Monarch
Rome
Julius Caesar
Beyond the Sword 3.19
BUG Mod 4.5 [Build 2221]
BULL 1.4 [Build 243]
BAT Mod 4.1
Extended Leaderhead Pack
with Additional Leaders
and Modern Era Expansion
Four Continents
Eight Civilizations
No Barbarians
Aggressive AI
No Technology Brokering
Permanent Alliances
No Tribal Villages
No Random Events
The start looks plenty Food Rich to me. The more I look at it, though, the more I question how I will get the Hammers I'll need. But then, that's what Workshops are for.
As follows are a few Strategic Maps of Games I Rolled with similar Settings. In short, I expect a Continent in each of the Four Corners. But how they connect (or do not) is anybody's guess.
Brett's Games
Rome Four Way
Four Continents
Eight Opponents
Eight Opponents
CIV IV
Beyond The Sword
BAT Mod 4.1
Extended Leaderhead Pack
Modern Era Expansion
Game Saves, Replay, & Log Files
027-rome-game-saves.zip
In Game Notes
027-rome-four-way-notes.txt
Strategies & Spoilers
So don't read beyond this point, if you don't want to know.
Hopefully, there will be just the one play-through.
Hopefully, there will be just the one play-through.
I played the map for the first few hundred turns several times. And on the fifth attempt, I got the pattern down right.
Score: 3,876
Normalized: 196,899
It's hard to brag about a score on the fifth play-through. But I am certainly pleased with the numbers.
As follows, please find my condensed notes focusing on What I Learned.
Early War I do not find an Early War to be worth the trouble. Most of the time, I can get the same gains (if not more so) from simply Settling. At which point, I have about all the Cities my Economy can support for a good long while. And by the time my Economy has recovered, I don't think it is appropriate to call any War an Early War.
I say all that, but I will be playing Almost Always War with Monty Next Game... in that, I will be playing a Custom Map, Monty will be my neighbour, and I intend to earn a few early Great Generals by allowing him to crash his Jaguar Warriors against my entrenched Archers and Axemen.
Eat Early! Vassal Late!
The Next Game will be a One City Challenge, so this will not apply. I will be Forever at War with Monty. But in a more typical Game, I would be best off Settling, Eating My Enemies, and then allowing them to Capitulate in the End Game.
Mopping Up
I Vassalled Arabia; and then, I allowed Arabia to take the bulk of Korea's Land. I mean, I took the choice Cities, naturally. But the AI likes to Settle crap (when given no other immediate options). So, I left the crap for Arabia. Oh, to be sure, my Troops may have reduced the City Defences and crippled any Defenders. But the last Attack went to Arabia. And the City was theirs.
Up north, I did more or less the same thing with Mongolia and Hungary. Let us just say, the AI sucks at fighting and is not inclined to go where the player does not lead. Thus, I wound up Vassaling Hungary in the end (to end The Game), when I would have preferred (at some point, at least) for Mongolia to eat all of Hungary.
Allies that Fight
I chose to Attack Mongolia first, as I wanted Mongolia's help in Defeating Hungary. I mean, I did not need Mongolia's help. But I wanted Mongolia to take over all of the Hungarian Lands. And I had a strong suspicion (from Prior Games) that Mongolia would make a better War Ally than Hungary.
In my opinion the Techers (Gandhi, Mansu Mansu, whoever else) make crappy Vassals, as they won't join in any Warring. They just sit back and Tech. And that would be fine if one got whatever Technologies one's Vassals discovered for free. But one doesn't. Essentially what happens with a Techer is that one has agreed to protect them, while the Vassal goes on and tries to Win the Space Race.
Not on my watch.
Religion
I shall be using Religion (where/when available) as my chief source of Early Culture. For means of producing Culture, a Missionary is very cost effective compared to a Library. I rule Monuments out of the equation, as they only confer Culture; and as such, do not provide any longer-term benefit. While in comparison (along with Culture), a State Religion confers +1 Happy and opens the way to building a Temple for even more Happiness. Further (via a Missionary Built in one City and applied to another), Religion is a way of transferring Hammers from a well developed City to one that is brand spanking new.
Thus, a typical pattern might be:
Honour The Apostolic Palace
I likely could have won a Religious Victory (much sooner than my Military Victory) by switching to the Religion of The Apostolic Palace and spamming Missionaries of the Appropriate type to all of my Cities.
