BOTM 14 Final Spoiler
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BOTM 14 Final Spoiler - Game Submitted or Abandoned
- Thread starter DynamicSpirit
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beestar
subdeity
Pushed over Pacal early to get a holy city, controlled my continent and set up a peaceful commercial empire by colonizing the nearby islands to gain resources and create intercontinental trade routes. I had a very secure tech / economy / military / land lead all game, partly because Archipelago really slowed down AI expansion and teching, so I wasn't ever really threatened. I had all military checkpoints well ahead of the AIs: macemen, musketmen, rifles, infantry, tanks.
I think I could have got a faster space victory if I conquered a few neighbouring AIs, or if I gave away a bunch of techs to speed up the general pace of teching. But I played it safe and jealously guarded my tech and military advantage, resulting in a slower but safer victory.
Any general advice on how to accelerate the space race? Is it worth it to deliberately let the other AIs catch up in tech? Should I have risked a smaller army and more vulnerable power rating, in exchange for faster teching?
P.S. result was Space Victory in about 1916.
I think I could have got a faster space victory if I conquered a few neighbouring AIs, or if I gave away a bunch of techs to speed up the general pace of teching. But I played it safe and jealously guarded my tech and military advantage, resulting in a slower but safer victory.
Any general advice on how to accelerate the space race? Is it worth it to deliberately let the other AIs catch up in tech? Should I have risked a smaller army and more vulnerable power rating, in exchange for faster teching?
P.S. result was Space Victory in about 1916.
azzaman333
meh
Sounds like I had a very similar game to beestar.
kowalski37
Chieftain
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2008
- Messages
- 11
Again, another learning experience for me. Settled 6 cities with no problems, but fell behind on tech. Captured a couple of good Mayan cities through overwhelming numbers, but then made a stupid error: Pacal had built the Apostolic Palace and kept proposing that I give him back his cities. I defied the resolution to avoid it (several times) but then the world considered me a villian and I had something like -15 happiness in most cities. I didn't realise quite how much my economy would suffer as a result of this. I couldn't build enough units to go to war again for a while, so I ended up giving him back his wretched cities by which time I was hopelessly behind on tech and points. I forget how the game ended, but expect me near the bottom...
I moved inland from the starting location and wandered around 4 turns before finally settling with cows, corn, and, as it turned out, copper. I felt like playing a relatively peaceful game and concentrated on development techs. I researched Hunting, Archery, and Animal Husbandry to start off while building a Worker and a Bowman. I established Akkad on the northeast coast with corn and seafood, in 2350 BC. In 1775 BC, Dur-Kurigalzu was built southwest of Babylon with Stone, Silk, Corn, Horses, and later on some Iron. Nice city that.
My plans at this point were to build the Pyramids in Akkad and to be peaceful with the Mayans and the just recently met Native Americans, so we could all trade techs with each other and be great pals. The Pyramids part of the plan went perfectly, they were finished in 440 BC and I promptly revolted to Representation. While that was going on I built a fourth city back at the original starting location to serve as my GPP. By this time Id more or less settled on attempting a Diplomatic win.
Being best buds with Huyana and Sitting Bull was tough though because I was greedy. Huyana had all these nice cities, several of them with wonders in them. Theyd really come in handy. I decided to take some away, and while the Pyramids were underway I began assembling an army of Chariots, Axemen, and Swordsmen. Huyanas cultural defenses were pretty steep so I held off on attacking until I had some Catapults.
While I was perfecting my army I built a few more rather uninteresting cities. Sitting Bull had grabbed the corner of the landmass closest to him so I was left with locations that had little or no resources. But I wanted all the population I could get for my planned UN votes. I also built the Hanging Gardens, in 55 AD, to further boost my population and hopefully generate a Great Engineer.
Round about 150 AD I finally got around to sending a Work Boat off to scout, and met the Turks, French, and Aztecs in fairly short order. And here Id though the other civs were on the far side of an ocean. Itd be a little while yet before I met Mansa though, since the Turks and French both declared war on me shortly after I went on the offensive against Huyana in 190 AD.
Huyanas nearest city, Chichen Itza, fell almost immediately. Next up was Mutal itself. I had to pound away at its defenses with Catapults for a good 7 or 8 turns. By which time Huyana had some Crossbowmen. Wonderful I sacrificed several of my Catapults to soften those up and then overwhelmed him with superior numbers. Well actually I crashed, restored from autosave, and then overwhelmed him. (Im sure that looks just great when they check for cheating. Sorry!)
