TSG67 Opening Actions

[Alphons Rodulfo]

The game went pretty well so far. I settled at the starting location and build a scout, monument and shrine. I delayed the granary for the shrine because I wanted an early religion. I got the second pantheon. I doubted some time but I picked Godess of Festivals, to get 1 culture and 1 faith from the abundant incense. I thought I needed culture as much as faith.

I started with the full liberty tree and founded two more cities, one near the ivory, river and desert and one on the coast near Lake Victoria. I can't see any more good places to settle for now. I used the Great Engineer that I got from finishing Liberty to rush Petra. That was about turn 96. Other wonders I got are the Pyramids and the Oracle.

I have now started on the Patronage tree and I am raking in crazy amounts of gold (about 70 per turn). Lots more than the other civs. So I started using gold to buy city states. Its all about having lots of allied city states for diplomatic victory, isn't it?

I am now in doubt about what my next goal should be: get to astronomy as soon as possible (to discover the rest of the world) or get to machinery first to get some crossbows for conquering Brazil? Brazil has to go, that is for sure...

 

[Maxym]

I have now started on the Patronage tree and I am raking in crazy amounts of gold (about 70 per turn). Lots more than the other civs. So I started using gold to buy city states. Its all about having lots of allied city states for diplomatic victory, isn't it?
.

That is a common misconception about diplo, in fact it's all about science. Once you get to countdown to last vote, you'll have plenty of time to get CS allies. Spend all your efforts on teching faster. That doesn't mean don't invest in any CS throughout the game, but the purpose is to speed up tech, not have allies at that point.

 

[Alphons Rodulfo]

That is a common misconception about diplo, in fact it's all about science. Once you get to countdown to last vote, you'll have plenty of time to get CS allies. Spend all your efforts on teching faster. That doesn't mean don't invest in any CS throughout the game, but the purpose is to speed up tech, not have allies at that point.

I knew that all victory types used to be science victories in essence. But I hoped that BNW had changed that and that the diplomacy victory actually needed some diplomacy. It would be a pity is that is not the case.

Anyway, I did not know what to do with the money, so buying allies seemed a good idea. They do help in the science department. I have checked my game in progress: I am producing 450 flasks per turn now and 88 of them are contributed by allied city states.

I think early allies are useful for other reasons too:
1) They give you food, which translates to more city science
2) They can help you in the world congress, adopting resolutions that improve science
3) They make it easier to capture enemy cities that could make meaningful contributions to science (I have captured Rio, containing lots of Wonders, and I think it really helped that Brazil was surrounded by city states that were my allies)

That said (written), yes, it is easy to get carried away with immersion and forget that science should be the number one priority.

 

[Hyperion529]

i have just reached printing press after beelining education and then astronomy.

i didnt like the starting position and wandered south in search for more desert and maybe a mountain and than found this nice place with deer and 2 stone and both desert and mountain. after i discovered Brazil to be near my capital i wanted to steal a worker and parked a scout around Rio, but it took him forever to actually build a worker, so i got one from Cape Town in the meantime. finally snatched a second one from Pedro around turn 40 or something.
i went tradition and have settled 4 cities now. my 2nd city was founded near the copper/gems and jungle in the south for another observatory, the 3rd on the sea near the starting location because i thought access to iron and sea trade routes might be useful. with the map knowledge i have now this was probably a mistake. production is very low in my 4th city near Lake Victoria, but i had enough cash (friends with Persia and Poland and recently also with Assyria) to rushbuy a library and university there.

i guess i got lucky with the wonders in my game, as i managed to build all the ancient/classical ones i wanted. GL, NC, HG, Petra, Oracle, used HS to enhance (got desert folklore as pantheon before). i was beaten to Machu Picchu and Borobudur though.

now that the world congress will be founded next turn i will continue to race to the information era. RAs wont probably be as effective on this difficulty level, but i think a sub t280 victory is possible

Spoiler :

 

[bjelar]

I'm baffled.
To me walking south with the settler is a decision which can only be good in hindsight. What will you do if you run into a city state (or Copenhagen )? Run back?

 

[Tesuji]

It seems I was not the only one unhappy with the starting point. No food, no hammers. Moved warrior south, still no food. A lot of desert, but without resources to build Petra I didn't want to start there either. An oasis, a hill and desert incense is rather weak. So after wandering for a few turns I settled on the hill next to the river, ivory and grain. Felt like an eternity to settle, and a bit of a gamble to lead the settler out so far.

