[BTS] G-Major 152 - Prince, Hammurabi, Conquest - deadline 24th May 2017

[Noble Zarkon]

While the general Hall of Fame is an ongoing competition, we like to run time-definite competitions between updates that we call Gauntlets. Standard Hall of Fame rules (*) still apply, but any games meeting the settings will be counted towards the Gauntlet.

Settings:

Settings:

• Victory Condition: Conquest (though all victory conditions must be enabled)
• Difficulty: Prince
• Starting Era: Ancient
• Map Size: Tiny
• Speed: Normal
• Map Type: Pangaea
• Civ: Babylon (Hammurabi)
• Opponents: Must include Germany (Frederick), India (Gandhi)
• Version: 3.19.003 or 3.19.004b
• Date: 25th April to 24th May 2017

Must not play as Inca.
The earliest finish date wins, with score as a tiebreaker.

This game should be easy to win but can you beat the current record of t29 set way back in 2008 by @Hindi?

 

[lymond]

lol...it will be very interesting to see what dates we get here

this game will be very much about the starting roll..and I don't mean lots of wet corn or shinies' (actually on second thought it may not matter at all other than analyzing one's general position on the map)

edit:

Beat it by one turn. There's basically one tactic I see to this game, although obviously some luck is involved - not just with rng - but location.

I had one game that I almost finished on t19 (actually that would be t20), but had back luck on last warrior, who did have 85% odds to win. So I could see someone achieving t18 to 19 with best of luck...anything better would be amazing.

(game time averages about 8 minutes)

 

[Noble Zarkon]

Nice, another Inca record bites the dust

The short games have been the most popular around here lately so we'll see who else has a go.

 

[Pangaea]

Not sure how an 8 minute game makes it a Major, but... Great win though

The games are actually wrongly labelled in the HoF page. The series was up to 150, and then suddenly jumped to 251 and now 252.

Moderator Action: The numbering has been corrected --NobleZarkon

 

[Noble Zarkon]

Not sure how an 8 minute game makes it a Major, but... Great win though

I was thinking the effort would be in multiple attempts, trying to pop a warrior from a hut, having both your opponents close etc etc.

The games are actually wrongly labelled in the HoF page. The series was up to 150, and then suddenly jumped to 251 and now 252.

Thanks for pointing that out - will need to speak to Denniz, might be a nightmare to sort out!!

 

[Noble Zarkon]

Staff laying down the challenge as Ozbenno overtakes Lymond

 

[lymond]

Oooh now, we will just see about that!

 

[Ozbenno]

Got it down to 3040BC, which I think is 4 turns quicker than lymond. Sure it won't last long.

Luck, of course, is the major factor in this. I won the last battle with both opponents with my last unit at about 60%, which was lucky. Both weren't too far, which was lucky. Gandhi (with his religion founding capital) was closer (so I could get there before the culture went to 40%), which was lucky.

 

[Termitnik]

Hi everyone. I decided to remember old good times and participate. Since only 2 extra wars is required for victory, one need to plant only near first victim's cap. So key to success is lucky victims placement + lucky initial wandering. And some combat luck of course
Also initial warrior on t5 still has 20+% to seize flatland city. In this case amazing finish about t14-t15 is possible, but this is a crazy luck as for me and i haven't tried to attack with single warrior.
My best is t18 to t19.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

My best shot for this game was when I had two Warriors each for each AI's capital on T16, 3360 BC. Gandhi's capital fell, but Frederick managed to stay alive.

After about my 45th attempt, I did manage to land a similar situation, with two AI capitals ready to be attacked on T17 with 2 Warriors each. This time, I had 2 turns to spend at Frederick while the 2 Warriors at Gandhi got into striking position, so I used those extra turns to get my second Warrior past a River to avoid the penalty of attacking across of a River--there was a risk that Frederick would complete a second Warrior in that time, but that possibility didn't occur. This time, both capitals fell for a T18 Conquest Victory.

The funniest attempt was when I arrived at Gandhi's capital by being "prepared" with 2 Warriors, only to find that he'd stuffed 4 Warriors inside of his capital!

Spoiler :

EDIT: See this message below for my write-up.

 

[Ozbenno]

The funniest attempt was when I arrived at Gandhi's capital by being "prepared" with 2 Warriors, only to find that he'd stuffed 4 Warriors inside of his capital!

He obviously made good use of founding on a plains hill.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

This time, both capitals fell for a T18 Conquest Victory.

Awesome result.

 

[MeowZeDung]

Well, I knew I wouldn't be too competitive and I see I was right! T44 on my third attempt. I can get to the first AI around T16-17 like the rest of you, but both? That's either some great luck or some map setting I didn't turn on. High sea levels? World wrap? Anyhow, I think the other mistake I made was actually teching Hunting->Archery to get a couple bowmen for taking the second AIs city. I ended up parking 3 warriors next to the Indian capital and waiting 5 turns for two bowmen to arrive so I could attack the 4 warriors inside. Would have been better to enter Ghandi's lands with 6 warriors instead. Although, after reading this thread I can see my approach was wrong anyhow.

Is there any point to being overly picky about the start's geography? I know we want a good positioning on the map, but I intentionally re-rolled until I got a SiP on a hill with a forested PH in the initial cross. Not sure if it matters.

 

[lymond]

Is there any point to being overly picky about the start's geography? I know we want a good positioning on the map, but I intentionally re-rolled until I got a SiP on a hill with a forested PH in the initial cross. Not sure if it matters.

yeah, resources are obviously irrelevant, but you want to settle on PH or marble or stone. The trick though is to move your settler closer to the AI.

 

[MeowZeDung]

yeah, resources are obviously irrelevant, but you want to settle on PH or marble or stone. The trick though is to move your settler closer to the AI.

How late do you reckon we can get away with settling here? T1? T2-3?

 

[Noble Zarkon]

trying to pop a warrior from a hut

After a lot of fruitless attempts I discovered you can't pop a warrior before t10, oops

That's either some great luck or some map setting I didn't turn on.

Apart from what others have said you played with Barbs on which most HOF games don't have.

The basic strategy is settle on a plains/marble/stone hill, work a multiple hammer tile and pump out 3 warriors to join your initial to make 2 warriors for each AI. You need a lot of patience and a lot of luck!

 

[lymond]

How late do you reckon we can get away with settling here? T1? T2-3?

Depends really, I took several turns to settle in my game. Part of it is scouting out the AI as well while your starting warrior is doing the same. I settled right in their face on a PH. Ofc, the sooner you can do that the better which is part of the luck factor. A lot about this game is luck. Not to much strategy to it.

Another way to look at it I guess, is yeah , your warrior pumping starts a bit later, but you have far less distance for them to move, which can sometimes be quite long. Settler gets two moves, so you are taking advantage of that at the very beginning.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

After-Action Report
Anyone can do it; you just have to keep trying enough times. Here's a picture-based report of my best submission.

Spoiler :

 

[MeowZeDung]

Cool writeup! It's easy to get used to mindless scouting in the early game, so a gauntlet like this goes to show that you can eek out advantages in so many small ways. Thanks for taking the time to go into detail!

 

[elitetroops]

Hmm... I have once managed to take out an undefended AI capital on Prince difficulty on turn 3. If that could be pulled off here, you'd be in quite a good position. But I don't think I'd have the patience to run starts until that is achieved.