WOTM 02: Final Spoiler

[Vynd]

I did it! I won a conquest game despite having on only a single city throughout the entire game!!!

Congrats! Should be an interesting write-up. I'm guessing the raging barbarians were helpful in that they made it more difficult for civs to resettle the areas that you'd torched. And I'd bet that having all of the other civs together on a single, snaky continent was helpful too.

 

[godotnut]

Congratulations Gnejs. You proved me wrong. Excellent work.

 

[mushroomshirt]

I did it! I won a conquest game despite having on only a single city throughout the entire game!!!

Truly amazing. Congratulations on your unique achievement!

 

[ElWanderer]

I did it! I won a conquest game despite having on only a single city throughout the entire game!!!
Final score: 2246

Congratulations! I can't wait to read your long spoiler
Surely you must be a shoe-in for the lowest-scoring-conquest-victory shield with that score?

 

[Seraphinus]

Entry class: Contender
Game status: Cultural Victory for Korea
Game date: 1861 AD
Base score: 1887
Final score: 9080

I had a lot of problems with barbs at the start, so in mid game I really start to doubt that I will be able to pull the victory. Thinking back I see I was to peaceful, because I took only two cities from Japan and finished the game with only 6 functional cities and three religions.

Congratulations to Wynd.

 

[Gnejs]

Congratulations! I can't wait to read your long spoiler
Surely you must be a shoe-in for the lowest-scoring-conquest-victory shield with that score?

Second spoiler now up here.

Yes, I doubt anyone will score lower unless they really try for it. I actually tried to maximize my score!

Congrats! Should be an interesting write-up. I'm guessing the raging barbarians were helpful in that they made it more difficult for civs to resettle the areas that you'd torched. And I'd bet that having all of the other civs together on a single, snaky continent was helpful too.

Definitely! I considered the barbarians as friends and allies. Only lost two units to them after building the great wall. Both were jumped by barbarians during 15-turn goto orders.

I am not sure the snaky continent was so helpful though. The distances were vast and once my units left my borders they couldn't be upgraded for a looong time.

 

[JimBean345]

Well-designed map that led to a reasonable victory time using Asoka, Cathy and Genghis as vassals to speed victory up. However timing would have been over 100 years faster had I have traded maps to find where the Mongols were situated . I wasted around 25 turns due to moving my Russian army around to send over to remnants of India and the Persia hordes (who were reasonably well advanced in my game).

Built Great Wall to start then spammed three cities to ramp up for war – first to fall was Japanese (totally destroyed circa 200bc) then immediately took out Qin with no gap in war as I wanted neither of the protective civs to get to feudalism.

My mistake was to take machinery as my oracle slingshot looking to push to engineering ASAP for trebs. However my economy plummeted with the constant early wars and it never really recovered (I had to rely on a specialist economy for the vast part of the game which was a waste of the financial trait). I was at 0% science only until the last 300 years (when I managed to pull up to 20-30%).

Anyhow, next wars were India and Russia at same time, then Persia and finally the Mongols was a 10 turn tear up at the end. All in all not a bad performance but could have been considerably better due to stopping a few basic errors.

Oh and huge to Gnejs for taking on a really unique slant for this map

 

[Harok]

First Spoiler

Quick Recap
Going for early domination, off to a strong start having wiped out Qin, half of Asoka, and part of Toku. My tech pace had been strong while slowing the worlds tech pace as much as possible by doing little trading and keeping Monarchy away from the AIs so I didn't face Longbows for as long as possible.

The rest of the story
I finished Drama in 635AD and shut off research. My troops continued through the extremely weak Asoka's lands and finished him off in 680AD. I also got a Great General the same year and joined it to my capital as I had with the first one giving units out of the capital 9 XP (Heoric Epic built there also) right after production. Having Engineering to get troops produced there to the war fronts was a massive help. I took my highly decorated troops from the Qin/Asoka wars on towards Cyrus declaring on him in 695 AD with around 9 Hwachas, 2 elephants, 1 sword, and 1 treb. He was much stronger than Asoka but most of his cities were in flat lands and he never really threatened any sort of serious counter.

On the western front Toku was proving to be a tough nut to crack with cities on hills and well upgraded archers in them. I finished him in 875AD and was thrilled to find he had hidden so much land and 2 more opponents on the western part of this snaky continent. Those troops headed directly for Catherine and war was declared on her in 935AD with around 8 hwachas, 3 trebs, 4 elephants, and a sword.

