AU 106 Spoilers

[Harovan]

It is 1360AD, and finally I have contact to everyone. So I think it should be ok to post my first spoiler.

I have chosen the standard game with Persia, on Emperor. I spotted the whale fin and went 1 tile SW with my settler. The start position is awesome, of course. I founded 2 temporary cities (Camp Alfa and Camp Bravo) as settler factories near the cattle and the wheat and let the rest of the cities build warriors and first improvements. In Persepolis I started the Pyramids as prebuild for the Great Library as soon as the 1st settler was ready. Beelined for Literature, with 20% science, more would have been a waste. When Literature was 2 turns away and the Pyramids were 3 turns to completion, a message popped up, that the Egyptians finished them... DAMN! . More than 300 shields wasted, because the best I could switch to was a temple, even the Colossus had already been built. Oh well.

After Literature I started immediately again with the Great Library. This time I built it for good. Beelined for Currency and Construction, for Marketplaces, Colosseums and Aqueducts. Then for Republic. My 14 industious workers did a great work in quickly developing my terrain. Switched to Republic ASAP. Focused on building Temples and Colosseums and set Luxuries to 30%. This allowed my cities to grow quickly.
I build a FP in the northern part of the continent and a new Palace SE of the start location. Both took about 60-80 turns.

After I hit the Medieval age and got Monotheism for free, I researched Theology, prebuilt the Sistine and switched all remaining Colosseum builds to Cathedrals. I succeeded to build the Sistine Chapel. Then I set the beeline to Military Tradition. I had to avoid Education, not to render the GL obsolete. Researching on 4.4.2 settings with fully developed terrain and the core cities size 10-12, I made techs every 10-12 turns. Succeeded to build Leo's too, but failed with Sun Tzu's. Oh well, no big deal. When I was researching Gunpowder, I got the message, that the Egyptians finished Magellan's. Great! So they have ocean going vessels now.

I didn't wait too long, till their caravel found me. Traded contacts and maps with all. China is already gone. I saw, that 3 civs have Education, but overall I am pretty advanced. I didn't trade for Education. Next turn, the GL gave me Monarchy, Education and Astronomy. Bye bye, GL.

Egypt is 2 techs ahead, Navigation and Banking. It could be more, but I don't think so for some reason. France is 1 tech behind (Chemistry). All other civs are at least 3 techs behind. England is even still in the Ancient age.

Very interesting game so far, but here it's 3:40AM and I really should sleep now. Good night!

[Theseus]

What a fascinating game!!

As I played through the isolationist part, I was worried that it would get a little boring, and then also worried that completing all available improvements in towns / cities and switching to wealth would suck... but instead, I got that lovin' "one-more-turn" feeling!

So, to start at the start:

Emperor, using the AU Mod, as Persia.

Although tempted to move both SW (for the whales) and SE (to cross the river), I elected to build on the starting tile. First, I had a feeling that every turn would count, and second, given the bonus tiles I thought that access to a forest tile on a river would be valuable.

I don't remember the exact order, but I built several Warriors and a Settler, and then went for the Colossus in Persepolis, with no Temple (unusual for me). I counted on 2 garrison and the wine to the north to keep unhappiness in check. Success! Got the Colossus.

Built a Temple in Persepolis, and threw myself into research... unlike most games, I was putting 70-90% into research, with a focus on Literacy. I used something as a bit of a pre-build, and got the Great Library, also in Persepolis. I was EXTREMELY worried later, when I hit the Medieval age, that it was a total waste, as I'd have to go through Education to meet any of the AI civs, but then I realized I could just wait for them to find me, and depend on the "Education slingshot."

Of course, my other towns were focused on REX. I ended up with 16 towns on the continent, with 1-2 garrison while still in despotism.

Like SR, after Literacy I beelined for Republic, Currency, and Construction, in that order. Given the terrain, after Temples I built more Granaries than usual, followed by Marketplaces and Aqueducts, with Barracks somewhere along the line. Built workers mostly before Construction, in towns that were at 6 pop.

Interestingly, having gotten to Republic so quickly, I had to backtrack to the first level techs... UNBELIEVABLY cheap, able to research most in 4-6 turns.

Once I went into Republic, I really went into high gear building... I didn't use luxuries above 10%, as it didn;t seem to have much effect. Also, with only wine, I prioritized Cathedrals and Colosseums over Marketplaces, intending to get Sistine.

