WOTM 23 First Spoiler

[leif erikson]

WOTM 23 First Spoiler

Reading Requirements

Stop! If you are participating in WOTM 23, then you MUST NOT read this thread unless EITHER

• You have reached at least 500 AD in your game, OR
• You have submitted your entry

Posting Restrictions

• Please do not disclose information gained post 500 AD.
• Please do not name civilizations that requires caravels to contact.
• Please do not reveal territory that requires caravels to reach.

Here's to hoping you have survived to tell a great tale of crushing your enemies and gaining glory.

If you have done so, please talk about your plans for expansion, how you climbed the tech tree, how you balanced expansion versus keeping your economy afloat and how you held off, or defeated, the various invaders eyeing your kingdom.

 

[Adama]

Even a Bad Plan is Better than No Plan at All (sometimes always?!)

I decided that having the protective trait, I would secure a Feudalism slingshot with the Oracle. Surprisingly (perhaps a premonition of who our neighbors would be.... ), I founded Buddhism late(?) in 2880 BC (and would utilize the Gprophet generated by the Oracle to build the shrine).

Wang Kon only founded two cities (Cap and P'yongyang). Only built one library (actually in 2nd city, not capital, for border expansion). Rest was war production (barracks and units).

" Barbs to the left of me,
Joker's to the right,
Here I am stuck in the middle again ...."

Or maybe that's a little reversed, but while I had all these grandiose war plans in the making, Genghis actually DOWed me in 200BC (got tired of waiting for me to DOW him, I speculated... ). I took my first enemy city (after patiently waiting and destroying his invading forces) ca. 225 AD. I was beginning to see war weariness by 5oo AD. Needless to say, I wasn't making great progress, but it was an enjoyable romp for a Noble/Prince/Monarch player like me.

Stats are as of -O- AD:

 Cities  2  Population 15  Workers 2  3 LB's and 8 Hwachas  food= 31  Production = 27  
Commerce = 32  Sustainable beakers  42  GPppt 3/3=6   Cottages 1/2  Alpha 875BC  CivSvc 275AD

While I am sure that this won't end pretty, I am enjoying this game nevertheless.

Adama

 

[ShannonCT]

Contender Save
Goal: Domination and High Score

I settled 1 east on the hill. My warrior revealed the cow, but I thought extra early production and more cottageable tiles was more important. I settled my second city to grab corn and gems.

I met Genghis's scout to the west very early. I sought out his capital, and found a worker to steal. I was able to return this worker home safely. After a CF, I stole another worker from GK, but it got eaten by a wolf on the way home. I also tried to steal a worker from Qin, but Qin killed my defending warrior with an archer.

After settling my second city, I hooked copper and got to building axemen. I was already committed to war with GK and Qin. GK built his second and third cities west and northwest of my capital, both good locations for cottage spam. One city was defended by 2 archers and another by 1 when I declared with ~6 axemen. Both cities fell quickly, and his capital followed a few turns later. I got a CF to heal units before taking his last city in the jungle.

Qin was the next on my list. While I had been fighting GK, he had been building the Great Wall and the Pyramids without any stone. Big mistake. I rolled over him quickly with axemen and hwachas. (Hwachas are awesome in Warlords.) Wonders captured are sweeter than wonders built. The count there was 2 and 0. From the start, I decided not to build any early wonders. It turned out that the Oracle wasn't built until ~200BC. I could have gotten a late CS-sling, but I was focused on building units.

With Qin down to one city, he vassalized to Peter. Peter declared war on me but didn't send any units at me immediately. So I razed Qin's last city and started upgrading to macemen. Just before 500AD, I captured my first Russian city, home to the Christian and Buddhist shrines.

Stats at 500AD:
14 cities, 116 pop, 180 sustained bpt, techs-CS,Mach,Cal,Mon,Const

 

[kcd_swede]

Contender Save.
Goal: Victory.

I haven't really figured out what kind of victory. I am starting off with a military focus in mind, but doubt my ability for conquest or domination on Immortal level. So probably I'll do a space race aided by military expansion, or perhaps a military-diplo if the situation allows.

I settled on the blue circle on the plains hill (2E) which later turned out to have copper. At least this let me chop out a bunch of workers settlers and axemen fairly early. I settled 3 more cities before any military action, though. West, east, and south of capitol. I wanted the flood plains to the west, but Qin got there one turn ahead of me. Barb city had horse but was only defended by 2 warriors, and had zero culture defense. So I sent 3 axe there and took it (two would have been enough, but you never know if they're gonna use the whip). Approx 1000BC. Then I want to attack an AI, and the Mongols have the most useful nearby city, defended by one archer and one medic spear (50% cult borders). I sent 6 CR1 axe to take it. First axe... does NO damage. Second axe, reduces archer to 2.9; thrid axe reduces it to 2.3.... Fourth reduces spear to 1.0; Fifth axe kills the archer, sixth attacks spear that had 1.0 strength left (90+% odds) and LOSES. Fortunately, I have more axe on the way, and take Beshbalik, but now my forces are depleted and further advance of the front is impossible.
Meanwhile I built Oracle and took Monarchy for happiness. Later on I have to give Mongols Meditation to get peace... I don't want to fight more until I have some hwachas.

