G-III Tau
- Thread starter Tone
- Start date
Thanks for all the praise guys. 
Elear, I don't know how to beat that date either. But don't let that stop you, there are more medals to fight for than first. And it shouldn't be impossible to beat my date either, as DaveMcW's incredible Emperor game shows.
Elear, I don't know how to beat that date either. But don't let that stop you, there are more medals to fight for than first. And it shouldn't be impossible to beat my date either, as DaveMcW's incredible Emperor game shows.
AutomatedTeller
Frequent poster
then use the 10 shield jags
It might be easy to get a date like that on emperor, as the AI expands even faster.
Of course, in conquests, you have the ToA and SGL's, plus agricultural.
It might be easy to get a date like that on emperor, as the AI expands even faster.
Of course, in conquests, you have the ToA and SGL's, plus agricultural.
Just to test how good this strategy is with the Iroquois I tried a game at Demigod (no way I could beat DaveMcW), same settings with everything. The game played out fairly similar, though I of course needed a lot more MWs for the warfare. I ended up with a 925 BC win (score 18328), lost one turn in the end after some ridiculously bad combat luck. Still, a very good date. More people should try out this strategy, I'm sure it can be optimized even more than what I've done.
The more starts I play, the more phenomenal Niklas' game becomes. I just played a start where I got 2 SGLs - a very early one for the Pyramids and a later one that I saved for the Temple of Artemis. I was still 66 tiles from domination at 1425 BC - I won it in 1250 BC (1 tile short in 1275 
).
I was playing with the Aztecs and stayed in despotism the whole time although I did get the Republic slingshot to give Republic to my rivals since I had nothing else to do with my cash. I guess I'll have to give the Iroquois a shot and see what happens.
).I was playing with the Aztecs and stayed in despotism the whole time although I did get the Republic slingshot to give Republic to my rivals since I had nothing else to do with my cash. I guess I'll have to give the Iroquois a shot and see what happens.
I've never been much of a warmonger, I usually suffer from war weariness long before my citizens do so this has been a nice learning curve for me and I have to say its been a lot of fun!
I'm shamelessly copying Niklas' stategy but have not yet had a free settler and only in the latest game an SGL with which to build TOA. I have played 4 games through to the end and my dates have been steadily improving from 575bc on the first attempt to 1050bc on the latest.
I have attached the animated minimap from the 1050bc game, I think with a nicer shaped continent and more central start location I could have finished a few turns earlier.
I am going to keep plugging away but as Chamnix says, the more I play the more incredible Niklas' date seems!
I'm shamelessly copying Niklas' stategy but have not yet had a free settler and only in the latest game an SGL with which to build TOA. I have played 4 games through to the end and my dates have been steadily improving from 575bc on the first attempt to 1050bc on the latest.
I have attached the animated minimap from the 1050bc game, I think with a nicer shaped continent and more central start location I could have finished a few turns earlier.
I am going to keep plugging away but as Chamnix says, the more I play the more incredible Niklas' date seems!
I think a lot of things came together perfectly in that game. I don't think I could repeat it so I haven't even tried.@Aigburth, that's definitely a very good game. If I may give some constructive criticism though:
First of all, you're absolutely right that the shape of that continent is far from perfect. It's pretty far from your core to the farthest AI (Aztecs? I guess they're a nice replacement for Inca I use), and that certainly cost you some time, not to say a lot.
But also, something I learnt from Drazek way back, "it's the last city that counts". In this case, you don't stand to gain very much in attacking the Maya, their core won't be productive more than a settler or three until the end. So the constraint you have to work with is, how fast can you conquer the Aztecs (and fill in the gaps of course)? Sending your army to attack the Celts first and then the Aztecs, and use the troops built last to attack the Maya, could likely have saved you a few turns.
All in all, it's the military prowess where you fall behind. In my 1425 BC game, it took me <10 turns from starting my GA to having taken out the AI to the point of crippling them (though they were closer at hand which made it a lot easier). In the 1275 BC game it took ~15. I never saw the end of my GA.
Find a better map, with you in or near the center, and I'm sure you can improve that date.
Gee, now I feel like playing again, even if I don't think I'll beat that date in a million years. But I'll try to beat the 1275 BC date again.
Thats some good advice Niklas, thanks! Funnily eneogh I had begun to think along those lines on one of the earlier games where I was building more settlers, send the first settlers to the more extreme locations then settle the nearer locations with the later settlers, for some reason I didn't think to also apply this to my military 
killercane
Deity
For a free settler, try moving your worker around for a couple turns to pop the first goody hut. This will improve your chances tremendously; I dont think I have popped a settler on this after building a military unit, only barbs.I've never been much of a warmonger, I usually suffer from war weariness long before my citizens do so this has been a nice learning curve for me and I have to say its been a lot of fun!
I'm shamelessly copying Niklas' stategy but have not yet had a free settler and only in the latest game an SGL with which to build TOA. I have played 4 games through to the end and my dates have been steadily improving from 575bc on the first attempt to 1050bc on the latest.
I have attached the animated minimap from the 1050bc game, I think with a nicer shaped continent and more central start location I could have finished a few turns earlier.
I am going to keep plugging away but as Chamnix says, the more I play the more incredible Niklas' date seems!
AutomatedTeller
Frequent poster
another interesting option would be the iroquois in PTW... where they are expansionist, but still have the amazing MW. You lose the agri trait and the republic slingshot, but are much more likely to pop a hot.
I don't think any conquests expansionist civs have great early UU's - impi's are expensive, chasqui are expensive, 3 man chariots are expensive, carracks, keshiks, cossacks, F-15's and the arabian ones are useless...
I don't think any conquests expansionist civs have great early UU's - impi's are expensive, chasqui are expensive, 3 man chariots are expensive, carracks, keshiks, cossacks, F-15's and the arabian ones are useless...
Well, if you play conquests and manage to pop a city or settler from a hut, you get both the hut treat and the agri bonus. You may need to play a few more games to get there, but... 
Also, there's no ToA, and no SGLs (though an MGL would do just as well in that case).
Also, there's no ToA, and no SGLs (though an MGL would do just as well in that case).
This Gauntlet is now closed.
Congratulations to Niklas for winning the gold and also submitting the #6 fastest domination in the HoF! Chamnix was close behind, with Aigburth taking the bronze. More details in the HoF annex.
Congratulations to Niklas for winning the gold and also submitting the #6 fastest domination in the HoF! Chamnix was close behind, with Aigburth taking the bronze. More details in the HoF annex.
