[C3C] News: COTM 169 - Arabs

[Spoonwood]

Will this be the first time you submit an XOTM game, or did I just not yet notice?
t_x

I submitted a game for COTM86 with the Zulu on Regent.

 

[choxorn]

More of my game, to the early IA:

Spoiler 1060 AD :

260 AD- Trade Persia Feudalism for Engineering and 4 gold

350 AD- Found Hama. My exploring Galley on the other continent, having mapped out a good chunk of the coastline, finally dies to a barb Galley. Oh well.

360 AD- Research Chivalry->Invention

370 AD- Start Sun Tzu’s in Mecca, probably as a Leo’s Workshop prebuild

420 AD- I finish a road to the Silks near Aydab, that extra luxury helps a lot. This also gives me a trade route with Greece, who has excess Ivory. I could just take it from them… but I’m not imminently ready to fight, especially not now that they have the Great Wall. I decide to trade them Wines, Literature, and 70 gold for their Ivory

490 AD- Research Invention->Gunpowder

500 AD- Switch my wonder build in Mecca to Leo’s

560 AD- Trade Chivalry to Egypt for Theology and 7 gold

610 AD- Egypt demands Iron from me. There’s other things I’d give them, but I’m not about to let them get their military stronger, so I tell them to shove it. They don’t declare. I research Gunpowder-> Chemistry

620 AD- And now that I can see where Saltpeter is, I see that the lone source I have hooked up right now is right next to Damascus, so sure is a good thing Egypt didn’t declare war on me. Luckily I also have a source in the middle of the giant Mountain cluster, so I’ll have to go get that one hooked up ASAP. Egypt currently has no Saltpeter, and Greece has two sources of it, but I alone have researched Gunpowder. I trade it to France and Korea for a bunch of money.

Over the IBT my Ivory deal with Greece runs out. I don’t renew it because it would be expensive and I want to actually fight him pretty soon.

630 AD- I trade Greece the Republic for all 13 of their gold, figuring it will probably get them to go into Anarchy immediately. Annoyingly, when I check next turn, they’re still in Feudalism.

650 AD- Finish Leo’s Workshop.

660 AD- With Leo’s Workshop finished I upgrade some old military units on the cheap. I’ll attack Greece, still annoyingly not a Republic, next turn.

670 AD- Declare War on Greece.

@Themopylae: Lose 1 Ansar but my remaining two kill 2 Hoplites, I take the city and get a GA!

@ARGOS: I lose 2 Ansars this time to kill the 2 Hoplites and take the city

690 AD- Research Chemistry->Education

700 AD- I kill 1 Hoplite in Knossos, but the other kills 2 of my Ansars (the second despite the Hoplite being at 1 HP), and I have to retreat, not having enough Ansars to attack with in the area

Trade Chemistry to France for Education, 37 gold, and 5 gpt, and to Korea for Printing Press, 3 gpt, and 55 gold, then start researching Astronomy, which I can do in 4 turns at 80% Science. I switch Mecca to Sistine as a Copernicus Prebuild.

710 AD- That one tough Hoplite takes out 2 more of my Ansar Warriors but the third finally kills him, along with the MGL he generated after killing the 2nd Ansar (the 1st one promoted him to Elite), and I finally take Knossos.

Greece will talk Peace now, but all they have to offer me is 14 gold. I’m not yet hit by WW and the “counterattacks” they’ve thrown at me have been pathetic, so I’ll continue to fight for now.

720 AD- France finishes Sun Tzu’s in Paris, and Persia cascades to and finishes Knight’s Templar in Persepolis.

730 AD- Research Astronomy->Banking

740 AD- Switch Mecca to Copernicus, due in 7 turns

750 AD- Found Tabuk, stealing a bunch of territory from Greece right outside Athens and leaving one isolated Marsh tile hilariously inside their territory.

@Athens: I lose only 1 Ansar in killing 5 Hoplites and the city is mine, along with The Oracle and The Great Wall! Greece is now out of money but won’t give me any of their remaining cities for peace, so the war will continue.

770 AD- Research Banking->Physics

780 AD- I lose an MDI and an LBM at Pharsalos but kill 2 Hoplites and an LBM and take the city. Sparta takes out two Ansars and I kill 3 Hoplites there, but one stubborn 1 HP LBM remains and I don’t have anyone close enough to kill it.

790 AD- I kill a newly built Hoplite in Sparta and the LBM, and the city is mine. Greece has two cities left. I build Sana’a, putting me up to 33 cities. I’m trying to take their last 2 as fast as I can but their bad roads and rough terrain are making it hard.

800 AD- I kill 2 Hoplites and an LBM in Corinth at no losses to me and take the city, one left!

I finish Copernicus in Mecca.

810 AD- I kill 2 Hoplites and an LBM in Delphi at no losses and take the city, and I have destroyed the Weak Greeks.



820 AD- Research Physics->Metallurgy

850 AD- Build Shihr in ex-Greek territory, which had enough gaps in it that I can easily fit three or four more cities in.

