GOTM #13 *Spoiler* Talks

[Duke of Marlbrough]

Man, I am not liking the Barbs in this game because there aren't any. How am I suppose to get any money from leaders if none ever show up?

I'm at around 325BC and have almost the first two islands filled with cities. I found a much smaller island along the southern pole. I have map making but have yet to build my first Trireme. Hopefully that will kick start my fledgling civ into some action. Right now my turns consist on moving my one exporing chariot and whatever settlers are active. I have the HG and Colossus, the Americans switched to and then built the lighthouse a turn or two after I got colossus. Even with HG I am getting angry citizens in cities, but at least they don't come now until the cities are size 3 or so.

So, I am very slowly progressing in the game, spending my 20 bucks a turn and waiting for something exciting to happen.

 

[Lucky]

Hey Duke, seems like you have your priorities sorted out again! (Civ, job, house, wife ..., remember!)
It looks like you do have some more time this month!

Concerning the barb leaders, I´m in 1000AD (next summary will follow soon ) and I only got 3 or 4 leaders until now!
Only one seaborne barbs harassed a newly settled island and I got one leader. The rest were remains of barb uprisings or landings on the AI continents! Stole them their reward right under their nose by sea!
And concerning money, no problem there if you have a decent SSC and discovered trade. The cash will just roll in, even other secondary city trades in my empire generate aroung 60-100 gold. And any SSC caravan around 500 gold!

 

[donsig]

I'm on 1000 AD and wondering where everyone else is. Seen a few Americans and a Viking or two. Then there was that mysterious purple ship...

I know it's bloodlust but I've just been building as many cities and wonders as I can. Let the lighthouse and great wall slip away from me though.

My new cities now start out with double unhappy people!

Just wanted to let you all know I'm playing!

 

[smegged]

I must state this now. I HATE deity difficulty. It takes ALL the fun out of Civ II. It allows no variation in the way you play. Science research is FAR too slow. Happiness is terrible. The AI production bonusses are FAR to high.

I did give this game a go however. I got around 12-13 cities up and running before AD (pretty good when you don't actually know hut patterns or anything about the code like that). But by the time I had contacted anybody else the game was already over.

The Americans decided to come over, declare war, and then make peace. In the end, they became my allies after 1 turn of war. And it seemed to be their downfall. Up north, the English had been decimated by the Mongols, who grew to be a SUPERpower. Then the Vikings decided to rip the Americans apart. Literally. They lost city after city. Every second turn they'd loose a vital city. Their capital fell, they had three cities left, and it was all over for them.

Meanwhile, the two superpowers (Vikings and Mongols) took a liking to my colony cities and attacked and took two cities each before I could make peace. I knew the game was over when the Mongols took the Hoover Dam.

I was so far behind in Tech, that the only wonders I grabbed were the Hanging Gardens, Marco Polo's Embassy (which DIDN'T WORK) and JS Bach's.

When the Americans and then the English fell in nearly consecutive turns, I KNEW I didn't have a chance. Stuck with poor technology, no infrastucture, and extremely poor income, I decided to bite the bullet and got the mongols to declare war on the vikings. Boy was that a mistake. Thinking that I'd have them fight it out for a while to take some of the pressure off, I built military to get ready for the inevitable final battle.

But by then it was too late. My biggest production city was taken first, then the city with Marco's in it. I decided to call it quits and retire, with a score of 179 (according to CivII rules and not GOTM rules). Outproduced, underpopulated, I was outmatched by the cheatingness of the computer.

I am willing to play future GOTMs on King, and even Emperor difficulty, but never again Deity. It takes the fun from the game.

So long,

Smegged

 

[smegged]

I have no idea why, but Marco Polo's embassy did not grant embassies with all other civilisations. I got it before anyone researched comunism and therefore before it was obselete. In fact it didn't even grant CONTACT with my opponents.

I used cheat mode to check that it wasn't a bug and that nobody had in fact researched communism. They hadn't. I don't know why, or how this was possible, but it's a VERY bad thing to have a wonder fail when you only have 3 wonders in the whole game.

