The Emperor Challenge Lineup - Game #1 Ottomans

budweiser

King of the Beers
Joined
Jun 18, 2003
Messages
5,251
Location
Hidden Underground Volcano Lair
ECL Game #1
You - Ottomans
Total Civilizations - 8
Total City States -16
Map – Pangea
Settings – Quick movement & combat(turn it back on if you would like). Everything else is set to default.
Game Version -
Downloadable Content – G&K, BNW, Conquest of the New World Deluxe, Genghis Khan's Mongolia, Harold Bluetooth's Denmark, Isabella’s Sapin and Pachacuti's Incan Empire, Kamehameha's Polynesian Empire, Nebruchadnezzar's Babylon, Sejong The Great's Korea, Wonders of the Ancient World. The map pack are intentionally excluded.


Spoiler :


Information & rules cut, pasted and slightly changed from The Deity Challenge Lineup:

Spoiler :
All games in this series will be set to EMPEROR difficulty. User civilizations, maps, and opponents will change each game, but the pace will always be set at standard and the starting era will always be ancient. We will try for a variety of starts, and not just having a crazy warmonger as your next door neighbor (although there will be that too). This isn't a competition so there will be no predefined victory conditions. New challenges in the series will be posted every other Friday to off set the Deity games.

Who can play?
Anybody can play. The more the merrier. Even if you normally don't play Emperor games you are still welcome to try. The games can become great learning resources for the player trying to improve. Even if you don't finish the game, we are still interested to hear about your experience.

Do's and Don'ts
We are going to be using the honor system. Feel free to restart, reload, play the same game multiple times, but don't use the science overflow exploit. Also please don't edit the game in IGE. If you do chose to cheat, please don't share your results in the comments. Also, please use the spoiler tag if you post a picture, comment about neighboring civs, close by wonders, or locations of ancient ruins.

Also, please tell us about your Build Order, Social Policies, Tech Order, and what type of wonders you went after. I know a lot of this stuff seems pretty mundane to the experienced player, but the details are incredibly useful to people trying to learn.

All games in this series will be set to IMMORTAL difficulty. User civilizations, maps, and opponents will change each game, but the pace will always be set at standard and the starting era will always be ancient. We will try for a variety of starts, and not just having a crazy warmonger as your next door neighbor (although there will be that too). This isn't a competition so there will be no predefined victory conditions. New challenges in the series will be posted every other Wednesday.

Who can play?
Anybody can play. The more the merrier. Even if you normally don't play immortal games you are still welcome to try. The games can become great learning resources for the player trying to improve. Even if you don't finish the game, we are still interested to hear about your experience.

Do's and Don'ts
We are going to be using the honor system. Feel free to restart, reload, play the same game multiple times, but don't use the science overflow exploit. Also please don't edit the game in IGE. If you do chose to cheat, please don't share your results in the comments. Also, please use the spoiler tag if you post a picture, comment about neighboring civs, close by wonders, or locations of ancient ruins.

Also, please tell us about your Build Order, Social Policies, Tech Order, and what type of wonders you went after. I know a lot of this stuff seems pretty mundane to the experienced player, but the details are incredibly useful to people trying to learn.

Future Games in the Series
I currently do not have a means to accept a map submission. I am open to request for which civs can be next, just shoot me a PM.
 

Attachments

  • Suleiman_0000 BC-4000.Civ5Save
    520 KB · Views: 206
Nice-looking start. With a lighthouse and a couple work boats that's a lot of food and gold for the capital. Most of the tiles I'll be working early are at least two food & some gold - throw a hammer in there too.

I think I'd move my Warrior to that hill in the SE - see what's over there.
 
Well this sure is a seafood start so you want to get those fishing boats and also a lighthouse going quickly.

If it was me, I would also take God of the Sea and follow up by making sure I got a religion before they were all gone.

This site will grow very large and make lots of GPT in the mid game.
 
Downloaded the map to try. I can normally win fairly often on emperor, but I've never tried playing as the Ottoman's as their bonuses have never appealed to me. Shall see how it goes.

