One City challenge

JiimBV said:

No, I don't mean anything like that.

My plan (what I just did and succeeded in doing) was to start as India, and then spread Buddhism like crazy, and then switch to the Khmer and start with the 30% Buddhism goal completed, and then just get the other 2. Keep in mind this was on Emperor.

Does this count? If so, I'll post it. If not, I'll try it without India.

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Hmmm, I would still say no - Buddhism already being spread is not much of a benefit compared with getting a great tech from a hut, but I think the very action of changing civs should not be encouraged.

AnotherPacifist said:

A Carthage-squat on Rome would probably work too, no? Maybe that's your next project, usi.

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That's surely possible at least on Monarch. But these days I have been thinking about the Religious Victory, though I don't know if that's really achievable.

OK, finally I can get one up on here.

Not the Khmer victory that I was hoping for... but rather... an Egyptian conquest victory on Monarch! Hooray!

On my sixth try, I started by settling Per-Atum (on the horses) and sending my warrior to the nearby goody hut. I then popped Animal Husbandry! This let me start building war chariots immediately after building a worker!

First target: China

I declared on Babylon and Independents, but left them alone. I sent a single war chariot along the northern edge of the mountains to China, and wiped out Beijing with ease.

Second Target: Babylon

While my first war chariot was on its way to China, all the rest of my war chariots were charging towards Babylon. It was taken with just a couple chariots.

Third Target: India

Jaipur and Dilli were both guarded with one warrior. Need I say more?

Fourth Target: Independents

Fresh chariots and Babylonian veterans took Israel and Sur, while returning champions from India and China took Shushan.

Fifth Target: Greece

With one axeman (who ended up doing nothing) and a bunch of chariots, my toughest match yet was Greece. With one really lucky win and a bunch of losses and average victories, Athens fell. The final warrior in Sparta was dead soon thereafter.

Overall, the hardest part was the time limit (once Persia arrives, you have no chance), and that was made even harder by the inability to heal in captured cities. Sparta fell on turn 81, I won on turn 82.

EDIT: Oh... I just realized someone else already got this. Ahhh well. What can ya do?

Victory at last! I am the first to get something... and this time it wasn't as easy.

Conquest as Babylon used to be easy - not anymore. Now rather than the Ancient equivalent to the Classical Praetorian or Medieval Cataphract (sp?), the Asharritu Bowman is just a weak catapult. However, it does have it's uses. Taking out Israel is easier, due to the fact that Asharritu Bowman is slightly more useful against piles of archers. Even so, Greece is very hard to take (I had to play many times until I managed to take Athens), and taking Egypt requires many more Bowmen. Here's how I did it:

First I settled Ashur, 1 NE, which took Shushan by culture. Then I sent my warrior to the Afghanistan goody hut, restarting the game if I didn't get hostiles, and my second warrior through Europe, popping goody huts. Then, with an upgraded warrior, I traveled over to China, and surprisingly, easily crushed them. Meanwhile, my Asharritu Bowmen 1 and 2 went over to India and took it. Next, I got together an army of 4 Bowmen and attacked Egypt (leaving behind 2 to defend against Hattusas). Egypt veterans and some fresh recruits (6 in total) just barely managed to take Israel.

Next, I sent everything I could over to Greece, and my European warrior managed to prevent Greece from settling it's second city, by tricking the AI. My warrior went onto the Byzantion square whenever Greece got close, and away when they went away. That prevented them from settling until some Bowmen arrived, who took out the settler/warrior/warrior. Then, all my bowmen gathered up and charged for Athens (defended by 2 phalanxes and a warrior).

Now, 9 times out of 10 I would have to restart at this point. I've been trying to do this ever since the most recent patch came out. And this is the first time I've done it! However, I think that my recently discovered way of taking China (with just a warrior), might have been the final ingredient for victory.

Anyways, this 1 time, Athens fell. Now all that was left was Sur.

With 3 Bowmen and an axeman, I was sure I could take out 2 archers. But no. However, I managed to kill one of the two, and that spawned a Great General. I gave my Great General to a fresh axeman, and Sur was gone before Persia could see the light.

EDIT: I just realized what would've made this a whole lot easier - sending my Egypt veterans and fresh recruits to Greece rather than Israel, and just used fresh axemen to take Israel and Sur. Ahh well. Just putting that out there for anyone who wants to do this too.

Wonderful!
Now we have some great strategies on early warfare.

JiimBV said:

I just realized someone else already got this. Ahhh well. What can ya do?

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All the people who achieved a victory deserve to be listed in the first post, since all of them are great.

usi said:

All the people who achieved a victory deserve to be listed in the first post, since all of them are great.

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Sweet! Thanks Usi!

