Adventure 35 - hapahzard1 speeds to space

[haphazard1]

OK, just saw T-hawk's closing day post. So here we are, a touch early.

This "snack size" game really appealed to me -- I am a builder at heart in Civ. The conditions were also an interesting combination of things I had not tried before: always peace, quick speed, and of course the game-long golden age.

Before the game, I tried to think through the impacts of the variant. I felt the key points would be:

- The game is essentially a permanent farmer's gambit. I will need one MP unit per city, plus any units I care to build for HR happiness. Some ships later for exploration and contact, and...that's it.
- All the optional military techs are useless: Archery, HBR, MilTrad, MilSci. And some other techs will be less appealing than usual. I will need to think carefully about research order, and not just follow the usual patterns.
- The game conditions are essentially giving us the non-building benefits of Financial, Philosophical, and Spiritual. Added to our own Creative and Industrious, we have quite a large pile of goodies to enjoy.
- The permanent golden age makes the Taj Mahal a pretty culture generator, with some GPP attached. Let the AI chase it.
- The permanent golden age also removes one of the key uses of great people. Settling and the various special buildings/abilities will play more of a role than usual.

On pre-game strategy, I was concerned about three issues:

- We can not settle on or acquire AI cities on another continent, but nothing in the variant keeps the AIs from settling on our land. I do not know if pre-Astro passage will be possible, but we need to prevent this, if at all possible.
- We need to explore as fully as possible before we start settling additional cities. Duel-sized map with 4 continents means we won't have much land, so we need to plan our city sites carefully.
- Religion...we will want at least one for happiness, and hopefully for shrine gold. No worries about religion differences triggering an invasion, after all. Given this is Emperor, the early religions are out; I will make a push for Confucianism, and any other late religion I can claim. By the time diplo becomes possible, I should be able to change or go Free Religion as needed. Keeping an eye out for an AI pursuing AP diplo will be prudent, but hopefully with 4 civs this will not be too big an issue.

OK, time to get started!

Worker first is the best of a limited set of options here, as we can not build work boats yet. I set research to Fishing and work a wine tile for more commerce. Our warrior heads out to explore our lands.

Our borders pop immediately on turn 2, and stone is visible to the east! Wonder building ahead, that seems certain.

Fishing comes in on T3 -- quick speed definitely takes a bit of getting used to. Start Pottery next for a granary -- our capital has tons of food, and the whip will be needed to speed production. Getting some cottages up early will also be important.

Buddhism is FIADL on turn 4 -- we have a spiritual civ. Or is this just quick speed? I really do not have a good feel for quick speed.

On turn 6 our exploring warrior spots a coastal passage to the south -- pre-Astro contact will be possible with at least one AI civ. Settling to block this passage with our creative borders will be a high priority, with no open borders agreements until all our land is settled.

Hinduism is founded on T10 -- maybe we could have gotten this. But there was no way to know for sure. I will stick with my plans for Confucianism.

The first wonder report appears on T13, as Stonehenge is BIAFAL. Wow. Again, I am a total noob to quick speed, but this seems very early. Competition for key wonders looks like it is going to be very tough.

Judaism is founded somewhere on T23. The same turn, Paris hits size 5 and begins our first settler. Our warrior and worker finish initial exploration of our landmass, and when the settler finishes on T27 I have dotmapped my planned empire.



I had decided to go for a smaller number of cities with (mostly) minimal overlap. Everything would be settled fairly early and have lots of time to grow, so allowing for fewer strong cities seemed better than squeezing for a larger number of smaller cities. I will be curious to see how other players handle this.

I would realize later that 8 cities were required for the FP. But with Paris being centrally located, this was no great loss.

I send the first settler west for the silver, horses, fish, wine site. Unlike a more normal game, I do not need chariots for defense or barb duty. But it is still a powerful tile, and the strongest overall site for the second city. The southern dye/oasis site will need to be settled soon to block the southern passage, but I should have time before the AI will move off its own continent.

Or perhaps not! While the settler is still moving, I meet Ramesses, founder of Hinduism, who has sent a work boat around the NE corner towards Paris. I have just finished Writing, but do not sign OB as I need to make sure my land stays mine.

I found Orleans on T29, dropping science to 80%. A prophet is born somewhere (already?), and Ramesses builds the Hindu shrine the following turn. A shrine on turn 30?!? Quick speed is a bit unsettling; I usually play Epic and things are moving fast.

