3.9.1 Maya Photojournal (Deity/Standard)

[randomnub]

After some discussions on discord about Mayan UA and seeing a civ I consider among the strongest ones not performing that well in the AI tests (33/34th place on the winrate leaderboard) I wanted to give it a go once more. With the latest patch I reintroduced ancient ruins in my default settings, as the most unbalanced ruin (free tech) has been toned down: they definitely make the early game easier, but the variance is comparable to having good neighbors and CS quests early on so I'm not feeling that dirty anymore. Plus they're fun. If you're playing with 4UC (I'm not) then that game option would be a no brainer either, 4UC components make this particular civ even more snowballing.

No other mods, no events, standard map/size/speed

Game Settings:

Spoiler :

Starting Location:

Spoiler :

Wee, jungle. And 0 production. Sugar marshes make for a nice early unimproved tile to work but I won't be able to sell luxuries soon. No freshwater capital is a bit of a let-down, with wells not being on my ideal tech path and losing Baths later. Scouting a bit to see if moving the settler can improve the situation.

My 2nd guaranteed luxury is quite terrible, tobacco: that's a nice main luxury to have a monopoly in but checking the monopoly table tells me there're 9 copies of it in the world, no way they're 3 or 4 of them in range for some east India company trick (you really want marble or some % based monopoly luxury as a 2nd one in the capital). So all I'm getting by setting in place are a bunch of flat grassland tiles, coast on the 3rd ring south and east (there's what looks to be the estuary of the river). My UI can be built upon either forest or jungle, and there're never hidden resources on the tile the initial settler spawns over, so a kuna over that grassland forest isn't going to preclude any better improvement. The natural border expansion is going to lean toward the tobacco and the bananas south, those are wasted early tiles. Hence, moving. I put myself in the middle of the sugar cluster, with 2 plain not-adjacent jungles right next the capital that can be improved with a kuna. The swamp in between sugars is also a good place but I don't want to lose more than 1 turn moving, I'm on a rush to Mathematics and unlocking the Long Count.

Early turns:

Spoiler :

To my surprise, the eastern estuary flows into a lake (I'm still getting used to the Communitas map script), but it's still a good thing I moved a bit because I need flat jungle more than I need featured tiles. Expansionist neighbours but it doesn't look like I'm in a hurry to block their expansions routes so pottery can wait. Grabbing some cheap tribute to be sure I can invest in the shrine. Tech path will be construction for kunas into maths for the UA.

I don't really like the way no-recon units are forbidden from grabbing early ruins, but I play with the cards I'm given so let park the warrior over some ruins and rush buy a pathfinder to grab it while the first one explores north and discovers one more annoying early neighbour. If no ruins left around I would instead buy a slinger to hunt barbarians; it turned out to be a gold ruin so I ended even. First Policy is a no brainer: Progress. AI Maya loves tradition and that is probably the main culprit of its poor performances: early science boosts are great for the Long Count rush, you have an almost spammable UI so fast workers are a bless, and the jungle terrain bias makes expansions terrible at building infrastructure without progress help.

Nearby CSs aren't giving me any good quest (I was hoping for the 'discover city' science one) but Progress science from capital and all those 3 food tiles speed up research considerably: I keep my initial units close to the capital to protect the first workers (one built, one coming out now from Progress 2nd policy) so that they'll be able to construct kunas as soon as they'll become available. In the meanwhile, I extract one more tribute from this CS that asks me to build Stonehenge (quite late for this quest to pop up, that means there're no AIs going for it and this hints at few tradition opponents, early world wonders won't be precluded) and invest in a council, that's something that's never worth this early in a game but I want to make sure I take every beaker available as early as possible in the Mayan build order.

T31 Pantheon:

Spoiler :

Goddess of Renewal offers a priceless science/faith/culture boost from unimproved tiles early on; I make sure to place kunas of both the forest tiles in my capital range and then work 4 other jungle tiles to maximize the pantheon benefits, sacrificing the otherwise good sugar tiles (jungle cocoa or citrus would have been the best Mayan starting luxuries hands down, but oh well).

I spot many annoying barbarians getting close to my capital from south, there're at least 2 encampments in the fog of war, one of the pathfinders will stick close to home. The other one discovers some juicy expansion sites but they're very close to Greece, he's going to forward settle to me so I better not annoy Alex early. Bonus tip, when your pathfinder discovers one of the GBR tiles turn the other way and wait for a CS 'find a NW' quest to appear. It's the turn of Yerevan asking me to buy Stonehenge, I take that as a hint there're no early wonder spammers (I spot SoZ in Athens, unsurprisingly due to his bronze working beeline, that means he's not a competitor for Hali despite his quarry monopoly and there's only one other quarry monopoly in the world that could have gone early construction) and gamble on a pre-T45/50 Halicarnassus, that's usually a safe bet.

T40 Mathematics:

Spoiler :

The other quarry monopoly around is Jade and is Sweden's one, I feel safe enough with Halicarnassus that I won't bother saving for a gold investment.

Zulus and Netherland are on my same continent, I have mixed feelings about that. Greece and Assyria are already forward settling toward me, but Sweden is forward settling toward Greece so I might end with an ally against Alex. On the other hand that means Greece only available expansion route is in my direction... Barbarians and mountains aren't letting me scouting very efficiently so I didn't discover many CSs (you should focus on pathfinders and exploring as Maya to unlock early first-meeting triggers from militaristic ones and good quests, more so with 4uc) but I finally trigger a good quest, that's not a lot of influence but the tech boost saves me couple turns. Pre-42 Mathematics is great as Maya because we're still in the first b'ak'tun when the Long Count unlocks and that means...

T41 1st B'ak'tun:

Spoiler :

Great people this early aren't that great as they look on paper simply because I am already working good kuna tiles, bulbs are very poor (we're talking 60 hammers from an engineer) and don't have the population to work GPTI. Nonetheless, they're cool to have and my first pick is an Artist: there's a great work slot in the palace and +3 culture when your base is +5 is very good. Sadly I couldn't clear a single barbarian camp for the nearby CSs or I would have some great general points already and could have triggered a ''spawn a GG'' quest for some fat culture reward (ye, it happened in a previous game I had to abort due to patch, where GG first pick let me snowball). There's another solid alternative early on but I'm in no hurry to select it because...

