Conquest 03: Final Spoiler

[Dianthus]

Spoiler 1: Ancient Age (4000BC-800BC)
Spoiler 2: Middle Ages (800BC-370AD)

Spoiler 3: Industrial Ages/Modern Times (370AD-1365AD)
I gifted the Russians/Persians/Ottomans into the Industial Ages and immediately traded Medicine (my free tech) for Steam power. I then had a little hunt for Coal. It didn't surprise me to find there wasn't any in my territory, but I expected there to be some in the Indian territory! At this point I resigned myself to having difficulty trading for Coal, so I decided on Diplomacy rather than Space as I would really need rails to get high enough production to make Space feasible.

I continued researching at max and was eventually able to trade for Military Tradition in 430AD. It took a while to upgrade my Horses to Cavalry, and even then I was weak compared to India.

1st India War (490AD-630AD)
I declared war on India in 490AD, and traded techs to the Vikings/Persians/Dutch for an Alliance against them. I managed to trigger my golden age during the 1st turn of the war by lethal bombaring an Indian Galley with my Dromon. At this point I had 16 Cavalry and was weak compared to them, so I razed the 1st Indian town at the choke point, then attacked the Indian War Elephants as they entered my territory. The Indian War Elephants were slowed by the hill so were unable to attack my troops healing in Chalcedon and I was able to pick them off easily:


I gained 2 leaders during the skirmishing, which I used for armies. In 560AD I was still weak compared to the Indians, but the War Elephants had slowed to a trickle, and I was pretty confident with my armies. I captured Delhi in 620AD complete with The Great Library (obsolete), The Oracle & Smith's Trading Company. I was feeling a little over-extended at this point having suffered fairly heavy losses against the Indian Riflemen. This along with increasing war weariness, which was now slowing my tech rate, triggered my decision to make peace at this point. I didn't realise until later that at this point I broke the military alliance deals with the Vikings/Persians/Dutch .

Here's a minimap at 630AD:


2nd India War (830AD-1060AD)
I had continued to build up my military since the previous India war. When my golden age finished I mobilized so I could continue my rapid Cavalry builds, and was now finally average compared to them. Unfortunately India started upgrading to Infantry just after I started this 2nd war, so I had to resort to using Artillery to soften the cities up before taking them with my Cavalry and armies. This was slow going. I had quite a few flips to the Indians during this period, and I was starting to wonder if they were going to flip back faster than I could take them. Capturing the horses helped quite a bit as I didn't have to worry about far-reaching Cavalry attacks. I finally took the last Indian town in 1060AD to wipe them out and ensure no more flips.

This was my first use of Mobilization as it's normally disable in GOTM (I guess the previous bugs in / have been fixed in ?). I was a little surprised that the extra production for mobilization didn't apply to Artillery!

Here's a minimap at 1060AD:



Diplomatic Objective (1060AD-1365AD)
My research had stopped towards the end of the India war as I had run out of techs to trade for luxuries, and I ended up needing all my income for entertainment. I managed to trade for Coal with the Carthaginians for 20 turns, long enough to build rails from coast to coast and around my most shield-rich city. I continued with the research, and started on a Palace prebuild for the UN in 1110AD.

I was pretty close to not getting the UN victory.

1st I was later getting Fission that I expected. I was hoping to either get it as my free tech or to trade my free tech for it. I got Computers, so did the Ottomans, the Persians got Fission. The Persians wouldn't trade, so I had to research Fission. I had to drastically cut the shields in my Palace pre-build city to avoid accidentally building the Palace before the UN was available, so much so that it couldn't get enough food to support the population. Every time it shrunk the citizens would get reassigned to shield tiles again!

2nd, I declared war on the largest civ (Carthage) and attempted to get everyone else to ally against them. Unfortunately this didn't work too well as:

• I couldn't get everyone to ally against Carthage, even for lots of expensive techs. This was probably partly due to my accidental deal breaking earlier.
• The Carthaginians didn't remain the largest civ for very long once attacked by the other civs.

