GOTM 40 Final Spoiler - end game submitted

[7Losses]

I think I will get the booby prize for this one. Having tried to go for a domination but was waay too slow I realised that Persia was going to get a space victory. My first line of though? Nuke the smeg out of them but that didn't slow them down enough and they were also going to get a histographic victory.

I then had to see whether ROP abuse was allowed in the rules. It was so I got ROP and captured thier capitol destroying their almost finished spaceship.

Then realised that they were going to get a histographic win! doh, So Im only left with a space victory which I get in erm 2048..

 

[k-a-bob]

I think I will get the booby prize for this one.

At least you won!

This is my first GOTM, so maybe I get some slack!

I royally screwed up somewhere along the line, so to protect myself I signed MPP with the 2 biggest left thinking they would never attack each other! Surely not! Then the Persians dowed Egypt and invaded first so I had to dow Persia.

They took my spots on their continent and then the SE Island and razed it while I started to hunker down in my island fortress when I saw Egypt build the UN.
The vote came the next turn, sealing my fate.
Egypt wins.

So I'm replaying it now using a lot of the techniques I've learned about on this site and I've wiped out the Zulu taking all their land and MAed against the Babs since they sneak attacked me. Dogpile on them while I crank up research which has been fully funded through my bartering techniques! And I'm up 2-7 techs on everyone.

No way I'm losing this time around
PS - I'm taking the same routes I took in the first time I played it so as to not gain an advantage in knowing where land masses were. (Plus, I just settled on the opening spot instead of moving.)
It'll be interesting to check my official score against my second go around.

 

[Paul#42]

Start to research Military Tradition in 4 (2.6.2)
We got coal - but no workers ready Reaching Industrial Age really caught me buy surprise.
There are some MA techs to research left... I need to learn the rules...

980 AD upgrade some horsemen to knights - kill some Immortals.

1010 AD Researched Military Tradition. Now Industrialization in 6 (1.7.2)
Phocaea founded near saltpetre on island south of Zulu.

1090 Ad Researched Industrialization. Now Electricity in 10 (2.6.2)

1120 AD Romans and Cartaghe give me 10gpt, spices for Alliance against Persia...

1150 AD Roman City Veji(7) admire our culture in Megara (4) and flip

1190 AD Researched Electricity. Now Medicine in 8 (3.5.2)

around 1200 AD: Great Wall trouble
PTw crashed after a catapult bombarded. Reloaded from Autosave 1200 AD.
Again. Seems to be reproducable. Reloaded from Autosave 1190 AD.
Always with the same catapult, Ptw crashes. Try to find out if it is really the same every time...

It's always the second catapult after population went down to size 6. Maybe it is destroying some building... Next time I stop after downsizing Pasargadae.
This time I tried to destroy some modernisation - the crash happened the next time I got a hit. I hope this won't happen with every city or also with trebs or canons...

As I was able to take hp from units with catapults before, I will go back to an earlier save, if this terror continues.
Before, I will try to switch off animation while attacking with catapults...
Didn't work. Crashed again

This seems to be a bug, happening if you attack a civ with Great Wall. The wall is chosen to get destroyed.
MOTH and Ainwood for advice. I stopped attacking Persia with catapults.
Finding out that cost me some reloads in this era. Hope this didn't disqualify my attempt.​

1255 AD Researched Medicine. Sparta builds Leonardo's, Athens Adam Smith's.

1285 AD Researched Scientific Method.

1370 Ad founded Sicyon in Persian territory. razed some persian cities.

1375 AD founded Gortyn. Desperately waiting for a leader to rush Forbidden Palace...

1400 AD defeated Persia.

1415 AD founded Mytilene.

IBT Arabs declare, capture Sidon.

