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]

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.

[vmxa1]

That is just evil Risa, start it over. It is after all a learnig tool.

[ZargonX]

Quick notes, more detail later (though, not much of excitement in this phase...)

4000 - Entremont settled. Research set to 100% for BW
3750 - Warrior built.
3600 - Worker built
3400 - Warrior; contact with Iroquois. CB to Ir. for 10g
2350 - Barb hut
3250 - Warrior lost to barbs; BW discovered. IW started
2710 - Granary finished
2350 - Alesia founded
2310 - Germany contacted
2270 - Sumerians contacted

[Fosse]

Playing AU mod, Demigod (first time full game at this level).

Things are going well for the Celts. I founded my capital on the starting position, seeing no reason to move away, started researching mysticism. My goal is to learn monarchy, trade techs for iron working, and warrior upgrade to Celtic Swords and do some damage. In 3600 BC I popped a settler from the NE hut. I don't know what it is about AU games, but in any game that isn't AU I pop barbs, always in the first hut and usually in six or seven more (sometimes 100%).

In 3500 BC I met Sumeria, and saw I am already behind in tech, having nothing for them while they are two up on me. I meet the Iroquois in the same turn, they have alphabet but I can't buy it.

In 3150 I get bronze working from a hut!

3050 I meet Germany.

2850 Get Mysticism. I trade it around The Wheel, Warrior Code, Alphabet and a Sumerian Worker.



My initial city was able to make a warrior-granary first, with the settler pop. So now it and Alesia (nest to the lake by the cow) are giving me settlers at a reasonable rate. I've built a city on top of the incense for the luxury, research boost, and to crank out a barraks and warriors. The turn in now 2070, I grabbed the Spices in the west, have a few curraghs on the way, and am going to try to sqeeze a few temples to grab an Iroquois city by flipping. My eventual Celtic Swordsman rush will be either the Iroquois (if flipping looks unlikely) or Sumeria, so I'm thinking ahead to that.

Here's a screenie: (okay, screen to come later)

[Dominae]

5CC, Emperor-level

I decided to jump down a level (or two) from where I'm used to to try a five city challenge. It's my first ever.

Although I really wanted to play this one "clean" - without any help from the spoiler forum - it was simply too difficult to ignore the Oasis, even though I would never have noticed it myself. So I moved my Worker N on the first turn, and my Settler NW (since there was more Grassland in the westerward direction; northward only promised Desert).

On the second turn, I moved the Worker West in hopes of seeing something juicy, but there was nothing of interest and so I founded Entremont right then and there. Begin production on a Warrior. Start Mysticism at 100%.

Since I've never played a 5CC before, I have no idea what I'm doing. I figured some basic principles still apply, such as: Granaries are good because they help keep your pop up. So I more or less played the first 40 turns as I would have a standard game, apart from the generous distances between cities (see screenshot).

First Warrior completed in 3750BC and proceed N-NW, hopping from mountain to mountain. From the second peak I saw the Flood Plains and Bonus Grasslands combo. This convinced me to switch my queue from Warrior2-Worker-Granary to Settler-Worker-Granary. The second city would be able to produce 2-turn Workers, in order to boost pop in my four other cities.

This early Settler was ready in 3250BC, and founded Alesia a few turns later in 3000BC. On the way there, I met the Germans, Iroquois and Sumerians, all in 3150BC. Only the Germans were without Ceremonial Burial, and all had Pottery.

I spotted a couple of German Workers move from a Mountains tile into their capital, which meant they were available to purchase the next turn (the AI, like the human player, rarely puts Roads on Mountains in the early-game...Hills are a different story). This allowed me to arrange the following trade in 3050BC:

Ceremonial Burial, 1gpt and 2 Gold for Slave Worker (Germans)

Alesia was forced to build a Warrior before the Worker I had planned in order to defend against barbarian raids. I avoided Barb Huts to be safe, but nonetheless managed to lose a Warrior North of Germany to a silly Conscript punk.

I completed Mysticism in 2510BC, resulting in the following trades:

Mysticism and 3 Gold for Masonry and Bronze Working (Germans)
Masonry and Mysticism for Alphabet and 10 Gold (Iroquois)

The next few years were uneventful, with most of my time spent figuring out where I should place my five cities: really spread out to deny land to the AI, or OCP for reduced Corruption? I'm still not really sure.

Entremont completed a Granary in 2390BC, and began producing a Settler right away. I suppose the plan for my capital is to produce the required number of Settlers, then start on either a Wonder or Barracks and Warriors. I'm thinking that killing everyone on my continent ASAP is not the right away to go, since I could definitely use them to keep me alive in the tech race. So the Wonder route is probably the one I will take.