T42 2nd B'ak'tun:

Spoiler :

Back to Back B'ak'tun! The Long Count starts properly now, and a Great Diplomat for an early alliance is the best pop-free investment: I would have loved a militaristic ally (even more one with an early UU) for science and free units, or a religious cs to speed up the religion race, but you can't go wrong with a nearby cultured CS. Early Great Diplomats can also double as scouts if there're some areas you can't access due to enemy lands and no open borders, just make sure to never end in a tile where you can be ambushed by barbarians and use the 5 moves wisely: in this game I had vision of most of the land I'm interested in settling so I bulb my GD in Brussel asap (picked it over nearby Prague to not waste all those 20ish points of influence due to decay). After Maths I'll finally delve into Pottery to start churning out settlers before I'm too boxed in, Trade for markets that are very nice to have with both sugar/renewal and a trade route (that can be a production one for satellites thanks to halicarnassus), then Bronze/Iron working to chop those banana tiles for instant production.

 

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T52 3rd B'ak'tun

Spoiler :

This choice is easy, a CS asks for a merchant and while the reward isn't that great it's still better than what I could get working an academy or manufactory for quite some turns. I'll settle my first expansion south of Palenque (I went Organization as 3rd Progress policy, so settlers and caravans come out faster), next to that barbarian camp to clear it with a clic and an internal caravan will be sent asap. The GM Town will be placed on the way to it, to be buffed by the road/trade route connection.

I receive a quest to conquer Niniveh but I know I'll have to wait, with progress it's pointless to focus on military with so much more land to grab.

T62 4th B'ak'tun:

Spoiler :

My science is dwarfing my production, I simply don't have enough production to catch up on my technological advancements so it's pointless to focus on the bottom part of the tree for infrastructures. Instead I greedy beeline for Medieval through Education and the top wonders: somebody I didn't meet yet is grabbing the great library, lighthouse, roman forum... I have enough culture to unlock my 5th policy (that is going to be Expertise, as I went Fraternity with my 4th one because I am still building settlers and units over buildings, and there's an early road in between my cities for 6 science) right as I unlock Drama for a wonder that is usually beyond Deity reach, the Parthenon. While it may look underwhelming, thanks to my bonus artist I'll be able to instantly theme it. With a different civ I'd go Oracle instead, but I have a feeling I have enough science to enter Medieval in record time without it. I reach tech/policy parity with the AI.

Corinth in sight. That's really annoying, because it means that the next city I settle is going to irk Alex due to proximity. Even worse, Zulu north! I should have known the Krakatoa would act as a magnet for enemy settlers but didn't suspect he would cross the sea to settle it. That only leaves 2 or 3 decent spots to peacefully settle...

T72 5th B'ak'tun:

Spoiler :

Make it 2 spots, and I settle very defensively on a hill with little bonus resources nearby only to prevent the AI to settle at my capital doorstep. I'm starting to look at my Great Prophet counter, I need to spawn it before turn 86 if I want to enhance with a Long Count Prophet, that means focusing on shrines/markets and work as many kuna and forest/jungle as possible, it looks doable. A CS quest asking for the Parthenon should settle the deal.

Now that I have a coastal city my next Long Count GP is going to be an Admiral, with his fast movement and ability to cross oceans he'll be safe from barbarians for a long time before they unlock caravels and he'll unlock new trade opportunities once he discovers oversea civs and CSs.

That small barb hunter expedition (gold, cs quest) is going to be the last one because I have a feeling I'll have to protect my lands soon...

T81 WAR!

Spoiler :

Chicken Itza greatly pissed Alex, so much he arranged for Shaka to attack me. I'm not too worried by the Zulu before they unlock their UU and when there's no land path between our capitals but an hostile Tyre can pillage the TR I established for diplomatic purposes between me and Ashurbanipal.

The previous screenshot I took right when my turn started and I completed the Parthenon, let see how good the early theming is with a clic on the optimize button...

2 culture from the wonder, 3 from the great work, 10 from theming. From 25 to 40. It also nets me enough faith to found on turn 83.

China and surprisingly enough Denmark (so HE was the wonder spammer) are quite ahead of me, really no clue how, it looks like Authority is paying off nowadays.

T86 6th B'ak'tun, Enhanced Religion and Medieval Era. Oh, and moar WAR!

Spoiler :

I'm not too worried of Zulu and at the same time I don't want to bother conquer Nobamba (yet) due to lack of siege. I'm happy to kill Tyre units in order to have a settler (that came out of Tikal, freeing Palenque production) fill that area and 2-3 hit zulu spearmen whenever they show their face so they retreat. It looks like Shaka also bribed Alex into attacking me, luckly Greece AI doesn't focus hard on military after unlocking the Hoplites. I'm already entering Medieval so Oracle is quite a greedy move but I want to deny it from the AI (after a CS asked it from me and making sure with embassies that it is not being built in any enemy capital... I can't spot Ulundi but Shaka is not a competitor usually), if I need units I simply rush buy them, gold is flowing in especially thanks to William good luxury deals.

Religion picks: I used to be a fan of the old Apostolic Tradition for Progress/high faith play but food has been nerfed and I don't like early tourism at all. The new revelation gives good culture yields and the holy sites that I'm bound to make out of 2-3 extra great prophets can benefit from a solid +5 science. Gurukulam gives a good faith to yields conversion, and coupled with high science output from my kuna boosted cities the passive is going to provide a lot of early faith when it matters, for faster missionaries->followers->founder yields and faster reformation.

After having founded a religion at T83, Maya Long Count unlocks Great Prophet as a possible pick, that makes me enhance very fast (no need to go for Hagia Sophia, or delay spread). I want a religious building, and usually Synagogues is a safe pick to catch up with infrastructure/easy WLTK trigger. Today though I founded as #1 religion and I want to deny AI first pick, Mandirs: I'm already in Medieval and soon in Renaissance so the yields on pop birth will be quite good. My (few) cities are small so there'll be many triggers as well. Enhancer will be mendicancy: the main appeal is the +2 culture per city, that this early is huge. I was tempted by zealotry as a faith sink but that one would give me nothing for at least 30-40 turns while I'm busy spending faith in missionaries and buildings. Another good pick this early would be Symbolism but I'm only working a merchant specialist in the capital atm, there won't be many natural GPs for a long time anyway, can't rely on those 2 GPPs only.

