Adv 29 - Uncle Joe's Fondue

[Swiss Pauli]

Very brief summary: I forgot I had to meet customers tonight, so no time to upload the pics for the report.

GW gambit => Mids => High food => SE => CV in 1864.

The pics will be added to the report tomorrow evening

[Swiss Pauli]

Epic 29 – Winter Wasteland

‘Since this is an Immortal game with Raging Barbs, you are also strongly encouraged to train some defenders immediately. Don't lose the game before it gets started.’

Errm. Surely you jest, Mr Patrician Dictator I’d be surprised if we see a game without a Great Wall gambit. After that, Pyramids to run REP specialists on this high-food, low commerce map. Win type? Do you have to ask?




I don’t like the look of the start: non-river tundran Wheat isn’t very good. When spinning some tests, I couldn’t find a single one that looked to be so short of food Time to move the scout to the grassland tile . He reveals two deer in range if I move the settler, so I do so. Founding the city also reveals river plains wheat (available if one founds in place, too).

This gambit has no place for Agri though: we have Hunting and Mining, so it’s BW (to enable chopping) then Masonry, going worker first. Our scout pops the Wheel on turn 5. Nice. Get gold and a map from other huts, and my luck holds in 3520 BC when the scout defeats a bear. Woot.

Meet Lincoln on turn 14 and complete BW 3 turns later. Justinian the Buddhist shows up the following turn. Hmmm. One nice guy and one zealot. Neither is that close to me, as far as I can tell. Another problem with J on this map:



Invisible borders :rolleyes:

My worker has camped one deer and is worker another when the first barb – a warrior – shows up due south of my BFC. Warrior due to complete in 1 turn, and Masonry in 6. Bring it on!

The warrior pillages my plains deer before committing suicide against my two warriors (3rd due the following turn). The pillaging doesn’t bother me as I’ve reached size three and can maintain this pop at max hammers.

Masonry completes on T27, so we can start chopping Great Wall (with a warrior queued behind in case of an archer frenzy). First archer on the way in…



The warrior suicides, but the archer is closing in:




I take a tactical risk here: I have a CI Cover Warrior in the city itself, so I take the second one and move it to re-enforce the warrior guarding my worker…

…and my instinct is correct as the archer attacks, but only red-lines my fortified CI Cover Warrior. Thus:




Disco. Complete the warrior and grow to size 4. Seeing as I have no improvements, it’s time to whip another worker, and we have Agri now as well. AH doesn’t reveal any convenient gee-gees, but I’ve already scouted – and sent warriors to – my food crazy second city which will even feature some cottages, as it’s a bit low on hammers. Mysticism after AH as I need to pop borders with monuments.




Annoy to see the horses just out of range (but I wouldn’t have moved the city to claim them). As you can see, Lincoln has founded Hinduism which won’t go down well with Justinian, will it? Pottery completes the following turn. I finally sight Lincoln’s borders: he’s around ten tiles south of St Pete.

On T69, Hinduism spreads into St Pete, but I don’t adopt it for now. I’m scouting around with a warrior, building Pyramids in Moscow and basic infra in St Pete when this event pops up:




From a previous Boreal game, I know that health can be a real problem on this map: sure, there’s deer a-plenty, but a lack of diversity means health caps are exceeded pretty easily, and I need to grow big to make the best of my Specialist Economy. I decide to go for broke and take the take the temporary happy hit to try to win the +2 health.





Bingo! Though let’s not underestimate the short-term pain: I now have a happy cap of 2 and 4 striking citizens. Still, no pain, no gain!

On turn 80, I pop a hut and enter the Classical era. Wahey! ‘Only’ Ironworking, but you don’t watch the teeth of the donated horse, as a friend once remarked.

Pyramids completed in BC 775 (T85) and REP is adopted, getting the citizens back to work. No specialists as yet (I don’t have a library in either city) but they’ll come in time. A Great Spy is born the following turn, and there’s not a lot for him to except scout…




…and pop huts from under the feet of barbs

After Maths, I backfill fishing as there are actually some fish about (and a barb city in place to claim them). Third Legend:




Decided that more food is better than fresh water. This city, unlike Moscow and St Pete, has enough hammers to build important wonders like Sistene Chapel. What else has been happening? G Light in 700BC, Oracle in 600BC, and a wedding-feud between J and Lincoln, who asks me to convert to Hinduism in BC300, and I accept.

Evidence of raging barbs:




Walls and CG3

Meet Peri the Confused in 125BC, then pagan Capac 100 years later, with Ghengis popping up the same turn. Tech-wise, I’ve learnt Aesthetics, planning to get to Music, but seeing as my economy isn’t that strong, I decide to divert to pick up Currency, to allowed markets and merchants. By 100AD, I’ve run out of cash, so Shangian has to go, even though it’s not made past size 1. I get 39g.

