Realms Beyond Epic 24: Pacifist Speed Demons

I was sorely pressed for time after playing out this game, and didn't have time to do a full report. For that matter, I didn't even have time to put it up on my site until almost a month after the game ended! In lieu of a writeup, I used an abridged version from my notes; I apologize that it is not as entertaining or easy to read as a usual report (and for the uncropped screenshots). The game was an unusual one, where we were told ahead of time that the starting position was alone on an island (tiny map, against 3 Emperor AI civs). Boats had been modded to have no transport capacity, so there would be no war possible in the game (other than phoney wars). The real kicker though was that accelerated production was on for the game, one of the features added in one of the patches. Goal was fastest finish, ranked by category. Knowing that a 20k cultural victory was likely to be impossible for the game, I had to try it anyway. Thus my game was rather skewed towards getting as many wonders as possible - which of course had little to do with the victory goal. It was a lot of fun though, and that was what mattered.

Abridged report:

4000BC Found on starting tile, build warrior, set research to Pottery for Map Making at max rate.

3750BC Discover Pottery (already). 2nd warrior built (already). Start work on granary.

3700BC Pop hut, get barbs. Why am I not surprised?

3550BC Barbs from hut dispatched. Another dreaded "goody" hut spotted.

3400BC Granary built. Production is actually outstripping food at this point; I am building things TOO fast. Imagine that.

3300BC Pop the second hut. Imagine that - barbs! These are the only barbs I ever see; so much for getting a "reward" out of the huts.

3150BC Carthage builds its first settler and goes on wonder prebuild. Thus the quest for 20k culture (or as much of that as possible) begins... After discovering Writing, research will be set to Bronze Working for Colossus, then Ceremonial Burial.

3000BC From this map, you can see that I've scouted out the whole island. Also look at how I positioned three warriors so as to prevent any barb camps from ever sprouting up. I drew up a dot map at this time and stuck to it throughout the whole game.

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2390BC Bronze Working discovered, Carthage switches to and builds Colossus. Granary built in Utica, builds worker next, then settler. Research started on Map Making.

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2110BC Carthage builds temple. Plan of developing the capital over founding more cities continues.

2030BC Found third city, Leptis Magnus. All of the other civs on the replay had at least 8 cities by this point.

1870BC Map Making discovered. Carthage switches to Lighthouse. Utica switches over to galley to make contact with other civs.

1790BC Theveste founded as city #4. I'm sure that most other games were way ahead of me by this time. (After reading the other reports... they were.)

1750BC Galley built in Utica. Let's go find someone!

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1650BC Contact India. He has all techs that I do except Literature, plus a whole lot more. I realize that India is much larger than my island, since they have about 10 cities. I also realize for the first time that T-Hawk may have designed a scenario where the player is at a serious disadvantage comapred to the AI civs in terms of land mass area. Since I can't get anything from Gandhi for Literature, I hold off on any trades. Carthage swaps to Great Library (mwahaha...)

1575BC Hippo founded. A bishop named Augustine takes up residence.

1550BC Koreans complete Lighthouse. Not that it matters, since I complete the Great Library next turn, and I wanted the Library anyway since it produces more culture. I also meet the Koreans coincidentally on this turn, trading around Literature and my world map to Wang Kon and Gandhi to make a good sum of money. I do not trade for tech, since I will be getting that from the Library. Now to find France.

1525BC Gems connected, easing happiness problems. Great Library completes in Carthage and Paris builds the Pyramids on the same turn. Delhi then builds the Oracle and buries the cascade. There goes all the ancient age wonders, let's see how many more I can get.

1500BC Techs flood in from the Library. Sweet. I start research on Republic, due in 10 turns. Here's a shot of the techs coming in:

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1475BC Leptis Minor founded. Only one more city to go.

1450BC Contact France (again, first one to make contact with all three other civs). I trade to get Mathematics from France, which no other civ has. Then I see that Joanie has Construction, so I trade for that too, making more money in the process. Carthage swaps to the Great Wall. Here's my island at that time:



1325BC Currency pops from the Library. Carthage completes Great Wall, triggering an unexpected Golden Age (I have to pay more attention to that!)

1275BC Discover Republic and revolt; even in a GA it is worth it to do so. Draw a 4-turn anarchy, rather friendly but that's probably because I'm last on the histograph. Unfortunately, I do not have enough happiness to keep Carthage out of riots during the anarchy, and as a result it loses a population point during the transition period. That was pure weedy management on my part.

1250BC Polytheism and Monotheism pop from the Library on the same turn. Our people are confused about how many gods there really are.

1175BC Explosion of production as the Carthaginian Republic is formed at the height of its golden age.

1125BC Monarchy pops from the Library (NO, we don't want to revolt!) and Carthage swaps from a cathedral prebuild to the Hanging Gardens.

1000BC Another map showing the development of my island. I am researching Theology in the event that someone else builds the Hanging Gardens so I can swap to Sistine.



975BC Carthage builds the Hanging Gardens as Engineering pops from the Library. Despite the fact that Feudalism has been researched, there is no cascade from civs working on the Gardens (?) I'll take it.

875BC Theology and Invention appear simultaneously in the Library. This is a pretty good tech haul.

