Completed playthrough of all the new leaders, standard speed, map, pangea (except continents for Indonesia game). First two games on Prince, rest on King.
My typical game starts with concentrating on getting and maintaining tech lead then heading down to artillery, then GWB and Bombers (if necessary)
Game 1: Morocco (Prince)
Testing out the new system, planted kazbah's as much as possible, didn't fully understand trade routes so probably did not benefit as much as I should have. The UU was very good in the few times I needed some defense, but for the most part stayed peaceful. Tried for cultural victory to test the new system, accidentally won by score one turn before my final singer was about to bomb last civ. Time Victory.
Game 2: Assyria (Prince)
More comfortable with system, Siege engines are a blast (kept a few around for bonus even after obsolete), teching up with every city conquest just keeps the ball rolling. Got domination victory very easily.
Game 3: Poland (King)
Torn about the UU, its great for stealing protected workers, but sometimes put an enemy back to a more favorable position defensively. The policy spam UA was nice, tried a lot of different trees. First game in which I had to switch Ideologies - I had completely ignored the cultural stuff this game and was wondering why I had some crushing unhappiness. Switching was fairly painless, and had no issues afterwards. Domination victory.
Game 4: Portugal (King)
Wanted to try all navy, but the UU boats don't come till very late, made a couple but was not overly impressed. The resource stealing was interesting, helped on happiness later on. Notable game in that Ceasar came steamrolling across the continent immediately with hordes of units, was barely able to keep him off. He had tons of gold to start. Beelined artillery, demolished him, then was able to wipe everyone else out fairly easily. Domination victory.
Game 5: Shoshone (King)
Didn't find as many goodie huts as I wanted, kept saving the tech one for later, but ran out. Would like to have been able to upgrade the UU other than through huts...after the goodies are gone they sat around the rest of the game. No big aggressors this game so went for cultural. Egypt was the only other cultural power and they were spamming the wonders like mad...so I had to wipe them out, completely. I've found myself wiping civs out much more than I used to in G&K, they are just too annoying if left alive (still have votes, still able to influence). Once Egypt was obliterated I kept just running my musicians around bombing the others. Cultural Victory
Game 6: Zulu (King)
I didn't end up using many of the UU, although the promotions were nice to have later on. Was starting to burn through the place in domination mode when the "World leader vote will be happening soon, you have 28, 32 are needed to win". So I cheesed out and allied the last two CS's for victory. Diplo Victory.
Game 7: Venice (King)
Finally felt brave enough to try out Venice. It was actually nice not to have to worry about pumping out my next settler before my neighbors start wandering into town. Went crazy with my trade routes, maxxed them out whenever I could. Bought two CS's and conquered Siam before he got too crazy with his elephants. Otherwise just sat back and collected cash and teched up. Was way ahead in tech and was considering Space victory until, once again, 'World leader vote will be happening soon' and I already had more than enough of the votes. Diplo Cheese Victory.
Game 8: Indonesia (King - continents)
Made two kris swordsman, got one bad one and one good one. Was able to nab my continent pretty easily, but Alex was on other one, and he had a stranglehold on over half the CS's. Needed some oil, saw a well on a one tile island, perfect! Sent a settler over to use the UA and expected to get oil + unique resource. Except that the UA resource overwrote the oil, so I got some happiness but no oil, bleh. Alex was very tough to take down, he was well ahead on tech, but I was able to establish a beach head and eventually wear down his forces. No cheese victory this time. Domination Victory.
Game 9: Brazil (King)
Slow slow start. Production was a struggle for much of the game. First time I had Zulu as opponent, and just to up the difficulty, there was Alex right next to me. Shaka wiped out three civs on his way to say 'hi' to me, seems all friendly like. Suggests we go to war with Alex, which I immediately agree to (after last game I was still angry at Alex). He sends in a small contingent while I plow through Alex's cities, wiping him out completely (he already had half the CS's under his control). Just as I was cleaning up the last Greek town, Shaka DOW's me. He has overwhelming numbers, and tons of cash, because they never stop coming for centuries. I was able to hold him at bay, but could not advance on him (3 move Riflemen are really annoying).
