Adventure 24 - Dawn

[Dawn]

Adventure 24 is all about building and no war declarations. Well given this is Monarch level (and I'm a Noble player) I don't think I'd be doing too much warring anyway. Figured I would give this one a go. I did use the BUG Mod so this will have to be a shadow game.

4000BC - I liked the looks of the start with pigs, silk, wheat, and a lake all right in the BFC. Since it is Monarch I start a warrior build in the city while the other sets off to see the sights. Tech wise I decide Mining -> Masonry to grab the 'Mids (something I rarely seem to beat the AI to).

3800BC - Borders pop and it looks like we're at the northern edge of the continent. Nice defensive location.

3720BC - Mining in, Masonry started.

3600BC, 3400BC - Buddhism and Hinduism fall in that order.

3360BC - Masonry -> Animal Husbandry

3040BC - warrior is eaten by a Bear, after defeating a Lion. Freaking wildlife. This would be end of my exploring many hundreds of years. Start on the Great Wall.


2920BC - Animal Husbandry -> Bronze working (need some metal for defense and Colossus). We do have horses so at least some chariots and future horse archers.

2480BC - Bronze working -> Hunting (defensive archers needed). Revolting to slavery as it's whipping time.

2280BC - found Orleans to the south. Turns out this city would be a burden until Civil Service allowed me to spread some farmland south. Not a good choice, but I learned.


2240BC - Hunting -> Archery

2000BC - Archery -> Pottery


1880BC - Great Wall finished! Sending forth my warriors for more exploring now that the Barbs can't get me. Start on 'Mids.

1800BC - Barbs found.

1680BC - Pottery -> Writing (possible trade value)

1320BC - Writing -> Myst

1280BC - Meet my first AI, Justinian (Buddihism founder).

1160BC - Meet Mansa

1120BC - Myst -> Meditation

1080BC - Found Lyons right at the copper, barely beating Mansa to the spot. He founds Walta to the south, setting up yet another culture showdown. While I like Mansa as a neighbor, it seems he and I constantly fight a cultural war (with him winning out).

950BC - Meet Asoka and Open Borders with the three known AI. At least they are a peaceful group.

850BC - 'Mids are done! First time ever completing them in an RB event. Revolt to Representation.

800BC - Priesthood -> Monarchy (need the happy faces in my cities)

700BC - Finally get the copper hooked up.

View of Paris:


575BC - Great Spy born and build Scotland Yard with him. Probably should have sent him exploring, but that's what hindsight is all about.

520BC - Built the Oracle( 8) ) and snag Metal Casting.

View of the French Empire:


475BC - Meet Willem and trade him Meditation for Fishing.

350BC - Monarchy -> Iron Working. Make a nice tech trade: Justinian: Metal Casting for Sailing, Poly, and Iron Working; Willem: Metal Casting for Alpabet. Switch research to HBR. Find iron in my borders - nice.....



150BC - Buddihism spreads to me and I convert to make better friends.

75BC - HBR -> Currency

50BC - Meet Khmer. What a lunatic.

1AD - View of French Empire at the turn of the century



2nd Half coming up.

[Dawn]

Adventure 24 continued......

25AD - Popped Gold on the mine south of Paris. Really needed that extra happy resource and income.



50AD - Great Scientist born and he builds and academy. Also capture Saxon, the barb city to the northeast of Lyons. Justinian softened them up for me.

125AD - Miss ToA by 5 turns. At least the gold is nice.

150AD - Trade Asoka Math for Monotheism and 55 gold so I can revolt to OR for the build bonuses. Currency -> Aesthetics

175AD - Mansa: Metal Casting traded for Construction and gold.

300AD - Aesthetics -> CoL (really need the courthouses)

325AD - Khmer and Asoka go at it (first of many, many wars between these two).

425AD - CoL -> Literature (shooting for Great Library)

500AD - Literature -> Civil Service

640AD - Start on Great Library. Missed Hanging Gardens by 4 turns.

View of Paris:


720AD - Civil Service -> Drama (for the culture fight against Mansa). Great Spy is born. This time I'll use him for exploring (still haven't seen the entire world).

820AD - Drama -> Feudalism. Meet Pacal. Glad he's on the other side of the world.


860AD - Great Library completed!

880AD - Parthanon started

900AD - Trade Asoka my Currency for his Calendar and some much needed money.

940AD - Feudalism -> Machinery

View of the French Empire:


1030AD - Parthanon built! This is awfully late, no?

1040AD - Machinery -> Philo (Taoism has already been founded)

1090AD - Start Shwedagon

1100AD - Asoka finishes Shwedagon

1110AD - Philo -> paper

1150AD - Paper -> Compass

1180AD - Compass -> Guilds (time for some more military and grocers)

1190AD - Angkor Wat built. Not really needed but it denies the AI from using it.

1210AD - Start University of Sankore

1260AD - Guilds -> ??? (missed that in my notes)

1280AD - Trades: Mansa - Guilds for Theology and 400g; Willem - Guilds for Music, Education, and his map (he was at war with Khmer and Pacal so he needed the knights); Justinian - Guilds for Engineering and 200g.

1310AD - University of Sankore built. Start on Sistine Chapel.

1370AD - Liberalism -> Optics. Revolt to Free Speech and Free Religion (better research and more neutral relations)

1400AD - Another Great Scientist so another academy built.

