Civ4 : Beam v kryszcztov ***SPOILER***

[Socrates]

I was bored a little, so I asked for a PBEM, and Beam showed up first ! So this will be the revenge from our Civ3 PBEM, which I had won after Beam miscalculated something (I had a better but still fragile position, and maybe Beam could have done something).



Game : Beam v krys
Version : Civ4 1.61
Beam : Inca, Huayna Capac
krys : England, Victoria
Number of AIs : 6
Difficulty : Monarch
Map : Continents [slightly edited ?]
Size : Standard
Climate : Temperate
Sealevel : Low
Era : Ancient
Speed : Normal
Options : none
Victories : all

Map by akots (again), thanks !



Beam and I decided to play a map with 2 continents seperated by the ocean, so that we can develop a bit without worrying about each other. I proposed a low sealevel, so that we have more space to expand, and so that we don't have problems having 3 AIs on each continent, bringing us to a total of 8 civs on the map. With some time to develop, I once again fell in love with the financial trait, which is useful in the late game. I wanted to try another leader, which excluded both Qin (industrious) and Lizzy (philosophical), so I went for Vicky ; the expansive trait could be useful in remote areas with no access to forests and fresh water (like islands, if there are any), it allows more forest chopping (especially with many mines around), and cheap granaries will help reaching a high population faster in every city. The redcoat looks like a nice UU, which will come at the right time (after we can cross the ocean). By then, Beam's Quecha Warrior will be totally obsolete, and the redcoats will have a bonus against his gunpowder units, which he should rely on, since they get a free promotion thanks to his aggressive trait ! Hehehe. But that's just hypothesis for the moment. What is sure is that he starts the game with Mysticism and will without any doubt try to grab some religions. As for me :

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The starting place, which looks very nice. As you can see, my gfx card is still shitty, because it displays some features like rivers in the fog of war. One thing is sure : I won't have any health problem anytime soon.

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I moved the warrior to the hill, but I already knew that the piece of water in the east was just a lake. The placement is optimal for resources, and I hope I'll have enough space to found a city or two in the north. London is bound to become a hammer powerhouse, it seems. So I went with my favourite strat : worker first ! With 2 food resources, it is just THE thing to do IMHO. Science is on Agriculture, and all the worker techs will follow. If I'm late discovering future worker techs (like Animal Husbandry), the worker will be able to mine a few hills in the meantime, since I already know Mining (also Fishing).

GAME !!! [cool]

[Banzai]

Good luck Krys! You are in a winning mood I guess.. I hope you can keep it up :)

[Darkness]

quote:Originally posted by Banzai

Good luck Krys! You are in a winning mood I guess.. I hope you can keep it up :)



[aargh]










Good luck Krys! ;)

[Banzai]

quote:Originally posted by Darkness

[aargh]


Sorry Darkness... I did not had the intention to offend you.








[col]

[Socrates]

Already turn 40 !! [eek]

I'm satisfied with building a worker first, it has allowed London to grow really fast, while just investing 1 hammer per turn in a 2nd warrior. I made a minor mistake though : after farming the wheat, I had a few turns left before Animal Husbandry was discovered, so I started to irrigate the grassland tile inbetween both resources. When the tech came in, I would have directly started the pasture on the pigs, but I was unable to do so at the end of turn. "Nevermind, I'm finishing the irrigation during 2 turns, at least the wheat will get +1 food in the meantime." Not quite, not until Civil Service. [blush2] So basically I lost 7 food (+3 food per turn during 2 turns, plus 1 food due to a timing difference in city growth). Next time I'll know.

Anyway, the worker then mined the gold hill, which was used during the completion of a settler. There is much space to expand, and I don't wanna wait for too long. The 1st warrior got Sailing in a 1st hut, 50 gold in another one, while discovering the western coastline. There is a horse in the west, a marble in the north (with a silver, so a city up there is mandatory !), a stone in the south-west. The settler was completed, and...

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York was founded by the river, not far from 2 ivory resources. [groucho] Gold and ivory, too bad we can't build statues with that combo. The city is suffering from a -3 health penalty because of the flood plains, which is counterbalanced by the +3 health bonus from the expansive trait. Last but not least, the 2 cities are building their cheap granaries, and York isn't growing because it'll be just 10 turns before the granary is done.

I met Alex and Peter ; both came with scouts from the east, but I don't know where they are located.

[Socrates]

So many turns since last (though recent) update !! [eek] Let's sum it all, and start with the beginning, I suppose... ;)

I chose a tech path I hadn't followed before : an almost direct goal (besides the early techs for workers and defense) was Code of Laws. I wanted to have access to courthouses earlier than usual, get close to Bureaucracy, and have a try at a religion, which was deeply lacking for my cities. The land between London and York was mostly flood plains, which my worker cottaged like crazy very early on. I always managed to harvest those great tiles every single turn, which allowed me to enjoy a huge boost in commerce. Code of Laws was indeed discovered first.

