Adventure Thirty-four: The Greatest Person

I am going to break this game.

Basically, you are granted one great person, and then you could do whatever you want with it.  I am guessing that normally people would choose a great scientist for an early academy, a great engineer for a wonderful pile of rocks call the pyramids, or a great prophet for the holy shrine.

But all these things tend to give you an economic edge, which usually translates to a technological edge, which I am not too interested in:
- You research more slowly if nobody shares the tech you are researching
- civs that are behind can simply trade
- you don't gain any advantages in tech unless you are so ahead that you unlock particular key military or economic techs that can blast you right ahead.
- in the early game, you'll building workers and settlers anyway.

Particularly the last point.  In adventure 33, all the AI's were given all ancient and classical techs, and that didn't really strengthen them a lot.  Further back, in adventure 19, you were given any single tech in the entire tech tree, and I did not see victory times improve dramatically either.  Conversely, giving the AI an extra worker or even an extra scout (Adventure 30) really made the game a lot more difficult.

It's about the amount of endowments you have in your lands, not your technology or raw territories.  In other words, what matters most is the number of improvments you are working and the number of buildings you have that is doing the multiplying.  For example, you can be ahead in tech, but your beaker output only increases when you unlock a building that multiplies beakers or increases the raw output of your improvements.

Lemme rephrase what I just said - cities, improvements and buildings, these things win you the game.  The earlier you get them, the better.  And all have one thing in common.  You use hammers to produce those things.

I will choose a great engineer... and settle him.

3975BC:


I settled on the plain-hill for another extra hammer.  I'm starting my empire with 3 extra beakers and 4 extra hammers.