Lots of building and development in France, as we work through the early religious techs in preparation for a try at the Oracle. Priesthood will also open up Monarchy for HR happiness and wines, both of which are greatly needed.

On T36, we meet Brennus courtesy of a Celtic work boat crossing the southern passage. The same turn sees Lyons founded to grab dyes and the oasis, and to seal that passage. With the city established, I can now see some borders across the water -- India, from the color. Odd that I have met Ramesses and Brennus first, if that is India next door.

A few turns later the borders of Lyons pop, and we meet Asoka, founder of Buddhism and the score leader. OK, we have met everyone now, and all our rivals are Spiritual. They are a bit shortchanged by the permanent golden age, as it eliminates ones of their biggest advantages. Brennus especially is hampered, with the military benefits of Charismatic being utterly useless. Asoka's Oraganized trait is also a bit under-powered, given the small map and small civ sizes available. Ramesses' Industrious trait could pose a challenge in the race for wonders -- I will need to see about getting stone and marble online.

Another outcome of Lyons popping borders is to finally pop that lone hut on our continent. I wasn't going to waste beakers and hammers on Hunting and a scout, so I left it for border expansion. We get -- Hunting! Oh well...utterly useless tech, as we have no tiles requiring camps and will never need Archery. Someone may get lucky here and pop something advanced.

On turn 40 I finish the Oracle, and as Confucianism is not yet founded I stick to the plan and grab Code of Laws to get a religion of my own. Lyons becomes the holy city -- excellent, the extra culture will close the southern passage all the quicker. I convert immediately and send the free missionary to Paris, which needs happiness.

The next turn sees an announcement that Brennus has proved the world is round. Wow...circumnavigation on turn 41? There must be coastal passages east and west among some of the continents.

A few turns later, I found Rheims to start bringing stone and marble to the French empire. I am researching Math by this point, so I can build forts to hook up the otherwise inaccessible resources. An unfriendly choice arranged by T-hawk, having to give up the improved tile bonuses to get the resources. Maybe some players will quarry them for the improved yields and just make do with the Industrious bonus?

By T51, I have realized there is an additional coastal passage east of the marble, and Ramesses is our neighbor in that direction. Fortunately Rheims will seal off this avenue quickly, ensuring my continent will not be settled by the AIs. Once I have all my cities founded, I can open borders for improved trade routes and diplo.

On T54, Paris completes my second wonder: the Great Lighthouse. With all of my dotmapped cities on the coast, this will provide me a lot of extra commerce over the centuries.

The following turn sees two notable events: the birth of a great prophet in Paris (who will build the Confucian shrine in Lyons), and the completion of Iron Working. Again this differs from a normal game, as I researched the tech so I could clear jungles from some key resource tiles. Military -- who needs it! I do have iron, under Rheims. Oh well...at least I get one extra hammer in the city, although I would have loved the full production boost.

T58 sees the Hanging Gardens BIAFAL. Ouch...was hoping to get that one. But the following turn brings much better news, as Orleans completes the Pyramids! I revolt to Rep for happiness. Paris would add the Colossus a couple turns later, boosting the commerce of my coastal cities further.

I reach Civil Service and revolt to Bureaucracy on T64. With Paris such a strong site, and my empire small, I would remain in Bureaucracy for the rest of the game.

The following turn saw a trio of unwelcome messages: Great Library and Shwedagon Paya BIAFAL, and Christianity FIADL. I would have liked to have the Great Library, but was busy with other wonders. Trade offs, always trade offs. The Christianity founder turned out to be Brennus; after he converted the following turn each civ was now following a self-founded religion.

I founded Tours by the copper and bananna, destined to be my Moai city. Marseilles was settled in the far west to get crabs and silver, with plenty of cottagable river grassland. A great merchant was born in Paris; I did not like the bulbing choices so I sent him to Lyons as a super-specialist in my eventual Wall Street city.

With only one city site remaining to be settled in the SW, far from the two coastal passages, I finally opened borders with Asoka. Everyone else was annoyed by religious differences, and would not accept. I made a couple deals with Asoka, exchanging crab for corn and wine for gems. Getting overseas resources for health and happiness would be crucial to growing my cities large and powerful.

I gifted fish and crab to Brennus, to start the long process of boosting relations. I would shortly add iron (not like I needed it!) and wines as well.

