GOTM 53 Second Spoiler

To qualify for this spoiler, you must have reached the Industrial era or completed and submitted your game.

Please don't discuss or disclose locations of resources beyond saltpeter.

[ptw]http://gotm.civfanatics.net/common/swordsman_small.gifPredator Conquest Challenge

We start off the Medieval Ages during the Golden Age of the Celtic
Kingdom at war with Rome and the Iroquois and in a state of
Anarchy. Very fast in 50 BC, the rule of Republic is established.
Research is turned off and we collect masses of cash used for rushing
improvements in the planned second core around Rome and later for
rushing units.

The Roman War continues until 90 AD, when peace is made for all
remaining cities on the Roman mainland. Rome now consists of two
cities on the Egyptian island. In 190 AD we make peace with the
Iroquois. They'll have to wait their turn like everybody else.

In 280 AD we declare war on Scandinavia and in 290 AD capture Nidaros
with The Great Wall and The Pyramids. The great leader Vercingetorix
emerges in 310 AD and is sent the long way back to Rome where he
builds the Forbidden Palace in 370 AD. In the same year three luxuries
are connected from the formerly Scandinavian lands and ten years later
we make peace with Scandinavia for the last city. The jungle capital
is put on the waiting list and the troops march on to Babylon.

War is declared in 400 AD. Orgetorix the great leader emerges in 470
AD and kept on hold for a while. In a peace deal in 500 AD, we learn
Feudalism and Monotheism and can start the research for Chivalry. In
510 AD Sun Tzu's Art of War is built in the last captured Scandinavian
town. We now have a granary, a barracks and city walls in all cities
on the continent. But we have forgotten how to train Gallic Swordsmen.
Babylon is destroyed in 520 AD.

Parallel to the Babylonian war, Rome is attacked and duly destroyed
twenty years later. We also use our rearguard from the Scandinavian
campaign to destroy Scandinavia after having healed a few turns.
Troops march on from the rape of Rome to attack Egypt, which falls in
590 AD.

The last war is waged against the Iroquios and lasts from 510 AD to
680 AD with conquest victory recorded for 690 AD.

Jason 9539.

The Ancient Age
I started off by chopping the game to give myself a second worker and an early granary, and ICSing the Gallic island with 2 towns at RCP2, 4 at RCP4, and a wealth specialist at RCP6. This got me Mapping by 1250bc, and I quickly got in touch with everyone except for Egypt. A flurry of tech trading later, I had a strong QSC in the bag. But I still hadn't chosen a victory condition, so with no particular direction in which to head, the rest of the ancient age was squandered doing strange things. I ignored the government techs and researched at full speed towards the medieval. Meanwhile, I knew I had to go to Rome, but didn't want a despotic golden age. So the war was on hold while I continued my despotic research, reaching the medieval in 510bc. Finally, I came to my senses, and realised I needed a new government. Research was directed to Republic, with the new senate installed in 10ad. I was ready to take on the Romans.

The Golden Age
I dow on Rome in 30ad, which cuts the coastal trade routes from my eastern luxury colonies. No problem; I had anticipated this, and had sufficient gallics in place, ready to remove the offending Roman towns. The golden age begins. I also take their northern iron town. This iron source isn't yet hooked up, but the one next to Rome is - it only happened quite recently, and I had hoped to start the war before they could get any legions into their build queues. My remaining gallics (I had about a dozen at the start of the war) dash south to go and pillage the remaining iron. The iron is unhooked in 130ad, but Rome alerady has a legion. On the other hand, my gallics have performed well against counterattacks from Roman archers, so I decide to press the attack against their capital. I am successful, and Rome is captured in 150ad. I give Caesar peace for three distant towns.

The Medieval Age
I bring some new gallics into position, and redeclare war on Rome in 210ad. I get a war weariness hit in 250ad, but it isn't enough to slow my research; by 290ad I have Engineering and Monotheism. This is the same turn that I finish off the Romans, and I have been waiting for this moment to pull the tech trick; I sell Currency, Literature, Engineering and Monotheism to the Babylonians (who got Mono as their free tech), Quois and Vikings for a total haul of 119gpt. I don't sell to Egypt as I plan to attack there next. I hadn't brought Ham into the medieval earlier, as I still wasn't sure about doing a science game. If I was going to war all the way, I didn't want to risk Feudalism coming into the game (both for giving the AI pikes, and for giving me maces). That was a very bad call.

