- 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? - Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why? - How did the game speed impact your plan and play? - 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?
- 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.
Pretty incredible game. I had no idea it would go that smoothly, the AI is just completely defenseless on Marathon.
- 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 got Himiko as my first hero, so I made the entire game about her. With her, I got Kabal and Akad suz ASAP, and then levied their starting forces to take on Ethiopia. With time, I upgraded their units to Legionaries, and chopped everything to get a second and third army to conquer the rest of the world.
- Pantheon chosen and why?Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
I think this was my biggest mistake, I worked the fountain to get a fast pantheon, and then went Lady of the Reeds to get a good capital. But my capital was completely irrelevant, as I had to work the Fountain anyway to get Iron Working quickly (and that meant no growth). Going for Religious Settlements, culture pastures or even a free builder would have been much more useful. No religion until the very end.
- How did the game speed impact your plan and play?
Its so weird seing these high build times and costs. But also so very nice to not have to deal with AI popping up walls and new units every turn when you start attacking them. Also, having a relative 9 movement per turn made microing the Legionaries much easier
- What were your initial 5-10 builds in the capital or other early cities?
I think I built a scout, a warrior, Himiko, a builder and then a settler. But then the game ended
In all seriousness, after these initial build I think I chopped a govt. plaza, and then just an encampent for GG points. Capital was mostly irrelevant though.
- Early order for technology/civics? What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
Beeline to Iron Working, then Cartography. For civics, Military Training first for flanking bonuses, and then Classical Republic.
- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
Getting a free monument allowed me to get my Hero faster. Legionaries conquered the world, obviously.
- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
I settled one city, which didn't impact the game. Conquered all the cities on the map except for one (I got Kupe's last city 2 turns after winning)
- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
After the initial conquests, I got a few workers with faith to chop more Legionaries to sent to the eastern front, while my main army, splitted into two, cleared India and Khmer
- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
+4 melee, and some encampent/war stuff.
- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
None of them were important, just loyality boosters
- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
I managed to get a friendship at the start of the game with Khmer, which allowed me to keep trading with him despite killing the rest of the world. It ended right as I was at his doorstep.
- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
I got a golden age for Classical Era, by getting a score of 100/30 I think.
- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
Dramatic Ages are awful, and I had to be very careful how I capture cities, especially before I got any governors and the Golden Age. Usually two cities at a time, and had to chop down the monuments repair instantly. There was still some flipping when I was conquering Ethiopia, but I managed to contain it.
- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
Yeah, the eastern branch of the continent and Kupe. Thankfuly, I had a good hunch about where the remaining two civs should be on the map, and I sent scouts to search for a passage.
- Did you enjoy your game?
Yes! Never played marathon before. Unique experience for sure!
- 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?
Didn't had any plan in particular beforehand. Got religion with crusader belief, but at average i managed to convert around half cities i captured to benefit from +10CS. Got Arthur as first hero, he was useful, but not exceptional, his knight's powerfull, but still cavalry so they did little damage to walls and i had to sacrifice my own units for temporal units. It also seems like marathon unfortunately doesn't affect lifespan of units, so knights were only 14 turns lifespan. Conquered Ethiopya first, but got stuck at Arabia, didn't have enough military to capture several cities simultaneously, so cities turned free constantly and at some Saladin got Mamluks, ofcourse I captured Arabia in the end, but i wasn't been able to snowball as much as i would like to. Khmer almost didn't resist, but when I reached India, India got renessance walls, and i wasn't been able to get suzerainity over Akkad at that point (used battering ram and siege tower for most part of the game), so I got stoped for awhile again. After conquering India the rest was fast and easy.
- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
Researched animal husbandry and so how many horses were around, took God of Craftsmen.
- How did the game speed impact your plan and play?
In general it didn't, but it was nice to have bigger windows of units relevance before I have to upgrade them.
- What were your initial 5-10 builds in the capital or other early cities?
Usual stuff. Scout, slinger, settler, builder, etc.
- Early order for technology/civics? What did you prioritize for technology/civics?
