OK, this one is fairly straightforward.

One City Challenge - we get one city. Period. That's it, no more, ever. Any settlers we get out of huts can be folded into the city, used as scouts, or disbanded, but may not found new cities. No building settlers. If any city admires us too much, we must rebuff the rebels.

Civ: France
Difficulty: Monarch
Map: Standard, 80% water, continents, rugged
Barbarians: Restless
Turn length: 20 turns
All victory conditions enabled.


ROSTER:

Sirian
Zed
lkendter
Jaffa Tamarin


Small, fast game, short turns, Zed plays on weekends only, so expect one turn per week, usually. We'll slow to 10 turns per player in the late game, like after 1750AD, or thereabouts (if we live that long).

I played 40 turns to start.

4000AD: We start on a river. One game, one wheat in sight, kind of dry, hilly land, one square from the shore, so I'm going to move us to the coast. There's a goody hut right next to us!

3950AD: Paris founded. A settler pops out of the goody hut. (Heh). I start us on Bronze Working so we can build spears and the Colossus.

3850AD: Wheat irrigated. We're set to grow to size 2 in just six more turns.

3800AD: Spot the cultural border of Japan. They are JUST to our south, next door neighbors!

3700AD: We build a warrior.

3600AD: Our settler meets an Indian warrior. We trade them Masonry for Ceremonial Burial and 10 gold.

3550AD: We build a second worker and shrink back to size 1.

3500AD: Our settler meets an American scout. We trade them Alphabet and a couple of gold for Pottery.

3300AD: We build a second warrior. Our workers are chopping forests toward a temple.

3200AD: Trade Alphabet and some gold to Japan for The Wheel. We trade the Wheel to America for Warrior Code.

2950AD: Our temple is completed!

2710AD: The AI's just researched/brokered Bronze Working, as we dropped from due in 5 turns to due next turn. I buy Bronze off Japan for 1 gold, which improves our relations up to Cautious. I start us on Writing, to head toward Literature and the Great Library!

2510AD: An English warrior visits near our land.

2470AD: We build a granary. All our forests have now been chopped down. Irrigation and mining of our more fertile lands is progressing quite nicely. We start on the Colossus.

2430AD: With a granary now in place, and up to four squares with 3 food apiece (two wheat plains, one game plains, one flood plains) our city growth rate is now skyrocketing.

2350AD: We buy Mysticism off the English for 34 gold.

2310AD: A Roman warrior visits near our land. We sell them the wheel for 19 gold. Japan has founded the city of Osaka in precisely a location upriver from us that hugs our land with no overlap.

2270AD: America founds New York at the nearby wines supply to our north. Not going to be any native luxuries for us. :( No horses either. If we're really lucky, we'll get something good in the hills, maybe. PARIS GROWS TO SIZE 7!

2150AD: I remember that we have a settler sitting around, and fold him into our city, increasing the population to size 9! We have to run 30% luxuries to cover happiness, but Colossus now due very shortly.


My 40 turns are up. We're in pretty good shape! City is large, has ancient temple in place and granary, should grow to size 12 before too awfully long. Then we can mine some of the irrigations to increase shields. Keep an eye on luxuries, may have to increase to 40% soon, but should be able to cut back after the Colossus is finished. We are in contact with 5 of our 7 rivals, and none have started any wonders yet. We MAY be able to get Oracle as well as Great Library... or maybe not. We can use the Pyramids as placeholder once the Colossus is finished.

A 20000 pt cultural victory would probably be our safest bet. Diplomatic would be next best hope, then space. Colossus is a Commercial wonder, so after that we would only need Industrial to kick off our Golden Age. It would be pretty much completely wasted under Despotism, so after we get Literature, it might be wisest to head for Monarchy, swap governments, and build the Hanging Gardens for the golden age. If we can. If not, there's not much hope for a later golden age. There aren't any industrious wonders after Hanging Gardens except for the UN. Although we could perhaps trigger with a musketeer.

Worrying about the Golden Age should perhaps come secondary behind worrying about maxing our culture, too, so we might better off sticking to building ancient wonders, and ride the great library for all its worth.


Zed, what do you think? You're up next, 20 turns lasts until 1500BC.

As for the last one or two roster spots, I'm going to be running RBD10 second 5CC game to include newer folks who want in on some action, so we'll reserve these slots here in 11 for old guard RBD players, if they want them.


- Sirian

The last few times I've had cities culture-flip to me, I don't think I was even given the option to rebuff the rebels. I might pay more attention in the future, but I don't think you have the option to refuse a city given to you in a flip in 1.17f.

I have never tried a 5CC game, I would be interested in trying when you start it

Is it even possible to win with one city? Especially on MONARCH difficulty......

Conquest/Domination is definitely not an option. Even if you raised all the cities you could never support an army to attack with...

A space race victory could be POSSIBLE without with high expense of entertainment for all the cities....

Limiting yourself to only one wonder at a time means that culture is out of the question as well...

I suppose the best solution would be diplomatic....

I would be very surprised if this game ended in victory, I will keep this thread on my subscribed list :)

Good Luck! :king:

Most of the RDB games are TO high of difficulty for me, I mean Emperor? :crazyeyes

However, I think I can handle one city. Let me know.


I have definitely pull of 20000 culture before ;)
Think by Babylon game, plus several SP games.

Culture is an option, you can get a cultural victory if any city reaches 20,000 culture points. I have never done it on monarch, but have on regent.

It's possible, and their chances are not remote. I had a tarnished win of almost same condition: Monarch diff, and I chose French. Cultural was disabled or that would have been the win, instead I wanted a space race victory. Under stricter conditions than I played I would caution you guys be careful to watch resources, pick your battles carefully, and hope for nearby 'choke points'. Your best shot may be cultural, but diplomatic and space race are very likely viable (Space race being resource dependent to some degree)

I'm going to pass on this one, not because it won't be interesting, but i) it's TOO similar to what I've done, and ii) got too many irons in the fire. You guys will like the game, I'm pretty sure. Turns will be *MUCH* shorter too :D

Good luck!

http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/message?forumid=60822&messageid=1010291178
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Here lies the tale of a (ALMOST) One City Challenge game. Alas, it was neither
truly one city, nor without reloads, but very very close to both (you'll see why later)

Monarch diff, French, small map, random 5 opponents (America, Germany, Greece, Aztecs, India)
4 billion, temperate, normal weather, and a medium archipellago (for some protection).

Space Race victory in the year 2039! Culture 20,903. (Would have been Cultural Victory in
the year 2026 A.D. with 20,046 at 69/turn, except all conditions but space race turned off.)

In the end, Calvary was 18 (down from 23 due to Settler pumping at end) with
Colossus, Great Library, Copernicus, Newton's, Darwin's, SETI. Ranked dead last
in everything, except first in: Literacy, disease, pollution, life expectancy, mil service.

Ranking (Territory 154)
America 2071
Germany 1804
Greece 1756
Aztecs 1218
India 1164
France 258

Title: Joan d'Arc the Pathetic (only "Worthless" is weaker!)

