TSG41 After Action Report

[leif erikson]

Hi

really enjoyed this a lot.
1 sm things: how/where do I find how I compare to others? I read some the emails on this list, and I seem late to finish (see below)

Welcome to CivFanatics and GOTM.

The results of the game will be published when the game closes, in this case, 2 September. It takes a couple of days to compile results before we post the results.

However, you can read through this thread as most participants post their dates and get a good idea of how you compare.

 

[tommynt]

Quote:
Originally Posted by tommynt
looks really like GOTM is all about abusing game mechanics to the max.
Thats like overflow of 10 prebuilt units/buildings/wonders.

I guess you weren't around when overflow was discussed for Civ2 and again for Civ3. Using overflow is not considered an exploit. You make the hammers, so you're entitled to see something built with that effort.
An exploit is when you take something you don't deserve.

actually u might take things more relaxed, there is nothing wrong with using/abusing game mechanics in some1s favour.
Also I hardly care if you made a discussion in civ3 or about some1s opinion about whats an exploit.
Its just that some stuff is VERY time comsuming (like prebuilding stuff - switching over and over) and not fun.

Quote:
Thats planing the Utopia ahead for like 50+ turns - whish I could care THAT much

but well done, didnt expect some1 to be faster then me, obviously this 1 missed CS hurt me 2 turns or so but guess its more that my Utopia needed 12 turns or so.

Actually, I planned ahead for 200+ turns. My desert city was in a better location than yours and fully matured. Without overflow it would have built Utopia in 8 turns, not your 12.

interesting that you know where my cities are planted exactly, and that you allways know where the best spot to plant your cap is

 

[Alphons Rodulfo]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 41
Date submitted: 2012-08-20
Reference number: 27011
Your name: Alphons Rodulfo
Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1970AD
Turns played: 390
Base score: 2104
Final score: 2697
Time played: 17:36:00
Submitted save: Theodora_0390 AD-1970.Civ5Save
Renamed file: Alphons_Rodulfo_C504101.Civ5Save


So.. I won. Yeah. Yeah!

Allright, 1970 is not very quick. I must admit I was rather sloppy at times. Build Petra in the wrong spot, for example. But it was a fun game.

I started with the Honour tree, because I thought I needed some claws and teeth with the Romans next door. I just managed to kick them out of my empire. After that I wasn't in trouble any more. That is, until China started building a space ship when I was a couple of techs away from railroad. I had to hurry to invade China and sabotage that infernal spaceship. I quickly teched up to battleships and took some some Chinese coastal cities. That seemed to have delayed China just enough.

Noteworthy:
1) This was this first time in any Civ5 game that I got nuked. Being a non-nuker myself, it was nice to see the animation for once.
2) The combination of frigates and privateers (battleships and destroyers later on) is awesome. Where those privateers always capable of taking cities? Taking cities with a navy is much easier than taking them with ground forces.

 

[Resonance]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 41
Date submitted: 2012-08-21
Your name: Resonance
Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1864AD
Turns played: 303
Base score: 2476
Final score: 4126
Time played: 7:46:00

My first GOTM completed. I learned a lot about culture games, though most of it came from mistakes I made. I was hoping to get sub 300, but I will do so in my future culture games.

Fun game.

I actually took out caesar and monty, had quite a few cities in the end. I missed Alhambra, which did cost me dearly, and did not realize the power of freedom and infinite GA until turn 200 ^^. I focused on science to much. Had CN Tower built in the end and overdid it quite a lot.

Looking forward to the next game!

 

[majorkong]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 41
Date submitted: 2012-08-25
Reference number: 27067
Your name: majorkong
Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1868AD
Turns played: 304
Base score: 1045
Final score: 1741
Time played: 8:34:00

My first GOTM. Was fun.

Only founded two cities. Adrianople was a massive Petra monster in the desert west of starting spot. Snagged pretty much every wonder in the game except for the coastal ones up to Forbidden Palace and then I started passing on ones like Big Ben that wouldn't really help. Rome never sniffed me once I built Great Wall.

