*Spoiler 3* Gotm19-Ottomans - End Game Submitted

[Darkness]

@rabies: I think 1410....
They want the saves from after the turn you've finished. I just read that in the FAQ, after I had sent in my savegame from the turn before I reached domination....

 

[tao]

v1.29beta

Here you find the first and the second part of my history. (Don't know why the links don't work correctly for now. )

Industrial Times start in 820. Scientific gives us nationalism an as always I start steam (70%, due in 4). The AIs still lack ToG and magnetism; the plan is to invade Rome before they know nationalism.

870: Steam and we have 3 coal; railroading like mad starts. We donate everybody (except Rome) in Industrial Times and organize a dog-pile against Rome.

910: Invade Rome; Sipahi rules. In 1140 Rome is history. On this continent, we hurry libraries to claim the territory asap and otherwise mostly grow pop/taxmen. No great production is necessary nor expected.

Wonders: The war gives us Great Leaders 3 and 4 who build Theory of Evolution in 1130 (atomic and electronics) and Hoover in 1150. We build battlefield Medicine in 1300 in Antalya (was ToE pre-build) and Universal Suffrage 1305 in Sogut (was Hoover pre-build).

We can trade for democracy, music theory, free artistry, industrialization, communism, and espionage; atomic, electronics from ToE; the other techs need 4 turns each.

Beginning of the Industrial Times, I get bored on doing "just another space race" and decide to go diplomatic. There are no people who can badmouth us (Kelts, neoC, Rome are gone) and the other civs are still busy waring among themselves. We start greasing them with techs and luxuries (they have no money to pay anyhow). Everybody but Egypt (polite) is gracious to us for a long time.

1320 We start a Palace as UN pre-build in Lugdunum.

1365 We enter Modern Times. Scientific gives us rocketry, we start fission. Regrettably it needs 5 turns even at 100% research and we have to adjust our palace pre-build to not finish ahead of time. We now grease the AIs every turn.

1390 Fission researched; switch via "big picture" to Domestic Advisor and switch palace to UN.

Candidates are Cleo and Suleyman;
Cleo votes Cleo,
Suleyman votes Suleyman, so does everybody else. 4:1.

Suleyman The Magnificent is Secretary General and is given a score of 6536. Edit add: Jason score 8738.

My first diplomatic win.

PS: If you don't know it yet: "so gut" is the German translation of "so good".

PPS: Best Easter Egg? Spanish Missionaries' fighting style.

 

[tao]

Originally posted by Hurricane
And Tao also got Fission only in 5 turns.

Yes, and I was annoyed enough about it. I spend some time thinking, restarted from the turn before entering Modern Times, optimized my cities (no taxmen, only researchers), and: 4 turns was possible. Next gotm I know.

Originally posted by Txurce
There have been an unusual number of terrific diplomatic wins so far. I'm curious as to why none of you chose to keep going for space, given that you were researching at a near-max pace.

Laziness. It would have been just donkey work, no fun.

 

[rabies]

I have a really dumb question..and I am almost ashamed to ask.

In 1405, I razed the last enemy city. Conquest is achieved. I hit the spacebar to get my 'congrats' screen.

Now...when I submit my GOTM file..do I claim conquest victory in 1405 or 1410?

 

[rabies]

Originally posted by scubagtr
Rabies

One thing to not be embarrassed about is conquseting the world on Emperor level in 1405.

I'm getting ready for my 4th GOTM, and yet to win one of these things, even though I win, most of the time, in my own games. Go figure.

Anyway, great job.

Thanks a ton. I am actually a little bit dissapointed with my performance this time around...after reading other reports. I neglected to get pottery and build a granary in my settler pump and thus I shot myself in the foot. While other had 14-21 cities by 1000 BC, I had 7. =( In the end, My Siphai were having to take out cities defended with Infantry....which succeded..but at a much slower rate than I had hoped. I wanted conquest well before 1400AD.

