Hello again!

As I mentioned in this (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=261105) thread, I have devised a plan to achieve all the requirements for four of the six legs of the Elite Quattromaster Challenge.

I will try to post a thread around every two weeks with the game conditions, and then some highlights of my game, and encourage others to do the same. I also open the floor to discussions of strategy, as the regular HoF'ers never cease to amaze me with their insights into the game.

Round 6: PFS01A (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=258408), Chuck gets even MORE religion.

Back to BTS and a BTS only victory condition for round 6, so I’m hoping to see a few more friendly faces around. In PFS01, we crushed the opposition in the name of our religion*, here you’ll control them with it!

*Victory may have been achieved by rolling over those who followed our religion. This in no way changes the fact that I’m just making stuff up as I go along.

"Required" Settings:
Expansion: BTS
Era: Ancient
Civilization: Holy Roman Empire
Victory Condition: Religious
Game Speed: Epic
Map: Hemispheres

As of this writing, EQM appears mostly settled, and there seems to be no doubt that small maps will be allowed. Tiny maps are currently in, but many are of the opinion that they shouldn’t be, so keep that in mind.

The challenge here is Hemispheres. You will need to spread religion to the other continent, and everyone will need it before you can call the vote. Also remember that you won’t be allowed to call the vote if you have enough votes to win by yourself.

Here again are the opponent requirements for various map sizes.

Mapsize Minimum Maximum
Tiny 2 4
Small 4 7
Standard 6 10
Large 8 14
Huge 10 17
Remember, Duel Maps are definitely ineligible for the Elite Quattromaster Challenge.

Charlemagne is Imperialistic and Protective, neither of which will likely take you far. Honestly, I’m not sure what would make much of a difference, I suppose Philosophical to make GPs to grab and control religions, or Industrious to build the AP. The HRE UU is the Landsknecht, a pikeman replacement with a bonus against melee. They fared decently in PFS01, and they upgrade nicely to grenadiers. ;P The UB, is the rathaus (courthouse, 75% maintenance reduction instead of 50%), which was huge in PFS01, because someone wouldn’t let us raze any cities. Both the UU and the UB could show some usefulness in an opening strategy.

Charlie starts with mysticism and hunting, which could lead to a turtling strategy of archery and religions.

If you're interested, the current best dates for a small map are:

Deity No Entry
Immortal No Entry
Emperor No Entry
Monarch No Entry
Prince Drool 80 B.C.
Noble Harbourboy 655 A.D.
Warlord bestje 1500 A.D.
Chieftain Lord Orpon 1375 A.D.
Settler Jack LEagle 850 B.C.

and the current best dates for a standard map are:

Deity No Entry
Immortal No Entry
Emperor No Entry
Monarch No Entry
Prince No Entry
Noble GMTemplar 1899 A.D.
Warlord Andrei_V 445 A.D.
Chieftain No Entry
Settler No Entry

In the words of Leonard Nimoy:

“Two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly
by the love of self; the heavenly by the love of God.”

Results:
Ozbenno won on a standard map on Monarch in 1545 A.D. (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/game_info.php?entryID=11729)
bestje won on a small map on Monarch in 1390 A.D. (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/game_info.php?entryID=11792)
Bindamel won on a small map on Monarch in 1565 A.D. (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/game_info.php?entryID=11778)

Happy to add more as they come in!

A rekindling of PFS01, count me in. Can I whinge as much here as I did there.

I have no idea how to get an AP victory. Was thinking of trying the next challange on Emporer but will definately stick to Monarch to try and figure this one out

are we banning the exploit for this game then?
there is an exploit that allows you to self vote to a religious win, are we playing a gentlemen's game where we all agree not to use it?

i guess i have to play at least one game on small warlord, 1500AD is embarrasingly slow, that won't still be first next update

What's the exploit?

Your votes are doubled by having the religion as your state religion.

You cannot call for the diplo win vote if you have enough votes to win by yourself. Whether or not you can call the vote is determined at the beginning of your turn, the number of votes you cast is determined at the end. So if you call for the vote without being in the state religion, and the doubling that you get by converting during your turn is enough to win outright, you can end up with enough to vote yourself the win.

I'm not going to use it, but I'm not going to make a rule that it can't be. Those who are competing for good dates may need to use it in order to stay competitive (although if you're looking for a good date, you're not using hemispheres.)

1545AD win.

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/5618/civ4screenshot0000ge6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Would have won ages before if I knew about the exploit. I also lost three votes I would have won the next turn (two by having missionaries with no movement points left and one by Lincoln converting the next turn). Literally lost 6 or 7 votes in a row by less than 30 votes. Ended up bribing Mansu to Free Religion and converting Frederick. Was +10 at least with every AI.

Early game, I tried to found every religion. Missed Hinduism by 2 turns and Lizzie bulbed Philosophy. Didn't bother with Islam, no idea who founded it but by the time it was founded everyone was Buddhist or Hindu. I bulbed Theology from a GP (Oracled CoL as well) and then headed straight for Optics. Sent 3 caravels out with 3 missionaries and then started trying to win.

currently playing bindy #2 (spaceship) and mucking about with BUG. When B#2 finishes, I'll give this one ago. BTW - I hate diplo victories for the reasons benno cites. I love having the AP so that I can stop people warring on me - very useful in Bindy #4 (culture) with random opponents - bloody boudica kept declaring on me and taking one of my cities. First war, I sued for peace and then the AP let me reclaim the city (:lol:). Second war - I got the city back as part of the peace deal. Foolish girl!

