The Community Deity Game #2 - Assyria

So is it allowed to "cheat" in this series?

I replayed from turn 155 (Ideology), and got a t228 SV picking Order instead of Freedom (of course, my moronic neighbours decided to pick something else, but still had only 1/3 of the unhappiness from 1st try). Even had resources to pass Sciences Funding for 8 points.

In the process I discovered a really annoying "bug". On my caravan screen, if it says 2 turns left, it finishes next turn. I had just enough hammers to finish SS on t227, but the hammer caravan ended on the turn missing out the 6.5 hammers I needed (while on previous turn the screen said 2 turns left).

I tried to not cheat to much with the RNG though. E.g. I didnt buy and start to mine a hill I knew had coal before Industrialization. I allowed the DoW on t158 to happen just as before. Which, just as in the last game, pillaged my two cargo ships
Still, quite a big advantage playing for the second time (could have probably replayed and gotten <230 with freedom as well, just wanted to try Order).

I reload a ton anyway. I suck

gobbledydook said:

I reload a ton anyway. I suck

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I´m sure thats an exaggeration

A lot of you guys seemed to pull of the "0 units" achievements - didn't you face any aggression at all? Do you have any trick I dont know about (besides bribes and trying to get positive diplo like "We´ve traded" or "Denounced same leader" etc)

I even struggled with barbarians in this game at first, when I tried to get by with scouts only.

donkeyfish said:

A lot of you guys seemed to pull of the "0 units" achievements...

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See my post #23 in this thread where I link back to where I think Consentient best describes the idea. But surely you have had games with very little aggression? I did not try it on this map because the UU is too interesting to pass over. OTOH, this map has some real psychos, so it would be a particularly risky gambit on this map.

The basic idea is to go heavy on the scouts early and friend/ally military CS ASAP and all game long. Settle only four cities and, of course, be particularly obsequious with diplo, immediate neighbors especially. If you make it to Ideologies, go Freedom for the six FL to put yourself permanently out of harms way.

I even struggled with barbarians in this game at first, when I tried to get by with scouts only.

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Your are a much better player than me, but I routinely get by with only my starting warrior and two scouts. Generally, I am loath to build units until I have a Barracks.

donkeyfish said:

I´m sure thats an exaggeration

A lot of you guys seemed to pull of the "0 units" achievements - didn't you face any aggression at all? Do you have any trick I dont know about (besides bribes and trying to get positive diplo like "We´ve traded" or "Denounced same leader" etc)

I even struggled with barbarians in this game at first, when I tried to get by with scouts only.

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You make sure that every single other civ is at war with someone. Civs generally don't declare war on you if they are already at war. The only exception is when you are a huge warmonger and everyone hates your guts already, but that's not the case with a zero unit game.

It's cheaper to bribe the one with more army against someone with less army. I also think AIs determine whether they want to declare another war based on how warmongery they are and how much army is up against them. For example sometimes when the #1 army warmonger is at war with the #2 army civ, no matter how I try to bribe, the #1 doesn't declare war on anyone else.

Thanks for the replies guys.

I tend to make myself unpopular, craving land and the spoils of war, so usually not very peaceful. The more I play this game, the more I like units. I´ve certainly had very peaceful games, but I don´t feel its something I can control sufficiently. My experience is that when I bribe, the AI chooses whether to "cheat" you or not. Not sure what decides it, but sometimes they just declare war and do nothing. Even when you pay them to attack their neighbour. I think you´re cheated more frequently if you bribe him to attack someone far away. When this happens (as in this game), they might DoW you while being at "war" from the bribe.

Its the same when AI declares war on me, sometimes (especially when they do the "border-dance") they actually attack, sometimes they just sit there and do nothing. But I´ve had some success understanding this as whether they just hate you, or if they hate you and want your land. Like if you´re an "issue of global prominence", they might DoW and never send any units. But if they "covet your lands!", it usually means full offensive. Perhaps I need to refine who I pay to DoW who, trying to figure out which neighbour they are most likely to "covet".

I guess building 5 scouts and keep lot of vision around capitol would have seriously reduced the odds of barb problems. 2 scout + warrior seems a bit small to me, I like to explore more. But perhaps I could´ve sacrificed some early scouting/bullying. As usual, I start to think about how to change my strategy after I´m done with the game. Not recommended...

Anyways, to me it just seems like a lot of randomness decides whether its possible to forego units. Which probably means I´m doing something wrong

well, you can do an "extreme peacemonger" route, one of the users, KB228787 or some such (come on guy, show up ) studied the mechanics of diplomacy modifiers and played games in such a way that he would basically be sure he would never be disliked ergo attacked