The Ottomans emerged as the largest civ. I then declared war on them too, and got more alliances against them with Russians/Vikings/Persians. I thought this would be enough, but unfortunately the Carthaginians had made a trade embargo deal with the Vikings against us, and this was still in effect when I built the UN, so the Vikings abstained.

I wasn't really in a position to do anything in the war against the Carthaginians/Ottomans, so just fought defensively. By the time the 2nd UN vote came up in 1360AD the embargo had ended and I got the 4 votes for a diplomatic win with a fireaxis score of 6324 and Jason score of 7419.


Here's a log of my tech pace:
380AD Democracy (Traded)
380AD Steam Power (Traded)
430AD Military Tradition (Traded)
490AD Artistry (Traded)
500AD Electricity (Researched)
560AD Scientific Method (Researched)
620AD Atomic Theory (Free ToE tech)
620AD Electronics (Free ToE tech)
690AD Replaceable Parts (Researched)
690AD Nationalism (Traded)
690AD Communism (Traded)
690AD Industrialization (Traded)
750AD The Corporation (Researched)
760AD Fascism (Traded)
830AD Steel (Researched)
890AD Sanitation (Traded)
890AD Ironclads (Traded)
1000AD Espionage (Traded)
1110AD Refining (Traded)
1110AD Combustion (Traded)
1170AD Mass Production (Researched)
1230AD Motorized Transportation (Researched)
1240AD Flight (Traded)
1240AD Amphibious War (Traded)
1240AD Computers (Free new era tech)
1295AD Fission (Researched)

 

[Jason Fliegel]

I was in Conquest class. I'm normally a Regent/Monarch player, so I take some comfort in the fact I made it as far as I did -- I hit the Modern Age shortly before the end of the game, and I outlasted the Russians, the Carthaginians, and the Scandinavians, all of whom were wiped out long before the end of the game. I even outscored one of the other survivors (the Dutch)!

So how did the game end? If I'm remembering right, I entered the Industrial Age distinctly trailing the Indians, the Russians and the Ottomans, and about even with everyone else.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some pictures:

This is what things looked like at the dawn of the Industrial Age.


This is what my empire looked like at its peak. As you can see, I waged war against the Dutch and secured a source of coal. Alas, though, my dreams of empire were short-lived. First, I lost my choke-point city to the Indians. Then, one by one, I lost a few cities on the northern penninsula of my home continent to the Indians. Then, borrowing a page from the actual history of the world, the Ottomans decided to conquer the Byzantines. Fortunately, I managed to sue for peace, losing only my saltpeter island (the island off the SE coast of the home continent) and my iron/horse island (the island off the SE coast of the area we conquered from the Dutch).

Then, disaster struck. India decided I looked like a tasty target. Here's what I call "The Begining of the End":


I managed to keep plugging away, but it was all over by that point. In 1902, this is what I saw:

Yes, the Indians had launched their spaceship. I took some comfort in the fact that at least I made it to the Modern Age.
Here's what the scoreboard looked like in the end:

Here's what my empire looked like:


Final Firaxis score: 1780
Final Jason score: 785

Note to ainwood and/or AlanH: Right at the begining of my turn in 1830, I hit F1 and crashed to the desktop. I'm not sure why. I just reloaded from the autosave; I hope that's OK

 

[Hobbes]

Ancient Age

To start I ploped my settler down at the starting point and decided to water the plains, when what did I notice but a cheese factory. As soon as I finished my road/sprinkler system I had my worker start watering the cow. My production build went, warrior, warrior, row boat and then grannary. I had built the obligarty row boat and sent the Skipper and Giligan out hoping to make contact with other civ’s (which I had great luck). I had built 4 cities and was sending a settler and warrior to grab the spot of land just past the choke point when out of the blue (or purple), Mr. G decides to declare war on me. Well, forget about grabbing the land past the choke point, I high tailed my setter back to the hill square on the choke point and built a city. The first thing I built were walls (helped by vast forests nearby). After having to rush a few spearmen in other cities to anchor the city, and rushing a road to get them there quicker, it soon became a city that Indian warriors and archers would learn to hate. This went on for a while, until I learned how to read a map. As soon as I learned to read a map, I asked Kate if she would like to do the same. Guess, what she did, and she was so happy with this new skill she declared war on the Indians with me. I continued to push my research, to keep my self at the top of the tech race, and as soon as anyone made contact with the Indians, I traded a tech for a war declaration. While they may not have landed a lot of troops, they did stop trading with Ghandi (his tech advancement went to zero and pretty much stayed there).

