pndrev pndrev

Year Zero Club

▼

Year Zero Club

...when simply winning is not enough!

from GalCiv2 Forums

First off, I couldn't have done this without the inspiration of the Metaverse League and Wyndstar in particular. Kudos to the master!

Now to the matter at hand.

I finally did it. A year zero win! Granted, it was only against 1 AI and on challenging (my current level) but I'm certain that 'tough' wouldn't have been much harder. On the other hand, it was my first attempt at an 'all-labs' and 'lease instead of buy' approach, so I consider myself proud that I could do it at all.

Here is the link to the character, as a proof: http://metaverse.galciv2.com/index.aspx?g=player&id=14517

For all of you, who like me thought that year zero wins are nigh impossible: Try it! Read the posts about it! It is difficult, requires constant micromanagement, but I found it incredibly rewarding to see that victory screen after 25 - 30 turns. Not the way I'd like to play constantly, but as a change of pace, it's a incredible challenge.

And of course, once you've accomplished your first 'Year Zero', post here and rejoice!


As an edit, I now include the current top score.


Attention new players!
Do not be frightened by these scores! Playing a ZYW is actually really easy, and getting a score close to 30000 points takes just a few tries. These games are usually finished in less than 20 minutes, so have at it. Try the tiny ZYWs first, I find them easier and you might get the unique chance to beat players like neilo or Wyndstar.


Current ZYW record holders:

'expert' ZYW - Gigantic


1) 198450 points - MottiKhan

2) 119000 points - Kzinti Patriarch

3) 109500 points - neilo


'classic' ZYW - Tiny

1) 56700points - MottiKhan

2) 40600 points - Kzinti Patriarch / Magnumaniac

3) 38850 points - Wyndstar

 

1,556,012 views 924 replies
Reply #76 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
We've been schooled Neilo. ;)

Awesome score Wyndstar!

Kzinti empire2.JPG Sentient species taste better...
Reply #77 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
April 8th every time.

Nice one Wyndstar  :D 
Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #78 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
April 8th every time.Nice one Wyndstar   


Very puzzling then...hmmm... Back to the drawing board!

Kzinti empire2.JPG Sentient species taste better...

Reply #80 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
:SURPRISED: I was dreading you guys saying that you finished on April 8th...

Ok..well this will take some time figuring out.....
Reply #81 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I wanted to finish on April 8th... but the AI was colonizing almost as fast as I could build transports. Hence my 1 turn delay in finally knocking out the enemy.

~ Wyndstar
+1 Loading…
Reply #82 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
build transports


Hmmm, all factory approach? I have been going all lab and rush buying transports/spore ships.
Reply #83 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
...and a new mark set  :D 



8th April finish (economy would not support another turn, even if I wanted to).

I don't think the all factory approach is viable, no way you can get the research levels needed as far as I can see (could be wrong though).

Now, just give me a pre-cursor library and 40K is definitely on!
Reply #84 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
OK, scratch that - 40K is done without a pre-cursor  :HOT: 
Reply #85 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
These scores are just getting ridiculous :). Great job!
Reply #86 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
OK I'm late to the party and the bar has risen some but I am trying :) .
Reply #87 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
40600 points... Magnumaniac, that is simply astonishing.

I'm also quite happy with the turnout here at the Club. Seems like the competition attracts quite a few high profile players. :)
Reply #88 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I stand humbly blown away!!!!

40600K :SURPRISED:

Any chance of telling us what you are doing to get those scores?

:CONGRAT: :CONGRAT: :CONGRAT:
Reply #89 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It's getting difficult to keep track of all this. Congrats to all, though.

Has anyone actually beaten Wyndstar's 38850 on 1.80g, though? With 1.80e's well documented bugs, it's not exactly a level playing field.

IMO, unless it was topped on 1.80g, Wyndstar's 38850 is still boss.
Reply #90 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
What bugs would those be? Significant enough to account for a 1,500 point difference in a 13 point game?
Reply #91 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
What bugs would those be? Significant enough to account for a 1,500 point difference in a 13 point game?


The fleet movement bug for instance would be a significant advantage, giving unlimited movement without regard to engines. You can scout the entire map and set your ships wherever you wished. Any anomolies would automatically be yours on the first turn. That sort of thing.

I'm not saying this was done, but also can't see any logical reason to be playing on 1.80e.
Reply #92 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Any chance of telling us what you are doing to get those scores?


