TSG30 After Action Report

[leif erikson]

Hi there! First time poster and I'd just like to say thanks for doing GOTM as its given the game a new lease of life for me (I've worked my way back to GOTM 15). Thought I'd actually join in now I've caught up with all the previous entries.

Welcome to CivFanatics and GOTM.

Excellent write up.

Anyway... I must confess to viewing the game in progress thread as soon as I'd opened the save file. I figured it might help me plan my game out in advance. I imagine this is what all the top players have been doing for a while now, but in hindsight it doesn't seem like fair play. Perhaps there should be a rule instated that we can't view the game in progress thread until we're at least 100 turns in? I suppose it's all on the honor system anyway, but I think it'd be good to have an official rule so that we're not tempted to look ahead like this. It worked too well.

There is one, really.

1. Once a player opens the save, posting in the Announcement thread is not allowed to prevent unintentional spoilers.

2. Players should not view the Spoiler thread until.
a. In-progress thread - they have played their first 80 t0 100 turns. Then they may view and post in the thread.
b. After Action Report - players may not open this thread until they have submitted their game. Then they are free to read and post in the thread.

There sort of is, for at least the first 60 to 80 turns anyway.

And also with the assistance you provided to Rygaros.

 

[chochko]

Game: 	Civ5 GOTM 30
Date submitted: 	2012-02-21
Reference number: 	25770
Your name: 	chochko
Game status: 	Culture Victory
Game date: 	1903AD
Turns played: 	323
Base score: 	1064
Final score: 	1662
Time played: 	1:58:00
Submitted save: 	Alexander_0323 AD-1903.Civ5Save
Renamed file: 	chochko_C503001.Civ5Save

It was quite stupid to annex 2 of the persian cities - that slowed me a lot...

 

[pontias]

Your name: pontias
Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1795AD
Turns played: 269
Base score: 702
Final score: 1324

sorry... my write ups are bad as i dont keep notes or take screen shots.

I settled hill to the east; settled an early city to north and hemmed in persia to the one city. he couldn't do anything in that corner

i cocked up my initial research; after seeing it was an island i went for for sailing and optics which meant my cities had no choice but to churn out warriors.... 4 of them and a scout went out scouting and i must have picked up more than 10 ruins throughout the game. didn't work out too bad as GLib popped compass.

so i stalled a bit there getting out great lib... my warriors that had upgraded to hoplites came home and puppeted persia's one city. then it was RAs all the way home really... i again cocked up by bulbing acoustics while i was still at construction so my RAs were very undervalued. I had about 10 in a row sorted though. experimented with my landmarks a bit which knackered a few mines which didn't help my utopia project. and i never know how to maximise the production bit at the end - not sure how to get engineers out for the final builds.

 

[FeiLing]

Game status: 	Culture Victory
Game date: 	1806AD
Turns played: 	273
Base score: 	1865
Final score: 	3453
Time played: 	30:42:00

This game felt awful very early on. I was not happy about the location of Athens at all. At least I got reminded that settling on a mineable luxury (gold here) effectively robs me off 2 production. Also my other 2 cities weren't all that nice either - the starting continent just sucked (luckily everyone had to deal with that I guess^^). Darius I was of course guarded all the time and bound to attack sooner or later. When I noticed 2 Archers of his and 3 melee units I rush-bought an Archer in Sparta to defend. Should be enough, especially since it's Warlord difficulty only. I nearly lost Sparta as when he declared suddenly he had 7 melee units! Luckily I did save up some money and could also buy Walls in Sparta plus a Knight in Athens to help cleaning him up. Got reminded that Immortals are actually spearmen replacements... :facepalm:
About the actual game:
Opened Tradition, then went for the Liberty settler, worker and Republic. Then started and finish (at turn 102) Piety at which point I produced 78 culture per turn before I finished Liberty. With the next policy I opened freedom while I think somewhen in between here I took Persepolis plus Pasargardae and razed Susa (which got rebuild in the exactly same spot though shortly after - should have played a unit on that damn island -.-). My 4th city got build on the same little island as Florence, next to Siams starting continent. I planned on destroying Siam anyway at some point, as he was guarded before already and I 'covet wonders that he had built'. As a matter of fact he had the Great Lighthouse, Chichen Itza (!), beat me to Notre Dame mad and he built the Porcelain Tower too (could have used that GS... didn't think any AI would go for the PT anytime soon on Warlord difficulty). Before finishing Freedom I spent a policy on Legalism on turn 147 to gain 4 free Opera Houses and quickly build a Hermitage in Athens thereafter.

Turn 207: Eliminated Cape Town (a hostile Maritime CS), because two cultured CS asked me to do so (one become a new ally while I didn't have to spent money on the other to expand our 'friendship'). At that point I had +395 culture per turn.
Turn 237: Used 2 Great Scientists and finished Oxford to bulb Telegraph, Radio and Mass Media. Bought a Broadcasting Tower in Athens immediately, which increased the city's culture output by 62 to 407 per turn.

