AU 100-A DAR 1: 4000 BC - 1520 BC

[nbarclay]

This DAR ("During Action Report") covers events in AU 100-A from the beginning through approximately 1520 BC. As examples of things that could be interesting to include, consider the following questions. What research strategy did you use? How did you manage growth, production, and tile improvements? Did anything interesting happen in regard to relations with other civs, barbarian activity, and so forth? Which of the civilizations you've met are following what religions, and have you established or adopted a religion yet? (When you open negotiations with an AI, there is a religion symbol in the upper left corner if it has a state religion.) Did anything else interesting happen? And perhaps most importantly of all, did you learn any interesting lessons?

DARs can take any form you want: a story, a timeline, answering some or all of the above questions, or whatever other form you might prefer. It is best if you try to make your DAR interesting for readers, but a dry, "just the facts" approach is acceptable. Screenshots of any especially interesting events and/or of your status at the end of the reporting period are always appreciated.

Please state what difficulty level you are playing on at the beginning of your first DAR, and it would be useful if you remind people in the later DARs as well. (I often use the "subject" field for that purpose.) Knowing the difficulty level people are playing on is especially important in regard to figuring out whether differences in AI performance and behavior in different games might be due to differences in difficulty level.

For those not familiar with Civ IV screenshots, hitting shift-PrtScr while playing causes the game to capture a screenshot and ask what file you want to save it to. The game then saves the file as a .jpg that can be edited with other software. As I recall, Apolyton has a limit of 800 pixels image width if a file is uploaded as part of the message posting process, which would require editing the saved file. Larger images can be handled by uploading the image to Apolyton and incorporating a link into the message, but since I've never used that process, I'm not prepared to explain how to do it.

[nbarclay]

Prince Difficulty

This is going to be my first complete game on Prince difficulty level, assuming I finish it. I’m still relatively early in the process of learning Civ IV since Amazon was slow sending my copy and then I had to get a new video card because a bug in the game bit my old one.

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In the year 4000 BC, Lord Nathan, leader of the American tribe, came up with a new idea. Always before, the Americans had been wanderers, drifting from place to place as the seasons changed. But the land around had more food than even the oldest member of the tribe could ever remember seeing, with vast flood plains and a field of corn. The American people could live there forever and never worry about starving.

The first step in the new project was to train a group of workers to create a farm for the corn and irrigate the flood plains. With pigs in sight across some water, Lord Nathan decided to order his wise men to investigate better ways to care for animals.

America’s scientists finished studying Animal Husbandry in the year 3520 and started studying Mysticism with an eye toward perhaps someday developing a religion. The first group of workers started their first farm in 3400, and Washington started work on a band of warriors while the city grew.

As time went on, Mongol and German scouts reached the fringes of Washington. The city finished its band of warriors in 2840 and, now with a size of four, prepared to start sending out settlers. New York was settled in 2400 as an American warrior encountered the Spanish. In 2080, another settler moved out too quickly to be escorted properly or to retreat if it encountered barbarians and was killed by barbarians who happened to be in exactly the wrong place, forcing Washington to shift production from a worker to a replacement settler.

In 2040, America’s gamble delaying research into The Wheel in order to try to establish Judaism succeeded and the Jewish faith was founded in New York. Research shifted to The Wheel. Boston was finally, albeit belatedly, founded in 1720 BC.

By the year 1500, America had researched Animal Husbandry, Mysticism, Polytheism, Masonry, Monotheism, The Wheel, and Writing (or perhaps was a turn away from Writing). Its next projects would be Mining and then Alphabet for tech trading. Relationships with all of the other civilizations were at +1, although Isabella’s Hindu religion would become a problem when America decided to bite the anarchy bullet and officially make Judaism its state religion.

F9 Status:

As of 1400 BC, I’m first in crop yield and land area, fourth in GNP, fifth in Mfg. Goods, and seventh in soldiers. (I didn't think to check at exactly 1520.)

