6toM162 AAR

[Eyswein]

Welcome to the 6otM162 After Actions 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 attach your victory save to your post.

- What was your plan for achieving the VC? What are the major steps you planned to take? What events, if any, changed the plan in execution and to what new plan? Any interesting decision points?
- What were your initial 5-10 builds in the capital or other early cities?
- Early order for technology/civics? What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
- Did you enjoy your game?

Please use spoiler tags for any surprise details you'd like kept hidden. Thanks.

 

[Planktonic]

Dom Vic, turn 160

Fun game, played it pretty quickly, not too much planning. Opted for a religion to make use of Dance of the Aurora and Work Ethic. Knocked off Zulu with galleys, then Kongo and France with horsemen. Washington fell to a few catapults and horse.
Ludwig went down to Mamluks, then levied siege units from Granada to take out Elizabeth. Mali was last- had walls and I swarmed the city with mamluks, cavalry and line infantry thinking I would suz Akkad, but needed one more envoy than I had. Could have saved a few turns if I had planned that better. More or less ignored the top tree after shipbuilding; suspect a naval approach may be much faster....

Thanks for the game!

 

[Monthar]

Domination Victory Turn 171 Score 1461

Once again, I got distracted with building.

 

[Tim17]

Resigned T130 on the first attempt, I felt it was going to be too much of a slog so prefered restarting.

2nd attempt Dom victory T163 (162 would have been perfect since it is 6otm162 )
The early game was quite a bit easier knowing where my opponents would be, especially Zulu which i could take out swiftly with 3 galleys. After getting the galleys I got 4 light cavalry to kill Kongo and France. Afterwards I struggled quite a bit against Germany which had walls quite quickly. I managed to get Munich by levying neighbouring city-states and upgrading the levied catapults to trebuchets. I got very lucky for England as when my scout galley went past london, it was low hp under attack from barbarians, I swooped in with the galley and built walls with faith. Afterwards my gold production was finally online so I levied city-states and forced my way in the Malian and American capitals.

Like @Planktonic I wonder whether it would be possible to get lower times by beelining caravels/ironclad given that besides the two civs on your continent 4 out of 5 capitals are costal.
Also this is the first time I play aggresively in Civ, I felt that any wars that were on another continent were so darn slow, are there any strategies that you use to make it faster ?
Lastly, I built only 3 settlers which felt awkward but at the same time I did not find our land that promising, what are other people thoughts ?

Thanks for the game !

 

[tarafran]

DV120
settled in place ,slinger, builder,settler(south for luxury)then spam galleys to go after America
found Zulu on the way
Kongo was conquered with raised army from the science CS north of my cap then France
Germany with another raised CS army
upgraded to caravelles in CS north of Mali then went for England
I lost a few turn in CS next to Mali waiting for the the caravelles science to kick in
I went of Pingi first to get Science and culture as I did not built any campus in my 2 citie
built the terra-cotta in my second city and walls in most of my conquest as the barbarian were plenty
Great game
Thanks

 

[MaddAddams]