A Moment of Peace
With Rome gone, and no great leader to show for it, I turn my attention to a free palace jump. I long ago built the FP in my second town (at RCP2 from the capital), and CivAssistII says I need about 30 units in Rome to give it sufficient weight to draw the palace. That's actually quite handy for a change, as Rome is a reasonable place to marshall troops for the invasion of Egypt. Entremont is disbanded and refounded in 380ad, and Rome gets the new palace as planned. This provides a good ring set-up for PtW; I have a very loose first ring of RCP 4 and 5 around the capital, and very tight placement around the FP: 3 towns at RCP2, 1 at RCP3, and 1 at RCP4. Still, it is regrettable that the FP core is so very small. I would have prefered one core in Rome and one in Egypt, but I feel I have too much invested in the Gallic island now.

Speaking of Egypt...
Now that Roman palace jump is done, it is time for my troops to head off on their next assignment. I dow on Cleo in 400ad. I don't really have enough ships in the area, so I ferry east in small batches. I start by unhooking their horses and southern iron, and I capture Memphis, which should cut their core's access to their northern iron. As with the Romans, attacking their towns is mainly a question of "do they have one regular spear or two?" but Thebes is the big exception. It is a city, is built on a hill, and proves to have at least seven spears in it. As this is predator, they are building them for 10 shields, so they are probably getting a new one every turn. My first assault on Thebes is turned back, so I head around the coast and pick off all the other towns instead.

AI Helps in Research Shocker
In 490ad, the AI (probably the Quois, maybe the Vikings) come up with what will quite possibly be the last required tech they ever research for me; Feudalism. No more quibbling about whether I am going to want to kill everyone with gallics. I give Watha Theology for Feudalism, Monarchy and 7gpt, and sell it on to Ham for 11gpt. The Celts are going to the stars. Or maybe just to the UN. Depends how much time I have on my hands. My own research has reached the end of the top branch of the tech tree, so the arrival of Feudalism is perfectly timed; I set research to 100% for Invention.

A Big Decision
Back in Egypt, Thebes is the last mainland town, and my second assault on it, in 530ad, is successful, also throwing up my first leader. Now this presents me with a lot of options. I could rush Copernicus in my best science town (I nominate Rome, although technically the silk town, Veii, has slightly more potential), I could save him for some other handy wonder like Bach or Smith, I could disband my FP town and build a new FP in Thebes (I think this is actually the strongest idea). But what I actually do is build an army. This is pretty crazy, as I plan to stop warring once Egypt is dead, so armies and Epics and Academies and Pentagons are of little interest to me. Apparently I'm still not completely out of the conquering mindset.

Financial Security
The army does prove handy though. I put two gallics into it and send it to the southern tundra island, where Egypt's last town sweats under the watchful eye of a single patroling gallic. The army lands, absorbs the loose gallic (I will have galleons soon anyway) and attacks the new Egyptian capital. The defending regular spear hits the army 10 times in a straight run, but finally runs out of steam, and I take the town. But not before the northern town of Asyut flips back to Egypt. I send a couple of gallics up there to take it, and Cleo is toasted in 630ad. Again, I take the opportunity to pull a tech trick, selling the three surviving civs Theology, Gunpowder, Education, Banking and Chemistry for a net haul of 441gpt. That should fund my 100% science rate for some time to come! I mop up the last couple of medieval techs to reach the industrial era in 780ad.

Duing the MA, my aim was to kill Rome and Egypt, and get a second MGL.

First Roman War in the AA was an easy victory to the glorious Celts. After taking 3 towns, leaving 1 town N of rome. MGL arrived, and used him for an army to build Hero Epic and encourage more leaders.

Second Roman War was a slow and painful affair, with Gallics fighting many legions. Maces were wandering around too, causing more troubles. This war led to the capture of 2 cities. Rome and the last remaining roman city N of rome.

Third Roman War was where i finally broke them. They had no iron after the end of the last war, and i had been building some knights. Straight through them in approx 10-15 turns. Not bad since they were a decent size before the final war.

