Has anyone managed to pull any shenanigans like this at the Diety setting in the Into the Renaissance Scenario?
I've succeeded in grabbing the Hagia Sophia, Alhambra, Leaning Tower & Sistine Chapel. Louvre is probably doable as well but I'm not too bothered playing on at this point as a victory is pretty much guaranteed.
This map though, I did role an incredible start - with a very favorable luxury and resource spread
you can see that the Capital spawns on a source of wine (giving you a free luxury immediately) with another source of wine nearby - this helps you get extra faith & culture with your monastery.
You get 2 pearls in range and a crab nearby which is very nice. Perhaps the bonus resource make even better eye candy though - 3 deer which gives you immediate access to the best yielding tiles on the map (3 food/2 hammer) & a cow.
My trick to getting ahead so quickly was to sortof bend the rules a bit.
Phase 1
Open commerce and take the right side of the tree (i.e. 25% discount to purchasing items in cities.) Then work towards maritime infrastructure...
I'd sell my starting wine & gpt to to Russia for flat gold. Use the gold to buy a dromon (send SE to find Turks & Saladin) a worker & a workboat.
Next turn place the use the work boat to hook up the pearls and sell them to Russia for 200 gold. Then put all your citizens on gold tiles and sell every gpt to Russia for gold.
Now declare war on them. Now you've earned about 800 gold for free
Use the remaining gold to pursue whatever victory strategy you desire (don't forget to switch the citizens back to food tiles). I recommend buying an aqueduct and a 3rd worker as that will really get your early growth going.
I recommend building a National College first to get that out of the way.
Phase 2
Now in a few turns your Dromon will find the Turks. Do the same thing you did to Russia, sell your resources, if he has gold left over buy a workboat and settle it on the crabs. Next turn trade that (you get your money back for the boat for an extra luxury connected). Once your trade all your luxuries and gpt (remember to switch citizens to gold and back) declare war. You should be able to get about 600 gold from the Turks.
Now move South with the Dromon and do the same thing to Saladin. If your timing is good you can walk away with about 2000 gold (and don't forget the gold discount bonus which gives an extra 25% purchasing power). I recommend using the gold you get from Saladin & the Turks to buy settlers. Settlers are costly to build (and they inhibit growth which is a no-no if you want your capital to grow fast to produce science.
Phase 3
You should have your National College built just as you are ready to plant your first settlers. I recommend North of the horses (there's loads of citrus to sell to the AIs for gold), and further West (the corner of Aegean sea meets Macedonia & Greece. There are some good hill tiles & whales - that is a good site for building settlers with the productivity.
A third site is East along the North coast of Anatolia (you'll find sugar and gold resource on the coast).
Coastal cities are initially preferable as you will soon unlock the Maritime Infrastructure Policy. Aim to get these cities growing ASAP as you will use them to build your settlers. What makes this start even better is that you have 3 luxuries instantly connected so you can afford some early growth. Once you get the Commerce finisher it becomes a breeze as every luxury now grants 6
Avoid building settlers in the capital, they are too expensive to build and you can't afford to not be growing your capital early on (if you want to maximize the National College). Most early settlers you should be able to buy (remember the discount) until your initial expo's have enough production to do this.
Don't meet any other civs before you steal Russia, Turkish, and Saladins gold... you won't have a warmonger penalty and trading just 3 luxuries is nearly enough to buy a settler. Use the Great Admiral to find all the citystates when he comes.
Phase 4.
For your early expos' try and get a barracks in there early (probably after Library) and get a Heroic Epic in your capital. You'll have to deal with war eventually and since you can't match the AI's thirst for expansion and their city bonuses so the 15% morale promotion will help even the odds. From there you can keep expanding however you wish. Use your expos' to build settlers or buy them.... focus your capital entirely on growth, wonders & unit production.
Science
I was able to open Theology (build Hagia Sophia) > Civil Service > Guilds > Chivalry (build Alhambra) > Metal Casting > Leaning Tower (turn 97)> Sistine Chapel.
