Classic 33: Final Spoiler (Modern age / end game submitted)

[eldar]

Open, Conquest Loss in 16xx.

Basically, I bumbled along after my humbling by China, got a nice core of 6 cities in the lovely fertile south, built token defenders, was nice to everyone (paying tribute, and so on), bought the odd tech, built stuff.

I was just curious.

I just wanted to know how many Spaceship parts China had built, since they'd neglected to hold a UN vote.

So when I tried to plant my spy and they declared on me, that was it, game over. Rather than letting them die on their feet, I let my poor Guerillas rush out and attack the Chinese Mech Inf and Modern Armour.

The Chinese stack surrounding my final (undefended) city contained 3 Armies and around 20 Modern Armour - overkill, I thought. They even shelled the surrounds before walking in unopposed. Talk about daft AI tactics!

Jason score of 300-ish.

Frankly I'd just got bored of press the Space Bar, and wanted it over with.

Neil.

 

[denyd]

Alexander was quite pleased with the results of the recent trade conference, while is country had received no new technology, the influx of 1100 gold pieces and the promise of 100 pieces per year combined from France, India and Spain, would allow him to continue his rapid research rate. The unexpected news that the Indian city of Indus had revolted and was now part of his republic made the walk to the palace even sweeter.

Another eventful day was winding down as Alexander sipped a warm brandy and watch the sunset from his new third floor palace apartment. The Peace Treaty with Rome (getting Byzantium); was offset by the Koreans joining the Ottoman alliance against Greece. Since he had seen no Ottoman troops since the initial landing that conflict had was now longer a hot issue.

“People of Athens, this University for Knowledge is hereby dedicated to the memory of Sir Isaac Newton, inventor of the fig cookie, to be a place of higher learning for all Greek children to enrich the culture and science of our great nation. The recent peace with the mighty Ottoman Empire can only add to the joy of this day,” Alexander proclaimed. “It’s too bad that Isabella’s nation didn’t survive the conflict, I feel badly for getting her into the war, but she could have refused my offer” Alexander whispered to his nearby confidant.

Another pair of trading conferences and for the first time the Greek treasury was over the $20,000 milestone, a place it would never fall below for the balance of Alexander’s reign. The Discovery of the Theory of Evolution in Corinth and the Proclamation of Universal Suffrage in Athens came on back-to-back days and Alexander barely had time to rest before another profitable trading session netted the Greek nation another 100 gold per year and over 700 gold at the conference. The Greek Republic would now remain at the leading edge of technology for the remainder of history.

With the completion of the Hoover Dam in Pharsalos, the Greeks now add the most productive nation medal to their collection. The trilogy of money, science and production would be the pillar that the Greek Space program would be built upon. Emboldened by the mutual protection pacts and right of passage deals with the Ottoman and Indian nations, Alexander called for his military advisors.

“This Korean leader, Wan Kong had the nerve to declare war on us years ago, I feel it’s time we gain a little revenge on this backwater nation. Gentlemen, you have some new toys I understand. How would you like to try out these tanks on the Korean army? I’d like to see a campaign plan by Monday, get to it.” Alexander ordered.

Brigadier Scoutsout watch as the clock passed six and started his tanks rolling, the Korean riflemen in Wosan, Nampo and Cheju were barely able to reach their weapons before the Greek Armor smashed through their defenses. The momentum allowed the Greek tanks to roll on through Pyongyang, Pusan and Seoul. From the turret of his tank in front of the Great Library of Seoul, Brigadier Scoutsout sent word that the Korean nation was no more.

The discovery of the radio and the unexpected breakthrough in fission welcomed the Greek Republic into the Modern Age.

The unveiling of the SETI Program in Corinth and the announcement of the Completion of the Internet had kept Alexander quite busy as the official ribbon cutter, as he had nicknamed himself. It was on his return from Sparta from a meeting with his new CIA Director that news of the demise of Caesar reached him and he just quietly smiled and continued back to the palace.

