AU502 DAR 1: 4000BC - 2150BC

[Chemical Ollie]

After the easy Monarch win, decided to I replay on Demi-god (a first-timer) and that was quite different. The other tribes showed up in great masses after just a few turns. Luckily, they left me alone and started beating on each other instead (passing through my land on their way). I was able to build 10 or so cities, build at least 20 Gallic swordsmen and introduce monarchy before Sumeria attacked. By then, the other tribes were far into the middle ages, while I was still researching literature or something. I could just forget building a wonder by myself.

Sumeria had no resources at all, but still put up a formidable fight with longbowmen and that defensive warrior unit of theirs. I had an outstanding kills/death ratio for my Gallic swords, but the number of cheap units the Sumerians could pump out made it a long meatgrinder war. On top of that, their cities had so large population and so much culture that their kept flipping back both once and twice. I got some nice wonders throught the conquest, like the Pyramids, Temple of Artemis and Knights Templar.

Now I have almost finished them off, but I think I will have a tough time to make any further progress. I'm still in the ancient age, while the other tribes will enter the industrial age any turn. I have nothin to trade to get their techs. Conquering the Great Library in Salamanca could be an option, but if there was a war I would be toast against their hordes of cavallery and riflemen.

I think I will make a third replay on Emperor instead.

[Rhothaerill]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
Now I have almost finished them off, but I think I will have a tough time to make any further progress. I'm still in the ancient age, while the other tribes will enter the industrial age any turn. I have nothin to trade to get their techs. Conquering the Great Library in Salamanca could be an option, but if there was a war I would be toast against their hordes of cavallery and riflemen.

I think I will make a third replay on Emperor instead.

If you have contact with a lot of civs and CAN conquer the city and grab the Great Library before you get education you will automatically vault yourself back into tech parity. The way it works is that even though the Great Library ends with education, it doesn't actually end until the end of the turn. Which means you'd also receive every single tech known to two other civs you know BEYOND education as well before the Great Library expires. It isn't documented as such, but I've seen it done before.

[Catt]

I played a quick game (tried to make it quick, anyway) and finished late last night. I'll post DARs tonight or tomorrow. In the meantime I read through all the DAR threads to see how others played the game out. Lot's of fun!

Welcome to AU to all the first-timers (Makahlua, jim_steer, Conqueror, Madine, and Andydog)! Hopefully it was a fun experience and I look forward to reading your DARs in future AU games, too! And welcome back Chemical Ollie! No welcome for the regulars

@Risa -- rough luck on the opening. Sometimes it just happens, especially with aggressive civs nearby and on higher levels where the AI has lots of bonus units. I'm glad you didn't let it get you down. It happened to me in a prior AU game (damn Germans), happened to alexman in the Power of Randomness game, and has now happened to Aeson twice in AU games! (Between early rushes and exploding volcanoes, it's a wonder Aeson keeps coming back ).

Catt

[vmxa1]

Chemical Ollie try to race to Phil and get Lit for free. Have a prebuild for the GL timed so you can get it. It is harder with a civ that does not start with Alphabet, but I have done it on Sid, so it can be done.

[Chemical Ollie]

Originally posted by Rhothaerill


If you have contact with a lot of civs and CAN conquer the city and grab the Great Library before you get education you will automatically vault yourself back into tech parity. The way it works is that even though the Great Library ends with education, it doesn't actually end until the end of the turn. Which means you'd also receive every single tech known to two other civs you know BEYOND education as well before the Great Library expires. It isn't documented as such, but I've seen it done before.

I know that, I've done it before. The problem this time is that I have to fight my way past one ring of cities to reach Salamanca where the Library is. And they are almost industrial, while I still fool around with spearmen. It can't be done.

[Chemical Ollie]

Originally posted by vmxa1
Chemical Ollie try to race to Phil and get Lit for free. Have a prebuild for the GL timed so you can get it. It is harder with a civ that does not start with Alphabet, but I have done it on Sid, so it can be done.

Not the ultimate choice for the Celts, but probably a good decision in other games.

[Risa]

Originally posted by Rhothaerill


If you have contact with a lot of civs and CAN conquer the city and grab the Great Library before you get education you will automatically vault yourself back into tech parity. The way it works is that even though the Great Library ends with education, it doesn't actually end until the end of the turn. Which means you'd also receive every single tech known to two other civs you know BEYOND education as well before the Great Library expires. It isn't documented as such, but I've seen it done before.

Yah, that is what I've done in this AU course. Marvelous indeed.

@Catt -- Thanks for your kind words.

[vmxa1]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie


Not the ultimate choice for the Celts, but probably a good decision in other games.

Given the tech problems you are seeing it is the most likely way to get on par. I don't recall what the start location was like in this game, but it not a problem to do it with the Celts in most games.

The only trick is to have a good prebuild and time it with as much of a lead as you can. If someone jumps up with an SGl, there is nothing you can do.

There are only two ways to get in the tech race at Demi, GL or war. War is much harder and may come too late to work.

Well if you get a monoply on ivory and then build SOZ war is fine.

[alexman]

I tried this game last week on Deity AU mod, but I have been too mad to write about it. The plan was to follow my usual approach of REX with minimum military, and let the AI deal with the barbarians, which they gladly did. I figured that the REX would end relatively fast on Deity, and then I could start my serious military buildup.