Middle Ages

I was the first to make it to this age and got engineering for my trouble, and as I did not want to spend 36 turns at 70% to get Feudalism, I dialed the research to 0%, with one lone scientist, and started ranking in the gold. When Kate finally made it to the middle ages, I traded her Engineering and a good chunk of gold for Feudalism. Guess what, it was MI, pikemen and ancient cavalry vs spearmen, archers and swordman, guess who won? I got the whole continent except for two cities that Kate got. Fine she can have them, I started building libraries, markets, and universities. I set my research at zero, and bought my way into the next age.

Industrial Age

No wars, lots of trading and the ToE, end play. Just barely made, but I did.

Modern Age

Got Rocketry as my free tech, try to trade Kate for Fission, but she said no way. Xeres, who got Fission a few turns latter was not so bad. I had to give him 5000 gp and 300 gp/turn and Rocketry, but I got fission. Switched from Battlefield Medicine to UN and in 11 turns (1405 AD) I would have a vote. After gifting my GDP and many techs (in 1400 AD), everyone but Kate was gracious, guess what the vote was?

 

[magritte]

Well, this is my first GOTM. I've been playing Monarch lately, but I decided to go with conquest rather than open class, and I'm still getting my butt kicked. I've just limped into the Industrial era at 1090 AD.

At first, things seemed to be going fairly well in the Ancient Era. I built two carracks early and had contacted everybody by about 1800 BC, leading to a slight tech lead. Unfortunately, the seeds of my failure were already in place, exacerbated by the higher level of difficulty and the fact that I'm not playing an Industrious civilization.

I have this bad habit of not building granaries, leading to a lack of early population excess, so I tend not to build many workers early, leading to low production. Ordinarily, I can compensate for this, but at this level of difficulty with the large Indian civilization to the SW, it meant that I had very little built other than settlers, a smattering of troops, and the statue of Zeus. I also failed to secure the horses in the north. There was a big stack of barbarians up there, and I decided not to put a settlement up there until I could wipe it out--while I was building up, the Russians settled.

Shortly after building the statue of Zeus and close to the end of the ancient era, Carthage demanded some tech (currency, I think). Although they were stronger than me, they were also based halfway around the world, so I called their bluff. They had built a couple of cities on the islands to the east of my main region and I had already figured that would be my best direction to expand given India's strength. They allied with the Scandinavians, I countered by allying with the Dutch and began loading ancient cavalry & swordsmen onto my Dromons.

Then (as seems to be the universal pattern), the Indians attacked. Ouch. I was hoping that the relatively non-agressive Indian civilization would leave me alone, especially since we were trading partners. No such luck. Worse, during the painfully long time it had taken to research republic, the Indians had gotten a jump on me technologically and were building war elephants. I triggered my golden age by attacking a carthaginian galley and basically had to pour most of my energy into building enough pikemen to hold India off at the city I had built at the isthmus. It was enough, but I wasn't able to make much of a dent in the east, though I did build three cities over there. Eventually, I was able to buy the Indians off for 70 gold, which I made up (more or less) with my peace treaties with Carthage & Scandinavia. No sooner had we made peace than I was shocked to find one of my cities culture flip to India--and with it one of my critical ivories. I wasn't prepared for this because I usually play a builder approach and rarely am greatly outcultured by my opponents.

