Aggie v kryszcztov - OPEN TOPIC

[Socrates]

NOT FOR AGGIE until the game is over.



1v1 PBEM #4 - [u]Aggie v kryszcztov :</u>
version : C3C 1.22
world size : Standard
land mass : Archipelago
water coverage : unknown
climate : unknown
temperature : unknown
age : unknown
barbarians : Raging
player 1 - Aggie : England
player 2 - kryszcztov : Carthage
AI rivals : 6
AI agression : Normal
available victories : all except Wonder
difficulty : Deity
culturally linked start locations : No
respawn AI players : No
preserve random seed : Yes
allow cultural conversions : Yes

map made by : Skyfish (entirely hand-made)

This game will be played along the RBCiv rules. Additional rules include : no negative cash research, military alliance with each civ only once every 20 turns. This game won't feature scientific great leaders.

[Socrates]

STARTING POSITION

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/2004427195439_Aggie-kryszcztov01 3950BC Starting Position.JPG
51.68*KB

So I settled immediately, after checking nothing great was beyond the game forest. I went for a curragh of course, and sailed for Writing at minimum rate (it would require 86 turns at maximum rate at the moment, ie. 5 beakers per turn !).

[Beam]

Good luck krys, kick his ass!

[Socrates]

EXPLORATION REVEALS ISOLATION

Those bastard AIs settled in 4000BC, unlike us in 3950BC. On turn 4 (3800BC, so that's 3 turns of playing) I sent my 1st curragh onto the sea (well, the coastal waters ;) ). Of course I'd like to thank my industrious worker for chopping this game forest so fast. [coool] I sent the little boat mostly westwards, after getting out of "my waters" from the north-west.

Now hear of the power of the seafearing people... On turn 9 (3550BC, and BTW always take 1 turn from that) I met the Vikings in the west, along the equator !! I was able to give them Masonry for Warrior Code and 9 out of their 10 gold. This was the beginning of the great trading adventure.

On turn 13 (3350BC) I built my 2nd curragh, and sent it northwards. That's 9 turns after the 1st one, but this time there was no forest to chop, and of course I went at maximum food all the time. On turn 15 (3250BC) the 1st curragh met the French, a bit more in the west, a little in the south. I gave them Warrior Code for Bronze Working and their 10 gold.

On turn 17 (3150BC) I built my 3rd curragh. I went straightly for 3 boats because the starting island didn't seem big. I was really right ! I hoped it was expanding a little more in the east (the only possible direction), but on turn 19 (3050BC) the Punic seamen officially informed the geographers that Mother Island would be large enough for another city only. There were just a few tiles more in this direction, but at least it had ivory. :)

After the 3 curraghs, Carthage trained a settler, which was completed on turn 23 (2850BC). It was around those turns that I realized (once again ! yes we are all nOObz in C3C [}:)] ) that curraghs can't load units, which meant no island settling before Map Making. So that would mean no settling before turn 51 at least, since I went for Writing at minimum speed. I still think I would have done the same if I had known this from the beginning.

Just a little note to say it's annoying how Civ handles editing. The bonus grassland E-SE of Carthage doesn't give any gold, though it's by a river bend. Anyway Aggie has the same problem...

On turn 24 (2800BC) the 2nd curragh met the Egyptians to my north, and the 1st one met the Spanish more in the west, still along the equator. I gave Warrior Code to the Egyptians for Ceremonial Burial and their 10 gold. On turn 25 (2750BC) I gave them Alphabet for the Wheel. And on turn 26 (2710BC) I gave Masonry to the Spanish for Pottery. I know some deals advantaged the AI, but I wanted to immediately acquire every tech available before Aggie can profit from them. That and meeting everyone quickly is a fruitful and logical process.

On the same turn (2710BC) Utica was founded on Mother Island, on the ivory tile. You can see I set Carthage for a wonder ; I hope it will lead to the precious Lighthouse, otherwise I'll have to grab a more expensive wonder (or maybe the Statue of Zeus, just to piss off Aggie ?). The 2nd city was set on a curragh, but I eventually changed it to a warrior, followed by a worker : I really wanted that worker as soon as possible, and the warrior could be helpful for military police. On this pic you can see Mother Island and its daughter islands, halfway through Writing.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/2004428214711_Aggie-kryszcztov02 2710BC MotherIslandSettled.JPG
176.47*KB

[Socrates]

FROM WONDER TO MISERY

Meanwhile the exploration continued, and I found the Koreans on turn 30 (2550BC). Next turn Aggie found me with one of his mysterious boat, and Utica built a warrior for Carthage. Then Paris built the Colossus on turn 31 (2510BC). Aggie only founded a 2nd city on turn 34, which I think was due to a granary. Utica built a worker on turn 36 (2310BC), the one I needed to quickly improve all the island's tiles. On turn 39 (2190BC) I met the Indians, and thus it closed my search for other civs.

