WOTM 54 - First Spoiler to 1AD

[Deckhand]

WOTM 54 First Spoiler - 1AD

Reading Requirements

Stop! If you are participating in WOTM 54 England Stands Alone (Churchill), then you MUST NOT read this thread unless EITHER

• You have reached at least 1AD in your game, OR
• You have submitted your entry, OR
• You have abandoned your game and will not submit.

Posting Restrictions
Please do not discuss anything that happened after 1AD.
Please do not discuss modern era resource locations (Copper and Iron are OK).
Please do not reveal names or locations of civilization not accessible by galleys.
Please do not divulge your final result if that happened after 1AD.
Do not post any savegame file from the game. Discussions and screenshots are fine but not actual games.

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Tell us about your early game!
Was Nancy useful? Did you drop her behind enemy lines or just use her as a medic?

 

[neilmeister]

Was all set to settle 1NE, after moving both Nancy & the Warrior to see a little of the surrounds, moved settler 1NE and see the gold! I'm having that, so eventually decided to move 1 more east, to get gold, corn, elephants & marble in the bfc.

Gandhi discovered me early on, before I found the bottleneck. Decided to stay there, at 1ad I have met 4 AI and Nancy is still with my warriors defending the bottleneck.

Oracled CS, then set about back filling all the techs I won't be getting in trade. Machinery is 1 turn away, then it will be Construction and curtains for Gandhi.

Built Great Lib as well, both Colossus & Pyramids are 8 turns away. Currently with 9 cities.

 

[kenwyn]

Now that i'm in this thing, a couple of Q's, since i'v never played "Always War":
1> Seems ANY unit can trigger a DofW, not just the spy?

2> Will there NEVER be a chance for trade/vassaling/tech squeezing with ANY civ?

Afraid i know the answers, but like to be sure before going much further.

To date, triggered India, Chin, Germ, & Amer(!).
Wiped out Gandhi. Easily repulsed Germ "invasion".
Been conducting wars of attrition against Chin & Amer (the AI is SO pathetic at this level); razed about 6 cities so far (which i RARELY do) since the last thing i need is more overhead.
Unfortunately, lost a couple of swords that could have been contenders for "highest unit level" award.
Bilt a couple of wonders + seem to be ahead or at least keeping up with AI research-wise. Quite frustrating not knowing what they have researched.
Also, not knowing if remaining AI civ are in fact fighting each other.
NONE of civs that have discovered me are warring each other.
Guess the game's title is apt... "Lonely England".

 

[Htadus]

Decided to play a culture game. Likely with a twist. May be at near domination land limit. I forgot to get images at 1AD. So these images are for 150AD where I stopped. Ai were not doing that much.

Capital:LC1
SIP was NOT an option. Spy went SW and warrior NW and settler 1NE and then decided to go NE once more. I did not want to settle on river grass that can become a town. So Settled on T2 on a forested plains hill that had 2 FP, gold, PH, Corn, Rice and many forests. This will be LC1, wonder and cottage based.

Spoiler :

Tech Path:
Well we needed agriculture. Then it was to Pot via all the prerequisites. This was followed by BW, Myst and then founded both Hindu and Judaism. After that Oracled CS via Math and CoL. Founded Confu too and later Taoism.

City 2: LC2
I wanted LC too founded early so I can get Hindu in that city. So I delayed Hindu Just enough to get City 2 founded. It was founded on the PH located immediately south of the original start. It has the Pig, Marble, Ivory, iron (later discovery) and 3 FP. This too will become a Wonder and cottage based LC city.

Spoiler :

City 3:
I wanted a support city as #3 since I could not figure out what to do with LC3. So this city claimed Stone and copper to north.

City 4:
Another support city on the North straight with 2 seafood, horse and plantation resource.

City 5:
This city will be a minor GP farm with 2 seafood and a cow located northeast corner of our landmass. May be LC city 3 but likely no.

Exploration
Unlike nealmeister, I wanted to know who my Wonder competition will be. So the spy went north after exploring immediate area. By the time she got to the NW corner of the map, we met all the AI.
I will not say who is on the map so no one will get ticked off at me other than Gandhi. He might provide LC 3 for me. he managed to beat me to SH and founded Buddhism and built the shrine.

Current Tech Situation:

Spoiler :

 

[Htadus]

Now that i'm in this thing, a couple of Q's, since i'v never played "Always War":
1> Seems ANY unit can trigger a DofW, not just the spy? That is correct. I think DS made that known on the pregame thread.

2> Will there NEVER be a chance for trade/vassaling/tech squeezing with ANY civ? Never

Afraid i know the answers, but like to be sure before going much further.

To date, triggered India, Chin, Germ, & Amer(!).
Wiped out Gandhi. Easily repulsed Germ "invasion". Nice
Been conducting wars of attrition against Chin & Amer (the AI is SO pathetic at this level); razed about 6 cities so far (which i RARELY do) since the last thing i need is more overhead.
Unfortunately, lost a couple of swords that could have been contenders for "highest unit level" award.
Bilt a couple of wonders + seem to be ahead or at least keeping up with AI research-wise. Quite frustrating not knowing what they have researched. If you have alpha, you can know what they do not know yet. if that helps.
Also, not knowing if remaining AI civ are in fact fighting each other. Watch for GG being born when you are not fighting.
NONE of civs that have discovered me are warring each other. That is extremely rare.
Guess the game's title is apt... "Lonely England".

The Mods really know what they are doing it seem.

 

[Minou]

Going for Conquest. Started out building the capital in reach of the Gold and settled two more cities before starting the military build up. Avoided moving the scout outside my empire to keep from starting too many wars early in the game.

Once I had 8 or so Swords I attacked India and captured the Stonehenge city, which was very convenient for popping some borders. Their capital was packed with promoted Archers so I went north and burned a coastal city then captured the resource rich northernmost city and am now regrouping and healing units to attack the capital. Actually lost the Stonehenge city briefly to a sneaky Chariot but my first round of Horse Archers quickly arrived and took it back.

Spotted China across the narrow sea and decided to go after them quickly. Their coastal city had just two Archers in it so I dropped off two Swords to take (and keep) it, and then started shipping Swords and Horse Archers over. The second city was burned but I suffered major losses attempting to take hill capital and will have to regroup.

Right now the plan is to keep building Horse Archers and tech to Guilds so I can upgrade them to Knights. The AIs are primitive enough that I hope to just keep upgrading mounted units and invest little or nothing in Siege.

 

[Htadus]

The AIs are primitive enough that I hope to just keep upgrading mounted units and invest little or nothing in Siege.

AI are primitive at this level and get worst with AW. All you needed were cats and any non-warrior units to get a conquest on this level. I like cats and axes with an odd spear to do the job. It will be much faster than Knights.