TSG19 Game in Progress

[tommynt]

Onan try my "strat" with 2 more cities.
Do a NC start (GL 1. if u fell confident) followed by few Liberty SP pushed setltlers and then wonders onl in cap, rest cities focus on military whiledoing Monument/Library in between /mainly Landsknechts and maybe a few horses for hit n run.

Getting a few puppets seems like a "must" for me. Otherwise keeping up in gold with ais will be real hard.

Trading a lot helps ...

 

[Onan]

If I ever replay it I might, tommy.

I think turn 57 was right for Hanging Gardens. Capital is now size 15 with +30 food / +25 with production maxed.

England just asked me to go to war with Persia. Declined. Hopefully they'll do that and that's when I can make my move. Going to be tough though, as England is allied with the five closest CS to me....

 

[Onan]

Things went really well there for a while: just about everyone declared on England, asking me to help. Persia took 2-3 cities plus KL and Tyre. Now just about everyone has made peace though, and England is coming to visit, with infantry.

It's turn 192. Piety is complete, Freedom is opened. With OCC I really want the specialist bonus. Still managing most RAs as they come available. Probably not trading enough. It's going to be defensive mode, possibly from here on out. If I can make it to artillery I should survive. Never puppeted anything...my troops advanced, now they fall back. Got a 2nd general and will carefully consider where my defensive citadel will be most effective....

 

[xiziz]

So I got to play some today, status at turn 100. I'm last in all demographics except Land and Soldiers where I'm 7th, but have been steadily gaining on the others all game. 11% behind tech leader at 24%(TL at 35%).
I settled Berlin on the spices, for it to be quick to connect, managed to get an early(t16) trade of it in due to popping Calendar in a ruin, bought a worker for the cash, and some turns later, and additional warrior after loosing one. Went NC first, got that on turn 47, probably a record for me. Got Haga Sophia turn 86 and used to pop Angkor wat turn 90 in my second city. I now how a settler going for the pearls on the coast, and another one finishing in three turns due to go soulth along the river. I think a four city setup is going to help me keep the cash for keeping the army I will need to wade off the Deity AI. So far no signs of aggression towards me, but lots of inter-AI wars going on and off, just the way I want it. Hoping to close peity just in time to get opera houses with legalism in four cities, hard part is going to be to get wonders in the two last cities, but the AI does seem rather late with all wonders so far(GL at 76, no oracle yet). Not sure if its better to open freedom or rationalism first though, but thats a problem for another day.

Build order was: Scout, Warrior, Granery, Library, Monument, NC(47), Archer, Scout, Temple, Haga Sophia(86).

Social policies: Tradition at t25, then aristocracy just before starting NC and by the time my third policy popped in I was in classical and opened peity. Got two policies left in Peity, going to be a small lag here from planting two new cities)

Tech: Pottery(10), Calendar(ruins 14), Writing(22), Philosophy(37), Mining, Archery,
Horseback Riding, Trapping, Theology(65) then went to backfill some and head off to Education, next stop Archaeology through currency.

I have a good feeling, but I've only won two deity games earlier, and both before the recent patches.

Edit: I thought I might add some about the Special ability. I've cleared five camps and gotten one brute and one spearman. My standing forces are two warriors, one brute, two landknechts and a archer. Also a normal scout running about looking for camps/fillings gaps. Warriors and brute will be upgraded to swords soon enough though and I'll probably invest in a cat or two aswell.

 

[goyal]

Okies so that was what happened till turn 244. America had most cities, Persia leader in Science, India leader in Policies (completed 4 trees), Askia leading in Military and England had all the CS with whom Persia and Me are fighting.

Rest of the world: Askia declares on America. I didn't care as both were almost same size (the largest two) and didn't seem anyone would be able to destroy the other. BIG Mistake. Askia just rampaged America and was now in control of half the map. Good thing Askia was not leading in science so would have some time before ti goes for scientific victory.

Wars going on: Askia + India v/s pers.. Pers+Me v/s Liz. America/ Ottomans/Iroquos didn't count much.
Everyone is friendly with me besides England.

My side: Fighting with Liz. Got Panzers and now it was time for Liz to pay for all the aggression. Captured 5 of her cities (including capital) and signed peace by extorting 15k gold + 300gpt. Persia was inching close to scientific. Had no option but to go after Pers.
Used up Liz gold to make all CS allies and rushed 10 panzers. Askia and India were already at war with Pers so hitting fast with Panzers worked. Askia was taking pers cities on west and me on east. We both reached till Delhi at almost same time. I liberated all the CS as happiness was already low.

