BOTM 12 First Spoiler

[DynamicSpirit]

BOTM 12 First Spoiler

Reading Requirements

Stop! If you are participating in BOTM 12, then you MUST NOT read this thread unless EITHER

• You must have reached at least 500 AD in your game, OR
• You have submitted your entry

Posting Restrictions

• Please do not discuss anything post 500 AD.
• Please do not discuss any events in locations or reveal any of the map not reachable before caravels.
• Please do not name any civs that are not contactable before caravels.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Challenger save.

Since this is a noble map and we have a production capitol and CHA, I decided I'd try to win the entire game with horse archers exclusively starting from 4000 BC.

Went southeast for a very solid hammer capitol. I teched AH to find reasonable access to horses. I oracled metal casting, set up a total of 4 cities including my capitol, and 3 of my 4 total cities were settled with lots of grassland hills to really crank units.

Around the 480's AD I wiped the target to the north. At that point in time, I had a massive power and production lead over the rest of the world, and was intent on taking advantage...

 

[PaulisKhan]

Moved 1 NE to maximise capitals workable land area. The next step was to cut off alexander from any metals using aggressive settling.
Going for a space race I wanted cities down early to get the cottages developed asap.
No time to build a large force and I didn't want Alex getting antsy with fist full of phalanx and swords. That meant denying him access to metal without declaring war.

Also settled a couple of moderate blocking cities to the south to secure some land against the Dutch who I decided to be friendly with.

Oracle slingshot to civil service. GS spawned from secondary town for capital academy.

Science rate was solid (by my standards).

 

[Htadus]

Let see. Going to Space.

Settled NE on the hill even after the warrior see corn, since it would give the most river tiles. Worrior fog bust south and east all the way to gems and started CCW loop loking for the nearest AI. Missed the Dutch by one tile. Alex' scout showed up early and I realized the warrior went the wrong direction. Oh well.

Built a worker and then 4 warriors to rush Alex. He was out of the game early because he was building WB and a worker. His city only had one warrior. Settled first city to south for a second science city with many river tiles and then 3 more to west (one claiming stone-way west) After CS sling learned Alpha and traded for most techs. Then went for GLib and By 500 AD we were frantically building universities. First two GS's built two acadamies and third bulbed Education.

As usual for me I built a handful of wonders; Oracle, ToA, Mids, Glib, SoZ and about to finish the HG (I think) and couple of others. We have two academies, HE and NE but missed the race to Philo by 4 turns to Sal. If it was not for the University frency, we would have been annaxing the gem, elephant and gold abundant Portuguese lands.

Next, I need to determine if I want to keep the dutch or get rid of Annoyed Celts and Arabs. My current era is a bit past 500AD and have a sizable army of Maces, Xbows, Axe's and Swords. My HE city can build a Mace and Xbow combo every 2 turns. It has cows, iron and 4 mines with a forge. As usual for me I can not decide who I want to keep around. This is the worst part of my game. I should get rid of Celts for sure since she is too war happy.

 

[Harok]

I followed almost the exact same strategy that I outlined in the GOTM36 thread only I was much more careful about not misclicking so I could submit. Naturally this time things didn't go quite as smooth and at the lower difficulty and normal speed it is probably not the optimum strategy for early conquest anyway.

I settled 2E of the starting spot and went with a worker first, I didn't feel as confident without the extra scout to go straight for warriors. My starting warrior went E then S meeting Willem who I stole a worker from. After I built a worker I built 3 warriors who couldn't find anyone for a long, long time. Then I built 2 settlers, 1 going toward the NE copper and cow and the other went NW by the other copper and cow but a pair of roaming bears forced him to run around about 8-10 extra turns to safely settle where I wanted him. It was only at this point that I found Alexander.

Willem was nice enough to donate another worker but I was way behind where I wanted to be. And I was still struggling to locate the cities of all the AIs I was meeting other than Alex, Willem, and Saladin. After the settlers my capital built Stonehenge and then a barracks and axes, while my other 2 cities built a barracks then axes.

I had 3 or 4 axes built when Alex put a worker out where I could grab him and I declared starting a war that wouldn't end until the final turn of the game. He had 2 weakly defended, uninteresting cities that I razed but I had no chance of making a dent in his capital so I pillaged the few tiles he had developed and parked an axe and warrior on a forested hill next to his capital which scared him into doing nothing but building archers along with a settler that never tried to leave the city until much later on.

After those first few axes the next wave I built headed S taking and keeping 2 cities from Willem. 1 was simply for the horses which I didn't have and didn't want to build another city myself to get and then his capital for the nice production. After that my axes had to scatter out to find a next target. I had the worst luck I can ever remember having when trying to locate people especially when I had made such an early investment in warriors to find them.

Once I found them though things went very smooth but there was lots of ground to cover. In the last game I had tried heading towards Construction for cats but felt straight to horse archers after BW would have been better. But for some reason when it came time for that decision I went to IW instead. I'm not sure the swords are really worth it as the AI is better at countering them and they aren't that much stronger than Axes. I still think I should have gone for the HAs or just turned off research after BW completely. Something to think about for next time.

Anyway at 1AD I had wiped out 2 AIs, had Alex trapped in his 1 city cell, and I had 2 stacks almost in position to declare on my next 2 victims. The rest of the gory details can wait for the next spoiler.

 

[kcd_swede]

Hi... this spoiler is out so late that I honestly can't recall the game at all. I usually save the confirmation e-mails to remind me about my game, but must have deleted this one (had to check that I submitted it, yes, I did, on Nov 16).

My autologs have long since been cleared as well.

I vaguely remember that my goal was to try to win as quickly as possible. Winning fast is definitely something I want to improve upon. I went military route, figuring conquest would be quickest. Didn't encounter any difficulties, but wasn't particularly fast either, iirc. One of my faster games but certainly not competitive.

I've played at least 5 full games of Civ since then, so I can't remember any details. I certainly can't reveal any spoilerish info since I don't even know what civs we were up against here. I do recall my scout popped another scout from a hut and I was able to explore the inner and outer ring of the donut with those, and used wb to speed the exploration of inner ring.

Lesson learned: write-up a spoiler directly after submitting and save it until admins open the thread.

 

[jesusin]

jesusin, contender. Goal: fastest diplomatic (UN) victory.

The plan:

Fast research, lots of cottages in cap, bureaucracy, maybe worker steal, CS sling for sure, early Acad, a GE somehow!!! Make friends. Maybe kill 1 AI early. Lots of GS to bulb. Oxford.

First steps:

Warrior NW then N to discard that 2N is better than 1NE. Settled 1NE.

Builds: Warrior(incomplete)-Worker-3xWarrior-Settler-Warrior-Worker.
Choosing warrior first in order to get 4 and benefit from the bonus on workers instead of directly worler first was hard. Worker first would have Warrior 1 turn sooner, 3 more workerturns, but -11f and -2h at T30.

Research: AH-Mining-Wheel-Pott-Writting-Myst-Medi-PH-Alpha-CoL from Oracle.
I chickened out about CS sling. Without a good commerce tile, it looked too risky.
I considered and rejected MC from Oracle too. CoL from Oracle while researching Alpha would give me BW for free and first border pop for free.

Exploration: Boudica borders expanded, so I renounced to worker-stealing her.

Settling:

capital 1NE
rice+pigs+wines+horses
gems+corn+banana+river
cow+corn+river (all 4 before 1000BC)
2gems+rice+cows+banana
corn+cow+copper+coast (with athens, 7 before 1AD)
corn+sheep+stone+river

Relevant dates:

First cottage 2520BC.
Horses connected 1200BC.
Oracle 1080BC.
Alpha 900BC.
Academy 750BC.
Bureaucracy 125BC.
My HA have killed Alex 75BC.
HR+Pacifism 225AD.
hindu 325AD.
Barb Galley disturbs Athens the turn I am about to hire 7 scientists.

Stats:

1000BC: 4cities, 13pop, 3wor, 5War, Cha. Horses. 0Lux, 3health. 0GP, 1WW, 0NW. fpc=34-15-53, 25 sust bpt, 17cpt, 9GPPpt, 25g. Monu. 1Relig mine. 3/9 cottages used. 11Techs: almost Alpha, Mining, PH,CoL, AH, Pott, Wri. 2.5 hours.

1AD: 7cities, 35pop, 9wor, 6War, 7HA, 2Cha. Iron, Horses. 1Lux, 5health. 1GP, 1WW, 0NW. fpc=109,51,131; 74sust bpt, 37cpt, 2GPPpt, 33g. 3Relig 1mine. 5Gra, Lib, 5Monu, lh, Barr, Acad. 11/20cottages used. 23Tech: Alpha, IW, CS, Curr, Monar. 1civs killed. 6hours.

500AD: 8 cities, fpg=184,73,181; 30/37 cottages used, 40GPPpt.

 

[ElWanderer]

Plan: What plan? Erm, thinking up appalling puns relating to the US elections seemed to be the only bit of thought that went into this game.

City founded: Obamarama. I went 1SE as I like having plenty of production available in the capital.

