http://www.civfanatics.net/methos/hof/staff/gauntlet.gifWhile the general Hall of Fame is an ongoing competition, we like to run time-definite competitions between updates that we call Gauntlets. Standard Hall of Fame rules (*) still apply, but any games meeting the settings will be counted towards the Gauntlet.

(*) Please read the >> HOF rules << (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/rules.php)BEFORE playing!

Settings:

Victory Condition: Conquest (though all victory conditions must be enabled)
Difficulty: Prince
Starting Era: Ancient
Map Size: Standard
Map Type: Medium and Small
Speed: Normal
Civ: Portugal (Joao)
Opponents: Any
Version: 3.19.001
Date: 10th to 25th October 2009
Must not play as Inca.
The earliest finish date wins, with score as a tiebreaker.

OK - maybe I will give this a go.

This one was very similar: http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/gauntlet.php?show=minor&gauntlet=98&submit=Go. I guess that gives an idea of what constitutes a good date... I'm wondering if astro is required on Medium&Small. Probably not.

This one was very similar: http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/gauntlet.php?show=minor&gauntlet=98&submit=Go. I guess that gives an idea of what constitutes a good date... I'm wondering if astro is required on Medium&Small. Probably not.

Not if you're Joao, you get carracks from optics (or was it compass?)

I'll give this one a try. Yes, Optics = Carracks for Joao :cool:

On Medium and Small you might not even need Carracks, you can get maps where galleys can travel to the island civs.

Uh oh. I guess my game is not going to be very good then - if you seriously talking about winning BEFORE Carracks! I've got Grenadiers and Frigates and I've still got 3 civs left to take out.

It's that normal speed. Makes getting an early victory harder, for me anyway. At least it isn't quick :D

Conquest on normal speed feels so awkward, and for some reason prince level feels weird for me too :rolleyes:
I am sure it will be easier than GMajor 60 though :p

With civ and map already chosen, there is not much to do in terms of optimizing settings. I dont know if there is any trick to this at all, or just simply try to get a good start going.
If galleys are needed only, sub 1000AD should be possible.

I'm playing through one right now but I think I'll abandon it and try again. It's almost 1400 and there are still 3 whole civs left, I think this is not going to be a competitive finish.

I managed the CS slingshot before 1000BC, and only then began building settlers. By 0AD I had my first macemen coming online who proceeded to crush the Romans and the Zulu by 1000AD, and are currently (circa 1375) mopping up India. but this is still too slow.

I think my opening strategy was ideal; beeline macemen. However I think I underestimated their strength and waited too long to begin my attacks. I was also very inefficient in my transport of the macemen. I would pack up 8-12 units in a fleet of galleys, go conquer somebody's home island, then pack them up and move them on to the next island in series. The packing and repacking and waiting to heal etc. cost me many more turns, making this some very slow conquest. Given that of the 8 macemen that invaded Rome in the early AD's (with no siege weapons) only 1 died, I think I should attack more civs, earlier, with fewer units each.

The Prince AI seems to tech very very slowly on a water based map, that's why I chose high sea level. Given that most AI in this game didn't reach feudalism until after 1000AD, I think that a better strategy would be to attack multiple civs at once with smaller armies of macemen and perhaps a treb or two if they're available.

Also, the next game I play I'll get optics much more quickly so that I can begin disrupting the final civs earlier in the game.

If galleys are needed only, sub 1000AD should be possible.
That will be difficult. If I can win before 1500 I'll be happy.

If I can win before 1900AD I will be happy.

If I can win, I'll be happy :crazyeye: I'm at 500 AD and have only taken out one AI Civ, marshaling my forces to take out the other on my continent. Haven't met any other yet :(

Had a nice start with three AI on same continent, and managed to take them out before 1AD with axes+cats, but unfortunately I managed to crash my economy badly, meaning I got optics in 1000AD. The other continent was too strong by then for my maces alone, I had 40+, but their hill cities took out 5-10 a piece, and I didnt have engineering.
So gave that one up.

The map I am using seems to make things very slow. Plus I have one AI city hiding on an island in an inland lake! How unlucky is that? I have to build a navy from scratch from a city on the lakeshore to be able to get it.

The map I am using seems to make things very slow. Plus I have one AI city hiding on an island in an inland lake! How unlucky is that? I have to build a navy from scratch from a city on the lakeshore to be able to get it.

That's worth a screenshot!

By the way, about how many cities are people averaging pre-Optics here? I went on an early Conquest and took out 2 civs with catapults & swordsmen. I had 12-13 cities, but I had to run at 20% science for a good while, and now that I've reached the other continent everyone's 4-5 techs ahead of me. Maybe I kept too many cities for my own good...

I found similar problems, given the map I wonder if the GLH somewhere might have helped (but I didn't have an early coastal city in my game to build it in).