My final city of Chartres was founded on T70 in the southwest, grabbing rice, dye, and plenty of grasslands. Asoka built the Temple of Solomon the following turn, and I realized I had not seen any free spread from my Confucian shrine (built on T57). Hope I start seeing something from that soon.

On turn 73, Brennus built the AP as Christian. Very fitting. And as such a newly founded religion, little threat for the moment.

Paris completed the University of Sankore the following turn, mostly for the GPP as Confucianism was refusing to spread. But I would get some Confu buildings up over time, even with Buddhism spreading into my lands before any further Confu spread.

I paused for some thought after completing Philisophy on turn 82, and decided that a diplo victory did not seem likely. I would need two of three AIs to vote for me, and there was no clear path to achieving the Friendly relations I would need. So space it would be, which meant an Astro grab from Liberalism to get Salons up as early as possible. Need lots of beakers if we are going to space. So I would pursue a line of Compass, Machinery, Optics, then Lib and grab Astro. My research was very strong, so I should be able to pull this off before the AIs could reach Liberalism.

I also planned to run Free Religion after Liberalism for the research boost and extra happiness, so I started building a few monasteries. Having missed the Great Library, there would be fewer drawbacks to early SciMeth than in most of my games.

I was first to Philo, and Taoism founded in Orleans with the free missionary heading to Paris for more happiness. I revolted to Pacifism for more GPP in Paris -- about the only use I got from my state religion, which was still not spreading much.

On turn 85, my resource gifting to Brennus finally paid off, reaching +2 and shifting the Celt to cautious. I signed OB to boost trade route income further, and reclaimed my gifted resources. I signed a fish for clam deal, and started spreading the rest around to Ramesses and Asoka to boost those relations.

The next turn I finished Optics, and decided to take time to research Alphabet before going to Liberalism. I was not sure if I could see the AIs tech situation with tech trading turned off, but if I could then maybe I could get a better tech from Liberalism. It would only take one turn, so why not?

Alpha did allow me to see where the AIs were on the tech tree, and as none had Education yet I had time for a more advanced grab. I decided to grab Construction and Engineering along the line to Chemistry and SciMeth; this would also open up Notre Dame for more needed happiness.

The same turn, I finally got a great scientist and built an academy in Paris. 410 AD - late, very late, but better than never.

A few turns later, Notre Dame was BIAFAL. Three turns from finishing....

The following turn, Asoka asked me to convert to Buddhism. Sure, friend -- it is great having no anarchy. I switched back to Confucianism 5 turns later, but this got Asoka up to Pleased.

A couple turns later Ramesses adopted Vassalage. Definitely some issues with the AI and always peace.

I swapped to Serfdom a couple turns later -- I did not have enough food for slavery in most of my cities, and there was no extra cost. Might as well help my workers finish chopping jungle and improving my lands. Having no anarchy really opens up the use of civics I would never ordinarily use. I should play some more spiritual civs soon, haven't done that much recently.

On turn 94 Asoka founds Islam in Bombay, and pops a prophet the same turn. Sure enough, the Islamic shrine is built the following turn. Can't be a very productive shrine just yet. Still probably the right move by the AI.

On turn 97 Paris completes Oxford; took a while to get all the required universities. Paris is up to 409 beakers per turn and climbing.

On turn 100 we complete SciMeth and find oil offshore near Orleans. Nice to have, although we won't really need oil in this game. In fact, I would never hook up the oil because of the increased health issues it would have caused.

Asoka adopts Mercantilism, cutting into my recently-adopted Free Market trade routes.

I note that it is 800 AD, and I still have two cities with no religion, despite having been hooked up to global trade with multiple shrines built worldwide. Very odd to see cities without religion this late.

Two turns later I finish Liberalism (Asoka had just finished Education) and take Physics as the free tech. I start Communism to grab the free Great Spy -- I could use more EP, and the Kremlin might be useful. We have uranium south of Paris, although like oil we will not need it in this game.

The following turn Brennus follows Asoka into Mercantilism. I revolt to Merc myself, plus Free Religion as planned. I would have preferred the trade routes, but it became a Mercantile world and remained that way to the end of the game.

Turn 105 sees my first diplomatic demand -- Brennus wants us to cancel deals with Asoka. I refuse, as I am not planning to try for diplo victory and Brennus is pleased enough that our trade deals are not at risk. I need those resources to keep my cities strong.

The same turn sees Confucianism finally spread to Rheims. The city is five tiles away from the Confucian holy city, where the shrine was built 48 turns previously. The auto spread was awfully strange this game.

