AUSG101 - Opportunist Team DAR 3

[Rhothaerill]

This is the DAR (“during action report”) thread for the third turn block of 30 turns (1250bc – 550bc) for the opportunist team. Please post your DAR of the next 30 turns, including thoughts of why you did what you did in the game, along with a screenshot at 550bc and a savegame at 550bc. Please name your save with your nickname, team name, and the time (i.e. rhoth-opportunist-550bc).

Team registry:

Dominae
Arrian
Nor Me
BRC
Godking
Platfuss
korn469

Current voting (by opportunist team)

Nor Me: 2

Total votes:2 of 7

[GodKing]

Downloading.....

When are we supposed to have a report ready by?

[Rhothaerill]

Originally posted by GodKing
Downloading.....

When are we supposed to have a report ready by?

Tuesday the 30th...23:59 eastern time.

[GodKing]

Some basic information – from 550

An electrical storm caused the computer to shut down while I was writing this the first time, and I lost the detailed reports showing what events happened in what years.

Suicide galley (wish I realized the AU mod slowed down their progress in the oceans prior to sending him, else I probably wouldn’t have) succeeded in his mission of exploration and discovered a lost tribe, the English.

Using the ability to sell my world map, I have for the most part kept the known world broke and my coffers relatively ‘not empty’.

The last couple of turns, I raised the amount of cash coming in so that if this game is chosen, people will have the ability to purchase some of their own idea of improvements prior to hitting the end turn button.

My objective was to max our growth into the empty lands. Although there are a couple more places on our continent that we can probably still settle, I am currently producing only a single settler to occupy that single island by Buffalo. My fear is that the Americans will get a settler there first, and we will then have to take that city in a peace treaty or just wait til marines (or, just let it sit there as their last city, but that leaves a bad taste in my mouth).

I have been attempting to use our religious trait to advantage, and purchase temples along our borders. Unfortunately, I made what I now perceive as a mistake of pop rushing whatever I could just prior to our switch to Monarchy. I usually try to avoid pop rushing, but I was trying to grow as much and as fast as I could. Now that the land is in essence settled, I am focusing on workers (I am short of workers IMO at this time, as I used the pop points to pop rush and pump out settlers instead) and military, as well as addressing a few basic growth long term infrastructure items (markets).

Don’t worry about the American warrior near Shiraz, he is an explorer who was in Japans territory and is now going home. Just let him cross and he will be gone prior to him annoying us (I think).

We now have:
- 21 cities
- 27 workers (I was aiming for 40 or so)
- 1 purchased slave (Carthage really really wanted my world map)
- 3 warriors
- 6 spears
- 6 chariots (I could have had more, and kinda regret not going that route instead of popping out all the spears. I wanted spears to use as MP’s and for future infantry, but at this time could have changed them to a grouping of 1 spear, 4 warriors, and 2 chariots. As I already started down the spearman path however, I decided not to change at this time)
- 2 catapults (they were in cities that had no barracks yet, but that I wanted to wait a couple of turns prior to popping out the next settler/worker)
- 3 galleys
- 2 scouts (one on the galley near the English territory).

Within our cities, we have the following improvements:
- 19 temples
- 2 harbors
- 3 granaries (I didn’t build any more, hoping to take the pyramids from the Americans. They missed out by not much I think as in my game #2 I had set up an embassy with them and they should have been done within a turn or two of the Black Lands getting them)
- 7 barracks
- 1 palace (duh)
- many more improvements to soon be with us.

Right now, we are the tech leader, and the only tech known to another civ and not us in horseback riding. I purposely did not trade for it (Japan was willing to give up ALL their Gold, their WM and Horseback riding for our WM after we met England and got their map. I choose instead to stick with chariots in the hopes of being able to quickly build up forces). I focused on getting us Map Making (I wanted to explore) right after Monarchy, then on Currency as we had been running a deficit for a while, and as we can purchase improvements. Once currency was done, I upped our tax rate and lowered our science to 70/30/0 and spent the past 5 or 6 turns working towards literature figuring that libraries are kinda nice to have (there are enough rivers around our cities I didn’t feel a rush to go after construction for those Aquaducts).

City Settlement plan – well, you got 21 of them, and you obviously were making settling a goal, so how did you get these locations? Simply put, I ignored RCP and choose sites that were as far away as possible from the capitol and towards the enemy and / or good lands.

What would have come. Well, if I was to continue playing, I would have declared war on Japan after I had a force of about 12-15 horses, probably in about 10 turns or so if I used my gold to rush things along. They have 3 cities with culture, and it shouldn’t be that hard to take all three (except perhaps Kyoto, but it has been working on a wonder for the past 40 odd turns, so probably only has 2-3 defenders at this time). I didn’t like going after America just yet because they are in Monarchy (they researched it themselves, quite impressive), and their cities have no culture, so I am a little scared of auto-razing them. I would rather take them over then let them be razed. Also, Washington should be about to finish either the Oracle or the Hanging Gardens, so I figures I would give them a few turns to enjoy it as we annexed those 3 or 4 cities from Japan.

