Please post all spoilers for the Democracy Game Challenge 1 here.

Suggestions for comments for the first part of the game:
What was your initial plan?
Did you go for a religion? And did you get it?
Oracle?
Early War?

I moved my settler in search of a hut. Nothing so I settled on the coast.
Founded Buddhism.
Stone and marble nearby.
Lost my scout to wolves.
Built a warrior and almost done with an obelisk in my capital.
It is 3000 BC.

Did you go for Buddhism immediately? I think you must have with Mysticism and Meditation in 3000 BC while you didn't settle immediately. By the way, why did you put an obelisk in the capital while you've got Buddhism and a palace to provide culture?

Scout moved SE,found wheat, Karakorum founded on place.Worker;agriculture.
Research path: agriculture, mining, bronze, husbandry,mysticism, pottery, iron, writing, masonry, alphabet (6 turn to finish it).
Two settlers from Karakorum founded Beshabalik (1NE 4N) and Turfan (5NE 3N)and one settler from Beshabalik founded Ning (3NE 2E) all from capital.Besh got horses and two gold,Turfan cows,marble,spice and iron,Ning rice,fish and stone.
Very good territorial coherence.
Some decisions: to enhance Karakorum'commerce-4 cottages being worked;
to work the two gold in Besh; not to build Stonehenge to make the settlers
and more one worker;not to try a religion until now;trust warriors and speed;
peace and accept open boards.
Current units:2 workers,1 scout,3 warriors,2 chariots. (Ning still empty).

4 cities already, good job! In which year are you now?

hey do you want to hide the spoilers to not ruin the game for those playing...or am I not supposed to read this thread till I am done?

EDIT...never mind I read the other thread and understand why....

I HOPE to play this weekend and will give a link to screenshots and spoilers.( its in another forum)

I have survived until 1270 AD (so far) though I'm still dead last in just about everything. IIRC I have 6 or 7 citizes. Could have had one more but suffered a small setback when I discovered the hard way that this is vanilla and so chariots don't get an advantage over barb axes. :blush:

I got CoL but missed the Oracle by a couple of turns. That was about the point that the score gap started, with me on the bottom.

Here are brief summaries of my VERY briskly-paced games:

Game 1
Year 1904 - 5th place. Founded Hinduism & Judaism. 9 Cities. Good income. At war with China and France. Around 15% of land & pop. Hopeless

Game 2
Year 1550 - 6th place. Founded Hinduism. Decent income. At war with France and Greece. Ripping up Greek countryside, but so what? Pop & land 9%.

Game 3
Year 1814 - 4th place. Founded Hinduism. Started attacking France and then Greece early. Chewed them up pretty well, kept their cities and can barely pay my upkeep. Research allocated at 0% leaving me +1 gpt. Pop 12% and land 19%. Going nowhere.

Game 4
Year 75 BC - 4th place (out of 5, only Rome below me). Fiddled around and made 2 cities. France is already hemming me in. Depressing.

Game 5
Year 1170 - 4th out of 5. Completely hemmed in by France (grrrr!). Founded Buddhism. Decent income. 4 cities and dubious prospects. Pop 11% and land 6%.

Game 6
Year 425 BC. Founded Buddhism. 2 cities. Already attacked by Greece! Beaten off for the moment, but it cost population & time. Grim prospects.

Game 7
Year 580 - 4th of 5. 3 cities and attacked by France. Looks like too many French troops heading my way.

Game 8
Year 1160 - 3rd of 5. Founded Buddhism. 5 cities. Money OK. Started hitting France early - mostly beat them down and then Greece decides to attack me. Don't know what will happen here.

Did you go for Buddhism immediately? I think you must have with Mysticism and Meditation in 3000 BC while you didn't settle immediately. By the way, why did you put an obelisk in the capital while you've got Buddhism and a palace to provide culture?

Yes, founded Buddhism and Hinduism, too. Built the obelisk because I like culture. :)

I settled my second city on the east coast to get stone. I did build the Oracle. I think I used it to get theology. Settled my third city up north to try to snag both horses and marble. Soon after that, Napoleon attacked. :(

I had no offence and could only build archers while the French ran wild over my lands, raping and pillaging at their whim. My third city was destroyed. I think I only survived that war because I used theology to bribe Alexander to attack Napoleon. I also had to pay a heavy price to the French for peace.

Rebuilt the city by the marble and the horses. Got a great prophet and used him to build the Buddhist special building. Lost out on a couple wonders (the parthenon was one) and used the gold to buy techs and finance research. Did lots of tech trading, too.

Got a second great prophet while I was researching divine right so I used him to help that along, founding Islam. (Someone else founded Judaism and Confucianism).

By 1500 AD I was way behind the others. Napoleon demanded a tech (I think it was guilds) and I gave it to him. Next turn the SoB attacked me! Another war of building arrow guys while the French plundered at will. :cry: Built longbows in the capital and archers in the other city (which I immediately upgraded till money ran out). The Germans and Greeks were fighting so I couldn't get Alexander to join me this time. I lost the horse and marble city right away. Lost my coastal city, too, but took it right back. Eventually (1600 AD) lost the capital (Buddhists and Hindu holy city.)

Bismark and Alex finally stopped fighting and once again i was able to get the Greeks on my side. It's 1800 AD, I have one city and I'm sure the French will attack again.

