(August 2nd, 2020, 18:17)Kuro Wrote: I don't want to ask too much, but I will say if you ever do ANY pre Season 4/5 game there is one game I have really wanted to see Alternate Historied for a long time: Season Three, Game Seven.
We'll see.
I'm already looking at a 350-400 hour project per season, so not sure I'll get anymore done after those two seasons...
But who knows? For now, it's pretty addictive.
Looking forward to seeing the results from the next game!
Thanks.
The next game is proving very interesting.
I'm at 8 replays. After the first 4, I thought I had a pretty clear picture... and then the next four went a very different direction!
Wyatan are you using Game.AiPlay to simulate these runs or pressing end turn over and over
"I know that Kilpatrick is a hell of a damned fool, but I want just that sort of man to command my cavalry on this expedition."
- William Tecumseh Sherman
(August 3rd, 2020, 09:25)GeneralKilCavalry Wrote: Wyatan are you using Game.AiPlay to simulate these runs or pressing end turn over and over
Just pressing end turn.
For two reasons: first, I'm actually watching the game, and want to be able to pause and look into things.
Second... I, uh, can't seem to make the Console appear it would seem.
I obviously have the chipotle config active and all the debug tools... but ~ or SHIFT ~ makes exactly nothing happen.
If you have some language pack or don't have windows, that could cause issues. But pressing end turn will be a huge time sink, I can't imagine how that'll be feasible over so many games. I could run certain of the less interesting games thru the debug mode if you'd like, and send you the save files at 50 turns increments until the victory save.
"I know that Kilpatrick is a hell of a damned fool, but I want just that sort of man to command my cavalry on this expedition."
- William Tecumseh Sherman
Just popping in to reinforce the sentiment that this is fascinating and I'm super interesting to see how some o the games turn out. Game Four from S4 is another one that I think could've gone multiple ways.
(August 3rd, 2020, 14:12)Wyatan Wrote: Second... I, uh, can't seem to make the Console appear it would seem.
I obviously have the chipotle config active and all the debug tools... but ~ or SHIFT ~ makes exactly nothing happen.
If you decide to try, the button to open the console is ' (straight apostrophe), not ~. However, for some reason as soon as I run Game.AIPlay, player (observer civ's) capital gets destroyed. Not sure what I'm doing wrong
Solved it.
On an AZERTY layout, they went for a totally different key actually: [ù %].
A bit weird, since on other layouts they kept it always the same: the top left key, whichever characters it's supposed to yield. I guess that's because on an AZERTY keyboard that key doesn't produce anything when combined with SHIFT?
@Yuri: I think that's the way it's supposed to work. Your whole civ gets turned into a tundra lion.
@GK: Thanks for the offer anyway.
But I've actually moved in the opposite direction, making it even more time-consuming, but doing mini-writeups for each game.
- Wang kon set a record for the fastest elimination of another leader (Pacal, turn 104).
- It saw the emergence of Willem as a strong leader, by finishing second in this game. He would later reach the Championship game. When Sullla started AI Survivor, people thought he'd be a strong contender. But he was eliminated in the opening round of each of the three previous seasons (actually even first to die every time iirc), and at that point people had given up on him: he was the favourite for first to die in this game.
- It saw yet another confirmation of how strong a leader Gandhi is.
With the hindsight of future games, I fully expected that this game would be a competition between Willem and Gandhi, with very few games not going either way.
Well, here's how it actually went:
Game 1
Willem is the one murdering Pacal this time.
Gandhi and Victoria found the initial religions, but Willem gets the other five and proceeds to crush the game.
Strong showings too by Louis and especially Gandhi.
Game 2
Mehmed mounts a strong elepult offensive against Willem… and punches through. Pacal wins a late space race, shielded by shared religion and the fact Mehmed cannot plot at pleased.
Victoria survives in her last, very radioactive, iceball city, as tank columns are on their way...
Game 3
Revenge of the Dutch: after suffering a humiliating early exit at the hands of the Ottomans in the previous game, they engineer a reversal of fortunes.
In other parts of the worlds: Troll Kon is a magnet for early aggression, Viccy doesn't botch her early expansion phase, and Gandhi ate a lion (he dow'd Louis on turn 106!).
Contrary to the two previous games, Willem didn't found all five post-polytheism religions: he only got two.
He still managed to win a close cultural victory race versus Gandhi.
He could also have won a diplomatic victory as early as turn 245, and the window stayed open for 50 turns, but he never called the vote.
Game 4
Close race between Willem's risky rush to legendary cities (he went culture before Rifling) and an unstoppable Louis conquering the map (he was at 60% land area when the game ended).
Game 5
Weird game.
The initial Willem-Mehmed conflict yields no winner and drags them both down.
Ensues a long period of time where things stagnate: all AIs at roughly the same size, researching at the same rate.
Gradually, an oddly aggressive Gandhi pulls out of the pack, and after taking out or beating back his most dangerous rivals, he cruises to a late cultural victory.
Game 6
Mehmed initiates the customary conflict with Willem. But for a change, he gets Wang Kon on his side. Willem holds them off, then has Louis join up with him versus Wang Kon.
Korea falls, followed by the Ottomans.
The conflict caused Willem to miss out on all the important wonders, all the religions, and to fall behind in tech: he's not in the run for a cultural attempt.
Meanwhile, Gandhi and Viccy ally to kill Pacal... only to have Willem join the war on the last turn and perform the perfect kill steal !
Willem builds up his economy, catches up to the other AIs, then takes a decisive tech lead.
But he's far too late to launch before Gandhi becomes a legend... so he allies with Louis, and puts a military end to the attempt, and to India.
Louis decides to have a go at that cultural thing, but he needs 60+ turns, and Willem's 4 techs away from launch, and has the Space Elevator.
And then, Willem also stops all research to go for culture.
Game 7
Willem expands very aggressively, wedging his Jewish cities between the Confucian Ottomans and Koreans, then declares on the Ottomans. After a brief, inconclusive war, he goes for easy gains by joining the dogpile against Korea who is facing assaults by the Mayans and French...
...only to have Louis and Pacal immediately pull out of the war, Mehmed resume hostilities, and Pacal rejoin the war on Korea's side!
I think you got trolled, Willem.
RIP.
In the East, Victoria celebrates not having to fend off a French invasion by invading India. She quickly makes peace after gaining a city and resumes more traditional hostilities with France.
Since nobody loves a traitor, Pacal is swiftly put down by Wang Kon, who becomes the dominant AI, even more so after showing Victoria how it's done by ending her feud with Louis through ending Louis.
Gandhi, left alone, does Gandhi things and wins a turn 302 cultural victory.
Game 8
Christian Victoria forgets to builds cities, so decides to ask the funny Hindu little man to her south if she can borrow some of his. The funny little man says no, and takes two of hers instead.
This time, Willem waited for both elephants and catapults to launch the obligatory offensive against Mehmed. But his novel strategy of baiting the enemy with nearly empty cities while his main army wanders around needs refining. The short war concludes with a net loss of two cities for the Dutch.
