TSG136 After Actions

Your name: ftl
Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 1080AD
Turns played: 168
Base score: 1169
Final score: 3542



- Describe any hindrances you didn't account for with your military strategy.
I didn't realize how raging barbs would be. It prevented me from getting the third city spot I wanted. Also, when I saw who my neighbors were (and the raging barbs), I had to massively speed up my army building... I wanted to make sure I was always at the top in soldiers so I didn't have any surprise DOWs against me, I'd be the one DOWing everyone.

- Which unit mix did you decide to focus on for conquering?
CB+warrior for the first campaign (capturing Karakorum.)
CB+swordsmen+horseman+1 spearman for capturing Edinburgh from the Zulus and then Ulundi.
Composite bowmen + 1 trebuchet + longswordmen + horseman for the final pushes against Aztecs and Japanese.

- Did you find the Krepost to be valuable or unnecessary?
I got them in my three cities. I don't know whether they helped more or less than regular barracks.

- Did you need/use Cossacks? If so, describe their use.
Didn't get to them.

- What are your thoughts on the neighbors/map/Victory condition?
OMG! So many warmongers around!!!!

Before declaring war, I made sure to bribe my would-be target to DOW as many people as I could. That way some of his units were tied up, and I got diplo bonuses for being at war with a common enemy

Your name: bahamuto
Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 1585AD
Turns played: 227
Base score: 1146
Final score: 2546


- Describe any hindrances you didn't account for with your military strategy.
Not to bad. At first I thought Monty would be hard to go after, cause he had 4 cities pretty quickly, but I had the Mongols go after him from the North as I took the South. After that the Mongols had more units then I expected so I lost one city for a turn, but got it back quickly and captured his capital.

- Which unit mix did you decide to focus on for conquering?
Composite bowmen, and horsemen, and then later crossbowmen and knights. Finally finishing off Shaka with some Cannons.

- Did you find the Krepost to be valuable or unnecessary?
I think I built it in Moscow. I'm sure it came in handy.

- Did you need/use Cossacks? If so, describe their use.
I never got that far.
- What are your thoughts on the neighbors/map/Victory condition?
It was a doozy with all the aggressive civs out there. I noticed late in the game that Oracle was still not built, I guess none of the civs either prioritized it or I knocked them off too early. If I had to do it again... even though he's the farthest away Shaka is a big pain with the Impis, I would have to try to knock him off first.

Honestly, the way you win Domination quicker, is build more units, and then build some more. The biggest hurdle with that is gold actually, which I need to manage better.

How do you manage the gold when you just constantly build units? Don't they start disbanding? (the AI's don't seem to have this problem; they can run huge deficits and all it hurts is their science) Or are you losing enough units to offset this because you never slow down to heal?

I may need to play this a 3rd time; see if I can shave off 50 turns.

Does it matter if you lose units every few turns when you massively outnumbers? Also it seems that they usually disband my bad units such as scouts. If you can end a turn with positive gold (pillage/selling building/selling units/capturing city) you won't have this problem. My gpt is almost negative for most of the game.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 136
Date submitted: 2016-06-09 01:42:32
Reference number: 34478
Your name: Groin_Apologist
Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 1675AD
Turns played: 245
Base score: 1968
Final score: 4016

WELL this is the first GOTM that I can say I've been relatively pleased with my performance. So maybe I AM making progress after all. But I still can't fathom how some of you gamers can manage a sub-100-turn win. Nevertheless, I was surprised to learn that it doesn't necessarily boost their final score as much as I thought it might.
I was able to build the Pyramids and Petra, which was probably key. Honestly, I consider the Pyramids to be vital (when also completing the Liberty tree) in a Domination game because it allows you to bring workers with your invading army to easily repair improvements so your front-line troops can re-pillage them. (I am assuming this is 'legal,' and that I'll hear about it if it isn't). Petra, on the other hand, financed my armies.
When I had 3 cities, the Mongols DOW'ed me, so they were my first target. Shaka was next since he had already taken Boudicca's capitol, and was the most dangerous. He did have a few Impi out, but hadn't been able to spam them yet. Next, it was Monte and finally Japan, though those were a bit anticlimactic after the Zulu wars. The Pangea made this game a lot less tedious, and I really appreciated that.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 136
Your name: Melofeign
Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 920AD
Turns played: 156
Base score: 803
Final score: 2590
Time played: 8:06:00

Like some of the others, I almost didn't finish this game, as the slog to oust Mr. Shaka wasn't much fun. But, I got it done!

