Conquest 02: Final Spoiler (End game / Modern age)

[ainwood]

This is the final spoiler for Conquest 02: Netherlands!

The will be the final spoiler for our second conquest game: The Netherlands.

To qualify, you must have finished your game and submitted it, or at least be researching a modern-age tech. Please don't spoil it for anyone who hasn't finished by posting screenshots that show modern-age resources.

What victory condition did you pursue? Was this decision affected by your starting moves? Was the isolation a hinderance or a benefit? Looking back on this game, what would you have done differently? Tell all!

 

[Singularity]

[Open]
I entered my industrial age in 650AD. I had defeated the spanish, and was establishing my cities in the new land with temples and roads while I was filling in available lands between me and France in the North.

Incas had waged war against Spain without being invited to the party, and their very strong force of Longbowmen where quite potent in leaving Spain as a weak prey for my knights. And the very same Longbowmen decided to start a field trip into my lands in 660AD. I tried politely to boot them when this happened:

I had time to react to the event in advance however. My knights where recooperating in Madrid at the time, and they all tried to achieve elitestatus or genereating a MGL while they mowed down the Inca troops without taking a single casualty. No leader there either however. I then proceeded to rally England and France to my cause against the Inca, in return they got Banking.

In 700AD I finally where able to trade with the eastern continent. And I got my saltpeter plus some additional luxuries. I discovered steam power in 720AD and where franticly searching for coal to fuel my RR building. Luckily I had a sizeable contigent of workers aiding my war against the Inca, and they where quickly dispatched to the coal SE of Zaragosa. The terrain northwards where seriously hampering my progress in marshlands and jungles. This where nullifying my knights/cavalries advantage over the Inca longbowmen/crusaders.

France had Iron but had not been able to connect it, or they had at least not been able to keep the territory against Inca incursions. I gifted her all my gold(117) plus iron in 750AD so that she perhaps could get some pikemen to match the Inca troops flowing across her borders. I got navigation from the Mayan in 770AD.

My initial hopes of a fast destruction of weak Inca AA units where crushed when he finally got the bulk of his military down towards my lands. I lost a city at least once to him, and where repeatedly forced to retreat my ralroadgangs and cavalries from his deadly crusader/longbow combos in the '1-move-only' terrain. But luckily he never managed to connect either horses or iron to his empire. Once my cavalries passed the jungle and I got RR all the way to the front I made some much needed headway. I captured the capital Cuzco in 900AD, and got Knights Templar, Copernicus and a leader in the process. I scratched my head for a while over what to do with my leader, and finally decided to rush a palace in Cuzco. This was a great lesson for me in the finer mechanics of corruption in C3C. My inital 'core' plunged into extreme corruption allthough I had a FP there. I managed to maintain much of my GPT, but saw that my size 12 cities in the south where struck down to no shieldproduction at all. Would I do it again? Nope. I would much rather have built it next to Madrid to smooth out the extreme penalty. The positivise where there however. It allowed me to quickly build up a new productive land in the north with much better terrain than what I had around Amsterdam.

In 970AD I conquered the last Incan town next to the English border in the north, and my 300+ year ordeal versus the Inca where finally over. It left my techrate strangled at times, but I was finally down to 6-8 round research of my final techs. The next 400 years blasted by with me doing nothing but improving the land and towns around my new capitol. I couldn't build up my military quickly after the fatal palace move, and where forced to keep to teching. Once more I decided to quickly end the pain by going for a UN victory. In 1335AD my workforce had finished improving all my tiles, and I signed a ROP with france just out of boredom. I then proceeded to improve all her tiles with as much as I could do. in 1365AD I finished the Hoover Dam in Tiwanaku, and that threw me into a very late Golden Age. Cleopatra was my closest enemy, and I guess she saw the end coming and tried to hamper my way to diplomatic victory bu DOW in 1415. All that ended up with was another MGL for me, and several dead Egyptian cavalries. My posse of war was quickly gathered. Leaving Egypt alone against the rest.

In 1420 I managed to time TOE to my discovery of motorized transport. I leaped into the industrial age with flight and fission, and had a 4 round wait before UN was finished after having a not too perfect palace prebuild in Huamanga that was transformed into a monstercity in GA with 20citizens gathering 121 blue shields. I finished the UN after 1435AD, and held my election in 1440AD. Cleo was alone versus my five votes from the Maya, England, France, the Zulu and myself (I could've voted for Cleo and still have won).

My last two months after coming back to GOTM has seen a steadily improvent of my play by painfully learning after making mistakes. Hopefully I've learned enough to survive classic GOTM 33 at emperor difficulty playing it [predator] style.

 

[Denniz]

In the Middle Ages, I had almost finished off the Inca.

Industrial Age - 1325AD to 1754AD

After a couple flips I destroyed the Inca in 1345AD.

I researched Nationalism and was working on Steam Power. In 1420AD, I gave in and traded for Steam Power and decided to switch to Republic. At this point, I was beginning to realize I would not reach Domination any time soon. So I needed to pick up the tech research pace as I was 30% on lux slide in an effort to improve happiness. I had begun to experiment with the Policeman specialist the came with Nationalism. I had read some spoiler comments from COTM01 or GOTM32 that made me realize I wasn't taking advantage of specialist. This game I had resolved not to use the governer and had pretty much stuck with it even though I hadn't done much tinkering.

