TSG83 After Action

[leif erikson]

Welcome to the TSG83 After Action Report thread. In this thread you can post the results of your game. Please state victory date and score (preferably in the post title), as recorded in the Hall of Fame, and the most important: your path to glory!

STOP - Please do not continue reading this thread until you have completed and submitted your game.

Please use the Civ5 game submission page to submit your final, first play through, .Civ5Save file, saved AFTER the victory ceremony if you were not conquered (using the "Lemme play one more turn" feature.).

- How did you use religion or spying to your advantage?
- Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?
- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
- What did you think of an advanced start?
- Did the advanced start make the game easier, or harder?
- Did you enjoy playing an advanced start game?

Players are encouraged to provide feedback on the game. Some players like to replay the game, and although we will not record the results from a replay, you can still post your new experiences (please state if the game is a replay). Please refrain from posting videos until the deadline for submission is over.

Would be interested to hear any thoughts on game setup.

 

[budweiser]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 83
Date submitted: 2014-04-01 19:46:32
Reference number: 30881
Your name: budweiser
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1110AD - NOT!
Turns played: 172
Base score: 882
Final score: 2594
Time played: 2:02:00

Religion: LOL! I completed the Commerce tree but I did not found a religion. Had about 2500 faith, could not buy any Merchants. Doh! I built the Spy Academy but it was not needed. Took covert action also not needed.

Since it was emperor, I judged that I would not need to fight, so I turtled.

Advanced start is novel, but is fairly straight forward for diplo I guess. I like it for a change of pace. its easy because you have like 5 trade routes available to start, so take Wagon Trains.

Game setup: I guess Rome and Washington were supposed to be a threat, but they could not do much. I had a city on each coast so I was able to scout the sea pretty well.

 

[caeru71]

caeru71
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1050AD
Turns played: 166
Base score: 1341
Final score: 4063

 

[TheGrumpyBuddha]

Won in 165 turns, will go through the trouble of submitting if it looks like it's good, but I doubt it will be.

I thought this was interesting but after playing for awhile, I'm not sure I see the point. It seems relatively easy to be in a spot where you can win by the time the first World Leader vote is around, but you have to wait wait wait for that to happen. Only way I can see speeding it up maybe is to take out weak Civs early or some such silliness.

 

[Gamewizard]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 83
Date submitted: 2014-04-01 23:10:45
Reference number: 30883
Your name: Gamewizard
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1130AD
Turns played: 174
Base score: 1331
Final score: 3914

Ugh!!! Should have won 20 turns earlier but I lost leader vote by 1!!! Only 1 vote!!! I had to wait 20 turns for the victory because of that silliness.

Bummed that it turned out to be emperor instead of immortal, was looking forward to something challenging...but I enjoy late era starts, hope to see more of them! Thank you!

 

[dinanipedro]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 83
Date submitted: 2014-04-02 03:50:05
Reference number: 30884
Your name: dinanipedro
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 680AD
Turns played: 145
Base score: 875
Final score: 3125
Time played: 2:07:00
Submitted save: Catherine_0330 AD-1910.Civ5Save
Renamed file: dinanipedro_C508301.Civ5Save


never actually started a game other than in the ancient era, so this was something i've wanted to try but never got around to.

moscow went south coastal, st peterburg took the salt - had novogorod city take the cotton(s)
tradition, securalism, order with patronage and commerce detours
world fair, built kremlin, sydney for free social policies, forbidden 4 votes and PT for GS - focused sci/gold buildings and bulbed 5 GS's to globalization after first world congress
all spies went full diplomats and with all CS allied won with 41 votes (was not host ))

 

[TheGrumpyBuddha]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 83
Turns played: 145

I'm curious as to what was different in your game that the AI got off their asses faster tech-wise -- that's what triggers the World Leader vote, right?

 

[dinanipedro]

i had delayed pp, banking first and the AI found the world congress (Berlin) kindof later then sooner

stole the bottom techs from Washington until I lost my lvl3 russian spy in the US capital

jumped from modern to information age inbetween world congress's and this is when it switched to the UN

 

[TheGrumpyBuddha]

i had delayed pp, banking first and the AI found the world congress (Berlin) kindof later then sooner

stole the bottom techs from Washington until I lost my lvl3 russian spy in the US capital

jumped from modern to information age inbetween world congress's and this is when it switched to the UN

Ah -- I shouldn't have dilly-dallied on the way to the Information era, then!

 

[RaidandTrade]

Lost by 5 turns...

Game: Civ5 GOTM 83
Date submitted: 2014-04-02 15:40:28
Reference number: 30887
Your name: raidandtrade
Game status: Science Loss
Game date: 1555AD
Turns played: 222
Base score: 931
Final score: 931
Time played: 3:26:00
Submitted save: Catherine_0407 AD-1987.Civ5Save
Renamed file: raidandtrade_C508301.Civ5Save

Well, I know where I went wrong... Didn't go early war and take out Rome and then didn't settle a third city in time so America took the spot. Two cities wasn't the way to do this. Nearly worked but Germany launched. (I played on and took world leader on turn 412 but that was for pride).

