AU302: One City - Strategy, Spoilers and Comments

[Krakan]

And the city screen at the end

[Ubergeek]

This was my first AU game as well as my first OOC, so I took a step down and played on Regent. I selected the Babylonians for obvious reasons, moved onto the hill to the west/northwest and built my little burg. In retrospect this might was probably the wrong thing to do, but I didn't want to be stuck with a lot of useless water in my city radius, and I assumed that other civs would push rapidly onto my island and build a city with a port, allowing me to trade.

My early strategy was to beeline the Great Library and let all the rest hang. I cranked out a couple of warriors and put up a temple in the early turns while I explored my island. In order, the goody huts I popped gave me a warrior, a warrior, maps, a settler and Pottery -- not a hugely successful haul in my situation, but at least no barbarians.

I assumed that the first appearance of another culture would take place by me seeing them across the southern straits, so I parked one of my conscript warriors on the promontory and waited. Unfortunately India and Korea got into an early scuffle and expansion was delayed, so I didn't see a Korean up there until 1325 BC, by which point I was three techs behind and had nothing I could trade for anything! Oh well, the best-laid plans and all... In 1200 BC I laid the foundations on the Great Library and hoped for the best.

By 950 BC I was getting a little dispirited with the constant ranking that flashed up on the screen telling me I was dead last at everything. Stupid historians.

Apparently the tense situation on the southern continent was leading India and Korea to beeline Monarchy because when I finally got Philosophy a couple of turns later, neither of them had it. Since I wasn't sure I was going to get the GL with the late start I had, I traded Philosophy around for Warrior Code and the Wheel. Korea was still much in advance of me technically, though, and I was getting worried that they'd started the GL a long time before me and were going to take it away.

To be continued...

[Ubergeek]

I needn't have worried. In 410 BC I finished the GL and the techs came in. Over the lifespan of the Library I got just about as much use out of it as is possible to get -- it gave me Iron Working, Map Making, Mysticism, Mathematics, Currency, Monarchy, Gunpowder, Chivalry and Education. My own research was quickly traded around to fill in my gaps in the tech tree, and things were going pretty well.

My Golden Age came about sort of accidentally in 310 BC when I built the Pyramids. I was hoping to use the Pyramids as a prebuild for the Hanging Gardens, but I missed being able to do that by just two turns. Still, I made pretty good use of the GA, getting the Hanging Gardens all but completed by the time it was over and getting a lot of research done.

There were a couple of problems that arose, though. First, although the Indians quickly grabbed all my island except for one lone Korean city in the south, they didn't bother to build a port until 1610 AD!!!, thus leaving me with one extra fur and a hell of a lot of useless ivory. This, of course, just pointed up why it would have been REALLY useful for me to build on the coastline...

The other problem was that in 410 AD there was a ginormous barbarian uprising which my vaunted military of three pikemen and one bowman were hard pressed to stem. There were apparently three barbarian encampments on the island, and every single one of those lousy horsemen bypassed the poorly defended Indian cities on the path and beelined for me. I managed to beat them off eventually, but the pillaged a fair amount and left me a bit breathless...

In 890 I used a Sun Tzu prebuild to bootstrap my way into the Sistine Chapel, and in 1210 I built Leonardo's Workshop because I didn't have anything else worth building. Seriously, I didn't actually want the thing, but a Wonder's a Wonder. I restarted Sun Tzu in hopes that I could dash to Copernicus' before anybody else could get there, and it almost worked beautifully. In 1335, with Astronomy 1 turn away and Sun Tzu 3 turns, the Koreans completed Sun Tzu, so the next turn I swtiched over to Copernicus' and figured I was in like Flynn. Unfortunately, in 1335 the Koreans put the finishing touches on Copernicus' themselves, leaving me holding the bag ONE STINKING TURN away from getting it myself. I was left to buy the most expensive Medieval Infantry ever built by man or beast.

To be continued...

[Ubergeek]

In 1500 I managed to build Bach's Cathedral, but India and Korea had already begin work on Shakespeare's Theater, which I really wanted. I was still two techs away and didn't think there was a hope of me getting to Free Artistry before it was built by the bad guys. I was behind in tech again by this point and couldn't make a trade to get myself any closer.

