Blackbetsy HOF Attempts

[BlackBetsy]

Finishing up the Tiny Demigod Spaceship game screenshotted last night. I chose Pyramids, which I think are almost always the right choice (maybe not if your island only has room for 4-5 cities). My island was smaller than the Germans' island, but Pyramids helped me keep ahead on population and I really have always been ahead in tech, again (I am going to triple check this was Demigod - OK it is). Just this turn the Ottomans / Germans did Nuclear Power while I'm doing Superconductor, so I'll have save at least 1 tech researched.

It's 1630 now, having just traded Superconductor for Nuclear Power, I will have 19 turns left for the Laser and Robotics. 1725 AD finish if I time the parts correctly (shouldn't be an issue). That's going to be an 8th place on the table - pretty shabby - bumping down only @superslug's 1990 AD finish. When I try again, I would like to beat 1675, which is 5th place and 10 turns better. Had I gotten a little more help from the AI on research, or maybe 20 more tiles on my home continent, I think I could have done that. I also didn't gift them into the Industrial Age, since I didn't have anything to trade. But if I had and just traded my free tech, maybe I save the 10 turns on Steam Power I spent researching.

Frustratingly, my small island and lack of lux (2 native, and the Ottomans and Germans have locked up their extra luxes in trades to each other) means that I am only doing 8-9-10 turn research in the Modern Age, even with a city with Cope+Newtons+ SETI and the Internet and Universities in all of my island's cities (and some courthouses and police stations to juice research). I have thought about breaking up the Germans and Ottomans by Military Alliance, but that doesn't seem likely at this point and they all have

I wasn't that far ahead that I could save ToE for the Modern Age - more like 2-3 techs ahead and they researched SciMeth early enough that they started on ToE before I did.

 

[jarred!]

Trying to beat my tiny demigod space game?
Pyramids no doubt. I also chose byz Korea and ottos because I think the AI can benefit from commercial and industrial traits. When I was playing a lot I had a working hypothesis that making the AI friendly trading partners (who were ideally beholden to me for luxes and resources) was better than owning enough food to 4turn techs asap; meaning two techs in 5 or 6 turns is better than one every 4. Then I got surprise DOW'd by korea...

 

[BlackBetsy]

Trying to beat my tiny demigod space game?
Pyramids no doubt. I also chose byz Korea and ottos because I think the AI can benefit from commercial and industrial traits. When I was playing a lot I had a working hypothesis that making the AI friendly trading partners (who were ideally beholden to me for luxes and resources) was better than owning enough food to 4turn techs asap; meaning two techs in 5 or 6 turns is better than one every 4. Then I got surprise DOW'd by korea...

I can't touch that game! Great effort by you. Did you write up that game at all? Curious what strategy you took and what good luck you had along the way.

 

[BlackBetsy]

These Tiny Archipelago SS games are way too slow. Gonna try 2d game as Sumeria for the food bonus and see if I can survive a Pangaea.

 

[BlackBetsy]

Second Tiny Demigod Spaceship game is in....1470 AD this time. On Pangaea definitely made the tech pace faster + good anticipation of what AI would research (Satellites instead of Superconductor, that they would get Ecology while I hit the Laser, that they'd pick Synthetic Fibers instead of Robotics. A couple of SGLs, which I used on ToE when inspecting the AI said they'd beat me to it, and the Internet.

1470 is the #5 spot on Demigod, but 31 turns behind #4. That's a lot. @jarred! 's #1 spot is 60 turns faster - which means he could have done the modern age twice again after he finished and still beaten me. Still, it's a 51 turn improvement over using the Byz on archipelago.

Assuming @Bartleby can get his Sid Spaceship uploaded, that's 9 games towards the 10 for the update.

Edit: Tiny Demigod Spaceship is now a full table, @Spoonwood, assuming me entry passes muster.

