Your first 100 turns playing for an AI

[jdog5000]

Here's you mission, should you choose to accept it:

Play 100 turns from one of the starts from the first 100 turns AI analysis thread.

How you want to go about it is totally up to you. You could play one of the starts in your own way. Or, you could try you hand at playing how the AI did broadly and seeing how much farther you get (so, you might going for buildings and wonders as De Gaulle, do religion and tech like Monte, or try settler first like Zara). Or, you could try playing how you thought the AI should have, like rushing early with Monte or something.

If you give it a shot, please add a post here with the following:

1) A log of your important decisions. What techs do you go for, what do you choose to build and when, what's your strategy.

2) A save from turn 100.

3) A breakdown of your score and a screenshot of your empire on turns 50 and 100.

The goal is to explore some different scenarios and see how different sets of decisions play out, what pros and cons show up. It'd be most sensible if you play on Noble or Prince for these 100 turns, so your build rates etc are most directly comparable to the AI.

The save is provided as a scenario, so you can place it either in My Game\BTS\Save\WorldBuilder or add a folder called PublicMaps to the mod folder and put it in there. You'll then be able to load it as a Custom Scenario and pick your civ. As we're most interested in your decisions and how the results compare to the AI, it doesn't matter too much what version of BBAI or mod your running, so long as the early game options and barb activity are pretty close to the same.

Thanks to all who give it a shot, it should make for a very interesting discussion!

 

[Afforess]

I choose to accept. I will, however, not be looking at the worldbuilder and seeing what the AI does. You may look at my incremental saves and see for yourselves, but save it for when I am done. It's too tempting to cheat. I started it off, and chose Noble Difficulty, and Ethiopia, as I see Ethiopia as one of the weaker civs in the game.

My Decisions:
T0: Found City, With a decent starting spot.
T0: Goody Hut gives 43 gold.
T0: Choose to build a warrior, to give my city time to grow, and for some defense.
T1: Head for Mediation. I need a religion.
T5: I finish researching Mysticism, heading for Meditation.
T6: I meet Montezuma.
T7: Goody hut gives me 67 gold. Not very helpful.
T8: Warrior Finished, begin building a worker. There are some resources needing exploiting.
T8: Aksum, my capital grows to size 2.

Screenshots:
T0:

T10:



Analysis:
Not much has happened that I can see so far. My vision is limited, and I can't see Monty's city, only his culture. No one has a religion yet. I am three turns away from getting Mysticism, I may get the first religion.

Scores:
Me: 76
Monty: 76
De Gualle: ??

Save:
View attachment 10-Turns - Better AI Test.CivBeyondSwordSave

 

[phungus420]

...I started it off, and chose Deity Difficulty, civs in the game.

For the purposes of this test it would be best to play on noble and try for a blow out monster start; we should be trying to maximize the playing potential at noble. This is because the goal is to figure out strong starting moves for the AI, and using "expert player play" to direct the new AI logic here. Playing at a high or low level is basically a game of how to exploit the AI, and though interesting and enlightening in many aspects, it doesn't really help with the current project.

The goal is to explore some different scenarios and see how different sets of decisions play out, what pros and cons show up. It'd be most sensible if you play on Noble or Prince for these 100 turns, so your build rates etc are most directly comparable to the AI.

 

[Afforess]

For the purposes of this test it would be best to play on noble

Of course, I didn't notice that line. I'll reset on noble.

 

[Afforess]

Rewrote my first ten turns post, restarted with Noble Difficulty.

 

[Afforess]

The saga continues...

Turns 10-20:
T11: A barbarian panther dies at the hands of my scouting warrior.
T11: I meet De Gaulle.
T13: I finished researching Mysticism. I get Taoism.
T13: Monty also founds a religion, Confucianism.
T13: I begin researching Animal Husbandry. My worker will need it.
T13: I go into 1 turn of anarchy, switching my state religion to Taoism.
T15: A panther attacks my scout, in the jungle. My scout takes no damage.
T16: A lion attacks my scout. My scout takes severe damage. (.2/1hp remains.) I heal in the jungle.
T18: I finish my worker, and choose to build a settler. 17 turns to go...
T18: I move my worker onto the pig resource, but am forced to wait 2 turns before I can build a pasture. I think this was a better move than moving down and building a camp on the furs, as they just gave +3 , while this gives +3 .

Screenshots:
This was funny.


This is strange. How did De Gualle manage to get those two promotions on his warrior at T11? (See bottom left corner.)


T20 City overview


My poor scout, healing @ T20


Analysis:

Well, Monty and I got a religion on the same turn. We were thinking alike there. I don't know what he's building, but I know for certain that De Gaulle either started with a warrior or built one. I'm worried my decision to build a worker before I had the prereq techs may hurt me, even if it was only two turns wasted. Although, I'm not sure what else I would have been building. A warrior escort?

Also, the disparity in our scores suggest the AI got free tech or two from goodies...

Scores:
Monty: 135
De Gualle: 129
Me: 124

Save:
View attachment 20-Turns - Better AI Test.CivBeyondSwordSave

 

[Afforess]

Okay, this is it for tonight. I'll continue tomorrow.

