TSG 59 After Actions Thread

[Hammer Rabbi]

Welcome to the TSG59 After Action Report thread. In this thread you can post the results of your game. Please state victory date and score (preferably in the post title), as recorded in the Hall of Fame, and the most important: your path to glory!

STOP - Please do not continue reading this thread until you have completed and submitted your game.

Please use the Civ5 game submission page to submit your final, first play through, .Civ5Save file, saved AFTER the victory ceremony if you were not conquered (using the "Lemme play one more turn" feature.).

- How many cities did you build and how many did you decide to acquire?
- How did you use religion or spying to your advantage?
- How did diplomacy go with your neighbors?
- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
- Were your UA and UU helpful?
- Was your UI helpful?

Players are encouraged to provide feedback on the game. Some players like to replay the game, and although we will not record the results from a replay, you can still post your new experiences (please state if the game is a replay).

Would be interested to hear any thoughts on game setup.

 

[Yngve]

Hei, thanks for game file. Nice map, decent for continents.

I started by establishing 3 cities one on the silver, one in the desert area for petra and one by the mountain on the coast. Built some archers and granaries. Sold my luxuries to my neighbours to buy my settlers, so the dutch advantage was nice in the start.
Sweden, Ethiopia and Englands cities where soon mine muhaha . Puppeted all but annexed Stockholm later. And I finished with those 6 puppeted, and 4 cities. Was struggling with happiness before astrology, when I could trade some luxuries from Spain, so decided to not build any more cities and instead focusing on getting the rationalism policies done.

Tried to get some RA going but took some time so only got 1 round of RA with 3 of the AI, Darius never wanted to be friends.

Killed some barbarian settlement and gave a few gold to the religion city states and had plenty of religion points the rest of the game without building a single religious building.

Not totally happy with my ending since I saved up some great scientists to rush the final techs, but I really should have started using the scientists earlier, because I forgot I had so much religion point to buy even more great scientists so could have ended it a little earlier, thought to use the Oxford University on the last tech but nah way to many GS. Atleast building the UN went fast with 2 GE.

Well ended up on turn 232, fun enough but alot of pressing next turn after I conquered my continent.

Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1610AD
Turns played: 232
Base score: 1631
Final score: 3545

A couple of screens, didnt take anyone more interesting; One from a few turns after astrology, and one from the end.

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

 

[marekb]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 59
Date submitted: 2013-04-16
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1725AD
Turns played: 255
Base score: 1491
Final score: 2923
Time played: 4:39:00

It was a very nice map, but I played badly. I am disappointed with my play. Should finish at least 20 turns earlier.

My capital didn't grow fast enough so my science was not very good at the beginning. Build NC too late and hit education late, around t120. Knowing the map I would probably settle my capital next to desert and mountain in a place of Rotterdam or may be next to the river. Should also build National Epic faster and Gardens, thus I would get more GSs. Probably I should also build more culture buildings to finish Rationalism earlier. I started buying and burning GS too late. In fact, having GSs for bulbing Globalization, I decided to scarify Rationalism finisher to open Order and to buy GE and rush UN.

At very beginning it was clear for me that the war with Sweden is a must. I stole a Worker from them, but a few turns later I made a mistake. I accepted DoF from Sweden forgetting I am going to conquer Stockholm soon. Thus, I was labelled as a bad guy. Later Haile Selassie wanted Groningen, but he paid with Harar and Addis Ababa. I fight no more wars.

How many cities did you build and how many did you decide to acquire?
I settled 4 cities (standard Tradition start) and conquered 3 more. Decided to annex Stockholm after polder upgrade.

How did you use religion or spying to your advantage?
Founded religion as third, took Fertility Rites, Tithe, Divine Inspiration, Religious Community and Religious Texts. I was spreading religion until Industrial era and than saved to buy GS and GE. Two Great Prophets spawned because I forgot to buy Missionaries. I spied a little at the beginning, then try to promote spy and located them into Maritime CS.