City founded: Biden His Time. This was 5N of the capital (1N of the wine) so that the city crosses would touch neatly. It also put the northern copper outside its city radius, but I figured the border expansion would claim it. Risky, but my third city would soon claim the copper to the east. The river meant it would eventually be a production powerhouse, but first it would have plenty of commerce from cottages.

Stonehenge built in capital. Out of habit, really!

City founded: Palin's Retreat. This was to the east, 1N of the corn and 2W of the copper out there. Initial plan was to get production from the copper and multitude of forested squares.

Judaism founded very late (950BC) - I think this is the first time I've ever got to monotheism first. I figured why not as the AIs hadn't bothered. This meant:

Oracle built in capital (900BC) -> theology and founded Christianity. Usually I'd go for code of laws. Not doing that meant that Willem founded Confucianism shortly after. I didn't pick a state religion

City founded: Hillary's End. To the south east, on the river. This would become my major troop-producing centre.

I built plenty of axemen to defend myself but didn't dare go near Alexander as I mistakenly thought his phalanxes had extra bonuses against melee units. I also let Willem hack the jungle out of the way without intervening.

City founded: Bush's Folly (450BC). Out east to claim the horses. This left the land to the northwest of my capital unclaimed, allowing Alexander to sneak a city in there. I don't build many mounted units to start with. Again, I got confused and thought Alexander's phalanxes would have a bonus against all mounted units... argh, it's just against chariots. Reading jesusin's story makes me wonder what could have been had I done some research and been more aggressive!

Barbarians! (event, 200AD). Four barbarian axeman appeared near Palin's Retreat. Not realising they would go in a direct line for my capital, I lost a couple of my own axemen defeating them in unfavourable terrain when I could have waited and sat a bunch of defenders in a forest that was on their route...

By 500AD I'd sent a work boat around the circle sea to meet all the AIs. I'm hammering everyone in terms of research. I've plenty of cottages and I've also built a fair few axemen in readiness for Alexander's attack (it's surely a case of when not if it happens). I'm planning a sixth city in the south-east near the gems if Willem doesn't get there first. Then it'll be a case of filling in gaps with cities or taking them at pointy-stick-point.

 

[Half Nelson]

I settled 1SE for coastal production, built warrior – worker – warrior – settler. I hadn’t played this map-type before and it took a while for me to work out the projection. To secure my wedge of the donut, I built my next 2 cities towards the outer ring for rice/horse/pig then corn/cow/copper/wine. Continuing a REX, I followed this up with a river city to N for copper/pig/wine and secured iron/corn/cow/gems to SE. A sixth central river city (corn/cow) completed my expansion to 500AD. I took CoL from the Oracle, built Pyramids and completed the Kong Miao:- no other Wonders at this point. Running Rep/Bur/Slav/Dec/OR and beginning to pull away from the pack in tech and production (the latter already to a surprising extent). Appear to be in control and looking towards a Domination win. My intention in the longer run is to sweep clockwise (Willem has some choice land) but my immediate priority is to subdue Alex:- his persistent raids and attempts to plant new cities at our border are becoming tiresome. I now have iron, horses and cats; methinks his days are numbered.

 

[Adama]

Made a miserable attempt to play GOTM 37. Experiencing withdrawal after more than a year without Civ and GOTM forum ( I originally joined in 2oo7, but due to Real Life, only played a month or two... CIV anonymous intervention and rehab, 12 steps, etc. I was 'straight' and 'clean' for over a year before slipping back in here ...).

Looking for a GOTM and found BOTM. Never played BOTM Civ BtS, but now I am !!

Didn't know if I'd find time to finish BOTM, so I haven't posted. Just wanted to say hi! and offer hope to anyone who has been through Civ Anon rehab... it's easy to jump off the wagon! Just do it!

It's raining! Get the gun and bring in the cat!
Adama

 

[PieceOfMind]

Decided that since it's a low difficulty I'd try out a heavy espionage game, taking the GW and getting an early Scotland yard - a strategy I've been meaning to try. Looking back from 500AD this is probably not the best path since the AIs are too slow!

Took the Oracle for CoL, and bing it appeared in New York which will probably be my most heavily cottaged city. Here it is at 400AD. Slightly east of the capital.

Spoiler :

Confucianism spread to Willem, and I had to laugh when Alexander sent a bunch of units through my territory towards him. Guess what happended a few turns later?

I'm about to go kill Alex now. Have a stack of catapults and axes.

Have 7 cities so far...

By the way, this is my first GOTM since probably about number 4 for vanilla civ4 lol. I couldn't figure out what the BtS gotm (BOTM) was for a while! Should be an easy win I guess.

 

[Ribannah]

Challenger

Even though we never reached 500 AD, this looks like the place to post.

Washington was founded one tile southeast on the inner sea and grew to size 2 before starting on a Worker, so we could profit from the hammer bonus.

Given the map, and not too much time to play, the plan was to roll over the AI, hoping that they would somehow cooperate. Animal Husbandry would surely give access to horses somewhere; other research priorities were Bronze Working (for production), The Wheel (long roads; thought about but rejected the use of Galleys), Horseback Riding, and finally Feudalism (for vassals and the extra experience points).

We had neither the time nor the economy to support more than just a few cities. Settled were:

4000bc Washington (1 tile southeast of the starting position)
2040bc New York (southeast on the coast, 2 tiles north of the horse)
1720bc Boston (north of Washington on the river)
1160bc Philadelphia (northwest at the copper)
250bc Atlanta (bonus city, north at another copper)

We conquered a few though, even while most AI cities were razed or returned to their original owners.


Technology
3680bc Agriculture
3280bc Animal Husbandry
3040bc Mining
2560bc Bronze Working
2320bc Fishing
2160bc Mysticism
2000bc The Wheel
1880bc Pottery
1600bc Writing
0925bc Horseback Riding
0900bc Hunting
0850bc Archery
0650bc Meditation
0625bc Priesthood
0475bc Monarchy; Feudalism (Oracle)
0075bc Sailing


Greece
Early on a Celtish Scout came from the north so that's where we went looking first, only to find Athens relatively closeby, on the outer sea protected by a single Warrior. We took the city in 2560bc right after it grew to size 4, and Greece was no more. In Athens, we chopped for Stonehenge, which got completed in 1840bc. The city never took part in the war effort but it whipped a library, generated a Great Prophet and a Great Scientist and added significantly to our research. The GP was used to initiate the Golden Age that was needed to get our final techs, as by that time the economy had run dead. The GS arrived too late to be good for anything.

Netherlands
Our next closest neighbours. Took a Worker that was creating a camp on the ivory, which slowed down their development. Later, they headed our way with a Warrior-guarded settler just when we had our first Chariots. We declared and in 1080bc we rolled into Amsterdam, finishing the Dutch. That would become our basis of operations in the east, supported by New York. Amsterdam also chopped for the Oracle which got completed in 475bc to give us Feudalism.

Arabia
Met them very early without a clue to where they lived, but our one inner sea Workboat located them eventually. Their capital was well-defended so we bypassed that, as the war started only a few turns before Feudalism. Destroyed two towns and captured another, after which they capitulated and the way to the southwest jungle lay open.

Celtia
Still early on, our Warriors that protected the road-building Workers ran into a fresh Celtish settlement and destroyed it. After that, we could keep the Celts for dessert. We declared again in 250bc with an army consisting of a few Horsemen that had healed behind the western frontier and one Longbowman. Their defences were poor and they capitulated five turns later.

Maya
Found them southeast of Amsterdam, not easily accessible. We threw our early Chariots at them, and that was a mistake. The war was long and hard. Even after we reduced them to only their capital and pillaged every tile, they somehow still managed to get a new pesky Holkan every other turn. They refused to capitulate and we couldn't conquer them until finally some Longbowmen and Axemen arrived, just in time. They left the scene in 125bc, the same turn that Celtia surrendered.

England
Took us ages to reach them, but when we did their axes proved to be no match for our triply and quadruply promoted Horsemen. Declared in 125bc, and they nicely surrendered the turn after.

0075bc CONQUEST VICTORY (83366)

Could have had some more points from techs or cities kept had we taken the trouble.


Looking back, our roadbuilding should have gone a little faster, the Chariots should have been sent to England early, while we should have chopped some Axes in Amsterdam to deal with the Maya more effectively. A significant gain of speed could have been possible, if only we had known what to expect, and had I had the time to play more accurately. Still, I enjoyed the game.

 

[jesusin]

Challenger
0075bc CONQUEST VICTORY (83366)

Impressive.

I have the feeling, though, that it can be done much faster. Like, for example, settling on the horses, not 2 tiles from them. Or settling just 2 cities, the capital and the horses one. The other 3 were not really needed, were they?

 

[Ribannah]

It would be interesting to try. Unfortunately, my BtS refuses to load HOF files anymore. It auto-exited when I tried to load a save for a screenshot and that was the end. Reinstalling has not helped.

 

[Mesix]

I'm not doing nearly as well as I had hoped. Perhaps I will try for a UN victory and hope that noone else does.

I had an early war against the Greeks and a long (ongoing) war against the Celts. By the time I reached her capitol, the Gaulic Warriors on the hill decimated my Horese Archer army. The best laid plans of mice and men...