WOTM16 First Spoiler

[Thrallia]

WOTM16 First Spoiler

Reading Requirements

Stop! If you are participating in WOTM16, then you MUST NOT read this thread unless EITHER

• You must have reached at least 500 AD in your game, OR
• You have submitted your entry

Posting Restrictions

• Please do not discuss anything post 500 AD.
• Please do not name any civs or discuss any events in any locations that are not reachable by galley.

How are you doing? Did you move and build the Great Wall? Or did you stay in place and get swarmed by barbs? Maybe you managed to build the Great Wall without moving? Discuss your strategies and results here!

 

[DaviddesJ]

Hey, the title of this thread is just "Wotm16". How are people (like me) supposed to know it's a spoiler thread?

 

[karmina]

Pawned in 2650 BC by the very first barbs that spawned. Four of them marched to my capital simultaneously - my 2 warriors lost vs. 2 warriors. One fortified, 1 promoted trying to recapture the gems mine from an already wounded barb warrior.
Furthermore I lost one warrior early to a bear, 1 warrior and 1 scout were still in field. Not a single unprotected worker found. Archer 4 turns away.

You might say that I gambled too much by not getting archers asap, but I would do it this way again any time - never got conquered by barbs in all my numerous test games for wotm16. The replay proved that the strategy was sound:

- second city on stone hill built stonehenge & oracle, first one got GW & Pyramids early, overally had to deal with less than 10 barbs during the whole game
- Great Library by GE
- Built every single wonder until and including Notre Dame (10AD) and Sistine Chapel (140AD)
- Founded all 4 late religions (Divine Right 65AD, spent 1 GA)
- 10 BC Education (spent 1 GS)
- 170 AD Nationalism (spent 1 GA)
- 230 AD 6th city by culture swap
- 320 AD Liberalism & Military Tradition
- 425 AD Gunpowder & Cavalry
- 440 AD The Taj Mahal
Around 500 AD pumping out Cavalries like mad. I didn't play much further as it was just plain overkill; the map was great fun and really crazy, but honestly felt more like settler difficulty than emperor (...that is, after GW was finished ). Obviously the AIs don't know at all how to handle crazy resources.

 

[JerichoHill]

Due to a computer glitch, I had to reload from an auto-save, so I won't be submitting per the rules. However, the reload made no difference in my game, so here's how I played it.

I settled on the stone hill, because I was going for the Great Wall.

 

[Thrallia]

@Daviddes: I messed up the title luckily, Alan(or Ainwood) fixed it so everyone will know what it is now

 

[grymloq]

I was defeated fairly early, although i forget the exact date.

I forgot to make a save so i won't be submitting.

I thought i could get away without going for a fast great wall, this turned out to be a mistake.

I was declared on by alex quite soon after founding my second city and this was just as barbarian archers started to arrive. Alex razed my second city 2 turns later.

I took to long to hook up the copper and i was fighting a tough war with only warriors and archers.

I did manage to hook up the copper after a while, but it took many turns of fighting. Once i started to build axemen i thought i might have been ok.

I pushed back the barbs and repbuilt my second city. Only to have the next wave of alex arrive and wipe me out as his 6 axemen/spearmen and about 6 barb axes all arrived at the same time.

 

[MacBalt]

I played the contender save and settled on the stone to build the great wall. Still had more trouble with the barbs than I was expecting, but managed to survive. One thing though, the rival leaders in my game don’t match with the ones listed in Jericho Hill’s post. Some are the same, but others listed there were different. Did I play the wrong save file or make some equally boneheaded mistake? The rival civs and leaders in my game are Mansa Musa (Mali), Alexander (Greece), Wang Kon (Korea), Ramesses II (Egypt), Cyrus (Persia), Mao Zedong (China), and Mehmed II (Turkey). Julius Caesar, Montezuma, and Victoria definitely did not make an appearance. Anybody know what's going on here?

 

[Conquistador 63]

Balthalion, I was wondering about the same issue. In my game the AIs are the same as in yours.

I also settled on stone and went for the GW, after a worker. The warrior wandered a bit and returned to garrison. A couple barb warriors entered borders but one lost while attacking the capital while the other just pillaged the gold mine, right before I whipped GW for 2 pop in 2560BC (T48). I did not build any troops before that.

Carthage then built a settler aiming for the original location but Mansa beat me to it. It took quite a while but it eventually flipped in 310BC. I was expecting it sooner, since I had built a few more wonders in the BCs: SH, Oracle for MC, Pyramids and finally GLib in 10BC.

City 2 went south near marble, dyes and other stuff. I sent another settler eastbound, but Mansa had yet another settler nearby, then in a totally stupid gamble I rushed it onto a hill unescorted just to be killed by a barb who was in the fog. After this blunder I settled a couple more marginal cities without adequate food support, which I am afraid was another mistake.

