Sunday, Dec 17: Our last two events of the year close tomorrow. I will not be around to post closing threads later tonight, but feel free to begin to post your reports any time after 11PM Eastern, or your local equivalent.

We will then be off for a couple of weeks and return with new events in January. This is how we've done things since we opened in 2002.


Each currently available version of the game has issues. Griselda and I understand that. Being able to do something about it, especially something effective, is another story. Core Game 161 has some bugs and a few exploits and imbalances. Warlords 208 is still being sorted out but has a version of Blake's AI upgrades that is obsolete and a "work in progress", along with whatever else I haven't kept track of. Blake's AI mods are a moving target as yet. Each of these is troubled, and not settled.

You will all just have to cope! Sorry to be blunt about that. Discussion is OK, but keep it level headed.


My absence is easily explained. I've been dealing with a family crisis. I expected this news to filter out without me having to do it, but that did not seem to have happened. Perhaps everybody in the know was waiting on me to choose a time and manner. My father, who was living with me the past seven years after suffering congestive heart failure in 1998, suffered a massive stroke in October. Since then he was back and forth between the hospital and a nursing home. He lost all control of his affected side. We had cause for hope at times, but the hopes never materialized. He caught pneumonia this past week and died of heart failure early yesterday morning. He was 66.

Although the crisis has passed, in most senses, I still have a lot of extra things on my plate compared to a few months ago. Although I cannot give RBCiv the kind of attention I have at times in the past, I still feel it is the best course for the community to stick with the tried and true. Griselda can handle the logistics and I can handle choosing scenarios and setting the schedule, overseeing the rules, etc.

There are not likely to be any rules changes unless the major slice of our community agrees on both problems and solutions. I have not seen any such consensus forming in any given area, so I've maintained a "first do no harm" policy and let time try to heal the wounds (via patches, or an emerging consensus). For the middle term at least, this will continue to be our approach. If we arrive at a stable and virtually problem free build, on any version of the game, I will probably steer everybody to that. Until then, it's pick your poison, and different people see it differently.


I hope you all enjoy the reports this week, then have a happy holiday season. Looking forward to a bit of a renewal early next year. I still believe the Civ4 glass is half full, rather than half empty, and that there is a lot of good gaming to be pulled from it.


- Sirian

This not an actual proposal yet, but the floating of an idea. I've always enjoyed playing cooperative games against AIs because of a perverse streak of mine. Reading through Sulla's Axis vs. Allies game made me think about the weakness of the AI there and wonder if Blake's new AI would put up more of a fight. So, here would be the basic settings:

Mod: Blake/Iustus's Better AI mod, whatever's stable when the game is played
Teams: 3v3 or 4v4 or 5v5, a team of humans vs. a team of AIs in multiplayer
Difficulty: high, like Monarch or Emperor
Other Settings: TBD
Theme: Suggestions entertained

Is there any interest in such a thing, or should this crazy idea return to whence it came?

http://www.zealotsofshiverpeak.com/forum...5304#15304
Hey guys! Time for another event! The Link to the ZoS alliance forum and this original thread is listed above. If you want to post feedback for the whole alliance to see, we welcome it there!



Ok, so here are the details:

When: Saturday, December 30th at 12 noon PST
Where: ZoS Guild hall again. If you need run from Camp Rankor to War Camp, please show up 1/2 hour early (11:30 PST) and we will gladly provide this run for you!
What: We'll be going through Sorrows Furnace, if all goes well, pretty much all day. We'll go through as many quests as we can, or just farm it! I know plenty of people who just never quite got Sorrow's Furnace done (including me! :P) Either way, you won't have to devote the 4 hours so, YAY for those with time limitations!
Who: All you lovely Alliance Folk!
Extras: We'll be providing you miner's keys once we're in Sorrow's Furnace, so don't buy them! We'll have plenty!

We know this is a stressfull time of year and there may not be a huge turn out of people, but we just didn't want the holiday season when so many members have a break to go by without taking advantage!

Also worthy of note is that this event is going to be *much* more relaxed than the Deep Day. Builds are much more flexible in SF and there isn't the trouble with ferrying as there was before. Also (and here's a clincher) ----It shouldn't take nearly as long to get started! Which I know will make us all happy!

Hope to see you all there!!

Hi all, I've been thinking about buying this game for some time, and now I've decided to get it, but I seem to be a bit overwhelmed by all the infos about the game that I can find around the web.

