Lonely Hearts Club, BtS Edition, Chapter XLI : Peter

[dalamb]

Sigh. Is that true at all levels or is it just an AI advantage at higher levels?

 

[TheMeInTeam]

All levels ---> nothing about the AI coding/actions/etc changes with level...the only variances are the in game bonuses that make them more effective.

 

[xxamonxx]

AI doesn't need espionage for power checks.

Edit: I wish I'd recorded this at immortal, it is probably the easiest LHC map ever . Videos should be up soon.

This would make sense as it would be the same as us seeing the power numbers for people that we know when the ranking pop-up comes up. Except, I am pretty sure that the AI always knows.

 

[cripp7]

Oops I skipped a checkpoint, decided I'd try a Wonder Economy. Skipped stonehenge, missed TGL/colossus. Going for space.

Spoiler :

Lets's see I was first to Confusion,Taoism,Liberalism(took Astro) Built GL,HG,Pyramids,NE,Ox,Anger Wat,Scotland Yard,Taj,SoL,UoS,SP

Spoiler :

Have a DP with Ramesse and Justain

Spoiler :

Power rating is climing

Spoiler :

I managed to Astro with Lib and spammed Confusion to everyone, the whole world except Burger King is Confusion. Ramesses and
Charlie hate each other and been duking it out. Rangar and Churchill is same story, Rangar is power leader so Churchill will vassal soon. Rifles vs Longbows no match. Everyone hasn't met each other, the yjust got optics. I'm going to tech peacefully and then take over Charlie and Ramesses. Ottamans are teching hard. Here's the tech situation

Spoiler :

 

[dalamb]

I plan on Noble, Normal, BUG 3.6, no barbarians, spaceship victory (and hope to make good use of the very nice Research Institute at the end). I usually go with Epic so units stay useful longer, but in a long spaceship game Normal will help me stick with it. I expect to work Caste System to generate as many Great Scientists as possible, and will go for Literature as soon as possible to get the Great Library.

Looks like I'll settle 1S and let the boundaries pop the first hut.

I understand why riverside, but why 1S instead of 1SE? latter lets you settle on the first turn and saves a forest. It retains both the corn and the sheep, though that requires the first border pop, which will happen before a worker is available.

played up to 3200BC. I was shocked, as I found out I was isolated... how unlikely??

Guaranteed! That's what the Lonely Hearts Club is all about.

 

[Lansky]

Emperor Epic
1776-1952
Space Victory

Spoiler :

1758AD – I capture two of Ragnar’s southeastern cities and that cheeky bastard counter attacks me. I actually have to scramble to get some units back. Granted it was knights/grenadiers against infantry/machine guns, but I’ll be damned if that bastard did not scare me.

Spoiler :

1825AD – I cannot find the screenshot of all the positioning of troops but essentially I finished Industrialism and bought a ton of marines to storm the coastal cities and tanks/artillery to take the few central cities. Churchill had tanks of his own towards the end but it was far too little far too late. I actually finished Ragnar up second as he got Military Tradition (without Rifling) as the war was ending. Anyway here is the northern island post assimilation. Transports full of corporate executives are currently en route to complete the take over.

Spoiler :

1838AD – Never run representation this late in a game before and I’m starting to wonder why not… Once Universal Suffrage war purchases are over, and especially when Mining Inc or Creative Constructions are in play, this really seems like a more intelligent civic. Yes I am just realizing this while contemplating all of these cities are about to gain a base pre-modified 12 beakers. Yippee?

Spoiler :

1844AD – Salvation!

Spoiler :

1844AD – 1952AD
Although after all border pops I realize just how far I am from victory. Now if I had read the intelligent idea mentioned of gifting a hated Buddhist (Justinian in this case) the UN techs this game would have ended. However, I was holding my breath to see if my alma mater got a tourney invite. As such I had a low blood oxygen level and proceed to hit enter a hundred or so times instead of thinking. The last picture sums up just how long I let this game drag out. To be fair every AI and their uh… mothers? decided to destroy my space ship parts. In the end Moscow built every freaking piece in 2-4 turns as they eventually ran out of espionage points. Yes, there were a billion ways to play this more intelligently but oh well.

Spoiler :

 

[Tempesta13]

Emperor Epic
1776-1952
Space Victory

Spoiler :

1758AD – I capture two of Ragnar’s southeastern cities and that cheeky bastard counter attacks me. I actually have to scramble to get some units back. Granted it was knights/grenadiers against infantry/machine guns, but I’ll be damned if that bastard did not scare me.

Spoiler :

1825AD – I cannot find the screenshot of all the positioning of troops but essentially I finished Industrialism and bought a ton of marines to storm the coastal cities and tanks/artillery to take the few central cities. Churchill had tanks of his own towards the end but it was far too little far too late. I actually finished Ragnar up second as he got Military Tradition (without Rifling) as the war was ending. Anyway here is the northern island post assimilation. Transports full of corporate executives are currently en route to complete the take over.

