TSG33 Game in Progress

[leif erikson]

Welcome to the TSG33 Game in Progress thread. This thread is used to discuss the game once you've started playing. There are no reading or posting restrictions as such (apart from normal decency), although we encourage players to use the spoiler tags for screenshots. Here you can post questions related to the game and share your achievements/anger/frustration/victories while you play. Please remember that we are running a family friendly site, so express anger or frustration with this in mind.

STOP - Please do not continue reading this thread until you have completed at least 80 to 100 turns in your game.

Please use this thread to discuss your goals for the game and your opening moves through about the first 60 to 80 turns.

- How did the map affect your initial decisions?
- Any early wars and who started them?
- What were your initial priorities?
- What tech path did you follow?
- What Social Policies did you choose and why?
- Did you prioritize any Wonders?

When you've completed your game, please post your victory, or defeat, in the TSG33 After Action thread.

[S.K. Ren]

Well, just got done playing Turns 1-105. I gotta say its an interesting start. Lots of Hill Farms in the capital which are actually very good for balancing Growth with Production. In retrospect I feel that 1W of the start is optimal as you gain more hills, a sheep and Marble but I can't change it now.

Turn 1

Spoiler:

I settle in place and begin scouting to the south. I queue up a Monument and later a ton of Warriors. This may be a culture game, but this is also Rome and making people accept their culture is what the Romans did best (until Theology was researched, lol). My Warrior manages to nab a early culture ruin, a map and a free tech, mining I believe if I recall.

Tech-wise, I decide to beeline to Mathematics for the Hanging Gardens. My capital will need the extra food.

Turn 31

Spoiler:

I found two possible locations for cities. Number 1 looks like a dream. a Single mountain, Rock of Gibraltr, 3 Cows, Fur and Dyes. Number 2 is more of a third city for research purposes.

Shortly after I get 3 warriors I start scouting for my first victim while my Archers build back in the capital. I find Suleiman to the NW of my 2 position and immediately see him move three warriors to his borders. Oh! Right, he likes to rush... bring it on When I finish Mathematics I go straight for Iron Working.

From here to turn 70 I just burn his units, losing a few warriors in the process. I eventually settle for peace once I strike Iron, or at least know where to strike Iron... gotta love City states.

Turn 63

Spoiler:

Look at it all, and the only one I will claim is that convenient 2 Iron spot by my number 1 position. And I think I found my 2 new best friends. I had not settled yet, waiting for my policy and for where the Iron was gonna be. I also manage to get an Encampment request from Florence which I quickly take up to allies. Unfortunately there is an Archer harassing him and he wont build his damn mine so I have to wait till my 2 spot is hooked up. I set Florence straight a little later.

So now with 2 Legions and 4 Archers I go back to conquering Suleiman but the little bastard has settle 1E of my second city location. So I take that first but it not being worth supporting right now, leaves me with little other choice than to burn it to the ground. As I lay siege to his capital I see Hiawatha who I met some time ago is assaulting his rear. Well that won't do at all. I wait until the last moment and snipe Istanbul away from Hiawatha. Now I have my three main cities. Everything else will be puppets

. Puppet Empire, here I come.

Turn 105

Spoiler:

So here I am at Turn 105. This is according to memory so the order may be off a little on when got the Free techs or when I snuck in a few other buildings in my capital nor is it complete. I have a few more policies and techs I don't remember the names of an am too tired to look up atm.

Tech path:

• Animal Husbandry->Wheel->Mining(Ruin)->Archery->Mathematics
• Bronze Working->Iron Working
• Pottery->Writing->Economics(Great Library)->Philosophy->Trapping->Civil Service

Policies:

• Tradition
• Liberty->Worker->Reduced Policy Cost Penalty->Settler
• Piety

Capital Build Order:

• Monument
• Warrior x3
• Water Wheel
• Archer x3
• Hanging Garden
• Archer
• Warrior x2
• Great Library
• Oracle
• Granary
• Temple

[Banman]

Originally Posted by leif erikson

- How did the map affect your initial decisions?

Settled in place -- rapidly discovered I was on the western end of the land and (probably) all AIs to the east. Settled city #2 west to catch the marble (in hopes of increasing ability to spread the wonders out a bit -- poor location otherwise)

Originally Posted by leif erikson

- Any early wars and who started them?

