The Nickzilla AAR!

[Nickzilla]

ROUND 1
ROUND 2
ROUND 2.5
ROUND 3.0
ROUND 3.5
ROUND 3 POSTGAME
ROUND 4.0
ROUND 4.2
ROUND 4.3
ROUND 4 POSTGAME
ROUND 5
FINAL ROUND PART 1
FINAL ROUND PART 2
POSTGAME

Hi all.

I'm going to use this thread to post the details of a game I'm just about to start. There are an abundance of after action report threads on this board, but I've always loved reading them and wanted to have a go at writing one.

So, to make it interesting, I must be doing something new right? Maybe winning without building any soldiers? How about only researching military techs and nothing else? A 7 vs 1 immortal difficulty one city challenge with raging barbs? Right?

No. Those would be silly. No, I'm just going to be boring and play normal settings I'm afraid. It should for all intents and purposes be 'just another AAR'.

So what's the point in doing this if we've seen it all before? I have a few reasons.

1) I'm going to be playing on noble difficulty, and by myself, I only remember winning one game on noble and that was a diplomatic win. I've never gotten a conquest win. I want to get a conquest win.

2) If I win, any players below noble level may be able to pick up a few tips.

3) Some people like reading lots of AARs. (me)

4) I might be able to pick up some advice on my game as we go.

And I just like writing! So let's get cracking.

*EDIT*
images aren't working atm. Can't figure out why. So far, so good!

*EDIT2*
images now work. Photobucket is your friend. Imageshack is the enemy.

*FINAL EDIT*

Added an ugly table of contents at the top for easy navigation.

Spoiler :

Firstly, the map I'm picking is Terra. Terra is my absolute favourite map, and has been ever since I started playing civilization. I find the tactical opportunities the new world present make it a little more interesting than most other maps. Although it rarely turns a game on its head, it's still fun to race and fight for this rich continent.

Spoiler :

Since this game may seem a little dull, I decided to randomize everything except for the size of the map. I will be randomizing my civ too, despite an overwhelming desire to play as my avatarsake.

Spoiler :

pleasebechurchill, pleasebechurchill, pleasebechurchill

Spoiler :

A quick confirmation of my settings. I'm playing on normal speed, but I think epic serves conquest wins a little better I should be ok here though hopefully.

Hey, look who I got!

Spoiler :

She's no Churchill, but I'll scrape by somehow.

I'm glad I got somebody with the AGG trait, it should be quite helpful. CHA isn't a bad trait either, I suppose. Starting with mysticism and getting a happy face from monuments tells me I should consider building Stonehenge at some point. Expansion and conquest take priority naturally, but it's almost certainly something to keep in mind.

The Celts get the dun and the Gallic warrior as their unique building and unique unit respectfully. I have no experience with either. The dun doesn't look bad upon initial examination:

Spoiler :

It's just a wall that gives a free promotion really. I can't really argue with a free promotion, but I can't see guerrilla I being terribly useful. Since my Unique unit is a swordsman, I may have to do a lot of fighting in the early stages of the game, where hammers are too precious to use building walls. I'm going to write it off for the early game, but maybe the dun will see some use in medieval times. (dun dun dun)

Spoiler :

ugh. Maybe I won't be doing most of my fighting in the early game. This guy isn't exactly going to carry me to victory, and iron working doesn't grow on trees. Maybe I can get some use out of him if I find a really hilly place to attack. Don't hold your breath though.

Okay, time for a look at my start. Since I clicked on "Play Now!" I don't know how many AIs I'm facing and what settings are enabled. I haven't 'played now' for far too long. I guess we'll find out as we go won't we?

Spoiler :

Um, ok.

Looking at this start, I feel blessed. We have four food sources and three hills. This should be good for some early military action. Being on the coast is a mixed blessing IMO. It allows me access to all those awesome clams, but those coast tiles won't be very useful in the late game. If I snatched The Great Lighthouse and The Colossus and then made Moai Statues in the city, it'd be a city you could take home to meet your parents. However, since I'll probably be more of a destroyer than a builder, this will be a city that I'd boast to my friends about but never fully commit to.

Part of me wants to settle one space to the left. That'd allow me more hills with access to the same amount of food. However, that'd cost me a precious turn, and I think I'll be fine settling in place anyway.

With my settings picked and game started, it is time to finish the first round. But don't fret! I'll play the next round over the next two hours, so you won't have to go very long without hearing my voice.

If you have any comments, be sure to reply! Thanks!

