[BTS] BOTM 145 Final Spoiler: Game Complete or Abandoned

[DynamicSpirit]

BOTM 145 - Final Spoiler

So how did your game after 1AD go?
Did you win? Why not?

Reading Requirements

Stop! If you are participating in BOTM 145 then you MUST NOT read this thread unless

• You have submitted your entry

Posting Restrictions

• Do not post any savegame file from the game. Discussions and screenshots are fine but not actual games.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Abandoned at around 560AD. I had achieved relative tech parity, with Civil Service, Feudalism, Paper, and most other techs. I had beaten back America's SoD. France was not threatening. I had England up to Pleased so they wouldn't DOW me. My one problem was that China went WHEOOHRN before I got him to Friendly, so when his SoD appeared on my border I didn't know if I was his target or his worst enemy, America. I had to beg for 10g for 10t of peace. Meanwhile I got him to Friendly. To no avail. He DOWed me with a stack of about a dozen macemen, cats, war elephants and so on. Good game. I could have had him to Frinedly sooner, but made that and too many other mistakes. Pity, I wanted to win this game. It was very challenging.

 

[Fippy]

1430 Conquest

Spoiler :

Merci for the challenging game, DS. I like that we have those on deity sometimes

Can do a writeup if somebody is interested.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

1430 Conquest
Merci for the challenging game, DS. I like that we have those on deity sometimes

Can do a writeup if somebody is interested.

Thanks Fippy! We try to make sure there's something for everybody at least sometimes.

Given that this was such a difficult game, it's a safe bet that very, very, few people are going to be able to win it. I'm intrigued to know how you managed to pull it off, and I reckon it's a fair bet that a few other people will be too. So if you are able to do a quick write-up that would be great!

 

[Fippy]

Okay i will work on it.

High difficulty on decisions for sure, especially early with the lack of resis (happy, and iron & horsie).
Copper and the river towards Church provided some safety and teching power, cottages, Bur. & diplo until Rifles where i started conquest

 

[MarleysGh0st]

I settled one more city (my 6th) on the French border. Louis attacked Lincoln in 100 AD, then Lincoln and Churchill dragged me into the war through an AP vote in 325. QSH declared war on me in 425 and I decided it was time to retire from this futile enterprise.

Bring on 2018 and BOTM 146!

 

[Fippy]

Okay writeup part 1, starting with a pic of my 5 cities (did not settle more)

Spoiler :

Copper city first (ofc, needed on deity for defense), then steady along floodplains.
Settling on dry rice was a great option for copper with creative, not tiles you want to work much.

I was mixed on the cows, would have been an okay city 1E on plains hill but figured it's not worth rushing there and creating border tensions with Qin.
With no more spots to settle for him between us, sacrificing cows gave some safety.

Early tech path: BW, wheel, Agri (needed for pottery), pottery, writing (cheap libraries, open borders), Aesthetics (trade bait, many AIs with Alpha already).
Moscow working on Academy GS

Spoiler :

Goal was getting maths, IW, Alpha and ideally Monarchy but that did not work as fast, pic of tech pogress

Spoiler :

With AIs always trading Monarchy if you have something to offer, i teched Currency after trading for maths & Alpha and got it via trade. Warriors for happy from now on, not many resi trade possibilities here. Next goal was music, another huge trade bait tech & great Artist for golden age.

Moscow building up for Bur

Spoiler :

, and a typical other city during this time

Spoiler :

CS was the next big target, at 1AD Moscow already a very nice Bur Cap

Spoiler :

After getting CS i used my music artist for the golden age, free switches & working towards more GS for bulbs. 1 used for parts of Education. Adding Paci helped in ~2 cities. Nice side effect, Qin was also Confu.

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Qin & Louis declared on Church, perfect

Spoiler :

Meanwhile Cathy was pulling away in tech, with the clear goal of Rifling liberalism (no horsie or Iron for much else)

Spoiler :

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Thanks Fippy, that's an extremely detailed write-up. Must've taken you some time to put together, so appreciate it! Interesting to see how someone can play to get an eventual win on deity.

 

[Xcalibrator]

"When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a civilization on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. And that one sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, and then sank into the swamp. But the fourth sixth one stayed up!"

As I reported on the first spoiler page, I retired around 425 BC after Qin attacked and had rolled up a city or two, including my capital. I then tried four more times with different strategies, all ending with being attacked.

Undaunted, I tried again!! My settling pattern was pretty much what I tried originally (#2 to get copper, then north along the river) but with a bit more emphasis on speed and commerce. For some reason, nobody attacked me this time and I was even able to grab the nice barb city way up in the NW corner and a coastal site with fish near it, giving me fish, crabs, and wheat, plus an extra copper. That barb city eventually became my Moai and then Iron Works city. I aimed toward techs like Aesthetics (and bulbed Compass) for trade bait but still fell behind. I wish I knew how Fippy and LC do so much better at that. I suspect I put too much emphasis on production or buildings at the expense of commerce and beakers; it's a fine balance I've never quite gotten.

Anyway, I then aimed for military techs and attacked Louis, who was smallest and least developed, and took a few cities, but he cap'd to Lincoln. Next milestone was cannon, when I attacked the duo, taking another city from each, but then Lincoln got rifles (and he had a LOT) to counter my grens so I stopped. Steam and Railroad were next and I was delighted to see we had coal! I converted a few mountain grens to Mguns for extra defense, built a lot more units, and pummeled my way through France and America until France broke free and cap'd to me, shortly followed by America. Oh, just before I attacked, Lincoln had DoW'd Churchill and taken a city on my borders, which I then swooped in to take as the opening move in my DoW on America/France. "Oh, I'm sorry, Churchill, is this city yours? Afraid I'm too busy to give it back right now."

I then aimed toward Artillery and directed my new vassals to stay away from my research line so I would have things to trade to them to get some of the many techs they had. Qin, who was WAAAY ahead in tech, soon DoW'd Churchill with tanks, fighters, and invisible ninjas and took 3 or 4 cities while I joined in and took two, leave him only London when he cap'd to Qin. I was still several turns from Artillery and at least half a dozen techs behind Qin. While on recon, my scout noticed that Qin had 100 units in his capital: tanks, fighters, marines, you name it. It was ~1700AD and I told myself that, yeah, sure, I can eventually catch up in tech and numbers and subdue him, yeah yeah, certainly before he gets a cultural victory (one city already there) or space win (Apollo recently completed), but you know, that would just be so much work. And there I left it, looking forward to BTS147. Thanks very much for the game, DS, even if it was kinda like "Live, Die, Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow."