Still Alive

Right, it's been a loooong time since my latest post to this blog. I have been meaning to write something a few times but haven't found the time or motivation to do so, so sorry about that.

Obviously my game as the Ottomans ended months ago. I kept notes about the game on a few pieces of paper but the most latest one seems to have gotten lost. :( Anyway, I'll try to finish describing the game based on the remaining notes (until 1972) and my memory and the screenshots I took.

So, previously happened: I started a game as the Ottomans in a map of many islands. Currently it is turn 223, or year 1565, and a Great Prophet is born in Istanbul. I leave him to Edirne to wait for another Great Person to start a Golden Age. I get another Great Prophet a few turns later but d'oh, the Great People need to be of different kinds!

On turn 226 I finally get the Astronomy technology and can start building better ships. Soon after that Gandhi asks for the Civil Service technology and I thought "why not make him happy" and handed it to him. 

Anyway, with my upgraded ships I make contact with Frederick of the Germans. I sell them the Alphabet techonology (how could they not have it even at this point?) and buy their map. I also make contact and peace with Montezuma of the Aztecs. On turn 238 I find a small island with iron, a resource that I don't yet have, so I immediately start preparing a Settler unit for it.

I am currently researching towards the Scientific Method to get some oil. I find a Barbarian city called Visigoth and conquer it right on time, because Scientific Method is researched a few turns after that and oil is found right next to Visigoth! I also establish Diyabakr on the same small island with Visigoth:

I trade some techs with Frederick and get blackmailed by Monty but convince him to just trading. Yet another Great Prophet is born, I use him to discover the Divine Right. On turn 247 I establish a new city called Izmir to a small island far away in the south, next to an iron resource and oil that is in the sea. Then I change my labor civic from serfdom to slavery with the idea of rushing the most important buildings to the new cities. This was not too good an idea, though, as I found out in the future. 

The new cities Diyabakr and Izmir would almost immediately like to join Russia and India, respectively, but I deny them. I finally get iron flowing to my trade network on turn 251, or year 1705. At this point I am leading the second largest civilization, only Frederick is ahead of me...

Moving On

In 1520 AD I use the Great Engineer to hurry the production of the University of Sankore in Istanbul. I also establish an open borders pact with Pacal so that I can better explore the world. Then I finally start researching Astronomy. Edirne completes the National Epic.

By the turn 218 (1540 AD) my troops have destroyed the units defending the perimeter of the barbarian city of Jute and advance to take control of the city itself, which happens easily enough.

After capturing Jute I make contact with a previously unknown civilization: the Russians. Peter sells me their map for 70 $, which reveals not only the Russian lands but Aztec and some German lands too...

Defense Snack

I just tried the Defense-mod of Beyond the Sword and wrote a little wiki-article about it. I made the mistake of having just one city for too long, because I didn't realize that one gets money on per city basis. I was also hoping for some more interesting terrain. I did not try if the terrain is randomized every time but I don't think it is. I lost the game on turn 11 when the Psycho Samurais attacked me...

Parrots

In 1170 AD (turn 177) I get a contact to Pacal II of the Mayans. We agree that there shall be peace in our time and exchange some technologies: he gives me Monarchy and Aesthethics and a little money for Civil Service.

The next turn a Great Engineer is born in Edirne. I use him to discover Engineering the next turn, after first discovering Paper and buying Pacal's and Hammurabi's maps.


Edirne completes the Colossus in 1300 AD (turn 190), which is rather stupid, because Colossus is obsoleted by Astronomy, which I have been wanting for a long time and am about to get soon.

In 1350 (turn 195) I change my labor civic from Caste System to Serfdom. Edirne is building the Apostolic Palace which unfortunately is later completed in a far away land. At least according to some historian, the Ottoman civilization is the most cultured one, out of seven civilizations.

Gunpowder is invented in 1480 (turn 208) which starts the Renaissance Era. Three turns later: another Great Engineer is born in Edirne; I establish Gaziantep to a new island, east from Istanbul; Gandhi of the India contacts me and sells me his map:

Links

The more I write to this blog the less time I have to play the game... Oh well. Last evening I was going to play Civ again but instead ended up browsing the AiGameDev.com blog archive. I found an article called Good AI vs. Fun AI which is about Soren Johnson's lecture entitled Playing to Lose: AI and Civilization. Soren Johnson is the lead designer of Civilization IV. The blog article and the presentation slides are interesting to read. I also found Soren Johnson's own, interesting blog called Designer Notes. Finally I ended up playing Desktop Tower Defense, which turned out to be quite an addictive little browser game...