Au402 Dar3: 1000bc - 10ad

[Jawa Jocky]

Spain begins the 3rd DAR with some major changes. No longer would science poke along at 10% of the budget. Isabella would commit to 90% science with 3 gpt deficit spending in a bid to discover literature in 18 turns. Seville also switches pre-build granary construction to a galley to start the new exploration.

By 690bc Spain has control over the Mother Island and a wonderful little island to the North. Ironically Pamplona sits on an island with 3 volcanoes. Even more ironic is the fact that the game named it that. The expansion continues rather uneventfully.

Upper left – Spain claims the Northern Island

Upper right - I blame this navigation error on beer. Our 1st galley “the Valdez” was lost at sea.

Lower Left - I sacrifice a wheat resource for 2 fish and a whale.

Lower Right - Rapid Expansion of East Island. The warrior is guarding a settler on their journey. The galleys are transporting a warrior, settler combo.

[Theseus]

I'm up to 10AD, but need advice on what paint program does the best full screen re-sizing.

Being non-industrious, I have not gotten as far in terrain improvement. I'm seeing an awful lot of desert irrigation... is this the right thing to do, especially in the mid-desert, where a centrally placed city is also working floodplains? No desert mines?

/me thinks of Ben Hur... "Work, slave!!" Or Eddie... "Row, you bastards!!"

Seriously, especially once in republic, with the loss of food power (i.e., poprushing), shouldn't shields be a bit of a priority?

[Jawa Jocky]

10ad brings an end to the 3rd DAR for Spain. They are researching Republic at 100% science. They are close to finishing the Great Lighthouse. They are about to expand onto a 2nd major island, and have probably secured Iron on the other island (I still don’t have iron working so that just a guess, but hey who makes such a crappy island). The army consists of nothing but workers, warriors and galleys. I decided against a suicide mission to the Far East since I need at least two galleys to transport all those units to the next island. But more galleys are on the way so the Great Far East will be a focus of DAR4.


*** Players note on DAR vs. AAR ***

The breakup of AARs has one rather large advantage. As you play, post, and then read you realize a couple of things you need to do. The DAR lets you know where you are ahead and where you are behind at the time when you need the information the most. You can use this information to adjust your game before any mistakes turn into problems. I think this is a good addition to Apolyton University.

[vmxa1]

I do not know about the best, but Irfanview works great for captures and resize. I have not played with PS yet, but I will soon.

[Rhothaerill]

A New Frontier

At the close of the last DAR I was almost finished researching map making and desiring to find a new continent. Well I got my wish. I finally found another continent and it was completely unsettled. Too bad it took me awhile to get there. There were around six or so barbarian galleys roaming my coasts from early on and they took out a few of my first galleys. I finally got them taken care of and started sending settlers, workers, and a few troops to this new island. I also settled the little mountain island north of my continent. In retrospect it wasn't a good idea. I was still a little ways from iron working when my settler landed there. I thought, "Oh yeah, several mountains and a hill, and could still be connected to the mainland early on with harbors...this is a perfect place for iron to show up in Dominae's warped sense of humor." No such luck. Sigh! (EDIT: Just read vmxa1's post about finding horses and realized that I'd already settled there before discovering the wheel.) I hadn't checked it because it's a slow building city. Guess it wasn't such a bad idea to settle there after all.

At least I finally found some iron...on the other continent that can't be directly connected to my main continent until navigation (EDIT: meant astronomy..thanks vmxa1) (more of Dominae's sense of humor I bet). No quick whole-realm warrior upgrades for me. And no horses on either continent (meaning no Conquistadores for my GA...gotta get some more wonders going). Oh well, at least I found one more luxury (and the hut on it gave me maps of the world...after I'd mapped the area already). On a bright spot, as of 10ad it should only take me 20 or so more turns to completely blanket my second continent. You can't really tell from the screen shot without looking closely, but I've also discovered where the next continent is, but lost my first galley to try the crossing. I have another one heading that way, but who knows if he'll make it. My Great Lighthouse is still several turns from completion so I have to hope for a good RNG result. My two settler/worker farms have truly been working around the clock and my city numbers have spiked quite a bit from the last DAR.

This has been the longest I've ever gone with no AI civ contact. I don't have a clue if I'm outresearching them or if I'm way behind in tech. If I ever do find some other civs I have some good trade bait techs and a lot of cash to catch up. I've been beelining for republic after getting a few four turn techs out of the way (so I could discover resources and build other things than just warriors). I will however probably take a short detour for literacy just in case my Great Lighthouse build falls through. Because of the map and the possible difficulties finding other civs I think Republic would suit me better than monarchy right now. And if I'm behind in tech it might help me catch up a bit easier.

Looking ahead, I hope to have contact with other civs very soon, and have my two continents fully settled by then. And then I can prepare for war! Thanks to the way this AU was set up the start has been necessarily builder, but my war tendencies need to be satisfied as well. I want a nice short war to establish a foothold on another continent (and hopefully find a horse or a luxury too) where I can then plot more mayhem and destruction.