1420 AD Capture Sidon back. Sign in Romans.

1450 AD declare war on Carthage. Sign in Rome. Bad luck with some fights. Wasn't my best idea, I guess...
capture Susa (5)

1455 AD capture Persepolis (9), Tyre (4)

1460 AD researched Replacable Parts.
capture Oea (4), Theveste (12)

1470 AD capture Rusicade (8). Weak counterattacks.

1475 AD capture Utica (12). Still no leader...

1480 AD capture Hadrumetum (6). Carthage down to 5 cities.

1485 AD We get a leader!!! Rush forbidden Palace in Persepolis.
And a second leader on the same turn... build an army.

1500 AD founded Syracuse. Got a third leader. Rush Hoover in Syracuse

1505 AD capture Arabic city Anjar (5). built Hoover. Capture Carthagian Leptis Minor (11).

1515 AD capture Leptis Magna (12) with Bach's.

1520 AD capture Cartaghe (12) with Pyramids.
Carthagians down to small Island city Cardiz (2). Did not find that one...

IBT Ansar kills my injured army

1540 AD Capture arabian Bagdad (7) with Sun Tzu.

1560 Ad capture Najran. Arabia down to one city.
Backstab Rome. I cancel ROP, peace, some trades - some roman knights are injured, I can't stand the oportunity. Bad boy... Diplomacy victory should be no option anymore...
Capture Mecca (10) which Rome had just taken from Arabs. Kill seven roman knights.

1565 AD capture Basra, Arabia has ceased to exist.

IBT Babylon backstabs me. Damn, they owed me 9 turns of 105gpt...

1575 AD Capture roman Antium (6). Sign in Zulus against Babs for wine.

1590 AD capture Neapolis (9), Pisa (7), Rome (7).
capture Cadiz, eliminating Cartagho.

1595 AD cannot land on 2-tile-Roman island. So I make peace, getting this island. Immediatly backstab Rome...
God, am I mean...
capture Pompeii, deleting Rome from the map. Last kill is rewarded with a leader. Rush ToE in Pompeii.

1600 AD built ToE. Researched Combustion, Mass Production.

1635 AD somewhere here I should have researched Motorized Transportation.
Tanks speed up progress.

1640 AD declare war on Zulus. Capture Bapedi (6).

1645 AD Persepolis built Women's Suffrage.

1655 AD researched Flight.

1675 AD Eliminated Zulus.

1680 AD Researched Sanitation

1685 AD declare war on Egypt. Capture several Egypt and Babylonian Cities. Get a great leader - can't use him as no city is near.

1690 AD domination victory. After 24 hours playing time.
Firaxis score: 2410
Jason score: 5962



Some bad luck:
Catapults against Great Wall - lesson learned.
waiting for leaders - It took me till 1485 AD to make persian soil fertile.

Several bad mistakes:
- too slow research. I should learn to use the AI civs.
- too slow expansion. I stayed on my island too long. Should have shipped to Persia more early.
And I should have jumped my capital to Persian continent - but I don't like that.
What kind of civilization disbands her prospering capital?!?
- not aggressive enough. I should be more decisive in making war.
I tend to waste too much time waiting for opportunities.

good things:
learned a lot about Ptw. First Ptw game ever finished. Not my last.

 

[denyd]

Paul#42: Did the target of your bombardments have the Great Wall? I seem to remember that bombarding a city belonging to the owner of the Great Wall causes a crash when the result comes out to have the city walls destroyed (impossible for the Great Wall owner). The same is probably true for the owner of the Pyramids (granary to be destroyed) or Temple of Artemis (temple destroyed), but I haven't heard that reported yet.

 

[SpiffyKeen7744]

Spoiler #1 Post
Spoiler #2 Post

As I said in Spoiler #2, most of the interesting stuff happened for me in the IA. I decided to go the way of Artillery and Infantry. This started with Cannons, Riflemen, and later Cavalry when the home islands starting producing them. I finished off the Egyptians and then the Zulu with Cannons. I also got a leader (I think against the Zulu), which I used to make the FP on the continent. Right as I finished the Zulu off, I got Replaceable Parts (before the Persians!). This made the siege of the final continent much, much easier. It even cost less to upgrade than did Catapults/Hoplites -> Cannons/Riflemen. The Persians had taken out the Romans, and before I was done with the Zulu, the Persians had taken out the Carthiginians. The Arabs were far behind and I got them last using only left over Cavalry. No need for Artillery against Pikemen and Musketmen. The other benefit of fighting with Artillery and Infantry is that Railroads are usually available and in use. Persia made the conquest faster by building Railroads. I had trouble with Persia's capitol, so I cut it off from the other cities and saved it for last. See the timeline.

