TSG28 After Action Report

[Hammer Rabbi]

I am rolling along just fine right now in 28, but you can believe that I am really interested in this 118 win video.

yeah, i watched his (Tabarnak's) sub-50 turn win in the gg-minor thread. i just do not have the trade exploit knowledge down. that's the kind of efficiency you HAVE to possess to have any chance of uber-early wins. I'm not even sure i want that skill, just seems so unorthodox for this game. but when goal is quickest turns to victory you have to think outside those normal parameters. im still in the "just get a victory" stage.

but watch it nonetheless. it's very informative of speed victories.

 

[Tabarnak]

Sorry guys i can't get rid of my little problem with my video, it seems that it will take an enormous time to modify the huge file into something that movie maker can read and i''m not sure if it can actually work. So i will not waste my time with that anymore.

Lesson to myself : Never record more than 2 GB with camstudio!

Sry for the inconveniences, i will post some detailed writing and pictures in next few days...

Edit : Btw...does someone can tell me which solution is the best? i.e : How to make an unreadable video for movie maker, well....readable? (3.23 GB file)

 

[leif erikson]

Is anything in this article useful?

 

[pontias]

did a replay with tabarnaks 4 swordsman rush... tried not to be influenced by my knowledge of the map.

finished chivalry about 6 turns later than when I beelined it in my original turn. difference is i'd already wiped out monty and greece by then! would still struggle to get anywhere near tabarnak's score but reckon I could get 130-140 finish.

 

[Maxym]

Game statusomination Victory
Game date:840AD
turns played:152
Base score:844
Final score:2813
Time played:10:08:00

not the best time, but still early enough for Keshik's not to have problems taking down the caps. Berlin was tough with GW, but i got march on most of my Ks during that siege and it made the diff. Was very late to Chivalry t94. did not start clearing Monty till then. Alex, Wu and Bismarck were next. Should have killed Rami then too but was hoping Wu will finish him off. No luck there

Biggest setback was losing a scout at Alex's borders early in the game. Note to self scouts are for scouting not clearing barb camps. i had barb with 1 hp left in the camp, figured i will clear, there was one more full strenght one behind. I would have had lots of trading opportunities if it wasnt for this blunder.

2nd army sailed east from my land and took down Rome and Mecca. Then made it to Rami's cap just in time to see it fall. I might replay this one, I think late 120's might be possible for me.

 

[Brigg]

Score 3473.

The Great Wall of Rome took 33 turns to reduce and finally fell on 187.

Scouting was a serious problem. I lost 4 scouts to barbs in the woods between Greece and Germany.

Note to self: No one else ever gets the Great Wall in a timed game.

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

okay, finally got a domination victory. not good with them but i learned a lot.

turn 262
1760ad
score 18xx (forgot the final tally)

it went monty-alex-wu-ramk-harun-auggie-biz. got keshiks turn 94. i still have no idea how to manage 2 wars at once.
i also found out that worker bait indeed works, which im kind of disappointed i used that against Rome. it felt cheap.
i only lost 1 keshik with 3+ promos. the others were just rush bait.
i also learned the strength in making lots of money just before DoW. i of course actually followed through with it, not just a money making exploit.
i also sold my first city (3 actually-1 of them for 1009g, 4 lux's, OB, and 5 horses that i didnt need as i have 36 total 22 unused).
i had maybe 6k gold and 360 gpt during the last 2 turns of a GA. it's kind of cool to win during a GA, like it was a historically divine moment, haha.

it's also my first sub 1800ad victory.

 

[chochko]

Got some crashes from diplo screen but managed to finish it (each turn autosave ftw)

Game: 	Civ5 GOTM 28
Date submitted: 	2012-01-20
Reference number: 	25557
Your name: 	Chochko
Game status: 	Domination Victory
Game date: 	1670AD
Turns played: 	244
Base score: 	1528
Final score: 	3183
Time played: 	3:09:00
Submitted save: 	Genghis Khan_0244 AD-1670.Civ5Save
Renamed file: 	Chochko_C502801.Civ5Save

 

[leif erikson]

Welcome to CivFanatics and GoTM.

Congrats on your first win.