After a 7 turn Anarchy, a Dutch Republic was formed in 1345AD. I had to scramble and create a bunch of Taxmen and make some low profit trades in order to get enough income to cover my active gpt trades during the anarchy period. I had spent most of my treasury on Steam Power.

My ROP with England had expired and my other lux trades with them were almost over. England was going to be next. Only in 1435AD the Maya sneak attacked using left over forces from the Incan war that had been hanging around up north (4 LB and 2 MI). They killed a couple slave laborers but otherwise were ineffective.

At this point, I overreacted. I formed MPPs with England and Eygpt and an alliance with the Zulus. I wasn't think strategic. The Maya occupied some of the worst terrain in the world. Chiefly the Mountains and Tundra filled northern section of the other continent. I should have ignored the Maya and gone after the English as I planned and then gone after the Zulu or Egypt. Eygpt most likely since they were setting the tech pace. Instead, I marshalled my cavalry and Galleons off the English west cost and attacked across the ocean with about 2/3 of my cavalry. (I kept the rest in reserve in case the English pulled a fast one.

In 1480AD, I landed 28 Cav on the west edge of the Maya territory near their Saltpeter. I had been paying the Zulu through the nose for it and since I wasn't going to take England's I figured I would start out by grabbing that. Egypt had already gotten a headstart, taking a few cities down south.

By 1575AD, the Maya were gone with Eygpt taking the honors by caturing Chichen Itza. They had been working on it longer but I almost had it with my artillery. Ended up I just soften it up for them.

During the festivities, I gained 2 more MGLs which I made into Cav armies. I lost all 3 armies (2 Cav and 1 Knight) in short order to killer riflemen. I pushed it with the knights but the Cav armies were still green when they lost their battles. By the end of the war, my 43 starting Cav were worn down to 12.

From this point on I decided I would go for either Diplomatic or Spaceship victory. In 1545AD I researched Replacable Parts. I needed cash to upgrade so I experimented with turning my unhappy citizens into scientist in all my corrupt cities. It was tremendous, I could research Medicine in 14 turns with 0% research. when combined with 40-60% I could get 4-5 turn research through the end of the IA. I went the Scientific Method routine to get ToE which slingshoted me ahead of Eygpt towards Tanks.

In 1615AD, Zulu landed 3 Cav and a rifle on the former Mayan coast. I didn't notice. The following turn they declared war and grabbed a couple lightly defended cities. I took them back and got an aliance with England against them. I left out Eygpt on purpose as they were big enough but they joined on their own. In the end all I did was prove you can't take cities with cavalry after Relaceable parts. I lost eight more Cav for no gain. I got a city near my island when the Zulus sued for peace in 1675AD. The Egpytian kept pounding on them until 1752.

I had pretty much decided on Diplomacy. In 1754, I entered the Modern Age and started researching Fission. 8 Turns was the best I could do with 80% and as many scientist as I could get. I got fission in 1766AD I researched Fission and switch my Hoover Dam (2 turns from completion) to UN (7 turns to go - I didn't check the sheild costs).

In 1774AD, Eygpt made a last gasp attempt by declaring war and taking a city with Oil in the far north via ROP sneak. They only sent 1 infantry. I took it back. I had tanks by then but I just hung back on defense. It did was force me to bribe and MPP England and Zulu a few turns early. Then I had to sweat a last minute stab but it seem better to lock them up than take a chance of them joining Egypt.

I completed the UN in 1780. England was Gracious and Zulu was polite.

Game: COTM 02
Date submitted: 2004-07-04
Software Version: C3C 1.22f for Windows
Entry class: open
Game status: Diplomatic Victory for Netherlands
Game date: 1780 AD
Firaxis score: 4237
Jason score: 6038
Time played: 37:28:31 <---- A lot of micromanaging nearly doubled my normal playing time


One question I had was whether using happy citizens as specialists cost me score. I am now sure it did but I haven't tried to do the math to see how significant it was against the turbo-charged research that allow me to finish sooner. Somewhere between a third and half of my scientist were happy and I had a lot of scientists.


I probably should have finish the domination victory as I was in the low 50s after the Maya. I could have taken England easily and with my production concentrated on military I could have taken enough territory despite any losses to win. (I think I will go back to the point where the Maya attacked and see how I would have done if I went ahead with my original plan . )

 

[HighDesert]

C3C 1.22 Open

Industrial Age entered in 540AD...going for space.

Research. I researched 16 techs in IA at 5.3 turns/tech. It got better as the Age progressed due to taking over AI towns. Those 3-beaker scientists really add up. The only optional tech I did was Sanitation for the sole purpose of growing Amsterdam to 21 or so. This was the town with Copernicus and Newton. Also grew the infamous "BG town", which I called Land's End to 21 or so. It pumped out quite a few beakers by the end of the game.

The AI was be no help in this game so I sold old tech any time they would pay gpt in reasonable amounts.

Entered Modern Ages in 1315. Actually timed ToE to coincide and took Computers and Miniaturization. Alas, I botched the turn count for prebuilds for SETI and Internet, so they came in a few turns later. Researched 9 MA techs average 4.5 turns each. Launch in 1545AD.

Wars. Took way too long to get after Spain and the luxes. Declared in 620AD and took the last city in 790AD. Had to build a couple of frigates to track down their galley. Finally got it (or, rather, them) in 1060AD.

