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Socrates
09-09-2004, 19:18
Topic for the report of my RBCiv Epic #43 game.

So finally I'm back in the Epic joy ! It's been about 10 months since I lastly completed a solo game (that was before C3C). So I really wanted to finish this one. :D

The game settings and the variant theme can be found here :
http://realmsbeyond.net/civ/epic43.html

Detailed rules and explanations can be found here :
http://www.lurkerlounge.com/realmsbeyond/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=4&t=138&s=8cbf7e226d1e88cbe7235720d7283eab

The other reports and associated discussions can be found there :
http://www.lurkerlounge.com/realmsbeyond/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=4&t=163&s=21ea121ca19442fa9540bb9eecd3046f

The basic rule is that we must stay by the sea. This means we'll have few cities stretched along the coast, which should make the game harder than usual (but what did you expect ?). We also won't be able to wage wars inland before long, and resources will be hard to get.

Starting position :

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/200499175318_Epic43-01 4000BC StartingPosition.JPG
32.7*KB

The scout immediately found ivory, and I settled on the starting tile. This popped the hut, which gave me Bronze Working. [coool]

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/20049918328_Epic43-02 4000BC BronzeWorking.JPG
51.04*KB

I started on a curragh and sailed for Writing at maximum science. The long and peaceful Portuguese journey on Earth was beginning...

Socrates
09-09-2004, 20:21
I was lucky with huts : I got Ceremonial Burial in 3950BC, Masonry in 3800BC.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/200499184757_Epic43-03 3950BC CeremonialBurial.JPG
50.01*KB

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/200499184832_Epic43-04 3800BC Masonry.JPG
54.62*KB

In 3600BC my only scout popped a village in the far west : Oporto. I saw that I was allowed to keep it if I didn't do any irrigation, mining or forestry there. So I kept it, and became the happy owner of 2 incense sources. :)

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/200499185216_Epic43-05 3600BC Village-Oporto.JPG
60.88*KB

In 3100BC Oporto built a worker : I decided to use it to connect Oporto's incense to Lisbon. In 2950BC Lisbon built a settler, just after the curragh : the capital site wasn't good for pumping settlers fast, so the more early cities, the better. Meanwhile I had earned 25 gold in a hut, and met the English and then the Egyptians. My strategy was to not trade with them now, because I had the Library in mind. In 2900BC the scout found some spices in the middle of what was to be a huge and lonely continent.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/200499185930_Epic43-06 2900BC Spices.JPG
42.45*KB

I was also allowed (and encouraged) to peacefully grab this site (Sirian, sponsor of the game, told us that fish without pepper and lemon isn't tasteful and I just had to believe him [lol] ), but it was soon to be settled by the Spanish, which I met a little while after that. Guimaraes was founded in 2750BC, on the coast of course, and I decided to do no overlap for my most important cities. The game would last until the Modern Age, and so I wanted the cities to breathe at that time. Few cities would mean little rank corruption, so it wasn't that bad to space them after all.

I then built a 2nd curragh, for the other coastal direction, and met the Sumerians, the Persians and the Germans, so that I knew everyone in 1950BC. Lisbon built a granary at some point, and Oporto rushed a temple after whipping 2 citizens. [whipped] I also popped a warrior in a distant hut. And in 1450BC my little worker coming from Oporto completed a huge task : connecting Oporto to Lisbon by road (they were 15 tiles from each other). That meant 2 luxuries for my people. [party] The road skipped the area with the volcano and so was situated closely to English estates. The worker had the luck to escape the dangerous barbarians living in that desertic area.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/200499191412_Epic43-07 1450BC OportoRoad.JPG
116.39*KB

In the meantime I had learnt Writing in 2550BC, gone for Code of Laws, learnt it in 1675BC, then gone for Philosophy, and learnt it before any AI in 1425BC. There was no real competition, and so that strategy was a no-brainer for me.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/200499191735_Epic43-08 1425BC Philosophy.JPG
44.36*KB

Of course I picked Republic as the free tech. After all it had been the goal all along, no ? ;)

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/20049919198_Epic43-09 1425BC Republic.JPG
44.72*KB

I told my people to revolt, and guess what ? they obeyed me right away ! :D The whole empire fell in anarchy, and I just had the time to tell my wisemen to start research on Literature.

