GOTM 43: First Spoiler

To qualify for this spoiler you must have reached the middle ages. You must have contacts with all other civs on the starting continent, and on any other landmasses that can be reached by coastal waters: Ie - total contacts = 5.

Please do not discuss any aspects relating to continents not reachable via coastal travel - this includes minimaps of the locations of other continents.

If other civs settle on the home continent, they may be discussed, but their home continent may not. :)

And once you've finished posting your spoiler, be sure to head on over and help-out the conquest-class players in the Hunting Tips thread.

I entered the MA during the QSC, but no MA techs were available by 1000 so here's my QSC:

I listened to the advice in the pregame discussion about there being FP Wheat S SE SE of the starting position. Kyoto was founded in 3900 SE SE of the start. I considered briefly doing my normal routine of an early granary in food high starts, but decided this game was different because of Deity difficulty level and small expansion possibilities. I therefore decided my first settler would settle by the second FP Wheat and the second settler would go to the starting position, making 3 cities with high food and, initially, low shields. Before jumping the capital, that would mean RCP1 at 2. If the start got really cramped, at least I'd get like 5 cities out lol.
I started max research on pots, because I wanted to have it by the time I had the two first cities in place, in case I needed granaries then. I never built granaries in this QSC...
At the end of the QSC, Monarchy is available, but too few have it so it's too expensive. No MA techs have been discovered.

Further city placements, with founding dates and relative distance from Kyoto:
Osaka, in 2950, 2SE of Kyoto.
Tokyo, 2630, 2NW
Edo, 2270, 3N
Satsuma, 2270, 3S
Kagoshima, 1950, 2NE 2E
Nara, 1870, 3NW W
Nagoya, 1650, 2N 4NE
Izumo, 1400, 5N
Nagasaki, 1275, 4SE
Yokohama, 1275, 3W
Shimonoseki, 1175, 3N 3NW
Matsuyama, 1075, 5S

Diplomacy:
Korea, met in 2670, got Myst.
Mongols, 2190, got WC.
Ottos and China, 2150, got Masonry, HBR and IW. in deals.
Persia, 1790
All other civs, 1550, traded for Alpha, Writing, Philosophy, CoL, MM, Maths, Poly. Got pretty good maps.
Traded into the MA (Currency + Constr) in 1325.

Own research:
Pottery at max, Alpha at min, but cut short in 1550, 2 turns before completion due to us meeting the other continent.

1000 BC: 13 cities and 367 Firaxis points.

Edit: Map:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Gotm43-1000BC.jpg

[ptw] predator
the Ancient Ages 4000bc - 650bc

Deity and I'm going for domination. The fastest approach to win this is to do not self research and start military build up asap. AI shall research techs and found towns to me. For this kind of game I want tight RCP, rings at distance 3 and 6. A bunch of workers and mine improve tiles. In 1000bc I have 17 workers and initial attack force of 16 swords. The Mongols have settled three towns at my isthmus. They are asking for troubles.

Towns and production
4000bc - Kyoto: 2x warrior -> Granary ->warrior ->Settlers
2430bc - Osaka: Worker -> Granary -> Workers -> barrack ->warriors
2270bc - Tokyo: Workers
1990bc - Edo: Barrack ->warriors
1830bc - Satsuma: Barrack ->warriors
1650bc - Kagoshima: 2x worker ->Barrack ->warriors
1550bc - Nara: Barrack ->warriors
1425bc - Nagoya: Barrack ->warriors
1375bc - Izumo: worker ->barrack
1225bc - Nagasaki: temple
1175bc - Yokohama: Barrack ->chariots (switch all warrior production to chariots)
1025bc - Shimonoseki: temple
950bc - Captured the Mongol city Darhan
900bc - Captured the Mongol city Hovd
875bc - Captured the Mongol city Baruun-Urt
825bc - Matsuyama

Contacts
3400bc - Mongols
2630bc - Koreans
2590bc - Chinese
2430bc - Ottomans
no date- Persia
670bc - rest

Techs
One 40 turn project Mathematics. Remaining techs traded for gpt deals.

3400bc Trade for Pottery
2430bc Trade for Alphabet, The Wheel, Masonry, Ceremonial Burial, Bronze Working, Warrior Code.
1400bc Trade 9gpt to Ottomans for Iron Working. IBT the Ottomans demand 38 gold. I tell them buzz off, they declare war on us :D
1150bc Mathematics
800bc Trade for Writing, Literature, Mysticism, Polytheism, Philosophy, Code of Laws
670bc Trade for Currency, Construction, Map Making, Horseback Riding

In 650bc Enter the Middle Ages, still in Despotism.

qsc stats & screenshot
17 workers
5 warriors (all veteran)
11 swords
4 chariots

2 granaries
5 barracks
12 towns
32 citizens

all 1st level techs + IW, Mathematics
329 gold
+33 gpt slider 8.0.2
score 331

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/gotm43_kuningas2_1000bc.JPG

[ptw] Predator

Overall
The main difference between my game and Kuningas' is, apart from the progress, that I went for a mixture of horsemen and warriors upgraded to swordsmen. I also did not save as much money on research but went 100% (if affortable) on The Wheel, Mysticism, Polytheism, Monarchy.

I could trade for Construction and literature and then stopped research before Currency.

In 750 BC two keshiks enter my territory looking very suspicious indeed. They can't be after barb camps because there are no tiles that aren't within or next to a border so no new camp can pop up. I buy Currency from the Mongols for 21 gpt then ask them to leave. (They have no Middle Age techs or money.) They declare and we leave the Ancient age hanging on a cliff.

I regret now building those shield-expensive horsemen and not paying attention to the modified keshiks. But all is not lost. I have 6 horsemen in Satsuma, 1 swordsman in Nagasaki and good production in the northern towns.

Start
I stepped 1 tile SE to get the FP wheat within range and founded Kyoto. Perhaps 1 tile South had been better, but wouldn't founding on flood plain mean a high risk of disease? A four turn settler factory was easily established without the bonus grassland I settled on. there was lots of micromanaging to earn some gold instead of wasting shields.

Timeline4000 BC - Looking into the fog S,SE,SE I'm sure I see wheat. So, does Kyoto need that? If we want a 4-turn settler factory, yes. Can we give up a bonus grassland? OK.
Settler SE. Worker NE.

3950 - Founded Kyoto. Building warrior. Worker roads wine. Science 100% on Wheel.

3800 - Worker NW.

3750 - Worker mines BG.

3550 - Second warrior reveals second wheat. The gold mountain beside it is also worth mentioning. First warrior finds cow.

3400 - Warrior pops hut on mountain: barbarians! Third warrior is completed and moves S towards the barbs.

3250 - Another bunch of barbs popped far north. Worker starts irrigating wheat.

3150 - Northern warrior is redlined. Worker is threatened by 1 barb. Veteran warrior protecting across river.

3000 - 1st settler out.

2900 - We meet Mongols.

2850 - We meet Korea.

2800 - Mongols know The Wheel.

2750 - OSaka founded 5 tiles SE. The wheat is in their radius and I gain a goat and some extra territory.

2710 - Wheel discovered. Tough trading: We give Korea 3 gpt+Wheel for Alphabet and 4 gold. I need to get started on meaningful research next turn but I will be poor! Mongols give us Ceremonial Burial and Pottery for Alphabet. Researching

Mysticism. Gave Ceremonial Burial and 11 gold to Korea for Bronze Working.

2670 - Switched to granary in Kyoto.

Mongols have Mysticism, but it may be a while before they meet Korea.

2550 - Luxury 10%.

2310 - Met Ottomans. Traded Masonry+2g for Alphabet. Traded Iron Working+38g from Korea for Masonry. Back to Ottomans, we traded Mysticism (due ~5 turns),
Warrior Code & 30 gold for Iron Working. The gold is important to maintain research. Researching Polytheism.

2070 - We know Mao.

1950 - My RCP5 disrupted by the Mongols.

