Most recently, we got a little more practice fighting goblins:
Victory brought that unit to 20xp. Two or three more battles, and I'll be ready to unlock the Titan.
Got ourselves a new city:
And down here, we've discovered the source of our lizardman problem:
Not pictured in the screenshot: that lizardman has Heroic Defense II. Add the fortification and terrain bonus to that, and it defends at strength 9... so it's not going away anytime soon. I'm thinking I'll move that warrior back NW and fortify in the forest... C1 + terrain bonus + fortification bonus ought to give us good odds on defense against the next lizard that spawns, which I'd prefer to head off before it culls my workforce.
Finished Code of Laws at EOT. Next turn I'll revolt into Aristocracy/Nationhood/Apprenticeship.
With two barbarian civs in play... one of the non-barbarbian civs is about to get a huge edge.
Or possibly screwed... my garrisons are pretty light, and I'm already a bit worried about a C2 lizardman strolling around. If Orthus were to show up in the next turn or so (say from the goblin fort I found down south), I might well start losing cities to the barbarians...
Barbarians are giving us trouble all around. First off, have a look at our new city:
Apparently it's a wildlife refuge for bears. Haven't been able to connect it with my road network. Probably that won't change until we tech drama and pop our borders. Those bears could be handy, though. Post AH and Hunting, at least.
Also in barbarian news:
Someone offed Orthus. And it wasn't us. Oh well... I'll take Warcry over Orthus's Axe any day.
Finally, here's the real trouble:
That C2 lizardman gets good odds on warriors defending in cities. Hasn't killed any yet... but I need to take it down.
I'm danging a C1 warrior in front of it, unprotected on my road network. If it takes the bait, I'm in position to hit it with 5 more warriors (two of which have C3). Hopefully next turn, and hopefully it isn't too costly.
So, is there any good news? Yes. The demographics look like this:
As for the demos, isn't starting with Agriculture and Expansive nice?
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
The lizardman threat has been dealt with. The AI took my bait, killing my unprotected warrior but exposing itself to counterattack in the process. I lost another warrior softening it up, then finished it off with one of my CIII warriors. Who is now at 24xp.
Meanwhile, another lizardman has shown up (fortunately I didn't make the mistake of feeding this one, so it'll be unpromoted). And a steady stream of goblins from the SW (two more visible!). Got a nice hiatus for a while, but it seems like we're back to a state of constant harassment.
Here's an overall summary of what we're up to:
Drama due at the end of next turn. After that, I'm thinking bronzeworking. That'll be a cost-effective way to push back against the barbarians, unlock Sanitation for the bulb, and put me in a position to go after the Titan (since I've got a unit that's almost level 6).
(September 11th, 2013, 01:05)Merovech Wrote: As for the demos, isn't starting with Agriculture and Expansive nice?
Indeed it is... Rhoanna is definitely the strongest leader in play this game, IMO.
Power rating is slightly worrisome. Ellimist is a fairly proactive player. Since I'm pulling ahead economically, I'm guessing he'll try to do something about it sooner rather than later. Priest of Winter rush? Or worse yet... dogpile (diplo is on, and I haven't even met anyone yet). Fortunately I've got my awesome worldspell... but can't ignore the mounted line for too long.
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
A few more turns played. There have been some unfortunate developments, culminating with this:
Barbarian lizardman got a lucky kill against a warrior fortified in that city. Next turn, I left a warrior out on the road for it to kill, since that seemed to work well before. But the lizard promoted itself to C3 and killed my loose warrior without taking any damage. This turn, it turned around and sacked the city. So I'm down three warriors and one city:
Needless to say, this did not help our demographics:
Lizard is redlined now, so I moved two warriors in the direction of the city. Might take a shot at it next turn if odds are good. But if it promotes to C4 and heals up... well, that might not be a good idea. Bronzeworking is due in 2, so I might wait a bit and come back with overwhelming force. I've been running a light military for too long anyway (as is now painfully obvious).
On another note: at EOT, my GNP was tied for first place, but the demos still said I was #1. That means whoever is sporting the 77 plays before me in the turn order. So, either Brian or Tholal. Brian's a barbarian, so I'm betting Tholal. Makes sense: Expansive should be helping him, too.
