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Introduction:
My intention for this series of games is to determine a research and building path that has a high likelihood of leading to a Spaceship Victory when playing with just one city on a Standard Map at Emperor. My thesis is that given a reasonably good starting position achieving an OCC Victory is a matter of execution; anyone can do it if given appropriate guidance.
Following this strategy also leads to Spaceship Victories at the Deity level as well, but it is far more difficult to do. Not impossible, just more difficult.
Initial Notes:
I have to think a bit about defining “high likelihood of leading to a Spaceship Victory”, but for now I’m happy with 50%. While writing this article, I played five Emperor games and one Deity game yielding two Spaceship wins and two Cultural wins. The Deity game was a loss, by the way.
I also must do a better job of defining “reasonably good starting position”, but for now I mean a position where the city site meets the following criteria:
I believe that a starting position meeting the above criteria is fairly common under any randomly generated Pangaea map of standard size. I have had the best success with the following settings:
Please note that I’m willing to hit “Quick Start” as many times as necessary to find a position that meets the criteria described above, but I’m not willing to reload once the game is started. Occasionally, I will reload a failed game to test a theory pertinent to the question at hand, but I will never report such a reloaded game as a victory.
I always play with Random Rivals, No Linked Start, and Normal Production. Sometimes, I change the Barb Level and the Victory Conditions, but my default game is Raging Barbs with All Victory Conditions.
This article refers to games with Greece because of its starting techs and my familiarity with its dynamics of play. I’ve tried other civs and would love to write up a guide for them as well, but for now I’m satisfied playing Alexander.
Strategy Overview:
This strategy is rather single minded. The goal is to produce a Spaceship Victory as quickly as possible. This approach can yield surprisingly early Diplomatic Victories and quite a few Cultural Victories as well, but the primary focus is launching.
If I had to identify a trademark aspect of this strategy it would be “Sell! Sell! Sell!” Think of yourself as a used car salesman with really bad cars…total lemons. No tech is worth holding onto; get what you can and move on. If you can’t get anything in exchange, give it away. Trade like there’s no tomorrow. No holding back. None. Ever.
Get the point?
Unless your head is now nodding and you’re sitting there saying: “Yes, TT, I understand!” reread this section. Think about it again and make sure it sinks in.
Think about it until you’re willing to trade Feudalism for 16 gold and a World Map, until you’re willing to give away Invention and Chivalry in the same turn, until you’re willing to buy Advanced Flight for 7200 gold just to give it away to every podunk civ on the planet, until you’re willing to spend 34 turns researching Space Flight just to offer it up, no strings attached, to your biggest rival. Think about it some more.
This strategy is single minded. Sell! Sell! Sell!
That said, there are times when I do hold a tech. Your head is still nodding, right? If not, think some more. Read this section again, and again, and again. Quick check: Sell Motorized Transport for World Map, 7 gold/turn, and 12 gold. Good deal, right?
If you even hesitated the slightest bit, back up. Start again. You aren’t ready.
Seriously, I had a hard time with this concept. It took me a long time before I could pull the trigger. It’s really hard. Another quick check: Sell Flight for Spices, World Map, 4 gold/turn, and 16 gold. If you can’t stomach that deal, back up, re-read, and re-think.
.
.
.
If you’ve made it this far your head better be bobbing like there’s no tomorrow.
.
.
.
Now the exceptions: Occasionally, and I do mean occasionally, I will wait until a previous gold/turn or strategic or luxury resource deal has expired before I trade. I will also hold a tech back when I can’t be sure I’ll build the Wonder upon which the tech depends.
A couple of specifics:
Those are the exceptions. That’s it. Otherwise, it’s Sell! Sell! Sell!
Required Wonders and Improvements:
This OCC strategy requires the following Wonders and Improvements to be built in approximately the listed order:
Alternatively, I skip Space Flight entirely and go straight for Fission and the United Nations. I find that the Sell! Sell! Sell! Strategy usually makes most of my rivals Gracious. A Diplomatic Victory is pretty easy to achieve.
