WOTM02 Second Spoiler

[Gyathaar]

WOTM 02 Second Spoiler

Second spoiler: Requires full world map, and you must have reached 1500 AD.

Reading Requirements:

1. You must have the full world map - knowing the locations of all other civilizations.
2. You must have reached at least 1500 AD, or completed (and submitted) your game.

Posting Restrictions

1. No discussions of events post 1800 please.
2. No screenshots showing modern resources.

 

[Dill]

Hardly worth me posting...

As mentioned in the first spoiler, I had 2 cities at 500AD - having only just completed building my 4th city and having 2 already destroyed by the barbs.

After finally knocking out the barbs by taking their city - I progressed to having 6 citys streching up the east coast - the top 2 in the little protected area surrounded by mountains and coast. Wanting to stop intruders, I position 2 units in the 2 square gap.


Following advice - I decided Diplo is my only shot - so I start heading for the UN and trying to catch up with techs...

And then it happened - In 1688 Cyrus and his vassal Asoka decide they don't like me and declare war.... here I am with a few longbowmen and archers, and in come the knights, elephants and more... And no-one wants to help me and join in the battle....

So, it was over fairly quickly, with only Seoul offering any resisitance. I even tried to bribe my way out - with only Seoul remaining Asoka offers peace for 200GP - I accept. Problem was, Cyrus still wanted blood.

Game over 1786.

While I wait for the next WOTM, I might have to give this one another go..

 

[Meatbuster]

Hey Dill! I feel you can replay as a shadow game of course. I think you should even report about your new shadow game, even though you won't submit it.

My report to follow shortly as I type it up.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

And then it happened - In 1688 Cyrus and his vassal Asoka decide they don't like me and declare war.... here I am with a few longbowmen and archers, and in come the knights, elephants and more... And no-one wants to help me and join in the battle....

Random little thought. Assuming that Asoka and Cyrus weren't ferrying their troops by boat, on that map there is a pinch point at the northern end of the mountain range, where they have to come through to get to you. Could you have stopped them by gifting a city near that pinch point to a Civ that doesn't have open borders with them? (And helped get a friend for your diplomatic win chances into the bargain...)

 

[Meatbuster]

Isn't 1688 long enough for them to get Astronomy and invade via sea?

Now on to my game...

***

The History of Korea (740AD - 1800AD)

The mighty Korean army of Longbows and Hwacha blazed across Japan. Not even the Protective Archers of Tokugawa were a match for masses of Hwacha guarded by longbows. The entire stretch of land at the South end was painted blue by the 10th century. By now, moving further north on the west side of the land, the Koreans run into a resource-rich site occupied by a Confucian Russia, and soon later, the founder of Confucianism, Mongolia.

All the time, Korea never adopted her founded religion of Buddhism, ensuring that no one will cite religious differences. However, in the 10th century, a diplomat from India was able to convince Korea to adopt Hinduism.

At this point, a diplomatic victory appeared to the viable choice. Persia and India being Hindu vs either the Confucian bloc OR the Jewish Chinese. Either way, the future looks bright for world unity.

In the 10th-13th centuries, the Korean Empire began to recover economically from the long war against the Japanese. The Koreans have kept most of the Japanese cities due to their decent placement and rich resource content, especially Kyoto, even if an iron deposit was right underneath the former Japanese capital--it would've been a great site for a mine. After standardizing their laws and practices and focusing on economy (building courthouses and markets), another military buildup started.

During this time, the age of exploration began with the first naval voyage around the world, spearheaded by the mighty Korean Empire. Along the way, the explorers discovered huge barbarian civilizations in a couple of "New Worlds". They were unable to convince the people to join the glorious Korean culture at the moment, perhaps in the future Korea may utilize "more convincing measures" to persuade the barbarians.

