6otM23 Opening Actions

[leif erikson]

Welcome to the 6otM23 Opening Actions thread.

STOP - Please do not continue reading this thread until you have completed at least 80 to 100 turns in your game.

This thread is used to discuss the game once you've started playing through your first 100 turns. Apart from normal decency, the only posting restrictions are to please not post videos until the deadline is finished and to use the spoiler tags for screenshots. Here you can post questions related to the game and share your achievements/anger/frustration/victories while you play. Please remember that we are running a family friendly site, so express anger or frustration with this in mind.

Please use this thread to discuss your goals for the game and your opening moves through the first 100 turns. Anything after that should be posted in the After Actions thread once you have completed your game.

- Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city?
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
- What was your build order?
- How long did it take to find your neighbors? Were they hostile or friendly?
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
- Did you try to build any Wonders?
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
- How were the Barbarians?
- Any surprises?

Please use spoiler tags for any surprise details you'd like kept hidden. Thanks.

 

[Victoria]

T100, 9 cities, very experienced archers... I lost a few along the way....Barbs just made me rush my game but it is certainly fun, I think it took me 1.5 hours to get to T100.

Spoiler :

Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city?
On the Mercury on the same side of the river, I always struggle between a luxury and a plains hill.
I settled Piopiotahi next which was probably a mistake as I had not got bronze working. Still, nice culture which was about the only nice thing early

What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Mining, animal husbandry, pottery, archery bronze... why.... I do not really know why. I just rushed into the game, I should have been more orderly but its not my style. Speed overcame thought too often.

What was your build order?
Slinger, Builder, slinger, warrior, slinger settler... got swamped with barbs

How long did it take to find your neighbors? Were they hostile or friendly?
As I did not take a scout it took a while to meet Philip and only met Gorgo on about T80 and Harald T97 ish.

How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Early encampment for Sun Tzu, I find an early project seems more cost effective, especially if you can get #1 for 60. was a bit early but hey ho, was way too focused of a zillion barb horsemen. A few campus are springing up now, just quite late really. I think I have one commercial placed but not finished... sinful I know

Did you try to build any Wonders?
Nope, managed to get the Oracle off Gorgo is all so far

Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Settled an early city early and captured a settler off Philip for an iron city the turn before I upgraded. At T100 I only have 9 cities but am seriously on the warpath at last... 2 capital down, 5 to go.... just wish I knew where they were!.

How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Urban Planning / Discipline - Agog - Conscription - Maneuver - Autocracy - Strategos ... all pretty standard stuff

What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
1 science at the start which I fostered for 6 but not Suze. I have met 2 others I have just eaten as they are in the way as much as anything.

How were the Barbarians?
OMG.... so many barbs, there were donkeys riding ponies which were riding horses I swear. Shoot the horse and the pony is still coming toward you. It was like huge waves and I struggled with the numbers for a while, set me way back. Still different and challenging and fun, which is more than the resistance I am facing currently.

Any surprises?
Well I guess we always look out for barb waves but this was one of those one people complain about.

 

[leif erikson]

Yeah, the barbs were tough in testing. Glad you enjoyed the challenge.

 

[stinkubus]

At T106 I have seven cities. I'm typically an emperor player and this is my first shot at immortal. The AI definitely builds more units so taking cities is significantly more difficult and invasion force is taking longer to get through each town than anticipated. The barbs are confirmed raging.

Spoiler :

Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city?

I settled on the mercury one tile NW. With Rome I'm a sucker for dirt based science because it usually means fast Iron Working even if you don't get any eurekas. The starting dirt is somewhat ugly. Plains hills are great but not when that's the only thing you have. Worked the 1f-2c plains forest until I could afford better tiles.

My second city was founded on the copper to the SE.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?

I bee-lined Iron Working. Oddly enough I also missed the Bronze Working eureka despite the barb activity. I was able to see what I was up against and only had two warriors at the time so it was not safe to attack their camps.

