[BTS] G-Minor 260 - Russia, Warlord, Space - Deadline Jun 28th 2021

[Noble Zarkon]

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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.


Settings:

• Victory Condition: Space Race (though all victory conditions must be enabled)
• Difficulty: Warlord
• Starting Era: Ancient
• Map Size: Small
• Speed: Normal
• Map Type: Hemispheres
• Required: No Tribal Villages, No Random Events
• Civ: Russia
• Opponents: Must include Arabia (Saladin), Celt (Brennus), Mongolia (Kublai Khan), Ottoman (Mehmed II)
• Version: 3.19.005
• Date: 31st May to 28th June 2021

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

 

[iggymnrr]

Might be an excuse to get a Russian leader done. Normal speed. AIs finish a warrior around turn 7 and we start with a scout but have The Wheel?

 

[jnebbe]

Looks fun, I'll try it out if I can get map finder working

 

[lymond]

Looks fun, I'll try it out if I can get map finder working

Hey jnebbe - I hope you can get MF to work. However, I would note that in lieu of use MF, I would suggest what I normally do for my own HOF games. (I actually don't use MF myself, but certainly realize its benefits). What I do is create a new map based on the desired settings/options, like for those above in this Gauntlet. Once generated, I save off that map as a template. (I do not play that map or make any moves) I then use the built in regen function of the game (ALT+G) to regenerate new maps from that template, saving of each map that has the starts I like for that game. Even after playing the saved maps, I can go back to the template and generate more maps to my liking, if desired.

Of course, my way is a manual process, whereas MF you can set to run for hours so that it pumps out maps meeting your criteria. But it's really not that bad, and I'm usually look to find a few starts to play immediately

 

[jnebbe]

Hey jnebbe - I hope you can get MF to work. However, I would note that in lieu of use MF, I would suggest what I normally do for my own HOF games. (I actually don't use MF myself, but certainly realize its benefits). What I do is create a new map based on the desired settings/options, like for those above in this Gauntlet. Once generated, I save off that map as a template. (I do not play that map or make any moves) I then use the built in regen function of the game (ALT+G) to regenerate new maps from that template, saving of each map that has the starts I like for that game. Even after playing the saved maps, I can go back to the template and generate more maps to my liking, if desired.

Of course, my way is a manual process, whereas MF you can set to run for hours so that it pumps out maps meeting your criteria. But it's really not that bad, and I'm usually look to find a few starts to play immediately

I did get it working after learning I needed to mess around with the registry. I'm going to focus this game over GOTM since it's small/should take less time and should give me a good taste of this playstyle in all eras

 

[iggymnrr]

I don't recall MF problems per se. I do remember something with Win10 that had to be addressed. There is a post on it somewhere but you may have solved it. Anyways I also installed 3 or 4 versions of Buffy in case an HoF save has to be loaded.

 

[jnebbe]

Welp my game is over after Brennus snuck in a religious victory a bit after I built apollo, was shaping up to win by T270ish? Fun game but not going to do another attempt

 

[iggymnrr]

I have a Stalin game that should finish around 1600. There’s no AP religion in the empire so theocracy and no Mass Media (pun intended) should nix AP wins.

 

[iggymnrr]

1605 AD with Stalin. May give Cathy a try.

 

[iggymnrr]

Settings correct? No games show as submitted.

 

[iggymnrr]

1570 with Cathy. Nappy might be interesting with these settings. Will try to get a game done with him. That won't be Russia of course. Well, sorta.

 

[ZPV]

I played out a 1330 game with Peter. EXP/PHI is quite strong, although Cathy might be competitive.
As ever, production/growth was the bottleneck until the Renaissance, and then the inherent research potential of cities after that.
It was interesting having a map script that forces you to build more or your own cities because you can't just conquer 6+ AIs with Classical Era units.

 

[iggymnrr]

Good game.

 

[iggymnrr]

It does seem tricky getting the knack for golden ages. Finished a 1500 AD Nappy game. 8 turns of wasted golden age. City count may have been too high at 33. But then I got over to the other hemisphere for 4 cities. Salon feels better than the research institute.

 

[ZPV]

I agree, Research Institute comes too late to matter much. On these smaller maps it does do something since your research rate really does drop once you're building 13 space parts, but that's probably worth about 1 turn overall, compared with normal Labs.
Salons are an interesting case. I tend to rely on Colossus-boosted coast tiles to get me through the midgame, so Astronomy comes after Assembly Line (at which point I can actually build Observatories everywhere... which get Kremlin-whipped). However I might try and put it earlier as France, depending on what the land looks like.

For golden ages, my rule of thumb is that it's a little under 40 turns from Assembly Line to launch (depending on tech order etc), and there are 3 golden ages during that time with a few turns off at a point where I don't need to switch civics.

 

[nocho]

1330AD sounds very strong! I had a 1515AD game, with Peter as well, didn't give too much thought to the leader but it seemed the most obvious choice to me.

Speaking of Kremlin, what would you typically take from liberalism when running to space at low difficulty levels, assembly line itself? I took superconductors but felt it delayed communism/Kremlin longer than I would have liked. On higher levels I'd typically settle for biology and research communism immediately after. Going for superconductors of course I had to go through astro/physics and indeed obsoleting colossus hurt a bit, at least it wasn't offset by traderoutes. The thing with AL is I didn't want to obsolete the GLH yet with corporation.

 

[ZPV]

1330AD sounds very strong! I had a 1515AD game, with Peter as well, didn't give too much thought to the leader but it seemed the most obvious choice to me.

Speaking of Kremlin, what would you typically take from liberalism when running to space at low difficulty levels, assembly line itself? I took superconductors but felt it delayed communism/Kremlin longer than I would have liked. On higher levels I'd typically settle for biology and research communism immediately after. Going for superconductors of course I had to go through astro/physics and indeed obsoleting colossus hurt a bit, at least it wasn't offset by traderoutes. The thing with AL is I didn't want to obsolete the GLH yet with corporation.

Yes, I usually take Assembly Line with Liberalism. It hits a good sweet spot where the techs are ramping up in cost, but my empire's research hasn't grown to match it yet, and also delaying Communism any longer is problematic.
Taking Superconductors the way you did certainly feels like it could work; the thing that puts me off about it is that Refrigeration is an optional tech.
However, really I think that it's the 140ish turns up to this point that matter more for the finish date.

 

[nocho]

Oh Lord, so it took me 15 years of playing this game to realize fridges aren't needed for space! Maybe I fancy getting laboratories up and running asap a bit too much, probably I overvalue supermarkets as well. Never too old to learn I guess.

I certainly agree that those 140 first turns are by far the more crucial, but I may replay my game from around 475AD when I started on astro and beeline AL instead, to see if it cuts anything significant from my date.

 

[iggymnrr]

At a research speed of 1 tech per turn, the optional refrigeration tech costs precisely 1 turn. It does ensure any labs do get built in time. Any slows downs due to lack of labs cost at least 1 turn. And, yes, I have had games where that tech speed happens. The main rule of thumb is to research the next cheapest tech.

 

[ZPV]

@Noble Zarkon - should the victory condition for this one be "Space Colony" instead of "Space Race"? Might be why no games are showing up.