COTM 14 Final Spoiler - End of Game

[Jason Fliegel]

While I was playing this, I hated, hated, hated the resource distribution.

Now that I've won, I don't mind it as much.

Anyway, I had conquered Germany and claimed some of the central islands by the end of the Middle Ages. In the Industrial Era, I conquered Spain. Meanwhile up north, Sumeria had taken the lead and the Netherlands were a close second, roughly tied with me. In the early Modern Era, I was undecided between revolting to communism and conquering France and attacking the northern hemisphere or revolting to democracy and going for a space race victory. Democracy won out when I discovered that I had uranium in my territory. The space race was a close one -- the Dutch and the Sumerians always had a slight tech edge on me -- but I managed to pull it out.

Launch date: 1850
Firaxis Score: 3326
Jason Score: 3980

Not great, I know, but this is only my second Emperor level victory, so I'm pleased with myself. Considering that last time we played Emperor (COTM07, Austria), I got walloped very early on, it's pretty nice to see how much my game has improved.

 

[MiniMe]

@leopalas
Thanks! Germany got Fission and there were lots of optional techs that I could trade to them, and in combination with 200gpt they went for it. I think I would have been able to trade for gpt anyhow if another civ had gotten it. My rep was in tip-top shape, and I had loads of gpt.

 

[DBear]

Late Medieval spoiler

The Golden Age

In 930 start researching med, as it probably
won't be researched. Trade Grav to Dutch for
Military + 1400. Dutch are quite rich at this
time. Trade Germans magnets and military for
Demo. Another galley is . We're getting
a nice fleet up.

Next turn, Cambridge finally finishes the FP. In
1010, learn med. Trade it to Germany for steam,
Art, WM, 24/turn. Also at this time, a manowar
picks off a privateer and starts the golden age.
Only trouble--we have no coal. It seems to be
in extremely limited supply.

In 1070 London finishes Newton, it has become
quite the science center. In 1100 I learn elec-
tric, start sci. Trade electric to France for
National + gold. Trade electric to Dutch for 399
+ 99/turn.

In 1120 Sumeria lands a couple outside Coventry!
Longbow fails to stop them. Sumeria takes it
next turn, but I rush crusaders from the other
cities and take it back by 1150, by which time
we learn sci.

Evolution

By MM, it will take 14 turns to finish Darwin.
However, by 1220 the Golden Age ends, and it goes
back to 14 turns. Next turn we pick up industry.
In 1265 Sumerians land 4 cav outside Ipswich, but
the crusaders there easily repulse them.

In 1270 we learn replaceables, start sanitation.
We do have rubber, outside Cambridge. 2 turns
later, we finally make peace with Sumeria. Turns
out they have wine and ivory. We trade them
electric + industry for the aforementioned luxes,
commie, + 13.

Meanwhile, the French and Dutch have been
Babylon. In 1300 we learn Sanitation just in time
as we get Darwin next turn. Trade Sanitation
to Dutch for Espy, spice, Wm + 600. Trade it
to Germany for 280 + 38gpt. Open embassy to
Vikings, they have only 1 city left.

Next turn Darwin comes in and we pull off the
classic 1-2, getting Atomics and Electronics.
Start Corp. In 1335 Germany declares war on
Sumeria, wants us to ally. We turn it down as
we don't want to break a trade deal. We learn Corp.

In 1360 we trade Atomics to France for ironclads,
24 + 8/turn. We turn and sell ironclads to Germany
for 410. Those Germans keep sending out
privateers, so my menowar keep sinkin' 'em.

War for Oil (I know what yer thinkin'...)

In 1385 we pick up refining, start steel. Find
out we have no oil, but the weak Babylonians do.
Babylon had been pretty much dogpiled on at this
point, kicked off their homeland by the Dutch and
holding several islands.

In 1400 I trade the Dutch corp for spice, WM,
3000 (you read that right), +50gpt. I use the
money to rush exchanges. Trade corp to Spain for
137 + 84/turn. Trade Sumeria atomics for Fascism,
though I have no intention of using it.