Iron working was on my mind and i got it much faster than i usually do, but i didn't rush it. I think my first two were Animal husbandry to Astrology, i also got time for Irrigation for plantations over luxuries.
- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
Free monuments are very nice, but i haven't settle many cities myself. I almost didn't send trade routes to other major cities (only for road creating purposes) and tried to get maximum gold from internal trading posts. Legions were nice, i even built several forts which were usefull. Cheap aqueducts with one guaranted amenity are also nice. I wouldn't say any of abilities were crucial, but everyone of them had an impact.
- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
In early game settled 3 cities myself and one additional much much later in the game to get access to 3 additional luxury resources i didn't have access to. Captured a lot, around 10 razed, 34 cities by the end.
- What were key production/purchase focuses?
Army in early game, many different faith purchases after early game.
- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
Oligarchy and Theocrasy, Combat Strength cards, Exodus of the Evangelists at some point and Praetorian Guards was slotted like 2/3 of the game.
- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
Got magnus first, but it was a mistake, I though i will develop a little begore begining conquest, but plans changed rapidly after getting Arthur. My second governor was Victor and i even got him Embrasure promotion, but in the end i havent built a single unit in city he was was established in...
- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
No, was denounced by almost everyone, Kupe was friendly to me, but refused friendship. Even worse, I wanted to declare formal war on Ethiopya, but confused and denounced Khmer, declared formal war on him and after realizing that i screwed up, declared surprise war on Ethiopya anyway, because my force were ready to attack.
- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
All golden ages, was really easy to get due to how many barbarian capms were spawning around.
- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
Golden Age cards were nice to use, with Praetorian Guards and Fountain of Youth my units were healing extremely fast.
- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
My units had bonuses from both Fountain of Youth and Matterhorn, as well as double exp from Kabul and it was really satisfaying having very powerfull units by the end, several of my units had 7 promotions by the end.
- Did you enjoy your game?
Yes, it was my first game on marathon that I finished, all my attemps always end not reaching even turn 50, early production times kill interest, but later into game i would say experience becomes maybe even better than on standart speed I usually play on.
Moderator Action: Edited some language to comply with site rules. leif
I wanted to declare formal war on Ethiopya, but confused and denounced Khmer, declared formal war on him and after realizing that i screwed up, declared surprise war on Ethiopya anyway, because my force were ready to attack
First time playing marathon, thanks for the primer in the Announcement thread.
Game was very contrary to the usual Civ game in numerous respects, made all the more so by the availability of Heroes, which totally re-shaped the character of the game.
Started out settling 1NE for the amenity, and worked the FOY. Got the first pantheon and took Religious Settlements for the free settler. Strongly considered Lady of the Reeds and Marshes but decided overall the additional city would likely yield more production in the long term, although in the end I don't think it made very much difference- Heroes were all important.
The presence of the free monument helped a lot- in both cities the first thing I did was produce Heroic Tales. Wanted to get Himiko but never discovered her at all. Heroic Tales revealed Arthur and Anansi. In contrast to Ezerin above I actually didn't want Arthur- units take so long to build, even scouts, that to lose them after such a short lifespan was not too appealing. But Anansi was very helpful. I first researched Animal Husbandry, saw the numerous horses, and settled the second free city on a horse tile to start accumulation. Anansi helped me get to Horseback Riding and almost to Iron Working, and also to Maneuver and Political Philosophy right by the end of the Ancient.
So I was able to levy troops from Nazca and hard build 2 horsemen by the end of the Ancient- I wanted to go after Khmer first but he already had walls so instead went for Ethiopia who did not. The horsemen and levied troops were sufficient to take most of his cities incl his capital. By that time I had discovered Hercules and Akkad. I used Amani to suz Akkad, then Hercules was the sole melee unit required to take down all the walled cities of both Arabia and Khmer. This gave me enough time/gold to start buying Legions, which I then used to take down India and Mali. I had met Peter and Kupe but didn't know where they were. It took a while to get troops across the land bridge to Peter- this being Pangaea, I had concentrated on the bottom tech tree so didn't even have sailing or shipbuilding for a while. But after conquering Peter the Medieval started and I was able to recall Hercules (and had plenty of other military units), so Kupe was easy to finish off.
