The Immortal Challenge Lineup - Game #2 - Poland

This game feels easier then usual immortal game. 4 salt in capital + raging barbs which Ai have problem handling.
 
Thanks for the map. I won a cultural victory 1 turn before I would have won a diplomatic victory. Here is a screen shot.

I kept waiting for Shaka to kill Arabia, but he never could. I wanted to gift Shaka units, but the difference in our ideologies prevented open borders. Oh well.
 

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I see you are taking US attitude: " we did not do it or if we did it is our right to defend ourself"
 
Shaka's lands are covered in fallout -- someone (I'm not saying who ... was playing Poland) nuked Umgungundlovu.
 


Hold on just a minute. It wasn't us. Most likely it was poor safety and handling within the Zulu Nuclear Power program.
 
For the "challenge" part - why not try something diffrent if you are a top player? Skip tradition, liberty and rationalism? Maybe try to build all wonders?

Well, yeah - I should've left the comp for good after the other challenge was a handful in terms of moving troops around but that's too late now. Two Immortal games on same year is a bit of strecth any way but the start was screaming something different so I did a classic Piety-Honor start with only melee units heading for domination while skipping Tradition & Liberty.

Spoiler :

No stolen workers was the first indication that something is wrong and opening with Piety always sucks, missed SH but managed religion on T67 with Earth Mother pantheon. T73 Philo, T93 3 city NC and 4th settled right after that and Piety finished about the same time. T117 Education, T144 Renaissance by Astronomy and Honor finished T146. Few CS allied, decent happiness and gpt.
Short war with Harun as soon as I got Pikes as he seemed to have only archer & warriors but after taking a city came a Pike and before I moved to next city there were CAs waiting so I settled for peace.

Paid Shaka to attack Darius early and he seems convinced that the game doesn't need Darius. Luckily I got OB from Darius & been surrounding Persepolis with 6 units for 30 turns which is bad for xp hunting but still better option than letting Shaka wipe him off.
Like it wasn't bad enough to have Shaka as a neighbour he's the tech & military lead behind the GW.

The original plan was domination with with melee units only but to save lots of time and effor I might build planes eventually. The secondary object to convert all the cities to my religion before the end.
 
Hey this is a noob question to the whole loading a save. How do I save this file such that I can play it. When I dl it, it saves as a php file not a Civ5Save file as required...am I missing something obvious?

thanks
 
This looks like its going to be a fun game I've never used Poland before as I've always thought the bonuses were a bit to bland but I was suprised at a few of the things you can do with Poland I never really gave +1 gold on pastures much thought until I hit a bunch of golden ages. With a salt/river/mountain I'll be pursuing a SV. I'm going to use a hybrid Tradition/Liberty approach to get my core 4 cities down fast.

Spoiler :
t1 settle on Hill 1 tile to the SE
t2 culture ruin
t3 Florence
t5 Antananarivo
t6 find Cerro
t7 spear ruin Meet Persia
t8 archery tech ruin
t10 mombasa
t11 Crap Zulu again, also meet tyre
t12 rock of gibralter, might think about one with nature if Earth mother is gone
t13 meet arabia
t14 meet Kiev
t21 Pop ruin to 4
t25 Steal worker from Mombasa and pillage silver mine I will continue to farm this for additional workers
t26 Meet vilunius and old faithful
t32 Shaka settles his 2nd city but its not too close.
t33 choose earth mother pantheon
t34 gold buy archer to protect workers
t35? Found Krakow adjacent to cerro
t48 ally vatican city
t52 Found Lodz
t62 found Wroclaw
t70 bribe Zulu to attack Persia for 1 Pearl, embassy, and 3 gpt See 2nd image
t74 finish oracle
t78 Finish Pyramids
t101 Bribe Zulu to attack Arabia, at this point my growth rate and production have reached parity and I can do whatever I want
t102 Finish Hague Sophia
t109 Finish Hanging Gardens
t116 Finish Ankor Wat
t125 Finish Machu Picchu
Switch Gears after the Renassaince, Shaka Just finished off both Persia and Arabia I probably need some muskets
Also build Tower of Pisa, Sistine Chapel, and the Globe Theatre, so much production in the Capital
t155 Shaka Happily adopts my religion
t156 Shaka DOWs me

For the next 20 Turns Shaka has thrown units between my ally Antananarivo and Krakow with muskets and crossbows waiting
t164 found the world congress and propose to embargo the Zulu, however the Zulu have proposed my religion as the World Religion. t173 get to Scientic theory and gold buy 2-3 public schools. and switch gears to Dynamite to clear out some of shaka's cities.



