SGOTM 15 - Unusual Suspects

[kcd_swede]

Congrats guys! Really messy and challenging game this one. Well done!

Thanks, Yamps... your highlighting of the diplo modifiers was very timely.

But it is not that knowledge which makes us want you to come back for SGOTM16. We know there is nobody who surpasses you when its killin' time. Submarines... nukes... ah... the good old days.

Now that the peaceful VC stuff is out of our systems, we would love to entice you out of retirement for sgotm16.
---
BTW: I'm planning vacation in Croatia this summer... anything you recommend as a "must see"?

 

[Trystero]

We should have tried Chris' Agriculture gambit:

I just re-tried the 4000BC save.

Agriculture>Polytheism seems to have been a safe opening as I landed the religion 3 times out of 3 so far...

I was secretly hoping some of the lesser teams would do this, and some almost did.

Edit: kossin points out in a subsequent post that it is one of those situations where if it works it's an advantage, but if it doesn't work it might be fatal, so people are (naturally) hesitant to try such things, which is basically what we were thinking at the time.

 

[Deckhand]

... thanks KCD_SWEDE for being so wonderful and perfect and totally awe-inspiring so that the whole team looks up to and strives after acheiving the greatness that is you, with the humble insight that such pinnacles are hopelessly unobtainable for mere mortals.

What he said.



Great job by the whole team.

Spoiler :

I should be available to play more in July.

 

[Ozbenno]

Congrats on your win all

BTW: I'm planning vacation in Croatia this summer... anything you recommend as a "must see"?

Dalmatian coast, Split to Dubrovnik. Stunning, especially Dubrovnik and Korcula.

 

[Yamps]

Thanks, Yamps... your highlighting of the diplo modifiers was very timely.

But it is not that knowledge which makes us want you to come back for SGOTM16. We know there is nobody who surpasses you when its killin' time. Submarines... nukes... ah... the good old days.

Now that the peaceful VC stuff is out of our systems, we would love to entice you out of retirement for sgotm16.

Hehe, thanks for the kind words. There were some fine games indeed. I'm not really playing civ anymore, but I'll likely sign up for the next one.

BTW: I'm planning vacation in Croatia this summer... anything you recommend as a "must see"?

Dalmatian coast, Split to Dubrovnik. Stunning, especially Dubrovnik and Korcula.

Yup, anywhere on the coast it's very nice. You could also check out some of the 8 national parks: http://www.find-croatia.com/national-parks-croatia.html

 

[neilmeister]

Well done on the win, I thought you guys were goners!

...and yes, you should have taken the Agriculture gambit (but thats easy to say with hindsight)

 

[kcd_swede]

Well done on the win, I thought you guys were goners!

...and yes, you should have taken the Agriculture gambit (but thats easy to say with hindsight)

The consequences of failure would be to ruin the next 4 months. Better to ensure we have a lot of fun than take that kind of risk to be competitive.

Spoiler :

We'd have blown whatever we gained anyhow because we didn't explore properly.

 

[ChrisShaffer]

The consequences of failure would have been wooden spoons and the ability to lurk on all the threads for four months...

 

[Xcalibrator]

I've done the final (?) update on the Game Report post. As kcd pointed out, another duty is to appoint team captain for the next game. All I know at this point is I'd like to hand it off to somebody else. Who's recently served time , and who will be back for SGOTM16?

So other than the Agriculture gambit, what are our thoughts on could've/should've and lessons learned? We were lucky that Liz captured a city or two (with our help) very near us, which made espionage a lot cheaper; I think we milked that pretty darn well. I'd like to know if other teams were DoWed as early and often as we were, but am too lazy to go find out. Capturing Satsuma from Toku and gaining sea access would have given us important info on HC much earlier--we just didn't have quite enough units left over. Teleportation was a vital tool, and earlier use of it (any ideas on when?) might have helped. Do you think more aggressive REXing would have been useful, or should we have brutalized our citizens to build an earlier and bigger war machine to deal with Toku and Hammy? It does look like an AP win is the fastest route here, but MGN did well with Culture--could we have pulled that off in good time with better (and luckier) diplomacy and/or earlier war to secure Kyoto and Babylon? Chris is usually good at getting a good overview from other teams' threads. Any thoughts, from anybody?

