Welcome to the 6otM137 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 attach 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? - What were your initial 5-10 builds in the capital or other early cities?
- Early order for technology/civics? What did you prioritize for technology/civics? - 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 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?
- When did you have Dark/Golden ages? - How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
- 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.
- 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?
I didn't really have any plan, apart maybe from getting a religion and hoping for an early relic, which I didn't get. So I just played a pretty standard Peter cultural game.
- What were your initial 5-10 builds in the capital or other early cities?
2 scouts, settler, holy site, another settler then Artemis temple.
- Early order for technology/civics? What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
I went straight for holy sites as there was a wonder very close to the capital, then I tried to rush Artemis and the Oracle. I tried to prioritize civics that had governor titles to have more great people point with Pingala.
- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
Obsviously with Peter it's quite easy to have a lot of faith and an early religion, and with voidsingers this converts in culture, which is good. 2 Monumentality helped me settled around 10 more cities before turn 100. Early great people points were also great and helped me have a full monopoly on writer / artists
- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
I settled I believe 12 or 13 cities. First one in place, second one on the other side of the wonder and third one closer to Gilgamesh to keep a bit of space. Then I filled the space in the little tundra strip, before settling down along the coast until the fountain of youth.
- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
I got two early scouts that helped me find all the other civs very quickly, which is key in a culture victory. I had to wait until the 7th tribal village to get the voidsingers though.
- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
I obviously would have liked dance of the aurora but it was taken, as I settled in place and didn't have early faith. I took instead the camp pantheon, which is fine for the early game but a bit less interesting after. For religious beliefs I took the production one and the one giving culture per followers. I was planning to have big cities thanks to Artemis and many farms.
- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
First I got classical republic then monarchy and then theocracy. Used the 100% holy sites adjacencies and the increased builder charges one, especially after I got the Pyramids.
- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
Magnus for chops and settlers, Pingala for GPP, Voidsingers.
- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
I was friendly with most of the civs but they still made me pay for open borders, them rascals.
- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
Only golden ages.
- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
Voidsingers obviously impacted a lot, with the second level. Hercules for the builds and Himiko for the faith were also quite helpful. I didn't really pay attention to industries & cie.
- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
I had to clear 7 tribal villages before getting the voidsingers, that was quite frustrating. To be honest it was also a bit frustrating to settle in place and miss on the early faith. I didn't want to take the risk to move towards a possibly worth tile..
Russia for culture with Heroes, SS, and M+C? Plus a Natural Wonder already revealed? Had all the makings for a relatively quick game and did not disappoint. Although the rest of that peninsula was pretty crappy land...
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?
Since there were Heroes decided to go for a Reliquaries game with Theater Squares as a secondary focus. But initially forgot about the importance of M+C and didn't settle to gain luxuries, just to maximize my city count and protect loyalty (Sumeria was also expanding). Later decided I had to war on Sumeria to get control of some monopolies, which did ultimately help (monopolized all 4 luxuries) but also hurt, as I got denounced by almost everyone and couldn't trade for any more Heroic relics.
- What were your initial 5-10 builds in the capital or other early cities?
Almost always Lavra then TS, except for coastal cities where I usually went for Harbor first.
- Early order for technology/civics? What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
Astrology first, then to Horseback Riding. For Civics obviously head to PP, then D+P, then Theology. Did make it to Conservation and Cultural Heritage by the end of the game.
- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
Only really useful thing was the Lavra, still the best district in the game imo even after the nerf.
- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
Settled 8 Core cities (almost all through Classical Era Monumentality), then 3 more late game for luxuries, also took 5 from Sumeria and 2 from India.
- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
Siege units and Hercules supplied all the muscle necessary. Did not expend faith on Apostles to suicide as I was using it to try to gain access to monopolies in other ways. By the end I had a ton of excess faith so I should have done that but got lazy.
- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
Religious Settlements. Saw the hint of tundra and moved the original settler northeast to investigate and found Dead Sea on turn 1. Settled near it which was critical in helping me get to a Golden Classical. Took Reliquaries and Gurdwara as first beliefs; should have taken something other than Gurdwara. Sumerian cities ended up with Choral Music from the Sumerian religion. Never completed the religion.
- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
Classical republic to Monarchy to Theocracy.
- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
Pingala , maximally promoted.
- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
Befriended Gilgamesh immediately, made sure to keep it up until I decided I needed his luxuries. Ended up eliminating him- I needed the last city for its luxury to get the monopoly, but killing off a civ made 5 of the other 6 remaining civs denounce me and then lost Open Borders and ability to trade for relics. Not sure it was worth it in retrospect.
- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
All Golden. Game ended in Renaissance.
- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
It has been written in these forums that the modes are overpowering for the human player versus the AI, which is very true. Having 3 such powerful modes means you can play very sloppily (which I think I did in some respects- I didn't bother much with trade routes and open borders, for example, and paid no attention to science at all with Voidsingers and the Chorus promotion) and still prevail pretty handily. I've come to enjoy the Barbarian Clans mode and the Zombie mode, as they can provide an additional layer of challenge, but don't much care for the others.
- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
Pretty straightforward game. Hungary of all civs ended up being the cultural defender, which was a bit of a surprise.