Well now I get to read all the other DAR's in this particular thread. Can't wait to see some of them.

More to come later...

[vmxa1]

Rhothaerill you don't need Nav to connect that island as it is sea tiles, no ocean. IIRC Astronomy will do the trick.

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by Theseus
I'm up to 10AD, but need advice on what paint program does the best full screen re-sizing.

Being non-industrious, I have not gotten as far in terrain improvement. I'm seeing an awful lot of desert irrigation... is this the right thing to do, especially in the mid-desert, where a centrally placed city is also working floodplains? No desert mines?

* Theseus thinks of Ben Hur... "Work, slave!!" Or Eddie... "Row, you bastards!!"

Seriously, especially once in republic, with the loss of food power (i.e., poprushing), shouldn't shields be a bit of a priority?

Regarding the question of whether to irrigate or mine desert, the answer depends on how much desert you're stuck with. Irrigating and mining both run a food deficit in exchange for shields. Mined desert costs two food for two shields. Irrigated desert costs one food for one shield, so two irrigated deserts give you the same two shields in exchange for two food that one mined desrt would. But by working two irrigated desert tiles instead of one mined one, you have an extra laborer earning gold - two gold per turn before corrruption in Republic.

If you're in a situation where you don't want a town to grow past a certain size, or where you can mine a bunch of desert and still have plenty of food to go around (especially if there are also a lot of flood plains handy), mining makes sense. But if a town can afford the growth from a happiness perspective and is eventually going to hit zero food surplus either way, I'd rather irrigate and work more tiles for the extra gold.

[Theseus]

650BC: Contact with Arabia!! At the end of trading, I've picked up 100+ gold, contact with the Egyptians, both territory maps, Bronze Working, Iron Working, Masonry, and the Wheel, and I still have a lead with Mapmaking!! I'm way behind on score, but I'm numero uno on population, GNP, and Literacy. Spend about 130 gold on embassies.

530BC: HBR from the hut on the SE island!!!

BTW, very devilish about the access to resources... it's making me settle other islands much earlier than I'd prefer... before I even settle Scandinavia!!

450BC: What a weird REX... Galleys, Settlers, Temples, and Harbors like crazy. Sell HBR to both Egypt and the Arabs for WM and 20 gold. The extra 40 gold lets me keep up the 0.9.1 pace... 3 turns to Republic.

410BC: I gift Egypt and the Arabs 10 gold each. 2 turns to Republic, the same whether at 0.9.1 or 2.7.1. I think that after I've sufficiently REXed, Copenhagen (which has only a granary), has gotta go.

390BC: SH*T!! D*MN!!! Lost my first galley, within site of a new AI civ's borders.

370BC: Built a new town on the north island. Researching Math in 5 turns at 0.8.1. Will change to anarchy after 5 more turns to get some stuff built (and take last advantage of poprushing... which I've done a bunch of, BTW), and research Math.

270BC: In the tech lead by both Republic and Math. OK, revolution (ends up being 3 turns in anarchy).

210BC: Damn, just suicided another Galley, trying to explore north of Horse Island. The French just completed the GLight... looks like Cleo got beat out, and she's got no back-up other than a Palace pre-build (does the AI do that?). Other GWs to date include: Pyramids / Mongols; Colossus / Persians; Oracle / Zulu.

150BC: The time has come... abandoned Camp Copenhagen.

70BC: Cleo starts the GLib... so I trade her Republic for Literature, WM, and 70 gold, Republic again to Abu for WM and 70 gold, and gift him Lit. I am 4 turns from Currency at 3.6.1. Home island is now fully populated.

50BC: Switch a number of the core cities to libraries... this is a very builder game so far. Maybe a mistake on Currency... I really need aquaducts.

30BC: Lux rate to 20%. Changed my mind, need one more city on the SE coast, between Farsund and Risor.

10AD: Got Currency, and changed all libraries to markets. WTF is going on with Egypt and Arabia? Not at war, no gold, slow-as-sh*t research... Everybody's very polite though.

[Rhothaerill]

Originally posted by vmxa1
Rhothaerill you don't need Nav to connect that island as it is sea tiles, no ocean. IIRC Astronomy will do the trick.

Thanks. I meant astronomy, but apparently navigation came out.

[vmxa1]

Well at least you know the reports are being read.

[Rhothaerill]

Yep, I've been reading each one of them. The beauty of the AU courses is that each person takes a different path toward the end. I try to play each DAR period before reading everyone else's, but there are a few things that I'm thinking, "shoot, why I didn't do that?"

And then there is the, "Why couldn't my galleys make it over to the Arab/Egypt land?" I had a few who couldn't survive the one turn in the ocean. It probably set me back several turns at the least.

[FrustratedPoet]

FP's 10 AD DAR report

The screenshots tell their own story I suppose.

I'm playing as Carthage on Regent, which I guess is wimping out a bit, but this is my first AU course for a long time.
Got to ease myself back in.

