One City Challenge
- Thread starter rtfox68
- Start date
Sprenk
Prince
I've been playing nothing but one city challenges (OCC) since the Xpac came out. It's definitely possible, but painful. I've not been able to do it very quickly (about T 250 average for me), so I'm not sure I'm the best one to give advice (but I'll offer some anyway, which better players can improve on 
). I'm also only playing on Gemini so far.
It sure helps to use the "legendary start" option, which seems to have been beefed up since BE: Vanilla. I always choose +2 food, because, with most starts, food is the big limitation, and there's no way to use intra-faction trade routes to boost food. I also start with a worker because there's plenty to do with it right from the opening, and I rarely use a 2nd one. My personal choice is archipelago and coastal survey, so I get a good start on exploration, but who knows?
I've been using the following virtue path to avoid useless virtues: Frugality-Labor Logistics-Commoditization, then into Might to get the bonus to affinity points: Adaptive Tactics-MI Complex-Public Security-Adaptive Sciences (with the free tier 1 virtue). I try to time Martial Meditations for a very late affinity level gain. Not sure if left-side Knowledge or left-side Industry is best next--probably Industry (especially if you go Supremacy, because you'll need lots of cash to buy CNDR's to push through the gate).
As in a regular game, it's surely good to explore a lot early! This is hard to over-emphasize. I always turn in Old Earth artifacts for the the culture, production and science boosts (it's hard to advance culture fast enough in OCC without culture boosts). To avoid getting slowed down, I pass over progenitor ruins early on and hopefully come back for them later.
ARC seems like a good faction choice for OCC, because stealing lots of science is one good way to keep up. Al Falah seems good too, because you'll eventually run out of buildings and units to build, so it's good to get a nice bonus when you set production to food (I usually do this until size 10) and science. Trade convoys are obviously sent to stations.
There seem to be a lot of quests which OCC players can't do--oh well! Keeping respect with potentially hostile neighbors is also a big problem. They seem to want to sneer at both the size of your military (even if you're at the support limit) and the size of your civilization.
OCC is not for everyone--there's definitely tedium involved in the late game as you press "next" many, many times.
Good luck!
). I'm also only playing on Gemini so far.It sure helps to use the "legendary start" option, which seems to have been beefed up since BE: Vanilla. I always choose +2 food, because, with most starts, food is the big limitation, and there's no way to use intra-faction trade routes to boost food. I also start with a worker because there's plenty to do with it right from the opening, and I rarely use a 2nd one. My personal choice is archipelago and coastal survey, so I get a good start on exploration, but who knows?
I've been using the following virtue path to avoid useless virtues: Frugality-Labor Logistics-Commoditization, then into Might to get the bonus to affinity points: Adaptive Tactics-MI Complex-Public Security-Adaptive Sciences (with the free tier 1 virtue). I try to time Martial Meditations for a very late affinity level gain. Not sure if left-side Knowledge or left-side Industry is best next--probably Industry (especially if you go Supremacy, because you'll need lots of cash to buy CNDR's to push through the gate).
As in a regular game, it's surely good to explore a lot early! This is hard to over-emphasize. I always turn in Old Earth artifacts for the the culture, production and science boosts (it's hard to advance culture fast enough in OCC without culture boosts). To avoid getting slowed down, I pass over progenitor ruins early on and hopefully come back for them later.
ARC seems like a good faction choice for OCC, because stealing lots of science is one good way to keep up. Al Falah seems good too, because you'll eventually run out of buildings and units to build, so it's good to get a nice bonus when you set production to food (I usually do this until size 10) and science. Trade convoys are obviously sent to stations.
There seem to be a lot of quests which OCC players can't do--oh well! Keeping respect with potentially hostile neighbors is also a big problem. They seem to want to sneer at both the size of your military (even if you're at the support limit) and the size of your civilization.
OCC is not for everyone--there's definitely tedium involved in the late game as you press "next" many, many times.
Good luck!
