G-Major 36

[Denniz]

[img=right]http://www.civfanatics.net/methos/hof/staff/gauntlet.gif[/img]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.

[size=+1](*) Please read the >> HOF rules << BEFORE playing!
[/size]​

Settings:

• Victory Condition: Cultural (though all victory conditions must be enabled)
• Difficulty: Monarch
• Starting Era: Ancient
• Map Size: Large
• Map Type: Pangaea
• Speed: Marathon
• Civ: Any
• Opponents: Must include India, Mongolia, Persia, Aztec (Montezuma), Egypt (Hatshepsut), France (Napoleon), Mali (Mansa Musa), Spain (Isabella)
• Version: 1.74.003, 2.13.003 or 3.17.001
• Date: 25th September to 25th October 2008

Must not play as Inca.

The earliest finish date wins, with score as a tiebreaker.

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

Hmm - 8 opponents. I thought "large" requires at least 8 opponents, so how should I interpret "remaining required civs"?

 

[Ozbenno]

Hmm - 8 opponents. I thought "large" requires at least 8 opponents, so how should I interpret "remaining required civs"?

If you want more than the minimum opponents you can choose who they are, I'm guessing.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Well I need a marathon game since my only other one was with HC (also my only Major). Not sure about large map and cultural though...

Sounds like a job for the Chinese... or maybe Saladin.

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

If you want more than the minimum opponents you can choose who they are, I'm guessing.

Well - but this is nothing special, this is common for all gauntlets

 

[Denniz]

Hmm - 8 opponents. I thought "large" requires at least 8 opponents, so how should I interpret "remaining required civs"?

um, for some reason I was thinking the minimum was 10. Aren't you glad that particular check is automated?

 

[cabert]

um, for some reason I was thinking the minimum was 10. Aren't you glad that particular check is automated?

denniz
Sounds doable.
Not necessarily easy, but still doable.

 

[Salomo]

I've tried this one a bit and compared to the deity gauntlet, this seems pretty fun.

I guess a lot here will depend on the starting to position. If you manage to put your cities in a part of the map seperated from the agressive civs by the peacemongers, a good time should be doable. If you end up stuck in the middle of the world war that will occur, better restart or build lots of troops.

Only annoying thing about it is having to set all the AIs properly when starting. My ideal start was ruined when i discovered i had accidentally added Julius instead of Isabella.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Abandoned first attempt with Qin due to insufficient barb defences. I've got alot to learn about playing marathon I think.

 

[cabert]

Abandoned first attempt with Qin due to insufficient barb defences. I've got alot to learn about playing marathon I think.

what did you need the barbs for in the first place?
I lost my first attempt due to checking agressive AI (well, forgot to uncheck it).
I got declared on by friendly isabella .
It was a dogpile, but still a bit frightening.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I only turn barbs off if the game is beyond my skill level (basically, immortal or deity).

If I ever get a full league of nations I may start competing more in the gauntlet - until then, try out civs I haven't got a HOF win with.

Plus barbs make the game more fun! What can be funnerer than playing for a couple of hours on marathon and then realising the axeman coming for your city isn't going to be stopped by those 2 warriors?

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

I just submitted my 1st finish with "raging barbs". I choose a starting position with Stone and rushed GreatWall. All the AIs seemed to be very busy fighting the barbs (including the ones wandering around my borders) that I got a very good tech lead. I was lucky having Mansa, Darius and Hatse as immediate neighbors, so I could concentrate on keeping Kublai at -4. He was missing Gems and Rice and so I had to be careful to renew the trades every 10 turns. The big wars are far from my borders, only Isabelle showed with two minor stacks, but really no problem for my defenders, especially with the Great Wall bonus.

As already said in previous posts you have to be lucky for a good start position far away from the front lines. And with raging barbs and Great Wall you have time to get a good tech lead for the final culture bombing.

EDIT: This game is accepted now, so I can walk through the log for important events if some1 is interested.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Well raging barbs and the great wall is borderline cheating

The land is sure to fill up pretty quick though so barbs won't be an issue if you can survive the first phase. I also like barbs because you can get a city or two and get some XP for your axes.

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

Well raging barbs and the great wall is borderline cheating

The land is sure to fill up pretty quick though so barbs won't be an issue if you can survive the first phase. I also like barbs because you can get a city or two and get some XP for your axes.

To be more precise. I founded 3 additional major cities (1 culture + 1GP + 1 production) by myself, conquered 2 barb cities and fill some gaps for a total of 9 cities. If I remember correctly I saw several barb cities with civilized names. Especially if you research Bronze fast, Axes and Spear-Barbs start rushing to foreign cities. Additionally I got twice the nice event that an uprising barb-storm appears

 

[ryzax]

To be more precise. I founded 3 additional major cities (1 culture + 1GP + 1 production) by myself, conquered 2 barb cities and fill some gaps for a total of 9 cities. If I remember correctly I saw several barb cities with civilized names. Especially if you research Bronze fast, Axes and Spear-Barbs start rushing to foreign cities. Additionally I got twice the nice event that an uprising barb-storm appears

at what turn did you end? I usually go for domination victory so i don't know if i am doing my game at the right pace for a cultural win...

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

at what turn did you end? I usually go for domination victory so i don't know if i am doing my game at the right pace for a cultural win...

I mad several errors with this one, like
- I built Moai Statues in the GP-Farm, so after Globe I realized that there is no space for NE
- because of the previous I totally forgot to build NE somewhere else
- I switched back from Culture mode to Build mode to get Aqueducts and Groccers and Courthouses and Stock Exchanges. This speeds up the culture bombing but costs several turns ...
Additionaly I had some bad luck with my 2nd last GP. I got a Merchant in a border city with an 80% chance for an Artist. This cost me additional 10 turns

I finally ended around turn 810 with a lot of space for improvement. It only depends on the starting position and the placement of the good and bad opponents.

 

[jesusin]

Speed: Marathon

Ouch!

He was missing Gems and Rice and so I had to be careful to renew the trades every 10 turns.

Do resource trades guarranty a 10-turns-peace-period? I don't think so... but I'm not sure.

- I built Moai Statues in the GP-Farm, so after Globe I realized that there is no space for NE

What do you want Globe for? You will be running 100% culture slider most of the game.

at what turn did you end? I usually go for domination victory so i don't know if i am doing my game at the right pace for a cultural win...

I don't play Marathon. In other speeds, you should be aiming at a 300AD Liberalism for a 1450AD victory. I expect the winning entry to be significatively better than this.

 

[Denniz]

Speed: Marathon

Ouch!

Hey. It was a empty table.

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

Do resource trades guarranty a 10-turns-peace-period? I don't think so... but I'm not sure.

As soon as I made a new trade, I have an additional "Peace Treaty" Trade with the other civ. And after 10 turns i got the message that the peace treaty is over. It seems to me that this is the same behaviour as after a war. And even at -6 relations to Kublai and "close borders" and he was way ahead in strength he didn't DoW me. I have no exact reference if this is true or not, I just can say, that this is the behaviour.

What do you want Globe for? You will be running 100% culture slider most of the game.

Hmm - seems you are right. I am still thinking in the "pre-culture" period, where Globe is needed for a GP-Farm. Next time I will skip it

I don't play Marathon. In other speeds, you should be aiming at a 300AD Liberalism for a 1450AD victory. I expect the winning entry to be significatively better than this.

The winning entry will be faster, but this game with these opponents is really hard. Most of the game there was a war somewhere. I joined minimum 10 wars when I was asked by my religious buddies. I really had the luck to be protected by Mansa, Darius and Hatse, all are Hindu (like me) and with relations > 12. The only critical guy was Kublai which I kept from attacking me as described above.

My production city produces units non-stop so I was able to smash an Isabella attack very easy. I always showed my newest unit to Kublai to prevent him from rushing over my territory.

I may have stripped around 50 turns by being more careful and perhaps having better city spots. I had no Marble and all my culture cities had ocean access thus loosing several land tiles.

But if I reflect that my starting position was at the edge of a map I really was out of reach of the warmongers. Isabella, Monte and Napoleon are really tough guys to avoid during a culture game, especially on Monarch and above.

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

Hey. It was a empty table.

I noticed that I assume we will have some hard gauntlets in the future ...