GOTM70 - Final Spoiler

[civ_steve]

GOTM 70 Final Spoiler - Game Submitted

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1. You have completed and submitted your game.

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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!

The game is over and submitted. Last chance to tell your Spanish Epic!

 

[Wotan]

Meeting the rest of the AIs
Started sending Suicide galleys around 400BC. The third made it across on the west coast and met Rome. They sold the contact and in a couple of turns time I was in contact with the whole continent.
Trading during 190BC saw me enter the MA with Feudalism as a bonus. Both Greece and Korea recieved it so was more than willing to part of it for republic. So even if the other continent was a bit ahead of me when I first met them they all lacked a couple of techs I had (Literacy, CoL and Philo? not absolutely sure about which ones) so some creative trading resulted in me being on par with Greece and Korea and up at least Feudalism on the rest.

England was the pauper with only two towns left and just halfway through the AA. Korea their main adversary at least at this time.

The end of Germany
A brief peace in 10AD gave a couple of Size 1 towns and conflict was rekindled the following turn taking their final location in 50AD.

Research
Target was Navigation for safe passage to the other continent. I was considering using Galley ship chains but even with the GLH this would cost a lot more than what could be gained from waiting for Navigation. At least I think so. The lay of the lands (or rather oceans) also made the GLH a bad investment.

Navigation in 550AD, Started to position ships to land in France.
Perfect timing by one of the AI made it possible for me to trade for Chivalry in 550AD, 36 HMs built with a handful of Conquistadors to supplement the aspiring Knights army.


Stopped research after this (ran a single scientist just for fun)

Traded for Chivalry, Engineering, Invention and Gunpowder. Music thoery and banking also traded for or recieved in wars, not sure exactly how I got them)

WAR
Everything set up for a landing in France 570AD, 12 Knights and 3 Conquistadors shipchained just to remember I had a few gpt deals with France still active for 10+ turns. Darn, almost ruined my reputation prematurely. So quick change of plans, land in China 600AD, three turns lost and the centre of my attack is further south than I would have preferred.

With France my best friend and a sudden surprise attack by Korea in 650AD (?) things change dramatically, now I plan to reach Domination by taking out Korea and China only and nibble at the borders of either France or Rome.

Korea was an ally vs. China but used a stack of units to raize an undefended town while in transit to China (my understanding of the stacks activities until they DOWed me).

Period of a second reassesment now, to wage a swift was on Korea I need a landing in their extreme North to shorten the time it will take for me to completely eliminate them and fill the territory with my culture. So rushing Caravels in the North and sending Knights and Settlers towards the area for transit to "North Korea".

China was gone in 680AD(or 690AD?). by 800AD Korea was left with a few towns north of Seoul. Time to calculate how to reach domination as swiftly as possible. I have challenged all borders constantly by founding towns along French, Greek and Roman borders gaing quite a few tiles in the process. But this and the final area remaining under Korean rule will not put me above the domination limit, I will still need some 50 tiles to make it.

Looking at the map the AI with the best border for me to quickly add the remaining tiles is Rome, so Rome is the next target. I dispose of Korea in 830AD and have started to shift units south in time for a final strike on Rome. This occurs in 870AD and I take a few of their cities and make it above the domination limit with about 30 tiles surplus.

Sloppy finish, as always in my case. Should have had this wrapped up at least 10 turns earlier. And it should be possible to have it finished way earlier with more focus on the midgame period.

Domination 880AD
Jason 10406

 

[milr]

Squeked ahead in technology as the age began, then forged ahead when my GL awoke to complete ToE. With tech lead, I began a military buildup (destroyers,tanks,air), but when Rome fell just before I completed the UN, leaving my friend China and the big bad scoring leader England, I decided to take the diplomatic victory.

Finally, I won a GOTM at this skill level!

 

[Chamnix]

Upon entering the Industrial Age, gifting the 3 science civs yielded 2 Nationalisms and a Steam Power. I didn’t trade for either right away opting to research Medicine first since it would only take 4 turns even without my Golden Age.

Electricity, however, would have taken too long, so I attacked Germany (now back up to a 2CC) with a conquistador.

During my Golden Age I researched Electricity, Scientific Method, Industrialization, the Corporation, and Atomic Theory in 4 turns each. During that time, the AI researched Economics and Military Tradition.

Also during my Golden Age, my first overseas adventure began against Rome in 680 AD. They had been providing my people with war happiness for centuries, but I still needed more land. The war was fought primarily with knights although some cavalry saw action after someone discovered Military Tradition for me. Peace was signed with Rome in 850 AD for their final 2 cities.

Research continued merrily along following my Golden Age end with Steel, Refining, Combustion, and Electronics falling in 4 turns each.

