TSG 124 After Action Report

Welcome to the TSG124 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.).

- Did you use your UU?
- How useful was your UA?
- Did you use spying to your advantage?
- Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?
- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
- Was Faith helpful to achieve victory? How?
- What Social Policies did you choose and in what order?
- What was your VC
- What techs did you prioritize ?

AAAAAAAARGH!
I spent 2 days on this stupid GOTM and I had to abandon it, mere 12 turns before completion due to a bug!

Basically I killed everyone except Sweden and Byzantium. I was going for a score victory and I would have succeded too but Byzantium started building space ship parts fast.

My plan was to give Sweden his capital back so when I knocked out Byzantiums I wouldn't accidently win and thats when it happened!



My unhappiness was recalculated, incorrectly bringing it to an impossible to manage number this late in the game and during war no less.

Edit- SOD IT, I can handle it! Finished the game.

Also what is this and does anyone elses game show this? I played the game in 1 straight sitting although I did go to work and eat whilst leaving it running so are multiple session made by the GoTM staff?



Edited just to prevent double posting.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 124
Date submitted: 2015-12-16 16:35:13
Reference number: 33636
Your name: x2madda
Game status: Time Victory
Game date: 2050AD
Turns played: 500
Base score: 5588
Final score: 5588
Time played: 23:03:00
Submitted save: TSG124_End.Civ5Save
Renamed file: x2madda_C512401.Civ5Save

- Did you use your UU?
Yes, I avoided upgrading them to cavalry for as long as I possibly could as the hit and run nature of them is invaluable.

- How useful was your UA?
N/A

- Did you use spying to your advantage?
Yes, I flipped a city state and used a diplomat to push cultural pressure.

- Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?
The map was very clever, you sneaky GoTM staff. I thought it was Pangea but finding out that it wasn't would have changed my plans had I gone for Sacred Shrines or land based domination. Thankfully due to a 2 scout start and great goody huts, I realized the map was deceptive.

- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
I almost exclusively play Prince since I PvP a lot and prince gives the AI the minimal of advantages. I may have to play King more now though. The AI was still its usual hamstrung self but they nabbed a few wonders from under me and they kept up both in tech and in land grabbing so it was fun to play.

- Was Faith helpful to achieve victory? How?
Yes, because it boosted my score.

- What Social Policies did you choose and in what order?
As many as I could get! Started tradition then liberty then ratonalism then opened freedom ideology before going patronage and piety.
Every policy gained, boosts score.

- What was your VC
Score. I knew it would be long and boring and most players will try for a fast VC rather than playing 23hrs like I did. Back of Taburnak & Acken

- What techs did you prioritize ?
Reading for great library and that was it. With that secured I knew my research would be fine for the rest of the game and it was.

The session count is likely because I played a few sessions before I decided to use that save as the start for this GotM

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 1525AD
Turns played: 215
Base score: 1573
Final score: 3658
Time played: 7:51:00

Initially I was going for score, but got bored due to large map and low difficulty. So I just took out the final capital and went for total domination instead. AI are so pathetic that they still had CB. Map is larger than usual but still only 8 civs total so it's very empty.

- Did you use your UU?
Of course they're the bread and butter for Mongolia, although I took 3 capitals with chariot archers before upgrading due to low difficulty.

- How useful was your UA?
Useless, didn't bother to train with CS since Greece is so close anyway.

- Did you use spying to your advantage?
Useless when I'm the first to Renaissance, but it caught 1 spy before I won.

- Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?
Slowed victory as I forgot to beeline Astronomy correctly so I was waiting with keshiks that can't swim for at least 10 turns. Also the initial continent was so large that it was the size of pangea, but with only 5 civs on it.

- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
Very early war, as soon as I can hook up horses and built chariot archers. Also hard built workers instead of stealing, and also brought workers since some AI don't even bother improving their capital when I conquer. Also no point to be nice or trade with AI, since they are too poor to pay, I just basically DoW every civ I meet. Also very willing to demand tribute from CS for extra gold.