Korean culture continues to spread across the globe with the construction of more World Wonders and National Wonders...
Versailles - Tokyo
National Epic - Seoul
Oxford University - Seoul
Wall Street (planned) - Pyongyang (wine city)
Heroic Epic - Wonsan (gems and pig city)
West Point (planned) - Wonsan
Taj Mahal (planned) - Seoul
Globe Theater - Aryan (a city near Kyoto with much grassland)
Forbidden Palace (planned) - Beijing

The Korean citizens were shocked upon reading in the newspaper that their leader at that time planned to build a National Wonder in a foreign city. They didn't have to ask too many questions, soon all of those will be answered...

The 14th century saw the resumption of bloodshed with the declaration of war on the Chinese, while the treacherous and opportunistic team of India and Persia also joined in the war against the Chinese on the other front. Despite having to march around the Himalayas, the Korean army was no less effective once they reached Chinese lands. Five Chinese cities were spared, including two well-placed cites which served as canals. The rest were burned mercilessly to the ground. The Chinese empire was no more by the 15th century.

Fortunately, the Koreans were kind enough to restore and preserve enduring images of high Chinese culture, such as the Temple of Solomon, Temple of Artemis and Parthenon, although the two latter World Wonders were soon put to disuse with the impending discovery of Chemistry.

Korea knows that Persia and India were guaranteed to vote for her in a future world tribunal. However, Persia was a guaranteed roadblock as she was in second place, edging out Mongolia in the recent historical survey of the world by Pliny. So Korean troops moved to the Indian-Persian border and again war was declared. In yet another bold and daring move, India also declared war on Persia soon after!

It was Grenadiers and Cannons versus hordes of Riflemen, but the battle tactics of heroic and enterprising Grenadiers were no match for the defensive garrisons of Persia. Soon all but two cities of Persia fell, and Persia pledged loyalty to the Korean flag.

However, the initial plan to keep India's vote was a bad idea. India soon found herself a technological leader after the discovery of Liberalism, and became the newest world superpower. The Korean Master Plan was threatened. And as the 19th century is starting, tensions began to rise.

As Korea's citizens begin to reap the luxuries of Electricity and Biology, can they secure the diplomatic vote to become supreme rulers of the world?

Attacking the Indians did not seem right, what with them being the greatest trading partner in the world. But now, they have become the Korean's archrivals.

The solution: WAR on the Confucians!

During the Persian War, Korean cities built more military. War drums beat once more as Korean troops laid siege to Russia in the 1700's while the UN and Broadway are being built.

With the help of the Great Engineer, the Eiffel Tower United Nations went up soon after Russia's capitulation to Korea as a vassal.

The end was inevitable. Korea has been elected as supreme kumquat of the world in the 1780's, with a score of 33000+.

***

It could be faster, but there were too many delays and tech detours. Losing Liberalism hurt a lot in the tech race. But all in all a fun game but yet another one leaving me wishing again there was less land.

The barbarian islands were fun to look at.

I was surprised all the civs were on this one continent. I didn't ever think Fractal maps made Pangaeas sometimes...

 

[whb]

...the story continues.

Indeed Japan did fall behind on tech. My maces, hwachas, and knights have conquered five of their cities, and are now pausing for the moment while the empire digests them. Korea is the tech leader, and I was the first to Liberalism, although China has been keeping pace reasonably well. China has been hammering India into small pieces.

Hinduism having been founded in Seoul has left me with a dilemma -- I'd like to have Wall Street, Oxford Uni and the National Epic there. Wall Street is definite. The choice of the other two will depend on whether I can spur on a second science centre properly amid the gems (better land for also building cottages than the wine city)

I really should have built the Forbidden Palace somewhere too, but haven't got round to it yet!

 

[drkodos]

Korea 500AD - 1502AD
The Age of Agnostic Expansion




Marvel at the mighty power of our secret weapon as it smotes our enemies!!Witness all that oppose Korean desitiny will vanish from this earthly existence!!

Spoiler :

Gaze with jaw agape at the most amazing technologic advancements. Korea scientists and technology are the world's leaders. Witness the height of our brilliance and resourcefulness with our newly developed, fully powered WATERWALL.

