TSG128 After Actions

Went for culture, even though I could have won science much earlier but I wanted the added challenge, and lost.

Settled in the hills to the south for a better production capital, and built a decent 5 city empire. However I made the huge mistake of DOWing Assyria at some point, who had an army about 10 times the size of mine. Got bogged down in an endless war with modern units, and they wouldn't accept peace except in exchange for several of my major cities.

When Sweden launched in t342, I was influential over all but two civs.
 
Game status: Science Victory
Game date: 1878AD
Turns played: 309
Base score: 1967
Final score: 3224
Time played: 6:18:00

I felt I started really well. I moved my warrior south and my settler across the river. I entered the ruins and got culture, met Prague and found El Dorado and got 500 gold. So, I decided to settle and bought a scout to get as many ruins as possible which yielded much gold, culture and upgrades...but no religion.

I built another scout and through the money generated by capturing a barbarian settlement, visiting city states and a few nice ruins I was able to buy my settler soon after getting Warsaw to population 2. I sent my settler east and settle to on the river hill next to the faith mountain. I reckoned that would be very easy to defend against Austria, but that was never put to the test. I used that city to get my pantheon and I took the one that boosted natural wonders. I really feel I should have opted for sacred path given the amount of jungles and as Prague only lost Eldorado to a Citadel (and by then that city had a different religion).

I benefited greatly after turn 30 or so by using my archers to do missions for City States and things were looking great except for the Celts building every wonder under the Sun until the later stages of the game.

In my game Korea didn't last long and Assyria could be easily bribed into pretty pointless wars throughout the game. It is interesting to see how little my Assyria got up to compared to some of the other games.

After Traditional opener I completed Liberty before completing Tradition. I settled a total of 5 cities and built up.

I eventually decided to take out Austria and that gained me three more cities. After that point I started to over-haul the AI in techological progress and I built quite a number of wonders. I opted for a science victory as I just wanted to wrap things up and didn't feel like too much conquest. Sweden were eventually defeated by the Celts and Russia after going Freedom instead of Autocracy like all the cool kids.

Unfortunately, politics meant that having taken Freedom for the two free policies and to get the Foreign Legion I had to switch to Autocracy with all the cool kids. That really slowed down the construction of my space ship, but eventually it was built and launched well after I had the technologies to do so. Had I been able to keep Freedom this game would have been over far sooner...or maybe not, the double stealing rate my spies achieved did bring in many techs.

I also wonder if I should have tried to use my decent military more than I did or whether that would have been counter-productive and it was better getting all the research agreements. I also felt I spent a tonne of money on keeping city states allied and perhaps that too was a waste.

All in all a fun game and yes, surprisingly easy for Deity, but that was in large part due to the City States around Poland shielding us from aggressive civilizations. Assyria and the Celts would have had VERY narrow channels for invasion and the only real threat would be an invasion rolling in from the east. In terms of my UU it helped me take one city, the UB was useless as there was very little horse, cattle or sheep in our area - if we had the land Dublin was settled on, THEN that building would matter.

:king:
 

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Game status: Science Victory
Game date: 1730AD
Turns played: 256
Base score: 1367
Final score: 2680
Time played: 6:28:00

Felt VERY slow after turn 200, the turn I researched Plastics. Something felt wrong when it takes more than 50 turns from Plastics to winning. Usually it takes around 30 turns, so I'm not sure what's wrong here. Arts funding was passed, but it was pretty late already when it got passed. I got all the usual wonders that grants GS, other than Piza which wasn't possible on this map due to slow start. Possibly it was due to not signing any RA or building hospitals, but I'm not sure.

- Were you happy with the start? Did you manage to adjust strategies to the terrain?
Start was bad, but I felt I wasn't behind that much and of course it was impossible to get early wonders.

- Which free SPs did you use Poland's UA for in the later eras?
Tradition finisher, Rationalism+Secularism, Free thought, Mercantilism, Scholasticism

- Were their other Unique attributes useful for either SV or CV?
Didn't use their UU and UB wasn't that strong anyway.

- Which Policy trees did you choose and why?
Usual Freedom based SV, Tradition, Commerce, Patronage, Rationalism. Free SP allowed more policies into patronage despite not getting first place in WF and having only 1 culture CS.

- For Deity difficulty, was this harder or easier than normal?
Easier, almost zero threat of invasion due to wall of CS, and AI seemed more friendly than usual. No denouncement until shortly before winning. El Dorado also meant free settler that speeds up the start considerably.
 
I got my first deity win ever (including Civ4) from this game! Too bad it's not really eligible, as I had to reload due to very bad luck ... without being even 1 turn in war during the game. Managed to have a few units all game and played diplomatically quite smart to stay out of war....

I am glad I got my first Deity win even with cheating a bit with a reload. ...

Quite close to my own experience. I didn't submit but I played all the way through.

