Challenge-XV-04

[lymond]

While the general Hall of Fame is an ongoing competition, we are running a series of ten games called the Hall of Fame Challenge Series. Standard Hall of Fame rules (*) still apply, but any games meeting the settings of one of the games will be counted towards the Challenge.

(*) Please read the >> HOF rules << BEFORE playing!
(*) Games must be played using the >> BUFFY MOD 3.19.003 <<
(*) Games to be submitted via the >> Civ IV Hall of Fame Website <<
(*) New players, please >> register << using your CFC forum name​

Settings:

• Victory Condition: Conquest (though all victory conditions must be enabled)
• Difficulty: Prince
• Starting Era: Ancient
• Map Size: Standard
• Speed: Epic
• Map Type: Archipelago
• Required: Always War, One City Challenge, No Tribal Villages, No Random Events
• Must Not Be Checked: No Barbarians
• Civ: Viking (Ragnar Lodbrok)
• Opponents: Any
• Version: 3.19.003 or 3.19.003s
• Date: 15th December 2014 to 15th May 2015

Must not play as Inca.
The earliest finish date wins, with score as a tiebreaker.

 

[Pollina]

lymond, you can't just submit a game for this one and not post a write-up. Was it fun? Did you get to use Berserks? Did you play on Snaky Continents/Archipelage/Tiny Islands? Did you build any wonders? I need to know it all!

 

[lymond]

Ha..I actually played this twice. First time I did not have metals and used LBs/Cats (which is a bad tech path for this one). That game ended around 1700. (Metals can be an issue as I've found you often don't get copper or iron on your island. You really need to look at the tiles as you roll each map for tiles with potential for metal pops. For example, if you have basically not tiles clear of forest or jungle you want get it)

Anyway, I got a pretty good start last time and Iron in the BFC. Went Berzerk! And, yes!, it was fun...ha

Oh..used tiny islands first time and then Archi on the next. High sea level. Both required Astro. So the question is whether you can get settings that don't require Astro (which takes forever without GSs...I missed out on 1 GS for Astro which would have shaved many turns off my time) Don't know much about Snaky Continents. I might try Archi with low sea level next. I used High assuming it would limit city spam by AIs and figured I'd need Astro regardless. I don't play Archi maps all that much.

Berzerks are awesome, even against LBs..although you shouldn't face too may LBs on this level if you play it right.

This game is definitely worth multiple play-throughs as it is fun and quick. Same with Cyrus/Great Plains challenge. Basically tech to BW or IW for metals and if none then quit..not worth it otherwise. I probably should have quit that first game, but hoped one of my mines would pop.

The Brennus Diplo game is fun too. I didn't realize when setting up the AIs how perfect it would work out for that game...you can probably figure that one out.

 

[neilmeister]

My first attempt I got astro pretty early, but was stuck with no metal. I was very patient waiting for one of my three mines to pop it, but they let me down!

Next time I will quit as Lymond advises.

 

[neilmeister]

I needed to research Music for the GA so I could pop my borders to get the elusive Iron. Had some spectacular saves, with 4 gold, 3 fish.... but no metal in sight.

980 AD, mainly because it took me 150 years to find the last Egyptian city!

 

[lymond]

Good date, Neil. It'll be interesting to see what Pollina does with this one. I'm curious if some settings can lead to more galley based conquest. I doubt full connections though without Astro.

Astro is definitely the kicker and takes forever with out GS or two. If someone can hit on Astro though I could see circa 500AD being the goal here.

Do you build HE?

 

[neilmeister]

I did mine without Astro.... just choose tiny islands. Almost guaranteed to be able to circumnavigate with galleys.

I did go for HE, couldn't resist.

 

[lymond]

Low sea level then?

 

[neilmeister]

Yes, low sea level.

If you can get metal in the BFC, a 500ad date shouldn't be too difficult

 

[sampsa]

Tried this one, replaying one map a few times to get a feel for the settings. Never tried AW nor OCC before btw.

I think horses are the best you can get. There seems to be enough land for two moves to count, chariots beat warriors with good enough % and HAs beat archers (which the AI seems to get around T100). The hard part seems to be finding and reaching all the AIs. I'll try to play it "legally", aiming for a win in the BCs.

 

[lymond]

Wow...I'd like to see you make that work. Not sure if all the AIs are reachable that early on this map, but I don't know.

 

[sampsa]

In my "test run" I was able to get a map where everyone was reachable by galleys... And it had two BFC gold and a horse. Maybe I need to re-roll 1000 times now to get such map again.

 

[lymond]

Well, sounds like you got a winner map there. I hope it goes well. Who needs Berzerks?

 

[zbgayumn]

Damn it. I give up.

I played all the way to 1620 AD on a map where I got Iron in the 4th ring. It obviously took a long while to hook that up, and as a result I used Berzerks almost exclusively. I was frustratingly close to getting a win, but in an OCC conquest game there's a critical point where victory is no longer possible. I killed all but two civs and one of those was down to its last city. The other civ (America) hasn't been slowed down except for one outlying city I destroyed earlier. As a result, they have Knights and are slicing up my Berzerk stacks. *sigh*

 

[lymond]

D As a result, they have Knights and are slicing up my Berzerk stacks. *sigh*

howz dat? You're supposed to attack from the sea. Well promoted Zerks should cut through Knights. Still, you probably need to focus on get in a better position earlier.

 

[zbgayumn]

howz dat? You're supposed to attack from the sea. Well promoted Zerks should cut through Knights. Still, you probably need to focus on get in a better position earlier.

They would cut through a Knight in a city, but they're on defense. Attacking from the sea would help, but I'm too short on boats. Besides, without siege to knock down the 100% defense bonuses, I think I would suicide far too many. My city is probably too weak on production. I was getting something like 31 hammers with a forge and bureau.

 

[cseanny]

I need some advice on map settings for this challenge. I'm leaning towards two choices. The 1st is what seems to be a popular choice so far, Tiny Islands, low sea lvl, and then toroidal or cylindrical. This would lend to galleys being able to reach everyone.

The 2nd would be Archipelago, high sea lvl. This approach would need Astro but seems like it has potential. With the Trading Post and first to circumnavigate that means it would be much faster to use the Ocean for better movement speed and attack that way. Basically, seems like anything with too much land would be worse due to slower movement (assuming no horse).

What are other people using and why? I've been using http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/map_guide.php#archipelago for help. I suppose the absolute fastest way would be via 2 movement warfare and be able to reach everyone w/out Astro. More land would be good but seems like a rather big crap-shoot.

Also, I really need help with MapFinder. I've run about 800 generations and have yet got a single saved map. Seems a bit odd. I'll attach my rules.

Edit: I'm unable to upload my rule file so here's a screen shot of my rules instead;

 

[elitetroops]

Mapfinder cannot find resources that aren't revealed yet. It can only see what you see in the screenshot (=no copper or iron).

 

[Seraiel]

If the decision has to fall between tororidal and cylindrical, I'd definately prefer cylindrical because of the maintenance.

 

[aitkensam]

I think using galleys will prob be faster. With early circumnavigation (I think Neil got it near 1000BC!) and Trading Post you can get 4 movement galleys pretty sharpish.

I vote for Toroidal. Guess it'll give less chance of needing Astro and give more chance of fast circumnavigation. OCC so maintenance not a concern.

Frustrating that you have to play so far before finding out that you have no metal... Maybe going IW before Oracle-CS would make it less painful.

Sampsa's BC challenge seems like a nice goal if all goes well