The "Al Gore" Challenge -- beeline the Internet!

[jerVL/kg]

1940AD: THE BATTLE FOR MYCEANE:

Artillery #1 takes down the last 10% of defense. Artillery #2 attacks, and withdraws successfully. Artillery #3 is not so lucky:





Next up...Bob!! Despite 67% odds, he wins easily:



Next up...hmm, odds are still pretty long. Better send the rookie:



Yep, he died. But at least he softened up the final defender enough for the last Artillery to take the city without a scratch:



That's what rookies are for, anyway. Hyceane is razed, and my Settler prepares to rebuild the city on the coast...you know, where Alex should've put it in the first place. The remaining SAMs advance into the forest, but don't attack yet, since Alex is also protected by forest and I need the Artillery to soften 'em up first.

THE BATTLE FOR ATHENS: First, all three Artillery suicide against the Infantry defenders:





SAMs attack, and easily take the city:







Athens is ours. I take a look at the city screen...hey, it's got an Academy! And a Factory! And a Coal Plant! And a bunch of other stuff!



That's pretty cool, I rarely take a city this intact.

Meanwhile, I've managed to Buddhafy every city in America, Russia, Greece, and Egypt, except the ones I'm having culture wars with. The only cities left are Huyana's (who still won't open borders) and the Mali homeland, where Mansa's got 3 religions in each city, so he'll be a tough nut to crack. Still -- worth a shot.

The Galleon-load of missionaries arrive in Gao, and the first one spreads religion on the first try. The second one...hey, I can airlift!



He catches a JetBlue flight to Bengal, to Buddhafy the new city once its built. The third missionary moves on to Awdaghost, and successfully spreads religion. Mo' money, mo' money!!!

The UN vote passes, with Mansa & Hatty voting against it. No change to my own economy, though.

 

[stratos_v2]

Just something that's been bothering me, but who is "Bob the SAM infantry"?
And did you shop the images or can you rename units?

For the rest i really dig your story telling and use of images
Can't wait till next episode

 

[jerVL/kg]

1941AD: Thanks to Alex helpfully building railroads everywhere, my wounded Artillery shell is able to attack Alex's battalion pinned down in the forest. He dies, and so does the second, but it soften's 'em up good:





My veteran Combat III SAM attacks -- odds are long at 47%, but he wins:



City Raider SAM takes out the Cavalry, and Medic SAM wipes out Alex's final rocket launcher:





There's a badly wounded catapult left, but I'm out of moves. (Mansa's Mech will crush it to splinters on the next turn.) Meanwhile, New Myceane is founded, where it should have been placed originally:





The airlifted missionary Buddhafies it, and I buy-rush a lighthouse without waiting for the 50% discount.

1942AD: Alex is down to only 5 cities now:



The Punjab oil looks secure, so I ship the extra workers out of Chittygong-gong, since they're no longer needed there.

What else? Oh yeah...that Internet thing. Totally forgot about it. Due in 12 turns!

1943AD: It's time to re-elect the UN Secretary General. What, another election? Stupid democracy. This time, I don't fool around and carefully vote for myself.

GW has another Dye plantation fixed, which he offers to me for Hit Singles.

Internet due in 11 turns!

1944AD: Once again, I'm Secretary General:



Things are quieting down, with no real military activity on any front that I can see. Keep buy-rushing stuff, including a Buddhist temple for New Myceane, where Mansa's cultural borders are already creeping in.

Internet due in 10 turns!



"Hey, Bill? Why are we building a library?"

"I don't know, Joe. I can't read. Can you?"

"No. Maybe we'll learn, when the library's built."

"Maybe. Is the radio working yet."

"Nope."

"That's too bad. (Sigh.) I wish I knew what was happening in the outside world. The whole planet could be at war, and we'd never know it."

"Yeah. I miss my dog, too."

"You mean Freckles? Didn't you hear? They had to have her put down, just after you shipped out."

"Really?? Man, I wish you hadn't told me. Now I'm all depressed."

"Oh. Sorry about that, Joe."

"That's okay. She was getting old."

 

[jerVL/kg]

1945AD: With all the distractions, I forgot to check on HC's army. Turns out it's grown substantially:



You know you're in trouble when the enemy's forces scroll off the screen. On the bright side, we're still winning the culture battle on Gem Island -- Ica stole a PEAK from Russia!



It's a worthless unusable tile, but hey -- land is land.

The Internet is due in 9 turns!

1946AD: I don't really care for any more of Alex's cities, so I go ahead and sign peace, while he's still got some money left:



I forgot to ask for a city, though. He probably wouldn't have given one.

Athens comes out of rebellion, and workers start rebuilding the mess GW made. Work boats sail out to reconnect the fish & clams.

Internet due in 8 turns!

