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

smackster said:
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
That is my understanding, also. For the entire game, there is a 100g maximum limit. After you have gifted 100g, there is no effect on attitude. Money can't buy you love... :rolleyes:
 
swordsman_small.gif
[c3c] 1.22f

Ancient Age Report, 4000 BC - 825 BC

Middle Ages Report, 825 BC - 630 AD

The Dutch entered the IA in 630 AD. Started on Steam Power right away. Plan was to stay peaceful, and located only on starting Continent, mainly to explore the impact of restricted resources on a limited empire in C3C.

Research started off around 9 Turns per Tech; we are still somewhat small and not fully developed. Plan to kick off GA by building Magellan's Voyage and UnivSuff. Magellan's finished in 650AD; Steam Power learned in 720 AD (9 turns); Industrialism learned in 800 AD (8 turns); pre-build in capital (Utrecht) switched over to UnivSuff, still 19 turns to go (but the AI is still behind in Tech)

I used Steam Power to renew my Luxury deals in 760. This also got the AI cracking on connecting their Coal sources (We of course had none!). Spain had two (neither connected) and Egypt 2 as well (one connected). And this might put an AI over to researching Medicine; I know most are focused on Nationalism.

Learn Electricity in 880 AD, trade around for MilTrad, Nationalism (now available) and Saltpeter; AI can now research Replaceable Parts for me as well as Medicine. Cavalry upgrades occur, and new ones are built. I still retain Industrialism as a unique tech.

940 AD Learn Corporation

960 AD Trade Industrialism to renew Luxury trades, and get Communism

990 AD Finish UnivSuffrage and the GA is on!

1020 Learn Refining; no Oil (Inca are on tundra Oil to West); Egypt has two sources, but one is on an island with no Harbor

1070 Learn Steel; Medicine is available! Trade Corp for Medicine, Gold and Maps. Each trade I take as much gpt as available. I'm able to maintain 100% research rate; the incoming gold trade covers my Maintenance and Unit costs; I'm usually running a large positive cash flow.

1090 Trade Communism to Maya for Gems and Saltpeter; I now have 5 Luxuries; Replaceable Parts is available

1110 Learn Scientific Method; switch pre-build to TofE - 8 turns; set up 8 turn research of Atomic Theory; Trade Refining for ReplParts, Fascism, etc; we have Rubber!

1160 Renew Luxury trade with Scientific Method

1190 Learn Atomic Theory; finish TofE, Learn Electronics and Combustion; switch Palace pre-build to Hoover's Dam (22 turns to complete); GA is over :(

1200 Okay, we're about to leave the IA, and we still have no coal. This must be changed. 4 civs (Spain, Zulu, Maya, and Egypt) have coal, Spain and Egypt have 2; they must be trading it so who is getting it? I trade my WM for TM with each of France, Inca and England; hmmm, who is getting the coal?

cvst_c03_ad1200CapsCoal.JPG


England is my target. So much for being totally peaceful. I will wait until Egypt gets it's 2nd Oil connected, and then try to relieve England of her coal shipments.

1210 F2 shows that Egypt has Oil to trade. Declare War on England. Use Steel to get Egypt to Declare, and get her Oil. No Coal available. Use Scientific Method to get Spain to Declare. Hurray, Coal is available (F2 key), and an Ivory is now free as well. Trade Steel for Coal and Ivory, and get my Workers building Railroads. Use Steel (or older Techs) to get EVERYBODY at war with England. The rest are all Gracious to me, now.

1220 Oh well, I decide to capture the one English town on the Tundra part of my island. That is it for combat between me and England. (We Dutch are peaceful, but let's share the coal, shall we?)

1250 Learn Mass Prod; start getting Commercial Docks built in some coastal cities.

1280 Learn MotorTransp; start producing Tanks while I have Oil

1305 Renew Luxury deal (2 from Egypt, 1 from France) for Atomic Theory; Gold, gpt and Maps, too, of course

1310 Hoover's Dam is completed; big Production increase

1315 Learn Flight. We have reached the Modern Era.

None of the AI know Combustion or Electronics; Zulu and Maya are further behind. I plan to cruise through the Modern Age, heading for a SpaceShip launch; I'm experiencing 10 turn research right now, but once I get Research Labs built, and Hospitals (once SOMEONE researches Sanitation), that should get cut down a lot. Maybe 1700 or so; we'll see. I'll probably have to be creative regarding getting the other resources I require; at some point the AI will have to know (or be taught) Rocketry and Fission, to provide me those resouces. We'll see.
 
