AU302: One City - Strategy, Spoilers and Comments

[Dominae]

1310AD: India: Medicine for 868 Gold
Steal Industrialization from Celts "Safely" for 2060 Gold

I got a big scare here, as the AI appeared to (collectively) still have enough Gold to out-research me: one turn, I was up a tech, the next, through a trading frenzy, the AIs overtake me with Medicine, Industrialization, Communism and Espionage. No civ had any gpt left to buy my techs! If I could not be the tech broker, the game was all but lost...Anyway, I used like 10% of my huge Gold reserves to keep up, but this was not the way I wanted to earn my techs!

1320AD: Factory
1330AD: Coal Plant
1340AD: Celts: 61 Gold per turn for Iron
1360AD: Scientific Method
England: 149 Gold per turn and 6 Gold for Scientific Method
Korea: 68 Gold per turn and 17 Gold for Scientific Method
Rome: 56 Gold per turn and 3 Gold for Scientific Method
Celts: 50 Gold for Scientific Method

A dirty trick (to sell a tech that allows a Wonder for full price, the turn before you complete said Wonder), but this is OCC after all. This put me back into the tech broker saddle.

1365AD: Theory of Evolution
Atomic Theory
Electronics
1375AD: Rome: The Corporation and Sanitation for Atomic Theory
Korea: Communism, 57 Gold per turn and 93 Gold for Atomic Theory
England: 51 Gold per turn and 203 Gold for Atomic Theory
1380AD: Hydro Plant
1385AD: Rome declares war on English
1390AD: Hospital
1395AD: Celts: Spices for 23 Gold
Korea: Furs for 45 Gold

I'll stop mentioning these kinds of trades now, but they kept happening until the end of the game.

1400AD: Stock Exchange
1410AD: Police Station
1445AD: Universal Suffrage
1450AD: Sipahi

Having built most everythign of importance in the Industrial age, there was nothing left to do but research and broker techs. I figured this was a good time to ensure I would not be run over by an overly-aggressive civ sometime down the line. I was also planning for the eventual trigger for my GA (hence the Sipahi).

1460AD: Radio
Riflemen
1465AD: Civil Defense
1470AD: Coastal Fortress
1485AD: Korea: Espionage, 207 Gold per turn and 209 Gold for Electronics
Celts: Horses, 77 Gold per turn and 183 Gold for Electronics
England: 50 Gold per turn and 99 Gold for Electronics
Rome: 15 Gold per turn and 17 Gold for Electronics
1490AD: Celts and Rome declare war on England
1495AD: Intelligence Agency
Agent planted in Seoul for 118 Gold
Agent planted in London for 128 Gold

Ended up being rather useful.

1500AD: Revolution!
1515AD: Government: Democracy
Steal Refining from English "Safely" for 2014 Gold - FAILED!
Agent planted in London for 128 Gold
1520AD: Steal Refining from Koreans "Safely" for 2376 Gold

The Koreans wanted way more than this amount for Refining in a trade, so I just stole it from then. My Rep. and Korea's Attitude were so good that there was no real risk.

1530AD: Steel
1540AD: Worker
1545AD: Worker
1550AD: Infantry
1560AD: India: 8 Gold for Atomic Theory

A bargain, eh Ghandi?

1565AD: Korea declares war on England
1570AD: Infantry
1575AD: Korea: 85 Gold per turn for Steel
Korea: 121 Gold per turn for Radio
Celts: 125 Gold per turn for Radio
Rome: 73 Gold per turn for Radio
England: 68 Gold per turn for Steel
India: 4 Gold for Iron
1585AD: Artillery
1590AD: Artillery
1595AD: Combustion
Korea: Oil for 129 Gold
1600AD: Destroyer
India: 9 Gold per turn and 77 Gold for Combustion
1605AD: Destroyer
1650AD: Mass Production (Motorized Transportation in 10 turns!)

That parenthetical comment was acutally in my notes. I was pretty happy to research techs in 10 turns at the end of the Industrial age with only one city, giving that the maximum research speed is 4 turns.

