TSG 261 After Actions

[Nizef]

In this thread you can post the results of your game. Please state your victory/loss date (preferably in the post title) and describe your path to glory in this post! Players are encouraged to provide feedback on the game.

- Did you play peacefully or warlike? Did you use your UU?
- What technologies did you prioritize?
- What Social Policies did you choose and in what order? Which Ideology did you choose?
- How many cities did you have in the end and where did you settle them?
- Final remarks?

 

[qontroL]

Domination Victory T278

T222: Took Istanbul (Notre Dame)
T231: Took Constantinople
T238: Took Sukhothai
T249: Took Tenochtitlan
T251: Took Rio de Janeiro (Forbidden Palace)
T267: Took Beijing
T267: Took Babylon
T268: Took Delhi
T278: Took Gao

Once I got Navigation everything that was coastal got destroyed pretty quickly. I left Babylon alone because they weren't doing anything anyway and they were next to me. For the 3 non-coastal capitals I made Longbowmen to finish them off using a Knight to walk it in.
Gao and Beijing were a pain to capture. For Beijing I used their workers to chop down the forest around their capital so my longbowmen could finish the job. Gao was a pain in the butt because he had a million horses so I had to clear out a lot of units to get a Knight through.
Pretty fun game overall! Didn't really struggle with anything, I was concerned about happiness but it was never a problem, I completely neglected my cities and trade routes once I knew I had enough army anyway.
I feel bad for Brasil, he spawned on a pretty amazing island for Brasil and then he settled his 2 cities in the desert to the south of Rio... 2 completely worthless cities. That's rough Pedro.

I started strong, though I wish I was able to maintain the pace, but I wasn't prepared for the 2 non-coastal civs to the south. With knowledge this could've been a lot faster.
I settled the 4 cities as seen in my Opening Actions and later settled a 5th city next to Istanbul when I realized I was going to need a land military.
No ideology was chosen, the game didn't reach the Modern Era. In fact, the Congress was only founded a short while before the end of the game, there wasn't a single vote. So for Policies it was just Liberty, and a tiny bit of Navigation, I actually grabbed the free Admiral to finish off the coastal warfare.

As a final remark; I banked really hard on getting Logistics on my Frigates to turn them into super units, but by the end of the game I only had like 4-5 Frigates with Logistics because the coastal Civs folded so quickly without putting up a fight. So that was a bit of a bummer, I wanted some super boats! Another funny thing is that 6 of the 10 Civs were in the Tundra this game.

 

[The_Black_Vegetable]

T255 domination victory.

Once I got over the disappointment over the lack of schwung in the early game (losing Colossus and Chichen, lacking growth, happiness, and gold), the game proceeded smoothly once I got my colosseums and city connections up. For my religion I went Earth Mother (no great pantheon available - I considered pasture culture but it was taken) Initiation Rites and Religious Community. When founding, many other decent beliefs were still available (like pagodas), but by the time I enhanced it was slim pickings. I was hoping for some passive happiness like +1 happiness from shrines, but there was nothing like that, so I picked Feed the World. Not that I built a single temple all game, but at least I had the shrines. Swords into Plowshares was still there though.

I suspected this game would be all about Navigation timing, so I was aware of the possibility of tactics like building Oxford, or using a Liberty finisher to rush it, but quite frankly my game was not ready for it. In the T200 shot below I still have barely any gold, my cities are stll tiny, and I don't have any boats out yet. Anyway, Oxford was still a 5-turn build (selected in London for purposes of the screenshot). I suppose in an ideal game you would have 6 galleas raring to go, 600 gold in the bank, and Oxford completing to start the conquests. Fast forward to turn 210 and I'm finally happy to go: the first Ships of the Line are rolling of the line, my happiness and gold are finally under control, and my cities are looking a little less pathetic.

Six iron within range of the starting position was not much, but on the other hand not many frigates were needed to subdue the AI. My first capital was Sukhothai (Great Lighthouse), still at 19-strength, and even sending two ships of the line felt like overkill. That was a theme in my game: the AI had very weak cities (one or two managed to get near 35 strength, but most were still in their twenties), and very few units to defends their lands, let alone their waters (I saw one dromon and one galleas all game, plus a couple of triremes and one Byzantine caravel late game). Honestly, I had expected more from Emperor AI. Sure, they managed to steal some early wonders from me (Chichen and Colossus annoyingly both in Gao), but otherwise they just sat there being irrelevant.

The following capitals went in more or less the following order: Brazil (Petra), Ottomans (Notre Dame), India (one ship of the line, 3 longbows, 2 of which purchased from Sukhothai), Byzantium, Aztec, Babylon, China, Songhai. I had seen that Gao was coastal, so I only realized belatedly that it was iced off and I needed the land army to capture it. Approaching from China, the lands around Gao were actually somewhat tricky to conquer. Thankfully, I had been building longbows for some time, so I could afford to sacrifice some units to kill whatever defenses he had.

Looking back, I'm still not sure how this game should be played. Perhaps it is possible to tribute to some city states in the early game? I anyway felt that I should have built some triremes to explore, and perhaps one or two would have been enough for tribute? The social policies I'm also not sure of. Putting all the initial policies into Liberty gives a very quick start, but then you are stuck with Liberty (and it's not like we will be making use of the settler production policy), and it delays Maritime Infrastructure. On the other hand, you do get a Liberty finisher, which can be used to rush Navigation, if your game is ready for it. Also, it could be good to get the Pyramids. Will I try again for a faster time? Maybe.

 

[lerrocco]

I suspected this game would be all about Navigation timing, so I was aware of the possibility of tactics like building Oxford, or using a Liberty finisher to rush it, but quite frankly my game was not ready for it. In the T200 shot below I still have barely any gold, my cities are stll tiny, and I don't have any boats out yet. Anyway, Oxford was still a 5-turn build (selected in London for purposes of the screenshot). I suppose in an ideal game you would have 6 galleas raring to go, 600 gold in the bank, and Oxford completing to start the conquests. Fast forward to turn 210 and I'm finally happy to go: the first Ships of the Line are rolling of the line, my happiness and gold are finally under control, and my cities are looking a little less pathetic.

I need to be careful, I havent won my game yet, but I expect to. I am not cheating in here, hehe, I have 2 capitals left, Goa and the Aztecs. I need time to get troops there..

I wasnt limited by either happiness or gold in this game, and despite my initial comments, this game could have been won with a longbow rush, once the units can cross open water.

I actually found Goa after I took Beijing, but went onto Istanbul instead. I would have won much more quickly if I had taken Goa first, and left Istanbul until last (India, Brasil, Istanbul with the northern army).

I only had Ship of the line 10 turns ago, they are powerful beasts for sure! Never built one before this game. I had to quickly mine Iron, and used a general to grab a 6 iron just outside of Beijing.

Now, I have to get all my units across the map. I believe its just a matter of time, I will have 3 longbows, a knight an a Horse to take Goa.

To Tenochtitlan, I can have up to 3 Ships of the line, and a few longbows, 5 or 6.. so although he has quite a defence now, I dont expect any trouble..
I need more time..

Repeating this game with a knowledge of the map, I believe a quick victory is possible. I am on game turn 100 now, T225 adjusted. I guess I might shave a few turns off your finish time, but maybe not.

A faster victory is certainly possible.

Six iron within range of the starting position was not much, but on the other hand not many frigates were needed to subdue the AI. My first capital was Sukhothai (Great Lighthouse), still at 19-strength, and even sending two ships of the line felt like overkill. That was a theme in my game: the AI had very weak cities (one or two managed to get near 35 strength, but most were still in their twenties), and very few units to defends their lands, let alone their waters (I saw one dromon and one galleas all game, plus a couple of triremes and one Byzantine caravel late game). Honestly, I had expected more from Emperor AI. Sure, they managed to steal some early wonders from me (Chichen and Colossus annoyingly both in Gao), but otherwise they just sat there being irrelevant.

My AI also had weak cities.

Constantinople was a joke. I put 2 longbows south of the city, and only started firing to give them xp, while other troops arrived. She let the 2 archers sit there, unmolested until they took the city defence down and my troops walked in. Poor Ai play as well as weak units.

