Blackbetsy HOF Attempts

[Spoonwood]

Good news for my plan (attempt 6)!

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Bad news for my plan!

You need Masonry for the Pyramids.

Always irrigate the primary grassland cow before roading it, unless playing as the Maya and on a river. You get faster growth that way.

 

[BlackBetsy]

Always irrigate the primary grassland cow before roading it, unless playing as the Maya and on a river. You get faster growth that way.

If the cow is on a river, I irrigate. If the cow isn't, I road. IMO, too many turns lost on CB if you don't road a non-river cow.

 

[Spoonwood]

If the cow is on a river, I irrigate. If the cow isn't, I road. IMO, too many turns lost on CB if you don't road a non-river cow.

That one is on a river, but fair enough.

 

[BlackBetsy]

That one is on a river, but fair enough.

It is. I can't remember if I roaded it first or irrigated it first (both are done).

 

[BlackBetsy]

I'm literally on attempt 67 of Mark 2 of this effort. 2 early SGLs in the first 8 (attempt 6 and 8) led to good but not on the table finishes. Nothing since then, other than an SGL when I played a game to 1650 BC after a very fast 4 city start, got an SGL with Poly not long after 2000 BC but then realized it wasn't going to be nearly fast enough.

 

[BlackBetsy]

Attempt 2.71 finished in 650 BC, just 2 turns off the Board. CB SGL. Realistically, had there not been marshlands in one area that needed to be cleared to plant, I think I could have it. Domination limit was 516, so a 480 limit might have been enough as well to get on the table.

I think I need to be a little more reckless about going to war. I could probably have taken on the Aztecs and Incas earlier; first war was against the Dutch with archers + Mounted Warriors and I could probably have taken on the Incas at the same time.

This one went as well as it could go; I had a very strong city #002 to build ToA. Timed the GA like I wanted it. I didnt snag an enemy capital early, however. Very nicely shaped Pangaea:

 

[Bartleby]

Why so many spearmen?

 

[BlackBetsy]

Holy cow. I finally got a 670 BC finish....that has a Firaxis score that is 4 points higher than Karl t Great's 670 BC. CB SGL. 500 tile domination limit (wound up with 526 tiles). Great 2nd city for ToA with 3 hills 2 forests and a flood plain wheat. Found Incas for Masonry 3 turns after SGL. No early conquests but cranked out a lot of settlers. Convenient horses. If accepted, I finally cracked this board.

 

[BlackBetsy]

Why so many spearmen?

At the end, I was waiting for border expansions and didn't flip them back to MW, mostly.

I've learned my lesson and in my recent game I put "always build last unit" setting.

 

[BlackBetsy]

Played out the rest of my Iroquois maps and never did better than 670 BC. There is something fundamental I just didn't grasp about fast dominations. 200 attempts (most abandoned for lack of an SGL) and I couldn't figure it out; looking at the top games never helped as it seemed like they just magically popped from 20% to 66% in a few turns.

I did play out a 20k Warlord game that will hit the tables as a 10th place @1555 AD. I need to get a better finish on 20k (my best is a 3rd place) and I was feeling it out. I played as Babylon on a 70% water archipelago map against Arabia, Mongols and Zulu. Played for a Masonry SGL for immediate Pyramids. Got a second SGL in the Ancient Age late but held it for like 15 turns (not sure if this is wise) because I had 150 or so shields in the box. Got a 3rd SGL with ToG to rush Newton's. That was it. Never went to war, so I didn't do Heroic Epic, and I didn't have Ivory for SoZ. Not on the coast.

Never had cash to cash rush anything. Only 2 native luxes and only traded for 1, but happiness was never a problem.

Palace 4000 BC
Pyramids 3100 BC (SGL)
Temple 2710 BC
Oracle 1400 BC
Library 1325 BC
Great Library 800 BC
Maus 670 BC
ToA 350 BC
Colosseum 250 BC
Cathedral 170 BC
Great Wall 70 AD (was a prebuild that finished)
University 130 AD
Sistine Chapel 150 AD (SGL used)
Shakes 420 AD
JS Bach 630AD
Copes 760 AD
Newton 800 AD (SGL)
Hanging Gardens 900 AD (nothing else to build)
Smiths 1060 AD
Universal Suffrage 1200 AD
ToE 1255 AD
Sun Tzu's 1285 AD (really, really nothing else to build)
Leonardo's 1315 AD (really nothing else to build)
[some artillery while waiting for tech.]
Research Lab 1375 AD
Wall Street 1390 AD
SETI 1440 AD
Internet 1490 AD
Apollo 1515 AD

was 4 away from Cure for Cancer when 20k hit.

 

[BlackBetsy]

I have a hard time seeing a path to a #1 or #2 score on any of the 20k boards. My #3 was incredibly far behind the #2, and I got absurdly lucky in a Demigod game with 2 Ancient Age SGLs. Not sure I could replicate that with hundreds of tries, much less beat it by 19 turns (!!) to claim a #2 spot. I probably would need 3-4 SGLs before 10 BC to have a shot at a #2 spot on one of the tables.

Considering improving my Deity best from a #3 to a #2. There are a couple of tables where I see that as possible; at Deity I am mostly concerned about a win rather than getting a specific date.

I need to improve my Tiny and Standard finishes to #1. Those are the best tables there are. I've done pretty well with the Diplo victory condition and the Standard tables amaze me - I've got a #2 on Monarch 8 turns behind Aigburth and that game went essentially perfectly for me. I was only 3 turns over the minimum for the Industrial Age and I hit the Industrial Age in 170 BC...maybe my best game.

Maybe I will do something weird like an American Communist 100k game or something. Or the first Viking spaceship in the Hall of Fame.

 

[BlackBetsy]

I got the double SGL on the Republic Slingshot! It was very exciting. Still a crappy 1630 AD finish.

I'm thinking more and more about the 20k game being a science game. You need to get techs to get the good Wonders. Wasting time on the starting techs isn't good, and some free techs at the start of an era is a good thing. I've changed my thinking on this.

 

[Spoonwood]

I got the double SGL on the Republic Slingshot! It was very exciting. Still a crappy 1630 AD finish.

I'm thinking more and more about the 20k game being a science game. You need to get techs to get the good Wonders. Wasting time on the starting techs isn't good, and some free techs at the start of an era is a good thing. I've changed my thinking on this.

Which level and map size was that? Another Warlord game?

 

[BlackBetsy]

Which level and map size was that? Another Warlord game?

Small Warlord. I am kind of trying to see what the variables are for a truly successful 20k game. This game, I had to get Navigation and road coal for the Mongols to be able to build a factory/coal plant to build wonders faster.

I found myself with the desire to build some wonders w/o the tech. Some of it was that I didn't have contact with the other civs to be able to get their starting techs (had to burn 4 turns on Pottery). And having scientific civs so I could get Monotheism even if they could build wonders is probably worth it because they aren't going to beat me to wonders.

As you go up in difficulty, this is less of an issue in terms of getting techs from other AI but traded off with a greater likelihood they will build wonders obviously.

Not sure 3-4 ancient age SGLs aren't necessary to beat the top scores.