In Calvary: Palace, Barracks, Granary, Temple, Marketplace, Library,
Courthouse, Walls, Aqueduct, Bank, Cathedral, University, Colosseum,
Factory, Hospital, Research Lab, SAM Missile, Coastal Fortress, Solar Plant,
Harbor, Airport, Police Station, Colossus, Great Libary, Copernicus
Observatory, Newton's University, Theory of Evolution, SETI, CIA, Apollo (1973).

4 spices, 2 wheat, 1 fish. (No river, NOT a good idea!)

One key gambit, stole Superconductors from India -- it turns out I probably would have lost
by less than a handful of rounds if I did not. They were ahead in the space race, and on their
own island far from me. Even if war broke out, they would not pursue, or would give up their
space lead in pursuing military. This allowed me to be the first to Laser, although Fuel
Cells, needing Uranium, was the last piece I made.

What seemed like a key factor, although I can't be 100% sure it was what did it,
was my main strategy: kiss up. I traded and gave 1 gold constantly, and ended up
giving my world map out for free to EVERYONE about every five turns :P Heck I didn't
care anything about what the world looked like, and my territory was kinda small.
At an early stage everyone got 'polite' and most of game everyone was 'gracious'
(wow, what a NICE change!) Wars went on left and right around me, but every request
for a treaty, MPP or aliance was countered with "here, have a map!!" Toward the end when
I actually got ahead in tech I did accept a MPP from America, who was the most powerful
nation on earth at the time, and who were friendly with my direct Neighbor, Greece.

The other key, perhaps, was starting location. I was on a round peninsula with
just enough room for my city, and a "hold off line" where 4 stationed troops cut
off all access to my territory. The big, big downside to my position was no river.
(Hence no hydro plant, I had to go solar, later than I wanted.)

Not a key: the French special unit. Built one Musketeer just for kicks, he never fought.

Timetable:
4000 BC Calvary Founded. (Just not a big fan of 'Paris' :P)
2030 BC First and almost only war, with bullies too far to even come.
470 BC Great Library built and starts to kick in.
450 AD Monarchy
990 AD Builds up shields, learn Astronomy. Can build Leo, Sistene or Copernicus.
Although it looses many shields, Copernicus chosen as most useful.
1315 AD Democracy (should have gone earlier methinks)
1405 AD Industrial Age. Hmmm... I still have NO strategic resources. Consider
quitting at this point.
1500 AD Aha! i) foes DO trade things like Iron and Coal (which I get), and
ii) you really only need for one turn to upgrade or to 'start' production.
1750-1780. AI dished out some INSANE compensation for techs. France gets super rich.
1842 AD Modern Era (a first for me in Civ 3)
1922 AD Computers, and Mech Infantry. Traded for needed resources and had a massive
upgrade round. Probably the first time in the game I felt like I could
withstand and attack.
1961 AD Germany does the Manhattan project
1962 AD India starts space race with first part, the Dock
1977 AD France finally gets its first piece built
1979 AD Gambit of stealing Superconductors from India works!
1980 AD Global warming (pah, that REALLY sucks)
2026 AD Get laser, now have all techs needed to win race (others not far behind)
2031 AD All pieces but the Fuel component, I just can't get Uranium
2033 AD Decide I'll never get Uranium, and see some not far away in Greek
territory. Pump out settlers to build a city chain to build city
on the Uranium and make a culturized road network to home. Even if
it lasts one turn, I can 'start' the Fuel cells.
2036 AD Oops!! Can't build RIGHT next to a foe city, so my road network
fails. Great Now I have uranium but in a place I can't build.
So... disband about 5 units then pay-rush build an aiport, wiping
out my cash reserves. The city just has to last one turn!
2037 AD The Greeks come at me with... 3 tanks!!! Two mech infantry easily
defeat them, and the city holds! I evacuate and let them raze it.
2039 AD Fuel cell complete, lovely cinematic

Take this as an informational post, not a brag post. I reloaded for two finger
fumbles on moves, one massive barbarian invasion, one global warming, and
three times due to not understanding how to get connect to the uranium (i-sent a worker
to colonize, can't, ii-tried a harbor, but route was not 'visible', iii-got the airport).
Oh, one other when America sold my very latest tech to the whole rest of the world
on my turn. If you couldn't tell, I would prefer a mod with no global warming,
no random disappearing resources, and no doing diplomacy on other peoples turn 8-\

After the victory, you get to see the troops for other nations. I took a look.
Greece had 35 Mech Inf and 11 Modern Armor. Sheesh!! Why they sent only 3 units
instead of mauling me and sending back home crying to momma, I'll never know. Also
two tactical nukes, 9 subs, and uh... 8 hoplites ;P America was similar, but with
sixteen F-15's. India and Aztecs had about 1/2 of that army, and Germany had less armor,
only two panzers, and about 17 jet fighters.

Others in the space race ended up: India 8(1), America 6(3), Germany 7(0),
Greeks 5(3), Aztecs 3(1).

If there's interest, I can post the save file from first turn.

Charis

LK!!! :) Sure, Lee, happy to have you onboard.

Carbon: is that you signing up? :)

By the way, for anybody curious, who hasn't already been to my Civ3 page, here's the account of my first venture into the OCC. :cool:

Sirian's OCC Game (http://sirian.warpcore.org/civ3/game7.html)

Got it.

OCC culture victory is eminenetly possible, even on Monarch. I did it on a small map with India, and got the following wonders:

Pyramids
Colossus
Great Library
Hanging Gardens
Sistine
Copernicus
Magellans
Shakespeare
Newtons
Univ Suffrage
ToE
UN

I had no probs getting it done, though I was struggling to keep up on tech for quite a while. We want to try to slow down the tech race as much our limited ability allows 'cause that's where we're weak. Too bad we can't engage in "let's you and him fight" diplomacy very easily without getting involved in it ourselves. The biggest problem other than that was that my next door neighbor (Egypt) started gobbling up the rest of the world I was worried that he might take me on next. Not realizing the impact I had been chintzy on deals all the time, so it was nervous; we want to avoid that here if we can. I had something like 50 mech inf at the end in my one city -- once you hit Industrial age & build factories & power plants there isn't much to do but build troops.
BTW, even if we don't get the Gardens (which we should aim for IMO) we can cascade to the Great Wall which is Industrious as well as Military.

2150 BC (0): No changes. A couple other civs don't have Mysticism but don't look like they can afford it.

1990 BC (4): Paris grows to 10, and the people expand our palace! We top up our tank on Writing for 40 gold to India (asking price) at 5th Civ prices, they must have got it and traded it around recently. We start researching Literature.

1830 BC (8): England has horseback riding for sale at 1st Civ prices. I could try to broker it but I don't think anyone could afford it, so we pass for now. We should get it out of the Library in any event.

1710 BC (11): We complete the Colossus and grow to 11! We start the Pyramids as a placeholder for the Great Library. They are due in 27 turns, as compared with 33 for Literature, but we ought to be able to top up our Literature tank off someone before we are done the Pyramids. England and India both have Iron Working and Horseback Riding now, and a couple others have Iron Working. We trade Writing and Mysticism at 6th-civ prices plus 5 gold to America for Iron Working at 4th-civ price. We have Iron in our radius! We trade Iron Working to Rome and Japan for a small sum of gold and improved relations.