[to be continued...]

 

[kleanse]

Great photojournal thus far; very informative.

I’m always learning how to play better in VP, especially on Deity. Too often I make decisions based on potential benefits than bonuses I can receive now, such as your pick of the Great Diplomat (GD) and expending it for influence with a City State; I would not have thought about picking a GD, and if I did, I habitually would have used it to establish an Embassy.

Also, I find it interesting to see you play as The Maya. I have not played as The Maya much, so it is great to learn about them through your photojournal. I have, however, witnessed their ability to snowball quickly. With 4UC, Diety Maya in VP 3.9.1 consistently lead in my games by ten technologies throughout the game and hoard (nearly) all the wonders. I will learn how to stop them eventually (maybe through harassment with scout units and an early war).

Keep up the good work.

 

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T94 Peace, and policy choices:

Spoiler :

Brussel isn't giving me any easy quest and I lose that alliance, I decide it's not worth to push into Nobamba with the risk of it flipping to the enemy side along with Tyre. I accept Shaka white peace (he's busy with Sweden) then I'll divert my forces south and focus on getting those CSs on my side.

I'm going to open Fealty, for a discount on missionaries/mandirs now that conversion is cheap and cities are growing fast. Expos are going for monument/market/well or watermill/barracks/herbalist, and after the pricy world wonders my capital has to catch up in infrastructure as well: after researching Currency I can't rush buy archers to upgrade into atlatists anymore, I need barracks; I also sold my horses to William some turns ago and there's nobody selling some, iron is out of reach so my military can't do much except defend. I'm doing that well enough.

T101 7th B'ak'tun:

Spoiler :

There're some easy quests in sight (building Heroic Epic, connecting iron, donating spearmen, exploring some land behind Assyria) that I foresee getting some more allies soon, it would be time to focus on chanceries even if a CS didn't ask me to, but that's cool. War with Alex is stalling, and I have no plans to go to war with Assyria anytime soon even if Nineveh is a juicy target (I didn't get my monopoly yet, but being a % based one it's not that important to unlock it early), because I need more supply: cities will now focus on Arena/Forge/Armory and hopefully stop lag back in infrastructure.

With Heroic Epic giving me a free writer, I grab another one from the long count bonus and I can then theme a parthenon-buffed amphitheater in Tikal.

T108 Looking around:

Spoiler :

I peace out with Alex and can safely scout (with missionaries also): there's a militaristic Valletta behind Assyria lands that I regret not having met earlier when I popped my Great Diplomat, also some CSs at the north pole behind Netherlands. That's a good bunch of CSs on my continents, and there're both Alex and William going statecraft so I'm going to abandon Fealty and open Statecraft as well, going for the left side of it first for better quests rewards and a useful spy to flip alliances before they inject too much influence in the diplomatic game. I'm not that worried about mixing policy treese because most of them are front loaded, most finisher wonders are weak and to the glory of god is on the table. A typical progress policy split I make is 1 Fealty 3 Statecraft (left side) 2 Authority (right) when I fight enough wars in medieval/renaissance, or what I plan to do today 1 Fealty 5 Statecraft 3 Industry (right) 2 Rationalism (right) and then finish Statecraft. Spoiler: like all plans it will be changed on the fly.

Sweden AI is dead last but is holding well against both Zulu and Greece; Shaka is going to settle the land between him and William soon and that means more border friction and less chances he'll attack me again. I might not have very impressive flat city output but my instant yields are worthy of note for being so early in the game still.

T117 8th B'ak'tun:

Spoiler :

Almost catched up with the tech/policy leader viking that is slowly winning a war against China on the other side of the world and at the same time hoarding even more wonders...

Having unlocked crossbowmen I now feel confident enough to push into enemy lands, hence I agree with William to go to war against Shaka in about 10 turns. I'll work on getting his CSs on my side before the war triggers.

My capital is finally outgrowing the useful workable tiles so I work the few specialist slots I have (GM and GD) and plan to plant the next towns and academies, long count person will be a scientist: not that I feel like I need beakers, the science displayed in the screenshot is without a single library built yet and this brings us to...

T121 Reformation:

Spoiler :

Noobism is spreading just fine even with me faith buying so many buildings. In fact, I do have such a faith surplus that I don't know what to do with it (now zealotry could have paid off, but I enhanced 35 turns ago), prophets are a bad investment and can't hold too much faith for to the glory of god in industrial, some will be wasted into 5-10k prophets. There're 4 founders on my continent, after I convert both Greece and Sweden I won't have much use for missionaries. This is when I remember Divine Teachings now allow to rush buy libraries too, and this saves quite some turns of productions. Even better, I have reached just enough population to build the utmost important Oxford University and faith buying both library and university saves at minimum 4 turns and a bunch of gold in the capital, almost a world wonder worth of production. Divine teaching it is then, but this means I'll have to finish my policy trees if I want to faith buy GPs in industrial.

After entering Medieval through Education, and beelining Machinery to be able to field crossbowmen, the next techs become a dilemma: top of the tree Civil Service for the Forbidden Palace, skip it and enter Renaissance through Astronomy for better kunas and some island settling, or Gunpowder and fight my way out of this cramped 4-city progress? You guessed it. Shaka and Alex signed a defensive pact and the former had the gall of citadel-abuse me: I trained some horsemen planning to pillage it before moving crossbowmen into Nobamba indirect-range.

T123 (Almost World) WAR!