As I'd like very much to participate in this community, I'll appreciate very much any information about how to join the RB guild, if it's possible! Also, about what kind of expansions I should buy before attempting to take part in RB events.

Any basic info about the game (I'm not new to online RPGs anyway), or a link to helpful, easy sites (I have some problems with English sometimes ) would be great to have, too. Thanks!

I started this game with a classic warrior/fishing, switching to a workboat asap then finishing the warrior.
Next research targets were mining and bronze working to unlock the Impis, zulus unique unit. They are great in the early game and can deal well with chariots since you can always be on the offensive and offset the chariots attack bonus

After completing the warrior and getting to size 2, I ordered a worker then another workboat. With two sea food near the capital, the capital would a nice settler factory

My scout went east then west and just when I thought I was playing an isolated start, Izzy appeared with an archer. She is the founder of buddhism. I welcome her to our lands




I went next for the wheel but switched mid research to animal husbandry. For two reasons. I didn't like the copper site for its shortage of food. And spain seemed far away so an early rush was probably out. I needed to locate horses and timed AH with my settler. Chariots would be enough to deal with barb threat. All I need to do now is expanding into 4-5 nice cities. There was plenty of place to settle. I would probably use buddhism if it spreads to me.

I met China next and in 2260 BC, I haven't met a single barb yet. I went to check if no barbs was activated, it wasn't. My scout has not located spain or china yet. It feels awkward to meet Qin in the face of Kublai. I used to hate that face.

Horsies were loacted way too far so I went reluctnantly for the copper site.




I don't know how my cities were connected since I didn't have sailing at the moment. Maybe some invisible rivulet falling into the lake. I located Spain too, damn far away in the east.

There is huge space for Isabella to expand in the north and that's what she did. No once came near me. That's quite unexpected. For the time being, I can't really afford to settle many cities. No courthouses, no markets. No calendar resources. My plan is to wait for my third city to grow max size and improve research with scientists.




You can see the marble south, for which I needed a double cultural expansion. I got alphabet a few years later and used writing to get pottery and sailing from Qin and Isabella. I self researched mysticism and polytheism next for literature but went for drama first. I wanted drama to be able to pop taoism with the scientist being generated in the capital.

And to get a clear view on how far apart we were in this game, you can see Spain and China progression




I initially thought of settling the horses site east and then changed my mind and settled west for less maintenance.




The crab tile would give 2 gold too so the city nearly pay for itself. With the AI having plenty of room, I am not too worried about the east being blocked too soon.

I had drama and my scientist. I still had to trade for mathematics. Kublai already has it but Isabella don't so no trading possible yet. The scientist was put aside and I started researching litertaure

Arghh, after finishing mathematics, the scientist just proposed calendar, so I just built an academy in the capital. I thought that great persons preferences were changed in warlords but I realized later I was just lacking meditation.

I started the great library in my most productive city east. That city already built a theatre to accelerate cultre spread and claim the marble.




I finished the great library in 140 AD and built national epic a few years later. That was probably not the best plan, but when I started the library, I didn't know about iron in the capital and I feared that my production was not enough to finish it in time

By this time, I had traded for a lot of techs with my Qin and Isabella. I didn't speak about Monty. I did met him at that moment, he was annoyed from the start for me trading with Isabella (-4) and was probably a lost cause from the start.

The next scientist I popped was used to pop machinery after I researched compass on my own. Machinery is damn down far in scientist preferred techs and I was only able to do that by forgetting about meditation. Anyway, that proved useful since I could research optics next.

This was about time to expand a bit more. So I settled the horses site and took Visigoth, a barbarian city founded on tundra iron. It is a nice city with fish, cows and wheat. Like it when barbarians choose their cities wisely




I noticed that both Qin and Isabella kept an archer in the forest north of the barbarian city for a long while. Never seen this in a vanilla game. They would just suicide on first occasion.


After I got optics in 545 AD, I set research on currency on my own. Only Qin has it and it seems like he is not ready to part with anytime soon. I am relying on scientists and markets won't help me much at the moment though trade routes would. But I want to hire merchants in my capital. This would also make code of laws cheaper in case I have to research it by myself too.
A caravel is ordered immediately in my capital. This turn I also had a buddhist missionary in my capital. It was about time. I had open borders with Isabella since the 2000 BCs and buddhism never spread to me. I converted immediately and then it started spreading quickly.

