TSG90 After Actions

Game: Civ5 GOTM 90
Date submitted: 2014-07-19 13:35:42
Reference number: 31427
Your name: notyourtypical
Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1320AD
Turns played: 192
Base score: 1258
Final score: 3310
Time played: 2:11:00
Submitted save: Alexander_0192 AD-1320.Civ5Save
Renamed file: notyourtypical_C509001.Civ5Save

Sacred site victory similar to what Acken did, but probably with more mistakes. I took stone circles over folklore, because there wasn't a lot of good workable desert tiles early. Also snagged pagodas and mosques. In hindsight, mosques and monaseries would have been better, I think. I didn't need the pagoda happiness, and I could have pumped out more monasteries for better tourism at the end. I put cities everywhere, I ended with 28, resulting in 250 faith per turn. There were some nice island spots to the east.

Capital BO: Scout, Monument, Shrine, (bought worker, stole Hong Kong's), GL, Stonehenge, NC, Settler. I also stole a worker from Ethiopia and harassed him with my archerscout, trying to slow him founding a religion before me.

For my religion I took stone circles, ceremonial burial (a good 15 happiness by the end), mosques, pagodas, and itinerant preachers.

I put 3 in Liberty for the free settler, then the rest into Piety, then back to Liberty. Reforming I found easy, at least 15 turns ahead of Ethiopia, partly due to convenient CS barb quests and Greece's UA.

Olodune said:

Is getting SS & Pagodas/Mosques the main "problem" with this approach on Emp/Imm?

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I've never done this before, but I don't think you need both. Happiness wasn't really a problem with ceremonial burial, luxury trading and mercantile CSs. I wish I took monasteries second. I would have been a little bit mad if I didn't get mosques on this map, but if there weren't easily accessible mercantile CSs, pagodas probably would have been a better choice. Faith generation wasn't a huge issue for me, and the happiness could help a lot, depending on your geography.

Your name: Haphaz
Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1740AD
Turns played: 258
Base score: 1038
Final score: 2035
Time played:1:42:00

Quite an efficient game for me - both speedwise (usually post T300 for me) and time (under 2hrs!).

Went for speed (no religion, no wars, no playing to ally/control the world council). Settled in place. Three cities - one on east coast, one on south. Decided to wonder-hog. Got GL first, then Parthenon then started on great writers. Was able to snag all the great works wonders, didn't crash my economy (for once) and stayed peaceful. Beelined for hotels and won with tourism of about 100pt. Only major war was Mongols knocking out Indonesia, and no runaway culture to hunt down. Nice and relaxing -thanks GOTM staff.

- How did the AI civs factor into your game?

Was wary of Ethiopia going for culture, but wasn't a problem. Mongols were helpful for once!

- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?

Usually I play Prince on small maps, so I tried to be a bit more efficient and watched out for runaway cultures a lot more. Worked!

- Did Greece's unique traits factor into your Culture game plan? If so, how?

Not really. Played peacefully and didn't seek to control city states much.

- How did you adjust your strategy to account for the map type in this Culture game?

Beelined for caravels, to scout the other civs early.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 90
Date submitted: 2014-07-20 21:50:28
Reference number: 31435
Your name: kevin.smith.4
Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1949AD
Turns played: 369
Base score: 2157
Final score: 2954
Time played: 7:43:00
Submitted save: TSG90WINAlexander_0369 AD-1949.Civ5Save
Renamed file: kevinsmith4_C509001.Civ5Save

My 4 cities


Never could find the Swedes so World Congress was delayed a long time


Chief Rival


The last hold out, victory was delayed cause of it


Final Culture


Ethiopia's Capital, See all the wonders?


- How did the AI civs factor into your game?
Ethiopia more than anyone else factored into my game if only because they wonder blocked me countless times, stalling my progress quite a bit.

- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
Not too much, I don't go higher than King normally

- Did Greece's unique traits factor into your Culture game plan? If so, how?
Tons of cultural CS north of Greece in Yerevan, Kabul, and Milan. Tried to keep them allies from as soon as possible. Greek trait with my religious beliefs kept friends friendly easily.

- How did you adjust your strategy to account for the map type in this Culture game?
With Ethiopia culture heavy, it proved to be a good guess that they would be my chief rival so getting off continent wasn't a priority. We built near every culture wonder between us so I knew everyone else would be culture light.

My chief mistake, was mismanagement of great musicians. I mistimed the jump to Modern Age a few turns before I was able to create a third Work. To get the theme bonus from Broadway meant i had to wait to generate 3 more musicians. Ended up with 9 great musics and 1 musician left on the map. Had I started touring the Ethiopian country earlier, the entire war may have been unnecessary. Popped a Great Musician right after the Olympics were completed; worth 2700 tourism.