Interesting and contrary things about this game:
1. Never hard built a single district in any city. Hercules used his power to plant 3 Commercial Hubs, and I repaired districts that had been pillaged from conquered cities, but never built a single one myself.
2. Never built a single settler. Got the free settler from Religious Settlements, stole one from Ethiopia that got settled, stole another late game from Kupe that got settled, and stole a third from Peter that I was basically using as a scout.
3. Never built a single melee unit. Had 6 Legions by the end of the game (never lost one to combat, 3 got promoted to Men at Arms) but all were purchased with gold. Did build a couple of scouts and plenty of horsemen.
4. Got a Great Prophet from captured Holy Sites but never bothered to activate him.
5. Completely faith-purchased a Great General (Suz Tzu) from pillaged faith and captured Holy Site faith.
6. Never built a single siege unit, nor even a single ranged unit, nor a battering ram nor a siege tower.
7. Was 3 turns away from summoning the Twins but stopped to wait for the Era change, and then didn't bother because they were unnecessary.
8. Despite this being a Deity level game, and although we did make it 5 turns into the Medieval period, never saw any AI produce a Classical unit. The toughest units I ever had to fight were heavy chariots from the AIs, and galleys from Kupe. Strangely, a couple of free cities born out of loyalty issues did produce a couple of swordsmen, but no AI civilization ever did.
9. I did buy three galleys when trying to find Kupe's capital and soon upgraded them to caravels, but this proved to be unnecessary when I found that it was close to Peter after all.
An interesting and unusual game, made quite palatable by the availability of Heroes. Also glad it was for a Domination victory- doubt I would have had the patience to go for Science or Culture. Has anyone ever actually played a Marathon game to a Diplomatic Victory ? The very thought of it makes me pull my hair out....
Hi everyone, first time participating in any of these, despite being a Civ player since... well, Civ 1 when I was a small child, and knowing Civfanatics since the early Civ V days. Not sure why I never gravitated towards GoTM, but here I am I guess.
T402 Domination Victory
- 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?
Certainly aiming for Domination with a civ like Rome which has no particular religion, also Fountain of Youth is obviously pretty great for Dom. Going in, I was somewhat concerned with a few elements of this game I was not very familiar with: I've never played on Marathon (I usually play Epic), never played Dramatic Ages, and have played very little with Heroes and Legends. Also never play Legendary/Abundant, but I wasn't particularly worried about that. Anyway, because I've heard Dramatic Ages can be... dramatic when you get a dark age, I took a cautious approach, which is what I gravitate towards to anyway, and planned to settle my area before turning to domination, even if that meant foregoing the big advantage of the legions - though I hoped marathon speed meant I could still do both. I ended up being surprised by how easy golden ages were to get, and regretted not rushing, but oh well.
Spoiler:
Barely got to use legions (just early on against Ethiopia), men-at-arms and muskets did most of the work, and it was a rather slow victory considering the super favorable conditions (FoY, Rome, Marathon etc.). Don't think there were any major branching points, though I took a perhaps slightly unusual route in going for Ethiopia directly south, then continuing on to Arabia before wrapping around to India and the Khmer, only then pushing westwards through Mali, Russia and finally Kupe. Maybe the only "challenging" part was when I conquered Arabia and basically had to take all of the cities twice because of loyalty, and there was some rough terrain involved that made it slightly harder, though Mont Cervin (the hill bonus NW, don't know the English name) helped there. Some similar issues with India too, but less so.
- Pantheon chosen and why? Religious beliefs chosen, and why?
Kinda messed up by not working FoY right away, I'm just not used to these Legendary starts. By the time I figured it out (a few dozen turns in), I figured I'd missed my opportunity at the settler pantheon, but it was actually still there, so I grabbed it. Didn't found a religion, even though it would have been quite doable, took a while for the fourth and fifth one to go (Saladin founded his himself).
- What were your initial 5-10 builds in the capital or other early cities?