With the AIs being hounded by barbs, they’re not focusing on Wonders, so:




More health. Excellent, Smithers, excellent.

The same turn, I trade HC Currency for Alpha and 25g, revealing this tech situation:



I’m doing pretty well here, though Pericles looks likes he’s going to be the AI tech leader in this game. Rostov gets founded for the fish and deer (replacing Shangian) in 175AD. Drama is completed in 275AD, and Music in 500AD, claiming the GA (who is sent to Rostov). End the session feeling rather pleased with myself: not only have I got what I wanted, I have a reasonable amount of troops to take some barb cities that have sprung up in my back yard.

Realise I’ve not checked WHEOOH, so I do so at the start of the next session:




Bugger. Send the army south to defend, but I can’t see where J’s army is…until Rostov’s borders pop:




Oh dear. Rostov is doomed and its warrior is evacuated. That’ll teach me to be sloppy in checking for WHEOOH.




I bribe in Lincoln for Aesthetics and Currency. Ouch.


WTF?




Justinian has just sent him army out of Rostov’s borders, and it turns out he’s heading for Phoenician Not that I’m complaining :D I complete Construction in 640AD in case they come back.

Get the ice sculpture event, but lack of cash means I can only get 100 culture in St Pete, instead of a free Great Artist Trade Aesthetics to Peri to save 4 turns of MC research.

In 760AD, my Great Spy informs me that J is sending his army back towards Rostov. I’ve fortified my troops in the forest outside. Capac invites me to join his Crusade against England a couple of turns later: no thanks. In 780AD, SoZ is completed in St Pete. J sends his troops around my forces, but they step onto the killing terrain outside its gates. They get softened by a barrage catapult, and get eliminated by my axmen. I send my swords up to Phoenician to inflict more pain on Byzantium. Captured in 940AD. Peace:




Sistene Chapel is completed in Rostov a couple of turns later. National Epic lined up for Artist spam: Moscow has a polluted GP-pool and St Pete is running mucho merchants to keep my economy afloat. I’m going to Biology to enable vast amounts of Artists to be hired in the endgame.

Get 450 culture from a Muscovite penning a heart-rending ballad in 1010AD. This time I had enough cash on hand. Capture Magyar in 1030:




It doesn’t fit with my dotmap, but it’s in a perfectly reasonable spot so I keep it.

In 1030 I get a Great Engineer and hurry the Great Library in Moscow. In hindsight St Pete might have been a better location, but at the time I wanted to keep to minimum pollution of the latter’s GP-pool. Trade in the rest of CS in 1060 and adopt BUR. Whore some old techs around to get Feud, Compass and 800g cash, half of which goes straight out to a demanding Capac.

In 1120, Lincoln asks me to join his war against Justinian. Yes, they’re still going at it I decline, but I do trade him some spare Iron for 10gpt as he could use some melee units, I’m sure

In 1130, Yaroslav’l is founded, with some handy barb-built roads thrown in for free. Woo. In 1180, I finally infiltrate one of my Great Spies in America: I manage to get Engineering and Optics from Spies, with only -1 relations despite a poor success rate. Get a GM from St Pete in 1220 that is settled in Moscow. 1230: massive barbarian uprising. Always happy to see this event when I have the Great Wall!

Take Ghuzz with my rather outdated army:




To its south, Polynesian is visible, but I don’t recall exactly when I took it!

In 1260, A GS from Moscow builds an Academy in St Pete. Education completed in 1320, and Philo in 1360: and on the same turn, Pericles discovers Liberalism (taking PP). Oh well, he always looked like he was going to win the race, and he was kind enough to do it before I sunk any turns into Liberalism itself. I decide to switch to Gunpowder, as no AIs have and it’s a pre-req for Chemistry (and therefore Bio).

The glorious Greek empire:




Unusual to find Colossus paying out on this sort of map. And his lands aren’t that bad either! Looks like he could be going cultural with all those religions, but he’s teching strongly at the moment, so maybe he’s going for Space. We’ll see. I send my other Great Spy his way as our borders are close enough to make a bit of theft worthwhile…

I’ve not started spreading multiple religions as yet, but I have made a start on spamming Buddhism from Ghuzz where it had spread naturally. Start FP in Phoenician to get the maintenance back under control; I’ve recently captured my last barb city and I only plan to found a couple of filler cities when the economy permits.

