The Vox Populi Challenge No. 3 - Prepare the World cup

[Grabbl]

Dear friends of Vox Populi!

UPDATE: The submission deadline is over, results are in the second post. With the next version, the fourth challenge will start, don't miss it!

Welcome to the second edition of the Vox Populi Challenge! No matter if you know it already or not, keep on reading and participate!

​

Saint Petersburg, Russia, around 1763. A magnificient bedroom, in the bed empress Catherine II and her lover, Grigory Orlov.

Orlov: My dear, I'm so excited! Can you believe it those corrupt FIFA bosses gave the football world cup? It's a pity for that diamond, but well...

Catherine: Honey bunny, what are you talking about? Football? Leave that for those american brutes!

Orlov: No, not that football, the real kind... My dear, don't say that you forgot the world cup just because of that war against the pitiful ottomans! They're not even qualified...

Catherine: Oh, come on, honey bunny, you know that I'm not interested in sports where nobody dies...

Orlov: I can't believe it! You know that I'm a real fan and I really want this world cup! I mean... I even have cards for the opening game! (starts crying)

Catherine: Stop crying, you're a man after all. Don't worry, I'm sure somebody will manage to prepare everything... Do you really want to waste this precious moment with me in the bed alone?

(The curtain drops)

I beg your pardon for the cruelty of putting you through this result of my overflowing creativity, but the problem is real: Russia has to host a world cup in a few weeks and nothing is prepared! Well, not yet... because that's your job. The challenge you'll playing now is perhaps a bit less diverse than the last two, but I don't doubt you'll have an amusing game. First, make sure you have version 5-20 of Vox Populi installed, with all hotfixes (5-20-3 it is as I write this.

Before we go into details, please make sure you know the rules. Especially, don't share ingame information unspoilered, not even the number of points you achieved. I don't want anyone to be discouraged by your large amount of great works, or to know prior to his game what number he has to beat. In spoilers, you are very welcome to describe your game, of course

Spoiler Game Rules :

1) The Golden Rule: Don't replay, don't reload, send in your first try! It is recommended to set your auto-save frequency to 1 turn for this game. If you have a crash that forces you to replay, write it in the mail afterwards and try replaying as closest as possible to what you did before the crash.

2) Don't exploit any bugs you may find. At the moment, I'm not aware of any exploitable bugs, but just in case, don't overuse obviously bugged mechanics (like the infinite tribute-bug a few patches ago).

3) Don't share ingame-information unspoilered! If you want to share strategies or ingame information in this thread, use spoilers and write "Do not open unless you already sent in your game." on top of it. A separate thread for spoilers would be good, but I don't want to spam the main forum for this pilot.

4) Don't look at spoilers if you didn't finish your game!

5) Don't use cheat tools (Ingame Editor, Info Addict...) and don't open the map in some editor or else.

6) Don't use any additional mods besides full Vox Populi (1 to 6, either EUI or non-EUI) as I'm not sure whether I will be able to open your savegame files if you do.

Now, the details of the challenge (or: how to prepare a world cup):

As fast as you can, possede four cities where each of them has the following buildings:

- Stadium (obviously)
- Hotel (for all the visitors)
- Broadcast Tower (for... you guessed it, broadcasting)
- Train Station OR Sea Port OR Airport (how are the people supposed to get there?)

In addition to that, make sure that no civ is eliminated when you hand in your save. (well, for a world cup, you need at least 8 players, don't you?)

The challenge can be done on difficulty 4 (Prince) or 7 (Immortal). The goals and settings are the same for both challenges, the map and (possibly) other civilizations are different. You may play (and send in) one or both challenges as you don't gain in-game information for the other challenge.

A few notes for who is interested in them: The challenge is both relatively long and requires a quiet "general" game strategy. If that doesn't feel appealing to you, I apologize, I try to mix the challenges up a bit in terms of "specialization" and length. And, if you didn't try it, the performance improvements of the current version are truly amazing (at least for me). I hope the settings guarantee an interesting game! Be prepared for a little surprise on one of the two difficulties

Also, the map is a only-land one, but nevertheless very crowded. Don't expect much space or much time to expand (especially on Immortal)... and don't expect your neighbours to be peaceful!

And one last info (you might guess it if you play one difficulty first and then the other): All civs are qualified for the oncoming world cup, or parts of their core territory is / was in the borders of a nation that is qualified. So, no Rome and Netherlands for you

Submission deadline is Thursday, the 7th of June, 6pm Eastern Time (midnight in Central European Time). You can submit by personal message to me, posting your save in this thread, or sending it to vox-populi-challenge@gmx.net. Don't forget to write the name under which you want to appear in the ranking if sending by e-mail!

