Welcome to the fascinating Civ II world of early landing attempts. This guide will provide details and strategy useful to those interested in joining the quest for earlier AC landing dates while playing on the Deity level. If you decide to join in on the comparison games played in this forum, it’s possible that some of the advice you pick up here will help you set the next record.
Seeing how early one can land a space ship on Alpha Centauri has captured the imagination of Civilization II players for years. In my second Civilization game, played on the Chieftan level, I thought my landing in the 1800’s was pretty hot stuff. Then I found out that others were doing this regularly at Deity level, and that a few players were managing it by playing with only one city!
I had a lot to learn, but was fascinated to read the account of the competition between Ming and Rah (forgive me if I leave other early participants out) to be the first player to manage a landing with just one city. Ming did it first, but as other players joined this competition, it was Paul who perfected the technique. He wrote a comprehensive strategy guide for playing with one city naming it the One City Challenge (OCC) Strategy Guide, and hosted a number of fortnightly comparison games in these forums, during which landing times continued to improve.
Just when it seemed that no more improvements could be made in OCC strategy, a newcomer to the scene started describing OCC games with excellent results, which were being played with less than full-sized OCC cities. This “OCC on a shoestring” approach, introduced by Samson, was soon pushed to the limit, until early landings were being made using just a single citizen. Once this limit in OCC had been attained, interest in this way of playing began to fade.
Although some amazing things had been accomplished using just one city, not much had been done to see just how early a space ship could be landed using a random deity start, and playing without the one city restriction. For a long time, Ari’s record of 1075 AD was the time to beat, holding off some notable attempts to do better. I managed to challenge Ari’s record first, in a game with a 776 AD landing, but this attempt was tainted somewhat by the use of caravan re-homing and by some pre-knowledge of the map. However, Samson soon joined me in exploring new strategies for improving landings times and soon we were both managing landings before 500 AD. The best result was Samson’s 16 AD date using a small map.
This seemed the ultimate accomplishment, since space ship parts were not available for construction in non-scenario games during the BC game years. Improvements could be made to the best times on larger maps, and they came fairly rapidly, benefiting tremendously by the newest research about trade. However, a new kind of early landing challenge was needed to further test player skill, so I came up with the idea of seeing what could be done in games in which the human player is not allowed to tip any huts.
Early Landing Comparison Games take place in the Apolyton Civilization II Strategy Forum, and are open to anyone that cares to participate. All games are played at deity level on a medium map, with 7 civs, and a barbarian setting of raging hordes. Although starts with free starting techs and those not having suitable Super Science City (SSC) sites are discarded, comparison games all begin from a random 4000 BC start.
Once generated, a save of this starting position is made. Then a new thread announcing the game is created, where a copy of the start is posted. The start is compatible with, and may be used with, Civ II 2.42 and Civ II MGE. Those wishing to participate may download this start and use it to play their own game, competing with other players to see who will be first to land a space ship on Alpha Centauri.
After the game’s deadline, the player with the best landing date is declared the winner. There is also an ongoing competition to break the “official” record for the best landing date attained so far during comparison play. After each game is completed and results are compared, the next may begin.
The rules are simple:
The key to making early landings is to acquire techs as quickly as possible. A full sized SSC, located on a site with good trade specials and including all of the scientific improvements and wonders, can easily produce enough science to sustain an advance every two turns. In comparison, it would take 12 or more size 8 cities, each with a library, university and research lab, to produce the same amount of science. An SSC can be very efficient since adding the Shakespeare’s Theater wonder to it also makes it possible to keep all those extra citizens content without having to use any luxuries. SSCs are an economic force, too. With the addition of a marketplace, bank, stock exchange, and superhighways, they can add 50 or more gold to tax revenues for each 10% increase in taxes. Adding the Colossus wonder allows them to do even better. Caravans and freights built in an SSC and delivered to cities on other continents demanding SSC commodities usually produce maximum payoffs.
Following are some ideas for getting the most out of SSCs.
Helper cities are those located near the SSC. Their main job is to produce caravans and freights. They are also used to
produce ships and other units, as needed. Later in the game, the best helpers may have to build scientific improvements
to provide enough extra city science to sustain one advance per turn. For most of the game, helpers will stay at size 3,
having temples as the only city improvement. Once freights become available helpers will start trading as actively as
the SSC, and will celebrate up to size 7 or 8 while adding harbors, colosseums, and superhighways.
When playing on a standard sized map, happiness is adversely affected when the number of cities exceeds 4 under Despotism,
6 under Monarchy, 8 under Republic and 10 under Democracy. Since more cities are not needed for successful early landing
games, and because of the time needed to build a new settler to found each new city, it’s a good idea to stick to these limits, with the possible exception of Democracy, where it might be tactically prudent to add few extra cities late in the game. Because the number of helpers is limited, it’s a good idea to find the best helper locations in proximity to the SSC. Helper city sites should be based on the following criteria:
Colonies are cities located on a different continent(s) than that of the SSC. Their main job is to build caravans
and freights for trade with the SSC and its surrounding helpers. In the second half of the game, a system of
alternating trade can be set up using ship chains. On the first turn of each pair, SSC and helper freights are
shipped out to the colonies and AI cities located nearby. On the second turn, freights built by the colonies can be
shipped back home. This system allows each helper and colony to build and deliver a freight every other turn.
The first colony or two should be started during early Republic, and the final two can be set up after the switch
is made to Democracy. Since there will be a wide choice of possible colony sites, the criteria for selecting where
it would be best to put them can be quite specific. Here is a list of things to consider, in order of importance:
The value of trade routes is boosted 50% each by road and rail connections between trading cities. However, if these
connections are only made to an intervening station city along the “go to” route from one trading partner to the other,
this is far enough to earn these ongoing bonuses. This is because game’s algorithm for determining the bonuses stops at
the first city encountered without verifying the rest of the route. If the SSC can establish these bonuses with an AI
city that is within 22 tiles on the same continent, the huge increase in trade route values can translate into a 25%
increase in its beaker capacity. This is well worth doing.
In some games, a helper city may already have been founded along the “go to” route from the SSC to its AI trading partner.
In that case, it can double as a station city as soon as it is connected by a road, and later by rail to the SSC.
However, most helpers are founded before AI city locations have been discovered, making these coincidental and fortuitous
helper placements unlikely. Usually, a station city has to be founded just outside of the SSC’s city radius to establish
the connection along the proper route. Often this route is not at all obvious, so if there is any doubt, a good way
to check it is to use the “go to” command, using a settler or another unit sitting in the SSC, and picking the
AI trading partner as the destination of the “go to” order. The tile where this unit exits the SSC’s radius is where
the station city should be founded.
A station city may also function as an additional helper city, but if there is a lack of suitable terrain, it may be
more convenient to keep it at a minimal size, having the station start accumulating shields in an unused wonder, acting
as the recipient of the “wonder bread” food freights that the SSC will be producing to unblock its supply
commodities. Later, when Space Flight is discovered, a good part of the Apollo Program will have been completed by
the station. This dual role is probably the most efficient way of using this special city type. One should note
that the station need not be adjacent to the SSC, but proximity does allow quicker road and rail connections and may
allow the station to serve more than one AI city. For those interested in more details or examples, here is a link to
Samson’s thread on the topic:
Finally, if a station city is the last city founded, it can perform the additional function of a tech trigger city,
which will be discussed next.
When enough freights have been delivered to fulfill the beaker requirements of a tech being learned, the tech will
still require 1 beaker from a city in order to trigger the advance. This beaker will come from the last city which
was founded, since at the beginning of each turn when the game processes cities, it does so in order from last to
first. If the last city founded is producing many beakers, all of these except one will be wasted whenever this
triggering function is performed. Since a second advance may be possible from city science on turns where the first
is provided by freights, available beakers can be used more efficiently by adding one more city to perform this tech
triggering function.
Having a tech trigger city may become a necessity late in the game, when total city science barely exceeds mounting
tech costs. It may be more efficient to quickly add a small trigger city than to continue adding scientific
improvements to other cities. However, its addition to the game may bring the total number of cities over 10,
causing some unhappiness in others, so doing this should be delayed until all other cities have finished celebrating
to full size. A tech trigger city can also be used as a space ship contractor.
Before Space Flight is discovered an inventory of resources should be made to determine how quickly a ship can be
built and how many components one can afford. A minimal space ship will need 15 structurals, 2 components and 3 modules.
Ten cities are enough to build a minimal ship in two turns, since a total of 20 parts will be needed. If there are
enough resources, faster ships may be built by adding 1 or 2 more sets of components.
However, when 20 years separate
each game turn, faster ships will not arrive any sooner, unless they can be built in the same number of turns as
slower ones. It may be necessary to add one or two more cities as space ship contractors, so that there are enough
cities to handle all of the space ships parts which will be needed.
The AI's attitude and actions towards the human player are largely determined by relative power ratings. Power
ratings are computed by a mathematical formula based on the number of citizens, number of techs and amount of gold
belonging to each civilization in the game. It is important to note that the number or quality of military units is
NOT a part of this formula, and that the AI haven't a clue about the size of your military. The AI can not "see"
city flags, either, to tell if there are any defenders waiting to repel their attacks. Their attitude towards you
is shaped only by your power rating, your conduct towards them, and by specific game situations.
If the human player has a low power rating, the AI will be friendly, will often offer to trade techs, and will
want to form alliances. If the human player's power rating is pathetic enough, the AI will become like doting
grandparents, bestowing generous gifts whenever asked. OCC players often take advantage of this fact in their games,
because their power rating is limited by having only one city. AI generosity reached surprising proportions in
OCC games played with a limited number of citizens.
If the human player has a high power rating, the AI is apt to be more abrupt and demanding, but will cower and
offer tribute when confronted with an immediate threat. In early landing games, a human player will become
Supreme, but will lack the time to produce the military might needed to enforce his or her will. Since the AI
will become petulant, it will be necessary to control their attitudes using technology gifts, in order to prevent
wars and sneak attacks.
This policy of appeasement may go against the grain of players used to dealing more aggressively with the AI,
but it works. It may be satisfying to intimidate the AI and prove that your knowledge of military tactics is
superior, but doing this will delay your arrival on Alpha Centauri. Let the AI fight each other.
If you still want to stand up to the AI, the first contact is the best time to refuse to give into their demands for
tech or gold. If they have something useful to trade they are more likely to do this when relations are on the
rebound after making peace, and a peace treaty is often possible on the very next turn! Since early wars are most
often just a war of words, no damage will be done, and you will have eliminated the risk of being branded the
spineless appeaser you intend to become until your space ship is launched.
Some exceptions to this general advice to start early wars are when the AI is an aggressive neighbor posing
an immediate threat, or if you want to keep that caravan or other unit they can easily kill on their next turn. Use
common sense and if in doubt, appease.
If the first contact is friendlier, there's no point in provoking a war. You're better off trading for a useful
tech, gifting enough more to make them worshipful, and getting some more information about their cities by
trading maps.
Early in the game, the AI may help provide several techs through trade. Early ones that are almost always available
from one or more AI are Pottery, Alphabet, Warrior Code, Horseback Riding, Bronze Working, Masonry and Ceremonial
Burial, but the trick is meeting the AI with the tech(s) you need before having to learn it yourself. In our games,
this becomes a problem due to a lack of NON horsemen and chariots which would usually be available for early
exploration after being tipped from huts.
A good plan then, is to research techs on the path to those offering a better government and postponing research
of others commonly available through trades. Another viable option is to research Trade quickly and to build Marco
Polo's Embassy, which will probably result in your obtaining 5 or more techs from the AI than would have been possible
without possession of this wonder.
If Iyou are patient, techs such as Seafaring, Map Making, Mathematics, The Wheel, Iron Working, Currency, and
Mysticism are often acquired by an AI in time to make trades. Later in the game, the AI will not be much help,
only acquiring an odd tech here or there that is of use. Often these later techs come from huts normally tipped
by the human player instead. By keeping track of techs being fed to one or more AI and postponing the gift of
Invention, one can increase the chances of beneficial AI hut technology. A few techs such as Feudalism, Chivalry,
and Conscription can be deferred for quite a while, and may actually be learned in time for trades by AI research.
One more way of acquiring an extra tech or two from the AI is to give them all Railroad when it is discovered. One
or more will start building Darwin's Voyage, and when its imminent completion is announced, give all of your techs
to the AI about to complete the wonder. This will produce two techs you can trade for later, and one or both might
even be on the path towards Space Flight. When this happens, you'll be getting the full benefit of Darwin's without
having to pay for its construction.
In our early landing games without huts, it might be of some benefit to delay meeting most of the AI. The vast
majority of techs they are able to research will have been acquired by the time contact is established. Waiting
will also give you time to obtain some leverage by establishing a bit of a tech lead, too. Once your tech gifts begin,
it doesn't take many to substantially reduce their pace of research. In fact, once contact is made and tech gifts
begin to the key civ, it can be counted on NOT to learn anything new for the rest of the game!
Once gifts begin, make sure each AI gets Republic and Democracy as soon as possible, as these governments
allow them to become more peaceful and studious. Remember that Democracy is a prerequisite of Conscription,
which is a tech an AI may have time to learn before you need it, yourself.
Of course, trade for off path techs should be deferred for as long as possible to reduce tech carrying costs.
When one is offered by an AI for trade, it is most likely that they will not have anything better, so it's best
to decline the offer. The acquisition of needed techs should also be deferred until their possession becomes
more vital, unless a wonder tech, such as Astronomy, is available. Later on, you don't want to hear about
AI "brilliant minds" building Copernicus and refusing to part with Astronomy.
Finally, tech gifts made to the AI are the best way to keep them peaceful and to prevent sneak attacks. Each
AI session should end with enough gifts to make them worshipful and end with an exchange of maps to keep city
information up to date.
In early landing games opportunities for acquiring gold are limited, especially in the earliest part of the game.
Gold from huts is unavailable and the amount of gold available from the AI in the form of gifts and/or tribute is
limited, too. Since the human player quickly becomes Supreme, this power rating will soon shut off gifts of gold
from any alliances that can be formed. Although the Supreme rating increases the chances of extracting tribute,
this can not be done as a Republic and later, as a Democracy. If the switch is not made to these higher forms of
government when they become available, research will be delayed and so will any chances for a good landing date.
Luckily, caravans provide an excellent and reliable source of income. Delivery payments can vary considerably,
but if most trades can be made to demanding AI cities on a different continent, you can take full advantage of
the bonuses that are built into the payment system. Each caravan is a considerable investment at 50 shields, and
since they take time to produce when they can not be rushed, it pays to use them to make these more profitable
deliveries. An added bonus of higher payoffs is that foreign trade speeds up research considerably, since an amount
of beakers equal to the gold payment received on each delivery will be counted towards the advance currently being
researched.
Although internal trading of caravans is faster and will establish ongoing trade routes for your own cities more quickly,
the cash payoffs (and beakers) obtained are minimal. Internal trade also blocks supply commodities more quickly, since
a free one will be blocked in a city on the receiving end of a trade whenever a new route is established. The pool
of available supply commodities will be reduced twice as fast.
Therefore two early priorities should be the discovery of Trade and the discovery of a nearby AI-infested continent.
If this can be done quickly enough, the earliest trades may result in some 1 turn advances. Triremes can be used to
ferry these early caravans to AI cities quickly, and tech gifts can keep a testy AI from hacking caravans to death
before they are delivered. Deliveries should be timed to make the most out of the beakers that are earned, too. The
best time to deliver is right after a new advance has been earned.
Later in the game, after freights have replaced caravans, will be a better time for some internal trading. Colonies
will do well by trading with the SSC, and when superhighways are built, the trade bonuses provided by this improvement
will end up canceling the same civ trading penalty. It is also later in the game that internal trades are needed to
unblock supply commodities. Profitable trades with the AI will still continue, with the target of most trades being the
most remote, but easily reachable, demanding city.
There is another important relationship with the AI that depends on power ratings, that affects the cost of techs
being researched. For a long time players knew that if they gifted all their techs to one of the AI (known then
as the "6th civ") they could reduce their own research costs. However, it mattered which AI civ received the
gifts and things were further complicated by the fact that this special civ was not always the same one
throughout a game. So most players ended up gifting techs to all of the AI all of the time, just to make sure
that key civ was included. Samson's key civ discovery allowed players to easily identify the AI civ they needed
to give their techs to in order to minimize research costs.
It turns out that every civ in a game, including the AI, have their own key civ. The key civ assigned to any
player is based on that player's power rating, and the civ colors are used to determine who the key civs will be.
Here is a summary:
Power Rating | Key civ color |
---|---|
Pathetic | white |
Weak | green |
Inadequate | dark blue |
Moderate | yellow |
Strong | light blue |
Mighty | orange |
Supreme | purple |
The discovery of Space Flight can have an adverse affect on AI attitudes. Previous to this, their attitudes could
be monitored and shored up, whenever necessary, by presenting tech gifts. However, the AI attitudes displayed by
the Foreign Advisor mean little at this point, but it's still nice to know that sneak attacks and other treachery
can still be delayed by gifting tech in a timely way. One must be especially vigilant with cities neighboring the AI,
such as colonies, so that they can build their space ship parts without any nasty interruptions. As with all other AI
contact, spend what you can before ringing them up to give away techs, for it's likely they'll be wanting some gold,
too. Appease one more time, to buy time to for your launch.
After you launch, the AI will go bonkers, but as long as your capital and SSC are quickly protected, it doesn't matter.
While waiting for the space ship to arrive, there will be plenty of time to build some nifty weapons and join in on
all the mayhem and fun.
Since AI behavior can be controlled with tech gifts, the only reason for protecting cities is to repel barbarian attacks.
The best way to do this is with a diplomat, which can be used to bribe one attacker and use it to kill off the other.
If cities are defended with phalanxes and the like, this will use up precious shields during Republic and Democracy,
and building up such bulletproof defenses will take time and resources away from the primary task of making an early
landing. Players more used to conquest games may not feel comfortable playing with defenseless cities, but some chances
must be taken. Barbarians usually signal their arrival well in advance, anyways. This gives you time to decide how to
deal with them.
The worst that barbarians can do is capture the SSC, so if any defenders are built, they might as well all be
stationed there. However, the SSC is really only vulnerable during the early years, when there may not be enough
gold or any diplomats around to spend it. One can survive the loss of a helper or colony, and its better not to
spend all kinds of resources defending one that is threatened. If considered precious, a captured city can be
repurchased later with a bribe, and before that, it might even become a good trading partner or a source of
cheap NON units.
If you are lucky, barb leaders may provide extra gold. Diplomats can bribe cheap barb units such as horsemen,
which may end up paying for themselves by capturing a leader. Triremes that are exploring or delivering caravans
often can pick off barb leaders rebounding to coastal tiles after unsuccessful attacks against AI cities. Although
always welcome, this source of income is so unpredictable, it's better to depend on a better one such as trade.
Various wonders are commonly used in Early Landing Games. Some are necessary for a decent result and others may fit a particular game situation or individual strategy. Only wonders that may be of some real use will be discussed below. One may make some arguments for including others such as the Pyramids, Magellan’s, the Oracle, etc., in this list, but in a successful game there will probably not be enough time to build any of these, in addition to all of the ones that are essential.
The Apollo Program is a requirement to build space ship parts, so there is not much else to say about it, except that shields used to produce it may be accumulated in another wonder while awaiting the discovery of Space Flight. Players making use of the “wonder bread” ploy will want to be doing this, but in games where this unblocking technique will not be used, it still might be a good idea to get an early start on Apollo, since this wonder is expensive and building it gradually will provide more resources later when space ship parts have to be built quickly.
The Colossus wonder is a good one to add to the SSC, since it provides the city with many additional trade arrows,
increasing SSC income and beaker capacity. When added early enough, the extra trade provided will reduce the percentage
of luxuries needed to start and maintain “we love” celebrations used for SSC growth. Another good reason for building
the Colossus early is because if you don’t, one of the AI may beat you to it, since most will have knowledge of
Bronze Working early on.
