*Spoiler3* Gotm20-Spain-Submit or complete Industrial

[ltccone]

PTW 1.21 Conquest Class

At the very beginning of the industrial age, England asked me for a MPP and ROP. I was VERY hesitant to do this, but I agreed. England was one of the most advanced and most powerful civs.

England was at war with Zululand, so I was geaggedinto the war. They never really bothered me though. The first tech I went for was steam engine (no one would trade tech with me anymore). I was really glad that I had razed and then re-built on a Frecnh city near the inland sea. It was within one tile of coal.

My next big step was getting replaceable parts. It was then that I found I had no rubber. But the Celts did and thery were tiny and weak. It was time to put my 30+ cavalry to work. They made short work of the Celts and I got my rubber. I was close to Zululand now and I started fighting them in ernest.

I made another move which turned out to really be good. I signed an alliance (which later turned into a MPP) and ROP with the Ottomans. Between the Ottomans, English, and Spanish we destroyed the Zulus. War weariness became a big problem because I was in Democracy, but I hung in there. I captured the bulk of their cities, including Zimbabwe which had the Sistime Chapel.

Concurrent with the Zulu war Japan declared war on me. They never landed many troops, but their ships kept wrecking my improvements. I didn't have much navy, but I had a lot of artillery which did a good job of pounding Japanese ships which came too close.

Right when the Zulu War was about to end the Japanese made an alliance against me with the French. The French were rich and highly advanced, but didn't have many cities. They also didn't have rubber for a long time but finally imported some from somewhere.

I set up a fort in my culture boundry that was two tile from a French city (Besancon). I put several infantry there and 25+ artillery. It is amazing the damage massed artillery can do even if half of the bombardments fail.

After the Zulus fell the alliance concentrated on France. For a while I had to use artillery plus cavalry armies when everyone else had tanks, but I still captured more cities. My industrial age ended with my army (now with tanks!) at the gates of Paris.

America was destroyed by the Japanese right when the age ended. I also made an alliance with the Iroquois against the Japanese. I also traded them SRs so they could fight the Japanese more effectively.

 

[KELLO]

PTW 1.14 Conquest
My middle ages post is here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=55498&perpage=20&display=&pagenumber=4
I'm struggling to remeber it all properly now to be honest, but here goes from what I can recall...
My GL capture mega slingshot shot me back into 2nd or 3rd place in tech, giving me (if I recall correctly) Nationalism, Communism, Railroads, Industrialisation and Medicine, and I sold off any excess for gpt and tons of gold to the remaining civs who needed them.
I had no trouble with any of the resources, as I controlled all of the lands formerly held by the Celts, English and French. And continued to trade profusely with the civs on the other continent for gpts.
My continent was just basically left with me and the Zulu. The Zulus wiped out the last 4 or 5 Indian towns at the start of the industrial. They were mega strong in military terms, but had lapsed behind by 3 or 4 techs after my slingshot gambit. I tended to try not to trade with them too much to keep them weak/er.
On the other continent, the Japanese were the powerhouse, Americans second, and Iriquois a large but slow tech 3rd. The Japanses retained their tech lead for only a few turns into the Industrial, as my many captured workers, and domestic runarounds quickly railroaded my 2 core areas (original and captured Celtic). I was raking the cash in, and rush bought universities, banks, courthouses and stock exchanges for that extra boost.

All these improvements were exponential given my size and productive core.

The Japanese headed for the flight/motorised transport tech route, while I went for (and hoarded) Scientific method, building the ToE and hence reaching tech parity and also building Hoovers.

Sporadic wars were fought in the West, with Japan slowly eaking away more Iriquois territory, if I recall correctly the Zulu also got involved. No real conclusions to these wars though, but it all helped me out as they all switched to Communism and further increased my advantage.

I briefly considered taking on the Zulu and going for a domination victory, but the Zulu would have still been a tough nut to crack, and the Japanese even more so. So I decided by the mid industrial to head towards a dimplomatic victory. I was in a clear first place, but it was close between Japan and Zulu for second. I therefore concentrated on fostering relations with America and the Iriquois and even gifted them a few techs to allow them to keep up and keep the Japanese at bay/prolong the war...