Suleiman attacked early with a warrior rush, repelled it moderately easily and let the war remain open a long time. He settled on the coast/river NE of Rome, and I rushed to take it with the intention of rushing Istanbul next. He offered Edirne on the river plains SSE of Istanbul, which looked like a rich puppet location properly TP'd so I took the peace. I used barbarian requests and early luxury sales to ally all 3 cultural CS's around me. Later England attacked, but really never got any forces past Warsaw to speak of.

Originally Posted by leif erikson

- What were your initial priorities?

1) get monument and granary laid in
2) beeline for GLib
3) beeline for HG
4) get techs for local resources
5) try to get Oracle in a second city

Originally Posted by leif erikson

- What tech path did you follow?

Pottery - Writing - AHusb - Archery - Wheel - (took Math with Glib) - Phil

Originally Posted by leif erikson

- What Social Policies did you choose and why?

Tradition - Aristocracy - Liberty - Oligarchy (Turks attacking at this point) - Coll Rule
Filled out Liberty, started on Piety, took Legalism after coastal city annexed and city #4 settled near Gibraltar and all four cities had opera houses, took Freedom opener as soon as it was available

Originally Posted by leif erikson

- Did you prioritize any Wonders?

1) GLib 2) HG 3) Oracle (missed by one turn! marble didn't offset the generally crappiness of the city #2 spot) 4) picked up Stonehenge while waiting for library to finish in Antium (the # of turns to build matched up nicely) 5) HS 6) CI (to boost the engineer points in Rome)

been saving my GSs to bulb culture-critical techs in balance with my research median for RAs (i.e., bulbed Acoustics to get head start on Sistine Chapel, etc.)

At this point in hindsight, probably could have done without the Antium city entirely and would have been better to take Istanbul as S.K. Ren did.

[LTJG Perry]

turn 180 -- and I'll probably have to bail.
Japan just landed an invasion force on the southeastern end of the Empire near Warsaw. There is a small hope that Warsaw will keep them occupied while I fight off the Mohawk hordes near puppetted Constantinople.

And even if we survive that, Egypt is being a culture monster; I only have Pyramid and Angkor Wat. Colossus at Antium (near RoGibraltar) No Artists nor any remotely close to being produced.

I have top 5 policies all opened and at least 1 sp from each.

early war with Sully, I took 2 of his cities and he gave me a nice deal to quit.

Later,my big mistake - Hiawatha -- who usually never stabs me-- asks if we should join v Sully.
I jump on. Forgetting that it canceled me an RA with Sul. Not knowing he only had his Capitol left due to fog. I beat down Constantinople, then Hiawatha renews our RA. After I accept, he declares. It is rough battle, the Legions performed well, but not enough to take any Iroquois city.

I had Florence + Brussels most o the game, Hiawatha the rest. I nabbed warsaw lately with a Merchant, but Hiawatha bought Flo before he attacked ( a second time ; the same turn as Japan did..). So I am actually being attacked on 3 sides now.

Future: Perhaps Warsaw can deal with Japanese invaders, and Brussels deal with Florence, while I hold off the Mohawk hordes. Perhaps. Even if so, I'll have to be teching an army to find and destroy Egypt (with ~15 WW).

I am even considering a possible change in VC. Better than a loss,

But what I really expect is to be destroyed and post my fail later today.

[S.K. Ren]

Ok, my first game was a bust. I won, but it was a win I should not have gotten were I facing competent opponents. So here I am starting my next try and I've surpassed my previous game by a mile. So here is my second game's 1-106 Write up for comparison.

Spoiler:

Turn 1

Spoiler:

I start by exploring south and clockwise, getting a useless Map ruin(south), a +1 Pop ruin(west) and a Culture ruin(north west).

Techwise I play it up a little. I go for Writing first so I can get the GL started when I place my second city.

Turn 10

Spoiler:

Just popped the +1 Pop Ruin. In the middle of building a worker since there is nothing else to do build atm after the monument.

Turn 14

Spoiler:

I go for Liberty first. My plan is Liberty->Citizenship->Representation->Collective Rule-> Piety. I'll be building the first settler and using collective for my second.