1600 - Met Persia. Unfortunately they have all my techs. I need Writing before I learn Polytheism (6 turns) to make good trades. 4 civs have Map Making.

1575 - Gave contact with Persia, 6gpt to Korea for Writing, 9 gold.
Traded territory map+3 gold from China for World Map.
Sold world map to Mongols for 5 gold.
Sold world map to Ottomans for 2 gold.

1550 - Got the Perisan Territory Map.

1500 - Bought 15 gold from Mongols for 1 gpt. Mongol warrior threatens Satsuma.

Moved my one vet closer at the expense of 3 gold lux tax.

1475 - Polytheism researched.
Traded to Ottomans for Mathematics, 126 gold, World map.
Traded to Korea for Map Making, 8 gold, World map.
Traded to China for Code of Laws, 32 gold, World map.
Traded to Mongols for HB, 21 gold, World Map.

1450 - Researching literature.

1425 - Sold Math to Korea for 30 gold, world map.

1400 - Several civs know literature. Changed to Philosophy.

1375 - Several civs have philosophy...

1300 - Traded Literature and Philosophy from Perisa for Math & World Map.

Researching Monarchy.

1100 - It seems likely that Persepoils will get the Great Library. An ideal situation would be to save money, capture Persepolis with swordsmen, and upgrade a ton of horsemen the moment the techs, including Chivalry, come in. I will have to take note of both defenders and if there are Barracks when I establish my embassy. Problems that will occur are: 1. Chivalry is a late priority so they may very well have musketmen when the time comes. 2. If there are no Barracks in Persepolis I may have to squander many horsemen on attackers. Reistance is not likely to die out quickly.

Bring settler and raze? It might be better to build Forbidden Palace and then flip palace to Persepolis. But isn't that in danger of palace exploit violation?

Sold Polytheism to Persia for Incense, WM, 11 gold.

1050 - Carthage completes Lighthouse. I wish Persia had. Pillaged road to Mongols, destroying the Mongols' luxury trades.
Sold iron to Korea for World map, 109 gold.
Traded Wines to China for Gems, Territoy map, and 2 gold. The cheapness indicates that China already has some marketplaces.
Increased science to 100%, 12 gold deficit.

1000 BC - Currency and Construction are both out.

925 - China knows Monarchy.

900 - Almost everyone has Monarchy :(

875 - Bought Monarchy (2 turns!) and WM from Korea for wines.
Bought Construction from Mongols for Monarchy, 17 gold, World map.
Research to 0%.

850 - Revolution to Monarchy.

750 - 2 rather weak Mongol Keshiks appear close to empty town. They look unfriendly. My forces are not entirely prepared, but I have 6 horsemen in position and 1 swordsman, more coming 1-3 turns away. It can not be a barb camp they are coming for.

We buy currency from Mongols for 21 gpt. To my surprise the Mongols don't have any Middle Age techs. I then ask them to leave and they declare. This will be tough!

QSC stats
12 towns at RCP 5 & 8
29 citizens
1 settler
12 workers
6 warriors
1 swordsman
4 horsemen
8 temples
1 granary
1 harbour
3 barracks
Missing currency, construction, republic, monarchy (11 turns)
5 contacts, no embassies
98 gold, -14 gpt.
Only 2 wines connected=ridiculous

[ptw] Open

Well originally planned on going for conquest but that may change still. I haven't played in 2 years (I did one test game up to the middle ages just to make sure I could hold water before I started this game) so I'm extremely rusty and missing bits of knowledge here and there that I once had.

I founded in the start position after staring at my settler for about 15 minutes. I really hate to waste a turn by moving and the start position looked good enough to me. I made 3 warriors, sending 1 south, 1 north, and 1 for mp. Found the Koreans and Mongols. The Mongols had much fewer techs than the Koreans so I figured the Mongols were by themselves to the south and stopped exploring that way. My northern warrior kept trudging north while my southern warrior turned back and explored my general vicinity for city-locations.

Now back when I played 2 years ago the way corruption worked wasn't an exact science like it is now and the whole concept of RCP never existed. Unfortunately I didn't read about that strategy until after I had played through the AA in this game, so my city placement isn't very good at all. My second city was founded by the cow to the north to be my military factory. My third city was founded to the south by the wheats for workers/settlers. Kyoto couldn't quite manage a 4 turn settler factory (1 shield short unless I spent the turns to mine the goat which I wasn't about to do right away), but it was good enough.

I started research on Mysticism at 100% first. Traded the Wheel to mongols and Korea getting Pottery, Bronze Working, and some gold in return. Researching Mysticism netted me Alphabet and Iron Working. Next I researched Polytheism at 10%. I did not manage to meet any other civs until Writing was learned by Korea. My northern warrior was actually in sight of Ottoman borders when Korea sold my contact to them. The AI being smart for once, go figure. No one had contact with the Mongols for some reason so I got some value out of that. Learned all contacts except Persia as I couldn't afford to pay for Persia and I knew where they were already.

I was the first civ to Polytheism even on min research and managed to trade for all techs except Construction and Currency. In 1275 the Russians land on my continent with a spearman/settler pair. They found a city there. I trade for Literature and contact with all other civ's. I withhold contact and map information from all the civs on our continent. In 1200BC I manage to trade for Currency and Construction and we enter the Middle Ages. No Middle Age techs learned by 1000BC so I can post my QSC results.

11 cities, pop 35
All AA techs except Republic and Monarchy. Researching Monarchy, due in 13 turns.
1 horseman, 3 spearmen, 9 warriors, 7 workers
1 granary, 4 barracks, 2 libraries, 3 temples
Embassies with all home continent civs.
175g, -10gpt (0.8.2)
score: 392

Don't ask me why I built so many temples. So far I was pretty happy with my progress. Here's my map:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/GOTM43_1000BC_Shillen.JPG

edit: Forgot to mention that I did pop an eqWorker from a goody hut. Even with that worker I only had 7 compared to you guys having way more. Guess I'll have to work on building more workers.

Predator, civ1.29

I settled 1S from the start, cause some people said that there was wheat on the FP to the SE. I disn't see anything, but the wheat was indeed there.

I've built 2 warriors, one went N, the other S. Met Mongols and Koreans and found that we are connected by narrow strips of land which can be blocked by warriors. Later i produced some more warriors and blocked korean and mongol settlers (hope it's not a banned exploit). Mongols and Persians transported a settler each on the galleys though. The persian city was recently destroyed by the koreans, thanks for that.

I researched pottery at max first to get granaries, then went for Literature and GL, cause it was impossible (at least with my skill) to keep up with the tech pace without anything to start with. Another possibility was to take techs from peace treaties, but i didn't go for that, i'll attempt a peacefull victory this time. Some important techs i purchased for gpt.

Kyoto became a 4-turn SF (twice interrupted by disease), and Osaka became a 2-turn WF. Tokyo started a GL prebuild immidiately. Other cities built warriors, barracks, and some temples.

In 550 BC the GL was complete, and in 530 BC i entered the MA, stealing all AA techs including Republic and Monarchy and also Monotheism. Persians also have Feudalism. After trading techs to backward civs, i also got the map of our continent and that thing in the middle. I don't know where the other continent(s) is, and didn't meet any civs from there yet.

