So, I'm currently playing as Egypt, and I'm aiming for a diplomatic/cultural victory. I have currently 5 votes for me (Myself, Madrid, Carthage, Aksum, and Cape Town). I recently fought off a dual Arabian/Ottoman advance (Well, more like Arabian, as the Ottomans just stayed in Istanbul and masturbated instead). The biggest problem? I was in the Renaissance and I haven't even researched Iron Working yet. My Spearmen, plus a Chariot or two, were able to hold the advance off, however, mostly because Arabia also didn't send Swordmen, either (As a note, most of the world was in late classical/early medieval, and I was in early Renaissance. Yes, I still didn't have Iron Working by then. Laugh if you want to.) I probably would have been crushed if they did, though. I was able to steal Mecca by having a chariot bombard it from Africa, then sending a Spearman to capture it. By then, the Ottomans had agreed to a white peace, and Arabia gave up after Mecca was "liberated" by us Egyptians.
I then tried conquering Sidon, especially since only Arabia (Whom now relocated to Mesopotamia and are pretty much out of the game de facto) cares about them at all, but the lack of Swordmen to defend my Archers (Turns out Spear Vs. Spear usually gets both units killed, I win the fights, and kill Sidon's Spear, and Sidon's bombardment kills the Spear), plus me refusing to bring siege units, ruined my plan, so I declared peace. I'm planning on making them my allies soon.
France, as you always say, dominates Europe, though Rome controls the Balkans and seems to be able to hold its ground if needed. England also went the same route I did and befriended Scandinavia, so France would need to fight a two front war against England. Ottomans went towards Russia (Whom were my allies but in name, and closest friends) after our war, and won, so I'm guessing Suleiman really hates my guts or something. Both losing nations are still around, or I would try to liberate them for the votes. Scouting in Africa also shows India only with its capitol, with Persia with all the other cities. I didn't actually see this happen, so its only a guess. I'm hoping to see how the Far East goes.
It's a really heated game right now. I'm currently beelining to Telegram so I can get Christ the Redeemer. One of the most important wonders if your going for a cultural victory, in my opinion. I'm also scouting Asia, and I'm planning on discovering, and colonizing, the world for the resources (All I have is a lot of Sugar and Incease, plus a sheep and a horse).
Suggestions:
I'm not sure why Arabia sent Warriors instead of Swordmen. Perhaps they two skipped the tech, or maybe they don't have any (improved) Iron. You should look into it
Even with the new city states, Africa and the Med is still boring. Songhai and I are friends, and it was too easy befriending the city states. But with Carthage and Sidon, plus maybe either Vienna, Warsaw, or Budapest, I could see a Greek civ being relevant. At least add Athens as a city state, so that Rome would have to fight for dominice instead of just sending some settlers.
I would love a Spanish civ, but Iberia is small. Unless they do a settler rush and settle southern France, they're an OCC. (And if they did do it, France would be an OCC). However, I'd think they would be a great colonialist civ, allow Europe to burn in senseless wars while you get rich off the New World, which is exactly my playstyle. Its just the AI playing them is what I'm scared of.
I'll play the second half of this game later and tell you about it. BTW, Its currently around 1470-1570, and I'm still the only civ in Renaissance. I still see pop-ups saying "INSERT NAME HERE has reached the Medieval Era", which saddens me.
The only way to change it is to load the map up in worldbuilder, with the mod activated of course. Or if you meant on regular maps, pretty much the same thing, you will have to change it in worldbuilder. Or make a minimod that changes the default difficulty level.
I'll look at it and see what I can do.
(Kush wasn´t a city, Meroe/Merawe was Nubian/Kuhorsehockye capital.)
