Kael
Deity
0.34 includes a few challenge mode game options. One of them is called "High to Low". Its only available in single player but when you become the 1st ranked player you are automatically switched to controlling the last placed player. You must then get that civ up to first place, after which you will be switched again to the last place player, which will be your final civ.
So I started up a game on settler difficulty (suspecting this will be a pretty tough victory to achieve) on the rain forests map (i usually play Erebus, but i wanted a lot of contact between all the civs in this game so i picked one i could explore easily) on normal speed and started out.
All the players were random so the game started me as the Illians. I started typically, went out and explored my surroundings, met a few neighbors, and got my first 2 cities started. Because of the difficulty level it was easy to get to first place without anything very aggressive so when turn 50 rolled around (the first turn High to Low starts comparing players) I was already in first place and I was moved to the last place them.
I found myself in control of the Hippus. This was a pretty good move for me because even though they were handicapped by their start position, I was hoping for a civ that would allow me to grow quickly through the ranks with some military acquisitions. So I could get onto my third and final civ before they got to buried. When you think of fast military strikers there arent many better than the Hippus.
The Hippus were struggling with their location but were teching correctly toward horsemen. They also had a few ruins and Bradelines Well nearby. So I prepared a few horsemen and set off to clear my area and hopefully earn something to strengthen my troops.
After a bit of back and forth between my units and the lizardmen crawling around the ruins I got in and destroyed it without incident. I left the Well alone, its an epic dungeon and those only provide the rare good or rare bad results and I wanted to make sure the area was as controlled as possible before something nasty came out of it.
Sure enough my first attempt into the Well yielded a boss giant spider and a few henchmen. Fortunatly they were all animals and on settler difficulty animals are reluctant to attack so they wandered off. But spawning monsters never clears the lair so the Well remained. The second attempt yielded another boss, this time an Ogre full of buffs. My horsemen fled back to my lands with minimal losses and the ogre went on rampaging (note to self: from now on exploring a lair will exhaust all of a units movement).
My third attempt worked better, not only did I finally clear the Well, my horseman discovered the Rod of Winds in the ruins. A particuarly good find for the Hippus since our starting air mana allowed the rod to give my horseman +1 strength.
By this point my strategy (and settler difficulty) got me up to 3rd in score. My original civ (the Illians) still had a firm lock on first and the Kuriotates were in 2nd. I needed to make some big moves if I was going to get to 1st. The Calabim were the closest civ to me and looked to be ignoring early military techs to rush for their vampires. My horsemen were now experienced from their battles and with the one with the rod of winds leading the charge I was off into their lands.
The "liberaiton" of the Calabim went well. Their new city was razed and their capital captured without losing any units. The Hippus empire was up to 2 good sized cities and the Calabim were out of the game. Though my military strength was doing well, my score wasn't growing as fast as the Illians. I had to adopt a more diplomatic strategy if I wanted to get on to the final stage soon. No one liked the Clan so I was able to make some friends by breaking my trade with them and cozy up to the Malakim and the Kuriotates. Just in case I took my best horsemen and sent them on a pilgrimage across the lands to strike as the Illians and bring down their score.
Midway to their arrival my diplomacy was working well and my allies were opening up and trading techs with me. My boosted score was enough and I jumped up to first place. I was moved on to the last stage and although I was worried I would be put in the Clan and surrounded by good civs there was actually a worse off civ I haven't even encountered yet.
Way in the corner of the map the Luchuirp were suffering. Still with only one city they were stuck in a situation I picked this map especially to avoid, in a valley with little contact with other civs. Barnaxus was alive and they were teching appropriatly, but slowly. I sent the scouts out to explore and gather a warrior, catapult and Barnaxus to go out to earn xp.
Outside I saw why the Luchuirp were having problems, Scorpion Clan Goblins have setup right outside their valley. The buggers are a pain, they defended well and their poison is hard on living units. Fortunately catapults and Barnaxus are immune and the goblins are numerous but weaker than Barnaxus. That means good xp.
Eventually the Scorpion Clan was wiped out and we took hold their fort. Exploring it uncovers a trap that captures all three of my units. The trap isn't lethal but holds them until I can get someone there to free them, hopefully before an enemy wanders by to kill them in their weakened state. My nearest scout is ordered back to rescue Barnaxus and his friends.
Then the Illians set off their world spell and I realize that I made a tragic mistake in leaving both the Illians the Hippus with their world spells intact.
So this is the final stage with my badly placed Luchuirp in a world where I built up both the Illians and the Hippus. The Illians have been growing in strength from the beginning and the Hippus have a high level group of horsemen (which would be able to wipe me out on their own) somewhere in the middle of the map.