Other Wonders:
In addition to the Wonders listed above, I’m often able to build Hanging Gardens, Great Lighthouse, and sometimes Sistine Chapel. That’s when I play Emperor; under Deity, it’s rare when I get one of those extra Wonders.
Basic Strategies:
Playing OCC is an exercise in micro-management. This section is more concerned with overall goals and higher level guidelines. The section following this one describes the micro-management techniques I use in playing OCC.
My basic OCC strategy for the Ancient Times is:
My priority during the Golden Age is to build the following:
My basic OCC strategy for the Middle Ages is:
My basic OCC strategy for the Industrial Ages is:
My basic OCC strategy for the Modern Age is:
Micro-Management Techniques:
If you like to micro-manage, OCC is definitely for you. Here are a couple of things I find helpful:
Reduce your expenditure on Research as the turns remaining approaches one. You can save big bucks even when you’re looking at two or three turns left. Duh. That’s a gimme.
Whenever you discover a new tech, click “What’s the big picture?” This allows you to trade the recently acquired tech before your rivals have a chance to get it on their own. This is especially important when you are getting techs from the Great Library or when your rivals are at peace.
Clicking on “What’s the big picture?” also allows you to change your build item at the last minute. I try to time my lead item to match my research. In other words, I want to see “Literature in 5” along with “Granary in 5”. That allows me to switch to the Great Library the turn I discover Literature.
When trading techs, trade a new tech to the second rival before the first. Often your second most powerful rival can give you the same techs in exchange, but the first rival can afford far greater gold/turn deals even if he is the second to receive the tech.
Trading to the second first also allows you to “see” techs further up the tree when you negotiate with the top dog. I can’t count the number of times I’ve traded Atomic Theory away for Industrialization only to realize that a better trading strategy would have snagged Industrialization and Refining or Steel.
Clearing Forests should be considered a source of shields once and only once. I only clear Forests for shields when building a Temple or Granary before the discovery of the Great Library. After that, the primary purpose of Forest clearing is to develop the city radius. In fact, you have to be careful not to “poison” a lead item with dirty shields.
Clearing Jungles is a pain, plain and simple. Even with two Workers, it takes 12 turns. Do it when you can and cringe the whole way through. My only advice is don’t clear a Jungle under Despotism if your Workers could be better used adding to the city size.
When building Railroads:
Regarding resources, a free-wheeling tech strategy usually brings in all the Strategic resources anyone could possibly want and a fair share of Luxuries needed to support a size 20 city. However, even with the best possible starting position, you will need to buy resources on the open market. When I do have to buy, here’s a list of what I buy and how many times I’m willing to pay for it:
When buying Luxuries, OCC players get bargain basement pricing. In my experience, the AI’s final price is about 90% of its initial offering. Deals come in three basic tiers:
I think there is a relationship between the number of shared civ-specific traits, aggression level, and the final price, but I haven't figured it out yet. Being Commercial figures in somehow, but again I don’t know how.
There is much, much more here that I haven’t even touched upon. Once I get this thread started, I will edit this post to include other micro-management ideas.
Milestones:
This is one of the hardest things to quantify simply because different combinations of maps and the civ-specific traits of your rivals yield wildly different results. That said, here are a couple of targets from my last successful Space Race Victory played under Emperor:
The order is a little skewed because of the Modern Times freebies in this game, but otherwise, it’s a pretty good gauge of OCC progress.
When I play OCC, my targets are as follows:
That’s it. Let me know what you think.
- TT
My intention for this series of games is to determine a research and building path that has a high likelihood of leading to a Spaceship Victory when playing with just one city on a Standard Map at Emperor. My thesis is that given a reasonably good starting position achieving an OCC Victory is a matter of execution; anyone can do it if given appropriate guidance.
Following this strategy also leads to Spaceship Victories at the Deity level as well, but it is far more difficult to do. Not impossible, just more difficult.
Initial Notes:
I have to think a bit about defining “high likelihood of leading to a Spaceship Victory”, but for now I’m happy with 50%. While writing this article, I played five Emperor games and one Deity game yielding two Spaceship wins and two Cultural wins. The Deity game was a loss, by the way.
