GOTM #8 *Spoilers* Thread

[Fossil]

Hey all,

Thanks for the comments on my site. Tree museum admission is in Euros these days

God, it looks like we did start off similarly. One difference as we went along - I must have made more workers, because I scrubbed the jungle *clean*. The only tiles in my entire core that I didn't get value from were a few mountain tiles that were inaccessible.

 

[graeme]

I took a bit of a different approach this game. I didn't have an effectual war until panzers. However, I was able to completely take over the French territory by making about a dozen settlers, signing an ROP and waiting while Russia and England totally demolished the French (at my urging)

As Russia/England took over or razed French cities, gaps appeared where I instantly planted cities! By the time France was defeated, I had supplanted her entire nation under the noses of the Russians!

After that it was easy to take over the rest of the continent with panzers, since Russia and England were boxed in....

I ended up with a domination victory around 1949.

 

[Gregski]

3880 pts, 1858 AD, Domination
Well my strategy was this:
I used the forest bonus to quickly get a granary in Berlin. At this stage I was about 2 cities behind everybody else. With the granary, I was able to create a lot of cities, but still not much of a superpower. When the French started conquering the English I joined the plunder and conquered about 6 English cities on the North of England plus two cities on the two small islands using cavalry. Waited till Panzers for my next attack. When they arrived, I took out the 10 or so Indian cities and just as I was finishing them off, the ****** French declared war on me. ...To their cost, because all the armies I used to run over the Indians quickly returned to the motherland and crushed everything the French threw at them, which wasn't an awful lot to be honest...
Luckily the French captured Moscow (containing SunTzu) so I captured the crucial wonder without ever declaring war against my umm friend Russia (I owned about 4 cities originally built by the Russians. Eventually settled down to building the spaceship, but triggered the domination.

 

[LKendter]

1830 AD, Domination, ~3800 pts.


I quickly realized this was the type of games I hate - Culturally linked.

The first key event was in the BC time frame when I refused a demand from a polite England.
War started - I burned all cash - allied with Russia, then Russia got France to join in.
In the end - it cost me no cities - however, France has loved me since.

I lost more in the BC time frame to Vet Spearman escorted settlers finding stacks of horseman as I filled in the North.

Around 800 AD - England made contact with the east. The other Island turned out to be the Asian group.
I was still busy filling in the north at this time.

1100 AD - The first major war begin. Rails had just begun, and Russian troops begin pouring over the border.
I sign MPP with England and France. Demand Russia leave - war, they attack.
It is now the world vs. Russia. I enter a golden ages just as this starts, when I have to switch to Newtons after losing the race for Smith's. We rate the largest nation already.
1140 AD - The first Russian city fall.
1220 AD - sees the first German leader - in such an akward spot, it will take several turns to use him.
The 1200 sees several rushed factories, thats to $500/turn during the GA.
1330 AD - Suffrage completes - since the republic is starting to suffer ww - we are very happy to get it.
1355 AD - Every war has a critical juncture - the capture of Rostov is this one.
Russia loses it's last saltpeter souce, and I find junk as the BEST defenders.
1390 AD - One of the fastest culture flips I ever saw. I own the town just 2 turns, and Sevastopol flips
Multiple units lost I didn't even have time to empty the city yet. I raze that city to the ground in revenge.
However, the 4 cavalry lost were a big chunk of the attacking force!
I was doing a one city at a time push through Russia, why I got factories and infastructure on-line.
1445 AD - France is an idiot, and declares war. Nothing gained except tripping my MPP with England.
The have cut themselves off what I believe is there ONLY source of Coal and Iron.
1455 AD - Moscow falls, and we own the Sistine Chappel
1505 AD - We RAZE St. Pete - Russia is dead, War Weariness should be solved.
1510 AD - I buy refining, at we have just ONE oil source - on the Ice Island to the northeast.
(I) We get the ToE - Hoover Dam is ordered.
1520 AD -
(I) China destroys India.
1540 AD - I decide to ally with England vs. France. I need a diversion to keep going.
Maybe the English can lose a few more cities to the France, so that I can "liberate" them.
This has been the ultimate in frustrated with RnG game.
Every elite seems to be dying the very next fight.
Still only one leader despite fighting forever.
(I) I get hit with the total BS flip - A city with ZERO French cities nearby, flips back.
1595 AD -
(I) The Hoover Dam is OURS!
1655 AD -
(I) China / France mpp - you know what is coming next.
1660 AD - I counter with a Japan MPP.
Oreans is captured - we know own Smith's.
Japan declares war on France.
1690 AD - After an obscene drought - Richtoffen appears - instant army.
1695 AD - We have a victorious army. Besancon is captured.
1735 AD - Japan declares war.
Time for a revolution - ww is becoming a pain after 1000 years of fighting in Republic.
We finally have enough troops that we can avoid to be without production.
1750 AD - I learned something brand new - If you a doing a 40 turn, 1 scientest play - you can finish researching during anarchy!
1766 AD - Finally, France is DEAD.
1786 AD - WAR begins with England.
1794 AD - England is DEAD - they collapsed a lot faster then I expected.
1802 AD - We take the first city from Japan. Our next leader finally appears, and rushes a harbor there.
1812 AD - We caputre Izumo, we get another leader - instant library.
1818 AD - Sometimes the RnG can be real wierd. I loss a cavalry army, but get a leader to build a new cavalry army.
1830 AD - GAME OVER - domination win, I never even saw a panzer