While i was warring with Rome, the Iroquois had slowly reduced Scandinavia to 5 cities. I knew i needed more land, and Egypt was where i would get it.

First Egypt War cause me to gain the only Egyptian city on the ex-Roman continent. That was it.

Second Egypt War, was a well planned and executed attack on the Egyptian Homelands. 3 muskets and 12 knights were the initial force. In the first 2 turns of war, the northern penisular was completely mine(3 cities). This was a sign of things to come, as a went through most of the Egyptian Continent without losing 10 units in total. Unfortunately, I never got a GL after the first one, which led to me having to handbuild the Forbidden Palace in Rome by hand. After it was built, the Egyptian Continent become productive.

First Iroquois War was a sneak attack by the Iroquois on my poorly defended colonies on "The Continent". I lost my furs, and many troops causing major WW and unhappines. Fortunatryl i kep tmy incense city.

Aim in the IA and Modern Era, get a tech lead, get to space.

I have taken out Rome and half of Egypt when the Great Library brings me to the middle ages. I am little afraid that my AI friends will research Feudalism since I do not want to fight Pikes and I am also quite fond of my Gallics. But there is nothing to worry about, the Iroquois will be the only one to research Feudalism and it will never spread to Celtic lands.

Around at the same time as entering the MA I complete the Great Lighthouse in Entremont. Although not really necessary on this map it would help me to move my gallics a little faster around the continents.

The Egyptians do not really put up much of a fight and are gone quickly. By now I have the world map and see that all the other AI share the main continent.

I decide to take on the Babylonians first and ship my gallics over. It is a quick war and the Babylonians are gone. I take their island city in a fake peace deal. However, they refuse to give me their northernmost city (gems) and I need to send a little raiding party up there.

The scandinavians are next on the list. I gather my troops in former Babylonia on the border and at the same time ship over arount 6 gallics from the other side to take on the vikings from both sides.

Soon I get my 4th leader and I use him to build the Heroic Epic in the second viking city I take. Through to the end I will not get another leader (HAHA). Progress through scandinavia is somewhat slow as the infrastructure is truly horrible. I have to move my poor gallics through forests and mountains. But again the resistance is low and soon I also take the southern cities and stand on the borders of Iroquois land.

The iroquois have discovered feudalism but failed to connect iron, so no pikes. Of course they do not stand a chance against my gallics. My victory is only delayed by the lack of roads and a killer spearman in their secondbiggest city (cannot remember its name). He takes out around 4 gallics and puts my win at least 3 turns back.

Entry class: Open
Game status: Conquest Victory for Celts
Game date: 640 AD
Firaxis score: 4829
Jason score: 9717
Time played: 06:14:56

My victory is only delayed by the lack of roads and a killer spearman in their secondbiggest city (cannot remember its name). He takes out around 4 gallics and puts my win at least 3 turns back.
...
Game date: 640 AD
:eek: I guess I should put some flowers on his grave then. Thanks to him, my dreams of a fastest conquest still holds :D (conquest win in 630 AD, see first spoiler thread).
Really well played though :goodjob:. I believe your tactics of going at the continent through Babylon instead of Scandinavia may well have been the better way to go.

Just to say: this is the first ever archipelago map I've ever played all the way through.
I know I suck on the archis, but at least I've finally completed one.
Domination victory with cavs.

Conquest - open

My gameplan was very simple. I set up my core at RCP 4 on our starting island. After getting MM in 1000bc I began my conquest of the world. Initially my unit of choice was the archer. Using a large stack of these (about 19 in total) I captured Rome and destroyed Necropolis before extorting several towns for a peace which was broken again as soon as my armies were moved into position.

Rome was thus swiftly dealt with as were Egypt and then Babylon in a similar fashion. Around this time I research Monarchy (my research was a little unfocused after mapping). I the revolted and switched my builds from archers to GS's.

My first GS victory came quite quickly and I began my twin assults on Iroquois and the Vikings. Neither put up too much resistance with the last town falling in 490AD for a conquest victory in 500AD.

I found the game quite unsatisfying. I got annoyed with myself being so slow to monarchy (I did some pointless min research and an even more pointless research of literature before going doing poly and monarchy). I also didn't get a GL until 490AD, the same turn I won. Therefore I never got my second core up. Really should have done a Palace jump.