In 1405 London builds Suffrage, start Hoover.
Drat, the Dutch are starting Hoover too. Time
for an investigation. Amsterdam is only producing
9/turn. Even though they switched over from
Suffrage, it'll still take them 50 turns, whereas
we can get it in 25.

In 1410 we build Birmingham on island consisting
of formerly Bab cities now owned by France. In
1425 we learn steel. Next turn we declare war on
Babylon. They have oil and we wants it, my precious.
2 turns later we take Samarra with harbor intact.
Sweet!

...These dark Satanic mills

In 1465 we start getting hit with pollution as
we learn combust. I realize we need more workers
to deal with the problem. In 1500 we learn mass
pro. Trade steel to Sumeria for gold to speed
up research. Next turn, the Dutch wipe out the
Vikings.

By 1525, London finishes Hoover. The war has
bogged down, as cavs are losing to spears. We
make peace, getting tribute of 108 + 3gpt. 2
turns later, York builds MI5. The Dutch are
at war w/Sumeria again. Diplomatically, Gil and
Hammy hate us (natch), everyone else likes us.
Learn motors in 1540.

By 1560, Oxford builds Wall Street (I wish I knew
the English equivalent), and in 1580 we learn flight.

Modern Times

I put York into a prebuild for the UN.
As it turns out I shoulda done this after York
built MI5. In 1600 I see that Willy has gone
modern also.

In 1645 we learn fission, start computers. York
switches to UN. If I had timed the prebuild
better, I coulda won now, but I have to wait
until 1725 to win. Also, we have no uranium--
and Germany has 2 of them.

In 1660 the Germans do what we couldn't--take
Eulbar. Babylonians are wiped out 2 turns later.
With no one to war against, Otto starts
getting cranky, and extort combustion in 1680.
Good thing they're behind us technologically.
I have to get them back on my good side--a war
with Sumeria is just the thing. I have to wait for
the trade deals to expire.

Finale

In 1700, it works as planned. I declare war and
the Germans are bribed to join in with flight
and they are happy again. I had picked up com-
puters the previous turn. I turn research to
minimal and up the lux so everyone is happy.

In 1715 I send 6 tanks to take their westernmost
city, and I needed them all. They had a redlined
tank which killed 2 of my healthy ones. That RNG
Anyway, in 1725 the UN is finished and I take the
vote. Dutch are the other candidate. Sumeria
abstains, I get the other votes.

Final Thoughts

3092 Firaxis, 4912 Jason. I was hoping for higher
than that. If I had timed the prebuild better...
Still, this is my first solo win on Emperor
so I shouldn't complain too much.

Interesting map. Scarcity of resources propelled
colonization, just like the real England. And all
those barb islands conveniently provided sailors for
England's ships.

This is one of my rare games where I never got
a leader--played a mostly peaceful game. Also,
with no coal, I never built railroads, which probably
delayed my win as well.

 

[chunkymonkey]

On the back of a Adam Smith's induced GA, the English head towards construction of the UN at 4/5 turn research pace. We grant our northern friends techs in an attempt to get them to research stuff for us. As it happens, the only decent thing they ever have to trade to us is Steam Power, which was a Babylonian freebie upon entry to the IA.

Throughout the game, Sumeria were the runners-up in land and population, so we figured they would be our eventual opponents, however Isabella was running amok over France, and eventually she controlled a larger population than Gilgamesh. During the late IA, the Sumerians and Dutch declare war on us in an attempt to claim our coal, but don't really make much of an effort, and peace deals are soon signed. In 1130AD, 1 turn before Theory of Evolution is developed in London, and the Palace is to be relocated in York, we gift Isabella a couple of colonies to make sure that Gilgamesh cannot rival her in the interturn, then we declare on Spain - pulling everyone in against them.

