6otM123 Announcement

[Eyswein]

Welcome to the 123rd game in the 6OTM Series! These games will allow new and old GOTM fans to try out the new features in Civ6 in a friendly environment. Participants are encouraged to post questions, stories, advice, tricks and failures in the dedicated game threads (described below). Each game will specify the Civ you will play and the Victory Condition to strive for. We will be working to refine the 6otM concept as we move ahead with the series. Gifting of cities is an exploit in a religious VC as the AI cant see that it will lose if it accepts the cities.


Must Read!

We would like to ask you to abide by our most sacred rule: Don’t replay any turns! If you make a mistake, accept it and try to recover. To ensure fair play and prevent results exclusions, please set your Autosaves to 1 turn. In the event of a computer crash while playing, just reload to the previous save and play it as closely to how you played it the first time. Please let Leif know (via Conversation (Private Message)) if you experienced a crash and how many turns you replayed.

Civ VI - 6otM123 Details:

Player (You): Basil II – Byzantine
Victory Condition: Domination or Religious but all other VCs are enabled.
Difficulty: Deity
Civs/City-States (including player): 12/24
Map Type/Size: TSL Earth Huge / Huge Size
Game pace: Standard
Disaster Intensity: 0
Game Mode(s): Monopolies & Corporations, Barbarian Clan Mode

Game options:
Start - Ancient Era
Enabled - Barbarians; Tribal Villages
Game Version: This game was created in Civ6 Gathering Storm version 1.0.12.9.
Game Requirements: vanilla version of Civilization VI with Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm expansions. All pre-NFP & NFP DLCs are required.

Here is where you will start:

Basil II – Byzantine Unique Attributes:

Spoiler Unique Attributes :

Basil II Leader Bonus: Porphyrogénnētos - Heavy and light cavalry units deal full damage when attacking cities following the same Religion as Byzantium. Gain the Tagma unique unit with Divine Right.

Unique Ability: Taxis- +3 Combat and Religious Strength for all units for each Holy City converted to Byzantium's Religion (including Byzantium's own Holy City). Byzantium's Religion is spread to nearby cities when a unit from an enemy civilization or city-state is defeated. +1 Great Prophet point from Holy Sites.

Unique Unit: Tagma - Replaces Knight; Unlocked by Divine Right
Common abilities: Ignores enemy zone of control.
Special abilities: Grants nearby land units +4 Combat Strength or +4 Religious Strength.

Unique Unit: Dromon - Replaces Quadrireme; Unlocked by Shipbuilding
Common abilities: Cannot enter Ocean tiles until Cartography has been researched.
Special abilities: +10 Combat Strength against land and naval units.
Special traits: Has a ranged attack with Range 2.

Unique Infrastructure: Hippodrome - Replaces Entertainment Complex; Unlocked by Games & Recreation
Effects: Lower Production cost (27 vs. 54); +3 Amenities from entertainment to parent city; Amenities from the Zoo and Stadium buildings extend to cities whose City Centers are up to 6 tiles away from the district; Provides a free heavy cavalry unit when first constructed and for each building constructed; These units require no resource to be created or maintain.

Information about threads associated with each individual 6otM -- Must Read if you are new to our Game of the Month!
Please note: If you wish to make a video of your game, please do not post any links to it until after the game submission date has passed. This is because of the potential spoilers that are created by posting before the end date. Thank you for your cooperation.

Spoiler :

Announcement thread (this one): This thread is used to announce the game and clarify the settings and rules (don't be afraid to ask questions). It's also used to discuss the game before you start, and post problems with opening the save. Once you have opened the save, DO NOT POST in the Announcement thread, even non game-related information. Instead use the next thread.

Opening Actions thread: This thread is used to discuss the game's opening decisions and strategies through the first 100 or so turns. Here you can post questions related to the game and share your achievements/anger/frustration/victories while you play. We encourage players to use the spoiler tags for screenshot. During the time the game is active, please do not post any information concerning the game outside of the spoiler threads including screen shots, videos, or recorded/live-cast Let's Plays on other websites.