Somewhere around this time I finished the Forbidden Palace in Qin's old lands and got a Great Prophet from the Oracle in 965AD to make the Jewish shrine which netted me +14 gold. I went for building the FP as soon as possible as opposed to building it in an ideal spot as I was quickly going broke before these boosts because of all the cities. Most of the captured cities built Courthouses, Granaries, Theaters and then wealth with an occassional chariot for MP purposes. The best gold producers also got a market if they were captured early enough.

Cyrus was eliminated in 1055AD and most of those troops were rushed (ferried part of the way to avoid having to go back through the northern part of the continent) westward to help there but most didn't make it in time to be much of a factor. I got my 3rd Great General in 1112 AD and he was spent to give the 20XP to some units near Catherine as it was too late in the game for him to be helpful anywhere else.

Catherine fell in 1148AD and my forces split up at that point. 3 Trebs, 1 hwacha, 2 elephant, and 1 sword went after the 4 barb cities on the big island and 4 hwachas, 1 treb, 3 elephants, and 1 sword headed toward Genghis. Starting in 1118AD I started founding cities to fill in big land gaps from where no one had settled or cities got autorazed. I got 12 founded and took all 4 of the barb cities as well as another barb city near Genghis and 2 of his cities. I delayed the last border expansions and city taking for a couple of turns so I could complete the Hanging Gardens. He did manage to get to Feudalism right at the end and upgrade a couple of archers to Longbows.

I finished the HG in 1280AD.

I like to look at the kill count in conquest/domination games and in this one I killed 86 archers, 41 warriors, 26 spears, 24 axes, 21 swords, 11 Immortals, 4 chariots, and 2 longbows for a total of 215 units. I lost 20 hwachas, 6 warriors, 3 swords, 2 elephants, 1 archer, 1 treb for a total of 33.

Overall - I think I could have finished faster if I had known how much land was to the west as I sent more units early north and east as I had a better idea how many civs were that way. I finished the Eastern war way before the west and if I had concentrated more units earlier on to the west and finished at the same time I could have been faster. I'm not sure it is possible to have explored west early enough to have known the need to send equal units both directions but if someone goes hard after Toku first and finds the civs hidden that way it could help quite a bit.

 

[BLubmuz]

I had not much time, then I played this game in short sessions, and with a game freeze near the end
(not a crash, just freezed, perhaps because the enornous number of units in "goto")
anyway, it was just a "logistic" turn, then i reloaded and repeated the same moves: bring units in Mongolia.

A short remind from the first spoiler (no errors this time, i used the last turn save):
I built the GW with a single city, then my 2nd was near marble, pigs and gems, where Confu was founded and Oracle
built.
The 3rd was near copper, cows and banana.
The 4th was the wine city (i researched monarchy for the first time ever).

In the meantime, my workboat sent east meet Cyrus (Buddha in 2410BC) and Asoka (Hindu in 3340BC).
I wait to convert after alpha, to get the max from tech trades.

For some reason i waited to adopt Bureaucracy after the CS sling in 325BC until 190 BC.
China completed Pyramids, GLH, Parthenon ... indecent i suppose the last 2 with a GE each.
I burned my GE for machinery, and manually built GL in 410AD in Pyongyang.

Korea has 8 cities before 500AD, all placed to grab strategic resources, and all founded, because i used my archers to fogbust to avoid to loose time and units to conquer barb cities.
As you know, some of those cities are in optimal position, but often you just raze or keep a never-good city.
My work boat meet all civs, circumnavigating in 1130AD (there was some ocean square, but ...) then killed, Gengis didn't agreed for OB.

Cyrus conquered a good barb city near my wine, and settled 2 more in the ice.
Toku was weak, then i delay my war with China (Qin has already feudalism), to Dow Persia in 1160 AD (china started the 2nd indian war the same year)
to conquest 2 good persian cities and destroy the foolish one (i can live without whales).

I was amassing my army in the north, and DoW China in 1256, to see Qin completed Chiken Pizza next turn ... OK, i got enough hwacha and treb.
I wish to deal with Toku before he gets Feudalism, so i sent some troops in the west, to DoW Jap in 1280.

The turn before i conquered Beijing (with 5-wonders-5), Qin built Notre Dame, too, always with a GE.
I wait 1 or 2 turns for representation, to found Tao.
I joined my first GG with my free warrior (3XP), to build HE and for free promotion to mace.

Qin made peace with Asoka, i had not enough troops to garrison my new cities and to finish China, then i sued for peace with Qin in 1400.
Toku had feudalism, but i managed to conquer Kyoto anyway, then he capitulated in 1430.

