6otM109 AAR

[Eyswein]

Welcome to the 6otM109 After Actions Report thread. In this thread you can post the results of your game. Please state victory date and score (preferably in the post title), as recorded in the Hall of Fame, and the most important: your path to glory!

STOP - Please do not continue reading this thread until you have completed and submitted your game.

Please attached your victory save to your post.

- What was your plan for achieving the VC? What are the major steps you planned to take? What events, if any, changed the plan in execution and to what new plan? Any interesting decision points?
- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
- What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
- Were City-States helpful? Any competition with other civs for key city states?
- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
- How were the Barbarians?
- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
- Did you enjoy your game?

Please use spoiler tags for any surprise details you'd like kept hidden. Thanks.

 

[Victoria]

RV T110

- What was your plan for achieving the VC? What are the major steps you planned to take? What events, if any, changed the plan in execution and to what new plan? Any interesting decision points? Just winged it, knew I needed about 3 cities and so just went for it. Got mining first for the Salt then sailing to get my builder out scouting... then holy site and projects to get a religion before I got the shrine. Maybe a faster religion would have worked but I do like to have a little scout, I would rather lose a builder than a missionary
- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
Tonnes, that cash! Also the early builder sailing paid off because I found Chinguette which is perfect for a Fat capital (not that mine was particularly large but it all helps.
- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
Settled 3 took none, friends with all but England near the start
- What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
mining, sailing, Astro... did not really care about the rest, for civics went religious for some reason.
- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
Galleys to get the missionaries to sea , Missionaries then Apostles
- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
I was thinking of divine spark because I was a little late with my religion but when I saw deep green tiles with the appeal lens I just could not help myself. Key belief was Holy order, just a no brainer for an RV.
- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
I forgot to slot double holy site card for a while, just playing fast and enjoying myself. did not care about much really.
- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
None TBH, I was thinking 4xAmani to get Yerevan but you just do not need it unless putting your running shoes on.
- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
trading was unnecessary with the broken trade route gold. Diplomacy... just nice for people not to be treading on your units so I kissed everyone ring (so to speak)
- Were City-States helpful? Any competition with other civs for key city states?
nor reaaly, just not fussed, got suze in a couple to help faith
- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
Gold all the way
- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
not at all
- How were the Barbarians?
duller than normal
- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
not really, it was a hot knife through butter, RV was never anything but a gentle trot in the park
- Did you enjoy your game?
Sure, something to do for a few hours, many thanks, came at the right time.

Always feels wierd winning an RV 150 years before Christ

 

[kcd_swede]

RV t155 score 547
- What was your plan for achieving the VC? What are the major steps you planned to take? What events, if any, changed the plan in execution and to what new plan? Any interesting decision points?
Be sure to get a religion. I did not bother getting the first because you never know where the next religions founded will eradicate your faith there. Also, just lazy. Nearly failed to defend the faith in an Emergency in London, but squeeked it out.

- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
Crazy amounts of gold... few buildings built or units recruited the hard way, almost all bought.
- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
Three for most of the setup. Settled 3 more later just because that's what I do. Compulsive land grab. I settled 1 NW o n the hill by the river. All peaceful. The last settling was to be able to build apostles close to Dutch and the maroon colored team. Came too late to be used for that, though.
- What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
Religious stuff Myst/Theology/Reformed Church, and era score stuff.
- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
A few missionary to start, then apostles.
- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
+1 faith for breathtaking tiles. Kinda obvious to me. Then Holy Orders for RV. I had so much faith before Cartography, so got full beliefs (+2 faith for each city following Catholicism, and Mosques) and even did an Inquisition, but never had reason to build inquisitor.
- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
Autocracy to build Pyramids and something giving amenities to nearby plantations. Again... call it OCD.
- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
The Bishop x4 for extra promo on apostles.
- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
Diplomacy gives my religious units +10 strength in world congress, peace and open borders as much as possible.
- Were City-States helpful? Any competition with other civs for key city states?
Religious CS to give extra faith in buildings, no real competition. Should have used card for "first envoy counts as 2" but didn't.
- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
All Golden, always Evangelism bonus for movement and extra spreads.
- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
More military units than I wanted just to garrison and take care of zombies. I hate zombies.
- How were the Barbarians?
Were there barbarians? LOL, I cleared a couple camps for the era score and cash, but thats it. Soon they are all new CS's and barbs disappear.
- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
Dido captured Yerevan, but I am forgiving and do not punish her - she knows she did bad and doesn't annoy me again. Other: Very annoying to automove next to tribal villages and then forget to pop it and move away before remembering,
- Did you enjoy your game?
Yes, but Jaoa on archipelago is not very challenging at Emperor level. So much cash (and faith) each turn that any VC would have been faster than I usually do. This causes me problems because when I am not challenged, I do not optimize because I am L A Z Y.