Predator http://gotm.civfanatics.net/common/swordsman_small.gif [ptw]

Something did stick out of the fog 2se s. I anyways didn't like to settle on the nice wine hill, so settler and worker s.
Next turn the worker climbed the mountain se and uncovered many nice tiles. Settler goes east to settle.
Kyoto builds only one warrior, a settler for the worker pump Osaka then granary.
Science starts with pottery @ 100%. With slow scouting you never know when you can get it.

cities
3900BC Kyoto
3150BC Osaka
2430BC Tokyo
2270BC Edo
2110BC Satsuma
1910BC Kagoshima
1790BC Nara
1650BC Nagoya
1525BC Izumo
1475BC Nagasaki
1350BC Yokohama
1250BC Shimonoseki
1150BC Matsuyama
1000BC Sapporo and Hakodate
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/klarius_g43_0.jpg

15 cities, 42 pop
2 granaries, 4 barracks, 9 temples :eek: , 2 harbors
1 settler, 15 workers, 1 slave, 1 galley
5 horsemen, 3 warriors (will soon go down to 1 elite - no swords in this game)
all AA techs except poly and the governments


science
3100 pottery researched
2900 CB from hut
2590 trade for alphabet, BW, Masonry, TW, WC - try Math min gambit
1750 trade for HBR, IW, math, myst, writing - research to literature
1325 trade for MM and philosophy
1075 literature researched - trade for CoL, construction, currency
925 trade polytheism one turn before research would have completed - enter MA

diplomacy
3300 meet Mongols, don't trade; pottery is much more expensive than researching
2630 meet Korea and Ottomans
1910 meet Persia
1750 meet China, make embassies in Mongolia and Korea
1175 trade wine for gems with China (no good idea)
975 second suicide galley finds somebody off continent; some trading and we know everybody and everything

No war for us up to now.
But the trade reputation is already shot :cry: . Mongols pillaged a road in China interrupting the wine delivery.
A typical AI war - neither Mongols nor China made any progress.

Goal is samurai -> cav -> :hammer:

Open

I've never won or even played on diety, so I'm going for survival. The only strategy that seemed obvious to me is to go for the Great Library. I had a large lead on the AI by prebuilding it, but was beaten by 14 turns by Persia in 550bc. This will lead to an entertaining MA spoiler :) .

Mistakes I made:
1. lethargic expansion. Given the start location, 7 towns is pathetic.
2. Great Library prebuild should be done in a city, not a town stuck at pop 6.

1000bc stats
7 towns
22 population
4 workers, 6 warriors, 4 spearman
496 gold
all contacts known
11 techs, researching Literature

1st turn of MA:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/gotm43_mp1.gif

Class: Open.
Goal: Never won on deity before, so the goal is whatever
4000BC-950BC
################################################## ############
I settled at the spot and started research mysticism on maximum.

Good stuff:
I managed to exploit The wheel monopoly, also to be the first who researched mysticism and poly.
Other good thing is that I knew all civs before 1000BC.

Bad stuff:
I screwed opening turns a bit. I guess I was thinking too much and trick myself into micromanagement mistakes.

This is the map at 1000BC.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/SolCotM43_1000BC.JPG

We entered MA in 950BC with 5 turns before researching Monarchy.
The plan is to start war on Mongols as soon as we will become Monarchy and to try to get China as an ally.

@Capt Buttkick – English cities in 1000BC? :wow:
Edit: @Shilen - Russians? :wow:

Open class. Thought I would play for fun. I can win at Emporer sometimes, but Deity is just frustrating and annoying to me.

Tried to funnel all production to expansion, military, workers. Also built some temples to help grab land, but maybe that was a foolish move. Sent warriors north and south to explore. North one was slaughtered by barbarians. South one managed to meet mongols and then was hemmed in by Mongol borders. So all contacts up to 1050 bc were initiated by other civs and I couldn't trade much. Researched mysticism, poly, monarchy at minimums. Everyone else beat me to those techs...trade value was nil. Caught up briefly in 1050 bc when England landed and I traded contacts for everyone's tech & gold. That lasted maybe 5 turns.

At the beginning of my MA around 450bc, the game is hopeless. My map looks similar to Shillen. I have about 10 core cities, but the comp is already 50% of the way through the MA and my swordsman are quickly slaughtered by superior Mongol and/or Korean forces. If I do manage to capture a city, it runs high risk of culture flip even with me starving/building workers to decrease the population. China is the only civ I've been able to ally with...both against the Mongols and Korea. It really didn't help...and no one else would ally with me no matter how much gold I offered.

Oh, well. Hopefully the Conquests GOTM coming up will not be such a high diff level. See ya next month. :p

cas

@Capt Buttkick – English cities in 1000BC? :wow:

:lol: Yeh, guess who's got the GLight...
Wonder pace, in addition to tech pace, was just frantic in my game. Just as well that I didn't try to buy any. I had a huge amount of luck in this game when I could trade all those AA techs in one turn. After that I've been trying to start wars and keep them going on the other continent so they'd slow down. I really don't know whether to :lol: or :cry:
What's sure is, if I can keep up with research til cavs, I'm gonna have a pretty nice finish date ;)

Ptw open, thinking of 20K

Settled in place, but saw that 2000warrior was right about the wheat. Set research max on pottery. In 3150BC pottery was researched and we meet the Mongols. We’re able to trade the wheel for warrior code + 10. Research min on horseback riding.

In 1700BC 3 Mongol warriors approach Japan. :mischief: It’s time to do some trading. So in 1650BC:
Buy bronze working for wm + 59 from Persia
Buy masonry for wm + 58 from China
Buy alphabet for wm + 69 from Korea
Buy mysticism for wm + 54 from Ottomans
Buy wrting for 67 + 7 gpt from Mongols
In 1625BC the Mongol warriors leave. :)
Next turn, with one turn research left on horseback riding, we turn off research.

In 1175BC we’re ready for some action and dow Korea. Research is switched on again for the last turn on horseback riding. Next turn research is switched off again and we’re able to ally the Mongols against Korea for 170 + 18 gpt.

Here’s the 1000BC pic and stats.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Redbad_gotm43_1.JPG

9 towns, 21 pop
1 settler, 10 workers, 4 warriors, 9 chariots, 2 horsemen
1 granary, 1 temple, 5 barracks
first tier techs plus writing, mysticism and horseback riding

In 950BC Korea allies Persia against Mongols and in the same interturn Persia allies China against the Mongols. The fact that I’m fighting on the Mongol side in the war doesn’t seem to be of any interest. They don’t bother to dow me. :blush:
In 825BC Tojo has risen from the battlefield and he builds the FP in Izumo two turns later.
In 800BC Persia and the Mongols make peace, and in 750BC Korea and the Mongols make peace. So it’s high time we stop fighting too. The Koreans accept peace for 10 gpt.

But peace won’t get us an empire nor victory. So in 670BC we dow our good friends the Mongols ;) and capture Darhan in 630BC. To discourage any alliances we make some trades:
Buy iron working for wm + 71 + 2 gpt from Persia
Buy literature for 6 gpt from Ottomans
Buy code of law for 9 gpt from X1-civ
Buy philosophy for 5 gpt from China
Buy mathematics for wm + 6 gpt X2-civ
Sell wm a couple of times netting us tm’s plus 23 gold
In 550BC we manage to capture Kazan, but the Mongols now deploy pikes. We can’t continu fighting with our horses, so peace is declared getting us republic and tm. We revolt.

Now it’s time to get out of the Ancient Ages:
530BC buy construction for wm + 29 + 14 gpt from X3-civ
430BC trade horse + wine for dyes, tm, 34 + 2 gpt with Ottomans
390BC buy mapmaking for wm + 26 + 8 gpt from korea
330BC buy polytheism for wm + 25 + 8 gpt from X4-civ
enter the Middle Ages

Here’s the 330BC pic and stats.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Redbad_gotm43_2.JPG

15 towns, 62 pop
15 workers, 20 horsemen
1 granary, 2 temples, 9 barracks, 2 libraries and FP
most cities are building libraries.

Concerning my 20K:
I’ve got a palace, temple and library for culture in Kyoto. All AA-wonders are build by the AI. Also in 330BC 10 civs are building Sun Tzu, 5 are building Leonardo’s and 5 are building the Sistine Chapel. It’ll be a stretch to make some sort of 20K. :rolleyes:

PTW Open.
Goal#1: get Med. resourses to work. Goal achieved - hurray! PTW is really superior to Vanilla, as could never get them work in Vanilla. And those resourses are really neat, thanks Mad-bax. :)
Goal#2 - survive and maybe win. Still problematic.

4000BC - settle in place. Worker N, road, mine.

