OK, Epic speed is giving me a real headache. If anybody can point me to a useful guide so that I can get all the way through Epic 5 (completing Epic 4 was not a problem), I'd appreciate it.
Like most, I noticed that none of my opponents were starting with Mysticism. I decided this meant that I could get a Bydra into Cuzco, and use the shrine moneys to fund everything else. That could also potentially get me an extra happy from state religion, two extra happies from temples. This research combo would probably set me behind the pace for population at the first checkpoint. I was OK with the notion of sacrificing the first checkpoint for a decisive late game advantage.
I ran a few experiments with the map settings. It appeared to be a 50-50 shot at having the continent to myself, in which case there was no real rush.
France is certain to be industrious, and America might be, so I didn't want to be leaning too heavily on Wonders in my planning. Fine.
Last checklist before takeoff was reviewing the time distortion. First scoring point is 167 turns in, the next at 307. Pastures are 6, Farms are 8, most of the early techs are 15-16 or 21.
I decided I didn't like the starting position, because Cows are such a big deal. So I decided to plan my pass routes to maximize the information I had before setting on turn 2. The basic idea was to shove Cuzco up out of the way - it is to be an important piece early, but late in the game it is mostly going to be a bank, of little strategic value otherwise.
Stupidly, I had the wrong space in mind. Instead of climbing the hill, I dropped myself into the forrest between the wheat and the cows. ("You've spotted a good move, bravo! But don't play too quickly, there might be a better one).
This played a big role in my retirement, as I kept kicking myself each time I looked at that city placement.
First build was a worker, who took care of the wheat then went wandering off scouting, because AH wasn't ready in time (how could it be, with two religious techs in front of it). I probably ended up building my first settler at size one as well, in part because I was feeling late.
In 2410BC I put Tiwanaku to the immediate SW of Cuzco, thinking that having a production center immediately would be helpful. Alas, it really doesn't have enough to do yet - Cuzco can toss up some useful buildings, because it has the religions. Barracks make no sense to me at this point. On the upside, the overlapping regions give me a bit more room in terms of working plots.
Furthermore, this placement turning my dotmap into guacamole, because I had miscounted the distance between two plots. (checking Sirian's report, I also misplaced one of my dots completely. ah well).
The research path, ultimately, looked like
3520B Meditation
2890B Polytheism
2320B Animal Husbandry
2020B Mining
1450B Bronze Working
1120B The Wheel
0895B Pottery
0565B Iron Working
0430B Writing
0265B Priesthood
0115B Masonry
With cities founded
3970B Cuzco
2410B Tiwanaku
0895B Machu Picchu
0730B Ollantaytambo
0535B Corihuayrachina
Which got me to 703000 by the 5AD checkpoint.
I only ever manage to get one more city out - Huamanga in 0710A
I'm thinking in terms of cranking the culture slider way up, and basing the economy on happy specialists, so Alphabet in 515A leads to Drama in 680A, then Code of Laws (probably much too late, really), the Parthenon in 860A and Literature 1025A. The city I hope to use as a GP farm desperately starts chopping for the Great Library, but Louis beats me to it after the Lorax has given up.
And I looked around at what I had, and it just looked like a mess. Too many mistakes, Louis all over me, last in almost every category, no particular plan for how to proceed.
The demographics screen counted out at 2,757,000 when I retired in 1292 AD.
The frustrating bit here is that I feel like I didn't learn from my mistakes (beyond "well, that sure didn't work"). We'll see if I can find any enlightenment among the reports of the competant players.
(I've also taken to running solo games at epic speed, trying to get some feel for them. But it still isn't clicking at all.)
Like most, I noticed that none of my opponents were starting with Mysticism. I decided this meant that I could get a Bydra into Cuzco, and use the shrine moneys to fund everything else. That could also potentially get me an extra happy from state religion, two extra happies from temples. This research combo would probably set me behind the pace for population at the first checkpoint. I was OK with the notion of sacrificing the first checkpoint for a decisive late game advantage.
I ran a few experiments with the map settings. It appeared to be a 50-50 shot at having the continent to myself, in which case there was no real rush.
France is certain to be industrious, and America might be, so I didn't want to be leaning too heavily on Wonders in my planning. Fine.
Last checklist before takeoff was reviewing the time distortion. First scoring point is 167 turns in, the next at 307. Pastures are 6, Farms are 8, most of the early techs are 15-16 or 21.
I decided I didn't like the starting position, because Cows are such a big deal. So I decided to plan my pass routes to maximize the information I had before setting on turn 2. The basic idea was to shove Cuzco up out of the way - it is to be an important piece early, but late in the game it is mostly going to be a bank, of little strategic value otherwise.
Stupidly, I had the wrong space in mind. Instead of climbing the hill, I dropped myself into the forrest between the wheat and the cows. ("You've spotted a good move, bravo! But don't play too quickly, there might be a better one).
This played a big role in my retirement, as I kept kicking myself each time I looked at that city placement.
First build was a worker, who took care of the wheat then went wandering off scouting, because AH wasn't ready in time (how could it be, with two religious techs in front of it). I probably ended up building my first settler at size one as well, in part because I was feeling late.
In 2410BC I put Tiwanaku to the immediate SW of Cuzco, thinking that having a production center immediately would be helpful. Alas, it really doesn't have enough to do yet - Cuzco can toss up some useful buildings, because it has the religions. Barracks make no sense to me at this point. On the upside, the overlapping regions give me a bit more room in terms of working plots.
Furthermore, this placement turning my dotmap into guacamole, because I had miscounted the distance between two plots. (checking Sirian's report, I also misplaced one of my dots completely. ah well).
The research path, ultimately, looked like
3520B Meditation
2890B Polytheism
2320B Animal Husbandry
2020B Mining
1450B Bronze Working
1120B The Wheel
0895B Pottery
0565B Iron Working
0430B Writing
0265B Priesthood
0115B Masonry
With cities founded
3970B Cuzco
2410B Tiwanaku
0895B Machu Picchu
0730B Ollantaytambo
0535B Corihuayrachina
Which got me to 703000 by the 5AD checkpoint.
I only ever manage to get one more city out - Huamanga in 0710A
I'm thinking in terms of cranking the culture slider way up, and basing the economy on happy specialists, so Alphabet in 515A leads to Drama in 680A, then Code of Laws (probably much too late, really), the Parthenon in 860A and Literature 1025A. The city I hope to use as a GP farm desperately starts chopping for the Great Library, but Louis beats me to it after the Lorax has given up.
And I looked around at what I had, and it just looked like a mess. Too many mistakes, Louis all over me, last in almost every category, no particular plan for how to proceed.
The demographics screen counted out at 2,757,000 when I retired in 1292 AD.
The frustrating bit here is that I feel like I didn't learn from my mistakes (beyond "well, that sure didn't work"). We'll see if I can find any enlightenment among the reports of the competant players.
(I've also taken to running solo games at epic speed, trying to get some feel for them. But it still isn't clicking at all.)
![[Image: retiremap.jpg]](http://www.whiterose.org/danil/civ4/e3/retiremap.jpg)