Given this, I felt I needed to spend most of the ancient era building culture & economics to prevent myself from getting culture-flipped out of existence. Even so, I lost the isthmus city I had fought so hard to protect, despite having built a library and temple there and having five military units posted. I lost another city when the volcano in the south erupted. Choosing not to rebuild there, the Russians landed there, but their city was promptly crisped as well. Eventually, toward the end of the ancient era, the Indians settled there and have not been buried so far.

Although this was mostly a time of entrenchment, I did fight a short war against Scandinavia. They had captured one of the Carthaginian cities near me, so I decided to grab it before they could reinforce it. So now I have horses. Despite my efforts at building libraries and universities, I gradually fell behind in the tech race, not reaching the industrial era until 1090 AD. I currently have 12 cities--eight on my mainland, two on the southern coast of the Dutch continent and two on the island to the south of that. I'm ranked 6th or 7th by most measures, stronger than Scandinavia and about on par with the Dutch.

I had tried to keep myself optimistic by recalling that I have won from a long way back on Monarch level, that things generally improve a lot for me in the Industrial era. Unfortunately, the conditions that allowed me to come back don't look to be met here. The decision not to rebuild in the volcano-plagued city has come back to haunt me, as there turns out to be coal nearby. No one has any coal available to trade, and without railroads, I just won't be able to ramp up my economy. Also, the Theory of Evolution has already been built.

I think my last hope is a war with the Dutch. They have coal that they haven't discovered yet, and if I can seize that resource, I might be able to make a move. They don't have riflemen & cavalry yet, so I might be able to take them. Perhaps Carthage will help. I'll need a fast war, though, because I don't want to have to switch out of democracy. Maybe I can still get some mileage out of my piles of Ancient cavalry.

 

[FrankTheMan]

Well, I left off earlier in this thread in 1700 AD, when my hopes on a diplomatic victory were scattered by Persia building the UN. As I expected, they never dared to call a vote. And even if they would, I wouldn't have been eligible anyway.....

At this point I decided that the way forward would be war and conquest, hopefully leading to a domination victory. Luckily, most of the others were eager enough to wage war. And by several MP's and MA's, I always managed to find allies in my war. The MP's however bit me back several times, and forced me into wars - destroying carefully arranged peace deals - that I really didn't want to be in.

On the whole I could expand beyond the original Indian/Byzantine continent, first gaining the Russian subcontinent and then the Netherlands' continent. The final conquest was the Ottoman empire. All these conquests were only possible through the massive use of armies (and of course artilleries).

I really held my breath during the Ottoman campaign, as my F3 information (through my spy) showed that the Ottomans build 2 ICBM's as well as 2 tactical nukes. However, even in their death throes, they were responsible enough not to use them, but rather let them be destroyed as I conquered their cities. I think no human (player) would be so decent...

In the mean time, both Persia and Carthage were building their spaceships, and Carthage was rapidly approaching the 100,000 culture limit. However, Persia seemed not to far behind, so I was confident that the Carthagians would not be outdoing them more than 2 to 1.

For some reason, Carthage and Persia really hated each other, and they were at war with each other to the very end. This allowed me, after eliminating the Ottomans, to quickly research the remaing Laser and Robotics and finish my spaceship in 1944. Carthage's culture just passed the 99,000 mark at that point!

Of course, my points (especially Jason points, less than 3500!) were not very impressing, but because my victory was so uncertain for so long, this was really a very challenging and enjoyable COTM. Thanks Ainwood and the team!

 

[DJMGator13]

Link to my AA spoiler
Link to my MA spoiler

I enter the Industrial Age having eliminated India and having reduced Russia to only 3 cities on 3 separate islands. Both of these wars were timed to put a dent on them before they got their UU in action. Against India I only saw 1 War Elephant, while Russia was quickly separated from her only supply of horses. So I set my sights on the Ottomans, again I am attacking right before they get their UU. I’ve also managed to keep the tech pace slowed due to a long false war with the CARTs, that they started. I was able to sign a few MA which kept everyone involved in at least one war.

