Beta Gauntlet IV

[Big_Ben]

Yeah, normal speed is going to throw everyone's game off. It's something to adjust to.

I really wish either Ghandi or Asoka had the financial trait, I could really use those fast workers. I am not sure if settling that many cities is necessary for such a short game. I have been settling 6-9 in my attempts but I may go with 3-4 and work on getting them fully developed since my last cities settled never get their cottages past villages and then only 4-5 make it that far.

 

[Shillen]

I don't know. While my later cities only have a few villages, they're still generating 60+ beakers per turn, which isn't something to be sneezed at. I think the better solution is to try to get the settlers and workers built sooner. I plan to shoot for 8 cities in my next game.

 

[Shillen]

Finished another game. These games are only like 2 hours each, although I probably should stop and think about my moves more than I do. Finished in 1340AD this time. I built 8 cities very quickly. I did get the oracle this time with civil service as my free tech but I missed the pyramids which hurt very badly. It took me until about 5 turns before mass media to get my second great engineer. So I didn't get any artists and only the one scientist at physics. I did get radio out of liberalism also. I was afraid that I wouldn't win the vote this time, though. For some reason no matter how many techs I gifted to Asoka he never gave me the + you shared your technological advancements with us. I had thought that you needed +10 and friendly for them to vote for you, but he voted for me even when he was only "pleased". Same thing with hatty. The problem with Hatty is I used Saladin in this game and him and Hatty had a bit of a tiff all game. I was very surprised to win the vote.

For next game:

1) Make sure to build the pyramids, even if I have to build it in a different city than the oracle.
2) Don't include Saladin.
3) Hopefully have stone nearby and claim it. There was no stone anywhere this game.

 

[Big_Ben]

Back in first, and this time with the right settings

1260 finish

Yes, the pyramids are pretty essential in this game. I restart until my capital has stone or gold. This time it had stone. I popped mysticism from a hut, other than that I followed my tech path in previous posts. Getting a prophet for theo then using the Oracle to get paper is the only advantage I think I have on you. It shortens your tech path a lot. I received 6 GP total. prophet (theology), prophet (code of laws), prophet (civil service), scientist from physics (electricity), 2 engineers (UN). I received my first GE with 4 turns left on mass media. I had another GE working but was like 15 turns away. So I put enough artists specialists in to get a GP in 4 turns. I sent my first GE to that city. He arrived as mass media finished and I popped another GE that turn Worked out for me.

I think I played pretty well. The only thing that hurt me was that I originally had 7 cities but then found a river spot with 2 food resources, gold, and lots of flood plains. I founded my 8th city really late and was going to make it a GP farm. I didn't need it and I think it cost more than I made off of it. I popped a GP 2 turns after I built the UN.

The only thing that I think can shorten my game is if I make sure that I get pyramids, hanging gardens, and a forge in the same city ASAP and get my GE's working quicker. Once I pop one of them I can turn out some scientists and artists from other cities. Try and time my 2nd GE near the end of mass media.

I think 1100 is the absolute minimum for this gauntlet. You would have to get lucky on huts to get anything before that. I will probably take some time off of the gauntlet now though. May try again before the end. Would like to get sub 1200.

BTW, city placement isn't that important. Try for a river area so you can get the extra cash and food is nice for fast growth. Avoid jungle though, it takes too long to clear. The closer you pack your cities together the cheaper it will be. You can overlap some hill squares as well.

 

[solidwoody]

Finished my 2nd game. Lizzie against Asoka, Cyrus, Frederick, Hatty, and Mansa. Finished in 1460 AD. Only built 1 great engineer and it was at the end. Took 10 turns for GE and then two turns to rush by the UN. Mass Media was researched by 1260AD. With 2 GEs I could have won by 1329.

My Tech path was Bronze Working-Masonry-Mysticism-Pottery-Writing-Polytheism-Monotheism-Alphabet-Priesthood-Meditation-Theology(Prophet)-Paper(Oracle)-Electricity-Liberalism-Radio-Mass Media.

After Paper I picked up Music and Philosophy for Pacifism and the free GA, not sure if that wasted any time or not. I Waited on Code of laws untill I could trade for it but I think I should get it sooner.

After Theology I founded 3 more cities quikly and then built two more after Education so I could get Oxford built.

I have been building Stonehenge and the Oracle in 2nd city then Pyramids in the capital or the next city thst has trees for chopping. It went in my forth one, 3rd city was settled for stone but not enough trees to chop Pyramids.

I had 5 Great Scientists, 3 Great Prophets, 1 Great Artist, 1 Great Engineer. Used a GA and a GS for a Golden age towards the end. 1 Prophet for religion. All others were used for tech research except for the Engineer.