Turns 21-30:
T21: I research Animal Husbandry.
T21: I begin researching Bronze Working. I need to cut those forests down.
T21: I begin building a pasture over the pigs.
T23: De Gualle Switches to Slavery
T25: Pasture complete, moving to build a pasture over the hill.
T25: Found a goody hut, got the secrets to Preisthood.
T28: Found a goody hut, gave my scout free experience.
T30: Monty got the herbalists event.

Screenshots:
What's wrong with this picture?
Hint:

Spoiler :

Look where the goody hut is next to.

City Overview, T30:


Next City Site, in between those horses, banana, and gems. I might move it a bit south to get access to that flood plains. I haven't decided yet.


Analysis:
De Gualle's complete and lack of regard for that goody hut next to his cultural borders is incredible. Also, I'm thinking Monty may have settled another city before me, by the way his score jumped way up. I need to send my scout around to check.

Scores:
Monty: 254
De Gualle: 226
Me: 199

Save:
View attachment 30-Turns - Better AI Test.CivBeyondSwordSave

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I'm in intermission for recording my next civ let's play at the moment, but I'll take de gaulle for a 100 turn spin.

 

[Janov]

Hi everyone, my very first post! (Too lazy to register, before)

I have been following this forum closely forever, now I feel I can maybe contribute something. I am 39 years old, and have played Civ since version 1, and still love doing so, whenever my family and job leave me some time to do so! Now don´t take my first 100 turns as a guideline to tune BetterAI, I really don´t excel at this game, just being able to hold myself consistently at Noble/Prince. Winning consistently is a different matter, though . My problem is the lack of concentration on a game-winning strategy from turn one. I usually play along much like I would read a novel, settle here, build this, add some cottages if I need money... I would even refrain from attacking a weak, friendly neighbour if we got along fine, it feels somehow - evil. A lot of times I am too quick hitting the "next turn" button, I just want to know how the story continues, so I will forget to about resources needing connection, workers are dozing somewhere, instead of improving newfound resources, you get the picture

Anyway, here goes my 100 turns as Zara (Ethiopia) on Noble. I don´t know how to take screenshots, but you can look at Afforess´s pictures, it is the same start. I didn´t enter the cheat mode to check out what the AI´s are doing, so have no idea how smart they work internally. I will narrate the story more like a "story", trying to put emphasis on the spots where I felt the AI was making mistakes.

T1-5
I start my first City "Aksum" on that hill next to the sheep. It has pigs, sheep and fur in the BFC, so no need to wander around for a few turns to pick best spot. Researching Animal Husbandry to work resources (10 turns), and start on a worker (8 turns) right away. I will not go for a religion, as I don´t know Mysticism by default, so the AI´s usually beat me to the first two religions (and montoheism is too far away, I need that other stuff more urgently). I also like the ability to adopt another (friendly) Civ´s religion for the relation boost. I miss out on the shrine, oh well.

T6-15
After getting "Animal Husbandry", I research "Writing"(10 turns). I like the boost in research and culture, which goes well with my unwarlike playing style. The worker starts on the resources (pigs first, for growth), the scout runs around scouting, and Aksum starts growing, while building barracks. My first 50 or so turns are usually a gamble, I have very little military, going for growth first, and hoping not to get into any trouble too soon. Barracks will give me better units later, so I hope to get by with fewer of them.

T16-20
I meet Montezuma (great to have him as a neighbour in the north...NOT), find some huts (gold, experience), and get the first pastures. Christianity gets founded somewhere, giving me a cold start, until I remember the "choose religion" option, so maybe the other guys aren´t to "Theology" by turn 18, phew. I get "Writing", starting on "Bronze working". I don´t chop too much, since I like the forests for later lumbermills, and even the forest preserves. They tend to grow back like not at all. I also like slavery as first civics, but mostly I need to find the copper for good city placement, and better units. After all, I have Aztec neighbours... I also meet De Gaulle, I decided to make them my friends and eventually team up against those savage Aztec between us.

T21-30
The worker gets the second pasture done and moves to the fur (camp), because Aksuma is growing soon (into unhappyness) and expanding (culturewise). While working on the camp, I realize that I am still missing the wheel to connect it, grrr. By turn 27 the barracks is done, next is settler, it will stop expansion and I need one anyway. I don´t usually send escorts with my settlers, did I mention that I tend to build too few military units in the first turns? There always seems to be something more important, and I might just get by with the gamble... Oh, my scout found a hut right on the french cultural borders (to the west, between them and the ocean), just like Afforess reported. Obviously the AI is not caring about free goodies, or just their scouts do. "Bronze working" on T29, no copper close by, dang! Next is "The wheel".

