The Phase Wars - OCC to Domination (Emperor, 1.14)

Okay, so you've heard of OCC (one city challenge)? And you might even have played 5CC. There's also a 10CC as well, and everyone knows all about domination. But now you've got the chance to play them all together. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we're going on a whistle-stop tour from one city to domination. I think you'd better fasten those safety belts...

This game will be governed by the turn clock. From the start of the game (4000BC) until 10BC, we are restricted to one city. We can do whatever we like with that city, but we may not build/capture/extort another. As soon as we hit the AD years, the game expands to a 5CC, which will almost certainly require a war against superior opponents since there is unlikely to be any spare land. We are restricted to 5 cities until 500AD, after which we may expand to 10 cities (note, this does not mean we *have* to have 10 cities, it just means we can have no more than 10 cities). After 1000AD all city restrictions are lifted, and we go for domination ASAP. The idea is that we will be fighting wars in different phases and different eras and each time we will be fighting larger and perhaps more advanced opponents, so warring skills will certainly be tested. But diplomatic and trading skills will also be important in keeping up with emperor AIs when they have many more cities than us.

Difficulty: Emperor, PATCH 1.14 PTW

Map: standard, pangaea, 80% water, random climate/rainfall/age

Civilizations: we may choose our civ, but I am stipulating any non-expansionist (the reason for this is that expansionist civs sometimes get advanced tribes joining them when they pop a hut, and I interpret OCC/5CC very strictly, meaning AT NO POINT may we have more than this many cities). We will have 7 random rivals

Rules: barbarians are RAGING. All victory conditions are enabled, but we will consider anything other than domination as a loss. Culture-linked start positions and respawn are OFF. With regard to gameplay, exploits are forbidden (ROP rape, negative science etc) but dastardly actions (breaking treaties, sneak attacks that are not ROP rapes, razing cities etc) are allowed though we should be careful about soiling our reputation when we may well have to trade gpt for techs. In any such situation, I ask that the player uses their own judgement in deciding if something dubious is an exploit or simply dastardly and if not sure, to consult the group for an interpretation.

Etiquette: standard 24 hours for "got it" post, a further 48 to play; but with plenty of flexibility if anyone has any problems.

Signed up:

Nad

Firm Interest:

Aggie
Meli
Grimjack
[please reconfirm]

A roster of 6 players would be best, so if anyone is interested, please declare so we can get this show running. Also, if we could have input on what civ we would like to be and any early strategies (India has so far been mentioned as a good civ as jumbos do not require resources. I would also throw in Germany as a possibility, China, Persia, Greece?)

Please move me from firm interest to signed-up...

Been sitting around the forums all morning waiting for this thread

Melifluous

Not signing up (too busy right now irl, and my emperor skills are spotty at best), but this looks interesting and I'll keep a close eye on it.
I would probably not do Persia or Greece, because you'll probably want a later Golden Age (and also, what happens if your city is nowhere near Iron? Persia would be hosed)

Signed up:

Nad
Meli

At ChrTh: resources are gonna be a problem no matter which civ we choose (other than india!) and that's part of the fun of the game. At 10 AD on Emperor, we are likely to be in the early Middle Ages, so we have to get resources otherwise we'd be fighting with archers! Therefore trade routes will be an important part of the OCC years

Originally posted by Nad

At ChrTh: resources are gonna be a problem no matter which civ we choose (other than india!) and that's part of the fun of the game. At 10 AD on Emperor, we are likely to be in the early Middle Ages, so we have to get resources otherwise we'd be fighting with archers! Therefore trade routes will be an important part of the OCC years

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Right, but later in the game it'll be less of a problem; I imagine that when the time comes to expand to 5 cities, the nearest 4 won't necessarily be the primary targets, but those that take advantage of nearby resources. At that point in time, the Immortal is probably useless, but other resource-dependent UUs are more viable (even if you can only build them in one city).

In any case, though, you probably want to save your GA to as late as possible (once you hit the 10-city maximum, I reckon)...building wonders will be nigh-impossible, so you don't need to worry about that...running a Civ with an Ancient Age (or even early Middle Age) UU will probably result in a wasted GA, so I would recommend against it on general principle.

EDIT: Of course, you can avoid the whole problem by playing Korea Just build a Wonder when you're ready.

