Conquest 04: Final Spoiler

ainwood

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This will be the last spoiler for Conquest Of The Month 04: Mayans.

As the Mayan Empire expanded over the home continent, you would have started consolidating a plan to close-out the game. Here's your chance to share! :D

The only qualification for this spoiler is that you must have reached the Modern age, or completed the game. Please don't post screenshots of modern-age resources.
 
Open

Goal: 100K Culture

At the end of the Middle Ages, I was just finishing off the Iroquois. And so, this tale begins with the conclusion of…

The Mayan – Iroqouis War of 1150 – 1305 (part 2)

1275 – Capture Mauch Chunk
1280 – Link up the saltpetre on my new island. Capture Grand River.
1285 – Capture St. Regis. Capture Oil Springs.
1290 – C Itza builds Shakespeare’s Theater. Capture Cattaraugus. Learn Steam Power. Also learn that we have no coal on our continent… great :rolleyes: . Oh well, its not such a big deal, the extra points gained from railroad development would not be too great before our 100K win… or would they?
1295 – Capture Centralia. Capture Salamanca and the Great Wall.
1300 – Capture Alleghany.
1305 – Capture Niagra Falls. Capture Akwesasne -> MGL no.6 and the Iroquois have been destroyed. :)

My ambition now is to acquire all techs in the Ind age which will allow me to build culture improvements, wonders and hospitals, then turn off research and rush buy everything I need to get a quicker 100K victory. With the spare armies I have, I may as well conquer France to secure some coal to let my slave workers have something to do. And so begins…

The Mayan Era of Culture

1315 - Ek Balam Found.
1320 – Learn Industrialization.
1325 – Copan Builds Newton’s Uni. Found Tazumal.
1335 – Found Cozumel.
1340 – Learn The Corporation. We land on French shores.
1345 – The French ask us to leave. We DW on them.
1350 – Capture Orleans.
1355 – Build Smiths TC in Quirigua, and build the Pentagon in Yaxchilian.
1370 – Learn electricity.
1375 – Capture Paris, The Oracle, and a supply of coal. Woohoo! :D
1380 – The Celts sneak attack us. And redline all our armies stationed in Paris :eek: . Sign Alliances against the Celts with every remaining civ. And donate the cities of Orleans and Paris to friendly civs in order for teleportation of wounded armies.
1390 – Capture Cataractonium. Learn Medicine.
1410 – Learn Scientific Method.
1435 – Learn Replacable Parts.
1455 – Learn Sanitation. I turn off research at this point.
1490 – Yaxchilian builds the Military Academy. Redeclare war on France.
1500 – Boston builds ToE and we choose Atomics and electronics.
1515 – Copan builds Wall Street. We liberate Paris. Then go on a railroad frenzy. :crazyeye:
1520 – C Itza builds the Universal Suffrage.
1580 – The Sumerians sneak attack me in Paris. Wow! I’ve never seen the AI sneak attack me when I’m so overwhelmingly powerful. They must have balls. I know I will win soon, so can’t be bothered with the war. Draft in all friendly civs to attack Sumeria.
1610 – C Itza builds the Hoover Dam.
1615 – Quirigua builds Battlefield Medicine.

As a final insult, the solitary French city of Rheims allies against us in 1685AD with Sumeria :lol: , but it’s too late.

1685 – Mayans achieve a 100K cultural victory.

Firaxis Score – 5625
Jason – 6888 (my best yet!)

I feel as though my game has improved greatly, as my wars were fought pretty efficiently. The tech rate was slow on my continent, and by the time I had saltpetre linked up and was able to travel across the ocean, the others almost had cavalry of their own. Therefore I think the 100K goal was the right choice to make. If only I could be bothered to micromanage a bit more past the first 80 turns then I might start getting scores of 8000+. I was very impressed with SirPleb’s comment that he was getting 2000cpt. Even after I had rushed a full complement of cultural buildings in every town I possessed, I was still only reaching ~ 1250cpt. Perhaps researching the top half of the tree in the Middle Ages might have suited me more, but I was convinced that a quick cavalry run would be cleaner in the long run. Shame that my cavalry gambit was pointless.

Thanks for an enjoyable map anyway Ainwood. I spent many sleepless nights thinking where my swordsmen would venture next. :)
 

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Pre-industrial Status: I own the starting continent and the salpeter island.

I went for an easy diplo win because I was sick of the time consuming warfare required for conquest or domination, to which the l337 players would beat me anyway. During the industrial era I had seconds thoughts about it for two completely different reasons:
1) I was so much more powerful than the Civs sharing the 'other' continent that it wouldn't have taken alot more effort... I had 50 cavs and three armies while they were inventing fire so to speak.
2) The industrial age was boring, which I found out was worse than tiring warfare. Despite advancing the scientific civs a whole era (the middle ages), I was researching at an average of a tech/5 turns, which the AI couldn't keep up with.

I sticked to my goal nevertheless, in the faint hope of getting the quickest diplo victory. One questionable decision I did make, namely to forego Sanitition as it's not a required tech. I had a pretty tightly packed core so I wouldn't have gained much population, but still... I can't help wondering how much the extra population (scientists!) would have helped. As such, I was in the strange situation of railroading, yet gaining little from it; core and semi-core cities had most if not all the city improvements so the extra production from mines was not important. I guess the results will clarify :)

Oh, one overseas war required to get to the coal. The Celts had the closest one and as such, needed to lose their seat in the UN. The dogpile I used for it was helpful in making the rest of world polite or gracious to me.