T31-50
France wants Open borders, they must like me, too! I find out about "The wheel" (T33), and go for "Masonry", to connect the stones just north of Aksum, where I want to build my next city on that river, trying to cut out as much land against the Aztecs as possible. The settler is done (T35), I start building a library in Aksum. "Gondar" is founded on T38, due north of Aksum, on the northern banks of that river. Nice resources close by, unfortunately not available until "Calendar", and the copper is inside Montezumas borders. My cultural superiority should fix that, right? I start there with a library right away. In the meantime my scout found a warrior, and itself is upgraded to medicII from the many fights with animals. After getting Masonry (T37) I go for "Archery", the first BarbWarriors appear (and promptly kill my peaceful Medic-Scout), so it´s about time to get some basic defences up. After that it´s "Alphabet", I like to be able to trade techs, and to see what everyone is up to (Spies). Islam gets founded (T42) by Montezuma, I think, DeGaulle (he is going by the name jdog5000 for some odd reason ;-)) is christian. Aksum churns out 2 Archers, then another settler. I need to get hold of the horses to the northwest, otherwise Montezuma will walk all over me soon. He asks for open borders (T50), no way, Jose!

T51-70
The fur is connected, Aksum happy again. The worker builds a road all the way through the stones to Gondar, then starts the Quarry (done by T57). After getting "Alphabet"(T52) I finally research Mysticism. Noone built Stonehenge, yet, I have stones and would love the bonus, since it´s a special building for my civ (Stele instead of Monument!). The next turn, someone else builds - Stonehenge. Ok, further on to "Agriculture". Eventually I will need Pottery to boost my economy (Cottages), money is already dwindling, and I have some wheat to connect, too. After Agriculture (T56) I research "Horseback Riding", the next city will be close to the horses, and they will teach the stupid Jaguar Warriors a lesson!. Lalibella is founded on turn 57, just to the left of the banana´s in the jungle. A little grow, and the horses will be within my reach! I build a library first, to boost culture-growth (Stele might work the same, but no science boost). Aksum is done with another archer, and starts on the Great wall. It is done by T63. I guess it is a weak wonder, but with my defensive playing style I like not having to have too many units guarding the rear against barbarians, and also enjoy the boost in great-general points, as most of my wars are defensive (on my turf). Montezuma demands "Writing" (KMA is the answer), I REALLY need to get more units, and soon! I get "Horseback Riding" (T64), "Pottery" next, money is getting tight! Aksum does more Archers, Gondar will get a Stable and then be in charge of producing mounted units. At T67 "Pottery" is done, and "Iron Working" starts... Horses alone won´t win the war. At T70 Montezuma offers a trade of his "Monotheism" against my "Writing", I decline, since I still want to push the border and steal his copper that way. Him having libraries would slow this, besides, it´s a bad deal!

T71-T90
Research rate 70%, money all gone. "Iron Working" at T74, plus iron right next to Aksum, yes!, now "Fishing" and "Sailing", to get connected to DeGaulle for traderoutes. I kind off tend to forget all the rules about traderoutes, what with rivers and coast and cultural borders and so on, but it´s only a few turns to research that stuff, anyway. The worker connects the horses, and Gondar builds a stable (T75), production of horsearchers commences. On this turn, "the generous Aztec people send food to Gondar, bla, bla, bla". Funny enough, this boosts Montezumas opinion of me, instead of the other way round!? So they are helping me, and like me the better for it? They must LOVE helping people, those peaceful Aztecs! Lalibella starts a spy. After "Sailing" (T80) I turn to "Mathematics", to finally go to "Calendar", for all those unused resources. I get a "great spy" at T81, he joins Aksum. Addis Abbaba is founded at T81, way to the west, to get hold of the ivory-resource and the dye. (I really need to figure out how to do screenshots and post them!). Gondar builds the first horsearcher, another one, quick! On T85 DeGaulle sends his first missionary to Aksum, just as the first Axemen is built there. Revolution -> Christianity -> DeGaulle pleased, Montezuma not happy. A worker has removed the forest just north-west of Gondar, as it will improve defensibility of that city, where I expect the main onslaught. Another forest further left is not touched, I learned that the AI will not move the extra space to use the defense-boost, when attacking a city. Second horsearcher done. On T90 DeGaulle wants to trade, his Montotheism against my Horsebackriding, sure, my friend. Mathematics done (T90), "Calendar" next. A quick revolution, switching to Slavery and Organized Religion.

T91-100
Finally! Montezuma declares war. His stack, just north of Gondar (where that forest used to be) consists of 2 axemen, one chariot, one archer. Cute. Gondar has a wall, 50% defense bonus, and 2 horsearcher, 2 axemen, 2 archer, 1 spearman and one warrior. I briefly ponder what to do. Have them "commit suicide at the city walls" (quote that funny Iraqi government spokesman)? I was afraid that they might come to their senses and run away, though, so I attacked. I win all the fights horse-axemen(73%), horse-axemen(67%), axe-chario(75%) and spear-archer(68%). Great General born in Aksum (joins city)!
DeGaulle sends another missionary to Lalibella (T92). Oh, did I have those jewels in the jungle northwest of Lalibella all along? Better send a worker to connect them... Montezuma remains hidden in his territory, my spy sees him sitting in his cities, trembling with fear. His scout, in a desperate attempt to run to his mom, I am sure, walks right through my territory onto the iron-resource, and gets massacred by the defending archer of Aksum (unhappiness for one turn, but worth it). Also, my exploring chariot moved into a field right next to a Aztec spearman (both on French territory) - with no moves left. I thought it was bye-bye chariot, but the spearman kept right on moving, phew. The city "Yeha" gets founded on T97, just to the west of Aksum and south of Lalibella.

