This is the final spoiler for Conquest 02: Netherlands!

The will be the final spoiler for our second conquest game: The Netherlands.

To qualify, you must have finished your game and submitted it, or at least be researching a modern-age tech. Please don't spoil it for anyone who hasn't finished by posting screenshots that show modern-age resources.

What victory condition did you pursue? Was this decision affected by your starting moves? Was the isolation a hinderance or a benefit? Looking back on this game, what would you have done differently? Tell all! :D

[Open]
I entered my industrial age in 650AD. I had defeated the spanish, and was establishing my cities in the new land with temples and roads while I was filling in available lands between me and France in the North.

Incas had waged war against Spain without being invited to the party, and their very strong force of Longbowmen where quite potent in leaving Spain as a weak prey for my knights. And the very same Longbowmen decided to start a field trip into my lands in 660AD. I tried politely to boot them when this happened:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/IncawarInd.jpg

I had time to react to the event in advance however. My knights where recooperating in Madrid at the time, and they all tried to achieve elitestatus or genereating a MGL while they mowed down the Inca troops without taking a single casualty. No leader there either however. I then proceeded to rally England and France to my cause against the Inca, in return they got Banking.

In 700AD I finally where able to trade with the eastern continent. And I got my saltpeter plus some additional luxuries. I discovered steam power in 720AD and where franticly searching for coal to fuel my RR building. Luckily I had a sizeable contigent of workers aiding my war against the Inca, and they where quickly dispatched to the coal SE of Zaragosa. The terrain northwards where seriously hampering my progress in marshlands and jungles. This where nullifying my knights/cavalries advantage over the Inca longbowmen/crusaders.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/coalwars.jpg

France had Iron but had not been able to connect it, or they had at least not been able to keep the territory against Inca incursions. I gifted her all my gold(117) plus iron in 750AD so that she perhaps could get some pikemen to match the Inca troops flowing across her borders. I got navigation from the Mayan in 770AD.

My initial hopes of a fast destruction of weak Inca AA units where crushed when he finally got the bulk of his military down towards my lands. I lost a city at least once to him, and where repeatedly forced to retreat my ralroadgangs and cavalries from his deadly crusader/longbow combos in the '1-move-only' terrain. But luckily he never managed to connect either horses or iron to his empire. Once my cavalries passed the jungle and I got RR all the way to the front I made some much needed headway. I captured the capital Cuzco in 900AD, and got Knights Templar, Copernicus and a leader in the process. I scratched my head for a while over what to do with my leader, and finally decided to rush a palace in Cuzco. This was a great lesson for me in the finer mechanics of corruption in C3C. My inital 'core' plunged into extreme corruption allthough I had a FP there. I managed to maintain much of my GPT, but saw that my size 12 cities in the south where struck down to no shieldproduction at all. Would I do it again? Nope. I would much rather have built it next to Madrid to smooth out the extreme penalty. The positivise where there however. It allowed me to quickly build up a new productive land in the north with much better terrain than what I had around Amsterdam.

In 970AD I conquered the last Incan town next to the English border in the north, and my 300+ year ordeal versus the Inca where finally over. It left my techrate strangled at times, but I was finally down to 6-8 round research of my final techs. The next 400 years blasted by with me doing nothing but improving the land and towns around my new capitol. I couldn't build up my military quickly after the fatal palace move, and where forced to keep to teching. Once more I decided to quickly end the pain by going for a UN victory. In 1335AD my workforce had finished improving all my tiles, and I signed a ROP with france just out of boredom. I then proceeded to improve all her tiles with as much as I could do. in 1365AD I finished the Hoover Dam in Tiwanaku, and that threw me into a very late Golden Age. Cleopatra was my closest enemy, and I guess she saw the end coming and tried to hamper my way to diplomatic victory bu DOW in 1415. All that ended up with was another MGL for me, and several dead Egyptian cavalries. My posse of war was quickly gathered. Leaving Egypt alone against the rest.

In 1420 I managed to time TOE to my discovery of motorized transport. I leaped into the industrial age with flight and fission, and had a 4 round wait before UN was finished after having a not too perfect palace prebuild in Huamanga that was transformed into a monstercity in GA with 20citizens gathering 121 blue shields. I finished the UN after 1435AD, and held my election in 1440AD. Cleo was alone versus my five votes from the Maya, England, France, the Zulu and myself (I could've voted for Cleo and still have won).

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/diplowinsing.jpg

My last two months after coming back to GOTM has seen a steadily improvent of my play by painfully learning after making mistakes. Hopefully I've learned enough to survive classic GOTM 33 at emperor difficulty playing it [predator] style.

In the Middle Ages (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=1992158&postcount=26), I had almost finished off the Inca.

Industrial Age - 1325AD to 1754AD

After a couple flips I destroyed the Inca in 1345AD.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/dsv_c02_inca_war2.JPG

I researched Nationalism and was working on Steam Power. In 1420AD, I gave in and traded for Steam Power and decided to switch to Republic. At this point, I was beginning to realize I would not reach Domination any time soon. So I needed to pick up the tech research pace as I was 30% on lux slide in an effort to improve happiness. I had begun to experiment with the Policeman specialist the came with Nationalism. I had read some spoiler comments from COTM01 or GOTM32 that made me realize I wasn't taking advantage of specialist. This game I had resolved not to use the governer and had pretty much stuck with it even though I hadn't done much tinkering.

After a 7 turn Anarchy, a Dutch Republic was formed in 1345AD. I had to scramble and create a bunch of Taxmen and make some low profit trades in order to get enough income to cover my active gpt trades during the anarchy period. I had spent most of my treasury on Steam Power.

My ROP with England had expired and my other lux trades with them were almost over. England was going to be next. Only in 1435AD the Maya sneak attacked using left over forces from the Incan war that had been hanging around up north (4 LB and 2 MI). They killed a couple slave laborers but otherwise were ineffective.

At this point, I overreacted. I formed MPPs with England and Eygpt and an alliance with the Zulus. I wasn't think strategic. The Maya occupied some of the worst terrain in the world. Chiefly the Mountains and Tundra filled northern section of the other continent. I should have ignored the Maya and gone after the English as I planned and then gone after the Zulu or Egypt. Eygpt most likely since they were setting the tech pace. Instead, I marshalled my cavalry and Galleons off the English west cost and attacked across the ocean with about 2/3 of my cavalry. (I kept the rest in reserve in case the English pulled a fast one.

In 1480AD, I landed 28 Cav on the west edge of the Maya territory near their Saltpeter. I had been paying the Zulu through the nose for it and since I wasn't going to take England's I figured I would start out by grabbing that. Egypt had already gotten a headstart, taking a few cities down south.

By 1575AD, the Maya were gone with Eygpt taking the honors by caturing Chichen Itza. They had been working on it longer but I almost had it with my artillery. Ended up I just soften it up for them.

During the festivities, I gained 2 more MGLs which I made into Cav armies. I lost all 3 armies (2 Cav and 1 Knight) in short order to killer riflemen. I pushed it with the knights but the Cav armies were still green when they lost their battles. By the end of the war, my 43 starting Cav were worn down to 12.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/dsv_c02_maya_war.JPG

From this point on I decided I would go for either Diplomatic or Spaceship victory. In 1545AD I researched Replacable Parts. I needed cash to upgrade so I experimented with turning my unhappy citizens into scientist in all my corrupt cities. It was tremendous, I could research Medicine in 14 turns with 0% research. when combined with 40-60% I could get 4-5 turn research through the end of the IA. I went the Scientific Method routine to get ToE which slingshoted me ahead of Eygpt towards Tanks.

In 1615AD, Zulu landed 3 Cav and a rifle on the former Mayan coast. I didn't notice. The following turn they declared war and grabbed a couple lightly defended cities. I took them back and got an aliance with England against them. I left out Eygpt on purpose as they were big enough but they joined on their own. In the end all I did was prove you can't take cities with cavalry after Relaceable parts. I lost eight more Cav for no gain. I got a city near my island when the Zulus sued for peace in 1675AD. The Egpytian kept pounding on them until 1752.

I had pretty much decided on Diplomacy. In 1754, I entered the Modern Age and started researching Fission. 8 Turns was the best I could do with 80% and as many scientist as I could get. I got fission in 1766AD I researched Fission and switch my Hoover Dam (2 turns from completion) to UN (7 turns to go - I didn't check the sheild costs).

In 1774AD, Eygpt made a last gasp attempt by declaring war and taking a city with Oil in the far north via ROP sneak. They only sent 1 infantry. :confused: I took it back. I had tanks by then but I just hung back on defense. It did was force me to bribe and MPP England and Zulu a few turns early. Then I had to sweat a last minute stab but it seem better to lock them up than take a chance of them joining Egypt.

I completed the UN in 1780. England was Gracious and Zulu was polite.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/dsv_cotm02_1780ad_vote.JPG

Game: COTM 02
Date submitted: 2004-07-04
Software Version: C3C 1.22f for Windows
Entry class: open
Game status: Diplomatic Victory for Netherlands
Game date: 1780 AD
Firaxis score: 4237
Jason score: 6038
Time played: 37:28:31 <---- A lot of micromanaging nearly doubled my normal playing time


One question I had was whether using happy citizens as specialists cost me score. I am now sure it did but I haven't tried to do the math to see how significant it was against the turbo-charged research that allow me to finish sooner. Somewhere between a third and half of my scientist were happy and I had a lot of scientists. :)


I probably should have finish the domination victory as I was in the low 50s after the Maya. I could have taken England easily and with my production concentrated on military I could have taken enough territory despite any losses to win. (I think I will go back to the point where the Maya attacked and see how I would have done if I went ahead with my original plan :) . )

C3C 1.22 Open

Industrial Age entered in 540AD...going for space.

Research. I researched 16 techs in IA at 5.3 turns/tech. It got better as the Age progressed due to taking over AI towns. Those 3-beaker scientists really add up. The only optional tech I did was Sanitation for the sole purpose of growing Amsterdam to 21 or so. This was the town with Copernicus and Newton. Also grew the infamous "BG town", which I called Land's End to 21 or so. It pumped out quite a few beakers by the end of the game.

The AI was be no help in this game so I sold old tech any time they would pay gpt in reasonable amounts.

Entered Modern Ages in 1315. Actually timed ToE to coincide and took Computers and Miniaturization. Alas, I botched the turn count for prebuilds for SETI and Internet, so they came in a few turns later. Researched 9 MA techs average 4.5 turns each. Launch in 1545AD.

Wars. Took way too long to get after Spain and the luxes. Declared in 620AD and took the last city in 790AD. Had to build a couple of frigates to track down their galley. Finally got it (or, rather, them) in 1060AD.

I went after England and the saltpeter next. Left the Incas alone until last as a trading partner. Declared on England in 880AD and got all but the 1-tile town in just a few turns.

Landed on the Eastern continent in 1100AD. Finished it off in 1400. Then back for the Incas and a ROP rape in 1450AD. Took 5 turns with modern Armour leaving only England left in the game.

Army size:
1000AD 12 Knights, 18 Medieval Infantry, 1 Army.
1300AD 13 Tanks, 10 Cav, 3 Knights, 3 Armies.
1440AD 14 Modern Armour, 14 Tanks, 8 Cav, 9 MechInf, 4 Armies.

Lessons Learned.

1. Go for the Resources/Lux ASAP.
2. Grow quicker.
3. FP sooner.
4. Explore faster.
5. Conquer sooner.
6. Think ahead more...

That should about cover it!

Thanks as always to ainwood and Staff. This was as, as usual, an interesting challenge and fun to play. And I learned a bunch of things I didn't know before about Civ in general and C3C in specific.

The reports of Incan troops did not surprise William, but he was not happy with the news. “I want a meeting with the Joint Chiefs in 15 minutes” he ordered to his assistant.

