AU502 DAR 1: 4000BC - 2150BC

[ducki]

This is the DAR ("During Action Report") thread for the first 40 turns of AU502: Celtic Power.

Use this space to discuss opening moves, early exploration and development, and plans for the future. For instance, where did you found your capital, and why? Since this report only spans 40 turns, please provide as many details as you can remember.

[Makahlua]

First off - though I've played quietly, this is the first time I've dared to post a DAR. I know I'm going to get yelled at some because I'm lazy and hate MM, but OTOH, you get a perspctive from a more causal player who has mostly banned herself from palying the Celts -because- they can be such an easy powerhouse... Anyway here we go, and bear in mind I ahven't been plannig every last move like some people around here I forgot to add earlier I'm playing on Emperor, I usually play Regent or Monarch!

Emperor, stock C3C

4000BC - sent worker 4 to see if there was anything esle to dissuade me from moving 7 to build. nope! I did spot some tobacco though I decided to move settler 7 as I wanted to keep all the trees I could for choprushing.

3950BC - Entremont founded, queue : war, war, war(for mp), settler, granary, settler. worker is roading bonus grass - oho! There -is- an oasis further N , and will be in city range as soon as the culture grows Econ set to 0.10.0; BW in 24 t (I'm beelining to IW before going over to the Phil beeline)

3700 - 1st warrior heads out to explore, heads 8 on top of mtn - aha a hut nearby!

3600 - Popped hut for all of.....3 barbs! Whee. econ to 0.90.10 for new pop in Ent.

3550 - Why the hell do Conquests barbs run in fear? Something firaxis needs to fix badly.....whoops. Spoke too soon, lost warr to barb....

3400 - Warrior #2 successful at telling them to take a hike

3350 - Oooooh! There's the cows! Thanks ducki ^^ On one hand I see 2 lux nearby. OTOH, I see alot of jungle to the south...

3300 - .....and the Iroquois apparently. And I have nothing to trade yet

3250 - .....and there a 3 Iroq warriors near me. Eeeeeeeeeee!

3000 - Wwell they seem to be passing by. :whew: I'm sending the spare warrior with the settler to the cow site all the same. Worker is chopping a forest for the granary. IW in 48t? Argh. Time for 90.10.0 for a few turns

2800 - On second thought I'm setting up a barracks city by the incense. The IQ are worrying me.......

2710 - Alesia founded Q: spear worker barraqcks spear (to start) econ bumped back to 0.10.0 IW in 26. That's more like it!

2470 Granary done, may the REXing commence!

2350 1st spear done, warrior back to sightseeing

And that's pretty much it so far. Another reason I changed to a barracks city was the fact that the one thing I keep getting nailed on recently is thin expanding without at least a token MP/defense in each city. Less units = me weak to AI = me dead by early attack. And given that this whole time the Iroquois warriors have been wandering around near me, I feel much better with it too

How's my civving so far?

Edit: Oh yeah, future plans - build big stack (15-20) Gallic Swords. Kick rears starting with Hiawatha And more seriously, get a good core going while keeping an eye on those rovign warrios bands

[Rhothaerill]

Rhoth's AU502 DAR 1a

Demigod level - AU mod

This is my first shot at an AU game at demigod level. I've only actually played at that level once so far, and did fairly decently before heading onto other things.

I want to say that I purposely didn't read all the pre-game MMing going on in the spoiler thread because I want to do things my way.

This DAR will actually have several parts to it and I did go beyond 2150 for 2 turns because I wanted to do something...and then something really cool happened that I want to share.

4000bc - Move the worker to the sugar and I do not see anything better so I settle Entremont on the starting spot. There are plenty of bonus grassland and the sugar around so I'll have a decent production city, it just won't be a major pump city until a government switch. My starting build consists of three warriors and a granary. Even though I didn't have a settlerpump-capable city it would still be a fairly decent pump with a granary and would grow into a good one later on. Also I started research on bronze working at 100% with my eye on finding iron before it was all taken.

3450bc - Contact with Sumeria. They found me. They are three techs ahead and won't trade.