Diplo in 1585 AD if I remember correctly.
 
Only Info I can through out is my final score was 5713, I won a cultural victory (16k+) ONE TURN before my spaceship was going to launch <sigh>
 
Open.
Quickie before I get home and can expand:
UN victory in 1545, Jason 7100-ish, some could/would/should'ves to add :)

Neil. :cool:
 
Open

<ancient age link>
<middle ages link>

Once in the middle ages I raced to steam power and hurray, we again do not have coal :( I stopped the game for some hours and resumed it with the deceision not to go for coal. I would have had to options: getting it via force from Theo or gifting the Hittites, which were the only civ with two sources, to Steam Power and trade with them. I did not do the first because I only had one ship and no cavs while Theo had muskets. I did not do the second because it would bring all civs on parity again and the Hittites did not have their second sorce connected. I could sign ROP, sail over and do it for them, but at best it would have saved me 5 or 6 turns on my way to 20k, probably none at all. Third cotm without any nearby coal - a builder's nightmare.

I researched to industrialization to get at least a factory, then to replaceable parts to get enough defense to stay at peace and finally to scientific method. I built The Theory of Evolution which gave me atomic theory and electronics. I built a hydro plant in Chichén Itza and researched the cooperation as last tech for a long time. Close to the end I bought nationalism and researched espionage to build The Intelligence Agency. One last town was built on the rubber source sw of Chichén Itza once it was visible.

All cities got micromanaged to size 12 and the following list of improvements were either built or rushed:

barracks
granary (from Pyramids)
temple
market
library
court
bank
cathedral
university
hydro plant (from Hoover's)
stock exchange

Luxury was raised so that all people were happy besides some taxmen in Chichén Itza, which had no tile to work. After the last wonder (Hoover Dam) was finished in Chichén Itza, I irrigated the town and joined as many workers as possible to it.

Culture buildings in Chichén Itza:

Heroic Epic 1360AD
Smith's 1475AD
Theory of Evolution 1535AD
Universal Suffrage 1605AD
Wall Street 1630AD
Military Academy 1660AD
Intelligence Agency 1690AD
Hoover Dam 1750AD

Game result:

Entry class: open
Game status: Cultural 20k Victory for Maya
Game date: 1772 AD
Firaxis score: 2354
Jason score: 4335
Time played: 30:22:04
 
First submission; when I've played GOTM before I've tended not to finish during the month for one reason or another.

I really had to grind it out in this one, with three long wars against superior numbers. In early AA while I was skirmishing with America over the lux and iron in north, Montezuma pounced with a huge stack of mostly archers and took 2 of my 10 cities. With javs and then swords i gradually beat them back, eventually enslaving at least 50 workers. Maybe 100. But it was pretty touch and go at the beginning.

America fell to cavs pretty readily (i was able to jam a settler in on gunpowder island between two american towns).

At this point i was in second in power behind Celts, who had MPP with 3rd place Iriquois; and Hiawatha had the only oil on home continent. I MPP'ed with all the minor civs on Celts continent to keep them occupied, and then launched into centuries of Infantry/Artillery vs. rifleman/trebuchet war against Hiawatha. The breakthrough finally came when some infantry armies were able to outflank the onslaught of rifles and cut rail lines, preventing them from trying to entrench in the borderland mountains.

Celts had kept pace, taking several cities from everyone except French, so I decided to intervene directly on that continent. The coalition was crumbling and my diplomatic prestige was lacking so I built UN just to prevent elections. One thing lead to another and I ended up slogging through most of Celts territory with tanks / mech inf; fighting on multiple fronts every time some two-bit interloper (Hittites, Sumeria, Germany) wanted to get a piece. MArmor and some TOW (in helicopters) accelerated the pace 2 or 3x when they finally hit the scene.

Result: Riduculously long and bloody world war with modern era domination win.
 
COTM04_Open

My game in short: During the Ancient Times I expanded peacefully, setting up a Settler-factory in Chichén Itza and grabbing Horses, Iron, Silks and Spices. During the Middle Ages (510 BC - 770 AD) I took the continent by force, destroying America, Aztecs, Iroquois and Spain in that order. At the very end of the Middle Ages, I discovered the other continent. The Industrial Age was just a question of taking as much land as possible on the other continent. I took on the Byzantines first, and they fell quickly during the period of 820 to 900 AD, losing 13 cities to us. Next up was France, from whom I took 11 cities from 940 to 1020 AD. Then I took 2 cities from the Celts in 1040 and 1080, before taking 9 cities from the Sumerians from 1100 to 1150. From 1160 to 1200 we took 7 more cities from the Celts, and then we finally moved back to the Sumerians again and took the final 2 cities we needed to cross the domination limit for a Domination Win in 1255 AD, scoring 6218 Firaxis points and 9060 Jason points.

*** Ancient Times ***

*** Middle Ages ***

*** Industrial Age ***

790 AD - We meet Sumeria. They're just as backwards as everyone else.

820 AD - We declare war on the Byzantines, and unload our Knight Army along with 6 Veteran Cavalry and 2 Elite Knights just outside Constantinople.

830 AD - Our units kill the 6 defending Pikemen, and take Constantinople and The Colossus! Uxmal founded on the former Aztec tundra in the south. We discover Steam Power, and find out about a serious lack of Coal...