1550 was an eventful year, since it was then that I switched to Democracy and was contacted by the civilizations of the other continent. I managed to trade Democracy to the Romans for Chemistry and to the Celts for Navigation (which was worthless since the Koreans had built Magellan's the turn before and I wasn't on the coast anyway).

By 1680 it looked like deja vu all over again. I had managed to make a trade for Free Artistry sometime before and had started on Shakespeare. I honestly thought I was going to make it. Others were ahead of me in tech by this point, so they were well along on Newton's University; I was one turn away from both Shakespeare and Theory of Gravity when the blasted Celts built Shakespeare out from underneath me. However, this time there were no nasty surprises and I switched smoothly to Newton's, getting it under the wire in 1690. This made me very happy.

In 1710 I finally managed to make an advantageous trade with those cheap Korean SOBs. I swapped Furs, Ivory and 50 gold for Magnetism and Economics. Although I lost out on Adam Smith, I was able to jump into the Industrial Age. My bonus tech was Medicine,which nobody had at that point, so I was able to erase my tech deficit by trading it around.

It was when I got Steam Power that I saw another reason to be sorry I built my city where I did. Way back in 1110 AD, the iron in the hills to the west of my city was exhausted. It wasn't a big deal because I had the southern mountain iron to go on; it was just a minor inconvenience because I didn't have an extra source to trade. However, when coal appeared underneath my city, the mountain iron was 1 hex outside my city radius and so I was unable to build Iron Works! Nevertheless, I was able to build Universal Suffrage in 1836 despite the fact that several other civs had started it almost 20 turns before. That made me glad, and I beelined Scientific Method to try for Theory of Evolution.

Meanwhile, things had been heating up. There was a worldwide war, with everybody fighting pretty near everone else except me. There was no way I was getting involved, because a) I wasn't able to build boats to get to anybody except India and Korea, and B) India and Korea were keeping my economy afloat and allowing me to have my Science slider set at 100%. So I traded peacefully, but that made it kinda boring. Over on the other continent there was a massive struggle as England gradually wore down Rome. Viroconium changed hands a dozen times in 20 turns, and this struggle apprently left the Romans too exhausted to resist when the Koreans and the Celts piled onto them. By 1866 the Romans were no more, and the Celts turned on England. This was another titanic struggle, as Hastings was conquered and retaken at least a dozen times as well. Meanwhile, closer to home, the Indians and the Koreans were going at it tooth and nail as well, with the Koreans having a slight advantage.

This was interesting. I entered this period half a dozen techs behind the field, but since everybody was concentrating on supporting big armies I was able to make rapid progress in catching up. In 1876 I built Evolution, which pushed me forward. It didn't give me any techs that everybody else didn't have as well, but it narrowed their lead.

The rest of the game was basically me hitting the Next Turn button. Their wars continued, so that by 1977 I was just one tech behind the most advanced nation, the Celts, and was actually ahead of both India and England in techs that mattered. I had my tech slider set at 100% and was still turning a nice profit every turn.

In 1977, a war-weary world was exhausted by a century of unremitting armed conflict. They longed for a new way, for a way of peace and cultural development. In an inspiring moment, the masses of the world united in proclaiming that their leaders had failed, and that they wished to emulate the peaceful and proserous people of the city of Babylon. Their leaders, unable toi resist the popular tide, joined in the chorus of adulation that celebrated my glory.

In 1977, I managed a Cultural Victory.

To be concluded...

[badams52]

Originally posted by Dominae
badams52, I'll post a full AAR of my game when I get around to finishing it. But concerning your question to Kon about how to keep the AI civs more or less equally powerful, I've myself have been employing the same strategy in my game.

I do see and understand, but I'm still not convinced that this will always work, though I'm certain it can help. I wonder if you would be able to keep balance all the time. It just seems hard for me to imagine that 1 civ can control the relative strength and size of all other civs.

