GOTM 38: Spoiler 2.

GOTM 38: Spoiler 2

This is the second (and final) spoiler for GOTM 38: China.

Qualification for this spoiler is full view of the world map, being in the industrial age (or later), having contact with all civilizations that are still alive. In addition, if you have completed (and submitted) your game, then you can particpate.

So: How did you wrap-up the game?

I think there was this game a significant advantage for the PTW-players over the Vanilla ones In PTW it is possible to irrigate through cities on hills. By placing a few cities at the right places, it became possible for me to irrigate the dry former Greek lands with babylonian water. Thus I had halfway into the middle age the Greek lands irrigated. Vanilla players would have to wait until electricity before they could do the same. I don't know how big the effect on the scoring is, but I like to think it is noticeble.

Redbad said:

I think there was this game a significant advantage for the PTW-players over the Vanilla ones In PTW it is possible to irrigate through cities on hills. ..........

Click to expand...

I didn't know of this additional advantage. I am going for space race, and in 1.29 the free techs of the scientific civs are nearly always theology, nationalism, and rocketry. OTOH in PtW you have a high chance to pick up 2 different techs from the scientific Greeks and Babylonians. This speeds progress by up to 3 techs (i.e. at least 12 - probably more - turns till launch), a tremendeous advantage.

Therefore Cracker had adopted the habit of having at most one scientific civ in the gotms.

Ainwood: Can you give any reasoning why you discontinued this habit?

Predator PtW
Ancient Age

We entered the MA in 470BC by techs gained from the Great Library.
Gifting Babylon next turn and a bit of trading gave republic, feudalism and engineering.

I did a little diplomacy on the other continent, so everybody was at war. This turned out to be a mistake.
Tech pace was slowed and I didn't profit from TGL as much as I hoped.

I also made peace with Greece and gifted them into MA.
They didn't get an unknown tech, so I took their last city immediately.

The minimap at that time looked like that:



I had still a lot (~30) swords around. These were upgraded to MI over the next few turns and slowly marched towards Babylon.

We also revolted this turn and got 6 turns anarchy.

In 310BC we got our first MGL on our march towards Babylonian land. He hurried Sun Tsu's in Pharsalos.
Not very useful for a militaristic civ, but it broke the wonder cascade, so other wonders would stay available.

In 230BC TGL finally coughed up Monotheism. A 5-turn research phase gave chivalry.

In 110BC the first riders caught up to the MI march column. Golden age started and we took Kish from the Babs.

The battle at Uruk in 10BC gave another leader. I decided to save him for Leonardo's. I again went for full research->invention, since I didn't trust in the AI civ's anymore.

I also designated Uruk as new capital. I was already preparing a free palace jump for some time, so didn't want to use the leader.

I had some problems with Uruk. I didn't consider that it wouldn't support enough population without culture expansion.
A cash rushed library and leader hurried Leonardo's fixed that problem.

So the palace jumped to Uruk in 50AD. I had peace with Babylon at that time, but urgently needed some more cities around Uruk, to not exploit the rank corruption bug too much.
So I prepared a little RoP rape that started in 150AD.

In 210AD Babylon was out of the game and the map looked like this:



So now I was sitting around with roughly 30 riders and 20 MI and no enemies to .

I was researching full steam towards MT in the hope to get education from TGL and maybe astronomy by trade.
That didn't work out. By the time I got MT (390AD) only Theology was around.
So it was self research for education, astronomy and navigation.

Only in 600AD the war action resumed by taking the first Aztec city. I had landed forces in Aztecland, Egypt and Scandinavia.
But a closer look revealed that anything but attacking Aztecs would cut too many trade routes.
So my forces were just running around headlessly, except the ones in Aztekia, which slowly made progress.

In 670AD the map looked like this:



Then I finally made up my mind and I also started on egypt (losing a lot gpt and two luxes) so that in 680AD:



I then added Iroquois to the list of enemies and by 790AD it looked like this:



Mopping up the Vikings took another 2 turns for conquest victory in 820AD:



I made the big mistake to overestimate the research capability of the AI. Full research towards navigation right away would have allowed to attack with riders on the other continent.
The two high production cores would have been enough to compensate the then higher losses easily.

I also should have thought to bring some settlers to get some own harbors.
I wasn't aware that all trades went via several countries and harbors in scandinavia until I was planning attacks. This then delayed the final push, because I didn't want to give up all the luxes I traded for.

I just qualified for this with my game play session yesterday. I entered the IA a few turns after 1000AD.

At the end of my prior spoiler I had eliminated Greece and was attacking Babylon. The Babylon attack went well and was targeted for a second core. That didn't happen as I never recieved a GL. I did declare peace with Babylon before capturing Babylon. A few turns later I gifted them my city that contained the GL and I continued to research towards MilTrad. I then knocked the Babylonians down to that 1 city. I had very little cash due to upgrading horses to Riders. I sell ROPs to many of the nations on the other continent for GPT.

Meanwhile on the other continent, I had about a dozen horses and 2 cities just north of the Japanese. I also had a source of Saltpeter. I had about 4000 culture and Japan had about 250! Several of their core cites had not even expanded borders, including the city that claimed Iron.

