WOTM 04 - First Spoiler

Gyathaar · Dec 20, 2006

WOTM 04 - First Spoiler

Reading Requirements:

Have reached at least 0 AD.
Know the general layout of the starting continent.

Posting Restrictions

Please do not discuss events past 500 AD.

Have your Roman legions been able to set up an empire in this world?

BCLG100 · Dec 20, 2006

Hmm Ok seems im first to post here

My first Marathon game and boy does it make emporer easier, i beelined straight away to iron working creating a stack of axes on the way which i used to cripple brennus who ended up settling near me.

He was down to two cities when i sued for peace as an opportunity to move my roman legions into place. 15 or so turns later i moved in and destroyed brennus-keeping most of his lands.

By this time i had a huge stack of praets lying about so i sent a few off in exploration (by this time i had knowledge of where everyone was or at least contact) and found mansa, i decided it would be best to cripple him and i did so fairlyeasily, his skirmishers being wiped under the heals of my praets, i only kept 2 cities because by this time my economy was becoming an issue. I was often having to micromanage all the cities to stay in the black but i did so and pre chopped for the great library (cant remember the date).

By this time i was upto about 4th in score but 1st in military and mfg but still sucking quite badly in gnp.

Not entirely sure about dates so ill stop there for a time

synthboy · Dec 20, 2006

Playing on Adventurer gave me a huge advantage although it'll be my last (just found out I finished in the top half for the last WOTM

). I sent my archer out to explore and make contact with everyone which proved to be invalauble later on.

Bremmus obviosuly got the chop but I waited until I had Praets coming out of my ears. Didn't take very long and snaffled a few barb cities to boot. However, that was when the wheels fell off. I felt I was too far away away from Mansa to have a pop (although in retrospect I probably should have) and the health and happiness caps at Emperor meant that my ecomony ground to a halt and my units went on strike! In the end I had to demand cash from Huayna to keep myself going long enough to get to Code of Laws.

After that, however, things started to look up. I managed to trade for Calendar and also by now had managed to open up some trade routes. With a fair bit of land under my belt I had a nice spread of resources I could start trading. Finally my cities began to grow and I could slowly drag my grotty ecomony out of the gutter. However, I was now a long way off the pace and wasn't going to be catching up any time soon but there was one last bonus before the clock switched to AD: I built the Pryamids. Coupled with the forum I figured I could just lightbulb my way to techy goodness.

Civicide · Dec 20, 2006

Well, my first emperor game has gone surprisingly smoothly, helped out no doubt by a plum starting location and a powerful UU to go along with it. Like many others, I would imagine, my strat involved an early beeline to IW (I believe my research path was fishing > BW > IW); I was gunning for an early worker steal from my nearest neighbor (Brennus as it turned out, of course) but both of my early exploratory warriors got et by lions while crossing the defenseless area to the immediate west. Nevertheless I had 3 cities up and running by the time I actually hit IW (Rome, a city on the far eastern tip with fish and goldx2, and one in range of the copper to the N). Once I found out that pity was taken on us regarding the iron location, I realized that third city was a mistake, but no matter. I chopped a sizable army wiped Brennus off the map very quickly (I only lost two praets, both losing as 95% favorites

wallbash:

), absorbing most of his cities into my economy (which knocked my research rate down to 20%), and then moving on to Mansa Musa.

I believe that at 500AD I was busy razing double-M's cities, which by then were numerous and surprisingly advanced. I finally kept two of them, his capital, which had the Buddhist shrine (Buddhism was the dominant religion on the continent by far, and right from the start that shrine was worth over 20gpt), and a city just to the south which was a production powerhouse.

Being somewhat intimidated by the difficulty level, I have overcompensated by having only one plan for the game: raw aggression. Up to 500AD it worked out remarkably well. Beyond that - wait for the next spoiler!

RobertTheBruce · Dec 20, 2006

Well, I wasn't going to play this game but got some sparetime. I decided to go against the flow and try a relatively peaceful victory and avoid pushing units around the map.

For the early game; I founded in place, built two cities for the gold/fish and copper/cow/clams, and quickly destroyed Brennus. Nemesis number 1 gone, Gaul is a Roman province in 1135BC. I keep Bibracte with its many food resources as my science city/gp farm and Vienne (corn,fish,wine) as a commerce city.

