AU210 - UN Peacekeepers DAR 2 – Contact with all other civs

[Rhothaerill]

This DAR thread is dedicated to the interval between DAR 1 and the point at which you gain contact with all the other civs in the game.

[Taian]

Just to confirm here...since the map setting is Large, there are 11 civs to contact? I realized a little late that I was playing it like AUSG (in turn blocks..), but if the 11 civs is the case, I'm OK If not...time to back track..

[Rhothaerill]

Actually there are only 9 to contact.

[Taian]

*Sigh*...That's what I figured. Well, this is going to be a REALLY short DAR then. I don't have a screenshot either. Checked the autosave with a the faint hope of one being there, but no dice. I promise to try and pay more attention next time Anyway, I achieved contact with all other civs in 1750BC.


My overall plan for this turn I think is to branch out as much as possible. I think the point for this AU is to try and keep the AI civs as spread out from each other as possible. I'm thinking I can cut off the Mongols from getting any cities over towards the Indians and the Spanish (ie west), but it looks like they and the Babs are on a heads on collision course.
Chicago founded west of Washington in 1910BC. It's the first stepping stone in claiming the iron to the west. Seattle founded south of Boston in 1870BC. One more and I've successfully cut off the Mongols from the west. Mongols contact me and offer Contact with the Ottomans for German contact and Alphabet. I'm not into trading away contacts right now so I trade the Horseback for Ottoman contact and 25 gold Next turn (1750BC) contact Ottomans and trade Alphabet for 35 gold. Not sure if I have everyone contacted at this point. All slots are full and still one civ in the "more civs" list. Same turn, time to do the trade run thing. Trade away Alphabet to the Mongols for 20 gold. Alphabet to the Babylonians for 30 gold. Alphabet to the Germans for 25 gold. Trade Mathematics to the Iroquois for Contact with Rome and 45 gold. Trade Masonry to Rome for 76 gold. Trade Pottery to the Spanish for 25 gold. So, 1750BC. I have a one tech lead on the Iroquois and a bunch more on everyone else. Polytheism is discovered next turn and I've got 527 gold in the bank. Now I'm starting to think a warrior upgrade to swordsmen is a pretty good idea. Have to see how all this plays out.

[nbarclay]

It took me until 1375 BC to find the Ottomans in their hiding place way off on the edge of nowhere. I finished researching Writing on a 40-turn basis even though the Mongols beat me to it, and then started full speed ahead on Philosophy. I'm the only one who has that, while almost everyone else has Polytheism and I don't. I'm currently working on Code of Laws. Unfortunately, something about who researched Polytheism (or discovered it in huts) seems to have pretty thoroughly demolished my tech lead over most of the other civs.

I'm up to seven cities now, with a settler about to found an eighth. I'm using Boston as a worker pump instead of as a settler pump since the city's main limiting factor is shields rather than food, but due to a lack of shields, it's stuck at a 3-turn pace instead of a 2-turn pace.

Right now I'm in a mode that combines heavy REXing with "Race for Republic". I haven't decided yet whether I want to engage in ancient warfare using my gold stockpile for sword upgrades or play an essentially pacifist strategy at least as long as other civs don't get me too mad at them. (The latter seems more in the spirit of this AU.)

I'm more or less neck and neck with the top AI civ in population, manufactured goods, and productivity. I'm hoping that in the long run, my passion for granaries will win out.

[Dominae]

Not much to report here, as I bought Contact with the Ottomans from the Spanish (for 103 Gold) just 7 turns after 2150BC.

In those seven turns, I accomplished the folllowing:

1. Completed Granary in Boston.
2. Philadelphia and Atlanta founded.
3. Traded for a bunch of Gold.
4. More tiles improved!

That's basically it. Things of note include the Germans being rather strong but thankfully isolated, and the Ottomans building the Colossus in 2110BC. I'm guessing the Ottomans are isolated too, and therefore will make for a great trading partner but also an annoying Wonder rival.

Empire stats, 1830BC:

Cities: 5
Population: 10
Settlers: 2
Workers: 4
Slaves: 9!
Military: 2 Scouts, 2 Warriors
Techs: All second tier, Literature in 27 turns
Gold: 1062, +19gpt

[Rhothaerill]

Hmm, maybe I should have juggled the DAR format a little more than I did. It looks like the first few are going to be short. Oh well.

[Theseus]

Speaking of which, I completed this milestone in the first block.

[Harovan]

I was comparatively lazy to make contacts. I bought the last 2 contacts on 850BC, along with the maps. Since I'm already able to build my FP, that's it for the next DAR thread too, so there!

A remark to research: I'm doing none whatsoever. I run 0%, none, nada, zilch, from the start. I'm right now at the verge of industrial age (jumping slightly ahead) and the only techs I ever researched were Music Theory and Economics, for obvious reasons.

[Cort Haus]

2030 - Writing.

Trade for contact with Germans, Ottomans, Romans. Establish about 350g worth of Embassies.

Get IW in trade. Haven't traded writing. Researching Code of Laws.

1750 - Trade for contact with Japanese, then trade for their HBR. Embassies with all but Japan.

[conmcb25]

Short DAR for me as well. I finally found the Ottomans last turn and traded for Contact with The Japanese to the Mongols. I got Japanese contact and 270 Gold for Polytheism.

Its now 1400 and you can see my city spread below. Im going for a 4.0/ 4.5 ring.

Next city will be NW to take advantage of the resources up there and to the SE for Furs.

I believe I will make a beeline for the Ocean to the west and seal off the Northern and Western CIV's from the Southern and Eastern Civs.

I started to build a worker army and now Im going to focus on a rush on probably the Iroquois first then the Babs who occupy place 1 and 2 in total score. Ive moved from 6th to 5th. Right ahead of the Mongols

I had to buy them off once for 24 gold but got it all back when I sold them Polytheism.

