WOTM 10 Final Spoiler

[Lexad]

Finished as intended - killing off Mehmed (he made the courtesy of declaring on me 1 turn before I was going to), OCC-Toku, Ragnar (he got lbows 3 turns before me finishing him and upgraded all 8 archers in his capital, grr), beaten to Stone Age Monty and his vassal Brennus. Gave away most my prize cities to Musa.
Tech-wise - Edu, then preresearch Liber, Nat-sm for Taj and beeline towards MM - thanx for Compass and Optics, AI, it good to be Friendly and therefore purchase even monopoly techs.
UN-wise - intended it to get to Kyoto, used my GE and chopped some wood + overflow from slavery previous turn + own high production - UN in 1226, should've won in 1250 (GenSec vote was the same 1226).

Now the screw-up - gifted city to turdmaster Monty and got -4 for trading with worst enemy from most of my peaceful buddhist bloc whom I had almost all Friendly - should've given it to some mediocre douchebag like Izzy or Hanni. Therefore losing vote in 1250 as Augustus and Wang bail out. I use common war to get +1 with them - but then unexpectedly Mansa decides he loves free religion and stops voting for me (a hefty blow, him being fed by me to second largest). Getting him revolt back does not work, so - common war again, and thanx to already existing common +2 for not yet forgotten previous war with Monty I finally get the Diplo at 1304 AD with 103K score. Won't be finishing that late in the night ever again.

Add-on - just replayed from 1226 after submitting, gifted to Izzy and smoothly rolled into my 1256AD win - surprisingly giving <1K points less, although all that I did was grow a bit and tech a bit. Scoring needs to be revised for sure.

 

[Lexad]

Funny thing - this was the first time ever AI came to me and ask to make it Vassal! It was Mansa being pressed between Ragnar+Toku and Monty+Brennus, after I killed the Northern pair. Never saw before.

 

[Erkon]

...
UN-wise - intended it to get to Kyoto, used my GE and chopped some wood + overflow from slavery previous turn + own high production - UN in 1226, should've won in 1250 (GenSec vote was the same 1226).
...

I was researching Civil Service in these years. And Agriculture was known by me for at least one hundred years earlier

Lexad, isn't it time for you to acknowledge your dark side? You know, the voices that whispers Kill'em! Kill'em all!! They're pretty useful for the upcoming SGOTM you know?!

BTW: Nice play!

 

[Defiant47]

Defeat by Space Race in 2009

10-15 turns away from a cultural victory. I feel like a fool seeing as how many people won, and even won early. I also feel even more like a fool because I didn't settle the mainland at all. I decided to try a cultural victory, but some bad things happened along the way.

I set up blockades everywhere with my frigates and later ironclads. However, when the time came for destroyers, and I was four techs away from getting any because lo and behold, there's only oil in the sea, my blockades failed and I started having to defend by land. That must have put me back enough to lose a few turns and result in Caesar getting the win.

Very frustrating, though, I was cramming max culture in my last city and was pretty close.

 

[Jesper Portus]

A long time ago I tried to participate here.

Yet I´m back!

Game date: 1286 AD
Base score: 4625
Final score: 185196

 

[Half Nelson]

My latest claim for Slowest Domination. The mediocre score masks what was probably the most exhilarating / exhausting Civ game I have ever played, hence the long write-up. Many thanks for providing such a great scenario, despite having no France or Germany to compete with ! (English Longbowmen vs Mongolian War Elephants rather than French Knights ??).
In summary:- Constant war, I fought everyone except the Romans at some point. Took out Ottoman, Zulu, Russia, Celt, Viking, Mongol, Japan, Korea in that order; Egypt and Persia were destroyed by others, leaving 6 rivals at the death. Culture flipping and unexpected vassal behaviour were a constant problem. I never managed to achieve a settled economy, running only 50-60% science for long periods. In hindsight, I put this down to having London as a production centre, constant pillaging of resources and the low priority I placed on Markets because I had no access to their bonus resources. Churchill traits, a horse monopoly and AI combat ineptitude saved the day. The Butcher’s Bill tells its own story:- losses, 170 (mainly siege); kills (excluding workers etc) 825.
Read on if you want the gory detail…..

