6,000 Years in 432 Hours - Journal of a Civ3 Succession Game

Gaius Marius · November 7, 2001, 01:51

With 5 other posters here, I've started a Civ 3 succession game that you'll be able to follow here. A succession game is one in which multiple leaders rule a nation, by passing the save game file, for a set number of turns. Here are the settings we will be using:

Regent difficulty
Large Map
8 Civilizations
Random civs (including player)
normal/temperate/4 billion years
20/turns a player, rotating (so each player may get to play more than once, if we last that long)
all victories possible
72 hours to complete 20 turns.

More to come. I've asked each leader to post a chronicle of his (or her) reign here for you guys to follow. Any feedback/criticism is welcome as well.

At the end we'll look at the results and have a little vote for best (and worst) leader.

I hope to get the first 20 turns out of the way tonight or tomorrow.

Downer · November 7, 2001, 02:47

I think I was the third player in and have been playing civ 3 since the day it came out(oct29) I've only beaten it once(on warlord) and now i've moved up to regent(doing quite well with the greeks) I'm a semi-passive player, I usually like to expand as quickly as possible at startup and then when I can no longer expand I like to sit back and build my empire up as much as possible. I usually designate a few cities as my "military only" cities so in case of an early attack I won't be in so much trouble. So far I love the game despite a few nuisances(like the insane corruption) I'm looking forward to playing with you guys.

tleilaxu · November 7, 2001, 03:18

i am john. i go sixth. i have to transfer the saved game file on a disk from work to home. if this causes a problem i will tell you.

Bakunine · November 7, 2001, 11:32

Hi! My name is Luis Curado aka Bakunine and i am from Portugal. The three S country. Sand, Sun and SEX...

My time zone is GMT.

I will email my save game to next friend asap and will also post it here with the briefing too.

Cy my friends.

Gaius Marius · November 7, 2001, 12:29

Looks like we can count on Bakunine's reign to be the 20 turns of debauchery that brings down the empire.

General Ludd · November 7, 2001, 13:14

I'll be going 5th. Typically, I play as an isolationist and focus on building and maintaining a strong infrastructure and defense, and for that reason, I usually avoid large conquests.

Gaius Marius · November 7, 2001, 14:21

Forgot to introduce myself - I'm going first, and i value speed as far as my playing style goes - I try to expand fast, earn money to buy improvements, and have a mobile army and good road network. Hopefully this will give the other players a good bit of useful territory at the beginning, but 20 turns isn't long.

Emperor Gaius will do what he can in leading our people out of the wilderness.

Bakunine · November 7, 2001, 15:50

Quote:

Looks like we can count on Bakunine's reign to be the 20 turns of debauchery that brings down the empire.

Gonna try to settle at least two cities while i play: Sodoma and Gamorra.

Grundel · November 7, 2001, 16:14

Hello

I am grundel (overton70@aol.com) and will be going fourth. I have never played on regent level, so this ought to be interesting.

I like to vary my play style to fit the situation, but basically I am fairly defensive and expansionist. I try to claim alot of unclaimed territory, and once the world is gobbled up, build up my defenses.

treedom · November 7, 2001, 19:33

Quote:

Originally posted by Bakunine

Gonna try to settle at least two cities while i play: Sodoma and Gamorra.

LOL!

This sounds great. Are you guys gonna be posting the save files once in a while so the rest of us can have a look at them?

Timeline · November 7, 2001, 20:00

Great!

Well, good luck guys . . . this is going to be very interesting.

BTW: You better not lose

Bakunine · November 7, 2001, 20:49

Quote:

Are you guys gonna be posting the save files once in a while so the rest of us can have a look at them?

I will post them always.

Save games zipped are very small when compared with original file. A 1 MBytes save shrinks to 50KBytes.

It seems that people are really getting interested in this kind of team play. Maybe one day we are so many that we will have a database and a forum for this stuff. Would be great.

So everyone that is interested in this kind of play just start gathering a 6 team and let's kick the AI a*s!

tleilaxu · November 7, 2001, 21:12

my style is flexibility but i find in civ3 i like to boost culture. never played england... i tend to like france, egypt, china and babylon so far...

just finishing my first regent game with egypt... it's not bad...

if it's my turn and i have military superiority i'm likely to take advantage... 'specially in despotism... work work kill kill build temple... good boy

Gaius Marius · November 7, 2001, 21:29

In the year 1 AUC (4000 BC standard reckoning), Chief Marius led the Russian people out of the Before Time. Clearing the forest with bronze axes, his tribe created the fertile plain upon which their city of Kievan Rus was built. The Russian people had always lived here, between the mountains and the sea, and it was around this spot that the world would now turn. Or so claimed Marius, first leader of the Russians, at the first Russian press conference.

