Going for 500 AD landings on standard maps

[solo]

120 to 240 AD, Hyper trade and 2 advances per turn

In 120, when all helpers and colonies were full size, two freight deliveries, with a payoff totaling 1400 had supplied enough beakers for the next advance, the cost of which was 1176 beakers. By setting science at 100%, cities were producing 1224 beakers, enough to earn a second advance. During almost every turn until Flight was discovered, enough freights could be delivered to keep this happening, while enough scientific improvements could be rushed in helpers and colonies to keep up with the mounting tech costs. About 50 beakers in new science had to be rushed each turn to keep the 2 advances per turn snowball rolling. Tech gifts were frequent to the Indians in order to keep techs costs at a minimum. Following is a log of each turn during this period along with some additional comments.

120 Detroit – oil, San Francisco – superhighways, Atlanta – oil, Philadelphia – colosseum, Feudalism, gold(d) to Orleans, 784g, beads(d) to Buffalo, 616g

140 New Orleans – oil, Chivalry, Detroit – colosseum, St. Louis – cloth, Buffalo – university, Chicago – gold, Atlanta – colosseum, New York – engineers, Washington – colosseum, Leadership, Baltimore founded, oil(d) to St. Louis, 876g, coal(d) to Paris, 517g

Baltimore was needed to supply a few beakers to trigger the first advance of every two, allowing all other cities to apply their science towards the second advances. Since this was the 11th city, its foundation had to wait until the celebration was over, since an unhappy first citizen can prevent celebrations in affected helpers. Baltimore made Atlanta’s first citizen unhappy, so a courthouse had to be built in that city later.

160 Nuclear Power, St. Louis – beads, San Francisco – engineers, Chicago – beads, Philadelphia – library, Laser, oil to Chicago, 258g

There were not enough freights for the first advance this turn. The oil going to Chicago unblocked it supply of oil.

180 New Orleans – engineers, Detroit – library, Buffalo – wine, Chicago – oil, Atlanta – courthouse, New York – spice, Tactics, beads(d) to Veii, 864g, gold(d) to Orleans, 936g, spice(d) to Chicago, 210g

200 Machine Tools, Detroit – university, St. Louis – courthouse, San Francisco – copper, Chicago – gold, Philadelphia – university, Washington – library, Mobile Warfare

220 Chicago – beads, Atlanta – superhighways, Miniaturization, gold(d) to Orleans, 912g, oil(d) to Detroit, 912g, oil(d) to Atlanta, 784g

At this time Chicago was producing 870 beakers, and the other cities were contributing 548 beakers, for a total of 1418 beakers at 100% science. Almost 40% of science was coming from helpers and colonies, with two colonies, Buffalo and Detroit adding over 100 each, since they both had universities. Science peaked here, since the discovery of Flight in 240, cancelled the Colossus.

240 Computers, Detroit – wool, St. Louis – library, Buffalo – food, San Francisco – spice, Chicago – gold, Philadelphia – cloth, New York – cloth, Flight, Washington – university,
wine to Chicago, 170g, beads to Philadelphia, 347g, copper(d) to Veii, 280g

Space Flight was 4 turns away, so it was time to switch attention towards building SS parts. The attached save was made in 240 AD.

[solo]

260 to 400 AD, From Flight to Alpha Centauri

With the discovery of Space Flight approaching, the focus shifts from trying for 2 advances per turn to accumulating freights and cash to build the space ship. There’s really no point now in building research labs, since one advance per turn is easily attainable with the help of the final freight deliveries. In fact, so much wealth has been tied up in city improvements, it’s already time to start selling off universities, libraries and superhighways which were built only a few turns ago. A detailed log of each turn preceding the launch will follow:

260 Chicago – dye, Atlanta – engineers, Radio, gold(d) to Orleans, 678g, beads(d) to Orleans, 452g, spice(d) to Detroit, 403g, Romans – trade for Pottery to reset the tech list

280 Detroit – oil, St. Louis – airport, Buffalo – transport, San Francisco – coal, Chicago – gold, Advanced Flight, Philadelphia – hides, Washington – cloth, beads(d) to Lyon, 328g, dye(d) to Rome, 552g

300 Chicago – oil, Atlanta – wine, New York – food, Rocketry, gold(d) to Orleans, 708g

320 Baltimore – temple, Detroit – food, St. Louis – salt, Buffalo – food, San Francisco – silver, Chicago – airport, Philadelphia – hides, Washington – food, Space Flight, oil(d) to Detroit, 769g

Airports were built in St. Louis earlier and Chicago this turn to permit a few last minute trades between these distant cities and to speed delivery of freights between them. All other cities are building freights for SS parts and are selling off city improvements each turn to raise more cash.

340 Baltimore – Apollo Program, New Orleans – gold, Chicago – gold, Atlanta – food, New York – food, Plastics, salt to Chicago, 436g

360 Baltimore, New Orleans, New York – SS structurals, Detroit – oil, St. Louis – copper, Buffalo – food, San Francisco – food, Chicago – oil, Atlanta – SS component, Philadelphia – hides, Washington – food, Superconductor, silver(d) to Rome, 330g, coal(d) to Rome, 576g, gold(d) to Orleans, 576g, gold(d) to Orleans, 282g, wine(d) to Orleans, 270g

A final flurry of deliveries to Orleans, including the helper gold, which waited until the last one from Chicago had been delivered.

