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In Progress Gypsy Rome - Civilization 4: Pitboss

Humanophage

Arcane
Joined
Dec 20, 2005
Messages
5,032
FrontImage-1.jpg
Follow the Romany patteran
North where the blue bergs sail,
And the bows are grey with the frozen spray,
And the masts are shod with mail.
- R. Kipling​

Table of Contents
CHAPTER 0 - Introduction: Creation. Dramatis Personae. Technical Information. Links.
CHAPTER 1 - Turn 1: Rome's Foundation. Reviewing the Location. Technology and Units. Other Players.
[to be continued]

Creation
Description of who plays the game and what choices they have.
django.jpg



There are seven races in the world. The oldest songs of the Chosen Nation tell of a time when God became overflown with romanipen; He became overflown with creativity. This feeling is familiar to any true Gypsy. God played great melodies to his angels on his guitar, and the angels answered with their trumpets. He danced with bears till all bears in the world collapsed from exhaustion. Then the Joyful Jewish God decided to create diverse people and bestow talents upon them, so that they would sing and dance, like himself, and interact with each other in amusing ways, such as pickpocketing or hypnosis. He took up his tinsmith's tools, and began the creation.

He created seven National Spirits, who would control civilizations till the end of days, ensuring that each civilization was like a living, breathing organism:
  • Zanth the Physicist
  • Peter the Obscure
  • Caesarski the Man-Eater
  • Valery the Economist
  • Snork the Lawyer
  • MYKI the Orientalist
  • Y'Berion the Political Scientist
Then he created nine civilizations for the Spirits to choose from:
  • the Dutch
  • the Celtic Cultists
  • the Romani
  • the Koreans
  • the Persians
  • the Russians
  • the Amerindian Moomins
  • the Turks
  • the Holy Romans
The order in which the Spirits drafted their civilizations was determined by the amount of experience bestowed on them from above. The civilizations who would not be chosen by the spirits would be squashed by the mighty hand of God, for they were deemed unworthy of existence. Consequently, each civilization would try to make promises of grandeur to the Spirits.

Dramatis Personae
Finalised descriptions of participants, such as who picked what civilization and what are my expectations of them.
Expectations.jpg

XP = experience at playing CIV4, Eff = effort they spend on the game, Off = offensive capabilities, Def = defensive capabilities, Nav = naval expansion potential, Exp = overall expansion potential, Fin = financial and scientific potential.

Will.jpg

(Willem van Oranje: Financial, Creative)
1. Zanth went for the Dutch, for he was greedy. He naively hoped to grow rich through hard labour and trade. Yet the Dutch were feeble. As far as war goes, they could only build good ships. Their only idea of a special building was a special dam that, Zanth hoped, would bring even greater riches. The rest of the Spirits were amazed at Zanth's choice, for it meant he could do little in the way of combat. Zanth is, perhaps, the most active participant, willing to invest much time into diplomacy and planning.

Pers.jpg

(Cyrus the Great: Charismatic, Imperialistic)
2. MYKI went for Persians, lured by the Nordic countenance of the charismatic Cyrus. He was hoping to use the Immortals to defeat his opponents early on, or at least to defend himself. Furthermore, he was in love with the Persian civilization. Secretive, mercurial, a true man of the Orient, MYKI kept his motives a mystery to other Spirits. The Persians came to regard him as Angra Mainyu, the destructive spirit.

Wang.jpg

(Wang Kon: Financial, Protective)
3. Valery went for Koreans, as he hoped to grow in peace far away from other Spirits. Like Zanth, he felt the Korean's propensity for hard labour would bring him success. He was also placing much hope on the Korean fondness for education and its Seowons. It was clear he planned to become a scientific leader.

Caes.jpg

(Julius Caesar: Imperialistic, Organized)
4. Only the blessed Caesarski, God's Chosen Spirit, went for the Roma. He knew that true joy could only be found in the labour of others. The silly Dutch could be rich, but they didn't know how to transform those riches into joy. It was the divine mission of the Gypsies to take the riches generated by the sullen, sad peoples, to support the creative Bohemian lifestyle. Furthermore, Caesarski knew that the remaining Spirits were dangerous and malign, and he couldn't let them use the mighty Roma to evil ends. He was hoping to use the Gypsy Praetorians for an early expansion.