The French have been happily occupying all the land left vacant by the English when it occurs to Louis that he might as well also occupy the land the English did not left vacant.
Willem attempts to make up for his losses by reforming Mayan cities, especially when Pacal considers that the notion of "war effort" implies building more Wonders. Pacal may have been onto something though, since he ends up losing only a minor border city.
Gandhi has a good laugh when he learns that Ottoman armies are crossing the world to have at him.
Less so when they tear up his core.
Or when the French join the assault.
Or when Wang Kon, who had been prepping for the usual dogpile, and been at a complete loss when it didn't happen, decides that he wants in too.
Louis tries that conquering-across-the-world thing his pal Mehmed told him about, and decides he likes that.
Willem, less so.
On further reflection, that whole Western Kingdom, Eastern Kingdom situation seems a bit silly to Louis who proceeds to unite both parts. Pacal stands in the way: so be it.
Such a callous disregard for the territorial integrity of the Taoist Holy See enrages Wang Kon who sends his troops into France. He might have wanted to read the newest reports first. In particular those mentioning the Ottoman armies massing on his western border...
The game ends with Mehmed escaping to space as Louis, who meets the domination land threshold but not the population one, foolishly stops all research for a culture attempt that has zero chance of succeeding. Louis declares as Mehmed's ship is flying away, but the ensuing nuclear barrage cancels any population gains obtained through city captures.
Game 9
Victoria lets Gandhi settle the land between her and Louis: let him shield her, for a change!
Louis sends France down the religious path and decides to try and found all the religions. He gets four of them.
Mehmed, out of consideration for Wang Kon's distress at being left alone the previous game, takes pity and launches a friendly assault.
Willem isn't moved by such an altruist move and orders a hostile acquisition of the Ottoman lands, backed by Victoria.
Say what? Yes. That's right. Victoria declares on Mehmed. Her armies can't reach his territory, what with Louis proving uncooperative with the border situation, but Wang Kon and Willem have her full moral support.
Meanwhile, after letting civilization-challenged people grow cities for him, Gandhi comes collecting.
Pacal condescends to play with Wang Kon, but takes a city as a fee. The Korean, who's stopped playing with the Ottomans, objects, takes it back, and starts annexing Mayan cities. All of them, actually.
Now, see, you can't reproach Willem, who is a full 16 techs ahead of Mehmed, with building Intelligence Agencies in all his cities as the Ottomans go full medieval on him: he's clearly identified the issue, and is trying to remedy it.
Gandhi shows a nasty side, and in a bout of religious-envy, launches operation My Precious against France.
Victoria, who's stopped pretending caring about Western affairs, joins him.
Fun fact: England and India field the most powerful armies of the time. Well, maybe not so fun if you're called Louis.
See? The Intelligence Agencies proved their worth: Willem researches in a row Rifling, Assembly Line, MilitaryTradition. He recaptures his lost cities, and solves his Ottoman problem. For good.
Having missed out on most religions, and lost his cultural buildings when his cities fell to the Ottomans, Willem is out of the culture race. This time, he fully commits to the space race, though, ramping up his research to 3000 beakers per turn, and keeping at it.
Wang Kon starts the shortest-lived war in history: the UN votes to stop the war on the very same turn it is declared.
Victoria is a tad more savvy: she waits for a resolution to be passed before launching her own offensive against Korea. But five turns later, peace is enforced nonetheless.
Willem's ship lands on Alpha Centauri with a comfortable margin of six turns before a third Indian city would have entered legend.
Wang Kon has a dream. That one day his nation will rise up and turn the hills of Mutal red with the blood of those who refused his creed. That the sons of the former Mayans would all be born as slaves to the Confucian Brotherhood.
He proceeds to make that dream a reality.
The Ottoman armies get horribly lost and attack France instead of whomever they were meant to.
Victoria, who for once planned and executed her land grab admirably, joins in the fun.
France is RIP'ed apart.
Willem takes advantage of the fact Mehmed is busy far away to get a comfortable tech lead. He founds all four later religions. On turn 190, after Military Science (but before Rifling, of course!), he turns the slider.
The Netherlands are famous for their weed consumption: would that explain the fact he remains in Bureaucracy, eschewing Free Speech?
Mehmed seems to like the idea of an Eastern Ottoman Empire: he declares on his former ally, Victoria.
That weed is potent stuff: Mehmed's Eastern dreams come to an end when Willem, who should be very happy to be left alone, attacks the Ottomans. He takes a city, then gives it back for peace.
A short while later, he declares on Gandhi.
And somehow it works out fine, since he gets Mehmed to join him, before peacing out himself.
He celebrates his imminent victory by belatedly granting his citizens Free Speech... and re-declaring on Mehmed!
A crazy, 10-city Willem wins a cultural victory on turn 280.
Note that he was fourth on the scoreboard.
Wang Kon finishes second, a mere 100 points ahead of Victoria.
What about Gandhi? He was the most advanced civilization at the end, but Viccy and Wang Kon were catching up fast, with twice his beaker count. He essentially did nothing, and didn't even enter the cultural race.
Game 11
Louis expands southeast, towards Gandhi, instead of southwest towards Pacal. That gives some breathing room to the Maya, while Gandhi feels a bit squeezed. Good thing he's so small.
The East is setting up itself for some healthy and vigorous debates: Gandhi, Victoria, and Louis each found and adopt a different religion.
Willem launches a brief attack at the Ottomans, just so they remember who their worst enemy is supposed to be.
Wang Kon launches his armies at Louis: he missed their sparring last time.
And then the Korean becomes positively ecstatic as Mehmed and Pacal pile in: all his pals want to play with him!
Hell hath no fury... Viccy can't stand it when a man turns his back on her: she stabs Louis.
Willem isn't used to so much yellow to his east: he decides to try and remove some of it. And as the Dutch armies are away besieging Mayan cities, Mehmed makes peace with Korea, and in a shocking development, his troops plough into Willem's territory.
No one could have foreseen that. No one, I'm telling you.
Louis excuses himself from Wang Kon's party as he has to assure Victoria she has his full attention. Which he proves by annexing her cities. All of them.
Wang Kon decides he doesn't like Angry Pacal's attitude. As a punishment, Willem and he confiscate all of Pacal's toys before bidding him farewell. Well, to be more accurate, Wang Kon does the confiscating. Willem
gets to kick Pacal out, though.
Then they do the same to Mehmed. Willem must be feeling generous, since Wang Kon ends up with most of the Ottoman toys as well, although it's the last one that seems to make him particularly happy: "Samsun".
After an impressive beeline to Multimedia, Gandhi pulls the trigger on a cultural victory attempt... and on a French invasion!
The loss of his 3rd legendary candidate city slows Gandhi, but a Korean intervention saves him from Louis.
Willem pulls ahead in tech... and then pulls the plug on tech as he's bitten by the culture bug too. But with only two native religions for multipliers, he has no hope of catching up to Gandhi this time.
Especially since he's stopped teching at the worst moment: after Assembly Line + Industrialism + Flight, but before Biology and Medecine. A 100% culture slider isn't really helping him get culture any faster when his cities are starving through unhealthiness and can't work their town improvements!
