GOTM97 - Final Spoiler

[civ_steve]

GOTM 97 Final Spoiler - Game Submitted

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Lots of little land masses here and there (including your starting land mass); how far did you expand? Did you change your capital location? And how did you finish it off?

 

[Più Freddo]

Predator class, going for Conquest

At the beginning of the Middle Ages, we had started our conquest of the Continent in the Korean/Scandinavian corner. We could at last connect some Luxuries:

290 BC Connect Dyes
230 BC Connect Ivory
150 BC Connect Wines​

In 170 BC, the Koreans and Scandinavians offered no more good targets as the Russians very conveniently declared war on us giving us War Happiness. We reversed the Alliance with Korea against Russia. Russia was all along the main target, as it alone offered the possibility of a reasonable second core.

The same year, we declared war on America allying China against them. The American War brought us War Happiness as China declared in 110 BC and Tojo the first Great Leader in 90 BC. We also founded Hakodate close to the Iron deposit on the "American" isthmus, for we were now going towards Chivalry although the Samurais wouldn't trigger a Golden Age.

Now, Tojo would have to be moved all the way from America over our home island to Russia in order to rush a Forbidden Palace there. We had not build a Forbidden Palace in our original core, since the Palace was already in the optimal position and city placement was strictly RCP4. In a second core centered around a new Forbidden Palace, we would be able to allow some core cities to be closer than four tiles to the centre without affecting the waste and corruption.

We captured Moscow in 50 AD and founded our FP city of Toyama in 70 AD, immediately rushing the Forbidden Palace, which was then built in 90 AD.

Chivalry came in at 210 AD. A second leader emerged in 490 AD and triggered the Golden Age through the construction of Sun Tzu's Art of War in 510 AD, but it was too late to have any effect on the game.

Conquest in 550 AD for a Jason score of 10101.

In retrospect, it appears that it could have been a mistake to research on after The Republic. All could have been made with Horsemen alone. But our production capacity was all the time very limited. The second core contributed mainly commerce and score.

 

[MinutiaRules]

Tried for a victory prior to 1000AD but it was not to happen (domination in 1110AD). Many many elite wins but not a single GL. I was at war most of the game thinking a GL had to be possible. Go figure. A second core early would have been nice but without a GL to rush what do you do? Then a multiple front strategy would have been suggested and a much quicker win. And I believe that the whole thing would have happened with horsemen. To those of you who get all these GLs early in the game I ask the following: "can I borrow one or two of them some time"?

 

[Più Freddo]

Many many elite wins but not a single GL.

That's jolly rotten luck.

 

[Lanzelot]

My game went pretty similar to Più Freddo's, and I came to the same conclusion that horses might have sufficed here. And even more: I think that even Republic might have been a mistake. After I had switched to Republic, I had between 40-50 gpt Unit Upkeep for the rest of the game. So perhaps the best strategy for fast Conquest would have been:
Research for Monarchy, perhaps add Currency to get more income (though in my game I built only one single Marketplace) and of course Map Making. (Perhaps these two can even be traded for Monarchy on time?!) Then stop research, built horses and ride around the world .

Here now for the details:
I settled in place as I already figured that the capital would soon be disbanded anyway, so no reason to move into a more centralized location. It built a granary and then a mixture of chariots, settlers and workers to clean the jungle. Built 4 more towns at RCP 3, which started on barracks immediately and then chariots and three galleys. After Horseback Riding was completed, I slowed research down a bit to upgrade the chariots.

I first had planned to start with Korea, like Più Freddo, but after I saw the world map, I decided that Moscow would be my future capital and switched plans. I brought the 6 or so horses, that already waited at the north top of Korea, back home and redirected everything to Nidaros. Around 900BC I declared on Scandinavia, and 8 horses + reinforcements quickly overrun everything. At that point (700BC) I was a bit undecided about the next target. I had already made up my mind to keep Korea polite until I get their free tech, and also wanted to do the same with Russia. But at the same time I wanted my second core as early as possible. An extended ship-chain over to France seemed too much of an effort, so I decided to go for Russia after all.