 

[clint0601]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 28
Date submitted: 2012-01-20
Your name: clint0601
Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 1330AD
Turns played: 193
Base score: 1362
Final score: 3584
Time played: 3:31:00

Really weird map, I thought it was continents at first due to poor scouting and wasted a bunch of time in the top of the tech tree and preparing for a longer, mass embarkation game. Very fun game though

 

[chochko]

Brief story of what i did:
Founded first city down the river between 2 wheat. Second - east next to Dye and Wine and third one - west along the coast over the cinnamon. Used GL for Civil service - quick boost of pop in the capital (founded on river with ~ 7 river tiles). Used liberty finisher to get Chivalry fast. Started with Monty - raized his cities except the cap and his last one. Next was Alexander (again razed all except capital and his last city). In this moment i lost the speed i was taking down civs. I was in the middle of World War - Rome was attacking China, Germany and Siam was attacking Arabia. I jumped on Rome then Arabia. Next was Siam and China and Germany was last.
My army was 4-6 Kashiks, General and Horseman.

 

[QuizMan]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 28
Date submitted: 2012-01-21
Reference number: 25561
Your name: QuizMan
Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 820AD
Turns played: 151
Base score: 946
Final score: 3153
Time played: 4:07:00
Submitted save: TSG28 dom vic turn 151.Civ5Save
Renamed file: QuizMan_C502801.Civ5Save

I am most pleased with this result as I much prefer peaceful games, but if I want to dominate, my preference is Mongols & keshiks. This turned out to be my quickest dom win by far and I think that lady luck was with me. I had some excellent results from ruins, namely 2 culture ones, 1 technology, 1 scout promotion and 1 citizen. I only lost 2 units throughout the game, namely one early warrior when he got cornered by 2 barbs and a great general almost at the end. By then I had more GG's that I needed so I had used the GG as a scout to explore Germany's back door for unseen threats.

A brief summary:

Cities:

Spoiler :

Settled in place because it was a mystery map and I thought that I might need early triremes if I was on an island. A 2nd city was southeast for the 4 horses and had the benefit of prompting Monty to DoW plus a 3rd city east of the capital for luxury trading. Conquered cities were mostly puppeted if they had luxuries or razed if not, although I annexed a couple (Athens and Beijing, I think) in case I needed a forward outpost to recruit more troops

Policies:

Spoiler :

All of liberty and most of honor - nothing else

Research:

Spoiler :

Pottery and writing for the great library & philosophy and AH and the wheel for war chariots. After that I more or less bee-lined to chivalry, but making sure I had research to keep money & happiness under control. No need for research agreements in this game and I saved the cash for chariot to keshik promotions.

Conquests:

Spoiler :

Aztecs turn 86, Greece t101, China t115, Siam t124, Arabia t138, Roman t142 and Germany t151. I probably should have split my army earlier than I did. Only Harun & Caesar went that way. If I had split for China & Siam I might have finished in under 150 turns, but Siam found me rather than the other way round so I was not sure where they were.

That is about it. I am not sure how much I would have done differently on another occasion. Hindsight is not available to us mere mortals. Germany got the great wall very late and that slowed down my final assault. By then I was had nothing useful to build in my cities so maybe I should have pursued the GW to deny it to Germany.

Thank you Leif for a pleasant, but not too difficult challenge.

 

[QuizMan]

To Monthar and others I would say stick with it. I am a recent convert to GOTM. I was in your position not so long ago, but I have learned so many new strategies via games of the month that I am living proof that even silver surfers can learn new tricks.

 

[Tabarnak]

After many tries, i just can't put the running video on youtube. Even movie maker can't read it and virtual dub has really hard times to compress this files(take like 4-5 days ....) and i'm not sure if it will work...so...i'm thinking about replaying this map only to show what i have done through the first 50 turns. It should be ok, the rest in theory is only how to move units.

And it will take as many time than taking a lot of picture and do all the writing. I will do that this week-end i guess.

 

[VulturuL]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 28
Date submitted: 2012-01-21
Reference number: 25562
Your name: VulturuL
Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 1000AD
Turns played: 160
Base score: 771
Final score: 2409
Time played: 2:36:00
Submitted save: GOTM28.Civ5Save
Renamed file: VulturuL_C502801.Civ5Save

I went to swordsman but I don't think that was a good idea because I researched Chivalry too later.
Anyway,I conquered the aztecs,the greeks and Wu Zetian with swords.In turn 110 I trained some keshiks in the capital and sent them to Siam.
After Siam I conquered Rome,Arabia and finally Berlin.
I am pleased with my result because I don't have much experience on dominations victories.