Now it was India's turn as I couldn't let go off Delhi with 10+ wonders inside it. More importantly Eiffel tower / taj Mahal / ND would solve all my happiness issues. I reached Stealth Bombers by rushing 2 GS. Signed Peace with Pers and extorted 7k Gold. Rushed 6 Stealth Bombers and attacked Delhi (which I couldn't without ranged bombings as it was at 160 def. points). Captured Delhi and signed peace with Gandhi (couldn't afford to capture more of his insanely high pop cities) by extorting another 6k Gold.

Now the toughest part of taking on Askia began. Askia had 1/2 of the map, and all the puppets were in front. So I couldn't hurt his production right away. Anyways Askia was already at war with Pers (which still had good military). Also bribed Iroquois (small but not bad) to declare war on Askia. I had like 15 MA + Panzers and 8 Stealth Bombers. Captured 4 of Askia cities and then it struck me with Nuclear missilies (..
All my stealth bombers died. I had gold to create another 5 bombers. Did that and it hit me again with Nuclear missile. I tried playing the same turn again and relocate my bombers, but it was intelligent enough to bomb that specific city.

I might give it one more try but seems a lost cause with Askia being so huge. I can easily win scientifc / diplomatic (even domination) but cultural is a very long shot. It is turn 317 and I have still not completed 4 trees. Finally I am happy with my game as this was the first Deity attempt and I could win it if not for Cultural VC.

If I play again:
1) Get Liz before she gets longbows but without iron it seems difficult. I was able to hold her first time all because of a Citadel.
2) To win a cultural victory it will take at least 325+ turns. In that much time if any AI civ is left at a good position it will win by scientific. So, basically has to play very aggressive keeping everyone else happy (to trade).

Seeing that Cultural is impossible, I went back and replayed from where I declared on India. I already had most of the CS allies (thanks to gold from England and Persia). I now only had to shoot for Globalization and build UN while keeping a check that no AI (especially Askia) wins scientific.
I made Askia declare war on everyone else so that it doesn't go creating spaceship parts.

Persia came really close to scientific (with just one spaceship part remaining), and I had no option left but to destroy it completely.

I had 2 GS and signed RAs with everyone as I was still friendly with them besides Persia and England. Hit Globalization in turn 320s and starting building UN. Askia helped me out there and built it before me. UN vote happens in 330s and I WIN !!!

This is my first Deity win and that also with Germany !! Panzers with that 6 movement are just awesome.

I won't be submitting as did a few re-loads. Btw how to take a screen-shot ?

Of to GOTM 20 and try Harun for the first time now

 

[leif erikson]

Btw how to take a screen-shot ?

In game, you press the "Print Screen" key on your keyboard. The game stores them in:
D:\My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\ScreenShots (or wherever your My Documents folder is, maybe on C:\ )

The screenshot is a TGA file and so you need to use a program like IrFanView (free) to reformat it into .jpg format in order to post it. IrFanView will also let you change the size to make it a bit small for those who do not have wide screen monitors.

 

[xiziz]

Played my second session today, finished at turn 211 for the night. I got outrun by the AI, bigtime. I used my GE for the Sistine to early(was three turns from popping a fifth population) resulting in me having to hard build the last portion of it, and thus the AI beat me to it by four turns at 141. Managed to pop four opera houses at turn 140 though. Elizabeth DOWed me at 152, and still at war with her, she wont accept peace without me giving her three of my cities, which isn't happning since her troops are not able to penetrate the marshes to the north. I sent Darius to deal with her instead, which went a little to well, so I had to send Washington after Darius.
Not really going my way this game, just closed Freedom, so next is to fill out Tradition, then I'm not quite sure where to go, I don't think I will be abe to finish in time, even if I manage to snatch Christo and Sidney which I doubt as the AI's tech lead is now 26%.
I did manage to get the Louvre though, got four artists settled and working, freedom finisher added 50/turn with them. Got wonders in three cities and probably won't be able to get one in the fourth due to it beeing to low pop, but hope is high.

