GOTM 57 Second Spoiler

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http://gotm.civfanatics.net/common/swordsman_small.gif [ptw] going for domination

Ancient Age (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=4305911#post4305911)

Just a few notes.

Greece got the totally useless Monotheism as free tech. I did slowly research feudalism and upgraded a few swords, though it didn't help much.

Toughest city overall was Carthage. It "ate" 4 or 5 horses (about half my army at that time).
I was happy that by that I conquered the Colossus so I only needed one leader (for pyramids or gardens, both still available) to get a golden age. Just the leader never came :cry:.

I hand-built the FP in the first ring and performed a free palace jump to Veii in 410BC. If the game would have lasted a bit longer longer this probably would have really payed off ;).

China did settle the western island already in 630BC. Not bad, because they really got my attention on this easy to get piece of land. Domination on the home island alone would probably have taken even more effort.

China managed to delay my victory by a turn by one of the otherwise totally useless 1 warrior landings. In this case they managed to raze an undefended village and I just missed the dom limit.

Domination victory in 210AD.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads12/klarius_g57_m.gif

Predator domination challenge
Well this was another shockingly easy game!

Things got off to a great start when my scout discovered the wheat plains and I settled my capital there. It looks suspicious I know! I followed some advice from Paperbeetle to go E,E with the scout as his fog gazing skills revealed their was a grassland to the N of that Jungle. On my next turn I followed the river and saw one of the wheats. I held off settling that turn to check it out and noted two more. So I decided to settle there. The four turner was established in 2900BC.

Initial moves
The early game was an uneventful period. I settled rings at 3 and 6 and eventually grabbed the horses. My other towns built warriors, workers, barracks and (after getting iron working and the wheel) archers. Towards the end of the QSC (just before getting monarchy) I also built a granary in New York (which shared the wheat with Washington) so I could run 2 four turners.

Thanks to the raging barbs I was able to buy workers from each of the AI's other than Carthage early and this seemed to pretty much destroy the AI as competition. At 1475BC when I traded maps the AI's had a whopping 14 towns and 19 pop between them. At that time I had 9 towns and 21 pop :)

Not bothering to research much
Techwise I started on pottery which traded well. I then did Maths which traded even better and then self research Poly and Monarchy (1250BC). I then cut-off research.

Military
I dowed Japan early in a pathetic attempt at leader farming which gained me no leaders but did succeed in killing several of my units. The first successful military attack was Carthage (975bc) was taken down with archers. I had a number of warriors at the time which were upgraded to swords. From then on most production was put towards horses. I then moved on to Rome, Greece then Japan and China together.

To dom
Despite never managing to kick off my golden age (no leaders) and the only wonder the AI managed to build was the Oracle (Athens) I got the dom in 130 AD. It would have been 110 but I got a flip back to Japan on the tick I was supposed to get over the dom limit. Jasons were also quite nice (12,196).

http://gotm.civfanatics.net/common/swordsman_small.gif Predator Domination Challenge

Two goals were set out for this game. One was to be the winner of the PDC, of course. The other, formulated by tR1cKy, was to beat the fastest ever domination victory in a GOTM, WackenOpenAir's 230 AD win in GOTM 38. Well, the second wasn't very hard it turns out, which both klarius and Wardancer have already shown. So it's the first part that really counts.

The initial plan was to get the scout to the hills N-NE, and then decide on where to settle. When nothing fancy came of that, I decided on 2NE for a more central location and nice RCP. That would not be however, like Wardancer my scout continued E to the forest, then 2E to the second forest and found a wheat there, with what could be one more barely visible in the
fog to the south. I decided I could hike two turns more for a 6-turn settler pump, so the settler followed 2E. Finding even a third wheat within the 20 was a treat, and led to a 4-turn pump instead.

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/5043/wheatsot3.th.jpg (http://img128.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wheatsot3.jpg)

The scout continued to move east while the settler was moving, and so it came to be that we met Carthage before we even had a home! Mighty Carthage, on a hill, guarded by a warrior. Hmm... ;)

Research was set to full speed on Pottery, the only tech that none of the others started with. Early build sequence in Washington was scout->warrior->warrior... that is, it would have been, I was planning a really early whack on Carthage with my warriors before they learnt BW, but they got it before my second warrior was complete. So I switched the second warrior to a granary and worked to set up the settler pump instead.

