This AAR will be a couple of first for me. First, it will be my first AAR. Second, it will be my first time playing Monarch. I have played Prince extensively for the last few years and now it's time to move out of my comfort zone. So I thought I would detail my successes and failures where every one can see and ridicule them :-)
The game is Civilization IV:Beyond the Sword. I chose a Standard map which is six A.I.'s and me. Land mass is Pangaea. The victory conditions are Cultural (Three cities with 50,000 Culture or more), Domination (Own 41% of the population and 60 % of the land), Diplomatic (Be voted the winner by taking a vote in the United Nations) and Time (Highest score at the end of 500 turns). I chose all of the Asian civ's: China (Qin Shi Huang), Korea (Wang Kon), India (Asoka), Khmer (Suryavarman II), Mongolia (Kublai Khan), Persia (Darius I) and me, Japan (Tokugawa).
The reason I chose Japan is because their Archery and Gunpowder units get a free City Garrison I and First Strike promotion and their Melee and Gunpowder units get a free Strength promotion. So, if I make it to discover Gunpowder, any units will gain all three of those promotions. I also get a bonus to build Barracks, Drydock, Walls and Castle at double speed. I'll be needing all of those buildings to survive and thrive.
This is me:
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This is my initial city placement:
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There's two Corn and a Stone inside my fat cross as well as a lot of Forests to quick build Wonders. The Corn will help me grow quickly and, if I'm smart, I'll use the steady population growth to siphon off Great People.
With my city established, I can turn my attention to Research. I have to discover Agriculture to take advantage of the Corn and Masonry for the Stone. It'll take me 15 Turns to make a Warrior and 17 for a Settler, so I have some time to kill. Because Axemen, your first powerful Melee unit need s Copper to build, I shoot for Bronze Working. By the time it reveals where the Copper is, I will have some of the map explored and have the Settler building and ready to take advantage of what I find. Plus, Mining is a prerequisite for Masonry, so, two birds with one stone ;-)
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It appears that I am at the top of the map. Not my favorite place to start. Limited growth opportunities and less desirable land types, Tundra and Ice. I'll look around some more and see if I can move any direction but North. Luckily, one of the Villages popped a Scout and I am using him to the fullest.
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Unfortunately, before very long, I run into my first neighbor.
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I would prefer to have a little more elbow room to start.
With the first Settler done, and no Copper in sight, I choose to make a buffer between Suryavarman and me.
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Well well. It appears that my neighbors are MUCH closer than I would like.
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An excellent occurrence!
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Wow! Good things twice in three turns! We're rolling now!!
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All those trees pay off and The Oracle is built in Kyoto. I choose Metal Casting as my free tech.
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Great stuff..... Have played 4 and 5 but never BTS.... Looking forward to the rest.... Which goal do you usually reach first?
Keep up the great work MetalDog! I never had the stones to try a game on Monarch.
Thanks for the encouragement fellas. I usually go for Space Race first, but the A.I. runs for that first, too and their research ability seems to outpace mine too rapidly to make that an option this game. To have any hope of winning this game, I will have to be militarily strong, which was another consideration for playing Japan with the bumps they get. So I will shoot for Cultural, but be prepared for Domination and pray for a Time victory.
2nd session start
I realize I haven't been keeping up with the screenies, so I took a snapshot in time. These are my nearest neighbors. Suryavarman to the east.
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and Cyrus (misidentified as Darius in the OP) to the west.
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so you're second? - just behind cyrus
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CYRUS WILL FEAR THE WRATH OF THE MONARCH!
No. I'm last. Be back shortly for part 2. Gotta go to Wally world.
Quote from: MetalDog on October 20, 2012, 06:27:33 PM
No. I'm last. Be back shortly for part 2. Gotta go to Wally world.
Is that a euphemism for the... uh, 'Throne Room'?
^Hahaha! No, it's actually for Walmart. Had to do the shopping with my son and his old lady and the grandbaby. Back to put this beast back in motion.
The current state of research has Code of Laws in 8. That gives me Courthouse, which reduces maintenance costs of buildings in my cities and just as importantly, it gives me Espionage points. (A quick detour on Espionage, you can engage in missions against your opponents by moving Spies into their territories and leaving them on any square. The longer you leave them, the more successful the mission you perform will be. The only thing I use Espionage points for is to spy on what my opponents are researching.)
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Feudalism is researched next followed by Aesthetics, Literature, Drama and then down to Machinery and then Engineering. Getting culture moving through the first three techs will be paramount in shooting for a Cultural victory. Machinery and Engineering give me unit and improvement bumps that are sorely needed.
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Half a million in three cities. Good start :-)
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A good time will be had by all. You will also notice a new city, Satsuma. I needed a buffer between me and Cyrus.
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The other benefit of Code of Laws
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Heron, the Great Engineer appears. I add him to my city, gaining a bump to Production and Science.
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Now, a million people in the Japanese Empire.
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The last of the forests near Kyoto goes down to pay for Chichen Itza. The 25% bump to defense for all my cities is key to surviving.
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The discovery of Feudalism puts me in the Medieval era.
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All units produced gain +2 XP points when created. That, along with the +3 from a Barracks in that city, gives units 5 beginning XP. That is enough to give your unit two bumps to start. That's incredibly helpful when setting up defenders or gathering an attack force. Serfdom makes my Workers more useful, too.
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I turn Code of Laws and Feudalism into Machinery and some operating capital.
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A quest is laid on the Japanese people. Not sure I will be able to make the 7 cities required. We shall see.
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Galileo joins Heron in Kyoto. +1 hammer and +6 science beakers.
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Kagoshima joins the Empire. And brings Silver and another Horse in the fat cross.
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I have now expanded pretty much as far as I can. I have a lot of work to do to get my country in to shape. It appears that I will have to play on the defense and be ready to expand at someone else's expense.
Kublai Khan is Pleased with me. Enough so that he would like my assistance in his war with Asoka.
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I politely decline. My refusal puts a hit on our relations and he turns Cautious.
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Wang Kon provides some much needed funds to the Imperial Treasury in exchange for some knowledge.
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The Parthenon and it's +50% Great Person generation are welcomed in Kyoto.
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Being best friends with the most powerful player on the board has advantages. Such as, supplying Research on demand by said best friend.
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It's 1000 A.D. This is where I stand. Five cities and squeezed between two religious rivals. My biggest problem is that I have no Iron. Suryavarman has 2. And I want some of his cities. So, I am going to attempt build an invasion army and take what I want. I want to have Walls and Castles in place before I go over the border. I am also going to try to gain allies to go in with me. Non sequitr, I am 550 points behind Cyrus :(
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