Looking back, I'm still not sure how this game should be played. Perhaps it is possible to tribute to some city states in the early game? I anyway felt that I should have built some triremes to explore, and perhaps one or two would have been enough for tribute? The social policies I'm also not sure of. Putting all the initial policies into Liberty gives a very quick start, but then you are stuck with Liberty (and it's not like we will be making use of the settler production policy), and it delays Maritime Infrastructure. On the other hand, you do get a Liberty finisher, which can be used to rush Navigation, if your game is ready for it. Also, it could be good to get the Pyramids.

I used tribute for the first time in this game, sailing Longbows past CS is an easy way to make money. I had two neighbouring states both wanting me to extort money from the other, so i was paid by both and still increased my influence with both.


I dont believe you can build the pyramids in this game. None of the ancient wonders are available.

I hope to send my winning (or losing) report later.. maybe tonight? I can't guess how long the troop movements will take.

 

[Megalou]

T255 domination victory.

...the AI had very weak cities (one or two managed to get near 35 strength, but most were still in their twenties), and very few units to defends their lands, let alone their waters (I saw one dromon and one galleas all game, plus a couple of triremes and one Byzantine caravel late game). Honestly, I had expected more from Emperor AI...

Yes, it didn't feel like Emperor, probably because of the unusual game type. It was easy to overtake the AI technologically - I suspect they lost themselves in reseach of expensive techs.

T255 Domination victory here as well

Underestimation of Gandhi cost about 5 turns. I thought I could soften him up with a few ships of the line before the slow troops came along, but Dehli was at strength 40 and as you know there was only one tile to fire from. I had to buy some cannons in Sukhothai to push them over the edge. Here are a couple of screen-shots from that, and I guess this is as close as the Repair Fleet action can get to becoming useful, almost.



Here is also a shot of the home area. I might post some more stuff when it seems like everyone who is frequenting this page has finished their game.



Did you use your UU?
- What technologies did you prioritize?
- What Social Policies did you choose and in what order? Which Ideology did you choose?
- How many cities did you have in the end and where did you settle them?
- Final remarks?

 

[lerrocco]

Yes, it didn't feel like Emperor, probably because of the unusual game type. It was easy to overtake the AI technologically - I suspect they lost themselves in reseach of expensive techs.

T255 Domination victory here as well

Underestimation of Gandhi cost about 5 turns. I thought I could soften him up with a few frigates before the slow troops came along, but Dehli was at strength 40 and as you know there was only one tile to fire from. I had to hurry some cannons from Sukhothai to push them over the edge. Here are a couple of screen-shots from that, and I guess this is as close as the Repair Fleet action can get to becoming useful, almost.

I am still playing!

We had a completely different game. I walked into Delhi with longbows. My entire game was a comp bow to long bow push. I barely used naval units.

I am currently at my turn 100,game T225.. and only just have the ships online.

The units cross open water before heavy naval units as well..

I think this game is possible with no naval units. maybe easier, certainly faster.

 

[Megalou]

I am still playing!

We had a completely different game. I walked into Delhi with longbows. My entire game was a comp bow to long bow push. I barely used naval units.

I am currently at my turn 100,game T225.. and only just have the ships online.

The units cross open water before heavy naval units as well..

I think this game is possible with no naval units. maybe easier, certainly faster.

I honestly don’t understand what you are doing even watching this page, let alone writing in it, if you haven’t finished. @Nizef ?

 

[lerrocco]

I honestly don’t understand what you are doing even watching this page, let alone writing in it, if you haven’t finished. @Nizef ?

I did not look in here, or anywhere, so I could possibly gain any advantage. I play my own game.
My game is over. I am camped outside the 2 last remaining capitals. Its a matter of time before I win or my attacks are repelled.

The reason I wrote in here is that at the normal 100 turn post the entire map is revealed. I guess I could have put it in the opening actions thread, with spoiler quotes, but I was commenting specifically on these posts. I didn't think my comments in here were inappropriate, but I apologize if my lack of correct etiquette has caused a problem.

 

[Megalou]

I did not look in here, or anywhere, so I could possibly gain any advantage. I play my own game.
My game is over. I am camped outside the 2 last remaining capitals. Its a matter of time before I win or my attacks are repelled.

