Sigh.

Summary: I just didn't "get it", discovered I was floundering, and eventually abandoned the game because I wasn't able to find a way to make progress.

If you take Sullla's report, and reverse pretty much every detail, you get a good description of my game. But to touch on the high points

This was my first attempt at Epic speed - so my instincts here were not of any help at all.

I haven't touched an Archipelago map in I don't know how long. (Prior to Frozen Jungle, I believe, from which I date actually starting to understand this game at all; prior to that time I was collecting tokens rather than attempting any sort of a plan).

And I felt completely boxed in by the rules. I probably should have isolated my doubts and asked about them in the game thread, but the whole "must trade gems if there is a buyer" thing (a) felt like it was cutting into my options, since I didn't feel like I could act against a civ that I was selling to (b) the novelty of checking the resource screen each turn to see if a new buyer was available got old very quickly, not to mention hoping for a chance to renegotiate a slightly better deal for myself © as relations decayed, the deals kept getting more and more lopsided (gems + gold + clam for ivory + 2gpt)?

I ran the game out to 1382 AD, but had no idea where I was going, or how to get there, or what was the right approach to my immediate problems. So, I took a break at that point, hoping to find my way, and never did. So that's where I left it.

So five gems connected and traded by 1382. The sixth (near the mountain, directly east of Delhi) had a settler and garrison parked next to it, ready to go as soon as I wanted it, but since I didn't figure I was in the running for firsts I was waiting until settling that city made sense - Toku was too poor to buy gems anyway. Five points for trashing cities to score gems. Four points for Magellan's voyage. Another 9 points for seafood.

Most of the traps Sullla alluded to, I think I fell for. I was figuring that Mining would be enough to keep an initial worker busy for a bit, so I started with a worker build while researching Bronzeworking, Fishing Hunting Sailing Animal Loving. Gotta figure I was a bit slow to be growing on that start.

I ended up building Stonehenge (before the stone was hooked up), so you know I killed production in Delhi. I also grabbed Pyramids - pyramids and spiritual go together nicely, and it's another way to get hammers on a map that doesn't have many, but I don't believe I had either of those ideas in mind. I simply collected the token, parked myself in Representation, and sat there - a completely non spiritual lump.

I also landed the Colossus (another set of handcuffs, since I never want to get Astronomy), but missed the scoring goodies (Gardens,Lighthouse) - a deadly lack of production, I believe (or a lack of planning my cash flow so I could buy rush it).

Brief war with China to liberate the gems (the same city pair everybody else faced). I decided to keep Guangzhou for the fish, and since I had an artist on hand I promptly culture bombed the whole mess).

The useful city to the south with the wheat was settled by Julius, who was ahead of me by a small margin for most of the game.

What really did me in was that I kept slamming into health limitations (I've been taking that part of granaries for granted for a long time). I never did work out that yes, I was supposed to plant cities just to claim a single resource. And I don't think it ever sunk in that, since I was Organized, this would be ok.

Which is weird - my signature pre-game analysis would normally tip me off to this sort of thing. As far as I can tell, I didn't do one for this game, aside from a bunch of scribbling to work out how long each improvement would take.

Pebkac.

On to the next, hopefully a better player than when I started this one.

See here for the report.

Due to negligence on my own part, i had to submit this as shadow. I apologize for that.

--

Hi,

you can find my report on my site, as usual.

Looking forward to read the other reports...

-Kylearan

My game was uneventful and milking for scenario points made the game boring. One thing I don't like about tiny islands is the way the AI settles cities all over the place so the final map looks like a patchwork quilt. I played without much of a plan, deciding with about 200 turns left to win on
points in 2050. This would give me time to earn as many scenario points as possible.

I didn't go for the Oracle, thinking that building settlers and establishing the Great Lighthouse as soon as possible was more important. Maybe I should have established a city at the northern tip of the home island to make use of the quarry square, but I didn't do that until very late in the game.
Another mistake I made was building the Statue of Liberty. What a joke wonder on archipelago maps! The Civ 1 artifact of wonders effecting only cities on a certain continent ought to be modded out of the game and replaced at least with top 10 cities or something. Building SoL (S*** outa luck?) cost me losing Kremlin to Cathy who used a Great Engineer to steal that one. I also failed to aggressively establish cities missing out on a corn/gold city the AI grabbed in 1694 AD as well as the wheat island, with fresh water to the south of the starting island. Another bonehead play was when I used a great scientist to contribute research points. Then I unloaded a transport and found another great scientist. Thinking I had found a bug and able to use this guy twice, I disbanded this great scientist. Afterwards, I tried to duplicate this "bug", and discovered that I had had 2 great scientists on hand.

