This is my first story. I will share mostly the strategies I used, since if you're like me I assume that is what you are most interested in.
Map settings:
America, Renaissance Start, King, Highlands Map, Wet, Raging Barbs, Huge, 13 AI's, 28 CS's
I chose this in order to play to America's strengths. The Minuteman comes out Renaissance era, followed by the B-17 later. I lowered the difficulty to King since this is my first time not starting with the usual Ancient Age. As it turns out, America SO dominates this map, I probably could go up to Immortal or Deity next time I try it.
In a Renaissance start, you start with 2 settlers, a worker or two, and pikemen. You get to choose 4 social policies on turn 1. I chose all Liberty, since I was gunning for the quick Great Person from the start. More specifically, the Engineer: on Renaissance you start the game with Hagia Sophia, Angkor Wat, Chichen Itza, Notre Dame, Porcelain Tower, and Himeji Castle all available to build. My priority was Hagia Sophiaalso, for the free Great Person. My starting city guns it for Hagia Sophia. I chop rush with my worker, I do what I have to...I'm not losing Hagia. With the free GE from Hagia, I choose to rush build Notre Dame. Later I will use the free GE from finishing Liberty tree to rush Porcelain Tower. The rest of the starting wonders, no point even trying. So I don't.
Now here it gets interesting, because with Hagia Sophia and Notre Dame I'm getting a lot of Great Artist points. This is different from an Ancient start. I did not expect this. Two GA's pop out the door in no time, which because it's the beginning of the game turn into landmarks for my second city. I get two more GA's from building the Louvrewhich I get by bulbing Archaeology (which in turn was made possible from the 2 GS points from Porcelain) to get a head start. That's 4 landmarks in very little time. Soon to be 5.
Horses and Iron are already revealed on the map (Renaissance start at work, again). I get plenty of both, but I'm doing Minutemen, I don't care. Traded to the AI they go.... Oops! Dumb AI...building Horsemen, on a Highlands map. I trade my Horses, my Iron, and my open borders for money, and I use the money to buy tiles with my American 50% discount and to buddy up with my neighboring Cultural city-state.
Another quirk of Renaissance start is that the first tech you research takes forever. My first tech is a no-brainer: I research Musketmen (you don't get Gunpowder at Renaissance start, but you can research it at start). The 3-4 pikemen you start with make halfway decent scouts, but Minutemen make AMAZING scouts.
Now, back to my culture situation: Acoustics is available to research at Renaissance start. Acoustics means Opera Houses. And if you can get Opera Houses early in the game when you've only got 3 cities, you know what that means? Hermitage! That city with the 5 landmarks is getting a +50% cultural bonus. Early. In fact...later I'll get my fourth city while my first three build Museums (because I bulbed Archaeology), and that's when I grab Tradition and Legalism social policies. You know those 4 free culture buildings you get from the SP? Broadcast Towers. Free. That's another 33% in my city with 5 landmarks, on top of the 50%. I'm 3 policies ahead of the nearest AI...on King, and with 13 AI's.
I decide to exploit my lead by going down the Rationalism branch, getting another +50% from research agreements (on top of Porcelain Tower which I already have), and grab the 2 free techs early.
I also go for an early Oxford since Universities are available at game start and I only have 3 cities. Also, I chose Wet for the map setting, which means there's lots of Jungle. Because it's a Renaissance start, that jungle doesn't just sit there unused forever like it does in Ancient Age start. You have immediate access to Universities and can get that 2 science out there right away. But anyway....
I attain a tech lead by exploiting the jungle+university trick, RA's, and bulbing from Rationalism and Oxford. Basically I gunned it directly to Modern Age but completely neglected Rifling till it was the absolute last tech left. That was not just so I could take full advantage of my bulbsit was also so I could spam Minutemen (who go obsolete with Rifling). Anyway, Minutemen spam are absolutely wonderful at recon.
I pull my starting Pikemen together and every Minuteman I can, and I rush England, my nearest neighbor. It takes twin cannon to take down London, but the rest of Elizabeth's cities easily fall simply by frontal assaulting her cities with all the Minutemen. If one's health gets down to red, simply retreat 2 squares. Minutemen can do that. I colonize England's cities without any losses. America...colonizing England.... Oh, the irony is satisfying. Taking over England basically grew my empire to the point that it erased the AIs' advantage from playing King difficulty. I was even.
The diplomacy side was interesting: I thought I used up my free DOW by declaring war on England; but as it turns out, it looks like DOW doesn't count against you diplomatically if the AI is unmet. I had only met 4 AI's at the time, and one of those was England. I had only used up my free DOW as far as the 3 AI's were concerned. Sweet. It wouldn't be too long after my twin cannon took London that I would be bearing down on Egypt (one of the 3 AI's). By that point, I had met most of the world. India was pissed off at me, though.
