GOTM #11 *Spoilers* Thread

[FACEMAN]

What have we got here?
Japanese on small map.... looks like we'll see some fighting.

Well, the starting pos looks not very good to me, though we have a luxury nearby, which kind of saves the day. I moved my worker up into the desert tile, in hope of finding fresh water, but I ónly see more desert :-(. built two warriors, sent the first one to the east to find nothing but a chinese warrior, with whom I trade some techs. the other one scouts to the north to find a hut, with gold in it and to scout the chinese border, where i see an archer guiding a settler towards me. I immediately move my first warrior up north too and wait for the chinses to build there city. I attack and the first warrior is victorius but the city is raised automatically :-(. for the next couple turns do some micro to fight of some chinese troops while i build two citys north of my capital and build barracks there. meanwhile the French have appeared on the scene, who seem to be settled northe of the chinese, as i can't see their border.
Then the one thing that I feared most happens. France and China ally up and attack. I fight of all their attacks winning a couple elite battles without a getting a leader, but I realize that this is status quo. They cant break down mey defense and I cant go attack the chinese alone as the french troops march through chinese territory. I try to make peace, but its to expensive, so I keep the war alive for another couple turns, until I see a swordsman marching towards Tokio. This is a pretty good argument for making peace despite the high price and so it is done.
I now have only three cities, am behind in tech little and didn't even get a leader through all the fighting early on.
But the situation has an upside too. Even in my small territory I have horses and iron, which combines to Samurais.
I'll try to grab as many land as possible now and keep up with tech until I get chivalry.
THEN AN INFERNO WILL BE UNLEASHED UPON ALL OF JAPANS ENEMIES!

Looks like this game is going to be fun and a good challenge - thx matrix

FACEMAN

 

[Yndy]

Nice game.

Being a small map I managed to finish it today but I won't post right now. I'm curious to see what you have done.

I attacked the Chinese a little later than you did and I only finished them after the second war. I was careful enough not to drag the French against me (they were gracious with me at some point).

 

[Overlag]

first post:

hehe ive been beaten two times (i know your not supposed to replay them) within 30 turns... I need some time before i can join in on this GOTM

 

[thefrenchzulu]

Originally posted by Yndy
Nice game.

Being a small map I managed to finish it today but I won't post right now. I'm curious to see what you have done.

Could be called game of a few hours. This was my quickest game ever, though I don't often play small maps.

War! Non-stop.

 

[ilive]

Diffculty level seems strange sometimes. I have found this GOTM (emperor level) less difficult than the GOTM10 (regeant level).

Except on the beginning where i have to try different schemes (it is the first time i play at emperor level), i didnt't have diffculty to win with a domination victory.
I didn't try to fight the chinese or the french at the beginning. I had luck as a settler was found in the hut. Then I tried to exchange as many tech. as possible to have the map making and so a way to colonize the island under your initial position before the chinses. After, i attacked the chinese who had only 5 cities (they wasn't able to develop themselves as the french block them on the north and japanse on the south). Strange, they never tried to attack someone. After the chinese, the poor french are destroyed. No troubles to capture their towns except Paris where i lost many on my men
Then i established myself on the island on the east near the romans. It seems they have nearly destroyed germans and persia (only one town left). Status quo during somes hundred of years ; romans was more powerfull than me. As i obtained chevalry, i decided to captured the isle with a mixed of swordmen and samourais. Fight was terrible but with many galleys i blocked romans reinforcements. Some turns after, i landed near Rome, captured Neapolis and the last german town, Berlin. Bye bye german. I make peace and one turn after (1180AD) achieve a domination victory.

 

[thefrenchzulu]

After playing GOTM10, I thought GOTM11 was going to be tough. I expected a Deity game and planned my ICS growth.

I then started GOTM11 with no set winning strategy. I decided to take it as it comes, but to leave my options open.

After building my first warrior, I switched to a temple, as this seems necessary for Emperor. After scouting a bit with the warrior, I met the Chinese. They were friendly and traded a few things. I scouted Beijing just a few tiles off, just to see the first Chinese settler heading my way. Straight for my horses. Quickly realised that I'm going to be squashed as I could not grow fast enough to produce settlers to push them back with my cheap culture.

So I decided on a strategy. An early archer attack. Switched my temple production to barracks and got 4 archers out. I took the first Chinese city and settled my own in a bit better place to cover the horses.

I then added a few spearmen to my archers and some chariots, just for variety! I attacked Beijing and took it with small losses. I traded a few techs with France after scouting them with my regular warrior. After seeing the map, I went for full-scale attack against China. Got horseback riding from the French and switched to horse production. It didn't take much effort to kill china completely.

I switched to galley production after getting their world map. Neglected harbours and rushed most of them. Built quite a few of them.

About this time I met the Germans. They trade with me maps and communication, but were technology wise behind. I got the Germans and Persians on my side with ROP for some old tech, and kept attacking.