I stopped year 675 BC. And didn't play further yet,nor will do right now, one
hour to chat and I want to be there.
Good play? Not so sure. I'm trying a very risky and greed gambit (never would do it, if inside a team):
No Stonehenge, so mysticism and obelisks;
Research path: no archery, doing alphabet (I'll blackmailed,by sure);
Went for good cities: Turfan (3rd one) got cows,spice,marble and iron inside
its 20 tiles radius (but no iron in the 8 tiles radius).
Would be perfect if Leader was creative, but it is not; so, Turfan needs more
6 turns to build obelisk,more 10 turns to expand,that is 16 turns to begin mine
the iron;after mined, the two older cities can begin axemen.
And I need, at minimum, four of them to protect the west (gold,flood, and the
two cities) and 1/2 to the north/northwest.
Until iron connected what can I do? Some more chariots to pretend I have
some power? If I trade for archery, some archers to gold/hills?
Of course if I can get said minimal defence before war (Napoleon is sleeping)
then,yes, I shall have a very good game.

Best regards,

Well, I played another hundred years last night. Just plodding along trying to make my city as good as possible. Have three longbows defending it in 1900 AD. I'm sure Napoleon's hammer will fall again. I think that will make it three strikes and I'm out.

I also played more, as I was wrong about chat time.
Played until 100 DC, then stopped to post, and now chat time close.
I got avoid war: put chariots close French, they build archers and the threat
time went away. Peace until now.
Didn't try found more cities: four look enough.
Units: 4 workers,1 scout,2 chariot,3 keshik,4 warrior,3 axemen.
Techs:all first 4 rows, alphabet,mathematics,literature, 6 turns to calendar.
Enough food, but not plentiful, so didn't go to slavery.
Two older cities with reasonable commerce and grow stopped at happy cap;
3rd city shall be a powerhouse; 4th city is coastal.
Building forges at commercials and powerhouse for production and happy;with
calendar,spices;so +3 happy faces, health no problem.
I plan to build Great Library on capital (after forge).
Then build more troops. Map is full, expansion must be by war. The strongest
civ - Germans - have no frontier with me. We shall see.

Best regards,

Played another fifty years this morning. Build a New City halfway between my current capital and my old capital. Got a great engineer and used him to build the Hermitage in New City. Also got a great artist which I used in New City on a great art work (or whatever it's called) and now my cultural borders are right up against my old capital. Thinking of building another city.

Just got printing press and working on replaceable parts. Adopted pacifism and merchantilism. Been a bureaucracy for ages. State religion is Christianity.

Built a few musketmen to help the longbowmen defend my cities. The French and Greek fought another war. Alexander wanted my help but I turned him down. Bismark joined in with Napoleon against my old friend Alex. :(

This is going to be the most challenging game for me. I just recently started to play on noble.

Are screenshots or pictures allowed as spoilers?

Played another fifty years this morning. Build a New City halfway between my current capital and my old capital. Got a great engineer and used him to build the Hermitage in New City. Also got a great artist which I used in New City on a great art work (or whatever it's called) and now my cultural borders are right up against my old capital. Thinking of building another city.

Just got printing press and working on replaceable parts. Adopted pacifism and merchantilism. Been a bureaucracy for ages. State religion is Christianity.

Built a few musketmen to help the longbowmen defend my cities. The French and Greek fought another war. Alexander wanted my help but I turned him down. Bismark joined in with Napoleon against my old friend Alex. :(

Any chance of winning by diplo? Or will the AI launch soon?

This is going to be the most challenging game for me. I just recently started to play on noble.

Are screenshots or pictures allowed as spoilers?

Sure

Sat down to play some more turns and right off the bat Napoleon demanded my lunch money. I gave it to him. A few turns later he attacked and a fews turns after that I was conquered. :(

What should we do with our saves and replays? Upload them to the CivFanatics thing?

I started out strong, but I failed to expand enough, and never did get a good source of iron.

Since 1600 AD I've been waring with Alex and Napoleon switching between them, my power rating is low so they consider me easy pickings. Each time I take a city from one the other declares war on me. And in order to get peace I am forced to give up a tech or gold.

My most recent save it's 2022, and I've lost the cities I've gained from France, and Alexander's troops are marching through my land poised to take my cities, I see no way out, and can guarantee this first attempt will be a loss, due to my lack of resources, and falling behind in tech.

I've got a more detail "log" I've been working on since I started the save.

Played until 500 AD. Napoleon declared war on me. Battles in the space between
Karakorum,Beshbalik and Rheims. Just conquered Rheims this turn; keep it,not
a great city,but opens the west and Greeks just to the north.
Unpleasant geography: we on SE, French W of us, Greeks whole N, Germans
N of Greeks; need to conquer French,then a very long frontier with Greeks.
Greeks and Germans annoyed among themselves.
Germans founded Budhism; Greeks Hinduism and Judaism. Germans and Greeks
cautious with us.
Researched calendar and construction,now machinery.
Turfan always build military, Beshbalik,after monastery and missionary,military;
Capital two turns to Great Library.
Troops not plentiful:4 worker,1 scout,4 warrior,2 sword,3 axe,2 spear,2 cat.
No navy(fishnet destroyed by 2 galleys).

