6otM146 AAR

[Eyswein]

Welcome to the 6otM146 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.

 

[Planktonic]

CV, turn 165/166.

Gadzooks, what a map! Gave me whiplash after the last game- food and production aplenty everywhere, not to mention all those luxury resources. Felt completely overpowered from the get-go, although it did raise some interesting issues of district placement from time to time.

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?
Prince level game, so didn't want to rely on Reliquaries. Couldn't be sure if moai/batey etc would be available so retreated as usual to a Great Works strategy. Just planned to spam Theater Squares as much as possible.

- What were your initial 5-10 builds in the capital or other early cities?
Scout, builder, settler, holy site

- Early order for technology/civics? What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
Mining first, as I wanted to harvest the copper from the +4 holy site for the capital city. Then astrology, pottery, irrigation.

- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
The automatic theming is extremely powerful, I think. The open-air museum is also amazing. Only my second try ever with Sweden, but seems really strong for tourism- Pericles and Hojo may be able to build Theater Squares faster but Kristina seems to get the bigger payout.

- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
Settled the cap on the amber, settled the first city towards the west, the second towards the east. Settled probably around 13 or 14 cities total- benefitted from a couple of stolen settlers. Conquered two Korean cities (incl the capital) to blunt her cultural progress (she was the leader at the time). Conquered Anshan (had too many envoys from others to suz); would have taken Mitla too but Gorgo swooped in at the last minute and razed it, lousy parasite....

- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
Production was strong everywhere, so built lots of Holy Sites and Theater Squares. Didn't build a single Campus (captured 2 from Seondeok and one from Anshan). Late in the game started building Harbors and Commercial Hubs for trade routes. Built Petra, Colossus, Mausoleum, TOA. Lost Oracle and Apadana both at the last minute. Lost Macchu Picchu with only 1 turn left but captured it back from Korea.

- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
Pantheon was culture from plantations. Religious beliefs were Work Ethic and Tithe for the first two, then Gurdwara and Religious Colonization.

- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
Classical republic to Monarchy. Should probably have switched to Theocracy but didn't bother.

- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
Pingala and Moksha and Amani.

- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
Peaceful except for 1 war with Korea. Kristina's Diplo favor attribute also came in very useful- was gaining so many Great People that I had plenty of Diplo favor to vote down 2 Emergencies, allowing me to avoid denunciations and maintain open borders.

- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
All Golden (game ended in the Medieval), but was tricky getting the first Golden since almost no tribal villages.

- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
N/A

- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
Barbs were surprisingly aggressive and bothersome. the AIs seem to have had a hard time as well, as I saw a few Barb settlers and builders. Never did meet the 14th civ, who apparently was very constricted somewhere, probably sieged by barbs. None of the other civs had met the 14th civ either! Never managed to circumnavigate the map before the game ended.

- Did you enjoy your game?
Totally fun game, but the map was just ridiculously strong. Thanks for the game!

 

[Chrumo]

CV 148

Spoiler t148 :

Yeah, the map was bonkers. Sweden is also insane when going for culture victory, theming everything everywhere is great - I managed to get 72 tourism from the Queens Library itself.

Thanks for a fun game!

 

[Rutseg]

Cultural Victory, T174, Score 1276, 21 h

Plan
To get as much early faith as possible for middle game expansion (through Monumentality) to settle the 5 types of terrain and maybe get some relic, researching Printing for writings tourism, then Flight. But it seems the Open-air museum tourism bonus does not require Flight and I could have aimed for Nationalism much faster and earlier! Also, never found a relic, because no goodie huts and traveling with apostles was tough.

Early game
The initial game was marked by trying to explore the map to find the AIs for open borders and to find good terrain for expansion. I found myself the only space to the north was menaced by Gorgo's expansion and to the east by Seondeok. I declared war to both of them to grab the settlers they were sending towards my vital space, and also decided to push the war towards Seondeok to get the cities he has settled over the swamps, for with the Etemenanki, those were very valuable for growing and science.

The map was difficult to explore, and by T100 I still had 5 AIs to find.


Diplomacy
It was difficult to have fruitful relations for a great part of the game, for my grabbing of two cities from Korea was causing hate from all the other AIs except Jadwiga who was the only one amenable to strike a friendship and then alliance with me. Only during the last stretch of the game I managed to strike friendship with almost all other AIs (including Seondeok). It was tricky to find the other civs in the map, as moving through was slow (I probably should have created more retcon units or horsemen on early exploration). In fact I stumbled with Tamara and Wilhelmina very casually, and I never really found Cleopatra's land, just some random explorer of hers was found near my lands.

The case of Tamara was very particular, for she only build ever a single city, it really felt she was trying a single city challenge.

Cities
I decided to settle in place because it seemed to me it will give me more food in the long run and better adjacency bonus for districts. I was a bit afraid of second crown blocked by mountains, but despite this, the other tiles were good enough and I managed to squeeze districts for good adjacency bonuses anyway. Second city was on the natural wonder.

In total I settled 28 cities and conquered 2. The settlers breakup (1 not settled yet):
Captured: 6
Built: 13
Faith bought: 8
Gold bought: 1

Aside from Theater squares, I would say the most useful districts in this game were the Aqueducts, because they let me settle and grow a lot of space to the north, and into the tundra. My snow city was to the very north, past a couple tundra cities, near a volcano I found with extra food and production.


Religion
I think I really fumbled here, for the Relics Belief was useless, and could have gone much better with Work Ethic. Also, when choosing pantheon I went with Divine Spark to exploit the advantages Kristina has with Great People, but after seeing the swampy lands to the east, I would have liked to see how this game would result with Lady of the Reeds.
Pantheon: Divine Spark
Religion: Reliquaries, Papal Primacy, Stupa
The stupa was a late addition to help a bit with the happiness problems of such a large empire.

Wonders
With so much land to improve, I pushed for Pyramids, prioritizing an early settling in the desert for that. Temple of Artemis and Etemenanki were my first two wonders, the capital area was great for the first one, and Stockholm was ecstatic for the rest of the game even when other cities had happiness problems, and Etemenanki made the eastern swamps a very appealing land to settle. Imhotep alone built three wonders: Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Colossus and Colosseum. Other wonders with less impact or just built too late: Jebel Barkal, Mont St. Michel, Potala Palace.

Wonders tourism alone accounted for 12% of my tourism by the end of the game. I was just a few turns away from getting Forbidden City, St. Basil's Cathedral and Angkor Wat.

Natural wonders: most useful was Mount Vesuvius, where I settled my second city, providing me with a good placement for a second Holy site, and then Matterhorn, that benefited a scout and two chariots.

Barbarians
Early on they caused much trouble and forced me to slot Apogee and build an army. They also killed all the explorers I sent to far lands, which delayed finding the civilizations. A horsemen encampment caused much troubled next to Dido, but eventually the scout I build early on transformed into two chariots after fetching comets in the area, and despite the barbarians killed the scout, one of the chariots found Wilhelmina and the other one, promoted to knight, grabbed two settlers from the barbarians and settled that land for two more open-air museums. Those barbarians though took Dido's second city (which let me settle the area without loyalty problems).

Special abilities and map
The open-air museum is even better than I thought, for it does not need Flight to work for tourism. This and the extra favor for great people were the only abilities I really used (well and theming and Queen's biblioteque), but the museum was certainly the killer. The graph shows very clearly the spike in culture on T151 after researching Nationalism, and Tourism most likely followed a similar trend.


As for the modes, no goodie huts, extended number of AIs, it certainly made the game feel different than others. As for 0 disasters, I thought settling Vesuvius was safe, but a couple eruptions caught me off guard, killing 4 pop each time, and really harming the development of my second city

Final state
This map was tough for exploration and expansion, but given the Prince level, I managed to find my way and settle most of my environment. I noticed all the AIs were women, including us, interesting leader selection. It certainly was fun.
550 tourism:
Great works: 162
Walls: 16
Open-air museum: 300
Wonders: 63
Holy city: 8
Arena: 1

Spoiler Full log :

1 - Ancient Era; Avalonia Kazakhstania Stockholm
6 - Scout!
9 - Mitla Anshan
10 - Mount Vesuvius
12 - Astrology Code of Laws Seondeok
13 - Gorgo Akkad
14 - Mining
15 - Settler!
16 - Pottery Foreign Trade Builder! Jönköping
17 - Barbarian encampment (+50 gold)
24 - Slinger!
25 - Nazca
30 - Trader!
31 - Holy site!
34 - Pantheon (Divine Spark)
35 - Animal Husbandry Early Empire Magnus Builder Barbarian encampment (+50 gold)
War to Seondeok Settler
36 - Shrine!
38 - Bronze Working
39 - Catherine
40 - Craftsmanship Settler!
41 - Holy site! Slinger
42 - Barbarian encampment (+50 gold)
44 - Granary! Norrköping Slinger
45 - Uppsala Eleanor Peace with Seondeok🕊
47 - Archery Granary!
49 - State Workforce Provision (Magnus) John the Baptist Religion (Reliquaries, Papal Primacy)
50 - Campus!
52 - Currency Builder!
53 - Spearman! Warrior!
54 - Warrior!
55 - Archer! Monument!
56 - Warrior!
57 - Archer! Barbarian encampment (+50 gold)
58 - Horseback Riding Warrior! Valletta Mount Everest
60 - Political Philosophy Classic Republic🏛 Warrior!
61 - Classical Era (Golden Age - Monumentality)
62 - Military Tradition Campus! Builder Settler Monument! Hunza
64 - Ba Trieu
65 - America Jadwiga
66 - Masonry Builder Chinguetti
67 - Settler!
68 - Matterhorn
69 - Anshan♟ Hong Kong
70 - Västeras Settler Settler!
71 - Mysticism Archer Settler! Nazca♟
73 - Wheel Linköping
74 - Karlstad Builder
75 - Games and Recreation Shrine!
77 - Hypatia Örebro Comet (Chariot)
78 - Settler! Library Amanitore
79 - Granary
80 - Ancient walls! War to Gorgo Settler
81 - Engineering Temple of Artemis Etemenanki Builder Strängnäs Builder Barbarian encampment (+50 gold)
82 - Drama and Poetry Göteborg Granary!
83 - Iron Working Builder Abo Water mill Monument
84 - Apprenticeship
85 - Irrigation Theology Horseman! Horseman!
86 - Monument! Monument! Granary!
87 - Warrior
89 - Horseman War to Seondeok Denoucned by Ba Trieu
90 - Machinery Recorded History Gangneung Amani Campus! Denounced by Eleanor
91 - Catapult! Denounced by Amanitore
92 - Defensive Tactics Granary! Granary! Pyramids Warrior
93 - Monument!
94 - Temple! Denounced by Catherine
95 - Sailing
96 - Construction Barbarian encampment (+50 gold)
97 - Seoul Temple! Commercial hub! Settler Peace with Gorgo🕊 Comet (Chariot)
98 - Aqueduct! Aqueduct!
99 - Monument! Builder! Aqueduct! Monument! Peace with Seondeok🕊
100 - Military Engineering Valletta♟ Ancient walls Library! Theater square!
101 - Mathematics Monument! Barbarian encampment (+50 gold)
102 - Hildegard of Bingen Builder! Aqueduct!
103 - Builder!
104 - Education Granary! Market! Commercial hub! Granary! Settler Mount Kilimanjaro
105 - Aqueduct!
106 - Feudalism
107 - Military Tactics Monument! Oceania Builder Denounced by Gorgo
108 - Builder! Trader! Industrial zone! Tamar Commercial hub!
109 - Theater square! Malmö Denounced by Tamar Denounced by Seondeok
110 - Stirrups Builder Granary
111 - Military Training Shrine! Encampment! Mitla♟ Kalmar Theater square!
112 - Celestial Navigation Ovid Writing University!
113 - Builder! Amphitheater! Writing Monument!
114 - Civil Service Builder! Builder Builder
115 - Theater square! Government plaza! Pingala Market!
116 - Astronomy
117 - Marcus Licinius Crassus Market! Dido Encampment!
118 - Divine Right Builder Granary! Library! Monarchy🏛
119 - Writing Writing Monument! Amphitheater! Aqueduct! Ancient walls
120 - Medieval Era (Golden Age - Monumentality) Banking Guilds Holy site! Connoisseur (Pingala) Workshop! Barracks! Barracks! Granary! Galley! Denounced by Eleanor
121 - Shipbuilding Barbarian encampment (+50 gold) Barbarian encampment (+50 gold) Harbor! Galley! Trader!
122 - Joint war against Amanitore with Ba Trieu War to Ba Trieu Settler
123 - Castles Halmstad Granary Monument Ancient walls Denounced by Dido
124 - Reformed Church Granary! Theocracy🏛 Theater square!
125 - Mercenaries Crossbowman Crossbowman Man-at-arms Trebuchet Trader Lighthouse! Shrine! Denounced by Catherine
126 - Medieval Faires Colaeus Amphitheater! Grants (Pingala) Settler! Man-at-arms
127 - Apostle Ancestral hall! Moksha Armory!
128 - Rumi Writing Settler! Harbor! Monument! Aqueduct! Amphitheater!
129 - Writing University! Settler!
130 - Printing Industrial zone! Granary! Builder Barbarian encampment (+50 gold) Scout Spearman
131 - Library! Lund Builder Granary Gitarja
132 - Ancient walls! Hong Kong♟ Peace with Ba Trieu🕊
133 - Gunpowder Peace with Amanitore🕊 Amphitheater!
134 - Diplomatic Service Musketman Musketman
135 - Boras Builder Granary
136 - Metal Casting Settler Li Bai University! Settler! Courser Jadwiga (cultural) Writing Builder
137 - Humanism Industrial zone! Writing Barbarian encampment (+50 gold)
138 - Harbor! Aqueduct! Writing Horseman
139 - Industrial zone! Workshop! Settler
140 - The Enlightenment Queen’s Bibliotheque! Denounced by Seondeok
141 - Settler! Writing
142 - Scientific Theory Holy site!
143 - Æthelflæt Aqueduct! Karlskrona Builder Granary Monument Ancient walls
144 - Mercantilism University! Settler! Trader! Östersund Builder Gorgo (economic) Ba Trieu (research)
145 - Ibn Khaldun Monument! Lighthouse! Theater square! Vasa Builder Monument Thorshälla Builder Amanitore (religious)
146 - Piero de Bardi Settler! Chinguetti♟ Chinguetti
147 - Theater square! Builder Builder Barbarian encampment (+50 gold)
148 - Zheng He Trebuchet! Lighthouse! Theater square! Water mill! Industrial zone! Granary! Builder Helsingborg Builder Wilhelmina Barbarian encampment (+50 gold)
149 - Imhotep Bank! Builder! Builder Kungälv Builder Builder
150 - Bank! Belief (Stupa) Knight Commercial hub!
151 - Nationalism Tamara (military) Builder Builder Theater square! Researcher (Pingala) Monument! Cleopatra
152 - Niccolò Machiavelli Writing Trader! Temple! Amphitheater! Monument! Shrine! Amphitheater!
153 - Sanitation Art museum! Writing Aqueduct! Theater square! Builder Tomyris Met all civs
154 - Economics Civil Engineering Jebel Barkal Zoning commissioner (Liang) Theater square! Amphitheater! Industrial zone! Monument! Granary!
155 - Buttress Granary! Theater square!
156 - Mass Production Colonialism Stupa! Workshop! Builder Library! Sewer! Archaeological museum! Water mill! Settler Barbarian encampment (+50 gold)
157- Michelangelo Religious Builder
158 - Cartography Natural History Workshop! Workshop! Monument! Builder! Stupa! Settler Caravel Caravel Sculpture
159 - Barbarian encampment (+50 gold) Sculpture
160 - Square Rigging Sewer! Archaeological museum! Aqueduct! Amphitheater! Religious Religious Builder Builder Venice Settler
161 - Urbanization Ancient walls Marco Polo Margaret Cavendish Builder! Builder! Sewer! Water mill! Granary! Workshop Eyjafallajökull
162 - Bi Sheng Umea Builder Monument
163 - Industrialization Ludwig Van Beethoven Trader! Sewer! Aqueduct! Theater square! Harbor! Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
164 - Siege Tactics Music Mont St. Michel Sewer Industrial zone! Barbarian encampment (+50 gold) Circumnavigation
165 - Mass Media Campus! Market! Temple! Grand inquisitor (Moksha) Campus! Reval Builder Falun Builder Granary Monument Monument Music Nyköping Builder
166 - Potala Palace Art museum! University! Entertainment complex!
167 - Renaissance Era (Golden Age - Monumentality) Ballistics Theater square!
168 - Conservation Factory! Commercial hub! Shipyard!
169 - Military Science Marie-Catherine D’Aulnoy Writing Harbor! Amphitheater! Barbarian encampment (+50 gold) Settler Settler
170 - Cultural Heritage James of St. George Donatello Sculpture Writing Trader! Lighthouse! Harbor! Granary! Arena! Shipyard! Trader! Fort Kristina Builder Ancient walls Medieval walls
172 - Rifling Opera and Ballet Colossus Market! Field cannon Field cannon Lighthouse! Factory! Settler Granary! Sculpture
173 - Scorched Earth Gävle Builder Ibn Fadlan Coal power plant! Sewer! Granary! Factory! Factory! Sculpture Builder Ancient walls Medieval walls
174 - Steam Power Theater square! Granary! Industrial zone!
175 - William Shakespeare Industrial zone! Monument! Colosseum Builder Ancient walls Medieval walls
176 - Cultural Victory

Spoiler Detailed build order :

1. Stockholm (T1): Scout > Settler > Builder > Slinger > Holy site > Shrine > Settler > Granary > Campus > Spearman > Archer > Warrior > Warrior > Warrior F Builder > Settler > Temple of Artemis > Horseman > Machu Pichu > Temple > Monument > Library > University > Theater square > Amphitheater > Harbor > Lighthouse > Settler > Settler > Settler > Art museum > Stupa > Trader > Builder > Trader > Shipyard > Trader > Trader > Cristo Redentor
2. Jönköping (T16): Trader € Builder > Holy site > Granary > Builder > Warrior > Warrior > Campus F Settler > Settler > Shrine G Library > Ancient walls > Horseman > Monument > Temple > Builder > Builder > Builder > Builder F Apostle > University > Aqueduct > Trebuchet > Trader > Stupa > Builder > Industrial zone
3. Norrköping (T44): € Slinger > Monument F Builder > Holy site > Settler > Granary € Horseman > Catapult > Aqueduct F Builder > Industrial zone > Shrine > Workshop > Harbor > Settler > Trader > Lighthouse > Temple > Builder > Campus > Factory > Coal power plant
4. Uppsala (T45): Archer > Monument F Builder > Etemenanki > Campus > Theater square > Granary > Amphitheater > Library > University > Potala Palace > Harbor > Lighthouse > Holy site
5. Västeras (T70): € Granary > Pyramids > Aqueduct > Theater square > Holy site > Shrine > Amphitheater > Jebel Barkal > Monument > Temple > Campus
6. Linköping (T73): Monument > Commercial hub > Market F Builder F Ancient walls > Granary > Settler > Settler > Aqueduct € Builder > Theater square > Amphitheater € Builder € Builder > Industrial zone > Angkor Wat
7. Karlstad (T74): F Builder > Granary > Commercial hub F Settler > Aqueduct > Market > Trader > Builder > Theater square > Amphitheater > Industrial zone > Bank > Workshop > Sewer > Art museum > Factory > Stock exchange
8. Örebro (T77): Granary > Monument > Encampment > Aqueduct > Barracks > Industrial zone > Theater square F Builder > Amphitheater > Workshop > Commercial hub > Market > Armory
9. Strängnäs (T81): F Builder € Monument > Aqueduct > Granary > Government plaza > Ancestral hall > Queen’s Bibliotheque > Theater square F Builder > Industrial zone > Sewer € Workshop > Forbidden City
10. Göteborg (T82): F Builder > Granary > Monument > Builder F Settler > Aqueduct > Commercial hub > Market > Trader > Industrial zone > Workshop > Bank € Builder > Mont St. Michel € Sewer > Factory > Theater square
11. Abo (T83): € Water mill > Monument F Ancient walls > Theater square F Builder > Galley > Galley > Amphitheater > Harbor > Lighthouse > Archaeological museum > Shipyard > Granary > Archaeologist
12. Gangneung (T90): Repairs > Monument F Builder > Encampment > Barracks > Armory > Granary > Holy site F Builder F Builder > Builder F Builder F Builder > Shrine > Library > University > Sewer > Militar academy
13. Seoul (T97): Repairs > Monument > Granary > Library > University > Water mill > Commercial hub > Theater square > Amphitheater > Archaeological museum F Settler > Aqueduct > Market > Bank
14. Malmö (T109): € Granary > Aqueduct > Monument > Ancient walls > Industrial zone F Builder > St. Basil Cathedral
15. Kalmar (T111): € Builder > Granary > Monument > Aqueduct > Settler > Theater square > Sewer > Amphitheater > Entertainment complex > Arena F Builder > Industrial zone > Colosseum > Workshop
16. Halmstad (T123): € Granary € Monument F Ancient walls F Trader F Builder F Settler > Aqueduct F Settler > Industrial zone > Theater square > Workshop > Sewer > Factory > Coal power plant > Amphitheater
17. Lund (T131): € Granary > Monument F Ancient walls > Aqueduct > Theater square
18. Boras (T135): € Granary > Theater square > Harbor > Colossus F Builder > Lighthouse >> Amphitheater
19. Karlskrona (T143): € Granary € Monument F Ancient walls > Aqueduct > Campus > Library
20. Östersund (T144): F Builder > Monument > Harbor > Mausoleum at Halicarnassus > Lighthouse > Theater square
21. Vasa (T145): € Monument > Granary > Theater square > Water mill > Amphitheater > Aqueduct
22. Thorshälla (T145): Monument > Granary > Water mill > Theater square > Amphitheater
23. Helsingborg (T148): Monument > Granary > Theater square F Settler > Amphitheater
24. Kungälv (T149): Monument > Granary € Settler F Settler > Theater square
25. Umea (T162): € Monument > Granary G Ancient walls G Medieval walls > Theater square
26. Reval (T165): € Monument G Ancient walls G Medieval walls > Granary
27. Falun (T165): € Granary € Monument G Ancient walls G Medieval walls
28. Nyköping (T165): Granary
29. Fort Kristina (T170): Granary > Aqueduct
30. Gävle (T173): Granary > Monument > Theater square

 

[Xtowers]

Console player here so just participating in spirit. Turn 246 CV, score 1563. I spawned near several Marsh patches so I went with lady of the reeds and marshes and built Etemenanki and several wonders in my capitol. It was going to be even better, but I was forward settles HARD, by the AI. Didn't get out Open Air museums as early as I needed to, I didn't realize how much culture they could generate. One AI was going for a big culture victory, too, so it took quite a few National Parks to overcome the last AI. Fun one!

 

[lakeiron]

CV 188/189

It is clear that I have some efficiency problems with CVs against the top players here. Not sure where it comes from.
This time I went for no religion, that may have been the difference. I agree with the others, Open Air Museum is great, automatic theming is also great.

Nice touch to have an all girls' game

Thanks, looking forward to the next one.

 

[Planktonic]

It is clear that I have some efficiency problems with CVs against the top players here. Not sure where it comes from.

heh. That's the way I feel after every game with pretty much every win condition....

 

[Ezerin]

CV155/156 score 787

First time try 6otM, looked at screenshot of starting position, noticed it is a prince difficulty and decided to try it out, as it shouldn't be very tense.

- 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?
General plan was simple ans I suppose obvious as for Kristina, spam Theatre Squares and get as many great works as possible. I also decided to get religion, initially only for one purpose - to survey map, i had experience with that map type before and know how hard it to explore it, and after seeing that map has 14 civilisation i decided that finding them all should be my top priority to make all my tourism sources work for their full potential, so i got religion and chose Missionary Zeal belief and with Exodus of the Evangelists my missonaries were traveling 6 tiles per turn, ignoring rivers, forests, hills, borders and runned right through barbarians. By turn 100 I explored approximately 55-60% of the map, 80%+ if we aren't counting seas, snow and tundra. What i didn't expect, is that I will actually manage to convert many cities into my religion, recognising it I invested faith into getting Pilgrimage belief and later bought several Theatre Squares with Moksha. By the end of the game 7 civs (including myself) were converted into my religion with 44 cities in total, consider that i mostly stoped investing faith in religious units after finding all civs, as religious victory wasn't my purpose.

- 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?
I don't remember specifics, remember that i ignored scouts as with so much hills and forests their 3MP won't be of big advantage. So my first 2 builds were slinger and Settler. When Agoge came online i built 2 additional slingers and 2-3 warriors, and later on upgraded slingers into archers. It was all of my investment into army for most part of the game. Also built Oracle and ToA very early in the game,
First 3 technologies were Animal Husbandry, Pottery and Astrology. Beside Animal Husbandry and Astrologu i don't think there were really crucial early technologies for my game.

- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
Aside from making a big emphasis on art museums and on great works in general, nothing special. Yes, culture infrastructure is really good, but doesn't make for a unique playstyle. At some I noticed that i have big storage of diplomatic favor and invested it in 15 votes... yeah, i lost without a chance. When there is so many civs on a map you can't really brute force any decision in world congress with exististing cost progression system, this ability would be much stronger on a map with 6-8 civs, on a map with 4 civs Sweden would most probably just own World Congress. There is also bonus Great Engineer and Great Scientist points from T2 building, but i had only 2 campuses and 0 zones, so all i got is 3 additional GS points from that ability.

- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
I only had 2 cities for I think first 60-70 turns, spent much time developing my capital. By the end of the game had 12 cities. One of those were Korean originally, i didn't capture it, but poor Korea struggled against barbarians, and moved it's settler in only direction barbarians didn't opress it, in my direction, went past me and settled city in the Gobi dessert north of me, where succesfully lost loyalty and joint me.
Settling process was my biggest failure. I started straight forward with Pingala and ignored Magnus, thought fast Curator Promotion on Pingala will be impactfull for early tourism, considering i met almost all civs very early, but it wasn't. When i stated to build settlers past first one, my capital was so well developet it was spitting one settler every 1-3 turns, and it very seriously crippled its further development. This damage could be completely avoided with Magnus. Aside from it, my third to fifth cities were settled before Ancestral Hall has been built, because for some time I tried to find good spot for it, but in the end just droped it in the capital with only one district benefiting from adjacency with it. So i just lost 3 free 5 charged builders and had to build them in my capital... All in all, if i had done settling correctly, i could have had a much better developed capital by the end, with 2-3 additional districts, and one district with t1 building in my capital means for 8 respective GPP (2 from district and t1 building, 2 from Oracle, +100% from Pingala).

- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
After getting religion and Exodus of the Evangelist golden age i were actively buying missionaries for exploration purposes, but I mentioned above how it did end up. Later most of all my gold, faith and production were spent on creating cultural infrastructure. I was buying Theater Squares for faith and buildings in these districts for gold in cities with relatively low production potential or later settled cities to catch up with my older cities, but considering that my gold economy were based on plantations, camps, and selling luxury and strategic resources to other civilisations, I wasn't able to buy really much for gold, i think i bought a couple of Amphitheators and Museums and one University (to get boost for Printing i already was researching.

- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
Goddes of the Hunt. Too many possible camps around, 1food/3-4production tiles became 2food/4-5production tiles so they could both sustain pops that worked them and yield great production, camps were basically compensating for lack of CH/Harbors and IZs in my empire. I talked above Enchancer belief (Missionaty Zeal) and Founder belief (Pilgrimage) above, for Follower belief I took Work Ethics, as it ussualy my auto-pick and i didn't expect my rligion to be something more then just supplementary tool, so i used it for some production and exploration. If i knew how my religion would turn out to be, i would take Jesuit Education instead of Work ethics and saved gold i would invest in buying valuable tiles in 3rd range and upgrading units for better defense against barbarians.

- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
Pingala and Moksha, should have used Magnus... As for policy cards, Frescoes policy card was very important, as it effectively doubled Great Artist Points output of cities with Art Museums, Heritage Tourism obviously, otherwise it just Cards that are always powerfull, like Serfdom. For T1 goverment used Autocracy, mostly for +10% production toward wonders, wanted to change to Classical Republic before building Ancestral Hall, but succesfully forgot about it. At least Autocracy has good card slot balance. For T2 used Theocracy for discount on faith purchases,

- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
Yes it certainly was, was trading luxury and strategic resources for gold and open borders (+25% tourism). Was keeping mostly good relationships with all civs with, Poland denounced for my dabater was messing with Polish religious units, but that's it.

- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
Had both golden ages in classical and medieval eras.

- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
How my religion turned out to be was certainly a surprise to me, I could have made better use of it if i were able to predict results of my religious exploration. Barbarians were bothersome, I somewhat expected it, on this type of maps always many lands where civilisation never reach. Closer to the end they started to press me on one of directions, but it was to late to make any impact. Later into game i have trained 2 skirmishers specifically to actively oppose barbarians, though their maneuverability will be of big advantage, as they can move in tile with hill or forest (with 1 promotion in tile with both forest and hill) and shoot, and it was, but their stats are just too weak.

- Did you enjoy your game?
Certainly, I usually play on emperor difficulty (once in awhile on deity) and my playstyle got really stagnant, I always first develop well fed, productive and rich empire and then decide what victory condition to go for, which is probably the reason why my games usually end around turn 250. Dramatically changing playstyle was a breath of fresh air, though after wining, i can't help the feeling that abandoning all Swedish features and going for religious victory would make for faster and easier win. Seeing how my missionaries were flying on a map, laughing at barbarians and everything else was hilarious.