At that point, only one civ had Replaceable Parts, and all I had to trade was Scientific Method, and I was worried about losing the Theory of Evolution to a Universal Suffrage cascade, so I went to Radio next even though it took me 5 turns.

Finally, I purchased Replaceable Parts, and Mass Production, Motorized Transportation and Flight were 4 turns each to enter the Modern Age in 1090 AD.

Via the big picture, the Scientific civs got 2 Rocketries and one Computers. I bought both in the IBT before the Theory of Evolution completed so I could choose Miniaturization and Space Flight as my free techs. The next turn, I changed a palace build to complete the Internet.

I assumed the AI would research Fission, so I went for Ecology, Synthetic Fibers, and Satellites. During that time, the AI came up with Sanitation and Free Artistry, so I was on my own for all non-free Modern Techs, but they were only 4 turns each.

My spaceship was launched in 1330 AD.

 

[Più Freddo]

Predator

Going for conquest

Phase 1: Laying the Foundation, 4000 BC -- 1400 BC

The Spanish Empire saw its beginning on the Bonus Grassland starting
tile as Madrid was founded in 4000 BC. With so many Bonus Grassland
tiles still remaining, we would be able to produce 10 Shields per turn
at size 5, resulting in a six-turn combo factory producing a Warrior
and an Archer to each Settler.

The Worker went to the Cattle tile to irrigate and road, then roaded
and mined two Bonus Grassland tiles. Madrid trained a Warrior for
scouting and a Warrior as Military Police and then built a Granary,
which was finished at about the same time as these land improvements.
In the mean time population had grown and we were working also normal
Grassland tiles by the river. Before continuing with mining Bonus
Grassland tiles, the Worker roaded two such Grassland tiles for the
commerce bonus. Working only Bonus Grassland tiles would result in
production overflow, and later we'd work these two (then mined)
Grassland tiles at size 6, keeping production at 10 shields per
turn. With this tile set-up, we could play around a bit with our
immature factory and produce Settlers and Warriors in different
combinations until two more Bonus Grassland tiles were mined and
roaded. The training of two Archers put the factory in the right
phase. We did not build a Barracks in Madrid, but planned on using the
Barbarians for adding experience later. This way 40 Shields and one
Gold per turn were saved.

4000 BC Found Madrid
2590 BC Found Barcelona
2390 BC Found Seville
2070 BC Found Toledo
1870 BC Found Santiago
1700 BC Found Salamanca
1500 BC Found Murcia​

This completed the inner ring of cities in RCP3. The first city was
set by the two Wheat tiles and produced four-turn Workers without a
Granary. The second was set by the Flood Plain and was intended for
the Forbidden Palace, so it first built a cheap Temple for happiness
on this Luxury-poor continent. The other four cities all built
Barracks. Most cities before all else trained one or two Warriors, but
luckily the Capital could provide some Military Police and Barbarian
Watchers, too.

We started constructing a road towards the Germans straight northwards
from Madrid. The Workers were protected by our Archer, the bulwark
against German agression. Soon more of the same would walk this way.

We wanted to get to Republic as fast as possible and researched
Pottery and Writing at full speed. As it seemed likely that we and
Germany were set on one continent while all the other tribes were on
the other, we changed direction slightly towards maximising the
utility of German research until we could ourselves take over the
German core in the north. So after Writing we researched Literature in
order to be able to trade it for Masonry from the Germans.

4000 BC Discover Alphabet
3350 BC Discover Pottery
3100 BC Pop Hut Warrior1: Technology
3100 BC Learn Bronze Working
2850 BC Meet Germany
2850 BC Learn The Wheel
1990 BC Discover Writing
1990 BC Learn Ceremonial Burial
1990 BC Learn Warrior Code
1475 BC Discover Literature
1475 BC Learn Masonry​

Phase 2: Confident Expansion, 1375 BC -- 775 BC

In 1375 BC, Germany declared war over a rejected ultimatum and War
Happiness set in. Having just trained two Archers we felt fairly
safe. One of these Archers soon was killed by a Barbarian Horseman,
but the other one killed a German Archer. Much more didn't happen in
this war. When the bounty was rich, we made peace, although this meant
losing the War Happiness -- temporarily.

1375 BC War Germany
1300 BC Discover Philosophy
1075 BC Discover Code of Laws
1075 BC Peace Germany War Happiness ends
1075 BC Capture Konigsberg
1075 BC Learn Horseback Riding
1075 BC Learn Map Making
_900 BC Discover Mathematics
_900 BC Learn Iron Working​

The capture of Konigsberg was perfect. It was located between us and
Germany at RCP5 from Leipzig, like most other German cities incuding
Berlin. It would also soon be connected to our northern road.

Again we researched a smaller technology first in order to be able to
trade with the Germans and avoid double research on our continent.