All in all, the game was already won for me by the time I captured the GL and got catapulted into the industrial age. My territory was by far the largest and most productive in the game and it took me very few turns to catch up on what I was lacking in infrastructure. My time in the industrial age was short both in years and in gameplay time.

The middle ages were the fun bit in this excellently designed game. They were tough and challenging, but my luck with the FP and where the GL was built (on my doorstep) made the game pretty easy. I normally get creamed on deity, this game makes a rare and pleasant change (albeit on deity light).

 

[The Moose]

Moderator Action: Gentlemen, I had to intervene and clip the discussion of the UN because that clearly exceeds the boundaries of this discussion thread.

Also, Sekong, enable you PM functions so that we can contact you coherently to let you know about these things privately. One of your messages had to be deleted as part of this cleanup and the was no way to contact you as a courtesy because you turned off your ability to communicate. - cracker
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

another annoying fact of this gotm was that the aztecs built the great library when i had just 1 (yes, ONE) turn left and there was nothing I could do about it as i had just discovered the other continent!!

 

[CdB]

Originally posted by tao
And I prevented the wandering AI units by creating 3 blocking lines.

Yes but you are apparently in advance for techs vs the Ottomans. this was not the case for me. I was 3-4 techs behind the Ottomans so they had Balkans Dragoons & Tanks before me. I would dare not allow block entry to my territory as I was not in position to survive an attack

 

[rabies]

Open class - 1.21

Here is a link to my middle ages report.

To sum up, I left the middle ages in a dominant tech position, with most of the world paying me nice sums of cash for the techs I grabbed first. I had also decided to conquer the celts as they had wines I greatly desired. At that point, the world looked something like this:



In 510 AD Spain entered the Industrial Age with the research on Magnetism complete. In order to gain some benefit of the otherwise useless Ottomans, I gift the them Chemistry, Metallurgy, Magnetism, Physics, Astronomy and Education...bringing him up the industrial age as well.

He gets Steam Power as his free tech! Woot! I make the following painful trade:
Ottomans give Steam Power for Horses, Navigation, Military Tradition, World map, Music Theory, Printing Press, Incense, 49 gpt and 3310 gold!
Talk about a sweet deal for him. But it matters not. He is down to 2 cities and will never be a significant threat. I will make my gold back from him in short time.

I quickly scan and realize I have but one coal source connected...in ENTREMONT! Thank the Gods I decided to attack him when I did and not just be content with the original area!

550 AD - We complete our first wonder all game - Newton’s' University. Our first Great Leader - Sertorius appears! He is rushed off to Mohacs to relocate our palace in ex-Celt territory. Meanwhile, The Iroquois lands a lone MDI next to our unprotected capital of Madrid. What is he up to?



570 AD - We ask the Iroquois to leave, naturally, he responds by declaring war. Oh that unpredictable AI. My sole unit in the area, a vet cavalry is red-lined before he kills of the MDI. Talk about sweating bullets! For the price of some fur, Iron, Theory of Gravity and about 150 gold total, we get the Japanese, Americans and Aztecs into an alliance against Hiawatha. Sometimes I am speechless about the stupidity of the AI. What did it really hope to accomplish, sending 1 outdated unit?

590 AD - Electricity is learned. We pick up democracy in trades and make the switch.

650 AD - Medicine is learned. Celts are eliminated. The siege on the last Celt city also produced our second great leader Cordoba, who rushes towards our territory. In 6 turns, he will build the Theory of Gravity, and the palace pre-build in Madrid will then be used for Hoover Dam. Things are looking good. Troops begin accumulating on English borders.

690 AD - War is declared on England. She is way behind in tech and contributes nothing. I decide her territory would be better used in increasing my score.

720 AD – Scientific Method comes in. Following trades net me Replaceable parts and Free Artistry along with a ton of gold and gpt. I do make sure to trade it before rushing the wonder to get more value of it.

Netting replaceable parts shows us that once again, that the only source of rubber we have is in former Celt territory. It is not hooked up - but that is remedied quickly.

730 AD - Atomic Theory and Electronics comes in via the Theory of Gravity which completed this turn. London is captured. Siege on London produces our 3rd leader - Bartolome. He runs off to rush Hoover Dam. I am simply astounded by my sudden luck with leaders. Icing on the cake really..