 

[RaidandTrade]

Something up with the turn count from the submission screen and email? Mine shows turns played of 222.

Sadly the actual count for my humiliation was 407 (reflected in the save game name)...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Gamewizard]

Something up with the turn count from the submission screen and email? Mine shows turns played of 222.

Sadly the actual count for my humiliation was 407 (reflected in the save game name)...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You didn't start at turn 0...

 

[Dunkhan]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 83
Date submitted: 2014-04-03 07:55:13
Reference number: 30892
Your name: Dunkhan
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1370AD
Turns played: 198
Base score: 1791
Final score: 4592
Time played: 5:11:00
Submitted save: TSG83_Victory.Civ5Save
Renamed file: Dunkhan_C508301.Civ5Save

I messed up religion by getting to the industrial era before getting a great prophet, which was something that had never concerned me before with ancient era starts. I got to about 400 faith before I wondered if there was a reason (not just bad luck) for my prophet not arriving.

I settled in place with the northern settler, but probably should have moved to the coast to increase my trade route effectiveness. I went full tradition with the opening social policies and tried to focus on growth and science and was immediately out teching the AI, but I was always struggling for gold. Does the wagon trains social policy work on trade routes between your cities?

I built my second city on the coast north of Moscow (near Washington) and eventually built third and fourth cities to the west of Moscow next to the natural wonder and to the east on the coast.

I decided to attempt a diplomatic victory using autocracy for the first time (actually it may be the first time I even used Autocracy) by using gunboat diplomacy. This seemed to require around 8 battleships or equivalent per city and was very expensive further exacerbating my financial problems. I used my units to attack various civs and eliminated Rome, captured Washington (annexed), London, Berlin.

At the end of the game I finished the international games (almost on my own), which gained me ~3 city states and had researched future tech.

I let the other civs spy on me throughout the game to allow them to get through the tech tree faster, but as I failed to win the first 2 world leader votes (no money for city states) this was probably not a great idea and I mostly used spying for diplomats and in city states.

If I were playing this game again I would probably have built Moscow on the southern coast and put another city between there and St Petersburg. I would then go with freedom instead of autocracy and focus on trade routes to city states, which both gain influence and give money for buying other city states. This method compares favourably with gunboat diplomacy, which gains influence (eventually), but costs money.

The advanced start was different, which will be fun if used occasionally, but for regular playing I prefer ancient starts. Other eras may also be interesting. The main thing that annoyed me about the advanced start was my religious mistake mentioned above.

 

[hurtin]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 83
Date submitted: 2014-04-03 08:33:38
Reference number: 30893
Your name: hurtin
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1190AD
Turns played: 180
Base score: 1626
Final score: 4645
Time played: 4:21:00
Submitted save: 83GOTM_Hurtin.Civ5Save
Renamed file: hurtin_C508301.Civ5Save

- How did you use religion or spying to your advantage?
I did use religion, because I intended on getting the world religion to amass as many world congress votes as possible. I got forbidden palace and got world religion on the first try, by paying off as many of the AI as possible.

- Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?
It helped because once my immediate neighbors were no longer war threats, the other continent was only an economic rival for city states. I could ignore military for the most part.

- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
It changed how aggressive I was. I knew the early units are easily capable of taking out cities and quickly. I attacked my first neighbor and eliminated America fast. This set me up well for the rest of the game. If you let immortal AI's sit too long they will amass an army that is difficult to counter.

- What did you think of an advanced start?
I liked it. After more games from ancient era than I can count, this made you think on your feet.

- Did the advanced start make the game easier, or harder?
Easier. In most immortal games I'm at a tech disadvantage for much of the game. I was never at a disadvantage for long starting in Ren. Probably because I could get Universities and specialists up from the start. It was also way easier to get wonders you coveted. I built probably more wonders than necessary.

- Did you enjoy playing an advanced start game?

See above. Yes.

My best decision was taking out America and Rome quickly. This left me with a warmonger penalty, that I never recovered from, but it didn't matter. I never had a declaration of friendship the whole game. I went freedom to get the tenant that increases city state relationships with trade.

My biggest mistake was messing around too much in the Tech tree. I was ready to win a world leader vote maybe 50 turns before it happened, if I had beelined for information era faster, would have been a quicker win.

 

[golem]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 83
Date submitted: 2014-04-04 01:04:54
Reference number: 30898
Your name: golem
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 920AD
Turns played: 157
Base score: 1362
Final score: 4393

I choose just guns - went beeline for Chemistry, than for Dynamite. I conquered first America, next France, Rome. Britain and Poland were the last. I was surprised that no AIs went for rifling, in my test game I met much better armies. Policy rat opener and patronage - it was a mistake, Rat would be better and save many turns.