Scout, Slinger, Settler is what I usually do in the capital, so probably that. For other cities, generally started with either a military unit or a builder.
- Early order for technology/civics ?
Focused on the lower part of the tech tree as it was a domination game, with Iron Working quite early to find Iron - legions may not need it, but men-at-arms sure do. For civics, kind of similar, going Monarchy pretty early, then Theocracy with the idea of using the reduction with Grandmaster Chapel, but... I kinda forgot to build it? Didn't really need it, as usual, you really just need a small specialized army, though Marathon makes things even easier.
- How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
Free monuments and roads sure are great for the early game, there's a reason Trajan is what I recommend to people learning the game. Legions didn't end up that key, though they did get the ball rolling on the conquests, and baths are nice for amenities. Trajan is suited for any victory, but domination is what he's best at.
- How many cities did you settle and/or capture? Where did you settle your first few cities?
Spoiler:
Settled two cities quite close to Rome, then three southern cities around the big desert west of us, and also loyalty-flipped an early Maori foward settle on the west coast. Then went conquering as described above.
- What were key production/purchase focuses? Military units / Civilian units / Districts & city development / Wonders / Civ Unique Unit & Infrastructure? Most critical or interesting?
Unlike some of the rush players, I did build some basic districts, two campuses, a few commercial districts... but yeah, mostly military and then kind of on autopilot with some ECs here and there and builders up until I just didn't care about it anymore (about halfway through) and just spammed more units.
- What governments did you select? What key policy cards did you use? Why?
Autocracy first, then Oligarchy when I started conquering, then Monarchy and then Theocracy. Key policy card was the Pretorian Gard one, which is pretty insane really - as I said, I'd never played Dramatic Ages before. Monumentality was strong too obviously, but I already knew that one. Otherwise, the usual military stuff: agoge early on, the pillaging one, the cheaper upgrades one. Serfdom early on for economics, and then mostly money or amenities stuff.
- Which Governors were most important; when and why?
Amani to secure Mogadiscio early on, and Magnus to colonize, plus Liang for a few builder charges. Then just got all the governors to help with loyalty when conquering.
- Was diplomacy/trading useful? How? Relations with other civs?
Since we were swimming in horses, selling them early on certainly helped with the start. After that, not really - I allied most of the city-states in my path, and conquered the one that I hadn't - Bologna.
- When did you have Dark/Golden ages?
All Golden Ages, even got the achievment for a 20+ Golden Age which was nice. Again, was quite surprised by how easy they were to get, though the classical one was the closest.
- How did the game modes affect or impact your play?
Heroes are busted, aren't they? I kinda knew that I think, but I'd forgotten, and started recruiting them way too late, could have all gone much quicker had I remember that. Also seems that the cost for recruiting them isn't scaled to the game speed, which makes it quite cheap. MVP was Hippolyte (English name?), which paired with double-hitting crossbows or siege units for quicker wall-busting. Got a few industries going, none really key, mostly for the yields. Dramatic Ages slowed me down early on as I was excessively cautious, but didn't matter afterwards as all the other civs got golden ages except in the last era.
- Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
Spoiler:
Kinda surprised to see Kupe was actually on his own island, which looked somewhat like New Zealand, funnily enough. I had no navy, so he did get to harass my units with some of his caravels, but since this was the very end of the game, it didn't bother me too much.
- Did you enjoy your game?
Yeah, Marathon was quite nice actually, though I wouldn't want to play a peaceful game at that speed. Dramatic Ages is definitely something I'll return to as well. Not so sure about Heroes & Legends, they just seem too strong to me.
Console player here, so just participating in spirit.
T328 DV, 1214 score.
This was my first Marathon game, so it took me a couple tries to get the feel for it. My first three games or so I was overwhelmed my AI or Barbs or both. I also never got a natural wonder on my random seed.
But then it started clicking. I got a good start for chopping out my legions and it was game over at that point. Only a matter of time. I wasn't going for a religion, either, but I conquered my neighbor who was and took over all those holy sites and stumbled into one. Two civs failed and were defeated from their own loyalty failings which was funny. The one thing that slowed me was in my head I was thinking Pangea wrapped around the map like highlands for some reason, so my warpath took a suboptimal route.