Meanwhile Eithiopia decides to DOW me on my back side, I clean out his forces pretty easily and get white peace. He then proceeds to go after me the minute the peace deal is done, a process he would continue to do 3 more times until I finally was able to get his capital. All the while Shaka is sending exploratory groups of soldiers to various parts of my other front. I finally get a white peace from Shaka (he was headed to wipe out Atilla) and Eithiopia under control. Very tough game from start to finish, was behind for most of it. With Alex gone I was able to get diplo victory without having to spend the time on cultural, which was very likely, just many turns away. Golden ages are very very nice, was able to get well into 'familiar' with the other civs without working too hard. By the time the UU was available there were really no ground fighting left (everyone went airborne), so didn't get much use out of them. The camps were very nice late game, was getting policies sub 10 turns fairly consistently. Diplo Victory.
Lessons learned:
Alex ups the difficulty level just by virtue of his CS ability, otherwise diplo victory is pretty darn easy and quick. I think they need to move this further down the tech line or something. The availability of the condition well before many of the others makes it cheesy, not necessarily the mechanics of it (money).
Eithiopia is an expansive and aggressive neighbor now (in 3 games with him, same results)
Shaka is devastating if he isn't put in check right away.
Artillery + Cavalry will still win the game most of the time (at this level at least).
Controlling the World Congress can be critical....being able to Embargo your next target is a big bonus, and making sure your main trading lux is not banned helps too. I try to focus on Forbidden Palace if I can, especially if I'm the first host. The early votes are the toughest.
Don't be afraid to wipe someone out, they can do a lot of damage if they linger. The won't just sit around with a lone archer in their little city, they will get their trade routes going, they will still be able to vote, they will still have spies to compete for CS's, and they will still have some cultural pressure.
If I don't have a good voting bloc, I'll time my offenses until after the voting session, gives me time to repair some hurt feelings and make sure I'm not the one being embargoed.
Going domination, if you get it done quick enough you can ignore most of the cultural/ideological stuff. If you have a slow start, you can't ignore it. Switching ideologies is sometimes necessary, and not always a bad thing...all of them have some strong policies for most types of victory.
Ideological friends are strong friends...they overlook just about everything else. They are also strong enemies, do not expect anything even if you've been best pals up to that point.
Being primarily a domination type player I think I like Assyria the best, taking a city has never been a more pleasurable experience! Venice is great for the diplo/cash game. Cultural seems doable with just about everyone, just be sure to wipe out Brazil if he's on your map.
YMMV
My typical game starts with concentrating on getting and maintaining tech lead then heading down to artillery, then GWB and Bombers (if necessary)
Game 1: Morocco (Prince)
Testing out the new system, planted kazbah's as much as possible, didn't fully understand trade routes so probably did not benefit as much as I should have. The UU was very good in the few times I needed some defense, but for the most part stayed peaceful. Tried for cultural victory to test the new system, accidentally won by score one turn before my final singer was about to bomb last civ. Time Victory.
Game 2: Assyria (Prince)
More comfortable with system, Siege engines are a blast (kept a few around for bonus even after obsolete), teching up with every city conquest just keeps the ball rolling. Got domination victory very easily.
Game 3: Poland (King)
Torn about the UU, its great for stealing protected workers, but sometimes put an enemy back to a more favorable position defensively. The policy spam UA was nice, tried a lot of different trees. First game in which I had to switch Ideologies - I had completely ignored the cultural stuff this game and was wondering why I had some crushing unhappiness. Switching was fairly painless, and had no issues afterwards. Domination victory.
Game 4: Portugal (King)
Wanted to try all navy, but the UU boats don't come till very late, made a couple but was not overly impressed. The resource stealing was interesting, helped on happiness later on. Notable game in that Ceasar came steamrolling across the continent immediately with hordes of units, was barely able to keep him off. He had tons of gold to start. Beelined artillery, demolished him, then was able to wipe everyone else out fairly easily. Domination victory.
Game 5: Shoshone (King)
Didn't find as many goodie huts as I wanted, kept saving the tech one for later, but ran out. Would like to have been able to upgrade the UU other than through huts...after the goodies are gone they sat around the rest of the game. No big aggressors this game so went for cultural. Egypt was the only other cultural power and they were spamming the wonders like mad...so I had to wipe them out, completely. I've found myself wiping civs out much more than I used to in G&K, they are just too annoying if left alive (still have votes, still able to influence). Once Egypt was obliterated I kept just running my musicians around bombing the others. Cultural Victory
Game 6: Zulu (King)
I didn't end up using many of the UU, although the promotions were nice to have later on. Was starting to burn through the place in domination mode when the "World leader vote will be happening soon, you have 28, 32 are needed to win". So I cheesed out and allied the last two CS's for victory. Diplo Victory.
