Other Enjoyable Civilization V Games (Immortal and below)

[zxcvbob]

I just finished #98. Science victory on turn 350. I was also doing really well at diplomatic. Yay! I decisively won one at immortal.

Three-city Tradition, all with observatories. Eventually I settled a 4th city to grab some oil (which it turns out I really didn't need) and to keep Japan from settling there. It turned out to be a good city in spite of all the tundra; I should have settled it sooner so it could have contributed more. I think keeping Japan from settling there was its most important job. I managed to avoid any wars the whole game. The AIs were fighting all around me, and they kept going from friends to denouncing me as soon as the declaration of friendship expired. China and I were the only ones who picked Freedom, and I installed her as leader of the UN. She's getting hammered right now by Japan. If she's eliminated, maybe I would be the new leader -- I'm not sure; I have the most votes right now. But I don't think I'm going to JOMT to find out.

I think the first wonder I built was Statue of Liberty, and I used a great engineer for that even tho' there was no danger of anyone beating me to it because the Worlds Fair was coming up and I needed the extra production. (and I took first place by just a few hammers) After that I got Christo, Hubble, Sydney, Pentagon, and CN Tower; I think that's all. The Great Firewall is still available.

I hard-built all of the spaceship parts. I only had enough gold to buy one, and since I was building them 2 at a time that would only have saved 1 or 2 turns. So I took Media Culture instead of Space Procurement.

 

[JeffreyLXV]

Placemark.

 

[martindo]

Not true. Fog of War in the game isn't the original "clouds over unexplored areas off the edge of the map". It refers to dimming of sea tiles and absence of other current info when you have no diplomat/spy in a city and no units nearby to provide *updated* info.

OK, that's not necessarily related to war, but it does involve some of the same uncertainties in intel.

 

[Nizef]

Here is a list of the OECG series so far:

1. Russia (King, Pangaea, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 1
2. the Mayans (Emperor, Great Plains Plus, Epic speed, Large size, Unmodded), page 1
3. Egypt (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 1
4. the Ottomans (Prince, Archipelago, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 2
5. Germany (Emperor, Hellblazer´s Pangaea, Quick speed, Small size, Modded with Hellblazer´s map pack (v.8)), page 2
6. Ethiopia (King, Pangaea, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 3
7. the Incas (Emperor, Frontier, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 3
8. the Papal States (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Modded civ to play otherwise unmodded), page 3
9. the Shoshone (Immortal, Pangaea, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 3
10. Austria (Prince, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 4
11. Byzantium (King, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 4
12. Babylon (Warlord, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 4
13. Spain (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 4
14. Finland (Emperor, Lakes, Quick speed, Standard size, Modded civ to play otherwise unmodded), page 4
15. Denmark (King, Small Continents, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 5
16. the Celts (King, Boreal, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 5
17. the Ottomans 2 (Emperor, Terra, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 5
18. Brazil (King, Arborea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded),page 5
19. the Huns (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Large size, Unmodded), page 5
20. Japan (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 6
21. Polynesia (King, Rainforest, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 6
22. Greece (King, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 6
23. the Mayans 2 (Emperor, Highland, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 6
24. the Incas 2 (Immortal, Highland, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 7
25. Venice (King, Frontier, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 7
26. France (King, Highland, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 7
27. Poland (Immortal, Continents, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 7
28. Carthage (Emperor, Fractal, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 8
29. Korea (Emperor, Fractal, Quick speed, Standard size Unmodded), page 8
30. Germany 2 (Emperor, Boreal, Standard speed, Small size, Unmodded), Honor and DomV challenge, page 8
31. the Mayans 3 (Immortal, Inland sea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Piety challenge,page 8
32. Rome (King, Boreal, Quick speed, Huge size, Unmodded), page 9
33. Arabia (Emperor, Frontier, Standard speed, Huge size, Unmodded), page 9
34. Spain 2 (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 9
35. India (Emperor, Continents, Standard speed, Huge size, Unmodded), page 10
36. Siam (Emperor, Shuffle, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 11
37. America (Emperor, Rainforest, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 11
38. the Aztecs (Immortal, Arborea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 11
39. the Celts 2 (Emperor, Skirmish, Standard speed, Huge size, Unmodded), page 12
40. Germany 3 (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), "Do it all" challenge, page 12
41. Brazil 2 (Prince, Fractal, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 12
42. Egypt 2 (Immortal, Pangaea, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 13
43. Persia (Immortal, Pangaea, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 13
44. Sweden (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 13
45. the Iroquois (Emperor, Arborea, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 13
46. Assyria (Immortal, Pangaea, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 14
47. the Ottomans 3 (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 14
48. the Aztecs 2 (Emperor, Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 14
49. Korea 2 (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), OCC, page 15
50. the Shoshone 2 (Emperor, Mesopotamia map, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 15
51. the Netherlands (Emperor, Small Continents, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 15
52. England (Emperor, Continents, Standard speed, Large size, Unmodded), page 15
53. Indonesia (Emperor, Tiny Islands, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 16
54. Austria 2 (Warlord, Pangaea, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), OCC Domination challenge, page 16
55. Poland 2 (Emperor, Inland Sea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded),page 17
56. Brazil 3 (Immortal, Rainforest,, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded),page 17
57. the Zulus (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded),page 17
58. Carthage 2 (Emperor, Large Islands, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded),page 17
59. Arabia 2 (Immortal, Pangaea, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded),page 17
60. the Huns 2 (Prince, Lakes, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded),page 17
61. India 2 (Emperor, Continents, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded),page 18
62. the Huns 3 (Immortal, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded),page 18
63. the Mayans 4 (Immortal, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded),page 18
64. Korea 3 (Emperor, Continents, Quick speed, Large size, Unmodded),page 18
65. Poland 3 (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Large size, Unmodded),page 18
66. Ethiopia 2 (Emperor, Continents, Quick speed, Large size, Unmodded),page 19
67. the Shoshone 3 (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded),page 19
68. the Aztecs 3 (Emperor, Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded),page 19
69. Denmark 2 (Emperor, Continents, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 19
70. Ethiopia 3 (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Large size, Unmodded), page 20
71. Portugal (Emperor, Large Islands, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 20
72. Byzantium 2 (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 20
73. Morocco (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 20
74. the Netherlands 2 (Emperor, Arborea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 20
75. Finland 2 (Immortal, Arborea, Standard speed, Standard, size, Modded civ to play otherwise unmodded), page 20
76. Spain 3 (Emperor, Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 20
77. Austria 3 (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 21
78. Germany 4 (Immortal, Continents, Standard speed, Large size, Unmodded), page 21
79. the Aztecs 4 (Immortal, Pangaea, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 21
80. Egypt 3 (Immortal, Continents, Standard speed, Large size, Unmodded), page 21
81. the Huns 3 (Emperor, Large Islands, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 22
82. Songhai (Emperor, Fractal, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 22
83. Venice 2 (King, Small Continents, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 22
84. Austria 4 (Immortal, Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 22
85. Korea 4 (Emperor, Continents, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 22
86. the Incas 3 (Emperor, Frontier, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 22
87. America 2 (Emperor, Fractal, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 22
88. Greece 2 (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 23
89. Polynesia 2 (Emperor, Large Islands, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 23
90. the Aztecs 5 (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 23
91. the Aztecs 6 (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 23
92. Sweden 2 (Emperor, Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 23
93. the Iroquois 2 (Emperor, Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 23
94. America 3 (Emperor, Frontier, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 24
95. Poland 4 (Emperor, Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 24
96. the Incas 4 (Emperor, Great Plains, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), page 24
97. Venice 3 (Emperor, Small Continents Plus, Quick speed, Small size, Unmodded), page 24
98. Korea 5 (Immortal, Continents, Standard speed, Large size, Unmodded), page 24

 

[Nizef]

OECG#99: Salt is so sweet!

I will post this today but I still hope that you will try out the GotM Christmas Special before starting on this one. Can you really resist Gandhi and Guided Missiles on turn 0? Anyway, here we are playing as Byzantium on a Small Continents map with standard speed and large size. The level is Emperor. You will probably not get many better starts for your capital than this! It is Christmas after all... Take Theodora on a journey in any direction and have a nice and steady game. Enjoy!

 

[zxcvbob]

#99, will either settle in place or cross the river and settle on the river-coast-plains tile next turn. I'll move my warrior towards the coast first to see if there are any more sea resources or maybe GBR just out of reach of the starting location.

If you settle your capital on a forest tile, does the production from chopping just get wasted or is it applied to your first build? I've never figured that out for sure but I think it is wasted.

 

[Nizef]

The production is wasted unfortunately.

 

[zxcvbob]

OECG#99: Salt is so sweet!