820 AD - Radio comes in, and much to my dismay, none of the AI have picked up Industrialization. Bleah! All this self research is not going to help me get fastest space-ship victory for sure. I go ahead and set research to 100% on Industrialization in 5.

830 AD - Cavalry begin moving south to start assisting in the war vs. the Zulu. The Ottomans, French and India have been at them for centuries, and make very, very slow progress. It is time to finish Shaka off.

870 AD - Industrialization is done. Nobody else has it. Nobody has much to offer for it at this time either. A couple have Communism. Research continues 100% - now on corporation (in 4).

890 AD - I had to report on this otherwise insignificant turn because for the first time in a civilization 3 game, I achieve 100% happiness!



910 AD - Assault on Hlobane produces great leader Cristobal Colon. He is used to build Spain’s first army. To date, we have sacked 1 Zulu city.

930 AD – A massive blow is dealt to the Zulu. While they still have a single 4 pt city left, this turn, I capture his 4 core 12 point cities. I am rewarded with the great leader Hernan Cortez for my troubles. The Zulu would be eliminated the next turn in 940AD. Hernan Cortez is used to rush Universal Suffrage.

1030 AD – Refining is learned. Not surprisingly, we have oil...even in our original core area.

1080 AD - Combustion is learned. I trade it to the Aztecs and Japanese for Sanitation and maybe 50gpt total. Not much, but hopefully, they would both start on Mass Production while I work on Flight (in 6).

1140 AD - Flight comes in. Nobody else has learned squat. So I set it @90% on mass production (due in 4). Japan extorts me for furs and I pay. Why not? He is (barely) more useful to me as a research partner.

1180 AD – Mass Production is learned. Sadly, Aztecs and Japan get it at the same time. Funds from the other civs are running low, so I go ahead and trade them Flight for about 2000 gold and some 300 gpt. Note when I say 'them' I mean the Aztecs and Japan. Everybody else in the world is easily 4 techs down.

1220 AD - Motorized Transport is learned, and we enter the Modern Age. I realize now that I am already way over the Jason score 'best' date...hopefully I can launch prior to 1400 AD.

 

[tao]

Quote: "And I prevented the wandering AI units by creating 3 blocking lines."

Originally posted by CdB
Yes but you are apparently in advance for techs vs the Ottomans. this was not the case for me. I was 3-4 techs behind the Ottomans so they had Balkans Dragoons & Tanks before me. I would dare not allow block entry to my territory as I was not in position to survive an attack

Neither was I. Blocking can be done with weak units, I included some warriors, spears vs. Ottoman dragoons. They were gracious/polite because our joint fights against England, France and Zulus and me buying their techs. If necessary, I later donated them a small share of the gpt they payed me for my techs. All the time, my military was weak compared to theirs.

 

[Tone]

ptw 1.14 open class

I've only just been able to start the GOTM this weekend. Had a marathon session and I'm now a couple of techs into the modern age, exceeding all expectations of survival in my first Diety game mainly thanks to the kind start Cracker gave us! The majority of Sunday evening was then spent caching up with the numerous pages of entertaining posts in these spoilers.

The early part of the game was spent trying to keep up with AI research. I was fortunate to do so but my attempts to build a wonder in the Middle Ages failed several times by just a few turns and resulted in tons of wasted shields. All this changed in the Industrial Age though.

My second war with the great Zulu nation gave me a chance to send my conquistadors against red-lined zulu cavalry giving me my long awaitened GA. My MPP with India took the heat off the conflict with the Zulu and my GA research with careful prebuilding gave me Universal Sufferage, ToE and Hoover Dam. I then set research to zero with one scientist to get Radio in 40 turns. I traded AT for many of the other techs and bought the rest but the lack of rubber really hurt. I had been playing for a Diplo victory and wars kept to a minimum but no rubber???!!! I was prepared to buy coal but this was just too much!

First I took out the Celts giving me a source of rubber and then for good measure I turned on the French as the various MPPs around the world cascaded into a full World War. Unfortunately this changed my Diplo plans so I'm now thinking of a Space Race win. I'm not too confident about my chances of success here as I left the Industrial Age a few turns behind India, Japan and the Iroquois though whatever the outcome that's not for this spoiler.

