Brennan's Adventures in the Hall of Fame.

[brennan]

Since i've made a few more submissions i'm starting a thread to archive my games/writeups.

Here's the thread about my Cultural 20k game (Large, Cheiftain, Mongols)

Post #2 here should be a write up of a Domination game (TIny, Deity, Babylon) which I am also submitting today.

At the moment I have two other HoF games, a 100k Culture game as my Beloved England (Huge, Warlord), which still stands and a Conquest (Tiny, Deity) which has been ousted from the rankings by successive record attempts with Jaguar Warriors.

Any more games I submit will be on this thread.

Edit: posts 12-20 detail an SS win (Small, Emperor, Egypt)

Edit: post 21: Diplomatic victory as Persia (Standard, Regent)

Edit: post 28: Conquest Victory with the Iroquois (Large, Monarch)

Edit: Post 53: Tiny Histographic entry as the Americans (Regent)

 

[brennan]

Okay. While bored silly by micromanaging my Leader Farming during my 20k Culture game I Started this Warmongering Deity Domination - and also because my Deity conquest has been shoved unceremoniously off the HoF tables. grr.

I picked the Babylonians as I figured the attack2/defend 2 unit available without strategic resources after a single tech research would be handy, it wouldn't require me to have a strategic resource I couldn't guarrantee obtaining aty Deity and would give me useful tactical flexibility.

For opponents I chose the Americans and Germans, purely to deny my opponents use of their Unique Units, which are both available way after I expected this game to end.

The map had a small land area to encourage the fastest time.

Here's the start:

Spoiler :

And here's the log I kept as I played: this game rapidly became a real slog uphill as I was surrounded by both AIs in no time!


Half decent start- wheat, freshwater and some ivory.
Plan to expand a little, nice and fast then rush the enemy as much as possible.

Situation quickly starts to look problematic:
both the Germans and the Americans appear in no time and surround me with cities.
I produce 4 settlers in Babylon, planning for the new cities to build barracks then Bowmen.
All cities completely undefended until 1700BC!

1000BC - the Germans declare war,
a German archer bounces off Ur, triggering a Babylonian Golden Age!
I enter negotiations with the Americans, buying their spices and Alphabet for my ivory and a little gold,
then buying Pottery for 55g and Mathematics for my remaining gold and 2gpt.
I change most of my builds to catapults to help defend and prepare for attack.

1050BC - another unit bounces off UR,
My first catapult helps demolish a German spear trying to pillage my ivory.

State of play 1000BC: You can see how tiny and oppressed my core started:

Spoiler :

by 925 BC several more units have bounced off Ur, whose brave defenders remain intact!
2 catapults already assist the defence there.

775BC - Open negotiations with the Americans, they are unwilling to trade me Construction,
but for an extra 80g they swap world maps.
Americans - 10 cities, half to the North, half to the South of me.
Germans - a main body of 7 cities to the West, two new looking cities on fallow ground to the far south.
I can't see horses yet, but both my opponents have claimed iron.

750BC - I start the invasion of Germany! According to my advisor I am now 'average' compared to them.
- 10 Catapults and 19 Bowmen.

IBT - A German archer moves far enough to demonstrate a rop pact with the Americans,
causing what is, amazingly, my first casualty - a wounded bowman.
I have forces in place to avenge this heinous act, and swear a (quiet) oath to make Lincoln
pay for supporting my enemies.

710BC - The treacherous Americans have declared war!
Lincoln will pay for this!
My Loyal babylonian forces raze the city of Bremen!
A lone Bowman prepares to pillage an American supply of Iron.

630BC - My first leader appears, Agum I. I convert him into an army.

570BC - War with two Deity opponents at once seems a little silly, so, after my new army helps destroy Frankfurt.
I demand Mysticism, Writing and The Wheel, World map and 76 gold from the Germans for peace. They agree.

550BC - Akkad founded.

510 BC - A stack of 10 catapults does absolutely no damage to the defenders of Seattle
size 1; spear fortified on grassland. Someone calculate me the odds on that.

410BC - see last entry

390BC - Sargon I, my second leader appears, unfortunately with only 5 cities I have to turn him into the Heroic Epic,
but hopefully this will prove useful in the long run...

350BC - After several turns of almost totally ineffective bombardment, my army helps take Seattle.
- I raze it and quickly replace with a settler I brought along.
- This secures me a supply of Iron. All builds switched to swordsmen.

330BC - Sumuabum I, another great Leader appears, since all I have to do to allow him to create an army is place
one more city i shall keep him for a few turns.
I should be in a position to take Chicago by the time my next settler builds.

IBT - The Americans wish to parley:
For peace they are prepared to offer World Map, Horseback Riding, Currency, Map-making, Code of Laws
Philosophy, Polytheism and Construction. I decide to accept - I can settle my 8th city, Uruk
and then be ready to turn my atttentions back on the Germans with a second army.