840 AD - Our Cavalry Army takes Adrianople. We also capture Varna.

850 AD - We spot a source of Coal outside Caesarea!

860 AD - We take Nicaea and Caesarea, with it's Coal.

870 AD - We capture Smyrna with Dyes.

890 AD - We have hooked up the Coal outside Caesarea. We capture Heraclea and Tsetserleg. Mayapán founded on the southern tundra.

900 AD - We capture Erdenet and Trebizond, and then make peace for three more towns and some gold.

910 AD - Kabáh founded on the Salpeter island.

920 AD - Aké founded on the Salpeter island.

940 AD - We declare war on France.

950 AD - Our troops walk into Lyons. We found Xcalumkin on the Salpeter island.

960 AD - We take Paris!

970 AD - We take Orleans, Marseilles and Avignon.

980 AD - The Sumerians have destroyed the Mongols. Taking Chartres, we get our third Great Leader. It builds a Cavalry Army.

990 AD - We capture Rouen.

1000 AD - Tours and Besancon fall into our greedy hands.

1020 AD - The Celts suddenly declare war on us and take Erdenet! We make peace with France for Dijon and Chartres, and send our units south to teach the Celts a lesson.

1040 AD - We re-take Erdenet and also capture Ratae Coritanorum on the east coast of the continent.

1060 AD - We lose one of our Cavalry Armies in a Celt attack on Erdenet. :(

1080 AD - We take Hovd, then make peace with the Celts for some gold. We'll attack Sumeria next. Chichén Itza completes Theory of Evolution.

1100 AD - We declare war on Sumeria and take Choybalsan.

1110 AD - Kazan captured.

1120 AD - Karakorum and Tabriz are ours. We get our fourth Great Leader.

1130 AD - We take Mandalgovi and get our fifth Great Leader.

1140 AD - We capture Almarikh and Kua.

1150 AD - We take Darhan, then make peace for Der.

1160 AD - We break the peace-treaty with the Celts, and take Ta-Tu and Kadesh.

1170 AD - Copán completes Hoover Dam.

1180 AD - We capture Ulanbaatar, Agendincum and Camulodonum.

1200 AD - We take Burdigala and Harran, but lose our trusty Knight Army to a Celtic Musketman. :(

1210 AD - We make peace with the Celts and declare war on the Sumerians again.

1240 AD - We take Hattusas from the Sumerians, but lose it again at the end of the turn, losing a Cavalry Army.

1250 AD - We take Hattusas again, as well as Ugarit, will this be enough to cross the Domination limit?

1255 AD - Yes, WE WIN A DOMINATION VICTORY!!!

Firaxis score: 6218

Jason score: 9060

Time Spent: 19 hours, 17 minutes and 20 seconds

My fastest ever victory (and I usually play on standard-sized maps!) and my highest ever score (and I usually play on Emperor difficulty!), so I am very happy about this result. More or less everything went exactly to plan this time! :D

-- Roland
 

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Open

As I entered the IA in 740, I was consolodating my continent and doing my best to research quickly.

The other continent was quite stupid when I found them. They did however have a valuable asset for me-3 scientific civs.

Once I entered the age of Industry, so did all three of them. The Byzantines and Germans got Steam, and Sumeria got Nationalism. Not the best situation, but not bad either. I'm glad that they got steam at all. With that in hand, I research Medicine and traded it for Steam. As I had around 40% of the world area, one would figure there would be one source of coal. But of course not....Ainwood, you are an evil, evil administrator...I love it :lol:

Naturally, this forced me to get off of my comfy continent and go looking for some coal. Of course the backward people of the other continent either had only one source a piece or they didn't have any hooked up. I was about to wait, so I looked for the most accessible source. This turned out to be at Ceasarea in the Byzantine homeland. With that, I upgraded some horses to knights, as someone must have "misplaced" the saltpeter as well :lol:
The knights were shipped over and in 960 Ceasarea was captured. I rushed a harbor, and the coal was soon paving the way to rails all over the home continent.

I dabbled in some more warring, as I hit France quick for a city or two. Of course, my streak of getting sneak attacked kept on going with the Hittites in 1250. I held them off easily enough thoush. Knights vs. Infantry was fun to watch though :evil:

I kept researching as fast as I could, and was helped along by a few wonders in this age. I built Hoovers in 1275 and Smiths in 1305. Smiths helped a ton, giving me around +150 gpt to work with.

In 1335 I finally researched Motorized Transportation and went Modern.

Once I was modern, the three scientific civs followed again.This time, I was extremely pleased with the results, as the Germans, Byzantines, and Sumerians got Rocketry, Ecology, and Fission respectively. I quickly researched Computers and sent it to them and rounded up all three free techs.

On a side note, the Hittite bastards pulled another sneak attack in 1365. This time, I didn't let them off the hook so easily, as I created a couple tank armies and torched a few core cities before I let them have peace. It probably hurt my finish date a little, as WW hit and reduced research, but burning their cities and killing their people just felt so good. :evil:

In 1400 I finally completed ToE, grabbing Minaturization and Super Conductor. I switched a prebuild to the Internet and go that in 1425, greatly increasing my research. In 1440, I also added SETI in C.I. for more science power. IN 1455, I added the UN for good measure, along with the Mahattan Project in 1490.

I was ble to research most of the techs at a 4 turn pace, and when Robotics finished, the last part was completed, and our SS launched in 1525.
 