Mutal brought with it the Great Lighthouse, Temple of Artemis, the Mausoleum, the Oracle, and the Hindu shrine (worlds largest religion). Having captured it, I made peace with Huyana. Once again this was because I am greedy. I wanted to extort techs from him, re-declare, capture another city, get some more techs, and then finally wipe him out. The second war went as planned, and brought with it the Colossus. Then my hubris caught up with me, because Huyana vassalized himself to Sitting Bull. I needed Sitting Bull as an ally, since I cant just vote myself the winner, and Id already annoyed sim somewhat by twice declaring war on his friend Huyana (another flaw in that attack over and over plan of mine). So I had to let Huyana live out the game, despite the happiness penalties and cultural encroachment that resulted.
That brings things all the way up to 1000 AD. The wars with France and the Turks were desultory, since neither of them could travel through Sitting Bulls territory. I built my first Caravel around this time and finally met Mansa, who was small and somewhat backwards on his little island, having lost some territory to Montezuma. I also quickly mapped out the heretofore isolated islands on the map. Now I could take full stock of the world and figure out how to achieve my Diplomatic win.
I was the largest civ. France was second to me in population and landmass, and there was every reason to expect hed stay there. De Gaulle was Sitting Bulls worst enemy already, so that wasnt a problem. Mansa didnt like him either, and hated Montezuma even more. France, the Turks, and the Aztecs were all Buddhists and thus friendly with each other, but the Turks were lukewarm about me and not disliked by anyone else, so I could trade with them and once religions started changing Id hopefully be friends with him too. The only problem was that I couldnt run the favorite civics of both Mansa (Free Trade) and Sitting Bull (Environmentalism), but that wouldnt be an issue for awhile yet. The Turks liked Hereditary Rule and I could certainly switch to that as needed.
From here on out it was pretty much just a matter of grinding things out. I got out ahead in technology before long. With courthouses everywhere I had enough espionage to see everyones research. If my friends were researching something I already had, that wasnt too crucial to share (like Astronomy), Id give it to them in the hopes theyd research something I actually needed next and then trade it with me. This worked reasonably well.
I discovered Liberalism in 1140 AD and used it to unlock Astronomy, build some Galleons, and begin colonizing the outer islands. I started with the island due west of start and the icy island with the Silver. I also filled in even the rather marginal territory along the southern and northern fringes of the home continent. Over time I cleared out the barbarians on the larger islands in the south and off the coast of Aztecland, and settled those too. By the end of the game I was building on the iceballs along the far north. Basically, if it had a food resource, or even just a few tiles of farmable land, I grabbed it to boost population. This did not exactly help my economy but I managed OK, in part by having these minor cities build gold once theyd constructed a few basic buildings.
While this was going on I beelined toward Mass Media. I joined several wars at the request of my various friends or hoped to be friends. None of them required me to actually fight any battles, except when I chose to send ships to raid the Aztec and French coastlines. They did get me mutual struggle relationship bonuses, though, which turned out to be key.
By the mid 1500s the Turks and I were very friendly, thanks to share civics, trade, and mutual struggles. Mansa was the same, but Sitting Bull was only around +7. I decided that I should research Medicine and switch to Environmentalism, his favorite civic. Mansa would be sad that I left the Free Market, but not enough to matter. I triggered my second Golden Age to speed up research etc., and allow me to switch to Environmentalism without anarchy just before it ended in 1615 AD. I gave Sitting Bull the tech and waited for him to switch. Nothing. I checked repeatedly to see if I could bribe him to switch. He didnt like me enough. Well of course you dont like me enough, Sitting Bull! You wont switch to your favorite civics and realize what a wonderful person I am! Get with the program, dude! At least Environmentalism improved my cities healthiness a great deal and allowed further growth.
Having completed that detour in the tech tree I pushed onward to Mass Media, and finished it in 1640 AD. I had a couple of Great Engineers ready but only used one when I saw that itd take Babylon all of four turns to finish it off. I used the other to help kick off my third Golden Age, and started building up my army to go after Montezuma if the voting didnt work out like I hoped. And I began researching Fission as an alternative to growing my own population
This proved unnecessary. I was easily elected UN Secretary in 1665 AD. The first vote I proposed was for a Diplomatic Victory, and it passed, giving me a victory in 1704 AD. I had everyones votes save for De Gaulle and Montezuma. Sitting Bull voted for me despite never adopting Environmentalism, perhaps because we had gained another point or two of mutual struggle bonus. In fact even poor old Huyana voted for me, our mutual struggles having outweighed any trifling disagreements we may have once had over the disposition of all of Huyanas nicest stuff.