 

[Dislak]

well, i spent my last 500 years in the industrial age. Lived and died in it...here is the sad story of woe:

1430AD: Most of the large wars are over. Turks survived, thanks to me. I knew that if the Turks were destroyed, the Zulu could easily march right into my southern border if they felt like it. I had destroyed the French by this time and control much of the land. So when Zulu declared war on the Turks, we got in an ROP. I then moved all the units I had into the Turk lands and blocked the Zulu/Turk border. This saved the Turks from certain distruction i'm sure.

The Americans then decided to demand coal. No idea why, but oh well. I refused and they declared war. I paid off the Iroquios and Japanese to fight them (Aztec are long gone). Then I noticed a lone Galleon by my undefended northern shore. Fearing that I would give the Americans a foothold in the "old world", I rush about 15 Cavs up to protect my land. A single Infantry landed...sigh...after the artilery had bombarded him to nothing, the Cavs made short work of him in one turn. The a frigate started to take pot shots at me. my battleship made short work of that ship.

For some odd reason, the Turks, who had been gracious to me just attcked for no reason. I had made a very strong southern defense line. Workers had spent years building fortresses and I had about 5 riflemen defended each. Plus they had a river on the other side. Simple to defend. I used about 30 artillery and bombers to go to town on the Turks. They asked for peace in a few turns.

1500AD: I guess the Zulu wanted to be in on the action. The declared war (no idea why) and marched right up to my southern defense. I hurt an infantry and then used a Conqus to kill him off. My GA then began. After the Zulu forces approached, they saw my massive defense and turned away. Bombers then began to go crazy on me. Oh well. I sued for peace about 10 turns later because it was getting annoying having to keep building more Railroads.

1550AD: I NEED Rubber. It is in 2 places. Edge of Turk/Zulu land. No way I can get that and deep into the heart of the Celt lands. Japan has extra but wants about 1000 gold for it. I should have done that deal. Huge mistake for me. Lead to my downfall. I mass up many units to attack Celt but they declare war right before I am able to get everyone. Oh well. They have an MPP with America and then the English declare war as well. The Iroquois and Japanese take the oppertunity to declare war on American and it's time for a fight. First Celt city falls right away.

1700AD: By using Artillery to soften up all the towns and kill over counter-attacking units, I am able to push all the way to the rubber. I've taken 7 Celt towns (though I've lost many units). I have the rubber and use my cash reserves to upgrade my massive amounts of riflemen to Infantry and begin to make as many marines as possible. Then a really bad thing happens. The Zulu send 50 Tanks and Mech Inf up to my rubber town. NOOOOO!!!!!! The end is near I can see...I send all available to artillery and bombers up to the Celt land. Before they can declare war, I attack. I hold off for 3 turns and kill about 15 tanks and mech inf. Doesn't matter. I can see that I'm not going to win. I fall back and lose two towns, including the rubber one. I'm hoping that I can hold off in the north. Goes pretty well for about 50 years. Then it happens.

1750AD: Zulu break through my southern defense. I fall back and try to hold them off but doesn't work. I quickly build 2 transports and fill them with all my availble units who aren't protecting my fronts and a few workers and settlers (Sancho Panza was on one ).

1760AD: I run to the middle of the Iroquios land. I had sent all my ships across the ocean and bombarded the remaining 3 American cities to help the Japanese and Iroquios out. I then built a town in the center of the Iroquois land. Hopefully the Zulu won't go crazy and chase me down. I gift away my towns since I can't bear to see them destroyed or razed. At one point I could have made peace but it was pointless. Then the Zulu nuked my northern most town of Asturias. I have no idea why, just trying to flaunt their power I guess.

I land on Hispanola (only about 300 years late ). I attack the two remaining American towns and wipe out the Americans. I may be dying, but i still fight back. Finally, in 1776, the Zulu finish the spaceship and the game ends. Good times and I learned a lot. i'm ready for GOTM21!!!

 

[rabies]

Dislak: way to hang in there till the bitter end...

