*Spoiler4* Gotm21-Melee - End Game Submitted

[cracker]

Again take a few seconds to read this introduction carefully to make certain you DO NOT run afoul of the divided spoiler rules.

This is the FOURTH and final spoiler thread to support discussion of the Gotm21-Mediterranean Melee.

The objective of these divided spoiler threads is to provide a little organization to the discussion that will help more people find the topics that they are interested in without having to rummage through the entire game discussion.

The test for access to this spoiler thread is simple:

• you must have submitted your final save file from playing the game.

You may discuss any information from the game but if you are posting reports of events and/or activities in the Ancient, Medieval, or Early Industrial portion of the game, those reports should be placed in the correct spoiler for that time segment of the game.

This thread is a great opportunity to post an overall summary of how you game progressed.

For many players, this may have been one of the longest, largest amd most involved Civ3 Games that they have ever played. The large number of civilizations and the massive amount of developed resources would have support the opportunity for contacts and conflicts on almost any level and in time periods of major events at about every 30 to 40 turns throughout the entire game.

You might want to step back and look at several big picture issue that you feel are important to the game as a whole.

We hope that all players have enjoyed this game and that you are looking forward to Gotm22 "Tales of the Vikings"!!

 

[Tech Step]

I really enjoyed this game. I learnt heaps about how others play the game.

My style of play is very different from most others. I like dragging out the victory so that I can use tanks and other modern day warfare to win. I start very slowly but as soon as I get cavalry and then tanks my civilization explodes. (usually before I have Cavalry my power bar is only 1/10th the width of the whole chart. when I have had tanks for a few turns it is nearly 1/3 -> 1/2

 

[mad-bax]

I seem to have been waiting for this spoiler for ever. All my games to date have been unexeptional, but this one was different and involved the most frightening 25 turns of Civ I've ever played.

Until 1778AD I was fooling around really, fishing for leaders and playing with the modern age units and improvements that I have never really encountered much. In particular the use of espionage.

Maybe someone would be interested enough to try to finish the game from the position I found myself in at this point. The objective is simple - just get Athens to 20K culture points.

The save is

here.

I was miles ahead of the AI in every respect. I had a spy in Spain (my nearest rival) and they had not started their space ship. It was almost boring, so I was just organising a war against the celts using elite tanks to generate leaders for a range of wonders that were just available.

Playing with the espionage screen I (idly) put a spy in rome and checked the space screen. They had completed 4 SS parts with 3 under construction. I kind of froze at this point. I didn't know what to do. I investigated a couple of cities and estimated that they would complete their ship in around ten turns. I needed around 25 turns to get to 20K.

Most of my troops were on the Hittite peninsula, and I had three transports to get them back to my home soil. My nearest boat to Rome was 14 turns away. The nearest city to rome was 3 turns away, but I had no boats there and the town was completely corrupt.

By rushing transports and signing an ROP with Rome I thought I could get to Rome in 8 turns. I could try to sabotage production, but even if this worked it would not buy me enough time. Or I could use nukes. The ramifications of this were unclear to me but I knew I didn't want to risk a world wide nuclear bun fight.

I attempted the first choice. I stole the tech I needed for MA from spain and upgraded 100 or so tanks to MA. I signed an ROP with Rome and rushed 8 transports. I sent 64 vet MA to Rome. On landing, Roman units surrounded the MA thereby not allowing access to the capital, so I had to take a detour through another country (to the north). This cost me 2 turns. By the time my SOD got to Rome, they had one turn left on their last component.

I sacked Rome, then Veii and burned them to the ground, and once again felt in control of the situation. Silly boy.

Whilst this was going on I had also started a war with the celts using a stack of some 20 elite tanks. On the first turn of this war I generated 3 leaders for Internet, army (allowing pentagon) and saved one for Longevity. This is a record for me.

I had taken my eye off the ball for a few turns and hadn't been checking the space screen. Spain had done something amazing (to me). They had started their SS. Not only that but they had started all 10 components. Again using espionage I investigated their cities and found that their last four components would finish in 4 turns.

