Game: Civ5 GOTM 28
Date submitted: 2012-02-05
Reference number: 25645
Game status: Science Loss
Game date: 2038AD
Turns played: 478
Base score: 1519
Final score: 1519
Time played: 8:16:00
Renamed file: flp_ndrox_C502801.Civ5Save
Yup, I submitted a loss. Why? For statistical purposes and to support a game of the month at a difficulty level a regular person (not a civfanatic =D) can actually not get killed. I've just recently discovered that Sulla was overstating how population can be a problem, it's really more of a necessary evil, so I'm trying to move up levels. With an above average start I can handle king...with a tech victory. I don't remember the last time I played a standard sized map...or got a domination victory (think it was before horses got nerfed, fwiw), so I thought this would be a good challenge for me. I was right. I learned so much about the holes in my game: Early war, schizophrenic tech tree decisions, lack of ability to wage war without tech superiority, tendency to overbuild buildings and resulting econ struggles, issues exploiting diplo AI, etc.
Here are my notes that I was going to post in the in progress thread, where I make observations on how the game is going, organized by turn number. You fanatics can look at it as a window into the mind of a merely above average regular ;-)
1 - Sent warrior along the river, settle in place, go for calendar to get the lux happiness bonuses for all the cities I'm gonna conquer.
4 - Crap! Monty! Need Warriors STAT!
17 - Tenochtitlan looks takeable, lotsa flat land for the sieges.
28 - That's all the more horses I get?!?
29 - Hmm, Monty didn't explore west?
61 - No nearby Iron?!? What am I supposed to do now?
66 - Aztec horses force me off my defensive line west of Hanoi, regroup.
75 - reestablish that defensive line...wait, are those swordsmen? At least that mean he's got all the Jags he'll ever get.
76 - AI builds GL
77 - first golden age! Yay!
96 - Re-re-establish that same defensive line.
97 - finally founded a city for that Iron, OK, it's go time...once I get sieges.
98 - Got Kublai Khan (he remained my sole working GG, as the rest were turned in for GAs, until his defeat at the siege of Athens in the Great German War)
106 - There's Silver and Iron west of Monty, and he's just leaving it. [insert joke about the AI]
127 - Capital potentially saved by a pirate ship taking out an embarked pikeman. I suppose I'll let him live for that.
142 - things are quiet, it's settler time!
167 - It's Keshik time!
170 - My first real offensive begins.
172 - Hi, Alex, nice to see someone besides Monty...I guess...
175 - Teo falls, my first city capture.
181 - Assault on Tenochtitlan begins
185 - Tenochtitlan falls
190 - Otto! Finally someone to trade with. I've never been so happy to see the Germans.
215 - Finish mopping up the Aztecs. Mexico has a lot of Iron and horses, and there's only one way to go: West. Time to tech up and take out Alex. Per Diplo screen, Otto seems to be getting the better of "Octo".
222 - Taj goes to the AI. So, looks like guns should be in AI hands. I don't have guns.
224 - A paranoid Alex DoWs me as the game announces "Sharpest Spears". I'm 3rd, he's 6th. Well, all right, then. Guess I won't be taking out Hanoi and Florence any time soon, since the Keshiks are riding west.
238 - Otto is in the industrial Era, and the Porcelain tower is built by the AI. Wow, am I behind.
250 - City States have rifles now, so no attacking them.
251 - Greetings, China! Here, let's trade lux and get a research agreement.
257 - After fighting across the Isthmus of Argos, and beginning the assault on Cornith, I find Renaissance era German troops attacking Sparta. Looks like it's a race to Athens, then.
263 - Corinth falls, on to Athens. Welcome, Arabia, can you do me a solid, trade with me, and keep Germany busy?
264 - Bad news for Alex, Sparta falls to the Germans, Athens falls to me. Down to one cruddy city, I decide to let him live as a pet civ to keep from getting the warmonger penalty.
270 - Statue of Liberty to the AI. So that's Infantry, right? At least I have muskets now, huh? Germany busy fighting China and Arabia. I settle in defensive position in the hills west of Athens and try to catch up on tech.
280 - I've managed to stay friends with Otto, which is good since he has infantry and I am not even close. During exploration of Germany via open borders, I find Augustus, and get my trading on. He has coal. I can believe I'm still this surprised how behind I am.
284 - As anticipated, Germany declares war. At least I have rifles and cannons in good defensive position around Athens. Germans have the great wall half a world away.
290 - Germany has a Luftwaffe. I have NO navy. Good night.
296 - Bejing falls to the Germans. Maybe if I can find Berlin I can steal it?
300 - #2 Army, which is good. Germany's is *4* times more powerful, which is bad.
Basically it keeps going like this. Germany rolls their side, I manage to make any incursions into Greece painful. Eventually German Artillery kills the rifleman holed up in the hills next to Athens. That was the key poisition and Athens falls, costing me the GG. I fall back to Argos, and set up a carpet of death by artillery there. Then we hit the stalemate. I can't out tech him to get enough weapons to force him back, and he can't get past me. Yay for stereotypical German stubbornness and lack of naval support. He conquers what he can and then decides to go for a Diplo victory. Makes sense, since at one point he has almost 100k Gold. But he never makes an offer to peace without territorial concessions in both Mexico and Mongolia, I never take the deal. I manage to keep Hanoi as an ally, which keeps them peace blocked so he can't buy them off of me and getting the final vote necessary for the diplo win.
Toward the end, things got weird. When he came for me with 2 GDRs (only second time I've seen the AI with them), I nuked them. I know he had nukes (seen the fallout), but he never nuked me. Which is weird, nukes are MADE for killing Carpets of Doom. I think he went tech win since he figured he couldn't roll me or buy Hanoi.