Do'Y PS1 OCC

[duke o' york]

Or for those of you who prefer real words, this is the Duke o' York's Playstation One City Challenge.
For those of you who still bother checking the Civ 2 Stories and Tales, welcome! That'll be both of us then. Not really, but visitors to this forum are few on the ground these days and that's a shame. Not that this thread will change anything, but here's to hoping. It's not that often that fanatics will get the chance to see the Duke o' York humiliated by the AI so get it while it's good and hot. Preamble preambled, let's get on with the game.
I decided to play with the Chinese, as I didn't want to have to compete with a light blue civ in the tech stakes, they are my favourite light blue civ and I might get Fayadi to read this thread by playing as them.
Apart from this, I'm not up to Deity standard yet (but am doing quite well at Emperor recently so may move up soon) and this game is at King level with raging hordes, large random map, 7 civs and oriental architecture. I know you don't care about the buildings, but I'm trying to give you as much information as possible so . Extremely irritatingly I had to call myself Duke of York because the Playstation doesn't let you have the ' character.

4000BC - Start with 2 settlers, Alphabet and Code of Laws. Not bad at all. Also knowledge of irrigation, mining and roads. A band of genius settlers!
3900BC - Get Pottery from a hut, settlers just milling round as I study the special pattern and try to work out where I should be.
3800BC - I found Beijing on what should be a 4 special site, depending on what the grassland shield gives when I forest it. For the moment I've got a buffalo, an oasis (on the only desert tile in the radius ) and some wine. There are 3 hills and a mountain in the radius, and 3 sea tiles but none next to the city so I can't build a harbour for them. Rest a mixture of grassland (only 2 with shields, one to be forested) and plains. Looks good.
I start to build a warrior.
3750BC - Starting with Code of Laws means I only have to have Ceremonial Burial before Monarchy so I rather sensibly start that.
3700BC - Second settler starts to forest grassland where the other special should be.
3550BC - Warrior built. Sent off to explore. Another one started.
3500BC - Hut found.
3450BC - 50 gold - shouldn't complain.
3300BC - Second warrior built. Fortified. Start on Granary.
3200BC - Beijing finally deems its ruler worthy of an increase in size and the settler finishes foresting the grassland to reveal some silk! Cool.
3150BC - Settler begins improvements. Warrior finds another hut.
3100BC - The hut yields Horseback Riding. Fair enough, I would never have bothered researching it.
2900BC - Exploring warrior spots irrigation.
2850BC - Make contact with Indians. They've got an elephant already! We swap Alphabet for Bronze Working. This means that I can build the Colossus without interfering in the tech path.
2350BC - Granary finished in Beijing. I make a start on the Colossus.
2150BC - Warrior finds another hut.
2100BC - Barb horseman in the hut but our warrior is on a mountain and becomes a veteran.
2000BC - After 1750 years of research, my scientists finally get the hang of the whole Ceremonial Burial deal and are inspired to discover a new form of government that will allow the Duke more power with a better image among the people.
1800BC - According to some bloke called Tacitus, who we think is in league with the Romans, I've got the fourth largest civ in the world!
1650BC - Hut discovered by warrior.
1600BC - It would appear that the Playstation predetermines the contents of huts as I enter this one about 15 times and get an advanced tribe each time. Eventually get bored and just leave it to explore elsewhere.
925BC - Beijing gets big enough to inspire civil disorder for the first time.
825BC - Monarchy is discovered and I set research towards Currency for those good good caravans. Being the impulsive type, I call for an instant revolution and it must be an Oedo year because it happens straightaway!
550BC - The Colossus towers over the area of Beijing that would have a harbour if it was anywhere by the sea and the citizens decide that a temple would keep their minds away from looting and begin the construction of one.
500BC - The first one of the other civs starts a wonder: the Vikings go for the Pyramids. I have listed all the dates for wonders and who started what and when but I think it's too boring to have here so will just say when certain ones are built if I can be bothered. We give Monarchy to the Indians and get an alliance with them. They give us Masonry as a gift. This sets the pattern for a hell of a lot of sponging off other civs that will characterise the Duke's reign.
350BC - We discover Currency and begin to research Trade.
325BC - The Beijing temple is finished and the citizens look to the construction of a marketplace so that they can buy goods made in Taiwan.
75BC - We discover Trade and then look to Writing so that we can record the wonders of our ruler's reign.
For caravans: We supply Silk, Coal, Copper.
Delhi wants: Silk, Salt, Hides and Madras wants Silk, Silver and Hides. These are the only 2 cities I can see.
25 BC - I give the Indians Trade and get Seafaring as a gift.
1 AD - Toledo builds the Great Lighthouse. Woo hoo.

 

[duke o' york]

Now that I've had my lunch, I feel refreshed and will give you all some more details of my trundle through history.

