GOTM79 - Final Spoiler

[civ_steve]

GOTM 79 Final Spoiler - Game Submitted

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Any late stage victories? UN's or Space? Commercial and Industrial are good traits for late victories, but at Regent Level, the game can end a lot earlier!

 

[DWetzel]

100k win in 1834 AD, for a Jason score in the mid-5000s (lost the email).

The midgame went very nicely for me, for the most part. A war against the Celts went exceptionally well (after an alliance with Persia), giving me almost all the land north and west of the natural chokepoint. Unfortunately, I said "almost". The Persians had a couple of cities there, basically in the eastern fringes of the desert, and they were quite strong militarily. Rooting them out of the land was not at all easy, and in fact I initially lost a bit of ground to them despite the war being on my terms. The good part of the war was that the golden age was kicked off by a musketeer win in 1000 AD, when I had a nice empire already developed.

Eventually, superior intellect (ha!) got the best of the AI, and Persia was driven back beyond the chokepoint. After that I don't think I fought a single war the rest of the game. Persia wiped the floor with the Germans and later the Babylonians, who had taken the measure of the Arabs somewhat earlier. I was always a bit uneasy getting ready for a battle with the Persians, but it never came. In fact they were pretty useful trading partners, and their wars against the Baylonians and Germans created some nice settlin' ground in the late game.

England generally sailed around and did nothing useful the entire game.

Built every wonder after the ancient age except for Sun Tzu and Bach's (got beat to it). I never did get a leader from the wars I fought, so all was hand-built.

Wonders and build dates (courtesy CAII), don't THINK I missed any...

1450 BC Oracle (capital)
_450 BC Pyramids (capital)
_410 AD Forbidden Palace (Besancon)
_480 AD Sistine (capital)
1010 AD Leo's (capital)
1150 AD Copernicus (capital)
1290 AD Smith's (Besancon)
1360 AD Newton's (Rouen)
1420 AD Magellan's (Marseilles)
1455 AD Wall Street (capital)
1495 AD Universal Suffrage (Rheims)
1520 AD Theory of Evolution (Rouen)
1535 AD Intelligence Agency (capital)
1565 AD Hoover Dam (Besancon)
1600 AD Battlefield Medicine (Lyons)
1720 AD SETI (Dijon)
1730 AD Shakespeare's (capital)
1752 AD The Internet (Lyons)
1774 AD Cure for Cancer (capital)
1774 AD Longevity (Agedincum)
1784 AD United Nations (Lyons)
1788 AD Manhattan (Dijon)

With the Internet, I basically tried to cram as many cities in along the southern part of the continent to get the free research labs. At game's end I had 96 cities, most of them specialist farms in the south. With one or two turns to go I decided it was safe to disband most of my military for shields for more cathedrals/universities/libraries in the new towns. Sadly I had 99,989 culture in 1832. Oh well.

I was really disappointed not to get a culture flip in the late game from Persia...one would think I had a shot at it:

This game also had the pleasure of one of the more interesting things I'd ever seen in Civ: the four-turn settler factory with a size 1 city! I demand style points. And I think it would have been a three-turner if I had left an open mountain nearby to absorb the extra citizen. Thanks to Longevity, it grew from size 1 to 3 every 3 turns.

Finally, the zoomed-way-out picture of the empire:

Spoiler :

 

[PrinceMyshkin]

^^
Congrats, DWetzel. And you didn't win by spaceship!

 

[DWetzel]

Thanks! It was nice to have goals.

I can't remember the last time I researched Genetics before Space Flight. It felt good though.

 

[Nata]

20K win in 1640AD.

It was just too easy - even Warlords in GOTM78 put up more of a fight.
The main difficulty was getting the troops in place, but that became very simple after Cavalry and RR.

Main events:

70BC - 1st Leader in war with Celts we were fighting since 400BC. We were 8 turns till GLH, 1turn till Monotheism, and so desided to spare it until nice MA wonder.

We learned Monarchy next turn from GL, and switched to HG, which we finished in:
90AD - entering the Golden Age. As we had Theology by then we hurried Sistine Chapel next turn.

AIs were pretty much useless research-wise, they couldn't even get me Invention, so I was forced to self-research Music Theory and the lower path up till IA.
AIs gave me Chivalry, and Babs in IA were kind enough to do Navigation and Economics. And that was it from AIs till the end of the game, apart from free techs.
But our own research rate stayed at 4-5 turns right after the end of GA and till the end of the game.

