AU 205: The Power of Gold Revisited Results and Spoilers

[Dominae]

The next millenia is spent finishing off the Persians, building the FP, working all tiles in the core around the future FP, and mustering an army of Berserks, Knights and Galleys.

Oh, I almost forgot. Once contact with all other civs was obtained, I saw that everyone hated me (the Arrian deception just doesn't work for me...). I was slightly behind in tech, and doing my own research was not an option (my militaristic behaviour neglected any real economy). I got what I could out of the Persians, but was too poor to obtain the entry-level Middle age techs. Falling behind in tech seemed unavoidable...

But wait! The Great Library hasn't been built yet! Huzzah! I use a Leader from the war with the Persians to rush it, and it nets me Feudalism, Monotheism, Theology and Chivalry the next turn. I pawn some of these off for Engineering and start on Invention. All is well.

Here's a screenshot from the turn before I finish the FP (the cities surrounding the FP city were taken off Courthouses the following turn, for obvious reasons):

[Dominae]

I prepare a nice force of Berserks for conquering the Greek cities in the Southeast tip of the continent, and set up ground assault of Knights and Musketmen on the mainland along our border. I declare war and largely let the Greek forces come to me, conquering only one city in the first turn of war. The second turn is spent mopping up all the Longbowmen and Medieval Infantry the Greeks are trying to use against me. The third turn I decide to unleash my Berserks: I grab four coastal cities in one turn, destroying 8 defenders (2 in each city, since all the support is busy with my Knights) and losing only 1 Berserk.

Golden Age begun!

What lead I had is cemented over the next few turns, as I'm able to: 1) surpass the rest of the world in research, 2) build up infrastructure in my core cities, 3) continue conquering the Greeks with my large standing army (which is shortly upgraded to Cavalry).

Although all of this sounds pretty glorious, I was frustrated that everyone hated me, and I foresaw a long, bloody end-game despite my superior position. I retire with around 1900 points, with the Greeks a distant second at 1000 points. I was subsequently convinced by Theseus to continue this game, but when I went back my autosaves had all been written over, and I didn't feel like doing it all over again. So, I unfortunately don't have a screenshot of my wonderful Golden Age, but I believe it met the expectations of this scenario.

All in all, another good learning experience. I now have to focus on playing the games through to the end!


Dominae

[Dominae]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I switched to Monarchy once it became available and never even considered Republic in the thousand or so years afterward. My game was an exercise in sustained aggression, which wouldn't have been possible under Republic. I hope this shows that Monarchy does have its place, even for non-Religious civs.


Dominae

[Theseus]

Nice... I particularly like Berserkers versus Hoplites ("I'll show you tough!!").

[De Gaulle]

Interesting write-up Dominae. I had never imagined the power of a 2950BC leader... And I probably would have kept it for a while to build the FP in the jungle. But using it to build the pyramids so early when you have only 3 cities seems a much better idea! Would you dare to say "gamebreaking"?

And I liked your point about using totally corrupt cities to produce only workers for a long while. I have done this a few times when I was very successful during the REX phase. It makes sense since these corrupt cities can only contribute population points to your empire while your core cities have always something more important to build along with a greater need for their population points. And even these corrupt cities can build workers reasonnably fast...

[Dominae]

Originally posted by De Gaulle
And even these corrupt cities can build workers reasonnably fast...

Exactly ten turns, if you've got the food. Given that I had the Pyramids, I was actually hoping to build Workers in my corrupt cities faster just to keep my population down (to avoid unhappiness)!

I believe this strategy (build Workers in corrupt cities) fit nicely into my game because I knew most of my corrupt cities would become useful once my FP came online. Thus I could afford to "waste time" building Workers instead of focusing on Courthouses, Aqueducts, and happiness improvements. The upshot was that once my cities became productive, the surplus of Workers had already worked all the tiles surrounding them, making for a big jump in power.


Dominae

[De Gaulle]

Originally posted by Dominae


Given that I had the Pyramids, I was actually hoping to build Workers in my corrupt cities faster just to keep my population down (to avoid unhappiness)!

So there was a downside to choosing to use that early leader on the Pyramids, right?

Originally posted by Dominae
I believe this strategy (build Workers in corrupt cities) fit nicely into my game because I knew most of my corrupt cities would become useful once my FP came online. Thus I could afford to "waste time" building Workers instead of focusing on Courthouses, Aqueducts, and happiness improvements. The upshot was that once my cities became productive, the surplus of Workers had already worked all the tiles surrounding them, making for a big jump in power.

Yep, it sounds like a good thing to do with corrupt cities supposed to become productive soon. And it helps the core cities as well since they can grow faster and focus on other things.

[Dominae]

Originally posted by De Gaulle
And it helps the core cities as well since they can grow faster and focus on other things.

