Kemal vs anarres *spoiler*

[Kemal]

I've started a new PBEM game, this time anarres is my opponent.
Game stats and general info etc. can be found in the open thread at CFC, I'll use this thread to keep you posted on how my lone settler hopefully develops in a world superpower.

I posted my start in the open thread, but no harm to to that again here as not all is shown on the pic at CFC:



As can be seen here, there's also a village on a mountain to the northeast, unfortunately it yielded maps, although that did reveal some cows to the north and west of Moscow. About those villages, we're only at turn 16 yet but there have been surprisingly many of those, so far I've opened 7 huts already, and the resuslts have been shocking!:



- maps - deserted- deserted - ceremonial burial - deserted - maps - deserted. Not exactly great results there...

I've also met the Carthaginians to the southeast, and managed to trade them pottery for 20 gold and a worker . They're ahead Alphabet and Masonry in techs, and the 2nd most powerful AI, after the Zulus who already have taken a staggering 40 point lead over the others, so they apparently didn't get a deserted hut.
I'm researching IW at 40 turn research, but my hopes aren't very high to be able to get there first, as Carthage is most likely to be researching IW now, and I still have 24 turns to go.

I'm sorry for the lack of pictures so far, forgot to take them while playing, I'll post more pics in the next update.

[ProPain]

Great to see you playin Anarres too Kemal. One question: you post that there's a village on a mountain to NE also. I can't see it in this pic. Do you mean the village on the Eastern mountain or another one not to be seen in this screen.

[Kemal]

It is the village you see on the screen, guess whether that's the north or the norhteast depends on the definition of "the north" on a standard civilization map. To me, going north would be when my settler would walk on the plains above my starting location, and going east would be to traverse the river and enter the bonus grassland.

[digger760]

quote:Originally posted by Kemal

It is the village you see on the screen, guess whether that's the north or the norhteast depends on the definition of "the north" on a standard civilization map. To me, going north would be when my settler would walk on the plains above my starting location, and going east would be to traverse the river and enter the bonus grassland.

Interesting I would put north as the forest, and south on the wheat.

[ProPain]

I would do the same as Digger. I feel a new spam poll coming up

[DrAlimentado]

To me the plains above your position are NE, East would be to traverse the river onto the plains. But that's just my reading of it

And yeah, shitty luck on the huts. I think Meli's been sucking up all the available 'Hut Luck' out of the civ3 universe this week in our game, so I would blame him.

[DrAlimentado]

PropPain and Digger beat me to it. Kemal, looks like your in a minority of one

[Kemal]

The game is at turn 41 now, but lots of things have happened in the meantime, some good and some bad. I know fairly certain that anarres has got either a settler or a hut city fairly early in the game, he is currently 20 points ahead of me in score, and I noticed his score suddenly breaking away from mine after about 15 turns, which strongly suggests that he got a free city/settler.

Since my last update, I have also contacted the Koreans to the east (where "east" means the direction generally associated with east on this board ) and the Babylonians to the north. Here's a small overview of the current situation of Russia and its surroundings:



As can be seen, lots and lots of jungles to the north and west will prove to be a problem later in the game, as it will be a difficult task to cultivate these lands for my non-industrious workers. I have so far located 3 types of luxuries on the continent, silks and gems nearby my own empire, and furs with Carthage, not really great but hopefully just sufficient to sustain a Republic later on.

On a bright note, it can be seen on the pic that Carthage has been greatly lacking in expanding their empire. Considering they're so close to my territory, I'm amazed they haven't expanded more, only 5 cities so far! I know Carthage is currently building the pyramids with 19 turns left to finish (due to an embassy, see later for more details), and their other cities apparently either lack productivity (Hippo) or growth (Leptis Magna, before border expansion) to ensure rapid colonization of the nearby lands. There doesn't appear to have been any warring between them and Korea, even though they're already on eachothers lips, but they are at peace now and my foreign advisor makes no mention of betrayals. In other words, they seem to be playing crappy.

On the domestic front I can report that I've finished a granary in Moscow, so settlers will be plentiful from now on, and am constructing two others in Kiev and St. Petersburg. This because of a very large piece of unclaimed land to the west, I'm hoping to start settling there real fast now, and depending on the situation I might do my first ever palace jump in a competitive game. However, if Carthage finishes the Pyramids for me I might change my plans.

To further illustrate the situation in Russia at the moment, take a look at the demographics for turn 41, just after I have finished researching my first tech, Iron Working:



I have to note these current statistics do not totally reflect the current situation, the rankings in gnp, mfg. goods and productivity are not giving my true positions because of a change in worker assignments in Moscow, having most of the people there working forest squares, therefore providing more shields and less food and commerce than regularly. I'm in the middle of the pack for most of these.
What I was really surprised about in these statistics is my ranking in land area! I'm currently ranked 7th out of 8th meaning there has to be one civilization with less land than me, and considering we're playing deity it almost certainly has to be anarres, but I almost can't believe that considering his free city. Apparently, the AI is really blundering away in this game, but if it is anarres he must have started on a granary in his capital almost immediately, to allow for a faster expansion.

To complete this summary, some quick words on the Russian Despotism's current scientific and economical progress. I have to say that I do not have any complaints at the moment about this aspect of the game, my current scientific advances (after the discovery of iron Working) are: Bronze Working, Masonry, Alphabet, Warrior Code, The Wheel, Pottery, Ceremonial Burial, Mysticism, Writing, iron Working and (as could be seen from the demographs screen) Literature. This remarkable progress has mainly been due to trading done with Iron Working, and the fact that Babylon doesn't know anyone except me, as I only had my two starting techs plus CB and WC (from huts) before the trade.

