Epic 27: Compromise's Outrageous Fortunes

[Compromise]

Early Thoughts:

First things first: Even though it will cost us a turn and access to fresh water, I can't pass up the extra hammer from settling on the plains Ivory, so I will do that.

With the internet likely to give us all the starting techs and many other early techs, I don't think researching broadly will do us any good at all. So I know I want to put my research into a single tech path. Pottery--both for granaries and cottages--is the obvious first tech with the Japanese starting techs.

My plan is to start with a couple of warrior builds...head off to meet some neighbors...and choke them.

My tech plan pays off in spades:



...as I pop Writing from a hut right on Kublai's borders! Very cool. Now I can sign open borders with the neigh...oh...right...no.

Meanwhile, warrior number two heads south to pop a hut, then continues to the west to meet:



...death? I had 99.2% odds on that battle! Outrageous fortune! You have got to be kidding me! Half my Always-War army has been slain by a panther while defending on a forested hill?!

Might I quote T-Hawk's excellent report for a moment here:

Animals are not too threatening with Aggressive warriors and the +20% bonus on Monarch.

Yeah, that's what I thought too.

So...we continue. A single warrior camping out at Kublaiville isn't going to get us any techs, and the worker I'm building can't improve the corn until we meet two people with Agriculture, so Kublai Choke Force Alpha (aka "Warrior 1") heads off for more adventure and exploration.

It is now that I realize I have lucked into what turns out to be an awesome strategy on this map:



Having hut-popped Writing on Kublai's northwest border, I now pop Mathematics on his southeast border. This is just...incredible. Outrageous fortune! (Okay, that'll stop now.)

I figure all I have to do is throw some tech into something deep in the tech tree--I choose Aesthetics on the way to Heroic Epic--and wait for the AIs to tech Masonry for me. It takes them a long time. I should have self-researched it to get Construction sooner.

I continued to build warriors to take advantage of the wonderful cheese that is hut popping.

I feel it is appropriate to list all of my hut-popping adventures, starting from the beginning (based on Screenshots, so possibly missing a few, but none significant):

• 57g
  
• Mysticism
  
• Writing
  
• Mathematics
  
• 63g
  
• Experience (Early Woodsman II warriors rock!)
  
• Hostiles (Dead warriors are a bummer )
  
• Warrior
  
• Warrior
  
• Hostiles (Survived on hill!)
  
• Bronzeworking (in 2850BC!)
  
• Warrior
  
• Map
  
• Hostiles (Woody II in forest survives!)
  
• 57g
  
• 34g
  
• Scout
  
• ??? -- Hostiles that kill a scout, I think
  
• ??? -- Gold, I think
  

Worker steals (All enabled by woodsman II warriors that the AI doesn't react properly to):
Pacal 2600BC
Isabella 1525BC
Mao 1200BC (Deleted it because I thought a counter-attacking archer would get it back, but my warrior won. Bittersweet victory.)

Because of all the warrior hut popping, I don't even get around to starting a settler until late...2175BC late. But if knowledge is power, I'm in good shape; look at this minimap from that turn!:




Second city grabs horses:



Construction finally finishes in 1500BC. Elephants and Catapults...yeeehaaaah!

Also, better found my future Heroic Epic city:



Now, it's time to start putting out real troops. The first one rolls off the line in 1100BC:



This is none too soon, as the barb threat commences almost immediately thereafter:



Even though I have jumbos, I don't want to deal with Egyptian war chariots, so this city must burn:



And we're off on a city-crushing spree.

Thebes is the first of the AI capitals to fall, and the first conquered city I keep. Two suicide cats (one withdraws!), Four jumbos, an axe and a Medic III chariot (who actually saw action defeating a weakened warrior) took out two axes, two spears and an archer on Thebes' hill losing only one cat and one jumbo.

Heroic Epic completes in Tokyo's absolutely awesome location in 320BC. It's a great site and I don't even have Ironworking yet!:



Without a doubt, it is better to be lucky than good. Hatshepsut has just built the Great Wall for me in a flatland city right in front of my forward base of operations!:



First AI (Hatshepsut) gone in 65BC. I kept her capital and the Great Wall in Memphis. After that, I essentially razed every city and didn't found any of my own either.

A little bit of consolidation follows, then more Cat-and-phant destruction. I had been defending a lot outside Tokyo, my Heroic Epic city in the west, but now I could break out.