Although very beneficial, having the Colossus in the SSC is not essential. If the SSC site has good trade specials
and some rivers, it can get along quite well without this wonder. It could be that a helper or colony site will be
found having some trade specials as good, if not better, than those in the SSC. With the addition of the Colossus
and other city improvements, this other city may become a mini-SSC in its own right, adding significant amounts of
income and research capacity.
There may also be some good reasons for not building this wonder at all, the main one being that its benefits
expire with the discovery of Flight. While it’s true that Flight can be postponed for a long time to avoid this
loss of trade arrows, it’s necessary to acquire quite a few off path techs to take this route through the tech tree.
In some games, it’s possible that airports will work better than ship chains for conducting trade between the colonies
and the home cities. Since the Radio and Flight techs are needed before airports can be built, a player planning
to use airports will research Flight as early as possible, and may decide to skip building the Colossus for this
reason. Although such a strategy may suit small map games better than the ones we play on medium maps, it should be
noted that it was used with much success in Samson’s record 16 AD game.
Copernicus’s Observatory is an essential SSC wonder. While all other scientific improvements and wonders only increase SSC science by 50%, Copernicus stands alone, since it doubles SSC beakers. If Copernicus is not added to the SSC, it will only be half as effective for research.
Since the discovery of Railroad decreases caravan payoffs by 1/3 and allows the construction of Darwin’s Voyage,
this might be a smart thing to do if there are a bunch of caravans still sitting around. Darwin’s will help speed
the way to Corporation, just when such a boost in research is most useful. An argument against building Darwin’s
is that it is quite costly and there are probably better things for helper cities to be building than caravans,
after they have helped complete SSC wonders. If an advance per turn can be maintained until freights are available,
Darwin’s can be skipped without losing much time.
If Railroad is gifted to all of the AI, one or more of them will
start building this wonder. Gifting all techs to a civ about to complete Darwin’s may allow you to reap its benefits
without having to pay its costs.
The Hanging Gardens is so well suited to the early game, that investing in it may prove to be well worth while.
It certainly simplifies early SSC celebrations and may allow helpers and colonies to grow to size 5 or 6 much
earlier in the game. Since size 5 allows “Xinning”, a strategy developed by Xin Yu making extensive use of
scientists, research may get a very welcome boost while the SSC continues to grow and develop. (For more details,
please consult Xin Yu’s Five Size Strategy in the Great Library).
The main problem with the Hanging Gardens is that it expires when Railroad is discovered, which is fairly early
in the game. This can be a difficult transition at a time when funds may not be too plentiful. Many players may
end up having to use some entertainers and/or luxuries to keep extra citizens happy until the happiness problem
can be solved in a more permanent way.
Another problem with the Hanging Gardens is that it requires the knowledge of Pottery, an off path tech. Pottery
also triples the chances of your cities being suppliers of salt, which will probably not be the commodity of choice
when trading freights later in the game.
A final argument against building the Hanging Gardens is that when used, it is usually the first wonder built.
Using early resources on this wonder may delay the construction of others that are more essential, such as Copernicus.
This wonder is much less effective than Copernicus, so it may seem unfair that it costs 100 more shields to build
Sir Isaac Newton’s College. However, Newton’s College is just as essential, because it is the combination of having
all scientific improvements and wonders in one place, that allows the SSC to live up to its name. Because it costs
so much, build it last, but still add it as quickly as you can.
Players should also realize that Newton’s is ineffective unless there are scientific improvements such as libraries
and universities already in place, so make sure these are built before completing this wonder. When Newton’s is added,
it improves these improvements by 50%. In contrast, Copernicus doubles a city’s beakers under all conditions.
If there are a lot of caravans, small ships, settlers, and military units hanging around when Invention is discovered,
it might be most efficient to build Leonardo’s Workshop. However, this wonder will be of most benefit to poor planners
or to those who are just not comfortable using a strategy of AI appeasement. It could be that aggressive players may be
compensated by collecting enough tribute, but each non-essential wonder that is built leaves fewer resources that might
have come in handy later when there is rush to build a space ship.
Spare caravans can be used for another wonder such as Darwin’s, or may start pre-building Apollo. New ships can be half
way built by disbanding old ones. Spare settlers may found new cities, join existing ones, or be disbanded to speed
engineer builds. If you have a lot of military units, ask yourself why? So, before building Leo’s consider whether
its cost justifies the instant upgrades it may provide. I doubt it, but that’s just my opinion.
Without huts that produce fast explorers, it may take a long time to contact the AI in Early Landing games. This
wonder can be built when Trade is discovered, and since Trade is as much an early priority as AI contact, Marco Polo’s
may be the best wonder to build first. Those who build it will probably average 5 or more useful tech trades with the AI,
than those who don’t. A big advantage provided by this wonder is the knowledge of the techs currently being researched
by each AI. This allows precise gifting of techs, which increases the odds that some useful ones will be learned in
time for trades later in the game.
There are some good reasons for not building Marco Polo’s. One is that Map Making permits triremes and Writing permits
diplomats, and that this combination is a good one to use for contacting the AI quickly. Trade is usually discovered a
bit later, and by this time some contacts may have already been established. Also consider that an embassy with each civ
is probably not needed, and that diplomats can establish embassies with civs judged to be good researchers, and that
embassies created with diplomats do not expire with the discovery of Communism.
Since the resources needed to build Marco Polo’s may be put to better use, and its main benefit is the immediacy of
contact it provides with all the AI, it may be best to only build this wonder in games where there has been early
difficulty in locating the AI, or in games where the key civ’s location remains elusive. If two or three civs have
already been found by the time Trade is discovered, it’s probably not worth building MPE.
This is the best wonder for controlling happiness, but two off path techs must be acquired in order to build it.
This may be worth doing in games where the SSC location is weak and when it might be beneficial to add more
cities than are usual in early landing games. If the total number of cities does not exceed 10, it is probably
better to use colosseums, so that Polytheism and Monotheism can be bypassed. Colosseums are easy to rush and
maintain if helpers and colonies wait until after freights are in the game before beginning their own growth.
If the AI are able to research the techs needed for Michaelangelo’s in time, trading for Monotheism might be a
good idea, since building this wonder would use fewer resources. Players starting off the game with the
Hanging Gardens are apt to need Michaelangelo’s later, when Railroad is discovered.
Usually the only city that will need a research lab is the SSC. By the time this wonder is available, there is not that much more research that has to be done, and there probably will not be enough resources on hand to build the SETI Program and still be able to build a fast ship quickly. SETI is probably for those games where the SSC is quite weak and where all helpers and colonies already have libraries and universities, and when there is more cash around than is needed.
This is the wonder that makes the SSC work so efficiently. The main advantage is that Shakespeare’s allows the research
slider to be set at 100% during Democracy, something that has to be done frequently in the second half of the game.
The other big advantage is that triremes, caravels and other military units can be homed to the SSC once Shakespeare’s
has been built, eliminating happiness problems during Republic and Democracy.
Almost every SSC will need Shakespeare’s Theater, but in games where SSC site has poor terrain accompanying its
four great trade specials, the SSC population may be limited, and it may be more efficient to control its happiness
in another way. So let’s call ST almost always essential.
Anarchy is actually lack of government, and for a long time players had to endure unpredictable durations of it
when changing government types. Then Oedo discovered that the length of Anarchy was governed by a simple 4 year
cycle. Ever since, the year of 3850 BC, and every fourth year that followed during any game became known
as “Oedo years”, and players were able to minimize Anarchy by starting revolutions on the turns preceding these years.
It wasn’t long before players added another refinement of timing the discovery of techs like Republic and Democracy,
so that these discoveries would coincide with Oedo years, since this eliminated Anarchy altogether, saving a turn of
research. However, when doing this, the switch of governments had to be made immediately after discovering the tech
for the new government type. Waiting until later on that same turn to make the switch did not work.
Once knowledge of Oedo years was widespread and tables of these years compiled, they could be consulted whenever
a new government type was discovered. Since odds were best this would happen on bad turns for starting revolutions,
players had to make a mental note of when to begin a revolution and then would usually be distracted by other
things and end up forgetting to do this! In one OCC game, I cruised along in Despotism for about 25 turns before
realizing I had forgotten to switch to Monarchy, but the game had been so interesting, I hadn’t even noticed.
Though generally scorned, Anarchy may have a limited use for players with a high power rating, who are currently
using Republic or Democracy. If some extra gold is desperately needed, a one turn revolution will provide the
opportunity to demand some tribute from the AI. Another good time for trying this is when the switch is made up
to Democracy from Republic.
Below is a table listing Oedo years at the deity level. Every sixteenth turn is highlighted for two reasons.
OEDO YEARS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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|
Despotism is the worst government type, which is the reason why players try to acquire Monarchy or Republic as soon as possible. Need more be said?
For many players the discovery of Monarchy is the first priority in the game. Monarchy can be researched quickly,
and it is well suited for small cities, since it’s easier to maintain units and because martial law can be used to
enforce happiness. Monarchy also allows one to demand tribute, an option not available under Republic or Democracy.
Without huts, sources of early income are so limited that this benefit of Monarchy may be enough in itself to decide
to go with it until trade gets underway, or even until Republic is needed for we love celebrations.
A disadvantage of Monarchy, is that it lacks the extra trade arrows available under Republic and Democracy, resulting
in a slower rate of research and lower profits from early trades. A slower research rate may not end up being a bad
thing, since this allows the AI more time to learn techs that one can trade for, but taking this approach entails the
assumption that one will benefit from some good luck.
An advantage of skipping Monarchy is that the carrying costs of another off path tech can be delayed. In fact,
chances are good that an AI may discover Feudalism in time for a trade, making it possible to complete a game without
ever having to acquire Monarchy.
Research speed is so much faster in Republic than in Monarchy, it is often a good idea to bypass Monarchy in order
to get to Republic a bit sooner. It does take a few more turns to get to this government, since Writing and Literacy
are pre-requisites, but the carrying costs of Monarchy, and the delay in researching that tech can be avoided by going
straight for Republic. Another advantage of making an early switch to Republic is that two more cities may be added
without inducing any extra unhappiness. This will allow one to get a jump on founding some colonies, with the idea of
adding two of them during early Republic. Finally, if Republic is given to the AI right after it is discovered, most
will make the shift, become more peaceful, and start learning new techs twice as fast.
Although Republic is not well suited for tiny empires having small cities, various accommodations can be made to make
things easier to manage. Temples in all cities need to be an early priority, so that when Republic is available, city
happiness can be controlled without using any luxuries. There should be enough time to get these temples in place.
Another requirement for playing early Republic with success, is realizing that tech gifts can be used to control AI
attitudes and prevent their sneak attacks. Therefore only a few diplomats will be needed to guard against barbarians,
the only real threat. After the switch to Republic is made, very few (or even no) city shields should be wasted
supporting military units. Another requirement for early Republic is to locate enough cities in areas having enough
food to support the needs of settlers working on roads and other jobs. Finally, the early use of Republic entails a
commitment to set up for and to do a lot of early trading, since delivery payoffs will become the main
(and possibly only) source of income.
There can be some good reasons for not going to Republic early. Small cities can grow larger without luxuries and
may contribute more towards the overall cause during a prolonged stay in Monarchy. Much depends on available resources
and specials. If Republic can be delayed, techs such as Writing and Literacy may be learned by the AI in time to make
trades for them, avoiding duplication of research during the part of the game when the AI are still able to learn techs
at a reasonable speed. One may become lucky, taking advantage of other techs the AI happen to tip from huts. Although
speedy human research is vital later on, purposely going a bit slower early on may even result in netting more techs
than were possible in early Republic.
Don’t count on so much good fortune, though. In most cases, better progress through the tech tree will result by using
early Republic. Most important to remember is that the situation presented in each game is unique. Success will be more
likely when strategies are flexible enough to adapt to specific situations. Forcing a situation to conform to a
favorite strategy may be a recipe for failure.
It’s obvious that Democracy is the best form of government. Income improves and the science slider can be set to 100%
when needed for those 1 turn advances. This is the main reason why the total number of cities has been limited and why
helpers and colonies have been kept at size three. It’s important NOT to be using any luxuries to control happiness,
in order to allow this 100% science setting. When 100% science is not needed, more gold always is, and under Democracy,
an SSC with all economic improvements can start to contribute considerable income through taxes.
Democracy is so much better than Republic that the shift in governments should be made as soon as possible. SSC growth
and development is usually almost complete by the time Democracy becomes available, and if the switch can be made early
enough, the SSC will have enough science to sustain 1 turn advances for a number of turns. With the help of SSC caravans,
this pace of research can often be maintained until freights become available. Democracy should be gifted to all of the
AI. Many will shift to it and become even more agreeable and one or more may be able to research Conscription in time
for a trade.
The only problem with Democracy is that any triremes or caravels not homed to the SSC must do so or be disbanded.
Good planners will think of doing this when opportunities arise earlier in the game. Going to Magnetism before
Democracy to allow galleons will probably delay the benefits of being in Democracy too long. Since trade comes almost
to a standstill during the Renaissance, the only good thing about this age is Democracy, which helps speed the way
to Industrialization and Corporation. Since Democracy allows two more cities, they should be added soon, so they
can get to size three in time for the helper and colony celebrations.
After a space ship is launched, it may be more convenient to switch to Communism or Fundamentalism, in order to mix it up with the AI. These governments allow more freedom to express aggressive impulses and to unleash any latent hostility felt towards any or all of the AI. Doing this may relieve the boredom of waiting for the space ship to arrive.
Acquiring technology quickly is the name of the early landing game. Trading with the AI is the quickest way to acquire new techs, and gifting techs to one’s key civ, as detailed in section 2.2.5, is the best way of keep tech costs at a minimum. However, an understanding of the basics underlying technology costs is essential, as well as knowing how to chart an optimal path through the tech tree. These topics, as well as some specific techniques and tips used to speed up research, will be discussed here.
Science beakers are used to acquire technology and the cost of each new tech can be precisely stated as a number of
beakers. There are two ways of finding out how many beakers are needed for the advance currently being researched.
One way is by temporarily setting the science slider all the way to zero per cent in the Tax Rate Menu. The number
of turns displayed for “Discoveries:” will be the same as the number of beakers needed. To avoid an inaccurate reading,
make sure none of the specialists in any of your cities are being used as scientists when checking a tech cost this way.
Any scientists should be taken off duty temporarily, before the Tax Menu method is used to get beaker amounts.
The other way of determining beaker costs is by calculating them directly, using Samson’s formula. Full details on how
this is done are in his “Cost of Research Explained” thread. Here is the link:
It is well worth knowing how tech costs are calculated, because it is often useful to know how much more future techs
will cost than the one being researched at the moment. The thread also explains how your research costs are affected
by your key civ and by starting techs. Although the human player in early landing games will not receive any free
starting techs, it’s possible that AI civs may get some, and one of these may be your key civ.
Tech costs constantly climb higher as the game progresses. The first tech only costs 10 beakers, but ones towards
the end of an early landing game can cost up to 2000 beakers or more. For the first 19 techs that are learned, the
average increase for each new tech is about 15 beakers. The 20th tech is an important threshold, because it will
cost about 200 more beakers than the 19th, making this a major one-time jump in costs. After that you’ll average
26 beakers more for each new tech. This major shift upwards in beaker costs that begins with the 20th tech means
that the first 19 you choose to acquire should include each early one you consider to be vital. Remember that any
techs acquired through trades with the AI count as part of these 19.
In early landing games, there is no such thing as a free tech. It is true that any tech from a trade with the AI
is acquired immediately, but every tech added to the total ends up costing you about 26 beakers more for EVERY advance
researched afterwards. It pays to be very selective when acquiring new techs, so that research costs can be kept low for
as long as possible. Remember that once you possess a tech, it may become like an incurable disease because you can
never get rid of it. Ideally, no tech should be acquired until it becomes vital.
It is often possible to skip over many techs while playing a game and to benefit by avoiding their carrying costs.
For example, if an AI is able to learn Seafaring, we can trade for it and can bypass Pottery entirely. If the AI are
able to learn one or more of the techs along the military part of the tech path, such as Feudalism or Chivalry, we
are relieved of the need to acquire techs like Warrior Code. If only 4 techs can be bypassed in this way, over 100
beakers can be trimmed off the cost of each new tech.
To get a proper perspective on this, consider that 100 beakers are at least 1/12th of what a good SSC will produce.
A good helper or colony needs all of the scientific improvements to have a chance of producing this many beakers.
It’s much easier to limit carrying costs in the first place by avoiding unneeded techs, than to try and make up for
having them later on in the game by adding more science. In the second half of the game, there will be many more
chances of earning an advance per turn if carrying costs have been minimized as much as possible by avoiding
unnecessary techs.
Extra carrying costs may also be incurred by making detours through off path techs such as Theology or Monotheism in
order to build a wonder such as Michaelangelo’s Chapel. Is the detour made to build this wonder worth the carrying
costs of these extra techs?
Carrying costs impact the AI civs much more than the human player because they are such lousy researchers. It also pays
to be selective in the techs which are gifted to them, so that they have a better chance of learning useful techs you
can trade for later.
Whenever a tech is learned a new tech list is presented, from which the next tech to be researched must be chosen.
Sometimes none of the techs on the list are along the early landing path. All players already know from experience
that these research lists do not include all of the techs they have the pre-requisites for. These omissions
are explained by Oedo’s discovery that all of the Civ II techs have been split into three arbitrary groups, and
that all eligible techs from one of these groups will be omitted each time a list of choices is presented.
These three tech groups can be identified by the numbers 0, 1 and 2. Oedo discovered that techs belonging to
group 0 will not appear in first list presented at the beginning of the game. The second list will omit techs
belonging to group 1. The third list will not contain any techs from group 2. Subsequent lists will repeat this
sequence for as long as the game lasts.
There is an exception to this general rule above. Oedo also discovered that the first tech on each list could belong
to any of the three groups, so he called this first tech a “joker” tech. For example, even though the Alphabet tech
is in group 0, it does appear at the top of the very first list, whose other members must come from groups 1 or 2.
Therefore Alphabet was the “joker” tech on the first list.
Since techs are always presented in alphabetical order, the joker tech always ends up being the eligible one that
is closest to the beginning of the alphabet. For example, after Alphabet has been researched, it no longer appears
on research lists and will be replaced by a new joker tech, such as Bronze Working. Other techs starting with letters
near the beginning of the alphabet, such as Automobile, Atomic Theory and Banking, commonly appear as joker techs.
Joker techs are used a programming safeguard, to ensure that each research list will contain at least one tech to
pick from.
Another important thing to realize about these research lists is that the sequence of their appearance can be
interrupted whenever a tech is acquired from a trade, a hut, or by any other means, such as the extra one that
can come with Philosophy. For example, an uninterrupted sequence of tech lists would be 0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2, 0,
1, 2, etc., with the number representing the group number of techs being omitted. But suppose that one trades
for a tech while learning another that came from the first list that omits group 0. Once research is complete,
the new list of choices will omit techs belonging to group 2. The trade caused the list omitting group 1 techs
to be skipped. Here the sequence of tech lists would be 0, 2, before resuming in normal sequence with 0, 1, 2,
etc. Now suppose that one trades for 2 techs while learning another that came from the first list that omits
group 0. Doing this will make the game skip the next two lists that were expected, the ones omitting techs from
groups 1 and 2. In this case, the sequence would be 0, 0, 1, 2, etc. Finally, suppose that one trades for the same
tech that is being researched. In this case, the normal sequence will not be interrupted.