So, I agreesively settled a city next to the Iron and started rushing culture. The turn after I built my city the borders of the Japanese city expanded, so I would need to play catchup on the culture front. An investigation revealed that I would catch up in about 7 turns after I had a temple and library. I was also ship-chaining 2-4 riders across every turn. I was losing a galley every other turn or so. The turns I didn't lose a galley I would get 4 across.

While I was waiting for the culture to take affect I notice that Egypt is marching large numbers of troops towards me. They had an ROP, so they could get close. They marched an Archer in first and attacked my horse/wine city and lost. Their remaining troops could not reach any of my remaining cities. Everyone was now happy due to the reverse war weariness. It would be a while before any more combat in my territory or theirs so this would last 10+ turns. My counter attack with an Elite MI from the Greece war finally produced my first leader. I rushed the Palace in my (future) Iron city. I was now ready to start expanding so as to not take advantage of the Palace Rank exploit.

I allied in Japan for a tech they were short and the Scandavians, but I couldn't afford Aztec or Iroqouis. IBT, Japan lost a jungle city to Egypt and that was my next target as it already had a road to it. Egypt also got a MA with Iroquois vs Japan. Within a few more turns, I was able to buy in the Iroqouis and Aztecs against Egypt as well. Just after I captured my first real Egyption city the Scandenavians decided they wanted to attack me with an ROP rape. More reverse war weariness! After I eliminated the nearby units I didn't see any more until I later razed a Egyption city over near them. I still had negative WW when I declared peace, which caught be by suprise and 2 cities rioted before I realized what had happened and arrowed through the cities assigning new specialists.

In the Egyption war I captured 6 cities and razed 1. Aztecs captured 6. Iroquois captured 2. Scandenavians razed Egypt's captitol and captured the same city twice due to flips and the Aztecs captured it the 3rd time. I rushed in a few settlers for the gaps. I know control the Ivory and I have my own source of Incense. I also have nearly all the Saltpeter in the world (one more settler will lay claim to another 1).

Near the end of the Egyption war I notice that the Aztecs and 2 other civs are in the IA. About 970AD I gift a city to Babylon in the Greece desert and then attack their GL city. Unfortunately, I had built this city on a hill and Babylon had managed to build several Spears to defend it. I had 2 riders, 2 horses, a Sword and a MI. About 9 turns later I finally capture it. The GL Elevator gets me all techs from the MA. I revolt when I get democracy thinking that I can use the big picture to reduce the turns - I get 7 turns and can't use the big picture. The Aztecs also have Nationalism. Babylon won't talk to me, so I wait a couple more turns and gift them to the IA. They get Steam Power and sell it to me for most of the MA optional techs.

I have played several turns since then and have started building my railroads. I just about have a skelton structure thoughout my lands. I am actively building Universities so that I can research quickly. I can manage 5 turn research on Electricty if I got negative on GPT. I go for 10 turns instead, so I can cash rush stuff. Noone has demanded contact with Babylon. If they demand it I must refuse as the reputation problems would be huge.

Wonders: the AIs are building Smiths. I hope the cascade stops before the IA wonders are available.

I hope to accelerate my pace and get to the Modern Age and try for a diplomatic or space victory. I will sell Saltpeter to some nations to try and balance out various wars. I need to check the map again and see I can get a 100% monopoly on Saltpeter.

EDIT: I have just finished:
Game status: Diplomatic Victory for China
Game date: 1490 AD
Firaxis score: 6751
Jason score: 8630
I kept Babylon around until gifting them to the Modern Age. They got Ecology so I had to research Fission myself.

Prior to reaching the Modern Age I had been in a long war (22 turns) against the Vikings. I was in Democracy and WW was having an effect so that I needed to run some luxury. I delayed those extra 2 turns so that I could move a settler into position to grab the Insence from Iroquois before finishing off the Vikings. Early in the war I had made the mistake of leaving a coastal city with no garrison. The Vikings took it with a Berserk and then the Japanese captured it from them before I could get it back. The city flipped back to me with just a few turns left in the game.

The End of the Game had me, Monty, Japanese, and Iroqoius. The vote was 3 to 1 with no manipulation of feelings. Each of these nations was Polite or Gracious to me.

Open 1.29
Spoiler 1

The Medieval Age was relatively quiet. I wage war against Greece to secure the starting landmass, which is accomplished quickly. Greece readily accepted peace, but yielded little at the negotiation table.

Industrial Age (1410)


A second Greek War, in the Industrial Age, was designed to eradicate the Greeks completely, thus allowing China to expand to the east and, perhaps, eventually south toward the Babylonians. It is during this second war that I began taking notes. I captured Thermopylae in 1690 AD, succesfully bringing to an end the war in this theatre; however, Greece still had a city on the northern point of the western continent. As long as they survived, I risked culture flips (suffered two so far). Unfortunately, while a cavalry laden galleon was enroute to Greece's last stronghold, they signed a MPP with the Iroquois. So, to avoid expanding this conflict I quickly signed a peace deal with Greece. The western continent was now mired in oscillating wars among the civs there and ruining what trade I had was not a wise option at this time. Greece is later destroyed by the Egyptians in 1762 AD. The Babylonians emerge as the tech leader, able to move along under a democratic government. China is a republic, and will remain so throughout the game. No time for anarchy.

