New challenge: earliest possible UHVs

blizzrd

blizzrd

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For many of the UHVs, the timing is preset by the way that the conditions are defined. But for a decent number of UHVs, it is possible to complete the last condition at a variable date - depending on how efficient the human player is along the way.

Each civ on the list below has one or more UHV conditions that have a variable completion date depending on the human player's ability to optimize their play. In some cases (such as Vikings or Germans) there may be a limiting condition (5000 gold in 1500AD, hold certain territory in 1940AD) which sets the best possible result for instance, but as it is not a given that this can be achieved as well as the other conditions, I have included these civs in the challenge.

The challenge is to post your screenshots of your earliest UHVs for each of these civs and provide an overview of the key strategies which you used. The challenge is specific to Monarch level, RFC v1.184. It does not matter if you start from the 3000BC or 600AD start. I will update this first post as required with each new best UHV date.

EDIT: Virtual UHVs are listed in Italics.
EDIT: Virtual UHVs (VV) should be confirmed with a screenshot/save/replay from both the VV year and also the actual UHV year. This will show that your empire is actually capable of achieving the actual UHV, without the random number generator destroying your empire or something else generally going wrong along the way.
EDIT: I'm extending this challenge to include both 3000BC and 600AD starts.

3000BC starts:
Egypt: 385BC (Wessel V1)
Babylon: 955BC (Power of Beer)
China: 1545AD (Zagoroth)
India: 660AD (Zagoroth)
Greece: 25BC (blizzrd)
Carthage: 335AD (TDK)
Rome: 55BC (Zagoroth)
Persia: 100BC (Zagoroth)
Japan: 1890AD (AnotherPacifist)
Ethiopia: 245AD (Tigranes)
Maya: 740AD (Zagoroth)
Vikings: 1475AD (AnotherPacifist)
Arabia: 1415AD (Marshall WP)
Khmer: 1430AD (Zagoroth)
Mali: 1645AD (Zagoroth)
Spain: 1515AD (Zagoroth)
France: 1635AD (Zagoroth)
England: 1580AD (AnotherPacifist)
Germany: 1832AD (AnotherPacifist)
Dutch: 1470AD (blizzrd)
Portugal: 1650AD (Power of Beer)
Aztecs: 1736AD (AnotherPacifist)
Turkey: 1610AD (Virdrago)
Russia: 1808AD (Power of Beer)
America:
Inca: 1585AD (Zagoroth)

600AD starts:
Japan: 1876AD (blizzrd)
China:
Vikings: 1400AD (AnotherPacifist)
Arabia: 1040AD (AnotherPacifist)
Khmer: 1250AD (TDK)
Mali: 1585AD (TDK)
Spain: 1455AD (AnotherPacifist)
France: 1540AD (AnotherPacifist)
England: 1530AD (AnotherPacifist)
Germany: 1876AD (AnotherPacifist)
Dutch: 1475 (Zagoroth)
Portugal: 1515AD (TDK)
Aztecs: 1706AD (blizzrd)
Turkey: 1555AD (Power of Beer)
Russia: 1805AD (AnotherPacifist)
Inca: 1525AD (Zagoroth)
America: 1939AD (Tigranes)
 
Last edited:
In 1.181 I managed to win Mongolia on Emperor in 1495 AD, with an incredible amount of luck (Arabia collapsed, and all those small cities were crushed by my Keshiks, who achieved a 4 out of 5 strike with 25% combat odds).

Also, a suggestion to expand this: the time needed to virtually get the UHV (like Germany before 1940 AD, Turkey before 1870 AD and Egypt before 170 AD).

And to post the first file (which won't hold for too long, especially because blizzrd is the specialist): Greece in 620 AD.
 

Attachments

  • Pericles_AD-0620 Turn 183_45.CivBeyondSwordReplay
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Wessel V1 said:
Also, a suggestion to expand this: the time needed to virtually get the UHV (like Germany before 1940 AD, Turkey before 1870 AD and Egypt before 170 AD).
Click to expand...

I like it, a lot. I'm playing Germany right at the moment and feel pretty sure that I will get all the techs before 1940AD.

Virtual UHVs will be listed in Italics in the OP.
 
Carthage 970. Seems like you could do better if you could skip COL or Construction.

screenshot
Spoiler :
main elements
Spoiler :
* Carthage on the sheep, Morocco for resources, Jerusalem, Sur, Alexandria -- 5 cities with dye and minimal hammers invested
* rerolled until Egypt founded a good city on the coast (but if often does so this is no big deal)
* Math (Cats and Calendar), Agr+Mono traded from Egypt, Calendar, Construction (Elephants and GW attempt), COL (Stability), Compass (bulbed), Feudalism (Vassalage), Machinery, Guilds, Optics (bulbed, avoided Meditation)
* full military until Babylon went down, no time for anything else
* lucky in that I didn't lose many units razing the Egyptian capital
* lucky trade of 2/3 of Machinery from Rome for Calendar and COL
* Sent a galley/trireme/settler ahead to New Zealand to settle at the last minute, then upgrade for a head start
secondary elements
Spoiler :
* lucky in that I could hit Babylon with my stack at a moment when it was under barb pressure, so it had few defenders. But I had enough units for more defenders.
* built the GLH in Morocco after the pressure subsided to build units for Babylon, and to defend against barbs and a Rome DOW
* also got the GW due to a lucky trade of Stone from Rome, but it wasn't necessary
* refused flips to Arabia and gave Jerusalem to Ethiopia to trip Saladin up
* attached a GG from early wars to the New Zealand Trireme for +2 movement points
 