Spoiler Game Settings :

• Map: Lakes, Small
• 8 players, 5 city states on Immortal, 6 on Prince
• Research Agreements, No Tech Trading
• No Ancient Ruins
• No Events

If something is not clear, read the following spoiler, then ask a question if still unclear:

Spoiler Challenge Specifications :

• It does not matter how you got the buildings, the only important thing is that they are in four of your cities.
• For a valid save, 8 players need to be alive (read that as: 8 major civs control at least one city). It doesn't matter in which state (last city at 0 HP, just resurrected, war etc.)
• The deadline is the 7th of June because the people need another week for preparing for the world cup (buying beer vodka and barbecue stuff, for example)

This challenge is the third of a season of 12 challenges. After the submission deadline, I will rank all participants (divided by difficulty level) and you will get 15/13/11/10/9/8/7/6/5/4/3/2/1/1/1/... points for the 1st/2nd/3rd... rank. At the end of the season, your best 10 results will count for the final ranking.

The winners of the season (one for Prince, one for Immortal) will be granted the opportunity to become a part of the game as a Great Person of their choice (Prophets excluded). Thanks to Gazebo for this contribution to the challenge!

Now... download the save for your difficulty, make sure you have Vox Populi version 5-20 and you're ready to go!

 

[Grabbl]

The submission date has passed, here are the results:

Unfortunately, void_genesis forgot to revive Poland (an oversight, probably) and unfortunately, I forgot to specify a tie breaker which you promptly punished by having a tie on the first place. Merill and Diverman therefore will both get 14 points in the scoreboard (the points for first and second place are divided evenly among them).

As expected, the challenge turned out to be both a tech/production race for the buildings, but also required to prevent civs from being eliminated or, more often, required to revive them. This extremely cramped map was probably not your usual setting, but I'm happy that we have a decent number of results in the end. Look forward to the next challenge!


In the scoreboard, Diverman now leads the field (partly thanks to the non-participation of Rean... let's see how it will look in the end with the worst results eliminated...) for the prince players while Peterw1987 takes the lead on Immortal, being the only one with two succesful participations. Congratulations and thanks to all the participants!

 

[void_genesis]

I am not 100% sure what you mean by this: "All civs are qualified for the oncoming world cup, or parts of their core territory is / was in the borders of a nation that is qualified". Does this mean vassals count as the civ not being eliminated?

 

[Grabbl]

That means nothing ingame, just that the civilizations I chose as your AI enemies are in real life qualified for the World cup that starts in Russia in three weeks. For example, The Netherlands are not qualified for the World cup, so you can be sure that they aren't in this challenge game.

So, this has nothing to do with the challenge goal. But nevertheless, civs that are vassal of somebody count as not eliminated, so vassalize as much as you like.

 

[Moi Magnus]

I don't see any bonus point for having the Olympic Village (from the international games resolution).
Did you forget it or willingly chose not to ask for it? (maybe too restrictive on the strategies you can use to have it?)

 

[Grabbl]

To be honest, I didn't think of it.

But I also think it's better without, given that radio is probably the third last tech you will research and that combining bonus points with "who is fastest" can be a bit complicated to balance, so I'd like to avoid it.

 

[a1nosweat]

So I took on Prince - the easy option

Spoiler :

An was annihilated. France was running ahead on science, and had wiped out Korea, and looked set to wipe out some others, so I had to attack.

Carpet of Musketeers whooped me. Has Prince gotten harder or did my peaceful trad strategy just mean I didn't keep up?

 

[void_genesis]

Here is my attempt. A rainy weekend gave me an excuse to stay inside and finish it off.

Spoiler Spoiler :

I quickly settled three cities to get the lapis monopoly to the south of moscow that I settled in place from memory. East India company on the whales gave me a useful science boost monopoly. I picked god of the expanse and took the authority and tradition policies to maximise border expansion, giving me a ten tech lead at one point. I built up an army and took out the three nearby CS, getting Kiev first since its NW gave a production boost I would need later. I did a lot of tribute demanding, keeping my economy healthy. I then variously got into wars with egypt (eventually took two cities), poland (took one city) and morocco (just pillaged him as much as possible). France was a run away and crushed korea and sweden. I pushed east through egypt after a war with them rather than west through all that french territory. People didnt hate me so much after liberating the two civs crushed by france. I only completed rationalism after dabbling in fealty. The final WLTK day border expansion policy came too late to be useful. I did stack WLTK day bonuses in the capital and had it continuously through most of the early and mid game. I suffered moderate unhappiness and gold issues mid game, probably from not focusing on any one early policy tree enough to get happiness policies. Finally ended in 1965, turn 385. I thought it would take longer with no coal on the map but luckily got slater mill for coal to allow train stations.