For religion I used Desert Fokelore, Tithe, Pagodas, Monasteries, Itinerant Preachers, and Plowshares which, given how often Rome declared on me, would certainly have done better with maybe the culture founder belief instead. The money from Tithe was nice, and I got my religion pretty widespread through IP and no real competition on home continent.

Needed to find a way to get to Industrial for Freedom faster than I did.

 

[leif erikson]

My first GOTM. Was fun.

Welcome to GOTM.

Glad you enjoyed it and congrats on your win.

 

[MrGurgeh]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 41
Date submitted: 2012-08-26
Reference number: 27076
Your name: MrGurgeh
Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1916AD
Turns played: 336
Base score: 1659
Final score: 2476
Time played: 6:35:00
Submitted save: MrGurgeh_C5_GOTM_Final.Civ5Save
Renamed file: MrGurgeh_C504101.Civ5Save

Howdy...
First post, first GoTM. Enjoyed the game a lot, though I could have won much sooner if I hadn't gotten lazy/tired of playing and paid more attention.

I've been playing Immortal lately with mostly success, though I've yet to win Diety. Dropping down to Emperor, I was amazed by the amount of wonders I was able to build -- basically everything I wanted (except Statue of Liberty, but wasn't on my tech path). I'm not used to this, so it was pretty cool. Probably slowed me down though.

I took notes for first 100 turns or so, then got lazy:

Settled on the hill to the NE to get more rivers. Also revealed the extra wine, so I was happy with the move.
Started with Pottery for religion. My warrior found 3 great ruins -- Culture, Tech (Mining), Population. Soon as I found the culture I switched production from scout to Monument so I could finish before tradition gave it to me.
Early tech order after Pottery -- Calendar, writing, archery, AH, trapping, wheel, Math, sailing, Currency, Masonry, Construction.

Built scout, then worker, then started on Stonehedge, as I figured religion was going to be key. Sold my first wine to Caesar for the insulting price of 138g ... didn't care, as the next one was just turns away, and it gave me a clear indication of his attitude toward me. Sold second wine to Dido for full price (240).

Bought an archer on turn 39. Finished Stonehenge on 48. Founded my religion on 64 (Goddess of Festivals Pantheon, Ceremonial Burial, Cathedrals, Monasteries). Enhanced it a bit later with Divine Inspiration (wonders provide +2 faith ... probably should have picked something different but oh well) and Defender of the Faith (+20% combat bonus friendly cities... I think this came in handy). This was the same turn that Rome DoW'd Carthage.

Bought a settler and founded second city next to river and hills in NW desert spot. Founded it right next to a barb camp, which disappeared next turn and completed the quest for Quebec City ... short time as ally. Also cleared a camp for Rio and Jakarta, so was off to good growth start.

Dido offered me friendship turn 32, which I accepted. Rome offered same turn 68, which I refused. Bought my 3rd settler on 69 and planted next to the southern mountain in the east. I knew it wouldn't be a stellar city, but was a great target and bottleneck for the inevitable troops that would be marching my way.

Somewhere in here I was trying to hit F11 to quicksave and hit F12 to quickload instead, so had to back up to an autosave 3 or 4 turns earlier. Tried to play it exactly as I had.

I kept the scout on the eastern side of the mountains and watched Rome finish off Carthage on turn 81. He was hostile on 82 and declared war on me soon after. I managed to ally with Jakarta and Brussels so the bottleneck was complete and he never even got close. Eventually planted a citadel next to north mountain and he banged up against it a few times. Maybe lost half a dozen units to him entire game.
This first war lasted till turn 215 when he offered peace. He declared war on me again turn 226 or so, and I had him begging for peace on 271. 10 turns later he was at it again... Toward the end I took all of his coastal cities with my 4 ships while I waited to finish policies and Utopia. His final (pathetic) land push toward me was repelled by bombers.

My scouting Dromon revealed an island to the west with 3 CSs and a spot with 2 more wine and ivory. I bought my final settler and swam over there. Another lackluster city, but I my civ was all about wine, so i couldn't resist.

After construction, I think I went straight for Astronomy so I could discover the rest of the world and sell my excess resources. By this time France was dead. They were all fighting each other on that continent so I turned down all offers of friendship. Eventually made friends with China, who was tech leader, and signed maybe 2 RAs entire game. She'd built 1 SS Booster by the time I'd won.