I head up the Nationalism -> Constitution -> Democracy path, and revolt to Emancipation to speed cottage growth and put pressure on the AIs. The game has reached T110, 1000 AD, so I pause for an overview.





I am first in GNP by a large margin. The hammers and food numbers are close for all four civs. I lead in population by a small margin, and am unsurprisingly dead last in soldiers. The land numbers are a bit odd -- there is a bigger range from first to worst than I would have expected. I am fully settled and culture controlled, and I would certainly have expected everyone else to be as well. I am not sure if the difference is really in the land, or if someone is lagging on settlement for some reason.

Finally, my resource trades at 1000 AD. I have made a sustained effort to gain access to overseas resources, and it has paid off:



On turn 112, Asoka completes the Taj Mahal. The turn also sees my last religion-free city gain Buddhism.

I complete Steam Power a couple turns later and find coal near Orleans. So far we have all the strategic resources -- will this hold for aluminum, or will the space race be impeded by one critical lack?

Paris completes the Statue of Liberty on turn 118; we are in Merc and Rep, might as well add another free specialist everywhere.

I lose the Kremlin on turn 127, having waited too long to start it. Oh well...the extra cash is useful and I am not really planning to rush stuff.

A couple turns later Industrialism is finished, and we do have aluminum near Lyons. The space race is looking good.

Tours completes Broadway the same turn, and I find out that on this map we only get one (!) hit musical. Wow...no extras to trade? Seriously decreases the value of the modern happiness wonders.

I consider the current diplomatic situation:

- Asoka has Ramesses pleased, Brennus annoyed
- Ramesses has Asoka pleased, Brennus annoyed
- Brennus has Asoka annoyed, Ramesses cautious

I feel that I am safe from any of the AIs achieving a UN victory, and decide to skip Mass Media. Hollywood is a lot of hammers for 1 measly hit movie, and we do not need MM for space.

Also on this turn (lots happening), Lyons completes Wall Street for a sizable boost to my economy.

I head for Radio to get Eiffel and Rock-n-Roll, then on to Plastic for the Three Gorges Dam to reduce my mounting industrial health problems. Unfortunately, I have only one city on a river - Marseilles, in the far west. And it is not configured for strong hammer output. Fortunately, I pop a GE from Rheims to aid in the construction. The wonder would finish on T144, greatly aiding my empire.

I have not said much about great people. I generated a couple merchants (settled in Lyons for Wall Street), lots of scientists (4 academies, rest settled in Paris with Oxford), and a couple artists from salon contamination (settled in Lyons for Wall Street). My research was strong, so I did not bulb -- the benefit was just too small.

Turn 149 saw the completion of Satellites, and Tours (my Moai city) began construction of the Space Elevator. The turn also saw the first UN vote for secgen - Asoka vs Brennus. Brennus had pulled ahead in score and pop a few turns previously -- for some reason he had been very late settling the western portion of his continent. But he was making a strong late push.

As I had expected, the UN vote split, with Ramesses supporting Asoka. I supported Brennus for the diplo boost, but there was no risk of an AI diplo victory.

The following turn was T150 - 1600 AD. I completed the Internet, gaining 11 techs: Monotheism, Literature, Drama, Theology, Music, Divine Right, Military Tradition, Aesthetics, Archery, Horseback Riding, and Military Science. Whew! Nothing really useful to the space race, unfortunately, but Drama for theaters would be handy for some more happiness with dye. Maybe even a cathedral or two from Music.

Here is a peak inside powerhouse Paris at 1600 AD:



Commerce, commerce, everywhere -- except for trade routes, due to the universal Mercantilism. Note the now-useless Customs House. Over 700 beakers per turn, though.

The following turn, global warming hit near Orleans, reducing a river grassland town to desert. I hate this game "mechanic" -- you can avoid any industrial development, or watch the world turn into desert. Health-boosting buildings do not actually reduce global warming, and the AIs are not about to avoid industrializing, so if a game runs into the modern era you just have to endure as best you can. Totally unhelpful and unfun part of the game, though, with no real way to prevent it.

This was especially painful as Orleans was already struggling with starvation. I had to steal its western tiles for Marseilles, to help construction of Three Gorges Dam and later the Apollo Project. This global warming starved the city down yet one more point, not to mention costing me a fully developed riverside town.

On turn 155, Tours completed the Space Elevator and Marseilles finished the Apollo Project. Time for parts construction!