My caravel sent exploring west met Stalin, Alex and finally Genghis. The last two were doing fine but Stalin was the only one with a lesser score than me. It was buddhism vs confucian continent. But there was the pariah, Monty, who was the only one running hinduism.




When I got a scientist in 740 AD, taoism was still available so I traded for meditation and found the religion. I had no intengion of running taoism. Buddhism was fine to keep my neighbours friendly. But the tech would be a good trading material. Once the religion found, the AI would neglect researching philo for a while.

I circumnavidated the globe in 815 AD and went for astronomy. I was planning to lightbulb it but had bad rolls with a an artist in the capital due to national epic. At that time, Monty was clearly getting ahead in land and population. I was already thinking about going for a diplo win and that settled it for good

I traded for feudalism and civil service with my new cross ocean friends and settled some marginal sites to the north of my starting position.

After finishing astronomy, liberalism was still feasible so I went for it. Monty was hating me but he had no way to attack me so he just declared on Isabella. I was waiting that and hoping to get some positive attitide from mutual military struggle but she never asked for help. That must be another trait of AI personality, she was too proud to ask even though she was loosing cities.

Due to some mysterious bad roll, the capital would persist at giving me artists, so I figured the best way to use them was popping divine right and nationalism. By delaying liberalism (only Qin was running for it at the time), I could slingshot to military tradition. I wanted that to get defensive pacts. I was already friendly with both Isabella and Qin and wanted to drop religion to get better relations with the other continent. The defensive pact would give something to compensate for the religion positive modifiers. There was still no war on the other continent though Alex was showing enough on his hands for a while now.

I think that Alex was saying that he had enough on his hands for something like 200 years. 200 years where I could have been getting mutual military struggle against Stalin or Genghis. That would have been a phony war for me since I didn't intend to send units cross ocean. Genghis worst enemy was Isabella and Stalin was too weak so Alex was my best chance for the diplo vote. I adopted free religion and got him to peleased. Still, it was not enough to sign a defensive pact with him

Ah, the first RBCIV in the Warlords format. Surely this is a good thing, no?

Even at Monarch level and with the new AI programming, I figured what the heck. I am continuing to learn through the losses, so I ought to learn a great deal at this difficulty level.

4000BC - Starting location has wine, crabs, wheat, and flood plains. Looking good so we'll just plant here. Given the custom_continents option there will probably be a lot of coastal cities so we'll just start with Fishing.

3850BC - First Goody Hut ™ nabs us some money.

3730BC - Scout gets bold and defeats a bear. Some good results from the dice! Also head to Mining.

3670BC - Guess the Bold Scout didn't see the second bear and we lose our fog busting in the east.

3470BC - Mining to Bronze working (got...to....keep....up).

3370BC - Buddhism FIDL

3060BC - After hooking up the workboat it's time to start pushing a settler out there.

2830BC - Bronze --> Archery. Hinduism FIDL

2710BC - Qin stops by with an Archer.

2530BC - Archery --> Wheel (need to connect cities and resources)

2230BC - Wheel --> Myst (not sure why I went this route. )

2020BC - Myst --> Animal Husbandry (probably could have held off on this as I didn't have any of these resources around)

1960BC - Judaism FIDL

1780BC - Qin's archer pops a hut and springs some barbarians. One of which kills my scout. Another blind spot in the east! :mad:

More report coming (with pictures this time)!

First...
I am not whining about Warlords, but the game now gives me trouble when compared to Vanilla at the same level!
Second...
I can win somewhat regularly at the Prince level, but stuggle higher than that.
Third...
In reading other reports I am totally blown away at, regardless of the level, the ability to simply report, "I went for X tech and then built X wonder...or used the resulting X GP for Y" as if it's a given. I wish.

And last, sorry, haven't mastered playing, note-taking and pics yet. I promise a future report will have pictures along with it.

My Report

Monarch scares me!
Monarch in Warlords scares me even more!
Monarch in Warlords with the AI advancements of v208 should be interesting, to say the least.
BUT I did go in with a great attitude, prepared to wage war and/or go the diplomatic route. While I've built the spaceship at lower levels, I was simply unsure of my late game skills at this level.

Here we go!

Shaka starts with Ag and Hunting and the UU needs only Copper to be available. Despite that, I first detour to fishing to utilize the starting position fish. I settle in place 4000bc. Ulundi is founded.