I went after England and the saltpeter next. Left the Incas alone until last as a trading partner. Declared on England in 880AD and got all but the 1-tile town in just a few turns.

Landed on the Eastern continent in 1100AD. Finished it off in 1400. Then back for the Incas and a ROP rape in 1450AD. Took 5 turns with modern Armour leaving only England left in the game.

Army size:
1000AD 12 Knights, 18 Medieval Infantry, 1 Army.
1300AD 13 Tanks, 10 Cav, 3 Knights, 3 Armies.
1440AD 14 Modern Armour, 14 Tanks, 8 Cav, 9 MechInf, 4 Armies.

Lessons Learned.

1. Go for the Resources/Lux ASAP.
2. Grow quicker.
3. FP sooner.
4. Explore faster.
5. Conquer sooner.
6. Think ahead more...

That should about cover it!

Thanks as always to ainwood and Staff. This was as, as usual, an interesting challenge and fun to play. And I learned a bunch of things I didn't know before about Civ in general and C3C in specific.

 

[denyd]

The reports of Incan troops did not surprise William, but he was not happy with the news. “I want a meeting with the Joint Chiefs in 15 minutes” he ordered to his assistant.

“General, it looks like the Incan are planning to challenge our military at Lyons. Are we prepared?” was how the meeting opened. “Sir, we have 6 trebuchets, 4 Swiss Mercenaries for defense and about 10 offensive units, ranging from Elite Ancient Cavalry to Knights. We should be able to easily handle the troops our scouts have reported. We also have the Crusader Army landing near Oxford soon. If the Inca are so foolish to start something, we’ll be able to make them pay” General Grahamiam reported. “Excellent work General, I think we should contact the Incan ambassador and demand removal of his troops. I’d like to see just how determined to go to war they are”, William replied.

Titu Cusi stood nervously as the Dutch leader detailed for him the troops his country had moved across the border. “An incursion of this magnitude must be withdrawn immediately”. Cusi straightened and spoke that no country can dictate borders to the mighty Incan army and that a state of war now existed between their two nations. “As I expected,” William replied, “return to your compound and stay there if you enjoy keeping your head attached to your neck”. As the Incan Ambassador left, William ordered his assistant to fetch him the English Ambassador. Ambassador AlanH was quite happy with his new gift of Navigation and looked forward to the renewed alliance against the aggressive Incan peoples. An additional trade of four luxury items to Cleopatra for some quaint Egyptian wines, seemed to be reason enough for the young Queen to stay neutral.

News of the declaration reached the Dutch troops before the Incan Generals were aware that hostilities had begun. As he led his army of foot soldiers towards the hills overlooking Lyons, Generalissimo Manco, noticed activity on the ridge of the hills. Before he could ask what those large wooden towers were, a huge rock thrown from the Dutch Trebuchet had crushed him into the turf. With their commander dead and giant stones raining down on them, the Incan troops became shaken and proved to be no match for the Dutch attackers who wiped out the entire force. During the battle a Dick Hartog, an Elite Dutch foot soldier, single handedly eliminated and entire Incan Pike detachment, that allowed the Dutch Ancient Cavalry and Knights to annihilate the remaining Incan Longbowmen. This new hero of the Dutch Republic hurried to Lyons and was made the head of the Army of Dutch Knights.

What a great week this has been thought William, Our Crusader Army has easily liberated the Incan city of Oxford, the opening of Newton’s University in The Hague, the trade to acquire saltpeter and gems from the Mayans and then this morning the capture of Warwick from the Incans with 11 slaves and a trebuchet by the Crusader Army and the nightcap of the discovery of Steam Power. Inside what really made him pleased was rebuffing the Incan request for peace. He knew their troops we busy taking English cities and were no match for his Crusader Army and the newly arrived Knight Army marauding in the lands that once belonged to England.

Meanwhile back in Lyons, Major Scoutsout yelled, “Here they come again” and once more the Dutch cannon fire rained down on the incoming Incan Knights. It seemed like for years, the Incan commanders had been sending wave after wave of troops at the city. Many brave Dutch soldiers had died either defending the walls or counterattacking the retreating Incan troops. The Major was intent on preventing any Incan unit from retreating to recover and return to battle, but the available Ancient Cavalry & Knight troops were dwindling and he refused to expose his Crusaders and Foot soldiers to Incan counterattacks. It was during one of these counterattacks that an Elite Ancient Cavalry Commander, Henry Hudson showed himself to go above and beyond the call of duty. As a great leader of the troops he was sent to Paris to form an Army. Much time would pass before Hudson’s Army would find troops suitable to join it.

Ambassador AlanH was not pleased to hear of the end of the alliance against the Inca, but he understood the Dutch desire to rid the world of Spain. The consolation prize of Magnetism for gold, had made the trip worthwhile, soon the English Man O’War would be ruling the waves.
William was pleased with his trading skills had dominated the peace conference. The Incan Ambassador was happy to send gold just to get relief from the onslaught of the Dutch troops and even the Zulu Ambassador joined in to enriching the Dutch treasury for some well-known technology.

“Spain must go, I tire of these sleepless nights wondering when a group of peasants will arise from the darkness and once again declare allegiance to that brazen hussy” William complained “A boatload of elite troops should do the trick General, see to it”.