Turn 25

Spoiler:

8 Turns from my settler and I'm going wheel. I decide after to get mining real quick so I can start chopping those forests around my first city's planned location. Conveniently Representation will be available right as my settler finishes.

Turn 56

Spoiler:

Just popped Collective Rule and I've got a plan. I call it "Euphemism:LONGSWORD" I'll beeline Metal Casting and start Churning out Long Swords like nobody's business.

Turn 82

Spoiler:

See? I love it when a plan comes together, or seems to at least I had to buy that fur tile so Antium would have a hammer tile work when I was chopping. Still, it was a worthwhile investment. Also I finished the Hanging Gardens and began work on the Workshop. Oracle will come after.

Turn 94

Spoiler:

Now the plan has come together. Time to war with Suleiman. I smell a puppet

Turn 106

Spoiler:

Fear me as Suleiman fears me and there will be joy! I take Ankara; 5 turns later he settles Edirne and some gold. I happily oblige for two reasons:
A) The time to take and heal Edirne would be about 10 turns anyways(well manouver, take, heal and reposition for the Capital assault)

and

b) I think I want to keep Suleiman alive this time. Instead Ill reposition to take on Hiawatha since he's looking so snap up Istanbul himself. Also I've met England and Japan and they seem to be playing nice...ish. The warred and settled. No one died over there so thats a plus. All in all though this run so far has been 300% better especially since what was limiting me last time was my supply of Iron and gold which I remedied this time with several lucky CS requests and meeting the other civs sooner.

Now then I'm currently cooking NC in Antium. Ill need to speed up it's production soon. I'm also almost done with the Oracle in my Capital. I'll missed Stonehenge which is fine for me. Ill probably build Notredame in Cumae.

And if you look closely you can see I just got Reformation as my 7th policy. Having 3 allied cultural CS this early is great and it more than makes up for not getting temple up right away.

[S.K. Ren]

Alright, Here's Turns 107-218

Spoiler:

Turn 115

Spoiler:

So I get to his border and he is able to line it's entirety with Mohawks... yeah not gonna crack that yet. I back up as you can see, DoW and let him come to me. AS it turns out he got Suleiman to settle cause I see they're not at war anymore and he's walking in his borders. I guess we know who won.

Through luck, skill and the incompetency of the AI I am able to use those four Long Swords to weed down about 5 Mowhawks without losing one Long Sword. He re-declares on Suleiman when I deny him trying to take Edirne so I move up and secure my old position until...

Turn 141

Spoiler:

He puts down Akwesasme. I'm forced to back up and as soon as I can I start building Ballistas, 4 to be exact. In the mean time I decided to build PT not cause I'd be signing RAs but because I wanted the GS, didn't want to interrupt my current production cycle and did not want anyone else getting it. Plus an additional culture doesn't hurt.

Turn 159

Spoiler:

Akwesasme is mine.

Turn 158

Spoiler:

During the lull in hostilities, I rush the Sistine Chapel. Welp, that's the last of my GEs. Also Hiya settles for some gold if I leave him alone on T159, sure I'll take that... see you in 10 turns.

The War of Turn 169

Spoiler:

Right from here Hiawatha will start to regret restarting this war. Due to the positioning of my Long Swords, he can't touch my Ballistas and since my Long Swords are fortified outside of Forests, he hardly puts a scratch on them. He on the other hand takes a whoopin' and retreats with the corpses.



And then he's back. Apparently he's a master Witch Doctor and can raise the dead. Let's see how long this lasts.



Eh, not long...



That was close. But they're all still alive. Not a single casualty of this war.



And the War Machine keeps on rolling.



And rolling...



And ro... well actually I decide to accept Hiawathas unconditional surrender. I take his two cities and sell them off to Suleiman and Elizabeth for a bit of cash and because I couldn't support them with my current happiness. You may also notice I'm one Long Sword short.

Sadly the 4th Legion died scouting the location of Onondaga. Though he was a fighter. Survived Catapults, City bombardment and finally succumbed while killing half of an enemy Long Sword unit. It died shortly thereafter from a fatal disease whose symptoms among others include perforation of the abdomen, skull fractures, disfigurement, dismemberment and corpsing. Parades are held annually for the fallen Legion .