Things to think about:

1) Since settlers are more costly in Civ 4 than Civ 3, protecting them is more important. Some risks may be acceptable, but not nearly as many.

2) Irrigated flood plains can be really handy for cranking out settlers, and the fact that they provide a gold as well as food is handy for research. It was the gold from the flood plains that caused me to decide that pursuing Judaism was worth the gamble.

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The screenshot below is as of 1440 BC.

[n1gHtmAr3]

it is my first time in AU so i'm just curious, do you want the reports to be a post in this thread or just make a new thread for it?

[Sirid]

Noble Difficulty

NOTE: Sorry this is so long, but brevity's not one of my strongpoints and there were a lot of details I wanted to include. I'll try to make my next DAR shorter.

I begin by looking around to see what my surroundings look like. I noticed quickly that the starting location is in something of a hammer/shield poor area, but was heavily packed with food resources (with two floodplains tiles in the initial 9 squares and 3 more after border expansion). Deciding not to waste any time, I founded Washington on the first turn, hoping that all that food would help me pump out a settler in a relatively short time to get a production city going. Meanwhile, my warriors visit the small tribe near the city and collect 56 gold to add to the treasury. Things are off to a decent start. I open the tech tree and select Mining, set Washington to work on a Worker, and end the turn. My goal with the techs is to gather more productive technologies before making the run for a religion (in this case Mining because I want to set up a production city pretty quickly) - I've found in most of my games so far that I can do fine without grabbing Hinduism and Buddhism so long as I work in one of the later religions into my strategy at some point. In the meantime my Warrior heads to the East/Southeast into the hills to find a suitable location for that production city.

Mining is researched in 3720 BC and Animal Husbandry is selected in order to take advantage of the Cattle and Pigs near Washington in addition to causing Horses to appear on the map. My warriors haven't had much luck in heading south (aside from spotting the cattle), so I decide to turn them west upon hitting the tundra so that they can loop around Washington and hopefully find some decent city sites in the vicinity. A second tribe south of Washington nets me 33 more gold, so things are looking good financially.

After a run in with a wolf I find a plains-heavy region southwest of Washington, which is also adjacent to the coast. For lack of a better choice I mark this spot as my next city site with the strategy layer and keep my warrior moving. The Worker in Washington is finished in 2400 BC, and is sent to the southeast to build a farm over the corn there.

3320 BC brings some bad luck when I run into a village of hostile barbarians. After I end the turn they attack, but the American army proves the victor! My warrior gains a rank and I select the Combat I promotion for him (not really enough large patches of forest to justify a Woodsman I right now). The same turn, Animal Husbandry is discovered and The Wheel is selected as next on the agenda. Time to start planning that new city.

3000 BC brings the discovery of the Wheel and Mysticism is next. The next turn a second warrior is completed in Washington and a Settler is selected. Although it's a risk to send it out into the wild on its own leaving Washington undefended, this is Noble and raging barbarians isn't selected. I decide to take the risk for the sake of exploration and send the warrior north to search the more equatorial latitudes.

In 2760 BC I learn Mysticism, opening the way for some culture generating improvements and wonders. Now I could take a big risk and research Meditation, which would grant me an early religion (Buddhism) along with the benefits that it entails, but there's a good chance an AI may snatch it up before I get there. Since this is a learning experience I take the risk and go for it.

I meet my first AI in 2720, the Germans, and sign for peace. The Mongols encounter me next in 2680 and I sign for peace with them as well. In 2560 my warrior gains experience from a tribe and wins a lion battle a turn later, allowing me to give him the Combat II promotion and letting him heal. 2520 sees the founding of New York in the area I described earlier; the road is completed the very next turn and New York is added to the American trade network.

Bad luck on the next turn - a foreign civ founds Buddhism, and just one turn before I get to it! Ah well, I can still use this situation to my advantage. When I discover Meditation, I begin research on Priesthood, which is a relatively cheap tech. My goal now is to make a break for Confucianism (Code of Laws) then head back towards the cheaper techs to catch up.

