BOTM 23 Final Spoiler
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BOTM 23 Final Spoiler
- Thread starter DynamicSpirit
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Tell us how your game went
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Indiansmoke
Deity
This is the first GOTM I played and I must say I messed up.
My original plan was to win conquest. I settled in place and decided to go for feudalism off Oracle which I won, but around the same time I realized the map was not favorable for conquest as it would require lots of galleys.
So decided to go for space which I won around 1840's but tottaly messed up the tech tree which cost me at least 20-30 turns off victory...due to the fact that there was no military threat from anywhere and I started hitting enter after enter very fast not thinking much about what I was doing.
One thing I did not realize until well into the game is how hopelessly ai techs on Noble, I was gifting techs all the time to speed them up but to no avail..I ended up teching almost everything myself which slowed down the space race considerably.
I still have lots to learn on how to help the ai help me I guess...
My original plan was to win conquest. I settled in place and decided to go for feudalism off Oracle which I won, but around the same time I realized the map was not favorable for conquest as it would require lots of galleys.
So decided to go for space which I won around 1840's but tottaly messed up the tech tree which cost me at least 20-30 turns off victory...due to the fact that there was no military threat from anywhere and I started hitting enter after enter very fast not thinking much about what I was doing.
One thing I did not realize until well into the game is how hopelessly ai techs on Noble, I was gifting techs all the time to speed them up but to no avail..I ended up teching almost everything myself which slowed down the space race considerably.
I still have lots to learn on how to help the ai help me I guess...
I'd be pretty pleased with an 1840AD space win on Noble level myself... like you said, the AI don't add anything to the tech rate at all.
...
I decided right from the very start to go for a religious victory. I didn't have a lot of time to spend on the game and figured that would take the least amount of real-life time.
I botched the beginning of the game pretty badly, though. I went for Hinduism (wanted an early religion I could control and spread, plus tempted to have a Hoy Shrine in the capitol). However, not starting with Mysticism made this a very big gamble, one which I lost. 5 turns left on Polytheism Hindu is founded IAFAL. Funny... if I'd gone for Bhuddism I'd only have missed it by 2 turns.
I switched mid-tech to worker techs.Meanwhile, my scout circum-pedestriated along the southern boundaries, but he did not get bonus movement.
So... needless to say that going for the relig techs first I didn't build worker first. I then had to scramble to get some worker techs, and when my worker was built he was rather limited in what he could do. The map made danger of losing land from a slower REX almost non-existent. The only redeming factor of having gone Myst>Poly was that it put Priesthood so much closer and made the CS-Sling from Oracle a very easy build. Of course, I got Confu on this path and Sitting Bull, Zara Yacoub, and the Mighty Qin still had no religions, so I helped them each out with a missionary. I doubt CS is what you want to get from the Oracle in a Religious game, but its habit-forming.
The Oracle gave a GPro which bulbed Theology, thus founding Christianity and unlocking the Apostles Palace. I had settled the landmass to the west (walked there, but used galley bridge later to make it faster) mainly just for the stone to speed the AP build.
I also founded Taoism and Islam, simply to prevent any of my friends from doing so and then opting out of Confu.
So I had lots of love from 3 AI for common religion.... this will be a piece of cake! Except Izzy was so close to ZY that she bombed him with Rabbi's and converted him to Judiasm. But he stays pleased with me so its workable. Qin gets Confu in every city courtesy of my missionaries, as does Sitting Bull. One inexplicable thing with SB... he was happy with 2 cities, even though he had space for another good city. All the way to 500AD or so when I gave up on him buiilding a 3rd city and built one there and gifted it to him.
Izzy went into Theocracy just before my Christian missionary got there... the first one I gifted did not take (I had stupidly gifted it to a Jewish/Hindu double holy city, where she probably tried to use it and of course failed to spread). The second arrived the next turn and was gifted in a city with only Hindu, but size 6 unfortunately, as this was her smallest city).
Meanwhile Ramses gets cocky and spreads Christianity to two more cities of his own, thus making it high risk he could block my victory.
Then another wrinkle... ZY and Qin go to war!!! And about 2 or 3 turns before the AP vote, ZY asks me to join (and I have to take -1 diplo and say no). Damn... I'll have to put a stop to that war. Double damn... why didn't I put a stop to that war before it cost me diplo with ZY??
He's now only at +7, and must be +8 to vote for me... and I only have a couple turns to fix things.So... I bribe Qin with all my tech lead (4 techs like Education-level) to stop the war. I do not know whether this got me +1 for "You gave us help" (now at +2) or whether it was simply open borders bonus increasing at an opportune time. But the long and short of it is that I got SB, Qin, and ZY to vote for me. I switched after the vote but before the count from Confu to Christianity to double my own votes. And VIOLA!!!! I win Apostolic Palace (Religious) victory on the very first vote. Year 1100AD which is not too bad for this map size and game speed. Doubt it wins any awards, but its one of my better efforts and I'm at "Pleased"
Close vote, btw... 206 votes (203 needed). Time spent, less than 3 hours iirc.
Indiansmoke
Deity
Conrats Swede... If I knew I was going for Space from the beggining I would go for CS from Oracle as well and not useless feudalism (although serfdom helped improve land quicker especially on the long roading to the west.
1840 for space I don't think is good however, iI am sure if I replay the map (now that I know it) I can do 1750's.
BTW domination was also doable at some point in the game since Ramses vassalized to me by himself out of the blue, but at that point I was too lazy to make army and vassalize others as well.
1840 for space I don't think is good however, iI am sure if I replay the map (now that I know it) I can do 1750's.
BTW domination was also doable at some point in the game since Ramses vassalized to me by himself out of the blue, but at that point I was too lazy to make army and vassalize others as well.
ianw1610
King
I decided my strategy in advance of this game. In my xOTM career I've won every victory condition except UN Diplomatic (and Time as well, but I'll gloss over that!)... so this was a game where UN Diplomatic was my target!
