TSG5 - Game in Progress

[slugster]

Oh well, 40 turns later (150-ish) it's not so peaceful anymore.

Japan attacked every CS it could find. I'm "great" friends with Japan and bribed Oda into attacking France. This turned out to be the start of everybody (except me) DoWing Japan!

And then suddenly England - after being great friends and all - denounce me out of the blue. It even says "Backstabbed you" in Global Politics screen. LOL!

And now China is marching with all her military through my land towards France. Hmmm.

I got Biology with a combo of RA's and a GS in turn 161. So it looks good. That is, unless all these warmiongering nations suddenly turn their attention to me. Then I'm probably toast!

 

[slugster]

Quick update: China attacked France as expected. Then 5 or 6 turns later they settled for peace. This was not very good since China had now proved willing to attack and I decided to pull back whatever small units I had from exploring. And then, BAM!, China and Russia DoW'ed me! Gulp!

Ok. First small wave from China has been repelled with a 2 Longswords - and yes, that is basically my army. And then a Great General spawned, just in time!!.

Will I survive? No idea - but hopes are high! But this will cost me a lot of turns. I was just starting on the Hermitage after building the Louvre. Now I'm building Cannons

 

[leif erikson]

Good Luck.

We're pulling for you.

 

[iamflatline]

On turn 55, just finished up the Oracle and founded a 2nd city next to El Dorado (found it first )

Used the 500 gold for a very early alliance with Stockholm. Prioritized food and fast national college over luxury goods in the capital for now.

Unfortunately I mis-clicked on a turn 29 trade with Napoleon and ended up selling him open borders AND gems for 30 turns for a whopping 120 gold total. Took every ounce of willpower not to ragequit right then. Luckily it seems everyone wants to trade OB for the full 50 gold, which hasn't been the case in some other games.

I just finished up Iron Working and probably going to found my 3rd and last city to the SE of the capital to snag that 6 iron tile. I'm pretty weak militarily right now (spearman from a ruins and a Jaguar) and I'm thinking Wu is going to come knocking very soon now...

I may end up settling a city to the SE of the capital as well to more easily connect my El Dorado city to the trade network.

 

[Nares]

Turn 41 NC, roughly turn 65 HE. Spammed jaguars and two horsemen, upgraded all six jaguars to swords, took and razed Shanghai, then upgraded to longswords to take Beijing. Wu had taken Yarslavl' and survived; her pre-occupation with Catherine made the campaign easy if low on Chinese sacrificial victims.

Built porcelain statue, GE rushed sistine chapel, bulbed public education and radio, oxford for telegraph, GE rushed cristo (t255), which had the interesting side effect of popping a SP, to be used on Freedom's SP cost reduction.

Just now spammed cannons and upgraded to rifles and cav; working on artillery and infantry next before basically dropping to cruise control.

Catherine is a beast, Lizzy is playing OCC, Darius mustered a pitiable 26 spears at the t200 report. Wu is barely on life-support after I gifted two settlers; she lost Yaroslavl', settled the gifted settlers in time, but now one of those just vanished. She still doesn't seem to have built a worker, and in fact never annexed Yaroslavl' in the first place, despite it being her only city for quite some time.

 

[Ribannah]

I have noticed this as well, same symptoms as aj; research completes when it said there were several turns remaining. Probably happened at least 3 turns in my game.

It is in fact worse than that. In addition to the free research points, you get a headstart on the next tech of the same magnitude.

Some programmer must have forgotten a minus sign.

This is a game-killer, no fair competition is possible with such an ugly bug around.

 

[slugster]

Phew! I managed to fight off China and later to bribe Napoleon into attacking most of my enemies (bribe him with Wine which seemed to be of his liking . So I danced with my units a bit back and forth to fight of some allied CS's and finally managed to make peace with everybody (though many are still very hostile)

All this aggression, defending and bribing didnt do much good for my desired victory. Though I did earn a bit of culture on unit killing it didnt really register at this point. And my tech is really bad so I have focus on getting the Oxford Uni to pop Radio, build some broadcoast tower and take the long wait for Cristo. I might be able to spawn a GE for that one. Most of culture have been saved up since Patronage (which actually turned out to be less important since I didnt have gold for all those CS's - only the remaining 4 culture CS's).

So this will be last update. The next is hopefully in the Aftermath thread

 

[iamflatline]

Turns 55 - 101:

Founded a city SW of capital for the 6 iron tile, upgraded to Swordsmen and built a Catapult. Was able to take Shanghai (man cities are harder now!), sign for peace immediately and got trade routes connected. Warmongering is over, I will try to only fight defensively from here on out.