There is definitely some merit to Marathon speed. The game actually didn't last any longer than some of my other diety games. I felt I could micromanage my army better and wage war more efficiently. That and not every city suddenly sprang up walls 2 turns after declaring war. A small increase to yields generated massive benefits, so micromanaging builders was also beneficial. Heroic ages were basically guaranteed. I thought the settings really meshed well in this game, too. Definitely, my next game is going to be Marathon with Frederick.
DV-157
settled on the coast on the sheep so my cap could grow while working the wonder tile.
Got and extra city from the pantheon.
Built order was warriors and workers so I could go after the numerous barbs camps for gold and chop my legions
got 2 free settlers from India and the Kmers that I settled on iron on the East of my continent
Anansy was my first hero that got me fast to my legion, swimming units and Government
Got Beowulf mid game and Mulan on the last turns
The only district that I built was the gov plaza .I Suzed both military CS.
Levied Akkad units.
Very fun game to play.The legions cut thru walls like butter (2 attacks )lots of barb camp to collect gold
Thanks
Fun game - Have never played Marathon and it threw me off a bit at first - Lucked into Beowulf early and chopped him in the 2nd city (free from pantheon) - captured one settler from Ethiopia for final city settle, all else captured. Got unlucky and didn't find Akkad until after suzing Kabul. Beowulf took out Ethiopia after some barbs harassing me but, Kupe and Khmer had managed to get walls and I had to wait on siege assistance and he expired- Eventually got Akkad but it took quite a long time as it was slow to get envoys.
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Rest of game was running my army west then south and back east to finally get to Peter and Kupe. Did find a religion with work ethic and faith from cities - bought some builder to chop out units in the Classical plus some great people.
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Built Temple of Artemis near the end with chops to help with amenities, was 2 turns from Terracotta Army at the end - Builders improved a lot of things to help with that after getting Buenos Aires - Madagascar at very end for same reason.
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Barbs were the toughest and delayed getting a 2nd army up before my main army made it back around. Pillaged a lot with the later AI and got to 2nd tier govt and many upgrades. Made a lot of money selling luxuries and horses to the AI - they value luxuries enough to pay well even when they have denounced.
SpoilerFinal Map :
Had 3 cities of Kupe left after the Cap and they would have fallen in a few turns. I settled my cap near the river for a future bath before I understood that was pretty pointless for this game - oh well, slowed me down a bit. i got my religion late, after taking a few civs that had built holy sites which was nice as they all converted immediately over to my religion.
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Thanks again for an interesting game!
Domination Victory, T254 (= T85 on normal speed), Score 992, 18 h
Plan
Beeline Iron Working for Legion, then conquer everything.
Early game
Things were absolutely not as swift as I planned. There were a lot of barbarians and the other civilizations were just so far that getting an initial second city became just too difficult for me. Also, I did not focus properly my efforts, for as I had my first warrior harassing Menelik, the other warriors and slinger I had made a stop in an attempt to conquer Kupe's coastal city on the way to the south. It was a failure and I had to end moving away and focusing all my troops on Menelik.
Also my early war with Gandhi to get a settler with my scout was a wasted source of grievances as the city I funded turned to Jayavarman just a few turns afterwards. Loyalty is a much hard issue in Marathon when you cannot quickly grow population to stabilize a city, even a -6 loyalty starting placement was an unsolvable problem.
On T100, I had found all the civilizations except Peter, I had funded my second city on the edge of the trade route reach with fair production and close to Menelik and Mansa Musa for launching hordes, I had Iron Working (T92), an Encampment earning great general points, and had conquered the two closest cities from Menelik, but I was really struggling to hold them against loyalty pressure (spoiler, I managed after getting my second governor, but had to use Amani to fight loyalty ).
