HOF III October/November Gauntlet

[Lord Emsworth]

I just submitted a 680AD finish with Russia. I got two SGLs, one for HBR IIRC and the other for Philosphy. I used them to rush Pyramids and Collosus in Moscow.

A handbuilt MoM, also in Moscow, triggered my GA in 1300BC, which helped greatly with Middle Age Research and with building Cope's. Free techs were Chivalry, Electricity and Space Flight. The ToE was used to gain the Modern Age Techs Miniaturization and Synth Fibres Although I did manage to have the prebuild not coincide with the beginning of the age turn due to pollution , but luckily I could delay while doing Satellites in 4 turns even without the Internet.

Spoiler :

 

[Calis]

WOW, that is going to be a challenge...

 

[AutomatedTeller]

very nice date.

 

[Spoonwood]

Nice game Lord Emsworth! Since you're now playing Conquests I have to say I look forward to seeing how you'll tackle Sid with your "aggressive builder" style.

 

[Tone]

Great date, Lord E. I have a game in progress that will beat your date by one turn if I get the luck in the Modern Age frebie search. I was tempted to switch to Diplo to get a new number one date in that catagory but decided against it as I would be using information that I had gained as a member of staff.

The new update is about to be published and with it a superb entry from Kuningas. His submission for this gauntlet is the new number one date for a spaceship launch at any level/map size! Keep an eye out for the update.

 

[Lord Emsworth]

Wow, 530 AD is awesome.


Let me see, what would be the best possible conditions that could obtain?
- A kickass location for the captital.
- And very nice, lush terrain for your empire with plenty of River etc.
- An early Settler from a goody hut.
- Getting an advanced tribe in addition to that(?).
- Then an early SGL for Ceremonial Burial.
- An SGL for Philosophy.
- And an SGL for the freebie (Republic?).
- Entering the MA before 2000BC.
- Good luck at the age changes.

 

[Lord Emsworth]

Nice game Lord Emsworth! Since you're now playing Conquests I have to say I look forward to seeing how you'll tackle Sid with your "aggressive builder" style.

I got a Sid win. But it was more like, whack-them-all.

 

[templar_x]

Wow, 530 AD is awesome.


Let me see, what would be the best possible conditions that could obtain?
- A kickass location for the captital.
- And very nice, lush terrain for your empire with plenty of River etc.
- An early Settler from a goody hut.
- Getting an advanced tribe in addition to that(?).
- Then an early SGL for Ceremonial Burial.
- An SGL for Philosophy.
- And an SGL for the freebie (Republic?).
- Entering the MA before 2000BC.
- Good luck at the age changes.

only thing i´d add: 4+ available luxes

templar_x

 

[del62]

only thing i´d add: 4+ available luxes

templar_x

You can get a settler from a goody hut and town from a goody hut while moving your settler into position.

Oops Lord Emsworth already mentioned that with Advanced Tribe

 

[templar_x]

ok, my first participation in a gauntlet. i fear it will be the last for quite a while, too, as i won´t have the time for that kind of game.

definitely no other science game! too SGL-dependent for my taste.*

launched my ss in 650ad. i would have said, not too bad, but lousy compared with Kuningas´ date.

got an optional in the MA, so it could have been 610ad. 2 more turns were my bad planning, but for sure this one could not have gotten dangerous for his game.

for the first time ever i used mapfinder, and i used more starts for this game than for ALL MY HOF ENTRIES TOGETHER, including all Sid victories i have ever got. not for my taste, guys.

eventually, i got that SGL on CB and an early settler, and more than that 5 luxes *somewhat* close.
a 2nd SGL some time in the IA, but this was not needed. Col would have been very useful early, that is for sure!
4 turn research from the late MA on. so any turn to win would have had to be in the AA and early MA. but i had quite too few food ressources for that ultra early even faster expansion.
4 factories appear to be quite the minimum. for a long time i especially could have used more workers.

templar_x

* to compare, i had one *incredibly strong* start and did not get an SGL. so no Pyramids. there was absolutely no chance to compare with the much weaker start i submitted where i had the Pyramids. they are really the key, together with that early 2nd town.

 

[Lord Emsworth]

When did you have your GA?

 

[Spoonwood]

ok, my first participation in a gauntlet. i fear it will be the last for quite a while, too, as i won´t have the time for that kind of game.

definitely no other science game! too SGL-dependent for my taste.*

launched my ss in 650ad. i would have said, not too bad, but lousy compared with Kuningas´ date.

got an optional in the MA, so it could have been 610ad. 2 more turns were my bad planning, but for sure this one could not have gotten dangerous for his game.

for the first time ever i used mapfinder, and i used more starts for this game than for ALL MY HOF ENTRIES TOGETHER, including all Sid victories i have ever got. not for my taste, guys.

eventually, i got that SGL on CB and an early settler, and more than that 5 luxes *somewhat* close.
a 2nd SGL some time in the IA, but this was not needed. Col would have been very useful early, that is for sure!
4 turn research from the late MA on. so any turn to win would have had to be in the AA and early MA. but i had quite too few food ressources for that ultra early even faster expansion.
4 factories appear to be quite the minimum. for a long time i especially could have used more workers.

templar_x

* to compare, i had one *incredibly strong* start and did not get an SGL. so no Pyramids. there was absolutely no chance to compare with the much weaker start i submitted where i had the Pyramids. they are really the key, together with that early 2nd town.

