Brett's Games

Rocket Tech
Early Capture

I'd started by calling this game Rocket Tech. But Thebes was close enough to knock-out first thing. And as such, an Early Capture really is the defining feature of this Set of Games.


CIV IV
Beyond The Sword

In Game Notes
043-rocket-tech-notes.txt

Game Saves & Log Files
043-rocket-tech-saves.zip


Basic Infos

NAME: Rocket Tech / Early Capture
DIFFICULTY: Monarch
LEADER: Huayna Capac
MAP: Fractal
HINT/TEASER: Capture Thebes

Civilization IV
Beyond the Sword
Unofficial BTS 3.19 v 1.70
BUG Mod 4.5 [Build 2221]
BULL 1.4 [Build 243]
BAT Mod 4.1

Annoyingly, Thebes is a mere 14 Tiles from Cuzco.

Happily, Thebes can be ransacked and added to one's Civilization for the cost of a few Quechuas, whose Strength will be doubled against The Defending Archers. Anywhere from four to six Quechuas will be required. And from there, The Game is pretty close to being won.

And truthfully, from there, I question how much more I have to say.

I tend to Turtle until I get Steel, ransack the world with Cannons (or at least, the undeveloped parts of it), and by the time Cannons loose their kick, I've got control of the better part of the world and feel safe declaring an Implied Victory. Sure, I could duke it out. But an Implied Victory is usually the way I go.

Anyway, I have been thinking about redoing my graphing utilities. So, maybe, what I should do is review The Three Major Games I played on this map with a view towards what sort of Statistical or Graphical Output (if any) seems like it would be illuminating and/or enlightening.



The Games


GAME-XX: Summary Format

TXXX: Final Turn Statistics
    B/T: Beakers/Turn
    H/T: Hammers/Turn
    Hi-Tech: Best Tech
    Cities: Number
    Population: Total
    Score: Raw/Extrapolated
    Resolution: Why I Quit?
And below all that, there will be the usual (possibly quite long-winded) open-ended commentary.


GAME-01: Russia Attacks

T575:
    B/T: 1126
    H/T: 594
    TECH: Chemistry
    Cities: 18
    POP: 146
    Score: 2482/100350
    END: I Was Invaded 
My enemies were much stronger This Game as compared to the others in This Series. I attribute this to an Early Shared Religion. {Buddhism, I would guess; but at this point, I don't feel like loading the game just to confirm.} I do not get enough benefits from Sweeping The Religions. So, I should not even try. One is enough.

Also, not necessarily obvious from This Game. But The Series does highlight the advantages of Early Settled Cities. I believe I handled this best in The Final Game. But then, I only had Three Cites in that one... and that pretty much changes everything.


Eh, I'm just going to go straight down The Game Saves. If I add anything from The In Game Notes, I'll tack that on as an extra section at the end.


GAME-02: Lost The Oracle Race

T223:
    B/T: 28
    H/T: 23
    TECH: Bronze Working
    Cities: 4
    POP: 13
    Score: 306/41394
    END: Lost Early Race
This is An Abandoned Nothing Game. Where did I go wrong? Where did I go right? How viable is my strategy? The Logs from These Discarded Games may shed some light on the issue. {Whereas, the accompanying Game Save has been discarded in order to reduce bandwidth.}


GAME-03: Lost Great Lighthouse Race

T263:
    B/T: 47
    H/T: 57
    TECH: Metal Casting
    Cities: 2
    POP: 18
    Score: 449/48229
    END: Lost Early Race
Thus, I think it is safe to say, that when going for a sweep (of any sort), I am prone to Reload upon failure.

Also, pulling this information from The Game Saves manually is very tedious and boring.


GAME-04: Sea Net

T618:
    B/T: 828
    H/T: 356
    TECH: Rifling
    Cities: 18
    POP: 137
    Score: 2531/82293
    END: Too Tedious
I believe a Sea Net is Strategically Sound. However, The Game does not have good support for this strategy, as Enemy Ship Movements must be monitored by hand. There is no General Sentry: No Unit remains inactive until ANY Unit enters its visibility range.

Rather than spend a lot of time (or any time) working on a Graphing Program, hand pulling data points like this might be the way to go, as the data points of interest will change from Game to Game, as my focus and needs change.