310BC - I trade my Ivory for American Spices again, then order them off my land,
they comply, but I wouldn't have been too bothered if they declared again!

230BC - Eridu founded. M second army is built and loaded with three handily available swordsmen.

170 BC - The Germans declare war on the Americans.

150BC - my treaty with the Germans has run out. I offer Lincoln an alliance against these barbarians for his
World Map, 15 gold and a supply of Silks, Lincoln agrees and we are once more at war with Germany;
my armies immediately advance on Hamburg.

110BC - Terrible news! Culture flip in Ashur!

70BC - My forces raze Hamburg.

50BC - grr, my new army - redlined in the assault on Hamburg, narrowly succombs to a revenge attack by
German Medieval Infanty. The offenders are put to the sword, but that's still an army gone.

30BC - Lincoln trades me Feudalism 37gold and monarchy for Engineering.

10AD - the Americans renege on our alliance, signing a peace treaty with that schemer Bismark, now the noble
Babylonian forces must fight on alone.
Samarra founded, securing me supplies of both Furs and Horses.
I do another deal with Abe 'backstabber' Lincoln - 96 gold and my World Map for his Silks.

30AD - Peace with Germany! They pay Monotheism, World Map, and a little gold.

50AD - The Babylonian people have peacefully turned into a Monarchy.

130AD - Lagash founded. A supply of dyes secured.
Bismark agrees to trade me some Gems for my Ivory and 18g.

260 - The treacherous Americans declare war again! On the Germans this time.

360AD - Lagash flps to Germany

390AD - Ellipi flips to America. Time to go to war.
Ellipi retaken - my stack was right next to it when it flipped.

400AD - Chicago falls to Babylonian troops. Razed.

410AD - Apparently, I am strong to the Americans, and average to the Germans. On with the offensive!

420AD - Kish founded, ensuring the Babylonian people a supply of Silks.

430AD - Miami Taken and razed.
I trade Silks with Germany in exchange for 10g and Dyes. My Dyes.

450AD - Without me noticing an American Trireme has landed a Pikeman near (undefended) Uruk
Uruk falls for half a turn - being recaptured by babylonian infantry.
- Nippur founded.

460AD - Shurruppak founded.

510AD - the map revealed, my progress so far:

Spoiler :

580AD - Boston captured - it contains two wonders, including the Great Wall, which will make it a
lot harder for my opponents to capture my walled towns.

590AD - IBT trade 50g, World Map and Ivory to renew my deal for German Gems.

600AD - The glorious armies of Babylon finally march into Ashur: liberated from their American
oppressors the people gather in the streets to throw flowers at the returning heroes!

610AD - having moved my defenders out of Boston to avoid losing them to a flip,
an American knight takes advantage and recaptures the place. MDIs move to recapture.

620AD - Boston is indeed recaptured.

640AD - Bismark demands Silks, World Map and 57g in return for renewal of his supply of Dyes.

730AD - Babylonian forces assault Washington. After much bloodshed the defenders hold off our
valiant attackers, but the visible defences are greatly weakened - from Muskets to Longbowmen.
- The Great Leader Ashurbanipal I appears and forms an army.

740AD - As predicted the defenders in Washington are exhausted and are quickly overrun by our glorious troops.
The Hanging Gardens, Oracle and Great Library are seized.

750AD - The Library gives me Chivalry, Theology, Gunpowder, Education, Astronomy and Navigation.
- Negotiations with the Germans reveal they have discovered Banking and Music Theory,
but have no Saltpetre!
- Most builds set to Knight.

790AD - IBT Ivory and a mere 14g gets me a renewal of my Gems deal with Germany.

810AD - The Great Leader Naboplasser I appears to lead the assault on Philadelphia.
With his help the city is taken and he forms an army, quickly joined by two handy knights.

840AD - New York Falls to the Babylonian armies, the Americans are no more!

840AD:

Spoiler :

Rather than declare immediately
on the Germans I spend the next several turns moving my forces into good positions for the offensive.
My main goal is to deny Germany access to Iron, using a combination of my armies and some Knights.

900AD - The Germans declare war, sending a knight to capture Washington!
(I had thought Washington was out of range of their knights, obviously I didn't take a very good look!
My forces are positioned to attack though, a catapult stack begins the advance on Leipzig defended by
my bowman army, an MDI army advances upon the German Iron supplies to the North, a knight army
to their Western Iron, and two knights claim the southern mountain with the remaining Iron,
next turn i hope to deny my opponent the ability to make anything better than longbows and spears!

910AD - Eridu goes and flips

920AD - all three German Iron sources have been pillaged!

940AD - Zariqum founded. My advisor tells me we are strong compared to the Germans!

950AD - Leipzig falls, giving me control of Leonardo's Workshop and the Great Lighthouse.

960AD - Eridu retaken. The traitors who permitted the Germans to annex the city are put to death.

980AD - New York recaptured.

1000AD - Sippar founded, securing Spices for the Babylonian people.

1040 - New York flips. Izibia founded.

