COTM 05 Spoiler2: Entering the Industrial Age

[ainwood]

Spoiler2 for Conquest 05: Entering the Industrial ages

If you didn't finish via ancient age conquest (victory or defeat ) then you will have moved through the middle ages. Here is the chance to share your tales of glory!

The qualification for this spoiler is full world map (of all the major land-masses at least) and all contacts. You must be researching an industrial-age tech.

 

[Jason Fliegel]

Bleh.

I made two decisions this (Open Class) game, both of which I'm glad I made, but both of which have made this game interminably long.

First, I decided to go for a Conquest victory. I've already won COTMs via Space Ship, Diplomatic, and Domination, so I thought this would be a nice change of pace.

Second, I decided not to build any wonders. I thought this would make the game a little more challenging. Which it did, but the problem is Carthage now has all the good wonders. At least I did capture the Pyramids and Sun Tzu's from the Aztecs and Japanese, respectively, along with a few other less valuable wonders.

It's now the early industrial age and I've eliminated everyone but the Carthaginians (the Romans held on until the Industrial Age, but just barely). I'm putting together an invasion force and getting ready to launch onto the Carthaginian island. But the problem with Conquest victories is that those darned Carthagenians keep sprouting up all over my continent like fungus. They've filled in 3 or 4 cities in the former Indian or Roman territory. Plus, I've got to deal with barbarians, which are just a nuisance at this point.

Like I said, bleh. If I had gone for domination, I could have won a long time ago. But no, I had to do something different. Bleh. In the future, no more conquest victories for me.

 

[MiniMe]

Research
Granted access to Middle Ages for the greeks, and they got Feudalism which they do not want to trade before I research Engineering. I have made the decision to go for Military Tradition. That was not particularly smart.

In 730BC I declare on the Indians just to trigger my Golden Age. I desperately need a research boost. Golden Age finished in 330BC and I have 3 turns left to Chemistry. I am quite happy with it. GA triggered just at the right moment. Boosting research and production just to cross that important threshold when entering the Middle Ages.

We discover Military Tradition in 30AD. I am happy with this date. I sell all my Libraries as I have no intention of researching any further.


War
I declared on the Greeks in 370BC. I badly want the horses so nicely placed under Athens. Let the games begin!

I am roading my way accross the mountains and marshland to later enable my troops to reach Aztec treasures (Pyramids!).

280AD: Invasion is well under way. Aztecs and Indians are gone. Romans still have a few cities and the Celts still live happily in ignorance of what is about to knock on their front door. Two turns before I take Rome the city finishes the Temple of Artemis. Good boy, Ceasar. I just have to wait 5 turns now and see my cover of the world explode. But I have no more than 28% of surface. So keep those nice horsies coming

330AD: The Temple of Artemis effect kicks in for all my conqured cities up until that point, and the map suddenly turns pink. That was funny. From 320AD to 330AD my part of world area increases from 38 to 54.

380AD: Domination Victory!


Highlights
Managed research in a better way than before. Smoothing out transition to Middle Ages by triggering GA in just the right moment. I got to Military Tradition in 30AD.


Lessons learned
Going to Chivalry and taking the world with Knights would have been more than enough and I suspect it could have shaved some turns off my victory date.

 

[eldar]

Open

I'm a little annoyed with myself... I was going for 100K. Things were going very well, though it took a long, long, time to take care of Carthage (they just crept into the Industrial age and I was facing a limited number of Rifles at the end - ack!).

I'd turned off research before Education to keep the ToA in effect. I was rushing Libraries, Colosseums, and Cathedrals in every city ASAP.

All the while, I was hovering about 5-10 tiles below the domination limit... all the while taking care to abandon remote cities when I was absorbing coastal tiles. I wanted to keep Entremont (with the HGs), and Satsuma (the GL, my staging post for Carthage and provided a large number of rushed Galleys in the invasion).

Well, you can see where this is going, can't you?

I could've have had a Domination win in 1250 or so; instead it was in 1590, when Satsuma increased its borders. I guess now I know that border expansion happens at the END of a turn, eh? And that MapStat does NOT lie about such things

Game status: Domination Victory for Inca
Game date: 1590 AD
Firaxis score: 4140
Jason score: 7926
Time played: 20:54:52

(Mind you, the MM was getting tedious... I was playing a hybrid milking style, with culture building taking precedence - next time, I'll do it as the Babs, it'd be cheaper!)

Neil.

 

[Sandman2003]

Open

Anciant Age

We reached the MA in 490BC, and picked up monotheism from the Greeks, so research was just feudalism and chivalry , and then shut off completely for the duration of the game. No other AI (other than Greece) researched any MA tech.

