kryszcztov v Beam - OPEN TOPIC

[Socrates]

1v1 PBEM #5 - [u]kryszcztov v Beam :</u>
version : C3C 1.22
world size : Standard
land mass : Archipelago
water coverage : unspecified
climate : unspecified
temperature : unspecified
age : unspecified
barbarians : unspecified
player 1 - kryszcztov : Byzantines
player 2 - Beam : English
AI rivals : 6 (unspecified)
AI agression : Normal
available victories : all except Wonder
difficulty : Demi-God
culturally linked start locations : No
respawn AI players : No
preserve random seed : Yes
allow cultural conversions : Yes

map made by : Banzai

This game will be played along the RBCiv and Aggie's rules.

[Socrates]

STARTING POSITION


57.82KB

Here we go with the Byzantines again ! I have a special plan with them, but will keep some of my secrets for me, maybe you know why... The worker went on the cow, revealed nothing extraordinary, and so I settled in 3950BC. I set science on Writing at max.

[Socrates]

BLITZ TO WRITING

Constantinople built 2 curraghs first, the 1st one going northwards, the 2nd one southwards. On turn 11 (3450BC) expanding borders popped up a hut, and I was lucky to get Ceremonial Burial. This is exactly the kind of goody that I could have dreamt of, as future events will show. Meanwhile, Beam told me that he got barbs, which immediately killed his worker. Randomness has struck ! I hope Civ4 will handle such stupid spawning barbs better.

The civs I met were the ones I wanted to meet (I suppose I have 3 AIs in my part of the world, same for Beam). I met the Russians in the north-east (turn 13), the Portuguese in the south (turn 22), and the Egyptians in the north-west (turn 25). Why am I happy with that ? Because I need Pottery ! And both Russians and Portuguese have this tech on turn 1. So, upon the discovery of Portugal, I gave my Ceremonial Burial to the Portuguese and got Pottery + their whole 60 gold. No need to give Alphabet to the Russians ! The money will be very valuable too... As for Beam, he has Pottery as a starting tech, so that's a different story.

Meanwhile we both discovered some odd stuff on this map... Banzai, what is that ruin doing a few tiles away from my capital ? And why so many volcanoes ? There are surely other weird things to discover ; too bad that Civ3 doesn't allow scripts !

In my capital, after the 2 curraghs, I built a worker (turn 16) ; this is becoming my new way of doing when I want the good tiles to be improved quickly (when I'm not industrious). That will pay over time, I guess. Then I built a granary (turn 26), and prepared for a 6-turn factory (only one irrigated cow grassland). Note that at this point I'm still in a kind of a farmer/seaman gambit. Then I built warriors and settlers alternatively.

Adrianople was founded on turn 34, by the river and by the sea. And on turn 36 (2310BC) I discovered Writing ! Quite fast, thanks to heavy micro-managing (sorry for those who don't like it, but the map appealed much for that). I then sailed for Code of Laws at max too. Now time to cross my fingers.


51.27*KB

[Pastorius]

Me want see weird map. Me like screeny very much. yes.
Me want learn seaman gambit. Explain. You. Thank you please.

[Socrates]

LOL. Me think Beam don't put screenies of weird map in spoiler too...

Don't worry, I'm waiting for my whole island to be discovered, and then I'll show it to you. Seaman gambit ? Err... well it just went through my (ill) head today : basically, at that point, I had built 2 curraghs (that's for the "seaman" part), and 1 worker and a granary (that's for the "farmer" part). We usually call that a "gambit" because it is a risk to have cities unprotected by military units. Now I said it was "kind of" a gambit because such tactics can be developped until many cities are founded, a philosophy that I didn't follow here, because I spotted 2 barb camps not far from me... Well, you see, nothing great to learn, just that I built no land military unit before some time.

[Banzai]

You found a ruin? There must be an enemy civ nearby! Hide for cover!
Oh wait.. you have contacted nearby neighbours already.. hmm.. maybe it are the remains of an ancient civilization?

Hey.. you wanted some surprises on the map.. seems you have found one!
It did scared Beam for a while! heheh

Why so many vulcano's? well.. you wanted a rich starting area.. vulcano's are the basis for fertile land, so I just had to put them in...

Good luck!

[Socrates]

LOL. Volcanoes aren't good tiles in C3C in my opinion. I prefered how they were in that Civ2 scenario about Atlantis, they were a lot richer. But anyway the starting position is good enough.

Well, I don't know what Beam did, but I haven't been on the tile of the ruins yet. Maybe it's a goodie, maybe not, maybe nothing ? I will be careful anyway...

Some barbs are currently chasing one of my warriors.

[Pastorius]

Run Forest, RUN!

Oh, so the seaman part was just the two curraghs. I knew the basics of the farmer gambit though I ve never got the nerves to try it out

[Socrates]

A FAILING GAMBIT

Constantinople built settlers and warriors alternatively, ie. 2 warriors and 1 settler every 6 turns. The new cities all built a worker to improve the surrounding terrain.

I tried to reach Code of Laws as fast as I could, and discovered it on turn 56 (1600BC). That's 20 turns to get that tech (quite long on Demi-God), which is partially due to the settler factory delivering 1 settler every 6 turns only.


52.28KB

I then put all my efforts on Philosophy at maximum speed, hoping that Beam wouldn't go for it, or that he would be slower than me.

Meanwhile, I sent my 2 curraghs across the ocean, one sailing westwards, the other one eastwards. The former one quickly sank, but the latter one successfully reached Beam's part of the world on turn 60 (1500BC). It had to survive several turns on ocean tiles, but thanks to seafearing odds, it made it through.


58.61KB

AIs started to play fooly as well (that was to be expected). The Russians declared war on me on turn 46, and the Portuguese on turn 61. I wasn't very tempted to give them Alphabet or Code of Laws. The Russians also succeeded in completing the Colossus in Moscow on turn 51.

I continued to settle my island :
Caesarea on turn 40 ;
Nicaea on turn 46 (popping up a hut : 25 gold) ;
Varna on turn 55 ;
Smyrna on turn 62.
I lost a few warriors to barbs in the process, and suffered one pillage in Varna.

On turn 63 (1425BC) I met Beam. The bad thing is that I immediately discovered Philosophy, 1 turn prior to my scientists' expectations. I quickly realized what it meant : I had lost my Philosophy gambit.


53.2KB

This saddened me a lot, as I was pretty sure that I had a chance to grab it first. Beam had lost 1 worker early in the game, and may not have gone for Writing at max (but maybe he has ?). And I soon saw that London was a very small city, with many unimproved tiles. This made me wonder how he could have reached this result... I'm thinking of AI trading of course. I'll see when the game is over.

I hesitated a lot before going for Literature at max. I was pretty sure that Beam picked up Map Making for free, all the more as that tech seemed quite cheap.

[Plux]

Bad luck . Time for a new strategy..?