Spoiler :

4 AI friends and 7 CS allies, I feel cocky enough. I had a GDiplomat ready to flip Valletta from Greece to me but a trade route quest popped up and I gladly sacrificed a caravan to get to ally status right before the war. Attacking Zulus triggered the DP with Greece but also Assyria joined the fun, they probably agreed to attack me in few turns as well, or got bribed to. The plan is conquering Nobamba while letting Sweden deal with Greece and the eastern CS allies distract Assyria, not sending any units in Shaka's allies lands to not force their hand against me. My expos all have walls to avoid sneak attacks and 1-turn conquest, with roads in place and some gold in bank (to rush buy a garrison) I'm ready to react should my spotters see any unit advance. Checking the culture victory UI in the tourism panel I know Assyria is unhappy, and the great diplomat I walked through his lands earlier didn't reveal a too troublesome army.

Science improved by +30% in 2 turns, thanks to the reformation belief. With such good flat yields in cities I have almost 0 unhappiness, I freely grow all cities so that mandirs/progress do their magic.

 

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T129 (Almost) Renaissance:

Spoiler :

An authority civ with 0 science in its kit beats me to Renaissance, such a shame. No biggie, he's a friend and after the AI enters a new era it always gets a hefty sum of money, that's the right time to ask for a gift.

I'm done with Zulus, now I'll focus on Greece who isn't upgrading its hoplites yet (after rushing bronze, AI goes for acropolis and sticks to the top part of the tech tree, Alex always lags behind in military) while buying some ships in Tikal to help with coastal defense and just harassing Ashurbanipal who is busy against my CSs.

T133 9th B'ak'tun. Also, Renaissance for real!

Spoiler :

Slowly working on filling that unit supply, I want to get the push vs Greece done while he's still busy vs Sweden. Assyria can wait, a shame Tyre is asking me to conquer the far away Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta because I have no way to complete that quest in a timely fashion.

Ashur is having the fight of his life against the CS pack (Yerevan is allied with Netherlands so also at war vs him), he even loses a freshly founded city. Good job, boys. I'll eventually pay 200g to repair the pillaged Prague gems and trigger both a wltk in my capital and a cs quest.

T144 Scoreboard leader!

Spoiler :

Assyria turned the tides in the battle vs CS, couping Valletta while at the same time Yerevan peaces out. That let him move some units to defend both Nimrud and Nineveh. I giv up on the former, and will move the Galleasses to help with the siege of Sparta instead: I have to hurry because Sweden is sieging Athen already, I'm afraid of Gustav vassalizing Alex thus preventing my expansion or even worse going hostile towards me.

Corinth falls: I had a captured Buddist missionary chilling around and use it to spread Shaka religion (he picked 2 buildings as follower beliefs) and then convert to Noobism. Worth it with both Gurukulam and Progress culture from building. It's nothing special location wise but most good buildings are up still and I have no happiness issues, I'm keeping it and build a chancery before completing the courthouse.

Astronomy unlocked, I already embarked some missionaries and protected them in the waters near Nimrud, now it's time to sail to the new world and convert the good ole heaten Harald to easily reach my founder pop cap.

My spies die while attempting coups in Antananarivo (there is a very rewarding Brussel CS quest for it) and some other town, too bad, I've been too greedy: the next time I'll wait for the spy to rig the elections first to improve my chances.

 

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T152 10th B'ak'tun and First Congress

Spoiler :

I have so much faith that I eventually spawn some natural prophet before I enter industrial, not a bad thing if it helps me fight boredom in expansions. End of the Long Count, in order I selected: Artist (great work), Diplomat (influence), Merchant, (town) Engineer (manufactory), Admiral (explore), Prophet (enhance), Writer (great work), Scientist (academy), General (still around, citadel soon), Musician (great work). This is similar to what I selected in my recent games, sometime I picked a GG earlier for offense/cs quest over a merchant. Should you miss the T41 and T42 triggers (no excuses, by 52 you should have math even without ruins or lucky quests) I'd give up on the early Artist and Merchant but the Diplomat is quite important if you can find a religious cs.

I dabbled too much with the bottom techs and miss Forbidden Palace to the only other Progress AI, I wasn't even paying attention to China due to its ongoing losing war against Denmark but she got me. It's okay, that wonder only saves gold and I have enough of it. Especially now that I enter in what probably is a permanent golden age, Chichen Itza has been built (sadly not in Chichen Itza proper, I checked if it was possible but was a couple turns short, no cool points for me). I have a solid tech lead and Palenque has decent production even without internal TRs (they're going to fresh expansions/conquered cities to catch up, or to CS asking for a quest) so I'll grab all the worthy Renaissance wonders anyway: Himeji to deny it to opponents, Globe for theming and one more happiness free scientist in the expos (else until I'm ready to bulb great scientists I only work the chancery specialist in expos, or the guild ones to fight unhappiness), soon Porcelain (usually worth it for the scientist alone, but I also have 4 research agreements on the table - if you have RAs turned off the 25% bonus science in capital is stronger so even more worth it) and Taj Mahal for the permanent GA (Harald got Notre Dame, no surprise AI loves it, but no biggie).

After I unlock banks I'll save money for investments and rush boughts emissaries/workers while I build them everywhere, also pioneers make razing bad AI cities a worthy option: Sparta is going to be erased no matter what, I really can't stand settling 4 tiles away from GBR, it is also possible to settle 2 cities in between Corinth and Athens if the latter doesn't expand borders too much (spoiler, it will). Build order will focus on production/gold: workshops (in prevision of factories), windmills, custom houses, banks... then every 1 turn building I don't care about will be completed only to trigger progress culture, or some CS quest.

I propose World Religion, that's a easy to pass resolution if you do it first, with one or two AI converted as well, before too many embassies or CS votes are counted, and makes easier to control the congress later.

T161 Nothing to see here:

Spoiler :

MY ships are off screen busy sniping Knossos for the first CS conquest quest I manage this game. The settle of Tulum pissed Gustav a bit, but I had to due to its strategic placement, also after pioneers new progress cities are always worth it and there's not much room to expand in this map; I'm not going to settle closer than 7 tiles from Athens anymore though. I repeat the Buddhist-Noobism trick with all newly settled cities, holding growth 1 turn if I have to wait for conversion and mandirs. Nineveh falls, war exhaustion is starting to hit hence I'm going to peace out asap, then the General will be spent on a citadel to claim 2 copper tiles near the border and gain the 10% production monopoly. Tikal built the East India Company so that I got Sugar monopoly earlier, and now I get the Cotton one as well but this is was a error I should have not made because it was very possible to gain whales monopoly if I could wait for Corinth to build it (only 4 whales copies in the world, 1 each for me-sweden-denmark and 1 on a CS, with EIC and statecraft I could have net 2+1 out of 4, 10% science and enabling Centaurus Extractors, really regret it).

