The Deity Challenge Lineup - Game # 3 - Persia

Turns 167-259

t307 Science Victory

I'm also playing this challenge right now, my first game with Persia. Currently ~t260 and my game looks like this



It started out pretty well but Japan captured large junks of Dido quite quickly and then came after me, so did the Ottomans, which forced me to pay them off a lot.

On the other continent France pretty much steamrolled everyone I guess, and they seem to be roughly on par with me when it comes to Science. I hope I'll still be able to make it but I'm not sure : (

What mod is that ?^^

Enhanced User Interface - http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=512263

Note that there are special instructions for installing this (installed as DLC, rather than as a mod).

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

Though this map is quite old, it can still be played, so if you play it and complete it, please send me a PM so I can update the finisher's spreadsheet.

Thank you.

T272 CV

I looked at the screenshots and wow'ed. This continent is like my worst nightmare. I hate Dido, and the other two dudes are even scarier. I am going to try this just to see how long I can survive.

Edit: t29. Japan has denounced me. Suleiman dropped a city 4 tiles away from my capital. Desert Folklore gone. What the...

t100. Doing okay. I opened with Tradition for border growth, but then went down full liberty. Stole 3 workers from Samarkand and got 4th from Liberty. Stealing from Japan was impossible with his army, and Suleiman is kind of too far. Oda DoW'ed Samarkand, and I got scared he would take it when I saw the hp bar go to zero, but then I scouted and saw that Oda had only archers left. I put a scouting archer East, and around t85-90 spotted his army, so I had to bribe Dido into attacking him. She really would attack anyone on this continent, I think. She is also running away with that Liberty opener. Suleiman just dropped a city into my face after I played cat-and-mouse with his settlers for good 30-40 turns. Also, using the Golden Age movement to block them better. I already like this UA.

Picked the Oracle and decided to give a shot to HG, since I went Liberty and will be lacking on food. I used Liberty GE to get Chichen Itza because it was available, and I am running into happiness issues. Fingers crossed for HG. My army is 5 archers, 2 warriors, 2 scouts, and making another archer and a horseman for now. I kind of wasted money claiming land under Suleiman's nose because I don't want his borders to expand into mine. It's better to keep my borders far to see an incoming attack. But I really need to build more military units and then upgrade them asap. Why don't warriors upgrade into spearmen? sigh

Also, I know people love One with Nature or DF, but I haven't seen so much silver in a long time, so I picked Religious Idols for the extra culture kick.

I will try going Autocracy CV, but I haven't done that before, and judging from this thread, the other continent will runaway with culture big time. But I do expect to cripple my neighbors at some point here, or else they might cripple me.

Ok so I am totally not dealing with Great Wall and Samurais. Full Honor, as well. Yeah. I will just let Oda and Dido duke it out.

Basically, all my war preparation went to waste due to my little experience with domination and lack of knowledge of UU's and terrain (goes both ways: protects me, but also protects Oda). Now my capital is too behind.

Pisa looks impossible, so I will try to get Sistine, though it also looks impossible. Alex, Casimir, and Napoleon are having a threesome, but it seems like Alex is not enjoying it that much. He will soon rest in pieces. And on top of that, no one on my continent even bothered with religion, so why am I stuck with Religious Idols now? I could be spreading like mad with DF or One with Nature. I think I am restarting this one.

Yes, I settled near to GBR and had the first religion easily with OWN. 1st expo went to the other wonder.

Hm, what's the point of settling capital on the coast if you have no other coastal cities?

Meanwhile, this replay is going better... and worse. Better as in I will get Education on t102 (could have been t101 without Sailing) instead of t108, and I have more fpt and cpt due to CS allies. I chose to open Piety instead of finishing Liberty just yet, and then picked Organized Religion with Oracle. 110 faith Missionaries because I took Holy Order. Time to spam. Bad news is that the AI's did not even bother with religions period. t100, and 3 religions are available. You kidding me, right? That means there might be religious wars on my continent.

Even worse, Oda is doing amazing. He took Samarkand and then tried to DoW me twice, so I reloaded twice and bribed him to DoW Dido and Suleiman. At first, I only saw his huge army moving around Samarkand, so I was like, what's he doing, jacking off? But then Dido got WRECKED and gave him a city. This is getting scary because Samurais will come soon. I am going to forget about Radio and Oxford Industrialization or Flight because, boy, will I need me some bombers against that Great Wall coastal hilly area.

The question is, will I survive? I am sitting on a volcano.

adcarrymaokai said:

Hm, what's the point of settling capital on the coast if you have no other coastal cities?

Click to expand...

1. The coast in question has GBR, which is hands down the best NW, especially so early in the game. And especially since there is another NW which is settleable, so religion is guaranteed to be strong.

2. For a CV, which I wanted, a single coastal city is enough, provided it can reach the other civs. One more reason I took so long to sell Levis and Lady Gaga to Napoleon was that I couldn't reach him until he captured Alex's cities.

consentient said:

2. For a CV, which I wanted, a single coastal city is enough, provided it can reach the other civs. One more reason I took so long to sell Levis and Lady Gaga to Napoleon was that I couldn't reach him until he captured Alex's cities.