F10 tells we are the only Religious folks out there. 2 monopolies - v.g.
Research Mysticism. V.bad move as got stuck w/o Pottery forever.
Build warrior, warrior, warrior. And Barracks :((see above).
3550BC - W-2 goes South. Sees 2 Wheat! Then Lambs and 2nd Goat! Where was our adventure spirit in 4000BC. :(
3400BC - W-3 goes North, sees Cow and Horses.
3300BC - W-2 meets Persian SCOUT. OK, so they are not the one. Get WC+25g for Wheel. They also know BW and Masonry.
3050BC - W-2 meets Mongols, we get Pottery (finally), BW & 5g for Wheel. Then trade Masonry from Persia for Pottery & 25g.
2900BC - Osaka founded on a Wheat. That was wicked. 2 Wheet and Mountains or other side of the river or too far. Again wished had moved South. Both cities are building Granaries.
2510BC - Korea contacts us, gets contact with Mongols for contact with China, and sells our contact to Otto. In a round of trading we get IW and Alphabet and are plus 100g.
2390BC - 3 Mongol warriors & 1 archer are closing on OSaka. D'oh! Change Granary in Kioto to Archer with no loss of shield, get W-2 back into Osaka.
2350BC - Research Mysticism. Trade Writing from Korea and HBR from Persia for it, with some loss of money. Start on Poly at min.
2270BC - embassies with Mongols and Persia. Looks like Mongol Army (now 4 warriors and an archer) are heading not to us but North to Korea.
1990BC - Mongols were heading for a Barb village. D'oh.
1450BC - Mongols keep trekking back and forth through us in ever increasing numbers. Lost nerve and switched Granary to Archer AGAIN, with loss of 18 shields. V.bad move as they were after Barb camps again. Buy MM from Mongols for WM and 280g.
1100BC - MA started somewhere. We reserch Poly and trade it for Math and Philosophy from the most backward China and Otto.

QSC stats - forgot to save, but stats pathetic. 975BC save shows 9 towns, 19 pop, 1 settler, 5 workers, 5 warriors, 4 archers and 5 swordsmen. 2 granaries, 2 temple and 1 rax. That's what you get for being a coward.

975BC - England speaks to us, then Russia, Vikings and Carthage do the same.
925BC - Germany contacts us, they are almost as backwards as us. Meanwhile prepare Swords rush on Mongols.
710BC - Dow Mongols, destroy the town on our Iron. Then get stuck and agree for Peace for some money form them.
310BC - Bought Currency from China for 300g/1gpt.
270 BC - Bought Construction from Korea for Wines, WM & 80g. Finally crawled into MA.
Still researching Monarchy as nowhere near being able to buy it, or Republic.

At this time other guys are half thru MA already, with Persians showing off Cavalry. I think Persia entered IA in BC. And what a location they had! They could see everybody instantly, and nobody could get to them! I wish I had their place, but tough luck. :)

And what a clever map, thank you again Mad-bax!


Resume: pathetic performance.
That business with Arhers instead of Granaries - shameful, not worthy of a Samurai. And another thing. How come I played maybe 100 PTW/Vanilla games, but only 1 C3C(COTM12) managed to completely wipe RCP concept from my mind. Amazing what difference it makes if you ignore RCP: my most-southern town on the picture below was completely corrupt even in Monarchy.
Outlook for MA is dire, but suffice to say that if there would be 3rd spoiler, I'll still post in it. :)

Attached is 975BC save.

If other civs settle on the home continent, they may be discussed, but their home continent may not. :)
The Russians settled on our continent in 1225 bc and I met the English in the same IBT (but never saw any English troops). The Russians have The Lighthouse but they did not travel by a safe route! :confused: (I do have their world map, but I don't think it's OK to post it here!)

Thay must have used a suicide galley, but I didn't think the AI did that?? :confused: :confused:

Maybe the Russians got expelled from another civ's territory and the closest coast was on your continent?

well, my AA was pretty uneventful, besides setting the stage for how the rest of the game would go. I went scouting immediatly, and managed to secure some of the early techs. I took a nice little chunk of land, building cities very close in order to maximize what little part of the world I had. Everything seemed alright for a 1000 years.

Then, it seems as if the AI sprung away from me in almost a turn. Before I knew what had happened, the entire AI had made it to the MA and I had barely half the techs. My futile attempts at trade ended with an emtpy treasury with little to show for it. Somehow, I managed to creep into the MA around 490 BC.

The problem is, a few turns prior, China declared on me, and I noticed they already have cavalry. I allied with Mongols for a buffer, but I don't know how long that will last. I can't even build pikes yet...

It seems as if everyone has nearly finished the MA, while I have just entered it. Persia is insanely rich, leads in tech, and has almost every AA and MA wonder. Just surviving looks is looking hard now...

Zamint: Differential naval movement is on. Could that be it?

Zamint: Differential naval movement is on. Could that be it? :blush: :mischief: You got it, Capt! Thanks. :goodjob:

Yikes! This is my first ever Deity game and first GOTM and it has really gone to hell in a handbasket! I am a solid emperor player and can win with just about any start except jungle or tundra, but have been afraid to even try Deity until now.

I settled in place and went for mysticism and poly hoping for trades. Met the Mongols and Koreans first of course and gifted them gpt to try and keep them off me. The Mongols loved that and I didn't have trouble with them. Made it to poly and was able to trade for iron, horseback riding, and writing. Met some other civs around that time too.

In 2150 I had 2 towns and 1 settler out, and Korea took my capital! I was able to hold them off from my other 2 towns after building walls and spears, but for peace they wanted all my gold and all my gpt. I continued to hold out and met all the other civs... was unable to get anyone to ally against Korea. Everyone was in the MA by about 750BC and I ended up calling it a day. It doesn't seem like any fun at all continuing this one. Doubtful I'd even get a spoon if I get crushed because I've been holding out for a fair amount of time against the Korean onslaught.

Anyway, I'm thinking of re-playing it just for fun but obviously it won't be submitted. This time I'm building walls and spears early on. :p

Tough break WarDance. It's pretty impossible to focus on expansion and build a strong military as well. If the AI decides to declare war in the first 40 turns or so on deity it's very hard to survive, especially if they use a sneak attack. There were any number of times the Mongols were moving large stacks of units through my territory with undefended cities and all they had to do was declare war and it would have ruined my game. I let them be figuring they were going to kill barbs and thankfully that's what they were doing. But yeah chalk it up to bad luck.

I've been sneaked a lot on deity and I can only say that, to me, it works better to keep the AI's assessment of your strength high in other ways than building lots and lots of military. Of course, you need to keep up with a certain amount of military builds. More important is to do a few gpt deals with your closest neighbours (pay them), give in to all demands, also from other continents (they will ally with your neighbours) and last but imhso most important:
Keep up with city count b/c it helps a lot in the long run (of course), but even more important early on, it adds to your strength as viewed by the AI.

Thanks so much for the tips, guys!

I've been replaying the start to see what I can do better. Settled in the exact same place, set out research on the same path, built cities in the same spots... The only things I've done differently are: built a half dozen spears first before starting on the offensive units, built walls in my first 4 or 5 towns, and gifted 1 gpt as soon as I met Korea and the Mongols. I don't know how much of the result is based on the changes to my play and how much is based on the random number generator, but this time around at 1000BC I have 9 towns and no one has declared on me yet. :)

Open class, going for 100K.

I have no fog-gazing ability and wasn’t sure how reliable the wheat predictions were, so I just settled in place. Initial builds were 3 warriors. I wanted to build a granary next ( I popped Pottery from a hut), but a barbarian wandered near my undefended city with 20+ shields invested so I switched to a settler rather than lose the shields or the pop. The settler founded my second city 3SE of the capital near the wheat to churn out workers, including 1 devoted to mining the mountain goats. Kyoto was a 6-turn settler + warrior factory for a little while, then finally became a 4-turn settler factory in around 1950 BC. Cities were built tight – RCP 3&6.

