COTM18 - Second Spoiler: Middle Ages, World Map

[Karasu]

Confirmed. Cultural conversion is not off.

EDIT (since I posted anyway): I find these spoilers really enjoyable. And even players at their first CotM or first attempt at Deity level are putting together some really good games -it doesn't matter at all now if you win or lose.
You'll see how much your game has improved when you go back to lower levels...
...after climbing up the final step to Sid, that is!

 

[Obormot]

Predator, going for 20K.

Ancient Age

This game is very fun as i had to recover from huge hole expansion-wise after sacrificing everything for the 20K city. I had only 4 towns after QSC and 8 towns at the end of expansion.

I entered MA in 900BC after trading with India who were the only ones to research Polytheism and Monarchy, but didn't know Writing and Math. I had some shields invested into a prebuild that i wanted to switch to GL initially, but decided to go for HG first, because that was the only way i could reliably get both wonders even though ToA cascade was gone as the indians completed it only a few turns after other civs learnt Polytheism.

The problem with this was that i had built MoM and thus building HG would cause a GA. I didn't have Republic yet, but luckily i could trade for it a few turns before completing HG and i revolted immidiately (6 turn anarchy). Still the GA was not timed very well as i only had two more or less developed towns by that time. I didn't gift any civs into MA, but they got there quickly anyway and all scientific civs got Feudalism. I had Engineering monopoly and could trade it for Feudalism, Engineering and Monarchy. I stopped research for a while to collect money for cash-rushing culture in the 20K city. I researched the top branch of the tree and got the bottom from TGL. Still because of slow expansion and the need to save money for cash-rushing my research was slow and was barely enough to keep-up in teh first part of the MA.

In republic i completed the HG and started my GA, then i built GL and SC. I also rushed library, colosseum and cathedral somewhere in between those wonders. At the same time as SC i built Leonardo's in my capital to kill AI wonder cascades and to help me later with upgrading my horsemen that i build in my other towns (after libs and sometimes unis). All these were built (partly) during the GA. After SC i didn't have any wonders to build because of slow research and had to build the FP (just got enough towns for that). Then i built Copernicus' and started a prebuild of Shakespears' while researching towards FA.

In the late MA i had some very bad luck with AI research as some of them beelined towards ToG researching physics before democracy and then ToG before Democracy and Magnetism . Now there are Bach's, Newton's and Shakespears' builds going all over the world and i will propably only get one of those wonders (hopefully and most propably Shakespears'). It is due in 6 turns now (490AD). I have some 20+ workers ready to do railroading when i get Steam Power and 8 slaves ready to join after i build Shakespears' so i may still have a slim chance of getting Newton's.

Of all resourses i only had iron after expansion, all nearby horses and saltpeter were secured by the AI. I was lucky with the horses though as 2 indian towns near the southern horses were razed by the chinese and grabbed them with my settler. In the late MA i managed to get a few badly needed monopoly techs and thus got some gold to upgrade my horsemen. I connected iron and upgraded them to knights and attacked Persia. I captured western saltpeter that was controlled by Persia at that time and upgraded knights to sipahis . I only captured about 6 persian towns so far, but the war only started about 7 turnes before IA (attacking scientific persia was of course a mistake, but i also didn't expect to get into IA so fast). I only had about half a dozen elite wins so far and didn't get a leader.

I entered IA in 490AD after i bought Magnetism from China. I gifted all sci civs hoping to trade for steam, but everybody including me got Medicine . I didn't gift Persia yet because of the war and the MA i have with china (to be safe from being backstabbed). Even if i sign peace now and they get Steam i won't be able to buy it because my reputation is broken already (was trading luxuries with korea and propably the trade route was disrupted by the chinese when they were at war with korea I was able to buy for gpt from China and Russia though, because they were at war with Korea at that time). I will have to wait now for Persia to enter IA on their own and then if they do get Steam i'll betray China and buy Steam while renegotiating peace.

List of cultural buildings in my 20K city so far:

2270BC	temple
1450BC	Oracle
1150BC	MoM
630BC	HG
610BC	library
590BC	colosseum
370BC	GL
350BC	cathedral
50AD	SC
210AD	FP
230AD	university
380AD	Copernicus'

 

[Lord Hamster]

...after climbing up the final step to Sid, that is!

Yes, Sid level and starting position as Zulu had, couple of COTMs ago...
Sorry for off-top...

