TSG40 After Action Report

Hi everyone and welcome to the TSG40 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.).

How was your first experience with G&K in a GOTM?
How did you have to adjust your strategy and/or play style to adjust to the changes?
How did you use religion or spying to your advantage?

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 40
Date submitted: 2012-07-16
Reference number: 26590
Your name: Monthar
Game status: Science Victory
Game date: 1864AD
Turns played: 302
Base score: 939
Final score: 1565
Time played: 7:06:00
Submitted save: TSG40_Science_Victory.Civ5Save
Renamed file: Monthar_C504001.Civ5Save

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I misremembered how many RA's I had left when I posted at turn 245 in the in progress thread. I only had 4 left.

I'll bet this isn't the fastest time, because I'm sure I could have done it a bit faster. In any case it was a good game and I did finally finish a Celtic game to earn the steam achievement.

I completed the game without ever going to war. Most of the game I was next to last in military. Near the end I started upgrading my few units and ended up 1st in military with just 3 mech infantry, 2 pikemen, 1 cruiser, 1 nuclear submarine and 1 scout. The sub is the only one that wasn't upgraded into.

The only techs I had left to research were Globalization, Nuclear Fusion and Future Tech. I just finished Stealth because I shifted all by Dublin to science focus, unchecked manual specialist and reset all their tiles to shave a turn off the research for that last turn Dublin needed to finish the last part.

I primarily used my spies to rig elections with the CS's I was interested in. Plus 1 in the capital to try to catch enemy spies, once I had at least 4 spies that is.

Final Demographics

Map of my lands at the end.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 40
Date submitted: 2012-07-16
Your name: Attaturk
Game status: Science Victory
Game date: 1690AD
Turns played: 248
Base score: 1056
Final score: 2155
Time played: 4:47:00
Submitted save: Boudicca_0248 AD-1690won.Civ5Save
Renamed file:
Attaturk_C504001.Civ5Save

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Settled in place.

Scout - Worker - Granary - Scout - Settler - Settler - (Bought Settler) - Settler - GL - SH - NC ...

SoPol: All trad then All rationalism

Research: Pottery - AH - Trap - Wri - Min - Cal - Phi - (GL=>Drama)

Religion:

Goddeth of the hunt (what else on this map ;-)
Tithe (about 75g per turn at the end of the game with 24 cities of my religion)
+1% prod
15% faster growth when peace
cheaper missionaries

Game: Civ5 GOTM 40
Date submitted: 2012-07-16
Reference number: 26591
Your name: Ultraviolent4
Game status: Science Victory
Game date: 1822AD
Turns played: 281
Base score: 946
Final score: 1689
Time played: 6:34:00

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The starting continent didn't have enough luxuries for my mind so I went exploring:


I got beaten to the leaning tower by 2 turns which ended up costing me in the end. I was going to take a Great Engineer from it and fast build the Louvre. I then had to build the Louvre from scratch in one of my lessor cities so I missed out on the golden age production bonus for most of the spaceship building.

While I was building the Apollo Project Austria converted my capital with a Great Prophet. As my religion included the production bonus for number of followers in a city I thought I would end up losing a few turns. Everything ended up being fine in the end but it's still pretty funny

Game: Civ5 GOTM 40
Date submitted: 2012-07-16
Reference number: 26594
Your name: Motina
Game status: Science Victory
Game date: 1932AD
Turns played: 352
Base score: 1015
Final score: 1450
Time played: 11:23:00

I had trouble getting RAs off at first but got a bunch of them to help get to and finish all the techs with spaceship parts. I think Edinburgh has been my biggest city ever with a size close to 40.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 40
Date submitted: 2012-07-16
Reference number: 26599
Your name: mike678
Game status: Science Victory
Game date: 1828AD
Turns played: 284
Base score: 839
Final score: 1498
Time played: 3:27:00
Submitted save: TSG40_Start.Civ5Save
Renamed file: mike678_C504001.Civ5Save

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I think I did okay I got up to 870 beakers. I went with 4 cities with tradition. 6th policy was rationalism. I made a few big mistakes this game though that could have easily shaved 20+ turns off my time. First being that I put off the GL for too long and missed it by 5 turns which completely threw off my timing. Recovered from that and when religion came around I chose the +1 food from camps, Tithe, religious community, the +15% growth when not at war and the +66% pressure.

Next big mistake was when I saw the Mayans were walking up my territory with a great profit and I decided to dow them to prevent the conversion. I ended up in a perm war for over 100 turns so that ruined the +15% growth for the rest of the game.

Lastly I needed one more RA it would have shaved at least 5 turns off while I waited for a new scientist.

