BOTM 76 (Napoleon, Deity) First Spoiler

[DynamicSpirit]

BOTM 76 First Spoiler - 1AD

Have you survived deity so far? Or did you opt for the 'normal person' route and take the adventurer save? How have you survived the 13-AI-deity tech rate?

Are you still alive?

Discuss all this in this thread subject to...

Reading Requirements

Stop! If you are participating in BOTM 76, then you MUST NOT read this thread unless EITHER

• You have reached at least 1AD in your game, OR
• You have submitted your entry, OR
• You have abandoned your game and will not submit.

Posting Restrictions
Please do not discuss anything that happened after 1AD.
Please do not discuss modern era resource locations (Copper and Iron are OK).
Please do not reveal names or locations of any civilization not accessible by galleys.
Please do not divulge your final result if that happened after 1AD.
Do not post any savegame file from the game. Discussions and screenshots are fine but not actual games.

 

[Solyaris]

Had a bit of a struggle to chose between easy (emp) and normal (deity) on this one. On one side, I have beat deity on some occasions, but I've always had a better start and/or leader then this. Eventually decided to go for easy-mode, at least I wont have the 20 hour upward struggle and in the end loose against a run-away leader on the other side of the world

Settled 2 south of the gold. To settle where the warrior started were probably the best spot, but I wanted to make sure to settle at least 3 cities consider the crowded map. When I met Peter (Russia) at turn ~5 I knew an early war was inevitable, questions was; axe or horse-archer?

Techs
AH (horses, yay) -> mining -> fishing -> BW -> pottery -> HR (traded hunting/archery all other early techs)

Production
Worker -> warrior -> settler -> work-boat

Settled 3 cities, whipped 8 HA and attacked Peter around 1500 BC. Quickly took 2 cities (inc. capitol with TGL), but when I was to take the 3rd, spear-men appeared, making it much more difficult to take more cities. Ended up taking a total of 4 cities, and suing for peace. Then something surprising happened, Victoria, that b*tch, attacked me out of nowhere! She had been in WHEOOH some time, but I always assumed she was gonna attack Peter (or somebody else south), consider she was at pleased and had no direct route to me (she had to go thought Peter's land). She ended up suicide all troops, but had to emergency double-whip and lost my main trading partner slowing me down in a period I were supposed to catch up! Annoying!

Settled another city for a grand total of 8 @ ~600BC, in hindsight I should have settled a couple more on the northern islands (consider I had TGL), but can't cry over spilled milk.

Due to the large amounts of AI the tech-rate was high. @10AD I have paper, philosophy, half-way to nationalism and a GS for education. Should be able to trade all other techs but edu. (bulb), gunpowder and liberalism (taking MT) making an early cuirassier war possible (I guess 500AD +/- 100 years).

Goal; domination victory before 1100 AD =)

 

[Sleepless]

Well a first for me in GOTMs. Instead of opening borders with an AI I auto double clicked and ended up declaring instead.. Not a thing to do against deity AI and most of my cities had 1 warrior as defender. The others nothing..

Actually ended up settling in place. Not sure about wonder dates but the Pyramids were built approx. 2120BC.. Well missed out on the Glh. Major wonder for this start. Missed Glib one turn before I could whip it so ended up without any wonders at all.

Second city I was debating between the marble site or gold. Erred on the side of caution as the marble didn't have any food till IW and settled the gold. Peter then settled the marble site so missed out on that one.

Third and fourth cities were on the island to the NW. So I was going along quite happily. Teched aesthetics and by trading had IW/Math/Alpha and currency prior to1000BC. Then shortly after had the pleasure of declaring on Charlie and Suly then bribed in against me. Time to rage quit.. Well nearly. Managed to pay them off a bit later though still negatives for declaring on friends etc wasn't ideal.

Not sure on religion spread but everyone around me was Jewish and would it spread to me. Nope though managed to stay safe till 1AD. had 7 or 8 cities by then. None of them great and not really having a clue on how I would win this with my current lands.

Still I was still alive so not all bad..

 

[Yamps]

First city 1N as planned. Fishing->Mining->BW->Sailing->Masonry, worker first interrupted by work boat. I tried a few quick games (thanks XCal!) before playing and decided to ditch the settler first idea which seemed interesting to me at the time (settler first interrupted by work boat). The main idea beforehand was to get the GLH and initial exploring confirmed that was the way to go.

However, Peter so close got me worried and I started debating where to put my second city. The Marble spot could have had food if it shared cows with Paris, but I'd have missed the early gold. I explored around Peter's location and estimated that he wouldn't go for that spot so soon, but I was wrong. That was a big tilt for me when he settled in my face, while I went for a second worker before settler! The tilt provoked more errors and I chopped a forest too soon, not timing it well with Masonry. This caused me to make a second settler while in the test game I tried for an earlier GLH with 2 cities only. Luckily, it turned out okay for me and I got the key wonder around T95! So at that point, I had 3 cities: capital, 1N of gold and 1 city on a hill a few tiles to the south of Paris.

After that, I was settling the nearby islands non-stop. The tech continued AH -> Writing -> Math because the AI was late with that and of course I needed it. I also had same vague ideas about catapult wars against Peter that didn't have much grounding in reality. I had to settle the islands and try to keep peace with Peter in any way. At the time he was Confused which he got from Victoria, but I couldn't open borders with her and later on I had to close them with Peter too. They were both trying to send galleys behind my lines which was a big no-no. Later on he switched to Buddhism which he got by luck from another continent. This development left me without religion because I couldn't get Buddhism and others were to risky to use.

Somewhat later I joined a couple of fake dogpile wars against civs far away to start accumulating mutual war bonuses. I also had a cunning plan to bribe Peter to fight on my side, instead of constantly worrying when will his war fist show up against me. I didn't even have garrison warriors in my cities except in the capital, I was too busy sending settlers and workers. Then finally, the moment of horror came, a war fist just a few turns before I'd get Currency to bribe him. The guy is very bribable, willing to go against Pleased civs while only Cautious towards the briber. Well, dogged a bullet there as well, he got bribed by somebody else for a fake war on another continent! It was Joao, which I had recently Pleased with +4 fair trade. Nonetheless, I DoW him too along with Mansa Musa I was already "fighting" against. The other continent was mostly all Buddhist, but they were constantly warring and dog piling each other.

Anyway, to sum it up, by 10AD I managed to settle all there was to settle and got to 11 cities. I also got circumnavigation, which will be important later on. At the same time, GLH power and focused research got me to start researching Liberalism. Only 1 GS born and it was used to bulb Tao. No time to set up bulbing for Education. At this point, there is a 50% chance for another GS on the next turn to bulb Liberalism immediately (delaying Machinery). The other 50% are for GM which would be okay as well. Hopefully I won't mess up this time. The tech pace is ultra fast, there are many friendly civs around and they are just slightly behind.

Oh, and how come the events are on? I forgot to rant about that. I haven't played Civ for ~2 years, not counting the last BOTM. I don't even remember when was the last time I played with those on; I have no idea what could happen there and I've become too lazy to read all about that like I did way back. :rantover:

 

[Geylani]

I got my first city 1 square up to get the clam. And got my 2nd city bellow the marble. I rushed for the GLH. Got the 3rd city bellow the gold. MODERATOR ACTION. Post-1AD INFORMATION REMOVED - DS Was able to bribe Peter on Victoria. Plan to go to cannons and take both them out.

 

[nocho]

I settled 1N and then city 2 at the gold. Peter soon settled on the marble so that meant boxed in. Tried to get GLH which is indeed a key wonder, but it went in 1825BC already. Mids in 2225BC even.

Started settling the islands, but while I settled for double fish/banana first, Peter settled bronze/pig in between. Settled the NW island, but Peter settled up north too. Then Victoria ended up in war with Peter and decided to dogpile, as I was beelining construction at the time anyway. Managed to get Peter's island cities and also Novgorod (on marble). Peaced out there, didn't have much more steam anyway.

