TSG36 After Action Report

Hi everyone and welcome to the TSG36 After Action Report thread. In this thread you can post the results of your game. Please state victory date and score (preferably in the post title), as recorded in the Hall of Fame, and the most important: your path to glory!

STOP - Please do not continue reading this thread until you have completed and submitted your game.

Please use the Civ5 game submission page to submit your final, first play through, .Civ5Save file, saved AFTER the victory ceremony if you were not conquered (using the "Lemme play one more turn" feature.).

Players are encouraged to provide feedback on the game. Some players like to replay the game, and although we will not record the results from a replay, you can still post your new experiences (please state if the game is a replay).

Would be interested to hear any thoughts on game setup.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 36
Date submitted: 2012-05-15
Reference number: 26267
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1816AD
Turns played: 278
Base score: 1539
Final score: 2798
Time played: 1:49:00
Submitted save: GOTM36Save.Civ5Save
Renamed file: trueblue_C503601.Civ5Save


too many wonders, too slow meeting all the Civs.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 36
Date submitted: 2012-05-16
Your name: Tabarnak
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1380AD
Turns played: 198
Base score: 818
Final score: 2097
Time played: 2:50:00
Submitted save: Catherine_0198 AD-1380.Civ5Save

Built 4 cities then NC. 2 early RAs for Compass. Used a ge for PT. Built GL for Astro and Oracle for Freedom opener. Late HG in capital. Started RAs with other continent around turn 104 to turn 110(Siam broke one) then another wave right after around turn 135 to turn 147. 5th city on top of a coal mine. Manually produced a pair of ge/gs for the UN. Completed left side of Rationalism. A total of 8 gs have been produced.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 36
Date submitted: 2012-05-16
Reference number: 26273
Your name: Thresian
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1535AD
Turns played: 217
Base score: 1115
Final score: 2593
Time played: 5:15:00
Submitted save: Catherine_0217 AD-1535.Civ5Save
Renamed file: Thresian_C503601.Civ5Save

Click to expand...

In the last diplomatic game, I was 53 turns slower than Tabarnak, so I guess 19 turns slower is improving. I did save a GE this time, and built the UN in 4 or 5 turns.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 36
Date submitted: 2012-05-16
Reference number: 26269
Your name: Halcyan2
Game status: Diplomacy Victory (also Domination Victory)
Game date: 1806AD
Turns played: 273
Base score: 2812
Final score: 5207
Time played: 5:42:00



[Game Summary]

Settled on the hill/river/mountain West + Southwest (wanted the observatory).

Production: Scout, Scout, Warrior, Warrior, Monument, Stonehenge
Science: Pottery, Calendar, Writing, Philosophy, Mining, Masonry
Social Policies: Liberty first

Encountered Siam early on. He was conveniently close, I didn’t know the map and still had not met any other civs so I decided to take him out. 3 warrior rush conquered Sukhotai on turn 31.

Encountered India right before taking out Siam and Gandhi considered me a warmongering menace. Still hadn’t met any other civs and quickly discovered that Delhi was pretty close as well.

I also founded my second city around the time I took Sukhotai (I got an early culture ruins for Collective Rule). Settled on the hilly sheep to the northwest (good proximity to cotton, lots of cows, and eventually Potosi).

Sent my force of 3 warriors + 2 scouts to lay siege to Delhi. Also built and bought another 3 warriors for the second wave. I attacked immediately (instead of waiting for my second wave) because I wanted to DoW and hopefully eliminate Gandhi before meeting any other civs - didn't realize at the time that there was no one else on the continent.

Unfortunately, the city was well positioned (rough terrain to the south plus a river). Gandhi also got an archer just as I was starting to attack. Ended up losing 4 warriors and 2 scouts but did end up wiping out India on turn 54. Losing most of my army could have been really bad if other civs had been around, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise (saved a lot on maintenance for units I didn’t need any more).

Ancient Era: Unfortunately, a far away civ (Egypt) built the Great Library very quickly. Right after that I finished Stonehenge. Sukhotai was puppeted while I annexed Delhi to build coastal wonders. Moscow also finished the Pyramids, St. Petersburg completed the Oracle, and Delhi built the Colossus.

MISTAKE #1: While trying to maximize Delhi’s production I accidentally starved it down to population 2. I still finished the Colossus in time, but I was 2/3 of the way done with the Great Lighthouse before someone (Persia) beat me to it. I think I might have gotten the Great Lighthouse if I still had that 3rd population.

Classical Era: Finished Liberty for a GE which I used to rush the Hanging Gardens since lots of unknown civs had entered the Classical Era. Also built the Great Wall in Moscow as well. Got Tradition + Aristocracy.