- Did you enjoy your game?
Yes, certainly.
- 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 get to know Civ6 better, I see that relic CV for religious civs is the first best choice. Also Heroes mode makes toruism from relic religion stronger by buffing heroic relics. Voidsinger obelisks provided slots for pelics and books. This time also there were many strong religious civs so getting martyr relics was relatively easy - I should've switched much sooner from constructing buildings and faith-buying workers to reading projects and popping apostoles.
I went pure culture - lavras, govt plaza, and theatres were almost only districts I built myself. Also built one industrial in capital to get GEs for wonders, but they came only 3rd and 4th, didn't have time to get last, so those weren't hammers well spent.
Interesting decision points:
- when saw good city-states for relics and books and cultural victory overall (Anshan, religious, cultural) picked Himiko as my first hero to secure 2 closest city-states. They also helped me with my first war. Didn;t notice before Himiko's "general" bonus, noticed a bit late, but still had few turns to use - it stacks with regular general.
- when saw that I'm cornere on a low-hammer flatland, decided to go for Gilgamesh - an advice for everyone wiped out by Gilgamesh, always propose friendship to him when first meet, he doesn't need to like you to accept. I went through 1 FS, then he went to war with Poland and I backstabbed him with 3 horses, Beowulf (for killing defending units within cities and cavalry in the field) and later man-at-arms upgraded from starting warrior.
- when I met Yerevan I scrapped the plans to build Mont StMichel
- Dead Sea unique properties made it an ideal place to just fortify a warrior on a hill and watch barbs suicide.
- What were your initial 5-10 builds in the capital or other early cities?
- Scout, slinger (for archery boost and to protect from barbs who started spawning a turn or 2 before), lavra, 2 settlers and a worker, Artemis.
- Early order for technology/civics? What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
Science: Holy sites, Animal HB for pantheon camps and Archery for Artemis, mining, pottery, Horseback (didn't rush it as only 1 horse source makes early horse rush impossible) for the attack on Gilgamesh, Masonry to chop in the capital and provide tiles for districts. Then to Apprenticeship and Construction for much-needed production from mines, industries, lumbermills (and man-at-arms), then Printing to boost tourism from books, then whatever; got frigate tech for faster Himiko movement towards Yerevan.
Culture: picked up cavalry production card before Political Philosophy for push on Gilgamesh. Then went for Monarchy, Feudalism, Theocracy. Didn't reach any cards materially affecting tourism.
- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
Cheap lavras were the backbone of my strat, as well as culture GPs from religious buildings.Other than that, had only 1 tundra city and didn't reach cossacks.
- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
Settle in place, next city on stone SW, third near tundra foxes NW. Gilgamesh was expanding fast screwing my settling plans, so had to settle 2 on E coast above and below Anshan. Captured settler settled river N from Mohenjo, would not have built it myself.
Captured 5 cities from Gilgamesh (1 useless) and 3 from Chandragupta. In Gilga's 2nd city was entertainment district - chopped arena and Colloseum there. In 3rd was Etemenanki for 2 tiles(
- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
Overbuilt buildings and wonders fearing stronger cultural resistance - could've won without Kilwa, Pyramids, Mahabodhi (shoul've definitely left to Poland for better opposition to my martyr apostols), industrial district and projects for unfinished StBasil, and even Colloseum wasn't material. Major construction: districts, buildings, few unts. Workers from Monumentality. Units mostly upgraded.
- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
Goddess of the Hunt pantheon, best for early tempo.
Religion: relics and all payouts from wonders (planned Artemis and taking Sumer cities, who by then had Stonehenge and was building Etemenanki)
Then boosted religion by Cathedral, but finished too soon to build even one. Should've instead taken cheaper apostols sooner.
- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
Started wth Autocracy for Artemis, then Republic for legacy card (neary never used). Monarchy and Theocracy.
Key cards, first ~30 moves: +5 vs barbs. +1 hammer, then cavalry production. Briefly used +50% to settlers, then +100% from holy sites. At Reformed Church started using +50% to religious buidlings' faith output. In the end put in +1 movement for faster apostols and + GE points (useless)
- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
Pingala (including tourism promo) and Amani
- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
Trading luxes and some strategics, much more rewarding at higher levels - allowed me to buy tiles, buidlings and upgrade units without Tithe or commercials/harbors.
Allied Poland and Spain
Killed Gilgamesh, crippled Chandragupta.
Musa killed my Kandi before I could get any relics from it.
- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
All golden Monumentality, although the last should've went for faster apostols.
- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
Almost no effect from Corporations (extra food from industries the most noticeable effect, as well as Great Merchant I had nowhere to use)
Societies impacting significantly, thanks to Voidsinger obelisks Russia is no longer a warehouse of unused great writers and artists.
Heroes also played large part, Beowulf can help you destroy enemy army single-handedly, although the twins that bring enemy unit to life on your side could've a good alternative. Himiko is a key to the heart of any (nearby) city-state and a general as well.
- Did you enjoy your game?
Yes, thank you very much for your dedication!
Peaceful game (Hint Gilgamesh will always accept friendship as soon as you meet him). Built a few wonders, recruited a few heroes, including Hercules & Sinbad. Founded a religion with bonus tourism from relics and picked Void Singers.
