GOTM93 - Final Spoiler

[civ_steve]

GOTM 93 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!

Last chance to share the details of your game - how did your Chinese do?

 

[krakedhalo]

So, this is embarrassing... 1989 Space Loss to France - with 227,000 culture.

After a disorganized xOTM with Germany, I focused on getting my first 100k win right from the start. Clearly I had the culture to do it, but could never quite double France's culture. Looking back at the game now, I find I was at about 190% of France's culture on two or three separate occasions. Can someone point me to some resources for planning and executing 100k games?

I settled in place, built up a good core at RCP 4.5, and sent warriors exploring... The first two both got killed by barbs in the jungle, and I didn't meet anyone til Korea in 1500bc (Jap. 2 turns later). Explorer picked off two korean workers, starting a long distance war they couldn't really fight as I concentrated on filling in cities. It took four or five suicide galleys til I finally got one across - from the NW corner, surviving way longer than it would've needed to going from the little island. Traded myself up, entering MA in 50ad. Gifted up Germany and Korea, both of whom got Feud. and were happy to sell. At that point I switched to building horse for upgrade to riders (fun! first time I've used them much). Steam rolled through Japan and Korea starting in 600ad and nabbing the GLib in doing so. When caravels were in I sent excess riders to roll through viking land, then settled in to build. All of that was done in Monarchy. That was mostly it for war - and only 1 leader with dozens and dozens of elite wins. Leader was used for Bach's for happiness.

I ICSed our continent and Scandinavia, switched to Communism when that was available, and used Comm. to pop rush temple>library>colosseum and a few cathedrals. I'd thought about hitting France when I got cavs, but they were already at infantry and I *thought* my culture was growing fast enough to beat them no problem. Even with full tax and selling lux to the europeans, I couldn't afford communism after a while, and switched to Democracy. That was a great help on $, allowing 2 cathedral buys per turn.

Then things went bad. Little England declared on France, getting themselves pounded. Joan apparently liked the smell of napalm and turned on me. I lost a few cities I'd planted in open places resulting from the England-France war, and each turn she'd take one of my coastal cities on the mainland with a marine and pack it full of infantry and guerrillas. I retook these cities each time, but the WW added up. I'd MPPed Germany the turn Joan declared, which got her to conquer them instead of me (this was probably not a great move, but Germany wouldn't sign an alliance against France for anything I had, and them being conquered probably saved at least the viking island, maybe more). The MPP meant I couldn't make peace w/France until Germany was wiped out, which happened just barely too late - the last turn of the war, my democracy was overthrown, costing me 7 more turns of stalled culture.

Once the war ended I picked Republic for $ and troop support in case of another French offensive. I was at about 125k culture and gaining 1400 per turn, pulling away from France on the histogram. Too late though - they got the Internet in 1969, a huge cultural boost, and started building SS parts. I started building up an artillery force to take out Paris and Orleans (where the Internet was) but too late.

All in all I was in Anarchy 4 times, for 25 turns or so. But I don't know what else I could've done other than halting culture to build waves of Cavs & cannon to hit France after the Vikings. Help me at 100k Civfanatics!

 

[Racinante]

Continuing:
Waited a turn or two before declaring on Spain. She had a galley ready to reinforce her Scandinavian city, so I destroyed it.

Entry class: Open
Game status: Domination Victory for China
Game date: 1580 AD
Firaxis score: 4229
Jason score: 7054

 

[Più Freddo]

Playing again after some months I made quite a few mistakes, especially with the ship chaining towards the east. I should have continued shipping to Scandinavia and then have a few boats shipping on from there. Instead I tried to prolong the chain all the way to the main continent (Germany), and never finished it before the game was over.

Predator Conquest in 700 AD using Riders and Navigation. Second core around a Leader-rushed Palace in Kyoto. Got five more leaders. One rushed Sun Tzu's in France. The rest I couldn't really put to good use: Sistine Chapel, Leonardo's, Rider, Army.

 

[Lanzelot]

All in all I was in Anarchy 4 times, for 25 turns or so. But I don't know what else I could've done other than halting culture to build waves of Cavs & cannon to hit France after the Vikings. Help me at 100k Civfanatics!

You should search the HOF discussion forum for 100K games by SirPleb. I don't know the link right now, but there is a very interesting SirPleb article on this topic. Everything he said is still valid today, except for one point: he was still using Republic/Democracy and cash-rushing culture. Today we know that Feudalism/Communism and pop-rushing culture is superior. (Unless you apply the strategy that Lord Emsworth used in his famous 100K game. But it is banned now in GOTM contest...)

Anyway, for PTW SirPleb's strategy may still be ok, because in PTW you don't have Feudalism and researching all the way to Communism may be overkill in a 100K game. But in C3C the pop-rush strategy is certainly better.

