The Earth 18 Project

[Nighthawk419]

Spain - Turn 5

Here’s the ugly “one-tile-away-from-coast” Spanish start. I actually think I can throw a little commerce/GP city on that bottom left tile, theres two food resources in play. Then we can sail across the Mediterranean and settle northwest Africa for our third culture city. If Madrid can pop enough artists to fuel the other two, it could be possible… or am I just an optomist? Typical Euro start – beelining to archery and grabbing another warrior.

Oh a quick bonus – the border expansion popped a hut on the western coast and we got Fishing for free! That’s why Spain leads the scoreboard…

 

[Nighthawk419]

England - Turn 5

I guess London isn’t known for its production capabilities?? Absolutely terrible to start. I went right for the worker off the bat since there’s no immediate threat and we need to get improvements up ASAP. Also no need to rush for archery, so agriculture to start farming, followed by animal husbandry. Looking back I guess I could scout with some of these warriors with the island or isolated starts. Oh well, that’s not a major loss.

 

[Nighthawk419]

Russia - Turn 5

Russia in all its glory . More plains than I was hoping for. Going for archery to defend, and waiting for the pop 2 worker build. These guys are going to be major players and fun for me with all that land to expand into. The scout is headed to Europe but will eventually loop around and start finding me good spots for more and more cities…

 

[Nighthawk419]

Mali - Turn 5

The ultimate in BLECH starts. Not even a resource in the big fat cross. The flood plains with a financial leader and cottaged up will be nice for teching, but absolutely no production here. Since we will most likely be short on an army the whole game, I said screw it and went right for the worker. I’m hoping I am far enough away and in such crappy land that no one else wants to bother with me (probably true). Agriculture was a random choice of worker techs.

 

[Nighthawk419]

Inca - Turn 5

This start isn’t as bad as people make it out to be. Yes lots of mountains so Cuzco will never get huge, but who cares? Its totally isolated and no one will ever bother me. In a single player game, Monty not being able to get to you is always a good thing! I’ll get a settler out quick to throw on the coast up north and find my way around to South America with a herd of chopping workers. Went for fishing quick to work that lake for 3C, and a worker because like I said, no one can touch me!

 

[Nighthawk419]

Aztecs - Turn 5

Ah Monty. A beautiful start with the world as our oyster. Sent the scout up north, got a warrior out within 5 turns and started my barracks for the war mongering. Again I need to get to pop 2 before I start a worker and I’ll want the barracks eventually since this is clearly a production city. Plus my only worry is the USA and barbs, so basically I have no threats

 

[Nighthawk419]

America - Turn 5

Good old US of A, the last of the 18 civs. One has to wonder how long it will take for me to eliminate one of the 18 of myself and which civ it will be. Anyway, I’m beelining for archery since I have warring Monty to deal with, but I can defend with the warrior while I get the workboat out and wait for the pop 2 worker. Monty is far enough away that I have a small window here so I plan on using it. I’m going to scout and settle southwest TOWARDS MONTY so I can eventually have as much land and as many cities as possible before I need to fight him.

 

[The Oz-Man]

Archery so early seems... weird to me. Especially as China, who have horses very close to Beijing. By the time barbs are an issue I usually have a strategic resource, relying on getting Archery through trade (though, without much trade happening here, I can see why you might be inclined to go that way).

How did you get Fishing from a hut as Spain? They start with Fishing.

 

[r_rolo1]

May I suggest to use a image hoster for your pics , like photobucket or imgur? Not only you would be able to post full sized pics in a easier way, you would also not be cluttering your CFC disk space, that I assume it will show small for your needs very soon

 

[Nighthawk419]

Archery so early seems... weird to me. Especially as China, who have horses very close to Beijing. By the time barbs are an issue I usually have a strategic resource, relying on getting Archery through trade (though, without much trade happening here, I can see why you might be inclined to go that way).

How did you get Fishing from a hut as Spain? They start with Fishing.

Thats because you are thinking offensive minded. I love my early archers, they have saved me multiple times in multiplayer games and they last for SO LONG before they are outdated. And yes, tech trading is off (not that it matters since I'm everyone) but normally in multiplayer tech trading is off so as not to create teching blocs.

Also I haven't ever played as China yet on this map so I didn't know there were horses nearby. And really, I don't know animal husbandry yet, so how would I know?

That might be mistake then by me... they definitely got an extra worker tech from the hut. It's a lot to keep track of!

 

[Nighthawk419]

May I suggest to use a image hoster for your pics , like photobucket or imgur? Not only you would be able to post full sized pics in a easier way, you would also not be cluttering your CFC disk space, that I assume it will show small for your needs very soon

Thanks for that, good tip. I'll definitely work on that!

 

[coanda]

Spain - Turn 5

Here’s the ugly “one-tile-away-from-coast” Spanish start. I actually think I can throw a little commerce/GP city on that bottom left tile, theres two food resources in play. Then we can sail across the Mediterranean and settle northwest Africa for our third culture city.

The bottom-left tile is 2 spaces away from Madrid (2S2W). Plan B?

 

[psychodation]

plan B for spain is to chariot- or axe-rush. no other option i can think of with rome in near vicinity.
on second thought: depends what difficulty u r playing. immortal might allow to OCC for some time. given rome behaves. but...

 

[Nighthawk419]

The bottom-left tile is 2 spaces away from Madrid (2S2W). Plan B?

But its 2 away on the diagonal, I didnt think thats a problem? I could be wrong though, in which case we can either expand into northern africa or yeah... go to war for land.

 

[Kid R]

Spain and France might consider a permanent alliance, starting right now!

They have both met Rome whose publicly declared gameplan is to kill everyone eventually. To meet their own gameplan target they must survive, which they clearly will not be able to do with one city each versus a Roman empire of any size. Therefore they must kill Rome before it gets too big to kill

 

[coanda]

But its 2 away on the diagonal, I didnt think thats a problem? I could be wrong though, in which case we can either expand into northern africa or yeah... go to war for land.

Nope, diagonal is still a problem.

If you settle in place on Earth18 as Spain, you've got two peaceful options for a second city - 3E1N, or 3E2N. Both choices are coastal, and both are pretty worthless spots - with Rome 3E1S or 3E2S, and Paris 3N or 4N meaning serious culture crushing right from the start. Both sites grab stone; if 3E2N can fight off Paris' culture it can grab horses too (good luck at that with all the strong tiles Paris gets turning it into a reliable powerhouse city).

You can't get a third city in Europe without going to war, although you can go sailing off with a galley from your second city and settle island cities or cities in North Africa.

Rome and Paris are both better locations than Madrid, both for early production/growth and long-term. With humans controlling them you can't count on simply catching them off-guard, so a rush is just a desperation tactic that shouldn't work (not to say it won't, but it shouldn't).

There's a quartet of European powers all crowded together (Spain, France, Rome, Germany) of which you're in the weakest position. Try to negotiate an alliance with one of the others to 2v1 the other two civs one after another, with the agreement that you pick up at least one of the capitals out of it. And hope nobody dogpiles you, and that England and Greece stay out of it until you're ready.