Willem joins Wang Kon's war, and together they renew their now well-established tradition of sharing the fighting while Korea gets all the looting.
It does provide Willem an opportunity to still deny Gandhi his victory, though: he votes for Wang Kon at the UN.
Wang Kong wins a diplomatic victory on turn 296, Willem is second.
Gandhi, who was 20 turns away from a cultural victory, gets nothing.
As for Louis... he died in the last interturn, while the votes were being tallied.
Game 12
Pacal settles very aggressively, wedging himself all the way up between the Ottomans and Koreans.
He may just have taken advantage of Mehmed experimenting with staying on three cities and launching a turn 60 offensive on Willem… The capture of The Hague and razing of Maastricht to the ground (replaced by an Ottoman city), right at the onset of the war, mean Mehmed just might have been onto something?
Wang Kon gets alarmed at being surrounded by Mayan cities and signifies his dissatisfaction in the strongest terms.
In the East, Victoria, Gandhi, and Louis go for a mirrored approach: 8 cities each. Until Louis reaches beyond the mirror at Korean lands, which leads Gandhi to disapprove. Militarily.
Which in turn backfires in a spectacular fashion as Calcutta, Delhi, Bombay fall to the French.
Until Victoria comes to the rescue.
Meanwhile, the war between the Dutch and the Ottomans ends - temporarily. Mehmed had started it with 3 cities versus the 6 Dutch cities. He ends it with 6 cities to his flag, against 5 flying the Dutch banner.
Not bad, actually.
Except, of course, for the fact his northern coast is now Mayan.
A situation that calls for immediate action: he joins the dogpile against Korea.
Huh?
Pro-tip: if you're an advisor to an important leader, don't have them make important decisions when they're still drunk from the eve's victory libations.
That unfortunately spells doom for Korea, which becomes part of the Mayan Kingdom, except for a 3-city Ottoman enclave... in the East.
With the Ottoman troops away, Willem sees and siezes an opportunity: he recaptures The Hague and Konya (former Maastricht), and manages to sign peace soon after.
Gandhi rises from the dead as Victoria recaptures his core cities and liberates them back to him. Alas, the reprieve is short-lived as Victoria peaces out to go after the Ottoman enclave.
Gandhi is put back 6 feet under, and stays there.
Garlic and wooden spikes are rumoured to have been involved.
Louis has his payback moment when he lets the English armies through his land, then closes borders.
Cut off from reinforcements, the English forces, after an initial success, get cut down to the last man by the Ottomans. And Victoria is now locked into a war she cannot fight.
Until impatience gets the better of Louis, and he declares on Victoria... who proceeds to slice off a chunk of France before agreeing to a truce. Three French cities, located in former India, end up stranded behind Victoria's borders.
That British sense of humour.
Taking advantage of tech superiority, Willem endeavours to put an end to his age-long feud with the Ottomans.
His infantries soon occupy several of Mehmed's core cities...
...when Pacal, who's grown rather fat with age, 16-city fat more precisely, sends a not-so cryptic message to Willem from his Pyongyang summer retreat: "All your base are belong to us."
Pacal wins with a late-ish turn 364 spaceship victory, two techs ahead of Victoria.
She should have won this game: she was ahead in beakers and power before Pacal annexed the Dutch cities.
But she never signed peace with the Ottomans that she was locked in "kill mode" with and yet couldn't reach.
She needed to conquer France, but couldn't. It took a UN resolution to free her, and see what's left of France after a mere 10-turn war.
But it came way too late to matter.
Game 13
Gandhi founds and converts to Hinduism. As always.
Wang Kon founds and converts to Confucianism. As often.
Louis founds and converts to Christianity. As occasionally.
Mehmed Oracles Code of Law, founds and converts to Islam. As oh boy, four major religions?
Doesn't take long for the first crusade to be on the way: Ottoman troops pour over the Korean border. But peace is signed a bit later with no city changing hands.
Willem (Muslim) founds and does not convert to Buddhism. As in, phew.
Hold on a second. Louis is already at *twelve* cities?
And he wants to add Korean cities to that? And so does Willem? Oh, and Pacal too?
Starting to get a pretty good notion of what Wang kon's going to die of, and it is not boredom.
Willem (Muslim) founds and does not convert to Judaism.
Willem (Confucian) founds and does not convert to Taoism.
And... to exactly nobody's surprise, Korea's dead.
One city for the Maya, three for the French, four for the Dutch, including the capital and Confucian Holy City.
Yes, if you were wondering why Willem swapped to Confucianism on the turn before he discovered Liberalism, which unlocks Free Religion, his favourite civics, that's why. His Korean conquests mean that faith is the majority faith in his lands, and he now controls its Holy City.
So... Firmly in the tech lead, already 10 cities, four religions, Mehmed busy in India, let's see if he can mess that one.
Wait, what? Mehmed in India?
Did I forget to mention? Mehmed's just declared on Gandhi.
Now here's a rare sight: Willem builds Versailles in Seoul. An actually... smart place?
Louis, 15 cities, joins Mehmed, 8 cities, in his war against Gandhi, 8 cities. What's the Hindi for "uh-oh", again?
Turn 168: Willem pulls the slider. ETA: 200+ turns.
And if you guessed that he switched to Free Religion but *not* to Free Speech: you guessed right.
Oh and Pacal, 8 cities (standard package), declares on Gandhi too.
Now, you know what's funny: Bactrian, a former barbarian city, has become an Indian colony deep in the northern wastes of England.
And... Yes. Indeed. Victoria's borders are closed to Louis, Mehmed, and Pacal.
Is Willem, who stopped researching at Scientific Method, without even Gunpowder (let alone Rifling), really going to do it while all of those who could come call his bluff are locked in a neverending war? Really?
Turn 197: That's it, the last mainland Indian city falls.
The armies of three nations mill about angrily but utterly powerless before the English border, as solders her HRM Victoria jeer at them.
ETA down to 90 turns.
No wait. Willem pulls off the silder, declares on Mehmed.
Seriously?
Turn 221: Willem has researched up to Cuirassiers and Cannons, then pulled back the slider.
He makes peace with Mehmed. He's lost Pyongyang (Confucian Holy City) and Seoul, gained Edirne and Ankara (Muslim Holy City).
Dubious.
But now, at last, he's running Free Speech. ETA 46 turns.
Turn 237: Oh noes. Victory declares on Louis, whose power rating is thrice higher. Gandhi's physician performs frequent blood pressure checks.
Turn 244: ETA 16 turns. Willem redeclares on Mehmed. Could someone please block his Twitter account? Er, I mean, talk some sense into him?
Turn 260: Utrecht goes Legendary, Willem wins.
Holy.
Cow.
Game 14
Something you've all been wondering, I guess: Mehmed opens with Mining.
He's not always *that* dumb.
Pacal thinks he's been overperforming so far: Chichen Itza is razed by barbarians on the very interturn it is founded. That was deliberate. To give the other AIs a sliver of a chance, you know.