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After the granary, I kept building a barracks in York, instead of starting a library (for both science and culture), since I was pretty sure to land Confucianism. And when you have to 2 cities, I'm almost certain the 2nd city becomes the new holy city. So the plan worked, and York was now able to expand its borders.

With so much land around me, there was a real need to get some defense in my cities and in the land around. Each turn was the scene of unit shuffling, so as to prevent a barbarian invasion. I tried not to go completely naked, and even got me an axeman to assist my archers (yes, I have changed !). Said axeman was soon to know some real glory.

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A barbarian city had emerged in my south, where the river continued. 3 warriors guarded it, and the axeman killed 2 of them without any hit. This allowed him to capture the city on the 3rd turn (and this time getting a hit). Just northbound you can see an archer with another unit : it's a settler. Apache didn't suit me well for the city pattern, so I razed it immediately.

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And on the same turn, Nottingham was founded, giving me access to more resources and more of the holy river.

The axeman explored more of the south, along the holy river, only to find another barbarian city, this time filled with 3 archers. The odds were slightly in my favour for each combat, but not on the whole, so I had to bring reinforcements. But since I had plenty of other things to do instead of attacking another barbarian town, I withdrew from the place. This is where I got lucky : the axeman was guarding the south, and soon enough I sent him back to the barbarian town again, just to see what was up, and - oh surprise ! Only 1 archer left, and wounded BTW !! [eek] I had met Tokugawa recently, who was the Buddha, and so I thought that they had to be located further south, and eager to attack the town.

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Well, I wouldn't let this chance slip away from my nose. I captured Polynesian, and kept it this time, thinking it was well placed with the other cities and the resources around. Too bad for Tokugawa !! :D As soon as the revolt ended there, I renamed the city "Sandinista". [hmm]

My empire now resembled a long snake along the river, with the capital at one end. This wouldn't help maintenance in the future, but I had a fair advantage on other civs in this department, so it wasn't so bad. Plus, it really helps to have cities by a river like this, as you can reap 1 free commerce from each new harvested tile, countering the rising maintenance in the city. And when you're a financial leader like Victoria, any additional commerce (resource or cottage) nets you with yet another free commerce ! The golden river... [groucho]

I had a plan now, and for that, I needed to settle near a particular resource, namely marble. This was done a few turns afterwards.

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I founded Hasting in the north, just for this reason. There is a silver resource too, but it will be a long way to the top <s>if you wanna rock'n roll</s> before enjoying this luxury. You can also see a 2nd axeman, built to guard the north.

Then started a time for building : library, forge, courthouse, temple, monastery... while letting my cities grow as much as possible, as quickly as possible. I suddenly reached a high population for such times, well above the rest. And while I stayed #1 in GNP during all those times but started to lower my advantage (probably to Beam), my MFG rose a lot. I revolted a first time to switch to Hereditary Rule and Organized Religion. That, and the forges, allowed the jump in MFG.

My 2 warriors, freed by the axemen, started some exploration in Greek and Russian territory. The 3 civs on my continent are rather late in techs and everything, but I'd better watch out, because some day all the land will be claimed... I fear the Japanese especially, as they can threat Sandinista, which is not exactly a powerhouse. So I was able to do a little of tech trading, and to get some Greek clam for some of my ivory (yes, I am in need of food resources, as York is disadvantaged by so many flood plains !).

On the barbarian field, I got 2 drawbacks, against all odds BTW. First, I lost an archer near London, but fortunately I was able to kill the barbarian unit with a warrior, IIRC. This was before I got me the 2nd axeman. I regretted the lack of more units to defend my territory, despite being more alert in that area in this game. Second, I lost a Combat II axeman (the northern one) against a barbarian axeman, on defense on a hill (more than 90% odds for me). :( This threatened the city of Hastings, but thankfully the archer defended well on the following IT (some 80% odds for me). The city lost, I would have gone MAD. This 2nd drawback happened just after I got this message :

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The end of the plan : the Great Library. [thumbsup] Built very quickly in London (the image doesn't display the city, because the turn somehow starts with a greater zoom now, and I don't why). I even starved the city a bit to save a turn.

With that wonder in my pocket, I will now safely ride the tech tree. Only 2 other wonders have been built so far : Stonehenge and the Oracle, on the other continent (and just as I say this, the Japanese completed the Pyramids in the latest turn).

The plan for the near future :
- research Feudalism and Civil Service immediately (already started), so as to switch to both Serfdom and Bureaucracy ;
- get me some more defense, as barbarian axemen are starting to get nervous ;
- not wait too long before my next settler wave, as it looks like AIs are also starting to be nervous.

[Socrates]

Another millenium has passed since last update, and we're already past turn 160 !! [eek] Beam has just updated his spoiler, and if you have read it, you probably know why. ;) So let's get started...