My scouts met Rome and Greece in 3450 BC, and Japan the turn after. Pottery came in 3350 BC, and trading commenced:
Pot <-Rom-> WC + 10 gp
Pot + WC <-Car-> Mas + 7 gp
WC + Mas + 16 gp <-Jap-> TW
Mas + TW <-Gre-> CB + BW + 10 gp
TW <-Rom-> Alpha + 10 gp
BW <-Jap-> 26 gp

As a result, I was the world's undisputed tech leader, and had all gold but 3 gp, didn't want to sell even CB to Carthage that cheap. All that from just Pottery, and having access to more contacts than my contacts did. Two turns later I also met China, who was broke and way behind in tech already. Research to Maths at 100%.

In 2750 BC, Washington finished the granary, and (with some very short exceptions) sent out a settler every four turns for the rest of the game. Settled core towns at RCP 3-5 since I realised fast warfare would be in order, rather than early land grab. All secondary towns started archers.

Rome learnt IW in 2430 BC, and in 2310 BC Carthage got Writing. Great since he was the most backwards before that. Buy it for CB + TW + 7 gp + Japanese and Chinese contacts. Deliberatly leave Rome out of it, then sell Writing to Rome for IW. For all he knew, Writing was a monopoly tech of mine. :D
So at this point I realise where the iron is. I wasn't too surprised since I had found the horses already... :rolleyes:
Maths was researched the turn after, but I had nothing to trade it against. Research was set to CoL at full speed, aiming for Republic.

Because of the nefarious iron placement I realised even more than before that I would have to move fast. Carthage was still only defended by warriors! At this point I had New York and Boston building archers, and I switched Washington to one as well. In a hurry as I was, I marched on Carthage with only two archers, DoW in 2070 BC, attack Carthage with only the two archers, who both redline but take out a warrior, and Carthage was mine! Ironically enough, Utica (the second Carthaginian town) had just built a Numidian Merc on that turn. Good thing for me they chose the wrong town! :D

Now I had iron, but I was far from ready to do any serious warfare. That didn't stop me from letting others quarrel. :mischief: In 1870 BC I declared on China and Japan, being the farthest away, and signed in Rome and Greece against their respective neighbors. I was hoping to trigger the GAs of Rome and Greece to allow them to expand better. I think Alex got his, but Caesar kept his legions at home and fought with archers...

Despite having the iron now, I didn't really want it. I was making more money than shields, and I wanted to build warriors for later upgrading. Thus I relocated Carthage (as San Fransisco) in 1500 BC and cut off the iron supply.
That same turn Philosophy came in, and the last stretch towards Republic began. HBR was learnt from a hut in 1750 BC. MM was traded with Rome in 1475 BC for CoL, Philo and HBR. My first galley found the island to the west in 1375 BC, immediately turned back for a settler and St. Louis was founded there in 1250 BC. I realized that I would need this land as well, since the main continent was only barely large enough to support domination.

The rest of the QSC period consisted of building warriors, spamming settlers and researching Republic. The latter came in 1125 BC, revolted via big picture for 6 turns, rerolled for another 6. :mad: I had wanted to be a Republic within the QSC, but oh well, 975 BC will do.

QSC stats:
12 towns, 36 pop, 104 land (< 9 tiles per town!)
1 granary, 4 barracks
4 workers, 6 slaves, 1 scout, 1 archer, 20 warriors

Missing Lit, Currency, Constr and Monarchy.
277 gp, 3 gpt (in Anarchy).

In 975 BC the American Republic was established. Philadelphia 2E of Washington built a granary and, using two of the wheats, became a second 4-turn settler pump.

In 925 BC I reconnected the iron and upgraded 9 warriors to swords. My first aim was the remnants of Carthage, with Utica at RCP 5 from Washington. In 900 BC, just before I intend to declare, Greece and Rome both get Construction. And what's more, Greece is already at war with Carthage. Well, no reason not to get Construction for free.
MA with Greece vs Carthage for Construction, move in my swords. On the turn after, three swords quickly beat down one Numidian each and captured Utica on the gold hill. Thank you, :worship: RNG god! Greece captured Leptis Magna before that, so that was the end of Carthage.