1550 BC (18): Rome starts building the Pyramids and India the Oracle in their capitols. We could almost certainly beat them to one of those easily and still get the Great Library, depending on when the AI researches Literature and starts sharing it around. If we get to the point where we could finish Oracle and the AIs still have not researched Literature, we might want to grab it and start prebuilding the Library with the Pyramids again. This would give us more culture sooner, and we don't really care so much when we get the Library so long as we get it; it'll catch us up instantly either way.

1500 BC (20): We are set to grow again next turn. The AIs still just have Horseback riding to trade, and we could complete the Oracle in 10 turns, with Literature due in 24. We could complete the Pyramids in 17 but that would trigger a despotic Golden Age which we don't want; better to trigger our GA with the Hanging Gardens.

Incidentally, we never needed 40% lux, but we weren't able to cut back either even with the Colossus, our city is just too big. :)

Save file...

LK's up next.

Still looking for another player? I'll join in, if so :)

One city? :eek: Good luck. I think you're going to need it. I'll be reading happily and looking for pointers along the way :cool:

Hey Sirian!

I read the account of your OCC! What a game! Wow! :eek: :eek:

:goodjob:

Imagine if Egypt was the human player, and you were the AI - how frustrating it would be for a human player to nearly win by domination or conquest, but lose by culture to a tiny, seemingly worthless civ!! :lol: :lol:

But anyway, good luck everyone with this OCC!! I am sure it will be great to watch how your city-state thrives! :D

nah. Irons in the fire and all that. This one I'll just be content to watch. 5CC + whatever SGs remain should be plenty to keep me busy.

BTW, why choose Paris for your city name? Monaco would have been much cooler (and historically accurate) if you wanted a francophone city-state.

LK: if we get close to 300 shields built and the AI's are sluggish on starting the Pyramids, and none of them have Literature yet, I think we should swap over and grab the Oracle. It's 4 culture per turn and temporary happiness benefit would be nice, and at only 300 shields, wouldn't cause us to risk losing the Great Library unless the AI's are all well into their Pyramid constructions.

If we could nab Colossus, Oracle, Great Library... then perhaps also the Lighthouse or Great Wall... and the Hanging Gardens... five ancient wonders would put us in the best position for cultural victory. We also don't want to forget to squeeze a library and colleseum in there at the first safe chance to do so. The earlier, the more culture and 1000-year bonus. Later wonders are lesser consideration, since they only shave off a few turns here or there.

Good luck with your 20, LK!


- Sirian

Something I just remembered...

We ought to disconnect the Iron. Pillage the roads, then build a mine there and leave it unconnected. This, to prevent the Iron from disappearing on us during the game. (What a silly rule that is, Randomly Moving Resources). We'll want the iron to upgrade to pikes and perhaps knights, to build a factory, for the chance at rails, and perhaps at some point, as trade bait. When we're not using it, it would be safest to disconnect it, at least until such time later on that it's main value has passed us by.

A shame we'd have to do it, but considering that our oil supply in RBD7 picked up and randomly moved to another spot before we so much as used a single drop, disconnecting the iron might the most prudent course of action for us.


- Sirian

Pre-turn -
I swap to the Oracle. Pyramids really have little value here ;)

1475 BC - Paris reaches size 12.
1450 BC - I agree, and pillage the Iron. Of course, the I have up to 40% luxuries this turn.
1350 BC - $100 is worth it, and I buy horseback riding & philosphy from India.
1300 BC - Begin building a road next to the American border, who knows, maybe someday, something to trade?
1275 BC - :eek: Osaka pushes back our culture border!, we respond with completing the Oracle.
The cascades to Pyramids - India, that is it!
1225 BC - Our workers scratch their heads. What more can we do?

Summary - So far the Pyramids gambit is paying off. Literature in just 4 turns.
GOOD LUCK

Solid turn! :goodjob: Great Library next?

Looks like you posted the wrong save file there (and Zed named his AD :eek: We're not quite that far along yet :) ).

- Sirian

DOH :splat:

Two wrongs don't make a right.

I pick the zip with the latest date.

0) 1000BC I move a citizen from the flood plain to the iron. We're not going to grow any more, so might as well go on food shortage to boost production while we're building wonders.

3) 925BC Our workers amuse themselves blocking American warrior+settler pairs trying to cross our territory.

Rome tries to sell us Code of Laws for 50 gold. I figure we're doing the Great Library gambit, so no thanks.

4) 900BC Great Library in 8 turns. Drop to 0% science.

6) 850BC We could get gems from America, but they want more for it than we would save by dropping our luxury tax.

Japan starts building Pyramids. A bit late :)

7) 825BC An American galley sails past.

11) 730BC Paris has built the Great Library :D

12) 710BC Mathematics, Code of Laws, Map Making, Polytheism from GL.

13) 690BC We trade Literature for American wines and territory map, start building another library, and start research on Republic.

Whooo. This is a crowded little piece of land.

15) 650BC Library finished.

16) 630BC I remember embassies :) Delhi will finish Pyramids in 6 turns, Washington is building a spearman, London won't finish Pyramids in 28 turns, Kyoto certainly won't finish Pyramids in 65 turns, nor will Rome in 25 turns. Nobody is going to be able to cascade to Great Lighthouse.

17) 610BC Barracks finished.

18) 590BC We build a spearman, start on Great Lighthouse.

19) 570BC For some reason, nobody will pay for a RoP with us :D

We get 20 shields/turn running at -1 food. Inconveniently, most stuff we can build is a multiple of 20 shields, so if we have to run a food surplus, we waste a lot of shields. We will get Republic soon, though.

Great, none of the other capitals are coastal, meaning we can get the Lighthouse pretty much whenever we want. Lets use it as a placeholder for now and swap to a better wonder when we get a chance. Hopefully one of the AIs will research Monarchy before we're done building it -- just not within the next 6 turns... :)

On a slightly related subject, under ideal circumstances we should probably grab a colliseum before we grab any of the low-culture ancient wonders, as (a) it will be done faster, so more culture and (b) it helps with happiness, which we need anyway. OTOH, if no ancient wonders are still available by the time we get to the Middle Ages then it reduces cascade effect which is always good; also it depends on when Construction is researched.

Inherited Turn 550BC: All is well in Paris. I spot that Japan does not yet have Polytheism. I decide to trade him that and about 65 gold for his world map. (I must have good intelligence! You have NO IDEA how torturous it was for me playing RBD7 in the dark :mutant: ) Map brokering nets us the rest of the known world maps and about 20 of that 65 gold back.

490BC: As Jaffa predicted, Delhi completes the Pyramids. Washington is building the Lighthouse? Jaffa reported them building a spearman just recently, so they can't have much, if any, already built up. I look and they are a pathetic size 2 with virtually no food. Can they even get to size 6? Not without a harbor! :lol:

370BC: The Great Library hands us Monarchy. We have six turns left on the Lighthouse. I opt to revolt! OH YES! We draw a blissfully short four turns of anarchy!

:jump:

The GL then hands us Construction. Oh boy, the AI's have been busy lately! I check and almost all of them have both techs now.

350BC: everyone and his brother starts Hanging Gardens and/or the Great Wall.

290BC: France is now ruled by a Monarchy. I swap us from Lighthouse to Hanging Gardens and shift one tile so that we'll get the Gardens in five turns instead of six.