Re-ran the game in a peaceful minimalist style from autosave turn 30, zero wars, few cities (6 + 1 useless - didn't manage minimalism 100%), Gilgamesh provided some good opposition to my apostles, got 1 relic from Kandy too. Every city started with lavra, 2nd district Theatre, only capital made 2nd district a Govt plaza, no more districts. All the rest money and faith spent on apostles and buildings, sometimes units for city-state quests, production in the end went for Theatre projects.
Same governors, 1st hero now Hercules for 3 starting theatres, 2nd Himiko as there was some major melee for Anshan. Btw, discovered that if you disband Hero yourself, you instantly get his/her relic and can hire back in the next era.
Great people were lacking 1 Art Museum in the end, otherwise there was (just) enough space for all great works and relics - not enough opposition to create relics, actually.
Plan
First time playing Peter the grand way for me. That is, building Lavra's for great works and expanding for monopolies. The civilization bonuses really build up together and it shows on the result. Went Reliquaries and tried to bump a good deal of Heroes and once I had Yerevan, apostles. I found Kandy too late and could not fetch any relic from there.
Early game
I sent a delegation to Gilgamesh and declared friendship with him on the first turn I met him, he has that nice characteristic and did not want early wars. I settled on place because it was the only river tile that would not lose a resource. First expansion went towards SW, because Gilgamesh was expanding there too and I feared he would block me with just too little space, then I expanded NE where I could fit good Lavra's next to the Dead Sea natural wonder. Maybe the lavra cities should had been prioritized. Maybe I should have skipped the two campuses and encampment, going hardcore on the Lavra was certainly better here, but I like the sure-footing when you go so blind still on the early steps and so many assumptions and plans can go wrong, in addition to the culture boosts they give you a very strong base to compete on war and science on the long run.
My early warriors and slinger made sure the barbarians were no problem during this phase.
On T38 I joined Gilgamesh on his war against Chandragupta, hoping to fetch more territory for Lavra's and Theater squares, as the initial corner felt very constrained and poor (except for the capital and natural wonder).
Cities
Founded 20 cities, conquered 8 and flipped 1 to loyalty.
Well, I love developing the empire, and Russia is just so strong to do it, so I kept spawning settlers with Monumentality and the Lavra's faith economy even after there was anything useful to grasp with them.
Diplomacy
Tried to maintain a good relationship with everyone and almost did except with Chandragupta, as Gilgamesh and I warred with him for almost all the game. On T67 I had met all the civilizations already, which is good for a cultural game, because more civs means more people to receive your tourism, the earliest you start the better. Interestingly, most of the scouting was done by a slinger. The valuable hero survived all the mad AI's encounters and ultimately joined others forming a Corps. This was supported also by Sinbad who found the last two civs.
On T114, Phillip joined Chandragupta on an Emergency War for Delhi. A total failure that played on my interest as he was leading the cultural race. The war dragged him (he was leading on science and military) and ultimately Jadwiga came as the cultural civ to win. Peace with Chandragupta arrived on T145 just after the emergency failed. I should have made peace with Phillip too, to focus my efforts and policies on winning the Tourism race, but I was just having too much fun to relent!
Later on, I had alliances, and I used the cultural one with Gilgamesh to avoid loyalty problems with the conquered cities, until I felt strong enough to switch it to Economic and use the loyalty system to take Gilgamesh cities instead.
Phillip was the cultural threshold to win, until the war hold him and Jadwiga became the number to beat.
Wonders
I went after the Temple of Artemis, it was so good for the capital location! And it resulted to be vital, as there were little luxuries to keep happiness up. The Colosseum later on helped too. On the floodplains city I built the Etemenanki, to help with science (I felt behind) and ultimately helped production with so many marshes, specially around Delhi. I wanted the Pyramids on my third city, but failed that. Instead I built there the Forbidden City later on.
Other priorities were the Mahabodhi Temple on my 6th city, and Mont St. Michel on 10th. I was still building St. Basil's Cathedral when the game finished, I should have instead built a preserve to make that tundra shine.
I conquered the Great Bath, but there was a single flood providing faith there.
The Dead Sea was very useful, basically for the good adjacency it gave to my initial Lavra's. I bathed my early units on the Fountain of Youth, which helped on the war, but did no bother to do it with the mid-game units.
Monopolies, Heroes and Orders
The monopolies can certainly give you a great push on tourism and I expanded having that into account. On the late game I expanded to fetch some luxuries that have just a couple of copies in the map. By the end I had 5 monopolies which granted me a +434% bonus to tourism, way better than trade routes or open borders.
Hercules took a lot to appear (T105) and from all the others I had available only Sinbad seamed of real use to me. He sailed the ocean and found all the remaining civs, bringing back tones of coin I used to buy my early shrines and temples. The rest of the heroes I basically tried to knock them against the barbarians to drop their epics. I read from @Lexad now that you can just disband them. Well that would have certainly made things faster. But it was a lot of fun to convert the barbarians to my side and use them to conquer Agra and Phillip's cities.