Edit:

So I played through the first 83 turns (till NC in the cap.)

Spoiler :
My build order was something like scout, scout, shrine, worker, work boatx3. I'm never sure when to build work boats and normally don't that early, but I didn't get stone circles for faith so I took the +1 hammer from work boats and figured it might be worth building boats earlier?

Took tradition, planning on filling the tree. I'm not really thrilled with Edirne's placement, but I wanted it on a hill in case Attila came knocking and I'm not really sure where to go with my third and fourth spots as nothing screams to me as an awesome city spot, but I probably don't have enough experience. I'm thinking down on one of the plains tiles SE of Istanbul to grab the silk and deer, and then I don't even see a fourth spot I like. Too much desert. I normally don't war until late game, if it all, but I'm wondering if I should try teching for xboxs and taking Atilla's lands? Thoughts?
 

Attachments

  • 2014-09-20_00001.jpg
    2014-09-20_00001.jpg
    299.5 KB · Views: 301
Spoiler :

I normally don't war until late game, if it all, but I'm wondering if I should try teching for xboxs and taking Atilla's lands? Thoughts?

I think on this map and ofcourse on Emp war is a very strong idea. It depends on how you like to play. I think you will find that if you just go full blown out army from the get-go you can take cities very early with only a few archers and warriors. Later with Comp Bows and some Horseman you can really crush and if your going to get Xbows and keep pushing the war effort... it is game/set/match. After some experience and information you will be playing Deity very soon. However, I find that people who like to play on lower levels, love to wonder build and just basically build in general. As I said before... it is how you like to play and what you want from your game and what is fun for you. For some people just smashing the AI to a pulp is not very fun at all, they want a more robust style of game.

I find that you can roam around for 7-10 turns on Emp before you settle your cap. I like to settle up next to the AI cap and take all the free workers and what not before I capture. You don't have to roam to do this but I find it fun.
 
Won a SV on turn 357. Forgot to take a SS before quitting.

Spoiler :
I really did not like the land, I struggled to have my cities grow, normally on emp I can get a SV around turn 320ish, so this one felt really slow. Managed to play peaceful all game, did not get involved in any wars, founded 4 cities total. Attila came marching at me once with a large army, but I bribed him to DOW Denmark instead and then never had any other issues as he was involved in wars with three other civs off and on the rest of the game. I'd like to see a few other people play it and to see how I can improve.
 
Just downloaded the save, will be starting up tomorrow. And the ottomans huh? Also known as the "we don't actually have a UA or UU" civ.

edit: No hill start is paaaaaaiiinful.
 
T289 SV
Usually I play deity or immortal but I've never played Ottomans before ...
Spoiler :
so yeah, why not try this one :) The map is not perfect for quick SV (no hills, no rivers) but it was very peaceful except one war by Atilla around T100 or so. Moved north a few tiles for a nice Petra capital. Got Petra right after NC. Got my own religion + desert folklore. Then pretty much standard sequence of events - win WF (God it takes ages to complete it on Emperor :D), oxford to radio, get ideology (this time Order), win international games and finish the game :) Probably could have won DV some 5 turns earlier but did not bother to. Policies were Tradition, Rationalism, patronage left tree, aesthetics opener. Ideology order up to 3rd level to rush spaceship with GEs.

I think this map is better suited for domination.


 

Attachments

  • ottomans289sv.jpg
    ottomans289sv.jpg
    473 KB · Views: 1,014
Thank you for the emperor challenge. I'll try science or cultural victory.
 
Thank you for the emperor challenge. I'll try science or cultural victory.

Yes, I'll try this soon. I don't have much experience with the Ottomans. I'll settle in place and move my warrior SE to that hill which would be my normal moves here if I hadn't read what others had done.
 
Won a SV on turn 357. Forgot to take a SS before quitting.