64 MA had been slowly put to the sword by the Romans in the last few turns and I had no way of getting to Spain in time. Because of the heavy use of espionage I didn't have enough money to sabotage production. However I could just about generate enough money to sabotage production in three turns if I was careful. This is what I tried. Unfortunately, the cost of sabotage increased every turn. Three turns later I was still short. But on the fourth turn I just had enough and sabotaged their SS engine one mouse click from defeat.

Three or four turns passed uneventfully. I completed a few wonders, did a bit of housekeeping and prepared a few screen shots for this spoiler. I had three turns to victory. The previous turn the Romans had completed a couple of SS parts. This turn they completed three more. I investigated some of their cities and found this.


Actually this shot is 1 turn late. There were 2 turns left when I discovered it. The Romans were going to beat me by 1 turn, leaving me with Athens at 19993 culture points! (Bachs doubles up at 1830AD).

I had no option but to Nuke Hispalis. First I stole the tech needed for SDI from Persia, and rushed the wonder with a saved leader.

I was repeatedly nuked by Rome, Zululand, Spain and Persia, and the SDI did a decent job, but Athens was still hit, which upset me greatly.

Here are a couple of shots of what I did to Hispalis, and Athens just before it was nuked.








I was within a couple of turns of defeat 3 times in the last few turns. Whatever my score, and wherever I am placed this month I will probably always remember this game. I am chuffed to bits that I managed to get my first 20K win, and the way I had to play in the end was just way above anything I've done before.

I hope one or two of the top players can find the time to play out the save I posted. I would really like to know if a win can be acheived without nukes, and also it is theoretically possible to win one turn earlier if SDI is built soon enough.

In any event I finished with a 20K win in 1834AD, Firaxis score 5884 and Jason 4450 I think I deserved better - or perhaps not.

 

[Dianthus]

Open 1.21f (Euro)

Spoiler 1 (4000BC-110AD)
Spoiler 2 (110AD-830AD)
Spoiler 3 (830AD-1230AD)

Spoiler 4 (1230AD-1585AD)


Wars
I was happy with my territory at the end of Spoiler 3, believing it to be sufficient to support a high tech pace to the end of the game, so I was trying to be peaceful during this period. The AI however had other plans, and the Melee part of this Mediterranean Melee really kicked off.

1255AD-1295AD : Russia, a minor skirmish
Russia entered my territory and declared war. Up to this point Russia were polite towards me, and the military advisor claimed "Compared to these guys, we have a strong military", so I'm not sure why they attacked. I just defended my territory and held off making peace with the Russians until I gained the great leader "Hector", who I would later use to build the UN.

1415AD-1500AD : Russia, the annihilation
Russia was annoyed from the previous war (though they were the aggressors!), and paying 543gpt to me for the next 15 turns with 41gpt spare. According to the Trade advisor "The Russian military force is about same size as ours", but according to the Military advisor "Compared to these guys, we have a strong military", I guess as we had the tank(7) and infantry(65). They entered my territory and declared war when I ordered them out.

I made alliances with France, the Celts and the Ottomans and did a little fishing for leaders. The 1st appeared in 1430AD and was used for the Seti Program. In 1435AD the Russians pleaded for peace, but I wasn't going to let them have it until the 20 turns were up and I had a great leader for the Internet.

1475AD I got my great leader, and moved him back to Corinth via my railroads, used him for the Internet, then got another great leader the same turn!

I now had a spare great leader I could use later and quickly finished the Russians off as I was now suffering from war weariness.

Here are some (recentred) mini-maps :



1530AD-end : Ottomans/Celts Vs the rest
The Ottomans, my previous allie against Russia, declared war. They had a mutual protection act with the Celts which was triggered when I recaptured one of their cities on the Greek/Ottoman border. Initially I was thinking to avoid making alliances to avoid worrying about breaking deals, but changed my mind on realising there weren't all that many turns left if the Space Race continued to plan. I made alliances with all the other AIs against the Ottomans, which quickly triggered the Ottoman/Celt MP to make them also be at war against the Celts.