How did diplomacy go with your neighbors?
Bad. I was labelled as a gay that DoW friend so my reputation was ruined.

How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
Not much, but I try earlier wonders and some of them quite late (GL for example).

Were your UA and UU helpful?
UA a little at the beginning, but I didn't notice it. I didn't build UU.

Was your UI helpful?
Yes. I liked it, but there were not very many tiles to build polders.

 

[Sadato]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 59
Date submitted: 2013-04-16
Reference number: 28734
Your name: Sadato
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1670AD
Turns played: 244
Base score: 1219
Final score: 2539
Time played: 3:49:00
Submitted save: TSG59_SadatoEnd.Civ5Save
Renamed file: Sadato_C505901.Civ5Save

How many cities did you build and how many did you decide to acquire?
I settled 4 cities (Being prince I started Piramids, GL, then 3 settlers then many Wonders). Conquered Stockholm, razed an Ethiopia nearby city and conquered 2 more at the end.

How did you use religion or spying to your advantage?
I founded with HS getting happiness from religion, not much interaction.

How did diplomacy go with your neighbors?
After I killed Sweden Haile and Liz were angry all the game.

How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
I built many wonders quite late and attacked with CB at turn 100 with success, really late for higher levels.

Were your UA and UU helpful?
At the beggining when seling luxes I got some happiness, not that great as I had many repeated luxuries. I didn't built the sea beggar this game.

Was your UI helpful?
Only 3-4 polders in my area, not really helpful.

 

[Unresolved]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 59
Date submitted: 2013-04-16
Reference number: 28737
Your name: Unresolved
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1635AD
Turns played: 237
Base score: 974
Final score: 2072
Time played: 2:42:00
Submitted save: William_0237 AD-1635.Civ5Save
Renamed file: Unresolved_C505901.Civ5Save

Nice map for playing a wide game. I opened with Liberty, which is unusual for me and I eventually had 6 cities, including Sweden's capitol. I didn't go for GL because I forgot, so I got to Education at turn 104, Scientific Theory at 158ish, and Plastics at 201. My production was very, very low and I had to hard-build the UN for 9 turns even after using a GE to rush it. I should have pre-built beforehand, but I forgot . I had close to 7k gold saved up the turn before the vote and I managed to win with 17 city-state votes. I was able to rush-buy science buildings for 3 of my cities because my GPT was good throughout the whole game. I made a lot of mistakes, so a second playthrough should be considerably faster.

 

[glory7]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 59
Date submitted: 2013-04-16
Reference number: 28738
Your name: glory7
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1440AD
Turns played: 204
Base score: 1338
Final score: 3345
Time played: 6:30:00
Submitted save: glory7_gotm59_0204 AD-1440.Civ5Save
Renamed file: glory7_C505901.Civ5Save

after t145 london capture, I considered going to the other continent and get more capitals. If it were SV game, I would have done that as I needed 1 more city to get enough spt. As it was diplo vic, I chose to go with 5 cities (3 of them mine, ethi cap and eng cap).

early aggression really paid off at this map, as starting position sucked. I could afford granary and settler before t30. The last thing I want to see was 2nd Sweden city at my petra city position. I DoWed Sweden 2-3 times and took 2 workers and good peace deals. I took 2 more workers when I conquered ethi and they immediately worked on ethi cap as I was going to annex it asap. I also got one worker from England, but that one took long time to get back to Dutch territory.

For this map, I am pretty sure that if I didn't use aggresive style and played peacefully, my finish time would have been a lot slower. And I couldn't find any good spot except petra city, so I decided to 'expo' at ethi and eng cap. I got 5 CBs and 1 spear (upgraded from ruin) and they were enough to kill Sweden before t100. I took ethi cap right after, and upgraded them to Xbows and pike to kill remaining ethi cities and england cap.

SP: full tradition - rat left 2 (secularism with oracle) - pat open - rat right 1 - pat left 1 - rat fill. I miscalculated culture and had to wait 3 turns for rat finisher.