[c3c] 1.22f - Open Class

After clearing the starting continent in the Middle Ages, I found the Saltpeter Island and was build my invasion forces

Industrial Age

Mongols 1050AD - 1130AD - More lux

I began the invasion in 1050AD against the Mongols with 2 Knight armies, 4 Cavalry and 4 elite knights. I had held off upgrading all my elite knights to try for more Leaders. (Something, I normally haven't done. Lesson Learned!) I allied with the Celts and later Germans. Last Mongol city captured 1130AD. I got another MGL that year. The Mongols weren't eliminated nor did they ever build another city. But they stuck around for hundreds of years. I made peace with them when the MA with Celts expired. Germany sneak attacked around 1220AD. The net effect was 2 MGL in 1250AD and reverse WW.

Byzantines 1260AD - 1295AD - I needed coal!

With the discovery of Steam Power, I found I had a need for coal. The Byzantines were the closest. It didn't hurt that they also had incense. I waited for trades to expire and hit them from 3 sides. Land from the south. and two sea-borne invasions in the west and north. I capture all their continental cities by 1280AD. I made peace in 1295AD.

Germans 1295AD - 1400AD - They started it!

I allied and ROP with France 1295AD against Germany. Up until I had been just dealing with a trickle of weak units coming through the Celts. I was ready to invade through France. We split the 9 continental cities 5/4. I got all of the core. France, who had Knights, took the last one in 1325AD. I got another MGL for an army in 1320AD and build my first army the following year. I stayed at war with the German until 1400AD to avoid breaking my MA with France. I got a city on the tundra island from them.

Celts 1340AD - 1440AD - More lux

By 1340AD my trade with Celts had expired, so I started by grabbing my seventh lux (wine) by taking advantage of my ROP with France. I invite both France and Sumeria to join via MA. Celts had Musketmen and Knights. By this time I was product Infantry and Artillery and had 4 Cav Armies, 3 Knight armies and on empty waiting for tanks. The last Celtic continental cities were captured in 1385AD. I made peace in 1445AD when the MA's expired. I got their city on the saltpeter island for peace.

I discovered Flight in 1505AD and turned off research for one turn to await completion of ToE the following year. I took Fission and Computers as my free techs. I was at 60% of land and 83% pop but it was way too late for Domination or Conquest. My diversion on the research path and waiting for treaties to expire had taken too much time. I didn't want to go for culture or Spaceship. I wanted to complete the Histograph victory condition I missed in GOTM34. In GOTM34, had taken Computers and miniaturization to get internet for research and got a 100K victory through inattention. I took Fission to get UN, but since I did want a diplo victory and the other Civs we still in the MA, I should have taken Rocketry or Ecology instead.

IA Research:
Steam, Elec, RP, Ind, Medicine, Sci Method, Corp, Atomic Theory, Electronics, Sanitation, Refining, Steel, combustion, Mass Prod, Motor Trans, and Flight. I built all the IA wonders from using prebuilds to speed things up.



Modern Era

Sumerian 1525AD - 1565AD - 8th Lux

In 1525AD, I attacked the Sumerians to acquire my 8th luxury (ivory). I had 4 Tank, 4 Cav and 3 Knight armies assisted by Bombers and Mech Inf. It was slow going because most of the terrain to the east was Hills, Mountains, and Forested Tundra. Since, I so close to the Domination limit, I razed all their continental cities, except for UR which had ToA, by 1565AD. I later thought better keeping Ur and built settlers to disband the city along with the token Celt and German island cities I had extorted earlier.

Byzantines & Hittites - 1585AD - 1565AD - Because I could?

In 1585AD, I razed the Byzantine city that France had lost in a flip. I only wanted the one city so I made peace as soon as they would take to me. In 1590AD, I declare war on the Hittites. I made peace with the Hittites in 1625AD after razing 2 of their 3 cities.

France - 1670AD - 1715AD - Clear the second continent.

In 1670AD, I decided to do away with France. I an additional Modern Armor Army on their border and two more back on the home continent. I also had 20 Modern Armor and 30 Mech Inf available. I razed all their cities, except Paris which had JS Bach, by 1715AD when I made peace. While I was at it I destroyed the last Hittite city and the two from when they respawn in the far eastern tundra.

That left only the Byzantines, Sumerians and French (Both the Mongols and Germans had been eliminated over the years by the others).

Last war - 1802AD - 1838AD - Cleanup the other civs.

In 1802AD, after France and Sumeria had landed settlers on the second continent, I decided to remove the distractions. I destroyed the intruders and began shipping Modern Armor (2 armies and 6-7 units.) to the tundra island. I destroyed all the cities there and left the island to the barbarians except for a Mech Inf protecting the airfield I create there. France and Byzantines were eliminate and Sumeria was reduced to the 3 tile island near the original continent by 1838AD. It took a long time because the majority of the invasion was carried out with only one transport that was on the scene. I did have 6 Marines that I send from the home continent to destroy the Byzantine capitol on the 1-tile island. After the war I surrounded the Sumerian's last city with warships and continued to build more over time to keep them there. They never tried.



ME Research:
After the ToE boost, I researched Rocketry, Ecology, and Synthetic Fibers before going back for Espionage, Amphib War, and Advanced Flight which I finished in 1655AD. After that I researched Miniaturization, Genetics, Recycling, Nucs, Stealth, Superconductor, Satellites, Smart Weapons, and Integrated Defense which completed in 1830AD. I had traded for all the other optional techs except Ironclads which researched next. After that, I researched 17 Future techs on minimum settings.