EpicWestern
Warlord
- Joined
- May 6, 2015
- Messages
- 258
It doesn't quite count as a OCC but I did win one game with ARC on Apollo in which I almost lost due to a fast mass takeover of my water cities by multiple civs with large navies (really the only I can lose), so I was left with one city for most of the game. Going mass spy army is HUGE. Tech hard to Computing and then just try and finish the building quests for extra spies ASAP. Knowledge is probably the way to go. You're empire (the one city) should always be healthy so there's no need for the health bonuses industry and prosperity give you. Prosperity's main appeal is the free settler anyway.
Sprenk
Prince
True, Prosperity makes no sense for OCC, but Industry is not just about the two health benefits. There are several valuable production and energy bonuses there.
Knowledge would indeed be better for a OCC if the culture and science bonuses there were balanced better with what's available in Industry. However, those Knowledge virtues are all on the underwhelming side, while the Industry energy (commoditization, investment, and alternative markets) and production (civic duty) bonuses are all robust.
Sprenk
Prince
By the way, there's another factor to consider when planning a OCC that I totally neglected. The choice of victory conditions. Your affinity choice can be problematic.
For some reason, many starts have no access to affinity resources, and it's also quite common to miss out on titanium and petroleum. That's problematic if you want to go for a Supremacy or Purity win, because you need some of both to launch the lasercomm satellite. So it's go the black market route or choose to go with the Harmony win.
For some reason, many starts have no access to affinity resources, and it's also quite common to miss out on titanium and petroleum. That's problematic if you want to go for a Supremacy or Purity win, because you need some of both to launch the lasercomm satellite. So it's go the black market route or choose to go with the Harmony win.
EpicWestern
Warlord
- Joined
- May 6, 2015
- Messages
- 258
You can probably go both Industry and Knowledge actually, since you're basically skipping at least 3 of the industry virtues and probably all of prosperity, though it might still be tempting just for growth, free worker, and the explorer bonus.
Supremacy will definitely be the way to go (it always is, ugh) and yeah just black market if needed. You only need to get the satellite up once. Also Harmony victory route will be a little rough with just one Sanctuary and Mind Stem.
Supremacy will definitely be the way to go (it always is, ugh) and yeah just black market if needed. You only need to get the satellite up once. Also Harmony victory route will be a little rough with just one Sanctuary and Mind Stem.
CelJaded
DENOUNCING!
I think a One City Challenge in Rising Tide would be possible using ARC, but it would be very tough to win on higher difficulties.
I achieved two Soyuz OCC victories in vanilla Beyond Earth as it happens, mainly because then I still had the ability to purchase science from peaceful AI players- essentially turning energy into research power. It's one of the few instances where an energy-focused game really comes through.
If you're not playing with Rising Tide activated then Polystralia makes the best option as you can use their bonus trade routes to link up with any 3 station partners and then collect massive amounts of energy through alternative markets in Industry; easily the best virtue tree for an OCC game.
Then you simply need to trade in lump sums of energy for as much science per turn as the friendly AIs will give you and power your way through Astrodynamics etc. in hopes of getting a contact victory.
You won't set any scoring records, but it's doable!
I achieved two Soyuz OCC victories in vanilla Beyond Earth as it happens, mainly because then I still had the ability to purchase science from peaceful AI players- essentially turning energy into research power. It's one of the few instances where an energy-focused game really comes through.
If you're not playing with Rising Tide activated then Polystralia makes the best option as you can use their bonus trade routes to link up with any 3 station partners and then collect massive amounts of energy through alternative markets in Industry; easily the best virtue tree for an OCC game.
Then you simply need to trade in lump sums of energy for as much science per turn as the friendly AIs will give you and power your way through Astrodynamics etc. in hopes of getting a contact victory.
You won't set any scoring records, but it's doable!