India DOW'd me from across the world and eventually gave me cash for peace without ever getting close to me. Same with Montezuma. Catherine was schizophrenic and DoW'd me late in the game, giving me just enough time to sail my little navy over and take Madrid a couple turns before Utopia.

I made peace with both Catherine and Caesar the turn before Utopia was built just to be a bit more cultural about things.

Mistakes I made were not puppeting Carthage when I took it (from Caesar), which added to my city number. Also annexed a little city Rome built to the south to get the Pearls, then realized my mistake and razed it.
An automatic great prophet popped the turn before I finished Hagia Sophia, which was lame.
My tech path was sort of all over the board, which delayed Freedom way too long. Also had to choose a policy 2 turns before I reached Industrialization.
As usual, I didn't micromanage my cities like I should have. Could have had more GS and GA for sure.
Probably shouldn't have bothered building some of the wonders I did, but I couldn't help myself after so many wonder-bare Immortal games.

Anyway, was fun. Thanks for setting it up.

Mr. Gurgeh

 

[leif erikson]

Howdy...
First post, first GoTM. Enjoyed the game a lot, though I could have won much sooner if I hadn't gotten lazy/tired of playing and paid more attention.

Welcome to CivFanatics and GOTM.

Glad you enjoyed the game and congrats on your win. Thanks for the writeup.

 

[Aznable]

Game: Civ5 GOTM 41
Date submitted: 2012-08-28
Reference number: 27092
Your name: Aznable
Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1956AD
Turns played: 376
Base score: 1199
Final score: 1598
Time played: 10:49:00
Submitted save: Rabbi_Theodora_0376 AD-1956.Civ5Save
Renamed file: Aznable_C504101.Civ5Save

First GotM and Emperor game, and it was a crazy.

Early game I was under almost constant attack, Dido, then Rome, then Dido. Then Rome declared on Dido, couldn't advance then declared on me. After I secured Stonehenge and the Oracle (missed TC Army with the wars), I started pushing back with catapults and took Utique, which Dido founded around Roman land on the gold mines in the north. Judaism spread to their cities, and I think Rome has a large religion modifier, because after taking Carthage and retaking a city I took, he sued for peace and immediately wanted to DoF around 100 AD ironically enough.

The next 1900 years Rome and I were best buddies. I knew that he always coveted my land though, and built up front on the mountains. I was allowed to get my culture rolling, and kept pretty even in military techs, maybe one behind for much of the game. He did found Micolanum in the Sheep desert hills, which in hindsight I probably should have made a forth city there. With no coastal cities, exploration and trading all my Wine happened much too late.

In 1880's, Rome starts down Order. The relatively balanced diplomacy that keep our friendship alive for centuries was suddenly turned to a century of war and hatred. My tech started to look like a shame as he suddenly boosted up, and ended the game an age ahead of me (I do not understand how his science did this). It was looking grim when Augustus discovered flight and quickly radar, and my artillery that was holding the hills started taking a beating. A few turns later I had my triplanes up, and by shear number of interceptions I was able to ground his air force and begin advancing behind my great war bombers.

A smart air campaign and forcing him to spend money on troops on my western front turned the war around and I was able to retake my puppet, 2 of his cities, and on the last turn the western city of Micolanum.


A very challenging game, trying to balance military into the quick culture I knew I'd need to win. Religion, I believe, was vastly influential on the result, as I attribute it solely for peace on my continent. I was able to steal a few important techs, but with tech stealing taking so long in most cities, spies were sidelined for much of the game.

Thanks for the game, it was all the encouragement I needed to step up to Emperor. Probably see you for GotM43, had a ton of fun but need to let Civ5 rest a while... though we'll see how long that lasts...

 

[leif erikson]

First GotM and Emperor game, and it was a crazy.

Thanks for the game, it was all the encouragement I needed to step up to Emperor. Probably see you for GotM43, had a ton of fun but need to let Civ5 rest a while... though we'll see how long that lasts...

You're welcome.

Welcome to CivFanatics and GOTM.

Best of luck in future.

 

[Maxym]

Game:Civ5 GOTM 41
Date submitted:2012-08-28
Reference number:27095
Your name:Maxym
Game status:Culture Victory
Game date:1820AD
Turns played:280
Base score:1766
Final score:3153
Time played:14:37:00

after breaking Rome's back around t200 or so and taking all but 1 of his cities it was a coast till the end interrupted omly by Dido's suicidal DoW which cost her her life. took Rome out too on 2nd last turn coz he desreved it.

built 4 cities, i think in same spot as Ribannah or close to it. messed my policies up early, went trad instead liberty and my piety 10% reduction was very late
missed pantheon 3 times and religion once. each by one turn

other then that i had allied every CS, and it was a very interseting game early on, thansk for the challenge there Leif

 

[TyfoonTurk]

t291

went 4 cities and used legalism for early monuments. found out that cities start with monument when you use the policy before founding cities.

got the desert religion. still searching myself with all those missionaries and religion.

liked the naval warfare. found out only at the end that golden ages enhance your culture...

didn't get to cr or soh as usual. still crucial wonders i think.

 

[Maxym]

looks really like GOTM is all about abusing game mechanics to the max.
Thats like overflow of 10 prebuilt units/buildings/wonders.

Thats planing the Utopia ahead for like 50+ turns - whish I could care THAT much

but well done, didnt expect some1 to be faster then me, obviously this 1 missed CS hurt me 2 turns or so but guess its more that my Utopia needed 12 turns or so.

I don't think it would be that much, I had 2 turn overflow, and 8 turn utopiA in Petra city of course. I wish I knew about Alhambra bonus, missed it somehow. One of few wonders I did nOt get

 

[Nelson Minar]

Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1974AD
Turns played: 394
Base score: 1168
Final score: 1497
Time played: 7:06:00

Success! This is my first game at Emperor level and I wasn't sure how it'd go. My plan was four cities with heavy use of religion and city state bonuses, few wonders. Tradition, Piety, Patronage, Freedom, Commerce. The Patronage tree is really strong if you have the gold and patience to maintain relationships. Which all worked out great, 20% or so of my total cultural output was from city-states. And with all the extra resources I was running at +80 happiness for most of the second half of the game.

My main worry was India was playing the same strategy I was and at this difficulty level Gandhi was doing better. I delayed far too long exploring the oceans and when I ran across him he was way ahead of me on policies and religion. But he got bogged down in some wars and late in the game he added more cities. If those were full cities that totally screwed up his social victory. In general the AIs on the other continent wasted a lot of time fighting each other; that may be how I didn't get beat.

None of the other civs came anywhere near a victory. I pacified the Romans early, around turn 100, although leaving them Rome guaranteed they'd come back to harass me off and on. Carthage was also a pain in my side for the whole game until I finally wiped them off the map in the last 15 turns while Utopia was building. The AI is so terrible at combat, I was regularly beating them back with half the materiel. It's a shame, I like
the combat part of Civ5 quite a bit.

Religion wasn't an enormous help, although Defender of the Faith sure made defense easier and I did get about 5-10% more social growth from my beliefs. Spies were a big help because I got seriously out-teched; with spies it's easy to catch up.

Below is the map around turn 370, when I got the last social policy but before I went on my rampage and wiped Carthage (white) off the map.

 

[AE_]

I just managed to finish my first GOTM game. Was hoping for a victory before turn 300, but I only came close in the end. It was a really fun experience and I will definitely play GOTM again.

Game: Civ5 GOTM 41
Date submitted: 2012-08-30
Reference number: 27106
Your name: AE_
Game status: Culture Victory
Game date: 1878AD
Turns played: 309
Base score: 1330
Final score: 2180
Time played: 6:45:00
Submitted save: TSG41_Theodora_0309 AD-1878.Civ5Save
Renamed file: AE__C504101.Civ5Save

 

[slaya]

Geez. All I can say is, Rome was a pain in the Santaclaus.
They destroyed Carthage in the beginning and started war with me (around turn 80). They always wanted all my money, some cities and near 100gpt for peace, so I built a Citadel (1st time ever) and waited he'd destroy most his units by attacking me. Suddenly he wanted peace but I thought I'll manage his units and was pissed enough not to let peace happen and later I conquerd em. Too bad all Rome cities had 0-4 culture/turn so I had to raze almost everyone.