As I completed terrain improvements, and also built vet Spearmen, I disbanded all regular military units and most of my workers.

In the Medieval age, I focused on Sistine and Leonardo's, and then basically avoiding Education. Like SR, that put me on track for Military Tradition, waiting for one of the AI civs to find me. In the meantime, most of my civs hit 12 pop, and had built every improvement they could... for a while I had them switching between wealth and Horsemen (f-cking 3120 gold for the mass upgrade to Knights!). I was a little worried, as I could tell I was falling a little behind in tech (the branches that I did not research), but I knew it was only a matter of time. I was encouraged when I started to see barb Galleys with some hp damage...

Here is the Persian contintent in 1550AD, when I first got view of a Japanese Caravel. All cities are fully built out (up to and including coastal fortresses, which in the AU MOD are required for vet ships), except for the two still finishing Colosseums.

[Theseus]

Here is my military at the time:

[Theseus]

The only techs I could research were Education (not!) and Monarchy, which I set to 10% (having done some research does actually create value).

Contact with the Japanese... BOOM!! Thankfully, I was ahead with Military Tradition; trading that, I go Monarchy, contact with the Greeks, French and Iroquois, and Toku's world map (without giving my map).

After I finished trading with the others, I realized that while the AI civs were ahead in the post-Education branch, I had a lead in all the other branches.

Here's the world map post-contact:

[Theseus]

As far as I can tell, the AU Mod is having the desired effect: Greece went psycho on England, and Japan on the Iroquois.

The score is a little scary:

[Theseus]

If I do this right, I will trade for Education at the beginning of the next turn, and get all techs that are known to two AI civs as of 1555AD.

*Plays turn*

Ohhhh yeaaah, bomp bomp, chickichickaw, bomp bomp (no idea how to spell that... the limo music from "The Secret of My Success").

My Persian Great Library scientists grabbed Music Theory, Education, Banking, Astronomy, Economics, and Navigation!! Only France is ahead with Democracy, I'm at parity with Japan, and ahead of everyone else. Some judicious tech and wine trading, and I've now got 5 luxes imported, and every city is going into WLKTD!!

Changing all coastal cities to Caravels.

[vmxa1]

Ok, I got to ask. How did you get a military Academy? I mean no contact, means no leader, means no army? How come you get tech advances from GL if the AI has Education?

Ok, I recall now you get techs upon contact, even if they have ED, as long as you do not have. Then it will no longer work.

[vulture]

Looks like I followed the same plan as Sir Ralph and Theseus, more or less. Played Persians on Emperor level. (I chose Persians and Romans for the scenario 'cos I figured that both would have equally useless UUs in this game, but the Persian traits favoured the early game while the Roman ones favoured those who wanted to go to war after they made contact, and would do better in the late game).

I moved 1 square sw to get the Whales in the capitals radius, irrigated the cows and proceeded to pump settlers (builds up muscle, y'know). Got Ceremonial Burial from a goody hut, which was remarkably convenient. Went straight for literature, and then for republic. Managed to build both the Pyramids and Great Library, which rather wasted my golden age, but I wasn't too unhappy with those two wonders. Built 14 cities on the island, which with them all at size 12 means that every non ocean tile is now being used productively (apart from one of the mountains).

380 AD I heard that the Iriquois had been destroyed (no doubt by the Japanese). The AI just doesn't know how to play that civ well. 470 AD, I made it in to the middle ages. I had a good run of success then, building the Sistine chapel (870 AD), Sun Tzu's (910 AD) and Leonardo's (1160 AD), and was first in most of the important demographics, although 4th in land area. Most of my cities were size 12; I'd been generous with the luxury slider until thr Sistine was built. At this point I began to wonder if I'd mistakenly chosen a level other than emperor.

1220 AD Egypt build Copernicus, so I figure that they probably have navigation by now. Meanwhile, I research the military tradition branch. Much to my horror, the moment I get MT, my saltpetre disappears, so only the 6 horsemen being built that were changed to cavalry were available. The stockpile of horsemen I had waiting for upgrade were unable to do anything . I went back to research chivalry to upgrade them all to knights instead. When I researched monarchy, so only education was left, I set science to zero, hoping to make up lots of ground with the library once contact with the world was established. For almost a whole century I sat around, with every city producing wealth and raking in the money, until Egypt finally showed up in a caravel in 1400 AD.