I landed in Rome and then killed the Germans in a few turns. The Persians were very helpful with their immortals. I immediately turned on the Persians and conquered their cities. I ROP betrayal of the Persians and took them in two turns. Killed an immortal army as well. They got one city left with no iron.

It's early, should I milk or should I kill?

The worst AI performance I've ever seen.

DECIDED TO KILL!

 

[Kaiser_Berger]

This was my first ever game on small map at this difficulty, and wow, i was suprised at first, i didn't expect to see the chinese so early.....to make matters worse, when i explored the goody hut to the north, i got barbarians, which destroyed my warrior, and then came down to Kyoto and one took all my gold, another took my pop down to one, and the last destroyed my work on temple....so basically, i was back at 4000 bc....lol.....i managed to build only four cities on our island, but thats where the religeous trait came in handy....i built temples in all my cities as soon as possible, and out of the 8 cities the Chinese built, i flipped three of them, effectively doubling my territory....i'm not sure what direction i'm going to go now....i don't think i'll have much success if i try to conquer the island, so despite being drastically behind in tech, i'm gona try to get to the UN first, seeing as though i have China, France, and Rome all gracious with me....i guess i'll see which way the ball bounces

 

[Mathias]

I expected this GOTM to be on a small map at either Monarch or Emperor level, and being religious I was planning to go for cuture from the start. It hasn't quite gone that way, but all victory conditions are still within reach.

I didn't think the start position looked too bad until I built my city and saw only more desert. I built two warriors, then started temple. First warrior went northwest and found a river, some horses, and the locals gave maps of the area.

I see the Chinese border, so I switch to barracks 'cause I know I'll need some archers soon. I traded the wheel for warrior code, gold, and a worker to help build irrigation. I continue up the coast with my warrior and find a French warrior. I trade warrior code and wheel for masonry, alphabet, and gold.

I had 3 vet. archers ready to take Shanghai when some barbs came out from the southeast. I turned my archers around and took out the barbs first. By the time my archers get back to Shanghai, I have discovered iron working and have a settler and spearman ready to build on the horses. One archer cut the road to the iron, then the next attacks the city and destroys it. The third archer killed a chinese warrior. A couple turns later China asks for peace, and I get writing, pottery, and mysticism from them.

I keep a peace for a while. I have 4 cities on the main continent, and have to study map making because the french won't sell it to me. I was first to land on the island to the southeast, and built next to the horses there. Before I get my second settler over there, France, China, and Rome all three land on the same turn. I got a third settler over there, and the island is full. Three cities of mine, and one each of theirs.

I started building Oracle in my capital, and Colossus in another city, and researched literature. The Oracle was completed, so I switched to the Lighthouse. I switched to the Library when I could, but France built it first, so I went back to the Lighthouse. I finished Colossus and Lighthouse, and that was all the Wonders available to anyone. I fell behind in tech, and wasn't able to buy techs either.

After completing city improvements on the mainland, I started mass producing swordsmen and horsemen. I declared war on the chinese, and took their city on the island. France refused to ally with me, so I declared war on them too, and took their city as well. Two turns later, I signed peace with France and bought currency, the last ancient tech that I needed. I took two more Chinese cities, then got feudalism for peace. They didn't give me a chance to take my troups out, so we were right back at war. I didn't take anymore cities, but 5 turns later I sued for peace and got monotheism. I declared war on Rome, and took their city on my island. I now control all six cities on the island. Rome wouldn't give me chivalry for peace, so I will have to punish them until they do.

The chinese have built the Sistine Chapel, I will take it as soon as I get chivalry. Paris has build the Pyramids, the Great Library, and Sun Tzus's. Seems like not getting the Library myself is going to turn out for the better, once I capture Paris. I'll take my time though, and destroy the Chinese first. I want to get maximum techs from France's Great Library.

I'll probably keep going for a domination victory, but I haven't made up my mind yet, it's still a long way off.

 

[Cartouche Bee]

Well the start position will cause some players problems but a reasonably sound strategy should get them out trouble.

This played faster than any even an OCC, first time I finished the game on release day. I never made it out of the ancient age even though I had the Great Library and met all the other civs. With the respawn off and a such a small map reminds me why I stopped playing these.

Good Luck!

CB

 

[Yndy]

OK now I know that it's not that my playing style improved, but it was a real easy game. I did get to use my samurai unlike the best of you. I conquered my island with swordsmen and horsemen, took a rest to build galleys until I got samurai and then attacked the germans, but the romans declared war.

I then had some rough moments:
One: Six samurai got redlined in front of Berlin completely surrounded by enemies.
Two: 12 Samurai were lost when Neapolis flipped back.
Three: I razed Neapolis on the second takeover attempt and I had some 20 redlined Samurai in enemy territory without ANY spot for them to heal.

Later I took Rome and it all went smoothly until the last turn when the last chinese town on the SE island had 6 or 7 defenders and I only had three attackers.