I explore the world but Mansa Masa is too far away for my praetorians to march. Mansa founded Buddhism and I select it as my state religion in 690BC after it spreads to my land. Mansa and Washington are Buddhist and we become good tech trading buddies. H.C. is Hindu, Asoka Jewish, and Hannibal Confucian (he beat me to the Oracle by a couple of turns and grabbed Code of Laws). H.C. and Hannibal won't open borders but Asoka is willing to trade.

Early cities:
2905BC Antium 2xFish, 2xGold
2455BC Cumae Copper, Cow, Clams
1525BC Vienne (captured) Corn, Wine, Fish
1390BC Bibracte 3xClam, Cow, Rice
890BC Neapolis Pigs, Copper, Silver, Wine - Maintenance is a killer but I really need the silver mine for happiness
350BC Pisae (Pigs, Marble, Whale) - Hook up Marble to build Parthenon
330BC Ravenna (on Stone, Cow, Gold) - try to build Pyramids

Early Techs

Spoiler :

Civics - Civil Service presented an odd decision in this game. Normally, I would immediately switch to Bureaucracy but the capital had almost no commerce. I wasn't building military, just chasing Wonders in the capital. I'm planning either space race or diplomatic and Rome is my military production facility. I need more research not more production. I eventually moved the palace to Neapolis and built the Forbidden Palace in Cumae. This limited maintenance but I then realized that the pigs were the only food tile in Neapolis and it wouldn't grow big enough to be worth the revolution. So, no Bureaucracy this game. Also, no vassalage or theocracy. Very unusual for me.

2800BC - Slavery
690BC - Buddhism
190BC - Hereditary Rule, Organized Religion

Wonders:
160BC - Great Lighthouse
110BC - Hanging Gardens (missed the Pyramids and Great Wall so not many engineer points)
180AD - Colossus
490AD - Parthenon (I'm suprised it went so late but the extra gpp are a big bonus)

I'm now pseudo-Philosophical with the Parthenon and Forums in GP generating cities. Its looking like a quick tech race game until the many Punic wars which will occupy the next spoiler.

KingOfLands · Dec 21, 2006

Mainly I'm a Prince player; even on Adventurer I suspect I'm in over my head. :mischief:

Pulled off my first convincing pre-1900 win today and I figured I'd give the Warlords GotM a try and see how it went. So far, not so good.

Either Marathon or Emperor mode is getting to me in a big way - I'm having a rotten game by comparison to my usual. Like everyone who's posted so far, I've taken care of Brennus; it took me forever, though. I rushed my second town in northeast of Bibracte on the wine/pigs/corn/some plantation resource spot (my third and fourth are in all likelihood identical to RoberttheBruce's second and third). Not to say that was a bad idea, but in researching a bunch of improvement technologies I took FAR too long to get to Iron Working and Brennus had gotten halfway to Mansa by about the year zero when I finally finished him off. I only had the cash to keep Bibracte and Vienne, which is on the double wine / copper spot to his capitol's Northwest.

Right now (at 500 AD) I'm languishing in last place, though I'm slowly gaining on Hannibal and my economy is finally running well. War with Mansa appears inevitable if I want to make a comeback of some sort, since all I've got wonder-wise is the Lighthouse and Colossus (should have gone for bronze working much earlier; not sure what I was thinking). All the religions were founded in Washington or further west, and Hinduism reached me shortly after I finished Brennus, so I've had massive happiness / size issues throughout the game. I imagine I'm going to end up meat for Huayna once he has a navy, but I'll go down fighting.

I have, at least, managed to circumnavigate the globe, which was probably totally unnecessary but made me feel better. A map detail not everyone may be aware of is below:

Spoiler :

Murky · Dec 21, 2006

This is all from memory so I may need to come back and edit it later.

I settled in place and worked a plains hill to quickly build a work boat then after it was built I built another one but let the city grow this time. I built a few warriors for fog busting then a settler. Antium was founded east of the gold so that it could work the two food resources. The next city was built 2 tiles south of the copper with the cow and sea resource in the fat cross.

