Pregame thoughts:
I find it very hard to make the needed decisions up front here.
I do not yet know if i will go for conquest or peaceful. I lean towards conquest because it sounds like the more ambitous plan. Im not sure yet though. I will also consider the option to do a half conquest, reducing the number of civs to reach atomic to 3 or 2 rather than 1.
Even if i choose to go for conquest im rather convinced that i will go with tradition and that i just need to focus on growth and getting WATS up asap. I would not start conquest before navigation and i see anything i would have to do differently in the first 100 turns.
So i can take my time to reconsider this issue around the time i get to education. I can then see how i think both my research and military potential compares with the AIs.
Another issue is if i want to do the free WAT trick. I dont think it will be worth it, but I will first start scouting the surroundings, seeing what cities i can build, what production they will have, what workers i can steal and what improvements i deem high priority (like granaries or lighthouses depending on resources)
When i have that information i will take my time to reconsider.
Action log:
Settle on the hill.
Building scouts on an archipel would be silly. A monument is tempting, but this salt here really screams for a worker+mining.
Due to culture from a hut i already have to choose my second policy on turn 14. I have already produced a worker, i am already producing a settler.
The Liberty goodies will simply be too late to be much value. (which they usually are, thats the reason i think liberty is so dissapointing)
If they arent much value, it cannot be a good idea to delay my Tradition goodies so much to get the WATs maybe 5-10 turns earlier. So i just proceed to go for full tradition.
As i settle my first city, Alexander sends a settler there as well, but im earlier. I get to shoot his worker with my newly founded city making it easy for my spearman to capture it.
This encourages me to make sure the whole island is mine.
The island is perfectly sized for 4 cities each with the borders just touching and a cute little lake in the middle, you'd think someone designed it like that
.
The desert city will have poor production, but enough for the science buildings and it will have awesome food.
With all these desert tiles, it should become a religious powerhouse with desert folklore.
While its most important tiles are flood plains and it doesnt have many of the traditional Petra-city tiles, i do think Petra could be very nice to provided it with the needed production later in the game while also allowing to work more desert tiles for more Folklore points.
First things first though, producing settlers at 12 hammers per turn vs Alexanders 6, i aggresively forward settle him with my second city and then with the third claim the whole island for myself.
By turn 48 Alexander brings out his second settler which i capture again.
Turn 56 he brings me another one, just like on turn 48, he tries to walk it right by my city so i take it yet again.
After the settlers, all cities built granaries except the one the desert, that one starts on a library right away.
Ill aim to have the other Libs finish by the time its ready. After the granaries, i proceed making workboats, cargoships, lighthouses until the the time for libraries is there.
Between all those food improvements, the capital also has to do things that unfortunately must be done: a trireme and shrine. To my surprise noone claimes a pantheon until turn 57, just after my shrine is ready.
Each time just 1 or 2 turns before i have the required faith, another one founds a pantheon. By turn 81 i finaly get to found the last one.
In the 80s i run low on happines. I interupt the NC build to quickly make a circus and my other cities all start queing coloseums. I have gotten 1 lux in trade from the Netherlands but noone else seems to be ready to trade any more of them.
I decide not to let the potential of my luxes go to waste any longer and sell them for GPT. The coloseums (and later circus maximus) will have to provide until i get 1000gold to buy a mercantile CS.
In the long term this should be more cost efficient anyways as CS alliances cost 10 gpt effectively and can provide up to 10 happiness while luxes are worth 7gpt for 4 happiness. I regret not selling them earlier.
Tradition is completed on turn 91. NC on turn 94.
Sukhotai:
Worker-Settler-Settler-Settler-Granary-Trireme-Shrine-CargoShip-Cargoship-Library-Trireme-Worker-NationalCollege.
Si Satchanalai:
Granary-Workboat-workboat-Lighthouse-Library
Muang Saluang:
Library-Granary
Lampang:
Worker-Granary-Library-Lighthouse
Tech order:
Mining-Husbandry-Masonry-Pottery-Sailing-Bronze-Writing-Optics-Archery-TheWheel-Calendar-Philospophy
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Turn 100 planning:
I created a bunch of excel files, made some forum posts and came up with the following plan.
I will go the conquest route.
I aim for a turn 200 victory. Both to keep flexibility as long as possible and to enable myself getting navigation before rather than after PP i will try to have only 1 congres cycle meaning i should get PP around T165ish.
When i get near that point i will again take the needed time to analyse and make as precise a planning as i can.
By turn 200 i need the following things:
-all but 1 CSes (-2 if FP)
-Having conquered 5 civs
-About 50k research from where i am now.
I think the conquest will be the most difficult of those 3. Rome is just a fly to swat. The rest will follow upon navigation. 1 army should go for austria+america, another army should go for england + The Huns.
I came up with many different choises of enemies and argumentations based on their strengths and ability to help me fight eachother but i think i should just take the ones closest to me.
Obviously though i will try to make them fight amongst eachother to draw their units away and weaken their militaries before i come.
Research and gold are pretty straitforward. Excel tells me, getting 6 scientists from GPP is not feasible so i plan for 5.
I expect 2 from faith and will of course build the needed wonders for scientists and free techs at the end.
I already have 50gpt and exect lots of war bounty so buying those CSes should work out fine.
