T100 Science Victory Attempt: Norway

[Minou]

T71: Made the mistake of ending the turn with negative gold again, losing the Archer outside Flip City which is a real pain as it will cost at least one pillage. The main domestic event is completion of Kilwa!

We also complete a Harbor in the capital and buy a University there for the Printing boost.

The good news is that our Berserkers roll well against Ephesus and we should break through despite the walls next turn. The bad news is that a rebel Man at Arms moved into Sparta spiking the city defense CP and causing us to fall short of taking the city by 18HP.


Pillaging yeilds:

Flip University
94c, 148f
99c, 331g

Egypt (two cities)
94s, 318g
94s, 318g
94s, 318g
94s, 318g
94s, 324g
96s, 324g
165f

Boosts: Cartography, Buttress, Printing

Techs: Buttress, Printing

 

[Minou]

T72: Buda is no down to -6 from Unhappiness, so all of our current Flip cities should revolt every two turns.

The Berserkers take Ephesus, a huge breakthrough as the city can be surrounded by more than a dozen mines. The city is at 3 pop, so we have 5 turns to churn out Pillagers and Builders before we get it into the rotation.


Three cities to pillage this turn

FLIP CITY
99s, 331g
99s, 331g
99s, 331g
105c, 175f
105c, 175f
It takes a Pikeman and 2 Chariots to re-take the city as enemy CP is climbing. One Knight upgrade will help a lot, since that will free the other Chariot to pillage and the Knight itself can pillage a tile next to the city and then attack.

BUDA
103s, 345g
103s, 345g
105s, 351g
105s, 351g
105c, 175f

UTRETCH
105c, 145f
105c, 175f

EGYPT
A natural (not from flip cities) 105s, 351g, 175c

The cash goes to some Trebuchets for the ST boost as well as prepping for when Urban Defenses go up, plus a Barracks in Minou Town just so we can stash a citizen there to keep the city at 1 pop. Finally, we can upgrade three Swords and 1 Warrior into Berserkers to pillage in Sumeria.

Boosts: Siege Tactics

Techs: Cartography

Civics: Humanism (no boost)

 

[Minou]

T73: Another case of clicking End Turn too soon - forgot to swap out Gothic Architecture and back into Serfdom once we finished Kilwa. Oh well, it won't cost more than a few Builder chargers and we have so much faith they are basically free.

Between turns, Greece steals Buenos Aires, which is a a pain because it swipes away three Swords that were actuvely pillaging as well as a Settler on the way to found a chop-city for the Space Race.


Just 1 city flips in Egypt, but Shedet is a juicy 5 mine + 1 pasture spot. One funny occurrence is triggered by this - since the city has the Pyramids, my one-charge Builder in Ephesus instantly dies upon losing his free charge! Given this scenario we'd be better off if we never captured it while taking the city, as the presence of the Builder also blocked us from buying one in that city.

SHEDET
105s, 351
105c, 315fg
105s, 351g
105s, 351g
105s, 351g
105s, 351g

Cash goes to a Lumber Mill for MP boost, a bunch of cheap Warriors for pillaging, and some Knight and Cuir upgrades.

Boosts: Mass Production

 

[Minou]

T74: Biggest Pillage turn of game, SIX cities flip (all three former Khmer cities, Buda, Nekhen, and Utretch). I set Mass Production to complete at the start of the turn since it was within one, to minimize lost overflow. This is the opposite of what makes sense in many games, but we still only have 27.9 spt and pillages are worth over 100s.

Checking the timing of our levied Berskers, they will expire the same turn Ephesus revolts. To avoid this bad timing, we can send Liang to hold the city an extra turn so our levies don't get teleported away.

FLIP CITY
106s, 358g
106s, 358g
111s, 372g
112c, 189f
112c, 189f
112c, 189f

NEKHEN
111s, 372g
111s, 372g
111s, 372g

FLIP VILLAGE
112s, 378g
112s, 378g
112c, 189f
112c, 189f
112s, 378g

BUDA
112c, 189f
112s, 378g
112s, 378g
112s, 378g
112s, 378g

UTRETCH

112c, 189f
112c, 189f
112c, 189f
378g

That's well over 1000 science + culture, and about 5000g!

Cash goes towards an Armory, Military Engineer, Crossbow and four Musket upgrades. We also have enough faith for a random Great Merchant and Great Prophet just for the boosts.