I discovered I was now alone on my own continent, which was annoying since I had no partners for RA’s. Built a pair of triremes and discovered I would need Astronomy before meeting everyone else.

Medieval Era: Built HG for a GE. Since other civs were also starting to enter the Medieval Era, I used the GE for Chichen Itza. Then I hard built all the other wonders (Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu, Porcelain Tower, Notre Dame, Himeji Castle). Opened up Patronage and got Aesthetics and Philanthropy. Allied with most of the minor civs I had encountered.

Renaissance Era: After discovering Astronomy, I sent half a dozen land units in various directions to try and discover the other continent. Also built a Caravel which I sent for exploration as well. Met the other civs, traded with them and signed RA’s. Opened up Rationalism and then finished the rest of Patronage. Accumulated a bunch of GE’s and some GS’s. But I was ahead enough that I simply hard built all of the Renaissance wonders, to save the GE’s for much later (lesson learned from GOTM 34).

Industrial Era: Built the Statue of Liberty. Finished Oxford for Refridgeration (to increase my RA median). After that, I had all of the National Wonders done so I started building another 3 cities on my continent and 1 city near the Barrier Reef. Greece annoyed me by wiping out Persia. I gradually allied with all of the minor civs and the militaristic ones gave me some useful units. I started moving an army across to the other continent.

MISTAKE #2: Persia’s unexpected elimination was a pain since I had an RA coming up in just 10 or so turns. If I had paid more careful attention, I might have been able to bribe Greece to stop attacking or given Darius a small city to keep him alive. Previously, he had held off Greece for quite some time (and I even had a Settler ready to settle on a crappy two-tile island in case Darius was in danger) so I didn’t expect him to collapse so suddenly.

After I finished my RA with Rome, I launched an attack. Infantry + Artillery versus his Legions, Trebuchets, and Pikemen. Also started to move two different armies against Greece (he had Longswordsmen and Trebuchets). Liberated Ectabana, mainly so I would still have someone to sign RA’s with (game didn't last long enough to finish the RA) and Darius could be my one and only Friend. Then I took Persepolis from Greece (finally obtaining the Great Lighthouse). Built the other Industrial wonders, completed all of Freedom except one, eliminated Rome and Greece and declared war on Egypt.

Modern Era: Upgraded all my units to Mechanized Infantry and Tanks. Egypt mainly had Cannons and Knights, which fell easily to my forces. I used one GE to complete 2/3 of the Sydney Opera House in Delhi and completed the rest normally. Used 4 GS’s and a Scientific Revolution for Radar, Computers, Penicillin, Ecology, Globalization, and Rocketry. Used two GE’s for the U.N. and my final GE for the Pentagon. Also completed the Freedom tree.

With the diplomatic countdown clock ticking, I took all of Egypt’s cities (except remote Alexandria which was near the northern polar ice caps), including the capital with the Great Library. Also declared on Arabia. By this time, my buddy Darius told me that I was drawing attention to myself with my warmongering, but we were friends with 4 positive modifiers, so none of the red negatives showed. Swarmed across Arabia taking all of their cities but Mecca (so I would not end the game too soon with Domination).

In the final turns before the U.N. vote, I discovered Lasers and completed the Apollo and Manhattan Projects. On the final turn, I won the U.N. vote (with all the minor civs voting for me plus liberated Persia) and also finished off Arabia (taking the one remaining capital). The only opposition left was Egypt exiled to the north in a puny city (which I could have taken if I had just one more turn) and my “friend” Persia in puny Ectabana.



Diplomatic and Domination Victories on turn 273. Could have optimized things by:

- Keeping people alive a little bit longer (especially Siam and India in the early game)

- Less wonder building, conquering and point maximizing

- Beelining Astronomy sooner and choosing a GS (probably from HS) to bulb it

- Saving Persia from extinction (would have shaved off some turns because of the RA)



DIPLOMACY OPTION: Completed

DOMINATION OPTION: Completed

CULTURAL OPTION: 6 policies away from Utopia (though I had one SP coming the next turn).

SCIENCE OPTION: Completed Apollo Program but hadn’t finished any of the techs necessary for spaceship components yet.



Social Policies: All of Liberty. Tradition for Aristocracy. Patronage for Aesthetics and Philanthropy. Open up Rationalism. Completed Patronage. All of Freedom except Universal Suffrage. Secularism, Free Thought, Scientific Revolution, then finished up Freedom.

Wonder Count: Built all except for two I conquered (Great Library and Great Lighthouse). Completed Apollo and Manhattan projects.