So I guess I reported my win date wrong when I submitted my file..should be 1410 ...not 1405..which drops my Jason score down by 20 points or so... I apologize for submitting incorrectly.

 

[rabies]

I have never played AS the spanish..so I am still unsure what to do with their UU...but I have played plenty of games AGAINST the spanish..and Moonsinger is partially right. The 6 move inside your border is Incredibly frustrating....they can get to places in your border you would normally never think of defending. Luckily, they are not very damaging beyond that. Now I just need to figure out how to use this to my advantage...

 

[Peanut]

After searching for a good place to settle, Sogut was established in 3950BC. After raising a few warriors to out and explore, preparations were made for building a granary once Pottery was learned. From then, Sogut became a settler and worker factory with its daughter cities producing warriors, improvements and more workers.

Contact was soon made with the Kelts and the Carthaginians, and knowledge traded as much as possible. Apart from an annoying run of pillaging by Picts & horsemen, things went smoothly.

Construction of the Pyramids was started as soon as possible, however Carthage won that race by a few turns. Fortunately the
accumulated effort could be directed into the Great Library, which was completed soon afterwards. This decision turned out to be the key event for the whole game.

From that point onwards, Ottoman research was suspended and all effort was put into cultural and commercial improvements, rushed by the judicious application of cash once a republic was declared. Contact was made with other civilizations as early as possible, and technology learned through the Great Library was on-sold to other civilizations for whatever they could offer. The military was kept up-to-date and adequate for defence, with only a modest offensive capability.

Good relations with our neighbours was maintained through the sale of technology and luxuries, and the granting of right-of-passage. This kept Ottomania out of the sporadic wars that regularly erupted to the south and over on the Eastern continent. During this period, three Kelt cities petitioned to become part of Ottomania.

By the time education made the Great Library obsolete, Ottomania was a commercial and cultural powerhouse. Works in progress were immediately diverted to building Universities, rushed with cash when possible. From that point onwards, Ottomania never lost its technical lead.

Our first war was started in the late middle ages when the Spaniards took an irrational dislike to us. Not a smart move by Izzy. Our brilliant Ottoman generals, leading our Balkan Cavalry, confiscated a few Spanish cities before granting peace to a chastened Spanish government.

This triggered our Golden Age, which saw the completion of Sun Tzu's academy, Adam Smith's Company, and Shakespeare's Theatre as well as the faster construction of further city improvements. The completion of the Theory of Evolution and the frantic railroading of Ottomania cemented our technological lead, with the cash earned from technology sales accumulating at a very satisfactory rate.

The end of civilization (as our neighbours knew it, that is) came quite quickly. When the new technology of Motorised Transport was shown to the Glorious Suleyman, some thing strange happened to our great and noble leader. He ceased to be Suleyman the Wise, Suleyman the Cultured and Suleyman the Peaceful. Overnight he became Suleyman the Rabid, Suleyman the Terrible, or even Suleyman the Complete Fruitcake.

Provoking the Kelts to declare war by sending spies into their lands, the tanks of Suleyman the Insanely Fierce crushed the Kelts within just a few turns. Brennus hardly knew what hit him before he found himself languishing in a dungeon deep in the Topkapi palace.

Caesar of the Romans, lacking even tiniest speck of common sense, declared war against Ottomania under their mutual protection pact with the Kelts. Less then a dozen turns later, that same Caesar was paraded in chains through the streets of Sogut on his way to his prison cell.

Suleyman the Fruit Loop grew even bolder in his thirst for conquest. Out of sympathy for Brennus and Caesar, he decided that they needed some feminine company. A handful of turns later Hannabeline checked in to what was quickly becoming Suleyman's Underground Menagerie of Surplus World Leaders. But there were still a few vacant cells ...

Suleyman the Loopy rested his war machine at this point. Building airports in his key cities, he airlifted many of his tanks to his ex-Spanish cities on the Eastern continent, and ferried his now well seasoned tanks from the former Roman island to prepare for his final campaign.