So, this COTM in spite of Deity level is not so hard as I thought exactly because of "fat" beginning...

I think that more participants will win thier games...

 

[twinmfg]

OK, here is a contribution.

Thanks for the advice, Megalou. But I think my problems start a bit earlier. Is it generally better to buy techs or research, how to prevent culture flips, etc. You know, from the early expansion phase until, well, the end of the game.

 

[twinmfg]

i lost even worse. i had a jason of about 300.

Noooooo!
I was destined to be the loser. How can I live with myself knowing I'm not the worst player?

 

[DBear]

Settler moves se.

QSC STATS------------------------
Score: Firaxis 346, next lowest Korea 554. QSC 2903.
Land: 90 squares, 7 towns.
Population: 9 happy, 5 content, 4 unhappy.
Diplomacy: 6 contacts, no embassies.
Units: 1 settler, 9 workers, 2 archers, 7 spears, 2 horses.
Experience: 9 regulars, 2 vets.
Buildings: 3 rax, grain.
Production: 83 food, 161 shields, 15 gold.
Tech: all starters + IW, mystic, writing, math, HB.
306 beakers toward Lit. 94 to go.

Missed the GL by 2 turns. Entered MA in 470BC.

Persia has been on a rampage, they have taken out Arabs, Korea, Russia, and India is on the verge of extinction.

Cringed and cowered thruout the game, except when Persia was beating up Russia. I declared on Russia because Russia had a city next to saltpeter that I wanted. Persia was nice enough to raze it, letting me get a settler in there.

My border towns have been under tremendous cultural pressure all game, but Tashkent is the only one to flip so far. I bought grav from India at a discount, figuring they were on the verge of extinction, so the gpt wouldn't cost me much.

The Byzantines are already building UN. Year is 1130. Score is 1353. I really don't know how I've survived this long. Anytime the AI decide to eliminate me, I'm pretty much a goner.

 

[DJMGator13]

Upon entering the MA I did not gift the other civs using TBP, but I did trade techs during that first turn picking up Mono and Engineering. I continue with settlers, workers and libraries. I’m still ignoring my military and luckily it has not caused a problem yet.

At the end of the QSC period I’m up to 15 cities, 1 settler, 17 workers and 3 warriors. China and Korea both have units in my land but have not attacked me. At this point I thought my game would end at any moment, but that did not happen. Figuring I was doomed to a military strategy at this point I continue my scientific exploits.

I continued to expand and build more infrastructure. The Middle Ages end for me in 320AD. I’m now up to 20 cities with a library in nearly every city and unis in 3/4th of them. My pop is up to 139 and I did change to Republic (traded for it) during this period. I’m only 1 turn from completing Newton’s and I have already built Copernicus’.

My military still consists of 3 warriors, 1 trebuchet and 20 workers. I’m still amazed that China did not attack me but they were already at war with several other civs. This is what saved me in this game. At one point China was at the bottom of an ugly dogpile.

Here’s a look at the end of the MA.

 

[Megalou]

...how to prevent culture flips, etc...

Early libraries are self evident in this game no matter what victory condition, right? Maybe if you suffered flips you had too many towns wedged in at weak locations where it took too long to build libraries. Ask yourself if what you are doing is working conducively towards a goal.

There is also an "unofficial" rule that empty towns don't flip so often. You have garrisoned most towns. Of course empty towns can be captured at any moment, but even experienced players take big risks at this level. Plus those defensive units waste shields. Check out DaveMcW's farmer's gambit in spoiler 1. You can have a few horsemen that run around and garrison those cities that are closest to the AI troops. (Although this is no guarantee of course.)

Is it generally better to buy techs or research,...

Generally, self-research is better. Monopoly techs are incredibly valuable. Once you have one, you can use it to get big gpt-deals (can slow down the AI research) and alliances and of course several other techs. Always click "What's the big picture?" and trade immediately when you have researched something you think can be a monopoly tech. If you click "Sounds fine" and wait until the end of the turn someone may learn it! Find out which techs the AI don't prioritize, like Literature, Engineering, Republic (or rather the techs leading to Republic), Chemistry. Again there are no guarantees but it won't fail every time if you go for those!