270BC: England threatens us. I cave in and pay 33 gold, we're now polite with Liz.

210BC: We discover Republic @ 2nd civ. Bah, as it turns out, we could have run zero science there, as we ended up revolting to Monarchy to get OUT of despotism in time for our golden age. Then again, going full tilt for Republic WAS the safer bet, just in this case turned out to be an unused and slightly pricey insurance policy.

190BC: Paris completes the Hanging Gardens! OUR GREAT CIVILIZATION HAS ENTERED A GOLDEN AGE! (Just as I knew it would, upon completing an Industrial wonder, having build the Colossus, a commercial wonder, already).

Great Wall due in 6 turns! :jump: [party] [dance] :love2:

Lighthouse due 9 more turns after that. ;) No way can Abe finish his in under 15 total turns. As well as having a pathetic capital, he's in the middle of anarchy switching to monarchy, and might go through ANOTHER anarchy after that if we give him republic. No one else has even started theirs.

We'll sweep 6 of the 7 ancient wonders in a single city! Then build a collesuem, and LK will get to build us a bucketload of troops to defend our little cultural center. From there, it will just be a matter of surviving until 1900ish. Not that that's going to be cakewalk, but we already have in place the pieces for a cultural victory. From here on out, it's just staying alive and, where we can, shaving more turns off our victory ETA with more cultural buildings and more wonders.

Heh, the easy part is just about over, too.

150BC: I trade Monarchy and a few gold to Abe for two lux and his world map. I broker the map for a net profit of about 30 gold to the rest of the world. We're now down a mere 15 gold on the initial world map purchase, and continued brokering should put us into the black as well as keep us better informed about what's going on.

No sense revolting to Republic until our golden age is over (it's only 2 turns in), and we have enough defenders to stand a chance against any potential aggressors. I also think we should run zero science from here on out.


- Sirian

Zed, IIRC, Mrs. Zed laid down the law of no more late nights for you during the weekdays. Technically, that doesn't preclude all possibility of Civ3. Maybe you can find an hour in there somewhere? :) We have no units to move. You could probably do your turn in five minutes, except for having to make diplomatic rounds.

If not... we'll see you on the weekend.


- Sirian

I'm home sick today & not at work! So yes I can take turns in this one & 5CC if I'm up.

Generally the restriction is, no starting games until after daughter's to bed, which happens at 9:00, so I can usually sneak in 1.5 hrs or so in the evening. Enough for a turn in a small game (if not at war), but not a med-large one. Hence I've restricted games like Infantry and RBD4 to weekends & have started ignoring RBD5 entirely.

150 BC (0): All looks good. We can lower lux to 0 and still be content, now that we have the Gardens and some American luxuries! I do so. We're definately not going for score here... instead we're raking in 35 gold a turn. :)

Jeepers, I wouldn't want to be the Americans in this game, looks like they're really cramped in there and cursed with lousy land.

130 BC (1): Looks like America agrees with me. They declare war on India!

110 BC (2): Rome wants territory map swap, sure why not? The English are building the Great Wall. A little late... We buy 2 workers off India for 30 gold & world map. That's pretty cheap since we've already swapped maps around, and those 2 workers are zero maintenance. They'll come in handy later when we hit Industrial. I decide to hold off brokering Republic around until after America comes out of Anarchy.

70 BC (4): Currency pops out of the Library from England and Rome, and we enter the Middle Ages -- also we complete the Great Wall! Something tells me that size 4 Washington is not going to complete a Great Lighthouse anytime soon if his civ is at war, sooner or later he'll have to pull off of it. We start a Colloseum (due in 4 turns) first before turning our attention to the Great Lighthouse (or Sun Tzu if someone finishes researching Feudalism first.) A Marketplace would be nice too but that can wait. Ah, America is now a Monarchy! Unfortunately, it looks like everyone has traded around Republic already. Bummer...

10 AD (8): Our people celebrate the coming of a new Millenium by enjoying the games at our new Colliseum! We start building the Great Lighthouse (due in 9 turns.) India's broke, but we trade them Currency & 50 gold for 2 more workers. On the surface it's a good deal for India, but they were nearly done researching Currency anyway, and we're slowing them down by crippling their ability to improve their land. We might even be indirectly helping America out in their war; goodness knows they can use it. :scout: We also trade maps around again. Our workers are waiting for Engineering to pop out of the Library so we can build some forests at our borders to slow down potential enemy attacks. You never know when they might come in handy on this crowded map! Besides, we could clear them later for shields if need be.

70 AD (11): The English are building the Great Lighthouse at Warwick, a size 4 city with no tile improvements. A little late again... :p

130 AD (14): Now Japan joins the Great Lighthouse hunt at Tokyo, which is size 3 with only a road for tile improvements. Not gonna happen.

170 AD (16): The Indians want help against the Americans! Umm, no... how about a free map instead? OK? Good.

190 AD (17): We finish the Great Lighthouse! Hmm... now what. Neither Monotheism nor Feudalsm have been researched yet. A marketplace perhaps? Nah, since we've got the Lighthouse, let's build a couple Galleys first so we can explore and trade maps around! They can keep doing that while we're in Anarchy so I postpone swapping to Republic for a bit. Who knows, maybe we'll even spot another continent. :D I trade maps around again to make sure we're quite up-to-date.

210 AD (18): Our Golden Age has ended. We're back down to 25 shields a turn less one for corruption, not quite enough to build a Galley in 1 turn.

250 AD (20): India and America sign a peace treaty; as far as I can tell there was no visible effect from their little war. We lost our spices & gems from America; I'll leave it up to the next leader to decide whether to get more. We might need them in Anarchy, not sure, but for now at least we're perfectly good without them. Our first Galley is headed south to investigate sea currents off a little island populated by the Romans and Americans, our next one will head north. After it's done building, we can swap to Republic.

Post-turn notes: For the moment Dehli's about the only city that can even consider competing with us for production at size 10, but they are still short on improved tiles (wonder why? ;) ) and don't have many hills or mountains in range. The other capitals are more of a threat long-term but don't have the population yet.

Hmm. Save file attachment not compatible with previewing replies?

For the curious, here's a pic of our civ and a couple of our neighbors...

Originally posted by Zed-F
After it's done building, we can swap to Republic.

Do we actually get any benefit from swapping to Republic? We lose several turns of production to anarchy, and have to start paying for troops, for what? Lower corruption in our huge :) empire?

We get +1 trade per square -- that's +12 trade, since we're size 12. Of that, we pay an extra 4 for troops (cash, not trade). Once we have a cathedral we still won't need lux, so that's a net gain of at least 8 trade per turn, more if we've built a marketplace/bank.

We're going to need all the trade we can get when we hit Education and our GL expires. 4-8 turns of production right now, when there's nothing critical that needs building, is probably acceptable. We definately want to avoid doing it later when there are Middle Ages wonder races going on.

On a side note, having all the AI empires crammed together like this is a big advantage for us, because it means a couple things:
- The local AIs don't really have enough land to be good researchers. The slower the pace of tech advancement in the game, the better for us. It doesn't hurt that none of them are scientific either. :)
- Assuming we can contact them, we can probably arrange to keep the remaining 2 civs in the dark for quite some time, as client states dependent on us for tech handouts. We can probably milk them for quite a bit of cash on a gradual basis.
- This means we want to be a bit careful about trading our map from now on. For one thing, it's worth real money now, and for another, we control access to any new land we find that's colonizable by the AI. If we don't let them know about it, they'll have to search for it on their own once they get Astronomy.