I will post this today but I still hope that you will try out the GotM Christmas Special before starting on this one. Can you really resist Gandhi and Guided Missiles on turn 0? Anyway, here we are playing as Byzantium on a Small Continents map with standard speed and large size. The level is Emperor. You will probably not get many better starts for your capital than this! It is Christmas after all... Take Theodora on a journey in any direction and have a nice and steady game. Enjoy!

Science victory on turn 363. I moved my warrior to the the coast and didn't see any reason not to settle-in-place. Built scout, monument, granary, shrine, archer, settler. And I built so many wonders. Policies were Piety opener, a few in Tradition, a few more in Piety, Rationalism. Eventually I finished both Tradition and Piety, Rationalism(3), Freedom(9), and Commerce(3). My religion was Earth Mother, Pagodas, Tithe, Itinerant Preachers, Religious Texts, Feed the World, and To The Glory of God.

I settled 4 cities, and captured Amsterdam when William declared war on me. My national college was really late waiting for Antioch (by Mt Fuji) to build its library; I didn't have enough gold to buy one at this point. Later, I was swimming in gold like Scrooge McDuck from all the gold from Tithe and Machu Picchu

 

[Nizef]

OECG#100: New Year´s celebrations with Boudicca

Happy New Year! It is time to move ourselves to the magical and mystical forests of the celtic empire. We are playing on a large Continents map with Standard speed and the level is Emperor. All VCs are enabled but this time the idea is to go either for Domination or Culture victories. You know what to do! Enjoy!

 

[zxcvbob]

OECG#100: New Year´s celebrations with Boudicca

Happy New Year! It is time to move ourselves to the magical and mystical forests of the celtic empire. We are playing on a large Continents map with Standard speed and the level is Emperor. All VCs are enabled but this time the idea is to go either for Domination or Culture victories. You know what to do! Enjoy!

Science victory on turn 382. I was going for culture by way of racing to hotels, Internet, airports, and Great Firewall, but it was gaining too slow and Monty was building spaceship parts, so I built Apollo and started building them too (most of my cities had high production so they could all build at the same time; my Hubble city built 2) I'm at war with Monty now and may JOMT and see how long it take the switch to domination. When I declared war, Monty had the largest military, I was #2, and Maria was third. Now mostly due to attrition, Maria is first and I'm a close second. Look at the mini-map, you'll see my whole continent is red except for me; Monty has been on a rampage the whole game. France was the last to fall.

I went Tradition opener and Aristocracy (for Temple of Artemis, the Mausoleum, Pyramids, and Petra. Someone beat me to Hanging Gardens), then full Liberty. Kept taking policies in Tradition until Rationalism unlocked. Secularism, then switched back to Tradition and on to Freedom. (I really wasn't sure which ideology to take this game, but Freedom is comfortable, and it was the only one with 2 free tenets when I got there) I settled 6 cities, mostly west towards William but one on the southwestern coast towards Napoleon.

 

[armcie]

OECG#99: Salt is so sweet!

I will post this today but I still hope that you will try out the GotM Christmas Special before starting on this one. Can you really resist Gandhi and Guided Missiles on turn 0? Anyway, here we are playing as Byzantium on a Small Continents map with standard speed and large size. The level is Emperor. You will probably not get many better starts for your capital than this! It is Christmas after all... Take Theodora on a journey in any direction and have a nice and steady game. Enjoy!

Science Victory on turn 335. A very peaceful game on my part, other than taking a Dutch settler which seemed to be heading north of Constantinople early game. Japan later took out most of the Dutch cities, and Monty fought just about everyone else on the continent at some point. I was definitely middle of the pack until I hit the industrial era, so missed most of the fun Renaissance and earlier wonders.

 

[zxcvbob]

I played #100 again yesterday. Culture victory this time w/o Aesthetics or International Games or concert tours on turn 388. International Games was underway but I hadn't won it yet. I've also completed the whole tech tree and built most of the spaceship while waiting for the CV to trigger. I might play it one more time and see how well Sacred Sites works, but I usually only try that on Pangaea maps. Obviously it's a fun one because I've played it twice and considering a third.

This time I did Tradition opener, Honor opener, finished Tradition, Patronage opener, finished left side of Honor, Rationalism, Freedom, and a little Commerce and Exploration (mostly to unlock Big Ben and the Louvre.) I only settled 5 cities, to the north and the west, but all of them were huge (I got Artemis, HG, Petra, Forbidden Palace, and Notre Dame this time so lots of growth and happiness) One more city to the south to get some jungle tiles and oranges would be nice (Edinburgh managed to expand to cocoa) but Napoleon got there first and I let him keep it. I played peacefully until Monty attacked me; I made a slight detour to research Dynamite -- I had Fertilizer already -- and I punished him severely but didn't take his capital; I captured Utrecht and Amsterdam, liberated Rotterdam, and razed one of Monty's large Aztec cities. I annexed Amsterdam.

