SGOTM2 Germany - Team tao

[Furiey]

The goal for this session is quite simply domination

850 AD(Turn 0): 383 tiles to domination. Look around, wake some Cavalry; taking out the Chinese settler in the pre-turn means declaring war on China, so check position of their troops in our territory – Pikeman by Lahore (not worried there), Sword and a stack of Pike, Settler and 2 longbows by Bombay (need to deal with those); declare War on China; our Cav fails to kill the Spearman with the Settler ; kill Pikeman and Longbows by Bombay getting a Great Leader Rictoffen on the second Longbow; Cav reveals another Chinese Swordsman and Great Leader Kublai Khan S of the previous Stack’s position; kill Sword by Bombay and Sword/GL with Cav; move Cavs towards Bombay, Canton, Tsingtao/Shanghai (Tsingtao is defended by Pikes); press button.

IBT: Cav takes a passing shot at Pike by Lahore, Indian Longbow appears from N; Chinese Galley by Tsintao; Berlin: Horse>Wealth; resistance ends in Delhi and Bombay which riots; St Petersburg: Horse>Wealth; lots of culture expands; Leipzig: Horse>Wealth; Madras starves; Canterbury: Horse>Wealth; Minsk: Library>Wealth; Starvation at Lahore; Smolensk: Worker>Wealth; Starvation at Johpur; Tblisi: Library>Wealth; starvation at Bangal; Yakutsk: library>Wealth; Dover: Library>Wealth;

860 AD(Turn 1): 323 tiles to domination - that was a lot of Culture expansion IBT!; move Galleys; attack Spearman on Ice island – our redlined Cav wins – they’ve disbanded the Setter!; don’t think we really need an army – rush Sistine Chapel in Delhi; capture Bangalore using 2 Cavs; capture Tsingtao with 3 Cavs, losing 1, promoting 1 to Elite; capture Shanghai using 2 Cavs; capture Canton using 3 Cavs; kill Indian Longbow in N; Oxford changed to Settler and rushed; rush several Libraries, including by disbanding units; change cities producing workers to Wealth; 286 tiles to domination.

IBT: Longbow attacks our Cav which retreats; build Sistine Chapel in Delhi, set Wealth; Bombay starves; quell 2 resistors in Canton which riots; Canton builds library, set Wealth; Hastings: Library>Wealth; Warwick, Library>Wealth; Oxford: Settler>Wealth; Sverdlovsk: Library>Wealth; Liverpool: Library>Wealth; Cherbourg: Library>Wealth; some culture expands.

870 AD (Turn 2): 263 tiles to domination. Failed to take Macao – Elite Cav bounced off defending Pikeman; captured Hangchow; captured Beijing; failed to take Chengdu, our Cavs win, but this city if full of defensive and offensive units; rush more libraries including disbanding units; rush Settlers on islands; 230 tiles to domination

IBT: Indian Sword kills a Cav; Delhi expands; Bombay: Library>Wealth; resistance in Canton ends; Madras: Library>Wealth; Tsingtao: Library>Wealth; Leeds: Library>Wealth; Culcutta: Library>Wealth; Karachi: Library>Wealth; Kolhapur: Library>Wealth; Jaipur: Library>Wealth; Hyperabad: Library>Wealth; New Stuttgart: Library>Wealth; Punjab: Library>Wealth; Novgorod: Library>Wealth; Rostov: Library>Wealth; New Salzburg: Library>Wealth; Berlin2: Library>Wealth;

880 AD (Turn 3): 205 tiles to domination; capture Chengu (there was only 1 unit left there); capture Xinjiang getting Great Leader Hengest, rush Copernicus’s Observatory in Xinjiang; still fail to capture Macao – we win but they’ve moved loads of troops in); move Cavs in to take remaining Chinese cities next turn; rush more libraries; 186 tiles to domination.

IBT: Chinese Longbow causes Cav to retreat in the N; Indian longbow exits Chittagong; Beijing: Library>Wealth; Shanghai: Library>Wealth; build Copernicus’s Observatory in Xinjiang, set to wealth; Chengdu: Library>Wealth; Lahore: Library>Wealth; Bangal: Library>Wealth; New Bremen: Settler>Library; Rostov: Settler>Wealth; New Dortmund: Library>Wealth; culture expands.

890 AD (Turn 4): 136 tiles to domination; Macao survives yet another turn – it’s full of Warriors!; capture all other Chinese cities and rush libraries; tidy up Chinese troops near Hyderabad and get Great Leader Horsa; for lack of anything better to do with Horsa, form an Army; finally sink the Chinese Galley; found Liepzig 2; 100 tiles to domination.