Spoiler :

Immediately started the Sydney Opera House in Athens then. And also Christo Redentor in Sparta and the Eiffel Tower in Corinth (didn't need the ET, but I already was on course to optimize my score points by now. Also it gives ridiculous +18 Happiness (5 base + (25 policies/2=13) which is just fun to see
Meanwhile Argos was finishing the Brandenburg Gate, as 3 (!) City-States wanted that to be built. More importantly though I needed the Great General for a Golden Age urgently, as I unfortunately didn't generate any Great Engineers but 1 which I used for the Sistine Chapel earlier. And I didn't have any coal either. Bought a City-state which already had 2 mines underneath 2 coal resources. But I did not get it. Someone help me: When will I get them? When will they discover there is coal? There is apparently no way to determine if they already know about the resources?

However Siam had coal too. So after coveting their cities due to the wonders they built, I now also covet their lands.
Landed on their island with 1 Canon, 1 Knight and 1 Anti-Aircraft gun (which was the strongest unit I could rush-buy at that point). Being supported by a +1 range logistics Frigate. It was close (his damn elephants are so strong (pretty much like riflemen), but it was enough. He offered peace even before I could take a city from him:

Spoiler :

That is a nice deal and all, but I came here for your coal buddy (and I know you don't even know yet what coal actually is). Anyway, I will not go without that coal!
How about this?

Spoiler :

No way to make that work, huh?

Spoiler :

He accepted anyway!! So I got the coal and quite some nice cash income on top for a mere 10 turns of peace (let's rather call it 'ceasefire'):

I carried the coal to Athens [fun fact: the saying "carry coals to Newcastle" in German actually is (translated back to English) "carry owls to Athens"] and rush bought a factory, which shaved off two turn from the Sydney Opera House (now 64 base hammers, 99.2 with modifiers). SOH finished on turn 252. That brought me up to +898 culture per turn - 200ish from City States, 700ish from my cities (Athens alone contributing 512 to that!).
While the last 1 (or 1.5) missing policies were being worked on, Argos actually finished the Statue of Liberty, which will help a lot for the Utopia Project (+3 for 3 specialists (workshop, factory, factory (producing 3 hammers each) and about +10 more for unoccupied citizens (producing 2 hammers each - that's pretty close to an actual specialist, huh?)).

Additionally I was preparing for the ceasefire expiration by upgrading my canon to an artillery, buying another artillery and 4 infantry units which I actually promoted for amphibious attacks. A promotion I rarely ever consider, but it was very useful here. So alone for the sake of the final score I eliminated Rammy and 4 nearby city states (one of them being my formerly best ally due to countless requests from them being filled ). Went from about 1480 base score to 1865 in the end which came by finishing the Utopia Project on turn 273.
Never thought it would turn out so decent, but I guess with more and better RAs (PT anyone? ) and one or two great engineers one could very well do it at 240-ish turns.

PS: Seems like I finish all my games while Atomic Theory is being researched

PPS: Most frustrating moment of the game: Around turn 165 or so my Frigate scouted a Barbarian Camp near a CS (I didn't have any relation with yet) which had a captured worker in it. I moved my Scout there as quickly as I could from the other side of the map (-.-) to return that worker. When he finally arrived I wanted to soften up the Brute by attacking it with the Frigate, as the combat estimation thingy predicted me having to fire twice at it. Somehow the Barbarian though got killed in one blow. Okay whatever, I'll move in next turn anyway... However an Egyptian Scout sneakily moved into the now unguarded Barb Camp and returned the worker to the CS. I swear I'd have steamrolled over Ramesses II instead of Ramkhanhaeng (of Siam) if only the Pharaoh didn't have the Great Wall

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 30
Date submitted: 2012-02-22
Reference number: 25777
Your name: Hammer Rabbi
Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1918AD
Turns played: 338
Base score: 1096
Final score: 1635
Time played: 8:53:00

had a late night after mardi gras festivities and finished my game. i even screencapped but i was too tired to save it.

i really do not get the balance of how to get 5 policy trees quickly.

i settled on the gold mine on the coast. put sparta up on 1 tile to the south that was kind of a tiny peninsula around turn 50. i got all the wonders i wanted and only missed out on ones i wasnt that interested in (Big Ben). i went tradition opener then all of liberty, all of piety, then filling out the rest timing them as needed (freedom, then tradition, and lastly commerce). the last one was a toss up of patronage or commerce (which i really dont like) but i went commerce because i actually had a roadless coastal empire. i took susa, persepolis, and pasargardae (pasa was a big mistake) all of which were on the coast. i was all harbored up in every city and the +3 prod for each was pretty sweet.