My tech order was something like BW->Wheel->Agriculture->AH->IW->Pottery->Writing->Alphabet

I took out Brennus quickly by capturing the two nearest cities and razing the rest. I also razed several barbarian cities for the much needed cash. The only way I could keep research at 60-70% was to always have a negative income.

I was able to trade for some technology but most of the AIs were either refusing to trade or reluctant to trade except for some very lop-sided deals.

I used my first Great Scientist to light bulb Philosophy. I also chopped out the Oracle for Code of Laws and founded Confucianism. Next, I built my courthouses. Started building Forums after Currency and have started building the Heroic epic in Rome.

I also built the The Great Lighthouse and The Great Library. One of the AIs beat me to the Pyramids and Parthenon. They will likely be a target for my next conquest.

By around 250 AD I had explored most of the land and coast except for one area where open borders wasn't an option.

JimBean345 · Dec 21, 2006

Having generally struggled with Warlords since the AI upgrade (mainly due to a lack of time to play), I really faced this game with trepidation and fear, especially considering the fearsome WOTM the month before. Having also never played a marathon speed game, I had no idea of tech speeds or build times.

However I can see why many reacted the way they did during the pre-game discussion. With Iron in easy reach, by 500ad Brennus & Mansa Musa has been destroyed with Washington totally crippled to one city. HC has been taken down to four cities before he learnt Feudalism and therefore halted my war effort against him. Hannibal has nearly been killed by HC so this has left me facing a strong Asoka (who is perilously close to Maces which would cause a major headache).

Kept my city numbers to six (three founded and three taken from Brennus early doors). Everything else has been razed to date. Tech-wise, I have now been running at 0% since around 500bc and just used pillage and raze money to keep my army moving.

Intriguingly, HC circumnavigated by around 2500bc, which was a shock as have never seen such an early date by an AI before. Also as we I leave my write up, the Pyramids, the Parthenon, Great Library, Colossus all remain untaken with the Oracle only just gone. I suppose the amount of war that has gone on has had a major contribution to this fact.

I would envisage some really early finishes and very high scores if the better players get to all of the civs pre-feudalism.

CivSetä · Dec 21, 2006

I chose the adventurer game, which seems to be a main reason for a strong start. I settled in place and sent my warrior and archer to explore. As I mapped the surrounding terrain and realized being located in a peninsula, I fortified archer nearby to stop barbarians and sent warriot to the further west. He was brave (and lucky!) and managed to made his way far enough to gain contact with everybody and learn their approximate locations.

Rome built three workboats and warrior while growing to size 4, then worker, another warrior to fogbust (just to be sure, again!) and finally two settlers. Then barracks, Oracle, and finally lots of praetorians.

Antium (2725BC) was built to wrong location, next to the copper in tundra as I forgot being creative.

Cumae (2425 BC) was founded on perfect spot with 2 gold and 2 fish. As I knew my research rate would be very high while working both mines, I beelined first to IW and then to Priesthood for Oracle. Oracle was finished in 1675BC and I picked Code of laws. If I had forgotten BW/IW, I maybe could have even done CS slingshot. Anyone tried that?

After wonders I built strong army, declared war to Brennus in 1225 BC and Celts were history in 840BC. I razed lots of barbarian cities for money while chopping and poprushing courthouses to recover my economy. I kept most cities, tax rate was at 0%, but my scientists were working toward construction. I built GL in 530BC in Rome, hoping to get Great scientist to lightbulb philosophy. But my first GP was prophet, so I chose Theology (400 BC) instead.

Mansa Musa was my next victim, the war started in 230 BC. He was crushed in 140 AD, just before the imminent end MM chose to be a vassal for Asoka, so Indians joined the war. I didn't see many of their units before peace treaty was signed. Again I had to stop to recover and build my infrastructure, ad I kept almost all cities and even filled empty spots.

420 AD I went for Roosevelt and took half of his cities before 500AD. My goal is to vassalage him to create a buffer between me and the evil Carthagians.

DynamicSpirit · Dec 21, 2006

(Like Murky, I'm working from memory so dates are very approximate)

Well. Romans. Marathon. Praetorians.What more can I add, other than bang!, bang!, crash!, crash!, 'Augustus, please have mercy on us. Spare our citizens' 'Tough! Sorry, bye bye innocent women and children! Say your prayers to the glory of Rome'...