I also should have considered embracing Eastern Orthodoxy, as they had SS. Doing so would've precluded the +50% World Religion Perk though

Game: Civ5 GOTM 90
Date submitted: 2014-07-22 12:15:48
Reference number: 31442
Your name: beto_java
Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1993AD
Turns played: 413
Base score: 1772
Final score: 2160
Time played: 4:15:00
Submitted save: final_Alexander_0413 AD-1993.Civ5Save
Renamed file: beto_java_C509001.Civ5Save

Hammer Rabbi said:

Seems you got the submission screen in your prior post so I'm curious if you were having submission issues. When you say 'SS' do you mean some screenshots or the Sacred Sites finish?

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sorry for the confusion - I meant screenshots

I beat my game again, 4 city and Futurism, and finished at 174t.

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Social Policies: full traditions, 2p in rationalism, full aesthetics and Autocracy (Futurism, Universal Healthcare)

Religion: Desert Folklore, Tithe, Mosques, Religious Art and Itinerant Preachers.

Built Wonders: Stonehenge, HG, Mausoleum, Petra, Chichen Itza, HS, Oracle, Borobudur, ND, Eiffel Tower, Uffizi, Globe Theater, Broadway, Leaning Tower.

I had before Futurism one GW. After Futurism I had 2 GW (guilds and GT), 3 GA (guilds, Uf and Artistic Genius) and 4 GMu (guilds, faith, Broadway and LT) . It gave me 2250 points of turism. 4 GMu gave me 1560 pot, And about 100 pot gave early GW.
Also I had 2 GS and 2 GE (one from faith).
2 GS I blew up to get into the industrial era to avoid the birth of the 4th Prophet and to have 2000 faith about finish.

uralis said:

I beat my game again, 4 city and Futurism, and finished at 174t.

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Awesome game. Futurism stacking is powerful so early.

Did you use Oxford for Radio? Recall approximately what turn that was completed?

Olodune said:

Awesome game. Futurism stacking is powerful so early.

Did you use Oxford for Radio? Recall approximately what turn that was completed?

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Yes, Oxford for Radio on 170t. Next turn Eifel built by GE and took Futurism. On 172t GW and GA born, GT and Uf completed, Aesthetics closed and GMu bought for faith. Next turn GMu born, Broadway and LT built and all 4 GMu's bombed near city given to Mongol.

Even with bulbing the 2 GS's I still don't see how you could be close enough to use Oxford for Radio on turn 170.

Monthar said:

Even with bulbing the 2 GS's I still don't see how you could be close enough to use Oxford for Radio on turn 170.

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Autosaves: http://rusfolder.com/41299833

Game: Civ5 GOTM 90
Date submitted: 2014-07-26 07:00:05
Reference number: 31458
Your name: FLP_NDRox
Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1985AD
Turns played: 405
Base score: 1475
Final score: 1820
Time played: 13:40:00
Renamed file: FLP_NDRox_C509001.Civ5Save

On the one hand, that's a low score, I could have done better on time i.e. I spent a lot of the final 50 turns hitting next turn. On the other hand, I did win, I did get the achievement for Tear Down This Wall, and I learned a bunch.

I let myself get sidetracked a great deal. With my early and near constant alliances with the CSs to the north I did NOT need to attack Morocco, since it took like 200 turns to lose the warmonger malus and Marrakesh never really bounced back and/or helped. I got the Louvre and Broadway and really didn't use either of them. King AI is so passive I could have practically ignored the military with no detriment. I shoulda toured EVERY musician. I didn't need to detour into Patronage or Exploration. On this map I would have been OK gunning for GL instead of HG, and I would have got it since it went on t67. With the nearby Mercantile CS, I didn't need to focus on Happiness when I got my religion choices. I was running +25-50 the entire game.

I'm going to wrap this up. Good init save, wish I'd have played it better, had fun anyway.

Moderator Action: Moved your After Action part to the After Action thread in order to prevent spoilers in the Opening Action thread.

After Actions:

Settled Sparta SE on the desert hill on the coast on t50. Slow growing, but now where my cargo ships flow. Picked some bad land to fight on, and lost the initial warrior, but only lost my scouts to Morocco when I decided to 'take them out' before they could get rolling on that N desert next to a super-religion focused Ethiopia (#8 in military, pumping out seemingly nothing bur Missionaries). Rabat, on a good desert tile fell to a warrior/scout/2 catapult assault about t90. Marrakesh fell t117 to a 2hoplite/2catapult assault (melee losses on the way to Marrakesh really slowed that down). With one city left I stopped the assault, but 120 turns later Ethiopia is still guarded.

I delayed getting out of the Ren era to load up on painting for the Sistine bonus, since I needed (?) to trade painting for Uffizi.