3200bc - Pop a settler from a hut. This is the first one I've received in an AU game ever IIRC. I almost didn't pop the hut either considering the hut chances on demigod level.

3150bc - Finish research of bronze working and start iron working. Also I contact Germany this turn and they are five techs ahead of me and won't trade at all. Sumeria matches them in tech lead.

3050bc - Settler Alesia on the flood plains since it has the capability to be a good worker pump.

2950bc - I find out I'm the least advanced nation in the world.

2900bc - Finish the granary in Entremont with the use of one forest chop.

2630bc - Settle Lugdunum near the incense so I can hook it up and use it.

2590bc - Contact with the Iroquois. They are not quite as advanced as the Germans and Sumerians, but they hate me too and refuse to trade anything. I have so far not been able to swing a single trade.

2310bc - I lose a fight to a barbarian and Lugdunum is pillaged of a pop point. My worker remained safe as I stopped his roading to move out of the way.

2070bc - Finish iron working and call up the FAM screen....and NOBODY has researched it yet. Woo hoo. The series of tech trades I did I have captured for all to see.

to be continued...


EDIT: formatting

[Rhothaerill]

Rhoth's AU502 DAR 1b

Demigod level - AU mod

My first trade was with the Sumerians. I gave them IW, 3gpt and 5 gold for the wheel, mysticism, and their worker. Why those techs you ask? Wait for the next screen.

to be continued...


EDIT: formatting

[Rhothaerill]

Rhoth's AU502 DAR 1c

Demigod level - AU mod

Because the Iroquois had neither tech and I gave them iron working and mysticism for alphabet, masonry, warrior code, AND 170 gold.

to be continued...


EDIT: formatting

[Rhothaerill]

Rhoth's AU502 DAR 1d

Demigod level - AU mod

And then I find they have writing...and they give it up for the wheel.

to be continued...


EDIT: formatting

[Rhothaerill]

Rhoth's AU502 DAR 1e

Demigod level - AU mod

I call up the Germans and find they are the only ones with horseback riding of the three AI's I know.

to be continued...


EDIT: formatting

[Rhothaerill]

Whoops forgot the screenshot.

[Rhothaerill]

Rhoth's AU502 DAR 1f

Demigod level - AU mod

So for the price of researching iron working and 3gpt and 5 gold I received from the AI civs: a slave worker; the wheel, mysticism, alphabet, warrior code, writing, horseback riding, and 177 gold. Not too bad!

And finally a look at my core. I'm just about to settle my fourth city on the silks and I'm planning a larger military build-up before I get blown over by AI's. My next settler that will be done soon is definitely heading up to the iron I see up there.

The only thing I wish I had done better is that I did not mine enough tiles around Entremont quickly enough. I spent my time chopping the forest for the granary and then getting a road network up to my cities as well as hooking incense up.

to be continued next DAR...


EDIT: formatting

[jim_steer]

AU502 Dar 1 - Emperor - AU Mod

After A brief scan through the teaser thread I decided to try using Nathan's last build strategy and hopefully end up with 2 settlers by turn 34. I am a bit worried about being so light on defenders and explorers for this long, but what the hey might as well risk it.

3950 - Found Entremont 9 of start position start researching Masonary with the idea of going for an nice early Pyramids.
3400 - Pop nearest hut and gain a new warrior.
3350 - Meet Sumerians and their evil enkidu warriors, they seem to have popped a very lucky hut and gained CB, surfice to say they have all my techs already so no trade opportunity.
3200 - Meet Iroquois same situation as with the Sumerians they have popped CD from a hut , I pop two huts this turn and get three barbs and the Warrior Code. No-one wants to trade WC
3050 - Meet Germany, finaly someone without uber luck. Trade my pottery for their bw + 10 g.
2800 - Having scared Germanys workers back into Berlin the turn before I trade my CB for a worker. Not a great trade but Germany will probably get CB for 20 gold off one of the other AI's soon so I might as well get what I can.
2630 - Finally finish Masonry, trade it for Alphabet with Iroquois, then trade Alphabet with Germany for The Wheel. Start researching IW.
2550 - Found Alesia stray from Nathans build queue due to the insidious presence of a German Archer lurking near my Civ and build a Spearman.
2310 - Build Lugdunum, having a slight barb problem so build some warriors.
2190 - Hook up incense just in time to have a barb cut the road back to Entremont
2150 - Settler dispatched to spices.

