Is This A Typical Way To Win?

WabeWalker

Chieftain
Joined
Aug 3, 2007
Messages
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I played my first game in Revolution a couple of nights ago (at Emperor level) and got slaughtered.

Tonight I played my second game, also at Emporer, and won the science race. I did it with just one city - is this a typical strategy?

I decided that I would build no military or settler units whatsoever. I would just concentrate full out on building science related units. This meant that I had to give in to the demands of the A.I. whenever it wanted something from me - but I was surprised at how infrequently that actually happened.

If I ever got a great person I would always use up that person for an instant reward, rather than settle him, because I noticed that if I settled him, then the A.I. would always demand him in exchange for peace. Hey, the A.I. can't demand something I haven't got, right!

Using the great people in this manner helped me to develop my city more rapidly. I also started selling all of my technolgies to the highest bidder, which helped me to complete buildings ahead of schedule.

All the while my one city was never attacked even though it was completely defenseless. Every now and then I would be awarded a free unit for having been the first to discover a technology, but these amounted to just a few units and could never have defeated an invading army if one had attacked.

Near the end of the game it looked as though The Americans were going to win either a cultural victory or an economic victory (they were the superpower), so I started churning out spy units, and sent them to Washington. I stole many of their great people and lots of their money - it's shocking how much money you can steal in the latter stages of this game: I was consistently raping the Americans of $2000 dollars per spy mission.

Then when I launched my spaceship everyone (except the Americans, for some unknown reason) ganged up on me and told me they wouldn't allow my pathetic civilization to win the space race. At this point I bribed The Americans to go to war against everyone else (hoping they would use their nuclear missle on one of them - which they didn't) and then started churning out units for the first time in the game. I built up armies of modern infantry to keep the wolves from the door while my spaceship rocketed towards Alpha Centauri.

I knew that they wouldn't be able to defeat me in time.

But then I had The Americans to worry about.

Culturally, America was only two great people away from cultural victory. Then one of my advisors informed me that The Americans were on the verge of winning an economic victory - I believe that they were actually just one turn away from this - when my spaceship... WOOT!... reached Alpha Centauri.

May I say that again?

WOOT! My spaceship reached Alpha Centauri!

You should've heard me and seen me. I started jumping up and down while screaming with joy - it was pretty sad actually. The thing is, this game makes you feel more clever than what you really are. I realize that there are probably a thousand or more ways to win at this game, but I was pretty chuffed that I had won the space race at Emperor with only 1 city!
 
Congrats on your win, WabeWalker! :thumbsup:

It's not a typical way to win, just one of the many ways. :)

Winning with one city is known as One City Challenge (OCC) in the Civ community, and people have tried that in all versions of Civ. There are even some strategy guides dedicated to OCC out there (for previous versions).

It's a good thing to try, but don't limit yourself and do try to win in different ways. :)
 
On Emperor its much easier to win by cultural, economic or tech because the AI produces units faster and is usually technologically on parity.

Defending remains fairly straightforward so you can basically turtle up if you want.
 
That sounds like a pretty interesting way to win.

I'm tempted to try it someday myself, but I'm not sure I can ever see myself giving into the AI's demands like that.

One question tho, You say you didn't build any units at all, did you not do any exploring?
 
On Emperor its much easier to win by cultural, economic or tech because the AI produces units faster and is usually technologically on parity.

Defending remains fairly straightforward so you can basically turtle up if you want.

Really - winning a domination victory at Emperor is actually more difficult than winning the tech or economic race?

That kind of makes sense actually.

I played virtually the entire game without ever building a military unit. It was only the last few turns that I had to start cranking out infantry, since the other civs suddenly got wise and endeavored to prevent me from winning the space race. Too little too late, though - the A.I. didn't react quickly enough.

One lesson I did learn from that game though was that Spies are very powerful in this game.

It's incredibly easy to steal Great People, or to raid the treasury of an economically powerful civ. Too easy in fact. I'll be using Spies like crazy from hereon in.
 
That sounds like a pretty interesting way to win.

I'm tempted to try it someday myself, but I'm not sure I can ever see myself giving into the AI's demands like that.

One question tho, You say you didn't build any units at all, did you not do any exploring?

No, I didn't explore.

I had no units at all. The game moved VERY quickly for this reason. Also, I almost never had to give in to the A.I.'s demands.

Only once did I have to surrender a great person in order to avoid a war. Most times when the A.I. wanted to trade for a new tech, I just said no. I think there were only about four or five times when the A.I. made a blatant demand, which if I didn't agree to then it would've been war.

Remember though that the key here is to use your great people for an immediate reward rather than settle them in a city - if you settle them then the other civs will just demand that you hand them over.

(EDIT: Oh no, I'm beginning to feel the grip of this game taking hold of me... must... try... to... resist.)
 
Doh!

I've just finished playing my third game, also at the Emperor level. I easily won a cultural victory.

I was chuffed with myself for that first victory in game 2 - but this isn't CIV 4, is it? (LOL! I was so pleased with myself) At least at Emperor this is a pretty easy game. Maybe I'll have to notch it up to the Deity level - if I do that I'll be sure to drink lots of diet coke, and other diety drinks, while I'm playing.
 
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