“General, it looks like the Incan are planning to challenge our military at Lyons. Are we prepared?” was how the meeting opened. “Sir, we have 6 trebuchets, 4 Swiss Mercenaries for defense and about 10 offensive units, ranging from Elite Ancient Cavalry to Knights. We should be able to easily handle the troops our scouts have reported. We also have the Crusader Army landing near Oxford soon. If the Inca are so foolish to start something, we’ll be able to make them pay” General Grahamiam reported. “Excellent work General, I think we should contact the Incan ambassador and demand removal of his troops. I’d like to see just how determined to go to war they are”, William replied.

Titu Cusi stood nervously as the Dutch leader detailed for him the troops his country had moved across the border. “An incursion of this magnitude must be withdrawn immediately”. Cusi straightened and spoke that no country can dictate borders to the mighty Incan army and that a state of war now existed between their two nations. “As I expected,” William replied, “return to your compound and stay there if you enjoy keeping your head attached to your neck”. As the Incan Ambassador left, William ordered his assistant to fetch him the English Ambassador. Ambassador AlanH was quite happy with his new gift of Navigation and looked forward to the renewed alliance against the aggressive Incan peoples. An additional trade of four luxury items to Cleopatra for some quaint Egyptian wines, seemed to be reason enough for the young Queen to stay neutral.

News of the declaration reached the Dutch troops before the Incan Generals were aware that hostilities had begun. As he led his army of foot soldiers towards the hills overlooking Lyons, Generalissimo Manco, noticed activity on the ridge of the hills. Before he could ask what those large wooden towers were, a huge rock thrown from the Dutch Trebuchet had crushed him into the turf. With their commander dead and giant stones raining down on them, the Incan troops became shaken and proved to be no match for the Dutch attackers who wiped out the entire force. During the battle a Dick Hartog, an Elite Dutch foot soldier, single handedly eliminated and entire Incan Pike detachment, that allowed the Dutch Ancient Cavalry and Knights to annihilate the remaining Incan Longbowmen. This new hero of the Dutch Republic hurried to Lyons and was made the head of the Army of Dutch Knights.

What a great week this has been thought William, Our Crusader Army has easily liberated the Incan city of Oxford, the opening of Newton’s University in The Hague, the trade to acquire saltpeter and gems from the Mayans and then this morning the capture of Warwick from the Incans with 11 slaves and a trebuchet by the Crusader Army and the nightcap of the discovery of Steam Power. Inside what really made him pleased was rebuffing the Incan request for peace. He knew their troops we busy taking English cities and were no match for his Crusader Army and the newly arrived Knight Army marauding in the lands that once belonged to England.

Meanwhile back in Lyons, Major Scoutsout yelled, “Here they come again” and once more the Dutch cannon fire rained down on the incoming Incan Knights. It seemed like for years, the Incan commanders had been sending wave after wave of troops at the city. Many brave Dutch soldiers had died either defending the walls or counterattacking the retreating Incan troops. The Major was intent on preventing any Incan unit from retreating to recover and return to battle, but the available Ancient Cavalry & Knight troops were dwindling and he refused to expose his Crusaders and Foot soldiers to Incan counterattacks. It was during one of these counterattacks that an Elite Ancient Cavalry Commander, Henry Hudson showed himself to go above and beyond the call of duty. As a great leader of the troops he was sent to Paris to form an Army. Much time would pass before Hudson’s Army would find troops suitable to join it.

Ambassador AlanH was not pleased to hear of the end of the alliance against the Inca, but he understood the Dutch desire to rid the world of Spain. The consolation prize of Magnetism for gold, had made the trip worthwhile, soon the English Man O’War would be ruling the waves.
William was pleased with his trading skills had dominated the peace conference. The Incan Ambassador was happy to send gold just to get relief from the onslaught of the Dutch troops and even the Zulu Ambassador joined in to enriching the Dutch treasury for some well-known technology.

“Spain must go, I tire of these sleepless nights wondering when a group of peasants will arise from the darkness and once again declare allegiance to that brazen hussy” William complained “A boatload of elite troops should do the trick General, see to it”.

The Dutch Galleon appeared off the coast of Pamplona the day that war was declared. The Spanish spearmen had no chance against the Dutch foot soldiers and when Wilhem Jantszoon stepped forward to slay the final spearman, the Spanish empire was no more. Isabella soon joined Joan in that private wing of the palace.

The next 350 years were quite peaceful on this little planet as Dutch research continued to produce discoveries on a regular basis, new luxuries became common on the shelves of the Dutch markets, gold from sales of technology came into the Dutch treasury and went out just as fast to replace the hired Swiss troops and the out of date cannons and knights with Dutch Infantry, Artillery and Cavalry. Only a revolt of Hastings to the Inca that killed the garrison broke the calm. Why a city without a single Incan citizen would want to join the Incan Empire still puzzled William.

“Another ceremony” William whined “First, it was letting everyone vote, then that pair of military dedications and now I’m off to open the new financial center and christening a major hydro-electric project. It’ll be days before my train gets back to Amsterdam”

William sat back at his desk smiling. Skaara, the Egyptian Ambassador had left meekly without the spices he had demanded and William waited for his next meeting. “Sir, it’s your Intelligence director, Mad-Bax wishes to see you.”

“Send him in” William bade. Mad-Bax began “The Intelligence Agency is complete and our spy sent word that all is in place in Cuzco. We should have the information you requested by the end of tomorrow.”

“Excellent, we’ll need the Egyptians and Mayans on our side, see to it that embassies are set up there at once and have my aides round up the military leaders for a meeting later today. We’re going to be visiting the Incan lands”

But that tale will have to wait until the saga of Mursilis goes to Alpha Centauri gains another chapter.

Mine was an Open game. I had entered the Industrial Ages with my home island mostly settled (Spain had a city on the northeastern tip and two cities in the tundra; France also had two cities in the tundra). I also had the nearby horse and iron islands.

I had ended the Middle Ages at the begining of a war with England, and England quickly fell apart between my troops landing from the sea and the Incan troops coming overland. I gained about half a dozen cities in old England and was just finishing the consolidation and getting ready to build my FP in London when the Incans decided they wanted that land. Inca was a military juggernaut, and though I fought valliantly, I ultimately lost the land. By that time, though, 1) I had discovered rubber, so saltpeter was less useful, and 2) Egypt had conquered the Zulu and the Mayans. So I decided to cede the northern half of the western continent to the Inca to keep them as a nice strong check on Egypt's domination ambitions. I fought the Incan war about 18 turns too long thanks to my realizing that continuing the war was a mistake about 2 turns after I signed alliances, but in the end, I got out with my core intact. I even managed to snag all of the Industrial Age wonders (if I'm remembering right).

When oil popped up on the home island, it was just barely in Spanish territory. I was able to found a city to capture the oil. At some point, I also seize the two cities France has on my continent.

Cut to the modern age. Egypt, Inca, Spain, and I are all jockeying for tech lead, but we're all about even. I decide to go for a Space Race victory, since the military and cultural options are out and the U.N. seems too dicey (plus I got a diplomatic victory last game). I'm in a Republic and I decide to try my hand at a little espionage.

Big mistake. Big giant huge mistake.

First I manage to trigger a war with the Inca. I quickly set up a MP with Egypt and let them do the fighting for me. I manage to get out of that war relatively unscathed (I lose one of the islands I had seized from England way back when). To add insult to injury, my espionage effort (a sting operation to reveal the Incan agent in my capital) wasn't even successful.

Not having learned my lesson, I figure I'll plant a spy in Spain to see if I can steal some techs. This triggers another war, and this time Spain brings in Egypt. I spend this war alternating between sending waves of tanks to (unsuccessfully) try to seize the Spanish cities on my island and listening to my diplomatic advisor tell me that Egypt and Spain are ignoring my envoy. Eventually, I manage to sign treaties with both of them. I've lost my horse island to Egypt, but otherwise, I'm unscathed.

Thanks to a 100% research rate, some savvy tech trading, and spaceship part pre-builds, I managed to be the first to launch a ship in the mid-20th century. It was close, though -- Egypt had 8 parts built when I launched. All in all, a fun game. In retrospect, I should have either expanded into Spanish territory like everyone else did (but that Statue of Zeus scared me early on and there was never a goo dopportunity later), or just turtled up on my island, played merchant prince, and glad-handed my way to victory. Trying to establish a base of operations in what was England was a mistake, and trying to play secret agent man was a big mistake.

And once again, I think I'm in the running for a "lowest scoring victory" medal! I'm just proud I won, particularly since this is my first game above Regent level.

COTM02_Open

Ancient Times: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=1979557&postcount=8

Middle Ages: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=1991780&postcount=21

** INDUSTRIAL AGE - OUR EXPANSION COMES TO A SUDDEN HALT **

1415 AD - We declare war on the Incas, attacking with two Cavalry Armies and 7 single Cavalry units, starting to kill the ancient Inca units one after another.

1425 AD - A massive force of 18 Inca Crusaders scares the cr*p out of our Armies! Especially since they are defended by a number of Riflemen...

1430 AD - We discover Nationalism, and draft and rush-build a number of Riflemen to defend our Cavalry.

1440 AD - Lyons still stands after a heavy attack from the Incas. Our Cavalry Armies pick off a few Inca Riflemen and Crusaders. We get our fourth great leader: Henry Hudson.

1460 AD - We lost one of our three Cavalry Armies when attacking a Crusader...

1475 AD - The Inca capture Besancon (the former French island). Not much of a loss. But they also get Lyons (with four Veteran/Elite Riflemen in it) in a cutural flip, which hurts a lot more! :cry:

1495 AD - Our war against the Inca is going absolutely nowhere. They're doing all the attacking, and we are just defending. Our two remaining armies cannot kill the Inca Riflemen any faster than the Incas can build them. We decide to make peace with them, and get Navigation as a bonus. The bad thing is that they are very strong in culture, so I am expecting to lose more cities to them through cultural flips.

1510 AD - I hate being right: We lose Marseilles to the Inca in a cultural flip... :( Meanwhile, our major cities are building Factories.

1635 AD - Utrecht "builds" Theory of Evolution. We discover Atomic Theory and Electronics, and start building Hoover Dam in Rotterdam.

1670 AD - The Mayas have destroyed the Zulus.

1685 AD - The Inca discover Electronics, and start building Hoover Dam. Ours will be completed in 9 turns - it's gonna be close...

1725 AD - We're doing very well in the tech race. We'll definately be first to Tanks. And ever better: The Inca have neither Coal, Rubber nor Oil! :eek:

1730 AD - The Mayas land troops on our Continent! We have plenty of Infantry, so they should are no threat. We politely ask them to leave, which results in them declaring war on us. So we kill their troops, and then bribe the rest of the world to turn against them. Meanwhile, we build Hoover Dam in Rotterdam, beating the Incas.

1735 AD - We build Military Academy in Utrecht, and start pumping out Armies (9 Turns).

1762 AD - We discover Motorized Transportation, and start building Tanks in our major cities. Now we just need to decide whom to attack...

1772 AD - OUR SCIENTISTS DISCOVER FLIGHT, AND WE ENTER THE MODERN TIMES! We are on top in science, score, world area (together with Maya) and population. Numerically, the Incas have the strongest military, but because they have no oil, their best unit is Guerilla (we have Tanks). The Mayas have the weakest military, and are weakest in science. The Incas have the strongest culture. We are at war with the Mayas.

Mistakes made:

1) Needless to say, it was a mistake to attack the Incas at the beginning of the Industrial Age. They were stronger than they appeared, and could pump out Riflemen at an astonishing rate. Instead, we should have built a wall of defensive units on the border to the Incas, and perhaps bribe them with some goods and useless dead-end techs, and then turn our attention east instead. Lesson learned: LISTEN to the military advisor - if he sais they have a "strong" military, they could well have a VERY strong military!