I made a big big big error early on... I built a Settler in Athens, and sent him to settle the western Stone, escorted by 2 Warriors. HOWEVER I ended a turn with the Settler on a tile, all on his own, with one Warrior on either side of him...... and then a Barbarian Panther suddenly appeared. The Panther had a nice meal...
So, anyway, I got the Pyramids, built loads of Farms, and ran a Specialist Economy. I didn't get a single Great Engineer (despite having both Pyramids and an Engineer in Athens), so I had to build the UN in full. Having said that, I had so many Scientists that I was able to complete SciMeth, Phys, Elect and Radio in consecutive turns (Radio coming from Liberalism, Phys and Elect from mass bulbing).
Diplomacy was quite straightforward - everyone hated Qin, so I didn't trade with him at all. I gifted many, many technologies to the other AIs and managed my Civics to maximise bonuses from there.
1600AD UN Diplomatic win.
Well done on the win. By the way, Zara has a hidden modifier of +2, so only needs to be +6 in terms of visible diplomacy, to give a positive vote. He is one of only 2 leaders in the game for which that applies, and he is the only one in BOTM-23 for which that applies (Gandhi is the other one with a +2 hidden modifier). For what its worth, Izzy has a -2 hidden modifier, so needs to be +10 to give a positive vote in a victory election (In my game, I got her to +10 just 1 turn before the decisive vote!!)
I made a big big big error early on... I built a Settler in Athens, and sent him to settle the western Stone, escorted by 2 Warriors. HOWEVER I ended a turn with the Settler on a tile, all on his own, with one Warrior on either side of him...... and then a Barbarian Panther suddenly appeared. The Panther had a nice meal...
So, anyway, I got the Pyramids, built loads of Farms, and ran a Specialist Economy. I didn't get a single Great Engineer (despite having both Pyramids and an Engineer in Athens), so I had to build the UN in full. Having said that, I had so many Scientists that I was able to complete SciMeth, Phys, Elect and Radio in consecutive turns (Radio coming from Liberalism, Phys and Elect from mass bulbing).
Diplomacy was quite straightforward - everyone hated Qin, so I didn't trade with him at all. I gifted many, many technologies to the other AIs and managed my Civics to maximise bonuses from there.
1600AD UN Diplomatic win.
And about 2 or 3 turns before the AP vote, ZY asks me to join (and I have to take -1 diplo and say no). Damn... I'll have to put a stop to that war. Double damn... why didn't I put a stop to that war before it cost me diplo with ZY??
Well done on the win. By the way, Zara has a hidden modifier of +2, so only needs to be +6 in terms of visible diplomacy, to give a positive vote. He is one of only 2 leaders in the game for which that applies, and he is the only one in BOTM-23 for which that applies (Gandhi is the other one with a +2 hidden modifier). For what its worth, Izzy has a -2 hidden modifier, so needs to be +10 to give a positive vote in a victory election (In my game, I got her to +10 just 1 turn before the decisive vote!!)
beestar
subdeity
1180AD Religious diplomatic victory, challenger save.
Prince level was a refreshing change from beating my head against Immortal University. There's so little penalty to relentless expansion! I spread to the west and took over that entire landmass by the end of the game. Also, it was tremendously tempting to let slip the dogs of war and conquer the entire world ... no, no, must focus on papal victory ...
Oracled Theology for Christianity and built the AP in that religion. Managed to spread Christianity to SB, who became the second largest voting bloc (only two cities in his empire, but each one had 10+ citizens). Fortunately, everyone hated SB - it was just a question of getting them to +8 Pleased with me. Zara went along happily and Hammy voted for me, but I had to spread my religion to a few more of his cities for him to get enough votes to push me over the edge. I got Isabella to friendly and picked up some votes from her to finish it off, even though I never did convert her to Christianity. Needed several votes before I won, and it was close - Zara almost became the #2 candidate.
I played very sloppily: misplaced my capital (no corn!), chopped Stonehenge for GP when I didn't have to, lost a settler to a barbarian
, and it didn't click in that I could start building the AP in any religion and then switch later. Should have done a bit better. Still, it was cool to get my first religious victory!
Like kcd_swede ... good to finish a game in less than 5 hours for once (without having to get a brain transplant from TMIT
)
Thanks GOTM organizers!
Prince level was a refreshing change from beating my head against Immortal University. There's so little penalty to relentless expansion! I spread to the west and took over that entire landmass by the end of the game. Also, it was tremendously tempting to let slip the dogs of war and conquer the entire world ... no, no, must focus on papal victory ...
Oracled Theology for Christianity and built the AP in that religion. Managed to spread Christianity to SB, who became the second largest voting bloc (only two cities in his empire, but each one had 10+ citizens). Fortunately, everyone hated SB - it was just a question of getting them to +8 Pleased with me. Zara went along happily and Hammy voted for me, but I had to spread my religion to a few more of his cities for him to get enough votes to push me over the edge. I got Isabella to friendly and picked up some votes from her to finish it off, even though I never did convert her to Christianity. Needed several votes before I won, and it was close - Zara almost became the #2 candidate.
I played very sloppily: misplaced my capital (no corn!), chopped Stonehenge for GP when I didn't have to, lost a settler to a barbarian
, and it didn't click in that I could start building the AP in any religion and then switch later. Should have done a bit better. Still, it was cool to get my first religious victory!Like kcd_swede ... good to finish a game in less than 5 hours for once (without having to get a brain transplant from TMIT
)Thanks GOTM organizers!
beestar
subdeity
P.S. kcd_swede ... how do you double your own votes by switching to a different religion?
adrianj
Deity
First spoiler here
*** Session 8: 500 AD -> 1010 AD ***
Philosophecles is great for quickly getting those Universities up. By 600 AD I'm beginning to build OxU, and complete it in 700 AD. In the space of 200 years I've gone from 290
per turn to 411 per turn, @ -75 
per turn.
New goal at this point is to Tech to target Steel from Liberalism, and then go and take care of all of Ramesses' cities. Preferably with the aid of Galleons.
In 720 AD Athens produces a GE. It will go to sleep until Railroad to found Mining Inc.