Furthermore (as in, the following is unrelated to the actual Victory; but rather, is important in getting there), The Apostolic Palace's +2 Hammer Bonus (per Religious Building of the appropriate denomination) is locked into whatever Religion the Builder of The Apostolic Palace was running at the time of its Construction. And this Bonus (+2 Hammers per appropriate Religious Building) transfers to every other Player, as well. While the Bonuses for all the other Religious Wonders apply to the Current Owner's Current State Religion. Meaning, the Religious Affiliation of these other Wonders can change. Unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess it matters if one swept the Religious Wonders or not), other players do not share in the Bonuses, even if they are Running the appropriate Religion.
The Apostolic Palace: Religion is Static, but everyone gets the +2 Hammer Bonus.
The University of Sankore: Religion is Changeable, but only the current owner gets the +2 Beaker Bonus.
No Alphabet
Based on my current Play Style, Researching Alphabet is a waste of time, as once I get Alphabet, everyone wants me to start Paying Tribute (i.e. giving them free Technologies). And no one is willing to trade at a fair price. Don't ask me how AI Civilizations ever make a Trade... eh, the rules are likely very different for Non Human Trading Partners... and then, there are discounts for degree of Friendliness.
Beg for Gold
I am not in the habit of Begging for Gold and Technologies from my Friends. I need to get in the habit of Begging Boons from my Friends. It makes those Positive Diplomatic Modifiers all that much more important.
Workshops
I vastly over-estimated the value of Workshops in the Early Game. Workshops do not matter until after Guilds... at the earliest.
Workshop +1 Hammer / -1 Food
Caste +1 Hammer
Guilds +1 Hammer
Chemistry +1 Hammer
State Property +1 Food
I never run State Property, so a Workshop Yields +4 Hammer / -1 Food in the Late Game but is only a wash (trading Food for Hammers) in the Early Game. Whereas, Mining gives a solid +2 Hammers out of the gate, being augmented by an additional Hammer from Railroads, later on.
Workshops are the way to convert Flatlands (Plains and Grassland) into Hammer Producing Tiles. But this only becomes effective after Researching Guilds.
No Whip
I find Whipping to be a pain. So, my future strategies are going to rely more and more upon Growing to the Happy Cap; and then, Running Scientists.
Use the Bulb
I should Bulb more. I can see Settling Great People (or using them for other things) until Astronomy or so. At which point, cashing them in (immediately) for Beakers becomes the cost effective use. I am growing less and less fond of Golden Ages... though, perhaps this is a mistake. {As a confounding variable, my Civilizations are growing smaller and smaller, lessening the impact any Golden Age might have.}
In This Game, I entered the End Game with three Great Engineers. One I was saving for a Corporation that never came, as The Game ended before that. Another I had simply forgotten about. And a third that was just Born.
We are talking serious inefficiencies, there. I did use two of them to Pop Steam Power. But I should have used them prior to that.
Oh, well.
One Shot
In a Warring situation, my Opponents only have one Offensive Counter-Attack in them. Once they lose that first Stack, they will never rebuild it... unless I gift them with a Protracted Peace.
In fact, in my Next Game against Monty, I will be Declaring War early... so he never has the opportunity to amass a Stack, as much as anything else.
The AI trickles Troops towards the front, as built. For them, the Stack only happens (is only assembled) during stretches of Peace.
{I should perhaps clarify. If the AI sees an Attack, it will take it. But the AI may not see an Attack as viable until it has amassed a Stack.}
Defensive Promotions
After Siege becomes a thing (once I have Catapults or Cannons), the Offensive Strength of my Combat Units almost doesn't matter. Instead, all Promotions for Non-Siege Units should go into Defensive traits... whatever that means. In fact, I can see arguing that March is a rather important Promotion.
Combat I -> Combat II -> Combat III -> March... for Healing on the run.
I, also, like:
Street Fighter I -> Street Fighter II... as this looks interesting.
Score: 3,876
Normalized: 196,899
It's hard to brag about a score on the fifth play-through. But I am certainly pleased with the numbers.
As follows, please find my condensed notes focusing on What I Learned.
Early War I do not find an Early War to be worth the trouble. Most of the time, I can get the same gains (if not more so) from simply Settling. At which point, I have about all the Cities my Economy can support for a good long while. And by the time my Economy has recovered, I don't think it is appropriate to call any War an Early War.