Best regards,

Unpleasant geography: we on SE, French W of us, Greeks whole N, Germans
N of Greeks; need to conquer French,then a very long frontier with Greeks.


I agree with you. I've played this one many times and can't seem to breakout without completely bankrupting myself. :(

Most people seem to have problems with two aggresive neighbours. I think that once you've overcome that problem, you're halfway to domination or space race though.

Most people seem to have problems with two aggresive neighbours. I think that once you've overcome that problem, you're halfway to domination or space race though.

Well, couldn't do Domination because I failed to secure a Iron source in time, and my closest source was held by my only ally on the continent. Not worth a back stab.

Couldn't do Space Race, cause..... I gradually fell behind in tech as I tried to replenish my forces to try to hold off Alex and Napoleon, and try to secure a resource from one of them.

Still haven't "finished" the game, should probably do that. But, Bismark has started building spaceship parts, and I still don't have Rocketry.

Not to mention Alexander I think is about to wipe me out of existence before Bismark flies off the world.

EDIT: just finished out the last turns... I SURVIVED!!!!! Bismark got a time victory... though Napoleon destroyed just about every improvement on my land, and I lost half my cities.

I finished the game. And I was defeated.

I got to whip out Napoleon, with late Alexandre help (both Alex and me were

judaists.). But I took the heavy burden.

Later, I was not yet full recovered, Alex declared war on me. As I was in big

trouble, I tried and got Bismark help.

Bismark attacked Alex from the north... and won a domination victory.

Looking now at Falcon report it looks... Germans know how to win the game

by several ways...

Best regards,

I played and I lorst. Period. If it was just a game nothing more to say. But as
experience.
According Falcon report, he tried late game's ways without success,too.
So, may be something wrong we made at begin. I would like to speak with
Falcon.
I made my capital as commercial city: 4 towns,watermills and windmills; not a
single grass farmed. (It could have been done production:two plains/hills/mines and three grass/hills/mines and food to support it and whip;6 irrigable grass there,while commerce would suffer). What was your choice?
All cities,but capital,got their radius by obelisk (I could have been done
Stonehenge in capital,after worker,warrior,settler and warrior); or (I could have been done libraries). Again,what was your path?
I just tried and founded four cities (could be done more, but then defense still
weaker). You,please?
I shall replay,now capital powerhouse, but interesting to know first you tried
not to repeat.
Best regards,

Well, my 16th run at this beast was stable enough that I bothered to play it through. Alexander won a diplomatic victory in 2048, with me a distant 3rd place after Mao. England was behind me, I killed France and Alex killed Germany.

Since this was my first finish of this game, I finally saw the play-by-play screen and it struck me that the missing Romans probably belong in the NW of our continent. Since they were not functioning, that left Greece and Germany lots of free space to expand. So I wonder,

- Is there any way to get Rome reactivated here? I'd like to see if that distracts some of the AI away from me.
- Is there any way to swap with the AI and play Greece or Germany to see how I can do with their position?

My "Official Log" that I wrote as I was making the game...

4000 BC – the noble Mongolians construct their Capital and name it Falcon's Haven.

The Scout begins to explore to the North West, as our Capital builds a Warrior for Defense, and we immediately began researching Farming so we could take advantage of the wheat. And then attempt to bring these great beasts called Horses under our control.

The scout traveled the hills to maximize view, and finds a Camp. Hopes however for friendly contact with these tribes were soon dashed, when in 3840 BC a Greek scout pillaged the tribe for their goods. They then greeted the Mongolian scout, knowing that our scout would not be so easily defeated.

In an incredible show of restraint the Mongolians allowed the Greek crimes to go unavenged for now and continued to explore to the East to get a better view of our surrounding lands.

The Greek Scout however seemed to follow the Mongolian Scout in its explorations.

3680 BC – The Mongolian Scout discovers another Tribal Camp, and vicious Lions wandering the Hills. Undeterred by the lions the Mongolian Scout was ordered to make peaceful contact with the Tribal Camp, before they too became victims to the Greeks. The Tribal camp granted the Mongolian civilization a gift 59 gold, hearing that the Greeks had burned another Tribe's camp to the ground after plundering it they were grateful for the restraint the Mongolians showed.


3640 BC
The pack of lions that had threatened the scout earlier reemerged and the Scout then decided to take a defensive position on a nearby hill in order to draw the lions into a fight, to hone their skills and to eliminate the threat the lions posed.

At this same time the sages in Falcon's Haven discovered the secrets of Agriculture, learning how to gain control of the plants around us, instead of just gathering what little is available in the wild.

3600 BC

Our Scout Easily defeats the lion with 0.8 health left, however, soon another Lion is visible on the Horizon poised to attack the scout. Our scout seeks refuge in a nearby Forest waiting for the Lions to attack again. However, the Lions seem disinterested in fighting in the trees and wander back into the fog, in the Savannah they are used to. The scout continued it's northern Explorations, attempting to find the beasts again to practice their fighting skills once more.

3520 BC
With the initial warrior long built and a new scout nearly completed, Falcon's Haven has had a new population for a complete turn, so the scout in training was temporarily given some time to relax, while citizens were gathered into a worker to start improving the land outside of our city.

