Classic GOTM 32 Spoiler 3: Start Modern age / end game submitted

[dojoboy]

Just to pipe in on culture flippage. I found it better to leave captured cities vacant if possible, for two reasons:

(1) easily recaptured if they flip

(2) for some reason, they don't seem to flip as quickly when empty of troops

If my culture is greater, then I will garrison a couple units.

But, 18 units lost is over the top. I suppose when adding this feature to Civ3, fans had little to go on when offering ideas for implementation. I picture culture in Civ4 being more realistic.

 

[Ronald]

1.27f

I entered the industrial age in 710 AD

My further game plan was to invade the other continent, eliminate Rome which was weak but had one nice luxury and get the other luxury from spain. This should bring me close to the domination limit. I want to keep the three scientific civs healthy as trading partners and hopefully they will contribute in some techs.
I decided not to bring the into the industrial age, because I want to build TOE as late as possible for the most expensive techs. I don't know whether this was good or not, every comment welcome.

My invasion army for Rome consisted of 10 cavalry, one musketman and one medival infantry. This sounds little, but Rome only had 7 cities and does not even know monotheism. So it should be OK. The war was short and easy: It started in 770 AD and finished in 820 AD.

The best part, I got another GL. This one I will save to build either ToE or the Internet.

When I was planning what to do next, I discovered a stack of spanish military next to my borders and a Spanish caravelle dispatched a spearman and two warriors . I rushed some musketmen in the newly acquired cities and asked Spain to leave or declare war. They did declare war and I immediately signed alliances with everybody else. Especially nice was my alliance with Russia. The Spanish SoD was next to minsk, across my border. When Russia declared war with Spain, the spanish troops captured Minsk and did not even cross my border. I then took Minsk from Spain.

After that I took some more Spanish cities, Barcelona being the most important one, giving me incense as additional luxury.
The rest of the industrial age went more or less quiet. Korea declared war once, but after I took Ulsan, we were at peace again (Korea researched nationalism and the next cities all had riflemen). After I resaerched replacable parts, I put some infantry in my border towns and nobody started another war with me.

In 1305 AD I had to finis h ToE a bit earlier than I wanted, but Seoul was about to finish it. So I got my last two industrial age techs from ToE and entered the modern age.
Now I brought Germany into the modern age (rocketry), Korea (ecology) and Russia (ecology). So I started to research computers after finishing that traded for rocketry and ecology. I used my palace prebuild for SETI and my GL for the internet. This kept my tech rate at 4 turns most of the time.

In 1545 I was one turn away from launching, Germany built the Manhatten project and since the German troops were close to the border, I hoped that everything will be going well. In 1550 German troops crossed the border, but I did not have to fight them because I launched the space ship in 1555 with 6711 Firaxis points.

It was a fun game and my best space ship date yet.

Ronald

 

[jazz_man]

well, i got the domination victory popup just as I was about to pick the last pimples defending seoul in 1680ad... arrgh!

mm.. anyway, after gaining control of most of my continent i spent a few turns building improvements and cavalry for an invasion of rome. had some 5-6 galleons loaded with 20-25 cavalry and a handful of cannons.

rome fell quickly. i made peace with them one turn to get all their gold and i recall there was one science, communism i think.. next i immedieatly declared war and took their last city. is this sort of betrayal impacting on the others attitude? in this war i got two leaders that i converted to armies.

next up was the germans, was keen on their wonder cities! needed more resources though cause they had nationalism and the better infantry. healed my units and took out the last of america in two turns and next gave it a go even though i was a bit unsure.

i had decent amounts of gold ~3000gc and figured i'd be able to buy lots of units. think the first german city i took had the barrack wonder, this helped heaps as did the two armies. the cannons were disappointing.

once the germans were out I rushed temples in all their cities and moved on immediatly to Korea. they were easy but i misjudged my land and the conquest of their goodies was interrupted - i had won!

cheers,
john

 

[jazz_man]

in hindsight i think i waited to long before i started my war with the romans, could likely have done the end of the iroquois and romans in parallell, the romans were so weak.

amazing space victory ronald, 16.5hours! saw the cotm01 results - 8hours was the best domination, i'd like to get quicker (real time), whats the key?