Socrates
10-09-2004, 00:50
The anarchy period didn't last long, and 4 turns later, in 1325BC, the Portuguese Republic was proclamed. [goodjob] Everybody was invited to a special presidential party on the beaches, where everyone had barbecue and incense to get high. [crazyeye] The only thing we missed was some spicy stuff to put on the fried fish we were eating, but oh well, we were happy enough... At the end of the party I ordered some sacrifices (because I may be a President, but I still enjoy sacrifices, HEY, we were still in the Ancient Times !! :D ) : both curraghs and the scout were killed, mainly for financial reasons. The whole coast had been scouted at that point, and my citizens thought that it was looking like a fish (how weird).

Then in 1125BC the Sumerians declared war upon a tech demand (Philosophy), and they brought the Egyptians against me in 1050BC. Meanwhile the Spanish also declared war in 1075BC for the same reason as the Mesopotamian empire. In 1050BC I also discovered Literature, and so turned off science, and that was when Lisbon completed the Colossus. The precious and cheap wonder triggered my Golden Age.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/20049923163_Epic43-10 1050BC Colossus.JPG
59.65*KB

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/200499231643_Epic43-11 1050BC GoldenAge.JPG
25.36*KB

Here is a (large) pic of Lisbon on that particular turn. You can see that I needed 20 turns for the Library, just like my Golden Age. But I had already used 1 turn of Golden Age because it had been triggered during the inter-turn production phase. So I would actually need 21 turns to complete the wonder ; another weird Civ feature to change...

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/200499235728_Epic43-12 1050BC Lisbon.JPG
175.94*KB

In 1000BC the Germans also declared war after asking for Code of Laws. The picture wouldn't be so nice if the Egyptians hadn't brought the English along in 1000BC, and the Persians in 875BC. [}:)]

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/200499235641_Epic43-13 875BC TotalWar.JPG
79.13*KB

Fortunately this would last only one turn ; in 850BC I signed peace with the Spanish and I had to pay for that. In 800BC I signed peace with the Sumerians, selling a tech along. In 670BC I also signed peace with the Germans (they had too many threatening units wandering near Oporto), giving Republic for a whole bunch of techs along. In 630BC it was the English's turn to sign peace, and I also gave Republic for a few techs ; and I sold Republic to the Spanish for some gold.

In 590BC my Golden Age ended, and the following turn saw the completion of the Great Library in Lisbon.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/20049923562_Epic43-14 570BC Library.JPG
65.03*KB

I signed peace with the Egyptians in 470BC, and had to pay for that. In 410BC I entered the Middle Ages, thanks to the Library. From that moment I have always accepted any demand by the AIs, gold or techs. In case you wonder why, just imagine that I had been settling along the coast, with a few spearmen, while building wonders... No military meant I had to be the nice guy. Lisbon also grabbed the Statue of Zeus in 210BC ; those ancient cavalries would be nice to secure the empire.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/200499235527_Epic43-15 210BC Zeus.JPG
60.12*KB

In 90AD I signed peace with the Persians, and had to pay for that. From now on the Portuguese Republic would only know an everlasting peace period. Time for more barbecues on the beaches ! [cool] While the AIs were building many wonders, Egypt was being crushed by Sumeria and other folks. In 360AD I learnt Education, and the Great Library ceased to be of any scientific use. The old Egyptian Empire definitely collapsed in 390AD, leaving much chaos behind. That's when I settled my last city in the game, Faro, near the only easily accessible iron source. I have to admit that I settled 2 tiles away from Bonn, a German city, but I had actually kept my settler for ages, waiting for workers to clear the marshland there. I hadn't realized the tricky problem to actually get iron (since it wasn't very important to me), so I wasn't in a hurry to grab the site. I just wanted to connect my southern cities (there was one more city in the south, next to wines) and clear that poor area. I hope it is OK for everyone, as for RBCiv rules.