I am still thinking of having a small conflict with Carthage. This would get them into a GA so we wouldn’t have to deal with it later when we go to annex their lands. Also, I let them put that city (Hippo) right on the Isthmus, so if we want the canal (and I do) we might be able to take that from them at this time with minimal loss. Also, hopefully when they are in a GA, they will REX out their lands. We can also donate to them Currency in the hopes that they will build a couple of Markets for us prior to our invasion (of MI and Ansars I was thinking).

Haven’t though about where to put the FP yet. Probably will put it somewhere close to the capitol and just do a palace jump later.

WHAT TO DO PRIOR TO HITTING END TURN:
Map Trade – Japan has some gold they will gladly donate to us.
Carthage has quite a bit of gold, around 70 iirc. They also have a worker. With civs having map making, it might be worth wild to sell off a contact (NOT ENGLAND) to get that worker.
Adjust build queues. Heck, it is your game now.

[GodKing]

I am still having problems making jpeg pictures even after reloading photosuite. No idea why. I can do them as BMP. But whenever I save it as a jpeg and open it up again, it just saves a blank (white) box. Very annoying. Here is the bmp, and if someone is feeling generious and can convert it for me, thanks.

[Rhothaerill]

Here you go GK. Your .bmp file was all white when I tried to view it or download it so I just took your savegame and made a new .jpg from that.

[GodKing]

thanks

[GodKing]

Ur, um, hey guys, anybody else going to do one?

[Arrian]

Oh, yeah, I'll get my turns in tonight.

-Arrian

[Arrian]

Alrighty then...

1250bc - nada
1225bc - Muscat founded.
1200bc - settler complete, queue another. Khurasan switched to barracks.
1175bc - America demands contact with Carthage, I laugh at them. They chicken out (*whew*). Monarchy discovered, revolt, we are a Monarchy! Currency next. Temple rushed in Fustat - 84gold.
1150bc - Mansura founded.
1125bc - Damascus ordered to build barracks. Temple rushed in Mansura, 116gold.
...
I have no notes until the next tech is discovered. In this time, I built barracks and troops, and of course used my workers. At some point, I also build Aleppo.
...
950bc - Currency discovered. CoL next. Worker purchased from Carthage for 103gold.
...
775bc - Monarchy traded to Carthage for MapMaking, their WM, and 128gold.
...
730bc - Marketplaces complete in Mecca and Damascus.
...
690bc - Monarchy to America for HBR, their WM, and 90gold. 17 chariots upgraded to horsemen.
...
570bc - Literature discovered. Philo next.
550bc - end.

Iron connects next turn. 15 of the warriors are vets.

Here's the 550bc screenshot:

[Arrian]

I also moved our southern scout down onto the iron near Carthage. Now that I have a city w/a spearman in it by the chokepoint, he had no particular purpose.

Here is a shot of the F3 screen:

[Arrian]

And here is the save:

[Dominae]

Looking good Arrian!

I hope to play this block tomorrow...I assume it's not a big deal that my submission is one day late, since my block is not a contender this time around.


Dominae

[Nor Me]

On getting the save, I decided to build less settlers and switch from chariots to warriors. The immeadiate concern was to look big enough not to be attacked. So I upgraded 8 veteran warriors as soon as was reasonable, in 975BC. Then I switched back to chariots.

Nothing much happened until the last seven turns. After getting monarchy and switching, I researched Map making at 100% and then built a few galleys, probably only 5 or 6 but they worked in the end. Tech seemed to be going reasonably fast so I researched Currency and Construction because I doubted the AI would get them. I found the English alone on an island to the SE. The Japanese city of Edo flipped. Maybe allthis culture is useful for someting.

In 690BC, I established an embassy with the Americans. Washington was 12 turns away from the Pyramids and was defended by 2 spearmen. That was just too temping so I planned a quick American invasion. Although I had 13 chariots, I only had about 120 gold so I expected to wait a few tutns.

In 670BC, I met the Indians. A suicide galley had crossed the 1 ocean and 2 sea gap in the north. The Indians and Babylonians were able to give me enough gold to upgrade 15 chariots.

In 630BC, I talked to the Americans in preparation for war and discovered that they had Code of Laws. In a recent thread, someone complained about the AI being able to switch to Anarchy on your turn. Never one to avoid an exploit, I traded Monarchy for copde of laws and then declared war on the Americans when they were in Anarchy. I originally thought of that giving an AI civ Monarchy to stop them pop-rushing defenders allowing the capturing of some cities without culure. But being able to start a war with your opponent in Anarchy for a few turns is just too good. The only downside was that this might cause me to lose the Pyramids to the other continent.

The war went well. Atlanta fell in 610BC and Boston and Philadelphia followed the next turn. I've only seen spearmen and warriors so far and 2 towns were defended with only 1 spearman! Also in 590BC, I met the Black Land. Although they are on the same continent as the Indians and Babylonians, they don't have contact! They also seem to have resarched interstingly. They were in Monarchy but didn't have alphabet. This at least makes you wonder about the effects of the AU Mod on isolated non-commercial civs on Archipelagos. Without it, they wouldn't research polytheism first.

