The People's Republic - A Communist Succession Game

[CharlieChuck]

One thing I forgot to mention is Rome has been taken over by Barbs, I didn't get a message but I noticed from the Top 5 cities.

MPE does look a slightly better choice now, especially as the science rate is high, and will get higher soon (10th or 12th tech?). It looks possible to be able to build MPE and pyramids now (or HG).

 

[Magic_gorter]

I will probably play it tomorrow. Today I have not much time and I have to think carefully what the best strategy is to play the next turns.

 

[Magic_gorter]

preturn 1050 BC did some testing on other similar map. If I'm correct we can build 13 cities without red hats. Now we have more time I think I try MPE first and will decide after that if I will build HG or Pyr.
1 1000 BC germans changed Collosus to Pyramids….
2 975 BC Hangchow / next turn 17 beakers
3 950 BC Trade->Map Making (153 beakers (4 beakers at start) / Chengdu has one elvii for hapiness control / disbanded archer in Beijing for wonder building / set taxes to 70% for extra income(science 30% = 6 beakers a turn). After MP normally Map Making an other civ has it to trade for.
4 925 BC babylonians start Pyramids / RB MP
5 900 BC MP build / got Map Making and Mysticism from English/ got Literacy and Writing from Aztecs/ made also peace with Indians and Romans and trade maps with English, Aztecs, Romans and Indians. Do not contacted Germans and Babylonians.
6 875 BC start with Philosophy ( I hope Indians start with Polytheism) / hut->Mathematics / Tientsin
7 850 BC Indians start with Philosophy
8 825 BC -
9 800 BC Babylonians start with Great Library
10 775 BC Indians start with Great Library

I tried to build caravans as quick as possible....3 are almost ready. I thought that the fourth could be build in Beijing. With RB it can be build very quick. In other cities I was building vans also but they were build for the next wonder.

If we can build Pyr as next wonder perhaps the germans and babylonians will stop building a wonder...but we can also decide to go for HG. Pottery is easy to get from other civs. I let the deciscion to the next player which one he wants.

There is a canal site at 19,35. Might be a good spot to build something.

Edit: I noticed that Germans build Pyramids in two cities and had no new message. Did they really abandon wonder building???

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Edit: I noticed that Germans build Pyramids in two cities and had no new message. Did they really abandon wonder building???

That's odd, and a little worrying. I'm positive I got a message saying they abandoned. Perhaps someone missed a message saying they started Pyramids in another city. I don't think that it is the original pyramids being built in one of the cities, because it should have been completed by now, I thought. On the other hand, it might be very near completion, and we'll miss the wonder.

We could try demanding tribute from some of the civs, to boost our gold and allow us to rush the caravans needed to get Pyramids. Plenty of the civs seem small enough.

 

[Magic_gorter]

We can try to demand tribute but if I'm correct this only works when we are on same continent. If I'm not correct I learn something new.

 

[Bloody Monk]

We can try to demand tribute but if I'm correct this only works when we are on same continent. If I'm not correct I learn something new.

No, you remember correctly. Our only hope for tribute is to plant cities (and pack them with troops) on all the other islands; and so far all AI appear to be on islands like us. This brings another idea to mind. Perhaps, we should target LH so we don't have to find coastlines to hug.

Good turnsets guys!! We are moving along nicely. Many roads and new cities!! I really like it that we have MPE. I think delaying Pyramids means we will lose it to the Germs but I'm not convinced of the efficacy of that path anyway. (It would really be nice in the later game though.)

Has anyone heard from Terrapin or should I play next??

Monk

 

[Prof. Garfield]

You should play, unless Terrapin posts first. It would be your trun according to the turn order anyway. I think we'll have to assume, until Terrapin posts otherwise, that he is unable to play.

 

[Magic_gorter]

You should play, unless Terrapin posts first. It would be your trun according to the turn order anyway. I think we'll have to assume, until Terrapin posts otherwise, that he is unable to play.

I agree to move on until Terapin will let know that he can play.

@Bloody Monk... I did set you on place four. And that is after me. Terapin is after you if he can play.

 

[Bloody Monk]

Okay then. I play now. Would have responded sooner but still not receiving email notifications of your posts. Working on that too.