The AI made some dumb moves, too. Mongolia built a city in the arctic to control a silver resource, so I razed that city only to discover another Mongolian city further north controlling the same silver!

I waited until 1898 (very late, I'm sure!!) to start the resource grabbing wars. Japan was attacked first, to grab the aforementioned gold/corn city. I was planning to switch to environmentalism for the 6 health points to achieve the 25 health points required for large cities, but realized very
late that that was against scenario rules. Even later I discovered, genetics and future tech would have secured the needed health points. The next battle was with Cyrus, who had a city on a gems island, but the gems were in Russian territory, so the AI could never hook it up. I captured Cyrus'
city (infantry really don't defend well against marines, battleships, and a few artillery), then culture bombed it, hoping to secure the gems that way, but it didn't work. In fact, the culture bomb effect did not work immediately. Some squares remained neutral and only flipped to me a few
turns later after a few citizens starved. So, I had to attack 'friendly' Cathy. She didn't mind losing Yaroslav, and we were soon good buddies, again. Rome, was next for his gem resource and his city fell easily, so my resource wars concluded in 1966. The only civ I never fought with was China. The rest of the game was a kind of milking for scenario points, with many cities founded to claim 1 or 2 islands.

Mongolia declared war on me in the last 10 years of the game, so I was unable to have him for a customer at the very end.

I realized that an island city with 2 fish would yield 50 food and enough for a size 25 city. With 2 clams/crabs I would need 2 great merchants to settle there. Of the 6 cities that I built to size 25 4 need 1 great merchant and 1 needed 2. I had a lot of difficulty keeping my GP generators "pure"
because the game always wanted to make scientist specialists especially when I was at war and an enemy ship passed through. It was annoying to always cycle through the cities to change this back, but I was fortunate to get all the great merchants I needed. I add an option to "work any square
before making specialist" to the city manager in the next patch/expansion.


Scoring: 278 plus possible Firsts (only for connecting gems). Others not applicable.

25 Time victory. 25 pts - Victory (any sort).

30 5 pts x6 EACH source of Gems you control at game's end.
25 5 pts x5 EACH "Customer" for your Gems at game's end.
20 5 pts x4 EACH source of Gems you control in 1500AD.
9 3 pts X3 EACH source of Gold you control at game's end
6 2 pts X3 EACH source of Silver you control at game's end

5 5 pts If you capture or raze cities solely for the purpose of gaining control over Gems, Gold or Silver supplies.

8 8 pts Build Globe Theater in your capital
5 5 pts Build the Taj Mahal
4 4 pts Build Magellan's Expedition (circumnavigate the globe first)
3 3 pts Build the Great Lighthouse
2 2 pts Build the Hanging Gardens

5 5 pts For every Gems resource, build a Laboratory in the closest city

47 1 pts Each island (of ANY size) under your complete cultural control at game's end.

48 8 pts x6 For EACH city of size 25+ at game's end. (Must be a city you founded by 1500AD).

4 4 pts Build the Strategic Missile Defense
4 2 pts X2 For EACH unit of Future Tech you research (maximum of 5).
10 1 pts X10 For EACH ICBM unit you possess at game's end (max. of 10).
18 1 pts X18 For EACH sea-based resources that is controlled and connected by 1500AD

sub total 278. And my dates for applicable firsts.

220 BC 3 pts - First player to have two Gems sources connected.
50 AD 3 pts - First player to have three Gems sources connected.
305 AD 3 pts - First player to have four Gems sources connected.
1940 AD 3 pts - First player to have five Gems sources connected.

1966 AD 5 pts - First player to control all Gems sources in the world AND also have all six rival civs as Customers.

I’m posting a summary for now. I plan (hope) to have the report up Wednesday. I just finished, and I will be on the road tomorrow and Tuesday.

**EDIT: Here's the link to my report:
http://justus_civ_iv.home.insightbb.com/Epic2.htm


Executive Summary:

Spaceship Launch in 2003 AD. This seemed a slow game, and somewhat frustrating building the spaceship with no shield powerhouses, but it was also my first archipelago in Civ IV, and my first game on Epic speed, so I guess I get what I deserved! Space was definitely not the way to go for scoring, and it didn’t turn out to be quick either!