380 Baltimore, New Orleans, Buffalo, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Washington – SS structurals, Philadelphia – SS component, oil to St. Louis, 436g

400 Baltimore, San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York, Washington – SS structurals, New Orleans – SS component, St. Louis, Detroit, Atlanta – SS modules, Fusion Power, Space ship ready, 15 structurals, 4 components and 3 modules, Launch with ETA of 421 AD

With a little more planning, it might have been possible to add two more components for a faster ship, but the main goal, of a landing before 500 AD had been achieved. The save below is on the turn of the launch.

[solo]

400 to 421 AD, Waiting to land

Attached is the save made the turn before landing. All cities just worked on defending themselves while waiting, but no AI attacks occurred, only thefts of technology.

I was pleased to see that a landing before 500 AD could be made without depending so much on a strong SSC. This really increases the number starts I’d consider as viable candidates for early landing games. A significant part of the research load near the end of the game was shared by helpers and colonies, and this was made possible by the use of harbors in all cities, which maximized trade arrows. I think this game established that an effective combination of cities for early landings on standard maps is 5 helpers and 4 colonies. There were enough helpers to help develop the SSC quickly early on, and enough colonies to keep trade humming and the SSC producing profitable freights during the second half of the game. It was also satisfying to see that a road-rail SSC-AI connection is not necessary for a pre-500 AD result.

Unfortunately, the description of this game ends on a sad note, as I have just got news of the Columbia space shuttle disaster. My heart and prayers go out to relatives of the shuttle’s crew. With Civ II, we just pretend and play at exploring outer space. The astronauts are the ones who take the risks.

[rjmatsleepers]

Originally posted by solo

Since this post only covered a few game turns, I thought it might be a good time to give a few examples of how to unblock supplies in the SSC.

This is a fantastic post - a real masterclass.

It will take me a while to absorb it all, but I'll certainly be giving everything a try. My earliest landing to date is 1893 so with these tips I hope to knok a year or two off.

Once again Solo, many thanks for such an instructive contribution.

RJM at Sleepers

[DrSpike]

Wow Solo, good stuff. It amazes me that the science of early landing could get what is quite a large tweak, 6 years after the game was released.

[Bloody Monk]

Originally posted by solo
Monk,

Frozen pipes have kept from checking in here for a few days, but I see that you have have joined the sub 1000 AD club on your first attempt. I looked over your saves, and even without an earlier connection to Rome and an earlier switch to Democracy, you must have been doing something very right to land in 715. Nice job! After launch, I agree that it is kind of relaxing to tee off on the AI after building some armor.

You may want to give it another go with the start I used for the 241 AD game, as I think it will provide the best chances of breaking the 500 AD barrier, a very tough nut to crack. That start and its SSC site are perfectly suited for early landing attempts, and if you have a number good breaks, as I did while playing my game, I think you'll manage very well.

After waiting some time to let your 241 comments get fogged over, I took a shot at that game. I got a landing date of 696AD, a mere 555 years later. And I feel very satisfied with this effort, unlike the first , which was tainted by all the help I received. Your result is astounding to me after playing the start. I have sooo much to learn.

Looking over your comment on your game and comparing, I think the major differences were these:

1) The French were not so helpful to me and I had to do most of the research for Republic. It was much later that I was able to switch.

2) Trade. I have a lot of work yet before I understand how to avoid and remedy blocked supply choices. Many cities became blocked, and the wonder bread trick did not always work in unblocking the SSC. Your advice/examples that you recently shared were helpful; but, I am not yet able to 'see' what needs to be done. And I don't have a clue about keeping the block from happening in the first place. More to learn.

3) The Indians. In short, they built on the narrows before I got there making three cities working trade specials and bottlenecking them impossible. I chose to build the third city across the bay in Axtec country. This probably was not the best choice in hind sight as it tied up shipping every time I went there.

4) I got the road going to the station city quickly; but i never got the routes to Moscow to stick after I started deliveries to offshore AI's. It hurt to have a 22t route to Moscow replaced by a 12t route to Delhi. Maybe I got spoiled by the 715 game and this result is not unusual.

So, while I broke the 1000AD barrier, I have much to learn before I break the 500AD mark...and your new attempts seem unreachable with those restrictions. ( No Advanced Tribes or hut cash, etc) Thanks for openning up this new way of playing. I find it more interesting than OCC but with much of the 'OCC' simplicity that speeds up play.

Monk

[solo]

Thanks, Dr. Spike and Rjmatsleepers.

Monk,

Congrats, as 696 AD is very good. The key to pre-500 landings is getting a number of turns when you can obtain two advances. From reading your comments, I can tell you have zeroed in on what is needed in order to do better. I do not think it will be long before you crack 500.

A few comments. My Moscow routes were also displaced by trades to other cities having better base trade, though the road bonus did help a lot early on. In the other game, Rome became a large AI city with enough base trade to hold onto those routes.

The wonder bread ploy only works to unblock commodities that did NOT replace an exisiting route when they were delivered, which happened in the game with Rome. Wonder bread and cycle turns are the only way to unblock commodities not appearing among the 3 routes.

It is much easier to unblock supplies, when one or more routes are established with your own cities, since there is no easy way to reduce base trade in an AI city. Full-sized helpers and colonies have enough base trade to displace AI routes later on, but before the growth occurs, the better AI cities can block your supplies if you don't watch it! This is why Orleans, the weak French city used in my unblocking examples, was such a perfect SSC trading partner.

Since unblocked SSC supplies are the key to two advances per turn, I think it's really worth just playing an experimental game, or using saves from the game just completed to try the different unblocking techniques. Unblocking is quite subtle. Also remember that you can not unblock something in transit, so quick deliveries are vital.

I have downloaded your save and will take a look when I get a chance.