Sweden is doing really well, after taking Athens he's holding against Shaka Impis. The Zulus are besieging Amsterdam though, they'll soon vassalize William.

T172 Industrial Era

Spoiler :

Greece is going to be removed from the map, no matter the diplomatic repercussions (quite low tbh), because having a statecraft hostile AI is going to be a thorn in my side for the whole late game. No hurry for it though, because if I kill Alex then Prague goes from hostile to neutral and I lose an incredible quest I want to give my spy the best chances to complete. I'm happy to siege Argos indefinitely, making sure Sweden doesn't snipe it. World religion passed, I went a bit overkill with it but I was sure sanctions wouldn't pass this early in the game.

T183 11th B'ak'tun

Spoiler :

Long Count resets, this is my last or second to last trigger but luckily the counter doesn't go back to the first GP selected and I can pick whatever I fancy, it'll be a Scientist to bulb after all the academies I planted: that, a natural born one and zoos will be enough to speed run me through those second row industrial techs, then the plan is to unlock enlightenment to enter Modern: I can enter Modern quicker beelining Biology but that's quite a weak tech, Industrialization is way more important. The naval base of Coba is founded mostly to act as a late game spotter for hostile Chinese/Danish fleets, but again due to all the instant yields I get from various sources it shouldn't delay my science/culture by a lot, if at all.

T189 Modern Era:

Spoiler :

I faith bought a diplomat and then 3 writers (one completed my last theme, two bulbed) since I entered industrial, enabling me to complete statecraft just after I unlocked industrialization (for Westminster) and Enlightenment now, with perfect timing to unlock electricity without a single beaker wasted. Thanks to those CS coup quests my capital GPP counter is over the roof, I'm going to stop work any specialist that is not a scientist or an engineer because there's no realistic chance to get any other natural other before the game ends, this lets my capital focus on the good tiles and grow productive.

T193 Not simply passing by:

Spoiler :

CSs keep asking me to conquer the ''wrong'' cities, this game my units aren't very experienced but truth to be told all promos after the 4th are cherry on top, having a tech/numeric advantage is more important. This is something I learnt very late in my ''civ career'', until not too long ago I wanted to make sure to only train units at full xp, from my morale-boosted capital barracks, but then those small armies were slow to be fielded and sieges lasted forever. Nowadays if I have the gold I rush buy the unit anywhere close to the front line, and my capital doesn't build units if they take longer than 1 turn and there're better wonders or basic infrastructure to get up.

I do have 14 out of 16 cs allied, I don't bother sending diplomats or completing easy quests such as this trade route Ur is asking for because as long as there're some CS you're not allied to then the coup quest becomes available. Ye, it should be nerfed. Try it with Ceremonial Burial.

T197 Ideology and Corporations:

Spoiler :

I sent a Great Merchant to trade in CS territory, that gave me almost 9000 gold that I spent in navy and army upgrades and a funny WLTK everywhere, including the city I'm razing to the ground. I'm that much loved. Ashurbanipal is doomed, I'm thinking of only sniping his capital and let CS remove him from the game, that should lessen my diplo penalities.

In fact, I'd be happy to finish this game peacefully and I wonder what is going to be the quicker route, so holding the game for a bit thinking I'm in a winning position anyway. 10+ techs ahead of Deity AI, 3 or 4 policies as well. The World Congress is my toy: until I can force my World Ideology I'm not picking options that can annoy Denmark or Sweden, the next resolution I want to pass is going to be world fair to speed up the last policies. I can select any corporation except centaurus, and I'm debating Freedom vs Order as usual. The two top authority dogs are my friends and research partners, Sweden in a defensive pact already so the most probable bad thing that can happen is Denmark getting mad at me and sneaky attack from the east with an amphibious assault... but I have a screen of CSs, a small fleet of cruisers and more important Harald is still busy with China so for 20-30 turns I'm free to snowball even harder.

 

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T200 Ramblings:

Spoiler :

I decided 2000 beakers at turn 200 was a nice milestone to show off (no processes being worked, 13 cities progress on standard map is of average size by my standards), but this game the instant yields are also carrying hard. Anyway, I want to necro the discount curve poll and show how 100 science at this point of the game is a pittance, food for thoughts. Not that I think this game will end by T400 anyway

Corp and Ideology picks should come with your choice of a victory condition, and at this point I'm positive I can win in any way: no culture runaway (but me), nobody dominating the congress (but me), feeling safe from direct neighbors (not many left) and with a tech lead that unlocks better units. I don't want to bother with more combat than necessary though, so skipping on domination and going for a science victory that should come quicker than the other peaceful alternatives in this game: DV is locked behind congress phases and I hope to be quicker than that timer, and I plan to complete rationalism soon so that delays the tier 3 tenets needed for a CV anyway.

Autocracy is ruled out, it offers a nice boost to UIs but that's most of it for a SV.
I'm building Factories and Research Labs ahead of my policy curve so some of the best Order policies granting those as freebies are not that great, also without Tradition/TtGoG I can't control how many GEs I'm going to spawn by end game to rush spaceship parts, that turns me off a bit. There're 2 free great scientists, a 10% multiplier and a free tech in Order best tenets for a SV and it feels wrong to give up on those but I think I can save more time going Freedom.
Freedom can probably net me one scientist through a better GPP% and easier coup quests, better growth and saving some turns by rush buying spaceship parts. I don't plan to go super wide either so Transnationalism should end being better than Nationalization (I planted 5 towns as well, that mitigates the head start Order would have with franchises).
Order has good tenets to save gold maintenance and build quicker buildings, it's a great tree for progress science (unsurprisingly) but I'm not building 'everything' and my gpt feels adequate (most late game buildings won't be worth the maintenance and there's always the opportunity cost of not working processes for the last rush), also Deity AI is going to be pissed at me getting close to victory so some production will go into units for safety.
So, Freedom it is.