All seems to be going fine, wish I had Rhothaerill's luck an popped a settler that would have been damn useful. Supose having only got 2 lots of barbs from 4 huts is not too bad luck. Have my suspicions that the Iroquois have contact with another Civ, they seem to be researching damn fast, but so far nothing found.

The Celtic World 2150

[jshelr]

Brennus awakens, but immediately sees an obvious problem -- it's too late for Saint Patricks day

That starts him out in a bad mood, but he is at least sensible enough to settle on a river square, giving the citizens plenty to eat and reason to grow.

Somehow, Brunnus senses that a granary is not the way to go. Instead, exploration and building of barracks are much on the minds of the celtic workers.

The first wandering irishman heads downhill with the wind at his back to a hut in the east. The hut gives the code of the warrior in 3650 BC.

Barbs show up early, along with the agreeable purple indians who sell letters plus 10 gold for WC from our moral philosophers. Bronze and 10 gold for pottery on next turn with blue barbarians in the north. We got the wheel also trading techs around.

Evil ivory was soon seen near the Sumerians. Not good.

The irish were ahead on tech due to their central location. Brennus next did the following (stupid) or (briliant) trades: with the Summerians wheel and WC for 2 workers; with Germans CB for one worker. The workers would soon come in handy clearing jungle on the way to a southern iron source.

The Germans declared war in 2190 BC, sending in the usual archers. Not much of material value was lost. But the war slowed us down and directed development to the south. That is why we targeted that iron / luxury site for an unusual early city placement.

A couple of irish workers booleyed up the iron mountain and built a road while other workers cleared jungle and built connections. Thus, we've got our unusual swordmen who have to run fast, since their clothing otherwise gets them in barroom brawls.

It looks like we will need to beat tech out of the neighbors.

[jshelr]

don't laugh. we was hassled

[nbarclay]

Demigod, AU Mod

I decided to do something a bit different with my city names in this game and name my cities after places and people from David Weber’s Honor Herrington book series. (For those who enjoy space fiction, especially space fiction that involves a bit of combat, it’s an excellent series by the way.) I’m writing this DAR as I play so you can see my thoughts as they are when I think them; I use the past tense, but the past tense is as in a few seconds ago.

I decided to try tackling the game on Demigod. With a good enough start, I can handle Demigod well enough (at least under the standard rules), but I haven’t had much interest in trying to tackle it from more normal starting positions thus far. So I’ll have to see what happens.

I started off intending to follow the last plan I’d posted on the teaser thread: warrior-worker-granary. When I founded my capital city of Manticore in 3950, that revealed an oasis as expected (thanks again for spotting it, Aeson) but also revealed another surprise: a hut that would pop when the city’s border expanded. That left me a choice of whether to go with my original plan and hope I didn’t pop barbs or to sacrifice my plans for early exploration and an early extra worker, start on my granary right off the bat, and guarantee I wouldn’t pop barbs because I wouldn’t have any military units when the hut popped. (Of course building a granary before my first warrior would also increase my risk from non-hut barbs.) After a little thought, I decided on the latter course of action. I set my research to Mysticism at maximum, hoping to get a branch lead along the bottom of the tech tree.

In 3500 BC, my gamble paid off: a band of Iberian settlers was thrilled at the peaceful ways of the Celtic people (little did they know what the future would bring ) and decided to join us. (This is the second straight AU game where I got a free settler from a border expansion hut-pop after refraining from building an early warrior!) Assuming the settler could get to a desirable city site safely, he would make up for the free second settler Demigod AIs get. After some thought, I decided to send the settler to the river northwest of Manticore and to use my worker to scout ahead in case barbarians might be in a mood to cause trouble. (A lost worker is only half the food and a third the shields of a lost settler, and giving up a couple worker turns for the added safety seemed like a reasonable investment.)