2) When we actually did go to war with the Incas, and found that we could never win it, we should have bribed the English to ally themselves with us against the Inca, before we made peace with the Inca. Lesson learned: Pay more attention to diplomacy, and take ever chance to get your opponents to go to war with each other (especially the ones on your continent).

Strategy for the Modern Times:

We need to use our scientific advantage to take as much land as possible from the Mayas (and possibly Egypt). Then, if we can't get a domination victory quickly enough, we'll go for a Space Race victory.

http://roland.racesimcentral.com/div/COTM02_Entering_Modern_Times_RE.jpg

-- Roland

** MODERN TIMES - GOING FOR THE WIN **

1788-1822 AD - Our Tank Armies crush the Mayan civilization, taking Umfolozi and Ngome (1788), Bapedi (1790), Hlobane (1792), Ulundi (1794), Tugela and Swazi (1800), Mayapán and Bonampak (1802), Kabáh, Uaxactún and Kaminaljuyú (1804), Ibabanago, Lagartero and Calakmul (1806), Palenque and Aké (1808), Chichén Itza and Cobá (1812), Tikal (1814), Lazapa, Cuelo, Copán and Yaxchilán (1816), Piedras Negras and Quiriguá (1818), Tulúm and Dzibilchaltun (1822). A total of 28 cities captured in 18 turns.

http://roland.racesimcentral.com/div/COTM02_Maya_Destroyed.jpg

1826 AD - The silly English suddenly attack us with Cavalry, and manage to capture Orleans!

1828 AD - We re-capture Orleans, and kill all the English Cavalry on our land. Then we bribe the Inca and Egypt with some luxuries, to declare war on the English.

1830 AD - We take control of Dover.

1842 AD - London, size 22, falls into our hands, as well as York. Meanwhile, the Incas take Newcastle and Hastings from the English.

1844 AD - We take Nottingham and Canterbury. The Incas pick Oxford and Coventry.

1848 AD - The Incas capture Warwick. The English are now down to just one city, Liverpool, which is positioned on a 1-tile island. We need Marines, but we don't want to waste 4 turns of science, so we let the English live.

1870 AD - We own 50% of the world's landmass and 50% of the world's population. We have a strong military with a number of Armies, but the Egyptians have Tanks and the Incas have Mechanized Infantry (the stupid Egyptians are trading them oil), so we decide to go for a Space Race victory. The Incas are not far from winning a cultural victory, but we should have no problems making it in time.

1942 AD - WE LAUNCH OUR SPACESHIP FOR ALPHA CENTAURI!!!

Mistakes made:

1) I lost patience with all the micromanagement, and played very quick and sloppy in the Modern Times. Lost a bunch of points there I guess. Lesson learned: If you feel you're losing concentration and patience, don't play Civ! :rolleyes:

2) Ending up with a Space Race victory when I was planning for a domination victory all through the years, cannot really be ideal... Darn Incas! Lesson learned: Plan your win better - from the very start if possible.

Final Firaxis score: 3017

Jason score: 3507

http://roland.racesimcentral.com/div/COTM02_Final_Minimap.jpg

Not a very good result I guess, but I've learned a bunch of things playing this COTM, and I am confident I will do better in COTM03. As I wrote in the second spoiler thread, I got a very much better result by just making a few things differently in the ancient times. The post is here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=1998522&postcount=129) if you're interested.

-- Roland

Open [c3c]

Medieval Age: Spoiler 2 (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=1995049&postcount=78)

Industrial/Modern Era Plans:

Simple. Plans include: military offensives only to obtain strategic resources; nurture relationships w/ rivals civs, specifically in regard to repairing damaged rep w/ France & Maya due to MA wars; maintain tech advantage and broker techs for gpt deals to maintain research rate; build the UN.

Wonders:

* Newton's University built in Utrecht (1300 AD).
* Theory of Evolution built in Utrecht (1460 AD).
* Intelligence Agency built in Rotterdam (1575 AD).
* Hoover Dam built in Utrecht (1595 AD). Enter Golden Age
* Wall Street built in Groningen (1705 AD).
* United Nations built in Utrecht (1735 AD).

Conflicts:

* I entered the Industrial Age at war w/ France. Aftering capturing Rouen in 1250 AD, I sign a peace deal w/ France for wm & 3 gold; then trade them Metallurgy for dyes & 8 gpt.
* In 1495 AD, three Galleons are dispatched loaded w/ Cavalry toward the western peninular region of the eastern continent. Target: Zulu. There are three Zulu townships there, one of which has coal. This strategic resource is desperately needed to boost production rates and improve Dutch response time in the event of enemy landings. The cavalry divisions are unloaded in Mayan territory (RoP) and moved within range of Amatikulu (coal town). I sign MPP w/ Maya in 1545 AD. That same turn, war is declared on the Zulu and Amatikulu is quickly captured. :) Since I'm not interested in obtaining any more Zulu lands, I enter into a MA w/ Egypt (paying 290 gold). Over the next few turns, the MA's cascade against the Zulu. Therefore, Amatikulu is never under a direct threat of being lost. I sign a peace treaty w/ the Zulu in 1650 AD, gaining Umfolozi & 18 gold. Three turns later, the Zulu are destroyed by Maya.

Research:

* Medicine (1320 AD); trade it to Inca for Nationalism, plus gold/goods; trade it to Maya for Democracy, plus gold/goods.
* Electricity (1360 AD).
* Scientific Method (1390 AD).
* Industrialization (1420 AD); trade it to Egypt for Free Artistry, plus gold/goods; trade Electricity to Spain for Facism, plus gold/goods.
* Replaceable Parts (1455 AD).
* Trade Scientific Method to Inca for Corporation, plus gold/goods (1460 AD).
* Refining (1495 AD).
* Trade Atomic Theory to Inca for Communism, Espionage, plus gold/goods (1520 AD).
* Combustion (1560 AD).
* Motorized Transportation (1615 AD).
* Trade Steel (forget when I got it) to Egypt for Ironlcads, plus gold/goods (1620 AD).
* Flight (1645 AD). Enter Modern Era
* Fission (1690 AD).
* Rocketry (????).

Assessment:

Enjoyed the game very much. I felt I researched technology better in this game than in any time I can remember. Increasing my tech rate skill is one of my on-going goals. I never felt the game was in jeopardy. And, having a landmass more or less to myself (allowed Spain to keep a city in the tundra region), no rival would ever be able to threaten me. Thanks for the game ainwood and staff.

Result:

Diplomatic Victory (Election: 6 - 1) in 1735 AD, w/ Inca providing the only dissenting vote.

Firaxis Score --- 2342
Jason Score --- 4744.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/djb_wm_total_units_cotm02.jpg

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/djb_domestic_cotm02.jpg

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/djb_wm_cotm02.jpg

Open

Middle Ages (w/link back to AA) (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=1996847&postcount=103)

It's 1310, and I've entered the Industrial Ages. I have a tech lead, and still have an open mind. My lack of Saltpeter means I've not researched MT yet - Knights were enough to see off Spain and France. Inca, though, has swallowed up England and is my equal militarily. My army pauses.

In 1425, my FP is finally completed in Madrid. It's been a long slog, but should be worth it in the end. I also manage to secure source of Saltpeter and start building Cavs.

My wonder building is going well. The Hague has Newton's, JS Bach's in Rotterdam, and The Hague would later get Shakey's, ToE, and Hoover, which triggered my GA :)

My indecision got the better of me, in the end. I landed 30+ Cavs on Zulu soil in the mid-1600s, easily taking two cities (Bapedi and Zimbabwe). Zulu had RRd by then, had resources, and counter-attacked. I couldn't hold either city, and instead of pulling my Galleons back in to pull out my troops, I tried to hold - and lost my armies. In 1680, my military reduced to home defensive units, I signed peace with Zulu and limped off licking my wounds.

There would be no Domination victory.

The modern era started sometime after 1800, with the Fission and the UN built soon after. The UN was completed in The Hague in 1824, and I held an immediate vote, confident that I'd win (my girlfriend was kind of hoping that I'd win, too, since she was getting fed up with me ignorning her for 'this silly game').

I pulled in 3 votes, Inca 1... and two abstensions! TWO?! Zulu I can understand, after the war. But Cleo? She'd always been polite to me, but, no, suddenly she's Annoyed with me. A hung vote, inconclusive, so I spend the next 11 turns being very nice to people and win the second vote with 4 votes to Inca's 1 and Zulu's abstension in 1848.

So I'm two-for-two at Monarch (and aside from a dodgy period after the Zulu war, this was far more comfortable a win than GOTM32).

In summary:
Software Version: C3C 1.22f for Windows
Entry class: open
Game status: Diplomatic Victory for Netherlands
Game date: 1848 AD
Firaxis score: 2930
Jason score: 4161
Time played: 11:22:57

Denied 20-odd points by Cleo!

Neil. :cool:

I am having trouble uploading my pictures so sry but i will not be able to show them.

Well i had a lot of problems in the Industrial and Modern Ages. I had conquered all of Spain, but was only to lose it all to the treacherous Incans. After this point the other nations had wiped everyone out and it was just me, Inca, and Egypt. Egypt was my best friend. Cleopatra was gracious towards me and loved me. We were constantly at war with Inca. I never lost a single city from my continent. But I lost all the cities that i had gained by war. I had no chance for any kind of domination or conquest victoy. So i decided to go for a diplomatic.

I managed to get Fission before anyone else and i built the United Nations. I gifted Egypt 4000 gold just to make sure that she would stay "gracious" with
me. THe votes were held. I of course voted for myself. The Incas voted for themselves. The Egyptians voted for themselves even though they were "gracious towards me. I held three more elections with the same result and not it is 1940 AD.

I dont know what to do and I dont know why Egypt wont vote for me any help?

I dont know what to do and I dont know why Egypt wont vote for me any help?

Egypt isn't voting for you because Cleopatra meets the requirements (Pop % & land %) to be a candidate. So, she is also voting for herself and wondering why that silly leader of the Dutch isn't voting for her. ;)

It looks like your remaining options are spacerace or histograph, and it doesn't sound like you'd win by histograph.

I dont have any screenshots of my game, sorry, and I am also not sure about dates, i blame it on poor organizational skills.

My choice of victory was diplomatic simply because i waited too long too invade spain way back in the middle ages. i fought a brief war with them which netted me only three cities, one of those was on an island and the other flipped back to spain long after the war was over. I had had no saltpeter, but neither had spain, but while i had built up my military and planned for the invasion other civs had discovered gunpowder and spain managed to trade for one. I decided to back out of the war because i did not have enough troops to take and hold the capitol, i wish now i had razed the captiol instead of offering peace. But, instead I decided for a bit of a challenge, i claimed no more land than the initial starting continent (island) and several island cities as well as one of the Spanish cities I had conquered. My objective was to stay small and get the victory which i saw as a challenge. Inca and Egypt were both big and powerful halfway through the industrial ages, england was resigned to a one tile island, as well as the zulu. the Mayans were eliminated by egypt. france and spain were about the same size as i.

i brokered techs furiously staying a tech ahead while stockpiling cannon / artillery and cavalry (egypt traded saltpeter and coal to me) in case of an invasion, which never came. I railroaded everything and felt secure defensively and had over 200gpt coming in from the other civs which paid for my unit costs under a democracy. i stockpiled a lot of units also just as a deterrent to the AI to keep them from demanding tribute from me.

i went for TOE early in the industrial age, claimed atomic theory and electronics with it and then built Hoover Dam. that was the truing point in the game, the AI stayed several techs behind after that and my production shot up.

the other challnege was reconciling with spain who remained furious or annoyed with me after our brief war. finally, i agreed to an MPP even though i wanted to stay out of war because it would hurt trading opportunities.