I will buy what i need for happiness and culture during the conquest, all the rest at end.
It looks like i will have to take 1 policy before renesaince so ill open patronage.
I will probably try to improve my culture a bit by gaining a cultural ally so that i can get the important 4 rationalism policies asap.
Meanwhile i need to gather writers so that before my finish i can complete rationalism and get consulates.
I dont care too much about the freedom or order stuff because i cant get the best out of that anyways.
So the next 50 turns its just about building my unis/workshops, then units and happiness wonders and working my way around printing press.
Turn 150 will be the next time of contemplation.
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Action log
When i had nothing important to build for a second, i made 2 catapults and captured Athens on T112.
Since i didnt like the unhappiness, I sold it to the America for 13gpt. I will take it again later.
I purchase a workshop in Muang Saluang. It hand builds petra and iron works.
With the difficulty of obtaining luxes, i will need Notre Dame so i build it here.
I dont yet build or buy an observatory because other things are so needed now.
I get to pick 2 policies before rationalism. I open patronage and exploration.
I build my religion with: Tithe, Pagodas, Religious community, reliquary.
Turn 126, Austria wants me to join war against America. I tell them 10 turns.
At turn 137 i research Navigation, start building ships and trade a salt to america to make them fight austria.
It is clear that Washington will be my prime target though for its iron.
142, i capture Athens from America and sell it to england for 10 gpt.
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Turn 150:
I'm at the brink of capturing Washington. It had to go first because i need the iron.
My religion is a failure though. I had chosen Pagodas, but have built only 1 and my religion hasnt spread to my other cities yet.
It will spread though because i cant stop it from making more prophets, so at least tithe might make more than 3gpt in the future.
I wont have 1500 faith at the end though.
My the 5th of my scienists from GPP will be come on turn 194.
I can now reasonably predict what science the future will bring. I have a huge overdose. I can do turn 195-196 with just 7 scientists and 1 free tech.
Meaning i dont need rationalism at all. I will need the wonders then, but in the end game, after public schools, while my units are mopping op some remote towns, i wont have anything else to build anyway.
And i can use the faith to get at least 1 engineer. I may use that on the statue of liberty though if not needed for other wonders.
All cultural progress can go to more patronism.
The conquest looks like it should work out in time if nothing really unexpected happens.
Buying all the CSes seems like the biggest challenge. My gpt is stagnant due to growing unit maintenance. Ill have to work on that.
I didnt factor in a huge amount of growth in my reasearch excel, but to be sure ill move my expectations to 197.
I guess 2 turns are then needed for the host, so ill aim the UN at 200 as planned.
With 3 age progressions and thus host votes, that would mean i have to get PP on 164.
I dont exactly know how everything resolves on the interturn and i think i might actually be able to go 1 turn earlier, 2 maybe even,
but ill play it safe.
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Turn 175 moment of reflexion:
I researched Pringting Press on 165. I had planned to do it on 164 but forgot.
America is left to 1 non-coastal city and my fleet has moved to attack austria. A second fleet is in english waters.
A few turns ago, i made peace with england to get a non-coastal town they settled in the south. I will continue destroying the Huns first.
I managed to help kiev capture Linz and tried to help florence capture boston until i found out it is apparently imposisble for a CS to eliminate a civ.
Fortunately i did not entirely rely on succes there so i brought an elephant there myself. I capture it and givs it to the english because i cant handle the unhappiness right now as im also razing austrian and Hunnic cities.
I will try again now to have florence capture boston before i finish mopping up england.
I built a harbor in my capital as most captured capitals have one as well. It also allowed me to make a 24gpt trade route to amsterdam. Together with machu pichu, my GPT is now approaching 200, so i dont worry about buying all those CSes anymore.
My conquest seems to be more worrysome, atila has tons of units and slows me dow, fortunately naval units are rather mobile and austria is almost dead, so that fleet should be able to help take england in time.
Science is a bit slower that anticipated mostly due to unhappiness stalling my growth. I think ill manage though, i should have enough culture to complete rationalism after all and get an extra scientist from there.
And so i will have to shift my focus back from gold to science and conquest.
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Turn 185. I have to reload the last auto save because of a bug.
I had the hammer icon on a razing city of hastings. I decided to sell the city to france. Now the game wont let me end turn.
Turn 190. Down to 2 remaining civs.
France is paying me well for the conquered cities, my people are happy. I have 5k gold and 300gpt.
I made mistake and ended up not having porc. tower. I also didnt expect the faith purchased scientist to come with no movement points.
Everything happens just in time though.
There is 1 looming danger... my spies told me the dutch are on their way and my units arent home.
I dont see a dutch fleet anywhere though, i wonder if that spy was halucinating.
I buy frances vote with a bunch of luxuries.
I have Forbidden Palace
I have world religion
I have spend
I have bought every single CS
With 2 turns on the clock i finally see a dutch fleet moving towards me. Thats a bit late my dear william.
I win with 52 votes on the 211-212 interturn.
Surely it could have been better, i had more science than need, more votes than needed, my conquest was done 5 turns early.
I think i did quite reasonable though. Probably not a #1, but top 3 it should be.
Your tech was faster though (I barely made it 1 turn before the vote), maybe because you planted the 4th city on the same continent and got Petra(?), instead of foolishly trying to take other islands...