Domination Victory on Turn 217

- What was your plan for achieving the VC? What are the major steps you planned to take? What events, if any, changed the plan in execution and to what new plan? Any interesting decision points?
This is a Prince level Dom game. Victory seemed inevitable regardless, the question becomes how fast. I haven't played this maptype in years. I expected to attach a neighbor and snowball. That's more or less what happened, just not on the timescale I was hoping. I wanted a strong Gold yield game to handle the armies and levies.
- Early order for technology/civics? What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
Swordsmen and Archers
- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
Barely. I built a Holy Site because I figured I'd get a religion anyway, then somehow ended up with the first religion. Mamluks were a decent power spike when they hit, but mostly I felt I could have been playing a bonus-less civ and achieved similar results. Flanking bonuses only work on units, not cities.
- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
I settled too many cities. It's what I'm used to doing. Monumentality was available as a policy card whenever I wanted it. In order:
5 initial cities in the homeland area
3 captured from Kongo
3 captured from France
4 settles on the North of the continent (probably unneeded)
2 captured from Zulu
3 settles in the Northeastern islands for resources
3 captured from United States
2 settles from captured Settlers in the South
Liberate Buenos Aires from Mali
1 capture from Mali
1 capture of Bandar Brunei
3 captures from Germany
2 captures from England
- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
I built the Apadana in my capital and continued to build Wonders in there throughout the game to ensure I was dominant in City States. At the end, my capital also had The Oracle, The Great Lighthouse, Alhambra, Potala Palace, Kilwa Kiswani, Taj Mahal, and Kotoku-In. I was Suzerain of 29 city states, out of 33, when the game ended.
- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
I chose Dance of the Aurora/Work Ethic due to the start. This was good in my capital city. I also had Wats (fine...), Crusade (worthless - I didn't spend time spreading my religion before conquering) and Tithe (worth it).
- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
Autocracy -> Monarchy -> Fascism. Strongest policy card was honestly the 50% upgrade discount
- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
Amani helped set up an early Suzerain of Bologna which I used to invade Kongo
- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
I was trading exclusively with City States. Kumasi Suz led to some great Culture yields.
- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
All Golden
- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
I did not enjoy the number of city-states or the Barb clan mode. While I took advantage of them, it was a lot of paperwork, keep track of their Quests, setting up turns where I had Diplomatic League plugged in to double-up on my first Envoy. I came to a new understanding of why players that are not used to Deity hate Barbarians: the Barbs keep tech pace so even when you're mopping the floor with the other civs, the barbs will have advanced units. A Barb had a Submarine before I did (I had unlocked the tech but was still considering my Privateers "good enough").
The extra bonuses from making an Industry were nice, but the game was over too fast before I was doing anything with monopolies or corporations. And as of this posting, I'm the slow one.
Since this was a Dom game, I was aiming for Sanguine Pact. Somehow, I didn't roll an invite for quite some time. Probably should have taken Owls much sooner given how I handled city states.
Dramatic Ages had little effect.
- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
One surprise was all the AIs voting to make purchasing units 50% cheaper with gold in the Renaissance. I bought so many Frigates. Really stupid decision by the AIs here.
- Did you enjoy your game?
Not really. Far too much of the late game was figuring out how to move around the map. I levied a city state's units at one point just because they were blocking my navy from getting to Mali. That felt dumb but it was the right choice. I like building a functional empire and this game didn't want me to do that.

 

[MaddAddams]

Resigned T130 on the first attempt, I felt it was going to be too much of a slog so prefered restarting.

2nd attempt Dom victory T163 (162 would have been perfect since it is 6otm162 )
The early game was quite a bit easier knowing where my opponents would be, especially Zulu which i could take out swiftly with 3 galleys. After getting the galleys I got 4 light cavalry to kill Kongo and France. Afterwards I struggled quite a bit against Germany which had walls quite quickly. I managed to get Munich by levying neighbouring city-states and upgrading the levied catapults to trebuchets. I got very lucky for England as when my scout galley went past london, it was low hp under attack from barbarians, I swooped in with the galley and built walls with faith. Afterwards my gold production was finally online so I levied city-states and forced my way in the Malian and American capitals.

Thanks for the game !

Not to be a jerk but, the idea is you don't know what's up in the game from the start. Is your 130 & quit and then 163 better or worse than my 217 on only one go? There's no police for this sort of thing but it feels against the spirit of the whole exercise not to play it out.

 

[Tim17]

Not to be a jerk but, the idea is you don't know what's up in the game from the start. Is your 130 & quit and then 163 better or worse than my 217 on only one go? There's no police for this sort of thing but it feels against the spirit of the whole exercise not to play it out.

I believe that my 130 and quit is worse because it is a loss versus a win. This is exactly the reason why I did disclose my first result.

