The Unluckiest Lucky Start

[Aabraxan]

Glad to see that you're still following after such a long delay.

Cool update, on the lux question some luxuries have more value than others if you have marketplaces. I know gems are near the top of the tree but I thought silks might have been worth more than wine. It could be that he has a possibly cheaper deal for silks available or a more expensive one for wines around.

On the wine vs silks...could it be a supply and demand thing? It looks like you had 5 silks, but only 3 wines. I didn't think the AI was that sophisticated though.

Maybe it is a supply & demand issue. I don't know. As far as I knew, the value of any lux that the AI could buy would remain the same, as it is based on the number of happy faces it gets out of it. So silks, wines, spices . . . shouldn't matter. And the trades were all offered at the same time, so it's not like the number of marketplaces held by the Hittites between deals changed.

If anyone out there can explain this quirk to me, I'd love to know.

I'll be watching the results on this with great interest, since we don't yet even know how the trick is going to turn out in the SG, Aabra02.

I will, too. Obviously, I think I understand it well enough to at least try to implement it. Unfortunately, having to put trade goods on the line also puts my reputation at risk.

Wish me luck!

 

[killerkid]

Aabraxan-For your luxury issue, I think it might have to do with number of luxes on map. If there are less wines than silks, he could always get the silks from someone else. If you there are 6 wines on the map and you have 4, his best chance of getting them is from you.

This is all just a guess-you'd have to ask someone who understands the AI's programming.

Good luck in your game!

 

[Tad Empire_0_o]

update? I like your story also are you going to let the Americans rebuild or are you going to destroy them soon?

 

[Aabraxan]

I'll get to an update as soon as I can. RL is pretty hectic for me right now, though. No, I'm not going to let the Americans rebuild. Here's the general plan: As soon as the 20 turns on the PT runs out for them, I'm going to finish kicking them off my continent. Unless I'm mistaken, that'll destroy the Americans for good. At that point, I'll position cavs and cannons in various points to defend my continent, and pare down my military to free up gold for research. I'll continue to feed the Hittites and French in their war against the Iros to slow down research there and start looking at invasion plans.

 

[Aabraxan]

My apologies that it's taken so long to update this. RL has been absolutely pounding me of late, so I just haven't had time to play. It's taken me almost a month to get enough material together to warrant an update, but, with that said, and without further ado:

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Chapter 11: Some Luck Shows Up!​

In 1285, the PT with the Americans expired, clearing the way for me to push them off the continent. My capitol at Carthage continues to push settlers and nothing else and I've put a few more cities on settlers. I'm tired of all this empty ground. Before I declare, I sell Abe Magnetism for 66 gold, his WM and his TM. I know it's worth more than that, but I don't want him to have any spare gold for upgrades. In 1290, following a couple of outrageous demands (like "Give me Buffalo!"), I DOW Abe. Most of my armies never get the chance to fire a shot. I use two of my cav armies to attack the cities and, "Presto!"



I also reconsider that whole palace jump idea. I need a larger, more productive core with more shields. So I'm thinking Tingis. I think that's about 9 tiles from palace's current location (edited as I post this, without the game running) and 4-5 tiles from the coast. I'll have to abandon a couple of cities to make this work, but I think it'll all be OK. Unfortunately, I have no GLs on hand, so I'm going to have to hand-build it. . . Unfortunately, it also means that I've got a whole lot of jungle clearing and mine-building to do in that area.

On the production lines, I switch many military builds to infrastructure. Time to get libraries and markets and aques up and begin to pare down this military. It's currently costing me 144 gpt.

In 1295 AD, I learn the Theory of Gravity, which is the last of the required techs for this age. I move into the Industrial Age, set my sights on Steam (~9 turns out) and have a massive barbarian uprising near Wonsan. In fact, on my way to quell one uprising, I discover that I actually get two uprisings. Let's hear it for 50 gold!



I wake up as many vets as I have in striking range and try to wring a few promotions out of this, without much luck. Believe it or not, on the IBT following 1300 AD, not only did AI horsemen attack my Cavalry armies, they attacked one cav army on a hill! I tried to get a screenshot, but just wasn't able. It was an amazing exercise in AI futility.

I continue disbanding, resettling and restructuring. All of a sudden, Mursillis decided to get froggy on me.

Spoiler :

Naturally, I go see my military advisor:

Spoiler :

Now, wasn't this one of the reasons that I set up that whole "renegotiate peace and include an MA" thing? I tell Mursi that he'll have to get his furs elsewhere. Not terribly surprisingly, this happens:

Spoiler :

Ghandi then shows up, wanting to trade world maps. I don't think so.

