The Emperor Series #02: Washington

[dualmaster]

To Liberalism:

Spoiler :

Tried to bulb Metal Casting and build Colossus, but I hadn't met Louis and he ended up building it shortly after I had spent a bulb on it. Louis ended up wonder whoring and was tech leader this game. He also got the religion from Philosophy 1 turn before I finished it. However, I was first to Music and got the Sistine.

I realized the easiest and fastest way to win was culture. I had 2 religions and 9 cities, so I managed to get 2 cathedrals in each legendary city. After music I beelined Liberalism (with one GS bulb into education) and got it in 1050AD:

Spoiler :

Built the Taj for a free golden age.

Land and Tech:

Spoiler :

Civic switch and turning off research in favor of the culture slider:

Spoiler :

Switched to Pacifism+Caste at the end of this golden age.

To 1755AD Culture:

Spoiler :

Nothing too exciting. Diplo relations remained good....never had to fight a war. Eventually signed a DP with Gilgamesh for added protection. Used 3 golden ages (Taj+non-artist GPs) to starve down cities for GAs. Settled an early GA, bombed 8 more along the way.

Victory Pics:

Spoiler :

Only built warriors.....

 

[jdstacey]

This feels like a long, slow slog in the mud - but still winnable. Played to 1020 AD:

Spoiler :

No other civs on my landmass = difficult to conquer anything. That's easily my weakest type of game.

Qin won Liberalism @1020 AD (I figure I needed 5-6 more turns). He's three techs clear of the field.

Everybody has 10 cities except for Justinian (9) and GK (6).

I did get Pyramids and Sistine, but that's it for wonders. And I only got Sistine b/c a GE popped at an opportune moment. TGL went stupid early (I was still researching Masonry).

 

[TCMIV]

To lib

Spoiler :

Saw the tech pace was slow, so I delayed lib (probably was ready for it around 800ad or shortly after. Self teched paper and education, one bulb in to printing press then finished it. After that I went for gunpowder and traded for engineering just in time to take chemistry from lib.

Spoiler :

At this point I was kinda set on a space victory, I didn't have anything set up for culture and domination when I'm on my own landmass kinda sucks. I'm planning to quickly grab literature to set up some specialized cities, then go for state property and workshop/watermill a bunch of land. Settled one scientist in the cap as well, may have been better to bulb sci meth but I was indecisive. Went to FR so I don't upset Justinian or the Christian block.

Looking back my mistakes are fairly clear: I should have dedicated more cities to getting settlers/workers out earlier. Still one city left to settle and it's past 1100ad, and my workers have been low up until a few turns ago. Hammers and food were both kinda low, but it's no excuse.

Current tech

Spoiler :

Diplo is fine, lots of bonuses with everyone who matters (GK is an idiot of course, backwards and a different religion than everyone).

Also haven't met Louis, even though I can see where he is via map trades. I haven't been able to go through GKs waters for ages

Definitely lots of room for improvement.

 

[vranasm]

Made few turns up to T88 and uploaded it to youtube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsPTyOyCXLk

will probably make some few more TS's this week and then who knows

 

[Gwaja]

Made few turns up to T88 and uploaded it to youtube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsPTyOyCXLk

will probably make some few more TS's this week and then who knows

Ooooh.... Finally! ^_^

I am heading to bed now, but I will be watching this tomorrow with my morning coffee!

 

[Gwaja]

Nice video Vranasm! ^_^

Spoiler :

I am just about past turn 90 myself, so I watched it. ^_^ It would be interesting as to where you go from there. I think I was lucky to grab that fish to the west... makes a great GP farm site!

It looks like the Great Lighthouse would be very beneficial on this map. Planning on going for it?

By the way, you guessed it right about me. ^_^

 

[vranasm]

Spoiler :

that's true that GLH would be on this map absolute killer, the only problem being not starting on coast and relatively early time of this wonder in my game (in other words it's away now ).

turns 88 - 115 on YT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml-QxnCFIx0

I talk about my thoughts about this map on the start a little bit (maybe too much?)

 

[Riflin'Joe]

By the way, you guessed it right about me. ^_^

I wonder what gave him the clue?