A few turns later, having mastered Rocketry and Synthetic Fibres, Suleyman splurged his treasury on upgrading his tanks to modern armour. From that point on it was like spearfishing in a bucket. Not much challenge, and finished rather quickly.

The eastern continent was about to become a wasteland. Isabelle was next. Her troops put up a valiant struggle for a few turns, but pitting modern armour against infantry, cavalry, muskets and spears was a little one sided. She soon booked into a cell next to Hannabeline. Cleopatra must have been packing her bags in anticipation, since she was aboard the next prison barge back to Ottomania.

Ghandi took a few turns longer to subdue, as his remoter cities were hidden amongst the forests, mountains and tundra of the far north-west. Even armour is slowed by that sort of terrain. But soon he too was comfortably settled into his reserved cell, next door to Caesar and Brennus.

Finally it was Mao's turn. With around fifty modern armour advancing on his cities, he too started to prepare for his new lodgings as a guest of Suleyman the Savage. Three or four turns of one-sided warfare saw Mao bundled off to Sogut in order to complete Suleyman the Strange's bizarre collection. What Suleyman the Just Downright Weird planned to do with his complete set of monarchs nobody dared to speculate. But they were never to be seen again ... or not until game 20 anyway.

One of the more amusing things to emerge from the task of laying waste of the eastern continent was the sight of naked and tattooed Pictish warriors emerging from the rubble. These savages would appear from nowhere using the left-over railway network, then suicidally hurl themselves at the passing columns of modern armour. Presumably they hoped to disable these tanks by spearing them up their gun barrels. This was not a very successful strategy, and one that usually led to smallish pieces of Pict being dispersed over the surrounding countryside.

Strangely, this game did not see any civilizations eliminated until Suleyman turned loopy. Suleyman ended up being the only one to wear the bad karma of genocide. Perhaps my PC just wore a calm and peaceful aura this month.

While many wars erupted over the years, none of them were conclusive. The civs on the Eastern continent remained fairly evenly balanced, and there was none of the "ganging up" that one usually sees from the AI. This meant that none of these civs were large enough or well enough organised to be a serious rival or threat to Ottomania. Only Rome and Carthage came close to that, and that only until the late middle ages. If Carthage had taken out the Kelts or vice-versa, or one civ had dominated the eastern continent, then my game would have been radically different.

Overall, a conquest victory in 1670 with Suleyman declared to be "Magnificent" by the Prophet Sid, and awarded 4641 points. Saint Jason disagreed with this parsimonious allocation, giving Suleyman 6389 points. A jolly good show all round and compliments to Cracker and team for a well devised game. Next time perhaps I will be a bit more daring and unleash my generals a little earlier - and inject a lot more risk into my game.

A better performance I think than my first GOTM entry in game 17. I was away on holidays last month so sadly my GOTM 18 effort was finished too late.

 

[Xevious]

@tao I just finished my game tonight, quite close to yours. I won diplomatically (my favorite win) in 1375 with 6497 score. Only beat you by 3 turns. Of course Shillen would have creamed us both if he had gone for Diplomacy. I attribute the difference in our scores to my not full conquering Rome. I only took a bit over half of their territory. Just didn't have the momentum to finish them off.

 

[Ambiorix]

v1.14f

[Whine] I won't be submitting this month. I was playing what should be my last session, when the game crashed on me after over two hours without saving... 'save early, save often', I know, but I was too much carried away by the game...
I reluctantly started replaying from my last save, but the AI did really totally different things, and it just didn't feel like the same game any longer, so I left it at that. I'd rather spend some time on analysing last month's QSC's. [/whine]

Anyway, this is how far I got :