Two turns later I completed Fusion, and the free GE went to Lyons to found Mining Inc. I would spread the corporation to all my cities over the next three turns, adding a ton of base hammers but costing a large pile of cash per turn. Even with courthouses and the HQ in Wall Street city, the corporation costs plus inflation were netting out to over 120 gold per turn. Ouch! But the hammers made a sizable difference in part completion times, so I would just have to reduce science to cope.

On turn 161, Brennus proposed a UN vote for Environmentalism. Ummm, no. In fact, hell no! Corporation costs would go up further, plus I would lose my free Merc specialists and their Rep beakers. This is not beneficial to France, friend Brennus. I choose to defy the UN vote.

All three AIs voted yes -- what effect does the vote have if they do not have Medicine yet? In fact, I just got Medicine the turn of the vote. If I had not had it, what would have happened? In any case, I defied, and got hit with "villainous" unhappiness. I had not expected it to be so significant -- I rarely have to defy the UN or AP in most games. Maybe I should have pushed for Mass Media and built it? Probably still would have lost the secgen vote, though, so it probably would not have done any good.

Anyway, I had happiness to spare in most cities, and quickly built a couple theaters or temples to keep my most stressed cities content. Space ship parts were being completed rapidly, and the ship would launch in just a few more turns. After that, who cares?

Brennus completed his Apollo Program on T164, and followed up the next turn by pushing Environmentalism again. Bastard. I defy again, and have to pump up the culture slider a couple ticks to keep my cities working. But I only needed a couple more turns to finish the last needed tech (Ecology), at which point I am free to shift my sliders for more happiness and EP to track the AI activities.

The last parts complete on T169, and the ship launches - 6 turns to victory. I really dislike this post-launch wait -- eliminating it was one of the more positive aspects of Civ IV.

Turn 170, and Delhi and Bombay both reach legendary culture! Thankfully, cultural victory is not possible in this game. Sorry, Asoka.

I clean up the remaining techs in the tree just because I am bored waiting for my already completed space ship to end the game. I get some more help from the Internet (Fascism, Artillery, Mass Media, and Refrigeration - for 15 techs total), and manage to complete Laser on the last turn to finish the entire tree. I also build all my remaining national wonders for which I qualify -- no Heroic Epic or West Point, no Forbidden Palace (only 7 cities), but everything else. A late prophet builds the Dai Miao in Orleans for lack of anything better to do.

Asoka manages to complete Apollo and one part (Life Support), but that is the best AI showing before I win a space race victory on T175 (1750 AD).



The replay showed some oddities in the settlement patterns -- I do not know if the AI does not understand always peace and no barbs, maybe they were taking time to build escorts? I managed to found my fourth city before any AI founded their third.

The replay also showed Brennus delayed expansion, although it does not make clear why. He was building early wonders (Shwedagon Paya, AP) and chased Christianity to get his own religion. But he did not found his third city until 120 BC! I had founded my seventh and last city a couple turns before, at 200 BC.

The Celts continued to be laggards in claiming land, with their fourth city in 290 AD. Their seventh city (to match mine) came in 590 AD, and their tenth and final city was not settled until 900 AD. Very strange.

Given the overall scenario, especially the permanent golden age, 1750 AD does not seem particularly early. I expect someone will beat that by at least a century, and quite probably by more. Maybe settling more cities will prove to be more powerful in boosting research, leading to an earlier finish date. I built the ship parts about as fast as possible -- Apollo and Space Elevator finished same turn, aluminum hooked up, Mining Inc spread to all cities within a couple turns. More cities could not produce many more hammers as I was working almost all tiles on the continent. But I expect I could easily be bettered on the research rate and optimal path.

Thanks to T-hawk for a very enjoyable scenario!

[T-hawk]

- The game conditions are essentially giving us the non-building benefits of Financial, Philosophical, and Spiritual.

Very well said, and I reached the same conclusion in thinking about the game setup. More to come in comments from the sponsor.

- We can not settle on or acquire AI cities on another continent, but nothing in the variant keeps the AIs from settling on our land. I do not know if pre-Astro passage will be possible, but we need to prevent this, if at all possible.

As you now know, contact came as soon as work boats. I don't expect any players to have problems with AIs settling the home continent. As you observed, the player could easily fill up the home continent before the AIs could fill up theirs and start looking to go overseas. Finally, if the AIs did manage to poach a site, recovery is still possible by culture flip. You weren't Creative by accident.

