Adventure 20 - The Judge's Report

[The Judge]

I’m on the tail end of moving from DC to Portland, so my write up and supporting screenshots are going to be slipshod. Opening is in note form and there are few pictures. Apologies in advance.

Found on starting spot. Worker is first in the queue, Meditation up for my attempt to claim all religions.
Roving Exploration Team pops Agriculture from the village to the south. Woot.
RET picks up 93 gold from village to west.
Buddhism obtained on schedule. I head for Mining next.
RET snags 52 gold to the south. Worker done - warrior next.
Mining - Priesthood next. RET dodges bear attack.
Priesthood obtained. - BW next.
Warrior - warrior next.
BW – and copper is right next door to Home Base! No one to Poly yet, so I’m going for it.
RET gets healed from a village when they don’t need it. Clear this is karmic payback for the early tech. They also get 35 gold from village at the end of the world.
Time the second city founding just before Hindu on the nose. Medina in 2400BC. And: Boom. 2 for 2.
Finally run into somebody (the French) in 2360 - to my south.
Masonry next (sending the next Settler to the east for the marble) - Writing next.
I meet Fred and Cathy in 2080 at the same time. Both coming in from the west.
I meet Washington in 1650. 3rd settler built and heading east with an escort. I pick up Animal Husbandry before going for Monotheism and see that I’m getting Horses out there, too. I up the research and look for a 3-for-3 showing. Damascus in 1320 aaaaaaand . . . Score.


I take Hunting and Fishing in my next couple of turns. No real bothers on the horizon. I go for Archery. Build another Settler. Build the Oracle to get the GP train running on Prophets. Complete in 775 and I take Metal Working to get some production chops for the impending expansions. I again make the smooth move of founding Baghdad in 625 one turn before picking up Code of Laws. 4 for 4 - so the money problems will likely ease up a bit. IW next, and I spy the edges of a barb city off to the west. I’m thinking of invading and then going for Christianity right after IW. A couple of axemen take care of the new city. I spend a few turns attempting to build monks for Buddha, prepping for the on-the-way GP Prophet. Right on time – Moses hooks me with a piggy bank. I’m on the verge of founding yet another religion and then heading for finance techs, but agony: 7 turns out, Cathy beats me there:


Damn. Quick-change to Sailing for some immediate cash boostage. And we continue from here. GPs come every so often and I keep focusing on keeping the cash flow steady with my empire. I eventually get Currency and the whole scope of the game starts to change. I breathe a little easier about money. After all, I’ve got four Holy Cities (with a fifth hopefully on the way as I immediately shoot for Philosophy. It works again. Okay, now we’re going to be rolling in dough if I work this right. I turn the trick again a few years later: new city, aim for Islam. I’m on the verge of dropping in the fourth house of the holy in with the Taoists and things are still rolling along.

Catherine hates me while the rest of the world loves me. She finally declares and we spent a few decades dancing back and forth. That finally settles down. I slowly keep moving forward, trying to snag some sort of Military tech advantage while keeping my empire in the black. Right about the time that I’m set to build up and invade Russia:


You can immediately see some bad work as we’re talking 1750 or 1760 here. Also, for a guy trying to Dominate, I'm packed in on all sides. I really ran into a problem getting a big army plus a tech lead. Anyway, I cross the border and after a few turns, I get sneak-attacked by the French. I quickly call in Frederick to assist against France, stave Cathy to a standstill, and manage to invade and subdue Napoleon with the judicious use of Gunships.


I did not balance the timing of my Attempts To Conquer very well at all. It took 200 years to finally wipe them out and it was 2000 before I could effectively snuff Russia.


I am not the best player in the world on offense and never can seem to get the hang of grouping invasion task forces. 35 turns or so left in the game, no tech advantage, and the remaining two players in the midst of a Defensive Pact. I even try blowing out the Culture levels to absorb invaded lands faster, but alas: Washington launches in 2043 and I lose.


Fun game and things were going very well for awhile in terms of getting many, many Holy Cities and end-arounding the limitations on the scenario. I founded five and had cash generating structures in all of them. But somewhere between getting that set up and maintaining the idea that I had to dominate the world, I failed to keep military tech in line and press my advantages. I also need to learn how to effectively invade. All of my stuff seems scattershot at best.

Anyway, final total: Loss. (Washington, Space Race) in 2043. 5 religions founded, All holy cities in hand at the end of the game. 60.50% pop. 55.52% territory.


Thanks for the game.

[KMad]

"and the remaining two players in the midst of a Defensive Pact."

cathy declared war on you. later nappy declares on you while you're at war with cathy. and then you bravely finally finish them off (which trust me, i could never accomplish), and the two left that have signed a DP and if you fight one you have to fight them both.

ooph you had some bad luck there! trust me, i was very lucky that nobody declared war on me. i'm not good at the whole war thing unless i have my whole time to prepare and plot it out and make my little plans and sort things out in my head. i bet if even one AI had declared on me, i'd not have made it to 15 turns afterwards, much less come as close as you did. in i think my 2nd RB event stalin declared on me while i was at war with liz and i quit the game that very turn, because it had turned "not fun" instantly. that is what a chicken i am .

i'm glad it was a fun game for you . good luck with the move!