The orders selection seemed clear on this one: Voidsingers. Plenty of extra faith, slots to put the Lavra's works, and from the Medieval age forward, convert that faith to other yields. In fact the gold provided by this mechanic might be enough to even avoid building economic infrastructure and focus on more shrines and temples instead.
Again, these modes render the AI useless, past their initial turns advantage. Comparing the luxuries offered on a monopolies game and on a regular one makes it clear. None of them had more than one luxury type, and that is for those that even dared build a plantation... This mode is totally broken.
Religion
Peter is all about building a faith economy. With Voidsingers that is even a stronger statement. I used Monumentality to convert that faith into expansion, builders and trade routes for the +25% tourism bonus and extra envoys to city-states.
For Pantheon I went Divine Spark, because there was no mountain ranges on view for Earth Goddes and the Aurora one was already picked. For believes I gave priority to Reliquaries, and then to Religious Orders, to have more apostles to send into sacrifice.
Final state
Writing works: 10 (4 from peace with Changdrupta, no one else got writings)
Relics: 5
Epics: 7
Religious works: 3
Great works output: 45 culture, 102 faith, 25 science, 308 tourism
Civilizations that have discovered the Enlightenment: Jadwiga, Matthias and Robert (-50%)
Civilizations NOT following my religion: All except Chandragupta (-50%)
Open borders: Everyone except Phillip (+25%)
Trade routes: Gilgamesh, Jadwiga, Chandragupta, Mansa Musa (+25%)
Monopolies: 5 (+434%)
I enjoyed having a strong civilization for expansion, as that is what I basically tend to do in most of my games really
Thanks a lot for the game!
SpoilerFull log :
1 - Ancient Era; Siberia St. Petersburg Hermetic Order Dead Sea
5 - Village (sailing)
7 - Anshan
8 - Warrior Gilgamesh
13 - Astrology Chinguetti Amani
14 - Slinger
16 - Code of Laws
18 - Lavra Owls of Minerva Village (+1 envoy) Chinguetti♟ Oya
20 - Barbarian camp (+35 gold)
21 - Mining Mohenjo-Daro Fountain of Youth
23 - Pantheon (Divine Spark)
25 - Chandragupta
27 - Settler
30 - Moscow
32 - Barbarian camp (+35 gold)
33 - Builder
34 - Bronze Working
36 - Mohenjo-Daro♟ Mulan
38 - Foreign Trade Sun Wukong Buenos Aires Trader Joined War to Chandragupta
39 - Animal Husbandry Jadwiga
40 - Confucius Religion (Reliquaries, Holy Order)
41 - Craftsmanship La Venta
42 - Settler
44 - Sailing
45 - Novgorod
46 - Spearman Builder
48 - Nena Simbad Monument
49 - Slinger
50 - Classical Era (Golden Age - Monumentality) Early Empire Magnus Builder Hunza Mato Tipila
51 - Pottery Simbad Phillip Granary
52 - Monument Chinguetti
53 - Pangea
54 - Irrigation
55 - State Workforce Barbarian camp (+35 gold) Provision (Magnus) Settler
56 - Archery Writing Hippolyta Builder
57 - Yerevan Hong Kong Kandy
58 - Monument Shrine
59 - Masonry
60 - Political Philosophy Autocracy Encampment
61 - Voronezh Vaalbara (+400 gold) Valletta
62 - Currency Village (mathematics) Monument Granary
63 - Wheel Water mill Matthias
64 - Barracks Builder
65 - Temple of Artemis Mansa Musa Bologna
66 - Horseback Riding Drama and Poetry Government plaza Liang Oligarchy
67 - Military Tradition Barbarian camp (+35 gold) Robert Met all civilizations
68 - Village (+20 iron) Ayutthaya
69 - Granary
70 - Mysticism
71 - Barbarian camp (+35 gold) Epic Builder Settler
72 - Construction Campus
73 - Theology Etemenanki Settler
74 - Theater square
75 - Barbarian camp (+35 gold) Warrior Village (?) Anansi Voidsingers
78 - Mathematics Games and Recreation Hunahpu & Xbalanque
79 - Archer
80 - Granary Water mill Library
81 - Iron Working Epic Ancestral hall Voidsingers Barbarian camp (+35 gold) Kazan Builder
82 - La Venta
83 - Archer
84 - Yaroslavl Builder
85 - Defensive Tactics Settler
86 - Hannibal Barca Settler
87 - Apprenticeship Builder Ancient walls Village (+60 faith)
88 - Builder Heavy chariot Ancient walls Nizhny Novgorod Builder Arkhangelsk Builder
89 - Old god obelisk
90 - Engineering
91 - Medieval Era (Golden Age - Monumentality) Feudalism Aqueduct
92 - Celestial Navigation Archer Mohenjo-Daro Lavra
93 - Military Training Qu Yuan Himiko Apadana Warrior
94 - Lavra Settler Man-at-arms Granary
96 - Recorded History Campus Chorus (Voidsingers) Temple Spearman Campus
97 - Military Engineering Mercenaries Ancient walls Delhi Builder Builder Granary Buenos Aires♟ Beowulf
98 - Commercial hub
99 - Shrine
100 - Machinery Olonets Builder Settler