Here I need to digress a bit to the "tech front". Between 600-500BC I had switched to Republic and immediately ran out of money... Two techs were still missing, Currency and Construction (as usual). And each of them was taking close to 30 turns... At this point I got lucky, because Russia came up with Currency, and China with Construction a short while later. So I gave China Republic for Construction, and Russia Construction for Currency. I gifted up Korea and Russia, and one got Feudalism, the other one Monotheism. Great!! I thought. But neither one would trade! Not even for Republic+Literature+a pile of gold. Had it been a mistake to give Republic to China??

Anyway, now (400BC) I sent my horses to Moscow and by 250BC Russia was gone except for 2-3 size-1 towns. In the peace treaty I finally got Monotheism from them. But Korea would still not trade Feudalism for Republic+Monotheism? So I said to myself: probably the same effect as earlier, when they didn't want to trade because Republic was no longer a monopoly. Conclusion: I need to make Monotheism a monopoly... Said and done: I killed the last remaining Russian town, and now Korea was willing to give me Feudalism for Mono+Rep...

At that point (250BC) I had my major army (around 15 horses) standing near Moscow and a smaller detachment (6 horses + the ones that were currently being built in the core) ready for cross-over to Korea. I had also founded a town on the iron hill south of America, and that town was currently building a harbor. It was protected by 3-4 horses. I set research to 10% and used the money to rush settlers and granaries in the Moscow vicinity, to get the second core asap. Back home Edo had already completed the Forbidden Palace in 250BC (took a total of 19 turns). I kept the 15 horses (number was slowly growing, as latecomers left behind in the Russian campaign slowly arrived) inside Moscow in order to be prepared for the Palace Jump. This was perhaps a mistake, I should already have started on China, because it took from like 250BC - 90AD until the Moscow area was finally ready for the jump.

This time period was used for finishing Korea with the horses currently being built in the core and then shipping the Korean Army back to the iron town south of America.
Then in 90AD the capital jumped to Moscow, and I set research back to 80%, Chivalry now due in 6. The Moscow army immediately moved out and in 110AD attacked China. I got America into an alliance, but France refused to join. Progress was quick again, as I encountered only two Pikes, the rest was spearmen. One of the Pike-towns had to be taken with horses, as otherwise I couldn't advance, but the other one (a hill town) was on the border to America, so I left it alone until I had Samurais. Perhaps the Americans would run their heads against it...

Then 210AD was a very special year:

• In the preceeding interturn I finished the harbor on my iron town
• I got my first and only MGL, which immediately rushed Sun Tzu's Art of War and started my Golden Age next turn (2-3 turns before my first Samurai victory would have started it...!).
• I finished Chivalry and upgraded the first Samurais. (But I think if I hadn't gone for Chivalry, the game might already have been over by this time... )

Sun Tzu's also had the nice effect that wherever my horses currently happened to be, they could be upgraded... So from here on the rest went smoothly. Finished China and immediately started on France. A couple of turns later (after a sufficient number of the horses waiting in the iron town had been upgraded) I declared on America and moved north. I made a serious mistake shortly before the end: I had a RoP with France, so before I declared on them, I should also have signed one with America. They were happy with me, because of our alliance against China, and would have aggreed to a RoP. I simply forgot to sign it. After I had declared on France, America was of course no longer willing to sign a RoP and this cost me at least 2-3 turns at the end.

In 380AD the last French town fell, in 390AD the last American, for a Conquest victory in 400AD.

Lanzelot

 

[Lanzelot]

In a second core centered around a new Forbidden Palace, we would be able to allow some core cities to be closer than four tiles to the centre without affecting the waste and corruption.

Oh, is that true? I guess my lack of knowledge in these little details is showing here again: in my original core I disbanded and relocated two of my core towns after the Palace had moved, so that they would again form a strict RCP3 around the FP...

Funny how we both reached Chivalry in 210AD!

 

[Più Freddo]

Oh, is that true?

Indeed it is. Congratulations to your fast finish! These little details don't count much at this level and this map size.

 

[TxCraig]

I realize this is a basic question, but I am dying to know: What size stack did you use when starting to attack? I usually play builder games and have difficulty going on the offensive before Military Tradition. Horse vs. spear only seems to work if you are the AI.

I'll go back and read Cracker's GOTM9 Japan campaign examples, but the last time I looked at it, it seemed like he had amazing RNG luck.

Thanks guys and Merry Christmas.

