6otM23 After Action

[leif erikson]

Welcome to the 6otM23 After Actions 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 attached your victory save to your post.

- How many cities did you settle or capture?
- What did you prioritize for research and policies?
- Did you send anyone to the dustbin of history?
- What did you build for an Army and Navy and how did it change?
- What was your most useful unit?
- Was diplomacy useful? How?
- Were City-States helpful?
- What was your strategy, what order did you take your opponents out in?
- Any surprises you ran into, how did you deal with it?
- Did you enjoy the game?

Please use spoiler tags for any surprise details you'd like kept hidden. Thanks.

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). Please refrain from posting videos until the deadline for submission is over.

 

[Victoria]

Dom Victory 960 AD T159

Spoiler :

How many cities did you settle or capture?
3 settled 17 captured

What did you prioritize for research and policies?
knights, I built my iron mine the turn before I got both mercs and knights
Then I pushed xbow, musket, tanks

Did you send anyone to the dustbin of history?
No, barbs stopped me getting value early and also stopped other civs getting big meaning taking too much would risk another victory.

What did you build for an Army and Navy and how did it change?
No navy, I lost about 5 archers and a warrior early
I took the spanish capital with archers and warriors
9 knights for Gorgo Harald Gilga and Fred, lost one on the way
Cavalry for Tomyris(no walls!), artillery for Peter and tanks/helis for Qin
3 Generals along the way

What was your most useful unit?
Looking at the above, knights

Was diplomacy useful? How?
Don't be silly, its wrecked

- Were City-States helpful?
Only Stockholm, I only found the other science near the end and no commercial CS

- What was your strategy, what order did you take your opponents out in?
Just go for it, I had no scoutings so floundered around a bit, I went a little past Harald but did not spoit Qin, Freed Mohenjo Daro but did not spot Tomyris., a bit messy but fun.
Phillip, Gorgo, Harald, Gilgamesh, Frederick, Tomyris, Peter, Qin ... a 9 civ game
Slow start with barbs but once knights were up it was GG until Qin really but by that time I had what I needed

- Any surprises you ran into, how did you deal with it?
Crazy numbers of Barbs, at least they messed with everyone.... Poor Philip, Harald and Tomyris seems like they had struggled a lot
Piopiotahi was a lovely surprise and its a New Zealand Wonder and I love settling it.

- Did you enjoy the game?
Yup, crazy barbs and I rushed the game, Games take too long played slowly and I get itchy for next turn.

Favourite Pic
I never noticed before that helicopters ignored rivers

Thanks GOTM team!

 

[stinkubus]

Victory at T250, 1695 AD. After this game I'm convinced that skipping archers is always a mistake.

Spoiler :

How many cities did you settle or capture?

2 settled, 35 captured.

- What did you prioritize for research and policies?

There were horses around so I built horsemen to augment my force of Legions and cats. This led me to bee-lining Military Science, but since there's iron on the map and Feudalism is on the way to Gunpowder I think Knights would've been better. After Military Science I went for Combustion and built two knight armies in advance to upgrade. The tank armies did most of the heavy lifting once they were available.

- Did you send anyone to the dustbin of history?

Gorgo and Philip. Stockholm, Toronto, Jakarta (taken from Germany), and Buenos Aires were also elimated.

- What did you build for an Army and Navy and how did it change?

My initial force was Legions and cats. I supplemented them with horsemen and knights which were later upgraded to cavalry and tanks. The horsemen were a waste; knights are better. The cats later became bombards and artillery.

- What was your most useful unit?

Legions were most useful for the first half of the game, and the bombards/artillery were most useful in the second half.

- Was diplomacy useful? How?

Not really. The denouncements began as soon as the conquering started. By the end of the game the survivors hated me so badly they were only willing to offer 1 GPT for like 6 luxes.

- Were City-States helpful?

Stockholm and Buenos Aires were very helpful. Without conquering them I would have been stuck at one city for a LOOOOONG time due to the barbs. I found Nan Madol on an island of the west coast which actually did prove useful because I conquered several theater squares. I was also suzerain of Kabul on and off. I ended up with 21 envoys there.

- What was your strategy, what order did you take your opponents out in?

Pretty standard dom run except I skipped archers. Lesson learned because that made the early barbs too hard to deal with which slowed me down so bad I couldn't really recover. The AI were eliminated as follows: Gorgo, Phillip, Frederick, Gilgamesh, Peter, Qin, Tomyris.

- Any surprises you ran into, how did you deal with it?

Germany actually had a very nice and current military when I invaded. They were the only civ that inflicted any meaningful losses. By all rights they should've been able to hold me off and inflict some serious losses. He had cavalry corps all over but couldn't seem to get them together to do any damage. I dealt with that by by only taking Aachen and one other city. I asked for peace ASAP.

The other big surprise is that Tomyris was still defending with crossbows at T250. I dealt with that by one-shotting them with Helicopter armies.

- Did you enjoy the game?

Absolutely. I look forward to playing the next vanilla (no DLC yet) GoTM.

 

[Victoria]

I'll skip archer with horses but not with knights.