Monk

 

[Magic_gorter]

I think that you have to subscribe to this thread. Above the first post of every page there is some kind of button called thread tool. If you click on the arrow (which points down) you get the option to subscribe to this thread. Then you will get email....but mayby the option to receive mail is turned of. You can turn that on under My account (almost on top of every page and almost on the left (next to home)). Or did you tried that all????

 

[Terrapin]

Sorry I have not been around. Sorrier that I am going to have to pull out. One of the workstations at my job got buggy and they are locking everything down. I'll have to save SG play until I get an ISP at my house.

 

[Bloody Monk]

I think that you have to subscribe to this thread. Above the first post of every page there is some kind of button called thread tool. If you click on the arrow (which points down) you get the option to subscribe to this thread. Then you will get email....but mayby the option to receive mail is turned of. You can turn that on under My account (almost on top of every page and almost on the left (next to home)). Or did you tried that all????

Thread Tools was the key element. I thought I had subscribed already but that wasn't enough. Vb3 is new to me. Should work now. Thanks much.

Monk

 

[Bloody Monk]

Some Highlights:

1 new city, 1 new WOW, 2 Alliesdouble the roads, +1 Sett, +3 warriors...

1-750 Bei Camel, change to war for Nan; Ger nearly complete PYR

2-725 Ger PYR; trade tech Ger --> HBR + maps

3-700 Bei war sent to Nan, switch to Camel

4-675 Eng start COL

5-650 Indians get Philosophy, chose Poly as free tech Begin Wheel; Babs finish Construction

6-625 Trade tech Babs: Pott, Maps, Ally; Ind-Ger War starts

7-600 Trade tech Ind: Phil, Poly, Maps, Ally; Han & Tien make Setts, switch to Camels

8-575 Eng discover Astronomy Trade for Astro; Gift techs to English Key Civ to reduce carry from 28 to 23.

9-550 Straybow Canal builds HG Ger discovers Trade.

10-525 Build Shang Sett into Stray for size3.

We should get Mono toward the end of the next turnset if we don't get any new intervening techs...ie, no to trades and huts. There should be enough Camels to build Mike's pdq.

Monk

 

[Bloody Monk]

1) Been thinking about Lighthouse WOW. I think we can skip it and wait to build ships until Caravels. That (Nav) should be a priority this game since there is no need to delay getting it--we can't trade anyway so the trade hit doesn't matter.

2) Inline with the above, I would recommend Seafearing as the next tech, after Mono. W/o other intervening techs the path would be Sea --> Univ --> Nav, straight thru. We could then build Magellan's which will come in handy at the end when we conquer the world...or whatever we decide.

3)Straybow would be a great spot to build Cope's and Shakes.

4) If we get Mike's, then 3 troops + Temple will get our cities to 8, even working non-arrow tiles (trees, mines).

5) Hang is making a warrior to replace the one going to Stray to keep it green. The warrior in Tatu could be replaced by the exploring Stray war and build a Dip instead. This would speed up the exploring and be available later to go exploring with the Navy. Your choice.

6) We are already getting redheads in old cities w/o full martial law when we build a new city. Tatu caused a redhead in Stray. Mike's is the answer.

7) If we try for Cope's after Mike's, we will need 5 more Camels than the current build orders, then 8 more for Magellan.

There is something more but I can't remember it now. If someone else posts I can see if the notifications are now working.

Monk

 

[CharlieChuck]

There is something more but I can't remember it now. If someone else posts I can see if the notifications are now working.

Monk

Good set of turns, I should be able to play tomorrow.

Sorry for Terrapin not being able to join in.

I think mike's has to be the first goal, I'm not really sure what to do after that, I guess build cities up to size 8, build libraries, markets etc.

Is there any point in going for colossus?

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Is there any point in going for colossus?

Unless we decide to move our capital, Shanghai would be the most suitable place, given we could get most of the extra trade without corruption. If we grow Shanghai up to size 12, and work all trade squares, we will get 11-12 extra trade, depending on corruption. Supposing 10 extra trade, that means about 7 more science production, or 14 with both library and university, not to mention a few extra coins per turn. All at an innitial cost of 200 shields, which must be paid soon and before our city is ready to take full advantage of the wonder. Figguring trade at a 1 to 1 tradeoff with shields, a size 12 city will get a 5-6% return on the investment, possibly as much as 10-12% with a bank and university. In the meantime, the return will be much less, 1-2%, possibly, and the "meantime" will likely be a while. I would say that colossus will not be worth the expense overall.