Final score on turn 100: Me 959, DeGaulle 831, Montezuma 787

Conclusion: Overall the AI put up a convincing show. I am not a good enough player to spot the nitty-gritty stuff like why it´s better to built this improvement over that with certain combos of civics - the game is simply too complicated, and the ways of playing it are too many. Thats why I think it is so great. Better AI has improved the gameplay so much over these last months (years), and I have to tone down the level of difficulty all the time, to keep from beeing overrun. In my opinion the most promising advances would be in the area of tactical warfare, as has been mentioned elsewhere. Suicide attacks, and such. Better terrain use for defence, proper siege warfare. I don´t think that certain "opening moves" should be hardcoded, it makes the AI too predictable. And if you look at the history of man - there have often been decision by public and military leaders that where - in hindsight - plain stupid. So the occasional blunder by the AI makes it more human, to me.

Thanks for sticking with this endless post, I hope this helped the effort in any way, and if only to show jdog: I love what you have done for us die-hard Civ-Fans! Thanks!

Janov
View attachment Turn 100 as Zara on Noble.CivBeyondSwordSave

 

[Mattygerst]

I opened up as De Gaulle. At turn 50 I was in last place: Zara & Monty @ 390, and myself with France at 304. By turn 100, I was in 2nd place, but was going to be able to sustain a quality offensive into both Zara & Monty within the next 100 turns...here is how I played this (if anyone sees faults by all means, let me know your opinion):

Turns 0-10:

Spoiler :

T0 Founded Paris in starting spot, receive 72 gold from hut & choose warrior to grow
T1 Mining
T3 Map to sea from Hut to West of Paris
T6 Mining complete to Masonry for Marble
T7 Islam founded - Monty
T8 Paris Grows - switch to worker 12 turns

Turns 11-20

Spoiler :

T11 Meet Zara
T13 Meet Monty - Masonry -> Bronze Working
T20 Worker complete - continue Warrior. Worker to corn

Turns 21-30

Spoiler :

T22 Bronze working - No bronze - move to Animal husbandry w hope of Horse
T24 Warrior complete - Another Warrior for future settler
T25 Farm complete - road
T30 Hut - directly South of Monty border (why did he not see this?) - Receive warrior. Animal husbandry complete - Mysticism for Stonehedge, Warrior complete, Settler now.

Turns 31-40

Spoiler :

T34 Mysticism complete. Quarry completed by worker - road. At this point I see Polytheism is not founded & gamble to go for it for a religion.
T39 Chop forest for settler completion

Turns 41-50

Spoiler :

T41 Polytheism nets me a religion. Choose Christianity. Priesthood chosen, anarchy for Religion switch
T42 Settler complete - moves w/warrior to location SW for Cow, Rice, Horse
T43 Stonehedge chosen.
T46 Orleans founded - Warrior for growth
T47 Priesthood -> Writing
T48 Stonehedge complete. Oracle chosen - taken advantage of marble & industrious.

T50 Scores:
Zara 390
Monty 390
Me 304 -> 109 Pop (Paris 4, Orleans 1), 110 Land, 53 tech, 32 wonder
**At turn 50, I already know I'm a bit behind, and I don't have bronze, so I'm going to be forced to use the oracle for Horseback Riding & I know I will be forced into pre-emptive war with Monty. This is not usual gameplay for me, but this is the situation I feel is necessary.

Turns 51-60

Spoiler :

T51 Horses completed w/ pasture. Road to captial.
T52 Worker for Orleans after warrior.
T53 Writing complete. Hunting. Monty founds Buddhism, his 2nd religion.
T54 Monty chooses Organized Religion
T55 Hunting complete. Choose archery for horse archers.
T56 Oracle -> horseback riding. Choose Settler.
T58 Archery -> Iron Working. If I have Iron, I may put off war mongering for infrastructure & teching.
T59 Connect with horse, continue with improvements around Orleans - roads/cow

Turns 61-70

Spoiler :

T64 Settler complete. Stable in Paris for war prep.
T67 Lyon founded. Library chosen simply for growth.
T69 Iron Workinging -> Pottery. Iron sighted to my West, will be a border push with Monty.

Turns 71-80

Spoiler :

T71 Monty founds city ON Iron. War is now fully imminent for me & full war prep starts.
T74 Pottery - Mono. Road to Tlateloco - Iron city.
T76 Great prophet - Golden Age, slavery & help with war prep. Way off my usual path here...but this is necessary.
T78 Paris & Orleans horse archers continuous.
T79 Monty founds great Wall.
T80 - Monotheism -> Meditation

Turns 81-90

Spoiler :

T83 Zara open border
T84 Meditation -> Monarchy
T89 D.O.W on Monty. 6 Horse archers vs 2 archers on a hill. Win, lose, win. Pillage 24 gold, keep city. Other horse archers enter his borders and pillage mines of gold, attempting to avoid conflict.