So at 1AD I'm at 10 cities, which isn't all that bad. In fact, I have the most cities, but am closely followed with 9 by Victoria, who is still at war with Peter. If I'm to have any success this game I should try and get our shared island and then 1 by 1 steamroll the other AIs. Or take the small ones first. This being said with the utmost respect to deity AIs (never beat deity), but on the large continent all AIs are between 3 and 5 cities, so with time I hope to be able to take those out. Got Peter down to 6 cities, be it that that is his core.

Been trading like crazy, got various AIs in WFYABTA already. At 10AD started on education.

 

[FiveRings]

In 25 AD i was still alive. I had latest settled Chartres, but missed the GLH which definitely is needed to have any chances. Also, stole a worker from Vicky which turned out to be a bad decision in the AD part of the game. I will not be posting in the AD page, so will wrap it up by saying that even being the civ with biggest # of cities didn't help: got dog-piled and gave up. Might try to follow Nocho who also missed the GLH but is a much better player than me...just to see how he coped with this, if he did... Oh, tech-wise I almost kept it under control till Paper after that it was hopeless.

 

[Xcalibrator]

I settled 1N and tried to follow my pre-game testing but botched some of the micro and fell behind my plan by ~2 turns. It didn't matter much, though, because Peter settled the marble+rice site on T41, well before I'd finished my first settler. That left me with only the site 1N of the gold on our starting continent. I managed to snag both islands to our west and then put two cities on the bigger one to our north (I figure the western one will be a production city and the east will be for NatEpic), with #7 on the NE island with iron, seafood, and whales. My hope is to eventually settle another city on the eastern end of that little island to snag clams and the furs (with culture and a fort) but Peter has a galley heading up there so I may be too late.

That gives me 7 cities at ~1 AD with 34 pop and score 684 (10th). My techs were Fishing, Mining, BW, Sailing, Pottery, Aesth, and then trading Aesth for a bunch of stuff. I was first to Drama which I traded around somewhat less successfully. I was 2nd to Music and bulbed Philo in 230 BC, not quite in time to snag Taoism, and traded that for Compass and Feud. Continuing with my "A day late and a dollar short" theme I tried for GLH in Gold city but it went on T90 (1750 BC)--didn't try for any other Wonders. Bummer about missing GLH on this map, but I did meet all the AI by T112 (1200 BC) and got circumnav on T118/1050.

At T135 (625 BC) I paused to reflect on the Grand Vision. 3 religions had spread to me and I (at that point) had hopes of landing Philo/Taoism. Should I go for Culture or Dom? I had room for 9 cities so Culture was certainly a possibility but I stuck with my usual method, Dom. Peter and Vicky are at/near the top in score, land, and cities so I've been trying hard to keep them happy, which has been a bit tricky since Peter switched to Judaism while Vicky stuck with Hinduism. They aren't speaking to one another but haven't come to blows. My plan is to tech to Engineering (another dozen or so turns), whip an army of trebs, elephants, and Xbows, and then start picking off the weak and backward civs, starting with Alex, Wm, and Boudica, then take Mansa from 3 sides. We'll see.

I've played very little on Deity and won even fewer but my impression is that the tech pace is a bit higher than usual (for Deity, that is) but with so many civs crammed together, none of them (save my neighbors, grrr) have gotten very big, so it's possible to take them down one at a time if you can manage to avoid getting DoW'd yourself. Thanks for giving us a fighting chance, DS. (<-- note pun ) I've run out of techs to trade and am falling well behind the leaders so this war plan better work.

 

[High King J.J.]

Still alive 10 AD. Don't really want to be. No hope in sight.
Russians seem to be going to all sorts of places uninvited, just like in RL. Peter settled on the marble before I had my first settler out.
Have 10 cities with 1 settler still enroute, insane colonial expences, so far behind tech race it's hopeless.
Have contact with all civs, many seem to war with each other nicely. Mali is a vassal state. None are yet exterminated.
Not really enjoying this Botm. Seems to be totally unwinnable. When the Russians attack I'll just kill as many of them as I can. Same goes for RL.