Scoring:

25 – Victory
25 – Gems (x5)
25 – Customers (x5) (all but Mao, had his own)
25 – Gems in 1500AD (x5)
6 – Gold (x2)
2 – Silver (x2)
10 – Peaceful Game
8 – Globe Theater in Delhi
5 – Taj Mahal
4 – Magellan’s
3 – Great Lighthouse
5 – Labs in all Gem cities
24 – Islands at end of game
2 – Future Tech (1)
14 – Sea-Based Resources in 1500AD
0 – No cities size 25+ (19 was my largest), No ICBM/No SDI (No one built Manhattans)

183 Plus any ‘First Player’ points (which I doubt I’ll get, but here are the dates):

Discovered all Gems? (Not sure, sometime around 935 AD when I connected the 4th).
2nd Gems 185AD
3rd Gems 470 AD
4th Gems 935 AD
5th Gems 1502 AD
6th Gems, All Gold, All Silver: No
Launch 2003 AD


Here's my empire the turn before launch:

Attached Files

Thumbnail(s)
   

(I can't seem to log on to the upload server, so no pictures. Terribly sorry.)

I've posted a super summary (scoresheet) first for easy reference, and the second post contains a slightly more comprehensive story.
-------------------------
Super Summary : Score Sheet
(Diplomatic Victory in 1876)

RBCiv Epic Two Scoresheet - theGrimm

Dates to record:

No Dates Recorded (I always seem to get too lost in the game to remember to track dates)



Items to score in 1500AD:

4___________ Gems sources controlled and connected.

12__________ Seafood resources (Fish/Clam/Crab/Whale) controlled and connected.



Items to score at game's end:

Yes_________ Did I remember to follow all the variant rules? (No religions founded, adopt Free Market, etc?)


Yes_________ Did I win?

True Diplomatic__Victory type

1876________ Finish date

No__________ Did I capture or raze a city to acquire Gems, Gold or Silver?

No__________ Did I capture or raze a (non-Barbarian) city for any other purpose?


4___________ Gems controlled.

4___________ Customers.

3___________ Gold controlled.

4 (1 popped) Silver controlled.


0___________ cities I founded by 1500AD that have reached size 25.

21__________ total number of islands that are COMPLETELY within my borders.


No__________ Did I build the Oracle AND use it to discover Math or Currency?

Yes_________ Did I build Taj Mahal?

Yes_________ Did I earn Circumnavigation bonus?

Yes_________ Did I build Great Lighthouse?

Yes_________ Did I build Hanging Gardens?

No__________ Did I build Strategic Missile Defense?

No__________ Did I build Globe Theater in my capital?

Yes_________ Did I build Globe Theater at some other city that has gems?

No__________ Did I build a Laboratory at every Gems-controlling city on the planet?


0___________ Number of Future Techs discovered

0___________ Number of ICBMs that I control (not used) at game's end (max 10).

Score
25 - Victory

4*5 = 20 End Game Gem Sources
4*5 = 20 End Game Customers
4*5 = 20 Gem sources in 1502
3*3 = 9 End Game Gold sources
4*2 = 8 End Game Silver sources

10 = No cities captured or razed at all

4 = Globe Theatre in a gem city other than the capital

5 = Taj Mahal
4 = Magellans
3 = Lighthouse
2 = Hanging Gardens

True Diplo Victory = 1876

21 = Islands under my complete cultural control

12 = Sea based resources in 1502

Subtotal: 163

First off thanks to Sirian for sponsoring this game. Second, thanks to my friend Karthik for giving me a place to throw up my report. I had planned on apologizing for the length (my first Event and all), but after reading that Blake was over triple digits for .jpgs I decided no need

Here is the link:

http://www.erudita.com/darrell/pregame.htm

And here is my scoresheet:

http://www.erudita.com/darrell/darrelljs...esheet.txt

Fast summary, late game space launch and 240 points.

Edit: Make that 224 points. One of my size 8 cities did not have the required food

Darrell

Hi, first, anyone who wants to read the first part of my report, which I wrote before I found out it was a shadow, right here: http://slibby.net/Civ/Epic2/index.html

so anyways, my points were as follows:
Built Oracle and took math
Hanging garden
Great Lighthouse
Taj Mahal

[edit] I also had magellens voyage

I had 6 gems hooked in 600 AD, and all rival civs as customers, but Cyrus got another gem which I would take by declaring war. Everyone hated cyrus in my game, and thus I decided to boost my pop by declaring on him and bribing everyone to war.

I was researching Physics in 1502 AD making a straight beeline to UN and diplomatic victory, which I would have gotten really easily. I adopted no religion and got good relations with pretty much everyone, everyone was either pleased or happy with me. It would have taken me around 100-150 turns after 1502 AD to get the diplomatic victory, entirely depending on whether I popped another engineer to speed up UN. Trade Routes were extremely powerful on this map. I had around 460 beakers per turn in 1502 AD, pretty much entirely from trade routes.