We were now building the outer ring of cities. We rejected the idea to
found a distant colony close to some resource. If you want it all, why
settle for less?

1300 BC Found Valencia
1150 BC Found Ciudad de la Luna
1000 BC Found Zaragoza
_825 BC Found Pamplona​

All these cities were RCP7 from the capital. Valencia went on the road
northwards, thus helping its construction, at distance 5 from the
future Forbidden Palace. Also Zaragoza by the two Cattle on Plains was
RCP5/FP. The other two inhabited the two southern peninsulas in order
to keep off Barbarians.

In 825 BC, we started shrinking Madrid for a Palace Transfer at around
470 BC. We could plan this using our starting moves spreadsheet. Only
then we realized that we had been wasting two food every three turns
by not sharing the Cattle tile between Madrid and Toledo. Oh well. At
least now Toledo got the Cattle. It would take three Settlers and
three Workers to abandon Madrid.


Quick Start Challenge Results

11 Cities
31 Citizens
_1 Granary
_1 Temple
_4 Barracks
_1 Contact
13 Workers
15 Warriors
_7 Archers​

Lacking Iron Working, Mathematics, Mysticism, Polytheism, C&C and the
Governments.

Judging from this result, missing out on the four-turn Settler Factory
didn't really hurt.

The picture below shows the initial core around Madrid.

 

[Più Freddo]

Predator

Going for conquest

Phase 3: Aggressive Expansion, 750 BC -- 390 BC

In 750 BC we had amassed troops in the vicinity of Konigsberg and
declared war on Germany. We had in total 17 Archers. Through our
declaration of war against Germany, War Happiness set in again.

750 BC War Germany
730 BC Connect Iron
710 BC Capture Leipzig
690 BC Build Forbidden Palace in Seville
630 BC Germany builds the Pyramids in Berlin
610 BC Capture Frankfurt
570 BC Barbarian Uprisings, the other continent reaches the Middle Ages
530 BC Discover The Republic
530 BC Establish Republic
530 BC Connect Incense
510 BC Peace Germany
510 BC Capture Munich
490 BC War Germany
490 BC Capture Berlin with The Pyramids
470 BC Jump Palace to Leipzig
410 BC Peace Germany
410 BC Learn Mysticism
390 BC War Germany
390 BC Capture Hamburg​

Very soon we captured Leipzig, our future Capital. We also completed
the Forbidden Palace and switched Government to Republic. Now we only
needed to capture and found some more cities around Leipzig, join some
Workers to it and fill it with troops for the turn when Madrid would
be abandoned. As Germany then built The Pyramids in Berlin we knew why
she had trained so few troops. The Pyramids! Is there a sweeter prize?

Germany was now reduced to a single city in the Jungle. We moved our
Elite Archers in to contain it until we had reached the Middle Ages.

690 BC Found Aldea de Ribannah
610 BC Found Casa del Bamrápido
590 BC Found Vitoria
550 BC Found Santander
470 BC Abandon Madrid​

We founded two cities at RCP5 around Leipzig and, now that the
Forbidden Palace was built, two cities on the coast at distances 6 and
5 from the old Capital and 5 from the Forbidden Palace. Once the
Palace jumped, Vitoria and Santander would no more cause corruption in
the previous RCP7 cities.

Madrid was abandoned through the training of a Worker and no city was
founded in its place. Thus the Bonus Grassland tile from the pre-game
discussion in this case was released again. Keeping a city at this
location would have made the DCP5 around the Forbidden Palace too
crowded.


Phase 4: Consolidation, 370 BC -- 330 AD

Our task was now to meet with and get ready to attack the other
continent. A couple of Galleys had been sunk by Barbarian attack and
at the first turn on the Ocean. All effort was set on maximizing
research. Libraries were built. We went straight for Navigation.

350 BC Found Asturias
330 BC Found Jaen
310 BC Found Logrono
210 BC Found Valladolid
130 BC Found Cordoba
190 BC Abandon Toledo
190 BC Found Palma
110 BC Found Teruel
_50 BC Found Almeria
_10 BC Found Leon
_90 AD Found Zamora
110 AD Found Mérida
210 AD Found Lugo
250 AD Found Alicante
260 AD Found Cadiz
260 AD Abandon Murcia​

These cities populated the RCP5 ring on the northern part of our
continent and the coastlines around it. In the southern core, Toledo
was abandoned since it was now at distance 6 from the Forbidden Palace
through the initial RCP3. It was refounded as Palma one tile
closer. Eventually also Murcia at distance 6 was abandoned in order to
leave the productive tiles in the radius 5 disc around the Forbidden
Palace to the now large, productive, uncorrupt DCP5/FP cities and
their expensive city improvements.