When I finally get around to researching Rifling, I blow through it and and Dynamite like nobody's business, courtesy of a few Research Agreements combined with Rationalism and Porcelain Tower. New discovery: sure, you can upgrade all those Minutemen to Riflemen and keep their ignore terrain bonuses, but...with what money? Uh...oops. For the most part I upgrade neither the Minutemen nor the Cannon, electing to wait till Pentagon as much as I can. Which wasn't that bad: because of my tech lead in everything else with me bulbing everything, my Minutemen were only facing Riflemenand this is on a Highlands map, which if you're on defense that evens the odds. It was very slow and methodical taking down Egypt during this time, who eventually surrendered 4 cities in order to negotiate peace. And when I say methodical, the method is very simple: withdraw your Minuteman whenever he gets down to red. Which again, is easy because Minutemen ignore terrain costs and can withdraw 2 hexes very easily.
A couple Golden Ages later, some saved up cash (but I never neglect to sign RA's), and I'm able to Engineer rush Pentagon (GE's were surprisingly easy to come by, because you can build Workshops at the very beginning of the game). My capital happened to snatch Ironworks and then Heroic Epic early on while I had only 3 cities (also made possible because Renaissance start lets you build both Workshops and Barracks at the game start), plus I managed to build Brandenburg Gate.
So now I'm facing an interesting situation: my capital has some serious military muscle to it, but what I really need is MONEY to upgrade all those Minutemen! That turned out not to be a problem: the same technology that unlocks the Pentagon? Unlocks B-17's. The capital's able to churn 60-XP B-17's every third turn. I upgrade my Minutemen with cash, as plannedand now I have a ton of Infantry, experienced, who ignore terrain costs (because they used to be Minutemen). What's better, Electronics (the prerequisite tech for Mech Infantry) is easy to bulb on the tech tree, and the upgrade cost from Infantry to Mech Infantry is only like 50 gold. So now I have a ton of Mech Infantry with THREE move, who ignore terrain costs.
I all but ignored Artillery. This is a Highlands map. Artillery can't move worth squat on Highlands. B-17's, however, can move just fine. I did eat a few fighters, but B-17's with evasion can handle it. Air superiority was never big problem. Later Stealth Bombers became unlocked, and what surprised me was how CHEAP it is to upgrade B-17's to Stealth Bombers (similar to cheap Infantry->Mech Inf). The real cost was the aluminum. I had gobs of oil; not a lot of aluminum. A lot of B-17's remained B-17's even through the Future Era, because I simply didn't have the aluminum. But you know...level 4 and 5 B-17's hold their own against ground targets just fine.
It was a cakewalk from there. The AI simply couldn't put up a respectable defense in Highlands terrain. I had tons of Mech Inf who could move 3 hexes, in wooded hills, with B-17's to back them up. So all in all, this game was about what I expected with playing to America's strengths, but there were also several twists to the Renaissance Start that I did not expect.
Map settings:
America, Renaissance Start, King, Highlands Map, Wet, Raging Barbs, Huge, 13 AI's, 28 CS's
I chose this in order to play to America's strengths. The Minuteman comes out Renaissance era, followed by the B-17 later. I lowered the difficulty to King since this is my first time not starting with the usual Ancient Age. As it turns out, America SO dominates this map, I probably could go up to Immortal or Deity next time I try it.
In a Renaissance start, you start with 2 settlers, a worker or two, and pikemen. You get to choose 4 social policies on turn 1. I chose all Liberty, since I was gunning for the quick Great Person from the start. More specifically, the Engineer: on Renaissance you start the game with Hagia Sophia, Angkor Wat, Chichen Itza, Notre Dame, Porcelain Tower, and Himeji Castle all available to build. My priority was Hagia Sophiaalso, for the free Great Person. My starting city guns it for Hagia Sophia. I chop rush with my worker, I do what I have to...I'm not losing Hagia. With the free GE from Hagia, I choose to rush build Notre Dame. Later I will use the free GE from finishing Liberty tree to rush Porcelain Tower. The rest of the starting wonders, no point even trying. So I don't.
Now here it gets interesting, because with Hagia Sophia and Notre Dame I'm getting a lot of Great Artist points. This is different from an Ancient start. I did not expect this. Two GA's pop out the door in no time, which because it's the beginning of the game turn into landmarks for my second city. I get two more GA's from building the Louvrewhich I get by bulbing Archaeology (which in turn was made possible from the 2 GS points from Porcelain) to get a head start. That's 4 landmarks in very little time. Soon to be 5.
Horses and Iron are already revealed on the map (Renaissance start at work, again). I get plenty of both, but I'm doing Minutemen, I don't care. Traded to the AI they go.... Oops! Dumb AI...building Horsemen, on a Highlands map. I trade my Horses, my Iron, and my open borders for money, and I use the money to buy tiles with my American 50% discount and to buddy up with my neighboring Cultural city-state.
Another quirk of Renaissance start is that the first tech you research takes forever. My first tech is a no-brainer: I research Musketmen (you don't get Gunpowder at Renaissance start, but you can research it at start). The 3-4 pikemen you start with make halfway decent scouts, but Minutemen make AMAZING scouts.
