G-Major 2

[godotnut]

Guess the peacemongers dont always like peace

No, not always. But personally I've never heard of the AI attacking when "pleased." I was really surprised to hear about that.

Diplomacy tips:

I assume that you're all establishing open borders ASAP. The only exception to this may be early game, when waiting to settle land that you've cut off from the AI.

Work the trades constantly. Even if you get nothing out of it, it's best to trade away everything possible, both techs and resources. Of course don't trade away resources essential to keeping your populace happy and healthy.

Always first trade resources with the AI most likely to attack you, even if someone else can give you more gold.

Gift tech to AI you know won't win the space race--keeps 'em happy.

Don't declare a religion until either a) it's obvious that everyone is happy enough with you that it won't matter, or b) enough people have switched to Free Religion that you can get away with it.

Be aware of the AI's "favorite civic." In some cases, it's best to adopt that to keep them from hitting you.

 

[Moonsinger]

No, not always. But personally I've never heard of the AI attacking when "pleased." I was really surprised to hear about that.

Actually, it happened to me before. However, in my case, I have determined that they had a Defensive Pact with the civ that I attacked. Therefore, no matter how "pleased" they were, they had no choice but to honor their Defensive Pact.

 

[Lexad]

They do attack when pleased even without Defense Pact. I was attacked by Louis once when I obtained a common border with him during the war with Cyrus. He had great army and I didn't, which was mostly the reason. He remained pleased till I razed his first city

 

[Moonsinger]

Does anyone know how long it will take a culture building to double its value? For example, a temple originally starts out 1 culture point, but will become 2, then 4 after x number of years/turns??? Back in Civ3, the culture building would double its value every 1000 years. Thanks!

 

[dutchfire]

As I understand it, it doubles after 1000 years (in normal speed), but it only doubles once.

 

[Lexad]

As I understand it, it doubles after 1000 years (in normal speed),

- as I understand, in any speed.

 

[Moonsinger]

I'm interested in finding out if a peace-monger or war-monger wins this one. Also, can we break 1300AD at Deity? 1200? Even earlier?

Now, after many attempts on the Settler level, I'm almost 99.99% sure that it would be impossible to break 1300 AD on Deity. I couldn't even break 1350 AD on the Settler yet. At this point, I'm pretty sure that I can't never break 1400 AD on Deity. Even if I have control of all 7 religions before 1000BC (which is impossible btw), I don't think I can break 1500 AD either.
__________________

@Lexad & dutchfire, thank you for answering my question.

 

[godotnut]

I don't think I can break 1500 AD either.

How about 1545?

Maybe I was being a little optimistic in that post. I'm totally sure 1500 can be done, and fairly sure about 1450. It's just that there are so many variables that can go wrong. I had an incredible game going after my best Quecha rush ever. Riverside grassland gems let me expand like mad and not go broke. I had stone, marble, and copper, to go along with my 10 cities, 8 of which were primo. I was dozens of turns ahead of my 1545 game. But Vicky decided that "The world isn't big enough for the two of us." I think next time, I'm going to reserve one city to actually produce a respectable defensive army, despite the fact that this will guarantee a less-than-optimal game.

But I don't think Settler is a good indication of how fast you can do it on Deity, taking into consideration the many more turns saved by trading techs with fast-teching opponents. Of course there is the overall research penalty, but still, I think the trades more than make up for it.

I think the fastest level for a cultural victory would probably be Monarch, all things considered. Maybe I'll give it a go at that level and see how it works out. I haven't tried the strat out below Emporer before, so I'm not sure what kind of speeds could result.

 

[dwarrior]

But Vicky decided that "The world isn't big enough for the two of us."

i get that every attempt. had another nice start, they put fredrick right on my border so i snagged his 2 cities, plus 3workers(popped his settler), blocked off nice land and had 7 nice cities up.. and then Hatt came after me...

 

[dwarrior]

finally got a run setup but was only doing like 400culture a turn at 90% culture. Had 9 cites and 4 religions, so was able to get 4 50%'rs in each city but i guess i didnt tech far enuff or something cuz was only pulling 400ish a turn, think 430 culture in my top one. Went as far as Liberism and had all the culture producing buildings available. Wasnt very close by the time AI won

 

[godotnut]

You're very close dwarrior. How many full grown cottages per culture city did you have? This sounds like a cottage problem to me. Also, I recommend teching to Printing Press for the gold bonus to cottages.

 

[dwarrior]

You're very close dwarrior. How many full grown cottages per culture city did you have? This sounds like a cottage problem to me. Also, I recommend teching to Printing Press for the gold bonus to cottages.

had lotsa cottages, was a bank in one of my last cities away from being on 100% culture in one of my last cities. but I looked and that was only like 20-30more culture. Had 4 temples, 4 monstaries, the 4 50%'rs, universities, theaters, academies, a wonder in 2 of em and the 100% culture national wonder in another, plus 100% culture civic. looked like 450 range was gonna be about my max, not sure what i was doing wrong but no where close to the 600-800 culture range. long ride to 150k culture

 

[godotnut]

Curious. When I first start my "all culture" phase, I may have culture rates closer to the ones you describe, but by the end-game, they are often even better than my guide suggested (600-800 culture / turn). In fact, in my last game, the pride and joy of my kingdom, Cuzco, topped out at 1090 culture / turn.

Here are some screen shots from that game that may be worth checking out. One is an overview of my three cultural cities. Another is of my domestic advisor city screen main page. Another is of my domestic city screen buildings page. And the last is the specific city screen for my 1090 culture / turn city.

