TSG 277 After Actions

[vadalaz]

In this thread you can post the results of your game. Please attach your final savefile, 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.

Quick links: Announcement thread | Opening actions

- In what order did you capture the AI capitals? Who was the toughest foe?
- Were Carthaginian unique abilities useful to you?
- Did you mostly use a navy, a land army, or a combination of the two?
- How many cities did you have in the end and where did you settle them?

 

[Megalou]

T129 victory - I would like to try again with just a horde of quinqueremes, no galleasses at all.

- In what order did you capture the AI capitals? Who was the toughest foe?
1. Iroquos - had the best wonders, no friendship, two luxuries
2. China en route to Japan.
3. Vienna
4-5. Maya and Japan on the same turn.
- Were Carthaginian unique abilities useful to you?
Actually, yes, I used them quite a lot to attack citites, not just for the final capture. They also generated loads of culture from sinking innumerable barb galleys and triremes.

- Did you mostly use a navy, a land army, or a combination of the two?
Navy only. The only land "army" I ever had was two warriors. One was used to farm culture from barbs on the home island, the other chased after an Iroquois worker to make him improve the Onondaga sugar.

- How many cities did you have in the end and where did you settle them?
3. Settled in place, then on the southern silver then on the dyes. There were happiness issues. It was a bugger to have to research masonry just to improve the marble for happiness. I also built a circus in Carthage after buying the horse tile. Freeing a Singaporean worker from Iroquois slavery put an end to the happiness issue.

 

[ForkOfSpite]

Turn 151 Domination Victory!

- In what order did you capture the AI capitals? Who was the toughest foe? Kyoto, Vienna, Onondaga, Beijing, Palenque. DOW Pacal before Wu, but took longer to get Palenque.
- Were Carthaginian unique abilities useful to you? Free harbors obviously useful. Quinqueremes useful too.
- Did you mostly use a navy, a land army, or a combination of the two? Navy
- How many cities did you have in the end and where did you settle them? Two expansions (western dyes and southern silver/marble) + eight puppets (including final capital, not including the only city I razed)

I had no idea how easy cities would fall. Odo was the first conquest (useful wonders), but I left him with a city and accepted peace too soon. Was going to go directly to Beijing from there, most of the navy was border blocked.

Premature Peace:

Spoiler :

So, I sent those units east for Maria and Pacal (reinforced by one more galleass to replace the one left behind. That one joined the second navy to take out Hiawatha and Wu. The second navy had no problems, Pacal had an expansion that made it tough (shallow water zone of control). Ended up sacrificing a quinquereme to get galleasses in position.

No National College. Was two or three turns away from Oxford for Navigation. Ultra-important religion founded on Turn 144 (initiation rites, religious community). Didn't quite speed up oxford enough, though.

Military Tradition did not help as intended (nothing reached logistics). Exploration was very useful though. Final policy I took was the free admiral, and it was well timed. I had just captured Beijing giving a port to get my first admiral to Tikal (the Mayan expansion that caused the problem). Used the that admiral to heal the fleet - same turn I unlocked the free exploration admiral to help finish Palenque.

Palenque Falls:

Spoiler :

 

[lymond]

T167 DOM

Yeah, these dates are not surprising me. I've not been a big naval warfare dude, so I did not know what to expect. In hindsight, I see now that Q swarm could do the trick in this game. Instead, I focus more on my empire and science early while beelining Galls. So I did not get the war machine going until well after t100, and was not totally sure if the 2 other unmet AIs, at the time, were accessible without Astro. They were, although it woulda been a long trek.

Once I did get things going, it was smooth sailing. Japan, the Iroquois, and China fell super easily and fast. Just the movement of ships and upgrades slowed things down at all, but money was not a big issue. Vienna and Pal fell in like 2 turns once I finally got over there.

Disappointed in my date, but felt I managed things okay, given my initial plan. The game was very fun. I enjoyed the naval combat and will play around with it more on my own.

Dido UA is really nice with the Harbors. I never generated a great general, but it was irrelevant.

Spoiler Pics :

 

[Rhodro]

T144 win.

capitals fell on: t108 vienna, t127 maya, t144 china.
I found maya pretty soon while sailing to vienna, but sadly i explored every possible coastal route except south of singapore, even though i had multiple quinrereme exploring.
Obviously if i knew china was there, i would have capped her after iroquois or japan. Then it would have probably been a T130+ win.

I also really focussed on crossbows (upgraded them all at vienna), but the 17 strength AI capitals really didn't need it. Going for compass and then Astronomy to make swimming faster would have been better. (Swimming embarked units around was absolutely painful to the east of japan, around sofia, and then back for china).
I did break my 7 crossbow army into 4 going to pacal and 3 back to sofia, when i didn't know china's exact location yet, but i guess it had to be there in that fog of war blob i still had. If i didn't make that decision it would have been an even slower finish time.

- Were Carthaginian unique abilities useful to you?
Quinrereme were very strong against barb galleys, which can cause quite a lot of trouble. The free harbors are a nice bonus. I think the science from connected cities pantheon would have been best this game (i had god king) to speed up compass for example.

Spoiler :

 

[ForkOfSpite]

I think the science from connected cities pantheon would have been best this game (i had god king) to speed up compass for example.

Hadn't considered that. I selected the wonders pantheon on Turn 58 - took a screenshot, and my science was only +11 at the time. Wish I had made a save so I could test if Wheel would be required for the science boost. Even if it is, would certainly have been beneficial to build a shrine (especially after +8 faith for finding Lhasa first) and get the three required techs.

Like the idea enough to play this map again. Won't be a fair comparison of course, but I'll do the same strategy. Compass rush, Tradition/Honor/Exploration, Great Library and Oracle, no National College, avoid the worker steal from Lhasa even though it would have been a huge help in my first run. Main comparison will be the time to Compass (Turn 98 in first run).

Addendum:
Started - restarted several times to replicate my scouting (to get the same ruins - gold, barb camps, spearman). Changed initial build order to add the shrine (scout, monument, shrine, worker, settler, settler). Got the pantheon on Turn 25 and verified that it didn't help science until I researched Wheel. Surprised it gave the capital +2 science as well as the two expansions.

However, I'm less inclined to see it out. Trying to force the same early game approach isn't working due to timing on the three additional techs (Turn 60 and I haven't started on the Great Library or expansion libraries). Since Wheel isn't necessary for the gold benefit of city connections with Dido, I'm not convinced the science pantheon is worth the detour. With only two expansions, it would take 10 turns to make up the science on a small map without meeting any AIs that know the tech. It would take 22 turns to make up for all three techs.

If it's already part of the tech path though (or ancient ruined), then it's an excellent choice - 40 turns with a free +6 science is more than 50% of Compass.

 

[FireFree3]

T142 Win

Captial Fall Sequence:
Iraq, China, Austria, Japan, Maya.

Japan was friendly most of the time, so, I got some money. Galleass is too powerful for prince. Happiness was a little bit of problems.

I settled 3 cities as most of us do.