Early Landing setup...very sweet

[La Fayette]

[SIZE=1]

My order is something like this:
ssc-buy here first
cap/2nd trade city-buy here second
scroll thru and incrementally buy caravans
scroll thru and buy up markets with remaining funds

So is mine,
but I have been busy testing ' twin cities' and haven't started your wonder island yet.

[Bloody Monk]

[QUOTE] [SIZE=1] Originally posted by Smash
I can't remember when I switched to Republic.925,825 or 725 bc.Around there.Right after Mich's.

Thanks much for the very helpful summary, Smash. Can you recall the order of Wonder discoveries?? My effort had the Chappel much later IIRC, due to serious competition from the AI for HG and Col.

[Smash]

Yes i don't do well recording stuff.I start out alll gung ho..going record everything..but somewhere around turn 30 or so i lose patiance.I sure wish there some kind of in game history.Oh well..

hmm...lets see..I'm pretty sure my first wonder was The Collosus.Yes it was.Then Marco's.Both of these were finished by 1500 bc..I think.By then I had exceeded the riot factor limit thingy and rushed 4 caravan asap and built The Gardens.
Next I went for Mich's.Thinking about it I seem to remember going Republic in 1025bc...Not sure though...I did not go the Philosopher King route right away.I did trade after Monarchy.Then I think I was able to trade for Myst,Lit,Writing and Poly.That left just Philosophy for Mono.
Then I went back to the SSC wonders.I was able to trade for masonry and math.Boom..there was Astronomy.Then using Marco's I managed to get the ai to either research University,or they got it from a hut.Then a quick trade and on to Gravity.Next i think was a trade for The Wheel and Engineering.That left me with Medicine and Sanitation to do myself.Somewhere along the line I traded for The Republic.Basically I gifted any tech an ai was researching and maybe a certain pre-req.Then checked what they chose.Repeat if needed.
In the 1ad save I will trade the Chinese for Bridge Bulding.Aztecs will get it form Great Library.I will gift to the Greeks.That will clear those 2 for a new tech.The others are researching Economics(2 civs) and Fuedalism.If one gets Economics first, I trade and gift to the other.If I get it first I gift to both.If I should get Feudal before the other,then I gift..etc
While all this was going on,I have a dozen or so cities incrementally buying caravans.Every last piece of gold.Deliver 1 or 2 internally..for some more gold.I only had a little worry with The Gardens.I had to jack taxes to make it.Thats another thing I'll do.I'll raise taxes if i'm broke to build something asap.Like discovering University doesn't help me until I build one.Better to take 1 or 2 turns science hit and get it built and into play faster.

[Carolus Rex]

Somebody, please kick my butt real hard!

Two incomprehensible mistakes...

My second try was better, but:

i) I made a giant blunder in the end. While waiting for Superconductor I picked random techs. Then, after two techs and it still wasn't available in the list, I realised it wasn't showing because I didn't have all the pre-requisites... Still, had I not messed up the end, I was only looking at a mid 1500 landing, which brings me to mistake number two:

ii) I assume you used Bombay for the SSC, Smash? In both my tries I built the SSC in the capitol...

Often in my SP games, I try to find the perfect SSC site for my capitol. Well in this game, by habit, I used the capitol Delhi... I couldn't understand what was so sweet about that site...

And guess what? It was not until after my second try that I found myself thinking "Hm, maybe I should build the palace in Bombay next try, since it has so much trade potential?"... It didn't occur to me that I could go ahead even without a palace there first... I have built the SSC in the capitol so many times (although making sure that it has trade specials) that I went on auto pilot in this game...

Can you spell I-D-I-O-T, CR?

My only defense is that I have played both attempts at night (one ended 5 AM)...

Carolus

[Smash]

hehehe..yes it will be tough to get Superconductor without The Laser for example.

Normally my cap is my ssc also.Since this was an early landing freindly enviroment,I set it up to have the 2nd city as an SSC.For the order in which cities contribute beakers thing.As long as the SSC isn't the first or last city built,it counts at least second.That way some small crappy city can finish the beaker box after freights and the SSC beakers are not wasted.
I'm sure you'll do better with it as your SSC.

[Ecthy]

yeah, I played a bit around that game today... I've never done one of those extra-success-big-ass-early-landing games though, so I just made one of my fun games out of it... managed to make Delhi an SSC though, with an optimum of 2 turns/tech... I know it#s pathetic and you guys get things done like 5 techs/turn, especially on a map like that but hey, it was quite successful for my dimensions.... ans when the game got boring in the 2nd half of the 19th century, I quit... could have started constructing the spaceship then, just couldn't be arsed... I had 13 cities in the end. any more questions?

[Carolus Rex]

Third attempt is looking good!

Wish I could claim all the credit, but I got three ( ) advanced tribes! Checked the calender, but it wasn't December 24th...

Monarchy by 2650 BC, Bombay at size 21 with all the science wonders in BC... It's now 280 AD and I have 10 cities...

But,

With whom did you trade in the end game, Smash? Many of the AI civs' cities are not coastal cities (look at the Zulus) and hence difficult to reach fast, the Chinese are too close (so are the Germans?), the Aztecs are decimated in this game by barbs (got only two, small cities)...