 

[tycoonist]

try using photobucket or imageshack

 

[Nickzilla]

Thanks. It all works now, and I blame imageshack entirely.

 

[BakingTheArt]

Cha isn't a bad trait compared to aggressive? Oh, that's the understatement of the century. Charasmatic is one of the best traits in the game. Sure, no cheap buildings, but it more than makes up for it. After just one war, you get an army of veterans that will kill everything until the very end of the game. Your cities will be much bigger in the BC era, which inflates your tech rate, giving you an advantage that'll last all game.

Why do you like Churchhill so much? Just curious, as Pro is considered one of the weakest traits, and has no real synergy with Cha (Army of... veteran archers? What would you use that for?)

Anyway, I see no reason to not settle in place. Plenty of grassland, tons of food, decent production, seems like a great GP farm (Do you specialize your cities? That was the way I ended up winning consistently on Noble and, eventually, prince). More importantly, though, is where you are in the map - it looks like Tundra to the north and desert to the west. This will mean you are in the thin ring of grassland between the poles and the northern desert. This'll limit your expansion in the early game to a handful of good grassland/floodplains cities, and horrible junk desert/tundra cities. You'll want to rush a neighbor ASAP with axes.

The Gaelic Warriors aren't very bad - if you don't end up with iron, you still get a full strength swordsman, unlike the Jaguar, who only has 5 Strength and are eaten alive by everything. I'd suggest a early war with either these or axes, especially because Terra maps are crowded to hell.

 

[Nickzilla]

Let's get this party started.

Starting with mysticism and hunting is a bit of a pain here. Mysticism gives me the option of going for a religion if I should desire to and hunting at least gives me a scout to start with, but I can't take advantage of any tiles at all in my city radius with those two techs.

I'm thinking of starting with fishing, so I can get all those clams worked. Then I'll go for bronze working so I can enable slavery and whip away all those extra points of population I'll get from the clams. I want this city to be spewing out things ASAP, and I think that is the tech path to do it with.

In terms of build order, I think I'll go for a scout, work boat and then settler. I think it's important to find good city spots quickly, and a scout is probably better than a warrior for this. I'll probably just build archers for protection later. I'm sure I'll have nothing to worry about from barbarians! </famous last words>

So, in the awesome year of 4000BC, Bibracte is founded.

Spoiler :

She isn't much to look at now, but in a while she won't be either. So get used to it.

3760 BC

We discover fishing!

Spoiler :

Give a man a fish and he can eat for a day. Give Boudica a fish, and she'll probably whack you with it until you're dead. We also get some gold from some groovy natives. 90 gold isn't jaw dropping, but it should help to keep my cities going while I'm expanding and killing stuff. I start on mining to get through to bronze working.

3640 BC

A little south of me, I meet my first rival, the always lovable Chairman Mao!

Spoiler :

... is he looking at my boobs?

Since Mao is so close, he may be a good candidate to expand towards and kill quickly. The fact that he usually performs well in my games makes him extra doomed. If his capital is kind of hilly, he may as well kill himself now!

3600 BC

I push out the second scout and send him west. I then begin work on my work boat. I decide to stagnate my capital to get the extra production needed for the boat. My logic behind this is that the capital will grow faster and get access to the high production tiles quicker if I get the clams worked than it would if I were to work the 2 1 tiles.

Spoiler :

Not sure if this is the best idea. I'll probably find out the hard way if it isn't.

3560 BC

Somebody founds Hinduism! This seems quite fast, and worries me slightly. Big religious cultural monsters are quite hard to topple if they expand super fast. Hopefully, if I rush China well I'll have enough land to compete with this obvious civ monster.

3520 BC

I find another rival!

Spoiler :

At least he isn't looking at my boobs.

I find the fact that we all seem squished in together here quite interesting. I despise early wars, usually waiting until engineering or something comes along before waging them, but if my opponents are all right next to each other, I may be able to do some early warfare. Incidentally, we're on a high sea level here, so maybe land is limited.

I think I'll send my scout in the direction pointy hat came from. I hate both of these guys, so I may just count the tiles between them and my nearest potential city when deciding which one to invade.

3440 BC

Buddhism is founded in a distant land. We must have a lot of religious nuts here. I also find barbarian WARRIORS (not animals!) standing around in a forest! I'm not sure if this has ever happened to me before, and I think my scout is going to get bludgeoned. I'm glad that I got another one, but worry about the defence of my city. I'll be starting on my warrior soon, so hopefully they can restrain themselves long enough for me to actually have a chance here.