A handy way of finding out the group number of the techs that will be omitted in the next list is to total up
the number of techs acquired so far during the game. (This total must NOT include any free techs that came with
the start). Add 1 to this amount to include the tech currently being researched. Then divide this total by 3. If
there is no remainder after this division, then the next tech list will be the one omitting group 0 techs. If the
remainder is 1, then group 1 techs will be the ones omitted, and finally, if the remainder is 2, it will be the
group 2 techs, instead. For example, suppose that a tech has just been learned. If 3 techs are known already, it
will be the 4th one that has been acquired. When 4 is divided by 3, the remainder is 1. This means that techs
from group 1 will not appear on the next list of choices.
Here is a list of all the techs used in the game, with each one identified by its group number:
Group | Technology |
---|---|
2 | Advanced Flight |
0 | Alphabet |
1 | Amphibious Warfare |
2 | Astronomy |
0 | Atomic Theory |
1 | Automobile |
2 | Banking |
0 | Bridge Building |
1 | Bronze Working |
2 | Ceremonial Burial |
0 | Chemistry |
1 | Chivalry |
2 | Code of Laws |
0 | Combined Arms |
1 | Combustion |
2 | Communism |
0 | Computers |
1 | Conscription |
2 | Construction |
0 | The Corporation |
1 | Currency |
2 | Democracy |
0 | Economics |
1 | Electricity |
2 | Electronics |
0 | Engineering |
1 | Environmentalism |
2 | Espionage |
0 | Explosives |
1 | Feudalism |
2 | Flight |
0 | Fundamentalism |
1 | Fusion Power |
2 | Genetic Engineering |
0 | Guerrilla Warfare |
1 | Gunpowder |
2 | Horseback Riding |
0 | Industrialization |
1 | Invention |
2 | Iron Working |
0 | Labor Union |
1 | The Laser |
2 | Leadership |
0 | Literacy |
1 | Machine Tools |
2 | Magnetism |
0 | Map Making |
1 | Masonry |
2 | Mass Production |
0 | Mathematics |
1 | Medicine |
2 | Metallurgy |
0 | Miniaturization |
1 | Mobile Warfare |
2 | Monarchy |
0 | Monotheism |
1 | Mysticism |
2 | Navigation |
0 | Nuclear Fission |
1 | Nuclear Power |
2 | Philosophy |
0 | Physics |
1 | Plastics |
2 | Plumbing |
0 | Polytheism |
1 | Pottery |
2 | Radio |
0 | Railroad |
1 | Recycling |
2 | Refining |
0 | Refrigeration |
1 | The Republic |
2 | Robotics |
0 | Rocketry |
1 | Sanitation |
2 | Seafaring |
0 | Space Flight |
1 | Stealth |
2 | Steam Engine |
0 | Steel |
1 | Superconductor |
2 | Tactics |
0 | Theology |
1 | Theory of Gravity |
2 | Trade |
0 | University |
1 | Warrior Code |
2 | The Wheel |
0 | Writing |
(just ignore Plumbing, which was dropped from the game)
Now let’s use an example from a game to see how this all works. After founding a capital, the first list of research choices is presented:Group | Technology |
---|---|
0 | Alphabet |
1 | Bronze Working |
2 | Ceremonial Burial |
2 | Horseback Riding |
1 | Masonry |
1 | Pottery |
1 | Warrior Code |
Group | Technology |
---|---|
1 | Bronze Working |
2 | Ceremonial Burial |
2 | Code of Laws |
2 | Horseback Riding |
0 | Map Making |
0 | Writing |
Group | Technology |
---|---|
1 | Bronze Working |
0 | Map Making |
1 | Masonry |
1 | Pottery |
1 | Warrior Code |
0 | Writing |
Group | Technology |
---|---|
1 | Bronze Working |
2 | Ceremonial Burial |
1 | Masonry |
1 | Pottery |
1 | Warrior Code |
2 | Wheel |
Group | Technology |
---|---|
1 | Bronze Working |
0 | Map Making |
2 | Monarchy |
0 | Polytheism |
2 | Wheel |
0 | Writing |
Group | Technology |
---|---|
1 | Amphibious Warfare |
2 | Communism |
2 | Genetic Engineering |
1 | Mobile Warfare |
2 | Monarchy |
1 | Plastics |
1 | Recycling |
1 | The Wheel |
Research priorities should be fairly obvious, and mostly depend on the unique situation presented by each game. For example, if we have a game where we start off on a small island, almost every Civ II player will announce how important a strategic decision it was to research Map Making quickly! Need more be said?
The SSC deserves all scientific improvements and wonders, so add them quickly. As noted earlier, Isaac Newton’s
College is useless unless there is at least a library in place, and since it costs the most, too, it should be
added dead last. Copernicus doubles city science whenever it is built, so this wonder can never be added quickly
enough in order to give that SSC its first good boost in beakers. Once all scientific improvements and wonders are
in place in an SSC, its beaker output in Democracy at 100% science will be 8 times the number of trade arrows being
produced. It’s this cumulative effect of scientific improvements and wonders that make SSC science so powerful.
As tech costs mount later in the game, it will be necessary to add scientific improvements to some helpers and colonies.
When doing this, pick the ones with the most trade arrows and finish off improvements in one city first, before moving
on to the next. Since exact tech costs can be determined, don’t overdo these improvements by supplying more beakers
than are needed for timely advances. It’s easy to get carried away with researching quickly and then finding out
later that you have to scrounge around for resources a few extra turns in order to build a space ship. When research
is no longer the priority, sell off helper and colony scientific improvements, making sure there are enough turns left
before the launch to sell them all.
Scientists can add a surprising amount of beakers to the total produced by an SSC. After all scientific improvements
and wonders are in place, a scientist adds as much science as any citizen working an ocean tile, since each scientist
will be producing 24 beakers. Because of this, the food potential of an SSC should be maximized before it celebrates
up to its final size. For example, irrigate SSC wheat tiles to get maximum SSC growth first. This gains a few more
citizens before the wheat is converted to silk to increase trade arrows. SSC sites with excellent food specials can
reach sizes well above 30 citizens. Lots of grassland in the SSC site may make Refrigeration a useful early landing
tech. A huge SSC population is almost like getting two super science cities for the price of one.
It’s a good idea to be aware of the beaker capacity of scientists under different circumstances, so here is a summary:
No scientific wonders | |
---|---|
Your basic scientist | 3 beakers |
Add a library | 4 beakers |
Add a university | 6 beakers |
Add a research lab | 7 beakers |
Now if Newton’s College is in the city | |
plus a library | 6 beakers |
plus a university | 9 beakers |
plus a research lab | 12 beakers | Now if Copernicus is in the city, double ALL of the amounts above |
Each time a commodity is delivered the payoff in gold is matched by as many beakers, which are credited towards the
tech currently being researched. This means trade can become a major contributor in the quest to acquire techs as
quickly as possible. It’s important to realize that if a trade produces more beakers than are needed to complete the
advance currently being researched, any extra beakers will NOT be carried over and will not be applied towards the
next tech chosen for research. This means that it is usually not a good idea to deliver a commodity when a tech
discovery is imminent, since many of the delivery beakers will be wasted.
In the earliest part of the game, caravan deliveries are the only way of getting one turn advances. If caravans could
be produced and delivered quickly enough, it would probably be most effective to use them only for trades and to use
the cash payoffs to help build the improvements and wonders needed in the SSC. In any event, caravans delivered to
demanding AI cities on other continents will be a better source of beakers than city science for quite some time,
so it pays to trade as many caravans as possible before payoffs and beakers are cut by the discovery of Invention
or Navigation, and cut again later by the discovery of Railroad.
When freights appear trade can resume with a vengeance, since transports and railroads allow them to be delivered
very quickly. Freight deliveries will provide half of the science and most of the gold needed in the second half
of the game. In OCC games, the number of freights that the SSC could produce was limited when supplies became blocked.
This put more emphasis on developing the SSC more fully, by using extra citizens gained by adding farmland and by
boosting SSC shields by building factories, power plants and offshore platforms. However, in early landing games,
the unblocking techniques which are enabled by having more than one city has led to strategies where trade plays
a more central role.
Once the SSC is full sized and has all of the scientific improvements and wonders, it will be producing enough beakers to learn each tech every two turns, but in successful early landing games, an advance per turn is more desirable, since this is twice as good. Some extra beakers will be provided by helpers and colonies. Another good boost to SSC beakers may come from trade routes established to a nearby AI city that have connecting roads and rails. Most often though, caravan and freight deliveries can be timed to add just enough extra beakers to make the difference. The goal of maintaining one turn advances will probably be a struggle until the discovery of Automobile.
Once Automobile has been discovered, and superhighways have been added to the SSC, city science may start producing
enough beakers to earn an advance per turn. As helpers and colonies reach full size and begin adding superhighways
and scientific improvements, this capacity can be sustained and usually maintained until the discovery of Space Flight.
During this period, there will be several turns where enough freights can be delivered to secure the first advance,
allowing city science to earn the second of a pair. If a good system of alternating trade has been established in
time, it’s even possible to sustain 2 advances per turn for most of the turns following the discovery of Automobile.
However, in most games the opportunities for two advances per turn are usually limited, so it’s best to plan for
them in advance. This involves choosing turns where you will not be faced with a bad list of techs to choose from
when selecting the second advance of a pair. The two techs should both be along the paths towards Space Flight. If not,
the effort put into getting two advances per turn instead of one may be wasted. This is another good reason to learn
and understand the system of rotating tech lists described in detail earlier.
Another point about two advances per turn is realizing when enough is enough. Progress through the tech tree can be
so rapid that one arrives at Space Flight without enough resources to build a ship quickly. Another mistake would to
be use up freights for one last opportunity of two advances and then be caught without enough city science to learn
the remaining techs at a reasonable pace. Sometimes it’s better to spread out those final freight deliveries to enable
many 1 turn advances instead using them all up on a final two-bagger. Two advances per turn are a thrill, but this
euphoria fades quickly when it takes city science two turns for each necessary tech that follows.
By using the “zoom to home city” trick discovered by Samson, you may be able to complete some SSC builds a
turn earlier than is usually possible, and benefit by getting extra beakers sooner. Here is an example of how it works.
Suppose Automobile is the tech currently being researched and will be learned very early on the next turn, before the
SSC and some other cities are processed. If an SSC unit is placed in another city which is processed before the SSC,
and this city completes its own build after the discovery of Automobile, you can enter that city, click on the SSC
unit stationed there and use the “zoom to home city” feature to sneak over to the SSC before it is processed.
While there, whatever is being built can be changed to superhighways, which is now allowed by the discovery of
Automobile. Superhighways could be rushed to completion a turn earlier than usual by doing this.
In this way, a city improvement or wonder can be sometimes be completed on the turn of the discovery of its enabling
tech. Samson exploited the use of this trick to finish a spaceship that landed in 16 AD, by creating a “zoom to” chain
involving many cities. For those wanting more complete details about this trick, here is the link to Samson’s thread:
The system of trade developed for Civilization II is arguably one of the best ever designed for a computer game. Although the game has been around for many years, the depth and complexity of the underlying mechanisms governing trade have remained a mystery to players longer than any other aspect of the game. Many discoveries concerning the properties of commodity supply and demand lists are quite recent, and will be covered here in detail. Players need an excellent understanding of how trade works, if they hope to become competitive in early landing games.
Trade arrows are the unit used to measure trade. Base trade is defined as the total number of trade arrows being
produced in a city by its citizens who are working city tiles.
One aspect of managing trade is selecting city sites with tiles conducive to trade. Ocean tiles promote trade and
produce 2 trade arrows each. Rivers produce one. When deserts, plains and grassland tiles are improved with roads,
they will each produce 1 trade arrow. Eight of the special tiles produce varying amounts of trade arrows, and here
is a list, in descending order of trade arrow potential:
Name | # of Arrows |
---|---|
Gold | 6 |
Wine, Gems, Ivory, Spice | 4 |
Furs, Silk, Whales | 3 |
Trade routes can be established when commodities are delivered from one city to another. Once established in a city,
each trade route provides an ongoing trade bonus in the form of extra trade arrows. Establishing good ongoing routes
in all cities should be a priority, especially in the SSC. Cities with trade routes require far fewer luxuries to
sustain “we love” celebrations, and trade routes provide a permanent boost to income and science.
The number of arrows generated by any route is calculated from the base trade of the two cities involved in the route,
and the resulting route in both cities will usually have the same number of trade arrows. I am not sure of the exact
formula used, but this approximation might suffice:
A policy of delivering commodities to cities that demand them will pay off in a big way since the demand bonuses received can be quite substantial. Even for the commodities having the smallest demand bonus, the amount of gold (and beakers) received will be doubled, so it is well worth learning how to maximize the chances of earning delivery bonuses. Here is a list of the commodities grouped by the size of their bonus multipliers:
Commodity | Bonus Multiplier |
---|---|
Hides, Salt, Wool, Beads, Copper, Dye | 2 |
Cloth, Coal, Wine, Silver | 5/2 |
Silk, Spice, Gems, Gold | 3 |
Oil | 7/2 |
Uranium | 4 |
The demand bonuses, detailed in the previous section, are the best way to maximize delivery payments, but there are other
things that can be done to ensure the highest possible payments. Samson’s thread “Calculating Caravan and Freight
Delivery Payments”, discusses all of the factors involved in the calculation of these gold (and beaker) payoffs. It
is certainly useful to have a good idea of how much will be received for imminent deliveries, especially on those turns
when a combination of commodities is being used to secure the first of two advances. For the specific details about
payoff calculations, here is the link to Samson’s thread:
For those just wanting know what they should do to maximize their payments, here is a summary of the base payment and
its modifiers:
While it’s a good idea to try for maximum delivery payments, speed of delivery is even more important, since early
landing games are a race against time. It’s much more useful to make several rapid deliveries for modest amounts rather
than sending just a few commodities all the way to their most profitable destinations. What is needed is a kind of
Fed Ex mentality when it comes to getting caravans and freights delivered. One good reason for emphasizing maximum
speed is that whenever a city builds a commodity, it can not build it again as long as the first copy is still
in transit. (Hides are an exception, and this will be discussed later). Another good reason is that more gold,
beakers and decent trade routes are always needed now rather than later on.
Now with a little planning, most freights can be delivered on the same turn they are built. This is because a system
of railroads, coastal cities and ship chains, can move a freight vast distances without expending any of its movement
points, so that when it debarks near an AI city, it will be able to reach it on the same turn to complete a trade.
For early landing games, the trick is getting this delivery system in place quickly enough to be of real use. Since
transports can be built quickly and railroads take time to construct, it makes sense to maximize the use of ocean tiles
when planning trading routes earlier in the game. Colonies should be placed to facilitate the travel of freights to
them and/or through them to AI trading partners.
Special consideration should be given to the SSC and the cities with which it will be trading with on a continuous basis.
Rail and road connections promoting 1 turn SSC deliveries are a top priority. Sometimes this even means exporting
engineers to build roads leading up to AI cities. Commodity supply and demand will have to be pre-determined so as to
match up the SSC with its future trading partners, and then this list should be pruned to those cities that are within
1 turn’s reach.
Another thing to briefly consider is the use of airports, and they would be the preferred means of travel if weren’t
for several serious disadvantages. One is that each airport can only be used for one freight on each turn. Another
problem is that once a freight lands at its destination its turn immediately ends, even if it had movement points it
hadn’t used. So freights must waste a turn of transit while in the air. Airports also require the Flight pre-requisite,
which cancels the Colossus and cuts freight delivery payments by 1/3.
Perhaps it is a design flaw in Civ II, that allows unlimited sea travel by chaining transports together, since one
would expect air travel to be a lot faster, but this exploit is just one of many that exist in the game. It just
turns out that ship chains serve the purpose of early landing games very well. So if the opportunity is there, we
might as well shamelessly exploit the use of ship chains and make the most we can out of all those free,
frequent freighter miles!
While consistent 1 turn deliveries for freights is a realistic goal, the slower pace of caravans, makes it important
to find the best ways to expedite their travels. The problem is getting them delivered far enough away to make a
decent profit and to accomplish this quickly.
Again, ocean travel is the best solution. Triremes usually triple the distance that can be traveled in one turn and
are the only means of reaching AI cities on separate continents, too. By enabling the AI and separate continent delivery
bonuses, these caravans will earn excellent payments for any demanded cargos shipped across a bay. Each one can reach
its destination in just a handful of turns, and if commodities with good demand bonuses are in supply, these kinds of
trades will often trigger the science cap.
For any newcomers unfamiliar with the mechanics of ship chaining, here’s a brief summary of how it is used to ship
freights a long, long way:
Although ship chaining is the quickest way to move freights long distances in one turn, the transports used in the
chain have to move in the reverse direction every other turn to reestablish the position of each link. This is the
rationale for having a few colonies, since they can use the turn the chain is being reset to send their own freights
home. Once an alternating trade system can be set up, it will become very efficient and quite profitable, too.
A side benefit of alternating trade is that if colonies are able to produce commodities demanded by the SSC, this
will increase the chances of having two advances per turn more often, since an SSC trade of some sort is usually
required to obtain most of the beakers needed for the first advance. In addition, these deliveries by colonies to the
SSC often perform the secondary function of unblocking SSC supplies. It’s a very pleasant feeling to be able to do
this while earning a maximum delivery bonus. Unblocking in this fashion often works for colonies, too, when SSC or
helper freights are delivered to them.
This alternation also perfectly suits the rushing of freights in helpers and colonies, too. On the turn freights are
headed outbound to the colonies, helpers can start off new freights, with the idea of rushing them to completion the
following turn, while freights from colonies are being sent home. This avoids the extra expense incurred when rush
buying a freight on one turn. Colonies can also rush their freights using two turns in the same way, with their
builds coinciding with the turns when transports head back home.
It takes a lot of planning in advance to set up a system of alternating trade that is successful, but when an effective
one is up and running, the hyper trade permitted will accelerate the pace of the game and almost guarantee an early
launch.
For newcomers, many of the terms and techniques related to commodity supply and demand may seem confusing. It might
have been a better idea to start off this guide with a bunch of definitions, rather than wait until the middle of it to
clear up questions that might have arisen, but here we are now, and before forgetting again, it’s better to do this late
rather than never. So, if you are wondering a bit what is meant by references to “triggers”, “wildcards” or “unblocking”,
you may not want to skip this section of the guide.
Once trade has commenced, each city has a list of three commodities that it can supply and another list of three
commodities it demands. Here is an example:
Supplies: silver, beads, wool
Demands: coal, dye, silk
Whenever a caravan (or freight) is built, one can choose to make it a commodity or food. In the example above,
one could build silver, beads, wool, or food. Suppose beads were chosen. If so, a parenthesis will be put around
beads afterwards, and the list would look like this:
Supplies: silver, (beads), wool
Demands: coal, dye, silk
The parenthesis means the supply of beads has become blocked, since if we were to build another caravan right away,
we could no longer pick beads. The list of choices would be limited to silver, wool, or food.
Suppose two more caravans were built, and we chose one to be silver and the other to be wool. Then the list would
look like this:
Supplies: (silver), (beads), (wool)
Demands: coal, silk, dye
Now all commodities supplied by this city would be blocked and if we were to build another caravan the choice would be
limited to food. Now it may seem like that’s it for this city, and that it has used up all the commodities that it
can supply, but that is not the case. As the city grows and the game progresses through the various ages, a city’s
supply list can change, and one or more of the original commodities on the supply or demand lists may be replaced
by others. It is also possible that one of the original commodities that were built may come back into supply later
on, which is what we mean when we say it has become unblocked. If, for example, the supply of beads were to become
unblocked, the supply list would look like this:
Supplies: (silver), beads, (wool)
Now another beads caravan can be built, but doing this will block the supply of beads again.
The demand list works in the same way. Using the list above, suppose that a silk caravan were delivered to this city.