The Dutch Galleon appeared off the coast of Pamplona the day that war was declared. The Spanish spearmen had no chance against the Dutch foot soldiers and when Wilhem Jantszoon stepped forward to slay the final spearman, the Spanish empire was no more. Isabella soon joined Joan in that private wing of the palace.

The next 350 years were quite peaceful on this little planet as Dutch research continued to produce discoveries on a regular basis, new luxuries became common on the shelves of the Dutch markets, gold from sales of technology came into the Dutch treasury and went out just as fast to replace the hired Swiss troops and the out of date cannons and knights with Dutch Infantry, Artillery and Cavalry. Only a revolt of Hastings to the Inca that killed the garrison broke the calm. Why a city without a single Incan citizen would want to join the Incan Empire still puzzled William.

“Another ceremony” William whined “First, it was letting everyone vote, then that pair of military dedications and now I’m off to open the new financial center and christening a major hydro-electric project. It’ll be days before my train gets back to Amsterdam”

William sat back at his desk smiling. Skaara, the Egyptian Ambassador had left meekly without the spices he had demanded and William waited for his next meeting. “Sir, it’s your Intelligence director, Mad-Bax wishes to see you.”

“Send him in” William bade. Mad-Bax began “The Intelligence Agency is complete and our spy sent word that all is in place in Cuzco. We should have the information you requested by the end of tomorrow.”

“Excellent, we’ll need the Egyptians and Mayans on our side, see to it that embassies are set up there at once and have my aides round up the military leaders for a meeting later today. We’re going to be visiting the Incan lands”

But that tale will have to wait until the saga of Mursilis goes to Alpha Centauri gains another chapter.

 

[Jason Fliegel]

Mine was an Open game. I had entered the Industrial Ages with my home island mostly settled (Spain had a city on the northeastern tip and two cities in the tundra; France also had two cities in the tundra). I also had the nearby horse and iron islands.

I had ended the Middle Ages at the begining of a war with England, and England quickly fell apart between my troops landing from the sea and the Incan troops coming overland. I gained about half a dozen cities in old England and was just finishing the consolidation and getting ready to build my FP in London when the Incans decided they wanted that land. Inca was a military juggernaut, and though I fought valliantly, I ultimately lost the land. By that time, though, 1) I had discovered rubber, so saltpeter was less useful, and 2) Egypt had conquered the Zulu and the Mayans. So I decided to cede the northern half of the western continent to the Inca to keep them as a nice strong check on Egypt's domination ambitions. I fought the Incan war about 18 turns too long thanks to my realizing that continuing the war was a mistake about 2 turns after I signed alliances, but in the end, I got out with my core intact. I even managed to snag all of the Industrial Age wonders (if I'm remembering right).

When oil popped up on the home island, it was just barely in Spanish territory. I was able to found a city to capture the oil. At some point, I also seize the two cities France has on my continent.

Cut to the modern age. Egypt, Inca, Spain, and I are all jockeying for tech lead, but we're all about even. I decide to go for a Space Race victory, since the military and cultural options are out and the U.N. seems too dicey (plus I got a diplomatic victory last game). I'm in a Republic and I decide to try my hand at a little espionage.

Big mistake. Big giant huge mistake.

First I manage to trigger a war with the Inca. I quickly set up a MP with Egypt and let them do the fighting for me. I manage to get out of that war relatively unscathed (I lose one of the islands I had seized from England way back when). To add insult to injury, my espionage effort (a sting operation to reveal the Incan agent in my capital) wasn't even successful.

Not having learned my lesson, I figure I'll plant a spy in Spain to see if I can steal some techs. This triggers another war, and this time Spain brings in Egypt. I spend this war alternating between sending waves of tanks to (unsuccessfully) try to seize the Spanish cities on my island and listening to my diplomatic advisor tell me that Egypt and Spain are ignoring my envoy. Eventually, I manage to sign treaties with both of them. I've lost my horse island to Egypt, but otherwise, I'm unscathed.

Thanks to a 100% research rate, some savvy tech trading, and spaceship part pre-builds, I managed to be the first to launch a ship in the mid-20th century. It was close, though -- Egypt had 8 parts built when I launched. All in all, a fun game. In retrospect, I should have either expanded into Spanish territory like everyone else did (but that Statue of Zeus scared me early on and there was never a goo dopportunity later), or just turtled up on my island, played merchant prince, and glad-handed my way to victory. Trying to establish a base of operations in what was England was a mistake, and trying to play secret agent man was a big mistake.

And once again, I think I'm in the running for a "lowest scoring victory" medal! I'm just proud I won, particularly since this is my first game above Regent level.

 

[Roland Ehnström]

COTM02_Open

Ancient Times: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=1979557&postcount=8

Middle Ages: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=1991780&postcount=21

** INDUSTRIAL AGE - OUR EXPANSION COMES TO A SUDDEN HALT **

1415 AD - We declare war on the Incas, attacking with two Cavalry Armies and 7 single Cavalry units, starting to kill the ancient Inca units one after another.

1425 AD - A massive force of 18 Inca Crusaders scares the cr*p out of our Armies! Especially since they are defended by a number of Riflemen...

1430 AD - We discover Nationalism, and draft and rush-build a number of Riflemen to defend our Cavalry.

1440 AD - Lyons still stands after a heavy attack from the Incas. Our Cavalry Armies pick off a few Inca Riflemen and Crusaders. We get our fourth great leader: Henry Hudson.

