COTM35 Second Spoiler

[civ_steve]

COTM 35 - second spoiler

Reading Requirements:

1. Must be able to research an Industrial Age Technology.

Posting restrictions

1. No maps showing Industrial or Modern resources.
2. No discussion of Industrial Age (or later).
3. Post spoiler information for this contest only

Based on the pre-game discussion, it seems that many players thought the game would be finished by this time or earlier. Did your plan work out as you thought? Or are you going for a later victory type?

 

[eldar]

Times Ancient

I entered the Middle Ages in 950BC. I gifted Germany into the MA, prayed, and was lucky: they learned Monotheism. Unfortunately Republic wasn't enough to grab it from them So I was forced to research Feudalism and trade it to them, though it mattered not in the end

In 550BC I learned Chivalry, and started building nothing but Riders, Workers, Settlers, and the odd Barracks. I researched Engineering for bridges, then switched off research entirely. I eventually learned Theology when I captured the Great Library.

I was already at war with the Zulu, the Aztecs, Rome, and Scandinavia. Despite War Weariness, I decided not to make peace with anyone, though to be honest I really didn't care about breaking peace treaties. Any sign of a wandering Settler/Escort pair with a nation I wasn't at war with resulted in a DoW.

I had rotten luck with my first Army: the turn I got the leader, I created an Army, put the Elite* (2 or 3/5) and one other Vet (4/4) Rider in it, and attacked an unfortified Vet warrior on a mountain - and lost . The RNG made up for this by much later on giving me 5 leaders before I'd even completed the Heroic Epic.

The last AI city fell in 450AD, giving me a 460AD Conquest win, and a Jason score just above 10K, for the first time (at last!).

The Aztecs were the most difficult opponent, having half a dozen pikes in each of their two main cities. They held me up for 10-15 turns. The best defender I met from the rest of the rabble was a single Roman Legionnaire.

 

[Kool Keith]

Holy smokes...Riders kick all that is holy. It is amazing what that one extra speed point will do for you.

I had fought no ancient age wars and once I got Republic I hoarded techs until I learned chivaly in AD times. Then I turned off research and started mass upgrading my horses to Riders.

I decided to go for the conquest. First I declared war on the Zulus and got my GA on the first turn. Then I thumped the Aztecs, then Germany (and conquered the Temple of Artemis, which was important.) I did almost all of that within my GA. Next the Vikings. I declared war on Japan and conquered a few cities. But with ToA, all my towns culturally expanded and I wound up with a domination victory. I'm not complaining.

Victory in 520 AD. Only warred for about 30 turns...man, Riders are sweet.

I think I could have won earlier I had stopped my REX a little earlier, didn't produce as many workers (I made like 30 or 40 workers and joined them into my towns) and focused on building more early horses. I should have wiped out both Zulu and Rome early. It also might have helped if I tried to gift up the other civs in techs and tried to get Chivalry a little earlier.

 

[ajb civver]

950 BC traded poly to germany for constr & 25 g & enter the MA

then gifted 100 g to germany, traded curr to germany for 100 g (gets them to the MA) they get eng, trade rep & lit for eng

i then researched mono, feud & chiv, started warring against zulu in 610 bc with horses when they dowed, this war netted 2 leaders for armies. i then took out rome and during this war got my ga with riders (both armies were filled with riders also) i then proceeded to just take out everyone, leaving germany as a OCC.

i am not going for conquest / domination because it seems almost everyone else will do that.

dont have a date for entering the industrial age because i stopped taking notes once the wars began.

 

[Desertsnow]

Open class, tentatively going for Domination (this may change).