Civic wise, I had one big change in 5AD: Rep, Bureau, Caste and OrgRel for a 3-turn anarchy period. Probably I should have gone Theo instead as I entered a troop building phase. Most of the AI were cautious or annoyed, except for Mansa - thanks for including him in the game, Thrallia . It seemed wise to attack someone before getting attacked myself, so Alex was a rather natural choice for it. War declared in 245AD, getting a worker and razing a size1 border city. Next I captured and kept the Taoist holy city, which had 0 defenses as Alex was hindu.
After a quick ceasefire, war was redeclared in 500AD and Athens is the next target - see screenshot and wish me luck!



p.s. I am not sure of which builder VC I'll pursue but it will be either space or diplo. I am doing ok (leading the race for Liberalism, already have Edu), but this is looking a rather difficult game for me, the AI is teching fast and most of them aren't exactly friendly. The fact that I have popped 3 prophets with low odds haven't helped much either.

 

[Thrallia]

I have a feeling JerichoHill posted his autolog from his test game...because the Aztecs, Romans and English are not in the WOTM save

 

[JerichoHill]

I played the contender save and settled on the stone to build the great wall. Still had more trouble with the barbs than I was expecting, but managed to survive. One thing though, the rival leaders in my game don’t match with the ones listed in Jericho Hill’s post. Some are the same, but others listed there were different. Did I play the wrong save file or make some equally boneheaded mistake? The rival civs and leaders in my game are Mansa Musa (Mali), Alexander (Greece), Wang Kon (Korea), Ramesses II (Egypt), Cyrus (Persia), Mao Zedong (China), and Mehmed II (Turkey). Julius Caesar, Montezuma, and Victoria definitely did not make an appearance. Anybody know what's going on here?

You did not make a mistake. I posted the wrong Auto-Log! That was from a test game.

However, despite that error, I did settle on the stone, went immediately for masonry and then immediately built the Great Wall while stealing a worker or two. I also built Stonehenge for to grow my culture, and I built the Pyramids for governance. I had to defend against an early invasion from Cyrus (he was opportunistic) but I had gotten the copper hooked up just in time. Axemen beat swordsman =). I had 8 cities in 500 AD, and the AI was still dealing with Barbs. I got Liberalism in 500AD, just as in my test game.

For this game I was wanting to get 9-12 cities and go for a space race win. I had to get a tech advantage which by 500AD I had, and my GDP was 1st because I was cottage spamming. One thing I did differently in this game was I focused on Great People for the first time. I was lucky to spawn two GE's, one GP, and two GS before 500AD , and that was one reason why I was able to go wonder happy. Pacifism was a wonderfully helpful civic.

I'll find the right autolog. Apologies

 

[Niklas]

I started but played sloppily, and the barbs had me overrun before long. I hate barbs.

 

[ChrisFromLux]

ChrisFromLux, Contender.
Goal: try to keep up with the AI as long as possible (I haven't won anything beyond Prince yet!)


Testing Results
My 5 Test-Games proved me that Barbs would be a huge nuisance. They always appeared around turn 45.
In 3 games, I was destroyed, in 1 game, I managed to survive past T100, but my improvements were pillaged and my first-built worker had to hide in the city most of the time, so I decided my 5th game was the way to go: get the Great Wall as quick as possible!


Early Game
Getting the GW ASAP meant for me:
- settle on the Stone
- research Masonry immediately
- build some warriors while researching Masonry
- build the GW

This worked out like planned: Warriors build on T9 and T14, Masonry learned on T15 and the Great Wall completed on T45 (2650BC). I never had problems with the barbs, and started to expand my empire.

Carthage build my first worker on T53 (2410BC), 1st settler on T68, another warrior on T74, 2nd settler on T88 and 3rd settler on T109.


Expanding my empire
I founded Utica on T71 (1870BC), on the settler's starting position, getting 2x corn, sheep, bronze, horses, marble, gems, banana and spices.
Hadrumetum was founded on T91 (1270BC), S of Carthage, grabbing 3x wheat, sugar, wine and gems.
Hippo on T107 (895BC), SE of Carthage, having 2x gems, stone, dye, incense and rice
Kerkouane on T113 (805BC), but it was badly-placed. When the settler arrived, I realises my favored spot was an oasis, so I moved 1N, getting gems, bronze and rice. Though, I should have moved back towards Carthage, W-SW of its current location, where it would have got wheat, dye, rice and gems.
Leptis, on T161 (85BC), was founded S of Hippo, grabbing 2x wheat, marble, gems, horses and dye.
My 7th city, Thapsus, was founded on T176 (140AD). It's quite far to the E of Carthage, on the lake, getting rice, gems and horses.