Spoiler :

1838AD – Never run representation this late in a game before and I’m starting to wonder why not… Once Universal Suffrage war purchases are over, and especially when Mining Inc or Creative Constructions are in play, this really seems like a more intelligent civic. Yes I am just realizing this while contemplating all of these cities are about to gain a base pre-modified 12 beakers. Yippee?

Spoiler :

1844AD – Salvation!

Spoiler :

1844AD – 1952AD
Although after all border pops I realize just how far I am from victory. Now if I had read the intelligent idea mentioned of gifting a hated Buddhist (Justinian in this case) the UN techs this game would have ended. However, I was holding my breath to see if my alma mater got a tourney invite. As such I had a low blood oxygen level and proceed to hit enter a hundred or so times instead of thinking. The last picture sums up just how long I let this game drag out. To be fair every AI and their uh… mothers? decided to destroy my space ship parts. In the end Moscow built every freaking piece in 2-4 turns as they eventually ran out of espionage points. Yes, there were a billion ways to play this more intelligently but oh well.

Spoiler :

Getting future tech 35 should be another victory condition

 

[helemaalnicks]

why is everyone posting all rounds @ once? I thought this was a learning experience?

Is this more like a walkthrough kind of game? No discussion on various startingmethods? No discussion on bust or wall discussion?

 

[Lansky]

Is this more like a walkthrough kind of game? No discussion on various startingmethods? No discussion on bust or wall discussion?

Spoiler :

Well that is a personal choice normally. I almost never build the Great Wall, but this game conspired against me.

1. I had stone in my second city for Henge/Mids anyway.
2. My first 3 or 4 scouting/busting warriors were all killed.
3. The stone city had awful food until at least sailing if not machinery and could only build stuff. As such I built it there and avoided polluting Moscow making it a win win. In this case the capital looked more like a production center to me so the long term GP farm was settled to the NW with the fish/crabs/sheep.

As far as the thread itself I clearly don't know. I broke my write ups into separate parts, but definitely just assumed philosophical+stone meant an early representation/scientist build with a beeline to Lib/Astro. I play a very generic isolated start normally.

 

[dalamb]

Uh, Lansky -- all of that should have been spoilered.

 

[helemaalnicks]

Uh, Lansky -- all of that should have been spoilered.

Thats the problem, everything posts such long rounds, that I can't look at it for another week or so.

 

[Lansky]

Uh, Lansky -- all of that should have been spoilered.

Yeah whoops.

 

[Lansky]

Thats the problem, everything posts such long rounds, that I can't look at it for another week or so.

The round length is mentioned at the start of the thread. Not sure if people hold to it or not but I know quite a few are following the rules.

 

[Sleepless]

@dalamb

1S keeps the plains hill in the BFC. In this game there is nothing wrong with 1SE or in place either. Half the time it takes me ages to chop forests so not to bothered about losing one and you can usually afford a couple of turns before settling so losing one turn doesn't worry me to much.

 

[RRRaskolnikov]

Spoiler :

To be fair every AI and their uh… mothers? decided to destroy my space ship parts. In the end Moscow built every freaking piece in 2-4 turns as they eventually ran out of espionage points.

Spoiler :

In this case, you can station a spy in the cities that are building parts (with security office too), and more importantly run counter espionnage missions and raise your espionnage slider! Raising your slider would increase their mission cost, and i guess you could have afforded that if you teched future tech 35

Cheers,
Raskolnikov

 

[Ai Shizuka]

What's wrong with the write-ups? Most people report at 1 AD - contact with everyone - end.

Lansky:

Spoiler :

Late-game we went on different routes, but the end dates are pretty much the same. I'm curious about your score, to see how the game considers two completely different victories.

Emp/epic, no events, 1830 - 1943, peaceful ending:

Spoiler :

1851 - The round starts with Ram (who else) building the UN and I'm the secretary:

Let's check the votes for victory. I still need a crapload (over 300) and the 3 small AIs are not enough. I'd have to push Churchill and Mehmed to friendly. Possible, but annoying. I'd have to adopt their fav civics (both sub-optimal at this point) and make them switch with spies. Oversea espionage missions? No thanks.

And Justinian has to be a pain in the backdoor as usual:

1858 - Nidaros revolts and joins the english empire.

1862 - Let's get some votes:

1863 - Trebizond captured.

1864 - Annoying city captured with old cossacks:

And Justi is out already. I keep Iconium and gift Trebizond back:

1878 - Let's get some more votes. Meh has infantry and I know he has a big stack somewhere, so I wait for his move on that hill:

1879 - And here goes his stack (SW of Konya):

1880 - Meh is stupid enough to split his stack and capture Adrianople (losing a good amount of troops in the process). I destroy both half-stacks, recapture Adrianople and gift it back to Justi.
Enough for Mehmed. Over 2X his power and shared border with Justi make for a quick capitulation:

1891 - Birka joins the english empire and Churchill surpass me in population, becoming the 2nd UN candidate.