3400 BC

Hey, look everyone. It's Pacal!

Spoiler :

...with his eyes glued to my knockers! You would think founding Hinduism would teach him some restraint.

My scouts killed the warrior unit I found standing in the forest. I gave them a strength promotion so I'll hopefully have an early doctor unit running around with my Gallic warriors.

3040 BC

I finish bronze working and make a start on iron working. I've decided to rethink my strategy in regards to the Gallic warrior, and I'm going to give him a go, since this map is so tiny thanks to the high sea level. My work boat finished a few turns ago, so I put it straight onto the clams. I pushed out a warrior too, but my settler is going to take forever to come out. I hope I manage to find some iron.

I also meet Asoka over to the east!

Spoiler :

Maybe it's all in my head, but I think he fancies me too. Surprisingly he didn't found Buddhism, so there must be one more religious nut left. It's already too crowded here!

2640 BC

Great.

Spoiler :

Normally I'd let the stupid forest burn down, but I might need to chop it later, so I replant it.

Straight afterwards, a scout finds 102 gold in a hut. Maybe the game doesn't hate me after all!

2520 BC

Spoiler :

My settler finishes after what seems like forever. Maybe it's because I'm stopping to type every other turn, but this game seems to be going really slowly with me doing really badly.

Anyway. I have a good idea of where to put him.

Spoiler :

X marks the spot of the potential city. It has food and enough production to hopefully cough up some interesting units to send to Mao. Iron working will be ready soon, so hopefully I can found a city on some iron or maybe find some near my capital.

I'm calling it a session now. I'll provide a save if anybody fancies picking around and giving me some advice on what to do. (I suddenly feel useless after playing like a god recently).

But for now, here's the known world in 2520 BC.

Spoiler :

I'm yet to actually see any cities, but we can see the blob of pink and the blob of green symbolizing Mao and Saladin quite near to me. Even if I can't find any iron, there's a rubbish spot with some copper in the northeast that I could use to get some axes if need be. However, focusing on military in the past too much has broken the back of my games, so I might found some economy cities first.

Anyway, here's the save. It'd be cool to come back after work tomorrow and see some suggestions, but I'm happy to just stumble along without any advice too.

Happy civving all!

 

[Nickzilla]

Cha isn't a bad trait compared to aggressive? Oh, that's the understatement of the century. Charasmatic is one of the best traits in the game. Sure, no cheap buildings, but it more than makes up for it. After just one war, you get an army of veterans that will kill everything until the very end of the game. Your cities will be much bigger in the BC era, which inflates your tech rate, giving you an advantage that'll last all game.

Why do you like Churchhill so much? Just curious, as Pro is considered one of the weakest traits, and has no real synergy with Cha (Army of... veteran archers? What would you use that for?)

Anyway, I see no reason to not settle in place. Plenty of grassland, tons of food, decent production, seems like a great GP farm (Do you specialize your cities? That was the way I ended up winning consistently on Noble and, eventually, prince). More importantly, though, is where you are in the map - it looks like Tundra to the north and desert to the west. This will mean you are in the thin ring of grassland between the poles and the northern desert. This'll limit your expansion in the early game to a handful of good grassland/floodplains cities, and horrible junk desert/tundra cities. You'll want to rush a neighbor ASAP with axes.

The Gaelic Warriors aren't very bad - if you don't end up with iron, you still get a full strength swordsman, unlike the Jaguar, who only has 5 Strength and are eaten alive by everything. I'd suggest a early war with either these or axes, especially because Terra maps are crowded to hell.

As you can see from my previous post, you're right about almost everything.

As for being a Churchill fanboy, I like him mainly for redcoats. They're beastly as they are, but with two free promotions (one to help kill things in cities and one to lock the cities down) they're even harder. Plus they get promoted faster thanks to the CHA trait.

But it's mainly because I've had the most experience with him.

Anyhow, the first round is up and I have mostly the same ideas as you. Axe rushing a neighbour (Mao in this case) is my best bet, so I think I'll make my new settler sleep for a few rounds until iron working is finished in case there's a good place with iron. It's probably inefficient at this early stage, but hopefully I can pull through despite my dithering.

 

[Cashew]

Oh my god you didn't settle the plains hill... What is wrong with you... *facepalm*

 

[PieceOfMind]

Why do you like Churchhill so much? Just curious, as Pro is considered one of the weakest traits, and has no real synergy with Cha (Army of... veteran archers? What would you use that for?)