EpicWestern
Warlord
- Joined
- May 6, 2015
- Messages
- 258
So I've played a couple OCC games since my last post both are random everything on Apollo:
Game 1: Polystralia with a coastal city. I decided to go 3 into Prosperity for the free worker and the explorer bonus. Obviously you want to take advantage of the trade routes, but honestly with just one city the trade bonus really isn't that great. I quickly made an agreement for capital growth but honestly it was a bit of a mistake. With just one city you don't really have much diplomatic capital and for a while I couldn't keep up with the per turn cost. Still, eventually I had a healthy fast growing city with an obscene energy level and was spamming academies and cruising to an Emancipation win. I was able to stave off a couple attacks, but at some point I got a little greedy. With ~9000 energy its easy to feel invincible since normally the moment you're attacked you can just purchase whatever you need and defend, if by chance you lose a city you can just instantly buy 4-5 units and retake it. With OCC challenge however, if you lose a city you're simply done. And that's what happened. The comp rushed in with some subs and max level melee boats, and I couldn't purchase fast enough to defend. OOPS.
Game 2: Africa, landlocked. I was somewhat worried that it would be difficult to win in rising tide without the ability to build a single naval unit, but honestly a landlocked start is pretty solid since the AI is so much worse at making land based assaults. I went a little deeper in to prosperity and I think that's the way to go. I decided to skip knowledge this game aside from the first 10% science bonus which is mandatory for OCC since you'll always be healthy. The early science/culture bonuses for .25 population really aren't that great with just one city, same with the health bonus for 6 population. The academy bonus you can't even get without getting a worthless virtue first (in OCC). So with an optimal virtue path, a better sponsor, and little more conservatism defensively I was easily able to cruise to an emancipation victory (around turn ~215 or so). It could have been faster but I had to spend some energy to defend, and I ended up not having enough units or energy to spend on them at the end to push them through the gate. When you have a bunch of workers building expensive tile improvements, a couple satellites, and some defensive units you can easily hit unit limit where your production starts to become penalized. So since emancipation is notably slower for OCC than normal, its possible promised land victory might actually be faster, but not likely IMO.
Game 1: Polystralia with a coastal city. I decided to go 3 into Prosperity for the free worker and the explorer bonus. Obviously you want to take advantage of the trade routes, but honestly with just one city the trade bonus really isn't that great. I quickly made an agreement for capital growth but honestly it was a bit of a mistake. With just one city you don't really have much diplomatic capital and for a while I couldn't keep up with the per turn cost. Still, eventually I had a healthy fast growing city with an obscene energy level and was spamming academies and cruising to an Emancipation win. I was able to stave off a couple attacks, but at some point I got a little greedy. With ~9000 energy its easy to feel invincible since normally the moment you're attacked you can just purchase whatever you need and defend, if by chance you lose a city you can just instantly buy 4-5 units and retake it. With OCC challenge however, if you lose a city you're simply done. And that's what happened. The comp rushed in with some subs and max level melee boats, and I couldn't purchase fast enough to defend. OOPS.
Game 2: Africa, landlocked. I was somewhat worried that it would be difficult to win in rising tide without the ability to build a single naval unit, but honestly a landlocked start is pretty solid since the AI is so much worse at making land based assaults. I went a little deeper in to prosperity and I think that's the way to go. I decided to skip knowledge this game aside from the first 10% science bonus which is mandatory for OCC since you'll always be healthy. The early science/culture bonuses for .25 population really aren't that great with just one city, same with the health bonus for 6 population. The academy bonus you can't even get without getting a worthless virtue first (in OCC). So with an optimal virtue path, a better sponsor, and little more conservatism defensively I was easily able to cruise to an emancipation victory (around turn ~215 or so). It could have been faster but I had to spend some energy to defend, and I ended up not having enough units or energy to spend on them at the end to push them through the gate. When you have a bunch of workers building expensive tile improvements, a couple satellites, and some defensive units you can easily hit unit limit where your production starts to become penalized. So since emancipation is notably slower for OCC than normal, its possible promised land victory might actually be faster, but not likely IMO.