I can't believe I overlooked this in your original post. Yes, this is the primary advantage to the strategy in question. Unless you're using temporary Worker factories, using your corrupt cities to produce Workers allows for a very productive core. If you still need them, it's not too much to expect a Settler or two from your corrupt cities, either.


Dominae

[Arrian]

Dominae,

I do stuff like that all the time, Pyramids or not - so long as I can find a 2-food tile in a totally corrupt town, he can build a worker every 10 turns. If the city will be worthless until a FP is done, as in your example, that is often the best use for the city.

By the way, regarding the use of Monarchy for a long time as a non-religious civ, do you remember my "Ultimate Power" thread? I was China, I switched to Monarchy early and never ever switched again. It can be done - if the game circumstances favor near-continuous fighting, sticking with Monarchy can be worthwhile. I only did it that one time, though.

Super early Pyramids do rock. I had been playing Egypt too much, and so could consider that a viable option due to my deep and abiding hatred of despotic GAs. Now that I'm trying some PTW civs, I've had the opportunity.

-Arrian

[Zero]

speaking of slow ai research, there was one game where I had locked down AIs to not research ANY tech and fight a neverending war. Through careful agreement of alliance and RoP, the war never ended! Vikings were highest AI civ (orignally more powerful than me) and arabs were second highest. Thru RoP with me, Arabs invaded Vikings and pillaged cities once in awhile. But arabs were never powerful enough to push all the way. My treaties with vikings were mixed. I sometimes were at war, RoP, but they never had chance to push arabs out of existance. Koreans were fighting Ottomans pretty much the same way. I was left to fight Celts myself and made peace with spanish and mongols (mongols 3rd powerful were fighitng Vikings thru my RoP) Spanish never researched tech cause they were decimated too early. I was researching Integrated defense when they were stuck at ancient age barely making to middle age!

[Arrian]

On which level?

-Arrian

[Zero]

monarch... it wasnt really the level that was important, the importance was that they couldnt afford scientific research the way they were going at each other....i wasn't researching at rapid speed, it was just that they were stuck in middle age (some not even) at 20th century.

it was kinda being lucky in the right place at the right time... they REALLY valued my ROP agreement.. they never dared to attack. to prove this point, I loaded a save file and canceled a ROP agreement once. after 30 - 40 turns or so, their tech level began picking up right away since they signed peace treaty once they couldnt attack each other. And also they began actually declaring war at me like normally again.

[nbarclay]

And here's the "results and spoilers" thread.

[ZargonX]

Well, started playing AU 205 yesterday night, and charged my way forward with the bold Ottomans (regent, non-killer AI for now...)!

Things started quite smoothly, with the city of Rome quickly falling victim to a small clutch of archers, followed a few turns later by the conquest of Antium. With the Romans pinned down in the south, I was free to settle the northern half of the starting continent. A few boat trips later, and I also had three cities on the rich northern peninsula of the Persian continent. With a good base of cities in place, and no outside pressures, I turned to wonder-building in my capital. The Great Library was my first success, but quickly followed by missing out on the Great Lighthouse by a single turn. Not to be deterred, I followed up with the Great Wall, and then after a quick flip to Monarchy, the Hanging Gardens.
It was at that point that the Greeks, whom I have a long and bloody history with in these AU games, tried a sneak attack on my southern-most city. My spearmen held out, and the Romans were called upon to join me in a crusade. With the Romans serving as a sacrificial block between my lands and the Greeks, I was able to prepare a small flotilla of galleys carrying swordsmen down to make a behind-the-lines landing on the Eastern edge of Greek lands. A short boat ride later, and my swordsmen held two cities at the rear of the Greek frontier.

At that point, the Persians decided to become involved. A stack of Immortals lay siege to my city at the base of their peninsula, taking it quickly. The boats in the north were quickly loaded with swordsmen looking to take it back.

That's where I am right now; no golden age yet, but I'm doing pretty well, I feel. I'll try to post some pics shortly!

[ZargonX]

Golden Age begins! Film at 11! Completion of the Great Wall propelled my busy Ottomons into a golden age, just at the conclusion of the Greek war, and just in time to deal with the traitorous Romans. The Romans, with their civilization built deep in the heart of the jungle, had a natural barrier. Fortunately, with mass production of Med. Infantry, and some galleys running coastal shuttles, we were able to make rapid headway. With their first line of cities taken, my newly trained Knights came down to finish the job.

The golden age also gave me a jump on the Sistine Chapel in my capital, and AoW in my other wonder-building city.

Unfortunately, as things were going well with the Romans, the evil Persians launched a sneak attack against my cities on their continent. My fortress line blocking the peninsula was not as heavily defended as I would have liked, and only held out for 2 turns.Overwhelmed by stacks of Immortals, there was nothing even my pikemen could do. The Persians took both cities in rapid succession, and burned them to the ground! A hasty peace was made with Rome, leaving them with only their capital and a small village, and my war-machine was aimed at the Persian backstabbers.