 

[Più Freddo]

I realize this is a basic question, but I am dying to know: What size stack did you use when starting to attack?

Horsemen against a peripheral city on flatland: expect two Spearmen as defenders. Three Horsemen could be enough, four should be enough.

 

[Lanzelot]

I realize this is a basic question, but I am dying to know: What size stack did you use when starting to attack? I usually play builder games and have difficulty going on the offensive before Military Tradition. Horse vs. spear only seems to work if you are the AI.

I started my first war (against Scandinavia) with 6 horses ready to reach two targets. If I have luck with the RNG, they may suffice to take both objectives, otherwise if the first one proves a tough nut (e.g it takes 4+ to take), I stop there and wait for the replacements. In this case I had already 4 more horses in galleys which would arrive 1-2 turns later in order to refill the ranks.

In general I think horses versus spears have a good win ratio (unless the town is on a hill or has walls). My estimate is: out of 10 attacks, you get like 5 wins, 4 retreats, 1 loss. Only three horses for 2 spears appears a bit too optimistic to me, I try to have 4 ready. Because nothing is more annoying than loosing one, having the next retreat and then not having two more in reserve for finishing off the two remaining red-lined defenders and taking that town...

Congratulations to your fast finish! These little details don't count much at this level and this map size.

Thanks, I'm astonished myself... As a matter of fact: when I read the first spoiler and learned that you also went for the Conquest VC, I said to myself, oh no, here goes my chance for an award... But I had no time this month to switch to the more time-consuming Domination, otherwise I would have switched. In any case: yes, apparently all that mattered in this game was "staying in the saddle day and night"...

Cheers, Lanzelot

 

[yuris125]

Hi All,

First post here, and it's got to be a long one... a long time ago, in a completely different world, I've been enjoying playing the first, DOS version of Civilization. Then came Civ2, and later Civ3, and I found that I still enjoy the game, but it changed dramatically, and I lack some necessary skills. I struggled, but in the end left the Civ world several years
Recently I found an old disk with Civ3 Complete, and thought how good it would be to get back. I started a game on Warlord level, and things seemed to go well. I was the leader in scores; I seemed to be ahead in techs; my continent neighbours, Americans, were polite to me; I occasionally was at war with others, and didn't think it mattered that they were annoyed. Then, all of a sudden, Americans build UN, and everyone still in the game votes for them! That's when I realised I need some guidance. I started looking around and found CFC. Truly, I cannot find words to say what a goldmine of information it is! Thank you to all outstanding players for War Academy articles, they were truly invaluable!
After a couple of Warlord level victories, and the third game in progress (it's technically won, but I still need a couple of wars to expand sufficiently), I started thinking about moving up. I also thought about joining a GOTM challenge. I was sure that I had no chance to win, but even participating would be fun. Unfortunately the Conquests game this month is on Deity level, that's way too much for me. Now the Regent PTW game... that's more like it. I was a bit discouraged by the fact that I started playing this game just 4 days before the deadline, but since it was a small map, I thought I'll manage to finish. I did -- and what a fun this game was! So once again, big thank you to all those who make it possible, hopefully I will progress further with your help, and will greatly improve my knowledge of The Game

Sorry about this long preamble, but I couldn't post for the first time without saying all this. Now, to GOTM itself. I know I can't even dream yet about competing with your results; my domination victory came in 1740AD (Open class). I'll try to identify my mistakes in the post

