Immortal Challenge 5 - Egypt

[Yngve]

Nice challenge. Never play egypt so it is nice for a change.

Spoiler :

First try: Tried to go a different way that I am used to and wonder spam, going for GL, fast theology and a Haga Sophia for religion. To make the story short I got swarmed by the friendly Mongolian army; forgot to make a screenshot but it wasnt pretty .

Spoiler :

Second attempt: Feels a little like cheating because I know the map now but wanted to try again. Went a lot more aggressive this time and after destroying a few camps my chariot army first made short process on mongolia and eliminated the ethiopian capital by turn 100. Happy with the progress should be cake walk from now on. Religion is strong, tech is ok, and should snowball from here...

 

[Vintage Port]

Turn 130 update:

Spoiler :

5 cities and all of them are growing like weeds really pushing my happiness limits. So much food and my borders won't expand to the hills, might have to buy some hill tiles in the 3rd ring for production. Could be crazy good if I can keep the growth going and stay happy.

Education came turn 115 which was Ok but a bit late. Annexed the Mongol capital and rush bought a Uni. Bought 1 other Uni and hard built another.

Even though Ethiopia had an enhanced religion by like turn 85 I'm dominating with about 15 cities so far. Going for Stonehenge was a gamble but is paying off now. He has religious texts and I took IP and with all my cities I'm holding him back. I enhanced with HS ~104 and purchased about 3 missionaries to spread religion. I have 10% growth pantheon, Tithe, +2 happy from Temples (Burial Tomb) and Pagodas. I think I have 3 pagodas already and Btombs in 3 cities and I still can't stay happy lol. The growth is crazy. Tithe is starting to pay off too now.

Been fighting wars on 2 fronts as Siam DoW'd me right after I DoW'd Ethiopia even though Siam was pleased that I also denounced Ethiopia since he did as well. I thought I might buy me a few turns of friends but no luck, guess he doesn't like me. Took 1 of Siam's cities already and pushing for his Capital while I beeline XBs.

Fighting on 2 fronts isn't efficient as I'm stretched a little thin. Good exp though as I kill off Ethiopia's carpets of doom he keeps sending over. Won't be long and I will have upgraded XBs and he will be toast. Can't wait to rid myself of him.

After that I'll have to decide my next plan of action. If I can take out Siam and Ethiopia quickly I could probably do a fairly easy Diplo Victory with all my cash rolling in. I'll see if the domination continues.

 

[anthropophage]

Is anyone going wide with the piety opener for the fast building shrines/temples?

 

[budweiser]

Here is another shot of the second enemy capital being captured. Rough terrain and lack of melee prolonged the fight and resulted in heavy losses.

 

[dpunk]

This IC was quite fun but I think the OP is a little optimistic is saying it's an 'easier' map. I found it quite a bit more difficult than most games on immortal. I played the map twice, losing the first attempt.

Spoiler :

Game 1: On my first attempt I tried abusing gpt trades/DoW for early gold which initially worked out well, and one point early in the game I was DoW'd with every civ, all offered peace + tribute soon afterwords. I got a quick second city and ethiopia, siam, and mongolia all offered peace deals for all/half their gold + resources.

I took the mongolian capital around turn 70 with CBs. Looking at siam's capital I really wanted to take it earlier because it is in quite a defensive position, but because of all the jungle and the distance it was a poor decision. I ultimately pulled back off the siam capital, offered peace in which he offered gold for, and marched my army toward ethiopia.

By the time my army was almost back around my capital I received 6 DoWs all on the same turn and an endless swarm surrounded all my cities. The only city possible to defend given the situation and my position would have been the recent city I took from siam, I conceded defeat and left the game.

Spoiler :

Game 2: Domination is still the preferred victory condition, but I took a slightly more science based approached on my second attempt since having knowledge of the map, I was convinced I wouldn't be able to take enough cities with early units.



I took the mongolian capital using war chariots and skipped composite until I researched education. I placed my 3rd city near ethiopian capital and placed a citidel then researched to dynamite to take the ethiopian capital.

Throughout the game I always tried to keep china and persia at war with either themselves or ethiopia or england. I managed to remain friendships with every civ throughout the game except siam and other civs after I DoW'd them and probably signed about 7 research agreements throughout the game, 3 with india.