IBT: Indians want to talk – can’t be bothered; Nanking: Library>Wealth; Bangalore: Library>Wealth; Hangchow: Library>Wealth; Lahore: Settler>Wealth; Tientsin: Library>Wealth; Tatung: Library>Wealth; Punjab: Harbour>Wealth; culture expands.

900 AD (Turn 5): 37 tiles to domination. Finally capture Macao and destroy the fragile Chinese; move in to Chittagong for next turn; join a few workers to cities that can grow without going unhappy; built the harbour in Punjab, forgetting we couldn’t trade over ocean squares yet; lose our Caravel trying to sink the last French Galley (2/3) ; 26 tiles to domination .

IBT: spot the first Japanese Swords approaching Hyperabad; Shanghi: Temple>Wealth (and expands); Lyons riots, Chartres riots – they’re nearly all unhappy?; Macao: Library>Wealth; Bengal: Temple>Wealth and expands; Rouens riots – it must have been trying to destroy that French Galley – should have left it!

We Win! - Firaxis Score 6233, Jason Score 9610
History will remember us as Bismark the Magnificent.

The Save after Victory

Post Win – well that caught me out – thought I had one more turn!

 

[tao]

Well done team. Thanks's to everybody. We have seen how focus (domination) makes a game straightforward. Now let's ask ourselves: Where did we play sub-optimal? Might it have been possible to succeed say 100 years earlier?

I see the following points:

1. non-perfect settler factory management in the very early game (probably with the biggest effect)
2. failing to really improve our rank 1 cities by cutting the jungle faster
3. i.e. not enough workers
4. not starting pre-builds for Sun Tzu's and Leonardo's earlier
5. not getting the Great Lighthouse (bad luck not getting another Great Leader)

But nonetheless: a very good game.

 

[Furiey]

Watching the replay - point 1 was most obvious, we were still at 2 cities when other civs had 5!
points 2,3 - yes, how I miss those industrious workers!
point 4, Sun Tzu tied in nicely with our capture of the Great Library, but then if we'd got 1,2,3 better then we could well have captured that earlier as well.
point 5 - we're at the mercy of the RNG - I only ever seem to get Great Leaders when I don't really need them - this time was the first time I've EVER managed to build the Forbidden Palace with one!

But overall - a good game, I've enjoyed it!

PS: when does the next one start!

 

[Demiurge]

Well done!

I would agree with the points mentioned and other than waiting too long to attack Russia, probably as a result of point 1, I can't think of anything to add.

Thanks team, MB and GOTM staff. My first SG was a fun and sometimes humbling experience. Looking forward to the next one!

 

[tao]

Watching the replay - point 1 was most obvious, we were still at 2 cities when other civs had 5!

That was caused by us building the granary first. IMHO cities 5 - 15 were not founded fast enough.

And yes, we should have attacked Russia earlier. But we will do better next time.

And yes, I also look forward to SGOTM3, but it I suppose it will not start for about another month. But there is GOTM32 up for play now.

 

[tao]

I posted a summary of our victory in the 2nd spoiler thread and you are called to add your views.

 

[Demiurge]

Pat yourselves on the back team. Everyone has now passed 910 ad. Looks like we've officially achieved the earliest victory date!

 

[tao]

Looks like we set some more "records":

• earliest win
• lowest Firaxis score before finishing bonus
• highest Jason score of all 1.29 teams
• fewest posts in the team thread

Now let's get ready for sgotm3. As you may have seen, I solicited Zwingli for our team and I think it will be a real good (and hopefully successful and enjoyable) game.

 

[mad-bax]

Are you guys all in? I have to say adding Zwingli to the winning team from the previous game does make your team stronger than I would like. I will allow it if you play the variant. I am making up stronger teams for the variant in this game since the variant is so difficult, and I am trying to persuade less experienced players to go for a straight game. If any of you drop out, I will be placing a "conquest" class player in the team in his'her stead. 'Twill be an interesting experience methinks.

 

[Furiey]

Interesting "records"

I suppose we weren't particularly chatty and I think that is reflected in the result - we picked our route to victory very early on then just got on with it, staying focussed on what we wanted to achieve. I guess we'll need to be even more focussed this time. Looking forward to this game - just hope I don't let the side down too much, it's way beyond the level I've ever played before!

 

[Demiurge]

MB...I'd like to stay with Team tao for SGOTM3, but I understand the need to balance the teams out. Looks like we're going for the variant, but if you really have to split us up feel free to bounce me to another team.