Epic 1 - Snaproll's Report

[Snaproll]

Hi all, you can find my report at :

http://www.geocities.com/pacerdart/Epics.../intro.htm

Unfortunately, it will have to be a "shadow" report, as I messed up and violated the honorable rules.

[Sullla]

This is one of the more interesting starting strategies I've seen in these reports. Founding ON the stone did give access to it early, but keep in mind that you had to found Paris one tile off the coast in order to do so, which definitely hurt the city's potential long-term. Then researching Fishing out of the gate - interesting, very interesting. You did get the religion, but delaying access to Animal Husbandry no doubt hurt the growth curve somewhat. There's always tradeoffs, and this has been one of the more unique starts to look at. It wasn't bad by any means, just different! (Seeing you work all 3 lake tiles so early on was fabulous stuff!)

To be fair, you had a lot more time to get Stonehenge than you seemed to think you had. Some people were able to get it as late as 500BC in their games. You delayed that first worker a LONG time to get it too. Not that this was weed, just kind of "out there" compared to some of the other games. It was rather reminiscent of the RB1 opening, if anything.

Obviously your dot maps are a bit different, since your Paris was the only one I've seen thus far on the stone. That yellow dot (Orleans) looks like it was a good spot for a second city. You did get REAL lucky with that barb archer - this is why I don't send out settlers escorted by warriors!

Indeed, you are correct to point out that shrines vastly increase the speed at which religious spread takes place. I'm somewhat hestitant to base a game plan around this, since you can't actually control it, but here on Epic speed where the turns are slower, it's makes much more sense to base a plan around it.

Wow, Temujin finished the Pyramids and swapped to Police State? Crazy (and scary) stuff. I'm surprised that you didn't go for it with your focus on stone so early on. He built it pretty early though, so I guess you didn't have time. I don't think anyone else has mentioned Temujin getting the Pyramids, so that's another unique feature to this game. I'm sure you were glad to see him head after Gandhi and not you, hehe.

I'm highly amused by you starting a page of your report with "when last we talked..."

Your city of Tours had a ton of food, but there were some tiles wasted between it and Paris, I have to point out. You can get the CivFanatics smileys in your report by putting them in as an image, same as any other (just look up the link on that site).

Hinduism spreading on its own to Athens? Yowsa. I think that says a lot for the value of an early shrine! Well played indeed. As happened in several other games, you too used religion to go over to the "Dark Side of the Force" and ally with Monty and Temujin... Funny that the barbs gave you more problems than that gruesome twosome!

I'm sorry to hear that you got caught accidentally with a mistake on the razing rule, but glad that you took the time to report and share anyway. This has been a highly enjoyable report to read!

Gandhi getting roughed up early on, Washington as the opponent. That sounds similar to my game, except I was protecting Gandhi instead of jumping on top of him! Monty's attacks on Washington clearly were a godsend - I think you were right to pay him off! Without sharing a religion though, I think no amont of tribute would have helped you. By getting your dark partners to do the fighting for you, it slowed down the peaceful AI civs and allowed you to take over the tech lead. Again, I'm wondering if this strategy wasn't more effective than fighting the evil civs and allying with the good ones...

Liberalism not falling until 1610? Yeah, your game's tech pace was a bit slower than mine. Your picture of the Hindu bloc is a textbook example of forming the dark alliance. "I sense the Dark Side is strong in this one..."

It was all working perfectly - till Temujin became your UN opponent! That's always one of the problems with the diplo win; your allies became TOO strong from feeding on the peacenik civs, and the vote therefore split the Hindu coalition.

What you didn't point out in your report is that your opponent switched in that last UN election: it wasn't Temujin, it was Monty! And apparently Alex didn't like Monty as much as he liked Temujin, which - combined with Temujin's ripping Washington a new one in the east - put you over the top in the election. Amazing stuff! Your Dark Jedi did their work well.

Thanks for sharing. It was definitely a unique game worth standing on its own.

[Bruindane]

Wow. Just wow. I read Sirp's impressive report earlier on spreading Judaism to make friends with both Monte and Genghis, yet your plan, and a plan it was just floored me!

Leveraging the fishing lakes for a research boost to grab the early religion and building on the stone to get Stonehenge (for a prophet!) without a worker was a true gambit. Getting the UN alongside Stonehenge in Paris is a beautiful validation of this far reaching plan.

I got some good ideas for my next games, though I feel so much safer with swords early.

[Drasca]

You did get REAL lucky with that barb archer - this is why I don't send out settlers escorted by warriors!

I find that warriors are effective barb archer killers in jungle/woods terrain. 5% fortify + the 50% from terrain bonus gives that 1.55 * 2.0 = 3.1 modified strength. Hills aren't enough, but warrior + woodsmen upgrade from animal slaughter make for fine anti-barb archers.

Edit: Nevermind. I ruthlessly abused Jungles + Hills and Woodsman II upgrades in my games, that's why I was able to fend off archers...

[Snaproll]

All, thanks for replying. Sulla, I especially want to thank you for your work not just with my report but with all of them - the amount of time you are putting into reading and commenting on everyone's report is truly awe-inspiring and one of the best parts about this community.

There's always tradeoffs, and this has been one of the more unique starts to look at. It wasn't bad by any means, just different!

It's strange, but it didn't seem "different" when I was doing it. I saw that my neighbors were aggressive and I delayed switching to a religion for a long time with the precise intention of placating those guys if I could. Thinking back, I agree that it may not have been the strongest way to start. But it did prevent me from having to deal with war. In the long run, this may have actually hurt me as I wasn't able to expand beyond my initial borders. I miscalculated with the stone tile too - I thought it would only ever produce 2 hammers, but that is just flat wrong. I almost certainly would've moved to a plains hill if I hadn't screwed that up.

Indeed, you are correct to point out that shrines vastly increase the speed at which religious spread takes place. I'm somewhat hestitant to base a game plan around this, since you can't actually control it, but here on Epic speed where the turns are slower, it's makes much more sense to base a plan around it.

I think that this one aspect was the dominant feature of my game. It's not controllable, but seemed pretty reliable in converting my two closest neighbors as well as most of my cities.

What you didn't point out in your report is that your opponent switched in that last UN election: it wasn't Temujin, it was Monty! And apparently Alex didn't like Monty as much as he liked Temujin, which - combined with Temujin's ripping Washington a new one in the east - put you over the top in the election. Amazing stuff! Your Dark Jedi did their work well.

*Smacks head* You are right! I was so shocked to win that I didn't even notice that my opponent had changed!

Leveraging the fishing lakes for a research boost to grab the early religion and building on the stone to get Stonehenge (for a prophet!) without a worker was a true gambit.

You are right, it was. Looking back, things probably would've gone much worse for me if I didn't grab hinduism. My growth curve was delayed by putting off animal husbandry. I would've had to fight off Monty and Genghis instead of befriend them. But, everyone says that civ4 is all about having more than one path to victory. I tried something different than anyone else (although a few others got hinduism), and it changed the flavor of my game in comparison with everyone else. It proved not to be the strongest path, but that's ok with me However, I probably won't try such a risky strategy next time.