Alexander found himself in a bit of a pickle, he had traded an extra supply of oil to the Arabs (how ironic) and now through a quirk of border recalculation, found his remaining source to belong to India. “General Grahamiam, do you have enough troops to conduct a little land grab in southern France?” he asked during his weekly staff meeting. The byproduct of careful planning by his general staff would lead to the demise of France.

Once again Brigadier Scoutsout counted down the minutes from the turret of his tank and at the appointed hour set in motion the collapse of southern France. The infantrymen in Pompeii fought well, but were no match for the Greek tanks. The defenders of Heliopolis, Antium and Elephantine provided much less resistance to the Greek tanks.

Another glorious day was ending as Alexander sat in the rooftop café of the United Nations building in Pharsalos. The recent peace with France (with the tribute city of Grenoble) would be short lived due to the agreements with Peoples Republic of India and the Ottoman Empire, but that would not spoil a day where the encapsulated Indian city of Dacca had finally voted to join the Greek Republic and ousted their communist leadership. He knew his upcoming calendar was full with the Dedication of Battlefield Medicine in Beijing and the Apollo Launch in Athens coming up in the next couple of days. He had originally been quite content with his current holdings in France, but he had a sudden urge to attend a play and the only place to see the best productions would be Shakespeare’s Theatre in Paris, so he’d have to call the generals in the morning.

Recently promoted Major General Scoutsout could only smile at the new Modern Armor as it rolled past him on the way from Paris to Avignon. The French Infantry would have no chance against these machines. The battle for Avignon was brief but not without flair as a single Modern Armor won three consecutive encounters and it’s commander Hector was declared a Hero of the Republic. He was hurried back to Athens, but alas would have little to do but to command the only Modern Army of the Republic. After a Greek conquest at Tours, the troops were left to watch the Ottoman Marines beat them to the punch and take the final French city.

Peace had finally come to the planet and with half of the spaceship complete, Alexander thought the path to space would be a quiet one, when the news reached him that the Ottoman and Arabs had started arguing over border violations and he knew that his ride to space would not come before the first shot was fired.

Colonel Ankka was quite excited as he left the staff meeting; Major General Scoutsout had picked his Modern Armor Company to lead the upcoming offensive in the Arab nation. He knew the enemy infantry would have no chance against the awesome firepower he possessed and felt some amount of pity for the overmatch troops he would soon be facing.

The engine of his tank sat purring as Colonel Ankka surveyed the town square of Kufah, the world famous observatory cut fine silhouette against the western horizon. His troops would only have a short time to rest before they would be shipping out again. Word had come the Arab cities of Aleppo and Basra had fallen and that Mecca was under a fierce siege and his unit was heading south to lead an end run around the Arab stronghold.

The last couple of days were a blur to the Colonel as first Medina, and then Baghdad, Muscat and Mansura had easily fallen to his armor. Word had come the Greek Armor had finally taken Mecca and the two armored columns were now heading for the final Arab city on the continent and he knew peace would soon be at hand.

Air Group Commander Moonsinger was surprised by when Captain Bede entered still in his flight gear. “Indian transports, sir, their approaching Anjar” and soon the Arabs joined the other tribes in the history books.

The day had finally come (again) and Alexander packed up his bags and headed for the launching pad. The sudden roar startled him as he entered the command center and felt his heart sink as he saw the spaceship clear the tower and head to the sky. “What’s the meaning of this? How could they leave without me? Alexander demanded. Dianthus, the flight controller replied; “We waited as long as we could but you weren’t here and we had to hit the window. You knew the deadline was 8:30 am daylight time.” “But it just 8:20” said Alexander. “No it’s 9:20, you forgot to reset your watch when day light saving started last night. Don’t worry we’ve got another ship leaving in about two weeks, we’ll save you a spot” the Flight Controller said.

Editor notes:
Spaceship launch in 1635 AD, Firaxis score of 5652 in 33 hours and 30 minutes

Due to time constraints (up in 4 SG this week and gone this weekend) and the time required to give COTM3 it’s proper attention that level will need, I’ll only be playing to the QSC point (and maybe to the end of spoiler 1) and will wait for GOTM 34 to have Mursilis try to reach Alpha Centauri again. (My wife is very happy about that decision).