Mostly, this is a game of "continues" at this point: (1) I continue pruning my military to speed up research; (2) I continue irrigating every tile I can reach for specialist farming; (3) I continue forming up railing gangs, because steam is due in ~6 turns; and (4) I continue pumping settlers just as fast as I can grow pop to support their production, because I really, really want to fill this continent before someone else shows up. Interestingly, someone wrote a book in 1310 AD:

Spoiler :

Hmmm . . . While I have nothing to sell, I also have nothing to buy, so I'm not entirely sure why I rank last in this.

I set Tingis to build a palace . . . Let's hope for a leader, shall we?

Spoiler :

And the Iros are the first to finally show up to claim a little land.

Spoiler :

And, lo and behold, the RNG smiles upon poor Hannibal, blessing him with a leader!

Spoiler :

And, of course two more slaves . . .

In 1320, the French sign a peace treaty with the Iros with 10 turns left in our alliance (dirty, rotten . . . ) Naturally, this means:


So, in 1330 AD, my new palace is 1 turn out (which I'm sure will send my economy hiney-over-teakettle), I've got war with the Hittites, the Iros, and the French, Steam is 2 turns out, I've got no techs to buy or sell, and my empire looks something like this:

Spoiler :

 

[gmaharriet]

It's looking a mite crowded there, I think.

Did you offer Thucydides a little too much wine when he came to visit? I only count about 2 Indian cities on your mini-map. I think he wrote that book upside-down and backwards while standing on his head.

 

[Brianung]

Great story. I'm glad you finally updated this.

 

[Aabraxan]

It's looking a mite crowded there, I think.

Yes. Clearly, I'll need to *ahem* find some room on the other continent.

Did you offer Thucydides a little too much wine when he came to visit? I only count about 2 Indian cities on your mini-map. I think he wrote that book upside-down and backwards while standing on his head.

And, IIRC, most of the tech that India has came from me!

Brianung, I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Also glad I could find time to update.

 

[3Davideo]

Hey, where are you planning on putting the forbidden palace? Or did you build that already?

 

[Aabraxan]

I've already built it. It's at Leptis Minor.

 

[Light-Giver]

If you can try to force a contenental war by haveing military alliances vr someone you and a AI vr 2 AI then take over your allie for his land.

 

[Aabraxan]

I'm currently at war with 3 civs, and India is neither a threat nor a useful ally. I don't recall off the top of my head what, if any, per-turn trades I've currently got going. Obviously none with the 3, but may have something going with India.

At any rate, once my palace jump occurs (on the coming IBT), I'll need my worforce to concentrate on straightening out the restructured empire and building rails. I'm also busy abandoning and resettling some cities to take advantage of the new palace's location. Now that my continent is clear, and as the AI is just terrible at overseas invasions, I'm not overly concerned about them coming to get me. That grand Iroquois invasion group consisted of one cavalry and one settler. Not a huge threat.

First things first, I'll probably just concentrate on filling up my continent, then probably try to make peace and foment overseas wars (if possible) until I'm ready to invade. Looking at the minimap, it looks like I've got several options.

 

[reverend oats]

Aabraxan- What a great story. I actually prefer the ones that are turn reports, because then I can tell what it going on!

 

[ProtoMickey]

Wow, you have a very different city building strategy than I do. My cities are usual 3x as far from each other as yours are. In my next game, I was considering building closer together. It seems to work out okay.

I have a question for you. What mods are you using that allow you to see the following?

​

There are a billion mods out there is seems, and those look like some good ones.

 

[Nergal]

Thats CivAssist II available in the downloads section.
As for city building, theres no option, at the higher levels build in as close to a cxxc pattern as you can. Each town has its own initial 9 and maybe a few others depending on terrain constraints. That way workers can work faster because there isnt as much space between towns and it makes troop movement much quicker as well.

It doesnt matter that they mostly wont grow over 12 as the game should be over by the time you get anywhere near hospitals.

 

[Aabraxan]

Wow, you have a very different city building strategy than I do. My cities are usual 3x as far from each other as yours are. In my next game, I was considering building closer together. It seems to work out okay. . . . .

Welcome to CFC, ProtoMickey!

Nergal is right about city spacing, though this is only Monarch difficulty. Once I get my new palace built and know exactly where my specialist farms will be, don't be surprised if you see me shoehorning in more cities in those areas for cxc!

