OCC Comparison Game #1 2003

[Elephant]

Dont look like I'll beat you, Zenon. Should finish up tonight. I'm SSx-ing right now, but Carthage is still Allied and Enthusiastic. The Egyptians just got NucFiss, but should not have time to MP...

Straybow: if you are going for an early spaceship, dont kill any civ on your continent (even the Mongols!). Give them everything you can (especially Republic) to get an Alliance, pick a good city to set up trade routes with, and do the Roading and RRing yourself. I put off the weed and tree whacking to make it happen, and it paid off big!

[Scouse Gits]

Definitely persevere Rabbitman - that way you have something to beat next time

SG[1]

[Elephant]

Here's my summary:

ROME founded 3850BC (49,39)

Govmts-
Monarchy: 1850BC
Republic: 725BC
Democracy: 1340AD

Techs-
Trade: 1250BC
Medicine: 475BC
Construction: 20AD
Sanitation: 280AD
RailRoad: 920AD
Refrigeration: 1520AD
Automobile: 1540AD
Computers: 1690AD
Flight: 1740AD
Space: 1762AD

TradeRoutes-
1st TR: 900BC (Dye to Carthage)
2nd TR: 875BC (Hides to Carthage)
3rd TR: 375BC (Wine to Utica; 2nd Hides to Carth didnt give 3rd TR; replaced Utica with something to Carthage later)
Max Trade Arrows: 217

CitySize-
Size 8: 360AD (sh/b 250BC, or even 650BC, but popped out Settlers instead)
Size 12: 440AD
Size 20: 1540AD (LOTS of weeds & trees!)
Size 34(max): 1700AD

Wonders-
Colossus: 400BC
Copernicus:20AD
Shakespeare: 340AD
Newton: 1240AD
Apollo: 1766AD

Spaceship-
15-3-3-1-1-1
Launch: 1816
Land: 1831

SCORE: 295 38% Livia the Cruel

[Elephant]

And the (exhaustive) log:

http://apolyton.net/upload/files/Elephant/OCC20031.txt

And the City Screen at maximum Size, Arrows and Beakers (just after Computers, before Flight):

[Elephant]

Comments on this game:

One of the first things I noticed about the start was that the Continent number was #1. This led me to think that we had a single large continent with most if not all of the civs on it. My early goal was to check out the different possible city sites, emphasizing the river options, while trying to make as early and favorable contact with whatever civs surrounded me. I ignored the 4-Special spot on the peninsula as "too much work" and "too little grass". Other spots offered rivers, which can help out with extra trade once BrigeBuilding is discovered, and a lot more grass, although the one I chose with 3-Specials probably had too much work to be worth much more than the one to the west with only 2-Specials. Since I expected most of the civs to be on my continent I discounted the issue of access to the Ocean.

After a bit of exploring I ran into the Carthaginians, who though often warlike settled down into VERY nice neighbors after they got into Republic and the TRs started producing. THANK GOD FOR THAT BOTTLENECK! I blocked it with an Archer first, then after running a trade road through ("Carthage Highway", later "Carthage & Rome RR") built a Fort and put my two best NONE units there. Since we were Allied early Carth could have been walking all over my buffer space, but that block kept them out. Interestingly, they planted a city just to the north of my block, but never asked me to evacuate the block. I did everything possible to avoid having the alliance cancelled, even giving them NucFission when they got ornery and demanded it.

I posted a couple Dips on different peninsulas to see if anything was passing by, and noticed a Yellow Trireme end its turn within range. I sold my LIBRARY to get enough gold to go to sea, and never regretted it! I would not have been so successful at getting NONE Engineers and delivering repeating Gold freights to the Sioux had it not been for that first bribed ship! As the city grew the supplied commodities changed, but since I prioritized the Carthage Highway early every subsequent delivery could not knock off those top 3 routes. And what sweet routes they were: +37 EACH x3= 111 arrows alone! And with eight river tiles and two Silk I was swimming in trade!

Unfortunately I did not pay enough attention to getting all those jungles whacked down early. I could have done Shakes first in place of Copes but I did not have enough food to grow. I finally pumped out three Settlers to help my NONE one work, and traded those for supported Engineers after Explosives. This greatly delayed city growth, but once the land was cleared Farmland was a quick and easy addition. I could have gone for size 36 with a few transformations of Plains to Grass, but it was time to replant some trees to get to 32 Shields. By that time I had bribed three Engineers overseas, so the supported ones could be disbanded and some famine delayed. During the building of SpaceShip Structures ROME went into famine and bottomed out at size 30, but I recovered two of those by the landing.

[Scouse Gits]

Great game - well done

SG[1] - thinking about a voluntary visit to The Institute to hone up his OCC game

[Old n Slow]

Maybe you can get by with only a visit, but I think I'll need a longer stay.

[-Jrabbit]

Well, I'm saddened to report that I persevered...
and got clobbered!

The Carths and Egyptians ganged up on me and pounded Lagomorphia into total submission in 1926.

First civ game I've lost since Feb 2002 (which was my 1st-ever deity game).

Probably attributable to several factors -- only one NON unit from huts, late to monarchy, didn't get Cope's, and definitely insufficient skills at AI diplomacy. I had a hard time maintaining alliances.

Thought I was going to pull through it, but couldn't get any techs through trade or gift once it got late in the game. Once Flight was discovered, I was doomed to slow research. (Felt VERY weird to have the AI out-researching me...)



* -Jrabbit retires to The Institute for further study of The Paulicy. *

[tonic]

A pat on the back for reviving my favourite activity here in the exciting old OCC days. Will atttempt to reinstall Civ2 in the old Pentium 166 and feel the fever of mininising time (while wasting it ).

[-Jrabbit]

Originally posted by tonic
...in the old Pentium 166...

[tonic]

FYI "166" as in MHz. Those in the know label their Pentium incarnations with roman numerals I, II, III......

[Elephant]

Is anyone else (SG[1] may be out of it) ready to pick up the mantle and start an OCC #2?

[Old n Slow]

I’m an OCC follower (as was demonstrated by my last effort -- safe, but slow). I can’t speak for SG [1], but I see no reason why this should be an exclusive activity -- if you have a reasonable start (maybe a sense of a great location or two) I’ll have another go.

[Grigor]

I am unable to post readable saves, but I would be interested in playing an OCC game. Please post in 2.42, both zipped and unzipped format.

[duke o' york]

How many submissions were actually made for this?