Pete.jpg

(Peter the Great: Philosophical, Expansive)
5. Peter went for the Russians, for their leader was Peter also. Such was the vanity of the ponderous Peter. Notable for its capability to rapidly expand, Russia was clearly an aggressive state hoping to steal the lands of other civilizations. It was doubtful that Peter chose this civilization because of its mighty scientists rather than this expansionism. The slowest participant, always taking his turn last.

Boud.jpg

(Boadicea: Aggressive, Charismatic)
6. The dreaded Y'Berion chose the Celtic Cultists, a powerful sect boosted by drugs and esoteric philosophies. Y'Berion was a dangerous Spirit, as he was willing to study the theory of civilizational management at internet forums. He was also willing to spend much time with Excel to build cunning schemes. It was clear that he was intent on world domination, hoping to capitalise on the extremely powerful Gallic Warriors, who would get multiple combat upgrades straight upon being created.

Bull.jpg

(Sitting Bull: Philosophical, Protective)
7. The final spirit to make his choice was Snork, who was blessed with much experience, easily exceeding in skill the rest of the spirits. He went for the Amerindian Moomins, because of their extraordinarily powerful archers, which would prove an asset in defence. The lack of other philosophical leaders meant that he would focus on producing Great Men. His reports are rumoured to be extremely detailed, and he wrote lengthy messages to other Spirits.

The Turks and the Holy Romans were discarded by God. Rumour has it that the Turks were turned into wolves, while the Holy Romans were turned into crabs. The latter crustaceans, so abundant in the Gypsy Sea, are therefore admired for their tragic history. Many romantic Roma songs deal with crabs. It is said that crabs will turn into humans if you speak to them in the lost tongue of the Germans.

Technical information
Description of technical information, such as what options we are using. Might be updated.
This is a PitBoss Multiplayer game of Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword. It progresses at the speed of one turn per day. Players have plenty of time for diplomacy, strategy, and spreadsheets.

We have seven players and play on a medium-sized map, with no AIs, using K-Mod. There are additional limits on technology trading; we can't trade tech over a certain limit. There are also some rules against double movement pertaining to wars.

Links
Useful links, such as Civ4 guides, other Pitboss games, etc. Will be updated.
http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/ - other Pitboss games
http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/info/ - information on Civ4 game concepts
http://realmsbeyond.net/civ/ - in-depth information on Civ4
 

Turisas

Arch Devil
Patron
Joined
May 25, 2009
Messages
9,926
You dare sully the glorious Roman Empire with this gypsy filth?

:killit:
 

Humanophage

Arcane
Joined
Dec 20, 2005
Messages
5,032
You dare sully the glorious Roman Empire with this gypsy filth?

:killit:
I am generally a peaceful and friendly player. However, due to the nature of Rome in Civilization 4, you have to engage in constant early wars. That means that I'd have to upset plenty of people, and that I will generously engage in shameless betrayal. It seemed appropriate, therefore, that the soul of Rome would be symbolically replaced with the mercurial Romani soul.
 

Humanophage

Arcane
Joined
Dec 20, 2005
Messages
5,032
A turn per day? Well I guess in a month we'll see you building a granary :troll:
We're at turn 100 already; the game started in January. I was procrastinating with the LP, and some interesting details are probably lost to history now. However, the LP will proceed more or less swiftly, at least for a while, and it won't end abruptly early on.
 

Humanophage

Arcane
Joined
Dec 20, 2005
Messages
5,032
CHAPTER 1
Turn 1: Rome's Foundation. Reviewing the Location. Technology and Units. Other Players.
SmugRoma.png


Rome's Foundation Story
How Rome was founded, a tepid legend.
When the sun shone dim and bears still held sway over the earth, humans were little different from wolves or crabs. They all roamed the empty, frozen vastness in search of food - pitiful, yet strong. The Roma ancestors were driven away by wolf people from their blessed southern lands. Fleeing their pursuers, they lost their way in the taiga. They strode and strode deeper into the gangly, rotten wood. Every day they would lose men to other animals, to disease and famine.