Spoiler :
Update 302 lazy sv although I could have won cv at anytime from t250 onward. By t200 I had my entire continent underwraps and because shaka had taken the other capitals I didn't catch much heat for recapturing them, I had DOF with Washington and the Maya and paid everyone on the other continent to DOW Shaka who was down to his last city that had been citadel bombed nearly to death. Why because on t224 I chose Cult of Personality, I wanted to see how quickly this could be used to influence opponents without having to use Great musician bombs. Sure I did stuff like trade routes and open borders but I was surprised at how quickly you could get to quickly rising status. Pretty Neat, on the other Continent Washington eventually killed everyone but he never bothered me and always lagged significantly behind in tech. The minimap was a red blob next to a big blue blob. Built nearly every wonder from the Renaissance on up and Finished Tradition. Liberty, Rationalism, Commerce, and all of Autocracy(Except the 2 middle you cant take) OH ALSO ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!Soma tablets for everyone I ended with 155 Net Happiness
 

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Thank you for posting this, Gustavus. Was a really fun map. SV at turn 276, but DV was available earlier at 262.

Early Game:

Spoiler :

Settled on the plains hill. Had some luck with ruins (Culture, Population, Wheel Technology).

Early build order: Scout x2, Shrine, Worker, Settler, Library, Water Mill.

Settled Krakow NW of Natural Wonder, Lodz on the NW coast for the Pearls. Stayed at three cities to avoid aggravating Shaka early.

Got several wonders - ToA, Oracle, Petra, Borobodur. Thanks to Earth Mother & Borobodur, my religion was dominant on the continent.

I paid off Shaka to attack Darius which kept him off my back. One key for me was all the salt available for bribes and cash.

Got Education at turn 109 which was late - I had delayed National College to wonder build.

Social policy order: Complete Tradition, Patronage left side. The happiness was insane - never below 25ish, high of 85 later in the game.



Middle to End Game:

Spoiler :

Bribed Shaka to go after Harun, which he obliged doing. Harun was out in the mid 160s. Persia was out in mid 140s. OOPS. This kind of sucked, but at the end of the day it was enough time to get a substantial tech lead over Shaka. He's much less dangerous post Medieval.

Focused on opening Renaissance with Printing Press and wonder whoring everything - which was successful. Hit Astronomy next and found the other continent.

Tech notes: +575 at turn 179, when public schools hit.

At t180 I completed Rationalism, took Radio and entered the Modern Era. Adopted Order, built up some troops and the rest as the say is history.

Keys for this game were bribing Shaka, running up a substantial tech lead, and owning every single city state. Patronage rocked.
 
Spoiler :
Well, my second Immortal Wide Tradition empire flourishes. I am swimming in gold, faith, tourism, even though I'm only running 2/5 caravans.

Reached CivService t108, took Theocracy policy (25%g Temples) then MofHeaven t111 (2nd Pantheon in city), t121 Education and built 4th city NW on coast 2 tiles from Gibraltar. Got the free Monument but no free Aqueduct!?!

Neither Arabs or Persia would give decent trades, and Shaka tried running a Settler around Ulundi - I had no desire for 3 Zulu cities on my flank pumping out Impis, so I decided to wipe him out and take the other 2 capitols. I have never killed off Shaka before, t134.


My cap is still underdeveloped because I can't believe there are no wonder whores in this game! Built Machu t 135, took Reformation for first time ever t 143 - Sacred Sites. I have maxed out Mosques in all cities, and am annexing cities to build more. Persia has Monasteries, and Arabia Cathedrals - so will try to spread some religion around if I can - any tips? GP or Missionaries? Persia pantheon is culture from jungle (nice for down there) and Arab is culture from plantations.

T144 I finished Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and took Rat Opener, t 145 I knocked down Susa's walls so Florence could raze it for me, t147 captured Persiopolis (Alhambra) and left the haughty one with a stubby corner of the continent.


T161 captured Mecca (Great Wall, Petra, Parthenon) and prayed I could take out coastal Damascus before I met anyone. Razing it t 164, plan to build a nice coastal city NE of Mecca for a Harbor connection.


I have been deleting Workers like crazy. Was able to gold buy several Unis and one Observatory - gapped out and made Warsaw build it's own. Time to pump out some Caravels and think about a Frigate push, plus decide what other coastal spots I want. Probably settle the grassland hill near deer NE of Warsaw.

So far I have 6 wonders in my cap - Forbidden Palace, HG, Machu, MausOfH, Oracle and TOA. I haven't built wonders like this since King level, I think.
 

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Thanks for this save, it's fun. I forward settled Shaka to get Cerro, which is quite an easy defensible city. It's now around T170 and I'm finishing off Shaka with artillery and hussars. He's still using impis for some reason. The best part about killing off Shaka is it makes you friends with the whole world! Except Greece. Of course that guy would DoF Shaka.
 
T222 science victory, Liberty Tradition Commerce Rationalism Freedom with some conquest annexations.

Spoiler :

Scientific victory rush. Tradition Liberty mix into freedom commerce.