Again, a parenthesis will appear around that commodity and the demand list will look like this:
Demands: coal, (silk), dye
Now it will still be possible to deliver silk or any other commodity to this city, but for this city the first delivery
of silk satisfied the city’s strong desire for fancy clothing, and we can say that the demand for silk has become
blocked. What this means is that future deliveries of silk will not earn the demand bonus, and the payoff will
not be any more than it would have been for any commodity not in demand by this city. Suppose deliveries of coal
and dye followed the silk delivery. Then the list would look like this:
Demands: (coal), (silk), (dye)
All demanded commodities would become blocked, and any commodity delivered afterwards would only receive the
minimum payment, since no demand bonuses are available. However, as with the supply list, the demand list will
go through changes, too, and different commodities may appear on it later. It is also possible to reestablish
the demand for a commodity that was previously in demand. This is what we mean when we say a demand has become
unblocked. If dye were to become unblocked, the demand list would look like this:
Demands: (coal), (silk), dye
Again, the parentheses are removed and the city will pay the demand bonus again for the next shipment of dye that arrives.
As a city grows and as a game progresses, its supply and demand lists may change. New commodities may replace the ones
originally appearing on the lists, and commodities that are bumped from their lists can even make a comeback,
and reappear later.
For example, as a city grows the demand for hides will go down, but the demand for other commodities such as coal
might increase. Factors that can influence the supply and demand of commodities in any city include its terrain,
location, continent, size, and its improvements. Nationality and tech progress are other factors. Of these factors,
city size and tech progress (and to a limited degree, terrain), are dynamic and these along with city improvements
will account for changes in the types of commodities appearing on supply and demand lists.
As an example, suppose a size 1 city starts out with this list of commodities in supply.
Supplies: silver, beads, hides
It is the city’s location, terrain and other static factors that made the inherent and initial supply of these three
commodities the highest. However, when this city grows beyond size two, its ability to supply hides will be cut in half.
As this increase in population lowers the supply of hides it will also raise the supply of wine, perhaps high enough
to make wine replace hides on the supply list. While this city grows to size 3, its civ may discover Pottery, which
causes the supply of salt to triple. This increase may be enough to make salt replace silver or beads. The relative
level of supply of all commodities will be constantly changing as the game progresses.
The commodities appearing on supply and demand lists are listed in order of strength. Here is a sample list:
Supplies: gold, beads, dye
Demands: cloth, copper, hides
On this list cloth has the highest demand, followed by copper and hides. Similarly, the supply of gold is highest,
followed by beads and dye. When list memberships change during the course of a game, one would usually expect
commodities to retain their relative positions. For example, the discovery of Pottery triples the chances of salt
being in supply. This may move salt ahead of gold, the former top dog, resulting in a list like this:
Supplies: salt, gold, beads
Dye was bumped off the list as gold and beads shifted downwards. To disguise these shifts somewhat, the game also uses
what we have defined as wildcard commodities. Wildcard commodities are determined from calculations based solely
on a city’s map coordinates.
For those who may not know, a city’s map coordinates will appear in the game’s status box if you right click on
the city’s tile. An example is (8, 64)1. The numbers within the parentheses are the horizontal and vertical map
coordinates of the city. The number outside the right hand side parenthesis is the continent number. In this
example the horizontal coordinate is 8, the vertical coordinate is 64, and the continent number is 1. The map
coordinates of any tile on the map can be checked by right clicking the tile.
All other factors normally influencing the appearance of that commodity are ignored when making these wildcard
calculations. Each city has a particular supply and demand wildcard that can appear as the middle commodity.
Wildcard commodities can also change during the course of a game, but while in play they usually are the dominant
commodity on their respective lists. One of the following sections will be all about wildcards.
Supply and demand lists are not updated every time a change is enabled by city growth and/or tech acquisition.
For a long time, many players believed that changes to supply and demand lists occurred randomly. Other players,
including myself, believed that changes in the demand lists of AI cities usually coincided with the turn before
attempting deliveries of demanded cargos. Such notions have been disproved by recent research, which has revealed
that the game will always use a trigger to signal when it is time to re-evaluate and update a city’s supply and
demand lists.
There are different kinds of triggers. One of them is the sixteen turn city cycle, by which lists are reevaluated at
periodic intervals for each city throughout a game. This trigger will be discussed in the next section.
Commodity deliveries can also act as triggers. Players often notice this when the delivery of one demanded commodity
causes a change in the city’s demand list, sometimes resulting in the disappearance of another commodity previously
in demand.
Three other triggers are related to the abnormal behavior of dye and copper in commodity demand lists that can occur
during a city’s cycle turn. Not looking at a city during its cycle turn can either trigger or avoid this aberrant
behavior, depending on the version of the game being used. In Civ II 2.42, another way to trigger this effect is to
temporarily reduce a city’s shields to zero or less. This trigger was discovered by SCG and has become known as
the “SCG Shift”. Finally, if a diplomat is used to investigate an AI city during its cycle turn, the effect of the
dye or copper bug will be reversed. This is because the AI never “look” at their own cities, causing cycle turns to
always implement the bug. These triggers will be discussed some more later on.
Food caravans and freights can act as triggers, too. The delivery of food to another city can act as a trigger, or the
use of food when building a wonder.
Triggers do not always cause city supply and/or demand lists to change. No changes will occur if a city does not grow
and/or if its civ’s progression through the tech tree is going too slowly. In addition, the inherent level of supply or
demand of certain commodities may be so strong in some cities, that they become permanent fixtures on their respective
lists.
The term trigger has also been used to describe events that change the status of commodities on supply and demand lists,
causing them to become blocked or to become unblocked. List memberships may not be changed by these kinds of triggers,
only the status of one or more of the commodities already appearing on them. Techniques for doing this will be discussed
in the last section.
While investigating the behavior of supply and demand lists, I happened to discover that the commodity supply and demand lists for each city are automatically updated every 16 turns. These turns are defined as city cycle turns, and the 16 year spans between them have also been called “solo cycles”, since I noticed their existence first. A city’s cycle turns depend on when the city was founded, and cycle turns are best illustrated by using an example. Below is a table of cities compiled from a multiplayer test game in which I was playing every civ.
OOOOOOOOOOOOXOOOOOOOOO Delhi
OOOOOOOOOOOXOOOOOOOOOO Berlin
OOOOOOOOOOXOOOOOOOOOOO Leipzig
OOOOOOOOOXOOOOOOOOOOOO Rome
OOOOOOOOXOOOOOOOOOOOOO Washington
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Athens
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Thebes
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOX Memphis
OOOOXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOXO New York
OOOXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOXOO Babylon
OOXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOXOOO Bombay
OXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOXOOOO Veii
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Sparta
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Ur
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOXOOOOOOO Nineveh
OOOOOOOOOOOOOXOOOOOOOO Ashur
OOOOOOOOOOOOXOOOOOOOOO Hamburg
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Heliopolis
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Thermopylae
OOOOOOOOOXOOOOOOOOOOOO Madras
OOOOOOOOXOOOOOOOOOOOOO Ellipi
OOOOOOOXOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Boston
OOOOOOXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Antium
OOOOOXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Konigsburg
OOOOXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Elephantine
OOOXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOXOO Bangalore
OOXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Corinth
OXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Frankfurt
XOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOXOOOOO Alexandria
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Delphi
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOXOOOOOOO Akkad
OOOOOOOOOOOOOXOOOOOOOO Pi-Rameses
OOOOOOOOOOOOXOOOOOOOOO Calcutta
OOOOOOOOOOOXOOOOOOOOOO Uruk
OOOOOOOOOOXOOOOOOOOOOO Pharsalos
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Cumae
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Philadelphia
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Knossus
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Munich
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOX Argos
16 Turn Cycles | BC years | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
3250 | 2450 | 1650 | 0925 | 0525 | 0125 | AD years |
0220 | 0540 | 0860 | 1180 | 1500 | 1660 |
1764 | 1796 | 1828 | 1855 | 1871 | 1887 |
1903 | 1919 | 1935 | 1951 | 1967 | 1983 |
1999 | 2015 |
Most of the information to be presented in this section and the three that follow has only recently come to light as
a result of Samson’s investigation into how supply and demand lists are determined.
The complexities underlying commodity supply and demand, and the depth of insight displayed by Samson in revealing
them, probably ranks his achievement as the most remarkable piece of research conducted so far concerning the
game. Readers wishing to read Samson’s own thread describing his discoveries can find the link to it below:
Even after reading Samson’s thread, many players have been a bit daunted by the complexity of the subject and by
all of the calculations that are required to predict individual commodity supplies and demands. Since I assisted
Samson, by helping to test his formulas, my sometimes incorrect application of many of them has made me sort of
an expert now at using them. This experience has also given me a very good overall understanding of the ebb and flow
commodity supplies and demands that occur in a typical early landing game.
One thing I hope to do in this section and in the one that follows is to impart a general sense of what is going on,
so that those who do not want to get into more detailed calculations can still have a pretty good idea of which factors
influence the supply and demand of different commodities. Following that will be two more sections covering all of the
calculations involved, using examples from an actual game, so that players wanting to use Samson’s formulas can be
confident that they are making the calculations exactly as specified by him.
Before discussing individual commodities a few words must be said about terrain, about wildcards, and about tech totals.
A city’s terrain plays a significant role in determining which commodities will appear on its lists, and it is the
quantity of different terrain types that is important. The terrain specials do not have unique or unusual effects
on commodities. All they do is make their underlying terrain count as four of the type rather than just one. For
example, a silk or pheasant special have the same effect, making the forest tile they occupy count as 4 forests
instead of one.
A city’s wildcard commodities are based solely on its grid coordinates, allowing a commodity to appear on a list it
ordinarily wouldn’t be qualified to occupy. For example, a city needs at least one hill tile to have a chance of
supplying any coal, but if there are not any hills in the city, coal still might appear as the supply wildcard
commodity if that city’s grid coordinates happen to be the right ones for coal. Since wildcards almost always show up
on their lists, commodities that can not be wildcards will show up less frequently on lists than those that can. Before
a civ has learned 32 techs, only hides, beads, salt, copper, wine, silver and gems can be wildcards. This limits the
appearances of wool, cloth, coal, silk and spice on early supply and demand lists. After 32 techs have been acquired
hides, wool, beads, cloth and salt can not be wildcards, but all the others can.
Tech totals should include the tech currently be researched, and should not include any free techs provided at the start.
(Early landing comparison games do not include any free starting techs).
Commodity Explanation | |
---|---|
Commodity | Explanation |
Hides | Hides are most likely to be in supply and demand in tiny cities and by civs having few techs. Tundra, glacier, forest,
jungle and rivers increase supply. Tundra, glacier, mountains and forest increase demand. Demand is high for cities
far away from the Equator. The discovery of Industrialization decreases demand and the discovery of Mass Production
eliminates demand. The demand bonus for hides is 2, the lowest. Hides have a unique quality. Unlike all other commodities, the supply or demand of hides will never become blocked. This allows a city to produce multiple copies of hides caravans, and allows a city demanding hides to keep paying the bonus for repeated hides deliveries. An SSC supplying hides can do a very good repeat business with an AI city where hides is in demand. Hides are a good commodity for trading, since they are repeatable and because demand is usually widespread. Even near the end of an early landing game, small cities belonging to AI that lack Industrialization and Mass Production may still demand hides. |
Wool | A city without any grass, hills, or rivers can not produce wool. Terrain increasing supply is the three types above plus tundra and glacier. Supply increases for cities within 13 tiles of the North or South Pole. A city needs plains or forest for demand and demand is strongest close to the Equator or the Poles. Industrialization doubles demand. The demand bonus for wool is 2, the lowest. Supply and demand for wool tends to be spotty, since it can never be a wildcard. |
Beads | As with hides the supply and demand for beads will decrease as a civ progresses and as its cities grow. Ocean tiles are needed to supply beads, and proximity to the Equator increases supply. Demand is the reverse, increasing with more land tiles and increasing near the Poles. The demand bonus for beads is 2, the lowest, but beads are usually in supply and demand somewhere at most times during a game. |
Cloth | A city without desert or plains can not supply cloth. Rivers reduce the supply. Supply increases with Industrialization and as the number of techs increase. A city without forest or hills is very unlikely to demand cloth. Demand increases for every 10 techs acquired and for cities near the Poles. Mountains, tundra, and glacier tiles help increase demand. The demand bonus for cloth is 3/2, which is average, and like wool, its supply and demand can be spotty since cloth can never be a wildcard. |
Salt | Desert, swamp or ocean tiles are needed to supply salt. Every 6 techs acquired reduces supply. Pottery triples supply and supply is increased after an aqueduct is built or if the city is located on continents 1, 3 or 5. A city with a large population demands a lot of salt but the accumulation of techs reduces demand. The demand bonus for salt is 2, the lowest, and it is much easier to find cities supplying salt later in a game than those that want any of it. Trading opportunities are better early in the game. |
Coal | A city without hills will not supply any coal. If hills are present they count a lot, but other terrain including
plains, forest, swamp and jungle help increase supply. Supply is higher on odd numbered continents except for #1 and
before one acquires 20 techs. Larger cities are more apt to supply coal. Demand is very good for large cities far
from the Equator and for civs having many techs. The discoveries of both Industrialization and Electricity both double
the demand for coal. The demand bonus for coal is 3/2, which is average.
One problem with coal is that it is most likely to be in good supply early in the game, a time when it is unlikely to be in demand, since any city must reach size 5 before it can demand coal. Later on, the demand for coal can grow so much that many cities that could previously supply it end up wanting it even more, leaving a shortage of coal suppliers. Coal caravans, built early in the game can not afford to wait until demand finally appears, and are probably best suited for building wonders. Delivering coal to demanding cities can happen, but not very often. |
Copper | A city needs hills or mountains to supply copper. Supply will double if the continent number is even.
Copper demand is problematical, since there is a bug in the game that sometimes creates an abnormally huge demand
for copper, and this bug operates differently in 2.42 than it does in the MGE edition of the game. In 2.42, the bug
is activated by city cycle turns or be using the “SG switch”, but can be cancelled by looking at a city’s display on
a cycle turn or by making a caravan (or freight) delivery. Since the AI never “view” their cities, each cycle turn
implements the bug for them. The reverse holds true for human cities, which are usually inspected on cycle turns.
In MGE, it’s just the opposite, caravan deliveries and viewing city displays cause the bug to be implemented, and
the automatic update on a cycle turn cancels it.
When this bug is not in effect, demand for copper requires rivers or roads and increases when Electricity is discovered and as cities grow in size. Marketplaces and banks in a city increase the demand for copper. The discovery of Computers reduces the demand of copper by 1/4. Copper has a demand bonus of 2, the lowest, but because of the demand bug and because copper always has a chance of being a wildcard commodity, cities that supply copper will never have a problem finding others demanding it. The copper bug can often be deliberately invoked or cancelled to suit one’s purposes when trading it or other commodities affected by these manipulations. |
Dye | Grassland increases the supply of dye the most. Rivers also add to supplies, but if a city has too many plains, this
may cancel a city’s ability to supply dye. If the continent number is a multiple of 4, supplies double.
Dye demand is also problematical. The same bug that affects copper applies to dye. In a game, dye is usually the first of these two commodities to be affected by the bug, but copper comes on strong later supplanting dye as the top demand commodity. When the dye bug is not affecting demand, a city without desert or plains can not demand dye unless there are some roads. Rivers reduce demand. Demand increases with Industrialization and as the number of techs increase, but the techs Chemistry and Mass Production will each cut the demand for dye in half. Dye has a demand bonus of 2, the lowest, but the demand bug almost always insures demand for dye somewhere, so trading opportunities are frequent. As with the copper, the bug allows deliberate manipulations to supply and demand lists. |
Wine | Plains or rivers increase the supply of wine, but grassland reduces it. Large cities far from the zero meridian
(0 horizontal coordinate) and in the northern hemisphere are much more likely to produce wine, especially if the civ
is French. Demand for wine increases when a city’s grid coordinates differ by a large amount and for larger cities.
Wine has a demand bonus of 3/2, which is average, but since it always has a chance of being a wildcard and because many cities will be supplying or demanding wine throughout the game, it is one of the best commodities for making profitable trades. |
Silk | A city needs forest, jungle or hills to supply silk. Supplies increase for cities in the Eastern Hemisphere with
a high horizontal coordinate, and supplies double if the civ is the Chinese and if the continent number is a multiple
of 5. Terrain types increasing demand are desert, plains, swamp and jungle. Demand increases for large cities close
to the Equator and far from the zero meridian (0 horizontal coordinate), and may be higher for cites located on
continent #1.
Silk has a demand bonus of 3, which is good, but supply is not abundant early in the game. However, the quality of silk’s demand bonus makes it worthwhile to seek out and exploit any opportunities to match silk suppliers with cites demanding it. Silk has better availability in the second half of a game, when it has a chance of being a wildcard commodity. |
Silver | Mountains or hills are needed to supply silver, but mountains boost silver supply much more than hills do. Supplies
increase closer to the zero meridian and for continent numbers over 8, but are lower if Iron Working has not been
discovered or if the city size is below 5.
Demand increases as city size increases. Although any city can supply silver, further qualifiers for silver demand depend on the city’s map coordinates. If the remainder of their sum divided by 3 is zero, Chemistry increases demand, but Economics and Computers lower it. If the civ is Spanish or if the city has a bank or cathedral, demand increases. Silver has a demand bonus of 3/2, which is average, but silver always has a chance to appear as a wildcard, increasing its availability. Demand for silver is much more likely than it will be for gems or gold, so a city supplying silver can usually find a city demanding it. This can more than make up for its lower demand bonus. |
Spice | Spice supply is tricky, in that it depends on having desert, swamp or jungle AND also depends on having ocean or
rivers. If a city has at least one tile in both groups and is located near the Equator chances of supplying spice
increases. Being on continent #1 will cut supply in half as does being on a continent having over 300 tiles. Small
islands under 26 tiles double the chances of producing spice.
The larger the continent, the more likely spice will be in demand, but if the sum of the city’s grid coordinates divided by 2 is an even number, demand is zero. Demand is cut in half by the discovery of Refrigeration. Spice has a good demand bonus, but chances are not good of founding a city that supplies spice. Its appearance is fairly spotty, but may pick up in the second half of a game, when Spice has a chance of becoming a wildcard. As with silk, gems and gold, spice pays very well when supplies can be matched with demanding cities. |
Gems | Desert, mountains, swamp or plains are needed to supply gems and supplies increase if the continent number is 7, and as the city grows. Demand for gems is the same as for silver, but with one important exception. Gems will not be in demand in a city unless the remainder is 1 after dividing the sum of the city’s map coordinates by 3. The demand bonus for gems is 3, which is good, and even though demand for gems is rarer than demand for silver, it always has a chance of being a wildcard. Considering their value, gems are in pretty good supply and demand during a game and often provide several opportunities for great trades. |
Gold | Mountains, hills, or rivers will increase the supply gold, even though none of these are a requirement. Lack of
mountains cuts potential supplies, but supplies increase as a city grows. Gold is often in supply because a city lacks
enough supply commodities, which often happens in the SSC in early landing games, where demands for most commodities
outstrip the values of corresponding supplies.
The problem with gold is that it is rarely in demand, especially early in the game when gold can not be used as a wildcard. Demand for gold is also the same as for silver and gems, but with one important exception. Gold will not be in demand in a city unless the remainder is 2 after dividing the sum of the city’s map coordinates by 3. The demand bonus for gold is 3, which is good, making it worth checking wildcards to find cities that will demand the gold the SSC is likely to supply late in the game. |
Oil | Desert, tundra, glacier and swamp are needed to supply oil, which makes natural oil suppliers unlikely. Supplies
increase on continent #9. Chances of supplying oil increase vastly after Combustion has been discovered. Cities over
size 37 double the chances of oil supply.