My exploration has revealed a plethora of production friendly tiles to the northwest of Washington; I switch work back to a settler and prepare the available worker in the area to start heading northwest. In 2360, my explorers find the Mongolian homeland, which is a pretty fair distance away from America. A bit later in 2240 my warriors find soldiers from Egypt and Arabia, adding to my list of contacts. The same turn I discover Priesthood and queue up the following techs: Hunting, Archery, Writing, and Code of Laws. The first of these, Hunting, is discovered in 2120.

Boston is founded in the northwest in 1960, near a production rich area that should pay off in the future. Because the city is right next to the river that leads to Washington, it's already connected to my trade network so a road isn't necessary. Time passes, and in 1680 BC I discover both Writing AND the Spanish homeland in the east. In 1640 Washington breaks into unhappiness because in my haste to do other things I never actually managed to garrison it with a unit. So I change production to a warrior.

As of 1520, the American Empire has three cities, is on the way to researching Code of Laws, and things seem to be going well. My closest neighbors are both a pretty fair distance away, and America is tucked in its own corner of the continent, so there shouldn't be many territorial issues anytime soon. According to F9 I'm 2nd in population, 1st in land area, 3rd in crop yield (I must need to build more farms), 5th in gold, and 5th in production. I'm also first in score with 287.

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[nbarclay]

Originally posted by n1gHtmAr3
it is my first time in AU so i'm just curious, do you want the reports to be a post in this thread or just make a new thread for it?

There is one set of DAR threads for everyone, so post your first DAR to this thread, your second to the next, and so forth.

[nbarclay]

As Sirid's DAR points out, one of the drawbacks of such a food-heavy starting position is that it's easy to outgrow your happiness if you aren't careful. One way to handle that situation is to focus cities that have a hard time not growing quickly on building settlers and workers, thereby taking advantage of the fact that building them suspends growth, and use other cities where excessive growth isn't a problem for building military units.

That's essentially the Civ IV version of the old settler/worker pump concept from Civ 3. Even the best pump in Civ IV (which the capital pretty much is in this game if it's used correctly) is only about half as fast as a corresponding Civ 3 pump, but since civs aren't supposed to build as many cities as quickly in Civ IV, that's fine.

[polarnomad]

(Difficulty: Noble)

I seem to always have difficulty starting when a leader that is chosen does not already have Mysticism. I never know whether it's better to forego other areas of research and try to go for some form of religion, or forget religion and develop my cities instead. In this game I intially decided to ignore religion.

I moved my settler over one tile to the east as I wanted access to the hills and trees for chopping. Some flood plains could still be accessed and the corn would be available once the Washington's borders expanded. The silk left me somewhat neutral since I knew it would be a while until I discover the calendar anyways.

The three nearby villages share maps twice (coast and ocean to the south, and then coast and ocean to the east), and give me Sailing.

My first warrior opens up some of the map to the east, then gets killed by a lion. I produce 2 scouts but both get killed by the same bear just turns after leaving Washington. The result being that I don't have much detailed knowledge about my surroundings, and waste time producing scouts that could have been put towards producing a settler.

I quickly make my way to Bronzeworking for two reasons. I want to chop some trees to help production, and I would like to see where there might be copper before I found another city. As it turns out, in the area that I have uncovered, copper is not revealed anywhere...

I build a settler and simultaneously research animal husbandry. Since I don't have copper, do I AT LEAST have access to horses? The settler is built before Animal Husbandry is discovered. I leave Washington unprotected so as to provide the settler with an escort.

I set about producing the Stonehenge in Washington (2000BC) and decide to help it along by chopping some more forests that have grown, which at this point won't help too much with only one city and second on the way, but what the heck!

Initially I thought I would settle near the pigs to the west with access to the coast, but as I'm moving my settler, I am confronted with the same bear (now over a millenium old) that mauled 2 of my scouts. We play cat and mouse for 3 turns and then I am shocked to find myself with 2 lions and the bear on 2 sides! Feeling doomed, I hit enter.