Oh come on, that's a low blow trouble: for assuming PRO players build armies of archers ). An army of veteran longbows, crossbows and later rifles is nothing to ignore (mixed in with a balanced army of mounted/siege/melee of course).

Even CR3 redcoats (minus the D1/CG1) are worth mentioning, available after only 8xp on earlier city attack units.

If you think there is no synergy between PRO and CHA you're not looking very hard. I'm not saying he's the greatest leader however.


As for CHA, remember the OP is playing at Noble. CHA definitely has less utility for happiness at Noble because the default happy cap is already pretty high and you can easily reach HR before it becomes an issue. At Noble AGG probably almost is better for this game than CHA.

 

[BakingTheArt]

Oh my god you didn't settle the plains hill... What is wrong with you... *facepalm*

You get an extra free hammer, but exchange great grassland tiles for desert hills. This city will become the GP farm, might as well have some decent GP farm tiles.

As for Churchill, I forgot Noble raised the happy cap. Sorry. Veteran Redcoats are nothing to sneeze at, I know. I'd just rather use a leader whose sole purpose is not veteran units. That's just what I'd prefer. Besides, if you get CRIII Redcoats, they'd have to be upgraded from melee units, which destroys the Pro bonus.

Regardless of happy cap, though, Cha is my favorite trait. Cities with two extra pop (Regardless of where that two pop takes you) is an amazing bonus in my book.

 

[batavier]

I would have settled one north. you can see that you only give up 4 ocean tiles and 1 coast tile. Only the coast tile isn't completely worthless, so if there is even a single non tundra tile going 1 north must be better. Even before moving the scout you can see that there is one lakeside grassland and likely some good riverside tiles that you will gain.
you waste one turn and one forest, but you'll get more forest to chop later and you might get more resources later (the furs are now in the third ring). you can also use the sheep tile right away for bigger growth when building a scout/warrior and then a boat.

 

[KingMorgan]

I'd be inclined to grow my capital to at least size 4 before spitting out a settler, on noble i would expect to grow to the happy cap before settlers, especially with seafood.

 

[Nickzilla]

Round 2 2400BC-175BC

In this round, we meet the last of my rivals and change our minds about declaring war on Mao about three times. I gain some cities and pay about 1,000,000 wealth out to replant burnt down forests. Seriously.

2400 BC

Firstly, Pacal comes looking to open borders with the Celtic Empire.

Spoiler :

I tell him to run along for a few reasons. A)I have no idea where he is at present, and therefore, cannot explore his territory. If he's asking for open borders, he can almost certainly explore mine right now. and B)We aren't linked up and so cannot trade. The only benefit opening borders would have at the moment would be to gain a minute diplomatic bonus in a few turns and to be able to explore his territory when/if I find it anytime soon. I think I'll just use spies or buy world maps when the time comes to scout out Pacal for attack.

Also, my two scouts are jumped by vicious wolves! But worry not, the beasts were swiftly pwned, and I managed to promote my earlier warrior-killing scout with Medic I, making him my official mediscout. An early attack looks very likely now I have an appointed healer.

One last thing:

Spoiler :

Where's Smokey the bear when you need him? In this game, probably killing scouts.

2320 BC

The city of Vienne is founded.

Spoiler :

With two gold, two oases and a food source, I just had to grab this one. My empire is seriously lacking in financial oomph at the moment, so those gold mines will be helpful to both work and to sell the excess gold to the AI. Plus I didn't want smelly Saladin getting it.

2280 BC

ooh.

Spoiler :

OOH!

Spoiler :

OOOOH!!!!

Spoiler :

As we can see, there are only two spots with iron. None of them are *amazing* as such, but the one below Bibracte looks good enough. You can't see in the screen, but it has a source of pig nearby and a few green tiles for cottages to go on. It will also stop Mao getting any iron, which will be... quite unimportant to my success since he has a copper mine southwest of Beijing.

But hey, it's one less thing for him and one more for me! Score one for the go- not quite as evil guys!

Animal Husbandry comes next on research. I need to get all my tiles worked.

2240 BC

Two things this turn. One, I adopt slavery. Two:

Spoiler :

THE VEDIC ARYANS ARE COMING!!! Not for me luckily, but I have no idea who they are here for.

With luck, nobody will be wiped out by these guys. That seems like an odd thing to say since every AI on this map will have to be wiped out if I want to win via conquest, but the civ to expand into a wiped out civs former territory will become very powerful indeed.