Persia was the science leader for the majority of the game and I didn't pull ahead of him until I bulbed all my GSs around turn 260. I ended up anexxing all my captured cities after getting the social policy 'planned economy' and focused as much science as I could in preparation for the GS bulbings.



Persia was well on his way to a science victory and I decided his capital had to be my next move.

Persia was also on his way to winning a diplomatic victory on turn 308, so on turn 307 I sold all cities I could to him for gold to ally as many CS as I could.

I signed an open border treaty, and used 2 GGs the turn before I would DoW so my paratroopers would be in range of his capital, sold 4 of my cities to persia for gold so I could ally CS, next turn game was won.



I could have won by science victory somewhere a bit before turn 300 but I really wanted to win via domination so it made it a bit more difficult and ended up having to use a reload. All in all I thought the map was quite challenging and it was more difficult than most immortal games. Mainly because, except mongolia, all capitals were quite defensible or far away.

edit: sorry for the small pictures. I just uploaded to imageshack from the steam screenshot folder. If anyone has some advice I'd appreciate it.

 

[Vintage Port]

dpunk - glad that you say it isn't an easy map. This is my first Immortal game and I'm finding it very challenging but I'm doing OK. I'm quite slow and methodical at war and find all their extra units slowing me down. Not sure I can make domination happen with the quite aggressive AI Civs. Maybe with flight, hmmm. I'm just glad they are fighting each other and not me right now I had a 2 front war going for much too long.

Turn 170

Spoiler :

China, England, Siam, Persia and Ethiopia: It's like all my nemesis' on one map. The crazy thing is Wu, Darius and Lizzy all like me. This is a different world that is for sure. Offering me DoFs. Definitely a first.

I'm on turn 170 and have Public Schools up. Bought 2 and will have to build the rest. I'm basically tied with Darius for first on tech. Once my public schools finish building I should take the tech lead.

I've taken the Mongol Capital and Ethiopia's capital and used an inquisitor to squash their holy city. Only possible challenge for religion is Darius but I'm putting 50-70 pressure on most of his cities and if they start flipping I should have the whole Pangaea.

I wanted to also take Siam's capital but the war with Ethiopia took longer than it should have and Ramkhamhaeng offered one sweet peace deal giving me all his gold and gpt and lux. Was nice to be happy for 30 turns...

I'm most impressed that I'm still doing well and starting to push the tech lead. Only reloaded once due to a mis-click when I meant to hit "move" to move my archer to steal a worker but I ended up shooting the worker instead. Since it is my first immortal attempt I'll reload the mis-clicks.

Only thing that really gets me is how many fricken units they pump out and the slow trudging through their lands. I'm not fast/efficient enough at war yet. I don't lose many units but I think I take it too slow.

I honestly think this will end up a Diplo victory - I will take the easier route for my first win

 

[jeespoks]

Spoiler :

I decided to give this a try with stealing bud's idea. I'll try to be quick and take as many caps as possible with CAs. Hopefully they'll get logistics + range fast enough. At T58 I've gotten two caps and am a bit puzzled where to go next. Siam's territory seems to be behind the jungle but he'll have too much room to expand if I don't stop him soon.

 

[budweiser]

Spoiler :

I decided to give this a try with stealing bud's idea. I'll try to be quick and take as many caps as possible with CAs. Hopefully they'll get logistics + range fast enough. At T58 I've gotten two caps and am a bit puzzled where to go next. Siam's territory seems to be behind the jungle but he'll have too much room to expand if I don't stop him soon.View attachment 349652

Go for it man! This map is meat on the table. If I wasn't rusty with CA, I would be farther along, but have never used them before. I new respect for CA is dawning and the 'bee-line cbow attack' is being out matched.

I don't know what you took, but I took God of the Open Sky and now I have more social policies than I otherwise would have had.

 

[dpunk]

Well there are two things why I think this map is more difficult than most pangaea immortal maps with domination victory in mind, despite a nicely situated natural wonder which I took advantage of.

1. For a good portion of the game you are Siam's only neighbor, meaning it's very likely he will DoW you at some point. His capital is quite far for being a neighbor and has a good natural defense. It also leads to a dead end. It will take you at least 20 turns just to travel to his capital and back, not counting the siege.

