Relatively new to ICS, but I decided to try it using this guide. I'm going for the Master of The Universe achievement, and I've already won with the Maya and Arabia, so I went with the Iroquois. Otherwise, I followed the strategy to the letter. I went with Immortal since I'm new to this strategy. (It's taking much longer to get that achievement because I refuse to play below Immortal/Deity now lol)
Anyway, I figured the Iroquois would fit in with ICS in many ways:
1) You don't care if your city isn't well developed. You want that forest/jungle anyway for trade routes! Also, planting your city on a resource you would otherwise have to improve means one less tile without forest that you have to put a road on.
2) You spend virtually no money on trade routes. This helps with the economic part of ICS.
3) ALL Iroquois units can move throughout your territory fast. This is huge for workers, settlers, great generals, everything. And it's so much better than roads, because you can cross rivers anywhere in your territory for free without a road, even before Engineering. This makes getting that next settler out faster, it makes it easier to defend DoWs, and it allows you to charge in at your next target as if you had built roads up to the edge of your territory. (Which should be right up against his if you're expanding aggressively, which you are with ICS)
4) Mohawk Warriors: They have a combat bonus if used correctly, and don't require iron, so you can still sell your iron when you normally would have to stop. The combat bonus doesn't go away when you upgrade to Longswordsmen. (I opted to wait on that and upgrade twice in a row to Musketmen, mainly because I didn't want to stop selling my iron)
5) Longhouses? Dunno. I had some great production, but I wonder if they were a waste. I only built them in cities where I could work at least 2 lumber mills, but I still think stopping to build them slowed me down in getting out units when I needed them most.
Obviously, the biggest issue is that the Iroquois lack the faith advantages. However, I did manage to do pretty well. I was neck and neck with the leader, Persia, by turn 120, and had 12 cities, including 2 former capitals. Tech-wise, I did ok, but Persia got too strong in the end. I think I got Industrialization around 1200 AD, but by then Persia, despite only having a tiny tech advantage, had an insane economy, and got to artillery a tad before me, upgraded his units faster, etc... That was the end of my aggression, and therefore the end of my chances of winning.
This actually could have worked out, but I made a few key mistakes. It was a good learning experience though.
Mistake #1: Persia DoW'd me around turn 120, and I went after his allied city states between us instead of going around. This killed me because both were under the protection of other Civs. Almost immediately, everyone else DoW'd me. Mostly this hurt because it killed my ability to rush buy things. I couldn't trade anything, so I had enough money to upgrade units and that was about it. My jungle cities (the ones you want a university and a market in the most) had no production, and I couldn't buy the buildings, so they came out too slow. I should have just farmed those CS for XP with a few units while I went after Persia's cities. The most important thing was knocking him down a peg, because I was already the only close contender left.
#2: I followed the build order to the letter. In retrospect, I should have put off Markets, or only put them in cities that would really benefit. I just didn't need them because of my lack of road maintenance costs. That cost me units.
#3: I should have gone for Ironworking earlier. By the time I got Mohawks, they were facing Pikemen.
#4: I should have put off Education. Universities come out too slow, and with ICS they only help in the cities that have the worst production... It's buy them or wait 20 turns. Plus, no one would sign RA's with me by then anyway.
A lot of things did go right though.
* I got all buddy buddy with a Mercantile CS.
* I went with religious texts, and the tight placement meant my religion spread like wildfire. So, that wasn't the issue with my religion. I had tons of happiness. I converted all of Siam's cities before he even founded a religion. The issue was that I had no faith to spend on pagodas.
I think next time I'll put Ironworking before Currency. I needed those Mohawks more than I needed money. I think I might blow off Education and Industrialization and go for Riflemen and Artillery instead. You need to be full court press on offense, and Gatling Guns are actually in some ways a downgrade from CB because of the reduced range. Plus, if I focus more on Mohawks and less on CB, I won't benefit from Industrialization as much. I dunno.
Also, I think I might prioritize Monuments over Shrines. This may be a deal-breaker for getting a religion, so I'll see how that goes, but expanding your borders early is key for getting those trade routes cheaply. I had to put in temporary roads and take them out later. MUCH LATER. I wish the AI would take into account the Iroquois UA when choosing which tile to expand into. :-(
Also, this may have been a bad choice, but I used my Liberty Finisher to enhance my religion. My faith generation was crap, and I had happiness issues. There wasn't a wonder on the board that would have helped as much as Religious Texts. Still, I felt like it was kind of a wasted GP even though it almost immediately fixed my happiness issues.
Edit: Also, I think I might go Piety instead of Commerce. I had faith issues and cheaper shrines/temples would have helped... I dunno. I did open Order eventually, but by the game was pretty much decided.
Any suggestions on how I could improve this? Thanks!