AU501 - DAR4: Steam Power

[DrSpike]

The battle was a bloody one on both sides, and I did wonder if I was going to get RNG whupped when I started with 2 losses with no damage done whatsoever. However the turn ended with Ur falling. I was less worried about flips now, but mopping up was going to take a while since Sumeria suddenly had a few units. Fortunately they were archers and Enkidu. The main objective was capturing the centre city so that the FP could be up asap. Once under control Ur started on a courthouse. There are rumours that Sumerian lives were used to speed this but I deny them categorically.*

New recruits kept piling in from the mainland whilst I soaked up the futile Sumerian attacks. When we had enough units we attacked the 2 cities to the North, both of which could be bombarded. In 490 the second one fell.

Back in the core we had switched to temples for the oncoming republic. In 470 we discovered Theology and built Mikes using the SGL. We revolted to rid ourselves of this barbaric despotism.

* It's true though.

[DrSpike]

Meanwhile, back in the West I had only managed to secure most of the little island, since Japan snuck a city in just as the invasion was starting.

In 330BC after a seemingly interminable anarchy we hit Republic, and started research on Education in 14 turns. We had traded for Feudalism and Engineering after getting Theology, and I was praying someone would do Invention and maybe even Gunpowder by the time I'd finished on my research path.

At this time The core were trying to get up libraries and harbours (both cheap ) and then aqueducts/cathedrals to really grow.

By 110BC settling was complete, with nine cities on the Sumerian homeland, 11 on the mainland, and 5 on the island to the West. We had just discovered Education, and started on Banking. Copes was the next target, but the recipient was the capital, which needed more time for some infrastructure.

[DrSpike]

Back on the homeland infrastructure was going up and spare pop used for instant size 12 cities. In 170AD my dromon, which had been following a Sumerian galley for hundreds of years, finally blew his top and bombarded him, unfortunately with lethal consequences.

The GA allowed us to use the copious cash to rush some improvements and bump more cities to 12. Copes was being prebuilt at Constantinople, and research was quite nippy all of a sudden.

[DrSpike]

Copes finally arrived in 320AD. The AI had come up trumps with invention and gunpowder so just 5 techs to go. In 450AD we advanced to the next age, and Newton's arrived in 490AD.

Science output was 586.

We got Medicine and went for Sanitation. I then gifted everyone into the age and got Steam Power as a trade. I chose electricity. The AI beat me to Bachs, leaving me in no man's land at Adrianople. Still, happiness problems were over now after an AI discovered Navigation, and the new-fangled hospitals would soon allow me to bump certain cities up even higher.

[alexman]

Looks like a nice pace for an early launch.

Egypt defeated Russia?

[DrSpike]

Egypt seemingly didn't like being behind, so switched govts and became quite menacing. Fortunately Theodora and the Egyptian leader shared a fondness for shoe shopping, so we had an understanding.

I could have landed early, but I was quite bored. Plus I didn't fancy chasing resources around the map. Landing strategy would have diverged from what I report in the later DARs, since I didn't bother with Commercial docks, Hoovers or research lab prebuilds as I already had decided to take the UN win. Egypts warmongering had made them as popular as herpes, so it wasn't too difficult.

[Theseus]

DrSpike, you're doing something I haven't really seen before...camps just for Workers? What are your thoughts on how to do that?

[cool game, btw]

[DrSpike]

Ok, this is just brief and maybe I'll do a thread on this later.

I often use worker camps in Civ3 since there is no efficient Civ2esque wltkd method to increase pop, which is everything in this game. That might sound obvious but it is not, since (for early landing games) with the way the improvements and science wonders work in Civ2 you are actually best improving one city totally at the expense of your empire, which merely serves the capital. This is not the case in Civ3 at all, which is popcentric on a much more widespread basis.

You can build granaries, but 6-12 is still quite slow, and 12 upwards appallingly so. More pop is the key to everything, and if you can hit 12 and 20 as soon as your infrastructure allows it you get an enormous payoff for a minuscule investment. Four turns and a granary for a constant stream of pop? YES PLEASE.

Plus, those worker factories on the mainland were kicking out a reasonable amount of beakers early on, and ensuring that tiles weren't wasted. When the time came to use their space and they were disbanded all that was lost was a granary, and the land was used efficiently at all times.

I hope I sold you on it!

[Aqualung71]

Well you've sold me on it! I've never thought of worker camps in that way before. I'm trying it in my next game. Thanks, great tip.

[DrSpike]

No problem.

For this game with the 4-turn factory and a need to build more cities early to avoid paying upkeep I think it worked out especially well.

[alexman]

Definitely a good idea. Dominae said it well a while back when he called worker factories 'the poor man's Pyramids'

[DrSpike]

Hehe I like that. However, I would point out it's not entirely correct. With pyramids I still do this, just to a lesser extent. And it is a truly viable alternative (rather than a poor relative) to building the pyramids, since you can't build early wonders on Emperor and up without sacrificing a great deal, or sometimes not even then. You'll probably be at 6 without any need for granaries on the mainland, and if you want a granary then for 6-12 it's not hard to add one. For 12+ worker factories are king anyway.

Don't get me wrong, I love pyramids as a wonder, but as with the vast majority of the wonders in Civ3 if you play it right missing it is a minor annoyance.

[Dominae]

Originally posted by alexman
Definitely a good idea. Dominae said it well a while back when he called worker factories 'the poor man's Pyramids'.

For the life of me I do not remember that! Sounds a little too succint and catchy for something I would say...

[DrSpike]

[Dominae]

Oh, and DrSpike is right: Pyramids and Worker-pumps are not really substitues for one another. They just happen to both help with pop growth. I'm a bit more sold on the Wonder than DrSpike seems to be, but I do believe Worker-pumps is the more powerful strategy because it's more generally applicable.

A note on implementation though: I usually prefer to have my Worker-pump cities at full 2-turn status. This always involves a Granary. In the early-game (while still in Despotism), it also means good terrain and proximity to the capital (or even the capital itself). So my pump cities will actually be in full-fledged city locations, in other words not as camps that use the scraps of major production centers. Partly this is because I tend toward a strict 3-tile placement. This may seem like a waste of low Corruption and good tiles, but the effect on the empire is dramatic. In the Peacekeeper AU I had two 2-turn Worker-pumps going until the end of the Industrial era (one of them became a 1-turn, IIRC), and never did I doubt they're usefulness (I conquered the Iroquois and the Babylonians each in ~5 turns total, using 60+ Workers and 90+ Cavalry, but I digress).

Contrast this method with DrSpike's, who uses smaller camps as Worker-pumps. He gets his Workers less frequently, but has more tiles available for his main cities. I suspect the landform in AU501 has something to do with this decision.


Dominae