Some turn before Gengis DoW on me, but i never saw a Mongolian unit near my lands (anyway Japan was a good filter).
A GS helped Education, and i used liberalism for MT, CG3 longbows are nothing against cavs.

I built HG and HS in Seoul, to gain GE point, and Taj Mahal in Pusan (HE city).

I need to consolidate my economy, and to build some cavs, and in 1583 I started my 2nd and last war with Qin, until he capitulated with 2 useless cities in 1628.

I was first to economy, and adopted free market and free religion in 1601.

Dow on Asoka in 1634, until he capitulated with 1 city in 1685 (i helped him to conquer a persian city after this).

Cyrus was near my main army, i had rifling to promote my CR3 maces, steel was close (and i has enough money tu upgrade my siege weapons), then DoW in 1685 (Asoka helped a bit).
Destruction of Persia: 1746 and units quickly sent to the russian front.

An impressive army was amassing in Japan, to Dow on Cathy in 1727.
I triggered a GA in 1734, to speed-up military production (in hindsight i could have done it some turn before).

Unfortunately, after the conquest of Yaroslav (Sistine chapel), Russia become a vassal state of Mongolia.

OK, no problem, just some more turn to fight, i had 21 workers, all building railroads to speed-up troops movement.
My army was enormous, i finished with 30 rifles, 13 cannons (all at the front) and 52 cavs, keeping 1 unit per city, often an archer.

I suicided some cavalry against Gengis' Rifles (how did he this?) to avoid to loose much time, and i sued for peace after the conquest of a minor city, that pushed me over the domination limit, for an artic city (some more points) in 1796.

Domination in 1798, for 50185.

The sites of Beijing and Kyoto are a nice designer's joke it isn't?
The land was again too much, but the game was challenging and fun, so ... again thanks to the staff.

IMO the capitulation in this way was useful, to spare turns and troops and to help the economy, not only for resources trading, but for the trade-routes too.

Congrats to the players who anticipated some 2 or 3 centuries, but i have to deal with my builder side.
Congrats in particular to Gnejs, who played a very "singular" game.

 

[godotnut]

I posted my final spoiler in the second spoiler section.

 

[Pious_Pete]

This was my first Warlords game, and I have to say I enjoyed it.

The map wasn´t particularly condusive to a cultural win; but by working hard I did manage to get three decent cultural city sites and a good GP farm, so I was quite pleased.

I did, however, make a colossal boo-boo. Following Godotnut´s plan, I stopped research after printing press. What I forgot was that I was supposed to have the Pyramids so that I could switch to representation (or whatever) and buy the Cathedrals.

Well I didn´t have the Pyramids, and it was only about 500 years later that it dawned on my that it was taking an eternity to build the cathedrals and that perhaps I´d be better off pressing on to Democracy. Doh!

God knows when I could have got a win if I´d played it correctly! Still I enjoyed the game anyway. Musn´t grumble.

 

[Pious_Pete]

I did it! I won a conquest game despite having on only a single city throughout the entire game!!!

I´m generally pretty impressed by the winning games in these GOTMs. But I have to say this one takes the biscuit.

There ought to be an award for the most implausible victory!

 

[cas]

Too many problems with the raging barbs because I delayed archery so long. I dislike being forced into an opening defensive position/mindset, and that is what raging barbs does. Lost my second city on an unlucky roll, fog busters were ignored and the barb warriors beelined for the improvements around Seoul. After about 20 turns of barb waves and pillaging, I decided the game had lost its charm. On prince it would be easy to dig out of that hole, but there was little point to wasting that much RL time on a game that was no longer fun. Retired.

cas

 

[Thrallia]

how much RL time could that have taken? it took me an hour and 17 minutes to finish out my game in 290AD

 

[Gnejs]

First spoiler

Second spoiler



TOWARDS DIPLOMACY?

It is 1559 AD and the Korean city-state has, after a lengthy war, just made peace with the remnants of the Japanese empire. Our illustrious leader has had a vision of a world forum where all nations are equals but one nation outshines them all: Korea. Already now the Indian, Chinese and Persian people hold Korea in the highest esteem. It is only the treacherous Russians and Mongolians that still consider the Koreans as enemies.


Well, this plan didn't last very long. Just 2 turns later, in 1565, Qin Shi Huang declares war on Asoka. Uh oh. Now they will no doubt start asking for help and both will become more and more annoyed if I don't comply.