 

[Twonky]

I was still expanding when I entered the MA in 1275 BC. So it came as a nasty shock when China sneak attacked me in 1000 BC! I had never observed the AI attacking a town with a warrior that is guarding a settler, but the Chinese did so, burning down the undefended remote town of Kunduz. I had almost no military to counter this, so I pop-rushed the occasional pikes and horses. I also opened embassies with Korea and India, so I could ally them. Finally in 750 BC the war tipped in my favour, and when peace was dealt in 670 BC I had even conquered 2 major Chinese towns.

It took me until 630 BC to become a Republic. As a result of that (and the fact that I drew Monotheism) MilTrad was available in 280 AD only.

4 turns later, I started the Age of Conquests for the Timurids.
Having 18 Sipahis at hand, I dowed China in 320 AD, destroying them in 430 AD. Meanwhile I earned 2 MGLs - which formed armies of course - and Persia attacked me. Those Immortals creeping through the desert were no major threat though, and easy to pick off.
Right after having dealt with China, I proceeded to Korea - war was declared in 440 AD, and the remnants of their empire were annexed in 480 AD. Peace was made with Persia on the same turn.

And the date also marked my entering of the IA as 3rd Civ following Persia and Russia. Fortunately I draw Nationalism, while Russia and Persia both know Steam Power and Medicine.

 

[GOTM-AI]

MIDDLE AGES

710 BC
We are now a Republic

650 BC
Our expansion policy must have not been perfect, as we haven't got Iron nor horses connected yet.
This must be changed.

We are now third in score, overtaken by Persia too.

290 BC
Following their diplomatic blunders, Russia is wiped out of history by a coalition of all known civilizations.

The Arabs have built the Great Lighthouse some time ago, and have started colonizing the southeastern islands even before the Byzantine.


10 BC
Eventually, one horse falls within our borders with the expansion of Mossul. It's the closer horse to Russia, and we got it after razing two russian cities many centuries ago and settling close.

Persia and China are at war.
China and India too.

70 AD
The Chinese build Sun Tzu (quite appropriate, we'd say).

150 AD
China enters their golden age.

We witness a heavy traffic of soldiers and troops along the Silk Road. Armies fight on the road to Samarqand.
India, Persia, China meet in our lands.

200 AD
The byzantines complete the GL one turn ahead of India. This will turn out to be a big blow to India, who will never manage to keep up the tech pace and will end up as a minor civilization.
Delhi cascades to Knights Templar.


230 AD
Wars between China and India, Arabia and Persia.
We take advantage of the situation by settling in some of the gaps while staying out of trouble

260 AD
China builds Leonardo Workshop; and Ansar victory over an Immrotal gives the Arabs their GA.
Persia completes Copernicus

270 AD
The Byzantines add Bach's cathedral to their collection of wonders.
We are patiently waiting for our moment to come.

280 AD
We are now a Democracy
War Eelphants appear in the battlefields

We found out the human hideaway and extort him 100 gold

300 AD
Byzantines build the Sistine Chapel
Persia completes Magellan's Voyage

310
We complete Smith in Samarqand. Rightly so, for a city of merchants.

In spite of the GA, Arabia only have 6 Ansar. Not enough to cause trouble to Perisa, who still have 44 Immortals (but then, only 6 knights).
Similarily, India have 5 War Elephants; China 10 Riders, a bit better.

With all this warring, Persia have gone back to Monarchy.

330 AD
We decide to join the war against Persia, although we have yet to connect saltpeter an MT is two techs away.
But we have an alliance with our friends the Arabs.

340 AD
Saltpeter is now connected

370 AD
Our horses near Mosul have been pillaged. Now we are in trouble.
Maybe not: border expansion of Hangchow has brought another horse into our domains -even though it is connected through Chinese lands and roads.

380 AD
We lose Mosul to Persia

400 AD
India get a GL in defense, then lose it

We reach the Industrial Age and ally with Korea against evil Persia.
We haven't researched MT yet.

 

[Nikodemus]

After a quiet Ancient Age, the action starts in the Middle Ages. First Persia and Arabia have a go at each other, with Korea joining in on the Persian side and when asked, I sign an alliance as well hoping to improve relations. It soon becomes apparent though that Arabian lands are way too far to be of any benefit to me.

So I decide to try and clear the few Russian cities from my backlands. The Russians turn out to be way too strong for me to handle, but luckily I manage to buy the Persians on my side (they turned out to be an excellent ally throughout the game) for some 25 gpt.

