5th Apolyton Civ3 Tournament : 1-21/Feb/2002

[La Fayette]

Spaceship launched 1944 (2873pts IIRC)

First half of the game: many fights, in order to get elite units, then great leaders. Results: Persians, then Russians, then Greeks destroyed (apart from one Russian city left alive, which stayed very quiet afterwards). ONE great leader in 1120AD in Sparta. No more. Compared to any other game I have played up to now, this is very frustrating: ONE leader after hundreds of fights won by elite units!
Second half: peaceful growth and tech race. The Babs remained very smiling and willing to buy any new tech I had available. The Germans declared war twice, but mostly attacked infantry with bowmen: piece of cake.

[gus_smedstad]

conquest victory 1410 AD 4316 points

Like everyone else, I pruned the Persians back to one city early, though I didn't eliminate them until much later. After looking at the size of my continent, I decided to go for a pure military conquest, since I figured I'd never get the industrial base and research establishment I wanted on such a relatively small island.

I didn't get much use out of the Impis, really. Mostly it was a straightforward build-the-best-fast-attack-unit (Horsemen, Knights, Cavalry) game. Odd how Civ 3 encourages that just like Civ 2, but for entirely different reasons.

It took me a while to find another victim, but I eventually settled on taking out the Russians next. From earlier posts here, I was rather expecting to meet the Germans, but I didn't find them until the Russians were well out of it.

Surprisingly, there was a fairly nice island / continent to my south, that no one other than I bothered to colonize. I'm not used to that. Normally, every decent piece of real estate is taken by the time galleys become common. I did build my Forbidden Palace there, but I don't think I really got much out of it other than research, really. Maybe a few cavalry toward the end.

The so-called "Scientific" civs were all pretty backward throughout the whole game. I don't think I was at a tech disadvantage any time after my conquest of the Persians.

After that, it was Germans, Babylonians, and Greeks, in that order. I used Knights to take out the Germans and Babylonians, and Cavalry on the Greeks. The greeks got gunpowder a dozen turns or so before the end, but it wasn't enough to save them.

This is my first conquest victory, ever. I've gotten Domination victories before, but not conquest. It's also my earliest victory. I wonder if, given my position once the Greeks were down to a city or two, if milkiing growth for points Civ-2 style would have yielded a higher score.

I built a lot of wonders in Zibabwe. I can see how others would have gotten a Cultural victory out of it.

- Gus

[gus_smedstad]

By the way, I just realized this was a small map! Somehow I overlooked that when checking out the description. No wonder the game was over so early.

Oh, and I really thought that the previous record of 1420 AD for this map was going to stand. It was 1120 AD when I sat down to finish it tonight, but I figured wiping everyone out was going to take some time...

- Gus

[Sirian]

If you finish before about 1500AD, the bonus points should outweigh any gains you might get from milking. Maybe depends on the map size. But I've never seen over 4000 points except from early finish. Then again, I don't ever milk, so I don't really know what the potentials of that are. Still, on this small map, I'd think you'd have just been going downhill from there.

- Sirian

[Carcajou]

Tournoi #5 : Diplomatic 1961 AD

Please, in 1960 AD build United Nations in Tugela and ask
Leader Dingane to hurry improvement. Thank you !


Very nice starting location...
Early war with the Persians... why?
Discovered a western subcontinent for my forbidden palace using
the leader in a Persian battle.

Smooth beginning until the map was revealed : too many islands
to plan ahead. Where to go? What to do?

I went for Greek resources after their refusal to deal decently.

Too late for a Military victory and a Cultural victory seemed out of
reach.

My best chance was for a Diplomatic victory by destroying the
strongest nations.

Lucky enough to get a second leader against the Babylonians,
I decided to keep leader Dingane for the United Nations.

[LaMoe]

Cultural Winning at 1999

Here is my very first tournament try with an (nearly) unexpected cultural finish. About 1973 I realized that i will soon be winning. So I decided to keep peace at all kost.

In the beginning I started to destroy the Persians - so that i can expand on my own continent. Then i started to expand to the west and south. After some Wars against russia and the greek i could keep my level and getting slowly stronger than the others.
Germay and Baylon were very strong from the beginning and I always tried to keep good conections to them.