I quickly traded for contact with the whole world, world maps, and a few luxuries, and established embassies. Paris is 7 turns from building Bach's, Germany is completely naff (not surprising given the terrible island they started on), Japan is big, bad and at war with France, and China is down to 3 cities thanks to the Egyptians. Egypt and Germany are ahead in score. Next turn I got education, music theory, banking, astronomy and navigation from the great library, although the GL gambit may have cost me a shot at Adam Smith's (and certainly at Bach's). Traded military tradition to Egypt for economics, and then stole physics off them using my hoard of gold (cheaper than buying it from them, plus they don't get any money for it ). So as of 1410 AD, Egypt and I are equal in the tech race, most civs are a few techs back, and Germany is bringing up the rear with only one medieval tech - monotheism - which they got for free of course.

No-one has any saltpetre to trade, B*st'rds. I'm still first in population, and every city is now building universities (and every square of our island is fully developed), so I should be able to hold my own in the tech race for a while. Japan is fortunately being distracted by war or else it could be a real threat. Egypt is the obvious competition. So my first priority is to try and catch up in the territory stakes, and secure a source of saltpetre. Dear old Queen Lizzie may be about to have a rude awakening.

[vulture]

Originally posted by vmxa1
Ok, I got to ask. How did you get a military Academy? I mean no contact, means no leader, means no army? How come you get tech advances from GL if the AI has Education?

Theseus is playing the AU mod version, and one of the changes (IIRC) is that the military academy no longer requires a victorious army (to try and persuade the AIs to buld more armies). In this particular scenario I think it works more to the advantage of the human than the AI.

[CorpusScorpius]

I played the modded version last nite & achieved a diplomatic victory in the year 1969 as the persians on regent.Following Sir Arthurs lead, I beelined toward GL. AS far as research goes, it is fairly easy to gain a tech lead in the Ancient Age & half of the Mid Age.
I was able to build Sun Tzu, Leo, Sistine, Adam Smith. I had also ran out of things to research & waited for First Contact to happen. I became tired of waiting & went ahead & researched Ed (this helped me research Economics).
The French made FC 1786 & they had a 4-5 tech lead but contact with the rest of the world soon came afterward. This initial contact Helped me catch up(that & a ton of Grapes). Xerxes was in 4th place,Iroq 3rd, Egypt 2nd (Killed China 1520 AD),Greece was in first.
In the Industrial Age (late 18-1900's), I then made a beeline towards TOE & this allowed me to jump to Hoover which I built & GA followed. This GA led to Tech Parity w/ those darn Frenchman & put me ahead of everyone else. Fission was next in the Modern Age & upon its discovery led me to the UN.
As far as AI research goes, the French were head & shoulders above everyone else. Germany, England, Japan were all lagging in the research dept sometimes an age or 2 behind.
I used the luxury trades as gifts & sometimes as trades for research & anything else the Ai was willing to give me.
This game was just as exciting as Banana Isle & AU105. I am unable to post any pics due to technical difficulty on my end & as soon as I figure out how to post a save I will. Oh yeah, I had saved 1 turn b4 Ed & i am currently replaying it from there w/out researching it & will post the results later to see if there will be any differance (sp?).

[Konquest02]

I am playing on Regent level, with Persia. I built Persepolis in the starting location and quickly built my second city near the cattles to act as a settler farm. Meanwhile, I built one more settler in Persepolis and went for the Colossus which I built 38 turns later.

I beelined for Literature, hoping to build the GL and get a lot of techs from the AI when I would contact them. I started the Pyramids in another city but got nailed by 4 turns by Elizabeth (she's gonna pay later for that!! ) I then got to Republic and switched as soon as possible.

Near the end of the ancient times, I made the mistake to build the Hanging Gardens in Susa. I totally forgot it would send me into my GA. So during my GA, I made a lot of money, researching all older techs in 4 turns, got a huge pre-build for Sistine. I built a lot of horsemen too, looking to upgrade them when Military Tradition comes.

This is so frustating. I see Elizabeth's borders in my screen, but I can't make contact. This may be better this way because I will get more techs from the GL if I get them all at once.