~I got a bit lazy after this~

In the coming millennium or two I discovered Horses to the north, and founded Talon's Claw as a Commercial city, but with military purpose of claiming the Horses for my Chariots. I got up to 4 Scouts from Goody Huts and building the second scout mentioned earlier. However once Barbarians showed up on the scene they began falling one by one. I did make contact with the Germans however in 2040BC.

In 1960BC before finishing the Alphabet to enable tech trading the Mongolians were considered Pathetic by Tacitus.

I researched up to Alphabet and began tech trading with other civs, most were unwilling to give my Mysticism but I was able to convince Greece to. Greece has been our most willing Trade partner, as such the Mongolians have forgiven their previous transgressions against local the tribesmen.

France made some empty threats to try to steal writing from us, the proud Mongolian people refused their demands. The next turn they were a bit more willing, giving us Masonry in exchange.

We later founded two new coastal cities to the East, Mariner Harbor (in honor of the PBM Mariner seaplane that my Grandfather flew and Mariner Spacecraft) and Terrapin's Cove (in honor of the Basketball team which had lost their game against Butler minutes before it's founding).

It is now 675BC we have started researching Code of Laws and Falcon's Haven is in revolt due to overcrowding.

625 BC
Falcon's Haven finishes the first Keshik and work begins on the Oracle.

375 BC
The Mongolians lose the Race for both Confusionism and the Oracle.

200 BC
Taoism is founded in a distant land, until this point I was then attempting to get Taoism from Philosophy. However, Taoism has been founded by unknown and the same turn the Greeks adopted Pacifism. This seems very odd, it seems both the Greeks and “unknown” AI found Philosophy on nearly the same turn. I've been stockpiling Keshiks. I'm now researching towards Theology, in a last ditch effort to get Christianity, unfortunately the AI is unwilling to trade me Polytheism or any other tech I need for me to catch up.

50 BC
Taoism spreads to our lands, Terrapin's Cove now follows Taoism.

25 BC
Christianity is still my best hope for a religion of my own, only 12 turns away Talon's Claw is providing 28 Beakers, with 9 turns till we get Theology. All cities are currently devoted to the cause of scientific discovery now.

75 AD
The Christianity Race is also lost to an unknown civilization, it is obvious my continent is behind in tech. Last chance is Islam, and I need to finish Theology and backtrack to Monarchy before going for it. 7 turns left in Theology. And the only Civ I have contact with with techs unknown to me is Greece, and they are unwilling to give either of their techs, Calender and Philosophy.

125 AD
The Greeks request Monotheism of me, given their unwillingness to trade with me earlier, I turn them down.

250 AD
Bismark requests me to cancel my deals with the Greeks. Given that I feel betrayed by the Greeks again, and the fact that I'm starting to have Military goals, with Greece being a neighbor, I decided to accept.

300 AD
Napoleon Declares war on Alexander
With 7 Keshiks and 2 Chariots I'm considering joining him to attack Alexander and see what I can grab.

400 AD
The time has come to decide, Napoleon is begging me for assistance.
I decide to join them in their fight against the Powerful Greeks, Perhaps I can get something of value. I just recently switched to Theocracy, so my military production will be slightly better (experience wise).

425 AD
Penguin's Nest is founded on our southern most coast. 22 Turns to Divine Right. I also realize a slight miss calculations with the Greeks.... the Phalanx... +100% against Mounted Units. I may have to rethink my strategy slightly. First order of business, pillage their Iron.

620 AD
While our Keshiks successfully pillaged the Greek Iron, their Phalanx decimated the Keshiks in their territory after the pillaging. After a failed assault on Athens, the remaining Keshiks that were retreating back to Mongolian Territory were picked off by the Phalanx who had use of the roads. The gamble had not payed off, and the General reluctantly gave Alexander Monarchy in order to restore peace to the lands. Vowing however one day to get vengeance.

700 AD
Falcon's Haven builds Chichen Itza.

940 AD
Success on the Religion front, Mariner Harbor founds Islam. However, still without Iron I am doomed.

1110 AD
I get a devious Idea, try to culture rush a French Iron deposit across the sea, I may be able to get my own source of Iron, without having to fight superior units to get it, I'm calling the city Final Flight, cause it's my best chance to get iron right now.

1260 AD
Hanging Gardens Completed in Falcon's Haven. Building a Taoist Missionary in Talon's Claw so I can build a few religious buildings in Final Flight and continue the culture rush.

1450 AD
Contact with Victoria.

1525 AD
Founded Peregrine Perch on my NW border, to try to fill out some unused tiles.

1700 AD
I gain access to Copper.............. in the hill directly below my capital..... great timing.... ~sigh~

1710 AD
Napoleon decides to declare war on me... this will be interesting, will try to get Bismark in to help.

1740 AD
The siege on Peregrine Perch is over, the French forces have retreated and were destroyed by the defending forces of the city.

I eventually got peace with the French after taking Rheims

Soon after taking Rheims the Greeks attacked...

Alexander's Forces were much larger then Napoleon's... so I have my work cut out for me.

1876 AD
The Greek Elephants eventually take and raze Peregrine Perch to the ground.

1912 AD
I finally take Athens, and the French redeclare war on me. Since most of Rheims falls same turn French declare war, in fact I do not get the diplomatic screen informing me of the declaration until AFTER Rheims falls. At least the defenders of Rheims took many French troops with them.