Kept up with luxury/OB trading and established several new cultural allies. Got Landed Elite SP and saved up for Freedom tree before purchasing more.

Turns 101 - 201:

Still a very peaceful game! First in MG, land, and literacy, about 130 points in front of Catherine. Although on friendly terms right now I'm worried about her. I'm finishing up a round of banks, will go for National Treasury before a brief diversion to riflemen to keep up army wise. Still planning to fight 100% defensively if needed.

Entered Renaissance first, then backfilled to Steel. Started filling out the Freedom, Patronage, and Piety branches; will wait for CR before purchasing more.

Entered Industrial era somewhere between 180-190 with a 2 GS slingshot to biology. Using research agreements when possible to fill out the military portion of the tech tree (just received Metallurgy and Rifling recently).

I was able to build several wonders including Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu, Sistine Chapel, and Himemji castle. My capital is about to hit 20 population - never had that pre-patch!

Enjoying this game a lot so far. I think I'm playing pretty well (for me at least!)

 

[Aaronius]

I don't know if I would have won or not. Napolean (3859) was taking over the world and the only other people left were me (774), Wu (796), and Catherine (1326). I had maintained good relations with all of these players and fortunately began far from Napolean. I was hopelessly behind Napy and Cathy on research which was demonstrated painfully when Cathy decided to attack me in desperation. I had been holding her radar artillery and infantry off with my regular artillery and riflemen for something like 20 turns prior to the crash. I lost a lot of units fighting her but it improved my cashflow and I was able to buy some replacement units. Catherine had also completed the apollo program and one spaceship part. Napolean had helicopters and god knows what else. The only reason I might have won is b/c my two cities were still standing, I was happy (+35) and profitable (+55), and I was winning culturally. I had 21 cultures to Napy's 15, I was making one culture every 6 turns or so, I was 1 turn away from my 22nd policy, I still hadn't chosen free religion which would have given me two more, I was one turn from the research that would give me the Sydney Opera House, I had a great engineer waiting.

Napolean had just asked me to attack Wu with him and I agreed. I might have won if he waited to kill Wu, then Catherine, then me. I thought he might kill Cathy next b/c they were not friendly. If so I know I could have finished my policies. I don't know if I could have built Utopia, but Tenochtitlan was pretty fast. I didn't determine yet whether to use my engineer on the Sydney house or the Utopia, I was waiting to see how long things would take.

Sadly, on turn 382 the game crashed repeatedly on both DX9 and 10. I have an autosave from two turns before the crash and my own save from the turn immediately before the crash. The game crashes when I'm waiting for other players. At first my biggest worry was that I would look like I was cheating, but now I'm mad b/c I literally cannot finish the game.

I just want to say how perfectly odious and unprofessional to release a game that won't play. Shameful really. I purchased this game for mac and tried repeatedly to play thru the first two mac patches. I was able to complete several games but not without a ton of bugs and difficulty. To the company's credit, I was able to get the pc version free thru steam, so I uninstalled the mac version of the game and installed the pc version on boot camp. I was having a better, but still buggy gameplay experience on the pc side prior to attempting this game. I have no idea why it freezes repeatedly. I should also mention that all my graphics settings were low or minimum.

Very disappointed almost to the point of giving up. This was my favorite game franchise and I might be lost for life. Thanks for nothing up to this point.

My system: MacBook Pro 15, i7 M620, 4GB RAM, Win7 32 bit.

 

[kojimanard]

I was one turn from the research that would give me the Sydney Opera House, I had a great engineer waiting.

Many players make this mistake, including me in other games, but the Sydney Opera House can't be built next to a lake; it needs an ocean.

 

[Caesar of Rome]

I am on my third round of war. First time England declares against me so make an alliance with Japan. Japan agrees, but a few turns later declares war against me. I had a research agreement with Japan and that is lost. The second time Germany declares and again I persuade Japan to declare against my attacker. A few turns later Japan declares war against me and our second research agreement bites dust. Such treachery from AI.

If I bother with my game it is to return to war with Napoleon. His army is huge. How can he afford it? I barely have enough roads/rail to get round my empire but the cost is crippling. I am running a deficit. My luxuries are now worth less than half their original value on the open market.

The civiopedia is short on information. Heaps of historic/context dross.

Hovering over AI units with mouse doesn't give strengths/details unless at war. Unit movement details are confused. Battle strategy takes ages whilst you try to work out where you have to by with canon/archer etc. to actually bombard target.

I can't decide what to do with the city states. You befriend one so another takes against you. When you have the money you can just bribe them. You can't be completely sure that they will ever develop the resources that they have. (I don't think Sidon has ever connected Whales.)

