Challenge 2 Walkthrough (1) Preview

Here comes the walkthrough for challenge 2. In order to better cover both England and France and use my best effort, I will write this walkthrough by starting a new game and controlling both Civs myself. I will also compare the strategies featured in this walkthrough with those in the co-op game between Crossgate2003 and I (currently turn 91). I hope to finish the write-up in about 2 months (as the game is very long and I don't have a lot of time to play Civ5). Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy it.

1001. My plan for England is Conquest with 5 stages.

Stage 1: Spawn 2-3 cities to better support my army. Before this game, I had a run where I did not settle any extra city in the hope to Swordsman-rush the closest city state and then my closest neighbor. However, I was too poor to even get a second Swordsman upgraded! So I really need the resources and trade income from 2-3 extra cities.

Stage 2: Technology first to National College. Grab resources, meet trade partners, sign RAs.

Stage 3: Rush to Machinery (Longbow) and take down my first neighbor with 4-6 Longbows.

Stage 4: Rush technology to Artillery and take down another neighbor. Then keep going the bottom of the tech tree to reach nuclear weapon.

Stage 5: With my sea dominance, I will have easy access to any AI's capital. So I should be able to nuke anyone who is getting close to Victory. Nuke Napoleon if he gets close to victory, too. :D

Since I will spawn more than one cities, London's location is pretty much a given - along the coast so I can access Whale for extra happiness to sustain extra cities. This will also allow me to send out Triremes early to meet with multiple trade partners.

1002. My plan for France is Science victory, simply in 3 stages.

Stage 1: Settle as many cities as needed to grab resources and land. Sign as many RAs as possible. Right now I plan to pause at 4 extra cities to build the National College, then spawn even more.

Stage 2: Complete of the Liberty policy tree and take a free Great Engineer to rush the Porcelain Tower as early as possible.

Stage 3: Sign even more RAs and go full speed to Science Victory.

Essentially, Napoleon's chance is to win the game before he gets nuked by England. :D However, I wish to let England and France cooperate more on their respective campaigns. Also, if more than one AI was approaching victory quickly, Napoleon must share his responsibility to take out some of his neighbors.

In the co-op game between Crossgate2003 and I, I settled Paris right on the leftmost Sugar cane. I regreted this decision very much since I wasted a lot of gold on land purchase later on. Now I have a chance to make the better choice! (at least I hope it is the better choice. We will see...)

Challenge 2 Tips

First up, I drew up a ruin map for those of you who wish to maximize the profits from ancient ruins. I might I have missed a few here and there.

My thoughts on England

England has the best location among all 10 civilizations to control the Mediterranean Sea. With nuclear weapons and a dominating fleet, Elizabeth can effectively nuke down anybody approaching a science or culture victory - probably except for Paris, as your human opponent is not an idiot AI.

The big question is - can Elizabeth make nuclear weapon soon enough? Or maybe Elizabeth doesn't need them if she works with Napoleon's unique infantry!

Maybe Elizabeth needs to expand beyond the tip of the Balkans as quickly as possible. Honor policy would be perfect for taking down the first neighbor, who happens to be one of the least aggressive leaders. Is there a 6X Iron nearby for Swordsman? Yes! Along with Longbowman, Elizabeth has a very good shot (not really a literally long shot) to bring down a neighbor or (or more!) to become a superpower.

Science victory is always a good option once your empire grows to a good size. You will be rich enough to sponsor multiple Research Agreements even if your partner is dirt poor. Building the Porcelain Tower could be a real challenge, though, as you want to get to Machinery for Longbow at the same time. But if you have a big-enough empire, you should generate enough science yourself. You can even purchase most of the City States in the world and go for Patronage.

My thoughts on France

France is located in a save haven - far, far away from neighbors. It is a perfect setup for Liberty policy - the more cities you have, the more cultures you generate and the FASTER your policies unlock! (At least for the first tree). Resources around Paris and upstream Euphrates is not very rich, but good enough to support 4-5 decent cities to boost start the French empire.

While Conquest would be a pain for Napoleon (as he is at the very east end of the map), he has a pretty good shot for either a Culture or a Science victory. But can you be faster than the AIs? You will need to work with Elizabeth and compensate for each other's weaknesses!

There are so many barbarians around France. The Honor policy opener sounds like a great idea!

Plan for official walkthrough:

Crossgate2003, the maker of the exciting Conquest victory on Challenge 1, has graciously agreed to play Challenge 2 with me, using email to send the save files back and forth. Crossgate2003 will control England, and I will control France. At the time of writing this we are at Turn 67.

I am also planning to play another game by myself to try completely different approaches. This map offers many exciting possibilites. Maybe I will do walkthroughs on both runs!

What I have learned so far.

(1) If you play with a partner who uses another machine, the random seed number changes every time you load his/her save. You will get different results from battles, ruins, etc. This could be difficult for you to control what you get from the ruins.