I say all that, but I will be playing Almost Always War with Monty Next Game... in that, I will be playing a Custom Map, Monty will be my neighbour, and I intend to earn a few early Great Generals by allowing him to crash his Jaguar Warriors against my entrenched Archers and Axemen.
Eat Early! Vassal Late!
The Next Game will be a One City Challenge, so this will not apply. I will be Forever at War with Monty. But in a more typical Game, I would be best off Settling, Eating My Enemies, and then allowing them to Capitulate in the End Game.
- Settle!
- Building Settlers is highly cost effective.
- The outcome is all but guaranteed.
- Peaceful options remain open.
- Eat Early!
- The first War should be a War of Total Conquest.
- Eat the Enemy whole.
- Vassal Later!
- It takes hundreds of Turns to bring a City online.
- Well, maybe it doesn't.
- But I don't Win Wars (my Military Production does not come) from Late Capture Cities.
- It's best to allow Capitulation and move on.
- Though, I have no problem with allowing my other Vassals to do the mopping up.
Mopping Up
I Vassalled Arabia; and then, I allowed Arabia to take the bulk of Korea's Land. I mean, I took the choice Cities, naturally. But the AI likes to Settle crap (when given no other immediate options). So, I left the crap for Arabia. Oh, to be sure, my Troops may have reduced the City Defences and crippled any Defenders. But the last Attack went to Arabia. And the City was theirs.
Up north, I did more or less the same thing with Mongolia and Hungary. Let us just say, the AI sucks at fighting and is not inclined to go where the player does not lead. Thus, I wound up Vassaling Hungary in the end (to end The Game), when I would have preferred (at some point, at least) for Mongolia to eat all of Hungary.
Allies that Fight
I chose to Attack Mongolia first, as I wanted Mongolia's help in Defeating Hungary. I mean, I did not need Mongolia's help. But I wanted Mongolia to take over all of the Hungarian Lands. And I had a strong suspicion (from Prior Games) that Mongolia would make a better War Ally than Hungary.
In my opinion the Techers (Gandhi, Mansu Mansu, whoever else) make crappy Vassals, as they won't join in any Warring. They just sit back and Tech. And that would be fine if one got whatever Technologies one's Vassals discovered for free. But one doesn't. Essentially what happens with a Techer is that one has agreed to protect them, while the Vassal goes on and tries to Win the Space Race.
Not on my watch.
Religion
I shall be using Religion (where/when available) as my chief source of Early Culture. For means of producing Culture, a Missionary is very cost effective compared to a Library. I rule Monuments out of the equation, as they only confer Culture; and as such, do not provide any longer-term benefit. While in comparison (along with Culture), a State Religion confers +1 Happy and opens the way to building a Temple for even more Happiness. Further (via a Missionary Built in one City and applied to another), Religion is a way of transferring Hammers from a well developed City to one that is brand spanking new.
Thus, a typical pattern might be:
- Found City
- Spread Religion
- With Old Missionary
- Grow City
- While Building New Missionary
Honour The Apostolic Palace
I likely could have won a Religious Victory (much sooner than my Military Victory) by switching to the Religion of The Apostolic Palace and spamming Missionaries of the Appropriate type to all of my Cities.
Furthermore (as in, the following is unrelated to the actual Victory; but rather, is important in getting there), The Apostolic Palace's +2 Hammer Bonus (per Religious Building of the appropriate denomination) is locked into whatever Religion the Builder of The Apostolic Palace was running at the time of its Construction. And this Bonus (+2 Hammers per appropriate Religious Building) transfers to every other Player, as well. While the Bonuses for all the other Religious Wonders apply to the Current Owner's Current State Religion. Meaning, the Religious Affiliation of these other Wonders can change. Unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess it matters if one swept the Religious Wonders or not), other players do not share in the Bonuses, even if they are Running the appropriate Religion.
The Apostolic Palace: Religion is Static, but everyone gets the +2 Hammer Bonus.
The University of Sankore: Religion is Changeable, but only the current owner gets the +2 Beaker Bonus.
No Alphabet
Based on my current Play Style, Researching Alphabet is a waste of time, as once I get Alphabet, everyone wants me to start Paying Tribute (i.e. giving them free Technologies). And no one is willing to trade at a fair price. Don't ask me how AI Civilizations ever make a Trade... eh, the rules are likely very different for Non Human Trading Partners... and then, there are discounts for degree of Friendliness.
