RB Civ 5 SG 4 - Ryder Cup American Team

[Gaspar]

Uh I don't think marble is a luxury, is it? I thought it just boosted your wonder construction speed.

Marble is indeed a lux.

[Sareln]

Marble is indeed a lux.

Beat me to it. Yeah, saving the GA for post Chichen-Itza conquest would be optimal, but unnecessary.

Also we're in a race w/ Genghis for that city ja?

[T-hawk]

As discussed, we take the Discipline policy. And I think it's obvious to wait until after Chichen Itza to pop the Golden Age.

And hey guys...



Nobody checked diplomacy lately, eh? YES PLEASE, FIVE IRON for a surplus luxury!!!

I decide to let the capital finish its workshop and Holmes the market, but Kim and Furyk immediately start catapults.

Not only that...



but there's also cotton on the table.

Our northern scout gains a hill towards Beijing, to see that Genghis does indeed have several units attacking the city. I get our knights, archer, one pikeman, and a GG all going north right away in case we can swipe the capture. The Mongolian units walked away pretty soon though.

Arabia completed Angkor Wat. Germany joins the dogpile against Wu. Harun and Washington entered the Renaissance.

Machinery came in. We hadn't discussed the next tech, but now that we have iron, I think Steel is an easy call.

So I moved units towards Beijing. Here is the combat theater.



The two knights just killed a Chu-Ko-Nu and a warrior. The chukes do a lot of damage, so I was trying to take them out with knights ASAP. That pikeman can't attack our knight this turn (river crossing) but do be careful of it, try to attack it with our own pike if you can.

America just dropped that city of Houston there. Annoying, and bounced our catapult and GG back two hexes, but at least then he signed Open Borders to let us through.

There are two more catapults at Holmes on the way north, and a crossbow that just started moving from the capital. I started building roads north from Holmes so they can actually get where they're going. (Next turn, build the road with the worker north of Holmes BEFORE the catapults move!)

As soon as Steel comes in, start two Samurai at the capital and Holmes. I left the build orders blank now because they don't matter.

Save at 800 AD, turn 150.

[Sareln]

AI city placement algorithms in this game are nuts.

Good turn T-Hawk, nice catch on the diplo-trades. I tend to get stuck playing CIV5 as Always war for some reason...

[NobleHelium]

Nice, very nice. We should puppet Beijing at least until it comes out of resistance, no point in wasting happiness before that. Our gpt is still sucking unfortunately.

[T-hawk]

Thoughts for a tech after Steel? I was thinking a beeline to Rifling might be in order, using the Great Scientist points currently trickling in at the capital for Rifling itself. Either that, or go for Education for more scientists for a bulb run up to Dynamite.

And a note on combat: Gaspar, you may want to pull out of Beijing's firing range until the reinforcement catapults arrive. I went in to kill the two vulnerable units this turn, but we don't need to stay in.

[Gaspar]

Very nice work, T-hawk.

Instinctively I like taking the Dynamite path.

I'll probably play tomorrow afternoon.

[Sareln]

Very nice work, T-hawk.

Instinctively I like taking the Dynamite path.

I'll probably play tomorrow afternoon.

Dynamite & Artillery break the game wide open. GogoDynamite.

[T-hawk]

Well, Dynamite is still a ways away. We'd want to run Great Scientists out of probably three cities for Fertilizer, Rifling, and Dynamite itself. Capital first to cash out the Great Library GPP (this can probably happen without actually running any scientist specialists), and one each out of Kim and Furyk since they'll have the food to spare once all the fish are acquired and fully improved (lighthouse). That means manually researching Education, Gunpowder, Chemistry, and Metallurgy. Still on the order of ~60 turns away. The third Great Scientist alone will take 300 / 6 = 50 turns after the university is completed.

I have to imagine we haven't just invented a brand new strategy here... a Dynamite bulbline has to be pretty standard for conquering, right? This game's version of Liberalism - Steel for cannons?

[Gaspar]

Ok, took a look around and played the inherited turn. Won't actually be able to play until later tonight. I'll probably fall back next turn and wait for at least the X-bow to arrive before attacking in earnest. Hopefully draw more units onto flat ground. As T-hawk said, the CKNs hit hard. Probably weave some Libraries in between military builds since I think they're required for Universities and we'll head towards Education after Steel. Also it looks like Askia is about to found a city which will trap our worker/scout on the wrong side of the world and he won't give OB for less than Whales. Thoughts?