3)Straybow would be a great spot to build Cope's and Shakes.

Yes, if anywhere is going to celebrate, it will be Straybow, so Cope's will do well in that city. In the short run, I would grow this city to size 6 and hold the population there, to take full advantage of republic-style trade. I'm not too sure about building Cope's immediately, unless we have caravans sitting around or someone else begins to build it, because we could put the production to settlers or improvements for a better return first.

I think mike's has to be the first goal, I'm not really sure what to do after that, I guess build cities up to size 8, build libraries, markets etc.

I would recomend filling in the rest of our continent and the nearby continents first, before doing major work in the improvements area. Size 8 cities will probably be a decent way to go, possibly to the extent that we pack our cities closer than what they will need to grow to full size.

Incidentally, I noticed that 2 settlers are roading the forest south of Nanking. We won't really have enough traffic to need the road there, in my estimation, so we should probably move them to mining up a special hidden by grassland.

 

[CharlieChuck]

Unless we decide to move our capital, Shanghai would be the most suitable place, given we could get most of the extra trade without corruption. If we grow Shanghai up to size 12, and work all trade squares, we will get 11-12 extra trade, depending on corruption. Supposing 10 extra trade, that means about 7 more science production, or 14 with both library and university, not to mention a few extra coins per turn. All at an innitial cost of 200 shields, which must be paid soon and before our city is ready to take full advantage of the wonder. Figguring trade at a 1 to 1 tradeoff with shields, a size 12 city will get a 5-6% return on the investment, possibly as much as 10-12% with a bank and university. In the meantime, the return will be much less, 1-2%, possibly, and the "meantime" will likely be a while. I would say that colossus will not be worth the expense overall.

The only benefit I see in colossus is if the city is grown to size 8 "artificially" by use of settlers. I've been doing some thinking about this in general, the cost is obviously 40 shields to replace 40 food (size 3) or 50 (size 4) etc - cities of size 5,6,7 are the most cost effective. If a settler can be built in a size 2 city it cuts the relative cost down, but whether the ultimate trade off of supersizing Beijing to size 8, building colossus, library and Uni outweighs the 160 shields lost, I'm not sure

Incidentally, I noticed that 2 settlers are roading the forest south of Nanking. We won't really have enough traffic to need the road there, in my estimation, so we should probably move them to mining up a special hidden by grassland.

Where is the special? I'm never any good at finding these 4,38 or 149,39?

 

[Bloody Monk]

Good set of turns, I should be able to play tomorrow.

Sorry for Terrapin not being able to join in.

I think mike's has to be the first goal, I'm not really sure what to do after that, I guess build cities up to size 8, build libraries, markets etc.

Is there any point in going for colossus?

I neglected to mention that everyone but the Romans are racing for GL. (The Romans have not chosen anything to research during the entire turnset, btw.) I don't see that we have a good option for using COL besides Shanghai, and there is only the one special there, so maxing arrows would mean a Harbor and setting all to fishing = no shields. Let's put it on the back burner for now and save up for Mike's then Cope's then Magellan.

I remembered what I was forgetting thanks to the Prof's mention of the tree-roading Setts. I set them to pre-charge so the next player could quickly uncover the hidden special of their choice. It looks like the local area has six to choose from, birds or worms depending on the seed. The closest is at (4, 36) or the one I favor, for Straybow at (15,45). The first could be used by two cities while the second would help our semi-science city grow faster.

Still no joy on notifications. Turns out I had already found and used the Thread Tools --> Subscribe feature. I dumped and reset cookies. Maybe that will work. We'll see with the next post.

Monk

 

[CharlieChuck]

-525 rearrange few bits of production, decide to build 1 trireme to investigate & settle west island (corruption will be low there, near the capital)

-500 Straybow celebrate's, Discov to 15 turns,

-475 Aztecs Seafaring,

-450

-425 Straybow size 4 celeb cancelled, use an elvis, trireme produced

-400 straybow celebrates again

-375 ...