Settled in place - didn't see a reason to move the settler. Started researching Pottery at max. Built 2 warriors and sent exploring. Found out that the starting location is a small island covered in jungles - thank you, creators! Also noticed that other civs are not far away: blue borders were visible to the east and to the south (only later I learned that these borders belonged to different civs, Vikings and Koreans, which both were blue). After building a Granary in Kyoto, started producing settlers and workers (I'm not good at setting up settler factories yet, so it required manual adjustments every time). 4 towns (including the capital) were founded in the grassland part of the island, the I started moving into the jungles. I'm also not experienced in using RCP, so didn't place cities optimally. Corruption will be a major issue for me...
Next research was for Iron Working, then for MapMaking. Probably would be better to skip Iron Working and trade for it, especially since I didn't need to look far for other civs. I prefer to know where the iron is and look for it when exploring. But in this case MapMaking should have been a higher priority
By 1300BC, the island had 9 towns. 9 workers (3 stacks of 3) were clearing jungles. Also about this time, the first Galleys were ready to be sent. The first one already had a settler and a spearman on board, and the 10th town was founded in 1050BC on the land to the west of the starting island (later turned out this piece of land was a part of the main continent). By 750BC I had 2 more towns on this land, and connected iron located there. Also started to settle on the island southwest of the starting island
Around 800BC, made contact with Americans, Koreans and Vikings. Bought contacts of the other 2 civs from them, as well as maps. Unfortunately, my research at max speed led to an obvious problem: I was almost broke, and couldn't buy technologies from them! Trade is a very important aspect of this game, and I have a long way to go before I can master it... Anyway, managed to get a few important techs, including Polytheism (got Mysticism earlier from a hut, I think); researched Monarchy and switched to it
Around 650BC, found incense on the snowy island in the west. Sent a settler there as soon as I had a chance, and founded a town in 510BC. Rushed a harbour and finally made my citizens a bit happier
Russian map showed a city of Yakutsk on an island northeast of the starting location. Sent a horseman and a warrior as explorers there, found a few more places to settle. First town on this island was founded in 190BC
Started to consider changing to Republic, but realised I can't keep my citizens happy without military police effect, and with only one luxury. Looked hungrily on wines and diamonds in Korean territory. Started preparing an invasion force of 12 swordsmen
The snowy island with incense also had incense and iron in its western end. I hoped to settle there, but didn't manage, Vikings got there first and founded 2 towns

Overview of Ancient Age: land grabbing was great, other factors were worse. Concentration on land-grabbing caused a lot of tundra towns which were not producing anything, and didn't have a chance to start doing so because of corruption and lack of shields in tundra. City placement was not optimal. Research should have been restricted to strictly necessary techs, then the goal should have been to collect gold to be able to trade with others. Military action could've been started earlier. When I ran out of good places for towns, I could switch production for settlers to horsemen or swordsmen, and go for a conquest victory instead of domination

280AD - finally ready for an invasion. Declared war on Koreans. Captures the first 2 cities in 290AD, and the 3rd - Seoul - in 340AD. Connected diamonds and wines. Still had forces to continue the action, so did't give peace to Koreans, and proceeded to finished them in 670AD. Got the first leader in 570AD, created an army of swordsmen - not the best decision, probably should have used him to move the palace to a faraway place and take advantage of the Forbidden Palace bug
After the war with Koreans (or maybe even in progress), changed to Republic. Noticed that corruption eats away half of the gold from my cities. Probably the main reason for this was that all the faraway tundra cities were producing a lot of gold from sea squares, but it was all lost to corruption. Actually, I never had that much corruption in my other games, but the other games were in Conquests and on standard/large maps. Anyway, I found out that I can't keep my research slider above 40%, was not generating much income even with 0% research, and the science advisor said that we were backward people. This could not continue!
By this time, Russians became a major power in the game. Their score still was about 2 times lower than mine, but significantly ahead of others, and ahead of me in techs. So selected Russians as the next target. Started active trade with France, since Joan seemed to have the best feeling towards me, and was wiling to give nice prices. Got Chivalry from her,and started creating a Samurai force to invade Russians. Also managed to get ivory from her for excess diamonds, that was the fourth luxury. Scientists worked on the bottom branch of the tree, towards Gunpowder and Military Tradition. My territory was big enough not to worry about resources: when I discovered Gunpowder, 2 saltpeters were already hooked up
In 890AD, invaded Russia and captured Smolensk, which had spices, the 5th luxury. In 950 AD captured St. Petersburg, but Russians recaptured it in 1000AD. Shortly after that, we signed peace. The good thing was that Russians attacked one of my samurai, who survived, and this started a Golden Age. Finally! I could complete researches in 4 turns, while making a nice profit. Discovered Banking, started to build Banks everywhere, hoping that after the Golden Age I will be able to keep good research pace
In 1275AD, I created the first Wonder, Sistine Chapel. Hoped this will solve all problems with happiness (and it did)
After finishing the wonder, tried to change to Democracy. That was a mistake! With the big number of cities & towns, I could maintain the army almost without extra pay. In Democracy, army maintenance went seriously up, and it almost didn't help corruption at all. And since I wasn't going to stay peaceful for long, quickly changed back to Republic. Thank God Japanese are religious and anarchy was painless
Around 1300AD, our peace treaty with Russians expired, and I attacked again. Captures 2 towns closest to Smolensk (St. Petersburg and Uppsala), but my attack stumbled on that. Russians already had Gunpowder, and samurai are not good against musketmen. My army of swordsmen was also killed. So signed peace once again
In 1435AD I had about 12 cavalries on the Russian continent and decided to try again. This time there was no mercy. Captured Sevastopol' and Moscow. Got the 6th luxury, furs. Disconnected their saltpeter source. Found out that they had another one, in a town in the middle of Chinese territory. Asked Chinese for a military alliance. Funnily, they not only agreed, but even paid for it (18 gold or something like that, didn't have anything else ), and went from cautious to gracious. Why didn't they declare war without my invitation?
In 1485AD, got another leader, created a cavalry army. Used it to capture Minsk, but left the army there, and the city flipped! So many times I heard about not leaving armies in captured cities, and still forget about it sometimes
Another leader in 1545AD. Where were they all earlier?
About the same time, Chinese broke the alliance and signed a peace treaty
In 1570AD, Russians were begging for peace, and were willing to give all their remaining towns. Signed the peace. Workers were already brought into the continent, working on territory improvement and building railroads, so we were out of middle ages