370 BC Discover Currency
330 BC Connect Silks
250 BC Discover Construction
170 BC Discover Polytheism
170 BC Enter Middle Ages
170 BC Peace Germany​

We gifted Germany and she discovered Monotheism. We had nothing to
trade for it. Eventually in 110 BC a suicide Galley found the Chinese
and we could trade for contacts with all other tribes. On the other
continent, Feudalism and Engineering were known. We learned
Engineering, but could still not trade for Monotheism. We researched
Feudalism, but could still not trade for Monotheism. Only after three
turns of self-research were we able to trade for it. At least
through the wide dissemination these technologies were cheap to
research.

110 BC Learn Engineering
_30 BC Discover Feudalism
_30 AD Learn Monotheism​

We now established embassies everywhere and started a few wars and
alliances coupled to peace treaties. Germany was of no use to us
anymore (its existence had kept down the prices for Feudalism and
Monotheism), so we attacked with our Elite Archers. Our luck didn't
abandon us, a Great Leader emerged as we wiped out our first alien
tribe.

_30 AD War Germany
_50 AD Emerge Military Great Leader Sertorius
_50 AD Capture Cologne
_50 AD Destroy Germany
110 AD Build The Great Lighthouse in Jaen
110 AD Enter Golden Age
130 AD Discover Theology
150 AD Learn Invention
150 AD Learn Chivalry
210 AD Discover Education
270 AD Discover Astronomy
290 AD War Korea
310 AD Discover Navigation
320 AD Learn Gunpowder​

Now choosing to build The Great Lighthouse was a perfectly military
decision. If we had played a research game it would have been a no-no
to trigger the Golden Age at this point. The extra movement point
could easily be offset by using more ships for moving troops.

Thanks to the Golden Age we could stop building Libraries. In fact we
had already probably built too many, but we couldn't have been sure to
enter a Golden Age so early. We researched at four turns per
technology and saved up cash in the process. We could start counting
down for the turn when we would discover Navigation and have Knights
ready on Caravels waiting on the last Sea tile.

Korea eventually obliged and broke their alliance with us in order to
bring us War Happiness. France had all along been assigned our first
target, so when they first completed The Great Wall and then taught us
Gunpowder we were afraid we'd have to change our plans. But luckily,
as always in this game, France didn't have any Saltpeter.

The picture below shows the new first core around the Forbidden Palace. One city produces 33 spt and three other 24 spt during the Golden Age. Later all four produce 18 spt for Knights and 20 spt for Cavalry.

 

[Più Freddo]

Predator

Going for conquest

Phase 5: War of Conquest, 340 AD -- 550 AD

After having safely crossed the ocean, 13 Knights, a Horseman and an
Archer landed in France in 340 AD. The same turn we finished the
construction of Leonardo's Workshop in our Forbidden Palace city,
which was producing well over 30 Shields per turn during the Golden
Age. The next turn we captured Paris with The Great Wall.

A couple of turns later we had a little glitch as we forgot how far a
Knight can ride and lost undefended Paris for one turn, an event which
resulted in massive War Unhappines.

Since the AI had quite some research going and had already provided us
with Innovation and Gunpowder, we set research forth towards Military
Tradition at a rate which generated a surplus in Gold for upgrades.

We were training a mix of Knights and Horsemen, the latter of which
were upgraded to Knights for 40 gold. We also built a couple of
Barracks on the other continent to use for rushing and upgrading
Horsemen.

When England decided to declare war we knew where to go next. Our
armies thus struck to the north-east over England into Korea. In the
mean time, Rome was busy conquering mainland China and soon expulsed
the Chinese to the little island in the south-west, and we were
neighbours. China decided to put itself up as the target for our
reinforcements coming by ship from the southern core and declared war
on us.

340 AD Build Leonardo's Workshop
350 AD Capture Paris with The Great Wall
360 AD Discover Chemistry
360 AD War England
370 AD Exit Golden Age
400 AD Capture London with The Great Library
410 AD Connect Ivory
410 AD Connect Gems
420 AD Connect Wines
430 AD Discover Metallurgy
470 AD Discover Military Tradition and turn off research​

All the time we had been training Settlers in larger captured cities
in order to get rid of the native inhabitants and filling the
considerable gaps between the cities on the other continent.

For some time we had also been preparing to break the Right of Passage
agreement we had with Rome and were placing troops near Roman,
previously Chinese, cities, when Ceasar beat us to it and captured six
previously French cities in one turn. Our troops in Roman territory
struck back the next turn, but for the French cities the vanguard,
which was just being upgraded to Cavalry, had to return from Korea to
mop up. Sometimes these alliances can strike back at you: Rome were
allied against Korea at the time.