I don't even have a picture of the Persian Capitol with troops near it, but I did find one in the aftermath. For the Arabs, the issue almost came down to how fast I could build railroads to their cities. See here

 

[Paul#42]

Paul#42: Did the target of your bombardments have the Great Wall? I seem to remember that bombarding a city belonging to the owner of the Great Wall causes a crash when the result comes out to have the city walls destroyed (impossible for the Great Wall owner). The same is probably true for the owner of the Pyramids (granary to be destroyed) or Temple of Artemis (temple destroyed), but I haven't heard that reported yet.

Yes, as you can read in detail around 1200 AD, I tried to bomb some Persian City, Persia had the Great Wall.
After Carthage captured Persepolis , I could bomb Persian cities without trouble.
Persepolis I rather took without ctapults later...

I think this can prove Ainwoods theory of Great Wonders causing great trouble.

Can someone document this at the right place for Ptw problems?

 

[7Losses]

What really ticked me off K-a-Bob is that I just royally screwed up the entire game, being able to get a spaceship victory about 100 earlier or a UN victory. It is quite annoying only just winning considering I can win on Emperor level, and has also won a couple of demi-god.

I'd considered burying my head in the sand and not submitting but I thought what the smeg, why not!

 

[7Losses]

Pardon my poor england

 

[SirPleb]

1.27 Predator

Link to Ancient Age spoiler
Link to Middle Ages spoiler

When I entered the Industrial Age in 1330AD I'd already been at the domination limit for some time and had just one rival left - Babylon, with two towns.

In 1350 I had Babylon down to one boxed-in island town and gave her peace.

I did a "2% milk run". I'd started this game late and had planned on playing a quick one but found myself now doing a milk run. It took a long time to do one at all, I couldn't afford the time to squeeze every last point out.

I researched Steam Power to begin railroading. Then researched to Replaceable Parts for faster workers. Then a side trip to Sanitation for Hospitals, then the Corporation for Stock Exchanges. I was easily able to maintain four turn research, with enough gold left over to maintain complete happiness and to have a fair bit for rushing builds.

I built lots of workers and settlers in corrupt towns, then did some massive replacements of bad territory for better land. I wasn't very choosy, just threw away obviously bad holdings and settled where it looked good.

After learning The Corporation I rushed builds in the corrupt regions - aqueducts, harbors, and marketplaces where necessary.

To do a quicker milk run I built hospitals only where there was no way to work the available land via extra towns, i.e. cities with a lot of water tiles. Having few cities over size 12 meant little pollution. After rushing the last city improvements I turned on research again, researched to Ecology, and then built Mass Transits in the cities which had hospitals.

And finally, got a histographic victory in 2050AD

 

[Xerol]

Open 1.29f 1908ish Domination

After failing to get a low scoring Domination victory last month, I was determined to get it for sure this month. Didn't seem like it would be the case, however. In retrospect, I should have waited until Modern Armor or at least Tanks came out before leaving my own island, but with the way the Babylonians and Persians were raging I might've ended up losing by domination without ever going to war.

Combined Summary:
AA: Settled around the local islands; got the Lighthouse so that was a big boost and found some of the other small islands around. Hooked up wines within 6 turns of getting Map Making. Lost 4 Suicide Galleys and 2 more to the Barbs.

Middle Ages: Traded with rome for Saltpeter once they had it and went to town with Cavalry on Egypt, then the Zulu. Was on-and-off with Persia the whole game, from 4 turns after making contact until the endgame I don't think there was more than 50 turns of peace.

IA: Once I got rifles I prepared for war with Babylon. They ended up declaring on me after signing a deal with Persia, breaking their MPP with me, oddly enough. (I hadn't landed any units on Persian soil, and they hadn't crossed the waters to attack me either.) This dragged on for quite a while.

Modern Ages: Went RIGHT for Synthetic Fibers; winning quickly would be necessary to get a low score. Babs fell soon after a mass upgrade; went to 0% research at that point(used a scientist to get Computers, however).

I should mention that I only knew Rome and Persia from the other continent; Carthage and the arabs had been wiped out before I met them. Looks like the Legions and Immortals were in a stalemate, because neither Rome nor Persia wanted to attack one
another.

