Civ V succession game: The Art of War (spectators welcome)

[happyturtle]

Civ V is barely out (and still kind of buggy) so let's do a succession game!

Players:
Happyturtle
Terraoblivion
Lord Herman
AgentPaper
Emlyn
Bryn

We can accept two one more players. Game full.

Terra has requested a warmonger game. Other opinions on leaders, settings, map types, etc. now being solicited. :smallsmile:

For general Civ discussion, or to recruit players for a different game, go here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163072).

[Emlyn]

I'd like to throw my hat in, if its not too much trouble. Warmonger could be interesting and I do enjoy the new combat. Japan jumps out as the obvious choice, but so do the Aztecs and Germany.

[Terraoblivion]

Hmmm, i vote for:

Standard size
Standard speed
Any kind of map except for Archipelago
King difficulty, since the computer has been remarkable dim about both war and management on Prince

Not quite sure about leaders. Lots of them are good for war, though the most plainly warmongering ones are probably Nobunaga or Bismarck. Wu Zetian and Montezuma might strike a better balance by having both a unique unit and a unique building, while still having combat oriented traits.

[happyturtle]

Agree about no Archipelago. The AI isn't very good at naval stuff yet.

I'm going to assume not everyone has the Babylon DLC, that came with the deluxe edition, so probably someone who doesn't should make the starting save. It would kind of suck if I did and had Nebuchednezzer in as one of the AI's and everyone couldn't play.

[Terraoblivion]

Yeah, i just have the normal version for example.

[Vorpal word]

Sadly I don't meet the graphic requirements for this game (yet!), so I can't join you guys. However, I still view this as a way to get to know this game so that I can have my soul devoured by it be ready for it. If you don't mind, I will be doing a lot of lurking and asking all kinds of newbie questions throughout this succession game, and you'll have to put up with it :smallamused:.

In other words, add me on as a spectator and I may become a potential player for the next game (I'll probably get a new video card over the winter holidays) :smallbiggrin:.

[happyturtle]

Yay! Spectators! :smallbiggrin:

[EleventhHour]

I'd like to join... but I'm kinda bad at the game, (aside from the fun new tactical!) and would probably mess up all the builders. :smalleek: (Which is bad for high difficulties >.>)

On the topic of warmongering civs ; England and Japan are both great at it from my experience.

[Lord Herman]

My votes:

Standard size
Standard speed
Earth map - Because without much naval action, I think Continents is a bit boring.
Difficulty level 3 or 4 - Let's not make it too difficult, as we're not all expert players.
Bismarck - Because Bismarck is awesome.

[IncoherentEssay]

I overall liked civ IV, though was a bit miffed at how religions dominated much of the game. I also wasn't good at the game, on any scale :smalltongue:.
I'll probably get civ V if my computer can run it, so i'll definately be watching this :smallsmile:.
Maybe i'll join a later succession game. So another spectator/potential player.

[Emlyn]

My votes:

Standard Size
Standard Speed
Any cept Arch, Earth is fine unless we start on the America's (the whole navel thing)
Difficulty: Prince or higher

[Bryn]

I would quite like to play. I don't particularly mind which parameters we use to generate the world, since I haven't really had a chance to play with them yet.

[happyturtle]

Sorry, Byrn, Elly got the last spot, but if someone drops out, you can take their place.

{table=head]Player|Map Type|Leader|Difficulty
Happyturtle|not Arch|Any except Ghandi|Prince/King
Terraoblivion|not Arch|Japan, Aztec, China, Germany|King
Lord Herman|Earth|Germany|Warlord/Prince
AgentPaper|not Arch|Japan or China|King or higher
Emlyn|any except Arch, Earth but not American start |Japan, Aztec, Germany|
EleventhHour|Continents|England, Japan|Prince[/table]

We'll give another day for people to fill in the blanks in the table above.

[EleventhHour]

Prince, Continents (only if larger than Standard), otherwise... random.

+votes

[Lord Herman]

Question: what exactly is meant by a Warmonger game? Does it just mean we're out to crush our enemies, see them driven before us, and hear the lamentation of their women? Or is it a game setting or ruleset I do not know about?

[happyturtle]

The former. Just means we want to go for a domination win in preference to the others.

[Terraoblivion]

And looking at the chart it seems that we can all at least agree to Prince. I personally do think we could crank it up to King and still win, but most people seems to not think so and i'll accept that.

However, before settling on anything else i think we need to hear from AgentPaper, though a pattern on most other things is starting to emerge.

[AgentPaper]

Not arch, Japan or China, King or higher.

See, I mostly just operate from my subscribed threads page, so I didn't see this until you sent me a PM. :smalltongue:

For difficulty, I think we really need to do one of the higher ones, because with the amount of expertise we have between all of us anything else will just be too easy. Better to lose in a blaze of glory than to win without trouble, after all, especially when there's spectators!

[happyturtle]

Ooh, you're tempting me to switch to King.

[Deme]

*is spectating*

[Terraoblivion]

What AgentPaper said is basically my reasoning for King too. If the Civ4 experience is remotely reliable then when we work together and discuss plans together we can pull of higher difficulties than we could otherwise have done.

And Japan seems like the most popular choice for a country. I will say that i didn't list my favorites, just the four nations that sprung to mind as best for warmongering. My personal favorite among them is China, but honestly, i'd be willing to accept most every nation except for obviously crazy ideas like Gandhi

[happyturtle]

Let's go with Japan, Prince, and Earth.

Terra, do you want to make the starting save?

