GOTM 44 Final Free-For-All

Open, 100k.

Link to AA spoiler
Link to MA spoiler

Settling the continent
I had the continent all to myself from 760 AD and I settled a town every two tiles whereever I could fit one in. When I entered the IA in 910 AD I was up to 97, and I maxed out at 125. All my cities where on the same mainland (except the original four) thus getting the benefits of the Pyramids, and later also Bach's. Workers cleared jungle, irrigated and roaded while waiting for Steam Engine.

The Red-and-Golden Age
In 1000 AD, I finished three wonder builds in one turn - Sistine, Newton's and Copernicus'. Any wonder would have triggered my GA as I already owned the Oracle and the Great Library, but I saw it fitting that these also fitted our traits. The extra commerce allowed me to make full speed towards Communism, which came in 1030 AD. I was reluctant to switch immediately, in hindsight a mistake that may have cost me a full turn . I figured I was doing quite nicely on gpt and drafts/disbands, and I didn't want to waste any turns in anarchy. A turn later I changed my mind and revolted.
The following list says it all:

1040 AD: 587 cpt (this turn I revolted)
1050 AD: 590 cpt (this, and following turns, I spent rushing)
1060 AD: 743 cpt (this turn all the rushed stuff was built)

I actually rushed a slew of Universities on the first Red turn, even though I didn't yet have temples in those towns, simply because I could and because 4 cpt is more than 2 cpt even though the shield per culture is worse.
I stayed in Communism until 1180 AD when I could no longer afford the upkeep. By then I was up to 1077 cpt, after the first Red turn the cpt gain went to more normal levels.

Revolution is the name of the game
I made an interesting observation at this point. I was under the impression that you gain no culture while in Anarchy, however, this seems not to hold for the last turn, the one where you get to choose a new government. On this map that meant the same turn as the one you revolted in, so no stalled culture gain ever*. Recalling what DaveMcW said:

DaveMcW said:

This is a good map to try out Communism... you can switch the heck out of it in 1 turn.

Click to expand...

I took these words to heart, and for the rest of the game (until there was no further gain to be made) I used the following strategy.

• Spend a turn or two as a republic, thus getting full growth from all the nice railroaded irrigated grasslands.
• Revolt to Communism and rush all citizens that won't help town growth, or those that help complete a project.
• Revolt back to Republic again and repeat.

I couldn't stay a single turn in Communism, near the end I would have made some -500 gpt with an empty treasury, so it was revolt back or die.

Finally over the edge
The revolution scheme worked really well, and allowed me to lower the end date far more than I had thought possible. If I had only ventured to do this during my GA as well I might have been able to push it even more.
Be that as it may, the actual outcome is still far better than I had dreamed possible: I got to 100k in 1475 AD , making 1645 cpt in the end.

And what's more, the final scores:
Jason: 9666
Firaxis: 2517

I rushed the crap out of my citizens, hardly ever saw a happy face outside my core, and still I almost beat 10000 jason! I guess the best date calculation for 100k takes into account the 80% water and the relatively low food.

On the downside, I've never played a game this tedious before. I really hope I get the award for this one, if not I doubt I'll ever find the time to go after it again.


*Regarding gaining culture the last turn of Anarchy. This is not true for the cities themselves, the cpt of a city won't count against the total culture of that city on the last turn of Anarchy, but will still count towards the total for the civ.

Open, Civ 1.29 on Mac

I built 4 cities like most others and researched directly to map making. I spotted an American scout. With nothing else to build I built a few early temples and the collosus. I grabbed what space I could like everyone else. However I didn't poach the iron from Greece.

I postponed my first war until I had learned Republic and revolted. I had about 15 bowmen and 8 catapults. Just prior to the war with Greece Pharsalos flipped to us and took away the Greek horses. We made steady progress and reduced Greece to 2 cities. I couldn't take Athens. We made peace and turned on India while researching to Chivalry. Knights was all it took. Peace was made with India to get the 1 tile island city.

I took out Greece, France, India, America, most of Spain and Korea. I built lots of cities (but not enough). I kept well under the domination limit. I don't use utilities so I had to guess. Reseach through the middle ages was low as I cash rushed lots (while keeping everyone happy). Leader were used for Sun Szu's , Sistines, and army (heroic epic). I hand build a FP in Sparta.

Culture 100K in 1788.

It could have been faster but I was too bored to build more cities.

Vanilla 1.29f, open class.

Here's a link to the ancient age spoiler. Middle ages begun in 190AD, and i'm in the middle of a war with India. I got Monotheism as free tech and i'm researching Feudalism.

Indian war (continued)

The offensive on India goes on smoothly. Gandhi has very light defenses, i've seen nothing but regular spearmen and not a single swordsman. I grab cities and use a pair of settlers to colonize the territory left open by the cultural boundaries. Delhi is captured in 260AD, and the Pyramids are secured. The offensive ends in 300AD with the capture of Bangalore. With peace negotiations i extort Karachi, another city founded on a 1-tile island. India is left with 2 cities that aren't worth capturing for now. Here's the map in 310AD:



The offensive was somewhat slowed by the lack of infrastructure. I had to road a few tiles to ensure instant connection with the conquered cities. The strategy paid off, since resistance was almost non-existent, and i've been able to hold safely all the conquered cities with 1, max 2 troops garrisoned. Actually, i didn't need to raze a single city.

A few turns of peace follows, in which i build some roads to connect America, fill the empty spots and amass the forces for my next target. In 320AD Athens completes the Forbidden Palace, and now my 2nd core can crank up units at full steam. In 330AD, Feudalism is researched. Swords are upgraded into persian mercs, and crappy spearmen evolve into pukemen. Research is set to Engineering.


