Gotm 93 Spoiler

[golem]

I have not play GOTM for year or two, but this time I look at it. Wonderful game - I really had to play it.

At first I tried to make Marco Polo, but Romans were faster with Comm. so I worked on my island. Later I found out, that I can see other civs - my fault.
I wend directly to Espionage and Communism. Received both in 110.

At the same time Roman's howitz and armours land on the island between us. I lost several spies and two cities. Ath the same time five transports. One citi was not destroyed, so I sealed Robotics. Nice present. After it I did cease fire with Romans. Both parties are getting ready for the battle of Middle island. They are mucu, much more powerful than me - but we will see.
It is year 131, cease fire will end in one or two turns.

 

[Magic_gorter]

I hope the game is not to hard. i made this challenge becauce i have it on my mind for a while. hope that the level is not to high, had to guess which was not to hard. I'll try the game after x-mas. My game will not count for the gotm becauce i know where the other civs stand and other things like which techs the romans had at the beginning.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

The game is fine. The large middle land mass prevents a land invasion of the home island, and the way to deal with ships is to not defend cities.

Also, the tech rate and scenario setting allow quick research that is always on-path.

Later I found out, that I can see other civs - my fault.

I found that, too. I think that all civs become available once the U.N. is built, regardless of who owns it.

In this game I went straight for republic, and founded enough cities to get a tech every three turns. I then started building diplomats with the idea that I could steal my science. Once I found that there were few easily accessable cities, I upped taxes to be able to bribe a city and pick espionage specifically. Unfortunately, I then found that techs are not acquired from conquest, so I boosted science to discover the last few techs I needed for espionage (I had no luxuries, so I was still conducting research). Once I had espionage, I switched to communism and produced lots of vet spies and stole techs from a reasonably close city. Once I had the necessary techs for planting nuclear devices with spies, I bought a battleship, an AEGIS cruiser, a few transports and paid tribute to the Romans. I also started building Apollo program, so the Romans built it themselves and revealed the map. I loaded my transport with lots of spies and a few units, and protected them with the battleship and AEGIS cruiser, on the off chance that the romans would attack. Once I had arrived at the roman capital, I planted a nuclear device, took the city and caused a civil war.

It is now some turns later, the Romans and their enemies are now split into Babylonians, Chinese, Greeks and Germans. I've finished off the Romans completely. Only one city was taken by conventional means (as far as I can remember); all the others had nukes planted or were bribed. I also spent some time in fundamentalism, until I needed more vet spies. I've suffered global warming, have a score of 0 due to pollution, and am now supreme.

 

[golem]

I am at year 169 and a lot of things changed.

After taking Robotics I did a lot of Howitz and Spies and at the same time start to make RR connection to south. Roman's Apollo help a lot. In 160 I had all units prepared for attack - I was in touch with Romans on five different islands. I even built one city on the Romans home island, send there 14 Howitz and 5 spies, four engineers there.

First attack was succesful - at first spies stole all techs I was interested in. I conquered two big Romans cities, fortunetely with SDI. Immediately I bought sime steal fighters.

Next turn Romans stroke back. I lost all transports and some units. Theu did four nuclear attacks, but SDI worked OK. They conquered some my cities on middle island, my Howitz take it back.

After taking third and fourth Roman cities I did a mistake - I let a lot of units in conquered cities. Nuclear attack (fortunetely on one citi with five units inside) destroyed my units completely.

Now in 169, I have six big Roman cities. All othe civs are gone. Advantage of the war with so rich civilization is, that I earn a lot of money every conqest and I can sell some buildings too. Sea belongs to Romans, but air is mine. Network of Airports starts to work. Currently I do not have enough engineers on the battlefield, as the have exterely big loses.

Looking forward to next battles, really great scenario.

 

[Blasph23]

I went for the spy strategy but I waited too long for my own civ to get to some decent level using super city growth and then bribe them all out Romans took 2 cities on my main island with those damned helicopters, but I managed to steal adv. flight, bombed them and took 2 cities back in one turn, Romans asked for peace. I made 8 spies, only 2 vet, went for the main Roman island with intention of bribing cheaper cities. Unfortunately Romans have already been too big at around 300 ad. Each city cost about 20k-25k, with some exceptions. I bought 3 of them, made howitz, took Rome, English showed up. By this time around 370 ad Roms had all other civs conquered and had about half of the land mass overall. English changed that, I started buying or conquering English and Roman cities at the same time, got about 150 mil population and then the scenario ended lol... anyway, I'm sort of new to the GoTM so better luck next time for me, I guess.

Overall, definitely interesting scenario, lots of surprises and demands for strategy switch mid-game.

I'm playing civ 2.78 and I think I've discovered a bug when bribing cities. Usually when a civ has max gold plus some daily income like 10k (at the peak as with Romans in this gotm), their cities cost a lot, almost always 20-25k. Sometimes however, a city can be found that only costs 2-3 maybe 4k. Subvert then isn't much more expensive and you can keep bribing them without war. This cheaper-than-usual city seems to randomly circulate through their civ, and sometimes there are 2 or 3 such cities, just have to check each with a spy. The problem starts when you bribe a city of a civ that has more than 30k gold. You plunder some of that gold, and the game causes your own gold to become negative, normally between -15k to -25k. Now if a city in your civ builds an improvement and you zoom in, some other impr. will instantly be sold, since you can't support it, having a negative gold value.
If none of your cities build anything that turn that you captured an enemy city with bribing, then you loose nothing, even with minus gold o_O
Next turn your gold changes again, either to something like 2-4k or goes all the way up to around 30k. It makes bribing seriously problematic, since having 35k gold and subverting a city for 8k, can reduce your gold to 2k by the next turn... It all goes around the more-than-30k gold issue. If you have more than 30k gold, you can't pay other civs to declare war, even if it costs 15k - 22k. The game thinks you don't have enough gold. Same could be with those bribed cities. Btw, after I subvert an enemy city, their gold jumps to 65536 so they are most likely on minus just as me. They also jump up to plus the next turn though. I think this whole mess leaves a nice field for abuse if you know how.

Anybody else had this on other versions? Or is it 2.78 specific?

 

[Prof. Garfield]

I usually play 2.42 and I've never run into problems with gold in negative figures.

 

[Blasph23]

Then I guess I'm going back to 2.42

 

[Magic_gorter]

Unfortunately Romans have already been too big at around 300 ad.

They were to big at 1AD

I set them at (IIRC) size 10. They might drop to size 9 at turn 1. So bribing them was difficult/almost impossible in the beginning.

Glad to hear the most of you like the scenario. As long as Duke is not there I will try once in a while a "strange" scenario.

 

[golem]

I have finished 203, Greeks conquered. In 183 I conquered Rome - civil war divided Roman empire to Greek and Romans. Greeks were pretty annoying, as they nuke every conquered city without SDI - I ususally have to conquer it twice. The advantage was good income from it.

Thanks for a nice game, I will send the¨saves 100 and 203.

 

[golem]

Here are my saves

 

[Magic_gorter]

Can you all (when finished) sent me the save games. Please sent me a PM. You don't have to post it on the forum.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

I couldn't figure out how to make attachments to a Private Message, so I'll attach my saves to this post.

Saves are 123 (closest year to 100 I have) and 212, the last year.

Score is 0, due to pollution. Turn is 214.

Take Three Forks with the mech. infantry.

-----------------------------------------
This was a good game. I adopted a strategy of diplomats and spies for this game, my overall objective to use suitcase nukes against the Romans. When convenient cities for tech theft turned out to be scarce, I upped taxes to be able to steal espionage with the bribing of a city. I eventually discovered that techs do not come from conquest, and was forced to finish researching espionage myself. (I suspect that I would have reached espionage sooner anyway if I had researched it myself, even if tech from conquest were enabled) Soon I was in communism and producing lots of vet spies. I found a moderately convenient city to steal techs from and eventually acquired nuclear technology. I bought a small navy, paid tribute to Rome to ensure safe passage, and soon nuked their capital. The rest is history.

(1) Jan 0: Hut: 25g.
(2) Feb 0: …
(3) 1: …
(4) 2: …
(5) 3: …
(6) 4: Romans Begin Mike’s Chapel, Hanging Gardens.
(7) 5: Romans move Capital to Spoletium.
(8) 6: Romans move Capital again.
(9) 7: Beneventum builds Mike’s Chapel. Seleucia builds Hanging Gardens. Romans move capital. Agusta Praeorti builds Adam Smith’s. Romans change another project to Bach’s.
(10) 8: Romans move capital again. [Stop recording capital moves].
(11) 9: Romans begin Leo’s. Build Cardiff at (21,19); work silk, begin warrior.
(12) 10: Romans build Leo’s and JS Bach’s. Begin Alphabet.
(13) 11: …
(14) 12: Romans Build King Richard’s.
(15) 13: Warrior complete, begin settler.
(16) 14: Alphabet, begin Code of Laws. (22,22) hut: Legion.
(17) 15: Romans build Magellan’s. Romans build Colossus. Romans build Sun Tzu’s. Rush settler to 10 shields.
(18) 16: …
(19) 17: Rush settler to 20 shields. (28,22) hut: legion. Decide to return warrior to Cardiff to disband it. Set taxes to 60% to help get settler before size 2.
(20) 18: …
(21) 19: …
(22) 20: …
(23) 21: Science back up to 60%.
(24) 22: Disband Warrior. Turned out I wouldn’t have to rush the settler.
(25) 23: …
(26) 24: …
(27) 25: Romans build Statue of Liberty. Romans build Copernicus’ Observatory. Code of Laws, begin Writing.
(28) 26: …
(29) 27: Settler complete. Work wheat to have food surplus.
(30) 28: …
(31) 29: Work Silk.
(32) 30: Second citizen works wheat.
(33) 31: Romans build Great Library.
(34) 32: (41,35) hut: settlers.
(35) 33: Build Kells at (27,25), work whale. Work both silk in Cardiff. [stop recording worker movements] Rush Cardiff settler to 20s.
(36) 34: Romans build Shakespeare’s. Celts destroyed by Romans.
(37) 35: Writing, begin Literacy.
(38) 36: Germanians destroyed by Romans. (47,37) hut: 25g.
(39) 37: Cardiff settlers.
(40) 38: Carmarthen built at (47,29).
(41) 39: …
(42) 40: …
(43) 41: Armagh built at (29,19).
(44) 42: Literacy, begin Republic.
(45) 43: Romans build Darwin’s Voyage. (16,20) hut: nomads.
(46) 44: Build Caernarfon at (14,20).
(47) 45: …
(48) 46: Romans build Women’s Suffrage. Romans build United Nations. Romans build Eiffel Tower. Vikings destroyed by Romans. Republic, begin Currency. Revolution.
(49) 47: Republic established.
(50) 48: Disorder in Cardiff due to 2 units outside city. Discover that I have a foreign policy report. Spend down my treasury. Huns: Trade republic, writing, and literacy for Ceremonial burial, Mysticism, and warrior code. Spanish: Give Warrior code, mysticism, republic, and literacy for mapmaking and maps. Huns: give mapmaking, get alliance, maps. Romans declare war.
(51) 49: Currency, begin Trade.
(52) 50: Re-home legion.
(53) 51: Order in Cardiff.
(54) 52: Romans: tell me they have developed guerrilla warfare. Trade, begin masonry.
(55) 53: Carmarthen Settlers [stop recording settlers]. Tintagel built at (22,34).
(56) 54: Masonry, begin Mathematics. (35,35) hut: 25g.
(57) 55: …
(58) 56: Mathematics, begin Astronomy.
(59) 57: …
(60) 58: Cardiff builds diplomat. [stop recording diplomats]
(61) 59: Astronomy, begin Pottery. Kells launches trireme, with Cardiff diplomat.
(62) 60: …
(63) 61: Pottery, begin Seafaring.
(64) 62: (48,20) hut: Advanced tribe Caerphilly.
(65) 63: …
(66) 64: Seafaring, begin Navigation.
(67) 65: Build Cork at (39,23). (15,37) hut: 100g.
(68) 66: Navigation, begin Physics.
(69) 67: …
(70) 68: Romans tell me that they have Mobile Warfare. Gauls are second most advanced tribe. Physics, begin Iron working.
(71) 69: …
(72) 70: Build Rhymney at (54,16).
(73) 71: Romans build Cure for Cancer. Iron Working, begin Magnetism. (46,26) hut: Fanatics. [stop recording huts]
(74) 72: …
(75) 73: Magnetism, begin construction.
(76) 74: …
(77) 75: …
(78) 76: Construction, begin Horseback riding.
(79) 77: Iona built at (20,10).
(80) 78: Hut releases barbarians: 7 partisans. Rush a diplomat.
(81) 79: Barbs take Cork, 32g. Horseback riding, begin the Wheel. Bribe Partisan for 102g. Rhondda built at (22,28).
(82) 80: …
(83) 81: The Wheel, begin Engineering.
(84) 82: Bribe Partisan. Banking from Hut.
(85) 83: Bridge building from Hut.
(86) 84: …
(87) 85: Engineering, begin Invention. Illauntanig built at (40,10). Swansea built at (46,36).
(88) 86: Romans build Hoover Dam.
(89) 87: …