Turn 200

Spoiler:

Who's Culture King? I'm Culture King

Most secure city location ever

Spoiler:

On a hill, across a river, surrounded by mountains so thick you need artillery and a spotter or flight to crack it. I want to see a map where you start in a place like this and are in permanent war with everyone.

Turn 208

Spoiler:

Looks like someone doesn't like Nobunaga, which is cool because they've been at war with me since Hiawatha re-DoWed me and I've yet to see more than a Scout and a Caravel from him.

Turn 218

Spoiler:

Elizabeth's been pretty cold to me so I don't care much about this. Plus if Hiawatha is fighting her, he's not fighting me. Also I expected this to happen, being that I sold that city to her.

So far so good. I've completed Archaeology but am two policies away from getting Legalism.

Policy Path so far:

• Liberty->Citizenship->Representation->Collective Rule->
• Piety->Organized Religion->Reformation->Mandate from Heaven(Oracle)->Free Religion->Theocracy(Free Religion)
• Meritocracy->Republic->Patronage(Was just short of Renaissance and wanted to preserve my CS influence.)
• Freedom->Civil Society->Democracy->Constitution->Free Speech->Universal Sufferage.

I was a bit late building Hermitage as I had to wait for the Opera House in Cumae to complete.

Tech Path so far:

• Pottery->Writing->Animal Husbandry->Mining->Wheel->Archery->Mathematics
• Bronze Working->Iron Working->Masonry->Construction->Metal Casting->Steel(GL)
• Trapping->Calendar->Theocracy->Civil Service->Education->Engineering->Physics
• Currency->Horseback Riding->Chivalry->Acoustics->Sailing->Optics->Compass->Astronomy->Navigation->Archaeology
• Banking->Machinery->Printing Press->Economics(Current Project)

[Mazer Rackham]

An interesting game so far. I had a plan going in - concentrate on the early wonders that give you the one-off benefits (GL, Oracle, HS) and the HG. Go out and conquer the rest. Was going great until turn 115, where I have just lost the HS by 1 turn.

Spoiler:

I thought the nearby land was pretty stinky - couldn't find a great spot for a 2nd city with good food, production, and a luxury. I met Sully early and declared war on him when I spotted his settler walking all alone south of Istanbul. Grabbed him for a free worker. Also, later I saw one of his captured settlers come walking through my lands. Poor guy.

Settled my 2nd city on the Marble. I thought I would use it to work on the Oracle, but later decided it would be safer to build it in the capital. The capital build order was Scout -> Monument -> Granary -> GL (Math) -> HG -> Oracle. Sully eventually came at me with 6 warriors, but I purchased an archer, massacred his army, and got a peace deal for 500 gold.

I teched over to Iron during and was happy to see 6 that I could buy from my 2nd city. Hiawatha asked if I wanted to declare on Sully, so I told him in 10 turns we would bring it. I went from last in military to 1st by building up 4 balistas and 2 legions - in addition to my initial warrior-spearman (the ruin you don't want to hit as Caesar!) and the archer I bought. I took all 3 of his cities, and soon plopped my 3rd city up by the Rock - where it could still grow very fast by working two CS-river farms, but also spit out a work boat to claim the Whales that Sully never wanted to fish.

I made a mistake by building a circus (3 turns) in the capital before starting on the HS. Turns out, my happiness quickly rebounded after some monuments and trade routes got put up to the puppets. The circus build caused me to just miss out on the HS by 1 turn to Egypt.

Egypt! Ramses is the only AI with any wonders besides me - he has some juicy ones, too. Stonehenge, CI, the mids... The Great Wall. If I could be at his borders this turn, I would attack. After a 20 turn slog through narrow passes, I'm not sure I would still have as dominating an army against him as I have now. His spammed war chariots turning into knights would not be fun to deal with. I could go the Astronomy route in 6 turns (Compass + GS) and come in through the back side; but I still don't know if that would save any turns. Or, I could just ride it out and accept the fact that I'll be down a couple of Great Artists for the game.

The cool thing is that I find that these fun dilemmas usually lacking in Civ5 compared to Civ4, and it is nice to have a real decision to make here. In the end, I think I'll go cut my way through England (the only one who cares that I banished Sully) who is busy already with Oda. Then on to Egypt with reinforcements.