The first wonder report appears on T13, as Stonehenge is BIAFAL. Wow.

I love it. :D

I had decided to go for a smaller number of cities with (mostly) minimal overlap.

You will find my shadow report quite interesting.

I can build forts to hook up the otherwise inaccessible resources. An unfriendly choice arranged by T-hawk, having to give up the improved tile bonuses to get the resources. Maybe some players will quarry them for the improved yields and just make do with the Industrious bonus?

Unfortunately, I botched this setup. The intent was to let the player choose ONE of stone or marble but prevent access to both. The player would have to found a city on either resource to connect it, which would block settling on the other one. I thought that fort resource harvesting required a city connection; I didn't know that forts also served as coastal trade access. I happened to read a CFC thread with that info about two days after the game opened.

diplo victory did not seem likely. I would need two of three AIs to vote for me, and there was no clear path to achieving the Friendly relations I would need.

UN diplo victory only needs 66% votes (AP is 75%.) I hoped that the player would be able to grow their population enough (note the ample sources of irrigation all over the island) to reach 66% with only one AI's vote. We'll see if anyone managed that.

I note that it is 800 AD, and I still have two cities with no religion, despite having been hooked up to global trade with multiple shrines built worldwide. Very odd to see cities without religion this late.

Religion spread is checked per turn. Quick speed has fewer turns, thus will have less religion auto-spread. Also, you got Open Borders late, without which the chance for religion spread is much less. So it's explainable, though definitely an unusual ramification of this scenario.

I start Communism to grab the free Great Spy -- I could use more EP, and the Kremlin might be useful.

Interesting; Communism is a considerable investment of beakers off the spaceship tech path. Do you think this EP repaid the beaker investment before launch? Ditto for Robotics (you built the Space Elevator); do you think that beaker spending speeded the launch?

Tours completes Broadway the same turn, and I find out that on this map we only get one (!) hit musical. Wow...no extras to trade? Seriously decreases the value of the modern happiness wonders.

Yah, I think EVERYBODY is going to be surprised by that one. I sure was.

All three AIs voted yes -- what effect does the vote have if they do not have Medicine yet?

Civics votes proceed entirely without regard to whether civs have learned the enabling tech. The UN can make an entire planet Environmentalist even if nobody knows Medicine. Same goes for all the civics, but the other civic techs (Democracy and Liberalism) come early enough that usually this effect is only seen with Environmentalism.

And yes, needing to defy an Environmentalism vote is not uncommon in games with heavy corporation use. However, it would've turned everybody's trade routes back on; might that have been worthwhile?

Given the overall scenario, especially the permanent golden age, 1750 AD does not seem particularly early. I expect someone will beat that by at least a century, and quite probably by more.

I too didn't finish as early as I'd hoped/expected. Shadow report coming later in the day. 1750 AD is still a strong performance IMO. And glad you enjoyed the ride!

[haphazard1]

Very well said, and I reached the same conclusion in thinking about the game setup. More to come in comments from the sponsor.

I look forward to your sponsor's comments - should be interesting.

As you now know, contact came as soon as work boats. I don't expect any players to have problems with AIs settling the home continent. As you observed, the player could easily fill up the home continent before the AIs could fill up theirs and start looking to go overseas. Finally, if the AIs did manage to poach a site, recovery is still possible by culture flip. You weren't Creative by accident.

Maybe I should have signed OB earlier for more commerce. You are likely correct that the risk of AI settlement was low. But I really did not want to risk it.

I love it. :D

I am not familiar enough with Quick speed to know how early this really is. But it sure seemed early!

You will find my shadow report quite interesting.

I assumed that at least a few players would go for a version of ICS. I am curious to see just how many cities some people managed to squeeze into our little continent.

Unfortunately, I botched this setup. The intent was to let the player choose ONE of stone or marble but prevent access to both. The player would have to found a city on either resource to connect it, which would block settling on the other one. I thought that fort resource harvesting required a city connection; I didn't know that forts also served as coastal trade access. I happened to read a CFC thread with that info about two days after the game opened.

I wondered about that. I was familiar with the fort resource hookup from various games at CivFanatics, including the latest SGotM. The stone wasn't much to give up, fort instead of quarry -- just a couple hammers. But a quarry on the marble would have been nice....

