The Apollo Challenge Lineup - Game #1 - African Union

[Acken]

Courtesy to DingleBirdy on civ5 forums for his layout in the Deity Challenge series.

The Apollo Challenge Lineup - Game #1

"After so much time spent travelling into deep space, we land in this arid world. We of the African Union will make our best to give humanity a bright and prosperous future on this world."

Welcome. Mimicking the Deity series available for Civ5, this is a biweekly event with games posted every other friday or saturday. All games in this series will be set to Apollo difficulty. User sponsor, seeding options, maps and options, will change with each challenge, but the pace will always be set at standard. This isn't an official competition but players are of course encouraged to play to their best.

For reference:
Deity challenge

ACL Game #1
Sponsor: African Union
Colonists: Refugees
Spacecraft: Continental Surveyor
Cargo: Raw Materials
Total AI - 8
Map – Terran Desert
Settings - 4 Billion Years, Hot Temperature, Arid world, Low Sea Level.
Options - Quick Movement/Combat (you are free to deactivate these in the game), Don't Stagger Starts.
Game Version - 1.0.0.574
Downloadable Content – None required
Default Victory (see below) - Promised Land

Note: Seeding options are picked for variety or theme, not reflecting what is usually the best combination.

Starting Location (save downloadable at the end of the post)

Spoiler :

There is no predefined or official victory condition. You are therefore free to win however you want. There is absolutely no consequence choosing a victory over another. A "default" victory will still be indicated for players like me wanting someone else to chose for them If I start recording results in a spreadsheet, every victories will always be on equal grounds.
Default Victory is indicated with game settings.

Who can play?
Anybody can play. The more the merrier. Even if you don't play at Apollo you are encouraged to participate and I guarantee you will learn a thing or two. Strong players are encouraged to race between themselves for the win !

Do's and Don'ts
As in civ5 we use a honor system. Feel free to restart, reload, play the same game multiple times. It's still a little early to really know what could be considered an exploit or not (and will probably change as Firaxis fixes the game). For now, anything is fine and if some really strong exploits appear and the community is unanimous we will discourage the use or ask you to indicate when you use them. Meanwhile just play based on your conscience and personal enjoyment
Also, please use the spoiler tag if you post a picture, comment about neighboring AI and other game related stuff. You're free to spoil as much as you want after 2 weeks when the next game is "released"

We also encourage you to make detailed write ups of your play. It helps comparisons and new players

Game Rules

I won't restrict gameplay by "house" rules. By experience, it has a tendency to make players flee that kind of forum games. However, players are free to have their own rules and experiments if they want to make the game more challenging for themselves. I am 100% aware CivBE isn't challenging for Civ veterans but I won't impose arbitrary rules. If you find the game too easy I strongly suggest you then try to achieve a fast victory (fighting for it with other good players) or chose your own handicaps.

Finally, note that the game is in a very early stage so the game will be subject to change (by Firaxis) and this series will have modifications after feedback from players.

Edit:
If your game crashes after 1 turn, you can try the following fix by cord:

Disable Core Threading
Go to the install folder of your game and open the file config.ini with a text editor like Notepad. Find the line EnableGameCoreThreading = 1 and change it to EnableGameCoreThreading = 0. Save the file and restart the game. This hopefully fixed your problems.

 

[Esperr]

Will be starting up soon.

 

[pwoz]

Are the quests you get fixed? I tried a couple times and keep getting the biofuel plant quest, with of course, no algae.

 

[Acken]

You can't fix the quests as far as I know. I'm not exactly sure how this quest is triggered.

 

[Esperr]

Spoiler :

Yuck. This start is so hideously bad its not even fun to play.

 

[cord]

The save crashes whenever I try to end the (first) turn. Anyone else with this problem?

Seems to lock up when it pans to the 2nd Civ (who should be landing)

edit: Had to disable Core Threading, seemed to do the trick

 

[Robert Smith]

Is Pod off?
Edit: Found one

 

[superfurry316]

I have the same problem as Cord, a crash when I try to end first turn.

How does one disable Cord Threading?

 

[Soffacet]

I'm a little bit confused by the term "default victory." Does this mean that in order for your results to "count" in an official spreadsheet, you have to use that VC? And other VCs would be just for fun? Or am I misunderstanding.

 

[KingMorgan]

To 200

Spoiler :

Settled in place - center. Built explorers x 2, OER, Worker, Colonist, trad dep, convoy.
Went Prosperity, free settler then all the way to end with the -25%.
Worms ate a settler and worker But did pop a drone from the prog ruins, which was fun!
Teched; Pioneering, eco, Physics, bionics, genetics, mapping, etc.
Quests were bugged again so late Battlesuits around 120, bought 3 titanium from a couple of ppl. ARC marched an army through my land and out the other side, them declared. Unfortunately for them my battlestompers were already in position down south, the slavs finished off ARC on t156, a cheeky amour swooped in after I reduced the defences.
A bit of building to improve science and at t200. i'm 10urns from Settlers Gate with the satellite launched. Easy win in 30 turns ( I hope)!

