The Deity Challenge Line-up #42 - Portugal

Acken · Oct 8, 2015

The Deity Challenge Line-up #42 - Portugal

There is now a thread to express yourself if you have remarks and ideas:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=546469

The map is attached at the bottom of this post !

Welcome to the Deity Challenge Line-up!

- The spreadsheet of all challenge finishers to date has been updated and is available here.

Rules:

- New games will be posted every 15 days.
- All the games in this series are set to Deity difficulty.
- User civilizations, maps, and opponents change with each challenge, but the game speed is always set to Standard and the starting era is always Ancient.
- We try for a variety of starts
- This isn't a competition so there will be no predefined victory conditions.
- If you complete 5 challenges, your name will be added to the 'Top Finishers' list.
- When posting about your victory, please begin the post with the turn number and Victory Condition in bold letters - e.g. "T247 DiploV" (this is so the person who updates the spreadsheet can see it more easily)

* We welcome all comments and write-ups and invite you to post screenshots of key moments and the moment of victory (if you are successful), but please use the spoiler tag if you post a picture, make a comment about which civs are in the game, or about wonders, or locations of ancient ruins, etc.

In short, if it’s information you can only know by playing the game, don’t spoil it for others by divulging this information in the open. Thank you for your co-operation

- - -

DCL Game #42
You: Portugal
Map Type:

Spoiler :

Extra Settings:

Spoiler :

Difficulty:

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Starting Location:

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Quick combat and movement are on (turn them off if you like)

Game Version - 1.0.3.279
Downloadable Content: – G&K, BNW, Conquest of the New World Deluxe, Genghis Khan's Mongolia, Harold Bluetooth's Denmark, Isabella’s Spain and Pachacuti's Incan Empire, Kamehameha's Polynesian Empire, Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon, Sejong The Great's Korea, Wonders of the Ancient World. The map packs are intentionally excluded.

Past Games

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Past Games Links

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- - -

I hope you all enjoy the map!

If you want to share a map please send a private message.

Please note that maps you wish to share MUST have map packs disabled, so those who do not have them can enjoy the challenge. To do this, you MUST go into the DLC option from the Main Menu and untick the options ‘Scrambled Nations’, ‘Explorers Map Pack’ and ‘Scrambled Continents’. You will need to do this EVERY TIME you start a new game, or just simply delete the map packs from your computer.

beetle · Oct 8, 2015

Jungle start, but coastal on a hill with a lake -- so pretty good.

stormtrooper412 · Oct 9, 2015

I was thinking about doing a SV run where I'd use GS bulbs as "supposed to" i.e. assume the bulbs all have fixed value so I'd bulb a GS on the turn he spawns. If that results in making a SV impossible, then alright. Pretty sure it would not be near 300 turns

claudiupb · Oct 9, 2015

stormtrooper412 said:
I was thinking about doing a SV run where I'd use GS bulbs as "supposed to" i.e. assume the bulbs all have fixed value so I'd bulb a GS on the turn he spawns. If that results in making a SV impossible, then alright. Pretty sure it would not be near 300 turns

In this scenario I think you should plant a lot more academies, and new deal looks decent for once.

consentient · Oct 9, 2015

I hope Dom is possible.

EDIT: Having played 100 turns, I've changed my mind about VC.

Q: Is there any way to know where the best spots are for a Nau trade mission?

Sclb · Oct 9, 2015

Dom is always possible, whether it is easy to pull off CB rush is a different story. I am starting to see the benefit of early wars.

budweiser · Oct 9, 2015

consentient said:
I hope Dom is possible.

EDIT: Having played 100 turns, I've changed my mind about VC.

Q: Is there any way to know where the best spots are for a Nau trade mission?

I kept waffling between fight and turtle and ended up turtle. Now I am around 115 and probably behind where I should be.

stormtrooper412 · Oct 9, 2015

claudiupb said:
In this scenario I think you should plant a lot more academies, and new deal looks decent for once.

Good shout. Perhaps 3 Academies total?

stormtrooper412 · Oct 9, 2015

On second thought, I'm not going to play this map, the start is simply beyond horrible

claudiupb · Oct 9, 2015

I did play this map almost 200 turns. The problem is that I am indecisive of what to do and ended up making very bad decisions because of this. I rushed the SE neighbor who forward settled me, and got 2 cities form him (one in a peace deal and the capital in a second war 10 turns later). I did get some warmonger hate but nothing too bad, I only had one friend until later when I entered a strategic war and liberated a CS, then everyone wanted to be my friend.