Research started as Mysticism at maximum followed by Polytheism at minimum. I met the Mongols in 3300 BC, the Koreans in 2950 BC, the Ottomans in 2510 BC, the Chinese in 2270 BC, and the Persians in 2110 BC. With a stroke of luck, I was the first to discover Polytheism in 1325 BC, the same year as the Russians built a city on my shoreline establishing contact with me. I leveraged my monopoly tech plus my local monopoly on contact with the Russians to trade for all contacts, a complete world map, all the known techs (Mathematics, Literature, Philosophy, Map Making, Code of Laws, Horseback Riding, and Construction), and all the gold in the world (about 800 more in addition to the 200 I had going in).

I still had tradable goods on some civs, so I decided it was a good time to start a little trouble. I used my pile of gold to build several embassies, then I declared on China and signed an alliance with the Mongols against them. I declared on the Ottomans and signed an alliance with Korea against them. I also started a couple wars on the other continent. My troops saw no action whatsoever during these wars (which is fortunate because I basically had no troops).

QSC stats:

10 towns
26 citizens
3 settlers
13 workers
2 slaves
3 warriors
4 horsemen

I discovered Monarchy in 775 BC and revolted immediately. I traded Monarchy for Currency and some loose change to enter the Middle Ages in 750BC.

Gotm 43 Open
domination
(as usual after retiring my only 20k attempt in Cotm11)

I made Kyoto a 4-turn-settler-factory asap. expansion++. Had good luck with research, keeping pace without TGL. Only researched Polytheism to the bitter end which payed out big time. Keeping peace with everyone was great, too. I just had some cultural war with the Mongols at the southern border without any flips resulting.
Now I need to do some diplomacy to bring everybody to war. :hammer:

Surrounded by tough opponents. This won't be a walkthrough. I guess I will come to tanks for the first time in a Gotm / Cotm (playing since Cotm9).

Persia is already a culture monster - I wonder how I will stop them. How would a 100k-loss near domination limit score in Jason? :rolleyes:

playing the German version, I had trouble installing the mod. After reinstalling whole Civ + C3C I played the game with "limited vision" - at the beginning I looked at Mapstats maps ("Rings") to see those nice sheep, later I relied on the governor to find the right tiles to work on... Don't think that hurt my game too much :mischief:


research
3600 Pottery (trade)
2630 Alphabet, Warrior Code, Mysticism, Bronze Working (trade)
2110 Writing, Horseback Riding (trade)
2070 Iron Working (trade)
1500 Literature, Philosophy, Masonry (trade)
1175 Mathmatics (trade)
1050 Polytheism (researched!), Construction, Currency, Map Making, Code of Laws (traded)
==> Middle Ages in 1050


building & founding

4000 Kyoto: granary(2850), temple (2270)
2510 Osaka
2030 Tokyo
1725 Edo
1550 Satsuma
1475 Kagoshima
1325 Nagoya
1250 Izumo
1100 Nagasaki

QSC-Data:
10 cities, pop 29. 1 settler, 8 workers.
all ancient age techs except Republic and Monarchy. Middle Ages reached.
175 gold in treasure.
contact to all 10 nations, 10 embassies.
6 warriors, 3 spearmen, 2 horsemen.
2 temples, 2 granaries, 3 barracks.

[ptw] Open, going for any kind of win.

So far this has been something of a disappointment to me. After my very good result in GOTM42 I finally felt ready for Deity, but now I'm not so sure anymore.

I met the Mongols early on and traded for Pottery. Kyoto was set up as a 6-, then 5-turn settler factory and expansion was pretty good. Second I met the Ottomans :eek: who had already walked through Korea, and met both China and Persia. As a consequence I missed out on the initial trading rounds, and I wasn't even first to Mysticism despite researching it at 100% from early on. I managed to acquire most first-tier techs by trading contacts, but that was it. The AIs were soaring ahead.

I figured the GLib would solve my problems. I set up Edo by the Cow to build it, mined all tiles around it, joined workers up to size 10. My trouble really payed off, since I was only beaten by 3 turns as opposed to the much higher numbers I've read earlier in this thread... :crazyeye: I was left with a 400-shield FP, and still no tech.

At this point I realized I had to buy or take what tech I needed. At least I had my military, so I marched a host of swordsmen on Korea. I also signed tech-for-gpt deals with the Mongols to make them play nice along my undefended southern border. I bought most AA techs this way, they were cheap since 9 other civs already knew them. I had all contacts since the English had settled a town next to me. The only expensive techs (except the govs) were Construction and Currency, and I got those in a peace deal with Korea in 450 BC after taking a few of their towns.

I'm now at the beginning of the MA, I'm making 8gpt net at 0% research, I'm still in despotism, and most of my opponents have both Theology and Invention judging from the wonder builds. I'm also militarily weak against most opponents, despite 8 swordsmen and 11 horsemen. One of the few I can match in military is the Mongols, but I can't declare on them yet since I'm paying them gpt. I guess I'll have to amass my forces along their borders and hope they don't build too many pikes until then...

At least my QSC stats were ok:

10 cities
31 pop (17 happy, 9 unhappy)

1 granary
4 barracks

8 swordsmen (vets)
11 warriors
11 workers
1 settler

6gp, 8gpt at 50% sci, 20% lux
150 shields collected on Palace in Edo

all first tier techs + IW, Writing and Myst

Open, Domination or 100K

This game is a natural progression of what I've learned in the previous two GOTMs in that I've been able to put into use the "tricks" of the GOTM and PTW (a version I hardly ever play). From GOTM 42 I learned that Poly is about the last darn thing researched by the AI (not true in C3C) and from COTM 12 I learned to shrug off my first instinct to settle and think hard about moving the settler at the start. So that affected my strategy in moving two SE onto desert from the start in search of a more centralized capital (allowing an RCP 3 city by the coast in the west). And the soothsayers being right about the FP wheat was fantastic to find.

The first few warriors were sent North and then south, meeting Mongolia and then Korea. I also built a few additional warriors to block the mongols at the southern choke before running the settler factory.

Research was myst at max (traded for near the end of the research cycle), followed by poly at min. I acquired pottery from the Mongols, and Alphabet from Korea. Alphabet was useful to peddle around for Masonry and the other first tier techs from the others. When Poly came in I was able to trade for everything else, using Currency as the key tech as it was unknown by several others. I was helped by the other continent finding me and giving me some new trading partners to barter with. I entered the MA in 1025.

For the QSC, I barely missed having my 16th city built in 1000 BC, and it was founded in the jungle in 975. We are on war buildup, and will send swords south to the horseless Mongols and horses North to meet Wang Kon. Fighting a two front war isnt really ideal, but I just want to trim the Mongols and really start on Korea before they are defended exclusively by pikes. We'll see how it goes.

Open class....

I decided to settle SE, to trust the fog-gazers, and save myself having to mine the goats early to get the 4-turn settler factory. Yes, there was wheat there, and I set-about getting a few warriors out exploring,and setting-up a settler factory.

Initial research was towards pottery, and with a few contacts I made the odd trade. Once I got my settler factory cranking-out settlers, I settled in RCP-4, and began barracks in the secondary cities.

My exploration had revealed that the mongols only had one source of horses that I could see, so I decided to try and steal them. I got to them before the mongols did, which was surprising, as it was actually a city behind their front-lines as they obviously decided that one of 'my' iron sources was more important (even though they had another iron - go figure!)

With the mongols denied horses, I set-about building-up a force of my own, and amassing-it on the Mongol border. However, disaster struck in 775 BC, when the city flipped! I only had 8 horses on the border, but I wanted to deny the Mongols the chance of building a force of Keshiks. The mongols were at war with the Chinese, so I decided to attack. Within 3 turns, I had captured two mongol cities, including securing the horses.

