The Quixotic Adventures of Sancho Panza--A Greek

[jshelr]

AU 601--SPOILER: The Quixotic Adventures of Sancho Panza--A Greek dar1

Sancho the Greek was born in a paradise of jungle. Sir Ralph's idea of heaven, no doubt

He set out with definite goals in mind, but regrettably lost focus almost immediately.

1 Regular hoplites = safety. Conclusion, no barracks.

2 Exploration critical. At least the creator SR gave plenty of forrests to chop so that regular hoplites can be produced for safe exploration.

3 Given the renown of the leader reputed to live far on the other side of the globe, high risk is warranted

4 Be nice to the AI, since we are not allowed to abuse them

Rex is all we have to generate needed size. Thus, lowly pottery is arguably the most important tech in the game. Sancho the Greek decides to research writing at 50 turns and use exploration and gold to get pottery and other needed technology. Keeping citizens happy in the absence of garrisons will also absorb gold.

Due to reasons evidently beyond Sancho's control, exploration goes in circles instead of the preferred straight lines. None the less, the Greeks meet the annoyed Babs before 3000. There follows a nail-biting stretch where Sancho waits for the Babs to get two techs to trade for Alphabet.

Ultimately, Alpha is traded for pottery and cb, a big relief. Sure enough, Ham immediately trades alpha for mysticism. We could be in trouble if Alpha is spread far and wide.

Persia is met in 2670. We are very lucky at that point.

[jshelr]

[jshelr]

Despite the Persian's lack of imagination, a deal for Masonry and WC was quickly worked out and further trades with the Babs yielded Mysticism. Extra gold lubricates the trade effort considerably

We will not bore you with descriptions of the city-building efforts at this point. Suffice it to say that we are advertising worldwide for tile-clearing laborers.

Excuse Sancho for now. He has to direct a race between a hoplite and a Persian warrior to a goody hut.

[jshelr]

The infamous Persians just entered my lightly defended civilization with three warriors, one an elite. Granaries are now up and running, but even best case scenario this attack will slow me down further. We hope they fight like men against the hoplite, and don't pillage. Pic text turn.

[jshelr]

Sly Xerxes thinks he is going to take my naked capital by surprise -- but we were not born yesterday.

Actually, leaving the capital unprotected is nearly an exploit since it will almost certainly delay Xerxes' first attack long enough to let us build units for defense.

We got problems enough: no units; no archers, particularly; worried about pillaging; need to have Xerxes like us in the long haul; how to get him to agree to peace without being able to take any Persian citys and, by the way, IRON.

If he's got iron, we may be in for an embarrassing defeat

Maybe we can bribe him with writing in a few turns.

Lesson: if you Rex without military protection, the AI will come and get you

[jshelr]

We are now proudly enjoying a despotic golden age as the astute Xerxes attacked across a river with his elite warrior and, failing to get a hitpoint, hid his remaining two warriors in the woods where they can't even pillage. Odds were not too good.

Xerxes beat us to writing by 6 turns. It is tempting, but probably a bad idea to use the GA to prebuild the GL??? That would slow down Rex.

Morale is low among the Greek commanders.

[jshelr]

Question: do scientific AI civs tend to research literature after getting writing?

[vmxa1]

No, they seem intend on getting to map.

[jshelr]

thanks. I think lit may be a decent gamble.

[jshelr]

not much new. killed persians in our lands and chased barb horsemen around some. waiting for the persian hordes to arrive.

does it matter (to the number of turns before he will answer) if you try to contact xerxes to ask for peace. does he think you are a wimp?

[vmxa1]

I don't have a definite answer, but I believe it is best to not ask for peace until you have killed a few emissaries or taken at least one town.

Otherwise I would wait for them.

[Arrian]

Trying to contact the civ in question won't hurt things. It was in CivII that civs got annoyed at you for pestering them, not in CivIII. But I expect the Persians will try and extort things from you for peace at this stage, since they're surely more powerful this early on.

I typically only make peace when either: a) I'm facing an incoming stack I don't think I can stop; b) I can do a straight peace-peace treaty (in your case, this probably requires killing off a bunch of their units); or c) I have the advantage (unlikely for you now). You suffer no WW, so the only reason to make peace and have to pay for it is if you really think you might lose something.

You have warrior code, so I'd say build a few archers and see if you can do some serious damage to their incoming troops. If their stack is too big to stop, at least the power jump from having some archers may help you in negotiations. I will often take a "kill as many units as I can and then make peace that same turn" approach if I think it might help me.

-Arrian

[jshelr]

The build-archers-and-kill-incoming-troops idea helped bring Xerxes to the table as Arrian predicted. However, the Babs also declared war, lol, and that encouraged me to pay 80 gold to get the Persians off our backs for the moment, anyway. Xerxes immediately started two wonders, which should keep him busy. We plan to apply Arrian's message to the Babs, along with a little attemped pillage by a hoplite.

We've given up any thought of building the GL. Really can't afford to further slow down the Rex. It's all swamps and jungle over here I suspect that, if we clear it all, we will have a great piece of land. But the work lies ahead and we need workers.

[jshelr]

Here's a look at the prime real estate east of the capital that our property managers are trying to sell to the settler units. More just like it to the west.

[Arrian]

Ugh. Bad luck with the AI aggression there, jshelr! I HATE fighting the Babs early on. Bab bowmen are so annoying.

The terrain is unfortunate for right now, but if you can grab a bunch and hunker down (protected by those hoplites) for some serious jungle chopping, you're going to have a nice stretch of land. It also looks like the North is a bit better than east or west.

Of course, that's a lot easier to do when you don't have AI civs harrassing you constantly and have your GA blown early like this. Good luck!

-Arrian