1947AD: Another UN vote...I choose "Global Civic: Universal Suffrage", since that will at least prevent everyone from insisting that I adopt Hereditary Rule.

Internet due in 7 turns!

1948AD: The Universal Universal Suffrage vote passes by a thin margin, with only myself, Catherine, and GW voting yes, everyone else voting no.

Internet due in 6 turns!

1949AD: Herakleia falls to the American empire! Ephesus falls to the Malinese empire!





That Mali city's gonna be under serious cultural pressure, I sure hope Mansa knows what he's going. Meanwhile, Mansa helpfully builds lumbermills on tiles which New Myceane will one day overtake.



Internet due in 5 turns!

 

[jerVL/kg]

1950AD: Out of the blue, Huyana cancels the Fur trade. Turns out he's Furious with me again, thanks to attacking his friend Alex and all that.



The game helpfully reminds me that there's only 100 turns left. Ya really think it'll get that far?? I doubt it. Only 4 turns left on the Internet!

1951AD: GW completes SS Engine. Holy crap that's the Fusion piece! He's only got two parts left to build!!

Argos falls to the Americans. A pair of Navy SEALs advance on Pharsalos, the Greek capital-in-exile:





Can he really take the city with only two SEALs? I guess we'll find out...

The UN wants me to select another resolution. Hmm, not much left...Global Free Speech? Not while I'm running Bureaucracy, thank you. Free Religion? Fat lotta good that'll do me. Environmentalism? Haha, sheeya right. Might as well select the No Nukes Treaty -- we'll never get a chance to drop ICBM's like candy across the globe, as much as I'd like to.

Internet due in 3 turns!

1952AD: The No Nukes Treaty passes unanimously. GW continues to advance on Pharsalos.

Internet due in 2 turns!

1953AD: GW completes the final two Spaceship pieces, launches to Alpha Centauri, and...haha, just kidding.

THE INTERNET IS DUE NEXT TURN!!!! Take a deep breath, press "any" key, and start downloading warez...

 

[jerVL/kg]

1954AD: We are Globally Connected:





























The only techs left to research are Fusion & Genetics -- naturally, George has them both.

Well, that was fun. I've attached a pair of saves -- the first in 4000BC (before moving the settler), the second with one turn left on the 'Net.

But WAIT!! The game's not over yet....

 

[potatokiosk]

37 techs?

 

[jerVL/kg]

1954AD: Okay, first let's look at where the resources are. Turns out we do have Coal, but not on our main continent -- it's on Sugar Island!



There's a second source of Coal near New Corinth...where my worker just built a windmill. I'll have to have him fix that.

As for Aluminum...haha, check this out:





Looks like I took the right two cities.

We do have native Aluminum, on one of those barren, unworkable hills outside Bangalore. My worker heads out to connect it anyway:



Oh, and that mystery Russian mine? Just a mine. Nothing special there.

On the war front, GW captures Pharsalos. Sure enough, he only needs two SEALs to take the city:



American troops descend on Knossos, the final Greek city:



Mansa Musa completes the Space Elevator...probably to keep George from building it. I don't think Mansa even built the Apollo Program.

And now, take a look at my cities...WOW, stuff to build! Theatres! Courthouses! Universities! Factories! Airports! National Wonders! Gunships! Tanks! Battleships! Submarines!

I start building Factories in the high-production cities, Courthouses in the far-flung communities, Theatres in the towns under cultural pressure. Revolt to Free Speech/State Property/Organized Religion; City Maintenance drops a WHOPPING 200gp, and our science rate jumps from 50% to 80%.

Of course, it's all going through the motions at this point. Next turn, the most important UN vote comes up:



And in 1956AD, we are elected King of the World:

 

[jerVL/kg]

In conclusion...

Wow. That was the craziest, wildest, most nail-biting game of Civilization I've ever played. Really wasn't sure I was gonna make it, numerous times. Just goes to show you how important good diplomacy is.

Without a doubt, the most vital missing technologies were Agriculture and Animal Husbandry -- not just for the food bonuses, but for *trading* opportunities. I don't think this map would have been winnable at all, if I didn't "cheat" for them. However, on a more forgiving map (say, Grasslands/Highlands, or something Tropical with lots of Calendar resources) a true Internet beeline might be possible.

Courthouses were sorely missed. So were Factories, although I could've picked 'em up by using an alternate beeline. As for Theatres? Bah! Who needs 'em! Well...they would have come in handy towards the end, some of those culture battles were brutal.

As for Leader attributes -- Industrious helped, but not as much as I thought it would. Financial would have been much better, and so would Organized, to help with those brutal City Maintenance costs. Spiritual was helpful in securing an early religion and changing civics on the fly, but probably not necessary either. (Of course, on this map, founding Buddhism and spreading it far & wide was probably the game-winner -- the Holy Shrine was making over 100gpt, by the end.) I think a Financial/Organized or even Industrious/Organized leader would be more appropriate for this variant.