I do hope our dear friend Neil will share the story of how he developed this game once it's over, and how the teams' play compared with what he expected.

 

[lymond]

I do hope our dear friend Neil will share the story of how he developed this game once it's over, and how the teams' play compared with what he expected.

He already did. It involved decapitated chickens, crow's feet, a dark forest and an inverted crucifix.

 

[ChrisShaffer]

He already did. It involved decapitated chickens, crow's feet, a dark forest and an inverted crucifix.

Do you have a link to this presumably quite interesting post? I did a keyword search for "decapitated crow crucifix" and didn't find anything.

 

[lymond]

Do you have a link to this presumably quite interesting post? I did a keyword search for "decapitated crow crucifix" and didn't find anything.

The actual story disappeared a la Blair Witch. However, I found some existing posts that may help verify some of the story (if you can assume that I'm the ultimate authority on this matter):

Proof #1

Proof #2

Proof #3

 

[Gumbolt]

Our first war was around Turn 103 against Toku of Japan. We eventually captured a Toku city on the coast which we could gift to incas to inca. Lucky?

Hammy declared on us around T117. Securing Babylon was a nightmare due to high volumes of Ai units!! The AP war vote and getting Hatsy to pleased helped.

I think Kauku will prove diplomacy and Ap was right way. If you abuse teleporting, AP wars, merc civic and work on diplomacy I think the game is quite winnable pre 1100ad. This all depends when the Ap vote falls and if you build it first.

FE got declared on Turn 92 by Toku!
PD got declared T79 by Toku!
MGN got declared by Toku T90
Xteam declared on Toku T107.
US got declared by Toku on T76
PR declared on Toku T103
MS T104 they declared on Toku Japan and Hammy declared on them.
OSS Declared on Toku T82
Kauk T69 DOW by toku and Hammy?? wow!!

Its offical Kauk were unluckiest!! Double declared 10-30 turns before most other teams.

 

[neilmeister]

I do hope our dear friend Neil will share the story of how he developed this game once it's over, and how the teams' play compared with what he expected.

Indeed I will, I will do it in the maintenance thread once the game is over.
This will no doubt start a raucous debate, filled with opposing opinions, like all great debates are.

He already did. It involved decapitated chickens, crow's feet, a dark forest and an inverted crucifix.

You forgot the pentagram and the goats head, but otherwise its about right.

 

[Trystero]

You forgot the pentagram and the goats head, but otherwise its about right.

Ah. Applying T'dr'duzk b'hazg t't turn-playing techniques to game design, I see. (Well, at least techniques used for my turnsets. )

 

[neilmeister]

Ah. Applying T'dr'duzk b'hazg t't turn-playing techniques to game design, I see. (Well, at least techniques used for my turnsets. )

Once learnt, those techniques cannot be unlearnt, no matter what the application

 

[SteelHorse]

kcd - great nail-biting finish.
Xcal - great captaining and keeping things going.
Team - lots of fun, thanks for having me.

 

[kcd_swede]

Sign-ups for SGOTM16 are on-going until September 12.

I made the map so I won't be playing... but I will be watching.

 

[Xcalibrator]

Hey, gang! Looks like you've got a good group for kcd's little challenge. I think I'm going to have to sit this one out--need to shift up a gear at work. I'll lurk when I can. Best of luck! And thanks to kcd for saving the day!

 

[kcd_swede]

Hey, gang! Looks like you've got a good group for kcd's little challenge. I think I'm going to have to sit this one out--need to shift up a gear at work. I'll lurk when I can. Best of luck! And thanks to kcd for saving the day!

You're welcome... though I would rather be playing. I think we'll get Dynamic Spirit started on SGOTM17 as soon as possible.