Im troubled by the possibility that I might have won 15-20 turns earlier if Id gone straight to Mass Media rather than detouring for Environmentalism. I cast about 35% of the votes by myself. It wouldnt have been quite that high a percentage without the extra food from Biology and the bonus health from Environmentalism. But I probably still would have won if all of the same civs voted for me. Im not sure that they would have, but in hindsight I wish Id tried. I always could have gone after Medicine once the UN was finished, if I needed to. Refraining from wasting my second Great Engineer to finish the UN a few turns earlier was also silly.
My plans at this point were to build the Pyramids in Akkad and to be peaceful with the Mayans and the just recently met Native Americans, so we could all trade techs with each other and be great pals. The Pyramids part of the plan went perfectly, they were finished in 440 BC and I promptly revolted to Representation. While that was going on I built a fourth city back at the original starting location to serve as my GPP. By this time Id more or less settled on attempting a Diplomatic win.
Being best buds with Huyana and Sitting Bull was tough though because I was greedy. Huyana had all these nice cities, several of them with wonders in them. Theyd really come in handy. I decided to take some away, and while the Pyramids were underway I began assembling an army of Chariots, Axemen, and Swordsmen. Huyanas cultural defenses were pretty steep so I held off on attacking until I had some Catapults.
While I was perfecting my army I built a few more rather uninteresting cities. Sitting Bull had grabbed the corner of the landmass closest to him so I was left with locations that had little or no resources. But I wanted all the population I could get for my planned UN votes. I also built the Hanging Gardens, in 55 AD, to further boost my population and hopefully generate a Great Engineer.
Round about 150 AD I finally got around to sending a Work Boat off to scout, and met the Turks, French, and Aztecs in fairly short order. And here Id though the other civs were on the far side of an ocean. Itd be a little while yet before I met Mansa though, since the Turks and French both declared war on me shortly after I went on the offensive against Huyana in 190 AD.
Huyanas nearest city, Chichen Itza, fell almost immediately. Next up was Mutal itself. I had to pound away at its defenses with Catapults for a good 7 or 8 turns. By which time Huyana had some Crossbowmen. Wonderful I sacrificed several of my Catapults to soften those up and then overwhelmed him with superior numbers. Well actually I crashed, restored from autosave, and then overwhelmed him. (Im sure that looks just great when they check for cheating. Sorry!)
Mutal brought with it the Great Lighthouse, Temple of Artemis, the Mausoleum, the Oracle, and the Hindu shrine (worlds largest religion). Having captured it, I made peace with Huyana. Once again this was because I am greedy. I wanted to extort techs from him, re-declare, capture another city, get some more techs, and then finally wipe him out. The second war went as planned, and brought with it the Colossus. Then my hubris caught up with me, because Huyana vassalized himself to Sitting Bull. I needed Sitting Bull as an ally, since I cant just vote myself the winner, and Id already annoyed sim somewhat by twice declaring war on his friend Huyana (another flaw in that attack over and over plan of mine). So I had to let Huyana live out the game, despite the happiness penalties and cultural encroachment that resulted.
That brings things all the way up to 1000 AD. The wars with France and the Turks were desultory, since neither of them could travel through Sitting Bulls territory. I built my first Caravel around this time and finally met Mansa, who was small and somewhat backwards on his little island, having lost some territory to Montezuma. I also quickly mapped out the heretofore isolated islands on the map. Now I could take full stock of the world and figure out how to achieve my Diplomatic win.
I was the largest civ. France was second to me in population and landmass, and there was every reason to expect hed stay there. De Gaulle was Sitting Bulls worst enemy already, so that wasnt a problem. Mansa didnt like him either, and hated Montezuma even more. France, the Turks, and the Aztecs were all Buddhists and thus friendly with each other, but the Turks were lukewarm about me and not disliked by anyone else, so I could trade with them and once religions started changing Id hopefully be friends with him too. The only problem was that I couldnt run the favorite civics of both Mansa (Free Trade) and Sitting Bull (Environmentalism), but that wouldnt be an issue for awhile yet. The Turks liked Hereditary Rule and I could certainly switch to that as needed.
From here on out it was pretty much just a matter of grinding things out. I got out ahead in technology before long. With courthouses everywhere I had enough espionage to see everyones research. If my friends were researching something I already had, that wasnt too crucial to share (like Astronomy), Id give it to them in the hopes theyd research something I actually needed next and then trade it with me. This worked reasonably well.