OTTO War
In 720AD the Dutch were already at war with OTTO, so I offer my assistance to them. Coming thru the chokepoint from former RUS lands, I attack upward capturing 2 cities, one of which had Sun Tzu & the Oracle. In 800AD I send my Knight army on a pillaging run and disconnect the OTTO horse supply in 830AD. This was a good move because I also killed 5 Sipahi that same turn and would see less than a dozen total over the whole campaign. In 840AD I finally generate my 4th Great Leader, the last one was in 50BC and I have been at war nearly the entire time. My pillaging run has also divided the OTTO lands in half. In 890AD I run into my first rifleman and the rest of the campaigns start to drag on. I capture a town about every 3-4 turns. In 1080AD I learn Electricity and start on Scientific Method, I have already started a prebuild for ToE. The only reson I did this was because I did not want any of the other civs to get the slingshot.

In 1120AD an unbelievable event happens. Edrine a size 7 city consisting of 1 OTTO and 6 BYZ flips back to OTTO at a point when the OTTO empire consists of 2 cities. This takes away my spices and causes 23 cities to riot. Because of this I do a little dishonest trading. After recapturing Edrine and the OTTOs biggest remaining city I offer them peace for gold and gpt to gain Nationalism. I then immediately declare war and capture their last city in 1130AD. Not worried about reputation because I know this is going to be a domination victory condition.

The Coal Puzzle & The Russians
Yes I was stupid enough to try putting a colony on the mountain coal, knowing it would not work but I was intrigue by the idea that Ainwood might have modded the game to allow its use. Nope, but it was a nice dream. So I look around the map and discover that 1 of Russia’s 3 cities has a coal in the jungle. So I declare war on Russia again and go after the coal source. I end up getting it hooked up in 1240AD. RUS was eliminated in 1180AD after I took 2 of their 3 cities.

CART War
As soon as the OTTO campaign ended I went after the CARTs. I captured the first CART city in 1170AD and have control of 6 by 1255AD when I learn Scientific Method and I get TOE in 3 turns after thanks to a nicely timed prebuild. In 1260AD I generate my 5th and 6th Great Leaders on the same turn after I converted the first to an army. The Vikings and Persians know Replaceable Parts, and PER extorts coal from me, the turn after I capture a 2nd source. After TOE completes I leave science off, game should not reach Modern Age. I capture 4 more CART cities and eliminate them in 1275AD.

The Dutch
In 1295AD I sign a MPP with the Vikings and go after the Dutch. Persia wanted rubber for a MA and I declined to bring them into the war at this point, eventully I get the MPP by trading them a tech. In 1310AD I issue DOW on the Dutch who have 22 cities, but are barely in the Industrial Age techwise. In the first 2 turns of the war I capture 8 cities and their supply of rubber, which they could not use. The MPPs kick in and both VIK and PER declare war on the Dutch. This almost proves to be a mistake because the Persians were a little more active than I expected. I capture 11 more Dutch cities and they are eliminated in 1385AD. Persia captured the other 3 cities and this cause me to be short of need tiles for domination.

Here is a look at my military at the end of the Dutch war.



End Game
In 1390 AD I still need 130 tiles for DOM and there are 192 unclaimed. I had already switched production over to settlers and libraries. This is the first game I have ever used Civil Engineers in. I also disbanded some cannons and later some cavalry in cities to help rush the last few libraries. I was able to get the needed tiles in 1420AD and thus achieved a 1425AD victory. This is only the second demi-god level game I have played. The only other was in an SG, so this was my first solo game. I ended with a final Firaxis score of 7513 and a Jason of 7792.

 

[grs]

This takes away my spices and causes 23 cities to riot.

Just one tip. When something like this happens, use the "zoom to city" option and then scroll forward through the cities. This way only one of them will riot.

 

[DJMGator13]

@grs, I thought about doing that. However I had reinforcement troops right next to the city so I was not concerned about recapturing it. After about 3 or 4 cities I figured out what was causing it. It was just an annoyance. At first I thought it was WW then remembered that I was still in Monarchy.