I was angry how the other nations were signing a MPP with me - then starting a war (i have to join the war) and only 3 rounds later making peace again. But i couldn't even speak to the nation i am still in war with.

I was quite impressed how quick the other nations expands.

(It was my first game as monarch and my second harder than chieftain - i guess i am quite a newbie).

- ah yes - if it's interessting: i got 2 leaders - the first in the war against the persians and the second in a short defense war agains russia
(that were my first great leaders i ever got in Civ III)

Let's have a look how the next game (number 6) will end

[Koro]

dominance victory in 1932, score 2902

It was easiest map to win!
Just build all wonders, then non-stop defensive wars because AI
opponents was very agressive. Bes government on current map is monarchy: democraty is impossible until war, communism makes corruption extremelly high: profit was high negative, no any production even in capitals! ==> I spend more than 20 turns on experiments with government type.


But can anybody open for me one secret: how to make fast conquest
with extremely high score?!

And about rule: no reload.

Normally the game needs near one week to finish.
==> it is impossible don't have reloads at all: I need to switch PC off from time to time.

I think limit in 10 reloads is good idea!

[7EA]

You can load the game as many times as you want just never reload a part you already continued playing.
For example if you load a saved game from 200 AD and play to 400 AD and then decide that those 200 years could have been used better, then you can't load the 200 AD save again and play from there, that would be cheating.

[Ghengis Brom]

Some quick questions for Mark

First question: Are we allowed to change the game and audio preferences as long as it doesn't effect the rules. For example, turning off the display shields and food, turning on team color disk, that kind of stuff?

Second question: Is it ok to use the various terrain enhancement mods?

I probably should have asked this sooner as I should be finishing Tournament 5 over the next couple evenings.

[mogon]

retirement victory 4252 points

It was too easy and i could and should have done better
AIs always accept ROP making things much easier ... GL and pop rushing helped me a lot, it was a pure despotic game.

250 BC Persians
570 AD Russians (ROP agreement)
1080 AD Germans ... god they were spread all over the map !
1345 AD Babylonians (ROP agreement)
1610 AD The greeks have only a single city left, i have razed all the rest to avoid domination victory
milking up to 2050 AD ...
i even have 5 future tech, well it's not worth all this boring building job : only 0.5 points

Have a look to new zimbabwe and its 133 shield production ...

[Sirian]

OK, here's my save file. Domination in 1120AD, score 5385, as reported earlier.


First thing I did was to build two more scouts. Even without the chance to grab any huts, having a good look around can make a big difference, so I always build at least one more scout with any expansionist civ. Then I built a settler, which headed for the fresh water location. I found the Persians by now and they had a slow start, so I kept right on expanding. Next a barracks, then one impi, a settler, some more impi and one more settler, with barracks going up in my three new cities. I only had to build one regular warrior in my core cities, to defend a new city from a curious Persian warrior. All the rest I was able to hold off building ANY units until I could go right to vet impis.

With four cities, I started building troops (not poprushing). I attacked the Persians and even attacked their capital, but up on that hill, it was too much. I lost one impi and an archer, killed one spear, but they had two more! And all my troops were now down to 1 hp, or dead. I ended up pillaging all their roads and mines and such, and lots of their archers, then making peace. I got Alphabet and Horseback Riding from them in the peace, then I honored the 20 turns agreement before attacking them again. My golden age (from impi attacking) was spent building the Colossus in Zimbabwe, more troops and then settlers and some temples at my other cities, then more settlers at Zimbabwe too. I set full on to research writing and mapmaking, at the best rates I could pull -- which on a small map like this, and backed by colossus, were not too shabby!

After the first peace treaty expired, I attacked again. With a stack of about ten units, half horse, half impi (some elite), and more coming, I took out the Persian capital, with some difficult losses to my forces (elites dying, and no leaders emerging). I was HOPING they would give me their brand new third city, but it didn't happen, so that's the one they got left with, out on the peninsula by all the incense, cornered like rats, as I destroyed their other city too. I fortified units in a wall across the land there, and without boats, they could not move past me, so they were caged -- and I had every intention of leaving them there to sit and rot until I was confident they wouldn't respawn somewhere else. With about ten cities on my continent now, but only five of them real producers, with three more in the "not hopeless" range, able to do better than 1/1 with courthouse. Every other city on the map was pure whipping fodder.