 

[ShiVvV]

This is my first experience playing a GOTM so this summary may not be quite up to par but here goes. I chose the contender save and settled capitol 1N on the PH as many did.
Initial builds were Worker (until Fishing researched then switch to WB); finished Worker T27; another WB; then 1st settler which finished T52.
Initial tech path: Fishing, AH, Mining, BW, Pottery, Hunting, Archery, Sailing, Mysticism, Writing, Horseback Riding, Iron Working
The choice to go hunting/archery made in hopes of taking the marble city that Peter had founded as his third city (on the marble tile). This turned out to be a forlorn hope as I wasn't able to muster the power to seriously consider taking him on without help which I hoped would come from Victoria. Said help never materialized.
The world eventually became split roughly equally between Buddhism/Hinduism with AP religion being Hindu. I could have adopted either but was deterred from doing so as Vicky is Hindu and Peter is Buddhist. So...so much for the organized religion production bonus.
I have not pursued any wonders as am more worried about getting cities established on the surrounding islands as Peter's marble city has completely stymied any further expansion on main landmass.
Seven cities before 1AD: 2 on the big island NW with ivory and stone, a city on the 2-tile island north of capitol, and a city on 2-tile pig island west of main landmass, (3 cities on main landmass).
I did manage to bulb Philo in 260 BC with my first Great Scientist and may have a chance for Lib but the tech pace is furious among the two large religious factions. The capitol is so weak as a commerce city that I chose the bulb rather than an academy. Hopes are to develop the floodplains/ivory city on the large island NW into an academy city. Bureaucracy civic seems of marginal benefit with such a weak capitol however running it does provide diplomacy perks with Peter.
Plan is to settle two more cities on the 6-tile island further north to get up to 9 and can squeeze one more city onto the larger island NW. So 10 cities peacefully. I do not plan on adopting either of Buddhism/Hinduism as the religious wars are starting. Mansa Musa seems a particularly disliked individual this game for some reason. Hope to get to Free Religion and spread Taoism around some for shrine income once pig island city generates its Great Prophet.
I have a distinct feeling this game will end up as an "also ran" for me as am unable to keep up in tech (working water tiles instead of cottages) and unless Peter gets into a major war with Vicky my hopes are slim. But, the good news is I'm surviving...unfortunately the bad news is I'm really only surviving until Peter gets pissy. Maybe pursue a permanent alliance late in game with Vicky?

 

[donsig]

After playing with the test save that was posted in the pre-game discussion thread I decided to settle 1 SW to use the two fish and attempt to grab the gold and whatever else was nearby. Of course the Russians ended up very close and settle the marble before I could. I put my second city SE of the gold.

Built a wb to explore and decided to try to settle the big island to the north. I managed to put four cities there and one more on the two hill island between the two clams. A total of seven cities.

Still alive. Everyone declared war on Mansa so I joined in. Later declared on Ethiopia as well. Converted to Hinduism to be on better terms with my Russian neighbor. Not even up to monarchy yet. Tech has been turned off for ages due to lack of gold. Will see hold long I can stay alive at diety.

 

[Jastrow]

Well, I am still alive... Wether I will survive or not is unclear. Peter daggered me, and is sending waves. So far, my defences are holding, but will that last? Time will tell...

At least I am doing OK on tech. About parity with the lead AI's...

I settled 1N, and got only 3 cities on the starting continent. Peter blocked me in by settling the marble. I did expand to 8 cities by placing 5 on the islands, so I have similar total land as most of the AI... If I can survive Peter's waves, and beat him to steal, I may be able to turn the tide with cannons, and take his lands, and then vickys... That would get me to something like 25 cities, which might be enough to compete in the end-game against Diety AI on this crowded a map (As long as no one starts chain-capping other AI's to become a monster, but so far, I dont see a clear run-away.)