Hmm... my recent victory as Babylon has got me thinking that this might be possible as India, since the Bowman is just a slightly upgraded archer. The only problem might be getting enough troops to Greece in time. Well, I'll try it out later.

At the moment I'm trying a Dutch Space Race... while I do my homework.

For anyone else who want to try it, the best start is probably to switch to HR, OR, CS and Vassalage, and to Bureaucracy and Christianity as soon as you can (and maybe to State Property later for the extra for workshops). Settle Amsterdam 1S of starting point, and raze Paris with your initial troops. This will likely cause France to collapse. Run an engineer until you have a Great Engineer, and then build either Spiral Minaret or University of Sankore (Notre Dame would be even better). Build lots of workshops and build research after the basics are built. You might want to raze Hamburg too, though not with the initial troops.

That's basically all I've managed to do so far (except razing Hamburg).

As for my homework... does anyone have a really good map of the Aztec Empire at their furthest extent, or know a good map site where I could find one?

I actually happen to have such a map, but its in a book and I lack a scanner. If it helps though, the book is The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Civilizations by John Haywood.

JiimBV said:

As for my homework... does anyone have a really good map of the Aztec Empire at their furthest extent, or know a good map site where I could find one?

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Take your pick:

blizzrd said:

Take your pick:

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

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Blizz... you are my hero... Thank you so much!

I like the last two... I'll have to think about it. Where'd you find these, by the way? Perhaps I could find some good info there.

Now a question directed at anybody. Is it possible to pop either Mathematics or Calendar from goody huts?

And finally, a question directed at Usi. Is "New Seed on Reload" allowed?

JiimBV said:

I like the last two... I'll have to think about it. Where'd you find these, by the way? Perhaps I could find some good info there.

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Most of them came from here, except the last one which was just from a google search for 'aztec empire map':

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/aztecs.htm

AFAIK goody huts can give techs up until Astronomy, so yes, and I guess reloading is fine when you start the game I mean no one is expecting you to start over and over when we all know with enough time you'll get the techs anyway, no need to waste all that time.

JiimBV said:

And finally, a question directed at Usi. Is "New Seed on Reload" allowed?

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Some people might have different opinions, but I think that's OK, because people can eventually have a lucky game if they play many times.
Just be sure to note what you have changed.

Nevertheless, an important aspect of reporting is to ensure that others with good enough skills can replicate the achievement, so it is preferably strategy > luck.
Thus, not getting too many techs from huts, not having too many lucky wins, and not generating <5% chance specialists are "better" regardless of whether one has reloaded.

BurnEmDown said:

AFAIK goody huts can give techs up until Astronomy, so yes, and I guess reloading is fine when you start the game I mean no one is expecting you to start over and over when we all know with enough time you'll get the techs anyway, no need to waste all that time.

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usi said:

Some people might have different opinions, but I think that's OK, because people can eventually have a lucky game if they play many times.
Just be sure to note what you have changed.

Nevertheless, an important aspect of reporting is to ensure that others with good enough skills can replicate the achievement, so it is preferably strategy > luck.
Thus, not getting too many techs from huts, not having too many lucky wins, and not generating <5% chance specialists are "better" regardless of whether one has reloaded.

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OK, well that makes the only way to win a Mayan OCC UHV is with the help of goody huts. I'm fairly sure it's scientifically impossible to get Calendar by turn 181 with one city, even on Monarch. The closest I’ve gotten was roughly 5 turns away. However, if anyone gets a victory that relied upon luck, either put a or smiley next to their victory, or just don't put it up at all. I now realize that luck-based victories would be unfair to others.

By the way, was your Space Race victory as the French fairly peaceful, or was it more like a conquest victory (just leaving one or two civilizations alive)?

As you can see, I've become rather obsessed with your challenge...

Well of course if there's a semi-impossible OCC UHV it's OK if you get lucky, what's strategy without capitalizing on lucky events? Also if you only managed to win due to having a lucky pop from a goody hut then as long as you mention it I think it's just as good.

JiimBV said:

By the way, was your Space Race victory as the French fairly peaceful, or was it more like a conquest victory (just leaving one or two civilizations alive)?

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I have never been very peaceful in any of the OCC games listed in the front page, though non-conquest ones were more peacefully done than conquest ones.
In the French game, I destroyed / made vassals of most of the European civs, so that no one can compete with me in the space race or score.
I did not really care about most non-European civs, because they usually can't win anyway.

BurnEmDown said:

Well of course if there's a semi-impossible OCC UHV it's OK if you get lucky, what's strategy without capitalizing on lucky events? Also if you only managed to win due to having a lucky pop from a goody hut then as long as you mention it I think it's just as good.

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Yeah, it's normal to have some lucky events in a game, and it's always a matter of degree.

I just found something that may just be possible, but would be ridiculously hard.