The young Danko claimed that beyond the tundra lay the promised gypsy land, where the sky and land merged. A proud gypsy, he cherished the extra food and prestige the community gave him for leading it to a bright and warm future. They marched and marched as Danko led them north, but the taiga only got thicker. The people began to cavil and dissent; a hysterical old man even hit Danko with a large wolf bone.

Danko never lost hope, for he was strong in his soul. Yet he knew that the spirit of the tribe was less so. One day the tribe surrounded Danko. The angry old man who had hit Danko previously said, "You are a swindler, a mountebank. You are fooling your own race. You must be punished, yet we admire your chutzpah. We shall absorb you back into the collective gypsy soul through cannibalism!"

It is said that all other people have one heart, but a gypsy has two. Defying death, the daring Danko dipped his hand deeply into his chest, and tore his heart from it. With a mighty cry of "Rroma victor!", he raised it high above, and it burst into a great flame. The people were in awe. Danko ran forth with his heart, and the people followed him.

They ran and ran, and they noticed how the woods around them became less foreboding. They ran up a steep hill, and as they looked down, a beautiful vale lay at their feet. A mighty river coursed through a lush forest, surrounded by highlands; the greenest grass interspersed with tall, healthy trees stretched out beyond the hills. Danko threw his heart at the valley, and it exploded into a fireworks of gold, showering the entire valley with its bits of churned meat. This valley would become the eternal capital of the Romani Empire, Roma. "Rroma victor!", Danko exclaimed, and looked smugly at the audience.

The tribe threw up a feast, and ate the cantankerous old man. Danko was made into the first gypsy baron. He grew corpulent and passive, like the sheep that inhabited the hills by Roma. He sported many beautiful tattoos and wore golden jewellery, and he never went bald. He died from peritonitis, in considerable agony.

Screen1-T0-1.jpg:original

Reviewing the Location
Comments on the location and future development of Rome.
Overall, the location is amusing and has decent potential, but I'm unlikely to win. The main problem is that I won't have another good city anywhere in the recent future, and that I'll have to move the capital for maintenance purposes in the long run. The likely lack of Iron pains me a great deal, since Praetorians are my only serious advantage of being Rome/Julius Caesar.

Screen1-T0-Comments1.jpg:original


Pro:
  • Loads of food. This definitely means a slavery-based economy. This makes Sailing a priority.
  • Ample production, but I'll have to forgo it for food until I have more happiness.
  • Easy to defend from land; no problem with barbarians.
  • A fair deal of forest, which will need to be chopped.
Contra:
  • High maintenance cost of any other cities I build.
  • No Iron, Copper, Horses.
  • Relatively hard to defend from water, but at least there are glaciers.
Intended Development:
Screen1-T0-Development.jpg:original


5 pop will be enough to work enough food to sustain a city of 12 pop without any help. This means I'll be able to produce great men at a decent rate using surplus food.

Technology and Units
Which technologies shall I research and what units shall I build in the next 50 turns or so.
Technology. The rough plan was as follows:
TURN 15 - Bronze Working, to allow Slavery.
TURN 35 - Iron Working, to reveal the crucial Iron. Understandably, the IW is a gamble.
TURN 44 - Sailing, to maximize the crabs that I should be working by this time.
Then Wheel, Hunting, Archery, etc.

Units. I drew up a spreadsheet and simulated unit production several times to avoid the possible mistakes. Unfortunately, I didn't bother with making properly organised sheets, so it all looked like this, which was good enough for micromanagement at the first simple stage of the game. Looking at the sheet now, I can't really comprehend what I meant back then. I should have been more systematic and mathematical.

The upshot of the plan was to micromanage whipping the boats, then to use surplus production on my settler for the Imp bonus. The first boat was to be produced by focusing on production entirely and ignoring city growth.

HaphazardPlan.jpg

Other Players
Diplomacy and player rankings.
Not much could be said of other players at this stage. The only available information was when they built their cities.

4000 BC - Valery, Peter, Mikey, Caesarski
3960 BC - Snork, Y'Berion, Zanth

My plan was essentially like this: get Praetorians at any cost, then conquer the nearest neighbour. I was sure that if I explored enough land, it would be extremely unlikely that I'd find no Iron at all. I ran a few simulations in World Editor, concluding that Iron was frequent enough in tundra.

Next chapter: turns 2 to 20. Exploration, meeting neighbours.
 

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