I've had a lot of success on emperor with Rome by skipping archers and using Legions and cats combined with the classical GG. Craftsmanship was first after CoL, then Foreign Trade for the trader and Currency eureka. I then went State Workforce into Early Empire because I built an early encampment. I *REALLY* wanted that first GG. I do now regret not building any archers, but if the barb activity had been at all normal I know I would have had a better start and probably T40-45 Political Philosophy.

- What was your build order?

I incorrectly assumed the start was isolated and opened builder for fast Craftsmanship. That was unlocked at T15 by improving both farms and the other mercury mine so I could instantly sell it as soon as I met the first AI to help upgrade my warriors. This would also allow Rome to grow to pop 6 easily with no housing or amenity issues. My intent was to get to Political Philosophy out of one city and then expand.

Then I built warriors x5, and an encampment. Encampment projects to pop the general and upgrade the warriors were next.

- How long did it take to find your neighbors? Were they hostile or friendly?

I didn't met another civ until late given how close at least two are, probably T40ish. The barbs delayed scouting as my forces were occupied in and around Rome fending off waves of horsemen. Their insincere offers of friendship early were rebuffed, and once I DOW'ed Greece both Germany and Spain denounced. Just the way I like it

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?

I placed the encampment ASAP. I honestly can't remember now what turn Bronze Working was completed, but I know it was during the production of my fifth opening warrior. I placed the encampment and then began work on it as soon as the warrior was complete. Rome also got an early commerce hub as the map as not generated sufficient gold to field an army of Legions without one. Rome got to 7 pop quick as I built a Bath there for extra housing, and it also has a 3-adjacency campus in the tile due west of the non-settled mercury. The commerce hub is between it and the city center so it also has 3-adjacency.

Other cities are working on campuses or commerical hubs now. I only just completed Feudalism. Expansion and conquest were both slowed significantly by the barbs so I didn't get enough cities out to have strong culture. Once the barbs were cleared out from the natural wonder I for sure should have settled there, but I will not be able to do so until after I get these builders out.

- Did you try to build any Wonders?

No, but I have six Legions and two cats which are nearing level three and I intend to begin work on the Terracotta Army when I pick the game up again.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?

I had intended to expand post Political Philosophy but again the barbs were relentless and most of my resources were devoted to units and the infrastructure needed to support them. Only Rome and one other city were self founded. I have conquered two city states, Stockholm and Buenos Aires, in addition to Argos and Sparta from Greece. I also stole a settler from Spain. The settler was wandering by my border without a unit in sight so I took it.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?

Agoge has been in for almost the entire game. It only came out during the period of time I was building the encampment in Rome. I initially took Autocracy because I already had the GG and didn't really need the plus combat. The extra yields in the cap were nice because my start was slow and I only had three cities at the time. Buenos Aires built swordsmen and with their walls I needed the extra strength and I have since switched to Oligarchy.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?

I have met Stockholm and Buenos Aires which have both been conquered. Barbs and war with Greece have prevented me from scouting much of the map, but I know that Phillip is directly to my north. The settler I stole from my was settled such that our borders are touching, and once I have dispatched with Greece he will be my next target.

- How were the Barbarians?

Absolutely swarming. Without a doubt the worst I've ever encountered. As I said, this is my first shot at Immortal, so I don't know how much of that is a function of difficulty.

- Any surprises?

Just the barbs. They have been intense. During my siege of Sparta no less than seven barb horsemen have committed suicide slamming into my Legions.

 

[casualplayer]

Turn 100, 12 Legion, 3 Knights, 2 Battering Rams, 13 cities with Nidaros about to fall. Spain donated 3 Settlers, Greece 1, Norway 1, built 1 for Piopiotahi City that I had to rescue from Barbaric captivity. Never made an Archer because Legion are ridiculous. The Barbs have been tougher than any particular Civ.

Greece was Miss Friendly and Sumeria is teching like a fiend and Germany is cranking out Wonders. Strange personalities.

 

[EpicWestern]

- Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city? In place. Southwest near the wonder, by the river, felt like it was an optimal location.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why? Went fast legion, skipped archers but that was a mistake, Spain who I didn't scout early was closer than expected.

