Religious Victory on Turn 270 (1795 AD), Score 445.
- How many cities did you settle or capture?
14 cities in total. 4 were taken from Gandhi (via Harald), 1 was Kumasi. The rest were spammed into the nooks I had.
- What did you prioritize for research and policies?
I tried beelining Mamluks, but had only limited success with them because the AI had outpaced me with tech. Policy wise I went hard for Theocracy and kept the +Religious Combat Strength and Faith policies to spam Apostles from my Holy Sites.
- Did you send anyone to the dustbin of history?
Gandhi RIP.
- What did you build for an Army and Navy and how did it change?
Archer rush initially, very successful in wiping out Gandhi and nabbing his cities from Harald. Crossbow and Mamluk army came a cropper to Philip's powerful Conquistadors. After my attempts of a military jihad against Spain, and embarrassingly, Brussels, failed I decided to give up on the military route and focus on a persuasive conversion campaign of religious units instead.
- What was your most useful unit?
Apostles. Military-wise, the early Archer rush was key in getting a solid base of 8 cities together before Turn 100.
- Did you use diplomacy? How?
Not really, since my warmongering against Kumasi and Philip had soured most people against me.
- Were City-States helpful?
I had suzerainty over Jerusalem but I don't think its position was super helpful in spreading my religion. Yerevan was much more useful, and the nearby Cliffs of Dover meant I could pick the promotion that gives +3 conversions (and an extra one from Mosques).
- What was your strategy, spread religion or by the sword?
Conquest ground to a halt against Spanish muskets, and I didn't have any Niter. I couldn't catch up with the AI in tech so had to go hard for Apostle spam.
- Any surprises you ran into, how did you deal with it?
Ran out of Apostle promotions by the end!
- Did you enjoy the game?
It's 3am and I just finished, so I'd say yes, definitely! Qin and Trajan were well on their way to a Science Victory, and I was converting the second landmass without a single city as a foothold, so that got pretty scrappy! With judicious use of Proselytiser and Theological Debater I managed some pretty good conversion synergies with religious combat against first Philip and Qin, and finally Pericles' Inquisitors.
Peaceful Religious Victory against Inquisitor wielding opponents really helps the final stage of the game stay unpredictable and dynamic (and enjoyable!) - much more than a grinding conquest would have. Religious units high mobility really is more fun to use, and getting a huge swing in favour of your religion is super satisfying.
Thanks for the game, my first Deity win
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