Deity
Mary Stuart
Scottish Empire
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
No Barbarians
Aggressive AI
Permanent Alliances
No Tribal Villages
No Random Events
Brett's Games
UNITY
A One Glorious City Challenge
CIV IV
Beyond The Sword
World Builder, Game Saves, Replay, & Log Files
029-UNITY-game-saves.zip
In Game Notes
029-UNITY-notes.txt
Custom Map
Even Beyond That Glorious Start
This is my initial conception of the City Site. It differs slightly from the Starting Location. So, one should take the information that follows with a grain of salt.
If the Glorious City of Unity is denoted by the red, then the Green is Monty, who is sure to Attack. Those black lines are funnelling Mountains, which I did not incorporate. But there is a nice Defensive Hill complete with River Crossing and Forest on which to wait for Monty. Now, if he ever launches and Amphibious Attack, that's a different story.
Mongolia lies to the North (the brown), along with Bismark (not shown). And there is a connecting island chain. I have no idea how long it will take anyone to traverse it... or work their way through Montezuma's (possibly) Hostile Lands.
The Orange represents a distant Post Astronomy Continent, with which I do not envision contact prior to the Age of Sail.
Mongolia lies to the North (the brown), along with Bismark (not shown). And there is a connecting island chain. I have no idea how long it will take anyone to traverse it... or work their way through Montezuma's (possibly) Hostile Lands.
The Orange represents a distant Post Astronomy Continent, with which I do not envision contact prior to the Age of Sail.
This should not be taken as a Map of the Game World, but as a Conceptual Map I drew to inform the Creation of my Game World. It's not that accurate.
The Red Star is Unity, Mary Queen of Scott's Starting Position.
She shares a rather large Continent with Monty, who given Mary's restriction of having a Single City (this is a One City Challenge... or OCC) is sure to have loads of Cities. I expect to Declare War on Monty rather early and collect Experience from his Suiciding Troops. I could be wrong about that.
The Brown to the North is The Khan of Mongolia, who shares a fair slice of land with Bismark. The two of them will likely fight and the winner will be a contender... or they could hobble each other the entire game. There exists a Pre-Astronomy Route (call it an Island Chain Passage) from their lands to ours.
To the East lies the Largest Continent, but it is not much larger than Monty's. Going by memory, it is shared by Hammurabi (my choice), Hannibal (my choice), Sitting Bull (random), and Putin (random). I am allowing Tech Trading. So if they all get along, the four of them could make quite the block. On the other hand, I'm working on the assumption they won't get along. But like I said, I am allowing unlimited Tech Trading, so it is all up in the air.
The little divots on the map by the poles represent some pretty nice land. And there are some sweet pieces of real estate in those center islands.
In fact, all the real estate is pretty sweet this time. Sure, I will have a Massively Colossal Super City. But my adversaries will have some pretty nice Cities, as well.
The Red Star is Unity, Mary Queen of Scott's Starting Position.
She shares a rather large Continent with Monty, who given Mary's restriction of having a Single City (this is a One City Challenge... or OCC) is sure to have loads of Cities. I expect to Declare War on Monty rather early and collect Experience from his Suiciding Troops. I could be wrong about that.
The Brown to the North is The Khan of Mongolia, who shares a fair slice of land with Bismark. The two of them will likely fight and the winner will be a contender... or they could hobble each other the entire game. There exists a Pre-Astronomy Route (call it an Island Chain Passage) from their lands to ours.
To the East lies the Largest Continent, but it is not much larger than Monty's. Going by memory, it is shared by Hammurabi (my choice), Hannibal (my choice), Sitting Bull (random), and Putin (random). I am allowing Tech Trading. So if they all get along, the four of them could make quite the block. On the other hand, I'm working on the assumption they won't get along. But like I said, I am allowing unlimited Tech Trading, so it is all up in the air.
The little divots on the map by the poles represent some pretty nice land. And there are some sweet pieces of real estate in those center islands.
In fact, all the real estate is pretty sweet this time. Sure, I will have a Massively Colossal Super City. But my adversaries will have some pretty nice Cities, as well.
Other Tidbits
Not Quite Spoilers
In addition to all the rest (all the other advantages I cooked into this Map), I stripped all of the other Civilizations of their Starting Technologies to insure I could land Buddhism. But then, I did a trial run. And I would say good luck (to any Human Player) getting more than one of the Starting Religions. Folks Tech fast on Deity.
Strategies & Spoilers
So don't read beyond this point, if you don't want to know.
Military Overview
It took me three goes to beat this map, which is sort of embarrassing; but also, understandable. I thought I would win easily, so there was no sense trying hard. And then, in both of the losing games, I was sort of blind-sided by an attack. Eh, maybe blind-sided is the wrong word for it. But by the time I learned of the attack, it was over.UNITY-01: Monty eventually attacked with a huge enough stack to destroy my entrenched defenders. And when next he attacked, I would not have the units I needed.
UNITY-02: Carthage sailed across the seas and landed with a huge stack, which I would have called fair game... if I had bothered to notice Hannibal even had Astronomy.
In both cases, it was clear player error. Outside of the final turns, the combat graphs for all of the games were pretty similar. As follows is the Combat Graph for Game 03.
{The Khan destroyed Bismark within the first few hundred Turns in all three games, while Hammurabi was eliminated early on in only two out of the three games.}
Now, I could not see much difference in the graphs between the different games, but I know Monty attacked a lot more in the first two games, as my garrison stack was not as strong. But after having him waltz through my defenses, I built the stack higher the third time around, causing him to decide not to attack... or at least, not nearly as often.