1665AD: Battleship
1670AD: Transport

Here's a screenshot of a few turns before I reached the Modern age (notice the absurd Treasury):

[Dominae]

1675AD: Korea: 52 Gold per turn and 4 Gold for Combustion
England: 68 Gold per turn and 6 Gold for Combustion
Rome: 201 Gold per turn and 13 Gold for Mass Production
Celts: 65 Gold per turn and 2 Gold for Mass Production
Korea: 53 Gold per turn for Mass Production
1685AD: India: 2 Gold for Electronics
1700AD: Motorized Transportation
1705AD: Tank
Celts declare war on Romans
1710AD: Tank
Rome: Rubber and Gems for 13 Gold per turn
1715AD: Tank
1720AD: Tank
1725AD: Tank
India: 5 Gold for Radio
1735AD: Agent planted in Rome for 120 Gold
Steal Flight from Romans "Safely" for 2600 Gold
Rocketry

I entered the Modern age with a one tech lead. The AIs got caught up researching Amphibious Warfare and Advanced Flight, which made me think about the AU mod.

If you're paying careful attention, you'll notice that tech progress is very slow. In fact, I was the only one doing any real research! I had every civ's surplus going into my coffers with tech deals for quite some time. This and the constant wars (forcing the AIs into Monarchy or Communism) meant their research rate was way down. I really had no use for all the Gold I was earning. I was just ensuring that I would never be blown away in research.

1740AD: Infantry

I'll stop mentioning military units now, but suffice to say I had a nice force defending my empire by the end of the game.

1760AD: Korea: 123 Gold per turn and 16 Gold for Flight
Celts: 37 Gold per turn and 10 Gold for Flight
1770AD: Korea: Oil and 95 Gold per turn for Iron

Probably the most surprising and sweetest trade of the entire game.

1772AD: Agent planted in Entremont "Safely" for 105 Gold
1782AD: Declare war on England
Military Alliance with Korea versus England

I wanted to get Korea in on some fighting, since they started playing the builder game a bit too heavily for my taste.

1790AD: Rome declares war on England
1802AD: Space Flight
Korea: Aluminum for 21 Gold per turn
Rome: Amphibious Warfare, 112 Gold per turn and 283 Gold for Rocketry
Celts: 39 Gold per turn and 87 Gold for Rocketry

Another trading frenzy, the big one being for Aluminum from the Koreans. Without Aluminum, the game would have been lost, which indicates how important it is to be nice in OCC, since you'll never secure all the Strategic Resources yourself.

Here's a screen from the turn after I reached the Modern age. Notice the Battleship and Destroyers, which are escorting a Transport containing, most importantly, a Sipahi. I still had not triggered my GA!

[Dominae]

1808AD: Apollo Program

The space "race" begins! My tech strategy, now that I was in the Modern age, was to let all the AI civs have all their gpt back, since they could research some of the critical techs for me, meaning I could get the SS parts built more quickly. This shift from research to production when in the Modern age is important, since if you do not build the SS parts quickly enough (almost back-to-back), the AI might get ideas and start building them itself.

1818AD: SS Engine
1822AD: Steal Fission from Korea "Safely" for 2874 Gold
Korea: Uranium for 10 Gold per turn

1824AD: SS Cockpit
1828AD: SS Docking Bay
1840AD: SAM Missile Battery
1846AD: England: NOTHING for World map and 100 Gold

I could not afford to be a target, not when I was this close to victory. In any case, what's 100 Gold out of a 40k Gold treasury?!?

1848AD: Ecology
1852AD: Mass Transit System
1856AD: Korea: Computers for Ecology and 1295 Gold
1870AD: SETI
1872AD: Research Lab
1882AD: Steal Nuclear Power from Korea "Safely" for 2874 Gold

Korea wanted ~17000 Gold straight up for Nuclear Power. The cost of espionage was too low to pass up, if only to make for an interesting story.

1886AD: Rome: 141 Gold per turn and 140 Gold for Ecology
Celts: 3 Gold per turn 1439 Gold for Ecology
England: 6 Gold per turn and 202 Gold for Ecology
1890AD: Synthetic Fibers
1892AD: SS Exterior Casing
1894AD: Golden Age begun!

I defeated a 1HP Indian Infantry with my lone Sipahi. How heroic. My GA was largely wasted here, since I could build the SS parts in under 3 turns.