The fortunate situation was that the AI didn't seem to have been interested in trading among themselves, with Carthage having Alphabet, Masonry and the Wheel, Korea Alphabet and Writing (even though these two had known eachother for some time, they didn't trade, another reason why I thought they must have been warring), and Babylon (who, as said, know neither Carthage or Korea) mysticism and masonry.

This was how trading went:

After buying Alphabet from Carthage (I didn't want to trade IW for it just yet, as I needed its monopoly price to get Writing from Korea) for 166 gold, I proceeded by trading IW and Alphabet with Babylon for Mysticism and Masonry and 33 gold.
Masonry and monopoly priced IW plus 45 gold then gave me writing from Korea, which I sold to Carthage again with mysticism against their 166 gold (which I gave them for Alphabet), and The Wheel. Finally I gave Korea acces to The Wheel for all their gold, 60-something IIRC.

These trades added resulted in my IW being worth:

- The Wheel
- Masonry
- Alphabet
- Writing
- Mysticism
- Some 50+ gold.

On that same turn, I obtained literature from the friendly Gepids, who I had left undisturbed until this time. I also had another barb village to the north left undisturbed for this reason, but due to carelessness the Babylonians grabbed it, and apparently got barbs as my scout had vanished from the map.

[Kemal]

We're now at turn 52, and this is the current situation of the Still-Small-but-bound-to-be-Great Russian Empire:





After my succesful dealings with the other civs on the continent, the Warmongerer in me suddenly took over as I figured it would be best to start my first war right then, with King Kon(g) of Korea being the recipient of the Russian Wrath.
Even though my army consisting of only 4 warriors and a few scouts pales with the undoubtedly mighty armies Kong can field, I still believe this was the right move to make, as I also bought myself an ally for literature, a very conveniently placed ally I have to say:



With Carthage and Korea warring with eachother they'll both be seriously hampered in their expansion, and they'll hopefully decimate eachothers armies while not reaching any military succes whatsoever. And with Carthage placed directly between me and Korea, and taking into account the idiotic AI attack routines, I have no fear any of the Korean armies will break through to attack my cities.

So that leaves only Babylon as a contender for the quest to grab the great unclaimed Savage Wilderness to the west, and a real contender they are indeed, with already (not visible here) having deployed a settler from Ellipi to venture to the south. There, he'll meet with two of my scouts who will force him to build in a jungle location:



With the Babylonians rapidly expanding and taking over top-position in scoring from the Zulus, I have now decided to a change of plans, and will leave the larger part of the Wilderness to the Babylonians to fill with corrupt cities, and will myself use my settlers to fill up the lands surrounding Moscow to create a productive city-core, and then proceed to attack Carthage later in the game when Knights arrive. As the Carthaginians are already weak now, and on top of that are wasting resources in a war against Korea, they'll hopefully be an easy target for my Knights, and I'll probably move my Palace to the east instead of to the west later in the game. The FP will still be built in St. Petersburg.

And there's another reason to attack Carthage instead of mighty Babylon, as I have high hopes the Carthaginians will finish the Pyramids first, in Carthage. Due to their war against Korea they'll likely have a GA by now, and with Carthage being the largest city in the world (excepty maybe for an Indian city, I can't see Delhi in the top-5 cities screen), I might be able to capture the Pyramids later too.

Another thing I have done is gift the Babylonians the secret of literature. Even though they'll heavily profit from cheap libraries, this will allow them to switch to the Great Library once Carthage hopefully finishes the Pyramids for me, and if anarres' continent hasn't got access to literature at that point yet, I'll very likely bag the Great Library too. Also, they Babylonians are now suffering heavily in terms of expansion because of the tendancy the AI has to start on Great Wonders immediately after they become available. They are currently building three of them at one time, thus sacrificing the production of their three best cities for a long time.



Finally, there's some bad news too. For some time I have been gaining score on anarres, leaving me wondering whether he had really gotten an advanced tribe, but that is ancient history now. I'm currently ranked eigth in land area, and anarres is once again running away from me in score, he probably has two (or even three!) fully functional settler factories, I just hope he doesn't have much room, or that he's stuck with the Zulus again, who have been unfriendly to him on countless occasions, and maybe can be again.

[Kemal]

*** Official Announcement of the Leadership of the Glorious Russian Despotism ***

In light of the events that have been evolving in the recent years, Czar Kemal of Russia hereby makes it known to all that General Hannibal of Carthage, due to his outstanding service and contributions to the Russian Empire, has been awarded with the prestigious "Nijvere Nulletje" award, and from now on should be known to all as "Friend of the Russian Empire".



Hannibal, Russia salutes you, expect a very close cooperation between Carthaginian and Russian laborers in the future!





On a further positive note, the Babylonians have changed projects from Pyramids to Great Library in Babylon, and continue to build wonders in two other cities, The Oracle and The Colossus.
And speaking of Babylonians, Russian scouts and settlers have managed to foil an attempted "aggressive settling" move by the Babylonians near the Russian city of St. Petersburg (note that my scouts may still move the turn this pic was taken):



Hopefully, this stack of Babylonians (consisting of a settler, a warrior and a spearman) can be made to enjoy the hospitality of the Russian troops and thus prevented from leaving to settle other lands until the horses and iron to the west have been secured.

The results of the Babylonians wasting resources on wonders and having difficulties with settling, as well as the still ongoing Carthaginian-Korean war are starting to show on the powergraphs, as I'm gaining power on all the other civs present on my continent:



Not good, however, is that in the demographics the Russian Empire doesn't seem to be as great as I would wish it were, I'm currently ranked 8th in population, 7th in GNP and 7th in land area, with the only positive note being my 2nd place in the productivity category.