I was torn between different corporations and in the end opted for the safest route with Firaxite: immunity to pillage is huge when many international routes to CSs moves through fog of war and the world is going to hate you for being ahead. Science is always the best yield by end game also.

When your science output is really high though, multipliers are better than flat yields and if I had a sea monopoly I would have gone Centaurus, stopping spreading after a dozen completed trade routes or so, letting Transnationalism do its magic while sending %science ITRs out of my capital. That option is out the table though, that'll be another game.
Armeier Corp is a nice one with Freedom and ITR %, it would help even out the gap between my science and culture output for a more balanced end game but I'm not working GWAMs in my capital: artists and musicians are next to useless to me now, and after I spawned 5 natural writers or so the next one would come too late, so I switched to scientists and engineers only and focused on growth. Opera Houses are cheap enough but not a priority building, while Museums are terrible (I faith buy one in Assur due to his reformation belief, and later on there'll be one in capital because of Ironworks bonus and fast production but that's it), instead Factories and Labs that come buffed from Firaxite are priority buildings everywhere.
I toyed with the Jewelers idea, but I already had a couple of GPs out of the many points offered CS quests, the next ones won't come out 'that' quick even with a 100-200% bonus, I think that's a better choice when going Nationalization. I never bothered calculate how much impact has more flat science over one more scientist bulb (that would be based over less flat science), nor reloaded a game 50 turns back to see ''what if'', so I'd be happy to read about your experiences. For now, I follow my guts.
Last option on the table (no need for Hexxon late warfare boost, and Trader Sid plain sucks) would be TwoKay: I focused a lot on growth but I don't want to make this last step, mostly because I have no happiness issues so a big bonus from this corp is lost, but also because by now my cities are growing every 5-6 turns with food output in the 100s, how quick can I speed it up and would it be worth it afterall? I'm also running out of good tiles to work...

Tech path: I'm going to unlock wire service, that's sick yields with my alliances, then upper side for Statue of Liberty and Labs and then into Atomic.

T207 WAR! Wait, what happened?

Spoiler :

Shaka snipes the last Assyrian city that I was leaving for a CS, good, that makes him world public enemy #1. I 'think' here China bribed him to attack Sweden, who had a DP with me and Denmark. I was already moving my small fleet toward him planning to cut everybody off the northern sea (so that I can focus on protecting my southern coastal cities from a very possible viking doom navy in the last turns) so that speeds up his demise. I also want to fill all the land on my continent with colonists to prevent some silly settling from the AI.

Gustav breaks our DF, He is running out of enemies so I'm his next target. I'll leave some garrisons and spotters in the border and coastal cities because I didn't build defensive buildings yet. Zulu carpet of doom looks menacing but he'll be attacked from all sides from more technological advanced opponents, he's a paper tiger. He trained very little ranged as well... I am at no risk of losing units.

T212 World Congress Bully:

Spoiler :

See how my science increased by 20% in only few turns, that's faith-bought Laboratories everywhere, and SoL free policy unlocked Transnationalism. I have most of the core (production/science/gold) infrastructure built everywhere, I'll focus on the World's Fair in all cities. Note to self, now that I check this screenshot I remember one thing: on coastal cities with 0-2 coastal resources only, a Train Station is better than a Seaport yield wise but if I had to go back to this savegame I'd go for one of those in Tikal/Corinth anyway because of the ability to rush-buy lategame ships. Maybe I'm paranoid with my playing safe but AI has been improved a lot with naval invasions, and Denmark being so high in score the whole game is something I'm not used to.

T217 My first award:

Spoiler :

I really went overkill with the World's Fair, I could probably have focused on something else in the capital but every turn I shaved off made the sweet culture bump come online faster. The free policy will be spent on the last (left side) Rationalism policy, that unlocks Great Scientists for cheap 1000 faith when my next diplomats or writers cost 10k, a bargain. What's that, over 3000 science already? Corporation is spreading out nicely.

I've been in a Golden Age for 50 turns already (after I themed two wonders with the free Artists from long count/Uffizi and the early natural GAs I bulbed all industrial ones for GAPs, also I'm a sucker for CS quests if you didn't get that already), and all cities are in permanent WLTK with only 1 turn delay when they ask for a resource I already have: I think these mechanics are bit too diluted from the mid game onward. Just a heads-up, a circus is actually a good building for freshly founded or conquered late game cities because without it the first WLTK is delayed by a lot, if you have Synagogues or Fealty that's worth put in the queue soon after the mandatory production buildings.

After Assyria is gone I lost my pledge of protection over all CSs due to my low military strength compared to the median, I'll work on it.

T219 Atomic Era:

Spoiler :

2 turns and 2 great scientists later, from starting Radio to completing Atomic Theory. Harald picks an Ideology, not that worrisome when I'm 2 eras, 12 techs and 4 policies ahead. I'm going back to Freedom with the policy I unlock this turn, after the first T1 picks (Freedom ones aren't that great imo, I went with Civil Society and Avant Garde because the focus on instant yields and saving a handful of turns on the next scientist/writer) I want Covert Action to be sure I score one or two more coup quests: the sad thing is that late game AI is really annoying with Great Diplomats and coups as well, some alliances are bound to flip and CSs revoke those coup quests right when I have my level 3 spy in position...oh well.

I only build a couple of broadcast towers to theme the random great music works I had, stock exchanges I usually skip outside of capital but today I think they are worth it in prevision of a gold deficit in the last stages of the game when my trade deals will be broken and my unit/building upkeeps will skyrocket, as I don't have many good gold tiles or uniques.

A look at how China is containing Denmark... ok, Wu lost 4 cities in 1 turn. Is she going to hold Chengdu for at least 4 turns so that I can stage a coup in Wittenberg before the alliance flips back to me?* Harald also gained a foothold on my continent, William is going to be assimilated too. I hope some border friction happens between Denmark and Sweden now, and don't plan to conquer Zulus because those cities are going to be a pain to defend.