I swear though they need to do something about great profits not taking damage in non open border territory. Its completely overpowered and there's no way for you to tell the ai to stop trying to convert your lands...

Here is my final city layout

-delete

Game: Civ5 GOTM 40
Date submitted: 2012-07-16
Game status: Science Victory
Game date: 1842AD
Turns played: 291
Base score: 1354
Final score: 2334
Time played: 5:43:00

I got screwed by lack of early research agreements... somehow Sweden, Carthage, and Maya all hated me at the beginning because I "built too many cities" even though I never left my continent. All DOW me at the same time and wouldn't accept peace for quite a while. It wasn't any challenge to hold them off, but the lost time at the end showed.

No wars. Went all tradition and did a couple in liberty before rationalism opener+left side before finishing liberty. Had a nice population by the end, 29 in Edinburgh, which made the SS Stasis Chamber complete in 4 turns w/out GA, which had run out a few turns beforehand.

Got nearly ever wonder after a couple ancient ones I didn't care much about anyway, most of them in Edinburgh.

Religion: Goddess of the Hunt, Ceremonial Burial (needed happiness early...but pretty soon after I had 30+ rest of game), Tithe, Swords ->Plowshares, Prod %, and the one that spreads religion 34/68% faster. Sweden and Carthage were both fully my religion (and they still DOW me!).

Was fun, although pretty easy. Think I could have won culturally before anyone else would have won, as I had 3/5 complete and could have switched focus to culture after space race. No other AI was within 20 techs of me at end of game.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 40
Date submitted: 2012-07-17
Reference number: 26604
Your name: kargano
Game status: Science Victory
Game date: 1968AD
Turns played: 388
Base score: 831
Final score: 1079
Time played: 6:32:00
Submitted save: TSG40_Start.Civ5Save
Renamed file: kargano_C504001.Civ5Save

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It was ugly, but I won my first ever Civ5 game. I decided to go tall, 3 cities at first because I didn't see any really good spot for a 4th. For much of the first half I was in a lovefest with Dido, Gustav, Haille and Pacal, with DoFs and RAs everywhere. At some point they all denounced me for whatever reason. The only leaders that didn't denounce on me all game were Theodora and Isabella, everyone else was on and off as I tried to scrounge up all the RAs I could and win before anything happened to me. Austria was my main enemy, Maria hated me from our first meeting and incited Dido, Gustav and Attila to declare on me. Isabella sent some help, I sacked and razed Helsinki before taking peace and returning to build up. Austria had a much larger and better empire than myself, and Pacal was demolishing everyone in culture and wonders, so I tried to rush straight for the ship as quickly as possible, and founded a 4th city on the west peninsula as a front line in case Austria moved. Sure enough she did, and she eventually captured Truro. The final hundred turns were me frantically defending Edinburgh from destroyers and carriers with one artillery and two bombers while rushing out all the defensive buildings and then focusing science production. Near the very end, I managed to get the policy to pop two great scientists to finish up my penultimate research, and built each starship part in 5-7 turns thanks to 566+ beakers a turn. This was made more exciting because it turned out my unfortunate city placement meant that I had no aluminum at all, and had to throw oil and luxuries at other civs to get what I needed since I didn't want to wait for recycle plants. Austria's attacks had petered out, but I had no apparent recourse to end the war because Maria kept asking for Cardiff in suing for peace, so I was just hoping to last long enough to win the game. Maria finished the space program about a dozen turns after I did, and Pacal was at four policy trees unlocked. I was so focused on this that I didn't notice Dido's city on my island until after the victory screen.

Science: #1 the whole way through. I averaged around 6-7 techs ahead of second place every time the rankings came up.
Religion: #1 (adopted by Carthage and Sweden, plus I prophet bombed Pacal's captial and it spread through his empire and the southwest city states. Goddess of the Hunt, Interfaith Dialogue(not worth it IMO, only 50 science for the effort you put in), Religious Community, Swords into Plowshares, and Itinerant Preachers.
Spies: 1 counterintelligence in Edinburgh, 4 rigging elections for city states that had resources I needed for WLTKs. Despite my counterspy being max rank, I kept getting fleeced for techs endgame. Near the end I had a constant state of alliance with La Venta and Genoa(not Geneva) which helped me quite a bit towards earlygame. Genoa kept getting attacked by Attila and smashing his futile attempts to conquer it. I also had strong alliances with a couple southwestern CSes, until Maria married them into her empire.
Culture: By far my weakest point. Full Tradition, left half of Rationalism and +1 naval movement in Commerce. I had a pitiful 49 culture per turn at the end.

