Replay #5 A history of heroes!

Seraiel

If you want anything from I please ask in German
Joined
Sep 6, 2011
Messages
8,165
Hi again :)

(tl;dr = read bold parts)


It's not been long since the last Replay, Replay #4 has been finished by me, it was actually today :D . I had the time to play another round in between though. The readers of my series will already know what this Replay will be about, but for those who're new:

  • I am / was on a quest to beat the 3.2M scored by WastinTime.
  • I love Huge Marathon maps.
  • I've put up a new overall highscore for non-Incan-games in Replay #4.
  • This game is going to beat the highest highscore ever achieved by someone in HoF history!
  • The game is part of HoF, it was played without any cheats, Worldbuilder, reloading, or whatever.
  • The difficulty lvl is Deity! :eek:
  • The map is a typical "Sushi-map" , so it's a "Big & Small" map that has been set up with tiny islands, massive continents and low sealvl, to ensure there is as much land as possible with as many small islands and seafood as possible.

Followers of this series know that I've gone a long way for this, beating 3.2M was actually a lot more difficult than I had expected, I personally would rate it even more difficult than learning to play against Deity AIs themselves. It caused me insomnia, it caused me insanity, but more important, it required the help of a lot of people, whom I consider friends now, people who supported me with their knowledge, people who motivated me to go through a lot of frustration, people you will find in this Replay! It's called a "a history of heroes" , because these people I consider as my personal heroes here! Some of them are extremely good players, others invest a lot of time in helping other people, some are HoF, some work a lot, some care a lot, all of them have a really good character, so because of this, and, because it'll create great and funny moments and give the story a lot more dimensionality, I have renamed units after them! Here they are:



As you see, the list is quite long, but still very clear. Don't pay attention to the order in which the characters appear, it was chosen by the lvl those characters gained during the game. As always in a war game, units / characters die, but I've resurrected them throughout the whole game. You can see how often someone died by the number beside him, i. e. happyturtle and le_phobos share the 1st place for greatest hero (dying for others) or biggest n00b-fighter :D , they both died 3 times. You will notice that I took extremely well care of all of them, most still have the name they got in this forum with no number behind it, meaning, they didn't die a single time! Of course I did that because I really care for you *cough* :D . No, just kidding, I didn't care at all, you can all thank the total opness of ... You'll see :) .


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This is the beginning of the, for the present, last Writeup from me for some time! It's gonna be very special, it's the "round where I finally fulfill my Quest, reach lvl 50 and kill the dark lord! Make sure to follow it, the next episode will go online today, it'll introduce the opponents I chose for this round, aswell as the starting location!

Cya, Seraiel
 
Oh, a good start again, directly mistyped the name of someone who has done great work for others and for myself. I hope he won't hate me for that, just as an excuse, my orthography has always been really bad, I've once accumulated 40 (!) misspellings in 1 exam in german, my own mother language. Most of them were comma-errors, that's why I really embraced the reform reducing over 50 german comma-rules to 3, one of being "you can set a comma where you want to make a break" :D .

I really do apologize for this DanF5771! Thx Tachy for making me notice :mad: :D .
 
Hey! You haven't catch the meaning. 777 is the winning number.

BTW, such plethora of words...:lol:
 
wow thanks a lot... i mean after all those years...someone finally mentioning it...

oh...now I know how it feels when you get some popularity reward... :)

awaiting the replay report ;-)
 
Episode 1
Choosing the victims and "only 2 Golds, are you kidding me? :mad: Screw this game, I'm going snowballing :D"


This episode is all introductory
. The map-settings haven't changed from Replay #4 and from what I've already talked about in the 1st post, it's still a Huge Sushi map with maximum opponents, I'm playing the Incans this time, but: Who are the opponents and why did I choose exactly those? You'll know more after having read this:


The Civs:





  • Churchill: w00t? I understand your reactions, but: Picking 17 leaders is not easy, one has to make some choices that one doesn't wanna make. Things that are bad about him are mainly that he's of no use, but can put up a decent resistance with building mainly defensive units and those being powered by Protective trait. Good thing about him: He's of no use to others aswell and builds no attacking units that could get onesself in trouble ;) ;D .
  • Darius: One of my absolute favourites. This guy is not only a strong techer with whom's it's easy to trade techs if one shares his Religion, he's also a very strong gold-builder, that is always good to sell techs to. He is mostly peaceful and often the first to Alpha, which greatly helps with Oracling huge techs.
  • Elizabeth: Remember that in the last Replay I said I didn't love her, but didn't hate her either? The barometer is slowly tending towards hate because she's a real pain in the neck, always asking for help. Still, after this round, I cannot hate her because she simply is a good techer, she's weak and easy to influence, and she would play a vital role, you can be excited about that.
  • Frederick: Now he's an AI I really love. Stupid, weak, only thing that's annoying about him is that he often goes for GW / Mids Combo and I wanna have the Mids myself, but maybe I'll have luck and start next to him? I often do, though I know that this is pure randomness, but you'd be amazed how often I conquered him early. Maybe I've just really played a lot games though :D .
  • Hatshepsud: Talking about love? Her I love really really really! She's awesome. She doesn't make stupid demands, she doesn't beg, she's crazy if one shares her Religion, but even without that one can get her to friendly status if running OR. If doing both, sharing Religion and running OR, she's so fond of one, that she doesn't even hold a grudge when one bribes other empires against her, and she has this great pout she makes when one doesn't give her Education, or, Military Tradition, or whatever stupidity comes to her mind. Oh no, really, she's the best, I tell you!
  • Lincoln: Another AI I really love. He's ugly as , but behind that mask hides a strong techer, that builds empires that are perfectly to conquer, because he sees no need in defending them / is generally weak. I've not had one game in which I remember him having become strong. Maybe Replay #4 where he had a lot of land + a Shrine of a major Religion, but even then, I didn't fear him at any moment.
  • Louis: Another AI I chose because I wanted to get to know him. People say his sneak-attacking-likelyhood is no problem, because he normally goes Culture-whoring. Are they right?
  • Mansa Musa: The mother of the whores :mad: . I hate this guy, but then have to love him again. Without him, early game, where one doesn't have friendly AIs yet, he's the only source of monopoly tech-trades. Isolating him is the best one can do, because he'll still trade everything with onesself, but like that, he doesn't get every tech and simply runs away. He's famous for his "I vassalize and then gun for Culture" -approach, I should have know better when... But nobody tricks me, at least not without revenge :mad: :D .
  • Pericles: Again a strong techer, and one that trades techs easily. I hate that he's CRE, but with playing the Incans with their Imba-Terraces, this is no problem at all. He's also easy to get to friendly the middle to late game, because of the favourite Representation Civic.
  • Peter: One of the very "bad" AIs that I choose. Him I really really like, because he is super-easy to get to pleased / friendly by running Burocracy, therefor he's no risk at all, and he declares war at the other, "good" Civs very often. In the end, he's normally exhausted and backwards, so after being a very strong AI in the beginning, one which doesn't want to have as a close neighbour, he's perfect for a late-game conquest and as a meatshield.
  • Ramesses: Basically the male version of Hatty. Easy to get to friendly because he's a Religious-fanatic and loves Organized Religion Civic. Best about him: One can trade techs to him and is safe for a very long time, because he has a very high tech-trade-known-percent value, meaning, he trades techs to other non-friendly AIs very very late. His Wonder-construct rating is a little bit scary, but often not a problem at all, because he's stuck with building the first Wonder available to him, and that is neither the Oracle, nor the Mausoleum of Maussollos, the only two Wonders I need for my games.
  • Roosevelt: Yes, an Industrious Civ that can plot a war at pleased. He's one of the choices I had to made, because... More to that later :) .
  • Suryarvarman: OMG! This guy is one of the worst pain in the necks ever and he gives -2 for every denied demand! Believe it or not, but I at some time of the round had -10 (!) with him through what Zx Zero Zx calls "middle-finger diplomacy" . I don't think I'll take him again, even though he's the biggest gold-builder and GPT-trader in the game, and one that is normally like Peter, easy to please, good for onesself, bad for the others.
  • Victoria: No doubt, she's possibly the strongest techer in the game together with Darius and on par or shortly behind Zara. She's one I like and fear, because the Imperialistic trait can make her stupidly strong, often letting her REX to more land than most other AIs. Anyhow, she has to be in the game, because of the strong teching abilities, and, because she's another gold-builder that is easy to get to friendly in late-game with REP-Civic.
  • Washington: Fear his demands, otherwise, don't fear him at all :D . He's another one of the stupid american AIs, who become strong when the game is over :D .
  • Willem: Little Son of a this guy can be when backstabbing one, but normally he's simply to weak / builds too few units to be of any thread. He's another strong techer that trades almost as easily as Mansa, the reason for choosing him.
  • Tokugawa: The opinions about this guy are either "he's so awesome" or "he's the worst" . I think he's awesome, because once one got him to pleased somehow, which is normally easy through sharing Religion, gifting techs, cities, whatever, this guy is a Meatshield and a perfect trade-partner that doesn't trade anything away one gives to him. He's always backwards, so there's always a lot one can trade with him, a lot one can bribe him with and I've never seen him be any threat, he cannot plot war at pleased, he doesn't demand often, he doesn't beg... Basically he's the perfect puppet that builds nice and cosy empires that are perfect for a mid to late-game invasion, we've seen that in Replay #4.