- What was your build order? Scout/Builder/Trade route/Settler I actually thought it was optimal with Stockholm so close, but I still should have transitioned into slinger/archer right afterward instead of waiting for legions/chariots

- How long did it take to find your neighbors? Were they hostile or friendly? With early scout found Gorgo and Norway pretty quickly to the west but unfortunately lost my scout to horsemen and didn't scout Spain to the north which would have been key.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize? Fast encampment but was sleeping and missed first general, campus soon afterward with good adjacency and nearby city state

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns? Built 1, Captured 3 from Spain (one capital), liberated Stockholm from Spain.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities? Tried to go fast Mercenaries but it just slowed me down way too much. Just super fast knight and dealing with the 200 upgrade cost would have been much better. With just two cities early on my culture rate was way too low to wait for mercenaries.

 

[Jendass28]

- Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city?

No one have said that so I will – the initial start is in fact challenging (I mean awful). No 4-yield tile leads to choosing either growth (rice) or production (plain hill), which is extremely tough vs. high difficulty (I mean cheating) AI. Who care about extra science when you have no food or production. So settler moving north targeting the plains hill on the other site of the river to the wheat. But he reveal a nice plain hill NW with a 2F2P horse on the west. After like 5 minutes of thinking about the risk of unseen tiles north of the river (how much worse they can be?) vs no growth tile in south, I took a gamble. So the Roma was founded there on turn 3 with starting beautiful 4F4P starting yield and +2 science boost from just met Stockholm.

Met Phillip like turn 8, turn 10 he DoW Stockholm & turn 13 he offered me an unescorted settler (btw. I got the feeling that just after summer path AI start escorting settlers, but this behavior has changed recently and free settlers are running around a lot – does anyone got the same feeling?).

Anyway, I build second city NE on the seacoast river delta from this stolen settler around turn 15.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?

Usual archer into iron working rush, then infrastructure and later niter. Actually, I made several mistakes – missing bronze working heureka, let barb kill my scout missing the Pol. Philosophy inspiration etc. Exploration in 90’s and I could be easily 10 turns quicker.
- What was your build order?

Due to very early war it was slinger, builder, slinger, slinger, warrior, scout
- How long did it take to find your neighbors? Were they hostile or friendly?

As said, Span DoW and conquered Stockholm at c. turn 15, I DoW him meanwhile and took Madrid and one more settler till turn 32. We made peace after liberating Stockholm (those lovely GP points, yummy) left him with one tiny city north. Sparta conquered prod CS (was it Hon-kong?) and then got run over horsebarbs, so it was in fact quite easy to wipe her out with archers and legions at turn 70, again liberating the CS.

The same story with Norway (just archers upgraded into crossbows) and Kabul before turn 100.

CS liberating is wicked – no war weariness what so ever.

Currently (at turn 107) just turns legions into musket and marching to Gilga, who is doing actually pretty well – as usual ahead of everyone in both science and culture spamming ziggurats everywhere. Got a bit distracted with building infrastructure and stuff and missed the knights timing push.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?

Quite late due to an early war, Encampent around turn 25/30, but with Stockholm and one encampment project, I managed to get the first classical GG, who helped legions/crossbows a lot. Later campuses, comm hubs, and industry zones (in that order).

- Did you try to build any Wonders?

Yup, Colosseum & Pyramids later in the century. Got oracle in Sparta.
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?

Total of 10 cities: Cap & build 2 settlers, stole 3 and capture 4 cities (+2 raized).


- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?

Pantheon rush (Divine spark as god of the forge was taken), then +50% to meele and range units, Oligarchy into merchant republic path.
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?

Liberate all of them and they are very grateful – Stockholm with 6 envoys and suz bonus in particular.
- How were the Barbarians?

Quite helping . Corgo literally lost the game to horsebarbs.