Barad-Dur was only 4 turns from the Pyramids . So there was no chance of the Americans building them. However, this meant that I could bring forward the attack on Washington, hoping to capture the Hanging Gardens or the Oracle the turn it will be built. Delhi is a level 1 city 1 turn away from a settler. The AI obviously hasn't learnt yet.

In 550BC, I saw that the Black Land had founded a city close an Indian one and realised that it would only be time before they met. It's fairly clear by this stage that Domination is going to be the easiest victory to aim for. We're far ahead of the AI in research and the AI are divided. We've plenty of production. The difficult part is going to be invading the other main continent. Delaying their getting Feudalism would be useful. To stop the the tech trade, I declared war on Mordor, gifteg the contact to India and Babylon and signed an alliance with both of them.

America is effectivcely out of it. Their big, connected and less corrupt cities are building wonders. They've just switched to Monarchy but are unlikely to be able to build many troops quickly. The Japanese are only on 6 cities and should be next. I don't know if we need bother attacking Carthage. The priority is getting an intercontinental invasion going fast. I don't think we'll see Gunpowder era units this game. This is doable using just Ansars and caravels. If only we had the great lighthouse, we'd only need 4 techs one of which is 2 turns away. But that's not going to happen unless one of my two elite swordsmen were lucky. Still, there's only 7 or 8 techs.

[Nor Me]

Have a screenshot:

[Nor Me]

Another? I like this one:

[Tassadar500]

Discussion and voting perion begins

[Arrian]

Hmm... I guess I'm the only one who didn't build any galleys. I was thinking AU Mod = 2 moves in ocean = better to concentrate on the home continent.

Oh well.

-Arrian

[Arrian]

Hmm, I've been pondering... how do we deal with the fact that suicide galleys succeeding is lucky, and yet the decision to try is a good one?

In other words, the "strategic" element is deciding to try galley runs. Good luck comes in if you actually make it.

Nor Me's save looks like the best position, due to contact with the rest of the civs, and his beatdown of America. My army might be slightly larger (once the ~15 warriors become swordsmen), but he got going faster... and my force level *might* be a bit of overkill. I do that sometimes.

It's the contact thing that really makes his position better, though, and that's why I'm wondering about the suicide galley thing. I thought I was making a valid strategic choice when I chose to ignore galleys for now, give the AU mod changes. But in retrospec, the decision doesn't look very smart.

-Arrian

[Jaybe]

... how do we deal with the fact that suicide galleys ...

(By making galleys WHEELED, and prohibited in the OCEAN)

(Sorry about the kibitzing, I suspect I'll stop when Conquests comes out.)

[Nor Me]

Originally posted by Arrian
Hmm, I've been pondering... how do we deal with the fact that suicide galleys succeeding is lucky, and yet the decision to try is a good one?

The important bridge to the NW is visible from by safe exploration. At any rate, you can see the sea across 1 ocean tile.
The first galley I tried to send across there sunk anyway.
There's not much luck in finding those 3 civs. Anyone with Map Making who makes sensible choices will find them eventually.

The English were harder to find. The sea to the SE looked interesting but you could miss them.

3 of my galleys sank and 1 was lost to barbarians. So I wouldn't say I was that lucky.

That doesn't mean that the decision to research Map Making was going to be useful. But the AI wasn't going to do it any time soon and nor was I going to build any marketplaces, libraries or aqueducts straight away.

Once you have Map Making, you'd want to build at least a couple of safely exploring galleys.

I didn't really think about this. It's the way I'd normally play. If I can't make contact with the other civs, I want to know that. The AU mod makes it harder. But it means that you are more likely to see relatively safe crossings if they exist.

[GodKing]

GK - Most REXing. Weak military, but with the good production that should be changed soon. Only 1 overseas contact - england.

Arrian - Best military. Could be overkill, but that is how I also usually do it. Better to crush them. No contacts hurts a lot.

Nor Me - Good military. Great Contacts. Wars, and no way of actually engaging with them I am afraid... but still workable.

I hate voting when I am a contestant. Particularly as in this case there are three very seperate ways to play, all are valid, and all can work well. Gues I will go for Nor Me however because of the contacts.

[Rhothaerill]

The voting for the third turn block is finished and Nor Me is the choice. Congratulations Nor Me. The fourth turn block will be posted in a new DAR thread. Everyone will have 5 days to complete the third turn block. That means the DARs will need to be posted by 23:59 EST Tuesday the 7th.

[Arrian]

The overseas wars aren't a problem at all, GodKing, since we're a Monarchy. What he did was downright Machiavellian... and I applaud it.

-Arrian

[Nor Me]

Just a word of warning about my position for those who didn't read my AAR too closely:

1) I believe that Barad-Dur will build the Pyramids in 2 turns. Then Washington should switch and build the Hanging Gardens or the Oracle straight away

2) Our troops are well-placed to take Washington Next turn

I think that might be worth emphasising. Don't sue me if that isn't quite what happens as I haven't played yet.

[Arrian]

Translation: wait a turn or two before hitting Washington.

Too bad in our game the Americans didn't manage to build the Pyramids. In the SS or Domination game, they did.

-Arrian