To quote the AAR announcement post (emphasis mine) :

After Actions thread: In this thread you can post the results of your game. Please state your victory/loss date and final score (preferably in the post title) and describe your path to glory in this post! 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. The game will not be closed as such, but after one month, the results will be compiled, and will not necessarily be updated with reports coming in after the finish date.

The reasons behind me restarting and posting my second playthrough are multiple :

1. I imagine that the people crafting this game enjoy knowing that people played it and enjoy getting whatever feedback they can provide
2. My personal enjoyment from the game comes from trying to find solutions to the problems it poses, and by posting my thoughts I have a chance at getting feedback and thus learning.
3. I feel that restarting gives me a better chance at learning since I can try alternatives the same situation. At least while I do have a lot to learn.
4. I do not enjoy long Civ games I feel that games that drag on are a chore to play through, hence explaining my early resignation.
5. I do not play for the ranking (yet ) thus explaining also why I use UI mods even though they disqualify me from being ranked in the GOTM leaderboards, when i'll be good i'll go through the hassle of not having quick deals and all that good jazz (maybe).

If I was being a bit mischievous I would also argue that your game should not be recorded since you use the quick deals mod and as specified in the stickied 6otM Master List post :

Mods
Mods are not allowed in the semi competitive GotM, even pure UI mods like CQUI. I think what you do when not playing for ranking is up to you as long as you try to respect the GotM spirit (no cheat mod) but be aware that some of those saves are quite old and might not work with recent mods. If anything doesn't work in one of those game, check whether or not you have mods active.

 

[DaddishGambino]

Domination victory, turn 225

Plan was to use vampire warrior archer to quickly eliminate a neighbor. Reality was a comedy show. Took 4 barb camps without meeting sanguine pact, and decided maybe that didn't work with barb clan mode, so finally took hermetic order then met sanguine on the very next camp. Met America, saw they were close so made them the target, and took forever realizing there's no land path to them. But by the time I crossed over the mountains Kongo and France still didn't have walls so took them out.

Took America then Zulu after shipbuilding. Germany had stronger walls in all cities and my niter was low so it was slower, but I unlocked tanks and artillery while in Germany. Faith purchased a few and took all but 1 city.

I got golden ages in the first few eras by a huge margin, but soon after peace with Germany's last city I missed the next golden age by 1 era score! The dark age caused 3 cities to go independent including america and Zulu capitals.

At this point I sent army to England and battleships + caravel to Mali and took them. Slow going for England.

By then I had bombers so I settled a low-loyalty city within bombing range of Zulu to break down the walls, then captured it with a destroyer. During this battle I also got jet bomber upgrades so I could bomb Washington from my southernmost city and finally took it back to win.

I settled in place to get the faith, and took the pantheon for early unit production. Used the big mountain range for good campus and holy sites, and ley lines for good commercial hubs. Grand master's Chapel to use my faith bonuses for military. Mamluks were fine but came and went quickly. Crazy number of city states by the end so when I got envoys I just tried to randomly suz who was available.

This was my first full-playthrough gotm, so I had fun!

 

[MaddAddams]

I believe that my 130 and quit is worse because it is a loss versus a win. This is exactly the reason why I did disclose my first result.

The reasons behind me restarting and posting my second playthrough are multiple :

1. I imagine that the people crafting this game enjoy knowing that people played it and enjoy getting whatever feedback they can provide
2. My personal enjoyment from the game comes from trying to find solutions to the problems it poses, and by posting my thoughts I have a chance at getting feedback and thus learning.
3. I feel that restarting gives me a better chance at learning since I can try alternatives the same situation. At least while I do have a lot to learn.
4. I do not enjoy long Civ games I feel that games that drag on are a chore to play through, hence explaining my early resignation.
5. I do not play for the ranking (yet ) thus explaining also why I use UI mods even though they disqualify me from being ranked in the GOTM leaderboards, when i'll be good i'll go through the hassle of not having quick deals and all that good jazz (maybe).