101 - Old god obelisk
102 - Builder Builder Amphitheater Lavra
103 - Education Civil Service Jadwiga (militar) Robert (economic) Matthias (research)
104 - Man-at-arms
105 - Commercial hub Temple Tver Builder Lavra Harbor Hercules
106 - Stirrups Divine Right Monarchy Harbor Market Mansa Musa (religious)
107 - Hunahpu & Xbalanque Market Trader Archer
108 - Settler Granary
109 - Military Tactics Guilds Pingala Village (+120 gold)
110 - Trader Library Epic Gilgamesh (cultural)
111 - Water mill Lavra Man-at-arms Shrine
112 - Banking Lighthouse Yerevan♟ Hong Kong♟ Arthur Apostle Varu
113 - Entertainment complex Old god obelisk Varu
114 - Castles Diplomatic Service Phillip declares me joining Chandragupta on an Emergency war for Delhi Wat Tambov Builder Trader Temple Pikeman Pikeman
115 - Medieval Faires Builder Builder Armory Connoisseur (Pingala)
116 - Trung Trac Crossbowman Knight Crossbowman
117 - Gunpowder Old god obelisk Scout Varu
118 - Arena Industrial zone Mulan Crossbowman Spearman
119 - Reformed Church Old god obelisk Settler Theocracy
120 - Rumi Lavra Galley Apostle Mumbai
121 - Humanism Lavra Apostle University
122 - Belief (Sacred Places)
123 - Settler
124 - The Enlightenment Lavra Old god obelisk
125 - Shipbuilding Agra Aqueduct Solikamsk Builder Builder
126 - Buttress Mahabodhi Temple Granary Crossbowman Scout
127 - Builder Builder Himiko Ancient walls Granary Ancient walls Ancient walls Ancient walls
128 - Cartography Sinbad Water mill Shrine Chinguetti
129 - University Workshop Ancient walls Ancient walls Builder Quadrireme
130 - Printing Colosseum Man-at-arms Settler Trebuchet
131 - Renaissance Era (Golden Age - Monumentality) Mass Production Hunahpu & Xbalanque Epic Granary Builder Lighthouse Musketman Old god obelisk
132 - Metal Casting Pike and shot Trader Theater square Crossbowman
133 - Square Rigging Settler Diplomatic quarter Gaius Dulius Lavra Musketman
134 - Siege Tactics Nationalism Grants (Pingala) Builder Eridu Village (+160 gold) Astrakhan Builder Builder Circumnavigation
135 - Shrine Foreign ministry Curator (Pingala) Valletta♟ Knight
136 - Commercial hub Shrine Yekaterinburg Builder Settler Temple
137 - Isaac Newton Jakob Fugger Relic Bank Mulan Epic
138 - Mercantilism Amphitheater Relic Settler Relic Murasaki Shikibu Ancient walls Archaeological museum
139 - University Water mill Granary Market Trader Apostle
140 - Apostle Toledo Old god obelisk Granary Water mill
141 - Temple Gigamesh (research) Matthias (cultural) Village (builder) Apostle Bank Lavra Builder
142 - Astronomy Civil Engineering Old god obelisk Water mill Yakutsk Builder Old god obelisk Water mill Ancient walls Pike and shot** Bombard Musketman Frigate Barbarian camp (+535 gold) Apostle Builder Musketman
143 - Ballistics Field cannon Field cannon Field cannon** Industrial zone Barbarian camp (+35 gold) Theater square Water mill
144 - Water mill Granary
145 - Military Science Colonialism Line infantry Ancient walls Builder Peace with Chandragupta
146 - Hieronymus Bosch Harbor
147 - Scientific Theory Campus Temple Wat Shrine Cossack
148 - Natural History Workshop Water mill Old god obelisk Granary Settler
149 - Lavra Lavra Settler
150 - Industrialization Sun Wukong Granary Granary Settler
151 - Library Military academy Granary Settler Shrine
152 - Scorched Earth Zaragoza Relic Vologda Builder Smolensk Builder
153 - Economics Forbidden City Mont St. Michel Temple Commercial hub Market Granary Incense company Factory Miguel de Cervantes Ayutthaya♟ Anshan♟ Trader Crater Lake Apostle
154 - Urbanization Apostle Apostle Commercial hub Man-at-arms Old god obelisk Sinbad
155 - Zoo Water park Apostle Apostle Frigate**
156 - Krasnoyarsk Builder Old god obelisk Water mill Granary Temple Trader Lighthouse Aqueduct Amphitheater Skirmisher Lavra
157 - Mobilization Isin Tula Builder Hunza Valladolid Garrison commander (Victor) Old god obelisk Granary Barracks Trader Builder Market Trader
158 - Flight Relic Privateer Sun Wukong Epic
159 - Coal power plant Shipyard Apostle Apostle
160 - James Young Aqueduct Hercules Water park Shrine Staraya Russa Builder Trader
161 - Hagia Sophia Shipyard Neighborhood
160 - Cultural Victory
SpoilerCity build order :
St. Petersburg (T1): Warrior > Slinger > Lavra > Settler > Builder > Settler > Spearman € Builder > Slinger > Slinger € Granary € Monument F Builder > Shrine > Temple of Artemis > Water mill F Settler € Settler > Theater square F Settler > Apadana > Temple > Amphitheater > Hunahpu & Xbalanque F Apostle > Entertainment complex > Arena F Apostle F Apostle > Colosseum > Commercial hub > Market > Industrial zone > Workshop > Zoo > Neighborhood