I still think squatting at Rome, even at the expense of only having Rome before they spawn and for 2 turns afterwards, rocks.
Also, instead of a settler, does conquering an undefended Pagan work too?
 
Jet said:
* Sent a galley/trireme/settler ahead to New Zealand to settle at the last minute, then upgrade for a head start
* attached a GG from early wars to the New Zealand Trireme for +2 movement points
Click to expand...

:goodjob:

I hadn't though of this, very nice. I believe I could shave something off my best Greek time also with this little strategy.
 
Aztecs 1805.

screenshot
Spoiler :
strategy
Spoiler :
* I had to be aggressive to settle the Carribean before Spain. Otherwise I found that they got there early, and it would have been too hard to dislodge them with their naval superiority and without being able to use siege amphibiously.
* Built no buildings early except (sparingly) Barracks and Walls, needed Archers/Galleys/Settlers more than research
* Stayed with 10 cities to avoid the research penalty
* Sailing (Galleys) - Feudalism (HR, LBs, Vassalage) - IW, AH (I should have done these later) - MC (Forges) - Construction (bridges) - Machinery - (XBs) - Compass (Lighthouses) - Guilds - Alpha (unblock bulbs) - Optics (bulbed) - Astro (half bulbed) - Theology (half from Euro peace deal) - Paper - PP - Sci Meth (half bulbed) - Physics (half bulbed).
* Crossbows were helpful against Dog Soldiers, but I didn't really need them against the Euros, so it might have been better to do MC, Construction, and Machinery at different times. They were left over from a set of turns where I researched Engineering, but I didn't reload from far back enough.
* New Orleans and Chicago produced all the scientists. Built the Summer Palace in Jamaica to avoid spy point pollution. For the first GP only, ran Engy+Scientists and would have taken either an Engy for Guilds or the Scientist for Optics. Ran Slavery unil 1750 for production, then Caste for the last great scientists.
* Was Collapsing for a while near the end, but ended at Unstable. Tikal revolted twice. Was lucky not to collapse. Was somewhat unlucky in that not many civs met me. Maybe I should have built some Caravels.
 
Probably can easily be bettered, but, Arabs, 1742. Attached is autosave at 1745.

Highlights:

Spoiler :
Took Al-Quds, As-Sur, Dalmun from a powerful Babylon. They declared war. Took Babil and Ninevah. Left Hattusas, Gordion, others to collapse.

Al-Quds was the Jewish holy city. Rome, Greece collapsed, 0% Christian. Barb Byzantion is Christian.

Took out two cities in Egypt, waited for them to collapse. Rebuilt Carthage.

Vassalized Spain after taking 3 of 4 cities.

Never was less than stable all game.

Spain, Germany, Ethiopia are Muslim. France is Jewish, but becomes Muslim.

OB gives me missionaries in Germany, France, Portugal, Netherlands, England, etc.

10 of 12 GLs are GPs. Take Byzantium just before Turks spawn, then give them a shrine. Christianity grows fast.

OBs and keep ahead in techs. Got Liberalism/Economics which helped.

Took cities from Babylonia and Egypt after collapse, and did not have to declare on either Persia or India all game. :)

Kept Turkey happy, they vassalized (so did Mali and France).

Because I stayed away from Persia/India, my stability was always at least stable, usually strong. Three to five stars across the board all game.
 

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France 1745

screenshot
Spoiler :
strategy
Spoiler :
No fancy strategy and not much planning or micromanagement.
* 600 AD. Razed Frankfurt and Venice, settled Constance, took Rome, 4 colonies only.
* 1 academy, 2 artist bombs, some scientist bulbs, and a GA at the end
* Vassalage/HR/Caste/OR the whole game, no cottages
* Med - Eng - Guilds - Astro - Democracy (missed Liberalism) - Radio
* built Taj and Sankore
 
I tried France about 10 times (600AD start), and that stupid Notre Dame was always built after about 40 turns (I guess in Constantinople).
 
Notre Dame was built at around the same time in my games. I was beat to it once or twice before I adjusted my tactics. Looking at my autosaves I see that I built it 37 turns after the start.
Spoiler :
Turn 196 start
198 switch to Vassalage/HR/Caste/OR
200 get Christianity and switch to it
201 Meditation
226 Engineering. Meanwhile Constance has built Monastery, Temple, and Forge. (And Walls, Barracks, and two Crossbows.)
233 Notre Dame in Constance
 
Yeah, Constance has way more production than any of your native French cities. I used to whip it in Paris but had to station a lot of troops there for happiness before religion doped up the populace.:lol:
 
1703 as the English. Definitely beatable, but it's a starting point, and this thread deserves a bump anyway.