1460 AD - We lost one of our three Cavalry Armies when attacking a Crusader...

1475 AD - The Inca capture Besancon (the former French island). Not much of a loss. But they also get Lyons (with four Veteran/Elite Riflemen in it) in a cutural flip, which hurts a lot more!

1495 AD - Our war against the Inca is going absolutely nowhere. They're doing all the attacking, and we are just defending. Our two remaining armies cannot kill the Inca Riflemen any faster than the Incas can build them. We decide to make peace with them, and get Navigation as a bonus. The bad thing is that they are very strong in culture, so I am expecting to lose more cities to them through cultural flips.

1510 AD - I hate being right: We lose Marseilles to the Inca in a cultural flip... Meanwhile, our major cities are building Factories.

1635 AD - Utrecht "builds" Theory of Evolution. We discover Atomic Theory and Electronics, and start building Hoover Dam in Rotterdam.

1670 AD - The Mayas have destroyed the Zulus.

1685 AD - The Inca discover Electronics, and start building Hoover Dam. Ours will be completed in 9 turns - it's gonna be close...

1725 AD - We're doing very well in the tech race. We'll definately be first to Tanks. And ever better: The Inca have neither Coal, Rubber nor Oil!

1730 AD - The Mayas land troops on our Continent! We have plenty of Infantry, so they should are no threat. We politely ask them to leave, which results in them declaring war on us. So we kill their troops, and then bribe the rest of the world to turn against them. Meanwhile, we build Hoover Dam in Rotterdam, beating the Incas.

1735 AD - We build Military Academy in Utrecht, and start pumping out Armies (9 Turns).

1762 AD - We discover Motorized Transportation, and start building Tanks in our major cities. Now we just need to decide whom to attack...

1772 AD - OUR SCIENTISTS DISCOVER FLIGHT, AND WE ENTER THE MODERN TIMES! We are on top in science, score, world area (together with Maya) and population. Numerically, the Incas have the strongest military, but because they have no oil, their best unit is Guerilla (we have Tanks). The Mayas have the weakest military, and are weakest in science. The Incas have the strongest culture. We are at war with the Mayas.

Mistakes made:

1) Needless to say, it was a mistake to attack the Incas at the beginning of the Industrial Age. They were stronger than they appeared, and could pump out Riflemen at an astonishing rate. Instead, we should have built a wall of defensive units on the border to the Incas, and perhaps bribe them with some goods and useless dead-end techs, and then turn our attention east instead. Lesson learned: LISTEN to the military advisor - if he sais they have a "strong" military, they could well have a VERY strong military!

2) When we actually did go to war with the Incas, and found that we could never win it, we should have bribed the English to ally themselves with us against the Inca, before we made peace with the Inca. Lesson learned: Pay more attention to diplomacy, and take ever chance to get your opponents to go to war with each other (especially the ones on your continent).

Strategy for the Modern Times:

We need to use our scientific advantage to take as much land as possible from the Mayas (and possibly Egypt). Then, if we can't get a domination victory quickly enough, we'll go for a Space Race victory.

-- Roland

 

[Roland Ehnström]

** MODERN TIMES - GOING FOR THE WIN **

1788-1822 AD - Our Tank Armies crush the Mayan civilization, taking Umfolozi and Ngome (1788), Bapedi (1790), Hlobane (1792), Ulundi (1794), Tugela and Swazi (1800), Mayapán and Bonampak (1802), Kabáh, Uaxactún and Kaminaljuyú (1804), Ibabanago, Lagartero and Calakmul (1806), Palenque and Aké (1808), Chichén Itza and Cobá (1812), Tikal (1814), Lazapa, Cuelo, Copán and Yaxchilán (1816), Piedras Negras and Quiriguá (1818), Tulúm and Dzibilchaltun (1822). A total of 28 cities captured in 18 turns.

1826 AD - The silly English suddenly attack us with Cavalry, and manage to capture Orleans!

1828 AD - We re-capture Orleans, and kill all the English Cavalry on our land. Then we bribe the Inca and Egypt with some luxuries, to declare war on the English.

1830 AD - We take control of Dover.

1842 AD - London, size 22, falls into our hands, as well as York. Meanwhile, the Incas take Newcastle and Hastings from the English.

1844 AD - We take Nottingham and Canterbury. The Incas pick Oxford and Coventry.

1848 AD - The Incas capture Warwick. The English are now down to just one city, Liverpool, which is positioned on a 1-tile island. We need Marines, but we don't want to waste 4 turns of science, so we let the English live.

1870 AD - We own 50% of the world's landmass and 50% of the world's population. We have a strong military with a number of Armies, but the Egyptians have Tanks and the Incas have Mechanized Infantry (the stupid Egyptians are trading them oil), so we decide to go for a Space Race victory. The Incas are not far from winning a cultural victory, but we should have no problems making it in time.

1942 AD - WE LAUNCH OUR SPACESHIP FOR ALPHA CENTAURI!!!

Mistakes made:

1) I lost patience with all the micromanagement, and played very quick and sloppy in the Modern Times. Lost a bunch of points there I guess. Lesson learned: If you feel you're losing concentration and patience, don't play Civ!

2) Ending up with a Space Race victory when I was planning for a domination victory all through the years, cannot really be ideal... Darn Incas! Lesson learned: Plan your win better - from the very start if possible.

