COTM 12 Free-For-All spoiler

The only requirement for this spoiler is that you've submitted your game.

What went well? What went badly? What did you like about the game? What did you hate?

Do tell! :D

[c3c] Open, NoAiPatrol=0


Research and Trading

1125BC: Gift the scientific civs into the Middle Ages.
Korea - Monotheism
Russia - Feudalism
Ottomans - Engineering

The Ottomans and Russians never met, so I was able to trade Republic + Engineering for Feudalism.

750BC: Chivalry


Building

900BC: Suicide curragh sinks in sight of the coast, confirming that a Great Lighthouse crossing is possible.
Start building the Lighthouse in my most productive coastal city.

730BC: Upgrade Ansar #1
710BC: Ansar #1 is victorious, golden age begins

Here is my complete list of improvements:
12 Barracks
4 Marketplaces
2 Courthouses
1 Granary
1 Aqueduct
1 Temple
1 Great Lighthouse

After that, all cities built units.


Conquest

The traditional pattern is to conquer the first continent, build some ships, then conquer the second continent. But the AIs on the first continent were so weak, and the second continent was so close. I realized there was a better way.

If I conquer both continents at the same time, I can avoid several turns of waiting while my Ansars get to their next target. The goal is to finish both continents on the same turn.

Taking this logic a bit farther, the ultimate goal should be to wipe out every AI on the same turn. If one AI is too easy, I should divert troops from them to fight a stronger AI.

670BC: 1st Leader
570BC: Peace with Ottomans, +1 city in treaty
410BC: Great Lighthouse built
410BC: Peace with France, every available Ansar is shipped to the second continent.
250BC: Peace with England
230BC: Peace with Russia, +3 cities in treaty
150BC: 2nd Leader
150BC: Peace with Korea, +2 cities in treaty
130BC: Culture flip to Portugal
90BC: France defeated
10BC: 3rd Leader
10BC: Peace with Byzantines, +2 cities in treaty
10AD: Peace with Portugal, +2 cities in treaty
30AD: Korea defeated
30AD: Ottomans defeated
30AD: English defeated
30AD: Byzantines defeated
50AD: Russia defeated
50AD: Portugal defeated
70AD: Conquest Victory

70AD: Conquest Victory

What ??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :eek: :crazyeye: :aargh: :wow:

I'm sure he could point out how he could've shaved off 4 turns from that date too ;)

Wow!! :worship: :worship:

Not building a single library but tech leader all the way?!? :eek: :eek:

Incredible.

Can't wait to have a look at the save at home...

Good game DaveMcW!
How much territory do you have in 70AD? You are extremely fast! :goodjob:

@dynamic
You could just download Dave's attached crp file :p .

He has less than 30% territory in the end, so he doesn't challenge your gold medal.

6 civs conquered the last two turns. That's beauty.

I suspected when I built the Great Lighthouse so late I'd have no chance against the masters. Now I can see that faster research to Ansar could also pay off.

@dynamic
You could just download Dave's attached crp file :p .

He has less than 30% territory in the end, so he doesn't challenge your gold medal.

:blush: I didn't notice it.
And too early to talk about medals. For example, I don't know bradleyfeanor's and hendrikszoon's result.

[c3c] Predator, barbs fixed, going for 20k

Middle Ages (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=2761643&postcount=9)

As was the case for two another tech in the MA, Portugal finished Metallurgy the turn after I started it, so I traded to get it and enter Industrial Age in 550AD. I catch up Otto and Byzantines. Both get Steam. Trade Democracy for Steam from Byzantines. I have coal, but its in Korea, and not connected yet. It will be faster to rush a harbor to connect it than to road it so I do that. Coal is connected in 560AD and I start railing Medina (20k city). Meanwhile, Medina builds Heroic Epic and a Marketplace. Learn Industrialization just before Medina is fully railed in 620AD. War wearriness hits this turn, so make peace with Korea for their SP city and a worker, leaving them with 2 cities (which they will keep the rest of the game). Then I gift them to IA and they get MEdicine which I trade for. I rush a bank to short rush factory in Medina which finishes in 630AD. At this point I'm pretty much thinking I'm going to just stay on my continent and gain techs in such a way as to speed research and allow wonder builds.

Bursa flips back to Otto in 660AD. I decide I don't need problems with them and break my peace treaty to take it back. I'm building Sistine at this point, but worry that if I build it others will cascade to Newton, which I want more. So I switch to Newtons. I have 75 uncorrupted shields in Medina, so Newton will overun by 50 shields. Irrigate all the grass so I can get extra food while Newton's is built. After Newton's is built I remine most of the grass to get shields back up. Finally can trade with Portugal in 740AD and get 2 luxes from them.

I learned Replaceable parts in 730AD and start Sci Method. I set science to 100% to try and get all the beakers in 3 turns, and revolt on the 4th turn (760AD), thinking this would get me to Democracy without losing a turn on science. I got sci method on 4th turn as expected (770AD), and become Democracy in 780AD, with 3 turns left on Corporation, so it worked like I had hoped. I rushed a coal plant just before the revolt, which saved a turn of building also. Now Medina is at 100 uncorrupted shields, a VERY nice number for wonder building. The downside is I am losing 1fpt. So I will have to use my irrigate grass method when I have something not at a multiple of 100, or when pollution hits, to grow food back up.

By now I've had enough of moving all these workers (I've railed connections to all mycities) and star automating them. From here on it's research research research and wonder building.

I enter Modern Age in 1090AD, gift up the sci civs and they get Ecology and fission (2 each). I have nothing to trade for them, so start Computers, which I use to get Fission and Ecology in 1140AD. Switch to SETI in Medina. After that, work on Internet, and then UN to make sure no one else gets it.

Byzantines attack in 1385AD and I retaliate by taking out 6 or 7 of their cities by the end of game. Looks like I should have kept heading for domination limit to get my score up but I was content with owning most of my own continent.


Culture builds:

570AD Heroic Epic
690AD Newton's
750AD Copernicus
830AD Sistine's
900AD Smith's
980AD Universal Suffrage
1070AD Hoover Dam
1170AD SETI
1260AD Internet
1260AD Research Lab (free)
1315AD United Nations
1335AD Apollo
1345AD (Nuclear Plant to increase shields)
1385AD Longevity
1400AD Wall Street
1410AD (Manufacturing for more shields)
1440AD Cure for Cancer
1455AD Military Academy
1475AD (Police Station)
1490AD Palace (leader rushed)
1535AD Strategic Defense Initiative
1550AD (Hospital)
1560AD Intelligence Agency

Coasting now to 20k culture win in 1675AD.

Abu was surprised to find the Portuguese ambassador’s name on his schedule for the afternoon. At last check they luxury deal between the two nations had many years before expiration and Portugal had nothing left to offer the Arabs for the technologies that the Arabs were keeping a monopoly on. The demand for Economics left Abu in shock and trying not to laugh he politely declined and the ambassador quietly left.