Initially I wanted a SV, but then when I met the neighbors on other continents I changed my mind and aimed for late game domination, but currently I don't even know if I have oil or aluminum since I don't have Electricity or Biology. I feel like I am lagging behind, I chose order for extra science and production but maybe the double spying rate and the extra XP would have helped more for domination. Now I feel SV would have been easier, unfortunately I started beelining Railroad after Scientific Theory. I will probably continue the pursuit for domination, use ofxord for Railroad, then beeline biology to see if there is any Oil, if it isn't it will be very tricky.

Spoiler :

GerrardCapashen · Oct 9, 2015

consentient said:
Q: Is there any way to know where the best spots are for a Nau trade mission?

Map sizes are:

Duel: 40 x 25 (2 players, 4 city-states, 2 natural wonders)
Tiny: 56 x 36 (4 players, 8 city-states, 3 natural wonders)
Small: 66 x 42 (6 players, 12 city-states, 3 natural wonders)
Standard: 80 x 52 (8 players, 16 city-states, 4 natural wonders)
Large: 104 x 64 (10 players, 20 city-states, 6 natural wonders)
Huge: 128 x 80 (12 players, 24 city-states, 7 natural wonders)

I think you want the maximum distance from your capital, so I would try to find a CS that is about 40 hexes east or west of your capital, and as far either north/south as possible. You might be able to estimate by measuring the number of turns the Nau would take to get back to your cap, though that would obviously change based on terrain obstacles.

Blatc · Oct 9, 2015

I know that the 'move your troops from our borders' penalty hurts you even with civs you hadn't met at that time - does the same go for wiping out a civ? Will civs that you hadn't met at the time you wiped out an early AI have diplo-hate for the genecide?

GerrardCapashen · Oct 9, 2015

Blatc said:
I know that the 'move your troops from our borders' penalty hurts you even with civs you hadn't met at that time - does the same go for wiping out a civ? Will civs that you hadn't met at the time you wiped out an early AI have diplo-hate for the genecide?

No, only civs you have met will generate warmonger penalties for taking cities and wiping out civs.

However, if you attack 2 city-states, all city-states, including ones you have not yet me, will distrust you. If you take over enough city-states, I think all the remaining ones will eventually declare war on you, but I haven't had that happen since my first game of Civ5 since I found it was generally better not to conquer CSes.

budweiser · Oct 9, 2015

T275

Spoiler :

T292

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Number 1 in score:

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Science Victory 352

Spoiler :

consentient · Oct 9, 2015

stormtrooper412 said:
On second thought, I'm not going to play this map, the start is simply beyond horrible

Really? I quite like it. I think I can imagine why you might say so, and would encourage to try again and do everything to make sure your neighbours don't grab the good spots.

GerrardCapashen said:
I think you want the maximum distance from your capital, so I would try to find a CS that is about 40 hexes east or west of your capital, and as far either north/south as possible.

Thanks for this.

stormtrooper412 · Oct 10, 2015

Did you happen to spectate that run as that's EXACTLY what ticked me off

consentient · Oct 10, 2015

@ST:

No, I didn't. It's just that in my play through, I made an early decision which I think made the difference for me.

My play through:

T262 DiploV

Spoiler :

After finding the neighbours, I experimented with a new kind of start: 5 scouts on a Small Continents map. I used these to block, harass, and eventually steal the settlers that the AI didn't start with. I stole a settler each from both, plus 3 workers from the SE neighbour.

Both, as predicted, made DoF less than 5 turns after brokering peace. This IS a faulty part of the game, that's for sure.

In this time I built my own settlers once my capital (which I had moved to the mountain and bananas) reached 4 pop. They settled and from then I made the 2nd big decision: NOT to build units. Instead, I concentrated on a diplo game (for the remainder of my playthrough) that was not optimal in the sense of safe duplication, BUT was as optimal as I could get using total risk strategies. I told myself that I would post the loss if I was DoW'ed and had nothing to deal with it.

The rest of the opening game went well. Cargo ships were as OP as usual, and I ignored all wonders except Colossus, which I've taken to beelining (told you my strategy was risky) and saving all my chops for, on water games. NC was 94 and Education 107, IIRC.