Later, ungrateful William denounced me for no apparent reason (he did not have an ideology yet, so it wasn't that) so I immediately declared war and killed him; recaptured Rotterdam and razed his other city. Everyone denounced, but they were afraid of me 'cuz I was 20 techs ahead and I had nukes so they left me alone and would still trade with me. I was waiting all game for Napoleon to get froggy but he never did.

I don't know why the AIs love to embargo the city-states, but I don't like it. The do that frequently. When I had quite a few CS allies anyway this time and tried to repeal it, they all voted against repeal. (no, I didn't have Treaty Organization so that wasn't it) It was really annoying because I had lots of quests for trade routes.

 

[Nizef]

OECG#101: North or South

This time I have something pretty special for you. We all know what Spain is capable of when the stars align and now there is a good chance for exactly that! I played a nice 6 city Tradition game and won a CV easily on t258 (with minor detours to conquer two neighbouring capitals). In fact, I even made the map a little sweeter for you than the unmodded game I played myself. This means that better players should aim for a win around t200-220 and those of you who usually win Emperor games around t350 should be able to shave off some 40-50 turns or so. Bold statement, I know.

We play on a large Continents map with Standard speed and the level is indeed Emperor. Help Isabella to a flying start and secure either a Culture or Diplomatic Victory. Enjoy!

 

[raider980]

Approaching T300 in OECG #99 - Theodora. I tried something I was reading about in one of the threads here. A Dromon strategy - build a few early Dromon and go attack stuff to get experience and you can have Galleas with range and logistics right off the bat. I messed it up though because I made a DoF with William and it turns out he was the only one I could have attacked early with my Dromon fleet. (Stupid ice blocking at the north pole prevented me from getting to Japan who I wanted to take out). So I just went barb hunting. Even with just that, I ended up being able to have two Galleas with range immediately. And by the time I got Frigates, I had 4 with range and logistics as soon as I got Navigation and eventually got 6 with range and logistics + more. Pretty sweet! And makes for easy domination.

I settled in place and built 2 expos - Andrianople on the west coast and Nicea in the middle of the continent for a 3-city NC on T113. For SP I took a chance and after opening Tradition, went full Piety.

Spoiler T107 :

Around T150 I had captured Amsterdam. Odo joined me in the war against William and captured Utrecht just after I captured Amsterdam. Hmmm, its at half health and ripe for the taking. So I DoW Odo and take Utrecht and Kyoto. Monte joined in at some point and wiped out Odo by taking and razing Osaka.

Spoiler T153 :

Things were going smoothly and after I got Frigates I was steaming my navy toward Siam to take him out next. Monte and I had been friends for a long time and even had a DoF so I was going to keep him around; plus his capital was on an inland sea which my Frigates couldn't reach.

Spoiler Then this happened. :

I love how he says he was feigning friendship. Classic Monte. Well that's inconvenient timing since my Frigates were almost to Siam. Monte had quite the army so I had to turn my navy around and head back to protect my territory. And on a large map that is quite a trek.

One weird and annoying thing was happening. When I took Amsterdam, it was the Holy City for Protestantism. But I removed its holy city status with an inquisitor and GPr. I also converted the rest of his cities to my religion of Catholicism. But twice, he was able to get a Great Prophet and started converting my cities back to his heathen religion - that had been wiped from the face of the planet! I don't know how he was able to do that. How can he get a GPr with a dead religion?

Spoiler Dutch Protestant GPr spawned from his Catholic city :

Its now T295 and I'm about to take Monte's capital. I won't get the Order tenet that gives you a Courthouse on city capture for 23 turns. Not sure if I want to delay that long to take Tenochtitlan. But I'm having happiness issues because everyone else has taken Freedom. When Brazil adopted Freedom, my happiness plunged from +20 to -10 because he is influential over me with his tourism. I'm also strangely having money problems. Not sure why; usually by this time in the game I'm swimming in money. I have tithe and my religion is spread far and wide so don't understand what's going on. I've even started selling cities and buildings.

I have misplayed my battle plans too. My navy keeps changing its mind about who to attack so is just traversing the seas back and forth too much. I was going to wipe out Brazil to get rid of his ideological pressure but then I looked and he is basically my only trading partner with the highest income. So now I'm going to turn around and go after India and Siam first. But boy is having Frigates with range and logistics nice. They can take out a city in no time without taking a lick of damage. (I've also got two Gats with range and logistics). So sweet!