Shortly before i built the UN, The Inca declared war on Egypt. Then Egypt convinced Spain to sign and alliance against the Inca. A few turns later my MPP was invoked and i lost a lot of gpt from the inca. France also had MPP with Spain and the joined the war. Realizing the election was going to be soon i tried to get as cozy with everyone as i could so i sigend an alliance with spain, france and egypt and MPP with france in addition to the one with spain. england also joined the war against the inca, but zulu remained neutral. Spain went immediately from annoyed to polite with me and before any real battles took place i had built the UN Egypt voted for themselves, Inca abstained, England voted for Egypt (which really annoyed me becuase I had gifted England tech after tech once they were reduced to 1 tile) but France, Spain, the Zulu and myself of course voted for me. I probably owe the victory to the war because i had counted on France, England, and Zulu votes, without the war Spain would not have gone polite and would not have voted for me, I am still perturbed at Elizabeth for voting for Egypt.

One mistake I made in this game I regretted was waiting for saltpeter to invade Spain with Knights. I wanted to upgrade my trebs to cannon. That wait cost me. Another mistake was I waited too long to do a palace jump to get my capitol centrally located. But in making these mistakes i enjoyed the challenge of staying small and remaining a power nonetheless.

One complaint I have about this COTM is the map. The small island to the south of the starting continent where the horse and iron resource were located should have had sea tiles placed around the coast instead of going directly from coast to ocean. This had a slight impact on my game at times. I respectfully request when maps are modified that the sea tiles be placed around the islands which are added.

open

My goal was domination victory and to this point had captured most England and Spain and was planning to go pick off remaining Zulu then Maya and avoid the Inca Juggarnaut at all costs We are 1st in land area at this time

1580 England banished to a one tile island - but did extract ToG in peace treaty and entered IA

1680 inca dow on us - they have infantry and we had shut off most research except for scientists in corrupt cities after Military Tradition :(

1700 I have razed 3 inca cities and they won't talk :(

1705 2nd leader - army

1720 We're just barely hanging on, inca still won't talk :cry:

1725 captured ollantaytambo, don't know if we'll keep it

1730 PEACE with Inca for only 235g and 7 gpt

1764 Egypt apparently made the world mad - everyone except us dow on her this turn

1766 ollantaytambo flipped back to inca - lost 1 unit - rest were outside the town

1782 we join the rest of the world and dow on egypt after she's spent the bulk of her troops. We take a few towns and make peace about 10 turns later. Start to build military to take out 2 remaining zulu cities and maya at the same time since they have MMP with each other

1832 inca dow on us (I think this is the beginning of the end :cry: ) they have tow infantry and cruise missiles and bombers against our cavs and swiss mercenaries.) Will try gifting cities about to fall to other civs to hopefully get them into the war and to like me and will try to hold on until someone builds the UN (we're first in land, but way behind in tech)
1836 Well, it didn't work the inca are bypassing those undefended cities for us :cry: - but inca are building the UN - tired of the game and know will lose so will just shift enter until then as I can't retire and submit

1858ibt egypt declared war on inca after they took one of my cities on their continent

1872 inca built UN but didn't call vote

1920 start disbanding troops, and make peace with inca gifting them cities, then next turn, dow inca again

I think finally about 1948 or so, I had a conquest loss after 3 or 4 of my cities were nuked. Probably could have made peace at sometime and suffered a spaceship loss instead of a conquest loss, but does it really make any difference?

One complaint I have about this COTM is the map. The small island to the south of the starting continent where the horse and iron resource were located should have had sea tiles placed around the coast instead of going directly from coast to ocean. This had a slight impact on my game at times. I respectfully request when maps are modified that the sea tiles be placed around the islands which are added.
Care to elaborate on that slight impact you suffered from?

It looks like your remaining options are spacerace or histograph, and it doesn't sound like you'd win by histograph.

Only problem is that i stopped research once i got to Fission so that i could make big bucks to bribe people :(

In my game i never had any offensive wars and all my cities were still on my island, plus i colonized 3 small islands. I only had 2 or 3 defensive wars with Egypt, but i would not even call them wars since none of my units ever entered a single battle and none of egyptians unit ever landed on my soil...

It was the fastest game for this size map i played ever.. It lasted less than 6 hours totall and i easily won a diplomatic victory in 1700AD.

I have had a problem in the beggining/middle of the industrial age without having a coal, but then a nice trade with egypt brought me coal and my cities became productive.

It was somewhat different game, i always do lots of exhausting war mongering, but here i had one of the easiest victory's in my experience.

Only problem is that i stopped research once i got to Fission so that i could make big bucks to bribe people :(
If I remember the attitude article correctly, maximum effect is achieved with only 100 Gold, which reduces at 10GPT, anymore is a waste. Add Alliance, MPP, ROP and that is probably the best attitude you will get.

Smackster

Care to elaborate on that slight impact you suffered from?

One thing is that in those cities i could have built hospitals and continued their growth with the food / commerce from sea tiles which are not there in ocean tiles. Another thing which was just slightly annoying, during the brief period in which my ships were safe from sinking in sea but not yet ocean (between astronomy and magnetism) there were a few times when i could have saved an extra move with ships going from the island to the other continent if there was a sea tile present around my island. But like I said this was just a slight impact.

Predator

We entered the industrial age in 470AD by trading for metallurgy.

540AD – Steam power. Great, no coal on my island and I can’t trade for it either. Egypt has only one source and the Zulus don’t have any either. All the other civs have not yet built harbors……
610AD - Industrialization
680AD – Electricity
740AD – Replacable parts
780AD – French build Shakespeares Theatre
800AD – Medicine
850AD – The Corporation
900AD – The Spanish declare war on us, costing us our source of Ivory. Our Swiss mercenary withstands the sneak attack, but the Spanish ancient cavalry retreats before our GA can be triggered.
910AD – Scientific method
920AD – The Hague builds Universal Suffrage
940AD – Vitoria captured. GA triggered
960AD – Arnhem builds ToE. Free techs: Atomic theory and electronics. Santander captured
We make peace with the Spanish in exchange for the city of Pamplona, eliminating Spain from our island…
1010AD – Refining
1050AD – Steel
1080AD – Intelligence Agency built in Arnhem
1100AD – Combustion
1110AD – The Hague builds Hoover Dam. Santander flips back to the Spanish
1140AD – Mass production
1190AD – Motorized transportation
1250AD – Flight
Enter modern age
1370AD – Arnhem builds the Internet
1395AD – Apollo Program built. Spaceship 1/10
1400AD – Spain completes Seti Program. Spaceship 2/10
1410AD – Spaceship 3/10
1445AD – Spaceship 4/10
1455AD – Spaceship 5/10
1490AD – Spaceship 6/10
1495AD – Spaceship 7/10
1530AD – Arnhem builds UN (just for denial purposes)
1540AD – Spaceship 8/10
1545AD – Spaceship 9/10
1570AD – Spaceship 10/10 -> launch. Space ship win. 19h27m12s. 3070 Firaxis points. Jason: 5984

If I remember the attitude article correctly, maximum effect is achieved with only 100 Gold, which reduces at 10GPT, anymore is a waste. Add Alliance, MPP, ROP and that is probably the best attitude you will get.

Smackster
That is my understanding, also. For the entire game, there is a 100g maximum limit. After you have gifted 100g, there is no effect on attitude. Money can't buy you love... :rolleyes:

http://gotm.civfanatics.net/common/swordsman_small.gif [c3c] 1.22f

Ancient Age Report, 4000 BC - 825 BC (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=1983668&postcount=147)

Middle Ages Report, 825 BC - 630 AD (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=1993700&postcount=58)

The Dutch entered the IA in 630 AD. Started on Steam Power right away. Plan was to stay peaceful, and located only on starting Continent, mainly to explore the impact of restricted resources on a limited empire in C3C.

Research started off around 9 Turns per Tech; we are still somewhat small and not fully developed. Plan to kick off GA by building Magellan's Voyage and UnivSuff. Magellan's finished in 650AD; Steam Power learned in 720 AD (9 turns); Industrialism learned in 800 AD (8 turns); pre-build in capital (Utrecht) switched over to UnivSuff, still 19 turns to go (but the AI is still behind in Tech)

I used Steam Power to renew my Luxury deals in 760. This also got the AI cracking on connecting their Coal sources (We of course had none!). Spain had two (neither connected) and Egypt 2 as well (one connected). And this might put an AI over to researching Medicine; I know most are focused on Nationalism.

Learn Electricity in 880 AD, trade around for MilTrad, Nationalism (now available) and Saltpeter; AI can now research Replaceable Parts for me as well as Medicine. Cavalry upgrades occur, and new ones are built. I still retain Industrialism as a unique tech.

940 AD Learn Corporation

960 AD Trade Industrialism to renew Luxury trades, and get Communism

990 AD Finish UnivSuffrage and the GA is on!

1020 Learn Refining; no Oil (Inca are on tundra Oil to West); Egypt has two sources, but one is on an island with no Harbor

1070 Learn Steel; Medicine is available! Trade Corp for Medicine, Gold and Maps. Each trade I take as much gpt as available. I'm able to maintain 100% research rate; the incoming gold trade covers my Maintenance and Unit costs; I'm usually running a large positive cash flow.

1090 Trade Communism to Maya for Gems and Saltpeter; I now have 5 Luxuries; Replaceable Parts is available

1110 Learn Scientific Method; switch pre-build to TofE - 8 turns; set up 8 turn research of Atomic Theory; Trade Refining for ReplParts, Fascism, etc; we have Rubber!

1160 Renew Luxury trade with Scientific Method

1190 Learn Atomic Theory; finish TofE, Learn Electronics and Combustion; switch Palace pre-build to Hoover's Dam (22 turns to complete); GA is over :(

1200 Okay, we're about to leave the IA, and we still have no coal. This must be changed. 4 civs (Spain, Zulu, Maya, and Egypt) have coal, Spain and Egypt have 2; they must be trading it so who is getting it? I trade my WM for TM with each of France, Inca and England; hmmm, who is getting the coal?

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/cvst_c03_ad1200CapsCoal.JPG

England is my target. So much for being totally peaceful. I will wait until Egypt gets it's 2nd Oil connected, and then try to relieve England of her coal shipments.

1210 F2 shows that Egypt has Oil to trade. Declare War on England. Use Steel to get Egypt to Declare, and get her Oil. No Coal available. Use Scientific Method to get Spain to Declare. Hurray, Coal is available (F2 key), and an Ivory is now free as well. Trade Steel for Coal and Ivory, and get my Workers building Railroads. Use Steel (or older Techs) to get EVERYBODY at war with England. The rest are all Gracious to me, now.

1220 Oh well, I decide to capture the one English town on the Tundra part of my island. That is it for combat between me and England. (We Dutch are peaceful, but let's share the coal, shall we?)

1250 Learn Mass Prod; start getting Commercial Docks built in some coastal cities.

1280 Learn MotorTransp; start producing Tanks while I have Oil

1305 Renew Luxury deal (2 from Egypt, 1 from France) for Atomic Theory; Gold, gpt and Maps, too, of course

1310 Hoover's Dam is completed; big Production increase

1315 Learn Flight. We have reached the Modern Era.

None of the AI know Combustion or Electronics; Zulu and Maya are further behind. I plan to cruise through the Modern Age, heading for a SpaceShip launch; I'm experiencing 10 turn research right now, but once I get Research Labs built, and Hospitals (once SOMEONE researches Sanitation), that should get cut down a lot. Maybe 1700 or so; we'll see. I'll probably have to be creative regarding getting the other resources I require; at some point the AI will have to know (or be taught) Rocketry and Fission, to provide me those resouces. We'll see.

That is my understanding, also. For the entire game, there is a 100g maximum limit. After you have gifted 100g, there is no effect on attitude. Money can't buy you love... :rolleyes:
I actually thought that you get 10 attitutde point for 100g, and then that goes down by one per turn, so you keep giving them 10GPT to stay at the max benifit. I only ever use this the turn before a UN vote however, but that's what I remember from the article.

