The Immortal Alphabetical Game #8 - The Celtic heathens!

[Gustavus Rex]

Sure. An attempt to claim the full score can turn into a huge slog. Especially if something goes wrong. May I suggest you conquer 2-3 civs with heathens and holy warriors before turning into something else?

Spoiler :

With no need to build any units let you focus more on wonders for a cultural vc. If opening honor, the northern region will work as a huge culture farm for the entire game. Full honor gives loads of gold as well.

 

[stormtrooper412]

hey wait a minute, so domination isn't the only option?

 

[Sclb]

Well, none of the IAG has a designated VC, but to maximize the points, you will have to win DomV obviously. Winning by another VC may be less of a slog fest but I doubt you can improve the time. I think you can just wait for the archer line units to spawn and convert them and pass on most other ones.

 

[Gustavus Rex]

hey wait a minute, so domination isn't the only option?

Nope. Only if you want to get the full score.

 

[Nigel_Tufnel2]

t112

Spoiler :

Weird game! I have only met the one CS.

So Cas built the GW, ugh. I had one whole range unit (Scarcher, yay!), so no way to touch his 27 strength cap. -15 gpt, I really wanted Theocracy to get some gold, but took Warrior Code for the GG. Lucked out to get a Citadel right on his doorstep, so am slowly killing units - gotta love the extreme forward settle. I finally got some Archers, but found them a mere 20 tiles from my nearest city.

My Scarcher and Scout got Scouting II, which is immensely helpful. I finally was able to get past Cathy's barb harassers, so met 4 more civs -- so gpt and happy are good. None of the new civs knew about my backstab, and now Cathy doesn't - she hasn't even met Cas yet, WTF? I don't understand this mechanic. Anyway, Cas now built Petra in an expo, so I am taking two cities for sure. 4 in Piety and 2 in Honor is about the weakest start you can take... This game will likely go nowhere, but I am really enjoying using Heathen Conversion for the first time!!!

Spoiler :

@GerrardCapashen - to spoiler an image, just hit the spoil button, then while the cursor is inside the spoiler tags, click the image icon and paste the image location (url) inside the dialogue. It is usually good etiquette to spoil any image that is large.

Spoiler :

 

[Wild_Woojsha]

@GerrardCapashen - to spoiler an image, just hit the spoil button, then while the cursor is inside the spoiler tags, click the image icon and paste the image location (url) inside the dialogue. It is usually good etiquette to spoil any image that is large.

Spoiler :

So that is how people do it, but how do you remove the thumbnail? So everyone just uploads their screenshots to steam and then spoils the URL. I see. Learned something new today.

 

[Nigel_Tufnel2]

My game images don't have a thumbnail because I upload the images to Steam and link to that (I started to max out my civfanatics space early).

 

[Puhi]

Challenging

Spoiler :

I built a settler as soon as I hit 3 pop, with max production, but before it had finished, Casimir had already settled BOTH salt spots. Ack. Luckily he didn't build great wall, but he has the largest army by far. If I can take both expos, plus maybe his cap, I will be in great shape. But that's a big if. Still, this is my first time trying heathen conversion, so at least there are some novel aspects to game play.

 

[InaneObserver]

If you're looking to roleplay, may I suggest the following background soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2S5I5GHkDQ (celtic and norse sound fairly similar). Have fun taming the barbarian hordes!

 

[DanQuayle]

Are we allowed to upgrade the Pictish Warriors for the first achievement?

 

[Gustavus Rex]

Are we allowed to upgrade the Pictish Warriors for the first achievement?

Yes! All units may be upgraded.

 

[InaneObserver]

241 CV 5 points

Spoiler :

This was a nice map, even if going deity and a non-optimal reformation belief sets you back a little.

I went for the food from camps pantheon, ToA and HG so growth was decent. Seeing how close Poland started, I DoWed pretty fast and had units hanging around Warsaw to scout and snipe, plus to secure that nice spot to the NW with river and salt. I was unable to prevent two southern cities, but I was able to poach 3-4 workers and 4(!) settlers before taking his cap.


I've never played with Heathen Conversion, it was interesting RNJesus was against me so it took AGES to get ranged units, but I was able to send one Horseman along the southern coast to free workers and clear camps, and one along the northern ice. They secured 6 long-term CS allies, so that was probably the best decision of the whole game.

Random SS


I waited a while before starting to take cities, once the conquest started I lost my friends and was soon fighting 3 civs at a time. Went Freedom (should maybe have gone Autocracy for the 250 tourism GP) and reached dominance with stolen great works, hotels and IG. Only built Pictish Warriors, and took out Poland and Russia with barbs. I just barely didn't wipe out France, so only 5 points.

