COTM13: Final Spoiler

[Obormot]

I finished the game yestoday, was in a hurry to submit it in time. I played through my late MA and IA in one shot, so i don't have a separate MA spoiler.

Ancient Times (4000BC-1550BC)

Middle Ages (1550BC-530AD)

Expansion
I entered the MA in 1550BC, only having 4 cities. I continued with my expansion to build more cities around my capital. I wrote in my firts spoiler that i used extremely loose spacing to grab all the food bonuses. I didn't want to build cities closer then at distance=7 to Paris, cause it would have increased rank corruption in my powerhouse cities built near food bonuses. My QSC stats: 10 cities, 126 land tiles, 22 population, 4 granaries, 9 workers, 9 warriors.

Research
I researched Literature at max (To give it to Arabs and Portugal, but the GL went to Inca by cascade. It came out that i could easily keep up in tech without it.), Engineering at min, Printing Press, Chemistry, Physics, ToG and Magnetism at max, all other techs i traded. I managed to guess what the AIs will research correctly most of the time, except ToG/Magnetism.

Wars
I started the war with Arabs in 610BC, i fought with swords, cause i was too impatient. (A big mistake, i shoul have waited for knights). In 230BC Arabia was captured (a few towns by the Portuguese), but a settler escaped on a galley, which caused some towns to flip later and i had to recapture them. I started the war with Portugal shortly after that, but swords were inefficent vs. pikes, so i had to sign peace in after capturing about 1/3 of their territory. I couldn't even capture Lisbon with Piramids and Colossus needed for GA. That is the map after the 1st Portuguese war:

This was almost the end of my expansion, i realized that i cannot get a good domination or conquest date with such a start, so i decided to go for a scientific victory. Later i built some knights to capture Lisbon to get the Piramids for my science farms to grow faster, and captured some cities built by civs from the other continent. That is the map with Piramids captured and some science farms founded at the end of MA:

Industrial Ages (530AD-1000AD)
With science farms growing rapidly with total irrigation/railroading and piramids i came near the 4-turn research in the IA. Most of my territory looked like that:

I made heavy use of the AI research propabilty spreadsheet by Ambiorix to get some techs from the AIs too, but they were quite slow and wasted precious beakers on the *ism crap, so i only got 4 usefull techs from them: Steam Power (free Byzantine tech) Electricity, RP and Flight. I wanted to trigger my GA with US to finally get to 4-turn research and get free modern tech(s) from the ToE, but this happened at 730BC:

This guy walked into my unprotected US prebuild city (all my cities were unprotected). I was to busy squeesing out beakers and to sleepy, so i didn't notice him. I triggered GA with the ToE and couldn't get Fission for free, but i was lucky, the Byzantines got Fission as a free tech and i stole it from them safely in 1000AD (they wouldn't sell it for all the riches in the world).

My UN prebuild was not timed perfectly so i only the UN victory 2 turns later in 1020.

 

[Dynamic]

I started razing cities in 510bc to stay under the Domination limit...

Great!!! You beat me and DaveMcW in this game. I don't know about Dave but with better random I could reach Domination only 2 turns earlier, not in 510AD (I think you mean AD).

 

[chunkymonkey]

Open

At the end of the middle ages, I was finishing off Portugal and securing my hold on the continent, whilst running towards the spaceship as quick as possible. With Portugal dead in 820Ad, I set about trying to ICS my corrupted lands and produce an army of scientists. My research is helped by construction of ToE in 980AD. In 1000AD, I sign peace treaties with all my old foes, which does not impress Caesar, since he is at war with practically the rest of the world. He goes from gracious to annoyed. When I ask him to move his legions, he declares war, which gives me the opportuntity to clear the foreign scourge completely from my contnent. Cavalry are still pretty functional against infantry with enough artillery behind them.