Final Firaxis score: 3017

Jason score: 3507

Not a very good result I guess, but I've learned a bunch of things playing this COTM, and I am confident I will do better in COTM03. As I wrote in the second spoiler thread, I got a very much better result by just making a few things differently in the ancient times. The post is here if you're interested.

-- Roland

 

[dojoboy]

Open

Medieval Age: Spoiler 2

Industrial/Modern Era Plans:

Simple. Plans include: military offensives only to obtain strategic resources; nurture relationships w/ rivals civs, specifically in regard to repairing damaged rep w/ France & Maya due to MA wars; maintain tech advantage and broker techs for gpt deals to maintain research rate; build the UN.

Wonders:

* Newton's University built in Utrecht (1300 AD).
* Theory of Evolution built in Utrecht (1460 AD).
* Intelligence Agency built in Rotterdam (1575 AD).
* Hoover Dam built in Utrecht (1595 AD). Enter Golden Age
* Wall Street built in Groningen (1705 AD).
* United Nations built in Utrecht (1735 AD).

Conflicts:

* I entered the Industrial Age at war w/ France. Aftering capturing Rouen in 1250 AD, I sign a peace deal w/ France for wm & 3 gold; then trade them Metallurgy for dyes & 8 gpt.
* In 1495 AD, three Galleons are dispatched loaded w/ Cavalry toward the western peninular region of the eastern continent. Target: Zulu. There are three Zulu townships there, one of which has coal. This strategic resource is desperately needed to boost production rates and improve Dutch response time in the event of enemy landings. The cavalry divisions are unloaded in Mayan territory (RoP) and moved within range of Amatikulu (coal town). I sign MPP w/ Maya in 1545 AD. That same turn, war is declared on the Zulu and Amatikulu is quickly captured. Since I'm not interested in obtaining any more Zulu lands, I enter into a MA w/ Egypt (paying 290 gold). Over the next few turns, the MA's cascade against the Zulu. Therefore, Amatikulu is never under a direct threat of being lost. I sign a peace treaty w/ the Zulu in 1650 AD, gaining Umfolozi & 18 gold. Three turns later, the Zulu are destroyed by Maya.

Research:

* Medicine (1320 AD); trade it to Inca for Nationalism, plus gold/goods; trade it to Maya for Democracy, plus gold/goods.
* Electricity (1360 AD).
* Scientific Method (1390 AD).
* Industrialization (1420 AD); trade it to Egypt for Free Artistry, plus gold/goods; trade Electricity to Spain for Facism, plus gold/goods.
* Replaceable Parts (1455 AD).
* Trade Scientific Method to Inca for Corporation, plus gold/goods (1460 AD).
* Refining (1495 AD).
* Trade Atomic Theory to Inca for Communism, Espionage, plus gold/goods (1520 AD).
* Combustion (1560 AD).
* Motorized Transportation (1615 AD).
* Trade Steel (forget when I got it) to Egypt for Ironlcads, plus gold/goods (1620 AD).
* Flight (1645 AD). Enter Modern Era
* Fission (1690 AD).
* Rocketry (????).

Assessment:

Enjoyed the game very much. I felt I researched technology better in this game than in any time I can remember. Increasing my tech rate skill is one of my on-going goals. I never felt the game was in jeopardy. And, having a landmass more or less to myself (allowed Spain to keep a city in the tundra region), no rival would ever be able to threaten me. Thanks for the game ainwood and staff.

Result:

Diplomatic Victory (Election: 6 - 1) in 1735 AD, w/ Inca providing the only dissenting vote.

Firaxis Score --- 2342
Jason Score --- 4744.

 

[eldar]

Open

Middle Ages (w/link back to AA)

It's 1310, and I've entered the Industrial Ages. I have a tech lead, and still have an open mind. My lack of Saltpeter means I've not researched MT yet - Knights were enough to see off Spain and France. Inca, though, has swallowed up England and is my equal militarily. My army pauses.

In 1425, my FP is finally completed in Madrid. It's been a long slog, but should be worth it in the end. I also manage to secure source of Saltpeter and start building Cavs.

My wonder building is going well. The Hague has Newton's, JS Bach's in Rotterdam, and The Hague would later get Shakey's, ToE, and Hoover, which triggered my GA

My indecision got the better of me, in the end. I landed 30+ Cavs on Zulu soil in the mid-1600s, easily taking two cities (Bapedi and Zimbabwe). Zulu had RRd by then, had resources, and counter-attacked. I couldn't hold either city, and instead of pulling my Galleons back in to pull out my troops, I tried to hold - and lost my armies. In 1680, my military reduced to home defensive units, I signed peace with Zulu and limped off licking my wounds.

There would be no Domination victory.

The modern era started sometime after 1800, with the Fission and the UN built soon after. The UN was completed in The Hague in 1824, and I held an immediate vote, confident that I'd win (my girlfriend was kind of hoping that I'd win, too, since she was getting fed up with me ignorning her for 'this silly game').

I pulled in 3 votes, Inca 1... and two abstensions! TWO?! Zulu I can understand, after the war. But Cleo? She'd always been polite to me, but, no, suddenly she's Annoyed with me. A hung vote, inconclusive, so I spend the next 11 turns being very nice to people and win the second vote with 4 votes to Inca's 1 and Zulu's abstension in 1848.