My first post (hmmm...seems to have dissapeared during the technical problems earlier this week) mentions how I destroyed the Celts early on and then made a mess of my war against the Carthagenians, leaving them and the Romans eternally furious at me.
My mostly ignored second post with the suggestion of practical examples mentioned how I got back into the game by trading extensively with all civs, and declaring war on India. India exited the game a bit later but my warmongering got everyone furious at me. With no trading partners, I had to do my own research in the industrial ages, but fortunately I could still trade techs on a 3-for-1 ratio by researching the right techs and trade those (the AI still wanted those techs badly). My Sipahi also finished off the carthagenians
I entered the modern ages a couple of techs behind the Romans but still ahead of the rest. The UN was built by Egypt , but since Egypt was at war with just about everybody, they never called a vote (and exited the game shortly after) . At that time I had started building my space-ship, and I noticed I was gaining in on the romans in tech-pace and was way ahead in the space race (7 parts to 4).
That was the first time since 10000BC that I had the impression I could win the game.
But disaster struck : in an attempt to uncover a possible roman spy, my own spy was discovered and Rome declared war . I decided to strike first, as hard as possible, meaning 2 tactical nukes and 4 ICBM's which destroyed the biggest Roman cities. A force of about 24 tanks landed on roman radio-active soil to take Rome, destroying the roman spaceship. Unfortunately, I also got 4 nukes to digest, and the romans consequently took my capitol (you're probably starting to see why I call this a slapstick). That's the point where my game crashed and I decided to call it a day (it was 1848 by then).

Main impressions :
- I learned tons of wisdom again, both in the early turns (QSC) as well as in the final turns (modern warfare - or how not to do it).
- I'm going to pay more attention to the AI terrain in future games, in order to try and predict the AI's gameplay (no rivers will mean less gold, nearby luxuries may indicate early expansion directions)
- I have the vague impression that this was really set up to be a winnable emperor game : weak celts nearby, moderate Cartage a bit further; once you had those two conquered you could control your own island and basically not worry too much about the other civ's. The rivers and luxuries were guarantee for lots of trade and money.

 

[Ambiorix]

Originally posted by hotrod0823
Behold the power of the auto-save.

Holy Moses ! I forgot all about the auto-saves !! I STILL HAVE THOSE !!!

But... I've already read this thread... although I didn't gain any knowledge that I didn't know already - the game was in its final stages.... now what ?? Anybody wanna be jury on this ? Cracker, if you're out there, do you have an opinion ?

 

[Ambiorix]

After my incidental tresspassing, I did manage to end and submit my game : Space Race victory in 1963 !
I should be quite happy with that, but after reading all these spoilers I'm actually trying not to be discouraged by ending so late. If it's an excuse : I had to build two spaceships, after my first one, ready to go, was nuked back to the middle ages by the Romans.
I'll have to get better at this game, if only to be able to finish sooner (in real time, I mean).

Originally posted by cracker
..<snip>...
"How do you identify who is weak and strong around you and how do you prioritize your strategic options to increase your chances of victory in the game appropriately targeting or using the rivals around you?"

Well, can't say anything that Shillen hasn't said already. Cracker's comments in GOTM18 made me check the rivers, and now I'm checking for luxuries that the AI might claim.
I'm not at the level yet where I can use this information to build a strategy, hence a quest for more information :

Originally posted by Shillen
...When I first got the world map I took a look at the civ's and knew Rome was the strongest one. Tons of rivers, nice land, more land overall than anyone else but myself. The monopoly on ivory was huge as well. That would insure they had good income throughout the game by trading their ivory to other civ's. I made sure to always trade Rome all the luxuries I could and I practically never took gpt from them. I wanted them keeping their science slider set high, and it seemed to work...

If you sponsor a civ like that, what makes you sure you won't become backwards yourself ? And does your statement above mean that you sometimes gave luxuries away for free or almost for free ??
I think that's one of the biggest differences between top players and average players : being in control of the game, rather than having it happen to you. So, how do you get to that point of control ?

Originally posted by Shillen
...So next time I'll probably just keep the best two civ's caught up with me in techs. Meanwhile I'll drain all money from the other civ's, not trade them lux's, and keep them as backwards as possible. Then I can conquer them with superior units even if my army is small...

