Quad Gold Revisited I already played this once, and I'm pretty sure I declared myself a shoe in as the victor, since on the next game, I bumped up the difficulty from prince to monarch. # # # Anyhow, the plan is to settle one east and make my capitol a mega city. Oh, but more importantly, to make this interesting (and because I am being drawn to online walk throughs with self imposed restrictions), I will never jump ahead in techs. I will research all techs on the lowest available tier (selecting all in advance upon hitting the tier). Orange starts with Fishing and Agriculture. So from there, it's The Wheel, Hunting, Mysticism, and Mining in any order. Then Sailing, Pottery, Animal Husbandry, Archery, Meditation, Polytheism, and Masonry in any order. And only then can I research Horseback Riding, Priesthood, Monotheism, or that all important Bronze Working. So, goal one is a tech research order restriction. And the second goal is to specialize my cities, at least one specialized city each for Gold, Research, and Espionage, which means food and lots of it (instead of or in addition to my usual cottage spamming). # # # I started this game a week after I wrote the last and during most of that time (well, whenever I thought about this upcoming game), I went back to the initial city placement. In the end, I decided to move my settler to the East and go for a super mega city. Researching (as in, this is my actual research order): Mining -> The Wheel -> Mysticism -> Hunting (actually, forgot to select hunting all at once with the remainder, the intent was to select everything in a column at once) Researching: Animal Husbandry (for cows) -> Masonry (for Pyramids) -> Pottery -> Archery -> Sailing -> Meditation -> Polytheism Built: Worker -> Warrior -> Warrior -> Worker Eh, I should have developed my plots in a different order, so I lost thirty odd food over the course of time. Live and learn. Actually, not really doing that well on the micro management. Second city is Spy Central. Post Game Note: It was way (like way, way, way) to early to specialize. I question if one can meaningfully specialize before banking or universities. # # # Research: Priesthood (going to go for the Oracle, if I can) -> Bronze Working -> Horseback Riding -> Monotheism Lost the race to the Great Wall, but got 128 gold. I'd rather have the great wall. Switching to settlers, now. On the other hand, the gold will allow me to push the slider to full research. Eh, I'd still rather have the wall. Two settlers, then it's time to turn on the war machine. Oh, got the Pyramids in Gold Star (the capitol) and have no reason to switch civics, yet. Failed at the Oracle, as well. So, two settlers; and then, on to the war machine. Post Game Note: losing all those Wonder races was another cause of discouragement in this game. In the end, I want an odds on strategy (one that wins most the time) rather than one which depends upon luck. Though, a calculated risk is fine. But at some point, it's not a calculation. It's simply a willingness to start over, which isn't fine. # # # Researching: Writing -> Iron Working -> Metal Casting. Research order based on research time as much as anything else. At two turns, it seems silly not to research Writing first. Decided to plant my third city where it would grow bigger with access to sheep... and let the bronze wait until the third circle (100 mark, for second expansion). # # # Four Cities... probably until I capture one. Researching: Alphabet (for the trade, should check that screen) -> Aesthetics -> Mathematics -> Compass -> Monarchy Obviously, the lower on the research list, the less I care about it. I'm sort of thinking about going for another wonder in Aesthetics, but I have low confidence in completing it. War with Brennus looks highly possible. Should probably develop a navy. Hmm, lots to do. # # # 1AD So, unimpressive, hardly worth the screen shot. No meaningful ability to specialize, yet. A tight, four city empire. # # # Researching: Currency (marketplaces, feel really behind this game) -> Construction -> Literature -> Calendar -> Machinary (last, mainly because it's the longest to research; so maybe I'll do the techs in research length time if I do this again... or by top suggestion in the autopicker) Researching: Optics (I do like circling the globe first) -> Feudalism (maybe then attack Brennus, seems like I need a war) -> Engineering -> Drama -> Code of Laws I think a few turns back, one of those census things said I had the largest civilization. And guess what, it's time to found three more cities or so, claiming what I can, as it is very likely there will be peace on this continent. # # # Arg! I'm floundering this game. My best war is with Egypt over some scrap land... and I just might do it, as troops (my troops) are massing. Turns go by and I don't seem to be accomplishing much. Germany has overtaken me. Clearly, I'm doing something wrong... or he's just building wonders. Anyhow, I'm doing an Artic land grab, which may not be the smartest thing I've ever done. Let's do a slow reintegration into the game (i.e. a re-evaluation of my standing and position), the next time I fire it up, because this does not feel like winning to me. # # # 1150AD Decided to restart. 1) I think I can get better utility by packing the cities closer together. 2) 1000AD, even, is too early to specialize. 3) Try whipping once every ten turns to manage unhappiness. 4) Break, walk away from game, after every tech or wonder. I need to think more about each move rather than race to finish turns. In other words, I need to micro manage more to play the game I wish to play... less backing up the build queue. 5) Changing to the Free Religion Civic came at a heavy loss to the Diplomatic Modifiers (not worth it). 6) Pyramids (maybe) not worth it as I had no specialists and did not need troops to maintain happiness. 7) Giza by itself (as a city) definitely not worth fighting a war over. In short, just don't feel like I am winning... or winning by enough. Starting over for the third time. At 980AD researched Optics. At 1150AD was 7 turns away from finishing out the Engineering stack of techs (that vertical column): Engieering, Drama, Code of Laws. (c) 3-27-18 Copyright Brett Paufler I should really date these notes when I start and finish them... as opposed to when I proofread them.