Taking that first hut would be too obvious, so I move the scout in a more northerly direction. I pop a hut up there and receive AH in 3850…cool! No horses in the scouted area though…not cool.

Interesting map. The border expansion of the capital seems to seal east-west movement. Could I be at the centre of some kind of landmass with attacks expected from all sides, or is this just a peninsula with plenty of land on one of the sides that will be all mine?

Budd FIDL in 3640. A quick almost thousand years later and I meet the first civ, Issy. Of course, she’s Buddhist and has a scouting archer incoming from the east. Also meet Qin (or is it Khan…they look so much alike) on the same turn. He also has an archer on the same tile. Are they pals already? Oooh, and spot horses a bit further east!

After teching thru Fishing, Archers (this is monarch…I told you I was frightened), I WENT Mining and BW of course to hopefully activate the Impi. BW is done by 2560 and I spot copper to the east. My scout actually found it, settled in some trees because of a bear and BEAT THE BEAR! An omen?

Hinduism FIDL in 2290, which is somewhat late isn’t it. Great, probably warmongers everywhere and no friendly religious types! I hustle a settler and send him east to found uMgung in 2140. That will secure copper and marble and more. Should be my production city for some time.

Mysticism…Wheel…Pottery…Writing…

Judaism FIDL in 1450. My great scout ends his turn next to a barb archer and dies. But, having pointed out the copper and horses, allows me to send a settler further east and claim horses with my city of Nobamba in 1120.

Masonary (for the Marble)…Sailing…HBR…

Qin and Issy are Budds now and ask OB…sure. But shortly after Qin adopts Hinduism. I have some Hindu religion in my civ, know that Issy will be tough later if she has horses and she seems to be the most immediate neighbour, so I adopt Hinduism as my first state religion. Predictably, she closes borders next turn!

Alphabet…

Confucianism FIDL in 310 and in 205BC I finish Alphabet. It hadn’t been much of a priority, given so few neighbours, but now I could at least trade with my new friend Qin. I receive Med-IW for Alpha.

I should mention that I was trying for the Pyramids in my capital as a first wonder! I had been avoiding wonders, working to build up my civ and stay competitive to the monarch AI military so I wouldn’t be trampled. The Impi didn’t seem to be all that useful however.

In 130BC Issy demands horse. That is a good thing! It means she doesn’t have them… I say no (knowing that it may just provoke her). Did I mention I was skipping wonders to stay militarily competitive?

In 50BC I lost out on the Pyramids when they were BIDL (I was still 35t away) and Taoism was FIDL.

Poly…Lit…

I really wanted the GL, again just to stay in the tech race at this level. So with Lit done in 140AD, I started the GL in my capital immediately.

Fast-forwarding through some trades with Qin, my buddy (Priest/Mono), I meet Monty in 320AD and by this time both he and Issy are Jewish…great.

Ulundi becomes my science centre with the finishing of the GL in 425AD! That felt good.

MC…Monarchy…

I was able to capture a barb city to the far NE (Teo), which, although it was remote, added to my civ. Then I founded the city of Kwa immediately N of my capital on its own sprig of land. That gave me a total of six cities to this point in the game. But I also noticed that Issy had planted the city of Salamanca near my horses and that they may either fall to a culture battle or she may just walk in and kill my easternmost city to claim them to herself. If that happens, she will be a handful, so…in 605AD, and with Issy being the stronger, I declare WAR.

In 620AD I capture the next most eastern city of Salamanca, which will secure the horses as definitely mine. And then look ahead to the city of Seville. This might be a tougher nut to crack. It’s larger and better defended. I think about it, try some approaches, but it will remain Spanish. However, I backtrack and take out a smaller city to the SE of Salamanca, Murcia in 755. I end the war shortly thereafter for 280g.

In 800AD I have 500,000 Zulus (#2 Prod, but 5 or worse everywhere else). I fear the Spanish backlash, given Issy’s temper and our not being the same religion, but I have the horses!!!

Things are humming now. Monty demands gold from me. He is powerful, so OK!

By 1025 I am up to 1-million Zulus and slipping a bit (#5, 6 or 7 in virtually every category…#6 Soldiers). Because of my war, the teching slowed down a bit. I burned a Gsci on Math and in 1040 get Feudalism. I revolt to Vass & Serf.

In 1085 Issy asks me to join she and Monty in Judaism. Did I mention they were rather powerful? I say yes. My association with Qin ends after many thousands of years as a faithful Hindu.