 

[TimBentley]

CivIII 1.29f Open (trying to be different from my previous spoilers, which were much more lengthy in their discussion of that which would have been obvious from just what I wrote regarding the version which I was using and the particular GOTM I was playing)

At this point, I was hoping to defeat Rome, Germany, Russia, and Spain in order to win a conquest victory. I was considering ROP rape to empty my cities and defeat Spain in one turn. Now for the continuation of the journal from the previous spoiler. I shall include the entire first entry, rather than just what I left off before.

Journal of Axayacatl, soldier in 1st Cavalry Regiment
1325 AD: A regiment has razed Pisea. Spain, Russia, and Germany have learned about a force [or is it really a force, or a field, or caused by gravitons, or something else? This is probably not the place to discuss scientific theory, so I shall call it a force since that is what Axayacatl thinks it is, as people in Newton's time called it a force] called "gravity" which keeps us on the earth. We buy knowledge of magnets from Spain for gems, silks, our world map, and 1461 gold. We sell this knowledge to Russia for their world map, 23 gold per turn, and 34 gold. We buy knowledge of gravity from Germany for knowledge of magnets, our world map, and 100 gold. Russia and Germany [since they are scientific] are very nationalistic, which allows them to make more agreements and have better soldiers [now I will have to kill riflemen]. We buy this knowledge from Russia for some dyes, spices, silks, gems, our world map, and 2758 gold. This will make their people very happy. We sell the knowledge to Spain for ivory, their world map, 24 gold per turn, and 1522 gold. Our people will be happy to make things with this substance. We start to learn about healing people [although for some reason it does not affect healing; Sanitation does (Battlefield Medicine)]. [I hope to trade it for steam power, which I expect the AI to research.]
1330 AD: Antium has been razed.
1335 AD: [I think in between turns, Rome dropped off a spear next to one of my cities, and then disbanded it. Odd.]
1340 AD: After another regiment kills some pikemen, our regiment kills spearmen in Cumae. We raze the whole city and manage to get people to improve our terrain. Ulsan and a rebuilt Antium also were Razed. All Roman troops run away.
1345 AD: We are now at war with Germany. Cologne has been captured, along with the greatest theater in the world. Maybe when we are at peace I will see a play [perhaps one of Shakespeare's histories would be appropriate]. Nuremburg and Leipzig have been razed.
1350 AD: Pusan has been razed.
1355 AD: A great leader has emerged from an elite regiment's victory over some pikemen. Ahuitzotl gathers three regiments to form an army.
1360 AD: Hannover has been razed.
1370 AD: Frankfurt and Hamburg have been razed. Although we were outside Hamburg, we did not participate. In the battle of Hamburg, another great leader emerged. Itzcoatl [The fact that the first two leaders had the same names as my jaguar warriors was somewhat coincidental. I got the other two names from the editor looking at the leaders' names, so there will be no coincidence there.] will form another army around him.
1375 AD: We learn about medicine, the art of healing. Both Spain and Russia know how to use steam to move faster. We sell medicine to Spain for knowledge of democracy, their world map, 255 gold, and 89 gold per turn. [That was probably less than market price; the only thing they had left to give was steam power, which was too expensive along with the rest.] We buy the knowledge of using steam power from Russia for knowledge of medicine, our world map, and 386 gold. We now see coal in our territory and will start building railroads to move faster. We will also start building better ships called ironclads. We start to learn how to make power using copper and magnets.
1385 AD: A third story has been built on the palace. A privateer attacked one of our galleons, but our galleon was able to sink it. [When I entered diplomacy with Spain, my advisor said Spain's army had attacked us. In addition, all privateers could move 7 instead of the normal 6, and Spain had Magellan's Voyage.] The assault on Berlin has begun.
1390 AD: Although many regiments have attacked it, Berlin still remains under German control. We shall move in to help capture it.
1395 AD: Germany has founded Hamburg again.
1400 AD: Tlaxcala has built the Heroic Epic, which will inspire more soldiers to do heroic acts and become known as great leaders. We kill some riflemen in the assault on Berlin. Only a few more troops defend it. Hamburg has been razed.