For the next game.

1. Figure out how to make 2 Great Engineers
2. Research Code of Laws sooner.
3. Then more Great Artists and Great Scientists
4. and 2 or 3 more cities

I think it is possible to get a finish time around 1250AD.

 

[WastinTime]

I took my first shot at this Gauntlet.

1260AD.

Yes, I checked all my settings. Normal speed, large map.
I had no stone or marble. Just 1 corn, 1 gold, and some spices to start with.
I got like 7 great scientists, 2 engineers, no prophets.

I just took the first starting location I got. Next time I'll hold out for something more promising. It's late...more details tomorrow.

 

[Mmmm Butter]

Shaved my time down to 1300, looks like that's been bested already. Played as Qin again, all the same settings (vs. Mansa, Cyrus, Liz, Asoka and Fredrick). Yep, gotta get the pyramids, and scoring the hanging gardens seems to help a lot too. In all 4 games I've played, the population of my own civ didn't matter, because all 4 ai's (obviously besides the one who votes himself) voted me in. Something earlier than 1200 is definitely doable, I never got an engineer in this one, which woulda helped. I also was thinking that holding off on liberalism, and using it on radio, might not be the best idea, unless you use a religion. Since I never adopt a religion, getting liberalism earlier and switching to free religion would probably work better in the long run.

 

[Shillen]

Getting a prophet for theo then using the Oracle to get paper is the only advantage I think I have on you.

Paper is a cheaper tech than civil service. Unless you mean that you skip civil service until an AI researches it, but I think bureaucracy is way too valuable to do that. edit: Nevermind, I see you used a prophet for civil service.

Getting a prophet for theo then using the Oracle to get paper is the only advantage I think I have on you.

Ouch that can be a lot of restarting. I was trying to restart until I got gold and I think I restarted about 30 times and never got gold. I never got stone on any of those either. I ended up settling for a bunch of silks.

 

[Big_Ben]

It isn't as bad as the last gauntlet for restarting. If I get a really good spot I will settle but I like either gold for the research or stone for the pyramid build. If there are a lot of trees to chop I won't worry about stone.

Normally I will just let an AI research civil service or use a prophet if I get one. Last game I got paper from the Oracle then while teching alphabet I made another prophet so I used him for code of laws and teched philosophy, education, then I think I hit the other prophet for civil.

 

[BlueRenner]

Awww, Cathy, don't look at me like that. You know you're the only one for me. Yeah, I know I've been bad. I know I've strayed. But that Lizzie tramp never meant nothin' to me. I'm tellin' you Cathy, those English floozies are no good for anyone. I was using her for all those art school boys, always hangin' around her. Yeah, you know that's the truth.

What? Victoria? You've got to be kidding me. Have you seen her teeth? Well, yeah.. yeah.. I did take her out once or twice, but I swear it didn't come to nothin'! Aw, come back, baby! I just felt sorry for the old girl. You know how they say, its true, she has seriouly expanded lately, if you know what I mean. I know it looks bad, but you're the only one for me!

Don't even try that. That thing with me an Monte? Strictly business. That's not something you should even start, and you know it.

Now look baby, there's a new test up, you know? How about it? You and me, just like old times? Yeah, I see that look in your eye. C'mon babe, lets take on the world.

(on an unrelated note, I can't break 1000 with this gauntlet. I've come close, but never gotten through)

- Bill

 

[WastinTime]

I edited my post to 1260 (not 1250...That's the year of the vote, not the win).
I think votes can only occur on 1100, 1150, 1200, 1250, etc. The win is 10 years after that. Anyone disagree with that?

So, I expect the final date to be 1060 or 1010. And there will probably be a tie.

 

[ImperatorFenris]

Eh... I didn't knock down my 1600 AD score by 100 as I would have liked, only managed 1540 AD the second time. Probably didn't help that I didn't win the first diplo victory election . Should have given away a city to Vicky to stop her from being so slightly pissed off about borders. I might have gotten a better time if I'd managed to find ANY hut techs, but all they ever seemed to give me was warriors, maps, and promotions . Exploring the whole map with early warriors didn't help as much as I'd planned.

 

[solidwoody]

My last game vote was 1290. Followed same path as before except researched Code of Laws-Philosophy-Civil Service. At this point Music was 3 turns.

This time I had 6 cities, not sure vote wise what the right number is but I dont think I would go less than 5.

I found out that artists and scientists research Mass Media I only had one of each and I needed 4 or 5. I generated 4 Prophets, 1 Engineer, 2 Artists(1 free) and 4 Scientists(1 Free).

