[BTS] BOTM 268: Victoria, Prince - Final Spoiler - Game Submitted

[DynamicSpirit]

BOTM 268: Victoria, Prince - Final Spoiler - Game Submitted

Use this thread to tell us what happened in your game, particularly anything after 1AD

Did you win?

Reading Requirements
If you are participating in BOTM 268 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.

 

[nocho]

I basically stomped the map with horses. The Romans went first, followed by the Carthaginians. Mansa offered to be my vassal which was graciously accepted. Pacal had vassaled to Germany and was ridiculously small with 2 cities. Captured those and vassaled his overlord, quickly followed by the Inidans for conquest. Teched way too far for a very competitive date, but fun game nonetheless.

 

[antimony]

Given the marble start, good commerce capital, potential for another strong commerce city to the south, triple-food GP farm to the north, and overall not threatening neighbors, I decided it was a good time as any for a traditional 6-city cultural game (well, ended up going for 7 cities). Plus, I wanted a faster game (by played time, not victory date) this time.

London settled on marble, York 3 tiles west on the coast (support city to grow floodplain cottages while my capital was busy building the oracle and settlers with mines), Nottingham south of pigs (maxing cottage sites and in range of 2nd gold and wheat). Early tech path was wheel, pottery, myst-medi-priesthood, masonry, animal husbandry and writing (Oracle -> Code of Laws turn 53). Built a library in York to leapfrog London in GPP for a scientist to bulb philo later.

After that went for bronze working and alphabet, then the path to calendar (math-sailing). Settled Hastings on the peninsula tip to the north, Canterbury across the north canal between deer and gold (only city outside our starting island), then Coventry to the southwest (1N of ivory) and finally Warwick to the southeast (1E of the wheat, to relieve gold from Nottingham and grab dyes for happiness) around 750 BC. Got techs like hunting, iron working, currency and monarchy via trades.

Next step was music beeline, then civil service. After that, started a Golden Age with the music free artist in 200 BC and did the mega civic switch (HRule-Bureau-Caste-Pacifism). Mausoleum was finished in Nottingham in time for GA, meanwhile London built Parthenon and Statue of Zeus, while Hastings built Nat.Epic.

Lib->Nationalism in 325 AD, then teched Printing Press before turning on the slider to Culture. I built Hermitage in Nottingham and Taj Mahal in London. Cultural Victory in 1520 AD by using 9 artists in Hastings, 1 in Nottingham and 1 in London. (Earlier I had used 2 artists and 1 prophet for 2 golden ages, as well as 1 scientist for philo bulb.)

I underestimated how many great people I could generate in fact, and could have built Hermitage in my capital instead while generating 1-2 more great artists by running more artists longer in my helper cities. I also took a long time to spread the third religion (Buddhism from Asoka, arrived in Canterbury around 1 AD but did not rush missionaries and took a long time to spread to the mainland), so I could probably have improved that finish date by 10 turns at least by avoiding these few mistakes.

Diplomacy was fairly easy, Mansa was the only one really upset about my different religion (Pacal was friendly due to shared civic bonus, and also too small and too far to really matter). I could also bribe my rivals to fight each other to make sure the few Civs that plot at pleased (Mansa and Bismarck) would not plot on me.

 

[neilmeister]

In the end I went for space, which is kind of my default when I started playing, and is again as my competitive days are behind me.

I only started a few days before the deadline, and I impressed myself at the speed of my play. So much so I completely screwed my GP management......but worse, didnt pay attention to where Aluminium was!!! Seriously, I found myself about to build Apollo and realised I had no Aluminium and no army. My Maces/Trebs conquered Hannibal & Rome (mostly) before my war got stopped by the AP. It was ok, I had run out of units and didn't much care anyway.

So, my space date was 1745, so if you beat me by 3-5 turns then I curse my own stupidity about Aluminium (and you, naturally). In the end I gained control of one source, after using a GA, the turn I launched.....yay!
If you beat ne by 100 years, well I am getting used to it...... use it or lose it they say!

 

[Conquistador 63]

I also enjoyed playing this map a lot!
I planned to post a write-up a few weeks ago but somehow forgot completely about it.
I think I was too focused on the economy and started my wars very late.
It wasn't until 1020AD that Rome and Carthage were eliminated.
Then I considered cruising to a peaceful space race, but received the Sports League quest, where one had to control the Statue of Zeus to get a free Golden Age. Too bad Asoka had already built it in Delhi, so in 1200AD we declared on him to capture it, and accepted him as a vassal in 1290AD.
Then in 1380AD we learned Industrialism and couldn't find Aluminum anywhere on our empire, so our war veterans got one last mission: acquire a source from Mansa. After the mission was accomplished, Mansa became a vassal in 1490AD. Peace at last! Then we could finally work our way to space.

@neilmeister , nice to have you back at the forums! Don't worry, I'm pretty sure your game won't be beat for just a few turns this time!