Spoiler :

 

[Acken]

The save crashes whenever I try to end the (first) turn. Anyone else with this problem?

Seems to lock up when it pans to the 2nd Civ (who should be landing)

edit: Had to disable Core Threading, seemed to do the trick

Interesting. Thanks for noticing. Could you please explain what option you disabled ? Threaded Rendering ? I'll make a note in OP for other people after that.

I'm a little bit confused by the term "default victory." Does this mean that in order for your results to "count" in an official spreadsheet, you have to use that VC? And other VCs would be just for fun? Or am I misunderstanding.

I'll refer you to the OP. All results count. Feel free to play however you want, the default condition is only there for people wanting an imposed VC (which is something I miss in DCL). All VC are considered equal if I start recording them on a spreadsheet don't worry

Spoiler :

Yuck. This start is so hideously bad its not even fun to play.

Spoiler :

Never give up ! Start is voluntarily set to be a little harder But if you do abandon don't hesitate to come back next time since things won't necessarily always be hideous.

 

[Acken]

For people having crashes with the save please tell me if this one fixes the problem.

 

[KingMorgan]

To 253 and the promised land!

Spoiler :

T208

Spoiler :

Headed for a Promised land victory, Brazil completed Exodus gate 7 turn before me, therefore something had to be done to ensure victory.

T228

Spoiler :

The AI is just so dumb

Spoiler :

Opps, sorry was that your gate. My bad.

Spoiler :

Just visiting - can you validate my parking!

Spoiler :

The money shot!

Spoiler :

Thanks for posting the save Achen, I hope some more ppl play and post afterwards, the map is easy enough once you get into it.

 

[FaceUnderMask]

Started, found absurd amount of xenomass close, found a city here, found another outpost, ARC was lurking with her army nearby, I began to build marines for protection, then ARC and Slavs decrared war on me. I greatly underestimated her army (3 times my original estimation), outpost was crushed, wasn't motivated enough to continue.

Challenge failed. Interesting experience though, will be more careful next time.

 

[Robert Smith]

T233, now when I know the map i Think i will go for one more try.

Edit, anyone getting affinity from Quest Cultural Burden. I normally do but not in this game

Spoiler :

My war with kozlow and Suzanne went on from ≈ T100 to the end

T102 Institute
T112 Purity lvl 4
T193 Started to build the gate

My heath was below 25 way to loooong

I will post some more picture from 2:nd try incl. city locations

 

[Esperr]

Spoiler :

Both games I keep running into the always war bug.Like clockwork at turn 30 ARC and hutama DOW and will literally not ever give me peace, now matter how much I burn or wipe out. it kills my early game because no trade partners. Its turn 260 and I still can get peace, anybody else have this issue?

 

[jgray]

Thanks for the game! Comparing strats from a shared game is my favorite part of Civ.

Spoiler :

T215 Promised Land Victory

Early ICS/TR spam. Founded 7 cities, captured 2. Improved any base tiles with Academies/Terrascapes.

Potential improvements:
Cultural Burden quest was bugged - cost me an affinity point?
Took Cybernetics with free tech from Institutes. Helped me take Freeland but maybe added a few turns overall?
Entering into an alliance dragged me into a war with Daoming, cost me a few TVs and TR yield
Not sure on priority for Robotics/Cognition/Terraforming/Computing. Autoplants/Academies/Terrascapes/Spies - I see strong arguments for all of them.
I wasted 4 virtues into Industry after getting Free Colonist. Hard to see a better path than Free Colonist -> Ecoscapes/Eudaimonia -> Knowledge. Eudaimonia gave me +35 health ~T165.