All in all, I got 11 cities : 10 on the east coast + Oporto inland. Lisbon had ivory, Oporto had incense, and 3 other cities brought furs (near the English), gems and wines (near the Germans). That was 5 luxuries, quite a good job ! :) But we were still missing spices...

Socrates
10-09-2004, 01:42
With all that good land settled (with some little overlap in further cities), My Chili-like country now needed some improvements and tiles needed to be fully improved. Temples had been rush-paid quickly so that I could claim more land immediately. I also needed to become the scientific leader, and so started to research at maximum rate all the time. We had to research or trade for optional sea-related techs immediately, so Navigation, Ironclads and Amphibious Warfare took me some more time, but it was still OK.

In 500AD Lisbon grabbed the Sistine Chapel. Why did I build such a wonder ? Well, I like paintings. :D Just kidding, but you just gotta love a wonder which makes cathedrals very attractive improvements : 3 unhappy citizens become REALLY happy in each city. That's when you forget about acquiring more luxuries (except for spices of course !) and building colosseums.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/200491001920_Epic43-16 500AD Sistine.JPG
57.68*KB

In 510AD three events happened :
- I was displeased to see Copernicus's lovely Observatory completed in Sumeria (and they had just got the tech, after 2 other AIs completed other wonders) ;
- I had to rebuff rebels in Hastings because it was an inland city, not of my taste ;
- spices became available for trade for the first time, so I had to pay (well... I really wanted to pay) the Spanish to get the precious stuff. I must admit that it took me 5 turns to realize spices were available, so I just reloaded the game. I would now set a new spices deal every 20 turns.

Time passed peacefully, until I reached the Industrial Ages in 960AD. I was fully busy with building improvements in all my cities. I was slowly catching the AIs (the strong and scientific Germans) in science, and was selling some techs from time to time to fuel my research even more. In 1010AD Emerita built Shakespeare's Theater, but didn't fully get advantage of it afterwards.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/200491003237_Epic43-17 1010AD Shakespeare.JPG
65.95*KB

Lisbon completed Newton's University in 1030AD ; I had to get this wonder, or it would have taken me a long time to reach the next age. It also had the nice effect to stop the wonder cascade once and for all.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/200491003452_Epic43-18 1030AD Newton.JPG
66.55*KB

That was the particular point where Portugal would now only fear a military defeat. But by no way could those brave seamen fail to lose the science leadership. Yes, the Portuguese had been lying to the whole world all along : everyone would know that the Portuguese were supposed to be expansionnist (a mythical memory of the past) and seafearing, but the Portuguese weren't attracted by the sea itself, just the beaches, for the barbecue parties. No ship would ever be built (apart from the 2 curraghs), and the time during which they weren't sunbathing on the beach was used for scientific studies. As for the no-boat policy, Portugal would eventually cry at it someday...

Socrates
10-09-2004, 12:38
The Industrial Ages were not boring, but that's where I outresearched the AIs, as usual. I first went for Medicine and Sanitation, and then Steam Power plus the Ironclads thingie. I wanted to grab 2 wonders, you know which ones, and so did everything to get them as soon as possible. That's where I messed up a little : I had prebuilds (palace, FP...) going on, but the research path was getting long, and so in the end I didn't build those wonders where I had planned. That's because I also had to delay and almost stop production in the planned cities, and it came to a matter of turns (even the Big Picture half-cheat thingie). But several things made so that I completed them without any tricky stuff. Maybe I'm not clear enough, just get the idea that I went into "wallbash mode" for nothing because I had thought of those wonders too early, and new stuff I couldn't have planned made old thinking obsolete. [blush]

