Yet (not) another sub-t200 space win (and the most OP buro cottage capital ever?)

[Fish Man]

I recently got the idea to do a sub-t200 space attempt on noble with Huayna Capac, since for some reason I've never tried to break that barrier with the strongest civ in the game.

I only got to Oracle civil service 975BC, but the lategame was absolutely absurd, topped by the most ridiculous cottage capital I've ever seen making this much beakers/turn in a golden age, and then topping 1000 bpt out of the golden age by my windate:

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Meanwhile, I managed to top 5000 bpt by the end of the game, with 30 cities or less. And I finished t198 (1380AD) despite only having libbed communism t132 (425AD). That's basically clearing 3 eras in under 50 turns!!!

Spoiler :

The start and finish for this absolutely absurd map is attached. Give it a spin if you want, to see just how far you can push things.

 

[AcaMetis]

Space Race victory two turns before Mansa Musa manages to tech Engineering. That is...sufficiently one-sided, to say the least .

 

[pigswill]

Weird game. Stonehenge 500bc? I thought you weren't meant to found your own religion.

 

[Fish Man]

Weird game. Stonehenge 500bc? I thought you weren't meant to found your own religion.

I didn't found any early religion. And, after killing most people on the map, it was only natural Stonehenge got built late, as there were 2 AIs in the game remaining.

I founded Tao and Confu, of course, because those were on the path to Oracle CS and lib, respectively.

 

[Gressulf]

That is some great stuff! I really have a lot to learn, even though I am starting to get warm on Immortal. CIV4 is truly a great game.

Spoiler :

Not to hijack you thread, but HOW do you manage to win Space on Immortal and above? I can do the Cuirs and Cavalry rush no problem, but recently I have been trying to mix things up and try different stuff. My last game with Peter I was absolutely killing it. I had Fission in 1400 AD (I got Physics with Liberalism) and were miles away from everybody else. Then I play a some more turns aaaand... suddenly everybody has caught up.

What ended up happening was that Lincoln, the most backwards of all the AIs (apart from Monty) won space. He teched from Industrialism to Fusion in what felt like 10 turns (of course more than that), he got the Internet, but still did not get too much from that since he was more or less caught up and did not get Satellites or Composites from me, and then suddenly he had teched Fusion. He even managed to get Laser on the way to protect himself from nukes.
He had many cities (20 or so), but he had those cities for hundreds of years and did not tech at any special pace at all. Mansa was a pain in the ass, but he gave up and went for culture win when he hit Plastics... If anyone got any tips on how to play the late game (I usually never get farther than Rifling), I would appreciate it.

 

[civac]

The AI get accelerating (with tech era) bonuses to their outputs. A late game AI with 20 cities on Immortal+ (maybe even Emperor?) is a tech monster. My rule of thumb is that I only go for space victories if I'm the biggest Civ around by some margin. Against 20 AI cities I want at least 30 myself. Most cities will be on Wealth/Research builds.

I suspect on Immortal you can beat on the AI on equal or even (or even slightly inferior) terms with a perfectly managed Empire that does not have to maintain significant military strength but that is beyond my ability and willingness to micromanage.