Overall I think I lost some 15 turns due to the above mentioned problems but I got a conquest before 1000AD. My first conquest, and my highest score ever.

It was short but I loved it.

 

[thefrenchzulu]

Originally posted by Cartouche Bee
This played faster than any even an OCC, first time I finished the game on release day. I never made it out of the ancient age even though I had the Great Library and met all the other civs. With the respawn off and a such a small map reminds me why I stopped playing these.
CB [/B]

I agree. This game was just too fast. My OCC attempt took about 4 hours. This GOTM took just more than 3 hours. I also never play small maps. Now know why.

Recon my game went the same as yours. Very, very fast. Faster than gotm10's pangea map. At least there I got some resistance!

On the bright side, I did kill an AI army!

 

[Serg]

You are very fast guys!
I played more then 8 hours but not ended yet. I quickly wiped out China and France but wasn't hurry with Rome and Germany (Persia was taken by Germany). They are seen strong enough and Germany have an army. Now I prepare to war and settle more lands. I control 4 island of 5 known for me and have 26 cities.
I will be ready to blitz war ~10AD.

 

[thefrenchzulu]

I must admit that the planning and background reading took about as much time as playing the game! Have never played the Japanese nor small maps. It took some careful early planning, before I started with the more serious matters at hand.

 

[BCLG100]

i think the most important thing to do is get the chinese out of the way early

 

[Melinder]

Well, I had my a$$ handed to me on a platter with Chinese food to go.

 

[Cartouche Bee]

If the AI could make slightly better use of their terrain they would have a better chance against the human.

I marked two red squares in the French territory.

Lyon's was built on horses which may have been handy at the time but the square I marked would have been alot better. Also, why mine plains? The city cannot grow because they mined 3 plains, those cattle would have made a huge difference to this city.

This is an emperor game and they have still not hooked up to the spices? One of the first things I had to do, was hook up the dyes!

Too bad the AI doesn't have a little more insight on how to play the game, a win could have been alot harder on this map. I doubt that winning against humans (with the AI unit bonus at the start) on this map would have been possible.

CB

 

[cracker]

CB,

My French AI was one notch smarter than your French AI.



but note that they both had still missed the spices.

I find the comparison of our two maps very interesting. This screen shot that I have posted is from 1100 BC which is just 3 turns later than your image and I can see you took a different approach and have already been at war with Joan in attempt to force her to be your sex slave.

One thing we have to be careful about is interpreting the AI city positions under conditions where the AI is just using free choice versus when the AI is perturbed by the presence of our units or the units of other civs or barbs. I know that one of my early strategies is just to be in the way enough to mess up or slow down the AI's progress even when I am not necessarily strong enough to intervene directly.

Notice also a couple of really amazing things:

1) over by Lyons, the AI seemed to make an extra effort to avoid running a road through the cow squares (maybe Joan was affraid of anthrax).

2) the cities of Paris are both at pop 7 and this must effectively be maxed out with zero luxuries on Emporer level. The way I see the happiness count is 1 born content, 2 military police and maybe 1 temple. The AI took the Paris position which was so powerful that you or I would have been in charge of the world and turned it in poop for brains central.

Can't wait to compare notes with you on our little surprise when we get ready to announce things to the public later this week.

 

[Bamspeedy]

2) the cities of Paris are both at pop 7 and this must effectively be maxed out with zero luxuries on Emporer level. The way I see the happiness count is 1 born content, 2 military police and maybe 1 temple. The AI took the Paris position which was so powerful that you or I would have been in charge of the world and turned it in poop for brains central.

The AI doesn't play by the same rules we do. No matter what difficulty level you play, the AI uses Regent rules for how many citizens are born content, combat vs barbarians and what they get from goody huts. Look in the editor, I believe under the General Settings tab. There is a slot that says 'Default AI Intelligence'.

If you mod a game, set this to chieftain for a very difficult AI, and on Deity for a real easy AI.

 

[Cartouche Bee]

Cracker,

I'm glad to see that the AI does play different at times. In my game I still don't understand why the French built those cites in jungles on the other side of the continent, it seemed triggered by my first win against the Chinese, they arrived on the scene with amazing speed. Also, Joan must of used up all her smarts hooking up to the iron.

The game started off looking real bad but the tide changed rapidly. I think in the endgame playback that at one point the Chinese had 7 cities, French 6 cities and I had 3 cities. (About 1600 BC)

I think I focused more on the game situation than actual productivity.

Bamspeedy,

Of course you're right but Paris never did get about size 7 (and it had time to build 2 Great Wonders though) till I took it over.


CB

 

[thefrenchzulu]

I've got no saves or pics for this era, but the my had the same building position as Cracker, but the spices were connected! They also managed the Pyramids, unlike with CB who I noticed rushed it! A FB in Paris would have been nicer once they completed the Pyramids I think?

I also took out the Chinese first, very muc like Cracker. I gave the French the opportunity to complete the Pyramids.