860 AD- Research Metallurgy->Theory of Gravity, England completes Sistine in London

870 AD- I very generously give my Egyptian buddies Metallurgy for 5 gold. Conveniently this also shuts off the Statue of Zeus and they get nothing from it because they have no Iron or Saltpeter and they can’t trade it to anyone else because they don’t know anyone else, but I’m just being nice! Also my GA ends.

910 AD- Research Theory of Gravity -> Magnetism

920 AD- Start Newton’s in Mecca, I’ve got it in 12 turns, no other AI even has Physics yet, and they’re not building any Wonders, so I’ve got it in the bag

Trade Physics to France for Navigation, 47 gold, 15 gpt, WM. I now see the entire other continent, plus a city the Dutch built on an island between the two continents that only they could reach with the Lighthouse. To my joy, nobody has any excess Saltpeter that Egypt could trade for (France has an extra Iron source, though), and the French and English both don’t have any at all while the Dutch have neither Saltpeter nor Iron, so none of them can build any of their unique units.

The French have a Korean city name and the English have a Dutch one, but I see no other signs of war over there, and the Dutch city the English have might have just culture flipped.

I trade Egypt contact with Korea for 17 gold, their world map, and a worker, and the only thing keeping me from doing any more contact trading is the AI all have literally nothing to trade right now.

930 AD- The game seems to now realize that I do in fact have sea trade routes to the other continent, so I trade for Furs from England, Incense from Persia, and Gems from France. The added happiness lets me drop the lux slider to 0%.

940 AD- Found New Mecca on the island with Bayt Ras and Taif

960 AD- Build New Medina on the border with Egypt

Research Magnetism and hit the IA->Steam Power

990 AD- Build New Damascus

1010 AD- A couple of AI’s finally got Military Tradition, all of whom can do nothing with it because they lack Saltpeter. Trade Physics to England for MT, 32 gold, and a World Map

1030 AD- Found New Baghdad. Finish Newton’s in Mecca.

1040 AD- Research Steam Power->Electricity. The obsoleting of the Hanging Gardens promptly makes one of my cities riot that I wasn’t paying enough attention to, but on the bright side I have two sources of Coal already hooked up, with two more in what used to be Greece that I can hook up later. Egypt has one source but I’ll kill them before they ever get a chance to use it. There, incredibly, is one source of Coal on the entirety of the other continent, right next to Persepolis, and Persia is conveniently the weakest and most backwards of the AI. I, meanwhile, have two separate places I could build the Iron Works in, but one (Anjar) can never get above size 5 and the other (Sparta) is too corrupt to make IW useful unless I switch into Communism or move my Palace. I start building it in Anjar, I guess.

1050 AD- Finish the Forbidden Palace in Aden, which sure took long enough.

1060 AD- Found New Najran. I’ve basically filled in all the gaps in former Greek territory aside from some tiny bits I can get with culture expansion, and I’ve also cleared out a fair amount of wetlands and built a lot of roads everywhere. I’m close to ready to conquer Egypt but I have a few more worker jobs to finish first. But it won’t be long.

Where I'm at now, with my new Greek land and the minimap of everything:

 

[Spoonwood]

I acheived a histographic victory, which is probably something few of you have ever resorted to. The lack of water and resources in the south was frustrating, but up north was a cornucopia. I eventually got the Iron Works in the Greek city with Bach's Cathedral, and after I conquered the continent (in the 19th century) I was secure. It took me until the 20th century to get a secure tech lead, but even then there were techs I could trade for.
It was an enjoyable game. Thanks to Templar_X!

It's neat to see someone playing for a histographic victory. I believe there use to exist a few people who would play them for the first Game of the Month competitions back when they first started and before Jason score came around.

Also, Jack, I'll mention here that there exist a large number of histographic tables with less than 10 spots on them, including at low levels in the Hall of Fame. And some of the lower positions have very low scores which get bested also. And some to many of the top placing scores aren't likely to come as near what's possible for such maps. So, if you enjoyed playing all the way to 2050 for score, and can get the settings right for the HoF (there's a special place in the Hall of Fame to check if you have the right settings... they are not modded settings such as flood plains having a greater probability of causing disease), I'm sure people over there including myself would welcome an entry of yours.

Also, any other table, of course also, but some of them are more difficult in terms of *finishing or winning* than Standard sized Regent Histographic.

 

[Spoonwood]

@templar_x Also, I had the ability to play the game this tri-monthly period, because @Più Freddo lifted the requirement against reading spoilers. I sometimes think and maybe have thought before "someone wrote this to get read... why should I not read it?"

Also, if I end up taking a medal (I doubt it for my entry), and there is someone else who did better than me without having read any of the spoilers, I will happily concede that medal or award to them. Because, I do think there's a point to not reading spoilers, and do want people to have as fair as a competition as we reasonably can. But the allowing of (at least some) reading helps with a better community atmosphere these days also.

 

[Più Freddo]

The idea was not that you're allowed to use spoilers to improve or even influence your game. You're not.

The idea was that players have a feeling of how far they have already progressed and so can themselves decide what spoiler posts are permissible for them to read, the reason being that with three months to play, there will be a large spread in when spoilers can be written.