I reached plastics around t178 with 2 GS. It's my first time using 2 GS - usually use only 1. However, I had one leftover GS after getting all the techs, so I should have bulbed one more GS to get plastics earlier then. I bought 3 labs right after plastics and added 1 more soon. spt peaked around 970 (I forgot to buy lab at london, but it didn't matter). 3 GS were needed to get all the techs except 3 (2 for rat finisher, 1 for oxford). 1 from porc tower and 2 from faith were enough.

As I didn't plan to open order, I saved GE from pisa till the end so that I could rush UN. I didn't do much pre-building: only national treasury and oxford. With GE, it took 2 turns (instead of 9) so it was not a big deal.

If I had used one surplus GS before plastics and calculated culture correctly, it could have been sub 200, but I am pretty happy with the result. It would be very interesting to see how other players approach this map, as it was wide enough for many cities but on the other hand there were not that many ideal spots (for me, only one) to build cities.

 

[pkf]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 59
Date submitted: 2013-04-17
Your name: pkf
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1330AD
Turns played: 193
Base score: 1246
Final score: 3278
Time played: 6:42:00

Pretty happy with the finish time, could've been well below t190 with better play.

Settled 4th city too late - I built HG before building settler instead of the other way round..

For some reason I decided to build Pisa in second (petra) city which in combination with the other wonders (big ben) the city had to carry proved too much for a proper prebuild. It would have still been 300 hammers of overflow but I wasn't sure if on the turn your Golden Age ends, you would still get the culture. I gave it a try and turns out (not surprisingly) it doesn't, so I ended up not only ruining my prebuild but also losing the production bonus.. it was 6am so I guess that counts for an excuse..

Also got scared of Isabella building Pisa - she had so many cities I couldn't check on every one and was in Ren era for about 30 turns already.. so I couldn't use it for overflow either.

What really screwed my culture timing was that Gustavus, despite having only 2 cities left (I just wanted Stockholm and left everything else) figured out a way to coup Kuala Lumpur which dropped me from 90something to 7 influence.. and no gold around =( I even had my own spy there, so much hate =(

Key notes: t90 edu, t100 acoustics with oracle, ~t117 free thought, t166 plastics. Settled 4 cities myself (4th too late), took and annexed Stockholm ~t120 for another 60 beakers. Took Addis too, but only for Aluminium (used GG to get it).

 

[tomoliop]

Damn, it so slow...

Game: Civ5 GOTM 59
Date submitted: 2013-04-16
Reference number: 28733
Your name: tomoliop
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1906AD
Turns played: 326
Base score: 1544
Final score: 2375
Time played: 3:53:00
Submitted save: William_0326 AD-1906.Civ5Save
Renamed file: tomoliop_C505901.Civ5Save

But it was a nice relaxing game most of the time. The Dutch UA was quite useful for the start and for Prince difficulty AIs had suprisingly lot of gold. Grabbed Desert Folklore, planted second city to get as much desert as possible and block Gustavus. And then remembered about Petra to late and got beaten to it for like 13 turns... Major mistakes - Didn't grab too many cities on my continent, just like 4 of my own, 4 puppets, didn't even touch Elizabeth; Launched a huge campaign against Isabela witch generally failed though gave me some nice gold (It was bothering me that she was above me with points).Had no GEs for UN, didn't even remember whether it was possible to use them for it. I think I might play this again to see if I can get a more reasonable score.

 

[glory7]

Key notes: t90 edu, t100 acoustics with oracle, ~t117 free thought, t166 plastics. Settled 4 cities myself (4th too late), took and annexed Stockholm ~t120 for another 60 beakers. Took Addis too, but only for Aluminium (used GG to get it).

nice game! I didn't expect to win this one, but also didn't expect to lose by more than 10 turns. It seems that you got everything 10 turns before I did (edu, acoustics, free thought, plastics). Can you share your initial city placements and cap BO?

 

[pkf]

nice game! I didn't expect to win this one, but also didn't expect to lose by more than 10 turns. It seems that you got everything 10 turns before I did (edu, acoustics, free thought, plastics). Can you share your initial city placements and cap BO?

thanks =)

cap bo was something like scout-scout-shrine-(buy settler)-granary-(buy worker)-GL-NC-(buy settler)-(buy stoneworks)-HG-settler-HS-CI. skipped monument thanks to culture ruin. no pop ruin unfortunately. settled on the silver obviously.

rotterdam was founded t24 (delayed by one turn due to barb, avoidable mistake) next to the mountain on the plains hill for river access (garden, hydro). bought the wheat and bought library here asap.

i founded 3rd city 1 or 2 turns after NC completion (capitals production was poor still, so quite late, ~t55). placed it east of la venta on the gems with coastal access, quite far from cap. bought granary and built library/uni, city grew very fast.

fourth city was founded after HG (should build settler before HG and get it almost 15 turns faster) close to addis ababa, on the river hill next to the 2 spices and 2 deers. bought granny here as well, built lib/uni.

not so obvious spots i reckon, went out of my way to get them.

 

[Kigur]

Your name: Kigur
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1695AD
Turns played: 249
Base score: 1110
Final score: 2265

- How many cities did you build and how many did you decide to acquire?
Build 4 city, annex one ( stockholm ) and puppet one late game.

- How did you use religion or spying to your advantage?
my religion was DF/Tithe/pagodas/religious community/itinerant preacher

bad, i use my religion really bad. ethiopian enhance and pick religious text the same turn i enhance. i pick itinerant preacher but i should go for an active spreading with zeal,holy order or messiah and gmod.
and only remember to spread on other continent turn 200 ... i had astronomy since t130 ...

Spying was not something i really focus. 1st one protect amsterdam, 2nd one go in every civ to see in their is some tech to stole ... nothing so i put it and next one in cultural cs.
- How did diplomacy go with your neighbors?
Elizabeth was hostile all game, Gustav become hostile t100 when i capture stockholm. ethiopian dow me t175 the same turn i hit scientific theory, with lot of cash in hand to rush buy my public school...

- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
i've build too much crappy wonder and forgot great one like HG or ToA.
settle a crappy city.
- Were your UA and UU helpful?
UA yes but a bit late because of difficulty. i find the best use is to deal your last unique versus a double or triple one of AI u don't have. but AI have multiple lux a bit late, and i have to build circus and notre dame because of happiness issue.

UU don't build one, and conquering other continent was not in my gameplan.

- Was your UI helpful?
PetRotterdam grow really fast, and i focus my game on polder (beelining guild for petra and polder instead of civil service/education).


1st GOTM submitting, not a great finish time but i'm still happy to play this game
That was a nice map.

My first mistake was to settle near gibraltar and citrus. i settle in emergency because of sweden settler where i want to build ( near mountain ) then the city was captured by sweden and he give me back for a peace treaty after i captured stockholm.
lose aqueduct and monument in the move and granary finish maybe 70 turn after the city founding.
I think i should build this city on hills near south river instead, even if i have no unique lux, Stockholm and the north spot near gems.

My second mistake was to beeline guild. my cap has a poor growth (HG will be really helpful), i think i should get civil service first then guild or get education before guild.

maybe i'll replay this game later in a more classic way.

Bonus: The Great Prophet fishing net

Spoiler :

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

1st GOTM submitting, not a great finish time but i'm still happy to play this game.
That was a nice map.

Welcome to GotM and the CFC forums! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

[Novalia]

turn 235 victory..

How many cities did you build and how many did you decide to acquire?
i settled 4 cities.. puppeted 3 from ethiopia.. puppeted stockholm very late..


