Minor Gauntlet Seven

[superslug]

Minor Gauntlet Six has closed. Congratulations to Tone, killercane and Denniz for all passing the previous #1, and more congrats to Tone for the Gauntlet win.

And now for Seven:
Difficulty: Demigod
Mapsize: Standard
Victory: Conquest

Questions, comments, ideas and updates are highly encouraged. We run these unofficial gauntlets not only for the competition, but so that players can improve their skills.

Submissions are due by November 24th. Games started for this Gauntlet may still be submitted after the cutoff and earn Hall of Fame slots.

 

[Tone]

Well I've had a great day trying out C-IV but I still find myself drawn back to this!

I think that the level and map size will be too much for an early Jag rush so I'm thinking about my aggressive favs: Iroquois. The MW is good enough to last into the early MA and the Agri trait should help get a few productive towns up and running first. With Alpha as a starting tech I should be able to get a Monarchy slingshot quite early. Especially if I choose some opponants that favour the bottom path. From my attempts at the last minor game, the Ottomans seem to be one such civ.

 

[Tone]

I've submitted a game. I could give details but it wasn't a very good attempt really and I my heart wasn't in it once I knew that I'd made a few too many minor errors so I don't think that there is much to pass on apart from the fact that my observations in the previous post were fine. I managed to get a 390AD victory which gives people a target to beat, although there are many people here that wouldn't have too much trouble in beating that. Indeed hope to do so myself and I'll post details if this happens.

If you are going to attempt this, don't be as stupid as I was and make sure that you switch AI respawn off. It hurts so much when you think that you've won and then the AI pops up in a remote place with a fresh stack of longbows and spears. They even had two additional settlers, unless they had been dumped there already by ships. What's really embarassing about this is that I remember doing this before when attempting a conquest victory earlier on this year!

 

[Mistfit]

320AD seems to be a good score to me... But I don't play much in that demigod level... And you didn't have AI respawn on in this one

You can always use the 4000BC checker to see the conditions you have on.

 

[Tone]

I've played another game. I had high hopes at first but I didn't improve upon the first game by much in the end.

In some ways it was a good start. I had three cows, which became four when I moved my settler off one of them. However I had no luxes and I was squeezed for all directions. Ottomans to the NW, Chinese to the SW, Egyptians to the South and Japanese to the East. However I had horses and I didn't have to go far to reach my victims so I carried on.

I got the Monarchy slingshot in 1870 but once I had Phil I had to trade for Poly in the interturn via the big picture. That was a close call. In 1550 the Ottomans demanded Monarchy and I told them where they could get off-they declared war. This is the map at that stage.

As you can see it wasn't what you would call a commanding position! I didn't go all out for the Ottomans. They had a massive culture lead and I knew that the Japanese were going to get ToA very soon, plus they had several luxes. They would sort out my poor culture and happiness problems.

Fighting my way through the jungle slowed me down quite a bit, a couple of crucial battles didn't go my way (eg 10MW attack Thebes, each has a better than 50% chance of beating the defender and all 10 lose!) and a couple of offshore islands didn't help in the endgame.

Finished in 320AD. I'm still not happy with my performance. I just know that if one of you conquest experts gets hold of this, a BC finish will be on the cards.

 

[Tone]

Thanks, Mistfit. I'm not quite sure what a good date is but I just feel that it should be possible to do so much better. I'll just have to wait and see if anyone else tries it.

BTW the 4000BC checker doesn't show the AI respawn setting, does it?

 

[Dianthus]

BTW the 4000BC checker doesn't show the AI respawn setting, does it?

Sorry, no, it doesn't. Currently it only shows the settings that would affect whether the game contravenes the HOF rules. I *could* add the AI respawn setting easily enough if required though...

 

[Mistfit]

erm... oops

 

[Tone]

It's not a problem. All I have to do is concentrate when I set up a game. That shouldn't be beyond me but sometimes I manage to fail in the most simple of tasks!

 

[superslug]

This Gauntlet is now closed. Congratulations to Tone for the win.

 

[Tone]

Thanks. I have to say that I'm surprised. Maybe the conquest experts are playing C-IV. (I am )