 

[Planktonic]

RV, turn 215

Only the second time I've ever achieved a religious victory, and the first time I was actually playing for it (the other win was with Khmer, where I basically had a domination victory but sidetracked to religious victory just so I could have that slot filled in my HoF). So this was very instructive.

- What was your plan for achieving the VC? What are the major steps you planned to take? What events, if any, changed the plan in execution and to what new plan? Any interesting decision points?
Just planned to get as many holy sites up and running as possible in as many cities as possible. In retrospect, clearly I overdid it.

- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
Portugal just seems crazy strong; with all that cash you virtually don't need to build any buildings at all. Even districts can be popped out using cash (Reyna c Contractor). Having all that cash was luxurious almost from the get-go.

- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
Settled 10 cities in all (the last two on another continent just for the amenities and Era score).

- What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
Astrology of course, then Machinery (for Kilwa), then Cartography.

- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
Built only three Wonders- Kilwa, Hagia Sophia, and Great Lighthouse. In retrospect I didn't need the Hagia Sophia, and built the Great Lighthouse very late just for lack of anything else to do.

- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
Earth goddess of course. Religious beliefs were Feed the World, World Culture (I think it's called), Holy Orders and Mosques.

- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
Republic, then Theocracy.

- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
Reyna, promoted to Contractor, to pop out districts in cities.

- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
Was peaceful throughout, but no real diplomacy required.

- Were City-States helpful? Any competition with other civs for key city states?
Had to protect Yerevan from Dido (surrounded it with units); made sure to keep suzerainty of Yerevan and Chinguetti.

- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
Normal Classical, then Golden Medieval and Renaissance, then normal Industrial.

- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
Almost not at all, except they resulted in a plethora of city states that allowed for a massive faith output (was suzerain to about 5 religious city states at the end I think). Zombies were a minimal nuisance, Corporations felt irrelevant with all the Portuguese cash.

- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
I didn't know what would be required for a religious victory, and in the end I went overboard. By the time of the finish I was making ~750 fpt, probably almost three times as much as the rest of the world combined. And I took it very slowly- I first experimented with converting Byzantium before even trying to convert anyone else. I was surprised at how easy it is to convert even very large cities with Apostles carrying the Proselytizer and Translator promotions. In retrospect if I had started marching to conversion much earlier it would have shaved a lot of turns off the game, maybe as many as 50 - 60.

- Did you enjoy your game?
Yes, it was fun and I learned a lot, but Portugal really does seem very overpowered....

 

[Monthar]

Religious Victory Turn 146, Score 545.

I did settle in place. When I replay I'll move to the hill.

I'm still trying to break my bad habits, but I think I did quite well.

 

[A. mexicanum]

RV turn 117

I usually try to win a RV victory around turn 100. (It is the easiest victory imo) This one took a little longer.
Maybe because I only settled 3 cities instead of 4-5.

Started Scout - settler.
Left the first goodie hut for my scout and got really lucky with a relic, but too late for the first pantheon.
Went with Earth Goddess, later Reliquaries and Missionary Zeal, did not improve my religion.

I researched astro before mining, then the campus tech (thought I might need cartography), sailing came too late. I got my religion early and did not do enough scouting before, so I sent 3 missionaries east, which were kinda useless until much later.

With an early RV you sometimes don't need Apostles, since your missionaries can convert the AI before they can establish their religion. But this time I got unlucky. Neither Dido nor Basil got a great prophet, and for some reason England and the Netherlands both focused religion (as did Githarja and Suleiman, but thats expected), which slowed me down a lot.
I have to admit that I really did not concentrate enough and made a lot of mistakes. Like forgetting to buy missionaries/apostles on time or building a diplomatic quarter instead of a reserve (how does that happen, the're not even the same colour^^).
In the late game I only bought my religious units and did not really bother with anything else, eventually bought a forth settler out of desperation. (just portugal things)

Other stuff: Chinguetti was only half asa usual as normal, since my cities were so small. Also I suzereined the one that gives you relics for new continents and wonders, but since I did not have temples yet and could not wait to scout, that was sadly kinda wasted.

 

[Thorak]

RV T107
Was planning for a 1 city challenge first, but then I found such a good place to found my second city so I settled another one. Captured one city rather late and razed a few ones.