I remember in AU205, by the time I found the other continent, the Russians were smaller than the Americans. Maybe if I gave them more goodies, they would have held their own. Once the war began though, I kept the Russians supplied with iron, saltpeter, rubber, etc. to give them a fighting chance. Eventually even that wasn't enough, and you may recall seeing the DMZ I drew with my MA . Soon after, America and Russia made a treaty.

Originally posted by Konquest02
You can compare on my two minimaps review how effective this technique was...

Actually, I wonder when you got contact with the other continent, cause if it was after 1200 AD, in the first game, it seems that England is already destined to become the super power, whereas in the second game, it's still up for grabs, and certainly you could have great influence in that case.

Sometimes I wonder if the old RNG has a lot to do with super AIs

[Ubergeek]

Well, it was my first AU game and my first OCC, and I pulled off a win at one difficulty level lower than my usual. Not bad, I thought, considering the bonehead decisions I made at the start of the game and the rum luck I had at a few points, notably the length of time it took to make contact with another civ, the length of time it took for them to build ports on my island, and me losing Copernicus by a single turn.

The victory, while nice, was anticlimactic in the way that Cultural Victories always are. I usually play with that option turned off, since it always sneaks up on you and ends the game so arbitrarily, but I correctly judged that I was not going to win this game any other way.

As for the format of OCC, I can't say I liked it much. I usually play builder-style on huge maps, so this was such a mindbender that I didn't handle it particularly well. The vast majority of the time I was either building Wonders or had my city on Wealth, and either way it involves a lot of "Next Turn" button punching. Had I built on the coast I might have gotten involved ina foreign war in an effort to produce a Great Leader, but I denied myself even that pleasure.

Well, at least now I can say I've played an OCC game. It did improve my game, no question about it, but I doubt I'll be playing another any time soon.

[Dominae]

Originally posted by badams52
I do see and understand, but I'm still not convinced that this will always work, though I'm certain it can help. I wonder if you would be able to keep balance all the time. It just seems hard for me to imagine that 1 civ can control the relative strength and size of all other civs.

Hey, I'm not saying it's easy (OCC is meant to be a challenge, after all!). But there are ways to keep all civs more or less "average", which helps you in the long run. Certainly if you knew of a way to ensure that no KAIs would ever appear in any given game, Civ3 would be a lot easier.

Check out my AAR for this game (coming soon). I got quite lucky with some of the geo-politics, but I believe I did manage to influence the balance of power to my advantage. You need every trick you can muster in OCC (at least, I do).

Ubergeek: Nice game, and nice to see a new face (uh, avatar)!

Well, at least now I can say I've played an OCC game. It did improve my game, no question about it, but I doubt I'll be playing another any time soon!

Try for a Space Ship victory...things should be a lot more interesting for you then!


Dominae

[Snotty]

I’ve been playing through the AU game and having a great time of it. I rushed through the first time to a cultural victory, but I decided that I would have another crack at it.
On the whole I seem to be taking a much more violent approach than other people....India and Korea both landing settlers protected by nothing more than warriors were far too juicy a target for my swordsmen to ignore.
I’ve recently been waging a swords war on Korea to stunt their growth somewhat. I razed their capital the turn after they built the pyramids in it
When I sued them for peace I found they would quite happily give me one of their cities. I have read previously in the thread that you would 'lose' if you had an extra city at the end of the turn. Does anyone know a way I can take the city from the Koreans and then burn/ abandon it in one turn?
Anyway, thanks for putting the work in Dominae, as I get further involved in the intricacies of the game, I can almost feel your mind at work.

[Snotty]

Ah...As to my question I have solved it myself by simply right clicking on the city. How many times I must have glanced over that menu but its the first time I've ever had to use that option.
If i take nothing else away from this game, then learning that would have made it all worthwhile.

[CerberusIV]

Well, I am now on my fourth try! The first one as the Babylonians went OK for my first OCC and might have given me a cultural win but I wasn't happy I had played that well so I restarted as the Japanese. I was a bit more aggressive with samurai and ended up with the Indians and Koreans thoroughly PO'd with me. I missed Copernicus and fell behind in tech even faster than as the Babylonians.