1405 AD: More troops have finally captured Berlin. The great leader Acamapichtli has emerged and will form an army around him. When we capture Berlin, we capture the Great Library, the Sistine Chapel, and the Pyramids.
1410 AD: A fourth story has been added to the palace. Germany founded Leipzig, but a regiment quickly destroyed it.
1420 AD: Konigsberg has been razed.
1425 AD: We no longer are being given ivory. We learn how to create electricity, which will allow our workers to irrigate land far from water. Our scientists are learning a better method to research. Munich has been razed.
1430 AD: Heidelburg has been captured. All German troops run away. We establish an embassy in Moscow. Our diplomats say that Moscow has 10 working citizens, 3 luxuries, is growing and is building a cossack (Russia trains cavalry very well), and spends 40% of its income on science. 5 rifleman regiments and 1 cossack regiment are stationed there. They have a right of passage agreement and trade with Spain. Spain has learned the government communism. [I later learned that Russia shuns democracy and loves communism; I was unable to use this to my advantage.] We start to prepare for an assault on Russia.
1440 AD: Seville has built Newton's University.
1460 AD: Somebody has reported that the Aztecs are the happiest people in the world.
1465 AD: Our scientists have learned a better way to research. We start to learn how to create parts that can be replaced easily.
1475 AD: Since other civilizations have stopped paying us, we sell dyes, spices, and gems to Spain for their world map, 113 gold, and 55 gold per turn.
1480 AD: A better gate has been built for the palace. Russia and Spain both know about electricity. We declare war on Russia. Three cities were razed. Riga and Rostov were captured.
1485 AD: Grozny has been captured. Dnepropetrovsk and Kharkov have been razed. We kill some riflemen, but are unable to capture Moscow. A great leader named Axayacatl (wow, someone with the same name as me) emerged from the battle and will form an army around him.
1490 AD: More regiments come in and capture Moscow. We also capture the Great Wall and JS Bach's Cathedral. We gain access to incense. Our people will be happier when they can get it to smell it. Sverdlovsk and Novgorod have been captured; Yakutsk has been razed.
1495 AD: The new city Sevastopol has been razed.
1500 AD: Krasnoyarsk has been razed.
1505 AD: The great leader Tizoc [the fourth or seventh emperor] emerged from a battle with cossacks. He will gather an army around him. Pompeii has been razed, and Kiev has been captured. The harbor in Kiev will restore communication between the two continents.
1510 AD: An army was ambushed and killed! Another regiment avenges the army's destruction.
1515 AD: Wonsan has been captured. Tlateloco has built the Pentagon, which will enable armies to grow larger.
1520 AD: The great leader Huitzilhuitl [the second "true" emperor] emerged from a battle with cossacks. He will gather an army as soon as more troops arrive from the home continent.
1525 AD: We haved learned how to replace parts easily. Our workers will work more efficiently, and we discover the resource rubber. The new city of Sevastopol has been destroyed.
1530 AD: Tlaxcala has learned the theory of evolution. Our scientists learn how to build factories to be more industrialized, as well as learning about small particles called "atoms," which apparently compose everything in the world. We start to learn how to use electricity better [electronics]. We kill a cossack regiment. St. Petersburg has been captured, and Sun Tzu's Art of War has been found.
1535 AD: The assault on Smolensk has begun. TimBentley tells our scientists to stop researching, as he believes no more research is necessary.
1550 AD: An army attacks Tblisi. Then we learn that Russia had a mutual protection pact with Spain, and Spain declares war on us. We kill many troops around us. Casa del Bamrapido, Valladolid, Logrono, and Jaen have been captured.
1555 AD: Lugo, Alicante, Cadiz, and Palma have been captured. Teruel has been razed. In the attack on Lugo, the great leader Chimalpopoca [the third "true" emperor] emerged. However, he is on the home continent, where armies are not needed.
1560 AD: A Spanish missionary landed near Cheju and was killed. Asturias and Merida were captured. Almeria was razed.
1565 AD: Spain starts moving infantry around. Infantry will be very difficult to kill. Spanish ships destroyed the harbor in Kiev, cutting communication between the continents. A harbor is rushed in Cheju.
1570 AD: Vitoria has been captured.
[The journal will end here, as Axayacatl will not understand my actions.]

I realize it will take too long to kill infantry to win a conquest victory. I decide to win a domination victory. I sign peace with Russia and Spain, gaining one city. I rushed temples in many cities and starting building settlers. In 1620 AD, I won a domination victory. My Firaxis score was 3806 and my Jason score was 6520. I could have won a domination victory much earlier if I had either razed less cities or resettled the territory. I probably should have gathered more forces before declaring war on Russia, as my offensive eventually stalled. In addition, if I had gotten great leaders earlier, that also would have helped an earlier victory. I didn't do as well as I hoped, but I am victorious in my first GOTM submission (I won GOTM 31, but was unable to connect my computer to the internet soon enough to submit it)

 

[maharaja]

How do we get 100K cultural victory? In my current GOTM in the year 2040 my total culture value was 99506 and in my next turn culture increased to 100017 and I believe it's crossed 100K. But AI didn't say I won. Am I supposed to something to claim victory? Just because of culture thing I slow down my space race. Any help I will appreciate.

 

[Dianthus]

@maharaja, you also have to have 2x the culture of your nearest rival. Take a look at the culture graph, and use a ruler if it's close .

 

[AlanH]

I believe you also have to have twice the culture of the second placed civ. If you have reached both objectives then the game should declare your victory after you hit next turn.

 

[Karasu]

Just as they said.
You can actually check it in the victory screen with C3C (it's so good when someone asks something that you know... ).

 

[maharaja]

@maharaja, you also have to have 2x the culture of your nearest rival. Take a look at the culture graph, and use a ruler if it's close .

Thanks Dainthus, I don't think it's 2 times with all civs. But definetly it looks 2 times compare to Russia but almost equal or slightly higher than Spain. Oh man, I was under the impression 100K is 100K so now even I can't win space race. I already have two components ready other two I slow down when I see (as of my understanding), I am going to 100K thing. Infact I slow down my research for Superconductor thing. 9 years left, if this is the case then Histrographic is only my choice if spain don't win the space race. She is the onlt adavnce civ. than me even though they are impressed with my culture.

 

[Dianthus]

Thanks Dainthus, I don't think it's 2 times with all civs. But definetly it looks 2 times compare to Russia but almost equal or slightly higher than Spain. Oh man, I was under the impression 100K is 100K so now even I can't win space race. I already have two components ready other two I slow down when I see (as of my understanding), I am going to 100K thing. Infact I slow down my research for Superconductor thing. 9 years left, if this is the case then Histrographic is only my choice if spain don't win the space race. She is the onlt adavnce civ. than me even though they are impressed with my culture.

Last time I went for 100K culture I also pretty much wiped out the AI civs. For some reason they don't produce much culture when they've only got 1 city .

 

[samildanach]

Thanks Dainthus, I don't think it's 2 times with all civs. But definetly it looks 2 times compare to Russia but almost equal or slightly higher than Spain. Oh man, I was under the impression 100K is 100K so now even I can't win space race. I already have two components ready other two I slow down when I see (as of my understanding), I am going to 100K thing. Infact I slow down my research for Superconductor thing. 9 years left, if this is the case then Histrographic is only my choice if spain don't win the space race. She is the onlt adavnce civ. than me even though they are impressed with my culture.

Find out which city has the Apollo in it. Sign an R.O.P. with the Spanish. Get a nice transport loaded with nice modern armour over there. And put an end to Spanish dreams of interstellar travel. Losing a space race in 2049 is not going to be fun for you.....on the other hand the rest of us will find it highly amusing

 

[maharaja]

Find out which city has the Apollo in it. Sign an R.O.P. with the Spanish. Get a nice transport loaded with nice modern armour over there. And put an end to Spanish dreams of interstellar travel. Losing a space race in 2049 is not going to be fun for you.....on the other hand the rest of us will find it highly amusing

Thanks samildanach, but how to find which city has Apollo. I can build couple nukes and nuke them withour ROP, right? Losing game at 2049 is really not a fun....9 more years to go.