Even worse! In 1601 the third Indian city falls to the Chinese and Asoka capitulates! Nooo! Now I will never succeed in getting Catherine as my opponent for the UN. Time to do some serious thinking...


WAR ON CHINA (1619-1752)

The only way I can help Cathering grow is probably by getting rid of Genghis Khan. That way Cathy will be alone on the western half of the continent with plenty of space to grow. But I am afraid that both Catherine and Qin will grow too powerful while I am far from home making war on the Mongolians. Maybe it is better... yes, I should attack Qin now, while he is still disorganized and caught up with the newly captured cities. Not sure at all if this is the best course of action, but I gamble on my tech lead being enough to make this a successful war. Qin doesn't have Gunpowder yet, and I have a nice little army of 10 grenadiers and 9 trebuchets. These are moved to the Chinese border and war against China/India is declared in 1619.

Spoiler :

Here's a pic of Seoul from the same turn. Notice there are now a total of 10 specialists in addition to the 12 regular citizens.

Spoiler :

The war goes smoothly. City after city falls and in 1700 AD (27 turns later) the Korean army stands at the gates of Beijing. The last two Japanese cities had been razed on the way to Beijing - Tokugawa foolishly declared war on me and they were in the way.
I have to say it felt a bit cruel to raze Beijing with all its wonders: Stonehenge, Colossus, Oracle, Chichen Itza, Notre Dame. All destroyed. Oh well, I am going for conquest now and keeping no cities.

Qin still has 7 cities so the war continues. India broke free in 1679 and are again pleased with me. But some other leaders are not. Genghis declared war in 1688 and I promptly razed his city just north of Seoul. But I have to divert some troops to defend Seoul from Keshiks and Knight. Would definitely not want to have Seouls resources pillaged.

Then in 1742, Russia also declares war on me! A bunch of Russian knights pour into my lands at Seoul. They won't have a chance to take the city, but there could be serious damage from pillaging this time. Well, Seoul produces Grenadiers at a huge rate and this threat is soon gone. In 1752 Qin Shi Huang has one size 1 city (taoist holy city) left and capitulates, giving me corporation as well. I can finally bring back my scattered forces to Seoul.

Spoiler :

WAR ON RUSSIA (1742-1872)

Research has advanced and I can now build Riflemen. Seems like a good time to bring the battle to Russia as I will be able to deal with Cossacks should they appear. Have to restock on Trebuchets as well since the previous batch was used up against China.

The ruins of Japan, now a big wasteland between Seoul and Russia is swarming with Russian troops, most of them obsolete. First task for my reformed army is to clear this area out, which is also great for experience. Then I enter Russia and capture the first few cities relatively easy although Catherine now also has Riflemen. My science lead has gone!

A huge and decisive battle takes place in Yekaterinburg in 1816-1819. There is a huge Russian garrison - I have slightly fewer but much better promoted units, and also a good number of trebuchets. The trebs are unfortunately not of much use except for bombardment since they are too weak to do much damage.

Spoiler :

My veterans take out half the garrison, heals up with the help of my medic III general, and three turns later take out the rest. 28 Russian units die inside the city and after this, Russia is on the defensive.

Assembly line is researched in 1843 and I start building Infantry. A decent number of recently built grenadiers had been kept in Seoul so they could be upgraded. 5 are sent to Russia to help finish Catherine. I decide to keep the rest in Seoul to form the beginning of a second army.

Catherines last city on the main continent falls in 1872 and she capitulates, having two cities left on the northern island.


WAR ON MONGOLIA (1846-1881)

Genghis actually declares war on me! He has lots of troops but nothing better than musketmen and knights. It is a walkover. The last Mongolian city is razed in 1881 and the western half of the continent is now ruled entirely by barbarians. My huge army begins the long journey home. Meanwhile I build scores of trebuchets in Seoul. I learn Artillery in 1894 and have enough money to upgrade them all. Hehehe.

Spoiler :

 

[Gnejs]

WAR ON PERSIA (1907-1953)

Since I got rid of Qin Shi Huang both Asoka and Cyrus have been able to expand down towards Seoul. Persia used to be stuck on their peninsula but are now soaring in tech and power. Cyrus is at least 4 techs ahead of me and has started bragging about his tanks. His power graph is going almost straight up. Asoka is not a threat, but Cyrus stands in the way of my victory.
When my victorious army returns from their campaign in Russia and Mongolia there is no time for celebrations. They are instead upgraded with the most modern equipment (infantry and artillery) and sent to the Persian border just north of Seoul. Orders: destroy the city of Sardis and remove the only oil source that Persia currently controls.