2150BC, the last turn for this DAR, was quite eventful. Alesia, with 20 Shields of production, poprushed a Barracks then switched to a Granary (not sure if that's what we call "short-rushing" or not). I also arranged the following trades:

Alphabet, 1gpt and 14 Gold for 2 Slave Workers (Sumerians)
Alphabet for Warrior Code and 26 Gold (Germans)

Taking Workers away from the AI is oh-so fun!

---

Here are the current stats for my empire:

Cities: 2
Population: 7
Settlers: 1

Granaries: 1

Workers: 3
Slaves: 3
Warriors: 1

Tech: parity with AI, minus Iron Working

Fun: yes

[Risa]

5CC with non-coastal start? That will be hard. Rivers help a lot, though.

[Risa]

Emperor, AU Mod

Being tired of harsh life of nomad, the Celtic people gather around their trusted leader, Brennus, eager to settle down and build their glorious civilization. Brennus believe they'd better leave their forest intact, thus leads his people to northwest plain and build the first city, naming it Entremont. Worker of Celts begins mining and roading southwest grassland, then irrigates and roads to north oasis.

Brennus trains two warriors to scout north and south wilderness, hoping to find some good place to expand his territory. They report that there're a good number of fertile floodplain in near north, some beautiful grassland and hills in near southeast, and some incense, too. Not all are good news, though, southwest and a bit more southeast lie huge amount of unproductive jungles.

In 3450BC, a small village of warrior decide to join in Celtic military. Brennus orders it head back to Entremont to perform policing. 100 years later, the second group of Celtic worker takes their gear, start mining the sugar field.

In following years, warrior scouts encounter three group of forergn people. The southern group call themselves Iroquois, the northern one announce they are German, and the northeast one say they are Sumeria. Brennus happily shares his knowledge of Pottery and Ceremonial burial with German, in price of their Bronze working, Warrior codes and 10 golds. They don't share their invention of wheels, though, and Iroquois and Sumeria keep their Alphabet as secret. "That won't last long", said Brennus.

In 2950BC, Celtic people learns about Mysticism, exchange it with Iroquois people for Alphabet, sell it to Sumeria for 20 golds, and use Alphabet to get ideas about wheels from German.

Entremont's first building, a granary, completes in 2800BC. 210 years later, first group of Celtic people are ready to depart Entremont. Meanwhile, roads to thier destination - the incense hill - have completed too. After a short journy, the second city of Celts is built in 2510BC, named Alesia.

Another group of settling people depart Entremont in 2350BC, moving to northern floodplains, and encounter a German hunting group. "Where are you heading?" the warrior escort asks. No response.

Brennus is busy arranging the third settler group when the alarm sounds off. "German has declared war on us!" Two warriors die, Brennus flees, and Entremont is fallen.

"NO, it shouldn't be!"

======

The wizard casts a powerful spell: Time Reversing.

======

This time, Brennus rushes a spearman after the second settler's departure, and it saves Entremont. Later an archer is trained. Together with several warrior, it defeats German invasion force. "I'll avenge it!" shouted Brennus.

[Fosse]

Originally posted by Makahlua
IW in 48t? Argh. Time for 90.10.0 for a few turns

Welcome to AU, Makahula. I haven't read all of the DAR's yet, so somebody might have pointed this out already.

If you're trying to research as fast as possible, and you have a tech that will take you exactly or nearly 50 turns, it is still better to research at 100% science, hoping that city growth and road builds will bring that time down by the end of the research.

If, in ten turns, you can bring that time down, and you've been spending teh whole ten turns at 100 % research, then you could find yourself five or six turns closer to finishing than if you collected gold the whole time.


And your start looks better than mine.

Now on to the rest of the DARs.

[Krill]

This was written during play, and finished couple of minutes ago. I improvised some of the tactics, and thank you to the RNG that they worked. This is on Emperor, so thanks are owed to all those who have helped me over the past week.

Settle on the spot, and send the worker across the river to the BG. Mine and then road is the plan, so I can swap between 2.1.2 and 2.2.1 (food/shields/commerce). The forest is worked for 2 turns, then sugar for two, to complete the warrior in 4 turns, and start project Worker. When I pop the goody hut, I receive warrior code, which might be useful in the very near future. It turns out, though, that it is not.
3600bc. Worker completed on the same turn as growth. Change construction to granary. The mighty Celtic military consists of one warrior scouting, and it will not be getting any bigger any time soon. It’s getting smaller. Barbs take it out in 3400bc. In 2950bc, I see two German archers, and an Iroquoian warrior. Germans have bronze and wheel, but not CB Iroquoian have bronze and alpha, but neither CB nor WC.