Darwin's theories grant us knowledge of Motorised Transportation and Fission, and the Palace of York is duly restructured into a suitable meeting place for the International Security Council. The world leaders convene and Elizabeth is elected to represent them with a result of 6-1.

Jason - shade under 9K

Great game Minime i knew that the UN would be built pre-900AD, but i didn't think that 750AD was possible!

 

[Kuningas]

@leopalas, Jason was slightly above 10k. Likely my position isn't in top10. A medal only a day-dream

 

[Own]

Fantastic, fabulous, beautiful. That's the second time it's happened to me in Gotm, the last was the Persian one.

 

[Twonky]

That´s tough luck, Own. The rng owes you one, for sure.

My game came to an UN victory in 1485 AD, with the dutch as my opponent, against whom I had allied everyone else anyway. I could have been a few turns faster with more determined planning, but 750 AD was way impossible. Congrats to you fast guys!

 

[MiniMe]

@chunkymonkey
Regarding 730AD diplo win, there is always some room for improvement. For example in cotm12, bradleyfeanor reached IA in 790AD without using ToE. Meaning that he could have saved at least 8 turns building ToE during IA and therefore have UN no later than 710AD (maybe even before).

 

[King Of America]

Conquest

Even though I retired Otto early, the rest of my game was relatively peaceful -- only because I realized that I couldn't do much damage to Spain (a bit of RNG misfortune).

I had a Man-of-War induced GA (I said "relatively" peaceful...) after I FINALLY linked up saltpeter. I was doing OK in techs, including getting 2 extra with ToE.

But soon after, Sumeria started beeating me by 1-3 turns to every tech.

So I remembered a spoiler from about 20 GOTMs ago, saved enough money, stole Fission, built the UN and won the election.

 

[ionimplant]

open

getting diploma victory in the mid 1300AD. almost no war, except for the early rightful crusade against Germany to claim our own island, throughout the game. i wanted everyone to be happy and wanted everyone to contribute to the research pace. however missing the republic slingshot hurts a little. aggressive Sumeria didn't do any good with its huge empire since it was always at war with someone. no one got fission upon entering modern age. if these things worked fine, a pre-1300 win may be possible. but it's always an interesting game by helping the weak and try to keep everyone at peace... barbarian are really annoying. they even killed my troop composed of three knights once.

 

[Gato Loco]

Industrial age – open class

Ending the war:
The first order of business was to eliminate the remnants of Germany. Within a few decades I had taken their remaining cities and reduced them to a “boat people” settler. The managed to survive by landing a longbowman next to an undefended island city, causing me to sign a peace treaty rather than lose the city.

Resources:
At this point I was still without my own source of saltpeter, as the Vikings had just stolen the last saltpeter after my musketeers so generously soaked up the barbarians guarding it. This problem was quickly solved by sending s couple cavalry to claim what was rightly mine. Besides the saltpeter city, I left the Vikings in peace because I still hoped for their votes.

Upon discovering steam power, I had a bit of a scare thinking that there wasn’t any unclaimed coal left. This would create a real problem since I was planning to go for a diplomatic victory and wouldn’t want to fight another war to get it. Fortunately, however, I soon noticed that there was indeed another unclaimed coal on one of the massive barbarian islands. Remembering the lesson form last time, I sent a stack of 4 cavalry and a cavalry army to the island. With three move, cavalry can exploit the stupid barbarian AI by running up, attacking, then running out of range so the surviving barbs don’t counterattack.

The rest of the IA went by the book. I sold lots of tech for GPT, especially to Sumeria, got the ToE and Hoover Dam, and timed a prebuild to complete the UN the turn after discovering fission. The vote went 3-1 in my favor, with one abstention, for a victory in 1365 and a Jason score of 7580.