-350 Mono -> Seafaring (can swap with aztecs later hopefully), 3 vans ready, part
rush more, discov now 23 turns

-325 ..

-300 start straybow temple, Macao founded, Anyang founded

-275 Germans develop construcion, Germans start great wall, nanking needs extra warrior to keep order

5 vans outside beijing, 1 on the way to it, others nearby nearly done. The 2 settlers NW of Straybow are primed but I don't know where to build the special, so I've left them there ( I need to read up on this). We're still mighty, I haven't approached any other civs, thought it best to wait until after we build Michaels, Colossus still hasn't been built.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

(0) 275 BC: Re-arrange and change production. Trade Philosophy to Aztecs for Seafaring.
(1) 250 BC: We are the happiest civ. Begin University.
(2) 225 BC: Romans begin Great Library. Germans nearly complete Great Library. Xinjian settlers builds Shantung. Beijing builds Horsemen to move around for disorder management.
(3) 200 BC: Indians develop wheel. Babylonians nearly complete GL. Leipzig builds Great Library. Indians, Babylonians, English, Aztecs change to Colossus. Romans abandon. Aztecs build Colossus. Indians change to Lighthouse. English change to Copernicus.’ Babylonians, Aztecs change to Great wall. Canton Caravan.
(4) 175 BC: Indians Build Lighthouse. Babylonians, Aztecs, Germans develop republic. Disorder in TatuCanal. 8 Caravans to Beijing for Mike’s. TatuCanal settlers builds Chinan.
(5) 150 BC: Shanghai caravan. Beijing builds Michelangelo’s Chapel. (24,28) hut: crusaders. Mine up silk near Hangchow. Rush StraybowCanal Library to 60s for 60 gold.
(6) 125 BC: …
(7) 100 BC: Hangchow settlers. Chengdu caravan. Xinjian Caravan. Pheasant mined near Hangchow.
(8) 75 BC: Babylonians nearly complete Great Wall. Tientsin caravan. Chengdu Settlers builds Kaifeng.
(9) 50 BC: English develop Construction. Babylonians build Great Wall, Germans, Aztecs change to Oracle. Germans develop banking. StraybowCanal Library. (6,24) hut: Navigation! Change Canton production to Carval.
(10) 25 BC: Aztecs abandon Oracle. Nanking Caravan. (23,45) hut: crusaders.

Notes:

The English are building Copernicus' Observatory, so if we want it, we'll have to build it soon. I already have 3 caravans near StraybowCanal, and one more on the way. I think it will be worth it; Straybow is already producing 12 science. Once Straybow reaches size 5, I would put 2 citizens to scientists.

I think there are specials under (26,28) and (24,24), near Kaifeng. Perhaps I should have built Kaifeng one square over, but I wanted to be on the river, and if we limit cities to size 8, it won't matter.

If we want to celebrate cities, a quick test demonstrates that in order to get 3 black hats per city, we will need to build enough cities to get to Canton (or so) again for the city name suggestion. 3 black hats and hanging gardens would allow a size 8 city to celebrate for 6 luxuries, two of which can be produced by a marketplace; a net gain of a couple of trade, depending on corruption. I don't think we can get that large of an empire, unless we plant a ton of small cities on our outskirts.

If we want to celebrate, we will want to decide on size 4 or 6 cities, for which an empire might be manageable to make large enough. A better plan, I think, will be to grow cities past size 5, and use specialists to increase science. Scientists produce 3 science not subject to corruption, more than the trade that can be produced on most squares, and it all goes to science. This strategy would also reduce our need for courthouses.

EDIT: Further to my idea of using specialists for science production, if a city is built on grassland, and works 3 squares of irrigated grassland (or some other square producing 3 food, such as fish), the city will be able to support 3 scientists. That is 9 science, plus at least one from regular trade, and a library, will yield some 15 science production in the city. This strategy will allow us to largely ignore black hats, because they will be "hidden" by the scientists, and allow cities to be speciallized into either science cities or tax cities (using taxmen instead of scientists), making improvement production more efficient.