Click to expand...

Well, it looks like I won't even Alex this game because he has already lost his capital. That's my guess because Casimir controls 2 capitals by t105. Also, somebody built Petra on t115, and 2 pantheons were founded between t110-120.

But I had to reload third time because Oda, who has happily adopted my religion and suggested DoF and an RA, decided he wants my cities. He can't stop he won't stop.

If you reload every time something bad happens, it kinda defeats the point of playing the challenge, I think.

Well, I am not exactly playing for challenge (or fast turn times). I play for fun, and being rushed by 20 units is not my definition of fun.

I think you should replay this map from turn 0 adcarrymaokai. If you have desire to replay it again and you can focus on wiping out your Continent in a timely manner you will have no problem getting to victory. I think this was one of my fastest Diplo VCs in general and my fastest Turn Time Win for the DCL series. I do not reload my turns but I do play more for fun like you instead of trying to finish fast. I also do things that players will call poor play just to allow the AI to get a larger lead to see if I can overcome them in the late turns. However, I do compensate this by using many exploits such as bribes, pillage/heal, 1 resource for 2gpt... etc.

I am pretty sure I went after Japan first. I took the Ottomans out after that and onto Carthage next. After the land was in my control it was pretty easy to play next turn, next turn for the Diplo Win. I think I left all Civs with one city at least so I would not get too much warmonger hate so you know how that goes. My point is that this map gets easier once you control your Continent compared to peaceful play and watching Japan try to overrun you while Carthage and the Ottomans expand all over!

I actually wouldn't have to reload, but the problem was Oda taking Samarkand on t30. The first time I played, Oda failed and got boxed in his little corner. This time, however, he smashed through Samarkand, and that opened him pretty much the entire flatlands continent. What can I do against a 20-unit army of CB's, Pikemen, and whatnot when my capital is surrounded by plains and grasslands and is not even on the other side of the river. The first expo could be easily defendable, and I could block the mountain pass and just shoot his units, if he weren't able to come through Samarkand (not to mention I could ally Samarkand). Also, I reloaded because he signed peace treaty with Dido and DoW'ed me right away before my turn even began. I have won only 1 Domination game on deity, and I have no clue how to defend against early rushes because I don't play enough.

Besides, reloading is part of the game to a certain extent. I accept it when I play the game along with AI exploits like worker steal, bribes, etc. I mostly play Multiplayer Online games such as League of Legends and Defense of the Ancients 2, and there, once you accept a match, you get into 30-60 minutes of non-stop action. You play with and against other humans, and every second counts. You can't reload. If you die, then die you. If you get outplayed, then you get outplayed. When I need a break, I can play Civ vs AI's, and I don't have to be constantly clicking and fighting. Reloading is like a second chance, which you never get in real-time games.

I think you may have taken my comment as a bash against reloads. It is true, that I do not like them but I do not have any problem with any player that chooses to reload. I have reloaded before in past games but recently I try not to reload unless some major crash.

My post was more about suggesting that the map might be easier for any player if they focus on War for the first 100 or so turns gaining control of the Continent. Poland was a force in my game as well taking out all Civs on his Cont before turn 250! If Alex controls the Continent he will make a Diplo VC more difficult.

Basically I was suggesting that you might want to replay it from turn 0 and go for conquest to make things easier but that was only if you had desire to play that way or you wanted to replay. I was only trying to make a polite suggestion since it seemed you were a bit frustrated about your current situation. I actually commend you for posting up your games, always letting the reader know what you did, how and why you did it. Every time I have read your write ups, you never fail to let the reader know when and why you are reloading.

I am sure everyone reloads, or at least makes benchmark saves from which they can replay the game. I personally do not care, since a lot of deity players already abuse AI behavior to their advantage.

I don't want to replay and clear the continent because:

1. I am a peaceful player when it comes to civ. I want to to build buildings and wonders and develop a prosperous and progressive polity. When I want to kill things, I go play MOBA's. Outmaneuvering and outplaying human opponents feels more rewarding than beating on the AI which has game-given advantages but no decision making abilities (though my own military decision making in Civ is even worse ).

2. I don't know how to do that. I feel like I am going to fall very behind in science and actually accomplish nothing because I don't know how to war effectively, especially early on. Even in that China game #16, it came down to me spamming units, and thankfully AI's were not super ahead in tech.

3. I play every map with a story. I look at other people's screenshots and fantacize what I am going to do with the map. I do not want to play the same Tradition-NC-Rationalism every game, and I like fiddling with Piety and religions. On this map, I have decided to convert the entire continent to my religion. I have decided to go Autocracy, pick Futurism, propose Arts Funding, get Pisa, National Epic, Garden, Aesthetics opener and start generating GWAM like mad. That's my story. Getting rushed by Oda is NOT a part of this story, however. (rushing him with aircraft might be )

Also, you don't need to be polite. Your opinion is your opinion.