Amazingly enough I don't even get the “French ____ has reduced your defenses in Rheims to __%” until after the official declaration (ie. After Rheims has been conquered)

1931 AD
FINALLY have Iron within my borders, thanks to Final Flight. However, I have missed an important fact, even though it's in my borders, I can not claim it as a resource as of yet, because there is no direct land link to one of my cities without going through enemy territory.

1933 AD
Retaken Rhiems, was tempted to Raze it but decided against it.

1936 AD
Have a new Great Artist, will use this in Rheims once revolt ends to try to expand the borders as much as possible.

1937 AD
Great artist did very little in Rheims, though it's 27% Mongol now, I really need to get Orleans. And Athens is more trouble then it's worth to hold on to so I'm gonna see what Alexander will be willing to give me to take it back.

Continued my Culture/Military war with France, bit of a stalemate, they had the strategic resources, and tech advantage. All I had to my advantage was tactics and military production. Artillery took a while to get to, France had been using Artillery against me for a long time by the time I got it. However, I ended up forgoing Infrastructure for the most part to produce military units. Once I had artillery I worked twoards pumping artillery out and launching another offensive towards Orleans.

2017 AD
Orleans finally falls..... Direct link to Iron, however mine on Iron has since been pillaged, so I need to rebuild the mine to gain the resource.

2019 AD
Again soon after taking Orleans Alexander declares war on me... this is getting old.

2020 AD
I get Bismark to declare war on Alexander for 300 Gold....

2022 AD
Alexander has taken Rheims, Napoleon has taken Orleans back... my workers are trapped behind Rheims with the Iron in a vain attempt to get it hooked up. Alexander's troops are marking unabated through Mongolian land and it is clear that the Mongolian people soon shall be no more :(

2023 AD
In between turns Alexander has marched into Talon's Claw taken it... and then Bismark immediately takes it from Alexander.

2024 AD
Alexander takes Final Flight with a landing of Artillery.

2025 AD
Napoleon destroys the defenses of my trapped Workers, and takes the workers.

2030 AD
Napoleon and Alexander have more or less stopped trying to take cities, and have been working on decimating all my tile improvements.

2038 AD
Mariner Harbor falls to Napoleon, I also notice Bismark has “liberated” Final Flight... however the idea of returning cities to their original owner seems to still elude Bismark.

2050 AD
Bismark wins a Time Victory.... I SURVIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Though I think Napoleon destroyed just about every tile improvement I have...

Edit: I got screen shots as well, that I'm probably gonna add to it later, to give you a better idea of what happened during mine.... but I just got home from work... didn't get much sleep last night... and all in all.... Sleep is good... and screen shots can wait.

Well, I'm playing at home... I got to 600 AD so far. It has been a long time since I played Vanilla and it's been pretty cool, indeed. Some things we do the easy way in Warlords (medic units, Trebuchets, Chariots X Axes) we have to do the hard way. That's pretty cool. :cool:
I wanted to do a very detailed report, so I downloaded the Ruff_hi logging mod, configured it and started playing. Just to realize, near 1AD, that the modified assets were locked :hammer2:.
To help my poor report, I'm at work now and forgot the save. I promise I'll try to make it better as the game progress. :blush:

I started with Agriculture and a worker to farm the wheat (or corn). Next, I went Mining -> BW for my worker to have something useful to do.
I build, then, a bunch of scouts (all eaten by animals. I didn't win one single battle) and some fog-busting warriors. The French and the Greeks are near. Greece's Phalanxes are no good.
Having no bronze nearby, I went to AH and found it between the two golds. I was thinking about splitting the gold into two cities, but this one was too good to pass.
I was loosing timing, so I went the religious path (Myst -> Meditation -> Priesthood) and started the Oracle. I went the safe way and grabbed CoL and Confucianism. Founded another city east with lots of food and production. I'm considering even building the palace there soon.

About this time, I had only a bunch of warriors and 3 chariots as my entire military. Time to change it. I shopped for Archery and started building some archers. Napoleon had a stack of 3 mighty axes nearby. I think this move avoided the war.


With border popping and CoL, I restarted the expansion. Founded a city with Copper/Marble/Gems/Corn and, when I discovered IW, founded a coastal city with cows/crab/iron. I hooked up my Iron before the bronze.
I got a GP from the Oracle and bulbed most of Civil Service. 4 more turns and it was mine. I revolted to Big B and I'm thinking more about moving the capital.
With CS bulbed, I traded for Masonry and hooked up the stone and marble. I shall now become wonder happy. :D

Now that I had my early goals, it was time for some action. Napoleon founded a city between Iron and copper ones... Barely defended... He had some axes nearby that tried to take a barb city that spawned on the jungle (I stole it from his noses with a pair of chariots ;))... I had some axes and Keshiks nearby. Rheims was lightly defended... I had a bunch of swords coming and was teching to Construction... By the time I get to Paris, cats will have arrived... So, I declared. :ar15:

Was situation:

Marseilles (the far city) auto-razed.
Axes on the region vanquished (with heavy losses).
Rheims (city with too much pressure from Greece) razed.
Troops outside Orleans (waiting some swords).
Catapults being spawned on nearby cities.