Midgame was tough in the sense that I missed out on all the renaissance wonders. By this time I was trying quite hard for a CV, and could sense that Morocco was going to be a problem, which he was. At one point, once GPT was high enough, I paid him to DoW everyone except Alex who had already DoW'ed him. But despite being at war with the whole map for the rest of the game, it didn't slow him down.

Made the most of RAs, DoFs and being totally peaceful to the point of insanity. Even William, who was effectively crippled by my opening gambit, could easily have taken me out at any time.

The screenshot below shows my tourism lategame prior to victory. I MAYBE could have kept pushing it up until it influenced Morocco, but maybe not either. Anyway, I'm lucky when I can finish a game these days as my Macbook Pro might as well be called CrashBook.

So I 'bailed' for Diplo after the SS, sold all my science buildings and the Foreign Legion, sold all my lux, and pushed hard to win the first WL vote.

I made some use of the UI and I think the UA really helped, but Portugal remain a very boring civ. What made this game great was a superb map and an entertainingly risky strategy.

SPs: Full Tradition, Full Aesthetics, Full Rationalism, Freedom 5, Exploration Opener + Production Boost.

budweiser · Oct 10, 2015

c - I dont think Portugal is a boring civ. I like them a lot. They make so much money, that diplo kinda becomes the default with them. I thought early on that I might do battleship domination, but I kept waffling back and forth between tech paths so I settled for just taking my continent. I'll save the BBs for next time.

I had a lot of early RAs in this game and I could have had many more. The secret I have found in my last half dozen games is to sell the embassy for 1gpt. It counts as a trade and will get you off to better relations that much sooner. Every one was loving me and I was easily able to isolate and bribe against my victims.

beetle · Oct 10, 2015

The UA is actually in conflict with the UB. All that gold points one to Diplo and CS allies. But the UB does nothing for CS allies! The whole point of the UB is that one can be relaxed about the CS and still get most of the buffs.

I got a Feitoria up everywhere except for the one land-locked CS, and decided to aim for Spaceship Procurements. In hindsight, with all the extra happy and that Aesthetics policy that converts happy to culture, a CV run would have been interesting. I only had two of the UU, and they were upgraded triremes at that.

The jungle start inspired me to try hard to steal workers. That went okay. Scarcer took quick worker from SE neighbor and then milled about to get another one many turns later. I hoping for more, but no such luck. Made peace when scarcher was finally cornered.

Northern neighbor tried to take the expo spot I wanted and was a couple turns ahead of me. Just by luck I had my scout there and his settler was not escorted. I kept that war up until the Scout had +2 vision and move 3. It is rare for me to get that 3rd promotion!

Soon after that I forward settled the SE neighbor because I thought that was my only spot for a 3rd city. When I had money, I bought up all the tiles I could. I expected a war, so I had the units there. He never even complained -- until turn 335!

Kind of late, I found the largish unoccupied land W with another NW. I got one expo there, barely ahead of leading AI. If I play this again, I will put two expos there.

Things were quiet until Ideologies. I was the only Freedom civ for quite a while. Since I was not much interested in fighting -- wars spoil the Feitoria effect -- I had to keep bribing others embroiled in hostilities. In addition to being at 30+ happens most of the game, I was able to string WLTKD pretty much back-to-back.

I wanted to keep my one remote expo converted, so I ended up running 3 cargo ships from that city, so that was kind of waste. Also, I had made my Holy City the first expo, and in hindsight I don't think that really helped. I never was able to covert the Northern neighbor (who did not found).

Overall, interesting enough. Acken, thank you for taking my suggestion for the theming of the opponents. So who picked up on that?

consentient · Oct 10, 2015

beetle said:
Acken, thank you for taking my suggestion for the theming of the opponents. So who picked up on that?

I did.

Spoiler :

The Deity Challenge Line-up #42 - Portugal

Deity

Attachments

Deity

Peacemongering Turtlesaur

King

Domination!

Emperor

King of the Beers

Peacemongering Turtlesaur

Peacemongering Turtlesaur

King

Benalish Master-at-Arms

Prince

Benalish Master-at-Arms

King of the Beers

Domination!

Peacemongering Turtlesaur

Domination!

Attachments

King of the Beers

Deity

Attachments

Domination!

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