130 BCE: Polytheism discovered. We enter Medieval time. Score: China 360, Aztecs 319, Scandinavia 292, Rome 290, Zulu 285, Japan 240, Germany 166.
90: Foreign advisor: "The Rampaging Aztec forces have destoryed the Germans."
70: Montezuma extorts literature.
30 CE: Great Library completed in Beijing; Monarchy and Feudalism come in immediately.
50: Revolt.
170: We emerge as a Republic.
270: Monotheism and Engineering from Great Library.
330: Embassy established in Zululand for the specific purpose of estimating military strength. Sneak-attack stack from Zulu approaching, very unsubtle. (Yes, they attacked.)
340: Montezuma declares war after being asked to leave.
370: Bapedi captured from Zululand.
390: 12g from Zulu for peace treaty.
410: Chivalry discovered.
420: 9g from Aztecs for peace.
430: Embassy established in Azteca. Great Library gives Invention.
440: Knights Templar in Beijing.
580: Montezuma declares war (sneak-attack). Golden Age starts (Rider combat victory). Great Library gives Theology.
590: Mass-upgrade, spears to muskets.
610: Chengdu captured by Aztecs.
630: Chengdu retaken.
690: Education from Great Library *sigh*
710: 52g from Azteca for peace. FP completed in Shanghai. Bapedi flips back to Zulu
750: Spices, Horses and 399g to Rome for Chemistry.
770: Leo's Workshop completed in Beijing.
780: Mass upgrade: stone-age Warriors to Medieval Infantry.
790: 870g to Rome for Astronomy.
810: Macao founded. Embassy established in Rome. 279g to Rome for Printing Press.
840: Embassy established in Scandinavia. They're not as strong as I thought.
950: Embassy established in Japan.
970: Spices and 471g to Scandinavia for Banking.
990: Declare war verus Zulu, joining a dogpile. Hlobane taken immediately.
1000: Bapedi captured from Zululand.
1040: Intombe and one Zulu slave taken with no attrition. The slave is promptly rescued by a Zulu longbow unit.
1060: Ngome and two Zulu slaves taken. Bapedi flips back to Zululand. Why can't I hold Bapedi? Gr.
1080: Peace from Zulu for Physics with a stack of riders threatening Zimbawe. (They appear to be doomed anyway.)
1170: Metallurgy discovered.
1190: 9gpt and Furs for Japanese ivory.
1200: Anyang founded.
1220: Horses for Roman world map and 5g; trade world map to everyone who can exchage maps (only Shaka can't), and accept whatever they offer; most offer maps plus a pittance of cash, except Ragnar who offers only a few gold (sold anyway). Zululand is shown to be reduced to three cities.
1265: War redclared versus Zulu. Spices, world map, and 384g to Rome for Navigation.
1305: Tugela captured, Zululand destroyed.
1320: Magnetism discovered; we enter Industrial time. Current score: China 770, Scandinavia 643, Aztecs 641, Rome 614, Japan 574, Zululand (eliminated) 540, Germany (eliminated) 80.

I think I might have missed a tech advance or city founding somewhere in that log.
I must agree with Cool Keith, Riders are an outstandingly excellent unit. I had played China only a couple times and never far into the Medieval era. I was at war against Zulu and Aztecs at the same time and was holding both off even though my military strength was not otherwise as it should have been.
I'm also holding off on revolting to Democracy (I haven't learned it yet, but will probably continue to do so anyway), here for longer than I have for quite a while even when not playing a Religious civilization without confidently intending to revolt to Communism. At this point I'm not certain how long I'll be staying in Republic; it depends on whether I decide to go conquering again, and when.
I'm a little behind in tech, but catching up.
All in all, an excellent game so far.

 

[PrinceMyshkin]

Open Class Domination Victory 380AD

When I entered the MA I gifted Germany up and they got engineering, so research was set to monotheism. I waited six turns for Zulu cities to grow after selling Republic to all the ai's, but another city lost pop. instead. About 590BC declared war on the Zulu and signed ma with Rome and Aztecs to get gold for max. research. I auto-razed the first two cities, but my horsemen captured the other four Zulu cites in four turns. The Aztecs completed the Pyramids and were already winning a war with Germany, so I declared on them next, signing everyone to an ma. I didn't have Riders yet, so captured the first five Aztec cities with horsemen. Chivalry was completed in 170BC and by 110BC a rider haad started my GA. Workers took some time to build a road west through the marsh and I finally captured the Pyramids in 70AD, destroying the Zulu in 90AD. This war also produced my first leader who made a Rider army.