Originally posted by Zed-F
We get +1 trade per square -- that's +12 trade, since we're size 12.

You do? I thought democracy was the only one that got a commerce boost. Guess I haven't been paying attention enough :)

:goodjob:

We definitely want some more troops. At some point, we probably also want to buy a round of horsies and get some of those going, too, although when to do that, I don't know. It might be to our benefit to wait and get knights, which we can build in three turns, rather than build horsies in two turns and pay big cash to upgrade them. My only concern is that by that time we'll be busy racing for middle age wonders.

LK is as big on security as I am, so I'm sure he'll beef up our military quite nicely. :D

- Sirian

Pre-turn -
Lee wakes up from a short nap, and is called to duties again.

"LK is as big on security as I am, so I'm sure he'll beef up our military quite nicely".
Hmmm, Sirian is this comment because I have nagged in some of my succession games when there is far to little military? Or perhaps, that fact that I hate to waste shields on regular troops?

We can't handle a war, so I give America has $61 demanded.
260 AD - Spearman on the way.
270 AD - Repeat 260 AD.
280 AD - Umm, repeat until done?
290 AD - Disband both warriors, and I shave a turn of marketplace :) We still have 1 more military unit then at the beginning.
320 AD - Free tech time, Feudalism.
340 AD - Begin building Sun Tzu, I hope we can swap to Sistine instead, as this one have very little culture.
350 AD - I have shaved 2 turns on the building of Sun Tzu. Since Paris is stuck at size 12 until hospitals, I mine 2 plains and Paris has zero food growth. :lol: I ahbor mined plains, yet I just did it :confused:
370 AD - You have got to love the GL. Free tech of Engineering.
450 AD - My final act, selling the World Map around. We haven't found any thing of interest yet. However, we opened up a lot of sea squares.

Summary - Hmmm... I wonder if the galleys should just suicide right from Seattle and Liverpool.

After Sun Tzu, I hope we can build some knights.

Umm, we're still in Monarchy? Minor whoops there, IMHO...

Hasn't India built any more workers since I bought their 4? If so there's little evidence of it! :smoke:

I hope we can't swap to Sistine because no-one has researched Monotheism, let alone Theology, by the time we're done Sun Tzu. The longer they hold off on moving toward Education, the better. Cmon, AI, you want Invention, Gunpowder, and Chemistry! I know it! :)

Swapping governments would get us more cash, but we NEEDED a troop ugrade. One spear and two warriors was just a bit too thin, and then we were already on to SunTzu. Where was the chance to switch? Could have been done, but only if we skipped the troop building. The research pace is flying along, despite their smallish sizes and rugged lands. I guess all those hills let em build more improvements sooner.

As for when to swap to republic... tough call. Don't want to lose a wonder race over it, for just a little more cash. On the other hand, we definitely want to be in Republic BEFORE education arrives and we start having to research again.


- Sirian

Got it. I'll do this quickly before I get started on RBD5 tomorrow :)

Hopefully we'll get a chance after Sun Tzu is done if the AIs don't discover Monotheism first. Otherwise it's after the Cathedral is done I suppose.

0) 450AD Everything looks good. I prepare to hit next turn a few times :)

1) 460AD Sending our galleys on speculative voyages into the big black space seems like a really good idea, actually. Not much to lose -- what do we need galleys for? -- and potentially huge benefits if we can contact the other Civs before the AIs.

Caesar wants our world map + 87 gold. I don't want to interrupt wonder-building to fight a pointless war, so let him have his way. His name goes on the list, though.

8) 530AD Some dusty tomes in the Library turn out to contain the secrets of Monotheism.

9) 540AD One of our galleys volunteers for the hazardous journey out into the deep ocean. We see culture borders and more coastal waters ahead. Zulus? And Aztecs?

Our galley sinks. Drat.

10) 550AD Build a temp mine on one plains square, going into food shortage in an attempt to finish Sun Tzu one turn earlier. We're making 28 shields/turn. There's less than 60 left, but I can't tell quite how many.

11) 560AD Mine another square, bringing us to 29 shields/turn. Yes! [party] We finish Sun Tzu, and start on a cathedral. Romans start on Leonardo's Workshop.

12) 570AD India tries to sell us Invention. "What's that?", we think. We look in the Library, and sure enough, there it is.

Everybody else starts building Workshops.

14) 590AD We build a road on the iron, and upgrade all but one of our spearmen to pikemen. The last spearman pillages the road (and the mine, unfortunately).

What happens if we connect the iron, trade it for oodles of moolah, and then disconnect it? *evil grin*

15) 600AD Rebuild road, remaining spearman gets upgraded, and a pikeman pillages.

16) 610AD Our second galley is also lost at sea :(

20) 650AD Diplomacy check. Nothing to do. Nobody has any techs we don't.

We're building Leo's, but I suspect we want to switch to Sistine if that becomes available before it finishes. I don't think we will be able to get both, unless the AIs are very tardy in researching Theology.

Hmmm. One of the culture borders that was visible out at sea has vanished. Is there a war going on?

Ummm. Attachment uploads temporarily disabled? Okay, I'll email it to Sirian.

Well, things here are really flying along now. :)

Inherited Turn 650AD: I decide to plant forests defensively, they are as good as mines unless/until rails come along. I'll be able to shave one turn off our wonder ETA, also, while refilling our granary to max.

730AD: Gunpowder pops out of the Library.

740AD: Chivalry and Theology pop out of the Library. I switch us from Leo to Theo. :) Theology renders our Oracle obsolete and one citizen goes unhappy, forcing me to raise lux to 10% (3gpt).

770AD: Rome demands 111 gold from us. On a hunch, and backed by five pikes and a goodly distance, and the hope of buying an ally if necessary, I tell him to take a hike, and he tsks tsks at me. Whew! Caught the SOB bluffing! Took a big chance with that, though. I wouldn't have done it if he wasn't the most distant nation. We really can't afford wars.

800AD: We complete the Sistine Chapel! I start a cathedral. Best to get that out of the way, just six turns, then a good opportunity to revolt to Republic right before Education comes in, and with enough happiness not to need to run any luxuries even without martial law!

820AD: Rome completes Leo! Wow, just two turns behind our pace? And that's with me shaving a turn off our ETA! :eek: On the up side, the cascade is broken! [dance]

840AD: I wish we hadn't sunk all our ships. Was a worthy gamble, as either getting to the other side would have paid off BIG for us! But now we're no longer in a position to rush over there when Navigation comes online. Oh well.

850AD: Rome declares war on England! :eek:



Our cathedral is due next turn. I forested all applicable lands, maxing us at 27 shields per turn with break even food. When we come out of revolt, there is a tough choice to make: build some knights, or keep going through a whole other round of wonder building on just five military units. I'm the nervous type, I like the idea of building some knights here. We could crank one every three turns, if we connect our iron and buy a round of horsies from India for ~100 gold, we could build six or seven knights in a row. Barring that, we ought to AT LEAST pause long enough to build a couple catapults at one per round. Those could save our butts someday, and are upgradeable to artillery later.