Meanwhile China has started to pound Korea, who stand no chance against the much more powerful enemy. Korea is reduced to one city fairly quickly.

The Russians are hogging some nice wonders while waging the war. They already had built the Great Library a little earlier, and during the war they build Sun Tzu's and JS Bach's which I both manage to conquer, and Knight's Templar, which goes to Persia. As for land, I manage to grab maybe 80% of the ex-Russia, while Persia grabs the remainder. Moscow falls somewhere in the 300s, giving me about half a dozen techs from the GL. Around 400AD the Russian civilization is living on a boat.

Meanwhile the Arabs try a sneak attack on China with a pretty large stack of horsemen. They of course stand no chance against the chinese pikes in a city on a hill and soon riders are going the other way in large masses. India allies with China and the Arabs look like they'll be as good as dead.

I learn MilTrad around 450AD, take a loan from the Arabs to upgrade some knights and horses to Sipahis, and prepare to invade China when their mainforce is far away fighting the Arabs. Chinese cities start burning in 550AD, which is also when my Golden Age starts. Just to be safe, I sign my good friends the Persians into an alliance again, which they again respect for the whole duration.

The Middle Ages end in 600AD, when I roll a dice and buy magnetism and ToG from Arabs for about 600g and 250gpt. I get lucky with Nationalism, while Persia appears to have gotten Medicine earlier. I trade Nat to Persia for Med, 4600g and 65 gpt, then to Arabs for 1400g and 180 gpt. The Russians are still living in a boat so I see no harm in gifting them to the IA too. They get Steam, and are willing to sell it to me for Nat, Med, MilTrad and 2500g. I get another 150gpt from Arabs for Steam, but Persia is broke. All in all pretty nice deal though, the net result is that I get 5 techs and almost 6000g more than and I give away.

 

[sanabas]

I had very quick research into the MA, but slowed right down through the MA due to my usual problem of too much peaceful building, not enough agressive expansion. I already had starting MA techs at 1000BC, I mostly researched along the bottom branch, traded for the top branch, and stockpiled horses for upgrade. According to myvery messy notes:

590BC: Research Invention
290BC: Research Gunpowder, trade for Theology and Education
China sneak attacks me, and I don't have enough cash or techs to get many allies. I ally Russia in, try to ally in India and the Arabs, but neither one has actually met china.
230BC: Build Leonardo's Workshop
10AD: Other AIs get Chemistry, and I have now over-researched. I buy it for 12 gold, trade around for Banking, Astronomy and Printing Press, and I'm back at tech parity, except for not having Chivalry.
At this point I made a large mistake, deciding to hold off a bit on aiming for Mil Trad to get more horsemen built, without registering just how much the upgrade costs.
130AD: I can finally make peace with china without trashing my rep, so what had turned into a pseudo-war ends.
170AD: Trade for Navigation and World Map
210AD: Research Physics-->Economics
300AD: My notes say research Eco-->Physics, one of those two physics is actually Metallurgy, I don't know which one.
380AD: research physics and/or metallurgy
430AD: Build Smith's Trading Company
Trade for Military Tradition, and discover a problem. 50 horsemen will cost 5250 to upgrade. Oops. I upgrade what I can, and go on the offensive.
450AD: Attack China, and trigger my GA
510AD: Research Theory of Grav
540AD: China is exterminated
560AD: Research Magnetism, enter IA. I get medicine, the other scientific civs all get Medicine or Nationalism, so there's no chance for me to trade.

At roughly this point I decided to aim for 100k, by building the Internet and spamming out the cities. Didn't quite work that way, but it still sort of worked.

 

[civ_steve]

Entered Middle Ages in 1350 BC. Even got all 3 starting Techs through Trading, and just got a Free Republic with the Philosphy slingshot. 5 turns of Anarchy later, I was a Republic.

Learned Literature 6 turns after that. Started on Theology. And getting the empire in some order.

Theo learned in 590 BC, and traded for Invention, Chivalry and actually got some gpt also. Bumped my research rate up.

Learned Education, and was able to trade for Gunpowder. Found out that Russia had snagged 2 nearby Saltpeter sources (in the desert to the West, and on the coastal hill to the NorthWest) and China the 3rd (mountains to the NE, not that far away.) I had been building cities around Hangchow, then building culture to try to get it to flip; I was more serious about this after finding out about Saltpeter.

