Swimming With Nuts: Deity Edition

[Gwaja]

Howdy! I'd like to invite you all to take a swim with nuts. They are usually tasty and crunchy, but the kind of nuts I am referring to are the beloved AIs we'd been battling for over a decade now!

So what kind of nuts are we talking about?

The religious fanatics: Drum roll please!

Spoiler :

1. Isabella
2. Saladin
3. Justinian
4. Brennus

And then 2 of the most beloved psychos of all time: More drum roll please!

Spoiler :

1. Monty the Featherhead
2. Shaka the Zuluman

And our brave volunteer to take a swim with these nuts is none other than Ramesses II of Egypt! ^_^

I am rather mad at myself because I played on Immortal for a couple of hours, then went to sleep without hard saving, and then the next day, started up a new game, thereby erasing all the previous auto saves. However, I did manage to hard save at the very beginning.

It was rather interesting due to the fact that:

Spoiler :

I got double DOWed by Shaka and Monty in the same turn by 1700 BC on Immortal!

Anyway, so I thought... hey how much worse would it be if I made this into a Deity game?

The start looks really promising... the kind of start I really like.



So.... shall we go for a swim in a pool of nuts? ^_^

Settings:

Pangaea
No Huts
No Events
Choose Religion
No Map Alterations other than Adding Appropriate Barbarian Techs
BAT 4.1

Special Note to Fippy and Lymond: Please crack those nuts HARD and LOUD please! ^_^

 

[Fippy]

For the really brave, trying Oracle with Isa in there?

 

[Rusten]

Save created with BAT loaded.

 

[Fippy]

Good, can never have enuf advertisement for BAT.
Installing only benefits you..

 

[lymond]

Save created with BAT loaded.

Highly recommend you install it

 

[Rusten]

Last time I checked the mod required 1GB of space, which adds up when all you have is a single SSD.
I'm happy with my customassets BUG.

 

[lymond]

You Vikings, always causing trouble! Anyway, I have an SSD too, but can't live without my BAT.

Justy is a big Oracle threat too. Settling on Marble here looks very interesting, even though we lose the pigs. Question is, will Oracle really buy us much knowing we have to be very quick to it.

 

[Gwaja]

Oh my god.. HI RUSTEN!

If Rusten is gonna be around, I am DEFINITELY gonna provide him with a gift... a mod-FREE version of the save! ^_^

 

[Rusten]

Cool -- thanks!

 

[Gwaja]

Here comes more dilemma! ^_^




Would you ever move 1SE to grab all 4 resources while losing fresh water bonus?

 

[Fippy]

marble hill would be the dilemma for me
I would very rarely worry about losing fresh water for a gold mine.

But 3h city tile and using another city for pigs and gold can be stronger, esp if lucky with the fog around marble.

 

[Rusten]

Agree with Fippy. 3H starting tile is extremely strong and capital can unlock pigs for gold city turn 51 (worst case). Might not even need culture there. I hate building monuments.

 

[Pangaea]

I would probably still have SIP, but of course you guys are right and a 3h start is fantastic. I'd worry about gaining loads of brown tiles by setting on marble, but you can at least move NE and see what else is nearby. Settling there still gets you all but gold. It's Deity, so a nearby AI can grab the gold with city #2 in about turn 5. However, between grabbing gold and settling on marble, think I'd prefer settling on marble. You get the worker faster, and probably the first settler faster, and turns matter a lot on Deity.

Since you have graciously provided a mod-free version of the game, maybe I ought to take a look at it too Would get my arse whipped - badly - but maybe that would be fun?

 

[lymond]

okay ..my attempt at cracking nuts (ouch!)

Spoiler nuts :

Tech pace seems kinda slow, but I have 7 cities after just sniping a barb city, and likely another barb city is mine. 3 more spots should be easy to grab, but no hurry.

Little rusty rusten on a straight deity game, so some advice from the Rusten's and My's of the world would be nice. I'm a little uncertain what to go for tech wise. Currency is preferred, but Sal already has it. Maths is placeholder for now, but thinking Justy might offer a trade for it.

Luckily Shaka has not gone fist mode yet, but who knows. Izzy is targeting someone, but not sure where she is at the moment...I assume on the other side of Shaka. I'm thinking it is me, but she will have to travel.

Only religion spread to me is Justy's Hindu - wherever he is, but appears Sal is about to infect me with Islam. Christianity would have been the best option I think, but appears unlikely.

No phants, but Curs are definitely in the cards at some point

edit: Oh..completely forgot about Oracle and forget when it went..i think quite early, but not sure going for it would have been fruitful anyway

ha ..nice emotes there Pangaea..must be external

 

[Fippy]

Nice Lymo, not much time here to play this map so i looked

Spoiler :

Your teching can come from scientists and building research mostly until you recovered a bit, Sal already with currency might help.
Disbanding some warriors if enuf of your Axes and WCs survive the last barb city could make sense. I would put beakers into Currency myself now, trying to get there.

Not much to add hmm, it's mostly managing your plenty cities (and can even settle some more with fish and so).
Calendar will be a huge boost too, but not sure if i would bother with maths now.

Would be surprised if Izzy targets you, probably Brennus or Justi (annoyed, close borders). Islam might become useful, Sal and Brennus on pleased has advantages as neighbors. Shaka does not care much about Reli.

 

[Pangaea]

Turn 22...

Spoiler :

Horse!!



Still alive \o/ and with horse nearby, I may need to settle over there instead of going for gold south. If this was Immortal I could probably have gone for a HA rush. But here...? *gulp*

 

[lymond]

@Pangaea

Spoiler :

always go for the gold!

@My

Spoiler :

yeah...I think putting beakers into Currency now would be good...yeah, Calendar would be huge, but needs Maths for that. Only traded for Alpha, iW, and Sailing. Will avoid the little techs, which is something I learn recently from you in our SG. Maybe Sal will ask me to switch, but maybe I should in a turn or two regardless. Ofc, I can always switch out as needed as Rambo..

Probably a mistake to tech AH myself, but figured pigs would be ready before I could trade for it, and always nice to know where horses are as Egypt. But then, it's not like WC is always great on Deity

 

[Pangaea]

@lymond

Spoiler :

No way! Too much barb trouble, and remembering we're Egypt... War Chariots ain't bad!

You want me to settle there, huh? Nothing wrong with that Wet corn's crap anyway.



Yes, I went for Writing after AH. Oracle at the back of my mind, though I'm pretty sure Isabella will get it any moment, but also figured opening borders early with these nutters might be a decent idea, and get bonuses a little earlier. With War Chariots online (please no more barb trouble north), I may postpone BW until Alpha. City 3 can hopefully get gold. But I'm getting a 2nd worker first. Fog busters in the south are alive for now, but all 3 are badly injured, so a quick 2nd settler could be a waste.

Was going to ask how far you played earlier lymond, but then noticed the save (with date). Don't want to check the spoiler yet.

 

[lymond]

@LargeContiguousLandmass

Spoiler :

Sal appreciates the gift of gold

 

[Pangaea]

Turn 60-ish:

Spoiler :

With this crowd.... LUCKY!!



Unfortunately I see the desktop is partly showing through again - this sometimes happen when I take screenshots, not sure why - but I believe it was Turn 63. Isabella built Stonehenge, so she probably didn't start Oracle (in time). A little later, CoL enabled me to get alpha when Justinian got it, so I've backfilled a little now. People don't want to trade IW yet, but I should get it soon.

Unfortunately Shaka is now plotting, and there is a pretty good chance it's against me

Btw, Sal has been spreading Islam around, so both Shaka and I have adopted it, so should be on good terms with Saladin at least. Shaka, however....