Now, back to my culture situation: Acoustics is available to research at Renaissance start. Acoustics means Opera Houses. And if you can get Opera Houses early in the game when you've only got 3 cities, you know what that means? Hermitage! That city with the 5 landmarks is getting a +50% cultural bonus. Early. In fact...later I'll get my fourth city while my first three build Museums (because I bulbed Archaeology), and that's when I grab Tradition and Legalism social policies. You know those 4 free culture buildings you get from the SP? Broadcast Towers. Free. That's another 33% in my city with 5 landmarks, on top of the 50%. I'm 3 policies ahead of the nearest AI...on King, and with 13 AI's.
I decide to exploit my lead by going down the Rationalism branch, getting another +50% from research agreements (on top of Porcelain Tower which I already have), and grab the 2 free techs early.
I also go for an early Oxford since Universities are available at game start and I only have 3 cities. Also, I chose Wet for the map setting, which means there's lots of Jungle. Because it's a Renaissance start, that jungle doesn't just sit there unused forever like it does in Ancient Age start. You have immediate access to Universities and can get that 2 science out there right away. But anyway....
I attain a tech lead by exploiting the jungle+university trick, RA's, and bulbing from Rationalism and Oxford. Basically I gunned it directly to Modern Age but completely neglected Rifling till it was the absolute last tech left. That was not just so I could take full advantage of my bulbsit was also so I could spam Minutemen (who go obsolete with Rifling). Anyway, Minutemen spam are absolutely wonderful at recon.
I pull my starting Pikemen together and every Minuteman I can, and I rush England, my nearest neighbor. It takes twin cannon to take down London, but the rest of Elizabeth's cities easily fall simply by frontal assaulting her cities with all the Minutemen. If one's health gets down to red, simply retreat 2 squares. Minutemen can do that. I colonize England's cities without any losses. America...colonizing England.... Oh, the irony is satisfying. Taking over England basically grew my empire to the point that it erased the AIs' advantage from playing King difficulty. I was even.
The diplomacy side was interesting: I thought I used up my free DOW by declaring war on England; but as it turns out, it looks like DOW doesn't count against you diplomatically if the AI is unmet. I had only met 4 AI's at the time, and one of those was England. I had only used up my free DOW as far as the 3 AI's were concerned. Sweet. It wouldn't be too long after my twin cannon took London that I would be bearing down on Egypt (one of the 3 AI's). By that point, I had met most of the world. India was pissed off at me, though.
When I finally get around to researching Rifling, I blow through it and and Dynamite like nobody's business, courtesy of a few Research Agreements combined with Rationalism and Porcelain Tower. New discovery: sure, you can upgrade all those Minutemen to Riflemen and keep their ignore terrain bonuses, but...with what money? Uh...oops. For the most part I upgrade neither the Minutemen nor the Cannon, electing to wait till Pentagon as much as I can. Which wasn't that bad: because of my tech lead in everything else with me bulbing everything, my Minutemen were only facing Riflemenand this is on a Highlands map, which if you're on defense that evens the odds. It was very slow and methodical taking down Egypt during this time, who eventually surrendered 4 cities in order to negotiate peace. And when I say methodical, the method is very simple: withdraw your Minuteman whenever he gets down to red. Which again, is easy because Minutemen ignore terrain costs and can withdraw 2 hexes very easily.
A couple Golden Ages later, some saved up cash (but I never neglect to sign RA's), and I'm able to Engineer rush Pentagon (GE's were surprisingly easy to come by, because you can build Workshops at the very beginning of the game). My capital happened to snatch Ironworks and then Heroic Epic early on while I had only 3 cities (also made possible because Renaissance start lets you build both Workshops and Barracks at the game start), plus I managed to build Brandenburg Gate.
So now I'm facing an interesting situation: my capital has some serious military muscle to it, but what I really need is MONEY to upgrade all those Minutemen! That turned out not to be a problem: the same technology that unlocks the Pentagon? Unlocks B-17's. The capital's able to churn 60-XP B-17's every third turn. I upgrade my Minutemen with cash, as plannedand now I have a ton of Infantry, experienced, who ignore terrain costs (because they used to be Minutemen). What's better, Electronics (the prerequisite tech for Mech Infantry) is easy to bulb on the tech tree, and the upgrade cost from Infantry to Mech Infantry is only like 50 gold. So now I have a ton of Mech Infantry with THREE move, who ignore terrain costs.
I all but ignored Artillery. This is a Highlands map. Artillery can't move worth squat on Highlands. B-17's, however, can move just fine. I did eat a few fighters, but B-17's with evasion can handle it. Air superiority was never big problem. Later Stealth Bombers became unlocked, and what surprised me was how CHEAP it is to upgrade B-17's to Stealth Bombers (similar to cheap Infantry->Mech Inf). The real cost was the aluminum. I had gobs of oil; not a lot of aluminum. A lot of B-17's remained B-17's even through the Future Era, because I simply didn't have the aluminum. But you know...level 4 and 5 B-17's hold their own against ground targets just fine.
It was a cakewalk from there. The AI simply couldn't put up a respectable defense in Highlands terrain. I had tons of Mech Inf who could move 3 hexes, in wooded hills, with B-17's to back them up. So all in all, this game was about what I expected with playing to America's strengths, but there were also several twists to the Renaissance Start that I did not expect.