About the Ottomans..I swear they have been programmed to backstab. I have played 3 seperate games now where they were polite or gracious towards me...only to have them march dozens of units into my territory (some games I even had ROP in place) and stab me in the back. I've come to associate this behaviour with the Ottomans. It is interesting to see them pull this same behaviour in your game.

 

[sekong]

Yes, This Ottoman thing happened to me as well. ROP or even MPP did not help. I think one thing does count is that building up strong enough defense and being ready for it.

Cracker-- I opened up PM. Thanks for reminder. Actually I did hesitate before reply to that one, but I thought I could just save a GL in industry age, did not really have to leak any info about the next era.

 

[Renata]

Yikes, ltcoljt, a bit hard on yourself.

<--- Finished in 1425 AD, domination, 8300-something Jason pts. Down almost 1700 from last month .

The deity paranoia definitely got to me, too, and I made some decisions that were (in restrospect) strategic mistakes, but hey -- a deity win's a deity win.

Back in a couple days with a write-up. Isabella's gotta describe her glorious conquest (she's gotten a little full of herself).

Renata

 

[Dislak]

rabies-

I just wanted to teach the Americans a lesson for picking on my native american friends

 

[Zwingli]

Edit: Civ3 1.29b Open Class

By the end of the middle ages the Spanish had just defeated Zululand with the help of India and England. With dozens of Engish units traveling through Indian territory due to the previous war, I declared war on India and allied with England against them in 760 AD. The English distraction allowed me to cut India in half with Cavalry against musketmen before they could respond in force. Spanish Missionaries used their superior range to pillage Indian horses and saltpeter, making the rest of the campaign much easier.

830 AD

While India collapsed, I continued to research on Steam Power to get an additional boost in production and growth. It probably would have been more efficient to just shut off research at this point and buy more cavalry, but I just like to make advancements . India was so weakened by their previous wars, that their road system was incomplete, and their demise was delayed until 900 AD due to jungle impediments.

At 860 AD, while still at war with India I declared war on the Keltoi and bought England in on my side. The tiny Keltic nation crumbled between Spain and England by 930 AD, and with the end that alliance, Spain was free to immediately declare war on England. Spain hit England from the East and South simultaniously causing their complete collapse by 1010 AD. As the last English city fell, all available uninjured cavalry jumped onto 10 waiting galleons parked near former England.

Japan had declared war on Spain around 900 AD due to a refused demand. Since Spain immediately allied with Azteca against them, Japan had posed little threat to the home continent, being distracted by a more immediate opponent. The invasion of the new world began in 1040 AD with the embarkment of loaded galleons into territory Japan had captured from the Iroquois. Japan had riflemen and samurai, but no cavalry due to lack of saltpeter, so two cavalry armies were used to bulldoze the top riflemen defenders.

Iroquois 1050 AD-1090AD
Once a couple of Japanese cities were under control, Spain declared war on the Iroquois who were backwards and defending with pikemen. The Iroquois fell apart immediately, and continuing reinforcements from overseas led to their downfall in 1090 AD.

America 1100 AD-1140 AD
When the cavalry had healed and regrouped from the Iroquois slaughter, they turned on America who was already at war with Azteca. America was moderately advanced with a few musketmen, but their long war with Azteca had taken its toll, and many of their buildings had been disbanded due to bankrupcy (I did some espionage). Their battered cities (which were defended by spearmen as much as musketmen) fell quickly to the lage numbers of cavalry now in the new world. By 1140 AD when domination was triggered, they were down to one city defended by a lone spearman.

Only the Aztecs and Japanese ever got to Nationalism, and I had advanced as far and Sanitation and Electricity by the time the game ended.

 

[KELLO]

Reading through various GOTM threads, I am really interested to know how you guys are managing domination victories so early... 800AD in Deity! (Particularly Zwingli and Dislak in this thread) Are you playing total warmonger style? Early archer/swordsmen/horsemen rushes, then head straight for feudalism/chivalry for the next rush? What about after that? Beeline to Military Tradition? How about science? All pointy stick except a key few? And city developments (particularly in GOTM 20) are you just going for cash cash cash, with barracks and a bit of culture to prevent flips? And mentioning culture, is this normally some whipped temples early on to get a good cultural base?

