Need help with milking

[anarres]

This is my first GOTM, and I have never before felt the need to milk a game.

I have heard that ICS is a good way to push up your score, and I know about keeping the areas around your palace and FP not too dense as they will be the only productive cities.

Is there anything else? Do you find it easiest to take out civs early and just leave a few small cities left to take for the victory at the end?

 

[Ribannah]

If you never felt the need before, why would you do it now?
Work for hours and hours without fun just so you will get higher on the GOTM ladder??
I have never milked a civ game for score, and I never will.

 

[anarres]

I want a challenge. Winning itself is boring, and I wouln't mind a comparison to others. Also, I have a week to kill before the next tournament game is released

Maybe you are right though. It does seem to be amazingly slow and boring, and to be honest I don't care about being on the GOTM ladder. Also, I don't intend to play many GOTM games, just when the tournament allows.

Does anyone go for an early finish? If so I may decide to do that instead, as I'll still have a comparison.

 

[Bamspeedy]

Well, if you do decide to take the milking route, you should definitely read Sir Pleb's article: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18729&pagenumber=1

Yes, there are awards for fast finishes, so you could use that as a motivation/competition/comparing yourself to others. There are awards for a fast victory for everything but a diplomatic victory (too similar to a quick spaceship victory).

ICS does theoretically slightly reduce your scoring potential because the city center tiles are only giving you two food, which could provide 4 food (if on grassland, irrigated, and railroaded). However, ICS gives you faster growth rate and less improvements needed to keep all your people happy (unhappy people give you 0 points), so ICS more than makes up for the slight drop in scoring potential.

Is there anything else? Do you find it easiest to take out civs early and just leave a few small cities left to take for the victory at the end?

Leave them with only 1 city. Plant a city in the middle of a desert and donate it to the last civ, just before you destroy all their other cities. A city in the middle of a desert, that will be forever stuck at size 1 (can't even build a worker) will never be a threat.

 

[Maple]

The only problem with leaving civs in the middle of nowhere is that there is a minor possibility that civs may flip to them.

 

[Txurce]

I'm going for an early finish, rather than a high score. I think it takes more skill, and know it's a lot less boring.