I took high seas, tiny islands mixed in, cold climate, minimum number opponents (peace mongers). Warrior rushed FDR (5 warriors when only one saw combat). Wasted a lot of time getting BW and IW since my continent was metals-free. Horses far away. But I got iron from an island and eventually hooked up horse, and Ghandi (who also on my continent) was quickly vassalized (lack of metals on continent not all bad). Mace against archers killing Washington (raze 1, capture 2).

Carracks give big advantage, but still need astro if you take any cities far away or they won't have resources.

Asoka capitulates to Mace/Gren/Treb/Knight combo (he defending with knights and LB's). About 1600AD now.

Just started war with Zara Y, on same landmass as Asoka... he has not gotten Oromo warriors yet, so hopefully I get quick capitulation from him; if not I upgrade to rifles soon. Circumnavigation bonus a must, especially if you still rely on Carracks for transport. The nicest advantage is that they can transport troops through culture borders without requiring OB's (everyone hates me of course, which is how it should be). And they upgrade to Frigates which simplify immensely taking down culture defenses on this map.

Then only Lincoln (most backwards of all) left and that should be fast. I'm looking at something in the early 1700's, which for someone who sucks at war as much as I do is pretty OK. This is easy compared to Quick speed, though. :p Only danger is AP loss, but Lincoln is in different religion from everyone and is generally unliked. Besides, once my vassal's are forced into war with him they cannot for for him. ;)

I'm taking capitulation to save loads of time chasing down tiny island cities (that get resettled anyhow). Capturing/razing core cities is more profitable, too. I can afford to take capitulation since though I'm over dom limit in pop I'm still far under land limit. (Comes from building armies rather than settlers, and only keeping good cities).

About the GLH, yes, it would have come in very handy. I got it half built (in about 800AD) before Lincoln beat me to it.:rolleyes: The cash came in handy. Had other priorities earlier. Got Pyramids in about 1200AD... I guess nobody wanted it and Police State was worth the 12 turns (equals 4 mace) that it cost (with stone bonus, ofc). I didn't have stone early. Other wonders were CS-sling from Oracle; GPro I got from that built a Confu shrine. Versailles would be useful in Asoka's land at this point... if I only had Theology, and it didn't cost anything. I keep getting GE's (from running forges at max production), and have one saved in case I need to bulb into Steel.

Otherwise its all just building units (and courthouses/libs/gran/lighthouses) and temples.

I think low seas and galley conquest would be much faster, but there will always be need for at least carracks. (Also, my advice that I did not follow myself is reload if you get no copper/iron/horse on you continent).
:eek:

I have given up finding a galleys only map, at least with high seas. So trying to do better with carracks was the goal.

Did have a lot of trouble with economy, not really seeing the returns on most cities, so decided on a new strategy: Few cities (4-6 total), skip Col+CS path in favor of feudalism+guilds path. Conquer nearby AI with Axes+swords+cats+galleys, rest with carracks/phants and knights later.

Took unpredictable contintents, as they seem to be pretty decent+usually dont have too many AI on the same one. High seas+minimum opponents (Gandhi, Asoka, Brennus, Victoria, Lincoln, Washington).

Strong starting area, my core cities had a total of six gold+gems and good production, with under average food though, and city1+2 had to be noncoastal. Shared continent with Gandhi, with Asoka on a neighbour island.
Wanted to oracle feudalism with marble available, but it was BIFAL in 1400BC.. Built GLib as my only serious wonder, and used GS to bulb optics.
No bronze, so got iron working quick to take out Gandhi. Set up a carrack pump with a settled general+theocracy+vassalage to gain navigation I promos.

Ended up with four cities built, one (Delhi) kept, vassalized four AI, killed the last two, Washington because he didnt want to talk, but still won 5 turns too late because I mistakenly thought victoria would cap, but didnt have enough units nearby to kill her off immediately.

Several other mistakes, like teching alphabet too early and failing to notice Washington on a nearby continent, which made me waste time massing an invasion force on the wrong side of the continent.

Finished 1240AD.

Hm, Vassaled AIs count as killed? I'll have to remember that; I suspected that but I didn't want to risk it.

Just finished a 1360AD game where I was on an island with only 1 AI. I could get to 2 other AI's with galley's but needed carracks for the last 3.

Made plenty of mistakes along the way, should be able to improve on this date.

Decided to give up my last game due to lack of time. Three wars simultaneously broke out and turns began to crawl. I'll need to put aside more time for Conquests in the future.

1966 AD for me.

Finished. I didn't have such an ideal start for landmass. I had the capitol, a tundra forest city and an ice*snow city with lots of fur. I played through and lucked out with copper on my land. I quickly built up Axes and Galleys and after taking Vicky's Iron city surrounded London while waiting 3-4 turns for the Galley to bring bring more Axes and Swords. I didn't set up any Galley chains, but was quite happy with the quick conquest of England, especially their 60% cultural defense on hills.