As noted earlier, Gilgamesh is gaining all of our pillage yields despite not being Allied, due to a bug. He has a ridiculous 14,393g and seems to be going on random splurges for example buying up all the Great Admirals. This bug is probably going to be a net negative for us as Gilgamesh will end up being able to field the same era units as we have (and buy them for gold if he wants) making conquering Sumeria way harder than it otherwise would have been. On the other hand, if he buys enough Great Engineers, maybe he could help us get Da Vinci?

Boosts: Gunpowder, Mercantilism, Metal Casting

Techs: Mass Production, Gunpowder, Military Science, Metal Casting

Civics: Diplomatic Service (no boost)

 

[Airey]

Thanks for writing this up!
It's a pretty good strategy.

 

[Minou]

T75:



One more CS met this turn, Mohnejo-Daro who is a vassal of Egypt.

We can complete Metal Casting at any time but its better to wait so Trebs don't go obsolete yet. Much cheaper to buy and upgrade these into Artillery which will be needed when Urban Defenses go up.

Sumeria is continuing to benefit from the pillage bug and buys two Great Merchants and a Cavalry this turn. Not sure there is any rhyme or reason to how an AI spends a mountain of gold. We have enough gold to buy Isidore, but due to a misclick purchase of a Knight, not enough for Imotep. Ouch. It will be a bummer if Sumeria buys them between turns....

On the plus side, we can declare a joint war on Vietnam with Gilgamesh so maybe we will get a little shared pillage from them?

One dumb mistake this turn - I accidentally completed Metal Casting while pillaging, obsoleting Trebuchets which will make it impossible to get the boost for building two. But, as it turns out there is a loophole. As long as we get under 20 Niter, the game will grey out Bombards and let us buy Trebuchet (much like the Knight/Chariot loophole)

A captured Settler on the new continent founds Sevenchopolis (named for having 6 forests and a stone to chop) which will attempt to chop out a CH and Bank for boosts.


Pillage report:

SPARTA
112s, 378g
115c, 192f
115c, 192f
118s, 399g
118s, 399g
118s, 399g

Sparta will take 3 to flip again due to increasing pop in our icy space city, even though it is so far away.

SHEDET
118s, 399g
118s, 399g
118s, 399g
118s, 399g
118s, 399g

Boosts: Scientific Theory
Techs: Metal Casting, Scientific Theory

Civics: Mercantilism, Enlightenment

 

[Minou]

T76: The Era Clock countdown starts. Thank goodness, Sumeria left Imotep for us to claim as well. Four cities flip, I was expecting 5 based on the loyalty meters but somehow Buda is still ours and shows 0 loyalty - I am not sure if the city has a fractional loyalty point left not shown by the interface, or maybe an exact 0 doesn't count for a flip?

We can use some of the pillage gold to levy Mohenjo Daro, buy a WS in the capital, and upgrade a Caraval.

Magnus arrives in Minou Valley and chops in the Government Plaza (waayyyy late) and the Audience Chamber - truly a rare choice but perfect for a pillage game as he -3 loyalty will actually help a few cities flip in 2 instead of 3 turns.

Annoyingly, our levied Musket from Granada seems to have deleted itself when the levy expired. Not sure if the CS didn't have enough gold to pay the upkeep or what....

Pingula gains the Grants promotion and we can slot in the Raj card. These provide great value but pale in comparison to the income from pillaging.

Pillage yields:

NEKEN
118s, 399g
118s, 399g
118s, 399g
121c, 202f

FLIP VILLAGE
118s, 399g
118s, 399g
118s, 399g
121c, 202f
121c, 202f

FLIP CITY
118s, 405g
121s, 405g
121c, 202f
121c, 202f
121c, 202f

FLIP UNIVERSITY
121c, 202f
121c, 202f
121c, 202f

UTRETCH
405g
121c, 202f
121c, 202f
121c, 202f


Boosts: Civil Engineering

Techs: Sanitation (no boost)

Civics: Colonialism

 

[Minou]

T77: Time to go to war with Sumeria and back to way with Hungary. One of our Muskets takes an empty city which triggers the Square Rigging even though no unit was inside.


Sumeria buys GS Omar.