[Terraoblivion]

Sure. I will post a starting save and screenshot before playing any. We need to determine if we are in the Americas or not after all.

[happyturtle]

How is this for a play order? Trying to stagger people a bit by what difficulty level they voted for.

Terra
EleventhHour
AgentPaper
Emlyn
Happyturtle
Lord Herman

[Terraoblivion]

EDIT: And a second attempts has been started and i'd be surprised if this was the Americas.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/terraoblivion/Screenshot002.jpg

If i can tell correctly this is Pakistan, making the mountains to the northeast the Himalayas, the river the Indus and the the southeastern coast India. The terrain seems to fit at least. Under these circumstances i'd personally delay settling one turn to go settle on the desert hill. It does put the marble a bit further away, but it seems to make a bit better use of the available terrain.

For build order i'd stick to Scout->Worker->Military. Not quite as certain about research, though making a beeline for Calendar seems like a fairly good call.

For a longer term strategy, i'd recommend settling into India rather than Afghanistan, Iran or China. Should have better terrain, though i haven't actually checked.

Initial Save (http://www.mediafire.com/?t6486l2zbqce4wg)

[AgentPaper]

You've got the first save, terra, and wouldn't we want to make a beeline for bronzeworking and samurai?

[Terraoblivion]

Samurai don't come in until Steel at the end of the Medieval Age. We will have a long time before getting to them and laying the economic foundations for an empire or preparing for battle with other units will be needed first. I doubt that we can have them before turn 150 at the very earliest if we go straight for them. That is to say that they are 1022 beakers away, require 150 hammers to build or something in the area of 600 gold to buy. So even if we sacrificed everything to get to them we wouldn't really be able to afford using them without a technological basis elsewhere.

[happyturtle]

I can't believe you can tell where we are from that little bit of information. :smalleek:

I'd go for Scout > (something else) and buy a worker as soon as we have enough gold. Workers are so slow to build.

Another option is Mining > Masonry (assuming that's marble) then going for Calendar, so we can start setting up production.

[Terraoblivion]

Actually, yeah, that'd be a good call. Workers are surprisingly cheap for something taking that long to build.

And the reason for Calendar is because i still think that settling on the desert hill would be a good call, but that pushes the Marble to the third ring of the city. Also we want food early so we will work the floodplains with the sugar anyway.

[Caustic Soda]

Hey there, I'm looking forward to following this SG, since I don't have the game myself right now. besides which, my computer seems unable to play the demo, which doesn't seem like a good sign.

Could I get you to have the 'show resources' tag on when you take resources? That'll make it easier for me to follow along with the game.

Which map size are you playing at? When I played on the earth map this Friday ( a friend invited me for a nerd-out session) it seemed a bit off at Standard size, at least for Europe


I can't believe you can tell where we are from that little bit of information. :smalleek:


Perhaps it's just because I am a huge map-nerd, but I think there are quite a number of factors that point to the starting position being in Pakistan. the river shown in the center looks like the Indus, which would make the river traveling east the Ganges, and the NW mountains the Hindu Kush. It fits quite well, really. If it is the case, well spotted Terraoblivion :smallsmile:.

[Terraoblivion]

It is indeed standard. And the things that made me think Pakistan are the following: Mountains to the north, the sea to the south, hilly and relatively barren, a river running straight south and finally a fertile, forested area to the east that appears to have the coastline veer south. I can't think of anywhere else on Earth that has geography like that. I did think for a second that it might have been Alabama, but there should be marshes to the west and much flatter land then.

[AgentPaper]

One thing I find kinda annoying is that the promotion names are kinda messed up. Barrage gives you more damage when they have cover, and aiming gives more damage when they're in the open? Bwuh? Drill and Shock are a bit more sensible, but I'd still think they would be the other way around...

[Emlyn]

Yay for Pakistan! Except for the, you know, mountains everywhere. I think calander makes sense, we do want all that tasty tasty food. And if we do settle farther from the marble we don't need mining immediatly.

[Lord Herman]

One thing I find kinda annoying is that the promotion names are kinda messed up. Barrage gives you more damage when they have cover, and aiming gives more damage when they're in the open? Bwuh? Drill and Shock are a bit more sensible, but I'd still think they would be the other way around...

Well, you have to remember that ancient and medieval military archers didn't aim for specific targets, but rather for the general area the enemy soldiers were in. So aiming would involve getting all your guys to hit the same general area. Soldiers in cover would be hard to pinpoint, so shooting lots of arrows into the bushes they're hiding in would help, hence the Barrage.

...or something like that. :smalltongue:

[Terraoblivion]

And so we start. Can't really think of any fun plot to invent, so you will have to imagine that, sorry.

Turn 1: I move to the desert hill and confirm that we should start out going for Calendar. Just look, wine to the north and dyes to the east.
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/terraoblivion/Screenshot003.jpg
Our warrior heads east, into what i'm certain is India.

Turn 2: Kyoto is founded on the hill popping the ruins and revealing that there is a huge desert and lots of mountains to the north. I foresee that we will have to look out for barbarians from up there for a long time. This also makes it look more like we are in Pakistan. Those deserts would be Afghanistan, Tibet and Xinjiang.
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/terraoblivion/Screenshot004.jpg
Research is set to pottery and construction to a scout.

Turn 4: The shape of the coast to the east is revealed, it is India. Also a citystate beyond it, though i cannot tell which one just from the bordercolor.

Turn 5: We meet our friendly neighborhood Venice. And it is a maritime city state, so if we suck up to them they might help feed Kyoto.
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/terraoblivion/Screenshot005.jpg

Turn 6: Forgot to take a screenshot, but our warrior found some spears in a ruin, so we now have a spearman instead. He still heads east to explore beyond Venice.