 

[Gwaja]

@vranasm,

Spoiler :

The wonders in my game have been going by really fast in my games too. I think Genghis built the Pyramids by 800 BC!! The Great Lighthouse and the Temple of Artemis went by really fast as well. Having them would have made an absolute killer trade route income. I might try again and see if I can snatch one of these, but the non coastal start is indeed a bit problematic, not to mention that the coastal sites aren't exactly hammer friendly.

Off to watch your video now. ^_^

I wonder what gave him the clue?

I have no idea really. I haven't made it that obvious did I? ^_^

 

[vranasm]

@vranasm,

Spoiler :

The wonders in my game have been going by really fast in my games too. I think Genghis built the Pyramids by 800 BC!! The Great Lighthouse and the Temple of Artemis went by really fast as well. Having them would have made an absolute killer trade route income. I might try again and see if I can snatch one of these, but the non coastal start is indeed a bit problematic, not to mention that the coastal sites aren't exactly hammer friendly.

Off to watch your video now. ^_^



I have no idea really. I haven't made it that obvious did I? ^_^

in one of threads you talked with mylene you mentioned it... if i remember correctly and if we still talk about the fact that you should be girl... (sometimes i tend to not understand women especially my wife ehm)

 

[Gwaja]

I talk about my thoughts about this map on the start a little bit (maybe too much?)

Probably very true about this map and the Sitting Bull map not being as popular due to their instant attractiveness towards Culture or Space victory. Domination is indeed a lot more fun! ^_^ But at least for this map, you could play this out like an archipelago map, only that the landmass is a bit bigger. You have an immediate neighbor to the west that is ripe for conquest, even if that AI is a bit problematic with his unit prob being the highest in the game.

I admit that I was being bad and lazy in Sitting Bull game by taking it the easy way, but that's due to the fact that I just don't like Sitting Bull at all, and was hoping that there may be others who might like him more than I do.

At any rate, I promise that the next batch of games will be a lot more interesting!

 

[vranasm]

making galley war with some good troops is not the problem ( I did something like that in the NC French game where we start "isolated", very similar situation)
The problem is maintenance cost, especially colonial cost.

i still have to decide the correct order of techs after Edu. Generally I like mounted warfare, but can make for change cannon's+muskets warfare on galleys, but Communism is very obvious important tech target.

But it's probably correct order to go Lib->Steel (hopefully!) and then get Communism while building troops (more like whipping :-D)

Will see though, as it seems D2D opened Dragon age 2 for me! and maybe I could start play it today...hmmm!

 

[Jester Fool]

but that's due to the fact that I just don't like Sitting Bull at all

Or as I like to call him "Sitting Jackass". However, variety is always nice, but I promise not to cry if you don't feature him again any time soon.

 

[Gwaja]

making galley war with some good troops is not the problem ( I did something like that in the NC French game where we start "isolated", very similar situation)
The problem is maintenance cost, especially colonial cost.

i still have to decide the correct order of techs after Edu. Generally I like mounted warfare, but can make for change cannon's+muskets warfare on galleys, but Communism is very obvious important tech target.

But it's probably correct order to go Lib->Steel (hopefully!) and then get Communism while building troops (more like whipping :-D)

Will see though, as it seems D2D opened Dragon age 2 for me! and maybe I could start play it today...hmmm!

Colonial maintenance cost will be a problem. Given that the landmass we start in is relatively big enough, one could say that there really isn't any initiative to go to war to expand into other continents early, given the maintenance cost problem. Definitely State Property/Communism will have to be a high priority tech.

I think, for this map, I prefer Rifling/Steel route for military, rather than the mounted warfare. I like cavalry war in large landmasses like pangaea simply because it is faster, but I've done it three times in a row, so I am a little bored of doing the same thing over again.

How will you approach with the Guilds --> Banking route? I noticed that on some Emperor games, AI are slow to research those, so waiting for them to get these techs to trade for them delays Rifling too long. On the other hand, that just means you end up spending more turns researching techs on your own, which isn't always desirable.

Or as I like to call him "Sitting Jackass". However, variety is always nice, but I promise not to cry if you don't feature him again any time soon.

Indeed. And variety I will give. ^_^ Things were relatively peaceful in this game and the Sitting Bull game, but that's going to change very fast, very soon in the next few games. ^_^

 

[vranasm]

I can start the war with cannons+muskets...

played 3rd turnset will upload through the night, but I think this game is indeed very interesting. The AI's surprise me with some things and i don't seem to be quick enough as I would have liked.