- Describe any hindrances you didn't account for with your military strategy.
Didn't expect Zulus to take Edin, didn't expect Aztec capital to be so easy to defend, and didn't notice that Shaka got the great wall a turn before I did. Those things slowed me down. I also didn't sacrifice my units as much as I should have given how many I could create and how small the max army size was.

- Which unit mix did you decide to focus on for conquering?
Warriors/Scouts/Archers for Kahn and Oda, CBs, Catapults and Warriors for Monty, and XBs, catapults, and Swords for Shaka. Bodu lost her capital so I didn't have to fight her directly.
I think I started to use my scouts and other poor units as bait, but I disbanded several workers, did not think about using them to lure out the AI. That could have really helped dislodge some stubborn enemies.

- Did you find the Krepost to be valuable or unnecessary?
Built 3 of them, but didn't feel like it helped a whole lot. My cities didn't get very large, and the extra xp didn't seem to matter; only got one range XB by the end.

- Did you need/use Cossacks? If so, describe their use.
Didn't get there. Didn't get to pikes. Went straight for Perta, then CBs, then XBs. Only grabbed writing when I saw Shaka has swordsmen and I figured I'd need to tech up a bit. I was wrong, btw

- What are your thoughts on the neighbors/map/Victory condition?
I didn't think of the special units when I set my conquer order. Khan declared on a CS north of him, so I had to grab him first which was good, and hitting Oda next was smart, but it came at the cost of the Zulus becoming a much bigger issue than if I got them before Impis.

Terracotta Army made me 6 units which was pretty nice; but I'm not sure how many other units I could have built instead of the wonder.

Thanks for the fun game! I am very glad I ran 2 practice games to get a better understanding of the map script and the relative length of the games.

- Describe any hindrances you didn't account for with your military strategy.
This was my first GOTM ever and I'm not really used to early conquering & warmongering, so I did quite a lot of useless nonsense during the game, building Parthenon etc, which must've slowed down victory quite a bit also, Boudicca's Great Wall was quite annoying
- Which unit mix did you decide to focus on for conquering?
swordsmen + CP + catapults when taking down Khan and Oda, longswordsmen + pikes + trebuchets for Monty, muskets + pikes + trebuchets for Celts & Zulus
- Did you find the Krepost to be valuable or unnecessary?
I built them in every town but hardly noticed any difference
- Did you need/use Cossacks? If so, describe their use.
Nay
- What are your thoughts on the neighbors/map/Victory condition?
Nice challenge for someone like me who isn't so familiar with aiming for domination Mt.Kilimanjaro and altitude training was cool!

wilboern said:

- Describe any hindrances you didn't account for with your military strategy.
This was my first GOTM ever and I'm not really used to early conquering & warmongering, so I did quite a lot of useless nonsense during the game, building Parthenon etc, which must've slowed down victory quite a bit also, Boudicca's Great Wall was quite annoying
- Which unit mix did you decide to focus on for conquering?
swordsmen + CP + catapults when taking down Khan and Oda, longswordsmen + pikes + trebuchets for Monty, muskets + pikes + trebuchets for Celts & Zulus
- Did you find the Krepost to be valuable or unnecessary?
I built them in every town but hardly noticed any difference
- Did you need/use Cossacks? If so, describe their use.
Nay
- What are your thoughts on the neighbors/map/Victory condition?
Nice challenge for someone like me who isn't so familiar with aiming for domination Mt.Kilimanjaro and altitude training was cool!

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Welcome to CFC and Game of the Month! Glad you got your win with Siege for your ranged components, too. I find that strategy underused and pretty fun to do (and kind of perfect with Mt. Kili, haha). Thanks for joining and posting about it. Good luck in future GotMs!

HR

Your name: Soulvius
Game statusomination Victory
Game date: 1870 AD
Turns played: 305
Base score: 3219
Final score: 5277

Hello everyone, this is my first GOTM submission despite my old join date. I basically play immortal/large/continents maps and my fav civ is Spain.

Alright, that's for the intro.. What I did in this game? I went for military stability from the start with two warriors as my first two production options. I could rapidly scout around and I was able to capture an Aztec settler right at the beginning. He was trying to settle just West from my capital right where I wished to settle first too.. So I got a free worker and a good 2nd city spot. By this time I had 4 warriors and an archer. Then, I settled to the North of Moscow securing the Salt, the Cotton and the Citrus Luxs.
I made friends with Budapest and Bratislava and from there my game was set.