 

[stormtrooper412]

is anyone keeping a tally of this thing?

 

[DanQuayle]

Very fun concept. First time trying out Heathen Conversion. When you can get it going on such a map, it is really game breaking.

Summary

Spoiler :

This was a really good learning game for me for this unique playstyle. I made many mistakes as I moved along, so a faster finish time is definitely possible.


Never before have I screwed over an AI so much before, I think. I stole Poland's two first workers quite early. I started my first settler at 3 pop and got a bit lucky and got a population ruin soon after. I blocked the middle with my starting warrior and a scout. I was able to secure the middle just in time. After that I must have gotten at least 4-5 settlers from him trying to settle the salts near the river up north.


Having a Salt start is very good, but what if you have no workers to improve your salts in the first 75 turns? Poland just found out.


After taking all Arabia's Tradition cities and razing them, I hit a new record of -38 happiness. It didn't last too long however and didn't lose any city because of it.


Morocco's Musketmen were no match for my carpet of units.


If you head up north late in the game, you will get a nice welcoming surprise...


Hitting No Science! for the first time. Woohoo!


London was the city with the highest defense strength I encountered. My cannon arrived late to the party and fired just one shot. Reaching chemistry was not even required for this game. Mass crossbows is plenty enough.
(I just now noticed that I took the capital with a Landsknecht gifted by a military CS. I am not sure if it still qualifies as taking a capital with converted heathens.)


Very nice defensive position from the AI with longbows on the other side of the river. We on the other hand are legions!


Taking the last capital for the victory!


Finished with more than double the supply cap. I just fortified units near the end. I didn't really need them, but I just wanted to see how far I could push it.

Religion: Tithe, Holy Warriors, Pagodas, Holy Order, Heathen Conversion
Policies: Full Piety, Full Commerce, spare policy in Honor opener

I built no universities all game and my three starting cities remained at 10 pop most of the game. Even though I started my markets and the Artist's Guild after dipping into -70% production, I had a big enough buffer of money to reach Chemistry before reaching the No Science! milestone. I was also lucky enough to have a Great Merchant spawn at the right time for upgrading my Trebuchets to Cannons.

Map feedback

Spoiler :

Good map for guaranteed barbarians, however the north full of snow was kind of dead space. There was already plenty of space available for barbarian camps down south. Also, the mountain chains made it very painful to move dozens (hundreds?) of units through little funnels. It kind of removed some of the fun of the game for me near the end. A starting location near the middle of pangea (like Morocco or Russia's starting location) would have also allowed you to fight on two fronts for a faster finish, but that is more of a personal preference.

 

[Nigel_Tufnel2]

@DanQuayle - your screenies were hilarious! I have never seen 0 science, or -450 gpt! Congrats on the slog. Very clever game idea by Gustavus Rex.

 

[adcarrymaokai]

Lol those screenshots..

 

[myke_]

My game went amazingly well as I captured three Polish settlers and a couple of workers and managed to settle two expos next to him. But then he took his revenge on me by stealing Heathen Conversion (have you guys ever seen AI take it?) before I could get my reformation belief, so I ragequit. I mean I could reload or start over but I don't have the nerves to do all the careful settler juggling and worker stealing amidst the barbarian hordes again.

 

[Gustavus Rex]

Nice to see som finished games! I agree the specific map was a bit non optimal for this thing. To harsh terrain... My idea dead space of tilted axis was for grinding culture and possibly gold and secure a steady flow of new camps not cleared by the AI

 

[InaneObserver]

To be honest I kind of liked the open ice in the north, but maybe it's because it reminds me of home=)

The mountain chains I agree with though, you're not going to play defensive and funneling all that cannon fodder through the gaps was a chore. Otherwise nice map Gustavus

 

[Sclb]

2 point: Build/cash-buy no combat units except Pictish Warrior! (You may upgrade converted heathens)
No units built/bought except UU. Rest of units from converted barbs and military CS.

1 point for each AI capital conquered with converted heathens!
7 points.


1 point for each AI completely wiped out with converted heathens! (Taking over a already wiped out civ counts as well.)
6 points.
All except final civ completed wiped out. It would take way too long to take out final civ due to many cities on islands and difficulty of getting ships converted.

It took much longer than expected to finish map, due to large number of AI cities and requirement to wipe out civs. Also the geography makes it difficult to move troops until roads and later railway. SP was full piety, full commerce, Order ideology, then liberty right side for more GA. Rationalism at the very end to try to push to atomic era faster to finish last civ.

Spoiler :