Headed both east and west. Beijing falls in 220AD. Constantinople in 265AD (razed the Mahabodhi). Thessalonica soon after. Mao gone 415AD. Justinian reduced to tundra.

At this point, it was basically over. Hatty was gone. Mao was gone. Justinian was a non-factor. I had great production, Construction, and Ivory. The three remaining AIs would be unable to keep up. All three of them had been victims of relatively early worker-steals, and their expansion was stunted. Isabella didn't even get metal, I don't think.

Having the Great Wall meant I didn't have to defend my empire from the barbarians spawning in the ever-spreading darkness.

It was dark because I couldn't economically handle any more cities. I just pumped out cats and elephants and ran them along the roads to the AIs.

I guess I could bore you with the details of further exploits, but I won't. I did end up keeping Madrid because I wanted a place in the wilderness to heal my troops safe from the barbarians...and because it had Stonehenge...but with no more cities founded or kept, that ended up being sort of...well...meh.

Fittingly, the conquest is revealed with a map centered on the Heroic Epic:



The minimap shows it all: Three cities of mine. Three kept (though Madrid didn't really contribute). Losing massive amounts of money at 0% research. (City captures kept us in the black.) Victory time primarily limited by road speed of cats and elephants.

Thanks T-Hawk, this was fun!

[T-hawk]

Wow, that's some efficient conquering! Three cities was enough? I felt that my 6 were barely keeping up.

I suppose Construction in 1500 BC had something to do with that. Cyneheard will be along shortly to strangle you, I'm sure.

And wow Woodsman 2 warriors were really the way to break this jungley foresty map. That was some Chieftain-level hut popping there, including the worker steals.

Yes, your Tokyo was a great site. I incorrectly put the HE in the capital and realized later that the west chokepoint actually had more hammers with the copper. Also your Tokyo had the gems in range; I got too tempted by the plains hill hammer and wheat in first ring and didn't get the gems until much later.

Well done! It's not a scored event but I think you win it. Did you play the whole game in the week after SGOTM11 finished?

[Cyneheard]

I suppose Construction in 1500 BC had something to do with that. Cyneheard will be along shortly to strangle you, I'm sure.

Not really. I'm not complaining about getting Metal Casting instead.

Well done, though. 1180AD? My civ was barely functional at that point.

[Compromise]

I loved having two promotions--e.g. Woodsman II--for super-early warriors. In fact, that's one of the things I hope for with early hut pops. The worker steals are nice, but often a huge logistical pain to actually use. (Not to mention the sheer luck factor of finding an opportunity to pull it off.)

Wow, that's some efficient conquering! Three cities was enough? I felt that my 6 were barely keeping up.

I suppose Construction in 1500 BC had something to do with that. Cyneheard will be along shortly to strangle you, I'm sure.

I liked Cyneheard's Metalcasting hutpop too. Though I'm still kicking myself for waiting on the AI to get Masonry for me. I strangely feel like Construction was actually delayed many turns because I failed to see the magnitude of the opportunity.

I think it was less a matter of the city count and more a matter of bringing the fight to the AIs. Three civs were harassed early (indicated by worker steals). And Egypt expanded toward me which helped.

Early pressure and deciding early on not to keep too many AI cities. In the very first Always War event, I recall deciding only to keep AI capitals and that worked out remarkably well. One hybrid and two production cities, then get out there!

You're right though. It would've been a bit different with later Construction.

Well done! It's not a scored event but I think you win it. Did you play the whole game in the week after SGOTM11 finished?

No way I win it...everyone who plays wins! The journey is the destination and all that.

I actually finished fairly soon after the event opened. I'd hoped to try a shadow game wherein I went for space, but didn't have the RL time. My thinking was I'd have to limit myself to: no AI capitals taken and no cities further from me than their capital. But oh well...presumably there will be another event soon. (And I have a few old ones I'd like to try too.)

[novice]

Impressive play as always, Compromise.

I'm still kicking myself for waiting on the AI to get Masonry for me. I strangely feel like Construction was actually delayed many turns because I failed to see the magnitude of the opportunity.

I know how you feel, I'm still kicking myself for not researching HBR. I also self-researched to Construction, but I only had to wait a few turns for Masonry, as I didn't use the remarkable strategy of hutpop beelining.

[Ug the Barbarian]

Nicely played - much more aggressive style than mine and it paid off