Unofficial Science Challenge - The Deity Poll

also, this isnt an OCC challenge. plenty of spots for hills will be available for more than just one city. the same for mountains if you want observatories, etc. the challenge isn't to optimize for individual starts but to keep things equal by eliminating random elements that favor one way or the other (like ruins). the question remains: Is one civ better than another at a sci vic, all things being equal? that means playing to each strength and weakness including terrain, UA, UI, UU, and strategy choices.

i was playing an America (immortal) game last night and I found GBR in a sweet spot for a 2nd city. I decided to effectively make it my main city. my cap was still good but a city with GBR, 1 fish, 2 stone and a marble makes for a competitive powerhouse to the cap (coastal but no mtn, no river, no sea resources but with 3 hills, lots of forests/plains, 2 deer, 3 dyes, 1 marble). I took the +4f from natural wonders pantheon just to see how good it would be. It earned me a religion (2nd one founded) by t70 and enhancer by t100.

@DGDobrev: regardless of Spain's wonder benefits, Old Faithful still sucks, haha. If worked by Spain it is a raw 4 beaker tile. What a lousy wonder ... but all the rest would be really good tiles.

Absolutely What were they even thinking when they created such a wonder? I'd say that a jungle+trading post tile is worth twice as much as Old Faithful...

On the other hand, with lots of luck, Spain + GBR + One with Nature means 8 Food, 4 Hammers, 4 Gold, 8 Beakers and 16 Faith from 2 tiles. My oh my... What a start that is. Will it be too impudent to ask for an El Dorado in the vicinity as well? If so:

Resistance is futile... Even on Deity.

i'd prefer Mt Fuji long term even though Skilldorado gives the extra 500g beyond the normal 500g. +4 food, +6 culture, +6 faith is so well-rounded that it outperforms an extra 500g and +10 culture, imo.

okay, looks like Inca and Arabia have won the extra 2 slots. I will double check the votes to make sure they were legitimate but otherwise I'll try to have a new thread with the saves up and ready to play in the next day or two.

thanks to everyone for the input and votes. There might be another one of these challenges after the patch comes out. The game might be different enough to encourage another go at this.

That's exactly the type of save I am fooling around with. The chances of getting such a thing are probably 1 in 200. Check the screens - they pretty much speak for themselves

Edit: and that's the link to Arilian's thread: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=469736&highlight=GBR+start+spain

Jman5 said:

So basically, what I like about Rome in a tall empire is you're filling out each city much more and you have significantly more concentrated base hammers for the UA to modify.

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Thanks for the explanation Jman5. I never looked at it this way (in fact, I never really played Rome and always saw it as a "wide" civ).

DGDobrev said:

That's exactly the type of save I am fooling around with. The chances of getting such a thing are probably 1 in 200. Check the screens - they pretty much speak for themselves

Edit: and that's the link to Arilian's thread: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=469736&highlight=GBR+start+spain

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wow, nice start. i thought Fuji gave 2food instead of 2g but I was confusing the bonuses that Mt Sinai gets (also a great wonder for spain). i just checked the civilopedia and Old Faithful is listed with +2 beakers and +3 happ but in the last game I found Old Faithful it only had +2 beakers when i hovered over it. still the worst of the wonders, imo. I wonder if I just dont remember OF correctly. im gonna look at it again next time i run across it.

Hammer Rabbi said:

wow, nice start. i thought Fuji gave 2food instead of 2g but I was confusing the bonuses that Mt Sinai gets (also a great wonder for spain). i just checked the civilopedia and Old Faithful is listed with +2 beakers and +3 happ but in the last game I found Old Faithful it only had +2 beakers when i hovered over it. still the worst of the wonders, imo. I wonder if I just dont remember OF correctly. im gonna look at it again next time i run across it.

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All the 'tile' hapiness bonuses for natural wonders are for having them within your borders. If you plant a city next to it, you'll get the extra 3 hapiness, whether or not you work it. Same for kailash etc.

Crafty Bison said:

All the 'tile' hapiness bonuses for natural wonders are for having them within your borders. If you plant a city next to it, you'll get the extra 3 hapiness, whether or not you work it. Same for kailash etc.

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im guessing it is doubled for spain even if it isnt listed as a tile resource?

Yes, I think so. I think this is also true of the +1 hapiness you get for discovering each natural wonder.

Crafty Bison said:

Yes, I think so. I think this is also true of the +1 hapiness you get for discovering each natural wonder.

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unless they changed it for Gnk the discovery bonus was the way it was in vanilla so im guessing so now. ive played spain enough but not enough to know if happiness is doubled for being in your borders. thanks for the clarification.

Rlly? My bad. Last time I played them I was swimming in hapiness so had just assumed the hapiness was doubled for discovery. Should have actually gone into the info panels and checked, sorry bout that.

The deity science challenge is officially up here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=11900101#post11900101

/cheer