...

...on second thoughts, could you guys wipe out Mao and Saladin please?

2080 BC

The useless VA's don't seem to wipe anybody out, or even take any cities. I'd laugh if they spawned on a one tile island or something dumb like that.

Anyway, I met another rival!

Spoiler :

Now this guy is already incredibly ugly, but this picture is very unflattering. Don't worry Suryvaraman, your death shall be swift.

1960 BC

Toynbee is the bearer of bad news!

Spoiler :

For some reason, I find that "Nickzilla the Puny" has a bit of a ring to it. If I lose this game, I'll take it on as my new name.

But seriously, Mao being at the top worries me. Let's hope that old saying about bigger opponents rings true. (not the bigger they are the harder they hit you dummy, the other one!)

Somebody built Stonehenge this year as well. I knew the chances of me getting it were slim. Ah well, I can just steal it later.

1800BC

I discover animal husbandry and find a source of hource (couldn't resist, sorry) near Bibracte. It's nice, but doesn't change very much.

Next turn, I whip a settler and tell him to sprint for the iron spot just south of Bibracte. The Chinese have set up a city near there, but I doubt their borders will pop to deny me access. That'd just be... cruel.

Bibracte starts on a barracks to get some veteran troopers out. I start on archery since I believe barbarians will begin to attack me soon.

1640 BC

Archery is done. At this stage, the attack on Mao has no hope of being a rush, and doesn't seem to have much of a chance of success. I consider putting it off until construction as I usually do, but stick to my guns. I start researching sailing to get the iron south of Bibracte to my capital ASAP. I actually start researching the tech before I even found the city. Let nobody say I don't plan ahead.

1480 BC

Tolosa is founded.

Spoiler :

Seeing the empty space to my west and east which I can expand into peacefully makes me put off the attack on Mao for longer still. If I can build cities to stunt his growth, he should become quite pathetic over the years and will be easily defeated.

On this turn, I meet who I hope to be my last rival, the ultra-cool Mr Roosevelt:

Spoiler :

ha! Pity about the picture. I swear I don't do it on purpose.

Anyway, sorry about what you've got coming to you Franklin.

1440BC

My capital and Tolosa are officially connected! Two turns before sailing has finished and with only one road tile as well! I think it's because the two cities are on a lake rather than a proper ocean or coast, but it's still a bit of a mystery.

Spoiler :

I wish I caught the popup boasting about the cities being connected, since in this shot it really doesn't seem as though they are. I did get the popup this turn though, so can anybody explain how the two cities are connected? (the road is built where the workers are standing, btw.)

1360 BC

Thanks to my miracle capital > Tolosa connection, the sailing tech is now redundant. I let it finish this turn anyway and now I'm not going up the early war path, I start on agriculture which is to be followed by pottery. I need to get all my tiles worked.

1320 BC

SERIOUSLY, THIS IS GETTING OLD NOW!!!

Spoiler :

1200 BC

Agriculture finishes and Suryvaraman wants open borders. I'm not signing open borders with anybody until I'm well expanded. I don't want settlers weaseling their way past my borders stealing city spots.

1040 BC

I finish pottery. Changing my strategy too many times has hurt my game here I think, as I have very little to show for all the time I've spent on this game. However, I don't think I'm too far behind. I begin writing with hopes of getting alphabet and doing some serious tech trading.

700 BC

A lot of turns go by with no action. I whip another settler in Bibracte and build a Gallic warrior in Tolosa to take some barbarian cities that are springing up near me on the east coast.

575 BC

Gergovia is founded.

Spoiler :

This city is mainly there to grab the wine, corn and silk. With so many plains tiles, it won't ever be very useful I think.

525 BC

I get alphabet!

Spoiler :

Time for some serious tech trading everybody! Prepare for LOTS of screens with me cutting some amazing deals!!!

Spoiler :

...

How best to sum up my feelings at the moment?

Spoiler :

Sigh. At least I can... build... spies? I take metal casting since it's expensive and I'll hopefully be able to trade it for backfill techs. Forges will almost certainly be useful too since I need hammers and they can double the oomph of my gold resources.

 

[Nickzilla]

*EDIT*
Round had to be cut in nearly half thanks to the image limit on this forum.

450 BC

The small barbarian city of Gepid is taken by my Gallic warrior...

Spoiler :

and razed, since there's a slightly better but still rubbish spot just north of it. Bibracte becomes a Gallic warrior factory at this point, and I decide the attack on Mao is back on since I can build Gallic warriors so fast. How many times have I changed my mind now? Is anybody keeping score at home?