Spoiler :
I've succeeded in grabbing the Hagia Sophia, Alhambra, Leaning Tower & Sistine Chapel. Louvre is probably doable as well but I'm not too bothered playing on at this point as a victory is pretty much guaranteed.
This map though, I did role an incredible start - with a very favorable luxury and resource spread
Spoiler :
you can see that the Capital spawns on a source of wine (giving you a free luxury immediately) with another source of wine nearby - this helps you get extra faith & culture with your monastery.
You get 2 pearls in range and a crab nearby which is very nice. Perhaps the bonus resource make even better eye candy though - 3 deer which gives you immediate access to the best yielding tiles on the map (3 food/2 hammer) & a cow.
My trick to getting ahead so quickly was to sortof bend the rules a bit.
Phase 1
Open commerce and take the right side of the tree (i.e. 25% discount to purchasing items in cities.) Then work towards maritime infrastructure...
I'd sell my starting wine & gpt to to Russia for flat gold. Use the gold to buy a dromon (send SE to find Turks & Saladin) a worker & a workboat.
Next turn place the use the work boat to hook up the pearls and sell them to Russia for 200 gold. Then put all your citizens on gold tiles and sell every gpt to Russia for gold.
Now declare war on them. Now you've earned about 800 gold for free
Use the remaining gold to pursue whatever victory strategy you desire (don't forget to switch the citizens back to food tiles). I recommend buying an aqueduct and a 3rd worker as that will really get your early growth going.
I recommend building a National College first to get that out of the way.
Phase 2
Now in a few turns your Dromon will find the Turks. Do the same thing you did to Russia, sell your resources, if he has gold left over buy a workboat and settle it on the crabs. Next turn trade that (you get your money back for the boat for an extra luxury connected). Once your trade all your luxuries and gpt (remember to switch citizens to gold and back) declare war. You should be able to get about 600 gold from the Turks.
Now move South with the Dromon and do the same thing to Saladin. If your timing is good you can walk away with about 2000 gold (and don't forget the gold discount bonus which gives an extra 25% purchasing power). I recommend using the gold you get from Saladin & the Turks to buy settlers. Settlers are costly to build (and they inhibit growth which is a no-no if you want your capital to grow fast to produce science.
Phase 3
You should have your National College built just as you are ready to plant your first settlers. I recommend North of the horses (there's loads of citrus to sell to the AIs for gold), and further West (the corner of Aegean sea meets Macedonia & Greece. There are some good hill tiles & whales - that is a good site for building settlers with the productivity.
A third site is East along the North coast of Anatolia (you'll find sugar and gold resource on the coast).
Coastal cities are initially preferable as you will soon unlock the Maritime Infrastructure Policy. Aim to get these cities growing ASAP as you will use them to build your settlers. What makes this start even better is that you have 3 luxuries instantly connected so you can afford some early growth. Once you get the Commerce finisher it becomes a breeze as every luxury now grants 6
Avoid building settlers in the capital, they are too expensive to build and you can't afford to not be growing your capital early on (if you want to maximize the National College). Most early settlers you should be able to buy (remember the discount) until your initial expo's have enough production to do this.
Don't meet any other civs before you steal Russia, Turkish, and Saladins gold... you won't have a warmonger penalty and trading just 3 luxuries is nearly enough to buy a settler. Use the Great Admiral to find all the citystates when he comes.
Phase 4.
For your early expos' try and get a barracks in there early (probably after Library) and get a Heroic Epic in your capital. You'll have to deal with war eventually and since you can't match the AI's thirst for expansion and their city bonuses so the 15% morale promotion will help even the odds. From there you can keep expanding however you wish. Use your expos' to build settlers or buy them.... focus your capital entirely on growth, wonders & unit production.
Science
I was able to open Theology (build Hagia Sophia) > Civil Service > Guilds > Chivalry (build Alhambra) > Metal Casting > Leaning Tower (turn 97)> Sistine Chapel.