I hope these are useful. Oh, and BTW, I was starving my cities at this stage because I knew the game was almost over. So I wouldn't have been able to run so many great artists prior to the last several turns, and my culture / turn rates were about 100 lower.

 

[Moonsinger]

But I don't think Settler is a good indication of how fast you can do it on Deity, taking into consideration the many more turns saved by trading techs with fast-teching opponents. Of course there is the overall research penalty, but still, I think the trades more than make up for it.

In fact, in my last game, the pride and joy of my kingdom, Cuzco, topped out at 1090 culture / turn.

I usually get at around 1500 or more culture/turn in my settler game. The reason why I think settler level is the best for culture is because I can quickly found all 7 religions. I don't need to research anything beyond Education and Printing Press, faster tech rate doesn't matter much for culture. Although I'm very impressed on how you were able to get Medicine on your Deity game without having to learn the secret of Scientific Theory. Sure, Medicine would potentially give us +6 health bonus, but then again, we get extra health bonus on the settler level too. Anyway, that was my reason for thinking settler is the best indication of how fast I can do on Deity.

Of course, as usual, much easy said than done. I have made serveral attempts on Deity during the holiday weekend, but fail to achieve a culture victory. I had to settle for 1 Diplomatic; the AIs killed me with their charriots on at least 3 of my games; for some reason, I usually get run over by charriots.

 

[godotnut]

Now that I see an exploit will be used to win this one...

@WastinTime:

What is this "exploit" you're talking about? There are many Gauntlets where a military isn't necessary, including the last minor Gauntlet. I doubt anyone wasted a lot of time on military in that one. I've been under the impression that many of the Gauntlets have involved peaceful strategies.

Maybe you're not even talking about the strategy in my guide and I'm confused. Do others think that this is an "exploit"?

 

[WastinTime]

For the purposes of the Game of the Month exploits are opportunities created by programming errors or accidents of sequencing or other subtleties of the software that permit a player to gain a benefit substantially disproportionate to cost.

Being able to shut down the AI on the Diety level with a few warriors for the entire game and basically play by yourself fits perfectly in the description AlanH gave for exploits. I want a good close race and see if I can beat the top AI as we progress through each era of the game. It's not a race, nor is it interesting for me to play, if you cripple all opponents in the ancient era with a programming bug (I see it as a bug anyway.)

 

[Moonsinger]

Being able to shut down the AI on the Diety level with a few warriors for the entire game and basically play by yourself fits perfectly in the description AlanH gave for exploits. I want a good close race and see if I can beat the top AI as we progress through each era of the game. It's not a race, nor is it interesting for me to play, if you cripple all opponents in the ancient era with a programming bug (I see it as a bug anyway.)

Well, it's not that easy as it sounds and it really doesn't do much good for this Gauntlet.

1. In order for you to park a couple warriors to cripple the AI progress, you need to be constantly at war.

2. If you are lucky, you may be able to cripple up to 4 civs, but the two run away civs will definitely run you over with their charriots. Some how, the criplled AI has always managed to get his non-crippled friends to go after you.

3. If you are spending too much resources on war, you would have no chance for culture win.

So I decided to try peacefully, but I still get run over with charriots. It's really heartbreaking to watch my villages and towns burnning to hell and there weren't anything I can do to stop them.

Btw, I think the best way to beat them is to be peacefully alone on a small continent and this is what I will try next.

 

[Kalleyao]

2. If you are lucky, you may be able to cripple up to 4 civs, but the two run away civs will definitely run you over with their charriots. Some how, the criplled AI has always managed to get his non-crippled friends to go after you.

Maybe he doesn't like to play an extremely luck game?

 

[Moonsinger]

Maybe he doesn't like to play an extremely luck game?

True! Take a look at the conquest games on the deity dual map. First, you need to find a start next to a goodie hut. Second, you hope to get a scout from your first hut. Third, you hope that the start is close by and their second settler is heading your way. Many times, the second settler is heading away from you. Fourth, you hope that their capital isn't on a hill. Fifth, you have around 28% chance or less to capture their capital. Sixth, you hope that your scout would find some goodie huts before 3880 BC. Seventh, you hope for a free tech from the huts.

There you go. In order to beat this level, lady luck has to smile on you at least 7 consecutive times. Although each game takes less than 2 minutes, the chance for this kind of luck would only come once in a million. In fact, I went out and bought some lottery ticket right after that. Sadly, I ended up with only 1 powerball and 2 white balls (the grand price of only $7 ). It's safe to say that I won't be trying my luck again any time soon.

 

[Kalleyao]

True! Take a look at the conquest games on the deity dual map. First, you need to find a start next to a goodie hut. Second, you hope to get a scout from your first hut. Third, you hope that the start is close by and their second settler is heading your way. Many times, the second settler is heading away from you. Fourth, you hope that their capital isn't on a hill. Fifth, you have around 28% chance or less to capture their capital. Sixth, you hope that your scout would find some goodie huts before 3880 BC. Seventh, you hope for a free tech from the huts.

There you go. In order to beat this level, lady luck has to smile on you at least 7 consecutive times. Although each game takes less than 2 minutes, the chance for this kind of luck would only come once in a million. In fact, I went out and bought some lottery ticket right after that. Sadly, I ended up with only 1 powerball and 2 white balls (the grand price of only $7 ). It's safe to say that I won't be trying my luck again any time soon.

Yes! Now when you raised the bar , people will desperately try to get 2 techs from huts..... Its no longer a matter of skill in the duel conquest tabvle since everyone knows how to play this game since Shadowsong revealed his strategy (Maybe he should kept it secret ) Its now a matter of luck which seems extremely unfun.

Maybe that's what WastinTime meant.