RNG was kind to us and we got couple of easy GLs in Middle Ages. We were pretty methodical in destroying Celts, destroying Germany except 1 tundra city, warring with everyone settling on our "half" of the continent and in the end destroying everyone but Babs, (and leaving Persia and Germany with 1 city).
Babs we nurtured so that they would create a decent empire and enough units for us to bash later in the Modern Age.

We didn't bother exploring the seas until we got Magnetism, as it was unlikely English would have anything to offer.
After we discovered English (~750AD) we didn't trade their contact to anyone - and all the rest of the Civs were still far away from Magnetism or even Astronomy when we razed British Empire off the map, taking only Spice cities. I think we got 1GL in the process.

~600AD - we researched MT ourselves, as it took too long to move the troops around.
740AD - we went Industrial.
900AD - We learned RR and Industry and maxed out Paris with new technologies.
After that we took a break from industrial research and went for Free Artistry etc. I thought we'd have to research Economics and Nav., but as I mentioned Babs unexpectedly helped us there.
1180AD - England gone.
1270AD - FP hand-built in Hanover, at about 5-6spt amidst celebrations.

1390AD - we became Modern. Gifted city-states Persia and Germany, Germany got Computers which I bought from them for huge gpt. Persia got Ecology which I traded for Computers and more gpt. Babs I didn't gift as I was going to be fighting them till the end of the game, and I wanted them backwards. And I got Computers anyway already.

Next turn we dowed both Germany and Persia, of course. And finally erased them off the map. So it was us against Babs till the end. Nothing personal, just wanted some GLs. And we got them aplenty, every turn or two, hurrying all the Modern Wonders.

1480AD: Babs are one city. All Great Wonders built. Hand-finishing Apollo and some rag-tag Wonders. Pressing Enter till the end of the game.

Culture from Middle Ages onwards:

Colosseum - 230BC
HG - 90AD
------------------------> GA
Sistine - 110AD (GL)
GLH - 280AD
Cathedral - 330AD
University - 360AD
Copernicus - 370AD (GL)
Bach - 670AD
Newton - 850AD
------------------------> 900AD Paris maxed out with RRs, factory & CP
Leonardo - 910AD (GL)
Suffrage - 930AD (GL)
Heroic Epic - 970AD
Shakespear - 1040AD
Smith - 1140AD
ToE - 1160AD (GL)
Magellan - 1230AD
Wall Street - 1265AD
Hoover Dam - 1330AD
Mil. Acad. - 1365AD
SETI - 1410AD (GL)
Internet - 1420 (GL)
UN - 1440AD (GL)
CfC - 1465AD (GL)
Longevity - 1470AD (GL)
Manhattan - 1480AD (GL)
Apollo - 1535AD
Int. Agency - 1585AD
B. Medicine - 1615AD

 

[MarleysGh0st]

Entry class: Open
Game status: Domination Victory for France
Game date: 1320 AD
Firaxis score: 3842
Jason score: 8529
Time played: 17:51:22

This was an easy victory--or what I would have considered an easy victory before I started comparing my results to the rest of the GOTM players. By these standards, I know I plodded along for far too long.

I never knew about RCP before I moved from playing PTW to C3C. Now I've read about that, but forgot about putting it into action when I started this game. There were a couple premature attacks against the Celtic capital without enough Maces to finish the job, but the early wars were easy, thanks to my neighbors not having iron and/or horses. Once I had my railroads in place, I probably would have made things faster by going against the Arabs and Babylonians without pausing to invade England first.

 

[civ_steve]

RCP is a powerful tool for PTW, but the changes to C3C corruption calculations have greatly reduced this strategy for city placement when playing Conquests.

 

[Andronicus]

Conquest win 510AD, Jason 11000+

No initial goals, decided on building pyramids and going for histo when didnt find any neighbours, but when reached dom limit I didnt feel like committing to the long haul so went for conquest.

Settled south on jungle after worker saw wheat, Orleans by 2 game became my 4 turn SF. Tours and Marselles also at RCP3, 6 towns at RCP 6 (one later abandoned) then prioritised luxes.

Contacts
Warriors explored 1) East, then south, 2) North and 3) south - the 3rd one made first contact in 2350BC with Celts, all other contacts (exc English) made/bought 1475BC. English contact not made until 30AD after my galley spied orange borders (I guess I should have recognised the clue of the coastal tile that wasnt coastal).

Pyramids built in Paris 1125BC
Republic in 1025BC, revolt for 5 turn anarchy
FP in Rouen in 70BC
Sun Tzu in Tours 30AD
Palace Berlin 70AD (MGL)
HG in Elipi 380AD (MGL)

I had researched lit awaiting AI to research maths for me, but eventually gave up only to have Celts beet me by 1 turn in 750BC, currency and construction done in 610BC, gift up the scientifics, all get feudalism. I researched mono and chivalry (410BC), then turned off science whilst upgrading horses then cash rushing libs, markets and knights whilst awaiting engineering. Eventually gave up on AI and self researched 4 turn engineering 270AD and continued 4 turn research through to cavs in 470AD.