 

[Tarry]

Cultural Victory: Turn 195 (well, acknowledged in end of turn). Score 1307

What an interesting game. Wild map with all the hills and resources, after last gotm which was resource poor this one was the total reverse.
No disasters, I though volcano settling would be good, but those did happen, as did a tundra blizzard once.
I didn't twig that there were no goodie huts until like turn 150, so exploring for them was a waste of time, I guess I ddn't read the posted game stats closely enough
About the same time I trigged that this was a girls only game, fun! It was an interesting choice and made me smile.
What a lot of barbarians!
Only a few turns before the end did I discover the last civ, the dutch! But I made it with an exploratory general.
Golden Monumentality ages all the way. I bought a lot of faith builders and faith settlers. When I found and suzed Valetta I had real hard decisions about what to spend faith on.
The massive production in my capitol encouraged me to stick an early industrial zone in there and it was awesome, I ran multiple projects (hello Hong Kong with the 20% boost) and got a load of engineers who powered out key wonders (Alhambra, Portala Palace, Forbidden City).

- 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?
Get a Religion for the production boost (work ethic) to power into many theatre squares filled with books, painting and musicals. A City in every terrain to power up Open Air Museums. If it went onto a later point the religion would power me into a rock band spam to be the finisher. On prince I should be able to win before rock bands are available but I was ready.
Nothing really changed that initial plan, it basically went as was
I had intended to be peaceful game, but I felt hemmed in from sparta dn korea so that was two early wars that go me lots of good stuff they built for me (and hatred from everyone else for a while).

- What were your initial 5-10 builds in the capital or other early cities?
Looking at all the hills I avoided building Scouts and went for more slingers and warriors.
First district was as intended holy site, some military then a settler which I had to settle 1 tile early as a barb scout appeared next to me.

- Early order for technology/civics? What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
Astrology, Mining, Irrigation and Bronze working to take advantage of the many resources available
Political Philosphy was the early aim. T1 government if always the focus. Once I had that then drama for theatre squares and then whatever felt best at the time. No real focus or long term plan, other than going for whatever gives open air museums.

- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
A lot. The open air museums are awesome. The queens bibliotech was great, let me use beethoven when he arrived!

- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
I ended with 21 of which I think I build 13, so I guess I captured 6 and culturally converted 2. My golden age vs their dark age!

- What were key production/purchase focuses?
I focused on building districts that was useful and tried to ignore wonders that were "nice" and "pretty" but didn't help.
Early melee units powered up into swordsmen were as ever good.
A city with a desert for Pyramids - most powerful wonder that is good throughout the whole game.

- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
Goddess of the hunt - because of the map and the resources I could see (which is what Civ6 is about the map should influence play).
Work Ethic (production), Lay Ministry (for the culture) - I think I could have chosen something better for this. Holy Orders.

- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
Oligarchy for the combat bonus' for my early wars. Then once I was finished Autocracy. Then into Monarchy (first T2 acquired) and Theocracy for the discounts.

- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
Magnus was in use as I kept building citties at a constant rate. He was my 1st, then Amani for a city state (Akkad for wall bashing) friendship. Then Pingala. Liang for the builder charge it's a small but pervasive strong bonus.

- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
Initially it was OK. Then I was a warmonger and conquered Sparta and Korea. Everyone hates me for 60 turns of denouncement. Then it slowly swung everyone back to me as I played nice with everyone else.

- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
Golden all the way. Monumentality all the way

- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
The map totally goverened what I did.

- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
So many bloody barbarians while I was exploring. Then I realised no goodie huts, so why am I exploring all this tundra/snow? doh!

- Did you enjoy your game?
Yes, it was a lot of fun and very different from most of my games. So many resources!

 

[isopaha]

CV T199. Quite a fun game. Sweden is strong in CV like many previous posters mentioned. I liked that highlands map was populated with more AIs than normal, so that the empty space for settling doesn't become overwhelming for the player (I think I once mentioned this in an AAR thread).

I played a peaceful game without a religion. Was trying to find cultural CSs, but with no luck. Same with tribal villages!

I guess quite small things can matter 10-20 turns in CV win times. Don't really know what I would've done differently with a replay.

 

[Planktonic]

Re-played this from turn 64 for Diplo victory- achieved at turn 272.

I actually saved my game from the first run at turn 64- that was when I chose my religion. I had decided to play this game for Diplo victory as well as CV, and would make a different choice in the religious beliefs accordingly. Whereas I chose Work Ethic and Tithe for my CV run, I chose Work Ethic and World Church for the Diplo attempt (later picked Pagoda of course as the tier 3 faith building). I thought it would be an interesting game because: 1. there were 13 other civs instead of just 7, complicating the Diplo picture; 2. I thought it might be possible to win early if Sweden's Nobel Peace Prize competition appeared in the first World Congress of the Industrial Era. This last was a miscalculation- I forgot that you would need about 30 turns to win the competition and the extra Diplo point anyway, which would basically put you at the same time window for the next World Congress. In my game the 5th WC occurred on the 2nd turn of the Industrial Era (on turn 242) but was the Physics competition, not the Peace competition, so no possibility to win in any case until the 6th WC. 3. With 13 civs, and with trying to get Global Warming Mitigation ASAP, avoiding unintentional CV would be hard.

The presence of 13 civs made it trickier because it would be more costly to just eliminate civs and therefore simplify your advantage in the WC. Instead of having a -30 penalty for occupied foreign capitals, it could be as high as -60. In my game, I was helped that 4 civs DOWed me in 2 joint formal wars almost simultaneously, which allowed me to reduce them with minimal diplomatic penalty, which allowed me to keep buying up Diplo favor from everyone else until ~ turn 230 when the AIs no longer allowed purchasing or trading for Diplo favor. In order to keep my occupied foreign capital penalty low, I tried to surround AI capitals with cities and then build ECs or Water Parks to attack them with loyalty pressure. In this way I could get them to eliminate the civ, but then refuse permission to join my empire, resulting in a free city and sparing me the penalty. By the end of the game I outright conquered 5 capitals (eliminating the civs, and accepted a -25 Diplo penalty, although 2 of these were literally on the turn before the last WC). I managed to "execute by loyalty" 4 civs: Jadwiga, Tamar, Catherine, and Tomaris- 3 of whom had DOWed me. In the end it was necessary to eliminate civs just to reduce tourists and avoid CV, so it was a matter of minimizing the penalty for doing so. My only tourism was from Wonders, religious tourism, and Walls but this was still quite high as I built a lot of Renaissance Walls for the +2 Diplo favor - I did collect three artifacts but o/w had no Great Works. I gave away 4 books - 2 to Cleopatra, who I was boosting for culture as she was the cultural leader for a long time, until Gorgo overtook her (after which I eliminated Cleo for the last WC), and 2 to Nubia. To boost the cultural defender at the time (Egypt) I actually even deliberately planted a city (Riga) where it would succumb to loyalty pressure, then used Moksha to insta-build a Theater Square and purchased an ampitheater before the loyalty flip.

So in the end I built all the Diplo Wonders (Mahabodhi, Potala, Statue of Liberty), reached Seasteds and Global Warming Mitigation, and won 11 out of 12 possible Diplo points in the first 6 WCs. I don't think it would have been possible to finish any earlier as the only Aid request that occurred was sponsored by me after a natural disaster, so I was not an eligible participant.

Thanks for the game!

 

[Planktonic]

Some more thoughts on the game:

1. the last time I tried for Diplo victory was GOTM 126 with Trajan. I didn't focus on getting to Seasteds or GWM in that game because I thought I would win it in the first WC of the Modern Era anyway. But in that game the WC occurred literally in the interregnum between the Industrial and Modern Era at around turn 270, so no possibility to collect more than 2 Diplo points, so I belatedly had to rush to get them. Interestingly, despite there being more civs (or maybe because there were more civs), the rate of Era change was slower in this game than in GOTM 126, which was also Prince but only the usual 8 civs. In fact I noticed that the presence of so many civs limited them all in their ability to expand, and the AIs were generally slow/underdeveloped compared to typical Prince civs throughout the game.
2. the presence of Valletta is again game-breaking for Diplo victory, since it is way too easy to just faith-buy Renaissance Walls and build up a massive Diplo advantage. I only stopped faith-buying Walls once I got to Flight and Conservation, as by that point I was already way ahead in Diplo accumulation and didn't want to deal with any more tourism.
3. the game grew very buggy at times. I was not allowed to put any envoys into Mitla at all- I DOW'ed them early as they were escorting a Settler, then got DOW'ed by the suzerain (either Scythia or Korea, can't remember). I ended up peacing out with the suzerain and later eliminated both of those civs, but was never allowed to place envoys into Mitla to the very end of the game. Even fulfilling their quest did not give me an envoy there. I also faith-purchased a Great General early, and was docked the faith and was given the +3 Era score, but the General himself never appeared in game for me. Never had that happen before.

So overall, playing for Diplo victory had its interesting features but truth to tell grew a bit tedious, since there was no way to actually achieve a faster Diplo victory until the 6th WC. Here is a screenshot from turn 208: already I had accumulated 2621 Diplo favor, and virtually everyone else was in the single digits (I would later eliminate Ba Trieu, who had 78 Diplo favor, and also Catherine who had 16. Jadwiga is about to be loyalty executed.) This is an extreme situation of "the game is already won but now I have to click 60+ more turns to achieve a victory screen" because there is literally nothing I can do to make the game go faster:


I don't think we've had one in GOTM, but it would be more interesting to play a Diplo game at the Deity level, for a lot of reasons:

1. World Congresses would start at around turn 80 instead of turn 120, so less "waiting around" for the chance to get Diplo victory points.
2. It would by no means be a sure thing to get Mahabodhi or Potala or Statue, so going after them would become an even greater priority at the expense of other civ-building needs.
3. It would be much harder to just steamroll over civs militarily to simplify the WC voting.
4. Even in Valletta were included, it would be much harder to hold suzerainty, and there is a greater risk an AI civ would just conquer it anyway. Holding suzerainty overall would be more challenging, so again harder to get Diplo favor.
5. AI civs would themselves typically have enough Diplo favor/resources to request Emergency Aid competitions, which would then make the player choose between responding to that request versus other pressing civ needs. Plus deity level AIs in my experience can be quite aggressive in Aid competitions, so there is no guarantee that you will win!
6. In this Prince level game I just stuck with Monarchy as a government for the whole game for the Diplo boost to Renaissance Walls- it was easy to build Potala and Forbidden City for extra policy slots. I had two Wonder Engineers available but didn't even bother to build Big Ben as there was no need and little to be gained except for added tourism. In a Deity game it may make more sense to choose other government types (eg. to facilitate getting to Seasteds or GWM), as one should to properly develop a civ....

Thanks again for the game!

 

[Soger]

1late night and 1 early morning before work and here ya go.
The great people of Sweden worship "Phantom Limb by Pig Destroyer"
Turn 123 culture Victory.

 

[bonemot]

First time try 6otM. Finished this last night, Nov. 19th, turn 317 Culture victory. Took out Korea completely in war, and all but three of Georgia's cities flipped to me from loyalty. Almost had Poland's capital flip to loyalty, and I got close to a science win too. I had a lot of fun!

- 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 wanted to expand quickly, I prioritized religion, then culture and science. I kept a decent defensive military, which came in handy when Korea attacked.
- What were your initial 5-10 builds in the capital or other early cities?
Religious districts, culture, then science. Spammed settlers in my capital
- Early order for technology/civics? What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
I bee-lined for Apprenticeship
- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
I love Kristina's open air museums, and I tried early to get to all of the terrain types with my cities
- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
I ended up with 28 cities, 4 captured, 6 absorbed through loyalty
- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
Mostly concerned with keeping space for open-air museums, then district adjacency and settlers.
- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
I chose God of the Open Sky for my pantheon, thinking the culture from the pastures would be a nice start to a culture boost. After that, I picked Work Ethic, religious Colonization, Lay Ministry, and Gurdwaras
- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
I started with Classical Republic, went to Monarcy, Democracy and onwards. Stuck with Republican Legacy for as long as possible.
- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
Magnus in the capital with audience chamber, moved Victor around to play with Loyalty, very helpful.
- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
I spied on Poland a lot to undermine their loyalty in Krakow.
- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
No dark ages, I think I had Golden in the first few shifts.
- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
I do not lean so heavily on culture, it was nice change of pace.
- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
Almost getting Krakow was fun.
- Did you enjoy your game?
Immensely.

