Civ4 GOTM51 Final Spoiler

[damnrunner]

I know exactly how you feel, kcd! The globals represent the "power of persistent mediocrity" ... as I stated here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6903122&postcount=9

dV

Yep - I feel that I am among the elite persistent mediocre. Wohoo!

 

[kcd_swede]

In a repeat game I got a dom win in 1400.

I pretty much followed the same game plan but focused on bulbing astro much earlier. This ended up in my invasion of the 2nd continent while Japan was still alive. While this gave me less early production, it let me take out more AI cities before they had longbows. And Japan was easy to run over with knights later on.

In the end though, using oracle for Machinery vs. CS is probably not the best bet.

I don't understand. In your submitted game you say you won in the 1400's, and then in this one you won in 1400. How many turns difference did you gain? Did you Oracle Mach in both attempts and just removing mistakes to see what could be acheived on that path, or did you try the alternative (CS-sling) and make comparison?

Frankly, I think 1400's domination is very fast for a map requiring Astronomy. Fast war is one thing, fast tech is another, balancing/alternating the two is always tricky.

 

[kcd_swede]

I know exactly how you feel, kcd! The globals represent the "power of persistent mediocrity" ... as I stated here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6903122&postcount=9

dV

Yes, and now that you mention it... there could be some correlation between the illusion of being elite and, well, being long-winded.

(I suspect the truly "elite" do not feel any need to use incessant chatter to draw attention to their accomplishments... but I wouldn't know. If I ever get there I'll let you know. ).

 

[neilmeister]

Nice space win, neilmeister ... expecially since it was not a diplo!

Thanks DV. Now if everyone else could also be nice and not get to space in ~1700, I would appreciate it.

 

[damnrunner]

I don't understand. In your submitted game you say you won in the 1400's, and then in this one you won in 1400. How many turns difference did you gain? Did you Oracle Mach in both attempts and just removing mistakes to see what could be acheived on that path, or did you try the alternative (CS-sling) and make comparison?

Frankly, I think 1400's domination is very fast for a map requiring Astronomy. Fast war is one thing, fast tech is another, balancing/alternating the two is always tricky.

My submitted game was in the later 1400’s - I like to keep things ambiguous.

I was actually pretty surprised that my 2nd try was not faster. I used Oracle for Mach in both attempts but did not bungle bulbing techs with Great People in my 2nd attempt. That got me Astro a bit faster, but not by as much as suspected.

I also ran a cottage econ in the 2nd game vs. Specialist econ in the 1st game. I think the specialist route may have been a better bet though. Even with financial, cottages take a while to develop and in the 1st game building the pyramids and running representation was pretty effective.

The other difference between the 2 games was warfare.
-I game 1 I took out Monty with HAs. In game 2 I did this with Axes. In game 2 I also kept the Aztec capitol rather than razing it and rebuilding it on the optimal coastal location.
-In both games I attacked Egypt a bit too soon and had to wait for reinforcements. But I think I was a bit faster in game 1 as I was building more HAs which could get to Egypt faster.
-In game 1 I took out Japan 1st and then boarded ships to attack the Mongols followed by Persia and lastly Greece or Spain. In game 2 I went for Spain and Greece right after I had Astro and then went after Persia. I took out the backwards Japan very quickly with knights as I was mopping up Persia. I am not sure if going for Japan 1st or last was the better strategy. The luxury resources were certainly useful to keep people happy, but it is more efficient to take them out at the end as otherwise you end up with excess units that can’t sail over to the 2nd continent in time to make any difference.

A limiting factor (in both games) was $ to upgrade galleys to galleons, HAs to knights, and axes to maces. In game 1 I had $ from capturing Japan’s cities. In game 2 I had a better cash flow due to the cottage econ and fewer cities.

I might try the game again with a CS Oracle sling.

 

[tharg]

Nice to have an easy game, where I so completely outteched everyone.
Took out Monty early with axes, other two quickly followed. Oracle for CoL. With a financial civ decided to go for a cottage economy. Astronomy with Liberalism. Took out Alex and half way though Kublai (Cossacks vs Longbowmen!) when got the Dom win. 1715AD - 5141pts. Never got to finsih an airport. Was rather coasting so probably not that good.

Still first game I have manage to satisfy conditions for submitting for a few years.

 

[The-Hawk]

I finished culture in 1700 AD. Lost time early when Monty attacked me and I decided to wipe him off the planet. So uncultured of me .

 

[Deckhand]

Fun game. I can win easily at Warlords level. Applied tricks from civfanatics: CS from Oracle and Astronomy from Liberalism. Built Lots of wonders (stone, marble and easy level). Conquered home continent with catapults and maces. Conquered other continent (Persia and Mali) with cossacks. When I decided to go for Conquest I had kept too many Persian cities and two Malinese cities (for their wonders). Gave away cities to Alexander and Khann but they would only accept one each. Domination victory was delayed but unavoidable and achieved in 1667.

 

[BakeliteRules]

Enjoyed the game although I really had no plan. I kept building stuff then changing my mind and killing everyone off. Late 16 hundreds for domination. One of these days i am going to concentrate, and focus, and count, and plan, and strategize, and work on diplomacy, and ....naaaah these thoughts are making my head hurt. I think I'll just keep plodding along and killum all!!

 

[Mitchum]

When I decided to go for Conquest I had kept too many Persian cities and two Malinese cities (for their wonders). Gave away cities to Alexander and Khann but they would only accept one each. Domination victory was delayed but unavoidable and achieved in 1667.

Why were you trying not to win via domination? Were you shooting for fast conquest or did you just want to wipe everyone off the planet?