Wonders
Great Wall (2650BC)
Parthenon (55BC)
Hanging Gardens (20AD)
Notre Dame (140AD)

I lost on The Great Library by 2 turns against Mansa Musa, who completed it in 455AD


Situation in 500AD
So, at the moment, only Mansa Musa has more cities than I do, and it's a quite peaceful world. Only Alexander has DOWed Ramses, who is down to 3 cities.

On the tech-side of life, I'm N°2 at the moment, behind MM (of course), currently researching Philosophy. (I'm still wondering how I managed to do that )

There's a big Buddism-group, leaded by MM (who has the Holy City), and followed by Alex, Cyrus, Mehmed and me.
Only Mao is Confu. and Wang Kon is Hindu. Ramses has no more State Religion.

I'm playing a really peaceful game. Beside religion-'problems' with Mao and Wang Kon, the only negative points I have are:
-1 with Mao, for stopping trade
-2 with Ramses, for refusing help during war-time
-1 with MM, due to close borders

And because of this peaceful game, my major problem is my army. I have like ... ahem ... no army at all. 7 Archers, 1 Chariot, 3 Warriors and 1 Axeman, that's it.
But all my neighbors are close friends, so I hope that won't be a problem at the moment.


Plans for the future
And now, I don't quite know what to do next: I might try a Diplomatic Victory, but in that case, MM would probably be my rival, and my good friends are also friends of MM.

On the other hand, I'm N°1 in GNP ... use that to launch a peaceful, really late Spaceship!
Or use it to get to Riflemen, Grenadiers and Cannons first, and attack a friend to get more land and cities ...
Or maybe a friendly neighbor thinks my nice cities are worth capturing, and this game is over quite fast?

Hmmm, time will tell ...

 

[MacBalt]

I settled on top of the stone and researched masonry first, then built a worker, a warrior, and finally mixed the Great Wall with a settler. Got the settler out in 2410 BC (turn 53) and settled Utica on the original starting location in 2080 BC (turn 64) [after having to run from some barbs ]. The Great Wall completed in 2060 BC (turn 65). I had a fair amount of trouble with barbs and should have cranked out the Great Wall sooner, but I don’t normally build that wonder and was being stupid about the graphic of the wall itself instead of paying careful attention to the civilopedia description of the wall’s effects. I had it in my head that the wonder wouldn’t protect the second city unless the graphic of the wall went around it too. Duhh. Oh well, what’s a little plunder among savages? I survived.

My research path was Masonry, Agriculture, Bronze Working, The Wheel, Mysticism, Polytheism, Priesthood, Writing, Pottery, Animal Husbandry. Really wish I’d done AH sooner after all those horses popped up. My Wonders to 500 AD were the Great Wall in 2060 BC (turn 65), Stonehenge in 1120 BC (turn 95), The Pyramids in 505 BC (turn 133, with Great Engineer), and the Great Library in 155 AD (turn 177, with Great Engineer).

Alex declared war in 565 BC (turn 129) and tried a longshot attack on one of my cities that could have been bad had it succeeded. No harm done though as things turned out. In fact, it encouraged me to build more units, which proved useful in 365 AD (turn 191), when I declared war on Mansa Musa. I’m not usually much of a warmonger, but the scarcity of iron apparent on this map worried (and enticed) me. It might not be so bad, I figured, if only Mansa has access to iron, but if others get it and I don’t have it then things could get ugly. Also – and much more seductive – was the thought “what if I’m the one with the monopoly on iron?” Anyway, I captured Timbuktu (and its iron tile) in 455 AD (turn 197), and Djenne and Walata both fell a few turns after 500 AD. In 500 AD I had 5 cities and was second on points to Mansa Musa with 786 to his 860.

I have really enjoyed this game. (Thanks Thrallia!) The weird tile values turned me off at first, but in the end they made the game a valuable educational experience. I feel I understand the resource bonuses much better than I did before. Also, the strange distribution of resources made for some very interesting strategic questions and challenges.

 

[bcool]

Snapshot at 500 AD (contender)

I settled one north of the stone for access to the wheat and fresh water, and to preserve the forest on the stone for chopping. I built the great wall in 2020BC, after researching bronze working so I could chop the trees, and luckily revealing the bronze to the north. I settled my second city one west of the original starting spot on the desert in 1750BC. By 500 AD I had expanded to 8 cities capturing one from Mehmed II with a total population of 65. I vassalized Mehmed with minimial loses on his part, so that he would become my partner in world domination. I had built the oracle in 535BC, the pyramids in 400BC, the hanging gardens in 280BC, and the great library in 115BC.

I had a great start, but I still have a lot to learn about finishing off the opponents quickly without crippling my economy.