Lmtoops said:
That is my understanding, also. For the entire game, there is a 100g maximum limit. After you have gifted 100g, there is no effect on attitude. Money can't buy you love... :rolleyes:
I actually thought that you get 10 attitutde point for 100g, and then that goes down by one per turn, so you keep giving them 10GPT to stay at the max benifit. I only ever use this the turn before a UN vote however, but that's what I remember from the article.
 
COTM 02 – The Dutch (Open)
Industrial Age/End Game 1450 AD – 1884 AD

With the new scientific advances “taught” to the Dutch Republic by Spanish scientists after the War of Spanish Succession, a new industrial age dawned in 1450 AD. The Dutch trading empire was secure in its homeland, busy integrating its new Spanish possessions in to the Republic and securing the Dutch East Africa territories. But trouble was brewing to the north as the Incan ambassador started to make threatening moves towards our staunch ally “Saint” Joan and troubling reports of Incan knights moving south reached the Senate just as the new age was being ushered in. The Dutch Senate, despite all its wisdom in guiding our tiny nation through 5,000 years of history, seemed distracted and singularly unconcerned about the appearance of powerful new military units called Cavalry in the armies of other nations and the disturbing lack of a substance called saltpeter that was being put to good use by other nation’s scientists.

Incan treachery, predictable by their military maneuvers, soon followed as they declared war without any of the formal negotiations usually preceding such events. Already at war with England, and soon thereafter to declare against France, the Incan Emperor seemed determined to bring the whole of the continent under his control. However, an initial army of Incan knights ran itself to ground on the pikes of our staunch Swiss Mercenaries and the war ground down to a stalemate over our captured Spanish towns. Peace was enforced a century later, with only the French territories lessened by the constant swings of fortune.

It was however still early in the Incan war of conquest when the wisdom of establishing our overseas colonies became apparent. Spurred on by the new age, Dutch scientists discovered Steam Power and the mighty ability of coal to fuel an industrial revolution. Still hurting from its dependence on foreign saltpeter, too often withheld in centuries past, the Senate demanded an immediate inventory of what domestic deposits of this strategic resource where to be found across the Republic. “Oh Happy Day!” one senator was heard to remark, “Oh Happy, Happy Day!” when it was discovered that fully 66% of the world’s supply of coal was clearly already the property of the Dutch East African Trading Company and the rest was in the hands of our staunch friends the Egyptians. With a near monopoly on this precious resource, there was little to be feared from our enemies in the world.

The incessant war with the Mayans, mostly prosecuted by our allies Egypt and Zululand, finally ended in 1520 and peace reigned on three continents, at least in Dutch territory. Resources were poured in to scientific research, and a new concept of government, Democracy was established after several decades of troubling anarchy. Great engineering wonders such as the Hoover Dam and exciting scientific breakthroughs such as the Theory of Evolution soon followed. Along with this sustained period of prosperity, Dutch intellectuals and thinkers started to propose extending our peaceful society throughout the world through a government of “united nations”. A concept that gained momentum in 1630 AD when rubber emerged as another strategic resource and it was learnt that the Dutch East Africa Company controlled 80% of that precious resource as well. “Can there be any doubt God is a Dutchman?” became a popular saying on the streets of The Hague. The less generous Spanish translation in the streets of Madrid was more along the lines of “The Dutch; a bunch of overgrown farmer’s boys with horseshoes up their a****.

However, the other nations of the world were less than convinced of the power of peaceful co-existence. In a short, brutal war, the Incas annihilated the French and were only stopped from further annexations by a combined English-Dutch defensive alliance that saw a few former French towns seized by Dutch infantry to form a demilitarized zone. The grand vision of a “United Nations” was completed in 1860, but fearing its implications and obviously suffering from the final stages of syphilis, President Shaka of the Zulu declared war on our long-time ally Egypt, even as the final bricks were being laid for the new buildings. Before even the first vote could be held, the “Mad Zulu’s War” had escalated completely out of hand. Egypt, the Mayans, England and even the distant Incas were all arrayed against Shaka’s troops, while interlocking alliances forced the Dutch President’s hand and sent our infantry, cavalry artillery and bombers in to the fight. Despite desperate pleadings from The Hague, Shaka resolutely refused to support our election to the presidency of the United Nations, which combined with the expected Incan antipathy towards anything Dutch, left a stalemate in the election against England. Shaka was to regret such insanity; facing the combined might of every other nation in the world, outclassed, outgunned and out-maneuvered, lacking even the most rudimentary of strategic resources, the Zulu’s fine cities were reduced to rubble and its poor people turned in to refugees, long before the next vote was held at the United Nations. In 1884, having seen the horrors of industrial warfare and guided by the Dutch example of peaceful trade and co-existence, the world’s nations elected President William to head the United Nations, despite the defacto abstention by the Incan ambassador.