1896AD: SS Stasis Chamber
1898AD: SS Storage/Supply
1920AD: Superconductor
1922AD: SS Life Support System
1924AD: SS Fuel Cells
1926AD: Korea: Satellites for Superconductor and 540 Gold
Rome: 93 Gold per turn for Nuclear Power
1930AD: SS Thrusters
1936AD: Golden Age ended...
1942AD: England adds SS Docking Bay

I was not too scared at this point, since I was up 7 SS parts, plus some necessary techs.

1946AD: Korea adds SS Cockpit
1948AD: Korea adds SS Storage/Supply
1951AD: The Laser
England adds SS Engine
1952AD: SS Plantary Party Lounge

Victory!


Here's a screenshot of my city the turn after I triggered my GA (notice the Beakers!):

[Dominae]

If you're still with me at this point, I hope you've enjoyed this report (if not, why did you read it to the end!?). My goal here was not to show off (seriously), but to remove the mystical aura surrounding OCC, and demonstrate that it's easier than it sounds. If I were to offer one piece of advice, it would be to make sure you become a tech broker, by checking your Foreign Advisor screen almost every turn from the mid-Medieval age to the late-Industrial.

I also hope you're enjoying your own games. If not (if you still think OCC sucks), fret not, we should have a "normal" scenario up and running in a couple of weeks.


Dominae

[badams52]

Originally posted by Dominae
Here we go:

4000BC: Move Settler East, Worker Irrigates
3950BC: Istanbul founded

Cheater!

Nice overview Dominae, I thuroughly enjoyed reading it and yes, I read it all.

You really got a chance to find the other continent early, which I'm sure helps wonders in the AI strength manipulating. And I can really see, well not really since I couldn't take a close look at your map and relative strengths, how you could help India keep enough power to stay even with Korea. [edit: after looking at the maps, it looks like Inda never became strong enough to withstand Korean attacks, despite your efforts to keep them in the game] And I know just how important that iron can be, except for India when it comes to chivalry.

Originally posted by Konquest02
I looked at the replays from my two games and I think that in the first one, the English got a settler early so they were really meant to domine this continent.

The RNG at work...though after seeing Dominae's complete rundown, an earlier intervention might have been able to quel England's ultimate power, but who can tell?

If only the AI knew how to tech broker and create alliances just to keep the others as they want them. Actually, if only the AI was much better at handling money...

[Panzer32]

Continuation of my game

review: I'm at 1255ad; heading for democracy. I want to get engineering as my last GL tech before I get education.

1275: I get engineering this turn. 7 turns until I finish Printing press and start education.
1330: Major deal with Korea: Edu+Inv+WM for PrPress+WM+1370g. Researching astronomy for Copernicus'.
1380: University complete
1390: Celts destoyed; we had never made contact Next time, I'm definatly going to make sure my city is coastal!
1400: England gets Copernicus. This is what happens when contact is not there
1420: Astronomy; researching banking (Korea has it, but they won't trade )
1465: Traded for banking; decided to turn off research because I'm not getting anything earlier than anyone else.
1475: Contact with England et. al.
1590: Shakespeare's Theatre built
1630: England and Korea are at least 4 techs in front of me; my only hope is to get a cultural victory ASAP. Also, I still can't trade any luxuries... I'm really kicking myself for my city placement
1680: Romans destroyed. England = killer AI
1754: Not much happening... I have been buying techs from the Indians to get into the industrial age. Leaving off here... cultural victory in 130 turns, if I make it that far

[BRC]

I moved my settler east as well, Dom. We'll see how it turns out. Monarch, Babs, 1.21f.

[Ubergeek]

Dom, most impressive. I am but the humble Grasshopper.

[Dominae]

Originally posted by badams52
You really got a chance to find the other continent early, which I'm sure helps wonders in the AI strength manipulating.

Playing a few OCC games where I did not know the map, I learned very quickly that overally success depends criticaly on getting contacts with all other civs as soon as possible. Thus I consider the Great Lighthouse to be a key Wonder in OCC, assuming the map is not a Pangea. You're right that I did manage to contact the other continent earlier than most, giving me a noticeable advantage, but you'll just have to trust me when I say that I would probably have pushed for contact even more were I not sure where the other 3 civs (apart from India, Korea) were located. By the way, I tried to design the map in such a way that both the Great Lighthouse and suicide Galley strats are viable ways of getting contacts, with suicide Galleys being slightly more efficient.