Spoiler :
I really did not like the land, I struggled to have my cities grow, normally on emp I can get a SV around turn 320ish, so this one felt really slow. Managed to play peaceful all game, did not get involved in any wars, founded 4 cities total. Attila came marching at me once with a large army, but I bribed him to DOW Denmark instead and then never had any other issues as he was involved in wars with three other civs off and on the rest of the game. I'd like to see a few other people play it and to see how I can improve.

You might be able to reload a near endgame autosave and then take a SS if you want to?
 
Won a SV on turn 357. Forgot to take a SS before quitting.

Spoiler :
I really did not like the land, I struggled to have my cities grow, normally on emp I can get a SV around turn 320ish, so this one felt really slow. Managed to play peaceful all game, did not get involved in any wars, founded 4 cities total. Attila came marching at me once with a large army, but I bribed him to DOW Denmark instead and then never had any other issues as he was involved in wars with three other civs off and on the rest of the game. I'd like to see a few other people play it and to see how I can improve.

No wars? Congrats on playing a 100% Vanilla Civ to victory, then. :lol:

The terrain around the capital is kind of brutal - serious lack of Production.
 
t215 - herp-dee-derp
Spoiler :
I almost quit after about 30 turns because this map is so bad. Huge expanses of desert/tundra/snow, Attila had a great defensive bottleneck, and the N route was full of marsh and hills. Pressed on, forward settled him with #2 city, hit him with maybe 4 archers/CB, 2 CA's, 2 melee. After so many deity and immortal games, I was surprised at how little military he had. Neb was not pleased, and considered taking the war to him, but by then I had seen more of the map - jungle/woods/hills, no thanks. I took Honor open early, because I thought raging barbs was on, big waste (but was also thinking DomV at the time).

I went Liberty, again to try to get better at it. Had so many Petra sites to choose from, built #4 to fight barabs and make roads worthwhile, and chose #5 for Petra because it was functional early. S of #6 would have been ideal with lots of sheep, E of 7 would have been best but it had little early production.

Did get Petra (Liberty GE), Machu, Sistine, and Uffizi in #5. Missed HS and Angor Wat there and Globe in cap. Have spent probably 3k buying tiles, 6k+ on CS with no Patronage, military is large for me but not upgraded. I am purposefully hampering myself with no Rat - am trying for a CV. Indo is a cultural/religious beast with full Piety and Aesthetics and SS early, and Monasteries (with wine) and Pagodas (and salt - sheesh). Washington has gone full war wonder mad, but will not DOW anyone, and we have had perpetual DOF after my early war anger subsided.

I took God-King (just no good pantheons left), Tithe, Ascetisism, Rel Center, and Rel Texts for some spread help. Any GP spreads to USA get pounded by Indo missionary spam. Derped by delaying Printing Press and going for Architecture instead - no Por Tower cuz no Rat, duh. Oracle and LToP went very early. Science is again crap, as all new cities focus on Monuments/Shrines/Temples for Happy, and Markets (I went 3 deep into Piety - love me some Theocracy going wide), was thinking of full Piety at the time. Opened Aesthetics for Uffizi - with Sistine getting an Amphi bumps you from 3 to 5 culture, so those get priority over Libraries too... Only 4/8 Libraries/Unis so far, LOL.

I should do the top tech tree, but instead am bee-lining Radio. Then Indus, then top tree and start farming arch sites. This game will obviously go to near 400 if I keep teching so poorly! Such horrible tiles...
 

Attachments

  • 2014-09-24_00002.jpg
    2014-09-24_00002.jpg
    422.7 KB · Views: 752
t329 CV
Spoiler :
A pretty uneventful game. I teched towards Internet - I probably could have won quicker going for Radio's Airports. Marched 3 GM's through jungle to Indo, won after the 2nd one. Had every theming wonder except GL and Globe themed. Had 32 GWorks, probably the most ever for me. Won WF and Intl Games easily. Without Rat, it took a long time to overtake AI in tech. I had the lead, but by beelining Radio I fell to 4th.

I ended up building Hermitage in my Petra city - it had 6 wonders, 3 themed. I only had wonders in 5 of 9 cities, but I won every culture quest, which was a first. I went Order, and passed World Ideology, and everybody went Order - I have never seen anything like that, I wonder if it is a function of the lower level, or if my influence was so high no AI dared fight it?