The problem is that I forgot to tell Hiawatha that the Celts have not been barbarians since PTW came out. So after I plopped my third city on the incense, the damn Iroquois who evidently ran out of barbarians to kill, confused the Celts for barbarians and declared war by occupying my empty city. That fact alone would not have been a really a big deal, except their gazzilion free Warriors rushed Entremont before I could talk to them and beg for peace. Game over.

Reading this thread about how several people had similar luck to mine, I guess the two aggressive neighbors (Iroquois are more aggressive in the AU mod, and the Germans are the usual bullies), along with a start sandwiched between civs made the light military strategy a bad idea for this map.

I am now ready to start another game, since it's been a week and I have somewhat forgotten the map.

[Rhothaerill]

Wow ducki...you got alexman AND Aeson with your map design.

[vmxa1]

alexman, do you think it would have been different if you did not use the AU mod?

[alexman]

Well, the Iroquois would have been less aggressive (2/5 versus 4/5), and perhaps they would not have attacked. But if it weren't the Iroquois it might have been the usual Germans, so I'm not so sure.

Next time I will build more Warriors and and hopefully they will respect me more. Of course, I will have a hard time building enough cities to support my units before I run out of room in that case.

In general, I have no doubt that the AU mod raises the difficulty of the game by half a level or so, depending on the map.

[Catt]

DAR 1a – Emperor – Stock Rules

I’ve been pressed for time lately, and decided I’d try to play a relatively quick game (if I could) and looked forward to a “sandbox” game – not UP necessarily, but a game that allowed me to move quickly without too much attention or concentration and still have fun and lots of options. I’ve been playing mostly demi-god in epic games, finding some a real challenge, but decided to step back to Emperor and enjoy what might seem a little less pressure-filled game. I still find Emperor an engaging challenge in certain set-ups, and hoped the game would be engaging but not demanding. Got my wish Since I played mostly straight through, this series of DARs is more of an AAR, but so be it.

On learning of the course focus some weeks ago, I decided on an overall approach well before I say the start, and hoped the map would cooperate with my plans. Alexman summed up the approach to a tee:

Originally posted by alexman in another thread

Religious with a good ancient UU screams for Monarchy. It's going to be my first government for sure.

I plan to slow down the tech rate so that the Gallic Swords last as long as possible. However, I plan to research full-speed up to Monarchy, and then set the slider at 0% until the middle ages. I'll trade as little as possible, and if I'm not at war, I'll make sure other civs on my continent are at war. We will be the most backwards barbarian continent ever!

I didn’t read through in detail the opening spoiler thread or try and track the approaches others were taking with the start opportunities – just went at it. With a look at the start, I decided to move my worker NW to the plains tile for a little greater view, and then moved my settler due north. Without knowledge of how wet the map might be, I wanted to maximize potential city sites on rivers (especially with an Ag civ) and figured that by settling at the headwaters, I’d provide a bit more breathing room downstream. Desert is just about as good as plains for an Ag civ, so the desert didn’t worry me. And since sugar on plains offers no improvement except a road during despotism, I didn’t concentrate on the sugar just yet.

Settled Entremont in 3950 BC and set research to Mysticism at 100% (initially 32 turns). I was pleased to see the oasis to the NW. The goody hut within view caused me to delay a warrior build so as to avoid barbarians from huts when the capital’s culture popped the hut. I started a build on a barracks – I wanted mostly veteran warriors from the get-go for future upgrade – but later changed my mind and switched the build to a granary for greater REXing power. After irrigating and roading the plains tile, my worker moved to the forest for a chop-powered granary build. In 3500 BC we had our initial warrior anyway.

Catt

[Catt]

DAR 1b – Emperor – Stock Rules

Our conscript began an exploration; our worker improved Entremont. In 3150 BC we met the Iroquois – they had Alphabet and both our techs, so no trades (but I wanted a slow tech game anyway, so other than a few initial trades I didn’t plan to trade much in any event). A short time later, in 3050 BC we met the Sumerians. They had Bronze Working and Warrior Code. No trades. In 2630 BC we met the Germans. They had apparently already met the Sumerians, as they possessed knowledge of BW, WC, Alphabet, and Masonry. In 2590 BC our research on Mysticism was completed. I decided to trade for techs to speed our rush to Monarchy. Don’t remember the precise order, but we traded Myst to the Iroquois for Alphabet and 6 gold; traded Alph to Sumeria for Masonry and 6 gold; and traded Myst to Germany for BW (EDIT: We also traded for warrior code in one of these trades, can't remeber which - the "speeding up" towards Monarchy END EDIT). That put us in tech parity momentarily, leaving Sumeria without Mysticism. In any other than a “go slow on tech” approach, I probably would have gifted Myst to Sumeria to speed tech and deny the Germans and Iroquois trading opportunities, but in this game I withheld Myst. Research was set on Polytheism at max research.

Our second city, Alesia was founded in the hills near an incense supply. With a max research approach, I decided to get luxuries hooked up early to ease the pressure on the income stream from luxury slider needs.

In 2230 BC our conscript explorer had explored SE and S, and was moving back N along the western coast. He entered a goody hut hoping for luck but found barbarian savages. Only one attacked, and our plucky conscript survived.

Catt

[Catt]

DAR 1c – Emperor – Stock Rules

At 2150 BC, we had settled only Alesia, but had a settler in position near a small lake and free-range cattle to the SE.

Catt