King of the hill 2- open challange for all playlevels

Snaaty

Deity
Joined
Oct 1, 2006
Messages
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King of the hill 2- open challange for all playlevels:

Like promised some time ago, here comes the second installment of the KING OF THE HILL CHALLANGE:)

What does King of the Hill stand for:
It´s easy... ...it´s you against everybody else

So better get some defences up in time:p

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The settings for this installments are:
BTS 3.17
AW
deity
pangae-map
normal size and speed
no techtrading for AI´s
5 random AI´s

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Like the title says, it´s gonna be a nice (and very likely short) game and a fun challange for all players and level. Just dont expect to win, goal is to survive as long as possible.

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Here are the specific goals sorted out by playlevel:

Prince level players and below:
Survive until 500 BC

Monarch level players:
Survive until 500 AD

Emperor level players:
Survive until 1000 AD

Immortal level players:
Survive until 1500 AD

Deity level players:
Try to win

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Unlike the first installment, this time you are supposed to play without reloading, as it was requested by various players during the first installment. Complete restarts are allowed thought

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The above mentioned timeline is also when and where you should submit your saves and reports, no matter what level you play. So an immortal player should post a first save and report at 500 BC and so on.

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Please post all reports in spoilers

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The report should contain at least 1 picture of your empire, the save and a short description what you did, how you did it and why you did it

Please also do a report when you get defeated, including the year when it happened and a save the turn before it happened. If I find the time, I will do a scorelist for all saves submitted after this game has officially ended, based on the date of defeat.

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Here´s the start
View attachment 218256

Here´s a link to the first KING OF THE HILL installment:

KING OF THE HILL 1

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Have fun trying and dying
Snaaty
 
And here a big spoiler for those not having experience about AW and/or deity, on what to do to get a decent start:

Spoiler :

Try to get GW and Oracle combo and only found blocking cities on hills (in different cities, chop like mad). Take alpha as freebee from the Oracle and start stealing techs immediately to keep up in tech. Steal direction Feuda to get LBs. Like that, you should be able to hold your ground for some time:)

I did a testrun up to check this and it´s possible on this map
 
Since EP and GGs are so important and helpful under these settings, I would try a similar opening as the 1st KOTH game. i.e.

1. Go Mining-Mason-BW(dogs/chop)->GW to eliminate Barb problem and utilize Philo trait to get some quick GSpy (1st Settle, 2nd build Scotland Yard) to set up a strong EP base. Steal Feudalism the first chance i get.

2. Then go Hunting-AH-Myst(Totem)-Archery-wheel-pottery-writing-Alphabet to set up defenses ASAP.

3. settle Hill cities, build walls and stuff with super archers/lbs

need some defenders in the Capital since it looks like the AIs can reach it by boats.

Edit: oops, this post is very similar to Snaaty's spoiler...
 
Just wanted to try this for fun. Didn't really try, but was just very curious how the Deity AI would do etc.

125 AD

Spoiler :
So I quickly went for BW and after that build TGW. Pretty much decided to just spam units in Cahokia and see how long I would hold out. Noticed horses not too far away so build a city there. My city defenses had lots of fun till 300BC without losing a unit in the city until Pericles showed up with catapults. Lost some units and Churchill entered with a nice stack to take Cahokia at 1 AD.
somuchforcahokia.jpg

Not much later Catherina took Poverty Point at 125AD
dead125AD.jpg

Well I certainly didn't think about my moves too much and did this in just 25 minutes, but I'm not sure if I would make it till 1000AD. Probably more till 500AD, but maybe i'll try that later if I get some more time :/
 
Pangaea map vs 5 AIs, no hope :( and I'll give this one a skip. Without a good choking spot, I am reluctant to face even 2 deity AIs.
 
Spoiler :
Would it be possible to set up an island city on the 1-tile island, or is that not really in the spirit of the game?
 
@ Duckweed:

Off course the game is "hard":D... ...but I checked the map before posting it and the player has some nice land to expand into, so it might be doable after all...