40AD - Marketplace is finished in Beijing and I start a phalanx to protect my investments.
50AD - Trondheim finishes the Pyramids and everyone else switches to other wonders like crazy.
60AD - Bombay builds the Hanging Gardens.
80AD - I finish the phalanx, fortify it and then start on a caravan so that the Indians can get the benefits of hides.
100AD - Writing is discovered and since this will not give the Beijing schoolchildren enough to keep them out of mischief, I make sure that they will soon have Maths homework to do too.
170AD - My caravan is completed and sets out for India.
220AD - Rome builds the Great Wall and loads of civs lose shields.
230AD - Maths discovered. This leaves people wondering what these numbers were that represented the date heretofore, but the Duke enthuses about the wonders of Construction and convinces the scientists to look into this idea instead of squabbling amongst themselves.
240AD - The Indians discover Astronomy so I toddle over and swap it for writing.
250AD - Caravan completed, but instantly recycled as 50 shields towards Copernicus' Observatory. The other caravan arrives in Bombay and I make 112 gold from it.
270AD - Delhi builds Marco Polo's Embassy. The foreign office wallahs confidently predict that this wonder will lie dusty and unused for however long it takes us to discover Communism.
This is very annoying as I played the next 20 or so turns but then got Republic from the Indians and tried to start a revolution while in the diplomacy screen which for some reason caused the game to crash. I therefore had to reload my save from 300AD and play again. Didn't do anything differently but the Romans demanded cash instead of just declaring war straight off as they did the first time. I refused to pay of course, so that things were as close as they were to last time as possible. I shan't write out the description of the turns before it crashed though.
310AD - Construction discovered. I go to Literacy in the hope of getting Philosophy first.
320AD - I blag a gift of 125g from India.
430AD - Copernicus' Observatory is now at a stage where I can buy the rest so I do.
440AD - Copernicus' Observatory is finished. Weird that The Chinese scientists get their heads around Literacy and I set them to discover the Republic for more trade and more discoveries. I get Beijing to build an aqueduct, having become bored of shuffling the workers around to maximise shields and minimise growth.
450AD - I turn up at the Indian embassy looking forlorn and am rewarded with Navigation. The suckers.
470AD - Great Library built in Rome.
510AD - I meet the Romans and they declare war on me after I refuse to pay 100g to keep them happy. I don't care though, because they're miles away on the other side of India. Also I find that less barbs turn up if you're at war with someone. Is this part of the game, or just coincidental in my games?
520AD - Aqueduct completed. I rearrange the workers for more growth. I start a caravan for the Indians and manage to blag Map Making from them too.
540AD - The Republic is unveiled at a special ceremony and its appeal is such that an instant switch to this type of government is ordered by the soon to be obsolete King. I get the eggheads together to search for Mysticism so that we can get Philosophy before anyone else. I tried to get this from India but they wouldn't give it away. At the end of this turn, my tea is finally ready so I sit down and eat that.
550AD - Beijing (not worth calling the civ China) is now a republic and the trade bonuses will make a big difference in the future. I disband the wandering warriors so as not to make my people too unhappy.
560AD - Civil disorder anyway despite disbanding warriors.
590AD - Another caravan constructed.
630AD - Mysticism discovered and the boffins are kept locked in their rooms until they come up with Philosophy. They are promised a day off if they get it before anyone else.
640AD - Coal caravan arrives in Madras for 23g.
670AD - Barbarian ship unloads near Beijing. Damn! Philosophy discovered! by India. More damn!s. Hoover Damn!
680AD - Horseman bought in Beijing.
690AD - Barb archers throw themselves in vain against my phalanx, and the horsie attacks their leader. 150g and a veteran horsie!
700AD - Philosophy discovered and Medicine started. Horsie cleans up the rest of the barbs.
710AD - A more expert historian, Herodotus, says that we are the smallest civ in the world. No shorts Sherlock!
730AD - We blag University from the Indians.
770AD - We discover Medicine and line up Banking for research. A cloth caravan arrives in Delhi for 42g.
790AD - Gems caravan built.
800AD - My settler finishes work for the time being and goes for a well-earned sleep.
830AD - Banking is discovered and while we set up some pyramid schemes to fool the stupid citizens out fo their cash, the scientists go to throw apples around and see if they can't work out why they fall. Sounds like lots of fun being a scientist.
880AD - A food caravan is finished in Beijing and is then added straight to Shakespeare's Theatre which is begun the same turn. Our Gems caravan reaches Bombay and the proceeds are 45g.
890AD - Theory of Gravity is discovered and Chemistry will be next.
920AD - We ask for another gift from India and get Iron Working.
970AD - We work out what to do with all the testtubes the scientists have been using and spend some time making pretty coloured mixtures of liquids. Our pyramid schemes are in danger of collapsing so we research Economics to try and survive the stock market crash.
990AD - We get a gift of 300g from India and buy the rest of Shakespeare's Theatre.
1000AD - About 600 years too early, the noble Bard sets up a place in which the travelling players and minstrels can entertain the crowds and keep the people happy. Right! Everyone back to work! No more luxuries for anyone . We start on Newton's College.
1040AD - Economics discovered. A backwards step, maybe, but I go for the Wheel so that I can build (or more likely buy) King Richard's Crusade.
1050AD - I grovel enough to get 300g from the Indians.
1110AD - The Wheel rolls around and we set our sights on Engineering. I blag yet another 300g from India. At this rate I'll be able to buy KRC outright. I buy Newton's College though.
The Romans decide that Newton's College would look nice in Veii.
1120AD - Isaac Newton founds a college in Beijing that will be the source of much scientific endeavour and yearly rag weeks. No apologies are sent to Rome. I start the great unwashed on building a library so that they can be well-read if not any cleaner.
1180AD - Engineering is discovered and Sanitation is researched to combat the great unwashed problem mentioned above.
1190AD - The Beijing library is finished and some foreign King Richard begins to try and round up citizens for some kind of bash he's planning in the Middle East. I refuse to recognise his title but am quite willing for him to lead the citizens astray with his grand tales.