I'd like to know if anyone else has had something similar happen.

 

[Lucky]

I am willing to play future GOTMs on King, and even Emperor difficulty, but never again Deity. It takes the fun from the game.

I am sorry that you didn´t have any fun playing on Deity level but for a lot of GOTM players Deity is the only real challenge left, especially on these kind of maps.
I would advise you to go to the Civ2-Strategy forum, there are many posts about how to beat Deity level. It is possible and with the right strategy (not only one way!) you can gain much more fun and experience on that level.
And even though you lost it seems you did play a decent game, if you first move up to Deity and stay alive up to the end then this is also a success.
Along with the strategies on the main Civfanatics page it should be no problem to win on Deity, so take look and maybe even download the 2 other Deity GOTMs to see how it can be done!

And concerning the problem with Marco Polo´s, well, if you could post the appropriate savegame here we could take a look and tell you wether it really is a bug, but it shouldn´t be. Marco Polo´s worked fine in my GOTM.

 

[Lucky]

Let´s see, where was I?
...
Today I reached 1300AD, my empire is constantly growing and the AI is being exterminated.
In the middle AD years I constructed an invasion force for the Mongols, so that I could gift them all I got to increase my science rate. The invasion with crusaders and diplos was progressing nicely because the Mongols were warring with the English and had all their attack units far away. Their cities weren´t well defended, mostly just one unit, sometimes even just a warrior!
They fell quickly and I surrounded my (their) pet city without making peace so that I didn´t need as many units.
My science rate increased due to the gifting, but overall it is still pretty slow compared to other games.

In 1000AD I started the next invasion of the English in the same manner, took London first and then bribed most of the rest. They still have 1 or 2 cities somewhere, they will fall soon.
And the biggest force is being prepared for the Americans now. I have discovered Metallurgy to disable their Great Wall and 4 or 5 caravels are going to land their cannons, dragoons and diplos on the shore of their island soon.
Meanwhile my armada of engineers is settling and improving all available land, WLTP growth will start as soon as the Americans are no more!

I really like this map, it was a little different from the other GOTMs we played.
I hope we get more of these (maybe not so big!) and I still think custom made maps are a great idea!

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

I'm really trying to finish this GOTM even though it's a medium map.

I just got to 1 AD last night (figured I still function with a couple hours less of sleep). My massive navy (one trireme) transported my massive army (one chariot) across a massive distance (one square) a couple turns prior to reaching 1 AD. I poped a hut that was on the coast of this new land mass and got a NONE legion out of it. Now my closest city wasn't that far from the hut, so I knew the AI was close. Two turns later I found myself next to a Viking city. They wanted to trade Techs, but I didn't want to give them whatever one they had asked for (polytheism or something) so I offered them an alternative one, but they refused. They then sneak attacked my legion and chariot stack with a warrior from the city (the only unit in the city BTW) so the next turn I can just walk into the city to occupy it.

I figured I should stop for the night before I do something in my sleepy haze that I would regret. I'm working on Mich's Chapel and then the Pyramids, once those get done, I should be set for some quick growth. Once I get back home I'll post my 1 AD Demographics. Hopefully others will share their's too.

 

[dtziouf]

...so that I could gift them all I got to increase my science rate.

What? Can u actually do that ?

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

Originally posted by dtziouf
What? Can u actually do that ?

Oh Yeah. Do a search for 'key civ' in the Civ II General Discussion or Strategy Forums and you should find lots of posts on that topic. If you have any questions on it, just post them in one of those forums and we'll make sure you're well taken care of. Matrix has already had to remind us to keep this thread about the GOTM.