I am now on my second try as the Aztecs. Jag warriors seem to work well against barbarians. On both tries as the Aztecs I have managed Colossus, Great Library and Great Lighthouse. First time around I traded communications but this time I decided to keep the two continents isolated until someone gets close to Astronomy.

Talking about the RNG, on my Babylonian and Japanese games the Indians kept up with the Koreans and both had cities on my continent but as the Aztecs both games have seen the Koreans very dominant. This time the Indians are down to 5 cities on the southern continent and I only have Koreans for neighbours.

I only connected the iron on the hill to the NW as I am saving the other one for later, so I don't have a spare to trade to the Indians. I will lose the one I have connected to a Korean city eventually once they expand it culturally but I want to make sure I can build the Ironworks. Both irons and the coal disappeared over time in my Japanese game.

OCC can be quite compulsive, as well as frustrating. Nice to have a game that can be played quickly enough to have a couple of goes at.

[Konquest02]

I looked at the replays from my two games and I think that in the first one, the English got a settler early so they were really meant to domine this continent. But you can take Korea and India. I traded much more with India than with Korea in the second game and it allowed Ghandi to live until my victory. It's a good way to get the other Civs attitude way up too... By the end of my second game 4/5 AIs were gracious, the other was polite...

--Kon--

[Ubergeek]

[SIZE=1]

Try for a Space Ship victory...things should be a lot more interesting for you then!


Dominae

Somehow, I think me trying to win by spaceship, even on the easiest setting, would be an exercise in . But on further reflection I might just try again for a Diplomatic victory. At the end of my game, I had pulled even in tech and was about to go ahead, so I'm pretty sure I could get the UN first if things broke at all similarly for me the second time around. And the nice thing about being a small, unobtrusive and undiscriminating trading partner is that everybody loves you.

[Dominae]

300 easy steps to OCC SS victory...

Hi all,

As I mentioned a few posts back, I finished this game on Emperor with a SS victory in 1952AD.

I used stock Play the World rules, since I was deathly afraid of a Space Race under the AU mod rules, but as it turns out I probably would have won anyway even if the SS parts spread all over the Modern age techs.

Obviously, having set up the map, I had quite a few informational advantages playing this game compared to everyone else. To the best of my ability I tried not to let this knowledge direct my actions, and even tried to compensate here and there. For instance, I built the Great Lighthouse instead of simply producing a bunch of Galleys to use in suicide runs, the latter being a lot more cost-effective if all you want to do is make contact then disband the boats (since they're all but useless for the next 200 or so turns). Also, I realised I contacted all the AIs a lot sooner than most players would, so I willingly traded Contacts around instead of keeping the continents segregated. But these are all excuses, so feel free to consider my win with a grain of salt, due to my priviledged role as map-maker.

On to the report. I kept a detailed log of all relevant actions and occurences in the game. If you get bored reading it, just skip to the bold-faced items, which are (IMO) the most interesting moments in the game.

I picked the Ottomans for many reasons, the most interesting of which are: 1) the option to realistically use a UU is a Golden Age trigger all the way into the Modern age, and 2) the Scientific/Industrious trait combo, which most easily avoids a Wonder-triggered GA. I knew I wanted the Great Library and the Colossus, and figured the Industrious Wonders (Hanging Gardens, Pyramids, Hoover Dam, etc.) would be easy to avoid (i.e. not really critical to success).

I turned Cultural and Diplomatic victories off, since I knew I wanted to go for the Space Ship win.

Here we go:

4000BC: Move Settler East, Worker Irrigates
3950BC: Istanbul founded
3700BC: Warrior
3550BC: Warrior
3400BC: Pottery
3050BC: Granary

Yes, that's right, I built a Granary, even if REXing was not an issue. Since there are so few things to build in OCC, especially early on before the Great Library techs come pouring in, it is not major setback to spend 60 Shields on a Granary. In fact, it pays off quite well, since your city grows very nicely during construction of the Colossus, and is almost at size 12 when the starting the Great Library prebuild.