(2) AI war declaration's peace lock lasts a lot shorter (less than 7 turns, more like 3-4). So you will see AIs constantly declare war on each other and go for peace quickly. That means the AIs pretty much can't make any advance on each other unless they were bribed to war.

(3) The Level 9 AIs finish the Great Wall, Hanging Garden, Orcale around Turn 50s. Don't bother with them!

(4) It is good to be player 1 as you act first. For example, if both you and player 2 reaches victory at a given turn, you win and your opponent loses! But it is also good to be player 2 as your machine's random number seed decides what happens during the AIs move. That can make a lot of difference!

Challenge 2 - England + France, Hotseat, Mediterranean

Challenge 2 - England + France, Hotseat, Mediterranean

Map: Official Mediterranean (Large Size)
Speed: Standard
Players: England, France
AIs: Mediterranean locals (Spain - DLC required, Germany, Rome, Greece, Ottoman, Arabia, Egypt) and Songhai as the African representative
Advanced Settings: all default
MODS: Level 9 Difficulty X ver 2 for Hotseat - requires manual installation, see below
Game version: .1.348 or the most recent update
Challenge Period: From July 18 to August 18, 2011

Official Mediterranean Map

Hotseat Setup.

Civilization Setup.



Elizabeth is born in a quite secure location, with lots of access to sea and strategic freedom.



Napoleon is born in Challenge 1's Mesopotamia region, facing pretty much the same challenges of Challenge 1 (lack of rivers, barbarians, long walking distance), but with much fewer civilization contact.



I wish to encourage you to work with another Civ5 player to attempt this challenge together. It could be difficult to coordinate two people's schedule, so as long as you start the game before August 18, 2011, you may take your time to finish it. If you can't find a partner, you are welcome to control both sides yourself (Disclaimer: multiple personality disorder derived from this challenge is not my responsiblity).

The goal is not to let one Civ win as early as possible and the other solely act in support, but to show skillful and innovative gameplay through cooperation and perhaps fierce competition! All submissions will be entered into the Hall of Fame.

Installation
Since a normal Hotseat Mode does not support any MOD, there are two files that needs to be DIRECTLY REPLACED over the original! So you MUST backup your original files, and whenever you wish to play a normal game, you can get the originals back. Essentially, the game's Deity difficulty level is now REPLACED by Difficulty X.

File 1: X_CIV5HandicapInfos.xml (Right click to Save Link as...)
Where: Steam\SteamApps\common\sid meier's civilization v\assets\Gameplay\XML\GameInfo
Rename it to CIV5HandicapInfos.xml and replace the original

Important: The above XML file was updated on July 19, 2011. If you downloaded the file before this date, please take the new version and replace the old one. In the old file I forgot to remove AI's barbarian fighting bonus. Sorry.

File 2: X_CIV5Technologies.xml (Right click to Save Link as...)
Where: Steam\SteamApps\common\sid meier's civilization v\assets\Gameplay\XML\Technologies
Rename it to CIV5Technologies.xml and replace the original

Initial Save: Level_9_Challenge_2_Hotseat.Civ5Save
Where: My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\Saves\hotseat

If you replaced the files correctly, you should see the Deity "8" icon replaced by "X" in the game. Welcome to Difficulty X! And again, please remember to backup your files!

Good luck and have fun!

Challenge 1 Sum Up

That's the end of Challenge 1. From my personal knowledge, I heard that about 10 people expressed interests on the challenge.  Eventually, we have 3 players who finished it and emerged victorious!

The first entry submitted was thwsl's Cultural Victory. When I asked thwsl for his secret of not being declared war and run over by any of the crazy neighbors, he admitted it was pure luck. While the other two stories recorded numerous invasions on Persia - many by seemingly friendly neighbors - this long lasting peace appears even more intriguing.

Besides, Wu Zetian or Elizabeth, none of who are affected by Mesopotamia poverty, have to be slowed enough to reach their respective Culture and Science victories. Thwsl mentioned that Wu Zetian wiped out Catherine then decides to go for Culture. Certainly that distraction slowed her down. How about Elizabeth? She seemed to do very well in thwsl's screenshot. Maybe she decides to go Conquest? I am not so sure about whether people can reproduce this Cultural Victory. But we all know variation could happen from game to game. (And thwsl is a extremely good Civ5 player.)

The second entry submitted was my own Diplomatic Victory. To be honest I have only seen about 1/2 of the game's content so far (most of my time is spent on writing stories!), so I went with the easiest and the fastest route. I guess I am one of those obsessed with the Hall of Fame rules - here is the save file, now go and see who finishes first! I hope this Hall of Fame never heads towards that direction, though. The game becomes very boring that way as a few turns of difference could be caused by luck and nothing else. I wish to show case the best played games. (I did my best to finish it as soon as I can, though.)

