G-Minor 19

Methos

HoF Quattromaster
Hall of Fame Staff
Retired Moderator
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Jan 1, 2005
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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=+2](*) Please read the >> HOF rules << BEFORE playing!
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Settings:
  • Victory Condition: Conquests (though all victory conditions must be enabled)
  • Difficulty: Monarch
  • Starting Era: Ancient
  • Map Size: Standard
  • Map Type: Terra
  • Speed: Epic
  • Civ: Any
  • Opponents: Any
  • Version: 1.61.011 or 2.08.004
  • Date: May 25th to June 9th
The earliest finish date wins, with score as a tiebreaker.
 
Hmm, Monarch conquest on Terra.... I think there will be a huge chasm between the people who get early conquest on the old continent versus those who have to struggle on to carry the fight onto the new continent.
 
It will be interesting to see if Rome or Inca is faster. No AI should ever set foot on the new continent.
 
Well I'll have a try at one or both of these Gauntlets but never having won on Monarch before I don't rate my chances for winning a game. At least if my conquest runs out of steam I'll be able to go for a space race plan B and try for the Major... not that that sounds like a tactic that will work very well.

I'm going to play with barbarians on again because I am daft like that.
 
There are two things I have to say about this Gauntlet:

1. Inca
2. Vanilla has big advantage over Warlord.
 
I haven't got my vanilla disc at the moment. What are the advantages?

I'm still trying to learn Monarch so I doubt I will enter a game but at the moment I am just going random leaders, either space or conquest depending on who I get. I think I need to turn barbs off, they are brutal. And the AI expands too fast.
 
I haven't got my vanilla disc at the moment. What are the advantages?

Just to name a few:

1. http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=5447159&postcount=290

2. In vanilla, you can capture a worker and immediately use it as bait to lure their archer out of their city. Of course, you will get your worker back when you capture their city. There will be no POW in Warlord; in fact, the AI will execute your workers immediately right on the spot - totally uncivilized if you ask me.

3. Since their primary goal during the early stage is to protect their nearest city, even when their archer has 99.99% chance of killing your unit, they won't attack. In Warlord, they have no mercy to wounded unit.
 
OK, so that's why I've been :wallbash: in my Warlords games. Thanks, for the tip, now if I can find my vanilla disk.....
 
However, I have uncovered some new tricks that work best in Warlord. If you are using Quechua, here is something you may want to try:

Pillage everything and park a Quechua within 2 squares from their city. You will see that they will start stockpiling their archers...2, then 3, then 4, then 5 almost at no time. Depending on the personality of the civ, they will start doing something really stupid after they have more than 4 archers.

What source of stupid things that AI may do when their city is under sieged?

A. They may start building a Wonder. If they do this, move your all your Quechua away from their city for about 2 or 3 turns. This would lead them to believe that the siege is over. Now, move back in to capture their city (assuming you have a stack of 4 or more to deal with the two remaining archers). What just happen to the rest of their defenders? They thought the siege was over, so they sent most of their defenders out hunting or fishing. After a long siege, their city probably run out of food, so logically, they need to go out looking for food or something.;)

B. They may start building settler. I like this part...free worker and experience.:) Just anticipate where they they may send their settler out next and ambush them out in the open field. The AI usually follow the same pattern, if we miss their first settler, just destroy their second city and wait for the next one. More settlers will come.

C. They set out to destroy our cities. I love this part...when the AI put their minds into something, they won't be sidetracked...if their mission is to destroy our city or pillage our land, nothing else matter. We just wait to engage them in the open meadow in between our city and their. Among the AIs, Washington like to do this, he keeps on sending out archers like forever. After awhile, my units got really bored of killing him.

Both B & C will eventually give us the ultimate warriors with at least 26 points of experience and a couple of warlords. Life would be so easy for us from this point forward (assuming we won't encounter any spears or chariots).

PS: The soul purpose for parking a Quechua within 2 squares from their city is to prevent their workers from improving their land and to keep an eye on their development. Other than that, it has no other purpose.
 
I've tried twice with 1.61 and each time I bogged down around 800BC. The first time, I chose random opponents and with my luck my last opponent was Mansa who had chariots and axes and his UU by that time and I had no copper and no economy. The 2nd time, Bismark kept himself hidden east of my capital, so I didn't discover him until very late. I didn't explore carefully in that direction and it turned out there was a tiny isthmus I didn't see. By the time I found him, he had chariots. Then Monty on the other end of the continent fortified himself on a hill also with chariots. I can build spears and axes, but even so, I'll need a lot to break him down. Possibly, I should offer a cease fire, and hope he goes fishing or something. But, I'm running out of money. I'm leaving London open hoping the barbs take it, but so far they haven't.
 
I can build spears and axes, but even so, I'll need a lot to break him down. Possibly, I should offer a cease fire, and hope he goes fishing or something.

I rarely attack a city that has more than 2 defenders. It doesn't matter how many defenders they get, I usually trick them into emptying their city first. For example, it's very easy to capture a city defended by 2 axemans and 2 archers using a stack of only two elite Quechuas and 2 newbie axeman. How can this even be possible?

Best case scenario, our newbie axeman has less than 1% chance of killing their archer defender. Best case scenario, our two elite Quechuas have less than 1% chance of killing their axeman defenders. If we attack with our axeman, they will defend with their archer. If we attack with Quechua, they will defend with their axeman. The situation seems pretty hopeless, but not really with the worker trick. We just move a worker into each of the non-roaded square next to their city and end our turn. By the next turn, the two axemans will come out to capture our two workers and leave their 2 archers defending their city. Now, our two elite Quechuas would have at least 90% chance of killing the two archer defenders (capture the city and rescue our two workers). Isn't that fun?;) In most cases, we don't really need to build a lot of units to deal with the AI.

PS: I was referring to the vanilla version.
 
Yeah, one thing why I prefer warlords over vanilla.
But this gauntlet is played better with vanilla, I guess.
 
I played many games until early AD and I was bad. I usually have put one AI down, but I was really behind tech and with huge happiness problem. I tried Capac with Vanilla and Warlords, and Augustus.

I just gave up the hope of a fast conquest game. I decided to choose a leader that would help me with my finances and my happiness. I took Hannibal. His UB is sweet too.

It's already 1550 AD and I have made one Civ my vassal and killed another. Now I am at war with the third, Washington. I was at war with Gandhi, when he was just two cities left, he decided to became a vassal of Washington, I have no choice now, I have to kill Washington. I just have to deal with :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: from my cities, after about 300 years of war. My cultural slider is at 20% and the science 50%, without deficit.

I installed Warlords 11th May. I'm eager to learn the new features. I still have to learn how to fight a war. I took a city from Gandhi, just to loose it the next turn. It happened two times :blush:. It slowed me down.

I'm shoulder by shoulder with the AI tech wise. The AI has Rifles, I have Rifles, Cavalry and Grenadiers.

I built only one Wonder: The Great Library. All others wonders I took by war. I was :lol: when the AI builds the Great Wall in a game without barbs. It's a waste of :hammers:.
 
To get a quick conquest, I think Incas and Persia are the way to go. For this gaunlet, I pick Cyrus for his superior UU and good traits Cha and Imp.

After about 3 maps (random leaders and no barbarian), I found a superb starting location, a 4 hills capital and a 4 hills horse 2nd city.:) My civ was at the center of the world, Germany was southwest, Greece was far southwest, Japan was northwest, Spain was northeast, France was far southeast and England was far northeast.

Start my wars against the world somewhere around 1500 BC, destroy everyone's bronze source and quickly annliate 2 neighbors :D (Alex and Frederic). Frederic was hopeless, he didnt have the chance of building a single wall in time. Alex almost linked a bronze source, but good thing I took him out early.

Then I fought Japan. He didnt have bronze either, whew, but I had to fight his protective archers. Now is about 500 BC. As my army marched across my land, I found that Louis and Elizabeth have spears! :eek: Sadly, I did not have Iron Working and cant locate those iron sources. I wait til 400 AD and disconnect the iron source. And finally I sacriface like 20+ units to take out a English capital of 2 swords, 1 spear, and 1 archer. :cry:

By 600 AD, I finally have catapults and by 900 AD I finish Louis. Quickly I march the resourceless Spain and took out Isabella. Conquest at 1010 AD. :(

In this game, I think I made at least 2 mistakes. First, I should locate both bronze and iron instead of just bronze. Such as the example in the battle of London where I lost alot of experienced immortals to spears and swords fortifed in a walled city. My second mistake is to keep captured cities. In my game, I raze all the enemy cities b/c I fear the upkeep cost. Turns out I was able to run 100&#37; research in that game, but my army production not enough. Mistake#1 is the most fatal, b/c I probably can finish all the ai at least before 500AD if not in the BC era.
 
I have made one Civ my vassal

Just to clarify, the victory type for this gauntlet is conquest and having them as a vassal means he/she hasn't been conquered!

BTW, after many upsetting attempts in previous gauntlets (and already in this one), and hearing about her from others, I made sure that sweet little Miss Victoria is in my games. :evil:
 
Just to clarify, the victory type for this gauntlet is conquest and having them as a vassal means he/she hasn't been conquered!

BTW, after many upsetting attempts in previous gauntlets (and already in this one), and hearing about her from others, I made sure that sweet little Miss Victoria is in my games. :evil:

I'm not so sure. I won a game as France after vassalising my last enemy. Expecting a domination win, I was greeted with a victory screen saying I had won by conquest.
 
Yeah, this months WOTM9 I vassalized the last opponent and got a conquest win, mainly to speed things up. The game ends anyway so what victory type could it possibly be? I wasn't at the domination limit. So I think Methos may be mistaken here.
 
So I think Methos may be mistaken here.

According to my wife, I'm always "mistaken"! :D

I apologize at my mistake. I didn't realize that. Kind of odd, since the "slave" can leave the master later, so it makes it weird that its still considered a conquest victory. Learn something everyday.
 
I'd just like to make it clear that I am not Methos' wife... He would be very disappointed if I was, and would probably insist that the beard has to go.

EDIT: The reason it has to be the case is because you can't declare war on a vassal so you can't eliminate them. They count as eliminated unless they break free (which is unlikely when you are in conquest burn and pillage mode).
 
I'd just like to make it clear that I am not Methos' wife... He would be very disappointed if I was, and would probably insist that the beard has to go.

:rotfl:

EDIT: The reason it has to be the case is because you can't declare war on a vassal so you can't eliminate them. They count as eliminated unless they break free (which is unlikely when you are in conquest burn and pillage mode).

:hmm: Interesting. I've been trying this on vanilla, but I'm wondering if using vassals would make it easier.
 
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