At this point my priority was firmly on the Space Race and didn't really want this war as a distraction. I took a little territory off the Celts to the North East of the Greek empire, and a little of the Ottomans to the North West (including the Ottoman capital with the Pyramids). Amusingly I actually spotted a couple of Celtic warriors during this war, easy pickings for my remaining Cavalry.

Here is the final state of the Greek Empire at 1585AD :



The Space Race
The following shows a summary of the Modern Times progression towards the Space Race :

Techs/Wonders/Space
1325 AD : Flight (researched)
1325 AD : Radio (traded)
1345 AD : Motorized Transport
1375 AD : Fission (researched)
1390 AD : Amphibious War (traded)
1405 AD : Space Flight (researched)
1410 AD : Apollo Program (using Palace prebuild)
1420 AD : SS Docking Bay
1425 AD : SS Cockpit
1430 AD : Computers (researched)
1435 AD : Completed Seti Program
1440 AD : SS Engine
1455 AD : Miniaturization (researched)
1480 AD : Nuclear Power (researched)
1480 AD : Completed Internet in Corinth
1500 AD : The Laser (researched)
1505 AD : SS Planetary Lounge
1505 AD : Advance Flight (traded)
1520 AD : Superconductor (researched)
1525 AD : SS Fuel Cells
1530 AD : SS Life Support System
1540 AD : Ecology (researched)
1560 AD : Synthetic Fibres (researched)
1565 AD : SS Exterior Casing
1570 AD : SS Stasis Chamber
1570 AD : SS Storage/Supply
1580 AD : Satellites (researched)
1580 AD : Aeson (the Great Leader) from Russian war (ages ago!) rushes SS Thrusters
1585 AD : Launch Space Ship

In 1505AD I had a little fright on being informed that my only source of Uranium was exhausted. Uranium is only needed SS Fuel Cells, which was due to be built when Super Conductor was researched in 3 turns. Hittites had Uranium spare, so I traded for it immediately before they give it away.

About half way through this period I finally gave up on the AIs helping with research. I had been allowing 2 or 3 AIs to gain my techs for free while milking the rest, hoping those 2 or 3 would help with the research. I started milking cash from all of them by trading a small set of the required techs for the Space Race, holding the rest back to make absolutely certain they wouldn't be able to compete with me.

The 1530AD war with the Celts/Ottomans came close to slowing my 4 turn research rate. Initially I was able to use 10%/20% lux tax to keep even my largest cities content, but ended up having to set it to 0%, science 100%, and use entertainers in the largest cities.

1585AD I launched the Space Ship for a Fireaxis score of 4886, Jason score of 5996.


Summary
This was the first game where I was focussed on a particular victory condition, after my first GOTM win last month. I found this month far easier than previously, and probably held back far to much at the beginning, being content with winning the Space Race rather than winning it quick. I upped the pace a little at the start of Spoiler 3 in taking out the Minoans/Germans, but still found myself trying to minimize the date I would complete the Space Race rather than maximizing my score.

I played the game such that my rep with the AIs was good, and it seemed a shame to pass up the UN vote every time it came around. After the game was completed I went back to the 1375AD autosave and went for the UN in 1380AD. With no extra attempt to influence the AIs prior to the vote Alexander got 10 votes and Shaka 4, with Catherine of the Russians abstaining (she was soon to start another war against me). This would have resulted in a Fireaxis score of 4832 and Jason of 7047, but I went for Space Race to be eligible for the tournament.

 

[Smirk]

Open 1.21

I didn't find this a very long game, but it sure was slow. I did a pure fast tech game, not getting domination limit and such and I got little to no help from the AI.

With the exception of the two 40 turn minimum science techs, then 19 for construction and <14 for republic I had 4 turn research for the entire game. For literature and education I prebuilt for libraries and universities. I also had colossus and later copers and newtons in my capital. (Oh yeah I also lost a turn when my GA ended, hate that.)

I did sidetrack for a few optionals for knights and Bachs. I needed the knights because I needed tech superiority over Volak since I didn't have numbers. Also I never left Republic, so I saved some turns on printing press and demo, and also the maybe 8 turns anarchy. I'm unsure if this helped, but I didn't need the worker bonus and I had very little corruption in the cities I cared about.

Unfortunately Nationalism was my free IA tech which cost me another 4 turns, my game was extremely peaceful and I would have had no need for this and don't think I built a unit after the knight, upgraded a few hoplites and maybe some cavs after the AI researched it.

I moved Thermopylae to get the IronWorks and I placed it on the best spot, ended up being 3.5 from my capital which is the distance I most often use. Figures this game I wouldn't and missed out, didn't matter much though I had a lot of spare time in IA with nothing to do and it only took me about 10 turns to rush everything and then start the IronWorks. Lost one of my irons during this time but it was the most southern one on the island, also a possible location for IronWorks.

Once I got to the modern age and my IronWorks city had about 180s production I prebuilt and completed SS parts on the turn I was getting the techs for quite a few. Of course I was prebuilding with palaces and the UN and some other wonders I never built so I usually wasted a few hundred shields every 4 turns. I only researched the needed techs in the modern age and ended up rushing quite few labs, didn't bother with seti in my science city IIRC. I maintained the 4 turn pace here by jumping around the tree to get the techs that I could get 4 turns with, meanwhile I caught up by rushing the labs.

I did time a UN build to finish the same turn I learned the last needed tech (just for fun) and the same turn Therm needed to switch (in the research completion screen) to the final part in 1475. Skipping the SS part and doing the UN vote leaves me with every vote except Spain and Atlantians, both voting for Atlantians (minus Rome and Celts who were both destroyed).


I got no help from the AIs, despite being very free with the techs. I even avoided taking large gpt deals so as not to take away their tech capability. But even though there were few actual wars, they just could not contribute quick enough. I generally take the MA top path in a fast tech game since engineering is pretty useless, and I think that is the only tech the AI researched other than the optionals. I'm not even sure of that, that might be another game I am playing.


In closing, the odd terrain hurt the AI much more than myself. I could easily increase worker production, but the AI fails on that mark, usually. My game score was about 5000 in 1475, giving my about 6000 jason score, pretty low.

Edit: Forgot the version.

 

[Melifluous]

Melifluous PTW 1.21 - Open

OK Maybe this will be a little different...

In general the end of this game was rather dull, tech lead so big it was silly...

So here is an MSN chat I was in when I finally finished this GOTM

MSN Chat of final turns.

I get laser next turn and can then build my last spaceship piece
Melifluous says:
And it is fitting that I am running 40% research, 27,702gold and 4202gpt
Taurendil says:
got a prebuild going for the last piece(s)?
Melifluous says:
yup
Melifluous says:
ICBM
Taurendil says:
heh subtle
Melifluous says:
hehe
Melifluous says:
Now to launch my single nuke on the Ottomans Pyramid city.
Taurendil says:
interesting.. why?
Melifluous says:
cos they p*ssed me off for building it
Taurendil says:
lol
Melifluous says:
Sogut is a sludgy mess lol
Melifluous says:
eat sh*t ottomans
Melifluous says:
lol only 5 civs declared war on me...
Melifluous says:
turn off research
Melifluous says:
check happy people in my last SS piece build
Cartouche Bee says:
k guys, i finally finished all my games in the hopper so I'm going to take off.
have fun, good night
Melifluous says:
100% lux
Melifluous says:
wait
Melifluous says:
I just gonna finish
Cartouche Bee says:
k
Melifluous says:
danke
Melifluous says:
haha
Melifluous says:
bombard my coast all you like a$$holes
Melifluous says:
I'm outta here
Taurendil says:
heheh
Taurendil says:
it is sooo apparent he loved playing this game
Melifluous says:
hehe
Cartouche Bee says:
yeah, there is more to this than just launching a ship
Melifluous says:
and relax
Melifluous says:
39hours 14minutes and 25 seconds
Melifluous says:
winner
Taurendil says:
thats not too bad 40 hours, i take quite a lot longer on a huge map
Cartouche Bee says:
date and score? pleeaassee
Melifluous says:
Date
Melifluous says:
1615AD
Melifluous says:
score 3924


And that was that,
I absolutely loved this game, all the new resources were really cool and the feeling of superiority in a slow tech race was a very nice change from GOTM20.