I got lucky as my initial settlement clear the early camp next to the Stockholm. For next 40 turns no barbs spawned on my border, so I even missed the bronze working heureka.
- Any surprises?
not really. My feeling is that I kind of lost the “as quick as possible” goal during second part of the century. It seems that the infrastructure (Chubs & Industr. Zones) is in fact irrelevant for any victory condition - you just need to fully focus on it.

 

[Wolfenlane]

Hello everyone, I am very happy to join Your GotM

I've been observing Your competition since civ 5, but never had enough will to write anything.

I like dom so I gave it a try and I'm in turn 98 by now.

- Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city?
On the mercury NW, Cumae a bit later in a nice spot near Piopiotahi and that's all if You ask about founding cities

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
I rushed bronze working and buit an encampment as fast as I could (but too late)

- What was your build order?
Slinger, worker, slinger, slinger.... encampment

- How long did it take to find your neighbors? Were they hostile or friendly?
Found Philip very fast and then Gorgo, a bit later Germany, Scythia and Gilgamesh

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Asap encampment but still too late, someone bought up my general so i will probably get Joanna d'Arc

- Did you try to build any Wonders?
Nope i will conquer them

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
I found only 2 cities but captured 3 of Philip and 2 from Gorgo - I am about to attack Sparta

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
First went for God-King mixed with Discipline and then Oligarchy so I took City planning, Strategos, Charismatic Leader...

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Stockholm almost captured by Philip early on, Brussels captured by Gorgo, Genewa (thx for DoWing me Gilgamesh)

- How were the Barbarians?
Hordes but not so aggressive as they could.

- Any surprises?
Tomyris bought up Sun Zi when he was meant to be mine!!
Gilgamesh is teching like crazy I have only 15 techs compared to his 27. I have to buid up many campuses and be a good uncle to Stockholm.
It's not a surprise to me but I'm still too slow not even having any knights so far (<-noob!)

Spoiler :

 

[leif erikson]

Welcome to CivFanatics and Game of the Month.

Thanks for the write up and best of luck in your game.

 

[civtrader6]

- Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city?
I agree with @Jendass28, with 1F tiles the initial start is a real challenge to get the capital growing and producing units. On the other hand, moving the warrior/settler on any of the hills seemed very risky as way too many moves could be lost - so I went East, settling on Turn 2 (see screenshot).

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Went thoroughly with the tree trying to hit as many eureka's as possible. Only Craftmanship was hard-built.
Animal Husbandry → 1/2 Archery
Pottery → Writing (so that I can pre-place cheap campuses in all my cities ASAP).
Then Mining → Bronze Working 1/2
I wanted to prioritise bronze working - but despite extremely challenging barbarians, it took me ages to get the eureka and finally finish it (so I got the district eureka with a campus, although I wanted it with an encampment).Got political philosophy at around turn 42/43.
For the rest - prioritised Machinery (even managed to build walls for the eureka - but not the Iron Mine - as I didn't have enough gold to buy the tiles). Then Stirrups.

- What was your build order? / How long did it take to find your neighbors? Were they hostile or friendly?
Before I met Spain, I could see that Stockholm is being attacked. So I decided to defend Stockholm from being taken and stepped into the warzone (met Spain) with 1x Warrior and 1x Slinger. Second slinger joined and soon Spain lost or heavily damaged most of its army.
My warrior went north to find Spain's capital while the slingers (3 total) went back to upgrade. It took them a while to catch up - in the meantime, I was able to steal a settler from Spain.
Digression @Jendass28 → I've noticed the exact thing. After the last patch AI is much better at escorting settlers (pretty much always in the beginning).AI also consistently settles water-less cities, very often 1 tile from a superior spot right next to a river. This time I think, Spain had an unescorted settler because they lost their army due to me/stockholm but more importantly, because of a ridiculous barbarian nest.
I started conquering Spain with 1 warrior and 3 archers (4th joined soon). I pillaged the 2/3 tiles which did provide a good science/culture boost.
I met and Buenos Aires (one turn before it was conquered) and immediately started building a second army to go to the North (at this point I had 2, and soon 3 cities - all producing units after pre-placing campuses).