 

[sanabas]

I think my MA spoiler ended in 550AD, same time as the spanish civilisation ended. I self-researched steam power in 590, and discovered I had coal. 610 saw me declare on France, and trade sumer and the OCC babylonians to the IA, had some luck with freebies, and got to trade for medicine. France died in 740, I finally got an MGL during the french war, then a second. They were made into a pair of cavalry armies, which jumped into a fleet of galleons, and went to pay the dutch a visit. Declared on the dutch in 790, dogpiled in the world, the war was slow as it was cavalry v rifles. The city of Babylon, and the colossus inside changed hands at least 6 times, from babs to dutch, then I captured it twice and had it culture flip back to the dutch twice, before finally it was the capital of a OCC dutch civilisation, and I took it in 1000AD. That was it for the wars, until the sumerians sneak attacked my only coal source midway through the modern era. I got my 3rd MGL of the game from a drafted Mech Inf, used it to rush a modern armour (my only post-cav offensive land unit of the game), and loaded the elite* mech inf, and the vet armour onto a transport, which was promtly sunk by an unseen submarine. A sumerian cavalry in my coal city also managed to fight off the attacks of 4 drafted mech inf. 12 attack, 9hp v 3 defense, 5hp on grass, the RNG hates me. That was it for the war though, I gave up on recapturing coal and RRing former dutch land, sumer ignored me and concentrated on the vikings, and I kept researching for space, and there were no nasty surprises with uranium or aluminium, I had multiple sources of both.

Tech pace was slow all game. Only useful IA techs I could trade for were medicine & replaceable parts (only 3 turns before discovering flight and being forced to self research), only modern techs I traded for were fission and ecology, after gifting sumer & the babs to the modern ages. Gave me some brief anxious moments as sumer was building the UN, and I couldn't afford to trade for it, but thwey weren't building too quickly, and I beat them there by 5-10 turns. Game finished with sanitation and espionage unresearched by anyone, launched my spaceship in 1450. Firaxis 7678, Jason 9234.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Middle Ages

After searching for them for hundreds of years, I found the last Germans, an archer and settler.. Germany is eliminated in 130 BC.

Spain eliminated in 350AD. France in 370.

Golden Age begins in 380 AD with construction of Knights Templar. This was pretty confusing at first, but I'd already captured the Great Lighthouse and Mausolleum, which had England's traits.

In 400 AD, the Vikings decided to ruin all my plans by attacking my Iron city. Instead of asking them to leave or declare (they would have declared of course), I went to war with Sumeria and allied the vikings. So smart of me, I thought...

But on the next turn they attacked anyway!

Fortunately this happened the same interturn that I discovered Military Tradition and all Knight builds turned into Cavalry. Best. Timing. Ever. I promptly ally Babylon and the Dutch vs. the Vikes and Sumerians.

I found this map to be interesting diplomatically because civs were grouped by two's.For each group I allied one civ against another, France vs. Spain, Sumeria vs. Vikings, and Dutch vs. Babylon. Each time it produced a more powerful civ. Spain, Sumeria, and the Dutch got the upper hand. I didn't try this again assuming one civ would own their entire island, horribly weakening one while making the victor much stronger. So later in the game I allied strong vs. strong, weak vs. weak.

Industrial Age
For some reason I continued researching Banking, ToG, and some Steam Power. I never needed them...
Entered IA in 610 AD and killed off Sumeria the same turn.
Dutch gone in 710.
Vikes in 720.
Babylon in 780.

Conquest win in 790 AD.

 

[FacuK]

Open

Settler in place, build warrior, curragh, Granary

Warrior started to explore along the hills and mountains, saw Germany and moved into Germany, 1 S of Berlin Trade Pot? for BW + 10 gold.

German archer went direct to London, I return with my warrior, but decided not attack!! :suicide:. Return to London, German Archer 1 E, sneak attack and enter London in 3300 BC.

I think (couldn't read all the post) I'm one of the fastest losers with 75 firaxis points.

Besides I lost the autosave, so no red ambulance for me either no first C/GOTM to submit.

 

[shortguy]

This game turned out to be like, and yet unlike, many of my games.