Chasqui Scouts
I didn't build any of these until I already had an established core - so I received very little in the way of GH bonuses. Though I might add, it didn't seem to help the AI much either (getting to the GHs first). My original scout was used to locate places to settle next as the settler pump started producing mass numbers of settlers, and then went out to explore. What amazed me was that in spite of taking a while, when the original scout went past Greece, and then Rome, both civilisations had empty cities, and settlers being protected by warriors. Had I produced early Chasquis it would have been possible to severely curtail the AI's early growth, although doing this would have resulted in an extremely early GA. So I guess that is the secret potential of the Chasqui!

As it turned out, the Chasqui's appeared to be more annoying to the AI than a normal scout, so the Celts complained, declaring war in 450BC and giving me a GA at this time - almost perfect!

Wonders
I decided to build a couple of wonders in this game. First the temple of Artemis is almost overpowered on a pangea map, although admittedly it works as well if conquered or built. I decided early that I would again be trying for a pre-1000AD domination finish, and this wonder is the perfect complement to a domination win goal. Pre-GA I had been suffering from unit support costs on republic, and at that time I already had almost 40 horses, so I decided on a wonder build program partly to use my production for other than more units while we waited on chivalry to finish. Because of these unit cost difficulties, I decided to build the colossus as well. I probably did not really need to, becuase I came out of the GA with enough cities above size 6, and no need for further research to support my armies henceforth.

Wars
We never had an embassy with the Celts, so from their initial war declaration, we basically remained at war with them until the end. This made progress against the Celts ultimately a lot slower, because our workers were in constant danger while attempting to road through the mountains to the Celtic territory. Also it removed the ability to tie Celtic units up fighting another AI, and the Celts did become the largest AI, before we dealt with them.

The wars proper started in 10BC when we declared on the Aztecs with 18 knights and 29 horses still waiting for upgrade. Amazingly enough, based on my recent leader fishing luck (or lack thereof), I got my first leader in 50AD (army of course). The Aztecs did not even have a basic system of roads, so it took until 280AD to destroy them.

Using RoPs with Greece, India and Rome, we had diverted reinforcements towards Greece, and so were able to start that campaign in 300AD. India was declared on in 310AD, and Rome in 340AD. In 350AD Japan demanded monotheism - no way - so they declared on us as well. We used Carthage to keep Japan busy! Meanwhile we destroyed the Greeks in 370AD, the Romans in 430AD, and the Indians survived until 470AD owing to a city hidden in the mountains by the constant 'pest' the Celts.

Once we finally had our roads through the mountains, the Celts didn't last long - 510AD. Then we had to plough through more marshy terrain to get at Japan and Carthage. In 560AD we annoyingly missed the domination limit by 5 tiles, but in 570AD we were well in. This was my best finish by about 370 years, and almost 11k Jason.

Of interest - we never saw a single Roman legion or gallic sword! The Romans did build the Temple of Zeus, and seemed happy to rely on that rather than their UU - odd!

Conclusions
1) Monarchy would have been a much better government for my game, because I had total confidence that I was not going to need to research past chivalry, so it would have come down to the better unit support early on enabling research to continue at pace.
2) I knew the terrain was going to be an issue, so I should have made use of galleys to skip past it!
3) The continuous war with the Celts definitely cost me time. I should have resolved this back in the BC.

Overall, getting off to a good start really paid off for me, and I thought I did pretty well. That was until I saw everyone else's spoilers. The bar here seems to be rising every month!

 

[rrau]

open

630bc Learned Polytheism and entered MA - Greece entered at same time without being gifted in.

630bc Traded Republic and Literature to Greece for Monotheism

350bc Greece demands 23g (cautiously) Said no (planning to fight them to get horses as in my game Aztecs didn't have their horses hooked up yet). No war

290bc Finally met last civ - Carthage - while we were trespassing in Japanese waters. Sold them Polytheism for 84g

270bc Finally got 2nd lux hooked up and can decrease lux slider to 10%

170bc Learn Feudalism and switch ToA prebuild to SunTzu's

30bc Dow on Greece

10bc autoraze Ephesius (desert city in the middle of nowhere - now I wonder: why did they put that there? )

10ad ibt We complete Sun Tzu's and are named the largest nation

Greece just built the Great wall

370ad 1st MGL

about 800ad made Peace with Greece - they are left with one city deep in Roman territory.