I also must do a better job of defining “reasonably good starting position”, but for now I mean a position where the city site meets the following criteria:
- - Borders a body of fresh water allowing for a size 12 city without an Aqueduct
- Borders the coast to allow for building of The Colossus
- Able to produce at least two shields from undeveloped tiles at size one
- With 12 developed tiles producing a total of at least 18 shields under Despotism
- With 12 developed tiles producing a total of at least 30 beakers under Despotism with The Colossus
- With 20 developed tiles producing a total of at least 80 shields under Republic with a Factory and a Hydro or Coal Plant
- With 20 developed tiles producing a total of at least 350 beakers under Republic with Library, University, Copernicus’ Observatory, Newton’s University, Commercial Dock, Research Lab, and SETI
- Is within 4 tiles of the initial position
I believe that a starting position meeting the above criteria is fairly common under any randomly generated Pangaea map of standard size. I have had the best success with the following settings:
- - Pangaea
- 70% water
- Wet
- Temperate
- 3 billion years old
Please note that I’m willing to hit “Quick Start” as many times as necessary to find a position that meets the criteria described above, but I’m not willing to reload once the game is started. Occasionally, I will reload a failed game to test a theory pertinent to the question at hand, but I will never report such a reloaded game as a victory.
I always play with Random Rivals, No Linked Start, and Normal Production. Sometimes, I change the Barb Level and the Victory Conditions, but my default game is Raging Barbs with All Victory Conditions.
This article refers to games with Greece because of its starting techs and my familiarity with its dynamics of play. I’ve tried other civs and would love to write up a guide for them as well, but for now I’m satisfied playing Alexander.
Strategy Overview:
This strategy is rather single minded. The goal is to produce a Spaceship Victory as quickly as possible. This approach can yield surprisingly early Diplomatic Victories and quite a few Cultural Victories as well, but the primary focus is launching.
If I had to identify a trademark aspect of this strategy it would be “Sell! Sell! Sell!” Think of yourself as a used car salesman with really bad cars…total lemons. No tech is worth holding onto; get what you can and move on. If you can’t get anything in exchange, give it away. Trade like there’s no tomorrow. No holding back. None. Ever.
Get the point?
Unless your head is now nodding and you’re sitting there saying: “Yes, TT, I understand!” reread this section. Think about it again and make sure it sinks in.
Think about it until you’re willing to trade Feudalism for 16 gold and a World Map, until you’re willing to give away Invention and Chivalry in the same turn, until you’re willing to buy Advanced Flight for 7200 gold just to give it away to every podunk civ on the planet, until you’re willing to spend 34 turns researching Space Flight just to offer it up, no strings attached, to your biggest rival. Think about it some more.
This strategy is single minded. Sell! Sell! Sell!
That said, there are times when I do hold a tech. Your head is still nodding, right? If not, think some more. Read this section again, and again, and again. Quick check: Sell Motorized Transport for World Map, 7 gold/turn, and 12 gold. Good deal, right?
If you even hesitated the slightest bit, back up. Start again. You aren’t ready.
Seriously, I had a hard time with this concept. It took me a long time before I could pull the trigger. It’s really hard. Another quick check: Sell Flight for Spices, World Map, 4 gold/turn, and 16 gold. If you can’t stomach that deal, back up, re-read, and re-think.
.
.
.
If you’ve made it this far your head better be bobbing like there’s no tomorrow.
.
.
.
Now the exceptions: Occasionally, and I do mean occasionally, I will wait until a previous gold/turn or strategic or luxury resource deal has expired before I trade. I will also hold a tech back when I can’t be sure I’ll build the Wonder upon which the tech depends.
A couple of specifics:
- - I will not sell or give away Literature until I’m a turn away from building Great Library. At this point in the game, there’s little to gain. The AI doesn’t have a lot of cash to spare and I’m going to get all the techs anyhow, right? Occasionally, one of my rivals will demand Literature as tribute in which case I say ‘Okay’ and cross my fingers.