I feel that maybe this map coulda been an Emperor game without making it too difficult for most players, as it was I think that most players are going to walk this one.

Also on the Predator/Open space race debate, surely people competing at the different difficulty levels will fall into different divisions mainly?

Thanks to all involved in the maintenance/design and processing of the GOTMs once again, I just hope that GOTM22 will be as fun...

Berserkers are gonna own

Melifluous

PS. Minor points of note in my game.
1) I didnt get a single GL in my game despite over 20 elite wins
2) I didnt build the Iron Works, Hoovers and Factories were enough for me
3) Atlantis, who seemed very strong in other peoples games, expanded to about 5 cities and stopped dead for what seemed like centuries. Dunno what happened maybe they researched Omphaloskepsis?

 

[Dianthus]

Originally posted by Smirk
In closing, the odd terrain hurt the AI much more than myself. I could easily increase worker production, but the AI fails on that mark, usually. My game score was about 5000 in 1475, giving my about 6000 jason score, pretty low.

It sounds like you had a pretty similar game to me, Smirk. A little faster than me, and I assume a little higher scoring.

Originally posted by Smirk
I got no help from the AIs, despite being very free with the techs. I even avoided taking large gpt deals so as not to take away their tech capability. But even though there were few actual wars, they just could not contribute quick enough.

I had the same problem, there were just too many small civs, when to be any help what's really needed is a small number of large civs. There were a number of inter-AI wars in my game during Spoiler 3/4, none of which were decisive. This was probably partly due to me keeping everyone at the same tech level. It might have been interesting (though not particularly nice ), to deliberately make the strong stronger and the weak weaker via selective tech trading so that the strong could actually be of some use!

 

[ChrTh]

I decided to play it safe and do nothing but Spaceship, even though I could've unleashed my army of the damned against Minos and Otto-man (I had over 150 modern armor at the end of the game) ... it took me forever to get the research where I needed it, and I didn't win until 1780...oh well

On the plus side, my ranking was "Alexander the Great"

 

[CruddyLeper]

Predator 1.29.

Been a while since I submitted, so the details are sketchy...

Before Motorized Transportation, I had 3 Great Leaders. First one rushed the Palace on Otto turf, 2nd built Universal Suffrage (a big mistake) and the third formed an Army IIRC.

Late Industrial Age - launched an assault against the Babs to secure Adam Smiths. Had to end the war prematurely due to war weariness. Later finished off after a culture flip - those Bab cities were BIG. After Entremont was captured I made peace with the Keltoi, and Russia finished them some time later.

By contrast, the Modern Age was one big fierce war - I think I had 1 turn of peace in the whole lot.

Free tech was Rocketry. I gifted and traded this round, then tried to complete a full set of spies. My attempt in Rome was blown, forcing a war I hadn't prepared for.

Decided to launch an amphib assault to take a coastal city with Dyes - but the loss of the luxury caused a big happiness hit, reducing score slightly. These hits got repeated at 20 turn intervals.

FInished UN in my Iron Works city, and startet on Ecology/Synthetics for some extra firepower - Russia had put over 20 tanks on my territory and was furious with me, because I hadn't cancelled the alliance before they totalled the Keltoi.

Eventually, after an upgrade of all tanks to Modern Armour (save the Roman based ones - they just garrisoned nicely and I made peace there) I told the French and Russian forces to leave. Both declared war on me - the same time, Russia had only 4 tanks left, the French maybe 3!

After that, a straightforward mill to a Space Race victory in 1545. For me that's a very good date, although my score isn't too impresive - Jason 6,400 or therabouts.

Things I learned;

1) Early conquests are more important than later ones.

2) Alliances must be broken to avoid unnecessary reputation hits.

3) Only ally for a war if NEEDED - allies take cities which you could otherwise have for yourself much earlier.

4) ToE is worth saving a GL for. More so than Hoover's.