Isn't there an advantage in granting everyone free techs ? If you bring them to the same tech-level as yourself, your tech becomes cheaper, no ? And you're researching faster anyhow, so there's little risk involved.

How did people in general deal with the 4-civ continent ? I wanted to keep the continent divided by having four equally strong civ's, so I helped the weaker ones (well, not always, I set everyone up against India). The idea of one civ controlling all that land seemed too dangerous to me.

 

[Renata]

Originally posted by Ambiorix
How did people in general deal with the 4-civ continent ? I wanted to keep the continent divided by having four equally strong civ's, so I helped the weaker ones (well, not always, I set everyone up against India). The idea of one civ controlling all that land seemed too dangerous to me.

First off -- congrats on your win!

I finished my game in the middle ages - the post is here with a domination win. So there really wasn't much dealing-with to do in my case, other than trying to keep the whole continent as backwards as possible by withholding contacts until after Carthage had built the Lighthouse. The 2nd continent in my game was *not* balanced. When I met them around 500-ish BC, India was already putting the hammer down on Spain (Spain was gone in the first half of the first millennium AD). India then declared war on Egypt the turn before my own Sipahis arrived, and certainly would have made short work of the Egyptian resistance if I hadn't gotten everywhere first. (The replay showed India getting a settler from a hut, and it seemed to be the difference that turned them into the 800-lb gorilla on that continent in my game.) They could conceivably have been dangerous in the late game if I'd been going for a different type of win.

In general, though, I think your strategy is a good one. If you're not in a position to 'play' the AI the way Shillen did, then your best bet is to try to keep any one civ from dominating, just as you did.

Renata

 

[scubagtr]

Well, now I've submitted my 3rd GOTM, and at least I didn't lose this one by being voted out, like the last 2. Instead I lost via Space Race to Rome. Even though I was #1 in score, land and pop but alas that doesn't always mean much. I had a great time and keep learning lessons:

1 - Don't prebuild for the Hoover Dam in a city that doesn't have a river or mountain I wanted that damn dam really bad, and thought I was going to finally build my first wonder ahead of the computer.

2 - I was always playing catchup in tech, and I am still trying to figure that out. It was the same case in the other GOTMs. However, I dominated the other Ottoman games I played preparing for this one, just like I'm winning with the Spanish right now, but Cracker always finds a way to get me

3 - I guess I need to research Espionage and get a spy in each civ. I thought I would have some idea Rome was building a spaceship. I was still trying to get modern Armor to go take out Rome. When suddenly, You Lose !!! Spaceship built. I thought I would see some wonder being built, but Apollo is a small wonder

4 - Get a spy and then attack those that are close to building a space ship. I had 50 Bombers postioned on my East coast and 30+ tanks waiting to board my transports for a Rome invasion. I was about 2 turns away from launching my attack when I lost.

5 - One lesson I did learn, and incorporate was not losing by diplomacy. I did not want to go down that road a 3rd time in a row. So I was best buds with everyone when China built the UN, and I was all ready for the vote, but of course it didn't come.

6 - My next move was to then go capture the UN and call my own vote, since there were only 4 of us left (China, Rome and Spain). But , another lesson learned. Rome had 2 small cities left over from Carthage on my continent and everything was peaceful. But just a couple of turns after I moved out a lot of my standing army near those 2 Rome cities to go conquer China - Rome attacked and took several cities before I could get my troops back a permantely kick Rome off my island. So a lesson is to not allow even one foriegn city to remain on your empire island.

7 - well, I will keep playing with the Spanish on different games to get a feel for them until tthe next GOTM comes out. One day I will submit a Victory. When is our Chieftain level game?

 

[scubagtr]

OK, I'm ready for the Spanish on Diety level now. I guess I will practice this setup until I hear what our next game will be. After reading the latest posts, I think I've found another angle concerning research. I've tried to buy reasearch before, but to actually go 100% money, and just keep adding up money turn after turn to buy research is something I have not tried. I will attempt to do this, especially on a Diety or Emperor level game. I think it was Moonsinger who had mentioned that she hardly ever does her own research and either buys it or takes it from the AI.

