The Bloody Monk HOF Celebration Succession Game!!!

[-Jrabbit]

Temples should be purchased, not built, and not until were ready to amke the Rep switch. I support the idea of a library in the SSC.

Camels camels camels.

[Bloody Monk]

Originally posted by Verrucosus
This succession game is mimicking my own playing habits. I never get through a game in a single session, and 1 AD is about the time when I tend to take the first break.

Anyway, if I may, I would to play a set of turns tomorrow. Since there has not been a lot of discussion, I would appreciate some comments in advance. Is there a way to predict from rjm's log which of the tech groups will be available when I have to make the next choice? The Wheel is a group-2-advance, so the last list was either a 1-2 or a 2-0 list, but which one exactly seems difficult to calculate because of all the trading with the Indians.

Sorry for my extended absence. Real Life, ie, health issues, have me socked in. I can't really review the previous turnset, so I can't fathom, or otherwise help with, the tech choices. Why it was thought to be necessary to research orphaned techs, WarCode & Horse, and then immediately get then in trade, is a great mystery. Must be my fever....

Whatev, please review the d/l I offered in post 119. In short, you can always determine where you are in the tech tree by adding up the techs we have finished minus any techs we started the game with (in this case, none) plus the current tech...then divide that by 3...the remainder is the tech group that is excluded next. This time we have finished 25 techs, including the current one (which we just traded for)...so, 25 divided by 3 = 8, R1...nothing from the '1' column next, only 2's and 0's. Among those, Engineering would be my choice...to set up Sanitation later. University is being done by Purple...thank you very much.

To enhance our research, try to offer the AI tech gifts that they are currently researching that we already have. Not so much Mysticism as that will require massive gifting, but definitely Construction. Why are there still AI's that we haven't given Republic?? Give Republic away. The only reason to delay is if that AI is currently researching a needed tech. Let the ones working on needed techs be for now. I would do this at the next turn, after this tech choice, and I would trade one of them for Iron Working (for Bridges).

A Library for SSC is grand. Wait until a delivery then rush it after the first turn of building. As much as possible, the SSC builds should be rushed after the first turn. Personally, I think every city, by now, should be supporting a Sett, and should have at least two warriors, and port cities need boats. A huge amount of infrastructure work needs to be done to prepare for Republic. Build the Chapel and the Theater asap. ST's plan to max taxes still holds. We need gold from whatever source to quickly suit up a cadre of garrison troops and Settlers. If we slow our research, per the slider while the prep work is getting done, then more deliveries can take place under Republic before Navigation/Invention chops the payouts.

I'm passing out as I type so this will be short. Have fun, V!!

Monk

[-Jrabbit]

MONK SIGHTING!!!

Engineering would be my choice...to set up Sanitation later.

[-Jrabbit]

Hope you're hanging in there, big fella. Great to see you online again.

[Verrucosus]

I must say that I was so tired from work last night that I didn't get to count that many camels before I drifted to sleep. Thank you, Monk, for commenting despite your fever. Your tips will be extremely helpful. I take the last line of your post as an encouragement to keep playing and I hope that you will soon get better and be able to participate more fully. After all, this is the Bloody Monk HOF Celebration Succession Game!

The basic plan is as follows:
- Finish the road network.
- Get more settlers out and start irrigation projects to prepare for the Republic.
- Build Michelangelo's Chapel.
- Research or trade towards advances that will help in the science city (Engineering, Medicine, Gravity).
- Get more ships.
- Keep developing the science city.
- Keep the trade flowing.

I will play now. I haven't done this for a while, so it may take a few hours. I will keep checking this thread, so tips, warnings and other comments are not wasted.

See you later!

[Verrucosus]

As a new leader is sworn in, he announces that preparations for replacing the Monarchy by a Republican form government will be a strong focus of his administration, but that a revolution will not be held during this term. No, we are not in Canberra. This is Madrid and it's 150 BC.

150 BC
- I begin by touring the nine great cities of Spain making a few adjustments. The most important change is probably rushing settlers in three cities (Madrid, Saragossa and WYTMTMonkyTown) that have a big food surplus and no settlers to support. Production is switched to boats in Bilbao and some of the inland sea cities.
- All automove orders are cancelled. (I just prefer to move units manually.)
- Research funding is cut back to 20 %.
- The food caravans near Valencia are moved towards Madrid where I plan to build Michelangelo's Chapel.

