Early Landing Games Strategy Guide

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2.3 Wonders used in ELG

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.


2.3.1 Apollo Program

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.


2.3.2 Colossus

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.


2.3.3 Copernicus’s Observatory

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.


2.3.4 Darwin’s Voyage

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.


2.3.5 Hanging Gardens

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.


2.3.6 Sir Isaac Newton’s College

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.


2.3.7 Leonardo’s Workshop

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.


2.3.8 Marco Polo’s Embassy

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.


2.3.9 Michaelangelo’s Chapel

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.


2.3.10 SETI Program

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.


2.3.11 Shakespeare’s Theater

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.

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2.2 Dealing with the Artificial Intelligence (AI)


2.2.1 AI Diplomacy

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.


2.2.2 First Contact

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.


2.2.3 Trading Technology with the AI

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 you 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.


2.2.4 Trading Commodities with the AI

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.


2.2.5 The Importance of the Key Civ

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

For example, the human player rated as Supreme will use the purple civ as his or her key civ. Other civs in the game will have a different civ to key on, and which one it is depends on their own power rating. Key civ assignments can change whenever there is a change of power rating assignments, a frequent occurrence in Civ II games, especially in the early years. It is also possible for a civ to become its own key civ. In this case no research penalties or bonuses apply.

Anyways, the point of all this is that human players will want to gift all techs they acquire to their key civ, in order to reduce their own research costs, since the penalties for not doing so can be quite substantial. In early landing games, the human player is likely to become rated as Supreme, so it's important to find the purple civ quickly and gift to them any and all techs that are acquired.

Since each AI has a key civ of its own, the human player can influence their rates of research somewhat by presenting gifts to key civ's of the AI they want to help and by presenting gifts to any AI civs they wish to slow down. Doing this may help certain AI acquire a tech you may want to trade for. The most can be made of these opportunities if embassies have been established or if Marco Polo's has been built, so that tech research choices can be monitored.

Finally, you can find out what your own power rating is by invoking the Foreign Minister option, where your power and reputation will be displayed. AI power ratings can be surmised when they are contacted by counting the weapons on the left side of their diplomacy screens. No weapons means pathetic, one weapon means weak, and so on up to the higher ratings.


2.2.6 Space Flight and AI Attitudes

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.


2.2.7 Dealing with Barbarians

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.

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2.1 Types of Cities Used and Their Roles (cont)


2.1.3 Colonies

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:

a) Strategic locations, such as an isthmus separating two bodies of water can allow a colony to act as a shortcut to AI cities that are hard to reach. Plan colony placements in a way so that future freights coming from the SSC and helpers can be delivered to overseas AI targets in one turn by using ship chains, coastal cities and connecting railroads. Clustering colonies together can be a good idea, especially if connecting roads and railroads can be built in time to facilitate the shipment of freights.

b) Colonies should be located far enough away to ensure good payoffs for their freights which are sent home, but not so far that it will end up taking more than one turn to
complete these shipments. A distance of over 15 tiles from the SSC to the closest colony is far enough away. Probably no more than 4 or 5 transports should be required to bridge the distance between the colonies and a home port. The idea is to maximize the number of trades and not the size of the fleet that carries them.

c) Hopefully, a good strategic location can be found that is also rich in food and trade. Most colonies probably need food specials, in order to grow to size three in time to join all other colonies and helpers when they celebrate up to size 7 or 8. Access to trade specials help fulfill the primary purpose of colonies, which is building freights for trade. In the absence of trade specials, coastal helpers will do very well by building harbors and placing most citizens on ocean tiles.

d) Another important factor to consider for colonies, are the type of commodities they will be supplying and demanding. If you want to get the most out of their trades, it is worthwhile calculating the supply and demand wildcards of several potential sites, to identify those with commodities matching those that will appear in the SSC when the trading of freights is well underway. The most dedicated colonists may even want to work out the complete supply and demand lists, but the necessary calculations are extensive. A good estimate, based on terrain and grid coordinates, will probably suffice here. A one tile move in one direction or another can often make a big difference in commodity supplies and demands.

e) A good way of establishing colonies may be to bribe AI cities that already occupy suitable locations. This may be the best option for adding the final one or two colonies after the switch is made to Democracy. Inciting revolts is not that expensive, and can produce instant size three colonies without going to the bother of producing settlers and founding and developing them yourself. The number of suitable candidates for bribery may be limited, but this may be the only option if a size three colony is needed in a hurry.

f) Another idea to consider is shipping settlers who have been working at home to prime colony sites just before Explosives are acquired. The settlers can found and join new colonies, building them up to size three rapidly, while new engineers are produced in existing cities to replace the settlers previously used as terrain workers. Colonies founded during Democracy may not grow to size three quickly enough without getting such a quick boost in population.