Well, I can add quite a bit actually.

I did something very unusual for me, and changed my chosen victory condition based on the pre-game screenshot. Was intending spacerace but changed to domination because, ummmm, it's a marathon game and I'd like to complete it before WOTM27 starts...

Gyathaar....?

Spoiler :

Cat and Cottages. No hang on that's wrong, I mean....

Spoiler :

American Horse-archer Stampede

Spoiler :

The Circumnavigation Mystery

Spoiler :

Oh Wonder-ful Rome

Spoiler :

Longbows.... Eeek!

Spoiler :

The Mystery Deepens

Spoiler :

killerloop · Dec 21, 2006

playing adventurer. Just reached 1AD. Game is going well. Number 1 in score, number 1 in tech, number 1 in culture. Only Inca's are keeping up but don't trade.

Founded Rome in place, build 3 WB's, warrior, settler, worker, WB, settler, worker, WB, settler, Oracle.

Founded 3 religions, Hindu, Confu & Chris.

Build 3 cities, then, when having 10 preats (600BC), took 4 cities of Brennus, razed 2.

Was able to keep tech level above 70%, only had problems with happiness.

As I'm learning, I found out that although capturing a winery, that without monarchy, you do not get the wine happiness, not logic to me!

Also Brennus not wanting to settle for peace at all, being down to his last unit...unlogic as well. Now he's gone, his choice.

Missed GLighthouse by 5 turns, build GLib, heroic & national epic and Kashi V (G Prophet), and almost finished with FP.

With finishing Brennus in 340 BC got a Great General.

Next steps is probably taking out MM, and going for diplo or Space. Want to learn more about the civics, let's see how it goes......

cas · Dec 21, 2006

JimBean345 said:
Intriguingly, HC circumnavigated by around 2500bc, which was a shock as have never seen such an early date by an AI before.

You could circle the globe on dry land (main continent) on this map. My starting warrior moved west and kept going...2170BC I circumvented the globe. I founded my third city on the NE point (east of the gold) which helped 2-3 tiles but you also might be able to do it with just the capital border expansion if you could get far enough west into AI lands with OB.

I found that quite amusing too.

cas

edit: removed detail that might be considered spoilerish.

Erkon · Dec 21, 2006

War, war, war. Then some more war. I like it. :lol:

Settled in place, built workboats, warriors, workers and settlers. I chopped a barracks as well. Founded second city on the eastern tip (2xGold + 2xFish) and the third to the NW (copper, fish etc). Researched Bronze Working, The Wheel and Iron Working. I decide to press on towards alphabet (Pottery, Writing, Alphabet) while building Preatorians (13 in a row - I really, really loved them!).

My scouting warrior misses Brennus and meets Mansa Musa. I steal his worker but both are quickly killed by his Malinese Skirmisher (I forgot he had that UU). At this time I realise that the map is not as good as I first thought. The distance to the other AI is a problem, and the happiness resources are located too far away (fur and silver).

There are two events that further baffles me. First, Asoka circumnavigates the globe at 2450 BC. This means one thing: the island spans the complete globe. The second event is the most impressive act of the AI that I have ever experienced: 920 BC - Oracle is built. On the same turn, the AI researched Code of Law and selects Philosophy as the Free Tech :eek:

Was this pure chance? I could not have managed that better myself. These two events scares me.

My first Preatorian comes online 1855 BC. I declare on the Celtic Empire 1675 BC, raze all his cities and eliminates him 1195 BC.

I discover the Alphabet 1030 BC, and trade for:
Tech learned: Mysticism
Tech learned: Agriculture
Tech learned: Hunting
Tech learned: Animal Husbandry
Tech learned: Masonry
Tech learned: Polytheism
Tech learned: Sailing
Tech learned: Archery
Tech learned: Priesthood
Tech learned: Monotheism

I send my army of preatorians to the west and meet Mansa Musa again. I declare on him 920 BC, keeps three of his cities and razes the rest. Mali empire eliminated 420 BC. I should have razed one more, since the gain was not worth the cost. So, when barbarians advance, I evacuate the Walata (city close to marble, iron and sheep). The city is size 2, so I know it will be there later to recapture.