A Greek OCC conquest victory... before the spawn of the Persians. I'll outline the strategy that would enable this:

First your galley must be SE or S of Athenai, and you must unload the warrior and load a phalanx (keep the settler). Send the warriors around to Sur and hope they can take it out. Settle the Suez Canal on top of the hill, and immediately declare on Egypt.

Egypt, Babylon and the Independents:

That first phalanx will have to take care of Egypt and Babylon by himself. Afterward (when the copper in Egypt is hooked up) build as many phalanxes as you can, and take out Jerusalem, Sur and Shush. Hopefully Babylon or Egypt will have gotten one or two of these already.

India and China:

Go back to the beginning, right after you dropped off the phalanx and settler. Now with your galley, you must go back to Athenai and pick up the two phalanxes. Send them over to the western coast of India, and have them quickly destroy it, and end up on the east coast. As for the galley, send it around too. Then pick them up and go over to China and crush it too.

Samarkand:

Just pray that the barbs burned it down.

Now... I'm not sure if this is possible yet... And I somewhat doubt it is. But others can try it if they so please. Whether or not it IS possible will depend on luck (i.e. whether or not the countries have upgraded to archers yet).

I've tried it a couple times and failed, due to the deaths of phalanxes. Hope others have better luck!

Wow...

Well, started off with the galley SW of Athenai, switched the warrior and the phalanx on the boat, and settling Raphia at the Suez Canal.

India and China: I immediately got two more phalanxes onto the galley (having moved them to the marble), and shipped them off to India. I unloaded them 3S and 2W of Dilli. They took it out with ease, and met up with the galley on the east end of India, wounded. Healed them on the trip over to China, which I never knew was possible on a boat. Beijing was defended by only one archer. Seriously. I presume the other one was off with a settler, or possibly exploring. Beijing fell, and China was gone on turn 78.

Egypt, Babylon and Jerusalem: With my initial phalanx I easily took out Niwt-Rst and err... I forget the name. City on the wheat. I got an extra worker, which was essential for my victory. Got the worker building a road to the copper ASAP. Meanwhile, the 3 warriors had moved around to Hattusas, but left it alone. Rather, they attacked Babylon, which would've fallen easily anyways, but I managed to take it with 2 warriors remaining! Those two, one now ridiculously promoted (City Attack 2), then destroyed Sur. Hattusas fell due to Independents. With my Egyptian veteran and a fresh phalanx, I took Jerusalem on turn 78 (with 2, that's right 2, 20% victories)! What perfect sync!

Shushan and Samarkand: Both of them fell to barbarians! I think this was the main bit of luck that gave me victory. I actually had forgotten about Shushan until I won... I guess lucky victories give you Dan Quayle...

That's even shorter and sweeter than the Babylonian conquest. Well done.
You could have used your other settler to bait some units outside some cities.

blizzrd said:

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AnotherPacifist said:

That's even shorter and sweeter than the Babylonian conquest. Well done.
You could have used your other settler to bait some units outside some cities.

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Thanks!

I also could have promoted the warriors left over from Babylon to phalanxes (which I really should have done), and I probably could have hired some mercenaries too. Razing that many cities in such a short period of time, with so few troops, means lots of money.

About the settler thing, I've never done that or heard of doing that before. Just keep him 2 squares away and they'll come out?

Not that great, because I already got it with much the same strategy, only on Monarch instead. However, now I have devised one that is much less based on luck.

Egypt, Babylon and Jerusalem: After settling Raphia at the Suez Canal, take Egypt with your initial phalanx and Babylon with your initial warriors (and any barbs you got along with your spawn). Next, send the warriors to Raphia to be upgraded, as soon as the copper is hooked up. In Raphia work the water first, then the flood plains, then the marble, and finally the copper (once it's hooked up). Build a worker first, and then phalanxes, phalanxes, phalanxes! Use these phalanxes to take Sur, Shush and Jerusalem, Hattusas too, if it hasn't already been razed.. You may reach a point where you don't need any more phalanxes, so then you could build anything you want. The only lucky thing you want here is an archer-less Babylon, and a weakened Jerusalem, but neither are completely necessary.

India and China: Unfortunately these still rely strongly on luck. You must hope that India does not have archery and does not build Lahore. If it's extra city is on the east coast or non-existent, you're OK. If China builds a coastal city, you'll be alright. If China builds an inland city, you have no chance. If Beijing has 2 archers, you need to be very lucky. If it only has 1, you need to be very unlucky to fail in taking it.

Samarkand: Usually is razed by barbarians, but if not, it'll be the factor that gives you a loss.

I guess slightly less lucky victories get you Ethel the Unready..

Also, a few questions:

Do barbarian cities count for conquest (i.e. will Hattusas or a barbarian Samarkand give me a loss)?

Does anyone think India would be possible for an early conquest?

Should I update Rhye's site on my find?