Modern Era (1810)


In the early Modern Era, I concentrate on balancing infrastructure and offensive units, for potential threats posed by Babylon. I build fortressess (manned) along a narrow strecth of land to prevent a sudden Babylonian attack on my southernmost city. My attempts at securing key wonders failed (ToE to Egypt and UN to Babylon), but I did build Universal Suffrage.

Egypt is emerging as a "Killer AI," systematically taking on the Aztecs (destroyed in 1860) and Iroquois (destroyed in 1888). In 1866, Babylon surprise attacks me. They have a MPP with Egypt, so I fight defensively, easily taking out Babylon's invading forces with artillery, bombers, and tanks. But, in 1870, Babylon secures a military alliance w/ Egypt against me. Babylon continues to hold a severe tech advantage in SS techs, which is now the only feasible way for me to win. Even capturing the UN would end in a split vote with so few civs remaining and none getting along, except the Iroquois and I, but they will not last. I'm finally able to secure peace with Egypt and Babylon in 1888. Egypt declared war on Babylon in 1900.

***next post***

Second Babylonian War (1906)


In 1906, Babylon declred war a second time against me. So, with Babylon already having built 6 SS parts, I aim to raze Babylon itself. I have spies in Babylon and Thebes. Egypt has yet to begin any construction on the SS at this point. Egypt and I are moving along the tech tree at the same pace. Of course, their communist government is helping me keep pace. I decide to raze every Babylonian city captured. Their culture is too strong, and I don't have the forces to trouble with recapturing cities. I quickly resettle each vacant spot with Chinese nationals.

In 1914, Babylon nukes Yanchow, which causes Egypt to delcare war on them. This is good, because I can now safely use tactical nukes. I gift dyes to Egypt to keep them placated.

Samarra Razed (1928)


Babylon Razed (1936)


Egypt had signed a peace deal with Babylon prior to 1936. Since I was so dead set on razing babylon's capital, thus destoying their SS, I convinced myslef that Egypt would not declare war on me for the continuance use of nukes. I was wrong! Egypt declared war on me immediately. Babylon was subsequently captured and razed. A nuclear submarine, loaded with a tactical nuke, moved within range of Thebes. They would at least come to know WW sooner rather than later.

Thebes Nuked (1944)


Peace is secured with Babylon (1944) and Egypt (1950). I wanted peace with babylon to gain SS techs, either through the peace process or through trade. I was the first to reach Ecology and Synthectic Fibers. In 1944, neither Egypt or Babylon had any SS parts built.

For some reason, Babylon declared war on me a third time. Maybe they could no longer pay our gpt deals. The Babylonians are destroyed in 1970. Now, the race to space is on with Egypt. A race I thought I would easily win, but... . Egypt had quickly switched to democracy and moved ahead of me in critical techs. I was milking the sliders for everthing they had, plus moving cities to accumulate wealth to keep my treasury above water. In 1995, I had 9/10 parts built, but still needing Robotics. Egypt had 5/10 parts built but was building the last 5. With everything maxed to reach Robotics ASAP, I still had 9 turns to go. Egypt could still win. But, I had an ace up my sleeve. I had been sitting on a GL for several turns for just he right moment. And, that moment was about to present itself.

In 2003, I reached Robotics and rushed the Stasis Chamber with the GL. A successful launch took place in 2004. China wins! Egypt had 7/10 parts completed upon the Chinese launch.

Army Comparison: I did not want to have to fight Egypt.


Space Race


World Map (end game)


ainwood and staff, thanks for the game. My first GOTM in several months. It was very exciting for me. Thanks again.

My culture graph pretty much sums up the order of conquests:



By the time I had reached the modern age I was considering my victory options, rather than figuring out how to minimise damage like usual. Conquest still wasn't off the map, but it wasn't going to be easy. Babylon was hard enough with the repeated culture flips, but they had spread out their wonders in this game so I couldn't raze many(and I still wanted to keep diplo open as well).



Score graph, one turn prior to victory. I might've been able to break 5k if I had gone after Babylon early, and also would have probably earned more of an early finish bonus.

Anyway, I was considering domination, maybe conquest, but then I looked at my F5 screen:



I went back a turn(just to see what the 2027 culture total was) and saw that it was just a turn away! Well, not left with much choice, I hit enter.



100k, probably not too many 100k's this month and a definite contender for a shield award.


(Continued due to image limit.)