2.1.4 Station City

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:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=66560

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.


2.1.5 Tech Trigger City

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.


2.1.6 Space Ship Contractors

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.

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2.1 Types of Cities Used and Their Roles


2.1.1 Super Science City (SSC)

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.

a) If there is a choice of SSC sites, pick the one that will end up giving you the maximum number of trade arrows. This may not necessarily be the site with the best trade specials, since the potential trade of all city tiles must be considered. The amount of extra food the SSC will produce is another factor, since extra citizens can be put to work as scientists or taxmen. Don’t give a second thought to shields, as a total of 10 or so will be plenty when the SSC reaches full size. At that time almost every build will be rushed, and only 10 shields are needed to finish off the last row for freights when they are being built.

b) There are two reasons you may not want to use your capital as the SSC. Later on during Democracy, the SSC can build a cheap courthouse to celebrate beyond size 21 and since a helper is now the capital, it can add an extra citizen for free because of the palace. It can also be useful to have a few helpers contribute their beakers towards the next advance being learned after the SSC has added its own to the one currently being researched. These helper beakers often allow one to get a good jump on learning the next advance, when SSC beakers have provided enough to trigger the first one. (The order of processing cities and their beakers at the beginning of each turn is the reverse of the order in which the cities were founded, so the capital is always processed last).

c) When convenient, triremes and caravels should be homed to the SSC, so that they are free to travel about later during Democracy. As with any other units, it is better to use helpers to produce them, since any unit except caravans and freights can be re-homed to the SSC later, if necessary. The SSC should not have to be wasting its time building units.

d) Since SSC growth is a priority, so is the timely acquisition of techs such as Construction and Sanitation. SSC growth should never have to be interrupted because you lack the tech needed to build an aqueduct or sewer. Similarly, learning Medicine should be an early priority, and if the SSC has many ocean tiles, Seafaring becomes important, too. After the first group of cities has been established, early settlers should concentrate almost entirely on the SSC’s tiles by adding roads and irrigation to them.

e) The fewer luxuries needed to sustain the SSC’s celebration while it grows to size 21, the better. Significantly fewer luxuries are needed by adding trade routes, roads, a harbor, a marketplace, a bank, and the Colossus wonder.

f) The best order of adding improvements and wonders to the SSC mostly depends on the trade specials it has to work with. For example, an SSC having gold specials might make the most out of this heavy concentration of trade arrows by adding a library, university and the Copernicus wonder before adding Shakespeare’s Theater and celebrating up to size 21. A city with weaker trade specials will do better by adding more citizens sooner. In this case, economic improvements, Shakespeare’s Theater and the Colossus should probably precede the addition of some or all scientific improvements and wonders.

g) Once it has reached full size, the SSC no longer needs an aqueduct or sewer and both may be sold. When I first learned that this could be done, this exploit rubbed me the wrong way, because a full-sized city needs a source of water supply and the ability to dispose of sewage more than it ever did while it was growing. Then I learned that others had an equal distaste for ploys I had no qualms about using on a regular basis. Ultimately, the appropriateness of any exploit, trick or ploy is a matter of personal opinions, which will always differ. Rather than try to arbitrate or pass judgment, it was decided to allow all exploits in these comparison games in order to give individual players more tactical choices. I still choose to keep SSC aqueducts and sewers around unless an urgent need for some extra gold arises. Alas, at some point during most games, this usually happens! Oh well.

h) Generally, caravans and freights produced by the SSC should be used for trades instead of for wonders. An exception can be made for a vital wonder needing just one more caravan immediately or in cases where SSC can only make food.

i) Each turn of SSC production is precious, so the SSC should rush buy as much as finances permit. Especially in the second half of the game, the SSC should be building something new on every turn, if possible. The speedy delivery of SSC freights to demanding cities on other continents will cover the extra expense of rushing all SSC builds from scratch.