 

[denyd]

Maharaja: You can try investigating cities until you find the one with Apollo or one that's building Spaceship parts. If you have Espionage, you could plant a spy and sabotage the build to delay the completion. (Peaceful options)

Or as you suggested (the non-peaceful option)

 

[Xerol]

I always thought you had to sack the capital, not apollo. Although usually they're the same, but from what I remember you just had to capture/destroy the capital. Of course, I could just be quoting yet more flawed Civilopedia knowledge...

 

[zagnut]

OPEN PTW 1.27

I entered the IA in 1160 AD. I controlled my continent, had a comfortable lead and was going for a diplomatic win.

When I entered the IA I started researching Steam Power and then gifted all of the other civs into the IA when I was about 3 turns away. The 3 scientific civs each got a different tech - Nationalism, Steam Power and Medicine. I soon traded for Medicine. I didn ’t want Nationalism because I was not planning to invade the other continent. I had eliminated the Americans and Iroquois before the other civs knew of their existence so my reputation on the other continent was spotless. I wanted to keep it that way in order to make the diplomatic victory easier. All through the IA I gifted techs to the other civs. Their attitude toward me was Gracious or Polite and I was able to make gpt deals with all of them.

Shortly after I entered the IA, and after giving them a Right of Passage, Spain landed 2 Knights on my continent and declared war the next turn. I laughed out loud, killed the Knights and then made alliances with Rome, Germany and Russia. I left Korea out of the alliance on the hope that Spain would ally with them and then declare war on my 3 allies. That is exactly what happened and soon the world was at war. All but me that is on my own little continent. 20 turns later I made peace with Spain.

My goal was to get Theory of Evolution and use its 2 free techs to get to the modern age faster. I came within one turn of getting it, but Spain beat me to it. Here is how that happened. I had continued to gift techs to the other civs in the hope that they would discover the occasional tech for which I could then trade. Spain and Germany had both been researching Smith’s Trading Co. When I traded them Industrialization they switched to Universal Suffrage. I then went back to the lower bracket of the tech tree and researched Electricity and Scientific Method. I had a Palace pre-build going for TOE but had not calculated it correctly and had a few more turns that were necessary before I could get it. In the meantime, I gifted Scientific Method to the other civs, thinking that I couldn’t lose TOE because they wouldn’t start it until they had SM and I was only a few turns away. Unfortunately, I forgot about the cascade problem. Germany built Universal Suffrage and Spain immediately switched to TOE and built it. I was one turn away from getting it. I just sat there and shook my head at my own stupidity. That loss added at least 10 turns to my game.

The other stupid move I made was with regard to Hoover Dam. I had timed its construction precisely to coincide with the discovery of Electronics. I had my pre-build in place and as soon as I got Electronics I went to the city with the pre-build to tell it to switch to Hoover. But there was no Hoover available because there was no river in the town. All these little details! It’s just too much for my little mind to keep track of.

In any event, I muddled through and attained a UN victory in 1655.

 

[maharaja]

Game status: Spaceship Loss to Spain
Game date: 2044 AD
Firaxis score: 4042
Jason score: 3315
Time played: 55:32:48 (although AI told me 55 hours 17 minutes & 48 secs.)
Total Culture Value: 101775

One question before saying anything, Is that Jason score always less than Firaxis? If not then how can increase this score.

Not excuse it's just a summary and intro
This was my first GOTM first Monarch level game. I am infact now I was chieftain level player. Before this game I finished only one game. Then I started warlord level game, left in middle and become part of Handy's team for SGOTM2 (which was Monarch level). I found concept interesting and started playing this GOTM (my first ever). Believe me I learned lot with this game. I have done couple of mistake too. When I came to know that Domination victory is not easy (I was far behind with other civs technically).
Spain,Koria & Germany their infantry was much more stronger than mine. Still I don't know the reason. Anyway so I looked for Culture Win and started working on that thing. Mean time there was good progress for science and by 21st century was behind spain. When I crossed 100K in the year 2041AD but didn't get 'You won' pop-up screen then shouted why? here in this forum. Reason was unknown for me. Then I came to know that it's not only 100K, total value must be 2 times compare to nearest rival civs. Not much time left to go for space race..........so finally after 3 years in the year 2044AD I lost the Game.