Demand for oil will not occur until after the discovery of Industrialization. The discovery of Automobile triples demand. Demand increases as the tech total grows and for large cities. Factories and superhighways increase demand, but it is reduced by mass transit and by recycling centers. Oil can appear as a secondary wildcard after the discovery of Industrialization, which means it will appear if the normal wildcard is not expressed. Oil has a demand bonus of 7/2, which is excellent, but supplies are most likely to occur as the result of oil being a wildcard rather than by natural means. Many cities will be demanding oil, but only a few lucky ones may find the matching supplies. When oil can be delivered to a demanding city, the payments are often limited by the 2/3 science cap. |
Uranium | Uranium supply and demand is enabled by the discovery of Nuclear Fission. Desert, tundra, glacier, mountains,
hills and rivers can increase the supply of uranium. With all these terrain types boosting uranium, you might think
that supplies of it might be easy to find, but this is not the case. The reason is because demand for uranium is based
on the number of techs squared, which will be a very large number by the time Nuclear Fission is discovered. If this
were not enough, Uranium can appear as a demand wildcard, too, but never appears as a supply wildcard.
About the only chance a city has of supplying uranium is when it has run out of other supply commodities, which is not too often. This is why uranium’s demand bonus stands alone at 4 as the very best. You hardly ever get to collect it. The appearance of uranium in the game severely limits the variety of commodities on city demand lists afterwards, since most cities will be demanding the stuff. Things you were able to supply may be bumped off demand lists by uranium, which makes it a good idea to delay the discovery of Nuclear Fission for as long as it is convenient. I actually did get a supply of uranium once in my SSC in an early landing game. It was on the turn before the space ship arrived on Alpha Centauri! |
Tech progress and the acquisition of certain techs can have quite an impact on the supply and demand of many commodities.
Although tech influences on each commodity were presented in the previous section, a complete list of the techs affecting
supplies and demands can be a handy thing to reference when deciding what path to take through the tech tree or deciding
which techs to gift to one or more of the AI. The effect of an off path tech on supplies or demands may be the
determining factor when deciding whether or not to acquire the tech. An example of this might be Refrigeration, which
you might consider learning to increase the size of your SSC. If acquired, Refrigeration will also cut your cities’
desire for spice in half. Since it’s possible that your SSC may be demanding spice which your colonies can supply, more
benefits may be obtained by trading spice than by using Refrigeration to add a few more citizens to the SSC.
Tech gifts to the AI can change some of their commodity supplies and demands forever, so it’s important to know if
gifting a certain tech might eliminate demand for a commodity you wish you could have continued delivering. It may
also be that you have cities producing a commodity having no takers. An example of this might be oil. By including
Industrialization and Automobile in a large group of tech gifts to the AI with the largest cities, you can increase
their need for oil in a significant way.
A major consideration when gifting techs to the AI is tech totals. Once an AI acquires 32 techs, all the wildcards for
its cities will change, so it’s a good idea to keep track of what these wildcards are and what they could be if you
allow them to change. For example, if you are doing a great business sending gems caravans to a Japanese city having
gems as a demand wildcard, you might want to think twice before your tech gifts unintentionally ruin this profitable
trade route. Another example might be when your SSC has gold in supply and you notice that the new wildcard for two
French cities will be gold once the French obtain 32 techs.
A good general piece of advice is to avoid gifting Nuclear Fission to any of the AI you intend to keep trading with.
Since you will hardly ever supply Uranium, you don’t want to see it hogging spots on the demand lists of AI cities.
AI tech totals do affect which commodities they will be demanding quite a bit. Since you can never take back a tech,
or group of techs, once they are gifted, it pays to check out how additional techs will affect certain demands first,
so here is a summary:
Techs influencing Commodity And Supply | |
---|---|
Commodity | Explanation |
Pottery | Supplies of salt are cut by 1/3 until Pottery is discovered. |
Iron Working | Supplies of silver are cut by 1/2 until Iron Working is discovered. |
Chemistry | Reduces the demand for dye by 1/2. Increases the demand for silver, gems and gold by 3/2. |
Economics | Reduces the demand for silver, gems and gold by 1/2. |
Invention or Navigation | Cuts caravan payments by 1/2. |
Electricity | Doubles the demand for coal. Increases the demand for copper by 3/2. |
Refrigeration | Reduces the demand for spice by 1/2. |
Railroad | Cuts caravan payments by 1/3. |
Industrialization | Cuts demand for hides by 1/3. Doubles the demand for wool. Increases the supply of cloth by 3/2. Doubles the demand for coal. Increases the demand for dye by 3/2. Enables the demand for oil. Enables the use of oil as a secondary wildcard. |
Combustion | Supply of oil for all civs is reduced by 1/8 until Combustion is discovered by any civ. |
Automobile | Triples the demand for oil. |
Mass Production | Eliminates demand for hides. Reduces demand for dye by 1/3. |
Flight | Cuts freight payments by 1/3. |
Nuclear Fission | Enables the supply and demand of Uranium. Enables Uranium as a secondary demand wildcard. |
Computers | Reduces the demand for copper by 1/4. Reduces the demand for silver, gems and gold by 1/2. |
Whenever the supply and demand lists of a city are updated the game calculates new supply quotients and demand
quotients for each commodity. If a commodity’s supply quotient is higher than its demand quotient, the commodity
goes onto the supply roster. Otherwise the commodity is added to the demand roster. The three commodities of the
supply roster having the highest supply quotients are used for the updated supply list of the city. Similarly,
the top three commodities in the demand roster are used for the updated demand list. Then these updated lists are
checked for the presence of the wildcard commodities. Wildcard commodities not already present on either list are
then placed in the middle position of their respective lists. By the way, if the city’s supply and demand wildcard
happen to be the same commodity, only the demand wildcard will be placed.
It is almost a guarantee that both wildcards will always appear somewhere on their city’s lists, because if they do
not appear because of their high quotients, then they must be assigned to the middle position of their respective lists
as wildcards. The only exception is when their quotients qualify them to be in the middle position of their opposite
member’s list, and end up being replaced by the other wildcard. For example, suppose silver is the demand wildcard,
but its supply quotient puts it into second place on the supply roster. Now suppose the supply wildcard is beads,
and beads’ quotients are too low for it to appear on either list. Then beads will have to be used as a wildcard,
and when it is placed in the middle position of the supply list, it will replace silver and silver will end up being
absent from the final lists. Although this is kind of tricky, it does not happen very often.
Well the point of this is that you can be pretty sure that the supply and demand wildcard commodities will usually
be somewhere on their city’s lists, and it’s usually a good bet that they’ll be appearing in their capacity as
wildcards, too. The end result is that city supply and demand lists appear to have a great deal of variety and changes
that occur to them seem quite arbitrary and unpredictable. This is because the wildcard commodities tend to mask shifts
in lists and the changes that control the quotients of non-wildcard commodities. However, the wildcard commodities
are like permanent fixtures, and it’s their staying power that makes them so useful when planning a strategy for trade.
Other commodities may come and go in a capricious manner, but you can depend on those wildcards to hang around.
Each city does not have one set of wildcards for the whole game, because once a civ has a total of 32 techs, the old
set of wildcards is replaced by a new set. In addition, oil and uranium can enter the picture later on as secondary
wildcards. The fact that wildcards change and that we have a degree of control over whether they will change for
the AI, provides more opportunities to match the wildcards of AI cities with the best commodities available to
us for conducting trade. The other great benefit provided by wildcards is that they are determined by a calculation
based on a city’s map coordinates, which are static. This is helpful because it allows us to test for wildcards that
will appear in colonies before they are founded. The map coordinates of a city can never change, so the same is true
for its wildcards.
Now an example from an actual game will be used to illustrate how wildcard commodities are calculated and how this
information can be used in planning a strategy for trade. At the end of this section a save is attached, named “wild”,
which is the position in my first comparison game at the time my tech total reached 32. If you load the save and take
a look at Rome, you will see that it has the following lists:
Supplies: (coal), (gold), (wool)
Demands: silver, beads, salt
Now exit the city display and right click on Rome to get its map coordinates, which should be (18,12). The horizontal
map coordinate for Rome is 18 and the vertical map coordinate is 12. Using Samson’s formula, let’s calculate the
first set of wildcards that were assigned to Rome.
Supply Wildcard = RemainderOf((Horizontal x 13 + Vertical x 7)/14))
Supply = RemainderOf((18x13 + 12x7)/14))
= R((234 + 84)/14))
= R(318/14) = 10
318/14 = 22.714285
Now subtract 22 from 22.714285 to get .714285, which is the remainder expressed as a fraction. To find the actual remainder multiply .714285 by 14.714285 x 14 = 9.999999
, which when rounded off to the nearest whole number is 10, the remainder.Samson's List | |||
---|---|---|---|
Remainder | Commodity | Remainder | Commodity |
00 | Hides | 01 | Wool |
02 | Beads | 03 | Cloth |
04 | Salt | 05 | Coal |
06 | Copper | 07 | Dye |
08 | Wine | 09 | Silk |
10 | Silver | 11 | Spice |
12 | Gems | 13 | Gold |
14 | Oil | 15 | Uranium |
Demand Wildcard = RemainderOf((Horizontal x 3 + Vertical x 5)/14)
Demand = R((18x3 + 12x5)/14)
= R((54 + 60)/14)
= R(114/14) = 2
Supply Wildcard = RemainderOf((Horizontal x 13 + Vertical x 7)/9) + 5
Notice that the horizontal and vertical calculations are the same as the ones used for the first supply wildcard. Only the divisor has changed, which is 9 instead of 14. Another change is the addition of 5 onto the remainder to get the wildcard pointer. Plugging in Rome’s coordinates we get:
Supply = R(318/9) + 5
= R(35.333333) + 5
= 3 + 5 = 8 wine
Demand Wildcard = RemainderOf((Horizontal x 3 + Vertical x 5)/9) + 5
Plugging in Rome’s numbers gives us:
Demand = R(114/9) + 5
= R(12.666666) + 5
= 6 + 5 = 11 spice
Using Samson’s formulas, it is possible to predict what the supply and demand lists will be for any city at any time
in the game. Since these formulas are complicated, and because there is a need to calculate two quotients for each
commodity each time a list is updated, it’s difficult to justify the time and effort required to do all of this.
Plus, there are so many variables at work in determining the values of commodity supply and demand, it would not
be surprising to find out that one or more of the formulas are incomplete or partially incorrect. In fact, while
working on this section, I think I uncovered a new problem with the formula for the demand of spice. This will be
discussed a little later when illustrating calculations.
Thus, the use of these formulas may be limited to the most important cities such as the SSC, where a more precise
understanding of the ebb and flow of supplies and demands may be desired. Rome, which was the SSC used in my first
comparison game, will be used to illustrate the use of these formulas. Rome’s wildcards were figured out in the
previous section, and the save attached there named “wild” will also apply here.
Before getting into the calculations for Rome, a few words about Civ II geography might be helpful, so that players
using Samson’s formulas will not make any errant assumptions that might throw off the accuracy of their calculations.
Civ II has an option to use small, medium and large maps, and each tile for all maps is assigned a horizontal and
vertical map coordinate. The zero horizontal coordinate (or zero meridian) corresponds to the International Date Line
of our Earth, which makes Civ II’s mean meridian correspond to the Prime Meridian of Earth, so it is important
not to confuse Civ II’s zero meridian with Earth’s zero longitudes. Less confusing are Civ II’s vertical coordinates,
which start with zero at the North Pole and reach their maximum at the South Pole.
For each of the standard map sizes (small, medium and large) used by Civ II, here are the key statistics:
Horizontal Map Coordinates (east and west) | |||
---|---|---|---|
Name | Map | ||
Small | Medium | Large | |
Number of Coordinates (Map Width) | 80 | 100 | 150 |
Range | 0-79 | 0-99 | 0-149 |
Zero Meridian | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Mean Meridian | 40 | 50 | 75 |
Range of Western Longitudes | 1-39 | 1-49 | 1-74 |
Range of Eastern Longitudes | 41-79 | 51-99 | 76-149 |
Vertical Map Coordinates (north and south) | |||
Name | Map | ||
Small | Medium | Large | |
Number of Coordinates (Map Height) | 50 | 80 | 120 |
Range | 0-49 | 0-79 | 0-119 |
North Pole | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Northern Polar Circle | 8 | 13 | 20 |
Northern Temperate Zone | 12 | 20 | 30 |
The Equator | 25 | 40 | 60 |
Southern Temperate Zone | 37 | 60 | 90 |
Southern Polar Circle | 41 | 66 | 100 |
South Pole | 49 | 79 | 119 |
Small Map Examples
MC 31 is in the Western Hemisphere and its Longitude is 9 (40-31)
MC 77 is in the Eastern Hemisphere and its Longitude is 37 (77-40)
The Distance to the Mean Meridian for MC 31 is also 9 (40-31)
The Distance to the Mean Meridian for MC 77 is also 37 (77-40)
The Distance to the Dateline for MC 31 is 31 (31-0)
The Distance to the Dateline for MC 77 is 3 (80-77)
Medium Map Examples
MC 31 is in the Western Hemisphere and its Longitude is 19 (50-31)
MC 77 is in the Eastern Hemisphere and its Longitude is 27 (77-50)
The Distance to the Mean Meridian for MC 31 is also 19 (50-31)
The Distance to the Mean Meridian for MC 77 is also 27 (77-50)
The Distance to the Dateline for MC 31 is 31 (31-0)
The Distance to the Dateline for MC 77 is 23 (100-77)
Large Map Examples
MC 31 is in the Western Hemisphere and its Longitude is 44 (75-31)
MC 77 is in the Eastern Hemisphere and its Longitude is 2 (77-75)
The Distance to the Mean Meridian for MC 31 is also 44 (75-31)
The Distance to the Mean Meridian for MC 77 is also 2 (77-75)
The Distance to the Dateline for MC 31 is 31 (31-0)
The Distance to the Dateline for MC 77 is 73 (150-77)
Ocean = 9 + 2 fish = 17
Grassland = 4
Plains = 3
Hills = 1 + 2 wine = 9
Rivers = 3
Roads = 6
Land = 10
Tech total is 32 (31 plus the one being learned)
Known techs affecting commodities: Iron Working, Chemistry, and EconomicsHides | |
---|---|
Supply | Forest x 4 + Tundra x 6 + Glacier x 6 + Jungle x 3 + Rivers x 3 |
Location | N/A |
Techs | N/A |
# of Techs 1-15 | 4x 16-23: 2x 24-48: 1x >48: 1/2 |
City Size | 1-2: 2x 3-7: 1x >7: 1/2 |
Special Note | If Techs>48 the 2X bonus for Size<3 does not apply. |
Supply | 0x4 + 0x6 + 0x6 + 0x3 + 3x3 = 9 |
# Techs | 9x1 = 9 |
City Size | 9/2 = 4 |
SQ for hides | 4 |
Demand | Forest + Mountains x 2 + Tundra x 5 + Glacier x 5 |
Location | + DistanceToEquator x 3/2 |
Techs: Industrialization | 1/3 Mass Production: eliminates demand |
# of Techs | 1-9: 4x 10-19: 2x 20-47: 1x >47: 1/2 |
City Size | 1-2 2x |
Demand | 0 + 0x2 + 0x5 + 0x5 = 0 |
Location | 0 + 28 x 3/2 = 42 |
# techs | 42x1 = 42 |
DQ for hides | 42 |
Hides goes into the Demand Roster with a DQ of 42 | |
Wool | |
Supply | (Grass + Hills x 2 + Rivers/2 ) x (Tundra + Glacier + 2 + PolarCircle) |
Location | |
# of Techs: |   |
City Size | v |
Supply | (4 + 9x2 + 3/2) x (0 + 0 + 2 + 1) = 69 |
SQ for wool | 69 |
Demand | Plains x 2 + Forest |
Location | + TemperateZoneOffset x 2 |
Techs: Industrialization | 2x |
# of Techs | |
City Size | |
Demand | 3x2 + 0 = 6 |
Location | 6 + 8x2 = 22 |
DQ for wool | 22 |
Wool goes into the Supply Roster with a SQ of 69 | |
Beads | |
Supply | Ocean x 8 |
Location | - DistanceToEquator |
Techs | none |
# of Techs | >32: 1/2 |
CitySize | 1-9: 1x >9: ½1/2 |
Supply | 17x8 = 136 |
Location | 136 – 28 = 108 |
CitySize | 108/2 = 54 |
SQ for beads | 54 |
Demand | Land x 3/2 |
Location | + DistanceToEquator |
Techs | none |
# of Techs | >47: 1/2 |
CitySize | 1-3: 3/2 4-12: 1x >12:1/2 |
Demand | 10 x 3/2 = 15 |
Location | 15 + 28 = 43 |
CitySize | 43/2 = 21 |
DQ for beads | 21 |
Beads goes into the Supply Roster with an SQ of 54 | |
Notice that the SQ of beads will drop to 27 very soon, since we already have 32 techs | |
Cloth | |
Supply | Desert + Plains x 3 - Rivers |
Location | |
Techs: Industrialization | x 3/2 |
# of Techs | 1-7: 1/4 8-15: 1/2 16-19: 1x >19: 2x |
CitySize | |
Supply | 0 + 3x3 – 3 = 6 |
# techs | 6 x 2 = 12 |
SQ for cloth | 12 |
Demand | Forest x 4 + Hills x 4 |
Special | + ( (Techs/10) x (Forest + Mountains x 2 + Tundra x 5 + Glacier x 5 + DistanceToEquator x 3/2) ) / 8 |
Demand | 0x4 + 9x4 = 36 |
Special | 36 + ((32/10) x (0 + 0x2 + 0x5 + 0x5 + 28x3/2))/8 = 51 |
DQ for cloth | 51 |
Cloth goes into the Demand Roster with a DQ of 51 | |
Salt | |
Supply | Desert x 4 + Swamp x 2 + Ocean x 3 |
# of Techs | - Techs/6 |
Location | |
Continent# | 1,3,5: x 3/2 |
Techs | Pottery, if not discovered: 1/3 |
CitySize | |
City Improvements: Aqueduct | x 3/2 |
Supply | 0x4 + 0x2 + 17x3 = 51 |
# techs | 51 – 32/6 = 46 |
Continent# | 46 x 3/2 = 69 |
Techs | 69/3 = 23 |
City Improvements | 23 x 3/2 = 34 |
SQ for salt | 34 |
Demand | &bsp; |
Location: | |
Techs | |
# of Techs | - Techs/2 |
CitySize: 1-5 | + pop x 8 6-10: + pop x 4 11-15: + pop x 2 16-20: + pop x 1 >20: +75 |
Special Note | The first five citizens each demand 8 salt, the next five demand 4 salt , the next five 2 salt and the fourth group of five demand 1 salt. Size-based demand maxes out at 75. |
# techs | - 32/2 = -16 |
CitySize | -16 + 75 = 59 |
DQ for salt | 59 |
Salt goes onto the Demand Roster with a DQ of 59 | |
Notice that salt would have been on the Supply Roster if Pottery had been acquired. | |
Coal | |
Supply | (Plains + Forest + Swamp + Jungle +1) x (Hills x 5) |
Location | |
Continent# | If ODD and >1: x 3/2 |
Techs | |
# of Techs | <20: 1/2 |
City Size | 1-7: 1/2 8-17: 1x >17: 2x |
Supply | (3 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 1) x (9x5) = 180 |