(90) 88: Invention, begin Steam Engine. Bribe another partisan. Incite revolt Cork for 52g. Trireme with 2 diplomats lost at sea. Peace with Romans.
(91) 89: …
(92) 90: …
(93) 91: Steam Engine, begin gunpowder. Partisan destroyed attacking a barb partisan.
(94) 92: …
(95) 93: Gunpowder, begin Philosophy.
(96) 94: …
(97) 95: …
(98) 96hilosophy, begin Medicine. Bribe another partisan.
(99) 97: Exchange maps with Huns again, see a roman city.
(100) 98: …
(101) 99: Romans expel a diplomat. Medicine, begin University. Raise taxes to 80%.
(102) 100: …
(103) 101: …
(104) 102: War with Romans.
(105) 103: Steal Nuclear Power from Romans.
(106) 104: Huns go to war with Romans. Establish Embassy with Romans.
(107) 105: …
(108) 106: Romans build Manhattan Project. Build Durrow at (64,50).
(109) 107: Romans paradrop into Durrow.
(110) 108: Steal University from Romans.
(111) 109: Begin Railroad.
(112) 110: Railroad, begin industrialization.
(113) 111: …
(114) 112: …
(115) 113: …
(116) 114: Lost galleon with 4 diplomats.
(117) 115: lost another Galeon.
(118) 116: …
(119) 117: …
(120) 118: …
(121) 119: Cardiff Marketplace.
(122) 120: Notice helicopter in my territory, empty a city so that I can bribe it back later.
(123) 121: Helicopter flies away. Industrialization, begin Communism.
(124) 122: …
(125) 123: Incite revolt Slim Buttes for 876g. Get 26g, several units, but no tech! Boost science to 80%, to discover espionage.
(126) 124: …
(127) 125: Communism, begin Democracy. Steal Mass Production.
(128) 126: …
(129) 127: Lose galleon and 2 diplomats.
(130) 128: Democracy, begin Espionage.
(131) 129: …
(132) 130: …
(133) 131: Espionage, begin Chemistry.
(134) 132: …
(135) 133: Revolution.
(136) 134: …
(137) 135: Communism established.
(138) 136: Chemistry, begin Explosives.
(139) 137: …
(140) 138: Steal amphibious Warfare. Steal Plastics. Steal Advanced Flight.
(141) 139: …
(142) 140: Explosives, begin Theory of Gravity.
(143) 141: …
(144) 142:…
(145) 143: …
(146) 144: Theory of Gravity, begin Atomic Theory.
(147) 145: …
(148) 146: Steal Nuclear Fission. Steal Labour Union. Steal Polytheism.
(149) 147: …
(150) 148: Atomic Theory, begin Metallurgy.
(151) 149: Steal Conscription. Steal Monarchy. Steal Genetic Engineering. Steal Refining. Steal Radio.
(152) 150: …
(153) 151: Steal Corporation. Steal Economics. Steal The Laser. Steal Recycling. Steal Refrigeration.
(154) 152: …
(155) 153: Metallurgy, begin Combustion.
(156) 154: …
(157) 155: …
(158) 156: Steal Feudalism. Steal Robotics.
(159) 157: …
(160) 158: …
(161) 159: Combustion, begin electricity. Raise taxes to 60%.
(162) 160: Steal miniaturization. Steal Rocketry. Steal Leadership. Steal Automobile.
(163) 161: Steal Space Flight.
(164) 162: Romans build Isaac Newton’s Colledge. Switch production to Apollo program.
(165) 163: Romans build SETI, Romans build Apollo. Map revealed. Spend down treasury buying ships. Pay 500g tribute, get peace with Romans.
(166) 164: Romans build Oracle. Romans build Lighthouse.
(167) 165: Prepare Armada of 3 transports, an AEGIS cruiser, a Battleship, a handful of combat units, 2 settler and an engineer, and a lot of spies to send to the Roman capital.
(168) 166: …
(169) 167: Decide to rush another transport to send more spies.
(170) 168: …
(171) 169: Electricity, begin Tactics. Raise taxes to 80%. Build Suitcase Nuke at (65,49). Will group navy there, before sending it off.
(172) 170: …
(173) 171: Navy sets off.
(174) 172: …
(175) 173: …
(176) 174: …
(177) 175: …
(178) 176: …
(179) 177: …
(180) 178: Reach Beneventum (Roman Capital), send a spy to explore. Beneventum only has 5 defenders; I could have brought along some howitzers instead of boatloads of spies… All core cities seem to have fewer than half a dozen defenders. 1st spy succeeds in planting Nuclear Device. Sneak attack Romans, take Beneventum, get 300g and Mike’s Chapel. Civil War splits Romans into Romans and Greeks. Lose 4 spies while stealing Monotheism. Blast Selucia (2 spies). Blast Venice (3 spies), caught red handed. Take Venice, Selucia. Blast Tarentum [stop recording spy costs]. Take Tarentum (with Magellans). Blast, take Florentia. Steal Fundamentalism. Make rushbuys. Revolution.
(181) 179: Armagh airport. Fundamentalism established. Establish Embassy with Greeks. Blast Tergeste (Roman Capital). Take Tergeste and split Romans into Romans and Germans. Lift Mech. Inf. into Tergeste; will send wish ship of spies to Little Bighorn (Greek capital.) Blast and Take Salernum.