We'll be building our last 1000-year bonus item THIS coming turn, as 860AD plus 1000 is 1860. We're probably slated to win the game between 1900 and 1940AD, so... our cathedral will be the last item to pull in any bonus points for us. Our priority needs to shift to staying alive now. Yes, get more culture, more wonders, but not at all costs. Remember my OCC game. Wars MAY happen to us! And all victory conditions are on the table, too, meaning the AI's can win by domination.


As far as wonders go, forget functionality and think culture. In order of preference, the remaining middle age wonders would be ranked like this:

Shakespeare's - 8
Newton's - 6 (and useful)
Bach's - 6 (less useful)
Copernicus - 4 (useful)
Magellan - 3 (coastal, easier to get)
Suffrage - 4
Smith - 3



- Sirian


Zed, Click Here (http://sirian.warpcore.org/civ3/succession/rbd11-occ-850ad.zip) to grab the save file, 850AD.

Ok, will get it tonight.

850 AD (0): No changes.

860 AD (1): The Persians have been destroyed! :eek: And we never got a chance to meet them. That means the other civ on that other continent (Zulus? Aztecs?) must be getting pretty big by now; hopefully they haven't had much time/resources for research. In the meantime, we complete our cathedral. Now's the time for revolution... woohoo! 2 turn Anarchy, alright!

880 AD (3): I still want to see if we can make contact with the other continent first; I chop a forest down off of the closest wheat tile to get a galley done in one turn. Its goal will be to get over there in time for Navigation to be researched and quickly make the crossing before the others can build ships, let alone get them in position.

890 AD (4): Now that the galley is done I replant the forest for the extra shield & start some catapults.

910 AD (6): We get the secrets of the Printing Press, Chemistry, and, horrors, universal Education out of the Library! For some reason the latter discovery so shocks the (elitist?) curators of the Great Library so much they close its doors permanently. Some time later it gets turned into the Smithsonian Institute. :) Well, we got a couple catapults out anyway, but now we need to start a University. As for the curators of the Great Library, they are sent out to do some actual research for a change, on Astronomy. Hmm, how much money to give them? Let's see, break even is 70% science, at that rate they'll be done in.. 27 turns!?! Umm, guess there weren't enough curators to make a decent research team. How about we leave it at 10%, ok? Good. Guess we're buying tech from now on, at least until we get a University & Copernicus done.

990 AD (14): No-ones discovered anything interesting yet since our GL became a museum (piece.) England and Rome sign a peace treaty. I'd start prebuilding something for Bach or Copernicus but nothing takes more than 3 turns. :) Well, if we're going to take 3 turns to build something, it might as well be a couple Knights... I buy Horses from India for 100 gold.

1020 AD (17): Our galley is in holding position near the ocean crossing to the other continent. Looks like Rome and Japan have discovered Metallurgy this turn! Should I try to get it and barter around? Tokugawa wants 580 gold for it! I don't think I can get that much out of the other 3, they all look pretty broke to me...

1050 AD (20): I've been paying real close attention to the diplomacy screen to see if there are any deals I can broker but so far no-one's discovered anything else; Rome and Japan are still the only ones with Metallurgy, and they still want mega-cash for it. On the home defense front we have a pair of Knights to go with our pair of Catapults. Otherwise, things are pretty quiet, just waiting for the next wonder race to heat up. We're going to have a tough time winning many from here on out.

Pre-turn -
Lee wakes up from a short nap, and is called to duties yet again.

I up science to 100%, astronomy in 12 turns. I will take the cash loss.

1070 AD - The gamble fails, the galley sinks. The new one will be there before Navigation.
:eek: Japan has started The obsevatory. Along with England, and Rome
1090 AD - Next research Goal, navigation.
1100 AD - Paris begins observatory, due in 13 turns.
1180 AD - We can't risk war, so I give Rome his $100 demand :(
1220 AD - Navagation completed early then expect, one of the AI must have gotten it :(
Start research on Music theory. I doubt we will get it, but...
[dance] We get it! Copernicus's in in Paris [dance]
Magellan is starting - I doubt we will get it. England cascades to it.
1230 AD - Music theory now just 10 turns? Oh know, another AI prize.
1255 AD - OK, 1 extra turn, but I had to see who was on the other side of the world. Egypt is found.
They are major league backwards, still needed - Polytheism, Currency and literature.
Currency for World map and $9.
I then sell communications and map around the world netting us a few bucks.
I gave Japan a free map to get him back to polite.


Summary - There is STILL a civ hiding out there some place!
We may get one more wonder!

No, the other civ was destroyed on Zed's turn. So that's it, full world contact.

Good job! And very wise move increasing science spending. (What have we been saving the cash for?? :) ). We'll run out of surplus eventually, but best to keep that science going full tilt for now, as we'll have to give away cash in bribes, might as well use it while we can.

Are you sure England cascaded? They were trying to build Cop in a coastal city? If not, we'll get Magellan easily, and if Music Theory comes in in time, we can swap to Bach's... and maybe STILL get Magellan's later. :) Maybe. :)

- Sirian

While we may have been saving cash so we could spend it on tech, I don't think that doing so pre-University would have been the right answer. Even with the University we had to wait for late-civ rates before we could research stuff. Now that we've got a University (and Cop), spending on science is becoming worthwhile; before we wouldn't have got enough of a return on our investment IMHO. Our beaker output was just too low to justify giving up the cash.

We built Bach's Cathedral :)

We bought Banking and Democracy from India (for 180g and 320g), and just got Free Artistry, so could go for Shakespeare's next. But India, England, Japan all started on Bach's in 1300AD. When we built Bach's they all switched to Smith's Trading Company. I doubt we can build Shakespeare's before one of them finishes Smith's and before any of them decide to research Free Artistry, so we'd probably lose Shakespeare's in cascade.

Instead I suggest selling Free Artistry to catch up on other techs, and letting the AIs fight over the wonders while we revolt to democracy and build up our defences.

We just got Free Artistry on my last turn, so new tech choice can be changed without penalty.

Rome is at war with everybody else on our continent.

Edit: it might be worth investigating the cities building Smith's. Since the fastest of the AI cities will get Smith's, we might still be able to beat the slower cities to Shakespeare's even if they do cascade.

IT 1355AD: We have a tech only one other civ has??? Must... Trade...

I traded Free Artistry and some gold to India for Physics.
I traded Free Artistry and some gold to Japan for Magnetism.
I traded Free Artistry to America for Metallurgy and Wines.
I traded Free Artistry and 1 gold to England for Economics.
I traded Free Artistry and Economics and some gold to Rome for Military Tradition.

1365AD: Everybody but America/Egypt now has Theory of Grav and is in the Industrial Age. I can tell by their new jazzy fashions. I buy ToG from the lowest bidder, about 200 gold, and swap us to Newton's University. Worst case, we get nothing but a bank. More likely, we settle for Magellan. Best case, we get Newton.

I start us on Steam Power research at break-even science rates, due in 39 turns. However, it will NEVER go that long, so I'm just investing some now to lower buy-in costs for us once the AI's have researched it.