[nbarclay]

I founded the city of Iberia (departing from my normal naming scheme for the game in honor of my Iberian friends) in 3200 BC, having wasted only a single worker turn moving my worker up onto the mountain and then back off. Since my capital’s granary was three turns from finished, I decided to go ahead and start a granary in Iberia and count on Manticore to produce my workers and warriors. Iberia has two grasslands with shield and some flood plains, and thus has two-turn worker pump potential that I’d rather not see delayed. (The jungles to the west make workers seem even more important.)

In order to time my granary to come right before city growth, I’d had to have Manticore work a forest instead of a bonus grassland for two turns. That threw Manticore’s growth curve off in a way that made it profitable for Iberia to borrow the flood plains for a couple turns to enhance its own growth, and it seemed likely that the two cities might share that tile at other times in the future depending on whether Manticore needs the extra production of an oasis/forest combination or not.

A German archer showed up outside Iberia in 3050 just after Manticore’s granary was finished. The Germans already had the same technologies I did plus Bronze Working, The Wheel, and Warrior Code. At that point, I was really wishing I had some units to go out and meet other civs, but I decided that I needed another worker or two worse. Two cities and only one worker is a rather nasty imbalance. In Germany’s turn, though, I started to wonder when the German archer attacked someone or something – presumably, barbarians.

Research into Mysticism was completed in 2590 BC, by which point Manticore had completed three workers and two warriors and was ready to start a settler. Since Germany was still our only foreign contact, I decided to hang onto Mysticism at least for the time being. Best case, I could find another civ and trade it more profitably. Worst case, at least maybe I would reduce the risk of being beaten to Polytheism (which would be a very expensive tech to research and then find myself unable to trade!) I decided to send my two warriors out to do limited exploring.

A turn later, I reversed some of those decisions. I realized that I needed another worker to irrigate a desert tile for Iberia, and a barbarian showed up outside Iberia, leading to a recall order for my warriors. Oops.

In 2470, two Iroquois warriors appeared south of Manticore. I checked the trade situation, and Germany and the Iroquois both had Mysticism. With no more time difference than it made, I probably should have traded to Germany when I had the chance. Oh well.

A barbarian horse unit appeared on a hill outside Iberia in 2430. My first attempt to kill the unit with a warrior failed, but my second, a turn later, succeeded and resulted in a promotion. The problem was that it left Iberia in striking range of another barbarian warrior if he decided to attack. An Iroquois warrior entered Manticore’s radius that turn and two others appeared just outside, compelling me to abort work on my already-delayed settler to build a warrior. I also decided to pop rush the rest of my granary in Iberia, which had just grown to size 5.

The intentions of the Iroquois turned out to be peaceful: they’d just wanted to pass through. But the damage was done: I’d abandoned a mine that was one turn away from completion in order to try to get a worker out of the line of fire, wasted more than ten shields on an extra warrior I hadn’t realized I’d need, and delayed a settler by that plus the cost of another warrior. All because AIs feel free to move through a player’s territory at will if it’s in their way. That’s an aspect of the game that rather seriously annoys me, although things could have been a lot worse if the Iroquois had declared war on me with three regular warriors against my one.

Thus, in spite of my early good fortune, 2150 finds me with only my first two cities and a turn away from completing my first native settler. On the plus side, I have a six-turn settler pump and a two-turn worker pump to help me grow from here (although with seven workers already completed, the worker pump’s efforts are more of a long-term investment). Having my settler plans thrown out of kilter by the Iroquois incursion seriously messed up my settler/worker balance

[Risa]

I wish I had your kind of luck, Nathan. A German strike team of 2 archers and 1 spearman approached to my capital in 2270bc, and they attacked. Needless to say, my capital, which with two warrior proctecting, fell, therefore my very first AU game (Emperor level) failed within 40 turns

Perhaps I should try it Monarch level, which I'm more familiar with.