1210AD - I shall go down in the annals of Civilization as Duke o' York the worst goddam ally I ever made after grabbing another 150g gift from India.
1220AD - Sanitation discovered and Invention lined up but not until everybody has a good bath. This place is beginning to stink!
1260AD - Invention is erm, invented but this time I don't care about Leo's Workshop. I go for Democracy to get even more trade. India sees fit to give their good allies 75g.
1270AD - I gift Invention to the Indians in the hope that they will build Leonardo's Workshop but the Romans get it through the Great Library and immediately begin the Workshop.
1280AD - India finally gets around to starting the Workshop, but it's not too bad as they have a better record of getting contested wonders than the Romans do.
1300AD - The Spanish have nearly finished the Crusade!
1310AD - King Richard has finally got enough people together for a Crusade from Beijing but most of them come back next year when they realise that it's not the kind of bash that they expected. Still, they are so glad to be back that they work extra hard and I'm not complaining. We discover Democracy and go straight into revolution. We begin to learn Physics. A Sewer System is planned for Beijing so that the stench can be washed away in the direction of India. It must be another Oedo year as I get Democracy straightaway!
1320AD - Scrounge 150g from India.
1340AD - Pollution first rears its ugly head. Settler woken up again. The Spanish come visiting. We swap Republic for Physics, Banking for Warrior Code and give them writing. We make an alliance and are gifted 300g. Another load of rich idiots nearby! Oh joy.
1350AD - We start to research Steam Engine. We swap Sanitation for Gunpowder with the Indians but they're not in a giving mood.
1360AD - The Sewer System is finished in Beijing and will be followed by a university. Our researchers come up with the idea of a steam engine but cannot think of any proper use for it besides this boat thing. Useless. We look into metallurgy for something useful.
1370AD - Cordoba builds Leonardo's Workshop. This is much better than the Romans. Phew.
1380AD - The Indians deliver a gift of 150g inside a wooden horse left outside our city. We don't think it's suspicious in any way at all and take it in happily.
1410AD - Metallurgy is discovered and we think that if we were to learn how to build bridges then the combination of this and our knowledge of steam could give us something worthwhile.
1430AD - It's the first freshers' week at Beijing Metropolitan University and the Brewing Studies and Golf Course Design modules are already full! (Both these courses are available at British universities) Spanish troops are lurking so we plan some city walls for protection.
1440AD - The Spanish get closer and I buy the city walls out of panic. I do get 150g from India to pay for it though.
1450AD - The very sight of our troops peering over the newly-constructed city walls and accusing them of smelling of elderberries causes the Spanish to retreat. Bridge Building is discovered and Conscription seems to be a good option. I set the builders to making a barracks which will be sold when I have vet riflemen.
1470AD - The barracks are soon done and I begin some musketeers in the hope that I will get conscription next turn and then switch to riflemen.
1480AD - I'm dumb. The hoped-for advance fails to materialise and I'll get the musketeers next turn. I should have built a caravan for the 2 turn gap. Never mind, vet musketeers are still good too.
1490AD - Conscription begun. I start Magnetism as there is nothing else going. The musketeers are fortified and some riflemen are begun.
1500AD - I swap Gunpowder for Magnetism with Spain and bag an additional 300g for my troubles. Change research to Railroad. Soon I'll be in a position to buy a factory outright when Industrialisation cancels out KRC.
1505AD - Eton Rifles fortified and barracks are sold. Begin production of caravan.
1510AD - Population is over 1 million!
1515AD - Caravan completed. Railroad discovered and Electricity begun. I start Darwin's Voyage straightaway. And now let the railroading begin! Settler woken up and put to work.
1535AD - Electricity discovered so to the Romans and their Great Library. Atomic Theory researched.
1540AD - I swap Railroad for Feudalism with India, Conscription for Polytheism and Metallurgy for Chivalry. And they chuck in 100g. Kind of them. I get 150g from Spain and buy Darwin's Voyage.
1545AD - Darwin comes back from wherever it was he had gone with knowledge of Atomic Theory and Refrigeration. I start to research Industrialisation and set the citizens to build a supermarket.
1555AD - Even more pollution!
1560AD - Supermarket completed. People rush in to buy snack foods and ruin their arteries. I begin the construction of a bank as what the Civ 3 people call a "placeholder" for a factory.
1565AD - Industrialisation makes KRC defunct, but I buy a factory for 300 or so gold and set back to massive production. I ask the boffins to look into Communism as there is nothing else good to research. More pollution around Beijing! I may need an engineer at this rate!
1570AD - Factory complete and I start to churn out a caravan every other turn. 150g gifted by Spain and 100g from India. All my Christmases at once!
1580AD - 3 pollution is too much. I am cleaning up but need Explosives.
1590AD - Communism dismissed as a rubbish form of government and the scientists go to search for that fabled beast, the Engineer! Yet more pollution.
1600AD - Happy birthday to me! 300g? Spain, you're too kind! 100g? India, you shouldn't have!
1615AD - The myth of Explosives is exploded and we can begin to plan a corporate strategy now.
1620AD - Engineers arrive to tackle the pollution and hopefully lay some railroads and farmland while they're at it. Back to caravans.
1635AD - Swap Explosives for Leadership with India. Give them Electricity and get 100g. Give Spanish Industrialisation and get 300g.
1645AD - The Corporation begins to get the Beijing economy in its stranglehold. Electronics seems to be the way ahead!
1660AD - Indians and Spanish now at war! Indians ask for help: they get Corporation for 100g though.
1670AD - Spain wants help too. I give them 100g to keep them happy but get a gift of 300g. And I thought they had maths!
1675AD - Electronics discovered. We get to play space invaders at last! Wondering what Steel does.....
1705AD - Steel is discovered and it seems to be nothing more than a shiny metal, but maybe it has other uses. I ask my boffins to find out if Refining will bring out its better qualities. I go crawling back to Spain, who give me nothing, and India, who give me 50g, but at least they have made peace now. Definitely my bed-time.