Spoiler :

Korea's rightful destiny has been marching forward over the past millenia, of that have no doubt. Emperor Toku, in a rare display of sagacity, has realized he and his people are better off under the safe and strong arm of Korean leadership and now contribute directly toward our mutual ends of seeing your gloroius leader named ruler of all the planet.

The barbarian hordes have been tamed. They trouble us no more some of their villages and towns have even become upstanding and contributing members of our enormous empire.

And all this advancement, power and leadership has not alienated us from our friends and allies. Korea stands favorably with all other nations, the sole exception Catherine. Soon, we suspect she will begin to realize her mistakes and being to embrace the Korean way of life.

Some of our friends have been reaching out for us to help them in their own fields of scientific advancement. Korea will continue to do! But sleep well, people of Korea, your leadership will never give away so much as to jeopardize our position and standing as the leading and most powerful nation this world has ever seen. We truly hope that war, hostilities and open aggression are in our past and we can continue to move forward to our position as Emperor of the entire world, but if need be, Korea stands ready at a moments notice to not only defend itself and its allies, but to also go on the offensive, pre-emptively if need be, to assure of great leaders position in the future.

The world will be a better place for it.


Next: Korea 1502AD - 1800AD

 

[kojimanard]

While I wait for the next WOTM, I might have to give this one another go..

There should be another GOTM up shortly (you must be able to play that if you can play WOTM), the pre-game discussion may be tomorrow.

 

[indeliblemerson]

I missed the first spoiler so this account is from the beginning.

This game was impossible for me to win a victory. I'm not planning on submitting because I tried 3 times to win.

I start by marching over to the Japanese and I wipe them out quickly. I take thier city Kyoto, located west of my starting point, which is loaded with resources. I spend most of BC fighting off the Barbs, which isn't all that difficult to do. By the 14th century I have 7 or 8 cities. Just when I get comfortable about 1700 here come the invasions (multiple).

It doesn't seem to matter what I do, by the 17-18th century Genghis Khan attacks but has no real power. Then after I fight off Khan and call a truce, here comes Katherine with lots of power, she invades from the south (next door), and she takes the city Kyoto from me. It has tons of culture, (the City I took from the Japanese and built up for about 20 centuries from 3000 BC til 1774 AD). Next the Chinese invade from the North.

After that I couldn't watch anymore and I quit.

Why does it have to be so hard???????

 

[ToxicBones]

After the building up time until 400 AD it was just an invasion of the world as quick as possible, starting with war with toku in 440 AD. It was mace+hwacha vs archers. While attacking toku I built up a stock to attack china. In around 850 AD I could built knights. Toku was conquered around the same time. This meant the start with the war in Beijng. As he just got longbow I couldn't conquer all, but I could take the great city of Beijng. Peace with China in 1000 AD. At around 950 AD the war vs Catherina began, which was an easy one with my knights vs their spearman/axe/archer. Catherina became my vassal. war again with china 10 turns after peace. After china I started at the west a war vs both Persia and India, while in the east destroying the weak mongols, who lost there cap somewhere early to babarians. I won by a conquest victory with 95k at around 1480 AD.

 

[ElWanderer]

After a rather haphazard beginning (first spoiler is here), I was steadily growing and amassing some small stacks in my border cities. I was pretty sure I'd be at war with Tokugawa sooner or later; the problem was that he and three (at one point four) other civs had all converted to Judaism. It's no wonder I never adopted a state religion during the game!

As it happened, Tokugawa and Catherine declared war on me in the same turn (erm, 1322 I think, but I'd have to check). I fought off Catherine's scouting axemen fairly easily. I lobbed a few techs Ghengis's way (he was very backward) to get him to join the war against Russia and Catherine didn't bother me again for quite some time.

I couldn't tell why Tokugawa declared at the time he did... he didn't seem at all prepared as most of the cities I could see had only a couple of defenders. Admittedly, City Garrison 3 longbowmen are quite good defenders...

