The alternate path to Iron Working

[tjosanhejsan]

First: Feel free to correct any spelling errors, grammatical errors etc. English is not my first language...

Settings used in this guide: emperor, marathon, fractal

Introduction

This guide is relevant mainly for civilizations who have an UU that requires Iron Working. The leaders are:

• Augustus (imperialistic and industrious, need iron)

• Julius Ceasar (imperialistic and organized, need iron)

• Boudica (aggressive and charismatic, need copper or iron)

• Brennus (spiritual and charismatic, need copper or iron)

• Montezuma (aggressive and spiritual, requires no resources)

The idea is to build The Oracle and grab Iron Working as a free tech. The beaker cost for researching Mysticism, Meditation/Polytheism and Priesthood is equal or smaller compared to the cost for researching Iron Working. If you pre-chopping a lot of forests you can finish The Oracle just as soon you discover Priesthood. Hook up iron (if you have to) and start building your army!

Tech path for Augustus and Julius Ceasar

The Romans have Fishing and Mining as starting techs. I recommend this tech path:

1. Bronze Working
2. The Wheel
3. Mysticism (234)
4. Meditation/Polytheism (372/468)
5. Priesthood (279)

If you need food you can choose to research Agriculture before Bronze Working. The numbers inside the parentheses shows the amount of beakers. The beaker cost for the Mysticism-Meditation-Priesthood path is 885 and for the Mysticism-Polytheism-Priesthood path is 981. Since the cost for Iron Working is 936 you can save 51 beakers by adopting this stategy.

Tech path for Boudica, Brennus and Montezuma

All three leaders starts with Hunting and Mysticism. I recommend to research a food tech (Agriculture or Fishing) before you go for The Oracle.

1. Agriculture (or Fishing)
2. Mining
3. Bronze Working
4. The Wheel
5. Meditation/Polytheism (372/468)
6. Priesthood (279)

Now you can save 189/285 beakers compared with the traditional Iron Working path!

Both Boudica and Brennus are charismatic and if you have a lot of forests in your BFC you can also build Stonehedge for the extra happy face. Building both Stonehedge and The Oracle is a gamble and you shouldn't go for it unless the circumstances are very good. If you succeed your Great Prophet will arrive very early. The lack of economic traits makes the Great Prophet very valuable for both Boudica and Brennus.

Meditation or Polytheism?

Meditation is little bit cheaper but I prefer to research Polythesim because it is a prereq to both Monotheism and Literature.

Great Prophet

Should you bulb or settle your first Great Prophet? If you have conquered a holy city you have the possibility to build a shrine. Usually I bulb Theology and use it for trade bait. Especially if you are playing as Brennus or Montezuma you should bulb Theology and use their spiritual trait to switch between Organized Religion and Theocrazy. Just remember to research Meditation/Polytheism and Monotheism before it's time to bulb.

Pros

• Using this strategy you will get both Iron Working and the religious techs

• You deny AI an important wonder, i.e. AI can't grab Metal Casting or Code of Laws from The Oracle

• Your capital starts to generate a Great Prophet

• Code of Laws is just around the corner

Cons

• If you lose the Oracle-race you are in bad shape

• You need some forests for chopping

 

[Udey1]

I don't think you want to waste the oracle wonder for something as cheap as iron working. Why not just research down that line instead of the religious/oracle route in the first place?

Furthermore working a wonder early will hamper your growth. If you plan to war early through Iron working then you want a quick expansion and city growth so you can whip/chop an army quickly.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Skipping early worker techs is a bad idea. IW sooner but fewer prats actually produced is not greatly helpful.

 

[DaveMcW]

51 or 450?

I'll take the hammers.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I'd rather Oracle Code of Laws to build courthouses for after the expansion than use it for Iron Working.

What happens if you don't have any iron? You're gonna feel foolish then. (This happened to me once when I Oracled machinery for Cho-Ko-Nus, then discovered after teching iron working the was no iron nearby.)

 

[tjosanhejsan]

51 or 450?

I'll take the hammers.

It's 51 + mysticism, meditation/polytheism, priesthood vs. 450

 

[Udey1]

It's 51 + mysticism, meditation/polytheism, priesthood vs. 450

Ill take the hammers instead of silly religious techs early on.

 

[tjosanhejsan]

What happens if you don't have any iron? You're gonna feel foolish then. (This happened to me once when I Oracled machinery for Cho-Ko-Nus, then discovered after teching iron working the was no iron nearby.)