More to follow when I play the remaining turns. Feel free to comment on the above, but I know some of the mistakes I made. Maybe to be listed when I'm done.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

It's good that you got the leader ($), but I don't think you needed to worry about the Barbs when they landed. I read somewhere that Barbs will always lose when attacking your only city if it has any unit in the city to defend, so you could have barb artillery and they will lose to your defending caravan.

Like the timeline - keep up the good work. I may try an OCC for my next game. Did you do restarts before starting this game? It sounded like you had a really nice starting position.

 

[duke o' york]

I did do a couple of restarts, deciding that if I hadn't founded a city by at least 3000BC then I was wasting my time, and I wanted somewhere good. Bit of a shame about the 3 water tiles, but I wasn't going to pass up a chance like that! I got lucky with the 2 settlers - which isn't a given until Deity so could explore quicker. It was a bit annoying to have to walk away from the hut because it wouldn't give me anything else but a city, but that must be the PS for you. I'll play a few more tunrs tonight, but I do have a real life too, and my girlfriend won't look too kindly on a night of constant civving.

 

[Nick]

Bet these turns are starting to take a while, duke. I tried Civ 2 on my PS2 to see if the processor improved the turn speed but unfortunately no joy, although it played it OK.

 

[duke o' york]

Yes, despite what I said yesterday, I managed to play some more turns last night as my girlfriend was busy and I didn't have to go round. I'll get to see her to night though . So I did what any other red-blooded male would do when their girlfriend was working: erm, played Civ 2. By that I mean what any other red-blooded male registered here would do. Yes, that's better. Anyway, I played some turns and it hasn't slowed down too badly, although it takes noticeably longer after the Apollo Project is built and you can see everywhere. The Playstation has a city limit of about 125 or so though, so things never slow like they could on the PC, but it's also a rubbish machine. I reckon it evens out. Most waits are about a minute or two, even at the end. The city limit means that I don't have a chance of getting on the HoF with the Playstation, but even then I'd have to just hope that Thunderfall believed my crazy story because you can't send a PS save by e-mail (that I know of) or take a screengrab to prove it.

