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Dominae
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quote: Originally posted by Arrian
Ok, I fired my game up (400AD) and continued my methodical destruction of the Romans. I researched Feudalism first, and rush Sun Tzu immediately. I then researched Engineering & Invention and rushed Leo's immediately. I then traded Engineering to Persia for Monotheism and started on Theology.
One turn into that research, I was notified that "The Americans have completed the Sistine Chapel in Washington." Apparently, the Americans have a deathwish.
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Seems to me like you're were being too greedy; if Sistine was your goal, maybe you should have beelined for that! But, I just know what your answer will be: "I wanted all the Medieval Wonders!".
Abe Lincoln says: "No UP for you!".
Nice game, though.
Dominae
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jshelr
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pittsburgh
Apr 2002 time: 00:26
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The celts made the decision early to focus on warfare rather than rex and started with a barracks build. First Settler was sent north to claim wine. After that, good luck flowed thick and fast. Our northern warrior got a chance to bop a Chinese warrior / settler pair, giving us two workers and lots of space, along with an elite .
We remained at zero research after pottery and the war with china netted masonry.
The settler bop more or less led us by the nose to settle northward and allowed us to claim the iron up there by accident before we knew it was actually in that position.
This took the challenge out of the game as we just built warriors and hoarded gold for upgrading. On meeting Persia, we were introduced to Rome on the same turn and got iron working for 50 gold and an intro to the Chinese.
We upgraded four to GS status and ripped China to shreds, extorting more tech and one city.
More good luck followed as Rome declared war on India just as we were about to oscillate for the next conflict. India’s capital fell easily, yielding a leader, lol, and, on taking a second city, we extorted remaining techs and all their gold.
Persia is next and looks like a sitting duck at this point, especially if Rome agrees to an alliance. With the leader, we can take out China at our leisure and put the FP up there.
I agree that GS are expensive. But this is my second game with them and their mobility, the lack of need for covering troops, retreat, and their hitting power make them a yum yum UU in the ancient era. They survive so much better than swords I wonder if they really are more expensive in the long run.
I may not play this out unless reading the spoilers suggests there are hidden problems.
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badams52
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near the magic kingdom
May 2002 time: 21:26
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Well, as we were getting our troops into position to fight India, Rome and India sign a peace treaty giving us a chance to switch to Republic and begin researching and sending suicide galleys to find the other continent.
We break through finally and make contact with America and France quickly to find France a little ahead of America in the research department. We cautiously negotiate with them and sell them our territory maps to get their maps and contact with Russia. I usually let my galley get there, but Russia was far away and I wanted to know them. We watch their research to see when America or France might discover navigation allowing them the ability to sail and find our adversaries, Russia is behind in tech and falling farther and farther behind.
Then Rome calls us up and says, "hey man give us tech or we fight." So we fight. I resign an ROP with India and send my troops (already in position) to start destroying the Roman legionaries, bowmen and spearmen. Our GSs reign supreme on flatland fighting and we try hard to lure the enemy forces to positions that give us the advantage. With many, many elites, GLs come left and right netting us Leo's, Sistene's, (then America immediately got Copernicus), Bachs, Palace move (see below), Magellan's and Newton's Uni in that order. We built Sun Tzu's and Adam Smith's from scratch without any problems. So let's see, that's 1 army, 1 Palace move and 5 wonders makes 7 GLs so far.
Red dot - former palace
Yellow dot - FP
orange dot - new palace
Attachment: b 0930 ad.jpg
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badams52
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near the magic kingdom
May 2002 time: 21:26
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The picture above shows our entire army when fighting the Romans. When I got to the Roman core, my GSs began to stall against legionaries in the mountains and fortified in cities, so we got our knights together after buying the tech from the french for luxuries and began to use GSs for attacking stray longbowmen and legionaries on plains. The march was slow at first...take city, rest all soldiers in the city till repaired, move to next city, rinse and repeat.
All the while America discovered navigation, and not seeing me being able to pull off the Arrian deception, I gave in and got what I could from America, France and Russia from selling the contacts and my map.
We kept coming at the Romans (in our peace talks, they would never give the tech I didn't have or any good cities) and had to switch to monarchy with the war taking a long time. We finally annexed all the previously Roman cities on the continent and with the peace deal, netted 3 of their 5 remaining cities, giving us strength on the nearby islands.
Upon the end of the war, we switched to Democracy with our eyes set on the Indian lands...manifest destiny and all...
Attachment: b 1170 ad.jpg
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badams52
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near the magic kingdom
May 2002 time: 21:26
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So now it's obvious that UP is at hand. We have a slight tech lead over America (number 2) who sends us over 100 gpt in deals that we spread out - i.e. selling only 1 luxury at a time for maximum profit when reselling. America is so maxed out on gpt, that they have none left for gunpowder.
Some thoughts on tech and UP
When going for UP, is it not better to leave other civs with 1 or 2 cities left after their "defeated?" This way, the tech rate or tech bonus for researching already discovered techs is much, much smaller. Had I destroyed Rome, China, and Persia, there would be only 5 civs left, and when I and America get the tech, that's 40% of remaining civs giving France a big discount (at this time France is a distant 3 in getting techs). But with all 8 still hanging around, that makes it only 25% when America and I have it. I checked using the tech calculator from CFC and it tends to make a sizeable difference in the price of the tech.
And since Rome, China, India, Russia, and Persia will always be far behind in the tech race, as we rise up the ladder, my distance will only grow larger and it will cost America and France too much money to try and climb back into the race.
Of course, you have to watch out cause America or France could declare war on Rome, China, Persia or India and take out their last cities, so now it's up to me to protect them and to protect my tech lead!
