COTM 116 Byzantines - Final Spoiler - Game Over

[Più Freddo]

This is the thread where you tell us how you did - win, lose or retire.

Only read or post in this thread when your game is ended and successfully submitted.

 

[Kuningas]

Enter the MA in 1275BC. Get Monotheism/Feudalism/Engineering in trades from scientific civs. Unlucky free tech is Chivalry (33%chance). At this point I consired to go for Cultural 20K. Reseach Theology in 11 turns. Post a QSC stats at 1st spoiler and realise that I haven't built a Courthouse in my 20k city. Change of plans. Go for Space Race victory Good thing I have strong capital with a lot of research power.

In the MA I don't remember exact years to discover a new tech. The Golden Age was triggered with a build Mausoleum of Mausollos in 900BC after that Education/Banking/Astronomy were researched by 550BC. The Golden Ages ends in 470BC.

AI Gives Invention and everything else is done in 4 turns per tech.
The Babylon and the Persia are my tech/gpt buddies. I have very clever mind in 390BC I will gift techs up to Chemistry and hope they will reseach Metallurgy with only Metallurgy, Banking, Printing Press or Navigation to choose, of course they will go for Metallurgy! In 12 turns they really research a tech the Banking. Then I see my blunder I did not gift them Chemistry. The IA dawns in 70BC.

I build Copernicus in 530BC and Newton's in 210BC in capital.

Capital build 2-turn Knights and give birth a Ancient Cavalry every 5 turns. Every other city was in a hurry to build Court/Lib/Univ. Just 8 units was enough to kill the Hittites. In next war I was more prepared. Here is list of 1CC or eliminated civs:
390BC Hittites
350BC Germans
170BC Sumerians
30BC Mongols
130AD Ottomans
280AD French
340AD Carthaginians
550AD Arabs

In 70BC Once again I gift scientifics. I can afford Steam Power and Medicine. Lucky free tech Electricity. Artificial Stupidy did not research any mandatory techs. Then I made a second blunder. I do reseach optional tech Sanitation. I was on easy 4 turn pace all the way to end and I waste four turns on Sanitation. At least it aided with Jason score

In 620AD I reach The Modern Ages. As allways scientifics up to the new era. This time I get Ecology, Rocketry and Computers. Free tech Space Flight. At the same turn ToE completes. I choose Synthetic Fibers and Miniaturization. Other prebuild completes on same turn and The Internet is mine.

Rest is history Alpha Centauri reached in 860AD. Jason 11xxx.

 

[templar_x]

continued from 1st spoiler...

1050 meet France
Const builds TGLight
1025 builds Cathedral
1000 builds Colosseum (with the last money i can gather)

Qsc stats:
8 settlements, 1 city, 7 towns, 26 pop
All AA and 1st tier MA techs
practically broke 
lack contacts with Sumer and Ottos
30cpt in capital
At war with Mongols, Hittites in a linked alliance against them
2 settlers, 6 workers, 1 slave
1 e legion, 1 curragh, 1 dromon, 2 ACavs

950 meet Sumeria
925 lose another unit against barbs (1 horse, 1 ACav and 1 settler until now)
800 GLib; Theo in; Hagia next; after a few 2-turn-settlers in my pop factory i now build 1-turn-workers.
690 meet Ottos as last civ. GA ends. First other civ has built a harbour… which is surpringly good given the high production costs for the AS in this game.
670 build first town on other continent. Put high cultural pressure on Carths but do not yet feel strong enough for a war.
PP in, Edu next.
650 map trading nets me some really nice trades, even including some gpt.
570 build Hagia. establish embassies finally. Now i try on Pyras still but most probably will lose them.
530 war against Hittites with a DoL.
510 culturally capture a Carth town
470 learn Chiv via GLib
410 Mongols build away the Pyras, the first wonder i missed (by only 2 turns). Switch to ToA and gamble to still get the Gardens (maybe a big mistake).
310 ToA in – varsity next. Banking in; Demo next.
Persians finish Hanging Gardens  Lost a few valuable turns here for the same cpt-output 
290 university built – Sistine next (probably will be switched to Shakespeare´s)
270 Hittites destroyed (by accident, they had another town last turn&#8230 costs me my only source of WH
190 culturally overthrow another Carth town, this time in my west.
170 FA in, but i still stay on Sistines so to not miss that wonder. Astro next.
110 start a war against Mongols just for a little troop training – and in only my 3rd e victory with our sole legion, i gain an MGL!!! I immediately form an army and win a battle (rather closely …. Puh!) and can now build HE!
70 Astro in… AS did still not research GP!??
With KT the AI gets a wonder i did not want anyway
30 now Leo´s goes to the AI. That was close! I do not care about that one. But i wonder how a size-2 town should ever build it… Sistine needs 2 more turns :shiver:

10ad make peace with Mongols; declare on Carths. Too long that none of their cities fell to my cultural pressure, so they have to fall to my sword. after taking 3 towns i finally own my 1st and 2nd ring!
The new age sees my capital with 74cpt
Sistines in, probably Shakes next.
GP in+ traded around, Chem next;
Cascade takes GW. Ok. With Sun Tzus I hope to be able to break all the prebuilds.
30ad take Carthage. FP in.
50ad Carths send an army of reg warriors… hopes for another MGL are rising. 
70ad accidentally press new turn before checking anything. Sun Tzus gone. Chance of cascade should be broken.
90ad Chem in, Physics next.
UNLUCKY ME LOSES COPES BECAUSE SOME AS LEARNS ASTRO THAT VERY TURN AND MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR EGYPT TO SWITCH TO THAT WONDER AND IMMEDIATELY FINISH IT!!! I COULD SERIOUSLY VOMIT….
170 Carths destroyed
210 have Babes declare on me with troops in my territory
250 finally Shakes in. Newton´s next. ToG in, MAG next.
A ACav dies to a single landed Baby MI on flat land without making a scratch
Pump capital up to size 16. Newton´s in 9.
My results in the fights at that stage are incredible. Like if the disaster of Cope´s was the start of a dark series…
270 pollution in Constantinople!?!!!
300 for once, the AS does something useful and researches MT for Bachs…
MAG in, MET next.
330 IA: gift scientifics up.
Germany NAT
Babylon NAT
Persia MED
Ottos MED
Sumeria STEAM
DRAW: Ironclads 
340 Newtons in; HE next
102cpt
380 HE in (until now i had hoped for an MGL, but now i have given up), factory next
400 harbour in
410 coal plant in; pump up to max size 20
420 capital now stands @ 121spt, 337 compt and 106cpt
Bachs next.
460 Bachs delayed by pollution :argh:, change to US…
480 US in, Bachs next
530 JSB, Magellans next
570 Magellan´s in
Hold and trade for all 8 luxes for the first time
630 ToE
Incredible… Rome builds away Smiths by one turn in 660ad!
700 Hoovers
730 5th or so city flips to me; volcano kills one of my core cities 
Wall Street in
770 MilAc
790 Modern Age.
Germany COMPUTERS
Babylon ECO
Persia FISSION
Ottos COMPUTERS
Sumeria COMPUTERS
Computers are the only tech i am able to trade for… but i can build the lab with it, so i don´t care much.
DRAW: Rocketry
840 Apollo
930 UN
1020 Internet; next volcano disaster?
1030 Nuclear Plant; 163 cpt
1050 Egypt manages to build SETI??
1100 Cure for Cancer
Sumer build Manhattan
1170 Longevity
1200 Intel Agency
1240 Strat Missile Defense
Army
Army
1270 Pentagon
1290 Battlefield Med
181 cpt
1310 shows 19978 culture – thus it is pretty clear that i lost at least 1 turn due to my mistakes and some bad luck. 
Rome says: WHAT A GREAT ALLIANCE.