Funny thing at the end, every other leader had lots of punches in their face (including yours trully who was standing first score wise) BUT there were not a single scratch on Kathy (4th) & Wung (3rd)'s face.

Some screen shots attached, if any one interested. Most funny was after all the celebration when I looked for 'view Space Race', AI told me I need a spy
to view or found space race this was when everybody know I lost the space race to Spain . Isn't it funny (or somekind of bug). [Screen shot attached for this one too]

 

[AlanH]

One question before saying anything, Is that Jason score always less than Firaxis? If not then how can increase this score.

Jason score for a defeat, or for any victory at 2050 AD, is your Firaxis score multiplied by a normalisation factor of 10K/maxscore for the map. Maxscore is a number based on the amount of territory and food on the map.If maxscore is over 10K, as it is in this game, then your Jason score is less than your Firaxis score, and vice versa.

Faster victories are awarded a win bonus related to the number of turns left in the game. The Jason win bonus replaces the Firaxis win bonus. Firaxis calculates teh bonus on teh years left in the game, and doesn't differentiate between victory conditions. So a slow conquest gets the same score as a fast spaceship victory on the same date. Jason bonuses vary with victory condition to reward all games more fairly.

How can you increase Jason? Reach the domination limit of territory as fast as possible, and grow your population fast as well. That gets you to a high Firaxis scoring rate. Then win as fast as possible to get a high win bonus, or milk it to 2050 AD, making as many happy citizens as you can. As you can see in the GOTM31 results, either approach gets a high Jason score in the hands of the experts.

Here's an article in the War Academy on getting a high score by SirPleb. And the Hall of Fame forum reports amazing feats of high scoring at all difficulty levels.

 

[bigchief]

Find out which city has the Apollo in it. Sign an R.O.P. with the Spanish. Get a nice transport loaded with nice modern armour over there. And put an end to Spanish dreams of interstellar travel. Losing a space race in 2049 is not going to be fun for you.....on the other hand the rest of us will find it highly amusing

Not exactly the same but you can have your laugh about this one instead. This game was brutal to me.

I was in near constant war. I fell behind early with the 2 expansionist civs on the same landmass. They got all kinds of freebies with the huts. I manage to pop about 5 or 6 huts, and got barbs everytime. I was starting to catch up and the Iriquois declared war on me. I tried to get Abe allied against them, but I couldn't give him enough. Two turns later he allied against me. I got beaten down some, but held on.

After about 10 sunken galleys, I finally made it across to meet the other civs. A good round of trading put me back to near even tech wise, but I was smaller than everyone else. One civ or another demanded stuff from me every few turns. I almost quit at this point, but thought it might be worth a try to comeback.

One more war with the Iroq. and 2 more with America during the ancient age, and I was nearly a full age behind in tech. Thought about quitting again.

My only hope was going to be gaining some ground on my continent. Put reasearch on 0 and started building up troops. Had to switch back from republic to despotism because of the troop costs. At 0 research and 0 luxuries, I was loosing money in republic.

Finally decided I had enough troops. I declared war on America, and allied the Iroq. against them. This war went on for ages, and I finally conquered the Americans. I now had some territory, and was no longer in last place. Started researching again and built up more troops. As soon as I got military tradition, I upgraded some of my horses and knights and declared war on the Iroquois. I finally wiped them out, but by the time I was done I got the message that Russia was building SETI. Now I had the biggest territory, but I was more than and era behind.

I played catch up for the next 75 or so turns. During this time Russia declared war on me. I was able to ally everyone against her. I never really had to fight her. Korea went out early. Then Russia was gone. Spain built the UN and called a vote. I voted for me. Bismark voted for himself. Isabella voted for herself, and Rome voted for Isabella. No decision. Rome was soon eliminated. That left 3 of us.