5) If you don't need the culture, don't bother with non-happiness culture like libraries in corrupt cities, even if they are cheap. Happy culture improvements give a bigger score - libraries and unis in such cities don't even produce more research.

Thanks Cracker & Team. An unusual game, tougher than usual GOTM start, but very satisfying to have a plan this time around and stick to it.

EDIT: Spain actually helped with the Space Tech - they wouldn't sell but I stole Superconductor off them (2 expensive attempts).

 

[Yurian]

GOTM21art I:4000BC-370BC
COTM21art II:370BC-480AD
COTM21art III: 480AD-780AD


Part IV.

780AD-1315AD


780: capture Malia,Gortys,Komos,Amnessos.
790: capture Arkhanes, Ierapytna
800: capture Olus.
810: Refining (4t=2.6.2+1173/13041)
850: Combustion (4t=4.5.1+1770/16229)
890: capture Lindos,
MassProduct.(4t=3.6.1+1695/17695)
900: capture Vathypetro. Great Leader Pyrrhus.
Minoans destr. End of war.
930: Motor.Transp. (4t=3.6.1+1757/21413)
970: Flight(4t=2.8.0+1342/25703)

1010: Modern Times (+Fission)
Computers (4t=0.10.0+1235/27898)
1050: Rocketry(4t=1.9.0+1379/17272)

small error = 1t

1100: Space Flight (4t=0.9.1+1152/23731)
1140: Supercond. (4t=1.8.1+1682/23471)
1180: Satellits 4t
1220: Ecology 4t
1255: Synt.Fibers 4t
1275: Nuclear Power 4t
1295: Laser 4t
1315: Lunch Ship.

Firaxis Score = 6273

End Part IV
End Game

 

[Dianthus]

Originally posted by Yurian
1315: Launch Ship.

Firaxis Score = 6273

Nice one Yurian, that's pretty close to the best date of 1265AD, quite a bit faster than me, and with a better fireaxis score too. I guess you had a fair amount more territory than me (see the minimaps in my earlier post)?

 

[CruddyLeper]

Originally posted by Yurian


....

1275: Nuclear Power 4t
1295: Laser 4t
1315: Lunch Ship.

Firaxis Score = 6273

End Part IV
End Game

So, Yurian, how did you complete Planetary Party Lounge the same turn you discovered Laser? Surely you must have waited a turn to complete the final part?

Or did you prebuild and change production same turn that you discovered the tech?

Reason I ask is I completed final 2 spaceship parts the turn AFTER I disovered the Laser - AFAIK changing production the same turn a tech is researched is considered an exploit.

Not accusing you here - I could be wrong about this, and the fact is you can still finish much earlier than me and most others without using that sort of technique.

 

[ltccone]

The final part of my campaign was consumed by two things: My war with Atlantis and my spaceship.

Initially the war started with cavalry, evolved to tanks, and farther evolved to modern armor. I secured my own supplies of wool and ivory, and traded the excess. The terrain was difficult in northern Atlantis, and I had to wait for culture expansion of captured cities so I could launch attacks from my own territory to keep down war weariness. They were wiped out right at the end of the game.

I keep my profitable deals going. My free modern tech was computers. I was the first to get it and I sold it for big bucks to everyone who would by it when SETI was close to completion.

The Russians got synthetic parts first. I took the the side road to minituration thinking that the internet would help me in the long run.

I had a spy in Russia, so I knew they were also working on the SS too. But they had no uranium. No other civ was even close. So I was able to launch my SS first, in 1796.

I know my turns per session were much lower than normal. At the end of the game the wait between the turns was taking longer than completeing my own turn.

Despite this I really enjoyed the trading. Every time an expired deal would come up I had to decide whether to renegotiate or not. Somethimes they would give more money, sometimes less, or sometimes they would say no. So, If the deal was good, I just started accepting what they offered.

 

[ChrTh]

@CruddyLeper

The same thing happened for me, but if it was an exploit, I did it accidentally. After I discovered the Laser, I chose to 'Show me the Whole Picture', and while I was in there, I swapped over to my Domestic Advisor and I changed the prebuild to the Lounge (losing 300+ shields in the process, but hey, why risk it?)...and then the Lounge finished, which surprised me. I guess Tech is discovered before builds complete in the order turn....is this an exploit?