The same problem occurs then then you play as Julius Ceasar and go Bronze Working-The Wheel-Iron Working. It's not a good situation but if you are using my way of grabing Iron Working you also have the knowledge of Mysticism, Meditation/Polytheism, Priesthood and just one tech away from cheap courthouses.

 

[Udey1]

yeah but bronze working and the wheel are soo much more essential than mysticism meditation/polytheism. there is no comparison.

 

[tjosanhejsan]

Ill take the hammers instead of silly religious techs early on.

OK, I can understand that. But you are also giving away Code of Laws or Metal Casting to a rival.

 

[Sleepless]

I'm not against using the Oracle for IW if you have a really heavy jungle start. Lots of gems/resources etc. Plus with nowhere else to settle.

My preferred way is still using writing/pot and scientists.

 

[tjosanhejsan]

yeah but bronze working and the wheel are soo much more essential than mysticism meditation/polytheism. there is no comparison.

Have you read the guide? The tech path is

1. Bronze Working
2. The Wheel
3. Mysticism
4. Meditation/Polytheism
5. Priesthood

Agriculture can be researched first if needed

 

[ForGreatJustice]

Does this take into account barbarians? Early defense is what you sacrifice for relying on one let alone two early wonders. I'm not criticizing, I only want clarification on what appears to be a gambit of sorts.

 

[tjosanhejsan]

Does this take into account barbarians? Early defense is what you sacrifice for relying on one let alone two early wonders. I'm not criticizing, I only want clarification on what appears to be a gambit of sorts.

There's a possibility to hook up copper and use Axemen as barb defence. Or use warriors for fogbusting.

 

[michmbk]

Why not tech writing, use oracle for COL and use a couple whipped libraries to fly through IW? The short-term gain you're getting for IW a few turns earlier doesn't offset the long-term losses from the trade value of early COL plus a religion. Or, go alphabet and trade for IW - the AI is bound to research it pretty early on.

I guess this could work in an occasional isolated situation, but AG, AH, Writing are more important in most games, even with a civ who needs IW.

With Rome I'd almost rather just go straight to IW and use my forests to chop praets instead of oracle. The praets will come online sooner under that approach anyway, which is the whole point of this.

 

[UWHabs]

This approach seems similar to an approach like
1. Research Hunting
2. Build 3 scouts
3. Research BW.
4. Pop IW from a hut.

It might work sometimes, but usually it's not the best way.

 

[Ghpstage]

I agree with the general consensus of this thread, which can be summed up as
"whats the point of getting a tech earlier if you have no way to make use of it?"
That is IF you even get it earlier this way.... IW is easy enough to trade for as it is while going for economic techs.

 

[GreenShift84]

If I'm going for Oracle as Monty then COL easily seems the better choice. Having the alters online earlier means much more production for an army, no iron required for jags means no turns lost trying to settle a city/hook up iron. I'll use the time before the AI trades IW to better prepare for the massive upcoming war expenses (getting an early G. Scientist to settle for example). Not too mention that newly conquered cities can also whip alters to keep the war machine rolling longer.

Something like COL or MC is also going to get better tech trades, which is a big deal when warring early to keep on track with the tech pace. Also, the Philo bulb is opened with COL so the next scientist can pick that up.

Unless it's a situation like Sleepless described, I don't see Oracle->IW being the best choice.

 

[David7]

This approach seems similar to an approach like
1. Research Hunting
2. Build 3 scouts
3. Research BW.
4. Pop IW from a hut.

It might work sometimes, but usually it's not the best way.

Popping huts is a strategy now? Why not just turn on random events and try to get tech boosting events?

 

[tjosanhejsan]

Why not tech writing, use oracle for COL and use a couple whipped libraries to fly through IW? The short-term gain you're getting for IW a few turns earlier doesn't offset the long-term losses from the trade value of early COL plus a religion. Or, go alphabet and trade for IW - the AI is bound to research it pretty early on.

I guess this could work in an occasional isolated situation, but AG, AH, Writing are more important in most games, even with a civ who needs IW.

With Rome I'd almost rather just go straight to IW and use my forests to chop praets instead of oracle. The praets will come online sooner under that approach anyway, which is the whole point of this.

This idea is an alternative path for those people who usually tech Bronze Working-The Wheel-Iron Working or similar. Sure, you can tech Writing first and trade for Iron Working later but that's a completely different strategy and it's a little bit off topic. My idea involves an early rush using a strong UU.

I agree with you regarding chopping praets instead of The Oracle. It's a faster way to build an army of praets.