Smokeybear
Emperor
Closest game evah, for me- playing Rome, marathon, huge, pangaea. Into the final stages, me and Harun were the two big dogs on opposite sides of the landmass, with a gaggle of lesser redshirted spear-chucker civs tangled in between like a mess o' fishin' worms in a bucket. We were both heavy on science and military, and there was not enough time left in the timeline for either of us to assault and conquer the other easily. So it became a science victory showdown.
Harun was a bit ahead of me in science output and techs, due to being a typical city-spammer AI with more population than a human player could ever dream of supporting. I'd been a bit slow at focusing on science during the latter half of the game, since I'd been mostly working on a lazy, fun domination game. But once the 'Arabia has built the Apollo Program' flag went up, I had to scurry.
Eventually, I was going to lose. I couldn't overcome the science lead he had fast enough, though I used every trick in the book and a few I made up. It came down to just one ocean tile and one more turn between me nuking his operation, or him completing the Stasis Chamber and moving it to Mecca 4 tiles away to finish the rocket.
I'd had to annex a coastal city and spend most of my pile of chips buying two nuke subs and 4 nuclear missiles and sending them on a mad dash to either glory or failure- all hopes of Roman civilization rested on their submerged shoulders. It would take seven turns for them to cross the ocean and get within the 12-tile range of the target city, and my spy in Basra told me the Stasis Chamber would be complete in seven turns. At the end of seven full turns, my lead sub was *exactly* 12 tiles from the target.
At the end of that same turn, the Stasis Chamber icon appeared on the Basra city banner, ready to roll. I launched two nukes evenly between Basra and Mecca, obliterating the Stasis Chamber and nearly wiping out both cities. If I'd been just one tile or one turn farther away from making that strike in time, Harun would have had me. Closest I've ever cut it
I still needed around 20 turns until I could finish my rocket, so I couldn't afford the chance that Harun had another city nearby with a rocket factory that could build another Stasis Chamber before I could. Being a city-spammer, he had about a dozen cities within easy driving range of Mecca, so I rang the gong and hauled out every spy I had from the arms of their agency-funded mistresses in their lush bungalo's in exotic locations around the world, and told them to find that rocket factory PDQ, or they'd have no worries about ever spawning children in the future.
Sure enough, after a half-dozen turns of frantic city-searching, one of them found the new Stasis Chamber being built in Damascus. It too was within exactly 12 tiles of the nearest coast, unfortunately for them. Two more well-placed nukes, and the Roman victory was secured. Damn spies finally did something truly game-saving for me, for once
Harun was a bit ahead of me in science output and techs, due to being a typical city-spammer AI with more population than a human player could ever dream of supporting. I'd been a bit slow at focusing on science during the latter half of the game, since I'd been mostly working on a lazy, fun domination game. But once the 'Arabia has built the Apollo Program' flag went up, I had to scurry.
Eventually, I was going to lose. I couldn't overcome the science lead he had fast enough, though I used every trick in the book and a few I made up. It came down to just one ocean tile and one more turn between me nuking his operation, or him completing the Stasis Chamber and moving it to Mecca 4 tiles away to finish the rocket.
I'd had to annex a coastal city and spend most of my pile of chips buying two nuke subs and 4 nuclear missiles and sending them on a mad dash to either glory or failure- all hopes of Roman civilization rested on their submerged shoulders. It would take seven turns for them to cross the ocean and get within the 12-tile range of the target city, and my spy in Basra told me the Stasis Chamber would be complete in seven turns. At the end of seven full turns, my lead sub was *exactly* 12 tiles from the target.
At the end of that same turn, the Stasis Chamber icon appeared on the Basra city banner, ready to roll. I launched two nukes evenly between Basra and Mecca, obliterating the Stasis Chamber and nearly wiping out both cities. If I'd been just one tile or one turn farther away from making that strike in time, Harun would have had me. Closest I've ever cut it
I still needed around 20 turns until I could finish my rocket, so I couldn't afford the chance that Harun had another city nearby with a rocket factory that could build another Stasis Chamber before I could. Being a city-spammer, he had about a dozen cities within easy driving range of Mecca, so I rang the gong and hauled out every spy I had from the arms of their agency-funded mistresses in their lush bungalo's in exotic locations around the world, and told them to find that rocket factory PDQ, or they'd have no worries about ever spawning children in the future.
Sure enough, after a half-dozen turns of frantic city-searching, one of them found the new Stasis Chamber being built in Damascus. It too was within exactly 12 tiles of the nearest coast, unfortunately for them. Two more well-placed nukes, and the Roman victory was secured. Damn spies finally did something truly game-saving for me, for once
Can't say I've ever had a call that close; I usually play on Emperor where I can win comfortably, as I prefer a reasonable challenge to the insane unit and city spam the AI can do on Immortal. Maybe I should try Immortal again one of these days.
Luckily for the Great Leader, the first shipment of nubile exotic teens managed to arrive securely... To receive their, hmm, cultural education. It is hard work, and the Leader has many other duties, but since they can never return to Zimbabwe now, might as well let them learn the Russian ways in all things... 