1370AD: India completes Shakespeare's! :eek:

1375AD: Rome completes Smith's! :(

1390AD: I trade tech to Egypt for 20 turns of Saltpeter and Horses, upgrade all our pikes to M'eers, upgrade our two knights to cavalry.

1395AD: India complete's Newton's! (Sounds like they were in a Jumbo-induced GA).

1425AD: We complete Magellan's Expedition. (Well at least we got something.) I start on cavalry.

1440AD: We train a cav unit. Everybody now has Nationalism, and even Egypt is fully caught up on tech! :eek:

1450AD: I buy in to Nationalism, upgrade our M'eers to Rifles. Our treasury drops below 1000 gp, but of course we'll never get Wall Street, so that's not a big deal. Well, other than running out of surplus, it's not a big deal. A bit late, I think to start us on working over our forested lands to prepare for the possibility of 20 turns of coal and some railroads.

1455AD: We train another cavalry. There are seven turns left on that deal, so we could train three more before it runs out. The only other thing to work on is a bank, and that can wait, as the cost to buy more horses and saltpeter would be way more. Let's get some military while we can (all the warring going on around us is not encouraging).

At 86 culture per turn, and some more bonuses to kick in later, we are approximately 100 to 110 turns away from victory. That is a long LONG time, I'm afraid. We should be due to win before 1900, which is quite good, but now comes the "can we survive that long" part of the game. The tech race is no longer of any great concern to us, although it would be nice to get to factory asap so we can build troops more quickly. :)

If by any oddball chance, we get to Steam first because they are all working on Communism and Medicine, broker the daylights out of it.


- Sirian

Oh one more thing... Jaffa mentioned switching to democracy. That would be the weediest thing we could do! :smoke: No culture coming in during anarchy, and what do we need from Democracy??? Faster workers? To do what? :)

:nono: No more governmental changes. Republic is right where we want to be. Just keep that culture rolling in, start building up lots of troops, and keep our heads down.

- Sirian

Ok, a pretty quiet turn. Got bullied around a couple times, wars ended and new ones began, that sort of stuff. Highlights:

- Research: We're nearly done Steam Power (4 turns away) at break-even, and none of the AIs have it yet -- most of them have Medicine & Communism though. :lol: We should be able to barter it around and get both of those as well as some much-needed cash.

- Production: Built as many Cavs as I could and then wrapped up with a Bank and a Harbour (in preparation for eventually building a Hospital.)

- Units: All our forests within usable distance from the city have been replaced with mines in anticipation of railroads. Our Galley is still off scouting the few corners of the ocean that have not been mapped out yet.
Looking forward: Well we need a Factory and a Coal Plant to be able to have a shot at building any more wonders, so I suppose we need to head towards Industrialization, but it sure would be nice to be able to grab ToE -> Hoover so heading toward SciMethod would be after that... the problem is we research so slow we may not have a chance except to buy/trade for it; even Industrialization we'll likely get at later-civ prices.

Preturn - Nothing to change!

1555 AD - Again, I fire the animators. I don't know how people can like that feature.
1565 AD - Research decision time, and Industrialization at 40 turns :(
1570 AD - [dance]India will give us coal for just $100. I can't trade Steam Power, as the rest of the world already has it!
1575 AD - How soon to I switch to wealth, the cost of the military is really hurting us.
1590 AD - I switch to wealth.
1600 AD - mpp between Egypt and England.
1640 AD - The Japan / Rome war is over.

Summary -
Do we pillage the Iron square again? It is now helping with production due to rails and +1 for the mine.

My last turn is done, as we win in 66 turns. ;)

Again, I fire the animators. I don't know how people can like that feature.

Has to do with paying attention. I like the animations because I want time to SEE every combat round, to get a feel for how the RNG is cranking out results, to know whether or not it's gone through the inevitable "bad luck streak" lately or not. Helps me a lot with combat results. That's just for starters.

In end game times on large maps I MAY turn off "animate friend moves" but only if I'm sure my "friends" are all locked into deals with me and not going to pull any funny business. If you overlook the AI coming at you on a sneak attack, it may not matter in a Regent game. On Emperor, I assure you it matters. You've got to recognize the threat immediately and react quickly to defend yourself. You also have to know when the AI's are pulling their "go for the weakest point" ridiculous flanking attacks. The whole strategy there is to catch you napping. If you don't nap, all those moves are easy to foil. As far as enemies go, I want a GOOD LONG LOOK at every move they make. I spend less time looking at the animations than I would poring over the board trying to figure out what they did, where they came from, etc.

How can one NOT play with the animations? That's like running with blinders on. Tunnel vision.

At least that's my take on it. :) If no animation works out for you, more power to you. In LK7, I had the privilege of conducting a couple of wars with preparations put in place by Pggar, and yes, I turned all the animations on, the better to clean some house. :) Wiped out the Zulu's in five turns with the animations on.


- Sirian

Actually, I do leave animators on for Combat.


I leave show moves on. However, have them on in a game like LK13 :sleep:

OH, I caught the first Zulu attack in my 20000 culture game, without them. That is how I got my panic walls in our exposed city, and started moving troops toward the zulu border ;)

Built 2 ironclads (before our coal deal ran out), a factory, and some riflemen.

Everybody discovered Industrialization in 1655AD, so we bought that from India for 1g. Been running min science since then -- new tech research is 40 turns even at break-even, so either we get the tech first in 40 turns (if the AI all decide to research other branches), or we can buy it later for rock-bottom prices. We got Electricity, and are working on Replaceable Parts.

The world is at peace, and full of MPPs. And animated :)

Rather than rush through the final turns, I'm going with my original plan to Slow the Game Down at 1750AD, in case war breaks out, no one player will decide our entire fate. So we're now taking no more than 10 turns apiece for the final round(s).

I've got it and will post results of my ten shortly.

- Sirian

It 1750AD: Swapped us to hospital.

1752AD: Rome declares war on India, then England, Japan, and Egypt declare war on Rome. I notice that Rome no longer has iron (must have been trading with someone for it), so I connect ours and trade it to him for Wines, Communism, Espionage, The Corporation, and his world map. I move a rifle onto our iron and fortify him. Caesar is now gracious with us.

1754AD: Our hospital completed, back to building rifles now. I start irrigating a couple of our tiles.

1756AD: Paris grows to size 13, bringing four more trade online. :D

1758AD: I buy Steel @7th-civ for 253 gold and our map.

1760AD: Irrigations done, I move some rifles out to our borders and start on some fortifications.

1764AD: Paris grows to size 14, bringing four more trade online. :D

1770AD: Paris grows to size 15, bringing four more trade online. :D

I decide it's time for our people FINALLY to enjoy the fruits of their labors. I use the 12 new surplus commerce to finance 20% luxuries, with the SAME income per turn still rolling in as we had at size 12 with no luxuries.

Next turn: WE LOVE THE QUEEN DAY! [party] [dance] [party]

Unless Zed miserly vetoes, like the last time I left us on some luxury. :lol: ;)


If/when rep parts comes available, buy it from the AI's, upgrade our cata's and swap us to artillery production. If rubber can be acquired, upgrading our troops, too, would be a decent idea.

The AI's are all at war with one another again, but unlike in my solo OCC game, none of them seem to be threatening to take over the whole world, so we will probably be fine. Probably.