Spoiler: no. I also checked how much gold Harald wanted to stop the war and it was way too much, I regret not having checked earlier how badly the war was going for her.

 

[randomnub]

T222 I'm not a warmonger, it's my allies' fault:

Spoiler :

I love to feed enemy cities to my CS allies, it felt bad seeing how Florence couldn't hold on Carchemish but Panama might be good enough at keeping Nodwengu... In meanwhile I decide to get rid of Shaka presence in the seas by conquering Ondini...but only because a CS quest popped in I swear. Fun fact about being cultural influential over my aggressive neighbor, conquered cities don't lose much population and I abort my plan of razing-resettle, it would take too many turns. I keep it as a puppet because it's netting me a iron strategic monopoly, and after refrigeration also a oil one. Puppets make terrible decisions in bulding queue and yields output in late game are very bad, but they're free land and a buffer state. Also, no micro needed, the game is already taking its toll.

T226 I was always nice with him:

Spoiler :

I saw some frigates moving in the southern sea so this didn't come as a total surprise, I also rush bought a small fleet of cruisers and worked on coastal defenses. I feel like military academies are really a bad investment of hammers but by now I need them if I want to rush buy any garrison at all so they're a necessary production sink over a more greedy build order, or processes. Sweden forces snipe a super promoted gatling gun I had near Ondini but that doesn't make me feel too bad, it's more about the 5 (five!) TRs I sent to Sweden in order to spread my corporation that are recalled and make me lose big time, science and money. Well, at least I don't have to buy new caravans. There's some fighting for CSs already, Denmark is sending spies and emissaries to Sweden controlled ones and I coup them back. Too bad there was no quest for it. Should the Swedish amass too many troops on my border I have a very convenient Atomic bomb from Manhattan Project ready to buy me some time.

William has left the room and his congress seat as well. My proposal irked a bit Harald (he doesn't want to renew our DoF, but it was to be expected this late in game with me in a winning position) but I had to make sure 4-city Valletta didn't betray me, the CS is soon to become rank #3 or #4 player in this game.

Oh hey 4000 science! Remember how it was half of that 25 turns ago...

T230 Yields, instant yields everywhere!

Spoiler :

My second T2 tenet is free hospitals everywhere (and a hammer refund in capital), that is going to repay its culture cost before the game ends but more important saves turns in my expos that are going to build medical labs and get their pop in the high 20s (my capital already built the med lab to go from 38 to 40 pop, I'm out of tiles to work now, back to specialists). Tech path leads to Satellites now, for the Apollo Program. I can propose one out of International Space Station (my pick) and United Nations now, we'll see if I can catch a Space victory before the congress goes through 3 phases (for World Ideology and Global Hegemony).

I could drop a A-bomb over Athens but I'm confident I can win the war with conventional weapons, in meanwhile I peace out with Zulu and me and Sweden are trading over the city of Ondini that I keep liberating with a super promoted ironclad.

T234 12th B'ak'tun!

Spoiler :

Who else forgot about Maya UA by now? Well, it looks like I broke the Long Count after the 10th counter and I can pick another Scientist. A Writer after the GA powered World's Fair is worth another policy and while I'm tempted to go for the free Golden Age to prolong my permanent GA, I see Tikal will spawn a Great Artist in 4 turns, and between that and a couple of GAP CS quests I'm confident I'll enter a natural GA soon. Instead, I unlock the T3 Space Procurements: it's too early to buy spaceship parts but the +20% science from research labs gives me a fat +650 beakers and is going to make the next bulbs stronger.

Denmark is chewing through Zulu lands very quick, while I settled that spot to gain oil and prevent an annoying Danish expansions in 'my' sea but am overall happy at where my borders are now, Harald and Gustav broke their alliance so I hope to turn one after the other soon.

That Merchant could be worth one more franchise but is going to be bulbed in order to mass upgrade my fleet to battleships

 

[randomnub]

T236 Info Era:

Spoiler :

I'm going to nuke Sigtuna to get rid of a bunch of Swedish forces hiding in the fog of war, but at this point the war is an easy exercise of micro. I invested quite a lot in keeping the army upgraded afraid of Denmark but Harald is busy eating easier targets, so I'm just keeping some spotters in the east sea.

Info Era goes so quick, often unlocking more than 1 tech per turn thanks to scientists: 1 GS will spawn from Apollo, 1 from Hubble, 1 from International Station, 1 or 2 more natural ones and 2 from faith: I'll be working science processes to increment their base yields whenever possible.

T241 Diplomatic Stuff:

Spoiler :

At this stage RAs really are peanuts. It's a shame the game rushes so quick, I don't bother building any power plant except a Nuclear one in my capital (not even for the gpp%, but the 25% boost to production is good for spaceship parts) because they won't pay off before the game ends. On the other hand if the last techs didn't come so quick it would be quicker to win by domination with the high movement/range of late game units: instead, I'm happy to play with food feeding Swedish cities to my loyal CS allies. War weariness is building up quick though.

T247 War Weariness Hits:

Spoiler :

I had a fun plan of reviving my good ole friend William, and all Swedish coastal cities are at 1hp but this turn war weariness hit very hard and I'll accept Gustav capitulation. Freedom doesn't offer much more for a SV so I'm going after instant gains: 3 policies in artistry only for the free GP (scientist, no surprises here), next I plan a 2 dip in Imperialism mostly for a 10% more production from copper monopoly. The International Space Station project takes a lot of production but it's worth 2,5 scientists and there's nothing meaningful left to build in my cities, it's better than more research.

T252 Space Race!

Spoiler :

Comparing the previous turn GS with the ISS one, that's not a big difference due to how many academies I planted but every bit helps. A Great Merchant bulb provides enough gold to start invest in spaceship parts: I'm going to build 4 in the capital, and 2 boosters in the highest production cities (Niniveh and Uxmal looks like, I'll rush buy a spaceship factory in these cities as well). The Cern is 100% worthless here, it would take too long to be built anywhere but the capital but that would delay the spaceship.

T259 Ready for it...