(182) 180: Germans declare war. Embassy with Germans. Lift mech. Inf. into Tarentem. [stop recording airlifts]
(183) 181: …
(184) 182: Suitcase Nuke Raised. Greeks capture roman city. Romans capture it back. (paratroopers both times). Missile attack destroys battleship.
(185) 183: Blast and capture Little Bighorn; Greeks split into Greeks and Babylonians. Blast and capture Forum Lulii, Caesaria, Spoletium.
(186) 184: Blast and capture Brundisium, Caesaraugusta, Stabiae. Cease fire with Romans.
(187) 185: Lose transport with 4 spies. Greeks Liberate Little Bighorn. Tactics, begin Guerrilla Warfare. Blast and capture Lutetia Parisio (after provoking romans). Cease Fire again.
(188) 186: Provoke Romans. Blast, capture Ostia. Pay 6000g for a Greek helicopter. Cease fire with Romans.
(189) 187:…
(190) 188: Babylonians destroy Huns. Bribed helicopter destroyed. Blast Augusta Praetori; capture and split Greeks into Greeks and Chinese. Another battleship completed (built, not bought). Advanced Tribe Tara at (35,7).
(191) 189: Gauls largest civ. Revolution.
(192) 190: Get global warming warning. Communism established to produce more spies. Steal Theology.
(193) 191: …
(194) 192: …
(195) 193: Take Aquae Sextiae with a mech. infantry (only defended by a cruise missile. Steal Stealth. War with Babylonians. Bribe Pasargadae for 1178g.
(196) 194: Battleship destroyed. Greeks Take Aquae Sextiae. Blast and capture Dublin.
(197) 195: Romans break Cease fire, nuke a city, attack cities. Global Warming takes effect. Bribe a partisan (2k). Blast Castra Batavia, caught red handed. Blast Bracara Agusta. Bribe another Partisan (4k). Take Bactra Agusta. Cease fire with Romans.
(198) 196: Germans nuke Tergeste. Greeks take Bacara Agusta; Romans take it from Greeks. Provoke Romans. Blast and take Agrigentum. Bribe Partisan (1.7k). Bribe Bactra Agusta (879g). Blast and Take Viroconium.
(199) 197: Greeks take back Agusta Praetori. Romans liberate Ostia. Blast and Take Populonium. Bribe Ostia. Romans Destroyed (partisans disappear). Blast Lugdunum (caught red handed), and capture city (with UN). Peace with Greeks.
(200) 198: …
(201) 199: Blast, take Antium (sneak attack). Blast, take Cumae. Blast (caught red handed), take Veii. Bribe Augusta Praetori for 2110g. Peace with Greeks.
(202) 200: Germans take Antium. Unable to provoke Hostile Greeks. Incite Revolt Antium for 1547g. Get two stealth bombers. Blast Aelia Capitolina, caught red handed. Blast, take Aquae Sextiae. Blast, take Roma. Blast, take Pompeii. Blast, take Metapontum. Take Capua using a Stealth bomber acquired when bribing Agusta Praetori to destroy the defender. Greeks destroyed. Blast and take Pisae. Bribe Herculaneum for 4482g. Take Aelia Capitolina.
(203) 201: Lose Viroconium to Chinese. Blast and take Paestum. Blast and take Venetiae. Take back Viroconium.
(204) 202: Blast, take Ravenna. Blast, take Mediolanum. Take Pisa, Little Bighorn by conventional means. Steal Combined arms.
(205) 203: Lose Lutetia Parisio. Take Melbourne, raze Big Mound by conventional means. Peace with Chinese. Raze Susa.
(206) 204: Babylonians destroy Chinese. Take back Lutetia Parisio. Build Invade Spain A.
(207) 205: Melbourne (with several units) nuked, taken. Bribe Melbourne for 300g. Take Sydney by conventional means. Launch 4 Mech. infantry taskforce from Invade Spain A.
(208) 206: Babylonians raze Sydney. Take Milan by conventional means. Build Invade Spain B. Blast and take Salzburg. Blast and take Ghent. Take Cordoba.
(209) 207: Blast and take Kyoto. Launch mech. inf. and spy taskforce from Invade Spain B. Blast and take Bear Paw.
(210) 208: Babylonians take Cordoba. Retake Cordoba. Take Seville (from Babylonians). Take Valencia. Bribe Salamenca. Blast and take Carthage. Bribe Dragoon north of Killdeer. Complete Nuclear Missile.
(211) 209: Incite Revolt Bergen for 4000g. Incite Revolt Toronto for 448g. Take Madrid. Incite Revolt Killdeer for 1400g.
(212) 210: Bribe Cedar Creek. Take Wood Lake. Bribe Stony Lake. Babylonians destroyed. Take Valladolid. Take Toledo. Spanish destroyed.
(213) 211: Blast and take Wounded Knee.
(214) 212: Suffer Global warming. Blast Three Forks. Last City.