Just changing research order from previous games, ensuring that I don't actually research a tech until the latest possible time that I need it (e.g. Uni Translator not needed until 1st March at the earliest), and flying the economy very close to the wire (you still get full research output next turn even if you are at -499bc when hitting the turn button).

And, of course, spending about an hour on the first turn just fleeting and unfleeting my flagship so it gets unlimited movement - that despite the fact that it has a logistics value of 5, I have a logistics capability of 6, and there are no ships in the game that have a value of 1 with which to fleet it. Naturally, spending a turn or two researching Logistics would enable this - but you would lose so much elsewhere you'd be lucky to break 30K.

As for playing 1.80e - that is the version currently provided by SDC as the latest available. I now know it is possible to get a later version, but as I have 3 different gigantic maps ongoing I will not be updating until they are complete. There are also some very odd scoring examples with 1.80g that suggest to me that it could also be very bugged (just see the MV player in 9th place for examples).



Reply #93 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
There are also some very odd scoring examples with 1.80g that suggest to me that it could also be very bugged (just see the MV player in 9th place for examples).


Thats no bug. Spacetimer is almost certainly a cheater, though SD hasn't commented more specifically. He was banned from the AltMeta.

Personally, I'm not going to take advantage of such bugs to up my scores...that's neither interesting, fun, or challenging (other than to your patience!).

So as of today, what's the highest score people have got for a ZYW without using bugs? Just want to know what I have to try to beat. :D

Kzinti empire2.JPG Sentient species taste better...

Reply #94 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Personally, I'm not going to take advantage of such bugs to up my scores...that's neither interesting, fun, or challenging (other than to your patience!).


I agree

So as of today, what's the highest score people have got for ZYW without using bugs?


40,600
Reply #95 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
That's without the fleet movement bug? ODang...you're not making it easy! ;)

Kzinti empire2.JPG Sentient species taste better...
Reply #96 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I apologize to you for bringing it up, Magnumaniac. I don't doubt your word.

From your post above, however, you appeared to be saying that you did use the bug and gave the hint about how to do it without having 7 logistics. (The other half of the bug that I referred to in a post a while back.)

It can be a tad confusing to read it in print as sarcasm doesn't always come through and since it can be done, the point is difficult to see.

Thank you for clearing it up.
Reply #97 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Ah, I missed the sarcasm...having only 2 hours of sleep previous to this Monday morning probably didnt help. ;)

Kzinti empire2.JPG Sentient species taste better...
Reply #98 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I did not, and never have used the fleet movement bug (didn't even know it existed until reading this today).

I cannot see how it could be used in any case, as it is impossible to create a fleet at the start of the game because you do not have 2 ships that will fit with your starting logistics - unless you can create a fleet with one ship (never tried that - but wouldn't surprise me if you could).

Even then, from reading the details on the bug, you have to click outside the range of the fleet, then unfleet, rinse and repeat. Given that we are talking about a tiny universe, then once the movement got up to about 40 it would be impossible to click somewhere outside the range - so the exploit would be limited in it's usefulness anyway.

Bottom line is, even if it could be made to work its far too boring and laborious to do.
Reply #99 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The single ship fleet bug is present in all iterations of DL and DA. Probably in TA as well, since it was never taken seriously by the Devs. Its use had been very limited until DA 1.80e. With the fleet movement bug taken out, the bug is back to being relatively harmless.

Like you said though, its use would be boring and laborious. Even more so, since single ship fleeting adds yet another couple of steps to the process.
Reply #100 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
i'm actually not surprised at all that Mag and Wynd have achieved such scores...no offense to Neilo, but if he can achieve 33K, then its no surprise to me that those other two completely trounced that.

@Mag: as far as can be seen, 1.80g is generally considered one of the most stable versions of DA that has been released. Its not to say that its not without its bugs, some serious (very rare but random CTDs, OOMs) but in comparison to previous versions def. better overall. As for Spacetimer (MV #9) all that can be gathered is that some form of hex editing or file manipulation that couldn't be traced by SD has allowed his games to be posted w/o a flag. It is accepted that the normal game mechanics of 1.80g, or any version for that matter, could not allow for those scores.

@Motti: The single ship fleet isn't really a bug IMO. Its just naming yourself differently. In CivIII one could create armies with just one unit in them. Its the same idea really.