I've got to watch out for Hiawatha, though. He's got the strongest military. We've got a DoF right now, but I covet his lands, so I figure he's probably out to get me too.

[Mazer Rackham]

Man. The Pharaoh really started popping wonders like crazy!

Spoiler:

After choosing a plan to go at him through Cathy's lands and beginning to try to navigate the narrow mountain pass, my DoF with Hiawatha expired. He wouldn't renew the deal and I saw all his troops mounting at the Istanbul border. Time to bring everybody home!

Meanwhile, Rameses built AW 4 turns after HS. Then Himeji within 10 turns of that. Then the PT. He really was on a roll! I was disappointed to be bogged down with Hiawatha. I proceeded slowly, losing no units. Built a few knights and had been saving instant heals on Melee units. Took his capital and 2 other cities (one with the Great Lighthouse) before making peace. That crippled him greatly and I could proceed towards Egypt. He has come back and built Machu Picchu, though.

I had hit Astronomy and sailed around the landmass to the north and back around. 1 Balista and 1 Legion sailed west and made it around the same time. I took the first Egyptian city with no casualties despite the Great Wall. Then it was on to the capital. Tough going there - I did have a couple of knights, but still was fighting a 28 strength city with a Trebuchet and the GW with Legions and Balistas. I believe I lost 1 Balista (with Great General ) and 1 Legion. I have yet to get Steel. But now I have the massive wonder capital.

I'm down to 3rd in military power. Maybe time to upgrade my Balistas. I'm close to finishing Archeology and will pop the Museums. Finishing up the Hermitage and National Epic (many cities - long build times) in my cap that already has Ironworks. Policies are about 9-10 turns.

Have completed Liberty, Piety, 2 in Freedom and Tradition opener. Will probably go Honor and put troops in all the cities for the extra 2.5 culture per city.

[meth]

I suppose its possible to finish somewhere at ~250 turns.
I failed with the oracle, failed with the colossis (I was building it in my 3rd city on 100-110 turns. Suleiman constructed it 1 turn before me, it was kinda important 'cos i was getting +33% of culture for any city which has a wonder).
Also Suleiman decided to rush me pretty early and i was fighting with Hiawatha for 200 turns till the end of the game. And finally i failed with a good number of mid game wonders. Could build more obv.

ps As far as I remember I got only one ruin +1 to pop but was lucky with cs's. Got Brussels pretty early clearing a requested camp (it was located on their borders) + returned a worker. Killed one barb on Florence borders-> sold elephants-> paid 500 (after finishing piety, i opened patronage). And finally was lucky to return a worker to Warsaw.

[leif erikson]

Welcome to CivFanatics and GOTM.

Good Luck.

[S.K. Ren]

Umm, Incas? Cathy? Where are those civs in the save? Don't mean to be a party crasher but...

[meth]

oops, sorry. I meant Hiawatha

Welcome to CivFanatics and GOTM.

Good Luck.

Thank you

[meth]

Also I should mention that my capital was heavily surrounded by +12 culture tiles; almost every hill was a cultural tile, i just rebuilt them late-game to finish the utopia project faster.

[tomaalimosh]

Wow. this is by far the weirdest game I've played on this difficulty. I'm the first in research, got most wonders so far (it's turn 150-ish), almost lost second city to two Ottoman early invasions. What's weird is that all my military units were: the first warrior, two scouts, one archer, one ballista and one knight. Lost the warrior and the ballista. I managed to conquer one ottoman city and then the Iroquois Istanbul with the scout (still had a heavily xp-d ballista back then). Managed to do all this because I had 4 CS allies early on and profited from a joint attack on Suleiman with "friend" Hiawatha and then a joint attack on Hiawatha with "friend" Elisabeth. When Liz DOW-ed she had all her armies between 3 CS allies of mine. She got wiped out. Same with Hiawatha. He had to spend all his armies fighting off my CS allies that were 1 tech tier above him (thanks to my tech lead). I got the tech lead with a lot of RA-s and 3 GS's from oracle+GL. Overall it's going great, I have more money than I need (all other CS-s are "red" to me, so I only keep the initial 4, and RA's I only have with Rameses and Oba. I have built the Big Ben and I'm buying building in Rome so I can take advantage of the UA. (Rome is busy chain-building Great Wonders and National Wonders). I even got Machu Picchu in the Natural wonder city.
I will probably need to get a few military units, but I keep postponing that moment. this almost got me killed a few times but managed to get away with it.