Besides (and in truth), a listing of Populations and Hammers by City provides a lot more information.

HAMMERS: 356 v. [99, 60, 25, 22, 19, 18, 17...]

I, certainly, find that latter far more informative.


GAME-05: I Can Do Better

T290:
    B/T: 77
    H/T: 46
    TECH: Metal Casting
    Cities: 2
    POP: 17
    Score: 445/41324
    END: Poor Game Play
In the summary accounts, I am listing Military Techs. But during Play, that's not always my priority: Literature for The Great Library coming rapidly to mind.


GAME-06: Brennus Capitulates

T638:
    B/T: 714
    H/T: 275
    TECH: Rifling
    Cities: 10
    POP: 117
    Score: 2635/81032
    END: Implied Victory
It would be nice to pull Power Graph information from The Logs. But I guess I'll just be taking In Game Screenshots, if that's what interests me.

Based on The Hammer Count alone, this was not my best effort. So, H/T is a fairly good metric.


GAME-07: World Domination

T803:
    B/T: 668
    H/T: 211
    TECH: Combustion
    Cities: 3
    POP: 66
    Score: 3036/49778
    END: Implied Victory
A mere Three Cities Conquers The World.

The Terminal Population for a City is around twenty. With Sid's Sushi and some of The Late Game Techs, one can bump that up a little. But in an age of Cannons, twenty is about it.

Also, notice how I produce nearly as many Hammers with Three Cities as I did with Ten in The Previous Game. A small number of Massively Powerful Cities is where it is at.

Finally, notice how there is a complete absence of Culture in my discussion. Oh, it matters when The Borders are tight. But in This Series of Games, Borders were not tight. And so, Culture past 30/City is far from important. OK. Fine. I covered the continent with a trio of Cities on account of their Borders Popping Out so far. But its more of a simple Game Mechanic than something of Strategic Importance... this time around, anyhow.

I do note that Asoka would have Settled The World given half a chance. So, I never needed to found The Second Colony.


Thoughts & Reflections
Upon Reviewing The In Game Notes


If CIV IV can be thought of as a progression of obstacles, the key to winning is overcoming each obstacle in a way that best prepares one for the next... and/or sidestepping obstacles completely. I realize this provides little guidance.

These days, I am favouring fewer Cities over more. One 100H City is worth far more than Ten 10H Cities.

It might be fun to play Mr Oranje one of these days. For a Coastal Empire, The Great Lighthouse (+2 Trade Routes per City) and The Colossus (+1C per Water Tile) provide amazing benefits. But they become obsolete at Corporation and Astronomy (if I remember correctly). But if one is playing The Netherlands, Levees become available soon enough (at Steam Power), providing +1 Hammer per Water Tile, which is pretty darn awesome. In fact, if Levees were unlocked sooner, this may well be the most powerful Unique Building in The Game.

I tend to improve all my Cities the same way. Perhaps, I should make a Hammer City or two. Which is to say, it is very easy (and profitable) to blanket my lands with Cottages. But I might get more bang for my buck if I built a few Farms, instead. I will have to look into that.

Recently, I started to include Mounted Units in my Stack. Cannons to reduce the enemy to rubble. Combat Units for Defence. And Mounted Units for most of the combat. Sure, when The Mounted Units have done their bit, I switch to whatever. But the charge is led by The Cavalry.

I no longer value Religions as much as I once did. As a Builder, I just don't have the time to Build ALL The Wonders and a Monastery & Temple for every Religion. Also, it really helps to be a member of The Leading Religious Block.

10-20-30 will be my working model on how tall a City can grow in The Early, Middle, and Late Game. The numbers are rough and subject to site specific conditions (i.e. the amount of available food). But I think I will use this as a rough guide moving forward. Health seems to be the chief limiting factor. Thus, Expansive becomes a more desirable trait. And in a quick glance at the available leaders, Joao with his Carrack, which can carry Settlers or Military Units across The Ocean, looks very promising.

Caravels do not give me The Naval Superiority I need to harass an opponent. I prefer Frigates against Triremes (8 to 2), whenever possible.

The BAT Mod comes with an editable City Status Screen (the overview screen of where Cities stand). But I must admit, I seldom consult The City Status Screen... except to check Happiness and see how many Cities are on Troop Production Duty.




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