Ending overview of cities:

I didn't go farther than 830 bpt. I stopped growth around turn 200 and focused on production. 1 spaceship factory(no need for this excepted last part) for Cardiff to finish in time with another part built by Edinburgh. No Hubble, no rationalism finisher(got it 1 turn before spaceship) to help teching. I don't have time to produce a ge for hubble at this rate. I need to add an early (ge)wonder like Pyramids to get a ge early enough for hubble and also find a way to full rationalism in both 200 turns or less.

Game status: Science Victory
Game date: 1910AD
Turns played: 330
Base score: 1060
Final score: 1606

Not happy I have done better times on the immortal level.

Settled in place. I chose Liberty over Tradition (1st mistake) and settled 2 of my 4 cities on the Carthage/Sweden continent to get the luxuries (pearls,gold,dyes,marble). This also turned out to be a mistake, because with the Mercantile city states happiness is no longer an issue if you have the money, and I would have had much more money if I just settled on my continent and made better use of the river.

However, what was REALLY a bad choice was the Interfaith Dialogue + Cheap Missionaries combo. With interfaith dialogue you get a mere 150 science (80+70) for every missionary you send out. What a waste . Even if my religion had not been the dominant one, I fail to see how Interfaith Dialogue can be of any use at all.

Still, that was a fun game . The diplomatic aspect of it was captivating, since you need to be friends with a civ to get the RAs. Very good idea that one.

Game status: Science Victory
Game date: 1915AD
Turns played: 336
Base score: 872
Final score: 1301
Time played: 10:59:00

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Dunno what to say about this game... It went well, but couldv'e been better.
Went for Goddess of the Hunt, Swords to Plowshares, Ceremonial Burying, Religious Texts and some other i don't remember. I was aiming to grow really big cities, but my placing of my second city was a mistake; it never made it past 12 pop

My game was divided into two friend-blocks with Carthage in the middle being friends with everyone. I was friendly with Sweden, Maya, Carthage, Spain and Byzantium. The rest of them threw denouncements and wars at us (though i never saw a hostile unit in my lands).

Even though i had 5 friends i had problem getting RAs, because Cart/Spain/Byz was far too busy being poor.

After spreading my religion to Sweden, Maya, Carthage and the closeby City-States i stockpiled my faith for Great Scientists.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 40
Date submitted: 2012-07-17
Reference number: 26608
Your name: Thresian
Game status: Science Victory
Game date: 1846AD
Turns played: 293
Base score: 982
Final score: 1693
Time played: 5:49:00
Submitted save: Boudicca_0293 AD-1846.Civ5Save
Renamed file: Thresian_C504001.Civ5Save

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Not very good. I got off to a slow start - I had the same problem as Dan4GS with early declarations from the first few civs I met. I also don't have a handle on how many RAs/GSs I'm going to need to clear the tree. I ended up with 2 GSs too many, even without the Rationalism finisher.

Policies were all of tradition, patronage opener, all but the last policy in Rationalism. Things which could have been done better: (i) manage to get to Renaissance before 7th policy is due - harder now the PT sling-shot isn't available, (ii) more culture for the next 6 policies, so the Rationalism finisher can come at a useful time.

Wonders were the Leaning Tower, Notre Dame, the Porcelain Tower, the Statue of Liberty and the Christo Redentor (edit, and the Hubble Telescope!). There wasn't much point in building the Christo, but my city didn't have anything else to do, and it would have sped up the Rationalism finisher had I needed it (I still wasn't sure at this point whether I had enough bulbs to clear the tree). I probably ought to have built the GL - it would delay my settlers a bit, but then that might have stopped everyone wailing on me. Notre Dame was pointless - by the time it was finished I had bags of extra happiness from Ceremonial Burial.

Religion was Christianity, Ceremonial Burial, Swords into Plough-shares, Religious Community and Itinerant Preachers.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 40
Date submitted: 2012-07-17
Reference number: 26610
Your name: Dulahey
Your email: Moderator Action: Removed email address for security reasons
Game status: Science Victory
Game date: 1898AD
Turns played: 319
Base score: 892
Final score: 1415
Time played: 5:53:00
Submitted save: Boudicca_0319 AD-1898.Civ5Save
Renamed file: Dulahey_C504001.Civ5Save

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My first ever GOTM. First ever King difficulty. (normally just play Prince)

EDIT: Thank you for the e-mail removal. Didn't even notice it there. Also, my game crashed at one point later in the game. I just reloaded the most recent auto save which was about 3 turns back. Did all the same moves. Just wanted to mention it in case you guys looked it up and saw a reload in there.

Dulahey said:

My first ever GOTM. First ever King difficulty. (normally just play Prince)

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Welcome to GOTM.