Next, on to Chemistry. Beaten to it by Russia and China, who also knew Astronomy. Bought it with 2 turns left, and traded for Printing Press; Persia also knew Astronomy, but 3rd known Chemistry wasn't good enough for 3rd known Astronomy. Finally got contact with the Byzantines, but didn't really know where they were.

What to do next? OK, Banking. Wouldn't you know it, China and Russia split on learning Banking and Metallurgy, and traded between each other. OK, I eventually buy Banking with a turn or 2 left, and can finally trade for Astronomy now, which most of the AI know by now.

On to Physics, and beaten to that one as well, but am able buy it and pick up Music Theory as well. Hmm, Russia already knows Theory of Gravity.

Next Magnetism. A few turns later, turns to learn suddenly drops to 4. Hmm, Persia has it, and only Persia. Alright, I make a big gpt purchase of Magnetism from Persia, and am able to trade around for Theory of Gravity (3 times known vs 2 time for Mag), Metallurgy (lots of AI know this one), and I'm in the Industrial Age. Earliest time for me ever: 130 AD.

Picked up Navigation in the flurry of trading that followed; finally saw where the Byzantines existed. Upon entering the IA, I got a free Steam Power along with 2 others, and the other 2 got free Nationalism.

Along the way, lots of Libraries, Marketplaces, Universities, Courthouses and an occasional Bank are built. I've picked up 5 or 6 luxuries for my people. My military is 3 Warriors and about 15 Horsemen or so.

Issues entering the Industrial Age. 1.) Lack of Saltpeter. 2.) My attempts to culturally flip Hangchow backfire, as I lose Kabul to the Chinese. 3.) Russia decides to launch an attack on me right at the end of the Middle Ages. Knights vs my handful of Horsemen and 3 Warriors. I like the early date, but I've got a few issues to take care of.

 

[CKS]

I entered the MA in 730 BC, surprised to be alive, and even more surprised that my neighbors think I'm very powerful. However, I have no military to speak of, so if they catch on, I'm toast. I'm in the process of revolting to a republic, though later I wish I hadn't.

Early on things are smooth. I lose two cities to culture flips (to two different civs) in the BC years, but I still have far more cities that anyone else. I research at maximum to MT, following DaveMcW's directions, and I build horses and some libraries.

Then in 110 AD Persia sneak attacks, razing one city. I ally Russia and Arabia against them for gunpowder. I can't afford to ally India, as I can't buy an embassy, but Persia doesn't pay attention to them and I ally them the next turn, giving them the republic and getting dyes in return - the dyes that were in the city that flipped to them earlier. I make little progress against the Persians, but they make no further progress against me. I fill in some cities, either in Persian lands or in empty lands left by shrinking cultural boundaries. I make peace in 460 as war weariness gets bad, getting Samaria and a small amount of gold.

I finally meet the Byzantines in 170 AD when their Dromon comes by. I had a galley out exploring, but it was no where near them yet.

In 550 I get to military tradition. I turn off research to get money to upgrade. I'm planning on attacking India first, but they sign an MPP with Korea. I'm trading Korea iron for lots of stuff, and I want to continue to do so, so I decide that Russia or Arabia needs to be next. I want to get rid of Persia, as they have Sun Tzu's and Leo's, but our peace deal will last rather a long while and I want to get started.

Russia and Arabia are at war already. Russia (one of the powerhouses in my game) was trading for saltpeter (from me), but they don't have any now, so they can't have many cossacks left. I decide they are the best target. I plan on declaring, but then I realize that they have some units marching through my lands towards Arabia. I demand they leave, and they refuse. The war happiness is nice for a while. I ally China (the other powerhouse), India (way behind even me), and Korea (a tech leader with few cities). I pillage Russia's horse supply and start my golden age.

The war goes pretty well, even though Russia has some rifles by now. I get a couple of leaders, which turn into Sipahi armies and terrorize the Russians. Eventually I make peace for the last tech of the era, an island city, and a bunch of gold. I get nationalism as my free tech.

I'm not close to winning at this time, but I'm clearly in a position to do so. I researched a lot myself, but I managed to stay reasonably close in tech due to monopoly techs and an abundance of lux and strategic resource deals which were available because I had so much of the territory. This is a very unusual situation for me.

I'm not going to finish this game anytime soon - I submitted an incomplete game - but I'm looking forward to my first diety win. I expect it to be followed rapidly by my first sid loss.