1 lion leaves (must have picked up the scent of a nearby female), the bear moves to where I want to settle (bastard has some previous life score to settle with me) and the 2nd lion attacks... I breathe a sigh of relief as my warrior prevails.

The next turn I discover Animal Husbandry and horses are revealed near the cows to the southeast. So I change my plan and head there and settle New York (perhaps the bear knew about the horses and was just trying to keep me from making a mistake... Thanks... um, buddy). When the borders of washington expand for the 3rd time all the wild animals are caught north of Washington, since for some reason they never seem to have their passports handy.

New York is founded in 1880BC.

Really late into the game I figure perhaps I still have a chance at Monotheism. Research Polytheism, Masonry, and then start Monotheism, but the very next turn... Judaism is discovered in a distant land. So now I have no religion and only 2 cities! This a terrible start.

So I switch to Ironworking in 1720 (which also means that my next DAR is extremely short) and with a scout built in New York I head out to uncover some of the fog of war that remains in place...

Oh, during this time I have met Saladin, Bismark, Isabella, and Hatty.

My main thoughts about this are:

1) I took too long to produce settlers, possibly aggravated by moving my settler over one tile (less flood plains) to the east on turn 1.
2) I should have stuck to my initial thoughts about ignoring early religions, rather than making a last minute bee-line for monotheism, wasting precious turns and not getting it anyway.
3) I just had some piss poor luck with those bloody animals...

[polarnomad]

(wanted to edit previous post but actually quoted myself here)

2nd post deleted

[teriakiburger]

Monarch Difficulty

Eh well time for my first game on monarch difficulty, plus I never tried the normal game speed always done epic before so it should be a learning experience.

Teriakiburger has been foiled into trying to shape the dim-witted and lazy americans into a semblance of a civilzation. The gods have seemingly blessed the other civilizations, with the americans coming from the short end of the gene pool.

So Washington is layed to rest at 4000BC, and the nearby villagers in pity fill our empty coffers with 57 gold. Demands placed for a worker to till the fields and with warrior reports of 'hills' we go for mining. Our warrior scouting the lands, sees some useless pigs and cows rutting about which we promptly ignore. The village to the south pities us again with 54 gold.

In 3680BC mining is ours, and we want something to do with this metal, so we pursue bronze working. The enterprising warrior has discovered beavers and some ice flows. Some wierd chant of buddhism echoes over the land.

3480 disaster is at hand when a pride of lions spots our warrior on the southern plains, some how the clutzes pull through.

3400 the workers finally lift up their skirts and get to work. Our warrior takes cover in the forest to heal, as we start plans to build a new city. While waiting they hear of hinduism on a bird song. The next village gives us again gold, 75 of it!

Our farming of the flood plains is done, and so we find timber with bronze working. The research starts on stacking bricks, they call it masonry.

Contact made with the Mongols, they did not seem entirely pleasant, so once the settler is finished a warrior is ordered. Our worker starts to seed the corn plot, in 2720 we finish up the masonry and start on mystism. We start on another warrior to explore the lands, as we need garrisons in the city.

In 2680, New York is founded with stone and pigs in sight on the plains coast. A worker is ordered to help the city grow, with our first worker heading to help the clear the forest.

Wonderful Isabella, the buddhist, is spotted by our warrior in 2640. By 2480 mysticism is ours so we start on meditation. After our 2nd worker is made in New York, we start on the Pyramids, a crazy scheme with 150 rounds to complete.

The Stonehenge is started in Washington, after a warrior is made in 2240. In 2200, the swamp life causes some unhealth in Washington at size 4.

Ahh robes are in fashion as Priesthood is ours in 2040, so we begin to research how to scribble in Writing.

A shocker in 1960BC, as we are rated 6 of 7 as most powerful, we hang our heads in shame


But at least Washington has completed the Stonehenge, thru the power of wood, a warrior is ordered up to escort the next settler, as barbarians have been spotted.

Also we twiddle with Washington as it trying to skyrocket to size 6 which would not be good.