Agree totally with Ruff. The AP is a great wonder and does add a dimension to the game and the AI is actually fairly competent at using it but the AP victory is a joke. Seems poorly thought out. At least I have my Monarch EQM slot filled (although I'm now thinking about going for Emporer EQM).

Noble Harbourboy 655 A.D.

Woohoo! I bet that doesn't last long......... Better enjoy the glory while I can.

I doubt 655AD would be broken on a Hemispheres map Harbourboy, so you're safe (for now!).

I doubt 655AD would be broken on a Hemispheres map Harbourboy, so you're safe (for now!).

I think I'll have to go try a noble game next! :devil:

Small map with Joao on my continent, and Lincoln and Freddie hating Cyrus' guts on the other continent.

Here's the capital. Nothing special, but I was running out of worldbuilder saves! :eek:

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g221/Bindamel/eqm%206/Civ4ScreenShot0534.jpg

I founded Judaism, Oracled Theology for Christianity, and got Confucianism later. I only spread Judaism.

I built the AP in 140 B.C.

There was a Lincoln/Fred vs. Cyrus war in 775 A.D., before I knew they existed, and another in 1200 A.D.

Cyrus was not in theocracy, and was the only "easy" convert. Fred was friendly enough for Open Borders, but was in theocracy. It was about 500 EP at 50% discount to get him to see the ways of OR.

Lincoln was a tough nut to crack, as I couldn't get OB. He is the first AI I've ever encountered who would freely trade techs with me, but not give me OB. I was 5 turns from Liberalism when he came demanding Education. I gave it to him, and Open Borders became available immediately.

At this point, the only AI who liked me enough to vote for me was Joao, and he was Jewish too. So I revolted to FR, and sent a spy to Joao to make him do the same.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g221/Bindamel/eqm%206/Civ4ScreenShot0535.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g221/Bindamel/eqm%206/Civ4ScreenShot0536.jpg

Exploit aside, I think the easiest (not fastest) way to win an AP victory is by bringing the world into Free Religion. You become the only candidate for the vote as the AP holder, and it's much easier to get the AIs to vote for you if there are no religious differences. I seriously doubt that was the developer intent, though.

In my game, Washington, Frederick and Cyrus refused to adopt free religion (as it goes against everything we stand for), so that may not work.

In my game, Washington, Frederick and Cyrus refused to adopt free religion (as it goes against everything we stand for), so that may not work.Do you have spies!! Use your spy points to force them to change.

Do you have spies!! Use your spy points to force them to change.

Yep, ruff's got it, I needed spies to get Fred out of Theocracy, and Joao into FR:


Fred was friendly enough for Open Borders, but was in theocracy. It was about 500 EP at 50% discount to get him to see the ways of OR.

<snip>

So I revolted to FR, and sent a spy to Joao to make him do the same.

well that was a bit different, I didn't use the exploit succesfully.
I needed to get other people to vote for me instead and they wouldn't when i was using the exploit
so a somewhat surpirsing 1390AD win at monarch difficulty
174828

had an ok start with a decent island to myself though pericles had another island nearby. asoka and Fred shared 1 continent and liz and roosevelt shared the other
I left buddhism and hinduism and founded judaism and then christianity, which meant that almost everyone had a different religion and was pleased with me when i had no religion and cautious when i did
i spent most of the game being about 6 votes short of victory, if i'd done the exploit the first time the vote came up i would have won a lot earlier but i kept forgetting i wasn't spiritual :crazyeye: and so i couldn't change religion quickly enough

And the update is in, and this time its all Monarch:

Ozbenno won on a standard map on Monarch in 1545 A.D. (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/game_info.php?entryID=11729)
bestje won on a small map on Monarch in 1390 A.D. (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/game_info.php?entryID=11792)
Bindamel won on a small map on Monarch in 1565 A.D. (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/game_info.php?entryID=11778)


Great Job, All! :goodjob:

Here's the link (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/game_info.php?dsply=0&entryID=11729)to my entry.

I've been checking out how my Monarch EQM is progressing and was looking at the Machiavelli (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/quattromasters_elite.php?show=condition&dsply=0&QMLevel=Monarch&pubID=58&submit=Go)page (I'm the only one with all complete :goodjob:) and I noticed our very own host only has one game condition to complete this section.

Bindy, say it ain't so for next round :lol:

I've been checking out how my Monarch EQM is progressing and was looking at the Machiavelli (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/quattromasters_elite.php?show=condition&dsply=0&QMLevel=Monarch&pubID=58&submit=Go)page (I'm the only one with all complete :goodjob:) and I noticed our very own host only has one game condition to complete this section.

Bindy, say it ain't so for next round :lol:

i think we are out of luck there and its going to be time next, hopefully not marathon time

anyway well done everyone, religious wins on an islands map aren't easy to do quickly