My first general (Charlemagne) is born in 780 BC. I assign him as an inspector in Rome, providing 2 XP for all the subsequent troops. That proved to be very useful. I also finishes Heroic Epic in Rome, which enables me to build a unit every second turn. For the rest of the game

310 BC - Time to relieve Washington from his duty. I raze a couple of his cities and keep Washington. I spend most commerce on unit upkeep and city maintenance but I manage to research Code of Laws, so I decide to keep a couple of cites. 260 AD - Zhuge Liang (Great General) born in Washington. This is an indication of the intensity of the battles. 360 AD - American Empire eliminated

470 AD - War declared: Incan Empire. He is far ahead in tech, and I want to break his tech trade with Hannibal (by taking his cities of course!).

I now have a general plan for the rest of the game, but I am afraid that is outside the scope of this spoiler

(I will post more about research, builds, wonders and great people in the next spoiler.)

AgedOne · Dec 21, 2006

A strange choice, probably, for my first WOTM. Emperor level, and Im really only comfortable down at Noble or Prince. Marathon level, too, which Im unfamilar with. As you can imagine, I decided to play Adventurer class.
Im aware of (some of) my shortcomings as a player at Emperor level. Many of them can be explained by my just not thinking about things before doing them, so I decided my motto was going to be Slow and thoughtful. I have made notes to the kind of level that I see the teams talking things through in the SGOTMs, but Ill spare everyone this horrendous depth and just give the high-level version.

First Assembly

The start position looked lovely, so Rome was settled in place. The military went out exploring, quickly revealing that we lived at the southern tip of a peninsula (Now called Peninsula Romanii). The spur of land containing gold at the top attracted their interest, and the cattle. An obvious spot for another city.
About this time we bumped into Brennus, or his scout at least. Shortly afterwards it was Mansa Musa (M&M). Then Washington. It was interesting to note that everyone seemed to dislike Brennus. Since I had found out he was our only near neighbour, I began to formulate a plan that ran Get some axemen, kill Brennus, rescue his lands and, probably, wait in the Winchester with a few cold beers until this blows over
What became apparent was how far away everyone else was. A long empty east-west corridor runs from the top of our peninsula to M&Ms lands. Where everyone else is, I dont know.

Technology

In the meantime, we have been researching Bronze Working, which we got in 3340 BC.
We then stopped off to get Agriculture, before bee-lining for Iron Working.

Geography

While out exploring I had found a place rich in resources which I dubbed Lush Valley. It was quite a distance away, but had access to copper, gold, pig, silver and stone, so this made it look important as a strategic objective. If I didnt get it, I didnt want anyone else there either.

I also looked carefully at the lie of the land, and decided I wanted to block Brennus off, and grab as much of the land as possible for myself, before attacking.
As a result, our second city Antium was founded by the copper, in a position which stopped Brennus walking in and looking at the Gold spur.

About 2800 BC our third city Cumae was placed by the gold.

During this spell, we also met representatives of Asoka and Hannibals nations. They must all be hiding beyond M&M, a long way away.

Metalwork

At around 2600BC a couple of significant things happened. First we noticed that Brennus walked up and planted a city Vienne right outside Antium. The other thing was that we managed to hook up the copper and could begin our axe army.

Stunning Sailing Aside

In 2515 BC, Mansa Musa circumnavigated the globe.
Our people sat in silent contemplation for some minutes.
I dont think we would be more shocked if we heard that his people had just built a nuclear-powered time chariot. Just what shape is this world?

Metalwork (continued)

The copper was used to good effect and a small but efficient axeman army was constructed. We stood them outside Vienne.
In the meantime, we discovered Iron Working (in 2215 BC) and began to construct some even more significant metal-wielders.

It took a while to prepare, but in 1795BC the fun started. Vienne became the first Axe Victim. Bibracte was next, but it was tougher and we were glad for the new Praetorians to finish the job. These we kept.
Brennus had planted 2 other cities, Tolosa and Gergovia, so we turned to them next and wiped them and the Celts from the face of the earth in 1375 BC.

Home Economics

At this point, we had eliminated our nearest rival, and expanded into the vacant territory. We were in a bit of economic trauma even before we expanded, but the desire to stake our claim in Lush Valley definitely clouded our minds, because it got a lot worse after that.

