It was your standard 7 civilization noble continent game...I was Saladin. I was originally going for a culture win, which I've never done before. I shared a continent with China but I was able to block them to the northern half pretty quickly, and throughout the game I was able to culture-steal 3 of their cities, giving me the western part of the continent as well.
Mansa, however, had a continent to himself and expanded very early, giving himself an advantage in points over me the entire game. He was always about 200 points ahead of me, and I was usually tied 2/3 with Hatsh for third.
I didn't care though, because I was going for culture! I was able to grab 6 of 7 religions (missing Buddhism, which Mansa got, which meant the other 5 had no religion until one of us sent missionaries over) I tried my best to get as much culture as I can, but it was no use. Around 1890sh I gave up on culture because my 2nd and 3rd city only had 20000 culture and I messed around too much on great people so I was not getting artists like I should. I would have to go 100% culture for a long time, and Mansa and Hatsh both completed their apollo project so I knew I didn't have that much time to spare.
Knowing I wasn't going to win culture, I decided to go the space victory route....However, I had no aluminum! There wasn't any aluminum in my entire continent. I began building up military for the envitable conflict between me and Mansa, but first, I wanted to make sure Hatsh was out of the picture.
Me and Hatsh were on friendly terms, and I didn't want to do anything to disrupt our relationship. I was able to trade for some aluminum, as well, so I did not want that deal to get cancelled. So what did I do? I kindly asked Hatsh to declare war on her neighbor, Catherine. She did, and immediately Catherine, Alexander, and China (always forget his name) declared war on her. She'd be busy for a while.
While those folks were busy, I built 4 tanks and sent them over to Mansa, along with a declaration of war. Well, Mansa didn't take too kindly to that because he promptly destroyed those tanks and began bombarding my home with planes. I had no anti-air, but my navy was good enough that he couldn't send troops over. Caesar declared war as well, but he was not a threat.
I'm focusing completely on the space ship at this point, and Mansa already has his casings done. I check his research and he has all the techs except for Fusion - I'm about the same up the tree as he is. However, he is bombing two of my top production cities. I finish the space ladder and the space program and begin pumping out casings on the lesser cities, however, Mansa is still taking out my production and I don't like that one bit.
I ask him for peace, and he wants 54 gold per turn. At the moment, I'm netting -90 per turn, and I still need Fusion, so that's a no-no. Oh well. A couple turns later, I ask for peace again, and he wants Medina! Medina is my #2 city, the top production city, and has the space-ladder wonder, so I go ahead and decline that. That gets me thinking, however, and I offer him a city that just flipped to me from China. Population 4. He...ACCEPTS!
I look at the map and he has the city alright - and about 3 spaces to work with due to my culture around the city. And the war's over!
I check the victory sheet and Mansa is only lacking two things - Engine, and Life Support (I think). I finish Fusion and start the Engine in Mecca. I still need about 3 of the items only requiring 1, a casing, and a thruster. The next turn, Mansa gets his life support done...Oh boy. It's over, I think. Everything is being built in the cities but it will be 11 turns before they are done. There's nothing I can do but click and hope he doesn't win.
Fortunately, he doesn't. I have no idea how he wasn't able to finish off the engine in time, but I was able to catch up and win the space race. It wasn't how I wanted to win, but I learned a lot about culture victory and I plan on winning culturally next time. I also realized that the AI really over-values cities. I bet if the game went on that city would have flipped back to me.
Mansa, however, had a continent to himself and expanded very early, giving himself an advantage in points over me the entire game. He was always about 200 points ahead of me, and I was usually tied 2/3 with Hatsh for third.
I didn't care though, because I was going for culture! I was able to grab 6 of 7 religions (missing Buddhism, which Mansa got, which meant the other 5 had no religion until one of us sent missionaries over) I tried my best to get as much culture as I can, but it was no use. Around 1890sh I gave up on culture because my 2nd and 3rd city only had 20000 culture and I messed around too much on great people so I was not getting artists like I should. I would have to go 100% culture for a long time, and Mansa and Hatsh both completed their apollo project so I knew I didn't have that much time to spare.
Knowing I wasn't going to win culture, I decided to go the space victory route....However, I had no aluminum! There wasn't any aluminum in my entire continent. I began building up military for the envitable conflict between me and Mansa, but first, I wanted to make sure Hatsh was out of the picture.
Me and Hatsh were on friendly terms, and I didn't want to do anything to disrupt our relationship. I was able to trade for some aluminum, as well, so I did not want that deal to get cancelled. So what did I do? I kindly asked Hatsh to declare war on her neighbor, Catherine. She did, and immediately Catherine, Alexander, and China (always forget his name) declared war on her. She'd be busy for a while.
While those folks were busy, I built 4 tanks and sent them over to Mansa, along with a declaration of war. Well, Mansa didn't take too kindly to that because he promptly destroyed those tanks and began bombarding my home with planes. I had no anti-air, but my navy was good enough that he couldn't send troops over. Caesar declared war as well, but he was not a threat.
I'm focusing completely on the space ship at this point, and Mansa already has his casings done. I check his research and he has all the techs except for Fusion - I'm about the same up the tree as he is. However, he is bombing two of my top production cities. I finish the space ladder and the space program and begin pumping out casings on the lesser cities, however, Mansa is still taking out my production and I don't like that one bit.
I ask him for peace, and he wants 54 gold per turn. At the moment, I'm netting -90 per turn, and I still need Fusion, so that's a no-no. Oh well. A couple turns later, I ask for peace again, and he wants Medina! Medina is my #2 city, the top production city, and has the space-ladder wonder, so I go ahead and decline that. That gets me thinking, however, and I offer him a city that just flipped to me from China. Population 4. He...ACCEPTS!
I look at the map and he has the city alright - and about 3 spaces to work with due to my culture around the city. And the war's over!
I check the victory sheet and Mansa is only lacking two things - Engine, and Life Support (I think). I finish Fusion and start the Engine in Mecca. I still need about 3 of the items only requiring 1, a casing, and a thruster. The next turn, Mansa gets his life support done...Oh boy. It's over, I think. Everything is being built in the cities but it will be 11 turns before they are done. There's nothing I can do but click and hope he doesn't win.
Fortunately, he doesn't. I have no idea how he wasn't able to finish off the engine in time, but I was able to catch up and win the space race. It wasn't how I wanted to win, but I learned a lot about culture victory and I plan on winning culturally next time. I also realized that the AI really over-values cities. I bet if the game went on that city would have flipped back to me.