 

[Gwaja]

Okay, it is time for my report on Turn 100. Actually, it ended up being a perfect stopping point as you will see soon. This is actually my 2nd attempt at this map, because I was not satisfied with my 1st attempt.

Okay, let's get started!

Spoiler :

At the start, I zoomed into the map and saw that to the southwest, there were probably more floodplains around. Since the capital was kinda poor with food, I decided to move the warrior 1SW to reveal a couple of more floodplains. Therefore, I moved the settler 1SW and settled my capital:

Spoiler :

Mining --> Bronze Working were chosen for my next tech path, as I began exploring the land. On turns 11 and 16 respectively, Christianity and Islam were founded in the distant land. And on turn 22 at 3120 BC, I finished Bronze Working and was pleased to find this!

Spoiler :

Copper in the BFC! Awesome. This capital is not that great in food, but it sure does have some good hammer production capacity.

Next research path was set to Mysticism --> Sailing. I wanted to try out for the Great Lighthouse in my 2nd city, so it was vital that I got these techs as early as possible. And soon on turn 39 at 2440 BC, I founded my 2nd city of New York:

Spoiler :

I could have settled this city 1S of where it is, to grab the rice in the 2nd culture ring, but I wanted to grab as many forests as possible to chop out the Great Lighthouse here. I knew that I needed to hurry, because this wonder will go by very fast, most definitely by 800 BC or so.

After Sailing was done, research path was set to Masonry --> Wheel --> Pottery.

A few turns into researching the Wheel on turn 52 at 1920 BC, Confucianism was founded in the distant land. And then a couple of turns after the Wheel was done, I met my first neighbor, located on another landmass west of my small continent:

Spoiler :

I couldn't have asked for a worse neighbor, especially when I am alone on this continent, and his land is probably the only land that will lead me to other AI on this map. Hopefully he will have someone other than me that he will target, but I would have preferred someone less of a warmonger. Oh well...

On the way to Pottery on turn 59 at 1640 BC, the Stonehenge was built somewhere. And then on turn 63 at 1480 BC, shortly after I finished Pottery and started on Animal Husbandry, the Great Wall was built somewhere. The AI on this map are really cranking out some wonders by now!

On turn 68 at 1280 BC, I founded my 3rd city of Boston:

Spoiler :

Settling here made sense in that it had a rice that I can work for food, as well as copper in the 2nd culture ring, as well as some already mined hills that were already in my cultural influence thanks to the culture from the capital. And this site also leads me to my planned site that can grab the stone, which will be helpful in erecting the Pyramids as soon as possible.

Anyways, after Animal Husbandry was done to reduce the cost of Writing, I went for Writing.

In the meantime, New York has been busy preparing to build the Great Lighthouse. I chopped all that I could to put hammers into it, as well as applying some overflow from whipping out buildings like lighthouse, monument, granary, and library. It was rather a careful process with some serious thoughts into micromanaging the hammers, but it was all worth it and paid off in big time!

Spoiler :

A turn later, Oracle was built somewhere.

As Writing was finished and Polytheism was chosen to try for the Temple of Artemis in New York (which I will most likely not get, but fail gold is always welcome), I settled my 4th city of Philadelphia next to the stone, fish, and horses on the far southeast of my continent:

Spoiler :

I used 2 of my workers to road down to this site, as well as chopping out the city tile before I settled the city. The stone tile was already roaded, so I immediately used those 2 workers to hook up the stone ASAP. This sped up the construction of the Pyramids in Washington considerably, along with a few chops and overflows from whipping as usual.

After Polytheism, Alphabet was selected... and a few turns later on turn 95 at 500 BC, the Masjid al-Haram (did I spell this correctly?) was built somewhere. It looks like Islam could be a real force in this map!

Shortly thereafter, I got a visit from my neighbor, and it was just as I expected he would do:

Spoiler :

I will remember to cancel this deal ASAP as soon as the 10 turns expire. But for now, I don't want him plotting war against me so I will give in. He will die for making this threat to me.

On the very same turn, the Church of Nativity was built somewhere. So now the picture kinda looks like as if it is going to be somewhat like the Crusades conflict between Christianity and Islam. Good stuff! I've gotta find the other AI soon!