Anyway, on with COTM 23.

Barbarian Hordes!
Switching to monarchy put us in a deficit, so I pick a fight with Rome to get our Golden Age. Antium is taken, along with slaves. The gallics don't really fight all that well and have trouble killing archers. We take Hispalis in 330 and build Lapurdum in 350. Entremont gets the Gardens in 360, having originally been the builds for Great Wall, then Lighthouse.

I learn feud in 400, so no more gallics, but I start on chivalry for the knights. I make Rome cough up Republic+25+WM, though we never use it. Next turn Rome builds the GL as Ratae Coritanorum is built. Rome is decomissioning legions and I build an embassy to Rome.

No Antony for Cleopatra
The GA ends in 490 and I pick a fight with an easier target, Egypt. El-Amarna falls in 510 as we learn chivalry next turn. Egypt captures Elephantine next turn, but as it is far behind enemy lines, it is no big loss. We get our leader in 550 and build the FP at Burdigala in 570. Next turn we trade chivalry to Rome for theo+23+WM. We also trade it to Babylon for a slave+2. Also, we raze Thebes.

The silly Egyptians send out a settler with spear and we promptly thank them for the new slaves. Their generosity continues with Heliopolis building the Lighthouse for us. We start steamrolling at this point, also building Tolosa and Lindum to fill in vacant areas. In 670 we learn engineering and by 720 we kick Egypt off their homeland. We learn invention in 780, building Nemausus previously. We trade invention to Babylon for education+PP+17, and open an embassy to them. Egypt is utterly destroyed in 850.

Where Indian Fights Are Colorful Sights
The Iroquois pick a fight in 890 by demanding invention. We learn guns in 910 and find saltpeter outside Richborough. In 960 Entremont builds Leonardo and I trade guns to Babylon for astro. The Iroquois send a SoD of mounties and knights toward Ratae Coritanorum, my sole outpost on Alpha continent. We take their island town of Kawauka first, and declare peace. We are average strength compared to them, but I didn't want a war with them.

The Scourge of God
In 990 I launch a three-prong attack. My main force from the east, another force from the south, and a third wave from Ratae Coritanorum to take Roman holdings on Alpha continent. At the turn of the second millenium a Byzantium spear drives off two knights and a gallic, but we take Ravenna and burn down Rome. We are taking losses, tho. In 1030 we learn chemistry and take Lutetia the following turn. I gather troops for the assault on Veii in 1080, expecting a tough nut to crack. Next turn, it falls like a house of cards. In 1110 Byzantium, with its furs, finally falls, as does Viroconium. We trade Babylon chemistry for banking+27, along with maps.

We are dismayed to find that Rome has a musket defending Cumae. Viroconium had been sitting on a saltpeter deposit. Next turn we trade Iroquois chemistry for music+36, and in 1130 we take Cumae despit its musket, and build Glanum on the ruins of Rome. Caesaraugusta and Augusta fall by 1150 and Rome is kicked off their homeland. We rush a harbor in Ratae Coritanorum. We learn metallurgy in 1160 and by 1180 Rome is finished. We are weak compared to Iroquois, strong compared to Vikings and Babylonians. Isca is built in 1190 to fill in a hole. A wonder cascade takes the Sistine and Copernicus in 1240, and we trade metallurgy for navigation+5 in 1250. Next turn we learn military, while Vikings build Sun Tzu.

Berzerk Against THIS!
War is declared on the Vikings in 1275 as Vasteras is taken. Malmo follows in 1310 as we learn Econ and Entremont switches to Smith's.
We take a succession of towns as we learn physics in 1355. A half-century later, we learn grav, as cav roll into Nidaros, taking over Copernicus. Qitaimjorg is taken next turn and since I hate that name, I rename the town Glevum. I don't know about you, but I found berzerks much tougher on defense than their 6.2.1 would indicate. I build towns to fill in the holes while Entremont finishes Smith in 1430, helping cash flow tremendously. Bjoergvin is taken in 1440 with Sun Tzu, and once again I make the mistake of not selling off barracks beforehand. In 1450 we learn magnets and enter the IA.

