Realms Beyond Epic 1
DaveShackâs Demise
Or, How to make enemies and get destroyed very fast
It started innocently enough, just another game of civ4. Or so I thought, having forgotten my first GOTM experience almost two years ago. Then, as a relative (ok, complete) newcomer to Civ, it was hardly surprising that I would lose the first âcompetitiveâ game I played. The level was far higher than what I was used to, there were pages of discussions on the really cool things that were being done special to the game, and people with funny and not so funny names were turning in winning games in the early A.D.âs with incredibly high scores. How hard can this be, I thought to myself. Then I found out that the AI on Emperor level would actually invade and destroy a player. That wasnât how things went on Warlord.
Fast forward to early December 2005. Itâs a brave new world, with a bigger badder civ, and instead of being a newcomer in a forest of people who played like deities, Iâm a newcomer in a forest of newcomers with the occasional lucky soul who has had the game for a couple of months and plays like a deity. Should be fun, right? :rolleyes:
Downloaded the game, took a quick look at the starting location and said to myself âthatâs nice, itâs pretty average for a changeâ. And I merrily went on my way learning how to die very, very quickly.
The French people, in 4000 BC, found a lake and decided to settle Paris on its shores. Having read the exploits of Sirian the Great and his partner Sulla the Also Great in the game of the Cuban Isolationists, the French leader DaveShack thought that it would be incredibly cool to work one of the lake tiles and speed ahead to founding one or more of the worldâs religions. Hey wait a second, the French canât research a religion directly, they need a pre-requisiste technology. OK, thatâs no biggie, with the faster science we can probably get one anyway. Now hold on here, whaddaya mean the citizens refuse to work on the waterâs edge? How can that be? Quickly reviewing his well-worn copy of âhow to lead a nationâ, DaveShack finds that the shoreline cannot be worked until the secrets of âfishingâ are known.
Oh well, maybe itâs not to be. Weâll just research Animal Husbandry so we can put the nearby 4-legged beasts to use. After 7 turns and 280 years (whatâs with the 40 years per turn he wonders), our exploring warrior finds a village. Upon entering the seemingly peaceful village, he discovers two war parties were lurking in its outskirts, ready to pounce. What rotten luck, DaveShack thought, as the camp-followers returned with news that our brave warriors were mercilessly slaughtered by a horde of barbarians.
Another 3 turns and 120 years later, Paris trains its first band of warriors. DaveShack the not-so-great sends these warriors out too, to explore the surrounding countryside some more. In 3240 BC, research on Animal Husbandry finishes, and the French start learning how to mine the earth for minerals. Another warrior is finished with training, so Paris begins the long process of equipping some settlers. Fearing the appearance of more barbarians, this warrior formation remains home to defend the city. In 3080 BC the exploring warriors survive a massive bear attack, and again survive against panthers in 3000 BC. DaveShack thinks this might mean the whole land is populated with barbarians and wild beasts. Having gained a little experience the exploring warriors learn how to be woodsmen, and find a village from which they garner a small amount of gold.
In 2800 BC, the secrets of extracting minerals from the ground are learned, and the wise men next turn their thoughts to learning how to turn copper into a more useful metal. In 2520 BC, villagers give the French the knowledge of Mysticism, and an emissary of the Aztec empire comes to deliver greetings from that tribeâs leader. In 2240, the Americans and Incans join our little circle of friends. Nobody can do anything but say hi though, since nothing is tradeable yet. At long last, in 2000 BC the settlers are done. They set off with a warrior escort, and Paris starts training a replacement warrior. Over the next 200 years Bronze working finishes and we start on Fishing, Orleans is built and starts a warrior, Paris finishes the warrior and starts a worker. After Fishing is learned we start on Iron Working.
In 1625 BC, we discover there are two more budding civilizations, the Mongolians and the Greeks. Orleans finishes a warrior and starts a worker, and quiet reigns until 1375 BC when Paris finishes the worker and starts a settler. Wow, thatâs not many units build or cities founded, and weâre pretty far behind.
In 1200 BC we lose another exploring warrior to barbs, this time an archer. In 1125 BC, yet another warrior loses to a barb, and Iâm starting to get just a teensy bit upset. Orleans starts on yet another warrior when its worker finishes. In 880 BC we learn Iron Working starting Masonry, and Paris completes the settler. Masonry is learned in 640 BC, starting Writing. At this time, I was probably toast and just didnât know it yet. In retrospect, should have done the archery path first.
Nothing significant other than unit builds happened until 240 BC, when writing finished and alphabet started. Copper was connected in 220 BC and an Axeman started. Iâm paying attention to the barbs to the West, not knowing that leaving my eastern border lightly defended will trigger AI aggression. I continue to fruitlessly pursue barbarians in the west until 240 AD, when Genghis Khan surprises me by declaring war. Tours was razed in 260 AD, Rheims lost in 310 AD, Paris in 360 AD, and I was finally defeated in 620 AD.
At the time, I wrote the following into my game log:
Post-mortem, looks like it is a mistake to drill deeply on the Alphabet
path with these settings. Also a mistake to have only 1-2 fairly weak
defenders per city, the AI's on Prince level will jump you if given a
chance.
Were Barbs on raging or something? That's a lot more barb activity than
I'm used to seeing. And what's with the overly aggressive neighbors,
and how did they generate so many units so fast? Even with a fairly good
ratio, the AI still didn't go for the kill quite as fast as a human might.