Oh! And I almost forgot. I built The Great Library. :D

Something I'm noticing is that Alex is a great trading buddy. I thought he was a freak like Genghis, but of the three neighbors, he's the easiest to handle!

Well, my 16th run at this beast was stable enough that I bothered to play it through. Alexander won a diplomatic victory in 2048, with me a distant 3rd place after Mao. England was behind me, I killed France and Alex killed Germany.

Since this was my first finish of this game, I finally saw the play-by-play screen and it struck me that the missing Romans probably belong in the NW of our continent. Since they were not functioning, that left Greece and Germany lots of free space to expand. So I wonder,

- Is there any way to get Rome reactivated here? I'd like to see if that distracts some of the AI away from me.
- Is there any way to swap with the AI and play Greece or Germany to see how I can do with their position?

I moved the AI around a lot, but I seem to remember that the Romans were indeed to the NW. I still have the worldbuilder save, so it should be possible to put the Romans back. The only problem would be that you would have met them from the start. It's also possible to play as one of the other civs. If you want I could send you a game where you are Greece or Germany.

I moved the AI around a lot, but I seem to remember that the Romans were indeed to the NW. I still have the worldbuilder save, so it should be possible to put the Romans back. The only problem would be that you would have met them from the start. It's also possible to play as one of the other civs. If you want I could send you a game where you are Greece or Germany.

Any or all of the above would be interesting. TIA.

Just curious - why do the Romans have this special condition?

When I set up the game I accidentaly escaped from worldbuilder while the Romans were I sight of the starting location and I couldn't get it back because the saves didn't work as planned.

I'll wait a day to see if there are more people interested in a specific file. Anyone have a preference for either Greece of Germany?

I'll probobly give it another try, with less attention to logging... need to see if I can't launch my offensive earlier, and grab that iron...

Most importantly, not forget that Alexander's Phalanx gets a bonus against mounted units :ack:

Ahh, I wondered what happened to Ceasar so quickly.

Updating my game to 1150 AD!
(and I forgot it home again :wallbash:)

Napoleon's war went well. Massive catapults to the front. CR2 swords rock against archers, even with 50% defense or 20% defense on a hill. Took Orleans easily. Discovered two cities, besides Paris: one fishing city on a hill and one gold mining city, Tours. The former I razed with no losses. Tours was more difficult, but eventually fell.
During the siege of Tours, I saw Nappy go with a party of two HA's, one Archer and a Settler. I couldn't do much about it with a pair of axes defending Orleans. So, he refounded the fishing city 1 tile South. Stupid AI...
I discovered Machinery and started to pump Medieval units. X-Bows, Maces and more support catapults. I would try to kill Alex right after Nappy.
Paris fell too. Lost a few catas on the process.
My army was healing near Orleans when he came begging for peace. I have forgotten that in Vanilla the AI do this. In Warlords, they usually just capitulate to other nation and the war goes on. He offered Monotheism. I asked for all his gold and Compass too. He accepted.
The turn after that, Biz declared on Alex... I foresaw :trouble:...
I was just waiting for the peace treaty to expire to finish Napoleon once and for all. Well, while I waited, Biz asked me to join him on the war with Alex. I had a few Maces and X-Bows ready on his borders. Alex didn't have Longbows... I thought: why not? So, I declared.
I headed directly to Athens (after razing one border city right next to my army), the Buddhist Holy City with a Shrine!
During the siege of Athens, while I waited for reinforcements, the peace treaty expired. Nappy had only one city. Alex sent me ONE jumbo to attack Orleans. I :whipped: a spear there and left two axes and an archer for defense. I saw one horse archer of Nappy's on his border. But he has no more horses. It must be his las one! And was. A Keshik took his soul and one turn later, Nappy was gone. No more France!
In the meantime, I discovered Optics and Built the usual 2 caravels going in opposite directions.
Athens fell easily too. A phalanx and some archers are no match for about 10 maces and a few cats. ;)
I'm going for a Liberalism -> Astronomy slingshot, so I need Alex to trade Philosophy to me. He lost Athens and is not willing to. I think Sparta must go. Education will be in in about 10 turns. By then, I should have gotten already.
There's where I stopped. I'll try to play more this weekend.

Final Score Graph
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/6017/dgc1scoredu1.th.jpg (http://img19.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dgc1scoredu1.jpg)

Final Power Graph
http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/9121/dgc1powerji5.th.jpg (http://img339.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dgc1powerji5.jpg)

Final Culture Graph
http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/3289/dgc1culturebb7.th.jpg (http://img239.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dgc1culturebb7.jpg)

World at End
http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/3787/dgc1worldatenddu3.th.jpg (http://img256.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dgc1worldatenddu3.jpg)

Before Major French Invasion
http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/4976/dgc1beforefrenchincurside9.th.jpg (http://img239.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dgc1beforefrenchincurside9.jpg)

After Major French Invasion :(
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/8208/dgc1frenchscorchedearthxy6.th.jpg (http://img254.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dgc1frenchscorchedearthxy6.jpg)

Here you go, it *should* work properly, although it's possible that the mongolians won't develop well (they're still set to Prince level).

150279

And Rome is back.....

It is? Damn, I'll have a look at it then. Do you know if Mongolia is in the right place?