Time to get ready for the bigger fish. Since I wanted to use ROP rape on all my targets, I waited until my current ROP deal with Greece ran out in 710 BC. On that turn I resigned ROP with everyone (except China with whom I was at war), and then proceeded to attack Rome. :evil: Before this, in 800 BC, I had signed an MA with Rome vs China to draw his Legions out. He got Republic in the deal, so no pop-rushing of last-minute spears. 12 swords captured Rome with 3 legions, 5 for Veii and 5 for Cumae. Not much left of Mighty Rome!

The fighting dragged out until 610 BC when the last legion was dead in the north. Fittingly enough, killing that legion gave me a GL. Got Neapolis in the peace deal, then marched the GL down to Rome to build the Pyramids. I thought long whether an FP might have been better. I'm still not sure. I certainly did have use for the Pyramids, since I could then build settlers anywhere. In particular the cow area between Veii and Sparta was a great spot for 4-turn settlers, rushing for 104 gp each.

In 590 BC China called me up to beg for peace, offering Canton (their only other town) in the deal. Why I can't imagine, as I had yet to deal them a single blow. :hmm:

My swords healed, multiplied, and marched on Greece next. Attack in 510 BC, capturing Athens and Thermopyle, and Sparta on the turn after. I also stupidly, needlessly, attacked a horse in the open and made it retreat to next to my undefended New Orleans. :wallbash:

In 470 BC, before the IBT, I had exactly half the needed tiles towards domination - 281.

Corinth stood until 390 BC due to logistical problems, jungles and such. On that same turn Greece settled Delphi for me on the western island, so I took it for peace.

Next I set up for Japan, who got it in 310 BC just in time for the ROP not to run out. Auto-razed Edo, captured Osaka and Tokyo. Also had to divert a load of troops to take care of a Japanese barb-hunting SOD in the jungles near Sparta. Took down Kyoto in 270 BC and Japan was down to a boat settler. Good thing I wasn't headed for Conquest!

At this point my calculations and predictions were finally favorable - domination could be reached in 5 turns! I rushed temples where I needed them the most, having saved up money for a long long time. In 210 BC my units attack and capture the last Greek and Chinese towns and they are both gone. On this turn and the next I settled towns whereever I could, and on the turn after that my borders expanded to give me a Domination win in 170 BC! :king:

Entry class: Predator
Game status: Domination Victory for America
Game date: 170 BC
Firaxis score: 9487
Jason score: 12490
Time played: 29:02:55

Not too shabby! :D


Here's my minimap history. It begins a few turns into the game because I forgot to turn CAII on until Washington was settled. Also disregard the two town markers on either side of Washington diagonally. They were put there in CAII as planned future towns, I had no idea they would mess up my minimap...
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/8192/lincolnoftheamericanshistoryminimapgo5.gif (http://imageshack.us)

Despite having the iron now, I didn't really want it. I was making more money than shields, and I wanted to build warriors for later upgrading. Thus I relocated Carthage (as San Fransisco) in 1500 BC and cut off the iron supply.

I just cut the road leading to Carthage. Of course, if it was at a non-corrupt distance from your Washington, then that's not so advantageous, as it will lose luxuries and gain corruption...

The mythical BC domination is acheived though! Congratulations. :worship:

Noooo - pwned again!

Great Game Niklas. Just waiting for Tricky's win in the QSC period now :)

I just cut the road leading to Carthage. Of course, if it was at a non-corrupt distance from your Washington, then that's not so advantageous, as it will lose luxuries and gain corruption...I considered just cutting the road, but I felt I needed the furs down on the peninsula and there was no way to get them past and not through Carthage. That, and Carthage was at RCP 6 while my other towns were at 3-5, so to get it useful I wanted to move it one tile closer.

The mythical BC domination is acheived though! Congratulations. :worship:Thanks for the kind words! I'm still not certain of winning this challenge, although in comparison to klarius and Wardancer I seem to have done really well. From the start of the game my sole focus was to get a BC win, make or break, and this time the RNG was on my side. Actually very much so, the only bad RNG I got for the whole game was the double-6 anarchy rolls! :D

@Wardancer: Thanks, and I'm starting to feel sorry for you, you play one really great game after the other but there's always someone just ahead of you. You really deserved that COTM gold :). And I sure hope your prediction on tR1cKy's date won't become true. :eek: