Gold Rush

GAME-XX: A Brief Introduction

The world is incredibly rich with tons of flood plains mixed in all over the place. And at Deity Difficulty, the competition will overtake... or at least, it did me.

For whatever reason, I am finding The Military Option to be less-and-less interesting... even if that's how I played it in the end.

In the end...

There is still some (small) chance I will come back to this map.

But, no.

My mind is turning towards a Two City Garden of Eden Scenario.

Let's see if such a thing has any appeal by the time I reach the bottom of the page.

GAME-00: Making The Map

Having started with a base map (a lush, mostly water, large map, with only a few competitors), I opened World Builder and tricked out my starting location. While doing this, I refrained from exploring the map and kept a piece of paper wedged in the lower right-hand corner of my computer screen, so I would not get any hints.

GAME-01: The First

I started this game knowing nothing else about the map (universally lush, mostly water) or my competitors (five in number, if I remember correctly).

And since it has been so long (and the different play-throughs are so hard to keep straight or even remember), I will have to go through my notes (and maybe even open up a save or two) to say anything else of interest.

Yes.

Meta.

But then, that is what this particular post is all about: The Multi-Game Replay Meta.

---

Having given myself Two Great Prophets in order to nab The Early Religions, I decided Settling them would be the better option.

There is not enough in The Game Save (that is not, also, present in The Log File) to justify including it in the zip. Without deletions, the zip is 10MB. And I'd like that cut down to 2-3MB... or even less.

GAME-02: Failed REX

Upon losing the race to Liberalism, I became disheartened. But mostly, I began to realize the importance of The Great Lighthouse on this map.

GAME-03: Mansu is The Competition

Hmmm?

Can I use The Oracle to get Civil Service?

GAME-04: Failed Start

It hardly counts.

GAME-05: ???

My default strategies were not working, so I was looking for alternatives. But at GAME-05, it was just the start.

GAME-06: Unfocused Mid-Game

I mean, in the end, I shied away from a Small Civilization Strategy to Total REX. But that was not the problem. I know what I am doing in the early game: nabbing all the wonders and religions that I can. But then, the wonders fall away and there are no more religions.

What then?

There is Steel... or other avenue of Military Adventure. But after one tires of stacks of cannons, what then?

And not knowing the answer, it was clear I had not prepared for it (whatever it is, whatever the late game strategy will be) properly.

GAME-07: Mistake

Rather than eat the loss of having failed to revolt into Bureaucracy for 20 Turns, I decided to Restart.

Though I am keeping The Log Files for all these games, I see no reason to preserve The Game Saves, themselves. And as such, I will not. {Though, The World Builder Saves compress nicely, so I am including The End Game State as World Builder Files for each of these fourteen attempts.}

GAME-08: Over REX

Prior to launching an attack against Shaka, I decided to end the game, primarily because I had too many cities.

Well, that's the simplistic reason.

Too many cities means my empire was spread too thin, which is another way of saying my empire was too big (after considering all the variables): i.e. for what it was, my empire was spread too thin.

GAME-09: Ummm...

Yeah, I don't know why this one didn't work out. I think I decided I wanted a Second City ASAP rather than waiting for the religions to land.

GAME-10: Enlightenment

The Colony Gambit did not work in any way shape or form on this map... and likely is of little value (for a right playing individual) on any map.

This is the where and when I came up with the winning strategy.

• Early Civic Lead
• Pyramids for Monarchy
• The Oracle for Bureaucracy
• Gold Rush
• Globe Theater for Unlimited Happiness
• National Park for Unlimited Health

GAME-11: Too Many Trades

Delaying Astronomy, Corporation, and Scientific Method as long as possible so as to preserve a Medieval Economy is not a viable long-term strategy.

Furthermore, trading with one's main adversary is a recipe for disaster.

Finally, it was at this point that I started paying attention to Coal, Oil, and Uranium: The Late Game Strategic Resources.

GAME-12: Too Many Shrines

I found sweeping The Religious Shrines to be a bad investment.

Also, when it came time to attack, I just didn't feel like it.

And then, ironically enough, I decided a more war oriented game would be the best way to play this map.

Though, that last is a sort of cop out, as a more war oriented game is almost always the better way to play a map.

GAME-13: False Start

Fewer cities is not the way to overtake Mansu.

GAME-14: City Spam Wins The Day

It really was a matter of Spamming Cities and Knowing The Map.

X X X
X S X
X X X

X = My Destroyers
S = Shaka's Stack of Frigates

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy Shooting Fish in a Barrel? Well, I get a kick out of it. And at some point (and at repeated points thereafter), Shaka sent a Fleet of Frigates (and Galleons) my way. And I just surrounded them and sunk the lot. OK. I didn't always have enough forces to surround his stack.

But it's hard to make headway against a partial-blockade, as well.

X
X
X S
X ↓
X ↓
← ←