AutomatedTeller
Frequent poster
Really? Republic allows them to rush culture?
G-III Tau
- Thread starter Tone
- Start date
Hey, that sounds like a really good idea. In my games I've autorazed 3/4 of the AI towns, really frustrating. It's more a matter of clearing out the land so your settlers can reach it. I think I will try a slingshot game too, see how it works out. Thanks for the tip. 
EDIT: AT, Republic makes them unable to poprush spears between the time you declare and the time you strike.
EDIT: AT, Republic makes them unable to poprush spears between the time you declare and the time you strike.
AutomatedTeller
Frequent poster
ah. very smart!!
It sure was - playing Iro is great for this!
My first game: three cows (two grass and one plains) on river. Opponents were Maya, Inca and Celts, all Agri but none starting with Alpha or BW. Dom limit 314.
I easily set up a productive core, made the Republic slingshot, and around the same time switched production to MWs. I overbuilt MWs quite a lot, most of them shortrushed in GA, I think I had about 10 of them at the end that never saw any combat. Taking towns instead of razing them was a pleasant novelty. I filled the blanks with settlers, and got domination in 1025 BC.
My first game: three cows (two grass and one plains) on river. Opponents were Maya, Inca and Celts, all Agri but none starting with Alpha or BW. Dom limit 314.
I easily set up a productive core, made the Republic slingshot, and around the same time switched production to MWs. I overbuilt MWs quite a lot, most of them shortrushed in GA, I think I had about 10 of them at the end that never saw any combat. Taking towns instead of razing them was a pleasant novelty. I filled the blanks with settlers, and got domination in 1025 BC.
Lord Emsworth
Emperor
Wow, good going. Score?
Thanks! Score was 12683.
AutomatedTeller
Frequent poster
And, interestingly, not dependent on ToA!!
Nope, I didn't plan for it either. I'm not sure how much better it could have been with ToA actually. Some towns would certainly have been better off for it, but considering I went from 168 to 325 tiles over the last 5 turns, via conquest and settler fills, it's possible that a ToA would have gained me a turn or two but no more. Really, I think having the Pyramids during the last settler push would have gained me more.
I played another game as the Iro, planned everything for a 1100 BC end date. Everything worked like a charm, only it turns out there was lots and lots of offshore land so what I had on the main continent wouldn't do. Also I didn't know this until very late since I hadn't explored past the Incas enough for CAII to give me anything but an "estimate" on the domination limit. Turns out the dom limit for this particular map was 349. Is there any way to know the dom limit before you start playing? I know MapFinder will tell you if you use that to generate the save, but I don't like that tool so I do it by hand.AutomatedTeller
Frequent poster
no, I don't think there is a way.
Bartleby
Remembers laughter
MapStat tells you the total tiles in 4000 BC:
Thanks Bartleby, that's a good trick, just what I was looking for.
Oh boy oh boy do I love the Iroquois. I played another game through, more careful and deliberate this time.
Start: 2 grassland cows on river, second town had 2 plains wheats on river.
Opponents: Maya, Inca, Celts as before.
Dom limit: 303
Result: Domination win in 1275 BC, score 13567
This game was better than my previous game on all accounts, but still not perfect. I had to settle-steal horses from the Mayan capitol, and road over mountains to get there. Research was a bit slower than optimal to Republic, since I worked a number of non-river tiles for better production. I got 5 turns of anarchy, compared to 3 in the last game. But the map was a lot better, and I planned a lot better.
Same strategy as before. Find and hook up horses asap, build a few core productive towns, start building Chariots. Research to Republic, revolt, trade for HBR, upgrade the chariots to MWs and start the GA asap. At this point you should be <20 turns from victory. Build MWs for ~8-12 turns, the less the better, if you can handle the war (shouldn't be a problem). Switch to settler production and fill in the blanks. In this game I built one (1!) temple, the rest was settler fills.
Oh boy oh boy do I love the Iroquois. I played another game through, more careful and deliberate this time.
Start: 2 grassland cows on river, second town had 2 plains wheats on river.
Opponents: Maya, Inca, Celts as before.
Dom limit: 303
Result: Domination win in 1275 BC, score 13567
This game was better than my previous game on all accounts, but still not perfect. I had to settle-steal horses from the Mayan capitol, and road over mountains to get there. Research was a bit slower than optimal to Republic, since I worked a number of non-river tiles for better production. I got 5 turns of anarchy, compared to 3 in the last game. But the map was a lot better, and I planned a lot better.
Same strategy as before. Find and hook up horses asap, build a few core productive towns, start building Chariots. Research to Republic, revolt, trade for HBR, upgrade the chariots to MWs and start the GA asap. At this point you should be <20 turns from victory. Build MWs for ~8-12 turns, the less the better, if you can handle the war (shouldn't be a problem). Switch to settler production and fill in the blanks. In this game I built one (1!) temple, the rest was settler fills.
Thanks!
Yes to both, though I'm beginning to question the benefit of the granary. I think I would have skipped the granary if I could have hooked up horses earlier, so I could build chariots while growing. For this last game the capitol built one settler before the granary, then three after granary but before the switch to military production, and only two of those towns were really ever useful (one at RCP3 to build MWs, one to steal the horses from Maya).
However, you will want your capitol at 15 or even 20 spt during your GA, and the granary could help you grow fast to a size where that is doable. So it's not obvious which is best.
I had barracks in my top two towns. At least one is a must, to upgrade the chariots. But my capitol was doing 20 spt for an MW per turn (possibly disband a warrior, shortrush to 10), and my second was at 15 spt for an MW every two turns, and getting them as veterans was probably better for the war effort.
EDIT: Here's an animated minimap, showing clearly the settler effort over the last few turns:
Yes to both, though I'm beginning to question the benefit of the granary. I think I would have skipped the granary if I could have hooked up horses earlier, so I could build chariots while growing. For this last game the capitol built one settler before the granary, then three after granary but before the switch to military production, and only two of those towns were really ever useful (one at RCP3 to build MWs, one to steal the horses from Maya).
However, you will want your capitol at 15 or even 20 spt during your GA, and the granary could help you grow fast to a size where that is doable. So it's not obvious which is best.
I had barracks in my top two towns. At least one is a must, to upgrade the chariots. But my capitol was doing 20 spt for an MW per turn (possibly disband a warrior, shortrush to 10), and my second was at 15 spt for an MW every two turns, and getting them as veterans was probably better for the war effort.
EDIT: Here's an animated minimap, showing clearly the settler effort over the last few turns:
Spoiler :
AutomatedTeller
Frequent poster
how do you make those animated minimaps?
That's another wonder of CAII! You must have archived the game using CAII, but I know you do. Start CAII, press the Archive button and open the archive for the game in question (the whole archive, not just a particular save in it). Go to the World Map tab, right-click the minimap and choose Export Multiple Minimaps.
Continuing my obsession with doing a perfect game, I guess having a bit of luck was inevitable. I'm almost sorry it turned out so good, since this game will be hard to beat without luck. I prefer skill to win the day, but oh well. 
Start: One grassland cow on river.
Opponents: Maya, Celts, Inca as before.
Dom limit: 293
First I lucked out getting a settler from a hut early on. Next I lucked out because the town that resulted from the settler had horses within its borders, meaning I had access to horses really early (thus no granary in capitol). I actually built too many chariots and ended up disbanding two regulars to keep unit maintenance down, so I could get money to upgrade the rest. And the big lucky moment was of course the SGL I got from Philosophy. And I followed that up with an only marginally less lucky 2 turns of anarchy via big picture.
On the downside, the AIs were rather crappy in this game, so I had to research both HBR and later Polytheism on my own. They managed to found the towns I needed though. I also had some bad luck taking the last Maya town on the turn I built ToA, three MWs lost to a single spear (two retreated). But I followed that up with getting a MGL killing him two turns later, so I could rush the FP and catch up with all the other towns in culture. I still didn't manage to win by 1450 BC when the borders expanded, but a few more settlers and another captured town won me the day on the turn after.
Result: Domination win in 1425 BC Score was 14189.
Start: One grassland cow on river.
Opponents: Maya, Celts, Inca as before.
Dom limit: 293
First I lucked out getting a settler from a hut early on. Next I lucked out because the town that resulted from the settler had horses within its borders, meaning I had access to horses really early (thus no granary in capitol). I actually built too many chariots and ended up disbanding two regulars to keep unit maintenance down, so I could get money to upgrade the rest. And the big lucky moment was of course the SGL I got from Philosophy. And I followed that up with an only marginally less lucky 2 turns of anarchy via big picture.
On the downside, the AIs were rather crappy in this game, so I had to research both HBR and later Polytheism on my own. They managed to found the towns I needed though. I also had some bad luck taking the last Maya town on the turn I built ToA, three MWs lost to a single spear (two retreated). But I followed that up with getting a MGL killing him two turns later, so I could rush the FP and catch up with all the other towns in culture. I still didn't manage to win by 1450 BC when the borders expanded, but a few more settlers and another captured town won me the day on the turn after.
Result: Domination win in 1425 BC
Score was 14189.Spoiler animated minimap :
Bartleby
Remembers laughter
Yowzers !
Nice job again Niklas 
!
Luck will always be a big part of the HoF - for a date to stay top in any table, the game will need a good dose of luck, but you also have to have the skill to take full advantage of the luck.
I don't even finish games that I intend for the HoF unless I get a good helping of luck early. For most games, I'll just keep burning through maps until I get something like a popped settler or an SGL in the first 10-20 turns.
!Luck will always be a big part of the HoF - for a date to stay top in any table, the game will need a good dose of luck, but you also have to have the skill to take full advantage of the luck
.I don't even finish games that I intend for the HoF unless I get a good helping of luck early. For most games, I'll just keep burning through maps until I get something like a popped settler or an SGL in the first 10-20 turns.
That's a great game! 
I haven't even started yet. I've been looking to finish a game I started a while back but my civIII time has been limited over the past couple of weeks. I will submit a game for this gauntlet, even if it doesn't come within 1000 years of this date!
I haven't even started yet. I've been looking to finish a game I started a while back but my civIII time has been limited over the past couple of weeks. I will submit a game for this gauntlet, even if it doesn't come within 1000 years of this date!