1050AD - New York recaptured. my armies begin the assault of berlin, thinning the defenders.

1100AD - Larsa founded.

1120AD - The glorious Babylonian forces capture the enemy capital, Berlin, taking control of
the Pyramids, sun Tzu's Art of War, Bach's Cathedral and Smith's Trading Company!
- I offer to negotiate with Bismark, but pride has got the better of him and his offer
is insultingly bad. On with the struggle then... should be a lot easier from here on.

1130AD - Munich captured - Magellan's voyage.

1150AD - Leipzig flips.

1160AD - Nuremburg captured - Copernicus' Observatory.

1170AD - Konigsberg - Sistine Chapel.
- Leipzig retaken.
- I finally become 1st in land area (have been first in population for some time.)

1180AD - Lagash retaken.

1190AD - San Francisco captured, Zamua founded.

1210AD - Khorsabad founded - Gems.

1220AD - Atlanta captured.

1230AD - Houston captured - Incense online.
- Poised to take the one remaining enemy city on this continent. All the outer cities are set to
build temples for border expansion. Core cities rush settlers to fill in any gaps.

1240AD - I claim a domination victory! 5676 points.

The map at Domination:

Spoiler :

 

[Elear]

Nice victory...often the most rewarding wins are the ones when it is bitterly hard in the BC years.

 

[Marsden]

Great write-up! Keep going.

 

[Chamnix]

Nice game, brennan! I think you made it harder on yourself than you had to...

For opponents I chose the Americans and Germans, purely to deny my opponents use of their Unique Units,
...
Plan to expand a little, nice and fast then rush the enemy as much as possible.

If you want to rush a deity opponent early, you probably shouldn't pick the Germans. The AI starts with a bunch of free units on deity - often warriors, but Germany gets spearmen and archers instead. A tribe like England will have a UU that is still useless but will make your life a little easier in the early wars.

 

[brennan]

Good point Chamnix! I mostly play as the English actually, despite the hopelessness of their UU (on PTW and vanilla) - Commercial seems very powerful on the Huge maps I favour, as is expansionist - But i'm diversifying for the sake of the HoF. The start on this one was seriously hard, on my last Deity game (Tiny again) I managed 6-7 cities quite well spaced. here I was running out of room as my first settler left home.

 

[Tone]

I love that 1000BC shot.

Now why didn't the RNG give you those early leaders with your 20K game?

 

[SpiffyKeen7744]

510 BC - A stack of 10 catapults does absolutely no damage to the defenders of Seattle size 1; spear fortified on grassland. Someone calculate me the odds on that.

410BC - see last entry

I have always wondered about this since playing GOTMs. It seems that in PTW, bombardments must first kill off population and destroy improvements before ever doing any damage to troops. In fact, it seems like there is always a minimum amout before any bombardment is successful. I remember have some success with cannons, and artillery is usually successful in killing citizens or destroying improvement with just a few initial bombardments. Once that happens, then the troops start to take damage. For the next city, you have to start all over. I don't think I have ever had a catapult do damage to a city or hurt any city defenders in PTW. Did you do any damage to city defenders later on in the game at all with catapults?

This is NOT the case with Conquests. All troops must be down to one hitpoint before citizens are killed or improvements are destroyed. I think that there has to be some sort of counter that keeps track of bombardment before damage is done to improvements. Perhaps this is what make PTW catapults so useless in sieges.

 

[brennan]

I believe in PTW that your bombardment is randomly targeted at population, improvements and units. Population seems hard to detroy with mere catapults and improvements tend to be destroyed fairly quickly so I think the problem with the Cats is that they many of their shots are targeting either population with a low chance of success, or non-existent improvements.

That's my guess anyway.

 

[Marsden]

IIRC, pop and improvements have a defense of 12, so a catapult with an attack of 4 isn't overwhelming there. But, it's true that in conquests you don't hurt the town until the defenders are redlined, while pre conquests you can hit anything. Killing the barracks can be good, but it's frustrating to have your stack of bombardment units do nothing but wreck the temple.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

Which is what happens with bombers a distressing amount.

 

[brennan]

Next up: Going for a SpaceShip victory on a Small Map at Emperor level.

The chosen Civ: Egyptians, industrious (good for expansion) and Religious, good for changes of Goverment. I also thought the UU may be interesting as it is effectively horsemen a tech early.

The plan is to carve out a good sized empire, so that I am leading the tech race in the modern age, but keep the AIs going as well, to maintain a high tech rate, so no conquests here unless I really need the room.

Rolling starts for the Egyptians is fun, i'll have to play as them more: I don't know if it's anything to do with the 'culturally linked start' option, but almost every start is on a river, most of them have plenty of grassland and it doesn't take me long to get a location with a couple of cows by a river.

Unfortunately early on some passing Ottomans decide to raze my second city and I decide the game is too screwed to continue.

I roll an even better start, cultural expansion after 10 turns revealing two luxuries to play with... and some passing Russians decide to capture my capital for fun.

