After my Diety Always War OCC game, http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=254455, I thought of another good challenge. This one is inspired by a succession game last year in Vanilla, RB29 - Cultural Extermination. Four teams tried it, but only one succeeded, team d, http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=210325.
This was one of the most fascinating games I've read, so I was keen to try it is BTS. Many rule changes make it play quite differently.
The rules of the challenge are:
1) All victory conditions are enabled except Cultural and Domination. However, to win the game, you must control every land tile on the map when the game ends. That means that you must win by conquest.
2) Normal units are not allowed to enter enemy territory (i.e., lands and waters of nations you are at war with).
a) This does not apply to units the enemy cannot detect as yours. Thus, spies and privateers are allowed to act with impunity.
b) Aircraft can overfly enemy territory for recon or to attack enemy units or cities, but may not pillage. Thus, aircraft are only allowed to do things ground units could do.
c) Your units can attack enemy units in their territory from yours, but only if your unit would stay where it is after a successful attack and not cross into enemy territory.
3) Cities can be acquired by any means other than military capture. The most likely is culture flipping, but there are other options for getting them.
4) Vassals are allowed, but note rule 1). If you have any vassals at the end of the game, you lose since you won't own every tile. You can take vassals as long as you wipe them out before the end of the game. The AIs are allowed to vassalize each other, which can make the game more difficult for you.
5) You may not entice any AI to enter a war (your own vassals excepted). This was a key tactic of RB29d, getting the AIs to raze each other's cities. It was very effective, but I don't think it fits the spirit of the variant. Note that this forbids using the trade screen or AP, but defensive pacts are allowed (which can indirectly draw an AI into a war).
The settings are
Note that if an AI takes one of your cities, you can reflip it, but are forbidden to recapture it. This is a departure from RB29.
You are Catherine, just as in RB29, but since Russia's UB is poor for this variant, I picked China.
The opponents are handpicked (as in RB29):
Shaka of Zululand, Genghis of Mongolia
Bismark of Germany, Julius of Rome
Joao of Portugal, Mao of Russia
Since Catherine took China, it seems only fair to give Russia to Mao.
I regened the start until I got a non-coastal one:
The save game for the start:
View attachment mwilliam BC-4000.CivBeyondSwordSave
I'll give a walkthough of my game. I won in 1898. The BTS changes make this somewhat easier than in Vanilla (RB29d was won in 2031). In retrospect, I should have chosen Monarch difficulty for a really challenging game. Still, it required a lot of careful planning to win. I would recommend trying it for a very different kind of game.
This was one of the most fascinating games I've read, so I was keen to try it is BTS. Many rule changes make it play quite differently.
The rules of the challenge are:
1) All victory conditions are enabled except Cultural and Domination. However, to win the game, you must control every land tile on the map when the game ends. That means that you must win by conquest.
2) Normal units are not allowed to enter enemy territory (i.e., lands and waters of nations you are at war with).
a) This does not apply to units the enemy cannot detect as yours. Thus, spies and privateers are allowed to act with impunity.
b) Aircraft can overfly enemy territory for recon or to attack enemy units or cities, but may not pillage. Thus, aircraft are only allowed to do things ground units could do.
c) Your units can attack enemy units in their territory from yours, but only if your unit would stay where it is after a successful attack and not cross into enemy territory.
3) Cities can be acquired by any means other than military capture. The most likely is culture flipping, but there are other options for getting them.
4) Vassals are allowed, but note rule 1). If you have any vassals at the end of the game, you lose since you won't own every tile. You can take vassals as long as you wipe them out before the end of the game. The AIs are allowed to vassalize each other, which can make the game more difficult for you.
5) You may not entice any AI to enter a war (your own vassals excepted). This was a key tactic of RB29d, getting the AIs to raze each other's cities. It was very effective, but I don't think it fits the spirit of the variant. Note that this forbids using the trade screen or AP, but defensive pacts are allowed (which can indirectly draw an AI into a war).
The settings are
Note that if an AI takes one of your cities, you can reflip it, but are forbidden to recapture it. This is a departure from RB29.
You are Catherine, just as in RB29, but since Russia's UB is poor for this variant, I picked China.
The opponents are handpicked (as in RB29):
Shaka of Zululand, Genghis of Mongolia
Bismark of Germany, Julius of Rome
Joao of Portugal, Mao of Russia
Since Catherine took China, it seems only fair to give Russia to Mao.
I regened the start until I got a non-coastal one:
The save game for the start:
View attachment mwilliam BC-4000.CivBeyondSwordSave
I'll give a walkthough of my game. I won in 1898. The BTS changes make this somewhat easier than in Vanilla (RB29d was won in 2031). In retrospect, I should have chosen Monarch difficulty for a really challenging game. Still, it required a lot of careful planning to win. I would recommend trying it for a very different kind of game.