Gandhi also founds the Monotheism religion - Islam - and... converts?
Nah, that was a mistake. He converts back.
Mehmed forgets to expand: Willem gets the usual Ankara site, 5 tiles away from Istanbul.
Willem founds Christianity (Code of Laws), converts. So do Mehmed and Pacal.
Could they end up... friends? For a change?
Mehmed declares.
On Wang Kon.
So does Louis.
So does Pacal.
Wang Kon builds the Pyramids. Aren't those things glorified tombs? Thought so. Good planning skills, Wang Kon.
Mehmed captures Pyongyang, the Confucian Holy City. Converts right away.
To Hinduism.
Pacal peaces out. Even in a 3v1 scenario, those Deity AIs are way too tough. He wants to go back to Noble.
Willem also gets the Theology, Philosophy, and Divine Right religions. I get a feeling of what's coming...
Korea dies on turn 144. Pacal got nothing, Mehmed one city, Louis all the rest (7 cities).
On the very next turn, Victoria has the brilliant notion to declare on Louis.
Oh, she had a cunning plan in fact: Baldrick Gandhi declares too. Popcorn ready? Check.
Mehmed declares on Willem. You knew that war was coming, didn't you?
Willem uses his power graph to make his best rendition of Jaws, so Mehmed did something right. Or, more probably, Willem did something wrong.
Over in the East, the cunning plan failed to bear fruit as the war peters out with nary a city changing hand.
A lot of soldiers were redeployed, though. From a vertical position to a more horizontal one.
The war between Mehmed and Willem concludes shortly thereafter, with pretty much the same outcome (or absence thereof).
Turn 174: Surprise. Willem pulls the slider.
No Rifling, of course. But he's just swapped into Free Speech. Shocking, innit?
Well, that didn't take long. Mehmed waits for the ten turns of enforced peace to elapse. Not one turn longer.
He's back at it.
And amazingly enough, the backwards, 7-city Ottomans outproduced the 10-city Dutch and put together a credible 40 unit stack. Which manages, at the cost of a very bloody assault, to capture the former barbarian city the Dutch had annexed, wedged between Ottoman lands and what used to be known as Korea.
Turns out this remote city, Scythian, as the Buddhist Holy City, was one Willem's three Legendary candidates.
He turns off the slider... and counters the military threat by making a beeline for Mass Media, then turning the slider back on.
Mehmed is so impressed that he sues for peace right away.
He keeps the city, though.
Utrecht takes the relay.
In another part of the world, Victoria too is back at it. Only *she* did not exploit the truce to outproduce Louis. Quite the opposite, actually.
It ends as badly as could imagine.
Turn 250 is a busy one.
Louis, who's become quite the ogre at that point, and has developped a befitting appetite, decides that however scrawny he might look, Gandhi would make for a tasty snack.
Mehmed... well, you know the drill. But this time, he's brought a pal. You may be forgiven for having forgotten that Pacal was still in there. Sitting on 6 cities. Well, five would be more accurate, since Uxmal is now deep in Dutch territory, unable to work a single tile.
But Pacal is bringing rifles and cavs to the fray. And he's targetting Middleburg right away, the last of the three Legendary candidates, still 23 turns away.
Willem can't afford to lose that one: there's no replacement this time: Amsterdam would be 80 turns away.
And to add to the bad news, Mehmed is on Rifling tech. Not there yet, but soon.
Middleburg is 12 turns away. Mehmed is now fielding rifles.
Turn 274: Louis is on 35 cities. Gandhi on three.
Middleburg goes Legendary.
Gandhi lives.
Game 15
Mehmed captures the barbarian city of Angle, the aptly named: it is situated at the junction of the Korean, Dutch, and Mayan territories. Fearing it might be a tad exposed, and a firm believer in "active defense", he declares on Korea… and loses the city.
It does come at a bad time for Korea, though: Wang Kon has just laid claim to the land north of France, by planting the city of Cheju far away, at the mouth of the river marking the English border. Unfazed, Louis
answers by planting Avignon in-between. Cheju is now a stranded Korean outpost... whose citizens just might want to anticipate and start learning French.
Louis actually finds the idea brilliant and captures Gepid, on the eastern coast of India, to have his own isolated outpost.
Some leaders are happy to plant cities. Other are more forward-thinking: they plant casus belli. Qui vis bellum para bellum.
Speaking of which... Louis accepts Kora's challenge and declares.
Soon imitated by Brave Sir Pacal... who snipes Namp'o and immediately sues for peace.
Right, I know you've been waiting for this: Willem, miffed at having been beaten by Victoria to the Theology religion, declares on Mehmed. He needs an outlet for his frustration, see.
Edirne falls.
Cheju is now French-speaking. Mission accomplished. Louis signs peace.
...which leaves Mehmed, who had recaptured his cities and started to make forays in Korean territory, in a bit of a spot, doesn't it?
Except peace is agreed upon by all parties soon afterwards.
Wang Kon's survived the dogpile. Has he broken the streak?
Bad news for the citizens of Cheju: Victoria thinks they should be speaking English, not French.
Willem's fulminating: he's now lost Taoism (Divine Right) to Gandhi. All told, he's only trademarked two brands of opium for his people. Then there's the brand Wang Kon had been peddling before that. Three, total, might be a tad short for The Plan.
Pacal liked that city-sniping thing: he tries it on Willem.
And fails.
And has to give one of his for peace.
Mehmed want Edirne back. He gets it back. Until he no longer does.
Louis shows Victoria who's chef by capturing Canterbury. Ashamed, she agrees to cease hostilities. Then Louis decides he no longer wants a city where people can't even be bothered to drive their cart on the proper side of the road. He hands the city back.
Gandhi goes to Victoria. He's heard of her troubled relationship with Louis, and he can't stand a woman abuser. So if she will sign that piece of paper, he'll be bound to come to the rescue should Louis try and molest her again. There's a second page? Bah, nothing important. Just sign.
There.
Louis attacks Gandhi.
Mehmed is down to five cities when Pacal choses to sneak-attack Willem.
Good move, Pacal. Except Willem's just researched Assembly Line. And after the obligatory detour to Fascism, he's on Steel now. Your cuirassiers are going to be facing Infantries and Cannons. Are you sure you're ready for that?
Hang on a sec. Why is Willem building knights and pikemen?
Oh.
Victoria pulls out of the war. But yes, Cheju citizens will learn English now.
Wang Kon tries to get Namp'o back. Should be easy, since the Mayan armies are about to be obliterated: Willem's finished Steel, now he's bound to research..
Railroad.
Good luck, Wang Kon.
Gandhi makes peace. Victoria's gained a city, he's lost two, and is down to six.
Maybe that Defensive Pact idea wasn't as foolproof as it was supposed to be.
Railroad done. Now, surely?
Combustion.
Mehmed can stand that suspense no longer: he gives Konya for peace. Down to four cities.
Psychological warfare. I see what you did there, Willem.
Wang Kon did not get Namp'o back. Oh well, was worth a try.
Democracy.
Military Tradition?