The Pro's of you will have noticed something when seeing these opponents. Yes, those are the most peaceful strong teching Civs that one can get, but, most important, they all start without Mysticism! People knowing me knows what this means, I'm going for my Super-Shrine-approach! I'm going to combine it with the power of the Oracle-Currency move I learned from WastinTime, I'm 100% convinced that founding an early Religion is one of the strongest moves one can make on a Huge map, and believe me, this Replay will revolutionize how people think about founding early Religions once they've seen my approach work!


So lets not waste any further time, here is the starting scene!



This is it! A lousy 2 Gold start with dry Rice and dry Corn! I didn't generate so many maps between the egyptian game and the incan game, this was simply one of the few starts that had at least 2 Luxury-Ressources. It has a river / is coastal which is another thing I need for my approach, it basically fulfills the requirements I have at an incan-HoF-start, but it's not even near the legendary 5-7 Gems starts I created with the egyptians.


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Now while I browse these forums a little and read what people have wrote in the meantime, you can guess the first move I made :) . Have fun and cya soon, make sure to follow the snowballing episode that is going to follow, I promise you not less insanity like you've already experienced in the egyptian-game :)

Till then,

Seraiel
 
I just can't believe the hard work you put into games and threads, drastically improving and reviving this forum. So German. :)

I hope ainwood or some other PiC (people in charge) will reward you with most popular ''content staff'' title. You sure put some content.
 
wow thanks a lot... i mean after all those years...someone finally mentioning it...

oh...now I know how it feels when you get some popularity reward... :)

awaiting the replay report ;-)

Haha :p :D .

Real heros don't wanna be heros they say :) .

Congrats! I knew you could do it!

Thx! I don't wanna come of slimy, but people have to know, that without you, this wouldn't have been possible, people not believing this have to read Replay #3 (and maybe even #2) , a Replay in which you were one of the most active posters really offering advice on what you'd do and how you achieved your score. I hope, that "pupil beats master" motivates you to "steal me thunder" and go for the 4 Million, I know they're possible, but be prepared, I'm a maniac. When you achieve the 4 Million, this means for me that I have to become like the kids in the World of Warcraft episode, I'm going to play to win and become "the man who wastes more time than WastinTime already wasted" :crazyeye: :D .

Just joking :D . I don't have any plans on what to do next, maybe try beating earliest domination on Huge Marathon, maybe elite Quattromaster, maybe a Deity Gauntlet will eat up my time, maybe I'm going to play the current BOTM, I'll definately be a lot easier after having achieved this, now I'm lvl 50, the dark-lord has been slain, I'm free again.