Perhaps I play too timidly. I almost always wait for overwhelming numbers (although I have been know to carry out the odd early sneak attacks to capture a couple of cities BC). E.g. at the beginning of the middle ages, how many knights/pikemen medieval infantry did you build up before taking on someone who was a simular size (France in this GOTM?).

How about with leaders? What are the early priorities? Wonder rushing or armies/heroic epic/military academy etc?

Any other cheeky strategies? ROP finishes, declare war next turn?
Do these strategies vary much by civ? I know UUs would influence decisions to a certain extent, but could you give some examples for a couple of different ones... Say Persians and French maybe?

It strikes me that you both seem to capture rather than raze, any extra advice on preventing/countering flips?

Lots of questions I know, but I'm sure others are wondering the same things....

Cheers
Kello

 

[CdB]

Originally posted by tao
Neither was I. Blocking can be done with weak units, ...

Thanks for the tip, I think I was too chicken on this matter but I wanted at least to survive my first deity game. So it leaves room for improvement.

 

[Greebley]

My previous post

My goal was to clear my home continent of wrong thinking civs. The french, ottomans, celts and indians were all pretty much destroyed already leaving a very strong Zulu and a decent sized English. The Zulu were not easy to kill. I fought with them from 940 to 1110 taking about half their territory. At that point even with a republic goverment, war weariness was too much so I settled for 20 years of peace, which I spent building up my infrastructure.

From 1275 to 1305 I fought England and destroyed them. I tried to fight the Zulu again in 1320 but war weariness was almost instantly bad. The war only lasted until 1340, but the Zulu were now a minor power. I also grabbed the opportunity to plant a city on the other continent for an eventual war there. The Japanese were being wiped out and I was able to grab a small spot between previous Japanese cities (now Aztec).

In 1440, I had a decent number of tanks. The zulu were weak. They had 2 towns + 1 that had revolted during peace. I figured I could easily handle them in one turn. I had built an airport and built up tanks to attack the Aztecs as well. 1440 was also the year I finished radio, so the assault on the other continent will have to wait until next time.

I also had very decent culture and started thinking about trying a culture 100K win. I noticed the English had especially poor culture. My guess is that their priorities had been altered away from culture, though I have no proof of this. If so I assume it was to give players who are less familiar with deity avoid losing 1/2 their towns to culture flips. The countries on the other continent seemed "normal" in terms of culture.

 

[Zwingli]

Originally posted by KELLO
(Particularly Zwingli and Dislak in this thread) Are you playing total warmonger style?
-----------
And city developments (particularly in GOTM 20) are you just going for cash cash cash, with barracks and a bit of culture to prevent flips?

I used a builder/warmonger hybrid style. I had relatively widely spaced cities which built temples, barracks, and commercial infrastructure (marketplaces/banks/courthouses). With the extra gold produced by well developed cities, I used diplomatic options (alliances) to weaken the opponent civs while devoting only a fraction of production to building troops. The "barracks + cash cash cash" approach is more effecient when you expect to roll over all opposition before Nationalism (which turned out to be true in this case, but it was not expected).

How about science?

Probably most of the top players used skillful trading to keep up on technology. Therefore, the tech path on this level is often dictated by what the AI researches rather than military tech beelines. I only recieved 1 tech by the "pointy stick" because most of my wars were intended to completely finish the opponent .

E.g. at the beginning of the middle ages, how many knights/pikemen medieval infantry did you build up before taking on someone who was a simular size (France in this GOTM?).

I went at France the first time with 5 swordmen and around 3 horsemen (against pikemen). That is obviously too few troops for an effective war, but an alliance with India allowed some limited gains with minimal forces. A good rule of thumb is to be able to bring 3 contemporary offensive units for each expected defender when attacking an enemy city. Probably 10 medieval infantry or 8 knights would have been enough to gain a few cities from France in a limited war.

Any other cheeky strategies? ROP finishes, declare war next turn?

I don't use those particular strategies, but there are some other sneaky tricks. For instance, alliances end the instant you eliminate the enemy civ, and you may honorably attack your former ally the same turn while their offensive troops are exposed and out of position.

