COTM 25 Spoiler 1 - end of ancient age

[tao]

Quite interesting. In Vanilla, I research as fast as possible towards the high-culture Wonders and fight to get Great Leaders for hurrying them.

Being new to Conquests (without Leader hurrying), I chose to slow tech progress down in order to get as many Wonders as possible. This delays however the high-culture ones. It will be interesting to see how this compares to Abegweit's way of fast research. At least the first round (Ancient Age) was clearly won by him.

And also I used the capital as 20k city. At least till now, I never wasted any shields due to loosing a race.

 

[Paul#42]

Yes, it's quite a difference to Ptw or Vanilla. I remember my recent attempt in Celts' Gotm with ~17 leaders (but lost due to a way too slow tech pace)...

This game I did not even get an elite unit yet
No promotion for my vet archers in about 15 victorious battles against these sneaky portugese...

 

[IronJeff]

I miss the palace expansions. It has been a part of Civ since civ 1 and was part of vanilla, my daughter always would ask to see it.

It was fun to mix styles up. I usually did the addition in tribute to the most recently vanquished foe. For example if I had just destroyed the aztecs I would do a native american wing. if it was the romans, It would be greco-roman etc. I told myself it helped my couquered peoples assimilate

 

[Abegweit]

Being new to Conquests (without Leader hurrying), I chose to slow tech progress down in order to get as many Wonders as possible. This delays however the high-culture ones. It will be interesting to see how this compares to Abegweit's way of fast research. At least the first round (Ancient Age) was clearly won by him.

One clear advantage of your approach is to break up wonder cascades. I had them going all along, which is why I lost wonders I wanted (like MoM)

And also I used the capital as 20k city. At least till now, I never wasted any shields due to loosing a race.

I don't think there's much danger of that at Monarch. We'll see

You finished a regular mountain before that gold mine?
No wonder you ran out of cash

I bought a cathedral and a colliseum. As for the Mountain mines, that's preparing for Shake's and I did the regular first because of worker movement mechanism. The real error in in that shot is that the city is working the mountain instead of the hill.

I tried 20k in my second city (S of your capital), looking at your screen I realized one big disadvantage - after corruption of my 36 shields I have only 29 left (time for the fp...)

Yep. the FP is a big advantage of the second city approach.

 

[WackenOpenAir]

Actually they staged a nice rock festival for me

When I passed by a small but famous town called Wacken yesterday I could not prevent thinking of you

I'll be there soon again.

 

[Htadus]

The Plan:
Go for 20K (or domination) with the capital since the second city would delay the process by about dozen or more turns and it will have at least 10 percent shield loss. Secure ivory for the statue. Prevent AI from getting important Wonders and of course locate iron. I plan to slow the tech progress and get the sling. Finally wait until Republic and several (about 10) cities to trigger GA.

The Execution:
Persia reached Middle age and have met all but Theodora the Colossus builder.

Well, the settler followed the worker north toward the cow and found another river tile and settled there. Worker built road before irrigating the cow. Perse built a warrior, temple, granary and couple of settlers before starting the Pyramids. CB was the priority followed by Pottery. After that the sling was the goal. Worker started to build roads and mines in BG’s first and met Shaka. The warrior met Alex and Wong early and Henry later. We traded around to get most of the available techs. But made sure that second tier techs will be slow to come by not trading immediately. We believe Shaka and Henry were in bed together because they shared every thing and were hard to keep up with.

After learning Writing we had a change of plans and thought “Republic Sling Shot”. Started on CoL until next turn we see both Shaka and Henry know how to write. We played it safe and changed research to Philosophy and got the sling and got Lit for free. Did not trade either, at least not immediately.

The Culture:
Palace
Temple
Oracle
Mausoleum of M
Library
Pyramids
Hanging Garden
Great Library (not complete yet and no competition is expected)

The Oops and Almost Oops:
It was a close call on Pyramids. We learned Monarchy 2 turns before Pyramids and had to choose to revolt or not. Previous turn we established embassies with Shaka and Lincoln to find 6 and 13 turns left for each, respectively. We revolt and get 2 turn anarchy. If not we would have sold or gifted Monarchy to Shaka. The completion of Pyramids initiated our GA. Completed Hanging Garden in 9 (8?) turns. We were not a republic as originally planned and only have 5 cities and about to build another thanks to Korea-Portugal war.

We will not be able to stop Shaka or Lincoln from completing ToA. But we will help Zulu speed up things.

The Immortals Are Coming! The Immortals Are Coming!
Halfway into GA, we connected the iron and are building Immortals. In the meantime we built about 16 veteran warriors waiting for a promotion.

Coming Up Next:
America has ivory but it is not connected to the capital and one of our warriors is waiting to do what ever needed to prevent Washington from getting Ivory when ToA get completed by Zulu (we hope) .