Second army included 6x archers and 2 warriors. I DoWed before the army was finished (only had 2 archers ready) because my scout was able to find Gorgo's settler with a heavily damaged archer. I stole it and settled in place. And soon got surrounded by 3 warriors (but very tough terrain) - so I purchased an archer to defend the city (this heavily delayed upgrading the warriors later on).

Soon I conquered Gorgos 3 cities. Met Germany and got insta-denounced. Then Scythia found me 2 turns after I eliminated Gorgo and became friendly with me (so we had 2x friendships, for a change)

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?

I wanted the encampment to be my first district (but didn’t get the eureka) so went on with a campus in the capital. In all other cities I pre-placed campuses very early.
Build order was 1st Army / Settler then Campus in Capital. Then 2nd Army, then Campus in all cities, Encampment in Capital. Then 3rd Army and then Campus/Commercial hubs in all cities.
Getting the encampment late (and pantheon even later at around turn 60 was problematic as I had to purchase the GG (for 400 gold) to prevent Germany from getting it first. (In hindsight, I should have ignored it and spent the money to upgrade chariots)).

- Did you try to build any Wonders?
Only a weak Colosseum (4 cities)

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Built one 1x settler early on. Stole 2x. Captured 2 cities from Spain and 3 from Gorgo (including Buenos Aires). So 8 cities at turn 70.
Around turn 90 I've built 4 more settlers - for some culture - but primarily to cover the map because barbarians were getting ridiculous (I've chopped campuses and the commercial hubs in all these cities) and captured 3 cities from Harald. Then captured a city and a settler from Gilgamesh for a total of 17 cities at turn 100.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
1x production in all cities at all times. It is incredibly powerful (do the math).
-1 gold unit maintenance at all times (as I've built more than 20x units).
50% production on melee/ranged then 50% production on cavalry.
Then the builder rush and then afterward 50% on settler.
Then +1 culture for every district and gold from envoys.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Scout was able to hit the eureka for PP just in time before Buenos Aires was conquered. Germany's attack on Jakarta failed because of Barbs so I've put some envoys there as well.

- How were the Barbarians?
Constant influx of Barbarians from what turn out to be a camp on the wonder. Luckily my encampment was well placed but it blocked part of my army for almost 20 turns to clear the camp.
More importantly - there was a particular barb camp East of Madrid behind a forest and behind 2 rivers that kept spamming archers and swordsmen constantly. It locked out 4 of my units and really slowed the game.
I really play a lot of Civ (deity/immortal) and I have never had a game where barbarians are this tough.
At turn 100 I was not even able to scout the map properly because of horseman and horse-archers everywhere.
In hindsight, I would have probably finished the game much sooner as I could have split the army and attack on two fronts (instead I went up through Germany then Scythia and Russian and then down to China).

- Any surprises?
The barbs. (see next post)

In any case, what a fun map! I really enjoyed the ('true pangea') landmass. Thanks to @leif erikson for time and effort in making this map.

Turn 74 screenshot:

Spoiler :

 

[civtrader6]

Any surprises? The barbs.
In fact, the barbs were so challenging it felt very frustrating. Later, I've built more scouts and settlers just to lit the map. One camp in particular was placed in such a way it took me 50+ turns to break (right next to the only pass to Germany from the West). I am pretty sure I've killed more than 20 barb units there. Constant spam of slingers and barbs that later became a spam of archers and swordsman - which I could contain but not eliminate until i got the knights in. Wow.

Now, something seems off as normally at one point the camps will take a small break in spamming units and I've read on this forum quite a few posts that look into the barb spamming algorithm/frequency (seems too much given whats there). Plus I've got countless hours spent with this game and this is the worst I've ever sen.

So, at the risk of going-off topic (breaking the rules?) I was prompted to open up an earlier save and explore whats happening on the map. And i came across this:

Spoiler :

Thats 15 (!?) horseman and 2 horse-archers from 2 camps.
So, question @leif erikson have the default barbarian settings for this game been adjusted? And if you've got time, could you share some insight into how these maps seem to be created? Are you using a world-builder of sorts - as the placement does not seem to be random at all.