With the completion of JS Bach’s Cathedral in Mecca and Smith’s Trading Post in Medina, the Arabs now had secured financial supremacy and gained continental contentment. Now was the time to complete the acquisition of the remaining cities on the continent. War was declared on the Ottomans and quickly four Ottoman cities, defended only by pikes, fell to the Arab attackers. After a mild setback when two longbows and a single MDI each won victories over the three defenders in Marseilles causing the city to fall, a set of cavalry units quickly reclaimed the city and with an elite Cavalry win, the fourth great leader was born. With the fall of Istanbul, Abu now controlled Sun Tzu’s War Academy, Shakespeare’s Theater and the Sistine Chapel. Damascus then completed Newton’s University and the majority of the world’s wonders were now Arab owned. With the completion of the Pentagon in Novgorod, four unit Crusader Armies led the onslaught on the remaining Ottoman cities. With wins by Elite Cavalry during the Uskudar conquest, two new armies were created. These would however remain unused and would spend the balance of time waiting for troops to fill them in Mecca. With the fall of Izmit and the ceding of Tours in a peace treaty, the Ottomans were now exiled to the southeastern island. The continent was now completely Arabic. The completion of the Military Academy in Moscow would provide an additional unused army before switching to wonder production.

After a brief revolution, the Arab Democratic Union was formed and the proud people of the nation suddenly performed their tasks with greater enthusiasm. With the completion of Universal Suffrage in Mecca, Abu decided to clean up a few loose ends and after declaring war, quickly finished off both Russia and Korea.

At this point, Abu decided that he just wasn’t up to building a fleet for conquest of the other continent and that as long as he was elected planetary ruler, a space flight home could be supplied by Mursilis, so he ordered full speed ahead on research and wonder construction. Muscat completed Magellan’s Voyage in 1435 AD, Moscow Wall Street in 1550 AD and Mecca built the Hoover Dam in 1530 AD. New technology was being discovered at a regular pace (except for Atomic Theory) and the world was at peace until 1545 AD when England declared war on Portugal. After a brief war to eliminate the Ottomans, Abu signed a mutual protection pact with England and the Byzantines and when Portugal attacked England the Arabs were again at war. Soon the entire world was at war with Portugal. Following gifts to the lovely Theodora and the so-so Elizabeth, a well timed completion of the Theory of Evolution claimed flight and fission. However, due to the order of city completion Novgorod’s build of the United Nations would not complete until 1575 AD. The vote was never in doubt with Abu winning 3-1 over Henry of Portugal.

Editors Note: Diplomatic Victory in 1575 AD in 33 hours & 17 minutes – Firaxis score 5212 – Jason score 7321

ancient age (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=2751987&postcount=35)

medieval age (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=2770525&postcount=51)

I unfortunately didn't take many notes during the Industrial age. Upon loading my game I decided the fastest way to finish this game would be domination. The problem was that when I entered the Industrial age, my entire naval fleet consisted of 1 galley and 1 caravel. It was almost halfway through the IA when I finally had plenty of galleons to transport a landing party of infantry, artillery, crusaders, calvary, ansars, and workers. I also needed ironclads (yes, I acutally researched and built ironclads) to defend against carracks, man-o-wars, and dromons. I attacked Portugal first, which had Sun Tzu's in Lisbon. Portuguese land was not enough, so I attacked England next and reached domination shortly after.

Domination victory in 1530AD
Firaxis score 5925
Jason score 7976

Here is my minimap in 1530AD
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/gskyes_cotm12_1530ad.JPG

I am sure that my finish would have been much sooner if I had a plan upon entering the IA. I'm not dissapointed, though. My main goal for playing COTM is to have fun, which I did.

I also noticed something from the replay...
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/gskyes_cotm12_russia.JPG

They must have gotten a town from a hut. This might explain why Russia expanded so quickly in my game. That is even faster than a diety AI can get their second town down.

I also noticed something from the replay...
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/gskyes_cotm12_russia.JPG

They must have gotten a town from a hut. This might explain why Russia expanded so quickly in my game. That is even faster than a diety AI can get their second town down.

Hmm, but I thought that huts didn't pop settlers in this game, but workers?

Hmm, but I thought that huts didn't pop settlers in this game, but workers?

A town still can come out of a hut.

So, I'm a slingshot-failed Republic with the only Horses and Iron, and I'm about to go after France.

Ancient Ages (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=2798599&postcount=104)

I declare in 560 AD with Ansars and drag Ottoman in with me. One so they don't declare against me, and I also want to take down Russia next. Russia has 18 cities right now! In 800 AD French are down to a settler on a boat. I get The GreatLib and TOA from Paris.

In 840 AD I declare on Russia.
940 AD contact Portugal. They're up Printing Press.

980 AD meet Byzantines. I'm now one of the tech leaders with Chemistry. Byzantine's and Portugal both know Education now.

1010 AD I've kicked the Russians off the continent, and managed to keep the French settler at bay. Then the French galley just parks itself right under my nose for the rest of the game. Funny. Except for the fact I had declared peace. I should have tried to kick them out later, to try and get some free war happiness. Didn't work when I just tested it.
French Galley (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/frenchsettler.JPG)

1020 AD I meet England who're pretty weak.

From the Russians I get the Pyramids, Leonardo's, and the Mausoleum. Around 1100 AD someone else destroys them.

1120 AD Now for the Ottomans, who are destroyed in 1220 AD. They give me The Oracle, Great Wall, and Knight's Templar. These Ansars are great. Love the 60-shield cost aspect.

1275 AD Finally, I get someone to declare on me. I had a Korean Horse trapped from them fighting Russia. I'm upgrading to Calvary now.

1340 AD Enter IA

1350 AD Conquer the Koreans. They didn't have any wonders but they did give me 3 of my four leaders. One for Pentagon, as FP and HE were hand built. And 2 for Calvary Armies. I already had 1 Ansar Army from the Russians. In probably one of my most brilliant moves ever, I waited to load the fourth calvary in the Armies until after taking them to Portugal land.

Now I wonder why did I take on Portugal who were probably twice as strong and England and Byzantines together. Must be the charms of Theodora. ;)

But at any rate, I used Workers, who by now were building RR, to speed the advance against Portugal.

In 1495 I achieved Domination victory.
MiniMap (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/1495DVic.jpg)
Thank you Ainwood for a great game, and a great CivAssist II to help manage and recap the game. I actually used CRP suite during the game. They're both great!

[c3c] Open, NoAiPatrol=0


Research and Trading

1125BC: Gift the scientific civs into the Middle Ages.
Korea - Monotheism
Russia - Feudalism
Ottomans - Engineering
That helps. :)
730BC: Upgrade Ansar #1
670BC: 1st Leader
That, too. :)

The AI civs were already quite weak at Predator (I got towns by simply demanding them once I'd built two horsemen), so it must have been a walkover at Open.