Lincoln finally makes peace with J in 1450AD: talk about two stubborn leaders! I celebrate the peace by stealing Nationalism from Lincoln, having cunningly blgged his spare marble a couple of turns previously :groucho:. My spies do less well in Greece, and only on the third attempt do I land PP. In 1540, my agents steal Lib form Peri and I make a free switch into FS, Serfdom, and Merc as I’m in a Taj Golden Age. I burn a GS on a large chunk of Sci Meth.




I’m looking pretty well co-ordinated for my CV (ca. 1550AD). Peri is a maybe on that front, but I’ll be sure to keep an eye on his progress.

Sci Meth done in 1555, so onto Biology (18 turns – ouch!) My first AP vote in 1570 Peri is spamming Confu around: thanks for that, sucker! Biology finally done in 1620AD. Should I switch off tech? Yeah, but no: I’m in a heathen religion as far as HC, Genghis and Vicky are concerned, but I have REP fuelled Specialists, so I decide to turn down research and let my Specialists research Medicine (I need that Hospital health in my Legends) and try to use it to trade in Rep Parts and Rifles.

Whilst I’ve been doing my peaceful thing, KG declared on Lincoln, and managed to wrest one of J’s former cities from him Mad Mongols on my borders! But not for long, as Abe musters up enough force to take back the city and peace comes fairly soon (1615 AD). Biology means Nat Park in St Pete (to go with Hermitage). It only has two forests to preserve, but that’s two free artists at 14 base cpt!

Flip San Fran with its (now redundant) marble in 1665, and decide to keep it as razing an ally’s city seems wrong. In 1670, Capac asks me to join his crusade against Justin. Seeing as he’s Vicky’s vassal, I’ll decline, thanks. It lasts all of 1 turn, thanks to an AP vote (where I voted not to stop the fighting…) But that’s not the end of the ‘wild aggression’ phase: in 1685AD, Temujin attacks Peri, razing Halicarnassus It would not last for long: Pericles soon turned the tables and (much) later captured Samarkand.

I get a GS from Moscow in 1705, and he’s burnt on a GA, allowing me to dial up culture to 100%, and revolt to Caste System (IIRC). In spite of Peri’s impressive tech-speed, this one is in the bag. He seems to be going for the Leccy/Radio beeline, but I’ll reach the finish line before he gets close to either a culture or a space win.

Medicine 1745AD, and turn down Lincoln’s offer of a DefPac. Rep Parts 1765, and on to Rifling, which is completed in 1804 AD. Ghuzz got HE and has been spamming Cuirassiers and Muskets, now it’ll be on Rifle duty for a while. Steam Power in 1822, and Assembly Line in 1852.

St Pete went Legendary in 1844 AD, so now it’s just a question of starving Moscow to try to get another Artist to allow a same turn finish from the other two. Unlike my Honest Abe game, I get my desired, high-odds GMan, and detonate the remaining bombs in 1862:

[T-hawk]

Nice, a cultural victory a few turns before mine (1880 AD), and you didn't even research to the culture corporations. I'm interested to see your city locations when you get the pictures uploaded - were there sites stronger than the ones I had?

[Olodune]

Impressive game

Win type? Do you have to ask?

I do have to ask, why was this map so clearly a "cultural" map for you (and many others as well)?

[T-hawk]

I do have to ask, why was this map so clearly a "cultural" map for you (and many others as well)?

Short answer: because it had more hammers, more junk tiles, and less commerce than a normal map. More hammers mean ample production to build all the religious temples and cathedrals. More junk tiles means you'll run more specialists, which will be artists. Less commerce means that research would take longer both to the spaceship and to any dangerous military options, so culture can finish comparatively sooner.

Finally (and I thought this immediately obvious but I was the only one to do it), the vast amounts of Gems resources played right into Civilized Jewelers, which is on the same tech path as all the late game culture wonders.

[Swiss Pauli]

Well, I don't 'do' SP military wins, space is rather drawn out (and now risks a culture defeat), diplo is flaky, and culture is... easy It was my first SP game on Immortal, after all

[Swiss Pauli]

Less commerce means that research would take longer both to the spaceship and to any dangerous military options, so culture can finish comparatively sooner.

This lack of commerce is why I didn't fancy this:

Finally (and I thought this immediately obvious but I was the only one to do it), the vast amounts of Gems resources played right into Civilized Jewelers, which is on the same tech path as all the late game culture wonders.

And stuck to a traditional SE, and went for the slider post-Biology, though I must admit I forgot that the AIs will accept useless trades for corp resources 8)

[sooooo]

Nice game, interesting to see the move on many people to culture over space. I rejected cultural victory because I built a whole bunch of cottages, even on the fresh water tundra tiles, and thought that since I hate the culture slider and being loathe to farm over all my nice cottages, I went for space instead.