E victories
III
IIIII IIIII III

t_x

 

[templar_x]

one of my very few 20k-games. i had to play the last turns in a hurry last night, but even though some Details did not work out too well, i do not believe that These turns changed a lot any more. what i probably should have done, but would never have had the time for that, is to engage in more wars in the IA and MA. i played all peaceful then, due to lack of time mainly. this allowed the AS to build away a few wonders which i wanted to have - and what surprised me to some extent, because the AS otherwise was really pathetic, especially in the middle Age.
what was really bad was that i lost Cope´s. that was very very unlucky. regarding the AA wonders, i got more of them than i could imagine when i started the game. of course i would have loved to also get the i believe 3 ones i did not get. in the IA i feared that i would run out of builds, but that did not happen. i did only run out in the Modern Age, by the very end, and had to build very crappy wonders for culture.
all in all a fun experience. that 20k requires less time however was a false assumption from my side and was only true for the first turns and the later turns. in between building up Byzanz was quite a Task. i am interested to see what my date is worth when you guys submit your games...

t_x

 

[templar_x]

you really managed the all time fastest launch, Kuningas!
20k will definitely fall, too, even though i trust that someone did not accumulate on the lesser optimal events of my game and take that.
and if someone used the settings for a ultra-fast diplo win, that could make 3 new entries on that list!
t_x

 

[Kuningas]

congrats templar!
I replayed from the 1000bc save and tryed 20k. I lost Sistine Chapel. Didn't finish the game but could not have archived as fast 20k win you did. Maybe around 1350AD.

 

[templar_x]

i knew Sistine was at risk. however, Cope's was a sure bet (as actually was Smith's and SETI)... i did not get really lucky on those.
but the overall strategy went quite good. and i do not believe (until i see it ), that one will be MUCH earlier. but earlier was possible, for sure.
t_x

 

[supersova_SU]

Game status: Domination
Game date: 300 AD
Firaxis score: 12625
Jason score: 11762
Time played: 20:21:49

 

[templar_x]

quite a few last minutes submissions - nice! i really hope that we also get to see some more log or game descriptions here...
t_x

 

[supersova_SU]

Più Freddo did not have time? Pity

 

[Lord AJ]

I can't seem to find the gotm 116 submission mail but here's what I remember :
Domination around 330AD
Jason score : something close to 11.5k

 

[greatbeyond]

I am glad to see you enjoyed the game. It did turn out to be slightly easier than I had planned. On large maps the AI seems to focus more on empire building than war if there is lots of land. I hope that everyone who wanted to had time to play.

 

[Drazek]

It was obvious from the pregame discussion thread to go for 20k in this game. The map turned out to be good for any victory condition.

I chose to attack the AIs that were building wonders to make myself able to build all wonders. Exception to this was Temple of Artemis that I chose to ignore as I was researching so fast.

The locked alliance with Rome allowed them to snatch one wonder, Leonardo's Workshop. I also forgot about Knight's Templar's expiration tech, so Rome got it too.

I calculated with AlanH's 20k calculator that researching Modern Age wonders wouldn't change the end date much, so I funneled the gold to rushing Aqueducts/Hospitals/Marketplaces/Harbors.

I have learned from the milked games that you cannot almost ever produce too many workers, so I peaked at about 500 workers in this game. (In my Sid huge milk games I have peaked at 2000 workers, and produced about 50 workers per turn for tens of turns.) I couldn't rush buildings fast enough so I irrigated/roaded/mined all tiles. Then the workers just idled for several turns until I managed to join them into cities.

I was almost max population in the end, and could have had max population, but got lazy and bored about milking so I didn't buy the rest of the workers needed.

 

[Lord AJ]

I was almost max population in the end, and could have had max population, but got lazy and bored about milking so I didn't buy the rest of the workers needed.

How would buying workers (by rushing, right?) help boost score?

 

[Drazek]

How would buying workers (by rushing, right?) help boost score?

With a large empire most of your towns are producing only 1spt. But they can still produce a population point in 1, 2, 3 turns when all irrigated. If there's no Aqueduct, this food goes wasted. Also, the growth gets slower when the town grows to city and then to metropolis.

So it's best to use the excess food for workers in those small towns. You can chop free worker by planting all unforested tiles and chopping 1 worker per turn etc. Or wait 1 turn to get 1 shield and then rush the worker for 36 gold.

When you have got enough workers this way to fill all the rest of the food areas, rush the Aqueducts and Hospitals and fill them with your fast-produced workers.

This is way faster than letting them grow organically.

When I'm still expanding and researching, I tend to put those 1spt towns to produce workers automatically every 10 turns so that I will get a sizeable worker force for free. And when there's enough left over gold, use it to rush everything else needed.

 

[Lord AJ]

Oh. I see. Thanks.
And Congrats on the number 1 rank.