. We have to fight at least 3 wars to get it (in order to get Mysticism, then Polytheism, then Monarchy, as we can only get one per trade, and thus, war).

The next age is going to be even tougher in this regard as it tends to be deep and not wide (two main paths of tech vs. the four in the AA).

Are there any strategies we should employ knowing that we'll be despotic for a while?

 

[jb1964]

Veii four turn settler pump...

Always work wheat, cow, and 3 BG's (+5f and 7s uncorrupted)

Sheilds (Production - Corruption)
T1) 9-2 = 7s; Pop 5, food +5
T2) 9-2 = 7s (14s); Pop 5, food +5
T3) 10-2 = 8s (22s); Pop 6, food +5 (Add a mined Grass)
T4)10-2 = 8s (30s); Pop 6, food +5 (Mined Grass)
Repeat...

 

[Vol]

Do we need to do any further improvement of the tiles at Veii? Lets the cycle down to 4-turns and then get that worker doing other tasks.

 

[IroquoisPlisken]

Got it. Hopefully play today.

About the tech situation, we could always attempt 2 or even 3 simultaneous wars. Our Legions should be able to hold their own, especially since none of our opponents have a AA UU.
We'd probably want the two enemies to be on the same side. Is Spain the only opponent to the east?

 

[soul_warrior]

i think spain is landlocked on that spit of land.

i've tried getting to monarchy with 3 wars, i did fine on my solo.(another game)
we just get to war with spain, get myst, turn around and declare on byz, (10 turns?) war byz and get poly then redeclare on spain (another 20) war spain and get .
possibly within 40 turns, if they research that way.
the middle war could be on someone else (english?)

remember we dont have a rep to keep...
but we dont want them ganging up, so lets keep it civil...

 

[Vol]

Yeah, Spain appears to be on its own island, connected by the chokepoint near Rome.

With Ivory coming online soon we should have an opinion/strategy for the SoZ.

 

[jb1964]

Do we need to do any further improvement of the tiles at Veii? Lets the cycle down to 4-turns and then get that worker doing other tasks.

I think we still need to finish mining the cow, a BG and a grass.

If we allow the pop to grow to 6 and work the forrest we can get to 10 uncorrupted sheilds w/ just 2 extra food.

If you try and go for a 3 turn spear/arch, 1 turn worker, and repeat the city will grow to size 7 before the second worker can be pumped.

We could try...
spear (3 Turns), worker (1T), spear (3T, grow to 7), settler (3T)
We would then be able to repeat or move into settler factory mode once the needed tiles are improved.

This is an efficient use of shields and food but does not account for situational needs

My head hurts. I have never, ever been one to MM future production. I think this is one of those growing up, Kodak moments. My mom would be so proud!

 

[IroquoisPlisken]

Pre-turn – Move southern archer south, and fortify the other.

IBT – English warriors don’t bother us.

1225 (1) – Worker finishes roading BG. Move it south to mine the other BG while the roading working roads towards the iron.

1200 (2) – I think JB’s right about the settler factory. Veii grew this turn, and the settler is just one shield away from being completed. Once that other BG is mined, as long as the corruption doesn’t steal the shield, it should work. Though I’m not great at this MM/settler factory thing.
I decide to have both workers mine the BG to get it done quicker. More important than connecting the iron. We’ll have plenty of money to upgrade warriors.

Found Neapolis on the Ivory. Start it on worker, which we need more of.

1175 (3) – Rome archer->curragh. Veii settler->settler. Settler moves to green dot and should arrive just in time for the curragh to pass through the new city.
Find the edge of an English city.
Our army is strong to everyone, btw.

1150 (4) -

1125 (5) – Veii makes 10 shields with 2 corrupted. Yep. It’s a 4-turn settler factory. Well, it will be. Begin mining the cow.

1100 (6) – Rome curragh->warrior. Cumae warrior->worker. Found Pompeii on the choke, start on temple to hopefully flip Salamanca (which I thought was an Iroquois city).

1075 (7) – Veii settler->settler. Antium barracks->warrior.

IBT – Byzantines start the Oracle.

1050 (8) – Rome warrior->warrior. Rome’s now a 1 turn warrior factory.

IBT – A barb galley appears by our curragh.

1025 (9) – Rome warrior->warrior.

IBT – The curragh defends flawlessly.

1000 (10) – Rome warrior->warrior.

I’m not sure if we want to keep building warriors or not. I was planning on a Legion upgrade. 60 gold per warrior (or is it 90? Difference in shields (30-10=20), multiplied by 2 or 3?). We’ve got 298 gold and making 17 gpt. The worker has 6 turns until it connects the iron.

Rome could also become a worker pump, since it can’t grow. Or a worker between every 1 or 2 warriors or something.

Once we get enough Legions we should immediately declare on war. I'd say England, since they have the most techs, and are pretty close. Spain's my second choice, since that Salamanca is annoying (and that temple should probably be switched now that I think about it, since Salamanca won't be there long enough to flip ).

 

[Vol]

Looks like we're doing good! Our growth has recovered, our army is strong, and we have some more workers.

I think Rome should definitely peel off a worker whenever it gets to size 6. Use them to mine some grassland to get it back up to 10 shields at size 5.

Selection of opponent is an interesting question. The goal of our wars is not grabbing land or weakening our opponents, the goal is to get a few techs (preferably one in each tier). We don't want to weaken all of our opponents, otherwise we'll never get to space.

Spain's land to our east is bountiful (lots of grassland, rivers, wheats, cows) and is protected from the rest of the continent. We will likely want to eliminate them through a several short, but highly effective, wars. England we'll likely want to engage to weaken slightly and to get techs out of. I'd expect most of our wars will be razing border towns for slaves and techs, and not major offensives, as this will slow the research rate.

Are any of our cities worth starting a pre-build in to get the Statue of Zeus? Or is it not worth it? At 200 shields, its comparatively small, and with the Ivory requirement we may not have to be particularly quick about it if the other Ivory is not hooked up.

 

[soul_warrior]

like Vol said, we'll be having lots of small wars.
for that reason i'd go first after spain (get salamanca and some techs) it will weaken them but they will be protected by us. this war could be only about 5 turns long.
next up should be england. that will be a longer war.

just those wars short and painful.

 

[jb1964]

OK Vol,

At 45 posts since 11/2001 I must ask, is this your first foray into SG's?

Also, is "Vol" a Star Trek reference and what is a sophist?

 

[Vol]

I have played SGs with friends previously. Recently, that stopped being a viable option.

This is my first SG on CivFanatics. I am a long-time lurker on the SG boards (and longer still on the CFC boards overall), however. This game caught my eye as being similar to one the most fun SGs I had played, and I found myself with a bit of extra time on my hands, so I decided to join.

Vol is not a Star Trek reference. Actually, being a bit of a fan of the various series, I'm not aware of any "Vol" in Star Trek. Also, it is not a reference to Tennessee.

And, back to the game...

SW - on deck
Vol - justifying his existence
IroP - just played
JB - up!

 

[jb1964]

Darn this game is moving fast.

Will give my turns a go this evening.

The "Children of Vol" was a ST (Original) episode w/ an advanced machine acting as the keeper of a rather attractive (bronze skin, platinum hair, tropical clothing), peaceful, and childlike race. Vol was protective to the point of bumping off crew members with red shirts, go figure, and Captain Kirk responded by destroying Vol. In essence he freed the people from their Garden of Eden.

 

[Vol]

Wow, in all my years using this nick on the Internet, I have never heard that one.

 

[Methos]

Lurker's comment: Well to be honest, when I saw your username the first thing I thought of was 'The Blood of Vol'.