It strikes me that you both seem to capture rather than raze, any extra advice on preventing/countering flips?

Some early whipped temples with Spain (a religious civ) would raise civ wide culture, reducing the likelyhood of flips for the rest of the game. In order to minimize the damage done by flips, you can garrison only 1 or 2 units in captured cities while pressing the offensive to further cities. By quickly capturing more cities you push back enemy culture boundaries which reduces flip probability further. In this game, I rushed a Palace in captured Zulu territory which made nearby cities more secure (cities close to the Palace are unlikely to defect). Finally, you can starve out foreign nationals from captured cities by setting specialists if the enemy is likely to survive a long time (this reduces the base chance of defection). Using these strategies, I suffered only 1 flip late in the game to the Americans which cost a single cavalry.

 

[Dianthus]

v1.14 Euro Conquest.

This spoiler starts where Spoiler 2 left off at 560AD, continuing until ~1550AD.

At the start of this period I was feeling a lot more hopeful, thinking maybe even of winning! The aim was to complete an ironic Diplomacy win, the irony being I've lost by Diplomacy the last 2 months.

The current state of the world at 560AD :



Peaceful trading
560AD to 1110AD I managed to continue peacefully. I avoided building Libraries/Universities until last, and then only for the culture, as I was relying exclusively on trading for techs (0% research). There were lots of inter-AI wars during this period, though I kept the tech pace fairly high by gifting tech so all the AIs were contributing.

660AD I gain Steam Power through trading, and was lucky to get Coal within the border of one of the french cities I gained via culture.

The coal is E of the ex-French city of Cadiz.


900AD France were lagging behind, but somehow managed to build the Theory of Evolution, taking a sudden jump forward in techs.

1100AD Spain was voted most powerful nation in the world.

Minimap at 1100AD :



Unrest and unhappiness
1110AD to 1350AD was a period of much war for the Spanish. We had just been voted the most powerful nation in the world, but much of the power was to do with gold (at 1110AD 13,152g +1,186g per turn), not military power. France declared war on us, feeling cocky after getting ahead in tech, and probably noticing my extreme lack of military (why do I do that!).

Military at 1110AD :
9 Cavalry
18 Infantry
26 Guerilla

I immediately made an alliance with the Celts against the French, costing a whopping 3,035g (though a relatively small amount compared to my bank balance).

1170AD The Ottomans made an alliance with France and brought ~15 Sipahi, 2 Sipahi armies and 2 Knight armies into my territory. Panic!!! At this point I was thinking they could easily wipe me out, but they settled for taking 3 of my cities and staying there. I set my cities with barracks to build Infantry and Cavalry and my cities without barracks to build Artilery. Mostly I just contained the French and Ottomans by protecting my cities with Infantry and weakening any enemy units with my artilery. I had given the Celts ROP and they made good use of my railroads to finish of most of the weakened enemy units, leaving only a small number for my own Cavalry to tidy up.

During the next 60 years Japan, Iroquois and India also declared war against us, but Japan and Iroquois' efforts were very half-hearted, and India's only involved small groups of Cavalry (2 or 3 at a time) per wave.

1230AD I make peace with Japan, they payed me 20g.

1250AD I gave the Ottomans 300g for peace. The Ottomans were by far the biggest threat. 2 of the 3 captured Ottomans cities culture flipped back to me almost straight away. 1 didn't flip for a long time, maybe partly because India/Celts/Ottomans kept taking it in turns to own it, incidentally knocking their power down.

1320AD I made peace with Iroquois and India. This left me free to fight France, with minor assistance from the Celts. France had cost me a lot as I got behind a lot on the techs, partly due to having to use high lux and rushing military while still in Democracy, partly due to low income after switching to Communism.

1350AD I knocked the French border back as quickly as possible. It was heavy going as I had to use a lot of Artilery to reduce the population down and knock the hp off the French Infantry before my Cavalry had a chance. I managed to capture Paris (complete with the Hoover Dam and now useless Theory of Evolution) and a few other cities.

Spanish Empire at 1350AD :


I was a long way behind in the tech at this point, but helped my situation a little by trading Peace Treaty and 1511g to France for Peace Treaty and Flight.