850ad 2nd MGL (now fighting Aztecs - We declared a couple turns ago)

860 learned gunpowder and found some saltpeter in the desert where the Greeks had settled that city eons ago

ibt got 3rd MGL (defensive)

990ad India moved stack into our territory - demanded removal and they Dow on us

1010 Missed Leo's by one turn - switched to Copernicus's with loss of 175 shields

1090 eliminated all but one Indian city deep in Roman territory. MA with Rome against India

Entered IA somewhere after 1140. The minimap is from the 1140 save and I still had 3 turns to research on ToG.

All in all, I probably should have split the Greek war into two different ones, but I didn't want to take the chance of the city with the Great Wall flipping back to them, so persevered until they were down to one city. Once I captured the city with the Great Wall, things were going well, but I lost several MI and longbows trying to take it. (It was also their capital city with the horses under it)

At the end of the Greek war (for the last 2-3 cities I captured), I was doing research with a single scientist with the lux slider running 50-60% and still had to hire some specialists to keep from rioting. However, even after about 800 years of war, I was still the tech leader when I started researching again.

After reading others' posts where they went after other civs before the Greeks, I wish I would have done that, but I really wanted the horses and the Aztecs didn't get them hooked up until just before I declared on them. In retrospect I should have conquered them and hooked them up myself, but I hate taking workers into war zones.

 

[Roland Ehnström]

COTM05_Open

Link to Ancient Times

Highlights of the Middle Ages:

I entered the middle ages in 775 BC. At this point I turned off research, to get some money to upgrade all the Warriors from the Warrior-Settler factory in Cuzco. We were in a phony-war with the Celts, and in 690 BC we bribed the Aztecs to attack them, figuring they would spend some of their pesky Jaguar Warriors on the Celts before we attack them.

In 590 BC I figured that we had gathered enough Swordsmen, and attacked Greece. We attacked both Knossos and Sparta in the same turn, and here I made my first mistake of the game: I figured that Knossos would be more difficult to take, because it was on a hill while Sparta was not, so I attacked Knossos with four Swordsmen and Sparta with only three. But as it turned out, Knossos was only defended by one Hoplite, while Sparta was defended by two Hoplites. In the end I needed only one Swordsman to destroy Knossos, but lost all three Swordsmen attacking Sparta. Sparta finally fell in our hands in 530 BC, but still our campaign to take the world by force could have got off to a better start. It then took until 430 BC before we had gathered enough Swordsmen to attack and capture Athens. Then the rest of Greece fell quickly. They were finally destroyed in 170 BC.

Most of the units I produced while fighting Greece (first Med. Infantry and then Horsemen) were sent north, to the town of Atico among the Dyes in the jungle south of the Aztec land. These units formed the main attack-force in the war against the Aztecs, which we started in 210 BC. We took our first Aztec town in the next turn. In 50 BC, we catured Tenochtitlan, just after it completed Temple of Artemis (pure luck). In 70 AD we took the last Aztec town, but they had a lone settler left and were not completely destroyed until 110 AD.

In 90 BC we discovered Chivalry, switched production to Knights in almost all cities, and turned off research for good. In 30 BC I felt it was a good time to start our Golden Age, so I made sure a Chasqui won a battle. After the Aztecs were destroyed, we used most of the money we had made during the first 10 turns of the GA, to make a mass-upgrade of Horsemen to Knights. At this point (just after 100 AD) we also decided to go for a Conquest victory rather than a Domination victory. We had ToA, so a Domination victory would probably have been faster, but a Conquest victory simply felt like it would be more fun and a new challenge. Fun I needed, because at this point the game was getting pretty boring, with the AI way too weak to put up anything close to a decent fight. To speed up the conquest, we signed a ROP with the Celts in 130 AD, and started using their roads to move Knights toward Japan. At this point - a few turns too late - I also realized I badly needed a road through the mountains between the Aztecs and the Celts, and sent most of my workers that way. Had I realized this earlier, the conquest would have been faster. At the same point, I also realized that I would need to send some Galleys away, to get my troops over from Japan to Carthage after Japan was captured. These should also have been sent earlier, and I should have filled them with Knights rather than send them empty (I was too afraid of Barbarian Galleys). I also should have sent more than the 7 Galleys I ended up shipping towards Japan.

Meanwhile, the Swordsmen that were left over from the war against Greece walked north towards Rome. They took Ravenna in 70 BC and Veii in 90 AD. In 230 AD they attacked the city of Rome, but this attack was a terrible failure. We lost a great number of Swordsmen in this attack, and had to make peace with Caesar while sending some Knights that way. They finally razed Rome in 350 AD, and the Roman empire was completely destroyed in 450 AD.

The Med. Infantry that were left over from the war against the Aztecs, took care of India in a slow war streching from 70 to 360 AD. At the end they also needed a bit of help from Knights to take Delhi.