*sigh*

At the moment the my third attempt is progressing; things are looking good after one night's play:


4000BC - I see a cow. Save in case a look reveals good circumstances.
Moving my worker onto the mountian next to the start shows a wheat. I'll found Thebes two squares away.

Here's the start I saw after moving my worker:

Spoiler :

3850BC - Thebes founded, revealing another Wheat.

3350BC - Border expansion reveals an English scout. I trade Masonry and 34 gold for Alphabet,
choosing to finish research on Pottery myself and keep Ceremonial Burial.

2800BC - Memphis founded. I'd like to take advantage of the 2 wheat + 1 cow to go for a pair of settler
factories (no idea how feasiblea ploy this is on a small map though) - after researching Pottery both cities switch to Granaries.

2070BC - Heliopolis founded. (I micromanaged the two settler factories for most of the next 1000 years, switching one of the
irrigated wheats back and forth between the two cities every couple of turns. Boring but productive. I was also
building warriors to accompany the settlers thanks to my previous experience of early AI attacks during my last
two attampts, although this slowed things down quite a bit.)

2030BC - I spot an Ottoman Scout. Osman's people know The Wheel, Bronze Working and Warrior Code, but do not know Alphabet.
I trade him Alphabet and 45 gold for The Wheel, then trade Elizabeth The Wheel for Bronze working and 8 gold.

1830BC - Elephantine founded, next to a source of Horses.

1725BC - Alexandria founded on the coast.

1700BC - I buy Mysticism off Osman for 116g, selling it back to Elizabeth for an extra 4 gold. I also buy Iron Working
off Lizzie for 107 gold - currently I am buying tech parity with my neighbours! I set research to Polytheism
-> monarchy.
- Turning back to the game I can see a hill with some Iron just outside my borders...

1625BC - A settler/warrior pair looking for a city site in the middle of the jungle has uncovered Gems and more Iron. Do
I claim both or just one? I decide to go for the Gems. Another settler will be on it's way shortly for the Iron...

1575BC - Pi-Ramasses founded, claiming Gems. It's designated warrior climbs a nearby mountain, revealing another supply of horses nearby...

1550BC - Giza founded, claiming a source of Iron.

1500BC - An emissary from the Russians appears, catherine offers Writing for 118g. I accept.
She also has contact with the Americans and the Germans, but I do not have enough to trade for contacts yet.

1425BC - I trade Osman contact with the Americans for 3gpt and 33g.

1400BC - I made that deal to improve relations with the Ottomans, who had 2 warriors near Heliopolis. But Osman's
forces attacked anyway, razing Pi-Ramesses - the Barbarians. What's with the aggressive AI on Emperor?
- Byblos founded, claiming Iron and Horses, but it looks to be close to ottoman Lands...

1375BC - El-Amarna founded, claiming the Iron I missed earlier.

1325BC - Hieraconpolis founded.

1300BC - Seeking allies I establish an Embassy with Germany, but it looks like they will be too far away to help.

1275BC - A warrior seeking a good view from a mountain-top spies dyes off in the jungle.

1250BC - Thw same warrior spots am Ottoman swordsman in the distance, and they are still refusing to see my emissary...
- rather stubbornly I re-establish Pi-Ramesses.

1225BC - Lisht founded (I've missed a couple city names whilst replacing Pi-Ramesses I think.)

1200BC - Osman receives my emissary and agrees peace for 3gpt (he gives 14g).
Hopefully the gpt turn will make him less likely to declare again. not that it put him off last time.
- total losses for this brief war were I think one of my warriors for three of Osman's. Plus the temporary setback
of losing a city.

1150BC - Buto founded.

1100BC - I spot the city of Uskadar, I notice the ottomans have only 6 cities (to my 12),
I fancy some revenge for dinner...served cold mwahaha. One barracks is already building War chariots, two more
are under construction. I'll build swords as well, so I can time my Golden Age nicely.

- While we're on the subject of cities, negotiations show England on 6, as are Germany, russia have only 5.
The Americans have 7.
- I establish Embassies with my two nearest neighbours, Ottomans and England.
- I trade My World map, 3gpt and 17 gold with England for Polytheism - my opponents are all ahead in technology.

1025BC - Edfu Founded.

950BC - Pithom founded.

875BC - Busiris founded.

- This sort of growth can't be normal on a small map surely? Two warriors have been exploring to the
North-West and have uncovered a huge mass of land that i've blocked off with my early expansion.
I fully intend to claim all this land in the name of Egypt! Already we have 15 cities, the Americans are
second with 9, but they don't have three active settlers already looking for homes...
- my military advisor tells me we are already average to England. Three cities are already producing
veteran units, two more barracks building. At this stage it's looking like a growth explosion followed by a couple
of short sharp wars against my neighbours will mean I can settle down to lead the tech race and
go for a good comfortble win!

- Or is this wishful thinking?