 

[Denniz]

Jason score of 300-ish.

Sound slike there is going to be a spirited competition for lowest score this go round. And here I was hoping for the lowest scoring medal. Mine was in 1710ad with mid-300-ish score.

It's a little weird when I find myself wishing I had done a little worse. I was down one city at one point. I could have ended it right there and locked it up.

 

[eldar]

Sound slike there is going to be a spirited competition for lowest score this go round. And here I was hoping for the lowest scoring medal. Mine was in 1710ad with mid-300-ish score.

It's a little weird when I find myself wishing I had done a little worse. I was down one city at one point. I could have ended it right there and locked it up.

Ahh, here it is - I was at work when I posted earlier:

Game: GOTM 33
Date submitted: 2004-07-28
Reference number: 4581
Your name: eldar
Your email: you_gotta_be_kidding@spam_here.com
Software Version: PtW 1.27f for Windows
Entry class: open
Game status: Conquest Loss
Game date: 1675 AD
Firaxis score: 604
Jason score: 320
Time played: 07:01:31
Submitted save: GOTM_33_PTW_OPEN_T326_1675AD.SAV
Renamed file: eldar_GOTM33_PTW127_01.SAV

I mean, I could've survived until China won. I was just bored, and it was nearly 1am....

Neil.

 

[bradleyfeanor]

1.27

Link to Middle Age Post

A question before my summary:

I am familiar with Alexman’s great article on AI research, but does anyone know of a good thread or succession game that shows techniques for directing AI research in the Industrial and/or Modern Age?

Industrial Age and Endgame
Things went pretty much as expected in the Industrial age, and there was not much of interest to report. I stuck to my goal of Diplomatic victory, but I almost switched to Domination, as the earlier victory date probably would have put me over 10,000 Jason points. I stuck with it because I had put so much work into maximizing my research rate in the middle ages. I believe the only industrial tech that took more than 4 turns was Radio, which took 6. The reason for the six turns was that I did all my research on the bottom branch of the tech tree, and it was expensive when I neared the end. Industrialization would only have taken 4 turns at that point, but I was hoping the AI would research it for me. They had 26 turns to pick up Industrialization, but they didn’t even research a single tech. Good grief!!! So I was unable to get the AI to do any Industrial research for me. The only tech I got was Korea’s free tech upon entering the modern age, but it was a doozy: Fission. I traded Computers and over 130gpt for it IIRC.

Military
I confined Rome to their one-tile island in 510 AD (two turns after entering the IA). I went to war with the Indians in 540 AD, and they were eliminated 10 turns later. That was fun: on average I took just over 2 cities per turn. I had initially planned for that to be my last war, but I had so many Cavalry at that point (around 50), I decided to take out Spain and pad my score a bit. I attacked in 730 AD, and Isabella was eliminated in 10 turns also.

I had four great leaders:
#1 -- 330 AD, formed a cavalry army.
#2 -- 400 AD, rushed Newton’s in 450 AD.
#3 -- 600 AD, rushed ToE in 630 AD.
#4 -- 750 AD, rushed the UN in 1060 AD.

The End
The vote was between me and Osman: 4 votes for me, Osman voted for himself, and the Romans abstained. My Firaxis score was under 9,000; Jason was under 10,000. Overall, a good game for me, but it would have been nice to break the 10,000 mark again. I could definitely have done better, as I learned from reading some of posts in the thread. In particular, I need to improve in directing the AIs research.

Thanks
Thanks to Sir Pleb for his very informative posts (again!). I learned two things that will help me in the future:
1) By chance, my early moves were nearly identical, yet at the end of the QSC he had one more settler than me. I am sure that was due in part to better micromanagement, but I think the biggest reason was that he founded an early city to share the wine with Athens. I’m going to have to watch for those bonus-tile sharing opportunities in the future.

2) He researched Industrialization himself, then researched up to Replaceable Parts, which the AI then researched for him: very nice, and something I must get better at accomplishing.