But - the skill is in knowing how to spot your chances and how to take advantage of these things when they happen. Congrats with a job well done! :goodjob:

(Edit: not sure if I'm allowed to post this, as I lack the time to finish my own game, as usual .... feel free to delete this post when I'm not.)

Industrial Age / Finish, 0340AD-0840AD
Open, Barbs Fix
Goal: Diplomacy (speed over score)

This was an incredibly peaceful game. Only wars I remember are the two I declared in the industrial age. One so I could get a Golden Age and one to win the UN vote. The 4 scientific civs were extremely helpful getting me all the critical first level techs at this stage. They were worthless for other research after Invention. External towns main use was scientists and workers, which were used to increase the speed of my core and semi-core cities to size 12 - and I dislike urban, I much prefer the country ;) . Three techs in this era took more than 4 turns (6,5x2 respectively).


Medicine, 0340AD, trade Byzantines
Steam Power, 0340AD, trade Russia
Note: Two each for Medicine and Steam Power.

Industrialization, 0400AD, research
Electricity, 0460AD, research
The Corporation, 0500AD, research
520AD – get beat by 4 turns to Newton’s University
Scientific Method, 0540AD, research
Replaceable Parts, 0590AD, research
Steel, 0640AD, research

0640AD - enter Golden Age: declare war on Korea (w/ 6 Cavalry & 5 Ansar Warriors, capture 4 Korean cities on first strike, getting rubber and coal)
Refining, 0680AD, research
Combustion, 0720AD, research
0720AD - get Great Leader at Pyongsong, make peace w/ Korea for Paegan (to connect spices 2 turns later)
Mass Production, 0760AD, research
Motor Transport, 0800AD, research

0830AD – declare war on largest, Portugal, and get everyone to join me
Flight, 0840AD, research
build ToE in Mecca, 0840AD
Atomic Theory, 0840AD, ToE
Electronics, 0840AD, ToE
Rocketry, 0840AD, trade Ottomans
Fission, 0840AD, trade Russia
build United Nations (1000) in Medina (switched from Palace prebuild), 0840AD
0840 AD – hold vote, easily win it win all but one obvious vote :cool:

The most dangerous thing I did is not start another pre-build in-case no one found Fission, which was almost a 1/3 chance. If I were to do it again I’d have another pre-build so I could finish in about 5-6 turns instead of about 14 later if things went unlucky. As it was, the first one I gifted, Russia, got Fission. All three others got Rocketry. Timing the builds takes micro-managment, but I remember reading about this by SirPleb about how to set the finish up a while ago, so that really helped; just have to really pay attention and move citizens around when it looks like you’ll be off by a turn. Also, had lots of micro-management of scientists to hit those 4-turn researches exactly, while still trying to grow the ones with extra food so they could be multi-scientific if/when needed.

Finish with 27.2% of Earth, 43 cities, 304 citizens
Final: Fixaxis 6181; Jason 9716

@A'AbarachAmadan - congats on making new world record for COTM diplomacy! :goodjob: beat DaveMcW by 10 years.

Open Class

Realizing that the water in NW is fresh water, I sent my Scout to the hill NNW from the starting position. What he saw was a very nice location for the foundation of Mecca: A Game at a river and Incense. So my settler followed by the worker went to this place and in 3800BC Mecca was founded.

The location was better than expected: there was a second Game inside the town radius and additionally a Silk ressource was only four fields away. Because of the second Game I decided this time not to build a Granary. So I started immediately with the work on a settler and the research of Alphabet with 100%.

While my Worker was clearing forest the Scout was discovering the surrounding area. On his way he found a Goody Hut lying on a mountain. In COTM 10 I was not successful getting workers from GHs. But in the meantime I read Oystein's article concerning the probabilities of GHs. So I switched the settler production and really I got a worker. And this worker was very valuable because he was not far away from his working place.

In 3300BC the Scout met an Osman Warrior. I exchanged Alphabet for Pottery and switched my research to Writing (again 100%).

In 2590BC my first Warrior met a Russian Settler escorted by a Conscript Warrior. It was clear that this settler was on the way to the Vine. By this settlement I would not only lost the luxury ressource. Additionally it would also block my expansion to the North. At this time I didn't know that Moscow was so close. But also with this knowledge I believe I would have had decided to attack. In the beginning, the attack was not successful: my Regular Warrior lost two of his three hit points. But then he killed the Russian one and two Russian Slave Workers became available.

I placed the wounded Warrior on a mountain and the second Warrior on a hill. Now something interesting happened: The Russians didn't try to flank the two Warriors and to attack my towns. No, they attacked the Warriors on the mountain and the hill. So three Russian Warriors and one Russian Archer lost their lives.

For peace (2190BC) I got St. Petersburg from the Russians. Because of war both Russians Workers were in Moscow. I could get them for Writing.So the Russians - my direct neighbor - were more or less out of the game. At this point I have had 5 additional workers (four Russian slaves and one from GH). The game was runnning well.

After this for some time it was only "business as usual". Republic (slingshot) was researched in 1830BC. Polytheism and Currency were done by myself, all the other ancient technologies - excluding Literature and Monarchy - came from the AI.

In 1325BC I researched Construction. I sent the three scientific civs also into the Middle Age. The Korean free technology was Engineering, the Osmans got Feudalism and the Russians Monotheism. I exchanged Engineering for Republic and 15 Gold, Monotheism for Republic and 57 Gold. Only Feudalism was a little bit expensive: I had to pay Republic, Monotheism, Engineering and 6 Gold.

At this point in my opinion there were two ways to victory: Conquest/Domination or 100k. A coin decided that I have to go the 100k way. After reading the spoiler (DaveMcW) I can say it was the right decision.

Only three further technologies were researched by myself until the end of this game: Literature, Chivalry and Theology. Later Monarchy was exchanged from the Koreans.

Reaching the Middle Ages I started to build Horsemen. Some of these Horsemen were used to capture Edrin and Iznik to get the Iron necessary for the Ansar upgrade. Some turns before the iron attack started Iznik was captured by the Russians. So I was in war with the Osmans and again with the Russians. Because it took to much time to connect the Iron to my other cities, I build a Barrack in Edrin, connnnected Iron and Horses, upgraded the first Ansars and triggered the Golden Age (750BC). In 650BC the last Osman city (Uskudar) was captured. At the Russian front nothing of interest happened. The Russians were to weak and nearly all of my units - especially the Ansars - were in fight with the Osmans. Nevertheless I made peace with Russia asap.

In 710BC the France finished the Pyramids in Paris. So I attacked them also, captured the Pyramids (630BC) and wiped them from the map (510BC). Parallel it was time to say goodbye to the Russians (250BC). It took such a long time because I waited until the last Russian city have had two inhabitants. In this third Russian war I got my first Leader (510BC, Army).