Turns 91-100

Spoiler :

T92 Orleans - Granary...slowing war & starting infrastructure as I sense peace coming but go with barracks in Paris just in case.
T94 Kill a roaming (in Monty's borders) jaguar and chariot with horse archers.
T95 Sue for peace. Feel successful because I now have a city with Iron and am controlling the center of the map from Monty. Paris switches from barracks to Settler.
T99 Monarchy. Anarchy for Hereditary Rule & Org. Religion. Choose Mathematics.

T100 - Zara 984, me 955, Monty 708.
At turn 100...I lack overall infrastructure & Zara has pushed to my south east. Monty is less of a threat, though, and I don't fear Zara so much militarily in any game. I will now build infrastructure with workers, and build a few city defense axes for Tlatelco & Lyon. Every city will get a Library, and then I will go to war prep again and tear into Zara once I get to catapults. If the situation presents itself, I may even use 2 fronts to attack both Zara & Monty. It may take a little while to get to this point, but once my libraries are in, I will be able to tech comfortably & war prepare. Its only going to be a matter of time before I can tear them both down. I am going to continue the game and tell you how long this takes & how that goes...screen shots to come.

Edit: Okay, yeah...by turn 162: I have conquered all of Ethiopia. I entered into war earlier than I expected, but I did so bc Monty declared war on Zara & I took advantage of Ethiopia being split in forces. And while Montezuma has a slight power advantage due to my draining resources on the war, it won't take another 62 turns to end the game. I do not normally war monger, but in this case it was my best option with both Zara and Monty pressuring my borders.

Screenshots at turn 50 & 101

 

[Afforess]

The final 7o turns... How I crushed the AI.

Turns 31-40

Spoiler :

T31: I research bronze working. Now I can begin widespread deforestation.
T31: I make a bee-line for Machinery. I love crossbowman.
T32: Monty and I both adopt Slavery
T36: I found Gondar. I built it next to the copper, so I can fuel my military. Unfortuantly, the Aztec's culture beats me to it, but I hope to change that.
T36: Gondar begins building a warrior. I'm afraid that's the only military unit available to me.
T38: My capital begins building the Stonehenge, in an effort to boost my outer city's culture.

Turns 41-50

Spoiler :

T44: Stonehenge complete! A few citizens and some forests died to make it so, but it was a small price to pay.
T44: I've flipped the copper mine to my culture, I begin massing an army of axemen.
T48: I've whipped a few axemen, chopped some trees for a few, but regardless, I have 4 ready to invade, a few on the way. I declare war on Monty.
T50: I grab Monty's city, Teotihuacan, as it was defended by only a jauger and an axeman. The city is the Islam holy city, harruh for me!

Turns 51-60

Spoiler :

T53: I declare peace with Monty.
T53: I notice a new barbarian city defended by 4 warriors is right next to me. I send two spare axemen to go investigate
T56: After a short siege, I've captured the barbarian city. I now have 4 cities, and am cleaning dominating the AI's.
T60: De Gaulle builds the Great Wall. I have a strange screenshot for that, below

.

Turns 61-100

Spoiler :

Not much happens here, I continue researching metal casting, it's taking forever. I build a bit of an infrastructure in my cities.
T76: I finish researching Metal Casting. I decide not to get Machinery after all.
T79: I research Agriculture
T83: I research Writing
T90: I research Iron Working
T100: Only 1 turn away from Mathematics.

Analysis.
When I declared war on Monty, he only had one axeman in his Teotihuacan. Then, once my stack of 4 axes approached, he whipped and got a juager. It didn't stop my invasion, but could have if I had been a bit unluckier in my combat rolls. This was smart. Also, the AI sent an archer to maurade my lands, but I chased it up a hill, with an axe. The archer didn't realize that it had a massive advantage against my axe, and so instead of pillaging my improvements, it just stayed in one spot, until I finally declared peace. I think that Monty should have taken some action when the copper flipped from him to me. It ruined any chance he had of building a counter army. He should of DoW on me that turn, to get it back. I only had 3 warriors in that border city.

When France built the Great Wall, it revealed where his cities were on my map, despite the fact I had only seen his capital, 40 some turns ago.

Screenshots:
Is this normal behavior? The Great Walls revealed where France's cities were without me scouting.


Turn 100 Empire Overview:



Scores:
Me:1020
Monty: 755
De Gualle: 631


Save:
View attachment 100-Turns - Better AI Test.CivBeyondSwordSave

 

[jdog5000]

Thanks to all of you who've taken the plunge and posted your approach/results!

And welcome out of hiding Janov, hope that now that you have an account you'll both read and write around here

 

[TheMeInTeam]

As someone took de gaulle I'll give you a monte look.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Montezuma

Not quite 100 turns. Good enough though.

