GOTM136 Babylon - First Spoiler - Middle Ages

GOTM136 Babylon - First Spoiler - Middle Ages




This is the first spoiler for GOTM136 Babylon. In order to post in this thread, or to read further down this thread than this post you must have played the game to the middle ages, or submitted or abandoned your game.

Do not discuss anything that happens in the middle ages. Do not disclose locations of resources or any other spoiler information.

Please limit map posting to a 20X20 tile area centered on the start location.

I apologise for the lack of a pre-game thread. Real life hijacked me.

For reference, the start position is shown below.

doh. that was too confusing for me... sorry i looked into the spoiler thread, but i thought, hey, GTOM136? is not up yet...

i guess now i understand that you supposed that everyone had the schedule in mind and knew that this one has already started, and had been opened in the GOTM-section and was there ready for dl.

well, i did not realize that. i always wait for the discussion thread in the forum and only then check everything out in the GOTM-section.

but i will dl the game now and think i have not seen anything to my advantage here. just wanted to leave an explanation of what i was doing in this thread...

t_x

Not my kind of victory condition; I'll pretty much play my usual methodical game. With Babylon, I should be able to develop my territory, build libraries etc. to get a tech lead through the middle game, wring lots of gold trading with the haves, and if all goes well, wipe out the AI's with Calvary, then Tanks, then Modern Armor. I reached MA in 10AD, at peace with 5 AI's known to me, having recently won a bit of the ZULU tribal lands. I am ahead in Tech race with Poly and the turn-gifted Feud.

log

Move worker 1s, see nothing that would justify to delay foundation of the capital, settle in place. Worker starts with road 1s, then 2n. research on Pot. first build is a warrior that finds the river and food in the south. And a barb camp in 3700bc!

3600 meet Zulu, trade BW for Pot+35g
3500 b.e., more barbs, but Zulu killed barb camp. 2nd warrior walks north and finds lake.
3450 more barbs! First promotion. Decide to build 2 more warriors and a settler to fit in at growth to 3. need to settle the food rich region, no time for a gran in the cap. See wine in the north.
3400 first barb enters culture! That is fast… (good i built another warrior that turn)
Wheat in the north makes a VERY nice town spot
3200 open hut for 3 more barbs
2950 found 2nd town 1S2SE, starts @ +5ftp as irrigated wheat is prepared
2850 2nd hut gives MAS. Trade it for slave and gold
2710 out of nowhere the Aztecs pop a town to the west.
2670 MAS+5g buys me their MYST. They already have 3 towns. Myst gives WC from Zulu. Everyone is even.
2630 3rd hut gives 3 more barbs. First elite promotion.
2510 Alpha in, +15g to Zulus for TW, of course the Aztecs settled my horses
2310 hut gives HR, TW to Aztecs for a slave,
2230 granary in 2nd town
2190 shrink cap to 1 again for another settler
2070 Zulu with still only the cap start on Oracle…; found 3rd town 3N
1950 2x disease strikes FP town 
1910 declare on Zulu for their 2nd town and hope no troops are around. Aztecs build a town in my south 2 turns before me 
1870 lose that elite warrior my hopes laid on for destroying that Zulu town. Of course it loses against a reg warrior
1840 4th town 2S2SW
1750 Wri in, Wri+HB suddenly does not buy me IW?!!? (next turn i find out they are themselves only 1 turn away from Wri)
1625 even though each party only lost 1 unit, Zulus give me peace and a town; is a seaside town and starts prebuild for galley!
1600 found on northern gold
1450 southern gran town finally becomes a regular 4-turner, after some 5-turn settler to grow into fit
1375 and now the 2t WF in the north also starts operation; MM in and trade for IW. Lots of iron around.
1100 Philo in, first galley built
800 meet India, buy stuff and contact to Spain
690 war against Aztecs for horses and space
670 2nd lux connected
650 Aztecs get their GA
610 Rep in, revolt only next turn to finish settlers
590 revolt
570 Rep, make peace with Aztecs
550 meet Japan, they are quite advanced. Buy contacs and maps for last 2 civs with my maps alone.
Aztecs come up with Con!
530 finally connect horses
Aztecs could come up with 24gpt in a deal before currency. Don´t think I have seen that before, especially on that level… give them Rep before i break the deal
410 i realize this is a GOTM and i totally messed up the FP that i had close to handbuild in a first ring town PLUS i had not considered ring placement for my cities
330 after some tech gifts and some waging, the Zulu prebuild really turns into the Great Lighthouse! What a piece of luck.
250 peace with Aztecs after i take their capital. Did not want to wait for them to finish another wonder. Leaves them with 2 small towns. Earns me currency and gets me into the MA, with Feud as a freebie.