 

[BlackBetsy]

I just had a curious experience on a Standard Demigod Pangaea. I was as isolated as I've ever been - I didn't meet anyone until after 1000 BC! I went with 5 opponents. I cranked out 14 cities by 1000 BC and had 4 native luxes. I lost the Republic Slingshot and missed out on the Great Library as well. Despite these wide open spaces, I wasn't even first in land! I saved it at 650 bc but I think I'm going to abandon. I think I just didn't build enough workers, instead building Enkidus as protection. After consistently getting the Republic Slingshot on Demigod, I'm left a little stunned. I thought the Great Library would catch me up, but it got built 20 turns before I was gonna finish it. My guess is the isolation really slowed me down.

 

[BlackBetsy]

Never not fun to see.

Update: twice is nice:

But not sure what I spend my second SGL on. Possibly Sun Tzu when its available.

 

[BlackBetsy]

I feel like @Tone going for 20k at this point. I *think* I use this to get Cope in my Colossus city right after I finish a University and then immediately pre-build for Newton's.

Update:
You have to be kidding me:

 

[BlackBetsy]

I'm disappointed every time I hit a tech now and don't get an SGL.

Update: Not disappointed on Sci Meth. LOL. 5!

 

[Spoonwood]

I feel like @Tone going for 20k at this point. I *think* I use this to get Cope in my Colossus city right after I finish a University and then immediately pre-build for Newton's.

View attachment 703508
Update:
You have to be kidding me:

View attachment 703513

SGL rushing The Sistine Chapel, J. S. Bach's Cathedral, or Shakespeare's Theater makes the most sense culture wise.

Edit: found my notes on Standard spaceship demigod. It made for an amazing map. I played during the 50th anniversary of the first moon shot.

When I ran MapFinder I only went with a river and one grassland cow. I did play until I got an SGL on Writing or Alphabet though for that game though for The Pyramids.

I don't think my other Standard Demigod spaceship game has an SGL for The Pyramids, though the large one I did luck out with one (though I wasn't trying for it then).

 

[BlackBetsy]

It's an interesting game. I should be playing better, as this map had pretty good opportunities for me. Interesting couple of notes for posterity:

(1) First SGL Pyramids, second SGL went to Sun Tzu for the barracks, third to Cope in Colossus city, fourth to JS Bach, fifth to ToE.

(2) I used it on ToE because I was holding out ToE for the Modern Age and figured that I could out-compete any AI city for it even with the DG discount. Wrong! I held out ToE and had been trading other techs in the upper part of the tech tree thinking if I could hold on to ToE, I would be able to use for Miniaturization and the Internet on the same turn I hit the Modern Era. But Persia suddenly showed up as building the ToE and when I checked around my core, my best build time was 10 turns vs. 8 turns in the Persian city. This was a very big surprise since Persia had been an off-pangaea backwater on an island that I had been gifting up to various eras. So that was a big bummer - especially because I had a pre-build for ToE I could flip on demand but I had used on Hoover Dam since it was going to finish the Palace.

(3) I killed off the Russians very early in the Industrial Age, or so I thought. The map is 100% free from Russian cities and I can't establish an embassy with Russia b/c there is no capital. But Cathy is still hanging around like 50 turns later? She's a settler on a boat but there is no place for it to land a settler? I've never seen this one before.

(4) Even though it's been a good map otherwise, I had to go to war to get rubber and saltpeter, which is annoying. Given than I cover 30% of the map, I shouldn't have had to do that playing against 5 other civs (Russia, Persia, Germans, Ottomans, Babylon).

(5) Cathy being around was good for the Big Picture in the Modern Age. She was so behind on non-essential techs, I was able to get Computers from her with "only" 8000 gold and 650 gpt and every dead end Indutrial Age + late Medieval tech. BUT I couldn't get any other techs. Fission was my free tech which, of course, wasn't that useful because the Germans had traded it away already. But I did wind up at least getting Rocketry which got me my money back from Cathy. But she couldn't pay any gpt, so I went to war and ruined my trade rep (there was no way to get her to DoW).

(6) I have to micromanage my non-core cities better - I haven't created specialist farms and Miniaturization is 12 turns on 80% research 20% lux.

