GOTM-1: Closing Spoiler

[bradleyfeanor]

My proposal is:

trunc((Factor*rawScore)/(initialScore*(trunc(maxScore/initialScore))^(curTurn/maxTurn)))

trunc((Factor*rawScore)/(initialScore+curTurn/maxTurn*(maxScore-initialScore)))

Thanks a million for the correction. It was driving me crazy! Your formulas work perfectly.

Here is a bar chart showing how much the different score components contributed to the final score for the four of us who posted the required data. (It's kind of unnecessary for anyone who has been playing around with the formulas, I suppose, but here it is anyway.)

 

[Civgeek]

Incidentally, I would have had to finish the spaceship 132 turns earlier, around turn 210, to match the 91,022 score of bradleyfeanor. May be that's a way to normalize across victory conditions? Back calculate the turn each would have achived the same as the best score submitted and see who finished earliest?

 

[MiniMe]

Here is the shortversion:
Domination Victory in 1330AD
Score almost 80k

Fun game!
I had written a lot more but lost it!!

 

[bradleyfeanor]

Domination Victory in 1330AD

Well, I knew I would be toppled sooner or later on earliest finish . With a date like 1330, "early" is definitely an appropriate word. Nice game, MiniMe!

 

[Dynamic]

Domination Victory in 1330AD
Score almost 80k

Very nice MiniMe! "Old" guys are still arriving... Where is DaveMcW?
Good date, I only killed Greeks this year... But your score is too low for such fast victory - did all your people go to the war?

 

[MiniMe]

I was pretty happy with my score until I read this thread

I dont know what I did wrong regarding population. Its true I built cottages and sacrificed some growth due to that and also due to assigning specialists. But I guess everybody did that.

Also its true when I took enemy cities I set all of them as artists specialists to force border expansion. So no growth in those cities. So I thought caste system was a GREAT war time civic. No need to build any cultural improvements
But maybe I was wrong in sacrificing growth...

 

[hendrikszoon]

Great date, MiniMe. I believe that only DaveMcW can beat your result.

 

[jesusin]

Domination victory in 1765AD. 42589 points. 5401 game points.
I think it took me more than 50 real-time hours to complete it, where can I find that info?
Settled in place. Researched Agri-Road-Potte-BW-IW. Production: Warrior-Worker(at pop2)-Granary-Settler(at pop4)-Barracks-Settler. Almost no chopping (!). 4 settlers built in the whole game (!). Greeks dead in 840AD. 11 cities in the home continent. Astronomy in 1260AD (80 turns before victory, I’ve broken the trend!).
The reason is it was my first victory and I didn’t know which way to choose. I was happy with my tech pace, Rome alone giving 500+bpt, but my offensive stagnated as 1 unit had to be left in each conquered city as military policy.
My first caravel was very unfortunate: traveling NW from the SW tip of the continent made it circumnavigate the world before finding anyone.
Open borders with Germany allowed my to kill Aztec, then Spanish, then I felt very bad when I saw that I was around 50% in territory having killed 3 out of 6 civs, so my friends the Germans had to die too. Cavalry and Cats made all the dirty work.
I felt terribly disappointed with the 2 culture bombs I used, even the adjacent tiles remained outside my borders.
I had no religion till 1520AD, which limited my growth because of unhappiness.
9 GP in the whole game. Rome specialized in science, Athens in GPP(merchants), which kept tech rate at 100% almost the whole game.
At the end, I avoided getting SM to keep my Great Library going, even choosing 0% tech rate. It was funny to see those 2 free scientist working towards their own annihilation. I suppose Biology could have raised my score a bit.
GOTM is a very enjoying experience. Playing the game for the fist time, even more so (the genuine Julius Cesar didn’t have previous lifes’ experience, did he?). Thank you all who shared your experiences and feelings here.

 

[MiniMe]

Here are some more details from my game after running replay again:

Settled S-SW of Rome in order to get the two food bonuses for Rome. It means I miss out on the grassland gems but the second city goes on the coast to the east of Rome to get them.