Screenshot:
Spoiler :

Strategy:
Spoiler :
Pretty standard English stuff, really.

Astronomy-CS-Education-SciMeth-Lib(free Physics)-Constitution-Radio

Founded London, Plymouth, Newcastle(usually I settle Manchester, but decided to try something else this time), and Dublin.
Revolted into HR/Vassal/CS/OR at the start. Later switched to Bureau/Resettlement and Rep/Merc when each pair became available. Traded for gunpowder and other random techs along the way. Vassalized Aztec and Inca, didn't bother getting conquerors. Ran scientists EVERYWHERE. Built Academy and settled 2-3 GScis in London, used the rest for bulbing (mainly Education and Electricity).

NAm: Omaha, Oaxaca(for canal), Oklahoma (alliteration unintentional). Used Omaha to settle Oklahoma and liberated latter two to Aztecs.

SAm: Junk cities. Granted independence to the first two to save on research.

Africa: Two random cities (liberated to Mali), plus Winburg.

Asia: Madras, which settled south India, and "Liverpool" in the screenshot above.

Australia: Jayakarta, random Australian city (settled from Jayakarta), and Christchurch(NZ).

Notes/in retrospect:
Spoiler :
Lost a settler-bearing galleon to a Spanish sneak attack about halfway through colonizing. Fortunately, the AP ended the war a few turns later.

Had to wait a few turns for the "Liverpool" settler due to a miscount. Also had a galleon shortage due to the aforementioned war with Spain. If it weren't for these, I'd have been finished at the discovery of Radio 4 turns earlier.

Consider building and improving a city in food-rich Argentina to more rapidly settle South America. Build a city in Guyana for the stability boost.

Plymouth might not be worth it. It takes a while to get infrastructure up, and has too much overlap with London to be useful. Consider saving the settler for later - that's one extra overseas city before you start losing research.

Slavery before castes might help to get stuff built quickly in Dublin/Plymouth(if kept), but that means another revolution somewhere.
 
I beat the English UHV just a week ago... I was surprised how much I needed to produce stuff. After building up my infrastructure in the British Isles, ignoring military totally at the time, all that was left after researching Astronomy was building a Christian Missionary, Settler, two Musketmen and two Workers every time I went to settle down a colony. I needed two Galleons to support a steady expansion with those rates and despite beginning to colonize the world in the mid-15th century (and eventually building up to 10 Galleons), I ended up needing to hurry up to found all the cities in time. Playing as the English was incomparable; I doubt I'll go trying it again anytime soon.

I finished it at 1763 with a score of 5539. Looks like you did a little better job. :)
 
(updated this post after 2nd try)

Vikings, 1620 AD

Monarch level, RFC v1.184, 600 AD start

Screenshot:

Spoiler :




Strategy:

Spoiler :

I basically followed the outdated strategy guide for city placement: Sundsvall, Kalmar, Lulea. Switched to HR, Vassalage and Serfdom before settling (2 turns anarchy). Sailed to the Byzantines with 3 axemen and 1 longbow to pillage gold around Athens.

Researched Guilds - Compass and bulbed Optics with a GS from the early library in Kalmar.
Turned down science slider to 0% and traded Sailing for Monotheism (and teched Calendar). Adopted Christianity and switched to Slavery and OR later on. Opened borders as much as I could.

The next GP was another GS and I saved him to half-bulb Astronomy later. Forced a GM as the next GP and collected 1100 gold from a trade mission to Mali. Settled in America in 1450 AD. Researched CS and switched to Bureaucracy, because Vassalage didn't give me stability anymore, because I reached the Renaissance era. Teched Military Science and enmassed privateers to sink 25 ships.

In my 2nd game I picked a fight with the Ottomans and used my early caravals to get ahead on sinking 25 ships. I already had sunk 10 ships before the privateers. I also build more science and wealth in my cities to achieve the other 2 UHV objectives before 1500 AD.


PS: best personal score for me with RFC v1.184
 
Dutch, 1600

Spoiler :


Pretty standard game. It would more interesting, imo, to see who would be first to the Golden Age.
 
@pku_dwest I click on your link but it leads nowhere
 
Wessel V1 said:
Also, a suggestion to expand this: the time needed to virtually get the UHV (like Germany before 1940 AD, Turkey before 1870 AD and Egypt before 170 AD).
Click to expand...

Virtual UHVs will be listed in Italics in the OP.

star15389 said:
Dutch, 1600
Pretty standard game. It would more interesting, imo, to see who would be first to the Golden Age.
Click to expand...

The Dutch is an example of a virtual UHV. Tell us your best virtual Dutch UHV and I'll update the OP additionally in italics to reflect this.
 
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