Gotta print out (yet another!) timetable for Oedo years (haven't switched to demo yet), since I messed up government change in the earlier tries!

Think I can squeeze in a pre 1000 AD landing in this one!

Carolus

[Smash]

I started with the Chinese and later lengthened the chain to Azteca.Both had coastal or 1 square in cities.The Chinese were nice enough to build a handy fort within reach of Beijing.An Aztec city too long to type out located at 77,75 received the bulk of the freight.That chain was nice as I had access to 9 different cites and their different demands.All of the Aztec cities were repeaters for this and that throughout the game.Alot of silk and wine iirc.

[Carolus Rex]

It's now 840 AD and I'm one turn away from Space Flight. This means I won't make it before 1000 AD...

A couple of questions:

i) Helper cities

Infrastructure and size; which improvements do you build? Mine only have temples (and their sizes range from 4 to 8), then they build nothing but caravans/freights. Should they be bigger? I never managed to get two advances per turn, there always was a tiny bit of beakers missing. Maybe libraries, marketplaces and even superhighways would have made the difference?

ii) Food caravans

Do you use the trick described above by Xin Yu and Edward to get rid of them? I haven't used it.

iii) The tech tree

At one point I had only crappy tech choices (including Communism) + Flight. I picked Flight. Later on, I only had crappy tech choices and went for Communism which I knew the Chinese had (traded with them immediately). Should I have picked Communism instead of Flight the first time to prolong the effect of Colossus? Do you ever manage to have Colossus active + have Superhighways + a research center (if it is possible to climb the tech tree that way) in the SSC?

iv) The space ship

To fusion power or not to fusion power it, that is the question... Also, which configuration do you strive for?

Carolus

[Smash]

i-Most size 8.Some size 12.1>6 size whatever they can reach.Kinda like this:size 8 with Mich's and markets,routes>size 12 with temples and JSB-beyond with pretty much the works favoring financial stuff first.Libraries here and there.Same for superhighways.Not every city.
I've been thinking about using the Oracle instead of JSB.JSB is a safe way but Theology could be dropped...never know when the ai is gonna do Theology on you.Could tech bomb them and kill their research,but then you lose a civ for barter....more humming and hawing needed for me..

You're very close so a few more things here and there would do it.Without rehoming it helps to have several large cities that bring in large bonus.I pick repeaters for these if possible.Trade arrow potential is #1 though.

ii-no.I had lots of cities and as long as I keep delivering I always seem to have lots.My big cities were almost never without something to build.Nothing done by me consciously.

iii-most definetly pick Commie.Once you are able to get at least 1 tech per turn you will get "crappy" choices.Never take Flight Before Computers..so yes I have the lot going..not usually research lab for more than 1 turn unless "crappy" choice.

iv-depends on the # of cites.either 15-1-1-1-1-1 or 15-2-2-1-1-1 or 15-3-3-1-1-1 or17-4-4-1-1-1 or 20-5-5-1-1-1.Whatever I can build in 1 or 2 turns max..with or without Fusion when turns are still more than 2 years.

[Carolus Rex]

Thanks!

You actually build JSB? I avoid Theology all together as it is a dead end tech. Maybe this (i.e. building it or not) is dependent on the number of cities that you have? I only have ten in my third try and have to economise on what I build. Maybe more cities are better?

Hm... Regarding delaying Flight; that's what I thought! And I wouldn't expect a research center + Colossus active + Superhighways to last too long either... I just never seemed to get it in (since I always favoured picking Flight too early it seems)...

What about WLTCD/WLTPD? How many "sessions" of cranking up the luxuries do you use to grow your cities? If I switch to republic after MC, then I often am successful in growing the SSC to size 12 in a single "session". Then I use a second one after Shake and the sewer system is built. Sometimes, though, I need three sessions... Do you raise taxes to get money to rushbuy city improvements while growing or do you max science?

Carolus

[Carolus Rex]

Fusion power?

I assume that you mean "no fusion power" if turns are ten years and "fusion power" if turns are two years?

Isn't this tantamount to saying "no fusion power", since you probably launch before 1750 AD in all your games?

Carolus

[La Fayette]

Why and how

Carolus
I don't wish to add anything to the replies given by smash to your questions ii, iii, and iv. Apart from a detail (the size of the bigger ship being 21, 5, 5, 1, 1, 1 IIRC), they might be exactly mine.

Question i (size of helper cities) is more delicate. In fact i am far from sure that there is any definite optimum. Some people (ICS oriented) build many cities small size without any improvement inside, others (OCC oriented) build few big cities and also get nice results. I used to build few cities size 6 to 8 and am now studying twin cities (which means one fat city apart from the SSC).

IMO the optimum is linked to the map (size, landmasses, huts, terrain,...).

[Carolus Rex]

AC...

...in 1121 AD.

I had a 15-3-3-1-1-1 ship (without fusion power) ready in 1100 and was one turn away from discovering fusion power.

I launched directly to shave off four years.

Carolus

[La Fayette]

Re: AC...

Originally posted by Carolus Rex
...in 1121 AD.
Carolus

'Hej, hej, Carolus' ropar alla flickorna i smaaland.