GOTM81 - Final Spoiler

[civ_steve]

GOTM 81 Final Spoiler - Game Submitted

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!

Did the Panzers have an impact? Or did you manage a victory in some other fashion?

 

[milr]

Industrial Age

Our powerful research organization pushed us ahead in the technology race as the industrial age came into the sunlight. Thereafter, our trade balance did nothing but improve, as we were now able to add technology to our basket of saleable goods. The Americans were especially fond of buying our technology at a hefty price, though it took some negotiating to get them to part with their might greenbacks. Their futile attempt to catch up with our researchers no doubt left many of their scientists begging on the streets for food.

Whereas the Americans seemed to have set their sights on world domination, we found it expedient to gift our other friends with sufficient technology to bolster their military capabilities and fend off the aggressive American behavior. Alas, our Egyptian friends were ambushed and destroyed by our dear Roman neighbors (whom we wouldn’t trust as far as one can throw a feather.) We beefed up our defenses around their latest incursion into our territory via the conquered Egyptian town, and further increased our continental divide forces.

With America spreading across the world like kudzu, we foresaw that our technological advantage might fade with the coming sunset of the Industrial Age, so we have temporarily put aside our ambitions for technical triumph over the vast universe, and instead have our eyes set on the Nobel peace prize and assurance of our leader’s rightful place in history. We continued to nurture friendships with all nations, though of course we also systematically fed our military machine, upgrading and building to the latest technologies, including the mighty Panzer tanks.

Modern Age – Diplomatic Victory 1808AD

To demonstrate peaceful intention to the world, our researchers made an immediate, significant technological breakthrough in the area of ecology, while our elite research team got hard at work understanding atomic structure, which ultimately led to the discovery of fission. It was time to gather the leaders of the world together to discuss a new united world order in which our glorious leader would command the respect he so rightly deserves. The Americans nominated their own leader for the post, despite their warring ways. Rome chose to abstain, as they no doubt felt snubbed in being left out in the nominations, and of course the Americans voted for their own leader.

Now that our glorious leader has assured his place in history, it is time to look forward to the achievement of our quest for domination of the entire universe, a goal that will undoubtedly require the absolute best efforts of our scientific community, both to reach beyond the skies, and to further our lead in military weaponry. Our military is already well prepared to begin the fight for world dominance, and look forward to the celebration that will occur when we are able to remove the ‘S’ from the ‘UNITED NATIONS’ building.

 

[templar_x]

no panzer used ever, built a few though just to have them.

Space Victory in 1740AD
Firaxis score 5934
Jason score 7296

having started that game early, i was totally distracted from it by work in the weeks coming. only ventured to finish this game within the last couple of days, submitting it in the anecdotal last second (well, at least i hope i did - i even sent a "retired"-file about an hour before the time limit ended so that i would have anything out of all that work in case i wouldn´t finish the spaceship in time...)

after that whole game being incredibly slow, i really ran out of time at the end. i had lots of good producing cities for the spaceship parts, but didn´t do the pollution cleanup any more as worker moves took too long
you can imagine what germany looked like when we started the ship. very much like our blue planet already does, i guess.

i had tried for an early GA, but the Yanks had beaten me to Sun Tzu´s AND Leonardo´s. they were really the runaway civ in the Middle Ages and early IA. my strategy at that time was building up the empire and conquering my continent, pointy stick research and by the end of the Middle Ages, diplomatic steals.

short war against the weak French, i think i remember in the 5-hundreds AD, no leader. two cities on the eastern shore of their island became nice and productive.