How did you use religion or spying to your advantage?
founded religion first.. stone circles.. tithe.. 15% production.. i had each of the 3 relgious cs allies pretty early due to barb quests.. then the religion and culture quests snowballed it.. so they were allies the entire game.. enhanced with happiness from temples and religious texts.. my religion dominated the continent from the start.. i sent out probably 4 missionaries.. then sent my gp over the ocean to hit the city states..
halle's religion was pretty muted..
i planted my first spy in the cap which was a waste as nobody tried to steal any techs initially.. moved the others to cs's.. probably the wrong cs's in hindsight.. should have focused more on the maritime ones..

How did diplomacy go with your neighbors?
diplomacy was fine early on.. everybody bought my stuff.. england of course were their typical lowballers for a little while.. then everybody began to get a little annoyed because i had every cs in my back pocket.. i was rolling in gold and if i had to buy a little influence here and there i did.. then as i was seeing halle getting his pikes asses kicked by my ally lisbon i decided i would take his cities right around xbow upgrade time.. then england asked if i wanted to go to war against him so i said yes and took his cities which had CI and GW and GL.. he offered another city in the deal but i left it for him as it was close to england and i didnt want to have to look to that side of the map the entire game.. a nice buffer.. england and halle fought for another 30 turns with england failing to take one city.. after that she was friendly and we signed a dof and did a crappy ra.. at least she began paying full price.. sweden was then mad at me the rest of the game.. i left him alone until later on when he sent a gp to my area and denounced me.. plus i need the citrus.. i was miles ahead in tech of everybody and just rolled him in 3 turns.. settled with him giving me helsinki.. each of his city's tiles were barely improved.. i just set my workers to auto.. i couldnt be arsed..

the other side of the world was also a backwards territory.. spain and austria must have gotten pummeled earlier.. spain just had its cap and austria just one other city no gold and -gpt.. theodora was a friend and we also signed a crappy ra.. darius had some gold and some needed luxuries at the time to keep me happy.. no real interaction with him aside from that.. everybody in this game was really noobish.. hardly any cities or military..

How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
i didnt go for wonder whoring but did get an opportunistic few.. i was instead focusing on building a strong economy which was pretty successful.. pisa, oracle, forbidden palace, machu pichu, pt, then some others for cs quests and nothing else to build.. otherwise the difficulty level made me not bother making any units except for 6 archers, 2 trebs, 2 knights early on which lasted the rest of the game.. gave some away for influence later.. got a couple from cs which i also gave away..

Were your UA and UU helpful?
ua was important for the first 100 turns as i sold off everything.. uu i didnt build..

Was your UI helpful?
i only built a couple of polders as i only had 2 tiles within my borders at the time.. then i acquired stockholm and apparently my unattended workers auto built a couple more on his undeveloped lands.. so not much use..

i had a good start and had three cities up pretty quickly and they were growing like mad.. i didnt settle my second city right next to the mountain because i wanted the luxuries without having to buy any tiles that would have pissed off sweden.. i was always rolling in gold so i also bought some workers.. was able to buy all science building immediately.. i suppose i dont micromanage so well and may have stunted my growth a bit running artist slots as well as scientist slots and not picking tiles to work manually.. i figure my cities should be much larger than they ended at.. rationalism with astronomy while picking up 2 in patronage (1 with oracle).. i suppose i lost focus after that.. my time could have been much better had i paid more attention to detail.. i could have built nc earlier.. i had 3 cities by turn 45 and in hindsight should have just stopped there for the moment and built nc.. but instead i founded another by the gems/coast which delayed it.. lost focus..

was really too easy and with some focus the start i had should have cut many turns off the finish time.. the ending was a shambles mistiming rationalism finisher and opening order for the GE halfway thru building UN..

the other civs were essentially a backwards lot.. not one of the civs on the other continent ever met the ones on mine..

Spoiler :

 

[AE_]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 59
Date submitted: 2013-04-19
Reference number: 28757
Your name: AE_
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1420AD
Turns played: 202
Base score: 1121
Final score: 2802

Finished the game at turn 202. When i finally manage to beat Glory7, pkf finish with a very good time, very sneaky

It wasn't a perfect game, and just a little more luck and better timing at the end would have gotten me a sub 200 win. But turn 193 is far away...