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Arrian
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Kneel before Grog!
Jul 2001 time: 00:26
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badams,
You may well be right about leaving civs with 1-2 cities alive to screw up the intact AI's research rates.
I don't deliberately do that, but if they're all confined to an island (such as the one of the west coast of Gaellia, or the one of the southeast coast, in this game), there is little harm in it if the Deception failed anyway.
Basically, if taking them out doesn't help you in any way (gaining a decent city, resource, luxury, taking a shot at generating a GL for a contested wonder, or pulling off the deception), why do it?
I haven't played any further yet. Hopefully I'll get going again tonight.
-Arrian
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nbarclay
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Huntsville, Alabama
Dec 1999 time: 23:26
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If you capture cities instead of razing, eliminating a civ completely has two advantages. (1) It eliminates all possibility of culture flips. (2) It eliminates the risk that the civ might sign a MPP with someone you want to fight later, thereby adding unhappiness to the conquered cities if you go to war with their MPP partner. Also, whether you capture or raze, a civ that hates you might be quite happy to sign a trade embargo against you, cutting into trade possibilities later in the game. (In particular, I've run into situations where someone I was at war with signed a trade embargo against me with a barely-surviving civ, leaving me unable to resume tade when the war was over.) So while there are advantages to leaving civs alive with a couple cities, there are also advantages to finishing them off.
For me, the big question is usually just how convenient it is to finish a civ off. If it's convenient, they're dead. If not, they get to live on their island posessions at least a while longer.
Nathan
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badams52
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near the magic kingdom
May 2002 time: 21:26
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Nathan,
Ah, yes, I do see the advantages you point out, but in this particular game, my culture is supreme when compared to my continents' brethren. Of course, I often finish off civs, because of the culture flip possibility, but this time I wanted Persia around so I could extort construction; China was on the island and I didn't have much of a navy (though it wouldn't take much) and settled for extorting all cities but the capital; Rome was on 2 islands...see China . India I could have taken out, but decided to keep them hanging around as I started to think about researching possiblities.
I'm not too concerned about culture flip considering I'm in a democracy and the surrounding small civs are either in a monarchy or a republic and their culture is small by comparison.
I'm in the industrial age now with America and France as the no. 2 & 3 civs. I use my luxuries and resources and once in 20 turns a tech to siphen off excess gpt from France and America who are both polite to me as they love a democratic government.
Russia finally made the industrial age as I sent them 3 techs for furs (they also get techs once every 20 turns), but I could probably go without furs...I just like happy people.
But keeping those worthless civs around seems to have stopped France and America from being able to even come close to sticking with me research wise. I was surprised recently when America got communism and France got steam engine and they haven't swapped yet.
Maybe there are other factors, like I rarely get to go through the etire industrial age at 4 or 5 turns per tech, but we were even till the industrial age and then the Celts just took off. I now have 11 techs while France and America have 4 (3 are the same) and Russia has 1
And having so much excess luxuries, I have been giving them as gifts to the weakened civs which gives them less incentive to join in embargos against me. I find that if you have a 20 turn deal going, the embargo won't happen unless they declare war, in which case, they can be taken out to end an embargo 
#2 is interesting, but for this game it's moot as the Celts have focussed on the lazy launch strategy. Our wars are over. 
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Arrian
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Kneel before Grog!
Jul 2001 time: 00:26
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The Deception succeeded. I also managed to keep Russia alive JUST long enough not to screw my reputation (trade deal... I gave them saltpeter to try and prop them up, but with Abe & Joany MPP'd against them, it wasn't to be).
The southern fleet holds 38 Cavalry, 4 Knights, 1 GS, 3 Infantry & 1 cannon.
The northern ships hold 7 Cav & 5 infantry, and more is on the way.
I am holding for a bit, to see if I can split the American/French MPP so I don't have to fight them both at once. If I can manage it, I want the French on my side, so the Americans go down fast... Washington is the #1 city in the world, and holding it is gonna be a pain. But I WILL have the Sistine, damnit!
Since my last update, I managed to build Copernicus (beat Abe by 1 turn, HAH!), rush Smith's, rush Magellan, build Univ. Suffrage & ToE, and rush Hoover. Plus the Ironworks in Alesia, which is now my capitol as well. It can punch out Armies in 4 turns per. Yum.
Taking down the Americans will net me silks, furs and gems, plus the Sistine. In other words, everything I don't have but still want. It might also trigger domination (though I only intend to actually keep 3 cities over there).
-Arrian
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Dominae
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BigD, ask yourself what you're doing differently than the other people here (those who are succeeding). These things are very "learnable", so try not to feel too daunted.
Dominae
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Dominae
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BigD, with 12-hour shifts, you could finish a Civ3 game on a Small map every day. Food for thought!
Dominae
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badams52
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near the magic kingdom
May 2002 time: 21:26
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Arrian,
I think you're taking this Sistene's just a little too far. Sure they beat you to it, but taking it from them gains you very little as it's effects are on the wrong contienent.
Then again, if you take it, that means America won't be using it either. I see your point.
Nathan,
Didn't think you were critisizing...just wanted to argue/discuss usefullness/uselessness of keeping those worthless civs around, and part of that is to debate how to work around the pitfalls like MPPs, embargos, culture, wars you don't want and all the other stuff you can throw out at me.
I usually go Arrian's path...take 'em all out...but after a recent game in which it was just me and Russia, where they we're keeping up with me tech wise even into the modern age, I wanted to see if I could achieve operation tech slowdown. In that other game I left Rome with one city on an island so that they could pull Russia's research rate down. Didn't work long though as Russia took them out soon after I left them hanging. 
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