Just submitted my victory, Science in 2004 (though I was somewhat close to Diplo--in an election cycle or two I would have been there because I was gaining ground on Sweden fast with City States). I know this isn't a hugely successful performance compared to others, but I had fun. I also was out of my comfort level on King but still won, so I think Emperor will become my new default difficulty level.
- Did you use your UU?
Yes! War against Alexander when he settled in land that was rightfully mine. I found it quite intriguing that we were surrounded by mountains, so when I took over the Greek cities, I had 3 choke points to guard between Sweden and I. Sweden ended up being the main military foe that I had, and I used my first 3 Great Generals to establish well-placed military fortresses at each choke point. It was a great use of those fortresses! This allowed me to fight several defensive wars later in the game as Sweden kept attacking me.
- How useful was your UA?
I never used the bonus versus City States. Initially, I was going to do a Diplo victory. I decided against that late on, since Sweden was still ticking strong (though I was gaining ground) so Science victory would be a bit faster.
The +1 movement for mounted units was immensely helpful, though! Fighting wars was great as the Mongols. I used it against the Greeks and the Swedes throughout most of the game...that is, until I was able to nuke one of the Swedish cities to bring a war to a close.
- Did you use spying to your advantage?
Yes, but only near the end to reduce Swedish hold on city states. I should have been doing that earlier, probably could have gotten the diplo victory I wanted initially.
- Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?
Map type certainly helped! After conquering all of Greece except one city outside the ring of mountains, I only shared the inside ring of mountains (plus coast on two sides) with a couple of City States. This led to a quite defensible position, particularly after I used Great Generals to build the citadels at choke points! I even held my own when Sweden had its awesome UU and I was about equal in tech at that point (if not a bit behind--and certainly behind in upgrading my units due to gold issues).
- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
I knew defenses would be quite important in the game, although I was surprised at how aggressive Sweden ended up being in my game. I expected more aggression from Catherine, but used Diplo and strength to explicitly try to ward that off. Sweden was a real jerk though, starting after my conquest of Greece. The Huns also hated me from when I met them, but they never could do much about it. Theodora and Cassimir both really liked me most of the game, except at the end when they decided they hated Russia. I worked hard to befriend Russia so I didn't get a 2-pronged invasion force and I knew working with Sweden was out of the question; it worked through to the end of the game.
- Was Faith helpful to achieve victory? How?
Not as useful directly as I expected; a lot of religions were founded on my continent before I founded mine! However, at about 2/3 of the way through, buying Great Scientists with faith was quite useful! I got a few that way, as well as Pagodas and Mosques.
- What Social Policies did you choose and in what order?
Liberty, then Patronage, then Rationalism, then Freedom until I was forced to switch (due to -45 unhappiness demanding a change!), then Order. I completed each track before beginning the next.
- What was your VC
Originally planned on Diplo for the irony, but found out later that Sweden was a gold-hoarder in the middle game and I thought I was losing ground fast; switched to Science. Toward the endgame I found that I was gaining ground on Sweden fast for Diplo victory though, so I probably could have still done it...but at that point, science was faster, so I went with science victory.
- What techs did you prioritize ?
I didn't prioritize much until I could make a reasonable run at Keshiks. Then, I went military techs for awhile to get Alex and fend off the Swedes (multiple times). I also got Astronomy early and sailed around the world to find other City States. Most of the game I was on par (or only slightly ahead) in tech, but by about the Industrial age, I really pulled away, entering the Info age as some other competitive civs were just entering the Atomic age. By the victory date, I had researched almost all techs.
Apparently updating the in-game help hasn't been high priority for Firaxis.
The cavalry was much better at capturing cities at T180 than the horsemen. The east army got Constantinople, the West one got Warsaw and they both met at Atillas court. He got Quite an army, so I bribed him to attack Byzantium. After he boarder part of his army, it was wiped out by my keshiks.