 

[leif erikson]

Welcome to CivFanatics and Game of the Month!

Glad you enjoyed the game and thank you for the write up. Best of luck in future games.

 

[PamelalIsley]

This was my first time playing a GOTM. CV on Turn 333.


- 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 settled and expanded quickly. Focus on science and culture. When I chose +1F for Breathtaking, I tried to build all the wonders that affect appeal and play my districts to max faith (to spend. No religion founded)
- What were your initial 5-10 builds in the capital or other early cities?
Monument, builder, slinger
- 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?
I usually don't build so may art slots. I prefer archeological sites.
- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
I settled right away in the mountain ring. Built west and east, then south. A little north. 10 cities, all settled by me. I captured 1 but lost it forgetting to put in a governor until it was too late.
- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
Wonders
- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
+1F for breathtaking. I always chose this one. It is an easy way to get faith without building a holy site.
- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
Liang- for the extra building bonus and fishery
- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
I made a lot more money than usual trading strategic resources.
- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
Mine were all normal and Golden. Alternating.
- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
I missed the corporation & village bonus.
- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
The game crashed twice for me. I liked that it was only the women leaders. I usually don't play such a large game but on this setting it was fun. There seemed to be a crazy amount of resources and wonders were really easy to secure
- Did you enjoy your game?
I did, thank you.

 

[leif erikson]

Welcome to Game of the Month!

 

[Soger]

What was your plan for achieving the VC?
Culture game so I figured push religion/culture early rush National parks for a easy win.

What are the major steps you planned to take?
Secure a religion early for added production/culture as well as possible early city conversions on rival ai. As it was a lower difficulty game I also focused heavily on wonders as I knew anything I started I would get.

What events, if any, changed the plan in execution and to what new plan?
Have slowly the rival ai built domestic tourism. I have not played below deity for awhile. Didn't think about the ai not earning any great people (to buy great works from them instead or earning) this caused me to have to adjust a bit on my strategy as I had to buy a few great people to get art.

Any interesting decision points?
I had debated going to war and quick capturing a few rival civs due to the level. Although that is generally a bad choice in a culture game as removing civs lowers your overall tourism pool. It was a constant battle to not declare war and conquer the mostly unguarded civs around me.
With lower difficulty I knew Stonehenge would be an easy build so I was able to pick the culture for followers belief as I would be able to get a early apostle from building the Henge for religious colonies

- What were your initial 5-10 builds in the capital or other early cities?
Capital: Scout, scout, monument, settler, Holy site, Builder, settler, builder, start oracle, apadana, finish oracle
Other cities- Holy site - monument

Early order for technology/civics? What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
tech: 1. Mines 2. Holy site 3. Animals 4. Set to commercial hub 5. Set to Kilwa
Main priorities were 1.Holy site/trade districts 2. Luxuries to sell 3. Kilwa/forbidden city

Civics: 1. Trade route 2. mysticism 3. Open boarders 4. tier 1 Goverment 5. Set to theocracy
Main priorities were 1. Get trade route 2. Get oracle asap (best wonder in game for decreasing turn count) 3 Open boarders to sell

How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
Auto theming is amazing. I loved not having to open my great works tab ever. The diplo points for great people was ok as well. The Government plaza building was ok although in a higher difficulty game I would have gone master chapel for easier tech boosts as that would have been overall stronger play. On lower levels the tech boosts are mostly irrelevant as I was done before the ones that require mid game units. I was done before the others were unlocked although I know here UI is pretty decent depending on the map type.

How many cities did you settle and/or capture? 8 or 9 I forget but less then 10 all settled
Where did you settle your first few cities? On 1&2 amber of luxury sales and early culture. 3 next to the Ivory tile (to maximize tile yields for the city) 4. Geo fissure for extra science.

- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
Production: Districts, wonders, and other items that gold/faith could not buy
Purchase: Great engineers!

- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
Pantheon: Culture to plantations because it is generally the best choice overall, plantation luxuries are in all tile types and there is a lot of them.
Religion1. work ethic generally the strongest choice. 2. Culture for 4 followers (culture is the strongest yield in civ 6) 3. Religious colonies (saved faith on not having to buy units to spread my religion) 4. I think I unlock a building this game. overall it does not do much I would have taken the amenity one.

- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
Government 1. Autocracy (Wonder production) 2. Republic (for government plaza building wild card) 3. Theocracy(best government for culture games)

- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
1. Diplomat (early suz/levy for cheap map exploration) 2. Magnus (wonder chops and trade route boost) 3. Pingala

- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
always. I was declared friends with all civs

- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
Golden (monumentality)

- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
N/A

- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
Chingettie (no possible way I will spell it right) being in game. I run a trade route heavy strategy so that city state is possibly the strongest in game for me.

- Did you enjoy your game?
Yeah. I would not have played it otherwise so it was fun to see how the game plays on the lower settings. I have always said that its harder to win science games fast on lower settings. Counter intuitively as the ai is weaker it has less to offer in trade/conquest. It was nice to see that my assumption was correct.

 

[Monthar]

Cult Vic Turn 189 Score 1047

I built a few wonders and had a nice peaceful game.

 

[GaidinX]

Culture Victory - Turn 172
Was a fun and peaceful game (well... Korea got annoying and barbs had their cap down to low health so I might have swooped in and helped the barbs out). My capitol was a beast with Temple of Artemis, Bolshoi, Oracle, Oxford, Chichen Itza, and Macchu Picchu (sp?). Had Kilwa, Pyramids, Petra (NW), Taj Mahal, Alhambra, Forbidden, Potala, Big Ben, Terracotta, Great Library and likely more - tons of easy chops and high prod cities.
-
I took the pantheon for production/food from camps and it helped in a lot of my cities. Picked culture from holy site buildings for religion along with +2 faith per city. Very fun game, I managed a city in all terrain types so the open air museum was powerful when I could put it down - mistakenly put Govt Plaza in 2nd city - PIngala in the cap would have been nice to pair but had plenty of slots for the many writing/art/music I produced or bought from the AI.
-
Thanks again! I actually had this one done in time but I use a few (26) UI mods so I never submit - just fun to compare against others to learn and the maps are always challenging in new ways.