Indeed, 12 of the AI are all pretty close... Alex has been dogpilled (I joined in for a while for the relationship as well) and is backwards to the point of insignificance, but everyone else is doing OK to date.

 

[lymond]

I"m at about 300BC with 8 cities. 2 taken from Peter. Epic really throws me off so not sure how to gauge things. Not really pleased with having 13 AIs on the map. Seems overkill for this game, but at least there are some islands to settle.

Tech pace is furious. Right before declare on Peter, he went from not even having Construction to having that, Civil Service, Machinery and Feud in like a turn or two. Pretty crazy. I hope to still take St. Pete and Moscow with my slow Phantacat attack. I have to take a ceasefire though since unit production is rather slow with only 2 maybe 3 cities contributing.

I bribed several AIs into war with each other as well as bribing Peter on Vicky before I attacked.

Did not even think about wonders, which was good as they all fell VERY quickly.

I'm not too bad on tech right now, having things like CS, Feud, MC and stuff. Starting Paper or Machinery, which I may need to finish off Peter.

Big problem is that development of cities is rather slow due to several reasons. I have not switched to Bureau or HR yet as losing the 2 turns seems less optimal without a real bureau cap anyway, and happiness is okay with several trades. I bulbed Compass instead of an academy and it worked out well for trades, gold, and bribes.

Not sure what I'm going to pursue. Right now just trying to get more land. Have at least 3 cities I can settle around those islands and hopefully nab Moscow and St. pete. Peter has 3 island cities too. Annoying.

 

[The-Hawk]

Settled 1N, focused on REX and GLH. By 440 BC I had 9 cities and GLH, so I stopped REX. At 1 AD, I am in the process of spamming Trebs, Phants, and Maces to go after Alex. At this point, I am not even thinking about Liberalism, the diversions for military units pretty much rules it out. If I can abuse Alex, I think I will try to get to Cuis and go for a military victory.

My biggest issue: I have not been working scientists. Without bulbs, I suspect I will be too slow to next gen military. If the AIs get away from me tech-wise, I'll head for a PA.

 

[PattonTwo]

I usually pass on Deity level games. I took the easy save to see if I could survive to the end (have never won a Deity game and don't expect this to be the first time). Did some good things and some mistakes.

I settled where the warrior started. Seemed like that would move me towards my opponents as it seemed likely the SW was coast which turned out to be correct. I think I started a warrior and then switched immediately to a settler when I got to size two. By then I knew the SW area would be safe to settle a 2nd city quickly. Settled in 2650 on the grassland next to the fish.

First time on deity level I stole a worker (from Russia). My warrior walked up and there he was. Made me nervous as I figured once I did it I'd have a half dozen Russian archers approaching my capital but the worker steal was successful and I didn't build a worker myself for some time.

The other benefit of the worker steal was that I hurried my production on to military and took Novogrod from the Russians (they settled just south of the marble in 1650) and I took it around 400 BC. Attack stalled out shortly after that but I killed their invading stack losing only 1 unit and then it was all quiet on the western front until we made peace. I had settled a 2nd city at the north end of our starting area about 1200 bc.

At 1AD I have only 4 cities, 16 total population and am belatedly about to send a couple settlers to the larger island NW. I should have done that much sooner.

Tech wise I went AH then Mine then beelined to Aesth and was able to backfill techs. Went for Lit and built TGL in 550 bc. I've been able to keep up with techs thus far and am researching Edu right now. I really don't have expectations of winning but I'm happy to be in the game at this point and if I can take out Russia I have a snowballs chance of making it a game.

 

[Folket]

The start went well. I settled 1N and built the GLH at turn 85. I expanded to the islands in the north.

China was doing well and I had plans to invade Mali so when they asked me to join there war I accepted knowing I was not ready but wanted to build the counter to make china my permanent partner. Immediately Russia attacked me. Probably Mali bribed him. Lost three cities and the GLH.

Still at tech parity but without the economic boost from the GLH it will be hard to not fall behind.