I teched BW, fishing, agri, poly, priesthood, writing, alpha... Alpha worked great since I was first, had met all the AI, and could trade myself up from last place to the top eschelon. Took Poly instead of Med because hindu still wasn't founded... but missed it by a few turns. Oh well. No big deal since I won't run a religion unless all my neighbors have it too. I joined bhuddism when Qin asked me, since he, Peter, Toku, and ghenghis already were using it. Forget the date but it was around 0AD.

At 500AD I have 7 cities (squeezed in two more settlements). So many resources around that happiness and health are not problems. I've built the Great Library, and am mostly keeping up in tech... lots of luck with trade bait techs. Looking good to win Liberalism race.

Oddly, with this amount of tech trading I should have great relations, but nobody really likes me. Washington is pleased sometimes, but everyone else is mostly cautious or annoyed. Its looking more like a space race. In which case I want the mongol capitol. Many hwachas on the way. I will also take over Japan, I think, but not until later, maybe with cavs. Peter leads and Qin in second, so I will also need to get them fighting each other if possible.

I certainly have some opportunities to win this game, but guess my odds of actually winning it are less than 50:50. I'll likely finish 2nd to some russian spacecraft. Unless I can get a force of cavs before Peter discovers rifling or mil trad, and raze 6-wonder Moscow to the ground (or better yet, be able to hold it... though my war with Mongols tends to make me think that would be unlikely).

At this writing I have no idea of my stats. I'm able to keep the initiative in this game... rather than just reacting. That's the only thing that really matters. Whether that holds or not is up to what I do next. Wish me luck! Having a lot of fun with it no matter what happens.

Btw: Thanks for really nice real estate in this game... but in a very rough neighborhood! (I wonder what that pansy Washington is doing here... must have been a mistake by game maker).

 

[Jove]

Conteder, going for Space.
Settled in place after seeing the cow. Tried for fishing->Buddhism, but missed it by one turn... by 1200BC we had settled towns 2 and 3 and captured a fourth from the barbs in the south (1 axe vs. 4 warriors) with all those happy resources and forests. Started trading around- it seemed like we had some good low-level techs and could trade ahead nicely. Detoured for a couple extra workers here and didn't steal any before 500AD.

The plan had been to grow toward the gold and horses out east while attending to fast research, but Greece dowed us and sent an archer pair pillaging and threatening. Right at this time we finished the Lighthouse (-650) in Seoul, then ToA (-575) in Wonsan to the west. You can see why our growth was slowed and why we didn't have the forces to crush an archer pair.

Science still a priority, we went ahead with the Great Library (-450) in Seoul. The AI didn't seem to want the Oracle, and we were about to complete CoL, so we took the Oracle (-425) in Wonsan and took Civil Service as the freebie. Then we bulbed Philosophy for Pacifism. Seoul could generate 32 gpp's and Wonsan had a few as well... by 500AD we'd seen 3 great scientists and one merchant, with another ? coming in just a few turns.

But we still hadn't got the gold and horses... Japan had marched a settler way out there to claim them. We positioned units in Russia to invade, raze it, and re-settled the better-placed Pusan in -75. Eventually both Japan and Greece were persuaded into peace.

I started the game thinking I might go for diplo, and so had made nice with Peter and Khan, plus China just seemed to like us. So I could pull Peter into war vs. Japan and China against the Greeks. I was happy simply that Khan didn't attack us (he's fighting Washington), and still hope to culture flip Beshbalik someday with our wonders. Capturing another barb town to get rice and Ivory put us at 7 towns. Even with the great lighthouse I thought any further growth would stifle research, and the neighbors were friendly, so we pretty much hunkered down from here. I thought a war with Peter would be necessary to claim horses from his boundaries, but reaching Music first gave us an artist which bombed Pusan, claiming horses, spices and the stone in the south, though we have yet to hook that up.

Music was a nice detour for trades (Drama too), and we'll need it later for Military Tradition anyway. Yes, once we get cavalry I hope to expand to claim most of Russia and Mongolia. I can't decide though- Peter is friendly and could very well research some tech for us. Anyway, first we need to finish Constitution, then get Printing Press and Liberalism for Democracy. Peter doesn't have paper yet, so I think we can accomplish this.

So. At 500Ad it is 7 towns, 40 pop, 362bpt, and we've completed 3 universities.