(7) I'm at 20% lux even with 7 luxes because the flipping Babylonians declared war on me for no apparent reason. I think it's some sort of AI end of age thing - this was when I was 2 techs away from the Modern Age (and a bigger bummer about the ToE I had to rush - had I gotten 1 free Modern tech from the ToE, I could have traded around for the others and gotten a 2nd level free tech). Its happened to me VERY frequently in these science games.

(8) You can't have 2 SGL's at the same time, right?

 

[Spoonwood]

(8) You can't have 2 SGL's at the same time, right?

You can have 2 SGLs at once for sure. You cannot have 2 MGLs though.

 

[tjs282]

I can't establish an embassy with Russia b/c there is no capital. But Cathy is still hanging around like 50 turns later? She's a settler on a boat but there is no place for it to land a settler? I've never seen this one before.

I just had a similar 'problem' with the Germans in my current game (Std 60%Archi=Pangaea, DG, Random-Inca, 7 All-random Opponents).

Bismarck was sailing around the map for ages before he found an unoccupied corner to re-Settle. Turns out he should have stayed at sea, though, because he landed near former Hittite, now Ottoman territory -- after Ozzie had exiled him in the first place...

Given than I cover 30% of the map, I shouldn't have had to do that playing against 5 other civs (Russia, Persia, Germans, Ottomans, Babylon).

While allowed under HoF rules, underpopulating the map will cause fewer resources to spawn at game-start, so I'd need some convincing evidence that doing so anyway offers a significant advantage.

(8) You can't have 2 SGL's at the same time, right?

You can have 2 SGLs at once for sure. You cannot have 2 MGLs though.

And IIRC, if you have an SGL active, you can't win any new MGLs, either.

 

[BlackBetsy]

1400 AD.... Could easily have been 20 turns faster had I done better work on micro and specialists

 

[BlackBetsy]

Next target is Large Sid Domination. That will take a month! I think Vikings 80% Archipelago, abandon any starts with a neighbor, abandon any starts w/o Great Library. Opponents as Arabs, Mongols, Japan, Egyptians, Chinese, and America - all the Expansionists, no Scientific, bias towards Religious. Writing on minimum, nearly immediate pre-build for Great Library once I can trade for Masonry, and Literature instead of the Republic Slingshot. It is possible that I do Monarchy for WW benefit. All Zerk force at first until I get a MGL to start a landing.

 

[Bartleby]

I wonder if there might be a benefit to trying to get the Great Lighthouse, instead of the Great Library? The Lighthouse might let you catch up in tech with dodgy trades (although on 80% arch the tech pace is miserable). Faster/sea-safe boats can speed up your attack.

edit: I suppose you're much more likely to get beaten to the Lighthouse even with a decent prebuild.

 

[BlackBetsy]

I wonder if there might be a benefit to trying to get the Great Lighthouse, instead of the Great Library? The Lighthouse might let you catch up in tech with dodgy trades (although on 80% arch the tech pace is miserable). Faster/sea-safe boats can speed up your attack.

edit: I suppose you're much more likely to get beaten to the Lighthouse even with a decent prebuild.

I have to say, I haven't truly figured out sea trading, which makes the Great Lighthouse a bad option for me. In prior games, there have been AI with excess resources where I could see their capital, as well as a path from their capital to a coastal city, and I had a harbor and I could see either a coastal or a sea route to them, but I couldn't trade.

 

[BlackBetsy]

STEPHEN A: Skip I want to ADDRESS this issue.

[BAYLESS nods]

You KNOW I am sensitive to the fact that you should never settle a city on a grassland river cow.

BAYLESS: Absolutely

STEPHEN A: BUT!

(Yes, I know, walk due south one tile and give up the northernmost cow to city #002, but I hate walking and giving up a turn).

 

[BlackBetsy]

Mapfinder starting location p0rn:

 

[Spoonwood]

STEPHEN A: Skip I want to ADDRESS this issue.

[BAYLESS nods]

You KNOW I am sensitive to the fact that you should never settle a city on a grassland river cow.

BAYLESS: Absolutely

STEPHEN A: BUT!

View attachment 703722

(Yes, I know, walk due south one tile and give up the northernmost cow to city #002, but I hate walking and giving up a turn).

That is a 20k quality start.