Gods, what a horrific slogfest.
Domination Victory, turn 312. First try c full zombie action.
Three things saved my bacon this game: 1. getting a religion first thing. 2. timely recruitment of heroes. 3. deciding up front that on a Seven Seas map it was extremely unlikely I will win this thing quickly (not the fastest domination player by any stretch), so planning for the long haul.
I beelined for a religion, figuring the passive benefits would be worth it for an expected long game, plus I would need the faith anyway to re-summon heroes so may as well get a religious benefit too. Luckily, the first goodie hut I popped gave me the Eureka for Astrology, so I built the first holy site very quickly. This proved extremely useful: on two very early occasions zombies were threatening to overrun my capital, but I was able to hold them off with a warrior and a slinger until I could Turn Undead (since I had built a holy site). Turn Undead takes fewer turns to complete than Dark Signal, the campus-based option, which was again critical in the very early game, especially as I hadn't even built a campus (or met any other civ) at the time, and every turn mattered.
Then on two occasions (well, more than two but these were crucial in the early game) I had a swarm of zombies surround cities, first the capital and then later another major city. In both cases I would have lost the cities but was already recruiting heroes at the time. In the first case, Sinbad manifested just in time and raised the combat strength of the city so high that the zombies wasted themselves on it. In the second case Hercules came through and both raised the CS of the city and then dispatched the zombies.
But I did lose my second city to zombies. I thought it would be strong enough to hold off a zombie, but then 2 more spawned right next to it and it was attacked by the three of them. I tried to build walls and thought I would succeed, but zombie attacks robbed the city of three population, meaning the walls took successively longer to build, and there was nothing I could do to rescue it. This had major implications for the rest of the game, as I had used that city to summon Mulan, and after it was lost I could never summon Mulan again, which would have helped my midgame immensely.
Founding a religion also gave me another defense in the late game. I realized, after around 280 turns as I was finally rapidly conquering other civs, that Lady Six Sky had already converted 6 civs and was therefore 6/7 on the way to a Religious Victory. Amazing to me, I was one of the converted civs! I had acquired so many cities at that point that she had already converted to Shinto that my own religion (Sikhism) wasn't even dominant in my own empire: hers was. I had to quickly launch an Inquisition and steadily claw back my own empire from her religious clutches. If I hadn't founded a religion, I would have had no defense at all (except I guess to eliminate her).
- 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?
As I mentioned, I figured on a Seven Seas map that this would take a long time, so I planned to build as much infrastructure as I could before warring. Still, I launched the first war at the end of the Classical against China with 5 hetairoi and a Great General. The first major target city got walls up before I could take it but I was able to raze a smaller satellite city and capture a Settler. This was important because it created space in which I was able to found a city with the captured Settler at quite some remove from my empire but still free from loyalty pressure. In a later mid-game war with China I was able to capture another Settler, and actually thereby create a second nexus of cities for my civilization.
- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
Healing all units after capturing a Wonder is amazing, especially in the late game when a lot of Wonders have been built. I've never played Macedon before but I found this to be a powerful ability.
- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
The core of the empire was about 8 founded cities, plus a second grouping of cities descended from stolen Settlers up north. I also got lucky: Korea was way ahead of me technologically and was knocking down Caguana's walls (I was the suzerain). I didn't have the military to protect the city, but at the last minute I declared war on my own suzerainty and Hercules was able to sneak in and snipe the city after the walls were down and the garrison had been reduced to almost nothing. Caguana served to bridge my lower main empire with the smaller group of northern cities originating from the stolen Chinese settlers.
- What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
Astrology first, then Horseback Riding, then Bronze Working.
- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
As mentioned, getting Holy Sites first was key for me. Did manage to build Terracotta Army, otherwise had no chance to spare production for Wonders.
- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
I settled the first city on the lux for culture, figuring it would get me to God King faster. Then I built a +3 holy site pretty quick, so I was able to get the first pantheon and took Religious Settlements.
I got the second religion, and took Work Ethic (extremely important for my early game productivity) and World Church. I am really fond of this belief, as culture for me remains hard to acquire, but with World Church I was pretty much able to keep up with culture just by passive spread of my religion as the empire grew. Never built a Theater Square the whole game (ended up capturing a bunch though).
- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
Oligarchy, to Monarchy, to Fascism. Researched a tier 4 government but never switched to it as I was satisfied c Fascism.
- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
Magnus for generating settlers without population loss (there was enough of that with the zombies; I think I lost more than 30 population over the course of the game from zombie attacks. In the early and mid-games it was a really debilitating phenomenon, as it meant long delays in getting down districts. Luckily, Hercules made up for that somewhat, and Moksha with Divine Architect did the rest after I got him promoted. Didn't use Pingala at all this game until very late when I needed him to help with loyalty).
- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
Almost no diplomacy to speak of. Remained at war with everyone for very long stretches of time.
- Were City-States helpful? Any competition with other civs for key city states?
Not useful in this game much.
- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
Golden Classical, dark Medieval, Heroic Renaissance, then Golden thereafter thru Information
- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
- How were the Barbarians?
Zombies were literally a constant menace, affecting everything until the very late game when units and cities were strong enough to resist them easily. (Final mutation strength of the zombies in this game = 90. They were stronger than tanks at the end.) Of the 312 turns, I estimate that >90% involved some element of zombie combat, often facing up to a dozen or more zombies across the empire at once. The zombies were much more menacing than the civs, although the civs were bad enough. Zulu, Korea, Greece and Maya were all over 300 score ahead of me at one point. Zulus reached 2600 combat strength. It was a real struggle to overcome the AIs also, accomplished at last only when I could assemble an airforce of 8 bombers/jet bombers and an equal number of tank/modern armor armies.
- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
Losing Mulan was a bitter blow. If I had retained her I suspect I would have done much better. Finding out that I was on the cusp of a religious loss was also really worrisome, but luckily by that point my faith accumulation was high enough that I could take forthright steps to correct.
- Did you enjoy your game?
Yes at first, then no as it became tooth-grindingly difficult, then elation at winning.
Thanks for a really memorable and challenging game. But let's not do it again any time soon....