with my PtW-mistake this is not looking too good. but i should be able to get to domination some time. however, i can already procast that i most probably will need a little more time, like ... 2 weeks?

t_x

I moved worker S and saw the southern game tile. I decided to settle SE to have said tile immediately available... and i immediately regretted that decision. A barb was sitting just two tiles away, and one turn before i could complete the first warrior, it was marching boldly into Babylon, taking all the gold. I also had to waste 2 worker turns to not lose the worker as well

Babylon's building order was 5 warriors followed by a settler. Research was set on Pottery at max. Even though there was no immediate need for a granary, there was only the Zulu with Pottery as a prerequisite, while Alphabet was widely known. First warrior moved E, destroyed the camp, then proceeded N through the mountains where, a few turns later and with Pottery almost complete, encountered the Zulu

Warrior 2 went south, killed another camp and met the Aztecs. Warrior 3 and 4 explored the surroundings. The perfect place for a 4-turner was discovered to the north, at RCP 4, but with a catch: had i settled in place, it would have all the necessary tiles in the 1st radius, but since i settled SE, the wine and wheat tiles were outside of it! So i had to build a temple before the granary.

As i built my RCP 4, more temples were needed, mainly to prevent cultural pressure from the AS that would have forced me to waste units into MP duty. With domination in mind, i choosed not to destroy enemy cities but to let them develop and capture them later, so i focused only on expansion up to Republic.

The 1000 BC mark was hit with 10 cities, 20 pop units and an army of 4 bows, 11 warriors, 9 workers, and a Zulu slave. So far, i have built 3 temples, 2 granaries and one barracks. Here's a shot of my empire at the given date:



Without a coastal core city, it took a while before a galley could venture into the seas. Moreover, i didn't even try to build the Great Lighthouse, choosing to rely on its capture. I hoped the Aztecs would complete it, but a wonder cascade gave it to India instead

The 1st galley found a bridge of coastal waters that let me meet India, France and Spain in 590 BC. In 490 BC Republic was established and my forces moved to take over Zululand. In 310 BC a successful suicide run let me meet the remaining AS. Next turn the Zulu were assimilated, and in 250 BC i completed Construction, traded for Currency and entered the Middle Ages. Both me and the Greeks picked Engineering

The plan for the future is to conquer the Aztecs, then assemble a fleet of boats and sail off to take over Delhi (Great Lighthouse). At this point, shipping reinforcement will become much easier and i could assimilate India, France and Spain. The Forbidden Palace will be built on a new city with Delhi in its first ring, in order to take advantage of the Colossus as well.

On the research front, i'll go for Chivalry and then no further techs should be necessary, unless i'll opt for some additional milking.

Here are some logs:


Techs:

4000bc: Bronze Working, Ceremonial Burial (prerequisite)
3400bc: Pottery (trade, Zulu)
3100bc: Warrior Code (trade, Zulu)
3050bc: Mysticism (hut)
2310bc: Alphabet (research);
1990bc: Iron Working (trade, Zulu); Wheel (trade, Aztecs);
1550bc: Writing (research); Horse Riding (trade, Aztecs);
1175bc: Map Making (research);
_950bc: Code of Laws (research); Masonry (trade, Aztecs);
_900bc: Polytheism (trade, Zulu);
_850bc: Philosophy (research);
_590bc: Literature (trade, India); Mathematics (trade, Aztecs);
_490bc: Republic (research);
_250bc: Construction (research); Currency (trade, Carthage); Engineering (sci bonus);