825BC Golden Age comes to an end. It was quite profitable while it lasted. With the purchase of Korean ivory, all civs are now gracious with me.

730BC Education obsoletes Library. I got all the way up to Gunpowder while it lasted though. Start research on Chemistry.

650BC Chemistry discovered. France builds Sun Tzu; I trade Chemistry to them for Astronomy and some gold. I swap Utica to Copernicus in the hopes of killing the cascade.

610BC Utica builds Copernicus. Dang it! Someone else has discovered Music Theory and swapped to it. Now my plan to break the cascade with Copernicus/Leo's has been ruined.

590BC Carthage builds Sistine. India cascades to and builds Bach's, but Leo's is still out there keeping the cascade alive. Stupid Gandhi; why couldn't you have stayed away from the optional techs?

450BC Physics discovered, TOG started in Carthage. Techs have been coming very fast as each civ has been researching different ones and then trading them around.

410BC Forbidden Palace completes in Utica. Physics traded for Economics, Military Tradition, and some more money.

330BC Leo's and Magellan's fall in cascade. Carthage swaps to Newton's, due in 2 turns.

310BC Jaipur takes Newton's ONE turn before Carthage. :mad: Grrrr! Jaipur is a tiny size 5 town in the north of India that had been working on a wonder forever. This is what happens when a cascade lasts for a long time. How frsutrating. Carthage builds an expensive cathedral...

290BC Everyone enters the Industrial Age. Tech is so cheap that I can buy Nationalism for only 750g. Imagine that! Research started on Steam Power.

130BC Industrialization discovered. Factories start in many cities; the one in Carthage is cash-rushed. Get Medicine from trading around Industrialization.

70BC Discover Espionage, trade it for Santitation and Printing Press.

10AD A map at the turn of the millenium. Do you think I was prioritizing the tiles around Carthage for worker improvements?



50AD Carthage builds Suffrage. Steel discovered, traded around for Democracy and lots of cash. Research started on Free Artistry. (Revolt to Democracy? Yeah right! Not in this game.)

110AD Free Artistry discovered, Carthage swaps to Shakespeare's due next turn. Research begun on Electricity.

170AD Discover Electricity, trade it for Refining and some cash. AI civs are really helping me out on researching... which is bad, since I won't have enough time to get 20k culture.

230AD Get Scientific Method, TOE is SLOWED so I can discover Atomic Theory and use TOE to get Electronics/Radio.

280AD Discover Atomic Theory, Electronics, and Radio all on this turn, with a little help from Mr. Darwin. Trade for Combustion and start research on Mass Production.

340AD Pick up Motorized Trasportation after having already gotten Mass Production a few turns earlier.

350AD Carthage builds Hoover. Wall Street built in Utica. I trade for Flight and enter the Modern Age, starting research on Computers. Here is a map:

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390AD Computers comes in, massive swap to research labs.

400AD Other civs enter Modern Age; I trade Computers for Rocketry and lots of cash.

430AD Fission discovered. UN is guaranteed in Carthage, may also get SETI.

480AD United Nations set up a forum for world bickering in Carthage. No elections will be held! We will win by culture (or not; no possible way to deny spaceship resources to other civs.)

500AD Utica builds Manhattan Project. I also trade Ecology for Space Flight with one of the AI civs.

520AD India builds SETI; good thing I get a free turn to swap wonder production.

530AD Miniaturization discovered, Carthage swapped to Internet. Intelligence Agency built in Utica and spies planted in my rivals to check out their spaceship progress.

560AD Carthage builds Internet, goes to work on Cure for Cancer.

580AD Apollo Program built; most cities switch over to SS parts.

590AD Discover that AI civs have The Laser tech. Oh no! I could lose this thing! I better pick up the pace of my spaceship!

610AD All spaceship techs have been discovered, and the AI civs have all 10 parts in production. I only have 4 parts completed at this point. Oh my goodness, when did this get so close all of a sudden! I rearrange tiles furiously with my workers to get all parts out in the next 2 turns; if another civ launches before 630AD though I'll lose without being able to do anything about it.

620AD No civs launch. And since tie goes to the player...

630AD You have won a spaceship victory! Hooray!

Final Map:

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Space Race when it ended (not really as close as I thought):

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Victory Screen:

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And Carthage, mother of all cities:



I never had any chance at winning a cultural victory, there simply was not enough time. Carthage was at 6500 culture at the time the game ended, and making 99 culture/turn. With no way to do resource denial, I simply couldn't stop the other civs from launching and thus had to launch first myself. I wasn't really playing for fastest finish, more to see how much culture I could get before the game ended. I fell short of my goal of 10,000 culture, but even I was surprised by how fast this game moved in tech.

I wasn't going to a quick finish, and I expect this to be a rather slow finish. If I had focused on going fast, I could have easily won a diplo victory by about 300AD. Others should beat my date of 620AD by quite a bit, unless their games played out very differently. One thing I did learn from this game: golden ages are twice as important with accelerated production; it's like getting 40 turns of GA production. Those who didn't get GAs will likely not do as well. Perhaps the fact that India and France both got golden ages in my game as well helped account for the fast tech pace. I guess I'll find out when I look at the other reports. Regardless, it was a lot of fun. Thanks for a great concept T-Hawk.