COTM 02 – The Dutch (Open)
Industrial Age/End Game 1450 AD – 1884 AD

With the new scientific advances “taught” to the Dutch Republic by Spanish scientists after the War of Spanish Succession, a new industrial age dawned in 1450 AD. The Dutch trading empire was secure in its homeland, busy integrating its new Spanish possessions in to the Republic and securing the Dutch East Africa territories. But trouble was brewing to the north as the Incan ambassador started to make threatening moves towards our staunch ally “Saint” Joan and troubling reports of Incan knights moving south reached the Senate just as the new age was being ushered in. The Dutch Senate, despite all its wisdom in guiding our tiny nation through 5,000 years of history, seemed distracted and singularly unconcerned about the appearance of powerful new military units called Cavalry in the armies of other nations and the disturbing lack of a substance called saltpeter that was being put to good use by other nation’s scientists.

Incan treachery, predictable by their military maneuvers, soon followed as they declared war without any of the formal negotiations usually preceding such events. Already at war with England, and soon thereafter to declare against France, the Incan Emperor seemed determined to bring the whole of the continent under his control. However, an initial army of Incan knights ran itself to ground on the pikes of our staunch Swiss Mercenaries and the war ground down to a stalemate over our captured Spanish towns. Peace was enforced a century later, with only the French territories lessened by the constant swings of fortune.

It was however still early in the Incan war of conquest when the wisdom of establishing our overseas colonies became apparent. Spurred on by the new age, Dutch scientists discovered Steam Power and the mighty ability of coal to fuel an industrial revolution. Still hurting from its dependence on foreign saltpeter, too often withheld in centuries past, the Senate demanded an immediate inventory of what domestic deposits of this strategic resource where to be found across the Republic. “Oh Happy Day!” one senator was heard to remark, “Oh Happy, Happy Day!” when it was discovered that fully 66% of the world’s supply of coal was clearly already the property of the Dutch East African Trading Company and the rest was in the hands of our staunch friends the Egyptians. With a near monopoly on this precious resource, there was little to be feared from our enemies in the world.

The incessant war with the Mayans, mostly prosecuted by our allies Egypt and Zululand, finally ended in 1520 and peace reigned on three continents, at least in Dutch territory. Resources were poured in to scientific research, and a new concept of government, Democracy was established after several decades of troubling anarchy. Great engineering wonders such as the Hoover Dam and exciting scientific breakthroughs such as the Theory of Evolution soon followed. Along with this sustained period of prosperity, Dutch intellectuals and thinkers started to propose extending our peaceful society throughout the world through a government of “united nations”. A concept that gained momentum in 1630 AD when rubber emerged as another strategic resource and it was learnt that the Dutch East Africa Company controlled 80% of that precious resource as well. “Can there be any doubt God is a Dutchman?” became a popular saying on the streets of The Hague. The less generous Spanish translation in the streets of Madrid was more along the lines of “The Dutch; a bunch of overgrown farmer’s boys with horseshoes up their a****.

However, the other nations of the world were less than convinced of the power of peaceful co-existence. In a short, brutal war, the Incas annihilated the French and were only stopped from further annexations by a combined English-Dutch defensive alliance that saw a few former French towns seized by Dutch infantry to form a demilitarized zone. The grand vision of a “United Nations” was completed in 1860, but fearing its implications and obviously suffering from the final stages of syphilis, President Shaka of the Zulu declared war on our long-time ally Egypt, even as the final bricks were being laid for the new buildings. Before even the first vote could be held, the “Mad Zulu’s War” had escalated completely out of hand. Egypt, the Mayans, England and even the distant Incas were all arrayed against Shaka’s troops, while interlocking alliances forced the Dutch President’s hand and sent our infantry, cavalry artillery and bombers in to the fight. Despite desperate pleadings from The Hague, Shaka resolutely refused to support our election to the presidency of the United Nations, which combined with the expected Incan antipathy towards anything Dutch, left a stalemate in the election against England. Shaka was to regret such insanity; facing the combined might of every other nation in the world, outclassed, outgunned and out-maneuvered, lacking even the most rudimentary of strategic resources, the Zulu’s fine cities were reduced to rubble and its poor people turned in to refugees, long before the next vote was held at the United Nations. In 1884, having seen the horrors of industrial warfare and guided by the Dutch example of peaceful trade and co-existence, the world’s nations elected President William to head the United Nations, despite the defacto abstention by the Incan ambassador.

If only Shaka had listened 20 year earlier, the might Zulu people could have participated in the glorious millennia of peace that followed the Dutch victory of diplomacy over warfare. Instead a once proud people were relegated to the dustbin of history as migrant workers of the lands they once ruled. “Madness and folly, madness and folly” President William was often heard to mutter in his declining years.

I guess i will have to find a way to lose :(

PREDITOR - CONQUEST LOSE

Alas, I have lost. My main mistake was asking the incans to help me destroy the spanish. Then they tried to destory me. i had a single well defended city left on the continent, but that fell when it was bombard to hell with bombers. After that they jumped on my main land and bombed me to death. I was far from getting air defence and lost on a conquest defeat :(

I learnt a lot and am still mastering Emporer level. I started a random map and am already doing well.

You can't defend from bombers if you do not have flight can you?

COTM II Predator


My middle ages were fairly uneventful, so I decided to just jump to this thread and pick up when I entered the IA in 700 AD.

Wars

I had just two wars for the rest of the game, and both of them were with Spain. I started the first around 700, and my invasion force consisted of 4 MDI and 2 Swiss Mercs. I know, quite intimidating :lol:
I landed them next to Toledo, the Spanish Ivory city. I managed to take the city and hold it for a turn or so before it flipped back. Before it did though, a Spanish warrior was kind enough to impale himself on on eof my Swiss Mercs, starting my GA. That was the only real goal of the war; if I could have held onto the Ivory it would have been nice, but I survived without it.

I built up cavalry up until 1000 AD, when I declared on Spain again. The purpose of this war was to get Spain's coal, as I was tired of waiting for them to hook up their second supply. This time my initial force of 8 cavs took Toledo for good. As I gained more cavs, I finally managed an assault upon Barcelona, which was successful. About 7 turns after that I finally had coal flowing and rails being built. I continued the war, taking the rest of Spain and picking up two more luxuries in addition to the Ivory. I also got a MGL in 1220 which I used to make a cav army. That was the extent of my warring for this game.

Research

The start of my Golden Age at the beginning of the IA helped me out, as did the completion of Newton's in 710. The Inca turned out to be worthwhile trading partners. I decied to take the lower branch of the tech tree after I researched Steam Power, going for Medicne, Electricity, Rep. Parts, Scie Method, AT, and Electronics. While I research all those, the AI(lead by the Inca) researched Industrialization, The Corporation, and Steel for me. That ended up shaving at least 15 turns off my finish. I traded the tech I had for the ones I didn't, and then researched as fast as I could through the rest of the techs.

I had a plan set to have dual prebuilds, one for ToE and one for the UN. I planned to use the ToE to grab Flight and Fission, and then switch my other prebuild to the UN and call the vote ASAP. This didn't quite work out as planned, as I noticed the Inac were gong to complete ToE before I was ready to use it as I mentioned. I ended up having to switch early, instead learning Motorized Transportation and Flight, entering the Modern Age in 1310. I was forced to do a grueling research of Fission, which took 10 turns at 100% science.

I finally learned Fission in 1360, and switch my prebuild in Groningen over to the UN, which was now due in five turns. I managed to shave a turn off by reassigning some workers, and completed it in 1380, upon which I held the vote, which looked like this.....

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/KB1COTM2.JPG

So, in the end I had a Diplo victory in 1380 AD, for a Jason score of 7155.

This was a very enjoyable and unique game, just like all the others. I suppose it's time I got started on GOTM 33...

@Kaiser Berger,

Nice pace through IA! Would your particular game have been better of going fast for Education and timing your Golden Age to a GA boosted Universities/copernicus/Newton build? I know mine would have if I had known that I was going for UN vote. But that desicion came first halfway through the IA...

@Kaiser Berger,

Nice pace through IA! Would your particular game have been better of going fast for Education and timing your Golden Age to a GA boosted Universities/copernicus/Newton build? I know mine would have if I had known that I was going for UN vote. But that desicion came first halfway through the IA...


Thanks! Your tech pace was impressive as well, considering you put a lot more resources into warring than I did.

Yes, I would have much preferred triggering my GA around that time. In a perfect game I'd have my GA so it's boost would allow me to research at a 4-turn pace while I get universities in place, and then use all those unis to maintian the 4-turn pace one the GA is done. In this game I didn't really have the resources together to start my GA until around the time that I did, as I was busy trading and keeping up in the Middle Ages along with building up my infrastructure.

Yay i finally finished my game! Since i couldnt win the elections cause cleopatra was to stubborn and since i stopped my tech rate when i got to fission i had no chance of winning so i tried to delay Incans from builinding the components of the spaceship. They finished building there spaceship in 1988. I had a Fireaxis score of 1265 and a Jason score of 984. My Jason score is always lower :(..... well this was my first monarch game and i feel that i am learning a lot. Thank you for all the help that you guys have given.

I guess i will have to find a way to lose :(

SniperDevil, the description of your world reminds me a lot my own. Except most of the time I am in war with both Inca and Egypt (I had somewhat succesfull wars with Spain, England and Zulu, but didn't manage to keep those cities). I am sure if I will call for UN vote, I have no chance to win. But I may go for it anyway as future doesn't look shiny and I am so tired of a war, because it is about surviving, not wining. So you are not alone, we still can compete for the score among loosers.

wow im not alone!

Diplo win 1370AD...lost at least 100 years by lazyness...nuff else said.

Looks like there's an awful lot of diplo wins this cotm...

I entered the IA in 1050 AD :eek:
Imagine how frustrated I was at my MA research, having left the AA in around 800BC :mad:

After having around 35% of world territory following Inca's defeat and Lizzie being stuck on her one-tile island (couldn't get it in a peace deal and Egypt had contacted them anyway so I decided to keep her in the game), I decided to fill in the gaps and go for max research towards fission.

I entered the IA in 1445 AD by researching Motorized transport and ToE'ing Flight and Fission on the same turn. Prebuild for UN had 6 turns left IIRC.

Cleo then decided to sneak on me, saving me from making my 7th war declaration in a diplo game :mischief:
I ganged Shaka and Mr. Jag up against her and won a diplo victory in 1470 AD after destroying the Spanish and the French, razing 4 Spanish and a French city in the process. Only one I didn't war throughout the game was Maya. I actually got Hlobane in a peace deal from Shaka in the QSC period :lol:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Cotm2_finish.jpg

Firaxis score: 5233
Jason score: 8131
Time played: 36:33:47

Looks like there's an awful lot of diplo wins this cotm...

Well, it is the Dutch. :)

I think I will enter the competition for highest ever war weariness in a republic. and biggest mistake in COTM2!

20 entertainers needed to get the city out of riot. It probably would have been more had the city not had Shakespears theatre in it.

It is a good lesson, in that if you give a big enough target to the AI even they cannot fail to take it.

I was playing on the eastern continent, just pushing the egyptians around with culture, (settler , rush library, rail and irrigate everywhere). but I forgot to airlift over some tanks. :rolleyes:

in 2 turns egypt took 10 undefended cityies, 3 defended cities, and kicked me off the continent. I still should win, as soon as there envoy will see me he will find he has done the best bit of pointy stick research ever (I have about 5 techs I can gift them!)

The biggest lesson I learned echoes what many have said here... conquer sooner. Instead of attacking the northern continent early, I chose to build up my home continent first... which gave the enemy time to dig in. Launching my attack 10 or 20 turns earlier (and putting off some temples and librarys) would have really helped.

As it was, this was my first GOTM so I will take the lessons I learned and do better next time!