Overview of Middle Ages: ok, apart from a couple of mistakes. Mostly war, mostly successful. Could speed up things by attacking Vikings at the same time. Trade mainly with France, ivory for some harmless technologies like Printing Press and Free Artistry. Got a tech lead thanks to the Golden Age, will not lose it anymore

1615AD - created Smith's Trade Company. Finally, no more problems with money! But a bit too late. Rushed temples in all Russian towns which still didn't have them
1630AD - Sevastopol' flips to Russians! Ah, well, at least this time there are no heavy losses, and they're harmless with only 2 towns and no resources
1650AD - attacked Vikings, captured 3 towns in one turn (they have just 7 on the continent). France, Vikings and Chinese are also in Industrial ages now, and looks like Nationalism is already known. I didn't research it, making a rush towards Scientific Method, and then Replaceable Parts. No one is willing to trade it to me. Ah, well, don't need it that badly
1665AD - Vikings are gone from the continent. There's an ivory on their territory, don't need to trade it from France anymore. Also dyes, the 7th luxury, is now mine. Not that it's still important
1675AD - Vikings have just 2 cities left, the ones on the snowy island. A galleon is on its way there. They come to me asking for peace, but still won't give me Nationalism! Well, they sealed their doom themselves
Around 1685AD - Vikings sign MPP with Russians. They will help each other a lot, having 2 towns each
1685AD - declared war on Americans. Felt like I'm close to the domination limit, and they were still in middle ages, so the easiest target
1705AD - left Americans 3 towns on the continent, and 1 on an island. Made peace
1725AD - landed near the remaining Viking islands. Russia declares. Have one unprotected town on an island near their capital, abandon it just on principle, so that they don't get it for free
1730AD - Vikings gone, Sevastopol' captured once again
1740AD - borders expand, and domination victory triggered. History will remember me as Tokugawa the Wise

Overview of Industrial Ages: just finishing the job, nothing to say

Summary of the game: well, mistakes at the start made it last for at least extra 500 years. Just to remember: on low difficulty levels, early stage is tremendously more important than the others. It's not too difficult to win, but early stage determines whether you will be in a position to win quickly. Need to master the optimal strategy of early research: when to research at max, when at min. Need to master the art of trade with AI. Need to use RCP and Forbidden Palace bug in PTW, they help with corruption. Need to start using artillery in my military, you can neglect it at low level, but without it you will probably be smashed at higher levels

Final score
Firaxis score: 3041
Jason score: 6478

Hope this was not too boring

Thanks to everyone once again
Yuri

 

[Più Freddo]

Only three horses for 2 spears appears a bit too optimistic to me, I try to have 4 ready. Because nothing is more annoying than loosing one, having the next retreat and then not having two more in reserve for finishing off the two remaining red-lined defenders and taking that town...