My Diplomatic Victory also exposed a few "shortcuts" of Level 9. First, some AIs are born in poor places and have very low research rate. Beating up these poor souls become very easy. Persia, Arabia, Egypt, England, China, and sometimes Ottoman are the luckier bunch (in the order of the amount of luck) who had enough income. Greece breaks even (but went completely broke in thwsl's game). Spain and Russia, on the other hand, failed miserably. However, given that Mesopotamia is probably one of the "poorest" official maps, this failure rate of 25% is acceptable. I guess that's just how the world runs. Some got unlucky and got dogpiled by oppurtnists.

The second shortcut is to run the empire with Patronage and collect City State allies that almost certainly cannot be bought away. This indeed makes the game easier, but the fact that AIs no longer have thousands of gold every time before a war is totally worth it. Also, since the player is also poor, each City State's alliance is usually hard earned. Now the relationships are even more memorable. Not just getting a few thousands from the AIs and dump it all on the CSs. That being said, if I can find a solution of the Patronage shortcut I would gladly fix it.

The third entry submitted was Crossgate2003's Conquest Victory, which has been extracted (I used only about 50% of his original pictures - this is a huge story!) and featured on the blog. I believe this story will serve as a textbook classic to show players how to handle late-game wars, and how to prepare for it. I have learned so much from this game. Many things are executed perfectly - even an overwhelming invasion can be handled. I can only show my respect to Crossgate2003.

Some may think that Elizabeth and Wu Zetian's delayed victory made the game a lot easier. Of course, every game has some luck component. Even if Elizabeth and Wu Zetian moves their victories dates forward by a bit, he could first attack them and then deal with Alexander. But we all love to watch Persia and Greece fight, right?

I am also glad that the Level 9 MOD successfully made a conquest victory, and any victory, very interesting all the way to the end. Normally the game lost its appeal after mid-game. But Crossgate2003's victory only became more interesting and exciting towards the finish. I am quite proud that the MOD actually worked!

So what next? The new patch .332/.348 is out and I am certainly going to announce Challenge 2. So far, I don't think there is anything to be changed further in the MOD. Version 2 beta will be released as Version 2.

However, there won't even be a "MOD" required for Challenge 2. This will be a very special and interesting challenge in celebration of the Hotseat mode! A whole world opens up for discovering the potential of Civ5!

Challenge 1 Conquest Victory by Crossgate2003 (11)

(11) The Glorious Showdown

Ten turns of peace could give Elizabeth the chance to finish a few more Spaceship components, but she is unlikely to be able to finish all of them in time. Now Darius' priority is to block Wu Zetian's Utopia Project.

0455. Elizabeth organized a wave of Counterattack and recaptured Warwick. Persian troops retreated in advance and will recapture the town by the help of Bombers and the final touch of ground units. Beauty!

0460. As Wu Zetian must be building the Utopia project, Nanjing and Guangzhou must go! One more bomb!

0464. Elizabeth had been moving around to finish her final 2 Spaceship Parts, but she cannot the relentless Persian attack.

0467. Atomic bomb, Bombers... Guangzhou was captured. Wu Zetian only had puppet cities left. It is well known that puppet cities can't make units. But can they build the Utopia Project?

0468. While both Suleiman and Ramey had nuclear bombs, the former clearly got the upper hand in the war. The showdown with Suleiman is getting close!

0469. England is almost finished - more bombs required.

0470. Better to play it safe. Wipe out Wu Zetian's puppet cities to make sure that she can't complete the Utopia Project.

0472. A group of Ottoman shock troops appeared west of Persia's desert resource cities! The small city has to be abandoned - Bomb purchased in Suza!

0474. And that's the fate of the surprise attack.

0475. Here it comes - the final Golden Age! With this Golden Age Darius will ride to nuclear winter of the world.

0477. The final breath of Wu Zetian. No threat of Utopia anymore.

0479. Another bomb dropped on England's final cluster of "OK-ish" cities.

0480. Last policy. Not important anymore.

0481. Darius using his sixth sense to detect Ottoman's own nuclear weapons.

0482. Satellite complete! Egypt has been basically destroyed by Ottoman, and more and more Suleiman's army direct their attention to Persia.

0483. The bomb leads the way of the African version Normandy!

0485. Final shot is a Nuclear Missle! Everything has been wiped clean.

0486. Elizabeth surrendered after losing all of her directly controlled cities. It is all about Suleiman (and the ridiculously behind Russia).

0493. Settler landed on the shore! An African command center will be esbalished - Bombs, Stealth Bombers... all from there.