I discovered Liberalism in 1140 AD and used it to unlock Astronomy, build some Galleons, and begin colonizing the outer islands. I started with the island due west of start and the icy island with the Silver. I also filled in even the rather marginal territory along the southern and northern fringes of the home continent. Over time I cleared out the barbarians on the larger islands in the south and off the coast of Aztecland, and settled those too. By the end of the game I was building on the iceballs along the far north. Basically, if it had a food resource, or even just a few tiles of farmable land, I grabbed it to boost population. This did not exactly help my economy but I managed OK, in part by having these minor cities build gold once theyd constructed a few basic buildings.
While this was going on I beelined toward Mass Media. I joined several wars at the request of my various friends or hoped to be friends. None of them required me to actually fight any battles, except when I chose to send ships to raid the Aztec and French coastlines. They did get me mutual struggle relationship bonuses, though, which turned out to be key.
By the mid 1500s the Turks and I were very friendly, thanks to share civics, trade, and mutual struggles. Mansa was the same, but Sitting Bull was only around +7. I decided that I should research Medicine and switch to Environmentalism, his favorite civic. Mansa would be sad that I left the Free Market, but not enough to matter. I triggered my second Golden Age to speed up research etc., and allow me to switch to Environmentalism without anarchy just before it ended in 1615 AD. I gave Sitting Bull the tech and waited for him to switch. Nothing. I checked repeatedly to see if I could bribe him to switch. He didnt like me enough. Well of course you dont like me enough, Sitting Bull! You wont switch to your favorite civics and realize what a wonderful person I am! Get with the program, dude! At least Environmentalism improved my cities healthiness a great deal and allowed further growth.
Having completed that detour in the tech tree I pushed onward to Mass Media, and finished it in 1640 AD. I had a couple of Great Engineers ready but only used one when I saw that itd take Babylon all of four turns to finish it off. I used the other to help kick off my third Golden Age, and started building up my army to go after Montezuma if the voting didnt work out like I hoped. And I began researching Fission as an alternative to growing my own population
This proved unnecessary. I was easily elected UN Secretary in 1665 AD. The first vote I proposed was for a Diplomatic Victory, and it passed, giving me a victory in 1704 AD. I had everyones votes save for De Gaulle and Montezuma. Sitting Bull voted for me despite never adopting Environmentalism, perhaps because we had gained another point or two of mutual struggle bonus. In fact even poor old Huyana voted for me, our mutual struggles having outweighed any trifling disagreements we may have once had over the disposition of all of Huyanas nicest stuff.
Im troubled by the possibility that I might have won 15-20 turns earlier if Id gone straight to Mass Media rather than detouring for Environmentalism. I cast about 35% of the votes by myself. It wouldnt have been quite that high a percentage without the extra food from Biology and the bonus health from Environmentalism. But I probably still would have won if all of the same civs voted for me. Im not sure that they would have, but in hindsight I wish Id tried. I always could have gone after Medicine once the UN was finished, if I needed to. Refraining from wasting my second Great Engineer to finish the UN a few turns earlier was also silly.
TheMeInTeam
If A implies B...
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2008
- Messages
- 27,989
I put up a conquest but I don't remember the exact date. Score was over 100K, i think around 130ish. Doubtful it will win but maybe I'll get lucky.
Slapping the AIs around was easy in this one, but I've actually gotten substantially better in other games following this one, so now this one is somewhat regretful. Oh well................onward.
Slapping the AIs around was easy in this one, but I've actually gotten substantially better in other games following this one, so now this one is somewhat regretful. Oh well................onward.
ShannonCT
Deity
Previous Spoiler
My goal in this game was to maximize my scaled score and try for a medal. With all of the seafood on this archipeligo map, Sid's Sushi would be the key.
After 500AD, I researched Music-Nationalism-Gunpowder-Military Tradition and upgraded a handful of chariots to Cuirassiers. I would make Sitting Bull my first off-continent target.
Sitting Bull was confined to his original continent in my game. He even got beaten to the small adjacent island by Suleiman. By 1285AD, the last of his 4 cities fell to my Cuir/cat army.
Around this time, I had bulbed my way to Biology. I was still way ahead in the Liberalism race, so I decided to detour to Astronomy. I needed Optics anyway for Medicine, and the Astro-Chem combination would let me build frigates. Every city I wanted to take from Suleiman and De Gaulle was coastal, so frigates + Cuirs would be the fastest way forward. After Astro, I used Liberalism to take Medicine, and then researched Corporation so I could found Sushi, which I did in 1365AD.