Cities till 1000 BC:

3950bc: Babylon
2800bc: Ur
1950bc: Niniveh
1650bc: Ashur
1425bc: Ellipi

1300bc: Akkad
1150bc: Uruk
1125bc: Eridu
1100bc: Samarra
1025bc: Lagash


Meetings:

3400bc: Zulu
3100bc: Aztecs
_590bc: India, France, Spain;
_310bc: Greece, Japan, Carthage;


Kills:

290bc: Zulu

no way i will be able to finish this within 4 more days... is there a chance we get 2 more weeks for this game please?
t_x

Will there be a final spoiler? I have submitted my save and the system is registering a different victory condition than the game announced when victory.

After some early frustrating events I gave up hope of a fast finish and instead tried to complete 4 victory conditions at once; Domination by settling 40+ settlers on the last turn, then Conquest by taking the last AI's city, then at the start of the (next) turn where victory is given, completed 100k culture and the last spaceship part.

The victory screen said Conquest even though Domination was the first condition satisfied, (Perhaps it is just the way the game prioritizes conditions) but when I submitted the game, the submission system calls it a spaceship victory.

?

I do liked the modern war against India and France with tanks, carriers and planification!

Here is my timeline :

3650 BC Zulus : Trade BW vs Pottery + 2g
3500 BC Hut : barbarians on the east mountains
3500 BC Hut : barbarians on the west shore
2750 BC Aztecs : Trade Pottery vs WC + 10g
2470 BC Hut : barbarians on the south shore
2190 BC Wealthiest nations: #1 (181 g)
2070 BC Hut : barbarians on the south-west shore
1950 BC Trade Zulus : Alpha + 95g vs IW; Trade Aztecs : Alpha + IW vs Wheel + Mysticism + 31 g
1910 BC Zulus DOWs me
1375 BC Golden age
1250 BC Trade Aztecs : Philo vs HR
1175 BC #2 Most powerful nations
875 BC End of Golden Age
690 BC Trade Aztecs : CoL vs Masonry + wm + 108 g
? Zulus conquered
410 BC Trade Aztecs : Republic vs MM + WN + 40g
230 BC Attack Aztecs
170 BC #7 Most Advanced
150 AD Aztecs conquered
170 AD Contact Carthage. Revolution
190 AD Republic. Contact France : Trade wm + 142 g + 2g/t vs Polytheism
? Contact Spain
? Contact Greece
470 AD Trade Grecce : Theology vs Feudalism + 1g. Contact Japan.
650 AD Trade Greece : Astronomy + Wines + Furs vs Invention + Chivalry + wm + 52 g + 3 g/t; Trade Spain : Astronomy vs Gunpowder + 18 g
900 AD Attack Greece. MPP with Japan and Carthage
1160 AD Greece conquered
1260 AD Attack Japan. MPP with Carthage
1345 AD Japan conquered
1450 AD Sneak attack from Cartage. Thanks to our MPP, France DOWs Carthage
1550 AD Carthage conquered. France and India are in MPP. 2 rubber + 1 oil in France. 2 rubber and 1 oil in India.

Invasion plan
1. Place invasion groups at sea outside the radar
2. Build 3 Carrier task forces in support
3. Take Indian oil and rubber and French rubber
4. Take French oil (in the middle of the continent) in order to avoid tank and infantry production
5. Conquer until domination

1625 AD MPP between India and France is broken. MPP with France, and DOW against India. First turn : 2 Indian rubbers disconnected, 1 oil occupied, The Indian spearman are watching my tanks landing on the shore...
1635 AD France DOWs India
1660 AD India conquered
1665 AD France start Manhattan projet. Me too...
1740 AD France assaulted. Domination victory after 2 or 3 captured cities...

Arrg. This game didn't go well: the Zulus sneak attacked me very early triggering my GA in Despotims with only 3 towns built so far. (Can't remember, why I even had Bowmen that early... )

I had to go to Paris for the Great Lighthouse, which was not that bad. With a few suicide galleys I got a stack of units over there, which captured Paris as the first off-shore city after I had secured my continent and then it was "easy sailing".

