The Mesopotamia thread

[SirOsis]

Never really considered it. I could see where most of the other civs are and I planned on expanding onto the islands I'd already explored to keep getting the Seafaring commerce bonus. I felt I would be able to keep the islands through naval superiority instead of expanding overland. I also was saving some cash for when I changed my Gov't to Monarch.

[SirOsis]

I should also say that it is critical to gain a foothold in the north because that is where your only iron is found. Should the game last near the 160 turns the ability to build swordsmen will be helpful in defending your wonders.

[Theseus]

Interesting CP, SirOsis. What was your thinking?

[SirOsis]

I really didn't have much of a plan. I wanted to jump right into a conquest so I chose Mesopotamia. I did play the tutorials first to get an idea of how the game played. Anyway here are some thoughts on what I thought would work.

I chose Phoenicia because I wanted to try out the Seafaring trait. The extra commerce sounded like a great thing to me and I wanted to see how the Curragh handled. You are given 3 settlers to start and I think I settled 2 on the first turn and moved the northern most settler to a position next to the river.

I built Curraghs early on so I could explore the sea. I also wanted to maximize the commerce bonus by settling on coast squares. I didn't really realize how great the Cedars were until later on. I was going to chop down the forests to give me some quick production early on but the Cedars are much better than grassland so I didn't chop em.

Egypt was my first encounter as they moved into the Sinai peninsula with an archer and settler. I did not want Egypt to expand into this area because I had already begun building roads to build a city near the gems in the mountains. My warrior killed the archer and I got a couple workers. (I like the new worker animations with them in chains pounding on a stake with a big rock when mining) I had 3 warriors in the vicinity so I was able to attack and destroy an Egyptian city where the one you can see in the pic is. I considered advancing farther and settling near the gold in the hills but the Egyptian forces were too strong and I retreated and signed a peace treaty. Egypt was contained!

During this period I was able to explore and contact all the other civs. I also had quite a good research rate and enough gold to buy techs. I could also trade my contacts with other civs for other techs I needed which resulted in me leading the tech race. I made a beeline for Epic Buiding(?) so I could build the pyramids and traded for most of the other techs.

I felt that I needed to settle the river to the east since it would be a good border and allow my cities to grow without aqueducts.

I did not build much of a military the first few turns and eventually signed a MPP/ROP with the Mycaneans for a tech I think. A mistake, however, since they sent a warrior and attacked and destroyed my newly founded city in the north which I had planned on building cultural improvements to take Kummanni.

I also was playing for a longer term than the 160 turns. It was hard to get in the mindset that the scenario is for a set time and when the wonders are built the game is over.

I was able to build 6 of the 7 wonders and at near the end of the game everyone was at war. I think there was a Hittite, Babylon alliance and I was at war with the Hittites and Egypt. The Hittites were at war with myself and Myceneans and Persia and the Sumerians were at war with one another.

I had built 2 fortresses at the choke point with Egypt. Their city had expanded culturally so I had to back up a space and build 2 to block that land bridge. I would not have gone to war with Egypt except I thought I had blocked sea access to me with Curraghs but I forgot a space and Egypt landed a horseman next to Tyre. Fortunately I had a Tyrian Guard destroy that horseman before any of my cities could be taken. Curraghs can transport units in this scenario. Something I didn't realize until later or I might have settled the island to the west sooner than I did.

So I had to defend 3 fronts. The North where the Hittite hordes were decending on me with 3-men chariots. The East where Babylonians were coming across the desert. The South where Egyptian chariots and swordsmen were trying to beat down my defenders in their fortresses. All this was going on while I was researching Seafaring(?) so I could build the Great Lighthouse. I was prebuilding a P and FP so I would be ready when the time came. In the meantime all my cities were pumping out veteran Tyrian Guard units due to having the Temple of Zeus in Tyre.


Eventually I settled 2 cities on the island to the west and built the Lighthouse in 1 turn. I was quite happy with the outcome. The last few turns were hectic with so many attackers and my generally weak military position but in the end Phonicia triumphed!

[joncnunn]

In my current game aprox 10 turns before I win, the iron was found just outside the inital CR of my then current most NWern most city when I bought the tech. The settler in route to that area (last to be built) picked a location that resulted in the iron coming within my borders. ( I've decided to reserach the two additional ones that would allow upgrading my armies if I mine the road inside if the first of these hasn't been researched yet.) I have about 1280 cash and nothing to spend it on until the iron is hooked up and of course it will be easier to spend it when the Statue of Zeus completes so I don't have to manually move units around.

Game is going to end anyway right after my War Chariots can be upgraded with me winning if my MPP partner the Phoenicans don't betray me. I haven't been at war with anyone except the barbs all game.

[joncnunn]

Well, the Phoenican version of the WM was much more extensive than I anticipated it to be in my game.

I did buy everyones WMs (Babs was almost worthless, costing me only 10 gold.), for the Greeks I gave them payment mostly in Stone Age techs. The Hities and Phoenicans got some Iron Age techs [in one case I added cash and in the other they added cash], others got pure cash. I wanted to see the lay of the land, especally for the competing wonder building cities.

Apprently the only section nobody bothered to explore was non-coastal North Africa [west of my own limits], the Mediterian, and a few land tiles near the Black sea but in that case the Hities already had units on their way to explore there. I have doughts that the AIs will be doing much sea exploring unless me owning Navigation is enough for them to safely explore the seas.

Edit: Game now over, just won. I had money left over when I masively upgraded my army from Warriors to Companion Inf and War Chariots to Chavarly two turns before finishing the last wonder (Great Light House)

There were still 2 required techs in the Iron Age remaning, so the Age of Empire wasn't reached. And my only war was with Barbs the entire game.

[steven8r]

I just finished a Monarch game as the Sumerians. Not much to tell.

Built all 7 Wonders. Only battles were w/ Barbs. Babylon was my closest competitor.

I'll probably try this scenario again at a higher difficulty and as a diferent civ.

The tech tree was interesting. Had to completely readjust my 'preconcieved tech-researching notions'.

[Dis]

I just played this one again as well on Monarch. I only managed to get 2 wonders though . . I played as the Egyptians- so I don't exactly have that much productive land. 2 wonders and my high population was enough to win the game for me.

2 hours, 2 minutes, and 2 seconds .

I was hoping to beat my older score. You would think I would being a higher difficulty level. But I did only get 2 wonders vs. the 7 I got before. I really thought I would get more wonders. They go quick.

yeah I know the Mycanea and the Egyptians- very easily defendable civs- though the barbarians harrassed me as the Egyptians. Next time I will play the babylonians- a civ in the middle- I promise