Domestically, Imotep gets the Mausoleum to within one turn of finishing (forgot to slot Skyscrapers first)
A second fort boosts Ballistics. We also chop in the Grand Masters Chapel - stupidly, AFTER finishing up pillaging the flipped cities for the turn. One of the minor mistakes I made this game was not pushing the Government Plaza out faster, sine the extra faith from GMC is pretty impressive with city flipping.

We can also chop another IZ in Minou Valley with Magnus still on hand and then purchase the Workshop. With all the chopping done here, Magnus heads over to Sevenchopolis.

Just two cities flip, but they are very juicy:

SHEDET
121s, 405g
121s, 405g
121s, 405g
121s, 405g
121s, 418g

BUDA
124s, 418g
124s, 418g
124s, 418g
124s, 418g
124s, 418g
124c, 208f
A major mistake here - I pillaged with the Caraval thinking it would cost 3MP and allow the ship to also attack and take back the city, but coastal raids use all movement points so this will slow the next flip by a turn.

Additionally, we get some "natural" pillage from war:
208c, 30f
418g, 15f
(plus two captured Builders)

Boosts: Ballistics, Square Rigging

Techs: Ballistics, Square Rigging

 

[Bangau]

Thanks for the write-up! Hope you'll finish this run, am very curious if the sub 100 will be won.

 

[Minou]

Well, I realize it has been a very long time but I wanted to report I did complete a T98 win. Sadly I no longer have my screenshot files but here is hot the last 20 turns went:


T78: Industrialization and Mausoleum complete. I use Imotep to one-shot the Great Library, though annoyingly Sumeria purchased a GS between turns so I lose out on a free tech. 6 cities flip, best payout of the game so far.

One mistake - I lost the chance to boost Nationalism shot by not denouncing before declaring this turn.

Here is the total haul of pillaging, I will stop writing it all out from this point but this really shows how strong Norway is:

Random non-flip cities:
129s+432g+45f
222f+30f

NEHKEN
129s+432g+30f
129s+432g+30f
129s+432g+30f
129s+432g+30f

SPAIN
129s+432g+30f
129s+432g+30f
130s, 439g, 30f
130s, 439g, 30f
130s, 439g, 30f
130s, 439g, 30f
130s, 439g, 30f
133c, 222f, 30f
133c, 222f, 30f

FLIP CITY
130s, 439g, 30f
130s, 439g, 30f
130s, 439g, 30f
133c, 222f
133c, 222f, 30f
133c, 222f, 30f
133c, 222f, 30f

FLIP VILLAGE
133s, 445g, 30f
133s, 445g, 30f
133s, 445g, 30f
133s, 445g, 30f
133c, 222f, 30f
133c, 222f, 30f
133c, 222f, 30f


FLIP UNIVERSITY
133c, 222f, 30f


SUMERIA (not flipped cities)
133c, 222f, 30f
133c, 222f, 30f
133s, 15f
222s, 30f
133c, 222f, 30f

HUNGARY
222f+30f

UTRETCH
133c, 222f, 30f
133c, 222f, 30f
445g, 15f

All this lets me buy two Shipyards to boost and complete Steam Power and buy two Privateers to boost and complete Electricity. The culture completes Civil Engineering and Nationalism giving a GT to promote Reyna and buy Theater Square, Amphitheater, Archaeology Museum (boosting and completing Natural History) and Archaeologist.

I use a little trick to slot both Public Works and Serfdom at the same time after completing Civil Engineering in turn, and stockpile a bunch of 8 charge builders with pillage faith.


T79: Only one city flips this turn so I "only" get 3200g pillaging, but Gilgamesh buys a GS triggering Great Library to award Economics boost. Archeologist completes Combustion.

T80: Economics completes naturally at the start of the turn from the laughable natural science output of 38.1spt.

Six cities flip, and I use the same trick to complete Scorched Earth in-turn and slot Raid and Total War simultaneously. This brings pillages up to 194s and 664g each!

Third Line Infantry, Replaceable parts boosted, Radio completed, Nanotechnology boosted.


T82: Rocketry completed and I can buy the first Spaceport with Reyna.

 

[Minou]

T83: The base power of some cities is getting very high and I need to upgrade Artillery to keep re-taking them the turn that they flip. Also need to buy some Settlers to keep Loyalty pressure high enough for quick lips.