Our Knight Army reached Japan in 230 AD. More Knights were arriving in a steady flow from around 300 AD. In 420 AD, Japan was destoyed. During the same time, we ROP-raped the Celts, who fell like a house of cards from 340 to 380 AD, although they were not completely destroyed until 450 AD.

The first round of 12 Knights (one of our Galleys had been sunk) arrived on the Carthaginian mainland in 480 AD. Even with a great number of Knights available, it took 12 turns to destroy them - their UU was very strong, they had The Great Wall (which we destroyed in 530 AD) and they had several towns on hills. We also wasted a turn by shipping units to their one-town island of Cadiz a bit too late. But in 600 AD they were finally destroyed, and we won a conquest victory in 610 AD.

Great Leaders:

We got our first military leader in 310 BC, at the end of the war with Greece. He created a Med. Infantry Army, which turned out to be pretty useless because it had only 2 movement-points and could only attack twice each turn. I should have had him build a Horseman Army instead, or perhaps I should have saved him to build a Knight Army later. While fighting the Aztecs in 110 BC, we got our second great leader. He created a Knight Army in 10 BC, but this Army didn't see much action either. I didn't get my third and fourth leaders until I was fighting Carthage in the last couple of turns, so they were of no use at all.

Result:

After 15 hours of playing, in three days, I won a conquest victory in 610 AD, worth a Firaxis score of 5327 and a Jason score of 10454. By far my earliest ever victory and also my highest Jason score. However, I am not completely happy with this. As mentioned, the war against Greece didn't get off to the start I wanted; the attack on the city of Rome failed; I should have sent more Workers to the front at an earlier time to build roads through the terrible terrain; and I should have sent the Galleys for Carthage out earlier and I should probably have filled them with units from the start. I used to be a "peaceful builder" type of player, so I have very little experience of fast conquests - I was learning as I went along. I'm getting better for each COTM, but there is still a lot to learn.

-- Roland

 

[Roland Ehnström]

And here's my log of the middle ages, if anyone is interested:

710 BC - The Celts demand Mathematics as a tribute. We decline. They declare war.

690 BC - We estabish an embassy with the Aztecs, and bribe them with the knowledge of Polytheism to attack the Celts. At this point we turn research back on, for Feudalism in 12 turns.

590 BC - We declare war on Greece, destroy Knossos but lose three Swordsmen in a failed attack on Sparta.

570 BC - We finally contact Carthage.

550 BC - We discover Feudalism.

530 BC - We capture Sparta!

450 BC - Our scientists discover Monotheism. Machu Picchu completes Forbidden Palace.

430 BC - We lose four Swordsmen while taking control of Athens (finally getting some Horses) , but none while destroying Pharsalos.

350 BC - War-weariness strikes. We capture Delphi and Corinth, losing just one Swordsman. We are also preparing to attack the Aztecs, sending all newly-produced Med. Infantry up north.

310 BC - We get our first great leader while destroying Thermopylae. Production switched from Med. Infantry to Horsemen (to be upgraded to Knights) as the Horses in Athens are hooked up.

230 BC - Our great leader builds a Med. Infantry Army in Atico.

210 BC - We declare war on the Aztecs.

190 BC - We lose two Med. Infantry taking Tlatelolco from the Aztecs. Our Army destroys Xochicalco. On the western front, we destroy Argos.

170 BC - Our Swordsmen destroy Mycenae, and the Greeks are gone! Huanuco Pampa founded.

110 BC - Fighting the Aztecs in the Jungle, we get our second great leader. Meanwhile, our Army destroys Xloacopan. Tamboccocha founded. In the west, the 14 Swordsmen left over from the war against Greece are advancing towards the Roman town of Ravenna.

90 BC - We discover Chivalry, and turn off research for good.

70 BC - We declare war on Rome and take Ravenna.

50 BC - Oh my god, Tenochtitlan completes Temple of Artemis the very same turn we take control of the city!!! We also take Azcapotzalco.

30 BC - We make sure a Chasqui Scout wins a battle, and enter a well-timed Golden Age.

10 BC - Our second great leader has completed a Knight Army in Vilcabamba. Our Horsemen destroy Texcoco.

70 AD - We destroy Tlacopan and Calixtlahuaca, the final two Aztec towns, but they are not destroyed. We go Settler-hunting... We also declare war on India, and destroy Lahore.

