Assiria - How you go from here?

Before I started the game, I was planning to go Honor, Exploration and Aesthetics. My aim was to get a cultural victory through conquest. But my start bogged me down.



I still want to win a cultural victory. The map is huge, so take down every single AI will take a very long time.
Which policy tree would you open? Would you build any wonder?

Settings: Assiria - Emperor - huge - small continents - epic

How many civs are there on this huge map? That is a lot of space, so you could get away with going Liberty and cranking out an army to conquer with, if you actually want to use your Siege Towers. Starting with Honor is not a good idea if you cannot find your first victim very soon, but on a continent with no other civs killing barbs, the opener should still be useful on your way to collective rule (or full liberty). I would usually say build no wonders except Pyramids and Oracle, but Petra would be very good for your start and is only one tech off from Mathematics, but I would not attempt to build it until after I had built my army and was off conquering my first victim (don't build libraries before then either). If you can snag Petra with GE from Liberty finisher, even better. Build triremes soon, get optics before construction unless you need colosseum, meet other civs asap. When picking targets prioritize cultural civs and those that have built wonders you may find useful (statue of zeus for instance). For a domination-flavoured cultural victory you want to conquer the cultural civs and steal their great works, and you will be influential over the rest before you know it.

If you get desert folklore you can have a ridiculous amount of faith with this strategy

If you don't care about using siege towers then go tradition, 5 or 6 cities, meet other civs asap. Go for Petra. You could still actually still use siege engines in the medieval era if you wanted to but I would usually go to war with frigates or artillery (tech to Scientific Theory and then Dynamite or Navigation).

You will need Aesthetics. Exploration opener and another policy or two can be very useful, but you don't need the whole tree unless your empire ends up mostly coastal or you miss out on the artifacts you will need.

Good luck and happy razing.

Thanks for replying. The map has the default number of civilizations: 12.

I decided to go Liberty. Assur has the Pyramids, and I should finish Liberty nearly at the same time I get the tech for Petra. I bought a trireme after researching sailing, but I lost it in the barbarian infested sea. At least I found Attila.




I am not making much gold, and I have improved almost everything. Nineveh has a forest by a river. I was thinking of building a farm and the extra production would go to the granary. I am planing to build one more city, near the barb camp, so I could grab pearls, fish, wheat, iron and faith natural wonder. It will give me 10 faith/turn from terrain.

After getting Petra, should I beeline the Oracle? Or should I get Optics?

Go for optics if you want to invade someone early. Settle at least one city in the southwest (I would settle two in that area, even though it will upset attila, but I like many cities), crank out some units (I like chariot archers for siege towers personally) before it's time to build Petra, train your units against barbarians and maybe that city state, and then go looking to pick a fight. After Petra, you should get national college and a legit army and navy before considering more wonders. Find more city states to demand tribute of to help with gold.

If you're not going to invade early then build libraries everywhere and beeline national college, then get the oracle if you really want it since it is pretty good, then get optics, then civil service or metal casting.

Either way, be ready for Attila, he will have an army by now.

I notice you're building a cargo ship in Assur but I don't see a good destination for it. With liberty, you will not have the gold from monarchy so your early trade routes need to be making you money. I would build settlers or units (trireme and chariot archer) instead. Triremes will help you protect your trade boats, and find you new trading partners.

You will also want at least one more worker, might as well get it soon.

It's a shame there are so few luxuries and horses (for circuses) on this continent, but I would put at least seven cities on it eventually. There is some good land there, lots of hammers for lots of units. However, leaving quality spots open on your continent may entice others to settle there, which would be easy capture (free tech) for you.

One thing to note about liberty is that your borders will grow much more slowly than tradition, so you usually want to settle cities as close to the tiles you want to work as possible. That natural wonder will not be cheap to acquire, either in culture or in gold. Like I implied earlier I personally think there is enough good dirt to support two smaller cities there, which will benefit more from liberty policies (+1 per city, +1 per city, +1 per connected city). But, many liberty players prefer to go only with four cities before conquering to leave enough room happiness-wise for conquered cities - to each their own.

Sounds like you are pretty well into this game, so this advice might be for your next try with Assyria. Assyria is not built to be a peaceful civ, but using some early warfare to gain an edge, it can win about any type of victory. This civ's culture and science are intertwined with its advantages for classical/medieval rushes with siege engines. On smaller maps, especially pangea, you have a good shot at an early domination win. On bigger maps, your conquest may carry over after the siege engines are obsolete, but a successful early campaign should built units with bonuses and promotions that will pay off in late warfare. If you want to win peacefully later, you can capture cities early to steal techs and give you more places for Royal Libraries. Be sure to build Writers Guild early and keep it staffed. Go for wonders that boost culture and tourism, to keep your edge. Faith isn't a big part of Assyria's game, but if you do found a religion and get the right enhancements, you can make it a part of a flexible winning strategy. I recommend Tradition starts, followed by Liberty. I tend to play on big maps with a lot of water, so I often do Exploration later, especially for the happy-boosting lighthouses. Autocracy makes sense for Assyria, but I've played it successfully with the other two as well.