If I was being a bit mischievous I would also argue that your game should not be recorded since you use the quick deals mod and as specified in the stickied 6otM Master List post :

I want to apologize. I was a bit cranky late last night when I had finally finished my game. This competition is on the honor system and I shouldn't criticize someone playing as they see fit. You were completely right on this ending up a slog if the inertia slowed. To that end, I'm impressed you took another shot at it.

I'm grateful for these challenges being put up and a community that supports them. I don't want to seem ungrateful because this was a difficulty level & set up that I did not care for. I might sit out the Prince/King challenges in the future; I was playing through some of the GotMs that I missed and recently had similar feelings towards Game 150 which had the same difficulty, wincon, city state count, and barbarian clan mode.

Are there actual leaderboards? I thought these AAR threads were all there were. I haven't found them and assumed that like the Opening Actions Report thread, they got dropped at some point.

 

[leif erikson]

Moderator Action: Please beware criticism of others. Each player find their own path in a game and the games are designed to learn from each other and enjoy the game. No player needs to justify to another their approach. Being honest in how they managed their game is part of the GOTM Spirit and is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[leif erikson]

I want to apologize. I was a bit cranky late last night when I had finally finished my game. This competition is on the honor system and I shouldn't criticize someone playing as they see fit. You were completely right on this ending up a slog if the inertia slowed. To that end, I'm impressed you took another shot at it.

I'm grateful for these challenges being put up and a community that supports them. I don't want to seem ungrateful because this was a difficulty level & set up that I did not care for. I might sit out the Prince/King challenges in the future; I was playing through some of the GotMs that I missed and recently had similar feelings towards Game 150 which had the same difficulty, wincon, city state count, and barbarian clan mode.

Are there actual leaderboards? I thought these AAR threads were all there were. I haven't found them and assumed that like the Opening Actions Report thread, they got dropped at some point.

Thank you.

When we began this series, we had hoped to create a submission system that would automate the review process. The .dll of this game was never released and we were unable to recreate what we needed to make a submission system nor have we been able to create a mod that allowed us to detect cheating. Thus has evolved the current system. The series has become more of a learning aid and friendly competition between community members that share the GOTM Spirit.

Thanks to all that participate.

 

[Monthar]

I managed turn 163 on my 2nd try and 144 on my 3rd try. I'm in the middle of another try where I'm going with a different approach.

 

[BillBologna]

Hi everyone! First time posting here.

Dom Victory on turn 240, which I'm happy with given the unique map. My biggest obstacle was just navigating the map to find all the capital cities. Prince is such an easy difficulty, I don't think I lost a single unit.

My game started well with killing Kongo and France early, then slowly getting everyone else's capital. It took me a bit to get my Navy up, but of course none of the AI had many boats of their own.

It was pretty frustrating taking down Abe, because there wasn't a lot of room to land next to him.

I went with the Ley-Lines tree. Which I think is a lot more fun than Vampires. I settled in place and got the Pasture pantheon to get culture from all those horses. All of my early focus was for science and I just ran away with it all game.

Man, I just really hate Barb Clans mode. Just an absurd amount of City-States at the end.

 

[leif erikson]

Welcome to CivFanatics and Game of the Month.

Thank you for your participation and this report of your game! Best of luck in future.

 

[GeoGeo]

Another 6otM first-timer here.

Managed my Dom victory on turn 189. Spent the whole Ancient Era trying and failing to find anyone (and also failing to get Sanguine Pact, which I was gunning for). The plan came together shortly after I discovered Kongo--I started rushing their city-states and then their cities with a mix of melee and cavalry, aided by my use of the Free Inquiry policy once I got my first Golden Age. A single coastal city to the northwest of my start ended up supplying my naval force. After Kongo fell, I was able to multitask bowling over France with exploring the seas and challenging Zulu. America I chose to befriend so I could have one solid trading partner until near the end. I snowballed through the last third of the game from there.