0: Settle Coastal Center Hill, Work Reslin
6: OER
14: Worker
18: Pioneering, Homesteading
19: 80P from Expedition
20: Trade Depot
27: Trade Vessel, Free Colonist
31: Ecology, Found Ayaan NW River
39: Engineering
42: Buy TV (Loans)
43: Labor Logistics
45: Chemistry
47: Found Thabo (Titanium)
48: Ultrasonic Fence
54: Reverse Polarity
62: Robotics
69: Found Jenali (Firaxite)
71: Computing
74: Found Bongani (2x Titanium)
88: Terraforming
90: Genetics
91: Physics, Humata Massing Troops - Make alliance with South America/ARC
100: 115 sci, -24 health, +12 culture, +44gold, 6 cities
104: Humata DOW
117: Bionics
122: Fabrication
128: Alliance creates 3x war when Daoming declares on ARC, lose a few TVs
133: Truce Daoming
136: Civil Support, Cybernetics (Institute)
145: Captured Freeland
148: Peace Hutama (PA)
156: 407 sci, -13 health, +118 culture, +116 gold, 10 cities (2 captures)
?: Ecoscaping, Eudaimonia
170: 606 sci, 31 health, +179 culture
174: Mobile Lev, 12 Purity
181: Tactical Lev, 13 Purity, Start Gate - ETA 17 Turns
194: Finished Gate
202: Daoming Completes Gate
204: Deep Memory -> Networked Datalinks, Learning Centers -> Interdependence Network, Metaresearch Methods
215: Promised Land Victory

 

[metagross]

T210ish NoSpy Supremacy, many many details in Spoiler.

Spoiler :

T0 – Nice themed setup, Africa + growth + clinic makes sense. Settling on Coast is great, having the surveyor for early trading is even better.
T1 – Settled in place, went for Relic, intention to buy the Worker from AI money or get one free from Policy (I always take Machinery so kind of didn’t know if I made the right decision). Pioneering for Trade Routes and City Spam ASAP.
T2 – Ais show themselves, 3 on coast, great for trading. ARC nearby, not so great for living.
T3 – ARC offers Open Boarders, perhaps we can be partners?
T4 – Magan grows to 2, started an expedition on alien ruins.
T8 – Relic built, started on Worker. +1 Health from Clinic Quest.
T9 – Got an Alien Drone from ruins, awesome.
T10 – Satellite falls.
T12 – First Virtue, Prosperity opener.
T15 – Expedition started on satellite.
T16 – Pioneering done, started on Ecology for Trade Route protection.
T17 – ARC offers Cooperation, nice. Worker built, sent to Tubers, started on Depot.
T20 – Expedition at the Satellite gives me 80 production, awesome. Depot built, started on Trade Vessel. Granted the refugees refuge (thinking Supremacy since I like that wincon the best). Policy available, picked Homesteading.
T21 – Hutama gets angered at my excavations, told him to chill.
T22 - +1 Culture from Relic quest.
T23 – Trade Vessel built, sent to Central for 10e5s. Worker sent to work on fruit. Magan starts building another Trade Vessel.
T24 – Hutama offers Cooperation, we all playing nice so far. Suzanne is delighted at our trading.
T25 – Hutama offers Open Boarders.
T26 - +1 Production from Depot quest.
T27 – Ecology done. Approved Shackleton – ugh. Researching Chemistry.
T28 – Drone finds first Pod. Policy – Free Colonist. Sending him north since Shackleton took south.
T29 – Hutama founds Jimboomba right to the east, fortunately leaves enough space for my second city. Trade vessel built and sent to Khrabrost for 8e2s. Rushbought the Fence. Started building Soldier to get rid of Shackleton. Switched Research to Physics for Rangers.
T30 – Vadim is delighted.
T31 – Sold Open Boarders to Vadim for 50. Ayaan settled between Firaxites, got a Soldier from the quest. Lets take down Shackleton. Continuing research in the Refuge quest.
T32 – Sold Open Boarders to Suzanne. Drone finds another Pod – Solar Collector. Awesome. Second soldier built, marching to Shackleton. Work starts on a Vessel for Ayaan.
T37 – Finished Physics and Chemistry, started on Robotics (18 turns). Expedition started on a Derelict Settlement. Attack on Shackleton begins.
T39 – Gonna need that Ranger for Shackleton. Building that after the Vessel.
T43 – Kozlov asks for Cooperation. Ranger built, Policy gets me Worker. Building another Vessel.
T44 – Daoming asks for Cooperation. Ayaan is settled, work starts on Relic. Rush-bought Trade Depot.
T45 – Hutama mad at me for settling cities. I said CHILL, man. Ayaan first Trade Route goes to Capitol.
T47 – Expedition done for extra Culture. Magan started on Colonist.
T48 – Ayaan second route goes to Central for 11e11s.
T50 – Ayaan completes Relic, BO goes Recycler, Clinic, Vivarium, Laboratory. Hutama founds Rangi right at my doorstep.
T52 – Robotics done. Autoplant in Ayaan BO. Research plan is Engineering, Genetics, Power Systems, Tactical Robotics. Quest decision Domesticate Wildlife. Research order changed to Genetics, Alien Lifeforms.
T54 – Magan finishes Colonist, starts on Autoplant. Sold OB to Hutama.
T57 – Shackleton falls, Thabo takes its place. Explorer finds another Pod, completes quest.
T58 – Virtue goes to Labor Logistics.
T63 – Completed Autoplant and with it the quest, Supremacy 1. Less details from here on out.
T66 – Completed Alien Preserve and rush bought another to complete the quest, Supremacy 2.
T67 – Started Tactical Robotics (21)
T71 – Reversed Polarity. Thabo one Route to Capital one External.
T83 – Tactical Robotics done, Supremacy 4. Started building an army of CNDRs.
T89 – Only now do I get Autoplant quest.
T90 – 1 CNDR built, 2 bought, declaring war on ARC, letting her come to me.
T94 – Suzanne doesn’t come so I take the war to her. Central falls and is annexed. I make a decision to ignore unhealthiness. I buy 3 more Firaxite from Elodie, rush buy another CNDR and declare a parallel war to Hutama, with 3 CNDRs waiting.
T98 – Puppeted Hutama’s Rangi.
T100 – 108 Beakers per Turn – Checkpoint.
T101 – Suzanne’s Axiom is Puppeted.
T103 – Hutama’s Jimboomba Puppeted. Peace treaty, gives up Pembela. Left with Capitol and one small city. See you in 10 turns Hutama.
T105 – Puppeted Suzanne’s Liberty (how ironic). Got Mind over Matter, now only -50 Unhealthy. I guess some diseases you can’t fight with just Mind.
T106 – Suzanne’s Vanguard Puppeted. Only has 1 small city left. I take everything she has in a Peace Treaty. My army has their eye on Vadim after Hutama is finished.
T120 – Freeland falls and is puppeted. Hutama left with one city. Science at 267 Beakers per turn. Military moves from Hutama to Rejinaldo. Down south, Army from Suzanne’s war declares war on Vadim and waits.
T127 – Richport falls, marking the effective end of war with Hutama. Current imperium on screenshot.
T128 – After wasting a few units attacking my CNDRs, Vadim gives me Uspekh (Russian for Success, how’d that work out for you huh, Vadim?) in a Peace Treaty. I accept and regroup. Attacking Uspekh would have been a point due to a chokepoint from north.
T133 – Researched Orbital Networks, bought Petroleum from Daoming, bought Lasercomm, launched. I make the decision not to take over anymore cities so as not to limit inland trading partners. I take Eudaimonia, 19 Unhealthy. Science at 380 Beakers per turn.
T154 – Supremacy 10, 446 Beakers per Turn, 12k Energy stored with 400 per Turn. Around 20 turns away from Supremacy 13, enough Energy to buy an Angel every turn. So I estimate T210 victory. I can’t really be bothered to play it out seeing as the game is essentially won and it would just be 60 turns of choosing trade routes.