RIFLING?!
Pacal starts disintegrating.
Now you know what the sad thing is? With all that dilly-dallying, Willem's research's been overtaken by Gandhi who beelines Mass Media, and pulls the slider.
ETA: 271 turns.
Oh.
Nevermind, then.
Pacal finishes disintegrating.
Victoria's mad at Louis again. Domestic fights are the worst.
Cheju speaks French again.
ETA: 82 turns.
Willem's beaker rate is now ramping up awfully fast (1800, still growing).
Oh, Korea does get Namp'o back: Willem liberates it back to him. To celebrate the event, Wang Kon orders fireworks. A defective rocket lands in Ottoman territory.
The UN Counseling Agency breaks up the fight between Victoria and Louis.
Willem shows Wang Kon how it's done: Mehmed exits the scene.
ETA: 57 turns. Willem 9 techs away from launch.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we've got a race.
Or not: Varanasi was ahead, but crawling towards the target. Pataliputra shoots past. ETA: 12 turns.
Once again, Victoria launches herself at Louis, and she convinces Willem and Wang Kon to come along: no one shall bother the nice little man to her South while he's putting the finishing touch to his redecoration project!
Gandhi hires William Shakespeare to oversee the end of the project.
Turn 315: six-city Gandhi wins a cultural victory, as the citizens of Cheju are back to learning English.
Game 16
Gandhi gets Hinduism (no surprise there), Victoria Christianity: will she get cross with him?
Willem founds Judaism (Monotheism).
Wang Kon settles Pusan 3 tiles away from Lakamha (Pacal's second city), Wonsan 4 tiles away: trouble ahead?
On turn 68, he's at 8 cities, when the other leaders sit on 5 or 6. He's wedged himself between Pacal and Louis: Pacal is already basically out of room.
Mehmed rejoices at the Korean's leader's settling all those cities for him. He comes collecting. Then changes his mind.
Mehmed, Pacal, and Wang Kon have all converted to Willem's Judaism. Louis converts to Victoria's Christianity.
Hinduism's marketing department is awash with rumours of an imminent "restructuring".
Middleburg is founded on the North coast, in the middle of the Ottoman Empire: Konya gets stranded between Mayan, Korean, and Dutch lands.
Islam (Code of Laws) is the latest product launched by Willem's Soul Lab Industries.
The firm needs more test subjects: Willem orders his troops to go and get Ottoman volunteers.
Korea's and France's borders form a Yin-Yang shape on the map. Louis believes in symbolism: he sends his armies to achieve union.
Korea declines, Louis withdraws.
Willem's test subject acquisition project ends in abject failure: Maastricht has become an Ottoman city, linking Konya with the rest of the Empire, while Middleburg is now stranded.
That leads to the emergence of new actors on the market: Pacal with Confucianism (Theology) and Wang Kon with Buddhism (Philosophy).
Initial sales figures remain disappointing, though.
Louis remains convinced of the need for a merger operation: he puts forward the idea to Gandhi this time.
But the English ferociously oppose the operation, and they intervene in the talks with forceful arguments... which are swept aside by the French.
The English give up and head back home.
Mehmed renews his claims over Korean cities. Wang Kon remains defiant.
"Military matters don't matter" is Gandhi's motto: as his capital capitulates to the French, he rejoices at having beaten the Dutch to the market with Taoism (Divine Right).
Outraged, Willem sends his layers. Under military escort.
The trial doesn't go Gandhi's way. All his assets are siezed, and transferred over to Willem and Louis.
The other stakeholders protest at the unfairness of that outcome. Louis becomes involved in a heated dispute with Victoria and Wang Kon, Willem and Mehmed come to blows.
How can you tell that Willem's anger is genuine? When he directs his Science Department, oddly neglected so far (the Korean Research Institute is better funded for instance), to put all current projects on hold and to focus instead on weaponry advances. That ruffles a few feathers and riles up many a project director... thus was the "rifle" born.
Willem's hostile takeover of Ottoman Inc. is a success. Grateful for the key contribution of the Science Department, he includes more funding for it in the new budget, first matching, then overtaking the Korean effort.
Louis loses a motion of no confidence vote. Korean and English administrators will oversee the transition process.
Pacal sells out, Louis and Victoria buy in.
Turn 56: Victoria has failed to wedge a city between India and France, barbarian cities have already spawned in the northern peninsula: she's on 3 cities and already in trouble.
Louis (6 cities) and Gandhi (5 cities) have expanded in a circle around their respective capitals.
Louis's northern coast has been settled by the barbarians and Korea (5 cities) who has also nipped the Oasis + Sheep + Copper spot Northeast of Mutal.
Willem (5 cities) is researching Iron Working but hasn't yet settled his copper.
Mehmed (4 cities) went early Bronze + Iron Working.
Oh, and he's just declared on Willem and a stack of swords + axes is moving on The Hague.
The Hague is on a hill and has walls: the stack is annihilated. Willem settles his 6th city near his copper (2nd ring). Doesn't really matter because the Iron Working research is completed and he's already mined his Iron.
Turn 61: Wang Kon declares on Pacal and captures Uxmal on his southern border.
Pacal has researched Bronze Working but does not have copper (nipped), and he's on Sailing, not Iron Working.
Turn 67: Lakamha falls.
Turn 76: Willem and Mehmed have signed peace. Pacal has settled another city (Mayapan) on the coast, east of Mutal.
Chichen Itza falls.
Turn 81: Pacal is researching Iron Working. His Iron hill is mined, but the road got pillaged. Louis (9 cities) declares on Gandhi (6 cities).
Turn 82: Mayapan falls.
Turn 84: Varanasi (India) falls. By the way, Gandhi does not have Copper, and hasn't researched Iron Working yet.
Turn 91: Pacal has sneaked a settler out and founded Calakmul on the coast, 3 tiles west of Mutal.
Also, while regrouping his troops to constitute a new stack, Wang Kon has moved his units away from Mutal, allowing Pacal's workers to rebuild the road on the Iron hill.
Pacal now has metal.
The stay of execution might be short-lived, though: a big Ottoman stack is moving South through Dutch territory. Wanna guess where it's headed?
Turn 96: If you guessed Mayan lands... you guessed wrong. Mehmed declares on Wang Kon. Pacal is saved!
Victoria declares on Pacal.
Turn 104: Pacal still alive. The record stands.
Ok, Victoria's declaration isn't exactly a threat: she's still on 3 cities, and can't reach him anyway (no open borders with France). Pacal still saved, then?
Willem declares on Mehmed.
Vijayanagara (India) falls. Gandhi has metal now, though.
Turn 107: Wang Kon and Mehmed sign peace. Korea has knows Construction now.
Turn 114: Delhi falls. Willem founds his second religion (Code of Laws, Philosophy).
Turn 124: Mayapan and Mutal fall. Exit Pacal.
Victoria gets the Theology religion.
Turn 129: Bombay falls.
Turn 132: Agra falls.
Turn 137: Pataliputra falls. India's no more.