Turn 8: Our scout is finished and he heads west into Iran. Since we agreed on buying a worker instead of building it i begin on a monument. A bit more culture than 1 is nice to get those two first civics more quickly.

Turn 9: A rather overexcited Suleiman greets us. Bastard won't agree to cooperate either. He came through the northeastern desert, so i guess he is in China.
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/terraoblivion/Screenshot006.jpg
Also Kyoto grows for the first time.

Turn 10: Now he does want to cooperate, i'll never understand him. I also meet Alexander coming down from seemingly straight above use, meeting our scout on the banks of the Euphrates. However, i forgot to take a screenshot of it, sorry. There are also barbarians over there, past the rivers roughly in Kuwait. And Pottery is done and research into Calendar begins.

Then i meet Harun Al-Rashid who appropriately enough seems to be on the Arabian peninsula.
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/terraoblivion/Screenshot007.jpg

And because all of this is getting a bit confusing, i'll be a good girl and show a map of the world as it looks at the moment.
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/terraoblivion/Screenshot008.jpg
Finally our spearman meets some barbarians over past Venice in...Burma or Thailand. Perhaps they will like us if we kill the barbarians. Or at least we will get some gold and a few fewer barbarians running around.

Turn 14: The fight against the Burmese barbarians is going poorly. Just as i almost had them, they spawned a new guy...the bastards.

Turn 17: And Edinburgh and Almaty hang out next to each other in Siberia. Somehow i get the feeling that they will demand the other killed sometimes soon.
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/terraoblivion/Screenshot009.jpg

Turn 19: The Burmese barbarians get what they had coming!
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/terraoblivion/Screenshot010.jpg

Turn 20: Not sure how i feel like having irrational warmongers this close by. That's our job!
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/terraoblivion/Screenshot011.jpg
It also turns out that Alexander lives just east of Almaty, pretty much directly north of us.

Turn 22: Our monument finishes so i begin making another scout. I also find that our current one might die soon, he ran into an encampment south of Almaty.

Turn 23: RIP first scout.:smallfrown:

Though i guess it was not that great of a loss. More importantly, we pop another ruin gaining some gold, enough to buy a worker in fact. Also we get our first civic. I pick Honor like i said.
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/terraoblivion/Screenshot012.jpg

Turn 24: The worker goes to farm the wheat as Calendar hasn't come in yet and i think food is more important anyway. And an encampment has spawned in India, i can't deal with it in my turn, but i recommend that you get rid of it EleventhHour.

Turn 25: Pliny tells us that Alexander makes more stuff than anybody else, but that we and the ones we've met are the best at it. I wonder why.
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/terraoblivion/Screenshot013.jpg
We also learn how to keep track of the time, inventing the Calendar. From here i think it obvious to go for Mining with the amount of hills we have.

Turn 27: Our new scout is done. He goes to clear out the fog at Turkmenistan. I plan on sending him east after that. I set production to a warrior, but if you think that is a waste we could go for a settler instead and try to grab some of India or Iraq. Our prospects for expansion before we grow violent aren't good though.

Turn 30: And my rule is up. Not much actually happened here...Except that the barbarians are literally at the gates.
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/terraoblivion/Screenshot014.jpg
You can't see them since i moved the scout, but they are on the desert flatland tile just outside our line of sight and will reach our worker in two turns.

And time for some overview as i hand out empire over:
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/terraoblivion/Screenshot015.jpg
For now the numbers aren't exactly too great, so we better work on changing that. Another city soon would probably help.
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/terraoblivion/Screenshot016.jpg
The north in strategic-o-vision
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/terraoblivion/Screenshot017.jpg
The rather less explored south in the same way.

Diplomatically everyone is content to live in splendid isolation for now and there isn't really much to say about our science either.

I'm not actually that certain on how to proceed from here. I think that settling a city in India would be a good call, however, though we would need some way of defending the settler first with that encampment down there. In regards to techs i think that our immediate progress depends in part on where we choose to settle, though i think that Writing would be a good call unless there is something we are desperately lacking. Especially if we could get the Great Library to gain Civil Service.

Here we go (http://www.mediafire.com/?a0y947rb5qwlrc1)

Also i imagine that we do like in our Civ4 succession games. 30 turns for the first player, 20 for the second and then 10 each.

[EleventhHour]

Hmm!

In the Land of the Sun, the might JAPAN!, there was much trouble afoot!

The previous report of there being a single barbarian mob, mostly drunken mind you, was a complete and utter farce. There were in fact, two drunken, loud, bostierous mobs who wanted to raid our taverns. Of course, Scout Master Naka owns the tavern, and was quite upset at the news. And about the fact that he was between both of them.

The citizens went scurrying into the city, leaving Naka out there alone to face them down on his hilltop, supple willow staff in hand, along with his fellow men. The outsiders approached him confident in thier numbers, and met instead only brained heads and broken crowns as the old man swiftly dispatched the lot of them. Soon enough afterward, another nation's scouts came, calling themselves "American", we suspect that they are nought but vultures following after the mob, (now identified as Irish), and they asked for premissions to cross our land. As if we would allow that.

In times hence, another group of brave warriors were gathered, and a new sign put out infront of the tavern, looking for a few more strong fellows. Meanwhile, Naka and the newest warrior set out to the south, seeking the encampment of Barbarians, learning more about Loyalty for our nation along the way (+15% Combat Strength for Adjecents (Policy)).