City Size | 180x2 = 360 |
SQ for coal | 360 |
Demand | |
Location | (DistanceToEquator + 10) x (CitySize+2)/5 |
# of Techs | + Techs |
CitySize | 1-4: Demand = 0 5-7: 1/2x >7: 1x |
Techs | Industrialization: 2x Electricity: 2x |
City Improvements | PowerPlant: 2x NuclearPlant, HydroPlant, SolarPlant: 1/8 |
Special Note | CitySize has two affects in this formula: once as a multiplier of the location factor and later, after # of Techs has been added, a penalty is applied to smaller cities. |
Location | (28+10) x (21+2)/5 = 152 |
# techs | 152 + 32 = 184 |
CitySize | 184x1 = 184 |
DQ for coal | 184 |
Coal goes onto the Supply Roster with a SQ of 360 | |
Coal is almost always a factor on the SSC lists, first being in supply and later being in demand. | |
Copper | |
Supply | Hills x 5 + Mountains x 5 |
Continent# | If EVEN: 2x |
Supply | 9x5 + 0x5 = 45 |
SQ for copper | 45 |
Demand | Rivers + Roads |
Techs | Electricity: 3/2 Computers: 1/4 |
CitySize | 1-2: Demand0 3-4: 1/2 5-7: 1x 8-12: 2x 13-17: 3x 18-22: 4x ... etc. |
City Improvements | Marketplace: x 3/2 Bank: x 3/2 |
Special Note | The formula for Copper Demand is theoretical, as there appears to be a serious bug in all versions of Civ2 with regards to the demand of both Copper and Dye. |
On 2.4.2, the formula as given is valid only when the city's Supply and Demand lists are
updated by a caravan delivery. When the update is caused by viewing the City Display on that city's
16-year turn, the Base Demand is Rivers + Roads + City#. When the update is caused by the 16-year automatic
update, then Copper's DQ is a LARGE NUMBER. On the Gold Edition, the formula as given is valid only when the city's update is caused by the 16-year automatic update. Both caravan deliveries and City Displays during the 16-year turn cause the DQ to be set to a VERY LARGE NUMBER. Formula to use is: Demand = Rivers + Roads + City# | |
Demand | 3 + 6 + 1 = 10 |
DQ for copper is 10 | |
Copper goes onto the Supply Roster with a SQ of 45 | |
Dye | |
Supply | Grass x 10 + Rivers x 2 - Plains x 2 |
Continent# | If multiple of 4: 2x |
Supply | 4x10 + 3x2 – 3x2 = 40 |
SQ for Dye | 40 |
Demand | SupplyOf(Cloth) + Roads |
Techs | Chemistry: 1/2 Mass Production: 1/2 |
Special Note | See the note for Copper Demand. The same bug affects the demand of Dye. The common factor in both formulas appears to be "Roads". |
Demand | 12 + 3 = 15 |
DQ for dye | 15 |
Dye goes onto the Supply Roster with a SQ of 40 | |
Wine | |
Supply | LesserOf (Plains x 4, Rivers x 5 - Grass) |
Location | +DistanceToDateline/4 If NorthernHemisphere: x 2 |
Continent# | If RemainderOf(Continent# /4 ) = 2: x 3/2 |
CitySize | 1-2: 1/2 8-10: 2x |
Civ | If FRENCH: 2x |
Supply | LesserOf (3x4, 3x5 – 4) = 11 |
Location | 11 + 18/4 = 15 x 2 = 30 |
SQ for wine | 30 |
Demand | 0 |
Location | + | Horizontal - Vertical | |
CitySize | 1-2: +4 3-7: +8 8-12: +12 13-17: +16 18-22: +20 23-27: +24 28-32: +28 etc. |
Location | + | 18 – 12 | = 6 |
CitySize | 6 + 20 = 26 |
DQ for wine | 26 |
Wine goes onto the Supply Roster with a SQ of 30 | |
Silk | |
Supply | (Forest x 2 + Jungle + 1) x (Hills + 1) |
Location | + LongitudeEast x 2 |
Continent# | Multiple of 5: 2x |
Civ | If CHINESE: 2x |
Supply | (0x2 + 0 + 1) x (9 + 1) = 10 |
SQ for silk | 10 |
Demand | Desert x 4 + Plains/2 + Swamp x 2 + Jungle x 4 |
Location | + DistanceToPole x 2 + DistanceToDateline |
Continent# | If Continent = 1 AND CityNumber/2 is ODD: x 3/2 |
Techs | |
# of Techs | |
CitySize | 1-2: 1/4 3-6: 1/2 7: 1x >7: 2x |
Demand | 0x4 + 3/2 + 0x2 + 0x4 = 1 |
Location | 1 + 12x2 = 25 + 18 = 43 |
CitySize | : 43x2 = 86 |
DQ for silk | 86 |
Silver | |
Supply | Mountains x 8 + Hills |
Location | If NON-ZERO: + DistanceToMeanMeridian |
Continent | >8: 3/2 |
Techs | If Iron Working not discovered, 1/2 |
# of Techs | |
City Size: 1-4 | 1/2 |
Supply | 0x8 + 9 |
Location | 9 + 32 = 41 |
SQ for silver | 41 |
Demand | CitySize x 8 |
Location | RemainderOf( (Horizontal + Vertical) / 3): 0 = silver, 1 = gems, 2 = gold |
Techs | Chemistry: x 3/2 Economics: 1/2 Computers: 1/2 |
Civ | If SPANISH: 2x |
City Improvements | Bank: x 3/2 Cathedral: x 3/2 |
Special Note | The Demand Quotients for Gems and Gold use the same formula as Silver. The remainder from the division by 3 of the sum of the city's map coordinates determines which commodity the formula is applied to. All cities demand Silver as CitySize x 8, but the Tech modifiers only apply to Silver if the location is 0 mod3. If the location is 1 mod3, the city demands Gems at the full formula rate. If the location is 2 mod3, the city demands Gold at the full formula rate. |
Demand | 21x8 = 168 |
Location | RemainderOf((18+12)/3) = 0 silver, so proceed |
Techs | 168/2 = 84 |
City Improvements | 84 x 3/2 = 126 |
DQ for silver | 126 |
Silver goes onto the Demand Roster with a DQ of 126 | |
Spice | |
Supply | (Desert + Swamp + Jungle x 3/2 ) x (Ocean + Rivers) |
Location | DistanceToEquator < 10: 2x; - DistanceToEquator |
Continent# | 1: 1/2 |
ContinentSize | <26: 2x >300 1/2 |
Supply | (0 + 0 + 0x3/2) x (17 + 3) = 0 |
Location | 0 – 28 = -28 |
Continent# | -28/2 = -14 |
ContinentSize | -14/2 = -7 |
SQ for spice | -7 |
Demand | ContinentSize/10 |
Location | If ContinentSize > 400 and (Horizontal + Vertical) /2 is EVEN: demand is zero |
Techs | Refrigeration: 1/2 |
CitySize | < 4: 1/2 5-7: 1x >7: 2x |
Demand | 350/10 = 35 (This is an estimate) |
CitySize | 25x2 = 70 |
DQ for spice | 70 |
Spice goes onto the Demand Roster with a DQ of 70 (amended to 35) | |
(Later on, when I was making up the lists, I discovered that with this DQ, spice should have appeared in the place of salt on the demand list, but it didn’t, so I have concluded that something is incorrect about the demand formula for spice. A glitch like this is not unlikely, because it is hard to track and account for every possible variable that determines spice demand. Spice also gave Samson and myself a lot of trouble when he was trying to develop a formula for it. After conducting some tests, by altering terrain, city size, etc. and seeing the effects of doing this on the demand list for Rome, I have concluded that the actual DQ for Spice must be lower than that of salt. Spice’s DQ is probably 35, and it might even be zero. The fact that there are not any other spice demanders on continent #1 and that this continent often gets special treatment as it does for spice supply, adds credence to my conclusion that spice should not have a DQ of 70. It is too bad Samson is absent, as he was much more adept at zeroing in on problems like this. For now, I will assign spice to the demand roster with a DQ of 35). | |
Gems | |
Supply | (Desert +1) x (Mountains + 1) x (Swamp + 1) + Plains |
Location | |
Continent# | 7: 3/2 x |
Techs | |
# of Techs | |
CitySize | 1-7: 1/2 8-12: 1x 13-17: 3/2 >17: 2x |
Supply | 0+1 x 0+1 x 0+1 + 3 = 3 |
CitySize | 3 x 2 = 6 |
SQ for gems | 6 |
Demand | See Silver |
Demand | 0 |
DQ for gems | 0 |
Gems goes onto the Supply Roster with a SQ of 6 | |
Gold | |
Supply | (Mountains x 2 + Hills + 2) x (Rivers +2) |
Terrain | If Mountains <3: 1/2 |
Location | |
Techs | |
# of Techs | |
CitySize | 1-4: 1x 5-9: 2x >9: 4x |
Supply | (0x2 + 9 + 2) x (3 + 2) = 55 |
Terrain | 55/2 = 27 |
CitySize | 27 x 4 = 108 |
SQ for gold | 108 |
Demand | See Silver |
Demand | 0 |
DQ for gold | 0 |
Gold goes onto the Supply Roster with a SQ of 108 | |
Oil | |
Supply | Desert x 10 + Tundra x 8 + Glacier x 8 + Swamp x 6 |
Location | |
Continent# | 9: x 3/2 |
Techs | If Combustion NOT discovered by anyone: 1/8 |
# of Techs | |
CitySize | >37: 2x |
Supply | 0x10 + 0x8 + 0x8 + 0x6 = 0 |
SQ for oil | 0 |
Demand | 0 |
Location | |
Techs | Enabled by Industrialization; Automobile: 3x |
# of Techs | + Techs/6 |
CitySize | 1-2: 1/2x 3-4: 3/4x 5-7: 3/2x 8-9: 2x 10-12: 4x 13-17: 5 x 18-19: 6x 20-22: 12x 23-27: 14x 28-32: 16x 33-37: 18x 38-42: 20x |
CityImprovements | Factory: 3/2x Superhighways: 2x Mass Transit: 1/2x Recycling Center: 1/2x |
Special Note | Oil can appear as both a demand and supply wildcard after Industrialization if the regular wildcard is not expressed. |
DQ for oil | None |
Oil goes on the Supply Roster with a SQ of 0 | |
Uranium | |
Supply | (Desert + Tundra + Glacier + 1) x (Mountains + 1) x (Hills + Rivers + 1) |
Location | |
Techs | Enabled by Nuclear Fission |
# of Techs | |
CitySize | 1-2: x0 3-7: 1/6 8-12: 1/3 13-17: 1/2 18-22: 2/3 23-27: 5/6 >27 1x |
SQ for uranium | None |
Demand | 0 |
Location | |
Techs | Enabled by Nuclear Fission |
# of Techs | + #Techs squared |
CitySize | 1-2: 1/8 3-7: 1/4 8-12: 1/2 >12: 1x |
City Improvements | Nuclear Plant: 2x SDI: 2x |
Special Note | Uranium can appear as a demand wildcard after Nuclear Fission if the regular wildcard is not expressed |
DQ for Uranium | None |
No roster appearances yet for uranium. |
SQ/DQ SUMMARY | ||
---|---|---|
Commodity | SQ | DQ |
Hides | 4 | 42 |
Wool | 69 | 22 |
Beads | 54 | 21 |
Cloth | 12 | 51 |
Salt | 34 | 59 |
Coal | 360 | 184 |
Copper | 45 | 10 |
Dye | 40 | 15 |
Wine | 30 | 26 |
Silk | 10 | 86 |
Silver | 41 | 126 |
Spice | -7 | 35 |
Gems | 6 | 0 |
Gold | 108 | 0 |
Oil | 0 | - |
Uranium | - | - |
Whenever commodities are built and traded, commodity supply and demand becomes blocked for the cities involved.
An exception is the commodity hides, which is immune to being blocked, probably due to a bug in the game. However,
hides are only one of 16 commodities present in the game, and sooner or later enough trades might be made that cities
are unable to build new caravans because their supplies are blocked, or are unable to collect delivery demand bonuses
for the same reason, demand in the target city has become blocked. Fortunately, there are several unblocking techniques
that can be used to keep profitable trading going, and these will be detailed in this section. In addition, more details
will be provided about the mechanics of city cycle turns and about the copper and dye bugs.
Attached at the end of this section is a zip file containing several saves from Civ II games, which you can load and
use in order to follow the examples as they are being discussed. It helps to actually use these techniques a few
times to get an understanding of how and when they should be used. These saves have been given the creative
names “blocked”, “bugged”, “food”, “goose”, “resupply”, “tricky” and “wonder”. Thanks are due to Scouse Gits(2),
a regular participant in our comparison games, who was kind enough to provide the save I have renamed “bugged”.
First, I’ll review a few basics about commodity trades. When a city (source) delivers a caravan or freight to
another city (destination) already having three trade routes, one of the old routes in the destination city’s display
will be replaced by the source city’s route if the source city’s base trade exceeds that of one of the three cities
appearing among the routes. The first trade route city is checked first, and so on down the list, to see if a swap
can be made. If the base trade of the source city is not high enough, none of the three existing routes will be changed.
(The base trade of any city is determined by subtracting the number of trade arrows generated by its trade routes from
its total number of trade arrows.)
Now for some specific examples: If you load resupply and take a look inside Chicago, you will see:
Supplies: (gold), (oil), (beads)
Demands: (oil), spice, silk
Paris beads: +18t
Veii gems: +18t
Rome Copper: +19t
All supplies are currently blocked. The beads delivered to Paris earlier in the turn have replaced the first trade
route. This delivery enabled the re-supply of beads, but a triggering event is needed to make this happen. If you
deliver the Atlanta beads freight to Chicago, the display will change as follows:
Supplies: (gold), (oil), beads
Demands: oil, spice, silk
Atlanta oil: +9t or Atlanta gold: +9t
Veii gems: +18t
Rome copper: +19t
Since the Paris beads route was replaced after Atlanta’s delivery, beads was unblocked and can be built in Chicago
the following turn. I think most players are aware of this basic unblocking technique. Whether gold or oil
are assigned to the Atlanta route is determined by random, and if you reload resupply and repeat this delivery
a few times, you will see this is true. Also note that this delivery unblocked the demand for oil in Chicago and
this often happens when an undemanded commodity is delivered. The only negative aspect of this particular trade
is that it only brought in 68 gold.
Now save the game. If the silk freight, north of Chicago, is delivered next, no changes will occur in the display,
and note that even though silk was in demand, the delivery did not block Chicago’s demand for silk. The reason for
this is that the base trade in Detroit was only 6 trade arrows when the delivery was made, which was too small to
allow Detroit to replace any of the existing routes. The important thing to notice and remember about this trade
is that Detroit’s delivery did not block Chicago’s demand for silk.
Now reload the save just made and go into Detroit. You’ll see that you can increase Detroit’s base trade from only 6
arrows up to 27 arrows by moving workers onto tiles having the best trade. After doing this, deliver the silk freight
to Chicago. The result is:
Supplies: (gold), (oil), (beads)
Demands: oil, spice, (silk)
Detroit beads: +10t
Veii gems: +18t
Rome copper: +19t
Now Detroit’s base trade was higher than Atlanta, allowing Detroit’s route to replace Atlanta’s. Although this trade
brought in a little more gold, it blocked the demand for silk and also re-blocked the supply for beads. This is a
good example of what not to do, and of how the replacement of routes can act as a blocking mechanism.
Now reload the temporary save a few more times, but before delivering the silk to Chicago, sell off the superhighways
in Detroit just to see how much less gold the trade will bring. Finally, do this again, but sell off the superhighways
in Detroit and Chicago before delivering silk, and you’ll see another substantial drop in revenue. Now you know why I
like having superhighways everywhere.
Now, reload the original save, named resupply. I’ll insert the original display of Chicago again, so you won’t have
to scroll up:
Supplies: (gold), (oil), (beads)
Demands: (oil), spice, silk
Paris beads: +18t
Veii gems: +18t
Rome Copper: +19t
Before making any trades, go into Detroit and set its workers so that they generate enough trade to replace the
Paris route. (More than 10 arrows will do, since this is the likely amount of base trade in Paris. Paris probably
has 2 arrows each, for the 5 workers on roads, and no more for the two working its mines, making a total of 10.)
Now save the game, and afterwards, skip over Atlanta’s freight and deliver the silk freight from Detroit to Chicago
first. There are three possible results of this trade:
Supplies: (gold), (oil), beads
Demands: oil, spice, (silk)
Detroit oil: +10t or Detroit gold: +10t
Veii gems: +18t
Rome Copper: +19t
Or
Supplies: (gold), (oil), (beads)
Demands: oil, spice, (silk)
Detroit beads: +10t
Veii gems: +18t
Rome Copper: +19t
Whether gold, oil or beads are assigned to Detroit when its new route was created is determined by chance, and
if you reload and re-deliver this silk freight enough times, you will eventually get all three results above.
Notice that there is a 66% chance of unblocking beads by making this trade, and also note that it always blocks
Chicago’s demand for silk. If you had another silk caravan coming into Chicago, you could unblock the demand
in Chicago for silk now by delivering Atlanta’s freight. Go ahead and try this now, if you want to see. Furthermore,
if beads had been assigned to Detroit after making its silk delivery, the subsequent delivery of Atlanta’s freight
would have also unblocked Chicago’s supply of beads. This can be seen by loading the save named blocked and delivering
Atlanta’s freight. The displays before and after this trade will be:
Supplies: (gold), (oil), (beads)
Demands: oil, spice, (silk)
Detroit beads: +10t
Veii gems: +18t
Rome Copper: +19t
Supplies: (gold), (oil), beads
Demands: oil, spice, silk
Atlanta oil: +9t
Veii gems: +18t
Rome Copper: +19t
The delivery of undemanded beads from Atlanta unblocked the supply for beads and unblocked the demand for
silk in Chicago.
In my actual game, I wanted the big payoff for delivering demanded silk and also wanted to unblock the supply
of beads in Chicago, so I traded the Detroit freight first, since the odds were in my favor this trade would
unblock the supply of beads. It did, but had I been unlucky, I had the Atlanta freight standing by just in case,
to deliver afterwards, just to make sure beads became available for Chicago’s next build. Had I another silk
caravan coming into Chicago the following turn, I could have created demand for it by delivering Atlanta’s
freight, too.
For the next example, load the save named tricky, and inspect Chicago. Its display should be:
Supplies: (gold), (oil), (beads)
Demands: uranium, spice, (coal)
St. Louis oil: +11t
Veii gems: +18t
Rome copper: 19t
Now deliver the oil freight from Detroit. You will see that only one change occurred in the display. The Veii
trade route was replaced by a new Detroit one:
Detroit gold: + 11t or Detroit beads: +11t
has taken the place of Veii gems: +18t
Also note that since gems does not appear on the supply list it can not become unblocked or become available
for the next build in Chicago. The reason Detroit replaced the Veii route was because Detroit had more base
trade than Veii, but could not surpass the base trade of St. Louis. However, if we could get Detroit to replace
St. Louis instead, this would unblock Chicago’s supply of oil, which is what we would rather do.
Since Detroit’s base trade is as high as we can make it, we can work it the other way instead, by reducing the
base trade in St. Louis temporarily, by making its wine worker into an entertainer. Doing this will reduce the base
trade in St. Louis to 24 (50 – 26) from its original value of 33 (62 – 29). Since Detroit’s base trade is 33
(44 – 11), and it now exceeds that of St. Louis, the same delivery will result in:
Supplies: (gold), oil, (beads)
Demands: uranium, spice, (coal)
Detroit beads: +11t or Detroit gold: +11t
Veii gems: +18t
Rome copper: +19t
Since the oil delivered by Detroit was not in demand in Chicago, oil could not be assigned to Detroit’s route. This
meant Chicago’s supply of oil was sure to become unblocked by this trade, as long as Detroit replaced St. Louis’s
route. No harm was done to St. Louis, since its worker could be put back onto the wine after the delivery was made.
Of course, one shouldn’t forget to do this. The only downside of this trade was that there was no demand bonus
for making this oil delivery, but superhighways still ensured a decent payoff. The main purpose of the trade
was accomplished, by providing Chicago with a fresh supply of oil.
Now if you load the save named goose, an example will be given of how to get an AI city to become like that
proverbial goose that lays golden eggs. In an earlier post, Orleans had been identified as a city having gold
as a wildcard, and this was revealed and verified earlier in the game after a silver delivery to that city.
In this save, the first gold freight from Chicago has arrived next Orleans, so go ahead and deliver it. Afterwards,
you can see that Orleans still demands gold, and that it also desires beads now, another commodity Chicago supplies.