2850BC: Spearmen
2750BC: Worker
2670BC: Worker
2590BC: Alphabet
2430BC: Contact Koreans
Korea: Ceremonial Burial, 35 Gold for Masonry
2190BC: Warrior lost to Barbarian
1830BC: Colossus
1700BC: Writing
1675BC: Temple
1575BC: Spearmen
1375BC: Literature
1225BC: Korea: Contact with the Indians for Literature
India: 35 Gold for Writing
1025BC: Map Making

This is the last tech I researched myself until Printing Press.

925BC: Great Library
900BC: The Wheel
Warrior Code
Mysticism
Iron Working

The great thing about Emperor is that the AI researches fast enough that you never feel like doing your own research with the Great Library around!

Here's a screenshot of the turn my city reached size 12:

[Dominae]

570BC: Great Lighthouse
510BC: Galley
470BC: Contact Celts
450BC: Horseback Riding
430BC: Contact Romans
Contact English
410BC: Harbor
Mathematics
Philosophy
390BC: England: 337 Gold for Contact with Koreans and Indians
Rome: 118 Gold and Territory map for Contacts
Celts: World map for Contacts
Korea: Wines, Territory map and 79 Gold for Mathematics and Philosophy

If you're going to sell Contacts, you need to sell them all to everyone in one turn, as the AI civs will waste no time in contacting each other without you.

350BC: The Republic
Construction
Revolution!
310BC: Polytheism
Code of Laws
290BC: Government: Republic
230BC: Library

No point in building a Library before, since the Great Library meant my Science was at 0%.

150BC: Currency
Monotheism
110BC: Marketplace
90BC: Rome: World map and 38 Gold for Currency
India: World map, 8 Gold for Mathematics, The Republic, Polytheism and Iron

Around here is where I realised there was no Iron on the Indian/Korean continent, and so I could sort of control the balance of power in that region by trading Iron to the weaker party. Korea ended up 2-3 cities up on India after REXing, and I knew it was just a matter of time before they would go to war, to India's demise. To prevent this, I basically gifted a bunch of stuff to India (including Iron) to ensure it would at least put up a nice fight.

10AD: Monarchy
190AD: Feudalism
Theology
250AD: Engineering
320AD: English declare war
Rome: Alliance versus English for Monotheism, 82 Gold
Celts: Alliance versus English for 201 Gold
Korea: Alliance versus English for 345 Gold

England was getting pretty strong on the main continent, and I was worried that they would get too far ahead (despite the Roman and Celt UUs). When they contacted me and demanded 100 Gold and a World map, I got the opportunity I had been waiting for: a chance to get England and I to go to war without hurting my reputation. The ensuing war on the big continent saw almost no ground gained by any of the three civs (some cities did switch hands repeatedly, however).


330AD: Education
390AD: Sistine Chapel
430AD: University
440AD: Printing Press

I figured the AI would go for Astronomy right away, so I researched Printing Press instead. I timed my Copernicus' prebuild quite badly, and had to build the Sistine Chapel else lose all the Shields. This made the race for Copernicus' a lot more stressful that I was hoping, since the Wonder-cascade had not been broken yet (Bach's, Sun Tzu's among others were still being constructed by the AI).

490AD: Korea: Banking for Printing Press, Iron and 10 Gold
Rome: Invention for Printing Press and 502 Gold
Celts: 17 Gold per turn, 283 Gold for Banking
560AD: Astronomy

Yup, I ended up reasearching Astronomy myself, since the AI was apparently avoiding the darn thing.

England: Peace and Gunpowder for Printing Press, Banking and 794 Gold

The deal for Gunpowder put me ahead in tech, as England is behind in the peaceful techs, while no other civ yet had Gunpowder.