Hmmm.. Isabella has founded a city on my land. I'll have to do something about that. But not yet, she can improve it for me for now.
1010 AD science is up to 539 per turn. I still have the same 8 cities, but I'm planning some expansions into barbarians cities quite soon.
*** Session 9: 1010 AD -> 1170 AD ***
I can see the research of my main rivals for Liberalism - Zara and Ramesses. Noone even has Paper or Philosophy yet, and I'm researching gunpowder o nthe way to Steel, having already picked up Astronomy and bulbed Printing Press. I'm working on increasing the production of my cities, and producing maces which will take the cities that the cannons have decimated.
Actually... I'm inclined to see if I can take Steam Power or Railroad from Liberalism, and get the Mining Inc coroporation sooner...
1040 AD and Ramesses is teching Paper. Looks like time might run out after all. I throw in a revolution to Caste + Pacifism now that my GP Farm is well set up.
I'm now looking around wondering who is actually a good target to attack. Qin has many wonders, is fairly backward, and is one of the smallest. So I'm thinking I could kill him pretty quickly and claim all he has. And then perhaps move onto Ramesses from there. We shall see.
Come 1170 AD I've generated another GS. It is willing to part bulb Scientific Method, but I'm considering a golden age instead. I'm 3 turns from Steel, and I still have a monopoly on Philosophy and Education, and only Ramesses has Paper. So at this stage I'm aiming to go as far as Railroad. Meanwhile, I'm tooling up for war with Qin, since I want to expand into his cities.
*** Session 10: 1170 AD -> 1370 AD ***
With a break I've managed to identify what my priorites are right now.
1. I need a decent source of if I'm to go the corporation route.
2. So I also need a decent Wall Street city.
3. Ramesses capital of Thebes can satisfy both these requirements - it has founded Buddhism and built the shrine, has some food for running merchant specialists, and a few mines + forests left to build/chop Wall Street.
4. Qin's capital of Beijing has some great wonders: MoM, SoZ, AP, GW.
So, I'm going to capture Beijing first, since it is quite coastal, and then fortify some Rifles/Muskets/MG in there while Qin sacrifices his troops trying to take it back and I'll take peace ASAP. Meanwhile the rest of my army will take out Ramesses, where I'll establish my secound home with the FP there somewhere.
I declare on Qin in 1250 AD, capturing Beijing the following turn. I take Shanghai a few turns later. I realise that if I ceasefire with Qin, and don't have OB with him, I won't be able to reach Ramesses by Galleon. The only thing for it is to remove Qin entirely.
I take Liberalism in 1270 AD, with Railroad for the free tech. I'm eyeing up Nationalism for the Taj Mahal now, followed by Rifling and then up to Corporation.
The Taj Mahal is complete in 1370 AD, the same turn that Qin is no more. Next target is Ramesses...
A couple of civic changes here: Free Religion + Free Market + Universal Suffrage, temporarily to cash buy courthouses and forges in some cities.
*** Session 11: 1370 AD -> 1520 AD ***
In 1400 AD I've learnt Corporation. I can either wait until I have Thebes before founding some corps, or found it right now. Of course, I choose right now. And in Athens, where I still have space to build Wall Street.
The war on Ramesses begins in 1410 AD. I have Thebes in 1460 AD, and he is ready to Capitulate. I think I'll press on for now. It's not until 1520 AD that I've taken another 4 or 5 of his cities that I take his capitulation. The aim there was to take some cities around Thebes so that it wouldn't be in revolt too often.
Time to switch to full science mode.
*** Session 12: 1520 AD -> 1650 AD ***
I take another golden age, and another temporary switch to Universal Suffrage to rush some courthouses.
By 1530 AD I have 24 cities, and I actually have positive cash flow at 100% science for the first time in the game. Next tech target is Medicine to found Sid's Sushi. Actually, Cereal Mills will be better in this game. It is founded in 1585 AD.
At 1650 AD I'm still turning a profit, and generating 2600 per turn, researching computers.
*** Session 13: 1650 AD -> 1808 AD ***
I'm on the final stretch now. Cities with the largest production are being singled out to build labs. I'm saving up some great people for another 2 golden ages hopefully.
I hadn't planned the end all that well... I wasted 11 turns of Golden age, Thebes revolted on me while halfway through a Casing, and I probably made the SS parts building order trickier than it needed to be, but nevertheless, a fully laden spaceship was launched in 1770 AD.
I spent the travel time building some excess wonders and generally increasing my population just for the points. Spaceship arrived in 1808 AD, final normalised score of 83,775.
*** Session 8: 500 AD -> 1010 AD ***
Philosophecles is great for quickly getting those Universities up. By 600 AD I'm beginning to build OxU, and complete it in 700 AD. In the space of 200 years I've gone from 290
per turn to 411 per turn, @ -75 per turn.New goal at this point is to Tech to target Steel from Liberalism, and then go and take care of all of Ramesses' cities. Preferably with the aid of Galleons.
In 720 AD Athens produces a GE. It will go to sleep until Railroad to found Mining Inc.
Hmmm.. Isabella has founded a city on my land. I'll have to do something about that. But not yet, she can improve it for me for now.
1010 AD science is up to 539 per turn. I still have the same 8 cities, but I'm planning some expansions into barbarians cities quite soon.
*** Session 9: 1010 AD -> 1170 AD ***
I can see the research of my main rivals for Liberalism - Zara and Ramesses. Noone even has Paper or Philosophy yet, and I'm researching gunpowder o nthe way to Steel, having already picked up Astronomy and bulbed Printing Press. I'm working on increasing the production of my cities, and producing maces which will take the cities that the cannons have decimated.
Actually... I'm inclined to see if I can take Steam Power or Railroad from Liberalism, and get the Mining Inc coroporation sooner...
1040 AD and Ramesses is teching Paper. Looks like time might run out after all. I throw in a revolution to Caste + Pacifism now that my GP Farm is well set up.
I'm now looking around wondering who is actually a good target to attack. Qin has many wonders, is fairly backward, and is one of the smallest. So I'm thinking I could kill him pretty quickly and claim all he has. And then perhaps move onto Ramesses from there. We shall see.
