WOTM 08 Pre-Game Discussion

[ainwood]

WOTM 08: Mehmed II

[img=right]http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/warlords/mehmedii06.jpg[/img]

This time, its much easier.....


This game MUST be played in Warlords patch version 2.08. We will NOT accept any games played under any other patch versions, and you can't play it in vanilla (plain) Civilization4!

Further, it MUST be played using the latest version of HOF mod for Warlords. This is currently version 2.08.004 - a different version from last month!



Game settings:
Civilization: Ottoman (Leader: Mehmed II. Traits: Expansive & Organised)
Rivals: 6
Difficulty: Noble
Map: Continents
Mapsize: Standard, Cylindrical
Climate: Arid
Water level: high
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: normal
Victory Conditions: All enabled
Other settings: Raging Barbarians


Mehmed II:
Mehmed II is Expansive and Organised; starting with Agriculture and The Wheel. Expansive gives +2 health / city, +50% production of workers, and double production speed of granaries & harbors. Organised has only 50% civic upkeep cost, and allows double production speed of lighthouses, factories & courthouses.


Unique unit: Janissary (Gunpowder)
The Janissary replaces the standard musketman. Whilst it retains the same unit stats (strength 9, cost 80, move 1), it is a bit more useful than the standard musketman (which is arguably obsoleted fairly quickly) in that it gains a +25% bonus against mounted units, archery units and melee units.

Unique building: Hammam (Mathematics, Masonry)
The Hammam replaces the aquaduct. The only difference between this and the standard aqueduct is that the hammam provides +2 happiness.

The starting screenshot is here (Click for larger version)


Adventurer Class bonuses:

1. Start with a free workboat.

Challenger Class Equalizers:

1. Four forest plots to the south are replaced by jungle.
2. Start knowing no technologies.
3. All AI start with two bonus technologies.
4. All AI start with a worker.

 

[Jove]

Noble, eh?

 

[AgedOne]

Mehmed. Mehmed? I don't think I've ever played a game using Mehmed.
Anyone else have any idea what he's like?
Evidently the health cap is raised, and economy slightly easier for a growing empire. The UU doesn't seem particularly inspiring.

As for the start, lots of food, some gold but precious few hammers.
Is anyone else thinking about sprinting up to the hills for a better view?
Wasting a turn or two is not so awful at Noble level. If we were to find something more productive to the north, then we could probably fit another city in to the south, taking in the fish and perhaps sharing some of the floodplains.

 

[Airny]

This could be the first time, that I try the Challenger class.

 

[Vynd]

Mehmed has always seemed interesting to me but I've yet to play a full game with him. I'm happy to see him come up. The Janissary is kind of interesting. It seems like there is a window where it'd be a good unit, since it has no hard counters and it has a bonus against everything that preceeds it. But if you kill everyone on the continent before getting Gunpowder will that really matter? And Chemistry and Grenadiers are still just around the corner... So it's still questionable if you'd want to use these guys or not.

The extra health from Expansive will certainly come in handy for those who settle in place. That's a lot of flood plains! I'd be reluctant to move my settler away from the fresh water and the forests, with their health bonuses, unless I see something that makes me want to settle away from the FP entirely.

Arid continents with high water and raging barbarians probably means it will be hard to find and defend many good city sites early.

 

[Conquistador 63]

Hmm, I couldn't be more pleased with the game settings...as the greatest challenge for me will be to complete this game in just a couple of days, as I'll be away on vacations, (1st stop is a few days in...Istambul!!! ) returning close to submission deadline.

I'll take contender, but I'll add a personal challenge: build Hagia Sophia in Istambul! Shouldn't be that easy, as I plan to settle in place, cottage all those FP's, and get a really hammer-poor capitol.

This civ/leader traits/UB are very nice for the map and settings (I've never played on arid, btw). Even at Noble, getting 9 FP's in city radius is bad for your healthiness (does the city tile itself counts?). Expansive and hammam are a perfect answer to it.

I might start with a warrior/workboat/worker, researching fishing/mining/BW/pottery. The rest will depend on further scouting. Goal is fastest diplo - in game turns and real time!

