space race with minimum cities-strategies-

[catullus]

Well, I started this mess, so I just had to have a try. And another. And another. And... you all catch the drift. So, I made it. Sort of. SS landed in 2071. Don't laugh.

Strange thing: The Americans buildt Apollo by 2010 or something, and had all tech by 2020, but they never buildt a single SS part. They were busy fighting the Japanese (thanks to my little greasing of their palms), so they never bothered enter the race.
Specials: Whale, fish, pheasant and wheat. Wonders: Col, HG, Copernicus, INC, ST are must-haves. Missed out Leo (most my NONE units were dead by then anyway due to raging hordes) or KRC. Buildt UN, probably an OK investment. Hoover (I desperately wanted a hydro plant, but had no rivers/mountains), most probably a waste. And Manhattan, when the Americans beat me to Apollo. I had SDI already, so why not?

But how cut 150 turns from the game? Two mined no-special mountains and a pheasant square were wasted trade-wise. And the city itself was founded on hills (that stinks majorly). It never grew past size 29. Next time, I'll finish before 2020.

C.

[Ming]

Gambler... heh heh heh... Congratulations, that's a great score. Take a look at the other challange thread... you will see what you have to beat for despotism.
Cattulus
Never start on a hill... It sounds like you are playing the game in a normal fashion instead of concentrating on the key goal... SCIENCES. Building MP must have been a real waste of resourses... why not be building the many food caravans that will allow you to build a space ship part every turn?
And giving money away to start a war?
A better focus should cut many years off your last attempt.

[Theben]

Catullus,
Use your engineers. This applies to every game not just this one. Engineers should change your mountains to hills(unless you have a fort on them for defense) and even settlers could turn your pheasant to buffalo. In the end, buffalo w/farms, rr's out performs pheasant every time UNLESS the pheasant is on a river square; then the DEF bonus may cause you to keep it. If you are near rivers then use engineers to create hills on rivers. They will have a great DEF bonus+mines+trade from river.

[Theben]

Ming,
Aren't you supposed to be working now?

I often give money to the enemy to start a war, then demand tribute the same turn. Doesn't always work, but most of the time I'll get my investment back and then some.

Catullus,
Missed the starting on a hill thing. Yeah, don't do that. Start on a river square. Later you can turn the city square into a hill and the food/shield/trade will=plains but you get a defensive bonus.

[Bird]

Two more strikeouts this weekend. Got close once (had all the structurals built by 2020 and no one else had even started). One thing I've noticed is that my best attempts have all involved extensive goodie hut searches prior to settling the city. You never get barbarians until the city is founded, and once you settle the city it seems like half the huts contain them. This is such a notable difference that even if I find a good starting spot early on, I'll have the settler improve it while the other one continues hunting with the other units I've found.

[Nakin Tames]

Heh, this is teaching me a lot.
Tried my second go at one city, definitly doing better.
As Bird said, and Ming also I believe, it pays to goodie hut before first city is built, while looking for a good city site.
This time I got a whale, buffalo and coal with six river squares. I also got six good non units(4 archers) before I started my city. By the way I always start as the Romans
since they go first(any white civ would do). And since I don't build a city right away I think that retards the AI cities as well, would have to check it out via the cheat menu. Even though I didn't start my city till 3200 BC the other civs didn't have more than two cities and I think three of them didn't start till after I built my city. Also since I had 6 good non-units, tribute was a dream.
I got 1000's from the other civs and my allies the Babalonians once gave me 450 as a gift "To our gracious allies".
For someone like me who is still learning the ins and outs of the game I think it would be easy to win with three cities. One capital and two say size 8 cities doing nothing but producing caravans to suppliment the capitol, with an occasional stint at producing a large amount of diplo-spys.
Nakin

[catullus]

Start on hills: Didn't really want to, but that was the only 4-special hub square around. I meant to start mining it before founding the city (press m for the first settler, b for the next), but I screwed up. And I stand by my mistakes. Engineers can transform city squares? I should have known.

Yes, I should have chopped down the pheasant forest. Stupid of me not to.

Manhattan just came to be. I was halfways to Apollo when the Americans started, so I thought I'd just let them build it. I did get an SS part a turn, more or less anyway. Buy a temple, switch, buy a module/component. Had some cash, you see. For the habitation module, I disbanded my NONE settler. A nice tribute to the trusty old pioneer, being the first to go to AC.

Next game: All squares should produce trade (coal only allowed exception). Must remember to build on/near river for hydro. More aggressive use of demanding tribute, bribe units if possible to increase power. Maybe try the SoL trick for tribute?

C.

[Ming]

Nakin Tames... yes, it would be easier to win with three cities instead of one... but what's the challange?
catullus... Go for it. I'll bet your next try is a success. It's only fitting since you started all of this.
Theben... Yes, I do work for a living, but that doesn't mean I can't take a short break and check this place out.
Bird... I use the goody hut openning strategy all the time. But in a single city game, I think it's even more important so you can find the best available city location.
And Gambler... after re-reading what I posted about your record, I hope you didn't take it wrong. Anybody that can do this challange deserves our full congratulations.
This is indeed a tough one, and proves that you have knowledge of all elements of the game. The record is one thing... but just doing it says a lot too.

[geofelt]

catullus: Don't get hung up on a hydro plant. If you have recycling, then a power plant will do. Its cheaper with less maintenance. If you build solar plant, you can sell the power/recycling to get over 60 pollution-free shields.

[gambler]

Ming,
don't worry about your statement, if it had something wrong inside, well, my English isn't good enough to find it.
But you'd better be worried about your record, because I WANT TO BEAT IT !!! :-)

[Ming]

Gambler (and everybody else)... go for the record. It would give me and rah a reason to try it again. Until then, it will be other challanges and MP for us. Good luck!

[Theben]

I used to work in the Lyric Opera building on Wacker drive, but they transferred us all out to Deerfield, of all places (grrrr...).

[Theben]

Ming,
The reason I said that on Monday was because we're both in the Chicago area-so same time zone-and I figured you'd guess I was at "work" as well. Monday I was at Apolyton for 8 hours straight. And I'm at "work" now, too.

[Ming]

Theben...
I should have checked your profile...
I thought you were giving me grief. But if you notice, many people post from work.
After dealing with some stupid idiot, or waiting on HOLD for somebody, there is nothing better then jumping to Apolyton to see what's new. Some days, it's the only enjoyment I can find. Where do you work?
I'm downtown on Michigan Ave.

[Nakin Tames]

Hey! I finally did it. Well, sort of.
Anyway my ship will land in 2075. Not too bad for my second attempt. Had a pretty good site with whale, buffalo and coal. A bottle neck that cut of all the other AI's but one(Sioux) and they were late bloomers. I'm starting to get it, but I think I had too much bad terrain, 4 mountains. Missed CO but got all the other necessaries. This is fast and challenging.
Nakin