 

[Tabarnak]

I changed my mind and i decided to post a wall of pictures. I think it's more accurate of what i have done.

For another insight of the game(macro view), go here.

Turn 2 : Settled on the hill near mountains.

Spoiler :

Turn 11 : Warrior exploring.

Spoiler :

Turn 16 : Built another scout to explore north part. Other scout going west.

Spoiler :

Turn 21 : Scout went south instead to intercept Aztec settler protected by warrior. Flanked warrior on open tile to steal his settler. War is started.

Spoiler :

Turn 26 : Stole a worker from Monty, going to finally explore north part of map.

Spoiler :

Turn 34 : Found Greece far away. Capital going to build a settler to catch possible iron somewhere in a couple of turns.

Spoiler :

Turn 42 : Last settler going to land on the 6 iron tile. A spearman is blocking the way from barbs...for a long time. Still harrassing Monty, killing his units one by one.

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Turn 48 : Swords! What else?

Spoiler :

Turn 61 : Going to see Greece. A scout is on his way to see if there is something behind.

Spoiler :

Turn 72 : Found 2 other civs, Athens is going to fall. Another huge land behind?

Spoiler :

Turn 86 :I found China a bit later, giving me the answer...it's a pangea! No need to rush buy libraries, money will serve to buy more units. From Athens of course.

Spoiler :

Turn 96 : Bye bye Beijing. Opened border with Rome to get access of north part of map. I suspect that Berlin is north of Neapolis.

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Turn 101 : Germany has many units. I paid Rome to DoW Germany. He lost a couple of units, softening a bit the way to Berlin.

Spoiler :

Turn 107 : Siam is no match. Berlin is slowly dying.

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Turn 116 Chivalry discovered, Arabia and Rome left. 2 armies finishing them in a few. No cities sold, main land still looking undevelopped because of constant lack of happiness...but who cares now? And the spearman did a pretty well job at blocking barbs!

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

 

[Cromwell]

Ugh. I don't think I'm doing this right. Monty and Alex went nice and orderly, but then I went for China instead of Rome, then attacked Siam, and had a series of elephant incidents. Made peace, built a new army, with cannons, marched to Rome, and ran into 5 artillery there. My general survived, but that was it, not a single Keshik left. Now I'm behind on tech, Rome is unspeakably huge, after absorbing Arabia. Just now, Siam backstabbed me, buying out the city-state I left near me, which ended up razing my gold city, since my army was half a world away. German colonists are everywhere. I'm economically okay, but there's no way to catch Rome.

Don't know if I have the patience to play it out.

 

[RedRover57]

I didn't submit because it wasn't competitive. I did a standard Chivalry rush, but didn't bulb it until T91. I should have used the free tech from the GL for CS instead of Philo, but I was concerned that I would lose it to the AI with no ancient wonders DLC. My culture was a bit slow to start also and I had to build the Oracle to finish Liberty for the GS to bulb Chivalry. I immediately upgraded 5 chariot archers to keshiks (plus one horseman to cap cities) and proceeded to easily sweep the map. It just took a while because the AI had more cities by then. I also made the mistake of thinking it was a continents map and I rushed to Astronomy after Chivalry. My initial scout was killed by barbs up near Greece (before meeting them) and I didn't meet the rest of the AI until I sent a trireme up that way.

Impressive time Tabernak! I didn't even consider doing a sword rush with the Mongols.

 

[golem]

Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 1320AD
Turns played: 192
Base score: 1361
Final score: 3581
Time played: 7:51:00

I enjoyed keshiks, it was not difficult. I think I did two main mistakes -
1) start to conquer the world after chivalry, so it was a bit late
2) bad promoting of units - I totally forgot about logistic, it would save horrible time.
I did not sell any city, just raze three of them. Finally I had seven keshiks, two lancers, two riflemans and cannon for Berlin - so it was fast.

 

[BuddhaBubba]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 28
Date submitted: 2012-01-22
Reference number: 25573
Your name: BuddhaBubba
Game status: Domination Victory
Game date: 1904AD
Turns played: 324
Base score: 2549
Final score: 3982
Time played: 5:44:00
Submitted save: Win_Genghis Khan_0324 AD-1904.Civ5Save
Renamed file: BuddhaBubba_C502801.Civ5Save

Could have done it quicker but not bad for someone who almost never does domination. And OMG Keshiks are so broken. At least with the AI which is just so bad at combat. There's so many things I miss about Civ4 including a non-******** AI.