The Sceptred Isles

Spoiler :

This was my first opportunity to play for Britain and I was determined to post a win, so I was even more “conservative” than usual for what looked like a tricky mission. Assuming a peninsula, I moved E and settled London next to the hills. This created a secure backfill for a later city, an excellent industrial centre and also allowed rapid ship transit across the Island. Unfortunately it didn’t quite cover the copper and it wasn’t a peninsula! I settled York on the starting square and pressed hard to get out a galley, third settler and archers before the mainland was covered. By the time I was ready, the best available square was the gold hills N of York and here I founded Nottingham in 865 BC. I subsequently settled the S Island with Hastings (over the incense, which was as far as I could get because of Aztec port of Texcoco due S). Missed out on Great Lib (565 BC) but built Great Lighthouse in 205 BC. Reached Feudalism by 95AD, as had almost everyone else. Switched to vassalage. Near bottom in score.

The Mainland Bridgehead

Spoiler :

I have never bothered with walls and castles in previous Civ4 games, but the situation was ideal for them here and all my early cities were well-fortified. Nottingham had to withstand early onslaught from various foes and was difficult to develop for some time, but after discovering iron near London my military began to develop and I took 2 Russian cities in my first offensive war. Novgorod subsequently flipped to Ottoman but St Petersburg became my Western buttress against the Mongol hordes and their innumerable vassals:-
275 AD. Whilst my siege of St Petersburg is in full spate with cats, swords and axes, Nottingham defends against the combined forces of Ragnar, Isabella, KK and Toku. The city walls drip with their blood. English longbowmen line the defenses:- this was their Agincourt, and all who survived the day henceforth stood a-tiptoe (etc). This was the end of the beginning:- I was now a mainland force to be reckoned with! Mid-table in score.

The Crusade, Horses and the Lost Legion

Spoiler :

1025 AD I have established a solid empire, first to banking and now researching gunpowder. My caravels control the sea lanes. Novgorod revolts to Mehmed !! My marauders head East towards Ankara, the Christian Holy City, on a crusade to bring it under English control and gain control of its horses. I take Ankara and Istanbul, which becomes my primary powerhouse in later times.
1304-1430. Serious push by AI. I beat off attacks from KK and co in the West and Hannibal / Isabella along the “Istanbul corridor”. All my mainland resources are pillaged and I begin to fall behind in tech. My muskets gradually regain the initiative and grenadiers put me back on the offensive. I conquer Ottoman and Zulu lands by 1600, using my new Frigates to bombard the latter’s coastal cities. The plains are littered with rotting enemy pachyderms and I now have access to horses !!!
I look well set for a clockwise domination push at this point, then I run into the “Lost Legion”, an enormous Roman army of 30+ grenadiers/riflemen backed up by 8 cats/trebs on a hill at the Korean border. Not wanting to offend them (they could have rolled up my poorly defended interior in very short order), I finally adopted a religion (Judaism) and favourite civic of Augustus (Rep:- which was OK for me at that time anyway). This worked (Augustus being the only Civ I was never at war with the whole game), but stopped my Eastern advance in its tracks.

Up Guards and at ‘em!

Spoiler :