Now it was time to look for the Koreans. In 230BC the Koreans were history. But before this happened I got the second (330BC, Forbidden Palace in Seoul) and third Leader (290BC, Army).

Because I had decided to go for a 100k victory I coudn't wait until one of the AIs (maybe on another continent) has built the Temple of Artemis. The ToA built in Medina was finished in 530BC.

Mecca was founded far away from the sea. So it took a lot of time (Waste) to finish the Great Lighthouse (10BC). I started the attack of the Portuguese with Ansars which reached the other continent by kamikaze ship chaining. But this was not a solution. It was not possible to build the necessary number of Triremes to compensate the losses on sea. After GL was available I also attacked England to reach as fast as possible the domination limit. But because of my problems with the unit transport and because I am a slow conqueror I reached it very late (470AD).

In the meantime I was founding cities (at the end - inclusive captured - 151), clearing forest and pop rushing (switch to Feudalism around 10AD) Cathedrals, Libraries and Colosseums like crazy. But there was one pop rushing problem on this map: The availability of only five Luxuries on the home continent. So it was necessary to build the Sistine Chapel (390AD) to reduce happiness problems. Another problem: maintenance costs. Solution: Marketplaces in all kernel cities.

At the end of the game Theodora tried to extort me. Result: war happiness and the fifth Leader (980AD, Army, worthless). I got the fourth one (310AD, Army) while Portuguese/English war.

In 1180AD I reached the 100k goal. Culture per turn at this time: 1472.

Normally 1000 years after the build-up the points of culture buildings are doubled. So I expected a CpT boost generated by the Temples at 460AD. But nothing happened. Obviously the 1000 year rule is not valid for ToA Temples. ToA points were doubled.

@DaveMcW: 70AD on this map is phantastic. I am glad that the coin decided right.

Awesome, hendrikszoon, and A'AbarachAmadan too.
4th place is approaching mercilessly for me.

@Hendrikszoon - one more world record for this COTM, you beat Dynamic's 100K in COTM10 by 10 years and matched GOTM record by Bremp :clap:

Open, for Arabs in Space
Industrial Age 390AD - 910AD
Modern Age 910AD - 1190AD

Kept 4 turn research all the way since early in Middle Ages. Entered Modern Era in 910AD finishing Theory of Evolution on interturn to get Miniturization and Space Flight as free techs after trading for Computers, Ecology and Rocketry. Had a palace prebuild ready for the internet and that greatly helped in keeping 4 turn research in Modern Time.

Too bad the sci civs didnt get all the 4 techs among them, would have shaved 4 turns off the date. But I guess you cant have it all.

Fun game. Dont see how I will fit the next couple of Xotms into my plans with summer sneeking up on us. But maybe cram them in since they are deity.

Open

After entering the MA in 750BC with a bunchy of crappy cities spread randomly across the centre of the continent, I figured it was time to do some consolidation and treat myself to some solid borders. I also didn't have a great deal of time this month, so I decided my goal would be domination.

Ottoman War 310BC - 90AD
After selling the Ottomans entrance to the MA to get their Feudalism freebie, I promptly declare war on them. I'm not planning on being nice or honourable to anyone this game. I get a leader early on and use him to build a horse army. This is useful for a while but dies capturing Istanbul in 50BC. This is also the date we learn chivalry... Our Golden Age starts in 10AD and from now on, builds are pretty much settler or ansars until the end of the game. We sue for peace in 90AD and then start on the French, since they have Temple of Artemis.

French War 90AD - 230AD
We get our 2nd leader in 150AD and build an ansar army. Which rocks. Use it to capture Paris in 170AD which has the ToA. During this time I redeclare on the Ottomans, and then sign a peace treaty to pick up a town they settled in Korea. Then I declare war same turn and finish them off... I sue for peace with the French in 230AD leaving them with Marseille.

Russian War 250AD - 370AD
The Russians built the Pyramids in 610BC so I was tempted to go for them first, but they were the only civ i saw that had horses available, albeit in a northern ice town, so I decided to leave them until I had a decent ansar stack which could dispose of them quickly. Which I did. I also got a third leader which constructed my second ansar army. I sued for 3 towns for peace, just as I met England with a successful suicide galley. The Russians never connected in their horses. :rolleyes: Moscow was due to complete Sun Tzu soon so I positioned an army outside and sent off the rest of the troops to the doors of Korea

Korean War 360AD - 460AD
Whilst clearing up the continent of the remaining savages, I get my 4th leader (and 3rd ansar army). I meet the Byzantines, who are still in the Ancient Age. Moscow builds ST in 430AD, so I redeclare and capture it next turn, adding free granaries and free rax to my free temple ability. We sue Korea for peace in 460AD, and leave them hanging around, since they are building Leos in Wonsan. Its now a slow and painful wait until Astronomy so I can get a safe sea passage over to the New World. In 560AD, Astronomy is learned, and troops are rallied.

English War 600AD - 690AD
The English were pretty useless, but werescattered over the centre of the continent so it took a little while to clear them. They also possessed the Statue of Zeus which helped them put up some resistance. Nevertheless they succumbed in 690AD. I now had a choice between either taking half of Byzantium or the whole of Portugal to get to Domination. Portugal had the Great Wall and horses. Byantium had pikes and MI and more culturally advanced cities. So I chose Portugal.

Portugese War 630AD - 720AD
The Great Wall put up little resistance to my Ansars and cavalry. I got Theo in at the beginning so I could get her offensive troops wandering across Old England. If I was required to take a few Byzantine cities at the end of the Portuguese War I could pick off her MI in order to have a smooth conquering session. However it was not needed. After conquering Portugal in 720AD, I needed 70 or so tiles to get Domination and luckily the settlers I had roaming across the old and new continents could reach unsettled spots to give me domination in 740AD.

Firaxis - 7229
Jason - 10387

Woohoo! After a year of playing COTM, thats my first +10k Jason. :D And also my first serious attempt at Domination. Perhaps that's telling me something. :hmm:

I made some poor strategic mistakes in the Ancient Ages, and maybe I should have arranged my wars differently so that I was ready to start a new one quicker. I also could have made better use of ROP rape, especially as I conquered the whole of my continent before anyone from the New World learned of my adventures, and so everyone was cautious, if not polite with me when I met them.

Another thing is I dedcided to research to MilTrad first rather than Astronomy which may have cost me over 100 years. Cavalry weren't much extra use really. Ansars did exactly the same job. Cavalry probably came in use when attacking walled Portuguese cities, but definitely were not worth the wait. Must learn to assess the future capability of the AI a bit more, in future...

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/montagecotm12.JPG

You 10K gang kick some serious Civ butt!! :goodjob:
Awesome.
:worship:

Well, as a long time lurker, I decided to give COTM11 a try and found out just how terrible a Civ3 player I really am. After about 4 failed attempts at getting Korea going, I decided to give it up, play a couple practice games, and wait for COTM12.