The reason I wrote in here is that at the normal 100 turn post the entire map is revealed. I guess I could have put it in the opening actions thread, with spoiler quotes, but I was commenting specifically on these posts. I didn't think my comments in here were inappropriate, but I apologize if my lack of correct etiquette has caused a problem.

The fact that you wrote, and not just looked, shows that you weren’t deliberately looking for advantages. For if that had been the case, you would surely have looked stealthily without writing anything. So I did not consider this cheating. But of course it’s against the etiquette. And if people were to roam around here before they are finished, what is to say they couldn’t glance something that they. had not thought of, which could be of use? When, reading a spoiler, we say “now, why didn’t I think of that?” the question does not necessarily mean that we are too unimaginative to think of the clever stratagem in question. Often the difficulty lies in handling all the little pieces and not forgetting tricks that we have heard of before and which at a certain point fits perfectly in the gameplay. Hence, I am not saying that a spoiler of mine is likely to contain something that others would never have thought of. It is much more likely to contain something that they missed because their priorities and concerns were different to mine. that’s why it’s called spoilers. You can get spoiled in so many ways and if you get help seeing things from a different perspective, even that is unfair. Yes, I don’t even think that your comparison between longbowmen and ships is appropriate because it lends you other players’ perspectives and may do things to affect your last stages. And if there’s so little left the game that you can’t even it build a useful ship, what’s the point of not finishing before spoiling?

 

[lerrocco]

I thought my comments were better suited to this thread. I can't post spoilers in a finished thread.

As for my game, I can assure you, its all from me. I can't pick up things now, its too late in this game, and I wouldn't anyway. But I can pick up tricks for future games, not that I play many. I can also see how others got on.

I dont know any of the tricks! I learn a lot from these games, I barely have time to play these years, and still have only a handful of civ 5 games under my belt.

My simple and inelegant strategy for domination is just a war gamer's approach, I have none of the finesse of tricks and experience. I hadnt built a Ship of line ever in my life before this game. I tend to avoid large maps.

I am actually quite absorbed in this game. Maybe you could tell hehe. But not for this game as much as possible future games. As you yourself said, its a strategy game. I enjoy the strategy aspect, and like to find my own way through things.

But, as to etiquette, yes, if I made a mistake by posting before my finish, I won't make it again. I will look to finish tonight. I will only post after my final turn.

 

[qontroL]

Yes, it didn't feel like Emperor, probably because of the unusual game type. It was easy to overtake the AI technologically - I suspect they lost themselves in reseach of expensive techs.

I had a similar experience this game. The AI was completely lost. I theorize that the AI all got stuck building the exact same Wonders at turn 1, since most of them have a decently high priority on building Wonders. They basically spent 20 turns waiting for a Wonder, only for 1 civ to claim it, only to repeat that process again with another Wonder.

Initially I thought it was a funny coincidence we all set our eyes on Suleiman but through the lens of this theory it makes a ton of sense, he got the salt start so obviously he was able to finish all the Wonders whereas the other civs were left with nothing.
Another thing that reinforces this theory is that when I captured Istanbul half his tiles weren't even improved, because once his borders grew to include the Marble, his Worker got captured by Barbarians and instead of doing something about it he just kept building the next Wonder.
Finally it was also noticable that when I reached Delhi, Gandhi was defending his capital with, you guessed it, 3 Spearman, the same 3 Spearman we started the game with.

I definitely felt a bit like a clown, putting such a massive focus on rushing out Galleass to prepare a naval force, upgrading them all with bonus damage to naval units. All that early focus and I think I killed 2 Caravels made by Babylon and there was 0 naval warfare besides that.

The AI spent the entire game doing nothing, so I reckon with that info you could finish the game a lot faster. I guess the early game variables are very important so the AI ends up making different choices at different times instead of all being focused on the same thing.

 

[lerrocco]

Ok, so sorry for the premature elation, but I did finish sooner than I thought.

Dom Vic T237 (112).
112 turns played, definitely possible sub 100 play turns.

Decided to go Longbows and then Ships. Ships hardly played a part, even end game I could have done without them.