Peace given another chance
1360AD to ~1550AD I managed to stay at peace. My military is now much larger and the AI's are now content to fight among themselves again. For some reason France declared war on the Ottomans in 1360AD. France are tiny!

1395AD My worst nightmare. I'm too far behind on tech. India start building the UN and I still need Radio/Motorized Transport/Amphibious Warfare. I haven't got enough cash yet, but I'm a Democracy and starting to rake it in again.

1420AD I manage to trade for Radio and Amphibious Warfare, but am too far behind to trade effectively for cash.

1455AD I calculate I could get the last couple of techs in the Industrial age and maybe get Fission if I spend all my cash and offer up all of my gold per turn. I investigate Sogut and Delhi to see how long before they complete the UN. Sogut will complete UN in 8 turns, Delhi in 2. There's no way I can build the UN in that time, so I settle for a little fairly rapid research and less expensive trading to complete the Industrial ages. I gave some gifts to the other civs to make them like me a bit more, hoping to stop India from going for the vote. Managed to get :

Ottomans : Furious
Celts : Annoyed
Iroquois : Polite
Aztecs : Polite

Hopefully I can make them like me more than the Indians, and try for Space or Culture instead.

 

[Gingerbread Man]

Conquest, PTW 1.21
Seeing that this was really only one tech into the modern era, and I think only 2-3 turns, I dont think I should hold back on what I say, but I wont tell anything external to my nation, or anything else of a giveaway.

I was just starting the industrial era when everyone else was way ahead. I thought, my lucky break would be ToE. But in a very close call, Japan started it while I was trying to get Scientific method. So I bought SciMeth off them for around 350gpt, rushed ToE with a great leader I had kept from a raid on the English, and got Atomic and Electronics. I sold Atomic back to japan for 450gpt, and brought myself to tech parity.

I still couldn't keep up with research, so I did lone scientist, and sold my treaury for GPT every turn. Sometimes I would get more money, sometimes less, depending on how they liked me.

Then I thought I lost it. Japan had started UN, I hadn't started Motorised transport. That tech would take me 6 turns, but I realised that Japan had 16 turns till completion. My licky break came in here. A world war started, and I didn't have any MPPs!!! For the next 8 turns, I showered everyone with gifts.

after six turns of canstant war declarations and alliances, I finished all industrial techs. Japan had monopoly on Fission! So I gifted ottomans into the modern era, in hope of them getting fission for free.

It worked. They broke the monopoly, and desperate as they were (having 2 cities) sold it to everyone. I bought it for approx 770gpt from the desperate ottos, switched a palace prebuild to UN. 1 turn to completion. Guess what.

I won! I cant believe I won!!!!!!!!!

My first Diety win. 1420AD, Diplomatic. Everyone voted for me except Tokugawa (who voted for himself), England (who abstained) and the Celts and Aztecs (who were dead).

By the way, I made a couple of errors in my submission. I submited a beginnign of turn save, not an end of turn one. I forgot to submit my final score.

If a moderator/whoever calculates score reads this, just press the end of turn button there and then. I dont really care about the extra points with rejoining workers. sorry about the score (or rather, lack of). Should I resubmit?

 

[Dislak]

Kello-

Well, I didn't do the best since I did lose But here is what I did.

I made horrible use of dipolmacy in this game. I hadn't played in a long time so I forgot a lot of things so this really was a learning game for me. With a combinded force of about 30 horseman and swordsman, I was able to defeat the French before AD hit. This was one of my shining moments. The other was keeping the Ottomans alive. They made is possible to keep the Zulu out. But they sneaked attacked me.

My main problem was not being offensive enough. I was at the beginning, but then I sorta lost the drive. I kept trying to kick the English and Celt out of my northern most lands but I never really could till the end. Of course by that time, I was about to be crushed.

Even though I knew I was going to lose, I kept playing (all thanks to Cracker). I now know to keep good ties with other civs otherwise nothing good will happen. I couldn't trade with anyone (I was at least 7-8 techs behind) and I never built or captured a single wonder. But when you see 50 tanks and mech infantry about to come storming through you borders, you know that you've made a mistake somewhere in the game.

~Dislak