It was a fun game, I apologize I didnt finish it but that wasnt because it was a shadow, I have finals this week and thus could not finish it. I might finish it later, if I do ill post some more screenshots.

It was a fun game if a little tedious at times.

Find my full report here.

Extreme Summary:
Diplomatic Victory in 1960 which involved massive population on my part but some actual diplomacy too.
I went to war ONLY for gems, otherwise I played entirely peacefully. In this case I used a self imposed rule of not going to war for Gold or Silver.

9 size 25 cities. 27 seafood hooked up. 45 islands.

Preliminary score calculation is 334.

If there is one thing I regret is that I started playing it too soon after 1.61 came out, so I was still rusty. I could have had a stronger opening. Still, from "Part 4" onwards my play was rock solid, I feel.

I'll post it in a little while. Don't get cher horses up in a bunch. After all, I wasn't able to finish

Hooray for Epic 2! This game will be original in many settings...

1. It will be my first game ever played on Epic Speed.
2. It will end up being my first game on Tiny Islands Archipelago.
3. It will be my first game on Monarch since Adventure 4; not because Monarch is too hard, but I just started playing Civ again a few days ago.

Now that that's out of the way, the Variant Rules:

Difficulty: Monarch
Civilization: India
Leader: Asoka
World Size: Standard
Opponents: Six
Map Script: Archipelago
Landmass Type: Tiny Islands
Climate: Temperate
Rules: Standard
Victory: All enabled

Variant Rules:

* Sources of Gems must be mined and connected. You MAY NOT settle on top of a Gems source.
* You MAY NOT found any religions. (Your civ is too busy prospecting for precious stones!)
* You must adopt Free Market civic upon discovering Economics, and remain there all game.
* You must sell gems (for a profit, no gifts!) if a customer is available and willing to buy or trade. This includes selling your last available Gems, leaving none for your own citizens. You must always heed this mandate.
* If a customer (any civ to whom you are supplying Gems) requests that you change civics or religion (other than to change away from Free Market, which you cannot do) you will comply, to smooth business relations. You need not stick with the change, however. You may change again when the game allows you to do so.

Scoring:

25 pts - Victory (any sort).

5 pts - EACH source of Gems you control at game's end. (If you "pop another one" it counts too!)
5 pts - EACH "Customer" for your Gems at game's end.
5 pts - EACH source of Gems you control in 1500AD. (Must be within your borders, mined, and connected.)
3 pts - EACH source of Gold you control at game's end
2 pts - EACH source of Silver you control at game's end

10 pts - Build the Oracle (remember, you must not found any religions!) AND use it to discover Mathematics or Currency!

10 pts - If you complete the game without ever capturing or razing any (non-Barbarian) cities.
5 pts - If you capture or raze cities solely for the purpose of gaining control over Gems, Gold or Silver supplies.

8 pts - Build Globe Theater in your capital
4 pts - Build Globe Theater at any other city with Gems in its radius

5 pts - Build the Taj Mahal
4 pts - Build Magellan's Expedition (circumnavigate the globe first)
3 pts - Build the Great Lighthouse
2 pts - Build the Hanging Gardens

5 pts - For every Gems resource, build a Laboratory in the closest city on the same island. (Must have a Lab at every applicable site to score the five points).

7 pts - Fastest Cultural Victory
5 pts - Fastest Diplomatic Victory - only counts if your population is below 40% at time of winning vote.
3 pts - Fastest Space Launch
0 pts - Conquest or Domination Victory

1 pts - Each island (of ANY size) under your complete cultural control at game's end.

8 pts - For EACH city of size 25+ at game's end. (Must be a city you founded by 1500AD).

4 pts - Build the Strategic Missile Defense
2 pts - For EACH unit of Future Tech you research (maximum of 5).
1 pts - For EACH ICBM unit you possess at game's end (maximum of 10).
1 pts - For EACH sea-based resources that is controlled and connected by 1500AD

3 pts - First player to have two Gems sources connected.
3 pts - First player to have three Gems sources connected.
3 pts - First player to have four Gems sources connected.
3 pts - First player to have five Gems sources connected.

5 pts - First player to control all Gems sources in the world AND also have all six rival civs as Customers.
3 pts - First player to control all Gold sources in the world.
2 pts - First player to control all Silver sources in the world.

Results:

Results of Entrepreneurs will be listed according to points earned.
If you choose not to calculate your score, your results will be listed in an Unscored category.

Please calculate your own score as best you can. (If you overcalculate and are discovered, you will be penalized the difference in addition to the correction. So use some care!)

So, without further ado...

The Reign of Nikovek Zalson Asoka, as preserved within the Indian Annals