The map at 850BC:

Spoiler :

670BC - Having worked out a dot-map for the penninsula to the North-West I have seven settlers moving out to claim the land.
My two settler factories join the barracks-building rush. I'll have seven when they're done...
- I estblish my last Embassy with the Russians.
- This turn's unit builds make me average to the Ottomans.
- 12 Warriors, 3 Swordsmem, 3 War Chariots.

650BC - Kahun and Athribis founded to the far North-West. Wine and more horses claimed.

610BC - Mendes and Al-Ashmunein founded - Gems and yet more horses.

590BC - Tanis and Buhen founded. I trade for all my opponents' Territory Maps. Looks like they are
belatedly spreading out, but I have the lead and intend to keep it.

530BC - Bubastis founded. That's 22 cities now. Some cities are building Temples to keep me in the culture race.
These will be switched to Libraries when I can build them.

470BC - I buy the secret of mathematics from my dear neighbour Elizabeth for 76g. I also do a round of map trading
for a little gold and everybody's Territory maps. I notice the Germans are at war with the Russians, who
have lost Kiev to Bismark's forces and are down to a mere 4 cities.
- I am only 11 turns from monarchy at minimum rate and none of my rivals has this technology yet, is it
too much to hope that this will be a great bargaining chip soon?
- I sign a ROP agreement with Lizzie, i need to get a road link to London to trade her Ivory for my spare
Gems. She will also have a spare Incense after a border expansion, by that point i should have Wines in return.

410BC - Thw Germans have Monarchy, but do not appear to have traded it to anybody else. They refuse to trade it to me of course.

370BC - I have a road to London. Unfortunately Lizzie extorts a ludicrous price for a suply of Ivory -
Gems, Iron, World Map and 80g!
- It also looks like my opponents have entered the Medieval Age!

330BC - Hmm. Apparently we are 'strong' compared to the ottomans. Konya and Istanbul look like they'd make a good appetiser for my armies.
Istanbul houses the oracle and Great Wall and those two cities would give me a supply of Dyes to boot...

270BC - Lizzie will offer me 21g, her Territory map and Philosophy for a supply of Wines. I graciously accept.
She still doesn't have Monarchy - just two turns to go. In fact a quick check reveals Bismark is
still the only opponent with monarchy.

230BC - Monarchy! And wouldn'tcha know it... that sausage eating Schwein Bismark just sold it to everybody else...
except the poor old Russki's. who are virtually out of the game anyway.
- Fortunately Catherine is prepared to offer me Code of Laws, Construction, Map-making, 19 gold and
her World map in exchange for an alliance vs the Germans and monarchy.
- Elizabeth, bless her socks, then sells me Currency for 108gold and 4gpt.
- Egypt enters the Medieval Age!

210BC - After a brief period of turmoil, Egypt becomes a Monarchy.

190BC - Remember that Revenge I mentioned? I declare war on the Vile Ottomans and a stack of 11 Swordsmen cross the border, onto
the Mountains next to Konya...

- Weird. I try to switch my Temples to Libraries... it seems no-one has bothered to learn Literature yet. that's a novelty.

150BC - Konya falls to my Swordsmen. Get a road over the mountains and that will secure me a supply of Dyes.

...to be continued...

 

[AutomatedTeller]

Looks good!!

I think getting 2 settler factories up and running on a small map is fairly uncommon. Getting them out with an industrious civ is just great, cause you can road fast, too!!

 

[brennan]

Following my two abortive attempts, I knew i'd want to produce warrior/settler pairs. So when I saw the chance to get a pair of factories going I jumped at the opportunity. I got lucky I guess, because it's paid off handsomely. I'd still like to know why the Emperor AI seems more aggressive than Deity? On my Deity game (above) the AI totally ignored me till 1000AD despite the fact I didn't build a single combat unit for 2500 years. All three of these Emperor games have been characterised by AI attacks early on.

Here's my log from last night. I started off a bit worried about my economy, too big, waay too much corruption and no Forbidden Palace, I was still looking at not much better than 40 turn research. Which was a surprise for me, not used to the corruption on these small maps I guess...


- odd, Literature in 5. I'm sure it said 12 last night.

90BC - I butcher an ottoman MDI near Byblos.

30BC - Istanbul falls to my brave troops!
I destroy another couple of Ottoman units and send an emissary to Osman's camp:
Osman gives me Feudalism and 6g for peace.
- Looking around myother opponents i finf that Bismark is prepared
to offer me 119g (his entire treasury) and his
Territory Map for peace - with not a blow struck between us! (I accept)
- Catherine gives 51g and Her World Map for Currency.

30AD - 'This' founded (odd name for a city) - I had taken a settler along in case Konyu was autorazed and then used it fill a bit of a gap
between Edfu and Istanbul.