0495. Grabbed two more Ottoman cities. The command center opens in the middle of the Sahara Desert.

0496. Suleiman has his own Bombs and Bombers! It is now a matter of who bombs whom first.

0497. Well, of course it is Persia's turn now. Persia bombs first!

0499. One more!

0501. Finishing touch with Nuclear Missle! Two cities vaporized!

0503. The final target - Istanbul!

0507. One more! So much Fallout...

0510. One bomb to Moscow! Here is to the ridiculously behind Catherine. (In my game, Catherine had lots of Rifleman and Cannons. Much better than this complete screw up.)

0512. The final bomb! Nuclear Missle wipes Edirne. Last breath of Istanbul.

0513. Mechanized Infantry beat Giant Death Robots to it! The last attack!

0514. The world was shaken by the war. Darius brought freedom, justice, and peace to the world... eh, I guess the game Fallout describes the new order better.

0516. Final score (first entry).

Congratulations to Crossgate2003's glorious Conquest Victory on Level 9 Challenge 1 - Persia on Mesopotamia! This is the greatest end-game conquest victory I have ever seen. A normal Deity game would never provide this level of challenge and suspense all the way to the very end. I thoroughly enjoyed extracting this extremely rich war story from CivClub. I hope you had as much fun reading this classic masterpiece.

Challenge 1 Conquest Victory by Crossgate2003 (10)

(10) Robbing the Utopia Dream 

Ten turns of peace could give Elizabeth the chance to finish a few more Spaceship components, but she is unlikely to be able to finish all of them in time. Now Darius' priority is to block Wu Zetian's Utopia Project.


0376. With Electronics, the most elite troops of Persia can be sent to the battle field!


0378. Controlled Great People points so 3 are born at the same time in Persargadae. The Geat Scientist will be used to rush the technology that gives the best weapon of mass destruction. Others will be used to start more Golden Ages.


0379. Purchased a new Carrier and disbanded the old one. I especially like Crossgate2003's thinking that useless units can be disbanded or given away at any time. On the carrier is the same airplane that will drop the bomb on China.

A classic Sea of units! That's as tough as the defense can get. How will Persia breach this army of doom - that the AI does not know how to use to conquer the world?


0385. Two policies left for Wu Zetian! Her last policy tree is Piety. People usually rush the last two policies with Free Religion. Let's see if the AI is this smart.


0386. Elizabeth kept working on her Spaceship parts. Part 3 is completed!


0388. Declare war on Russia only go gain passage of an important strait. The Persian Settlers are heading to a place dangerously close to China! Just like Cuba to US.


0390. Great Scientist rushed Nuclear Missle! The final stage of the nuclear war starts! Also opened another Golden Age with previously produced Great Artist.


0394. After a combination of Fighters, Bombers, and ground troops, Persian army marches into York!


0399. Almost ready for China! Settler in place, Carriers with Nuclear Missles x 2, Atomic Bombs x 2, and elite melee units promoted all the way from the beginning.


0400. China got one more policy... and it is not Free Religion! So we know China's last policy is Free Religion... a completely wasted policy. That's how good the AI is.


0411. First nuclear missles aims at the sea to destroy the submarine and to make way for the ground units!


416. Second explosion takes place right beside Beijing! All enemy units disabled!


417. First A-bomb dropped between Beijing and Shanghai to damage units, and buy time for the ground units when they land (as the damaged units will heal and not attack).


419. Second A-bomb dropped near Guangzhou to destroy its guided missles!


0420. Suddenly Suleiman declared war! Persia has to fight both the greatest army in the world (Ottoman) and the second greatest army in the world (China)!


0421. Ottoman units marching towards the Persian capital!


0422. One of the landed elite units were destroyed by Chinese defense. But more bombs are ready!


0423. Dropped another bomb NW of Beijing to lower City Defense and to kill more units!


0425. Beijing has fallen - the capital of Culture has 5 world wonders. Purchased more bombs to ship to Beijing.


0427. Two more bombs are ready! The first one is dropped beside Shanghai to kill more defenders.


0431. The second one falls beside Guangzhou to... kill even more defeners and to weaken both cities.


0433. Grabbed Shanghai easily - 3 more wonders including Chichen Itza. This will boost Persia's last few Golden Ages.

Immortal-promoted Mechanized Infantry recovers 6 hit points while spending the end turn in the city!


0434. Another Great Artist burned for Golden Age.


0435. Coventry is down! Mostly thanks by the work of Bombers.


0442. Wu Zetian attempted to recapture Shanghai - another nuclear missle launched!


0446. Wu Zetian completed the Sydney Opera House and collects all 30 policies! She must be building the Utopia Prject now. Close contest!

Another bomb dropped to weaken the counterattack and to damage a Chinese city.


0448. One bomb for the heart of what's left of England! Cities were conquered one by one easily - Elizabeth doesn't seem to be interested in building armies.


0451. The Courthouses are mostly completed, and there are tons of extra happiness for Persia's next and final Golden Age!