Spoiler :

I was a little short on money for the last two SS investments so I started working wealth processes, then I figured it was very worth selling all those expensive buildings in the expansions such as academies, windmills and wire services that aren't helping anymore. I was also hoping for that hotel building quest to help a bit but for some reasons it bugged out. For fun I moved some ships next to the CS to tribute and reset the quests and chuckled a bit about the gold reward, that's a bit silly: I didn't really abuse of it because I kept working wealth and instead used all this unexpected gold to upgrade my units ready for the final screenshot. Oh, those workers are all 1 turn away from chopping all my capital Kunas should the 40 production shave one more turn but it turned out it wasn't enough. All my land TRs are going to the capital, sea ones are sent to the CS asking me for a TR quest to shave off some turns of growth.

T263 Science Victory!

Spoiler :

The last Congress Sessions weren't important at all, but turns out I could have won a diplomatic victory exactly at the same turn I win by science. I didn't go for culture at all but was influential with everybody but Denmark, if I picked some other Freedom tenets and bothered sending a musician or two I bet the timing could have been similar.

Denmark denounced me and attacked some CSs in the end but never declared, it feels like I wasted way too many resources on the army. I also switched from wealth/working merchants everywhere to research/scientists for fun and almost reached 10k beakers/turn by now, if I bothered annex instead of puppeting all those Swedish cities the numbers could have been higher but techs could have taken slighty longer to research...not that it matters by now.

I could ramble a lot more about the game but tbh I'm happy it's over (usually I call it a win by T150-170 and start play something else) and there's one more patch out. I played a lot of Babylon in the previous patch where I could win by T200 due to how broken were the Walls (I think they still are, but not going to play it more for some time) and wanted to see how a 'normal' SV could feel.

 

[MIS]

Congrats!

 

[chicorbeef]

Congrats! Can I ask you how you planned your infrastructure? I see a lot of cities building barracks/armories early and you said you rush bought libraries with faith after about Turn 121? Did you go for Barracks/Arena/Forges early? What about after?

 

[mrpilhas]

Congrats and thanks for this awesome photojournal, extremely well constructed. For a couple days I logged in just to check if you would finish it. GG

 

[randomnub]

Congrats! Can I ask you how you planned your infrastructure? I see a lot of cities building barracks/armories early and you said you rush bought libraries with faith after about Turn 121? Did you go for Barracks/Arena/Forges early? What about after?

Thanks! After the mandatory monument and well/watermill, in the expansions I always prioritize production, so rax/arena/forge or forge/arena/rax if there're iron/copper/mines, because it makes the next buildings coming out quicker. If I can time a council right for a citizen birth I invest into it but it's not a priority. Shrines/temples are also a no priority after a religion is founded. Libraries usually come earlier because it's crucial to get to Medieval in a timely way (aim for pre-100 if rushing either Education or Steel, it takes longer if you enter it through Chivalry) due to how era scaling works, but with Maya I have enough flat science from kunas that culture becomes more important so this game I had amphitheaters up earlier than usual (also due to Parthenon, it's not all set in stone...).

All other early buildings are circumstantial: granary if you can pop a citizen and work a mine with it, else wait for councils, herbalists/lodges/stoneworks/stables if there're 3+ resources benefitting from those, or 2+ later on when the building is cheap enough. Exception if playing authority and you are in medieval with Imperium up, then build those sources of border growth no matter what, or when you are tradition even 1 quarry resource is ok for stoneworks after Trade to start sending internal production routes. Markets were very useful in this game with goddess of renewal but else they can wait until you start to build up an army, it's easier to get money from AI trade deals so usually one more worker is better than a market.

In medieval priorities are chanceries and armories, university asap in the capital if you can build Oxford while in expansions only build if there're jungle tiles/enough growth, then another strong building for raw yields and happiness control is the custom house. If your cities are still growing and you're playing Progress then aqueducts might be worth it. Guilds are not worth if you can't fill them, and you probably can't fill them until pop 10-12 because you want your scientist slots (at least until you get to Renaissance, reaching some crucial tech such as gunpowder or navigation or unlocking your uniques) filled before that, and excess food. After it's banks/windmills/seaports or train stations and factories and then nothing really matters.

 

[rkkn]

Nice journal. A good read.
I knew the maya UA was good, but I didn't realize it was quite this good. Early admiral to cross the seas and meet the other civs and CS early, prophet to enhance immediately after founding, etc... very powerful stuff.

 

[azum4roll]

Maya is always good. AI just plays them wrong (and even then they sometimes still have the lead).

 

[John.B.C]

What an playthrough write up! Very enthralling to read and much educational!

 

[randomnub]

Yes, pottery after Mathematics is the greedy option that worked in this game because I had still room for a 2-3 expansions after t50. You also need the science from citizen birth in capital from progress to rush math so waiting until pop 6-7 (enough to work all kunas too) to spam settlers pays off.

MoH is actually a pretty good wonder for progress too, I built that because it was quite safe judging by luxuries monopolies and nearby civs. A good alternative is to build a lot of slingers, up to your supply cap, and upgrade them asap, if the gold flow allows it.

 

[MIS]

@randomnub You inspired me to do a Maya play through. On T9 I've finished monument (and wheel; I got lucky with ruins). Do I go Shrine or Council next? Every other situation, I'd go Shrine first, but I want to make sure to get Math by T41.

EDIT: Went Shrine->Council, got Math T43. Try again the other way. I'm also wondering if Stonehenge is worth it; I may get Pantheon earlier, and Council just a few turns later.

 

[MIS]

When I'm prioritizing buildings, should I think:

a) Kuna's are going to give me science/faith, so my build order should prioritize other yields e.g. culture. Especially because culture is my bottleneck to World Wonders.
b) I'm going for a science victory, so I should prioritize science buildings (council/library/university etc.), especially because university gives bonuses to jungles.

For instance, in my 2nd city I'm split between Writers Guild or Council->Library->University.

 

[Anarcomu]

When playing Korea and focusing on science, I often time find Artistry to be a very good tree, for numerous reason. If you already produce a lot of science, you will need a lot more to start noticing a difference. But producing a bit more culture when you produce very few, very quickly make a difference.

Simply put, you should aim at a minimum of balance, so outside of university (which works very well with jungle/kuna), you should seek diversity.