New York decides to shift gears towards the Oracle instead.

In 1840, we start on settler #3 in Washington. Our warriors hear again a faith of Judaism has been founded, and we meet Hatchesput in 1720 BC, claiming to be the founder of Hinduism.

Bad luck in 1640 when a barbarian warrior kills my warrior by attacking across a river, for revenge detach my warrior from Washington.


Writing is finished and animal husbandry research is started to use those pigs.

And again in 1520 BC lose a warrior to a barbarian, not my day.

New York's boundaries have expanded so my worker begins to start on a quarry.

So let's see where I stand at 1520 BC.

GNP is #2, Mfg Goods is #7, Crops are #2, Military is #7, Land Area is #1, Population is #3.

I am 3 turns away from completing the Oracle in New York, and 3 turns away from a settler in Washington.

Lost 2 warriors to barbarians which hurts, and no source of bronze on the map yet.

At least at 263 points I am in the lead.

[Fireb]

Emperor difficulty

Objective - First time on emperor. Lets see how long it takes before I'm overrun either by hordes of rampant barbarians and the marauding AI's.

Plan - Diplomatic victory. On this difficulty level, I'll have a hard time overrunning a single civ, let alone the whole world. A space race seems equally daunting. I'll need to found a religeon (judaism looks like the best thing to go for), and spread it fast and far, then use the income to fund my research (beeline to the spiral minaret, then UN), and survive long enough for me to build it (UN) and claim victory.

Game start - Nice growth position, will make a fantastic great person zone if I can get health/happiness resources. Not much in the way of production, so looks like I'll need great engineers to do the building for me.

Starting warrior heads north. Washington set to building warrior.
City expansion makes money from the hut.
Starting warrior runs into goody hut, and 2 hostile warriors leap out. I kill one, then my warrior dies.

Warrior built, building another warrior.
Warrior #2 explores south. Moves into a forrest, gets attacked by a lion, and a wolf in the same turn. Wow these animals are rampant on this level. He defeats both, and gets promoted to woodsman #1. He moves south, and finds a hut and this time gets money. As it's tundra below me (therefore no ai's there), he then heads north-east.

Warrior #3 built. Washington size 3, can't grow bigger without unhealthiness/unhappiness. Building a worker. Warrior #3 heads west. A few turns later, he moves on a hill. He gets attacked by a lion, kills it, then by a wolf (same turn again), and dies. Warrior #2 (woodsman) spots a bear, and so moves onto a wooded hill. The bear attacks, and dies. Haha.

Worker #1 built. Building a settler. A few turns later I run into the spanish. Grr, why couldn't it be a peaceful civ, like Hatty or Gandhi...never mind. Next turn the Mongols (another nasty civ!) and Saladin appear. Looks like it's crowded somewhere. Hopefully not too close to me.

Circa 2000 BC: Settler #1 built, building warrior. Settler heads north and founds New York on a hill, next to lots of resources. Looks like there will be marauding barbarians, judging by all the animals there were (now gone). New york building a warrior too (those animals kept me from exploring anywhere!). I discover judaism. Phew, I didn't fancy having to go for one of the later religeons, particularly with Isabella and Saladin about.

Warriors explore a bit more (finally, a bit of peace!), a couple of barb warriors are defeated, my warriors keeping to forests whenever possible. Washington now size 4, and won't get any bigger until a civic change. Another settler is built, and heads for that stone, with ivory and wheet close by too. Founded 1 spot from the shoreline, decided resources now were more important than trade later.

Future plans - 2 more settlers being built, the plan is to use them to take the land between me and the closest civs. All the civs appear to be in the northeast, which is very good, as I can then build cities west and south at my leasure (excepting barb cities of course). Researching hunting, then archery. There are 4-5 AI warriors patrolling around my cities, and whilst they're keeping the animals/barbarians away (thanks guys), I think I'll need good defences earlier rather than later on this level. The initial plan (spread judaism, give in to all demands made of me and go for a diplo victory) remains unchanged. Later on I might team up with an AI to make them like me more, and increase 'friendly' population. Other than that, I'll be playing defensively, building extensive cottages and a large empire (might as well make use of the traits!).