@ ChrTh: point taken about GA

However, we certainly should be able to get a couple of ancient wonders. We won't want to build up our military until around 500BC because before that the unit costs would stifle our economy, which gives us plenty of time for some wonders before that (Great Library will obviously be valuable, Pyramids would be a big help to build up the 4 cities we take in the first shift)

I'm in!! Emperor sounds like a real challenge. I like India, but Germany and China are also great.

Signed up:
Nad
Meli
Aggie

So far 1 vote for India (Aggie); what's your civ preference Meli?

Sign me up if you have an open spot !

I'm neutral about the civ choice; Some thoughts are that we'll probably want a commercial civ so we can beeline to writing and literature straight away, and if we're going for the Pyramids too, how about an industrious civ ? We could build them from the word go. That suggests France or Carthage, preferably France to avoid an early GA.
The advantage of the early Pyramids is moreover that you don't run the risk of a Pyramids cascade taking out TGL. OTOH, if you're intent on a coastal start, scientific (starts with BW) might be better for getting the Colossus.
A final consideration is that we're going to have to dominate from a late start, which means a late UU. Sipahi anyone ? The only problem with those is that you must avoid getting both the Pyramids and TGL. Panzers would also be good - simply avoid building the earlier militaristic wonders to avoid the GA.

To summarize, my vote would be, in order: 1) France 2) Germany 3) India

Signed Up

Nad
Meli
Aggie
Jack Merchant

Sa far, one vote for India and one for France (I'm holding off my vote as I'm happy to go with whatever if there's a majority. If there is a tie for which civ we would like to be, I will make a casting vote).

OK the more I think about this one the more I like india.

Commercial so we start with Alphabet.
Also if our latest cities are on resources rather than close to the capital then this would help reduce corruption.

Also Religious so we can build temples immediately and cheaply.
Also later cathedrals...

A UU early in our expand to 5 city phase at the latest, would help us build up those cities quick.



Melifluous

May I join ? I'm fairly new to succession games, but I've already beaten Emperor in my solo games without too much problem. The thing is... I've never played such crazy rules like OCC, 5CC, AW... But i'll gladly learn all that you guys could say. I feel that there won't be much to do in the beginning, since there will only be one city to manage, so I'm not scared ! If there is a lot of discussion between turns, then I could do my best to help the team.

If you accept a newcomer, I'll be happy to play, maybe in the last position, so as to see how it starts ?

kryszcztov, with Nad, Jack Merchant, Grimjack (I hope), Meli and me on the team you don't have to be afariad that there's no discussion

kryscztov: you can join on one condition...that I can call you krys
What civ would you prefer to play as?

Nad, there is no problem at all !!! That's how they called me when I was in England and Ireland. May I call you Nad ?

Well, for a civ... We won't play an expansionnist civ, as mentionned, because of the free settler or tribe that can pop up in goody huts. I'd rather play as an industrious civ, because I like to and because we'll be quite late in the ADs in the tile improvement field. And maybe the commercial trait would be nice indeed, so as we start with Alphabet. So France is ok for me. Or Greece to have both Alphabet and Bronze Working from the start, and have Hoplites, which hopefully won't trigger a Golden Age before we get a few towns. Or India to have War Elephants without the resources problem. Ottomans could be good too, with a great Sipahi war. Maybe Persians ?

My choice : FRANCE, India, Ottomans, Greece, and Persia.

Looking forward to this game !

2 votes each for France and India. I'm happy with either. We have 5 signed up with Grimjack interested, awaiting final confirmation. 6 is great for a SG, 7 would be a maximum, so we're almost ready to start. I'm just gonna hold for a few hours (maybe until Monday morning) for Grimjack to reconfirm or for anyone else to join, and for their votes on civ.

Sign me up. I vote India also. Stomping with Elephants would be fun.

Grimjack

So the oldtimers of Warmonger delight vote for India Welcome Grimjack. It wouldn't be the same without you

Originally posted by Aggie
Welcome Grimjack. It wouldn't be the same without you

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yeah too right ...

I remember when you asked to join our SG with your first post on CFC, I was a little apprehensive and in your first 10 you destroyed the Chinese...

Lets kick some...

Melifluous

In the light of the emerging consensus apparent here on that matter, I'll agree with India. Wouldn't want to annoy the old-timers
Just remember that we must not build the Colossus now.