zerksees deity attempt small map

I am going to make an attempt at deity level on PTW 1.27f

Small map, continents, 3 rivals - random, roaming barbs, 60% water, warm, wet and 5 billion yrs old. I did not use map finder or any utility to help with the starting map. I am playing the game to see if I can beat deity on a small map. If it works out then I will milk the game at the end. There are only two entries in deity small so whatever happens could be submitted.

I chose continents to slow the tech pace for a while.

I chose to play as Rome for several reasons:
- Rome is not in the HOF right now IIRC
- I have never played Rome before.
- The legionary will help with a relatively early golden age that should help me keep up with the AI
- Militaristic trait will get me some extra great leaders and a chance at some wonders, plus help with palace jumping.

Start strategy is to build as many cities as possible, to beeline for literature and build the Great Library. Hopefully this works.

I have played up to 950 BC and have 8 cities, with another settler out. I have two luxuries hooked up and have not yet found any of the AI rivals. I added roaming barbs to keep the AI busy, but so far I have had to deal with them myself. I have completed research on writing and literature and am building the Great Library in the capital.

I have a stack of gold to buy some techs and am researching some the techs I need right now since I am not sure how long it will be until I find the AI. I am a little concerned about how advanced the AIs will be when I meet them - I think all 3 of them must be on another continent.

At 3150BC one of those "most advanced nations" pop-up came up and showed we are last, but I now know I am playing against the Persians, Zulu, and Ottomans. Ouch. I almost pre-selected AI rivals but I thought that would make it too easy. Looks like I got what I asked for.

The Persians have already built the Oracle and the Colossus.

A look at the young Roman Empire:

You understand that at a small world, the best score is early conquest, do you?
The milking mechanism you have may evolve, but any good conquest will beat your final score..

anyway, nice territory you started in.. moooo..

Game update:

Zulus find me in 510 BC. I have literature and neither they nor the Persians do. Decide to sell it to them before they demand it. Also went on a buying spree of techs.

Also found Zulus have 16 cities, Rome has 13 and the Ottomans and Persians have 8 each.

Selling literature ruined my Great Library strategy. In 410 BC I found Zulu were 15 turns to complete and I still had 25 turns.

At 150 BC Zulus score is 1196, Persia 624, Ottoman 618 and Rome 552.

10 AD – Ottomans are sinking. Zulus are expediting their demise. I have been buying techs from them since I figure it will help them fight the Zulu, delaying their expansion.

110 AD – Completed forbidden palace in Pompeii (northernmost in prior screenshot).

130 AD – Purchased republic from Ottomans and went right to anarchy. Domestic advisor informs me it will last about 4 turns – not bad.

210 AD – Persia demands territory map. I refuse to share this, since I am trying to fill the rest of the continent with Roman cities. We call his bluff and he does not declare war. The next turn the Zulus make the same demand, only he calls our bluff and declares war on us.

Zulus have a few cities at the south end of the continent, but it will take a while to get there. I send some legionaries and archers to do some damage.

First encounter with Zulus is 360 AD. Legionary defeats medieval infantry and the Roman golden age begins! Maybe I can get a great leader to move the palace.

510 AD – I made peace with the Zulus after taking two cities at south end of my continent, and got their territory map for 10 gold and peace. No great leaders came of it.

520 AD – Xerxes again demands territory map. We decline and he declares war. Come and get me!
530 AD – Pay Zulu 270 gold for MA vs Persia. No way I’m going to have two AI against me at deity thank you very much.

550 AD – Zulu 1838, Rome 1039, Persia 971, Ottoman 499. Second place seems like a lock right now. I am quite confident I will win this game now.

720 AD – Rome is #1 in GNP, mfg. goods and productivity.

740 AD – MA with Zulu is over. Made peace with Persia. Collect their world map for 20 gold and peace. Not too bad considering I never fired a shot at them. So far I have had only one galley and I suicided it trying to cross over and get a look at their continent around Zulu territory.

It seems I can keep up with Zulu in tech but not Persia. Xerxes has got to go.

Somewhere along here I started a palace pre-build south of the capital, hoping to use it later for a wonder. Decide JS Bach’s is good, so start to research music theory.

880 AD – Made some trades with Persia. They have no saltpeter or iron. Trade these and dyes away for banking, military tradition and 180 gold. I hate giving iron to Persia, but seems like free techs to me.

890 AD – Persia had found some open land at the south end of my continent and dropped some cities. Now they have longbows wandering in my territory. I demand they remove forces or declare war. Xerxes chooses war. Fool, what about all that stuff you just bought for techs?