Best wishes.

 

[leif erikson]

So, question @leif erikson have the default barbarian settings for this game been adjusted? And if you've got time, could you share some insight into how these maps seem to be created? Are you using a world-builder of sorts - as the placement does not seem to be random at all.

Welcome to CivFanatics and Game of the Month.

No, there was no adjustment to the standard barb setting.

No world builder type program is used. We create a series of random maps and then test them to determine which one we choose to use.

If you have further questions, please ask via conversation as I do not wish to derail this thread

 

[Lily_Lancer]

I feel upset not finish before T100. 4 civs to go, maybe around T120.

 

[Catbus]

Turn 1: Started on the starting hex. Time is money. And I want big food and big production immediately.

Turn 9: I got lucky -- the warrior from Stockholm started fighting the barbie spearman without me. Having sent my warrior around the encampment to grab the goody hut (risky, but it paid off), I was in position to land the final blow and take the camp.

Also found Pipiotahi!

Turn 10: Confronted by barbie scout. Warrior is in the yellow. Not going to take a chance -- fortify and heal.

And barbie scout suicides against me. Ha!

Turn 12: Second barbie camp discovered.

Turn 13: Unmet player defeated. Hmm.

Turn 14: Met Philip. Greeeeaaat. Well, he'll be fun to clobber. And I get the writing boost.

Turn 16: Pantheon. God of the Forge.

Turn 18: Barbie got cocky. Scout finished him off. Got the Bronze Working boost!

Turn 19: Free builder. I can't believe my luck with these goody huts. It's insane.

Turn 26: Bronze Working completed. And . . . that's it? That's all the iron I get? Feh.

Turn 29: Bought the granary. I've done without it for way too long already.

Turn 32: Greece is spamming settlers. I don't like this development.

Turn 38: Many choices, but on principle, I build the water mill. Population plus production equals exponential growth.

Turn 42: Due to an apparent AI glitch, the barbie is unwilling to either come within range of my slinger or wander too far from his camp. I should be able to scoop it out from under him with my warrior.

Turn 46: Settler spamming time!

Turn 51: I'm really not feeling these suggested settlement locations. None of them is anywhere near my iron hex. I'll head for the eastern one, though, because horses, and because I need to make some space for myself before Gorgo goes there.

Turn 56: You told me to found a city here, and now you don't like it anymore? Screw you, AI.

Turn 57: I really need to find another city-state that hasn't been conquered yet.

Turn 59: FINALLY.

[gets immersed in game]

Turn 105: I think I'm on a good footing. Four cities, 5/5/6/7 pop. Two campuses, two baths (plus one in production), one harbor, one industrial district, one encampment. There's been no real opportunity yet for me to jump any of my neighbors, and I haven't been in a position, force-wise, to do so. Instead, I'm trying to bootstrap a powerful science-production engine that will make me a juggernaut later in the game. Having reached the Medieval Era in 850 BC despite playing on Immortal level, I feel good about my chances. Tomyris, Gilgamesh and Barbarossa are my friends (!), and Philip, amazingly, is friendly, even though I dropped a city on his front doorstep. Gorgo has denounced me once; I think she'll be my first target. She has hoplites, but I have crossbows.

 

[Panzerkampfwagen-VI]

*In about 10-20 turns greedy phillip attacks stockholm*
I reconquered it, got 3 free envoys and also most of spanish warriors dead or wounded
i took the oppurtunity and captured madrid

This is my first game with domination only focus so i was a little bit careless about tech
gilgamesh and china developed faster than i imagined
Now i dont know how i can defeat them

 

[Victoria]

Now i dont know how i can defeat them

If you have more cities you will out tech eventually, grab more cities?

Also if it comes down to planes, get bombers and you will win.
Remember the advance you see on the tech screen is often worse than it is, hover over gilga in the victory summary screen science victory line and you see the more accurate figures.

If you do not have many envoys at science city states and Gilgamesh does, destroy the city state... city states are a powerhouse of science.