300AD - struggling to improve my economy, research towards Republic nearly complete, a number of Libraries and marketplaces
constructed. the Forbidden Palace is underway in Pi-Ramesses (any further away and the cities refused to be less
than 90% corrupt even with a courthouse).
- Catherine demands Literature, Feudalism, World map and 13g for Engineering!
- I am letting the deals with Lizzie run out with the intention of seizing Canturbury and taking control of it's Incense.
- Then demanding an extortionate price for peace.

400AD - Now a republic, I declare war on the English.

410AD - Catapults redline an English warrior, I make my first attack with a War Chariot, and Egypt enters a Golden Age!
- Naturally I have my usual luck with the RNG. Granted Canturbury is on a hill. but surely the odds of me losing 6 Veteran
MDI to one regular pike and one regular spearman are pretty long...
Canturbury falls nonetheless.

450AD - Things are certainly improving, researching invention in 4 turns, whilst making 28gpt profit!
- My armies, undeterred by losses in Canturbury are advancing upon York, intent upon claiming England's Ivory stocks as well (that'll teach them to put up a fight )!

470AD - Pi-Ramesses finally completes the Forbidden Palace.

490AD - Chemistry in 5 tuns. I have 3 saltpetre already online (in fact every square in my empire is fully developed.)
- York falls, 4 sources of Ivory are now in Egyptian hands!
- In return for a modest sweetener Lizzie is prepared to give me monotheism for peace.
- She then offers me 30gpt for Iron!
- I find the Ottomans have no Saltpetre.
- Bismark is prepared to offer me Theology and World Map for knowledge of Gunpowder and 30g.
- Catherine offers 2gpt and 18g for Monotheism.
- No-one will sell me Chivalry, but Lizzie will give 2 gpt for some of the Ivory I just poached from her.
- Annoyingly, there is not yet a road passing over to the Germans, Russians and Americans, so I am unable to
trade luxuries across to the other half of the continent.

- With theology learned I switch research to Education, which I can learn in four turns.

Here's how things look in 500AD:

Spoiler :

Currently I am wondering if I should be researching the top or bottom of the tree. Bottom is a lower priority for the AI I think, which means I am more likely to be able to trade it, but I really want Banks. And universities. And would building Smiths be a good idea? ... Or Newton's?... Or Copernicus'?

I'll probably stick with the top (well, it's the middle really) as it'll mean I continue to up the pace. Hopefully I can get all the AI gpt in trades.

 

[Lord Emsworth]

It is a little late to point this out, but RCP is really strong on small and tiny maps if you place 8 cities at distance 4/4.5.


But anyway, you could still make use of the remote palace exploit in case you get a leader. Just make sure your palace doesn't have many cities close. Maybe a spot at the farthest southern end of what is now England (the town south of the town south of Nottingham)?

 

[AutomatedTeller]

At a guess, the aggressiveness is a combination of being large and not having a strong military. On deity, you didn't have anything the AI wanted and weren't a threat.

 

[brennan]

It is a little late to point this out, but RCP is really strong on small and tiny maps if you place 8 cities at distance 4/4.5.

Hmm. I've never used RCP, I thought it only worked on Conquests? That would make sense in terms of the ludicrous corruption i'm experiencing; from memory cities just 10 tiles from my capital are at 70-80% even with courthouses, which seems excessive. TBH I thought it was a function of my having 4 or more times the optimal city number.

But anyway, you could still make use of the remote palace exploit in case you get a leader. Just make sure your palace doesn't have many cities close. Maybe a spot at the farthest southern end of what is now England (the town south of the town south of Nottingham)?

I'm not at war enough to get a leader TBH. Unless I decide to annex a luxury or two I intend to keep the peace, and therefore the tech rate, right to the end now.

At a guess, the aggressiveness is a combination of being large and not having a strong military. On deity, you didn't have anything the AI wanted and weren't a threat.

Both my aborted games suffered attacks when I had just started a settler factory up: I had just 2 and 3 cities in those games when attacked. I was attacked as well in this game, but with 7-8 cities at the time and a deliberate decision to produce a warrior per settler in advance, I had enough warriors about that I could fight back and be fairly confident that this was not a serious setback.

 

[brennan]

Session 3: And this one's all about research *yawn*...

520AD - York flips back to England. I thought i'd be able to keep it as I just rushed a temple
and the English, although they lead in culture, have just barely more than me. I guess I'll have
to wait a bit and try again. There's no way they can out-culture me with the number of cities I have.
- Fortunately i'd just moved all bar a few damaged units out onto the mountain next door, so it's
not a total disaster.

530AD - Education. 5 cities put straight on to Universities. Astronomy in 5 at a very slight loss.

580AD - Astronomy, Thebes to build Copernicus' in 8 (although my GA may end before then) Pi-Ramesses is
on a Smith's pre-build

590AD - German units march onto my land with obvious hostile intend. I issue an ultimatum and Bismark declares war!
The first few interlopers are summarily destroyed.

630AD - Economics in 6.