Although Orleans is puny, and has minimal trade itself, its location, distance and demand choices are enough to give
the SSC maximum payoffs whenever deliveries are made. Icing on the cake is the fact that Orleans is easy to access,
so that these profitable deliveries can be made quickly, too.
By now you may have noticed that other gold freight from Philadelphia parked next to Paris. If you go ahead and
deliver this to Orleans, our golden goose, you will have cooked your own by blocking Orleans’ demand for gold.
Hmmm. How come one trade blocks gold demand and the other made to the same city didn’t? It’s not a matter of
trading order, for if you reload goose and deliver the gold from Philadelphia first, you will block the demand
immediately, and this time you will be even worse off, since the gold standing by from Chicago is no longer
wanted anywhere.
The answer is found by looking at Chicago. Reload goose again and deliver Chicago's gold to Orleans, and then look
inside Chicago. Orleans did not appear as a new trade route, and the reason for this is because its base trade is
so puny that it hasn’t a chance of replacing any of the other cities making up the 3 routes. After a trade, the
destination city must appear among the source city’s trade routes in order to block its demand for the commodity
being delivered. Now if you deliver Philadelphia’s gold, you will notice that Orleans appears as a new route for
that city, causing the demand in Orleans for gold to become blocked.
This can all be verified by conducting the following experiment. Reload goose again, and check Chicago’s display:
Supplies: (gold), (oil), (beads)
Demands: uranium, spice, (coal)
St. Louis beads: +11t
Veii gems: +18t
Rome copper: +19t
Since St. Louis appears on the first trade route, go into that city and make all of its workers into entertainers,
to make its base trade as low as possible. Now deliver the gold from Chicago to Orleans and you’ll see that the
demand for gold in Orleans has been blocked. Checking back with Chicago’s display, you’ll see that a new route with
Orleans has been created, replacing the St. Louis one.
Now it should be obvious, that as long as you do not mess up demand in Orleans by making deliveries from other cities,
it will keep demanding as much gold and beads that Chicago is able to deliver. Orleans’ base trade is so small, it will
never be able to replace other cities making up Chicago’s trade routes. So if I knew this, why is the Philadelphia
gold sitting next to Paris? For the moment, it ensures that the adjacent coal freight can reach Paris on the next
turn, and not be blocked by a coy AI move of its phalanx onto the same RR tile. After I am sure my last gold freight
from Chicago has been delivered to Orleans, I can finally cash in the Philadelphia gold, too, near the end of the game.
In the example where St. Louis’s base trade was minimized, astute observers may wonder why the gold delivery
from Chicago did not unblock beads on its supply list. After all, Orleans supplanted the St. Louis trade route.
The reason is that there is still a Chicago beads freight on the map that has not been delivered yet.
If you reload goose, deliver Chicago’s gold to Orleans and then space Philadelphia’s freight to end its turn,
you’ll see that a beads from Chicago is waiting to be delivered to Buffalo. Making this delivery will free up a new
supply of gold in Chicago. A new route for Buffalo appears in Chicago, taking place of the one previously held
by Veii. Gold will also be re-supplied in Chicago, if you lower St. Louis’s base trade enough to have Buffalo
replace its route instead. The reason gold was re-supplied is because when Chicago delivered gold to Orleans,
a new trade route tied to gold was not created to replace one of Chicago’s 3 routes. It’s Orleans’ lack of base
trade that makes such favorable manipulations possible.
There are also ways of using food caravans to unblock commodity supplies. One method I discovered makes use of the
supply and demand list update that occurs in a city when the city contributes a food caravan to a wonder. This was
dubbed as the “wonder bread” trick by Samson, and it has become invaluable in refreshing the supply of SSC
commodities that do not create new trade routes when they are delivered. Following is an example of its use.
If you load up the save named wonder and take a look at Boston’s city display, you’ll see:
Supplies: (dye), (silver), (cloth)
Demands: Uranium, (coal), copper
Karakorum oil: +35t
Karakorum cloth: +35t
Rome silver: +21t
You can see that all three supply commodities are blocked. Now if you go back outside and look at St. Louis,
you’ll notice it’s building a wonder, accumulating shields towards the construction of the Apollo Program later.
Now take Boston’s food freight and add it to the wonder being built. Then recheck Boston’s display. No changes.
Hmm! Wonder bread didn’t work!
The reason it did not work was because dye can not be re-supplied until Boston’s dye freight next to Hastings is
delivered. Now reload the wonder save and deliver Boston’s dye freight to Hastings first. Now check Boston’s
display. No changes, and the reason this delivery did not create a new trade route to replace one of the existing
ones to Karakorum or Rome, is because both of these cities are size 8, and have most of their workers earning trade
arrows, giving them more base trade than Hastings. Although delivered, dye did not replace any of the existing routes
and went into what you might call a state of “limbo”.
Well, to release dye from this purgatory, the wonder bread ploy must be used, so try it now, by adding Boston’s
food freight to the wonder being built in St. Louis. Now check Boston’s display and you’ll see it has changed,
with dye now in supply.
Supplies: dye, (silver), (cloth)
Demands: Uranium, (coal), copper
Karakorum oil: +35t
Karakorum cloth: +35t
Rome silver: +21t
After this new supply of dye is built and delivered, Boston can produce another food freight to keep this
re-supply of dye going indefinitely, which is what I ended up doing during my game.
Without the wonder bread ploy, my only option would have been to sit and hope something changed on the next
cycle turn, but these turns are few and far between. It’s no good having all that trade potential and not being
able to put it to constant use.
Now you may ask what about silver and cloth. Why doesn’t wonder bread unblock either of these two? The reason
is because they did not go into “limbo” when they were delivered. Cloth went to Karakorum and the silver went
to Rome. To unblock either of these two, a trade would have to be made to a city with more base trade than one of
these two, causing one of these trade routes to be replaced. I didn’t want to do this, because demand for dye was
widespread. I also wanted to retain the lucrative Karakorum rail bonuses.
Regular food deliveries can also be used to unblock supplies, too, and here comes an example of doing that. If you
load the save named food and take a look inside San Francisco, one of the two colonies I set up in this game.
It’s display should be:
Supplies: (silk), (copper), (salt)
Deman ds: uranium, wool, wine
Boston copper: +9t
Buffalo silk: +1t
Boston salt: +9t
Now if you take San Francisco’s food freight and deliver it to Boston, you’ll notice that the only change to
Boston’s display was the increase in food, which is good, because we don’t want to disrupt any of its trade
routes. Now check San Francisco, and you’ll see the following changes:
Supplies: silk, (copper), (salt)
Demands: uranium, wool, wine
Boston copper: +9t
Boston Food Supplies: -1f
Boston salt: +9t
Notice that this trade replaced the Buffalo trade route, causing a re-supply of silk. This is a good thing, but in
this game I was more interested in getting a re-supply of copper, since copper was in demand in my SSC, and I could
get more gold from a copper trade. I would rather replace the Boston copper route if I could with the new food route.
This can be done by temporarily reducing Boston’s base trade until it is lower than Buffalo’s. You can do this
by making all Boston city workers into entertainers. Try reloading this save and do this before delivering the food
freight from San Francisco to Boston. After the food is delivered the display will change to:
Supplies: (silk), copper, (salt)
Demands: uranium, wool, wine
Boston Food Supplies: -1f
Buffalo silk: +1t
Boston salt: +1t
Since the base trade in Buffalo was higher than Boston’s, the Boston copper route was replaced, instead. Now
San Francisco can produce and deliver another copper freight to Boston, which is what I wanted to do in this game.
Now reload the save again and make all of Boston’s workers into entertainers. Instead of delivering the food to
Boston, deliver it to another city instead. The result is the same, copper has been re-supplied. The food can
be delivered to any city. What matters is which of San Francisco’s trade routes it replaces.
Now reload and fix up Boston’s workers again to reduce its base trade. Use San Francisco’s food freight to
help build the wonder in St. Louis, in attempt to use it like wonder bread. When you check back in San Francisco,
you’ll see that this did not work, and all supplies are still blocked. The reason is because none of the blocked
supplies were in “limbo”. Get the difference?
So when dealing with food and re-supply it’s a good idea to:
This section will put all these pieces of strategy together by summarizing the different stages of an early landing game. The best way of adding meat to the skeleton provided here is to read the discussions accompanying the threads about early landing games and to study the detailed logs of the most successful games.
In the beginning the first job is to get to a better form of government early. This means founding the first two cities quickly, to get research started and to get two more cities down as soon as possible right afterwards. In the beginning the quickest way to learn faster is by adding more cities. Favor sites having access to the ocean. This allows all cities to expand later using harbors and to contribute toward transporting freights by building transports.
Black clicking (right clicking on unexplored terrain and noting continent numbers displayed after coordinates
in the status box) will tell you the size of your home continent and the location of other continents nearest
to your own. If you start on anything but a small island, it pays to contact the AI as quickly as possible,
so the first warrior should probably be used as an explorer. An early priority is locating the key civ, and if
this is delayed, one should consider building Marco Polo’s Embassy.
All other efforts should be towards laying down new cities and learning Monarchy or Republic so that more cities
can be added sooner without increasing unhappiness.
Once enough cities are in place and the SSC site is chosen, temples are the next priority, so that each city can
stay happy at size three. An alternative to temples is building The Hanging Gardens in the SSC. After temples,
diplomats and triremes are needed for exploration and defense. As cities approach size 4, settlers can be built
to start building roads and to develop the SSC’s terrain.
Once in Monarchy or Republic, trade is the next priority. The first few caravans built should be the best quality
ones available which are in demand by the AI on a neighboring continent. A quick steam of deliveries will help
boost early science and income substantially.
As soon as a good location is found, at least one settler should be shipped out to start building colonies.
There are so many things you want to do, that it will be hard to stay committed to early colonization, but for
the best trade later on, this is a must. Another way of starting colonies is by buying them by bribing suitable
AI cities using diplomats. Doing this can be quite cost effective and less time consuming than building colonies
from scratch, and is less dangerous, too, since young colonies can be vulnerable to barbarian attacks.
Just when carrying costs start to slow down research, the time comes to accelerate the development of the SSC. All efforts should go into completing the development of all SSC tiles and into the construction of SSC improvements and wonders. The SSC should be the first city to establish all three of its trade routes. If an AI civ is close enough, plans should include connecting to one or more of its cities via a station to get the bonus provided by three roaded trade routes. By the time one is ready to switch to Democracy the SSC should be size 21 and should have all wonders and scientific improvements in place.
As soon as sufficient cash is on hand to start rushing colosseums, helpers and colonies can be celebrated up to size 7 or 8 while the SSC continues up to its maximum size. It’s best to get this done before the discovery of Automobile, which allows superhighways, the best city improvement of them all. Try to build them in every city.
With full sized cities, a system of alternating trade should be developed quickly. Soon delivery beakers should be enough to afford the first advance on turns where two are possible. Income from freight deliveries will rush superhighways and scientific improvements in helpers and colonies to keep cities at the 1 tech per turn science level. Research will accelerate until the discovery of Space Flight is imminent.
A few turns before Space Flight is learned, cities can start selling off their improvements to provide more gold for building a space ship. Freights that can not earn more than 200 gold by being delivered should be saved to help build space ship parts. Freights can be added to wonders which can be converted into any of the SS parts without any penalties. Below is a list of the fastest ships, the first number being structurals, the second being components, and the third being the time it takes to arrive. All of these have one each of each module. Any ship that can be launched is guaranteed to arrive regardless of the percentages listed by the game.
Fastest Ships | ||
---|---|---|
Structurals | Components | Years |
15 | 02 | 36.1 |
15 | 04 | 21.0 |
15 | 06 | 15.7 |
17 | 08 | 13.2 |
21 | 10 | 10.0 |
25 | 12 | 08.3 |
29 | 14 | 06.7 |
33 | 16 | 05.7 |
Just make sure your SSC and your Palace do not get captured. Then find a hobby.
This section will provide the summary and log of my own game from the first Early Landing Comparison Game. At the end, a zip file will be attached, containing several saves made from various stages of that game, which interested players may download and inspect.
Game Summary | ||
---|---|---|
Event | Year | BC/AD |
Republic | 1450 | BC |
Democracy | 540 | AD |
Shakespeare’s Theater | 200 | BC |
The Colossus | 120 | AD |
Copernicus’s Observatory | 420 | AD |
Isaac Newton’s College | 540 | AD |
Apollo Program | 1200 | AD |
SSC size 8 | 75 | BC |
SSC size 12 | 40 | AD |
SSC size 21 | 260 | AD |
Max. SSC size | 24 |   |
Trade | 775 | BC |
Invention | 440 | AD |
Railroad | 640 | AD |
Automobile | 920 | AD |
Nuclear Power | 1040 | AD |
Computers | 1100 | AD |
Flight | 1120 | AD |
Space Flight | 1180 | AD |
Arrival Date | 1276 | AD |
Early landing comparison game #1 | ||
---|---|---|
BC Years | ||
Event | Year | BC |
Rome | 3950 | BC |
Veii | 3850 | BC |
Rome was at the SSC site. Veii was at the coast at the end of the left hand river. The wine in Rome and the two rivers added some extra trade early, which helped speed up discoveries. | ||
Alphabet, Rome – warrior | 3700 | BC |
Alphabet, Rome – warrior | 3400 | BC |
Veii started with a settler. The plan was for one warrior from Rome to arrive in time to establish martial law before Veii reached size two. The earliest priority is 4 cities, so explorations must wait until this is done. | ||
Code Of Laws | 3350 | BC |
Veii - settler | 3400 | BC |
Antium | 2900 | BC |
Antium was at the first location eastward along the coast from Veii that had a grassland city tile and access to a whale. | ||
Writing | 2850 | BC |
Writing is on the way to early Republic, and it also permits diplomats, who are the best land units for early explorations | ||
Rome – settler | 2800 | BC |
his settler will be used for the 4th city, and headed along the coast westward from Rome, looking for a good site. | ||
Antium – warrior | 2650 | BC |
Cumae, barb trireme appears next to Rome | 2450 | BC |
Cumae was on the coast and had a whale to work. Cumae was the 4th city and since 4 cities are the limit for Despotism, the remaining two helpers will be added when the switch is made to Republic. Libraries are being used to accumulate shields for temples until Ceremonial Burial is discovered | ||
Rome attacked | 2400 | BC |
Without much gold on hand, all I could do was sit tight and hope for the best. Rome survived an attack by a barb archer and its warrior became a veteran. The other barb archer headed off towards Veii and attacked it later. Veii’s warrior survived this with the help of the river’s defensive bonus | ||
Ceremonial Burial, Mongols discover Veii, Ceremonial Burial given on demand followed by a peace treaty. | 2300 | BC |
It was nice to have found the purple civ so early, but it was also too bad that it happened to be the volatile Mongols, who were looking for trouble. The fact that they were cornered by Roman cities did not augur well | ||
Veii - temple | 2250 | BC |
The first priority for helpers after making a settler for a new city is to produce a temple to control happiness now and especially a bit later, when the switch is made to early Republic. There is a temptation to use more martial law in the early going, but doing so makes the transition to Republic more difficult. Some players may opt for building the Hanging Gardens instead of using temples, but this plan has a few things working against it in early landing games. Pottery must be learned first, which is an off-path tech, and taking time to acquire it delays the switch to Republic. The HG expires fairly early with the discovery of Railroad, when temples will have to be built, anyways. Controlling helper happiness with luxuries during Republic, and later during Democracy, is not a good idea, either, as this reduces income considerably and can limit research capacity. A clinching argument for early temples is that there isn’t that much else to be doing before the discovery of Trade permits caravans | ||
Cma - warrior | 2200 | BC |
(I usually use just the first 3 letters of a city’s name when listing builds, but with Cumae this presents a slight conflict with the word choices permitted on these forums!) | ||
Ant - temple | 1950 | BC |
Literacy | 1800 | BC |
Monarchy must be skipped, of course, to reduce tech carrying costs. If acquired, its benefits would not be in effect long enough to make this a worth while plan. It’s better to get to Republic a few turns sooner | ||
Vei - settler, Rom - temple | 1500 | BC |
Republic, switch made, Mongols demand it, so it is given. Trade for Bronze Working. | 1450 | BC |
The Mongols also have The Wheel and Horseback Riding, but these will not be needed until later. Now that I’m in Republic, the discovery of Trade becomes a priority, and Bronze Working saves a step along the way. With knowledge of Republic, the Mongols also made the switch and became less menacing afterwards. Warriors that have not already been disbanded to help make temples are disbanded now to free up shields. Now that I have a tech lead, that is all that is needed to keep the AI peaceful, and diplomats can be built, when needed, to deal with barbarian appearances. All cities will be without defense until a space ship is launched, later. Doing this is not as risky as it may seem to those who are used to dealing more aggressively with the AI | ||
Cma - temple, Ant - settler, Rom - settler, Neapolis | 1400 | BC |
Neapolis was westward along the coast from Veii, and was a great location, being on a river and also having a rivered buffalo. The Rome settlers set to work improving the SSC site. After irrigating a grassland, one of the first jobs was to mine those hills having wine, to make the most out the citizens working those tiles | ||
Mysticism, Pompeii | 1250 | BC |
Mysticism came just in time since the early cities were reaching size 3. Pompeii was located along the coast, southeast of Antium, and had the fish and spice specials. It was also on a river. Having so many rivers around was a great boon to early research and transportation. The first few caravans produced made it to their destinations a lot quicker because of these handy rivers. Cumae was the only city lacking this advantage. Later on, not as many harbors were needed for helpers because of the extra trade and adequate food available from rivered grassland tiles | ||
Map Making | 1000 | BC |
Map Making is the last key tech needed before pushing on to the discoveries of Trade, Medicine and Sanitation. Now explorations can commence to find an early trading partner, so that the first caravans can be traded for some quick advances and for some extra gold to finance SSC development | ||
Nea - temple, Cma - settler | 2400 | BC |
Building a settlers in Cumae was a probably not the best thing to do, since this left Cumae lacking enough food to grow to size three, even if some time were taken for extra irrigation. A diplomat or trireme first would have been a better idea, but I was anxious to connect this city to Rome with a road quickly. After extending the road part way, I acknowledged my error and cut my losses by having this settler rejoin Cumae, to get it up to a more productive size 3 | ||