We completed Stonehenge in Rome, and were proud to be named the worlds most cultured.

Around 880 BC we founded our 2 new cities around Lush Valley. This was where the economy really went belly up.

We spent many diverting moments playing with the local barbarians, who mainly acted as training material for our Preatorians (apart from one embarrassing incident where we ran a Prae unit off the road, losing a turn and allowing a barb warrior to ruin a pasture)

We found a useful source of income in crushing barb cities. Several popped up in the north and south, and were despatched by Praetorians. One annoyance was when the barb city of Jute was nicked from under our noses by M&Ms men, who waited for us to weaken the defences before they nipped in!

A Plan

Around 500BC we hatched a plan to excape from financial ruin. It involved moving the capital to Vienne, researching Code of Laws and putting in courthouses. There were some minor points of citizen-management, and Hereditary Rule, but that was the gist.

The palace move looked like it might just be complete before 2050AD, but was helped by the appearance of Shankara, Great Prophet, who joined as a super-specialist, and evidently a dab hand at building palaces.

Games

Out of the blue, in 380 BC, M&M wants to play games. A declaration of war, and he drops chariots by Bibracte!
(In retrospect, he had made an insolent demand a few hundred years before)
Chasing the runaway chariots was fun, but mainly the war consisted of splatting some skirmishers who wandered over towards Pisae and Neapolis.
Much less fun was realising that, having no navy, you cannot do a thing about enemy galleys who decide to pillage all of your fishing boats.
It was all over by 240 BC. He was happy to give us peace.

History

In 30AD we finally completed the move of the capital to Vienne, and we learned CoL enabling us to get going on those courthouses.
It may all be too late. We are now a long way adrift in technology. Everyone else has long lists of tech, and we have nothing to trade back to them. We are also way down the power chart. Scarcely worth mentioning the money situation! The only good thing is our culture.
A new millennium has dawned. Will the Romans be around to see its conclusion?

Cat Behemoth · Dec 21, 2006

JimBean345 said:
Intriguingly, HC circumnavigated by around 2500bc, which was a shock as have never seen such an early date by an AI before.

In my game Mansa Musa made it at 3040 BC. :crazyeye:

Who's earlier? :lol:

Mauer · Dec 21, 2006

I really wish I could remember what I did. All I know is I captured too many cities and my economy is TANKING! Or was rather. I'm beginning to get it back on its feet, although my military is a bit weaker than what I'd like. I found Brennus pretty quick, and took him out with axes. That was really early. Then I met Mansa Musa. He had the Hindu holy city, of which I had already adopted as state religion and spread throughout every single city...9 I think (I know too many). Anyways, I capture the holy city and get a small boost from the shrine (whatever it's called). I'm pretty far back in techs atm though, and have declared on and off on Hannibal, Mansa Musa, and Asoka targeting smaller cities and using the gold captured to fund my research. Wish I had more detail.

AluminumKnight · Dec 22, 2006

Never played at emporer before, so I knew I was gonna be hard pressed for a win. However, I knew enough to beeline IW and utterly destroy Brennus early with about 6 praets total. However, once I captured his last city, I had to go to 10% research (and even 0% for about 5 turns!) for awhile, and after working on some gold farm cities, I am now (at 0 AD) finally back up to in the black at 30%, and eyeing Mali. They, America, and India are fairly big, so it's about time I took some off of their score

. I think I kept too many of Brennus' cities, but I was afraid Mansa would then have too much room to expand.

That said, I have a feeling I'm gonna be submitting a loss. Skirmishers are tougher than archers

magpie_robert · Dec 22, 2006

I've only played on Emporer level in previous GOTMs and they've been disasters but chose the Contender game anyway. Learned a lesson the hard way on this game!

Decided to settle in place and made contact with Brennus on only the 7th turn. Research BW and started exploring with warrior. Made contact with Mansa and Washington soon, before my warrior got eaten by a bear.

Built workboats first to speed up growth and worker production. My second city I built on the coast to the NW to get the cows, bronze and even more clams. The third city I built right on the tip of the eastern peninsula, to get the golds and fish. This was a good commerce city but not good for production.