Prior to taking Rome in 460 AD, I found this GOTM to be very challenging. It ended up being one of my favorite GOTMs, so thanks yet again Ainwood!

I have also come to the realization that I am hopelessly addicted to GOTM/COTM. I have been playing the Civ series since the day Civ 1 came out, but it is more fun now than ever. I think it is because it is such a diverse game, and because of the great interaction in the CivFanatics community. Even though I have been playing for years, there are so many players better than me, which keeps it challenging. I fully expect in 100 years to be in my home on the Mars Colony, sitting in my LazyBoy Cellular Regeneration Easy Chair, playing the latest GOTM for Civilization XVI. Of course, Drazek, Kuningas, akots, Sir Pleb, DaveMcW and a host of others will be in their homes on the moons of Jupiter, and still beating the snot out of me. Ah well. And perhaps as Denyd takes the first real shuttle to Alpha Centauri, Ainwood will be playing hide-the-iron and laughing hysterically. Laughing because he bribed the Intergalactic Transit Authority to send Denyd’s transport to some god-awful armpit of a planet.

Sheesh. I guess these are the kind of visions I should expect when I stay up half the night playing COTM3.

 

[Megalou]

Link to Spoiler 2
My quest for a fairly early conquest victory was "upset" by 2 things, one that really served me right, and one that was - dare I say it? - slightly unlucky.

1. Arabia was the last rival who had towns left. The plan was to sign for peace when they had only two cities left, so that I could get their one-tile-island Muscat in the treaty. But the problem was just that: Muscat was a CITY, not a town, at size 7. The Arabs considered it a far too precious belonging. By blocking the whales with a privateer I got it down to size 6. This was still not enough and I had to hurry some frigates. They blasted Muscat down to size 2 and I could finally sign for peace and eliminate the Arabs (uuuuh, the logic of that...) in 1010 AD.
2. Meanwhile in 1010, the Chinese had survived a 270 year long naval persecution after losing their last city in 740 AD. One red-lined Chinese ship eventually managed to survive for another 60 years, even though I spent my entire budget on privateers.

In all, a disappointing game. My main mistake was probably that I was too intimidated by the prospect of Ottoman sipahi. I should have taken out the Chinese earlier. All that moving around of troops made me lose enthusiasm. I should also have dragged the Chinese into an earlier war so that their Golden Age didn't come when I attacked them. The high points were some decent tricks with the Great Library and dedicated pillaging of my own resourses that included the sacking of Rome, a combination of which probably won the game for me.

The map was very good, with the choke-point giving some extra difficulties along with the lack of nearby bonuses at the starting location.

TIMELINE - INDUSTRIAL AGE

740 AD --- Jason forms an army of cavalry. Steam Power would have been nice, but it's 10 turns away with a deficit. Building privateers.
750 Ad --- Rats - all but Egypt have nationalism. But they all have 0 gold, which should mean that they have given all to China - no upgrades.
760 AD --- War on Spain - a lousy ROP rape but I don't want to wait.
770 AD --- 2 privateers spot Chinese galleon. It surivives. Madrid (2 riflemen) taken with a very small margin by about 20 cavalries. The plan is now clear: take out Spain, then aid Arabia in the destruction of Egypt. Finally, I should be able to do a 2-front battle against France and Arabia - hope they're not reading this...
780 AD --- Aeson appears. Hmmm, is this Orange-lover a Greek citizen? He hurries Heroic Epic. Chinese galleon sunk by privateer, but the Chinese are still alive. A Spanish conquistador captures a worker.
790 AD --- Chinese frigate and galleon located north of Byblos.
800 AD --- Chinese frigate sunk. Spain removed from map, one galley sunk, but they survive. War on Spain. Incredible RNG result: 12/12 cavalry army makes NOT A SINGLE DENT in regular rifleman in a size 9 city on plains.
810 AD --- Spanish galley sighted.
820 AD --- Spain lands a settler in my area and is dead. French galley destroyed.
830 AD --- Arabian frigate destroyed. Thebes taken. End of session.
840 AD --- 2 Arabian galleys sunk. Egypt destroyed. Chinese world map reveals that the missing ship is probably right a the very top op the map.
860 AD --- Peace treaty with France expired. Two towns, one city taken. One town autorazed.
880 AD --- France destroyed.
890 AD --- Chinese galley finally located, in Arabland. 17 privateers out. Galley is destroyed but the Chinese hang in there.
910 AD --- Last(?) chinese galley spotted. It's elite.
920 AD --- Chinese flip! Chinese galley sunk. Incited Arabia to declare war. they have an MPP with China. And then I take the flipped town. And then: What? still not dead? Is a settler hiding deep in Arabia? 3 Arabian cities and 1 town taken.
940 AD --- Attack on Mecca. Average is about one hit point per attack on its rifleman. Tough nut. Taken with the last cavalry in position.
1010 AD --- Despair. But after shooting Muscat down to size 2 they agree to give it away for peace. So now I can go on with my treacherous business. Arabia destroyed. But where are the Chinese? Unfortunately they had an old MPP with Arabia so we are now at war. Do I have to disband everything to make them surface? decide to disband all privateers to make them surface. They are the utter masters of hide and seek.
1070 AD --- Finally found the red-lined Chinese caravel. I was toying with the idea of a milked game since I had lost the chance of a conquest medal, but I'll leave milking to the real pros.
1080 AD --- Conquest acknowledged.