Also: there are an absolutely crazy number of bears on my border right now (I think I've seen seven). Hunting is almost looking like a good economic tech. Almost... but not quite.
Alright, another three turns played (yet this thread isn't at the bottom of the page... looks like DaveV is the only one who's actually updating).
Managed to retake the city I lost the next turn, though it cost me a level 3 warrior. Now, three turns later, Bronzeworking came in. So I bulbed Sanitation.
Here are the "before" demos, running 100% Science:
Here's the "after", running 100% gold:
I'm not actually as far ahead as that would indicate: someone's roughly even with me in GNP now. On a (most likely) related note, the logs revealed that someone generated a Great Sage a few turns back. So probably whoever that it has an Academy, or just unlocked Aristocracy, or both. Anyway, we've got competition in the GNP category, and are only in the middle of the pack in MFG. But we're blowing everyone else away in food, which I suspect will matter more in the long run.
What else? Despite (or because of?) my lead, I've been playing pretty badly. Need to build more workers (especially now that I'll grow faster with Sanitation); present workforce can't keep up. But I need warriors even more badly: got barely one per city right now. At least they've got bronze weapons now...
Tech wise... need to decide what to do next. I ran 100% gold this turn. Talked about Warfare earlier. The main appeal there is the Titan, but I still don't have a level 6 unit (just need one more kill, but the flow of goblins seems to have tapered off).
Also, the city I would build the Titan in is busy building the Deruptus, which would be VERY useful as I don't see any other happy resources on the horizon.
Other possibilities: Masonry -> Construction (chain farming and siege workshops)? Animal Husbandry? (Cheap, will be useful all over the place, might reveal horses).
Also, Animal Husbandry might let me take better advantage of this bearscape:
Phew, good thing that you were able to recapture the city. I'm glad to see that you're still doing well in the demos.
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
![[Image: Civ4_Screen_Shot0000.jpg]](http://s15.postimg.org/9vz5vdm8b/Civ4_Screen_Shot0000.jpg)
![[Image: Civ4_Screen_Shot0001.jpg]](http://s15.postimg.org/kk2wu7w7f/Civ4_Screen_Shot0001.jpg)
![[Image: Civ4_Screen_Shot0002.jpg]](http://s15.postimg.org/qv84amxfv/Civ4_Screen_Shot0002.jpg)
![[Image: Civ4_Screen_Shot0022.jpg]](http://s11.postimg.org/wdho7e7lf/Civ4_Screen_Shot0022.jpg)
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![[Image: Civ4_Screen_Shot0010.jpg]](http://s22.postimg.org/ate4k9sqp/Civ4_Screen_Shot0010.jpg)
Oh well... I'll take Warcry over Orthus's Axe any day.![[Image: Civ4_Screen_Shot0011.jpg]](http://s22.postimg.org/lvj7ipmtd/Civ4_Screen_Shot0011.jpg)
![[Image: Civ4_Screen_Shot0012.jpg]](http://s22.postimg.org/ijkwpev29/Civ4_Screen_Shot0012.jpg)
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![[Image: Civ4_Screen_Shot0018.jpg]](http://s21.postimg.org/yvxzqosc7/Civ4_Screen_Shot0018.jpg)
![[Image: Civ4_Screen_Shot0020.jpg]](http://s9.postimg.org/67s172ivz/Civ4_Screen_Shot0020.jpg)
![[Image: Civ4_Screen_Shot0000.jpg]](http://s22.postimg.org/s775w2b7l/Civ4_Screen_Shot0000.jpg)
![[Image: Civ4_Screen_Shot0001.jpg]](http://s22.postimg.org/tnioe7e4h/Civ4_Screen_Shot0001.jpg)
![[Image: Civ4_Screen_Shot0007.jpg]](http://s24.postimg.org/97l2swns5/Civ4_Screen_Shot0007.jpg)
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![[Image: Civ4_Screen_Shot0009.jpg]](http://s24.postimg.org/ehq1k7811/Civ4_Screen_Shot0009.jpg)