My attack took a while to get going, but once it did it was unstoppable. At the start of the war I was on the verge of getting gunpowder and my stacks were very mixed. By the end, I had grenadiers and cavalry. Tokugawa offered me techs and gold for peace when down to three cities. I ignored him and captured Kyoto. At this point, he offered to capitulate. I was tempted, having not had a vassal before, but as he only had two little cities left and my stack was very large, I decided to complete the conquest. The only embarrassment was that when I checked the military advisor window, I'd eliminated Tokugawa with my great general bar at 89/90 points...

Taking out the Japanese left me a nice swathe of land, and lots of resources (the only ones I didn't have were dye, which I was importing from India, and stone, which was hardly important by this time). Happiness was never a problem after this. Looking back, I should have decided to carry on into Russia (she didn't have gunpowder at the time), but instead I made peace and settled back into my usual builder habits. The exception was a little sally to grab the barbarian "treasure island" - the smaller of the rebel isles with two gem mines and two fish resources

At about 1800AD, the aim was a diplomatic win as I had defensive pacts with Qin, Cyrus and Asoka, all of whom were friendly. I myself had almost 30% of the world's population and the rest had just enough. Catherine hates me, but she doesn't have the power to do anything to me (except slap me everytime I refuse her crazy demands). She's second in population terms, so she will be my opponent in the UN votes.

 

[Gnejs]

Continuation of my first spoiler found here.

At 185 AD Seoul had finished 5 wonders and was generating some serious GP points. Now it was time to build a small garrison since the AI civs were beginning to press back on the barbarians. Built 3 archers and stationed them in the city, and then started the National Epic for a further GP boost. It was finished in 545 AD giving a nice 50 GPP from the wonders and the free specialists from GL and ToA. Nice to generate a new great person every 12 turns while still working tiles with all citizens. See screenshot.



After that I built a temple to push up happiness and grow to size 9. As you can see from the screenshot Tokugawa had now settled two cities close by claiming both the wine and the silver. I need those resources as I am already at the happiness limit, but how to get them? It will be a long time before the next culture expansion, unless... Yes, that's it! Research Music (which no one has discovered yet) and use the Great Artist to expand the borders past the silver and wine. Said and done. After getting Civil Service in 410 AD (Bureacracy! yes!) I start on Music, discovering this in 620 AD. Culture bomb and border expansion, and again my worker has something useful to do.

Naturally Tokugawa isn't pleased so it is time to focus on military matters for a while. Construction, Metal Casting, Monarchy, start on Feudalism. I trade for Copper from Qin Shi Huang - very expensive, silver + sheep + 12 gpt! But worth it since Toku has Horse Archers and I can now build spears and axemen.

The inevitable happens in 965 AD when Toku declares war. At this time, my military consists of 2 warriors, 3 archers, 2 spearmen, 2 axemen, and I am building Hwachas. And my two exploring triremes of course. First thing that happens in the war is that I lose one trireme when attacking a japanese galley with a settler and archer way up north.
The first Japanese units have barely entered my territory when Cathering decides to join in the war in 1040 AD - against me! Uh oh. This could get ugly. But Feudalims is discovered in the same turn and I upgrade my three archers, so at least Seoul itself should be safe. Actually, the enemy troops manage to pillage the wine and the silver but not do any lasting harm. Quite soon I get my first great general thanks to fighting behind the Great Wall. First time I have had use of that benefit of the GW! Gaius Marius is his name, born 1106 AD. A year to remember for the Korean people. (First save, time to catch up with RL, write a spoiler and contemplate how to use Gaius)

Situation at 1106 AD:


Having thought things over for a couple of days, it seemed quite obvious to attach Gaius to a spearman so I could get the needed high-level unit for unlocking the Heroic Epic. Why a spearman? I wanted a Medic III unit since there would be no captured cities to heal in. A spearman seemed suitable since I wouldn't unnecessary waste him on city attacks. Gaius gor Medic III + City Raider I, the last since one day I hoped he would be upgraded to something more useful.