275 BC

Meanwhile, I capture the barbarian city of Saxon!

Spoiler :

I decide to keep this one, in the hopes of keeping nosy Pacal away from this area.

175 BC

On this turn, I give serious thought to declaring war on Chairman Mao.

I've been building up troops on his border for a while now (which is probably dumb, since I think they mirror you if they can see where you're attacking from, yet I still keep doing it anyway out of habit) and he's been building up troops in the city nearest my forces. For some reason, he only has basic archers even though he has copper very near to Beijing. If he stays dumb enough to not claim the copper, I like my chances against him.

However, said archers are locked into the city tightly now and Mao keeps whipping more out. Here's a look at their garrison:

Spoiler :

Note my men standing outside and those en route. The guys from Bibracte take an eye-watering 8 turns to arrive. It's why I hate early warfare.

The garrison isn't enormous, but I couldn't beat them with what I have ready at that border right now. My idea is to use a few warriors to starve the city out by sitting on any food tiles and also to sit on any tiles with hammers so they can't build anything. I'll also get somebody to cut the road from Beijing so reinforcements can't float into the city in two turns when mine take 8 to arrive. (I'm working on a road, but that's going to be a while.) The chances of the weakling archers busting out of the city are slim. It'd take two of them to bring down a Gallic warrior, and if I position them correctly, they can cover each other anyway.

I will also send a warrior ahead to scout out Beijing. I suspect Mao has the majority of his men stationed in Shanghai at the moment and I might be able to fluke a Beijing capture. If not, I'll just sit in the hills and obstruct reinforcements.

Spoiler :

As we can see, a quick look at the power graph shows that I'm way ahead of Mao at the moment, so perhaps the bulk of his men are in Shanghai. Perhaps I'm accidentally using a tactic here!

Also note how weedy Mao's Hindu friend Pacal is. Maybe he got attacked by that barbarian uprising earlier?

Spoiler :

With all this in mind, I decide to declare.

So, now I've gone to war with Mao, does anybody think I'll actually win? You as well as I, will find out tomorrow. But for now, here are some screens.

Firstly, the Celtic empire, and the world as we know it.

Spoiler :

Now my cities. Starting with Bibracte:

Spoiler :

Vienne: (with freshly whipped granary)

Spoiler :

Tolosa: (not sure why I made a lighthouse here, just me being a noob I suspect)

Spoiler :

Gergovia:

Spoiler :

and finally, little Saxon.

Spoiler :

In summary, this round was okay, but I feel as though I deserve to lose this game. It's obvious to me now why I've never won a conquest by myself on noble. I think I could do it if I was playing as one of my normal civs, but randomizing makes it really challenging. Also, writing as you go seems to make the game harder too. My micromanagement has been all over the place!

Whether I win or lose this game and whether people like or find this AAR boring, I'm going to do one more at least, and this new one will have a gimmick. I want to find somebody who has NEVER played higher than noble before, but feels ready to move to the next level to play a game similar to this with me on prince (is it prince?) online. It'd be even better if this person wanted to write an AAR too so we can write impressions of how the other is doing and what our perspective on the current situation is and etc.

Well, I find it an interesting idea anyway. Leave a reply if you fancy it.

Next round will be up tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

 

[Ai Shizuka]

War vs Mao was a mistake, I think. You have a lot of room to expand into, before declaring war. Your W coast is still open and Saladin will settle behind you while you are fighting Mao.
Your E coast is open to Mao and Pacal.

You could have blocked your part of the continent with just a couple cities. North is garbage, but probably there are some nice resources up there.

You are not ready to attack Mao anyway. You are looking at a hill city defended by FIVE protective archers (plus a couple more he'll whip); I'd bring at least 12-14 CR swords. Tolosa's position is very vulnerable and you have a lone warrior there. I think you are attacking at the worst possible moment. Imo, vs PRO civs, rush early or wait for catapults.

 

[CreeDakota]

Is your worker count low? You need to connect you gold around and connect your citeis for trade routes.

Why do all you cities have barracks? Not needed everywhere, especially not as first build. That should either be monument or granary.

Since you have attacked China, you have made an enemy of the Hindu Block. I recomend opening borders with Saladin, Sury, Roosevelt. You need open borders for Diplo+ and to have religion spread to you.

Get that last city between capital and Saxon, has fish and rice I think, Before Pacal Cuts Saxon off from Trade and reinforcements.

