GOTM104 - Final Spoiler

[civ_steve]

GOTM 104 Final Spoiler - Egypt, Game Submitted

Note - there is no seperate Middle Ages spoiler this month!

Reading Requirements:
You may only read this thread if:

1. You have completed and submitted your game.

Posting Restrictions:

1. None! (for THIS contest) As long as its related to the GOTM, and within the forum rules!

[*]Absolutely NO Discussion of any other active 'X'OTM contest!

We're going to do a little experiment here. This month's game is at Monarch level, so we're combining the Middle Ages spoiler with the Final spoiler. So please report on all incidents from the Middle Age through your game submittal. Anyone reading this thread must have already submitted their game so no spoiling should occur.

With that in mind, did you hold off your GA until after the AA, and if so how did you kick it off? What was your plan to complete this game and how did it unroll? Any of the AI get in the way to any degree? How did it end?

 

[Megalou]

390 BC - Researched polytheism, entered Middle ages. 370 - Captured Fustat. Golden Age. Gifted Persia (Engineering) and Greece (Monotheism). Traded. The Ottomans didn't acknowledge our envoy.
230 - Chivalry. Research off.

Two task forces: 18 units (knights+2 elite swordsmen) to Arabia
10 knights (in 50 AD) to Persia+6 later knights.
260 AD - 1st leader - Sun Tzu in Arabia.
310 - Arabia gone.
400 - All luxuries.
430 - Second leader hurries Hanging Gardens.
470 - Avaris flips to Persia.
480 - About 35 temple expansions put me 5 tiles short of limit. Attempt to capture the last Ottoman town fails.
490 - Domination.

Only one civ was eliminated. Acceptable, since our culture was awe-inspiring. But there was an unfortunate flip to Persia that delayed the victory by one turn. Logistics was laboursome, but on the other hand it was rather fun this time, since there were many different places where knights and settlers could be transported. You had to think about it a bit. But I'm glad I avoided conquest VC. It will be interesting to see how fast (or slow) the conquests will be. I think Piu Freddo was absolutely right to build acqaducts in the core, considering he went for conquest.

I stayed at peace with the hoplites of Greece, but took most of Rome, because they took a long time to hook up iron. In falling order (approximately,) the amount of land taken came from:
1. Settlers - including filling up empty islands.
2. Arabia
3. Persia
4. Mongols
5. Ottomans
6. Rome
7. China
8. Greece - none at all!

But the chunks taken from the AI were rather equal in size, so it felt like a pretty well balanced game. Great Lighthouse was a must to get luxuries and the extra speed. Also, the GL allows me to end the galley's turns on sea tiles whenever it is possible, so I have the comfort of knowing that they will not be attacked. Very rarely does a galley have to rest on a coast tile, and when it does, it is emptied of it's units and less valuable if it should be atteacked.

 

[Più Freddo]

Conquest in 650 AD.

 

[Raliuven]

All of you are incredible. I think I managed conquest by 1960AD - and its my first Monarch victory as well! I just could not get my men across the water in the early game. What route did you take to win on the map? I tackled Arabia (due to geography), then Ottomans (though the Greek actually took their last city). The Mongols destroyed China (I killed the last settler in a boat when he landed in MY x-Ottoman territory). I planned on the Greek next but was attacked by Persia and the Mongols. Then: Mongols, Greek, Roman, Persia.

I managed the homeland to Arabia jump fairly well and logistics were not much of a problem. Extend that via land through Ottoman's no trouble. But I had major problems moving beyond that and bogged down for 100's of years - mostly because of transportation.

Megalou - how did you reach Persia and destroy them so quick? Was this because of the GL (which I did NOT get in my game).

 

[Più Freddo]

What route did you take to win on the map?

TGLH, Arabia, Ottomans, Rome and Mongols, Greece, China, Persia. Pretty straight-forwards, but I'm sure it can be made much faster than I did.

 

[Megalou]

Megalou - how did you reach Persia and destroy them so quick? Was this because of the GL (which I did NOT get in my game).

Hi Raliuven,

Yes, I realize now that without the Great Lighthouse the Persians were an increadibly long way away. The reason I attacked them was that they had only just gotten Feudalism and hooked up iron. So I took their iron town first and I only met 2-3 pikemen. This was a so called ROP rape, which is considered unsportsmanlike by a rare breed of players. The knights that survived went on to mess a bit with Rome, who had sent all their troops to Greece. Only one regular knight stayed in Persia to quell resistance.

I started building the GL in 1200 BC. At this time I had discovered a crossover point to the north that needed a movement of 4, using a suicide galley that sunk. I had also just discovered the crossover to Arabia, which only needed a movement of 3. But that crossover was far away. I was hoping that there would be a close AI to the north which I could conquer pretty fast. In the early days of republic, you need a lot of towns to avoid a big economic deficit, so finding a civ to conquer fast is very useful.

But the long passage to Arabia (and all the other AIs, as it turned out) was also a reason to build the GL. The extra speed and the possibility to end all turns on a sea tile (and so avoid barbarian galleys) felt great.

I don't think that the map type archipelago itself is a big reason to build the GL, especially on high levels. Often, all AIs can be reached without it. But it is rarely a bad idea to build it, except on deity where you are likely to waste too many precious shields in the early stages of the game and also run a great risk of getting beaten to it by the AI.

Congratulations on your victory. I hope you stick around!

 

[Raliuven]

Thanks for the info! I do plan to hang around. I'm not sure I'll be able to compete at Emperor or above, but I'll submit a nice defeat to even out the bottom of the curve. I hope to be up to par eventually. It's good to hear what worked for other people. I'm reading through the legendary games to gather ideas too.

As soon as I took Arabia's capital, I used a leader to rush a palace to make that a strong second core. The more I've read into the rules, I get the idea that this is frowned upon. I left my forgotten palace on my homeland island. My palace remained in x-Arabia for the rest of the game. Do any of you have an opinion on if that is unsportsmanlike? I've read some things that suggest I should never move my palace. Yet palace jumping - which I never do - seems okay to some?

I never sign ROPs in the first place, so I don't use ROP rape. That is probably a failing. I just can't bring myself to let another civ use my roads. Insecurity. It's like using the luxury slider. Something I need to accept and learn to use to my advantage.

 

[Megalou]

I don't think it is frowned upon to hurry palace. But it can seem like wasting a leader if you can do a palace flip instead. And it is not ideal to have to wait for a leader that may not show up or shows up too late.

 

[Racinante]

Fairly leisurely game until the Arabs and then the Ottomans sneak attacked. Eliminated both of them before settling down to build my spaceship.

Entry class: Open
Game status: Spaceship Victory for Egypt
Game date: 1888 AD
Firaxis score: 4042
Jason score: 4697
Time played: 26:28:43

 

[Memento]

Entered MA in 410bc
Now i´m 130ad and miss the deadline
Rome,Greece and Arabs have only a few towns

Its Summer,i need more time

 

[Lanzelot]

I did not manage to complete this either, first my daugther was ill, then my wife...

But I would not have been able to compete with Più's date anyway: the Romans beat my Lighthouse by just a handful of turns, and from then on the game was extremely difficult. BTW, Rome is as far away from Egypt as it can get on this map! If the Arabs or Ottomans would have built the Lighthouse, the damage could still have been repaired, but Rome of all places!!!

I played on until 700AD, but the end would probably be only around 900AD. Made too many mistakes in this one.