I went scout, Monument, Shrine, Worker. My scout got 4 religion, just enough to be the first with my shrine. Stole 2 more workers from CSs.

Went full liberty and settled one city to the East (between 2 oasis), one on the coast near the starting point. And then filled it out with a city smack in the middle of the desert to the West. And when I later found Lake Victoria I sent another settler there. That will probably be it, five cities. Unless I feel the need for some conquering.

I didn't try any of the early wonders and went for Petra. Got it on turn 90 and have my full religion set up, Tithe, Pagodas, Mosques and itinerant priests.

I'm still missing two civs!

I have no idea what it takes for a diplomatic victory with BNW, so now I have to start to make plans Like making some troops, Brazil looks menacing with his swordsmen.

 

[tommynt]

moved warri se and saw a mountain 4 tiles from settler away and started moving towards it - even when giving up a potential coastal cap was a though decision.

BO was kinda special I guess: Monument --> 3x warri --> granny --> scout-->gl

I recently fell in love with CS buliing early on and some testgames told me that 4 warris are suffiecient to be 1. in military for some time.

With buli gold I bought settler.

After finish of gl i ll now go for NC with 2 cities and then get 2 more, not sure when to fit stonehenge in bo, before or after NC

got called for mp game
t0-t51 uploaded, see signature. Game looks kind of promising

 

[FeiLing]

Settled east of the lake... not too happy with that really, going further south might have been better.

Got GL, but not HG and neither Petra
Scout got killed very early as I was surrounded all of a sudden by 5 barb camps - went for 2 Chariots Archers to deal with the barb craziness (hope to keep them for Cover2 Knights/Berber Cavalry later).

Stole one Worker from Hong Kong (so he had to walk a bit long).

Maya went for Wonder and Missionary spamming. Assyria though was spamming Siege Towers, so the Maya already lost their capital and their religion won't be a problem now I guess (if they survive at all).

Consulates and Tradition done (got Oracle before Persia).
Desert Folklore, Swords into Plowshares and Tithe. Planning to get Religious Community when Enhancing.

Still two unmet civs of which one is pointleader building many wonders and the other is last in points (one of them has Honor and build Zeus).

T119 now Education, though I haven't even finished Libraries everywhere yet.
Pop is 11, 5, 4, 3.

I think I should take two Brazil cities sooner or later, I'm unsure though about that 2nd DoW and it's consequences on Diplomacy... would be better if they declared war on me^^ Gotta stop the caravan to them I guess and hope for the best. edit) maybe not, he just finished the Great Wall -.-

Tikal (Maya) just finished Hagia Sophia (dunno how they did it as they were building it in their capital before but didn't finish it there due to losing the city before that... probably with a GE from Stonehenge) one turn before it got captured by Assyria. The really weird thing though is that they are razing the city. It's in a very good location and it has a damn world wonder in it... why would they raze it? Yet those Assyrians claim to be so clever with their Libraries, huh?

 

[StrideColossus]

The game went pretty well so far. I settled at the starting location and build a scout, monument and shrine. I delayed the granary for the shrine because I wanted an early religion. I got the second pantheon. I doubted some time but I picked Godess of Festivals, to get 1 culture and 1 faith from the abundant incense. I thought I needed culture as much as faith.

I started with the full liberty tree and founded two more cities, one near the ivory, river and desert and one on the coast near Lake Victoria. I can't see any more good places to settle for now. I used the Great Engineer that I got from finishing Liberty to rush Petra. That was about turn 96. Other wonders I got are the Pyramids and the Oracle.

Interesting, you went almost exactly the same route as my game (just posted in results thread) except I didn't try for Pyramids.

I have now started on the Patronage tree and I am raking in crazy amounts of gold (about 70 per turn). Lots more than the other civs. So I started using gold to buy city states. Its all about having lots of allied city states for diplomatic victory, isn't it?

Yes, although you only need them when it comes to congress and UN vote time, though having lots of CS allies is good anyway of course

I am now in doubt about what my next goal should be: get to astronomy as soon as possible (to discover the rest of the world) or get to machinery first to get some crossbows for conquering Brazil? Brazil has to go, that is for sure...