 

[Offa]

Open

Finally over. Domination in 1440ad.

I had a really bad start despite being on the right spot for a settler factory. My granary prebuild ended up as a temple when I couldn't buy pottery. It looked like I was going to play as a one city challenge for a long time and I didn't settle the second town until 1700bc. Barbs came calling shortly after that and pillaged improvements constantly. I also had several turns of rioting in the capital when barbs killed defenders who were necessary for happiness. At the end of the qsc I had 6 towns. As this map wasn't that easy it was all a bit difficult after such a start.

On my replay of the start in which I research pottery and didn't build the temple first I managed 12 towns in 1000bc. That would have been nice.

It was interesting to see what the game is like after a bad start. After the qsc I didn't play very carefully as a good score wasn't possible but even so I think the latter part of the game bears comparison with most of my efforts. I found it impossible to maintain an attacking momentum as my losses were huge. My first war with the Chinese triggered their golden age with riders and was tough. I usually build Sun Tze and Leo's but didn't have either of these and missed them quite a lot.

I did actually consider a non military game as my army was so poor, but instead I kept a rather careful set of wars going for the whole game. I advanced as far as Rome with a force which maxxed out at around 20 cav and 30 artillery. By then the western civs had infantry so the advance stalled completely. I placed a spy in Arabia which showed he had a similar number of cav to me but he had 90+ infantry to my 5 (+30 hoplites). When he attacked all I could do was injure his infantry with artillery and it proved too costly to kill off even 1HP infantry with cavalry.

I had a hideous misclick with the TOE which resulted in getting Communism as my second tech . Usually I would feel justified to reload in such a cirumstance but I played on here. This isn't just because of my lofty principles as I did unsuccessfully try to reload (shoot me if you wish) but I couldn't duplicate the great leader I had won the previous turn. It probably didn't make much difference apart from hardening my resolve not to try for diplo or space.

I eventually waited for tanks, and once I had these I easily finished off the French, Koreans and Arabs for domination. It took a long time to play though as I had to soften up targets with artillery. The Arabs had already killed off the Spanish and the French and Ottoman had killed the Egyptians.

 

[bluebox]

no need to be embarrassed, offa. i just submitted a ridicoulous diplo loss in 1525ad. my firaxis score was 3552, those of the winning arabs about 3600. everybody voted for them, surprisingly.
no matter what, nice game, great map! conquered the chinese, the indians, the koreans and the romans. after that i was tired of warfare and decided to take the diplo short cut.

i hope my loss is good enough for highest scoring loser

p.s.: denyd, you are just (positively) !!

 

[civ_steve]

1.27f

Middle Age Report: 950 BC- 470 AD

Entered the IA in 470 AD. Had the misfortune to match up with Korea in Free Techs, and they were both Medicine to boot!