In 2800bc, I effectively screwed the AI up good and proper. I got an SGL from Mysticism, the first tech I researched, and traded it (and ~100g + 4gpt) around between Germany and Iroquois for: Wheel, BW, Alpha, and Germanys’ two workers. Life is on the up, Gentlemen (and Ladies). Since I traded a lot of my present and future gold, I went for Polytheism at 50turn pace.
In 2590bc, Alesia is founded on the incense, to save “To many turns” roading it. Warrior->warrior->warrior->warrior…is the build path, for scouting and garrison duty, because that 4gpt to Germany really hurts this early in the game. 2310bc, Lugdunum founded, and builds a granary, then settlers. The military escorts will originate from Alesia.
There are a few problems with my method, namely lack of scouting and a lack of a military.

I know of only two civs, who have twice as much money, and masonry, but nothing more. I have a possible 4-turn pump, but need 120 shields to set it up. I already have a decent pump, and will make another in Lugdunum.

Sorry for the terrible pic. I could not think of a way to resize it and keep the deteil I needed.

[jim_steer]

wow crazy perspective.

A SGL on your first tech!! You lucky beggar, I would be jealous but I also got one from Currency it seems this game is blessed.

[Krill]

The plan is to rush ToA, and get the cheap border expansion. It also helps with the resistors that I hope to "Acquire" in the near future.

[jim_steer]

I went for the Great Library with mine as most other wonders had been built and I was starting to fall a bit behind in tech. Wish I had built the the Great Lighthouse but I foolishly assumed it had already been built, was gutted when it was built 2 turns later.

[Makahlua]

Fosse - yes, I did only do that for a few turns until I had that settler planted and then bumped it back to where I'd get IW in 26

And I am -so- jealous of all of you with the SGLs But then I 'outsourced' all my wonder building anyway....

However I have four armies now, so I shouldn't talk I love the Heroic Epic, don't you?

[vmxa1]

Krill watch out for triggering the GA with a wonder, the Celts are easy to do that with.

[Krill]

I'm not much of a psycotic wonder builder. I hate everything until sistines'. I want the GA right before any major war, to build up my army. I need it in about 50turns, then

[Aqualung71]

AU502 – DAR1 First 40 turns

Demigod level – AU Mod

Having only a few recent demigod games under my belt I approached this one with some trepidation. I was much more inclined to retreat to the relative safety of Emperor level, but eventually decided to risk humiliation in order to continue the learning curve I’ve been on for the last few months.
So, here we go…..

4000BC: First turn, moved worker west, settler northwest (courtesy of the Oasis diviners on the spoiler thread).

3950BC: The town of Aqualung founded (and what better name for a Religious civ without a religion?). Warrior built first, though this was an agonizing choice ahead of Granary. Alphabet researched at 35-turn pace. Worker mining shielded grassland. Man, I’ve never spent so much time on the first 2 turns before!!!

3700BC: Warrior built. Oh no, the Domestic Advisor shows Brennus the Warrior is red. Do we have a Roman traitor in our midst already? Granary next – better not collect too many club wielding savages with questionable loyalties. Warrior (now a respectable cyan) departs east on exploration, leaving the management of the empire’s moody populace to the mysterious gods of the luxury slider.

3650BC: Warrior spots goody hut and also spies Incense.

3600BC: Oops, didn’t realize the Governor was automatically turned on. He’s been summarily sacked and imprisoned for the crime of costing the fledgling city-state one shield, and for the future crime of managing Brennus’ empire badly (Brennus recently saw a stage production of Minority Report in starring Llhom Bhruise, the Welsh heart-throb) and the luxury slider gods have been invoked in the Palace (increasing Alphabet research from 24 to 29 turns). Exploring Warrior wisely bypasses “baddy” hut, mounts a mount, and spies the fabled pump-cow in the near distance.

3500BC: Warrior turns north after spotting what may be coastline. Worker has completed mining/roading and moves back to the sugar to mine, consciously sacrificing a pop-pumping irrigated Oasis for more early production. Perhaps a mistake.

3450BC: Our Empire culture expands, revealing spices in a jungle to the west. Oh, so many goodies nearby, but we feel so helpless with our long Granary build going! A very large looking Enkidu warrior arrives and announces that the Sumerian empire knows all our technologies and more, and we are not surprised.

Warrior moves to a northern hill and confirms that yes indeed, the Celtic civilization is not too far from the coast.

3250BC: Grow to size 3. Luxury slider pushed up to 20%, and Alphabet recedes 2 more turns, now at 17. Extra labourer put to work in the forest and food surplus drops to 2. Next pop in 10, Granary in 4. Perhaps should have put labourer to Oasis to even-up the growth/production cycle, but then less commerce, forcing higher luxury slider usage. Also, let’s get the Granary built quickly and then get more MP.