 

[Mack]

Open, Civ 3

After invading germany with Knights, and the rest of the continent except for ottomans and minoans with cavalry, it was time for the final push towards domination victory.

I had first planned to take ottomans and minoans with tanks, but i decided otherwise. I still built tanks in nearly ALL my cities, but i had lots of money, and Leonardos Workshop, so i waited.

I waited till synthetic fibers, and upgraded ALL my tanks to MA's. I had also bought some tanks earlier, so i didnt have much cash left, but that was ok..

I was getting pretty bored with the game now, with the long turns and all, so i decided to end the game as fast as possible, even though it ment being a bit sneaky. I signed ROP's with all the other civs, and flooded the Ottoman, Minoan and Egyptian lands with MA's. The turn after, they were all dead, and the green bar grew quickly on the power chart

Next up, i moved my tanks on the railroads into neocarthage and zululand. They were also dead in one turn, except for the charthaginian capitol, and a few zulu cities that werent connected to the railroad. It took 1 more turn to finish them off.

I had expected to hit domination about now, but i didnt. Of course, i had to fill the new land with culture. Another thing was, i might not have enough population. So, i shipped my troops over to Persia, and repeated the process. Dead in 2 turns. At the same time, i rushed libraries in my new ottoman and minoan lands.

Now, i didnt wanna stop my invasions and wait for the culture to fill up, so i continued, invading spain in 2 turns, after shipping the units over. I continued into atlantis, and after their death, i had tons of MA's on both sides of the roman lands, ready to invade. But i never finished the romans.. i won by domination in 1685 AD.

 

[smackster]

Open

Industrial Age Post

1555AD
With lots of tanks and artillery launched attack on France. All but two Civs join my alliance (that is 11 alliances), before 20 turns I should have UN and vote.

1640AD
Not much left of the French, get the UN, already paid everyone off last turn, vote is inconclusive, 6-6 v Persia. Wow that was close to a loss. Nearly everyone was polite to me, but obviously to Persia too. I wondered if I should lauch attack against Persia to make sure.

1645AD
Last three French cities go in one turn, they wont be able to vote against me now. Alliances terminate and I still have Polite from most of them.

1695AD
With four ROPs UN is called again and I scrape it this time, 6-5 with the French gone its mine.
4251 points. Jason 5102.

Game Summary

I found the start difficult, when I didn't see any obvious fresh water points at the start I forgot about Settler factories until much later. I realise now that you should always create one whatever the location. In a way I feel lucky in this one as I launched what appeared to be my usual probing strike attacks only to find the opponent weak and able to destroy them. I guess this is due to the number of civs and their lack of land, but also as it was easy to get them to fight each other, and they did that a lot. Trading was always easy even when behind as there were always Civs that needed something (anything) I had.

 

[scubagtr]

Well, this was a very fun game for me, because I felt very dominant in the world. My tech was advanced as well as my army and I was mega rich, so all I had to do was sit back and enjoy my victory.

I took out the Minioans and Germany, filled their land with cities and researched to spaceship. I launched in 1695 which is my fastest victory ever.

Some things I could have done better, one was not to build the Interent to put a Research Lab in each city. I could have built labs in each city in 2-3 turns for most of my big cities, instead of waiting to build the wonder and wasting time reasearching a tech I didn't need.

Also, I made the mistake again !!!!! Prebuilding the Hoover Dam in city with NO WATER !!!!!!!!!!! Maybe one day I will learn. But at least I was so far enough ahead of the other civs, I still had time to build it in the correct location.

Corruption was very low in this game. I went to Democracy soon after I got it and put a Police Station and Courthouses in most cities. I was getting very good production from cities as far away as Berlin and further with my FP in the Minoin Capital.

Overall, I enjoyed this game immensely, as I have all the GOTMs since #17. I have now been playing as the Vikings on Emporer and doing EXTREMELY well for me. Pretty much I could have won in 1500 or earlier, but I will attempt to milk it for score and submit it for the HOF, so we'll see how it goes.