Suleiman was vassalized with 1 island city left in 1390AD and De Gaulle was wiped off the face of the earth in 1485AD. I used the bare minimum units for conquering these two, because most of my efforts at this time were devoted to building settlers, Sushi reps, and health/happiness buildings in my cities. I settled every available tile on the original continent and on the captured ones. I settled a few more cities on northern islands to grab more seafood. By the time the final French cities came out of revolt and expanded once, I was at around 56% land.
Sometime in the 1600s, I had all of my new cities built and converted to Sushi. I was waiting for my score to plateau when Monty decided to declare war on me. Fortunately, most of his units were near Mansa. I bribed Mansa to declare war on Monty, and Monty sent very few units at me. I upgraded some Cuirs to Cavalry and whipped a few Riflemen, and that was enough to stop the Aztec aggression.
When my score looked to be plateauing in the early 1700s, I settled 2 cities on a southern island and tripped domination for a 1712AD victory worth 371,340 points.
My goal in this game was to maximize my scaled score and try for a medal. With all of the seafood on this archipeligo map, Sid's Sushi would be the key.
After 500AD, I researched Music-Nationalism-Gunpowder-Military Tradition and upgraded a handful of chariots to Cuirassiers. I would make Sitting Bull my first off-continent target.
Sitting Bull was confined to his original continent in my game. He even got beaten to the small adjacent island by Suleiman. By 1285AD, the last of his 4 cities fell to my Cuir/cat army.
Around this time, I had bulbed my way to Biology. I was still way ahead in the Liberalism race, so I decided to detour to Astronomy. I needed Optics anyway for Medicine, and the Astro-Chem combination would let me build frigates. Every city I wanted to take from Suleiman and De Gaulle was coastal, so frigates + Cuirs would be the fastest way forward. After Astro, I used Liberalism to take Medicine, and then researched Corporation so I could found Sushi, which I did in 1365AD.
Suleiman was vassalized with 1 island city left in 1390AD and De Gaulle was wiped off the face of the earth in 1485AD. I used the bare minimum units for conquering these two, because most of my efforts at this time were devoted to building settlers, Sushi reps, and health/happiness buildings in my cities. I settled every available tile on the original continent and on the captured ones. I settled a few more cities on northern islands to grab more seafood. By the time the final French cities came out of revolt and expanded once, I was at around 56% land.
Sometime in the 1600s, I had all of my new cities built and converted to Sushi. I was waiting for my score to plateau when Monty decided to declare war on me. Fortunately, most of his units were near Mansa. I bribed Mansa to declare war on Monty, and Monty sent very few units at me. I upgraded some Cuirs to Cavalry and whipped a few Riflemen, and that was enough to stop the Aztec aggression.
When my score looked to be plateauing in the early 1700s, I settled 2 cities on a southern island and tripped domination for a 1712AD victory worth 371,340 points.
adrianj
Deity
1836 AD Cultural Victory - Contender Save
I initially went for a tour with my settler towards the east, hoping for some good food resources. Eventually my patience ran out without having spotted either of the corn resources... I ended up settling by the pigs missing out on the floodplain and corn. Oh well. I did have some consolataion when copper was unearthed just south of my capital.
My second city was founded between the sheep on the little western peninsula, and it built Moai very early on.
I started feeling a little cramped by Pacal in the east, so while I settled a few more cities I began preparing axes and chariots to go to war. I took his capital and autorazed one other city. I took a risk going for alphabet on an archipelago map which proved useful in getting some techs from Pacal for peace. Despite razing one of his cities I actually had Pacal friendly by the end by running his favourite civic (Hered.Rule) and sharing a religion (buddhism).
I had planned a cultural victory from the start, and I wasn't going to let having only 2 religions stop me (Buddhism + Judaism). I was teching up the Liberalism tree when I realised that I had neglected Music. So I headed over that way, but missed out on the free GA by about 3 turns to Suleiman. My Moai city was my highest production city, and even that wasn't great, so I also missed out on the Sistine Chapel to Suleiman, which was pretty annoying.
Nevertheless, I carried on to Liberalism and won it at approx 1200 AD, taking Nationalism for free. I then researched Printing Press before turning off the science. I had a decent tech lead, and with plenty of trading I managed to keep pace with tech all the way up to and including Chemistry/Democracy/Replaceable Parts/Steel.
My 3 legendary cities were Babylon (cottaged), Akkad (Moai) and Mutal (GP Farm). I had 1 GS (bulbed Education), 1 GP (Golden Age), and 15 Artists. The first 2 were settled in Babylon and Akkad, the rest were bombed 2 for Babylon, 4 for Akkad, 7 for Mutal.