90 AD - The final Aztec Settler builds Tzintzuntzen. We take Veii from the Romans.

110 AD - We destroy Tzintzuntzen and with it, the Aztec civilization.

130 AD - At this point we decide to go for a Conquest victory rather than a Domination victory. It's probably possible to get a Domination vitory earlier, but a Conquest is more fun (this COTM is getting a bit of a bore, 'cause the AI is so incredibly weak). In accordance with this, we abandon Ravenna to free up a couple of Swordsmen. Further, we sign a ROP with the Celts, for slightly faster travel to Japan. We also start building some Galleys, to get our troops over from the mainland to Carthage for the final push.

230 AD - An attack on Rome with six Swordsmen is a miserable failure! So is attacks on Lutetia and Hispalis. A major blow to our Roman campaign. On the other side of the world, our Knight Army has reached Nagasaki.

250 AD - Our Med. Infantry destroy Bombay. In the east, our Knight Army captures Nagasaki.

280 AD - Our Med. Infantry destroy Karachi.

300 AD - Our Knights take Izumo from the Japanese.

310 AD - The Japanese take Izumo back, using Horsemen. We re-capture with Knights, and burn the town to the ground.

320 AD - We break the peace treaty with the Romans, and destroy Hispalis and Pompei. Then we destroy the Indian town of Bangalore. In the east, our Knights destroy Shimonoseki.

330 AD - We raze Calcutta. We break the peace treaty with the Celts, and raze Ratae Coritanorum, Cataractonium, Lugdunum and Richborough. We also declare war on Carthage, making us at war with the entire world.

340 AD - We capture and keep Delhi (for the Colossus) from the Indians, and raze the Celtic towns of Augustodorum and Lapurdum, the Cartaghinian town of Cirta and the Japanese town of Nara. An attack on Rome leaves the city defended by one redlined Spearman.

350 AD - We raze Rome, Yokohama (Japanese), Agedinicum and Gergovia (Celtic).

360 AD - We destroy Madras - The Indians are extinct.

370 AD - We raze Lutetia (Rome), Eboracum and Burdigala (Celtic), Nagoya, Tokyo and Nagoshima (Japan). We also capture and keep Entremont (Hanging Gardens), and finally make peace with Rome for Viroconium, which we immediately abandon.

380 AD - We raze Camulodunum and Alesia (Celtic). We also make peace with Japan for Satsuma, which we abandon.

390 AD - Not paying enough attention, we lose Atzcapotzalco to the Celts.

400 AD - We raze Verulamium (Celtic) and Edo (Japanese).

410 AD - We re-declare on Rome, and raze Cumae and Antium. We also raze Atzcapotzalco, but the Celts are not destroyed. And we raze Nora (Carthage).

420 AD - We capture Kyoto, and The Oracle - The Japanese are destroyed. The Celts found Tolosa. We send some Knights that way...

430 AD - We raze Byzantium and Pisae (Roman).

450 AD - We destroy Tolosa and with it, the Celts. And we destroy Neapolis, and the Romans are also extinct. Only the Carthaginians to go.

460 AD - We destroy Rusadir.

480 AD - The first round of 12 Knights are shipped over to the Carthaginian mainland.

490 AD - We capture Leptis Magna and raze Rusicade.

530 AD - We raze Hippo, and The Great Wall. Then we raze Orea.

540 AD - We raze Theveste.

570 AD - We get our third great leader when razing Leptis Minor. We also raze Sabratha.

580 AD - We raze Hadrumetum.

590 AD - We capture Carthage (and The Great Lighthouse) and raze Utica.

600 AD - We raze Cadiz, the Carthaginians are destroyed!

610 AD - WE WIN A CONQUEST VICTORY!

-- Roland

 

[klarius]

Open
Ancient Age

When entering the MA in 825BC I was at war with Greece.
The first MGL was generated in this war and a sword army was formed.
I really wanted to do a peaceful expansion now, but Alexander had different plans. He broke peace treaties three times and sneak attacked, even getting two empty cities in one case.

In 710 BC the Temple of Artemis was completed in Cuzco. So all was set to explosive growth and putting cultural pressure on everybody.

In 170 BC the wars with Greece ended. They had one city left near Rome and were allowed to keep it till I would run out of land to settle.

In 90BC the Colossus built in Machu Picchu triggered the golden age.
I hadn't really planned for that, but our 27 city republic at that time was well suited for that.

By that time I had decided to go for a MA 100k victory without ever obsoleting the ToA. This means I had to get many cities as fast as possible. The core was building infrastructure while the peripheral cities built settlers.

The next military target were the Aztecs. I just wanted their luxes and also more land.
The war started in 190AD using mainly knights (only a small force).

I did make peace already in 300AD after capturing Tenochtitlan with the Oracle.
I also had control over dyes and gems by that war and left Aztecs with 5 cities.