890-940 AD – Put my elites to work on Persian units and cities. Cleared out the longbows and took two cities on my continent. Lost a few elites to pikeman, but still no great leader. Still one more city to take, and one elite legionary is moving into position. He has backup cavalry and musketman, but they are waiting for him to see if he can get a great leader.

950 AD – Put my elite legionary to work on the last Persian city. He succeeds in his mission and creates a great leader.

960 AD – Complete JS Bachs. Uh-oh its 12:15 AM and I need to get to sleep so I stop playing. More later…

Update:

1050 AD – Abandon conquered Persian city of Ghulaman and put founded new city called “Caesar’s Palace” on hill right next to it. It is located near the south end of my continent. This location would allow the new capital access to a few more good tiles. Used GL to rush build. The change was positive though not overwhelming. I am sure it will be more noticeable once the capital and the other cities around it are built up in size and improvements.

1100 AD – Zulu make peace with Persia. Xerxes has one city left. We made peace as well collecting navigation for 250 gold.

1130 AD – Zulus pull a bonehead AI maneuver. They just got out of anarchy and into democracy. Immediately they demand dyes from us, we decline, and they declare war on us again! I am 100% confident my republic can outlast that democracy. A few turns later I paid Xerxes off to declare war against Shaka as well. Foolishly Xerxes accepts.

1180 AD – After the first war the Zulu dropped a few cites on the south edge of my continent. The last one was captured this turn.

1210 AD – Xerxes ineptitude secures his downfall to the Zulu as his last city is taken. The AI is so weak!

1230 AD – Checked the military advisor screen and discovered Zulu in monarchy. Made peace with them collecting 37 gold and world map. They would not give techs. Sometime near this time I founded a new city “Outpost” on the Zulu continent. I fit it in between cities he had taken from Persia on the southwest edge. As fate would have it the city is only 9 tiles from the new capital, so there is little chance of culture flip – an added bonus.

Start building up the city as a fortress.

1350 AD – Zulu declare war on us and we complete nationalism at the end of the turn. By 1400 AD I capture and raze the 3 Zulu cities near Outpost and prove the security of that city. In 1450 I start artillery upgrades – heh-heh!

1455 AD – Zulus now in communism. What is with all the government switching?

Took a few of their cities and made peace in 1500 AD. Start preparations for next war.

I am way ahead of them in tech. I built TOE and put Rome two more techs ahead.

1605 AD – Zulus invade with 30+ cavalry. They do not declare war. Apparently they want to reach the inner cities that are not so well defended. When I tell them to leave or declare war they choose war. Radio was completed last turn so I put up a radar tower to help against the Zulu cavalry charge.

1625 AD – Been handling the Zulu aggression well. So far lost no cities and lost only a few tile improvements. I have probably been losing 1 unit for every 10 of his I take. Finally my military is “average” compared to his. Took another city from him last turn. I only have about 20 cavalry and not too many more coming since I am building factories and other improvements on the home continent.

As fate would have it the Zulus have no rubber! There is none on their continent. I became suspicious when guerillas started attacking. Time to turn up the offense a notch and put them down. I was hoping to have the conquest phase over by mid-game but it looks like it might take a bit longer.

Zulus lead in score with 3660. Rome has 3374 but is gaining fast.

I have 116 workers and every tile on the Roman continent has been improved to the max. Once the wars are over I can cut back on research and fund some improvement projects in corrupt cities to build population and happiness.


Looks like zerksees is headed for 2-0 on deity. More to come...

Well, now it's 1745 and the Zulu are down to one city. I just stayed at war with them and slowly took all their cities. Used artillery, cavalry and infantry.

Rome has 3829 points and 200 turns to milk. Recent turns have been netting about 23 points each, though I expect that will go up soon, now that mobilization has ended.

There is going to be one more short war with the Zulu to take that last city, after I gift them one in the tundra - heh heh.

The last round of attacks netted about 5 cities and I am now 24 tiles over the limit of 1086. I'll have to pick which cities to keep. I have the pyramids on the Zulu continent, so cities there will grow quickly.

I haven't taken the time to figure out what the final score will be - time will tell.

Let the milking begin!

I'm curious also about the score for such a milk.
Sugar please.
hmmm... waiting..

Originally posted by boogaboo
I'm curious also about the score for such a milk.

Click to expand...

Me too. I don't think I can catch McW but I am hoping to catch RufRydyr. With 200 turns to go, I am hoping to average 50 per turn. I have no idea if I can reach that or not. Even if I can make 41 a turn average I can get ahead of RufRydyr.