Waiting 30 seconds....now transmitting:

Game Summary:

Top 5 Cities at end:


End of expansion phase:


After Greek conquest:


After a VERY long(1000+ years) and drawn out war with Japan:


Taking out the Aztecs(thank you Tanks):


Babylon and hole fillers:


Short Viking war, numerous culture flips both ways, and eventual 100k victory:


And the highest gong award:


I wasn't even expecting 100k; as far as the other possibilities were:
Conquest - Vikings had many well defended cities with many MIs in them; I was rebuilding MAs after losing about 80 in a babylonian culture flip the turn before victory.
Domination - See Conquest. I was about 100 tiles away and wouldn't have needed to take that many Viking cities but after 35 turns of war I had taken one city of theirs, they had razed 2 of mine, and I was up a grand total of one tile, even after filling in spaces.
Diplomacy: I had the UN after taking Babylon, but all that was left was me and the vikings, and we both kept voting for ourselves.
20k: I captured Babylon on what was probably the turn before it hit 20,000 (it had 19,900+), and my top city only had 15k+, on pace to hit 20,000 sometime in the 2100's, and all wonders had been built. Ain't happening.
Histograph: Well, it was always there; 27 turns wouldn't have been that long, but of course 100k got me first.

Ancient Age

Vanilla 1.29 Space Race

Important dates:

420BC: Claim Dyes on Greco-Babylonian continent.



250BC: Obtain Feudalism and Theology.

150BC: Dyes connected!

10AD: Christ is born. Obtain Education.

150AD: Astronomy and Engineering obtained.

210AD: Copernicus’ observatory completed in Beijing.

250AD: Invention obtained.

310AD: Gunpowder and Banking obtained.

360AD: Chemistry, Printing Press, and Music Theory obtained.

380AD: An extremely late Forbidden Palace completes.

420AD: Physics obtained.

460AD: Navigation and Democracy obtained.

470AD: Declare war on Greeks. Ally Babylon against Greeks.

510AD: Theory of Gravity and Economics obtained.

550AD: Metallurgy and Free Artistry obtained.

580AD: Newton’s University completes in Beijing.

590AD: Obtain Magnetism and enter the Industrial Ages.

640AD: Capture Athens and Leo’s workshop.

650AD: Steam power obtained. WTF no coal? Egypt has three? Egypt has no harbor.

660AD: Rider victory produces Golden Age.

670AD: Make peace with Greece. Greece down to one city.

700AD: Industrialization and Nationalism obtained.

730AD: Military Tradition obtained.

740AD: Medicine obtained.

780AD: Electricity obtained.

810AD: And since the Egyptians just don’t want to build a harbor:



Disband the Galleon and rush the harbor on the same turn.

820AD: Scientific Method and Communism obtained. Finally get some coal from the Egyptians. ToE delayed to nine turns to be able to get two techs in the time.

860AD: Replaceable Parts obtained.

880AD: The Babylonians destroy the Greeks.

900AD: The Corporation obtained.

To be continued due to the image limit...

910AD: Theory of Evolution completes in Guangzhou. Atomic Theory and Electronics obtained.

950AD: My harbor on the other continent dies. Well, actually, it flips.

960AD: Steel obtained. Okay. This sucks. I have very crappy research rate. I need to… umm… I’ll just go and conquer someone. And of course, Babylon is the closest. I’ll get ready then.

970AD: The railing of my continent is complete.

1020AD: Refining obtained. Babylon’s only source of oil is on my border! Yay.

1040AD: Sanitation and Espionage obtained.

1080AD: Combustion obtained.

1090AD: Declare war on Babylon. Capture the Colossus. Like that’s gonna help.

1110AD: Hoover Dam completes in Shanghai.

It turns out that Taipei – the dyes city I founded early in the game – was a very valuable military post. The veteran infantry and the two conscripts killed all of Babylon’s attackers, and all became elite.



1130AD: Mass Production obtained.

1140AD: Lose an elite infantry to a redlined spearman.

1180AD: Motorized Transportation obtained.

1200AD: Palace moved to Uruk.



Umm…. Notice anything funny about the pic?

Yep, trade routes severed. :suicide: My rep isn’t shot because I wasn’t paying anything out.

1240AD: Aztecs sneak attack! They were paying 200gpt too…

In other news, Flight is obtained.

1265AD: My new core is completely mine. Babylon is completely dead. My army is completely tanked. Well… not really. My army just got tanked for lots of libraries. (a.k.a force rush)



1275AD: Radio obtained!

*sigh* I wish I could play world police… Everyone’s in Communism or Monarchy except me.

1305AD: Wall street rolleyes:) completes in Shantung.

1310AD: Computers obtained. My research rate is seriously in trouble now.

1320AD: Build a battleship! (I forgot to switch to Research Lab)

1325AD: The other continent is fully improved.

1345AD: Miniaturization obtained.

Image limit...

Wait thirty seconds, and...

ARGH!!!!! I’M SO STUPID!!!!

WHY THE **** DID I KILL OFF BOTH THE SCI CIVS?????

1365AD: SETI finishes in Nanjing.

1370AD: Rocketry obtained.

Okay. I need to chip so years off my launch date, so I’ll will gift all the AIs up to tech parity, minus Miniaturization, because I need the Internet.

1395AD: Space Flight obtained.

1420AD: Satellites obtained.

1425AD: Intelligence Agency completes in Hangzhou.

