Victory from the jaws of defeat

[Guynemer]

In games where you have emerged victorious, what is the most you've been otherwise behind?

Just finished my first game as the Dutch, spaceship victory (by the skin of my teeth). Huge random map. Not a single SGL, didn't gain even the merest hint of a tech lead until early Industrial Age, and it was gone by the time the Modern Age arrived. Sumeria dominated virtually the entire game; I took great pains to keep peaceful relations, as I would've been overran in a heartbeat if I had picked a fight. Here's the victory status screen:

[Guynemer]

And here is the power graph... never seen anything like it. Sumeria was building their final three parts of the SS when mine launched.

Monarch difficulty... I must suck.

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

You were third, there's a lot civs that look as if they got squashed.

[Guynemer]

It was unreal. Christ, even when the Ruskies were the first to go, they were 2x their nearest competitor.

Especially in the final part of the game, from the end of the Industrial Age on, it was one after another... Iroquois, India, Hittites, Ottomans, Aztecs... these were civs that, while small, were very nearly equal to us in tech. And by small, hell, the Ottomans & Aztecs were probably 80% my size. Sumerians went through them like butter.

Of the ones that didn't survive to the end, the only one the Sumerians didn't wipe out were the bass-ackward Yanks, who were squashed by the Zulu.

I think this was my first true "killer AI" experience. It was very impressive.

[asleepathewheel]

good stuff

what was the level on this

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

I have felt the AI does better with the Sumerians than other civs in my Conquests games.

[vmxa1]

I think NYE posted a game recently where he was down 11 techs and won. I foget what type, but I thinl it was domination.

[vmxa1]

That graph looks about as strange as it can be. Aztec are not even on the score board and have power of 3/4 of the map.

Summeria has nothing much and its score it way past all?

Was this a std epic game and rules? What map size?

[Guynemer]

No, you're looking at the Sumerians; it doesn't line up right w/16 civs, so you have to go by color & order. Aztecs are the brighter green who disappear near the end.


This was on Monarch.

What are Sumerians' traits? Agri/Sci?

[Guynemer]

It was a huge map; slight alteration of game rules: no cities in desert, tundra, or jungle (to encourage more colonies and eliminate the stereotypical crap city landgrab the AI does), and no mining in grassland (more an aesthetic choice than anything else).

[vmxa1]

I should have notice the colors did not match up.

[pauli]

no cities in desert, tundra, or jungle (to encourage more colonies and eliminate the stereotypical crap city landgrab the AI does)

hmm. i may have to try this.

[steven8r]

Guynemer, are you playing 'unpatched'? It looks like the Sumerians are benefitting from the gpt bug.

I had a game as the Spanish that was similar to the one you describe. I wasn't able to expand too large at first, and I was always behind in tech AND I didn't have Horses, Coal, or Rubber for the longest time. The Koreans and the Hittites were BOTH KAI's in my game, though the Hittites were just a bit larger than the Koreans.

I managed to launch my spaceship before the Hittites had built their final part. Whew! :releif: Just barely eeked-out a win on that game.

Congratulations on your hard-fought victory. It just goes to show that even when behind, the human has an edge that the AI will never have (at least not till about CivXV).

Steven

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by vmxa1
I think NYE posted a game recently where he was down 11 techs and won. I foget what type, but I thinl it was domination.

That would be me, but its an honor to be confused with NYE I'll post some screenies to this thread, probably.

[asleepathewheel]

Emperor
1.15
Standard, 8 civs
Archipelago
all standard rules, except no diplomacy victory and....

no culture flipping. Which definately skewed the game in my favor, as I was whipped by all comers in culture. I'm not sure if this "cooks" the game, but I just don't like playing with cf on. an embarrassing admission.

A few notes before the pics. I ended the game about 11 techs behind. I say about, because in all likelihood, the Dutch would build ToE within a few turns. Luckily for me, they researched bad techs like ironclads and every optional tech save music theory (!) so they were only a few real techs ahead, but they had gained replaceable parts. They also built 9 medieval wonders (ie. all but Bachs, too bad I didn't have time to research and build it) and Universal sufferage, on top of having several ancient wonders, lighthouse and a few others.

The lighthouse is what made the dutch the KAI. They were allowed to leave their solitary island and raid the other islands of the world. Had it not been for that, and their seafaring ability, they would have been just another backward civ.

While the game doesn't appear close land/population wise, the game was a struggle from the beginning. Compare my start to the following end game dutch shot. Note: the vast majority of the land sorrounding and north of london was swamp and jungle.