Fat forward to 1262 when I meet Alex. I am virtually last in most categories. Monty has banking already…Wow…and the next turn Qin learns Liberalism…Wow! I’m not even close.

In 1292 I meet Khan (as in Genghis) and finally have someone that I can actually trade a few techs with! That helps a bit.

“Breaking News”…Monty, now a Christian, declares on long-time friend and other titanic civ in this game, Issy in 1304! This could get interesting. Knowing that I have already been at war with her, she would be a logical choice from which to steal a bit more real estate and because Monty is a powerhouse, I adopt Christianity to remain his pal. Shortly after that, in 1346, Monty asks for my help (Ha!) in taking on Issy. He’s my pal, so I say OK. And while he actually fights with her to the north, I may just nibble around her southern flank with my “military”, such as it is!

1418 comes and I haven’t been able to really do a thing. I am simply too far behind in power. Monty calls for peace with Issy and, instead of remaining in a fight I will lose if she turns her eyes to the SW, I sure for peace as well. Oddly enough, after not doing that thing to her, she won’t drown me in tech for peace!!! So I offer up some gold and Philo just to get the heck out! Done.

Through this time I have worked my way thru CS and Machinery, then on to Engineering, trying to beef up the military techs. Monty asks for iron in 1514. I need to keep him as an ally, so I give it to him.

Engineering…Optics…Theology…

I burn another Gsci on Paper then move toward Astronomy. And in 1604 I enter the Renaissance with Astro. No real trade ops. And I notice that my friends Qin is standing at my border with Cavs/Rifles and a Settler?!? Hope he’s not up to something. I don’t quite have the answer to that yet if he comes knocking.

1613 marks 10-million Zulus (#3 Prod, but 6 or 7 everywhere else). This is a typical Monarch game for me…just hang in there! Then in 161 I meet Stalin, the last competitor, when he sends a caravel in from the west.

I continue teching along…Guilds…Guns…Bank…Economics…Liberalism (finally)…

Just before I get to Liberalism, in 1682 Qin adopts Emancipation…Yikes! So off I race down the Democracy path after Lib.

Another turning point, so I thought…Issy demands Economics from me. We do not get along, so I refuse (expecting the horns to sound). And I immediately look for more allies. I am able to sign a DefPact with Alex (who has been rather quiet).

Drama/Music (trade w/Stalin)…PP…Nat…Constitution…

In 1741AD I adopt Representation. It strikes me at that point how GOOD the Pyramids actually are…! Then follow with Democracy and Emancipation in 1761. I want to catch up, so I trade Demo around and get Chemistry from Alex and Corp from Khan. Then I take some time to upgrade my military a bit, mainly caravels to Frigs, hoping that I still may be able to mount something against Issy. But I remain 5, 6 or 7 in most demos.

All but Issy seem actually “pleased” with me or more! So, a lightbulb goes off in my head. Dreams of a Diplomatic try? I move through Replace Parts…Rifle…then bee line to Mass Media. I burn a Gsci on some of SciMethod…Physics…Electricity…

I’m just building banks, grens and rifles at this point to bring up my stats. Then in 1827 I give birth to a GE in my capital! Yes, that will help.

I enter the modern age with Radio in 1833 and will have Mass Media in 9t!!!

This just in! Monty declares on Issy again! Monty has both infantry and destroyers prowling. I am at grens/rifles. Yet again he asks for my “help” in 1838 and again I stay on his good side with a YES. I am #7 in military, but again beef up with eastern front for a tussle with Issy on her SW flank?

In 1841 the great Herodotus says that Issy is the largest civ. Great! Nobody, I think, really likes her and if I can only get to the UN, I may have a chance of pulling this out?!?

1842 and I develop Mass Media!!! I burn my GE on the UN in my best production city (at the expenses of producing any military there for a while) and will have it done in only 17t!!!

1847 Monty completes the Apollo Project! Oops…now we’re in a space race! I can only look up at the stars…I have no clue how to get there!!! C’mon UN…

1849 is THEE turning point of turning points in my game. Someone builds the UN and…IT’S NOT ME! Qin…Ugghh. I am screwed. I am nowhere near space, certainly nowhere near being competitive militarily to steal enough land and peeps to get into the UN chair and culture is simply too late as an option. So, to sum up…

I essentially trade anything and everything to anyone who will play nicely.
I beef up my military, as best I can, just in case.
And I sit through endless UN votes. Qin controls and the first Diplo Win vote comes in 1895. I abstain. The results – Not enough votes! Qin-Alex-Khan vs. Issy (Monty, Joe and I abstain). That will prove to just drag things out longer of course.