 

[Yurian]

Originally posted by CruddyLeper


So, Yurian, how did you complete Planetary Party Lounge the same turn you discovered Laser? Surely you must have waited a turn to complete the final part?

In this game I for the first time have applied a method described Aeson in LessonfromAeson.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

Conquest 1.29

I entered the Modern era (1788 AD... sounds like the tech pace on Conquest is much slower), and Carthage had the Apollo Program complete and was already complete on 3 SS components and was working on 6 of the others (I learned about espionage along the way too!) I figured I was toast.

Over the next 50 or so turns my learning curve went vertical. First I went into the Civopedia and read about what techs I had to have and made a plan on how to get there. (I know... something I should have done in 4000 BC, but better late than never.) I went for computers in 4 turns on deficit spending, and then rushed a research lab in every city. Free tech was Rocketry, so SF in 4 turns so I could get the Apollo Project done. I also figured out the pre-build concept that every one is always talking about. I also got out of deficit spending and started gathering a war chest for rushing. I started pre-builds whenever possible and was able to build Apollo the turn after I got SF. I then shifted three cities over to the first three components and strategic pre-builds in others.

The tech leader was Carthage and everyone else wasn't in the Modern Era yet. And Hannabline wouldn't sell any tech to me. (Can't blame her.) Atlantis came of age and sold me Ecology for Rocketry. Then X-man came to modern times and sold me Fission for Rocketry and SF.

I still don't have rubber and I'm figuring the Party Lounge [Edit: I think that is wrong, but I needed rubber somewhere] is going to be lacking. Nobody but Carthage has any to trade. Minoa (who I should have taken out a long time ago) has some outside of Knossos and I'm planning on a taking it by force.

Then two very strange things happen. First Carthage, is not researching towards the Laser. She has the other 9 components but doesn't have Nuke Power yet She's got Stealth and Miniturization, but no Nuke Power! If I can get some Rubber I've got a chance. I got a pre-build in place for the Lounge, a large army to take Knossos for the Rubber. Then with about two turns before the Laser, Carthage requests an audience and wants to trade me Rubber for Nuke Power and gpt! I can't believe it. I just hope she doesn't shift to the Laser and finish before me, or at least pray she doesn't do a pre-build (do AI's pre-build, or build from scratch?) Two turns later, the Laser comes in, and switch from Palace to the Lounge, and in 1902 AD, Greece launches for Alpha Centuri.

It doesn't sound like the AI plays towards a goal. Carthage had me whipped and didn't follow the right tech path.

It also doen't sound like the AI uses their spies very good. I know Hammy was caught about five times trying to plant a spy, but why Hannabaline handed me the win on a silver platter, I'll never know.

Anyway. This was a blast. I'll join everyone else with a hat's off to Cracker & team for a job well done. This game really moved my learning curve forward. I started my first Regent game yesterday and my play has improved greatly. Depending on the next GOTM, I may play Open.

 

[KELLO]

I haven't got all the data to hand at the moment. But right now I am gutted about Yurian beating me (shorthand man).... I think you beat me by 4 turns Yurian, good show!. As I launched in 1335 as far as I remember. Some others will also probably beat me this month on the launch speed, but I really thought I was in with a good shot.

The modern age in general was pretty boring for me, as like many of you, my tech rate and gpt deals with others made me pretty invincible. I wiped out the Russians in this age in about 3 or 4 turns just for the sake of score, and then sat back and waited for the 4 turns a tech to get me to the laser. I also had absolutely NO help from any of the AI on tech from Invention onwards... despite my best efforts to make the ones I thought were the best potential tech heads stronger (Even going as far as gifting cities and techs). To no avail... I ended up having to research every single key tech myself from the middle ages onwards.

Overall the game was really fun, and I think I really benefitted from concentrating on a final goal from the start. I learnt a number of good ways of speeding up the tech rate, and tried some other methods which I think would also work on higher levels.

Very much looking forward to a bit of raping and pillaging next month. It's gonna have to be domination or conquest next month though!