Moderator Action: Oh yeah. So now I'm the boogieman?
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[duke o' york]

I'm really sorry about this Matrix, but I am going to interrupt the discussion here with something so far off-topic that it falls off the end of the screen below the read-only forums.
Just to tell dtziouf that you can't search for "key civ" in those forums because the search engine on this site won't accept three letter words for searches. But the purple civ are the ones to give techs to, as they are usually the furthest behind in tech and pose the least threat. Of course they will often just go and give these techs away to other civs, but you should be so far ahead by then that it won't matter too much. Never give a tech away for a wonder that you have yet to finish though.
Very sorry Matrix .

 

[Andu Indorin]

Is it just me, or the AI civs unusually sluggish in this game? Not presenting me with much of a challenge as yet. ...

 

[Smash]

They were in my game.Although the Mongols and English managed a fair amount of cities.Evidently they stayed out of war with each other for the most part.

First victim was America.They were kind enough to build the Pyramids for me.My vet knights(Sun Tzu's) were easy victors against their greenhorn phalanx.

The Vikings were next.They were kind enough to build the Great Lighthouse for me.This was a wonderful addition to the Empire.With Pyramids,Sun's,Lighthouse and Gardens,we had more than we needed.King Richard's and Leo's were thrown in but not much use.I did see all my pikes get equipped with new musket firearms but they never were needed.

Next was a simultaneous effort against the English and Mongols.They were conveniently located and once again Zulu knights reigned supreme.This is where legions and catapults were gallant in defense but could not keep up with the massive Zulu Navy's re-enforcement efforts.

My demos at 1 ad for what they're worth

 

[smegged]

Hmm, well using cheat mode, I did check, and indeed the Mongols had communism. But the asterisk next to marco polo's embassy was never there, and they had communism at least two turns before the embassy was built.

The thing I really don't like about deity is the stupid unhappiness rules. They are inconsistant. Some new cities will have 1 uncontent cit even with martial law. I just can't work it out

Oh well, back to King.

-smegged

 

[Andu Indorin]

Originally posted by Smash
They were in my game.Although the Mongols and English managed a fair amount of cities.Evidently they stayed out of war with each other for the most part. ...
My demos at 1 ad for what they're worth

Ah, Smash, if only I were as much of a master of the early game as you, I might engage in more early conquests. As usual, I didn't commence my global conquest until after the Industrial Revolution in 1540. By that time, the Americans, Vikings, and English had managed but 8 cities apiece, with Mongols having 11; and it's probable that my 22 Zulu cities had a combined population greater than my enemies combined.

And yes, the Americans were nice enough to build the Pyramids in my game as well; plus Leonardo's Workshop and the Statue of Liberty. Very kind of them to go through all that trouble just for me !

Having knocked out the Vikings, and reduced the Americans to a token city -- damned that infernal Senate!!! -- have just captured York as a bridgehead against the English. Let us see how their Muskets, Cannon, and Elephants stand up to my veteran Howitzers and Armor.

(By the way, you ever get that e-mail about Civ4?)

 

[willemvanoranje]

This GotM sucks.....everything seems to be against me, except for wonders. There's no way I'm gonna win this one on conquest so I'll just play on 'till 2020 A.D. and get my score as high as possible.

 

[Lucky]

Well, following the request of a single person (Duke ) and seeing Smash´s demos, I´m posting mine at 1 AD, too.
Seems I don´t have as much military but better science. :enlighten

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

I guess since I was the one asking for them, I should also post mine.

I have a bit more population, but about half the amount of land explored. My first trireme was barely built just before 1 AD.

I'm now pushing on the Vikings and have yet to see any others.

Edit: this sucks.... I accidently clicked on submit message then promptly clicked 'stop' on the browser, but now I can't post the picture in this post, not even on an edit.

See next post for image.

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

Now I have to actaully have some text in here to be able to post the image.

 

[willemvanoranje]

I didn't know Deity GotM could be this changing.......switched to democracy and allied with the Americans and now we're conquering the world together (ok, I am, but they got a Viking city and destroyed some English transports on their way to me). Mongols are wiped out except for one or two cities somewhere (but they're off their main island). I'm currently attacking the English, but wiping them out will be much harder......they have a lot of cities....lucky for me that my army is very, very superior.