I was put off going for IW next after BW as it was going to be 67 turns, so I went for some cheaper techs (Hunting, archery, Wheel, pottery).. Around this time, I was surprised to see Washington had circumnavigated the globe in 1900BC, only 142 turns played!!

I researched IW and when I found out where the iron was I wished Id done it sooner.

Obviously, Brennus had to go because he had me cornered with only 3 cities. I quickly built a bunch of Praetorians and in 770BC I declared war on him.
Very rapidly, I captured each of his cities, healed my units and moved on. Archers are no match for praets. By 540 BC I captured his last city Gergovia.

I now had 8 cites but found my economy was in ruins!!! As I usually play on lower levels I didnt realise how crippling it would be to hold on to that number of cities.

For a while I wasnt sure I could recover. I had units on strike and praetorians, axemen and workers getting disbanded.

Although I also made contact with India at this time, I couldnt trade techs with anyone as they were already more advanced than me I had nothing to offer. I had to alternate between turning off research and emphasising commerce in all my cities to get a bit of cash, then switching back to research to get CoL. It took ages. By 500 AD I was only halfway through and getting seriously left behind by the others :sad:

Methos · Dec 22, 2006

I went with the adventure version as the only civ game I play anymore is the SGOTM game. I settled in place and headed straight for BW. My first builds were WB, WB, warrior and I forget what was after that.

At first the only two contacts I made were Brennus (almost out of the gate) and Washington. Soon after meeting Washington my exploring warrior got stomped on my barbs. As I recall, he was flanked by wolves and bears. Though I managed to fend off the canines I quickly fell under the claws of grizzlies.

Just as BW was getting close to completion I put a settler in the queue in hopes of copper being close by. By that time I had built another warrior so sent him up to guard the copper until my settler was complete. My second city took the copper, cows, and the whales.

My third city came soon after the second and went to the peninsula to the north. It grabbed both of the gold (or was it gems) and the fish.

Since I had copper, but didnt have any sort of explorer I set research to Sailing. As soon as it was complete I built a couple tiramins and sent them out exploring the coasts. Unlike everyone else, I managed to be the first to circumnavigate the globe.

After Sailing I put off IW and instead headed for Writing for the libraries and OB. I wanted the research boost and to be able to keep my ships moving along the coast. Once that was accomplished I went back to IW for the prats.

At this time I have three cities and Brennus is beginning to hem me in. Ive built a few axmen standing post at the narrow section just west of the copper, but Brennus has just dropped a city close by there. Once IW is complete I start hammering out prats as fast as possible. Being the considerate neighbor I am, I make sure to build roads up to Brennuss cities prior to our upcoming engagement. A couple turns before I declared Brennus dropped another city in between my capitol and copper city. Oh well, easy money.

When I started the war I only had six prats ready to enter Brennuss lands. I had another prat sitting outside the just built city, plus two more prats that were on the way to Brennuss lands. I had planned on waiting until they got there but Brennus sent a couple of his archers out of the city I was getting ready to attack. I couldnt let this pass me by so went a head and dowed. Prats versus archers is rather easy and Brennus fell just as easy. The worst part about this battle is I kept every city except one. Big mistake.

My economy tanked due to all my cities, the money gained from the war was the only thing keeping me afloat. I ended up running 0% research for a while and have slowly built up to 20%. Amazingly, Ive been able to research techs, or lightbulb them, that the AI hasnt and have been able to trade so I dont fall to far behind.

Currently my economy is slowly making a comeback, though Ive still got a ways to go. The other AI are so far away, and advanced, its not worth going for war. If I manage to complete this one Ill probably go for either Diplo or Space.

I believe my biggest problem is Im not used to Emperor level and havent taken that into consideration.

Mauer · Dec 22, 2006

So far it looks like, although we all should know better by now, almost all of us kept too many cities :lol:

I've played emperor before, but it's been awhile. Oh well, I think we've all learned a mighty lesson.

WOTM 04 - First Spoiler

Warlock

WOTM 04 - First Spoiler

Music Master

Prince

Prince

King

Warlord

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Warlord

Fear him of the pink tie

Warlord

Emperor

Deity

Emperor

Warlord

Pompous Noble

Conquistador

Chieftain

HoF Quattromaster

Pompous Noble

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