With a nice tech lead after the the Biology slingshot, winning seemed only a matter of time. But a world war was raging, and I knew I'd get pulled in soon enough. After finishing the National Park in 720, I revolt to Theocracy and build a nascent military, including 3 ballistas, just to have some use of the UU. Meanwhile, I get 13 forest preserves done by 920, then add one on the elephants in 980 (it is only a loss of 1 happy and 1 hammer, for a gain of 1 specialist). This gives a huge boost to my research and GPPs (16 specialists), and by working the riverside preserves and biology-boosted farms, my population soars.
War comes quickly. Izzy wants help:
She and Ramesses have the votes to get this. But nothing happens. No announcement of the results next turn. Meanwhile, in an effort to salvage my relationship with Washington, I agree to the following in 760:
I return to Judaism 5 turns later. Suddenly, 4 turns after the AP vote, in 780, the AP finally announces the result with both Washington and me drawn into the conflict. Why did it take 4 turns? Is this some kind of weird bug? In any event, the whole world is fighting now:
I finish Steel in 800 and build a couple of cannons. Then, my little army marches on Yakutsk, on my border. After stripping the defenses, I'm ready to drop the hammer. This is every soldier I have:
All my troops survive, then Ramesses takes the city. With no enemy cities on my border, I send the boys home to heal up. Lizzy breaks free from Hatty in 940 and later vassalizes to George. Hatty and Stalin vassalize to Ramesses in 1100, ending the conflict.
Meanwhile, I get Great Scientists in 720, 940, and 1050. Once my cannons are done in 840, I revolt to Organized Religion and Caste and start the Ironworks. Next turn, I make the following deal:
Two turns later,
Replaceable Parts comes in 880, followed by Steam Power in 1000. At the same time, the IW finishes and I queue up a levee. Around this time, everyone starts adopting Mercantilism so I trade away Economics to everybody super cheap, but to no avail. Soon everyone is Mercantilist, so I revolt to Mercantilism and Theocracy in 1050, once the levee and observatory are done. I build some more cannons.
Planning for Physics and the Scientist, I research Astronomy in 1040. Then, I notice Ramesses has SM but not Astro, so Physics is safe, but Communism is not. I switch tactics and go for the Spy. I get him in 1090. Meanwhile, in 1080,
In 1100,
This is a hedge, in case I need to build grenadiers for a sudden war. I won't need to get Rifling for a while.
I revolt to Pacifism and build espionage structures. Next turn, since peace has broken out, I initiate defensive pacts with both Ramesses and Izzy, paving the way for a PA with one of them, preferably Ramesses. In 1140,
I start Wall Street for my 5th and final national wonder. It's done in 1180. If I generate more money than I need, I can give it to my future ally for cheap mass upgrades, and this allows me to run merchants efficiently to get some GMs to boost my food output.
I get a Great Scientist in 1130 then another one in 1150 when Physics is complete, and then another one in 1200. In 1220, Assembly Line is finished, I revolt to OR and queue up a factory followed by the Pentagon. In 1250, Fascism gives me my first Great General (settled), and the following long-awaited opportunity arrives:
Accepting gives me Medicine and 2 vassals (Stalin and Hatty). I give Ramesses a pile of cash to upgrade his troops to infantry once Rifling is done. Ramesses receives a large chuck of my territory to fill up his BFCs for several border cities. A good deal for both of us. The diplomatic situation at the time:
We get Railroads in 1260, Combustion in 1270, and Rifling in 1290, just as the Pentagon is done. I revolt to Theocracy and churn out infantry. I also get yet another Great Scientist.
This seems a good time to push for domination, so I DOW Washington and let Ramesses invade the weaker civ. Izzy worries about us and uses the AP to "protect" us from Washington. The war is over after just 2 turns:
Why did Ramesses vote yes? This is just stupid AI. I have to wait 10 turns to restart the war. Meanwhile, I get Electricity in 1340. I suddenly realize that I can revolt to Environmentalism since I inherited Medicine from Ramesses, so I do. The commerce bonus for forest preserves is much more valuable than a single specialist.
In 1400, I get a Great Merchant and restart the war. I promptly hit Maastricht with the following stack:
I leave a single wounded unit for Ramesses to finish off. I proceed across the Dutch landscape repeating the same trick: strip the defenses, kill all but one unit, and tell Ramesses to clean it up. I raze one city, but otherwise let Ramesses capture them. War proceeds quickly, as 8 cities fall. Then, in 1580,
I decide to raze it and end the war. I had adopted Emancipation already to deal with rising war anger. I wanted it done ASAP. So long, George. Lizzy broke free in 1545, and silly me, I gave her a peace treaty.
In the meantime, I get a Great General from the assault on Maastricht. I use him on an explorer to make a Medic warlord. In 1420, I get Industrialization. I build an industrial park and start spamming tanks. In 1500, Plastics is done, so I build the Three Gorges Dam (note that this is good for both me and Ramesses, since PAs share effects of world wonders), finished in 1540. In 1515, I get my 3rd Great Merchant. In 1525, Radio. In 1545, Refrigeration (build supermarket). In 1555, I replace Izzy as pope so no more annoying AP votes. In 1575, Superconductors is done so I build a lab.
In 1585, with war weariness gone, I revolt back to Caste and return to mass scientists. Next turn, I get a Great Prophet, thanks to my brief period of Emancipation leading me to run priests. I've now settled every variety of Great Person. I also get Flight and queue up a bunch of bombers. I DOW Lizzy and take her out by 1625. The brief war earns me another General (settled).
Computers are done in 1615; Robotics in 1640; Artillery in 1650. I do upgrades to my cannons and 17exp infantries. At the same time, Hatty builds the UN. Naturally, I get the Sec Gen job.
In 1655, I DOW my last target. I feel bad about backstabbing my long-time friend Izzy (well, not really). In one turn, I raze three cities and leave one other with just a single troop to get my last infantry to 17exp next turn (it had been at 15 when the war started) so I could upgrade it to a mech with 4 stars.
I get Rocketry in 1660 and Satellites in 1680. Finally, as a result of Izzy's collapse flipping tiles to Ramesses, the following occurs in 1685:
I win the game in the 17th century for a score of 44,873. Not a bad score for OCC. But, was the last war necessary? I went back to the 1650 save and maintained peace with Izzy. Because Hatty built the UN, she was my opponent for the UN vote, so Izzy voted for me, with the following result:
Same year either way. For some reason, this victory was good for a slightly higher score of 45,357.
My city was a research and production powerhouse:
I'm fairly certain that is a personal record for beakers in one city (1459).
The GNP graph:
I had the lead for a long time, but Ramesses eventually passed me. Even so, he was only generating about the same amount of research I was at the end. I think I would have easily beat him to the spaceship if I hadn't done the PA, given the tech lead I had built.
Power:
Nothing for a long time, but it came up when it mattered.
The world's top cities:
Between us, our alliance built nearly every wonder and had all the best cities. If I had been patient, a cultural victory would have been inevitable (I was 18 turns from legendary). The frustrating thing is that I couldn't induce Ramesses to use the culture slider. He seems to be programmed to not do it, despite being in great position for culture victory. Even so, at the end, we were just 75 turns from cultural.
I think this game shows that a single minded focus on constantly boosting research, both short-run and long-run, is the way to go in Deity OCC. My only early wonders were the Mids and GL. Every beeline was for a research boost, including Civil Service, Education, and Biology. And of course, not chopping the forests, despite limiting my pop to 11 for so long, was ultimately invaluable.
to every specialist or something like that? With that your border will be secured.