8 turns for Steam Power, and another 8 for Electricity. This brought me to a key decision point in the game. My deals with China were expiring, and I'd used the Chinese Saltpeter to upgrade all my Knights/Horsemen to Cavalry, 22 total. I checked, and while several AI knew Nationalism, China did not! Final straw was that China had been at war with Korea for a while, and I could see that at least one core Korean town had been captured, so the bulk of his offensive units were away from home. I declared on China. Now Rome had finished off India, and owned most of the Terrain between Korea and China, so it was a trivial thing to trade an older Tech to Rome for a MA vs China; I doubt that I'd ever see any of the Korean Expeditionary Force of China's. And China was already at war with Arabia and a few other Western civs, so I was pretty confident he couldn't drum up any support.

So it was beat on China for a while, and they really had hardly any counter. I think I saw two, maybe three Cavalry from China, and about 2-3 Muskets per city. They got rolled up quickly, and were finished by Rome within the 20 turn period.

The Ottomans decided to land some units and declare War on me; I got all the West (Arabia, Spain, France and Egypt) and Rome to MA vs them. They were eventually the 3rd civ destroyed (after India and China).

Korea was the 4th civ that generally got beat up on; however, they had founded a city on a one tile island, so I was confident I could get a shot at a free Modern Era Tech from them.

Otherwise, the IA was pretty peaceful for me. Once learned I got Electricity into the AI's tech banks. They were quite helpful during the IA, Arabia and Spain that is (the rest were trailers). I got 1 turn benefit for Industrialization. I headed up the Corporation, Steel, Refining, Combustion and Mass Production Path, while they researched Replaceable Parts and Scientific Method for me. I then researched Atomic Theory and Electronics, and they researched Flight for me (quite helpful!, 3 Techs and 1 Turn off Industrialism).

It is 1030 AD, I was now 4 turns away from learning Motorized Transport, and from finishing TofE (my Investigate City operations told me I had nothing to worry about finishing it first, aside from a GL and the world was mostly at peace.) I researched MotorTransp, finished TofE, Learned Radio, with 1 more TofE Tech to learn. If I could get Computers as my Scientific free tech, I'd learn Miniaturization as my 2nd TofE Free Tech, and then use a GL I'd saved from the Chinese War to finish Internet. Scientific Free Tech was Rocketry. OK, now gift Korea up to Modern Era (about 12 Techs), and see if they get Computers. Korea gets Rocketry, too (not only NOT Computers, but a match also ) Oh, well, the RNG is telling me this is a Diplomacy game. Learn Fission as 2nd TofE Free Tech. Pyrrhus rushes UN, I give lots of gifts, and win against Ceasar, 6-1.

Diplo Victory in 1080 AD, 6685 Firaxis, and 8720 Jason.

A very fun game; getting the resources and figuring out a way to manage China seem to be the key challenges. I'm off to Cotm3 (with only 18 days left; I'd better hurry!).

 

[bradleyfeanor]

They were quite helpful during the IA, Arabia and Spain that is (the rest were trailers). I got 1 turn benefit for Industrialization. I headed up the Corporation, Steel, Refining, Combustion and Mass Production Path, while they researched Replaceable Parts and Scientific Method for me. I then researched Atomic Theory and Electronics, and they researched Flight for me

Wow! Nice job getting the AI to do your work for you. How many turns was it taking you (on average) to self-research the IA techs?

 

[civ_steve]

Let's see ... 470 to 1070 is 60 turns. 16 required Techs, -1 Free Tech upon entry (Korea and I matched up), -3 Free Techs from AI, -1 TofE IA Tech; so 60/11 = 5.5 ish.