my starting CPT (first 150 turns) was really bad though. i was doing what im sure was not efficient by hagia/pt/oxford slingshots. i really should have just settled some engineers and artists as i still would have gotten those wonders and their production would have been really good after finishing freedom. i went from 170cpt somewhere in the 150s to 470cpt 50 turns later. I had 3 GSs to slingshot to Sydney which took me over 600cpt. by the time i was on my last 3 policies i was at 870cpt. i had the gold to ally 6 of the culture CSs and rush buy 3 broadcast towers.

i certainly wanted to do the RA abuse but taking darius' last city (pasargardae) was a real mistake. i knew i wouldnt be going rationalism but even the PT would make them worthwhile. Well, removing darius from history made RAs an impossibility. Everyone went hostile and about 30 turns later i got DoW's by Ramses and Ramkam. Neither mattered though because they were militarily nothing. They never even sent 1 unit to attack me. I took one of Ramses cities, razed it and he asked for peace but it was a straight up deal. I counter offered 3 or 4 times but I can never seem to work the good peace deals. I could afford to buy both sides of the RAs but they were not going to do it unless i gave them every lux and 20+ gpt for it so i shut the RA strategy down. I was way ahead in techs anyway.

by the time i got to the Utopia project it was turn 317 and i could only get it built in 21 turns. and really it was 24 turns but 5 turns into it i got a GE that i settled on a mine that dropped it a few more. I eventually had 5 artists settled and 1 GE. i think i made 9 GPs altogether plus the free ones from wonders and policies.

again, miserable effort. i might try this one again to try some other strats but of course hindsight and map knowledge will be the only thing that lets me improve. i might try to leave Pasargardae and not do the slingshot. I also need to rethink the order i took the policies.

also, i only needed maybe 8 units the whole game: 1 caravel, 1 upgraded trireme, a scout that became an archer/crossbowman, and 3 Comp Cav/knights plus my warrior and some cannons that i garrisoned later just because there was nothing i really needed to build and they would be free maintenance.

also, i got Cristo Redentor but I only had 3 policies left and it really wasnt necessary. I wont waste my time on it next time unless i have more than 3 to get.

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

Game: 	Civ5 GOTM 30
Date submitted: 	2012-02-21
Reference number: 	25770
Your name: 	chochko
Game status: 	Culture Victory
Game date: 	1903AD
Turns played: 	323
Base score: 	1064
Final score: 	1662
[B]Time played: 	1:58:00[/B]

You did that in under 2 hours? How is that even possible?

 

[mike678]

You did that in under 2 hours? How is that even possible?

Quite a few people did it under 2 hours. Majority under 3. Assuming you took out persia you basically just had to hit next turn repeatedly. It's the fighting that usually takes the longest.

 

[Half Nelson]

Culture Victory 1735AD
Turns played: 258
Base score: 1270
Final score: 2490
Time played: 11:14:00

Settled on hill 2E. Great spot apart from lack of river. Went for 3-city NC start with Wonder-bashing (GL, SH, Oracle, HS, PT, ND) then lots of RA through Acoustics to Archaeology and a couple of GS plus Oxford to push to Mass Media. I removed Persia from our shared island and later conquered Siam for coal and luxuries. Was going really well until the final few turns, when I made a complete hash of trying to use hammer overflow to speed up the Utopia Project build:- I didn't notice that I was approaching a happiness GA which triggered just as I had almost completed a nice little overflow cascade and completely collapsed it by producing too many hammers. This probably cost me 4-5 turns, but overall I can't complain. I killed off the remaining Persian 1-tile cities at this point in annoyance.

Are policies cheaper at lower difficulties, or is it just easier to accumulate culture?

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

Quite a few people did it under 2 hours. Majority under 3. Assuming you took out persia you basically just had to hit next turn repeatedly. It's the fighting that usually takes the longest.

im not sure how that is. i could hit next turn 250 times and it would take longer than that. civ5 is notorious for obnoxious turn times. do you play on minimal graphics on a super fast rig? i really dont get it. i can take 2-5 minutes per turn post 150 and that doesnt take into consideration processing new info like having to switch strategy or debate something long-term.

 

[mike678]

im not sure how that is. i could hit next turn 250 times and it would take longer than that. civ5 is notorious for obnoxious turn times. do you play on minimal graphics on a super fast rig? i really dont get it. i can take 2-5 minutes per turn post 150 and that doesnt take into consideration processing new info like having to switch strategy or debate something long-term.

I never thought about my rig. I only ever have problems on huge earth maps. After about 150 to 200 turns it takes a while.

I have a i7 960 with 12 gigs of ram an ssd and a gtx 295 X2. If I can remember correctly my in between turns only took a second or two on this map at the end and that's with high graphics.