480 AD Capture Shanghai with The Colossus
490 AD Emerge Military Great Leader Cordoba in defense
500 AD Abandon Munich, which was founded on Saltpeter
510 AD Build Sun Tzu's Art of War
510 AD Emerge Military Great Leader Bartolome
510 AD Connect Dyes
510 AD Capture Seoul with The Oracle
510 AD Connect Furs
520 AD Build Sistine Chapel
520 AD Destroy China
540 AD Capture Rome with The Hanging Gardens
540 AD Capture Antium with Copernicus's Observatory
550 AD Connect Spices
550 AD Destroy England​

The next Great Leader rushed Sun Tzu's Art of War, which really helped
the push for conquest. Now we could rush and upgrade everywhere and
set most captured cities to train Horsemen. The third Great Leader
from the Chinese campaign could not contribute much, but Sistine
Chapel helped the large domestic cities to celebrate their Queen.

In a fake peace deal with Rome we even captured an invisible city. It
was founded on a little island to the north of our home
continent. Imagine that!


Phase 6: End Game, 560 AD -- 600 AD

We were now down to three foreign tribes, which were each reduced to a
capital only, and Greece, with which we had a Right of Passage
agreement.

Realizing that Rouen, the French capital, could be reached only in 590
AD, we made up the following plan. We were making close to 1000 gold
per turn as most cities had sold their Libraries (why so late?) and
Barracks and turned to producing Wealth.

560 AD Rush Horsemen for the gold
570 AD Upgrade Horsemen and rush Cavalry for the gold
580 AD Investigate cities for the gold
-"- -- Move troops into position
-"- -- Move entertainment slider to the max and change Taxmen to Clowns
590 AD Attack
600 AD Conquest​

That plan worked just fine. In 590 AD, CivAssist II reported that we
were over the Domination limit. We still opted for a Conquest victory
although that probably meant a slightly lower Jason score. A replay of
the last turn for Domination yielded the same Firaxis score minus one.

Date submitted: 2007-08-30
Entry class: Predator
Game status: Conquest Victory for Spain
Game date: 600 AD
Firaxis score: 8935
Jason score: 11318​

 

[klarius]

Cultural 20k in 1685.

Culture in Barcelona:

2510BCTemple
1300BC Oracle
730BC Great Library
670BC Library
350BC Hanging Gardens
330BC Cathedral
150BC Great Wall
110BC Colosseum
420AD Sistine Chapel
430AD University
500AD Heroic Epic
510AD JS Bach's
610AD Copernicus'
760AD Shakespeare's
920AD Newton's
1110AD Smith's
1120AD Universal Suffrage
1210AD Theory of Evolution
1240AD Wall Street
1280AD Hoover Dam
1300AD Military Academy
1325AD Battlefield Medicine
1415AD Seti Program
1420AD Research Lab
1440AD Pentagon
1445AD Internet
1465AD United Nations
1500AD Apollo Program
1545AD Longevity
1590AD Cure for Cancer
1630AD Manhattan Project
1655AD SDI
1660AD Palace

And the empire progress:

 

[Megalou]

Domination victory in 1040 AD. As I've said, the map was great, although maybe the reward for those who moved their starting settlers away from the starting BG square, namely a 4 turn settler factory, was too great for my taste ,that is, until I found the time to read Più Freddo's spoiler properly

I made full use of alliances, both before and after Navigation, causing the AI not to reach the industrial period, and at the end I also committed one or two ROP violations to save a few turns. I suffered from poor expansion in the beginning of the game but this was also an exciting phase with the barbs and the Germans.

Looking forward to a deity game soon.

 

[Schalke 04]

Oh man Klarius, you are really scaring me with your incredibly fast conquests in your g/cotm games. Independently of your victory goal, you rule the world after the invention of the wheel...

My greatest respect to your civ-skill!

 

[JonathanValjean]

Apart from a One City Challenge game for COTM39, this was my first GOTM in over two years! For the entire game I had planned to build up my forces and then invade the other continent, but I ran out of time! (A couple of graduate papers are due this week, so today was the last possible day for me to play.) So, at the beginning of the Industrial Ages, I decided to head for the UN at full speed! I got there at 1540AD and, sure enough, all heads of state (except for Korea, who was also in the vote) voted for me! I had never attempted to win via Diplo before; it certainly comes in handy in a pinch!
Good to be here again, if but for a moment!

 

[Megalou]

Welcome back, Jonathan. Am I right to think you were unable to invade quickly because the AI got riflemen or even more? I can really recommend to ally all the AIs in some war or another. It slows the tech rate down considerably. I was extra consistent about it this time because there were several scientific civs and so the arrival of Nationalism could have come quickly. In next month's game, however, this advice should probably be used with extreme caution...