[vovan]

Noble difficulty

I start the game on Noble difficulty. The warrios get some gold from the village nearby, and the starting location looks good enough from the get-go to found a village there immediately. Starting to build up some defences right away. On the research front, our first order of business is mining. Another tribal village in 3760BC gives us more gold still. Yay. Mining is finished the next turn and work starts on hunting. By the time we get it, we also finish a warrior in Washington. Research starts on the wheel, and Washington starts producing a barracks, waiting for one more population point to roll in before starting on the first settler. My reasoning here is that we will have to wait for the population increase the same number of turns as we would shave off the settler production with the extra production. Hence, it strikes me as a good trade-off, as, overall, when the settler is produced, we have a stronger city.

One of the huts provides our warrior with experience, and we promote him to woodsman 2 so that he can explore faster. In other news, we invent the wheel, and start work on animal husbandry. My score is now 120, and I still haven't met any neighbors? Man, either I have been playing real crowded maps up till now, or this one is really empty.

Incidentally, just as I type that in, I meet a Mongolian scout the next turn. It would appear that Genghis is the one that founded Hinduism. Even though he claims his horde can beat my horde any day of the week, we decide to defer the final judgement of that for now.

As luck would have it, in 3040BC, our warriors are put to the test, as they find themselves surrounded by lions and bears. They survive the attack of the bears with 0.6 strength left, but fortunately, the lions decide to forego the easy pickings that our warriors represent, and just move on into the jungle. The warriors take the opportunity to haul their behinds off to the nearest forested hill and station there to regroup. In the mean time, we discover Animal Husbandry and start on Archery. You never know with Mongols around when you'll need some forces. We also notice that we have some horses nearby, and that would be a good thing.

As we discover Archery, I'm getting impatient for that settler! Looks like he'll come around next turn though. Research starts on pottery, us being financial and all. As the settler in Washington is built, work starts on an archer.

Soon enough, New York is founded to the south-east of Washington. I also meet Saladin, Bismarck, and Isabella, the founder of Buddhism. As Pottery is discovered, we start work on Bronze Working. As the Archer is produced in Washington, the city also grows to size 4, and that seems like the prime opportunity to starting building that first worker. That and we also run into Genghis' borders, and into Hatshepsut's scout. Hey, looks like this continent is not so empty after all, just that we have some room to expand here. Only thing that slightly bothers me is the tundra to the south. It means we'll have to push expansion to the north, straight into Genghis. And that is unnerving. I'm a lover, not a fighter.

As the scout is finished in New York, work starts on a worker there, too. With the invention of bronze working, we start on Masonry. And find also that there is no copper whatsoever anywhere in sight. Maybe we should go for iron working and hope that resource.

As Washington builds a worker, we decide to concentrate on growing it another point, and then building another settler. In the mean time, it resumes construction of the barracks. As Washington increases its population adn we switch production to a settler, and Masonry is founded and research starts on iron working, our scout is killed off to the south by the barbarians. Quite a pity that, even though he pretty much explored everything there was to see down there.

Towards the end of the first report period, we discover another Spanish city quite close to us and decide that it really is time to found a third city to the north of Washington to cut off a nice chunk of the continent for us to settle at our own leisure.

This is how the world looks like at the end of the first report:



And this here is the resource map. We got quite a bit of stuff to go around, but no copper whatsoever:



Also, in case someone cares for a save, it can be found here:

http://apolyton.net/upload/view.php?file=12160_AU100AVovanBC-1520.Civ4SavedGame

[Swissy]

Noble Level:

Founded city on spot as nothing looked better.
Find Mining in first hut
3360 BC found Hinduism in Washington
3280 BC meet Gheghis Kahn of the Mongols
Find Masonry in hut
2720 BC Meet up with Bismark of the Germans
2480 BC found Judaism in Washington
2400 BC Meet Saladin of the Arabs
2000 BC Meet Isabela of the Spanish, she don't like me as she founded Buddhism
My lucky day, Horseback Riding in a hut!!!

