Tips for playing Shaka?

[Old Spice]

I haven't read all your post but get nukes and gift the techs for them to the AIs and have a good ol' nuclear war. That might entertain you long enough to get one of the wins you want.

 

[Elandal]

I've been playing some starts and some games with BetterAI 07-01-08 now, and decided to continue this game with the mod. Victory would of course be nice, but I decided I'll have much more fun observing the automation, and still might get to space before the others, so here goes:

First, find all my workers, unstack them, and automate most of them. I keep a couple on manual as I use the options where workers don't tear down old improvements - with Biology and Combustion soon I need to at least build one well over a farm and check my key cities' food, possibly changing some improvements. Then go through my cities and set build governor on in all but the key cities.

I also set signs for some national wonder cities as I had already forgotten where I had West Point..

Then a bit of tech trading (got Biology and Combustion for Democracy and Fascism). Decide to go for Plastics first for Three Gorges Dam.

Next turn Mehmed cancels all the resource deals. WTH? That was some 150gpt there.. The vassall is supposed to buy my resources - always have. Have to ask in BetterAI thread if something has changed.

As the first well comes online, I set my HE and WP cities (both coastal) on building battleships. You never know - although I don't think they're needed in this game.

With Plastics in I look around for a riverside city with high production. Guess York will have to do, even if it's not fully developed yet. I hope I get it so I get the clean power to all my cities. Next research target is Radio - on way towards Robotics.

Bulawayo - my IW city - will build a couple more infantry before I get radio, then go for Eiffel Tower. You can never have too many infantry units afterall.

Radio comes in, Eiffel tower and Rock'n'Roll started. Computers comes in, laboratories started. The build governors in my minor cities seem to be building mainly factories and power plants - looks good.

Soon Robotics is in, and cities with nothing better to do will build mechs. I really should replace some archers with more modern defensive units.. Also workers where growth is no longer needed or possible. I think I could use a score more workers..

Artillery in 2 turns. My research is doing just fine. I decide to grab Flight too, just in case I need bombers. It's not a long detour as it makes rocketry a bit cheaper as well.

I got a prophet. Stored for possible GA if I get another GP still.

Flight in, Rocketry soon. I notice several cities building labs - I start liking the build governor even more Drydocks on coastal cities seem useless though, as none of those is a military city as such.

I trade Flight to Washington for Communism, map and coin. I ponder about State Property: Ikhandas make city maintenance a small issue afterall (about 17% of my expenses). And it'd be two turns of anarchy.. I decide against the civics switch for now.

Mehmed comes asking for Physics. I notice he's missing lots of other techs as well and gift them to him.

Turfan - a Mongol city in the northern tundra of MY continent is revolting. If it flips, it'll get erased.. Useless city without resources.

There're lots of health problems around.. Too many farms lead to too large populations. Well, doesn't really matter - Genetics will come at some point. Rocketry is in, and Apollo started. Soon Satellites so Bulaway can start on the elevator.

I notice that I could actually use the food from workshops and watermills. Well, state property it is then.

Turfan flips and is promptly disbanded.

Missed Three gorges dam Oh well, I'm not really low on production, so not a big deal. What is annoying is that Augustus got it - that gives him a bit better chance in building a space ship. Although he doesn't have Apollo done yet, so it's not going to happen. At least I got some 2k gold.

Satellites in, Bulawayo starts Space Elevator. Nobody has Computers (let alone Robotics) yet, so it should be mine. Next up: Fission, going for Fusion.

The build governors are doing fine still for most parts. I wonder about one market where happiness is not an issue and gold not rolling in, but I let it continue.

Fission in - now Medicine and Refridgeration seem to be the only techs any AI civ has on me. I don't bother about Manhattan Project - I don't really like nukes that much.

With two battleships on every net, I decide to build submarines for a change. They can at least carry spies to the other continent. And destroyers. They can spot enemy subs.

With Fiber Optics in I ponder about the internet. But I don't really need it. So more mechs rather. I take a turn with slider on gold so I can continue with 100% research for probably the rest of the game.

Washington comes asking for Fission. Who does he think I am - Santa Claus? I sell him some hit singles.