If only Shaka had listened 20 year earlier, the might Zulu people could have participated in the glorious millennia of peace that followed the Dutch victory of diplomacy over warfare. Instead a once proud people were relegated to the dustbin of history as migrant workers of the lands they once ruled. “Madness and folly, madness and folly” President William was often heard to mutter in his declining years.
 
PREDITOR - CONQUEST LOSE

Alas, I have lost. My main mistake was asking the incans to help me destroy the spanish. Then they tried to destory me. i had a single well defended city left on the continent, but that fell when it was bombard to hell with bombers. After that they jumped on my main land and bombed me to death. I was far from getting air defence and lost on a conquest defeat :(

I learnt a lot and am still mastering Emporer level. I started a random map and am already doing well.

You can't defend from bombers if you do not have flight can you?
 
COTM II Predator


My middle ages were fairly uneventful, so I decided to just jump to this thread and pick up when I entered the IA in 700 AD.

Wars

I had just two wars for the rest of the game, and both of them were with Spain. I started the first around 700, and my invasion force consisted of 4 MDI and 2 Swiss Mercs. I know, quite intimidating :lol:
I landed them next to Toledo, the Spanish Ivory city. I managed to take the city and hold it for a turn or so before it flipped back. Before it did though, a Spanish warrior was kind enough to impale himself on on eof my Swiss Mercs, starting my GA. That was the only real goal of the war; if I could have held onto the Ivory it would have been nice, but I survived without it.

I built up cavalry up until 1000 AD, when I declared on Spain again. The purpose of this war was to get Spain's coal, as I was tired of waiting for them to hook up their second supply. This time my initial force of 8 cavs took Toledo for good. As I gained more cavs, I finally managed an assault upon Barcelona, which was successful. About 7 turns after that I finally had coal flowing and rails being built. I continued the war, taking the rest of Spain and picking up two more luxuries in addition to the Ivory. I also got a MGL in 1220 which I used to make a cav army. That was the extent of my warring for this game.

Research

The start of my Golden Age at the beginning of the IA helped me out, as did the completion of Newton's in 710. The Inca turned out to be worthwhile trading partners. I decied to take the lower branch of the tech tree after I researched Steam Power, going for Medicne, Electricity, Rep. Parts, Scie Method, AT, and Electronics. While I research all those, the AI(lead by the Inca) researched Industrialization, The Corporation, and Steel for me. That ended up shaving at least 15 turns off my finish. I traded the tech I had for the ones I didn't, and then researched as fast as I could through the rest of the techs.

I had a plan set to have dual prebuilds, one for ToE and one for the UN. I planned to use the ToE to grab Flight and Fission, and then switch my other prebuild to the UN and call the vote ASAP. This didn't quite work out as planned, as I noticed the Inac were gong to complete ToE before I was ready to use it as I mentioned. I ended up having to switch early, instead learning Motorized Transportation and Flight, entering the Modern Age in 1310. I was forced to do a grueling research of Fission, which took 10 turns at 100% science.

I finally learned Fission in 1360, and switch my prebuild in Groningen over to the UN, which was now due in five turns. I managed to shave a turn off by reassigning some workers, and completed it in 1380, upon which I held the vote, which looked like this.....

KB1COTM2.JPG


So, in the end I had a Diplo victory in 1380 AD, for a Jason score of 7155.

This was a very enjoyable and unique game, just like all the others. I suppose it's time I got started on GOTM 33...
 
@Kaiser Berger,

Nice pace through IA! Would your particular game have been better of going fast for Education and timing your Golden Age to a GA boosted Universities/copernicus/Newton build? I know mine would have if I had known that I was going for UN vote. But that desicion came first halfway through the IA...
 
Singularity said:
@Kaiser Berger,

Nice pace through IA! Would your particular game have been better of going fast for Education and timing your Golden Age to a GA boosted Universities/copernicus/Newton build? I know mine would have if I had known that I was going for UN vote. But that desicion came first halfway through the IA...


Thanks! Your tech pace was impressive as well, considering you put a lot more resources into warring than I did.