125 BC
- Americans and Indians make peace. (They were fighting?)
- Several new settlers trained. Valencia sends out a new hides caravan. The city's happiness analysis shows that the next citizen to be created in two turns will be unhappy and end the celebration. As I do not wish to raise the luxury rate further (seems like a waste in the smaller cities), I give in to my "civilised" tendencies and start on a temple. (The garrison is already at maximum size.)
- We trade the Republic to the Americans for Iron Working.
- We gift the Wheel, Mathematics and the Republic to the Greeks. Exchange maps.
- We gift Construction and the Republic to the Celts.
- After these transactions, relations with the Celts are up from "hostile" to "uncooperative", but relations with America and Greece are down from "receptive" to "neutral". Should I have given away more advances?

100 BC
- Vikings abandon Great Library project.
- Madrid starts Michelangelo's Chapel. Move eight caravans into the city to speed up construction.
- I spend 70 gold to rush the temple in Valencia.

75 BC
- Americans announce that they are about to finish the Great Library.
- Valencia finishes the temple (given that I'm about to get Mike's that move was pretty stupid), moves on to library.
- Michelangelo's Chapel is built in Madrid ending out happiness problems for the time being. (By the way, Civ4 is a fine game, but its wonder movies appear bland when compared to those of Civ2.)
- We deliver a gold shipment from Valencia to Bombay for 188 gold establishing a third trade route bringing Valencia 4 more arrows per turn.
- I lose the Saragossa trireme in a storm! Darn, I should have read the manual again.
- Foreign relations have reverted back to hostile with the Celts and receptive with everyone else.

50 BC
- The Americans finish the Great Library, the first wonder of the world outside Spain. They change production in two other cities to Pyramids competing with the Vikings. They are now hostile towards us.
- We discover Engineering and start researching Sanitation.
- We rush the library in Valencia.

25 BC
- The Americans build the Pyramids. They switch production in the other city to the Great Wall. The Vikings switch production to the Lighthouse.
- America becomes a Republic and is again "receptive" towards us.
- The Japanese trade Mysticism for Trade to the Greeks. The Americans get Mysticism through the Great Library.
- The Japanese and the Greeks conclude a "secret" alliance. (This is like Alpha Centauri, where the entire planet gets a newsflash whenever someone starts a "secret" project.
- Valencia builds a library and resumes caravan construction.
- Four turns have passed since the last tech trading session, but I think not delaying the Indians's progress towards University is more important than lowering out own tech costs.

1 AD
- Greeks get Seafaring from the Japanese. Americans acquire it through the Great Library.
- Session of the High Council in Valencia. I had almost forgotten about this feature. It's silly but charming.

20 AD
- Barbarian uprising (leader + 2 horsemen) north-east of Madrid.
- Japanese and Americans ally against us.
- Several caravans depart towards India by ship.

40 AD
- The Americans develop Construction.
- The Celts adopt the Republic.
- The Vikings report that they have almost finished the Lighthouse.

60 AD
- The Vikings build the Lighthouse.
- A barbarian horseman's attack on Madrid fails.

Summary: Not exactly an exciting period of Spanish history, I think we have made some progress towards the Republic. We now have nine settlers improving our lands and five boats. Caravan production is well ahead in a number of cities and the treasury is full (I refrained from rush-buying in the last few turns to have emergency funds to bribe the barbarians. Hides caravans from Valencia are approaching India where there is demand to be met in Bombay. Still, there is a lot left to be done. In particular, I have not yet made a move on Shakespeare's Theater. Obvious gaffes of the Verrucosus administration have been Trireme-gate and the unnecessary construction of a temple in Valencia. Analysts may be able to reveal deeper flaws. Nothwithstanding any blunders, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in office. I am looking forward to your comments and have, this weekend, enough time for an extended stay at that ominous Mouse Institute. Viva Espania! Viva el Rey! (We're still a monarchy, right?)

Verrucosus

[Verrucosus]

Here's a zipped version of the save file for -Jrabbit.

[Bloody Monk]

@ Verrucosus,

Good job, V!! And for a very entertaining log, too.

The Sticky Mouse Institute is a psychological experience and follows from one of the best aspects of Succession Game play. When one has to write a log for public view it tends to anchor one's lessons. I bet you will agree that you will be less likely to lose another boat again. These missteps are then a very good learning experience that tends to improve one's game. Another point about the Temple in the SSC: with an eventual Shake's, there will never be a need for a Temple. No matter. After the Theater is finished, the Temple can be disbanded/cashed.