I sent a few work boats out early and it payed off with getting the circumnavigation bonus, which proved huge later on when needing to outrun Triremes and Caravels. The capitulation of Washington took some time, and I having Carracks would have been much better. I got them near the end and things went much more smoothly. Picking on Lincoln next proved good too as his super wonder city with GL among others helped, by spending a lot of time loading up Carracks with siege units and Elephants and Macemen meant that Gandhi had nearly 30+ cities by the time I was ready to take him out.

While I liked attacking the weaker civs first to get their techs and money first, there are ways to improve. It's probably better to at some point attack the strongest civ as they are less likely to vassalize a weaker civs at that point. I was racing to beat out Gandhi for vassals and taking the AI's wonder and strat. resource cities first, but taking him out might have been better.

One thing which messed me up from time to time: Carrack pumps. If you have more than one empty ship on the same tile, you have to be careful which one you move after switched ships. Sometimes, the units cycle to a different ship and you get messed up if you don't realize. I tried a turn without unit cycling, but then you are more likely to forget a unit. I find the intelligence of the unit-cycling feature to be the single most annoying and aggravating thing in the game. For example, in port when you load units on the ship, that ship is automatically selected after you load the units (hit L or the load button) But at sea! Oh no! It does not switch to that ship, but the next one in the cycle and you have to scroll back and select it. It's annoying and has caused some problems in trying to have a smooth unit pump to islands.

Also, is there a hot-key for separating a group? It's equally annoying to scroll to the separate button and accidentally promoting or something else. Could the game be a little smarter and figure out that if I am clicking on a unit in a stack that I want the stack to break up? I mean one click and I get the unit. I move it and want another unit. I click on it and have to double click that one to separate it. Can't we set it up that a double click on the first or second unit breaks up the stack selection?

Anyway, I learned a lot with this gauntlet as I always do. Very fun and I feel I am much better with naval warfare now.:goodjob:

Played to 1888 AD; eliminated 2 Civs and made 1 a vassal, then remembered I forgot to save my start file :mad: Didn't look like I could kill off the other 3 Civs anytime soon :(

I'm angry... the next turn I capitulated my last opponent I won a domination victory!

Going to have to pass on this one, I won't have the time. In my attempt I quickly did a chariot attack for the first civ, but then needed Galleys for the next two which I finished with Sword/Axe/Cats. But the final three civs were 6-7 moves away for the Carracks, very similar to a Continents start. It was hard to do a good attack with ships carrying only 2 at a time at such a distance.

I think I'll take a rest from HOF for a while and concentrate on improving my game. I need to consistently beat Monarch on random starts and be able to occasionally win the next level. After that, I'll consider HOF again.

I just did a random start with Sumeria on a continents map, Monarch level and won easily. A fun game but a very poor HOF entry. HOF gets me in the habit of taking too big of chances, I need to play normally for a while :).

I played two games on this one. 1st try 1540 AD, 2nd try 1480 AD.

Both games' settings: High seas, normal continents, islands separate. Weenie opponents: Asoka, Ghandi, Mansa, Lincoln, Victoria, and Hatshepat. 1st game: two opponents on the mainland and one separated by on mountain peak that essentially made it an island. Three others on other side. 2nd game, three civs on mainland, three on the other.

Game one. Had no nearby bronze, horses, or iron. I made cat/longbowman rush. I vassalized the overseas civs with maces/trebs/knights. I picked up pyramids, great lighthouse from early conquests. I vassalized everyone and did not completely kill anyone. My second to last vassal had a vassal that broke free just before his master vassalized. (I have won a conqest game where a civ with a vassal capitulated to me while still having a vassal that was not a colony) I went heavy on research early, then went military too late. Finish 1540.

Game two. Early chariot rush on Mansa to take his warrior protected city. I went heavy on the warpath early and vassalized only one of the civs on my continent. I was greedy and probably overexpanded. I ended up being to slow to research optics and was slow to invade the other continent. Finish 1480.

In both cases, I built way too big of a military force to conquer the other continent.

Keys: Play a world where galleys are not needed. Don't get greedy and over expand on your continent.

Risky move: Build a relatively small attack force to take down the first distant civ. While you are in transit, attacking and healing, bring in reinforcements that will make you strong enough two take down the last two civs. But... don't fall short with too small a force!

Results:

G-Minor 82 (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/gauntlet.php?show=minor&gauntlet=188) - Conquest, Prince, Standard, Normal on Medium and Small with Portugal (Joao)
1st Fluroscent 1240 AD
2nd DJMGator13 1360 AD
3rd shulec 1480 AD

Congratulations!

I just realized that I played Big & Small and not Med & Small. D'oh!!

I just realized that I played Big & Small and not Med & Small. D'oh!!

In Minor81 I played my first attempt on the wrong difficulty level. It will happen to everyone sooner or later. Maybe even more often now that the new BTS patch or Buffy mod doesn't appear to let you reload the 4000bc save and regenerate maps.