Sprenk
Prince
Good point!
- Joined
- May 21, 2007
- Messages
- 1,083
Nice. I haven't tried this yet, but I was leaning towards ARC -> Promised Land.
- Joined
- May 21, 2007
- Messages
- 1,083
I was attacked by Daoming and several others were threatening. The map helped here:
1) I am (luckily) fairly far away from the AIs (never saw any PAC units)
2) I used civ 5 MP city placement -> built non-coastal so I am immune to sea units
Sprenk
Prince
Okay, this is seriously impressive. (/bows to Olodune)
x2Madda
Prince
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2013
- Messages
- 346
To elaborate, for those of you wishing to recreate this.
You still need to research the satellite that makes contact with earth as its not in our tech path.
when you make the command center and feedsite hub, make no other buildings until the quests trigger.
I found the fastest spy stealing speed (for science) was 4 turns (on normal speed). This can be achieved with lv2 ARC trait and Lv1 spy domestic trait if you get the faster spy speed artifacts.
Magrails or teleport satellites are great for getting settlers into place.
Not sure on best loadouts although I went with building explorers faster; I recommend being able to see expedition sites since we pick up titanium visibility on the way to institue.
This OCC is one of the few times where picking Raw Materials (Free clinic) is not a terrible choice as it speeds up research from turn 0.
You still need to research the satellite that makes contact with earth as its not in our tech path.
when you make the command center and feedsite hub, make no other buildings until the quests trigger.
I found the fastest spy stealing speed (for science) was 4 turns (on normal speed). This can be achieved with lv2 ARC trait and Lv1 spy domestic trait if you get the faster spy speed artifacts.
Magrails or teleport satellites are great for getting settlers into place.
Not sure on best loadouts although I went with building explorers faster; I recommend being able to see expedition sites since we pick up titanium visibility on the way to institue.
This OCC is one of the few times where picking Raw Materials (Free clinic) is not a terrible choice as it speeds up research from turn 0.
- Joined
- May 21, 2007
- Messages
- 1,083
This is a good catch, and something that must have been patched. I definitely over-invested in spy traits in my game and noticed no improvement beyond the 4 turn minimum.
I'm not sure about delaying buildings while waiting for the quests pops. Are you sure these are not independent?
Not OCC, but: does the quests pop chance depend on the number of a particular building? I've been playing assuming that it does.
Yep, the max is 4 turns which is achieved with ARC UA lvl 2 + Subtle 1 + Soul discerner training. You can go with just ARC UA 3 + Soul discerner training which gives you 5 turns, but leaves your political slot open. I'm not sure if there are any super useful political skills for OCC though. If you get the subset curse quest (surprisingly often in my games), you can also get +10% ops speed with supremacy ending, which would give you 4 turns without Subtle. Promised land (and thus purity) is likely easier in an OCC game however.
T40 Spy agency is fairly lucky in my experience. The fastest I was able to get it in my games is turn 36, but the average is closer to 50, with smth like 60 in the worst cases (standard map, should be more difficult on small ones).
I don't think OCC is optimal for ARC, outside of added challenge. You should be able to get more feedside hubs/command centers/cell cradles with multiple cities which increases quest popup chances, plus you can build them in parallel. You also get more production and pop via TRs so you build the wonder faster and also you can shoot for Emancipation which is ~10 turns faster than Promised Land if you have the resources for it.
T40 Spy agency is fairly lucky in my experience. The fastest I was able to get it in my games is turn 36, but the average is closer to 50, with smth like 60 in the worst cases (standard map, should be more difficult on small ones).
I don't think OCC is optimal for ARC, outside of added challenge. You should be able to get more feedside hubs/command centers/cell cradles with multiple cities which increases quest popup chances, plus you can build them in parallel. You also get more production and pop via TRs so you build the wonder faster and also you can shoot for Emancipation which is ~10 turns faster than Promised Land if you have the resources for it.
x2Madda
Prince
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2013
- Messages
- 346