Entry class: Open
Game status: Spaceship Victory for Arabia
Game date: 1962 AD
Firaxis score: 2907
Jason score: 2822
Time played: 12:12:17

Considering I moved (graduated from the University of WI in December) and got my first real job this month, I'm happy I found 12 hours to play and even more happy I completed the game.

Nonetheless, I have a lot of work to do. I was a relatively successful Civ2 player and (still) for whatever reason haven't managed to grasp Civ3's intracacies. Back to the War Academy...

In 1180AD I reached the 100k goal.

Great result hendrikszoon! You beat me by 21 turns... :(
I was kind of hoping to end my COTM career on a high note with a award, but there's no shame in being beaten by a game played in vastly superior manner! :goodjob:

@Darkness
What you mean ending your COTM career??
I am pretty sure that would be against the COTM rules ;)
Can staff confirm that?

Can staff confirm that? There's no GOTM rule against it ... in fact we now have a Retirement Plan :p

However, I think you'll find that it contravenes the Laws of Physics and is therefore impossible in all circumstances except at a singularity (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/toughguide.html)

@Darkness
What you mean ending your COTM career??
I am pretty sure that would be against the COTM rules ;)
Can staff confirm that?

It means that this is the last COTM I played... Time to move on, etc... :)

It means that this is the last COTM I played... Time to move on, etc... :)
Yeah, right! :rolleyes:

Yeah, right! :rolleyes:

:confused:

It means that this is the last COTM I played... Time to move on, etc... :)
Don't think so :p
Megalou tried a similar stunt a while back, without success. :D

Industrial Ages:
I started the IA 25% territory and 47% population. As it often seems for me, the territory percentage will delay hitting domination.

I am happy that I have coal. I was shocked that there is one source that I own when you consider how much territory I have taken.

The fifth war again Russia started in the Middle Ages continues. The addition gains in the IA are 14 workers, 12 cities, some useless wonders and Sun Tzu. This game has finally broken my leader problem in the COTM. I get leader #5 that will be another cavalry army. Leader #6 appears for another army. I also got several spots to plant additional towns. The war ends in 1335 AD with Russia eliminated. At the end of the Russian war am I up to 32% territory and 51% population. I think I have at least another 5% of the needed territory once temples complete in former Russia.

The sixth war starts with Korea in 1380 AD. Nationalism isn't far away for the AI civs, so I feel I need to attack now. I was hoping to have a few more infantry before this point. I gained 26 workers, 14 cities, Leo's Workshop and Magellan's Voyage. I got leader #7. Korea has been kicked of the continent in 1425 AD. Korea is officially dead in 1460 AD.

The seventh war starts with England in 1500 AD. I am at 52% territory and England will add around 7%. Once I take out England I suspect I will only need to take out a handful of Portuguese cities. I knew England was lame, but I was surprised to find spearman as the main defending unit. I gained 8 cities. The English were destroyed in 1565 AD. The only reason the war lasted that long was the first troop shipment was the defenders. I expected at least some resistance.

The eighth war to win the game is against Portugal. It begins in 1565 AD. I get the Byzantines to join the party just to avoid fighting both civs left. The English territory is awkward to defend against just Portugal. I gained 10 cities.

I got a domination win in 1620 AD. Even with playing the game more militarily aggressive then I am comfortable with I can't come close to the 1000 AD wins. I am totally baffled how the game can end that early. My final game score was 4,557. My Jason score was 6,617.



This game really proved the power of specialist cities. I could research refining in 8 turns at *0%* science. When you consider I went Monarchy and never built universities, it is clear that the scientist where the main force behind me being the run away tech leader. I love when I get the notice that the AI is starting Shakespeare when I could build Hoover Dam.

LKendter- The way the game ends early is to use the whole first age to set up an Ansar production factory out of your core. You just focus on towns, workers, and barracks. Get yourself a republic and self research your way to ansar. There were also very many trade opportunities as gifting the scientific civs into the new age to create tech trades would reduce the amount of turns it took to get to chivalry. There is also room for war in the first age if you are careful and need iron.

Once you are set up, you just pick a victim who doesnt have iron and viola, you have a 4 attack unit against 2 defense units. In the GA you set science to zero, or minimum and use your gold to rush more ansar.

The AI in this one were very backward. They never left expansion mode if you struck quick enough. The 60% water was a huge bonus for us in that respect.

There were two sources of iron IIRC. For those who settled SE, the first was easy to grab, or steal before it got abused by the Ottomans. The second was on a mountain near Korea, but they never moved to claim it in my game - so I grabbed it as soon as I was over there.

This made for very easy warfare.

I just started a bit late compared to others!

I actually got my iron from the island. I tried and failed to take the ottoman iron. The korean iron(they never hooked it up) was out of my range. I sent over a galley with a settler and a spear very early. I settled on the island and disbanded the galley to help make the harbor. Then I let it go brick by brick unitl the turn before I finished researching chivalry and I paid it off. Ansar were my first iron troops.

In my game, the Ottomans grabbed the se iron early. The Koreans built a city 2 away from their iron. I was able to build a city one away on the other side of the mountain and filched it from the Koreans. :lol:

And if goodys can be modded to not provide settlers, can't they be modded to not pop entire cities (which is even worse)?

Predator, barbs fixed

Wow, there were some great games played for this COTM! It seems to be a record-setting game similar to COTM5. Congrats to DaveMcW, A'AbarachAmadan, and Dynamic especially. And my condolences to Megalou: you had a spectacular game, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be. :(

Regrettably, my summary is coming late, but there was simply too much real-life stuff happening this month. I left my old job and began hunting a new one, so I didn’t finish the game until the 30th.

I’m seeking the Eptathlon award and only need space and the cow. When I noticed we had 4 scientific AIs, I decided to go for a space victory in this game. I have made it to space before 1000ad in a monarch game with 3 scientific AIs, so that was my goal for this game. But I didn’t quite make it.

The Ancient Age, 4000bc-1050bc

Initial Moves
I was pretty sure I would be heading southward with my settler, and he could push back the fog in that direction quite well on his own, so I sent my scout NW, W in order to uncover more territory. That revealed the game tile and changed my plan for the settler. He went N, NW in order to found on the hill. Mecca started a scout but ended up switching to a granary because my first scout met the Russians in 3650bc, who knew pottery. So much for that part of the predator handicap. :) After the granary I built scout, warrior, settler. Mecca eventually became a 6-turn settler factory in despotism, a 4-turn factory under Republic. But with all the food bonuses there were many more settler factories to come.

Exploration
Most of my exploring was accomplished via three scouts. I really admired Mad Bax’s design of our starting area. It seemed to me that it would tend to balance out any early decisions the player might make. If you headed north you got deer, south you got deer, and if you stayed put, early growth suffered a bit but it balanced out later by being in the corruption center of three food rich regions. Very cool!

