bed_head7's 20k thread

[LulThyme]

I think you will need another SGL before the middle of the Middle ages I think
But with an almost perfect game in all other respects, I may be wrong.

 

[bed_head7]

You may be right. If I am able to rush Pyramids and GL, getting 1325 seems well within reach.

 

[LulThyme]

Btw Another trick.
I used to rush the temple and settlers, but at low level (regent or monarch and down), it is better to time the Masonry with the end of temple if possible.
You can often get the Pyramids as early as 3500-3400 in some games, which makes quite a diff.
And then build the settler after, and you city which now has a capital will recover much faster.

 

[bed_head7]

I just played most of what is probably my best. Was ahead of your chieftan time for quite awhile, but after two AA SGLs I never got another one and your cpt overtook mine. In 900 AD, I am still ahead in overall culture, but cannot keep up. I'll probably go for a few more techs, and if no SGL will give it up, as 1360 or 1365 will not be acceptable to me.

After this game, I think I am going to try a different method. Instead of tiny, low diff, Babylon, I will start on huge, high diff, and the Arabs. No worries about SGLs or anything, which is the way I like it.

Or, maybe I will just generate completely random starts on all different map sizes, and tailor the victory condition to map, as even my sporadic 20k attempts become frustrating when I continually fall a turn or two short of your game.

 

[bed_head7]

Cancel that. The allure of fastest is just too much. Fastest on huge map is still far slower than tiny. It might just be less frustrating for me if I choose better maps. So new requirements: 25spt at size 12, 38spt in Golden Age, 40spt at size 20 before rails, and 100spt with rails and both factories. And, the thing that has been killing me for not having, ivory within one city range of the capital. Of course, I've yet to find such a map, after countless tries, let alone get a Masonry SGL on this map. Of course, I might stretch the SGL requirement a bit should I find this map.

By the way, 38spt gets 300s in 8, 400s in 11, and is also 25 + 13, which should be had in a Golden Age anyway.

 

[LulThyme]

Yes shields are very important in the long run.
Sure a few early SGLs will give a great start, but a significant portion of the turns are won/lost in the middle ages, where there are tons of wonders and you WILL be hand building most of them, whatever happens.
The nice thing is that being selective on shield production doesnt take much time, as its quick to check.

BTW on chieftain I think youre asking to much to have ivory so close.
SoZ is just one culture per turn over Colossus, and colossus allows you to speed up research to get repu and such.
So EVEN if I had ivory, I might make colossus first.
Then I would trigger my GA THEN SoZ.
That means that you only need ivory by about 5th or 6th city, which means it can basically be anywhere on the map , if you really put your mind to it (not like the chieftain AIS are going to stop you...)

Sure you lose 1 culture per turn, and another one after doubling, but I find the advantage of increased research speed usually makes up for it. Getting the Golden AGe/Republic as fast as possible will usually more than compensate for that in my opinion.

If I would say that the most critical spt is the size 12 one (the one you listed as 25) and 25 is a lot but doable. Most of my games were in the 20-22 range.
GA only lasts 20 turns, size 12 comes quickly, and the time between Shakespeare and factories is very short (usually one or two wonders maximum).

BTW, I have 1 or 2 diff levels to replay (demigod, almost done, and then maybe emperor) then I will try to add huts to my basic strategy or something to try and improve my Chieftain game....

 

[bed_head7]

In the two games I have played nearly to completion, ivory has been quite a distance away, and generally I have not found it as soon as I should. I ought to work on my second city strategy, I suppose. Anyway, I didn't build SoZ until AD, which is the major reason I fell behind. I do pretty well in research for the most part, as I was well ahead of you in techs for a time.

I am aware of the importance of MA wonders, which is why I upped the shield requirement. I've been going to Masonry with a lot of 20-22s maps, and it just isn't worth it, because of the MA slowdown.