G-Minor 70

[Mesix]

I've been playing with Hatty, Ghandi, Lincoln, and Cyrus in my games. As for who to play as...my plan is to go down the list of Industrial leaders first, then the Philosophical leaders, and then the rest of the unplayed civs if I have any time left in the update. My first two games took me less than one hour each, so there should be plenty of time to fit them all in.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I'll be playing with civs that start with mysticism I haven't won with yet so Saladin, Pacal and Izzy.

EDIT: Or Gandhi.

 

[oyzar]

Highlands is very large... I was thinking bismark, pacal or quin or ramsses for civ to play.

 

[Robert Smith]

Highlands is very large... I was thinking bismark, pacal or quin or ramsses for civ to play.

I just notice that The reason for Highlands was Bismark (with hunting/mining and industrious/exp), no time to research food tech so floodplains or deer?

back to pangea...

Edit: Augustus might be a good one with fishing/mining or Qin Shi Huang with agriculture/mining both with industrious but not exp (building workers +25%) (or Huayna Capac )

 

[oyzar]

You can research AH I guess, it is a prereq for writing after all, and an early library doesn't hurt(is it possible to bulb alpha before math? i guess not eh?). Ideas include ah->writing->alpha and ah->myst->poly->alpha

Asoka
Catherine*
Cyrus
Elizabeth*
Frederick
Gandhi
Hatshepsut
Joao*
Justinian*
Kublai Khan*
Lincoln*
Mansa Musa
Pacal
Peter
Roosevelt
Zara Yakob
Ramsses
Brennus
Survayraman II
Bismarck
Darius I
Pericles
Qin Shi Huang

Here are the leaders that could be considered including. But who are best?

 

[Robert Smith]

You can research AH I guess, it is a prereq for writing after all, and an early library doesn't hurt(is it possible to bulb alpha before math? i guess not eh?). Ideas include ah->writing->alpha and ah->myst->poly->alpha

An alternative is myst->poly->priest->writing->masonry->mono (oracle or bulb Theology). Don't forget BW.

To bulb see Great People Tech

 

[cabert]

I played Ramses.
You don't need to start with mysticism.
In fact, I make sure (translation: I wait for the right message to be displayed before researching poly) I found none of the first religions, and build the AP for a religion noone will switch to!

My neighbours of choice were hatty, gandhi (probably the one who stole oracle away), lincoln and ashoka.

 

[PaulisKhan]

What do people think of using the Terra map type? It produces the highest density of starting locations which should minimise contact time and also travel time for missionaries.

 

[cabert]

What do people think of using the Terra map type? It produces the highest density of starting locations which should minimise contact time and also travel time for missionaries.

I tried it, but border tensions led to war. (that was my second attempt, maybe with more peaceful neighbours it would be good)

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Contact tends to be quick anyway with scouts for the AI.

I'm sticking to Lakes. I may as well just quit if Toku turns up as a random opponent

 

[cabert]

Contact tends to be quick anyway with scouts for the AI.

I'm sticking to Lakes. I may as well just quit if Toku turns up as a random opponent

with toku in the game, at least there is a challenge!

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Managed to oracle theology with Saladin, but quit later on.

I got monotheism and founded Judaism before going writing, not sure if that was a good plan, maybe better to get open borders before getting a religion of my own.

 

[Robert Smith]

575 BC: Should have been ~1000 BC. One of my missionaries fail to spread, 2 turns before the vote (3 of 4 was friendly)...

 

[ParadigmShifter]

How are you getting civs friendly so fast? Gifting alphabet? There always seems to be at least 2 competing religions in my games.

 

[WastinTime]

shared civics is best

 

[Robert Smith]

How are you getting civs friendly so fast? Gifting alphabet? There always seems to be at least 2 competing religions in my games.

Early open border, gifting Theology. Gandhi helps to spread hindu to all except Ramses (buddism). Apart from Gandhi I also incl. Hatty, Ramses due to org.rel civ (shared civic) and the loser Sitting Bull...

 

[Sun Tzu Wu]

AD...did you mean BC? The winner of this one will surely be pre-1500 BC.

1500 BC is only 100 turns at Epic speed. How can you be so sure someone can win in less than 100 turns at Epic speed on Small map, given only two weeks to do so?

In my opinion, the speed would need to be Marathon speed to get pre-1500 BC. Epic speed is required for this Gauntlet and the best Deity Small game at this speed is Misotu's 950 BC win. Misotu has recently played a vast number of non-Marathon speed Religious Leader Diplomatic Victory (RL DV) games and has produced many excellent times despite the leaders chosen for presumably EQM reasons. It must be noted that this game was played as Montezuma whose traits and even starting technologies are not ideally suited for a RL DV. However, the turns saved in picking an Industrious or Expansive or both (Bismarck) leader will not be as much as you may think. Probably less than 10 turns total.

Also considering that this Gauntlet lasts a mere two weeks, there will not be much time to find the ideal Leader, starting position and the time to play it out as efficiently as possible. All these things considered, I'd predict that the winning game will be in the range 1200 BC through 1500 BC. If anyone does better than 1500 BC, they must use a strategy that has synergy with Epic speed. I'm not sure there are any. Even if there is, two weeks may not be enough time to develop one and refine enough to do better than 1500 BC.

Misotu will probably be a top contender along with WastinTime in this Gauntlet.

OK. enough of this prediction stuff. On with the Gauntlet! May the best person win.

Sun Tzu Wu

 

[Misotu]

Ah well ... there goes my number one spot with Monty

Edited to add: Xpost with Sun Tzu Wu. You're right, I chose Monty for EQM reasons. He's way from ideal, as you say. I agree that 1500 BC looks very tough, even with an ideal leader and a great start, but who knows? I didn't generate very many starts for the Monty games, so with a really great map it might be possible.

I'll definitely be giving this one a shot - and my prediction is that, given his performance on the HoF for deity religious, Sun Tzu Wu will be a strong contender too

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Brennus looks like a good choice to me.

 

[WastinTime]

I don't want to spoil all the fun of learning the strategy on this, but we very recently had an Epic, Immortal, standard religious gauntlet. That's almost exactly the same as this one. Deity makes research a bit slower, but small makes research a bit faster than standard. I was able to get one game at 1500BC in that gauntlet but it was a replay of a map, so didn't count. So I figure someone will beat 1500 BC because you only have 4 AI instead of 6...and less distance to travel.

Good luck everyone. I just finished a test game 1325 BC with very few forests. Took forever to build the AP and missionaries. Everyone loved me and voted me in unanimously.

(actually my first test game I lost the Oracle at 2300 BC. I don't think will happen much)