Turns 0-9

Spoiler :

0 Settle in place. Worker 1st. AG
2 61 gold from hut
6 AG in ----> AH
8 Meet Zara
9 28 gold from hut just outside Zara's borders

Turns 10-19

Spoiler :

14 AH in ---> mining. Also, 69 gold from hut
15 Worker is out, starts on corn. Cap starts on warrior
18 Mining in ---> BW

Turns 20-29

Spoiler :

20 corn done, worker moves to cow next. Cap still warrior.
25 pasture done, worker towards gold. Warrior done, goes to sugar south of the capitol. Cap hits 3 this turn, starts on a settler.
28 BW in ---> wheel. Switch slavery. Map from hut.
29 Gold is hooked up. Worker will blow a turn or so improving until settler finishes, then follow the settler

Turns 30-39

Spoiler :

32 Wheel in ----> writing Worker starts a farm 1W of corn for now.
34 Settler completes, cap starts worker
37 Writing in ----> Pottery. OB with Zara. Settler settles on sugar. Worker moves 1N of 2nd city to put a turn of farm in. 2nd city starts on a monument
38 Worker moves 1SW of 2nd city to chop
39 Worker in cap (2 total) completes, starts road to 2nd city. Cap starts on 3rd worker.

Turns 40-49

Spoiler :

41 Pottery in ---> Alphabet. Chop in 2nd city completes, that worker starts on a farm. Monument in 2.
43 Monument finishes in 2nd city, starts on granary
44 Worker in cap (3 total) completes, start on warrior. 3rd worker starts farming 1E of cap corn.
45 Warrior in cap. Starts on warrior. Road between cities completed
46 Farm completed in 2nd city. Worker starts on road into zara. while the worker that initially was building connecting roads continues with the farm 1N of the city next turn
47 warrior in cap. Starts on warrior. Worker completes farm W of corn and moves 1N to build another farm. Zara settled the gems site, WHEOOHRN vs Zara!

Turns 50-59

Spoiler :

50 Warrior completes in capitol. Starts on granary.
51 Granary whipped for 2 pop in capitol. Trade network with Zara completed. Worker finishes farm in 2nd city and starts mining copper
52 Granary completed in capitol. Start on barracks. 3rd worker completes farm in capitol, moves onto forest to chop
53 Alphabet completed ---> meditation
54 Barracks completed in capitol ---> axe (copper mine completed this turn also)
55 Chop completed in 2nd city. Switch from granary to barracks for chop. Axe completes, axes are looped until further notice in capitol.
56 Trade zara writing for polytheism. Whip granary in 2nd city for 2 pop. Note: from now on, workers farm such that each city at cap-1 can at least work farms. After that, they are relegated to pure chopping until further notice.
57 Met Jdog of france. Annoyed due to zara trade. Gift AH, trade writing for archery and fishing now that he's cautious. Granary completed in 2nd city, axes looped until further notice.
58 Meditation and priesthood completed ---> Monarchy

Turns 60-69

Spoiler :

61 Rearrange tiles so spear can be 2 pop whipped next turn. After chopping a worker will improve a mine here to help stagnate the cap once whip gets severe. Still axes looped otherwise.
68 Monarchy in ----> CoL. Switch to HR.

Turns 70-79

Spoiler :

71 Zara completes great wall (De Gaulle built SH in 1600 BC)
73 DoW Zara with 9 axe 2 spear. Screwed up, will lose a worker to a warrior due to sloppy play.
75 1 archer, 1 chariot, and 2 warriors killed in taking aksum. I lost...ZERO axes . First battle was an 8% chance win. Others were > 90% as warriors and chariots are poor defenders vs axes with CR. I use a spare spear to capture a worker back. Aksum builds a worker. Other 2 cities start on a library after completing current axe build.
77 Change mind and switch back to axe spam before investing hammers in libraries.
78 CoL completed ---> founds religion. An acher and warrior killed in gondar w/o losses (archer ~85% odds, warrior very easy)...again no losses though that's less ridiculous this time.

Turns 80-89

Spoiler :

88 DoW De Gaulle. Capture worker
89 2 archers and a warrior killed capturing lyons, no losses again (I swear I'm not cheating...but what the hell!)

Turns 90-96

Spoiler :

93 Paris captured
95 Orleans captured I actually took some losses...!
96 Montezuma has won a conquest victory!

Note: I did not warrior rush. Below monarch, warrior rushing is an obvious power tactic, however unless the AI is coded to do it also it is not a good way to showcase AI abilities.

Score is a bit more than 70K normalized. Empire at turn 50 should look very much like a standard high level axe rush, only slightly worse due to the fact that I seldom bother to micro. Cities were simply capitol in place and a 2nd city settled right on top of jungle sugar to the south. I forgot those screenies but here's the end ones:

Spoiler :

View attachment Montezuma BC-0475.CivBeyondSwordSave

 

[Afforess]

Nice work! That's a superb game. I think I grow to slowly because I've played Revolutions too long.

 

[essmene]

Turns 90-96

This game seems so intimidating, that nobody had the heart to post his save after a 96 turn conquest.

 

[DaveMcW]

I played Zara on Noble. Random events off because they screw up comparison games.