Attached are two screenshots from my victory. The first is of my capital and the second is of the two remaining AI cities (icy Alexandria and liberated Ectabana). You can see the double victory trophies (Diplomacy and Domination, the latter showing the elimination of the Arabs) and the world map showing Russian supremacy.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 36
Date submitted: 2012-05-17
Reference number: 26277
Your name: ltjg perry
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1828AD
Turns played: 284
Base score: 1554
Final score: 2775
Time played: 4:59:00

Never played warlord level before, so next time Id probably try something different.

settled in place
warrior rushed Siam and puppeted sukhothai--his only city.
Then wiped out India, and puppet his 4 cities, with 4 swords and 2 archers
At Astronomy, I annexed Delhi for the port, and later built all the scientist wonders there, turning it into a Science town. It had already built the G Library under Mohatma's rule.

My other 2 cities were St Pete to the NW, and Novgo to the ENE, both very productive. St Pete had all the Military and Merchant Wonders (that I built) and was where I built all my units, such few as they were.

Then I concentrated on making money and CS friends, and exploring.
I allied every CS as soon as I could afford to, wanting the science boost from Patronage.

I parked most of my gifted units (the poorer ones I re gifted) at Sidon, in case an invasion became necessary.

Of course it did not, it turned out. That's one change I would make to speed things up, the money I could have saved here. Id probably also try keeping India maybe even Siam around, so I could make more RAs. AI was pretty bankrupt, so only got a few in, but with proper management, Im sure that could have been better.

On the other continent, while they had many wars, they were usually brief and few cities changed hands.
Darius was the only other Builder. He had 4 wonders (Lighthouse and Colossus, Machu Pichu and Chichen Itza)

SP: Liberty , Patronage , Rationalism Completed, left side of Commerce , and opened Freedom

Game Setup:
Another fun game! I couldn't justify making a city to use the Cerro Potosi, though I could have - I needed a port, there was enough deer and fish around to make it viable, etc. But with all my puppets I didnt need it. A more Peaceful approach with regard to Siam and India might well have required it though. I did wonder if maybe it was a trap. I might try it that way...

Halcyan2 said:

Game: Civ5 GOTM 36
Date submitted: 2012-05-16
Reference number: 26269
Your name: Halcyan2
Game status: Diplomacy Victory (also Domination Victory)
Game date: 1806AD
Turns played: 273
Base score: 2812
Final score: 5207
Time played: 5:42:00



Diplomatic and Domination Victories on turn 273. Could have optimized things by:

- Keeping people alive a little bit longer (especially Siam and India in the early game)

- Less wonder building, conquering and point maximizing

- Beelining Astronomy sooner and choosing a GS (probably from HS) to bulb it

- Saving Persia from extinction (would have shaved off some turns because of the RA)

Click to expand...

is the point of the game to finish super early, rack up points, what. I seem to be following a similar trajectory as you in my game...

Earliest finish is what the games are first ranked by, and another list is made by score, but the point is really up to you, I'd say.
I like to make sure I win, and that means less risk taking that could easily save centuries of game time.

great!! thanx for the clarification Next time I'll sign some RAs...

Game: Civ5 GOTM 36
Date submitted: 2012-05-18
Reference number: 26281
Your name: Gamewizard
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1695AD
Turns played: 249
Base score: 1218
Final score: 2485
Time played: 2:53:00

Could have signed a few more RAs and maximize GS better, but overall satisfied.

flairin said:

is the point of the game to finish super early, rack up points, what. I seem to be following a similar trajectory as you in my game...

Click to expand...

If you're interested in the competition portion of GOTM, then yes, the number one goal is finishing the game (with the preferred VC) as early as possible, regardless of everything else. A very distant second priority is score.

The main reasons I am playing GOTM are:
1. For fun
2. To learn

Winning is nice, but I personally place a higher importance on winning the way I want to. If that means a slightly slower game but getting extra style points and having loads of fun, then so be it!

What I really like about the GOTM games is that many people are all playing the exact same map/game. That allows you to learn a lot more about strategy, because you can compare your games to those of the other players (as opposed to, say the Hall of Fame where everyone is using a different map).

So while many of the GOTM players are focused mainly on completing the game ASAP with the earliest possible score date (which is commendable), my priorities are a bit different!

Replay.

The plan was to go with no early declarations, to build mostly coastal cities, to use Cerro d Potosi, and pay more attention to RAs.

I did start off puppetting Brussels, knowing it would make Rham POd, but you gotta have some free sci and culture flowing, right?

Well soon after Brussels, India and Siam joint declare on me. I destroyed their armies easily, and Siam gave me a huge deal to stop. India gave straight up peace the same turn.

Then Siam vs India - both sides buying Russian Iron
Siam tried again a few times; always ended up paying big time for peace, which is nice. (1 complete RA from Siam , and 1 busted)

Anyway most of the goals being met, especially getting lots more RAs then before. Also made huge bank selling strategic resources all game, got to try the Merchant of Death tactic more in future.