After capturing Ankara, Willem (8 cities, 68 units) can't seem to make headway versus Mehmed (5 cities, 33 units).
Korea (16 cities, 119 units) is the tech leader (420 beakers).
France (15 cities, 193 units) is the score leader.
Victoria (6 cities, 46 units) declares on France.
Turn 167: Willem has finally broken through, Mehmed's last two cities are preparing to transition to Dutch rule.
Victoria's surprisingly still alive, on 5 cities. Two of those are recent barbarian conquests, though. London is still standing, but Canterbury and York (her Holy City) have fallen.
Willem has taken the tech lead (650 beakers at 90% research vs 500 at 70% for Wang Kon). He's snatched the Liberalism prize, but is about to lose the last religion (Divine Right) to Louis. The fact he didn't pick it with Liberalism might indicate he's not currently on the Culture path (only two religions).
And... Korea declares on France.
Turn 172: The Ottomans are no more. Willem erects the Taj Mahal so that future generations commemorate the day.
Turn 185: Victoria and Louis sign peace. She's incredibly still on five cities.
Amazingly, Willem doesn't have a single Taoist (not even in his Holy City) monastery. Or Christian. Only Jewish and Hindu (Wang Kon's religion, spread to 37 cities).
Since he's no longer in Organized Religion, those two are the only religions he could spread around by himself.
Turn 207: All three major powers research at the same rate (1000 beakers).
Korea has researched Rifling and is slowly gaining an edge over France (17 cities each, 125 Korean units to 94 French units).
For once, Willem has prioritized Biology and Medecine. He might be expecting casualties: he declares on Korea.
No, dont ask whether he's researched Rifling yet: you already know the answer to that one, don't you?
Turn 211: Korea and France sign peace. Is Willem sensing he might be in trouble? Is that why he's now researching... Rifling?
Turn 222: Wang Kon - "I see your Rifling, I counter with my Assembly Line".
Turn 238: Willem has pulled ahead in tech, but fallen below in military power (16 cities each, 140 Korean units to 119 Dutch units).
Turn 240: Louis declares on Victoria. The sun looks about to set on the British Empire.
By the way, do you know who has large cities with multiple religious spread and Wonders inside? Louis. Just sayin'.
Turn 251: Called it. Louis pulls the slider. ETA 72 turns.
Turn 258: The sun sets.
Willem has tanks, but is starting to lose cities.
Turn 268: Willem and Wang Kon sign peace. Willem is down two cities.
Louis is way ahead in power now, but rifles and cavs are becoming obsolete really fast. Not that it matters, probably: he won't be seeking trouble. Right? Right?
Willem is ahead of Wang Kon on the scoreboard, but by a slim margin only (3501 vs 3267).
Turn 278: Louis declares on Wang Kon.
ETA: 30 turns. But strangely enough, seems a lot longer now than it seemed a turn ago.
Turn 281: Louis loses a third of his total army recapturing Orleans (lost in the previous war). Sensing an imminent change in fortunes, he calls a UN vote to stop the war.
Turn 282: It doesn't pass. Both Willem and Wang Kon have very good reasons to want that war to keep going.
Huh? The AIs voted sensibly, according to their interests, in the UN?
Turn 288: Louis has stabiliized, and actually remains slightly higher than Wang Kon in power.
Ludwig van Beethoven born in Delhi.
Louis pulls the slider off culture.
Turn 300: Oh, he just wanted tanks too. Silder's back to culture. ETA: 22 turns.
Willem, who is now way ahead in tech (4 techs + Stealth poison pill away from launch), and has considerably increased his lead over Wang Kon on the scoreboard (1200 points now), decides to lock the positions: he declares on Wang Kon.
Turn 301: Korea's glowing at night.
Turn 321: Korea's no more, Louis, somewhat undeservedly, delivering the killing blow.
Turn 322: Louis - "I am Legend".
Game 18
Victoria tries a new cost-saving approach: she rents London to the Barbarians.
Gandhi didn't get the memo: he captures it.
Louis takes advantage of the confusion and somehow settles as many cities as Victoria and Gandhi combined.
Back to our regular program: Mehmed declares on Willem, Wang Kon on Pacal.
The first war ends with a stalemate, the second takes a turn for the worse when Willem joins forces with Wang Kon.
...which, obviously, triggers a renewed Ottoman assault on the Dutch. But for Pacal, it might be too late.
Louis takes pity on Victoria and proceeds to relieve her of the administrative burden of managing cities.
Gandhi didn't get the memo (geez, man, hire a secretary), and liberates London to Victoria.
Victoria wins her race against Pacal: she's the first out.
That was close.
Louis takes pity on Gandhi and proceeds to relieve him of the memo-reading gruelling chore.
That was fast.
Turn 192- Victoria, Pacal, and Gandhi are dead.
Louis: 28 cities.
Wang Kong: 15 cities.
Willem: 9 cities.
Mehmed: 6 cities.
Ouch.
Wang Kon fails a basic arithmetics test: he declares on Louis.
Willem is caught cheating: no way he'd have beelined Rifling without outside help!
Wang Kon acknowledges the error of his ways and grovels into peace.
Or more exactly into a short-lived truce.
Mehmed proudly exits the game. Mission accomplished: he's successfully scuttled Willem's game.
In the absence of worthy opponents, Louis resorts to devising his own challenge: he turns the culture slider to place a time limit on his domination run.
Not much of a challenge, as it turns out.
Louis reaches utter Domination on turn 258.
Game 19
Wang Kon builds the Great Barbarian Wall: three barbarian cities spawn on his western border, in a North-South line, isolating him from Mehmed.
And you know what that means, of course. That which was very likely to happen is now bound to happen: Mehmed declares on Willem.
But this war ends quickly. A minor skirmish. For starters.
Victoria (7 cities), who's managed to keep her capital this time, declares on Louis (10 cities).
Pacal (7 cities), who appropriated part of the GBW, declares on Wang Kon (8 cities).
But because he's still an insecure kid, he asks Mehmed (7 cities) to come along. Mehmed starts laying havoc in northern Korea.
Pacal captures Cheju... and hands it back for peace.
Alright, maybe he actually did need peace that badly: Willem comes knocking.
You know, when I said that this time, Victoria had managed to keep her capital? Well, scratch that.
Soon afterwards, Victoria (5 cities), signs peace with Louis (13 cities). Somehow, I don't think it's going to hold for very long.
I also guess it causes some cold sweating in Dehli and Seoul.
On the other side of the world, after losing a city to the Ottomans at the onset of the war, Korea has stabilized. But its remains constantly below the Ottomans in power, precluding any counter-offensive.
And somehow, Pacal's childish strategy of piling his whole army in a hill border city while making obscene gestures at Willem from its walls is proving efficient: stack after stack of Dutch troops get slaughtered before these walls, until Willem, who started the war with twice as many troops under his command as Pacal, starts looking actually weaker than his opponent.
The French coin is flipped. Wang Kon is the loser.
Willem throws the towel and signs peace.