Other noted Wonders completed:
NC around t95 (two cities should have been faster, but I got bogged down by the war, and obviously it was not a research focus)
HS on t128 (not me)
Petra on t133 (not me)
Chicken Pizza on t141
Notre Dame and Ankor Wat on t174 (not me)

ruins discovered: tech (mining, wasting c.12 beakers, t3), +1 pop (t5), 60g, Map in that order

beliefs: Idols (t11), DF (t20), God of Prot (t24), t58 Ethiopia gets religion, I finally get Stone Circles at t63. Got religion at t106 Tithe and Feed the World (my last Germany game was a slog due to insufficient pop growth)

Pop: t27-4, t35-5

World Congress at t240 taken by Indonesia. They have a slight lead on the other continent and my only real competition for tourism (took Globe and Leaning Tower). Mongols are getting the worst of it over there.

My Warmonger penalties are almost gone, but it still seems like early warmongering is a bad idea.

So, how inefficient was I?

Thanks to DrakenKin for the suggestions on how to do a post like this.

uralis said:

Autosaves: http://rusfolder.com/41299833

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I can't read that. You don't have to use another site to upload files here. Just use the manage attachments button in the additional options section of the posting page, which is below all the post icon and the submit and preview buttons.

In any case a save doesn't explain how you got to that point.

Monthar said:

I can't read that. You don't have to use another site to upload files here. Just use the manage attachments button in the additional options section of the posting page, which is below all the post icon and the submit and preview buttons.

In any case a save doesn't explain how you got to that point.

Click to expand...

If you load some autosaves, you can see that nothing complicated to have Radio on 170t. I tried to use the manage attachments button but it does not work.

Radio T170 isn't exceptional. You can often get scientific theory turn 160ish. Then you just have to discover electicity (8turns) and oxford radio.

I'm lucky to even be close to scientific theory by 180-190 with bulbing. Even when I manage to get GL and beeline education I'm lucky to get there by 120 or so, which means hitting Renaissance around 135-140. What's even more confusing is uralis' list of wonders doesn't include GL, so no slingshot, fewer early GS points and no free library.

Looking at another player's' saves only tells me they got there, how many cities they have, what buildings and wonders they have. It doesn't tell me if they bought any of the buildings, nor when those buildings were built/bought. It doesn't tell if they went around demanding tribute from every CS. It doesn't tell if they spent turns building wealth or science. Before anyone says to just look at the notification log, it only stores a certain number of turns in the save, so I can't see the early turns.

Then there's the whole crappy randomness from the ruins, where one player gets culture, key techs like writing before they even started researching it, etc. While some of us get a tech we only have 1 turn left to finish anyway, a map of mostly ocean, barb camps, etc. in other words some folks get stuff that significantly speeds up their game and others get unhelpful crap.

@Glory: Are you ever going to add your write-up? Even without screenshots, your write-ups are a huge help for those of us trying to learn how to do it better.

Edit: Here are the 3 manual saves I made while playing my official entry for this GotM. I had no problem using the manage attachments button to add them. Of course, if you're blocking all pop-ups it won't work, because that button opens a pop-up window that lets you select up to 3 files to upload and gives a list of file types and their sizes that are allowed.

Well yes obviously your start is slower than ideal then. T120 edu isn't quick. It's not too bad either (if I remember correctly you usually can finish games with no trouble) but the optimal range is more 100-110.

In more details T1XX edu and 10-13 turns later you get into renaissance. So let's say renaissance T115-125 depending on how fast you reach edu and whether or not you go into renaissance through acoustics or astronomy (astronomy is like 3-4 turns longer).

I'll agree on your ruin argument, I personally dislike them for competitive stuff like this.

PS: That map isn't very good though so you may get lower timings than average.

I've replayed this over a dozen times, with getting pottery from a ruin while researching mining and getting culture from another. No matter what I change I can't get education any earlier than about 130-140, into Ren any earlier than about 145-155, which means closing in on 200 before even reaching scientific theory. That's even with bulbing 2-3 GS's, buying libraries, universities and working everything that boosts science before the bulbs.

I've tried just 2 cities before education and 2 more after. I've tried 4 cities before education.

You must be missing something. What's your BO and how soon do you reach NC

The fastest went something like scout, granary, worker, GL, NC with purchasing a shrine as soon as I had the cash and capturing a 2nd worker from one of the CS's. That had the GL finishing around turn 35ish and around 45. I've even forgone the shrine, built Stonehenge and saved the cash to buy a settler.

Wouldn't rush buy a shrine but Scout granary worker GL NC is fine for a 1city NC as long as you don't kill your growth. So I'd guess the problem is after that.
Maybe more help can be provided with a T50, T75 and T100 screenshot.