Immediately after the founding of the city, a Russian scout set out to discover new lands. Immediately, he discovered two herds of Wooly Mammoth. "These mammoth could provide Ivory for eons!." exclaimed Ivan Ivanovich, first Russian Scout.

In the same year, the First Russian Council of Wise Men was instructed to research Masonry. Their first experiment, though rapidly covered up by the government, was believed to have resulted in a pile of gooey mud. "I beleive this research is proceeding well, and we will have something to show for it in about 32 turns." Marius then attempted to slash the science budget in a cost-cutting move, but was then informed that no discoveries would take place. He quickly corrected his mistake. Keivan Rus laborers were ordered to produce a warrior to protect the city.

3950 BC- Our scouts scaled a mountain, and from this vantage point spied the sea and a valley of rich grassland - a perfect site for a new site, when the time would come.

3900 BC - Russian workers conducting a local inventory (exploring) discovered additional mammoth herds (ivory). "This one is a Mastodon, I think," claimed one worker and amateur pachydermologist.

3850 - The sea is everywhere, scouts notice. Could Russia be an island?

3800 - Scouts discover tundra, proving the polar location of the Russian homeland.

3750 - The newly produced Russian warriors, on their rite-of-passage walkabout, discover two more Mammoth herds.

3650 - Scouts find a village, but it is deserted.

3550 - The russian homeland does appear to be an island, scouts claim. Atlantean cults become popular in Kievan Rus.

3500 - The English have been contacted! Our scouts met in a mountain pass south of Kievan Rus. The English foolishly declined to trade Warrior code or Alphabet secrets for Bronze Working.

3450 - Financial advisors warned Marius that the treasury is running out. Marius has them sacked.

3400 - The Magyars, a minor tribe, give Russia the secret of Ceremonial Burials. Russia already buried its dead - those burials, however, are now Ceremonial. Pomp and Circumstance accompany death now, making it easier to bear. Except for the dead. The English again refuse all reasonable trades of knowledge.

3350 - Scouts in the northern tundra discover a motherlode of furs - thousands of colonies of rabid tundra hamsters. Other civilizations might be interested in this hamster fur.

3200 - a peninsular mountain tribe of no note gives maps to our scout. Since he had to go up the mountain to reach their village, the maps tell him nothing! Curs!

3150 - A Russian scout becomes the first man to cross the Great Southern desert, discovering English cultural influence and, more importantly, a river that could be irrigated. It is a long way from Kievan Rus, but it will have to do. This discovery also proves that Russia is not, in fact, an island, and is tenously connected to a larger continental expanse. Atlantean cults are ridiculed.

3100 - Russian warriors return to Kievan Rus and set up defences.

3050 - London is discovered in a verdant valley just south of the desert.

3000 - Kievan Rus produces a Settler. Financial woes continue, forcing Marius to disband a scout. In this year, Marius also calls the Second Russian Press Conference to announce his retirement and selection of his debauched offspring Bakunine as his successor. Will the Russians survive?

Here's a screenshot:

The file is attached below.

samsmithnz · November 7, 2001, 23:16

This is so cool, I look forward to the next episode with interest (particularly since i DON'T have the game yet!!!)

jerkwaterbox · November 7, 2001, 23:31

Ouch, looks like you have a bad starting position. Conflict with the English looks like it will come early because you need the space to expand.

Gaius Marius · November 7, 2001, 23:56

Could have been a whole lot worse - I'm just glad we're connected to the mainland. It's not my administration anymore (at least not for another 100 turns), but if I was in there, boy, I'd start a ruckus those english would never forget.

I think they only have one city, so it might be possible to take them down quick. Offensive units are a problem, though.

jerkwaterbox · November 8, 2001, 00:03

You do have a tonne of ivory though, that will be useful when trade comes about. You should take out the English ASAP, or they will take you out.

Grundel · November 8, 2001, 01:52

Whether we take out out the English or not now falls upon the administration of Baukine (sp?) We shall see

Gaius Marius · November 8, 2001, 02:29

Who moved this thread way down here?

tleilaxu · November 8, 2001, 02:59

not me... the good news is that i CAN save games onto a disk... i just hope my turn doesn't come up on a weekend...

gotta use the computer at work to down and upload...

Bakunine · November 8, 2001, 08:50

3000 - Just started my reign and decided i will move the scout near London to a tile where he will prevent English fron sending settlers this way. ASAP i will try to put there a warrior or a better unit and continue exploring with the scout. The other scout will be moved to Kievan Rus for disbanding because of negative income. Settler will be moving to make our second city: Sodoma Rus

2950 - Just moving.

2900 - Disbanded Scout in Kievan.