I'm not a 100K expert either, so I can't give that much good advice, but one general rule is certainly correct:
"For a 100K game three things are important:

• Military
• Military
• and Military

"


Only when you are close to domination limit, stop building units and switch to culture. The problem in your game clearly was France. You should have eliminated them early on (which should be easy, if they build culture, while you are building military...), and then the 100K victory is no problem: you don't need double their culture and they also pose no threat with regards to a spaceship launch, etc.

Lanzelot

 

[krakedhalo]

Thanks Lanzelot, I'll definitely look into those games.

At least I've got a pretty sure lock on the green ambulance this month

 

[Megalou]

Accidental domination in 1665 AD. It was the last in a chain of disappointments as I tried for a milked 20K game.

I put Shanghai at RCP2 from Beiing because it had the most BGs in range without being away from a river. The first blow came when I missed the Great Library. The first builds:
Pyramids 1275, Oracle 750, temple 670, library 590, FP 150 BC.

Obviously, FP was built with the shields set aside for GreatLib.

It may be deemed stupid to build temple and library before starting GreatLib (especially since I revolted to republic (3t anarchy because of the small size of the country) the same year FP was finished and so would have had the opportunity to cash rush those improvements.) But the luxurious starting points of London and Paris also played a part. I wouldn't have gotten Great Lib without the improvements anyway. I guess Pyramids+Oracles just isn't realistic.

I think now that I played in a manner that I thought would be necessary to compete for a medal with a lousy VC - note also that I had to raise the luxury level up to 40% at times, because of the lack of nearby luxuries. Hence the strategy was unrealistic altogether.

Anyway, the Middle Ages were better, albeit long. I got all wonders including Hanging Gardens except Sun Tzu, Leo's and Magellan.

Another ludicrous mistake was when I accidentally hurried TOE, due in one turn, with a leader set aside for the Internet as I entered the Modern Ages. But this had little effect in an increasingly mundane game where I was approaching a 20K victory around the year 1800 AD.

This was the last time I ever tried for a strong 20K win. Possibly, a pangea map with more nearby luxuries and even more shields could tempt someone less marked by disappointment and tediousness.

 

[Megalou]

Out of curiosity, can anyone recall a 20K game scoring a medal? Having scrolled endlessly between cities, selling temples in vain, I just can't bring myself to scroll through the old result pages. Sorry about the negativism.

 

[ignas]

There were some nice 20K victories in COTM 56. You might want to read spoilers.

For a highscore all you need is to approach domination limit and max out population ASAP. Pangaea map and nearby luxuries help too.

 

[Megalou]

Thanks. I did find one interesting thing: the bee-line for Shakespeare Theatre. Those were some fun spoilers like I haven't seen for years.

Further question:
In PTW, the AI build wonders in any situation. There are funny examples: Just the capital remains, the human player on the doorstep, war weariness has cut down the spt to about 4, and the AI gets the idea that starting Sistine Chapel can solve all this. Is it different in Conquests?

 

[ignas]

In PTW, the AI build wonders in any situation. There are funny examples: Just the capital remains, the human player on the doorstep, war weariness has cut down the spt to about 4, and the AI gets the idea that starting Sistine Chapel can solve all this. Is it different in Conquests?

I think it's the same. Not the best decision by mighty AI clearly.

 

[Scratcher]

Open Class
1285AD Diplo Victory
5309 Firaxis Points
9137 Jason Points

Scratcher

 

[Neo666]

Conquest victory in 360AD.

I used horses for my own continent and Riders for the other 2. Some quick highlights:
- Settled in place; warrior, granary, warrior, settler, after that a mix of militairy and settlers till the discovery of the Republic
- Research; first pottery after that the slingshot
- Build GLH around 550BC -> than (after discovering Chivalry) ship chained the Riders to the other continent, never losing a Rider at sea and losing dozens of galley's!! Although I lost a lot of galleys I still prefer this method above the navigation one.
- I almost always build a first ring with distance 3, but after my scouting warrior spotted the cattle + the no show of food around the capital I decided to go for a RCP4
- Researched the Republic in 690BC, drawing a 4 turner on the retry
- Discovered the other tribes in 510BC (after the discovery of the GLH)
- I reached the MA's in 430BC, with the Koreans getting Engineering and the Germans Monotheism.
- My first leader came after I just completed Chivalry (in 170BC), so I decided to go for invention and using the leader to rush Leo's (which was completed in 10AD) against rushing a FP.
- I landed the first wave of Riders on the Alpha continent in 90BC
- Second leader rushed Sun Tzu's in 30AD, also no FP this time cause I didn't feel Berlin was safe (in a flip perspective) and no other good options were available (didn't want to build the FP on beta)
- From there on it was a multi-frontal war. Which ended when I whiped away Spain in 340AD and the English and Vikings in 350AD

