Sisiutil
All Leader Challenger
Postmortem
We'll start with some graphs, 'cause they're always fun. Here's the score graph for the whole game:
Gilgamesh was pretty even with me, right up to about the point where I booted Augustus off of my continent. That's when I really seemed to take the game in hand.
GNP (Gold):
I don't find this chart quite as informative as many of the others, but I included it to be thorough.
Manufactured Goods (Production):
This one is a little more informative. You can see where I had two golden ages. You can also see, more or less, where I finished researching Railroad (just after the first golden age) and where I built the Three Gorges Dam (just after the second one).
Power for the whole game:
And for the last 50 turns:
Those two charts really summarize what happened. I focused on military, pure and simple. I quickly surpassed Gilgamesh and Sury couldn't keep up.
Demographics:
As usual, I'm #1 in everything... except approval rate and life expectancy! Well, when you're sending so many of your citizens off to be cannon fodder, that's to be expected.
Top 5 Cities/Wonders:
Nice to see Madrid at the top of the list, and three more Spanish cities rounding out the top 5.
Statistics:
And, finally, the score:
Not my best score ever, but very respectable. (For the trainspotters out there, it's my 5th-highest ALC score--right after the one from the first Isabella game, which is at #4!)
I probably could have achieved a higher score, but I didn't start warring until relatively late in the game. That gave me more of a chance to highlight Spain's unique building, which was one of the goals of this second Spain game.
The Citadel is a very powerful building; combined with Spiritual Isabella's ability to change civics without penalty, it can be used to build several very powerful siege weapons--mostly Trebuchets, given the era. I recommend pursuing the techs as I did, that is, going after Engineering earlier than normal--in my case, before Civil Service. I also should have delayed Economics longer than I did. It's possible to be using the Citadels to produce highly-promoted Cannons as well, something I missed out on. The BtS espionage feature could be leveraged to give you a shot at Economics' free GM, or you could just let it go in a Spain game.
The Spanish UU is less impressive than its UB, but is still useful. Given its rather awkward place on the tech tree, there's no way it could be up there with Praetorians, Immortals, and War Chariots, or even Cossacks. The life span of Conquistadors/Cuirrasiers is just too short. It was difficult in this game to bee-line to Engineering and to Military Tradition. The map made Astronomy and Chemistry more attractive techs than Nationalism, and indeed, Sury wound up beating me to the Taj Mahal.
I would have liked to have given Conquistadors a spin back when they replaced Knights; I wish they still did. Knights are a great unit, and as Conquistadors I'm sure they were even better. As it is, the UB practically makes Spain's siege weapons into its UUs. They certainly make a bigger difference to the game. In fact, I'd attribute much of the win to them. I was able to sweep Rome aside with relative ease thanks to those CRIII Trebuchets.
While the first Spain game achieved a bigger score, using the Apostolic Palace in that way felt cheesy. I read through the changes in the new patch and didn't see anything that changes this, but maybe I missed something. At any rate, I won't be trying to win that way again even if it's still possible. This game felt more like a true Spanish game and win, what with the pursuit and leverage of a "middle" religion (Judaism), frequent civics changes, and the exploitation of the UB and, to a lesser extent, UU. I'm sure Isabella herself is happier with this victory, too.
We'll start with some graphs, 'cause they're always fun. Here's the score graph for the whole game:
Gilgamesh was pretty even with me, right up to about the point where I booted Augustus off of my continent. That's when I really seemed to take the game in hand.
GNP (Gold):
I don't find this chart quite as informative as many of the others, but I included it to be thorough.
Manufactured Goods (Production):
This one is a little more informative. You can see where I had two golden ages. You can also see, more or less, where I finished researching Railroad (just after the first golden age) and where I built the Three Gorges Dam (just after the second one).
Power for the whole game:
And for the last 50 turns:
Those two charts really summarize what happened. I focused on military, pure and simple. I quickly surpassed Gilgamesh and Sury couldn't keep up.
Demographics:
As usual, I'm #1 in everything... except approval rate and life expectancy! Well, when you're sending so many of your citizens off to be cannon fodder, that's to be expected.
Top 5 Cities/Wonders:
Nice to see Madrid at the top of the list, and three more Spanish cities rounding out the top 5.
Statistics:
And, finally, the score:
Not my best score ever, but very respectable. (For the trainspotters out there, it's my 5th-highest ALC score--right after the one from the first Isabella game, which is at #4!)
I probably could have achieved a higher score, but I didn't start warring until relatively late in the game. That gave me more of a chance to highlight Spain's unique building, which was one of the goals of this second Spain game.
The Citadel is a very powerful building; combined with Spiritual Isabella's ability to change civics without penalty, it can be used to build several very powerful siege weapons--mostly Trebuchets, given the era. I recommend pursuing the techs as I did, that is, going after Engineering earlier than normal--in my case, before Civil Service. I also should have delayed Economics longer than I did. It's possible to be using the Citadels to produce highly-promoted Cannons as well, something I missed out on. The BtS espionage feature could be leveraged to give you a shot at Economics' free GM, or you could just let it go in a Spain game.
The Spanish UU is less impressive than its UB, but is still useful. Given its rather awkward place on the tech tree, there's no way it could be up there with Praetorians, Immortals, and War Chariots, or even Cossacks. The life span of Conquistadors/Cuirrasiers is just too short. It was difficult in this game to bee-line to Engineering and to Military Tradition. The map made Astronomy and Chemistry more attractive techs than Nationalism, and indeed, Sury wound up beating me to the Taj Mahal.
I would have liked to have given Conquistadors a spin back when they replaced Knights; I wish they still did. Knights are a great unit, and as Conquistadors I'm sure they were even better. As it is, the UB practically makes Spain's siege weapons into its UUs. They certainly make a bigger difference to the game. In fact, I'd attribute much of the win to them. I was able to sweep Rome aside with relative ease thanks to those CRIII Trebuchets.
While the first Spain game achieved a bigger score, using the Apostolic Palace in that way felt cheesy. I read through the changes in the new patch and didn't see anything that changes this, but maybe I missed something. At any rate, I won't be trying to win that way again even if it's still possible. This game felt more like a true Spanish game and win, what with the pursuit and leverage of a "middle" religion (Judaism), frequent civics changes, and the exploitation of the UB and, to a lesser extent, UU. I'm sure Isabella herself is happier with this victory, too.
. I'm sure the girl is happy, except perhaps for that flirtation with free religion.