Civ V is not an easy game. At the moment I don't enjoy the game either. I am a builder of buildings and empires. This just doesn't seem sensible/possible to do in V.

 

[Neuro]

Civ V is not an easy game. At the moment I don't enjoy the game either. I am a builder of buildings and empires. This just doesn't seem sensible/possible to do in V.

Actually, it is, you just have to plan for it. A healthy military is vital for keeping the other civs off your back. Keep in mind that in a Culture game, you want to have as few "true" cities as possible, to keep the culture costs down. Therefore, you should be planning to take out the opponent's cities.

A balanced military is key. You want a few ranged units (1-2 archers), a few mounted units (1-2 horsemen) and the bulk to be melee (3-4 war/spear/swordsmen). Personally, I went with Jaguar warriors and upgraded them to swords and then longswordsmen. I also built two Knights later on to help.

City-States are very useful, especially if you go for Patronage tree. Since you are trying to keep your number of cities down, you make up for it with city-states, especially cultural, but all three types are useful. They come to your aid when you get into wars (or at least draw off some of your enemy's units) and can contribute to your war effort.

For me, cultural games are about making one Megacity, and puppeting my closest 2-3 enemies. I let my puppets make money for me by placing Trading Posts everywhere, and I only hook them up via roads if it's financially viable. Placing 9 roads to hook up a 2 population city just isn't worth it.

Good luck, and I hope you keep playing the game!

 

[Caesar of Rome]

They come to your aid when you get into wars (or at least draw off some of your enemy's units) and can contribute to your war effort.

Florence has heaps of troops that have barely moved beyond their teritory. Capetown is landlocked by me has few units and hasn't to my knowledge sent a single unit to do battle. Quick to cause trouble. All talk and no action.

 

[spirit_]

So I just came back to playing ciV and decided to check out the GOTM which just ended. I was going to play it just for fun and since it sounded sort of interesting (Aztecs on Lakes and have to win culture).

I was playing and just research iron working and I all of a sudden have 6 iron... I don't see where i'm getting it from...

I don't have any in my territory and i'm not allied with any CSes.

Attached is the saved game.

 

[Neuro]

Checked out your save, and you did what I thought. You settled on top of that 6 Iron to the SE of your capital.

 

[spirit_]

Oh i see it when i hover over but for some reason there isn't a resource icon over it...

Is that a bug or if you settle on a resource then the icon doesn't appear?

 

[Monthar]

Oh i see it when i hover over but for some reason there isn't a resource icon over it...

Is that a bug or if you settle on a resource then the icon doesn't appear?

If you settle on a resource the icon doesn't appear.

 

[Airey]

I know it expired, but just played it for fun.
Ppl were asking strategy about this map, I'll just share mine.
This is a more detailed write up, hopefully will be useful to some ppl.

Domination Victory (T166)

Spoiler :

End Game Demographics

 

[Airey]

Part I: Settlement + Domination Plan - GL'ed Steel

Spoiler :

- because of the map: Lakes, and the abundance early hammers
- decided to go for Early Domination victory

I love to settle on top of Existing resources, so moved my warrior/settler around before settling in

Spoiler :

- with this much hammer, I am really tempted to beeline NC and GL
- this mean forgoing special improvement, worker only farm for 30+ turns
- it took me 10 min to think about it before deciding

- the UB (unique building) requires settling beside Lake/River, it was down to settle on Gem or Silk
- Silk gives me the 2F1H farm early

Tech - Beeline Writing; GL (Great Library) + NC (National College)

Spoiler :

Buy Tile Around Capital

Spoiler :

- I like to buy tiles (2F/1H) alot for the faster builds/earlier access in the beginning of games

Ruins - did I mention they're unbalanced?

Spoiler :

- pop 2 this early in the game, this is a huge difference for other ppl's game who got a map instead

- another trick with Ruins is wait till Tech is done to go in, give yourself an opportunity to get a better tech
- fortunately/unfortunately, got a +30 culture for Lv 1 Tradition
- notice warrior 90% health, I like to move them around before full heal because it attracts Barb to initiate attack into the forest

- 500G from ElDorado

Spoiler :

- this is when I seriously considered double Wondering NC then GL
- decided to save money to rush buy Library to speed up NC build
- NC before GL, even if failed Great Library, still have enough science push to beeline target tech
- because of Domination win, I aim the free tech from Great Library @ Steel for the LSM (longswordsman)
- if for science boost, most ppl GL @ CService for Immort-

- while keeping in mind to save 420G to rush buy library, spend the rest to buy tiles around capital