Once the offensive from the Russio-Japanese war alliance loses momentum I gather my troops, heal them and go on the offensive myself. First city to fall is Khazak, a former Barbarian city by the name of it, located by the wine NW of Seoul. Since I have decided to play this game as a one-city challenge I raze it. First razed city, but certainly not the last...

Tokugawa now has War Elephants which is a problem. But with the Heroic Epic finished, Seoul builds a unit each turn. And I now have access to Macemen thorugh the discovery of machinery, and also soon Trebuchets with Engineering. Slowly but surely the pressure is increased on Tokugawa. Nagoya (city by the silver) is razed in 1172 AD. Two workers are built to act as engineering troops, building roads towards the main Japanese cities. Kagoshima (by the marble, corn and iron to the W) is razed in 1226 AD.

Situation at 1232 AD:


Peace with Catherine in 1250 AD. In 1268 the captain of the one remaining trireme circumnavigates the globe!

Spoiler :

More troops are being built, mainly maces and trebuchets. Using these fresh reinforcements, Tokyo is razed in 1316. I now advance on Kyoto but having lost some troops and seeing Kyoto well defended I decide to accept Tokus request for peace in 1346. The main reason was to allow Seoul to build a Seowon and a Harbour for increased science and commerce.

Tech-wise I was the first to Education in 1334. Actually, as the screenshot shows, Korea was the world science leader. Quite remarkable with a single city while Catherine and Qin had 10 cities each and the others not far behind. The combination of several super specialists + representation + bureaucracy really shows its power.

Spoiler :

Instead of directly going for Liberalism I decided to first get gunpowder and then liberalism, taking chemistry as the free tech. Meanwhile, Seoul continued building troops, primarily trebuchets but also some foot soldiers. Then suddenly in 1448 AD, Mongolia declares war! The first wave consists of a chariot and a Keshik, and there was no second wave for quite some time!

Liberalism learned 1460 AD, Chemistry taken as the free tech. Unfortunately, this cancels Parthenon and Artemis
Seoul immediately starts building Grenadiers. A nice army is waiting outside Kyotos borders and in 1466 they get the chance to prove their worth when I declare war for the first time in this game. Old Toku deserved it though, for his treacherous attack 500 years earlier. Production in Seoul is now 94 hammers per turn, enough to build a trebuchet in one turn with overflow.

Spoiler :

Kyoto falls in 1484, Izumo in 1508, Osaka in 1526, Nara in 1538, Ainu (Mongolian) in 1541. All of them razed of course.

More pictures:

Spoiler :

Peace with Mongols in 1533. Satsuma razed in 1559, leaving Tokugawa with a single city left. At this point, Tokugawa offers Capitulation.



It is very tempting to accept as this would give me horses, rice and silk. But this would be a short-lived vassal state since Tokugawa will be able to break free once he manages to found another city or two. Besides, this will hurt my relations with the other AIs, something I really don't want to happen. I have very high standings with Qin, Asoka, and Cyrus, while Catherine is the worlds population leader. In addition I am running Bureaucracy (Qins favourite civic), Free Religion (Asokas favourite) and Representation (Cyrus' favourite, although he hasn't discovered it himself yet). This seems like an almost perfect setup for a diplomatic victory. I might need to remove Genghis from the game to shift the voting balance further in my favour but that shouldn't be impossible despite the distance to Mongolia. He is very backwards in tech.

So in the end I just make peace with Tokugawa and start focusing on reaching that diplomatic victory. More on that in the next spoiler.