Main point. Built NO legions of Rome.

[meth]

Map type: Mystery
Map Size: Small

Dear community, could someone plz explain how its possible to choose this map type and where i can find it. Thx

[tomaalimosh]

Originally Posted by meth

Dear community, could someone plz explain how its possible to choose this map type and where i can find it. Thx

Mystery actually means that you don't know what it is. It's not a map type. It's a normal map type that's hidden. At least that's what I figured....

[leif erikson]

Originally Posted by meth

Dear community, could someone plz explain how its possible to choose this map type and where i can find it. Thx

Originally Posted by tomaalimosh

Mystery actually means that you don't know what it is. It's not a map type. It's a normal map type that's hidden. At least that's what I figured....

Essentially, tomaalimosh is correct.

When you setup a new game, under advanced options, you can choose, under map type, random map. Generally do this because Scouting is an important part of Civ5 so it requires players to scout to determine land area and techs needed.

[Brigg]

t99
I have 3 cities up and running. Rome is on the coast near the Spices.
#2 is up the river near the wheat, ticking off the Ottomans.
#3 is Wonder Spot everyone else has been selecting (the Ottomans seem to think that is their territory also).

I haven't found a decent spot for city #4. The only spot I like is over the mountains.

Stonehenge, GL and HG so far in Rome. I think I am too late for Oracle. I am planing HS for a GE to rush PT in city #2 for the wonder bonus. I plan on using the artists to plant on the plains around #2 and building most non science related Civ wonders their. I will farm up the river grasslands.
Colossus and/or Manchu are planned for #3.

Ottomans started an early war, but they are being pressured by Hiawatha.

Tradition Opener, Liberty + settler/worker/Representation, Piety opener so far.
I used the tech from GL for currency.

I have purchased 3 workers and a settler so far.

[subber]

started off well, built rome and decided to build one more city to the sw, with marble in 3rd ring. works out well so far.
suleymann declared war soon, but I was able to defend. It set back my modernization of the spices and the ivory, but since I was able to sell all my luxes to others I was able to buy legions and roman catapults - by turn 109 had him down.

I got a couple of wonders (HG,SH,OR,collossus, GL). I think only pyramid went to s.o. else so far.

Istanbul is a good catch because of the fur and the whales. could have made more use of all the cultural CS around but so far it looks like this is one of the best cultural games I play.
from here I want to focus on required techs, discover rest of the continent and try to trade. no more wars planned, although people are not friendly towards me anymore after elimination of the ottomans.

cheers

[godotnut]

I'm having a pretty solid game, I think. I decided to look upriver for more fertile land and more room for culture tiles. Settled on the river three tiles south of the northern coast. I got lucky and popped culture and a unit upgrade from a couple huts.

I only saw two places nearby that looked worth settling, and I wanted to play a small fast game anyway, so I went tradition instead of my usual Liberty. The plan is to farm everything and build a monster capital with a granary and two wheat also nearby. I settled city two where everyone else did near the Rock of G and settled my third city to the SW to grab two ivory and eventually marble.

I performed some quests for CSs and befriend two early for the early culture boost. Powered through tradition and then Piety. Started on freedom.

Got declared on early by Ottomans. Built a single legionaire, killed many of his units, took a city with the single legionaire and a scout, waited a while until he offered me two puppet cities, a bunch of gold and two luxury resources for peace. I was reluctant to take the deal, because I hadn't popped a great general yet, but it was a sweet set up, and I took it. Having three cities proved too much unhappiness, so I sold one of them back to the Ottomans a few turns later for another 500 gold. Befriended another cultural city state with it.

Hoping for peace now. Turtling down and trying to optimize for the fastest win I can manage. Oh and wonders? I built GL, the one that gives you a great person (forget the name), popped Oracle with the engineer, then built PT, farmed another engineer to pop the Sistine with it soon.

Fun game! I'm going to play some more now.