2. Ethiopia's capital also has a good natural defense.

Neither capital had such a natural defense that made them extremely difficult to take by themselves. But, being the two closest neighbors besides mongolia, your going to spend a good 60-70 turns taking only two capitals. Mongolia doesn't even get a mention in this IC, your going to spend a good 10 turns tops taking his capital, perhaps even with archers.

I Initially planned on leaving Siam for last for reasons listed above. But by the time I researched artillery, Darius already had 140+ defense on his cities, while Siam had 35-50. I decided to take Siam out while I teched to flight. Hoping that Darius could slow Ghandi and England using bribes, he ended up taking both capitals which actually worked pretty well for me because by the time I was ready to take Darius's capital it was pretty late in the game.

 

[kirbdog]

I tried for chariot archers and got 3 capitals but then pikes started showing up. I like ghandi's elephants more, even with less movement, because they have better defense and can move better in rough terrain.

 

[budweiser]

Here is a shot of the end of the Ram K war. Now it will take hours to slog through the rest because I cant attack anymore.

 

[sufficiency]

This IC was quite fun but I think the OP is a little optimistic is saying it's an 'easier' map. I found it quite a bit more difficult than most games on immortal. I played the map twice, losing the first attempt.

Spoiler :

Game 1: On my first attempt I tried abusing gpt trades/DoW for early gold which initially worked out well, and one point early in the game I was DoW'd with every civ, all offered peace + tribute soon afterwords. I got a quick second city and ethiopia, siam, and mongolia all offered peace deals for all/half their gold + resources.

I took the mongolian capital around turn 70 with CBs. Looking at siam's capital I really wanted to take it earlier because it is in quite a defensive position, but because of all the jungle and the distance it was a poor decision. I ultimately pulled back off the siam capital, offered peace in which he offered gold for, and marched my army toward ethiopia.

By the time my army was almost back around my capital I received 6 DoWs all on the same turn and an endless swarm surrounded all my cities. The only city possible to defend given the situation and my position would have been the recent city I took from siam, I conceded defeat and left the game.

Spoiler :

Game 2: Domination is still the preferred victory condition, but I took a slightly more science based approached on my second attempt since having knowledge of the map, I was convinced I wouldn't be able to take enough cities with early units.



I took the mongolian capital using war chariots and skipped composite until I researched education. I placed my 3rd city near ethiopian capital and placed a citidel then researched to dynamite to take the ethiopian capital.

Throughout the game I always tried to keep china and persia at war with either themselves or ethiopia or england. I managed to remain friendships with every civ throughout the game except siam and other civs after I DoW'd them and probably signed about 7 research agreements throughout the game, 3 with india.

Persia was the science leader for the majority of the game and I didn't pull ahead of him until I bulbed all my GSs around turn 260. I ended up anexxing all my captured cities after getting the social policy 'planned economy' and focused as much science as I could in preparation for the GS bulbings.



Persia was well on his way to a science victory and I decided his capital had to be my next move.

Persia was also on his way to winning a diplomatic victory on turn 308, so on turn 307 I sold all cities I could to him for gold to ally as many CS as I could.

I signed an open border treaty, and used 2 GGs the turn before I would DoW so my paratroopers would be in range of his capital, sold 4 of my cities to persia for gold so I could ally CS, next turn game was won.



I could have won by science victory somewhere a bit before turn 300 but I really wanted to win via domination so it made it a bit more difficult and ended up having to use a reload. All in all I thought the map was quite challenging and it was more difficult than most immortal games. Mainly because, except mongolia, all capitals were quite defensible or far away.

edit: sorry for the small pictures. I just uploaded to imageshack from the steam screenshot folder. If anyone has some advice I'd appreciate it.

Maybe. TBH I have been really busy and haven't been able to play it out fully. However, judging from the

Spoiler :

Uluru

it shouldn't be very difficult.

 

[jeespoks]

Go for it man! This map is meat on the table. If I wasn't rusty with CA, I would be farther along, but have never used them before. I new respect for CA is dawning and the 'bee-line cbow attack' is being out matched.

I don't know what you took, but I took God of the Open Sky and now I have more social policies than I otherwise would have had.