770AD DOW Romans and make that a short story with cavs against legions (and an immense number of other ancient units). i had waited for MT for otherwise fighting legions can be ugly. the Romans by then had beaten the bad out of Egypt, throwing them off our continent. all they had left were three unproductive towns on that small island north of the French one.
i had that notion that i will get 1-2 MGLs soon, form armies and build the second core on American soil. very nice lands they had. but i had the worst RNG i can remember, having about 70 elite victories without gaining an MGL. ok, FP in Roman lands then, Yanks stay around as trading partner. serious research was only done by Americans and Germans in that game.
btw, were we really militaristic in this game? not only did i not get MGLs, i hardly got promotions either. especially with the AA units, later it was just like normal.

diplo steals went quite fine, i had one little war with the Americans just to show them i am not impressed with the evaluation of weak and strong by the military advisor, but around that war i had one really strange event take place: i just made a successful steal of ToG when my *#$%&§-computer froze. ok, no problem, reload, steal again - what? this time they are more alert to my li´l spy action and declare! i don´t think i changed anything (sure not, i wanted that very same result like before the frozen screen! ) - but it appears that diplomatic mission outcomes are *not* random... hm

while the Americans researched ALL the optionals i nearly took up with them. they could have been industrial WAY earlier. i entered the IA only in 1060. had to seriously take up self-research again due to that special event described above. was not the worst point of time to do so.

more than once i had turns with defeats at incredible odds. one went like: lost 3 cavs against a single spear, 1 e frigate against a 2 hp galeon, 1 vet frigate against a 1 hp galeon. things that are not game decisive, but i hated it though.

from the IA on Germans gave the pace. the Yanks had trouble to find back to normal business from the little diplomatic issues i provided them (like, continental war on THEIR continent). unfortunately they did not ever really recover, changed govs a lot and science was a very lonesome German hobby from then on. i took the ToE slingshot, which triggered a GA right when it did really good (i had totally forgotten that i already had built a militaristic wonder before, the GW... sure not because i love it!)
techs were researched in mostly 4, sometimes 5 turns. prebuilds for all the SS parts to finish when they became available. the last two came on the turn with synthetic fibers. resources were absolutely no problem, given the abundance in PTW and Germany holding so much land.

like i said, at the end i ran out of time to submit, so i ran through the turns without any mm´ing. the continent looked ugly, the cities were not mm´ed, 1740 is incredibly late.... BUT: this is my first GOTM submission, and i won as announced, cruising to the stars!

 

[TheOverseer714]

You did very well for a first-time submission, far better than I did. I am still struggling in my personal Gotm attempts, I'm so spoiled by Conquests, where specialist farms are more useful. I did run out of time and sent in a pathetic "retired" save, though even if I had won, it would have been a lousy score.

 

[Lanzelot]

Did the Panzers have an impact?

I didn't build any... I know, I was the one asking for a civ with a late UU , but I had set my goal on domination and that came long before Panzers...

more than once i had turns with defeats at incredible odds. one went like: lost 3 cavs against a single spear, 1 e frigate against a 2 hp galeon, 1 vet frigate against a 1 hp galeon. things that are not game decisive, but i hated it though.

I swear, civ_steve has jinxed the RNG for that game! I had elite Cavalry loosing to regular spearmen in a size 2-5 town at least a dozen times!!

But unlike templar I had a good promotion rate, so I could aford to loose a few handful of elite units and still got a decent number of MGLs. In fact, more than I needed, so I did something, which I usually don't do in PTW: I built more than one Army...

But let's proceed in order: my plan to take over Rome first (to get a good second core) failed in the early MA, because the Russians required special attention again. So I took them over once and for all using swords and then MI. This was completed in 510AD. I didn't want to setup my second core there, but at least it gave me furs (and later Saltpeter) and lowered my unit upkeep considerably. I think this and the fact that I discovered Republic early and did not trade it around to anybody, allowed me to catch up with the AI and then take the tech lead and never let it go until I shutdown research.