My goal was to avoid exploiting the AI's poor rush defenses. So I tried to imagine the AIs were human players and REXed while keeping up on the power graph.


Turn 0
Settle in place, the map generator can generally be trusted more than human logic.

Worker first, always the best choice when a there's a +5 (when improved) resource in the capital. Obviously this isn't as important if you start with a free worker. Human warrior rushes are a possible reason to build a defender first in multiplayer, but the AIs can rely on free units (high level) or weak human competition (low level).

Animal Husbandry first, the pigs are the best tile available.


Turn 3
Pop Fishing from hut.


Turn 4
Meet Montezuma.


Turn 7
Meet De Gaulle.
Put all espionage on Montezuma to unlock his power graph faster.


Turn 9
Discover Animal Husbandry.

Tech options:
Agriculture - No, not needed for any resources and farms are low priority when there is plenty of food and hills to mine.
Agriculture->Pottery - No, non-expansive granary in a food-rich capital doesn't pay off until size 6 or so and cottages are as useless as farms at the moment.
Mysticism - No, religion and monuments aren't needed for a creative civ.
Writing - No, not enough pop to support scientists, commerce is far too low to be multiplied by a library, and the city is not under culture pressure.
Horseback Riding - No, no horses.
Archery - No, warriors are fine until I can see the horses/copper situation.
Masonry - Yes, needed to hook up stone.
Bronze Working - Yes, I need to find copper and chop forests.
The Wheel - Yes, with the capital on a hill I will lose several worker without roads.

I decide The Wheel is more urgent, roading the pigs will save one worker turn immediately.


Turn 12
Aksum finishes Worker1
Worker1 builds pasture on pigs

Now that a worker is out, my priority switches to defense and growth.
Aksum builds Warrior1


Turn 15
Discover The Wheel

Tech options:
See turn 9 for the other options.

Bronze Working is the clear winner.


Turn 16
Worker1 builds road on pigs, this only costs 1 net turn since the road helps him get to the sheep faster.


Turn 18
Worker1 builds pasture on sheep.

Aksum grows to size 2.
Governor assigns 1 improved pig, 1 lake.
I hit "emphasize production" to make her move the lake citizen to the unimproved river hill sheep.


Turn 19
Aksum finishes Warrior1

Aksum builds Warrior2. With an extra starting warrior I might attempt a size-2 settler build, but 1 warrior and 1 scout is not enough defense for two cities.


Turn 23
Aksum finishes Warrior2.
Aksum builds Settler. The city grew to size 3 last turn, and the worker is falling behind on tile improvements. This is a good time to stop growth and allow him to catch up.

Worker1 builds camp on fur.


Turn 25
Discover Bronze Working.
The copper site on Montezuma's border is high-priority, I hope the settler gets there in time.

Tech options:
Archery - No, I will soon have copper and horses.
Horseback Riding - No, chariots are enough for now.
Sailing - No, I can get trade routes more easily by roading to the Aztecs and French.
Agriculture - Yes, second city will need farms to grow.
Pottery - Yes, second city needs a granary. Cottages aren't useful yet.
Masonry - Yes, needed to hook up stone.
Writing - Yes, library will help with culture war in second city.
Mysticism - Yes, stonehenge will help with culture war in second city.
Iron Working - Yes, need to clear jungle on sugar and gems. Finding iron is a bonus.

I decide to go Mysticism->Masonry to fight for the copper against Monty's holy city.


Turn 29
Worker1 chops forest


Turn 31
Aksum finishes Settler
Aksum builds Worker2


Turn 33
Discover Masonry

Gondar founded 2S of copper
Gondar builds Stonehenge

Worker1 hooks up stone

Tech options:
Meditation - No, don't need monasteries yet.
Polytheism - Yes, still has a religion attached.
Agriculture - Yes, second city will need farms to grow.
Pottery - Yes, second city needs a granary. Cottages aren't useful yet.
Sailing - No, I can get trade routes more easily by roading to the Aztecs and French.
Writing - No, stonehenge is enough culture for now. Not ready for specialists or cottages yet.
Archery - No, I will soon have copper and horses.
Horseback Riding - No, chariots are enough for now.
Iron Working - Yes, need to clear jungle on gems and grassland hills. Finding iron is a bonus.

My final decision is Iron Working. Happiness is not going to be a problem if I beeline Calendar, and Stonehenge should give enough culture that I don't need a holy city. The gems are more important than a quick granary in the 3rd city. And I am still too busy with resources to worry about farms.


Turn 35
Aksum finishes Worker2.
Aksum builds Warrior3.

Worker2 hooks up stone.


Turn 37
Aksum finishes Warrior3. Back ahead of Monty on power graph.
Aksum builds Warrior4. Hopefully this will keep me ahead until another settler finishes.


Turn 39
Aksum finishes Warrior4.
Aksum builds Setter.


Turn 40
Worker1 chops/mines forest hill in Aksum


Turn 41
Worker2 roads to Lalibela


Turn 44
Discover Iron Working

Worker1 cancels hill mine, and hooks up iron instead.