Come 1170 AD I've generated another GS. It is willing to part bulb Scientific Method, but I'm considering a golden age instead. I'm 3 turns from Steel, and I still have a monopoly on Philosophy and Education, and only Ramesses has Paper. So at this stage I'm aiming to go as far as Railroad. Meanwhile, I'm tooling up for war with Qin, since I want to expand into his cities.
*** Session 10: 1170 AD -> 1370 AD ***
With a break I've managed to identify what my priorites are right now.
1. I need a decent source of
if I'm to go the corporation route.2. So I also need a decent Wall Street city.
3. Ramesses capital of Thebes can satisfy both these requirements - it has founded Buddhism and built the shrine, has some food for running merchant specialists, and a few mines + forests left to build/chop Wall Street.
4. Qin's capital of Beijing has some great wonders: MoM, SoZ, AP, GW.
So, I'm going to capture Beijing first, since it is quite coastal, and then fortify some Rifles/Muskets/MG in there while Qin sacrifices his troops trying to take it back and I'll take peace ASAP. Meanwhile the rest of my army will take out Ramesses, where I'll establish my secound home with the FP there somewhere.
I declare on Qin in 1250 AD, capturing Beijing the following turn. I take Shanghai a few turns later. I realise that if I ceasefire with Qin, and don't have OB with him, I won't be able to reach Ramesses by Galleon. The only thing for it is to remove Qin entirely.
I take Liberalism in 1270 AD, with Railroad for the free tech. I'm eyeing up Nationalism for the Taj Mahal now, followed by Rifling and then up to Corporation.
The Taj Mahal is complete in 1370 AD, the same turn that Qin is no more. Next target is Ramesses...
A couple of civic changes here: Free Religion + Free Market + Universal Suffrage, temporarily to cash buy courthouses and forges in some cities.
*** Session 11: 1370 AD -> 1520 AD ***
In 1400 AD I've learnt Corporation. I can either wait until I have Thebes before founding some corps, or found it right now. Of course, I choose right now. And in Athens, where I still have space to build Wall Street.
The war on Ramesses begins in 1410 AD. I have Thebes in 1460 AD, and he is ready to Capitulate. I think I'll press on for now. It's not until 1520 AD that I've taken another 4 or 5 of his cities that I take his capitulation. The aim there was to take some cities around Thebes so that it wouldn't be in revolt too often.
Time to switch to full science mode.
*** Session 12: 1520 AD -> 1650 AD ***
I take another golden age, and another temporary switch to Universal Suffrage to rush some courthouses.
By 1530 AD I have 24 cities, and I actually have positive cash flow at 100% science for the first time in the game. Next tech target is Medicine to found Sid's Sushi. Actually, Cereal Mills will be better in this game. It is founded in 1585 AD.
At 1650 AD I'm still turning a profit, and generating 2600
per turn, researching computers.*** Session 13: 1650 AD -> 1808 AD ***
I'm on the final stretch now. Cities with the largest production are being singled out to build labs. I'm saving up some great people for another 2 golden ages hopefully.
I hadn't planned the end all that well... I wasted 11 turns of Golden age, Thebes revolted on me while halfway through a Casing, and I probably made the SS parts building order trickier than it needed to be, but nevertheless, a fully laden spaceship was launched in 1770 AD.
I spent the travel time building some excess wonders and generally increasing my population just for the points. Spaceship arrived in 1808 AD, final normalised score of 83,775.
I tried following jesusin's guide for a cultural victory in this game. For the first time, I managed to do a decent job of it, while still making some instructive mistakes.
The highlights: I settled Athens in place, followed by Sparta near the gold, Corinth by the gems, and Argos to the east. As soon as I built a library, I set two scientist specialists to work, getting a GS for the Academy in 900 BC. Knossos is settled across the canal from Sparta, near the stone. A second GS in 500 BC was settled in Athens. (Mistake! Don't pollute the Great Person pool!) I capture a barb city, Kushens, on the coast west of Knossos.
I tried for the CS slingshot, being second to research COL in 200 BC and finishing the Oracle in 150 BC, but I had neglected to research Mathematics first, so CS wasn't available as free choice! So I selected Philo, instead, founding Taoism. I complete the Parthenon in Athens in 125 BC and the NE in Argos, planning to make that my GP Farm. Another GS in 325 AD went to starting a Golden Age.
I finally researched CS in 375 and switched to Bureaucracy. I had held off in declaring a state religion, until Buddhism spread to one of my cities. Egypt and Ethiopia were already Buddhist, so I converted to that, to form a stronger tie with them. Ironically, Ethiopia would convert to Taoism, not too long after that. Doh!
Three GAs were created and saved, when Knossos generated a Great Spy, which I used to create Scotland Yard. (Mistake! Mistake! Don't pollute the Great Person pool!) After a fourth GA, I researched Liberalism in 1090 (taking Constitution as my free tech) and completed the Taj Mahal to start another Golden Age. With this I switched to Representation and Free Speech (keeping CS and Pacifism) and went to 70% culture. Although Argos was second in culture, Knossos was producing more culture per turn, so it was destined to join Athens and Corinth as my legendary cities.
In 1110, I generated a GP, which went to Argos to create the Taoist shrine. Did I mention not polluting the Great Person pool?
The Hermitage was completed in Corinth in 1180. After another GA, another Great Spy was created in Knossos. I decided to use it and one of my GA to start another Golden Age, hoping that keeping my commerce high would compensate for wasting the potential of the GA's culture bomb.
Out in the rest of the world, Ethiopia set some northern land free, with Churchill appearing to lead their new vassal. I accepted Ethiopia's request to join a war against China, but I limited my attack to capturing a single city (with a gold resource) that China had spread on my side of the canal. China deserves honorable mention in this game; although every other country went to war against them at one time or another, China managed to preserve its core of three cities.