Moscow (T30): € Trader > Monument > Simbad > Encampment € Barracks € Builder > Etemenanki > Warrior > Archer > Granary > Archer > Heavy chariot > Archer > Spearman > Ancient walls > Harbor > Armory > Trebuchet € Water mill > Lighthouse > Theater square > Amphitheater € Archaeological museum > Campus > Library € Military academy > Water park > Shipyard
Novgorod (T45): F Builder € Settler > Monument € Granary F Builder > Campus € Water mill € Library F Builder € Builder > Oracle > Aqueduct F Builder > Commercial hub > Market € Builder > Industrial zone > University € Workshop > Lavra € Bank > Forbidden City € Factory > Coal power plant > Neighborhood
Voronezh (T61): € Monument € Granary € Water mill > Government plaza > Ancestral hall > Ancient walls > Campus > Lavra € Library > Mulan € University > Foreign ministry > Shrine > Temple > Commercial hub > Market > Aqueduct > Chichen Itza
Kazan (T81): Lavra € Granary > Old god obelisk F Trader > Himiko € Shrine € Temple € Builder > St. Basil’s Cathedral
Yaroslavl (T83): Ancient walls > Lavra F Settler € Shrine F Settler > Commercial hub € Temple € Market F Trader € Granary F Wat > Aqueduct > Mahabodhi Temple F Apostle F Apostle > Bank F Apostle > Water mill F Apostle > Hercules > Dam
Nizhny Novgorod (T88): € Old god obelisk > Lavra > Granary > Ancient walls > Theater square > Amphitheater > Shrine > Art museum
Arkhangelsk (T88): Lavra € Shrine > Old god obelisk € Trader € Temple > Ancient walls > Granary € Builder > Sun Wukong > Water park H Neighborhood > Ferris wheel
Delhi (T97): € Builder € Granary > Repairs F Builder > Harbor > Lighthouse F Builder > Lavra > Repairs € Galley > Ancient walls > Diplomatic quarter > Hagia Sophia € Shipyard > Industrial zone
Olonets (T100): F Settler > Water mill > Old god obelisk > Lavra > Granary F Trader F Trader > Mont St. Michel > Aqueduct > Commercial hub
Tver (T105): Lavra > Old god obelisk > Ancient walls > Shrine > Temple F Wat > Granary > Theater square
Tambov (T114): Old god obelisk F Settler > Galley F Settler > Ancient walls € Quadrireme € Trebuchet > Harbor > Lavra > Lighthouse € Shipyard > Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Mumbai (T120): F Builder F Builder > Repairs > Ancient walls F Builder F Builder F Builder > University > Commercial hub € Market F Granary > Hippolyta
Agra (T125): F Builder F Settler F Settler F Builder F Settler > Repairs F Settler > Water mill F Ancient walls > Granary € Skirmisher > Commercial hub
Solikamsk (T125): Old god obelisk > Water mill > Granary > Lavra > Shrine > Temple > Neighborhood
Eridu (T134): Repairs > Granary > Water mill > Commercial hub
Astrakhan (T134): F Ancient walls > Old god obelisk F Trader > Harbor
Yekaterinburg (T136): Water mill > Old god obelisk > Granary > Lavra
Toledo (T140-145): F Old god obelisk € Granary € Water mill € Builder > Repairs
Yakutsk (T142): € Old god obelisk € Water mill F Ancient walls € Cossack > Granary F Settler > Lavra F Settler F Settler F Settler > Shrine > Temple F Apostle F Apostle F Apostle F Apostle F Apostle F Apostle F Apostle > Aqueduct
Zaragoza (T152): F Trader F Old god obelisk F Trader F Builder > Repairs
Vologda (T152): Old god obelisk > Lavra F Trader > Neighborhood
Smolensk (T152-T158): Privateer > Old god obelisk
Krasnoyarsk (T156): F Old god obelisk F Water mill F Granary > Preserve
Isin (T157): Old god obelisk
Tula (T157): F Old god obelisk F Water mill > Commercial hub
Hunza(T157): Repairs
Valladolid(T157): F Old god obelisk F Granary F Barracks > Repairs
Staraya Russa (T160): F Old god obelisk F Granary F Trader > Harbor
As soon as you meet "Gil" you can ask for friendship and he will say yes. The only civ that does this, but if you play it again that is how you avoid war with his insane early warcarts.
As soon as you meet "Gil" you can ask for friendship and he will say yes. The only civ that does this, but if you play it again that is how you avoid war with his insane early warcarts.
I thought it was going quite well, so I was really amazed by other people's results.
My strategy was Dance of Aurora plus Ley Lines for 8-10 Holy Site adjancencies with Work Ethic for lots of production. I made real good use of the tundra like this. Also Valletta for quick Renaissance Walls for the tourism.
Apparently this is not as good as going for Relics though...
Mostly peaceful, only took 2 cities from Gilgamesh.