Tech options:
Meditation - No, don't need monasteries yet.
Polytheism - No, stonehenge and calendar is better than religion.
Agriculture - Yes, Gondar needs farms to grow.
Agriculture->Pottery - Yes, Gondar and Lalibela need a granary. Cottages aren't useful yet.
Sailing - No, I can get trade routes more easily by roading to the Aztecs and French.
Writing - No, stonehenge is enough culture for now. Not ready for specialists or cottages yet.
Archery - No, I will soon have copper and horses.
Horseback Riding - No, chariots are enough for now.

Agriculture->Pottery it is.


Turn 45
Aksum finishes Settler
Aksum builds Worker3.

I am sticking with 1 worker per city for faster expansion, but I will crank it up to 1.5 workers per city as soon as I have all the high-priorty sites.


Turn 46
Lalibela founded 2E1N of horses.
Lalibela builds Barracks. (until Granary is available)


Turn 48
Gondar finishes Stonehenge
Gondar builds Barracks


Turn 49
Worker2 clears banana jungle


Turn 50
Aksum finishes Worker3
Aksum builds Settler

Worker3 clears banana jungle

Spoiler Screenshot :

Turn 51
Discover Pottery
Switch Lalibela to Granary

Worker1 chops forest

Tech options:
Meditation - No, don't need monasteries yet.
Polytheism - No, monty got this religion too.
Sailing - No, I can get trade routes more easily by roading to the Aztecs and French.
Writing - Yes, my cities are almost big enough for scientists.
Archery - No, I have copper and horses.
Horseback Riding - No, chariots are enough for now.
Metal Casting - No, too expensive

Writing it is.


Turn 52
Worker2 hooks up gems
Worker3 hooks up gems


Turn 55
Discover Writing

Aksum finishes Settler
Aksum builds Worker4

Worker1 chops forest

Tech options:
Meditation - No, don't need monasteries yet.
Polytheism - No, monty got this religion too.
Aesthetics - No, can't afford marble wonders.
Sailing - No, I can get trade routes more easily by roading to the Aztecs and French.
Mathematics - Yes, I'm chopping a lot
Alphabet - Yes, but it's cheaper to research what I need right now.
Archery - No, I have copper and horses.
Horseback Riding - No, chariots are enough for now.
Metal Casting - No, too expensive

So I research Mathematics.


Turn 57
Gondar finishes Barracks
Gondar builds Axeman


Turn 58
Worker2 connects Horses
Worker3 connects xxx


Turn 59
Aksum finishes Worker4
Aksum builds Granary

Addis Ababa founded 1E of Ivory
Addis Ababa builds Granary

Worker1 builds mine on copper
Worker4 finishes mining the hill in Aksum


Turn 62
Aksum finishes Granary
Aksum builds Library

Gondar finishes Axeman


Turn 63
Discover Mathematics

Tech options:
Meditation - No, don't need Monarchy yet.
Polytheism - No, don't need Monarchy yet.
Aesthetics - No, can't afford marble wonders.
Sailing - No, I can get trade routes more easily by roading to the Aztecs and French.
Sailing->Calendar - Yes, 5 plantation resources.
Alphabet - Yes, but it's cheaper to research what I need right now.
Currency - Yes, more trade routes is good
Construction - No, I'm being peaceful so I don't need catapults.
Archery - No, I have copper and horses.
Horseback Riding - No, chariots are enough for now.
Metal Casting - No, too expensive

I pick Sailing->Calendar for the resources.


Turn 64
Worker4 builds farm in Gondar


Turn 66
Aksum finishes Library
Aksum builds Aqueduct
Hire 2 scientists in Aksum


Turn 67
Gondar finishes Axeman


At this point I got bored and just rushed through the game to turn 100.

Spoiler Screenshot :

 

[jdog5000]

Thanks for the careful step through! Using the quarry to quickly get Stonehenge to culture fight for the copper was a very nice move ...

 

[TheMeInTeam]

This game seems so intimidating, that nobody had the heart to post his save after a 96 turn conquest.

Haha. Nonsense. Any good player could outdo that. I could outdo that actually if I tried harder.

And though I've grown leaps and bounds since joining the forum (absolute rookie to consistent immortal, rare deity winner), I'm not on the level of the true deity players yet, one of which gives us a very insightful zara walkthrough here. I like Dave's walkthroughs a lot but they are...*quite* rare, similar to those of U_Sun.

Edit: Couple ?'s for Dave though:

1. You've got some unimproved tiles, wouldn't you normally build/whip more workers? You do have 1.5 per city though some appear outside of BFCs.
2. You're at the cap in aksum, and growing. You usually grow into unhappiness then whip?
3. Also, why farm the cap? Best site for GPP? Would you then move the palace or just continue on?
4. Reverse engineering is that you burned a lot of worker turns math-chopping the mids which explains the unimproved tiles to an extent. Still, why no rep or monarchy? You're already running scientists and pushing cap though you'd go over health I guess.

 

[DaveMcW]

Don't consider anything I did after turn 67 to be optimal. My main goal was to inflate my turn 100 score with minimal effort.