UN diplo victory only needs 66% votes (AP is 75%.) I hoped that the player would be able to grow their population enough (note the ample sources of irrigation all over the island) to reach 66% with only one AI's vote. We'll see if anyone managed that.

Hmm. Massive irrigation, lots of specialists with Rep...might be workable to keep up in tech and build the pop for a UN victory. I did not consider getting enough pop to need only one ally. Seems like a tough way to go, though.

Religion spread is checked per turn. Quick speed has fewer turns, thus will have less religion auto-spread. Also, you got Open Borders late, without which the chance for religion spread is much less. So it's explainable, though definitely an unusual ramification of this scenario.

I did not see much spread even from my own shrine, though. Fewer turns is definitely a big factor -- more unfamiliarity with Quick speed on my part.

Interesting; Communism is a considerable investment of beakers off the spaceship tech path. Do you think this EP repaid the beaker investment before launch? Ditto for Robotics (you built the Space Elevator); do you think that beaker spending speeded the launch?

My overall path was definitely not optimal. The EP were useful but not critical in any way. I did think at one point about using the Kremlin and cash rushing, but shifted priorities and ended up not even getting the wonder.

I am not sure overall on the Space Elevator. I wanted the labs early, and pushed through to Robotics. But I ended up not really being hammer limited, especially once I spread Mining Inc around. So this was probably not a good decision, once everything is summed up.

Yah, I think EVERYBODY is going to be surprised by that one. I sure was.

I had a whole series of trades planned for those extra hit resources; I could have had a couple more luxuries from the AIs. Would have helped quite a bit, especially with the UN defy issues.

Civics votes proceed entirely without regard to whether civs have learned the enabling tech. The UN can make an entire planet Environmentalist even if nobody knows Medicine. Same goes for all the civics, but the other civic techs (Democracy and Liberalism) come early enough that usually this effect is only seen with Environmentalism.

Thanks for the info. I have rarely run into this, as I often pursue Medicine earlier for Sushi.

And yes, needing to defy an Environmentalism vote is not uncommon in games with heavy corporation use. However, it would've turned everybody's trade routes back on; might that have been worthwhile?

This was a factor I did not really consider, and I should have. With all cities coastal with harbors, the return of real trade routes probably would have more than made up for losing the specialists. I think I would still have lost overall due to corporation costs -- the entire post-courthouse costs still get multiplied by inflation, before you get to offset the Wall Street boosted HQ income.

Would it have been better than the defy unhappiness? Probably not for the first vote -- only two cities were hit by the first vote, and only by 1 citizen each. It was the second vote and stacking another +5 unhappy everywhere that really hurt.

I too didn't finish as early as I'd hoped/expected. Shadow report coming later in the day. 1750 AD is still a strong performance IMO. And glad you enjoyed the ride!

I was surprised how well it went, overall. I was expecting a much tougher struggle with the AIs, as they had the permanent golden age as well. But I built a tech lead fairly early, and never looked back. Lack of tech trading really seems to hurt the AIs, even though it also means the player can not milk an AI or two for techs. Of course, getting the Internet sort of gets around that.

I'll try to dig up my full list of techs, path and dates. I have all the info in my notes, just need to get it into a post. I'll try to do that tomorrow, just for comparison. I feel sure I blundered badly early on, as well as later with the space race.

[Olodune]

Another nice game -- like me you probably waited too long to get corporations rolling

Thanks for the enlightening tip on fort resource connections ...

Quote:
Originally Posted by T-hawk
Yah, I think EVERYBODY is going to be surprised by that one. I sure was.


I had a whole series of trades planned for those extra hit resources; I could have had a couple more luxuries from the AIs. Would have helped quite a bit, especially with the UN defy issues.

My trading plans imploded when I noticed the single measly resource as well ...

[haphazard1]

Another nice game -- like me you probably waited too long to get corporations rolling

Thanks! This was a fun game. I definitely did not realize how powerful the corporations would be on this map -- I did not know the resource factors scaled to map size/game speed.

Thanks for the enlightening tip on fort resource connections ...

I learned that from discussion at CivFanatics; I think it was the BotM11 pre-game thread. This was only the third time I have actually used the technique. Most of the time you can hook resources up somehow, even if you have to wait for culture to expand further.

My trading plans imploded when I noticed the single measly resource as well ...

Yes, that was extremely disappointing. I have always thought of the modern happiness wonders in terms of "one for me and some to trade" with the trade portion being at least as valuable as the hit resource itself.