Northern army, longbows, Babylon (Colossus), Sukhothai (great Wall, Oracle), Delhi,.. all walk -ins with long range longbows. Rio (Alhambra, Borobudur), Macchu Picchu. Petra. Then essentially the army was left on the beach at Rio.

Southern Army went Beijing, Istanbul, (chechen Itza, Hagia Sophia, Hanging Gdns, Notre Dame, Terracotta Army, then to Goa!

Eastern Army, last build, Constantinople, (Parthenon, gt Lighthouse, Gt Mosque of Djenne). Tenochtitlan. now with Naval support. This army went in support of Goa, but got there after the party was over.

I liked my strategy in terms of quick domination, but my armies were too inefficient. This is an easy game with prior knowledge of the city location, no great military resistance anywhere. An easy sub 100 turn game.

The crux, for me, is quick domination. At some point it fails as the initial armies have to clear the map before the more advanced tech becomes available. Often large maps are difficult for domination, but this game and the previous were fun and easy due to high troop mobility. AI defence was its usual comedy show.

I was only unhappy in this screenshot. Had no religion all game. No shortage of Money or happiness.

I went for a quick dip in most policies, I liked the maritime infrastructure opening, I thought that a decent choice.

 

[golem]

Victory T204. I was surprised how easy it was. I built 2 cities only, in York 5 SoLs + ! privateer and slowly conquered all coastal capitals. Goa, Delhi and Beijing was save at the beginning, but when I changed to battleship with Logistic and +1 range promotions it was very easy again.

 

[lymond]

Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 1170AD
Turns played: 177
Base score: 1828
Final score: 5222

- Did you play peacefully or warlike? Did you use your UU?
Well, this game was 100% about being my true warmonger self. Yes, I used both UUs extensively and without mercy.
- What technologies did you prioritize?
Beelined Machinery for LBs, then Navigation for SoLs
- What Social Policies did you choose and in what order? Which Ideology did you choose?
My first three policies to open were the Trad opener, Lib opener, and the Lib Free worker. Then I finished up Lib after taking the Production boost first and the Soc Pol discount/GA. I opened Commerce for gold, and finished Rationalism. Ideology was Order mainly for happiness and production, getting to 1 tier 3 policy.
- How many cities did you have in the end and where did you settle them?
I had 3 core cities and never built a city. I had 21 cities at the end of the game. I probably just razed 2 or 3 cities the whole game.
- Final remarks?
Below:

Well, I submitted another 5 GOTM. I enjoyed this game—very straightforward goals and priorities. As expected, like Civ IV, the AIs tend not to do very well with later-era starts. If I recall, only the Aztecs built up to 4 cities. The game was longish due to the map size and number of civs, but still tight.

I ran a little test game to get a feel for the starting moves and the AI - so maybe 30 turns or so. Based on that short test I went into the game with the following priorities:
a) Liberty seemed the best way to go
b) Don't pursue a Religion
c) Ignore wonders mostly - AIs are gonna beat you to most early ones anyway and we will just capture them.
d) Beeling Machinery and Navigation
e) Guilds and culture would not be a priority
f) I would not build one settler
g) Only build basic infra and then go go go

Spoiler Opening Moves and Thoughts :

So I settled London in place while pushing the spearmen out to scout the general area. I decided to settle York to the SE on the coast on that jungle tile. For policies, I opened with Trad opener, Lib opener, and the Free Worker. I felt it most important to get tile improvements up asap. I chose the production boost policy and then the SP discount/GA next. I took the settler to close Lib, or maybe second to last. The 3rd city was not a priority until I got the National College up.

As mentioned, Religion was not a priority. I went with culture from plantations with all the cotton to help get through Liberty as fast as I could. There really wasn't a much better reli founder IMO and I was not going to try to pursue a religion in this game. (I did start producing quite a bit of points later from captured cities/wonders/CS which I used to buy a few of the culture/happy buildings which was nice, and I purchased 1 scientist.)

My opening build in London was another worker, and then basic infra in both York and London (Aqueduct, Granary, Library, NC in London - later Forges and happy as neded). I did build a scout and tireme eventually to meet more AIs and the boat to protect trade routes. Then cargo ships, ofc. I think I actually sent the first one to Kuala Lumpur for a mission and York was too far at that point to send to London.