I really enjoyed this game - particularly the challenge of a cultural victory without any useful leader traits. Much thanks to the GOTM staff
I initially went for a tour with my settler towards the east, hoping for some good food resources. Eventually my patience ran out without having spotted either of the corn resources... I ended up settling by the pigs missing out on the floodplain and corn. Oh well. I did have some consolataion when copper was unearthed just south of my capital.
My second city was founded between the sheep on the little western peninsula, and it built Moai very early on.
I started feeling a little cramped by Pacal in the east, so while I settled a few more cities I began preparing axes and chariots to go to war. I took his capital and autorazed one other city. I took a risk going for alphabet on an archipelago map which proved useful in getting some techs from Pacal for peace. Despite razing one of his cities I actually had Pacal friendly by the end by running his favourite civic (Hered.Rule) and sharing a religion (buddhism).
I had planned a cultural victory from the start, and I wasn't going to let having only 2 religions stop me (Buddhism + Judaism). I was teching up the Liberalism tree when I realised that I had neglected Music. So I headed over that way, but missed out on the free GA by about 3 turns to Suleiman. My Moai city was my highest production city, and even that wasn't great, so I also missed out on the Sistine Chapel to Suleiman, which was pretty annoying.
Nevertheless, I carried on to Liberalism and won it at approx 1200 AD, taking Nationalism for free. I then researched Printing Press before turning off the science. I had a decent tech lead, and with plenty of trading I managed to keep pace with tech all the way up to and including Chemistry/Democracy/Replaceable Parts/Steel.
My 3 legendary cities were Babylon (cottaged), Akkad (Moai) and Mutal (GP Farm). I had 1 GS (bulbed Education), 1 GP (Golden Age), and 15 Artists. The first 2 were settled in Babylon and Akkad, the rest were bombed 2 for Babylon, 4 for Akkad, 7 for Mutal.
I really enjoyed this game - particularly the challenge of a cultural victory without any useful leader traits. Much thanks to the GOTM staff
Carrying on from my previous spoiler I'm struggling to remember what happened. Especially as I'm at work and I can't open any saves to have a look.
Definitely the highlights came in the 900's.
I had settled 2 cities on the island to the west there had been a barb city there which I razed. There was also a hut which I let the citys border pop and yes managed to pop Astro.
At the same time I noticed 3 SB galley's about to enter my borders and sure enough next turn SB has declared on you.
As I had neglected my military (although I had just started building up my army) the city he was heading for only had 1 bowman for defence so I was expecting to lose it. As it was he attacked with 1 chariot which hardly scratched my bow. I guess all the rest were dog soldiers and he didn't fancy the odds so I kept the city. The big problem with his attack was it closed all my GLh trade routes so sunk my tech rate for some time. Until I took his capital and vassalised him that is. 
I had my eyes on Mutal for a long time but the only techs I was likely to trade were with Pacal/Mansa so I hadn't attacked him early but when I decided to Mutal had 5 or 6 settled GPs and a few wonders so I think it was worth the wait. After Mutal fell I took Pacal as my second vassal.
After that I teched towards Steel/Rifles and very slowly vassaled Suly/De Gaulle/Monte and finally Mansa for a conquest win sometime in the 1700s.
Score 150000 ish.
Definitely the highlights came in the 900's.
I had settled 2 cities on the island to the west there had been a barb city there which I razed. There was also a hut which I let the citys border pop and yes managed to pop Astro.
At the same time I noticed 3 SB galley's about to enter my borders and sure enough next turn SB has declared on you.
As I had neglected my military (although I had just started building up my army) the city he was heading for only had 1 bowman for defence so I was expecting to lose it. As it was he attacked with 1 chariot which hardly scratched my bow. I guess all the rest were dog soldiers and he didn't fancy the odds so I kept the city.
The big problem with his attack was it closed all my GLh trade routes so sunk my tech rate for some time. Until I took his capital and vassalised him that is. I had my eyes on Mutal for a long time but the only techs I was likely to trade were with Pacal/Mansa so I hadn't attacked him early but when I decided to Mutal had 5 or 6 settled GPs and a few wonders so I think it was worth the wait. After Mutal fell I took Pacal as my second vassal.
After that I teched towards Steel/Rifles and very slowly vassaled Suly/De Gaulle/Monte and finally Mansa for a conquest win sometime in the 1700s.
Score 150000 ish.
Spaceship victory 1931.
I ran a cottage economy which was good enough to outpace the AI. At 500AD I had disposed of Pacal and was busy filling up the starting continent. I was temporarily delayed when Sitting Bull grabbed a couple of sites in the south, but he obligingly liberated them as a colony so I was able to invade them with little diplomatic disadvantage.