This game showed how much one thing can drive the game.

I was selling Iron to France and gaining all types of techs, plus good cash flow for Iron.
It ended at when France declared war, but this got me into the Industrial age in a very strong position.


If you enjoy reading games in this format, click the link in my signature.

 

[Matrix]

I lost the space race.

The start was plain bad. I had war with the English for a long time with effect that I couldn't expand fast enough. So I was pretty small in the beginning. Then the Russians and a little later the English were destroyed (by almost the whole rest of the world together) and with that I was able to seize more land. Then the only problem was I was far behind in technology.

When there was finally a good stable peace on the planet I was able to get technology at a faster/normal rate. I went for a space race victory; I don't even know who won (probably the French), but they were just 6 turns before me.

I got a lousy score too.

 

[Cartouche Bee]

Recap of GOTM 8

2710 BC. China captures Delhi! India never recovers.
310-450 AD Germany-Russian War
650 AD Germany attacks English and Russians
680 AD Russia destroyed
690 AD Germany attacks French
710 AD English removed from main continent
800 AD English destroyed
880 AD French destroyed
880 AD Main continent controlled
1080 AD Beachhead city founded on second continent
1090 AD China attacks Germans
1230 AD Beachhead established near Japan on west coast of second continent.
1260 AD Germans destroy Indians - China almost removed from second continent.
1280 AD Japanese attack Germans
1295 AD Japanese are Destroyed
1305 AD Second continent secured
2049 AD Chinese Destroyed.

I have included my position at 900 AD (from the endgame summary) in the following endgame graphics. I also fleeced the game out of another 11 points for producing 27 future techs, definitely not an exploit.

CB

 

[Lucky]

Once again I started late but I´m confident I can finish in time again.

Another GREAT game, I just love the Germans.

It started with the all out settler production and colonization in the early days, almost built no defensive nor offensive units at all, just for exploration. This resulted 3 or 4 times in a super babarian raid.
But since I spent my gold to buy techs I didn´t have much to lose. And the cities sacked were small and undeveloped too. Barb camp hunting turned out to be the decisive factor in keeping up tech-wise in the early game. In the late BC´s it even gave me the opportunity to set up a force of about 8 swordmen with a few accompanying horsemen to attack Russia. I captured most of their cities but razed Moscow to rebuilt it in the probably greatest city site I´ve had in all my games so far!