The mongol war actually went surprisingly smoothly - the mongols seemed far more concerned with fighting a stale-mate war with china on their far border than they were with me quietly mopping-up their cities. I was micromanaging a few cities to increase Shields/turn to 10, 8 and 6 from 9, 7 and 5, to reduce wastage and churn-out horsemen slightly faster. This worked very well, and my forces actually increased as the war progressed. I was also fortunate enough to get a great leader, which I saved to rush a FP in the middle of the conquered Mongol lands. The only other hitch came about when Karakorum flipped, although by that time I had pillaged the only Mongol iron. By 350 BC, they were down to about 4 cities, and basically only defending (although there was the odd archer to kill). In 250 BC, they were down to one city, and that was under sustained attack by china - I must have counted 10 or 15 horsemen that attacked it and died! I took the opportunity to make peace for all the techs that the mongols had - I was very concerned about culture flips, but figured that China would wipe-out the mongols and stop any happening. It was therefore a bit nerve-wracking watching so many chinese horses die at the hands of the mongol spears, but I did take heart that it would make my conquest of China easier!

Anyway - I entered the middle ages in 250 BC, a few turns away from finishing the republic; still in despotism. The tech pace was insane, and by the time I entered the middle-ages, the persians & germans were both building Copernicus' :rolleyes:

I detect a difficult middle-ages coming up, but I think I have a reasonably solid foundation to revolt to republic, and kick-off the golden-age of the samuri. :)

Anyway - I entered the middle ages in 250 BC, a few turns away from finishing the republic; still in despotism. The tech pace was insane, and by the time I entered the middle-ages, the persians & germans were both building Copernicus'


Wow. :eek: I'll be very interested to read how you handled being so far behind in tech.

@Ainwood - nice picture, but I am not sure that I understand. Is it a growth of your knowledge of the map? If so does it mean that you did not know the map of the home continent at the end of AA?

Yes it does mean that. But the spoiler only requires that you have reached full map knowledge in your game at some point. You don't have to have done it by the end of the AA.

With the advise of TR (Tubby Rower) and others in the Hunting Tips forum, I was able to make it into the Middle Ages and significantly farther.

I stalled near the end of the AA. The tech pace was insane and I screwed up my GL prebuild. Still, the other Civs left me alone and they concentrated on fighting each other. I was in Monarchy and I had a nice build up of cities, but needed lots of infrastructure. That was the first bit of advice I took to heart. I built more workers and started seriously micromanaging things. I turned off research, and bought the techs I needed to advance. I bought a world map. I should have been exploring more, but stopped when I had most contacts. Gemany had the GL in Berlin. I built galleys and swords and embarked on a mission to take the GL from Germany. If I held it for one turn, I could catch up in tech.

Germany was across the ocean, and I lost many galleys, and it looked like Gernany was just too big. But, I finally had a enough to try something. I was beaten pretty soundly, but managed to keep some swords fortified on a mountain. I kept the galleys moving. Then I noticed something. Germany was loosing cities on the edge of its territory. I couldn't build an embassy in Germany, but I built others and found that a dogpile on Germany was beginning. So, I sat and watched as Carthage and Russian Knights and Cavs died against Berlin'd defenses. England didn't dogpile on Germany, but declared on Carthage. In the meantime, I bought my way into the MA. Some time during this melee I thought I'd see a chance. Finally, Berlin defenders were looking yellow and red, and I threw my stack again it. And I came up short! Arrrgh. After calming down, I watched Carthage take the city. 2 rifles and 3 cavs entered. Another two galleys arrived with two swords, a MI (I had bought Feudalism a few turns earlier and got one MI on a ship) and a settler. I saved the game here.

I threw my stack against Berlin, declaring on Carthage. Again I came up short. Well, I gave up on the GOTM rules, and reloaded. This time, I made a ROP deal with Carthage and sat with my 4 Swords and 1 MI right outside Berlin and watched traffic. My reenforcements were several turns away. A turn later, I saw Berlin's three Cavs leave and only one returned - redlined. I easily took Berlin and held it. Carthage could have taken it back but chose to attack the English instead.

A cascade of techs.

Well, I can't submit because of the reload. But, it was worth it. I'm smack in the middle of the Industrial Age.

Yes it does mean that. But the spoiler only requires that you have reached full map knowledge in your game at some point. You don't have to have done it by the end of the AA.

No-no-no, I did not ask this question to cast doubts on eligibility of Ainwood's spoiler. I was just curious about the fact that he did not knew the whole map. I think in this game AIs have very transparent policies regarding maps (even world maps).

@Ainwood - nice picture, but I am not sure that I understand. Is it a growth of your knowledge of the map? If so does it mean that you did not know the map of the home continent at the end of AA?
This is simply a conglomeration of my in-game mini-map from all the archived saves. It generated in CivAssistII, using the archive feature (load an archive, go to the world-map view then right-click on the minimap).

It was generated on the saves up to the point where I made peace with the Mongols, traded for all their techs and their world map. I excluded the subsequent saves because it would then show more of the world than is allowed in this spoiler. I gained full knowledge of the home continent and the required techs to finish the AA on the same turn. :)

My tech pace lagged, and I didn't want to pay extortionate prices for a map that I knew I'd get via conquest anyway. My tech pace lagged because I didn't really do any research (just enough to get the techs I wanted), and I only kept-up as much as I did because of buying a tech and trading it around a couple of times. I was happy to ensure that I had all pre-requisites for the final techs for the AA, so that a peace treaty would get me into the MA. Most of my gold was actually being diverted to luxuries as I favoured larger cities to build units faster (and only had one luxury). I think the slider was around 40% most of the time.

Nice long weekend to play the GOTM and it's Diety. It took me less than three hours to get wiped out. Started a war against the Mongols and managed to destroy one city. Then the bloody English settled in the north. The barbs ransacked the orange city so I declared war and took it. Next thing I know I'm at war with most of the known world. I'd have been counquered sooner if the Koreans and Mongols had joined the dogpile.

Did get one great leader and made an army but my little Japan could not fight on two fronts. Both the English and Persians were attacking in the north and south and I finally lost my iron connection. Xerxes made a terrific alliance goading the Mongols into attacking me even while they fought Elizabeth. The Mongols took Kyoto leaving my last city to fall to Persia giving Xerxes a score of over 11,000. :(

Do we ever play the easy levels any more?

ptw, open, goal: any kind of culture win

tech contact
4000 mysticism 20%
initial build: warrior, granary, settler, warrior, temple
3850 warrior goes N
3800 warrior revealed two wheat. What a generous map. He also spotted a goody hut but decided to leave it alone
3750
3700
3650 warrior N,N,N and NE, reveal a mountain with another goat. And lambs right beside it!!!
3600 trade wheel for 10g and pottery. Cannot trade for warrior without paying 3gpt. meet mongol warrior revealed the eastern coast line
3400 warrior travel to the southern tip, I was expecting Mongol to be there but all I saw is ocean..and a goat on a mountain!
3350 with a potential chock point to the south, I sent my lone warrior to it instead of exploring the upper part of my continent.
3300 it turned out I need 3 warrior to block and culture expansion will easily get rid of it… but I only get 1.
3250 and horse is spotted around the choke point
3000 wealthiest nation in the world: Me! :) of course with 10% research
2710 2nd warrior started to explore to the north, revealing the cow and horse immediately.
2470 Korea.
2430
2390 see the green border and according to crpmapstat it's persia instead of greece
2150 traded mysitism and 175gold to Korea for alphebat. Traded alphabet and 24gold and 4gpt to mongol for WC and BW
2070 ottomas and china met me.
1000BChttp://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/ionimplant1000bc.JPG

590 BC, peace with Mongol. I razed one of his cities and conquered one. He offered Monarchy and nothing else. Traded to russia and ottomas (the two relatively slow civ) for currency, construction, MM and entered MA in despotism. Revolution coming this turn.
most civ ahead of me by the republic. Persia is the tech leader with feudalism and engineering
i know i played a poor game. the early temple was a waste of shield. mongol expanded very fast and ruined my city position plan...