The usual formula:
Expand peacefully until I can't anymore
Build up my core, keep military costs low
Get IA resources (through trade if I have to), build a shield-rich core, increase the military with artillery and infantry
Get attacked by some stupid AI. Destroy the attack and take it to them if they're close
Win by UN sometime in the 15-16-17 centuries AD

While I had a diplo win in the 15th century (as usual), I embarked upon an earlier war than I usually did. I took out the germans, then set my sights on the spanish, hoping for a military victory. By the time my horsemen were ready, though, they had gunpowder, and I disbanded most of my military. I took control of the island just west of the homeland, put 2 cities on the one to the southeast, and got one iron, for which I had to dance around the barbarians quite a while. Iron, it turns out, would be the last resource that I would acquire. I spent most of the MA and IA a little behind, and I got ahead with the ToE. I had not expanded overseas much, however, and I got no IA resources. This would tend to be a game-breaker, but it wasn't. Inexplicably, the AI never hooked up their coal. All the coal islands but one had barbarians on them, but, rather than kill the barbs, they just bombarded them and let them sit there. The one island that had coal and was barb-less was Babylonian, and I don't know why they didn't hook any of it up. I was cruising toward a close victory when the Spanish sneak attacked me. This was bad news, as I had very poor defenses on my outlying islands. They took the western island with ease, and I signed everyone against them. They would go on to take all my overseas posessions. However, I did manage to get my GA in this war, and it propelled me to a lead I wouldn't relinquish. I had bad war weariness problems; I ended the game at 50% luxury. In fact, for a period I just let cities riot (save London, which was building the UN) so that I would have enough GPT to finish my research. I actually did get a defensive, leader, Edward, from an infantry defending my iron city, but he was killed that same interturn. His unit was renamed "Edward the futile," and his army of an elite and a veteran horseman was destroyed the next turn. The interturn before my victory, the Spanish took the city on the northeastern tip of the home continent. They couldn't touch my core, though, and I won diplomatically in 1490 AD with a jason score in the 6300s.

 

[Timko]

After searching for them for hundreds of years, I found the last Germans, an archer and settler.. Germany is eliminated in 130 BC.

I thought if a civ was down to just a settler, then it would build a city immediately, even if it means declaring. Unless they had spent those hundreds of years sitting in a boat.

 

[zyxy]

Predator, going for 100K. Spoiler for MA and IA.
AA Spoiler

High culture

After the English nation becomes a republic (in 270 BC) and defeats the Huns (in 10 AD), a period of peaceful expansion and cultural development begins. The islands in the barbarian zone, including those with iron and gems, are settled one by one with a densely packed pattern of cities, and we start to construct libraries and temples in an attempt to civilize the barbarians (and promote English culture).
We are the only nation from the southern hemisphere that knows the northern civs, and that will stay so for a while. Some gurus suggest to develop a new government type called Communism for better production, but this idea is quickly rejected. England is a Republic headed by a Queen, and that's how it should be. And thus research progresses at a moderate pace, using only specialized scientists, while applying all income to cashrushing. Through trade we can easily stay current in the science race.
The only hickup is when the Dutch and Babylonians decide to attack us around 300 AD. To preserve the balance of power we draw Sumeria into the fight against the Dutch. The Babylonians are weak and we don't have to do much fighting to preserve the status quo. After a few 100 years peace is granted to our enemies for a modest fee.

We will fight them on the beaches....

In the mean time it has become clear that we need more land, with Spain and France as the obvious targets, as they are close and lack iron. Our plans are anticipated by Spanish intelligence and they land a small party on one of our islands in 400 AD. We trade them our only iron for some tech and gold, and immediately afterwards they declare. England allies with France and after some galley warfare the English navy gains control of the seas. Reducing Spain proves to be laborious as their cities are large and they have just discovered Gunpowder. However, in 810 AD Spain bites the dust, and we start filling up the former Spanish lands with more cities.