Using chops I get my first 4 cities out by 2040BC. I want the following early wonders:
Oracle (850BC) - snatch Philosophy for Pacifism
Parthenon (800BC) - for GPP
Pyramids (775BC) - for Representation
Great Lighthouse (600BC) - for extra trade routes

I like Great People but I made the mistake not to build Great Library until 740AD so I didnt get that many. I also built national epic later on.

In 625BC I make the revolution for Pacifism, Representation and Caste system.

I get my first Great Scientist in 525BC and I use him for academy in Rome.
I get my first Great Prophet in 175BC and I use him for a hindu shrine.

I discover Theology in 450BC and I adopt theocracy instantly and start build up for war. Mostly preatorians but also some axemen for protection. With barracks and theocracy they all get 2 auto promotions. City Raider 2 preatorians cut through greek cities like butter

I declare war on Alexander in 25BC and switch back to Pacifism just afterwards to restart GP factory. By the next turn I have taken 3 roman cities. The greek civilization is gone in 175AD.

I have some bad luck with my next Great Person and get a prophet instead of the scientist I was aiming for. I join him to Rome.

Get a Great Engineer in 800AD. I used him later to rush Versailles in enemy territory but that was a waste... I think I noticed the same thing as bradleyfeanor.

I get the +1 boat movement in 840AD (Astronomy somewhere in the 700's)

Another great scientist in 940AD. With music I think I have 4 great artists in war preparation before declaring on the Germans in 980AD. I start war with Knights but research towards Cavalry so Knights are replaced.

From there on its only war until 1330AD. First Bismarck, then Isabella and then Monty and Saladin at the same time until I reach domination limit.

 

[A+ombomb]

Well, I finished, but I am rather disappointed by how my computer handled the game beyond about 1000AD. It's so slow, and I don't want to risk that "patch", as fixing it would probably require more effort than I would feel up to. With my sluggish computer speed, I really neglected to micromanage an earlier war overseas, and turning my towns back into farms for the bonus population before victory.

That said, there is one other thing that bugs me. Just as in any other GOTM in civ2/3, population is just too critical to your score. Its fairly annoying to me that I can't happily remain small and tech nicely, as when it comes down to it my base 10 cities will produce a miniscule score. Many other people are discovering this as well - score is almost all population base. So, if you want to get a great score, you need to mass cities or take them over. That doesn't really promote the whole idea of "mulitple paths to victory", as you'd be a fool not to take over as many cities as possible before claiming victory. Perhaps the gotm score could discourage population massing for points, and encourage pacifism as a viable point option?

 

[shumble]

Am I the only person who submitted a loss? Tons of great scores. Guess it wasn't a great idea making my first game in Civ IV one of the GOTM. But I didn't think I'd get a chance to even try it if I didn't. IT was fun. I look forward to the next one.

 

[Dynamic]

After switching to the patch 1.52 the effect of population will increase because of 20 turns delay counting score of new (captured) land tiles...

 

[Vokial]

Finished in 1898 with a Spaceship roughly 19k points.

I couldn't concentrate on my cities, I always press that darn next turn button before thinking, and I do not really have a tactic. That's why I won't survive harder levels. Noble is so easy especially if you have an own continent (Greeks annihilated 525 BC).

I avoided building Great Wonders (only the Space Elevator I couldn't resist). The AI is so weak I could have chosen a favourite puppet to have him kill the others, but they didn't intend to attack me anyway.

The only thing I paid attention to was the building of cottages. I placed as many as was possible round my cities, but I didn't use my whole land, I had 13 cities. Another thing to improve next time.

So I had only one war (with the Greeks) and nothing else. After that point, I built only 3 military units. Another nonsense only on noble.

 

[DJMGator13]

Looks like I logged a middle of the road space victory for my first ever solo game of CIV. I launched in 1966 with a 12K score. I played a much too unfocused game, changing my victory condition 3 times before finally deciding on UN or space.

I started off doing the Praet rush and eliminated the Greeks while thinking about going the warmongering route. Then I started pushing culture since I managed to found 2 religions. Around 1500AD I abandoned this tact and decided to go for a UN or space victory. I built the UN and then discovered that the vote is not guaranteed even when you are the clear leader in the game. After 3 failed diplomatic votes I started passing the individual resolutions. Once 3 of those passed I tried another direct vote which failed. Surprisingly China who backed me during the first 3 votes did not support me the last time.