 

[templar_x]

open class
Diplo victory for China/India (see end for that) in 1230ad
Firaxis 5559
Jason 9500

THE ANCIENT AGE

see lots of shields but no food, settle in place, start full speed on Alpha
build order w-w-w-w-settler

pop a worker in 3350, find a lux in the south
3300 find another lux in the north, pop 25g from another hut

one after the other i find several food ressources, into any direction from the capital, but 2nd ring at best. so i decide for an ics first ring of 3 cities and a 2nd ring along the food ressources:
found 2nd city 1e1ne in distance 2, builds rax-archer-settler
2850 start Writing
3rd hut is empty, 4th hut gives barbs. see 3rd lux, lots of empty lands, no contact... first barb camp in 2270
finally meet Japan in 2230, they are backwards given this is Emperor... and have no Pottery. i hold off a trade for now. he´s still got his initial 10g... maybe it´s just them and us on this continent. soon after that crosses my mind i think i can do this: Alpha+Mas for TW+BW+1g.
nice, horses are in fair distance. find 4th lux.
found 3rd city 3nw1n by the cow to finally get some more food involved
start research on Philo in 1990, as there is still Pot missing for MM
trade Wri for CB+Comm with Korea+9g, Korea already has IW
1625 Philo in, trade for IW, HB + Pot
see iron next door, too. set research to CoL
4th city in 1500 1w1nw
1275 research to Rep
5th city in 1250, 2sw
both contacts get MM, i trade for it
connect iron early as i believe i´ll need the gold and won´t upgrade w->swords
1150 build Pyramids in Beijing cannot even remember when i built that the last time, but with so little food in the core it might pay off
1075 build first galley

QSC 1000bc
5 cities
17 citizens
4 workers
14 turns to Rep

THE MIDDLE AGES

the cow city is a 6-turner under despotism
875 first galley goes for suicide run – fails
775 found horse town; change military builds to horsemen
670 research Rep and revolt immediately, become a Republic in 610
next suicide galley fails as well
450 currency in, change prebuilds to markets, 390 finally connect gems
370 research Poly, trade for Con and Korea and i am in the MA. Korea draws Feud
350 declare on Japan
take first Japanese city in 270, getting an MGL (two total in this game) with my 3rd or 4th elite victory
take Kyoto and rush FP there, taking some risk that i cannot hold the city or it flips
spawn a 2nd MGL in 150bc, don´t really know what to do with it... guess i rush Sun Tzu´s
Sun Tzu brings mit into GA... forgot to check that
90bc finally make it to the other continent and meet Scandinavia
make a small deal involving only one contact... it´s Germany, they´re much more advanced and in the MA already. so go back and sell and buy everything with Ragnar who turns out to be on an island.
Spain still lacks Masonry
a trading round leaves me with exclusive contact to everyone and all the techs and money in the world
a safe crossing defenitely requires better nautic units, so libraries are ordered
next: Chiv in 4... sounds ok for me. similar with Theo. GA seems to be well timed.
during GA the cow city starts as an 8-turn combo, producing 2 settlers and one unit to be disbanded somewhere else.
30ad first rider produced
170ad take last Japanese city. this drives me into war with Korea for i was in an alliance with them. still a weird rule.
while i researched ALL the techs in the upper branch, all AIs together don´t manage to get Eng so i start 4-turn runs on the lower branch
i try to make nearly every victory an elite one, but still no more MGLs in this game
i gift several AIs up the upper branch techs so that they might at least research Economics.
in 370ad i make peace with Korea, leaving them one little city on that island that looks like a pearl in the continental form of an opened mussel.
lots of builder action, creating a strong scientific base. i decided to play this out as a research game
410 connect the north and south of my continent, getting 4 luxes into every town and thus can reduce the happy slider
prepare an exile for Korea so they don´t tell their lies about my alleged misbehaviour to anyone else (there is a real risk since i´ll gift everyone up that someone will really build a vessel that can cross the ocean some day).

continues...

 

[templar_x]

INDUSTRIAL ERA

in 620 i enter IA, after research of every MA tech in 4 turns.
gift Korea up, they get steam but sure they won´t trade it for even lots of stuff
do the same with Germany, they draw Nationalism :-( well at least they won´t RESEARCH it. i gift everyone up in a hope to trade for Nationalims and get Steam for that. doesn´t happen though. rails will be a bit lagged then.
going a byway, i research Medicine in 660 and now can trade for Steam. coal is connected so i start trading. still can´t get Nat to trade it around. no lux trades, as the AI is too stupid to build harbours
790 research RP and speed up worker actions
1050 the French land a mini-force, they go directly for the capital and declare when i demand them to leave... 3 sources of WH but a situation to handle if i want an UN vote.
population and science are pretty much maxed out at this time, nearly 40 million people and 2300 uncorrupted economy. not much more possible without Sanitation, police stations and commercial docks, and that won´t pay off for a diplo win in my books.