I've never beaten Deity before but this time I got the rocket ship launched on turn 312, after a restart when I lost my warrior on turn 15. I changed my strategy entirely: all growth, no war, friends with everybody, right up to the point when my great scientists zipped through the final technologies and space ship parts started heading to the capitol.

Once that happened everyone denounced me but by then it was too late. This was a reversal of my usual strategy on lower difficulties of conquering the neighbours as fast as possible.

I realize knowing the local part of the map is a big advantage at the start but at least now I feel like beating Deity is possible.
 
Game status: Science Loss
Game date: 1909AD
Turns played: 329
Base score: 1144
Final score: 1144
Time played: 6:42:00

Great game!
 
Game: Civ5 GOTM 128
Date submitted: 2016-02-20 09:58:33
Game status: Science Loss
Game date: 1919AD
Turns played: 339
Base score: 1012
Final score: 1012
Time played: 7:55:00

Having played and lost only 2 Deity games before and never having played Poland, I knew I was in for a rough-ride! Rather than jump straight in at the deep-end I thought I would try a practice game with Poland on Deity... which I won on turn 300 by science victory... which bizarrely felt, surprisingly comfortable!

TSG128 on the other hand was painfully slow, a number of simple mistakes; walking my first worker straight into a barb rather than away from them, and missing out on the Oracle by 1 turn all added up to a different experience.

I was 3rd to Freedom, which I took anyway as my immediate neighbours (the Celts and Austria) had taken it and I wanted to try and avoid wars as I was severely under-powered. Despite potentially slowing me down a bit, I think it helped in the long run. Assyria was out to get me, but having Freedom helped me to keep my friends and enter defensive pacts with both. Freedom eventually became the world ideology which lead to Assyria eventually being my new BFF!

My biggest problem was production. I'd stored up enough great scientists to bulb to a science lead in the late game... I just could not build the spaceship parts fast enough and Austria pipped me to the post by a booster or two.

I thought the Celts would win a few turns earlier, as they appeared to have completed all spaceship parts according to the 'Victory Progress' screen. Even though I thought winning was automatic upon completion of the spaceship, I thought they had somehow chosen to go for a different VC. However; having now reloaded the auto-saves to get the screenshot showing all 6 parts completed before Austria, I have come to the assumption that it must have been a UI glitch as they are clearly showing 5 parts this morning.

- Were you happy with the start? Did you manage to adjust strategies to the terrain?
Moved my settler E 1 tile before moving back to the staring location for a T2 capital! Did not think Jungle would cause me such pain!

- Which free SPs did you use Poland's UA for in the later eras?
Rationalism opener.

- Were their other Unique attributes useful for either SV or CV?
Didn't use them at all.

- Which Policy trees did you choose and why?
Tradition opener, Liberty, a bit more Tradition, Rationalism and 6 in Freedom.
Mainly to aid growth and / or happiness.

- For Deity difficulty, was this harder or easier than normal?
Don't know enough about Deity.
 
SCIENCE VICTORY
Turn=205
Score=1614
HOF=3936


pop=180 (37,28,27,27,21,20,20)
science=+2026
gold=559 (+518)
routes=9/9
happiness=+35
culture=2329/3285 (+108)
tourism=24 (+24)
faith=229 (+99)


Were you happy with the start? Did you manage to adjust strategies to the terrain?
It was interesting. Nice long-run perspective with lots of science from the jungle, but little early production and no mountain at the capital. A fast second settler thanks to El Dorado, lots of seafood, and Mt. Kailash also nearby. I committed fully to the terrain. This may not have been optimal, but it was fun.

- God of the Sea pantheon. We played 'holding the line' all game long to block the droves of invading rival priests. :)
- Settled at both wonders asap and worked them all game long. After one Missionary, 7 Pagodas, and three Great Priests, we could still buy a third Great Scientist from faith on turn 203. This was perfectly planned, except that he was superfluous. ;)
- Founded 7 cities in total to make use of all the seafood and jungle. Gdansk was at a mountain so we could build Machu Picchu (Mt. Kailash accepts an Observatory, but not this wonder).

Which free SPs did you use Poland's UA for in the later eras?
The following policies were taken upon advancing to a new age.
39 Meritocracy
89 Philanthropy
117 Rationalism
135 Humanism
152 Sovereignty
181 Scientific Revolution
182 Aristocracy

The last one mainly for the happiness as we picked Freedom as our Ideology while we expected most AI to go Order (we were first in science already but not by much). However, Austria chose Freedom as well. Could have finished 2 turns earlier had we known beforehand. :crazyeye:

Were their other Unique attributes useful for either SV or CV?
The Ducal Stable helped marginally. We only built two (Gdansk and Szczecin). We never produced any military except for a single Archer early on. All others were gifted by Belgrade and Hanoi which were allies during most of the game. We paid Assyria twice to keep it so: once when they approached Hanoi, to declare war on the Celts instead, which they dutifully kept attacking for the rest of the game, and once to make peace with Hanoi after the Celts briefly bought an alliance.