The immediate plan is to own our half of the Pangaea

I will update this from home with dates.

 

[StrictlyRockers]

Taking notes COTM 25 PErsia


4000 BC
This is a tough choice on where to plant the capital. The cow gives bonus food and a shield.
The wine gives bonus food once irrigated. It also give a luxury.
We don't know if either of them has access to water. The cow is nice
but the luxury is the trump here. I move Worker and Settler south.

3950BC
I see that it is easy to irrigate the wine as it borders a river.
I see flood plain further south which means a chance for plus five food.
I move Worker and Settler S onto the wine.

3900BC
Worker irrgates wine. Settler SE.

3850BC
Settler settles Persepolis. Builds Barracks for now. Research to 100% on Pottery.
Contact with Zulu south. I choose not to trade techs to keep tech progression squelched.

3650BC
Worker finishes wine, to FP south of cap - irrigate then road.

3450BC
Cap size 2.

3350BC
Cap culture pop. My capital's city border is one tile the Zulu Cap city border. Their cap
is five tiles from my cap. Guess who gets to be first target. Archers will clean up those Impis.
They are too close to worry about getting an Immortal force together. They need to be dispatched quickly.
I finished Pottery. Build switched to Granary. Start on Ceremonial Burial because it's cheap.
Worker E to irrigate then road FP.


3100BC
Conatact with Portugal; no trades.

3050BC
Finish CB, start on WC. Worker NE to chop forest.

2750BC
Cap size 5. Worker finishes chop and road. Moves N to chop.

2670BC
WC done, start on Wheel.

2630BC
Finish Granary.

2510BC
Finish Worker. Worker NE,NE to road grassland.

2350BC
Finish Settler. Settler NE,NE,E.

2310BC
Found Pasargardae.

2190BC
Finish Wheel. Start IW.

2150BC
Finish Settler. Settler N,N,N. Worker starts chop for granary in second city.
Other Worker moves to improve land around third city. Cap starts on third Worker.

2110BC
Found Arbela, third city.

2070BC
Third Worker moves NE,NE and mines, then mines around cap.

1870BC
settler produced in cap, Settler moves N,N,N to try to secure the cow. Fro F11 I can
tell it's Greece with a city border close to Arbela and next to the cow. I want to get the
Cow before Greece gets it.

1790BC
Fourth Worker produced. Goes north to improve Cow City.

1750BC
IW finished, start on Alphabet.

1725BC
Found Antioch.

1675BC
Granary in Pasargardae. settler in Cap. Settler north.

1575BC
Alphabet finished. Start on Writing.

1550BC
Warrior completed in Antioch.

1525BC
Gordium founded.

1475BC
Barracks finished in Pasargardae.

1425BC
Arbela completes Granary.

1400BC
Veteran Archer in Pasargardae.

1375BC
Disease strikes Cap. Worker in Arbela. (Mines around Arbela.) Barracks in cap. Bactra founded.

1350BC
Vet Archer in Pasargardae. Disease strikes Cap,

1300BC
Gordium produces Worker. (Mines around Gordium) Finish Writing, start on Currency.

1250BC
Antioch produces Barracks. Cap and Pasargardae produce Settlers. Both Settlers head north.

1175BC
Pasargardae and cap produce Vet Archers.

1150BC
Antioch produces Vet Archer. Gordium produces Warrior.

1125BC
Pasargardae produces Vet Archer.

1100BC
Byzantines complete The Great Lighthouse. Arbelum finishes Barracks. Sidon founded.

1075BC
Cap produces Vet Archer. Sidon founded. Zulu Dawn! DOW on Zulu. Bactra produces Worker.

1050BC
Arbela and Antioch produce Vet Archers. Tyre founded. Capture barb hut for 25 gold.


1000BC
Gordium produces Worker. Antioch, Cap and Pasargardae produce Vet ARchers.
Nine Vet Archers attack and capture Zimbabwe. One slave captured. Two Archer losses.


QSC Statistics

PRoduction Statistics
Food: 56
Shields/Mfg: 36
Total gold: 55

Diplomacy:
Contacts: 4
Embassies: 0

Territory & Cities:
Territory: 10700 squares
Towns: 7
Cities:
2Metropolis: 0
Total Production: 102
Buildings: 3 Granaries and 4 Barracks and a Palace

Population Statistics:
Happy: 20
Content: 7
Unhappy: 6
Entertainers: 0
Taxmen: 0
Scientists: 0
Total Specialists: 0
Total Citizens: 33

Unit Statistics:
Experience Counts: 1 elite archer, 10 Veteran Archers,2 Regular Warriors
Unit Counts: 8 Workers, 1 Slave
Total: 21

Technologies Researched: CB, WC, Wheel, Pottery, Alph, Mason, Math, BW, IW (no trading)

Total: 9 techs

there you have it. I am off to a good start by taking the Zulu cap at 1000BC, just in time to count for the QSC cooincidentally. The Greeks were next, followed by a combined roll over of Korea and Portugal.