Meanwhile France was busy building all the wonders (only Great Wall and Oracle were built by the Chinese and Japanese), I was busy expanding even more and starting to build my tech lead. (well more like equal with France but ahead of the others)
I manually built Sun Tzu and later Copernicus as well as Newton. Sun Tzu was the decisive factor for the next invasion, England this time.
Newly upgraded royal knights advanced with astonishing speed and wiped out the British "empire" in only a few turns. An arctic hideout fell last.
The French had made a 3-4 tech lead again. We researched eagerly and bought hastily to keep up, but had our own goal, militarism!
Having attained that knowledge, a new plan was set, Invasion of France!!!
Just like against the British and the meanwhile totally exterminated Russians, we let them declare war by being insulting and demanding a leave of their units. Once they did what we wanted, the newly established Cavalry forces advanced.
Even though we successfully neglected them Saltpeter and therefore Musketeers, the fight was hard and long. Slowly pressing forward and getting constant reinforcements by highly productive cities eventually led to the expelling of France from the mainland. They had a few outposts on the arctic isle´s though.
We graciously let them live, made peace for magnetism and changed to Democracy.
So before long, the main goals were achieved. But we needed more luxuries to keep our people happy. The other civs were too reluctant to trade at reasonable prices, so another small war was unavoidable.
The Japanese were the only target, since they possessed 3 different luxuries we wanted. So the isthmus and the western peninsula was conquered. Unfortunately this also led to more war, involving all countries. China sneak attacked us without cause and it was a hard time to get peace again before our democracy would collapse.
Stupid Joan decided to take part, too, so I had no choice but destroy her last cities. The era of riflemen and for us already Infantry made this task rather difficult with only a small expeditionary force.
But instead of keeping her as my personal slave , she begged for being burned at the stake.

Eventually Germany came to rest. We decided to stay out of everything since we are by far the largest and most advanced nation now. Almost to the domination limit, about 10 tiles left, but 1 city ready for disbandment should we get too close.

India and Japan are still warring, but we don´t care. As long as they stay out of our territory, everything will be fine.

Tanks are the next research step, they will hopefully ensure our peace.

There is still lot´s of time to pass, but everything is rather far advanced and going quickly this time. A really nice game.

 

[JFL_Dragon]

Germany Won by Domination


BTW How do you add a Jpg file in this area


Cheers

JFL_Dragon

 

[Jove]

It looks like I have one of the lower victory scores in this one. At first I thought, hmmm, Germans, I think I'll wipe everyone out first chance I get. Then I made contact with the Russians, who were very nice, and, well, I thought Bismarck and Catherine looked like a nice elderly couple in the Diplomacy screen, so I made friends instead. When I met Elizabeth, she was awful friendly as well, probably because Bismarck was the first man she met in 1500 years. Catherine didn't get jealous, so what the hey. Then Joan came into the picture, and it's Bismarck on the continent with all these ladies in BC times, it just didn't seem appropriate to go on a killing spree. I switched gears for a diplo win instead. I had a very peaceful continent for thousands of years until Japan subjected me to what must have been the feeblest amphibious invasion in the history of CivIII. That lone warrior on my shores was either very brave or vastly miscalculated my strength. The lone pikeman 10 turns later probably expected to drive my forces across the continent, but it was not to be. I pulled India into the war, and they did not fare so well-my buddy across the ocean was completely wiped out! This I think messed up my diplo victory-when it came time to vote, some of the civs were impressed with Joan's charms, and the vote was inconclusive. So now what? Diplomacy being a bust I decided to go for the space win, with the domestic policy of present-day President Mugabe of Zimbabwe- vote for me or DIE. My old pal Catherine didn't know what to do about all my modern armor, and crumbled. Should've voted for me. I went to wipe out Libby next, but having focused on a diplo win for the whole game my military was not exactly overwhelming. She had paranoidly built dozens of mech infantry which more or less held me off even though overall her military was slaughtered. France was simply way too defended, so I enlisted Joan's help in destroying the ungrateful English. The campaign only got so far before the spaceship was complete, and then it was Sayonara ladies, I'm going to a planet where they appreciate a friendly old German. I got the victory, I really enjoyed this GOTM, but my score is definitely nothing to rave about. Bring on GOTM9!!!

 

[Ribannah]

Stopped playing in 480 AD.