 

[Deckhand]

Why were you trying not to win via domination? Were you shooting for fast conquest or did you just want to wipe everyone off the planet?

Mostly the latter. Also didn't want game to end: Built this big army of cossacks... Just finished Iron Works and Statue of Liberty ... and wanted to increase population with biology to pump up score. It would be nice to win a fastest award, but I don't play well enough / focused enough to hope for that.

 

[bdmauk24]

1st completed GOTM. (well, after I started this game I saw where there was a day or two left for last month's so I tried it it out quickly, keyword - quickly, got destroyed in about 1500AD). Better result this time- Spaceship, 1968.

Got rid of Monty then Toku (took way too long), left Hatty alone as we were "best friends". Not a good warmonger so went for diplo or space race. Never could get last vote needed (Mansa-too heathen for him).

 

[da_Vinci]

1st completed GOTM. (well, after I started this game I saw where there was a day or two left for last month's so I tried it it out quickly, keyword - quickly, got destroyed in about 1500AD). Better result this time- Spaceship, 1968.

Got rid of Monty then Toku (took way too long), left Hatty alone as we were "best friends". Not a good warmonger so went for diplo or space race. Never could get last vote needed (Mansa-too heathen for him).

Assumming Hatty voted for you (or was she the voting rival?), and you owned Monte's and Toku's lands, that should have been just about enough land and friends for enough votes, I would think. Did you get biology for population growth? A little invasion to garner those extra votes is another way to cross the threshold.

dV

 

[Htadus]

Just submitted a typical game for me where I could not decide how to finish the game.

First I was aiming for a fast conquest and landed in the new world in the 6th century AD. Killed off izzy and got a bit bogged down with Alex due to his HA having some good luck against my CR3 maces. My goal for fast conquest did not work out since I stopped rushing units for the overseas campaign. Then I realized my GS could bulb all but 3 turns worth of Chemistry. So I did that and tryed to finish it as soon as possible. Got Domination VC in 1334 AD. Only Mansa and Kahn was alive.

My knights were a so so bunch. First time using more than 1 or 2 knights and I am not too impressed by them. I was teching Lib for MT at the end. Why that late? I do not know. It should have been a priority instead of engineering, Guild and chem. Since I had already learned Education and Nationalism, I should have used Liberalism to get MT. I went off course some where.

I am not disappointed but I was bored at the end. I would have prefered to go to space or something. But had to try to do at least one fast domination. I think I am going back to being a builder next game.

 

[Mitchum]

But had to try to do at least one fast domination. I think I am going back to being a builder next game.

Domination in 1334 AD is pretty good on a continents map. I have the same problem where I lose focus near the end of the game and make some silly mistakes.

As an example, in GOTM 48, I thought I had an early Space victory (would have won the fastest Space victory had I actually won). I didn't find out that I actually lost until I saw the results thread and noticed that I had the green ambulance (highest scoring defeat). I had to go back to my save to realize that an AI launched 2 or 3 turns before me. I had a huge tech lead and I had been giving away techs for 100 to 200 gold to all of the AIs so that I could fund my research at 100% for a few extra turns. I also had three spies just sleeping in enemy cities. I could have used them to help me had I been paying attention and realized how close the game had become...

I always tell myself that I am going to focus for an entire game but I simply lose patience and start playing too fast.

 

[adrianj]

I always tell myself that I am going to focus for an entire game but I simply lose patience and start playing too fast.

I know exactly what you mean.
Especially in the late game where the game really starts to grind through slowly in my computer. Early game I like to check all my cities almost every turn to check things are going accordingly, but late game I can't bring myself to wait the *seconds!* it takes for each city screen to load. My heart really goes out to those players who have to wait *minutes!* for this sort of stuff.

 

[toller pretzl]

I know exactly what you mean.
Especially in the late game where the game really starts to grind through slowly in my computer. Early game I like to check all my cities almost every turn to check things are going accordingly, but late game I can't bring myself to wait the *seconds!* it takes for each city screen to load. My heart really goes out to those players who have to wait *minutes!* for this sort of stuff.

As soon as I'm not zipping through the city screens anymore, I always press the windows button. This causes civ to minimize to the taskbar. After I bring it up again, it's fast again. Maybe this will work for you too.

 

[da_Vinci]

As soon as I'm not zipping through the city screens anymore, I always press the windows button. This causes civ to minimize to the taskbar. After I bring it up again, it's fast again. Maybe this will work for you too.

Wow, I have been rebooting to accomplish that fix. A simple minimize and restore is all that it takes? Great news!

dV

 

[damnrunner]

@Htadus

Sounds like you had a pretty good game to me. What was your early game plan to have been invading the 2nd continent by 600AD? If I recall, it took me a lot longer to get Astro.

With that fairly early date, I would think that your knights would have been much more effective. In my game I was fighting the AI at a later date and I used a lot of knights to good effect. They were especially effective vs. archers – and when I invaded (don’t recall the exact date but it was certainly later) the AI was just starting to get Long Bows. I would use knights to take out more marginal AI cities while a bigger stack of maces/cats would go after the well defended ones.

 

[Mitchum]

@Htadus

What was your early game plan to have been invading the 2nd continent by 600AD? If I recall, it took me a lot longer to get Astro.

This is much better than my date as well. I learned Astronomy in 860 AD as a free tech from Liberalism. Although, had I skipped Paper, Education and Liberalism and self-researched Astronomy, I think I could have had it much sooner.

In any event, I foolishly conquered my entire continent before actually building any Galleons and attacking the other continent, which didn't happen until much later than 860 AD. I would have been better off to start on the new continent first and then to finish off Tokugawa near the end of the game with the units built later in the game that never saw any action on the new continent...