VQ06a - Emperor just win!

[Maquis]

Time for the VQ series to move on to a tough challenge; Emperor!

This SG is a "Just Win" with all victory conditions enabled.

The only twist? We're competing with... ourselves! Which VQ team can win, achieve a better score, or, most impressively, be the quickest?

Here's the roster for VQ06a:

ChrTh
Maquis
Scowler
bobrath
dot

We've rolled a random leader on Emperor, the map is Fractal. - We are Napolean of France. An Aggressive leader just might be what we need to keep in this game - maybe even win!

Everyone plays 20 turns the first round, then we'll drop to 10 after that. We'll also want plenty of discussion, especially when something big comes up.


Here's our starting screenshot:




ChrTh is up for the first 20. Good luck to all!!


Here's the save:

 

[ChrTh]

I have got it, expect a screenshot in less than 10 minutes!

EDIT: Speaking of screenshot, um, Maquis, I think you posted the wrong one!

 

[ChrTh]

Ok, I've moved the Warrior 1E to get a better look. Didn't add too much. I think settling in place is the best bet, 1S makes the coastal tiles not very useful and the hill is NOT on Fresh Water.

[EDIT: Removed pic because it was too big and since the decision has been made to settle in place it's not really necessary]

(Let me know if the pic is too big, if so I'll shrink it down ... I put up a larger picture than normal because I wanted to make sure all the features of the terrain were visibile)

 

[bobrath]

yeah, bring that pic down to 15 inch monitor size... no loss of resolution there. I like settling in place because it pops the hut with our city instead of the warrior (better odds), it has coastal access. IMO, the only other choice would be 2S to get the pig and wheat in our radius asap while keeping the coastal bonus. That however doesn't over come the bonus to defense the current site has. We've got river defense on two sides.

My vote is settle and get to work! Figure warrior to explore a bit east (forest for extra D against animals), but not too far since we will need a homeland D sooner rather then later.

 

[Scowler]

Sire, I agree

Moving off the coast would weaken our capital. 2S would have to be an exceptional site to justify moving, and I can't see that it is - the borders will expand soon anyway. Good points about the hut and defense.

Now, I wonder what the psycho-count will be among our neighbours...

 

[Maquis]

Speaking of screenshot, um, Maquis, I think you posted the wrong one!

Sorry, it was late... it's been fixed now.

I agree with settling in place.

 

[ChrTh]

Ok, settling in place it is (I'll fix the screenshot later)

I'm thinking for research path: Mining > Bronze Working > Animal Husbandry
And for builds: Warrior > Barracks > Warrior > Worker

Any objections/thoughts?

 

[bobrath]

makes sense to me with all those lucious hills around us.

 

[ChrTh]

In thinking about it, I may add Archery into the mix before Animal Husbandry, I guess it depends who's around us.

 

[ChrTh]

Sheesh, I can't believe Team B has already played 20 turns! What's the holdup?

Oh right, me! Playing now...

(PS I didn't read the thread, I just saw the save in the Upload Folders directory when I was uploading VQ05)

 

[ChrTh]

Ok, first things first: I change the Leader name to VQ06a to prevent any confusion in the Uploads Folder.

Warrior has already moved, so I build ParisA. Set build to Warrior (due in 8). Start Mining, due in 8.

In 3880 BC, our Warrior finds a nice river to our East ... it has Corn! Lots of forest and flood plains nearby, so will be a good city site(s).

In 3720 BC, I encounter the scouts of Kublai (phew!) Khan. His scouts came from the east, I reckon, so I bet he's a distance away (i.e. we should be able to settle the river before he does, I hope).

3680 BC is an exciting year, as both our first Warrior is built and Mining comes in. Bronze Working is started, due in 16 (reckon that'll shorten when we grow). Barracks started, due in 15. Warrior is fortified.

This year I also discover that I lied, he is pretty close:



I can also see Coastline, we may be trapped on a small island with him

In 3600 BC, I find that what I thought was the coastline was actually a lake. However, I find the real coastline. And Bears!



In 3560 BC, the Bears attack us instead of the tastier scouts. We are victorious! I promote them to Wood I and send them into the forest to heal next turn.

ParisA grows to Size 2.

There are wolves and Lions to the SW.

In 3440 BC, a Forest grows near ParisA! Also, our Warrior (now fully healed) goes to the ocean, at the same time discovering tundra. We be in the southern part of the world.

In 3320 BC I learn that I am wrong about us being stuck with Kublai, as we encounter a scout of Julius Caesar! I suspect he is North/Northeast of Kublai.

And in 3280 BC, I find another scout -- Cyrus! I suspect he is also N/NE of Kublai. Cyrus doesn't seem to like Kublai.