My creation of GAs was interspersed with another GP in Corinth (settled in Argos) and and a third Great Spy in Knossos! (Each time, the chances for a GA was reportedly ~95%. Riiiight!) But a final GA in Argos was enough--six were culture bombed in Knossos, and two each in Athens and Corinth, bringing all three to legendary status in 1725 for a cultural victory and 39,449 points. That seems pretty good to me, compared to my usual attempts at domination victories. We'll see how it ranks against everyone else.
The highlights: I settled Athens in place, followed by Sparta near the gold, Corinth by the gems, and Argos to the east. As soon as I built a library, I set two scientist specialists to work, getting a GS for the Academy in 900 BC. Knossos is settled across the canal from Sparta, near the stone. A second GS in 500 BC was settled in Athens. (Mistake! Don't pollute the Great Person pool!) I capture a barb city, Kushens, on the coast west of Knossos.
I tried for the CS slingshot, being second to research COL in 200 BC and finishing the Oracle in 150 BC, but I had neglected to research Mathematics first, so CS wasn't available as free choice!
So I selected Philo, instead, founding Taoism. I complete the Parthenon in Athens in 125 BC and the NE in Argos, planning to make that my GP Farm. Another GS in 325 AD went to starting a Golden Age. I finally researched CS in 375 and switched to Bureaucracy. I had held off in declaring a state religion, until Buddhism spread to one of my cities. Egypt and Ethiopia were already Buddhist, so I converted to that, to form a stronger tie with them. Ironically, Ethiopia would convert to Taoism, not too long after that. Doh!
Three GAs were created and saved, when Knossos generated a Great Spy, which I used to create Scotland Yard. (Mistake! Mistake! Don't pollute the Great Person pool!) After a fourth GA, I researched Liberalism in 1090 (taking Constitution as my free tech) and completed the Taj Mahal to start another Golden Age. With this I switched to Representation and Free Speech (keeping CS and Pacifism) and went to 70% culture. Although Argos was second in culture, Knossos was producing more culture per turn, so it was destined to join Athens and Corinth as my legendary cities.
In 1110, I generated a GP, which went to Argos to create the Taoist shrine. Did I mention not polluting the Great Person pool?
The Hermitage was completed in Corinth in 1180. After another GA, another Great Spy was created in Knossos. I decided to use it and one of my GA to start another Golden Age, hoping that keeping my commerce high would compensate for wasting the potential of the GA's culture bomb.
Out in the rest of the world, Ethiopia set some northern land free, with Churchill appearing to lead their new vassal. I accepted Ethiopia's request to join a war against China, but I limited my attack to capturing a single city (with a gold resource) that China had spread on my side of the canal. China deserves honorable mention in this game; although every other country went to war against them at one time or another, China managed to preserve its core of three cities.
My creation of GAs was interspersed with another GP in Corinth (settled in Argos) and and a third Great Spy in Knossos! (Each time, the chances for a GA was reportedly ~95%. Riiiight!) But a final GA in Argos was enough--six were culture bombed in Knossos, and two each in Athens and Corinth, bringing all three to legendary status in 1725 for a cultural victory and 39,449 points. That seems pretty good to me, compared to my usual attempts at domination victories. We'll see how it ranks against everyone else.
A simple domination win for me, in 1605 AD, worth 108k points.
I'd spent a few months away from Civilisation, so either this was long enough for some lessons to sink in, or I just got lucky, because this was my fastest domination win by a long way. Of course, the easier difficulty setting helped!
I'd decided to go for domination because, having been away from GOTMs for a while, I fancied racking up a few points, taking advantage of the difficulty level. I also toyed with the idea of trying to use corporations for milking, something I'd never yet tried. In the end I didn't bother, as I didn't want to devote too much time to the game.
The settling location seemed quite favourable, and I expanded onto the continent to the west quite early on. Sent a fishing boat on an exploration tour at the start, so I soon realised that the western continent was unoccupied. Thus my early tactic was to populate that continent while developing my home lands (I also wanted to control as much of the canals as I could). However, the Chinese proved too tempting a target. Because their landmass was so close I only needed half a dozen galleys to land a stack there on a declaration of war. China had only three cities of any significance so I captured them all, and left them with one city on a neighbouring landmass for a while.
Ethiopia came next, because they were right next to the former Chinese lands, and also because they were second in score (behind me). After taking 4-5 of their cities I chose to vassalise them to save time. By this time I'd decided to ignore Spain (who was annoyed with me) and the Babylonians, as their lands were the least accessible for invasion.
Egypt came next, and provided much land and population for boosting my domination plans. I declared on Sitting Bull (whom I'd left alone because he was technologically backward and pleased with me) while still fighting Egypt. This is probably why I finished faster than I usually do - a willingness to fight multiple wars and organise multiple stacks and fleets. And also because the AI builds fewer units at this difficulty
Mopped up both Egypt and Sitting Bull, and hit the domination limit while beginning an invasion of Babylon and settler spamming the tundra.
To my surprise I actually found this quite an easy map for conquest. Because of all the canals, galleys were sufficient to get to every civilisation on the map. Even at the very end of the game when I invaded Babylon, my riflemen and cavalry still got there in a fleet of galleys!
I would have included more details about technology and dates etc, but I didn't take good notes during the game. One lesson still to learn. Anyway, if I can finish in 1605 AD I'm sure someone managed a much faster time. Still, a very enjoyable map so thank you!
I'd spent a few months away from Civilisation, so either this was long enough for some lessons to sink in, or I just got lucky, because this was my fastest domination win by a long way. Of course, the easier difficulty setting helped!
I'd decided to go for domination because, having been away from GOTMs for a while, I fancied racking up a few points, taking advantage of the difficulty level. I also toyed with the idea of trying to use corporations for milking, something I'd never yet tried. In the end I didn't bother, as I didn't want to devote too much time to the game.
The settling location seemed quite favourable, and I expanded onto the continent to the west quite early on. Sent a fishing boat on an exploration tour at the start, so I soon realised that the western continent was unoccupied. Thus my early tactic was to populate that continent while developing my home lands (I also wanted to control as much of the canals as I could). However, the Chinese proved too tempting a target. Because their landmass was so close I only needed half a dozen galleys to land a stack there on a declaration of war. China had only three cities of any significance so I captured them all, and left them with one city on a neighbouring landmass for a while.