American war

In 390AD, the drums of war roll again. Abe is driven furious, then war is declared. The advancement is steady, but a few mercs are lost in the process (bad RNG rolls). In 400AD, Engineering is researched and we start Chivalry. Meanwhile Athens is training horsemen, for a later mass upgrade into Knights. Some notable events has also happened. Here's the detailed chronicle of the 450AD turn, as reported in my personal gamelog:

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450AD: A spanish warrior has been dropped onto Babylon island, 1 tile away from 2 undefended cities. I ask the moron to leave of declare. Guess what? Spain declares. Nice negative WW for me.

Then, surprise! A merc attacks the regular warrior and dies. A pukeman attacks and kills the warrior. Go figure. I could have left the warrior capture Babylon (and gain a free palace jump), but it's only 10 turns away from completing the Lighthouse. Uh! A veteran sword attacks a regular spear (spanish pester) and dies. Those cursed RNG gods have decided to screw me up completely?

Yes. A spanish swordsman and an archer have came out from nowhere. They're just outside Kish, defended only by 1 spearman. Bye bye Kish.

The curse still is on. The 1st persian merc dies against a spearman in Washington. Then my units finally wake up. Washington is captured. A galley is destroyed and nothing else happens.

460AD: The archer attacks and is killed. The swordsman stays fortified! How dumb. A pukeman is moved to reinforce the city. A persian merc arrives at Paris. France is drawn into the war with Spain.

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This is the only serious SOUR occurred during the game, and it could have been worse, if only the AS were a little smarter. Anyway, Spain sneak-attacked me, and i sign an alliance with France against the evil spaniards. Needless to say, no more spanish pesters bothered me.

Chivalry is researched in 490AD, and all the horsemen are upgraded into knights. Research is set to Invention at a low rate. In 500AD, the 1st and unique friendly flip:



Meanwhile, i end up capturing every American city except for Boston, in the middle of the landmass, and the lousy settlement on the far north (worthless). As usual, resistance is easily quelled and all the captured cities are safe with only 1 unit garrisoned. My culture is about 8x America. War ends in 510AD, and America is permanently crippled. No more serious players in the tech race (Spain is backwards), exactly what i want. No one must research Feudalism.


Assessing the weaklings

In the very same turn i sign peace with America, i decide to take over what remains of Greece. My plan is to take over Corinth, sparing the capital, waiting for Alex to talk, then try to extort the city on the 1-tile island. Corinth is defended by 4 hoplites, and my 7 knights are almost repealed, but finally the city falls.

Here are my ownings in 510AD:



Too bad the plan screws up. In peace talks, there's no way to grab that damned settlements. And so i end up capturing the remaining greek city (on the mainland) and let Greece live as OCC on the 1-tile island south of Babylon island.

Meanwhile, the Great Lighthouse is completed in Babylon, and now i can go for Iroquois hunt. In 550AD, it's time to assimilate the remnants of France. I sell them Monotheism (to drain all their cash), then war is declared. The 4 french cities falls easily, then peace is signed with Spain.

In 580AD i finally meet the Iroquois. They have a respectable amount of money, that i grab totally in return for a world map and Literature.

In 600AD, war is declared on both India and Korea. The 2 remaining Indian cities are assimilated quickly, and Korea follows shortly after. In 640AD, both of them are eliminated. During the attack on the last Korean city, i obtain the 1st leader of the game. Sun Tzu is rushed in a fresh filler settlement. The income raises up a bit and i grab some extra money by selling all the barracks.

Here is the map in 640AD:




Spanish war

In 640AD, a RoP is signed with Spain, and troops start moving on Spanish territory for a nice RoP rape. Madrid owns the Great Wall, so the 1st strike must be aimed at the capital, to easen up things on the remaining targets.

In 700AD, troops are ready to strike at the main spanish cities. Those idiots didn't bother to even road their territory, the northern cities are still unconnected and there were no link between Spain and Korea! I had to send worker north to ensure connection with my empire, and units were slowed a lot. BTW, the attacks takes place as planned. The spanish cities fall, despite some bad RNG rolls. The center American city is also captured. Surprisingly, i don't need to take over the whole territory. In 740AD, Spain is no more and, with a massive cultural expansion, domination is reached in the interturn.



And here's the final map:



Domination in 750AD. Firaxis: 3151. Jason: 10475. It's my highest score so far. A nice game thanks to the bad start location, but once figured out the best course of action the rest of the game is a piece of cake. None of my opponents ever got a middle age tech, except for France (i sold them Monotheism to drain cash) and America (researched Feudalism in the final turns). IMO, on regent level the game could have been won faster. The AS were so lazy that they didn't even road their own tiles to get the cities connected, and so i spent some turns to build the road myself (and leave some core tiles unimproved).

I had bad luck with leaders. Got only 2 of them, and in the very late game where their usefulness was almost zero. If i got one in my early campaign i could have rushed the FP in Athens and win faster. Instead, i got the 1st during the Korean campaign (rushed Sun Tzu), and i got the 2nd in the very last fight, the turn before hitting the domination limit - actually, the 2nd leader ended up unused!

Mistakes: one in particular. Got short of workers after capturing the Pyramids. Many of them were needed to connect the conquered territories, and i didn't train enough of them to work the tiles needed by the faster increase in population. So i ended up using unimproved tiles in some productive cities. Not a big deal, but i probably wasted a dozen turns or so because of it.

Well, I thought there would be a little more to this spoiler, but no. The American cities went down without issue, kicking them off the continent. Greece had 2 towns that died in a single turn.

The rest of the game consisted of rushing settlers and temples to get over the domination limit - in AD 1635, knowing only Nationalism.
Firaxis score:1234
Jason: 5561

I thought the map did well to balance out the difficulty level - I lucked out with Greece leaving an open space so I could pick up the iron.