Monarchy

What year do you, in general, reach Monarchy?
Has anybody else noticed such a trend in their playmanship strategies?

[Smash]

Hopefully, somewhere between 3000 and 2000BC.....hopefully

[My Wife Hates CIV]

It's nice to start with it.

[KhanMan]

MWHC-*STARTING* with Monarchy? You can't be serious! Any good player in an MP game is not going to give you THAT kind of advantage...

:P

-KhanMan

I've really made weird experiences in connection with starting technologies, but I NEVER had got monarchy from the beginning

[The Mad Monk]

I have. But it was an unusually rich start in every way.

One question about ToT: is it worth the money I have to spend when I buy it? I am not sure whether I should support or not...

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Landmine has taken my sight, taken my speech, taken my hearing, taken my arms, taken my legs, taken my soul, left me with life in hell
-from: "One" by Metallica, 1988

[The Mad Monk]

I found it was worth it at $20. I bought Civ II at a warehouse club a month earlier for $8.
You'll probably hate the graphics at first, although I got used to them over time; I still miss the high council and wonder movies , though. The best parts of TOT, as far as I'm concerned, are the four map worlds (which force you into a different mode of thinking), and the different terrains and tech trees.

Monk: Tell me more!!!

[The Mad Monk]

To start off, I play TOT; I don't know if this has any effect on the way the game deals initial goodies, but it's necessary to note since this was a SF (Lalande) game--I'll convert to standard Civ as much as possible for those without TOT. I generated a random 100x100 world, on King level, with max. barb action, and took a human colony (True Colony, if that matters).
The first thing I noticed was an unusually high number of techs mentioned in the start text; the next thing I noticed were the two colonists (settlers), next to water and wreckage (goody hut) with two specials visible (and positioned so I suspected there was a four special start right next to me). I pulled up the science advisor and counted SIX techs! These were Adaptive Farming (provides harbor eq.), Aerology (provides trireme eq.), Code of Trust (Code of Laws), Craftsmanhsip (provides palace and JSB eqs.), Expedient Hierarchy (MONARCHY), and Trade Guilds (Writing). I was astounded.
I was also curious as to what the heck could provoke such a start, so I saved the game, hit the cheat menu, and revealed the map. I already knew there was mostly plains and salt flats (2 shields, 1 trade, 0 food, 2 move, minable and roadable); the revealed map showed a lot more of them, as well as hills, mountains, and a couple impassable terrains. Very little grassland. On a large continent. Then a noticed a second civ on the other side of the continent, about fifteen squares away, with two colonists. I set human player to them, and discovered that they had the exact same techs! . I noticed most of the other civs had two colonists too, but didn't look futher than that.
I haven't played this game yet--I'm letting it age for a bit so I can forget most of what I saw. It will be interesting.
[This message has been edited by The Mad Monk (edited March 25, 2000).]

Yeah, Smash. I've found my strategy gets me there about 2500 b.c.
I appreciate the response, which dealt with answering the question of the thread.

Of course, I realize there are certain players that get to Explorers by 3500 b.c.
I can't compete with that level of {greatness}.

[The Mad Monk]

Sorry about that!
I'm not sure sure exactly when I get Monarchy, but on King level I always have it by around 2K BC. I make a beeline for it, and if I didn't start with any techs, it'll usually be the fifth tech I research, thanks to the way research choices skip. Map Making tends to be the 'off' tech, unless I'm still landlocked.

Usually around 3400 B.C. I get Monarchy. I haven't bothered to try on cheif but on warlord, I can get to future tech 120 or so before the timer runs out.

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[Smash]

hehehe..ya i read about that explorer business.Seafaring is not that many techs away but 3500bc?No way..well I guess there is a way

[War4ever]

if all goes to plan which is 2/3 of the time i usually get Monarchy around or between 2500bc and 2750bc.....again not if i get arggggg warrior code from a damm hut

[The Mad Monk]

I know what you mean. I've learned to avoid picking up extra techs during that critical first phase. It didn't take me long to realize it was counter-productive, thanks to the ever-increasing research times those "freebies" provided...