I won't spoil things by saying what route I took, but generally it seems to me that the diplomatic is now much more closely aligned to the science victory route. I hadn't actually done a diplo victory in BNW before so I had to be keep checking the tech tree and civopedia to help decide my strategy - you might want to do the same.

Good luck.

 

[DrZ]

I moved settler to the coast.
Went liberty because I saw a few nice city spots and was not confident in getting them with Tradition fast enough (I was planning in building wonders so no time to spent in building a settler).
Got GL turn 40.
Settled 2 cities.
Got Petra in secondary city near the desert to the south.
Brazil went and built the Parthenon and built 2 cities close to me so I thought DOWing him is best.
Turn 100 killed Brazil completely... He had a city that had to be razed(too close to me) and 2 really good ones. Should I have left one and not get the penalty? (2 archers, 2 swords and 2 horses and 2 catapults is my army).

Not really sure what to do next, my army is big enough to conquer more but I really think I should not destroy them all because Morocco is trade centered so I should have somebody to trade with. Any advice? Just kill one more? But that will upset the others even more...

Is science still the most important thing in fast diplomacy games? It surely seems so on king, they will never get all to atomic fast enough.

 

[casualplayer]

First city dropped on the visible River-Hill, second on the Desert River-Hill near the Ivory, third out by the Oasis. I don't have a coastal city or Mountain settlements so I won't meet the otherlanders for awhile.

So little hammers to be had so I opened Tradition then Piety to Jesuit Education for some faith masonry. Universities for 6 Turns of Faith, so my cities were staffed-up by Turn 125 without depleting my gold. Festivals and Monasteries have me rolling in Culture and Faith, winning all the City-State quests. DoF with Persia, Assyria and India, RAs with all three. Didn't hit Education until Turn 118 but I should be able to get this back on teching time soon.

I don't want to kill Brazil but he covets my lands and keeps building beautiful Wonders. I pay Persia and Assyria to DoW him every so often just to keep Pedro's attention elsewhere. I need to go find whoever swiped Petra and poke them in the head.

 

[Stellarnight]

Hm a rather odd game to say the least. A lot of luxuries lying around but i decided to let my capital grow instead of rapid expansion. Here is a summary of first 100 turns(with pictures!)

Marrakesh was settled at a rather unorthodox position. I sent my warrior to the northern hill to see what is beyond the river and the tundra. I saw nothing of worth up there so i settled Marrakech one tile below the hill right on top of the incense to minimise the amount of tundra tiles i will get in exchange for missing out on Water mill and gardens. Time will see if this decision was right. Food and production looks bleak as well.

Spoiler :

Build Order: Scout->Monument->Granary(food around the area is atrocious)
Turn 7: I met Brazil. This means he is nearby. Definitely South.

Turn 10: Found Cape City to the east of Marrakech. Maritime CS? Excellent! I would need a good food boost for Marrakech. Took a gamble with researching Animal Husbandry as plains have a decent chance of churning out horses which will be a slight boost.

Turn 18: No horses. bad luck. Hardbuilding my worker.

Turn 33: Went Tradition-Legalism-the food policy. Population growth in Marrakech starts to pick up. Maybe i won't need HG. Scouted with my warrior up north. Lake Victoria! But it is surrounded by tundra and worse, ice! There is a fur lux and a barbarian encampment. I made a mental note to settle my third city up there.

Turn 46: Things does not look good. I built a library to bolster my abysmal beakers. Since i intend of grabbing Colossus, i gambled with BW, hoping to perhaps snag a few iron to bolster production and to sell.

Spoiler :

Turn 49: Gamble succeeded! 3 Workable iron resources. Some good luck for a change!

Spoiler :

Turn 55: Destroyed a Barbarian outpost that was right on the border of Cape Town. The outpost was also Cape Town's quest. Needless to say, instant alliance. The food will be a massive help! Meanwhile i am hardbuilding a settler while i slowly research IW.

Turn 59: My shrine finally churns out a pantheon. I picked "Goddess of Festivals" for obvious reasons. Meanwhile Brazil settles a second city to her east. I have also met Persia who is far far away to the South.

Turn 65: I took a massive risk with an unprotected settler. There was a barbarian camp nearby but my warrior is mired in tough terrain and i wanted to settle a second city quick. I am nowhere near NC so i opt to settle my city next to the mountain once again losing any river advantages.

Spoiler :

Turn 67: Connected a Caravan Trade route to Cape City to complete quest. They are now my eternal allies. I got a free whale from them to boot.

Turn 74: Destroyed that Barbarian outpost my settler sneaked by. Riga, ANOTHER Maritime CS is now my temporary ally. The citizens of Marrakech continues to breed like rabbits while somehow putting a good shift into working. I am impressed.

Spoiler :

Turn 74-81: Somewhere in between, Persia offers me a DoF. Fantastic. I immediately sold off my Cotton. I then proceeded to rushbuy a settler. Lake Victoria, here i come!

Turn 81: Fes is born! Not sure if this is the best spot to place it but the mountain spot convinced me. The two deers should help along with Lake V and the fur. Meanwhile i research Philosophy. Have to get that NC!

Spoiler :

Turn 91: Masonry researched as Rabat has two nice stones and i intend to grab Petra there. Meanwhile i started on the Oracle after having grabbed the Colossus. Money is rolling in.

Spoiler :

Turn 95: Finished tradition. More Food! Meanwhile Brazil's cities are starting to enroach into Rabat's rightful territories. I brought 3 tiles to grab two incense and one wheat from falling into Pedro's hands.

Spoiler :

Turn 100: This is the SitRep for turn 100. Income is going decently well. Once Oracle is done, i'll grab Patronage which is essential for diplomatic victory. Currently beelining towards Petra but i doubt i will get it. Nevertheless the Markets will be useful. I foresee an impending war with Brazil. We are too close to each other. Some of his cities are pretty good as well.

Probably not the best game i have so far but it is enjoyable to say the least. Challenging start definitely but the 3 iron does make it more feasible.

Spoiler :

 

[Sotanorsu]

Report after turn 100:

I settled my first city on the hill next to the river, as most of the people apparently. Scouted south first, because north filled with tundra didn't feel like a place to expand first. Scouted south and discovered Brazil quite near my capital. Decided to go liberty tree and get a fast settler because there was couple of good spots to found city. Was almost beaten by Brazilian settler on a good spot just between Marrakech and Riga but luckily barbs snatched Pedros settler! And even so luckily my warriors were close so I got a free worker and time to get on to a good spot.

I eventuallly scout the tundra region and later on settled there also to get a coastal city with Lake Victoria and some furs. Before that I founded my third city and a perfect spot, one hex right from the deer and ivory.

Because of fast expanding I decided to try get religion later, I got my DF pantheon at turn 51 and got a religion at turn 83. Fast expansions also meant that I wouldn't be racing towards early wonders and Petra is the first wonder I'm going for. I'm also producing just 20 science in a turn and will take me at least 30 turns to get NC. I'm hoping I will catch up in science later on because of trade routes and building couple more good cities.

My plans next are to finish, hopefully, Petra and found 2 more cities before starting to really grow them.

EDIT: Got beaten by 4 turns to Petra

 

[Blicero]

Worst game ever... Lost GL at turn 43, HG at turn 83 and Petra at turn 95. What has happened to king?

Well, good to see that I am not alone here. This is my first time to participate in the GOTM series. Was rather excited, and then started to feel quite embarrassed after this one. I just uploaded my save and will post the results on the other thread.

A summary of the first part of my game, and my opinion of some of the things that went wrong for me:

• Underestimated how fast the AI would get wonders on King (I usually play on Diety, so thought it would take them ages)
• I lost Petra by 2 turns
• In terms of a start spot, I didn't like the no-food option of the port hill, so went inland one move. The start here is quite poor, which may have caused us all these problems.
• I almost lost my second city site on that desert area north of Rio had it not been for a little amateurish settler blocking on Pedro
• I went Liberty and probably should have gone Tradition (hindsight definitely 20/20 after seeing the map)
• I screwed up my strategy. Diplo Victory is all about science (1) and money (2). I went liberty, then early aggression to expand. First acquisition was Riga for the sweet coastal spot. Then it was Brazil. Persia & Assyria loved me at first because they were at war with Brazil, but after I took all the good spots, everyone hated me for the rest of the game (everyone).

 

[Arnold_T]

Worst game ever... Lost GL at turn 43, HG at turn 83 and Petra at turn 95. What has happened to king?

I also lost GL (at turn 47 to India). managed to get HG, but Education t123 doesn't position me for a medal
Guess I'll just play it out to see how the new Diplo win works.