All in all, pretty fun game. I didn’t utilize Spies this game at all, so my time can be much improved by stealing Science.

Spoiler :

 

[cord]

Interesting. Thanks for noticing. Could you please explain what option you disabled ? Threaded Rendering ? I'll make a note in OP for other people after that.

Sure, I'll just quote what I found from here:

Disable Core Threading
Go to the install folder of your game and open the file config.ini with a text editor like Notepad. Find the line EnableGameCoreThreading = 1 and change it to EnableGameCoreThreading = 0. Save the file and restart the game. This hopefully fixed your problems.

 

[Esperr]

Spoiler :

Turn 243 promised land vic. Made a fatal placing error that could have shaved off tenish turns for the vic. Founded five cities of my own, burned one of the ARC's cities and annexed central, had three coastal trade cities. Also got the cultural burden quest which slowed down the game.

BO was exp, exp, OER, worker
virtue path was to free colonist, then went straight for Eudemonia, then into might for the free affinity.
Settled two cities on the river, then one south west in that little mountain valled with the xenomass, and then one north on the peninsula.
Ended up settling the earthlings on the snowball to the far north of starting point, on the one tile island east of the start point two tiles south of the larger island, one settled south of the start after I cleared out an ARC city, and the last one was settled in a completely random crag somewhere on the map(due to the aforementioned fatal placing error)

Improves:
going double explore was useless, as I only got one alien skeleton and one 80 production satellite and one 30 culture pod from explorers.
Should have founded more cities faster, only had four self built cities by turn 100, but I was afraid to forward settle on an A.I, as I needed to get infrastructure up and didn't want to sacrifice that for an army.
Get auto plants up for that third trade route faster, and get and build academies, I built biowells, and eventually manufactories to get the gate up faster, but no academies.
edit:also, as an aside, this was very challenging for me, it took me two tries to win. Not starting with a worker or artists really messed with my build order and just where to even begin in general, and I felt like it added so many turns to the game. The start as well was very claustrophobic, and I felt like my only options we're to only settle a few cities or try and fight my way out of the box, which is what I ended up doing.