I also probably focused too much on districts like Commercial, Harbor or Industrial Zone and building wonders...
As usual, I have disregarded the idea of getting the relic religion, as it just seems so cheesy and uninteresting to me.
I struggled to get any hero discovered, and thanks to that, I managed to get Sindbad in my first coastal city. One of the most fun pickups I could get
Right before getting Conservation, I leveled my entire land, only to carpet it in woods one turn later. Following that, getting a couple National Parks sealed the deal.
Was shooting for Reliquaries with Voidsingers but didn't get Reliquaries - could have pushed harder for first religion but Gilga snagged it with Stonehenge anyway. Also missed out on the buying Theatre Square buildings with faith so I know I could have done better. Ended up settling right down the East coast and onto the Southern tundra to grab a couple more Aurora Lavras which helped with the final push. Corporations & Monopolies didn't seem to have much of an effect.
Was shooting for Reliquaries with Voidsingers but didn't get Reliquaries - could have pushed harder for first religion but Gilga snagged it with Stonehenge anyway. Also missed out on the buying Theatre Square buildings with faith so I know I could have done better.
Interesting, this seems like a rather remarkable observation. I tend to play with religion a lot and I don't think I've *ever* seen an AI civ take Reliquaries. Even taking Jesuit Education is extremely rare for an AI in my experience. They always seem to take Choral Music/Feed the World as the first two (in some order), then Warrior Monks/Divine Inspiration (or whatever it's called that gives +4 faith per city with a Wonder). You seem to have been very unlucky in this game.
Never tried a Cultural Victory with all these special modes before, but I read that the Monopoly bonus for tourism is totally broken, so my plan was to focus primarily on securing a few Monopolies rather than worrying about any late game things like Flight or Rock Bands.
After grumbling about the ice-free starting location, I settled in place and discovered Dead Sea but did not reveal a Hero. However, I did get a Voidsingers invite and +1 pop from a hut on T4, which was very nice. Early game I declared Friendship with GiIgamesh and bounced Amani around plus ran a Heroic Tales project to sift through Heroes. Settled on Anansi as my first Hero on T21. He was great in speeding me to Political Philosophy at T35. I also used him to strategically consumed some Honey outside my borders to help make sure I could control the majority later for a Monopoly.
One annoying bug in early game: I gave Magnus the Provision promotion while he was established in the capital and finished a Settler the next turn, but the capital still lost 1 population! My first two expansions were west of capital for Horses and chopping and on the east coast to grab 3 Furs. I only ever built two more cities, one to get two Honey east of capital and one to get two Fur in the far south.
Spoiler:
One of my crappy cities, founded for the Fur Monopoly
Got a Pantheon on T29. Religious Settlements and Dance of Aurora were already taken, so I went with Stone Circles having 3 Stone in the capital. In retrospect I think Divine Spark of Goddess of the Hunt would have been a better choice. Founded a religion on T53 with Reliquaries (very strong with Heroic Relics) and Religious Settlements. I think I ran into a bug, because when I founded my fourth city, I had two cities with my religion and one without so should have qualified as having a “majority religion”, but when I settled my fourth it did not start with the religion.
Second Hero was Hercules on T48. He build three Theater Squares and then helped take a Sumerian city. However, my war against Gilgamesh soon stalled. I lost two Horsemen and ended up retreating, then fighting off hoards of Warcarts streaming towards the capital for another 40 turns…. That was a shame as if I had managed to take two more Sumerian cities I could have secured a Spice Monopoly.
Spoiler:
Hercules hit Sippar for a mighty 88 damage. However, a half dozen Warcarts swarmed in from the west afterwards and I never captured another city.
The capital had good production and I used Magnus to chop Apandana (T54) and most of Temple of Artemis (T56), Hanging Gardens (T64), and Mahaboudi Temple (T97).
I met Kandy T61 but needed 6 envoys to gain Suizeran. They were not too helpful though as it took me until T96 to find Crater Lake, the last Natural Wonder, for a free Relic. I thought for some reason there would be 5 Natural Wonders on the map so I kept searching till the end of the game, but turns out there were only 4.
On T62 I declared on Spain just to steal a Settler and found a junk city for use as a teleport spot for Heroes, which let me send over Himoko. I chopped a few Horsemen and a Catapult and levied some Hunza’s Archers and Warriors (upgraded to Swords) to take Cordoba. Just as I was about to siege Madrid, they offered the Ark of the Covenant in a peace deal, which I was happy to take.
Spoiler:
Instant army in the middle of nowhere thanks to levy, Settler capture, teleporting, and chopping.
I gained control of Yerevan of T79, but since I spent so much faith recalling two Heroes I did not actually get an Apostle out until T93. Between Gilgamesh’s raging Warcarts blocking the path of my Apostles and few opposing Missionaries roaming the map, I didn’t get a Martyr Relic until the second to last turn of the game.
Great Writers arrived on T72, T83, T93, and T105. Printing for the double tourism on T93. Books were pretty weak as a tourism source, but they were “free” since Hercules built all the Theater Squares.