- Was Faith helpful to achieve victory? How?
Built a shrine for pantheon, and basically ignored it when I'm warmongering, planted every prophets after the first for useless religion that gives slight happiness.

- What Social Policies did you choose and in what order?
Full liberty, patronage opener, full commerce, rationalism into secularism.

- What was your VC
Domination

- What techs did you prioritize ?
AH, lux tech, The Wheel, Horseback riding, Philosophy, Chivalry, Astronomy, Industrialization

Won on turn 285 by domination.

- Did you use your UU?
Used both extensively. Keshik/Khan combo is pretty OP.

- How useful was your UA?
Not very. I may have plinged a few CS units that were in my way, but I mostly ignored them

- Did you use spying to your advantage?
I think I stole 1 tech

- Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?
The big map made it take a while to conquer everything quickly. I messed up and forgot to send a melee unit along with my initial force across the ocean, which probably cost me around 20 turns.

- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
King is fairly easy. I probably should have been more aggressive.

- Was Faith helpful to achieve victory? How?
I mostly ignored faith, but I got a pantheon after getting faith from a ruins. Most of the good pantheons were gone, so I took culture from plantations. I ended up with a religion after taking Stonehenge and Brod from Athens. I got the tithe belief, which gave me a little bit of gold. I built some faith buildings from other religions, which got me some extra happiness.

- What Social Policies did you choose and in what order?
Full honor -> right side of liberty -> left side of commerce -> rationalism

- What was your VC
Domination

- What techs did you prioritize ?
Animal husbandry, writing, calendar, wheel, chiv, astronomy

I messed up early and let Alex take one of my expansions. I got it back in short order, but it slowed me down since I was short horses for a few turns. Fun game though. My last game with Mongolia, I won after turn 400, so this went a lot better. I still have room for improvement.

Your name: vadalaz
Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1230AD
Turns played: 183
Base score: 744
Final score: 2066
Time played: 3:01:00

Went for Sacred Sites as the map had a lot of wine resources. Should've been a T178 but Greece managed to found an annoying city the turn before I'd have eliminated them. Got one natural GM and one more from Liberty and bombed Poland.

- Did you use your UU?
To kill Greece, yes.

- How useful was your UA?
Absolutely useless

- Did you use spying to your advantage?
No

- Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?
Had to delay expansion and actually grow the capital to get Astronomy in a decent time. It's an interesting change of pace. It's not often I get the theming bonus from Great Library in a Sacred Sites game.

- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
Went for GL because it's King, ignored military for a very long time as well

- What Social Policies did you choose and in what order?
Liberty left side - full Piety - full Liberty

- What techs did you prioritize ?
Education, Astronomy, Chivalry, Acoustics

Game: Civ5 GOTM 124
Date submitted: 2015-12-18 01:31:51
Reference number: 33642
Your name: ZerrorR
Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1900AD
Turns played: 320
Base score: 1802
Final score: 2815
Time played: 16:45:00
Submitted save: ZerrorrGenghis Khan_0320 AD-1900.Civ5Save
Renamed file: ZerrorR_C512401.Civ5Save

- Did you use your UU?
practicly the backbone for viping out Alex and Cathy
- How useful was your UA?
I took Ormus by force. decent city on coast, since all other cities /including alex/ were inland. plus it provoked greece into attacking me...
- Did you use spying to your advantage?
nah
- Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?
it would be more interesting if raging barbs were on. on large map with fewer civs there are lots of spawning points. It would bi nice to know if anyone explored other continent before astronomy. it was possible.
- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
it was slow. Ai doesnt have any money.
- Was Faith helpful to achieve victory? How?
sacred sites
- What Social Policies did you choose and in what order?
started wit trad/lib combo for max culture, gone full piety, finished lib, full rationalism, took only two order tenets for happiness boost.
- What was your VC
culture Sacred sites. I tried it for the first time.

Actually I never played domination with Mongolia, so I had to try it. Those logistics/range keshiks are just incredible. Feels like playing with cheats on...