As I said, barbs started to get nervous, and a few turns later, it became dangerous, look by yourself :

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Barbarian attack !! Fortunately, Alex and I were able to defend flawlessly against them, and after that, I've never got the chance to see another barb. That's greatly due to the fact that Alex planted a city in the north of Hastings, 2 tiles north of the marble to be precise.

Then began a period of calmness, where I let all my cities grow as much as possible all the time. It was build, build, build. To keep the AIs quite OK (and to get even richer), I initiated some resource trading. This allowed me to focus on buildings and not on units. After a little while, it was time to found more cities, otherwise I would see the AIs steal some good spots under my nose. Here are some pics of 3 new cities, in order of foundation, taken on the same turn :

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Canterbury will give me some sugar, but will have some difficulties to build stuff, with so few hammers around !

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Coventry's primary mission is to get access to the stone resource, which is badly missing at that point. Fish will be available too, but much later.

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Warwick (just founded) won't add much, but fills the gap in the west. Alex was able to capture a barbarian town in the west, as you can see. I was weary about AIs crossing my land to found new cities in the west, and was ready to close my borders if they had the idea to try it. But it was quite hopeless to try to expell their units, once the barbarian town emerged from the void. This stole the last spot I wanted, but oh well.

One thing about the cities. The city pattern may not be optimal, and I had great difficulties to find what would be best to me, because of the coastline and the mountains. I figured out I wanted maximum space for my cities, so that means I have to get them to size 20 or something to profit from it.

The Great Library increased my tech lead against the AIs, and it's time to show how I was able to do that :

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Here is the golden river ! [cool] More precisely, the cottage-spammed part of it. As I said, I started building cottages there quite early, and the founding of York (of HIGH priority) was a decisive movement. I took this pic just as the 6th cottage reached the "town" status ; the 6 towns are the ones with 6 commerce, and are all inbetween London and York. Other cottages are still growing as I speak, mainly in the south and east of York and around Nottingham. Also note the gold hill by the river which yields 9 commerce !! [crazyeye] You can also notice that London is about to spawn a 2nd great person. It all was due to the Library, so, after a 1st great scientist which founded an academy in London, a 2nd one will soon found an academy in York. In the meantime, York is slowly earning great prophet points with a priest...

Tech-wise, I took a new approach, which consisted in quickly getting access to grocers and banks, to help fighting against city maintenance. Confident in my lead, even against the other continent, I didn't rush into Education and what follows it. I came to a point where London (and very soon, York too) was left with no building to build (except from the quite useless wall/castle combo (castle not even available yet anyway)). So I decided to send some Confucian missionaries around, which will be helpful later in the game probably... That's just when someone knocked on the door. ;) Beam paid me a visit last turn, but I haven't seen him, so I guess he had a caravel sailing in the western ocean. It's true that, so far, I'm completely out of the water competition, as my empire mainly consists in inland expansion and city improvement. So let's make a summary of the situation...

Beam has 8 cities, just like me, and his capital is Breda. :D From what I have been able to decipher, he is up Optics (caravel), but probably nothing more, though I can't technically see if he has Astronomy yet. Of course this tech is a very sensible one, as it opens the path across what should be an impassable ocean otherwise. Okay, now here is what I think I'm up to him :
- for sure (explicitely shown in F4) : Literature, Drama, Feudalism, Theology, Paper ;
- from my guess (boolean exercise in the tech tree plus his civics) : Music, Guilds, Banking.
Not too bad ! [goodjob] Of course this is bound to shrink a little, when he meets my neighbours, but I'm pretty happy of my lead. The AIs next to me are quite behind as well anyway. Speaking of civics, he has Hereditary Rule (me too), Bureaucracy (me too), Caste System (ooh ? I have Serfdom), Decentralization (the crappy one, me too), Organized Religion (me too).

And now, a few graphs :

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MFG : I'm doing OK. :)

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GNP : I'm doing OK. :)

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Demographics : Yes, I've come back to builder mode since barbs are gone, but look at that population ! :)

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Top cities : London reached #1 a few turns ago. I was able to monitor Beam's capital city, as it's the only other one which was founded in 3960BC (due to the way the game was set up). So he hasn't built a wonder yet, it seems. I only own the Library. Alex has recently completed a few wonders, so that our continent holds the majority of them now. London is gonna reach size 20 in a few turns, so Breda is late in this regard. York was in the top 5 list for a fair amount of turns in the past, but probably couldn't keep up with the culture pace of the foreign capitals.

In short : I'm doing pretty well economy-wise, but Beam has just found me, which is important in a PBEM. I need to be weary of any attack in the future, but Astronomy has to be discovered first if the map was set up properly (and I believe akots did it well). I guess it can't be a bad idea to discover Optics soon, so as to monitor Beam's aquiring of Astronomy. As soon as this happens, I'll ring the red alarm, and mobilize for defense. Until then, it's building time. I hope I'm not making a mistake here. [tongue]