He's founded the four later religions, got to Liberalism first... but he's failed to gain territory while the Ottomans have: he's still on 7 cities only. Doesn't bode well for their inevitable future conflict. Equally an issue if he's to attempt a culture run: with the constant warring and horrible casualties he's suffered, he's been building units (and Wonders, of course Wonders) only: hence not a single monastery, with Scientific Method looming just ahead. Founding those religions isn't going to help if he can't spread them around.
The French offensive tips precarioulsy balanced scales: Korea disintegrates in the blink of an eye.
Mehmed is at 10 cities, Louis at 18.
Oh, and the world is at peace.
Yeah, just kidding: Mehmed declares on Willem (surprise!). And things don't look too rosy for Willem: his opponent is larger, much more powerful (155 units to 91), and actually has the military tech advantage (Mehmed has Gunpowder and thus Janissaries, while Willem, as usual, has carefully avoided all military techs).
And meanwhile, Gandhi, whose 8 cities have been left perfectly alone all game, has built himself into the tech lead.
He signs a Defensive Pact with Victoria.
Louis declares on Victoria.
It gets bleaker for Willem: he loses two cities to the Ottomans, then Pacal declares on him as well. If cowardly Pacal deems he can go for it, then it's bad indeed.
Louis is so shocked at seeing Gandhi actually arming his troops (Gandhi went straight for Rifling after he declared) that he agrees to peace.
He takes Paliputra in the peace treaty, though. Shocked, but not witless.
Pacal captures Rotterdam, then chickens out.
Gandhi, when he sees Louis adopting the same approach to researching as Willem's, upgrades his rifles to infantries and redeclares.
Note: At this point, Gandhi and Louis are roughly at the same tech level, with a similar beaker count. But Gandhi has beelined Rifling and Assembly Line, while Louis has researched anything but. He's even got to Replaceable Parts... as a Steam Power prereq only. Centering his tech tree so that the Assembly Line - Communism column is on the right-hand side, the only two techs missing on the whole page are Rifling and Assembly Line. In the middle of a war.
Unfreakingbelievable.
Gandhi recaptures Paliputra, captures Rheims... and then gives Rheims back in a new peace treaty!
And that spells doom for Victoria who dies in the same turn Willem does.
Louis finally, belatedly, picks those techs (but still went Rocketry before Assembly Line), and declares on Gandhi (who's just built his first tank).
Mehmed tags along, too, but gets UN'd out shortly afterwards... with Gandhi being the only one opposing the resolution!
Crazy, self-saboting votes: ah, back to the AIs we know.
Gandhi's tanks are not enough to stem the flow of the massively more numerous French troops. He starts crumbling.
Then Louis gets tanks of own, and Gandhi finishes crumbling.
Louis has become the undisputed game leader. Only one question remaining, though: will he sabotage his game by going after a culture win that is a long way off?
Pacal sends emissaries to Louis extolling the virtues of such an approach.
Louis doesn't take the attempt kindly: he declares. Pacal turns foetal.
Louis wins by Domination on turn 324.
Three games in a row: the guy's on a roll!!
Will he take home the last game too?
Game 20
Lots of passive aggression there, tensions whould be running high. This is the last chance for everyone afterall.
With his 3rd city (Vijayanagara), Gandhi cuts off Victoria from all access to the southern lands.
Louis plants Chartres right at Wang Kon's border, counting on his creative borders to reclaim Korean territory.
Non-creative Wang Kon does the same with Pacal, planting three cities right on his border, and daring him to do something about it by leaving one of them empty for ages.
Pacal retaliates... by stealing Willem's spot by the uranium lake.
Victoria still doesn't believe in Mysticism (turn 86 into the game): is she planning on using Indian cultural infringements as a casus belli?
Now, you can count on good ol' Mehmed to sneer at that passive aggression stuff: he goes for direct, straight in your face aggression. Ottoman stack seen moving East: yup, Wang Kon's the initial target this time.
Willem founds Delft inside Ottoman territory (technically, Ottoman borders merged and closed the passage on the turn after the founding of the city).
He declares war on Mehmed (he missed it, I guess). Loses Delft right away.
The city is then captured by Korea who is starting to roll back the Ottomans.
Louis learns about the Koreans armies laying waste to the Ottomans. He dismisses the "laying waste" part, and focuses on the "Ottoman lands" part.
He declares on Wang Kon, expecting little opposition.
Victoria is impressed by the reasoning: she declares on Louis.
Willem, who's managed to pull largely ahead of the Ottomans in power, and who's just captured Ankara... gives it back for peace.
M'okay.
He got the Monotheism religion, but lost the Code of Laws one to Pacal, and all three of the Theology, Philosophy, and Divine Right ones to Gandhi. Doesn't feel like his game...
Gandhi, on the other hand, is sitting on 10 cities thanks to his early aggressive settling (and bit of a lucky barbarian city capture), is already matching Willem in research rate, has a weaker than usual Louis (8 cities) embroiled in a two-front war, has founded 4 religions... Starting to look good.
Victoria making peace with Louis shortly afterwards doesn't change much to the bright Indian outlook as Louis's still unable to make progress in Korea.
Willem, maybe understanding that he needs to do something, declares on Pacal and captures the offensive city with the poison water.
Chichen Itza is next. Pacal's already in trouble.
Or not. Wang Kon's made peace with his opponents. You do know what's next, of course.
Mehmed declares on Willem.
Well, maybe Pacal's still in trouble afterall. Willem doesn't break his offensive and captures Mutal. Then, right on the 10-turn mark, Wang Kon renews hostilies with Mehmed.
Apparently, Liberalism is the poison tech in this game: none of the tech leaders shows the slightest bit of interest for it.
Louis declares on Wang Kon, Victoria declares on Louis: they seem stuck in a loop... much to Gandhi's delight.
In a shocking development, and as a clear sign that he's feeling unwell, Willem researching Rifling and becomes tops in power.
Gandhi makes an impressive beeline to Mass Media: Scientific Method -> Physics -> Electricity -> Radio -> Mass Media!
He then declares on Louis: although Louis is on the Rifling path, for now it's Indian Cuirassiers versus Musketeers.
But mainly, it's a lot of cuirassiers vs a few musketeers.
Then he pulls the slider. ETA: 60 turns.
Mehmed is the first to die, followed by Pacal. Louis, in full collapse mode, makes it to the finish line.
Gandhi wins by culture on turn 274.
Willem is second, a mere 50 points ahead of Wang Kon.
Pacal
He was the biggest disappointment of this game, being the arguably the worst performing AI here, in spite of his two wins.
His survival rate is by far the lowest, and he essentially remained passive until someone killed him. The wars he launched mainly consisted in joining a dogpile, and pulling out before he made any substantial gains.
His first win was extremely lucky: if Mehmed could plot at pleased, he'd have easily won.
His second victory was more deserved, with an aggressively initial settling pattern that he was able to capitalize upon. But even there, his victory was late, he benefited from Mehmed's extremely unusual lack of
early settlers, and from the two strongest eastern civs (Louis and Gandhi) being unusually weak in that game.
Now, a lot can be explained by his very poor land: to start with, a coastal start in the middle of the map means no backlines.