Spoiler T295. Assaulting Tenochtitlan :

 

[zxcvbob]

One weird and annoying thing was happening. When I took Amsterdam, it was the Holy City for Protestantism. But I removed its holy city status with an inquisitor and GPr. I also converted the rest of his cities to my religion of Catholicism. But twice, he was able to get a Great Prophet and started converting my cities back to his heathen religion - that had been wiped from the face of the planet! I don't know how he was able to do that. How can he get a GPr with a dead religion?

If he has enough faith to get a prophet, and he has a city with a religion (any religion), he can buy a GP and it will have his religion. They do seem to generate a lot of prophets without any significant source of faith.

 

[zxcvbob]

OECG#101 Science victory on turn 317 (before 1900AD.) Tradition, left side of Honor in anticipation of a war with Russia that never came, Patronage opener, Commerce opener, Rationalism, Freedom. I settled 5 cities (the 5th one *very* late), and captured and annexed Rio De Janeiro. There were still good city spots available (like the southeast coast on the iron with 4 fish and offshore oil in range, and SSW of Madrid, which would have picked up the uranium), and Catherine beat me to a city by Kilimanjaro. My religion was One With Nature, Tithe, Pagodas, Religious Texts, and Holy Warriors. My holy city was Barcelona.

Buying military units with faith freed up a lot of production to build wonders, and I built most of them I just finished the Pentagon in Barcelona, I should upgrade all my obsolete units and go on a rampage.

 

[raider980]

If he has enough faith to get a prophet, and he has a city with a religion (any religion), he can buy a GP and it will have his religion. They do seem to generate a lot of prophets without any significant source of faith.

Hmm, strange. I always thought the prophet was from the religion of the city it was made in.

 

[zxcvbob]

Hmm, strange. I always thought the prophet was from the religion of the city it was made in.

Inquisitors and missionaries are from the religion of the city. (be very careful with inquisitors, for obvious reasons) Prophets are always your religion if you founded one. HTH

 

[zxcvbob]

Approaching T300 in OECG #99 - Theodora. I tried something I was reading about in one of the threads here. A Dromon strategy - build a few early Dromon and go attack stuff to get experience and you can have Galleas with range and logistics right off the bat. I messed it up though because I made a DoF with William and it turns out he was the only one I could have attacked early with my Dromon fleet. (Stupid ice blocking at the north pole prevented me from getting to Japan who I wanted to take out). So I just went barb hunting. Even with just that, I ended up being able to have two Galleas with range immediately. And by the time I got Frigates, I had 4 with range and logistics as soon as I got Navigation and eventually got 6 with range and logistics + more. Pretty sweet! And makes for easy domination.

I won my first legitimate Deity victory that way. It's good as long as the map doesn't work against you.

 

[raider980]

OECG #101 Natural Wonderous Spain. CV on T286. My fastest and easiest cultural victory ever! @Nizef you were right. That's what happens I guess when you can get all the themeing wonders. I didn't even use any Musician bombs.

When I saw it was a large map with Spain I decided to go Liberty and try to found lots of cities. I had 13 in total, all self founded, with four of them founded by Conquistadors. Didn't have one single war with the AI all game, not even to steal a worker (I did steal one from Monaco). I had originally thought I would take out Brazil to get to Mt. Kili but Pedro was in a lot of rough land (as usual) and he wanted to be friendly and I managed to get a late city by Mt. Kili anyway. There weren't any wars on my continent at all. On the other, the Inca were dominant and he and Monte ganged up on Caesar and wiped Rome out (looks like Rome got wiped out too; by India in your game @zxcvbob , they must have been in a bad position on the map).

Did 3 city NC (Capital and two expos by the nearby NW) and got it early for me - like T85 or something. Then I founded Cordoba in the desert and used the Liberty GE to bulb Petra; this turned out to be my best city of them all. I rocketed ahead in science so was able to build all the important cultural wonders with themeing bonuses. And had enough GA generation to actually theme them all! I'm not even sure why I had so much culture - I guess the NW helped a lot in the beginning. Plus, being friendly with everyone I was able to get open borders, trade routes and even have a shared religion with Brazil and The Inca way across the sea. Then when I got ideology I took Order and got the +Tourism with other Order civs (everyone but Brazil went Order) and the +Tourism for having more happiness so I had a giant boost.

By far my best Culture game ever!