Anyway, I had a city in former Zulu territory that was close enough to bomb a Persian city with bombers, so that formed my beachhead, and once I got an airport rushed in there(I was raking in close to 1000 gpt at this point) Persia started falling fast. Once I got minaturisation I rushed Offshore Platforms in my home core, each city getting quite a few shields(augmented by Factories and Hydro/Solar plants).

I got only my fourth leader of the game(out of 103 elite victories--74 after getting Heroic Epic) when Persia was reduced to about half of former Carthage, and used it to rush The Internet in a random captured city. 5 Turns later, Domination victory, as all of the culture gaps filled.

20xx Firaxis, 41xx Jason. (Don't remember numbers from top of head.) I don't know how I managed to get a HIGHER Jason score than last month, though. Diplo had a huge bonus as well, although I think that's mostly to adjust for the lower difficulty multiplier with Monarch. If I don't get the shield this month, I'll come back to it after picking up Diplo, 20k, and Conquest awards, which I should be able to do with 1 or 5CCs. 5CC Conquest is looking good for this month, assuming we can find Iron. Might keep 20k open as an option as well. I don't think there's a Histographic shield; however, I'm going to get that one month as well to augment the other 6 awards.

 

[Niklas]

predator.

Link to MA spoiler.

My goal from the beginning was either space or diplomacy. Since I effectively ran out of time, diplomacy was the only feasible option.

Entered IA in 840 AD, in a golden age. I managed 4-6 turn research through IA, being hampered by the lack of a second core. Athens was set up as a real super science center, with the Colossus, Copernicus' and Newton's. All the other towns built libraries, universities and (late) commercial docks.

Entered the MA in 1375, switched Hoover Dam pre-build to UN, ETA 5 turns. Diplomatic victory in 1400, Firaxis 2690, Jason 7127.

I thought I did really crappy in this game, still I was only 3 turns behind Redbad, so I can't be that bad after all.
Still, the key to a fast win in this game was definitely a second core. Reading the spoilers by Bradleyfeanor and Sir Pleb leaves no doubt that they could have beaten this date by a gazillion turns had either of them aimed for diplomacy. Expansion is the key to success...

 

[Abegweit]

The Crap War

I entered the Industrial Ages at the beginning of a campaign to take over the Crap (Carthaginian-Roman-Arab-Persian) continent. I connected horses and saltpeter in Persia but only horses at home, allowing me to build Horsemen in the Home Islands and upgrade them to Cavalry in Persia. The Crapolians were no match for the Greek hordes and one country after another fell. The last was the Arabs and the continent was mine. Only one Persian settler survived the onslaught and went to make a little fishing village in the iron island south of Sand Bar.

I got an early leader who was used to rush Leo’s in Athens. This might have cost me a year or two in the end but it sure made conquest easier. After about 40 more elite victories without seeing another, two leaders appeared back to back during the Arab campaign. One was used to rush an FP in (some Carthaginian town with an impossible name) and the other went back to Athens to build Shakespeare’s. The final conquest of the entire Crap continent took place around 1400. This placed me a few dozen tiles below domination limit. I note, with some (just a little) frustration, that my Jason score would have been higher had I crossed it instead of working for a 20K which would not come until centuries later. This despite having spent thousands of years concentrating on culture over growth. Something seems wrong here, folks..


Research and growth in the capital

My free tech was Medicine so I immediately researched Sanitation in order to rush a hospital in Athens and grow to size 20. Next I went to industrialization to get rails and factories. Both a factory and a coal plant were rushed. Many workers were bled off the villages in the home islands in order to immediately rail everything around Athens the second we learned how to build them. Most then went off to Crap in build up that continent. An even dozen remained behind to deal with pollution. I then went back to the Middle Ages to get Free Artistry. From industrialization on, research took place at the 4-turn rate right until the end of the game.


Fishing in Zeb

The next phase of the game consisted of long wars against the people of the Zeb continent with the objective of getting leaders to speed things up at home. I had been in a phoney war with the Zulus for a thousand years. It was time to make this war real. I started by bringing my friend Cleo into the conflict (against me natch ). I tried to entice her to declare war but she was just too nice, so I settled the problem by grabbing a couple of her luxes. For the rest of the game, the Egyptians and Zulus sent about two troops per round out to be slaughtered by my elite cavalry and (later) tanks. Throughout this phase we were about a couple of dozen tiles from the domination limit.