On turn 40 (2150BC) I gave Masonry + 69 gold to the Koreans for Iron Working. Then I gave Iron Working + Pottery to the French for Mysticism + 7 gold (broke). Then I gave Mysticism to the Koreans for 86 gold (broke). On turn 42 (2070BC) Utica built another warrior for Carthage. By turn 44 Aggie had filled his island with 4 cities (me : still 2).

On turn 46 (1910BC) Vikings ask for Pottery, but I refuse and they declare war. This is bad for business, but good for happiness, and they can't reach my cities before Map Making. Carthage reached size 7 on that turn. And then Thebes built the Pyramids, and so I was left with the Oracle as a prebuild. I started to be nervous.

And there it came : on turn 50 (1750BC) Paris (once again !) completed the Oracle, ending the wonder cascade, and wasting around 200 shields in Carthage (since I had at least 250, and switched to a temple). [wallbash] I hate his feature (more in a hypothetical future post somewhere else). On turn 51 (1725BC) I discovered Writing, but of course Aggie had done the same, and did his trading stuff before I could do anything. I set science on Philosophy at maximum, knowing I wouldn't have much chance to get it first, since Aggie had 4 cities to fuel science.

Needless to say that, from this point in the game, the game had lost some of its taste, though the map was really cool.

[Socrates]

A little note to say that things are going quite well now.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/200452717518_Aggie-kryszcztov03 230BC GoldenAge.JPG
32.07*KB

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/2004527175140_Aggie-kryszcztov04 190AD Republic.JPG
52.47*KB

I have a fair empire, am a Republic. I got stunned when I saw it took 14 cities to get the FP message ?! [eek] I'm turning money into city improvements. I have settled on luxury islands in the north. So far I have 4 luxuries (ivory, spices, silks, gems), but the Vikings took a 5th one from a city of mine (dye). They have a 6th one for themselves (wine), on their starting island (with zillions of units, that's for certain).

I'm almost forced (and want to, anyway) to attack them now, before they get berserkers. I'll get a good island, get 2 more luxes (for a total of 6), and get rid of an important threat. I'm only producing numidian mercenaries now.

Meanwhile Aggie has tinier cities (but more), but has a "strong" army. Maybe he'll attack me soon ?

I have 2 questions :
1- I want to do some guerilla action with my mercenaries on Viking land, to weaken him ; does building a fortress over there provide me a defensive bonus and free healing (inside HIS land) ?
2- I've rushed a temple and a library in the gems town, because an Egyptian town expanded its borders in the neighbourhood, and now it overlaps some of my 21 tiles : I saw (with anar's utility) that, if you have no foreign people in your city, and have none of the city's radius tiles taken by a rival civ, you're sure to keep the city from flipping. Right now some of these tiles are taken by the Egyptians. My question : how does the computer know to which belongs any tile on the map (when there is a fight for it) ? After so many Civ games, I still have this question unanswered.

[Socrates]

Well I lost, as everyone knows.

I first declared war on Vikings, and landed troops on their land, but never came back there.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/2004610151239_Aggie-kryszcztov05 520AD AttackVikings.JPG
102.06*KB

But I was unable to do anything there, because the Vikings had many more units than me of course. So they captured some of my tiny cities, and I captured some back... I continued to rush improvements with all the money I got each turn (the power of thalassocracy !!). I was set for a long war against the Vikings, doing like the real Carthaginians did (conquest, re-conquest), when I saw that :

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/2004610151553_Aggie-kryszcztov06 630AD AggieAttacks.JPG
81.24*KB

Mmmmh... I was wondering if Aggie was preparing such a thing. I was just researching again, but it was too late : my cities were starting to really produce troops now, and I was well engaged on waters near Viking lands.

Game over. :(

Well done, Aggie. Getting both the Lighthouse and the Library was too much for me after my initial mistake. And of course I wasn't prepared at all for this attack. I kept on thinking "If he attacks me, well I'm toast, so there is no pressure on my side".

The log file :

Download Attachment: icon_paperclip.gif Aggie-kryszcztov.txt (http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/2004610153054_Aggie-kryszcztov.txt)
8.13KB

[anarres]

Well congrats on finishing the game anyway. :)

Every now and again you get a beating and it can be quite suprising. I will never forget what Markstar did to me in our game. It really made me aware of the dangers of playing humans - they are sneaky and dangerous!

[Socrates]

Well, as I said, I didn't care much about Aggie doing such a thing, before I actually saw he went that way. After the 1st part of the game, I didn't want to go hedgehog, and so I tried to do the best against the Vikings on my own, almost ignoring that a human player was on the map as well. It may sound strange, but there was little to do against this attack anyway, so I just played my building game.

[Aggie]

Thanks for a good game Krys :) FWIW I wouldn't have attacked so soon when my army would be average to yours. And it would have been very bloody indeed! The mere fact that it was strong AND also that you were occupied with the Vikings made my desicion to strike soon.