 

[PaperBeetle]

The Ancient and Medieval Eras
I used a four turn factory to fill up the southern half of Beta, while Otto conveniently chose not to attack me, which was nice of him. My research was almost straight for Republic, which I reached in 650bc. Otto made some unexpected research choices, so our tech trading was non-optimal, and it wasn't until Republic that I could buy Mapping from him. I found Alpha in 350bc and was able to trade for parity with them, while back on Beta I attacked Otto with a force of swords, taking the western half of his empire. I had to research Polytheism myself, to enter the medieval in 250bc.
I gave Otto peace so I could get his free tech, and after bringing the other scientific civs forwards as well, I had Engineering and Monotheism. I then went up the top branch of the tech tree, researching at 4 or 5 turns per tech, whilst in a Colossus-induced golden age. I also restarted the war with Germany, reducing him to a single desert town in 270ad. By the time I was done with the top branch of the tech tree, the Alpha civs had managed to research Feudalism, but I had to do all other techs in the age myself. 4 turn research was assured after I jumped my palace up to Leipzig. I stopped out to get Printing, just before hitting the industrial age in 550ad.

Boundless Generosity
I gift the Germans and Greeks into the industrial age. They get Steam and Medicine, which I am able to buy, starting with a gpt trade to Germany; for the whole game Otto never meets anyone but me, so I have a pretty free hand over what kind of trades I can do with him. With the two important first tier techs in hand, I choose not to bring Wang forward, but he makes his own way to the industrial in 630ad. He gets Nationalism free, which annoys me as I don't like for the AI to get rifles, but really it is for the best; Nationalism has to be available before I can seriously ask the AI to do any other techs for me.
My first industrial research is Sanitation, as I want my Colossus + Copernicus + Newton town grown to size 20 as soon as possible. Leipzig also has more than 12 tiles to work, given that the surrounding ring of towns is at RCP5.

Establishing a Foothold
The luxury situation is going to be a long term problem for me; there are not enough on Beta, and the AI is making little effort to hook up Alpha's spare sources. So to keep my towns happy, I am relying on long-standing war happiness from Rome, a dash of luxury spending, and a program of cathedral building, supported by Michelangelo. I want more luxury resources, and I need to go to Alpha to get them. My first towns there are founded in 640ad, grabbing an exposed gem on the Franco-chinese border, and an exposed dye on Korea's southern coast. As Lanzelot observed, this kind of poaching is especially easy for a REL civ. I follow up by settling an exposed fur in Korea's northeastern tundra forest, but this is a liberty to far for Wang, and he dows me in 660ad, autorazing the dye town. I give the fur town to China rather than have it razed too, and settle for more war happiness instead of more luxuries.

Research and Revolt
There is one tech I can have some hope of the AI doing for me, and that is Replaceable Parts. Normally I would go straight for it, needing the faster workers and superior military that it offers, but in this game I am prepared to make do without it. I reach Electricity in 720ad, and bring Joan, Alex and Mao up to speed, following up by giving them Nationalism. They can all be expected to now be working on Parts, or start it as soon as they finish their current research project. In 750ad, Korea comes up with Democracy, but I don't particularly need peace with Korea, so I wait for him to sell it to someone else first. I buy it from Alex in 780ad, and revolt to Democracy during the interturn that I discover Scientific. Being a REL civ in PtW, this revolt costs me no turns of commerce.

Foothold on Alpha: Try Again
I have almost no military as I don't see the Alpha civs as any serious invasion threat for Beta, and most of my production is going towards building infrastructure on Beta. But I am building cavalries from the couple of core towns that have completed their improvements for now, and shipping these troops both west to attack outlying Korean holdings, and east to support my gems town in France, which is suffering Roman attention. The Romans don't manage to take that town, although it is often close, but they do take a neighbouring French town, which I then take for myself. I also take control of the island east of Korea, which Wang was unable to effectively reinforce. From there I can jump south to the long peninsula, where two Roman towns are isolated from the Roman empire by a Chinese town further south: again, these Roman towns are relatively weakly defended, although they seem to have the RNG gods on their side. Finally, the slow collapse of the French empire allows me to squeeze an ivory-poaching town in between France and Greece.

AI Comes Up With the Goods
In 960ad, the AI finally comes up with Parts. It is in fact Wang that gets it, so I give him peace so that I can trade for it. I bring Korea, China and Greece up to Parts and Combustion, in the hope someone will have a go at Flight while I concentrate on the remaining industrial techs. It is of course futile; they simply aren't researching fast enough to do one tech to my two or three, even if they choose to try it. I have to do Flight myself, and enter the modern era in 1120ad.
First I gift Otto forwards, for Rockets, which I can buy with 5 optional techs and nearly 200gpt. Alex gets Rockets too, and Wang gets Fission. I have timed Darwin to finish on this interturn, and use it to get Computers and Miniaturization, so I can trade Fission from Wang. I then set research to Ecology, figuring that Synthetics has a good weight; if I can park the AI on it early, maybe one of them will research it while I do the rest of the modern era.