SGLs aren't necessary for a high-place, high-level space or diplo. game. None of these 1, 2, 3, had an early SGL for the human player.

 

[templar_x]

When did you have your GA?

in the 2nd half of MA, triggered by MoM and Cope´s.

Would have been better earlier.

templar_x

 

[templar_x]

SGLs aren't necessary for a high-place, high-level space or diplo. game. None of these 1, 2, 3, had an early SGL for the human player.

Sid and Deity games are no good examples here.
This is the kind of game this gauntlet is about: low difficulty, useless AIs, you need to do ALL the research yourself. Very unlike the games posted.

Only now it comes to my mind that this was the very first Chieftain game I have ever played in C3C... as far as I can remember.

templar_x

 

[Spoonwood]

Sid and Deity games are no good examples here.
This is the kind of game this gauntlet is about: low difficulty, useless AIs, you need to do ALL the research yourself. Very unlike the games posted.

Only now it comes to my mind that this was the very first Chieftain game I have ever played in C3C... as far as I can remember.

templar_x

True. Sorry, I didn't want you to think that all research-oriented games require an early SGL for a good HoF spot. I naively believed that's what you meant.

Looking around some more, it's not just Deity and Sid that have a #1 spot, which can get beaten without a Pyramids SGL. The top spot for standard Emperor spaceship currently sits at 1130, which seems beatable without a Pyramids SGL. Large Regent space and Large Monarch space also sit at 1130 currently. Large Emperor SS is 1305 currently also. Getting in the top 5, or the top 3 on those tables and a few others comes as even more achievable without a Pyarmids SGL.

Of course that's not this gauntlet though. So, point well-taken Templar_X!

 

[Lord Emsworth]

I have submitted another one. This time the finish date is 610 AD.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

This is turning out harder than I thought.

I've gotten no better than barely starting astronomy in 1000 BC, which is behind about everyone. Had a barb that korea popped eat a scout, which had been the only one to penetrate the jungle to the other half of the continent.

How do you guys do scouting? I had another game where I couldn't find the other half of the continent forever - ran out of huts, then had 10 tiles of jungle and swamp and mountain to wade through.

 

[Spoonwood]

I've tried only popping huts around my capital for a settler, then ignoring huts for a while until I get at least one contact. Then I'll pop a hut near that AI as they often have one right at their borders. My scouts head out in one direction, unless I haven't popped a settler. That said, for this size, based on my game it might work out better to pop anything you see ASAP, so you can get Masonry by the time you learn Ceremonial Burial (if that's how you're getting your SGL).

After playing I don't know how many starts I finally managed a Ceremonial Burial SGL, I think on a start where I didn't work my capital right before I learned CB. I didn't get a settler in 3950, but it was early. I didn't research Mysticism right away, as I thought I might pop it faster, but that didn't happen. I played a little sloppy at the beginning, my capital revolted at one point. When I popped Writing I didn't go max research on Philosophy, as I didn't want to pop Code of Laws too late. I ended up having to wait 3 turns, instead of 1, after I popped Code of Laws to learn Philosophy. Maybe you want to go as much as you can for 2 turns, then turn it back to like 40-50% until you pop Code of Laws.

I had only one or two luxuries for quite some time. I got Theology as my first freebie. I think I actually had a slight lead over *slower* (660 AD finish) Kuningas's game at 1000 BC. He had 2 turns left on Astronomy, 3 turns left on the Colossus, and 10 on the Forbidden Palace at that point. In my game I had 4 turns left on Astronomy. Yes, I'm actually ahead, because I had finished the Colossus in 1150 BC, I have the Forbidden Palace up, and I know Gunpowder already (we both have the MoM). But, I got Fascism as my free tech in the industrial ages, and then the AIs *only* got me Ecology and Rocketry in the modern age (I got Fission as my free tech). I launched in 730.

 

[del62]

then the AIs *only* got me Ecology and Rocketry in the modern age (I got Fission as my free tech). I launched in 730.

Thats a shame especially with getting fascism - 12 turns lost.

 

[Spoonwood]

As an idea for the gauntlets:

Could we have two bi-monthly gauntlets with one starting every other month? For example, we could have one bi-monthly gauntlet starts on say December 15th, and which ends on February 15th. Then we have another one which starts on January 15th, and ends on March 15th. We wouldn't have as much time-pressure to finish a game that way, and we would still have a new one every month. If the moderators are willing to do this, what does everyone else think of this idea?

@Del62: Thanks for the condolences. I really wouldn't have hoped for more than 8 of those turns, as it seems likely enough that either you'll draw one of the wrong free techs, or the AIs won't get all 4 techs in the modern age. But, 7 AIs only drawing 2 of the modern age techs seems improbable enough, though I don't know how to compute it at the moment.