Optimal GP's for me would be 2 Prophets(theology and shrine), 2 Engineers for UN, 1-3 Artists(for Mass Media) and 4+ Scientists(Techs from Education to Mass Media. Any extra profits could be used for Civil Service or Code of Laws. Each GP saves 3 to 4 turns of research.

I will try the GP method next and will post the results.

 

[Big_Ben]

I was thinking elections may only be on selected years as well however I just finished another game in 1180AD.

The only thing that held me back was not having enough trees at my capital so I had to keep moving to the new cities to chop more workers and settlers. Also had to spread my first cities out to get to the stone I wanted. I managed to get stone and marble

I am still thinking 1100 may be the base line for this. 1000 AD may be achievable but it would be extremely difficult and I think a lot would be luck with the map and huts.

 

[fluffyflyingpig]

First try: 1220 AD.

I could've saved a few more turns by using my one extra Prophet for Philosophy or Civil Service, but was not given either tech as a research option. >.< No clue why they offered Divine Right as the research tech, since Divine Right is the MOST expensive religious tech. Perhaps you get offered a choice of the cheapest tech in the present age...? That doesn't make much sense, considering how I had to take a detour to Drama so my Artists would research Mass Media... >.< The Great Person tech choices confuse me. I was happy to get 2 engineers though, but only 3 scientists, 2 prophets and an artist (plus the 2 free GP), if I remember correctly. I need to set up my GP farms faster.

Come to think of it, the 4-5 turns it took to research Civil Service without the Great Prophet proved the difference between an AD 1180 win and a AD 1220 win, since I completed the UN in 1160 and had to waste two turns on the UN Secretary General vote and results. I ended up using the Prophet as a super specialist in London, since I was inland and not connected to any AIs early, so the 5 gold and 3 beakers was worth more than a shrine. It definitely seems votes are only held on specific years.

Gifting liberalism around and bribing AIs to swap to free religion is effective, pretty much guarantees that there will be no religious voting blocs.

What are the thought regarding the number of cities settled? I only settled 6 cities, 4 early cottage spam sites plus 2 GP farms founded much later. I know I need to set up the GP farms sooner, but am wondering if mor cities are worth it.

EDIT: Son of a #^%$*, it seems I poped Monarchy from a goody hut, enabling Devine Right and disabling Civil Service research for my Prophet. *Lucky* goody hut indeed. >.< The GP research techs are completely nonintuitive. Thanks for that chart though Dave.

 

[BlueRenner]

Me 'n Catherine managed a 960AD win.

Large Temperate Balanced Normal
Catherine VS Asoka, Cyrus, Hatshepsut, Frederick, Elizibeth, Roosevelt, Mansa Musa
Diplomatic Victory, 960AD

I'm also thinking that there is very likely to be a tie in this Gauntlet. So remember, build fast, but also build big. Ties go to the highest score.

- Bill

 

[trezno]

I was just wondering... wouldn't it be better to use a few great scientists on building academies in your top 2 research cities? Instead of using them on researching only one tech?

 

[ImperatorFenris]

I can't imagine why you would need 2 GEs for the UN.... Using just 1 takes it to 4- turns to complete, and if you switch to universal suffrage and free religion you can rush-buy it. I didn't even need to pay much at all to do this in my game, since after chopping 2 forests it cost me only 150 gold to rush the rest of it. Plus, free religion made it easier to please some of the AIs who still had religions that were different from mine. If you are using liberalism to research Radio (as I was), there seems to be little point in NOT doing it this way, since right after liberalism you are going for Mass Media, and the extra 10% research from liberalism/free religion probably isn't going to save you any time.

Also, keep in mind that the UN doesn't need to be in your capitol... so you could easily build it somewhere that has alot of forest, prechop them, and use your 1 GE there. Unless you plan to use your 2nd GE for another wonder, I think its probably a waste.

 

[Big_Ben]

BAH I didn't think there would be anyone under 1000 AD. Guess I was completely wrong. I played with 6 opponents and shaved a couple years off, will try 7-8 next time. I really want to put Ghandi in there since he techs faster and techs some of the stuff I need faster but I am wondering if he will beat me to the wonders. We will see.

How many workers are you building? I think I may be under doing it.

 

[BlueRenner]

Very good question, actually.. I've switched up my worker production regimen this gauntlet, to good results, I think.

Previously, I used the fairly standard

Worker -> Worker -> Settler -> Settler

Tactic, but in the 960 game, I changed it slightly

Worker -> Worker -> Worker -> Settler -> Settler

Where the 3rd worker doesn't chop, but goes straight to cottaging. The first worker departs with the first settler, and the cycle repeats there. However, each 2nd generation city only builds two workers, as the first one is gifted to it from the 1st generation city.

- Bill