My scouts met the AIs on our continent in the following order: 3650bc, Russia; 2950bc, France; 2850bc, Ottomans; 2710bc, Korea. I also had decent luck with huts, popping Myst, HR and Lit, as well as a warrior and several bundles of gold.

Expansion
I built my second city on the NW side of the lake in a location that claimed the silk and the second game, as well as the cow on border expansion. I would have put it right next to the cow, but a Russian settler was ready to claim the area. My third city got the horse to our west (another pesky Russian settler was trying to poach it), the fourth city claimed the 2 southern games and the fifth claimed a game and wheat to our east. That is a lot of food bonuses, so expansion went really quickly after that. I concentrated on establishing cities to work the commerce-rich lakes and share the food bonus tiles, but it wasn’t easy given my capitol location, the large desert, and the large lakes. I didn’t feel it would be wise to build cities that could get commerce from the lakes or seas at an RCP less than 6 because that was the distance of my productive, food-bonus cities, and closer cities would have increased their corruption. This may have been a mistake overall, as it forced me to research Sanitation down the line in order to let my core cities work more lake tiles. I’m really not sure if it was a good idea to pass on founding more cities close to the capitol or not.

My fifth city claimed the choke point and separated Korea from the rest of our continent, so they never met the other civs. That was most helpful later when trading for the scientific AIs free techs at the beginning of each new age.

At the end of the QSC I had 13 towns, 31 pop, 4 settlers, 13 workers, 1 scout, 4 warriors, 3 archers, 1 spearman, 2 barracks, 2 granaries, 1 temple, horses, silk and incense.
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/BFCOTM12EndQSC.jpg

Warfare
Not a single bit in the ancient age. I sacrificed a great deal of territory/score in order to develop my core and maximize science.

Research
I went with maximum research to the Republic slingshot, making it in 1475bc. (I will also add here that I detest the Philosophy free tech—it makes the game summaries extremely boring and predictable as far as research. I wish we could mod the free tech out of COTM). I researched currency next (1125bc) and turned research off. Normally I wouldn’t have been able to turn off research in a space game, but the AIs got the critical tech, Math, in 1650bc. I traded for all the other techs in the AA except for the three I got from huts, which I immediately gave to the AIs. Russia discovered the last needed tech, Construction, in 1050bc and we entered the middle age. When I gifted the three scientific AIs into the next age I got all three MA techs. Woohoo!

The Middle Age (1050bc-210ad), Industrial Age (210ad-790ad), and Modern Age (790ad-1070ad)

Warfare and GA
Territory/score was a secondary concern in this game so wars came late and I didn’t concentrate on them. The extra territory did help me quite a bit by allowing lots of scientist cities. I never fought Portugal or Byzantine, as I wanted them as strong as possible for research help. I would have left the civs on our continent alone as well (except for the one that built the pyramids), but, my goodness, those Monarch AIs were pitiful. They had no defense, they didn’t bother to connect luxuries or resources, and they expanded very slowly. They were also accomplishing virtually nothing in research after the AA, and that was disappointing. We had the toughest regent-level AIs I had ever seen in the last COTM, but in this one we had the stupidest Monarch AIs imaginable.

Anyway, I decided that any research help I might get would come from Byzantine or Portugal, so I might as well inflate my score a bit by taking the AIs on our continent. The first target was the Ottoman “empire”. I had planned to attack them around 500bc, which was when they were due to build the pyramids in their capitol. Unfortunately, there was a very odd wonder cascade triggered by the Oracle being built that caused them to switch their Pyramid build to Sun Tzu and start another of their cities on the Pyramids. That caught me by surprise and really sucked, but it could have been worse. It could have forced me to build the pyramids myself in order to keep the other continent from stealing them, but as it was, the new city Otto switched to the pyramids would still beat everyone else. They would complete around 230bc, so that’s when we went to war and my GA was triggered.

After the first Ottoman conflict, I would take a few cities from each of the scientific AIs on our continent and then get a few for peace. After doing that a couple of times to all of them, they were each confined to one city for the rest of the game. It was a slow process. I only built around a dozen ansars initially, so they were not “confined” until various turns after 500ad. The French were destroyed in 600ad, but it wasn’t my fault. I left them alone in a beautiful, shiny galley--which they neglected to protect from the barbarians.

The English were eliminated in 650ad because I wanted their luxuries. I had been able to found cities near sources of dye and spice, but the easiest way to get ivory, my eighth luxury, was by taking London.

Every war in the game was my ansars against AI spears, and very few of the latter. All AI cities save one were defended by only 1 or 2 spearmen! Pitiful. And it really made me wish I were playing for a military victory rather than a scientific one. I’m definitely a warmonger at heart, and the smell of blood was making me dizzy.

Research
A critical part of my research strategy was to get a little help from the AIs (even though they sucked). It is the same strategy I learned from Civ_Steve many GOTMs ago: park the AIs on a tech they love to research, then do self research on other parts of the tech tree in order to give them as much discovery time as possible. With Monarch AIs, I would normally expect to get them to research Invention, Astronomy, Industrialization and Replaceable Parts. Flight and Synthetic Fibers are sometimes possible, but long shots. Unfortunately, these AIs were a bit weaker than usual. The other continent, which I met around 700bc, was a bit stronger but not much. In fact, no one had a single gpt to give me. Not one. All game long.

In detail, the research plan was to ensure all the AIs except Portugal were able to research Invention, so I gave them all Engineering as soon as I could. I also ensured they all had Feudalism, otherwise they would surely choose to research that instead. I left Portugal in the AA because they were the strongest researcher. As soon as I had Education, I gifted Portugal every tech I had, which made it very likely that the first tech they would research would be Astronomy.

The first several techs of the MAs (Eng, Theo, Edu, Bank, GP) took more than 4 turns to research, but when I started Chemistry my GA began and it was easy 4-turn research for the rest of the game. I probably should have triggered my GA earlier, as I was nearing 4-turn research before it hit, but I was delaying it because I thought Portugal would research Astronomy for me. Didn’t happen. Fortunately, several AIs did get invention while I was researching Banking.

I did the usual to ramp up the research rate: building libraries, universities, markets, harbors and aqueducts as soon as possible, and building Copernicus and Newton in my two best beaker-yielding cities.

At the beginning of the Industrial Age I got Nationalism and Steam from the AIs (two each). I immediately researched Electricity and gave it to Portugal, which virtually ensured they would research Rep. Parts. The Byzantines were already as likely as they could be to be researching Industrialization because they had Nationalism and Steam (still not great odds though, as they also had all the MA optional techs and the governments to chose to research). After Electricity I had to get Sanitation because of the way I founded my cities early on. I had several hospitals timed to complete shortly after Sanitation and I added about 25 workers to those cities. That increased my science dramatically--especially in Medina and Mecca where each new citizen was worth 6-9 beakers.