In 1010 AD we buy Mil Trad from France for Economics, upgrade to cavalry, and declare war one turn later. Joan looks very pissed but cannot prevent her cities from falling into our hands, especially as she has instructed more than half of them to build Great Wonders.
Our navy once again distinguishes itself and a Man-O-War starts a Golden Age. The war with France stays hot until 1130 AD when France is reduced to a single city on a small island. We grant peace a few turns later.

...or blow them out of the water

After the acquisition of Spain and France the English nation has enough land to reach its destiny. But the Sumerians are trying to compete with English culture, and so plans are drawn to remove Sumeria from the face of the earth. As a first step, Steam Power is sold to Sumeria for large gold payments, gold that will be used to raise an army. In the mean time, our warships guard the borders in a long line stretching around the equator - wooden wall indeed.
Again our plans are betrayed and in 1325 AD, a few turns before we are ready to attack Sumeria they land some troops on one of our islands. Maybe Sumeria felt shortchanged in the Steam Power deal because we control all the coal? As if on cue the powerless One City State of the Vikings also lands some forces in the same turn. Sumerian and Scandinavian intelligence is not very good however, as both landing zones are in the very area where our armies have gathered.
We sign an MPP with the Dutch, and as the Sumerians have a pact with powerless Babylon, the world soon finds itself at war. Only the City of France maintains peaceful relations with everyone.

The following years witness the largest naval battle in history, where the superior English warships and naval tactics win the day. It is no wonder that many Sumerian sailors decide to switch sides, and the English navy grows quickly. Later on the Man-O-Wars prove to be effective in shore bombardment as well, being the cause of great damage to Sumerian rifleman companies, and of great pride to English engineers - who persisted in the development of these power frigates, despite the rather lame performance of the earlier prototype (dubbed "vanilla").
Sumeria pays dearly for its unprovoked attack, and a large English force, lead by first 3, later 6 cavalry armies (three leaders from the French War, three from the Sumerian war), razes all Sumerian cities in its path - the surviving citizens are put to work on irrigation and railroad construction, and later many will become loyal English citizens. In 1400 AD Sumeria is no more. The land is left barren as a warning against hubris to future generations.

The end

The Dutch continue the fight and kill the Vikings and Babylonians, but England returns to more peaceful business after the Sumerian Expedition. The barbarians now all have primary education, and so we start to construct universities throughout the land, with the extensive aid of civil engineers. Early in the 17th century England is recognized as the worlds dominant culture, with shameless flattery:

 

[zyxy]

In 400 AD, the Vikings decided to ruin all my plans by attacking my Iron city. Instead of asking them to leave or declare (they would have declared of course), I went to war with Sumeria and allied the vikings. So smart of me, I thought...

I think the AI decides to attack a few turns before it actually declares war. After the decision is made, there is nothing you can do to prevent the attack.
A sure tell-tale sign in archipelago games is a galleon escorted by three frigates going straight for one of your islands....

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

...and defeats the Huns

Actually, we consider that a bit offensive, Kanisterkopf .

Predator, Space.
Not the greatest date, but the AI wasn't very helpful for research.
Entered the IA as late as 530AD. At that time, Germany was an island OCC, kept around for their free tech. I had fought no other war until now.
Babylon was about to leave the game; the Dutch, Sumeria and Vikings were about equal strength. Spain was the same size, and France had lost a couple of towns (but no territory) in a war against Isa, and was almost as backwards as OCC Otto. I did feed them with the commerce techs for their Spices, but they had no chance to get the military ones; no Musketeers.
Oh, and Spain didn’t manage to contact the 3 N Civs until 550AD ; nice middle-man brokering for me.
Gifted the 3 SCI Civs: Germany and Sumeria got Nationalism, and Babylon Medicine. Of course, nobody wanted to trade Nationalism, and Babylon was down to one city (Iron!), and a Settler on another barb island - and at war with Vikings, thus about to get extinct. No trade possible, as well (Grr... 4 optional MA techs including Demo and 2000gp wasn't enough).
So I grabbed the Iron town, and one turn later Ragnar killed them off.
I was importing Saltpetre from the Dutch, and used it to grab a couple of towns from Spain (Coal and Saltpetre) in a short war 660-700AD.
Then, I turned on France. Originally, I only wanted the two Dyes cities - but it turned out that my small expeditionary forces (2 Inf, 2 Ari, 7 Cavs and a leftover Longbow together with 3 MoW) was enough to capture their entire core without losses. Took their last island holdings (surprise, Oil and Rubber) and eliminated them in 1130. Total losses: 1 Cav.