I agree. Also about positioning troops for several potential targets in order to be flexible. There's no use attacking if you don't take the town.

But still, if there are only three Horsemen left, I would most of the time have a go at another town.

 

[greatbeyond]

Dom win 1150AD, 8300 Jason

It seems the early winners got better results from a slightly different strategy. I also started out with Hmen and then went to MI. It took awhile to move across the map. I never researched anything after Feudalism. Perhaps I should have researched Monotheism and chivalry to get Knights for greater speed getting to the battlefield.

Order of battle was; Russia, Scandinavia, Korea, China, America, France.

I knew a Conquest or Domination in my case would come too late for a medal and toyed with the idea of going for a cow award. I realized I wouldn't have time for a Cow and decided on Domination.

 

[civ_steve]

Greetings yuris125 - Welcome to CFC and the Civ3 GOTM! It's very nice to see new people come through and join the competition; there is a wealth of knowledge on the site and I'm sure the competition will help your play improve.

Got the first leader in 570AD, created an army of swordsmen - not the best decision, probably should have used him to move the palace to a faraway place and take advantage of the Forbidden Palace bug

Please be very careful when moving the palace - we require that the new location be within an established group of cities with about the OCN number of cities or more present (roughly 8 for a Standard sized map). Blatant abuse of the Forbidden Palace bug is not permitted, such as moving the Palace far away from all other cities to reduce Corruption.

 

[Lanzelot]

Next research was for Iron Working, then for MapMaking. Probably would be better to skip Iron Working and trade for it, especially since I didn't need to look far for other civs. I prefer to know where the iron is and look for it when exploring. But in this case MapMaking should have been a higher priority
...
Got the first leader in 570AD, created an army of swordsmen - not the best decision, probably should have used him to move the palace to a faraway place and take advantage of the Forbidden Palace bug
...

Thanks to everyone once again
Yuri

First of all, welcome from me as well! You'll certainly find lots of good stuff here for improving your level of play! (As a matter of fact, 6000 Jason on your first submission is already a respectable result...! )

You already outlined the deficits in your conduct of GOTM97 very accurately. Above I just highlighted two points which would have the most impact for you, if you improve on them:

Early contact is essential in almost any kind of victory condition and difficulty level. On low difficulty levels it's important, because if you want a fast finish, you need to trade the early techs from the AI (later on the AI will be of no more help, because it'll be hopelessly backward, so it's essential to find them early, so you can at least get their starting techs and maybe 1-2 more.) And on high difficulty levels it's important, because if you find them too late, you are left out of the "trading cycle" and will soon be far behind with no chance to catch up by trading.

And the second point is: never waste a precious Great Leader on an Army... In C3C Armies are great and speed up a military victory a lot. But in PTW Armies are useless! You are much better off to rush a Palace/Forbidden Palace in order to establish a second core (but be careful not to exploit the bug...), or to rush a Great Wonder. Depending on VC, there will be a useful wonder most of the time. (For example in the current game I used my one and only leader for rushing Sun Tzu's, which definitely sped up my game by 4-5 turns in the end.)

Another tip: if there is an opponent with a lot of culture and just one town left (like Russia in your case), just eliminate that last town and there will be no more annoying culture flips. (Unless you want to keep that opponent alive for a reason, for example if you wanted to trade Russia's free tech later on. - I always think twice before eliminating a scientific nation...)

Cheers, Lanzelot

 

[yuris125]

Thanks you for the warm words of welcome I'm quite looking forward to participating in the next GOTM competitions and improving my game further

Early contact is essential in almost any kind of victory condition and difficulty level. On low difficulty levels it's important, because if you want a fast finish, you need to trade the early techs from the AI (later on the AI will be of no more help, because it'll be hopelessly backward, so it's essential to find them early, so you can at least get their starting techs and maybe 1-2 more.) And on high difficulty levels it's important, because if you find them too late, you are left out of the "trading cycle" and will soon be far behind with no chance to catch up by trading.