Beg for Gold
I am not in the habit of Begging for Gold and Technologies from my Friends. I need to get in the habit of Begging Boons from my Friends. It makes those Positive Diplomatic Modifiers all that much more important.
Workshops
I vastly over-estimated the value of Workshops in the Early Game. Workshops do not matter until after Guilds... at the earliest.
Workshop +1 Hammer / -1 Food
Caste +1 Hammer
Guilds +1 Hammer
Chemistry +1 Hammer
State Property +1 Food
I never run State Property, so a Workshop Yields +4 Hammer / -1 Food in the Late Game but is only a wash (trading Food for Hammers) in the Early Game. Whereas, Mining gives a solid +2 Hammers out of the gate, being augmented by an additional Hammer from Railroads, later on.
Workshops are the way to convert Flatlands (Plains and Grassland) into Hammer Producing Tiles. But this only becomes effective after Researching Guilds.
No Whip
I find Whipping to be a pain. So, my future strategies are going to rely more and more upon Growing to the Happy Cap; and then, Running Scientists.
Use the Bulb
I should Bulb more. I can see Settling Great People (or using them for other things) until Astronomy or so. At which point, cashing them in (immediately) for Beakers becomes the cost effective use. I am growing less and less fond of Golden Ages... though, perhaps this is a mistake. {As a confounding variable, my Civilizations are growing smaller and smaller, lessening the impact any Golden Age might have.}
In This Game, I entered the End Game with three Great Engineers. One I was saving for a Corporation that never came, as The Game ended before that. Another I had simply forgotten about. And a third that was just Born.
We are talking serious inefficiencies, there. I did use two of them to Pop Steam Power. But I should have used them prior to that.
Oh, well.
One Shot
In a Warring situation, my Opponents only have one Offensive Counter-Attack in them. Once they lose that first Stack, they will never rebuild it... unless I gift them with a Protracted Peace.
In fact, in my Next Game against Monty, I will be Declaring War early... so he never has the opportunity to amass a Stack, as much as anything else.
The AI trickles Troops towards the front, as built. For them, the Stack only happens (is only assembled) during stretches of Peace.
{I should perhaps clarify. If the AI sees an Attack, it will take it. But the AI may not see an Attack as viable until it has amassed a Stack.}
Defensive Promotions
After Siege becomes a thing (once I have Catapults or Cannons), the Offensive Strength of my Combat Units almost doesn't matter. Instead, all Promotions for Non-Siege Units should go into Defensive traits... whatever that means. In fact, I can see arguing that March is a rather important Promotion.
Combat I -> Combat II -> Combat III -> March... for Healing on the run.
I, also, like:
Street Fighter I -> Street Fighter II... as this looks interesting.
Combat Graph
I will note that Combat started around Turn 400 and was more or less (more, then less, then more again) continual until the End of The Game.
Perhaps, I should tease apart Siege Attacks from all others. From about my Attack on Hungary on (say from around T600 on), Cannons did ALL of my fighting. The Riflemen were only there in a support role: to mop up what remained after the Cannons were through.
Combats: 310
Civilizations Dominated: 2 (this is wrong)
Great Generals: 5 (I captured just as many, from Settled Great Generals in the Cities I Captured)
Max Number of Combats in Turn: 22
Number of Combats
Clearly, the script I am using to determine these figures has some faults, as it's not counting Civilizations Dominated Correctly. But I'm not going to dive into the code. And the Log Files are there for the hyper-curious (and/or those of a detailed oriented bent) to peruse as they see fit.
Perhaps, I should tease apart Siege Attacks from all others. From about my Attack on Hungary on (say from around T600 on), Cannons did ALL of my fighting. The Riflemen were only there in a support role: to mop up what remained after the Cannons were through.
Combat Results
Turns: 659Combats: 310
Civilizations Dominated: 2 (this is wrong)
Great Generals: 5 (I captured just as many, from Settled Great Generals in the Cities I Captured)
Max Number of Combats in Turn: 22
Number of Combats
| Win | Lose | |
| Attack | 217 | 36 |
| Defence | 45 | 12 |
Clearly, the script I am using to determine these figures has some faults, as it's not counting Civilizations Dominated Correctly. But I'm not going to dive into the code. And the Log Files are there for the hyper-curious (and/or those of a detailed oriented bent) to peruse as they see fit.
Five Play-Throughs
Going by memory (and after reading my In Game Notes), the biggest differences between the first attempt at this Map and the last came down to:
- Religion for Culture
- No Early War
- More Focused Research