I had no idea what I would find, and won't give it away even now, except to say that I played peacefully to the fullest extent that I could, rapidly settling the entire world, and only going after the AI's in earnest when I needed parts of their lands to reach the domination threshold. The Great Wall is the other wonder I built, and every city I owned all over the world would sit around for 21 turns, gathering shields, then rushbuild a temple, then build walls (the walls came first in a few cases) then poprush units the rest of the game, or a harbor now and then, to send luxuries home and bring others in. No barracks or granaries, except in four key "high food" locations that I got started on early.

The Russians in particular attacked me quite nastily at some of my northern colonies, and if not for the defense boosts of the Great Wall, I'd have lost up there and been slowed a good bit. I came under attack several times by the Greeks, as well, but all my colonies just turtled through it, which is a good thing, as I was so widely scattered, that for all that I had hundreds of units, only my core in the heart of my homeland was more than lightly defended.

Partly because I had so many nonvet units, poprushing at scattered colonies with no barracks, and partly because I really didn't do all THAT much war until the final ten turns, I didn't get a leader until the next to last turn. Oh yeah, and I didn't build a single knight. It was all pikes and impis on defense, all longbows on attack, with some sword and horseman support, but mainly the longbows.

As I was growing frustrated, thinking I ought to have enough land by now to have won, I finally remembered the option to ask for cities in peace negotiations, so my last turn I did that, making peace with the three remaining civs and being given about seven or eight cities, which put me over the top.

This game played quite differently. I've never done the ancient poprush thing to this extent, nor had I ever played a whole game in despotism before. What really made this map for me was the lack of barbarians. I was able to send galleys all over without having to fight off barbarian galleys, and I was able to send just settlers in some cases, with later ships bringing units to defend the new colonies. More distant colonies, I had to send a defender with the settler, but by then I had my act together a little better.

I had one frustration. Germany beat me to Hanging Gardens by ONE turn! I had to swap to Copernicus and build that instead. That was all too late to really matter, though. I won on the strength of Colossus (for research power, to get off my rock quickly and get to pikes, then longbows, early enough to matter, and at the end to get caravels and be able to sail on deeper waters) and the Great Wall (to allow me to defend my badly scattered, thinly managed, sprawling colonial empire without ever losing any cities to the many AI attacks mounted on them).

Pure expansionism, a little war, and no dirty tricks, other than the exploitative poprushing, away from my homeland. Just lots and lots of longbows (about 90, counting all the casualties - I had a lot of units by the end) and just enough settlements to spread my borders over the land with temples in place.


- Sirian

[elric]

Slow Cultural Victory

Hi,

I guess I am kinda new at this,

Started out by wiping out the persians but then sat tight for too long and let the other civs build up too much. After that it was a up hill struggle to keep up with them technology wise and to try and attack. The computer civs always seem to get the necessary resources. (I am only bitter because I didn't have much iron)

Anyway Slow but cultural.

Must try harder!

[D.K]

hi all

my first post and first touney

started by taking persians early - no milking, just wiped them out early as poss - they respawned on same island on northern peninsula where they were finished off a little later.

i then went east and found the russians. I earned a great leader killing them but held off building forbiden place as land was poor

colonised southern contintent during attack of russians and then moved attack force onto germany. Built FP in Berlin.

moved from germany south into babylon and finally got knights for the assault on greece although the majority of the taskforce was horsemen.

conquest victory around 1400AD

forget exact score - in the region of 4200

[Ghengis Brom]

I ain't proud

Here it is, my first completed Apolyton Tournament. Figures it would take the easiest map yet for me to get out of the stone age. I learned a lot from this one though.

Mandatory Retirement in 2050
2nd place behind the Greeks
Score 1541

I have reattached the file using the proper naming convention.

[Eflin Soth]

domination victory

Domination victory in year 1150. Very good, 5404 point



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