I enter the Modern Ages in 1275AD and from then on it's 5/6 turn research all the way to the ship. I only manage to trade for a couple of techs from the stubborn AI - Computers, and Satellites. Eventually, the French set off into space in 1575AD.

Firaxis - 9495
Jason - 7646

My first Deity win!!! I realise it was a slightly easier than Deity scenario but I'm still pleased with myself. Off to thrash some savages in COTM14!

 

[hendrikszoon]

Predator

I downloaded the Predator file this time because in this game the Predator restrictions didn't influence me. The changes concerning the Industrial Age Wonders were not of interest for me: I planned to finish the game in the Middle Age. Also I don't like defensive units. I never really used Musketmen or Musketeers.

But now it's time to explain my game:
Settled in place. Start research of Writing on 100%. The decision to start with Writing was not an easy one. In this "foodless" environment Granaries are a "must have". So on one hand I would get a big problem if it would be impossible to get Pottery from another Civ. But on the other hand I would have no chance to get the free technology if I would take the way Pottery, Writing, Philosophy. Fortunately in 3350BC my first Warrior met an Arabian Scout: Exchange of Masonary for Pottery and 10 Gold.

In 1790BC France was the first Civ who researched Philosophy. The chosen free technology was Monarchy. This choose became possible two turns before when the Arabs researched Polytheism. In this moment I thought that I am a lucky guy. It needed some time until I realized that this was not a good choice. But I will explain this later.

At 1650BC I killed an Arabian Warrior who was escorting a Settler. This brought me two Arabian Workers but also war with the Arabians. Some time later nine Arabian Warriors and one Arabian Archer appeared in front of Rheims. My answer was to rush a Wall and to station three Warriors in Rheims. Fortunately the Arabians attacked immediately when they arrived. So they came in two waves across the river. In this battle the Arabians lost eight Warriors and the Archer. I lost only one Warrior and got my first Great Leader (1500BC). In 1400BC I got one town (Basra) for peace.

In 1175BC I got Currency from the Portuguese. I paid 40 GpT or better I paid nothing because I attacked Portugal in the same turn. 1125BC I contacted the Aztecs and 1075BC the Egypts. They I offered them Monarchy and got Construction. So I was techological leader and the first Civ in the Middle Age (1050BC).

In 2230BC Portugal triggered their Golden Age by finishing the Colossus. So an comercial wonder is not so far away. Now I need also an industrial one in my range. In 1910BC the Pyramids wer finished in Cuzco . The next wonder was build again by the Portuguese. My hope was the Temple of Artemis but it was the Great Lighthouse. Nice, but completely worthless for me. The ToA was finished (1200BC) in Cuzco. Some turns later I contacted an Inca Galley and then it was clear were Cuzco is located: Definitive and without any doubts outside of my range. Fortunately I have had not to much time to become desperate: in the next turn the Hanging Gardens were finished in Lisbon. So the two wonders needed for the French Golden Age were together in one city. This was the positive aspect of this game. The negative one was that nearly all the time I would have to play without Pyramids and ToA. So a really high Jason Score was not possible. In the beginning of the game I planned to go for a Domination Victory. But this makes no sense without ToA and Pyramids. So my new plan was to go for a Conquest Victory.

The next challenge was to trigger the Golden Age. For this trigger I wanted to use the Knights Templar. So my next research target was Chivalry. After entering the Middle Age normally the AI researchs Feudalism at first. So I started to research Monotheism in the hope later a lot of the AIs would have Feudalism so that an exchange Monotheism <-> Feudalism+xx Gold + xx GpT would be possible. In 750BC I was a little bit irritated because three AIs had Engineering. But this was only the free Middle Age Technology of the Byzantines. After getting Feudalism by exchange the research of Chivalry started. This research was finished in 390BC.