The Fastest Era
The Modern Era is always a bit of a cruise, and with four techs in the bag by the end of the first interturn, there isn't much time left in the game. I have a leader in storage, who has been waiting some time for the Internet to come available, so Beta gets Labbed up on the second turn of the modern. Science-wonder-town Zaragoza also had a prebuild for SETI ready to arrive immediately after Darwin (i.e. later in the city order) but was hit by several consecutive pollutions, so that wonder finishes on the same turn as Internet. The arrival of these two wonders is sufficient to keep the tech pace up at max. When I get Ecology, I make sure all three remaining research-capable AI have all the first tier modern techs, but still their chance of going for Synthetics is not large and their chance of actually completing it in time is even smaller.
While I wait, I amuse myself by landing a small tank force in Rome in 1265ad. They are destroyed in 1290ad, and from there on I just glide towards the end, hoping for some AI help. It never materialises of course, and I have to do Synthetics, launching in 1345ad.

6775 Firaxis points translates to 9453 Jasons, and 1345ad translates to deity Mongols in space.

 

[Chamnix]

I guess I'm glad I just barely managed to hang on to launch before you, but you still increased your lead over me in the GPR with a higher Jason score than I got .

 

[Lanzelot]

First I have to say: even though compared to the standards of you guys here my style of playing is still mediocre, this was my greatest Emporer game ever! After rubbing shoulders with you for only two months, my game has already improved so much, that GOTM70 was "easy sailing" from beginning to end. It almost felt like playing Chieftain...
civ_steve: you didn't by any chance make a mistake with the .sav file and gave us a Chieftain game?

During the previous five years whenever I played Emperor it meant: barely hang on to survive the AA and MiA and then in a slow uphill struggle catch up and grind them down one by one during the IA and MoA. This time no one even got close to me. This shows how valuable all the advice on this forum was to me, especially about the opening phase. Getting a good start (and a settler-factory early on...) makes all the difference!
Plus all the interesting ideas here stimulated me and got me started thinking again about the game. I believe, trying things I had never even thought of so far, and breaking up long-established habbits that had become kind of rigid over the years, "injected fresh blood" into my way of playing. Thanks a lot!

Più Freddo: I really liked your write-up! (Wotan, Chamnix, PaperBeetle, Megalou: don't be offended! Your spoilers were very helpful, too, but Più just had one hell of an impressive game this month!) Next time I'm going to take notes as well. (Perhaps they will at least serve as a good model for how not to play... ) No, seriously: I think that I (and others who are also not yet at that level) can learn even more from excelent notes like these, if we compare them to our own notes and find out, where we missed something, made a bad decision, etc.

And of course Klarius' game was again breath-taking! Amazing! I hope we can soon see a couple of detailed notes from you as well. I mean, I can understand that it is very beneficial for a 20k victory, if you finish 5 World Wonders before 100BC... But just how did you do this and at the same time have enough resources left to conquer the rest of the world?

PaperBeetle: are you naming your cities in honor of the great Civ3 players of the past? Nice idea!

Ok, now let's continue telling the history of Isabella where I left it last time: just shortly before I entered the Industrial Age, the first war in history broke out on the main continent with England attacking France and a couple of others joining in (1060-1070AD). Nothing really decisive though. But apparently the Germans took that as a signal, or perhaps it suddenly reminded them of the fact that there are other forms of neighbourly relationships besides peaceful co-existence?! Anyway, out of the blue they declared war on me and attacked (1150AD). I was really disappointed to be treated like this by a very good old friend... Fortunately I had already started some preparations for my own "visit" to Germany D ) and had a small stack of Med Inf and Muskets stationed in a couple of border towns, so the attack was easily repulsed. That was one or two turns before I finished Steam Power. I also bought Military Tradition and a few horses from someone else and then switched my current production to Cavalry and build a few quick railroads to the front line. I counted it: it took me exactly ten turns from the German attack up to the point where I captured the last German town... I tried to make peace a couple of times in exchange for their remaining tech (Nationalism), but they wouldn't give it to me! Even when they were down to one town with a single spearman in it, they refused to give me Nationalism for peace, can anyone understand this?