SR

 

[Nilson]

My goal for this game is to use de slingshot (first time) en get a domination victorie (and a place by the first 10 og this cotm).

Settle NE en got the cow. Warrior-warrior-granary.

My warrior met de Greece close in the east. I was building a settler when the Zulu turn up by south by the wines. Moves the warrior to zulu settler and keep them of the wine, what works. Second city was between de river and the wine. I've got both.

Looking at this game i thought that in the north en west also are civs. But no time to search for them, because the Barb are coming from the North/west.

1950 BC
The four civs around are know, i got 3 towns and research Phlilosophy.

With slingshot I got lit. Later traded Phil to the others civs. The way to get more land was to noth-west because the protugese didn't got the land up there. Later I build 5 towns there. And in my core city a build Lib to get the high culture what I like my close neighbours. Meanwhile the Zulu got in war with the portugese, the zulu attacked and the protugese defends but no progress was maked.

970 BC
8 towns, 1 settler, 5 workers, 2 curragh, 3 warrior, 1 archer, 8 spearman research Republiek. Also just spotted iron.

Looking at the war between the zulu en the portugese i decided to get more archers to attack the portugese in the back. The to iron was taken by Korea and Greeks so no GA and Immortals that problem was nice for this GOTM.

Got in republiek in 4 turns.

With 10 archers the attack in the back of the Portugese went good and when the portugese where almost gone the zulu makes peace with them, so all the city where for me. I finished the portugese off and meanwhile three towns cultureflip to me ( 2 zulu and 1 greek).

The exploration of the Pangea didn't went well in the beginning, the curraghs where attacked bij de the Barb and finally they where detroyed. With the RoP (Zulu) I met the others civs and I discoverd that this was really a pangea.

10 AD
17 towns 4 capturred and 3 flipped to me.

Monoth. was the free tech. The objective for coming period, is to get longbows asap and get iron from the Greeks(immortals and GA). From there are horses from the zulu the goal (cavalry).

This game s getting well after the slow start.

 

[Killer_Klein]

Hey all,

My goal for this game was to go with an Immortal rush. I have only recently starting playing Monarch in my own games and on GOTM where I played Monarch, I always fell behind in tech but managed to catch up during the IA and win with Diplo victory. Last month, I got a domination victory, but not till MA, so I am going for a domination this time around, hopefully only faster.

After discovering no Iron nearby and the only iron nearby was deep in Greek territory, I decided that the Greeks were going to be my friends. I didn't want to face Hoplites with only Archers.

Gang-Archered the Zulus to the south and after peace settlement took all but one of their cities.

At the end of the AA, I was moving in on Portugal. I had already captured their fringe cities and was about to move onto the their core cities, the cities within the mountain ranges.

As for tech, I reminded ahead of the game or just slightly behind with creative tech trading. I am still going strong and hope to continue near the head of the pack or take the lead.

Goal for Middle Age

Finish with Portugal with Longbowmen

Attack Greeks and gain control of both Horse and Iron resources.

Depending on how that goes, I am going to go after the Koreans from there.

 

[PaperBeetle]

Early Tech Trades
Following the discussion in the pregame thread about where to settle, I go with Wacken's idea to move north, getting the moo in the first 8 tiles, and Piu's suggestion that the moo be mined to get the granary built faster. So my initial research is Pots, but of course, I meet our close neighbours almost immediately; Shaka in 3600bc and Henry in 3550bc. I trade for Alphabet, War Code, Pots and Burial, and set off for Writing, with my sights on the slingshot.

More Neighbours
My exploring axe pops a hut in 3300bc, and recruits another axe. The regular heads back to the capital to do military police duties, while the conscript keeps exploring. He meets Wang in 3000bc and Alex in 2630bc. Scientific civs! Starting with Bronze, they are likely to get Ironwork early. Wang comes up with the goods in 2850bc, and I see that there is no nearby iron. On the same turn I trade for Wheel and see that there are no nearby horses. That puts Alex's hoplites in a strong position.

The Combo Factory
My first settler is ready in 2710bc, to be followed by barracks, settler, spear, and then I am into the six turn factory developed by klarius and Piu. My 30 combo shields buy me an archer and an axe per cycle, and this factory should produce nine settlers by the end of the QSC. Of course, there isn't much land available to settle as the AI are all so close, but I think I can squeeze nine towns in. There is some space to the north, as Korea is the furthest AI, and Portugal is not expanding quickly into the plains and desert to my northwest.

