Immortal Rome (8-19, w/ 4UC mod) Photojournal: The Glory of Figs

[Almonds]

Discontinued to begin a game on the 9-6 patch!

Hello all,

Long-time time player from Feb 2015 and fan of CBP/Vox Populi here, but very rare poster. Wow I remember booting up my first game with this overhaul installed and not leaving my seat all day(..and night)! I spent so much time in awe at the tech tree being blown away by the ample genius injected into every aspect of a game that was getting stale to me. I am convinced that this mod is going to be in my life for a very very long time.

I've been inspired by the quality of the other photojournals made by members of the community and so have decided to try my own out, the main goal being to slow down and analyze my play for the benefit myself and others. I've also now played a handful of games with the modmod 3rd and 4th Unique Components and want to showcase the hard work done there. I've really enjoyed the extra immersion and flavor from this mod, and though the gameplay becomes more slanted towards specific playstyles I don't find the new additions to be too imbalanced to deter my enjoyment of the best strategy game ever modded! It helps that I play a lot of Endless Legend / Space, which has much more slanted factions.

I'll break this up into parts, and while I wish had the patience of @Legen I'm going to play and screenshot and then analyze after I am through a chunk of it. Maybe next time I will give notes on what my thoughts are in the moment, but for now I just want to get one of these out there.

99% of the time I play on Emperor, but thought I'd give Immortal a shot thinking that a hard fail might be more fun and educational! I'd say my biggest weakness as a player is not paying excruciating attention to detail in my play. I can think ahead strategically to a point, but I don't really have turns planned out far in advance. I hope the feedback from this Photojournal helps me get my long-turn strategy making tuned up. I usually pick trendy wonder religion options that I find players discussing here and don't have an impeccable grasp on that, either. So expect mistakes and some un-thoughtout choices, I am eager to get schooled by you guys.

Spoiler Game Settings :

Immortal Difficulty (7)
Standard Speed
Standard Size (8 civs, 16 city-states)
Pangaea
Strategic Balance
No Ancient Ruins
No Events

Patch 8-19-2018

Spoiler Rome's 3rd and 4th UCs :

3. Ballista (unique Catapult)
Unlocked at Mathematics
100
2
6, 14 (vs 4/12 for Catapult)
naval penalty (-25%)
no land unit penalty (vs catapult which has siege innaccuracy)
Limited visibility (-1)
Cover I
half movement in enemy lands
"Legatus Legionnis" promotion - double movement in foreign lands if within 2 tiles of a Great General (ie. normal unit movement if near GG)

4. Latifundium (Unique Improvement)
available at Calendar
Can be built on any resource that can be improved by farms or plantations (bananas, wheat, any plantation luxury)
Takes 18 turns to build (very long time)
+1 +1
+2 at Currency
+1 at Civil Service
+1 at Economics
+1+1 at Fertilizer
+1 to all adjacent Plantations
A free copy of Figs appears adjacent to the Latifundium on completion. Spawned resources are improved when spawned automatically (ie. a plantation is immediately built on the new resource)
Figs cannot be improved by latifundia
Rome automatically claims the tile which Figs spawn on, even if owned by another civ
Latifundia IMPROVE RESOURCES
Cannot be pillaged (permanent)

Figs
Unique Bonus Resource (not a luxury)
Base Tile
+1
Plantation improvement
+1 +1
Grocer
+1 +1 +1

Spoiler Pre-game strategic considerations :

Before 4UCs, Rome was a warmonger with a focus on infrastructure and fast rebuilding. Their Legions could quickly set-up roads and forts in conquered territory, and +15% Production towards buildings the Capital helps reobtain buildings destroyed in conquest.

After adding 4UCs, I believe this is still very much the case, but now with a more focused strength in the early game that can potentially lead into more versatile victory condition considerations. The Latifundium and Fig plantations enter the mix to give Rome a ton of early Culture and suggest delaying a proper army until Iron Working, for the Legion. To me, this translates into grabbing more land than a warmonger typically would settle, say 5 cities instead of 3, and pumping out Workers fast to make up for the lack of Tributing for Culture in the Ancient Era.

Rome gets such an awesome and interesting Classical army with 4UC! It very much compliments the strategy of passing on all Ancient Era units to be able to build up an elegant and powerful army of Swordsmen and Catapult UUs. The Ballista essentially takes the place of the Archer, and the Legion of Horsemen, since they get a movement bonus when a Great General is around. I think it is a very thoughtful design.

With Rome becoming a Classical Era monster I am definitely planning on a wide Authority/Fealty/Imperialism game, although with 4UC I can see Progress being a viable first free, too. I'll shoot for a religion that will give bonuses to conquering cities. We'll see how long I can keep the warmonger train running! Without further delay...

Part 1: Naked and Afraid

Spoiler 1 Start :

Wine and Wheat, both resources that I can build Latifundiums on. Great! I'll also receive a 2 Monopoly bonus for each Wine Latifundium, so I feel comfortable starting with a Monument. I settled on the Forest/Hills for obvious reasons while beginning to scout for some sweet spots. At this point I considered Goddess of Springtime and going Progress, realizing the synergy there. Animal Husbandry feels like a safe bet, since I see a lot of Plains.

Spoiler 2 Can You Spot Portugal? :

The next few turns are typical, I meet my neighbors and look for good city-founding spots. There are quite a few defendable spots, which is great, since my strategy is to build some extra cities and delay my army in favor of a stronger core empire, as I believe Rome is capable of pulling this idea off.

Spoiler 3 City Spots :

I have three really nice defensive spots to choose from. Hopefully I can get them all. I ended up choosing the bottom right circle first, coastal Wine next to Polynesia, to secure that border first. The Jungle/Hills just below seems like a great Citadel spot, too. I do worry about being losing a good spot to Portugal, though. She seems chill with forward settling me.

Spoiler 4 Authority :

My Authority start. It seems wiser to get the and heal-on-kill buff first so that my army is a more effective at killing barbarians. I definitely don't want to delay any as an Authority cities don't generate as much, and I want to push into the Classical Era quickly.

Spoiler 5 God of the Expanse :

A couple settled cities later, I grab God of the Expanse. It seems a little overtuned right now, and Goddess of Springtime isn't that attractive because I won't be building Markets for a while. It could have still pulled through, but the tile-acquisition bonus has good general synergy with Authority so I thought it was a solid and safe pick.

The general opening builder order for my cities has been Monument -> Well - > Walls -> Shrine. I am just really scared of getting rushed by a neighbor since I am waiting until Iron Working for my Legion army.

Spoiler 6 Attempting to look tough... :

I decide to try and emulate some stuff I've seen from CrazyG's journals = generically harass my neighbors and declare war on Poland to do just that. I pillage some tiles and steal his worker when I should have just been eating barbarians. This also backfires offscreen as Poland's Pathfiner pops up near my capital and caputres a worker. I get it back in a couple turns, but I am still a dummy.

Spoiler 7 Byzantine strikes! :

The first Legion is built in Rome, too late to assist in the invasion of Antium, unfortunately. She does peace out shortly after this, though. I am now spamming Legions in my capital.

Spoiler 9 Imperial Cult :

Some more uninteresting turns later, I found the first religion on Turn 100 (I have the More / Weird Religion mods). Founder rewards my eventual killing spree, with the follower being the trendy culture option I see touted on this forum

I must note that for a warmongering strategy, this waiting game has been both unnerving and uninteresting, but I finally have some Legions built and am looking for an opponent.Hovering over my neighbors reveals that Montezuma only has one city and is at war with the Incas, so I think I will scout his land for an in. I have six cities at this point with just as many workers and can feel the Culture start pouring in, but I wonder if this strategy will set me back too far. We'll just have to see how nasty Legions and Ballistas really are against Montezuma's Jaguars and Eagles (their new UU/Swordsman replacement).

Spoiler 10 Bumping heads :

I forgot to mention earlier that Portugal and Polynesia were sending trade routes to me for most of the game so far, just handing me some great science and culture bonuses. Weird that they didn't just rush me instead, maybe they wanted to see me beat down a neighbor for them, first?

Anyway, kind of a rocky start with the Aztecs. The terrain isn't great, but I am just holding the line until I can flank from the bottom with additional units as they come along. Meanwhile, I have teched to my Colisseums, which are getting built ASAP for the and . This is honestly an awesome building, since Arenas are staple early-game building for most players. It's just more oomph to a building I was already going to make good use of.

 

[Almonds]

Part 2: Legatus Legiones

Spoiler 11 That's more like it :

My army grows in size and kills a couple Aztec savages, leaving him with pretty low defenses already. I think he really got screwed this game. It seemed like both the Incas and Poland had a go at him earlier in the game while I was enjoying my Roman wine and estate-building behind the mountains. He also never got a second city up.

Spoiler 12 First frenemies :

Byzantium is cozying up to me now, offering a decently sized care package to DoW Polynesia. I accept, knowing that my border with them is pretty secure and I moved some Ballistae over there anyway, just in case. I don't expect Polynesia to get anything done.