I wasn’t able to give Byzantine very long to research Industrialization. I realized that I could not research AT in 4 turns without significantly impacting the growth of my outlying cities, so I decided to go ahead and research it. (In hindsight, it would have been ok for me to hurt the growth of my corrupt cities. I ended up having way more scientists than I needed in the modern age). Portugal did get Replaceable Parts for me, at which point I traded with them and gifted them up in hopes they would research Flight. That was a vain effort.

In the Modern Age I got Rocketry, Fission and Computers from the AIs. Wonder prebuilds for Theory of Evolution, the Internet and Apollo were timed to complete upon entry to the modern age, and I got Space Flight and Miniaturization from the ToE. Seti was completed in my capitol 3 turns later. I gifted Portugal up to Synthetic Fibers when I could but I knew it was pointless to hope they could research a modern tech.

So I managed to get the AIs to research Invention and Replaceable Parts, and these two free techs were very important! They were critical in helping me to edge out MiniMe on his victory date, although his score will probably crush mine. My Firaxis was 7599, my Jason was 10,814. Here is a minimap of my final empire after the spaceship launched in 1070ad. I was close to the domination limit, but I didn’t reach it until very, very late.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/BFCOTM12EndStats.jpg

It’s too early to talk about medals and awards, but…

If Dynamic and I get our respective awards this game, we will both be looking for a cow in COTM13. I sure wish we were competing in any victory condition but the time-eating cow.:twitch: I really like Redbad and all, but I don’t care to wear his GOTM 42 shoes!

Wow! That makes 4 COTM records tied or broken in this game. :crazyeye:

Great game Bradley, as usual I might add :goodjob:

I really like Redbad and all, but I don’t care to wear his GOTM 42 shoes!

Believe it or not: I'm already remembering GOTM42 with nostalgia. The horrors and injustices done to me in GOTM43 (and still ongoing) are just to brutal. I will of course put them to writing in due course, when I'm somewhat recovered.

Four awards tied or broken?......Oh, sheesh, I missed Hendrikszoon's game! Yet another congrats!

@Redbad: If it is bad enough to make you forget that near-cow, then I am afraid to read about it.

They were critical in helping me to edge out MiniMe on his victory date, although his score will probably crush mine. My Firaxis was 7599, my Jason was 10,814.
Great game, bradleyfeanor!
Cannot say I am not disappointed after all my research efforts, but I guess it was rather Middle Age research where I started research too late. I kept on for too long researching Chivalry, and upgrading to ansars. You entered IA way before me and when in addition you managed to get AI to research two techs for you it was just another nail in my coffin.

And also you beat me on Jason. Mine was 10655.

Geez, you deity-class players :worship:. Nice games, but a bit discouraging to us mortals. I got a very late domination, in 1886. 3697 Firaxis, 4066 Jason. :ack: I also had 6 of the starship parts built. Russia and Portugal were the only other survivors. I was surprised at the lack of AI resources, I didn't see a single AI tank. Saw plenty of Russian ToWs and Portugese mechs though.

P.S. I barely got this one in under the deadline, I probably wouldn't have had time to finish the space race and everyone hated me in the U.N.

Congrats Bradleyfeanor! I must note you principally can reach Diplo victory in 710AD - very well date.

I'm interesting about hendrikszoon score because early 100K game get a high boost of score from multiple cities as I had in COTM10. I got around 11900 Jason in this Domination game.

Congrats Dynamic. My Jason score is only 11792.

Also congratulations to DaveMcW, A'AbarachAmadan and last but not least bradleyfeanor for their impressive games.

Believe it or not: I'm already remembering GOTM42 with nostalgia. The horrors and injustices done to me in GOTM43 (and still ongoing) are just to brutal. I will of course put them to writing in due course, when I'm somewhat recovered. :lol: That sounds exactly like my GOTM43. It'll be interesting to compare. Just another thing we seem to have in common of late :rolleyes:. (Well, to be honest I'm waiting to see DaveMcW:s score before I :cry:. Dave shows such a fine modesty. And why not? The publishing of the results should perhaps be a happening, not a formality. Not that I mind that Dynamic told us... <self-snip>)

@Megalou
Well, Dave has published a .crp file. So his base firaxis is known. The calculator is online, so you can find out his Jason. :p

And also you beat me on Jason. Mine was 10655.

I think you had about 12% more of the world than me around 390ad. I would have expected that to make a huge score difference. But, then again, I always seem to be wrong when I try to predict Jason. :( (Not that it matters for either of us with Jason scores nearing 12k!)

I didn't see a single AI tank.

Mine built less military than expected too, and they didn't care at all about connecting luxuries right next to their cities. These Monarch AIs seemed to be weaker than usual in most peoples games. Does anyone have a theory as to why?

None of them had very good terrain, except perhaps the Ottomans.

France - stuck in a bowl surrounded by mountains.
Korea - isolated narrow peninsula.
Russia - jungle and swamp.
Ottomans - plains, grassland, cows. Just right next door to us.

Congrats Dynamic. My Jason score is only 11792.

Thank you! I was almost sure you have a higher result. You built ToA earlier and you reached Republic in before 1800BC!!! :eek: I never mind about this date. Very impressive game :goodjob: !

Very impressive games! The level of play continues to climb.

I founded Mecca on the starting spot, and did Scout, Scout Settler; then Warrior, Warrior, Settler, for several rounds. Not great for growth, but thought that central location would allow me several good core cities. Also put warrior and later city at junction with Korean continent to restrict access. Huts were pretty good to me; IIRC I received 3 or 4 Techs from them! Successful Republic sling shot in around 1200 BC; MidAges in 590 BC.

One problem I have is too many units at time of revolt to Republic; takes me a while to get my gpt costs under control, and this happened again in this game.

Gifted 3 Scientific civs to MidAges; they got 2 Engineerings and 1 Monotheism, and I trade Republic for Engineering (with Ottos), and Republic + Eng + a little Gold to Russia for Mono. I wait for AI to research for me while I save Gold. Get Chivalry in 310 AD, connect Iron in 350 with enough Gold to upgrade 14 Horsemen (I forgot about the 60 shield cost of Ansars vs 70 for Knights!); Russia, who had built TofA, was first. From there, path to Domination lay ahead of me.

Ottos next, and finish off Russian Remnant along the way. France proper (and Pyramids) taken by 600 AD, while remote Settler forms exile govenment on 2nd continent. Massive ROP of Korea done in 650; by 670 Korea govenment limited to Settler on Boat. Use ShipChaining to invade England in early 700's; over in 5 turns. Also launch Ship chained invasion from Korea to capture last French hold-out. Launch 2 sided invasion of Byzantines; main forces from captured England, and 2nd front from Korea. Rushing temples wherever able to in 2nd continent; Domination reached in 900 AD with about 9750 Jason.

Used false peace against Ottos, England - about to capture capital (or 2nd capital,etc), sign peace for all outlying cities, capture capital immediately after. Should have done it with Russia. I was a little depressed that 1st continent only made up about 55% of Domination limit, even with all cities expanded by TofA. I knew I'd have to do some conquering on 2nd continent, but another 10% ... ugh! The terrain was terrible, which would account for how far behind Byzantines and England were.