It is? Damn, I'll have a look at it then. Do you know if Mongolia is in the right place?

Just started replaying it.... just discovered Rome, I'll see if I can't find the Mongols.

EDIT: just to make sure you realize... I had to encounter Rome to get contact with 'em.

Found Mongols

Genghis changed his name to Loon apparently....

EDIT: their Capital appears to be on the correct tile, so yes, they're positioned properly.

:hmm: The worldbuilder save I used this time must be somehow older than the one I used for "the real thing". Are the mongols were they should be SE?

And Loon is the Default Name on my PC. But I think the one of the first things I did in-game was changing the game.

Anyway I'll probably look at it tonight or tomorrow.

I replayed and this time I'll probably win a worthless victory.
Barbs settled just close the iron; just 2 archers there; my 2 chariots took the
city.
So, as training means nothing; I did not make up my mind if I go on or not.

Best regards,

Here you go, it *should* work properly, although it's possible that the mongolians won't develop well (they're still set to Prince level).

150279

Many thanks. Playing Bismarck has been a lot more fun.

Status report: 1540 AD

The war against Alexander went really well. Bizmarck and I did cripple him. When he was down to two cities, I signed peace for Philosophy. I needed it for Liberalism.
I circumnavigated the globe and found a barb island north and China (Mao) and England (Vicky) in another continent.
When I completed Education, I looked at the tech screen. No one had Paper. Some didn't have either CS or Theology for it! Oh, shiny!
I set research to Gunpowder, than Engineering, then Chemistry. In the meantime, I declared on Bizmark. The continent shall be mine, mine! :mwaha:
I slowly progressed through his empire. I got about 5 cities and I'm going to Berlin, now that I have grens. Also, I was not razing any cities because I was fearing someone to come from overseas and settle there. Well, nobody has Astronomy. Some doesn't even have CALENDAR. Weird for this AI.
Now that I noticed it, when I go back to the save, I will raze a few cities and start producing some settlers. By the time I have Astro, I'll just fill some Galleons and take the barb island. I think it'll be enough for domination.
Oh, I'm researching Liberalism until 1 turn of completition. I was thinking about getting Steel with it. And no one has Paper yet!

I don't see anyone else doing this kind of report. Also, I see many of you talking about numberless tries on the save in few hours... If you guys think I should stop these reports, please let me know...

Status report: 1540 AD
I don't see anyone else doing this kind of report. Also, I see many of you talking about numberless tries on the save in few hours... If you guys think I should stop these reports, please let me know...

In fairness to the others, I think I'm the one doing the numberless tries in a few hours. I do enjoy reading your reports as well as others, but I have not yet formed a mental image of how your play enabled you to do better than I did. I'm still hoping to figure that out. ;-)

I don't see anyone else doing this kind of report. Also, I see many of you talking about numberless tries on the save in few hours... If you guys think I should stop these reports, please let me know...

Your reports are interesting, keep them coming. I didn't do any detailed reports because I lost pretty badly - wasn't a story worth hearing, really.

@fbelintani: I think most people got beaten so badly that they didn't want to talk about it a lot :p
:goodjob: on (probably) winning. I think you're the first to report of a win if you hurry a bit.

Thanks for the support, guys! I thought I was out of sync with you here. :mischief:

I'll go on with the reports, then. Every other day I shall play a little. Late game is time consuming and my wife doesn't like me playing civ that much. ;)

Maybe I'm the first, maybe not. I do think victory is a matter of time now. But something I need to say: Warlords 2.08 Prince is, indeed, MUCH harder than Vanilla 1.61 Prince. :p

A short update to 1560 AD. I was up in a SG last night!

I discovered liberalism for the free religion civic. I grabbed steel with it. Now Bizmark will see loads and more loads of cannons against his 5 final cities.
I captured Berlin in the same turn of Anarchy and stopped playing there. Now it's time for a few settlers while researching astronomy to conquer the barb city and (probably) hit domination.
Stay tuned!

I did win a game as Mongolia, but it is worthless for the proposed experience
and just a lucky victory:
Barbs founded a city close the iron and I seized it: game won.

Best regards,

Another update. This one is a little bigger: to 1670 AD

I set research to Astronomy and began building some settlers, along with cannons. Well, after Cannons came in, everything was easier. Uh, but wait! Where are the cannons??? I can say it was a little late for them. I captured Bizmark last 5 cities with all my current forces. Only 1 cannon saw the fight (and was sacrificed). So, steel was not a good move.
In 1610 AD, Bizmark was dead and I started to colonize all the gaps of the continent. I was cruising with the science slider at 30 - 20 % (and making good progress with science) when 2 turns before I get astronomy, I went to see Mao. HE HAD ASTRONOMY! Damn, I thought I was way ahead gim. He still didn't have Paper. And that's why.
Now that he has astronomy, the barb islands are not safe anymore. And it was true. I saw some pink borders there in the end of the turnset.
Actually, it's now a matter of time. I'm building some galleons and filling them with garrisons and settlers for the barb city to speed the process. I'm also claiming every land tile (including some useless ice ones) in my continent to reach domination. I think I have more than 50% of the land already. It should not be long now...

Does anyone know what gives you best score: domination or conquest?

Finishing faster usually gives you a higher score, therefor domination is probably the best thing to do.

Another update: to 1740 AD.