The world settled into two major factions: Suleiman, Sitting Bull and myself in a Jewish alliance; De Gaulle as second largest and tech runner-up. Mansa and Monty were hopelessly backwards. I considered pursuing a diplomatic win and probably could have pulled it off. However Suleiman and De Gaulle spent most of the game at war, and I was never entirely sure who my opponent would be.
So I sat tight with about 15 cities on my original landmass and teched all the way to space. For amusement I founded Sid's Sushi, Aluminium Corp and Mining Inc along the way. Mostly it was a case of hitting <Enter> until the victory screen. I don't have much idea of how to optimize techs and build order so I expect this will rank pretty low on the scale.
nokem
I ran a cottage economy which was good enough to outpace the AI. At 500AD I had disposed of Pacal and was busy filling up the starting continent. I was temporarily delayed when Sitting Bull grabbed a couple of sites in the south, but he obligingly liberated them as a colony so I was able to invade them with little diplomatic disadvantage.
The world settled into two major factions: Suleiman, Sitting Bull and myself in a Jewish alliance; De Gaulle as second largest and tech runner-up. Mansa and Monty were hopelessly backwards. I considered pursuing a diplomatic win and probably could have pulled it off. However Suleiman and De Gaulle spent most of the game at war, and I was never entirely sure who my opponent would be.
So I sat tight with about 15 cities on my original landmass and teched all the way to space. For amusement I founded Sid's Sushi, Aluminium Corp and Mining Inc along the way. Mostly it was a case of hitting <Enter> until the victory screen. I don't have much idea of how to optimize techs and build order so I expect this will rank pretty low on the scale.
nokem
Space Race Victory
At 500AD I had pretty much all the land I would ever have. I had eliminated Sitting Bull and kept all of his cities, putting Forb Palace in Chahokia. I controlled my continent to the choke point near Pacal's capitol (Mutal?). I had settled 2 cities on the island north of Chahokia. That's it. Maybe 15 cities total, which is certainly enough to win a space race at this level. My finish time was 1944, which is about average for me.
I think I need some BASIC strategy help to improve space race finish times. The more I try for speed on Space races, the worse my finish dates get. I understand the mechanics of maxing research and following the best tech path and then using workshops... but the time I am losing is in the early game. Should I just treat it like a domination game until I dominate and only then go for space as an afterthought? In my limited experience, those kinds of games have been my better space race times. Anyone know some strategy articles that could help me?
Anyhow, Pacal was a great trading partner... but I wonder if it wouldn't have been better to eliminate him early like everyone else seemed to. His cities could have speeded up things for me, especially in the industrial/modern age, at which point I was only getting a uncritical techs from him in trades. Much better if I could have directed all that research potential in Pacal lands to the space race techs. Live and learn.
Anyhow, I just grinded it out, staying peaceful with everyone. After launching, Mehmed's second city went legendary culture, with his 3rd city at 62000 (75000 legendary, iirc). If he had a bunch of saved great artists, he would have beaten me. Do AI even think of doing that like human players always do? Hmm...
Anyhow, just for fun I decided to nuke his 3rd city. Figured all that fallout would at least slow his progression (but watching his culture per turn in that city, I determined he wouldn't have made it anyhow, but those mushroom clouds are so beautiful...). If I was smart, I would have nuked him with only a couple turns left for space victory... but I did it with 11 turns left. Then when everyone in the world DOW'd me (except my buddy Pacal), they actually had time to get units to my Native American cities. If I had cared to spend the real life time to fight those battles, I could have kept my score around 22000 or so (at that score, who really cares, right?). Instead I just kept hitting enter (and launching the occasional ICBM
), and subsequently watched the french take a few cities there. Oh well... when I started these GOTM's I struggled on MOnarch. My score/speed results haven't improved much, but I can pick almost any victory condition and see it through to almost certain victory almost every time... so I take some satisfaction in that at least.
Now... can't wait for an Emperor level game next month to keep me focused and see how much/if I've really improved.
At 500AD I had pretty much all the land I would ever have. I had eliminated Sitting Bull and kept all of his cities, putting Forb Palace in Chahokia. I controlled my continent to the choke point near Pacal's capitol (Mutal?). I had settled 2 cities on the island north of Chahokia. That's it. Maybe 15 cities total, which is certainly enough to win a space race at this level. My finish time was 1944, which is about average for me.