- I will only trade Astronomy if I can get a tech like Invention or Gunpowder in exchange or all the big lead items like Sun Tzu’s, Sistine Chapel, or Leonardo’s Workshop have been built.
- Under Emperor, it’s pretty safe to trade away Theory of Gravity. At that point in the game, the AI is more interested in JS Bach’s, Smith’s Trading Company, Magellan’s Voyage, or Shakespeare’s Theater. When playing Deity, however, it’s a different story. Then I am much more stingy with Theory of Gravity and Astronomy for that matter.
- After building Theory of Evolution, I always take Atomic Theory and Electronics. I will trade Atomic Theory around right away, but I will only trade Electronics if I can get a couple of “middle-line” techs like The Corporation, Steel, or Refining. Or, maybe a couple of big cash deals.
Those are the exceptions. That’s it. Otherwise, it’s Sell! Sell! Sell!
Required Wonders and Improvements:
This OCC strategy requires the following Wonders and Improvements to be built in approximately the listed order:
- - Colossus
- Granary (for a slow growth position)
- Temple (for a high growth position)
- Great Library
- Marketplace
- Temple (if you didn’t build it before Great Library)
- Cathedral
- Colosseum
- Harbor
- Library (must be built before the discovery of Education)
- University (sometimes I use University as a lead item for Copernicus’ Observatory)
- Copernicus’ Observatory
- University (if you didn’t build it before Copernicus’ Observatory)
- Courthouse (not required, but still worth it)
- Bank (sometimes I use Bank as a lead item for Newton’s University or even Theory of Evolution)
- Newton’s University
- Granary (if you didn’t build it before Great Library)
- Hospital
- Factory
- Theory of Evolution
- Hydro Plant (or Hoover Dam) – Sometimes I even build Hydro Plant then Hoover Dam
- Stock Exchange (or Bank first if you needed it as a lead item)
- Commercial Dock
- Intelligence Agency (not required under Emperor, but a must under Deity)
- Apollo Program
- Research Lab
- SETI
- Nuclear Plant (if my shield production needs an extra boost)
- SS Components (I often build the cheap ones in between Apollo and the discovery of Computers)
Alternatively, I skip Space Flight entirely and go straight for Fission and the United Nations. I find that the Sell! Sell! Sell! Strategy usually makes most of my rivals Gracious. A Diplomatic Victory is pretty easy to achieve.
Other Wonders:
In addition to the Wonders listed above, I’m often able to build Hanging Gardens, Great Lighthouse, and sometimes Sistine Chapel. That’s when I play Emperor; under Deity, it’s rare when I get one of those extra Wonders.
Basic Strategies:
Playing OCC is an exercise in micro-management. This section is more concerned with overall goals and higher level guidelines. The section following this one describes the micro-management techniques I use in playing OCC.
My basic OCC strategy for the Ancient Times is:
- - Research Writing at 1 beaker/turn
- Mine first, then road
- Build 2 Warriors and 1 Worker as quickly as possible giving priority to the Worker
- Explore until you have contacted two rivals; don’t tip huts
- Build Colossus as quickly as possible
- Replace Warriors with Hoplites while waiting for Literature
- Build Wealth once Hoplites are in place
- Research Literature at 100% once Writing is discovered
- Use Barracks as a lead item to the Great Library
- Buy Ceremonial Burial and/or Pottery as cheaply as possible for an better lead item, extra happiness, and quick growth as the opportunity arises or necessitates
- Join Workers to city as soon as 12 tiles are fully developed (less than 12 if happiness works out better or a rival is building the Great Library)
- Never have more than 4 units under Despotism unless needed to fend off Barbs or to develop tiles
- Buy or trade for Workers whenever possible (this applies to all ages, not just the Ancient Era)
My priority during the Golden Age is to build the following:
- - Marketplace - top priority, no question about it
- Temple – often built prior to Golden Age
- Cathedral - to reduce dependence on Entertainment
- Colosseum - to reduce dependence on Entertainment
- Harbor – to control the mix of shields and commerce and to allow trade for Luxuries
- A Wonder like Hanging Gardens, Great Lighthouse, or Sistine Chapel
- Library - not high priority, but must have Library in place before Education is discovered
My basic OCC strategy for the Middle Ages is:
- - Don’t research anything until Education is discovered
- Trade techs freely. Give techs away if necessary to keep your rivals researching techs you don’t have. This is often (not always) true even after Education as been discovered. You want to get Copernicus’ Observatory and Newton’s University built before the AI is done expanding.