In turn 310 I had all city states allied, I had lot of money and wanted to enter Info era, but finished Oxford one turn sooner. Fortunately Germany helped me entering Atomic era. Last 25 turns were just clicking NEXT - nothing to do - but the game was nice. Thanks.

 

[Aaronk24]

- How did you use religion or spying to your advantage?
- Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?
- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
- What did you think of an advanced start?
- Did the advanced start make the game easier, or harder?
- Did you enjoy playing an advanced start game?

I was able to win on the first world leader vote.

I used spies to rig elections and as diplomats for the Globalization delegate bonus.

The map type did allow for more possible water trade routes for Treaty Organization.

The difficulty level and the advanced start made me relatively unafraid of the AI civs. The AI's aversion to growth seemed to hurt them more on the advanced start.

 

[Tinker]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 83
Date submitted: 2014-04-05 11:42:34
Reference number: 30907
Your name: Tinker
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1090AD
Turns played: 170
Base score: 840
Final score: 2545
Time played: 1:51:00
Submitted save: Catherine_0355 AD-1935.Civ5Save
Renamed file: Tinker_C508301.Civ5Save

Yeah, very easy. The difficulty should be cranked way up for these later starts, as the AI seems to find it difficult to properly get everything up and running fast. They barely had any money at the start while I was pumping out tons of gold per turn. Never went into any wars, militaristic city-states provided me with my entire army (interestingly, mostly consisting of Berber Cavalry and Pracinhas, the latter of which I used to get some golden ages by killing barbarians which was pretty fun).

 

[Novalia]

finished on turn 328.. peaceful boring game..
i was a little surprised at barb strength early on but that was about as exciting as it got.

Spoiler :

 

[Alphons Rodulfo]

I continued the game described in the opening actions thread and it came to its natural conclusion after 132 turns. I had two rounds of the world congress before winning the world leader election. I won with 45 votes, being allies with all city states, having five diplomats and having the world ideology (Freedom). I did not really miss the Forbidden Palace. I attempted to build it but some other civ beat me to it.

I think two details are worth mentioning. First, the epic battle for clearing a barbarian camp on the other continent. Four city states wanted it eliminated, but it persisted for a long time. I sent a knight to clear it, but the camp was hidden in a narrow mountain pas and had crossbowmen posted behind it. To approach the camp, one had to cross a river and multiple hills. My knight barely made it out of the pass alive . Only after reinforcements arrived (longswords) did I manage to clear the camp. I wonder if others have had the same experience.

The second thing is that the sea shipping lane between my two coastal cities kept being raided by unseen barbarians. I quickly built two privateers to stop the attacks on my precious food ships and managed to find the barbarian flotilla and defeat it, gaining a few units in the process. Now the funny thing was that one of the barbarian ships was a galley:

Spoiler :

As the tooltip says, it is not supposed to be able to cross ocean tiles. I captured it in a huge area of deep ocean tiles . After I captured it the unit could not move anywhere. It seemed to have lost its supernatural abilities and had to be disbanded. Could someone explain this mystery?

 

[4N4C0ND4]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 83
Date submitted: 2014-04-06 17:58:49
Reference number: 30920
Your name: 4N4C0ND4
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1130AD
Turns played: 174
Base score: 2195
Final score: 6455
Time played: 4:27:00
Submitted save: Catherine_0359 AD-1939.Civ5Save
Renamed file: 4N4C0ND4_C508301.Civ5Save

I went good ol' autocratic style. Wiped everybody but Bismark.
First Washy, the Caesar.
Then 2 fronts England/France. Took ages to get London with 2 arties. Damned 2 range gattlings!
Then massive oversea invasion a la Dday. Took Varsaw then went for Pekin. Then waited while gunboat kicked in. Sold a lot of building and had to buy ALL CS. Btw gunboat is quite imba! Had 450 influence on one of my first ally
Also, tanks are GOD with Lightingwarfare tenet. Cavalry > landxxx is almost a double of strenght actually!
Funny thing: finished in 1939. I'm just ready for WWII!

It seems that my score time is too low compared to other results. How did you do to speed the AI tech rate? I only got the UN when 2 AI were left, and I doubt my wars made issues for the 2 last.

- How did you use religion or spying to your advantage?
Grabbed a few techs here & there. Religion helped me a bit to manage happiness and have the world religion passed.

- Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?
Make my strategy a bit harder since I wanted to destroyed all civs but one. But actually the big sea might have restrain expansion.

- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
I usually play immortal, so I played naturally.

- What did you think of an advanced start?
Very interesting. I liked it a lot. 2 settlers and 4(?) policies make things very different.

- Did the advanced start make the game easier, or harder?
Easier since I doubt the AI can handle a different strategy here. It seems that it builds quite a lot of units but fails to expand. Maybe the high cost of the settlers?

- Did you enjoy playing an advanced start game?
Yeah, I'd really enjoy to find them again in next GOTM. I think it challenges everybody since it seems that almost no one plays with it.