 

[Panzerkampfwagen-VI]

If you have more cities you will out tech eventually, grab more cities?

Also if it comes down to planes, get bombers and you will win.
Remember the advance you see on the tech screen is often worse than it is, hover over gilga in the victory summary screen science victory line and you see the more accurate figures.

If you do not have many envoys at science city states and Gilgamesh does, destroy the city state... city states are a powerhouse of science.

i always try to get science states as allies but in immortal and deity difficulty games atleast 1-2 civs gets huge momentum on science and culture, i cant catch them
i hate playing with lots of cities, any advice you can give me about achieving success with least cities possible?

 

[Victoria]

any advice you can give me about achieving success with least cities possible?

Well, it's domination, the longer you leave things the larger their science gap.
If you like playing with fewer cities then raze cities rather than take them.

 

[Arnold_T]

Wow! Barbs Galore! At one point I thought Rome might fall as my warrior was way off on the other side of Stockholm, and Rome was surrounded by 5 or 6 horsemen and horse archers, defended only by three injured slingers.
I got Archery tech just in time I think. Upgraded the three slingers to archers and dispatched the Red Horde. miraculously no casualties.

meanwhile Philip decided he was going to attack Stockholm. I declared war on him with the warrior, tried to stop him, but failed.
My archers marched up there and I took Stockholm back a couple turns later. I liberated it, and have been Suzerain ever since.

at turn 100 I have only taken two capitals. Sparta first, then Madrid, now closing in on Norway's Capital. I need to take Sumeria out next before they run away with tech.
Can do it soon with Legions and Knights I think.

- Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city?
NW on the mercury. I got a settler out, and my second city was going to be southwest on the river,near the natural wonder. But barbs prevented me, and I had to retreat.
Meanwhile after liberating Stockholm I found a Spanish settler, escorted by a warrior, wandering around on the east side of the lake east of Rome. So I killed the warrior and took that settler, using it to found my second city on that east shore of the lake. My third city did eventually get built south west of Rome, after I cleared out some Barbs.
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
towards Legions first, then towards Knights
- What was your build order?
slinger, slinger, slinger, builder
- How long did it take to find your neighbors? Were they hostile or friendly?
Spain turn 10 or so. He was friendly, but I didn't like his attitude towards Stockholm. Gorgo shortly afterward. Was a long time till I met Norway, Germany, Sumer, and Scythia. still haven't met two civs at turn 100
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
I built Encampment quite early, wanting to get Great Gen, then Campus right after I think, to capitilize on the Stockholm science boost
- Did you try to build any Wonders?
no
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
no. built only 1 settler. captured a Spanish settler early, and another Spanish settler around turn 90.
so two settled cities myself, two more settled with captured settlers, and six captured (Madrid from Spain, 3 from Gorgo, 2 from Norway - 1 of which Kabul, which I kept). I also had to take Buenos Aires from Gorgo to finish her off (she wouldn't cede Sparta). I decided to liberate Buenos Aires, which turned out to be a pain as Spain lobbied to gain Suzerian.
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
various depending on circumstances. Conscription is about the only one I have going all the time.
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
only a few! Stockholm, Buenos Aires, and Brussels. I guess the rest are far away or conquered. Stockholm is the only CS that the other civs aren't putting envoys into.
- How were the Barbarians?
brutal! crazy hordes of Barbs. and just when I thought it was calming down a couple new hordes or horse archers and horsemen appeared around turn 90 south of Sparta and Kabul.
- Any surprises?
yes!.
1. I didn't realize that the Stockholm Suzerian bonus applies to ALL districts not just the Culture district. so I was surprised when I was somehow getting extra great person points for GG and GS. cool!
2. I didn't know that Legions can repair pillaged farms. is this a unique Legion ability? or have I just missed this before with other unit? can they repair districts too?

Looking forward to finishing this off. I thought probably Lily_Lancer finished this off by turn 90, but I see from reading his report he wasn't done by turn 100 either. what an octopus he is!