1430AD: The Internet finishes in Uruk! [dance]

1440AD: Ecology obtained. Apollo Program finishes in Nanjing.

I try bringing only Japan (the lone Democracy to date) and hope that it actually researches something for me.

1455AD: Japan researches Amphibious War.

1460AD: Fission obtained. United Nations completes in Guangzhou. Mis-click and hold elections, but since I abstained, no one won. (I would have won)

Give Japan some luxuries…

1480AD: Nuclear Power obtained.

1500AD: Superconductor obtained.

1505AD: Notice I have a literacy rate of 99&

1520AD: The Laser obtained.

1535AD: The Vikes are destroyed.

1540AD: Synthetic Fibers obtained. I forgot that the most expensive part with the Exterior Casing… :suicide:

1565AD: Robotics obtained.

1570AD: Launch. What a crappy date.

Did anyone else NOT get a confirmation email? I submitted quite a few days ago(don't think it was quite a week, but it's been a while.) I'm on the list, but I forgot what my Jason score was. I remember it being very low(16something) but I'm not sure exactly what. If so, I've got the lowest 100k victory Jason score in GOTM history.

Also, while browsing GOTM results: Does the Green Ambulance on GOTM 25 look suspicious to anyone else? How can you have a Histograph loss in 1000 AD?

dojoboy said:

Jason Calculator

Click to expand...

Doesn't work for current month, since it's a potential spoiler.

Ah, right. Surely ainwood or AlanH can check up on it for you.

I entered the Middle Ages in 70BC in the midst of a war with Alex. Athens had just fallen and, when I rushed a harbour in Thermopylae, I finally had horses. I wanted to reduce the Greeks to a single city, Corinth, in the eastern desert. In 50AD, four veteran swords died an attempt to take Pharsalos but the city fell and Corinth became the capital. I got Knossos in the treaty and Alex went to live in the badlands.

In 70AD, the Egyptians, Iroquois and Aztecs had discovered Monotheism and Feudalism while the Vikings only knew Feudalism (the Japanese had been wiped out long before by the Aztecs). So it was time for a trading round. I gifted the Greeks and Babs into the new age. The Greeks were still furious with me but they drew Monotheism and were willing to talk. Babs got Engineering. Excellent! Republic + Gems to Greece for Monotheism. Monotheism + 30g to Vikings for Feudalism. Monotheism & Feudalism fetch Engineering + 19g from the Babs. I cranked up the research to get Chivalry, due in five. Next the Babylonians will feel Chinese steel!

In 170AD, I discovered Chivalry. By 210, I had four Riders, including one at the dyes town. I also had 14 MDI and 14 swords. Seven of the swords were due to be upgraded the following year. The rest were elites. The Babs had finally connected their iron that same year. That will not do! It was time to attack. In the first year, the dyes Rider had a victory, launching my GA.

The initial part of the war consisted largely of cleaning a huge number of spearmen and bowmen off the peninsula. I finally achieved this goal in 310AD. The rest was quick and in 390AD Babylon and Samara, were captured and Hammurabi took his exit. The preceding turn I got a Great Leader, who was used to rush a Palace in the heart of the former Babylonian lands. Nice. No need to throw away a productive capital or to figure out how many cities to reduce towns in order to get a “free” jump.

The Babs had built the Great Library so that year I learned Theology, Gunpowder and Education. For some strange reason, I had bought Invention for gpt a couple turns earlier. I think I had the notion I needed it because my Leo’s pre-build was almost complete. I shoulda waited even so. There was no panic.

Next came a quiet period of research. My hope was to research the bottom of the tree and then trade for Astronomy.

420 Leo’s built in Canton in preparation to upgrade horses and riders to cavalry.
440 Chemistry. In the same year, Corinth fell and the Greeks were no more.
490 Metallurgy. My GA ended the year before, causing me to mis-time research and lose a turn.
530 Military Tradition. 29 Riders are upgraded to Cavs. Five elite Riders are left.
570 Navigation
It’s not in my notes but I must have traded for Astronomy.

At this point all 34 military units plus several settlers move out to cross over. There were 35 horses waiting to be upgraded for the second wave. I declared honourably against the Aztecs and landed on a point of swampland in Aztec territory near the Egyptian border.

I made two mistakes in my initial invasion, which cost me some time. First, I had had this notion that swamp land cost 2 movement points, so my cavalry could reach the Aztecs in a single move. It actually took two turns. Thus I had landed in the wrong place. Secondly, I attacked the Egyptians too, opening fronts against the two strongest powers on the continent at the same time. I quickly discovered that I did not have the resources to do this and offered peace to the Egyptians in 670. I then bought a pact with her against Monty. This was useful because there were two or three Aztec cities deep in Egyptian lands.

The peace did not last long, though. She declared war against me when I insisted she leave my lands two turns later. This worked out well. The war against the Aztecs was going well and the war happiness would be useful. More importantly in that regard, I had hooked up six luxuries with a seventh about to come on line the next turn. Furthermore, Cleo did indeed take out the Aztecs on her side of the bay.