Ethiopia came next, because they were right next to the former Chinese lands, and also because they were second in score (behind me). After taking 4-5 of their cities I chose to vassalise them to save time. By this time I'd decided to ignore Spain (who was annoyed with me) and the Babylonians, as their lands were the least accessible for invasion.
Egypt came next, and provided much land and population for boosting my domination plans. I declared on Sitting Bull (whom I'd left alone because he was technologically backward and pleased with me) while still fighting Egypt. This is probably why I finished faster than I usually do - a willingness to fight multiple wars and organise multiple stacks and fleets. And also because the AI builds fewer units at this difficulty
Mopped up both Egypt and Sitting Bull, and hit the domination limit while beginning an invasion of Babylon and settler spamming the tundra.
To my surprise I actually found this quite an easy map for conquest. Because of all the canals, galleys were sufficient to get to every civilisation on the map. Even at the very end of the game when I invaded Babylon, my riflemen and cavalry still got there in a fleet of galleys!
I would have included more details about technology and dates etc, but I didn't take good notes during the game. One lesson still to learn. Anyway, if I can finish in 1605 AD I'm sure someone managed a much faster time. Still, a very enjoyable map so thank you!
So... you mean I screamed and pulled out my hair and sweated out that close vote... for nothing ???
At least it made me really think hard about all the ways to influence diplomacy, so I learned a bit more from it than I would have if I knew I had it already wrapped up.
In my game I spread Confucianism as a common religion to get the diplomatic plusses. I later bulbed Theology and became the only civ with Christianity... and I switched to Christianity the turn just before the AP was built, so that Christianity was the AP religion. Only the builder of the AP palace and those who are using the AP religion as their state religion are eligible for votes... so I ensured that every vote would be uncontested (I didn't have to worry about my friends being eligible or liking someone else even more than they like me).
Of course, asap (5 turns later) I converted back to Confucianism. So I was Confu with all the +diplo for common religion once again.
The way the AP works, if you have the AP religion as your state religion, your votes are doubled. So the vote comes up I'm in Confu and they love me, and they vote for me. Right after ballots are cast, I switch to Christian as state religion... theri ballots are already cast, so even though the next turn you have lower diplo, you still get their votes (and your own are counted double because they are counted when you are in the AP religion).
This can go wrong if you lose the vote anyhow and then have to wait 5 turns to get back into Confu to get the diplo bonuses back (esp if they decided to declare war on you during that 5 turns). It can go TERRIBLY wrong if you have more than 37% of the votes while still in the non-AP religion. What happens then is that by switching to Christianity, you'd make your own votes more than enough to secure victory without any AI voting for you --- and the election gets cancelled (after votes are cast, but before they are counted). That's really annoying.
I think your way of spreading the AP religion as the common religion for diplo bonus makes it much like a UN Diplo victory except harder (need more votes, have less time to get diplo bonuses). I would dare to say it is less efficient, as well, though certainly you did a great job getting it done essentially just as fast as I did the other way. However, if like you I had the sense to Oracle Theology
(instead I chose CS), I'd have easily shaved 20 turns off my finish. That was very smart of you - something I didn't consider before! Next time I go for AP win I'll try that.Holy Cheese
Chieftain
Cultural Victory 1920 AD.
Not a great time, but I'll take any win I can get
This was a really interesting map, made for a good game.
In contrast to many of the posts above, nobody seemed to go to war with anybody else in my game at all, apart from a quickie between Hammi and Izzie which resulted in Izzy becoming his vassal for quite a while, although she did later break free.
My teching was relatively slow in comparison to the AI, which meant that I missed out on many of the later wonders which would have given me the culture boost (Holywood etc). I did manage to pop quite a few GA's though, which I then used towards the end to bomb Corinth and Argos up towards legendary status.
Thanks for this one!
Jack
Not a great time, but I'll take any win I can get
This was a really interesting map, made for a good game.
In contrast to many of the posts above, nobody seemed to go to war with anybody else in my game at all, apart from a quickie between Hammi and Izzie which resulted in Izzy becoming his vassal for quite a while, although she did later break free.
My teching was relatively slow in comparison to the AI, which meant that I missed out on many of the later wonders which would have given me the culture boost (Holywood etc). I did manage to pop quite a few GA's though, which I then used towards the end to bomb Corinth and Argos up towards legendary status.
Thanks for this one!
Jack
Diplomatic victory 1928 AD. This was a second (as I remember) UN vote attempted for this and a bit surprising that I won it. The first one was canceled, not sure why, but I got an info about it instead of voting results.
Quite peaceful game for Greece, apart from the only conflict with Sitting Bull, who took a spot in the northern part of Greek land near gems. I took the city, burned it, since location was 1 tile from a better one and re-established settlement. Then took the whole continent of theirs. Sitting Bull as vassal remained with 2 cities on northern land near Ethiopia.
If not diplomatic, cultural victory was soon to achieve, as I saw on F8 screen.
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Forgot to mention. I did not play many xotms before(civ4 gotm and botm), but this is my first win. Noble difficulty...
Quite peaceful game for Greece, apart from the only conflict with Sitting Bull, who took a spot in the northern part of Greek land near gems. I took the city, burned it, since location was 1 tile from a better one and re-established settlement. Then took the whole continent of theirs. Sitting Bull as vassal remained with 2 cities on northern land near Ethiopia.
If not diplomatic, cultural victory was soon to achieve, as I saw on F8 screen.
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Forgot to mention. I did not play many xotms before(civ4 gotm and botm), but this is my first win. Noble difficulty...
My fist xOTM in many moons. I settled in place and played for a culture win from the start. The game was fun for me but played in a lackadaisical manner and is frankly rather dull to recount. Plus I forgot to turn on the autolog. 
The most notable things that occurred were my mistakes:
► Too many wonders in Athens relative to the rather weak GPP I established along the eastern floodplains resulted in getting 4 Great Prophets and a Great Engineer instead of the Artists I wanted. Although I generated plenty of those too.
