Adventure Six - Cradle of Civilisation
This fun little game was noble level, with a small map, normal speed and 4 opponents. Perfect to play after the extremely long island-fest that was epic 2. This game had hills! And you could build cottages! And ... what's that ... you could build things without having to enslave every citizen you owned. Sweet.
I haven't played a noble game for a long time. However, the challenge of these RB events is more to see how you compare with the other competitors than expecting a decent struggle against the AI. I aimed to get a fast military victory and see how I compared.
At noble level, I decided a chop-rush strategy would be best, despite the changes in the patch. I realise many people here frown on the chop-rush, but I occasionally like it now that it's not used every single game as in the previous patch. I settled in place and started on a worker while researching mining.
Scouting revealed what looked like a continent with Montezuma and Tokugawa. Definitely a chop rush then, no point saving either of those two for a trading partner. After mining I researched Bronze working, but halfway through I popped it from a hut. I couldn't see any copper nearby so I went for iron working. The first worker went to the nearest forest and started chopping. Persepolis built a barracks, but swapped to a second worker when the chop was due. At size 2, production was switched to the worker and the first worker built a mine. Once the second worker and the barracks were finished, a third worker was chopped. About this time Iron Working came in and it was discovered right next to Persepolis. Research was set to the wheel and my workers mined the iron and a few more hills. A warrior was built to protect my workers.
Once the wheel was discovered and iron connected, I set about chopping swordsmen as quickly as possible. One worker was chopping and one was roading towards Tokugawa, the other switching between the two. Once my first sword had reached Japan, war was declared in 2010BC. Toku had just settled his first city, and it was defended by only a warrior. It was razed. The capital was defended by two archers and a warrior, so I waited for my second and third sword to arrive before taking the city. The Japanese were destroyed by 1560BC.
Research after The Wheel proceded: animal husbandry, writing, pottery, archery.
During the Japanese war, a worker had been roading through the jungle towards Monty, protected by a a warrior. I declared was against him in 1480BC. He had three cities, and I razed the first (2 archers defending) and captured the capital (3 or 4 archers) with my steady stream of city raider swords. Monty's final city was captured in 975 BC.
Right, on to infrastructure. The new cities built (cheap) granaries first and the capital built a library. The capital then spammed immortals for barb-watch duty. Despite my best efforts, the barbs built a town on the north west coast. Luckily for myself, I had a bunch of city raider 3 swords on hand to deal with the situation.
Research went to mathematics -> fishing -> currency -> mysticism -> priesthood -> code of laws. Alphabet was delayed for a long time, with memories of adventure four. In 700BC I decided it was time to build my first settler! A whole bunch of settlers were pumped out to settle most of the continent, leaving the tundra-filled extremes. My research had to drop to 30%, but the expansive trait meant my cities growed quickly.
More importantly, a few wonders were planned to address the economic situiation. Oracle (250BC, taking Metal Casting), then the Colossus (325AD), then the Great Lighthouse (520AD) and finally the pyramids (700AD). I was amazed at how the AI hadn't bothered to build these earlier, but I guess wonders fall much later when you only have two opponents.
It was about this time that I realised my major error, one which I believe cost me many years of finish time. When I had conquered the aztec capital, I had not realised it was the hindu holy city. I had gone through millenia thinking I had no religion in my land, all the time building libraries and wonders without the +25% organised religion bonus. Only in 660AD did I realise and spammed missionaries.
Research progressed Sailing -> Masonry -> Monotheism -> Alphabet -> Literature -> Meditation -> Civil Service -> Calendar -> Machinery -> Optics -> Construction and finally Astronomy (in 1190 AD). While researching Astronomy I was building up a few macemen and catapults. My caravels met Hatshepsut and Washington, and I decided Hatty would be my target because she lacked macemen. After astronomy every coastal city was set to a galleon while I researched theology. I then revolted to Police State (thanks, pyramids!) and Theocracy and seriously started military production. Every inland city was producing macemen or catapults.
My second major mistake in this game was to progress towards Guilds for knights. The military upkeep was killing my economy, so reseach was very slow. In the end, knights were only as good as my macemen because their increased strength is hampered by the fact that they cannot be city raiders. I should have researched engineering because the increased movement would have made getting troops to ports quicker, and troops within conquered lands could get to the frontline earlier.
Anyway, I declared on Hatty in 1320AD and landed quite small invasion forces on both her west and east coasts. I was hampered by a lack of galleons, but slowly I managed to get enough troops to her lands to speed the conquest up. Her last city fell in 1490AD and in the same year I declared on Washington. I was able to capture 4 of his 7 cities before hitting the domination limit in 1515AD.
![[Image: vic2lr.jpg]](http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/8014/vic2lr.jpg)
A few screenshots to show how I settled:
In 500AD:
![[Image: empire500ad0wj.th.jpg]](http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/4856/empire500ad0wj.th.jpg)
In 1030AD:
![[Image: empire1030ad9wg.th.jpg]](http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/2002/empire1030ad9wg.th.jpg)
Empire on the turn victory was acheived:
![[Image: empire1515ad5ve.th.jpg]](http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/8328/empire1515ad5ve.th.jpg)
Once again, my thanks to the organiser(s). I look forward to reading other reports of this game.
This fun little game was noble level, with a small map, normal speed and 4 opponents. Perfect to play after the extremely long island-fest that was epic 2. This game had hills! And you could build cottages! And ... what's that ... you could build things without having to enslave every citizen you owned. Sweet.
I haven't played a noble game for a long time. However, the challenge of these RB events is more to see how you compare with the other competitors than expecting a decent struggle against the AI. I aimed to get a fast military victory and see how I compared.
At noble level, I decided a chop-rush strategy would be best, despite the changes in the patch. I realise many people here frown on the chop-rush, but I occasionally like it now that it's not used every single game as in the previous patch. I settled in place and started on a worker while researching mining.
Scouting revealed what looked like a continent with Montezuma and Tokugawa. Definitely a chop rush then, no point saving either of those two for a trading partner. After mining I researched Bronze working, but halfway through I popped it from a hut. I couldn't see any copper nearby so I went for iron working. The first worker went to the nearest forest and started chopping. Persepolis built a barracks, but swapped to a second worker when the chop was due. At size 2, production was switched to the worker and the first worker built a mine. Once the second worker and the barracks were finished, a third worker was chopped. About this time Iron Working came in and it was discovered right next to Persepolis. Research was set to the wheel and my workers mined the iron and a few more hills. A warrior was built to protect my workers.
Once the wheel was discovered and iron connected, I set about chopping swordsmen as quickly as possible. One worker was chopping and one was roading towards Tokugawa, the other switching between the two. Once my first sword had reached Japan, war was declared in 2010BC. Toku had just settled his first city, and it was defended by only a warrior. It was razed. The capital was defended by two archers and a warrior, so I waited for my second and third sword to arrive before taking the city. The Japanese were destroyed by 1560BC.
Research after The Wheel proceded: animal husbandry, writing, pottery, archery.
During the Japanese war, a worker had been roading through the jungle towards Monty, protected by a a warrior. I declared was against him in 1480BC. He had three cities, and I razed the first (2 archers defending) and captured the capital (3 or 4 archers) with my steady stream of city raider swords. Monty's final city was captured in 975 BC.
Right, on to infrastructure. The new cities built (cheap) granaries first and the capital built a library. The capital then spammed immortals for barb-watch duty. Despite my best efforts, the barbs built a town on the north west coast. Luckily for myself, I had a bunch of city raider 3 swords on hand to deal with the situation.
Research went to mathematics -> fishing -> currency -> mysticism -> priesthood -> code of laws. Alphabet was delayed for a long time, with memories of adventure four. In 700BC I decided it was time to build my first settler! A whole bunch of settlers were pumped out to settle most of the continent, leaving the tundra-filled extremes. My research had to drop to 30%, but the expansive trait meant my cities growed quickly.
More importantly, a few wonders were planned to address the economic situiation. Oracle (250BC, taking Metal Casting), then the Colossus (325AD), then the Great Lighthouse (520AD) and finally the pyramids (700AD). I was amazed at how the AI hadn't bothered to build these earlier, but I guess wonders fall much later when you only have two opponents.
It was about this time that I realised my major error, one which I believe cost me many years of finish time. When I had conquered the aztec capital, I had not realised it was the hindu holy city. I had gone through millenia thinking I had no religion in my land, all the time building libraries and wonders without the +25% organised religion bonus. Only in 660AD did I realise and spammed missionaries.
Research progressed Sailing -> Masonry -> Monotheism -> Alphabet -> Literature -> Meditation -> Civil Service -> Calendar -> Machinery -> Optics -> Construction and finally Astronomy (in 1190 AD). While researching Astronomy I was building up a few macemen and catapults. My caravels met Hatshepsut and Washington, and I decided Hatty would be my target because she lacked macemen. After astronomy every coastal city was set to a galleon while I researched theology. I then revolted to Police State (thanks, pyramids!) and Theocracy and seriously started military production. Every inland city was producing macemen or catapults.
My second major mistake in this game was to progress towards Guilds for knights. The military upkeep was killing my economy, so reseach was very slow. In the end, knights were only as good as my macemen because their increased strength is hampered by the fact that they cannot be city raiders. I should have researched engineering because the increased movement would have made getting troops to ports quicker, and troops within conquered lands could get to the frontline earlier.
Anyway, I declared on Hatty in 1320AD and landed quite small invasion forces on both her west and east coasts. I was hampered by a lack of galleons, but slowly I managed to get enough troops to her lands to speed the conquest up. Her last city fell in 1490AD and in the same year I declared on Washington. I was able to capture 4 of his 7 cities before hitting the domination limit in 1515AD.
A few screenshots to show how I settled:
In 500AD:
![[Image: empire500ad0wj.th.jpg]](http://img256.imageshack.us/my.php?image=empire500ad0wj.jpg)
In 1030AD:
![[Image: empire1030ad9wg.th.jpg]](http://img401.imageshack.us/my.php?image=empire1030ad9wg.jpg)
Empire on the turn victory was acheived:
![[Image: empire1515ad5ve.th.jpg]](http://img389.imageshack.us/my.php?image=empire1515ad5ve.jpg)
Once again, my thanks to the organiser(s). I look forward to reading other reports of this game.