Earlyish, I met Babs, ofc, and then Siam, Ottos, and China, all fairly early. Made a couple of resource trades and gold trades. I upgraded a tireme to a Caraval and met Byz and Monte shortly before my first war.

I beelined Machinery first. Tech was slow at first, but picked up a lotta speed after the NC was built and cities started to thrive. I felt the only two techs I needed were Machinery and Navigation. I did a detour to MC to get forges in time for building SoLs. After Navigation, I mainly teched for better units and more trade routes, but LBs and SoLs were all that were needed here. (I did kinda focus on Replaceable Parts so that Budapest would gift me Foreign Legions, but although I received a couple they were never involved, but it was not a bad path anyway)

City State wise, I allied Kaula Lumpur rather early with a trade route mission and camp clear. Same for Prague and Budapest. KL and Prague helped a lot with culture. I stole a worker from Brussels? to the NW but allied him a bit later anyway. In total, I ended up allying with 16 of the 20 city-states. In many of my games, I have used CSs to help me kill off AIs without taking the Diplo hits. This game was not set up for that at all. Only one CS (Antavario) killed off a civ - the Biz. But, in some cases, CSs were useful as a distraction.

My only friend the whole game was Monty, who seemed to care not one bit that I was killing off every civ. I agreed to his request to DOW Theodoro (10 turns) shortly after I met them both. (Monty did nothing in his war with Byz - and later Songhai)

So, to battle. Here are my wars in order:

Spoiler War Effort :

1) Babylon - First, I did not dow anyone until I had LBs. Hammy was closest so he seemed the logical choice. However, he did build TGW early so it was a tad tricky. Regardless, LBs and a trireme did the trick. Lizzie's UA was really nice on this map with the extra movement for units from sea. I took and kept his only two cities.

2) China - I debated between China or Ottos first. They were about the same distance, but I decided to kill China first before she had a lot of chokes running around. The tricky thing with her is that Beijing was not coastal and was surrounded by forests. So I sent a pikeman and 4 LBs overland to her East and back into the water so I could come up from the south of Beijing which was much better logistically with some hills that the LBs could stand on safely. Ofc, I had to clean up a few units. (Meanwhile, SoLs were coming online around the time I Dow'd China. They would not help at all with Beijing but her other 2 cities were on the N coast there. I had allied with Zanzibar at this time too which helped. After taking Beijing, I razed her city directly N but kept the one with Uruhu.

-Around the time I got close to killing China, I met Monty and Byz, and Monty shortly asked me to join in a war which I agreed to do in 10 turns. The China units and SoLs then moved to set up an attack on the Ottos. My core cities then focused on building units/ships to prepare for Byz.

3) Ottos - Basically Ottos went down easy. Just before I attacked he settled an annoying 1 tile city just N of Istanbul, so that delayed my advance. I razed that city, killed some units, and took out Istanbul. Appears Sulie was just building wonders as the city was a nice grab. It had Boro, HS, ND, and HG. I decided to eventually build the Guilds here, though that was not very important. The city did boost reli points considerably which let me start buying pagodas in Chinese cities, Wu had both the good ones, and Cathedrals back home as Sulie had those and had already started spreading to me. I kept Edirne too just SW as at this point happiness just was not an issue. Ha - I ended up never completing the Circus.

4) Byz - Before I even killed the Ottos, the auto-war had already started with the Byz, but I was still preparing for that one. Eventually, I got over a few SoLs, caravels, and a unit or two. Constantinople was not too bad after killing off her dromons. However, her second city was a pain as the surrounding forest and jungle left only one spot for a ship to attack, so I kept switching SoLs out while the others would go heal in Monty's culture nearby. Monty never did a thing though he probably lost a couple of boats to her ships. Finally got a LB to start pelting that city from near Nople and finally took it and razed it. (That dern city was probably the slowest to go down next to Gao) 2 other SoL's took shots at her 3rd city down S on the W coast. I allied with Antanavrio after a trade mission and she killed Theodora off.

