King of Conqueror -- Deity conquest challenge

[Duckweed]

You are given a strong leader and great start to play with. The challenge is not whether you can win on this map (No doubt many players can win it ), but is to show your warring art regarding 2 aspects:

1. King of conqueror -- who win the conquest victory in the earliest date. Note: Don't expect to blitz through the entire map with cavalries, the most important part is how to manage the inter-continent war.

2. Warlord -- who spend shortest turns in the inter-continent war. Most important restriction is that you may not leave the war once you start the inter-continent war, which means you need to DOW next target in the same time when you eliminate or vassal the current one.

Here is the start -- huts off for a little fair comparison


Small hint

Spoiler :

Don't trust the map generator. 1/3 of time I move the starting settler and 1/5 time I regret of not moving.

Please share your opening strategy (early build order in capital and tech path) in the 1st and the only check point -- 1AD report, which will show your skill of management of empire under peaceful environment. However, BC era involves lots luck dependent factors, such as AI settling direction, tech path, war decision, and barbarian behavior. Hence you may continue on other save if you fell better.

In later reports, please show your starting SOD in the 1st inter-continent war and the turns you spend on each conquering.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Nothing like a cow glitch to add to the challenge .

Any special settings or is it acceptable to just chain-cap the other continent? Of course I'm getting ahead of myself, I only have a handful of deity wins total. But a little pressure always helps me start smelling blood .

Edit: If 1 warrior NW confirms cow glitch I'm definitely moving.

 

[kossin]

Agree with TMIT about moving... looks like a nice river if only there was a decent food resouce...

I'll try this once I'm done with my other games.

 

[ABigCivFan]

Move the warrior 1N first to check for food, if no food, then move Settler 1 NE to max river tiles (financial and levee) and not risking settling on strategic resources.

 

[Sian]

I'd move Warrior 1NW to maximize the ammount of shown tites (and still the same that 1N would show)

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I hung this one up In the mid 1700s

Spoiler :

I was part of a buddhist love fest. Justinian ran away peacefully. I was slogging vs pacal but winning (infantry/arty), when Justinian founded mining inc in 1715 AD.

With the engineer from fusion.

If I'd gone culture (which I normally would with a massed peaceful setup and double defensive pact) I might have been able to edge him out ---> he was still probably about 50 turns from launching. Locked in war and lacking a navy as I was, stopping space and then having a realistic chance of winning was out for me.

It looks like if I want to use infantry wars, I have to do it like the deity sample games that get them in the 1100-1200 AD range. Damn this isn't easy, but at least I'm getting closer.

 

[dingding]

Thank you for sharing, I'll try this map this WK.

Well the starting spot seems terrible, fortunately we are Mansa. And we'll know there won't be a/another tech b*i*t*c*h in the other continent

It's a Continent map? Well the earliest continent conquest victory in Deity I got is around 260-270 turns, I don't think I can do better in this map...

For the inter-continent war, not difficult to win it within 20 turns if well prepared.

 

[Kid R]

Nice one Duckweed, another crazy deity map now the King of the Hill 2 has been beaten

Way out of my depth here but who cares. Brief report of the start and first 100 turns. Somewhat unusual start because...

Spoiler :

The "hint" scared me to move the settler when I would normally settle in place. So I got stuck with no horsies in the capital, and looked like I would have to waste time on hunting and archery. Then I decided I would try and make the best of it (I settled cow/sheep/stone in desperation on turn 3) with an all or nothing gamble of building the GW rather than wasting crucial early beakers. 4 barbs were inside the BFC pillaging me when it was completed and I had to suicide a worker and a warrior to keep them from cutting the stone. Just squeaked it home in time with all improvements destroyed except the stone. So basically a very slow start but I just managed to block (not ideal position) at the isthmus and there are plenty of good sites left on our side. Plus one barb city which I hope to unlock HE against.

Here's an interesting occurrence...

I closed borders with Pacal because he had settler party inside my blocking city's culture when it was founded (that's why I settled early). I wasn't sure whether they would continue through now they were in and didn't want to take the chance. Any guesses?

A few turns later it was preying on my mind and I temporarily reloaded to find out. The answer:

Spoiler :

They turned and went away.

 

[Duckweed]

Any special settings or is it acceptable to just chain-cap the other continent?

Domination victory is disabled. Yes, you don't need to eliminate everyone, chain-cap is best, you can even spawn colonies.

Spoiler :

Justinian got Fusion in 1715 AD, that's really fast! AIs in a same religious family will tech crazy when develop peacefully, this is why in isolated map, there is good chance some AIs can easily go out of control.

 

[Duckweed]

@Kid R

Spoiler :

In a normal game, even I see stone in BFC, I don't consider TGW and I'd rather go for archery for defense (over 50% of the deity game, I'll research it). The drawbacks of going for TGW are many:
1. Worker/Settler is a better usage for those early precious hammers, I want my 2nd city out as quick as possible.
2. Masonry isn't needed early in most case
3. GS as the 1st GP is usually better than GSpy
4. In this game, Skirmish is too good to skip.

They turned and went away.

This is a very normal behavior of AIs, AI won't settle site 3 tiles away from his culture border before he runs out of other choice. I explain this in the Deity Doctorate thread.

 

[Kid R]

@Duckweed

Spoiler :

Ah yes, skirmishers skipped my mind as I was in a "long shot" frame of mind at that stage!

