An OCC Strategy Guide for Emperor and Deity

[ToeTruck]

GarP2:

I took a peek at your saved game. It looks to me that you’re doing a lot of things right and a couple of things wrong. Changing those things might help a bit, though.

Here’s what I see that looks good:
1) You’ve kept your military to a minimum. That’s one of the hardest things for an OCC player to do; most people want to crank out units thinking: “I’ve only got one city for crissake, I have to be strong!” Good job.
2) You’ve built all the key wonders and all the required improvements. Excellent. That’s hard to do no matter what level you’re playing.
3) Both England and Russia are Polite. That’s the way it should be. Gracious is better, but not guaranteed.
4) Neither England or Russia has Superconductor yet. If you're going to win, that's the key. I think.

Here’s what looks not so good:
1) You’re way low on cash. Not sure how it happened, but that’s the root of all the problems you’re facing right now.
2) Athens is size 27. I strive for (but don’t always get) a size 20 city with exactly 40 food. That maximizes my shield production while having a Granary protects me when pollution hits.
3) You’re using entertainers for happiness instead of luxuries. I know you’re short of cash, but right now your Marketplace bonus is not even being used.
4) You only have one Worker. Fighting pollution is a hard job; you probably want at least six workers to get it done.
5) I’m not sure what you’re starting position was, but the better site would have been one square directly east. That would have allowed you to work two mountains boosting your shield production significantly. I understand the value of an irrigated grassland-wines. That makes sense to me, but getting two luxuries in the same city radius is so rare that I would have jumped on it immediately. That said, hindsight is 20-20.
6) The Russians have SETI. Ergh. That limits your research tremendously. With Research Lab and SETI, your beakers (yeah, yeah, erlenmeyer flasks) would be much higher.

I’m not sure what to suggest as you’ve probably played beyond this point (I know I wouldn’t have sat still waiting for advice), but here are a couple of ideas:
1) Research Fission
2) Change to cash.
3) Buy luxuries.
4) Take a couple of turns to build workers and mine tiles until you’re at 21 or 22.
5) Not sure how to get the techs you need, but you might be able to steal and or buy your way to victory.

Great advice, eh?

GarP2, you’ve done a great job; at least I'm impressed. If you don’t mind, I’ll try playing your position to see what I can do from here on.

Good luck with where you're at now.

- TT

[ToeTruck]

I've been set up...



Well, that didn't last long. English declared War and trashed Athens as soon as I hit enter.

Any *earlier* saves I can look at GarP2?

- TT

[vmxa1]

That was a very good point about the Granary for pollution protection.
Sorry cracked up when I read you post about being set up.
YOu must have acrew large enough to clear off pollution before it tips the balance in balanced food supply.

[ToeTruck]

Thanks vmxa1.

That was a very good point about the Granary for pollution protection.

Once upon a time in an OCC game far, far away, I sold my Granary once I reached size 20 figuring: "I'm cool at max, right?" No...not right. Having a Granary gives you the cushion needed to irrigate non-polluted tiles when pollution becomes a problem.

Sorry cracked up when I read you post about being set up.

Yeah, I laughed pretty hard myself. Still am as a matter of fact.

I was sitting there concocting a grand scheme, trashing research, stealing techs, building Components...then ergh. Game over. Heh.

YOu must have acrew large enough to clear off pollution before it tips the balance in balanced food supply.

Even in non-OCC games, I often toggle irrigation on and off on tile #20 in about half my cities. In those games, it's not a big deal. In OCC games, it's pretty durn important.

Playing OCC, I try to have enough to clear pollution on a Hill. That gives me enough to take on two Grassland/Plains or 2/3 of a Mountain. Good enough for me.

Still chuckling.

- TT

[GarP2]

The funny thing is, that's not what happened in my game. I was never attacked. The AI launched their spaceship a short time after that save. I've since played another OCC game and was attacked by Persia. But essentially the same thing happened - I ran out of things to use to keep the AI civs happy. In the late industrial age, the AI just took off on techs and left me researching all my own. I had to trade sanitation and 350g to get steam power.

I'm going to read through your notes and try again.

GarP2

[DaveMcW]

Originally posted by GarP2
In the late industrial age, the AI just took off on techs and left me researching all my own.

The end of each age is tough. Techs get more expensive compared to the available science improvements, so the only way to keep up is to buy them. Try to find 2-for1 deals where you buy a tech and then trade it to another civ for a second tech. Save as much gold as possible early in the age.

If you fail to reach the next age the same time as everyone else, you've basically lost the game. It will be more productive to restart than try to play the modern age with no treasury.

[fanes7]

Does OCC mean "One City Combat"?

[ToeTruck]

OCC means "One City Challenge". You have to win while only having one city.

Most people play for Spaceship, Diplomatic, or Cultural victories, but Conquest victories are also possible as DaveMcW has shown.

- TT

[fanes7]

Woooo~

It's really a CHALLENGE, but it is too self-abuse.

Maybe sometime I would try it, but... it is too abnormal.


Thank you, ToeTruck.

[ToeTruck]

It's really a CHALLENGE, but it is too self-abuse.

You might be right, fanes7, but at least I am never bored playing OCC.

- TT

[ToeTruck]

Hey GarP2, how's your new game going?

I replayed your posted position from the last game and had a great time. Evidently, the English just wanted a couple of luxury deals.

Did you have Cultural turned off? The reason I ask is that something funny happened long about 1974. I thought I was going to get a Spaceship Victory and a Cultural victory in the same turn, but...instead I got neither. The game just continued without resolution.

I know that was a long time ago, but I was just wondering what you remembered.

Talk to you later.

- TT

[Cort Haus]

Great thread, TT.

I haven't done OCC for a while but I did a few after the AU game, and found that on tiny pangeas I'd usually lose to domination, as a strong AI munched up the other two.

Might try standard pangea OCC when I'm sick of my regicide conquest games ...

[ToeTruck]

Thanks Cort Haus,

I had the same experience as you playing tiny maps. It's way too easy for power to become unbalanced; one civ usually runs away with it.

And, at only one city, there's not much you can do about it. The big civ just ignores you and gobbles up the others.

I read about your regicide conquest kick on another thread. Sounds like fun.

- TT

[GarP2]

Originally posted by ToeTruck
Hey GarP2, how's your new game going?

Hi TT

just got back from vacation and I'm still recovering
I got creamed in the second game. Things went along great, then the leading AI civ just decided to take me out. Looked to me like the same problem again. Once you fall behind and dont have anything to offer, what use are you, other than a source of a little more territory? Going to have to look back at everything and refresh my memory before I try again.

I replayed your posted position from the last game and had a great time. Evidently, the English just wanted a couple of luxury deals.

Yeah, I replayed the turn before they took me out on one version and made them a deal and they didnt wipe me out.

Did you have Cultural turned off? The reason I ask is that something funny happened long about 1974. I thought I was going to get a Spaceship Victory and a Cultural victory in the same turn, but...instead I got neither. The game just continued without resolution.
I know that was a long time ago, but I was just wondering what you remembered.

I'll have to look back and see if I can figure it out (can you do that after the game is in progress?), but I havent been turning any victory conditions off. My version of Civ runs a little squirrely, though. I cant replay at the end of games, and a few other things dont work quite right. I've got the original out-of-the-box Civ III (1.09?) then installed PTW. Never patched since my game is on a separate computer from my web capability. Have been going to fix that but too many other projects right now. The replay problem was present in Civ III and loading PTW didnt fix it. Do I need to patch anything?

thanks,
GarP2

edit: apparently, I misused the quote button. Still learning. Think I got it right this time.

[ToeTruck]

GarP2,

You probably should add the PTW 1.21 patch. The out-of-box PTW was *way* flakey. I don't know for sure, but I bet there was something in the save format that caused the behaviour I saw.

Good luck on other OCC games.

- TT