Hammurabi on Rye
Vikings are wiped out in 1480, and Babylon is the next target. Babylon is wiped out in 1630 and we get domination in 1640. 2847 Firaxis, 6353 Jason. Time 28:01:11. This is my earliest domination ever, except for a test game on warlord with Babylon that didn't have an island start.

...conquest victory in 500AD.
:( Aww, there goes my vain hopes of an award. You clearly proved my theory that going after Babylon first was the better way to go. In a way it feels good to have been beaten rather decisively - I made some minor mistakes that cost me a few turns, but certainly not 13 so now they no longer matter. So it feels good in a sense to know that it was my strategy that was wrong, and not its implementation.

Here's to a well played game. :beer:

Oh, and btw:
Conquest - openThat means I might still have the small solace of winning the Predator Conquest Challenge... ;)

Bjoergvin is taken in 1440 with Sun Tzu, and once again I make the mistake of not selling off barracks beforehand.

You can sell them afterwards. It's just a pain having to right-click each one to see whether it is real or virtual.

Conquest - Conquest.

My gameplan was very simple. I set up my core at RCP 4 on our starting island. After getting MM I began my conquest of the world. I captured Rome with few GS and extorting several towns for a peace which was broken 13 turns after. Probably it was better to break reputation earlier.
Rome was thus swiftly dealt with as were Egypt and then Iroques in a similar fashion. I use MA withVikings for war with Whata and Rabi. Around this time I research Monarchy (my research was a little slow because GA was over and cash ran out. )

Last babs town fall at 390AD for a conquest victory in 400AD.

I found the game quite unsatisfying and boring. No real politics and military tackical issues appeared. Probably it was important to consider more optimal troops relocation with this complicated land/sea structure. Unfortunately I have found direct sea path (bridge) to Vikings only later in the game.
I also didn't get a GL until 230AD. My second core appeared in Salamanka.
Bunch of GLs appeared near end game, but it did not make change of result, I think.

PTW Open, 20K.

110AD - learn Currency, enter MA. Start Mono, sell currency to Babs, they've got Feudalism.
Revolt to Republic.

150AD - We have Entremont maxed out, we are in Rep, we have 9 GS and 2 v.Warriors, so we are ready for GA.
Whom should we attack - Rome or Vikings? We need to take out Vikings before they learn Invention, and that shoudl be easy. But they are further away and less developed, almost no roads. Plus Rome built Pyramids in 50AD - it means it didn't build anything else for a while, plus its other town is building GLH. And we can have FP in the city of Rome: it's close enough so that we can hand-build it.

So Rome it will be.
1st GS starts GA by killing 1 Spear and taking Antium.
260AD - fake peace with Rome as need to regroup.

circa 300AD - a disaster. We get together 12GS and attack the city of Rome. They all get redlined or killed without making a dent. Next turn redlined GS are killed off, and in a few more turns we are pushed off the island. About this time we learned Feudalism from GLib, which puts an end to a hope of GS warfare. Have to wait till knights.

GA was spent building Colosseum, GLH (the only wonder available then), Cathedral, and starting of Sistine, which still took us 22 turns to finish after GA was done.

circa 500AD - we researched top branch and traded for Chivalry & Invention, settled a town near furs, got RoP with Vikings and roaded to their land and through so that we can trade for their spare Horse, Incense & Wine. Built Knights in 3 island cities.

circa 700AD - after we have about 8 Knights our Horse town flips back to us. We go there and try to take Antium again, but it defends with muskets already. In the next few turns we are assaulted with amazing amounts of Legions, MDIs and Longbowmen, we hurry a wall and defend for a while, and generate a GL on counter attack - the only one in this game, he hurries Bach. Then we are off the island again.

At this point, with almost all of our Knights killed, we deside to forgo out military ambitions and just build stuff in Entremont. We snatch all the MA wonders except Sun Tsu, Leo and Magellan and enter IA circa 1400AD.
Gift Babs, they get Medicine and we can get Steam Power in 12 turns.

Conquest - Conquest.

Did you really play Conquest class!?

Did you really play Conquest class!?
Yes, I did. Just for curiosity. Somebody sometime have to test it...
Also I have littel time this month and hope to finish the game soonner.