T84: Tons more pillaging, buy 2 Broadcast Towers boosting Satellites than pillage to complete it. Pillage in Synthetic Materials and several Civics. First Spy added to protect agains the remote possibility of a Spaceport being sabotaged.

T85: Found three space cities in forested areas: Minou Moonbase near Utrecht with Reyna, Minou Exobase in the south with Moksha on the way and Minou Laser Base also in south with Liang. I a probably 2-3 Helicopters short on being able to pillage all the non-flip city tiles on the map but it won't matter.

T86: Medieval Era begins, this is an inconvenience because Builders all lose 2 moves for the turn and multiple AIs falling into Dark Age makes their cities harder to flip. Swap into Communism government and start building Royal Society. I accidentally wasted one of the forest set aside for the building so it will take 3 turns to build it. Actually, by mining Iron and sending a 6th envoy to Buenos Aires I can get up to 59.7htp in Minou Valley and chop it in 2 turns.

T87: The Sumeria gold bug helps me again as they buy another GS and Great Library boosts Nuclear Fission! At this stage Tanks can one-shot most flip cities to take then back and spare units are roving the map pillaging City States. A few Privateers are pillaging afar too.

We have 8 turns to complete the tech tree and get the Exoplanet Mission launched, but we are down to 7 flip cities and some are floundering. On the plus side we do still have Oxford left and a bunch of huts that could have boosts.

T88: Once again, crazy Sumeria buys a GS using the gold they are gaining from the bug. Great Library awards Stealth boost. I go head and take Galileo myself. A chop completes Royal Society. Only two flips this turn but some decent work by privateers.

Due to my bad planning, the Earth Satellite is only at 195/900. Wood chipping a builder using the Royal Society adds 134h. Looks like I will end up 72h short of getting the Satellite done in 3 turns.

T89: For the first time in a while, I actually lose a unit - a Cavalry. A meteor shower hits some ruins, pretty cool animation and a free Modern Armor. Only three flips this turn but that still over 3000s. After pillaging in Cybernetics and Nuclear Fusion, its time to roll the dice and chop in Oxford......and for what feels like the 100th time I get Stealth and Telecommunications. That's a bummer as they are literally the only two techs on the tech tree we do NOT need to finish the space race.

I pop some huts hopping for a good boost or even a free tech but come up with Builder, 20 uranium, and 75g.

T90: Sumeria strikes yet again buying another GS and giving the Guidance Systems boost. The Governors arrive at their targets this turn. Casa completes as well but the titles aren't actually needed.

Moksha buys a Spaceport and Harbor/Seaport in Minou Exobase. Magnus replaces her.
Reyna Buys a Spaceport and Encampment/Military Aacademy in Minou Moonbase. Pingula replaces her.

Pillaging completes Guidance Systems and Smart Materials.

 

[Minou]

T91: Pop the last 2 huts, gaining 1 pop and 20f. Only one city flips, so not a big turn for science. Galileo at least can provide 1000s to complete Seasteads.

T92: Sumeria buys two random Great Generals as the Great Scientists are getting too expensive for them.

Earth Satellite launched - way too late because of my poor planning of the Royal Society. Start grinding Builders into Moon Landing progress with Royal Society.

Pillage yields over 4500s and about 2500c, completing Globalizatio, Robotics, and Predictive Systems. I actually only reached 100spt of "natural" science this turn thanks to the +5% per vassal policy card. The 15,000 extra gold is enough to buy Darwin.


T93: Pillage in Advanced AI and score 1000s from Darwin (could have gotten more but no time to move him to a better wonder. Offworld Mission complete.


T94: Final cycle of flipping, four cities flip. Future Tech 1 complete.

T95: Pillage in Future Tech 2 for boost to projects.

Pingula chops are worth 339h (196h + 15% Hong Kong bonus +10% Future Tech bonus + 155 Integrated Space Cell bonus + 30% Pingula bonus). Moon Landing chopped! Start chopping Mars with Overflow - 4 more forests completes it.

The first 8-charge Builder is then ground up for 484h towards Exoplanet Mission. The rest is chopped in and I have enough forests lying around for several Lasers.

T96: Spaceship travels 12LY. I can buy more Spaceports with Reyna and Moksha and chop 7 more lasers.

T97: Spaceship has now gone 31LY, chop two more Lasers.

T98: Victory!