 

[stinkubus]

Having horses near by with Rome always leaves me so conflicted. I hate to skip the UU, but horsemen's mobility is very handy.

 

[Victoria]

Spoiler :

The moment I saw Piopiotahi I forgot about horses... good culture means faster knights.... +6 early culture from a 2 pop city early is awesome, when/if a monument comes online... +8
Bearing in mind Rome also has free monuments an efficient player should do this map real fast... just those damn barbs

 

[Jinroh]

Domination T164
Hi, first time trying 6otM. This is my 2nd attempt on this map. First attempt won at T190. Not sure what the rules are about replaying the map. Not sure if certain things are allowed that I did, trading and then declaring, and selling Kabul to liberate.

Spoiler Spoiler :

- How many cities did you settle or capture?
Settled 9 Captured 21.
- What did you prioritize for research and policies?
Legions and knights
- Did you send anyone to the dustbin of history?
Gorgo because she wouldn't cede her cities to me
- What did you build for an Army and Navy and how did it change?
No Navy 2 armies. 6 knights and ram. 3 legions and 3 archers. These 2 did most of the work in the beginning
- What was your most useful unit?
Ram
- Was diplomacy useful? How?
Everyone hated me but managed to keep doing trades as I meet new Civs to keep myself afloat
- Were City-States helpful?
Stockholm got conquered and I conquered it from Spain but never liberated it. Tried to liberate Kabul by selling to Norway and declaring. I really wanted the xp boost from Kabul, but that backfired as Germany became Suzerain a few turns after. That separated my army and cut me off from Norways Capital. Lost about 15 turns as I had to take 3 of Norways cities before I could reach his capital.
- What was your strategy, what order did you take your opponents out in?
Rush knights and run wild, also got the first 2 generals. Conquered Spain, Gorgo, Germany, Gilgamesh, Norway, Russia and China in that order
- Any surprises you ran into, how did you deal with it?
Barbs were a nightmare. This is my 2nd try on this map. First try lost 3 wars and 1 archer won at T190
- Did you enjoy the game?
Never played as Trajan so it was fun. That free monument helps a lot. Using the Legion charges to chop was nice too. Push out those settlers and builders a little quicker.
After I conquered Spain I tried really hard to get the last prophet but alas it was bought just before my prayers were finished. Already built 2 prayers before that and hard built a temple. A lot of wasted hammers.
Lost Petra to Spain's pop 5, 2 desert tile city by a few turns too. Would have been a really nice Petra site by Kabul. 4 silvers 3 oasis and lots of hills. I cried a little inside. Totally didn't need Petra but still the Civ5 Nostalgia.

 

[Victoria]

Not sure if certain things are allowed that I did, trading and then declaring,

I believe as of the last patch trading cities and great works and relics is banned as exploitable... certainly in the case where you profit like gaining for a GPT rate and then declaring... should really be a clarification each game or a link to a set... its a spirit thing I believe... well done regardless.

 

[Jinroh]

I didn't trade any great works or relics. How would you trade for GPT and then declaring? Wouldn't you lose the GPT once you are at war?

 

[Victoria]

How would you trade for GPT and then declaring?

trading and then declaring

So explain your trading and declaring scheme ...

and also selling Kabul to liberate would be wrong on a few levels.
1. You likely took it in the first place so the taker liberating it is a little against the spirit of the GOTM
2. Gifting cities is a known exploit, selling is that step further down the line where you make additional money as well at getting rid of the -18 you occupy one of my cities and gaining +5 for liberating a CS and gaining 3 envoys there... a touch against the spirit of GOTM also.

 

[Forster]

Here's what confuses me. You are at war and conquer two of the AI's three cities. The AI offers you both cities, some immediate gold and a per turn amount, and also includes a relic. This to me is not trading, it is the spoils of war. For GOTM, is accepting the offer allowed or prohibited? It seems a waste of time to go to war and only end up with some gold and maybe resources.

 

[Victoria]

In my view you cannot really stop a civ giving you cities or money for peace, the thing is they currently treat great works as valueless and so getting these as part of a trade is a bit wrong so against GOTM spirit, just take them off the deal, that's what I do, but request a real answer from Leif.

 

[Jinroh]

I think you read my question wrong.

certainly in the case where you profit like gaining for a GPT rate and then declaring

You mention GPT in the trade, that's what was confusing me. As any Gold Per Turn trades are void once you go into war unless its a bug I didn't know about. So it's usually lump sums I trade before I declare.

 

[leif erikson]

Here's what confuses me. You are at war and conquer two of the AI's three cities. The AI offers you both cities, some immediate gold and a per turn amount, and also includes a relic. This to me is not trading, it is the spoils of war. For GOTM, is accepting the offer allowed or prohibited? It seems a waste of time to go to war and only end up with some gold and maybe resources.

Problem is that the trading system is now pretty messed up. As Victoria says, it appears that the game does not properly value things it gives in peace deals. In Domination games, it is probably not that big a deal as game participants all are under the same system and what you get does not impact Domination as much as you are out to take capitals.