In 340 AD the empire had 50 cities. The course was again settling everywhere where there was an empty space and try to get more luxes by culture.

The war against Rome started in 500 AD. I had already put a lot of culture pressure on them, but neither did any cities flip nor did the wimpy Caesar declare. So I had to declare myself.
During that war a lot of new settlements were founded. So we reached 100 cities in 600AD.

Before Rome was eliminated I had a small campaign against the weak Indians. They were completely removed in 750AD.
Somewhere along these campaigns I also had taken the last greek and aztec cities.

Rome was out in 810AD and our city count went over 150.

From 840AD there was the Celtic war. I had to watch the domination limit already there and started to gift cities to Carthage to stop my culture expansion into bad land.

Celts were gone in 890AD and the war was brought to Japanese. They lasted to 1020AD.
In the same year the empire hit its max city count of 189. Later I had to gift away another city to avoid domination.

The last libraries were rushed in 1200AD. So there where 188 libraries then and I started to rush cathedrals.

Culture progression:
[pre]
Date Culture cpt cities
1000BC 223 9 8
10BC 2449 106 29
500AD 9241 314 78
1000AD 36905 889 187
1200AD 56941 1130 188
1400AD 99596 1311 188[/pre]
In 1405AD we hit 100907 culture.

Alas, I wasn't aware of the game mechanics and hit the domination limit (deliberately) in the same turn.
So this was not accounted as a culture victory, but a domination victory.
And as I had to learn the submission system does also not correct this.
So I will have to live with a very late domination victory with 10564 Jason score.
I really wanted to show (mainly to myself) that I'm able to get a very good result also with a late victory. Now I will have to wait until the calculator comes up to see how good it could have been.

This was not an attempt to get the earliest possible 100k.
I balanced rushing of culture with harbors and aqueducts to get also a high Jason score.

I also made quite a few mistakes. So I tried an invasion of Carthage with insufficient forces.
A few turns later I could have succeeded, but so my invasion force was burnt and I had to buy their luxes till the end of the game (for around 300gpt so about half a cathedral per turn).

BTW does anyone know in which sequence the game checks the victory conditions?
I already know that conquest comes before domination (from COTM04 ) and just learned that domination comes before culture.

 

[gozpel]

Not much to report.

I have a couple of squabbles with some nations and made a couple of fake wars.

Aztecs sneak attacked a few turns in to MA and I got my GA by 320AD. We took most of their cities and Pyramids, which set off a growth in the empire. At this time I also started a war against Greeks and took most of their town, including the horses.

I got my first leader 1030AD after something like 60 elite wins! We can't have scientific leaders, but we can still have this kind of random stuff allowed? I'm stumped.

I entered IA around 1200AD.

Cultural builds:

AA for bed_head's calculations.

Temple - 3450bc
Oracle - 1870bc
ToA - 1200bc
MoM - 925bc
Library - 875bc
Hanging Gardens - 590bc
Great Library - 270bc

MA:

Great Wall - 30bc
Colloseum - 10bc
Cathedral - 70AD
Sistine Chapel - 400AD
University - 410AD
Bach - 600AD
Knight's Templar - 720AD
Shakespeare's - 900AD
Copernicus - 1040AD
Heroic Epic - 1110AD

In hindsight I see I miss a turn by not building the GLib before HG, but ah well, this is just for fun.

I never checked what CP's I was getting when I entered the IA, but it was a bit over a 100/turn.

It's quite boring to go for 20k, when there is no chance at all to hurry "real" wonders.

EDIT: Looks like you beat me to a few bed_head But I snagged a couple of AA wonders (ToA and GW) and I got a cathedral ealier as well as the temple.

Make the maths, please. I think you are in the driver's seat though, with that different approach in the MA. It looks really nice and I was a scatterbrain half through the game.

 

[bed_head7]

I like 20k games in Conquests better, especially with no SGLs. It makes technique in the capital more important. I had the same luck with leaders, almost. I am at 900something, with 40ish elite wins and I just got my first leader. Full cultural building log will come a little later, since I stopped keeping track completely, but I think I have a slight edge on gozpel and DocT since I managed to build SoZ in the early middle ages.