Yes, I would have much preferred triggering my GA around that time. In a perfect game I'd have my GA so it's boost would allow me to research at a 4-turn pace while I get universities in place, and then use all those unis to maintian the 4-turn pace one the GA is done. In this game I didn't really have the resources together to start my GA until around the time that I did, as I was busy trading and keeping up in the Middle Ages along with building up my infrastructure.
 
Yay i finally finished my game! Since i couldnt win the elections cause cleopatra was to stubborn and since i stopped my tech rate when i got to fission i had no chance of winning so i tried to delay Incans from builinding the components of the spaceship. They finished building there spaceship in 1988. I had a Fireaxis score of 1265 and a Jason score of 984. My Jason score is always lower :(..... well this was my first monarch game and i feel that i am learning a lot. Thank you for all the help that you guys have given.
 
SniperDevil said:
I guess i will have to find a way to lose :(

SniperDevil, the description of your world reminds me a lot my own. Except most of the time I am in war with both Inca and Egypt (I had somewhat succesfull wars with Spain, England and Zulu, but didn't manage to keep those cities). I am sure if I will call for UN vote, I have no chance to win. But I may go for it anyway as future doesn't look shiny and I am so tired of a war, because it is about surviving, not wining. So you are not alone, we still can compete for the score among loosers.
 
Looks like there's an awful lot of diplo wins this cotm...

I entered the IA in 1050 AD :eek:
Imagine how frustrated I was at my MA research, having left the AA in around 800BC :mad:

After having around 35% of world territory following Inca's defeat and Lizzie being stuck on her one-tile island (couldn't get it in a peace deal and Egypt had contacted them anyway so I decided to keep her in the game), I decided to fill in the gaps and go for max research towards fission.

I entered the IA in 1445 AD by researching Motorized transport and ToE'ing Flight and Fission on the same turn. Prebuild for UN had 6 turns left IIRC.

Cleo then decided to sneak on me, saving me from making my 7th war declaration in a diplo game :mischief:
I ganged Shaka and Mr. Jag up against her and won a diplo victory in 1470 AD after destroying the Spanish and the French, razing 4 Spanish and a French city in the process. Only one I didn't war throughout the game was Maya. I actually got Hlobane in a peace deal from Shaka in the QSC period :lol:

Cotm2_finish.jpg


Firaxis score: 5233
Jason score: 8131
Time played: 36:33:47
 
I think I will enter the competition for highest ever war weariness in a republic. and biggest mistake in COTM2!

20 entertainers needed to get the city out of riot. It probably would have been more had the city not had Shakespears theatre in it.

It is a good lesson, in that if you give a big enough target to the AI even they cannot fail to take it.

I was playing on the eastern continent, just pushing the egyptians around with culture, (settler , rush library, rail and irrigate everywhere). but I forgot to airlift over some tanks. :rolleyes:

in 2 turns egypt took 10 undefended cityies, 3 defended cities, and kicked me off the continent. I still should win, as soon as there envoy will see me he will find he has done the best bit of pointy stick research ever (I have about 5 techs I can gift them!)
 
The biggest lesson I learned echoes what many have said here... conquer sooner. Instead of attacking the northern continent early, I chose to build up my home continent first... which gave the enemy time to dig in. Launching my attack 10 or 20 turns earlier (and putting off some temples and librarys) would have really helped.

As it was, this was my first GOTM so I will take the lessons I learned and do better next time!
 
Link to earlier Ramblings


1000AD Steam Power
1030AD Built NEWTON’S UNIVERSITY
1050AD Medicine (learned in 5)
1070AD Built Smith’s Trading Company
1110D Electricity (learned in 6)
1150D Scientific Method (learned in 4)
1190AD Industrialization (learned in 4)

Blunder of the Month – Until this point I was importing 5 luxuries from the other civs. I had 2 luxury deals come up for renewal on the IBT to 1200AD, but my other 3 deals were set to expire in the next 2 turns also. So I decided to wait and trade one tech around the horn to renew all the deals. Unfortunately I lost out on all the luxury deals and finished the game with only 2 luxury (I was able to keep my ivory deal in place). This slowed my tech pace down from 4-5 turns to 5-6 a tech, which cost me about 10-15 turns towards my pre1500 Diplo victory.

1240AD The Corporation (learned in 5)
1270AD Steel (5)
1300AD Replaceable Parts (6)
1325AD Built Theory of Evolution – learn Atomic Theory & Electronics
1350AD Refining (5)
1380AD Combustion (6)
1400AD trade for Fascism & Communism
1405AD Mass Production (5)
1435AD Motorized Transportation (6) – built Hoover Dam
1465AD Flight (6) – Entered Modern Age
1510AD Fission (9) (timed it to come in 1 turn before my palace prebuild completed) - still had to wait 11 turns to build the UN
1565D built UN – vote – 6-2 Diplo Victory achieved
score F3067 J5900

Not as good as I hoped for. I had debated on whether a Space victory would have acheived a higher score at this point. I never actively went to war in this game having to only stave off a few weak English attemps. Except for the two small islands I never landed a troop on any other landmass.

Looking back I think had I moved the settler (or jumped the palace) as other players did I could have expanded faster and have won the game much earlier.

Chalk this one up to experience.
 
I also achieved a diplomatic victory. Somehow, my military never really matched up all that well, so I just tried to get the tech pace moving fast. And it sort of did, or at least compared to most games I play. Towards the end though, it really dragged, and I had to research the last few industrial techs and fission, at 5-7 techs/turn. Managed to get the votes on the first try, even though both Egypt and Inca qualified (which really scared me, since that meant Spain and the Maya both had to vote for me). Finished 1778 I think, with game score around 2000, Jason score around 4000. I don't remember exactly, since I finished two weeks ago, and don't feel like checking.
 
swordsman_small.gif
(predator, going for histographic win)

Link to Ancient Age spoiler
Link to Middle Ages spoiler

Early in the Industrial Age I mopped up the remnants of France (510AD) and Inca (530AD), leaving just England on the western continent.

I declared war on England in 560AD and began my invasion. At the start of this invasion I had 31 Knights. A priority goal was to take England's saltpeter. I took it in 630AD and began upgrading units. With Cavalry my invasion accelerated and in 680AD I had reduced England to two cities - her capital on the continent and her one tile island city. At this point I stopped attacking, hoping to exert enough cultural pressure on the island city to take it before having Marines. This didn't work so it ended up being much later before I could finally finish off England.

In 680AD I learned Replaceable Parts - Steam Power, Electricity, and Replaceable Parts had each taken 7 turns to learn. I then turned off research for a while to make funds available for rushing.

I chose Egypt as my first target on the other continent. She was a good place to start because she had three luxuries I wanted and she was somewhat backward. In 720AD I declared war and my first units landed on Egypt's east coast - a Knight army, a Cavalry army, and four individual Cavalry.

During my invasion of Egypt I continued to capture instead of raze cities. I had almost three times her culture and it was likely that I could leave units in cities to heal. But not certain. Twice I lost cities to culture flips and lost an army along with the city. I lost a third army being a bit over-aggressive in my advance. I had my Military Academy up and running though and that provided new armies.

By 860AD I had four armies, had eight luxuries connected, had almost eliminated Egypt, and was 113 tiles from Domination:

sirplebc02-3a.jpg


I gave Egypt peace for a one tile island city and started research again, heading toward Amphibious Warfare for Marines. I also declared war on the Zulu at this time and began invading them.

I razed most Zulu cities. In 960AD they were down to a few cities. I gave them peace, then declared on the Maya and began war on them.

In 1010AD I took the Pyramids from Maya. This wonder would help considerably with rebuilding the eastern continent.

By 1100AD I controlled nearly all of the world:

sirplebc02-3b.jpg


There were still scattered cities belonging to England, Egypt, Zulu, and Maya. But my energy by this date was mostly focused on reorganizing my holdings and building them up to maximize score. I'd made a start already, e.g. abandoning the western tundra near home in favor of better lands elsewhere. Civil Engineers were helping enormously, building improvements such as aqueducts, harbors, and marketplaces in corrupt cities at a reasonable pace.

In 1180AD I learned Amphibious War. (Research times had been Industrialization 4, Corporation 4, Refining 6, Steel 4, Combustion 4, Mass Production 6, Amphibious War 4.)

By this time I'd founded "Padded Cell" in the north of the eastern continent. I gave it to Egypt and then returned to war with all of my rivals. And by 1255AD I'd eliminated them all except Egypt, who had just her Padded Cell left, surrounded by my troops of course:

sirplebc02-3c.jpg


After this I had no further warfare. Egypt remained quiet until the end of the game. I continued reorganizing land and rebuilding for a fair while. In 1530AD I finished my last city improvement and all cities were producing wealth. My final map from that date onward looked like this:

sirplebc02-3d.jpg


After 1530AD it was just a matter of dealing with pollution each turn until the end of the game at 2050AD. Dianthus' CRpMapStat utility (available here) was a great help in this phase (it also helps with others!), largely eliminating the tedium in the final stage.
 
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