2850 - Just moving.

2800 - Build Sodoma. It's a pety it is built on a grassland with shield

but must be done there so space is maximized and city starts with a wheat on it's workable border.

2750 - Building warrior on Sodoma. Scout preventing English to move this way. Or at least preventing if we stay in peace with those #&%%&$#!!! It looks like they have a really good starting place. Do we need more evidence AI is cheatin on us?!?!?

2710 - Nothing inportant.

2670 - Trying to make some improvements with lazy settler.

2630 - After a century finally he is able to make a dirty road!

2590 - Just hit space.

2550 - Settler now building road on wheat.

2510 - Sodoma and Kievan grows to size 2. Two turns to get masonary and finally treasury is growing at +2 per turn.

2470 - Sodoma builds warrior and now is working in a settler.

2430 - Masonary is discovered!!! Gonna try to exchange techs with our "friendly" neighbours. Well they don't give Alphabet, but are willing to trade Warrior Code and 10 Gold (all they have) for Masonary. I tried all possible combinations and no way we can get Alphabet (unless i give then two techs for one). Gonna accept Warrior Code anyway... Hope is the right thing to do...
Building mine on wheat now. Researching Alphabet ( will take 32 turns with income of +3 gold, there's no way to research anything at less turns even with maximun science). We urgently need another worker to build roads in forests with games on our Capital.

2390 - Just hit space.

2350 - Nothing happens.

2310 - Kievan builds temple. Starting producing a settler.

2270 - Nothing happens.

2230 - Sodoma grows to size 3.

2190 - After taking two centuries to build a mine on top of wheat in Sodoma i just see that extra shield being lost to waste!!!

2150 - My final turn

. Worker start building a road outside Sodoma to move the setter faster to my sucessor and so that we can get at least our cities connected by a road.
After taking a final look around the map i just realise the absurd high number of grassland with shields around London. With a industrious civilization in that spot i would be in "Heaven on Earth"! Anyway this game is going to be really interesting. Our only advantage is 6 brains against AI. Well our high number of Ivory and Furs may also help a bit later.

Gaius Marius · November 8, 2001, 13:28

(from the grave)

Great work, successor.

Pembleton · November 8, 2001, 15:35

You're going to have a lot of corruption problems because the capital will be so far away unless you move it. Looks like Forbidden Palace ASAP and then maybe move palace.

Gaius Marius · November 8, 2001, 17:03

Actually I think the palace will be fine where it is - probably another 5 cities will fit in the upper landmass and make a nice core. London, or wherever the center of our southern cities turns out to be, will need the Forbidden Palace. Cross that bridge when we get there, hopefully with a leader to hurry things.

General Ludd · November 9, 2001, 09:05

Discussing what to do defeats the whole purpose of this, let the person playing make the deccisions.

Gaius Marius · November 9, 2001, 09:16

I disagree. Healthy commentary from the "shadow government" makes it more fun for everybody.

MrRogers · November 9, 2001, 11:19

this is great. i also dont have the game.
the threads gonna get damn long tho if it keeps going strong.
your storyline was excellent marius

im usually peaceful myself, but if you can you should DEFINITELY get rid of those english, ITS YOUR ONLY EXPANSION ROUTE TILL MAPMAKING!

Pembleton · November 9, 2001, 13:56

Quote:

Originally posted by Gaius Marius
Actually I think the palace will be fine where it is - probably another 5 cities will fit in the upper landmass and make a nice core. London, or wherever the center of our southern cities turns out to be, will need the Forbidden Palace. Cross that bridge when we get there, hopefully with a leader to hurry things.

Well you probabaly won't have to move the palace. But 5 compared to 8-10 as a core is a*huge* difference. This is a problem I had in my last game where my capital was on a corner.

My greatest nemesis that game, the militarily aggressive Japanese, had the fortune of having a centralized capital and room to expand in almost all directions. Because of so many cities with low corruption, they were one of the most dominant civs in all aspects the entire game and I would have lost but I pitted civs against each other diplomatically, (including having a temporary mutual protection pact with them!) and I placed a huge defensive build up at a strategic chokepoint (with help from a right of passage with the Persians who had one city in between - it eventually got swallowed up by my culture and I earlier I had left it alone because I wanted to keep trading with the Persians and be on good terms with them) that prevented them from entering my territory without going in a transport.

This was reloading a game that I saved many turns earlier (I periodically save every 50-75 turns or so), after I got utterly smashed by a huge horde of samurai, etc.

Well that was a lot longer than expected but I guess this is the stories forum, right?

Gaius Marius · November 9, 2001, 16:26

Looking at the map, I think we can fit 8 in our neck of the continent - though one would be mostly a trading outpost for all those furs.

We shall see.