Wonders:
I build all the modern wonders. I time the Manhattan Project and Internet to complete in 2050AD. The Internet messed me up last time. I didn't want to deal with the Nucs. In hindsight, I would probably not build Longevity as it increase my turn management time.

Histograph Strategy:
Obviously, the two main ways to screw up are the Dom limit and Culture.

I built temples throughout the game to expand borders but began to sell them off once the cities expansion was sufficient for maximum cities size. I had built Libraries and Universities in my productive cities. When my culture was around 55K, in the late 1700's, I calculated my cpt and ending culture. As I would exceed the 100K limit before 2050AD, I proceeded to sell off my libraries and Universities around that time. My ending culture was 77,370.

I expanded until I was around 50 tiles short of domination. Later, when I was more comfortable with culture expansion control, I took it down to 12 tiles short of the limit. Only my wonder cities were uncontrolled but they were either hundreds of years from expansion or were far from the borders. (Needless to say I used Dianthus’ CRpMapStat to manage all this. :goodjob: )

I had decided to research Sanitation and build Hospitals to maximize pop. I irrigated all mines and forest lands, starting with the corrupt areas first. I inserted cities close together in the forested Tundra lands and in between other cities where they had not fully grown into their space (mostly on the second continent). Finally, when I was done making improvements, began adding workers cities to max out their population immediately. (I roaded and forested all the tundra and unclaimed lands to prevent global warming issues.) I kept the governor off for most of the game in order to use Engineers to help build improvements in corrupt cites. I cash rushed improvements to facilitate growth as need and as I could afford (Aqueducts, Harbors, and Hospitals). I also built marketplaces and Mass transportation in all 12+ pop cities as needed. Later I built recycling center in my core cities with factories. Pollution was a problem throughout the IA and ME. Once I was done producing units and wonders I sold off the factories to decrease pollution. I kept 20-30 workers on each continent right up to the last turn cleaning up pollution, even with the other measure I took.

In order maximize my score, I began bumping up the lux slider as the need for cash diminished. I also micromanaged the extra population in cities to produce as many happy citizens as possible. Using all those slave workers to fill up cities freed me from keeping unhappy citizens to maximize pop growth. At the end I had only a 13 sad or 6 content citizens. Most were either Happy (1864) or specialists(897). With Longevity, my cities with an odd number of food tended to go through grow/starve cycles. I took advantage of this to rush more workers as their numbers diminished.

A couple of lessons learned here was that I should have started joining workers much earlier and I let too much cash build up (70+K) before I switched to mass cash rush of hospitals and completing new city packages (Aqua, Market, Hosp, and Mass trans). I saw a GOTM34 Histo spoiler where they didn't build hospitals but employed ICS. I can see where this would be easier to manage and would allow a higher percentage of happy. With 8 lux and marketplace no city below 13 every needed any micromanagement.

In the end, I spent 70 hours, 21 minutes and had a base score of 13,921 for a Jason of 8849. (my best score ever on both)
 
As stated in previous posts, went for conquest victory but bungled up by allowing the byzantines to move their capital to the 1-tile island off their coast, so had to switch goals and go for domination after killing all the AI's except for the island city and some tundra cities on the second small island. I never made it to the modern era, in fact, I only got three IA techs: Steam power, Nationalism, and Industrialization. Who needs tanks when he has cavalry armies?

Entry class: open
Game status: Domination Victory for Maya
Game date: 1110 AD
Firaxis score: 6832
Jason score: 9636

Not bad for my fist COTM :)
 
*except Brennus, but I bet he loves me, really

Times Ancient
Times Medieval

Going for the UN, again. I didn't find the Saltpeter island until too late, and the lack of Coal, and the virtual ignorance of the AI in even hooking it up, dragged me back in the IA. I then messed up my UN pre-build, ended up with an unwanted Palace switch, and finished probably 50 years after I could've.

Entering the IA, I'm still at war with Spain; the Aztecs are yet to be finished off; America is down to one city at the very northern tip of the Spanish peninsula; Iroquois have DoW'd me once, and lost two cities as the price for their impudence.