Anyway, exactly on turn 100 at 375 BC, I finally finished the Pyramids:

Spoiler :

I am happy that I got this, but I am a bit concerned that I chopped out all of the forests around Washington and New York already, which means I won't have any spare to chop out the Great Library. I am not sure if I made the right decision in doing this, but seeing the stone really motivated me to go for it. Besides, I self researched Masonry for Christ's sakes, so why not take full advantage of it? ^_^

Map of the Continent:

South: Still yet to be settled completely, but I made sure to fog bust every single tile that I possibly could to stop any barbarian spawns. Washington probably cranked out a lot of warriors for this, and it paid off. I did not have to face a single barbarian units outside of animals! On the other hand, I probably missed out on the opportunity to get some unit exp, but I will worry about that later.

The sheep/fish city to the southwest, as well as the sheep/fish/whale site are kinda not in an optimal spot, but it is the best place that I can think of to put my cities down.

Spoiler :

North: 2 more proposed city sites. The one southwest of Washington actually will make a great GP farm, as it will have sheep, clams, fish, and rice all in the culture ring after the 1st border pop. The rice will be shared with the city southwest of this place, but it will still have great food production. The best news about this site, as well as the northern fish site is that it will be low on hammer production. At least the northern fish site will be placed on a riverside tile, so it will have fresh water bonus as well as future levee possibility.

Spoiler :

City Overview: It is already 375 BC, and I only have 4 cities, due to putting a lot of hammers into the 2 wonders I have. The research rate has been good though, and I will be cranking out settlers for expanding into more cities very soon. The Temple of Artemis is a long way from completion without marble, so I will most likely lose out on this one very soon.

Spoiler :

The capital: It just finished building the Pyramids this turn. Since I've been working mostly food and hammer tiles to try to squeeze out as many hammers as possible, I didn't start working the 2 scientists from library here. I already have quite a bit of accumulated GP points from the Great Lighthouse at New York, but starting from now, my GP accumulation from Washington should be high enough to ensure that I get a Great Scientist for my first GP.

Spoiler :

New York: This one is just banking hammers into Temple of Artemis, and since I know I will lose out on this, I am not applying any overflows into it. It's also got a library here, but due to the fact that the Great Lighthouse has been giving me Great Merchant points, I would rather not pop my 1st GP from this city.

Spoiler :

So that's my report at Turn 100! Got any comments or questions? Please share them with me!

Save file uploaded at MediaFire HERE.

 

[dualmaster]

@Gwaja

Spoiler :

Prioritize getting a workboat out (I would whip one immediately) to go scout the other continent. To really power up the GLH you need to get foreign intercontinental trade routes. Sign open borders with Ghengis immediately. You will see an instant boost in commerce. You also want to meet as many civs as you can by the time you have alphabet so that you have more trade options.

Scouting with a workboat is probably the most important thing you should be doing right now.

Stop wasting hammers on Artemis. Without marble you're just wasting your time. Get settlers and workers out instead. Emphasize settling your land to get those juicy trade routes going.

Get your scouting done and whip out a few more settlers/workers and you should be looking good.

 

[Gwaja]

@dualmaster,

Spoiler :

I have a workboat out by the way set to explore Genghis' land and beyond. I forgot if I opened borders with Genghis, but I may not have. If not, I should have done that long ago. Actually, never mind. Judging by the city screen shot, it is obvious that I didn't open borders with him, because I am only getting domestic trade routes. What a mistake of rookie proportion!

Perhaps you are right on Temple of Artemis. I have a slight hope that I just might get it, but it is very highly unlikely. At this point, more workers and settlers are high priority as you say, and I will work on just that.

Thanks for the comment! Very much appreciated.

 

[vranasm]

Spoiler :

with GLH you can almost make ICS on this map. Dunno if the Mids will pay back (even with stone it was 250 hammers = 2 settlers)

The hapiness from Rep is questionable since you have land for around 9 cities and Monarchy would be probably better, but running Monarchy with Mids is... well not wise (my own experience ;-)).

But interesting approach for mine comparison ;-).

part 3 of mine play is up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpfgMb6xivQ

 

[Capellan]

Resigned in the early 1800s

Spoiler :

when Gilgamesh turned up with a stack of SAM Inf and Arty. I had Inf, so I could eventually have driven him out, but it would have been a long painful slog and I doubt I could have forced a win after the economic hit.

I'm getting closer to victory on Emperor, though. Looking back, I can see a bunch of stuff I did wrong - especially around city tile improvements.

Looking forward to TES03.