GotOS would have been an excellent choice. I took Sacred Waters to help with the happiness since I teched Calendar late, after Wheel and wasn't going to stay happy for long without luxes.

I finished Mongolia early, took their cap on T46 I believe. I had a CA near their cap scouting for a good moment to attack and it came when Mongolia moved some of their troops south, maybe for barb camp clearing or to attack someone.

Because of the terrain near Ethiopia cap, it took a few turns to move all CAs in position. After that, it was over quickly since he had only a few units there.

CAs are great for early warmongering, they're available early, don't need resources and the 5-movement is really helpful. Too bad they die so easily but if you can get +1 range they're untouchable for quite awhile and with logistics they'll do enough damage even later on the game. That's why Honor might be worth it in this case. Without Military trad it would take way too long to get these promotions.

 

[budweiser]

Yes the true value is the 1.5 modifier or whatever it is to XP because it allows you to kill them better. You add on a General because he is on the way. These three picks are available in 30 or 40 turns and you are ready to start taking valuable ground and the start of a strategy of denial. This will force a change in AI behavior. Just 2 or 3 spear/pikes with Discipline make a formidable line that can withstand city fire. A second force of horse units flank the defenders. Pretty soon you own half the world and you park your old troops in the cities for +1 +2. Finish the tree for cheap upgrades and take the rest of the world while gaining more cash to buy more men.

Or you could build four cities and wait 80 turns before you try to attack.

 

[Vintage Port]

Mixed feeling about this game so far. Excited that I should get the win but disappointed that it will be about turn 280. Was hoping for a better finish time. I'm going Diplo (wimped out on domination). I have a bit more to play and unless everyone DoWs me I should be OK. I'm pretty much allied with all CS and I just need to build UN and survive for 10 turns.

Spoiler :

Some mistakes: Not rush buying research labs slowed me considerably. I was worried I would need more $ to buy city states so I was hording gold. I also was hording gold as I was holding off upgrading my XB to Gatlings for the longest time incase of a DoW. Was trying to gode a close AI to DoW'ing me and then doing a quick upgrade but no luck. Too peaceful

This was a weird map for me as everyone wanted to be my friend, which is why I started to think Diplomatic Victory. I started to take Patronage (3 policies) which definitely hurt my finish time but helped allying with CS. If I went 2 into Order and/or finished off Rationalism I probably would have been much further ahead science wise. Combine that with rush buying research labs and I could have knocked off a lot of time.

Also, dropping the ball on getting another GE to rush the UN was bad. Could have filled more specalist spots and popped a GE earlier in the game but I didn't and I will have to hard build the UN.

Oh well, it has been fun and nerve racking at times when moving up a difficulty level. Hopefully I have time to finish this in the next day or 3.

 

[budweiser]

After my troops took GW China (arty/cav), I ended up in a parity struggle with Persia. I had the upper hand (GW Bombers) but failed to deploy proper mass so it was a quagmire. I dropped the game around t295. It wasn't the breakthrough victory I was looking for. Somewhere along the line I owned so much of the worlds real estate that a science win would have been easier. Still, I like the CA and if I could have kept 6-8 of them healthy all game it would have been even better.

 

[Kazdum]

Will give a shot tonight!

 

[Vintage Port]

Diplo Victory turn 275. Could have been pre 260 had I not sucked lol (realized I needed to pop another GE and timed my bulbing better or bought another faith based GS. Thought I had enough so purchased a prophet instead). Overall I'm happy with my first attempt at Immortal, even though I chickened out on the domination.

Spoiler :

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

first attempt at Immortal and you won? nicely done. it took me several tries to get mine and even that one involved a lot of reloads.

 

[Vintage Port]

first attempt at Immortal and you won? nicely done. it took me several tries to get mine and even that one involved a lot of reloads.

Reloaded one missclick where I meant to move to steal a worker and shot him and another where my fat fingers mistyped in a trade deal where I didnt get full gpt. I was typing too fast. So I reloaded that.

I only played 3 games at the Emperor level before moving up to Immortal. But I've watched a ton of Let's Plays where I pretty much learned everything. Credit to Yoruus, PrimEval and Light Cleric.

I still haven't lost a game of Civ V yet and why I chickened out on domination.