How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
Very good to get so many trade routes and the extra gold certainly helped. Later on also good faith through the city state.

When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
Heavy focus on getting first golden age as it cuts off a significant number of turns. I was worried to not make it but in the end I overshoot. There were only 2 ages.

How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
Almost nothing. The barbarian clan mode is very nice and probably the nicest mod of them all. This should have been implemented from the start.

Did you enjoy your game?
It was ok, but I am not a big fan of religious games, especially not on lower difficulty settings, but I needed a win with the civ.

 

[Arnold_T]

RV t95 525BC, score 246.

-What was your plan for achieving the VC? What are the major steps you planned to take?
Basic plan was a quick win by getting to Classical Golden Age and Exodus of the Evangelists. On the Archipelago map, because everything is connected by shallow water, using a one-charge scout not only finds the other civs early, but it also gets the era scores for finding them.

- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
the extra trade routes kinda felt like cheating. so much gold. bought all my temples with gold.

- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
settled capital on the hill north. settled 2nd city by the Fountain of Youth. third city, which probably wasn't even necessary, also close to the FoY so that its holy site would be adjacent to the FoY.

- What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
went Mining, Sailing, Astro, a few other various, and Shipbuilding when Missionaries were imminent.
Got Great Prophet t52, and the second religion, by doing a couple of Holy Site prayer projects.

- What were key production/purchase focuses?
Holy Sites, Shrines, Trade Routes, Temples, Missionaries, Apostles.

-Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
Earth Goddess given all the high appeal tiles around. Holy Order obviously. I also wanted Choral Music for the culture boost, but the civ that founded first stole it, so I ended up taking Feed the World (didn't really need the food boost, but didn't see anything better).

- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
Classical Republic with Scripture was optimal.

- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
Pingala in the Capital early with Connoisseur for the culture. midgame Amani was important after I lost Suz of Chinguetti to the Ottomans, and she enabled me to get Suz back there.

- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
got Friendships with everyone but England. made a lot of money trading strategics to them all.

- Were City-States helpful? Any competition with other civs for key city states?
not that helpful really. except for Chinguetti which gives crazy faith yields on trade routes.

When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
- Classical Golden - gotta have it!

- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
no impact really.

- How were the Barbarians?
they were easier than usual.

- Any surprises...?
I focused on converting the furthest civs first (Indonesia, Dutch, Ottomans - and Brazil and Bysantium on the way) before finishing off England and Phoenicia at the end. I was surprised though that Dido got her Great Prophet in 1125BC, but never founded her religion even by game end in 525BC. And when I look at her cities she doesn't even have a Holy Site! So how was she generating Great Prophet points? with the Revelation policy card I guess? but why? was she planning on stealing a Holy Site from me? She never mounted an attack. weird eh? I guess I got lucky that I really only had three religions to compete against instead of four.

- Did you enjoy your game?

Yes, fun game, thanks! It was my first game with Portugal, and the trade routes were fun, but I don't feel like I got the full Portugal experience So I will have to start up another Portugal game to get to the Nau, Navigation School, and the Feitoria.

 

[guslaet]

Just came here to register that I lost horribly. Couldn’t found a religion, which was ridiculous. I even tried it again (I know it’s against the rules, but I was not going to compete, nor even post results), and my second city was destroyed by those damned zombies. Man, I hate this Zombie mode. I'm laughing, but I mean it.

 

[leif erikson]

Just came here to register that I lost horribly. Couldn’t found a religion, which was ridiculous. I even tried it again (I know it’s against the rules, but I was not going to compete, nor even post results), and my second city was destroyed by those damned zombies. Man, I hate this Zombie mode. I'm laughing, but I mean it.

Sorry to hear about the hard luck.

You are allowed to play it through as many times as you like, just have to let us know it was not your first attempt. Best way to learn is to keep trying while reading what some of these other guys can do!

Best of luck and hope you have some fun.

 

[Arnold_T]

... I was surprised though that Dido got her Great Prophet in 1125BC, but never founded her religion even by game end in 525BC. And when I look at her cities she doesn't even have a Holy Site! So how was she generating Great Prophet points?

I was curious about this and wanted to find out how Dido was getting Great Prophet points, so I took a save file from before 1125BC (when she got the Great Prophet) and moved it to the multi-user save folder, and then loaded the game as a multi-player game, taking the Phoenician position. Turns out there was NOTHING that Dido was doing to generate Great Prophet points, yet somehow she was getting 4 Great Prophet points per turn. The save file is attached if you want to take a look for yourself. I guess it's just another way that the AI gets advantages on higher difficulty levels? I was not aware of this aspect of the AI advantages before ... free Great Prophet points explains a lot about why it's so hard to get a religion at higher difficulties.