Spoiler :

The second army that was built during the Russian-Mongol wars have still not seen combat. They are to travel through India and strike at the heart of the Persian empire, starting at the city of Tarsus.

Spoiler :

War is declared in 1907. Tarsus falls immediately. The next year the unfortunate Chinese city is overrun by a huge Persian army and yet another civilization has been destroyed. Sardis is destroyed in 1911 and I draw a huge sigh of relief. This means no Persian tanks, at least not until they research Plastics.

Then the Persian counterattacks starts. My second army has to retreat to the indian city of Bombay and is bombarded there by Persian Artillery. (I didn't manage to find out what bonuses they got when defending in a foreign city. Anyone that knows? I had a city defense III infantry in that stack, wonder if that was a good idea.) But most Persian units just flash by on the way towards Seoul. My veteran army becomes engaged with stack after stack of Persian units, starting with cavalry and then SAM infantry, Marines and artillery (but no tanks). I try to reinforce from Seoul but still they have to retreat or get overrun. Then I get another scare as Cyrus makes two amfibious landings at Seoul - where I only have a very small garrison. Luckily, my veteran army just makes it home in time.

Spoiler :

Then suddenly the torrent of Persian units becomes a trickle. Muahahahaha. Time for revenge! The green army takes city after city in the heart of Persia while the veteran army fights its way up from Seoul. Finally, the greenies have taken all but one Persian city. But now they have been decimated so much that they have to wait for the veterans to arrive and help them destroy the last city. Pasargadae is razed in 1953 and Cyrus is no more.


WAR ON INDIA (1958-2012)

Asoka has been busy expanding and now have 13 cities including three west of Seoul. He is also bragging about his tanks now, thanks to an oil source in one of the three westerly cities. I have fewer units now than when declaring on Cyrus 50 turns earlier but Asoka should not be that hard to handle. I am mostly worried about him building the UN and winning a diplomatic victory since he has about 80% of the worlds population (excluding barbarians... ). Also, there is now less than 100 turns left in the game and I am not sure I will finish my conquest before 2050...
I declare war in 1958 but Asoka manages to fight on stubbornly all the way to 2012 when finally the last Indian city falls. I think the Persian war cost me a lot and there simply wasn't enough time to replace the losses, so I had to stop and heal more often. The most annoying thing was losing Gaius Marius, my first great general born already 1106 AD, in a 99.8% battle!

Spoiler :

WAR ON RUSSIA (2002-2020)

Just a few turns before India is conquered, Catherine manages to found a city on the main continent again. She breaks free of me and I promptly declare war. The new city falls directly but I have to build a navy to get at her final two cities on the northern island. Then the navy has to sail halfway around the world to deliver my troops. Catherine also has some Frigates and the best I can build is Galleons. But my Galleons are much faster than her Frigates, and the inevitable happens in 2020 when Yayoi falls and the last opposing civilization has been destroyed!

Spoiler :

VICTORY

End result: Conquest Victory for Korea
Game date: 2021 AD
Base score: 1579
Final score: 2246

It's me and the barbarians left. Lots of barbarians. Seoul has 13.93% of the worlds population, that means the barbarians have 86.07%! Can barbarians win a domination victory?

Here a final screenshot of Seoul. The military instructors are missing. Perhaps they have gone on vacation.

Spoiler :

COMMENTS

After the experiences of this game, a diplomatic victory seems like the most difficult victory in the game. That is, from a position with a minority of the worlds population at least. I wonder how the alternative strategy of helping Catherine by conquering Genghis would have worked out. If anyone wants to try I have a save from 1559 that I can share.

Seoul became an awesome city, both in production and in research. Was this an unusually good start for a one-city strategy? All those furs were definitely helpful.

It is a great learning experience to play with only one city. I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't tried it before. Managing and understanding health and happiness is much easier compared to a regular game with lots of cities where it is easy to lose track of every single detail.

The financial trait was moderately helpful but the protective was not of much use. I would much rather have had philosophical to push out even more great people.

I am quite satisfied with the two-army attack on Cyrus. The defensive army could defend against the majority of Cyrus' units while the offensive army could raze cities relatively undisturbed. It seems as if the AI has problems in finding the right counter to this tactic. Definitely something I plan on using again.

This was probably the most fun civ game I have ever played, including games all the way from Civ I. The uncertainty and excitement throughout the whole game and finally the victory against all odds was extremely satisfying! Huge thanks to the GOTM staff for yet another great map!