Is this a winning game strategy? Probably not...after all, by the time I got all those fancy techs, the game itself was over. You could make things easier by adding Code of Laws for the Courthouses, perhaps Literature for the Great Library, Economics & Education for more research & commerce civics...but at that point, you might as well play the game normally.

It's a fun experiment, though, and I'm definitely thinking of trying it again, with a better leader and less aggressive neighbors.

Thanks for reading, everyone!
















"So.....did we win?"

 

[whakojacko]

wow-crazy. I really like your presentation style btw. Less made up stories, and more screenshots and info to help us who are there to actually learn, not ot be entertained. I am very impressed you pulled this off. Ive yet to win any kind of regent.

 

[jerVL/kg]

Just something that's been bothering me, but who is "Bob the SAM infantry"?
And did you shop the images or can you rename units?

Bob is the axeman who retook Madras way back during Alex's first invasion. He's had quite a career since then.

You can click on the name of a unit to rename it. The photos have been edited for size & dimension, and in some cases extra troop info is added, but otherwise they are completely unchanged.

 

[tazpn314]

Well this was a very interesting read and congratulations on a hard fought win. You had such a horrible start I didn't think you would pull it out. I think I might try this challenge in my next game.

Here are a couple of things:

1. You can trade for any of the starting techs (for fairness as not all civs start with the same techs). Cannot research them but can trade for them. The downside being that those are eat into the final tally when you get the internet.
2. You must set your entire research path when first possible.
3. Extortion should not be allowed.
4. Maybe allow research to Unique Unit techs again for fairness but again if they are not on the primary path then that eats into your final tally.

 

[Yaype]

Great job! That was quite an entertaining story. Thanks for playing and sharing it with us.

 

[balthamael]

Fantastic Story, Much praise from me.

 

[efendi]

You mede it dude!

The sense of humor was probably the best thing that didn't make this report but a story - a great one.

I will stay tuned and waiting for the next story.(I hope that there WILL be one)

 

[jerVL/kg]

Well this was a very interesting read and congratulations on a hard fought win. You had such a horrible start I didn't think you would pull it out. I think I might try this challenge in my next game.

Yeah, this scenario really did bring all my Civ4 talents to bear -- it would have been a challenging map, even if I played it normally. I was also reminded why I always play with Space Race turned OFF.

The nice thing about the beeline is that it does go through several useful science/commerce techs (Writing / Banking / Astronomy / Computers) and you wind up getting Rifles & Grenadiers long before everyone else. Another interesting thing was skipping all the National Wonders -- they would've been useful to have, of course, but it did save me from the dilemma of wondering, "Ok where do I put National Epic - Oxford - Wall Street - GAAH! I can't decide!"

An ideal leader for this challenge might be Asoka -- Spiritual to catch Buddism early (it's the ONLY religion available on the beeline!) and Organized for those hideous city maintenance costs Mansa Musa (Spiritual/Financial) would be a good choice, too. You can also try the Oracle/Pyramids trick -- beeline Oracle, take Metal Casting, build a Forge to pop a Great Engineer & rush the Pyramids.

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

What a challenge it was! A splendid job if ever I saw one!

This truly is an epic tale, but one question still remains: does beelining the Internet make the wonder any more effective? It did appear quite the hassle to complete it within the game limit, and by then the rewards had become marginal.

Conflicts aside, this is a challenge worthy of everyone and anyone!


And as a footnote, kudos should go out to Bob, who managed to survive the entire game.

 

[Garand]

I started reading this challenge journal last night and didn't want to stop... unfortunately life got in the way but I was able to finish it this morning. It was a very enjoyable read, with good presentation and lots of drama... and you succeeded! This also gave me an idea for my own challenge (though someone has probably done it before).

A long time ago playing Civ III, I decided to try to play the game as a backwards civilization and see how long I could last. I took the Aztecs, set research to absolute minimum and went with it. While I never finished the game, I managed to last well into the mid-AD's without being threatened, and was actually a cultural and financial powerhouse for some time. So now, I want to try it in Civ IV and keep a photo journal like yours to catch all the action and chart my progress. I think I'll start such a game tonight. Hopefully I'll post my first updates within a couple of days.

 

[bovinespy]

I just found this thread today, and WOW - what a read! After it's all said and done, two things appear abundantly clear to me:

1. You really know how to write an entertaining and, many times, very funny Civ Tale. The pics were also great, but the writing was top-notch. I hope you write some more of these.

2. The Internet is probably the most useless Wonder in the game.

 

[ArneHD]

2. The Internet is probably the most useless Wonder in the game.

I would have to disagree, although it can be useless, it can be very useful if you are a production power house, but a bit backwards technologically.