An Unofficial Science Competition -- paying homage to Mesix

[budweiser]

Put auto saves for each turn. You will never lose a turn anymore.

Question : for sake of comparison we need to tech the same way for all game, settle same number of cites at approx same turns, etc.

For myself i will try 3x 4 pre-NC cities set-up using Tradition(more or less the 4 trad cities start) with no other cities settled or conquered.

I haven't seen the map yet. Do you think that will win in 200 turns?

I was thinking open with Liberty for Korea then do partial Tradition, and really try to stress GS production, even finish Freedom (figuring 17 policies) just to see how it works.

 

[DGDobrev]

This is Emperor difficulty - if you play well, you will never get beat to a wonder. You will be able to poach almost every wonder you like from the opposition. Here, there is no race for ToA, no impossible GL, no lost HG to the opposition, etc. Beelining to Writing guarantees GL.

 

[Mesix]

nice, mesix. only needed 4? or did you lose one or two?

I had five and a spearman (my initial warrior upgraded by a hut). Harold had three warriors by his city. Unfortunatuly, he didn't have a worker.

Not an optimal start, I know, but it was a fun way to start. Now I am behind on getting my Library/National College and eliminating an early rival may have diplomatic consequences later.

...but I have an early puppet city!

Edit: I already have 4 social policies too.

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

I had five and a spearman (my initial warrior upgraded by a hut). Harold had three warriors by his city. Unfortunatuly, he didn't have a worker.

Not an optimal start, I know, but it was a fun way to start. Now I am behind on getting my Library/National College and eliminating an early rival may have diplomatic consequences later.

...but I have an early puppet city!

Edit: I already have 4 social policies too.

not sure when they would have popped a 2nd city but you probably wouldnt have been able to take him with bowmen by then. and it does save you a city to settle if you annex him which is kind of nice. but keeping them around for trades is good.

 

[Tabarnak]

I haven't seen the map yet. Do you think that will win in 200 turns?

In fact i will only play first 120 turns for each civ(way less time consuming). It's plenty enough to make good comparisons. I'm afraid that my 2nd and 3rd playthrough will neat a bit better of everything because of map knowledge.

I hope that ruins are off! First thing that should be disabled.

I will interfere with the AI because singleplayer games is concentrated on this part. Best for a ''real'' feel of the whole exercise.

 

[DGDobrev]

I haven't seen the map yet. Do you think that will win in 200 turns?

I strongly doubt it. My first run with Babylon ended on T280. The main reason for it was the inability for the other civs to stay on par with me tech-wise. The RA's were giving so few beakers (sometimes not even a full tech), that it was utterly pitiful. And to add insult to injury, Caesar didn't leave me alone the entire game, stealing techs and DOWing me every 30 turns or so, until I got so pissed off, that I denounced him, then DOWed him myself and finished him off.

It's no fun paying 300 gold for a RA simply cause the enemy is still in the Renaissance and you're pushing your way to Apollo program. At least all those trade routes with the puppets raised the BPT a bit... It seems that the Messenger of the Gods pantheon wasn't that much of a waste.

So, first run with Babylon finished on T280.

 

[flairin]

Nice!! the most BPT I'd ever gotten was with Napoleon @1500... but was much later (like 70 turns later). First time over 1000 BPT in fact

 

[DGDobrev]

Uh... Actually, it is pitiful. I was forced to research my own techs in the end, bulbing all scientists after the 7th planted one on the latest techs just to shave off a few turns. The Research agreements cost way too much cause the enemy is so far behind - in the end, I was 18 techs ahead of China. Simply count the techs up to Nano and Particle Physics, substract 18 and see where the closest contender was... If I am forced to play the very same game again, Korea should win like 30 turns earlier simply because their beakers come from specialists and GP improvements, effectively piling up with time.

EDIT: Sorry, 18 Typo.

 

[Monthar]

I cannot guarantee there are no bugs or conflicts based on your computer or any mods. I would prefer people not load their mods but since this is informal I am not going to be able to check saves or find if people are cheating/exploiting or reloading.