Link to earlier Ramblings (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=2019378&postcount=166)


1000AD Steam Power
1030AD Built NEWTON’S UNIVERSITY
1050AD Medicine (learned in 5)
1070AD Built Smith’s Trading Company
1110D Electricity (learned in 6)
1150D Scientific Method (learned in 4)
1190AD Industrialization (learned in 4)

Blunder of the Month – Until this point I was importing 5 luxuries from the other civs. I had 2 luxury deals come up for renewal on the IBT to 1200AD, but my other 3 deals were set to expire in the next 2 turns also. So I decided to wait and trade one tech around the horn to renew all the deals. Unfortunately I lost out on all the luxury deals and finished the game with only 2 luxury (I was able to keep my ivory deal in place). This slowed my tech pace down from 4-5 turns to 5-6 a tech, which cost me about 10-15 turns towards my pre1500 Diplo victory.

1240AD The Corporation (learned in 5)
1270AD Steel (5)
1300AD Replaceable Parts (6)
1325AD Built Theory of Evolution – learn Atomic Theory & Electronics
1350AD Refining (5)
1380AD Combustion (6)
1400AD trade for Fascism & Communism
1405AD Mass Production (5)
1435AD Motorized Transportation (6) – built Hoover Dam
1465AD Flight (6) – Entered Modern Age
1510AD Fission (9) (timed it to come in 1 turn before my palace prebuild completed) - still had to wait 11 turns to build the UN
1565D built UN – vote – 6-2 Diplo Victory achieved
score F3067 J5900

Not as good as I hoped for. I had debated on whether a Space victory would have acheived a higher score at this point. I never actively went to war in this game having to only stave off a few weak English attemps. Except for the two small islands I never landed a troop on any other landmass.

Looking back I think had I moved the settler (or jumped the palace) as other players did I could have expanded faster and have won the game much earlier.

Chalk this one up to experience.

I also achieved a diplomatic victory. Somehow, my military never really matched up all that well, so I just tried to get the tech pace moving fast. And it sort of did, or at least compared to most games I play. Towards the end though, it really dragged, and I had to research the last few industrial techs and fission, at 5-7 techs/turn. Managed to get the votes on the first try, even though both Egypt and Inca qualified (which really scared me, since that meant Spain and the Maya both had to vote for me). Finished 1778 I think, with game score around 2000, Jason score around 4000. I don't remember exactly, since I finished two weeks ago, and don't feel like checking.

http://gotm.civfanatics.net/common/swordsman_small.gif (predator, going for histographic win)

Link to Ancient Age spoiler (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=1981698&postcount=66)
Link to Middle Ages spoiler (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=1991001&postcount=11)

Early in the Industrial Age I mopped up the remnants of France (510AD) and Inca (530AD), leaving just England on the western continent.

I declared war on England in 560AD and began my invasion. At the start of this invasion I had 31 Knights. A priority goal was to take England's saltpeter. I took it in 630AD and began upgrading units. With Cavalry my invasion accelerated and in 680AD I had reduced England to two cities - her capital on the continent and her one tile island city. At this point I stopped attacking, hoping to exert enough cultural pressure on the island city to take it before having Marines. This didn't work so it ended up being much later before I could finally finish off England.

In 680AD I learned Replaceable Parts - Steam Power, Electricity, and Replaceable Parts had each taken 7 turns to learn. I then turned off research for a while to make funds available for rushing.

I chose Egypt as my first target on the other continent. She was a good place to start because she had three luxuries I wanted and she was somewhat backward. In 720AD I declared war and my first units landed on Egypt's east coast - a Knight army, a Cavalry army, and four individual Cavalry.

During my invasion of Egypt I continued to capture instead of raze cities. I had almost three times her culture and it was likely that I could leave units in cities to heal. But not certain. Twice I lost cities to culture flips and lost an army along with the city. I lost a third army being a bit over-aggressive in my advance. I had my Military Academy up and running though and that provided new armies.

By 860AD I had four armies, had eight luxuries connected, had almost eliminated Egypt, and was 113 tiles from Domination:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/sirplebc02-3a.jpg

I gave Egypt peace for a one tile island city and started research again, heading toward Amphibious Warfare for Marines. I also declared war on the Zulu at this time and began invading them.

I razed most Zulu cities. In 960AD they were down to a few cities. I gave them peace, then declared on the Maya and began war on them.

In 1010AD I took the Pyramids from Maya. This wonder would help considerably with rebuilding the eastern continent.

By 1100AD I controlled nearly all of the world:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/sirplebc02-3b.jpg

There were still scattered cities belonging to England, Egypt, Zulu, and Maya. But my energy by this date was mostly focused on reorganizing my holdings and building them up to maximize score. I'd made a start already, e.g. abandoning the western tundra near home in favor of better lands elsewhere. Civil Engineers were helping enormously, building improvements such as aqueducts, harbors, and marketplaces in corrupt cities at a reasonable pace.

In 1180AD I learned Amphibious War. (Research times had been Industrialization 4, Corporation 4, Refining 6, Steel 4, Combustion 4, Mass Production 6, Amphibious War 4.)

By this time I'd founded "Padded Cell" in the north of the eastern continent. I gave it to Egypt and then returned to war with all of my rivals. And by 1255AD I'd eliminated them all except Egypt, who had just her Padded Cell left, surrounded by my troops of course:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/sirplebc02-3c.jpg

After this I had no further warfare. Egypt remained quiet until the end of the game. I continued reorganizing land and rebuilding for a fair while. In 1530AD I finished my last city improvement and all cities were producing wealth. My final map from that date onward looked like this:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/sirplebc02-3d.jpg

After 1530AD it was just a matter of dealing with pollution each turn until the end of the game at 2050AD. Dianthus' CRpMapStat utility (available here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=52902)) was a great help in this phase (it also helps with others!), largely eliminating the tedium in the final stage.

Open Class

My game was actually very simular to yours, SirPleb, but all events happened at somewhat later dates. ;)
Egypt was the one left in my game as well but they had the 1 tile island in the southwest of the eastern continent as their Elba.

I agree that using CRpMapstat makes milking do-able. I particularly like the cultural expansion tab. At some point I had to abandon the metro :eek: where I built Zeus because it was on the coast and treathened to expand, beyond workable tiles. You can't sell a Wonder, so it ha to go. I had time enough to build the Settlers to quickly regain the pop level.

edit: Added class... :blush:

Open class

Completed now. Space race in 1804. Jason score of about 4400. my first ever space race though - in any game! :D Now will go back and see if I could have won one of the 5 UN votes that I wasn't brave enough to hold! :rolleyes:

open class.

Open class
i wrote the article below about 2 weeks before. i finished the game in one night, playing till 5 o'clock am. the memory of the game has already faded away by now and i know comparing to the other players here, i played really poorly. but anyway, i'll paste it here for the participation's sake.


This is my second try in game of the month. and it's also my very first game of conquest. i haven't got the conquest yet but fortunately a dude in my lab installed it in one computer in my lab. so i'm an utterly new player for conquest but from the game i don't feel any difference. the only difference is that some of the old familiar wonders are no longer there and some new wonders are added. as a player from a non-english speaking country it's really hard for me to know what they are. this further confirms my determination not to buy conquest.

i have no specific goal at the beginning since i don't know what kind of a map we'll have.

Initial stage -- empire building
as proposed in pregame discussion by a lot of players i moved my worker and settler to the south, hoping to find a better spot for my empire's capital. i always prefer my capital to be 'inland' so that i can have more core cities. i settled down after 8 or 9 moves when i saw a lovely cattle. after setting up the settler factor (2 warrior, 1 granary and then it goes. i never counted what the number-of-turn factory it is though.) i started to fill the island with my cities.

here is a picture of the positions of my cities at a much later age. the numbering indicates the sequence of the establishment of each city.
(pic. point out the wasted tile)
according to the blueprint in my mind all the precious spaces around my capital will be fully used by my core cities. however i still miscalculated and left one tile unused. i think i can squeeze in one city there and can keep micromanage it so that that city only work the surrounding sea tiles. but i didn't bother to try that.


Research: tech broking -- catch-up and excel

normally i play on emporor level(ptw) and i kept my old habit - turn the research down to 20% at the very first (this time because there're so many river tiles and so 10% is enough) to maintain a 40 turn research speed. and i always research the techs that are only availabe for research based on the 2 techs i start with. but anyway i think as most of you found out that we're on a isolated condinent (or island if you like) and so i feel lucky that i didn't waste too much gold on research since it's very unlikely that you could have any unique tech by the time you meet others.
so when i first met spain and Inca (almost at the same time. my first 4-5 boats all sinked but after that no boat sinked for quite a while. it must be a wild random number generator. but one thing that seems to be predictable is that whenever there's a settler on the boat it would sink. at least that's what happened to two of my failed transportation of settlers. again i'm to blame because i'm too lazy to use that safer transfering methods.) i was really backward. Inca was 6 tech ahead of me. however after intensive broking i finally was on par with them. and later on i found Egypt and zulu and the tech broking became more fruitful. however this broking didn't last long because i became the leader very soon after i built the Copernicus Observatory. and the game after that went very very smoothly. i also got newton's university, theory of gravity and Bath's theater. i didn't try to get other wonders except for the last a few wasted wonders(explained later).
since i was the tech-leader ever after the building of the observatory, most of the time in the rest of the game was spent on finding the richest civ to buy my techs. i found that normally there's only 1 very rich guy (willing to spend >100gpt) at every turn. there're very very few occasions when no one could offer a >100gpt or more than 2 civ could offer >100gpt. I am not sure why this is the case. i'm constantly giving away tech to those really weak civs such as zulu and Maya. it really surprised me that with the second largest land area Maya was doing so bad in its tech.

Win!:
i was only 2 techs ahead of others when i finally built the UN because i was almost giving away tech at the late stage of the game. no one seems to be doing any research except for me. and once in a while the AI would research communisim and espinage but they just never researched any main-stream techs. with such intensive trading and tech giving-away everyone except egypt voted for me and so ends the game. :)

War:
one thing i didn't mention up to now about my game is the war. i had a 20turn war (20turn becasue i signed alliance and had to wait it out). with Inca who declared war on me after i build a city on a inscence lux on his continent. but he's very far away from that incense city and i really didn't see any reason why he should do that. the turn he declared war on me, i asked france (sharing border with Inca) and Spain (surrounding that incense city) to joined my rightful crusade against Inca. i used my spearman to kill one redlined Inca horseman and that's the only drop of blood i saw in the entire game. i also used another spearman to destroy one land improvement in the Inca territory. after 20 turns i signed peace treaty with Inca and he immiediately became polite. that's the first time i saw my enemy became polite after the war. normally they remain furious and at best became annoyed after the war. so the lesson i took home from this is that a war that can deepen the understanding of two countries can be beneficial. and normally such a war doesn't involve much killing. :)

Summary:
basiclly i enjoyed myself in this game. :) however this means that i didn't take enough effort to ensure what the game was played out the optimal way:
1) in very early stage of the game city rioting happens 3 or 4 times because i forgot to adjust the lux bar when cities grew.
2) most of the time i checked f4 screen every (or every other turn) but i was carried away with my empire planning and missed some good broking opportunity.
3) i was again enjoying myself too much in the last hour of the game and built a lot of unnecessary wonders (intelligence agency which i didn't use at all), battlefield medicine (i never had any troops on foreign soil except for that pillaging spearman who was killed the next turn). the biggest mistake is that i built the Hoove Dam while all my core cities already had hydroplant built and that also directly led to the 17 delay in the construction of UN. i ended up building UN after fission was researched. otherwise i could have finish the game 17turns earlier. i am not sure how much a difference that will make in turms of the score.
4) i saved too much money. with 100%tech speed, i was still be able to make 200-300gpt after i obtained an tech lead. but the money wasn't used. instead they were kept in the bank and got rotten. :( i only used the money in rush-building the templs and libraris and cathedrals in 4 mainland cities so that i could assimilate the two annoying AI cities on my continent and in 2 far-away cities so that they don't flip and for the coal!!! (our motherland is such resourceless continent. fortunately i didn't have a real war and never needed any horse, iron, saltpeter,etc. the only thing that pissed me off was the coal... i used more than 1000gold to rush the cultural buildings to expand that city's border. it got all the imrpvements in about 8 turns.)

anyway i enjoyed myself and spent a whole night (10pm -4:30 am) on the game. :) and i for the first time played such a peaceful game. (all the AI survived!)
score: 2911, jason: forget. something around 5100.