Meanwhile I had good relations again with the Romans and the Egyptians and signed ROPs. After Russia was finished, I sent my MIs up there to watch carefully over the Roman cities... At that time all my cities were producing Horsemen as I had skipped Chivalry. Military Tradition was finished around 700AD, then I spent a couple of turns upgrading (one of the leaders that had emerged on the Russian front, had rushed Leonardo's for me), and then I called the ROP with the Romans off (it had already lasted more than 20 turns) and attacked afterwards. Apparently that doesn't count as a ROP rape, because all others continued the ROPs I had with them. I signed up Egypt and France against Rome as well, tied to a peace treaty, and took over the Roman core in 3 or 4 turns. The stack that had been waiting next to Rome, had included an MGL that I had spared exactly for that occasion. It immediately rushed the FP in Rome in 830AD. I got another MGL in 850AD, which rushed Bach's in Ravenna. This triggered my GA, because I had built Sun-Tzu's earlier and had captured the Great Library in Rome. This was well-timed, just when I had two cores. (Except that it was around 800 years later than originally planned... )

Rome was left with a single island. I rushed a galley close by and shipped over two elite MI and two Cavs. During that time the German Cavalry organized a sight-seeing tour to the wonders of Egypt, only to be trapped in enemy territory, when hostilities unexpectedly broke out after the extinction of our common enemy, the Romans... Egypt was assimilated in a couple of turns in 950AD.

The French had also gotten angry about our success against the Romans, but organizing a cruise to France took the Cavalry Tourist Department a bit longer... Anyway, that job was also quickly finished in 1070AD.

Now it was time to think about trips to far away shores. Leipzig had built the Great Lighthouse a long time ago, so it was possible for German galleys (and later caravels) to reach the other continent by the "North-East Passage". However, that would have been much too slow, and the poor Armies (whose number had meanwhile grown to 4, as I didn't have any other useful task to do for the many great leaders that emerged in the tough battles) would not have been able to join the trip, against which they heavily protested.
Fortunately, after I had shut research down upon reaching Military Tradition, I had done a bit of tech trading, just in case and because I was able to. (In PTW there is no Temple of Artemis, so there was no reason to stop before Education, and I thought, perhaps the need for advanced techs will arise lateron, as the Americans kept up a good research rate and I wasn't sure, whether I might some time have to fight a war against them. Currently it looked like the Aztekian and Iroquois tiles would suffice to reach domination, but if a war broke out on that continent and the Americans rolled over the Iroquois, then I might have to fight them to get the last remaining tiles. Taking on Rifles or even Infantry with Cavs is no fun, so I decided not to fall to far behind in science, and traded some of the upper half techs.)

So now I was in the lucky position to fulfill the wish of my 4 Cav Armies... I only had to research Physics, Gravity and Magnetism, which took approx. 15 turns. During that time caravels shipped a decent part of the Cavalry Corps over to the Iroquois, and after Magnetism was reached (and the Lighthouse went out) the Armies were able to set over. (I had kept them at size 3, even though I had completed the Pentagon meanwhile.) From now on the units from the Rome core were shipped to Iroquois' lands directly, while the units from the Berlin core were shipped to America and then used the American road network to reach their accomodations in Iroquoisia...
I got Nationalism as my free tech, which unfortunately was the tech that the Americans had already researched by then. I turned research off again and started using the money for rushing Libraries.

In 1210AD everything was ready and the seven Iroquois towns were taken in one turn. Before I did that, I renewed my ROPs with America and Aztekia, just to make sure they would not call them off during the next 20 turns. Next I also signed a mutual protection pact with America, to make sure they wouldn't stab me in the back and cut off my reinforcement lines to the Aztecs. A few turns later the troops had moved into position in Aztekia and I didn't bother waiting for the ROP to expire... 15 of the 19 Aztec cities were taken in one turn. The others were on islands, but I would not need them: a few more libraries would do the trick.