I turned to a land development phase and considered non-military options, but both Arabia (having conquered the advanced but helpless Egyptians) and Mongol (having accumulated several vassals) seemed to be better-positioned than I for all but military victory. My key assets were horses from the Ottoman lands and the magnificent redcoats. By 1760 I am top in score, building cavalry which, with redcoats and cannon, I decide can cope with the Lost Legion:- I move my armies back to the Korean frontier. At this point Mali offers to be my vassal, I accept and send a small expeditionary force to help them in war with the Celts. 1776:- The Mongol hordes invade again and my E invasion plans are put on hold. The walls of St Petersburg once more run with the blood of the invader and their apparently unlimited supply of Artillery, supported by MGs. My cavalry save the day and I take the opportunity to eliminate one vassal (Russia). By 1820 my citizens are demanding emancipation which, alongside WW, gives serious happiness issues. I decide to switch research from combustion to communism and thus grab some key non-military techs by trade, enabling me to switch to FS, SP and Emancipation. Scotland Yard gives me spies, who prove invaluable in the times to come.
By 1900 English tanks, infantry and artillery are extracting ultimate revenge on Greater Mongolia (now covering Viking and Japanese territories), taking strategic advantage of our Malian vassal land to crush it in a classic hammer and anvil move . No quarter is asked or given:- KK finally exits the stage. Japan vassals itself to Arabia at the death but, my patience spent, I still take them out to complete domination of the NW map quadrant. Mali and I completed our takeover of the Celts shortly afterwards. This seemed like the beginning of the end, as I was now clear to mop up the weak E powers with my faithful ally MM guarding my back from the Aztec /Arab hordes.

Treachery and Near-Disaster

Spoiler :

1923 Uppsala revolts to Mali, Mali declares Independence:- the perfidious *******. This marginalises my SW ex-Celt cities as Mali culture shoots up in that region (I presume vassal culture is depressed?). Mali had been a useful ally and trading partner, but had lost interest in trading advanced techs and was rapidly put to the sword for affronting the English empire! I end a long-lasting but largely harmless war with Arabia (a highly advanced but thereto mostly innocuous opponent) and now turned on the weaker Aztec to secure cultural borders and my rightful victory. My armies easily took the two major Aztec cities. 1959 Secure in the knowledge that my ceasefire with Saladin has several years to run, I leave my elite marines and gunships (many highly promoted from the knight stage) to recover in Tenochtitlan and, amid growing expectation, my raiding units (tanks, artillery and infantry supported by a medic GG) head for the last Aztec redoubt and victory. Monty proceeds to declare himself a vassal of Saladin (negating the ceasefire:- forgot about that possibility !!!!!) who, in a single turn, railroads his entire army behind my spearhead and takes Tenochtitlan, destroying all my recuperating forces (31 units lost in a single turn). I was able to withdraw my spearhead intact, picking off damaged Arabian units in the process, but had lost many gunships and was facing a large armoured force. The scorched-earth withdrawal gave me time to replenish my anti-armour force but Saladin, now roused, was undoubtedly a major threat having already discovered composites (I was taking the Mass-Media / Robotics path). Waves of Modern Armour attack my line established behind the river running S across the former Aztec homeland Simultaneously, air-attacks are made on the blessed home island by bombers and jet fighters (fortunately he didn’t have stealth capability). The air attacks are the most punishing, as they knockout my sea resources which markedly affected health in the whole empire. The possibility of defeat is murmered in some quarters!

Their Finest Hour

Spoiler :

English Isles 1967. In London, York and Hastings, fighter squadrons (3 per city) are on alert for enemy bombers and fighter jets, SAM cover the land tiles and a destroyer fleet guards the sea resources. Large teams of workers hastily rebuild bombed mines and new workboats (2 per turn) arrive from the mainland to replace losses. The War Cabinet knows our naval supremacy precludes any direct attempt at invasion, but is seriously concerned about the degradation of our towns and our bomber fleet. Having good intellegence that we will discover Robotics before the enemy, plans are hatched to blunt the enemy offensive and gain more time for our industrial strength (twice that of Saladin) to tilt the balance in our favour. A daring commando raid is executed to raise Texcoco, the Arabian (nee Aztec) coastal city acting as their forward airbase. Marines take out the SAM defence by sea, allowing gunships to stream W over no-mans land to take out other defenders then escape via sea on transports. A lone longbowman strides from a galleon to raise the city and its aircraft, proud in his symbolic duty as the sole English casualty of the mission (see attached screenshot). Elsewhere, English spies take the offensive by sabotaging the Arabian oilfields. Now our attrition of the Arabian military really begins to bite:- their air losses (including 6 jet fighters lost in air attacks) are not replaced, allowing our bombers free-rein to pound their modern armour on the S mainland front until our gunships can pick them off at leisure (we eventually destroy 16 of these). The Arabian tide is halted, enabling us to look elsewhere for final victory. Our assault forces reassemble far to the NW to open a second front on Korea and Carthage, prepared to slaughter the Lost Legion if necessary. We conquer Korea in the blink of an eye.... the LL is unmoved but Carthage immediately becomes a vassal of Rome. I agree to a ceasefire with Saladin (the bells ring in London town) and prepare for an unwanted war with Rome when my cultural influence inches into the newly-captured Korean territories and I reach the Domination target. Where are the cigars?

 

[MarkM]

I never got around to posting a final spoiler, and it's probably not of much interest to anyone now (or even before???), but since I posted in the first spoiler thread about the very juicy mainland settlement I got for York, something that sounded unique, I thought I should explain what happened. Briefly, I used the strategy I described in the pre-gaem thread, I raced to build a settler and galley in order to gain an early mainland toehold. It succeeded beyond my wildest dreams, I grabbed an excellent inland city location (no water squares at all in fat cross, with spacious cultural borders!!!). At 500AD for all practical purposes York was my main city not London, production was huge and I'd built Heroic Epic and settled my great generals there (military academy). I was near the top of score already (maybe #2 & closing fast?) and York was the #1 city in world.

In the end I won a domination victory in 1915, 25k score. Pretty disappointing given my situation at end of first spoiler. What happened? In short -- I screwed up and lost York around 700 AD to a SOD that Stalin sent down to the south to assist the other civs at war with me (I was at war with four civs at once at that point -- but I was strong enough & advanced enough I should have been able to handle it). Stalin himself wasn't the big threat (it was MM in my game), it just so happened his stack was the last in a line that piled into me. Most of my army was off laying siege to Brennus' last city, to knock one of my enemies out the game, and I left York underdefended, I did not anticipate the size of stacks that woudl be sent my way, and was lazy about checking it until it was well into my territory & too late to react fully. Looking in my log file, the turn it fell York successfully destroyed nineteen Russian units before the garrison was overwhelmed.

I immediately lifted the siege of Brennus and moved the remainder of my army back to York. Thanks to the stupidity of Stalin AI moving some units out, I was able to recapture it. But of course by this time it was a shell of what it had been, much lower pop, no heroic epic or military academy, no forge, etc. But still I rebuilt it and resumed the offensive against Brennus, knocking him out, then taking out Ramses. Then I did it again. I left York underdefended & lost it again.

I picked up the pieces and moved on, and I actually repeated this mistake a couple more times with outer cities late in the (in one case I stupidly put my entire air force, almost 10 bombers & a fighter at a time when no one else yet had planes, in a city too close to the border & got it wiped out when I lost it), but that first & second loss of York delayed my victory by many, many dozens of turns.

Interesting tidbits of note: 1. Though Monty was my direct mainland neighbor for the entire game (from 300 BC until I DOW on him), he was one of only two civs that never DOW on me (the other, almost as ironic, was Rome). I was in constant warfare nearly the entire game. These two civs, Ramses & Asoka were the only ones friendly with me bay the AD period. 2. In the early/mid second millennium AD I was starting to worry that I would suffer a domination loss to MM. I was actually larger than him alone, but a lot of other civs had become his vassals, including Monty & Asoka, the civs bordering me to either side (I'd taken out Ramses, plus Brennus on the other side of Monty). In the end I had to just bite the bullet and DOW on all of them at once. It was a massive battle that took a long time (in the game and RL), I had to fight a two front war, and gobble up the cities of both Monty and Asoka before I could focus on the real source of my irritation, MM. Until I could finish off Monty, MM had a great tactical advantage on me, he could move freeely on Monty's roads to harass me, while I could hardly touch him because Monty ws in the way. Very frustrating.