Germany was clearly winning, but there was no way I could finish the game in time.
Took Moscow early and survived the uprising of 144 barb horsies in 330 BC with minimal losses ($7). )
We had 4 luxuries connected, covered half the continent, and were easily culturally most powerful with a library in almost all our cities.
Long wars with Russia and England (and barbs) brought no leaders, but also only a single casualty (mountain-fortified elite warrior behind river died to a wounded barb warrior - yuck).
In 480 AD, we were about to finish the Sistine Chapel and ready to start building an army of Knights to take care of the English, now that we were running out of free space for new cities.

On to GOTM#9!

 

[Lucky]

"All is well your Majesty!" Or better Mr. President.

I´m around 5-15 tiles under the domination limit, having entered the 17th century and also the Modern Era earlier.
Got all but one luxury but I am trading for it. One advance per 20 years and the last 3 civs are still more than half an era behind.

I´m not sure what to do with them, I didn´t even have the chance to use my Panzers.
Yet.
But I will probably wipe them out sooner or later. I got the UN so diplomacy is not an issue, but I´m unlikely to win by it, too. Even though I´ve been very nice to them, only conquered part of Japan, the Chinese are also furious, because I dared to defend against their sneak attack. I just razed my own city they captured earlier.
I hate the AI logic. Not to mention the prize for 1 luxury!!

Culture is no problem either, except my own.

But since there is still so much time left, they will have a chance at a space race sooner or later. So I will probably have to wipe ´em out!

We´ll see.

 

[Sir Yelof]

Hiya folks... pretty straightforward GOTM this time for me. I decided pretty quickly to go for Domination, and came up with the Master Plan (everyone should have at least a couple Master Plans at all times...)

1) Start with small quick cities, then plant outposts to grab land.
2) Eliminate Russia and expand, planting FP at edge of Cathy's land.
3) Secure the continent, possibly with Panzers.
4) Invade weak countries on the other continent, just enough to get Domination.

The plan worked well, with my Panzer/Golden Age kick starting the elimination of England and France, finishing only a few turns before the victory itself as I wiped out what was left of India and half of Japan. I couldn't shake the feeling that I could have done it a lot faster, but I became obsessed with waiting for Panzers to make the final push. Boy did they help!

On another note, seems like the simplest fix Firaxis could do is to prevent unfed/unsupported population in a starving city from counting towards your final score. Doesn't that work? Go ahead, pile 'em on, you're still only getting credit for a size 14 city...

On a completely different note... I have a third interview with Infogrames today! Color me very excited.
--Yelof

 

[LKendter]

Another simple specialist fix:

You can't add pop to a city if it would cause it to go into starve mode.

 

[Lucky]

LOL!

Speaking about the adding workers bug/cheat.
I´ve never used nor seen it, I just more or less evenly distribute my own workers when there is almost everything done and let the "slaves" do the dirty work of standing by for cleaning up.
But as written above, I had to start the last global war to prevent the AIs finishing their SS´s. An easy task considering that ALL 3 had no Rubber and I of course didn´t trade it, so it was Modern Armor against Riflemen and Cavalry all the way!
I even took my time to build up 2 invasion fleets and attacked the Chinese from all sides without using RoPs. The Japanese and Indians insisted on having RoPs though.
5 armies and lot´s more steel rolling across the second continent gave way for no real opposition, although they did put up a decent fight.
I naturally couldn´t take the cities (domination), so I had to raze them and was stuck with hundreds of workers.
Most of them were later send as welcoming comittees to barbarian encampments, but I also experienced in earlier games that the AI disbanded captured workers instead of bringing them home. Well, not this time, at least not always.

Now guess what the Indians did with the recapturing of 20-30 of their workers. They added them to ONE city, which grew to size 68!!!
I had to raze that one, too, of course and was stuck with even more workers.

Anyway, I don´t want to incite a discussion, but if the AI uses this bug/cheat, why aren´t we allowed to do it?!?

Now there is only one Indian city left, I only have to click through the turns and pay HUGE amounts of money every 20 turns to remake the new RoP with them to successfully contain them in their arctic hideout. I´ll probably give them a chance the last 50 turns or so, to rebuild their "empire", as long as they don´t start on a new Spaceship.