I am quite sure that whatever it is I can do better with a better start and on panagea map. This game has been played to prove to myself I can beat the AI and make the HOF. The rest is gravy.

I just finished a small map in 1705 AD on warlord and my PPT was 26 at the end. Now the cities were fully populated and every citizen was either happy or a specialist but the multiplier was only 2. Your multiplier is 6 so when you get to the same condition you could possibly get over 75 PPT.

Originally posted by Svar
I just finished a small map in 1705 AD on warlord and my PPT was 26 at the end. Now the cities were fully populated and every citizen was either happy or a specialist but the multiplier was only 2. Your multiplier is 6 so when you get to the same condition you could possibly get over 75 PPT.

Click to expand...

Hey now - that's good to know - thanks!

Do you know the map size in tiles? Was that continents or panagea? Did you choose warm/wet/5 billion year old earth?

The map size was about 1500 tiles give or take 20. It was a pangea world that was wet but I was experimenting with age and terperature. The age was either 4 or 5 billion years old and the temperature was either cool or temperate. I was trying to limit the number of jungle tiles for faster early growth.

I haven't used it but SirPleb has a program that can be used to estimate your final score. Hopefully the link was the correct one.

Well it's 1756 and Rome is moving 29 points per turn the last few turns.

I have already tripped the domination limit twice by mistake.

I have to change my strategy to address this - tonight I a going to look at all border cities and see which are about to expand. Any one who is less than 200 turns from expanding is going to get some or all culture improvements sold. What is happening is I am getting more coastal tiles that I can't put citizens into because of city location. This will obviously affect my score.

Argh this is slow. Disbanding military units and moving workers to new continent to make improvements around cities over there. Probably 10-20 more busy turns before the improvement rate slows a bit. I forgot how much effort it is to milk properly.

Update:

It's 1814. Rome has 4848 points and gained 35 per turn last turn. I discovered I have way too much culture and sold off a bunch of temples making 4 culture and libraries making 6 culture. I now have enough room not to trip the culture victory by 2050. I have a little over 50,500 culture and am gaining 280 per turn.

I also realized I did not have furs hooked up, so I set up a colony to get them.

One of the Zulu cities flipped back so I will have a nother small war to destroy it. I am going to try to get them to declare war on me.

Due to some bad management Shaka was able to build a city, shortly after which I crushed that city and razed the city that culture flipped to him. He is now back in his land-bound city in the tundra, so he can only reach size 2, and no ships.

The per turn score maxed out at 38 in 1864. It has been dropping slowly since then.

Completed longevity in 1928.

Currently it is 1969 - I have 7826 points and am gaining 29 or 30 a turn. I am now hoping to get 10,000. The domination limit is 1086. Since this is my first small map I can't tell if this is good. According to Svar's comment above it is a low limit for small map - oh well.

Not much to do except watch workers clean up and keep citizens working the tiles to keep population up, and keep enough specialists as entertainer to make sure everyone is happy. Been watching the culture and selling down a few more culture improvements.

I am 4 tiles away from the domination limit. All the culture in the outlying cities is stopped or reduced so no more problems accidently triggering domination.

I also decided to build the spaceship. Might trigger that victory condition in 2049.

There are two barbarian camps. Rather than destroy them and have them keep popping up in different places, I placed units right outside and take a shot at anyone coming out. Usually they just attack my units and die off.

I just need a couple good nights to put this baby to bed...

Final update:

Well I did not make 10000 and I did not beat RufRydyr, but I did score 9911 and achieved a domination victory.

I think this is the first entry for Rome into the HOF.

Unless someone else makes a submission in the same group - it is also the first small map domination victory for any category.

I could have launched the spaceship or achieved conquest as well, but I chose domination so I would not have to compete with the fast finish games, and it is harder to get domination than spaceship IMO.

Now I need to find the next challenge...

Screenie of "you win" attached

Congratulations!

Congratulations Zerksees!

Great job, it's good to see someone else filling in the less popular categories.

Thanks guys for your support.

There are plenty of open spaces in the HOF now - thanks to Aeson's expanded format.

Any game I start from scratch will have the HOF in mind. I think I'll find some other civs not in there and pick one of them for the next game.

How about a Russian small map diplomacy win - any level?

Good game zerksees !

But I have questions:

1.In the first screenshot I saw you built your cities very close. In the beginning I always try to grap as much land as I can so I build cities loosely. Is it not a handicap to build cities closely? I know it is for defensive purposes but opportunity cost is a larger territory and in the future you can plant more cities in your loosely settled territory.

2.Let Romans live in their own cities not in Burger King