► Built the Pyramids and then, of course, forgot to switch to Representation for a millennium or so.
► Didnt concentrate as much as I should on science early, or do anything to help the AIs research faster, so tech pace was slower than it could have been.
► Very nearly lost to Ramses when he received the votes of several other civs in an AP election. (But then switched state religions to the AP religion and quashed that threat.)
Still, things went reasonably well overall. There was no military threat to speak of so I was able to focus very heavily on cultural buildings and wonders. I established two religions and had two others spread to me, enabling me to build four cathedrals apiece in my main cultural centers. I concentrated on tech until Liberalism (Nationalism as a free tech) and then was at or near 100% culture the rest of the way. Victory came in 1640 AD.
The map was nifty. In hindsight I think DynamicSpirits comments in the pregame thread meant he was expecting us to get swarmed by barbarians from the vast unpopulated hinterlands to the south and west. That never really happened to me.
The most notable things that occurred were my mistakes:► Too many wonders in Athens relative to the rather weak GPP I established along the eastern floodplains resulted in getting 4 Great Prophets and a Great Engineer instead of the Artists I wanted. Although I generated plenty of those too.
► Built the Pyramids and then, of course, forgot to switch to Representation for a millennium or so.
► Didnt concentrate as much as I should on science early, or do anything to help the AIs research faster, so tech pace was slower than it could have been.
► Very nearly lost to Ramses when he received the votes of several other civs in an AP election. (But then switched state religions to the AP religion and quashed that threat.)
Still, things went reasonably well overall. There was no military threat to speak of so I was able to focus very heavily on cultural buildings and wonders. I established two religions and had two others spread to me, enabling me to build four cathedrals apiece in my main cultural centers. I concentrated on tech until Liberalism (Nationalism as a free tech) and then was at or near 100% culture the rest of the way. Victory came in 1640 AD.
The map was nifty. In hindsight I think DynamicSpirits comments in the pregame thread meant he was expecting us to get swarmed by barbarians from the vast unpopulated hinterlands to the south and west. That never really happened to me.
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- Mar 11, 2008
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Domination Victory -1896 (Noble/Contender)
Nice Map. The canals made for some interesting strategic decisions. This victory was my first before 1900 in any victory condition, so I was fairly happy. However, I also felt that if I pressed things more I could have finished much sooner. Still, this was a nice achievement as I just start to become rather solid at the Noble level. Below is a summary of events.
1) Settled Athens in place IIRC, next to corn, little lake and close to marble. The wonder I wanted the most early was The Great Library and Oracle if I could. Settled Sparta in a nice spot near the horses, which would become my HE and main unit producing city. Corinth settled shortly after just to the SW near the gold - actually not a superb location but I focused on commerce as much as possible hear. In the meantime, I sent warriors, scouts to east and west to see what juicy land I could snatch up. One of my first targets for expansion was the stone to the west across the ice.
2) Teched Mining/Ag/AH/TW first, although I probably should have gone AG first.
3) Once Athens was able to produce a couple of settlers and a few Phalanx for protection, I turned the cap's focus to wonder building. Built the Pyramids, Great Library and Parth there as well as a few others. Built the TGL and Colossus in Sparta, but Sparta focused on military from that point forward. Missed the Oracle to my disappointment, but that was okay. Athens also become my main GP farm although it wasn't the best location.
4) Finally founded Mycenae to the west near that stone to help with wonder building. Take some time to get the settler over there due to all the barbs. Argos was founded just north of Athens near the gems/iron to hook those up. Gems really helped with happy cap. Knossos to the East near the gold in that stretch of ice and tundra on the way to Ramses land - not great land but I need to expanded some in that direction and well the gold/copper was good.
5) At this point, round 1AD, things were peaceful. I found Conf in Corinth and The Kong Mao which help further make that a commerce/gold city. My goal was to expand as much as possible into the big area to the west. I eventually did so through settling and conquering barb cities. (Note: I was really surprised that the AI did not settle in this area, especially Hammy. Sitting Bull founded one lame city in the far NE corner, but otherwise no one attempted this nice stretch of land.
-I'm teching fairly well at this point with - not surprisingly - Zara in second. Hindu is the religion du jour with Ramses switching to Christianity.
6) By 500 AD, there have been no wars. However, I'm already thinking of domination with all my land and military tech lead. Ramses looks like my first victim. However, around 600 AD, Qin surprise attacks Knossos to the west and quickly captures it. (Luckily, Knossos is slow prod city so didn't lose to many important buildings) Interestingly, I was already sending units east from Sparta aiming for Ramses, so I took back Knossos quickly. The war was on and Qin was going down no matter what - the backstabbin' bahstahd.
7) This war lasted a bit long, but future wars became easier. I was able to bring Zara, Ramses and Sitting Bull into the war. Eventually take Beijing, Shanghai and Gangzhou from Qin and capitulate him. Asked for another city but gifted it back to him to help our relationship. I tend to be nice to my vassals and try to help with their tech some to make them useful.
8) In 1675, I declare war on Ramses. At this point I have cannons and rifles and cut a swath through Egypt all the way to Thebes. I take Thebes and Ramses becomes a vassal. (Here I question whether I should have stopped sooner. Thebes was a great city but Ramses always seems to be a culture whore. Thebes revolted twice so I decided to gift it back to him since it appeared likely to return to Egypt anyway) Prolonging these wars just seems to prolong my game.
9) Who next? Hammy, Izzy, Zara or SB. I have a solid naval and land military tech lead, but Zara concerns me with the amount units he has and the vulnerability of my China buffer zone. Hammy, Izza, and Zara all have defensive pacts. SB it is and I declare on him in 1814. This war did not last too long. I took every city on his main island and left him some cities in the north. SB capitulates in 1832.
10) At this point is probably the big diff in closing this game well. Between the long war with Qin and my decision at this point, these were the two factors in not finishing the game strong. I have a lot of land now and superior tech lead. However, I don't press the game forward for domination. I don't declare on Hammy/Izzy until 1882. That was way too long. I got a little wonder happy.
