UU expires

[Delphi456]

Spoonwood, here's how I implemented this strategy: I was able to only place 6 towns before being blocked by Byz to the S, and Vikings W and SW; ocean borded my entire N. I built enkidus until I got WC, then made vet archers. Once I got Iron, I made swords. Each town got walls and 2 enkidus for defense. The archers/swords combined with 2 enkidus (for cover) formed my SOD. Used Emsworth Agreement to get Byz to fight Ottomans because Byz built Soz and I didn't want them to attack me. Declared on Vikings, swords/archers took out 2 towns, got 2 more towns suing for peace. 4 new towns were garrisoned with 2 enkidus each. Redeclared 20 turns later; SOD had 11 cats, 9 sword/archers. Now have 18 towns; Vikings down to 3 towns.

Granted, this is not how I envisioned this strategy working - the AI didn't have a chance to throw themselves at my walls. But, initially being able to garrison my 6 core at a cost of 120 shields allowed for a much quicker build up of my first SOD; thus a quicker attack. Being able to garrison 4 new towns for 80 shields allowed me to build up 2nd SOD with more swords and many cats. Only 1 core town was devoted to building enkidus. Do the math: My 5-shield town produced 10 enkidus during 20 turns of peace. This allowed my much more expensive swords/archers to capture more towns before vikings could build up a counter-attack.

This little tale doesn't proved my point regarding 'the lemming affect', but it did reveal a tactic to get a SOD up and running quickly.

 

[Spoonwood]

That sounds like a lot of cities defended to me. So long as you don't lose them, you only need to defend your border cities.

 

[creamcheese]

This little tale doesn't proved my point regarding 'the lemming affect', but it did reveal a tactic to get a SOD up and running quickly.

While Sumeria certainly does have cheap defenses, it seem to me you could have gotten your SoD doom up more quickly (or had a second one for defense) if you had just skipped all but a few enkidus. Since the AI is so slow on the attack, you don't need to keep 2 units in all cities at all times.

That sounds like a lot of cities defended to me. So long as you don't lose them, you only need to defend your border cities.

I agree, although without seeing the map it may have been a good idea.

 

[Delphi456]

Don't you usually garrison your towns in Despotism?

 

[creamcheese]

Don't you usually garrison your towns in Despotism?

Only if my luxury slider is broken or I am building a wonder in that city and need some extra population. Most of my warriors are out scouting or killing barbs or whatever. If I have archers, horses, cats, or swords they are at my borders looking for someone who is weak.

 

[Spoonwood]

Don't you usually garrison your towns in Despotism?

Not much.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Not much.

Maybe I'm missing something ... only 6 towns placed, before he was hemmed in. Aren't they *all* effectively border towns?

 

[creamcheese]

Maybe I'm missing something ... only 6 towns placed, before he was hemmed in. Aren't they *all* effectively border towns?

Depends on where he was on the map. We have no way of knowing.

 

[Delphi456]

4 bordered the AI, 2 bordered the ocean.

I have disbanded the game because it wasn't turning out as I expected.

I am curious about the 'not garrisoning' of other players in some towns. The two MP's you are allowed in Despotism allows you to not touch the lux slider until you hit pop 4 (on emp). If you don't have the 2 MP's in all towns, aren't you going to be wasting some gold when you have to "up" the lux slider to help a non-MP'd town not riot at pop 2? The towns at pop 3 wouldn't need the lux slider "upped", and will be wasting gold on happiness.

 

[creamcheese]

4 bordered the AI, 2 bordered the ocean.

I have disbanded the game because it wasn't turning out as I expected.

I am curious about the 'not garrisoning' of other players in some towns. The two MP's you are allowed in Despotism allows you to not touch the lux slider until you hit pop 4 (on emp). If you don't have the 2 MP's in all towns, aren't you going to be wasting some gold when you have to "up" the lux slider to help a non-MP'd town not riot at pop 2? The towns at pop 3 wouldn't need the lux slider "upped", and will be wasting gold on happiness.

While I'm in despotism I usually am researching @10% (minimum) for most of the time so I have plenty of gold to bump the lux slider to whatever I need. I have better uses for shields (granaries, warriors for scouting, curraghs, workers, settlers, etc.) early on in the game. Since shields are often a bottleneck early on, the lux slider comes out as a better choice for happiness.

 

[cain3456]

There is no magic switch, but you could disable the upgrade path. Just set the desired UU to upgrade to nothing. The downside is that it will not upgrade . Why are you so eager to be making your UUs once they are obsolete?

Because they have cool features--for example, the Berserkers with their amphibious ability, or Hwachas with lethal bombardment. Those attributes are lost when upgrading.

Which is another reason I prefer Civ4.

 

[scratchthepitch]

Because they have cool features--for example, the Berserkers with their amphibious ability, or Hwachas with lethal bombardment. Those attributes are lost when upgrading.

Which is another reason I prefer Civ4.

Easy enough to edit the units those UUs upgrade to so they have those attributes, or whatever else you think they could use. I found the unit stats in the stock game to be one of the most poorly done parts of the game and edited the units extensively.

 

[Quintillus]

I have disbanded the game because it wasn't turning out as I expected.

I like the way you phrase that... disbanding the game. Too bad it wasn't turning out well, though.