So, good going Monty. I thought he would endlessly suicide. But he only does that when there is some chance of victory.
I should (yes, should) try to leave as many of the Early Religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Confucianism... maybe even Taoism) for the AI, so there are competing Religions on the board.
Conversely, each one of those Religions represents a 10% Bonus to Research in the capitol (from Monasteries), which is nothing to sneeze at. So, there are confounding variables.
Anyhow, there is a big difference heading off to the Far Continent after Optics and finding a pair of love birds, hated enemies, or one or more civilizations vassaled to another.
Free Combat Experience
Attacking with Siege (and only Siege) grants no Experience to the defending troops. And after an initial attack or two, winning becomes close to a certainty. Yet, this activity grants experience to the attacking siege units and yields Great General Points.
In my next game (currently in progress), the goal is to achieve Ten Great Generals. We'll see how many I get or what sort of contortions I have to go through to achieve that goal.
So, good going Monty. I thought he would endlessly suicide. But he only does that when there is some chance of victory.
Other Strategic Observations
One True ReligionI should (yes, should) try to leave as many of the Early Religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Confucianism... maybe even Taoism) for the AI, so there are competing Religions on the board.
Conversely, each one of those Religions represents a 10% Bonus to Research in the capitol (from Monasteries), which is nothing to sneeze at. So, there are confounding variables.
Anyhow, there is a big difference heading off to the Far Continent after Optics and finding a pair of love birds, hated enemies, or one or more civilizations vassaled to another.
Free Combat Experience
Attacking with Siege (and only Siege) grants no Experience to the defending troops. And after an initial attack or two, winning becomes close to a certainty. Yet, this activity grants experience to the attacking siege units and yields Great General Points.
In my next game (currently in progress), the goal is to achieve Ten Great Generals. We'll see how many I get or what sort of contortions I have to go through to achieve that goal.
{In case this isn't clear, rather than cleaning up after a Cannon Attack, one lets the Defenders Heal slightly on the roll. And then, Attacks with Siege, once again, never bothering to finish the Defenders off. Though, one may wish to pick off certain defenders. Longbows, I'm looking at you. This later can be accomplished by noting who the Defender will be and only finishing off a Unit when appropriate (Longbows) and not when it is not (Pikes, Horsemen, and the like).}
Oxford University
Playing a One City Challenge allowed me to build Oxford University without having to build six other universities first.
This saved a lot of time... and illustrated the importance of Oxford University to me.
Though, that does not solve the problem of building six other universities in a more normal game (i.e. one with at least six other cities). And I must admit, my first thought in regards to that is to cook up a map which has six amazing city sites (on an isolated start) and see how I do.
Academy
Stacking an Academy (+50%) with Oxford University (+100%) makes for a Research City. All in all (not including Monasteries), the bonuses do add up.
Playing a One City Challenge allowed me to build Oxford University without having to build six other universities first.
This saved a lot of time... and illustrated the importance of Oxford University to me.
Though, that does not solve the problem of building six other universities in a more normal game (i.e. one with at least six other cities). And I must admit, my first thought in regards to that is to cook up a map which has six amazing city sites (on an isolated start) and see how I do.
Academy
Stacking an Academy (+50%) with Oxford University (+100%) makes for a Research City. All in all (not including Monasteries), the bonuses do add up.
25% Library 25% University 25% Observatory 50% Academy 100% Oxford University ----------------------- 225% Bonus 100% Base ----------- 325% TOTALRunning Representation, a Scientist is worth 6*3.25 = 19.5 Beakers. And that means, The Great Library is worth 39 Beakers/Turn.
{And on top of all that, there is the +50% Bonus for running Bureaucracy in the Capitol, which is where I would intend to put Oxford University.}
Postpone Scientific Method
Since Scientific Method obsoletes all sorts of things, one (meaning I) should think about postponing its discovery.
In the next game (currently ongoing), I am playing at a lower level (Noble v. Deity, here). And as such, I have a commanding Tech Lead. I'm researching everything (and I mean, everything) that I can prior to going for Scientific Method. Of course, this is only viable, as I have the lead and I will still get all the Post Scientific Method Bonuses.
Permanent Alliance Peace
Following the creation of a Permanent Alliance (something I highly recommend), I should (once again with the shoulds) enter a period of peace so my new partner can upgrade their troops. Otherwise, they tend to smash their backwards troops against my current foes without ever taking advantage of the superior technologies I offer.
Obviously, play styles will differ. And there is no guarantee I will be the more advanced of the pair. But so far, that's the way it has worked out.
Since Scientific Method obsoletes all sorts of things, one (meaning I) should think about postponing its discovery.
In the next game (currently ongoing), I am playing at a lower level (Noble v. Deity, here). And as such, I have a commanding Tech Lead. I'm researching everything (and I mean, everything) that I can prior to going for Scientific Method. Of course, this is only viable, as I have the lead and I will still get all the Post Scientific Method Bonuses.
Great Spy from Communism Great Scientist from Physics Sid's Sushi from MedicineFor much the same reason (The Great Lighthouse would be obsoleted), I am postponing the research of Corporations, as well.
Permanent Alliance Peace
Following the creation of a Permanent Alliance (something I highly recommend), I should (once again with the shoulds) enter a period of peace so my new partner can upgrade their troops. Otherwise, they tend to smash their backwards troops against my current foes without ever taking advantage of the superior technologies I offer.
Obviously, play styles will differ. And there is no guarantee I will be the more advanced of the pair. But so far, that's the way it has worked out.
And now, like a cat unto a mouse, I shall play with my foes, in an attempt to milk those Great General Points for all they are worth.