Only thing I can think of it to War with Issy and hope to steal enough to get into the UN??? Long story short, while I can upgrade, she is simply too powerful and with better military I would not take any cities, just annoy her…so we play this thing out. And, what a religious machine. She controls Budd/Hin/Jew/Tao/Islam at this point.

Diplo vote after Diplo vote produces essentially the same results.

Alex in Space 1926!

Sorry…a VERY anti-climactic ending. I do wish I would have at least built the UN and had a chance to see where that might have taken the game, but now…another notch in the AI belt at Monarch level. However, I do take away the fact that I stayed in the game with the better AI at a higher level than I usually play and, once again, RB has helped my game!

And that…is the main thing!

And reading the victory reports elsewhere in this forum will help even more!!!
Sarek

RBW1 – Impi Zisshun

Well, it’s a variant-less game for our first Warlords Epic. Impi aren’t exactly my favourite UU and the bleating over at CFC about war being the only way in 2.08 is rather tiresome: I’d already achieved a space win on a Pangea without war and with the likes of Ragnar knocking about, so I decided on Space (or Diplo) with an added ‘Honourable’ element. I decided to ease the Emancipation rule somewhat: I cannot be last into Emancipation (I wanted to slave-rush labs if needed), but I cannot bribe Civs into a war of aggression (which was a tactic used in my previous 2.08 game), though I can bribe them to come to my aid if need be.

The opening: well we’ve got a lot of food here, so the first tech is pretty obvious. Medium term, we’d like to use the Oracle to grab Monarchy and unlock those fine wines and thereafter use a Great Scientist to lightbulb Philosophy, so we can use the huge food surplus to run a bunch of scientists at Ulundi.



The scout’s a fairly obvious move, as a worker will be idling and warriors aren’t needed that urgently, given that AGG will make them less likely to die to animals. That 75g will be very handy.

Once Fishing is learnt, we’re onto Mining in order to get early Bronzeworking as we’ll want to whip out those early workers and settlers. Production maximized at size 2 in order to get our workboat out soonest (with the scout bumped back in the queue). Our initial scout defeats a lion and grabs some XP from a hut. BW is started in 3400 and in 3310 Buddhism is FIDL, with Hinduism falling the next turn. Hi Izzy:



Ms Hindu is quite a long way off, so I’ll try to settle in her direction as rapidly as possible. Her presence could be a bit of a headache for my plans to run Pacifism, unless I catch her religion which, given the distance, isn’t too likely. We revolt to slavery on learning BW in 2830, on which turn we also meet Huang, who looks good after his facelift.



He’s someone I’m really pleased to see: his favourite civic is Bureaucracy and I’m going to be running this ASAP. It’s time to head down the path to the Oracle, so we start on Mysticism. Our first settler gets started around 2600 BC and in 2350, Izzy (natch) founds Judaism, just as we’re starting on Polytheism.

Our settler is whipped in 2320 and we found nMgungundlovu on the tundra to the east of Ulundi. It has access to hills tundra deer, marble, copper, and wines, but it is relatively food poor until Biology. I could have settled on the copper for more food, but I’m thinking long term here: with the relative lack of late-game production a worry on this map, I decide to leave the coast for once.

In 2110, we learn Poly and move to Preisthood. We start to build some warriors as barbs are beginning to show up, but we endure some rotten luck in 1990BC when a barb warrior defeats our hill-stationed C1 warrior! The bugger gets two promotions for this victory and I have to send out Ulundi’s garrison warrior (causing anger) in order to defeat him. Stonehenge is BIDL in 1820 and meanwhile we finish our Ikhanda in Ulundi and train some warriors. nMgungundlovu is working on the Oracle.

In 1480, we whip another settler and send him east to expand our empire. As we close on our target tile, we spot a barb archer in the vicinity. However, I have two warriors that I can upgrade to Cover and they now get a 25% city defence bonus, so I should be fine.



Oops! As expected, the archer defeated my first warrior. What I didn’t expect was that he didn’t take so much as a scratch. And the RNG didn’t come to my rescue on the next turn as you can see above and thus Nobamba is but ruins. I’m getting a bit miffed at this point, so my notes are a bit sparse, but I recover my composure enough to rush the Oracle in 1060 and pick Monarchy on the next turn. Thus I’ve secured my first strategic objective.