Diplomacy and war
After claiming Hippolyta (only hero I found until T150 when I also discovered Hercules) and buying a Battering ram against the capital walls, I was able to crack Menelik, and while my first Legion and Hippolyta finished the crumbs, new recruits conquered Kupe's nearby city on the way to the front. After that, I made peace with Kupe and Gandhi (as their capitals were far from my reach) but received a joint war from Mansa Musa and Peter (T126).
Moved my first army towards Mansa Musa. It took me a lot of time to navigate the canyons as he was suzerain of Akkad (with 5 envoys! ) and there were a lot of warriors and archers opposing me. Only thanks to the Fountain of Youth and the Praetorian Guard card, I managed to survive this passage without losing units.
It took me some time to get the steam, but once I had defeated Menelik and Mansa Musa (Timbuktu taken in T192), the rest of the game was swift, and it took me only 62 turns to defeat the other 5 leaders. My first army continued after Peter while I pushed all other new Legions towards Jayavarman.
After some hesitation bringing my army to the north towards Kupe, I finally decided to declare on Peter. The reason was he had leavied two city states to fight Mansa Musa and I had like five warriors of him in my undefended Mansa territory. But in the end, and with the help of popping a quick spearman, I managed to defend it while I made a quick attack on Peter's capital, beginning from the northern city of his peninsula, because of loyalty. I took cities from him until I saw I could survive the loyalty pressure, then signed peace and pushed north towards Kupe.
Meanwhile on the West, three legions and a great general started a war with Jayavarman T201. The smallest and nearest cities were a real pain to retain, I had a few swaps, and he had enough units that it was hard to survive even with the Fountain of Youth bonus. Fortunately, pealing down walls with a bought Battering ram on just conquered city was taking only 2-3 legion attacks, so I managed on the end here. Again, conquered the capital and only just enough cities to hold loyalty, then signed peace.
At the East, there was an heroic crossing of Peter-Kupe's straight, defended by my single Quadrireme that gave just enough time to an Archer and three Legions with a general and ram to cross, sacrificing itself against the 5 of Kupe's galleys. The operation was a success and took Kupe's last cities on T232 and T240.
While the second army advanced over Saladin, the new Legions (now Man-at-arms) were sent with prevision towards the west. Cairo fell in T246 and Delhi in T254 when my man-at-arms fell over Gandhi's capital at the same time that the army who crossed the ocean from Kupe, along with my only galley now upgraded to the first world Caravel.
Cities
Settled on the olives. I thought the initial happiness and trade would be benefitial, and it was a good position to work all the marshes with Lady of Reeds pantheon. Worked the fountain until I had the Lady of Reeds, then used the marshes for quick growth and production until I had a couple more population.
Settled 3 more cities. My only built settler was on the river north of Kabul where I saw good food/production marshes and luxuries, with a good location to launch attacks over other civs and at the edge of the Trade Route reach. The other two cities were stolen settlers to Kupe and Gandhi. The Gandhi one was very far away and lost it to pressure. The other one, was settled south of the capital, near the oasis and marshes.
Aside from that, I conquered 25 cities and grabbed 2 more from loyalty.
Religion
Focused on getting an early Lady of Reeds and Marshes. I thought it would outweight the free settler in the long run and the production would help me to get a settler with just a few more turns of work than the free one. No decision there, for in the end the free settler pantheon was not available for when I reached 75 faith, despite I worked the fountain from T1.
I got a very late religion (T230) despite I was not looking for it. Went with Jesuit Education and Crusade, but should have taken Work Ethic and Tithe, for I made no use of the other two. Cool thing was I had a lot of Holy sites from Peter and Jayavarman, so when I funded, I got like instant 9 religious cities.
Wonders
Built the Hanging Gardens for extra heroes lifespan and boost to Drama, but in the end I got the boost from a Village only 5 turns before completing on T207 .
Natural wonders were super-interesting in this game! It was first time I had a close Fountain of Youth and could train units nearby. The extra healing was very important to speed up the conquest, and it allowed me to survive the barbarians and early wars. A legion, archer and scout also benefited from Matterhorn, before helping conquer Jyavarman and Saladin. And the army that defeated Kupe, got Spear of Fionn before crossing the ocean to end Gandhi.