In 700, I made an assault on Tenochtitan and Sun Tzu’s. Fourteen cavalry went up against Monty’s muskets. Three died and the rest were redlined. Not a single musket fell! Amazingly, during its turn the AI did not attack any of the wounded and they ran off to fight another day! Two turns later, I made a second assault on the Aztec capital and the story was somewhat different. Not a single loss. The luck of the prng. That same year, Cleo took Caughnawaga and I lost my source of wines. I hadn’t noticed a road through the jungle connecting the city to her lands. They are sometimes extremely hard to see. Annoying. In any case, I took the city back the following year. In 770 AD, I took the three last Aztec cities and they were no more.

At this point, I had already been making considerable progress against Cleo. Once the Aztecs were finished off, I brought the Vikings and Iroquois into the Egyptian war. In 810, Thebes fell with five more Egyptian cities, reducing her to one. I managed to get two troops to it. If both had won, that would have been the end. As it was, the Vikings finished her off on their turn. In this year, I reached 100 cavalry.

I had had ROPs with the Scandinavians and the Iroquois for a thousand years. At this point, I decided to use them to get the game over with. First Hiawatha, the larger of the two. By 850, I had my troops in place and 8 cities fell. It should have been nine but I had misplaced a few in the east. In 870, the Iroquois were no more. Unfortunately, Grand River flipped just before I took them out. This took a ridiculous number of cavalry with it. In revenge, I destroyed the city.

Losing the cavalry didn’t make any difference. The following year I attacked the Vikings. They died in a single turn.

Conquest victory in 880AD.

This, BTW, is my first GOTM. In fact, it is the only second game of civ3 that I have ever finished. The other one was similar: domination in the Middle Ages. This was a couple of years ago (I think the level was Monarch) and at the time I won I had no idea what domination was. I was going for conquest and was annoyed that the game suddenly ended.

Real life considerations make it extremely difficult for me to find the time to play through to the end. What’s more I don’t have patience to work on it for dozens of hours when I know I already have won. I admire those who do. A huge HOF is a work of art. Just not my cup of tea. I wouldn’t make a good painter either, for the same reason (well... plus I also suck at it).

I do like the start of the game a lot. Now that it has been revived, I expect to be submitting plenty of QSCs. Perhaps the odd full game too, but not many. I have some time coming up in January and am going to try the next COTM.

Cheers to all. I love reading your stories. One day I’d like to pull off a ToE-Hoover leap like I read about but I doubt I ever will. I don’t even know what techs it takes (well, I suppose Theory of Evolution must be involved).

[PTW] 1.27f - Open Class

At the end of the Ancient Age , I had begun the invasion of the nearby continent.



Middle Ages

One thing I did in this game was to make sure I had enough galleys to transport a substantial invasion force (12 Swordsmen). The other thing I did was land them all in one place. I could have sped things up by landing in two places but if the RND gods had been against me I could have ended up with nothing to show for me efforts but casualties.

At the dawn of 270BC, I researched Monarchy and immediately switched governments drawing a 5 turn anarchy. (I forgot to use the big picture, again) By that time, Greece was down to one city. I gave him peace and gave him3 techs to advance him to the MA. He got Feudalism for his free tech. I immediately traded monarchy plus a couple hundred gold for it. I attack and took his last city a couple turns later.

Babylon

Babylon was going to be a tougher opponent with their Bowmen and access to both iron and horses. Lucky for me they were slow connecting up the iron and they never built a single horseman. Originally, my plan was to stage a couple swordsmen of the coast from each resource. (I didn’t think about ROP rape.) In the end, with all the bowmen and other units swarming around, I brought the swordsmen targeting the horses back to help reinforce the iron invasion force.

In 50AD, I had a mixed force of 6 Swordsmen and 4 Med. Inf. on the coast near their iron city. I also had 3 elite Swordsmen, 7 Med. Inf. and 4 Horsemen outside their northern-most city. By 210 AD, I had their iron city and the 2 cities on the neck of land between the north and south parts of the continent. But, my loses had been high. I had 3 elite swordsmen, 2 Med. Inf., left from my original force I have 22 Horsemen but only 3 at the front. The rest were in the pipeline, but it was time for a break. I made peace, getting only a little gold, IIRC.


I researched Monotheism in 90AD. I traded for Republic and Engineering in 210AD. I researched Chivalry in 280AD. After that I concentrated on the bottom of the tech tree with MT as the long term goal.

Round two began in 340AD. The iron city had flipped back in the interim but they hadn’t reconnected the iron which they had pillaged in the previous war. I had held all my Horsemen in the closest city with a barracks, which was at the top of the neck of land. I had built a road the entire length by this time. I had Chivalry and had 11 Riders, 3 Med. Inf. 2 elite Swordsmen, and 1 elite Horseman at hand against Spear and Bow. I had 3 or 4 more Riders in the pipe and 17 horsemen awaiting upgrade.