DaveShackâs Demise
Or, How to make enemies and get destroyed very fast
It started innocently enough, just another game of civ4. Or so I thought, having forgotten my first GOTM experience almost two years ago. Then, as a relative (ok, complete) newcomer to Civ, it was hardly surprising that I would lose the first âcompetitiveâ game I played. The level was far higher than what I was used to, there were pages of discussions on the really cool things that were being done special to the game, and people with funny and not so funny names were turning in winning games in the early A.D.âs with incredibly high scores. How hard can this be, I thought to myself. Then I found out that the AI on Emperor level would actually invade and destroy a player. That wasnât how things went on Warlord.
Fast forward to early December 2005. Itâs a brave new world, with a bigger badder civ, and instead of being a newcomer in a forest of people who played like deities, Iâm a newcomer in a forest of newcomers with the occasional lucky soul who has had the game for a couple of months and plays like a deity. Should be fun, right? :rolleyes:
Downloaded the game, took a quick look at the starting location and said to myself âthatâs nice, itâs pretty average for a changeâ. And I merrily went on my way learning how to die very, very quickly.
The French people, in 4000 BC, found a lake and decided to settle Paris on its shores. Having read the exploits of Sirian the Great and his partner Sulla the Also Great in the game of the Cuban Isolationists, the French leader DaveShack thought that it would be incredibly cool to work one of the lake tiles and speed ahead to founding one or more of the worldâs religions. Hey wait a second, the French canât research a religion directly, they need a pre-requisiste technology. OK, thatâs no biggie, with the faster science we can probably get one anyway. Now hold on here, whaddaya mean the citizens refuse to work on the waterâs edge? How can that be? Quickly reviewing his well-worn copy of âhow to lead a nationâ, DaveShack finds that the shoreline cannot be worked until the secrets of âfishingâ are known.
Oh well, maybe itâs not to be. Weâll just research Animal Husbandry so we can put the nearby 4-legged beasts to use. After 7 turns and 280 years (whatâs with the 40 years per turn he wonders), our exploring warrior finds a village. Upon entering the seemingly peaceful village, he discovers two war parties were lurking in its outskirts, ready to pounce. What rotten luck, DaveShack thought, as the camp-followers returned with news that our brave warriors were mercilessly slaughtered by a horde of barbarians.
Another 3 turns and 120 years later, Paris trains its first band of warriors. DaveShack the not-so-great sends these warriors out too, to explore the surrounding countryside some more. In 3240 BC, research on Animal Husbandry finishes, and the French start learning how to mine the earth for minerals. Another warrior is finished with training, so Paris begins the long process of equipping some settlers. Fearing the appearance of more barbarians, this warrior formation remains home to defend the city. In 3080 BC the exploring warriors survive a massive bear attack, and again survive against panthers in 3000 BC. DaveShack thinks this might mean the whole land is populated with barbarians and wild beasts. Having gained a little experience the exploring warriors learn how to be woodsmen, and find a village from which they garner a small amount of gold.
In 2800 BC, the secrets of extracting minerals from the ground are learned, and the wise men next turn their thoughts to learning how to turn copper into a more useful metal. In 2520 BC, villagers give the French the knowledge of Mysticism, and an emissary of the Aztec empire comes to deliver greetings from that tribeâs leader. In 2240, the Americans and Incans join our little circle of friends. Nobody can do anything but say hi though, since nothing is tradeable yet. At long last, in 2000 BC the settlers are done. They set off with a warrior escort, and Paris starts training a replacement warrior. Over the next 200 years Bronze working finishes and we start on Fishing, Orleans is built and starts a warrior, Paris finishes the warrior and starts a worker. After Fishing is learned we start on Iron Working.
In 1625 BC, we discover there are two more budding civilizations, the Mongolians and the Greeks. Orleans finishes a warrior and starts a worker, and quiet reigns until 1375 BC when Paris finishes the worker and starts a settler. Wow, thatâs not many units build or cities founded, and weâre pretty far behind.
In 1200 BC we lose another exploring warrior to barbs, this time an archer. In 1125 BC, yet another warrior loses to a barb, and Iâm starting to get just a teensy bit upset. Orleans starts on yet another warrior when its worker finishes. In 880 BC we learn Iron Working starting Masonry, and Paris completes the settler. Masonry is learned in 640 BC, starting Writing. At this time, I was probably toast and just didnât know it yet. In retrospect, should have done the archery path first.Nothing significant other than unit builds happened until 240 BC, when writing finished and alphabet started. Copper was connected in 220 BC and an Axeman started. Iâm paying attention to the barbs to the West, not knowing that leaving my eastern border lightly defended will trigger AI aggression. I continue to fruitlessly pursue barbarians in the west until 240 AD, when Genghis Khan surprises me by declaring war. Tours was razed in 260 AD, Rheims lost in 310 AD, Paris in 360 AD, and I was finally defeated in 620 AD.
At the time, I wrote the following into my game log:
Post-mortem, looks like it is a mistake to drill deeply on the Alphabet
path with these settings. Also a mistake to have only 1-2 fairly weak
defenders per city, the AI's on Prince level will jump you if given a
chance.
Were Barbs on raging or something? That's a lot more barb activity than
I'm used to seeing. And what's with the overly aggressive neighbors,
and how did they generate so many units so fast? Even with a fairly good
ratio, the AI still didn't go for the kill quite as fast as a human might.
Nice report nonetheless. I learned the most through my defeats.
![[Image: rb1daveshackad4209cf.jpg]](http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/6463/rb1daveshackad4209cf.jpg)