Spoiler :

 

[Maxym]

Diplomacy Victory
Game date:1370AD
Turns played:197
Base score:1292
Final score:3312
Time played:8:29:00

i messed up GS generation and had to take 2 GE to speed UN in the end, i had few GS just turns away from popping in the end. I am sure it could have been done more efficiently. Final bpt arund 1150, i had some prebuild but abandoned it. Annexed Addis but not stockholm, i think 4 cities with earlier conquest would have been enough.

I took order and built-rushed two factories in two best cities but it was a minor boost. a few GS more would have been better, i delayed PT till the end, i think delaying pisa would have been better or building it very early to get GP 25%boost.

17 votes including 2 civs - Byz and Austria, Izzy got killed with 1 tune to go and i had her vote too, and Liz Dowed a turn before the vote, its nice to see her try

Same deal i finally beat glory, only to see pkf post an awesome t193 win, gg buddy
and Tabarnak has joined the dark side i see, so who knows what he gets...

i did play by HOF rules, no gpt abuse, but early DoWs on Sweden to get his workers

 

[Tabarnak]

Same deal i finally beat glory, only to see pkf post an awesome t193 win, gg buddy
and Tabarnak has joined the dark side i see, so who knows what he gets...

i did play by HOF rules, no gpt abuse, but early DoWs on Sweden to get his workers

Haha love the ''dark side'' quote.

I only got 150 gold from gpt abuse. Sweeden had nothing when i stole his worker. By HoF rules, you should stay at war with them and capture half cities or capital or is it apply to gpt deals only?(is a stolen worker is acting like a gpt deal?). Because if a worker steal doesn't count as a HoF breaking rules i can say that i'm actually following 99% of other rules...

I don' want to throw another big discussion of the question. Just one simple one :

Worker steal is against HoF rules or not?

 

[Hieschen]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 59
Date submitted: 2013-04-20
Reference number: 28771
Your name: Hieschen
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1856AD
Turns played: 298
Base score: 1338
Final score: 2267
Time played: 5:18:00


was a nice game, tried a few things, took the following main learning points:

- first vote is 10 turns after and not when you built UN, nearly cost me the game, doh
- pyramids was not worth it (considering trade of with GL)
- building NC after expanding to 4 cities is bad, not even sub optimal
- William is fun to play, even though i did not find any use to the sea beggar
- if i want to start getting relevant in terms of finish times, will have to be aggro in maps like this where one opponent is clearly too close for comfort
- i do improve my game from GOTM to GOTM, with BNW coming part of the learning curve will have to be reset

Thx for the game, would care for an Emperor game next time if possible

Pat

 

[pkf]

I don' want to throw another big discussion of the question. Just one simple one :

Worker steal is against HoF rules or not?

I don't think so - it is nowhere stated explicitly. If you don't combine it with a gpt deal why would it be? It's basically the same as stealing a settler, you could always argue you're preventing an opponent from settling...

But as you said, let's not have another discussion (the complexity of the rule and the discussion around it are imho a convincing argument against it anyways, so I do gpt/DoW in GOTM).

 

[Pizzaspy]

Your name: Pizzaspy
Game status: Diplomacy Victory
Game date: 1832AD
Turns played: 286
Base score: 1346
Final score: 2361
Time played: 4:34:00

Not interesting enough for a write up. Tradition with 4 cities, wiped out Sweden, took most of ethiopia's cities and pushed hard for science. Used faith purchased GE to rush part of UN. ( policies were a mix of patronage/rationalism/order )

 

[Vintage Port]

Turn 261 Diplo Victory

Totally blew it mid-game as I fell asleep at the wheel lol. Did decently to catch up and then blew it again timing/building the UN. Oh well, learn from my mistakes.

Was a fun game, but I should have gone to war a lot earlier than I did.