Hey guys, recently I've been opting for slight variations to the standard early NC at all costs strategy.
Started a game as Rome last night, Immortal, Epic, Huge Map (12 civs 24 CS) and opted for early Wonder Rushing (I'm a bit of a wonder hog)
Snagged Stonehenge and Temple of Artemis, (probably only got ToA since I took the 15% ancient/classical wonder production pantheon) and then beelined for Currency and somehow got Petra. I unfortunately missed out on Oracle though.
As you'd imagine I got National College very late, after turn 150 on epic. The strange thing is that by Renaissance I wasn't too far off the tech leader despite neglecting science early game (by Industrial/Modern I was tech leader) I attribute this to a few factors.
-By getting Stonehenge and ToA I managed to snag TWO great engineers before my first GS. Odd I know, but I snagged Pisa, Forbidden Palace and Porcelain Tower.
- I was able to generate GS quicker with Pisa and PT and of course received a free one too.
- I went for full Patronage and allied 10+ city states. Scholasticism provided a huge science boost.
- My closest neighbor was Sejong, who is usually kill on sight for me. He had Colossus in Seoul. Thanks to Legions and Ballista I was just to capture it (with some difficulty as he had a lot of jungle around his capital) The extra trade routes from Petra and Colossus provided me with needed growth.
- I focused on early culture and faith ALOT. I allied Lhasa and Brussels and got my second city to work EL Dorado and totally neglected its growth. This allowed me to fill out most of Patronage fairly quickly and dip into Rationalism. My research agreements were increased 100% by Pisa and policies. I was able to buy a GE to snag Prora for even more policies.
-My UA would help a bit, in that Universities and Public Schools were built that just bit quicker in my non capital cities.
- The policy from Autocracy which allows faster tech stealing is golden
I am now well in the tech leader at turn 400 or so, with full Patronage and the Total War Policy (autocracy) recently unlocked. I've just won the World Fair, built Big Ben and have Mercantalism. Long story short, I'm in prime position to dominate my continent, Sejong has already fallen. I also have Brandenburg Gate in Rome, meaning I will have very highly experienced troops.
All in all, it has been extremely satisfying just playing as I'd like in the early game without a strict science focus. Even though my BPT was pretty poor, the things I've listed above have really made up for it and I'll try and play games like this in future.
Started a game as Rome last night, Immortal, Epic, Huge Map (12 civs 24 CS) and opted for early Wonder Rushing (I'm a bit of a wonder hog)
Snagged Stonehenge and Temple of Artemis, (probably only got ToA since I took the 15% ancient/classical wonder production pantheon) and then beelined for Currency and somehow got Petra. I unfortunately missed out on Oracle though.
As you'd imagine I got National College very late, after turn 150 on epic. The strange thing is that by Renaissance I wasn't too far off the tech leader despite neglecting science early game (by Industrial/Modern I was tech leader) I attribute this to a few factors.
-By getting Stonehenge and ToA I managed to snag TWO great engineers before my first GS. Odd I know, but I snagged Pisa, Forbidden Palace and Porcelain Tower.
- I was able to generate GS quicker with Pisa and PT and of course received a free one too.
- I went for full Patronage and allied 10+ city states. Scholasticism provided a huge science boost.
- My closest neighbor was Sejong, who is usually kill on sight for me. He had Colossus in Seoul. Thanks to Legions and Ballista I was just to capture it (with some difficulty as he had a lot of jungle around his capital) The extra trade routes from Petra and Colossus provided me with needed growth.
- I focused on early culture and faith ALOT. I allied Lhasa and Brussels and got my second city to work EL Dorado and totally neglected its growth. This allowed me to fill out most of Patronage fairly quickly and dip into Rationalism. My research agreements were increased 100% by Pisa and policies. I was able to buy a GE to snag Prora for even more policies.
-My UA would help a bit, in that Universities and Public Schools were built that just bit quicker in my non capital cities.
- The policy from Autocracy which allows faster tech stealing is golden
I am now well in the tech leader at turn 400 or so, with full Patronage and the Total War Policy (autocracy) recently unlocked. I've just won the World Fair, built Big Ben and have Mercantalism. Long story short, I'm in prime position to dominate my continent, Sejong has already fallen. I also have Brandenburg Gate in Rome, meaning I will have very highly experienced troops.
All in all, it has been extremely satisfying just playing as I'd like in the early game without a strict science focus. Even though my BPT was pretty poor, the things I've listed above have really made up for it and I'll try and play games like this in future.