j) If an AI city is close enough (within 22 tiles on the same continent), the SSC should establish trade routes with it early, to take advantage of the road and rail trade route bonuses. If these are established in time, SSC supply commodities will have changed by the time it reaches full size. If these bonus routes established with obsolete commodities “stick”, then supply commodities appearing later can be traded repetitively, using the wonder bread ploy. In addition, deliveries to the SSC from colonies will not block SSC demands.

k) If no AI cities are close enough for establishing the route bonuses, there is a possibility that a helper city can be given up to an AI or barbarian attack. Afterwards, this new AI or barb city will be within range and the bonuses obtained with roaded and railed routes should make sacrificing a helper worthwhile.

l) Adding improvements such as factories and power plants to boost SSC shields is probably not a good idea. In the second half of the game, most builds are rushed and more shields increases the chances of pollution, which can divert engineers from doing more vital tasks. The appearance of pollution can sometimes interrupt the acquisition of technology, too. On the other hand, pollution due to having many citizens can be eliminated by building mass transit and this probably should be done if the SSC population grows much beyond size 21.

m) Mastering the techniques used to unblock supply commodities is vital in making the most out of the huge trading potential of the SSC in early landing games. Since most of these techniques could not be implemented in OCC games, SSC trading opportunities in them were more limited. However, for early landing games, it might more appropriate to rename this key city the “Super Science and Trade City”, but the familiar SSC abbreviation is close enough and will be retained, just so long as we don’t forget to trade.


2.1.2 Helper Cities

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:

a) Shields are important for helpers in order to produce caravans more quickly. Locations providing 5 or more shields for size three helpers are best. Specials to look for when locating helpers are oil, buffalos, pheasants, silk, iron, peat and whales. Coal and wine need mines and there may not be enough time to build these. If shield specials are not available, forested tiles are the best free source of extra shields.

b) Enough food is important for rapid growth. At least two extra food will be needed to support the settlers and engineers used to build roads, mines, etc. A food special is desirable (especially if it is a pheasant since it will also produces shields), but if no food specials are available, preference should be given to founding helpers on grassland tiles, to ensure an adequate amount of free food, since irrigation takes a lot of time.

c) If possible, helpers should be located on a coast. This allows them to build ships and allows them to take advantage of all of the free trade arrows provided by ocean tiles later in the game, when they grow to full size and shift their emphasis to trade. Coastal access is also needed to build harbors to feed citizens located on ocean tiles. Finally, these locations often allow access to whales, one of the most useful specials for size three cities. Whales offer an excellent combination of shields and trade, while providing adequate food.

d) A total of five helper cities are probably best, allowing for the addition of 4 colonies later on. A mix of 6 helpers and three colonies will work well, too, but it may be best to add the 6th helper later, having it double as a station city, if one is needed.

In the early part of the game helpers will be devoted to producing caravans needed to construct SSC wonders. However, the first caravan or two produced by each helper should probably be traded to an AI city on a nearby continent. Gold is in short supply early in the game, and early trades will help provide enough of it to be able to rush SSC city improvements that are needed, such as harbors, marketplaces, aqueducts and libraries. There’s no use in getting Shakespeare’s Theater built earlier if the SSC’s subsequent growth is delayed while it waits to finish an aqueduct that can’t be rushed for lack of gold. Early trades are also an effective way to acquire techs quickly. So, if in doubt as to how to use a helper caravan, send it off for a trade.

Not much rush buying will be happening in helper cities early in the game, hence the emphasis on shields in order to produce caravans quickly. However, there should be enough gold to afford partial rushes, which will get the most out of the number of shields a helper has to work with. For example, a helper producing 6 shields should rush two more after the first three turns are used to produce 18. The remaining 30 shields needed to finish the caravan will only take 5 more turns. Similarly, a helper producing 7 shields will want to rush two more to add to the first 28, so that the 20 that remain will only take three more turns to build. Similar mini-rushes can save a turn here and there when producing caravans, and when all these saved turns are added together, a better landing date will result.

Once helpers have built enough caravans to finish Sir Isaac’s, which is usually the last wonder built in the SSC, they can shift to building harbors, colosseums and transports, while waiting for freights to become available. Any extra caravans produced by helpers after the discovery of Invention or Navigation, will not bring in much gold from trades. If 8 of these extra caravans happen to be around, they might be put to better use building Darwin’s, in order to speed up the discovery of Corporation.