I would love to see a game with very difficult opposition in front, but were you could easily gather all those wonder bonuses early on, and see how much it helps to survive/win.
Barbarians
It was crazy with them. Early on they were a great problem and delayed the early wars. In the end I had to leave a Horseman back in the territory to get rid of them. On the other hand, they were a great source of income.
Heroes
I was not lucky here. Perhaps I should have done more heavy exploration, but only had found a hero before T150. Hippolyta was nice and useful, but looking at the options out there, I could had gotten something better, like an early Hunahpu & Xbalanque. Hercules was fine, and I got a Government plaza, and my first Commercial hub and Holy site (envoy) from him, but it would had been great if earlier. Anyway, these are the heroes I found and the turn when I did:
Hippolyta: T34 (built on T80)
Hercules: T150 (built on T183)
Hunahpu & Xbalanque: T202
Anansi: T206
Sun Wukon: T237
Dramatic Ages
It was so easy to get Era Score burning barbarian outposts that all leaders had golden ages. The loyalty pressure was a problem.
The Praetorian Guard card was great and I ran it all through the game, but I felt the pain of losing a card slot, and could not do things like slotting the double envoy card, for I really wanted the extra healing. Overall I think I like more the normal ages mode.
Corporations
Built a couple industries, but overall had not much influence in my game.
Special abilities
The roads were very helpful to move units with so much unsettled land in between. I built a few bath districts in the end game just for the amenities. But the Legion is the selling point of Rome and I really enjoyed them.
Final state
It was a very interesting setting. I like a lot Rome and the initial Fountain of Youth and Marathon with Pangea Domination really dragged me to play this game. In the end it took me to finish it much than what I expected, but I am still impressed by @Chrumo and @tarafran plays. It seems levying city states was the way to go here, the levy time is multiplied by 3 on Marathon speed, and with Deity city states start with a lot of warriors.
SpoilerFull log :
1 - Ancient Era; Pannotia Fountain of Youth Rome
8 - Kabul Mogadishu
13 - Mining Asia Chinguetti Village (experience)
20 - Code of Laws
21 - Pantheon (Lady of Reeds and Marshes)
31 - Warrior!
33 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
34 - Village (Builder) Hippolyta
35 - Nazca
37 - Menelik Kupe
38 - Village (Scout) Denounced by Kupe
40 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
41 - Foreign Trade
42 - War to Menelik Builder
43 - Euramerica
45 - Jayavarman
46 - Warrior
49 - Hattusa
50 - Gandhi
51 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
53 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Bologna
54 - Bronze Working
55 - Settler!
56 - Denounced by Jayavarman
62 - Craftsmanship
64 - Ravenna
65 - War against Gandhi Settler
66 - War against Kupe Builder
71 - Warrior
79 - Antium
80 - Encampment! Hippolyta!
81 - Zanzibar
83 - Saladin
84 - Denounced by Saladin
85 - State Workforce Amani
86 - Slinger! Mekele
92 - Iron Working Oceania
93 - Adwa Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
94 - Johannesburg
97 - Peace with Gandhi🕊
98 - Akkad
99 - Animal Husbandry
100 - Buenos Aires Village (shipbuilding, mathematics)
101 - Mansa Musa
103 - Early Empire Victor Legion
106 - Zhangye Danxia
107 - Masonry Builder Warrior
108 - Pottery
110 - Legion!
113 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
115 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
116 - Irrigation Heroic relic
117 - Denounced by Jayavarman
118 - Slinger!
119 - Peter Met all civilizations
120 - Denounced by Peter Nan Madol
121 - Classical Era (Golden Age)
122 - Astrology Battering ram
123 - Political Philosophy Oligarchy🏛
125 - Legion!
126 - Archery Joint war from Peter and Mansa Musa to me Slinger
128 - Military Tradition Spearman!
130 - Writing Addis Ababa Builder
131 - Settler
135 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
136 - Mediolanum
137 - Kabul♟ Legion
139 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
140 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Archer
141 - Monument!
142 - Archer!