 

[Lucky]

And I have submitted just now!
Should still be in time, Matrix has also extended the deadline a little.

All has gone as expected, except that I almost was too late in selling all culture buildings.
Cultural Win in 2049AD, without building any building in the end to get this date! My first victory of this type, now I´ve got all kinds in the GOTM, except histographic and a Diplo win. I´m probably too egoistic and evil to be liked by the AI.

 

[Zur]

I didn't manage to finish in time . Only had time to play until 1100AD. Russians dragged me into an interesting war which was fun but ultimately annihilated any chance of submitting on time.

I explore South and find Russians near. Decide to go for horseman->knights upgrade and then attack in the medium term.
I settle most of the good land available, reducing need for granaries. AI manages to grab some jungle/desert land near my cities which I figure will not be productive and which I try to culture flip. Have enough cities to build solely cultural improvements (libraries!) in border cities which surprisingly is sufficient to maintain par on culture.

Goody huts not particularly lucrative: map, warrior, barb, map, 50g, map, barb

I don't expand near English cities due to their slightly higher culture, until I have enough cash to rush improvements.
Decided to forego wonders for quick expansion. Out-expanded everyone else, but France built Pyramids which turned many of their cities into powerhouses and led to many other wonders for them and runaway culture.
Improved cash flow in monarchy/republic by keeping cities small by expanding (produced settlers, not workers!) to avoid using military police (in monarchy). Used luxuries instead.

Map at 630AD:


Got 1 Russian city by culture and 2 more militarily. No one discovers chivalry and I am unable to buy it for the knight upgrade to attack Russia.

900AD:
Russians declare war after I discover banking and when my economy starts to take off! Wanted to rush banks before attacking but will now do the upgrades first. Russian cities fall slowly as I lay siege to Moscow. Citizens become happier and WLTKDs trigger off with the corresponding palace upgrades.
It feels like playing chess at this point due to detailed planning required for war without railroads. Fun but it cost me my submission.

Map at 1100AD:



Initial Build Order (R=Rushed):
1 Berlin: Warrior, warrior, settler, warrior, settler, spearman, settler, barracks, settler, spearman, settler,
library, spearman, spearman, settler, marketplace, horseman, horseman, horseman, granary
2 Leipzig: warrior, warrior, granary, worker, spearman, spearman, marketplace(R), barracks, horseman
3 Hamburg: spearman, granary, settler, settler, marketplace, horseman, horseman, horseman
4 Konigsberg: spearman, spearman, settler, worker, spearman, settler, settler, courthouse
5 Frankfurt: spearman, settler, spearman, settler, library(R)
6 Munich: spearman, spearman, spearman, spearman, spearman, marketplace, worker, pikeman
7 Heidelburg: pikeman(R), settler(R)
8 Nuremberg: spearman, worker, pikeman, settler, settler
9 Cologne: library(R),worker, temple
10 Hannover: library(R), worker, temple
11 Bremen: spearman, worker, library(R)
12 Stuttgart: library(R), spearman, settler
13 Bonn: spearman, worker
14 Salzburg: library(R), temple
15 Dortmund: spearman, worker
16 Brandenburg: spearman
17 New Berlin: library(R)
18 New Leipzig: library(R)
19 New Hamburg: library(R),
20 New Konisberg: galley(R)

Defensive/expansion strategy with long-term offensive (horses) and culture rush in borders.

Any ideas on speeding up gameplay with minimal strategic tradeoffs are greatly appreciated! I need to speed up play in real-time by 30-50% with any hope of finishing GOTM on time.
I already automate all workers and exploration after the initial phase. Is it worth it to use governors? They seem to make awfully stupid builds IMO.

 

[Lawrence]

Zur, try to play peacefully, avoid wars which will waste your time.

By playing peacefully I mean you should have enough defenders in your every city.

And if dragged in war you can always ask for peace if you lose 1-2 cities..

Try to get techs as fast as possible, and finish the game early, in the case of GOTM 8, I finished before 1600, fought only a 6 turn war with russia by using my 12 panzers to took all their riflemen/cossacks and all their bases belong to us. Didn't used much time.