20K is impossible after i realized that i forgot to build the library when literature became availble to me. and i think it is impossible anyway considering AI's wonder building speed in this game.

All was going pretty as I was even on tech entering the Middle Ages and had 10 cities and was friendly with everyone. I managed to settle another four cities when things went bad.

In about 850 BC, a Korean 10 unit SOD moved towards me. I managed to get 4 swords and 3 spears there in time to defend my most northern city. I traded ROP & Monarchy to the Mongols (the only one needing it) for an alliance against Korea. The next turn everyone had all the first level MA techs while I was still 30 turns from Engineering. About 7 turns after that the first 2 Keshiks were moving thru my land. I was still managing to hold off the neverending wave of Korean archers, spears & warriors with my swords & horses. I even got a Great Leader that was en route to my capital to build the Great Library. However, I had stripped my southern cities of defenders to stall the Koreans. Then things went from bad to gameover. The Mongols signed peace with Korea and declared on me. I lost seven of 14 cities and my exposed GL before I got my turn and just resigned in disgust as I had four of my remaining seven undefended and within reach of the Mongols. With neither opponent willing to talk peace, it was game over man, anyway.

@denyd, i can imagine your anger when Mongol broke its primise. sometimes the game just depends too much on AI's performance. on levels below deity, that normally can be handled... but not at the initial phase of a deity game.

OPEN, going for victory (at deity I never know how the game turns out, if everything goes well: domination )

I believed our famous fog magicians and moved my settler SESE and established a four turn settler factory there. Build order was warrior, warrior, settler, granary and settler from then onwards. I was first thinking of only building one warrior to get the second city 2 turns earlier but decided that the possibility of earlier contacts are more worth.
With earlier contacts I was pretty sure that I can trade pottery, so my first research project was mysticism.
The early trading rounds with Korea, Mongolia and China gave me all of the starting techs, mysticism turned out great, I could trade for writing and IW.
Now I could research literature and was able to trade it for MM, HBR, and mathematics.
The next research project was polytheism. I was beaten to that by 3 turns, but still was able to do some nice trading (mostly thanks to a suicide galley).

I became republic in 1250 BC and entered the middle ages in 1050 BC.

To my big surprise and enjoyment, the persians built the great lighthouse. The one civ which has no ocean front. I love it.

My staticstics at 1000 BC (nothing special happened between 1050 and 1000, so I give the statistics at the end of the qsc period to make it easier to compare to others):

14 cities, 41 population
my mighty army consists of 11 workers and 1 galley
1 granary
8 temples
2 barracks
5 libraries

my mighty army consists of 11 workers and 1 galley

no military at all?!? Strange, some were backstabbed for leaving some towns unprotected, others get away without even MP. :crazyeye:

no military at all?!? Strange, some were backstabbed for leaving some towns unprotected, others get away without even MP.

I see a trend in how many cities people have to whether the AI attacks them or not. I think the AI is more impressed if you have 14 cities and no military than if you had 8 cities and 8 warriors. One thing I'm fairly certain of, the AI really doesn't care whether you have undefended cities or not when it comes to war declaration. Sure after they declare war then they'll pay attention to those empty cities, but not before in my experience.

no military at all?!? Strange, some were backstabbed for leaving some towns unprotected, others get away without even MP. :crazyeye:

Earlier I had 3 regular warriors, but I disbanded them after I became a republic because of the unit costs. I also started to build horsemen, so a few turns later I did have some military :)

I settled in place, and later discovered the Wheats. Ah well.

My main focus is not to lose, this being my first solo Deity attempt. At 1000BC, I had 10 cities, with room for one more, settled the next turn.

My tech gambits failed miserably: Mysticism, then Polytheism. I paid, and continue to pay, mucho gpt for techs. The GL was built off-continent, too, so that's not really an option. Research will have to be of the pointy-stick variety.

I concentrated first on Settlers, and some Workers, next on military. A couple of Temples to snag Whales, and border territory.

In 775BC, I paid Persia tons of gpt for Currency. In 750BC, I booted a Spear+Settler pair camped in my territory, and they declared on me :lol: This allowed me to buy Construction a few turns later, entering the Middle Ages in 690BC.

My core is building Horses and Cats, Iron is yet to get hooked up.

No contacts beyond the starting continent - even though the Lighthouse was built elsewhere, and as has been shown, there have been visitors.

Map courtesy of CivAssist2!

Neil. :cool:

Moved this post from the COTM 12 spoiler #1 thread. (Wrong thread)

It was a short game for me this month.

Settled kyoto on the spot
Begin warrior
Begin mysticism at max science
Worker south, to irrigate and road
3800 complete warrior, who heads S
start warrior
3750 warrior spies 2 fpw to the S
3700 warrior sees hut. Decide not to open it just yet, maybe once I have some spearmen or vet units
3650 mm food
3600 complete warrior, start warrior
warrior heads E
worker NN to mine and road bg
3550 second warrior finds water E, so turns N
3450 mm commerce
complete warrior, begin temple
warrior stays as MP
3350 meet mongol warrior to the S
I get bronze working and pottery for the wheel, CB and 4 gp
3250 mm commerce
3200 N warrior finds barbarian, fortifies on a mountain and prepares for the attack
3150 Warrior wins without loss
belated realise that I have pottery, and switch temple to granary
3100 worker completes rm the bg. Moves SE to irrigate and road the grapes
2950 N warrior (who passed the goody hut) disperses a barb encampment, and becomes a vet
S warrior has moved E of the mongol lands
2850 Kyoto grows to 4, up lux.
2710 Kyoto completes granary, begins spearman.
A stack of 3 mongol warriors and 4 archers appears to the s.
worker moves N to irrigate/road the other wine.
Shortly afterwards, the Mongols destroy me.

:(

@pnp dredd--bummer, but sounds like you posted in the wrong thread. This is CotM12, with the Arabs. At least you tried GotM43, I thought it too much for me.

oops sorry about the stuff up.

I must say that I was a bit annoyed by the result. I didn't think I had a good chance to win the game, but I win about 75% of my Emperor games, so I thought I would be in with a chance witha little luck. Lesson is not to build a granary on Diety...

Ancient Age: 4000BC - 1300BC
I settle 2 SE. I build 2 warriors and then settlers. I dont build granary in capital, but prefer to get new towns out as quickly as possible to be sure to get some of them before all area is taken. My second town shares wheat and builds a coupld of settlers before a granary and then spits out workers. I set out for RCP 4 and 7.

Inner ring builds mostly barracks and then warriors. First batch of swords are ready in 1200BC and I attack mongols. I get a couple of cities from them until QSC is over. I am lucky with leaders and get one in 975BC and 925BC. First builds Great Library in previous Mongol city and second builds FP in Karakorum. I soon get Monarchy from the Great Library and I switch to it instantly.

I got monopoly on Polytheism just about when the others got Currency and Construction in 1300BC. So I could trade for everything and enter MA with them. I never entered MA so early before.

In 1000BC I have:
15 towns (2 captured)
41 population
1 settler
15 workers
17 vet swords (3 lost)
7 vet warriors
1 galley
6 barracks
2 temples
1 granary

So am not at all sure I will be able to finish due to vacation (not sure I will be able to submit where I am going).

http://gotm.civfanatics.net/common/swordsman_small.gif [ptw] 1.27f

Well, not having any starting Techs gave me pause ... but what the hell! So I started with just my Worker, Settler, 10 Gold and nothing else. Settled on the initial spot and got to work.

Built two Warriors, who headed off scouting. Then a 2nd Worker. After that, Settlers in the capital for a while. I decided to develop the local food, and use the Luxury slider to control the capital. Eventually got to Size 3 for four turns (4 Shields gathered), then size 4 for five turns (25 shields more +2 on Growth) and kicked a Settler out the door every 9 turns. Settled in rings of distance 4.x and 7.x; eventually got 6 cities at Ring 4.x and sometime in the early midAges got 5 at distance 7.x; Capital got a granary after about 4 other cities were founded.