 

[Grabbl]

Spoiler Don't open unless you already sent in your game :

France never lets me down in terms of aggressive playing, I feel

 

[Diverman]

I finally found the time to do this one.

Spoiler :

Not an easy one, and I didn't expect that. Really good start, vassalized Poland really fast, but by Renaissance, France, Korea, Morocco and Sweden declared war at me non stop. My egyptian ally lost his last city 10 turns before stadiums and I almost gave up, but I decided to continue anyway and managed to liberate 1 city and finished turn 333. I thought Great Leap Forward was a tier 1 tenet and was counting on those 2 techs to reach Refrigeration faster but I've been screwed. I was expecting a quiet science game but it was closer to World War III But a fun game overall. Thanks Grabbl!

 

[nemoens]

A Prince submission, will have a go on Emperor too if I get time

Spoiler :

tl;dr: turn 374

That was a fair bit harder than I was expecting. Got off to a great start, grabbing the Natural Wonder and getting four cities out early after realising how cramped the map was going to be. Ended up getting Kiev a bit later after it was sacked by Barbarians too, couldn't resist the second natural wonder, and was an early runaway thanks to the Russian civ science ability + God of the Expanse.

Mid-game, this got much harder as Poland conquered Korea, meaning that I had to liberate them and Casimir leapt to the top of the standings and, between him and Napoleon, spent the rest of the game alternating invasions of my territory and disrupting my attempts to stockpile science and production.

Got there in the end after liberating Seoul, grabbing Great Leap Forwards and refining enough coal to allow my train stations. A couple of build order mistakes probably cost me 5-10 turns, but I think that's a reasonable effort even if it's already clearly not a winning one.

Also, pending World Congress vote for World Religion: Football must be worth a bonus point or two?

 

[Vortok]

Prince.

Spoiler :

Turn 368.

Cities are Moscow, St. Petersburg (forgot the Hotel and wasted a few turns after Stadiums. It was the last Stadium, too. -.-), Novgorod, and Lyon (it has a Seaport - others have Train Stations).

Got distracted by other games + multiple wars at once was annoying me for awhile so took a bit to finish. Just not a super warmonger by nature, but whatevs. I suspected the map would be very Coal light, but suppose I should've expected the complete removal. Slater Mill + Statescraft took care of things. Built a Coal Factory for some Factories, as well, though it was more of a secondary thing that wasn't prioritized.

I found the map interesting. No real ocean to speak of was a neat change of pace. A bit cramped for my liking, but this obviously wasn't the default number of civs.

Sweden got stomped by Egypt, but also had a city just southeast of Kiev for me to liberate. France was in a losing situation with Poland after I took Lyon from France, losing Troyes and being on 2 cities for awhile. The various friendship/denounce circlejerks later had me friends with France and Spain (and Sweden, post being liberated back to the snow city) while the others made their own Super Friends Squad. I made the mistake near the end of the game of liberating Troyes back to France as I didn't think the meager science would matter.

France declared war on Poland the next turn and lost Troyes within 3 or so. Moron. Then he lost Paris and was losing Orleans, his last city, so I had to declare war to scare off Poland + Egypt before he lost his last city and made me liberate it as well, right at the end.

If somebody on the other side of the world had been eradicated I probably would've just quit as I really wasn't in the mood for a massive warpath game. Fortunately Spain didn't suck as much as Sweden or France.

 

[merill]

prince

Spoiler :

I first tried the immortal version but i got my ass kicked by the inca and france. I shouldn't have been so confident. The civ placement wasn't as nice as the previous one... i missed the water.

So here the prince version . I was a bit surprised on how it'd quick to research when i completed the rationalism branch (scientist bulb spam).
I didn't have enough gold to rush the stadiums...

I wanted to give paris back to france but the turn before, he has been vassalised...

turn 333.

savegame: https://mega.nz/#!Z550RTjS!rbs3PCPo6U6uLC2lE54isk0HO8lUwet1WW4eQ9RiZbU

 

[Stalker0]

Just wanted to say I really like reading up on the challenge entries, I probably will try them out one day

 

[peterw1987]

Spoiler Immortal Challenge :

Finish turn 280

This maybe will be my last challenge, because my wife will give birth soon .
This challenge is less fun than austria and japan challenge. But it is still fun nevertheless.

Policy : Progress, Fealty, Rationalism, Order
Religion : Wisdom, Holy Law(bonus each policy unlock), Inspiration (culture/follower), Dilligence (production), zealotry, and I get my reformation ASAP(bonus yield as congress host and each time passed proposal)
This religion combo works extremely well.
Wonders : I focused on Science,Culture,and Religion wonder. I managed to build a lot of wonders. Great Library,Parthenon,Oracle,Petra(just for CS quest), Forbiden Palace, globe theater, ufizzi, Hagia Sophia, Borobudur, Pisa, Porcelain Tower, Eiffel, Empire State Building.

