SCIENCE VICTORY
Turn=205
Score=1614
HOF=3936
pop=180 (37,28,27,27,21,20,20)
science=+2026
gold=559 (+518)
routes=9/9
happiness=+35
culture=2329/3285 (+108)
tourism=24 (+24)
faith=229 (+99)
Were you happy with the start? Did you manage to adjust strategies to the terrain?
It was interesting. Nice long-run perspective with lots of science from the jungle, but little early production and no mountain at the capital. A fast second settler thanks to El Dorado, lots of seafood, and Mt. Kailash also nearby. I committed fully to the terrain. This may not have been optimal, but it was fun.
- God of the Sea pantheon. We played 'holding the line' all game long to block the droves of invading rival priests.
- Settled at both wonders asap and worked them all game long. After one Missionary, 7 Pagodas, and three Great Priests, we could still buy a third Great Scientist from faith on turn 203. This was perfectly planned, except that he was superfluous.
- Founded 7 cities in total to make use of all the seafood and jungle. Gdansk was at a mountain so we could build Machu Picchu (Mt. Kailash accepts an Observatory, but not this wonder).
Which free SPs did you use Poland's UA for in the later eras?
The following policies were taken upon advancing to a new age.
39 Meritocracy
89 Philanthropy
117 Rationalism
135 Humanism
152 Sovereignty
181 Scientific Revolution
182 Aristocracy
The last one mainly for the happiness as we picked Freedom as our Ideology while we expected most AI to go Order (we were first in science already but not by much). However, Austria chose Freedom as well. Could have finished 2 turns earlier had we known beforehand.
Were their other Unique attributes useful for either SV or CV?
The Ducal Stable helped marginally. We only built two (Gdansk and Szczecin). We never produced any military except for a single Archer early on. All others were gifted by Belgrade and Hanoi which were allies during most of the game. We paid Assyria twice to keep it so: once when they approached Hanoi, to declare war on the Celts instead, which they dutifully kept attacking for the rest of the game, and once to make peace with Hanoi after the Celts briefly bought an alliance.
Which Policy trees did you choose and why?
The usual Tradition opener followed by Liberty. Seven cities seemed optimal on this map. Liberty to the end for a fast Academy, followed by Patronage to Cultural Diplomacy. Rationalism got completed, six Freedom policies for growth and happiness and to buy spaceship parts, three in Commerce to Mercantilism and one more in Tradition. It helped that we won the World's Fair and got a Golden Age running for most of the 20 turns.
For Deity difficulty, was this harder or easier than normal?
Easier because of El Dorado and our position behind several City States, harder of our own volition because we insisted on defending Judaism. Assyria was a pain in the ass, they quickly conquered Korea, Geneva and Riga, spread everywhere and took half of the Celtic empire. But they fell behind in science nonetheless.
Great Wonders
84 Colossus (Warsaw)
140 Machu Picchu (Gdansk)
154 Leaning Tower of Pisa (Wroclaw) (took a Great Engineer)
167 Statue of Liberty (Warsaw)
193 Big Ben (Wroclaw)
202 Hubble Space Telescope (Krakow) (only used for the two Great Scientists)
205 Eiffel Tower (Szczecin)
National Wonders
106 National College (Warsaw)
138 Ironworks (Warsaw)
143 National Epic (Wroclaw) (it had all three guilds)
170 Grand Temple (Warsaw)
182 Oxford University (Warsaw)
197 East India Company (Lodz)
World Congress Projects
176 World's Fair (won)
Spaceship
190 Apollo Program (Warsaw)
195 SS Booster 1830g (Warsaw)
198 SS Booster 1830g (Warsaw)
202 SS Engine 1830g (Warsaw)
204 SS Stasis Chamber 1830g (Warsaw)
205 SS Cockpit (Warsaw)
205 SS Booster (Wroclaw)
Science techs
61 Writing
93 Philosophy
108 Education
117 Astronomy
148 Scientific Theory
167 Plastics
Sciences Funding was passed too late to make a difference.
Religion
29 God of the Sea
61 Judaism (Tithe, Pagodas)
130 Enhanced (Feed the World, Religious Texts)
We expected war and more religious opposition. But they never converted our jungle cities. Sweden was a lasting friend and Austria, Celts and Assyria were friends during some periods as well, and Russia and Songhai stayed neutral towards us.
A pre-200 victory seems possible with Swords into Plowshares and Reliquary, and with better luck regarding We Love The King Day. Warsaw wanted Crab which was not available for the longest time, and then Gems which came extremely expensive.