Game 7: Venice (King)
Finally felt brave enough to try out Venice. It was actually nice not to have to worry about pumping out my next settler before my neighbors start wandering into town. Went crazy with my trade routes, maxxed them out whenever I could. Bought two CS's and conquered Siam before he got too crazy with his elephants. Otherwise just sat back and collected cash and teched up. Was way ahead in tech and was considering Space victory until, once again, 'World leader vote will be happening soon' and I already had more than enough of the votes. Diplo Cheese Victory.
Game 8: Indonesia (King - continents)
Made two kris swordsman, got one bad one and one good one. Was able to nab my continent pretty easily, but Alex was on other one, and he had a stranglehold on over half the CS's. Needed some oil, saw a well on a one tile island, perfect! Sent a settler over to use the UA and expected to get oil + unique resource. Except that the UA resource overwrote the oil, so I got some happiness but no oil, bleh. Alex was very tough to take down, he was well ahead on tech, but I was able to establish a beach head and eventually wear down his forces. No cheese victory this time. Domination Victory.
Game 9: Brazil (King)
Slow slow start. Production was a struggle for much of the game. First time I had Zulu as opponent, and just to up the difficulty, there was Alex right next to me. Shaka wiped out three civs on his way to say 'hi' to me, seems all friendly like. Suggests we go to war with Alex, which I immediately agree to (after last game I was still angry at Alex). He sends in a small contingent while I plow through Alex's cities, wiping him out completely (he already had half the CS's under his control). Just as I was cleaning up the last Greek town, Shaka DOW's me. He has overwhelming numbers, and tons of cash, because they never stop coming for centuries. I was able to hold him at bay, but could not advance on him (3 move Riflemen are really annoying).
Meanwhile Eithiopia decides to DOW me on my back side, I clean out his forces pretty easily and get white peace. He then proceeds to go after me the minute the peace deal is done, a process he would continue to do 3 more times until I finally was able to get his capital. All the while Shaka is sending exploratory groups of soldiers to various parts of my other front. I finally get a white peace from Shaka (he was headed to wipe out Atilla) and Eithiopia under control. Very tough game from start to finish, was behind for most of it. With Alex gone I was able to get diplo victory without having to spend the time on cultural, which was very likely, just many turns away. Golden ages are very very nice, was able to get well into 'familiar' with the other civs without working too hard. By the time the UU was available there were really no ground fighting left (everyone went airborne), so didn't get much use out of them. The camps were very nice late game, was getting policies sub 10 turns fairly consistently. Diplo Victory.
Lessons learned:
Alex ups the difficulty level just by virtue of his CS ability, otherwise diplo victory is pretty darn easy and quick. I think they need to move this further down the tech line or something. The availability of the condition well before many of the others makes it cheesy, not necessarily the mechanics of it (money).
Eithiopia is an expansive and aggressive neighbor now (in 3 games with him, same results)
Shaka is devastating if he isn't put in check right away.
Artillery + Cavalry will still win the game most of the time (at this level at least).
Controlling the World Congress can be critical....being able to Embargo your next target is a big bonus, and making sure your main trading lux is not banned helps too. I try to focus on Forbidden Palace if I can, especially if I'm the first host. The early votes are the toughest.
Don't be afraid to wipe someone out, they can do a lot of damage if they linger. The won't just sit around with a lone archer in their little city, they will get their trade routes going, they will still be able to vote, they will still have spies to compete for CS's, and they will still have some cultural pressure.
If I don't have a good voting bloc, I'll time my offenses until after the voting session, gives me time to repair some hurt feelings and make sure I'm not the one being embargoed.
Going domination, if you get it done quick enough you can ignore most of the cultural/ideological stuff. If you have a slow start, you can't ignore it. Switching ideologies is sometimes necessary, and not always a bad thing...all of them have some strong policies for most types of victory.
Ideological friends are strong friends...they overlook just about everything else. They are also strong enemies, do not expect anything even if you've been best pals up to that point.
Being primarily a domination type player I think I like Assyria the best, taking a city has never been a more pleasurable experience! Venice is great for the diplo/cash game. Cultural seems doable with just about everyone, just be sure to wipe out Brazil if he's on your map.
YMMV