I considered leaving them alive and using their "scientific" treat like I've read about in these spoilers. But apparently everyone who tried it in this GOTM seemed to be a bit disappointed by what the AI researched for them. So I thought, "why bother"...
In addition to "why bother", however, I had two more reasons for eliminating Germany:

• There will be no culture flips (although with my culture score that was probably not to be feared anyway. But who knows? Somewhere on this forum I read about someone complaining that a size 20 city close to his capital flipped back to its original nation, which had only one single size 5 town left, 50 tiles away...)
• In contrast to GOTM69 this time I had used no Artillery. This means all cities I captured were still fully intact with lots and lots of valuable improvements inside. If I erase the Germans completely, these cities will be immediately productive again, without the tedious procedure of shrinking their population and re-growing it with my one nationality. (I did build a few workers and settlers, however, just to take advantage of having some no-uptake units.)

So in fact in only ten rounds I had taken over a quite productive empire, and it was almost immediately contributing substantially to my income and production. (I only had to rebuild a couple of temples, libraries and universities, which unfortunately get destroyed when you capture a city.) And the Forbidden Palace that I had built on the border had a good effect, too.

Oh, by the way: that German war also started my Golden Age. After buying horses I had built two Conquistadores instead of Cavalry, and when I stumbled over an old German spearman they hadn't updated yet, I used it to start my GA. That and a good pre-build helped me to finish Universal Suffrage before the AI. (Three other civs had started it a couple of turns after I did.)

The following phase was dedicated to infrastructure again. I soon noticed that the AI started to fall behind in tech. I tried to pick techs that the AI wouldn't, but it didn't help: soon there were no more possibilities for tech trading. So I thought, what do I do now? There were still two scientific nations: Greece and China. So I could try gifting them into Modern Age and then hope they would choose two different techs, which I can buy. But surely they would sell my gifts on to all the rest, and then my lead in technology would evaporate just for the remote chance of being able to trade two techs.

So I tried a different strategy this time: I researched everything myself at full speed and didn't share it with the AI. Only occasionaly I traded one out-dated unimportant tech for gold & luxuries. That plan had several benefits:

• My empire was running at 8 luxuries for most of the time, which meant "WLTKD" at 0% luxury tax.
• The gold they paid further crippled the AI's research capabilities...
• I was able to finish Theory of Evolution, Hoover Damm and SETI Project long before anyone else even had the necessary tech. Don't think I ever managed that in an Emperor game.
• And finally, by the time I decided the time was ripe for taking over the world, I was fighting with tanks against riflemen... civ_steve: you absolutely sure, that wasn't a Chieftain?

The rest of the story is quickly told:

• Started my attempt at conquest around 1540AD. I picked the Greek as they were closest and I didn't have any trades going on with them at that point.
• Finished Greece in 3 turns! (Ok, the English had already taken half of their empire. I was just in time to snatch the rest before the English did... And England even payed me something like 300 gold for helping them! )
• Waited 6 turns until my trades with France had expired. (Still needed my good reputation, because England was the most powerful, so I wanted to swallow them last, but until then I needed their RoP for quick access to the other civs. That way I could ship my troups over to the main continent using the shortest path and then use the British Railway to transport them to the front.) I used that time for regrouping, consolidating and filling the empty spots in Greece with a couple of towns.
• Finished France in 3 turns!!
• Again waited until my contracts with China expired. Used that time to finish Rocketry & Synthetic Fibers and upgraded my tanks to Modern Armor.
• Attacked China and took 4 core cities including the capital within the first two turns
• Ran out of time

Yes you read correctly: I ran out of time! My best game of Civ for 5 years and I wasn't able to meet the deadline! I tried to finish it on Saturday night, but around midnight I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer and gave up. Guess I'm getting old. In my student days, I could play Civ all night and still follow the lectures the next day...

Guess I'm really getting old: on one evening I had played ca. 3 hours and then forgot to save before quitting... Fortunately civ_steve allowed me to play on from the autosave. And on Aug 17-19 we went on a weekend trip to my grandma's place, and I extra took my laptop so I could play a bit on the long train ride and over the weekend -- only to notice on the train, that the CD case was empty! I had forgotten the CD in my desktop... An entire weekend wasted!

I asked the Jason calculator and it said, if I had retired at that point, my score would have been 2183. And let's assume I would have needed until around 1800 to achieve domination and my Fireaxis score would have risen by another 1000 points until then. That would give me a Jason score around 4900. Indeed an improvement compared to my 1661 for GOTM69.

Just for reference, here are two screenshots from the point where I stopped playing (1665AD). I'd really like to finish that game some time, but on Sunday I've rather started on GOTM71. Don't want to miss the deadline again...!
(Well, if the deities finish me off early on, at least I'll have time again to go back and finish my GOTM70...)

Lanzelot

 

[Più Freddo]

In 590 AD, CivAssist II reported that we
were over the Domination limit. We still opted for a Conquest victory

Which appears to have been the right decision. The optimal date for Conquest was 1000 AD and our Jason score reached 98% of the maximum score. Domination had an earlier optimal date and would thus have been rewarded with a lower score.