Next, war was declared on the Vikings and their core cities were captured in 150AD. By this time I had enough Riders in the west to take on Germany and Japan and sent other Riders south to take the last Viking city south of Rome. I immediately declared war on Germany and got my second leader, forming another army while also completing the FP in my core. By 230AD, Germany and the Vikings were destroyed and war was started with Rome and Japan. In 320AD Rome was left with two cities and the Japanese completed the ToA in Kyoto, which was captured in 330AD. Rome was destroyed and Japan down to three cities when the culture expansion triggered domination in 380AD. I had kept my lux. slider high and rushed/built a few settlers to take more territory and finished with a Jason score of 11191. A fun game.

 

[ControlFreak]

I had killed the zulu and Rome early on and had Japan declare on me. I used MAs to keep the Aztecs/Germany engaged and picked off the few Japanese units that came my way.

I researched up the top half to Banking at about 5-6 turns/tech. The vikings researched Feudalism but wouldn't sell it to me, so I researched some of the turns myself, acquiring it later with techs at a reduced cost. No one had iron connected so I sold feudalism all around as well as Mono, trusting them to research chivlary for me while I pursued required techs. My horsemen setout to make sure that no-one was able to get iron.

I decided that Germany (suffering from early wars) was small enough to keep around as my buddy and being scientific was a perfect candidate in my bid to be world leader. All others but Japan would be eliminated.

Once I got to the bottom tree, I was 4-5 turns/tech and 4 turns/tech the rest of the way after Gunpowder. I could see that the Vikings were the only ones besides Germany with saltpeter in their area. I made demands to make them furious with me and then told their wandering settler pair to get out. They declared on me and I started my horsemen heading toward their silk town which also had the saltpeter nearby. Halfway there, chivalry comes and I buy it with top techs. The horsemen built in the core were upgraded and the riders quickly make it to the front lines thanks the ROP with the Aztecs.

I had managed a leader for a horseman army against the zulu. A second leader rushed the Heroic Epic during the Roman campain, followed by a third leader (the same turn, before the Epic finished) made another horseman army. That horseman army was part of my plan to take the viking silk city but was foiled by a vicious Berserk who attacked and killed my Army without taking a scratch. The horsemen that were left tried to take the city but failed by a unit or two. They would have to wait until riders came to the rescue.

The other army and a few horsemen had already headed north to disconnect and take the Viking iron source that was recently connected. They had better luck and killed several berserks that stepped nearby but couldn't attack. The arrival of the Riders turned the war into a rout and the vikings lost a town per turn until they were gone.

The aztecs, who had been our ally to this point, had outlived their usefulness. I taunted them into declaring on me as well and wiped them out (with the help of some railroads, but that will come in the final spoiler).

This brought me within 50 tiles of the domination limit, but I had another age of techs to learn. I made it to the Industrial age in 470AD. The Germans got Steam so I started on Medicine.

 

[Desertsnow]

I have had this COTM game on hold for over a week now. My chances of winning look slim at this point. If I do I might go on and see if I can submit for best loser. :b

 

[Capt Buttkick]

This was the first 3otm I've played in a while due to my #1 PC being repaired...

I started out going straight for HBR and conquered the Zulu and took 3-4 Aztecs towns with HBR. After that, I was going to try a sling for Republic, but by the time I got to Philo, the AI had so many juicy techs that I trade for them and slinged into the MA instead. I brought Germany with me and they got Feudalism so next step was Mono --> trade for Feud and then Chivalry.

I could have gotten a pretty early conquest (early ADs), but Germany was building ToA so I left them with Berlin and another town. That may not have been so wise because the stupid Germans decided to go Republic just a few turns before they landed ToA. Anyway, it lead lead me to a 650AD domination with 88% of land and I hadn't even filled all the spaces

Gave me a Firaxis of around 6500, don't know Jason because I had two crashes (old comp) and couldn't recreate my moves

I should have built ToA myself. I had way too many riders anyway. Didn't revolt even after I got gov techs cause that would have been counterproductive.