Celts: 20 Gold per turn for Gunpowder
610AD: Celts: Chivalry and 188 Gold for Astronomy
620AD: Copernicus' Observatory
670AD: Bank
680AD: Chemistry
710AD: England: 33 Gold per turn, Music Theory and 21 Gold for Chemistry
Celts: 11 Gold per turn, 12 Gold for Chemistry
Korea: Wines, 19 Gold per turn for Chemistry

Here starts the great Gold syphon from the AIs Commerce output directly into my Treasury. I'll mention this a couple more times before the report is over, but this was critical to my success in this game. By constantly selling techs for gpt to the AIs, the other civs never had enough funds to match my own research rate (even if they had so many more cities).

780AD: Physics
Celts: 68 Gold per turn for Physics
England: Economics and 9 Gold per turn for Physics
Korea: Navigation and 2 Gold per turn for Physics
790AD: Rome: Horses and Saltpeter for Economics
800AD: Korea: 10 Gold per turn and 44 Gold for Iron
810AD: Celts: NOTHING for World map and 100 Gold
Rome: Gems and Incense for Chemistry

Just keeping the Celts happy here, giving in to every demand that came to my door (see England below).

820AD: Korea: 5 Gold per turn and 23 Gold for Ivory
860AD: England: NOTHING for 100 Gold and World map
870AD: India: Worker and 2 Gold for Chemistry
890AD: Theory of Gravity
900AD: Newton's University

Probably my most successful prebuild.

910AD: Steal Magnetism from Koreas "Safely" for 1782 Gold
Korea: 59 Gold per turn and 60 Gold for Theory of Gravity
Celts: 40 Gold per turn and 32 Gold for Theory of Gravity
England: 24 Gold per turn and 19 Gold for Theory of Gravity

Since the Koreas were Gracious with me, I figured I could affor the Rep. hit if my Steal Tech attempt was discovered. The Koreans were willing to sell Magnetism to me for a little cheaper (~1500 Gold), but I did not want all that Gold to go into their coffers. Note the continued tech-broker trend.

930AD: England: Metallurgy for Magnetism
Nationalism

I entered the Industrial age one tech ahead of the competition.

[Dominae]

940AD: India: 2 Gold for Metallurgy and Astronomy
Rome: Democracy and 2 Gold for Physics and Metallurgy

I continued my campaign of supporting the weakest civs.

970AD: India: 8 Gold for Banking and Physics
Rome: 40 Gold for Theory Gravity and Magnetism
980AD: Celts: 78 Gold per turn and 48 Gold for Nationalism
1000AD: India: World map for Theory Gravity and Magnetism
Korea: 32 Gold per turn and 43 Gold for Iron

I was quite surprised to see Korea pay so much for Iron. Although I did not want Korea to overrun India, 32gpt was just sweet to pass up, since Korea was my main tech competitor at that point.

1010AD: Rome: Gems and Incense for Ivory
Celts: 5 Gold per turn and 12 Gold for Ivory

Luxuries make the world go 'round, especially the world of the Ottomans, who can keep their entire populace happy for a next to nothing.

1020AD: Korea: 11 Gold per turn and 31 Gold for Ivory
1060AD: Steam Power
1090AD: Korea: 56 Gold per turn and 12 Gold for Steam Power
1100AD: India: Silks for Nationalism

This kept Korea from conquering India for the rest of the game.

1110AD: Rome: Free Artistry, Horses and 10 Gold per turn for Nationalism
England: 25 Gold per turn and 69 Gold for Steam Power
Celts: 30 Gold per turn and 23 Gold for Steam Power
1200AD: Smith's Trading Company
1210AD: Electricity
1220AD: Rome: Gems, Incense and 3 Gold per turn for Ivory
Celts: 49 Gold per turn and 62 Gold for Iron and Ivory
Korea: 186 Gold per turn and 550 Gold for Electricity
1230AD: Korea: Furs, 11 Gold per turn and 55 Gold for Ivory
1240AD: England: Military Tradition, Saltpeter and 42 Gold per turn for Electricity
1280AD: Korea declares war on India
England declares war on Korea

The two world superpowers declare war on each other for no good reason (that I can see), which begins my amazing geo-political luck. All in all I had to do very little puppetteering with the AIs, since they were willing to cyclically declare war on each other of their own volition.

1295AD: India: Silks and 100 Gold for Ivory
1300AD: Replaceable Parts