- Make sure you have Library and Republic in place before Education is discovered
- Make sure you are spending as little as possible on Entertainment when Education is discovered
- Once Education is discovered, research Astronomy at 100% and then whatever techs are needed to get Theory of Gravity as quickly as possible
- Use Sistine Chapel, Leonardo’s Workshop, or Sun Tzu’s as lead item to Copernicus’ Observatory. Under Deity, however, it’s a different story. Try to have the AI build these Wonders before anyone even discovers Astronomy.
- Use JS Bach’s Cathedral, Smith’s Trading Company, Magellan’s Voyage, Shakespeare’s Theater, or even Bank as lead item to Newton’s University.
- Establish Embassies and investigate cities to track the Wonder building progress of your rivals
My basic OCC strategy for the Industrial Ages is:
- - Research Sanitation and then Scientific Method as quickly as possible
- Trade Medicine or Sanitation for Steam Power
- Stock up on Workers while not building anything else
- Try to railroad all 20 tiles in one 20-turn purchase of Iron and Coal
- Trade for or buy Industrialization if a factory is needed to boost production
- If you had to purchase the Iron, try to build a Factory during the same purchase as you railroad
- Make sure you are researching Atomic Theory when Theory of Evolution is completed. Sometimes you can research Corporation before Theory of Evolution is completed, but don’t count on it.
- Take Atomic Theory and Electronics as the two freebies
- Trade Atomic Theory around hopefully getting at least Corporation and good gold/turn deals
- Research Radio as quickly as possible and build either Hydro Plant or Hoover Dam.
- The AI usually goes for Motorized Transport so research Radio and Flight and trade for the others
My basic OCC strategy for the Modern Age is:
- - Get all other civs in the Modern Age to help with research
- Trade the free tech around freely
- Depending on the free tech, research as follows:
---- Free Tech is Rocketry. Choose one:
------ Research Space Flight. Trade for Computers. Build Apollo Program and start building SS
Components
------ Research Computers. Trade for Space Flight. Build SETI and Research Lab
--- Free Tech is Ecology:
------ Research Computers. Trade for Space Flight. Build SETI and Research Lab
--- Free Tech is Fission:
------ Give everything away. Build United Nations. Don’t bother with Space Race.
--- Free Tech is Computers:
------ Bring a Scientific Civ into the Modern Age. Trade for Rocketry. Research Space Flight. Build Apollo Program and start building SS Components
- One you get Space Flight, research Superconductor or Satellites and use it to trade for the other
- Establish embassies and spies
- Look for the opportunity to steal a tech from one civ and trade it to another civ for a second tech
- The Laser should be your last tech
Micro-Management Techniques:
If you like to micro-manage, OCC is definitely for you. Here are a couple of things I find helpful:
Reduce your expenditure on Research as the turns remaining approaches one. You can save big bucks even when you’re looking at two or three turns left. Duh. That’s a gimme.
Whenever you discover a new tech, click “What’s the big picture?” This allows you to trade the recently acquired tech before your rivals have a chance to get it on their own. This is especially important when you are getting techs from the Great Library or when your rivals are at peace.
Clicking on “What’s the big picture?” also allows you to change your build item at the last minute. I try to time my lead item to match my research. In other words, I want to see “Literature in 5” along with “Granary in 5”. That allows me to switch to the Great Library the turn I discover Literature.
When trading techs, trade a new tech to the second rival before the first. Often your second most powerful rival can give you the same techs in exchange, but the first rival can afford far greater gold/turn deals even if he is the second to receive the tech.