1715AD - My oil caravan arrives in Madras (which is now Spanish) and reaps 28g. It wasn't demanded though.
1730AD - The Beijing scientists discover Refining and I suggest that they put this new fancy oil to work. They promise to make some kind of mechanical power device.
1735AD - My dye caravan arrives in Bombay and they are so happy that I have catered for their needs they give me 82g. I scrounge 50g from India to compound this.
1740AD - More pollution turns up to spoil the view to the northwest. Boo.
1752AD - Time seems to have slowed down again - very odd. Hladir in Scandinavia builds Michelangelo's Chapel. A bit late, but I wasn't interested in it. I don't even have Monotheism! My brainy people come up with the idea for a combustion engine so I wonder what kind of vehicle this could be used to propel. They sigh and return to their labs, promising to come up with something in 10 years time.
1756AD - We hold a big party in the palace and then bill the visitors for the privilege of attending. Thanks to some creative accounting we make 300g from the Spanish ambassador, and her Indian counterpart loses 100g in a rigged poker game but is too polite (or stupid) to protest.
1762AD - The boffins come up with the car. Seems quite nice, so I ask them to work out some way of making a lot of them in a hurry as the peasants are getting quite jealous of the Duke speeding around in his Porsche and spraying them with dirt. The Duke accepts their grievances and orders the construction of some huge roads for him and the others to drive on, while upholding the law creating the special "Duke's lane" for beating traffic jams.
1770AD - Not having learnt their lesson, Spain donate 300g to a bogus "charitable trust" and India throw in 100g. I commend them for their generosity and then immediately after their departure freeze the account and sieze the cash.
1772AD - Mass Production is discovered and the people are distinctly underwhelmed. In a vain effort to impress them, I ask the scientists to make some mechanical birds that will take them to Spanish seaside resorts on holiday.
1774AD - The Superhighways now encircle Beijing and so the workers are introduced to the joys of commuting and the rush hour. Trying to reduce such problems, I order the construction of an underground system, calling the station at my palace Mornington Crescent. I sit back and wait for the pollution that will surely come until this Mass Transit system is built.
1780AD - Those magnificent men in their flying machines, they go up diddly up up, they go down diddly dow-damn! One of them's crashed into the Colossus! Well that's going to wreck the tourist trade. The scientists misunderstand when I "green light" the project to research radio, and go off to research recycling instead. Hohum.
1784AD - The inaugural trip of the Beijing underground is a quarter strile from Fairlop to East Acton. The watching masses are very impressed and all dash off to Mornington Crescent to applaud the Duke's gambit. Spain and India had foolishly placed bets on my getting knerdled and lost 300g and 100g respectively. I see the benefits of the new mass-producing factories and order some more freight units to be constructed. I've got a funny idea they will come in useful in future .
1788AD - Recycling is discovered but it's boring and to jazz things up a bit, I ask the scientists to find some kind of worthwhile employment for all the shock jocks currently clogging up the city's parks.
1796AD - Radio Duke comes on air for the first time, with half an hour of solid advertisements, then "What ho! Mornington Crescent", then another half-hour block of ads. I think this could be the future! We look into the worth of tactically deploying our two fighting units. Beijing begins to build its first bottle banks. The Spanish come and ask if we want to swap Matallurgy for Tactics - and we do! They also throw in 300g as a sweetener. The Indian gift of 100g means that I can continue to have my 100% science rate!
1798AD - I turn up unexpectedly at the science labs and catch them all sitting round. They said that since Spain had shown us how to use tactics then they were just er, resting before, er, continuing their research into Machine Tools. Oh right, I say, and if I catch you lot dossing again.....!
1804AD - Our new Machine Tools are now operational and I'm going easier on the scientists now, asking them to come up with some improvements on the flight theory they came up with not long ago. Word also reaches us from a cocky Indian dignitary that they have built the UN in Delhi.
1808AD - The recycling centre in Beijing is now complete, and we just have to try to get more people to recycle all their TV dinners. We have no pollution at all! Cool. Back to building freights then...
1812AD - The boffins come up with advanced theories of flight and allow us to drop bombs on other countries without even having to go below the clouds. I ask them to look into miniaturisation as my mobile phone is the size of a small dog and rather difficult to use. A coal freight is constructed and is heading in the direction of India. Barbarians amuse me greatly by capturing Jaipur from India.
1818AD - The coal freight arrives in Delhi for 197g - they must have really needed it!
1820AD - I ask some of the scientists to build a Mini Me with their new Miniaturisation technology, and the rest can research Genetic Engineering for an improved Mini Me. It was a bit annoying, but the best option and a wonder to base my SS parts on. Spain give us 300g in return for our vote on the International Olympic committee board. Seville gets the games!
1822AD - Beijing grows to over 2 million inhabitants!
1824AD - Indians destroy Jaipur but for some reason the barb leader remains there totally unharmed.
1828AD - Genetic Engineering is completed, but I reckon a Mini Me is a bit beyond my scientists for the time being. Now if only I could get them to design it on a computer.....
1830AD - All the city squares are railroaded and farmed now so the settler and engineer are returned to the city to sleep.
1832AD - Beijing switched to build a Cure for Cance, but the people shouldn't get too excited just yet as the people I've put on the project seem far more keen about learning how to fly into space.
1836AD - Computers come on-line, and so does the rest of the population, wondering who the hell GenghisK is and where they can get some more of his Alicia Silverstone pictures from. The research path goes to rocketry, a Chinese speciality!
1840AD - Beijing grows to size 21 and I get my first Einstein.
1844AD - Rocketry discovered and a fireworks party is held to celebrate, but attendance is poor as everyone reckons they're a bit passé now. Scientists get the hump and go off to research Amphibious Warfare instead of what I really wanted. I get nothing from Spain and Fundy from India. Cheers guys. I want more cash!!
1846AD - Karachi builds the Hoover Dam.
1851AD - Amphibious warfare is discovered, but we haven't got any hovercraft so we can't go exploring on the seas. Now we can finally research Space Flight! Phew, another "wrong" tech and I'd have had to create loads of Einsteins so as not to complete the Cure for Cancer.
1854AD - Spain give us 150g and India give us the cold shoulder but at least we get some cash this time.
1855AD - Space Flight arrives and to celebrate, we launch a shuttle into the great unknown. The scientists research the different things you can make out of plastic, and I'm hoping to build an LP collection.
1856AD - The Apollo Program is completed in Beijing and we can see the world thanks to our shuttle's pictures. It's big - ! - the barbs have captured Nineveh (size 8) and are using it to churn out troops.
1857AD - The first structural part of our spaceship is completed and hung in the palace for the people to gawp at. It's the same old story I'm afraid: build wonder, add caravan, complete SS part next turn, repeat to finish..... I also meet a Spanish marine. They demand Advanced Flight, and I give it to them, but will not be giving away any more techs in the future. I get a 300g gift from them for it. I also give it to India, but they ain't offering anything. Ingrates.
1859AD - Plastics discovered. This revolutionises the restqaurant business as cheap plastic toys can be included in what are known as happy meals and make restaurants appealing to kids. In an effort to stamp out these evil franchises, we decide to back up our words with nuclear weapons and research Nuclear Fission.
1861AD - An SS component is finished.
1863AD - A second component is done. A sign is left on the lab doors when I go round to check on how things are going. It simply says: "Gone Fission". Once I get to the river, I round them all up and send them back inside to research nuclear power.
I am just above to save the game and go to bed when:
I go begging to the Spanish and Indians again. They both demand Space Flight and because I am aware that they can outproduce me in seconds, I refuse to let them have it. They both cancel the alliances and I am left with no extra cash bonuses for the rest of the game I'd have thought. Still, my policy of going and asking them for cash has yielded 2700g from India and 3950g from Spain, and ensured I could run 100% science with a (currently) 30g or so deficit for ages. This is a bit iffy really, but I am not ashamed and hope to punish them for their folly in being so generous in the near future. I plan to stop research after Fusion Power, buy a bank and a stock exchange and then put it to 100% taxes and buy up all the rest of the SS as soon as possible. We'll see how this works out though. I'll get trounced if Spain or India turn nasty though, and more than likely if they get their hands on the SS techs. The AI definitely cheats on PS at King level to build Spaceship parts, although often it is too late and my ship is already en route. Cities of size 3 can produce a structural per turn, and since the AI never uses caravans then this must be cheating. Even assuming that they have specials for max shields in 4 squares and a factory then it is still impossible to get 40 shields a turn minimum. Well, hopefully my SS will arrive in good time and I won't have to worry about AI cheating.