Thank ainwood for the game! i like download-free game! :)


p.s. after finish writing up this, i read SirPleb's GOTM32 aztec and dmanakho's COTM2, both are much better games. :)

voting result.i'm very glad that every AI sticked to the end.. no one is eliminated.:)
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=62521&stc=1

http://gotm.civfanatics.net/common/swordsman_small.gif [c3c] 1.22f

Industrial Age Link, 630 AD - 1315 AD (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=2009273&postcount=22)

The Modern Age was pretty uneventful. The war I started against England kept reviving itself until Elizabeth was reduced to a one tile island city. I enjoyed my coal in peace. :D

I hadn't learned Sanitation yet, so my cities were still no larger than size 12. The first two Techs I learned (Computers and Miniaturization) took 10 turns and 11 turns respectively. Fission was next, and I finished the Seti project in one of my coastal cities with Commercial Docks, and the Internet so research times dropped into the 6-7 turns range. About this time I was able to get Sanitation from the AI, and my cities started growing again. Eventually I got down to 5-6 turn research, but never quite reached 4 turn research level.

As Luxury trades expired I renewed them with whatever Tech was available; same thing for Oil. Coal and Saltpeter I was getting from the Zulu and Maya respectively, who were still in the Industrial Age. I researched the Computers path, then the Fission Path, finally the Ecology path. I had all required SpaceShip Technologies except those that require Rocketry. About the time I finished Ecology, the AI finished Rocketry for me, so I got a little bit of help. That was it, I finished SynthFibers, then SpaceFlight. I timed a pre-build to do ApolloProgram on the same turn I researched SpaceFlight, and the SpaceRace was on!! Well, it was only a race with one entrant ... I don't think any of the other AI had even finished SpaceFlight by the time I finished and launched my spaceship. Manufacturing Plant makes a good pre-build for SpaceShip parts.

Only excitement was the Inca decided to declare on me about 6 turns before the end. I got everybody allied against him, took the one city he had in the Western Tundra area, sank a small fleet (2 destroyers and 1 transport) he sent my way, and that was all I ever saw of the Inca! Finished Satellites and the last piece, and launched in 1690 (two turns ahead of my estimate!)

Turns out the last two resources weren't much of an issue. So only strategic resources I was trading for were Coal, Saltpeter and Oil, although there was Oil in the tundra area if I'd ran out and grabbed it first. This was good experience on how to obtain resources that are not available, and it was a pretty comfortable game (just under 15 hours to complete.) Not the best score (5000'ish, Jason), but with vacation, work travel, SGOTM3, etc, this was a good time to do a fast game for me. Thank you, ainwood! Who's it going to be for Cotm3??

It was my first GOTM ever, so I just wanted to see whats going on. I choose OPEN CLASS (normaly I play demigod) I dont have so much free time now, so I want a quick game. I reach a diplomatic victory in 7hours, I thing it isnt bad. I had around 2600 civ points. I didnt fight a major conflict, just small let say colony wars, just to reach important resources and lux. Im looking forward to next COTM, whitch I will play with full focus.
Hey, congratulations all, who played big and long games!!! :goodjob:

It was my first GOTM ever, so I just wanted to see whats going on. I choose OPEN CLASS (normaly I play demigod) I dont have so much free time now, so I want a quick game. I reach a diplomatic victory in 7hours, I thing it isnt bad. I had around 2600 civ points. I didnt fight a major conflict, just small let say colony wars, just to reach important resources and lux. Im looking forward to next COTM, whitch I will play with full focus.
Hey, congratulations all, who played big and long games!!! :goodjob:

Dammit, my score was smaller sory guys... :blush:
Here is my results:
Game: COTM 02
Date submitted: 2004-07-22
Reference number: 4529
Your name: Kubannus
Your email: kubannus@seznam.cz
Software Version: C3C 1.22f for Windows
Entry class: open
Game status: Diplomatic Victory for Netherlands
Game date: 1824 AD
Firaxis score: 2162
Jason score: 3713
Time played: 07:07:38
Submitted save: William of the Dutch, 1824 AD.SAV
Renamed file: Kubannus_COTM002_C3C122_01.SAV

http://gotm.civfanatics.net/common/swordsman_small.gif

I decided to do something different, so I played conquest-style with 20k cultural goal. The start position was bad for 20k, so I moved around until I found a river and a cow.

1000BCE stats:
8 towns (wonder city really hindered growth)
2 settlers
9 workers
2 warriors
1 curragh
Missing lots of AA techs.

Wars
330CE Zulu respawned
410CE Spain gone
450CE France gone
470CE Inca gone
760CE England has 1-tile island, I leave them there
Around 800CE: begin milking for leaders to rush small wonders.
890CE Egypt gone
1280CE Zulu gone
1300CE Maya gone

Wonders & cultural buildings
Got:
1450BCE Colossus
1250BCE Temple
850BCE Oracle
530BCE Hanging Gardens
290BCE The Great Library
280BCE Library
250CE Sun Tzu's Art of War
260CE Cathedral
290CE Colosseum
560CE Sistine Chapel
570CE University
660CE Heroic Epic
840CE Copernicus' Observatory
1010CE Newton's University
1040CE Forbidden Palace
1160CE The Pentagon
1180CE Military Academy
1265CE Shakespeare's Theater
1365CE Universal Suffrage
1405CE Theory of Evolution
1445CE Smith's Trading Company
1485CE Leonardo's Workshop
1555CE United Nations
1560CE Research Lab
1580CE Wall Street
1585CE Apollo Program
1645CE The Internet
1700CE SETI program
1705CE Intelligence Agency
1752CE Cure for Cancer
1768CE Hoover Dam
1770CE 20090 Cultural points

Lost:
1125BCE Pyramids
850BCE The Mausoleum of Mausollos
510BCE The Temple of Artemis
490BCE The Great Lighthouse
430BCE The Statue of Zeus
250CE Knights Templar
Forgot to research Navigation for Magellan's.

Here's a picture of the wonder city in the end:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/drazek_cotm02_1770ce_rs.jpg

Hmm, seems like I lost a luxury somewhere when disbanding non-milkable towns. Another thing is that in the future 20k attempts in C3C I'll try to reach Industrialization ASAP, it just takes ages to complete MA wonders otherwise.

Jason score 10365. Playtime was long due to milking, 19 hours.

Dammit, my score was smaller sory guys... :blush:
Here is my results:
Game: COTM 02
Date submitted: 2004-07-22
Reference number: 4529
Your name: Kubannus
Your email: <removed>
Software Version: C3C 1.22f for Windows
Entry class: open
Game status: Diplomatic Victory for Netherlands
Game date: 1824 AD
Firaxis score: 2162
Jason score: 3713
Time played: 07:07:38
Submitted save: William of the Dutch, 1824 AD.SAV
Renamed file: Kubannus_COTM002_C3C122_01.SAV

Neat... you built the UN in the exact same year as me. Except in my first vote, it was a non-result - 3 votes to me, 1 to Inca, 2 abstensions, and I had to wait 'til 1848 for the win :(

Neil. :cool:

Kubannus and eldar, you might want to edit out Kubannus' email address so it's not picked up by any of the icky spiders roaming the web.

Open Class

Middles ages (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=1993825&postcount=60)

The setting

The MA was coming to an end. Spain was conquered, Metallurgy had been researched but I had no Saltpeter to upgrade my Knights and my trebuchets to Cavalry and Cannon. France had been all but eliminated by the Inca in the Ancient age and held only one city on the SW coast of the northern half of the West continent. The Inca and Egyptians are the powerhouse civs, with England and Mayans as second tier and Zulu down to a size 1 island near Egypt.

The Plan
The Saltpeter resource near the coast of England was my target. I had planned to land a nice invasion force next to it and quickly upgrade my large standing army of Knights. England would fall and I would attack the Inca from both the south and from the East. As the units were gathering to launch the attack, it became clear that England had entered the Industrial Age and would be defending with Riflemen. The plan was abandoned. I had also missed my chance to attack the Inca when they had no horses and no saltpeter. I needed a new plan.

Plan v2.0
At the far West and North end of the Mayan continent a small saltpeter resources lurked by the coast. With a 9 turn trip, I could drop a settler on the tile, skip the road building and force a harbor. A small force of 5 Swiss and 2 knights, along with 2 settlers was sent in 3 Caravels to cross the ocean and colonize this spot.

A Sideline Disaster
Since I was waiting to upgrade, I decided to use my Elite force of 4 knights and one Medieval Infantry to attack the lone French city across the bay on the far west of the Northern continent. I would get several chances at a MGL while my upgrade force of ships crossed the ocean. Things started well. I only had one caravel on the west side of the continent, so I sent it across with 3 elite knights. We landed on French soil and refused to leave, so war was declared. During the French turn, units streamed past my knights to try to reach my cities by crossing through Inca land (Must have had a ROP). I guess the single French city had been building units for the last 1000 years. I attacked with the Knights and got a GL with my second attack!. As I tried to bring in some backups, I realized that a French Galley was blocking my way to reach the tile with my leader and two damaged elite Knights. My Caravel had my last Elite knight and Elite MI on it. I needed to kill a galley with 2 less hitpoints, so I attacked. I lost and the 2 Elite passengers perished. My leader was sitting on two Elite knights who were down to 1-2 hp each. I should have made a Army right there, or tried to run my leader through the Inca territory.

Instead, I passed and sat on the two remaining Knights. I rushed a Galleon, but it was too late. One Knight died on the first counterattack and then I tried a suicide run with the leader into Inca territory. Due to the ROP, the French pursued and killed it. :(.

With the rushed Galleon, a force of Veteran Knights ended the French Civ a few turns later.

Saltpeter
My small invasion force landed on the Saltpeter and I rushed a harbor. I had a few more boats following up with more Swiss, but I only really needed to hold the Saltpeter long enough to upgrade.

I had saved up around 500gp, but that was depleted upgrading to cannons. I would need to hold onto the Saltpeter longer then I had thought to upgrade my force of 15 knights.

Through a combination of luck, good terrain management and the fact that the Maya were only attacking with one to three units at a time, I held onto the saltpeter resource for 20 turns or so.

I managed to upgrade all my Knights and build a few more Cav. Since I was at war with the Maya, I completed a Railroad from the south to the north of the old French lands and moved my forces across the map edge to land at the southern and eastern edge of the Maya continent. This invasion force is much larger and rolled over the Maya. By 1645AD I held all the Maya lands.

End game
I was driving for UN victory. My conquest plans had gotten sidetracked when everyone was ahead in techs. I made a MP with the Inca and the Zulu have been down to one city for ages, but I keep giving them stuff to make them like me. The English are bit of an unknown, not sure how they will vote. I’ll bribe them as well.

Surprise Attack!
Egypt must have seen the writing on the wall, as it were. She attacked me about 10 turns before I finished Fission and built the UN. Since I was trying to finish the game, I was under prepared for this attack. My people got pretty sad during the last few turns. It may have had a small effect on the Final score.

Diplomatic Victory – 1790AD
Jason Score – 3700 or so.

StanNP

Open Class

Well my first GOTM and I got my but kicked. The Inca did some major conquoring. First, they destroyed the French. Then they took on the English and the Spanish. I helped a little but my longbowmen were completed out run by there knights. The Spanish were destroyed and the english were left as two small island cities. The Egyptians ended up destroying most of the Zulu but one city. I fought wars with pretty much everyone, and I'm proud to say no one ever was able to take anything on my island. Eventually I suffered a sad Space Race loss to the Zulu who owned the entire NW Continent.
Jason Score: 948 :cry:

I'm moving down a class next time.