So I'm two-for-two at Monarch (and aside from a dodgy period after the Zulu war, this was far more comfortable a win than GOTM32).

In summary:
Software Version: C3C 1.22f for Windows
Entry class: open
Game status: Diplomatic Victory for Netherlands
Game date: 1848 AD
Firaxis score: 2930
Jason score: 4161
Time played: 11:22:57

Denied 20-odd points by Cleo!

Neil.

 

[SniperDevil]

I am having trouble uploading my pictures so sry but i will not be able to show them.

Well i had a lot of problems in the Industrial and Modern Ages. I had conquered all of Spain, but was only to lose it all to the treacherous Incans. After this point the other nations had wiped everyone out and it was just me, Inca, and Egypt. Egypt was my best friend. Cleopatra was gracious towards me and loved me. We were constantly at war with Inca. I never lost a single city from my continent. But I lost all the cities that i had gained by war. I had no chance for any kind of domination or conquest victoy. So i decided to go for a diplomatic.

I managed to get Fission before anyone else and i built the United Nations. I gifted Egypt 4000 gold just to make sure that she would stay "gracious" with
me. THe votes were held. I of course voted for myself. The Incas voted for themselves. The Egyptians voted for themselves even though they were "gracious towards me. I held three more elections with the same result and not it is 1940 AD.

I dont know what to do and I dont know why Egypt wont vote for me any help?

 

[dojoboy]

I dont know what to do and I dont know why Egypt wont vote for me any help?

Egypt isn't voting for you because Cleopatra meets the requirements (Pop % & land %) to be a candidate. So, she is also voting for herself and wondering why that silly leader of the Dutch isn't voting for her.

It looks like your remaining options are spacerace or histograph, and it doesn't sound like you'd win by histograph.

 

[predesad]

I dont have any screenshots of my game, sorry, and I am also not sure about dates, i blame it on poor organizational skills.

My choice of victory was diplomatic simply because i waited too long too invade spain way back in the middle ages. i fought a brief war with them which netted me only three cities, one of those was on an island and the other flipped back to spain long after the war was over. I had had no saltpeter, but neither had spain, but while i had built up my military and planned for the invasion other civs had discovered gunpowder and spain managed to trade for one. I decided to back out of the war because i did not have enough troops to take and hold the capitol, i wish now i had razed the captiol instead of offering peace. But, instead I decided for a bit of a challenge, i claimed no more land than the initial starting continent (island) and several island cities as well as one of the Spanish cities I had conquered. My objective was to stay small and get the victory which i saw as a challenge. Inca and Egypt were both big and powerful halfway through the industrial ages, england was resigned to a one tile island, as well as the zulu. the Mayans were eliminated by egypt. france and spain were about the same size as i.

i brokered techs furiously staying a tech ahead while stockpiling cannon / artillery and cavalry (egypt traded saltpeter and coal to me) in case of an invasion, which never came. I railroaded everything and felt secure defensively and had over 200gpt coming in from the other civs which paid for my unit costs under a democracy. i stockpiled a lot of units also just as a deterrent to the AI to keep them from demanding tribute from me.

i went for TOE early in the industrial age, claimed atomic theory and electronics with it and then built Hoover Dam. that was the truing point in the game, the AI stayed several techs behind after that and my production shot up.

the other challnege was reconciling with spain who remained furious or annoyed with me after our brief war. finally, i agreed to an MPP even though i wanted to stay out of war because it would hurt trading opportunities.

Shortly before i built the UN, The Inca declared war on Egypt. Then Egypt convinced Spain to sign and alliance against the Inca. A few turns later my MPP was invoked and i lost a lot of gpt from the inca. France also had MPP with Spain and the joined the war. Realizing the election was going to be soon i tried to get as cozy with everyone as i could so i sigend an alliance with spain, france and egypt and MPP with france in addition to the one with spain. england also joined the war against the inca, but zulu remained neutral. Spain went immediately from annoyed to polite with me and before any real battles took place i had built the UN Egypt voted for themselves, Inca abstained, England voted for Egypt (which really annoyed me becuase I had gifted England tech after tech once they were reduced to 1 tile) but France, Spain, the Zulu and myself of course voted for me. I probably owe the victory to the war because i had counted on France, England, and Zulu votes, without the war Spain would not have gone polite and would not have voted for me, I am still perturbed at Elizabeth for voting for Egypt.

One mistake I made in this game I regretted was waiting for saltpeter to invade Spain with Knights. I wanted to upgrade my trebs to cannon. That wait cost me. Another mistake was I waited too long to do a palace jump to get my capitol centrally located. But in making these mistakes i enjoyed the challenge of staying small and remaining a power nonetheless.

One complaint I have about this COTM is the map. The small island to the south of the starting continent where the horse and iron resource were located should have had sea tiles placed around the coast instead of going directly from coast to ocean. This had a slight impact on my game at times. I respectfully request when maps are modified that the sea tiles be placed around the islands which are added.