TOWARDS AN UN VOTE

big failure: France manages to build the ToE?!?!?! they were far behind, but although i had put them on other techs they decided for Scientific Method (???) and cascaded to that wonder. i really should have built all wonders just to avoid this.
however, when i can talk to the French again, i see they chose Flight, at least, as one of their free techs. maybe i lose only 4 and not 8 turns towards UN then...
get Radio as my last tech in 1180 – but now the Germans won´t talk yet ´cause the French have drawn them in.
but the French do and i trade for Flight, finding out that now, eventually, when nobody cares any more, they have built a harbour
then i dial the Koreans up who i had been keeping around for the sole reason to try for their free tech but they draw Rocketry – no more need for the Koreans now so i destroy them in 1190. they never had contact to the other continent.
and i cannot gift up and try for the Germans´ free tech since they won´t talk yet
trade for some luxes with France (ok, there is some use in those late harbours) and set research to 100% - Fission in 4!
1200ad: ok, Bismarck talks again, i gift him up and he gets... Ecology
make peace with Spain and finally build an embassy with them
and get an alliance with them and everyone else against Ragnar. Spain goes to war for the cheap price of Engineering – that´s hilarious!
and then i gift the Spanish practically one age up to get one very expensive lux from them
now with 8 luxes everyone in the empire is happy at 0% lux. 94% approval – i think i am in favour of early elections before the tide is turning...

on the turn before the UN build the last two semiproductive towns get a shiny new varsity
1220 UN and Hoover complete (the latter for just no use of course)
and i immediately get the message if i want to hold the vote and then have a shock moment as you may understand when this pops up:
Why Gandhi?
victory message or defeat message?
but i guess Gandhi is my alias name

afterword:
was a fun game but did not quite work out as i wanted. especially the AI support with research was pathetic. thus i find the finish date disappointing.​

templar_x

 

[Lanzelot]

but i guess Gandhi is my alias name

Ok, let's see:

• In GOTM91 we were the Celts
• In GOTM92 we were the Indians, and our leader was Brennus...
• In GOTM93 we were the Chinese and our leader was Gandhi...

So I expect in GOTM94 Babylon is ruled by Mao then...?!

 

[Racinante]

Ok, let's see:

• In GOTM91 we were the Celts
• In GOTM92 we were the Indians, and our leader was Brennus...
• In GOTM93 we were the Chinese and our leader was Gandhi...

So I expect in GOTM94 Babylon is ruled by Mao then...?!

Ding, ding, ding, ding, give the man a prize....

 

[I. Larkin]

Your name: I. Larkin
Entry class: Open
Game status: Conquest Victory for China
Game date: 470 AD
Firaxis score: 7407
Jason score: 11174
Time played: 72:48:31
I used horses for my own continent and Riders for the other 2.
- Settled in place; warrior, settler, granary, warrior... after that a mix of militairy and settlers till the discovery of the Republic
- Research; first pottery after that the slingshot
London built Colosus at 1200 BC. Seul Oracle. Kyoto - Pyramids at 450 BC cascade lead to GW in Paris and GLH in London. Shipchain via ocean to capture GLH.
Although I lost a lot of galleys I still prefer this method in comparison the navigation one.
With GLH it was a way to transfer troops without loosing galleys. [Right Galley go 2 tiles forward and back and Left Galley back and forward with accepting troops in the middle of the Ocean].
Near very end of the game got 3 MGL. Use it for Palace in Paris (to avoid flips) Sun-Tzu, (The same name of MGL) and HG to improve score a bit.

 

[Redbad]

Out of curiosity, can anyone recall a 20K game scoring a medal? Having scrolled endlessly between cities, selling temples in vain, I just can't bring myself to scroll through the old result pages. Sorry about the negativism.

There was ofcourse Aeson in COTM08

 

[PaperBeetle]

Out of curiosity, can anyone recall a 20K game scoring a medal? Having scrolled endlessly between cities, selling temples in vain, I just can't bring myself to scroll through the old result pages. Sorry about the negativism.

The last time was GOTM83, Scandinavian deity. 20k + silver medal + moo went to ... uh ... you! Granted, there were only 3 victories out of 7 submissions that game, but that's deity for you. So the last time before that was me, getting 20k + bronze + moo in COTM48 (Byzantine demigod). And before that, we are getting into the klarius era. Of course he can get a medal whatever the VC.