I have a question for you. What mods are you using that allow you to see the following? . . . .

The first is simply the F7 screen, not a mod. The second is CivAssist II, a utility that can be downloaded from the CFC Downloads area.

And welcome aboard, reverend oats and Light-Giver!

 

[3Davideo]

Hey, why does the ocean look "shelfy" with a distinct dropoff after the "coast" gives way to "sea", while other C3C games, like Quintillious's, or Vanilla, which I play, don't have that visual change?

 

[Aabraxan]

Because I've swapped out some of the graphics. Most of what I use is Snoopy's, IIRC.

 

[ProtoMickey]

The first is simply the F7 screen, not a mod. The second is CivAssist II, a utility that can be downloaded from the CFC Downloads area.

And welcome aboard, reverend oats and Light-Giver!

Now I feel stupid. I didn't know that the buttons after F6 did anything. I went on and tested the other F buttons, and was surprised at all the screens I've been playing without.

It's time for me to start a new game. I just took over an Egyptian city and got the Domination Victory pop up. 66% land, and 88% population. I always forgot to turn that off. I had just spent 440 gold to upgrade all my knights to Sipahi, and I only used one of them. Bah! haha

Anyway, I'll be keeping track of your story.

 

[Aabraxan]

Chapter 12:​

When last we visited, in 1330 AD, my new palace is 1 turn out, I was at war with everybody and their dog (Hittites, the Iros, and the French, Steam was 2 turns out, and I was precisely at tech parity, with no techs to buy or sell. Hiawatha's willing to negotiate, but he's only willing to offer me either 80 gold (all he's got) or one cruddy, 1-pop town for peace. Hmmm . . . Nah, I'd rather stomp him.

For my own education as much as anything, I'm going to post some thoughts on the palace jump that's about to occur. First of all, here's the jump that's about to happen:

Spoiler :

Here's a pic including my Domestic advisor and CivAssist II. It shows my economy immediately prior to the jump.

Spoiler :

I hit enter and the palace completes. Here's my new capitol:

Spoiler :

Clearly, I have some work to do here.

Now here's my economic info immediately after the jump:

Spoiler :

That's without making any changes whatsoever. Hmmm. . . I've lost ~85 beakers per turn. Maybe the palace jump didn't do me much good, after all. Then again, it may just take some adjustment to regain those beakers.

And in 1335AD, my scientists uncover Steam Power . . . and I get this:




Wow! I almost never get the IW! Now, . . . . where is it?

Turns out that my only IW candidate is New Zouchis:

Spoiler :

293 turns?!?! Oh, come on! Of all the luck!

Oh, well. I have 3 sources of coal, one of which is already hooked up, so I can begin railing operations. One of the others is already in the process of being roaded. The third is out in specialist farmland, so I'll leave it unhooked as a backup. Medicine is 9 turns out at 60% science and +28 gpt. I'd like to run more science, but I need to have at least a little gold in the bank and the AI apparently isn't going to have much to trade with. I'll get a prebuild going for the ToE soon.

Railing continues, and I learn something I've wondered about. Carthage is industrious. Slaves work half-speed. The question that I've had is whether slaves work at half of the industrious speed, or half normal speed. Answer: half of normal. It takes 4 of my industrious workers to rail flat ground in one turn, but it takes 12 slaves to do the same job in one turn. Interestingly, if I combine workers and slaves, it takes 3 natives and 3 slaves to accomplish the same job.

At ~80 cities and about 130 workers (86 of which are slaves), I am woefully short on workers to finish railing in any decent amount of time, so just about every city with a spt of <10 and decent food supply is put on worker production. I've got enough cannons for the moment (33 cannons, but only 2 galleons. . .)

In 1350, I finally decide to make peace with Hiawatha. He won't give me a city now, but he'll give me 100 gold. As neither he nor I are in a position to invade, that sounds like a deal to me. While I'm peace-shopping, I decide to check with Mursi. He'll give me his only 60 gold and 2 gpt. Sounds good. I'll take me a bit to get my invasion together, anyway. Joan still won't talk, but that's OK. She'll come around eventually.

I've been reworking my empire, selling some improvemtns, mainly raxes in what are now 1-shield towns. Because I have Sun Tzu's, I don't save any upkeep, but I do get some gold in my pocket. The Palace jump will, IMO, turn out to be better for me in the long run, but it's clearly going to take some work to get the empire shaped back up.