When they arrived there was but two meager groups of Barbarians to protect thier camp, one wandered off into the distance out of sight, while the other stayed within the ramshakle mess of thier fort. The Warriors charged in, maiming many, but had to pull back before the barbarians overwhelmed them, and so Naka took it upon himself to destroy the camp, and did so magnificiently. It was about this time, while bleeding and exausted (2 Health!), that they realised the second group had returned, and before the warriors could interpose themselves, Naka was charged yet again. The old man alone slew every dirty nomad that threw themself at him, and stood proud as the dust settled.

Oh, and someone found out some thing about squiggly lines on paper. That was completely important. But Naka was not impressed, either, and decided he needed a way to stick things in people from a distance and funded the research, mostly in port, for "archery."

A small city state, an inferior group, requested our help, and as our Spearmen, armed with weapons found in that ancient cash earlier, had finished wandering to the East, they came back to assist a Warrior in clearing out another encampment.

The city of Kyoto requested shinies of it's Queen, but she said she had no idea what any of them were talking about and there was absolutely nothing hidden in her bedchambers. The people did not believe her and she was disposed from the throne, but to thier dismay there was only brightly coloured string to be found along with a map that marked some shiny metal, not the sort of shinies they wanted which was gems, called Gold.

Here's the Save (http://www.mediafire.com/?6iewzx682078aq2)

[happyturtle]

:smallbiggrin: Great update!

Terra
EleventhHour
Emlyn << Up
Happyturtle << On Deck
Lord Herman
AgentPaper

10 turns each from now on. Oh, and since buildings are such a huge investment and cost gold every turn for the rest of the game, we should probably not build any without group consensus.

Players have three days to play before being skipped, or they can request a skip or swap if RL gets in the way. No hard feelings, and your turn will come around again next time.

[AgentPaper]

Ack, that was fast! I was expecting it to take longer. I'm currently on my mac, which doesn't have civ 5 (or anything else worthwhile, like a decent OS :smalltongue:) and I don't have time to do my turn at the moment anyways, being busy with school and all. Put be on the bottom of that list, would you kindly? There is no mind control citizen, go back to your fun.

[happyturtle]

Terra
EleventhHour
Emlyn << Up
Happyturtle << On Deck
Lord Herman
AgentPaper


Okay, that's Emlyn up then. :smallsmile:

[Emlyn]

Sweet, I'll get on it after I finish my homework.

[king.com]

*looks forward to some civ fun*

[Terraoblivion]

That does sound reasonable, happyturtle. I'm sorry for having made one, but i really did want at least a couple more culture per turn in order to actually get some civics. Also the alternative was getting even more warriors to run around and upgrading those would be expensive too.

And i have one question, EleventhHour. Where did Washington come from? It might help us determine his location. I'd imagine either Europe or Africa, but that might be wrong. Also i found that the lack of screenshots or precise descriptions of where things were reduced the amount of information i gained from your entry a bit, entertaining as it was. Not a big deal, though, i could just check from the save, just mentioning it.

I also think i have determined our first target. Harun Al-Rashid. He's nearby and apparently runs a completely skeletal military, once we get bronzeworking and a couple of archers and spearmen we might actually take him out. I vote for doing that, at least.

[EleventhHour]

And i have one question, EleventhHour. Where did Washington come from? It might help us determine his location. I'd imagine either Europe or Africa, but that might be wrong. Also i found that the lack of screenshots or precise descriptions of where things were reduced the amount of information i gained from your entry a bit, entertaining as it was. Not a big deal, though, i could just check from the save, just mentioning it.


Same-ish direction as the barbarians, but his scout seemed to have had pathed downward instead of across.

>.> And I'll take notes next time. I only remembered that there was supposed to be a post after I had 14/20 turns completed.

[Terraoblivion]

Ah, i see. Like i said it was no major worry, just wanted to mention it. So Washington came from the northwest? That makes me think he's probably in Europe, though he would have had the time to come from Africa and go north before finding us.

[Caustic Soda]

Oh, and since buildings are such a huge investment and cost gold every turn for the rest of the game, we should probably not build any without group consensus.



What's your position on purchasing tiles versus purchasing/building monuments etc. for culture? In my playthroughs it seems like purchasing tiles will quickly grow more expensive than purchasing monuments. If that's the case, you might wan to establish some sort of standard for when to purchase tiles vs. culture buildings.

[Emlyn]

And just as I finished my turn I discovered that fraps didn't like my key bind and I have no screenshots. :smallannoyed:

Turn 1: Our glorious spearman bravely assault the barbarians near Almaty and are victorious! To show their gratitude, the people of that city now call us friends. All we wanted was gold however...

Turn 2: We've finally rounded up enough people and thrown them out of the city to go settle elsewhere, preferably in India. Work has no begun on an Archer so that our enemies may cower under our rain of arrows. The barbarian encampment to to southwest was bothering me, so the spearman have been ordered to clean it up.

Turn 5: Previous years have been quiet, mostly our units moving into position for barbarian killing and settling. However our warrior discovered a barbarian encampment just north of Almaty. If they aren't begging for our help soon I'll be shocked. However nothing could compare to the surprise of America coming out of nowhere and offering us sugar for 30 turns. We gladly accepted this free gift.

Turn 6: Today our ingenious scientists have discovered bronze working, the art of turning metal into sharp pointy objects. I have ordered our scientists to continue this line of thinking and see if they can't find stronger metals. Additionally I just discovered that the greek city of Sparta is due north of us. Our spearman finally got their lazy butts down to the barbarians and gave them a sound thrashing. Even better, they recovered a worker from some city-state or anther. We kept it of course.