To get the Knights Templar right in time I started the build-up of the Palace in Lyons. Then I sent my troops to Lisbon. These troops consisted of one Swordsman Army and around ten Horsemen. Right of Passage with the Arabians were very helpful for fast advance. After building an Embassy in Mecca I realized that the Arabians are in war with the Portuguese. In this war the Arabians were able to disconnect the Portuguese from their Iron. So I had only to fight against Warriors, Spearmen, Archers and Horsemen. In the following fights with the Portuguese I got three Great Leaders - the first one was used to rush Heroic Epic - and a big amount of Elite Knights and Elite Horsemen.

In 350BC the attack on Lisbon could start. I had placed the Swordsman Army, 5 Veteran Knights and two Elite Horsemen around Lisbon. The first attack was not successful, but the defenders lost eight Spearmen. One turn later Lisbon was a French city. In the same turn the Palace in Lyons was switched to Knights Templar (only six shields were necessary to finish it - this I call a good timing). So also in 330BC the Golden Age was triggered. In the next turns the Portuguese were wiped from the map (210BC).

In the meantime the Aztecs declared war to me. So they were the next target. On the way to them my troops had to pass through the Arabian territory. I didn't like it to have a potential enemy in my rear. A little RoP rape solved (110AD) this problem.

After the knowledge of Chivalry the next research target was . The research of Military Tradition took a lot of time - in my opinion with Republic Military Tradition could be researched eight turns faster and this means that it was also possible to finish the game around eight turns earlier when I would have waited a little bit and then would have switched to Republic.

But now enough with these "would" and "could" and I come back to the game. I brought the Egypts into war against the Aztecs and took their Iron town. The rest was a childrens game - only flipping towns were a little problem - which ended in 440AD.

Before the Aztecs were completely defeated I was also in war with the Romans, Incas and Egypts. The Byzantines helped me against Incas and Egypts. The Romans were very weak. So I concentrated my troops at first at the Romans and sent them later against the Incas and Egypts who were not only in war with me but also mutually. At this time I have had so many Cavalry Armies and was so powerful that my Conquest Victory was foreseeable.

In 450AD I took Cuzco , the city I really hated. Pompeii, the last Roman city, was conquered in the same year. Four turns later I had to destroy seven of my own towns to prevent a Domination Victory. The last Egyptian city was conquered in 480AD and the last one of the Incas in 540AD. The game ended with the defeat of the Byzantines in 580AD and the resulting Conquest Victory in 590AD.

In sum I got 16 GLs in this game. One GL came too late to do anything with him. The 15 others produced one Swordsman Army, Heroic Epic, Forbidden Palace, two Knight Armies and ten Cavalry Armies. This was the first time I really was "farming" Leaders and the result was great: It was also the first time where I believe that I wasn't a "slow conqueror". So in future "Leader farming" will become an essential part of my strategy.

 

[Paul#42]

At 1650BC I killed an Arabian Warrior who was escorting a Settler. [...] So they came in two waves across the river. In this battle the Arabians lost eight Warriors and the Archer. I lost only one Warrior and got my first Great Leader (1500BC). In 1400BC I got one town (Basra) for peace.

Daredevil! You don't even wait for a "quick" archer-rush

I guess I would have already lost to the settler-combo.
Did you build baracks first? Or were those regular warriors?

Impressive performance!

 

[hendrikszoon]

The attack on the Settler Combo was a calculated risk. The Combo was far away from the Arabian territory and I have had two Warriors for my attack. The problem was the Arabian counter attack. I didn't play very often on deity level. So I underestimated the Arabian strength. That the Arabians were not able to take Rheims based on only two things:

1. The AI is stupid. A human player would have waited one turn until all attack units would be ready. Also the human player would bring at least the first wave across the river to prevent the malus of across river attacks.

2. I have had a lot of luck.

I will never do again such an action on deity or emperor level.

 

[Drazek]

I think the earlier post regarding h's posts poses a valid question. And the reply from h gives a valid explanation. From the Civ3 games I have played, it's about 75% player skill and 25% luck. That's the way SirPleb won't win every GOTM.