From this point, we move forward with the twin objectives of lighting Philo and expanding our empire eastwards. With only Izzy and Huang to trade with, the route to Philo will be via Code of Laws. In 285 BC, CoL is completed and I found Confucianism in nMgungundlovu: a pleasant bonus indeed as the missionary is sent to the capital. Another happy occurrence is that learning Animal Husbandry meant that Nobamba was not resettled in place, but instead was founded 1 tile southeast, making Bulawayo a production powerhouse.

In BC 160, we expand our empire further by taking a barb city:


On the next turn, a GS is born in Ulundi and lights Philo for us, founding Taoism in Bulawayo. Our expansion has put our economy in the bin, so it’s time to head to Alphabet in order to trade in some techs, seeing as we’ve got some juicy bait in Philo. In order to boost happiness, Confucianism is adopted in BC 100: Izzy can get stuffed, seeing as she has few interesting techs and I want to reap the benefits of Pacifism. In AD 170, Alphabet is mastered, but we can’t get anything like full beaker value out of Huang yet, so it’s onto Literature at 40% science. In AD 245, a great prophet is born in nMgungundlovu and he builds the Kong Miao on the spot. I’m hoping that this will help spread Confucianism to Huang (and I’m also sending missionaries his way), but instead Taoism takes root in his lands. Maybe it’s to do with Bulawayo being coastal that religion spreads easier from there?

In 350, Nogoma is established and in 440 AD, the Great Library gets rushed in Ulundi. I could have waited a few turns and saved some pop, but at this point I’m struggling to control Ulundi’s pop without causing too many angry citizens. Right now, my research has moved from the bin into the toilet: I’m toiling away on CS at 30% science and still Huang doesn’t want to start trading away any techs. Therefore, I have absolutely no comment on the next 300 years, until 725 when we pop another GS and found Ulundi’s academy. In order to chummy up to Huang, I convert to Taoism in 755AD, which is when I first encounter that good Christian, the saintly Mr. Montezuma.



Finally! Some 600 years after learning Alpha and at least 400 years passed since Huang had both of those techs in hand. At this point, I’m getting a bit worried about my game: normally, CS will be in the bag centuries sooner and the Big B will be driving my research like a runaway train. With Izzy and Monty around, Diplo is out of the window. Oh well, nothing else to do than to press on to Space. A couple of turns of deficit research later and CS is in the bag, with Paper next in line. Naturally, we revolt to BUR.

Warlords 1 - Impi Zisshun

This was a variantless warlords game as the Zulu. Custom continents, monarch difficulty. My aim was to win a spaceship victory because I haven't built a spaceship in a non-OCC game since adventure 5 and have never got a sub-1900 spaceship. Furthermore I wanted to see if the constant whingers over at CFC were correct that the only way to win with the new patch is constant war.

I settle on the spot and started fishing and a warrior.

Next was work boat, another warrior and a 2nd work boat; research into mining and then bronze working. I whipped my first worker at size 4 - expansive civs in the new patch get a large benefit from whipping their early workers instead of building them with food. This would create a pattern of the capital building a warrior until size 4 then whipping a settler or worker and going back to size 2.

I didn't meet any civs for a long time - indeed I initially presumed Sirian set the number of continents to 1 per civ. But then I met Isabella (who had founded Buddhism) and Qin. Not Kublai, Qin. The layout of the map looked like every city would be coastal, so I went for sailing and masonry next to build the great lighthouse.



I like the Zulu's city names . nMgungundlovu was a fairly crappy site, but at least it expanded towards the AI and quickly got the copper - giving me some barb defense without having to research archery or IW. Nobamba would be my heroic epic city and would have been founded 1E if I had known about the horses at the time. My fogbusting warriors had found 2 peninsulas around the capital that could support cities, but first I wanted to expand towards the AIs.

Great lighthouse was built in 670 BC - my next targets were the great library and the colossus. I researched alphabet and literature and started the library in Ulandi again.



Bulawayo in the east would become a science city. Harrapan in the north was a barb city I captured. Nongoma was squeezed in near the capital because it became apparant that Ulandi did not need to work its wheat. kwaDukuza (what a name!) went onto the western peninsula to claim crabs, sheep and eventually whales. The settler selected would found a city 1E of the cows north of Ulandi and I would also capture a barb city Assyrian in the east which separated our empire from Spain.