 

[grs]

One thing happened, that I've seen very rarely before, was the Ottos and Russian building a barricade each at their choke. That may be, what let the Russias keep their half, as I read in quite some of your writeups they lost to the Ottomans.

 

[Jason Fliegel]

One thing happened, that I've seen very rarely before, was the Ottos and Russian building a barricade each at their choke. That may be, what let the Russias keep their half, as I read in quite some of your writeups they lost to the Ottomans.

Interesting. The Ottomans did wipe out the Russians in my game -- I think both were early Industrial at the time. I'm not sure whether the Russians built a fortress at the choke point (heck, I'm not even sure if the chokepoint was in Russian territory).

The Dutch built fortresses as their chokepoint, but it didn't stop my cavalry from rolling over their Swiss Mercs.

Not that it helped me in the long run. In fact, that chokepoint on the Dutch continent wound up being the core of my empire by the end of the game.

 

[Gyathaar]

In game Russians got wiped out too.. however Russians placed their city differently in my game.

No idea if they buildt forts or not.. since when russians was pushed back from choke we could still not trade maps, and my map from that area was from early anchient ages:



However after maptrading was available, and Russians was already pushed off their home continents and to some small islands, this is how it looked like:



Someone had buildt forts (not barricades thou.. there are trenches around the fort graphics when there are barricades) on both sides of the choke city.
They even planted a forest for more defense?

(Carthage buildt the knights templar, so neither side could have used templars to build them)

 

[civ_steve]

Time limit is approacing, so I automated everything I could automate, turned off animations (except for Battle), and dove into the IA. Goal: finish as fast as possible, preferably with a victory, so aiming for UN.

Entered IA in 570AD, with free Tech of Nationalism, and was able to finagle a trade for Steam Power, so I was Tech Even or Ahead of everybody.

3 Problems entering the IA: no coal (man that coal on the island mountain was tantalizingly close!!), long grinding war with India, and just declared on by Russia.

Coal: I saw the same island that grs saw; in my game the coal space was completely surrounded by Russian, Carthage and Persian culture, but wasn't claimed!!! I drafted a few Riflemen, sent a Settler and 2 Riflemen to this location (signing a ROP with Persia to gain non-contested access) and this coal was mine once I rushed a Harbor.

Russia: used Nationalism to ally Ottomans with me against Russia. They in turn brought Carthage, Persia and the Dutch in. I also placed workers along my coasts when Russian caravels were nearby. During entire war only saw 1 LongBow and 1 Rifleman ever landed on my continent. Russia did not fare as well , but still had a couple of cities by the end of the game.

India: Gandhi was still in the mid-MidAges, and didn't have any Saltpeter, so no Muskets. I didn't trade for MilTrad; turned off research to generate some cash, built Horsemen, trade for MilTrad from one of the non-scientific civs, upgrade, and India was done shortly after. Took 20 turns, to 770 AD.

In 610 AD I finally did a Palace Jump to a spot near where Delhi used to be; I placed the new capital 2 spaces NW of Delhi's original spot, which brings in several Hills/Mountains to make the capital a good shield producer. My FP was located in Adrianople, near all the Ivory sources. Moving the Capital made my original core about 40-50% corrupted, but the new Indian core was eventually bigger and had higher shield producing cities once they were developed. Typical build was Library, Marketplace, University (with Courthouse/Aquaduct if needed.)

The IA was a wild time with warfare constantly breaking out amongst the AI. I stayed on the sideline for the most part; I think the Dutch did declare on me once, but I never saw any of their units; somehow the Russians got them to sign peace, then ally against the Ottomans, who started to dismember them. Other than India and Russia, that was the only DoW I recall.

After India was pretty much taken care of, I turned Research back on. The AI knew Industrialism so I started on Electricity. Ottomans beat me to it by one turn, so I bought it for 14 Gold and WM; there were enough trade opportunities to get Ind and Corp, and I started on Refining.