 

[SunTzu]

hehe the Indians are pretty mean for someone having Ghandi as their leader lol

 

[duke o' york]

For all my adoring fans I most humbly apologise. I played a few turns last night, and nearly had the SS done, but it crashed on me again. I couldn't be bothered to play them all again as I hadn't saved so I just started playing Tony Hawk 3 again. I could write a report of my successful career as a pro skateboarder, but this is a Civ site and I doubt that there would be too much interest. Especially after those annoying pop-up ads for THPS2 a while back. I hope to finish this weekend, but will be fairly busy what with going to stay with my girlfriend and the FA Cup match against Man City live on the telly. I shall endeavour to finish the game though, however it goes. Still not a certainty until the ship is in the air and I can buy more defensive troops than are strictly necessary while hopefully keeping peace with everyone.

 

[Kev]

Keep it up Dukie!

Quick question: Have you been using celebrations in Republic and then in Democracy to max out on your population? I don't think I read that anywhere.

For future games you may wish to build ALL of your wonders with caravans. With incremental rushing, you can usually put one out every 2 turns, and it's a much more cost effective and usually quicker way to get the wonders.

I've also found that Leo's can be a nice wonder to have. If you get explosives before it expires you can have your engineers without wasting food (hopefully you got a Nomad). Not necessary, but certainly VERY useful.

I've also found diplomats to be invaluable in OCC games as well. Bribing barbs can be a cheap way to get NON troops and explorers. Further, if you can bribe a ship of theirs, you can then explore the seas in a NON boat. Finally, I've been known to bribe enemy settlers/engineers to get me some NON improvement-makers and pollution cleaners (assuming that you bribe them closer to their own cities than yours). It's imperitive to have engineers if you wish to change something to hills for example should you need more production, and you'll need two to clean up pollution in a single turn.

A shame that the spot has those three annoying water squares that you couldn't improve, but the wine, silks, etc sounds good. Did you consider changing the buffalo square to a hill. I think that this will give you coal in that hill which will be a great produciton boost.

Man, I miss civ2. I'll have to get back into it a bit.

Keep it up, Duke

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

Duke, How's it going?

I'm interested in hearing how you are doing. I love the "color commentary" you add. I read over the log again and noticed a few things that you probably could have done differently. You probably know much of this already, but I feel the need to butt in.

It looks like you are doing this off the top of your head, rather than following the guide book which makes it all the more impressive. (Not that guys like Samson haven't improved the model, but Paul's guide is great when starting out!!!) I just finished my second OCC game and improved on my landing date by a whopping 3 years (1939) so I'm certainly no expert, but I think some of these might help.

1) You don't need a granary. Once you get republic (and later, democracy), your growth should come as a result of We Love days as Kev said. Just crank those luxuries for a few turns and watch your people make babies! (Well don't watch while they're doing it...but, you know what I mean)
2) Use caravans to rush your wonders. They are cheaper with incremental rush building (25g for a line of 10 shields) than Wonders (4g per sheild) and give you flexibility to change to something else if an emergency comes up instead of tying down your production queue for the duration of the wonder.
3)Not sure you needed KRC. It expires by the time your production really goes off so I'm not sure if it's worth the investment. You're probably better off saving the sheilds (as caravans) and using all that money from India and Spain to rush buy other stuff. However, I hadn't really thought much about building it, maybe it can be worth getting the extra production prior to factories. Something to think about
4) It's hard to know exactly how dire the situation was, but you probably didn't need the barracks and walls. I don't think you will win many OCC games by Might, you need to keep rivals at bay with Diplomacy as much as possible. But sometimes Defenses are necessary.
5)Keep your research on track. Polytheism, Genetic engineering, Amphibious Warfare and Recycling (unless you have SERIOUS pollution issues) are of no value to you in OCC. Every tech you posess makes your beaker cost go up, so carrying these just makes your job harder.
6) You should get explosives before Factories. You really need engineers to clean up pollution
7) Don't be afraid to rush build things. There's usually no reason why you shouldn't have Superhighways the turn after you discover Auto because they are a great boost to trade. Then you free up production to go back to making freights, or whatever.
8) Delay discovery of Flight as long as possible. I would research ANYTHING on the path to Space ships/Fusion power before researching flight. You want your colossus cranking as long as possible.
9)I didn't see a research lab built. got to build those science improvements... Also, Library probably should have been built much earlier. I would have said build Bank and Stock Ex earlier, but I see with the cash flow from your Sugar Daddies you had 0 tax. Very nice. Those of us with MGE don't know how that works.

Let us know how it all ends up!

 

[duke o' york]

Last night I finally got around to finishing my OCC, and here is the report of the last turns. I shall make an analysis of the game afterwards, but maybe not today. Tim has given some useful hints and if anyone else would like to then they should feel free. It's all greatly appreciated.