You can see I am researching compass, which I do often now. On waterless maps it's great trade bait, and on continents maps it's on the way to optics.

Buddhism spread to myself and Qin so I converted.

Great library was built in 230 AD and around that time I got a great merchant from the lighthouse which I used to lightbulb metal casting. This let me build a forge and then the colossus in Ulandi again, completing the wonder in 740 AD.

I traded compass and MC around for things like code of laws, mathematics, IW, currency, calendar and then went for machinery, then optics. I also met Montezuma to the north - he didn't like me because he was the founder of hinduism. My plan was to use Izzy (who was friendly) as a buffer between Monty and Qin. But that plan fell through when Qin converted to Hinduism and Monty declared on Izzy, taking a couple of towns. I got back to cautious with Monty by gifting a tech, then when he asked me to join in and I agreed. I didn't really have an army except for a few crossbows, so my only action was to raze a couple of crappy spanish cities on my border. I also converted to hinduism when monty asked, but that wasn't for long because I was about to discover liberalism and go to free religion.

Being first to optics means you get (1) the circumnavigation, (2) get to trade with the other continent (Alex, Genghis and Stalin) first and (3) your world map is worth a lot of money - I sold mine for about 1500 gold. Liberalism was discovered in 1262 with the help of blowing a GS on education, taking Astronomy. Yes it obsoletes the colossus, but we get juicy foreign trade routes with our cheap harbours and can build observatories. Monty swallowed up most of spain and captured Madrid (after completely pillaging it of course). I founded Babanango and Ndondakusuka in the spanish ruins. Spain became a vassal of the Aztecs.



Monty was up to friendly with me and Qin was pleased too. Economics was next for the free merchant, then Sci meth and Physics for the free scientist. Monty then founded a city on my borders which gave us border tensions and dropped me to pleased. With him having a massive empire and way ahead in power, I built a lot of troops and put them in Babanango. I had hit WFYHBTA with most people, but genghis and Alex would still trade with me. Genghis was strangely second behind me in tech.

Qin was struggling with his small empire, last in power (apart from Izzy) and got declared on by Alex. He immediately became a peacetime vassal of Monty, which put Alex at war with Monty, Izzy and Qin - I bet Alex wasn't expecting that. I don't like the vassal system. No cities changed hands though. The war would restart again in the 19th century, but again nothing really happened.



I built the statue of liberty and broadway. I was slight tech leader with Genghis close behind, but I wasn't in danger of losing a space race. The only thing I feared was a diplomatic loss to Monty and his 2 vassals or war with Monty. The first wasn't an issue because the UN was only build 2 turns before the end of the game and the second would be OK because I had a thin border to defend and my power rating was OK. Also, Monty was pleased with me - not that reassuring but better than him being annoyed.

So anyway, with the help of this monster city



I built the spaceship in 1857 AD, with Monty being almost 2000 points ahead of me in score.



The game was enjoyable for me because I hadn't built a spaceship for ages and it was my first game on Warlords 2.08. It would have been harder if there were any financial or organised civs in the game. The only civ which you would call a "techer" is Qin, and he got boxed in by the start generator. Teching against Alex and Genghis wasn't so tough, so I still don't know if the whiners are correct when they say you have to war to win in Warlords 2.08.

Well, the "weekend" part doesn't mean much anymore, but we gotta keep the tag .

It's time for a diplomacy game!

Version: Vanilla
Civ: India, Gandhi
Map: Fractal, standard size, medium sea level, temperate climate
Difficulty: Monarch
Speed: Normal
Extras: One-City-Challenge

You are teamed with Asoka as Team India. There are 7 other teams out there: England, Germany, France, America, Mongolia, China and Russia. All victory conditions are enabled, but you must aim for a diplomatic victory. Whether you choose the pen or the sword is up to you

Also, drop Blake and Iustus' BetterAI mod into your customassets folder while playing. Well, you don't have to, but if you're comfortable at Monarch on vanilla, then give it a go. I will be.

The first start with at least 2 food resources had ... 5 food resources.



One more thing: When researching a wonder tech as a team, there is a way to make sure your partner doesn't start the wonder before you. When 1 turn away, reduce your science rate to make it 2 turns away. Then when you get the tech the turn after next you will be able to build the wonder. Or something like that - maybe someone can verify?