G-Major 33

[WastinTime]

Wow, it seems like you are talking about a completely different game than I have with my vanilla version. Will it even be possible to compete in this without the expansions giving "sushi", "cereals" and "Corp Executives"?

Vanilla has no chance to compete. It's not just the corporations, but also BTS scores will be double or more for the same finish date/population, tech, etc.

We just recently had a Chieftain/score gauntlet on standard size :600K +
Huge could beat that if someone has the patience/computer power.

 

[Denniz]

I just spent about 6-7 hours playing it again only to get a lower score (96K). This time I went for suschi and everything. Don't you hate it when you can't beat your first attempt.

 

[Andrei_V]

I tried Rainforest as Mehmed, and initially it seemed to be fine, but as I approached 1600AD with less than 100 cities and a score about 90K, even though Cereal was adding about 30 food to my cities, I got a bad feeling. By 1700AD I had about 150 cities, over 2 billion pop, and a score less than 200K and going down. So, I abandoned this one. I guess I'll try sushi on Big and Small next time.

 

[The Simple Mind]

It's been ages since I tried chieftain and it was good fun. I don't normally play huge but it was good to try the infinite city sprawl idea that I've read about on the forums. Unfortunately, I don't have BtS so my Warlords score was about 65k.

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

I tried Rainforest as Mehmed, and initially it seemed to be fine, but as I approached 1600AD with less than 100 cities and a score about 90K, even though Cereal was adding about 30 food to my cities, I got a bad feeling. By 1700AD I had about 150 cities, over 2 billion pop, and a score less than 200K and going down. So, I abandoned this one. I guess I'll try sushi on Big and Small next time.

This is the same experience I had: Playing rainforest takes ages to cut down all the jungles! It is nearly impossible with normal speed to cut jungles, build workers, settlers and executives to get a nice score. I stopped my try on rainforest. Currently I am trying Big&Small with Charlemagne, but again with only 5 parallel executives it takes forever to spread it to all those tiny islands. I think I will try another Terra but with Charlemagne then because the "Rathaus" is really a nice boost to cut down the maintenance; found a city, spread Sushi, build Rathaus one turn, rush-buy it and your new city gives gold from turn 2 after being found.

 

[Andrei_V]

I guess with Big And Small a change of tactics is needed.

1. Play on big landmass with tiny islands, high sea level.
2. Expand over the main landmass first, build enough Settlers, Galleons, and Workboats, but don't settle on islands just yet.
3. After the main continent is almost settled (enough AIs are killed with Cuirassiers and Cavs), and Sushi is spread to most of the cities, dump all that army of Settlers on islands, and deploy Workboats as well, but don't build the nets.
4. Spread Sushi to island cities, followed by Mining Inc, using airlifting.
5. Build all those fish nets at once.
6. Sit back and wait until the score stops growing.

This way you can cut down maintenance during the spreading phase, and even make a profit from Headquarters.

 

[killercane]

This is the same experience I had: Playing rainforest takes ages to cut down all the jungles! It is nearly impossible with normal speed to cut jungles, build workers, settlers and executives to get a nice score. I stopped my try on rainforest. Currently I am trying Big&Small with Charlemagne, but again with only 5 parallel executives it takes forever to spread it to all those tiny islands. I think I will try another Terra but with Charlemagne then because the "Rathaus" is really a nice boost to cut down the maintenance; found a city, spread Sushi, build Rathaus one turn, rush-buy it and your new city gives gold from turn 2 after being found.

Well I have 320 workers in my marathon speed game, and its turn 530 and I still dont have all the jungle mowed (but Im almost there). A couple of cities can reach size 60+ if enough future techs can be researched in time (~T600).

Rainforest is still neato however. Its easier to point and click a bunch of workers than have to transport them around to tiny islands for a small score boost from irrigation that annoys you not to have, at least IMO. Overall its just personal preference however, cities will still be at 40+ fpt.

I cant remember if I posted this in that point scoring thread in Strategy and Tips, but the city icon is your friend. You can sort by food and find all those cities that the AI assigned specialists inexplicably to, you can sort by happiness and health, and finally you can sort by build and whip granaries and courts at appropriate times without having to go to each city individually. Its a big help for those who dont know about it.

 

[Harbourboy]

What actual victory type are you guys using? Domination takes FOREVER.

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

What actual victory type are you guys using? Domination takes FOREVER.

that's right - but as long as the score grows and you can build more cities you are on the right way. As faster as you can settle to reach nearly the domination limit and as more cities you can place with your last turn (and build HG off course) the higher you get your score.

 

[Harbourboy]

I am halfway to domination but my final score is still projected to be less than 10,000. the 100k plus scores that you guys are talking about sound ridiculous.

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

I am halfway to domination but my final score is still projected to be less than 10,000. the 100k plus scores that you guys are talking about sound ridiculous.

What are your settings? And with whom are you playing?

 

[Rain]

Had a real nice game going 140+ in well before 1000 AD and darn Fay crashed me out a second time Dratted hurricanes ... sigh. Still time for more another shot at least...

 

[Harbourboy]

I'm on Rainforest as Gandhi against Elizabeth, Charlemagne, Hannibal, the Khmer guy, Justinian, Pericles, Gilgamesh and Julius

 

[Rain]

This stategy won't launch you into truly rarefied air of several hundred k but it should get you over 100 and at least let you see the issues that you face in getting a super high mark.

If you are trying for your first high score game. I don't think rainforest is a good choice. I'd suggest a more normalized map like a pangaea or a big and small with a massive continent. Turn off Barbarians in the options. Set cities to no razing. Pick a creative civ like catherine or zara or the khmer guy suvaranyan. Regen your map til you pop a settler on turn 1. Plop down two cities close together. Build a worker warrior settler granary ( and courthouse once you get Code of Laws) and keep doing that in each new city you lay down and cottage them up. After you have about 5 - 10 cities stop building cottages and starting building farms in the new cities.

In your core you want to build libs and markets and a small army of 6 -12 of your preferred units of destruction. Horse archers or swords or whatever you like to war with. Use the little army to knock off the ai's at a leisurely pace with the emphasis on not losing many units.

Research to get the Code of laws Oracle Civil service leap and after that you should track your research to Biology. You don't even need a corporation setup to crack 100 or 150. If you feel like being more aggressive use 17 civs and start killing off the ai's a bit sooner.

This is very basic plan but if you are having issues getting off the ground maybe it will be of use. There are lots of good articles in the war academy on the refinements and more esoteric approaches.

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

I'm on Rainforest as Gandhi against Elizabeth, Charlemagne, Hannibal, the Khmer guy, Justinian, Pericles, Gilgamesh and Julius

Rainforest is hard. You need hundreds of workers to clean the jungle! I aborted my try with rainforest. The easiest map I had was Terra. With a big oversea landmass you can start to conquer the "old world" without fearing to reach the domination limit. Additionally you can send some scouts over to pop a lot of late game huts (especially for Astronomy).

As opponents I won't choose protective ones (like Charlemagne), nor the backstabbers (like Suryavaraman). If you want the huts for yourself you shouldn't choose the "hunting" civs, so no Pericles.

So my favorites for opponents are Augustus, Julius, if you are fast in conquering before they have praets, but even then you can beat them easily with cuirassiers/cavalery. De Gaulle, Elizabeth, Joao II and Victoria. All of them are non-aggressive, non-protective, no hunting, non-spirit and non-creative. From the point of an attacker, really nice attributes.

Your civ should have a trait or a UB which helps reducing the maintenance cost, so each civ with organized is ok or charlemagne (Rathaus).

 

[killercane]

Rainforest is hard. You need hundreds of workers to clean the jungle! I aborted my try with rainforest. The easiest map I had was Terra. With a big oversea landmass you can start to conquer the "old world" without fearing to reach the domination limit. Additionally you can send some scouts over to pop a lot of late game huts (especially for Astronomy).

As opponents I won't choose protective ones (like Charlemagne), nor the backstabbers (like Suryavaraman). If you want the huts for yourself you shouldn't choose the "hunting" civs, so no Pericles.

So my favorites for opponents are Augustus, Julius, if you are fast in conquering before they have praets, but even then you can beat them easily with cuirassiers/cavalery. De Gaulle, Elizabeth, Joao II and Victoria. All of them are non-aggressive, non-protective, no hunting, non-spirit and non-creative. From the point of an attacker, really nice attributes.

Your civ should have a trait or a UB which helps reducing the maintenance cost, so each civ with organized is ok or charlemagne (Rathaus).

I dont think you can get a good score with Rainforest/Normal as it is indeed, difficult in a couple of different ways. Heck, take marathon benchmarks and divide by 3; if the result is not feasible on normal speed, its probably not going to work very well. Example is 300 workers by Turn 450 on marathon is turn 150 on normal, and I think that is the number you really need to get the job done. They were still doing work up to the end so even more would have been beneficial (though I got tired when repositioning cities and just automated them and turned on "Dont disrupt old improvements" in the Options. It is pretty hard to get that amount of workers at T150 on normal.

I agree in order of (Score Potential/Ease of Play) Terra is the best, followed by Big and Small. So I would try those if the goal is a couple hundred thousand points.

Rathaus leader has some lousy traits, cant say I like him as well. Zulu is better IMO as you get an additional maintenance saver (that can double as a happiness building w/ Nationhood), and you get at least one good trait in expansive. Other civs are better than that even, but only in my opinion. Here in the Rainforest context I chose Peter for Research Labs and the 2 traits, with the idea being build a bunch of labs early and enjoy many future techs. Really it is difficult to rush all those labs though while trying to build workers at the same time.

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

Rathaus leader has some lousy traits, cant say I like him as well. Zulu is better IMO as you get an additional maintenance saver (that can double as a happiness building w/ Nationhood), and you get at least one good trait in expansive. Other civs are better than that even, but only in my opinion. Here in the Rainforest context I chose Peter for Research Labs and the 2 traits, with the idea being build a bunch of labs early and enjoy many future techs. Really it is difficult to rush all those labs though while trying to build workers at the same time.

To reduce maintenance and save building costs you always have to build Courthouses in each city. Using Zulu you have to build 2 buildings for nearly the same effect (70% reduction) compared to Charlemagne with onyl 1 building (75%). So on lower levels where the unique unit don't count you have a really fast end-game with Charlemagne. Buying barracks and courthouses in all new cities (~150) you really need a lot of money

 

[killercane]

To reduce maintenance and save building costs you always have to build Courthouses in each city. Using Zulu you have to build 2 buildings for nearly the same effect (70% reduction) compared to Charlemagne with onyl 1 building (75%). So on lower levels where the unique unit don't count you have a really fast end-game with Charlemagne. Buying barracks and courthouses in all new cities (~150) you really need a lot of money

True enough but you dont need courts in every city, just enough to count. You can even get away with no courthouses and go on strike and its effect is actually not that bad (but it limits your options in that you cant use caste system). Its a good building but it doesnt make up for essentially no traits on the leader. Traits>any building.

In my mind, and I know WT disagrees, happiness above 20 tiles is important, and the nationhood barracks thing is a cost beneficial way to achieve happiness. The reason I hate having unhappies is that even with Emphasize food and switch off automated assignment of tiles(or whatever the small box is below rush buy in the city screen), when you get to the happiness limit your darn city wants to put everything to specialists. If you keep them happy, all you have to do is sort by your food icon in the All Cities Screen every few turns.

 

[Rain]

Is there any difference in the rathaus at 75% and a reg leader with org + courthouse? Seems to me the org leader is at an advantage since you dont have to build anything for the basic boost. Charlemagne's protective trait is generally of no benefit at all. Once you reach a certain point even the maintenance is not really a limiting factor, at least in my limited experience.

 

[killercane]

In addition to organized leaders, there are only a couple that pop up as useful in the milk situation. This changes with difficulty level, but really you never want creative. For below monarch if I had to choose in terms of ease of use, Asoka would be right up there for a Terra or Big and Small.

So I would suggest Asoka and Terra if you wanted to get a pretty good score here when you havent milked so much before. You can just buy cities later, the #1 objective is to get to Sushi fast, and then whip/buy settlers and workers and the workboats. Do all this in the quickest time while keeping under the domination limit and watch that score grow!