- After these transactions, relations with the Celts are up from "hostile" to "uncooperative", but relations with America and Greece are down from "receptive" to "neutral". Should I have given away more advances?

This is a 'feature' of the MGE AI. Even if you get them to Worshipful they are likely to be Hostile, etc, immediately after you close the contact. It just happens that way. As for giving them more...I give them only enough to get a new map, but no more, and I avoid giving certain techs for strategic reasons (I haven't built the WOW yet, for instance). I check after each gift (once past Neutral) to see if they will swap maps. Sometimes an AI will agree at Receptive, sometimes they have to be Enthusiastic. (btw: they will usually trade techs at Neutral.)

- We deliver a gold shipment from Valencia to Bombay for 188 gold establishing a third trade route bringing Valencia 4 more arrows per turn.

To be clear, you delivered a camel to Bombay and the SSC got a reciprocal gold route from the trade. There is always a return part of the transaction. The SSC delivered something else though, probably Hides.

- The Japanese and the Greeks conclude a "secret" alliance. (This is like Alpha Centauri, where the entire planet gets a newsflash whenever someone starts a "secret" project.

Actually, this is something we learn because of Marco Polo. Our Embassies are full of "virtual spies" who ferret out these little nuggets.

All in all, a good turnset; we are moving right along.

---

Who will be next??

Monk

[Verrucosus]

Thank you, Bloody Monk. I had almost as much fun doing the writeup as I did playing the turns ... and I have to admit that the educational value of writing about losing a boat is bigger than just losing it.

Originally posted by Bloody Monk
To be clear, you delivered a camel to Bombay and the SSC got a reciprocal gold route from the trade. There is always a return part of the transaction. The SSC delivered something else though, probably Hides.

No, it was a real gold caravan from Valencia. In rjm's 150 BC save, it was standing on the west coast about to board ship.

Now, I look forward to continue kibitzing as my successor will take up the reins.

[Bloody Monk]

Originally posted by Verrucosus

No, it was a real gold caravan from Valencia. In rjm's 150 BC save, it was standing on the west coast about to board ship.

My bad, so sorry.

Monk

[Verrucosus]

Never mind, I suppose there was a participle too many in the original log entry to make things clear enough.

By the way, I noticed that the Indians are not that strong yet in terms of military and number of cities. What happens if they get destroyed by someone? It's not spelled out exactly in the key-civ-threads, but I would suppose that the new, less advanced purple civ will become the key civ for whoever is "supreme" lowering tech costs dramatically. Of course, this can be countered by tech gifting. However, what happens when - in a "no restarts game", for example - the purple civ is not resurrected? Will it stay the supreme key civ with its final number of advances or will another colour assume that role?

The question might be a bit too hypothetical for this thread, but these thoughts only come up because history is waiting for the next player who will get to deliver lots of hides to the grateful people of Bombay, see the original performance of Henry V at the opening of Shakespeare's Theater and all sorts of other perks associated with leadership!

[Bloody Monk]

Verrucosus,

In a no restarts game, the Supreme Civ (us usually) will be burdened by enormous tech cost penalties...however many techs they have are that many more than the (now dead) Purple. Very bad. That's why I allow restarts in Landing Games. The key civ for the Supreme Civ is always Purple, even if there is no Purple. This happens frequently in micro map games,from the beginning, where the computer does not judge there to be suitable space to start the 7th civ.

The same (but less so) is true when Purple restarts. Until you tech bomb them, they will have only a fraction of the techs of the previous Purple. So your tech costs would be higher, not lower at first.

Hope this helps.

Monk

[Verrucosus]

Originally posted by Bloody Monk
So your tech costs would be higher, not lower at first.

Ah, I see. In fact, I now have no clue how I got the idea that restarting purple could lower costs and why I thought that would have to be "countered". Not my best day, I'm afraid. Good thing I'm not actually playing the game today.

I see there was a second download. Is that you, -Jrabbit, or is someone else waiting in the wings?

[rjmatsleepers]

Originally posted by Verrucosus


Ah, I see. In fact, I now have no clue how I got the idea that restarting purple could lower costs and why I thought that would have to be "countered". Not my best day, I'm afraid. Good thing I'm not actually playing the game today.

I see there was a second download. Is that you, -Jrabbit, or is someone else waiting in the wings?

One of the downloads was me.

RJM

[Verrucosus]

Great! I think the rules allow you to play again, but since you did the preceding turnset we should probably allow two or three days for someone else to step in.