5) Brazil - I took Brazil next instead of Siam, though my next wave of units were getting in position for Siam. Brazil was mostly easy. Cities at this point were getting stronger defenses, but the war machine was rolling. Rio was coast with a coastal city just S. He did get a third city on the island to the S below La Venta and actually somehow built the Forbidden Palace there (maybe an engineer). Anyway, I took out Rio first which netted Machu and Petra - nice for money. Razed the city to the S and kept his 3rd city, cause of FP. Most of the Brazil stuff would move to India while I was setting up for Siam

6) India - I think may have dow'd on Siam first but took out India first, as I was not totally ready for Siam. India, ofc, had another inland cap with only 1 tile you could hit by boat, so I had to wait for LBs and melee to set up but started the war to kill off any boats and take out his coastal Vijay. (Meanwhile, my extra spies were massaging relations with several Cs including Mombasa, I think, just to his south and whom he was allied with. I couped the CS. At least Delhi was set up well for LBs to hit it safely. India went down fairly easily and I kept all 3 of his cities.

7) Siam - I took his cap with boats only while the army took out his other two cities. I razed one of his cities but kept the other. With so many Sols his Cap went down fast.

8) Songhai - Gao was the most difficult city as there was no way to get boats in the Sea south of it. There was only one tile to hit the city from to its east. I took out his coastal city to the SW easily enough as well as Jenne, but he took some time to take out as it took a long to get boats and units around all the land masses. I actually lost 2 or 3 units while basically losing none before that. I kept Jenne but razed the third city.

9) Monty - Aztecs went down easy. I dow'd him shortly after Songhai as this was the final end-game push. He wasn't too difficult mainly as everything was coastal. I took out Teo first just W so he would not have two cities zapping on my boats. Tenoch was the final city and game over.

Things I could have done better:
a) Lol - when pre-building Galleases before Navigation, remember to have some iron. One issue though is Budapest was gifting me metal units at the time. I lost all the production as they did not flip to SoLs.
b) I believe I could have finished the game quite a bit sooner with more focus. Overall, the AIs were very weak. I tend to forget to use my money on units. I should have been buying them from captured cities closer to the front lines. Still, I think this was one of my better Civ 5 games as I don't play it much.

London and core city pics:

Fun game. Thank you!

 

[fiddlesticks]

I finished up with a Dom Victory turn 242. Definitely should have prioritized Navigation over Machinery. I also overbuilt other infrastructure and wonders before really hitting the warpath. Lessons learned though. Some really good times from the other players for this challenge. Nicely played everyone!

PS - I forgot to save the turn after victory, so I will reload the last turn and submit anyway.

 

[raider980]

T316 DomV. Was a fun game as always with England on watery maps. Although, the SotL had more trouble than I anticipated with some of the cities. A couple of them had built walls and castles and had a Galleass/Frigate and CB/XB inside so they quite hurt when they hit my ships. I started the wars shortly after T200 and took the capitals in this order:

• Sukhothai: Ram had to be first, I hate that guy. Easy capture as it was the earliest so he didn't have much defense. I then started building land units to attack India as soon as it was out of resistance.
• Rio de Janeiro: Since India was landlocked my navy sailed to Brazil next. A little tougher than Ram because of the orientation of the city in the small bay as well as I had to take another city first to get into the bay. Pedro had built Petra so that was nice.
• Tenochtitlan: I built a second navy and headed east. I passed by Babylon and Byzantium to keep them as trading partners and headed toward The Aztecs. I liberated a Mercantile CS on the way that Monte had captured earlier so that helped with happiness. Harder than the first two because Monte had built his capital in a small bay that was hard to get into. Had to take out a city to get in just like Rio. But fall he did.
• Istanbul: This one wasn't easy. Huran had built many wonders - including Alhambra, Himeji Castle and Red Fort. It took my way longer than I had expected and I even had to bring Longbows down from where they were preparing to attack China which delayed my war with Wu. My navy suffered a lot of damage; but hey, that just gave me more promotions.
• Gao: The eastern navy headed from the land of the Aztec south to the Songhai. This one was not as easy as it had originally looked because even though coastal, its actually on a coast that borders a southern sea that is ice blocked from the rest of the world. And there is only one tile that a ship can fire from - until I got range on one of my SotL. And with logistics allowing you to move after firing, once I had that, it fell quickly. But before that, I had to take Jenne and build some land units to defend and finally capture the city.
• Delhi: While main two navies were operating in the south and east; I had built an army to handle Gandhi who was landlocked. I had mainly Gats that had been promoted from Longbows so they had 2-range. That may be an equal benefit of the English UU, they keep the range on promotion; Gats with 2-range are amazing.
• Constantinople: This was a cakewalk; as easy as Sukhotai; it fell in two turns. While my western navy/southern army was still slogging through China, my eastern navy went from Gao back up north to take out Theodora. She hadn't built much defense, didn't have many units, like one ship, and there were many sea tiles to shoot from. Oh yea, and plus, some of my SotL had range and logistics by that time.
• Bejing: Whew, this one took forever. It was landlocked, protected by lots of rough terrain so Longbows could not get a single shot on the city until a couple of workers could get in there to remove some trees and by that time the LB were only hitting for single digit damage. Speaking of which, line of sight for Longbows is crazy. They are so much less effective than you would think, with having three range, because they can often not shoot at range 3 because of line of sight.
• Babylon: Saved my lifelong trading partner for last. I almost felt bad taking him out; not really though because he's always so gruff. Actually, Bejing and Babylon ended up falling on the same turn to end the game.

 

[sebtanic]

Won turn 261.

Path to glory:
t90 Tenochtitlan
t98 Constantinople
t112 Sukhotai
t115 Beijing (Notre Dame)
t123 Babylon (GLH)
t124 Delhi
t130 Istanbul
t133 Rio
t136 Gao

I got Dynamite turn 133, and upgraded my only remaining Cannon to an Artillery. Bought another one in Jenne, and with two Artillery Gao fell easily.

EDIT: I took my game notes with the turn number in parenthesis in the game interface. So add +125 for the "regular" turn numbers or whatever you want to call them. Thus, "t90 Tenochtitlan" would be "t215(90)" etc. Sorry for the confusion.

I was wondering when I opened this thread why everyone took so long to win... until I realized

 

[lerrocco]

Dom Vic #2 . 118 Turns played, Game Turn 243.

I wanted to replay this game and get below 100 turn finish.

So.. with full knowledge of the map.. I repeated.. and.. it took me 6 turns longer than my previous effort.

I was a little more reckless with my units in this game too.

I think I will try one more time, though I realize I can't submit the win after knowing the map. I have an idea to reverse the strategy and head south first.

 

[lerrocco]

Dom Victory #3 T103, Game turn 228

Third, and final attempt from me. I enjoyed this game and the learning opportunity. I missed the sub 100 Turn victory, but still maintain this is possible.

This was a very different game to my previous 2 ! My science output was much reduced in this game, as a result of not capturing Babylon early. I would even suggest my poorer science was one of the main reasons I didn’t get under the 100 turn finish, as well as mis-clicking on Navigation research and delaying that by 3 turns.

In the previous game I took Messenger of the Gods pantheon, which was worth 6 science points. This game I had to settle for God King. Once I had the pantheon I sold all religious buildings, knowing there was no chance of a religion.

My end game was tough, I had to sell lots of infrastructure and units in order to make the final city capture.

India and Siam declared war on me on T99, but that was a damp squib.

This time I went south with comp bows. This also cost me a few turns as they took longer to capture Istanbul, and they had to heal afterwards.

Onto China, with longbows now. I took the coastal city in a peace deal to give me troop and ship access on the coast. I took quite a happiness hit for several turns as a result. This army then went to Goa.

Northern army of Longbows went easily into Siam and India and then down to Goa, now supported by the navy.

Part of the China army and new builds took Constantinople. This army met with the southern army (after Goa) to take out Monty and finish the game.

I took Babylon just after Constantinople with fresh built units and a couple of ships.

I only recently sold lots of units and infrastructure, so final troop units well blow what I had available all game..

This game is possible sub-100 turns, but I am done here.

I am really just procrastinating as Japan on Deity, and a late war start, (Quest for Glory - Deity Challenge #12) I think is beyond me at the moment, though I might give it a go.