I kicked off the war and my Golden Age with the recapture of the iron city and adjacent one to the north. After that it was a long hard battle. Babylon had Feudalism and Invention, so I was quickly up against swarms of Longbows. It took awhile to upgrade all my horsemen. Averaging only a couple a turn even with 0 research. I got a leader immediately off an elite Med. Inf. I wanted to jump my Palace to Babylon territory but I hadn’t gotten there yet. I decided to make a Rider Army rather than wait. By the time I had them down to their last city in 430 AD, I had not gotten another leader.


It took me until 480 AD to get a leader for my Palace. It was maybe 7-8 elite battles against flipped cities (1 or 2 a turn) and sending an elite at their last city each turn. I got the leader off the last city which I then captured to eliminate Babylon. I built a settler in Babylon a couple turns later and positioned it central to the region and jumped my place there in 540AD. I had never done a real palace jump before (I.e. really far away like that.) The production in both cores was quite impressive. : )

After looking for a better crossing point, I decided that Egypt made the best target. This was due size and tech backwardness. Since they were closest to my forces. In hindsight, it might have been better to go across from the former Greek area against the Vikings. My basic strategy was build Riders back on the home island and galleys everywhere else I could. I rushed a lot of galleys over the remainder of the game because I lost a lot of them at sea. I didn’t lose any other units until the very end when I start rushing as much across as I could. (That didn’t work very well as my losses were such that I didn’t get any more units across then if I had done it more conventionally. An experiment I won‘t repeat in the future. : )

In 580AD, I landed my first contingent of 4 Riders on the Egyptian coast. IBT she demanded I leave. I selected “leave immediately” and my Riders were moved to an open space inland about 3-4 spaces.



That tactic was going to work great. I was able to transport 18 or 20 Riders in dribbles of twos and fours until I was ready to kick off the war with Egypt in 650AD. In the meantime, the Vikings declared war in 600AD, attacking my first stack of Riders when I moved next to their swordsman (see above). That gave me something to do while I was waiting for more Riders to take on Egypt. I took their two cities southeast of Egypt and got an MA against them with the Iroquois.

I attacked Egypt in 650AD and the Aztecs declared war on me in 660AD. I had 61 Riders but only about a third were on the other continent. I eliminated Egypt in 690AD. I grabbed all closer Viking cities and tried an aborted attempt to expand against the Aztec. The arrival of Aztec Knights and Viking Berserkers, convinced me that I needed a break. I got a few gold for peace with both in 750AD. I had 66 Riders but only 20 on the other continent, including wounded.


At this point I had only 37% of the land, despite having almost all but a handful tiles on the other landmasses. I had research Gunpowder and Chemistry and traded for Theology and was six turns from Metallurgy. It would take me until 910AD to get Military Tradition. I turned off research at that point. I had built Lighthouse in the AA and Leo in 540AD (too late to help with upgrades to Riders but it paid for itself as it only took about 4-5 turns to upgrade 70 Riders to Cavalry.

I attacked the Iroquois in 950AD. I had bribed them into a MA’s against the Vikings and later against the Aztec. They had been losing steadily to the Aztec. With Cavalry, it only took 4 turns to eliminate the Iroquois. By this time, I was up to 46% of the land.


I had 70 of my 72 Cavalry on the other continent by this time. I pretty much had slowed production to a trickle in favor of gold for temples and settlers. I found it quicker to rush settlers than temples in captured lands as a means to expand my borders.

I did an ROP rape against the Vikings in 1050AD. I came within one unit of taking out all their cities. As it was, I had to take the last one in 1060AD. : ) The Viking had been at war with the Aztecs for some time. There were 7-8 berserkers moving through my territory toward the Aztecs several turns before when I decided to grant them both ROP. The Aztecs were happy to clean up the berserker hordes and took some losses doing it. I was surprised how many Aztec units came poring out of the former Iroquois holdings.

In 1130AD, did a small scale ROP rape of the Aztecs to after having a city flip to them. I needed 78 tiles, but I had to make sure I didn’t lose any back to the beehive in the former Iroquois area. I clogged all the approaches to my cities at risk with workers an put 3 or 4 Cavalry in each. I came up 7 tiles short and was in serious risk of losing a city up north. I cleaned up a few single units out and about and put out fresh bait. I really only had enough handy to take one more city. (I probably should have just bum-rushed the Aztec mountain fortress up north.) In any case, the AI was it’s normal inefficient self. My cavalry defenders destroyed an attacking Knight-Longbow-Longbow Army and entourage of Longbows and Med. Inf. With the one capture and a fill in city I beat the limit by 12 tiles despite one city flipping back.


Software Version: PtW 1.27f for Windows
Entry class: open
Game status: Domination Victory for China
Game date: 1150 AD
Firaxis score: 7270
Jason score: 9727
Time played: 24:59:51

This was a sweet map. If I was able to do as well as I was, then that means there are going to be a lot of 10K & 11K games. I bet the medal winners will be in the 12K range.

Open

As I outlined in the ancient age spoiler the qsc period went unusually well for me, although the game subsequently drifted away a little, mainly because of having to do all my own research ( in part due to finding the big continent vey late) and some poor battle luck v babylon. My other wars all went as expected, but I had overwhelming forces by then.

In 230bc I made peace v with Greece leaving Alex playing a OCC in a desert town.