I agree about TGW in general though. Another thing is by the time you have to decide to build it you often don't have enough scouting to know whether it's going to be worth it. And that is the case here, at least the route my first warrior took anyway. I didn't know that the neighbourhood is easy to fogbust acceptably well with warriors until city 2 hooks the copper or the horses.

I gave up my first attempt anyway as I was just too far behind, at least to consider attacking anybody. It looks like a big part of this challenge as you suggested at the start is to play the initial peaceful period extremely efficiently, in order to even stand a chance later on. My inner peacemonger is calling me back for a second try .... (my inner chicken is strongly arguing against )

 

[TheMeInTeam]

@Kid R

Spoiler :

In a normal game, even I see stone in BFC, I don't consider TGW and I'd rather go for archery for defense (over 50% of the deity game, I'll research it). The drawbacks of going for TGW are many:
1. Worker/Settler is a better usage for those early precious hammers, I want my 2nd city out as quick as possible.
2. Masonry isn't needed early in most case
3. GS as the 1st GP is usually better than GSpy
4. In this game, Skirmish is too good to skip.



This is a very normal behavior of AIs, AI won't settle site 3 tiles away from his culture border before he runs out of other choice. I explain this in the Deity Doctorate thread.

Spoiler :

I didn't have much trouble holding off the barbs with 3 warriors outside my borders in this one. It let me grab oracle for all the good that did.

By the time I lost a warrior from my spawnbust net, I had horse (settled 1N).

 

[shyuhe]

Played through 1000 AD.

Spoiler :

Not much to report so far. Had minor barb troubles and Timbuktu got pillaged pretty badly, which set me back quite a bit in terms of development. I still got all the land to the east though (all the gold mines!), which helped me stay in the tech race. Took me a while to realize that all of the other AI were reachable by galleys.

I took nationalism from liberalism since Pacal could tech it. I'm currently gearing to take him down using mounted units as he's gone down the SM line. I just need to muster up sufficient numbers then I can start the party. His land is pretty good and he has a nice shrine so I'll be set once I take him out. The other AI have been warring - Vicky's been in a long long war with Monty and I haven't met the French leader (I'm assuming he's backwards as a result). Mao is teching ok, as is Justinian. But Pacal is really the only serious tech contender right now.

 

[Dirk1302]

Played to ~ 1AD

Spoiler :

Went Hunting->AH->BW->Myst->Fishing->Pottery
Barbs shouldn't be a problem on this map. first warrior scouts that there's lots of land so no problem to grow to 5 before settler working prime tiles. This gives you time to build barracks and 2 chariots before the barb fun really starts. You can build a third one if necessary in 2 turns (it was necessary after i got settler out). Once you get that second promo on the chariots your odds are always extremely good. Settled second city on sheep/copper/fp's

Chariots make for good scouting as well so i found the corn/fish/clam chokepoint in the north east pretty early and i'm in time to settle it with my third settler. From what i've seen now at least 12 cities are guaranteed now so no problem. Since Pacal knows other ais (i have more spypoints on him than he on me) i prioritize monument and 2wb's chopping both forests immediately. I have found Mao/Justin/Vicky then my wb dies. 1 AD 8 cities settled, Part/GL are in. I build cottages almost everywhere so i have prime research but maintenance is steep atm. Maybe i should have fogbusted the coast as i have more trouble with barb galleys than ever before (bad RNG on galley fights sofar).

 

[Duckweed]

Guys, a more detailed report at 1AD with some nice pictures would be more enjoyable. IMO this map is very good for comparison of different peaceful opening strategies.

 

[dingding]

Won the conquest at 335 turns (1915AD). I'm not satisfied with this result. I might win it a little bit earlier if I play a second time.

I won't say it's the easiest map to make a conquest challenge. It might be more funny to set a Space challenge with this map. I mean, conquest victory is possible (and tiring though) but it depends more or less on how lucky you are.

Not able to upload images now. Will report it later.

 

[Dirk1302]

Played to 1060 AD, I'll put up some reports with screenshots also for 1 AD later. Unless i'm missing something completely this may be the easiest deity map i've ever played.

 

[Duckweed]

Won the conquest at 335 turns (1915AD). I'm not satisfied with this result. I might win it a little bit earlier if I play a second time.

I won't say it's the easiest map to make a conquest challenge. It might be more funny to set a Space challenge with this map. I mean, conquest victory is possible (and tiring though) but it depends more or less on how lucky you are.

Not able to upload images now. Will report it later.

Indeed, deity level games get more effect from luck. However, in this game, it is minimized, I believe everyone will get almost the same area of land regardless of any bad luck.

 

[Duckweed]

Played to 1060 AD, I'll put up some reports with screenshots also for 1 AD later. Unless i'm missing something completely this may be the easiest deity map i've ever played.

It is easy, I said it was a great map. The main purpose is for efficient management of inter-continent war. I only played it to 1AD and I think ~1700AD conquest win could be achieved.

 

[dingding]

To Duckweed:

Spoiler :

Indeed, deity level games get more effect from luck. However, in this game, it is minimized, I believe everyone will get almost the same area of land regardless of any bad luck.

The Luck effect affects quite much even you're ensured to dominate a good place.

To minimize it, I think it's better to release a later save, like on turn 30 or 50. That avoids the early random events which affect the most. But that will certainly be unworkable for a challenge.