Firstly, I settle on lapis (for faster culture which progress need early, and quarry on lapis is lame anyway), but I dont expect bonus oasis next to it.
Early start, I quickly settle to grab that old faithful ASAP.. 3rd city next to mountain bordering Inca, and 4th city to lake above my capital.
Not sure why, I am very lucky not to have any war until very late industrial/information era. Everything going very smooth. All the other civs are fighting against each other.
1.Brazil vs Mexico aka Inca (draw result) - war is going nowhere. no city lost even thou they are warring for quite a long time
2.Sweden vs France (draw result also), war is going nowhere. no city lost even thou they are warring for quite a long time
3.Egypt vs Iran aka Persia (Egypt got beaten real hard). Just a few turn, and all Egypt cities and capital are falling one by one to Darius' hand.
4.Morocco left should be facing me, but Ahmad decided to challenge France instead-- war is going nowhere also. no city lost even thou they are warring for quite a long time
5.While I, as Russia is just happily watching the matches as spectators and referee (as congress host and controlling all the rules(proposal))

My strategy is focusing on building production > culture bonus > border expanse > science bonus. I quickly built and work all writer,artist,and musician guild. I highly value culture rather than science in this game.

I can almost keep up my tech rate and all the buildings are built. I play very peacefully, try to not propose anything that will anger anybody (and to trigger my reformation belief too). My building focus priority : any hammer bonus building > culture building > science building > gold building.
When I am almost halfway to finish the challenge, I attempt to liberate that fool Egypt which got beaten to pulp by Persia earlier. It went smoothly, and I quickly grab that 1 score from persia by liberating thebes. I decided that I am satisfied with just 1 score, and stop the war.
To my surprise, when I almost finish the challenge (only need 3 more tech to unlock broadcast tower and stadium), everyone become hostile. They even repeal my budhism world religion and sanction me.
Sweden is the first one to DOW me, quickly followed by Inca. After a while, France try to join in. But my back and goalkeeper is doing good job and able to defend all their shots. Luckily Morocco and Brazil decided not to butt in,
And I can finish my stadium and broadcast tower almost in the same time in all cities.

Throughout the game, I never ran out of gold even thou I invest in almost all buildings in all cities (even wonders too), thanks to Holy Law. Almost 90% of the buildings are invested.
I use faith zealotry to establish my armies.

Added : another note, my porcelain tower is wasted, no RA, even thou I am swimming in gold, since nobody want to be my ally.

 

[Dejagore]

Fantastic challenge Grabbl. Thanks for preparing this scenario. Was really fun. Althought victory came too late

Spoiler :

I guess the biggest mistake was fighting for waaaaay to many turns with Poland which left Spain to be a powerhouse. Not sure how is that possible but Spain was gaining +1000 gold per turn and had advantage of 6 tech tops. The problem was also that Spain conquered almost everyone apart for me and Poland. Had to liberate all the civs. Definitely not a good score (turn 494) but was soooooo much fun

 

[Grabbl]

The results are there, scroll up to see them!

Of course, the one time when I forget to specify a tie break, you manage to play a tie

Thanks to all participants, also those that didn't submit their game finally! I promise that future challenges won't be more cramped than this one

For the next challenge (the 4th one already), I will wait until the next VP version comes out (as there is already a tentative changelog haunting the forum, it's not that far away perhaps...), but what is already clear (assuming no major bugs appear that prevent this) that the next civ you'll play is Byzantinum as proposed in the Leader subforum. I'm still working on the details. And, for the masculinists among you, don't worry, after three female leaders you had to play, you'll get a man in the fifth challenge

 

[peterw1987]

The results are there, scroll up to see them!

Of course, the one time when I forget to specify a tie break, you manage to play a tie

Thanks to all participants, also those that didn't submit their game finally! I promise that future challenges won't be more cramped than this one

For the next challenge (the 4th one already), I will wait until the next VP version comes out (as there is already a tentative changelog haunting the forum, it's not that far away perhaps...), but what is already clear (assuming no major bugs appear that prevent this) that the next civ you'll play is Byzantinum as proposed in the Leader subforum. I'm still working on the details. And, for the masculinists among you, don't worry, after three female leaders you had to play, you'll get a man in the fifth challenge

Cramped map, but the resources is sufficient. Good enough for me.
The only immortal challenge I gave up is Japan one. Damn that start have almost no resources nearby. And with that super aggresive Spain as neighbor.
My japan citizens only eat stone and banana .