My tactic is to get key Techs in the hands of the key Research civs. China, Spain and Arabia were the main researchers, which made me think hard about taking China out. IMO, key IA Tech is Electricity; help with RepParts and ScienMeth is the best I can reasonably expect; Flight was a nice bonus; delaying TofE is a part of this as it gives the AI time to research. Key MidAges Tech is Education; SirPleb got both Banking and Astronomy from them, I believe, while he cruised up the bottom path. AA is a bit more jumbled, and ModEra, well we're only talking about Spaceship here; Diplo only requires Fission, and any other Victory better be sewn up already (I still have yet to use any nuclear weapons in GOTM, and ModernArmor only on very rare occasions.) For Spaceship, I leave Rocketry, Ecology, and hopefully Spaceflight (dare I dream they will also research SynthFibers?), while I research the Computers and Fission paths. Since one spaceship part was moved to Robotics, the Internet is a must. (But watch the culture)

btw, I liked your paragraph about realizing your were addicted to civ3. I'd prefer a spot on one of Saturn's moons, if I can make a reservation; I bet the rings would be quite a sight! And congrats; I believe you beat me by a turn!

 

[bradleyfeanor]

IMO, key IA Tech is Electricity; help with RepParts and ScienMeth is the best I can reasonably expect; Flight was a nice bonus; delaying TofE is a part of this as it gives the AI time to research.

In looking over the IA tech tree, your advice makes a lot of sense. Thanks! Hopefully, I can put this into action on the next GOTM.

Good luck with settling Saturn's rings. Although, with those pretty psychadelic colors, you can count on clones of Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey and the Grateful Dead for neighbors!

 

[DJMGator13]

Link to AA spoiler
Link to MA spoiler

I completed the United Nations in 1495AD but I declined to hold the election. I was learning a lot about waging war in Republic and about war weariness from this game. So I decided to keep playing and try my first attempt at “milking” a game. Here are some of the things I learned and some highlights from the rest of my game.

The first turn of the IA
Having declared war on China during the MA (450AD) I enter the Industrial Age (570AD) in the midst of battling the largest Civ in the game. On the IBT to 580AD China and Arabia sign a trade embargo against me. China also signs a military alliance with Korea in the same IBT, which leads Korea to declare war on me. So I call up Rome & India and sign MAs with them against Korea. I also discover that my statement about China not having Riflemen was in error (as pointed out by Civ_Steve). Oh yeah, on the IBT to turn 2 of the IA Korea enlists Egypt in the war against me, and I’m waiting for Military Tradition to complete in 5 turns.

Fighting in Republic and War Weariness
The nice thing about the above sequence is that 2 of the 3 civs I am at war with declared on me, which earned me war happiness. I will use this to my advantage and not make peace with them until I am forced to. In 630AD I learned Military Tradition, upgraded 23 knights to cavalry, and went back on the offensive. 650AD Spain declares war on me. 670AD Arabia declares war on me. My Golden Age ends in 720AD as expected, but I learned that the GA has reduced my WW. I’ve been a Republic and at war with China since 450AD without much WW. On the turn my GA ends WW jumped up to about 36%.

Cultural flips
I also learn that cities with a flip chance as low as 1.20% will flip. I lost 4 cities which all had less than 3% flip chance, one of which was deep in my own territory. Also you can bet money on a city flipping when you have a civ down to their last city. I lost a Knight army when the fourth city flipped back to China, who’s empire at the time consisted of a single size 1 city. In retribution for these nonsensical flips I decide to do a little “un-honorable” pointy stick research in 790AD. I make peace with China and trade them Steam Power for Nationalism & Sanitation, and then I immediately redeclare on them eliminating them from the game before they can trade it away.

Back to War Weariness & Preventing the “Next Big Thing”
800AD I’m still at war with 4 civs, but they have all declared on me. My 66% WW (after the quick declaration of war on China) is gone. Korea who is my tech equal is hammering India. So to keep Korea from gaining too many cities I declare on India in 820AD. One key to fighting in Republic is to have quick precise campaigns. I eliminate India from the game in 850AD after capturing 7 cities and razing another. In 930AD Rome declares war on me, which makes 5 at war and they all declared on me. I capture Rome in 950AD and now I control the chokepoint and gain the Pyramids & Copernicus’.