Go Spurs !!!

 

[scubagtr]

This is straight from the GOTM submisson page

"Saved games (at the turn before the game ends and optional around 10 AD)
Please put these saved games in one zip file to reduce the size."

 

[scubagtr]

Rabies

One thing to not be embarrassed about is conquseting the world on Emperor level in 1405.

I'm getting ready for my 4th GOTM, and yet to win one of these things, even though I win, most of the time, in my own games. Go figure.

Anyway, great job.

 

[scubagtr]

RockonOats,

Go to where you setup (user cp) the picture under your name. It is just a few lines below that.

Well, I'm off to see the Matrix Reloaded.

 

[scubagtr]

Yeah, the Spanish UU is just about worthless IMO, but I'm sure we will discuss it quite thoroughly once Cracker opens the GOTM#20 discussion.

 

[Shillen]

EDIT: Well my Ancient Age post got lost so you'll have to make due with my Middle Age post.

At the end of the Middle Age I was about to complete Copernicus in 1 turn and Newton's in 3 turns. I had gotten Medicine as my free tech and was researching Steam Power at 100% science. Even at 100% it was going to take me 5 turns though. After Copernicus was built I still couldn't get it down to 4, but when Newton's triggered my Golden Age it easily shaved the turn off.

I really wasn't expecting my Golden Age from Newton's. Truthfully I had completely forgotten that I hadn't had a Golden Age yet. It's very rare for me to get them so late in the game. I was planning to research Sanitation on my own to make sure I could do 4 turns per tech in the Industrial Age, but now that I had my Golden Age I decided I could do 4 turns per tech without hospitals and I would let the AI research Sanitation for me.

I gifted Steam Power to all the AI's after learning it. Unfortunately Rome, Spain, and Carthage didn't have any coal. I had 3 sources but 1 wasn't connected yet. I made sure to trade my extra Coal to Rome as soon as possible since they were the research superpower in this game. Now I knew the AI's were all wasting their time researching Nationalism now since they love that tech. My plan was to trade for it as soon as they get it so I could trade it to all the other AI's and make them stop researching it.

I researched Electricity@4, then Scientific Method@4 so I'd have techs to trade for Nationalism. Rome learned Nationalism first (surprise surprise) but I couldn't trade for it without giving away massive amounts of gpt. I needed to research a tech down the other branch so I had two to trade. Btw I had gifted Electricity around already since that would force the AI's to go for Replaceable Parts instead of Communism. Meanwhile I researched Industrialization@4. Carthage also learned Nationalism which made it a lot easier to trade for it without using gpt. I traded Industrialization along with around 3000 gold to Rome for Nationalism, then I traded them Scientific Method to get my 3000 gold back. I sold all techs to all AI's for as much up front cash as I could get and swiped Music Theory at the same time.

I then researched The Corporation@4. I completed Theory of Evolution at the same time I learned The Corporation and took Atomic Theory and Electronics as my free techs. Now I studied the tech tree and tried to figure out what other tech the AI might be tempted to go for in the Industrial Age. I really wasn't expecting to get another tech since I knew they'd go for Communism but I figured I might as well try. I figured Radio and Flight would be the most likely choices for the AI since they had worker improvements and city improvements. Flight would be better since it had units as well but it would be a while before I reached the requisite techs for Flight. Therefore I traded Atomic Theory and Electronics to all the AI's hoping one of them would go for Radio for me. I hadn't finished Hoover's yet but it was due in 4 so I wasn't worried.

I started researching Refining@4. When it was due in 2 turns I turned down research to 60% to save money, even though I knew my Golden Age would end the next turn. Well, I didn't realize my mistake until the next turn when Refining stayed at 2 turns and even moving the slider to 100%, and changing all city configs to work ocean/lakes/rivers I couldn't manage to get it in 1 anymore. So I learned Refining@5. Meanwhile Rome got Replaceable Parts for me (was anyone else capable of researching?) and I traded them Refining for it. I traded Refining and Replaceable Parts around to all the AI's as well so they wouldn't research them.