I was friends with the Mongols throughout the whole game and we made pretty good friends. I restricted the Aztecs to their Capital while Mongolia captured Japan. The only annoyance were the Zulus, they managed to build a big empire at the expense of the Celts. Once I had Cossacks/Cannons they were no match for me. In the end I conquered Mongolia and the lone Aztec capital consequently.

I went piety/patronage, had free science buildings/lots of city state allies. In the start I used swords/cbs to conquer, then I switched to Knights/Cannons.

Describe any hindrances you didn't account for with your military strategy:
Impis held me off for a really really long time.

Which unit mix did you decide to focus on for conquering?
Knights/cannons

Did you find the Krepost to be valuable or unnecessary?
Actually, i made good use of it. It was a great building with Alhambra I had lvl 3 knights produced every 2 turns. This really helped me to get high lvl troops continuously.

Did you need/use Cossacks? If so, describe their use.
Yes, they were the breakthrough force against the Impis.

What are your thoughts on the neighbors/map/victory conditions?
I really loved the game, because I could settle at the best spots and had no difficulties after. I had Mongolia as a friend and the Aztecs as vassals and my only counterpart, the Zulus were far away. Domination was an obvious and easy choice for victory. Resources were abundant and happiness was never a concern thanks to luxuries and religion.

All in all fun game! Looking forward to play more GOTM!

Thanks for joining and playing GotM with us, Soulvius! Glad you enjoyed this game. New games come on the 1st and 15th of every month so a new one is coming shortly! Thanks for posting about your experience.

HR

T275 (1810) Dom VC, 2970 base score, 5400 adjusted.

Hammer Rabbi said:

Describe any hindrances you didn't account for with your military strategy.

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I aimed for NW to make my late Dom run easy — then missed Petra, Alhambra, and Sistine Chapel. The only ruin I hit was T119 (for 20 culture)!

Which unit mix did you decide to focus on for conquering?

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I decided pretty early on to wait for Cossacks. I thought I would pair them with Cannons, but Dynamite was pretty quick, so really the Artillery did most of the work. I only took one cap prior to Arty.

Did you find the Krepost to be valuable or unnecessary?

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I always build Barracks in every city, so yes, they are necessary. I built them a little earlier than usual (for the extra culture) but to be honest, I really could not notice the effects.

Did you need/use Cossacks? If so, describe their use.

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Yes. They were strong enough that I could hit them against cities and retreat. I did that with all but the the last AI. Wrapped up things relatively slowly, as I first liberated all the five CS the northern neighbor had taken, and saved his cap for last.

What are your thoughts on the neighbors/map/Victory condition?

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Very compelling choices by the map maker! In addition to the thoughtful neighbors and VC, I also very much appreciated how the Natural Wonders were spread around. Thank you very much! It was fun!

Haphaz said:

Despite dynamite somehow not obsoleting that great wall…

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MPoxon said:

Dynamite makes great wall obsolete - not in this game for some reason!

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It is only when the owner of the Great Wall researches Dynamite that it becomes obsolete!

beetle said:

I decided pretty early on to wait for Cossacks. I thought I would pair them with Cannons, but Dynamite was pretty quick, so really the Artillery did most of the work. I only took one cap prior to Arty.

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I've played this one 3 times. (rage quit the first time) If I waited too long to start warring, the AI's dogpiled me. If I totally ignored infrastructure and just built units, all war all the time, I wipe out the first few AI's easily but then fall too far behind in gold and science and happiness to take out the last one. I couldn't bribe Monty and Genghis to fight each other. I had to kill one or the other early (preferably both) but then had to focus on libraries, caravans, roads, circuses, (etc) for a while and actually build a functioning little empire.

I could never get to Shaka before he built Impi; he was always the tech leader and beelined Civil Service.

zxcvbob said:

I could never get to Shaka before he built Impi; he was always the tech leader and beelined Civil Service.

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Bribe him to war with the Celt if he doesn't already asks you to join his war. That slows down his science because he needs to build units and if he captures it the better since you can just DoW him for Edinburgh. Also try to ally the CS next to him so that they help you take him out. For example in my game, when I got to him with archer + chariots, he barely had CB and no impis and no sword.