11) I take Hammy easily and Izzy capitulates without even taking one of her cities. Game over!
Regardless of my mistakes, it was still my best victory on Noble to date.
On another note, I thought the most valuable unit in the game was the Ironclad. I did eventually get Destroyers, but no other AI really achieve high naval tech. The Ironclad, though not very fast, just dominated in on this canal geography. I completely owned the "seas" in this game. (Except for my one little mistake letting Qin surprise attack Knossos early)
Nice Map. The canals made for some interesting strategic decisions. This victory was my first before 1900 in any victory condition, so I was fairly happy. However, I also felt that if I pressed things more I could have finished much sooner. Still, this was a nice achievement as I just start to become rather solid at the Noble level. Below is a summary of events.
1) Settled Athens in place IIRC, next to corn, little lake and close to marble. The wonder I wanted the most early was The Great Library and Oracle if I could. Settled Sparta in a nice spot near the horses, which would become my HE and main unit producing city. Corinth settled shortly after just to the SW near the gold - actually not a superb location but I focused on commerce as much as possible hear. In the meantime, I sent warriors, scouts to east and west to see what juicy land I could snatch up. One of my first targets for expansion was the stone to the west across the ice.
2) Teched Mining/Ag/AH/TW first, although I probably should have gone AG first.
3) Once Athens was able to produce a couple of settlers and a few Phalanx for protection, I turned the cap's focus to wonder building. Built the Pyramids, Great Library and Parth there as well as a few others. Built the TGL and Colossus in Sparta, but Sparta focused on military from that point forward. Missed the Oracle to my disappointment, but that was okay. Athens also become my main GP farm although it wasn't the best location.
4) Finally founded Mycenae to the west near that stone to help with wonder building. Take some time to get the settler over there due to all the barbs. Argos was founded just north of Athens near the gems/iron to hook those up. Gems really helped with happy cap. Knossos to the East near the gold in that stretch of ice and tundra on the way to Ramses land - not great land but I need to expanded some in that direction and well the gold/copper was good.
5) At this point, round 1AD, things were peaceful. I found Conf in Corinth and The Kong Mao which help further make that a commerce/gold city. My goal was to expand as much as possible into the big area to the west. I eventually did so through settling and conquering barb cities. (Note: I was really surprised that the AI did not settle in this area, especially Hammy. Sitting Bull founded one lame city in the far NE corner, but otherwise no one attempted this nice stretch of land.
-I'm teching fairly well at this point with - not surprisingly - Zara in second. Hindu is the religion du jour with Ramses switching to Christianity.
6) By 500 AD, there have been no wars. However, I'm already thinking of domination with all my land and military tech lead. Ramses looks like my first victim. However, around 600 AD, Qin surprise attacks Knossos to the west and quickly captures it. (Luckily, Knossos is slow prod city so didn't lose to many important buildings) Interestingly, I was already sending units east from Sparta aiming for Ramses, so I took back Knossos quickly. The war was on and Qin was going down no matter what - the backstabbin' bahstahd.
7) This war lasted a bit long, but future wars became easier. I was able to bring Zara, Ramses and Sitting Bull into the war. Eventually take Beijing, Shanghai and Gangzhou from Qin and capitulate him. Asked for another city but gifted it back to him to help our relationship. I tend to be nice to my vassals and try to help with their tech some to make them useful.
8) In 1675, I declare war on Ramses. At this point I have cannons and rifles and cut a swath through Egypt all the way to Thebes. I take Thebes and Ramses becomes a vassal. (Here I question whether I should have stopped sooner. Thebes was a great city but Ramses always seems to be a culture whore. Thebes revolted twice so I decided to gift it back to him since it appeared likely to return to Egypt anyway) Prolonging these wars just seems to prolong my game.
9) Who next? Hammy, Izzy, Zara or SB. I have a solid naval and land military tech lead, but Zara concerns me with the amount units he has and the vulnerability of my China buffer zone. Hammy, Izza, and Zara all have defensive pacts. SB it is and I declare on him in 1814. This war did not last too long. I took every city on his main island and left him some cities in the north. SB capitulates in 1832.
10) At this point is probably the big diff in closing this game well. Between the long war with Qin and my decision at this point, these were the two factors in not finishing the game strong. I have a lot of land now and superior tech lead. However, I don't press the game forward for domination. I don't declare on Hammy/Izzy until 1882. That was way too long. I got a little wonder happy.
11) I take Hammy easily and Izzy capitulates without even taking one of her cities. Game over!
Regardless of my mistakes, it was still my best victory on Noble to date.
On another note, I thought the most valuable unit in the game was the Ironclad. I did eventually get Destroyers, but no other AI really achieve high naval tech. The Ironclad, though not very fast, just dominated in on this canal geography. I completely owned the "seas" in this game. (Except for my one little mistake letting Qin surprise attack Knossos early)
Harbourboy
Deity
Cultural victory in the 19th century for me. It would have been better but I was railroaded by a sneak attack from the Chinese that set me back a few decades as I had to go into war mode.
Fluroscent
Emperor
Contender save, 1620AD Accidental domination -177k points. Was going for a higher score with sushi spam in some ~40 cities, easily on course for 200k+ but forgot to gift a city away before another came out of revolt. Game over!
Founded around 15 cities before going to war, while beelining biology, picked up military science on the way for grenadiers, took medicine from liberalism and conquered with mainly maces/grenadiers+trebs.
Biggest mistake, other than early domination, was accepting ZY's offer of peaceful vassal state. Should have just left him alone to allow full takeover of Ramesses' lands instead. Could probably have made room for another 10-15 cities.
Founded around 15 cities before going to war, while beelining biology, picked up military science on the way for grenadiers, took medicine from liberalism and conquered with mainly maces/grenadiers+trebs.
Biggest mistake, other than early domination, was accepting ZY's offer of peaceful vassal state. Should have just left him alone to allow full takeover of Ramesses' lands instead. Could probably have made room for another 10-15 cities.
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