 

[bed_head7]

Palace - 3950 BC
Temple - 2590 BC
Oracle - 1650 BC
Pyramids - 1200 BC
Library - 1125 BC
Great Library - 710 BC
Mausoleum of Mausollos - 550 BC
Hanging Gardens - 210 BC
Sistine Chapel - 230 AD
Statue of Zeus - 310 AD
Cathedral - 340 AD
Colosseum - 360 AD
University - 410 AD
Copernicus' Observatory - 560 AD, which triggers Incan Golden Age
Shakespeare's Theater - 670 AD
JS Bach's Cathedral - 810 AD
Knights Templar - 900 AD
Newton's University - 1010 AD
Heroic Epic - 1020 AD

Industrial Age entered in 1040 AD, Cuzco's culture is at 7943 gaining 101cpt. At this rate, 20k victory will be achieved at 1750 AD. Hopefully, I will be able to shave 10 turns off of that and break 1700. Unfortunately, without railroads, Cuzco couldn't reach 40spt where I founded, so everything took an extra turn.

Edit: Notice no horses and no barracks. So my only fast units have been regular AC, slowing down the leader process, though I got my second one right before my army won, and the leader safely made it back to the capital to rush the Heroic Epic.

 

[Darkness]

Predator

Entry of the middle ages in 1000BC, with the discovery of polytheism. During the early part of this era I was constantly beset by barbarians, because Japan entered the middle ages shortly after me. Constant sacking of my remote cities crippled my treasury for an estimated 400-500 gold in the period between 1000BC and 750BC.

775BC – Vilcas builds FP
750BC – Iron connected. Trade some techs around to make some extra money for upgrades, including polytheism to Greece. They get monotheism, but they want literature, republic 260 gold and 31 gpt for it. Which is impossible, ‘cause I’m about to declare war. Upgrade 9 warriors to swords
730BC – Gift republic to the Greeks. They revolt and we declare war
630BC – Ollantaytambo builds Pyramids. Golden Age
570BC – Athens captured, we now have horses
530BC – Meet Carthage
510BC – Make peace with Greece for three cities. Trade feudalism for monotheism. Start chivalry
470BC – After repositioning of my troops I re-declare war on the Greeks
430BC – Greeks destroyed
410BC – Declare war on Carthage (Thanks Gozpel... ) Make peace 5 or six turns later, without a single battle (just to slow them down technologically) I made peace because their ships started sending troops towards me and I wanted to fight the Aztecs and Romans, so I couldn't spare the troops to fight Carthage).
390BC – Chivalry discovered
350BC – Declare war on Aztecs
330BC – Tiwanaku builds Temple of Artemis
270BC – Declare war on Rome
190BC – Vilcas builds Sun Tzu’s
150BC – Make peace with Rome, because the RNG is killing me. I just lost 7 veteran knights attacking a city defended by two spearman and an archer, and the city didn’t fall….
110BC – Aztecs destroyed
50BC – Re-declare war on Romans
30BC – Declare war on Celts
10AD – Elite knight spawns MGL fighting the Romans, becomes army
110AD – Carthage declares war on me
130AD – India declares war on me
190AD - Domination win.
Time: 22 hours and 37 minutes….
Firaxis: 6674
Jason: 12024

Great map Ainwood! The level wasn’t very challenging, but the terrain surely was!

EDIT: Gozpel pointed out an error, which has now been corrected.

 

[gozpel]

Very fast Darkness, but confusing:

430BC – Greeks destroyed
410BC – Declare war on Greece

 

[Darkness]

Very fast Darkness, but confusing:

Oops, sorry...

That should be Carthage...
That was really a ghost war. Not a single battle fought and made peace again 5 turns later. My mind was probably still on Greece at the time. I'll edit it...

 

[Teshik]

Open Class, Goal : Spaceship

Here is the chance to share your tales of glory!

Okay, then I've nothing to report here...
My tale of the middle ages...or the finding that big sometimes isn't beautiful.

shortly after entering MA in 170 BC, the Aztecs declared on me, because they wanted some tech I don't remember. Fine with me, I have already some swordsman waiting to play. I take Texcoco, next to my Dye-City, still deep in the jungle. Then I just wait for their unit to bang against Texcoco, while waiting for feudalism. I decide to make peace a little bit, upgrade and restock, and attack again. Plus, I get Xochicalco(Coast city in the east) out of that deal. Oh, look, there's a Carthaginian warrior next to my new city of Xochicalco. I wonder if he would be so dumb and ... yup. They declare, and take Xochicalco.
I decide to be slightly pissed. My new Medinfs take their time to get there, as Montezuma hasn't build any roads there. Tsk, tsk So, in 370AD, I attack with the first two units. One loses, gifting them into GA, the second wins twice, gifting me with a Great Leader and Xochicalco. Nice. In exactly that turn Monty decides to ally with Hannibal. Hey, thanks! Someone to try out my new army with !
In 450, all but two aztec cities in the mountains are mine. So, I think, time for peace and building....Rome sneak-attacks. I roll my eyes into the back of my head, ally with Greece and India and take two cities, formerly India. Meanwhile, I build Sistine Chapel.