Makes for an interesting game.
So I started up a game on settler difficulty (suspecting this will be a pretty tough victory to achieve) on the rain forests map (i usually play Erebus, but i wanted a lot of contact between all the civs in this game so i picked one i could explore easily) on normal speed and started out.
All the players were random so the game started me as the Illians. I started typically, went out and explored my surroundings, met a few neighbors, and got my first 2 cities started. Because of the difficulty level it was easy to get to first place without anything very aggressive so when turn 50 rolled around (the first turn High to Low starts comparing players) I was already in first place and I was moved to the last place them.
I found myself in control of the Hippus. This was a pretty good move for me because even though they were handicapped by their start position, I was hoping for a civ that would allow me to grow quickly through the ranks with some military acquisitions. So I could get onto my third and final civ before they got to buried. When you think of fast military strikers there arent many better than the Hippus.
The Hippus were struggling with their location but were teching correctly toward horsemen. They also had a few ruins and Bradelines Well nearby. So I prepared a few horsemen and set off to clear my area and hopefully earn something to strengthen my troops.
After a bit of back and forth between my units and the lizardmen crawling around the ruins I got in and destroyed it without incident. I left the Well alone, its an epic dungeon and those only provide the rare good or rare bad results and I wanted to make sure the area was as controlled as possible before something nasty came out of it.
Sure enough my first attempt into the Well yielded a boss giant spider and a few henchmen. Fortunatly they were all animals and on settler difficulty animals are reluctant to attack so they wandered off. But spawning monsters never clears the lair so the Well remained. The second attempt yielded another boss, this time an Ogre full of buffs. My horsemen fled back to my lands with minimal losses and the ogre went on rampaging (note to self: from now on exploring a lair will exhaust all of a units movement).
My third attempt worked better, not only did I finally clear the Well, my horseman discovered the Rod of Winds in the ruins. A particuarly good find for the Hippus since our starting air mana allowed the rod to give my horseman +1 strength.
By this point my strategy (and settler difficulty) got me up to 3rd in score. My original civ (the Illians) still had a firm lock on first and the Kuriotates were in 2nd. I needed to make some big moves if I was going to get to 1st. The Calabim were the closest civ to me and looked to be ignoring early military techs to rush for their vampires. My horsemen were now experienced from their battles and with the one with the rod of winds leading the charge I was off into their lands.
The "liberaiton" of the Calabim went well. Their new city was razed and their capital captured without losing any units. The Hippus empire was up to 2 good sized cities and the Calabim were out of the game. Though my military strength was doing well, my score wasn't growing as fast as the Illians. I had to adopt a more diplomatic strategy if I wanted to get on to the final stage soon. No one liked the Clan so I was able to make some friends by breaking my trade with them and cozy up to the Malakim and the Kuriotates. Just in case I took my best horsemen and sent them on a pilgrimage across the lands to strike as the Illians and bring down their score.
Midway to their arrival my diplomacy was working well and my allies were opening up and trading techs with me. My boosted score was enough and I jumped up to first place. I was moved on to the last stage and although I was worried I would be put in the Clan and surrounded by good civs there was actually a worse off civ I haven't even encountered yet.
Way in the corner of the map the Luchuirp were suffering. Still with only one city they were stuck in a situation I picked this map especially to avoid, in a valley with little contact with other civs. Barnaxus was alive and they were teching appropriatly, but slowly. I sent the scouts out to explore and gather a warrior, catapult and Barnaxus to go out to earn xp.
Outside I saw why the Luchuirp were having problems, Scorpion Clan Goblins have setup right outside their valley. The buggers are a pain, they defended well and their poison is hard on living units. Fortunately catapults and Barnaxus are immune and the goblins are numerous but weaker than Barnaxus. That means good xp.
Eventually the Scorpion Clan was wiped out and we took hold their fort. Exploring it uncovers a trap that captures all three of my units. The trap isn't lethal but holds them until I can get someone there to free them, hopefully before an enemy wanders by to kill them in their weakened state. My nearest scout is ordered back to rescue Barnaxus and his friends.
Then the Illians set off their world spell and I realize that I made a tragic mistake in leaving both the Illians the Hippus with their world spells intact.
So this is the final stage with my badly placed Luchuirp in a world where I built up both the Illians and the Hippus. The Illians have been growing in strength from the beginning and the Hippus have a high level group of horsemen (which would be able to wipe me out on their own) somewhere in the middle of the map.
Makes for an interesting game.
![[to_xp]Gekko](https://civfanatics-data.community.forum/avatars/m/74/74677.jpg?1475248346){kind=avatar}