940 Research Metallurgy (Great Wall obsolete) and enter the Industrial Age. My first time before 1000AD, a personal milestone :) Gift Germany (who was still in the AA!), Byzantines, and Sumeria into the IA. Germany and Byz get Medicine. Sumeria gets Nationalism. Best I can do Steam Power in is 5 turns at a deficit, but I'll definitely go for that. Germany will give me Medicine for Navigation, Silks, Furs, WM, and 170g - and he gives me back 23g. Um, alright. Sumeria, with a monopoly, won't give up Nationalism for any price just yet.
950 Barcelona captured.
960 Santiago captured.
980 IBT: Aztecs ask me to remove the rather large stacks of forces I've just entered into his territory. Er, no, Monty, no. I'm ridding myself of you at last, now I have sufficient strength to wage a 2-front war.
990 Steam Power completed. Er, Ainwood, there isn't any COAL here, either! Who said Javs were useless… I get another (3rd?) slave when a Jav kills a Spear defending Malinalco. Capture Cempoalo, Malinalco, Tlaxcala, and Atzcapotzalco to leave Aztec with 2 cities.
1000 Capture Teayo and Tzintzuntzen, the last to Aztec cities. After just over 3000 years, my not-so-eternal Nemesis has bit the dust. I've found an island with Saltpeter on it!
1040 Capture Toledo.
1060 Popped a Goody Hut (on the Tundra Island)! 50g :)
1070 Capture Seville.
1110 Capture Valencia.
1120 Catpure Murcia and finish off the Spanish. The last American city is right at the tip of the Spanish peninsula, so…. IBT: America DoW.
1130 Get my 4th MGL, this will form a Cavalry Army as I now have Saltpeter hooked up and am 1 turn from Mil Trad. Take Houston and finish off America.
1220 Time to bash the Iroquois. 4 armies on the march: 1 4xCav, 2 3xKnight+1xCav, 1 3xSword+1xCav. Tons of Cannons and a couple of Artillery. Foot troops. Loads of Cavs and some Elite Knights and an Elite Horse. IBT: DoW vs Iroquois.
1230 Capture Mauch Chunk.
1240 Capture Allegheny. I like Armies. Capture Akwesasne. Decision time. I want faster research, for this I need more gold, for this I need Smith's. Go for Economics, in 4 turns. Bach's is due in 5 turns but I'll switch.
1250 Capture Centralia.
1255 Get my 5th MGL from an Elite sword, Blue-Quetzal-Macaw(2). Will use to rush something useful (Wall Street probably).
1260 IBT: Mauch Chunk re-captured by the Iroquois, annoying as all my slave workers were in there.
1265 Re-capture Mauch Chunk. The workers have gone. Hiawatha just disbanded around a dozen of his own workers! That or they auto-disbanded due to his economy being in tatters since I invaded.
1275 Complete Smith's. Sell Economics to everyone I can, and get some nice gpt deals. Use MGL to rush Military Academy. Capture Salamanca, Cattaraugus, and Grand River. Iroquois down to a 1CC now.
1280 Capture St Regis and finish off the Iroquois.
1365 Building now. No plans for war. Boring part of the game.
1415 At long last, an AI has some spare coal. Not surprisingly, it's the Celts - the Uber Power of the other continent.
1495 Complete ToE, take Electronics and Fission as free techs. 9 turns to UN, but I really screwed up pre-building and ended up moving my Palace by accident. Forgot that the AI re-assigns workers after starvation, and so the requisite shields for the Palace were dumped off in the end anyway. Gift Germany (Fission too), Byzantium (Ecology - no trade), and Sumeria (Ecology - trade for Fission, Oil, Rubber).
1535 At the end of this turn, the UN gets built. Everyone is polite with me, two are fighting against the Celts, the others are known to have had wars with them, I reckon I can win this vote quite easily.
1540:


Firaxis score: 5233
Jason score: 7134
Time played: 23:45:29

At the time, a personal best Firaxis, not quite as good a Jason as GOTM34.

Mistakes: my UN pre-build was the glaring cock-up. Deliberately having the city riot by cutting off its trade routes might've worked - though taking out he Harbour would've killed its food supply. Using Civil Engineers (because I wanted to play with them!) instead of Scientists probably didn't help my late Industrial research rate.

Annoyances: Being beaten to Philosophy by the other continent. Not finding Saltpeter Island earlier. America, Spain, and Iroquois for DoW'ing me each time I was starting to get troops ready to finally finish off the Aztecs! The AI's snail's pace research. FFS, there were THREE Scientific Civs on the other continent!! The lack of local Coal, and the AI's reluctance to connect up more than one source of it.

Good Things: Beat my GOTM34 date. Getting a better feel for waging war. Maybe sometime soon I'll actually invade another continent properly. Much better MGL rolls! Managing to MM my Settler Factory at 3.5-5.5 - though I concede that possibly running it at higher pop would've generated more gold, I'm not sure what the expense in higher Lux tax would've been.

Neil. :cool:
 
Well done eldar, that vote wasn't even close :goodjob:!



eldar said:
I then messed up my UN pre-build, ended up with an unwanted Palace switch, and finished probably 50 years after I could've.
I was pretty close to that last month. I realised it was going to happen though and irrigated all the mines, sold my factory/coal plant, allocated other cities to the mountains so they couldn't be used, and started a gradual starvation. I knocked the shields per turn from about 50 to about 4!
 
Dianthus said:
I was pretty close to that last month. I realised it was going to happen though and irrigated all the mines, sold my factory/coal plant, allocated other cities to the mountains so they couldn't be used, and started a gradual starvation. I knocked the shields per turn from about 50 to about 4!

I was only 16 shields away, though. Even with just the centre square (4 shields per turn being an Industrious Metro!), I was going to finish in 4 turns no matter what I did. I could've starved 2 pop, emphasised food, and irrigated as much as possible, pillaged all the mountains/hills with my armies, sold the Factory and Plant, and I'm still not sure I'd have got the build time up to the 9 turns I'd have needed to coincide with ToE completing.

I was going to post my AutoSave from them to see if there's anything anyone might've suggested... but my AutoSave has gone too. Ah well.

Neil. :cool:
 
There is one other way I thought of, but I didn't have to stoop to it. I thought maybe the city could be thrown into disorder. That may require disconnecting the roads around it to get rid of the luxuries, but it's likely to be possible if the city has lots of population (it's normally pretty easy to do by accident, after all!).
 
I did consider that, and it was probably the only way. Again, with Armies to pillage rails/roads for free, and plenty of workers to reconnect when needed, it would've been easy. I'd have had to have sold the Harbour as well, and the Marketplace, and the Temple just to be sure! Then when I wanted it back productive, reconnect the road, knock Lux up to 100% (no problem as research would've been off by then), and there you go.