Germany had about two thirds of the other continent, and he was the one I was worried about. We were at war for a little while, and I managed to plant a spy. He was working on his space ship. I knew I had to stop him, but he was almost through the Modern Ages, and I was still researching atomic theory or something. I knew I couldn't go over there with cavs and fight against Mech Infantries and Modern Armors.

I researched as fast as I could while building up my military to upgrade. Buy the time I got computers, he was done with 7 of his space ship parts. I upgraded a few infantries to Mechs, and loaded some armies. I sent 30 Arties, 6 cav armies, 2 MI armies, 2 tank armies, and 16 tanks. It took 7 turns to get there and a couple more to get to Berlin after I landed. By the time I got to Berlin he had built the 8th piece of the shuttle, and was working on the 9th. I shelled him for a few turns with the arties, and then captured and destroyed Berlin and his ship in the process.

Alright, now I can beat him to the race. I sent my ships back over, and was going to pick up my units, and bring them home.

Two turns later, I get the message that I had lost. Spain had launched. It never dawned on me that she could build the ship. She had a small territory, and she was at war with Germany and loosing. I figured at best she was many turns away, and I could deal with it when the time came. I hadn't planted a spy, because we were trading, and usually in an alliance against someone.

I fought and fought and almost brought it back. It was so sad that it was almost funny. My first loss in a long time, but I may get my first award ever ( highest scoring looser) - Nah, I'll probably miss out on that one by a turn or two.

Here is a screenshot after the final turn.

 

[eldar]

@bigchief: That's very similar to my game, with one small (but significant!) difference:

Open

Industiral Ages

So, I entered the Modern Era with my finally superior (due to Hiawatha's lack of oil) forces bearing down on his cities. I took pity on him after taking two cities, though - enough of a punishment, I thought. I was in this game to win it, and I'd be damned if I was going to give it away now.

Only one victory path was left open to me: SS. The UN was built but nobody was voting. Just as well, because during the Iroquois war I'd also been at war with everyone else (and greeted all ships with the inevitable bombers).

Being at peace was a good idea, because then I could switch back to Democracy and really crank up the science (not only were other Civs against me, but time was, too).

Hiawatha was quite happy to sign a peace deal with me. He never bothered me again. Across the sea, Isabella and Wang Kon signed peace treaties (but continued fighting each other, with Korea getting the upper hand). I switched to Democracy, and starting researching at a break-neck pace.

My initial spying reports on SS progress were not good. Korea had already built 3 or 4 parts, with another couple on the way. Spain had made a start, too, and with the Iroquois pitching in, all three were rivals. Whilst I could've easily despatched with the Iroquois Apollo Program, Spain and Korea's would've requied building a navy to transport my troops - and Korea was a darned sight harder than me by that point.

The Spain/Korea war worked in may favour, though. They'd clearly both cut back on research, and SS building, to concentrate on war efforts - which played into my hands.

I was pre-building with anything I could get my hands on (an ICBM is a good pre-build for SS parts), and finished most components in 1 or 2 turns after tech research.

So it was, that in 2004, I finally launched my brave Aztonauts on their pioneering journey to the stars. Korea's effort had stalled at 7 parts, Spain were also nearing 7 but also nearing annihilation, and the Iroquois had actually jumped to second place with 8.

My first time at Monarch, and I'd managed to win, even after having such a serious tech shortfall in the middle of the game. Just goes to show, in this game, size really does count

Software Version: PtW 1.27f for Windows
Entry class: open
Game status: Spaceship Victory for Aztecs
Game date: 2004 AD
Firaxis score: 3045
Jason score: 3072
Time played: 19:28:27

Hardly an impressive score, but hey, I won!

Neil.

Edit:
A couple more points forgotten in my rush to post this morning:

Firstly, no GWs were built on my continent. As I didn't invade the other continent (or even sail a boat too near it), that meant I won the game without building, or even owning, a single GW. I got close to Hoover, but that was about it.

Secondly, my one and only GL of the game came way too late to be of any use to me

Thirdly, I pulled an all-nighter to win this (pretty much from my first, disastrous, DoW vs Iroquois to my launch). I've recovered now, I think.