 

[vixafox]

I don't often go for cultural victories. Hence the very slow win. I built only two cities and puppeted twenty-one. Athens was my powerhouse, ending with 40 population and bringing in 124 production, 103 gold, 351 science and 368 culture per turn. Since I had no iron I waited until gunpowder before I started my puppeting spree. That probably delayed the victory. Still I think my biggest mistake was missing out the Piety tree, thereby losing out on the 10% reduction in future Policies. I must remember that next time.

 

[golem]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 30
Date submitted: 2012-02-25
Reference number: 25797
Your name: golem
Game status: Diplomacy Wrong VC
Game date: 1808AD
Turns played: 274
Base score: 1251
Final score: 2316
Time played: 3:31:00


I did not read announcement well so I went for diplomacy. That was easy, but a bit boring, as nothing happened all the game. My fault I should went for cultural. Next time I will be more careful.

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

I never thought about my rig. I only ever have problems on huge earth maps. After about 150 to 200 turns it takes a while.

I have a i7 960 with 12 gigs of ram an ssd and a gtx 295 X2. If I can remember correctly my in between turns only took a second or two on this map at the end and that's with high graphics.

yeah, an i7 and 12gb of ram certainly speed yours up. im also not sure how well a dual-card setup does with this game. i have an extra slot on my mobo if i decide to pair it up. my turn load times are more like 30 seconds late game. but ive only gotten over a minute load time when doing dom vics or if i didnt disable combat animations. all on standard of course. i havent done huge/marathon yet.

i have 3.2ghz quad core athlon 955 with 8gb of ram, sapphire radeon 5770, and no SSD (500gb 7200rpm hdd). my graphics are all max too.

 

[mike678]

yeah, an i7 and 12gb of ram certainly speed yours up. im also not sure how well a dual-card setup does with this game. i have an extra slot on my mobo if i decide to pair it up. my turn load times are more like 30 seconds late game. but ive only gotten over a minute load time when doing dom vics or if i didnt disable combat animations. all on standard of course. i havent done huge/marathon yet.

i have 3.2ghz quad core athlon 955 with 8gb of ram, sapphire radeon 5770, and no SSD (500gb 7200rpm hdd). my graphics are all max too.

I might have labeled my gpu wrong. I don't have two different cards crossfired just one with dual gpu's. It's actually quite nice I got it a couple years ago and apparently it still matches some of the 500 series cards. From what Ive heard crossfire isn't worth it though I haven't really looked into it. I would just upgrade since amd just released the 7000 series and they shrunk the die so there will be massive improvements.

You could probably even make a little cash for a new card if you mine for bitcoins with the 5770. It's a decent card for that and only requires about 100 wats when overclocked and can get you around 220 megahash .

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

I might have labeled my gpu wrong. I don't have two different cards crossfired just one with dual gpu's. It's actually quite nice I got it a couple years ago and apparently it still matches some of the 500 series cards. From what Ive heard crossfire isn't worth it though I haven't really looked into it. I would just upgrade since amd just released the 7000 series and they shrunk the die so there will be massive improvements.

You could probably even make a little cash for a new card if you mine for bitcoins with the 5770. It's a decent card for that and only requires about 100 wats when overclocked and can get you around 220 megahash .

sorry, i read the 'X2' part of your card to mean 'times 2' or 2 cards. and i did my own reading on crossfire and it seemed very selectively beneficial, i.e if you have certain usage habits it can be really nice but i dont have them so i doubt ill do it unless my card gets to 'VERY cheap' price ranges ($50 and under).

i remember hearing about bitcoins last year. im a pretty modest computer user and i remember thinking that stuff was quite complicated. i might look at it again. thanks.

 

[mike678]

i remember hearing about bitcoins last year. im a pretty modest computer user and i remember thinking that stuff was quite complicated. i might look at it again. thanks.

It's not too difficult and most people on the bitcoin forums are quite nice. Don't expect to get rich doing it though. With your one 5770 you could make a few dollars a week after electricity cost (assuming you have the average in the us) so it can be a fun thing to do.

 

[leif erikson]

Please, can we get back on topic?

 

[Matekui]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 30
Date submitted: 2012-02-26
Reference number: 25804
Your name: Matekui
Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1917AD
Turns played: 337
Base score: 879
Final score: 1311
Time played: 3:01:00


I thought I was doing pretty good by finishing around turn 330! You guys finished it way earlier. Fun times

 

[leif erikson]

Welcome to CivFanatics and GOTM.

Just keep reading and your time will improve.

 

[xerex]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 30
Date submitted: 2012-02-27
Your name: xerex
Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1912AD
Turns played: 332
Base score: 1001
Final score: 1516
Time played: 3:14:00

Two cities, no RA's, 3 puppets.