Part 1 "Foundations" Up to T55

I settle on desert hill next to mountain: closer salt, mountain and water. Perfect. Warrior reveals more salts and grabs a culture ruin.
Early plan
BO will be: Scout Monument Scout Worker Archer(rush) Granary archer Shrine Settler x2 archer
Techs: Pottery Archery(raging barbs) Mining AH Calendar Writing Masonry Philosophy
Traditon opener, Liberty opener, Republic, Collective rule

Got Mining in a ruin.

I'm able to steal 2 workers:
Spoiler :

Spoiler :


Raging barbs made it tricky to bring them back home:
Spoiler :


Part 2 "Consolidating the start and building NC"

Spoiler :


Now that we have our 4 core cities, it's time to make sure all will have a library when Philosophy is researched. Meanwhile I build the pyramids to make for the current lack of worker (only 3 for 4 cities).
Zulus hate me, will probably kill them quick.

Legalism LandedElites Monarchy Aristocracy

Not having much to do in Lodz I give a try for Temple of Artemis (15 turns) and none of my known neighbours is building it. After NC (T81) I give a try for HG since again none of my neighbours is doing it. HG is finished T90 and ToAT92

Found a late 60 faith ruin ! I found a religion T80, Harun has already taken Pagodas so I go for the good old Swords.

I distract Shaka a little, just in case. A bit weary to fight him since he has Impi. Still, I'll reinforce (walls in most exposed city, construction, a couple more units). He isn't sending any units toward darius sadly so I bribe him to Dow buenos aires and I'll exploit stupid AI until he makes peace.

Spoiler :

Spoiler :


I get enhancement T108 with education. I also open Commerce.

Spoiler :


Part 3 "Getting into Renaissance"
After Education we go for Astronomy (meeting other civs and Observatories) and keep the Oracle for then (if lucky, but so far not a lot of wonders are getting built).
Since I see an opportunity to wipe Shaka force (and prevent him to add another city) I DoW him. I lose a warrior, a CB and my scouts (forgot about them) during the war. I'll wait for XB to kill him completely.

Spoiler :


We reach Astronomy T121 and enter Renaissance. Allowing us to pick Rationalism, the Oracle is finished the next turn (T122) allowing us to get secularism and pump out 245bpt !. This really seems like the AI don't build wonders in this game. We upgrade our Trireme and reach for the next continent.

We also enhance T122. Sadly we get most of our cities converted to Islam. As we hit Machinery I upgrade to XB and go for Zulu.

Part4 Through Renaissance
War with Zulu is slowly coming to a conclusion. Meanwhile I wonder whore my way up to the top, I get Colossus, Hagia Sophia, Machu Pichu Notre Dame

We reach Scientific Theory at turn 154, we have a lot of gold so I rush 2 schools. We take Ulundi T155 and settle for peace (with gold from Shaka).

Spoiler :


We also get Free Thought and Sovereignty

Part5 Ideology
I want to see how well my freedom strategy does. We build Oxford for Radio and start to make everything in place to get huge GPT. I get a late Pisa (had a bit forgotten).

Turn 167 I DoW Persia and Persepolis fall T170. We finish the Taj T171, Big Ben T174.

30citizens at T174 quite impressive.

Spoiler :


Final sprint:
Now all that is left is getting Labs and making a ton of gold.

Global theater is built T185. Labs are built in every city T189. Both Ulundi and Persepolis are catching up.

1411 science per turn at T202.
Spoiler :

This is not Korea but it's still quite high especially as Freedom. Time to bulb (T203). We reach satellites to begin on both Appolo and Hubble. Appolo finishes T216 so we can begin to buy parts. Buy 2GS with faith and finish both Hubble and Porcelain.

At T219 World fair is finished and we can finish Liberty for a GS. We finish the tree T221 so we buy last part and finish at T222.
Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

 
That is another strong showing for the Freedom/Commerce SV :)

At turn t202 you are building hospitals. I don't understand that one. Nothing better to build, I guess?

Did you finish tradition pre-Ren or hard build aqueducts?

Did you skip the Statue of Liberty this time?
 
Yes nothing better to do really. Might have build science just in case.
I finish tradition around T90-100. `
I built SoL, the free policy helped, due to world fair being very very late.

Replaying the last 50 turns with Order gave me a very similar end time. But without the GS of liberty (which is obtainable only as Poland). However Freedom would be at its best with more self founded cities rather than annexations (or earlier annexations). So that there is a chance to generate one more natural GS. Freedom just has the better Happiness through universal suffrage for going wider. I could easily fit 2 more 20 pop cities in there.

The biggest advantage I have found for this strategy is that there is a lot less prerequisites than Order. You don't need good production, you don't need coal at all, you don't need extra faith for GE.
Order is safer on the science part though with the extra GS which may make the difference for very fast finish times like sub210.
However when it comes to Korea I'd give Freedom a lot of hope.
 
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