1865AD - The third component of the Beijing spaceship is completed and goes to join the others at the future launch site. This site is inside my palace and I am kept up all night with the sound of welding. The scientists come grumbling to me that they are ill-equipped at the moment and in a rare moment of generosity I shell out loads of cash to buy them a new research lab.
1866AD - The new research lab is completed and the eggheads get down to work on discovering the possibilities of Nuclear Power. While I am inspecting the premises our border patrols spot some Indian cavalrymen without their green cards (remember this anyone ) and send a messenger to me, but when I get to the area they have disappeared again. Phew.
1867AD - The fourth section of our spaceship engine is finished, but the experts reckon that we still require another 2 before it will be capable of carrying some brave Yorkists to a new life in the stars. The scientists are keen to show off their new toys in the lab, and announce the discovery of Nuclear Power. After such an unimpressive response to the last fireworks display, I order it to be jazzed up with some laser lighting. They wearily agree and go back to work.
1868AD - Ain't nothing going on but the rent baby! The Babylonians still think it sensible to throw hordes of troops against Nineveh's city walls, but the barbs are more than capable to beating them back.
1869AD - Beijing grows to size 23 and I can hire a new scientist to work at the labs. Bizarrely he looks identical to all the other extra workers I have hired but I am not deterred by his wispy white hair and send him to look into The Laser regardless. The fifth component of the spaceship engine is now done and I go on a motivational trip to the factory to urge my workers to make haste with the final piece. I fiddle the books in my palace and discover that I can reduce science funding to such an extent that they will not notice and continue to do their work at the same rate, but also get a profit of 8g per year.
1871AD - The spaceship engine is completed and is put on display to inspire the people. Anyone so much as making it dusty is threatened with the loss of a hand which fortunately does not need to be enforced as it might reduce the speed of production of the spaceship body. The scientists are so keen to ingratiate themselves that they rush around to demonstrate their newest laser toys. I'm not that impressed by the pen-shaped torches they brandish but I let them keep their hands. A bit peeved, they scuttle off and start to waste their time researching Theology! No!!!!!
1872AD - We ally with the Indians again, hoping for some of their cash, but only get Guerilla Warfare and war with Spain for our troubles. I think I've just done something very stupid here and am praying that we can make peace with Spain as soon as possible.
1875AD - To a resounding chorus of "So what!", the scientists unveil their theological discoveries. I tell them that they'd better come up with something more impressive next time or I'll be using them as fuel for my spaceship engine. They promise to think of a way to allow our colonists to survive the space flight and I let them go for the moment, expecting great things. I pay the Spanish 750g for a cease-fire, not entirely certain that they will honour it, but I want peace until my SS is done.
1877AD - India and Spain sign a peace treaty. So I'm at war with Spain as a result of India, they haven't given me anything for our alliance and now they're at peace. Hmmm.....
1880AD - I go to the research labs in a state of excitement as I hear there's going to be an André Previn concert but upon arrival I don't see any crowds and one of the scientists explains that it's a different type of superconductor they've discovered. Disappointed, I congratulate them on their speed of discovery and ask them to look into a way of making our spaceship travel faster. They say that they'd love to, but they have already made some plans for something called a labour union that will provide highly trained troops for our city's defence. I don't want this, but will put up with it.
1882AD - Beijing grows to size 24 and another white-haired boffin is recruited. This must be a result of that Genetic Engineering they discovered ages ago. Handy.
1884AD - The Labour Onion (sic) opens its doors and I am unimpressed yet again. Fearing for their lives, or at least for the more important parts of their bodies, the scientists rush to discover a fusion powered reactor to make the spaceship quicker and more efficient.
1887AD - The first bands of partisan barbarians arrive, but they are miles from where I am! Right next to Greece though .
1888AD - Fusion Power is discovered. The next technology we are looking to get is Future Technology 1, but it should arrive in the year 5168!!! Ladies and gentlemen, it's the Sale of the Century!!! Everything must go!!! I buy the city a bank and sell the library, sacking all the scientists and then re-employing them as tax collectors.
1889AD - The bank is finished. I buy a stock exchange to sit beside it if the people feel they haven't wasted enough of their money at the bank and sell the University. Those lazy students were getting on my nerves anyway, and were setting a bad example to the rest of the cityfolk. With the economy now running at 224g per turn profit, I decide that now is as good a time as any to hang my washing out to dry. Not in the figurative sense, you understand.
1890AD - The stock exchange is built and soon the city streets are bustling with pretentious young oafs talking about how much money they make and wearing bright red braces under the mistaken impression that this somehow makes them fashion leaders. I preferred them when they were scientists. Still, to complete the transition, I flog the research lab off to property consultants, whatever they are. Bombay discovers a cure for cancer, and we start selling coach tickets there to cancer sufferers in our city. The Babylonians suddenly find themselves with a load of wasted shields on their hands. I laugh at their uselessness.
1891AD - The habitation module of the spaceship is complete, and should fit about 10 thousand people comfortably. No pets though! With a heavy heart I decide to sell the city's 4241 year old granary, as we won't be growing any more .
1892AD - The spaceship now has a life support module, so that the travellers won't all die en route. Not a bad idea, really. If only we'd thought that when we did our test run..... The aqueduct is now only used by tedious waterskiers and so I sell that to a firm that want to make it into a water theme park. Sounds like fun.
1893AD - The last module is finished, giving the spaceship enough energy to last its voyage. The sewer system is cannibalised for parts to make the final structural pieces of the spacecraft, and I announce to the people that I expect the new dawn for our civilisation to begin in 1897, with the launch of the SS Duke. Some people cheer. I don't care. I'm going on the ship even if no-one else wants to.
1894AD - India announces the construction of 2 structurals!!!!
1897AD - The last bolt is welded into place in special ceremony by my good self, before I transfer the reins of power to my deputy, a Dawg. Not sure he's the right chap for the job, but I'll be in my luxury state cabin by the time anything starts to go wrong. Our spaceship comprises 15 structural parts, 6 components and 3 modules, carrying 10,000 people to Alpha Centauri to land in 1912. My diplomats make peace with Spain and Rome and as a parting gesture I command the construction of a cathedral big enough for JS Bach to practice in without annoying his neighbours.
1899AD - Bombay builds India's first SS component. They aren't too far behind!
1901AD - I contact the palace from the ship, bored with the view, and get them to hurry up with the cathedral.
1902AD - My advisors at home tell me that JS Bach's Cathedral is completed and despite the fact that they could have just made a virtual tour to show me, I'm inclined to believe them. I think that if they could build the Manhattan Project, and time its completion so that we would not feel the effects then this would be most amusing.
1903AD - The reason for building the Manhattan wonder is that Sigtuna completes the SETI Program a year later. Basically, who's got the better chance of making contact with aliens? A bunch of computer geeks stuck on Earth, or the people on a spaceship half-way to Alpha Centauri? Vikings are dumb.
1904AD - Here's some shocking news from Beijing! A Spanish bomber has sneak attacked the city and destroyed our riflemen! I order the purchase of a SAM battery to protect us from future bombardment.
1905AD - The SAM battery is set up and the troops are trained to use it. I command the construction of some Mechanical Infantry to protect against further Spanish, or indeed Indian, incursions. Since it is now impossible for any of the other civs to build a spacecraft and beat us to Alpha Centauri, no matter how quickly it travels, I decide to mock them. With the Great Tech Giveaway!!!! Come one, come all and benefit from the Duke's munificence. Photocopy the contents of his bookshelves! I make peace with the whole world, but can only get a cease-fire from Spain. Hmmm..... I only hope that no-one can build the Manhattan Project quick enough.... I can always buy an SDI shield though. I swap maps with the Vikings and Romans, if only because I know they're at war and want to see some of the action! There's a huge scrap going on, and the Romans have something like 25 submarines almost covering an entire sea! Cool.
1907AD - The Greeks drop by, and ask me if I'm interested in allying against the Romans. I decide otherwise - don't want to risk things now.
1909AD - The Indians finally get around to building some SS modules. Bit late though..... :nya2:
1911AD - The Indian spaceship looks like this: 23 - 6 - 6 - 1 - 1 - 0.
But it doesn't matter any more! We reach AC! [dance]

Score: 324
Rating: 25%
Duke of York the Glutton!!!!! Never seen this one before.

 

[duke o' york]

Yes folks, it's the post mortem as I disinter the corpse of my first OCC win and poke it with sticks to see if it does anything. To respond to the points made by Kev and Tim first, I did not use WLT days to boost population and I can't explain why. I do in my standard games but didn't bother here so there's an area I could definitely improve on. And if it saves having to build a Granary then so much the better! I was just playing without any advice so that is probably why the mistakes examined here occured. The major point though, is that I cannot count on being able to exploit the alliances of 2 different civs in future OCC games and so although this made the game much easier for me, I will need to assume that it will not happen again when preparing for another game. I can't take the bucketloads of free cash for granted and will have to be better tactically aware for next time. The Indians had quite a large SS at the end, but this was 15 turns after I'd launched mine, AND I gave them Superconductor as they were nowhere near researching it.
The most important point I should take from this game is that I didn't once incrementally rush-build a caravan when I should have done. I thought that KRC would be beneficial as I could improve speed of caravan production through the otherwise unimportant years between Shakespeare and superhighways. Normally this would be a very important time, as I try to get Mike's Chapel and Leo's and in fact, all the wonders, but ignoring them I churned out loads of caravans. I did virtually buy KRC, but the money would probably have been better spent on even more caravans.
The cash I kept getting was the main reason that I got walls and barracks as both civs were at war with the Romans (as was I), and at a couple of points, with each other so I didn't want to fall foul of one of them asking me to declare war on the other. I managed to give them tech when this happened and it all went swimmingly. If I play another OCC soon then I will definitely choose the white civs as you are then setting yourself up as your own key civ and the advances will come quicker. It is frustrating not to be able to get less than 3 turns per advance, even with 100% science.
As far as the research issue is concerned, I didn't really have a lot of choice about recycling etc. I don't really understand the optimum times for getting the choice of all the possible techs to research so just tried to do it as quickly as possible. You can see the groans and faces I put when it wouldn't give me the tech I wanted, but I was not prepared to faff around with other techs when offered Flight. I knew the loss of the Colossus would be costly, but it was the only tech that was in my plan so I had to take it. I still ended up getting Amphibious Warfare later on though. I wanted to research Explosives and get engineers before superhighways, but it just didn't pan out that way. Ideally, I'd have done as you suggested.
I didn't bribe any units I'm afraid, and I'm not sure if the PS lets you bribe boats - I've just never tried it, but this would be a useful way to make more contact with other civs faster. I should have built a library earlier, yes, but I wanted to get the Colossus underway straight off and I had already built the Granary by the time that ceremonial burial was complete. Memo to self: don't start with a placeholder for a library unless you'll be getting Writing soon! I did build a research lab eventually, but if it had been a little earlier then maybe I could have sped the later research along more.
All in all, I'm happy with the way things went but have learned a lot to implement in my next game, which will be on Emperor as I am getting better at that now. I hope that this inspires others to make their own OCC records - I remember seeing one of Kev's but looked through the other pages on this forum and couldn't find it . But here's to more Civ 2 adventures!