Alternatively, I could've done some better maths, built a Cathedral and something else there before starting the Palace, and wouldn't be putting forward these theories ;)

Neil. :cool:
 
A new age was underway for the Mayan Republic and Smoke Jaguar called his ministers to order to discuss the priorities for the future. “Let’s begin with Doctor Oddity as to our scientific pursuits” Smoke said as the meeting began.

“Well sir, our scientists have completed the research of Steam Power and Electricity are moving rapidly towards understanding Replaceable Parts, however to our dismay, the powers that be (Ainwood) have chosen not to give us access to a local coal source “ Space said.

“Great, we finally about to have saltpeter available to us once the harbor in New Chichen Itza is complete and now we have to go track down coal” Smoke replied “Anything else?”

“Yes sir. The construction of the new science academy in Quirigua is on schedule and will be completing later this week. These new facilities should provide a boost to our research that will allow us to maintain our pace on breakthroughs” Space replied.

Smoke then turned to Bede, his trade minister “I hear you have surprise for us all today”.

Minister Bede stood and spoke “As of today fine Celtic Wines and exquisite Sumerian Ivory are arriving in our marketplaces. Finance Minister AlanH, should also be receiving nearly 50 gold pieces regularly from the Hittites & French for the recently completed exchanges in technologies.

Smoke smiled and complimented his minister for his excellent work. “I’m afraid that I’ve got plans for this sudden influx of gold. I’ve been discussing with General Grahamiam the need to modernize our military and he has detailed what will be required to allow our troops to discard their pikes and be outfitted with helmets & rifles and be trained as infantry soldiers and this will cost about 75% of our current treasury, over 4000g. I feel this commitment to our security is justified based on the reports from our knight & crusader commanders on the other continent.”

As Smoke watched the fireworks exploding over Chichen Itza, he was interrupted by a messenger from General Grahamiam reporting that a several units of Celtic Longbows and Mace troops had attacked a detachment of Mayan Knights moving in neutral territory. Several of his knights had been wounded, but there were no deaths among his troops. War with the great Celtic nation had begun. Smoke was not concerned for his own nation, as not a single Celtic ship had been ever seen and Minister Bede had reported that the Celts had not yet learned of how to construct ocean-going vessels. Having the extra luxuries available allowed Smoke to enlist the Mongols, Hittites & France against the Celts without having to reduce his treasury.

“Report General” said Smoke as the battle briefing began. “All has gone well. Our knights and crusaders, with a couple of cavalry units have overwhelmed the defenders of four Celtic cities. However, our French allies have taken Varna and cut off our route to any additional Celtic cities. On another positive note, our new hero Caucac-Sky has returned from the front and will be assisting in the completion of the Pentagon. We have a pair of crusaders waiting to complete our Armies once that is complete.” General Grahamiam replied. “Have no worries General, your troops won’t be idle long. I received a communiqué from our embassy in Germany and it appears the Kaiser is mobilizing and we are his intended target.

The intelligence was correct and soon German archers & longbows entered Mayan lands and died futilely attacking the Mayan Infantry fortified in the border cities. “General, I have a surprise for you.” Said Smoke as they entered the factory. “We’ll soon have 4 completed tank armies ready for transport to eastern Germany. The Kaiser has been concentrating on the western front, so the defenses should crumble against these new weapons.” The fall of Konigsberg in southeastern Germany began the dominos falling for the German leader. The capture of Berlin with it’s Great Lighthouse, occurred around the same time Mayan scientists announced that new research on electronics was complete and the Mayan Republic was now in the Modern Age. As the Mayan tanks rolled into Heidelberg, Germany had been evicted from the continent and would be relegated to tundra living. The peace treaty that Germany signed also obtained a pair of tundra cities (though New Berlin would revolt back to Germany later).
“Decisions, decisions” pondered Smoke. “Should I endow my neighbors with technology well beyond their understanding in hopes they can shorten the time until we can launch, risking facing a technological equal in battle, should our relationship turn hostile or do I take the additional time to research it all myself and be content with a more secure world. Bah, the safe path sounds way too boring.” “Contact trade minister Bede, I have work for him” Smoke ordered to his aide. Theordora & Gilgamesh both sat in stunned silence. They had never dreamed of such wonders. Her people were still learning about the science of Chemistry and suddenly they knew of Ecology. For Gilgamesh his reward for the modern era was Fission. Of course neither would part with their new treasure. However, with money to burn, Smoke soon found another way to acquire knowledge. Nearly three thousand pieces of gold was a lot to spend, but fission was a valuable commodity. A few greased palms here and there and Smoke had his prize. At the cessation of hostilities with Germany, the Kaiser received many knowledge gifts from Smoke and soon accepted a trade for of fission & democracy for the knowledge of ecology.

At the christening party for the new Hoover Dam in Quirigua, Smoke took General Grahamiam aside, “I have one last campaign for you before I leave for Alpha Centauri. That little French tart has been testing our borders too long with her cavalry. I think it’s time we let our armor out for a little exercise.”

The following eight years were quite eventful, twelve French cities now flew the Mayan flag, Leader, the fourth hero born in battle, had help complete the Apollo Program in Adrianople, peace with France had been signed, Chichen Itza had completed Theory of Evolution leading the Mayan scientists to discover computers & miniaturization and the space ship was now 40% complete.