Final Score 0 due to 170 pollution squares.

 

[Magic_gorter]

Pr. Garfield You're right. I had in mind that it was possible to send files by pm....but it isn't possible.

So everybody who still wants to submit a game please put it in this thread. When I have all files I will look at the results and place them in this thread.

 

[CharlieChuck]

I'm not going to be able to finish, which is a shame as it was jsut getting interesting (turn 180 just about to start sending nuke spies in) - but with 58 cities to capture and all seemingly well defended, I haven't got the time to finish. I'll probably carry on playing at a slow speed as this is an interesting and different GOTM.

 

[Magic_gorter]

How much extra time do you need??? If it's a week I'm ok with it.....

 

[CharlieChuck]

I think it may take longer than a week, I can only manage about half an hour a day, and I don't think that would be enough.

Also, I've just captured my first city and got -32203 gold, my gold total is now -29399 meaning I can't spend any. I'm using the patched version I think it's 2.42, romans have 65536 gold (which I guess is the maximum). I think i'll have to try it on another version.

 

[Merlin_Pilgrim]

Hi charlie,

there is no need to try on another version. It's right, you can't spend money this turn, but next turn you will have something about 32000 gold. I think it is some sort of bug, but the limit is round about 34000 gold - if you take a city you get all of the gold but it shows up as a negative ammount. In the next turn this will be "corrected" - but the romans will still have 34000 gold. You take the next town, ... (at least this was my experience with taking the first 5 cities).

 

[CharlieChuck]

Yep you're right Merlin Pilgrim, the romans gold before I captured the city was 33000 odd, the turn after my gold has gone to positive 30,000. This gives a bit of an unfair advantage if I was to spend it all. But I'm not going to finish this in a week (or probably a month) so i'll end here for now.