This is a very fun game thusfar, lots of exciting things happening and I've had a few moments when I wanted to rip my hair out. I'll play it to the end tomorrow I think, or over the weekend anyway. I think the key here is to play a science game so you don't fall behind like I've done, and just be quick to pop in any culture buildings as you get them, I've taken a way to culture oriented approach to win I think, someone is bound to win domination or science or diplo before me, Darius is close to all three.

My legalism trick fell in on the same turn my two extra cities finished their temples, so I was very happy with that synergy.

 

[Farrapo]

Continuing comments on second attempt. it went much better this time in the sense that I help off England and took several of her cities, plus Stockholm. There are opponents with over 21,000 gold (!!). No wars with anyone else, and got some Wonders including Sistine Chapel and Hermitage, but still well behind on culture. Only 14 SP's completed (all Tradition, all Liberty, first Honor and Peity). It's clear that someone else will win this within 30-40 turns so I am going to buzz off and mess with #20. This was a humbling scenario, but fun.

 

[Half Nelson]

Turn 100:- Finally convert a barb spearman from a camp at the EIGHTH attempt.
Turn 101:- HS completed, GE available for Porcelain Tower but still 2 turns to Education
Turn 103:- Use GE to complete PT in Berlin. 3RA are set up to mature around turn 125-30
Turn 104:- Persia builds PT…………!!??? I get a few coins compensation for the loss of my GE. I rage-quit in total frustration (old Civ reflexes die hard).
I should have played on a bit more, but now looking at the Forum postings I am fairly sure my days were numbered in any case. Culture win not even on my radar!
Things I would do again:-
3 city NC start certainly at Immortal and above (where GL for me is a longshot)
The basic plan (fairly standard Liberty+HS Great Engineer fest), which would have worked better had I not been deflected from my task by defensive worries due to lack of barb conversions. Trying to squeeze in IW (3 turns after NC completion) lost me the PT.
Things I would change:-
My third city, although in a nice spot, was too close to England for a defensive start. I should have settled it either W for the pearls or S for Ivory-Sheep.
Things I have learned:-
Look harder at pre-requisites for developing luxuries: you need BW for jungle!
Deity AI do not hang about. Longbows, Man Cav and the like were all abroad by turn 100
German UA (like that of Ottoman) is very hit-or-miss. I was lucky in TSG18 and got a free Ottoman navy, here I was not lucky and just got angry.
I still need to master the Emperor-Immortal transition before attempting Deity again, especially in aspects of defensive warfare by the look of this map!

 

[Onan]

I'm going slowly here so my game is still in progress. I must've stopped my last session at around turn 235. Darius built the Apollo Program some turns back. Washington completed the Manhattan Project on turn 229, so hopefully he'll nuke Darius!

I was able to hold the English infantry with my few troops and a citadel just NW of Berlin (settled in place). I got Persia to re-enter the war for 73 gold, and then with rifles and cannon I finally pushed on England. I've taken Elizabeth's three nearest cities (west and NW), and Stockholm. Moving on Coventry where I saved, with artillery, and vengefully hopeful I can push all the way to take London. Puppets so far (4) have my happiness at 0, though, so I may need to burn something down....

I think I have two more policies to complete Freedom, which is only the third tree I'll have done. Darius is the tech leader and is around 20% ahead of me. I don't expect the game will last much longer, but who knows, with nukes in play soon, Darius may have trouble completing his spaceship, and perhaps the Berlin Empire can continue their artistic crusade?

I have to say, this is the first SP game which has held my interest in a very long time. My next post will probably be in the after-action thread. I'm also pretty satisfied I've come this far with only one city.

 

[Farrapo]

I came back to keep working on my second attempt after finishing #20. Something odd happened that may be worth sharing. I decided I had no chance to win so concentrated on fighting England. I ended up taking eight cities, including London, then accepted peace and started focusing on culture again. By that time Darius was miles ahead and had about 200K gold. I joined him and the Songhai in a war against America, though I never fired a shot. Darius was building everything and I saw him get the Apollo Program and at one pint the Stasis Module, but for whatever odd reason he never completed the science victory. We went through 8-10 UN votes, but nobody could win (I could not even hold a single ally - immediately outbid) as so many CSs has been taken over. So we got up to about turn 385 and I need four more SPs, and nobody registers a win yet. I never expected to get beyond turn 280 or so. After the England war I was never attacked by anyone, though Darius could probably blow me away.