Civilization IV Beyond the Sword - The Misadventures of Donavannj!

[mondays suck]

Also, 15 turns is way too long for a military unit.

These people are your friends when regular production means fail.

 

[blue]

When starting, I always go for the highest ones like Horseback Riding & Metal Casting, puerly because turns go so quick with only one city then the rest are mere 1-3 turns :)

 

[donavannj]

These people are your friends when regular production means fail.

I've always had bad luck with adopting slavery. My cities would revolt way too often. :x

When starting, I always go for the highest ones like Horseback Riding & Metal Casting, puerly because turns go so quick with only one city then the rest are mere 1-3 turns :)

I usually go for a religion first, myself, and then go military if I fail to get Hinduism, Buddhism, or Judaism, because a religion is pretty much required to win on higher difficulties (you'll go bankrupt if you don't have the revenue a religion brings in from having it's holy building built).


---------------

And a quick 5 pic update:

Spoiler:

Researching Civil Service for those macemen in the event of another war with my insane neighbor.

And I guess I'm quite a small civ by this world's standards. Well, in terms of land area, that is.

I don't give away freebies. >:(

And I've founded myself another city.

And we'll end this update with an awesome random event. ^_^

End Update 14.

 

[Netto Azure]

Don't worry. I hope you get to become a big boy later on. *shot*

 

[mondays suck]

Finally got around to continue my shadow game a bit...


In 1310, after an estimated 1500 years of war...

Spoiler:

Genghis Khan has finally managed to capture one city from Joao

. Meanwhile, I've been stagnating for centuries, nothing at all apart from me founding a few more cities happened. Economy is still trash, but Joao and Genghis are hopelessly behind and Pacal is only catching up slowly and mainly pursuing cultural techs - while he has 2 cities and 3 are needed for a cultural victory. More good news is that there still is no contact with any other civs, they can't be a lot more advanced. Still I am probably going to lose Liberalism, oh well. So, the plan is to sit on my land, build infrastructure ad nauseum and eventually win space. Yawn. Well, I don't feel like conquering Genghis and the jungles he is drowning in or Joao and his cities that are mostly on hills and having walls or even some person on another continent, the map is just too big for that. Once I've finished expanding I'll be at 40 cities, that'll be far, far more than enough.
Sooo, here we have Russia East...

...and Russia West.

Maybe I should build wealth and research in my cities to get out of the tech hole, but now that Horse Archers are obsolete (then again, Joao, isn't even close to Feudalism yet...

), these buildings became are sooo shiny

By the way, I'm pretty sure I've never seen such a religion spread pattern before. Usually everything can spread anywhere, but here that clearly isn't the case. Well, disregarding Paris at least.

 

[Maraala]

I always wanted to try this game, but I kind suck at the Manage-Your-Own-Family/City/Empire games. Sometime I'll try it out, hopefully soon.

 

[donavannj]

Don't worry. I hope you get to become a big boy later on. *shot*

With any luck, I will be.

Finally got around to continue my shadow game a bit...


In 1310, after an estimated 1500 years of war...

Spoiler:

Genghis Khan has finally managed to capture one city from Joao

. Meanwhile, I've been stagnating for centuries, nothing at all apart from me founding a few more cities happened. Economy is still trash, but Joao and Genghis are hopelessly behind and Pacal is only catching up slowly and mainly pursuing cultural techs - while he has 2 cities and 3 are needed for a cultural victory. More good news is that there still is no contact with any other civs, they can't be a lot more advanced. Still I am probably going to lose Liberalism, oh well. So, the plan is to sit on my land, build infrastructure ad nauseum and eventually win space. Yawn. Well, I don't feel like conquering Genghis and the jungles he is drowning in or Joao and his cities that are mostly on hills and having walls or even some person on another continent, the map is just too big for that. Once I've finished expanding I'll be at 40 cities, that'll be far, far more than enough.
Sooo, here we have Russia East...

...and Russia West.

Maybe I should build wealth and research in my cities to get out of the tech hole, but now that Horse Archers are obsolete (then again, Joao, isn't even close to Feudalism yet...

), these buildings became are sooo shiny

By the way, I'm pretty sure I've never seen such a religion spread pattern before. Usually everything can spread anywhere, but here that clearly isn't the case. Well, disregarding Paris at least.

Spoiler:

Religion spreads in quite unusual ways in the game.

I always wanted to try this game, but I kind suck at the Manage-Your-Own-Family/City/Empire games. Sometime I'll try it out, hopefully soon.

I'd start at Settler difficulty if I were you, then.

----------

Anyways, update time!