I am guarding my contacts like Fort Knox. And with my tech trades Im equal to all in techs and Im still at 10% science.

Thats about all I can think of, I need to begin preps on a rush. When should I begin to worry about Cultural expansion?

Here is the map:

[Ineffablebob]

Monarch, using AU mod.


2110 - Traded Writing to the Mongols for Iron Working and 20 gold, and to the Babylonians for The Wheel and 25 gold. 18 turns to research Literature, and Washington is 30 away from the Pyramids.

2070 - Found a hut over by the Babylonians, got 25 gold. Could have been better, but at least it wasn't empty. Beat off another barbarian attack in Boston. The Mongols are starting to move units up my way - I suppose defense would be a good idea.

1990 - Settler built in New York again. This one is going east, where I can see some Mountains. No Iron in the closest hills, so I'd best branch out a little.

1910 - Found a hut right where I'd planned to build my next city, but it was empty.

1870 - Got Mathematics from a hut that my Scout found out in the middle of nowhere. Built Atlanta on some flood plain southeast of Washington. Still no Iron to be seen on this map.

1790 - Finally found some Iron southeast of Atlanta. Pretty sure I know where my next city will end up.

1725 - Discovered the Iroqouis to the far east, north of the Babylonians. There's also a gray border to the southeast of Atlanta, but there's water in the way so I can't contact them yet.

1700 - Traded the Iroqouis Babylonian contact, Masonry, and Writing for contact with the Romans and Japanese plus 65 gold. That Great Library is looking better and better all the time.

1675 - Discovered that the gray border to the southeast is the Indians, and are they ever in bad shape. Took 10 gold from them for Writing - figured everyone else had it, so why not? The Japanese and Romans are pretty backward, too - got 37 gold for Alphabet and 25 gold for Writing, respectively. Figuring that I didn't have much to lose by hoarding contacts, I also took 50 gold from the Babylonians and Spanish contact from the Monogls for Japanese, Roman, and Indian contacts. Spain is seriously backwards also, but they gave me 60 gold for the Roman contact. Finally, I got 53 gold out of the Iroqouis for Spanish contact. Then I gave away all the other contacts to make people happier with me - this is a diplomacy game, right? More to the point, it means none of the AIs could trade contacts for anything.

1550 - Literature came up - Great Library in 10 turns. Switched to Construction, but dropped down to 40 turns since research is almost wasted with the GL so close.

1500 - Found a hut that gave my Horseback Riding. Can't hurt.

1475 - Founded Chicago down by the Iron, literally one turn ahead of the Mongols. Their settler is inside Chicago's city limits.

1450 - Barbarian horsemen ate one of my scouts. Silly two move barbarian units.

1350 - New York's latest settler heads north, since I haven't expanded that direction yet.

1300 - The Great Library is completed, and there was much rejoicing. Washington starts on a Settler, much needed in the overcrowded capital.

1225 - A brand-new scout moving from Atlanta is immediately destroyed by barbarians lurking in the hills to the north of the city. Grrr. Better news from north of Washington, where Seattle is founded. Another Settler is on the way to fill in the gap between Boston and Philadelphia before the Monogls get to it.

1200 - The Iroqouis declared war on the Babylonians. The Iroqouis are certainly stronger, but I think the Babylonians will survive so I decided not to bother declaring any wars of my own.

1175 - A barbarian horseman somehow manages to outfight my fortified Spearman in Boston and pillages the city. Luckily I only lose one population point.

1150 - I get both Code of Laws and Polytheism from the Great Library. I also trade the Iroqouis for their World Map and Mapmaking - I have to give up 350 gold, but I'm rich enough that it doesn't really matter. A few more trades gives me the maps of the rest of the world, mostly for the Mapmaking technology. The Germans are way up the northwest corner of the continent, but no one seems to have communications with them. Still not sure who the ninth other civ is.

1100 - Founded San Francisco, again one step ahead of the Mongols. More barbarians come down from the hills to threaten New York, but the spearman defense force holds them off.

1025 - The Mongols just declared war on Babylon. This could be trouble - the Iroqouis would have trouble finishing the Babylonians on their own, but I think the Mongols might make it happen. Unfortunately my military is weak enough at the moment that I can't really declare a war of my own.

1000 - Now the Romans jumped on the anti-Babylon wagon. This could be serious trouble if the Babylonians don't wise up and sue for peace.

950 - Built Miami over by some spices - more luxury items never hurt.

925 - The Romans built the Oracle.

900 - Philosophy is discovered via GL.

710 - Completed a spice road and finally have enough units to garrison all of my cities.

690 - The reclusive Ottomans are finally contacted. I'm doing fairly well myself, but I'm still worried for the Babylonians, currently fighting the Mongols, Indians, Iroquois, and Romans. A bit more military buildup and I may need to declare war on the Mongols to give the Babylonians some relief.

[Cort Haus]

I-B,

What's your policy on the Great Library? I think you're the only poster so far who went for an early wonder. Will you switch off research or do you have a beeline plan?

[Ineffablebob]

I basically switched off research until I got Republic. This gave me a huge gold reserve, 1500+ of which I still have after DAR3. Normally I'd have used the reserve to build Warriors/upgrade Swordsmen (or later on, similar with Horsemen/Knights), but in this game I'm in peace mode so I've instead been using the cash to pay the occasional bribe and keep up on the world maps. In DAR3, I've switched to Republic and now am using the reserve to keep my science slider high.

I actually don't normally go straight to the Great Library, but it seemed like a decent strategy in this game where warfare is minimal. Having multiple Scientific civs on the board helps, since the research goes that much faster.