Enkidu is closely following our Warrior and has popped a hut, receiving 25 gold. We thinks the RNG may not have given us the same reward. Clearly anti-discrimination laws have not been yet conceived of in this primitive world.

3200BC: Illinois encampment of barbarians spotted. Hmmm, are we on a North-American stylized continent? Will there be the dreaded Iroquois mounted warriors to contend with? Time will tell.

3150BC: Sugar mine finished, now roading.

3100BC: Warrior redlined defending on a mountain against a Barb warrior. Yes, wise decision to choose demigod! Moved a labourer from forest to tobacco, to avoid wasting shields with 1 turn to go on the build, and reduce research time. Yes, we do know how to MM, but oh isn’t it a pain!!!

3050BC: Well we didn’t have to wait long. Our concerns were well-founded. An Iroquois warrior appears within view. We do though, by some stroke of luck, have a tech that Hiawatha lacks, and so trade Ceremonial Burial to him in return for Bronze Working and all his gold - 10. Unfortunately he already has Alphabet, so our first SGL has been delayed (in our dreams that is!). And no, he wouldn’t part with that as well, not for any price!

Granary completed, start on warrior.

3000BC: Nasty Barb warriors arrive on our northern mountain next to the Oasis we were about to move our worker to. Drats!

Our roving Warrior spots the Iroquois encampment, dangerously close to our capital. And also sees some Dyes. Brennus begins to feel crowded already.

2950BC: Warrior built, luxury slider reduced to 10%

2900BC: 3 Iroquois warriors approach our capital. This does not look good!

2850BC: Warrior built, another started. Settler will have to wait, as Barbs are threatening and Iroquois Warriors are surrounding us.

2800BC: 2 Iroquois warriors parked outside our door and a 3rd approaching. We have 2 warriors inside, with our exposed worker hopefully acting as a sacrificial decoy in case they declare. We give Hiawatha 5 gold (well that’s all we could afford, honestly!), which he accepts but is still annoyed at us.

2750BC: Iroquois declare war, and only one Warrior attacks, dying, and the other Warrior fortifies leaving our worker to continue his irrigation. Meanwhile, German forces appear and easily account for the nearby Barbarians. Worker recalled into the town – irrigation will need to wait. Good one ducki – testing out the new aggression rating of 4 for the Iroquois. Well, it works!

2710BC: The inexplicable Iroquois tactics continue, with only one Warrior attacking our town and again dying.

2630BC: Another lone Iroquois Warrior fails to penetrate our defence. Spearman built, and for the time being our defences are deemed adequate, with 3 Warriors to back him up. Now building our first Settler.

2510BC: Oh, Alphabet researched somewhere in all that commotion back there. Of course, the Germans and Sumerians already have that tech. Now researching Writing.

2470BC: First settler built, and sent east past the fortified Iroquois Warrior, with a Spearman and Warrior escort into the now dangerous surrounding lands.

2390BC: 4 Iroquois warriors approach our Settler and his escort, at which time Hiawatha agrees to see our envoy. He wants all our gold – 41 – and frankly we have no choice at this time. Peace achieved through succumbing to the Iroquois extortion, though we suffered no battle casualties ourselves! He wouldn’t accept any gpt, which leads us to fear this may be a short-lived peace.

2350BC: The town of War Child founded NW of the incense, after some war-induced delay. We are fearful this may have seriously handicapped our game. We are at least 4 techs behind everyone else, probably more. But no-one has Writing….yet

2190BC: 2nd settler produced. Moved S towards the Iroquois to shut-off their spread.

2150BC: End of DAR1. I don’t think I have done so well, being hampered by a short war with the Iroquois that cost me some worker turns and pushed a few Warriors into my build queue ahead of the first settler. Because we have Germany, Sumeria and the Iroquois all within close proximity, it’s clear we are going to be cramped for space. A lot will depend on whether we have Iron and can call upon the mythical GS for some early AI trimming.

I feel perhaps I made the wrong tech choices. Alphabet did not crystallize any trade opportunities at all, and I was only able to get closer to the critical Iron Working (for the Celts) by trading for BW upon meeting the Iroquois with one of my starting techs. I’m now committed to Writing, which could end up being another mistake. Should have gone straight to Iron Working then moved over to the Monarchy branch. Now I’m neither here nor there and will be in deep trouble if I can’t trade Writing.

Immediate objective is to REX as quickly as possible, throwing some military units and workers into the build-queues to keep pace.

Edit: In hindsight, and after looking at some of the other DAR's, I realise another mistake was not securing the flood plains site to the north for a pump, as I was more intent on securing the luxuries. Sumeria soon took that site, as my next DAR will show.