Turn 7: Spearman got to plow through a pathetic group of barbarian archers who were coming to see why their encampment was smoking. Unfortunately some were wounded so they are going to heal for a few turns. The settler finally found a decent spot to settle, and Osaka has been founded on the coast of southern India.

Turn 8: Little news from our nation, but the Greeks are in the classical era and Arabia built the great lighthouse, which is wonderful as we plan on eradicating them.

Turn 10: Due to a slight miscalculation, our warrior in northern Europe got smashed by some barbarians. He will be mourned. Kyoto has grown and now the torch shall be passed to my successor, may his reign be glorious.

Save (rapidshare.com/files/421966918/Japanese_succession_game.Civ5Save)

[Vorpal word]

Looks really nice so far, I very much approve of the hex design and graphics updates! And the Earth map is actually really realistic by the looks of it.

Just a couple of things, how much have resources and tech trees changed since Civ IV? Also, how exactly does buying stuff work? Is it like upgrading?

[Caustic Soda]

Looks really nice so far, I very much approve of the hex design and graphics updates! And the Earth map is actually really realistic by the looks of it.

Just a couple of things, how much have resources and tech trees changed since Civ IV? Also, how exactly does buying stuff work? Is it like upgrading?

The Earth map is generally realistic, yes, although it can't represent Europe very precisely on that scale. The main change WRT resources is that a strategic resource can only provide for a specific amount of troops. So IIRC, at Standard one resource of horses allows for 4 units of knights. Which, of course, makes both combined arms and gaining additional strategic resources important. Buying troops/buildings is mostly like purchasing with cash in all the prior versions. There is one very important change in that it does not become cheaper to purchase a unit/building that is in production, the prices are flat. Settlers, for example, always cost 440 gold (IIRC) to buy.

Another important change is that when you gain culture, it doesn't expand in a radius about your cities. you gain only one hex at a time (possibly two?). You cna aslo purchase tiles, spending money instead of gaining culture. However, the prices for that increase for every purchase and is empire-wide, so it generally isn't cost-effective past there early game.

All that said, Civfanatics.com has a good Info center with links to the various new and changed features. It's worth checking out.

[happyturtle]

I just realized I named this thread for the Chinese ability rather than the Japanese one (http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq40/happyturtle-avs/civ5/Civ5Screen0031.jpg). >.<

Anyway... onward! Pictures are off site because of being too large for the forums and me being too lazy to crop.

Turn 0: Forgetting that we "liberated" a worker from a barb camp, I bought one for Osaka (http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq40/happyturtle-avs/civ5/Civ5Screen0032.jpg).

Turn 1: Arabia requested a pact of cooperation (http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq40/happyturtle-avs/civ5/Civ5Screen0033.jpg). I accept. Almaty gives us a warrior.

Suleiman requests Open Borders (http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq40/happyturtle-avs/civ5/Civ5Screen0034.jpg) (accepted)
As does Alexander (http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq40/happyturtle-avs/civ5/Civ5Screen0035.jpg) (also accepted)

Turn 2: Our archer finishes in Kyoto. I start on the Great Library (http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq40/happyturtle-avs/civ5/Civ5Screen0038.jpg) (15 turns). It's probably too risky to try to get a Civil Service slingshot, which would require us having researched Trapping and Philosophy before we finish the Great Library, but Metal Casting would do well.

Kyoto wants this tile (http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq40/happyturtle-avs/civ5/Civ5Screen0036.jpg) for its next culture pop, despite having gold and dye available. I realize just now that it probably has horses. And I'm spending worker turns on a farm. >.<

Turn 5: Belgrade wants help fighting off barbs. They're on the other side of the world... but they have gems, which Kyoto wants! I decide to send out our spearman.

Since the culture growth is being stupid, I sell off our wine so we can buy more tiles.

Washington offers this (http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq40/happyturtle-avs/civ5/Civ5Screen0040.jpg), but I end up accepting Suleiman's bargain (http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq40/happyturtle-avs/civ5/Civ5Screen0041.jpg) instead.

Turn 8: With open borders with Arabia I can now send a unit to explore Africa, where we meet Napoleon (http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq40/happyturtle-avs/civ5/Civ5Screen0042.jpg) and Wu Zetian (http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq40/happyturtle-avs/civ5/Civ5Screen0044.jpg).

Turn 10: I end up clearing that barb encampment (http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq40/happyturtle-avs/civ5/Civ5Screen0043.jpg) with our Scout, which made us friends with both Lhasa and Belgrade. I pay the gold to upgrade Belgrade to allies (http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq40/happyturtle-avs/civ5/Civ5Screen0045.jpg), so we can get gems and push Kyoto into "We love the King" Day. Should kick in when End Turn is pressed. Unfortunately, the nearby galley is likely to finish off our poor Scout.

Demographics (http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq40/happyturtle-avs/civ5/Civ5Screen0046.jpg)
The World (http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq40/happyturtle-avs/civ5/Civ5Screen0048.jpg)

The Save (http://www.mediafire.com/?kthqx9hkx1d3ycg)

To discuss: What to tech next. What buildings should go in each city.


TerraOblivion
EleventhHour
Emlyn
Happyturtle
Lord Herman << Up
AgentPaper << On Deck

[Terraoblivion]

Harun has no soldiers. :smallbiggrin:

Definitely going to be our first target. Also it seems like a fairly solid set of turns here, even if those bastards from Almaty could have given us a unit that was actually useful. I'll check the save in a bit to see if i can find more details.