I managed, but it was hard. I usually play lvl 4 or 5.
And my 4th city which I placed west on the coast, was extremely nice. With petra and other wonders, I built the culture-wonder in 10 turns, also rushed Pentagon and CN-Tower completing the same turn with a couple "spare" engineers.

I also would have won a Diplomatic victory in 3 turns (with 15 votes) as back-up

 

[Osamu]

Hi everyone, 1st time for GOTM. Just finished yesterday, had a lot fun. Thanks leif erikson and everybody.

Cultural Victory Turn 275

I've won Emperor Culture with Persia 4 city before, and want to try 3 city for cheaper policy cost because 4th city seems to produce much less culture to compensate)
I set my mind for 3 city tall before playing the map. With Byzantium (my 1st try with this Civ as well), I want to focus on faith.

3 City
Constantinople settle in place
Adrianople up north / Wine
Nicaea east between mountain / Marble, Gold, Sugar and Pearl which can't connect though
West desert hill location is very tempting but don't want to play 4 city and risk Petra (which surprisingly China get it quite early).

Early build order
Scout / Worker (Switch to Shrine, still get very late Pantheon, 6th I think)
Steal 1 worker from CS, Buy 2 settlers, Buy 1 worker

War
Rome DOW Carthage early but somehow make peace
Then, 4 Legion & 2 Ballista seige Adrianople. Make me panic to upgrade 4 CB. Can't believe Legion can take several hit before dying. Thanks for rough terrain, they retreat shortly after that.
I counter back to raze one city to grab Sugar I aim for Nicaea, and puppet one near Gold deposit. Somehow, Rome doesn't want to end the war. Take quite sometime before Make peace for lots of money.
Later, Rome backstab again. No panic this time and again Make peace for lots of money.
From that point, Rome become freindly till the end and no more war for the rest of the game.

Social Policy
1. Full Tradion
2. Full Piety
3. 3 of Patronage (IMO, 3 city produce slower science and timing is quite off here. If I can foresee this (I thought I would spend only 2 picks before industrial), it would be better to pick 3 of Liberty for Representation instead)
4. Full Freedom (Oxford into Archaelogy, rush buy 3 Museum. Later, rush buy 2 Eiffel Tower)
5. Full Liberty (GE for CR, help on only last 2 policies)
6. Complete Patronage

Religion
Pantheon = +1 Culture +1 Faith for Wine & Incense
Founder = Ceremonial Burial (hope for more golden age and more culture from excess happiness)
Bonus = World Church (try this for the 1st time, end up with around 50-55 culture)
1st Follwer = Monastery (1st time with Wine surroundings so want to try it out. Good early on but IMHO Cathedral is just better)
2nd Follwer = +15% Growth when not war (Doesn't want another Faith spent belief, but the result is underwhelming. Yes, Cathedral got snapped in between by Spain)
Enhancer = Religious Texts (plan to strongly spread in other continent to maximize my Founder and Bonus. Convert whole Aztec, only Civ not founding religion in other continent)


Going into Industrial Era late not only result to late Freedom but also mean late Great Artist. I have to buy some of missionary (which I plan) but I have to pop one Prophet at 800 Faith cost (500 free from HS) for Holy Site.

And 12 turns for Utopia is hurt too.

In summary, IMO, 4 city is more conventional. More science means more and quicker of everything else (If you have good place to settle, of course).

 

[leif erikson]

Hi everyone, 1st time for GOTM. Just finished yesterday, had a lot fun. Thanks leif erikson and everybody.

Welcome to GOTM.

You're welcome. Glad you enjoyed it.

 

[Puchacz]

Hello everyone, it's been my first GotM

Unfortunately lost by 4 turns to China in 1932 They conquered the whole other continent, every single city on it. Anyway it was fun, so I'm planning to play some other G&K GotM's

Cheers from Poland

 

[leif erikson]

Welcome to CivFanatics and GOTM.

Look forward to seeing you playing the ongoing games.