Open class

Nearly finished. Takes me a long time.
Looking over some of the pics and at mine, it seems that cultural boundaries haven't expanded as I would have hoped. My capital with 9000+ still only extends two squares. I though we were due an extending reach of one square for 10, 100. 1000, 10000. Is ocean a barrier to our cultural advances?

Open class
I though we were due an extending reach of one square for 10, 100. 1000, 10000. Is ocean a barrier to our cultural advances?
I believe you're correct; cultural boundaries never extend in to the ocean.

I have a question for those who managed a domination or conquest win in the late MA or early IA, or could have done that but decided to go for a different victory condition. I played the map (actually I played it twice, so I won't be submitting it) and reached the domination limit in the late IA (around 1700). I am wondering how I could have done better as some seem to have done.

Specifically, I think the main thing that went wrong was the fact that at the time I had a decent invasion force of knights ready to take on Spain, they already had plenty of pikemen. Hence, I had to wait even longer to make trebuchets. I really don't see how I could have done any better: I had a succesful republic slingshot and easily kept up with the techpace until chivalry. Meanwhile I had been building horsemen and saved money for the upgrade. How did you guys manage to take on Spain; what kind of army did it have?

Because of the delay, I reached the Incan borders with a tech deficit and they had riflemen. So instead I first took on the English and next the better part of the other continent, only to return to the Inca with artillery to take the UN and claim a domination victory.

I got my domination in the IA technically, though I didn't research any IA techs, and no one else had a chance to either. I posted a turnlog for my entire game in spoiler 2 if you'd like to read it. The post is here. (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=1997003&postcount=109)

Thanks everyone (for posting).

I too ran into the Incan Juggernaught. I had to wait all the way for Modern Armor to be able to invade. By then he had taken out the English, and had computers. It was a hard slog, but I eventually got him. I did not get my first MGL until this war.

By then Egypt had conquered there continent, and after taking on the smaller Incan I was not interested in taking on the Egyptians. So I went for an easy Space Race victory.

I was surprised that one person had the Zulus dominate the other continent.

Open

Due to a few boredom induced wars with Spain I finished later than I could have, but had a good game in general:

Diplo win in 1764 for a total F/J score of 2932/5061
Managed to take the starting continent before anyone else could land a settler
Had a great deal of cold wars over the years, but no real ones other than with Spain

Mistakes to correct:

1. Pitting the AI in the western hemisphere against each other early on and keeping them that way was helpful in the short run, but it slowed the early tech pace too much contributing to my late finish.

2. For the love of god, on a continents map with a seafarning civ I need to prioritize the lighthouse, failing to get it was a rather large setback due to the lack of trade routes.

3. In general I played the game by ear a bit too much. I need to make plans earlier on and stick to them instead of working turn by turn.

Brigadier General Scoutsout watched the passing Incan cavalry cross the open grassland heading for Paris from the turret of his tank “They’ll be sitting ducks for the artillery” he said and he was correct as the Dutch artillery decimated the Incan horse soldiers and the Dutch Cavalry killed all of what remained, while a pair of Dutch Tank Armies led an armored offensive into the Incan heartland.

In the north things were not as east to evaluate. The Dutch defenders in Warwick were caught by surprise by the Incan Cavalry and fell quickly. The same could not be said of the defenders of Oxford as the single Mechanized Infantry unit absorbed wave after wave of Incan Cavalry before the 15th wave finally killed the last defender. The Incans had made the same mistake the Spanish had nearly a thousand years earlier as they had spent most of their offensive firepower on a meaningless city and now were about to face the wrath of the Dutch counteroffensive. In the north Canterbury, London, Nottingham and Andahauylas fell quickly to a second pair of Dutch Tank Armies and the newly christened Third Tank Army, while an Army of Knights was busy pillaging the Incan resources. In the south, where the Incan cities of Vilcas, Machu Pichu and Corihuayrachina once stood, only ashes remained. Dutch settlers from the homeland were in route to resettle these lands once the Incan menace was gone.

The battle for the Incan city of Victos was a particularly memorable one as an elite tank under the command of Colonel Matrix, made an innovative maneuver to out flank pair of defending Incan infantry units and was returned to Lyons to become the Brigadier General of Fourth Tank Army. The following day, another elite tank unit led by Rik Meleet completed the razing of Victos and another hero of the Dutch was born. He was also sent to Lyons to form the Fifth Tank Army. Arriving at the front with newly arrived Sixth Tank Army these offensive dreadnoughts continued to roll over the Incan defenders in the west. Four more Incan cites lay in ashes and new Dutch cities have been founded to replace them.

“Excellent report General Grahamiam, I think it’s time we begin keeping these Incan cites. I’m very pleased to hear our losses have been minimal.” William said “Congratulate the troops for me for their outstanding work. Sorry to cut you short, but I have to hurry to The Hague for the United Nations dedication this afternoon.”

From the top of his armored column Brigadier General Scoutsout witnessed the fall of the final four Incan cites. In the city of Cuzco, he sat with his staff in ex-Incan capital directing his staff to their new tasks as administrators of a fallen nation. He opened the meeting with “We’ll need a new chancellor for the War Academy and a new Chairmen for the Trading post, I want a list of candidates for both by the end of the week. The city religious leadership would like us to attend a service on Sunday at the Sistine Chapel in Huamanga and I told him we’d be honored to attend, so see that you’re all ready, we’ll be leaving at 6am so be on time unless you’d like to be reassigned to one of those little atolls on garrison duty. Any new business?” and with no response from his staff he dismissed his men.

The entire staff nearly fell to the floor, when the messenger announced that the Zulu leader had landed a Warrior next to Amsterdam caused laughter to erupt around the room. The Mechanized Infantry unit defending the city suffered a mild hearing loss to the warrior pounding on the APC before it ran him over.

William had ordered that there was no need to worry about this threat to the Republic and bade the troops to continue preparations for the visit to the Mayan lands.

The roar of the Saturn V rockets left William’s ears ringing for a couple of days, but the joy in his heart was nearly as large as the rocket to know he would soon be on his way to Alpha Centauri again. He had to hurry to the final planning meeting of Operation Chicken Pizza and was surprised to find himself the last to arrive. “Status gentlemen?”

Admiral Bugsy began with a quick review of the cruiser deployment and the task force escort plan and was followed by General Grahamiam laying out the plans for the six tank armies plans for conquest of the Mayan lands.

The declaration of war was met with trepidation by the Mayan ambassador. His threats were still lingering in the halls when the Dutch tanks rolled into Warwick and the lands of the English, French, Spanish and Incan all now fly the flag of the Dutch Republic.

It was a splendid morning for William, three Mayan cities were now his and the third piece of the spaceship puzzle had been completed. Three more Mayan cities would soon fall and by the announcement of the completion of the Internet six years hence, eight more Mayan cities would fall.

Newly promoted General Scoutsout once again stood in a fallen nations capital and was amazed at the Pyramids in the town center and the Great Lighthouse in the harbor. He was the proud new commander of the nations first Modern Armor Army thanks to the eighth hero of the Dutch people, Ruud Van Nistelrooy who personally kick a Mayan grenade into their armory and hastened the fall of Chichen Itza. The final four Mayan cites fell to the pair of Modern Armor Armies and once again the world was at peace.

William was sitting admiring the photo of the fifth piece of the spaceship, when the General burst into the room “The Egyptians are have attacked” he shouted. “Calm down general and give me the details” William countered. The damage was not that bad, three recent Mayan cities had their Mechanized Infantry garrison overwhelmed by waves of Egyptian cavalry. The front had stabilized thanks to 6 Modern Armor Armies & 6 Tank Armies forming a defensive skirmish line. “Get with Admiral and get me a complete status report and what your recommendations are for our reply, also get me the Zulu & English Ambassadors, let’s get them involved.”

The three lost cities were quickly reclaimed and another trio of Egyptian cities were added to the Dutch Republic when Cleopatra’s Ambassador came requesting peace. The peace treaty cost the Egyptian treasury dearly and the subsequent deals of obsolete technologies completed emptying of the remaining assets (gold, wines & technology).

It’s too bad that our Zulu and English friends had to miss this day, William thought as he took one final look at the all yellow map of the world before heading to the launch pad to once again head to space.

He had made it a point of donating his entire silly hat collection to the Nation’s History Museum before leaving the capital and was embarrassed to leave behind his harem to the new leader, but his stasis pod was only built for one.

A strange feeling of déjà vu hit Mursilis as he closed the door on his stasis chamber and started the automated activation sequence. The captain’s name, Ain Wood, seemed quite familiar, but he wasn’t quite sure where he heard it before. Maybe it was one of those ex-lovers of Joan and Isabella that often complained about as being so unsatisfying compared to him. As the sleep gas began to fill the chamber the answer suddenly came to him and he began to shout “That’s the son of a… “ just before he lost consciousness.


Editors note: Space Race Victory in 1914 AD - Jason 4331 - 3739 Firaxis poinits in 47.5 hours. :hatsoff: to the GOTM staff for another entertaining & challenging game.

Nice story Denyd! Nice work :)

“Excellent report General Grahamiam, I think it’s time we begin keeping these Incan cites.
:lol: i just submitted last week while away on business and could barely upload the save over the choppy dialups i was using (16.7 dialup connections should be outlawed!). needless to say, i didn't get to read many threads due to this so I didn't see your stories till now. I must say I am greatly honored to be included :D many thanks and nice body of work this month :hatsoff:

edit: :blush: i now realize that general g has been in the stories since cotm1 spoiler 2 including gotm32! thanks :D

Predator class.

Again, don't really know where to put the description of my game. May be it would be better in the second spoiler. But here is the brief summary.

I moved the starting settler all the way to the river and got a nice settler factory going rather early. Republic-Philosophy path worked very well and there was a 3-turn anarchy only which was finished in 1475BC. Middle Ages were at the doors in 1100BC. That is really early Republic indeed. Then, instead of actively going for Chivalry and invading the Spanish continent, I decided to build up and get to Military Tradition first. Should have gone to Astronomy+Chivalry instead.

Agricultural trait is extremely powerful. Cannot say that seafaring is in this game through.

Lack of resources was very severe. The horse and iron island were discovered rather rapidly and connected to the core with harbors. After finishing research to Gunpowder, I noticed that there is no saltpeter visible on the map. It was so disappointing that I changed the plan and decided to invade Spain with knights. Spain was eliminated 350AD capturing ToA, KT, and SoZ. This was very slow. It was an obvious overkill because I have build too many units. Golden Age was triggered in war against Inca in 370AD and then research was set to Steam Power learning techs at about 6-7 turns and building up more ships and knights in the process. Since the map was rather large, I decided to go to the Domination limit and then finish up with Conquest victory doing a little bit of milking on the way on the Inca continent because they had Pyramids there. After getting saltpeter from the English territory, it was an easy but somewhat slow walk with cavalry and 6 armies (total 8 MGLs). Elimination orders: Spain, England, Inca, Zulu, Egypt, and then Maya. They had two saltpeters and 2 coals!

Conquest victory in 890AD with 6891 Firaxis - 10357 Jason points. Not so bad for the first COTM I guess. Just 200 Jason points below Drazek. :)

Major weak points: The wars should have been started much earlier as well as Golden Age. I was waiting too long and went for obvious overkill. However, this enabled me to build some culture and there was not a single flip throughout the game and not so many resistors in captured cities. Also, I have settled the tundra western part of the home continent and even managed to build improvements there. This was not a good thing for the short milking attempt as well. At a certain time point (starting from 600AD Zulu war) I was also short in cash and stopped closely monitoring the unhappiness on the Incan continent.

Overall, the game was very enjoyable. Especially the starting settler move. Thanks to ainwood and team. :goodjob:

Did not have a