A close shave

[Flight]

I went back to an old game I had lost originally but had the save for from near the end. I changed my strategy and played it out to see if i could win.
I did win, but it was insanely close

Basically when I lost I had attacked the romans (red) and taken over their island but this wasn't enough to top the French score, who had the largest landmass.

So this time I attacked the Germans across the sea to gain as much of their ample territory as I could. This was done by crippling their major cities with nukes and following through with MA. Unfortunately the French then attacked me.ldn't be able to fight on 2 fronts.

As I fought them back, in a stalemate of many MA vs MA every turn I switched to the dirty tactic of building as many nukes as possible and nuking them into the ground hoping their score would stop increasing.

At this point they were only 15 or so points behind and gaining 2 every turn, with only 10 turns left!
I managed to push through and destroy Paris, Lyons, Chatres and another major city before being pushed back to the bottleneck that divided us.
With 3 turns to go and with me 3 points behind them now I had to play a final, desperate attack.

Gathering of all my forces from germany, putting them in boats and sailing for 3 islands off the shore there I managed to secure 3 cities and this gave me the points i needed, leading by 1 point in the last turn!

And it was only on Monarch
If I did it again I would've stuck with finishing off the easy Germans and so would've easily won with so much more land. As it was I thought I could take out a lot more of the French..doh

Gotta be the best game of civ I've ever played just for how close it was!

[Wittlich]

I for one love those close games!

[Sovereign]

Whoa! I'd love to have close games like that!

Was it original or PTW? And what version? The AI in my games are kind of weak, even if I try King or Emperor level.

[vmxa1]

Talk about paper thin.

[zorbop]

wow. i've never seen a game come down to 5 points. you know there are other score inflation methods besides territory. Hapiness is the only other one i can recal....

[bvoncranium]

zorbop:
there are other score inflation methods besides territory. Hapiness is the only other one i can recal....

Specifically, if it's really close prior to the finish line you can set as many of your citizens to be entertainers as possible, gaining points both for happiness AND for content/specialist citizens, just to sqeeze a few more points out of those criteria for Total Score.

I imagine that with a ~0.2% margin of victory points you can look at all kinds of things that could have tilted the win one way or the other. Anything that gains you points or limits those of the runner-up become huge.

Personally, I think that the approach that you took, namely pounding the opponent that will otherwise overtake you, is indeed the best method. It certainly provides the most entertainment during the race! :-)

Well done! - bvc

[Shogun Gunner]

(clap, clap, clap....)

That's pretty awesome! The closer the game is, the more you have to think, and the more you end up caring about each outcome! That's cool - well done!

[Paddy]

thanks for a good run down of your game.

I agree with those above, that a close game if an exciting game...

[Flight]

yeah i forgot about pumping up happiness until the last turn, worked though

it's civ3 1.29f with a few small attribute changes i made

[asleepathewheel]

good game, good story. fun stuff. congrats

[GhengisFarb™]

Close games are by far the most enjoyable.

[Alex]

I like those close games because everything counts when you're deciding the outcome, and your smallest mistake can cost you victory in the end.

[pedrojedi]

I remember a game like this one, but when I perceived the ending, it was too late. Not even my nukes could bring the score to a close call. I lost.

[ceroomaster]

5 points?!

If they AI gets within 500 I call it a close one...