 

[JBossch]

You need WAY more workers. As far as I can tell you didnt build a single one during your first session. Your settler could have been chopped out so quickly (along with more WBs) instead of slow-building it.

 

[Nickzilla]

You're right. I don't know why, but I thought I'd save the trees so I could chop other things, but now I can't think of anything else I really need to chop.

Thanks for all your suggestions everybody. I'm going to take a good long look at this game and make some proper plans and also take briefer notes so writing as I go doesn't split my concentration as much.

Hopefully next round will be more to everybody's taste.

 

[BakingTheArt]

Like everyone else said - if you don't have workers, you will lose the game. Simple fact of life.

To the people saying it was a bad idea to try to rush Mao, You have to remember, this is a Terra game. If he Mao didn't get kilt, Nick would soon run out of room to expand, and have to declare war later, when Mao is stronger. Which would be bad.

The AI doesn't respond to forces building at the border. It's too dumb for that. It just instinctively puts more troops in the border cities. Which isn't that dumb, all things considered.

You could've waited just a tad longer to attack. As of the DoW, your Stack of Doom was made up of three gallic warriors and a medic scout. Which is more of a Stack of Suck. Or of Laughter. Your choice. Usually you'd want to mass your forces until you have most, if not all, the troops to carry you full a successful invasion. You could've waited the extra two turns to have all of your forces in one place, as opposed to scattered around your empire.

The hindu Bloc doesn't matter at the moment. As of now, it consists of Pacal, who would be a good target in the days ahead, and Mao, who I think we knew we'd piss him off. Unless Pacal does some serious spreading of that religion, it's unlikely to change either.

 

[Nickzilla]

ROUND 3.0 125 BC - 820 AD

So far in this game, my cities have been undeveloped and unconnected, my research has been random at best and my military planning has been amateurish with me invading Mao at "the worst possible time" with a "stack of laughter".

Can I pull victory back from the jaws of defeat? Let's see.

125 BC

Firstly, I finish Metal Casting.

Spoiler :

I took this tech so I could build forges and because I thought it would be a popular tech to trade to others. It wasn't. But I can still build forges, and begin to do so in any city big enough to finish them within my lifetime.

I start on masonry in order to get maths and construction. Yes, I decided I do need catapults now.

I also move my men past the city of Shanghai. Not even I'd be dumb enough to attack that. They thrust deeper into Mao's territory hoping to snatch Beijing or perhaps a smaller undefended city. Any stragglers pillage Mao's tiles, kill any vulnerable soldiers and generally make a nuisance of themselves.

Incidentally, I figure out why Mao hasn't been able to use anything better than archers up until now...

Spoiler :

Sneaky old Saladin has nicked his copper! I'm not complaining.

75 BC

I spot Beijing. Sadly it isn't a pushover, and my stack of laughter has to move on to smaller things.

Spoiler :

Bah.

50 BC

Pacal comes to me with this dire trade.

Spoiler :

I consider taking it to hopefully boost relations and keep him off my back. But then I realized that I'm a total wuss and told him to sod off.

1 AD

We ring in the ADs by spotting another Chinese city.

Spoiler :

Still too big for my stack of laughter. My men move on and report giggling sounds coming from the city behind them. Curious.

125 AD

We spot what I believe to be the last Chinese city, Xian. I decide that if I can't take this one, I'll go for peace since Mao is willing. I've beaten him in plenty of small skirmishes, so I technically have the upper hand.

Spoiler :

The city looks nice, and is lightly defended. Time to have a go at it!

My first guy wins at 25% odds! My second guy dies but the third guy takes the city! woo!

Like a dummy, I didn't take a screen, but I make peace as soon as I've taken the city.

Spoiler :

If you didn't notice earlier, this city is important because it links him up with Pacal, and has access to copper. In theory, Mao is now dead in the water, since there's nothing he can build that I can't absolutely murder with my superior units.


150 AD

I didn't mention it earlier, but I founded a city called Camulodunum earlier, but forgot to put it in my notes or take a screen. This is what happens to naughty AAR writers who forget to write things down:

Spoiler :

He spawned two tiles away from the city one turn after it was founded and razed it.

Anybody know any other good ways to waste hammers?

200 AD

Asoka offers me a cool trade, and also notices a kitty stuck in a nearby tree.

Spoiler :

Damn, if I was a kitty, I'd happily jump into those open arms to safety.