1893 - I'm still collecting votes:

1894 - Aachen is nothing to write home about:

1895 - I destroy a big wooden fleet and Charlie is out:

Now the 3 small AIs are friendly and will vote for me, but Churchill is still candidate n.2. I'm confused here. Isn't half the vassals' population supposed to count as mine?
Anyway, Ram is the builder and Church is the second candidate, so I have 2 options. Capture a good chunk of Ramesses (UN included) and run vs Churchill or capture a good chunk of Churchill and become candidate n.2.
Ram is scary in this game, so Churchill wins some modern pain.

1920 - Ram is at a "low" pleased now and is friendly with Winston. If he drops to cautious he can be bribed, so I adopt Christianity (Ram's religion) and OR (his fav civic) to be 100% safe.

1923 - Ready:

1924 - Over 40 units killed in the capture of Nidaros and my power ratio on Churchill goes from 1.2 to 1.5. He's pretty much broken right from the start.

1928 - Jelling captured.

1931 - Nottingham.

1933 - Honorable mention for some brave soldiers. I had some 20 old artillery/infantry twiddling their thumbs somewhere in Turkey (not enough transports to carry them home) and finally got a few ships around to pick them up and drop them in western England. Not pretty vs Modern Armors and Mech Inf, but they got the job done. And they actually managed to hold Warwick to the end. Godspeed, guys:

1935 - Oxford captured. Need 12 more votes.

1940 - Coventry captured and I have just enough votes for the win. But some cities are coming out of revolt and starving, so I'll capture one more city.

1941 - Ram launches his spaceship. Too late, pal.

1942 - Birka captured. Enough votes and election coming in 1 turn:

So England is still a free state:

1943 - And victory:

Demographics. Ram still n.1 in soldiers. Luckily there was Ram there and not some nutcase like Sury:

A couple wonders built by Ram:

Stats:

Score:

Victory screen. If Ram had focused on culture OR space, I'd had to stop him at some point. But he tried both, falling short on both:

Capital without Rep. I adopted Police State at the end:

Techs. Churchill had Mech Inf and Modern Armors from the start of the war. I upgraded some tanks to MA in the last 3-4 turns:

Diplo:

Our nice island:

And capital with Rep:

 

[dalamb]

Checkpoint 1: island explored, and I'm now contemplating city locations.

Spoiler :

I settled 1SE, built worker > barracks > warrior > warrior > warrior, the second and third of which overlapped with chopping a first settler. Tech path: bronze > agriculture > animal husbandry > wheel > pottery (which I'm 4 turns from) > writing, followed by getting a first GS as soon as possible. After writing I need CoL, and will probably go the Priesthood route to try for the Oracle. Not long thereafter would be aesthetics > literature and going for the Great Library.

Here's my thoughts on a dotmap:

Spoiler dotmap :

I'm thinking of White to the far west for a GP farm, since it has 2 food sources, farmable grassland, and 2 PH for production, but Cyan has 3 food sources and is closer, so might make a better GP farm despite no farmable grassland. I popped Fishing from a hut, so I could make good use of it right away. I might go for Yellow and the stone first, though.

I expect to go back and read the other Checkpoint 1 posts sometime tomorrow -- such as there are:

What's wrong with the write-ups? Most people report at 1 AD - contact with everyone - end.

I learn a lot from the writeups when people bother to post them, so I second Ai Shizuka's consternation.

 

[helemaalnicks]

Checkpoint 1: island explored, and I'm now contemplating city locations.

Spoiler :

I settled 1SE, built worker > barracks > warrior > warrior > warrior, the second and third of which overlapped with chopping a first settler. Tech path: bronze > agriculture > animal husbandry > wheel > pottery (which I'm 4 turns from) > writing, followed by getting a first GS as soon as possible. After writing I need CoL, and will probably go the Priesthood route to try for the Oracle. Not long thereafter would be aesthetics > literature and going for the Great Library.

Here's my thoughts on a dotmap:

Spoiler dotmap :

I'm thinking of White to the far west for a GP farm, since it has 2 food sources, farmable grassland, and 2 PH for production, but Cyan has 3 food sources and is closer, so might make a better GP farm despite no farmable grassland. I popped Fishing from a hut, so I could make good use of it right away. I might go for Yellow and the stone first, though.

I expect to go back and read the other Checkpoint 1 posts sometime tomorrow -- such as there are:
I learn a lot from the writeups when people bother to post them, so I second Ai Shizuka's consternation.

Spoiler :

Looks nice, I would put white city coastal, and put another city north for sheep probably. I like overlap ^^.

 

[r_rolo1]

Well, I can say that I played already the game and will probably write it in one sitting ( because I played it in one sitting and that helps to mask the lack of pics of ancient ages ).... Immortal SS win somewhere close of 1940. Made a high stakes gamble in the start that payed up...

But that will have to wait for tomorrow.....

 

[dalamb]

@helemaalnicks:

Spoiler :

If by "white city coastal" you mean 1SE of where I put it -- that keeps it on the river, which I like, but eliminates the two PH, which I don't. It would at least still have the copper for a little bit of production.