Wars
Vikes dow 630BC after I reject their demands for lit -> MA Babs, Persia, Arabs & Germany tied to PTs
Celtic war - dow in 270BC, eliminate in 30AD
German war - Germans PT Vikes -> dow us for WH. 250BC, take Berlin 70AD gaining MGL - used to rush palace in Berlin for new core (existing towns were resettled at RCP6 giving highly productive core around FP in Rouen (4 tiles W of Paris at RCP6)). Eliminate 130AD
Persian war - at conclusion to prev MA, re MA Persia v Vikes, then break PT with rop abuse in 190AD, MA Arabs, Babs and Englandv Vikes and Persia tied to PT and MA Eng v Persia tied to PT (I was surprised they would be willing to do this considering how I had just broken my PT with Persia). I left last Persian town until all others had made peace (and thus given me war happies) Eliminated 370AD
Arab war - Arabs peace with Persia in 310AD breaks PT. Eliminated 390AD.
Viking war - phoney war until 380AD. Vikes had taken 2 Arab towns and 1 Bab town. Eliminated 450AD (including 1 town flipping to me). Vikes built Collossus, GLH and GW in Nidaros. I sent a party of 10 knights across Scandinavia straight to Nidaros which I captured in 380AD with 2nd and last MGL rushing HG., now non walled towns fell swiftly.
English war - England breaks PT by making peace with Persia in 350AD when I happen to have 4MDI who have sailed on 2 galleys to destroy a Vike town at the southern end of the archipelago standing by 2 English towns on the southern isle and have just moved my forces ready for rop abuse on their main isle. 9 towns fall in 2 turns, I gain 2 more on a false PT shortly after then eliminate English in 410AD
Babylonian war - Babs are last to break the PT in 360AD, a vet musketeer is risked against a bab bowman and succeeds in 370AD initiating a late GA which never completed. Getting to final town proves slow due to forested tundra - 33 knights and 1 upgraded cav arrive on the doorstep to greet single spear and Babs eliminated 500AD for 510AD conquest victory.

I expect much faster conquest is possible as I waited for knights before attacking - with only 2 pikes (Babs) all game it was really too easy.

 

[krakedhalo]

GAH!!! D*$N Vista lost all my saves. So this is unofficial (completed, but unable to submit), and all from memory.

Open Class
Domination 870AD
Firaxis 4722
Jason ???? (anyone know how I can approximate this, without the actual save?)
14:23:30

Settled 1 south, warrior-warrior-settler. Explorers went North and East first, so I didn't meet the Celts right away, but when I did (still pre-2000bc, I think) I decided they had to go before I saw any Gallic Swords. I had IW early, so swords and horsemen went down and took their capitol, then destroyed 2 towns. Unfortunately they had a settler off to the E, and I didn't feel like chasing, so I took their last town and a tech (mysticism?) for peace. They survived exactly the length of the peace treaty. I hit MA around 500bc, Brennus never did.

Germans were up next, and the veterans of the Celtic war just continued their march eastward. I signed Persia up for the war to give them something to do, and the Germans disappeared from the world in about 4 turns. First elite victory vs. Germany gave me a leader, who rushed Sun Tzu's in the nearest town only 2 turns after Feudalism came in. That was nice. That was the only leader I had until the last dozen turns or so. The Vikings had landed a settler on my North Coast, so I declared against them for that town. The space between the natural choke point in former Celt territory and the Persian capitol filled in quickly with French, Persian, Babylonian, Arab and Viking towns, everyone taking as much land as they could as quickly as possible. There were about 10 turns of peace (except against the distant Vikings) while I rushed in settlers, then I declared against Babylon. Took the 3 towns they had in the free-for-all zone, then declared against Arabs. Persia was moving stacks and stacks of Immortals around, so I didn't want to go up against them just yet. Allied the Persians against the Babs, so all of their Immortals went north to fight and mostly die. Sun Tzu's allowed me to upgrade a dozen or so horse to knights, so the Arabian towns in the area fell in two or three turns. Once the Immortals were safely out of the way I broke peace and took out once-mighty Persia relatively quickly. Arabs died next as I tried to fill in with settlers and temples as quickly as possible. Vikings disappeared about 800ad, and the second Bab town I took put me over the Dom limit. I completely ignored England except to take one town closest to me on the next-to-last turn. A galley parked in the non-coastal coastal square meant they couldn't get over to the continent, and no one else could go visit. Had just 1 scientist researching after Chivalry, but he had enough time to learn gunpowder so I made 1 musketeer for a GA.