Vei - diplomat, Ant - trireme | 0925 | BC |
Currency | 0875 | BC |
Pom – temple, contact Aztecs, they demand a tech, I refuse, and they declare war. | 0850 | BC |
I know I have been recommending appeasement in earlier posts in this thread, but when the AI is on a separate continent, they do not pose an immediate threat, so a declaration of war does not present a problem. If they have useful techs to trade, they are more likely to do this when peace is established later and relations are on the rebound. However, in situations where a vulnerable caravan is standing by an AI city waiting to be delivered, or when an AI catapult or chariot arrives on the doorstep of a colony demanding Philosophy, appeasement is always the best choice. The AI could be bluffing, but there’s no point in denying their demands to find out they really wanted an excuse to start a war | ||
Trade, Aztecs contacted, peace, trade for Masonry, give tech, share maps. | 0775 | BC |
During this exchange, I also found out that the Aztecs had acquired Monarchy and Warrior Code. With the exchange of maps, all of the target cities for early caravan deliveries were revealed | ||
Nea - wine | 0700 | BC |
This will go to an Aztec city. For helpers such as Neapolis, the first commodity choice was the most valuable one in demand that could be delivered quickly. Wine was wanted by the Aztecs and has an excellent demand bonus | ||
Philosophy, and the freebie is Construction, Aztecs – give tech, share maps; Mongols – trade for The Wheel, give tech, share maps | 0675 | BC |
It wasn’t until now that I had accumulated enough of a tech lead to work the Mongol attitude up to worshipful, in order to share maps. Earlier in the game, I only had enough techs to keep them appeased | ||
Vei – wool, Cma – trireme | 0650 | BC |
Rom - copper | 0625 | BC |
The trireme built in Cumae headed to Rome. While there it would reveal the rest of the ocean tiles in Rome’s city radius and would be rehomed to that city, before heading back towards the Mongols with the copper caravan built in Rome | ||
Ant - dye | 0600 | BC |
contact Chinese, peace, give tech, share maps | 0525 | BC |
The Chinese offer to trade Seafaring, which I will want to trade for later when a harbor is needed | ||
Pom – settlers, Medicine, wool(d) to Tenochtitlan, 144g, wine(d) to Tlatelolco, 160g | 0500 | BC |
Finally, some gold to speed up Rome’s development. These deliveries also trigger the first 1 turn advance of the game. In my opinion, the onset of trade is the most significant milestone in an early landing game. Before trade, everything comes slowly and with difficulty. Afterwards, it’s just the reverse | ||
Engineering, Rom – beads | 0475 | BC |
This is the first trade route for Rome, and more importantly, became one of the rail connection routes that were so useful later on, after a helper was added next to Rome as a “station” | ||
Nea – cloth, Cma – salt, copper(d) to Karakorum, 104g | 0450 | BC |
Rom - wool | 0425 | BC |
Pisae | 0400 | BC |
Pisae was the first colony and had access to 2 whales and a buffalo. It was located east of the Aztec cities on their continent. Next to it was another excellent colony site, too | ||
Ant – hides, Vei – dye, Sanitation, Rom – marketplace, dye(d) to Texcoco, 120g | 0375 | BC |
With Sanitation, all tech needed for SSC growth was in place, and all that was needed was Shakespeare’s Theater to get this going | ||
contact Vikings, they demand a tech, war; Mongols, give tech, share maps | 0300 | AD |
Vei – hides, Banking | 0275 | BCD |
Cma - beads | 0250 | BC |
Ant – settlers, Rom – food, contact English, trade for Iron Working, give tech, share maps; Chinese – trade for Seafaring | 0225 | BC |
Nea – cloth, Rom – Shakepeare’s Theater, we love commences, beads(d) to Tlatelolco, 240g | 0200 | BC |
Pom – settler | 00175 | BC |
Rom - harbor | 0150 | BC |
Pis – settlers, Mongols – give tech, share maps; Vikings, peace, give tech, share maps | 0125 | AD |
Vei – dye, Rom – aqueduct, Mathematics, English – give tech, share maps; beads(d) to Texcoco, 328g; barb horseman bribed, 41g | 0100 | BC |
contact Zulus, they demand gold, war | 0075 | BC |
Cma – dye, Rom – bank, Zulus – peace, give tech, share maps | 0050 | BC |
I guess the Zulus didn’t really mean to start a war. Another AI insanity is that they often will make peace the turn after declaring war! With a marketplace and bank in Rome, it will start to be earning extra gold coins every turn. These improvements allow the celebration to continue with a lower luxury setting, too, allowing faster research | ||
AD Years | ||
Event | Year | AD |
Nea - coal | 0001 | AD |
Bridge Building | 0020 | AD |
Normally I wait on this one, since the odds are good an AI will learn it in time for a trade, but all those rivers needed bridges. I had thought that this tech among many others would be available through trade from the AI in this game, because we had no free techs at the start and because the AI were likely to tip more huts for techs. However, this did not happen in my own game, where I only got the usual number of techs from the AI via trades | ||
beads(d) to Tenochtitlan, 280g | 0040 | AD |
Ant – wool, Rom – coal | 0060 | AD |
Rom – sewer system | 0100 | AD |
Pom – beads, University, Cma – dye, Rom – Colossus, dye(d) to Tlatelolco, 216g; Zulus, Vikings, English – give tech, share maps | 0120 | AD |
One of the AI almost beat me to building the Colossus wonder | ||
Vei – hides | 0140 | AD |
Pis – temple, Nea – cloth, Rom – library | 0160 | AD |
Astronomy, beads(d) to Tlaxcala, 96g, wool(d) to Tlaxcala, 120g | 0180 | AD |
Pis – beads | 0220 | AD |
Economics, Rom – size 21, we love ends | 0260 | AD |
Cma – salt, Ant – coal, Vei – hides, Rom – gold | 0280 | AD |
Nea – coal, Rom – coal | 0300 | AD |
Theory of Gravity, beads(d) to Rome, 420g | 0320 | AD |
This was the first colony delivery back to Rome, and it pays off big time | ||
Ant – food, Rom – university, Ravenna | 0360 | AD |
Ravenna was the second colony and was founded next to Pisae, the first. Unfortunately, while Pisae’s settler was making roads and preparing for Ravenna, the Aztecs snuck in with a settler and founded a city of their own close by, which made it a tight fit for Ravenna. The Aztec city hogged some of the best river tiles in the area, so a harbor for Ravenna became a necessity. However, this city was easy to reach when quick trades had to be made, so its presence was also somewhat beneficial | ||
Pom – wine, Chemistry, Mongols – give tech, share maps, gold(d) to Samarkand, 462g | 0380 | AD |
Now another route to a Mongol city had been established with Rome in preparation for the rail trade route bonus later on | ||
Rom – stock exchange, dye(d) to Tenochtitlan, 296g, hides(d) to Tlaxcala, 144g | 0400 | AD |
0420 | AD | |
Rav – beads, Navigation, Pom – salt, Nea – coal, Cma – salt, Ant – coal, Vei – hides, Rom – Copernicus’s Observatory | 0000 | AD |
Pis – salt, Invention | 0440 | AD |
So much for good caravan payoffs. Now it’s a race to Democracy, and on to Corporation quickly in order to get trade going full tilt again | ||
Rav – harbor, Vei – hides, Rom – food | 0460 | AD |
Democracy, Mongols, give tech, share maps, coal(d) to Samarkand, 195g | 0480 | AD |
I just missed the 460 oedo year for switching governments, which was too bad, since if this can be timed correctly, a turn of research will not be wasted with a revolution when changing governments | ||
Rav – temple, Rom – wool | 0500 | AD |
Rom – wine, Physics, revolution | 0520 | AD |
At this time I was learning my 32nd tech, which is when the commodity wildcards for
cities change. This introduced some new commodities in Rome at just the right time. Previously, three
trade routes had been established with two Mongol cities, which were “sticking”, since these Mongol cities
had excellent base trade. This meant that “wonder bread” could be used when newer commodities were delivered
from Rome, since the Mongol trade routes were not being replaced. It also meant that deliveries made to Rome
would not block commodities that it was demanding. At this point, a break was taken to figure out which commodities Rome would be supplying and demanding once it was fully developed and after certain techs affecting supply and demand were acquired, and it was determined that Rome would be supplying wine and dye, but that if Pottery were acquired, salt would take the place of dye. I wanted to supply dye, so put off trading for Pottery until the end of the game, saving that trade to reset the tech list. I also determined that Rome would be demanding coal, oil and spice later on, but that when Nuclear Fission was discovered, this would mask the desire for coal. So the next step was to figure out the demand wildcards for each of the AI cities, in an attempt to find matches for what the SSC would be trading. Supply wildcards of bribable AI cities were also checked to see if any would be suppliers of coal, oil, and spice. I discovered that it would serve me best to keep the Aztec tech total below 32, since this would keep up a good and repeatable demand for wine in Tlatelolco. I also noticed that Isandhlwana, a Zulu size three city, would become a good supplier of spice, which Rome wanted. Its coastal location provided easy access to other Zulu inland cities, too, so when the time was right, I sent in a diplomat to incite a revolt | ||
Rom – Sir Isaac Newton’s College, switch to Democracy, salt(d) to Rome, 234g | 05400 | AD |
The salt came from the first colony, Pisae, which had reached size 3 and had enough trade to displace a Mongol trade route. Doing this unblocked the supply of coal in Rome | ||
Now that Rome was fully developed, helpers could turn to making harbors and colosseums, to get ready for their own growth. They had already begun on this after enough caravans had been made for Sir Isaac’s | ||
Ant – harbor, Rom – coal, Gunpowder, beads to Rome, 126g | 0560 | AD |
This trade to Rome from the other colony, Ravenna, replaced the Pisae route with its own by lowering the base trade in Pisae temporarily before making the delivery. This trade also unblocked the supply of wine in Rome | ||
Pis – colosseum, Pom – colosseum, Magnetism | 0580 | AD |
Rav – colosseum, Cma – harbor, Rom – wine | 0600 | AD |
Steam Engine, wine(d) to Nottingham, 165g | 0620 | AD |
Pis – copper, Railroad, Chinese, Vikings – give tech, share maps, Zulus – war, Mongols – give tech, share maps, coal(d) to Smarakand, 134g | 0640 | AD |
This final coal trade was made to Smarakand after lowering the base trade in Ravenna enough
to replace its route with the one from Samarkand. After this, Rome had three routes established with Mongol
cities, in time to get a rail connection established. These routes would “stick” for the rest of the game after
this was done. A war was provoked with the Zulus to justify the dirty work needed to subvert Isandhlwana | ||
Rav – dye, Nea – colosseum, Vei – colosseum, Rom – diplomat, Metallurgy | 0660 | AD |
Pis – galleon, wool(d) to Tlatelolco, 344g | 0680 | AD |
The trireme not assigned to Rome was disbanded in Pisae while building a galleon to continue trade with the Aztecs. The trireme assigned to Rome was headed for Isandhlwana | ||
Rom – coal, Industrialization, Nea – transport, Isandhlwana bribed, 488g, 72 gold and Horseback Riding in tribute; Zulus – peace, give tech, share maps | 0700 | AD |
Somehow, I don’t think a human opponent would have wanted a peace treaty right after such treachery. I consider this lack of revengeful feelings to be an endearing AI trait! This city came with a harbor and many military units and took some of the steam out of the Zulu’s aggression towards the English | ||
Isa – colosseum, we love starts in all cities | 0720 | AD |
Isandhlwana had many military units. I disbanded more than were needed to build a temple, so started it off with a colosseum, instead | ||
Mongols – give tech, share maps, dye(d) to Karakorum, 115g, Hispalis, another settler joins the city | 0740 | AD |
Hispalis was located just outside Rome’s city radius, and was used as a station
leading to Samarkand and Karakorum, the two Mongol cities making up the three trade routes in Rome.
An instant rail bonus was established a few turns later by the remaining settler, which ended up doubling
the amount of continuing trade being earned by these routes. Since the “goto” route used by the game
to determine this bonus can be tricky, station placement should be as close as possible to the SSC
to make sure this benefit is claimed, especially when more than one AI city is involved. The individual
“goto” routes to Samarakand and Karakorum diverged after leaving Hispalis. Now, 1 turn advances are
easily attainable with city science. Hispalis served another function, acting as the recipient of “wonder bread” from Rome, when this ploy was needed to re-supply Rome’s wine and dye. Hispalis never grew and just accumulated shields that were used to help build the Apollo wonder later on | ||
Corporation, wine(d) to Tlatelolco, 430g | 0760 | AD |
His – temple, Isa – silk, Pis – cloth, Rom – dye, Rav, Vei – transports, coal(d) to Samarkand, 137g | 0780 | AD |
Cma, Ant – colosseums, Rom – wine, Refining, copper(d) to Rome, 176g, we love ends | 0800 | AD |
Now all helpers except Hispalis were at size 7 or 8, and all colonies were at size 7. Rome reached its maximum size of 24 citizens, and could produce 1008 beakers, now that the rail connections were in place. These had doubled the three ongoing trade route values from 12 to 24 arrows, each. Without this bonus, Rome would have only been producing 786 beakers. Helpers and colonies were adding a little over 200 beakers, so at the maximum science setting, 1227 beakers were available. The current tech cost was only 1134 | ||
Isa – temple, Pis – gold, Pom – salt, Explosives | 0820 | AD |
Combustion, dye(d) to Calixtlahuaca, 532g, wine(d) to Tlatelolco, 650g, Mongols – give tech, share maps> | 0840 | AD |
His – engineers, Rav – engineers, Atomic Theory, Isa –coal, Pom – dye, Nea – engineers, Cma – coal, Ant – gems, Vei – engineers, Rom – dye, Electricity | 0860 | AD |
This was the first of many turns with two advances. The only disadvantage with Rome, was that its freights could not reach transports on the south coast without using up movement points. It’s desirable to deliver an SSC freight on the turn it is produced, so that another can be re-supplied more quickly with wonder bread. Most of these new engineers were used to speed up the rail connection from from Rome to Veii. One engineer was going to be sent to make some roads leading to inland Aztec cities, such as Tlatelolco, so that freights landing on that continent could reach their destinations without wasting a turn | ||
Rom – food, gold(d) to Hispalis, 132g | 0860 | AD |
Each food produced by Rome, when contributed to the wonder being built in Hispalis, caused a re-supply of wine and dye, since neither commodity had been used in the 3 railed routes to the Mongol cities. Wine was always in demand in Tlatelolco, and dye was always in demand somewhere else | ||
Rom – wine, Electronics, salt(d) to Calixtlahuaca, 152g | 0880 | AD |
His – silk, Rav – wine, Isa – beads, Pom – library, Steel, cloth(d) to Cumae, 192g, silk(d) to Calixtlahuaca, 294g | 0900 | AD |
Pis – gold, Vei – copper, Automobile, dye(d) to Kaupang, 680g, wine(d) to Tlatelolco, 660g | 0920 | AD |
More turns with two advances are imminent. Automobile means superhighways, and things that are already very good, get dramatically better when this improvement is added to Rome and all of the helpers and colonies | ||
His – dye, Mass Production, Rav, Pom – superhighways, Nea – silver, Cma – hides, Rom – superhighways, Nuclear Fission, gold(d) to Pompeii, 218g, gems(d) to Nottingham, 300g, English – trade for Warrior Code, share maps, Aztecs – trade for Monarchy, share maps | 0940 | AD |
The addition of superhighways in Rome increased its beaker capacity to 1308 | ||
Isa – spice, Pis – superhighways, Rom – food, Conscription, silk(d) to Ravenna, 188g, silver(d) to Rom – 300g, copper(d) to Tenochtitlan, 180g | 0960 | AD |
Isa – dye, Nea – cloth, Vei – superhighways, Rom – wine, Feudalism, wine(d) to Karakorum, 397g, copper(d) to Tenochtitlan, 306g | 0980 | AD |
Rav – oil, Pis – cloth, Pom – gold, Cma – superhighways, Rom – dye, Chivalry, wine(d) to Tlatelolco, 1008g | 1000 | AD |
Isa, Nea, Ant – superhighways, Vei – transport, Rom –food, Leadership, Zulus – give tech, share maps, coal(d) to Pompeii, 544g, beads(d) to Hispalis, 188g, oil(d) to Rome, 1026g, cloth to Veii, 116g | 1020 | AD |
Nuclear Power, Rav – cloth, Pis – gold, Pom – university, Cma – oil, Rom – wine, Laser, coal(d) to Pisae, 400g, wine(d) to Tlatelolco, 1062g, hides(d) to Tlaxcala, 360g | 1040 | AD |
Tactics, Isa – engineers, Pom – oil, Nea – gold, Ant – library, Vei – library, Rom – food, dye(d) to Beijing, 336g, dye(d) to Tlaxcala, 828g, dye(d) to Hlobane, 546g, Vikings, Mongols – give tech, trade maps | 1060 | AD |
The Vikings were given enough techs to make sure they had more than 32, because a destination for some gold was needed, and Kaupang’s demand wildcard would be gold when the Vikings had enough techs | ||
Machine Tools, Rav – food, Pis – cloth, Pom – silk, Cma – copper, Vei – university, Rom – wine, Mobile Warfare, spice(d) to Rome, 1074g, gold(d) to Hispalis, 200g, wine(d) to Tlatelolco, 1005g | 1080 | AD |
Trades peaked on this turn with over 2200 gold earned | ||
Miniaturization, Nea – food, Ant – university, Rom – dye, Computers, oil(d) to Ravenna, 537g, cloth to Ravenna, 32g, dye(d) to Teotihuacan, 104g | 1100 | AD |
Rav – oil, Pis, Pom, Cma – food, Vei – dye, Rom – Research Lab, Flight, silk(d) to Kaupang, 330g, gold(d) to Kaupang, 330g, gold(d) to Kaupang, 378g, dye(d) to Tlatelolco, 500g, copper(d) to Texcoco, 252g | 1120 | AD |
The silk trade to Kaupang was used to trigger the appearance of its gold demand wildcard. On the previous turn, the cloth delivery to Ravenna was used to unblock its supply of oil. Beakers available peaked here, with Rome producing 1368 and the other cities adding another 458 for a total of 1826, which was more than enough | ||
Radio, Isa – dye, Nea – food, Cma – oil, Ant, Rom – food, Advanced Flight, oil(d) to Rome, 598g, Mongols – trade for Pottery, give tech, share maps | 1140 | AD |
Now that trade was winding down, Pottery could be acquired to allow research to be switched to Rocketry instead | ||
Rav, Pis – food, Pom – gold, Vei – food, Rome – dye, Rocketry, dye(d) to Nottingham, 232g, oil(d) to Isandhlwana, 480g, dye(d) to Tlaxcala, 432g | 1160 | AD |
Isa – spice, Pom – dye, Nea, Cma, Ant – food, Rome – wine, Space Flight, wine(d) to Bokhara, 176g, oil(d) to Ravenna, 358g, Zulus – 200g tribute, give tech, share maps, Chinese – give tech, share maps, Aztecs – trade for Communism, share maps, Mongols – give tech share maps | 1180 | AD |
I was looking for an AI that had a tech to trade to reset the tech list next turn | ||
His – Apollo Program, Rav – oil, Isa – diplomat, Pis, Vei – food, Rom – salt, Plastics, spice(d) to Rome, 947g, cloth(d) to Hlobane, 350g, gold(d) to Kaupang, 300g, English – give tech, share maps | 1200 | AD |
All helpers and colonies – SS structurals, Rome – SS Component, salt(d) to Nottingham, 608g, oil(d) to Rome, 629g, dye(d) to Samarkand, 296g, Mongols – 50g tribute, give tech, share maps | 1220 | AD |
Not too greedy on part of the Mongols, since I had over 4000 gold | ||
His – SS Component, Rav – SS structural, Isa – SS Module, Pis – SS structural, Pom – SS Module, Nea, Cma, Ant, Vei – SS structurals, Rom – SS Module, Fusion Power 15-1-1-1-1-1, Launch, ETA 1276 | 1240 | AD |
Well, at least I was able to launch by Dr. Spike’s landing date! I had over 2000 gold leftover, and had purchased most of the spaceship with cash from trades, so could have made a faster ship by building two more cities a few turns earlier | ||
Once a spaceship is launched, the game becomes boring for me and doing things like
building more wonders or attacking the AI were worn out amusements while waiting 36 turns, so for this
game I decided to defend and play it Gandhi style, and adopted a policy of non-violent resistance.
I defended my cities, but never attacked nor declared war on any of the AI, and they were not impressed. During this time the Aztecs devoted themselves to some single-minded sabotage against Pisae, and with an almost endless supply of diplomats, stripped that city of all improvements and sabotaged every build attempted there for the rest of the game. This put me into Anarchy for awhile, during which the Zulus got even by reclaiming Isandhlwana by inciting a revolt. The other AI were not impressed with the non-violent approach, either, and numerous “secret” alliances were formed to try and do in the Romans. My attempts at Satyagraha failed miserably with the AI, and I have concluded that they have no conscience or morals, whatsoever | ||
Arrival on Alpha Centauri | 1276 | AD |
The best reference is the Great Library put together by Scouse Gits, which contains pointers to many of the best strategy threads ever to appear in this forum. For more specific discussions about early landing strategy, I will provide a few links here to my own threads on the topic. These threads preceded the advent of our Early Landing Comparison Games, which all are welcome to join in on as new participants. The only real requirement is that you enjoy yourself while playing your own games.
Useful Links |
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Going for 500 AD on Standard Maps |
Going for 1000 AD without Huts |