Later in the game, when the trading of freights is in full swing, there will be enough income to rush freights in helper cities, but it’s probably best to do this in two turns, to avoid the penalties involved in rushing freights from scratch. Most helper citizens will now be best off working ocean tiles and trade specials, and you’ll want to add superhighways to maximize their trade arrows and to make 50% more on their trades. As more beakers are required to cover rising tech costs, the best helpers will add libraries and universities, too.

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1. About Early Landing Games (ELG)

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.


1.1 Origins

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.


1.2 Comparison Games

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.


1.3 Rules

The rules are simple:

a) The human player may not tip any huts. What’s a rule without an exception, so in the rare situation where a hut may block a player’s movement, the player must save the game, after which the hut is tipped enough times until it produces a military unit or a nomad, which must then be immediately disbanded. Huts appearing in a radius of any city can be destroyed without reaping any benefit by placing a citizen on the hut’s tile while in the city display.

b) Since the game attempts to prevent caravan and freight re-homing, this exploit is not allowed. Any other ploy or exploit is allowed.

c) As a minimum each player should provide a summary of their game, using the format provided with each game start. Each player is also encouraged to keep a chronological log of their game, listing significant events. The addition of details describing the game and strategic decisions made while playing it add interest, so doing this is very much encouraged. Once a game is completed, a short game summary and the optional log should be posted in the game’s thread. Attached to this post should be a save of the game made showing a completed ship or one on the way to Alpha Centauri.

d) The player posting the best landing date before the deadline will be declared the winner of that game. If the date is the best so far attained in comparison games, it will become the new “official” record.

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Early Landing Games Strategy Guide

Contents

1. About Early Landing Games (ELG)

1.1 Origins
1.2 Comparison Games
1.3 Rules

2. Strategy

2.1 Types of Cities Used and Their Roles

2.1.1 Super Science City (SSC)
2.1.2 Helper Cities
2.1.3 Colonies
2.1.4 Station City
2.1.5 Tech Trigger City
2.1.6 Space Ship Contractors

2.2 Dealing with the Artificial Intelligence (AI)

2.2.1 AI Diplomacy
2.2.2 First Contact
2.2.3 Trading Technology with the AI
2.2.4 Trading Commodities with the AI
2.2.5 The Importance of the Key Civ
2.2.6 Space Flight and AI Attitudes
2.2.7 Dealing with Barbarians

2.3 Wonders used in ELG

2.3.1 Apollo Program
2.3.2 Colossus
2.3.3 Copernicus’s Observatory
2.3.4 Darwin’s Voyage
2.3.5 Hanging Gardens
2.3.6 Sir Isaac Newton’s College
2.3.7 Leonardo’s Workshop
2.3.8 Marco Polo’s Embassy
2.3.9 Michaelangelo’s Chapel
2.3.10 SETI Program
2.3.11 Shakespeare’s Theater


2.4 Governments used in ELG

2.4.1 Anarchy
2.4.2 Despotism
2.4.3 Monarchy
2.4.4 Republic
2.4.5 Democracy
2.4.6 Communism and Fundamentalism

2.5 Acquiring Technology

2.5.1 Science Beakers
2.5.2 Technology Carrying Costs
2.5.3 Research Choices
2.5.4 Research Priorities
2.5.5 Scientific Improvements and Wonders
2.5.6 Using Scientists
2.5.7 Commodity Delivery Beakers
2.5.8 One Turn Advances
2.5.9 Turns with Two Advances
2.5.10 Using Zoom to City

2.6 Trade

2.6.1 Base Trade
2.6.2 Trade Routes
2.6.3 Demand Bonuses
2.6.4 Maximizing Delivery Payments
2.6.5 Importance of Quick Deliveries
2.6.6 Alternating Trade System
2.6.7 Commodity Supply and Demand Basics
2.6.8 Sixteen Turn City Cycles
2.6.9 Commodity Overview
2.6.10 Techs Affecting Supply and Demand
2.6.11 Supply and Demand List Wildcards
2.6.12 Predicting Commodity Supply and Demand Lists
2.6.13 Manipulating Commodity Supply and Demand

2.7 Stages of Development

2.7.1 The Opening
2.7.2 Early Expansion and Exploration
2.7.3 Early Trade and Colonization
2.7.4 SSC Expansion and Development
2.7.5 Helper and Colony Expansion
2.7.6 Hyper Trade and Accelerated Research
2.7.7 Space Ship Construction and the Launch
2.7.8 Waiting to Land

3.0 A Sample Game and Log

4.0 References