 

[titanvol]

settle Seoul E on hill save cows for another city, work wheat, build worker (12 turns) research fishing (6 turns)

builds: after worker: wb, warrior, warrior, wb, settler, worker, settlers
res: after fishing: ag, bw (adopt slavery), wheel, ah, writing, hunting, sailing, masonry, math, curr

Plans: after initial exploration, decided to REX & claim resources along with a couple more city spots (goal 8 cities), going for space race; want to found a religion in fish / gems / corn city (Wonsan) irrigate it & use as GPP/ Wall St; Seoul will be a jack of all trades, build wonders and military if needed, but primarily as science; ivory / rice to be military city (though this site slightly disturbed by later Russian expansion) along with cow / gold / horse / spices (which will also double as science); fp / cow & silver / fur will be science; 2 other sites are mostly junk cities which will be limited until biology but will eventually help w/ science (i think?) or maybe wealth (??); plan to use GLH & curr to recover economy and hopefully the AI will have alph when I get curr; eventually would like to annex Japan &/or Mongolia

find GK as closest neighbor so settle 2nd city west

-2360 settle Pyongyang near fp & cow, build monument

-2080 see Russian borders to north off coast which totally have messed up my dotmap as I now wont be able to settle on my side of that coast (2 squares away from their city)

-2040 settle Wonsan (fish, gems, corn) build warrior
-1640 settle Pusan (cow, horse, gold, spices)
-1520 settle Nampo (ivory, rice)
-1440 GK demands fish, I comply
-1080 settle Cheju
-675 build GLH, even though it is a pangea, my cities are coastal
-575 settle Hyangsan
-425 settle Ulsan
-425 Peter gets Alph, wont trade it, but trade curr for med & 260G; then deficit research Alph [just how long does it take the Immortal AI to get to Alph??]
-325 res Alph, trade Med & Curr around for: Calender, Poly, Priesthood, IW, Archery, & 360 G;

-res CoL @ 100%, trade for mon & mono; then res mc, theology

-100 BC:res theology (found christianity), build oracle, claim divine right (found islam), res civil service

-25 AD GS in Wonsan - bulb Phil; didnt intend to found 4 rel, but it took that many to get one in the pefect city for Wall St (Wonsan), not too much of a distraction since headed for liberalism shortly

res literature; trade for construction & feudalism (Peter both), build ToA; adopt beaurocracy, her rule, org rel (2 turns anarchy); Alex DoWs, go figure; bribe GK & QSH to DoW mostly to keep them from joining his side since they are my closest neighbors

res: mach, music (bomb GA in Pyongsang to get some tiles from GK) paper, edu

425 AD build GL in Wonsan (my GPP city) this city will run 2 scientists along w/ the 2 free to get a few GS for academies; Seoul w/ wonders will give merchant/prophet; eventually Wonsan will be converted to Wall St city w/ shrine and run merchants

475 AD GM - heads off for trade mission

500 AD Alex still wont talk, the stream of units from him has ceased, I lost few units thanx 2 Hwachas & his mainly using Phalanx; pretty soon if he keeps refusing to talk I will launch an invasion of my own, though I would prefer to invade either Japan or Mongolia, Greece is too far away.

8 cities; 52 pop; 275 bpt @ 80%, 8 turns until edu

 

[Ronnie1]

Contender save....goal is to REX with the AI early and be strong enough to keep my options open.

I settled on the copper hill on T1(second turn) and started researching Fishing while building a worker. Scouting warrior headed generally east. Switched build to WB when available and then finished worker, then built MP warrior.

Met Peter and Toku by 3000BC....

The food resources made early SE an easy choice, I built some cottages later but really could have built 0 and been just fine. I decided that Pyong (2160BC)would grab the Gems and corn and produce the first GS. It actually produced the first 2 GS's before dropping specialists. I had to raze a barb city 2N of Pyong site to be able to found it. The barbs did me a favor by building a great city further east(Vandal), built on spices having rice/cows/gold/horses!!! It eventually built the GL pre 500AD, + ??? later!!!

At 500AD I was researching Paper on the way to Liberalism....

The stats...


1000BC stats

5 cities, 14 pop, 26 raw B/t @ 40%, 3 wkrs, 5 warriors, 1 chariot, 5 axe,
0/0 cottages(no pottery), 0 GPers,
Bldgs - 2 Barracks, 1 Monu, 1 Lib
Research - Fish, AG, BW, AH, Wheel, Writing, Alpha (1080BC), 1000BC trade for Pottery, Sail, Hunt, Mason, IW
Religion - Bud, shared with Alex + Toku, adopted when asked by Alex in 1120BC, Hindu = GK +Qin, Peter + GW none
Slavery adopted in 1040BC
DOW GK in 1080BC and Capture Ning-hsia same turn

1AD stats


5 cities, 32 pop, 96 raw B/t @ 60%, 4 wkrs, 4 warrior, 2 Arch, 1 Char, 4 axe, 1 spear, 2 hwacha, 3 Trireme
0/1 cottages, GS born in 425BC builds Academy in Seoul
Bldgs - 5 Gran, 3 Barr, 2 LH, 3 forge, 4 Lib, 1 Mon
Colossus built in Seoul in 275BC
Research added - Arch(trade 975bc), (Med, HBR, Cal, Currency)all trades in 1AD, MC, Math, Const, Machinery(785/1137)
Peter is now Budhist also, GW = Judaism

The screens...