- Sirian

Our humble and enlightened city-state:

Great game guys!

I downloaded your game, played it and came to the conclusion: You are almost there, you almost won the first ever Civ3 OCC SG!

The best part was playing after the score has been recorded... to see how a city-state could cope in a war... :D

deleted

Whoops, apparently I'm next!

Ok, will try to grab it tonight.

1770 (0): No changes.

1772 (1): Calcutta starts Theory of Evolution, and so does Rome. Neither are a threat to us if we act now! We buy SciMethod from Japan for 210 gold + map (asking price, 7th civ) and swap our Rifleman (1 turn prebuild even) to ToE. Extra food for more trade is all well and good, but we're in a wonder race here; we need more production! We start swapping some irrigation for mines; we can swap them back later easily enough -- ToE in 11 turns, down from 13.

1774 (2): Memphis starts building ToE -- they could be a threat! It's close to their capital, has lots of hills & mountains, rails, and is size 15. But, they started (effectively) 2 turns later than us... I could investigate but at rip-off prices; I decide not to and just go for it!

1776 (3): More AI warmongering... our mining efforts have shaved another turn off ToE, now done in 8 turns, I don't think I can shave off any more. I may take one extra turn just to see if we get it.

1778 (4): Oh, no, pollution has struck our Iron mine, adding a turn to our wonder -- quick, clean it up!

1780 (5): Not much doing...

1784 (7): Ok, pollution cleaned up, reworking the tile gives us back our lost turn on ToE so we're due in 4 turns. Refining is available for sale but it's not at last-Civ price yet; we hold off on getting it.

1790 (10): ToE due in 1 turn, I think we're going to make it! Looking at the Diplo table, Refining is still not all the way around the table yet, so we hold off on buying in. I think it's because most everyone is at war with Rome. Ok, decision time about what to get tech-wise, do we give up on Replaceable Parts and go straight for Electronics, or just get the Replaceable Parts and Atomic Theory? I vote the former. Ok, 1 more turn isn't going to kill anyone, right? :)

1792 (11): We got ToE, Atomic Theory, and Electronics, and we are now building Hoover! We can still buy/trade for Replaceable Parts when the AI researches it. For the moment, we want to avoid trading off Atomic Theory or Electronics until we have a substantial lead on Hoover at least. Those two should be worth quite a bit of AI cash. I did not investigate the Diplo screen on that last turn to see if anyone else got Atomic or is close to it by virtue of our reducing the price for them; if so, we might want to broker just that one now while we can.

On the downside, our meter on Replaceable Parts is reset to zero. Since we research everything at 40 turns per anyway, we might want to go for the more expensive Radio and let the AIs research Replaceable Parts for us. I'll start us off on that path but we have nothing invested in that decision yet so it's easily reversed if desired.

Our workers are looking for more places to build fortresses... oh, and Sirian, you'll be happy to note I left your luxury tax in place. :)

Lk's up next, Jaffa's on deck.

Preturn -
:confused: Lee can't figure it out, for he thought is family would not need to rule again.

One last time, I fire the animators.

1792 AD - An incomplete turn???
Culture = 17969, and counting. Game over very shortly.
1794 AD - Culture = 18066. Well, somebody gets to play after me ;)
1796 AD - :sleep: Our workers get board yet again.
1798 AD - Hit the enter key
1800 AD - Hit the enter key
Peace treaty between Japan and Rome.

1802 AD - Hit the enter key
1804 AD - Hit the enter key.
Peace treaty between Rome and India.
1806 AD - Hit the enter key
1808 AD - Hit the enter key
1810 AD - Hit the enter key. Uh, notice a patern here?

Summary - Culture is 18,842. Unless we cut to an absurdly low # of turns, this really is my last turn.

Jaffa, you're up...

Didn't seem worth handing it on for Sirian to hit next turn twice :)

We built a Dam, and an Intelligence Agency, and upgraded stuff.

Everybody watch the replay and marvel at how quickly Rome folds.

Originally posted by Jaffa Tamarin
Everybody watch the replay and marvel at how quickly Rome folds.



:rotfl:

How was your rank?

Wow indeed on the Romans, I blinked during the replay and they were gone! India really took it to them, which is kinda surprising since they are usually so meek. Instead, this game they wind up as a superpower -- they were all set to gobble America next! Given a few years to consolidate, they could have been scary; of course, the AI doesn't know consolidate from a hole in the ground, and so India would probably have wound up overextending themselves and collapsing, but still... :)

Interesting to note that we weren't last in many of the categories that OCCs usually wind up last in, like population... that dubious honor fell to the Americans this time around. Of course they only had 2 crappy cities left at the end. :)

Oh, and our score was 1032, for the curious.

Good game, guys. Nice and steady... and quiet. :)

If we had been less efficient, and needed another 100 years to amass enough culture... it would have been quite interesting, I think. India probably couldn't have conquered us, but he might have conquered the rest of em and beat us on domination.


- Sirian

I haven't followed this game very closely (and it's over already! :eek:), but I'm curious: what was your per-turn culture when you crossed the 10k threshold, and when did you do so? I don't think anyone mentioned the culture tally until Lee's last turn.

I just finished my first completed solo game (I've got a few others kicking around, but I don't have any desire to see them through to the end once victory was inevitable), and I am trying to compare your progress to the one-city culture progress I had in Thebes until I just ended it on a UN vote, and incidentally, my first diplo win. I almost LOST it due to bungling no fewer than seven spy plantings within a 40 year period in Salamanca...it took some real expensive gifts to get Hiawatha back on my side (free Electronics, real cheap Mass Production, and free Radio probably tipped the scales to me), and I never DID get that spy planted :mad:.

Hmm, I'd have to check but judging from Sirian's comments on his 1355-1455 turn I'd guess we were somewhere around 10000 culture total and gaining about 80 culture per turn by 1350.

I made some bonehead culture moves, like not building the Hanging Gardens or Great Library in Thebes in favor of finishing the Lighthouse (which turned out to not be necessary in order to cross to the other continent anyhow...which I never did do), or having it build Sun Tzu instead of the Sistine Chapel, but I probably would have won on civ-wide culture first, anyhow. I was just under 50 turns away from that culture victory (53k civ-wide culture and gaining just under 1000 per turn) if I couldn't break the UN stalemate, and probably just as close on the space race if I went all-out science.

All in all, it was a pretty bizarre game. The valentine's day patch gave me a goodie hut army right off the bat (I also got a goodie hut settler on turn 1), it's also the only game where I've been the aggressor in every war fought (not just every war I fought, every war, period, but there were only two, and both instigated by me...there were fewer than max opponents on a standard map, Regent difficulty, so the AIs got pretty sedentary). Also the first time that I've ever had a captured enemy capital show up in the top five list as one of MY cities (My FP/Intelligence Agency city, #3 overall, Berlin...poor Bismarck). Also, over the course of the game, I don't think I lost more than 10 units, total (all but one occuring in my ancient conquest of Germany), I never fired a piece of artillery, and I never built a War Chariot since I couldn't connect a horse until after I learned horseback riding...Bismarck had the only horse on that half of the continent in Berlin's radius, so that's why I was so aggressive out of the gate.