[Terraoblivion]

And no, it turns out i won't open the save to check. For some reason it makes the game crash for me, even if the previous saves don't.

[Lord Herman]

Turn 0: I checked out the cities to see what their focus was. Kyoto is focused on production, which seems right to me, but Osaka doesn't have a focus yet. I've set it to gold focus - it's a coastal town with two luxury resources, so there is lots of cash to be made here.

Turn 1:
http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/8843/turn1.jpg

Our scout, who appeared to be doomed, took only one damage from the pirate ship that attacked it. It's now surrounded by three ships, though. If I move the scouts, they'll end their turn on plains and they'll die. I therefore let them dig in on the hill, and hope for the best.

Kyoto has entered We Love the King Day, so we should see some growth there.

Almaty is no longer our friend. There's nothing we can do about that at the moment. We don't have enough money to give them.

Turn 2: The scouts healed to 3 hp. The pirates then moved off for no apparent reason, so I had the scouts move to a slightly safer position.

Osaka's defences sank a pirate ship. I think it might be a good idea to invest in a boat of our own, with all those pirates around. We haven't invented boats yet, so Sailing is next on the list.

Turn 3: We invented Iron Working, and moved into the Classical Age! We discovered two nearby sources of iron. One two tiles away from Kyoto's borders, and one right next to Osaka's. I bought the iron tile near Osaka. The next technology we're working on is Sailing.

Wu Zetian, Empress of China, wants to form a Pact of Secrecy against Napoleon. I agreed. Napoleon is way ahead of us, so we should plot against him to keep France from becoming too powerful.

Our scout is now hiding on a hill overlooking Istanbul, out of reach of the pirate ships. It'll stay there and heal. It's not there to spy on the Ottomans. Nuh-uh.

We also got a new social policy. We could unlock Piety now, but we have no happiness problems. I chose Warrior Code from the Honor tree. Not that we really need a great general right now, but it leads to Military Tradition, which is one of my favourite policies.

Our warriors fought a bunch of barbarians in Siberia. There was no clear victor.

Turn 5:
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/1104/turn4.jpg

Our warriors beat up the barbarians, and leveled up. I gave them the Drill promotion, since there's a lot of forest around, and gave them a name. They are now the Skull Bashers. Probably not for long, though - they're in the open, with few hit points, and within range of those barbarian archers I hadn't noticed.

Turn 6: As I expected, the archers killed the Skull Bashers.

A new barbarian camp appeared in arabia (the peninsula, not the nation), so I sent one of our warriors to deal with them. It'll take them some time to get there, but it's not like there were doing anything useful. I also sent our spearmen after another camp, which was just outside Kyoto's borders.

We finished the Great Library in Kyoto. For our free technology, I picked Metal Casting, which otherwise would have taken us 25 turns to research. This sent us right into the Medieval Age. I set Kyoto to build the Workshop building that Metal Casting unlocked.

Turn 8: Osaka finished its monument. It doesn't have enough production to finish anything quickly yet, but I set it to build a workshop. Meanwhile, we've started developing the iron near Osaka.

Turn 9: We finished researching Sailing. Now we can finally deal with those pesky pirates! Our next research project is Animal Husbandry.

Our spearmen destroyed a barbarian camp, and were promoted. They're now called the Pointed Sticks. Let's hope they last longer than the last unit I named.

Belgrade gave us another spearman.

Turn 10: The Pointed Sticks were attacked by barbarians, but killed most of them.

Also, a golden age has started! That's nice.


That didn't go half bad. Unless the catastrophic consequences of my turn only become apparent during the next person's turn, of course. :smalltongue:

My save: Linky! (http://www.mediafire.com/?o0xxrswzzppe3dg)

[EleventhHour]

Bad Herman, bad! You were supposed to poke the thread before making buildings!

<.<

Not that I actually mind. :smalltongue:

[Lord Herman]

Oh! I kinda forgot about that. Sorry. :smallredface:

[happyturtle]

Eh, it's probably unrealistic to discuss every building anyway.

[Terraoblivion]

However, i do think we should look at whether we are going to build a whole lot of buildings in Osaka. Otherwise getting the workshop there might be a waste, as it doesn't improve unit production.

Anyway, further comments due when i look over the save.

Or not, this save causes crashes too. May i ask if the two of you have the Deluxe Edition because i can't see what else would cause it.

[AgentPaper]

I'll be back in position to do this turn shortly, should have the next save up in a couple hours here.

[Lord Herman]

Yes, I do have the deluxe edition.

[EleventhHour]

I can't open the save, either.

(Don't have deluxe)

[Emlyn]

Save makes the game explode. Don't have deluxe.

[happyturtle]

So deluxe and standard players can't share saves. Well that just sucks. :smallfrown:

[Terraoblivion]

They can be shared one way...

But yeah, that doesn't help much. And is quite annoying, as well as somewhat puzzling. I'm quite certain it shouldn't be like that.

[happyturtle]

Apparently it's a confirmed bug, so presumably will be fixed... eventually.

In the meantime, let's get a count of who has which version. Since most people probably have vanilla, they can go back to Elly's save and continue on without me and Herman.

Vanilla
Terra
Elly
Emlyn
AgentPaper

Deluxe
HT
Herman

[Terraoblivion]

I guess that might be the solution, it still sucks though.

[happyturtle]

It does. But by the time this game is over, hopefully they'll have that bug patched. :smallsmile:

[AgentPaper]

That does suck. I don't have deluxe, so that's one more for the vanilla list. (I did pre-order, if that matters)

Edit: So I guess, recruiting is open again for 2 more people who don't have the deluxe edition?