STATISTICS

Time played: 16:23 (so much for a fast game!)
Cities built: 1
Cities razed: 84 !!!

Units built:

Spoiler :

44 trebs
32 infantry
32 grenadiers
23 artillery
9 hwacha
9 riflemen
7 galleon
6 maceman
6 spearman
6 longbowman
3 axeman
3 archer
2 musketman
2 trireme
1 warrior
1 caravel
1 galley
1 sam infantry
= 188 units

4 Great Artist
2 Great Engineer
5 Great Merchant
1 Great Prophet
3 Great Scientist

Lost:

Spoiler :

36 infantry
32 artillery
25 trebuchet
25 grenadier
9 hwacha
7 rifleman
6 spearman
4 maceman
3 longbowman
2 galleon
2 musketman
2 axeman
2 trireme
1 sam infantry
1 caravel
= 157 units

Killed:

Spoiler :

61 rifleman
57 infantry
55 trebuchet
52 longbowman
52 cavalry
34 catapult
33 knight
33 artillery
25 pikeman
21 sam infantry
19 maceman
18 grenadier
16 cannon
15 horse archer
14 marine
13 swordsman
13 musketman
10 galley
10 machine gun
9 archer
9 axeman
8 keshik
8 war elephant
7 cho-ko-nu
7 frigate
6 crossbowman
6 caravel
6 transport
4 spearman
4 chariot
4 warrior
4 cossack
2 great prophet
1 wolf
1 tank
1 destroyer
1 immortal
1 samurai
= 640 units

 

[jprc]

As of 500 AD, I was behind the Great Wall(...)

In my game, I did not tried the Wall, as I prefer to built defensive units using Korean abilities. I was happy I did not as I saw it was very quickly built!
Since I submitted my file, I replayed the starting of the map 19 times in order to see how to build the Great Wall BEFORE any one else, knowing exactly who and where was my opponents, the turns they built before me, etc..., and using 100% of possible speed for building this Great Wall, variating slightly my start (pushing my 1st city without worker/settler, or worker - growing as fast as possible then hammers, or continuously hammer as priority...).
Result: 18 times out of 19, the AI beat me, many times by 1 turn

I would love to know how it was possible without knowing anything at start! According to my tests, probabilities are so low that is it nearly impossble, and I am sure I do continuously something wrong at start. I impatiently wait for a good soul to explain how it can achieved the GW as I would like to improve my certainly very ugly starting strategy!...

 

[jprc]

Gnejs, when you explained your idea in the pre-thread, I thought you had one too many vodka/tequila at night...
I enjoyed reading every and each word in your 4 reports!
What can be said???....

 

[andybrown65]

In my game, I did not tried the Wall, as I prefer to built defensive units using Korean abilities. I was happy I did not as I saw it was very quickly built!
Since I submitted my file, I replayed the starting of the map 19 times in order to see how to build the Great Wall BEFORE any one else, knowing exactly who and where was my opponents, the turns they built before me, etc..., and using 100% of possible speed for building this Great Wall, variating slightly my start (pushing my 1st city without worker/settler, or worker - growing as fast as possible then hammers, or continuously hammer as priority...).
Result: 18 times out of 19, the AI beat me, many times by 1 turn

I would love to know how it was possible without knowing anything at start! According to my tests, probabilities are so low that is it nearly impossble, and I am sure I do continuously something wrong at start. I impatiently wait for a good soul to explain how it can achieved the GW as I would like to improve my certainly very ugly starting strategy!...

I got the great wall allways in every test games. Usually on the turn the barbs turned up. I produced no warriors unless I needed to. Basically I went worker - whatever - wall - in city build. Reaserched hunting to get the beaver hills ASAP Then I went for masony. then agriculture in the North- I'm fast researching until agriculture then go growth - I mixed up growth and gold to get BW and adoped slavery. Fast research allows AH quicker and start working that tile ASAP- fast grow and then heavy production. Got the GW about 1540BC - micromanaged the worked tiles a lot more than I ever usually do.

 

[cas]

how much RL time could that have taken? it took me an hour and 17 minutes to finish out my game in 290AD

At least another 3-4 hours with the deliberate way I play...maybe longer depending on the VC. I try to learn from the games I play, not blitz through them as fast as possible going for an easy dom/conquest. Because I know I can win prince every time, but will never reach the skill to compete for fastest date / highest score...the game loses interest quickly.

I was hoping there would be some emporer+ games mixed in with these monarch- ones to mix it up a little, but we are in a noble/prince/monarch rut the last 4-5 G/Wotm's.

cas