This is a non-issue, because mods can only be activated before the save is created. Even if you activate a mod then load a saved game that does not use that mod, the mod will be automatically disabled.

 

[budweiser]

Spoiler :

I'm having a tough going as Korea on the map. I restarted after my Liberty opening failed pretty bad - so many barbs in the rough terrain.

My second attempt went full Tradition and reached Education on t108. Gratuitous GL included. 2 cities. HS for a free religion.

I find it frustrating to open, but maybe its just because I am tired.

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

In fact i will only play first 120 turns for each civ(way less time consuming). It's plenty enough to make good comparisons. I'm afraid that my 2nd and 3rd playthrough will neat a bit better of everything because of map knowledge.

I hope that ruins are off! First thing that should be disabled.

I will interfere with the AI because singleplayer games is concentrated on this part. Best for a ''real'' feel of the whole exercise.

since korea is stronger mid to later game not sure if 120 turns is long enough. i know you do the 4-city tradition start but korea can support more cities (and more sci buildings) effectively. i will be very curious as to your results too.

and sorry, but it was a standard game setting, so barbs and ruins are in the game.

 

[flairin]

Well I advanced pretty well with Babs in the early-going but then kinda sputtered. I think cause I went liberty (capital pop super low)... and I spent gold on settlers instead of saving for the Observatory. My pop in three other cities wasn't enough, except for the last one on coast (settled in renaissance) which shot up to size 16 very quickly. Did buy the University in capital though

Researched Theology on t52!!
Entered Renaissance on t97 with Acoustics
On t97 also opened up Rationalism with Oracle pushing my bpt to 99
On t99 second policy in Rationalism pushed bpt to 112
On t107 my third academy put me at 133 bpt
On t115 opened up my third Rationalism policy
On t128 my 4th academy put me at 175 bpt
On t129 observatory finished in capital... bpt at 215
On t136 opened up my 4th policy from Rationalism
On t155 fifth academy put me at 292 bpt

After the fourth Rationalism Policy I wasn't far enough along to go to Freedom for the great person boost, so I opened Tradition and then next got some free renaissance culture buildings..

By turn 260 reached 800 bpt but was kinda late. It was at this point that I opened up tech for Hubble with Rationalism finisher just for fun.

I really need to work on advancing the whole RA scheme of play

 

[Mesix]

Rome was not built in a day.

...but it was conquered today! On turn 80 by a Bowman rush!

That's 2 civs down in 80 turns.

Spoiler :

 

[flairin]

So did u sack Rome after his army was destroyed by hiawatha??

 

[Mesix]

He had a couple balistas and a couple spearmen. Antium was taken 1 turn before Rome, so he was fighting a two front war. I haven't met Hiawatha yet, but probably will when I click end turn.

 

[DGDobrev]

Gee, Mesix, you are kinda bloodthirsty these days First Denmark, now Rome... that's 2 capitals in the vicinity of your own as puppets. Nice.

The thing is, in the end it all falls to who gets science victory first. Unfortunately, even if good, my Babs run was unimpressive. I will try the others today and tomorrow too.

 

[Mesix]

It is a fun way to explore the map.

 

[budweiser]

t202 Korea

Spoiler :

4 cities
313BPT
Radios

Full Tradition
Right side Commerce (needed happiness bad)
Freedom Open

Will take 2 in Rationalism next, I am running a specialist in almost every slot.

I'm not sure how many more turns its gonna take to win. I would quess somewhere around 280.

I did not scout very well at all this game.

 

[Arilian]

Ruins ruin (pun not intended) the experience.
Mayans start +1Pop+20Culture.
Bablyon start with tech (not writing) and map.

I have tried mayans 7C and they start very slow. And everyone hated me. Around turn 150 I exploded went from 130B to 300B in around 15 turns.
I still tihnk the mayans are not good for science. At least not in Deity.

 

[Agent Cooper]

Do you need all the released DLCs to play this map and the Ancient Wonders pack?

I just bought the Incas (+Spain duh...) and I'm gonna shell out for the Korea + AC combo anyway. But I'm not that interested in buying the Polynesia DLC. I think Korea and Polynesia are the only civs I don't have.