Eliminating some civs
Korea exited the game in 1050AD.
In 1090AD Rome is down to the two 1 tile islands, but since they declared on me WW is not a problem.
1100AD changed plans from a DOM victory condition to Histograph when I learn that France & Arabia have replaceable parts. So I make peace with everyone. I do some trading to get even in techs and to acquire my 8th luxury. I’m only down replaceable parts, with the ToE due in 8 turns and a have a Great Leader in reserve to rush Hoover Dam. I continue peaceful ways while taking a 1-2 tech lead over everyone, until Spain was stupid enough to declare war on me in 1295AD.
In 1365 Spain is eliminated and I gained control of Sistine Chapel and the 8th luxury.

Histograph decision
In 1450AD I make the following analysis: FRA & ARB have no oil, OTTOs have 3 sources - so no tanks, fighters or bombers (FRA & ARB did not have the resource, while OTTO lacked the tech) - I've built up an army of 26 tanks and a 3 tank Army - FRA & OTTO have a MPP so if I attack one the other will attack me, OTTO is in front of FRA, so I'll declare on them first and secure the other oil sources. One major problem I have is there are almost 900 tiles between FRA, OTTO & ARB based on the game date I am leaning towards trying a Histo victory, but I need to eliminate those 3 first, good thing is I have 320 tiles until Dom limit so I can raze most cities and disband some of mine as needed.

I build the UN in 1495AD and could have won election by giving away techs and signing MPP and MA, since Arabia was the next largest and they were at war with Ottomans and the French. I also could have achieved an early 1500’s Dom victory, but felt I could get a higher Jason score by milking it. Since I had never done that I decided to go Histo.

Endgame
I eliminated OTTO in 1525AD and I now control all the world’s oil source.
In 1545AD capture Universal Suffrage from France.
I eliminate FRA in 1575AD.
I eliminate EGY in 1585AD.
I declare war on Arabia in 1590AD and eliminate them in 1620AD.

Milking
My Fraxis score at 1620AD was 4816, with 226 turns to play.
In 1705AD my score is 5529.
1760AD I complete Longevity, and Cure for Cancer in 1790AD.
In 1800AD my score was 6995.
In 1900AD my score was 9296
In 1950AD my score was 10361.
In 2000AD my score was 12178.
Final Fraxis score was 13669.

One real annoying feature was the game kept reassigning my specialist every time a city grew or pollution hit. I finally developed a system for dealing with the reassignments, but with almost 900 specialists this was really a pain. In one game I have developed a great appreciation for all those who play the HOF games.

 

[civ_steve]

Great Game, DJMGator13!! I expressed my concerns regarding your early Palace Jump in the AA, but the Southern Capital next to the Cows is very strong and you made good use of it!

 

[Offa]

i just submitted a ridicoulous diplo loss in 1525ad. my firaxis score was 3552, those of the winning arabs about 3600. everybody voted for them, surprisingly.

i hope my loss is good enough for highest scoring loser

Unlucky. However, I have often thought it would be cool to milk a game till 2050 and then lose a vote. The potential losing score would be hard to beat.

 

[a space oddity]

Now there's an interesting suggestion, Offa. Hmm...

 

[solenoozerec]

Sound slike there is going to be a spirited competition for lowest score this go round. And here I was hoping for the lowest scoring medal. Mine was in 1710ad with mid-300-ish score.
QUOTE]

This is really strange. I lost much earlier in 1395 AD, but my score is higher, somewhat in 400-ish.
And BTW I had fun. Watch my score in 1255AD. I lost all my cities in that year and than I managed to respawn and servived for more 150 years.

 

[samildanach]

This is really strange. I lost much earlier in 1395 AD, but my score is higher, somewhat in 400-ish.

You might still have a shot in the COTM. Your score may be higher as the COTM is at demigod which has a higher score multiplier than this game which was at emperor.

 

[solenoozerec]

You might still have a shot in the COTM. Your score may be higher as the COTM is at demigod which has a higher score multiplier than this game which was at emperor.

Oooops. I think I was very sleepy and mixed up threads, somehow, I thought it is a COTM thread.

 

[Denniz]

This is really strange. I lost much earlier in 1395 AD, but my score is higher, somewhat in 400-ish.

You must have been doing better with pop, happiness, and territory over time. Much better.