Civ5 GOTM 124
Date submitted: 2015-12-18 21:48:42
Reference number: 33645
Your name: Gustavus Rex
Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 1505AD
Turns played: 211
Base score: 1090
Final score: 2595
Time played: 2:25:00
Submitted save: Genghis Khan_0211 AD-1505.Civ5Save
Renamed file: Gustavus_Rex_C512401.Civ5Save



I lost one of my three horsemen and instinctively reloaded the turn, but I realized the mistake and loaded back and never replayed the turn. Hope it's allright?


- Did you use your UU?

Yes. I used Keshiks and Khans at their full potential! Built as many as the map allowed me!


- How useful was your UA?

I did not need to conquer any city state but the fast horse units were used for the entire domination-part of the game.


- Did you use spying to your advantage?

Not much. I used the spy to take a look at the Attilas capital on the other continent.


- Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?

Not really, just had to remember belining Astronomy, witch I did. Beeing a large map it took longer time then on a smaller, but it was never a problem.

- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?

I built early workers of my own since I didn't think there would be any to steal in the beginning. I buildt pyramids in an expo instead of the capital witch I would do on Immortal+ since I wanted it.

- Was Faith helpful to achieve victory? How?

No. I totally ignored faith and religion in this game.


- What Social Policies did you choose and in what order?

Honor left side to military caste, then the free general to grab some more horses. Then I opened liberty to build the pyramids in an expo for more and faster workers. took two more policys in liberty before filling out honor. I opened exploration for better wiew in the seas.

- What was your VC

Domination

- What techs did you prioritize ?

Animal husbandry first to see were I could find horses, then calendar for luxuries, then philosophy for NC. Then Chivalry for Keshiks, making sure I build three horsemen to acompany them. After Chivalry I went straight for Astronomy to bring them over the seas!

Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1848AD
Turns played: 294
Base score: 1817
Final score: 3132

I ended up taking a roundabout way to this victory. Started with a 3 city science oriented tradition core, then had to deal with Greece. Then I had so much fun using the Keshiks for dealing with Greece, I decided to make a few more and clear my continent. I eventually annexed all the capitals and 2 coast cities to link up with the non-coast capitals, and razed everything else. Then used Harbors to connect everything instead of running roads through 40 odd hexes of empty space. I didn't explore the oceans until my continent was completely cleared of the other 4 civs and then went and became friends with the other continent.

Social policies were eventually full tradition, full patronage, full rationalism, and a bunch in Freedom. I had to take 1 point in Honor in self defense to see when barbs popped up in my expansive interior. Luckily my collection of Keshiks easily dealt with the constant barbs.

After that it was just a steady build up of my infrastructure, and I managed to time scientists and oxford and the rationalism finisher to only have two votes before the world leader vote.

One random funny thing. On the first world congress I picked the World Fair, someone else banned a luxury. When it came time to vote I only had 3 votes, if I recall, (1 + 2 from forbidden palace. i wasn't the one that found everyone) and put them all towards voting against the ban because I had that luxury. All 3 of the other civs voted in favor of the Ban, so they won 4-3. And NO ONE voted for the World Fair. I believe that is the first game I've ever played where the world fair didn't succeed.

I'm actually loading back to 1 turn before my Dom V and see what score I can get in a time game if I continued it. It wont be submitted of course but I want it as a comparison for score. It'll be tricky to get all 3 ideology wonders but I'll use the strategy of flipping ideology via world ideology proposals.

Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 1913AD
Turns played: 333
Base score: 2333
Final score: 3534

- Did you use your UU?
Yes, to clear my continent. I didn't use them at all on the other continent.

- How useful was your UA?
I didn't fight with the CS's at all. When I declared war on a civ, I bought-out their CS allies first. A militaristic CS gave me a knight and several Mandelaku Cavalries, which were *very* handy for capturing cities. So I didn't have to be quite so careful with my one non-upgraded horseman.

- Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?
The continent was much bigger than I expected. After it was all mine, I had to wait until battleships to take the other continent. That really slowed me down. If I had conquered my continent in a different order and burned more of the cities, I might could've attacked Constantinople at Navigation. Lack of coal was also a problem.

- Was Faith helpful to achieve victory? How?
Gold from Tithe, and I faith-bought and bulbed a couple of GS's to get battleships quicker.

- What Social Policies did you choose and in what order?
Left side of Liberty, full Honor, two more in Liberty (I saved Representation finisher until near the end when I had lots of trading posts), full Rationalism, Order (5 policies), and finally the Exploration opener. I mostly took happiness policies every chance I got because I had so many cities.

- What techs did you prioritize ?
Animal Husbandry, Chivalry, Industrialization, Electronics.

First DomV gotm!

- Did you use your UU?
Very fun with keshiks, nice and OP.

- How useful was your UA?
No CS fighting, so not useful. In hindsight, I might have trained a bit on them, but my army was pretty active the whole time so there was not a lot of downtime in which to fight.

- Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?
It took a while to get to Attilla's continent, but I timed astronomy pretty well with finishing my continent off, so nbd really. I got messed up by Sweden pretty hard with their foresty fortress, until I had Keshiks that could hit-and-run up a mountain to actually be able to see the cities...

- Was Faith helpful to achieve victory? How?
Not really; after I nabbed Arabia, I got some extra food, but nothing big.

- What Social Policies did you choose and in what order?
Left Liberty, Right Honor, Right Liberty, and by then things were rolling so I just took Rationalism out of obligation.

- What techs did you prioritize ?
Chivalry of course, but on the way, I took an early 2-city NC with philosophy, grabbed The Wheel for chariot archers, beelined Currency for petra (giving me a gnarly desert city), and then unfortunately had to stop by construction for Colloseum.

The low unique luxes were a challenge, but once colloseums were coming up, it turned out OK. And since Attilla was busy murdering the other continent, wonders were very easy to grab! ^.^

Game: Civ5 GOTM 124
Date submitted: 2015-12-20 15:51:49
Reference number: 33648
Your name: fishbackpack
Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 1370AD
Turns played: 197
Base score: 1087
Final score: 2787
Time played: 4:13:00
Submitted save: TSG124_WJIN.Civ5Save
Renamed file: fishbackpack_C512401.Civ5Save

Game: Civ5 GOTM 124
Date submitted: 2015-12-20 21:25:13
Reference number: 33650
Your name: Dexter
Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 1390AD
Turns played: 199
Base score: 1106
Final score: 2835
Time played: 4:53:00
Submitted save: Dexter_Genghis Khan_0200 AD-1400.Civ5Save
Renamed file: Dexter_C512401.Civ5Save

Did you use your UU?
Absolutely, Keshiks and Khans were the bedrock of the horde.

How useful was your UA?
Didn't attack any of the CSs although I guess the extra movement for mounted units was useful.

Did you use spying to your advantage?
Not really required, did use my one spy to observe Warsaw before war with Poland and then later used it to ally a CS.

Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?
It did slow me down during the wait for Astronomy so I could get my horde over the sea. So obviously Pangea would be much quicker. It was only at the end that I realised there was a coastal route to the other continent.

How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
Definitely slows things down with teching, however, so much easier for war. My enemies barely had any military at all to threaten my horde. I was able to wipe out Greece and take Mecca from Arabia with Chariots, before upgrading and wiping out Sweden and Russia with Keshiks. Then it was over to the other continent to sweep through Poland, the Huns and Byzantium. Poland was probably the toughest enemy but only because they had the Great Wall. Could've saved myself a few more turns if I'd built it myself to prevent someone else getting it.

Was Faith helpful to achieve victory? How?
I did get a religion but wasn't hugely helpful. For some reason I didn't choose a religious building, which might've been helpful for happiness, but in the end I wasn't worried about city growth and therefore not bothered with negative happiness late on.