Made one deal with Greece later in the game that required I fund both sides. Immediately Greece loses all but Susa to Egypt. Doh! I send a small army, declare on Egypt (our own RA fulfilled during the prep phase landing armies in Bucharest) and grab two more puppets (Sparta and I forget what his coastal city was named). Prepared to give them to Greece if necessary but it was not. Huge deal from Egypt to stop fighting too.

still didn't win til 1903. (First try was 1828)

Thresian said:

In the last diplomatic game, I was 53 turns slower than Tabarnak, so I guess 19 turns slower is improving. I did save a GE this time, and built the UN in 4 or 5 turns.

Click to expand...

217 for me too. took me 17 turns for UN :-(

I didnt think you could use GE on UN so didnt save one.

Your name: pontias
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1535AD
Turns played: 217
Base score: 731
Final score: 1700
Time played: 6:46:00

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built 3 cities. 1 nw on that river with all the animals. 1 ne. added another one on the northern tip of the continent a bit later to pick up 2 silver and luckily the coal.
focused all my money went into RAs - didnt use much on city states early game.
went hard core on city states near the end when i decided I had enough RAs.
I kept a GE but didn't realise I could use on UN so popped it on research lib. guess that would have knocked off 10 turns.
probably should have expanded a lot more after oxford had been built.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 36
Date submitted: 2012-05-19
Reference number: 26290
Your name: StrideColossus
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1820AD
Turns played: 280
Base score: 1339
Final score: 2391
Time played: 4:16:00
Submitted save: Catherine_0280 AD-1820.Civ5Save
Renamed file: StrideColossus_C503601.Civ5Save

Click to expand...

Bit of a dull game really, found iron and took out Siam and India which we later annexed. Founded a few more cities and ambled towards Globalisation. Signed a few half-hearted RA's but mainly just building lots of stuff for a change.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 36
Date submitted: 2012-05-19
Your name: carazycool
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1834AD
Turns played: 287
Base score: 2286
Final score: 4010
Time played: 3:07:00

dip win 1575AD, T225, Base score: 1474, Final score: 3275

played a relaxed game and was slow getting contact with the other continent.

haven't played as Russia much. It's nice as Russia to have tons of strategic resources to trade away for gold!

Game: Civ5 GOTM 36
Date submitted: 2012-05-20
Reference number: 26297
Your name: Monthar
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1690AD
Turns played: 248
Base score: 2691
Final score: 5491
Time played: 7:03:00
Submitted save: TSG36_Diplomatic_Victory.Civ5Save
Renamed file: Monthar_C503601.Civ5Save

Click to expand...

So far I'm 1st in score, but only 5th in time.

Shortly after I wiped out Siam and Gandhi I found the other continent.

I ended up signing 1 RA with everyone on the 2nd continent although a few of them really cost me to get them to sign.

Ramesses was hostile as soon as I met him and Alex turned hostile after I allied a few CSs he wanted.

My first attempt at getting a foothold, via war, on the other continent failed, because I tried to take Egypt with longswords even though they had the Great Wall. After getting a white peace I sent everyone home for upgrades since I'd have rifles about the time they all arrived.

The 2nd intercontinental war started after the RA with Rome completed. This time I took Rome with infantry and a few cossacks to their legions and archers. By the time I finished taking all of the Roman cities I was able to upgrade to mech infantry and artillery. This let me roflstomp Egypt.

After Egypt I took Greece, Persian and all but the Arabian capital. At the end I had most of my troops surrounding Mecca just waiting for the UN vote.

Once I won via diplomacy and saved the game for my submission I took Mecca and had both the Diplomatic and Domination trophies on screen. That's the first time I ever had a double victory.

Edit: I forgot to mention policies.
I completed Liberty, Patronage and Rationalism with 2 down the center of Order. Patronage was completed after taking the 2 free techs in Rationalism. Rationalism was completed after taking the Order opener.

I used the 2 free techs and Oxford to set the RA median at the Penicillin column just a few turns before the first RA completed.

pretty happy overall. I took Siam and India down to one city, REXed the home continent, then wonderspammed in Moscow. I ended up filling out 5 cultural paths (liberty, piety, patronage, commerce, freedom) and was on the verge of building Apollo too. Gotta love Warlord.

Fun game.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 36
Date submitted: 2012-05-22
Reference number: 26313
Your name: JungleIII
Game status: Domination Wrong VC
Game date: 1320AD
Turns played: 192
Base score: 1410
Final score: 3710
Time played: 6:18:00

Couldn't get interested in diplomatic victory, so I went for a more interesting and "fun" route... no hurry Domination Victory. Needed some kick back non-competitive time for relaxation, so my entry doesn't matter for the competition, but I had a kick butt time!
My priorities are different as well...