BRC: nice to see you around again (...did you ever leave? )!

Panzer32, hang in there!


Dominae

[Wizard55]

2nd attempt at OCC

I played Monarch this time.

I made it to the Industrial Age, 3 techs behind the AI's

England and Korea where the 2 big Civs. Rome was holding their own and India had only one city left when they ended their war with Korea.

Now mine you I was Gracious the whole game and I was protecting India.

in 1790 AD England declares war on Rome and I kept feeding Rome money to keep they could keep up with England. I had 600 gold at one time and Rome would't trade for Techs. So sad.
If he would have gave me some Techs I would have given more money. England final got rid of Rome.

Korea, India and England are Gracious toward me .
They have been for the last 20 Turns.

Then I see on the screen that Korea and England do a MPP.
Next turn I see English Frigates and Galleons off my coast.
I make a ROP and a MPP with Korea.

Next turn England lands 8 cavalry on my shore. Then They attack.
Korea comes to my rescue and kills off the English. Then I see a bad thing. Korea declares war on me, GAME OVER.

WHY did this happen? I don't know!! It sucks.

[Wizard55]

Why didn't Korea go for INdia??

[Wizard55]

Dominae,
Impressed with your Victory.
I haven't finished reading all your threads though. My eyes were on fire from playing all night.

Originally posted by Dominae
1565AD: Korea declares war on England
1570AD: Infantry
1575AD: Korea: 85 Gold per turn for Steel
Korea: 121 Gold per turn for Radio
Celts: 125 Gold per turn for Radio
Rome: 73 Gold per turn for Radio
England: 68 Gold per turn for Steel
India: 4 Gold for Iron

Does this mean you got all this from the AI's???

I wish I could do that.

Well one more try, and this time for sure I'll keep a log.
So I can see where I go wrong.

Thnks for listening

[Mountain Sage]

&*^^$$%&^##@%$&^^**%^%$% and %#@@*%^)%%$# and $%**&&#%%^^

I should have,

1. Played at Goat Herder level instead of Emperor,
2. Re-set the game,
3. Cheated outright,
4. Gone for a Diplomatic victory
4. Told you I won at Deity with a 15-tech advance but forgot to save any game.
5. have shot the AI first
6. 'censured'

But no, I lost my Space Race for 1 %#$##@^& turn.

And this to those #@@$##%% Celts!!!

You know what really galls me? One of my (distant) ancestrors kicked the Celt's a@# a long time ago, and now they come back to haunt, taunt and #$#@@ me again.

OK, it's a game, but still #$%%^%$#

Please don't send me any messages like:
'I told you so...'
'Next time, play well under your level'
'I feel so sorry for you'
' Life goes on, and Civ too'
'So you finally came down from your mountain? How was the landing?'
'Welcome to the realm of mortal civvers'
etc etc etc

My inflated ego was seriously punctured anyway...

I'm off civ for 10 days now, so I have ample time to lick my wounds and prepare my sweet comeback.

Brennus, I have a score to settle...

MS bit of history about one of his ancestrors:
In 386 B.C. the Gauls under Brennus conquered Rome and requested a huge amount of gold to leave it standing. They put a huge scale in the forum and watched as the Roman citizen had to put their gold and jewellery on it. When a Roman complained that the scales were loaded, Brennus threw his sword on the scales shouting 'Vae victis' ('woe to the vanquished', loosely translated).
At the same moment, another sword crashed on the scales, this one thrown by my ancestror Marcus Furius Camillus, who appeared with his army and said to Brennus 'Non auro, sed ferro recuperanda est patria' ('Our homeland will be restored with iron, not gold') and kicked the Gauls all the way to the ... Swiss Alps.

[Mountain Sage]

Dominae.

great game.

With your Latin avatar, any chances that Camillus was also one of your (distant) ancestrors?

[Dominae]

Originally posted by Mountain Sage
But no, I lost my Space Race for 1 %#$##@^& turn.

And this to those #@@$##%% Celts!!!

If I understand your (semi) AAR correctly, in your game the Romans ousted the Celts from the main continent to your continent, and then the Celts attacked you with one turn left for your Space Ship win?! That's quite a story!

Try again, if you got that far the first time surely you can beat it the second time.


Dominae