143 - Archer
144 - Axum Defeated Menelik
145 - Wheel Denounced by Saladin
147 - Barracks!
149 - Sailing Mohenjo-Daro
150 - Mysticism Mogadishu♟ Hercules
152 - Builder!
154 - Archer!
156 - Opango Peace with Kupe🕊 Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
157 - Games and Recreation
159 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Peace with Peter🕊 Builder
161 - Horseback Riding Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
162 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
164 - Builder! Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Matterhorn
165 - Legion!
166 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Builder
168 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
169 - Defensive Tactics Garrison commander (Victor)
171 - Water mill
172 - Archer! Granary!
173 - Walalta
174 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
175 - Shipbuilding Builder Trader!
176 - Military Training Chinguetti♟ Legion!
178 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
179 - Currency Archer! Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Kirina Builder
181 - Denounced by Kupe
182 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Horseman
183 - Hercules! Commercial hub Hattusa♟ Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Nioro
185 - Legion
186 - Holy site
188 - Niani Government plaza Liang
189 - Mathematics Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Builder Mohenjo-Daro
190 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Monument! Archer
191 - Ancient walls!
192 - Timbuktu Peace with Mansa Musa🕊 Legion Denounced by Gandhi Denounced by Jayavarman
193 - Ancient walls!
194 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
195 - Feudalism
197 - Builder! Legion
200 - Engineering Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
201 - War to Jayavarman
202 - Monument! Kawhia Battering ram Village (drama and poetry) Hunahpu & Xbalanque
203 - Denounced by Peter
204 - Sun Tzu
205 - Machinery
206 - Legion! Mohenjo-Daro🕊 Mohenjo-Daro♟ Anansi
207 - Hanging Gardens Campus!
208 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Legion!
209 - Spearman! Relic War to Peter Horseman
210 - Galley! Defeated Mansa Musa
211 - Celestial Navigation Mercenaries Quadrireme! Solikamsk
212 - Drama and Poetry Crossbowman Recorded History Pingala
213 - Horseman
214 - St. Petersburg
215 - Monument!
217 - Apprenticeship Ancient walls!
218 - Market!
219 - Mahendraparvata Tula Man-at-arms
220 - Tawdeni Man-at-arms! Man-at-arms Voronezh
221 - Nazca♟ Marcus Licinius Crassus Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Heroic relic
223 - Buttress Skirmisher
225 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Angkhor Thom Man-at-arms
226 - Man-at-arms War to Kupe Trader
227 - Hariharalaya
228 - Encampment!
229 - Bath! Market! Quadrireme
230 - Simon Peter Religion (Jesuit Education, Crusade) Archer
231 - Theology Nagara Jayasri Peace with Jayavarman🕊
232 - Man-at-arms Man-at-arms Crossbowman Whanganui Spearman
233 - Man-at-arms Man-at-arms Man-at-arms! Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
234 - Trung Trac
236 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Man-at-arms
237 - Entertainment complex! Sun Wukong Man-at-arms
238 - Construction Peace with Peter🕊
239 - Harbor! Missionary Missionary
240 - Cartography Civil Service Te Hokianga-Nui-a-Kupe Giant’s Causeway Defeated Kupe
241 - Medieval Era (Golden Age) Missionary Mohenjo-Daro
242 - Mecca Builder
243 - Warlord’s throne! Reyna Circumnavigation
244 - Military Engineering Zhang Qian Market! Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
245 - Trader! Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
246 - Akkad♟ Cairo Missionary
247 - Guilds Moksha Caravel Man-at-arms!
248 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Missionary
249 - Man-at-arms! Market! Aleppo Peace with Saladin🕊 Barbarian encampment (+90 gold) Builder
250 - Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
251 - Stirrups Tver Monument! Joint war with Jaravaman and Saladin against Gandhi Hattusa
252 - Kawhia Barbarian encampment (+90 gold)
253 - Divine Right
254 - Delhi 254 - Domination Victory
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Ancient Era; Pannotia
Fountain of Youth
Rome
Mogadishu
Asia
Campus!
Man-at-arms! Man-at-arms