I still didn't like this map much, only one river, and tile expansion was awful. It wouldn't take 2nd ring river hill all game, for example, but was grabbing snow and tundra all day. Filled the entire lake before grabbing a hill, etc.

Full Trad, 3 into Piety, full Aesthetics and 8 in Order, and finished Piety because I didn't care. Patronage would have been a strong tree in this game, I'm sure I could have had a much earlier DV.
 

Attachments

  • 2014-09-26_00004.jpg
    2014-09-26_00004.jpg
    456.2 KB · Views: 683
I already have the next map. Its Venice on Pangea. Totally insane. I will post on Oct 3rd.
 
t338CV

Spoiler :
OK I banged out the last few dozen turns to T338 CV last night. Not at all proud of this, but this really isn't a great map and had nothing to benefit their UA.

LOL my caravel captured one barb ship and I just gave it to a CS since it couldn't sail the ocean.

I may have stayed at one city too long to get NC and NE, but wasn't concerned about losing mediocre dirt anyhow. I settled Erdine to the east near Ghengis and built Petra and sent the caravan to him, but I don't think I had enough troops around (off in south arctic on barb quests) and he attacked and I lost Erdine. I took it back with x-bows and knights and then GG bombed Ghengis. Peace was soon made. I went after him 10 turns later as he had units on my borders I could kill and then a lasting peace.

Did my usual 4 city Tradition into Freedom for specialists and for culture, broadcast towers. Cities were big (Istanbul 44 at game's en) aided by ToA.

Egypt wonder whored as much as I did, but stayed OCC and was no threat. Indonesian's were the toughest culture nut to crack. I had two GM's sailing to him, but only needed the first over (both over 7k).

GL was gone on turn 37!! Super early for Emperor. It was built in Washington and without marble to help. I didn't try for it as was building fishing boats quickly for crab.

 
I'm a bit late coming to these challenges as I haven't had time to play Civ lately, but thought I would share my progress.

Turn 150 update:

Spoiler :

I've dominated the South West corner of this map which has kept me completely separate from all of the other AI's, allowing me to heap misery on my nearest CS Bratislava and steal 3 of his workers :lol:

Tech order was: Pottery, Sailing (to get the nice crab lux resources), AH, Writing, Optics, Trapping (to get Ivory in 2nd city), Bronze Working, Archery - note that I missed out getting Philosophy which prevented me getting NC before building my 3rd city - d'oh

Ancient Ruins: did well here picking up 5 by turn 60: Technology, 50 Gold, Adv weapons, Map, Culture

Build order: Scout, Scout, Granary, Work Boat, Settler, Cargo ship, (bought) library, lighthouse

I built my 2nd city in turn 43 further to the south between my capital and the CS. I wanted to build on the hill to maximise production but it was too close to Bratislava so had to settle on the stone resource.

2nd city build order: Library, Lighthouse


I would have built NC in turn 90, had I not forgetten to research Philosophy and I had my 3rd city ready to go as soon as NC was built. As it was I had to build the 3rd city and buy a library first, in the end NC was built circa turn 110. In the screenshot you can see I'm just about to place my 4th city just as soon as Oxford University is completed in my capital. I'm more or less ahead of all other civ's in tech so think I'll be heading for a science victory.







Grrrr. Scrap that, come turn 358 I'm just about to lose to an American science victory. Don't know quite how I managed it, partly my own fault as for some reason I started to pursue a cultural victory about two thirds of the way through when I had very little chance of making it. Even so I'm still surprised that Washington is so far advanced as I normally manage to win on Emperor...... still got a long way to go clearly in this game!!! I'm very impressed with some of the other performances on this map and will try re-starting to see if I can do better.
 
@chile_paul

I was unaware that the Emp. AI could win as early as T360. Good luck in the replay. I think you want to concentrate on early science a bit more. No early monument? Did you find a culture ruin?
 
Top Bottom