Congrats om your win, best of luck in future.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 40
Date submitted: 2012-07-17
Reference number: 26612
Your name: dthompson32
Game status: Science Victory
Game date: 1854AD
Turns played: 297
Base score: 856
Final score: 1450
Time played: 6:10:00

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This was my first GOTM. I really enjoyed it, and was very happy for a finish under 300.

Religion was key to my strategy. I settled in place planning to build 4 cities only and to get the +2 bonus in each city. It worked well, I was first to a pantheon, first to a religion, and first to enhanced religion. I took Goddess of the Hunt, Interfaith Dialog, Pagodas, Mosques, and reduced missionary cost.

Used Tab's 4 city Tradition opener, building up to CBs for defense, until I realized I was alone on the island.

I was never at war throughout the entire game. See the attachment for the list of all my closest friends

Mistakes I made:
1) Not getting Writing soon enough, could have started my research a few turns earlier
2) Beelined to Education too late, ended up taking 2 commerce policies instead of opening rationalism with my 6th policy
3) Ignored a lot of Wonders that I could have taken cheap and increased my score
4) Probably took things in the wrong order and hurt my BPT in my rush to get to research labs
5) Made too many lumber mills and not enough trading posts. Ended up with only 650 BPT when I started using my Great Scientists.
6) Interfaith Dialog didn't work out so well, I got probably 1000 beakers total from it. Too much water to cross. I should have taken a happiness buff.
7) Not getting access to the Faith wonder on the island.
8) Not finding Byzantium until very late

Things that worked:
1) Tradition opener, it led to fabulous growth.
2) Using faith to get four GSs.
3) Pushing GSs using specialists. All told I bulbed 10 or 11 GSs.
4) Saving the GE from the Leaning Tower for the Hubble.

dthompson32 said:

This was my first GOTM. I really enjoyed it, and was very happy for a finish under 300.

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Welcome to GOTM.

Glad you enjoyed it, nice write ups and congrats on your win.

Game:Civ5 GOTM 40
Date submitted:2012-07-18
Reference number:26614
Your name:Osner
Game status:Science Victory
Game date:1812AD
Turns played:277
Base score:1036
Final score:1883
Time played:4:15:00
Submitted save:Boudicca_0277 AD-1814.Civ5Save
Renamed file:Osner_C504001.Civ5Save

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My first science victory with score below 300

Reference number: 26615
Game status: Science Victory
Game date: 1904AD
Turns played: 324
Base score: 1474
Final score: 2303

So I learned I don't do science victories on isolated maps well. I started okay, going full tradition and finding Carthage, Sweden, Mayans and Huns. Traded to them and bought settlers while I built wonders to start. Signed some RAs early, but think I should have switched farms to trading posts earlier to take full advantage of Rationalism.

Used the great admiral from Commerce to scout out the other civs. 100 turns of love fest. Around turn 175 I decided to go after Sweden and his Great Lighthouse, and to get some puppets. He had no allies so I denounced. I had no iron, but had allied a CS with 6 iron, and thus had 6 frigates and 6 privateers.

Then everything fell apart. His past supporters "reminded" me of their past relationships, and when I went to war Sweden... Ethiopa, Netherlands and Austria got ticked. They started denouncing, and a huge war broke out among a bunch of civs.

It was me, Carthage, Spain, Huns (Hun allies?!) on one side vs. the rest (Byz neutral). At first I was just at war with Sweden. I took him down to 1 city. Tried to get peace, but he refused and Dido wiped him out. Around turn 225, both Ethiopia and Netherlands DoW me. By that time I learned that my island had no iron or horses, but we had aluminum... and uranium!!!

Nuked Ethiopia 2x with a Carrier and bombs. Took 3 of his cities, including cap which was wasteland. Got 2 more cities in a peace deal, razed them. Brought nukes to Amsterdam and was almost ready to take his 2nd largest city, when he asked for peace. Random great prophet spawned near the end, which I took to Maya and wiped out his religion... ha!

Game: Civ5 GOTM 40
Date submitted: 2012-07-18
Reference number: 26617
Your name: juicegecko
Game status: Science Victory
Game date: 1956AD
Turns played: 376
Base score: 1255
Final score: 1673
Time played: 9:37:00
Submitted save: Boudicca_0376 AD-1956.Civ5Save

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I think this may be the third GotM that I manage to complete but I performed a little worse than I expected. It was fun nonetheless.

Perhaps I got carried away ferrying a constant stream of missionaries to Palenque and took too long to complete the science buildings.

I was playing mostly Emperor on vanilla but it will take some more King games to get used to the new mechanics... which is great because I'm really liking G&K.