Now my Golden Age was over but I was still able to continue learning techs in 4 turns, except by raising the slider much higher. I decided I'd continue to wait for Sanitation which hadn't come in yet. I researched Steel@4. I didn't trade it to the AI's because I didn't want them researching Combustion. I knew they'd research Radio before Steel since Steel is a useless tech. I learned Combustion@4 with the slider at 100% and a 200gpt defecit, but I had 7000 gold saved from my Golden Age so all was good still. Rome learned Communism now but I didn't trade for it quite yet because I wanted them to start on Radio. I learned Mass Production@4 and then I traded it around to everyone getting Communism in the process.

I moved on to Motorized Transportation@4. And low and behold Rome discovers Radio! I really wasn't expecting that and was very happy. I traded for it and only had Flight left to go in the Industrial Age. I barely managed to research Flight@4 by leaving the slider at 100% all 4 turns and also micromanaging cities to work water tiles. The commercial docks were just so important in this game. They vastly improve research since coastal tiles produce 4 commerce with a commercial dock.

So I entered the Modern Age in 1000AD. Now I wanted Fission, Computers or Rocketry for my free tech so of course I got Ecology. The AI's still hadn't researched Sanitation for me and none of the Modern Age techs were attainable in 4 turns. So I had a tough decision to make. Would researching Sanitation myself now save me 4 turns down the road? I decided it would since both Fission and Computers would take 6 turns, while Rocketry would have taken 5.

So I researched Sanitation@4 and low and behold the AI gets it on the same turn. So I just wasted 4 more turns. I quickly built hospitals in all my cities and started joining workers to the important ones. I figured I'd let the AI research Fission or Rocketry for me since they usually like those techs. Then maybe I could get Space Flight after that. So I researched Computers@5. I started building Research Labs in all my cities that already had hospitals. I researched Synthetic Fibers@5. The AI still hadn't learned Fission or Rocketry even though we'd been in the Modern Age for 14 turns now grr. So I had no choice but to research Rocketry myself in 4. The AI still hadn't gotten Fission so I went on to Space Flight in 4.

Ok this isn't funny anymore. The AI still hasn't gotten Fission, they haven't learned a single tech other than Sanitation and Democracy in 22 turns. I don't know what they're researching that's more appealing than Fission. So I was forced to research Satellites next in 4. After that I'd be forced to learn Fission myself if the AI didn't get it. Thankfully they finally did get it when I was halfway through Satellites. I traded for it and started on Superconductor in 4. I knew there'd be no more help from the AI's from here on. I learned Nuclear Power in 4 and then The Laser in 4.

I used the Big Picture to launch my ship in 1315AD with a score of 5619. Very low score since I never had time to expand after conquering the Celts. Jason score is 8396. I was still very happy with my launch though. It was the earliest launch date for me by 350 or so years.

I also finished the UN on the same turn. I signed MPP's and RoP's the turn before. All remaining AI's were gracious with me. After launching I reloaded and held the vote and won 4-1. Only Rome voted for themselves. India had been knocked off during the Industrial-Modern Age and I took out the Celts myself. That's probably why the other continent sucked at research since they were constantly at war.

What could I have done to improve my score/date? Well I wasted 4 turns researching Sanitation and 1 turn from my Refining blunder. So if not for those I could have launched in 1290AD. Next time I will probably research Sanitation myself at the beginning of the Industrial Age, Golden Age or no Golden Age. I really didn't expect the AI's to take until the Modern Age to get it.

But what hurt my game the most was not having Literature until after I was already in the Middle Age. I think that was just a stroke of bad luck by me that Carthage, Rome, and the Celts never bothered with it. Of course another mistake was even though I researched Map Making early I never built a galley. If I had contacted the other continent right away I could have traded for Literature and probably other techs as well. I think if I had gotten Literature when I expected to get it I would have shaved a good 20 turns off my launch date.