It is a different story with religious and culture games. AI cannot understand what the player is doing to manipulate them, so trading cities in Religious games is exploitive. In culture games, with the inability of the AI to properly value relics, among other things, warring is significantly more profitable.

In general, do not like to make rules outside of the game rules. But these situations can give some players clear advantages. My hope is that Firaxis will soon repair the damage done with a hotfix or another patch.

 

[Victoria]

lump sums I trade before I declare.

aaah but for what? Iron? Luxes? That would be silly. Just what are you buying for a lump sum.

these situations can give some players clear advantages.

Tx Leif, Indeed, and the old favourite, give me that useless little city for 100 GPT and then declare war

 

[Jinroh]

I'm not arguing whether this give advantages to the player. It clearly does.

I'm not buying anything from the AI. I'm selling all my luxs or strategic resources for their lump sum. Then I declare war, and the next turn I get all the resources back but I still have their lump sum. Similar to your example but in reverse.

 

[casualplayer]

Drat. Moving in on Tomyris' capital with a swarm of Musketmen, Declared, then the cap goes from mid-40 strength to mid-60s in a blink as they jump Eras. Ground a heap of Musketmen to dust on those walls, as hordes of Horsemen kept coming in to finish off anyone extremely injured. What should have been a 2 turn siege and capture turned into a bloody slog.

After that Russia and China folded pretty easily but far too slowly due to lack of troops. Sumeria fell to Faith-bought Horsemen and Bombards that became Tanks and Artillery which wrapped things up.

A lot of strategic conquering of cities just to give me roads to easily move troops to conquer the next city. Rome is silly good.

Funny stuff was Norway's 2 pop backup capital building Mahabodhi Temple. Spain's backup capital built Colossus and Great Lighthouse. Germany's backup capital was Geneva. Sumeria built the Oracle in Toronto!

 

[Jendass28]

Domination T146, 700 AD
This is first time I’m satisfied with my GoTm results so that I am willing to post them in the afer action report. It was very nice game, reading all these post I must got super-lucky with the barbs (fog busting in the right areas I guess), they were very polite to me while wrecking the rest of civs. And I must confess I cheated a bit as I accepted some very rough peace-deals including art works, relics, captured city states for liberation etc. (basically grab everything the AI left after capturing the capital). Should have read the rules properly. Maybe would be nice to have the rules stated in the top of the announcement treats if that’s possible.

- How many cities did you settle or capture?
Don’t remember precisely, settle around 10, mostly from captivated settlers, capture all the caps+ all cities on the way. Total 32 cities

- What did you prioritize for research and policies?
See open actions post, then cavalry corps and that‘s it

- Did you send anyone to the dustbin of history?
Corgo, everyone else was willing to cc to me giving me everything he had left with.

- What did you build for an Army and Navy and how did it change?
See open action post, then prebuild horses into Cav and then run over everybody with two ren. generals stacked

- What was your most useful unit?
Cav corp with two ren. generals stacked

- Was diplomacy useful? How?
nope

- Were City-States helpful?
Yes, stockholm mostly, the others for liberation and war weariness management

- What was your strategy, what order did you take your opponents out in?
Till turn 100 see the Open action post, then gilga with musketmen and Thomyris and China with cav, russia at the end.

- Any surprises you ran into, how did you deal with it?
Summeria wiped out Germany before I was able to met them :-D

- Did you enjoy the game?
a lot. Rome is very strong civ and always fun to play. Thanks Lief for these. I cant wait the 15th of October already ;-)

 

[Victoria]

captured city states for liberation etc

that's fine... as long as you did not give them the city first. Its a spirit of the game thing.Giving them a CS you captured so you can free it is a bit off
As for art/relics.... civs throw in a relics and art for free pretty much, pre patch they placed good value behind them so yeah I believe they are not allowed.

 

[Wolfenlane]

Domination victory in 210 turn 1490 AD.

- How many cities did you settle or capture?
Settled 3, captured about 20, rezed about 10 and libereted 3 CS.

- What did you prioritize for research and policies?
I tried to rush all kinds of horse related fast units.

- Did you send anyone to the dustbin of history?
Philip, Gorgo, Harald, Gilgamesh, Barbarossa in this order.

- What did you build for an Army and Navy and how did it change?
No navy, I used archers on Philip, then archers combined with horseman on Gorgo, knights and crossbows on Harald, cavalry and cannons on Gilgamesh, Barbarossa and Tomyris,
finally tanks to capture capitals of Russia and China

- What was your most useful unit?
Corps of cavalry were very nice.

- Was diplomacy useful? How?
Pressing Esc all the time is not very useful, it can cen even be a bit irritating But I had two lux trading that could be a bit useful.

- Were City-States helpful?
Stockholm helped a lot in science.

- What was your strategy, what order did you take your opponents out in?
As Philip attacked Stockholm and failed I knew I have to press him quickly, then I just aimed the nearest civs.

- Any surprises you ran into, how did you deal with it?
Losing the first GG irritated me then I was surprised by Gligamesh having very small army which was very helpful.

- Did you enjoy the game?
Very much, thank You for this nice game.