Some interesting highlights:

• Eventually got Sanguine Pact, but my vampires never did much aside from being extra troops. I haven't played Secret Societies much and forgot the vampire castle mechanics. Now I know the teleporting requires Aerodromes (which I never got to)
• A barb camp I let grow from the Ancient Era became Nalanda, and the first Mahavihara I built gave me Military Engineering for free. Very handy.
• Was planning to activate The Last Prophet until I realized no one else would earn Great Prophets in time, so I earned a prophet manually. Either way religion didn't impact much. It was the flanking ability that really carried me.
• I took out Mali almost as a side-quest. Rammed my navy into a coastal city, then bought a cavalry and a bombard with faith and brought down the capital nearby.
• England was the last to fall. They put up a wall in time to delay me exactly one turn.

Had fun determining an efficient path to victory even with the lower difficulty and Dark Ages holding the AI back. I wish I'd gotten my naval game up sooner and gone with a a different Secret Society. Also probably should have laid off the wonders, even if Forbidden City and a random Chichen Itza are more fun than running city projects

 

[leif erikson]

Another 6otM first-timer here.

Welcome to Game of the Month!

Thank you for your participation!

 

[thisguy22]

(6otM first time poster here too!)

Domination Victory Turn 283 Score 2507

I don't normally play on this low of a difficulty, so I wanted to play around with big science / great people. I also don't play this many game modes often, so I want to go for the "Jack of all Trades, Master of None" achievement too (which I got).

Plan was to take out nearby civs early while boosting science, get to oil, get tank corps for an easy domination win.

Military Recap:

• I got an early suzerain with Bologna and levied their military twice: first for exploration, then again to take out the Kongo capital on turn 76
• I later eliminated Kongo and France by turn 151 with another levied military
• Within 50 more turns I took out America using Mamluks / Cuirassiers
• I then upgraded all heavy cavalry units to Tanks, formed six corps out of them, and (with a little help from my vampires) systematically took out Zulu (233), England (278), and Mali (283)

Other notes:

• Settlers: I settled a few cities early and put holy sites and campuses in each with high bonuses
• Civics: I took civic policies with adjacency bonuses to match the holy sites and campuses; later switched to heavy military policies
• Religion: Founded Islam on turn 83 with Work Ethic and Tithe on top of the Divine Spark pantheon (later evangelized Wat and Itinerant Preachers)
• Dramatic Ages: All five of my ages were Golden (Classical through Modern)
• Industries: Tobacco (79), Furs (105), Honey (142), Pearls (224), Silver (227), Spices (273)
• Governments: Classical Republic -> Theocracy -> Fascism

I took note of my Great People generation too:

• First 150 turns: (8 Great People earned) 5 Scientists, 1 Merchant, 1 General, 1 Prophet
• Next 50 turns: (6 Great People earned, 1 purchased) 3 Scientists, 2 Merchants, 1 General, 1 Engineer
• Next 50 turns: (8 Great People earned, 3 purchased) 3 Engineers, 2 Scientists, 2 Generals, 2 Merchants, 2 Writers
• Next 30 turns: (16 Great People earned, 7 purchased) 5 Generals, 4 Engineers, 3 Writers, 3 Artists, 2 Merchants, 2 Scientists, 2 Musicians, 2 Admirals
• Total: 49 Great People (38 earned, 11 purchased)

I had never played the Tilted Axis map before, so that was fun to try out (a bit trippy at first), and I was happy to get a decent score on this game of the month. However, I do prefer games with more of a challenge. I look forward to the next one!

Cheers!

 

[leif erikson]

(6otM first time poster here too!)

Welcome to Game of the Month!!

Thank you for sharing your game!

 

[Jovan Kukic]

Turn 180(1190.) domination victory, score 944.
I moved settler for few moves to place my capital better. I delayed start of my conquest till Mamluks, and haven't levied CS armies, so that's probably why some players finished faster than me.