On T87 I got Maui. I hit big on his first “invention” which was Truffles. Since this was the sole Truffles on the map I instantly gained about 100% tourism boost. The next three inventions where whiffs: Spice and Incense (never came close to getting 50% of these), and Banana.
Spoiler:
Wish I took Maui earlier since. He's a bit random - each charge could either do nothing or double your tourism!
In the end, I had 211 tourism from Holy City, 3 Relics, 4 Heroic Relics, 7 Great Works of Writing, and 4 Wonders. Honey, Fur, and Truffle Monopolies provided +231% tourism.
Spoiler:
All in all it was a learning experience about the power of Heroic Relics and Monopolies. I made a few mistakes due to lack of understanding of the special mode mechanics. I was deleting Heroes once they used their charges to get the Relics quicker. When the Era changed, I thought I could recall Hercules and immediately deleted him again for a juicy second Epic. When the Relic did not appear I thought it was because the Old God Obelisk in Hercule’s home city was clogged with other Great Works. So I did the same thing again with Himoko in a city with space. Of course, the actual rule is that you do not get a second Epic but instead have to use an Archeologist to find the other relic. Wasted 1700f on those recalls!
My other big era was that I planned to use Anansi to destroy a Honey in Anshan to improve my Monopoly ratio. I did not have enough envoys to control them, so by signing peace with Gilgamesh I locked myself out of their borders. I thought that if I signed Open Borders with Gilgamesh I could enter Anshan as well, but that is not the case and then I could also not declare on Anshan for 10 turns.
One minor thing that slowed me down was forgetting to change into Classical Republic for the same government bonus until very late (all 7 AIs were running it).
In my starting two attempts Gilgamesh attacked and took my second city. He was really hard to beat for being unprepared. But the game was fun because of capital being awesome, so I played it for the third time. Needed 3 archers in total to beat Gilgamesh's early attack. Later on he was easy to kill. Grabbed CV in 182 turns, but did lots of mistakes, or the game would have finished lot earlier.
- 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?
I'm not an expert player and I didn't even know I was going for Religious-CV when I started playing this game. I just went for the natural good options, and later I realized that I was specifically going for that. Took Goddess of Hunt for making Capital ultra strong early on, took Voidsinger's Society because of it's impressively good Monument, and kept building Lavra's in each city as first district. As I had lost twice against Gilgamesh, in my third attempt I settled only two cities, and focused on Recruiting Maui and Himiko very fast. With Himiko's help and 3 Archers + 3 Swordsmen killed Gilgamesh, and later on even Chandragupta. Maui helped greatly in making four new cities very strong in the surrounding of the capital. Each of these were producing high Faith, and I was targeting Golden Ages every age, so creating lots of builders and settlers didn't become much of an issue.
Once I learned there was Philip II and Yerevan CS in the game, the plan was made for religious-Culture victory.
- What were your initial 5-10 builds in the capital or other early cities?
Cap: Scout > Slinger > Settler > Worker > Slinger > Monument > Maui > Larva > Temple of Artemis > Settler > Settler > Settler.
Second city > Monument > Slinger > Warrior > Warrior > Warrior > Himiko Recruit > Government Plaza > Larva
- Early order for technology/civics? What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
Craftsmanship > Stateworkforce
- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
Larva was just awesome. It worked really well with VoidSinger Society. Recruiting Maui early one was cruicial to make the northern Thundra tiles really awesome.
- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
Early on, only 2 cities. Capital and one more at Southern West. Once I had Maui and Himiko, started pumping Settlers.
- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
Old God Obelisk > Larva - in every city. Military was coming from City states Levying (by Himiko) - except the first 6 troops I had created, who kept upgrading for the rest of the game. Settlers and Builders were coming from Faith purchases.
- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
Normally I would pick Divine Rights for CV. But here there were 5 very good Camp sites at the capital, so I picked "Goddess of Hunt" for making my Capital ultra strong early on. And it worked really well. For beliefs picked tripling Relics Faith + Tourism and Cathedral (for religious arts slot.)
- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
Went with Oligarchy early on, which helped greatly in killing Gilgamesh and Chandragupta. Then switched to monarchy. However, I didn't specially use Oligarchy Legaciy Policy card. I used the standard types, like +1 production in each city, Worker production-charges cards, etc. Speed for productions troops types early on (when I was recruiting troops.) But one policy that made the real difference for me was +100% adjacency bonus for Larva's. High Faith production helped me to pump lots of settlers and builders.
- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
Magnus and Liang.
- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
Not exactly. All were furious at me by the end of the game.
- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
All Golden Ages.
- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
Game modes affected highly. VoidSinger's Old God Obelisk and Maui & Himiko made a huge impact in the game.
- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
Gilgamesh was the biggest surprise, and even in the second attempt I could not deal him properly. Needed to play third time to beat him.
- Did you enjoy your game?
Yes. A lot! That's why I replayed it.
This game is closed for submissions as time has run out.
You may continue to post here and attach saves if you wish. Results will include games above this post.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Ancient Era; Siberia
St. Petersburg
Hermetic Order
Dead Sea
Gilgamesh
Chinguetti
Joined War to Chandragupta
Religion (Reliquaries, Holy Order)
Encampment
Mansa Musa
Granary
Robert (economic)
Tula