660Ad - grr, lousy rotten Wonder cascade. 350 shield down the drain. But no-one else has banking, so I'll get a head start on Smiths.
- The main german stack (17 units) has appeared...
- I feel all sneaky . It was a big ask (2 techs and 3 luxes) but the Ottomans have declared on Germany!
That totally cuts off their stack from reinforcements, and means it can't attack me across Osman's land!
- For good measure we sign a ROP agreement.
- For Banking the Americans offer 9gpt, 62g, World map and Chivalry.
- England offers 6gpt, 146g and Printing press for Banking, and then 5gpt for Incense.

670AD - *Evil cackle* Wicked plan successs rating 100%. The German stack has taken Uskudar the Ottoman Capital
(It was right outside last turn), leaving me free to destroy the stack and take the city as well.
- Sign ROP with England, they pay 4gpt for the privilege.
- I upgrade all 6 War Chariots to Knights.

680AD - A pitched battle in the jungle leaves 9 German units dead to only three of mine. My forces advance on Uskudar.

690AD - Thebes will take 34 turns to build Smiths. There's no way i'll get it, but I may be able to use it as a pre-build for Newton's...
- Chemistry in 5.

700AD - Uskudar falls. I'll build a settler from it and relocate a square closer to Pi-Ramesses for best effect.

710AD - The Germans offer peace, but I think i'll wait till my pact with the Ottomans runs out before I accept their offer.

730AD - A turn from getting Chemistry I decide I have enough of a lead to gamble giving Economics away. Lincoln offers me
8gpt, 146g and Chemstry a turn early, Lizzie gives me Ivory and 18g for Chemistry and Osman gives 5gpt and 86 gold.

- Physics in 5.

790AD - Rather farcically Lincoln makes the empty threat of war if I do not give him the secret of Physics.
I laugh in his face and he backs down.

810AD - Theory of Gravity researched, Thebes will build Newton's in 9. Nobody else has Physics yet, looks like
this Wonder is a cert!
- Metallurgy will take another 4, hopefully then I can trade it for a couple of optional techs i've missed,
but i'll enter the Industrial age ahead regardless.

820AD - Osman and Bismark sign a peace treaty, so I offer Bismark peace for a small price.

830AD - Unrest! Apparently my decision to let Bismark off the hook has upset some of my people. Work on newton's is
even brought to a halt in Thebes!

850AD - Rather than give away the TOG. I offer Lincoln Metallurgy,
- Lincoln offers Democracy, Music Theory, World Map and 73g.
- Elizabeth offers Navigation and World map.
- Bismark only gives 40g and World map.
- osman has nothing to offer.
- Catherine gives 33g and World Map for Theology.
- I set to research Magnetism in 4 at a slight loss.

- Sometime here I change over to Democracy. With no apparent change to my treasury.

900AD - We enter the industrial age. I beeline hospitals.

920AD - With Newton's safely built I offer Physics around:
- Lincoln gives 18gpt & 119g.
- Elizabeth gives 1gpt and 65g.
- no-one else has anything worth a deal.

- There's still no trade link with the other half of the world. I decide to send a single worker over there,
I only need about 2 tiles of road over some hills I think. To facilitate this I sign ROP with Bismark (I already have
ROP with England and Ottomans).

930AD - Lizzie ends our deal for Ivory. Having a look around I find lincoln will give 75g and 62gpt for Theory of Gravity!
- That's more like it!
- Elizabeth gives Ivory and 10g.
- Osman pays 22g and WM for physics.

- Bismark is starting to drop behind a little, as has Osman.

980AD - A trade route to the East is finally up and running.

1000AD - Sanitation researched. Steam Power takes 6.

1060AD - Steam is researched and I find myself with two supplies of coal. Time to wake my workers up and start laying rails.

IBT - Lizzie is prepared to go as high as 55gpt + 29g and WM for Magnetism.

1120AD - Scientific Method to research in4. Thebes is on Shakespeare's Theatre as a pre-build for ToE.

1279AD - Well it's been quiet, but last turn was a busy one: Thebes built the Theory of Evolution; I learned Atomic Theory
and electronics from the ToE; I traded Sanitation around for a total of 124gpt and a few hundred gold then traded
the Germans Electricity for Nationalism. All my defenders are Infantry already anyway, I don't know why the AI
is so reluctant to trade Nationalism.
- Now I am researching Communism in 4, hoping Police Stations will help my economy.
- Oh, and all my land is fully railed. Settler stacks on stand-by for pollution clearing duty.
- Last thing, having traded Electricity to Germany it makes sense to trade it to the Americans for an extra 13gpt.

This is probably the most pertinent screenie at this point:

Spoiler :

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've entered the IA in 900AD here, in my 20k game it was 1285, so the tech rate is significantly better. I've also got more cities here than I had there, although it's a smaller map, and a couple of the AI are regularly researching techs that I can trade for, so the rate has been rather better than 4 turn research overall for this session.

I modernised in the 20k in 1720. If i'm about 400 years = 40 turns ahead of that game now, that means I have a target date of 1520 this time around...