I don't take the deal yet, but change my mind and take it in 375 AD.

225 AD

The city of Saxon almost falls to the same barbarian spearman who razed Camulodunum earlier. I whip an archer out just in time to stop him though.

475 AD

Camulodonum is re founded as Verlamion.

Spoiler :

This time stay up!

I take this trade from Mr. Ugly:

Spoiler :

It's good that I've started trading now. It may get me back in the tech race, plus I can't afford to do my own research. My economy is crashing with no courthouses and hardly any cottages. (you may notice that I took a detour on construction to get Code of Laws since courthouses have officially become critical)

500 AD

Stupid Mao demands priesthood.

Spoiler :

This is an even crappier idea than the great leap forward. Denied.

520 AD

Intelligent Pacal demands meditation.

Spoiler :

This is an even better idea than the... (did the Maya's have any leaps?) Accepted.

Mao and Pacal are pussycats at the moment, but Pacal would give me a serious headache if he invaded thanks to the distance the Maya border cities are from my production centres. Mao would give me a serious nothing ache if he invaded because he sucks. Plus meditation is a tiny tech which I didn't even research, so it doesn't matter very much if I give it away.

620 AD

Sleepy Asoka wants open borders:

Spoiler :

I accept this time, for four reasons.

1) I have a scout near his territory, so I can actually explore it.
2) I will soon have a few spare resources to sell, so I want to link up with him in case he's a potential buyer
3) The Indian trade routes will help with my dire financial situation
4) It may improve relations with somebody who could become my main trading partner.

Hopefully none of the AIs will get mad at me for trading with him.

640 AD

Annoyingly, the scout in Asoka's territory was killed by barbarians based in a city(!!!) near Asoka's borders. Reason 1 for opening borders is now irrelevant, but the other 3 are still good.

Spoiler :

I realize that I'm falling seriously behind in tech. If I fall too far, I can kiss goodbye to winning this game. I assign some scientists in Bibracte to improve the situation and hopefully get a great scientist to lightbulb something cool to trade.

740 AD

I finally finish Code of Laws. I begin courthouses in all cities big enough to build them except for my capital. I begin on construction.

I do the following tech trades:

Calender (packaged and sold silk) for Code of Laws with Suryavarman II

Currency (markets, extra trade routes, ability to sell things) for Code of Laws and Monotheism with Roosevelt.

Two techs that will help a lot with the current Celtic credit crunch.

760 AD

Using the newfound secrets of currency, I sell Monarchy to Roosevelt for 220 gold.

Spoiler :

This will help me run higher science for a while. Awesome.

780 AD

I sign open borders with Suryvarman. He's the biggest dog in the fight at the moment, and therefore has the juiciest trade routes. I'm also going to infuriate him by invading his hindu brothers sooner or later, so it's important that I butter him up a little.

I also give thought to invading my neighbour Saladin.

He's the current tech leader and I think he needs to be stopped while somebody can still stop him. Plus if he's tech leader, that makes his land very fertile and it will benefit me no end. He's more powerful than me at the moment, but that doesn't mean too much. Since I sort of funneled him up my west coast, I can cut the supply line to one or two of his cities by taking Medina and then I can make my way down to his capital.

I have no idea why I didn't provide a screen with this tactical analysis. You can hopefully see what I mean when I show you the world as we know it at the end of the round.

Finally, I found the tiny city of Durnovaria!

Spoiler :

I might try to build Moai Statues here so it's at least slightly useful.

820 AD

Spoiler :

Stop calling me puny!!!

When I'm not being insulted, I'm selling Code of Laws to the rather intense looking Pacal for the generous sum of 375 gold.

Spoiler :

Thanks Pacal!

Although I didn't screen it, I noticed Saladin had Machinery this turn which almost gave me a heart attack. Machinery means crossbows unless I'm mistaken (assuming he has iron), and crossbows mean that my Gallic warriors go from fierce swordsmen to free exp.

Thank god I didn't declare.

 

[CreeDakota]

Diplomacy is interesting here, religions spread out well. That should help things. Does anyone like you? Any prospects for a friend? Sury will likely declare on someone most games once he is out of open land. Any shot at getting the Sheydeda Pagonda, the all religion civic thing? You have gold and free religion would be nice in your situation.

Obvioulsy unescorted settlers and undefended cities are a bad idea.

Good job getting something out of the war with China, a city and a Tech are worth something.

Stay Focused on China. Dont Invade Saladin, if you did you would have good chance at getting into war with both him and China.