I understand that by now - thanks a lot for highlighting this! I'm amazed how much better trade system is in Civ3 than in previous versions. If you don't trade in Civ3, you simply put yourself in losing position, and do it on your own accord. From my Civ1 experience I was reluctant to give techs to other civs, but I think I managed to overcome this reluctance now. After all, Civ3 is a totally different game

And the second point is: never waste a precious Great Leader on an Army... In C3C Armies are great and speed up a military victory a lot. But in PTW Armies are useless! You are much better off to rush a Palace/Forbidden Palace in order to establish a second core (but be careful not to exploit the bug...), or to rush a Great Wonder. Depending on VC, there will be a useful wonder most of the time. (For example in the current game I used my one and only leader for rushing Sun Tzu's, which definitely sped up my game by 4-5 turns in the end.)

Had a suspicion that this is the case when one of my armies (3 knights I think) lost 10 hit points out of 13 on a singe musketman. Will know better now Thanks for pointing this out!

Another tip: if there is an opponent with a lot of culture and just one town left (like Russia in your case), just eliminate that last town and there will be no more annoying culture flips. (Unless you want to keep that opponent alive for a reason, for example if you wanted to trade Russia's free tech later on. - I always think twice before eliminating a scientific nation...)

This may be a stupid reason, but I just felt dishonourable to brake peace treaty after I got 5 cities in it Russians had a lot of cities scattered on various islands, so I thought I'd better get them in a peace treaty and avoid sailing to other parts of the world and capturing worthless cities. Naturally, I'd prefer to avoid the flip I had, but it was not too bad. I already know that on higher difficulty levels it's better to go for razing/rebuilding their cities, or starving them off to decrease the chance of flip

Please be very careful when moving the palace - we require that the new location be within an established group of cities with about the OCN number of cities or more present (roughly 8 for a Standard sized map). Blatant abuse of the Forbidden Palace bug is not permitted, such as moving the Palace far away from all other cities to reduce Corruption.

Thanks for reminding this! Just reread the rules to be sure I keep in mind all prohibited exploits and don't use them

Off to start my GOTM98 attempt and see if I can beat Monarch level now...

 

[Lanzelot]

This may be a stupid reason, but I just felt dishonourable to brake peace treaty after I got 5 cities in it

Yes, keeping your reputation intact is a valid reason for not taking the last Russian town. (You will never get 5 towns in a peace treaty, if you break a peace treaty before the 20 turns are over and the other AIs find out...) So in that case risking a flip or two may be the better choice than trashing your rep.

Lanzelot

 

[Lanzelot]

Please be very careful when moving the palace - we require that the new location be within an established group of cities with about the OCN number of cities or more present (roughly 8 for a Standard sized map). Blatant abuse of the Forbidden Palace bug is not permitted, such as moving the Palace far away from all other cities to reduce Corruption.

Steve, perhaps this is a good occasion for updating our rules of allowed and disallowed exploits? I think there is still no definite rule regarding the "Lord Emsworth Deals". (Or is the Deliberate destruction of trade routes the only ruling for that case? That would mean with an MA it would be allowed again?!)

And there's one more exploit missing that was discovered recently. Unfortunately I forgot which one...?!

Lanzelot

 

[milr]

Seems the whole world, save for our peaceful continent, was at war throughout the middle ages. This allowed our researchers to catch up, and even build a small tech lead, as we made our way toward Fission and the United Nations. But the end result was very much up in the air as we raced to complete our research ahead of a 100K AI victory quest. We finished the task at the last possible moment!

 

[Lanzelot]

In retrospect, it appears that it could have been a mistake to research on after The Republic. All could have been made with Horsemen alone. But our production capacity was all the time very limited. The second core contributed mainly commerce and score.

My game went pretty similar to Più Freddo's, and I came to the same conclusion that horses might have sufficed here. And even more: I think that even Republic might have been a mistake. After I had switched to Republic, I had between 40-50 gpt Unit Upkeep for the rest of the game. So perhaps the best strategy for fast Conquest would have been:
Research for Monarchy, perhaps add Currency to get more income (though in my game I built only one single Marketplace) and of course Map Making. (Perhaps these two can even be traded for Monarchy on time?!) Then stop research, built horses and ride around the world .

I just took a look at Drazek's winning game, and apparently he was the only one who had that idea on time and not only in retrospect... : he went for Monarchy and Horsemen only. No Republic, no Currency, only 78 horses... If you take into account that he played Predator, while I played Open, it shows that this was indeed the way to go.

Congrats for a very well played Conquest victory!