 

[DanQuayle]

RV T101

I thought I was cruising for an easy sub T100 win, but Suleiman (who founded with Stonehenge and no Holy Site) eventually built a Holy Site and plopped down another city which required me to move other religious units all the way up there.

Governors
I went with Moksha/Patron Saints, but it comes too late to matter in such a short game. 5-charge apostles are enough. Yerevan also devalues this approach.

Religion
Earth Goddess
Work Ethic
Holy Order

City-states
Usually, you are capped at 4 city-states of the same type, but I presume the city-state picker was used here.
Suzerainty of Yerevan and Chinguetti were really useful.
I also became suzerain of Kandy, but I didn't find any natural wonder afterwards.

Portugal
It's a shame you also do not get +50% faith yields from trade routes.

I was curious about this and wanted to find out how Dido was getting Great Prophet points, so I took a save file from before 1125BC (when she got the Great Prophet) and moved it to the multi-user save folder, and then loaded the game as a multi-player game, taking the Phoenician position. Turns out there was NOTHING that Dido was doing to generate Great Prophet points, yet somehow she was getting 4 Great Prophet points per turn. The save file is attached if you want to take a look for yourself. I guess it's just another way that the AI gets advantages on higher difficulty levels? I was not aware of this aspect of the AI advantages before ... free Great Prophet points explains a lot about why it's so hard to get a religion at higher difficulties.

Exodus of the Evangelists Golden Age?

 

[A. mexicanum]

Exodus of the Evangelists Golden Age?

correct

 

[Victoria]

Couldn’t found a religion

Get a holy site then run a few religious projects, works a treat.
Zombies can turn out to be a dead end pretty quickly. Having a galley to put in the city is what. Had, but did not need.

 

[guslaet]

Get a holy site then run a few religious projects, works a treat.
Zombies can turn out to be a dead end pretty quickly. Having a galley to put in the city is what. Had, but did not need.

I used to do that regularly (fast holy site + projects), but since they changed the AI a bit and I noticed it was not that hard to get a Great Prophet as it used to be, I started being more relaxed and to find a spot with at least +3 Holy Site (to get golden age points). This clearly didn’t work this time, as the best spot was close to the Fountain of Youth. And in the second run, I settled way down the peninsula and then a Barbarian Camp showed exactly over the strait, blocking my path to the wonder. Amazing!

Nice tip about the galley. Thanks a lot!

 

[guslaet]

Sorry to hear about the hard luck.

You are allowed to play it through as many times as you like, just have to let us know it was not your first attempt. Best way to learn is to keep trying while reading what some of these other guys can do!

Best of luck and hope you have some fun.

Please, don’t be sorry. You guys are fantastic planning all these games. The main reason I avoid replaying (except when I have a pretty fast failure) is because I get to know the terrain and I think this spoils the surprise element. I started another game trying to keep the same parameters of this map (Emperor, Archipelago, Standard, lots of resources, Barnarian Clans, Corporations, but not Zombies) to try João III with religion. I was able to get my religion this time. Let’s see how it goes.

 

[Arnold_T]

Exodus of the Evangelists Golden Age?

aha, yes, that’s it exactly!

I forget about that +4GP points for Exodus, because who doesn’t already have their Great Prophet before Classical Age?!?
I guess the same dumb AI who doesn’t have a Holy Site ready for their Great Prophet, that’s who.
To be fair though, I think Dido was having a lot of trouble with the Barbs (and zombies), she only had two cities settled at end of game.

 

[kcd_swede]

aha, yes, that’s it exactly!

I forget about that +4GP points for Exodus, because who doesn’t already have their Great Prophet before Classical Age?!?
I guess the same dumb AI ...

I will humbly admit being as dumb as a dumb AI... I have done that at least once or twice, getting a Prophet and having no way to use it. I've also purchased GMerch and had no commercial district to use it. I prefer to look at it as comedy, rather than tragedy, but it is what it is.

 

[isopaha]

RV 169. Quite an easy game, not really challenged by barbarians, AI military (though I thought at some point England might attack, but they were just barb hunting) nor enemy religious units. AIs built mainly missionaries and some gurus. I think about 70% of my conversion was made by apostles using charges. Dido I did not bother converting, just waited for automatic spread.

Joao seems really strong, though on pangaea obviously not so much. The ships were not that great though.

 

[tarafran]

RV114 3 Cities fast and easy fun game with a little challenge from a ton of barbs navy
thanks