[happyturtle]

Save (rapidshare.com/files/421966918/Japanese_succession_game.Civ5Save)


TerraOblivion
EleventhHour
Emlyn
AgentPaper << UP
Bryn << On Deck (unless you have the deluxe version)

AgentPaper, you're up, from Emlyn's turnset. Though since it's replaying what me and Herman did, feel free to play a bit extra to get to some new ground.

[AgentPaper]

TerraOblivion
EleventhHour
Emlyn
AgentPaper << UP
Bryn << On Deck (unless you have the deluxe version)

AgentPaper, you're up, from Emlyn's turnset. Though since it's replaying what me and Herman did, feel free to play a bit extra to get to some new ground.

Right, I'll get on that. Quick question: Who should we be directing our early aggression towards? One of the city-states? Maybe Copenhagen?

Edit: Actually, to get to copenhagen we'd have to declare war on arabia. Maybe we should try and take mecca? Not sure how well that would turn out, but we'd have a spearman, 2 warriors and an archer there in not too long, and they're "afraid" of us, so maybe that's enough.

[AgentPaper]

Journal of chieftain Isamu (1624-1583 BC)

June, 1621: I have just received word from the nearby settlement of Lhasa. They tell stories of a new encampment of rough, barbaric men to the south of their city. They have so far only suffered minor raids of little consequence, but they fear that if left unchecked, these brutes will form an army. Unfortunately our warriors are far to the west on the orders of my predecessor, far out of striking distance. We will have to leave Lhasa to it's fate, at least for now.

October, 1617: Terrible news has reached us. Our warriors, far from home to the north-west, have been completely wiped out. The few survivors that limped back into our camp told stories of and endless tide of barbaric men that overwhelmed them. They fought with honor, to the last breath, but there were simply too many. I can only hope that the rest of our warriors, further south, are faring better. The world is to dangerous for us to be without protection.

April, 1609: Kyoto continues to grow steadily. We have enough citizens now that I have ordered some to work in the hills south of the main camp, collecting whatever materials they can find. The small rocks and sticks they find should make good arrows for our archers, who continue to train and teach. There are now quite a number of able-bodied men taking to this new art, which was discovered only a handful of generations ago. If things continue to go this well, then they might even become a fully-fledged fighting force alongside our warriors and spearmen. Such a thing will not likely happen in my lifetime, but perhaps my grandson or his grandson will be able to make use of this new way of fighting.

August, 1598: A group of Arabians were spotted outside Kyoto, asking to meet with me. I allowed them to enter my tent, where they cowered, knees clattering as they informed me that Copenhagen, a settlement to the south west across the red sea, was under their protection, and that if we attacked it, they would be "very angry" with us. I laughed at their presumptuous demand and sent them running back to their "Sultan". I have no plans of taking Copenhagen, since it would likely prove difficult to capture even with all of our forces, but I also have no intention of bowing before Arabian demands. They fear us, and both of us know it. They likely only made the demand to tempt me into making a blunder, but I am no rash young man ready to run off to his death. You do not grow to the ripe age of thirty-nine by being gullible.

Rule of chieftan Masaro (1583-1566)

May, 1582: A representative of the Sultan of Arabia has approached me today, asking for a treaty of cooperation between our peoples. My father warned me not to agree to cooperate with these "manipulative cowards", but he is not the chieftain any more, I am! I do not have to listen to befuddles old fools who cannot even piss standing up anymore. I am sure that this pact will form a bond throughout the ages. The people will celebrate the name "Masaro" as the creator of this great bond which will surely propel both our peoples to a golden age!

June, 1580: My father seems to have come to accept our treaty with the Arabians. He has even recommended that we send our warriors towards their land in order to keep them safe, since they have little means to protect themselves. Finally he shows some sense, after spending the last two years constantly berating me for being a fool. I was surprised to see him change his mind so quickly, but father is not a man to doubt himself. Now he acts as if he was for this treat all along! Despite our disagreements, he knows I still love him, and I knew it was only a matter of time before he saw the right of things.

I also took the chance to send out some of our brave young men to explore the nearby area, searching for new lands and scouring the known lands for barbarians, men with no honor who would do our people harm.

October, 1567: My father has been meeting with my niece, Yuu, rather often over the past few months. Whenever I see them, they seem to be chatting about something secretive, and stop whenever I enter the room. It seems my father has found a young flower. They are not related by blood, and she seems to be happy with the arrangement, so I don't see any reason to interfere. I'm not sure why they seem to want to keep their dealing secret from me, but I must show respect for my father. He is getting old, after all.

It also seems to keep him distracted from always telling me how to rule our people, and bad-mouthing the Arabians. He even told me not a week ago that he was "fine with the direction my rule was going." For some reason this caused Yuu to giggle, and even father smiled to himself. Truly my days are blessed to have such a happy family.

Rule of chieftan Yuu (1566-1507)

October, 1567: Just as planned, the rat Masaro has been...disposed of. Uncle Isamu has arranged for me to become the new chieftan. Though I am young, and a woman, our people have much respect for Isamu, so they follow his wishes. Mostly though, I think they are just glad to have strutting Masaro no longer peering over their shoulders, pointing out what they were doing wrong and rambling on and on about the Arabians. Uncle Isamu has taught me how to be a real leader. I fear he is not long for this world, but he has had a long life and our people will do well under my rule.