3925BC: Met the English.  Their capital's so close... should I rush her later?
3700BC: Agriculture finished, started fishing.
3550BC: Finished fishing, started mining.
3325BC: Finished mining, started bronze working.
3050BC: Reached population 5, started settler.
2925BC: Finished bronze working, copper very near capital.  Axe rush definitely called for.  Well okay, not so fast that I have to settle on the copper, but still, soon.  Started researching the wheel.
2725BC: Finished the wheel, started animal husbandary.  My lands are food-rich enough, I don't exactly need granaries to grow just yet.
2475BC: Finished animal husbandary, started writing.  I *could* have went for pottery instead, but an Oracle --> Code of Laws slingshot would be nice, since I'm about to do some conquering.  Besides, I could use the Rathaus and the great prophet GPP points towards building the holy shrine in some holy city.
2225BC: Finished writing, begin meditation.  Also met the Romans, but I have no clue where they are.
1950BC: Finished priesthood, started pottery.  As I've said before, there are a number of key technologies in the early game, after which you really don't gain much of an advantage until much later in the game again.  I am targetting the worker techs, calendar, iron working and code of laws.  After I get those, it will be a while until I gain another major economic advantage again.
1775BC: Finished pottery, started sailing.  I would much prefer to go for iron working, but my economy's beginning to get hit, and cottages or courthouses take way too long to solve that problem.  I need a quick fix, and foreign trade routes seem to do it.
1725BC: The war chariots quest, hmm.  But I have to achieve it before I reach classical era.  8 chariots before I get the Oracle... that could be challanging.
1300BC: Chariots ready.  Not interested in spreading my wealth.
1250BC: Declared war on the English.  8 chariots first, then my axeman will come along to finish off the job.
1200BC: Took London.  They had 3 archers, at 40% defense.
1050BC: A very eventful turn.  Took York, got a great general, and declared peace for archery.  Yup, I traded code of laws to the Spanish earlier for alphabet for precisely this purpose.  Besides, I don't have much of an army anymore and my city expenses along are taking up all my commerce.
1000BC: Only an event, but one I don't like.  The English got a master bowyer event... sheesh, as if their archers weren't dangerous enough as it is.
650BC: Great lighthouse completed.  I can foresee a lot of coastal cities, so this will definitely pay off.
600BC: Calendar finally finished.  Construction next for catapults, and then I'll be focusing on war for a while.
350BC: Finished construction, started currency.  I won't really watch my science progress from now on.  I'll just keep pumping troops.
125BC: Finished off the English empire, without catapults.   State of my empire is 8 cities.  Fill up some good land, then my next target is the Romans.  I might even get to use the Forbidden palace.
100AD: 10 cities, still expanding.  Revolted to caste system and hereditary rule.  I'm having difficulty keeping up with all the workers and garrison troops, much less an invasion army.
400AD: 12 cities and still deliberately and purposely overexpanding. . The power of the rathaus is really making a substantial difference right now.
625AD: Finished metal casting, started machinery.  I've got 15 workers, but that still doesn't feel enough.
950AD: 17 loosely placed cities and still room to backfill.  Started researching paper.
1000AD: Now this is a difficult situation... I would really love to take such a useful vassal.  But the only way I could really take advantage of this situation is if I attack the Spanish rather than the Romans.  Or I could attack the Romans anyway and try to vassalize my way to domination victory.
1050AD: I've just been told that my vassal, the Malinese, with only 5 cities and sitting at the very bottom in score with less than a third of mine, is the most technologically advanced nation in the world.  Now that is not funny.
However, that does mean if I declare war on Spain later, I can be sure he will be able to hold onto his cities.  Strategically numbers matter more, but tactically, it is extremely difficult to take an enemy city if your opponant is a whole era ahead of you, even if you outnumber them greatly.  Fortify 3 rifleman in a forest-hill and watch how many maceman they kill.
1150AD: Wow, met the French, finally.  He won't trade with me, so I can't buy his map.  I'm guessing most of their empire consists of small islands though, so I can do the exploring myself with my caravel.
1200AD: Declare war on the Romans.  This time I chose to attack with one stack first, then another stack later.  Their... disadvantageous geography allows me to cut them off. (pic6) I don't want to let their military grow too much.
1210AD: An eventful turn.  Discovered liberalism, took astronomy... but disappointingly, my economy did not seem to improve much, probably because the French won't even open borders with me.  Also, I attacked and razed one of his cities.  I don't believe in razing cities, but that one just lacked the food to be of any use, and anyhow it was badly placed.
The Spanish demand compass, right after I engage myself in a war.  Good timing... I had no choice but to give it.
1335AD: The Romans finally capitulated.  I've actually stopped training troops and began to build some basic infrastructure around my empire for a while.  I don't like constructing many buildings, as I much prefer units, but libraries in every city seems to work.
1345AD: Woohoo, first to economics!  My next target would be rifling.  My next target is obviously the Spanish, but looking at the power graph, they seem to be keeping up with me almost in lockstep, and I figure I might need a technological edge to take them out.  But that's the least of my problems - they also have the apostlistic palace in their capital, far away from the front, which would give he horrendous war wariness issues if I were to repeatedly defy those resolutions.  My only way is to move all the way around the continent, to the back, and raze their capital first thing.  What a hassle.
1410AD: Taj Mahal completed.  I also made a massive trade mission in Paris, netting myself 4050 gold.  That's a lot of gold, enough for me to upgrade my army from the Roman expedition into riflemen.  CR3 rifles are simply awesome.
I also switched to nationhood, free market and free religion.  I do plan on drafting, but only sparingly.  What I am more interested in is the no-upkeep: at the current size of my empire, the difference in civic maintenance between low and no upkeep are 28 gold a turn, which is very substantial.  I've also decided not to run bureaucracy at all, as my capital's actually quite mediocre, and really good for nothing but being a GP farm with aweful commerce and hammer output, and very little potential to go anwhere.  In fact, if it weren't for my settled GE right in the beginning, I wonder if it's even going to contain basic infrastructure.
1445AD: First to physics, what a nice great scientist.  My next target would be communism, for the great spy.  I could use one for the following war.
1460AD: I saw a large stack of maceman on the borders.  So Spain anticipated my attack.  I have enough espionage to see their cities anyway, so I will just attack now while I still have an edge.
1525AD: Captured Madrid.  An awesome city indeed.  I could accept a capitulation now, but seeing as there aren't any overseas, island settlements anywhere to be seen, I suppose I could just do a clean job of finishing them off.  More infrastructure building at home, but I am still on classical-era improvements.
1530AD: Finished electricity.  Would it be quicker if I attempt to strong-arm and backdoor a diplomatic victory?
1615AD: I got a resolution for religious victory.  It was very obvious at that point I would win, as I was the only eligable candidate and I had way more than two-thirds of the votes myself.  If I do, I would win by 1620AD with a religious victory.

But I immediately refused.  I've said many times that the religious victory is broken and inappropriate in principle.  Hence, again out of principle, I must build the United Nation and win a proper diplomatic victory.

1620AD: Mass media finished.  I will launch a golden age to switch civics, save up on gold to rush-buy the UN, and then proceed to win the game.  The Malinese are good trading partners as usual.
1706AD: United Nations diplomatic victory.   An overview of my empire one turn before the game ends.

There you go: 1620AD religious victory or 1706AD diplomatic victory.  Realms Beyond can quote whichever one they like.

 

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