Game 1 Update 15: Shwedagon Paya

Spoiler:

This southern city sorely needs production.

And I have this wonderful building.

This is for those who didn't know what this building does. It's pretty cool. B)

And we'll go straight for the Moai Statues to preemptively give Moscow the extra production speed it'll sorely need later.

I think this was a vote to stop trading with Joao.

End Update 15.

 

[mondays suck]

Land > Wonders
Napoleon still can't be trusted, so going for a cultural victory would be heavily relying on luck. Meanwhile, Gandhi sits on your border with probably a horribly insufficient military and enjoys his pretty good land. If you would have invested these wonder hammers into units, either Gandhi would be toast or your western territories could have been reclaimed.

 

[donavannj]

Land > Wonders
Napoleon still can't be trusted, so going for a cultural victory would be heavily relying on luck. Meanwhile, Gandhi sits on your border with probably a horribly insufficient military and enjoys his pretty good land. If you would have invested these wonder hammers into units, either Gandhi would be toast or your western territories could have been reclaimed.

I do play way too passively, but those wonders are so shiny and interesting!

And there are still 69 more turns left before we catch up, so I'm going to be grouping "updates" together at times to catch up faster.

----------------------------------

Doing a double update for fun:

Game 1 Update 16: Chichen Itza

Spoiler:

I have completed another wonder.

Yeah, this should help against Napoleon.

Interesting offer, against my better judgement, I'll take it. I could always use more gold and those plantations will come in handy.

My primary goods from the deal.

Interesting offer. What else ya got?

Nothing of interest. I'll go for your original offer.

This will help out economically.

My cities spawn these guys like crazy.

And here's my newest city.

Oh, look, Judaism spread again.

End update 16.

Game 1 Update 17: Technological Acquisitions

Spoiler:

And now the Moai Statues have been completed.

This technology is important. It leads to Liberalism indirectly.

First, though, let's get us a religion.

Now to build an Archer.

Vladivostok will need plenty of culture to pressure any French cities.

How about no?

I think I took this deal. I have a fascination with building Forges.

And now I need to spend time building an Aqueduct in Moscow because of that green face.

And we'll finish off this update with a refusal of Open Borders.

End Update 17.

 

[donavannj]

Yes, this is an intentional double post to keep the page from loading too slowly.

I'll get an index of "Updates" up in the first post ,within the next week or so.

--------------------------------------

Game1 Update 18: Hagia Sofia! Oh, and an overview.

Spoiler:

South Russia.

North Russia.

West Russia.

Got that Aqueduct done... now what else to build here?

A Colosseum looks like what we need with all that unhappiness.

Now that we have ourselves a Monastery, we should build a Monument to put more cultural pressure on Gandhi's young cities.

And there's another wonder for the wonder tally.

Trust me, this will come in handy.

Now let's get that military built up.

End Update 18. 51 turns until we are caught up.

Game 1 Update 19:

Spoiler:

What the hell is wrong with you?

Fine... I'll give you what you want... this time.

Got an Archer.

Cultural pressure generation?

I think we'll actually just build another Archer.

And now we have a Colosseum in Moscow.

Let's start pumping out some missionaries.

Let's produce yet another Archer.

And now this is up for vote again. I'll vote for myself even though it's not likely I'll win.

End Update 19. 49 turns left to catch up.

We're slowly catching up.

 

[Netto Azure]

Wow didn't get to comment sorry. But yeah, trying to culturally pressure that city back to your side huh. Still ur building an army to retake it or...?

 

[mondays suck]

You cannot cultureflip cities lost by conquest :p
Maybe you can use the Apo. Palace (it is jewish, right?) to gift it back to yourself though if you get elected, the option should come up. If he defies, too bad for him as the unhappiness penalty will probably hit him harder than a change of Rostov's ownership.

 

[donavannj]

Wow didn't get to comment sorry. But yeah, trying to culturally pressure that city back to your side huh. Still ur building an army to retake it or...?

More focused on just keeping it from overwhelming my own cities. I don't have an army ready for it.

You cannot cultureflip cities lost by conquest :p
Maybe you can use the Apo. Palace (it is jewish, right?) to gift it back to yourself though if you get elected, the option should come up. If he defies, too bad for him as the unhappiness penalty will probably hit him harder than a change of Rostov's ownership.

Really? I thought that was an option and not a mandatory game mechanic.

Probably not. Genghis likes Napoleon more.

--------------------------------

Game 1 Update 20: RUSSIA HAS A MILITARY?!

Spoiler:

We have a Horse Archer now.

Now to build a Barracks.