So I told you about me not building a ship. I should have at least settled one city on the only island in the map, located in the east of my empire, because I found out there was coal there, and of course none in my territory. [cry] So I was stucked a few turns without the ability to build railroads. I thought of getting this source by force, but my military was still very weak ; I was not afraid of building an expedition to that island, but afraid of what I would suffer in return. The Sumerians were the happy owner of the island, and were a strong civ, and they had good cities just next to Oporto. I didn't want to lose my precious inland city, and training many troops there would have costed a fortune. So I waited for a coal source to be available for trade, and in 1220AD a Sumerian town, lost in the southern mountains, expanded its borders for the first time, and got a 2nd coal source because there was already a road there (the 1st source wasn't the one on the island). So I traded for it right away, so that I missed a few turns of railroading only.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/2004910112253_Epic43-19 1220AD SumerianCoal.JPG
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I was now railroading my empire as fast as I could, starting with the cities on wonders. In 1250AD the Persians were eventually destroyed, so we were 5 civs left (no other civ would get crushed after that). I discovered Electricity and sold it to the Germans to get Industrialisation (factories were one element of my industrial wonder misthinking). From this moment I wouldn't buy any tech from the AIs anymore, apart from some useless techs that I didn't need at all (or almost). I had so far not built my Forbidden Palace, because I wanted it in the 3rd city in the south of Lisbon, and that city took some time to develop first. The wonder was built in 1320AD in Leiria.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/2004910112842_Epic43-20 1320AD Forbidden.JPG
61.78KB

I then completed the 2 wonders I wanted :
- the Theory of Evolution in 1370AD in Guimaraes ;
- the Hoover Dam in 1430AD in Lisbon.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/2004910113152_Epic43-21 1370AD Evolution.JPG
60.37KB

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/2004910113234_Epic43-22 1430AD Hoover.JPG
59.98KB

I picked Atomic Theory and Electronics for free of course. Some things are no-brainers in this game... In 1450AD I rebuffed rebels in Hastings for the 2nd time ; I would like to tell them that I'm so sorry to have let them down, but they wouldn't have understood our way of living, so... I also came to a point where I had all 8 luxuries (5 were mine, 3 came from foreign land). And in 1525AD I discovered Flight (making the Colossus obsolete), and thus entered the Modern Times.

Socrates
10-09-2004, 13:28
So I was in the Modern Times, and my goal was the Spaceship Victory, since I didn't want to go conquering every city with paratroopers and bombers, and also because I was already late finishing my game and writing my report !! :D Winning this game with a weird way of settling (making the game harder) and also completing my first game since ages was enough for me. Here are some pics of my empire when I hit the Modern Times...

The northern part :

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/2004910115353_Epic43-23 1525AD North-Modern.JPG
251.41KB

The southern part :

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/2004910115632_Epic43-24 1525AD South-Modern.JPG
241.68KB

And Oporto with its surroundings :

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/2004910115858_Epic43-25 1525AD Oporto-Modern.JPG
233.2KB

I had got 18 ancient cavalries before the Statue of Zeus became obsolete, and I managed to build 18 barricades along my border, so that I could put one of these living antiquities in each barricade. :D There was one infantry in each place to protect them in case some neighbours didn't like my horsie uber-cool parades. [yeah] Here is a glimpse of my entire army on that turn :

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/200491012559_Epic43-26 1525AD Army-Modern.JPG
54.57KB

So that was :
- 21 workers : 2 per city (10), but 1 for Oporto (no irrigation, mine or forestry there) ;
- 18 ancient cavalries : 1 in each barricade ;
- 30 infantries : 1 in each barricade, 1 in each city (10), but 2 in Lisbon (you never know...).

In 1560AD the Sumerians tried to put a spy in my capital but they failed. Meanwhile war was raging in the middle of the continent : the Germans and the Spanish were fighting the Sumerians and the English ; no camp made real progress for some time but they almost all fell in fascism. England even fell in Feudalism at some point. [lol] And so in 1620AD my spices deal suddenly ended during the inter-turn because the Spanish lost the cities in the silks area. That date was to remember as the Black Year in Portugal ; fish wasn't tasteful anymore, and we even feared a Great Depression, as fish was the base of the Portuguese economy. But fortunately I was able to trade for spices with the Spanish immediately again.