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@ Ignorant Teacher:

It´s a normal save, so you can change speed and stuff. Feel free to do sa btw:goodjob:

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@ Kev:

Hiding on one of the islands is legal if you think you can hold out longer/better there

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Here´s a strong starting save btw., for those of you who have probs. mainly in the beginning can start from this one
Spoiler :

Good:
GW and Oracle built
some spies already in place
GS in capital to infiltrate
stole like 200 workers
4 cities

Bad:
lost first GG already due to heavy fighting on all fronts, because I had no archers when the first waves of enemy cames and overall not enough army due to wonders
Now the defs. stand firm i´d say, next GG should (again) be a healer
 
Man, this is brutal. Lasted until 200AD. Will try again.

Spoiler :

Held my ground just nice until the AIs had cats. Had already 2GSpies but no alpha. Only thought of healer when it was too late. 4 GGs settled in Cahokia.

Civ4ScreenShot0001-1.jpg


Spoiler :
Had a power outage and reloaded from the last auto-save. Does that mean I'm out? Should I upload the last auto-save? Forgot to save the turn before defeat.

 
3.17? :sad:

I use 3.19 nowadays...
 
Ridiculously hard, ridiculously fun!

Lasted till 270 AD. Was very unlucky in the timing of my longbows, have to figure out a way to get them like 15-20 turns earlier and I will push the deadline about 500 years at least!.

I found out that you can use your Capital as a buffer as wel as another city.

If you manage to hold both, none of your cities will ever fall and you can have like 6-7 cities, which means you can even win it, or at least have a small chance in lasting long.

I almost tried every trick in the book, gonna try again later.
 
Long Update:

Spoiler :


I experimented with this game a bit and found the following strategy to be quite effective:

1. Build GW for GSpy and fast GGs. This is vital

2. Set up 2 satellite hill cities to the North (against Cathy) and to the West to divert AI attentions away from the Capital. 1 more city to the South to work Gold/Horse and later became the spy pump.

3. Use all early GGs as super defenders/Medics, In the West city where the action is the most intense, I used the following GG strategy:

a. 1st GG promotes to Leadership+CG3+Guerrila2 -> Drill line -> Combat line -> Formation

b. 2nd GG promotes to Leadership+Drill4 -> CG3 -> Guerrila2 -> Combat line (This is the back up defender which needs to suffer minimum collateral damage in order to defend effectively after the main GG can not defend anymore.

c. 3rd GG medic3

d. All later GGs promote same as GG #2

4. Tech order: Mining-Manson-BW-wheel-AH-Myth-Hunting-archery-Pottery-writing-Alphabet-->Monarchy (for HR and open up Feudalism steal)

5. 1st GSpy settle, do not pollute the GSpy pts in capital. 2nd GSpy build Scotland Yard. 3rd Settle. after courthouse, run a spy specialist. Save EP to steal Feudalism ASAP.

6. The most challenge comes from the massive siege AIs bring (patch 3.19). They have become much more potent at siege wars. I have see Churchill bring like 6 CR2 Cats early. And they are patient enough to bomb cultural/wall defense to 0% before attack. Normal archers will simply die to these attacks. so it is important to stuff as many Drill Archers as you can in the main cities.

7. After Feudalism however, I simply upgraded all GG ARchers to LBs and deleted most old archers since they will never defend anymore and free up the economy to crank EP slider to 50%, this got my EP to about ~100/turn and allowing non-stop tech stealing.

8. In capital, build Moai+HE. Lakes can not be pillaged/occupied, so a 3f+1H+2C tile is excellent. Run Vassalage as soon as you get Feudalism.


Some screen shots.

170AD: Stole Feudalism




960AD: The best GG I have, it has 2 move and can go from city to city in 1 turn to defend hot zones. Note now I have 110 EP/turn. And can steal techs at a good discount since AIs have some cities only 4-5 tiles away from my capital. Self-research is pretty impossible in this game compare to EE.




960AD: Western Fortress with 4 GGs and defending against 4 Deity AIs lol.




960AD: capital. AIs has swarmed this city, but it remains productive.




960AD: Stats, Kills/loss summary. It is amazing to see the most killed units being Catapults!!! very nice AI action in a siege warfare, AIs are definitely getting smarter.




Predictions:

If I were able to steal Rifling before AIs get steel, I might be able to hold on longer. if not it is game over. Tech pace is slow however, so i need to carefully monitor each AIs research path.

This is really an "arms race". i.e. When AIs has a new siege weapon, you will need the best defender from the same era as that siege weapon. (Cats or Trebs/Longbow, cannon/Rifle, Artillery/Infantry)

 
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