Research:
Was hoping to get two Modern techs with ToE, but Sumeria beelined to SciMeth, thus I was forced to build it now, and take the usual AT/Electronics. The 3 Northern Civs were actualy useful for research; I could trade for the Nationalism branch, Medicine, Sanitation, Sci Method, and Flight after reseaching it for 3 turns. Thus, I could get all IA techs in 5 (Industrialization only) or less.

Wonders:
Shakespear's (for the size, in London) 830AD
ToE (Leipzig) 1060AD
Hoover (London) 1150AD
Managed to build a Police Station in the capital since I forgot to switch to Stock Exchange upon learning Cooperation...

Entered the Modern Era in 1180AD. Both SCI Civs got Rocketry out of all techs (that's exactly the one tech they'd researched anyway)
SETI (London) in 1285AD
Internet (Leipzig) in 1305AD
UN (London) in 1350AD, just to be sure.

Once I had the Internet, I could research all techs in 4. Rocketry was the only Modern tech I could trade for, unfortunately.
In 1375AD, a Spanish town flipped to me - hadn't seen that for ages.
In 1490AD, learnt Robotics, switch the prebuilds via TBP, and left the planet.
Firaxis 5658, Jason 7612. Considering some bad luck with AI research choices and free techs, that's ok; but not really impressive.

Nice:
- How on Earth did you manage to anticipate London pulling exactly 100spt (before the NucPlant)?
- And, I love England - 37/39% Land/Pop is enough for 4-turn Modern techs.
- Built 4 MoWs myself - and ended with 22 total (17 Barbarian, 1 French) .
- Being the only Civ on Earth with RR surely helped in the late game (I owned 2 sources, and the Dutch never managed to connect #3 due to Barbs).
- Those one-tile mountain islands...how are we supposed to get the Uranium there? (Or was that a depletion? I got the message of a vanishing source the turn I discovered Fission, so I don't know if it only jumped there).

That was by far my favorite CotM map. Great job, team !

 

[A'AbarachAmadan]

Well, I haven't written any updates yet, but I'll try to do some details tomorrow. I went for a Conquest win (open), which I completed in 310AD. This was the fastest I've ever done it in a COTM and got my highest Jason score ever -11639.

Basically I built the Great Lighthouse early (3d city), thinking it would be required, which technically it wasn't, but I got lots of use out of it: 1) to take out Germany, which seemed tougher than I thought it would be, and 2) set up suicide galley-chains to go north (no chance of losing land military). I didn't go after Spain until after I connected iron, which I sent a galley/settler/pikeman to connect as soon as I finally found it, and upgraded some of my 40+ horses. Started that campaign around 310BC. First of the northerners that felt my wrath was the Netherlands in 90BC. After Chivalry, I didn't do any research, but got to invention via trade. Only Sumerians found Gunpowder and I only faced 1 Musketman. I think I broke a RoP with every civilization on the board. The north and south not meeting each other made this much easier as the north didn't know how bad I was.

This was a really cool map. I was generally able to avoid the barbarians link to the north with my suicide-chains, though I did roam through the area looking for goodies and even lost a couple galleys ending turns in the darn coastal waters. Although the Great Lighthouse wasn't needed, it was nice to avoid this area and I think it really sped up my game by reaching the North in 2 moves instead of many.