As the first order of business, I've arranged for the heads of the cowering Arabian diplomats Masaro had been keeping here back to their leader. They had been here to ask for open borders -- the fools -- and instead they will find death. Such is the fate of dishonorable dogs in Yuu's lands! Ehehee, this is so much fun!

January, 1565: Poor Uncle Isamu died earlier this month. It is sad to see him go, but he has taught me everything I need to know of rulership. I will not make the mistakes his son did. I will grow our nation into one that will shake the foundations of the world and make all tremble before our might! Those without honor will regret the day they were born.

July, 1554: The lands north of Kyoto have finally begun to bear fruit. Wine now pours into Kyoto, to the joy of my people. I have ordered that the lands to the east also be turned into farmland, though the climate is not right for wine in that area, unfortunately. Still, my people must be fed, or I won't have any people left to order around, now will I?

January, 1524: I have recieved word that our warriors have reached Arabian lands, and have just crossed the border. Our spearmen are not far behind. Going is slow with such a large group of men, as they need to constantly stop to replenish their stocks of food, and I fear I will no live to see the Arabian city burnt to the ground, but I am content. I have laid the groundwork for my sons to bring great glory and honor to our people. I am sure that Uncle Isamu is watching over me, wherever he is now. I think it won't be long now before I join him, so I suppose I will see what trouble he has been making soon.

Rule of chieftan Yuudai (1483-1467)

August, 1477: Our warriors report only minor losses as they continue to press in towards Mecca. Soon they will be at the gates of the grand city itself, praise Yuu. The rest of our warriors continue to make their way to Arabian lands as quickly as they can.

Rule of chieftan Noboru (1334-1313)

June, 1332: After many years of maneuvering and pointless engagements, our warriors have finally managed to strike at the heart of Mecca! Our losses were severe, but we will have triumph if the goddess is willing. It is only a matter of time before the Arabians are overwhelmed. A group of skilled laborers working outside the city walls has been captured during the attack. We have little use for Arabian pigs, but perhaps in time they can be taught to work like a true Japanese, or at least like a true Japanese child!

May, 1327: Our spearmen continue to make us proud. None can match their steadfastness and discipline. In rough terrain, they are truly fearsome fighters. I've gotten reports of a new encampment of barbarian dogs not far east of Mecca, but defeating the Arabians takes priority. Losses continue to mount, but the city is burning, and it won't be long before they are begging to let us tell them what to do. Such is the place of dishonorable pigs.

Rule of chieftan Katashi (1293-1275)

February, 1287: Glorious day! After many generations of struggle, the war with the fiendish Arabians has drawn to a close. Our warriors are tired, but they have shown their worth and the worth of the Japanese to all the world. Mecca is ours, and though it's citizens grumble, they follow our orders. Japanese sugar, wine, and gold flow into the city, keeping them content, at least for now.

The goddess must be smiling upon us, for while there were losses, none are so dire that they cannot be reversed, in time. This must be a sign that she wishes us to conquer more peoples than the Arabians that she sent us to destroy so many years ago. Such a thing will not happen in my time, though, or in the time of my sons or their sons. Still, it will happen, and with the blessings of the goddess we will once again bring victory to the Japanese people.

August, 1284: Alexander, surely after hearing tales of our victory against the Arabians, has sent messengers to us, asking for us to enter a secret pact with them against the Americans. These Greeks seem like fine people, and we have had good dealing with them in the past, so I accepted his proposal. The Americans will make a good target for our warriors once they have had time to regain their strength, goddess willing.


And with that, my turn is complete. Not bad overall, I think. Crushed the Arabians in less than 10 turns, and none of our warriors are dead, though most of them are hurting pretty bad. Probably they'll have to spend most of the next round of turns healing up, and then even longer making their way to the Americans. (or maybe they could head for Copenhagen, which is much closer)

Save (http://rapidshare.com/files/422595438/Japanese_succession_game_1200BC.Civ5Save)

Also, don't be intimidated by the more in-depth narrative I did here. If you want to try something like it, go ahead, but I don't expect everyone to start doing this. If you guys like it, maybe I'll do it again when my turn comes back around, though.

[Deme]

As a spectator, I like it when the reading is a little interesting.

[Terraoblivion]

And this save makes my game crash too. I guess i just have to bow out since my copy doesn't play well with anybody else's.

[AgentPaper]

Did you pre-order? Could well be that that's causing problems as well.

[Terraoblivion]

Nah, i didn't. I hadn't even planned on getting it anytime soon, but then i got swept up in everything being new and exciting.

[billtodamax]

I think the problem might be Agent Paper pre-ordering.

Try loading HT's save file, AP.

[EleventhHour]

I think the problem might be Agent Paper pre-ordering.

Try loading HT's save file, AP.

I can't load Happy's but mine is preorder, and I think TO could load mine...

[Terraoblivion]

Yeah, i could open yours. I haven't tried Emlyn's, but otherwise your is the only one i could open. Perhaps we should switch spots so i go after you, since i know that works.

[Bryn]

I know I said I wanted to play in this game, but actually things have become significantly busier over here so I don't think I can play anything except a very quick game. Sorry :smallfrown: Hopefully, there are other people with Civ V non-deluxe who can still play!

[Emlyn]

Yeah, i could open yours. I haven't tried Emlyn's, but otherwise your is the only one i could open. Perhaps we should switch spots so i go after you, since i know that works.

You should be able to open mine, as it is vanilla.

[Smiling Knight]

I think some guys at Civ Fanatics discovered that if you go into Worldbuilder and remove Babylon, other people can open the save. You might try that.


Edit: Wait, they had to code a program to do something I don't understand. Sorry.