 

[rrau]

open

My goal was domination victory and to this point had captured most England and Spain and was planning to go pick off remaining Zulu then Maya and avoid the Inca Juggarnaut at all costs We are 1st in land area at this time

1580 England banished to a one tile island - but did extract ToG in peace treaty and entered IA

1680 inca dow on us - they have infantry and we had shut off most research except for scientists in corrupt cities after Military Tradition

1700 I have razed 3 inca cities and they won't talk

1705 2nd leader - army

1720 We're just barely hanging on, inca still won't talk

1725 captured ollantaytambo, don't know if we'll keep it

1730 PEACE with Inca for only 235g and 7 gpt

1764 Egypt apparently made the world mad - everyone except us dow on her this turn

1766 ollantaytambo flipped back to inca - lost 1 unit - rest were outside the town

1782 we join the rest of the world and dow on egypt after she's spent the bulk of her troops. We take a few towns and make peace about 10 turns later. Start to build military to take out 2 remaining zulu cities and maya at the same time since they have MMP with each other

1832 inca dow on us (I think this is the beginning of the end ) they have tow infantry and cruise missiles and bombers against our cavs and swiss mercenaries.) Will try gifting cities about to fall to other civs to hopefully get them into the war and to like me and will try to hold on until someone builds the UN (we're first in land, but way behind in tech)
1836 Well, it didn't work the inca are bypassing those undefended cities for us - but inca are building the UN - tired of the game and know will lose so will just shift enter until then as I can't retire and submit

1858ibt egypt declared war on inca after they took one of my cities on their continent

1872 inca built UN but didn't call vote

1920 start disbanding troops, and make peace with inca gifting them cities, then next turn, dow inca again

I think finally about 1948 or so, I had a conquest loss after 3 or 4 of my cities were nuked. Probably could have made peace at sometime and suffered a spaceship loss instead of a conquest loss, but does it really make any difference?

 

[smackster]

One complaint I have about this COTM is the map. The small island to the south of the starting continent where the horse and iron resource were located should have had sea tiles placed around the coast instead of going directly from coast to ocean. This had a slight impact on my game at times. I respectfully request when maps are modified that the sea tiles be placed around the islands which are added.

Care to elaborate on that slight impact you suffered from?

 

[SniperDevil]

It looks like your remaining options are spacerace or histograph, and it doesn't sound like you'd win by histograph.

Only problem is that i stopped research once i got to Fission so that i could make big bucks to bribe people

 

[dmanakho]

In my game i never had any offensive wars and all my cities were still on my island, plus i colonized 3 small islands. I only had 2 or 3 defensive wars with Egypt, but i would not even call them wars since none of my units ever entered a single battle and none of egyptians unit ever landed on my soil...

It was the fastest game for this size map i played ever.. It lasted less than 6 hours totall and i easily won a diplomatic victory in 1700AD.

I have had a problem in the beggining/middle of the industrial age without having a coal, but then a nice trade with egypt brought me coal and my cities became productive.

It was somewhat different game, i always do lots of exhausting war mongering, but here i had one of the easiest victory's in my experience.

 

[smackster]

Only problem is that i stopped research once i got to Fission so that i could make big bucks to bribe people

If I remember the attitude article correctly, maximum effect is achieved with only 100 Gold, which reduces at 10GPT, anymore is a waste. Add Alliance, MPP, ROP and that is probably the best attitude you will get.

Smackster

 

[predesad]

Care to elaborate on that slight impact you suffered from?

One thing is that in those cities i could have built hospitals and continued their growth with the food / commerce from sea tiles which are not there in ocean tiles. Another thing which was just slightly annoying, during the brief period in which my ships were safe from sinking in sea but not yet ocean (between astronomy and magnetism) there were a few times when i could have saved an extra move with ships going from the island to the other continent if there was a sea tile present around my island. But like I said this was just a slight impact.

 

[Darkness]

Predator

We entered the industrial age in 470AD by trading for metallurgy.

540AD – Steam power. Great, no coal on my island and I can’t trade for it either. Egypt has only one source and the Zulus don’t have any either. All the other civs have not yet built harbors……
610AD - Industrialization
680AD – Electricity
740AD – Replacable parts
780AD – French build Shakespeares Theatre
800AD – Medicine
850AD – The Corporation
900AD – The Spanish declare war on us, costing us our source of Ivory. Our Swiss mercenary withstands the sneak attack, but the Spanish ancient cavalry retreats before our GA can be triggered.
910AD – Scientific method
920AD – The Hague builds Universal Suffrage
940AD – Vitoria captured. GA triggered
960AD – Arnhem builds ToE. Free techs: Atomic theory and electronics. Santander captured
We make peace with the Spanish in exchange for the city of Pamplona, eliminating Spain from our island…
1010AD – Refining
1050AD – Steel
1080AD – Intelligence Agency built in Arnhem
1100AD – Combustion
1110AD – The Hague builds Hoover Dam. Santander flips back to the Spanish
1140AD – Mass production
1190AD – Motorized transportation
1250AD – Flight
Enter modern age
1370AD – Arnhem builds the Internet
1395AD – Apollo Program built. Spaceship 1/10
1400AD – Spain completes Seti Program. Spaceship 2/10
1410AD – Spaceship 3/10
1445AD – Spaceship 4/10
1455AD – Spaceship 5/10
1490AD – Spaceship 6/10
1495AD – Spaceship 7/10
1530AD – Arnhem builds UN (just for denial purposes)
1540AD – Spaceship 8/10
1545AD – Spaceship 9/10
1570AD – Spaceship 10/10 -> launch. Space ship win. 19h27m12s. 3070 Firaxis points. Jason: 5984