Then, the surrounding land had a lot of tundra otherwise poor terrain (desert, mountains).
The only somewhat decent land was towards Korea... and Korea usually settled most of it.
But that's not the whole story. Look at his A/D stats, and compare them with Roosevelt in the previous game: Roosevelt was in an even worse spot, but at least he tried to breakout. Pacal just sat back in his corner.
Now, we've seen Pacal be a lot more aggressive in other games. But that was when he was in a position of strength.
I think he's just a coward.
Gandhi
He was also a disappointment.
He performed decently, winning four games in a deserving fashion. But he fell far short of expectations.
When Willem did well, he simply lost to Willem.
And when Willem faltered, he failed to rise up to the occasion more often than not.
The reason of his losing to Willem seems easy to explain: pursuing a Cultural victory plan requires religions for the multipliers. And the better teching Willem would most often get them, not Gandhi.
As for when Willem was out of the equation, Gandhi's overall passivity usually allowed Louis to become too strong for him to handle. In the rare occasions when he took a more proactive approach, he fared much better.
So his peaceweight might not be the only reason he never made it to the Championship.
Is this the case of a somewhat overrated leader ?
Louis XIV
Louis was a really strong performer on this map. Second only to Willem, and far ahead of Gandhi and Wang Kon.
He usually expanded very well, and even extremely well when Victoria struggled.
His position between three high peace weight leaders could have made him a strong candidate for first to die, but:
- Gandhi was essentially passive
- Victoria struggled with poor land
- Wang Kon was equally surrounded by enemies.
So while he did face a few dogpiles (and folded in those cases), more often than not he was able to pick one of his neighbours off and become one of the game leaders from there.
His problem as an AI, and it showed here as well, is that he's torn in multiple directions, and that leads him to throw good positions away, like when he plays for a domination run but techs as if going for culture, or the opposite.
And then, obviously, there was the particular issue in this game of Willem who'd win too fast for Louis to cash in on his dominant position.
Mehmed
Mehmed is a warmonger who can't plot at pleased. And that's a very bad combination.
It's come to the point I believe that as a rule of thumb, you shouldn't pick a leader who "can't plot at pleased" for the winner (although conversely, they might make good picks for runner-up). They're essentially playing with a hand tied behind their back.
I mean, we've had some of those win, sure. And it's less of an issue if they're pursuing a cultural or spaceship victory.
But a warmonger?
Now, in this game, it rarely came into play (with the glaring exception of the second game he'd have won otherwise).
Because this game was all about the Mehmed-Willem conflict.
And that's a conflict Mehmed rarely won. He usually either lost, or both got dragged down.
It's actually a bit hard to explain. A warmonger with good land should win a 1v1 vs an eco leader more often than not.
One explanation is Wang Kon, Mehmed's other punching bag, who punched back hard.
Another could be that a lot of attacks were directed at Willem's second city which happened to be placed on a hill.
Another might be that Willem's better teching allowed him to get to Guilds a lot sooner than Mehmed.
Getting mining right out of the gate (it did happen quite a few times ) usually backfired for him, ironically: he would then get a super early Bronze Working and Iron Working (pre-turn 40, when for instance, Victoria often got it around turn 100), start plotting, and attack Willem very early.
Which usually ending badly for both of them.
Victoria
Another bad performer here.
She's a bit of a puzzle, because she's an AI with great traits, and whom many a player report as doing well in their games.
And yet, apart from the wildest card game, she's always performed extremely poorly in AI Survivor.
In this particular game, land can explain a lot: at first glance, she's got lots of room to expand, with some rich (green) terrain.
But, the food.
Her land simply has no food.
There's the banana/rice spot where she would always found her second city: but that's useless before Iron Working, a tech she'd never prioritize. And by the way, that second city placement would thus hamper her developement.
And then, the only food available around her was located in the northern tundra peninsula.
You should always settle the food, towards the center of the map: two opposing directives in her case.
She still managed in some cases, but she struggled more often than not: founding slow-developping cities towards the center of the map first, then having barbarians occupying the peninsula... that she had no copper to deal with.
Then of course there was Louis. A struggling Victoria was set up as Gandhi's shield against a strong Louis.
Bad recipe.
But there might also be an explanation in her A/D scores: she was weak... and she declared 37 wars while being declared upon 15 times only?
Is she a suicidal AI?
Wang Kon
While the story of this game was the story of the Mehmed-Willem conflict, the real star of the game was Wang Kon.
By all rights, he should have been first to die: a high peace weight AI surrounded by four(!!) low peace weight AIs.
And sure, the dogpiles kept coming.
And yes, he succombed at time.
But more often than not, he doggedly fought on, survived, and thrived.
It sure helped that Louis was also facing threats on his eastern front, that Mehmed was often more busy with Willem than him, that Pacal was weak, and that Willem was more actually more ally than foe.
But still.
Willem
If there was a Willem vs Gandhi competition... Willem crushed it.
At first glance, they had extremely similar positions:
- Both in a corner of the map, with great land available
- Gandhi's land was the richer, but Willem had earlier access to gold tiles, and some of Gandhi's land needed jungle removal to be exploited
- Both had an arch-enemy: Mehmed for Willem, Louis for Gandhi
- Both had an ally: Wang Kon for Willem, Victoria for Gandhi
- Both faced a minor secondary threat: Pacal for Willem, across-the-map offensives for Gandhi
But in truth, Willem faced the tougher situation: there were a lot of games where Gandhi was left alone for ages, when Willem had to deal with Mehmed in every single game.
And yet he was by far the best performing AI on this map.
When he was in a race with Gandhi, he just won. He was faster to the cultural win, and had a strong spaceship plan B.
But he had a major Mehmed issue, and that conflict would basically shape up every single game.
If Willem could delay it sufficiently, or win it in a timely fashion, he'd go on to win the game. Otherwise, he was out of the running.
We all know now the major weakness Willem has about skipping Rifling for way too long. But I was also surprised at how inefficiently he fought at times: he would have twice Mehmed's power and units, and yet Mehmed would have a stack capturing cities, while Willem couldn't manage to form his own stack. That was... painful to witness.
And that caused him to stay at war way too long in some games.
He doesn't have the single-minded focus on the cultural victory that Gandhi has (meaning for instance his industrial era research won't be a hard beeline to Mass Media), but if he can get enough early religions (which his teching power certainly helps him with) and spread them around (which requires monasteries that he won't build when at war), he'll pull the trigger much sooner than Gandhi ever does.
Willem is thus confirmed as a very strong AI, and at least from this game's results, stronger than Gandhi.
But is he a weaker version of Huyna Capac, or in the same league?
Best Prediction
Winner: Willem Victory condition: Cultural
Runner-up: Louis XIV Victory date: 322
First-to-die: Pacal Nb of wars: 11
Average expected score: 12.5 Actual: 10 (Competition best: 19)
Average expected score (running): 25.4 Actual (running): 17 (Competition best: 27)
weed consumption: would that explain the fact he remains in Bureaucracy, eschewing Free Speech?