In 50bc about the tenth galley made it over to Japan, and I met all the other civs. They were up polytheism a few turns later, but as I was getting it myself in 3 turns I didn't trade.

In 30ad I finally made it into the middle ages (too slow). I had to do almost all my own research in this game, but at this point I gifted the babs(feudalism) and greece (engineering) to MA then declared v babs. Their free techs were the last ones the AI ever "researched" for me.

I had a pretty big stack of horses and swordsmen v the babs but their first towns were on hills and they had loads of bowmen in stacks hanging around from their war with the greeks and my losses were very heavy. I did also have some bad prng luck v their bowmen. As a result my attack halted in 130ad and I made peace for feudalism. I did get a great leader in 90ad though, which was the only useful leader I had. He subsequently rushed a new palace in the centre of the babylonian peninsula.

I went back to war v babylon in 300ad. By 330ad I had chivalry (self researched monotheism and chivalry) and my riders gave me a Golden age at last. In 350 I learned invention and a pre build of Leo's completed on the same turn.This was a little fortunate as the pre build had started as a Colossus but was switched to a palace when someone on the big continent built the big statue. I attacked Babylon in 400AD with 11 riders and took it with the last one, losing 4. In 450 babylon was wiped out, leaving greece paying me money for tech in a cheesy gpt tech deal Alex couldn't really afford . I took the last Greek town in 660ad.

By 560ad I had navigation at last and attacked Eygpt. Next turn Thebes finished Sun Tze, which was nice. I rather messed up v egypt by losing loads of riders attacking walled towns, not realizing the walls were super strength thanks to the Great Wall. The penny finally dropped when I captured the Great Wall.

I researched full speed for mil trad and then took out the main continent in this order:
Egypt: 550 - 630
Iroquois: 630 - 710
Vikings: 720 - 760
Japan: 760-790
Aztecs: 790-840

By the end I had 147 cavalry and 33 horses ready for upgrade, but a lot of them were nowhere near the frontline, despite having 34 caravels to move them around.

This order of attack wasn't good as it left loads of cavalry stranded in Scandinavia when they were need in Aztecia. I had been a bit nervous about taking the Aztecs earlier, partly as they were paying me money, but also as they were very strong, having already nearly destroyed the Japs themselves. Perhaps as a consequence of that war there were no roads in the jungle area of Japan, making it hard to get to the Aztecs quickly.

Then the dastardly Aztecs escaped in two galleys into a big patch of sea to the SW of their homeland, and it took several more turns to hunt them down, finally finishing in 890ad. I could have finished a turn earlier but guessed wrong about which galley had the settler in. Anyway it isn't like I was going to get a conquest medal.

Current situation when entering MA in 450BC is that we have beaten the Greeks into one small city. We grant them all AA techs and trade for Feudalism.

Research
I first go for Invention and discover it in 110BC. This to start building Leonardo's while I go for navigation.
Monotheism discovered in 50AD. Theology discovered around 200AD. Education discovered in 290AD. Go then for MT and discover that one in 730AD.

Babylonian war (410BC - 390AD)
Just before the war we trade for Engineering giving all we have including republic, feudalism, our only iron, gem and 30gpt. I dont understand why they sell this so expensive! Unfortunately I somehow feel obliged to break this deal rather quickly. I declare 5 secs afterwards. After taking 3 cities I loose one and I make peace to get a break and regain the one I just lost.

I redeclare in 110BC and my band of elite units finally give me a leader. I use him to create the forbidden palace in a core Babylonian city.

I get my second leader in 270AD. I will take him to the new continent to build sun tzu in the first city I will take. Babylon is finally gone in 390AD.

Japanese war (360AD - 520AD)
I used galleys to transfer some forces over before navigation became available. Three gallesy on the jap coast and suicide galleys transferring forces halfway over before handing them over to the other waiting boats.

My plan to build zun tsu failed. I had brought over my leader and he was standing on the shores waiting to go into the city and rush it when we got the message that the aztec built it. Tough luck, especially since the leader is now blocked on this continent without anything useful to build and I cannot have new leaders before he is used up. I want to build copernicus in the same city as I built colossus.

The aztecs sneak attacked us during the war, but luckily they only sent me easy warriors and archers.

The japs never built spearmen which surprised me a lot. I took most of their realm with a handful of medieval infantry. I gave them peace in 520AD and left them with 2 cities.

Egyptian war (550AD - 690AD)
The vikings sneak attack me in 550AD and take one city. I sign up the Aztecs against them. I trigger my golden age with the rider. In order to get the aztecs with me against the vikings I declare on the Egyptians as part of the deal. Egyptians is my real target and not the far off vikings. Also I sign up the iroguois against the egyptians. I transport riders as crazy and in 690AD Egypt is history.

Aztec - Iroqouis - Vikings
From 700AD it is more a question of time before its over. I go to war against aztec that lasts about 10 turns, despite some nasty flips. I parallel the iroquois which last about 5 turns. I also throw myself on some of the viking cities to get to domination in 840AD.

Firaxis score: 8398

Jason score: 10538