I never usually play Island games, nor games above Standard map size so I thought that dropping down a difficulty level would be wise. I'm totally out of practice in Civ anyway: haven't played SP seriously in months and am getting thrashed in my PBEM games.
I made so many dumbass little mistakes in this game it just isn't funny.

Anyway, I moved the settler one tile East (as I see most people did) and immediately set about researching Writing at 40 turns and hoarding gold. The plan was to beeline for Map Making while building up a big treasury. Since this is Regent I figured I could easily grab the Great Lighthouse and Great Library. They'll come in handy, I expect.

I didn't get anything exciting from the Huts - no techs.

On the bright side I never had any problems with Barbs. After seeing how small the starting island was I decided not to set up training grounds for my warriors and instead colonize the whole island. I'll need those cities. Dominae's placing of whales, fish, jungle and desert all over the place naturally led me to build predominantly coastal cities.

My usual period of sub-optimal expansion ensued and before long I had several cities up and running, had cleared most of the jungle and had several galleys on standy to get out there and explore.

The Great Lighthouse completed in 350BC (and there was much rejoicing) and my navy set to work. The island to the east has some prime wonder-city terrain and I've got 1 city set up there already and will settle 2 more in the next couple of turns.

I didn't bother settling the little island to the north yet, but will get round to it eventually.

The first Civ I made contact with was the Arabs, who I found horrifically backwards in Tech - mostly through a combination of absolutely god awful terrain and AI stupidity without production advantages. I traded Code of Laws and Philosophy to them for several techs, contact with the Egyptians, their World Map and a chunk of gold. Nice.

The Egyptians were even worse off, and didn't have much to offer me in trade that I hadn't already got from the Arabs, but I did the best I could and got another tech, their WM and some more gold. Hmmm ... perhaps I should have played at Monarch.

There is an island off the west coast of the Arab/Egypt continent with some great terrain. I expect the corruption will be awful (although on a map this size it's hard to judge exactly), but it's an ideal base for a war against those Civs so I'm settling there (see pic) before they do. I assume this is what Dominae had in mind when he created this little island.

My sea-going 4-move galleys continued to explore and just on 10AD we discovered the slightly more advanced nations of France and Germany to the North East. I traded for as much as I could, including the vital World Maps (need good scouting info so I can find other Civs faster).

And that's about the current situation.

No Horses of course, but I'll have some Iron as soon as I can connect it up. I have no military as of yet, but will start building up a Sword/N.Merc/Catapult expeditionary force when I enter Republic and prepare for an attack on the Arabs. Republic will complete in 11 turns and the Great Library will finish in 8. After my period of Anarchy I think I'll get Mathematics (for the Cats) and use my huge stockpile of gold to rush improvements (especially Barracks) and units. I've got a big stash that should go long way.

However, I have a pretty big tech lead right now and so I'm not sure if going the GreatLib-and-low-research route will be very sensible. If I can get a different wonder instead I might change plan. Need to double-check the game before I decide.

Civ Summary


My homeland


Near Expansion


Far Expansion

[Mountain Sage]

1000BC – 10 AD

975BC: Map Making researched, Literature in 12 turns (max speed); 1’300 gold and counting.
950BC: Ah! Savages with barbed spears exist after all! Oh well, let’s destroy them and call them Barbarians for our history books.
850BC: Leptis Minor is founded. The Greeks finished the Colossus.
710BC: the Babylonians finished the Pyramids.
690BC: Literature researched; Glibrary in 21 turns (the gods willing); beelining for Republic via Philosophy in 10 turns. Sabratha is founded.
630BC: Rusicade is founded.
510BC: Philosophy researched, Code of Laws in 12 turns. Got the GREAT LIGHTHOUSE. Erin (at size 10) starts on 1 temple, 2 settlers and 1 galley.
307BC: Olea founded.
290BC: got the GREAT LIBRARY; Roxane (size 7, soon 8), starts on 1 temple and 2 settlers.
270BC: Code of Laws researched, Republic in 34 turns. Gold at 1’685.
70BC: Cirta founded.
10BC: I did something a bit crazy. I landed 1 settler on the hut E of the eastern small island and got WARRIOR CODE (pretty, but useless at this time).
10AD: Nora founded, our last city on this continent (see screenshot).

Some comments about the Third Age of the DAR/AAR:
I am glad the settlement of the home continent is completed. Now it’s ‘settler building’ for the island in the east and that bit of land in the north. Time also to start on temples and libraries. I hope my galleys will find some other civs, I am wondering how far ahead (or behind) I am. But with the Glibrary and Republic soon, I feel pretty confident (if the Civ3 gods don’t abandon me).
The argument between building the Pyramids and the GLibrary will rage for Ages to come, I know, but built is built.
PS: I had just ONE Barbarian to fight. Is that ‘normal’? (Not that I don’t mind, mind you).

[Mountain Sage]

Our expansion in 1000BC

[Mountain Sage]

Our expansion in 10AD. Only 1 city far north to be built.