Washington size 7 Stonehedge in 2
New York size 2 settler in 13
IronWorking in 9

F9 Stats: GNP 2, Mfg 7, Crops 1, Soldiers 3, Lands 3, Pop 1, Aprv 7, LE 7, I/E 1

I pretty much have entire map revealed upto the Mongols in the north and the Spanish in the east. I have tons of room with sufficent rivers to burry the other civs in tech research. Looks like no more huts, but I'm quite satisfied with three techs, 72 gold and no barbs from the huts I did pop. Went for Stonehedge to try and snap up a couple more religions with Great Prophets. As long as I have metal I see no problems dominating this game.

Techs Research Order: Mysticism, Polythesim, Hunting, Wheel, Monothesim, Pottery, Bronze Working, Iron Working.

[Dubhghlas]

Looks like a trend has developed. Most everyone is founding New York to the SW. I didn't; I'll post the DAR tomorrow, but I went for a try at cutting off the obvious source of furriners to the NE. Hopefully, I can have the whole damn area to myself, though it will cause friction with someone, most likely the Mongols!

[V3nom]

I played down to Monarch difficulty this game as I wanted to test out the effectiveness of heavy pop rushing as opposed to the treecutting everyone seems to be so fond of. I'm hoping to pull off the Civil Service rush AND get the Pyramids AND not dent my expansion by doing so... easy as pie eh? :P

please be gentle, this is my first DAR so any advice or critisizm is appreciated. Comments like 'just go away' will be considered as well
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Game starts at 4000bc (big suprise eh? :P) and I found washington on its starting square and immediately head to mining and then bronze working. I que a worker and then warrior in my capital and set emphasize food on. When completed the worker will devote himself entirely to irrigating crops and floodplains.

My warrior heads north and lets the border expansion pop the goody hut (this way there's no risk of it being a hostile village) I end up getting a few gold from it and my warrior pops another to provide me with a scout.

a groan of annoyance escapes my lips as my scout provides dinner for a wandering bear. However my warrior bravely holds off a pack of lions so it wasnt a completely loss. a girlish squeel of delight escapes my lips as my warrior discovers mysticism in a village (and also gaining me several strange looks from people wondering why a 20year old man is making such high pitched sounds).

Washington hits size 5 as the warrior is finally produced and I set it to crank out a settler, something that will take only 10 turns (less once I get more irrigation set up). I send the little man on his way unprotected but knowing he's going to a relatively safe area, I then switch to slavery so that I wont waste any turns with my new city in anarchy.

During all this the wheel, pottery and writing. are done and I pop rush a granary into my capital before starting on another settler to avoid going above the now reduced happyness limit. 8 turns later the settler comes out and is sent out on his own and after playing hide and seek with a warrior is founded on the spot I want him to. A library is started and then pop rushed into my capital before two scientist specialists are assigned to ramp up my research and get me an academy.

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At 1520 (turn 62):

*3 cities.
*2 workers.
*1 library and 1 granary in the capital.
*the wheel, pottery, writing, mining, masonary, bronze working, mysticism, polytheism and priesthood all researched.
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f9 stats:

*Land area - 1st
*crop yeilds - 2nd
*population and GNP -4th
*life expectancy & soldiers -6th
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screenshot including planned places for next cities:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/VenomLord/Civ4ScreenShot0006.jpg

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Conclusions and thoughts for the next period:

-Pop rushing is indeed more effective than I thought. Without a granary you basically turn every excess food into a shield (very close to a 1:1 ratio). with a granary suddenly every excess bit of food becomes 2shields.

-I am unsure if I'll get the pyramids or the oracle, I should be able to grab 1 but I dont like my chances of getting both unfortunately. I am currently unsure of which city is going to build what.