Techs and great people:
Monotheism (260 AD) - trade
Calendar (260 AD) - trade
Great Prophet (380 AD) - settled in Seoul
Civil Service (410 AD)
Music (620 AD), Great Artist - used for culture expansion
Great Merchant (635 AD) - settled in Seoul
Currency (665 AD) - trade
Construction (725 AD)
Metal Casting (830)
Great Merchant (860) - settled in Seoul
Monarchy (890)
Feudalism (1040)
Great Scientist (1070) - academy
Great General (1106) - attached to unit
Machinery (1124)
Engineering (1190)
Great Artist (1208) - lightbulb Drama (1214)
Horseback Riding (1226) - trade
Paper (1226)
Compass, Theology (1262) - trade
Education (1334)
Great Scientist (1346) - settled in Seoul
Gunpowder (1400)
Optics (1442) - trade
Liberalism (1460)
Chemistry (1466) - free
Great General (1502) - settled in Seoul +2 XP
Guilds (1514)
Great Merchant (1523) - settled in Seoul
Banking (1532)
Economics (1562), Great Merchant - settled in Seoul

Screenshot of Seoul in 1559

Spoiler :

 

[godotnut]

So ...

When I left off in my first spoiler, I had just pushed back Toku to his capital at the continent's eastern bottleneck. I had plenty of land and cities for the victory type I was going for (Diplo), so I shut down military production. The units I already had would do for a long time.

Most of the rest of the game was spent building and teching, which is fine with me. I founded every religion but Buddhism, as I had hoped. Asorka received Buddhism, so he was to be my foil. I tried to help him all game, offering nice deals on resources to fatten up his empire come election time.

I converted everyone except him to my state religion, over time. The land I had taken from Toku was fertile, and I farmed it to maximum population, creating 3-4 miniature great people farms. Three of my four core cites (the only ones I actually founded) were cottaged, another one with farms and mines produced all of the units I needed for the entire game. It was the only city I built barracks in.

I switched from Organized Religion to Pacifism mid-game. Including the ones from techs, I received 6 scientists, 2 priests, 2 artists, and a merchant. No engineer. I used one scientist on an academy in my capital and added two as city specialists. I also added the merchant as a specialist to my capital as well. One priest built the shrine for my state religion, which was pulling in about 30 gold/turn toward the end. I added the other priest to the city I wanted to use to build the U.N. Two artists were used to help research radio, and two scientists were also used to lightbulb techs, one toward scientific method and one toward electricity.

When I realized I wouldn't get an engineer, I briefly considered switching goals from diplo to space race, knowing it would be nearly impossible to get the fastest win without one. But by that time, my teching had been geared to the diplo and was less than optimal for what I would want for the space race. Neither game was likely to be really exceptional, so I stuck with the original plan.

One of my new cities, the one with the most trees and hills, became my designated U.N. builder. In the end, it took about 15 turns. With an engineer, I would have finished in the 1500s. As is, I finished a diplomatic victory in 1652.

I used the Oracle on Civil Service and Liberalism on Physics. I was really surprised how long it took the AI to research education. They were mostly a peaceful bunch, too.

Asorka turned out to be a poor foil in this game. He just couldn't get that population up there. So at the end, my empire again entered a brief period of war to take the barb-seeded cities on the island to the North. I gifted these to Asorka just before the Secretary General vote. I noted our population scores in that vote and calculated that I would still need to give him another city to beef him up enough to be in second place.

That kind of hurt. I'm trying to imagine the city governor explaining it to my citizens: "So, uh, guys ... our mighty leader has, um, given us away to the Indians..."

But it worked like a charm. Every other one of the AI voted for me, even Tokugawa (chump). To bad about the slow build on the U.N. How did some of you other diplo players from the first spoiler finish up?

EDIT: I forgot to add my voice to the chorus praising this map. The design was brilliant, adding complexity and interest for both builder and aggressive games. This was one of my top five favorite GOTM and WOTMs so far! Hats off to the staff!

 

[Meatbuster]

If you scroll a bit up, I won diplo in 1780 so you definitely trumped mine!

Good job!

 

[Thrallia]

wow, I really wish I had lasted effectively past 1300BC I think I woulda enjoyed this map, I had planned to go for a diplo or space victory...although there's no way I would have come anywhere near your game Godotnut. Very well played from start to finish.