Again was just beaten to Refining, but got it, and was able to trade for Steel and RepParts. The Ottomans had built up a large treasury of 6000+ Gold, which I saw get passed back and forth between them and Carthage as Tech Trades occurred. I learned Combustion next, which got me Medicine, and about half of that 6000 Gold; now I didn't have to worry about my Tax rate, and I had some cash to barter with if necessary.

I managed to get up to 6 Luxuries, and keep them for the most part, either trading other resources (usually 2 for 1), or a Tech. The Dutch had one city on my continent, up North, snagging Horses and wouldn't you know it, Oil too! Not a problem; Persia took that city at one point which gave them 2 Oils, and I made sure I traded for it when I got a chance. (It didn't really matter; I never built anything that required Oil, not even 1 Tank!)

I beat everybody to MassProd, which gained me Scientific Theory and a few optional Techs; I switched a pre-build over to TofE. I was working on a 8 turn research of Atomic Theory (I was never close to 4 turn research), with 9 turns to finish TofE, and I saw that Carthage had Flight; I thought I was in great shape - finish Atomic Theory, trade for Flight, TofE gains me Electronics and either 1) the AI have learned Motorized Transport so I do that trade and take Fission for 2nd TofE Tech, or 2) 2nd TofE Tech is MotorTransp and I see if I get Fission as free ModEra Tech. Carthage starts on TofE after me (and I have a pre-build in a 50+ Shield city) but still beats me to it by 1 turn! I convert over to Palace, to save the shields for UN. Carthage gets AmphibWar and MotorTransp; I trade for Flight when I get Atomic Theory.

I start on Electronics thinking "OK, learn Electronics, trade for MotorTransp, and go for Fission". Well, Carthage beats me to Electronics as well!! (by 2 turns). So I have no trade for MotorTransp and must learn that one from scratch as well (by this time the Gold I'd gotten is pretty much gone and my reputation had been tarnished a couple times in the past so no gpt deals from me!)

This I do, and getting a bit of luck, gain Fission as Free Tech; gift tons of stuff to the AI (I'd been doing it all along, part of my "don't attack me please" policy); I tell all those Street Performers to get back to working the fields as I convert my Palace pre-build to UN, finish, call for vote, and win against Carthage 5-1-1 (Russia abstained.) 1290 AD, Jason score just shy of 8000.

It was interesting reading this final set of spoilers. The game was challenging, but many people did much better than they thought they would and there were many dramatic finishes; I believe many of these players will have a very good go at Monarch level Cotm4!

 

[DaveMcW]

After reaching the domination limit, I made a surgical strike on the Ottomans' rubber to be sure they wouldn't launch their spaceship. Then I turned off research and used my money to make everybody happy.



Adiranople hit 20k culture in 1675 AD.

The 15 hours I spent partial milking was a total waste, as my Jason score was only 7333. It's depressing that fast domination is the only way to get a top score.

 

[grs]

@DaveMcW: I agree that domination seems to be the preferred victory type for the top performers. But is not domination only which gave the top scores lately. If you take a look at th top scores of the last few games, you can see, that histografic and conquest seem to have a good chance too.

I have to agree though, that certain victory types have a higher chance. In the last 10 games there have been 4 conquest, 21 dominiation, 3 histographic and 2 space wins in the first 3 spots. I can't judge the system that good, but it seems the ETAs for the non military wins are too soon to reach to level the firaxis score you miss when persuing them.

Even before doing the numbers, from my personal play experience and from looking at the results it seemed to me, that especially cultural 100k and diplo are far behind in score. To do a decent statistic, it would be necessary to include the number of submitted games of a certain type. Maybe some one of the staff is interested in that and may rework the system or - what could already help - adjust the ETAs for certain victory types.