Which Policy trees did you choose and why?
The usual Tradition opener followed by Liberty. Seven cities seemed optimal on this map. Liberty to the end for a fast Academy, followed by Patronage to Cultural Diplomacy. Rationalism got completed, six Freedom policies for growth and happiness and to buy spaceship parts, three in Commerce to Mercantilism and one more in Tradition. It helped that we won the World's Fair and got a Golden Age running for most of the 20 turns.

For Deity difficulty, was this harder or easier than normal?
Easier because of El Dorado and our position behind several City States, harder of our own volition because we insisted on defending Judaism. Assyria was a pain in the ass, they quickly conquered Korea, Geneva and Riga, spread everywhere and took half of the Celtic empire. But they fell behind in science nonetheless.

Great Wonders
84 Colossus (Warsaw)
140 Machu Picchu (Gdansk)
154 Leaning Tower of Pisa (Wroclaw) (took a Great Engineer)
167 Statue of Liberty (Warsaw)
193 Big Ben (Wroclaw)
202 Hubble Space Telescope (Krakow) (only used for the two Great Scientists)
205 Eiffel Tower (Szczecin) :mischief:

National Wonders
106 National College (Warsaw)
138 Ironworks (Warsaw)
143 National Epic (Wroclaw) (it had all three guilds)
170 Grand Temple (Warsaw)
182 Oxford University (Warsaw)
197 East India Company (Lodz)

World Congress Projects
176 World's Fair (won)

Spaceship
190 Apollo Program (Warsaw)
195 SS Booster 1830g (Warsaw)
198 SS Booster 1830g (Warsaw)
202 SS Engine 1830g (Warsaw)
204 SS Stasis Chamber 1830g (Warsaw)
205 SS Cockpit (Warsaw)
205 SS Booster (Wroclaw)

Science techs
61 Writing
93 Philosophy
108 Education
117 Astronomy
148 Scientific Theory
167 Plastics

Sciences Funding was passed too late to make a difference.

Religion
29 God of the Sea
61 Judaism (Tithe, Pagodas)
130 Enhanced (Feed the World, Religious Texts)

We expected war and more religious opposition. But they never converted our jungle cities. Sweden was a lasting friend and Austria, Celts and Assyria were friends during some periods as well, and Russia and Songhai stayed neutral towards us.

A pre-200 victory seems possible with Swords into Plowshares and Reliquary, and with better luck regarding We Love The King Day. Warsaw wanted Crab which was not available for the longest time, and then Gems which came extremely expensive. :mad:
 
Well done miss! That's some outstanding play :goodjob: Or the art of using AIs like marionnettes ;)
 
Your name: MrRadar
Game status: Science Victory
Game date: 1908AD
Turns played: 328

I have completely botched a CV attempt and took an emergency science exit, as usually.

What a game! I had so much fun from the events on the map. :) On the eastern part - power struggles with Sweden slowly establishing dominance, in the west - oncoming and unstoppable Assyrian tide. Assyrians ate Korea and some CSs, became autocratic then dogpiled with Sweden (Order) on the cultural leader the Celts (Order), with Sweden being at war with Russia (Order).

The Celts got eliminated in a two front war, then I hastily bribed Assyrians on my very dear Swedish comrades, and they stalled until the end of the game. I was already happily bulbing the Info era techs and was expecting an undisturbed ride until the end, but then Freedom buddies Austria and Songhai dogpiled on me. Austria sent a carpet of troops, I was very lucky to keep 3 A-bombs ready. But I got some back too. My two eastern cities got nuked repeatedly. This nuke fest slowed my science and cost me probably ten turns or so. Earlier, I had proposed the ISS, but then the vote came when nukes were flying, and I voted down my own proposal. Last thing I wanted was Assyria winning the build and launching first, at the end they only lacked one part anyway.

- Were you happy with the start? Did you manage to adjust strategies to the terrain?
One of the most fun starts! Stumbled on Eldorado turn 2! Bought settler :)

- Which free SPs did you use Poland's UA for in the later eras?
Alas, I did not take notes.

- Were their other Unique attributes useful for either SV or CV?
Not really. When the war started, horses were already almost obsolete.

- Which Policy trees did you choose and why?
Filled in Tradition and Piety, then Asthetics. When filling Aesthetics, I already was losing hope for CV. Then had to choose Order as third adopter. Celts had hundreds of tourism, and who wasn't into Order, suffered.

- For Deity difficulty, was this harder or easier than normal?
I imagine it was easier, because I do not yet win reliably on Deity, but this one I did, and how - science with Piety and Aesthetics! :p

Spoiler :
 
Not sure if I made it before the deadline?

Turn 323 SV. I struggled surviving with 7 cities most of the game... Followed Freedom after 2 high tourism civs. Timed a GE to grab Statue of Liberty, then grabbed Hubble the same way -- that gave me a science lead for the first time in the game. Borrowed a lot of cash to finish 3 parts once I researched the last tech.

Reference number: 34017
Turns played: 323
Base score: 1497
Final score: 2339
Time played: 8:15:00
 
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