First time posting - but I've been playing GOTM for a few months now

Your name: Xaviers Crown
Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 600AD
Turns played: 140

- Describe any hindrances you didn't account for with your military strategy.
Didn't realize raging barbs was on

- Which unit mix did you decide to focus on for conquering?
Primarily Archers & Composite Bowmen (warrior, scout and later a horsemen for taking cities)

- Did you find the Krepost to be valuable or unnecessary?
Never built it

- Did you need/use Cossacks? If so, describe their use.
Nope

- What are your thoughts on the neighbors/map/Victory condition?
Took out the Aztecs first pretty quickly
Agreed to declare war on Japan with the Mongols
Eliminated Mongols after Japan. At this point had some money trouble - no one would trade with me.
Slow march across the map to take out the Celts and the Zulus

Xaviers Crown said:

First time posting - but I've been playing GOTM for a few months now

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Welcome to GotM and thanks for posting about your game!

HR

Your name: floatUpstream
Game statusomination Victory
Game date: 1390AD
Turns played:199
Base score: 1203
Final score: 3084
Time played: 3:53:00

Hi all - another newb to GOTM.

Describe any hindrances you didn't account for with your military strategy.
Japan was the last civ to conquer and it was costly - fighting samurai inside the Great Wall and facing naval and treb bombardment. Should've scouted it better, and possibly led with more melee, also couldn't seem to find a place for my +1 range crossbows to shoot from.
-11 happiness and -25 GPT at one point but only temporary. Barbs source of income and culture once the irresistible nation of Russia was established.
Which unit mix did you decide to focus on for conquering?
Celts: chariot archers, comp bows, sword and spear.
Zulu: CBs and swords whilst beelining machinery, upgrade to crossbows!
Aztecs and Mongols: XBs, pikes/landsknechts, knights. Both DoWed me same turn when I was nearly ready, so it became a 2-pronged counter-attack.
Japan: XBs, muskets, knights, veteran pikes.
Did you find the Krepost to be valuable or unnecessary?
Built in both cities I founded. I didn't buy any tiles, but I think the border expansion might have been handy so I didn't surrounded by Monty.
Did you need/use Cossacks? If so, describe their use.
Nope.
What are your thoughts on the neighbors/map/Victory condition?
Went Honour Commerce and carved it up, good fun with the aggro leader mix (quite happy not to see Ashurbanipal). I reckon I could have shaved off 20 turns by building war roads and cutting out some infrastructure. Did I really need workshops? Petra was worth it, and so was the Terracotta Army. God-King pantheon and then the faith output from Edinburgh led to a great prophet and took Holy Warriors, which was sweet and fitting.

floatUpstream said:

Your name: floatUpstream
Game statusomination Victory
Game date: 1390AD
Turns played:199
Base score: 1203
Final score: 3084
Time played: 3:53:00

Hi all - another newb to GOTM.

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Welcome to GotM and CFC! Glad you enjoyed the game and I hope you stick around for more. You can always play our backlog of games and even comment on them in those threads but the submission dates have expired so it is just for fun. Plus we will have new ones every two weeks, on the 1st and 15th of each month.

HR

Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 25AD
Turns played: 116
Base score: 623
Final score: 2708
Time played: 2:23:00

A great fun map with everyone's favorite warmongers

A few practice domination games and I got my turns down from 200's to 116 and I'm very happy with myself. Getting that first conquer off on Atilla before battering rams and getting to Shaka before he gets Impi were my two priorities. I settled NE silver after discovering the wonder to keep in in ring three, and used honor GG to get horses as soon as I could (~T20). I could tell I was inefficient by the end because I had a ridiculous army sitting around doing nothing; looking forward to another DV to practice my choreography.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 136
Date submitted: 2016-06-15 18:02:03
Reference number: 34505
Your name: Beto_Java
Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 1685AD
Turns played: 247
Base score: 1926
Final score: 3930
Time played: 5:06:00
Submitted save: Final_Catherine_0247 AD-1685.Civ5Save
Renamed file: Beto_Java_C513601.Civ5Save

Well I won't submit mine since I got turbo-smoked apparently

Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 960AD
Turns played:157
Base score: 1175
Final score: 3930
Time played: 3 hours?

I started with Montezuma and then cleared Ghengis and Oda. I kept declaring wars against random AIs and they just gave me cities in peace deals without me even attacking them. Oda gave me his 2nd city, same for Bouddhica. I just razed them. My armies just rolled over everything.

I really wasted too much time. I didn't realize how bad the AI would be. I could really have just settled 2 cities, or even just a really good capital, and then spammed archers and horsemen until all the AIs died. Instead I made 3 cities with liberty. Probably going liberty all I'd need it the settler, but I got the free worker as well because I thought Id' need a lot of fast roads, but the AI kept losing tons of workers to me and I was just swimming in stupid free workers, I was killing them all the time so my gold would go up lol.

Definitely a funny game.