Strategy Challenge #9: Duke Nukem

[idiot_savant]

Welcome to the Challenge that spreads holiday cheer in the most merry way possible…

... by being the 1st civ to nuke an opponent.

In this challenge, we will play FDR. Like your predecessor, you will be in secret mastering fission in hopes of crushing your enemies. You can then prance off to the UN, and tell your fellows you didn’t really mean too and you had to do it before they did it to you!

Settings
Civ IV 1.61 Vanilla
Leader: FDR
Rivals: 8
Difficulty: Monarch
Map: Continents
Size: Standard
Speed: Normal
Barbarians: Off

Special Conditions
Renaissance start.

Victory Conditions
You must be first to launch a nuclear weapon against any opponent. Save game immediately after launch and post the save here along with notes of your strategy, etc.

Finish Date
January 7, 2007!

Below is the starting position and the saved game. Good luck!

 

[idiot_savant]

Official Scoreboard.

Jet -- 1850 AD.

 

[Killroyan]

Hehe, now this is a very nice challenge. Maybe when I have time this weekend I will look into this. Sounds like great fun especially since I haven't won a game on monarch yet and even haven't launched an ICBM in the whole game.

 

[Jet]

Spoiler :

I spent the first five games missing Liberalism and/or getting beaten up by our friendly neighborhood SOB. In the first three or four games I tried to REX to six cities, but gave up and decided three would be better. I eventually built two more to grab health resources, then one more for Oxford, but by then I had to start on the Manhattan Project instead of NYU (New York University).

It was pretty sweet that New York built both the Manhattan Project and Broadway, as well as being the Jewish holy city. Didn't have time for Wall Street, though.

Washington was commerce, New York was hammers, and Boston was food. All your food groups. I thought I'd adopt Caste System, but by the time it would have made a difference, Great People weren't paying off as much any more, so I never did.

Started with HR/Bureau/Serfdom/Merc/Pacifism. Adopted Judaism ASAP and switched to Free Religion ASAP. Eventually switched to Representation on a demand from Napoleon.

First builds were micromanaged to get to Liberalism.
Washington: Library/Barracks/Longbow/Longbow/... I had to focus Washington on growing pop so that it could work max cottages. Eventually it built Aqueduct etc.
Washington ran 2 scientists ASAP, then turned down to 1 after the first Scientist finished Education.
New York: Library/Settler/Worker/Worker/Barracks/Longbow/Longbow/...
Starting with Libraries was for the Mercantilism scientist. I tried Forge first in New York, but I think Library is better for more science.
Boston started Library/National Epic.

I think one could get to Liberalism a little faster by starting with more cottages rather than such extreme specialization. Similarly I don't think Boston needed max farms -- just enough to run 2 scientists, an engineer, and maybe a merchant would have sufficed. More cottages in Boston would have been better.

I'm not sure if it would have been better to skip the seafood-grabbing cities. I definitely didn't need Chicago. Maybe if I had been more careful about the whole thing I could have gotten Oxford, but it took the satellite cities a while to build their Universities.

Generally everybody stayed happy once I started tech trading, because I had a comfortable tech lead and traded on good terms. At first I was pretty aggressive about building units, then after the first few Grenadiers I slacked off. I was first to Chemistry by far. I didn't OB or trade resources much.

first scientist finishes Education
second scientist Academy in Washington
1280 Liberalism
third scientist speeds up Printing Press
1505 trade PP for Gunpowder and Economics
1605 Physics (first) scientist settled in Washington
1665 Chemistry for Nationalism and Replacable Parts
settle cheese city #6 and use GA for great work
1740 trade Sci Method for Constitution, Rifling, and 700
1745 give in to Representation demand from our pal
1750 Fission
1760 New York finishes Broadway, starts Manhattan Project (how fitting!)
trade spare Musicals for Dye, Wine, and about 20 GPT. Back to all happy in Representation.
Research Steel (can't trade for it).
Sci Method for Corporation
Physics for Military Tradition
OB with Julius; had it with Napoleon for a while. We're the Representation gang.
Saladin's pleased but doesn't really border.
GS Settled
1780 Steel
Physics for Steam Power
1806 Artillery
1818 Electricty for Railroad
1822 Rocketry
GS, Settled
1828 Manhattan Project
Electricity for Combustion
1844 Fascism. Revolt to Police State for pizzaz.
1850: THE BIG PAYBACK! Revenge! I need some GIT BACK!