I did not push since I wanted real opponents to send up troops for the slaughter. I think that I managed about three leaders this way. All were sent back to Athens to build wonders.

At the same time, the Crapolians built many closely-packed cities and filled them with libraries and other infrastructure to help move things along. This was sufficient to keep up the research rate.

I could show you one of the many wonder screens from Athens but I thought that I would show this one up instead. Did anyone else do this?

Hamilton turned out to be my second most powerful city (after glorious Athens of course!). She turned out every city improvement in the game, as well as several cavs to go leader-fishing down in ZEB.

I had seriously bad luck when I entered the Modern Era. I drew Ecology as my free tech. Crap! I had already run out of things to build in Athens and now this! Could it not have been computers or fission instead? So I gifted the Persians and the Babylonians into the era too. (well, actually I had to gift them into the IA first Result: they both drew ecology too!

It doesn't really make much difference, I suppose. I was really surprised at how little benefit I got from all the effort to get Industrial and Modern Wonders. I would guess they probably shaved about 20 or 30 years off my final victory date. In fact it might have been better to to make a beeline for Shakepeare's instead of industrialization and just coast to the end.


Wonders

Anyway, my objective was to get wonders and I got 'em. In spades. Athens was the marvel of the world. She had built every wonder of the first three era except The Pyramids, Sun-Tzu’s, and The Great Wall and had the last of the modern wonders in process when the game ended. I got a bit aggressive in the last few rounds, moving to the attack against the Zulus in the hope of getting one last leader to finish it off for the style points. It didn't work out. Oh well.


Colossus 1625BC
Oracle 1075 BC
Great Lighthouse 630BC
Great Library 190 BC
Hanging Gardens 10 AD

Sistine Chapel 610
Copernicus' 860
JS Bach's 1150
Leo's 1180
Newton's 1310
Smith's 1410
Shakespeare's 1415
Magellan's 1445

Universal Suffrage 1470
ToE 1500
Hoover Dam 1555
United Nations 1665
Manhattan Project 1675
Internet 1740
Cure for Cancer 1774
Seti 1745

Here's a pic of the war zone where I leader-fished. Cleo just loved to move cavalry into position for slaughter just south of Heliopolis. I think she was trying to get to unprotected cities further to the east. I'm not sure but it obviously didn't work. Didn't stop her trying over and over again. On the left side, you can see one of the Zulu cities I took out in at the end. They were razed to prevent going over the domination limit.

Athens

 

[stefwan]

im nearing 1900, lost the UN by 1 turn to carthage about 10 turns ago. I think..feel free to prove me wrong..that the only victory condition i can make now (which is the one i was going for anyway) is diplomatic. I have nowhere near 25% of either total population or landmass despite somehow being 2nd in population. I havent been at war even once all game and all civs are gracious at the moment. I just shipped 8 tanks and 4 mech infantry and have them fortified outside the UN city. If i take the city, will i be elligible for the vote? If not then i am so screwed :/

any help appreciated, thanks.

stef

 

[civ_steve]

The owner of the UN get's to call the vote and is automatically one of the candidates. In some circumstances more than 2 civs may be elibible for the UN vote, but it's usually just the UN owner and the 'largest' non-UN owner civ, and I believe that's in population and territory, calculated over time.

If you build the UN, you get the option to call a vote that turn, and every 10 turns or so afterwards. If you capture the UN, I believe you have to hold it for 10 turns before you get the option to call a vote. Declaring War on someone while in their territory will cause great damage to your reputation! Especially if a ROP is in effect. You might be able to overcome that by allying everyone else with you after the fact. Safer to be outside their territory, declare War after all deals have expired, get everyone else allied, capture UN.

 

[stefwan]

just needed to make sure that i would get to be in the vote! The first vote i had 3 out of 6 as other dude voted himself and 2 abstains - I was at war with them both (one to get the UN and one who had MPP with him). However Rome - who only declared war through MPP were gracious by next vote and i got a 4/6 majority with babylon voting for himself and carthage abstaining - all at war with the idiot