Between the Internet dedication in Boston and the United Nations inaugural, Smoke had barely time to pack. The space ship was now 80% complete and the discovery of the laser was an ”any day now” promise from his Minister of Science. As he sat in his chambers thinking back on the past 5700 years, a knock came at his door. “Come in” he said. “Sir, the Hittite ambassador insists on seeing you at once” the aide reported. “I’ll be down in 10 minutes, get him some lemonade” was the reply.
“I can’t believe this. I trade openly and honestly with you and a demand for a technology tribute is my payment. Then instead of negotiating for the knowledge you declare war on me. Return to your embassy and inform your leaders my armored response will be arriving in your capital shortly” Smoke said as he waved the Hittite Ambassador away.

Eleven Hittite cites tried vainly with pikemen, riflemen and an few conscript infantrymen to withstand the Mayan Tank Armies & Modern Armor, but to no avail. The Hittite capital, Hattusas with the giant Bronze Statue, provided the stiffest test and a Hittite Great Leader died when the city fell. A Mayan Great Leader, Blue Quetzal Macaw II, arose during the final battles, and for the fun of it, hurried to Paris to complete the Iron Works (a first for me in Conquests). The confirmed rumors of Sumeria having nuclear capability convinced Smoke, that his stay on this planet was nearly over. As his final act in office, he approved the Hittite peace treaty and 1752 AD, he once again boarded a space ship for Alpha Centauri.

(Editors note: Spaceship Victory in 1754 AD – Firaxis score: 5974 – Jason score: 6755 – 41 hour 31 minutes)
 
A Request For Advise:

Since I think I'm too focussed on playing the warmonger, I decided to try and replay this scenario aiming for a 20k victory [not submitting of course]. Although the traits aren't great for a cultural victory, it could be worse and the level is not too bad and the starting position is great. Ergo, it should be doable.

The general strategy I suppose should be something like "build enough empire to generate the defense & research necessary to keep building things, but sacrifice a lot to get those cultural buildings in the 20k city".

Some general possibilities for the opening:

1) Have capital as 20k city, build N or NE, and build something like war, war, war, set, temple, wonders
- in that case, do I try to setup the second city near the wheat as a settler pump (eg by building the capital N and building the 2nd city two tiles upriver)? I tried this for a while, but had a lot of trouble getting enough tiles improved to have both a working settler pump and not impede the 20k city too much, although in the long run the settler pump city will have to go to make room for the 20k city to grow. Maybe the 2nd city should start with two workers to get the improvements going?
2) Setup the first city as settler pump, and get the 2nd city near the hills, for example the gap between the hills 3E 1SE from the starting loc to get a river, 4(?) BG and some forest and hills.
3) Setup the first city as 20k but build the second city far enough away to not impede the capital. Will not have a settler pump in that case but I suppose expansion is slightly less important for a 20k?


In both cases, the first two cities are designated 20k and settler pump cities. Is this wise? Will it not take too long to get some military going, which might make the AI eager to attack?

In terms of research, I suppose I should get cb first for the temple, and then try to slingshot either to rep (risky if I want to research cb myself) or to literature to get lib & gl?

Thanks in advance!
 
Vanatteveldt: Most 20K games go somewhat like this:

Settle your capital and get a settler out ASAP then that city is your settler pump if possible.

Settle city #2 on a river and on the coast if possible, looking for a high shield location.

Improve the terrain for city #1 to only what you'll need. Improve city #2 to size 12 size. Start building as many culture items in city #2 as possible. Hopefully you'll have either the Oracle or Colossus available early. Pick 2 or 3 early wonders depending on difficulty level in the first 2 ages. My favorites are Colossus, Great Library & Hanging Gardens from the Ancient Age. Between building of wonders, spend a couple of turns on a temple, library & colosseum then cash rush them to completion and start on the next item. Get a marketplace when you get about size 7-8 to help with happiness. Try to join a worker to City #2 whenever possible until size 12. Once you've got enough cities for a forbidden palace, that is you pre-build tool in city #2. Head for Republic ASAP (increased food & production). In the Middle Ages, Sistine and/or Bach plus Shakespeare and Newton's are your main targets. Since the AI normally goes along the bottom path you might be able to get them all. Once again try to rush a university & cathedral after Bach/Sistine is done. You'll probably miss Copernicus (Shakespeare is twice the culture). While your 20K city is busy collecting culture, the rest of your country has four goals.
1. Protect the 20K city
2. Get as many luxuries as possible for 20K city
3. Improve every workable tile around the 20K city to get as many shields as possible (railroads & mines)
4. Get as much land and happy faces as you can without getting too much War Weariness

There is a fifth goal for non-C3C games, get as many GL's as possible. Each GL is a wonder. When there are no wonders to hurry, make any army and win a battle so the 20K city can build the Heroic Epic. For C3C games, with that first GL build an army to enable the Heroic Epic. Then use the next GL to rush the HE. The next 2 to enable the Pentagon and the 5th to rush it in the 20K city. Do not build the Military Academy in the 20K city. You'll be too busy adding culture & happiness items to build armies.
 
I had a domination victory in early 1700's. I think I was a few turns into researching Steam power. Other than that, I don't remember too much about it except my computer started crashing right after finishing the game (hard drive meltdown from too much civ I guess). I managed to get the save files on a floppy disk and sent them from another computer, but can't tell you much more than I think my firaxis score was 4000 something with a Jason of 5000 something. (I checked the submittal email on my work computer then had to delete it off)

[edit] after reading about the scarcity of coal, I realized I had that same problem. Therefore I think instead of being a few turns into researching steam power, I was a few turns into researching fission. I do recall I was researching the first tech after an age change.
 
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