 

[Killroyan]

So that is what a nuke looks like. Impressive kaboom I have to say And good job Jet 1850!!!!

 

[Syndrome Zed]

idiot_savant, I have to say I hate you now. I LOVED Duke 3D and was damned well ticked off when they screwed up the sequel. Now here you go and make me remember how much fun hearing Duke say "This sucks!", or shooting some alien in the bathroom, then actually flushing the toilet. Doom and Quake are fun, too, but there's something special about the humor in the Duke.

And YOU had to go make me all nostalgic and s**t!



Just for that I may have to accept your challenge this weekend - though I doubt I can beat Jet's accomplishment.

 

[Mr. Civtastic]

Im down. Whats the key to take a screen shot?

 

[idiot_savant]

Print Screen. It will save in your screenshot directory. You can just post the save as well if you like.

=======================

Duke was a great game... who needs these new fangled graphics...

I remember when we use to play on plastic joy thingies until your thumbs turned read... your eyes squinted so hard your cataracts couldn't harden but you were still blind anyway... and you soaked up so much radiation you were bald by 13... and WE LOVED IT!

 

[futurehermit]

iirc you have to do *shift*-print screen?

 

[Sparta]

AFAIK, Print Screen alone will give you a generic-named screenshot in the screenshots folder (Something like Screenshot00001.jpg), whereas Shift-Printscreen will give you the ability to name the file, which can be pretty handy (small tip: if you name each of them something like "Demo BC0825" or something, you can sort by name and have your pics catalogued and chronologically ordered). I still have yet to determine why one in ten seems to 'keep' the naming box in the shot - anyone know what triggers that?

Good idea for a challenge, idiot savant, although I have to echo Syndrome Zed's sentiments. Now I'm really missing flying over the stadium with a jetpack and freezing opponents before merrily stomping them into pieces ...

 

[Mr. Civtastic]

Thanks guys.

 

[futurehermit]

AFAIK, Print Screen alone will give you a generic-named screenshot in the screenshots folder (Something like Screenshot00001.jpg), whereas Shift-Printscreen will give you the ability to name the file, which can be pretty handy (small tip: if you name each of them something like "Demo BC0825" or something, you can sort by name and have your pics catalogued and chronologically ordered). I still have yet to determine why one in ten seems to 'keep' the naming box in the shot - anyone know what triggers that?

Good idea for a challenge, idiot savant, although I have to echo Syndrome Zed's sentiments. Now I'm really missing flying over the stadium with a jetpack and freezing opponents before merrily stomping them into pieces ...

hmm...ok, i will have to check this. i thought i hit print screen and got nothing in my screenshots folder. thks

 

[Syndrome Zed]

Well, couldn't find my vanilla CD and Warlords won't start the save, so no nukes for me. Ah well, I used to live in San Francisco and they seem to have some aversion to nukes there, so I guess it's just as well.

 

[Melon Head]

To open the save in warlords, you should be able to rename the extension. I think regular civ4 saves are a .civ4savegame extension, while warlords games are .civ4warlordssavegame or something similar. The format is the same. It doesn't work the other direction, of course, as some of the warlords information won't be there and the game will complain, but give it a try and see if it works.

 

[Syndrome Zed]

To open the save in warlords, you should be able to rename the extension. I think regular civ4 saves are a .civ4savegame extension, while warlords games are .civ4warlordssavegame or something similar. The format is the same. It doesn't work the other direction, of course, as some of the warlords information won't be there and the game will complain, but give it a try and see if it works.

Cool. I'll have some time this weekend, so maybe I'll get to nuke something after all.

 

[Cam_H]

Spoiler :

Without going into as much detail as Jet, I opted for the Caste System off the bat, and ran a lot of Specialist Scientists that gave me lightbulbing opportunities science: towards Education, Printing Press, and Fission) as well as three Academies.

Generally everybody stayed happy once I started tech trading, because I had a comfortable tech lead and traded on good terms.

This is what I also found - I gifted the A.I. a heap of technology just to keep them from declaring war; Education, Astronomy, and Printing Press were handed out to the tribes on my continent (Liberalism was secured before Education was gifted). Free Religion was a good start to improving relations, but I felt that gifts were very important. I am confident that this time (1826AD) is very beatable.

The save has one turn to run, with the inaugural ICBM ready to fire.