 

[RFHolloway]

Hmm. I've never used RCP, I thought it only worked on Conquests? .

Nope it doesn't work on conquests (date founded breaks the tie) but does on earlier flavours.

 

[brennan]

Last installment:

1290 - Previous game session aborted (well, saved) after 4 turns due to visitors back in the real world.
- i've been giving this game some consideration and have decided to itrrigate all my grasslands, to max population,
- Hopefully i'll be able to support a decent amount of scientists.
- Lizzie gives me Ivory and 7gpt for Gems and Steam Power.

1310 - Refining in 4, albeit at a loss.

1330 - Steel in 4.

1350 - Combustion in 4. My rivals are signing MPPs with each other.

1355 - Oh noes! A Russian Trireme lands a pair of Archers *fear* on my lands. I do a couple of deals, including an
MPP with England - who have MPP with Russia. I should be able to get the Russki's to attack me, then i'm thinking I
can go capture their two remaining cities. The Russians are not really contributing to the game anymore, and their
remaining cities are near a supply of silks. In three turns i can rush a transport and take some troops over.

1360 - A slave worker left as bait next to the interlopers is too much temptation for the Russians, they attack,
triggering my MPP with England. The Germans also declare on them. The two archers are handily despatched by some MDI.


1370 - Mass Production in 4, at 70% and still making +8 gpt
- Building a Transport and a pair of Destroyer escorts next turn, will also have 8 Cavalry to load it with.

1375 - Curses, the Germans have captured the Russian Capital at Tblisi, securing the Silks for themselves.
- Thebes builds the Hoover Dam.

1385 - The Germans capture Sverdlovsk, ending the reign of Catherine and finally destroying the Russian Empire.

1390 - Motorised Transportation in 4.

1395 - For Electronics: Lincoln gives 58gpt, Furs, all his treasury and World Map..
- Bismark gives 63gpt, 303 gold and World Map.

1405 - Heliopolis build Wall Street.

1410 - Radio will take 5 turns , I could do it in 4, but only at 100% and therfore making a loss.
- Several pre-builds are switched to Tanks. Apart from two Elite MDIs all my Cavs and MDI are disbanded to assist
production.

1435 - Flight in 4. At 90% science and 10% lux I still turn a profit.

1450AD - Hmm. An opportunity has arisen: The Germans have declared war on America, currently there are no active MPPs,
I may be able to capture the Silks the Germans wrested from Russia earlier.

1455AD - With the discovery of Flight we enter the Modern Era. Lincoln gives 101gpt for Flight, but still lacks Motorised
Transportation. Computers in 6 turns at 90%.

1460AD - Several English Cavalry appear on my borders, I order them off my land - thinking a war with England could let
me snatch some more luxuries. But they leave.

1465AD - The English enter my land again, looks like they intend to head East and attack either Germany or America.

1470 - The English declare war on the Americans.

1485 - Miniaturisation in 7. Thebes is set to SETI as pre-build for the Internet.

1510 - An attempt to place a spy in the German capital fails and Bismark declares war. An invasion force is despatched
to the formerly Russian region.

1515 - Ecology in 5 at a slight loss.

1520AD - Egyptian Tanks storm Tblisi and prepare to capture Sverdlovsk. Captured workers are ordered to
build roads to the nearby Silk sources.

1525 - Sverdlovsk falls.

1535 - Thebes builds the Internet. At 80% science I jump from 1176 to 1467 beakers per turn.

1540 - Rocketry in 4.
- Bismark gifts me the tiny island town (1 tile) of Bonn for a ceasefire.

1560 - Synthetic Fibres in 4 at a loss.

1580 - fission in 5. No aluminium. There's a source on a hill just ouside my lands, but i'll have to fight the
Ottomans for it. I successfully plant a spy in the Ottoman Capital of Izmit, who then bungles
a (suspiciously badly financed) mission to steal Osman's military plans. Osman declares war.
- Egyptian tanks invade Ottoman territory and are amazed to find the defenders in Izmit and Edrine are
mostly Spearmen, and a lone Pikeman. Needless to say, both cities fall in no time.

1585 - Thebes builds SETI.

1600 - Aydin and Iznik have fallen, I should be able to secure a supply of Spices soon. Osman pays
well for peace.

1605 - Space Flight in 5, Thebes starts Manhatten Project as pre-build for Apollo program.
- Good news, I have a source of Uranium.

1630 - Satellites in 4. Apollo Program built.

1650 - Superconductor in 6. Various SS parts are assigned, workers are constructing mines around my more
productive cities to encourage fast building.

1680 - Nuclear Power in 4 (At a major loss, but several cities are building wealth).

1700 - Laser in 4.
- The Americans have destroyed the Germans.

1715 - Only 1 part unbuilt, The Laser will research next turn and my pre-build for the Planetary Lounge
is over the necessary shields already.

1720 - I finish research on Laser and get an opportunity to use the Big Picture to switch construction to the last SS part...

Giving me an SS win, scoring 4496 points.