- worker Micro, instead of travelling to farm the farm; put in 1 turn of farm onto grassland

- Selling OB (open border)

Spoiler :

- my take on OB is sell them, and use it to leverage something immediately
- enough military is just smart, regardless of OB or not
- can only sell to Friendly now

- unfriendly ones

- rush buy Library as soon as Writing finishes

Spoiler :

- queue my Builds in Capital
- generally I don't stagnant growth for NC, because multiplier is based on population

- buy 2F(food) Gem Tile

Spoiler :

- buying the gem tile at the bottom would allow my citizen to work on the 2F3G tile instead of the 2F1G lake tile

- didn't have enough money, took a loan to rush buy
- still get overall +3 GPT, seems like no gain, but actually buying the tile deters neighboring AI from sending an early settler over and settle right next to you

- lost a ruin to the English

Spoiler :

- Aristocracy for 2nd Social Policy

- WD (worker decision)

Spoiler :

- worker finished farm, need to speed up wonder builds
- a chop tree saves ~2 turns (from experience)
- chopped trees on Silk first, then Gem (Silk tile = 2F2G)

- note Great Library finish in 18 turns

- quick check with Tech time: 16 turns

- Stonehedge gone

Spoiler :

- discover Iron, improve it right away for immediate 2 level upgrades

Spoiler :

- if no Iron, or buy CS relation if CState has it, trade for it ASAP
- target 1st nearby AI city with Iron in it

- I got into the habbit of buying the resource tile if I can financially, got burn 1 time, chopped tree, move worker eslewhere, didn't mine

- Barbs delay my Worker on Iron

Spoiler :

- GL build faster than Tech Speed

Spoiler :

- put in a turn of UU (unique unit) for the in between build

- complete GL and MC (metal casting) on the same turn

- pick Steel

Spoiler :

- lost hammer on in between build (Warrior)

Spoiler :

- coz the earlier barb disturbance @ my worker mining Iron, I wasn't able to get Iron in time to overflow the hammer into LSM, so had to start on spearman for the 3rd military unit (back up offensive or Capital patrol vs Barb)

- got Iron 1 turn too late

- Tech ending Part I: Masonry, beeline Currency

 

[Airey]

Part II: University + Ironworks Gambit

Spoiler :

- unlock Masonry, start on Pyramid (too many unimproved tiles), if fail, start on 2nd worker

- start looking for Spice/Stonehedge

Spoiler :

- also found Stonehedge

- upgarde to LSM

Spoiler :

- some ppl don't like this before DOWing, I could've sell to other civs instead for the 300G, it doesn't really matter in the end, coz China will offer her 300G 2 or 3 turns into the war after she looses her capital + cities

- army of 3 ready at Turn 59: 2 LSM + 1 Spear

- gain China Capital 2 turns in

Spoiler :

- city too strong? no problem

- Tech Currency

Spoiler :

- timed Capital build finish Pyramid with Starting Market

- rushed buy 2nd Worker ($ from selling OBs)

- price for Spices

Spoiler :

- really? (that's why have to wait for AI to get surplus lux for 1 to 1 trade)

- Tech: Beeline Education

Spoiler :

- this is a gambit I like to do, beeline Education (earlier on higher level)
- build PTower while researching towards Chemistry
- bulb Chemistry with the GS from PTower, build early Ironworks

- found the French

Spoiler :

- a French Archer wondered to my capital, I followed him home
- he has lots of units

- bought OB to France

- upgrade my spearman
- declare war after

- Social Policy: Aesthetics

Spoiler :

- this is useful and prioritized early (over Philanthropy) for 2 reasons:
- allows your units to trespass CS without penalty
- after DOWs (from AI alliances), they return to +20 relation once declare peace

- Paris only had the Capital, took it down

- Russia and other nations starts to Denounce/Guard/Hostile

Spoiler :

- Capital build after Pyramid: Workshop, rush buy UB, Market, National Treasury

- Need Iron for more units (don't want more growth from Granary)

Spoiler :

- look for avail Iron

- unfair trade due to Guarded status

- I am surprised he even trades it

- rush buy University after Education Done

Spoiler :

- important to be able to research Gunpowder in time for Chemistry

- War Russia

Spoiler :

- like China and France, Capital went down 2 turns into the war

- 3 down, 4 to go

- time PTower build with Bulb Chem

Spoiler :

- going into Golden Age soon to help with PTower's build time

- gunpowder in -15 turns

- Russia had enough, sued for Peace

Spoiler :

- cities with lux gets puppet; without lux gets razed and sell on the same turn

- unwanted cities used to bribe War

- End of Part II