 

[namliaM]

On the contrary to most here, I settled in place. Mainly for the gems and the river corn.

My Techpath lead me to Bronzeworking (3340bc), I wanted to know the Copper location but also get those gems UP. Obviously went worker first then a few warriors untill I could build Axemen and eventually a worker for the Stone spot, which I settled east of the stone, grabing Gold, Dye for commerce, Wheat and corn for food and stone and (later I find) Horses for hammers.
Utica (Settled 1930bc) build The Great wall and The Great Library.

Obviously to connect the copper I needed roads, which was the next tech, The Wheel (2980). Now I can defend myself and the next priority is food...
Agriculture (2800) and AH (2500) to be followed by Pottery (2260) for the granary mostly at this point.
Next up, barb protection as my settler is comming up. Mysticism (2050) and Masonry (1810) just some turns after settling Utica, which is fine by me.

1480 Mansa converts to HR just as I discover writing in 1450. 910 BC Sees further expansion of the Carthagian Empire, we found Hadremetum by the gems north of Carthage.
Mathmatics is done by 880 bc to help the chops 50%. Followed by Meditation (835) and Priesthood (805) (possibly a trade?)
Carthage has allmost exlusively been building Axemen as I am gearing up to go at Alexander. Coincidently 835bc Rameses declares war on Alex and in 805 asks me to join. Sure friend I was gonna do that anyway... maybe a turn or 2 later, but heck...

700 BC The great wall is (finaly) finished no more barbs and my units are free to go 'elsewhere' as a direct result Argos is captured in 580. Alex was so nice to plant that city right where I would have put it, just southwest of Carthage. A few turns later Confusianism is founded there, CoL (535).
Good now I can control my cost a little bit, Hippo is founded (460) due east of Utica to grab the gems there

310 BC The capture of Sparta leads to a great general beeing born, he is settled in my capitol as it is the sole producer of units atm.
250 BC I make peace with Alex, without Catapults I can do nothing to him anymore...
220 Currency
55 BC Alphabet.
25 BC Trading time... dont remember what to whom, but I pick up:
Hunting
Sailing
Polytheism
Iron working
Monarchy
To be followed by tech sharing some more in 5ad
Archery
Monotheism
95AD I pick up Literature, for yes... the library

Construction is finaly completed in 185AD, followed by Calander 200AD (must have been a trade)
290 Metal Casting, Ahhhh Forges, more hammers for the grinder against Alex
365 AD I make the mistake of settling Kerkouane east of Sparta. This settler was originaly meant to go south of Utica, but Alex beat me to that. You know what that means right?? *WAR*
395 AD Finish the Great library in Utica.

More about the war later on....

My empire at 470AD

 

[Gosha190]

I'v played a lot test games before real game. I found that AI extremely slow develops due to aggressive barbs. Therefore I decided to take CS by oracle because was doubting about events after 500BC (I did not play many turns after 1000BC). My way lets me to win easy domination before 500AD.
Farm-Animal-Wheel... GW in 2230BC and so on... settled on the stone.

Finally this game is not emperor level game... noble is more suitable grade.

 

[Thrallia]

lol thanks Gosha, I died when testing the game before 1000BC due to barbs

 

[Gosha190]

I died when testing the game before 1000BC due to barbs

It's another side))) 6 warriors on hills around capital and 2 chariots in BFC was sufficient to defend capital improvements before 2230BC.

 

[Htadus]

In honor of the game creator’s favorite VC, I hope to play a diplomatic game.

The beginning was almost a disaster. I settled adjacent to the stone so the capitol would have fresh water. Built a warrior and a worker and then had to rush several warriors until the GW was done. Poor choice of teching path; Mason, wheel and BW. I should have gone BW first with copper showing up but who knew. Anyways most memorable part was to have five barb warriors show up when we only had two in the city and two protecting the stone. They attacked the fortified ones on the stone first and three attacked the Cap. That was close. All this heartache for two lousy health points. I rushed the GW with 2 pop in 1960BC.

At 500AD we only have 4 cities but have built GW, Mids (rushed), HG, Academy and Glib in the capitol and also have the Parthenon in Utica and HE in Hedrum. Mansa, Chinese and Persia has their own religions. Two Cities are just building units at the 995 AD mark, and due to the proximity either Mansa (no one likes him) or Alex (part of a religious alliance) is going to get attacked. We have Maces and they have Lbows. It is going to be ugly.

 

[Harbourboy]

Aaaaaaaargh.

I was doing SO well. I built Great Wall and Pyramid and had 3 cities. I learnt a lot of the lessons from the disastrous GOTM 27. I had horses, gold, and copper. I was on fire!

But I forgot about the Alexander psycho factor.

He declared on me and conquered me by 85 BC.

My worst XOTM performance ever. Defeated in the BC years!!