As all this transpired I keep pushing forward towards a Space launch. I did build the Space Elevator but my cities were so big I had nearly completed all the parts by the time SE finished. So it only helped out my last 3 pieces.

It was a fun game and I need to log alot of playing time before the next adventure. Well I'm off to download the new patch.

 

[Amao]

Hmmm... Am I the last person submitted the game? Got interrupted around Dec 3 because of the house moving. Finally I was able to pick it up 3 days ago, and almost forgot how to play. Domination victory at 1705 and score around 52K(?). Ought to attack arab to get the victory about 2 turns earlier, but it doesn't matter.

 

[KindOfBlue]

Just finished my first GOTM in 1997 with space vic and a 11k score.

After Alex was gone I tried to play the nice guy to go for diplo. But the AI refused to cooperate and prefered to run some loveless attacks. I didn't know how to run an over see invasion either so I decided to stick to my continent and take the riskless way.

But now after I submitted my files I'll go after Bella ...

 

[thip]

Am I the only person who submitted a loss? Tons of great scores. Guess it wasn't a great idea making my first game in Civ IV one of the GOTM. But I didn't think I'd get a chance to even try it if I didn't. IT was fun. I look forward to the next one.

Hell no! I scored a massive 316...lol. Dan Quayle eat your heart out. Admittedly I lost a settler earlier on to a barbarian which had killed my warrior escort....and then I lost a city to barbarian warriors which defeated my archer...and then the Greeks took the city which I built near the iron resource a turn after I built it, so I never did get to build a Preatorian..and it was all over so fast...lol.

 

[jar2574]

Just as in any other GOTM in civ2/3, population is just too critical to your score.

I agree. Looking at those graphs above was a shock. Population counts far too much.

 

[Methos]

Victory Condition: Space
Launch Date: 1961
Firaxis score: 5,415
Victory score: 13,904

Well, at the end of my earlier spoiler I wasn’t in very good shape. My research was at 50% and my economy was plunging. I also found myself to be behind several of the AI’s in technology. Basically, I wasn’t doing very well.

Realizing I needed to improve my economy drastically I switched my focus entirely to improving my infrastructure. First priority was courthouses and than either science or commerce. My decision between the two [science or commerce] was based on the city itself. I was amazed at just how much of a difference courthouses and the FP was. In fact I saved just before and after building the FP so I could later look at its effects. Unfortunately I updated the patch before doing it, and now can’t.

As the infrastructure went up so did my science slider. Once it hit 80% I left it there for the majority of the rest of the game.

As I began running out of infrastructure to build I decided to squeeze in a few more cities. Basically I placed cities in small areas that could only control a few tiles. I wasn’t for sure at first but they did help out more than I thought.

One of the bad decisions I made was pushing Biology back too far. Since the majority of my cities were at max happiness I was afraid Biology would break them. Pushing it back I worked on upping my happiness before finally going for it. Biology did wonders for my cities, especially those small minor cities I squeezed in. I realized later I probably shouldn’t have waited so long.

One of the best things Biology did for me was in Sparta. The Greeks had built it in just the right spot as a specialist city. After building the Globe Theater Sparta was running nearly max on specialists. I never switched to the civic that allowed maximum specialists.

In the Modern Era I realized I was taking to long to get to space, so I started switching many of my cities to research. I was already producing shuttle parts faster than I could research them so hoped this would help. Nearly every city but Rome was on research, and Rome was my shuttle builder. Once I knew every tech plus Future Tech 1 I turned research off and set culture at 100%. I did this as I wasn’t for sure whether happiness played a role in score. Had I not done this I would have gotten one more future tech, and possibly a second.

 

[Methos]

I'm surprised, as I beat Eldar by 1 turn and 500 points!

Like Eldar my score was at least double the closest AI (China I believe). Plus no one else even started the Apollo Program. Eventually I pretty much just ignored the AI's.

I wish there was some way to look at our GOTM1 saves even though we have patched. I wouldn't mind looking at Eldar's save, plus others, to see the difference.

@GOTM Staff: Once GOTM1 is over can you give us the password or inform us how to bypass the security so we can look at the saves? Or is that even possible?