Then, my top-buddy Alex crumbles to bits, Gandhi makes peace with Rome, and I'm still at war, as I notice a tech speed-racer whizzing past me with a bumper sticker "Carthage or Bust". Whut? 37 Cities on my part, 10 on theirs, thats impossi....bleh. It's a standard map, stupid! and since my cities in the north are on perpetual unit rush, none of them has a courthouse, or temples, or libraries, and let's not talk about terrain development. ouch.
I step on the emergency brake, stopping science and begin rushing courts and developing Tenóchtitlàn for my forbidden palace. Rome is too large now to be a friendly neighbor, and Greece is doomed anyway, so...first declaring to Greece, taking Sparta, Argos(next to the Volcano), and wait for Rome to get Athens, then taking it the minute he got it...well, it still took a few turns and a few poor knights. But by the time I have Cavalries, The Territory Formerly Known As Greece is mine, Rome subdued...at least for now.

Greece, before:

...and after, right before snatching the rest of Greece out of Roman hands:

and finally, entering Industrial Age in 1450 AD.

Next on: Trying to retake the tech lead, and trying to determine who will sneak-attack me next...but only if I'm not the only one who hasn't conquered the world yet and I'm the only poster in Modern Age!

 

[Jansku]

Wow, there're at least two people that took a domination victory at the exact same date than me: 380AD. Cheers, Lord British & MiniMe

Firaxis score: 6035 (jason between 11000-12000)

I started the game by making a 4-turn settler factory (my first time) and making other cities produce temples + barracks + some colosseums&libraries and some chasquis. My first big mistake was to build those temples, instead of waiting for Artemis. The second big mistake was to base my warfare on horses, which turned out not to exist

Well, after that things started to get better. I waited for Feudalism and built about 20 med infantry. My goal was to take Athens with them at all costs, then build horses, attack and research military tradition.

I was too pessimistic. Those 20 med infantry eventually conquered the entire west part of the continent (with the help of a couple of ancient cavalry), including Greece, Rome and a couple of Indian towns. And after Athens had been captured and the first 8 knights arrived at the Aztec border, I attacked the Aztecs. A constant flow of knights from my core was "drilling" their way first straight up to the Northern part of Aztecs, then east to the Celtic territory. Knights coming behind took care of the little enemy cities left behind the "drill". About 10 workers was enough to maintain a road to the front as the knights went forward.

I tried to research military tradition too, but only got metallurgy just before the game ended...

Otherwise timing succeeded extremely well: the med infantry in the west just barely conquered Rome and settled the land when the knights in the East captured enough territory from the Celts to make it a domination.

There was very little resistance from the AI, I guess mainly because I did some military alliances before my attack (which I broke later of course ) Making&breaking peace deals was also quite efficient in taking the annoying
size-1 no-culture cities that the AI had plenty of.

Situation on the west front in 70AD:

The east front a bit later, in 260AD:

 

[Mistfit]

I stated in my 1st report that I was going to try out Conquest for this one. Well...That's not gonna happen. I had way to many mistakes in early warring for that to happen at a reasonable rate. Once into the MA I Kicked the Aztec off the planet with Swords leaving them 2 Mountain Coastal cities for 20 turns. I then turned my attention to the Greeks. They went with out much trouble seeing that I had Knights by this point. After that it only seemed fair to take out the Romans as well, This is where I got my 1st and 2nd leaders. One made an army and the other the hero epic in Rome. Now that I'm at this point I started to read the amazing dates the others were getting with conquest and domination so my plans change. I'm already 500 years past most of you so I'll go for a UN or Space win. For this I decide to do just a tad more warring. The Indians were just too pathetic not to give the boot to and the Kelts had the Pyramids that I want so they got the boot as well. Now it's just me, the Japanese and the Carts. I'm not really looking forward to the Rail phase of the game as it takes so much time but hey, it's good experiance for learning the complete game.

One question: What is the Key-stroke that takes all of the cities off the map to show resourses. I forgot this even existed. I would have prolly gone after the greeks first if I had remembered this trick.

 

[Jansku]

One question: What is the Key-stroke that takes all of the cities off the map to show resourses. I forgot this even existed. I would have prolly gone after the greeks first if I had remembered this trick.

Ctrl+shift+m. But it's weird that on my computer it also hides the cultural borders, but it doesn't do that on other machines (with the same version)

 

[a space oddity]

It's ctrl-shift-M, you can also reach it through the Map option in the main menu.