 

[BLubmuz]

hmm, this one looks interesting
settle in place, thanks to the exp. health bonus (otherwise some problems), straight to pottery (after fishing) to cottage like mad.
first build warrior, switch to WB right after fishing, then complete and worker.
downside: raging barbs, but we'll take care at this level (i hope) and normal speed, i like best epic.

 

[drkodos]

One of my favorite leaders with one of my favorite UB's. Perhaps I will craw out from under this rock and give this one an "official" go.



Probably not, but it is tempting.

 

[Harbourboy]

Sisiutil to the rescue! He is playing as Mehmed in the next All Leader's Challenge,so check out that thread for all the "Janissaries are lame unless you beeline Gunpowder" discussions.

 

[Thrallia]

kodos? where've you been?

I may divert a couple turns to check out those hills before settling...but then again, I may not also lol

I tend to love having tons of FPs in my capital, as it gives very fast commerce bonuses and I tend to use Bureaucracy more when it has more pronounced commercial effects than for the hammers.

 

[UCPLion]

In your opinion, what would compensate the loss of two turns in settling the 1st city (going up and downhill back to the starting location)? What would we have to find N of the hills in order to make it a better capital city?

 

[Thrallia]

At least 1 food resource and more grassland/plains hills.

The only reason to move N is to gain a more hammer oriented capital, IMO.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

This sounds familiar. Wasn't WOTM01 on noble and arid, and supposedly with a high sea level too though the map didn't look like it was.

The main lesson I recall from WOTM01 is that there's lots of desert and as a result it's very hard to find decent city sites. Worth treasuring what sites you can find. That plus the noble difficulty means I'll probably take a few turns to explore before settling. I'll want to try and arrange things so I can get two cities out of those floodplains; settling in-place could scupper that.

 

[Infantry#14]

just wondering, for challenger class, ai gets 2 bonus tech. Do all ai get 2 bonus random tech, or 2 of the same tech. Also, the 2 bonus techs must be in ancient era right (just imagine they get satellite and fusion)?

 

[ainwood]

just wondering, for challenger class, ai gets 2 bonus tech. Do all ai get 2 bonus random tech, or 2 of the same tech. Also, the 2 bonus techs must be in ancient era right (just imagine they get satellite and fusion)?

They are all randomly chosen. They are ancient era techs.

 

[BLubmuz]

hey drkodos, long time without your contribution, i hope you're back in the fold.

not settle in place means lost the seafood, and probably not gain an hill.
some fogbust:
2N of warrior is coast, but also with seafood, you can't have both in the FC.
8 Fp are half-balanced with 4 forests, i tink i'll never chop them.
i'll let a pair of Fp unworked, 2 watermills can be good, and a cottage in the plains, or a workshop.
Sure we'll need to find a good production site for our city 2.

 

[Infantry#14]

seeing this is at raging barbarian, i wonder whether there will be an animal lurking behind the hills.... a wolf or a panther nearby may mean defeat in two turns!

 

[Thrallia]

Even on raging barbs, barbs will not show up for at least 10 turns...however, you will not get the safe zeon afterward during which animals will avoid your units or human barbs will ignore your cities.

Great Wall may be important here simply to allow players to concentrate on the AI, rather than the barbs...not to mention, it will make the barbs focus more on the AI...which on Noble should be fairly inept in dealing with them.

 

[erikthecelt]

Great Wall may be important here simply to allow players to concentrate on the AI, rather than the barbs...not to mention, it will make the barbs focus more on the AI...which on Noble should be fairly inept in dealing with them.

There's a strategy, build the wall and wait for the Barbs to give you a Conquest victory

 

[ImperialGuard]

Worth treasuring what sites you can find. That plus the noble difficulty means I'll probably take a few turns to explore before settling. I'll want to try and arrange things so I can get two cities out of those floodplains; settling in-place could scupper that.

This seems like a very good idea with Noble difficulty. Get two cities out of the floodplains, reduce the unhealthiness in each city;

Also thinking about looking for a production city nearby that can be founded first??
- this would allow "working backwards" founding cities to our starting point to gain prime territory/city space,
- AND start building some military for the coming barbarian onslaught...