Another thing I'll probably do next time is leave 2 or 3 civ's way behind in tech so I can roll them over at some point and increase my score. Rome was the only civ that researched required techs for me this game. Carthage got democracy and a couple other free techs. I should have just left the other continent in the dust and I could have run them over even with my puny military.

I also would have scored higher if I had gone with a Diplomatic victory instead of a Spaceship victory. The AI really wasn't any help with research in the Modern Age. I could have won with a UN vote in 1050AD if I wanted to. This would have given me an in game score of 6576 and a Jason score of 9185. Nearly 1000 points higher than my Space victory.

I really didn't have any pictures that I thought were worth posting. My empire was unchanged since the Middle Age pretty much. But I know it's hard to keep your attention without pictures. So if you're reading this part of my post then thanks for reading and give yourself a pat on the back for having a good attention span.

 

[Shillen]

Originally posted by cracker
One thing you might focus on here in the context of the Gotm19-Ottomans game as a really good wrap-up discsuuion topic would be:

"How do you identify who is weak and strong around you and how do you prioritize your strategic options to increase your chances of victory in the game appropriately targeting or using the rivals around you?"

Well from the start I had planned to take over one civ early to palace jump. From our position in the world there was really no choice but the Celts. Carthage was just too far away. The Celt position wasn't that great for going to war with them though. Having to wade through that jungle really slowed the war down. The jungle also kept them relatively small and weak but I'd prefer if they had good land since it would end up being my core. Of course jungle is pretty good after you clear it, but just takes so long to clear.

When I first got the world map I took a look at the civ's and knew Rome was the strongest one. Tons of rivers, nice land, more land overall than anyone else but myself. The monopoly on ivory was huge as well. That would insure they had good income throughout the game by trading their ivory to other civ's. I made sure to always trade Rome all the luxuries I could and I practically never took gpt from them. I wanted them keeping their science slider set high, and it seemed to work.

I also expected Spain and Egypt to be strong too though. Spain had carved out a lot of territory for themselves by an ancient age war with India. I'm not sure why they didn't do any research for me. They were at war with India for a lot of the industrial age and modern age so I can understand there. At first I was letting Spain keep their gpt, until they went to war in the Industrial Age and they still hadn't gotten any techs for me, so I started charging them gpt.

I'm not sure what happened with Egypt either. They had a lot of nice land, but they just couldn't manage to research anything. Possibly they were always researching in the wake of Rome and Rome just happened to learn everything a turn or two sooner, I don't know. Egypt also went to war in the early modern age. Around the same time as Spain I started taking gpt from Egypt as well. They just weren't doing anything for me.

Carthage did pretty well research-wise, if only on non-required techs. I didn't really expect that, they got off to a slow start. I guess it's just the fact that they were pretty isolated from the rest of the world so they never went to war and probably didn't even build up a big military. I never took gpt from Carthage either and tried to make sure to trade them luxuries and coal.

I'll know better next time I go for a fast tech game. Not every civ will be able to research for you. Most of the time they're probably researching the same tech and only the very best civ is going to end up getting it. But on the other hand it was good that China/Carthage got a few optional techs so that Rome avoided them the entire game. So next time I'll probably just keep the best two civ's caught up with me in techs. Meanwhile I'll drain all money from the other civ's, not trade them lux's, and keep them as backwards as possible. Then I can conquer them with superior units even if my army is small.

Towards the end of the game I actually had over 5000 gold for quite some time. I was holding onto it just in case I needed it. But I never did. I could easily have rushed a ton of military units and gone off conquering. I guess I was just averse to conquering other continents. My last game I did that in was gotm17 and the civ's were so far apart it just took me like 20 turns just to reach another civ. So I felt like I didn't have any time to conquer in this game either. But I guess that was a bit unfounded. You could reach the other continent in one turn in this game.