Hope you follow the writeup again, leave as many comments on it as there come to your mind: Just a little spoiler for you to make you even more curious: In this game, I wasn't able to tech-trade my way to way into heaven (Sushi) , I didn't take vassals except for Mansa who betrayed me badly, Diplomacy was a total horror and because of all this, I wasn't even close to Sushi at T350! I didn't even have Sushi in T 360, 370, or 380, no, even later, but I learned something from T-Hawk, and I learned from you, I and have the instincts like you say. I hope this provokes some interest.

Hmmmm, I'm the lowest level unit. That seems about right, look forward to seeing how you did it!! ;)

I won't spoil anything for you, but from the number behind your name, you can see that you died once in this round, and, you have defensive promotions while all others have offensive promotions. This can tell you something, or it can not :p .

Looking forward to the replay :D

Nice seing you join in also :)

I hope, people won't forget to read the last post of Replay #4 over this, but just to be 100% sure this doesn't fall under the table: I wanna write a strategy compendium from advanced players for medium to advanced players. If you all have nothing against it, I'm gonna create a user-group and maybe someone of the staff can tell me how this is possible the easiest way. I've seen on the frontpage that one can write "book-pages" , and I also need people who know the other people who can write the articles together with us, provide info, screens, situations, etc.


Sera
 
I just can't believe the hard work you put into games and threads, drastically improving and reviving this forum. So German. :)

I hope ainwood or some other PiC (people in charge) will reward you with most popular ''content staff'' title. You sure put some content.

Thx :) Well, I don't know Aionwood, but maybe someone else does? If not, I'm sure that someone will notice the work after we have written the strategy compendium I talk of, and even if it doesn't get rewarded by anything, it doesn't matter, it's only a game.

And you're right, we german a perfectionist maniacs, at least most of us, but at least, in our language there doesn't exist a special word for "death due to too much work" like there does in asia :rolleyes: :( .

How is this a good start! Non wet corn, 1 food! How awful!!!!!!

Is there a "not" missing maybe? I also think that this start is one of the most horrible I've ever played, the episode has its title for a reason. And btw, nice to see you not counting dry rice as a source of food, I also tend towards thinking this way, it's almost as bad as having stupid plains-Cows, those at least offer great production so they can be regarded as a hill that gives Food, dry Rice, no comment on that!
 
Only 3.6 million? ;) Just kidding. Congratulations!! :goodjob: True story, in my neck of the woods, my Civ friends think you are just freaking awesome (me too ofc). I would be surprised if you weren't asked to join the content staff. :) Looking forward to seeing you trash the AI. Good times man, good times.
 
Woo! Congratulations on your victory. :)

I'm guessing you move 1W to settle on the FP so you get two foods in your capital. Sucks losing a FP though.
 
Definitely a great story forming here. Very nice touch that you named units after your Civfantics friends. It gives a community feel to your game. Bravo!

Looking forward to the unveiling of your story ...

Sun Tzu Wu
 
That's awesome! Congrats on your win! Flattered to be included in your game, too.

I'm a little confused on how you would approach this start, since I know that you (used to?) start on gold in order to get that crucial commerce boost. Looking forward to seeing how you solve that issue.

Again, congratulations!
 
Is there a "not" missing maybe? I also think that this start is one of the most horrible I've ever played, the episode has its title for a reason. And btw, nice to see you not counting dry rice as a source of food, I also tend towards thinking this way, it's almost as bad as having stupid plains-Cows, those at least offer great production so they can be regarded as a hill that gives Food, dry Rice, no comment on that!

Plains cow is a higher yield tile than dry rice. :\ I try to think of plains Cow more as another hill than food. I really like them in production cities where I have better food, they are good early, and then later you're better off workshopping or watermilling them.
 
So lets not waste any further time, here is the starting scene!

Intentional? ;)
It's a pity this is the last report you will do... I have enjoyed your previous reports a lot :)
 
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