But then the next turn something strange happened: the Americans broke our MPP and took one of the undefended southern ex-Iroquois cities! I had checked that they didn't have an MPP with the Aztecs. Were they annoyed about my ROP rape against the Aztecs? Couldn't they resist the temptation to take an undefended city, while its owner was engaged in a war elsewhere? Did they realize I was close to winning the game and tried to stop it?
Anyway, I quickly moved my forces south again and was able to take my city back. The Aztecs were willing to talk astoninglishly early after that blow and gave me two of their island towns... And then, when I was ready to move into American territory and punish them for their treachery, a couple of Libraries "popped" and pushed me over the dom limit. (Too bad. I wouldn't have minded a 1300 date this time, as I was quite pissed with Abe... )

This time I was quite satisfied with my finish date in the 1200s, considering the bad start, my faulty strategy in the AA and the fact that it was Emperor.
After the game I had an idea, which might have been smarter than walking into that jungle, fighting the Roman Legions in there and then walking back to take care of the Russians:

• When the Romans declared on me, let them walk all the way south to me.
• Meanwhile build like 5 galleys, mount 10 swords and send them sailing north at three times the speed of the Roman jungle force...
• When the Legions come out of the jungle, great them in the grasslands with catapults and swords. (They would most probably have attacked my most northern town with the dyes resource first. The jungle next to that town was already cleared.)
• Then drop the 10 swords next to Rome and take a substantial part of the Roman core, before the remaining Legions are able to march back north...

Using that plan I might've achieved my goal before the Russians had recovered and attacked my rear?!

Lanzelot

 

[Lanzelot]

A few more thoughts about war weariness/war happiness:

Up to now I was under the impression that if you tie an alliance to a peace treaty, you get war happiness only if the AI

• makes peace with the common enemy within those 20 turns or
• takes the last city of the common enemy

as both actions result in an automatic DOW against you.

Consequently I thought I would get the usual war weariness if I take the last city of the common enemy, as I would be the one to auto-declare. Therefore I had always been careful to let the AI take the last city... In this game however I didn't care, because I didn't expect the resulting wars to be long (so war weariness should be tolerable), and I didn't need to bother about my reputation (in that game the "European side" and the "American side" never made contact: two galleys of mine were blocking the endpoints of the "North-East passage", so no 4-movement ship was able to cross the gap without remaining a turn on the open ocean... And when the Americans finally discovered Navigation, only France was left on my side, and France was gone, before America was able to discover it... ).

Anyway, I didn't bother, so when I had Egypt and France signed up against Rome, I took the final Roman town. But to my surprise no declaration of war was done, neither by me nor by them. I checked the F4 screen next turn and it seems we just slid into a state of war without any DOW on either side. Consequently I felt neither war weariness nor war happiness during the entire time between the fall of the last Roman town (880AD) and the end of the French empire (1070AD)!! Would be interesting, if someone else has experienced the same.

Something different: in COTM50 Più Freddo observed the following:

I finished the Sling-Shot and got five turns of Anarchy. During this
time I learned something new: A foreign tribe broke an alliance bound
to a peace deal, but no War Happiness ensued under Anarchy. When
Republic was eventually established, there was also no sign of War
Happiness. Oh well.

I wonder, whether the opposite also works?! I.e. if you declare war while being in Anarchy, will you then not suffer from war weariness, even after a government is established? That might be a powerful trick if you plan to do some war-mongering after switching to Republic/Democracy.

Lanzelot

 

[PaperBeetle]

^ Some interesting observations. In this game, the Aztecs broke a peace+alliance with me by finishing off our common enemy, the Americans. I experienced no war happiness from this event. I was a little surprised by that, but maybe it isn't that unreasonable. After all, we [used to] use alliance+kill to terminate per turn agreements without rep damage, so maybe lack of war happiness is the other side of the same coin?

 

[I. Larkin]

I wonder, whether the opposite also works?! I.e. if you declare war while being in Anarchy, will you then not suffer from war weariness, even after a government is established? That might be a powerful trick if you plan to do some war-mongering after switching to Republic/Democracy.

In our Sid on Pangea we have chance to test it. (I declare while in Anarchy) But I think it will not be the case.

In this game, the Aztecs broke a peace+alliance with me by finishing off our common enemy, the Americans. I experienced no war happiness from this event.

It allways happend with me. But my feeling was that my rep broke this way.