Mismanagement
I keep the factory running, but uncharacteristically I make some slips in my micromanagement; several times I forget to drop my luxury rate after producing settlers, and one turn I actually have the capital rioting! This is not good for my run at the slingshot. Writing is learned in 2190bc, Laws in 1625bc, and then when I am one turn away from Philosophy, I find that Greece has it . Of course they waste their slingshot on Mapping, which the Zulu already has. I am so frustrated I make another error, and set my sights on Currency. I should have gone for Construction of course - Portugal gets Currency in 1350bc, and I give Henry Laws to finish my research for me. I still haven't learned my lesson, though; I go for Polytheism next, but the AI gets that in 1275bc. If I had gone for Construction after missing the slingshot, I could have been medieval by this point.

QSC Stats
9 towns with 23 pop and 97 tiles.
120 food in the bin, 321 shields in the box, 86g in the treasury.
2 granaries, 3 barracks.
1 settler, 5 workers, 3 slaves, 8 axes (5 vet), 4 archers (vet), 4 spears (vet), 1 curragh.
All ancient techs except for the governments and Construction (144 beakers gathered).
4 contacts, 1 embassy.

Wonder Plans
For a long time I have had a generic wonder build going in my third city. My theory is to hand-build Artemis, so I can be sure that it doesn't get built at the other side of the world; I want those free temples working as soon as possible. Well, in 850bc, Seoul completes Pyramids, and Lisbon responds by switching over to Artemis. I get an embassy with Portugal, and find that they will finish Artemis in 10 turns. That is plenty faster than I can manage, so I am in some danger of losing my prebuild; the only other wonder available is the Glib, which I explicitly don't want as it is an Artemis-killer. Luckily, when I finish my run on Construction in 730bc, I get Feudalism as my free medieval tech, so Antioch switches to Sun Tzu. Pyramids, Artemis and Sun Tzu are all within my grasp!

 

[FacuK]

It not a joke, I have the proofs as save games!

A few turns into the Middle Age (470 bc), my people decided than we need to focus on health, so we started two big projects: Persepolis the Cure for Cancer and Arbela Longevity . Yes! Believe or not!

I didn't pay to much attention to our science advisor, that "We are technological advanced", but when I checked the Modern Times tech tree I realized than we are really really technological advanced, because we know, besides Genetics , Smart Weapon and Integrated Defense (America will not us!).
Also we know Fascism!
My people want to give thanks to our Gods, but are they Firaxis or COTM staff?

Tomorrow I will post the saves, the turn before (530 bc) and after (510 bc, IIRC) this gift. I recovered the autosaves, but I have to reload and save manually at home.

 

[eldar]

Now that's impressive. I bet even DaveMcW's never managed to leared ID that quickly

 

[Ansar]

so thats why the Persians are scientific... . but Facist scientists, thats oxymoronic.

pretty cool find, wonder if the GOTM staff will allow it?

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

I can't decide what's the most awesome part of this picture: the axe looking at the cure for cancer city, the fact you are researching Feudalism with integrated defense in the bag or the iron hooked up in this evil, evil map

 

[Paul#42]

...or the iron hooked up in this evil, evil map

Not that this is the most important - where do you see Iron hooked up in those screenies?!?

This is weird.

 

[PaperBeetle]

Not that this is the most important - where do you see Iron hooked up in those screenies?!?

This is weird.

I think he is refering to the Persian town on the Greek iron, visible in the minimap. The roads will run from there to Athens to Gordium, and thence to those immortals that FacuK has running around. I think the impressive bit is not grabbing the iron itself, but getting the hook!

 

[Paul#42]

I think the impressive bit is not grabbing the iron itself, but getting the hook!

Ah, you mean that early (470 BC)?
Maybe the Greek were so kind to hook it up for him (like they did for me)

 

[FacuK]

Folks,
I don't have time to finish a COTM , neither to post. But I found Bactra (at work now, don't know the year, but pretty fast) next to the iron , made a ROP (26 turns ago) and build roads to Athens (3 or 4 tiles in Greek territory) and in the iron.

About the techs, last night I tried to repeat the events from the autosave before the gift (530 bc), but I couldn't. Because I use to do stuf when playing, maybe was the screensaver, or maybe because I checked MapStat (CPRsuit) or CivAssistII.
So I attach (zipped manually) the autosaves before (530 bc) and after (510 bc). They are from the same COTM session, so no reload in the middle (if anybody bother about).

No problem for COTM staff to allow it, I am still in 470 bc, and if I play tonight instead of COTM26 I will not build that. So I will submit a retired game with low score.

But it would be funny to build the wonders and milk the game!
View attachment Conquests Autosave 510 BC.zip

View attachment Conquests Autosave 530 BC.zip