--Kon--

[CorpusScorpius]

I am currently playing as the Romans as well as replaying with Persia w/out researching Ed. So far, the replay w/ the Persians has me further behind then b4 & I lost out on Adam Smith.
As the Romans, there still is no contact w/ anyone in the 1700's. I am curious to see if I can have 20k+ b4 meeting anyone & having a 250 plus man military.

[CorpusScorpius]

heres the save from the first game

[Harovan]

That's my spoiler #2. 1750AD, 2nd half of the industrial age.

After I made contact to all (so I thought) and wrote my first spoiler, I tried to catch up in tech. The Egyptians were very powerful. They had consumed the Chinese and settled a lot of islands. I finished to research Military tradition and succeeded to trade tech with Egypt and France, but I couldn't catch up entirely. Built some Cavalries and shipped them to Greece. They meanwhile had finished the English, and between the former English cities were gaps where my Cavalries could rest. I also shipped some Musketmen, Cannons and 6 Immortals. But I didn't attack, because the Greek army was huge, and although they were backwards, my forces were not sufficient. Meanwhile, the Egyptians had found the Germans, surprise, surprise. That was my mistake... I thought there are a total of 8 civs, but it was me + 8 civs. The Germans were very backward and had an awful position, because they had no luxury. So I quickly buried the thought of conquering them... what for?

After I hit the Industrial age and I got Nationalism for free, I finally caught up. I was the first one discovering Steam power. Of course, I had no coal. The Greeks had some, so I continued to ship forces there. After a while I noticed, that they were losing 2 cities on the N tip (former England) to Egypt. RED ALERT, I couldn't allow the Egypts to conquer them. So I attacked the Greeks myself. I took 2 cities very quick, 1 even with a couple of dyes. Great, but still no coal. Alex was not pleased and brought big stacks of Swordsmen, Longbowmen and Knights. I had attacked with about 15 Cavalries, 7 Riflemen, 6 Immortals and 4 Cannons. I succeeded to defend myself, but could no further advance. It was a touch and go for a while. One of the fights brought me a leader, which I used for an army of Cavalries. With 2 Galleons, I landed reinforcements, 4 Cavalries, 2 Riflemen and 2 Cannons. They succeeded to take a city with coal. That was all I wanted (and could achieve with my puny forces), so I made peace. Later I gave the Greeks a RoP (and even paid a few bucks), so they could retake the cities Egypt had captured.

It was good to have peace, because my Immortals had triggered my GA, which I wanted to use for industrialization (and not waste for unit production). So I did. The GA increased my lead to 2 techs and vastly increased my economic power. I got all Industrial wonders so far. Currently, I am 6 turns apart from finishing the Hoover Dam, and my competitors don't even have Atomic Theory yet. I have at least 4 techs lead to Egypt and France and it is growing. The other civs are backward and have no chance anymore. I had planned to conquer Greece, but there is no need, at least for now. May be after I get Tanks. May be not. I doubt that I'll need it. Space ship, I'm coming.

[BillChin]

I am playing Deity level with the extra mods. I played the start over several times. I am just getting use to Deity level and the fierce Barbs. I tried beelining for Monarchy, but it takes far too long. Going for Literacy and then Republic is the better way. I take the forty turns to get Republic, because even at max research it would have been about 22 turns. I figure having a big gold reserve to buy buildings would be more useful than 18 turns faster.

The only wonder I have been able to construct is the Great Library. I tried for some Middle Age wonders, but was beaten to every one. If I had it to do over again, I may have skipped the Great Library.

I spend many turns waiting for contact. The tip off for me is Magellan's Voyage. However, I wait at least twenty turns after that is completed before a ship appears off shore. I build units and disband them to speed production on the extremes of the empire. (Corruption is quite a bit higher on Deity than Emperor.) If I had it to do over, Theseus plan to build Horsemen and upgrade to masses of Calvary would have been much stronger.

Finally contact is made, and the Great Library catches me up. I find one backward civ and decide to invade them. Unfortunately, my military is weak. My nine unit small invasion force is pushed into the sea by Knights and defending pikemen. I am gearing up for a second wave invasion with more Calvary and Riflemen instead of the hapless Musketeers. No Golden Age, I am thinking of waiting until the Palace gets moved and my empire is much larger.

I fear Greece, as they have about double my production, about two techs ahead, about five times my military. If they decide to turn on me, I am in trouble. Hopefully, I can get a leader from the war against the backwards nation and move my palace to their island.
- Bill