Trading to the second first also allows you to “see” techs further up the tree when you negotiate with the top dog. I can’t count the number of times I’ve traded Atomic Theory away for Industrialization only to realize that a better trading strategy would have snagged Industrialization and Refining or Steel.
Clearing Forests should be considered a source of shields once and only once. I only clear Forests for shields when building a Temple or Granary before the discovery of the Great Library. After that, the primary purpose of Forest clearing is to develop the city radius. In fact, you have to be careful not to “poison” a lead item with dirty shields.
Clearing Jungles is a pain, plain and simple. Even with two Workers, it takes 12 turns. Do it when you can and cringe the whole way through. My only advice is don’t clear a Jungle under Despotism if your Workers could be better used adding to the city size.
When building Railroads:
- - Concentrate Workers in the beginning of the 20-turn window when you have both Iron and Coal.
- Towards the end of the 20-turn window spread your Workers out. You can continue railroading current tiles once you lose your Coal or Iron, but you can’t start railroading new tiles.
- Save Mountains and Hills for last.
Regarding resources, a free-wheeling tech strategy usually brings in all the Strategic resources anyone could possibly want and a fair share of Luxuries needed to support a size 20 city. However, even with the best possible starting position, you will need to buy resources on the open market. When I do have to buy, here’s a list of what I buy and how many times I’m willing to pay for it:
- - Horses (never): Don’t bother. Ever.
- Saltpeter (never): Ditto.
- Iron (once or twice): You might need a second Iron deal to build Factory, but only rarely.
- Coal (once): Unless you are way short of Workers or have a ton of Mountains, you’ll never need Coal more than once.
- Oil (never): You only have one city; don’t try to be tough. Battleships and Tanks are for big dogs.
- Uranium (once): You need Uranium for SS Fuel Cells, but that’s about it. Building the Manhattan Project is fun, but totally unnecessary. That said, using an ICBM as a lead item for SS Components can cut several turns off your launch date.
- Rubber (once): You need Rubber to build SS Exterior Casing, but nothing else. Don’t waste your energy building Infantry. Remember, you are not a big dog!
- Aluminum (as often as necessary): Aluminum is the only strategic resource I will buy without a second thought. When the Space Race gets going, there is no way I will allow my source of Aluminum to dry up. Even if you don’t have an SS Component to build right away, renew that Aluminum deal. Period.
When buying Luxuries, OCC players get bargain basement pricing. In my experience, the AI’s final price is about 90% of its initial offering. Deals come in three basic tiers:
- - The AI asks for 80 gold: you can get it for about 72 gold
- The AI asks for 50 gold: you can get it for 44 to 46 gold
- The AI asks for 25 gold: you can get it for 22 or 23 gold
I think there is a relationship between the number of shared civ-specific traits, aggression level, and the final price, but I haven't figured it out yet. Being Commercial figures in somehow, but again I don’t know how.
There is much, much more here that I haven’t even touched upon. Once I get this thread started, I will edit this post to include other micro-management ideas.
Milestones:
This is one of the hardest things to quantify simply because different combinations of maps and the civ-specific traits of your rivals yield wildly different results. That said, here are a couple of targets from my last successful Space Race Victory played under Emperor:
- - 2110BC: The Colossus
- 2070BC: Writing
- 1450BC: Literature
- 1075BC: Size 12
- 0925BC: Great Library
- 0030BC: New Government: Republic
- 0280AD: Education
- 0370AD: Copernicus’s Observatory
- 0720AD: Newton’s University
- 1010AD: Hospital
- 1190AD: Size 20
- 1295AD: Theory of Evolution
- 1370AD: Hoover Dam
- 1565AD: SETI
- 1700AD: Apollo Program
- 1812AD: Launch!
The order is a little skewed because of the Modern Times freebies in this game, but otherwise, it’s a pretty good gauge of OCC progress.
When I play OCC, my targets are as follows:
- - Diplomatic Victory: 1700AD
- Spaceship Victory: 1850AD
- Cultural Victory: 1950AD
That’s it. Let me know what you think.
- TT
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