Spoiler 12 A look at my tech strat :

I haven't talked much about my technoloies yet, mostly because explaining this part is not my strong suit. I made sure to grab my UUs as they were central to my early game strategy, and went for Metal Casting for Circus Maximus, which will further buff my already buff Colosseums. I didn't have room in my gameplan to go for any Wonders yet, and in general I am not good at getting early era Wonders anyway. Tenochtitlan has Zeus AND Mausoleum, so if I manage to get it I will have thoroughly covered my weak-on-Wonders strat.

Spoiler 13 This might work :

The normally fierce Aztecs are totally folding to my army. I still chalk it up to being lucky, as he just couldn't quite get anything done in the first 100 turns anyway thanks to rude neighbors. Tenochtitlan is as good as mine.

Meanwhile, Arianism in Porto? She seems to not mind that I have a religion of my own, spreading right into Neapolis before Coimbra. I do something interesting here: Her religion has Cathedrals, and Neapolis has a lot of pastures. I buy a Cathedral for the extra on them, because I am planning on taking Fealty anyway and will convert that city back to my cult no problem. I have literally no insight on to how smart/dumb this is, it just felt like a good idea. Maybe someone can shed some light as to why that is a total waste of faith?

Spoiler 14 Tenochtitlan falls! :

Montezuma is out! I annex the city and begin to look towards Inca and Poland. Getting kinda tired so I'll leave it here for tonight.

Spoiler BONUS State of Rome :

My empire as it stands on T122.

Spoiler BONUS2 My blasphemous Cathedral :

 

[phantomaxl1207]

Meanwhile, Arianism in Porto? She seems to not mind that I have a religion of my own, spreading right into Neapolis before Coimbra. I do something interesting here: Her religion has Cathedrals, and Neapolis has a lot of pastures. I buy a Cathedral for the extra on them, because I am planning on taking Fealty anyway and will convert that city back to my cult no problem. I have literally no insight on to how smart/dumb this is, it just felt like a good idea. Maybe someone can shed some light as to why that is a total waste of faith?

I do like doing that. It can be costly if you want to try and buy all of the AI's Religious Buildings. So make a note of your Faith income and where you spend it.

 

[Asterix Rage]

@Almonds
You are playing with VP Promo Icons and you are right.

However the version 1.3 you are using is outdated with VP 8-19 (Some promotions have been changed)
I recommend the latest one which is 1.5 already.
Savegame compatible.
Changelog :
https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/vp-promo-icons.26929/updates

 

[Almonds]

Ah I'll have to update that. Thank you for letting me know!

 

[Almonds]

Part 3: Overconfidence is a Slow and Insidious Killer

Spoiler 15 A new opponent :

With Monty gone, Poland is my next target. Portugal had DoW'd him last turn, so increasing my diplo score with her is an added bonus. My trade routes with her are netting me about 20 of my science right now, so I want to keep that going.

I also attempt to build the Colossus over in Antium, since I am running out of buildings I thought I might as well try to pick it up.

Spoiler 16 Wroclaw falls :

England gets the Colossus, but I get Wroclaw. I feel like my opponents have been huge pushovers so far. At this point I am thinking of campaigning on the Polynesian front since my army has been met with very little resistance here. I am confident I'll be able to get Casimir's capital city.

Spoiler 17 Portugal's army :

It could very well be that Poland has no army because Maria already cleaned house for me. I send some units over to Antium to start fighting Kamehameha. Libraries and Aqueducts are getting built in my cities to thicken my core.

Spoiler 18 Fealty :

I open up Fealty this turn. My playstyle will be attracting a lot of enemies, so focusing on my infrastructure is going to be important no matter what. I start on a Scrivner's Office in Rome, however, after considering Statecrafting it reminded me that I could dedicate some production to allying City-States. I am also teching into Medieval Era military units, so that I can break into Honolulu, which now has a Castle.

Spoiler 19 Sandwiched :

Portugal DoW's me next turn... Guess I just got REMINDED to not be overconfident in my military strength. Hopefully I maneuver around Warsaw without losing any units, but I am kicking myself for sending backup to the eastern front instead of keeping it around. I place in trade routes in range of England, who still gives me a heft science bonus of +16 per route.

Spoiler 20 Double-double..? :

Apparently not wanting to be outdone, Inca DoW's me as well. Lesson learned = don't not be at military cap when your plan is to conquer the world.

Spoiler 21 Heating up :

I plop my citadel on top of where the Figs generated in Antium to solidify my Polynesian front. Over in Poland, I feel like I still have a shot at Warsaw. Portugal didn't rush my Ballistae like I thought she might and I was instead able to pick off a fair amount of her units, leaving Warsaw exposed again.