I didn't research Chivalry and instead went with Horsemen (and a few Medieval Infantry, when I encountered some pikes in Japan) for a Domination victory in 610 AD.

Didn't have time to finish the game, but I was well on my way with a huge military systematically wiping out the southern continent. Oh well, submitted anyways.

i asked here and tried to pm our mod but did not get a reply. i will not invest any more time until i hear whether we will get some more time and i will realistically be able to finish this game...
t_x

Same happened to me last game: even though 3 people had asked for an extension several days before the deadline ran out, we didn't get one. Here is what MadBax said when he was back (a couple of days after the deadline had expired):

mad-bax said:

Guys,

I'm afraid that a business trip that was supposed to last a week was extended to over two. The nature of that trip made it very difficult to keep up with my responsibilities here, for which I apologise. I can't promise it won't happen again I'm afraid - It's just an occupational hazard.

Sorry the game didn't get extended. In future, if I'm missing I can only suggest you PM Alanh. (He'll hate me for saying that).

Click to expand...

This was particularly bitter, as I had a difficult 20K game (bad start location, Celts boxing me in quite early) finished successfully, and it would have earned me an award towards the eptathlon. Who knows, a) when the next opportunity for 20K will come up in the game schedule, b) if I'll then have the time for it and c) if I'll be able to beat the competition...
So this time I learned my lesson and just played on on Saturday till I was finished...

i remembered that well, and this was the reason why i did NOT continue playing, as with the little time i would have been able to invest before the deadline i could not have finished.

but i will resume playing and will submit when i learn that we get some more time for this nice game. i liked the set-up and would prefer to finish.

t_x

templar_x said:

i remembered that well, and this was the reason why i did NOT continue playing, as with the little time i would have been able to invest before the deadline i could not have finished.

but i will resume playing and will submit when i learn that we get some more time for this nice game. i liked the set-up and would prefer to finish.

t_x

Click to expand...

I understand your disappointment. You asked nicely. A reply was in order, even if negative.

On a side note, the next game appears to be late on schedule.

The volunteer game organizer post seems to be a problem. I don't want to discount mad-bax quite yet, perhaps he resurfaces, as didn't civ_steve, but apparently even the much lightened burden of today's schedule and lay-out is too much for a single person -- even one who's volunteered in high spirits and full of enthusiasm.

What if we were to take turns?

I would be all for it. Setting up a game like every 10 months should not be too much trouble for one person. I don't plan on participating in every game anyway...

But still that leaves the problem that only few persons have access to the software required for checking and evaluating the submitted save files and few are able to edit the results and awards tables?

And that is good so.

Well, actually yes... But still for our plan it's a "problem"...

Anyway, I guess we should start taking action:

Last Activity: Sep 06, 2014 09:56 AM

Click to expand...

That looks like something more serious/long-running than a business trip. I'll put a first draft in our game schedule thread (where it's probably more appropriate than here).

AlanH is the backup for MadBax, but with the unfortunate tragedy he is experiencing I hope everyone can be patient until Mad Bax shows up or another staff member is assigned to take over Civ3 related items.

With that in mind, I am not against Lanzelot's proposal in this post: (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=13482941&postcount=17)[/URL]

Lanzelot has volunteered for the next gotm137.
I could prepare COTM109. I assume that we will keep the AI, settings, and VC if noted.

IF MadBax comes back he can slide right back into making the games if he so desires.

In the meantime we could start planning for the eventuality of Civ3 being run by those active in the games. It would still require a staff member to complete the administrative steps.

Games can easily be created without using the worldbuilder. After creating the save you can use debug mode to change certain things then save again and use that as the starting save. I'll have to check and see if debug mode can be disabled in the save after changes are made.

For purists worldbuilder gives you the most flexibility but it can be time consuming and produce unintended results. The biggest question mark is what factors should be adjusted to give a desired result or a more challenging game.

There's no need to complicate the process with worldbuilder (whatever it is) and/or debug mode. Just fire up the GotM bic file, create a map, fiddle with it until you're satisfied, save, start the scenario, save, publish the save file.