This was definitely my best-played game, so I'm VERY mad at Windows for losing my files. Anyone with any arcane trick to get them back, let me know. I enjoyed this quick victory much more than my only Emporer victory to date, back with Japan a few GOTMs ago.

 

[EvilConqueror]

Jason ???? (anyone know how I can approximate this, without the actual save?)

Here you go:
http://gotm.civfanatics.net/calculator/index.php

Sorry to hear you lost your saves.

 

[Lanzelot]

Anyone with any arcane trick to get them back, let me know.

This may be a bit impractical, but if you take out your harddrive and bring it to an expert disc recovery shop, they may be able to restore the relevant disc sectors, if up to now these sectors have not yet been overwritten by new files.
I did this once, when the read/write-head of my harddrive crashed and I had very important data on the disc. Cost me about 60 Euro. (Don't know whether a Civ game is worth this...? )

Regards, Lanzelot

 

[civ_steve]

That is probably not necessary. I've sent a PM to krakedhalo already. Vista stores individual user files under that user's Desktop. These saves fall in that category, so you have to find them in a different directory. It's not pretty!

 

[krakedhalo]

Wooo! Thanks civ_steve! Found it, and submitted.

To complete the above, officially now:

Open Domination Win
Firaxis 4722
Jason 9754
14:30:37

 

[Chamnix]

Predator class, going for conquest.

I started with worker southeast to the bonus grassland and moved the settler south to found Paris in 3950 BC next to the wheat. Initial research was Pottery, then Writing, Code of Laws, Philosophy, and Republic. After that I had 1 scientist researching Currency, but after 39 turns, I decided not to finish it – I didn’t need it, and I had no desire to reduce the price so the AI could get to the Middle Ages more quickly. As it turned out, Babylon completed Currency and was the only tribe to arrive in the Middle Ages at all, and they got there only 5 turns before the game ended.

Initial builds for the capital were one warrior to explore nearby, a settler, a granary, 2 more settlers, a worker, a barracks, then some mix of settlers/military every 6 turns. Orleans was founded to the south-south-east at RCP 3 to share the wheat. Orleans built 2 warriors, a settler, a granary, then operated as a worker factory.

I only founded about 13 cities total this game using RCP 3 and 7 then throwing a few miscellaneous cities to claim luxuries. The Forbidden Palace was built in Lyons intending a palace jump, but it never happened.

QSC:

10 cities
35 citizens
1 settler
13 workers
4 warriors
3 archers
2 horsemen



By 630 BC, my military (19 horsemen and a handful of other units) was strong to everyone’s. The game was once again about building roads and getting units to the front as quickly as possible. I used exclusively horsemen on the home continent and swords for abusing an RoP with England.

The death toll:

330 BC – Celts (they could have been destroyed much earlier, but I was waiting for their last city to culture pop.
310 BC – Persians.
30 AD – Germany.
280 AD – Entered my Golden Age from building the Great Lighthouse with a leader with the game almost over.
300 AD – England and Babylon.
310 AD – Vikings
320 AD – Arabia.
330 AD – Conquest victory.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

Predator, SS. 1275 launch, Firaxis 4111, jason 9383

Hit the IA in 420 AD, gifted the 3 scientific civs and they got medicine, steam and nationalism. I traded for medicine and steam and ended up with enough gpt to do 4 turn research - went industrialization, electricity (gifted that in the hope that someone researched rep parts and save me 4 turns - that didn't happen), then researched the cheapest tech as I brought my new FP city, etc up to speed. I got 4 turn research on everything, though some were close.

There were some wars - persia declared on me, so I took Pasgardae and Perseopolis, giving me The Pyramids, but I had stopped conquest at that point - seemed pointless at that point.

I timed builds to get me ToE the turn I hit MT, so I could get computers/miniaturization and flip a prebuild for Internet. After that, 4 turn research in MT was no problem, so it was just a matter of timing prebuilds after that.

Pretty fun.

 

[axehaxe]

I remember playing this game into like the 2nd day and then for some strange reason, every time a barbarian came into an empty city, the game would crash out. So I didn't play it all the way. It seemed WAY too easy though...

 

[Più Freddo]

Predator going for Diplomacy

Failed to get the vote at 910 AD. I guess you have to be a lot nicer to your neighbours.

I had thought only England was large enough to take part in the vote, and made alliances against it on the last turn. But three nations voted for the Celts. Perhaps I should have crushed them to a smaller size?