[C3C] India Mountain Continent Challenge

[curtastic]

Is this the right place to post challenges? I have a normal random map save file that's fun.

You are the Indians, starting on a big empty desolate continent. You have no fresh water and very little usable land. You also have few resources but thankfully war elephants don't require any. Can you conquer better land and win?

I just played this map and barely lost the space race to the Persians. This is the only time I've ever lost to space race and I've been playing for over a decade. Normally if an AI is going to get space race they just kill you first but I survived.

 

[Lanzelot]

Interesting challenge... Very bad start (only three tiles that provide 2 food in the beginning) at Monarch difficulty level. My first impression, however, is that it can be won. Aeson's legendary tundra start on Deity level was much worse, and he won (though with a bit of luck).

So the goal is just to win any way you can, or is there a specific victory condition to aim for?
I'm tempted to take up the challenge and perhaps turn it into some kind of story or "training day game".

 

[tjs282]

Interesting challenge... Very bad start (only three tiles that provide 2 food in the beginning) at Monarch difficulty level. My first impression, however, is that it can be won. Aeson's legendary tundra start on Deity level was much worse, and he won (though with a bit of luck).

So the goal is just to win any way you can, or is there a specific victory condition to aim for?
I'm tempted to take up the challenge and perhaps turn it into some kind of story or "training day game".

I've had a couple of goes at it myself, and it's definitely not an easy start, even at just Monarch -- feels more like Emp or DG (to me, anyway). It would almost make a good XOTM, except that it's a Large map.

Spoiler :

I ditched my first attempt early, after stupidly getting my first Settler killed by the raging(?) barbs, which put me a long way behind, and (I think) was a major factor in my missing the Republic-slingshot.

The second attempt is going better, though: this time I posted Axes on Mountains to fog-bust ahead of my Settler(s), so my towns got founded on schedule, and I made the slingshot easily (with only about 5 towns, all coastal, IIRC). Admittedly, expansion has been pretty slow, since most of those towns can either grow or produce, but not do both at once -- and most of them will never get to Pop13 (some can't even make it to Pop12, because of all the Mountains preventing coastal Settlement): I haven't yet even got enough towns to build my FP! (Didn't really fancy trying to ICS all those Hills and Desert, not that I had the spare pop/Settlers to do so anyway).

After getting a bit bogged down in the early-Medieval, I captured several AI-beachhead towns on the north-/east coasts (several of them more than once) while triggering my GA. It's now 1100AD-ish, and I have all of India (back) under my control. Tech-situation is also OK -- although I skipped most of the optionals, I'm not a long way behind the leader (who just went Industrial). I would have been a lot better off if I hadn't messed up the 'lending library' trick, though: I was lucky enough to get an SGL on one of the slingshot-techs, and reached Lit before anyone; I duly fast-built the GLib with that SGL in a purpose-built Hill-town that couldn't get bigger than Pop2, and remembered to pass it off to a WimpyCiv(TM) from the real Pangaea, just before Education came in -- but then researched Edu myself during a later play session *facepalm* (still, at least my GA let me build some Unis -- and Ducts and Markets -- quicker than I would otherwise have been able to...).

I'm pretty sure I can win from here, since all the AICivs have been fighting amongst themselves pretty much constantly, and are now disinclined to co-operate with each other, but I'll certainly need to expand off my useless mini-continent to do so. As usual(!) I'll try to go for Space, and failing that then UN -- but Dom might be fun too. Whichever way I jump, Delhi is so awkwardly placed that I will need to move my Palace at some point -- or go Communist, since Indians can do a 2T-gov-switch (although I forgot that before I went to Republic).

But it would certainly be interesting to see what a real Civ3-pro can do with this start...?

 

[curtastic]

Here's how far I got. I wasted a lot of time at the beginning exploring my island from bottom to top then back to bottom before building my capital. I also built several size 2 hill towns that just produce military the whole game and only have a barracks. When I got War Elephants I invaded the Aztecs and got some good land but the Persians were too powerful.

 

[curtastic]

Interesting challenge... Very bad start (only three tiles that provide 2 food in the beginning) at Monarch difficulty level. My first impression, however, is that it can be won. Aeson's legendary tundra start on Deity level was much worse, and he won (though with a bit of luck).

So the goal is just to win any way you can, or is there a specific victory condition to aim for?
I'm tempted to take up the challenge and perhaps turn it into some kind of story or "training day game".

Yep you'll want to win by domination or space race or diplomatic. I don't think cultural is possible because the land is so bad.

 

[tjs282]

Here's how far I got. I wasted a lot of time at the beginning exploring my island from bottom to top then back to bottom before building my capital.

That's likely why you ended up so far behind, and running to catch up -- well, that and the fact that you're still running a Monarchic gov in the Modern era...

In both my attempts so far, I moved my Settler onto the NE Hill, and planted Delhi on Turn 2 (where you built Madras)...

I also built several size 2 hill towns that just produce military the whole game and only have a barracks.

I probably should have done that too, but I was more concerned with getting my best-sited cities up to maxPop ASAP, so I was building Workers for roading, Jungle-chops and mining, rather than spending pop-points on Settlers that would make only marginally-useful towns. As well as the standard Courthouses to maximise income and Ducts to get to Pop7+, since all my towns were/are coastal and low on SPT (obviously, I haven't got rails/ electricity yet), I've also cash-rushed a lot of improvements that I wouldn't normally, e.g. Temples for Cultural expansion over the Sea-tiles, Harbours to work those Culturally-grabbed tiles, and Markets to maximise commerce from them (not necessarily in that order, depending on location).

When I got War Elephants I invaded the Aztecs and got some good land but the Persians were too powerful.

Funny how things can work out completely differently in different people's games, huh? My first Wellies were rather used to take the AIs' beachead-towns on my lands, and trigger my GA. I am certainly eyeing the Aztecs as my next target, though: partly because they're closest, partly because they don't have Saltpetre, nor Rifles (yet), and partly because, well, it's Monty, and he always deserves it

Conversely, the Persians are (so far) nowhere near attaining superpower-status in my game -- I believe that honour currently belongs to the Mayans or the Hittites (one of whom, as I say, just went Industrial). I did actually manage to get a mainland town (with Dyes) off the Hittites shortly after my GA (roughly where Malinalcove is in your screenshot), which I intended for later use as a beachhead vs the Aztecs (it also would have been/will be again a useful town in its own right, having approx. 2nd-ring status from Delhi), but I was slack about reinforcing it, and lost it to a massive American Cav-assault a couple of turns later, while my v+eWellies were still healing -- while covered (I thought) by a rMusket. (Naturally, this assault happened on the same IBT after I'd just cash-rushed a Temple there... That same co-incidence strangely also occurred in one of the AI-towns I'd acquired on my homeland... )

 

[Lanzelot]

I also started the game now and played the first 50 turns. I described my approach in a story: Gandhi on the Rocks

 

[Lanzelot]

curtastic: do you remember the aggression level you chose when starting this game? I also fomented some wars on the big continent in my game, and the AIs keep fighting and starting new wars ever since...

 

[curtastic]

I played it again and won by domination in 1942. This time I was faster to invade the mainland, and also built cities in between other AI cities that had no culture, and hurried temples in mine. Then I abandoned my capital to move it.

 

[Lanzelot]

A quick notice that I just finished my game & story today. End result: domination in 1250 AD. Quite a challenge indeed.

 

[catalin72]

Nice game and play,congratulations !