Oh yeah.. Building settlers.... spamming missionaries... Boring... Boring.. Got Banking, revolted to Mercantilism and Free Speech... Boring... Boring... I finally built a galleon and went for the barb city.... Boring... Got another galleon with a settler... Route to the barb island... Boring.... Took the barb city garrisoned by two WARRIORS... Boring...
Suddenly:

http://img489.imageshack.us/img489/8040/dgc1dominationvw5.jpg

:cool:! Finally, all those useless cities paid off. :)

The demographics:

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/4486/dcg1demova4.jpg

I never understood that GNP... I can never leave last place on it. Maybe I'm too used to use merchants to support my economy...

And last, but not least:

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/3310/dcg1scoremo0.jpg

Good, uh? Well, that was by far my greatest score ever in Vanilla, but it's not accurate, once I stop playing Vanilla at Chieftain level and moved into Warlords. I liked to play Vanilla again. It was, say, different. No Medic III unit, no Trebs, desperate need for metal, no UB's... You have to show more skills on the warfare without these helps. ;)

Good to play this. If you have another long-time solo play like this, I'll join in. The only thing I cannot do is multiplayer/Pbem.

:thumbsup:
We've got our first winner! 1740 AD, 48883 is now the result to beat.

About the GNP, it doesn't count gold from merchants, shrines and several other things, and isn't accurate.

Nice game fbelintani!

Anyone still playing this beast? Time to consider another single player challenge?

I haven't heard from robboo yet. And I've only seen 1 post by DaveShack, I don't know if he has stopped playing this.

About the next challenge, I'd like to make one. Would you like a game like this, from the start, or would you like a scenario-like game (less focus on building cities and research, more focus on warmongering)?

Another update: to 1740 AD.



FB, would you consider uploading a save you consider decisive? I'd like to compare some of my games to yours at around the same time to see what the major differences are. TIA.

I haven't heard from robboo yet. And I've only seen 1 post by DaveShack, I don't know if he has stopped playing this.

About the next challenge, I'd like to make one. Would you like a game like this, from the start, or would you like a scenario-like game (less focus on building cities and research, more focus on warmongering)?

Although I'm unlikely to be in the running for the prize, I'd welcome a new game. I'd also like to see a few (intermediate) saves when folks are done to see what they did that was better than what I did.

I'm not clear on what a "scenario-like" game would entail. Could you say more?

FB, would you consider uploading a save you consider decisive? I'd like to compare some of my games to yours at around the same time to see what the major differences are. TIA.

Actually, I thought the game was a cruise to the finish line. I don't think I made any "magic", nor game-breaking, moves. Maybe I just had luck on the beginning. :mischief:
I have some saves, of course. I'd rather you tell me what save you need and I can post it to you in.... about 10 hours from now. ;)

I'm not clear on what a "scenario-like" game would entail. Could you say more?

I was thinking along the lines of making you start with a lot of Keshiks and other troops and letting you fight and raze towards a specific objective or something like that. I'm always open for suggestions though :p.

I was thinking along the lines of making you start with a lot of Keshiks and other troops and letting you fight and raze towards a specific objective or something like that. I'm always open for suggestions though :p.

Could do a Mongolian invasion of China type thing.... but at the same time... don't want to make it too complex.... at least, we might do 1 or 2 games like this one while you work on a China invasion one...

I have some saves, of course. I'd rather you tell me what save you need and I can post it to you in.... about 10 hours from now. ;)

Thanks. How about something around year zero?

Thanks. How about something around year zero?

You're lucky, my letter-less friend!
I have the AD-0001 save.
Take a look!

I'm still playing. Finally got to the point where Napolean declared on me, and saved since it was something 3am that day. Haven't started back up yet.

No reason another challenge can't follow before this one finishes.

Fbelintani: parabéns!

Did you conquer some barbarian city more to the
begin of the game, perhaps with some resource,like bronze or iron?

Once again: congratulations, good play.

Best regards,

This is a dumb newbie question that I'm sure could be posted elsewhere, but since it arose in playing the challenge for the umpteenth time, I thought I'd ask here. I had Iron appear next to a well-settled city 900 years after discovering IW. I can't remember this ever happening before. Is this a bug?

This is a dumb newbie question that I'm sure could be posted elsewhere, but since it arose in playing the challenge for the umpteenth time, I thought I'd ask here. I had Iron appear next to a well-settled city 900 years after discovering IW. I can't remember this ever happening before. Is this a bug?

There is a potential for stuff to be discovered, that's what the mine does. Though I think it doesn't just apply to when you make the mine.

I also had a Copper resource appear next to my Capital in around the middle Ages. I noted it on my Summary.

You're lucky, my letter-less friend!
I have the AD-0001 save.
Take a look!

FB,

Thanks again. I started the challenge once again and followed the technology path (including Oracle) from your save. I came out reasonalby close to your year 0 position and, while I have not kept up with your pace, I have managed perhaps my most stable game so far. I have eliminated France and I am working on Greece now. China wants a piece of me, but he may be too far away to do much. If I finish Greece and then doublecross Germany, I may have a shot.

I'm currently experimenting a bit with world-builder for the next challenge.

Cool. Looking forward to a new challenge.

Dont hold up the results on account of me...life bite me in the butt. as usual