[chriseay]

warlord difficulty

DAR 1: 4000 BC - 1520 BC
DAR 2: 1480 BC - Beginning of Classical Era
DAR 3: Classical Era
DAR 4: Medieval Era
DAR 5: Renaissance Era
DAR 6: Industrial Era
DAR 7: Modern Era

4000 BC: Washington was founded on the spot, and my warrior is used to pop the goody hut. This being a low difficulty, warlord, the villagers provided me with a worker! This is an excellent turn of events, probably completely ascribed to the fact that I am playing on warlord. Research is begun on mysticism in order to try for some religions, while a warrior is queued up to be built.

3720 BC: My warrior is scouting to the east, and finds elephants and stone near the coast. This will be taken into consideration for a new city. I always plan my cities around resources. I don't know if this is the optimal plan, but I feel that resources provide the most for each individual city and for my empire as a whole.

3560 BC: My warrior pops another hut, and this time the villagers are hostile. I guess it's a little karma coming back at me. Hopefully my warrior will be able to fend them off. My second warrior is finished in Washington, and fortified for defense. A settler is started.

3520 BC: My warrior defeats one barbarian, but loses to the second. I will have to build another warrior or two to scout now, as well as protect my settlers with the barbarians running around.

3360 BC: I found Hinduism in Washington.

3120 BC: My first settler and a warrior are sent to the Southwest, towards the pigs and the coast. I want to found a city by the stone and ivory in the east, but it is too far away right now.

2960 BC: I grow in Washington and start on a settler. I considered a worker, but I don't think I need one quite yet. My second city hasn't been founded and the free worker I got is working the tiles I need for Washington. I think after this settler I will build a couple of warriors, one for scouting and then a worker before I build another settler.

2880 BC: I found New York, with the pigs and a river in it's radius. It is also a coastal city, something I like to get as soon as possible. I start on warrior, with a worker probably to come next.

2720 BC: I found Judaism in New York. I am very far behind on other techs though, and I am questioning why I beelined for Judaism. I will switch civics and switch to a state religion now. I start on research for the wheel so I can connect my resources.

2480 BC: I finish the warrior in New York, and I send it exploring. There is another hut to the south, so I send the warrior there.

2440 BC: I discover the Wheel, and start on Animal Husbandry. I want to be able to use the pigs by New York as soon as it's borders expand.

2400 BC: I get a map from the barbarian hut. I want to settle in the south, with furs, stone and fish around. I wish I had explored here first, though it looks like I have this area to myself, so I can take my time. I also meet the Mongols, who are scouting and come upon the northeast border of Washington.

2200 BC: I found Boston by the ivory and stone, and realize there is also wheat in the radius. I will need to hook up these resources and also the city to my trade network.

2080 BC: I realize that I will need to rush infrastructure in both New York and Washington so I decide to forgo Hunting and Pottery for now, and research Bronze Working. I will continue on the worker techs after. I pop a hut, and get a free tech: Horseback Riding! I would have waited quite a while to get this tech, so it is nice to get it for free.

1800 BC: Bronze Working finishes, I switch to slavery and start on pottery. If I'm going to be pop rushing I'll need the food stored by granaries to get my population back sooner.

1680 BC: I have pop rushed a Hindu Missionary in Washington to take care of a few problems: I needed my state religion in New York, and I had both unhealthiness and unhappiness in Washington. The missionary can help me with both problems. I also send a settler to the southeast of Washington to enclose the southern portion of the continent past my borders. Hopefully this will allow me to expand at my leisure.

1560 BC: I found Philadelphia, cutting off the southern portion of the continent.

At this point I am doing well, but I regret my choice to go for Judaism after my unlikely win of Hinduism. It was a tech I didn't need at the time, and it actually set me back, because I didn't get the benefit of state religion in my second city until I built a missionary in Washington. This is because I founded New York too quickly, which I will remember if I go for more than one religion in future games. It is important to get all the holy cities in the capital if possible.

My goals moving forward are to expand to the north and west until I hit other civs, and then to take the land to the south that I have blocked off. The view of the American empire, circa 1520 BC: