GOTM #10 *Spoilers* Thread

[Smoking mirror]

Ghaaah! I nearly lost the game!- I don't like to have too big a military, so many of the attacking units don't upgrade and just sit around costing money and I'd rather build a library than a rifleman. Any way, I was having fun seeing how small I could make my army (I had a tech lead and highest score/biggest empire and I was friendly with all my oponents) and the germans offered me a MPP. I don't usualy go in for Mpps, its always more effective to use Military alliances, but the germans were my best buddies, been good to me for many years, and gave me good return on my spare luxuries/techs and wanted to give me cash perturn for A Mpp, So I agreed.

Any way a few turns later I was thinking about attacking the russians (I had all the land between the south sea and the big lake and the weak russians were acting as an anoying buffer between me and the American/english alliance- they refused to garden thier jungles so I had a 6 square wide area of mountains and jungle between me and the Allies) when suddenly the Americans declared war on the Germans!
I planted a spy in the American capital (no fear of retribution if it failed- I was In a MPP and as soon as a combat occured between the Americans and germans I would have to decalre war on the Americans anyhow) and my military advisor proceeded to show me that My army was about 1/5 the size of the Americans "compared to these guys, our military is weak"!
I had just researched Motorized warfare (the americans had Flight and marines) so I switched all my cities producing hospitals over to producing Tanks (about 6 cities would build a tank next turn- and, very lucky this, my military academy had just finished its first army).

The americans were moving all thier armed forces across my territory, trying to get to the Germans (I had given the germans motorized war, but it would be a while before they started churning out Panzers) the cavalry (about 30 units) charged ahead while the marines/infantry were having trouble crossing the russian frountier. I was still at peace but would have to declare soon, so I waited for the cavalry to get alost to my german border before askeng them to remove troops or declare war- I didn't have enough infantry to protect all my cities from partisan cavalry activity, and I could only draft one form each city cos the Hoover dam was 6turms from completion and I needed to stay in democracy to get flight in 4 turns (later my bombers were to have great effect) unhappyness was to have a big effect in the comming war. When the Americans withdrew, All their cavalry went to the german border, while all the marines/infantry went to the russian border! I moved all my artillery, cavalry and the new tank divisions down to meet the undefended cavalry (all in one square, on grassland, unfortified) and in one turn I exterminated the american cavalry threat, turned my troops around and headed for the russian border.

Its now about 16 turns later- the americans had a Mpp with the English and russians so I had a terrible time trying to keep my frontier cities, while my rail network was destroyed by american and english bombers; My luxuries are at 100% and my government is still in democracy. But my artillery and bombers are defeating any incursion across the border (the russians are now nearly gone) and with an exellent Tank army strike I captured a heavily defended American city and destroyed their entire air fleet.

I am now much stronger militarily than any one else, my bombers rule the skies and my tank armies roll forward crushing all in their path- my panzer equiped allies help finish the american/british invades after Iv'e softened them up with artillery.
I'm going to take a few turns of peace to get my luxuries back down and develop Mech infantry and then I'm going to try to wipe out the American/english threat- I need another great leader so I can be sure of getting the League of nations- but their time is almost up!

I have realy enjoyed this game; I came back from the brink of disaster (30 cavalry would have made short work of my undefended empire) to celebrate a crushing victory! Perhaps my lesson is; rebuild your military after a war, cos a strong military in Civ III is a deterent as well as a weapon- Oh and never get in to Mpps unless you are very small an backward nation, large advanced nations don't need protection from weak nations! The germans were the weakest link in my alliance and their weakness combined with arrogance given to them by the assurance of my protection turned in to my biggest liability!

 

[Cartouche Bee]

Originally posted by nbarclay
Cartouche Bee, assuming you don't go for the early domination victory (it sounds like you're planning to milk), once you take out America and England, I'd be interested to hear your best calculation of when you would have gotten a domination victory if quick domination were your priority. I wouldn't ask publicly if a medal were involved, but if you aren't planning to go for the "fastest domination" medal, your performance won't give away anything about the current year to beat.

Nathan

Well that's kind of an interesting question, I don't think people use this thread to develop strategies so here goes.

I can't calculate what the best speed should be but I certainly know it would be faster than 900AD for a number of reasons. So I would suspect some pre 800AD conquest or dominations because I'm sure that a focus on those strategies would cut more than 10 game turns off my current situation.

So my reasons for not getting the fastest domination or conquest are as follows:

First, I was not really warmongering, I avoided war until I was able to develop any land that I would take over. In a pure warmongering effort it is pretty much seek and destroy from the get go. Warmongering keeps the AI developing down their normal paths and weak.

Second, my style was geared toward building, all my core cities are at size twelve with all viable city improvements including universities (not cathederals!; well one in Paris). I built a Forbidden Palace in a spot that would help me counter other cultures and enhance future building sites. These new core cities were supported with a fair share of the gross national product so that they would contribute toward the long term goals as soon as possible. This really cuts down on military production.

Third, my discoveries of techs were geared to the long term game and not war. For instance, shortly after Gunpowder I triggered my Golden Age, about 700AD. Instead of researching to Military Tradition, I went for Economics so I could get the wonders on that path, namely, Adam Smith's and Copernicus. Caravels allowed me to send three knights in one ship over to a far island, to finish the last Iroquois city (and end that war) and gain a presence to deter the Americans and English from settling the islands too much. This decision meant that I was putting off getting Cavalry for 12 extra turns but that is 'strategy' that works toward an end result.

Even though my Golden Age has just ended, 900 AD, I can research techs in 4 turns and still produce more than 500 gold per turn. I have plenty of forces and technology to combat the remaining American and English forces. Plus most of my core cities and terrain are fully developed so I am starting to develop fringe areas by rushing marketplaces and aqueducts.

CB

 

[falsfire]

Quick question on domination victories...

I'm not sure yet if I'm going to milk this game to 2050, or go for the early diplo/domination/spaceship victory.

I've run mapstat on my savegame, and found that 24 more population points will give me the population domination threshold, but 356 land tiles are needed. To secure domination victory, do you need both the population and the land coverage, or will it trigger with just one of those conditions satisfied?

I need to know cuz when I return to playing it tonight, I wanna know if it's going to end with domination victory in 24 more population points (won't take long, I have over ten cities with more than 14 excess food, and I control the Pyramids)

 

[Cartouche Bee]

Originally posted by falsfire
Quick question on domination victories...

I'm not sure yet if I'm going to milk this game to 2050, or go for the early diplo/domination/spaceship victory.

I've run mapstat on my savegame, and found that 24 more population points will give me the population domination threshold, but 356 land tiles are needed. To secure domination victory, do you need both the population and the land coverage, or will it trigger with just one of those conditions satisfied?

I need to know cuz when I return to playing it tonight, I wanna know if it's going to end with domination victory in 24 more population points (won't take long, I have over ten cities with more than 14 excess food, and I control the Pyramids)

You need to satisfy both conditions! I'm over on population by 71 points without triggering domination, so rest easy.

 

[MPF]

I'm now in the last stages of the game (about 2022 AD) and own most of the island. Had a very bad period from around 100 AD through the middle ages. I was severely overextended.

Somehow the AI noticed this and teamed up to kick my ass. Had to struggle through the middle ages until I finally cought up with the rest. Just in time for the great war

Managed to make a few mpp against an allied block. This is what it looked like when the world when beserk. Nice Huh!!

 

[MPF]

I'm now in the end of the game with not really much to do. The English and the Americans have just a small piece left (I am only 9 tiles from domination) but are in the final stage of the space race. Found out a really nice way to keep them accupied.

They both have to make one component (SS Thrusters and Outer Casing). I check every 5 turns to monitor their progress. When they are near completion I sabotage their production. The dont dare to go to war, I am to strong and their only hope is space race victory. They are set on making that last component. Every 10 turns or so i set the production way back and having great fun about it. Just when they get their hopes up I take it away and they have to start producing all over. Could manage this till 2050

Actualy hoping for cultural victory but it won't trigger. I have a culture score about 157.000 now but still no cultural victory! A well I am still smiling every time my spy takes away about 10 or more turns of space component production.

 

[Gargouille]

GL DeGaulle in 1440AD, for JS Bach in New York. Peace with America in 1450AD, I left them with one City on British Isle.
I declared war to England in 1470AD. GL Charlemagne in 1475AD for 3-Cavalry Army.
Then America / Iroquois declared war, both had MPP with England. Peace with England in 1525AD, I left them with 3 Cities on their Island. Peace also with Iroquois but America refused to talk.

Alone on the Continent with 85 tiles from Domination.
In 1530AD, I was surprised to see Buffalo reverted back to America . I will eliminate them for sure (England had a MPP with America). They were defeated in 1545AD and England in 1560AD. I spent 6 turns for a switch to Democracy and even faster Workers.
Then it was the slow milking process.
In 1990AD, I declared war to Iroquois after having settled on my Continent.
Peace in 1996AD, I left them with one City on Tundra Island.

Domination Victory in 2050AD with 7412 points.

 

[Jon Shaw]

No amazing tales of derring-do from me. I'm still alive despite multiple bungles.

I had researched railroad first by a long way, but couldn't build railways because there was no coal in my empire, and no one else had the advance, so they couldn't see their coal to trade it with me. I eventually gave the advance to the English, but they traded the coal with someone else rather than me.

I developed tanks first too, but had no oil- same problem. This time I attacked a random German city to get the oil supply by it. Rather bloody, but I got it.

Now I have the tech for modern armour but I forgot to research rocketry- I cant see aluminium. Tsk. Surprisingly, everything still seems to be going OK. This difficulty level is very forgiving

 

[Creepster]

I have to say I love this map so far!! I made contact with all of the civilizations early in the game and I have the map of the entire continent. This will be much easier to blitz through than last months game. I am currently ahead or just even with the AI’s in technology. I have been keeping the tech race even with all of the civs by selling and trading the techs for money. I need the money for upgrades in the near future and to buy several horsemen to attack with.

As soon as I had about 8 horseman I attacked the Aztecs. They had about 5 cities and the war should be over soon. I attacked in about 750 BC. I have never gone to war this early with just horseman before. So far it is very successful. The nice thing is that the AI does not have much of a culture lead on me at this point. I normally go for Iron and attack with swordsman, but the source of Iron I secured is not connected to my capital yet. I also lost that city to the Aztecs as soon as I declared war on them. I should have it back soon. If everything goes as planned the Aztecs will not exist after about 5 more turns.

 

[pagh80]

Despite this game is my first game since GOTM1 i think i am doing very well.
I think i will milk this game(for the first time) and see if i can beat CB and Sir Pleb(allthough i know thats virtually impossible )
I was lucky in the beginning and got a settler from the first hut. After that i rushed my military forces. On the way down to the aztec two of my forces became elite thanks to some huts(barb huts are not bad all the time) and because of that i took the aztec capitol very fast(i later found that they resettled at the english and american territory which was good because it slowed down their expansion. I found the russians soon after and managed to wipe them out before they got 3 cities. After that i had a hard time finding the place they respawned but found them on the other side of the former aztecs... they where wiped out quickly.
The time was now about 2000 BC and i had got a large piece of the world so i decided to lay down my weapons and start to expand my empire. I placed some cities in strategic places to prevent the other empires to get much of the unclaimed land(i would later settle this land)
From 2000 BC too 1000 AD i only expanded and researched... and builded ALOT of workers(about 170 )
Around 950 AD i finally got military tradition to upgrade my 80 horsemen to cavalry but.... There where not a single saltpeter in my big empire(what are the odds)
I had to take one of the german cities to get it.
AFTER THAT THE BIG BLITZWAR STARTED:
1000 AD: Took 1 german city to secure saltpeter
1010 AD: Upgraded my horsemen.
1020 AD: Moved my cavalry in position.
1030 AD: Took half of the german cities
1040 AD: Took the last exept for 3 cities
1050 AD: Took one more city and made peace.
1050 AD- 1100 AD: Moved my cavalry to the american border
Around 1100 i had railroad and i made a railroad system.
1120 AD: Took all the american cities i a single turn
1140 AD: Took all the english cities in a single turn(exept 2 cities on a small island).
At this point i was close to domination victory and i still needed to take the romans, aztec and Iroqois. Then i surfed a bit on this homepage a found 2 wonderfull programs. The first could calculate when you will win by culture and the second calculate when you will win by domination. Thanks to these programs i could stay under the domination limit.
1170 AD: Took all the romans, aztec and Iroqois cities in a single turn.(exept for a few cities in tundra areas)
I decided to abandon alot of tundra, jungle, mountain cities to be able to keep the cities on grassland and still stay under the domination limit.
Im now around 1600 AD and i am currently researching computers(7 turns). I earn just below 800 gold per turn and all my cities have hospitals.(half of them transit system) 90 % of them are placed on grassland
Every tile under my control have been irrigated(last was irrigated around 1300)
I have had a very big problem with pollution because of my many big cities but the transit system should reduce that alot. I am finish with expanding(35 tiles from domination )
To prevent my empire to expand too tiles i cant use i had abandoned all temples in my outer cities that way i still have good control eventhough im only 35 tiles from the limit.
My culturewin are calculated to 2050 and i think i will make my spaceshipwin to be in 2050 asswell as i will take the last remaining cities(3 english, 3 aztec, and 3 iroqois) in 2050 and trigger the domination victory and conquer victory.... still need the diplomacy victory
Well looking forward to see my score
Last i have to say to matrix that it was a very fun map to play.
Not much of competition but then i have learned to milk a game instead.

 

[Hurricane]

I got a nice start with a settler from the first hut. This gave me a fast early expansion and made it possible for me to build the Pyramids early in Paris. I didn´t bother with the GL, since everybody was very slow in progressing. I was in the tech lead almost at all times, even though I sometimes had my science at only 10%.

After having expanded around the lake, I attacked the weak Atztecs with a number of Horsemen and Swordsmen. It was an easy match, and they were gone about 100 AD.

I switched to Republic and settled the Atzec lands. I upgraded my Horsemen to Knights and attacked the Iroquois. They still had only Spearmen and I quickly conquered them except for one city hidden behind Rome.

Again I waited a while waiting for Democracy. As soon as I discovered it, I had a revolution and at the same time attacked Rome. They were an easy match, too, and gone by 820 AD (together with that last Iroquois city).

It is now 820 AD and I have 1360 points. I have still had NO leaders, so my FP is still some 60 turns away. I don´t remember when I last had this difficult getting leaders. I really tried against Rome, delaying the war for at least 3 rounds just waiting for my elite Knights to get to attack, but with no luck.

I will probably take out the Germans next. They are a bit bigger, but behind in tech. My main concern is war weariness (since I´ll be democratic), so I probably won´t attack them until I get the more mobile Cavalries.

This is the map before the war against Rome. The year is 660 AD.

 

[Beam]

Just finished by a carefully planned domination in 2050 and it was a fun game to play (apart from the milking in the end). Thanks Matrix!

Started with a moderate dense citybuild (2 tiles, sometimes one) and got a settler out of a hut quite early! Soon made contact with Aztecs, Russians, Americains etc and through exchange of communications got in touch with the rest as well. When I got my first worldmap it was clear that 7 of 8 were on the same continent!

After discovery of Horseback Riding I built a pile of Horsemen to take the Aztecs out. Why? They were standing in my way on their very central location. Next were the Russians, they were standing in my way as well. My Horsemen were already upgraded to Knights and they did a wonderful job because a) the Ruskies were soon gone and b) got my first Leader! Build the FP in Strasbourg, located SE of the former Aztec capital.

With the Ruskies gone I had to decide who was next. The Romans were pretty weak, as were the Iroquies at that point. The Americains were the most advanced, the English highest in score. The Germans were somewhere in the middle but I wanted to beat them before they got their Panzers. Also, I had not yet developed MI to upgrade the army to Cavalry and was concerned for a though battle of Knights vs. Pikemen / Musketmen.

The resources cut the deal. The English had nothing at hand to build a strong army, so they were first. Used the handy luring technique by capturing their first city and let them come. After a few turns it got quiet in my frontgarden and took the rest turn by turn. Razed just one city iirc, but kept London with Sistine and the Great Lighthouse. Didn't finish them off, just let them live on their island.

At that time Cavalries became available and America apparently had no Saltpeter although they were still the most advanced. Easy choice, and a few turns later they were history, including Washington with Sun Tzu! Only razed 2 cities of them.

Now it was time for Germany, next to my backdoor. These guys for some reason had not come to the idea of building anything moving more than 1 tile / turn. Nice job for the Cavalry, specially with piles of Longbowmen out in the open. Since I wanted to get Germany intact only one city was razed. The Germans had build to cities on tiny islands, good for them, it made them survice.

After checking mapstat I found that a domination victory was not far away, yet I had decided to milk the game to the end. Never do that, yet in gotm it is score that counts. I had to do something about the Iroquies but to avoid early domination most of their cities had to be razed. Apart from 2: Salamance with another Juicy Wonder and Sevastopol which they had captured from me as German allies. The Iroquies were finished off apart from a city on the same island as the English.

The Romans were left intact for the time being since they were my protection against the barbarians.

The main threat for the domination limit now was the cultural expansion. I had not been build more than a library in over 90% of cities so cultural victory was not at hand. In that part of the game, with most action over, I even abandoned cities to stay clear of the domination limit!

In the meantime London and Berlin had flipped a number of times with some other cities flipping as well. Both cities (and Salamanca) had two cavalries stationed permanently outside for the occasion and it was more a nuisance than a problem.

While still dancing with the Dom. limit (and F5 and Mapstat) it became apparent around 18xx that the Romans could make it to a Spaceship lauch before 2050. So a plan was made to reduce them enough early. Developed 50 Armors against their 100+ Infantry and reduced them to their coastline in order to keep the barbarians out.

After making peace the long wait began. All workers at Shift-A and every 10 turns or so a mass investment in new improvements and this for over 150 turns! Making sure that the domination limit was about 20 tiles away I prepared to build three cities in the last 2 decades and go for domination in 2050.

The standard facilities in each city were barracks / granary / hydroplant (free from wonders), libraries in earlier cities, marketplace, aquadact, hospital, harbor if possible, bank, sometimes a temple. So no factories, cathedrals, mass-transits, collosea etc.

The fighting part was very entertaining, the milking will have to wait for a while.

 

[Beard Rinker]

I've read many posts of very early conquests and wondered how they do it so quickly. I have never achieved a conquest victory. In my games, by the time conquest is an option, I'm in the late industrial or modern age and a conquest would involve horrendously long turns so I opt for space ship or domination.

I tend to be a builder so an early conquest goes against the grain of my style of play.

From the start, my focus was building military for that first war. I researched The Wheel first with the goal of producing as many chariots as possible then upgrading to Knights for my first war. It didn't quite work as planned as one of my warriors accidentally discovered horseback riding from a hut.

I also made a run at some early wonders with the goal of triggering an early golden age. With the French this requires an industrious and a commercial wonder. I got a commercial wonder but missed the industrious wonder. I used the stored up shields from the industrious wonder to build the Great Library. Not what I wanted but not bad for an also ran prize. I did achieve a fairly early golden age with the discovery of Gunpowder. I built a mustketman right away and used it in battle.

Once I discovered Chivalry, I upgraded my chariots and horsemen to knights and began my glorious campaign. I started with the Aztecs then worked my way counter-clockwise throughout the continent. I was in a state of warfare almost continuously from this point on until I reached the domination limit around 1300.

I had switched to Republic pretty much as soon as available and stayed in it throughout. War weariness was never got above around 25%. Usually by the time war weariness appeared, I was just finishing my current enemy off or I had pushed the front lines back far enough, sued for peace and attacked a different civ.

Ironically, researching technology was much easier than other games when my goal was an early spaceship victory. In the late middle ages I was researching a technology every four turns with the slider at 30% or less. By around 1300 it was clear I could easily research a tech every 4 turns for the remainder of the game. An early spaceship victory was not in the cards this game however. Only the Americans and English were left and they were way behind in technology. I would get little help from them even if I gave them every technology. At this point, the earliest possible date for a spaceship launch is 1735.

After reading a few posts from this month’s spoiler, it's clear my conquest game still has allot of room for improvement. One post of note is pagh80 causing both the Aztecs and Russians to respawn by 2000 BC. Impressive.

At this point in my game (1295), I could achieve a domination victory in a turn or two and the earliest I could get a conquest is probably around 10 turns. I am several techs ahead and the best defensive unit my cavalry will face are musketmen.

 

[Sullla]

I'm no longer playing regularly in the GOTM competition, but a series of posts by col and Phillip_martin about something called the "Lowest Scoring Challenge" drew my attention. Their goal was to see who could have the lowest score for a game and still end up achieving victory - just the kind of silly thing I enjoy doing.

The result of this was a One City Challenge (OCC) game that I won by 20k culture in Paris. I figured the best way to achieve no score would be to do a OCC, thus having almost no population or territory. In any case, I finished in 1902AD, with a grand total of 581 points (I'll have a report of this game up in a day or two). I seriously doubt that anyone else will get a lower score and still win the game, but if you think you can do it, bring it on!


PS: Matrix, are you going to give OCC wins any kind of special recognition?

 

[Phillip_martin]

Sullla also completed this game in one day

 

[HellboundHeathcliff]

I usually just start playing these games and work out how to win later on. An early decision was made to do as much research as possible instead of buying it. I got to make some good trades for techs i didn't have. It was interesting to watch as each civ got thier GA and pulled ahead in techs.

Turned republic in 470 BC
War w/ Aztecs 760 AD... English destroyed them 940 AD
Still no saltpeter... bummer
War w/ America 940 AD for saltpeter city
GA 1000 AD after killing pikeman with musketeer
Moved palace southwest of Tenochtitlan 1300 AD
4 cities flip to me shortly thereafter
Made peace w/ America for Atlanta (turned out to be a useless IW city as well)

At this point, i decided to run the game out for a 2050 culture win. It would be my first try at milking a game. I realize that a milked game needs to start that way, but i thought i would see what i could learn from it.

Germany declares war after failed attempt to plant a spy - 1465 AD
Captured Bach, Sistine, Pyramids
Germans destroyed by Romans ~ 1580
Iroquois declare war - 1605
UN built 1655
England declares war 1760
Russians and Romans declare war 1788
Started keeping poor notes
Anyway... Romans destroyed 1800... Russians shortly thereafter... Americans somewhere along the line.

Prepared a tundra city for England that would never get past 2 population and surrounded it w/ modern armor. It was a toss up between her and Cathy. I decided i didn't want to look at Cathy the rest of the game. Gave it to Liz and declared war on her. Reduced her to this one city and made peace.

I built all tha SS parts except the party lounge. Built SDI in 1842 and just concentrated on making my people happy. 19 future techs researched with no libraries/universities/research labs.

I forested and railroaded the rest of the world. Then in 2020 i got bored and pillaged all the RR's. In 2039, i gave Liz the techs she needed to go modern so i could have a massive barbarian uprising.

Finished 14 tiles short of domination. Culture win in 2050 w/ 5941 points. I thought about going for domination/conquest/culture just to see which it would have given me. Anyone know which has priority?

I knew i wouldn't be a true competitor for high score, but i wanted to see if i could learn anything usefull first hand. In retrospect, if playing a milked game, the early game should have been played much different than i did it. For example, i built libraries instead of temple as a first cultural improvement. I also waited too long to get all 8 luxuries. Gems were never up for trade and i should have just taken them from the Americans when i had the chance in the first place.

All and all, an interesting game (until the last part).

 

[falsfire]

Well it's all over for me. Accidentally got a domination victory in 1680. I had been in a MPP with the Romans, just to ensure they wouldn't fight on Liz's side in the mighty France vs. England war. There were all of two turns left in the MPP when the war vs. England ended. Then Rome declared war on the Iroquois. Frickin dumba** Romans!!!

I forgot about how close I was to domination limit (22 tiles needed), and took a few Iroquois cities on turn two of the war and forgot to gift them to the Romans.

Ended my turn and immediately said a four-letter word. However, in the Iroquois counter-attack against one of my modern armour units, I received my first leader of the game (yeah, that's right. I got my first leader on the last turn of the game, in 1680; after fighting countless wars for control of the continent, always mopping up wounded units with elites, all the usual). To add insult to injury, the Iroquois threw everything they had at that small stack of modern armour, and killed them all, including the newborn leader, before I even knew his name.

Next turn comes round, and just as I feared, as soon as all the domestic advisor nag screens go away, "you have achieved a domination victory." Darn, so much for milking. Probably was too late to start milking anyways, what with the Romans & Iroquois still on my continent with about 8 cities each...

Oh well, on the plus side, from that war I finally got control of two tiles of land in the heart of my empire where a Roman city had sat for about 1500 years, so horribly surrounded by my culture that they only had one tile of cultural boundaries adjacent to their city. I was ready to declare war on the Romans many times just because that one darn city wouldn't flip to me so I could raze it.

 

[Beam]

Accidental domination victory is the thing to manage indeed. Mapstat combined with the Cultural Advisor is the only way to manage it although it can become labor intensive. When very close to the limit two checks per turn are required, one on the Autosave and one on an End Of Turn save to verify the result of Abandon City actions.

Even razing or gifting enemy bordercities should be monitored if that gives extra tiles because of the new cultural balance.

The cultural advisor helps to identify cities that are about to expand and take action if neccesary, like selling cultural improvements.

 

[Barker]

Poste by Sulla:

I'm no longer playing regularly in the GOTM competition, but a series of posts by col and Phillip_martin about something called the "Lowest Scoring Challenge" drew my attention. Their goal was to see who could have the lowest score for a game and still end up achieving victory - just the kind of silly thing I enjoy doing.

The result of this was a One City Challenge (OCC) game that I won by 20k culture in Paris. I figured the best way to achieve no score would be to do a OCC, thus having almost no population or territory. In any case, I finished in 1902AD, with a grand total of 581 points (I'll have a report of this game up in a day or two). I seriously doubt that anyone else will get a lower score and still win the game, but if you think you can do it, bring it on!

Dang! Even when the contest is to play the worst, I still can't win.

 

[Sullla]

My report for the Lowest Scoring Challenge is up. It's hosted at my site here.