Research - I must say I've lost at every research gambit I've tried so far. Started off on the Wheel; no one has that, and since we're the only Religious civ, no one has CerBurial either which might have been better to go for initially. Made contact with Mongols first, then China. China shows up with Wheel before I do, so I spend a little Gold to get it from Mao, and trade it to the Mongols for Pottery and 35 Gold.

OK, next I go for Alphabet. Then I contact Korea ... someone else now has Alphabet. I continue on, and pretty soon China knows it as well. Buy it off Korea, and trade to Mongols for Ceremonial Burial and Warrior Code. This is getting old!

OK, the AI doesn't research Math very early. Still missing Masonry, so I start on that. Pretty soon I notice the Persians and Ottomans show up on my F4 screen - Korea has Writing and has traded my contact to them. Darn, now the Mongols have Masonry along with everyone else but me! Buy it with a few turns left, and hurry down Math as quickly as possible.

As can be expected, Math is learned before I get it. I manage to cobble a bunch of gold together (and gpt) and buy it before everyone else knows it, and trade it for Writing, Bronze-Working and Mysicism. Best deal I've made this game, but I'm falling behind quickly!

OK, it's Currency or nothing! Off I go, and it's going to take a while. After about 20 out of 30 turns go by (around 1200 BC), I get notice that my effort is in vain - a huge stack of barbarians is announced by residents of my NE most city! I track down the owners of Currency - Ottomans and Persians I believe. I set Research% to 0, and buy it for a significant chunk of gpt, then trade it for Iron-Working, Code-of-Laws and Philosophy. I thought I'd give myself a shot at researching Republic.

So here I am, missing HorseBackRiding, Construction, Polytheism and Map-making of the required Techs, while the AI is cavorting in the MidAges, and I've got huge debts I'm paying off at the same time! Yuch!

Then something magical happens! First, the huge stack of barb horsemen heading my way detours to head North! Second, I see that England (who built the Great Lighthouse) has built a city between me and the Koreans. I send a unit over and make first contact in 1100 BC. The off-continent types are missing Currency (which I have), and have Literature (which no one on our continent has.) A ferocious round of trading begins. I trade first off-continent, gaining Literature, Map-Making and HorseBackRiding, all contacts, all Gold, all Maps. Then I trade with my fellow continent members using Literature, my WM and a little gold to get Polytheism, Construction, all local Gold, all local Maps. I'm in the MiddleAges! After a round or two of 'let's see if we can get a free MidAges tech' I check civassist and see M-B's little joke! So I form a bunch of embassies, declare war on one off-continent civ and a local civ (to be named in the next spoiler!), and use whatever trade commodities at my disposal to ally everyone else on the off-continent areas with the off-continent civ, and all local contintal civs with the one local civ I'm at war with. All the allied off-continent civs are Gracious with me, and the local civs are a mix of Polite or Gracious!

That's how I entered the Middle Ages! What a turn around from a few turns before! Whew! I'll post QSC stats and a map when I get home later.

(Edit: QSC Stats -
9 Towns
24 Citizens
1 Granary (Kyoto)
4 Barracks (Edo,Satsuma,Tokyo,Nara)
2 Temples (Edo,Tokyo)

1 Settler
10 Workers
7 Warriors
6 Horsemen

Contacts - All 10 Civs; 8 Embassies (only missing Vikings and Chinese); Full WM

Techs Researched : All Ancient Age Except Republic and Monarcy; researching Monotheism

Treasury: 401 Gold.

and map)

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/cvst_g43_QSCMain.JPG

Open class...

As with a lot of posters (some of which were surprising to me) this is my first deity game. I just won my first emperor game (GOTM42, too late to submit), so I'm happy to play this domination-style to see how I get on, working under the assumption that I will get conquered sooner or later.

Unaware of the hidden wheat, and mindful of the hill's defensive bonus, I settle in place. First build is a warrior of course, and the hut pops maps :(

Then in 3600bc, after only one session of GOTM43, something disastrous happens: my civ is attacked by Real Life! Virtual time stands still, while a Real week passes. Now I come back to the game after the QSC deadline, thinking how am I going to get this game done in time? There's only one answer. I'm going do the One City Challenge. First deity, first OCC :dance:

Now I figure there are two realistic ways of winning a OCC; 20k and Diplo, and one can play for both at the same time. So after I build my second explorer, I start on temple. When this is done (3150bc), Kyoto concentrates on growth, reaching pop 7 in 2310bc.

My explorers find Mongolia in 3200bc, but only meet the Koreans in 2430bc. The other AI contacts come shortly thereafter as a result of contact trading between the AI, apart from Persia who I meet in 1625bc.

Kyoto's build queue didn't include much culture for a long stretch, mainly because I didn't have any suitable techs. Using its food bonuses, it built 2-turn workers until the Oracle became buildable in 1750bc. These workers did enough improvements for a size 12 city and then joined back into Kyoto to bring it straight up to full size. The Ottomans complete Oracle so I switch to Pyramids, but Persia finishes these in 1500bc and I waste 120+ shields building a spear. It's the first big shield waste I've had in a 20k game. Ouch.

Meanwhile, tech trading goes fairly smoothly for me and I can keep up, helped in particular by getting the monopoly on Polytheism, which I used to trade all techs and almost all the continent's cash in 1325bc. The English arrive on my coastline in 1175bc. They trade my contact to their neighbours, and I make a bit more cash with my new, temporary contact monopoly. England settles north of Kyoto.

QSC stats...
1 city with 12 pop (all happy) claiming 35 tiles.
1 barracks, 1 granary, 1 temple, 1 courthouse.
Total stored food: 37, shields: 66, treasury: 491.
3 workers, 2 slaves, 2 warriors (1 veteran), 3 archers (2 veteran), 6 veteran spears, 3 catapults.
All contacts, no embassies.
All ancient techs except Construction, Currency, Literature, Republic and Monarchy (26 beakers contributed).
Firaxis score to date: 209.
QSC score estimated by MapStat: 4760 :hmm: Frankly, that doesn't sound very likely, and (to quote Fish) "I'll never really know for sure / You never really gave me time"

In 950bc, the AIs reach medieval and trigger a massive uprising. They mostly spend their time sacking nearby English cities, and just after they are all dispatched, Kyoto completes The Wall (825bc). One could hardly think of a more pointless wonder for this game (although it does match one of my traits), but that's all there was available to me. I trade for the Currency (to enter the medieval) and Literature (to start the Glibrary) in 775bc. I'm still a despot, researching Monarchy at minimum, although the AI have it already.

Well, so far I'm more than happy to be alive and hanging onto the AI's coat-tails. Fingers crossed for the medieval era.

One day left for submissions, and i just made into the Middle Ages. Guess there will be another overnight marathon, but this time i doubt to be able to submit in time :(

You and me both tR1cKy. :sad:
And today is my wife's birthday...

I don't think I'll be going back to it - I'm in the same position as tR1cKy. I plan to retire my game this evening.

It's one of those games where I didn't feel any momentum building. Plus I'm still not confident enough at solo Deity (not even touched COTM13, either) to really think I had a chance of winning.

PTW Open

Well, I managed to finish my game off in time, so I guess I'll write up something. I've been playing 20K games, but there is no way I'll be able to do that here. My goal is not to lose by conquest.

I settled in place and started in on alphabet. I didn't write down why, but I started at max, so I must have had some reason for picking it. Maybe I had great library delusions. The worker started chopping some forest to help build a barracks, and I built a single warrior first.

I put my next city between the wines and the horses, and kept rotten notes after that, as I kept expecting to be wiped out. I met the Mongols early on and Korea and the Ottomans much later. I popped a worker from a hut and used it as a scout, wandering through Mongolia, the Ottoman Empire, and Korea. Eventually it made it home, which was good, because I was chronically short of workers.

My research and trading went poorly, but I entered the middle ages in 975 BC. No wars, poor expansion - a typical early game for me.