Spoiler 22 Warsaw falls! :

My army pulled through and took the Polish capital, harboring FOUR Wonders! I now own the most, which feels great. Legions are feeling very strong, my group of them act like a roaming Citadel on enemies.

Spoiler 23 Zealotry :

I didn't expect to become a global nuisance at this point in the game, but being resigned to it I opted for Zealotry as my Enhancer, with some Diligence production. Even Theodora took away her DoF. No units have been lost over in Warsaw, but the Portuguese are definitely wearing me down. I am confident I can hold it until some reinforcements are built, though. A couple Incan units are creeping over to Tenochtitlan, too, but haven't tried to invade yet.

Spoiler 24 ...I am so bad :

Totally neglected poor Ravenna here. a Trireme and Knight came and sniped this city out from under my nose. I wasn't paying attention and had no Walls. I'll get it back just fine, I just feel stupid.

Slowly sticking it to Portugal over at Warsaw, and I'm also hitting Honolulu, but I need to keep eyes out for everything, obviously.


That'll do it for Part 3. Hopefully I can keep falling forward!

 

[pineappledan]

Great to see some photo journals using the 4UC! I’m really glad you like it.

I always tried to rush Pyramids when I was testing Rome. The +25% worker rate and the extra settler are a perfect fit for Rome's new playstyle, if you can manage it.

 

[mikes61293]

I don't think you needed to go for the Aztecs. They were an already weak empire which didn't pose much of a threat to you and they have two UUs. And then you pissed everyone else off by taking a capital. Cumae was in a great position to defend your southern border. Aretiums position forces you to commit troops to your southern border.

With your ivory you could have built war elephants and legions. Porto is just begging to be taken and it's a holy city so you won't have to compete with that religion and you cut off their trade routes which are important to their UA. Then its a flat plain to Combria with no apparent geographic barriers to the rest of the Portuguese empire.

 

[Almonds]

Great to see some photo journals using the 4UC! I’m really glad you like it.

I always tried to rush Pyramids when I was testing Rome. The +25% worker rate and the extra settler are a perfect fit for Rome's new playstyle, if you can manage it.

I think it's a FANTASTIC mod for those who have been playing VP for a long time. Not that VP is stale at all! The new UCs allow for more interesting strategies that perhaps couldn't be pulled off on higher difficulty levels normally. It also makes VP feel a little more like Endless Legend and Space 1 + 2, which favors fewer factions with more unique components.

Oh that would be nice, shaving more turns off those Latifundiums would boost Rome more than most civs, especially because my strategy demanded delaying an army a bit. Building Pyramids instead of a Settler would have maybe helped everything come online a little earlier.

I don't think you needed to go for the Aztecs. They were an already weak empire which didn't pose much of a threat to you and they have two UUs. And then you pissed everyone else off by taking a capital. Cumae was in a great position to defend your southern border. Aretiums position forces you to commit troops to your southern border.

With your ivory you could have built war elephants and legions. Porto is just begging to be taken and it's a holy city so you won't have to compete with that religion and you cut off their trade routes which are important to their UA. Then its a flat plain to Combria with no apparent geographic barriers to the rest of the Portuguese empire.

I see your point. I could have delayed taking Tenochtitlan in favor of weakening a stronger empire. Portugal is definitely my biggest threat, but I liked that she was sending my trade routes for a while. It was half my science income.

There is a city-state buffer between Aretium and England, so I don't feel bad about grabbing that city. I secured Furs and Truffle in that city, although happiness is rather trivial to be managing as of late. I know I will be dealing with Incans moreso than England, so it seemed like a good idea to grab good territory ahead of time. Maybe I am wrong, I mean I did vastly underestimate my opponents after killing The Aztecs...



Hopefully I will have time to play tonight, but things were busy over the long weekend and I have some extra plans for a couple days. We'll see!

 

[Almonds]

Discontinued to begin a game on the 9-6 patch!

 

[CppMaster]

Discontinued to begin a game on the 9-6 patch!

Oh, sorry to hear that. Do you plan to start a new photojournal?

 

[adan_eslavo]

@Almonds Who will be your next target? I really liked your in-depth analysis of all 4 components + UA strategy before the game. I followed your journal. Don't forget to use v37 we released yesterday!

 

[Almonds]

@Almonds Who will be your next target? I really liked your in-depth analysis of all 4 components + UA strategy before the game. I followed your journal. Don't forget to use v37 we released yesterday!

OHHH it's up!? I started an Arabia game without 4UC because I saw you guys were getting ready for a release but were not quite done. I'm gonna download right now and begin a new journal!