I notice my finances are too good to be true. Hmm.. Some cities are building wealth? I move them to build mechs. Also spot one city building a nuclear plant - that's overruled! I've built one in my civving career, and it exploded within ten turns of completion, so never again. Have to note this in BetterAI thread: there's nothing you can do about nuclear plant meltdown chance, while you can do a lot about health issues coal plants cause.

Fusion in three, and Augustus completes Apollo Program. Sorry boy, but that's too late. I'll get that in three, Space Elevator in six (Robotics still monopoly tech). And I'm going to get the GE from Fusion, so I'll get a GA even.

With Fusion and Apollo in, I finally start building space parts. Next teching goal is Ecology. My two military cities will continue crunching out ships though - destroyers for now.

Now that space parts production is started, I trigger the GA. I'm not going to get the ship done during GA, but will get last tech needed and will be close to full ship by the end of it.

Unfortunatelly half my cities are too underdeveloped to build parts still. Can't blame the build governor for that - those were late acquisitions anyway.

With Space Elevator done, I count that some parts will complete two turns after GA ends. I spot another Nuclear Powerplant build - overruled! Replaced with Recycling center - I hope this means the build governor won't try it again.

I automate the few workers I had used manually. Doesn't matter anymore.

With Genetics in, Bulaway can start the Statis Chamber. Six turns - although the GA will end in two so maybe 7-8 turns. Saladin completes Apollo, and Augustus completes a casing. I've got parts rolling in..

I continue pressing enter and setting cities to build something when they complete their space part. Composites comes in, Mass Media left (1 turn to research) but the Stasis Chamber will complete the same turn. I wonder if I get Mass Media counted as researched. Augustus is up at 4 casings.

And finally in 1953 my ship is ready. Not exactly an early space victory, but still gives me Augustus rating in score. Looking at demographics, I'm first in almost everything - second in soldiers and middle of the pack in approval and life expectancy.

 

[Elandal]

Some final thoughts:

I had expected to start warring early on with Shaka. The map generator didn't agree, as my closest neighbours were a bit too far for axing around. With shifting alliances, I kept changing my target, and finally ended up going against Mehmed - after bribing Monty for that war and waiting for him to ask me to join in the fun..

Capitulating Mehmed may have been a mistake, but if I hadn't done that, would he have vassalled to Monty? That'd been bad.

Liz didn't last long. I was racing just to get two cities - but at leat got the best shrine and the capitol.

Monty was his usual self: when there was nobody else around, he declared war on me. That war was fought in multiple phases, and I started feeling the game was boring when Monty was spent and I just walked from city to city, taking them.

What saved the last stretch (space race) in the game for me was the BetterAI build governor. I can't really judge automated workers that well, as I keep the "don't remove old improvements" option on, and will probably handle workers manually in the future. But the build governors for most parts did just fine, saving me lots of time there.

The only annoyances I found now were:
- Build governors building nuclear plants. That's a big nono for me - never ever build them. I don't want meltdowns and there's nothing I can do to eliminate the chance.
- Vassall not buying resources anymore. That's bad - one of the main uses for my vassals has been to buy my excess resources for good coin, allowing me to run high on science.

 

[futurehermit]

Shaka is really a solid early game power. The UB helps with initial early expansion. His traits benefit barracks and granaries, both of which come early, and both of which cry out for early mass-whipping. His UU also comes early and is a good pillager, especially when combined with a couple chariots. His UU doesn't make me jump up and down but the rest of him is pretty good since it really helps initial expansion via aggression.

 

[Swein Forkbeard]

Initial expansion via aggression? Huh. That doesn't sound like a good idea to me. I usually don't have time to play, so therefore I haven't completed a single game yet. I'm still working out Noble difficulty. As for initial expansion via aggression, I've done that in this game as Kublai Khan where I obliterated America early (which was a huge gambit, I first used a single keshik to raze Philadelphia and New York, then used an army of keshiks, axemen, and later catapults to take his cities). Washington had ivory and was charismatic, so I definetely had a time limit. And after that, I conquered two cities from my Incan friends, one being my state religion's holy city. Then we just became sedentary farmers and townsfolk. I just recently reached 1500 AD in that game. As for the Zulu, I wouldn't try that route, because if you fail, then you're pretty much uncivilized barbarians with an incompetent leader. The only civs who I'd use for early aggression are the Mongols and Romans (and possibly the Aztecs) But gee, early aggression with the Zulu is something that I'd like to try out.