And now we've got another one of these guys.

Now we're getting somewhere.

I totally forgot I was producing one of these.

Oh, well. Let's build a Jewish Temple.

Let's start building more cities.

I'm gonna need that economic boost.

Gotta get one of these guys over to Vladivostok...

... so he won't be dawdling on his way there this time.

End Update 20. 47 turns left to catch up.

 

[mondays suck]

A millennium or two too late, but you do have one Horse Archer now. What could possibly go wrong from here?

And convert to Judaism already, it's the only religion in your empire and therefore superior to No State Religion or Free Religion. Especially since it means you won't be diplomatically isolated anymore, and while better relations with Napo don't mean you can trust him, they do mean you can bribe him to war with one of the Buddhists, that way he will be busy. Saladin would be perfect for that, unfortunately Gandhi is completely blocking the way to him and Napoleon is 1) Most likely not going to have Open Borders with him and 2) Probably going to conquer him way too easily. Still worth a consideration as it will buy you time to get an actual military.

 

[donavannj]

A millennium or two too late, but you do have one Horse Archer now. What could possibly go wrong from here?

And convert to Judaism already, it's the only religion in your empire and therefore superior to No State Religion or Free Religion. Especially since it means you won't be diplomatically isolated anymore, and while better relations with Napo don't mean you can trust him, they do mean you can bribe him to war with one of the Buddhists, that way he will be busy. Saladin would be perfect for that, unfortunately Gandhi is completely blocking the way to him and Napoleon is 1) Most likely not going to have Open Borders with him and 2) Probably going to conquer him way too easily. Still worth a consideration as it will buy you time to get an actual military.

Horse Archers are immortal.

I like the science and happiness boost I get from Free Religion.

-----------------------------------

Game 1 Update 21: We Fail to Build the Mausoleum

Spoiler:

Here are what my finances look like.

More archers because Napoleon is insane.

And this is the first wonder in a while I've tried for but failed to get.

Building a temple for increased production and to stop unhappiness before it happens.

That's a nice sum of gold for that wonder.

Time to build another archer.

Pretty cool random event.

End Update 21. 45 turns to catch up.

Game 1 Update 22: Islam

Spoiler:

And now Judaism has been spread in Vladivostok like I needed it to be.

I'm gonna be building more cities, so I'll need more missionaries.

Got a much needed Barracks here.

Now to build a temple because those are some unhappy people.

FFFFF.

I'll give you what you want this time. I'm not quite ready for war yet.

Got Divine Right! That means that...

I have founded Islam!

St. Petersburg is now even more vital to Russia. I'll research Feudalism now.

End Update 22. 43 turns left to catch up.

 

[donavannj]

Intentional double post to keep from flooding the page with images.

---------------------------------

Game 1 Update 23: Meh

Spoiler:

Yeah, now to pick what I research. Gonna go with Feudalism.

I've got some new cities somewhere along the line, which is why I have a new missionary here.

So we'll build a market.

Oh, look a temple.

End Update 23. 43 turns left to catch up.

Yeah, just a quickie tonight.

 

[Netto Azure]

I am wondering you're already into Judaism, why found Islam? But yeah that Napoleon likes to get some tributes from you huh, but yeah you got whipped the last time so nothing to complain there. Anyways keep building and the other civs busy.

 

[donavannj]

I am wondering you're already into Judaism, why found Islam? But yeah that Napoleon likes to get some tributes from you huh, but yeah you got whipped the last time so nothing to complain there. Anyways keep building and the other civs busy.

Monetary reasons. I perform better economically with more religions under my control.

Now for a quick update.

-----------------------------------

Game 1 Update 24: A Whole Lot of Nothing

Spoiler:

Let's build a monastery to spread our new religion more quickly so we have more than two cities with Islam.

You, freebie missionary, can go to Yaroslavl.

Another day, another Jewish missionary. We'll send you off to another city.

Build more cities!

Also gonna need to defend those new cities.

And let's get Islam into another city.

I'll send you somewhere... not sure where, though.

End Update 24. 42 turns to catch up.

 

[Conjurer]

That little spot to the southwest of Rostov might be good. Might as well use the maintenance bonus from Moscow, eh? I can't see if it's too close to French land though, and considering they got Rostov that might not be a good idea. o.o

 

[mondays suck]

Wait, wait, wait. 1200-something AD and Napoleon is still using Spears and Axes? Punish him already! Quickly assembling a sufficient force of medieval units (I hope you have Machinery and Civil Service) to retake Rostov and ward off any incoming stacks from the French homeland should be a piece of cake. Just don't use tanks ;)