After Actions thread: In this thread you can post the results of your game. Please state your victory/loss date and final score (preferably in the post title) and describe your path to glory in this post! Players are encouraged to provide feedback on the game. Some players like to replay the game, and although we will not record the results from a replay, you can still post your new experiences. The game will not be closed as such, but after one month, the results will be compiled, and will not necessarily be updated with reports coming in after the finish date.

File Upload System
In development.

This game runs for a month and ends December15th, 2021.

The save is attached below.

 

[Eyswein]

For those not used to playing at Deity strongly recommend this one. Incredible synergies for Basil for Domination or Religious victory.

For those who often play at Deity, this could be a ‘huge’ speed run.

No in game spoilers, but some strategic thoughts for those that normally don’t play at Deity level. This is a good one to try:

Spoiler A few thoughts, no in game spoilers :

Whether going for Domination or Religion, Basil has an OP synergy between Domination and Religion. In short, due to synergies and civ/leader traits, you can focus on 1) getting a religion with Crusade belief, 2) combat with cavalry and ships, 3) spreading religion through combat and/or religious units.

TSL maps give you some advanced knowledge. For example, 2N of settler starting location is horses.

At deity level, all religions are usually taken between T60-70, so don’t dilly-dally. With the TSL map, you can look up where the natural wonders are that will provide a boost to Astrology. Taxis ability will help you get there a little faster. Exodus of the Evangelists can be a huge boost to getting a religion faster and really helps spread your religion. Combat helps spread your religion and, if you take Crusade religious belief, religion will help your combat strength when you are within the borders of a foreign city that follows that religion.

Hippodromes (and arenas) can give you free Tagma units for less overall cost than building them directly. Consider saving a district space for them and/or placing them early and finish building them after you get Divine Rights. Is the district you are about to build as important as the future “free” Tagma units? It is a tradeoff – is it worth it for your plan.

With Porphyrogénnētos , cavalry units do full damage to city walls (no need for melee units and siege weapons!), but only when the city follows your religion. Either with religious units or by spreading your religion by killing enemy units nearby, this is insanely powerful.

Dromon are very powerful and are a very early range 2 that can help more than just on the coast. If set up properly they can have incredible combat strength For example: So the AI is slightly ahead in tech and now has Man-At-Arms around with 49 combat strength (45 base, +4 for difficulty level). But your older tech Dromon is 51 combat strength (25 base, +10 vs units, +10 because you took the Crusader belief and are near an enemy city (which means within its borders), +6 from Taxis (your Holy City + you’ve converted 1 other Holy city to your religion). Even your Horseman is holding up in the right conditions at 52 combat strength (36 base, +10 crusader, +6 taxis). If the sites are available, using a city to create the Suez or Panama Canal can give your ships significantly faster routes.

Because Tagma are unlocked by the Culture tree (Divine Right), you can focus the Science tree on Cartography to be able to reach the Americas (and/or other locations only reachable by the sea) if needed.

With Barbarian Clan Mode, dispersing a camp adds +10 XP to units. Consider using this to help get units get their second promotion a little faster when available. A horseman that can raid more efficiently or a Tagma with more district damage are both nice.

In the later game you can imagine an insane Tagma unit at 85 combat strength (50 base, +4 nearby Tagma, +10 crusade, +21 taxis (maxed out for huge map)). That doesn’t even consider promotions, great general, or other bonuses. That is higher than a modern era AI base infantry unit at 79 combat strength (75 base, +4 difficulty level).

 

[Monthar]

I think I'll settle on the wine and work the citrus for super fast early growth, a luxury immediately, and better defense.

 

[Planktonic]

That is no country for old men ...

Just curious- in the TSL Huge Earth map are the natural wonders pre-set (always the same) or can you change them as the game designer?

Looking/hoping for Pamukkale but don't see it in the image from the load file....

 

[Eyswein]

in the TSL Huge Earth map are the natural wonders pre-set (always the same) or can you change them as the game designer?

They are pre-set.