On the tech front, I went for Computers first, then Miniaturisation, and then proceed to get all the Spaceship techs. I gifted the Sumerians with techs so that they could get a free tech (they got Rocketry). I delayed getting Fission, thinking it would be researched quickly by some AIs, but they were at war... In 1640AD Emerita completed the Apollo Program. Lisbon completed the SETI Program in 1645AD.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/2004910121921_Epic43-27 1640AD Apollo.JPG
56.72KB

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/200491012208_Epic43-28 1645AD SETI.JPG
58.72KB

In 1720AD I heard a terrible news : the spices deal was over and the Spanish only had 1 spices source left for themselves. [eek] But I was now able to buy some from the Germans, who were capturing back the cities lost by the Spanish to the Sumerians. The Sumerians were a strong civ, and so were the Germans. I feared that the Spanish would eventually get killed by the Sumerians. The Mesopotamians made some gains in Spain because they were superior and were ahead of any AI in science, but the Germans didn't lose any city in the west, they even captured some. At some point the Sumerians had to fight the other 3 AIs and that's when they stopped their expansion.

Unfortunately for them, the Sumerians lacked oil ; I had 3 sources, but I wouldn't sell any to anyone. :D The Germans had some oil but were now stucked in the Industrial Era, after being the AI science leader for so long (fascism + tons of gold given to me). But then the Germans discovered Motorized Transportation, and could now build panzers. [evil] What was about to happen ?

Socrates
10-09-2004, 13:58
What do you think happens when a strong civ called Germany, which had already got its Golden Age, built many wonders, had a great territory, gets access to panzers on a huge railroaded continent ? Well, they go on offense and kill like mad ! So the Germans were now capturing city after city in Sumeria, at an incredible speed.

Meanwhile I once feared that they would reach a domination or cultural limit. I had been the cultural master in the beginning, but the Germans eventually caught me in the Middle Ages with their great number of cities. But they were by no way near the limit, so I could breathe. My cities had almost all built every improvement, and many of them were now only producing wealth, so that I could stop selling techs to the AIs. In 1778AD I switched back to the Spanish for a last spices deal.

In 1784AD I discovered Robotics, and thanks to prebuilds I completed the last spaceship part on the following turn. Aluminium and uranium were in my territory, so there was nothing to do to get them. The Germans managed to build the Internet in the inter-turn, and in 1786AD I launched my spaceship, direction Alpha Centauri !! :)

That was a nice date, but nothing extraordinary. I got 2930 points (like if I cared !) for having clicked "end of turn" many times in a row at the end. It was about time I got this victory, because meanwhile the Germans were making a blitz attack in Sumeria, and if you don't know what the "panzer effect" is about, take a look at the graph below :

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/2004910124646_Epic43-29 1786AD SpaceshipVictory.JPG
105.06KB

On the replay it looked like only the Germans and myself got a Golden Age. [hmm] That's the first time I caved in almost all AI demands, and it payed off (to meditate...). I know I chose the easy way (spaceship) but I wasn't in a mood to use much of my free time just for capturing inland cities, all the more as I have so far never built planes, missiles or paratroopers in Civ3. So it would have required me to find out how they actually work, and I didn't want to do it. :D

I hope it was a nice read for some of you. I spent 40 hours playing this one, though it would have been much less if I hadn't micromanaged it like hell. I hope the game will count in the RBCiv competition, I do think I made no mistake as for the rules, but please tell me quickly if I you think I did. There is one question that I can't answer : we were allowed to peacefully grab a spices site, but did we have to ? A spices site was available when I found it, but I didn't make a priority to get there, and the Spanish quickly settled there afterwards. But all in all, a nice variant, and with great chance of success on that level (gotta love the power of thalassocracy !).

Here is the complete turn log :
[b]Download Attachment: icon_paperclip.gif Epic43.txt (http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/kryszcztov/2004910125619_Epic43.txt)
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Any comment welcome, either here for CDZers or on the RBCiv forum for RBCivers.