TSG130 Opening Actions

[beetle]

Sorry these screenshots are a little late for this thread (turn 121), but I forgot to make earlier saves.

If you have not done so, please describe in the After Action Reports thread if you came to regret letting Alex live. I paid for that mistake all game -- even after I knocked him off the island!

I went to Consulates, then slowed down my culture (stopped working my writer's guild) so that the next SP would be 1 turn after Education. I also had to save up enough money to buy my last two Amphitheaters. The screenshots above were just before getting my 4 free wats.

Just FYI, for the free Wats, there is no need to delay Education. The only requirement is to build amphitheaters before unlocking Legalism. Yes, this will probably be enough to require post-pone finishing Tradition, but should not require you to “waste” SP picks. No need to work hard on coordinating the tech tree with SP either.

up thread he already had uploaded them and put them in spoilers but nothing showed when we (leif or I) clicked the spoilers, which started this conversation.

I asked fyarto upload the files to civfantics.com -- they are still broken links for me (and you).

I've attached a pic of my completed secured island as of turn 100.

Looks really strong! You took Alex’s two good cities with only two of your own! Nice!

I recommend settling two more expos ASAP to get the four free aqueducts and monuments. At the very least, you want to lock up the Natural Wonder and discourage any of the AI from settling on your island. If you wait too much longer, the cities will perpetually be holding up your National Wonders. One or two quick expos after NC are not terrible. One or two expos after T150 are usually just a drag.

If you haven't discovered all of my listed neighbors, I'd advise not viewing.

That kind of begs the question: Exactly who are these Opening Actions thread for? Obviously, we write them for each other, but none of us really benefit! If you follow the instructions, you do not read and you do not post until 100 turn have past, so the stories are too late to help our games!

The Opening Action reports are most informative for people playing after the competition is over! You know, the silent majority lurkers leaching from our hard work!

OTOH, I derive great entertainment from the threads! And WW was able to give me timely advise that saved me the embarrassment of pursing the wrong VC!

 

[belligerent]

Through the 104 turns of my second GOTM:

I took the hill after exploring west first. Looks like I made the right call. Second city aimed at the hill next to the mountain with three luxes in range.

- Did you start this with a specific diplomacy plan? War or peace?

I generally figure on going to war at some point. If playing HCA strategy, I'll usually go to war around turn 110 or so. No different here, but figured it would be later.

- How many neighbors have you met? And who?

Austria, Lizzie, Huns, Denmark, France, and Alex and about 10 CS. Punk Alex settled Sparta (3rd city) 4 tiles from my capital (to the west) stealing on of my salts. So...

- Any early wars or have you remained peaceful so far?

I DOWed Alex on turn 45. Took Sparta about turn 75, razed and built a settler to settle my third city where I wanted my second one.
Took Carthage at turn 90, Athens down at 103. Alex is dead. I have three cities plus Athens puppet (with... a circus. Thanks Alex.)

First two cities down with 4 archers and 3 warriors total. Athens took 4 CB, 2 warriors and a trireme. Left with 4 CB, 2 warriors and 2 triremes after schwacking Alex. Did pretty well surviving the hoplites with just a few losses.

- Did you get a religion? If so, which tenets?

Yes, Earth mother pantheon + shrine got me second religion. Tithe and pagodas.

- Describe your social policy choices.

Opened tradition. Then found Alex, opened Liberty and working through that. Will go through Legalism to exploit the free Wats, this just made it easier to do! After that, Patronage I'm sure.

Built Pyramids in six turns with strong production and chopping. Should help overcome slower start from war.

A little behind where I like to be on science at this point, part because of Archipelago, part because of super-early schwacking of Alex. This is like playing with the Huns, except not with the Huns.

Maria is gonna have to die...

 

[fyar]

If you have not done so, please describe in the After Action Reports thread if you came to regret letting Alex live. I paid for that mistake all game -- even after I knocked him off the island!

I did post in the After Action Reports thread, and I did just fine with letting Alex live. You can look at my screenshots over there, I never expanded beyond my 4 tradition cities. He did declare war on me eventually (industrial era), but he was so far behind in growth, tech, and production that his DoW was nothing more than a nuisance. I think zoning out his settlers for so long put him behind the 8-ball and he never really recovered. Even though he had 4 of the 6 cities on the continent, I had the two best spots and his 3 expo cities were awfully weak.

Just FYI, for the free Wats, there is no need to delay Education. The only requirement is to build amphitheaters before unlocking Legalism. Yes, this will probably be enough to require post-pone finishing Tradition, but should not require you to “waste” SP picks. No need to work hard on coordinating the tech tree with SP either.

I realized this later. Oops... oh well. I think that I did buy my last one or two amphitheaters just before taking legalism, so maybe I had to delay it for that reason anyway, but I also didn't prioritize my amphitheaters until that point... I think I probably could have gotten them in time without delaying legalism. In the end, I don't think a few lost turns of culture hurt my game in the long run.