I think I need some BASIC strategy help to improve space race finish times. The more I try for speed on Space races, the worse my finish dates get. I understand the mechanics of maxing research and following the best tech path and then using workshops... but the time I am losing is in the early game. Should I just treat it like a domination game until I dominate and only then go for space as an afterthought? In my limited experience, those kinds of games have been my better space race times. Anyone know some strategy articles that could help me?
Anyhow, Pacal was a great trading partner... but I wonder if it wouldn't have been better to eliminate him early like everyone else seemed to. His cities could have speeded up things for me, especially in the industrial/modern age, at which point I was only getting a uncritical techs from him in trades. Much better if I could have directed all that research potential in Pacal lands to the space race techs. Live and learn.
Anyhow, I just grinded it out, staying peaceful with everyone. After launching, Mehmed's second city went legendary culture, with his 3rd city at 62000 (75000 legendary, iirc). If he had a bunch of saved great artists, he would have beaten me. Do AI even think of doing that like human players always do? Hmm...
Anyhow, just for fun I decided to nuke his 3rd city. Figured all that fallout would at least slow his progression (but watching his culture per turn in that city, I determined he wouldn't have made it anyhow, but those mushroom clouds are so beautiful...). If I was smart, I would have nuked him with only a couple turns left for space victory... but I did it with 11 turns left. Then when everyone in the world DOW'd me (except my buddy Pacal), they actually had time to get units to my Native American cities. If I had cared to spend the real life time to fight those battles, I could have kept my score around 22000 or so (at that score, who really cares, right?). Instead I just kept hitting enter (and launching the occasional ICBM
), and subsequently watched the french take a few cities there. Oh well... when I started these GOTM's I struggled on MOnarch. My score/speed results haven't improved much, but I can pick almost any victory condition and see it through to almost certain victory almost every time... so I take some satisfaction in that at least.Now... can't wait for an Emperor level game next month to keep me focused and see how much/if I've really improved.
Conquistador 63
Deity
I can't tell the best space race strat for this particular game, as I went for a rather dull (and ending later than I think would be possible) religious victory, unworthy of commenting here.
But my rule of thumb for space race is: the lower the difficulty level, the more I seek expansion/conquest - sometimes to stay just below the domination thresholds. OTOH, on higher levels I try to stay focused on research (maybe take on 1 or 2 neighbors if the situation permits) - but the mapscript and the civ/leader I'm playing on/with also influences the decision.
kcd_swede
Regarding getting earlier space victories. First of all it is of course tech. You need to have 6 cities ready to go and as large as possible when you get Education, so you can whip universities. Then build Oxford (a GE comes in very handy about now or maybe you've been saving one.
Regarding the optimum tech path:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=300929&page=2
Regarding production it's hard to see how anyone could better Unconquered Sun's strategy:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=294282&page=3
Regarding getting earlier space victories. First of all it is of course tech. You need to have 6 cities ready to go and as large as possible when you get Education, so you can whip universities. Then build Oxford (a GE comes in very handy about now or maybe you've been saving one
.Regarding the optimum tech path:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=300929&page=2
Regarding production it's hard to see how anyone could better Unconquered Sun's strategy:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=294282&page=3
Thanks for the advice C_63 and oncable, and links. I've got some studying to do before my next attempt. 
Dynamic
But not hurry
In the most of games SS launch should be 1 turn after last SS component tech is discovered (usually Ecology). Exception is situation when all forests already used. In this case 2-3 turns should be enough also.
Sounds ideal Dynamic! Must take a lot of planning though... and that's the area of my game I am maybe weakest at.
Dynamic
But not hurry
Of course. But it's too expensive to spend last turns in the game. Each of its turns costs thousands of beakers but try to remember how hard you were increasing your science in the middle of game...
smitsk00
plainlyfullofit
I was very passive in this game. I settled inland, built more 7 cities, took one from Barbs and two from Sitting Bull (one of which quickly flipped to Pacal). Stayed small and did a lot of trading and building. Ran a HE. I never moved a land unit off continent. Was behind in Tech for bit, but, thanks to a couple GE, I caught up in time to space elevator my way into my first Civ4 *OTM victory somewhere in the ?early 19th century?!!! (I think...I will have to double check when I get home). In hindsight, I got pretty lucky.
Got space 18th century. Missed Oracle, killed Pacal early, waged unsuccessful war on Bull, finished him only late. Could've played much better. After the launch built ton of marines and bombers and vassalized everyone except Musa (left 1 city); Suleiman vassalized peacefully. Left little wood, so the launch was 4 turns after Ecology, despite bringing in some overflow.
smitsk00
plainlyfullofit
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