In 3240 BC, we complete the Barracks. I start a Warrior (due in 5, same as Bronze Working).

In 3200 BC, Buddhism is founded in a distant land.

Ok, here's the world as we know it:


And a little demographic action:


And here's the save:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads11/VQ06a_BC-3200.Civ4SavedGame

 

[Maquis]

OK, I got the save... I'll be playing in a few hours.

So are we thinking of going for Archery after BW?

Might we think of a quick axe rush to take out Kahn? I really wouldn't want to give him time to get Kehiks...

If we have copper in range of Paris , I think it would be great strategy...

 

[ChrTh]

Ugh, not a good set of opponents to start with. Good thing we seem to be next to only one of them, and we're not playing AW.

I had originally planned to do a Worker after the Warrior, but I'm thinking we should do a Settler instead (ParisA will have grown to 3 when the Warrior completes). We should try to get settled on that river asap, before KK gets there.

Good luck Maquis.

EDIT: We cross-posted. If there's a copper nearby, than an axe rush may be warranted. If that's the plan, I would go Hunting > Archery next, otherwise we should probably go for Animal Husbandry to see if there are horses and to get our Health going.

 

[ChrTh]

Hey Gang, not sure why the pics aren't showing up anymore in my turnpost (except for the last one, apparently)--they were showing earlier. I'll re-upload them to imageshack later.

EDIT: Pics reloaded. Hopefully they'll stick around this time.

 

[Maquis]

Ack... server ate my first report! (I got a timeout when submitting, and then my post was gone when I went back... )


Anyways... no copper in Paris. Copper is off to the SE. Not sure if we can settle there with our first settler... might be far away?

After BW came in, researched Hunting - archery. AH is being researched now. Remember, we want to deny KK horses if at all possible.


Built a worker, started settler. Chopped the extra forest (we had 3) to the east of Paris.

KK founded Hindu. Hope it spreads to us for the

Also, someone else founded Judism. No one converted, so may have been KK, or an unknown AI.


Note for next up: Warrior to the NE of Paris is fortified in the forest. There is a barb warrior across the river who will attack us IBT. With the forest, along with attack across river, we should win.



Good luck! Scowler is up!

 

[ChrTh]

Man, I would love to get a city on that coastal hill 2E of the copper ... it would have 3 food resources

 

[Maquis]

Man, I would love to get a city on that coastal hill 2E of the copper ... it would have 3 food resources

As would I...

DO you think it's too far a reach for our second city? It just might be worth the trek, if anything to deny KK the copper...
\

 

[ChrTh]

Yeah, I think so. We need at least 1, if not 2, cities between them. Unless you think we can pull off an Axe rush just from that city against anything KK puts down between them.

 

[Scowler]

I'm in the mood for a dot-map.

With 2 food resources, an oasis, and four flood-plains, Blue Dot is another powerful site:



However, it may not be appropriate for one city to grab all those choice tiles; here is one way it might fit into a larger plan:



And an alternative that divides the resources more evenly:



Any thoughts before I start playing? Obviously things may have to change if horsies appear nearby. We can also eventually fit in a couple more cities to the west of ParisA, and I dare say an ABC will pop up sooner or later in the south.

Research-wise, I'm thinking Mysticism for an Obelix, and then Pottery -> Writing? I'm glad we got Archery as it will be a while before the Copper is hooked up.

As this is Emperor we can't afford to be left behind in the tech trading game. We also need to keep relations with others as high as possible: our experience in Merz02 suggests that WFYABTA tends to bite quickly if your trading partner is not at least Polite. Cyrus is the best and most reliable ally out of the civs we've met so far; worryingly, both Khan and Jules are annoyed with him already.

 

[dot]

Hi everybody !

I'll still be oop for the sig-stated time. So if you keep moving in the only appropriate speed ... feel free to skip me for the first round!

I'm really looking forward to this VQSG for several reasons:
1) I usually shoot up the religious tree. Sometimes BW is around tech #20 in my research history. So this'll be new for me.
2) Emperor will be new to me, and I think - really challenging !
3) I've really enjoyed the way the VQ-vets have combined good and brief strategy-briefings with a great sense of humor .

On the fabulous memaps as posted by Scowler (thx btw): How about settling bluedot one SE or (being pretty much the same) pinkdot (3rd pic) 1 NE? I reckon that this will be pretty close to KK - but AFAI can tell from your 'up-to-now-posts' - you're willing to take him out asap anyway*?? From there I'd try to grab reddot (the copper-site).

---------
Off-topic:

What does

WFYABTA

stand for?

* Since I'm no native speaker I want to ask whether it has to be anyway or anyways? I just never know.