Quick look at Paris:


1420AD - Optics -> Gunpowder. (At this point I really started falling behind on techs against the AI. Having held up this far I regard as a huge win given my previous attempts.)

1440AD - Sistine Chapel completed!

1480AD - Gunpowder -> Printing Press

View of French Empire:


1530AD - Trade Justinian Liberalism for Banking and 200g. Printing Press -> Economics

1545AD - Another Great Scientist born.

1565AD - Economics -> Chemistry

1600AD - Chemistry -> Nationalism (2 AI already at Emancipation). (Research is break even at 70% as I have finally gotten the enconomy stable.)

1635AD - Nationalism -> Constitution

1650AD - Another Great Scientist born.

1665AD - Constitution -> Democracy

1695AD - Spy steals Corporation rom Mansa. I really didn't make good use of the spy system in this game. It wasn't until this time that I even started sending large #s of spys out.



1720AD - Democracy -> Replacable Parts

1750AD - Replacable Parts -> Steel

1755AD - Another Great Scientist. (Has to be a record for me at this level).

1790AD - Steel -> Sci Method

1795AD - Totally forgot about getting spices hooked up (they blended in with background icon). Able to sell that off to Mansa and now break even at 80% research. Also learn that Custom Houses are only good for intercontinental trade - after building three!

1804AD - Sci Method -> Steam Power

1806AD - Asoka trades Rifling and 200g for Sci Method and Liberalism.

1822AD - Steam Power -> Biology

1842AD - Biology -> Railroad. Will have to fight Mansa culturally to maintain my lone coal.

1894AD - Mansa buys Biology for Communism and 210g

1864AD - Railroad -> Combustion

1868AD - After just getting the rail projects underway, Mansa's culture nabs my sole coal resource. Can't get him to sell it back to me.

1882AD - Combustion -> Assembly Line. Mansa completes Apollo.

1900AD - Sent out my first Privateer (into a world full of destroyers) and it is sunk by a sub before the next turn. :mad: On a good note, my buddy Willem trades me coal for oil so I can finally finish my railroads.

Culture war with Mansa heating up:


1905AD - Assembly Line -> Physics

1906AD - Asoka trades Physics and 150g for Biology. Switch research to Electricity. And I have uranium in the house.

1916AD - Justinian completes Apollo.

1817AD - Built Oxford.

1918AD - Electricity -> Industrialism

1926AD - Willem completes Apollo

1927AD - Saxon (previous barb city) finally revolts to Mansa after being surrounded by his culture.
View from just before the flip:


Even after the flip, the French are still large:

1933AD - Industrialism -> Medicine

1936AD - UN Elections held. Willem offers me a Defensive Pact and while I would normally jump at that offer, the rules prohibit it. Sorry buddy, maybe next time.

1941AD - Saxon finally changes hands to Mansa.

1942AD - Medicine -> Radio

1952AD - Khmer finishes Apollo.

1955AD - Mansa's city of Walta goes Legendary. No wonder I've been losing ground to him.

1958AD - Radio -> Flight

1960AD - Mansa's 2nd city goes Legendary. Since he can't win the UN elections he's heading for a Cultural Victory.

1965AD - start playing around with Corps and build Creative Constructions.

1967AD - Paris goes Legendary!

1982AD - Mansa wins a Cultural Victory.


Final screen shots and Wonder total coming up next......

[Dawn]

Final reports:
Final view of France:


What did I build:


Final Demographics:


Power graph:


Culture graph:


Final Rank:



Listing of Wonders built (8 total):
Great Wall
Pyramids
Oracle
Great Library
Parthanon
Angkor Wat
University of Sankore
Sistine Chapel

Had a great time on this Adventure. Yet another RB game to push my boundaries. Thanks!

[Compromise]

Hey I popped gold in the same mine in Paris! I wonder if that's pre-determined in any way.

I notice that your first two cities had very little food. Even a pastured plains cow only provide +1F after feeding the citizen who works it. I remember very clearly reading a post long ago wherein it finally became clear to me how important food is when selecting city sites. Civil Service and Biology change the equation a bit, but for an Ancient start, you're going to be stuck with resources and on-the-river farms for most of the timeframe when it matters.

Judging from some of your screenshots, I'm not sure if you're making an attempt to specialize your cities. A lot of times in Civ4, you want to know clearly what the purpose of a city will be before you found it. I'm still not sure what the right proportion of commerce to production cities is--maybe 2 or 3 to 1 depending on the game situation--but it's often best to separate the two functions in your planning. Some cities provide tech and income, others produce the units, or in this case, the wonders.

I felt for you each time you wrote "missed <wonder> by <some small number> turns". So close!

Thanks for the well-written report.

[Dawn]

@ Compromise - Thanks for the feedback. Since playing through this Adventure I have definately learned more on the value of starting food. My 2nd city was really a burden due to lack of food. I found a good discussion re: food count on a CivFanatic SG game that has proven extremely helpful.

As for specializing my cities, well I usually try to dedicate them based on production, specialist (usually one for each type of specialist as needed), or commerce. This Adventure didn't lend itself to that in my view, probably due to the lack of food in the locations I placed the cities. I tried to post some views of at least Paris throughout the game to bring comments and advice such as you gave. Thanks again.