What Social Policies did you choose and in what order?
Full liberty, left side first, then into full Honour, again left side first for faster promotions. Had one spare policy at the end so took the Commerce opener.

What was your VC
Domination.

What techs did you prioritize?
The Wheel for Chariots then Philosophy for National College, before beelining Chivalry for Keshiks and Astronomy to cross the ocean.

Dexter said:

Poland was probably the toughest enemy but only because they had the Great Wall. Could've saved myself a few more turns if I'd built it myself to prevent someone else getting it.

Click to expand...

In my game, Theodora built the Great Wall and Red Fort and I think Himeji Castle. Constantinople (I renamed it Istanbul) had a strength of 100 when the other AI capitals were 40-something and (iirc) my best cities were in the high 50's. Great Wall doesn't help much against a naval attack, tho'.

Your name: Wild_Woojsha
Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 1440AD
Turns played: 204
Base score: 993
Final score: 2482

- Did you use your UU?

For almost every capital except the first, and they were chariot archers then.

- How useful was your UA?

It was alright.

- Did you use spying to your advantage?

Killed a lot of spies in my capital

- Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?

Hinder, Keshiks don't swim very well.

- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?

It slowed me down immensely. Keshiks need units to train on, not cities to capture in 2 turns...

- Was Faith helpful to achieve victory? How?

Didn't even build a shrine, yet I enhanced my religion anyway somehow.

- What Social Policies did you choose and in what order?

Full Liberty, 4 in Commerce, 2 in Exploration, and then opened Honor to keep barbarians away

- What was your VC


Domination, because I wanted to see just how fast I could do it.

- What techs did you prioritize ?

The wheel for chariots, Chivalry obviously, Then Navigation. No other techs were needed, so I just backfilled.

A very fun game, however it seemed slow. I am not sure why it took me until turn 165 to research Astronomy. Luckily Attila went to the trouble of capturing Poland for me, and then when I captured his capital he gave me the two cities he built leading straight to it in a Peace deal. I used Chariots to take Alex's capital, then keshiks to take the rest of the continent and Theo. I popped a ruin on the other continent with a Keshik and it gave me Cavalry when I was still working on Printing press! I captured Attila's court with a caraval, and my usual three frigates were happily there to help, and then I marched everyone down to Warsaw for the final blow once the peace treaty expired. I was hoping to beat 200 turns, but whatever, close enough. Looking forward to seeing who wins the speed contest on this one!

Sclb said:

I'm actually loading back to 1 turn before my Dom V and see what score I can get in a time game if I continued it. It wont be submitted of course but I want it as a comparison for score. It'll be tricky to get all 3 ideology wonders but I'll use the strategy of flipping ideology via world ideology proposals.

Click to expand...

Ive never seen that pulled off, if you do manage it post the save if you could

@wild_woojsha Fortunately, your Christmas was not ruined

Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk

9377 score time victory

I've already submitted a Domination so this is just there for comparison.
Constructed all 3 ideology wonders. First order's Kremlin, then flipped to autocracy for Prora by proposing world ideology, then repealed, then proposed freedom for SoL. There's only 1 AI civ remaining, so it wasn't possible without this trick, even if that AI can tech into modern era. Could push capital population a lot more if I checked its happiness surplus earlier. Religion is where the weakest link is. I don't have a good religion with happiness and it's too difficult to erase AI's strong religion so I just kept AI religion. Otherwise it could be an easy 3 more pop per city plus much higher religion score. Average city size is 33.1, so it could've been 10% more population.

Score breakdown:
297 - cities
4935 - population
881 - land
1175 - wonders
320 - technology
1340 - future tech
121 - religion
248 - policies
60 - great works



It is obviously possible to win any of the other VC by reloading the last 10 turns.

ZerrorR said:

@wild_woojsha Fortunately, your Christmas was not ruined

Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

No it was not, not that this could ruin my Christmas but it would have been pretty mean nonetheless. I haven't had a chance to play with Keshiks yet, they are almost as good as Horse Archers! Almost...