[Compromise]

Wow, you came really close to getting the domination before Washington launched. That must've been a nailbiter!

I'd like to make a comment about your choice of city locations. In the screenshot where you lost Christianity, we see Medina (your first non-capital city). While it does have gold, the only food resource is a single oasis. And it only has 5 grasslands. This means that if you want to work the gold mine (which is usually a good idea), you'll be limited to size 7: gold, 5xgrass (probably cottages) and either the grass hill mine or a cottaged plain. None of your flatland is on a river either, so no bonus commerce. And while working the gold mine, your food surplus is only +1F (1 extra food above that needed to feed your citizens). That means your city will grow very slowly.

While this isn't a terrible location, it's not very good. And there were several better locations for your second city. Now, there are times when you need to found not-great cities for strategic reasons: resources (for yourself or to deny them to the enemy), blocking the AI, desperate need for something. But usually, you can find a site with good food and the eventual ability to feed and work 15 or so citizens.

I hope you keep playing and reporting! Adventure 21 will give you a leg up on military work while you can also try generating lots of great people.

[The Judge]

I'd like to make a comment about your choice of city locations. In the screenshot where you lost Christianity, we see Medina (your first non-capital city). While it does have gold, the only food resource is a single oasis. And it only has 5 grasslands. This means that if you want to work the gold mine (which is usually a good idea), you'll be limited to size 7: gold, 5xgrass (probably cottages) and either the grass hill mine or a cottaged plain. None of your flatland is on a river either, so no bonus commerce. And while working the gold mine, your food surplus is only +1F (1 extra food above that needed to feed your citizens). That means your city will grow very slowly.

And that's totally what happened. It was a weak choice made by a locked-in-"Must-Control-Resource!" mindset and I just plunked it down. I think another part of me was concerned with Westward expansion at the time because I knew there was no one to my East and, thus, I had additional time to expand that way without worrying about other Civs moving up.

Of course, since I ended up scrunched into a small ball before attempting the various invasions, we see how well that thought process worked out.

[The Judge]

cathy declared war on you. later nappy declares on you while you're at war with cathy. and then you bravely finally finish them off (which trust me, i could never accomplish), and the two left that have signed a DP and if you fight one you have to fight them both.

If by "bravely" you mean "Go begging for German help in every conflict", then yes, I was quite the iron-willed guy.

This is actually the second game of three that I've played from RB where a massive invasion attempt is torpedoed by another Civ sucker-punching me three turns into the war. Last time, I worked my way out of it by turtling up and dashing for Space. I really should look at draft/whip methods and theories of raising armies when/if you need troops for a speedy invasion.

[haphazard1]

Thanks for the game report, Judge. Interesting game, and very close at the end.

This is actually the second game of three that I've played from RB where a massive invasion attempt is torpedoed by another Civ sucker-punching me three turns into the war.

I had some worries about this in my game, as I left Napoleon alone and fought the other three one after another. But I worked the diplomacy hard with trade, gifts, agreeing to demands, and with shared religion (I converted to the faith he adopted, since I founded all but one), and was able to avoid the sucker punch. It doesn't always work, even if you do everything right; Napoleon will sometimes declare even if he's pleased.

[KMad]

by "you bravely finish them off" i mean that you kept playing, and you lived and they died . bringing in a war ally is often a very wise tactic! "begging" it's all in the phrasing.

I really should look at draft/whip methods and theories of raising armies when/if you need troops for a speedy invasion.

well i am certainly the last person on earth to listen to for advice on how to actually fight wars. and you're not starting out as pathetic as i was, that's for sure. but if it's worth anything, i can tell you that i had read about drafting but i didn't "get it", that whole lightbulb over my head thing, until i tried it in an artificial situation. i usually play with LMA on, but i knew i wanted to practice drafting, so i started a game with worldbuilder as an option, and i went out and acted evil and for once didn't try to get along with everybody. then when i learned how to turn my nation into a hood, i went in and added some more food to my cities and started clicking like a madwoman. obviously it wasn't going to apply to a real game, i could draft/whip more in this fake world. but it was eye-opening and it was very educational. now i am a true believer in that draft button when i have to bother with all that war business!

then of course i had to learn how to actually do it in the "real civ world" of legitimate resources, and i'm still no pro. but that test game guaranteed me cities where i could push the button and see what those troops can do, and to realize limitations like how distance from the frontline matters, and the good sizes of cities to draft from, that sort of thing. and now i see why some folks put globe theatre where they do . i'd read it all but for me, doing it that way i was able to focus on the learning how to draft/why it's so cool more than i would have been if i was fighting a "real war in a real civ game" and trying to learn to draft at the same time. and then that's helped me in all my wars since. even tho i still try to avoid wars as a general rule *giggle*.

admittedly, i'm a permanoob and nobody needs quite as much help as i do . but it's just a thought.