 

[grs]

I beat everybody to MassProd, which gained me Scientific Theory and a few optional Techs; I switched a pre-build over to TofE. I was working on a 8 turn research of Atomic Theory (I was never close to 4 turn research), with 9 turns to finish TofE, and I saw that Carthage had Flight; I thought I was in great shape - finish Atomic Theory, trade for Flight, TofE gains me Electronics and either 1) the AI have learned Motorized Transport so I do that trade and take Fission for 2nd TofE Tech, or 2) 2nd TofE Tech is MotorTransp and I see if I get Fission as free ModEra Tech. Carthage starts on TofE after me (and I have a pre-build in a 50+ Shield city) but still beats me to it by 1 turn! I convert over to Palace, to save the shields for UN. Carthage gets AmphibWar and MotorTransp; I trade for Flight when I get Atomic Theory.

This would have been an awesome date for the UN I guess. I did not dare to set it up like this and preferred to be in the tech lead. Bad luck it did not work, it sounds well thought.

 

[civ_steve]

Thanks, grs! I prefer to be in the Tech Lead as well, but I took too long to take India out; without a well-formed core in India I was just keeping up with the leaders. From this position with ideal timing I might have saved about 13 to 15 turns (actually getting two free Techs from TofE); this would still place me in the late 1100's, a little later than your quite good diplo date of 1160!

I was quite surprised to find this coal source available; here is a screenshot of a Settler, with 2 draft Riflemen, ready to claim this coal, totally surrounded by 3 different AI culture radius:



One other thing; I had declared war on India the 2nd time while still within Gandhi's cultural radius, and several deals I had were broken at various times during the MidAges by trade routes being severed. I still won a decisive 5-1-1 Diplo win! I don't recommend one to do these things, but even a poor reputation can be overcome by lots of warfare amongst the AI and plentiful gift giving.

 

[zamint3]

Time limit is approacing

I didn't make it!

I was pretty close to the domination limit, but there was no time for warfare, so I went full ahead towards Fission.
Entering the Modern Times, I got Ecology. OK, then I gift Russia, Persia and The Ottomans into the MT.
Russia and Persia gets Rocketry and The Ottomans get Fission.
So I thought : great let's trade for it. Russia and Persia treat me nice and I can even add to my treasure........ but then, allthough I offer Ecology, Rocketry, Amphibious War and 8800 g The Ottomans won't give me Fission.

Next turn Carthage invades, and with 8 turns to Fission I choose


Btw : The date was lousy anyway.

 

[Lamprey]

The 15 hours I spent partial milking was a total waste, as my Jason score was only 7333. It's depressing that fast domination is the only way to get a top score.

Yes, also agree that domination/conquest are more preferable in gaining more score. It seems that's because these kinds of victory give more Firaxis score (territory&population) that adds to the early victory points.

 

[DJMGator13]

Yes, also agree that domination/conquest are more preferable in gaining more score. It seems that's because these kinds of victory give more Firaxis score (territory&population) that adds to the early victory points.

And do not forget the bonus for finishing the game early, leads to a higher score.

 

[SirPleb]

Yes, also agree that domination/conquest are more preferable in gaining more score.

I agree too but I'd like to add that I suspect it is map dependent. I think the quality of the start position may have a large impact on the viable victory conditions for high scores.

It seems to me that the Jason score essentially awards a "benefit of the doubt" score component for the timespan between one's victory date and 2050. It seems that:
1) The actual Firaxis score up to the victory date is counted and increases or reduces one's Jason score depending on whether it is above/below the anticipated "best" Firaxis score at that date.
2) Firaxis scoring for dates after one's victory is assumed to be on the best growth rate.

If I'm right in this understanding then the result is that only "good" start positions are on equal footings for the various victory conditions. When there's a weak start position, one's growth curve for the game will fall below the optimum assumed growth curve for the map, starting off slower and eventually accelerating at a higher rate to catch up a bit again. And as a result the best Jason scores are from the earliest victory conditions because they're penalized the least for being below the assumed growth curve. I also guess that milking is the next best choice on a weak start map because one can reduce the averaged impact of the turns where one's growth is a lot under the assumed curve.

Is this making sense? We might get some confirmation when a couple of good start position maps can be included in the comparisons.