Some challenging decisions had to be made in this COTM, and I continue to be amazed at the top games put in by some players! :goodjob:

@Megalou
Well, Dave has published a .crp file. So his base firaxis is known. The calculator is online, so you can find out his Jason. :pThanks, but I can only see the base score (in-game score.) Do you need an older version of the viewer to see the final score?

However, an assessment of the lowest possible score you can get with a win like Dave's (one that doesn't show "Invalid input" on the calculator) added to his base score in 50 AD, seems to me to show that Dave beat me by about 150 jason points. I can only guess what causes the "invalid input" to come up, and I'm guessing it's when Early win bonus>Firaxis score.

The firaxis bonus is :
(number of years before 2050) X difficulty multiplier.

(2050-70) X 4 = 7920

BTW it's described in the explanation of the Jason scoring linked from the calculator.

Add the base firaxis from viewer to this, input it in the calculator and :cry: .

And you will find that in fact the 7920 is the lowest number, where you get a valid result from the calculator.

Yeeeeeeeees... that's pretty much the knowledge I had to acquire for the above calculation :mischief:. My CRP viewer is a bit capricious because it would show zero for Dave's 70 AD base score a minute ago. Now showing it, I'd say it's more like 250 points. And your score was...?

The viewer doesn't like to show the score @ 70AD for me either. But I think :crazyeye: the score counting is really the one on the turn before (777), but the victory date is definitely 70AD.

BTW, I had 11501 Jason.

:blush: I always feel a bit shy about posting when I'm interrupting the big dogs discussing their 3-digit victory dates and 5-digit Jason scores. :worship:
Mind you, this game was the best chance I've seen yet for us mid-rankers to hit such high scores... well I didn't quite get there, but I eagerly look forward to the results table.

Open class

The Medieval Age (350bc - 1265ad)

1. The Ancient Age... ends in 350bc with 18 towns, 3 native luxuries, horses hooked up and the Ottoman iron controlled but disconnected. Two of the towns are in a colony which has been slowly growing south of Korea. It started as a single town from a hut, and is expanding by building only settlers and regular warriors, at the rate of 1spt.

2. Our neighbours: Russia is already medieval, and got Engineering free. I have already had a war with Russia, and they will be my first target on the road to domination, just because I'm vindictive. France is laughably weak. She rebuilt very few of the workers I bought from her, and her only saving grace is that she has horses and a luxury. The Ottoman is much stronger, and reaches medieval in 130bc, getting Feudalism. Korea has plenty of room and iron, but isn't doing much with it, and hasn't met the other guys. Korea has also fallen behind on tech, and doesn't reach medieval until 70ad, getting Feudalism.

3. The Pyramids. I was building them in my Forbidden City, but they went to the other continent, and I cascaded to Mausollos in 130bc. It isn't an especially useful wonder, but there wasn't anything else interesting left.

4. War! I dow on Russia in 90bc. The French and Ottomans are brought in with me, but contribute nothing to the war effort; they just try to trek settler combos through Russia to the poorly settled tundras. I am fighting this war with horsemen, and capture Moscow 2 turns after it finishes the Great Library. Russia keeps building new towns further and further north during the war, but I finally capture their last settlement in 380ad. I succeed in blocking all foreign settler combos from reaching their destinations.

5. The other continent... is contacted in 340bc by a suicide galley south of Korea. I find Portugal, but will have to wait until 540ad to meet the English, and 580ad for the Byzantines, due to barb galleys and bad luck with subsequent suicide missions.

6. The unique Unit. I research slowly to build up cash for upgrading, and get Chivalry in 380ad. The Ottoman iron is hooked up in 440ad. In the same turn I research Invention and switch a prebuild over to finish Leonardo. Now I can start upgrading my horses to ansars. By 490ad, I feel I have enough ansars available to dow on France. Our golden age starts with an ansar victory the same turn.

7. War again. France puts up little resistance. In 540ad, I take the Lighthouse from them, and in 560ad, I take their last city on the home continent. Unfortunately, it seems that they have established a colony on the other continent using the Lighthouse. I ally the English and Portugese against France, and they finish her off in 630ad. This is important because I don't want contact between the two continents, as I'm about to get dishonourable.

8. Dishonour! Without the French to rat on me, I break a luxury deal with the Ottomans and dow on them in 650ad. In this year, I get my first military leader, who creates an ansar army, and capture Artemis from the Ottomans. In 710ad, I take the Ottoman Oracle, and in 740ad, the fall of the last Ottoman city marks the end of another rival civilization.

9. The luxury hunt. Now I have 5 native luxuries, but it's never enough. In 800ad I squeeze a town between a couple of Portugese settlements to claim spices. This is a source of tension, and the Portugese will eventually ROP rape me over it. But before that, I have my own ROP rape to commit. The victim is Korea in 840ad. I capture 4 towns on the first turn, although I overlooked a stack of ansars that I had hanging around in Korea! Korea is easy, apart from some lucky pikes in Seoul, which finally falls in 980ad, bringing Sun Tzu into my empire.

10. ROP Rape... is comitted by the Portugese in 950ad. They capture my spice settlement, and I bring the English and Byzantines into the war. My own retaliation is held up a little by my lack of ferries, and I take the first Portugese town in 1090ad. I discover Military Tradition in 1190ad, so the final push is done with cavalry instead of ansars. I had hoped that the home continent would be big enough to support a domination win, but in the end I work south through Portugal and have to capture all but four of their towns. If there had been no trouble with Portugal, I would have targetted England instead. They were as feeble as the French, with only half a dozen towns, but probably just enough land to reach 66%. Domination is triggered in 1265ad, scoring 6440 Firaxis points and 9423 Jason points.

I'm pleased with the outcome; it's my highest Jason score ever, and my fastest finish by some 300 years. I could have speeded up the science rate, but I don't know how well that would have interfaced with my treasury growth - I did a lot of horse-to-ansar upgrading, and feel I should have built all my ansars this way, using connect/disconnect on my iron source. The order in which I tackled the AI was also not optimal, but they were all weak enough that this probably makes only a small difference to the final outcome.

All in all, it was a very easy map, but it's nice to be able to just rampage once in a while :)

I can commiserate with you PaperBeetle. I've been playing since GOTM01 and thought I had a pretty good game with a 1575 AD diplomatic win, when along comes A'AbarachAmadan with a 840 AD diplomatic win. He beat me by over 100 turns :lol:

Good thing I'm only playing this for fun.

Right; in 840ad I'd recently got Theology, and these guys have just got Fission :eek:
Or looking at it another way, 840ad is turn #200, and Fission is at least your 50th tech (assuming one governmental tech other than Feudalism :rolleyes: ), so that's four turns per tech throughout the whole game, and surely the AI can't have been much help in this one...