7OTM06 - Completion of Modern Age Spoiler Thread

[Lord Yanaek]

At the top of your post please post: Difficulty - Victory condition achieved (goal was economic) - Number of turns in the modern age

A few questions to consider:

• What Legacy bonuses did you chose and why? What other start up things did you do at the beginning of the Modern Age?
• Which Civilization did you choose and why? Do you think your choice of Civilization in the Modern age had an impact on your overall game?
• What was your plan for achieving the Victory Condition? 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?
• Early order for technology/civics? What did you later prioritize for technology/civics?
• How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
• Did you settle more towns/cities in the Modern Age? What was your mix of towns vs cities?
• What were key production/purchase focuses?
• What government did you select? Which bonus did you chose most and why?
• Any other good info?
• How did you focus your use of influence?
• Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
• Did you enjoy the game?
• How do you feel about comparing turns in the Modern age only? Do you think it devalues the previous ages or do you think it allows you to better focus on preparing for your victory?
• Do you like having multiple difficulties for the same game? Would you still play if your favorite difficulty wasn't available or would you wait for the next game?

 

[cas]

Sovereign save. T31 economic victory. Meh. Was aiming for T30. missed by 1.

What Legacy bonuses did you chose and why? What other start up things did you do at the beginning of the Modern Age?
deep roots (culture per relic), diplo attribute, economic attributex2, Enlightenment golden age (universities), Lyceums (science on quarters), military attribute, expansionist attribute
Enlightenment and economic attribute are the most important ones. Initial science is the bottleneck, then gold to buy rail/factories/ports. Culture also helps with Mughal civics for gold/happiness.

Which Civilization did you choose and why? Do you think your choice of Civilization in the Modern age had an impact on your overall game?
Mughal. Yes, I think this makes a difference. I wanted purchase power for rail/factory and Mughal is best for gold. I will be interested to see if/why anyone chose another civ and uses more production / less purchasing.

What was your plan for achieving the Victory Condition? 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?
T1: all towns with factory resource turned to 'factory town'. All towns without factory resource turned to 'hub town'.
T1-T5: eliminate 3 of 4 remaining civs. Himiko (T2), Napoleon (T5), Amina (T5)
T6-T10: eliminate culture/science CS for extra science/culture. Befriend commerce CS for Nickel (10%gold/10%sci).
T14: research finished on mass production and bought 19 rail/factories with saved gold.
T15-T31: additional settlements, buy rail/port/factories everywhere. Ended with 42 factories total.
T31: world banker moves from capital to Gisors (4 spaces) and establishes world bank.

Early order for technology/civics? What did you later prioritize for technology/civics?
Tech: beeline mass production, obviously. After that, some masteries for production/food bonus, but not that relevant.
Civics: Mughal civics for gold/happiness. Regular civics don't matter here.

How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
leader bonus no longer mattered at Modern age. Only the modern civ choice.

Did you settle more towns/cities in the Modern Age? What was your mix of towns vs cities?
Yes. Settled more towns for additional factories and factory resources. Ended with 45 settlements. 4 cities and 41 towns. The four cities were just the capital and 3 settler pumps while I was using all gold to buy rail/factory in T14-T31.

What were key production/purchase focuses?
Settlers, rail/factory. ports where needed.

What government did you select? Which bonus did you chose most and why?
Bureaucratic Monarchy for 20% gold.

Any other good info?
If I played this from T1 modern again, I could shave off 2-3 turns. Better use of influence on CS, razing military CS for quicker settlers, and new settlement sequence.

How did you focus your use of influence?
Befriended 1 commerce CS for nickel (10% gold/sci). I believe I could have used the influence more effectively and shaved off a couple turns with the culture/science CS.

Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?
I ran into a couple settlements where I needed a port, but the land route should have been sufficient. How the game chooses the tile distance needed for ports is confusing to me.
For some reason, I thought economic victory required me to build the Great Banker, so I saved 3 military CS until the end. lol. could have used the hammers earlier for quicker additional settlements.

Did you enjoy the game?
Yes. Host another one mid month.

How do you feel about comparing turns in the Modern age only? Do you think it devalues the previous ages or do you think it allows you to better focus on preparing for your victory?
Both. devalues previous and better focus. Leads to some odd stretched out gameplay in Antiquity/Exploration.

Do you like having multiple difficulties for the same game? Would you still play if your favorite difficulty wasn't available or would you wait for the next game?
I do like having both, but I will rarely play the higher difficulty if two are available. If there is only Immortal/Deity available, I will play them for a few months but eventually stop unless the devs improve the experience. Too much unit spam on Deity.

Thank you for the game!

cas

 

[RaidandTrade]

Deity save
Turn 65 Economic

Spoiler Legacies :

Spoiler Rankings :

Spoiler End Yields :

What Legacy bonuses did you chose and why? What other start up things did you do at the beginning of the Modern Age?

Cultural legacy giving me +4 culture per foreign settlement. I think I had 75% of the world converted so got decent bonus from that. Others were points.

Which Civilization did you choose and why? Do you think your choice of Civilization in the Modern age had an impact on your overall game?

America for the gold bonuses.

What was your plan for achieving the Victory Condition? 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?

Build gold, buy merchants to get resources. Cash bought my rail factories and a few prospectors.

Early order for technology/civics? What did you later prioritize for technology/civics?

Beelined straight to mass production. Civics was the American tree.

How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?

Gold. Lots of gold.

Did you settle more towns/cities in the Modern Age? What was your mix of towns vs cities?

No new settles. I switched my towns to hub towns for influence and converted cities with early cash.

What were key production/purchase focuses?

Mainly towards science and happiness/

What government did you select? Which bonus did you chose most and why?

Elective republic. Mostly science.

How did you focus your use of influence?

Suzeraining the IPs - I had all of them at the end. Did a lot of trade routes as well.

Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?

Frustrating how long it takes to hop around the map at the end.

Did you enjoy the game?

Yes

How do you feel about comparing turns in the Modern age only? Do you think it devalues the previous ages or do you think it allows you to better focus on preparing for your victory?

Previous ages build to the victory at the end so makes sense.

Do you like having multiple difficulties for the same game? Would you still play if your favorite difficulty wasn't available or would you wait for the next game?

Definitely a good idea to have multiple saves. I'd probably use the seed and leader/civ combo and play a "similar" if Deity wasn't available.

 

[MACKA0ili]

Deity Save: Turn 55, Economic Victory

I chose America for the gold and extra resource slots and Elective Republic for the Science bonuses
Chose Cultural Golden Age for +4 Science per converted city since I had most of the world following my religion. Other than that, extra science on quarters, deep roots, and 2 economic attribute that I spent on the repeatable 5% gold income were the important legacies. Future Tech gave me a boost to Academics so I started with that and bought School Houses and built the Oxford University to boost my initial science higher. Started at +400 and ended with almost 1k per turn.
Plan was to send out as many trade routes as possible to civs with factory resources. A couple of prospectors and settlers got a few more resources but it was mostly the merchants that brought them in with most of my influence spent on trade agreements.
Beelined towards factories and grabbed a few city state allies to boost science more, but I think I could have dispersed them to get a faster time. I didn't save up enough money to buy all of the factory and rail connections needed though so that slowed me down quite a bit. Ports and America's unique quarter helped quite a bit since it gave me more resource slots. Pretty much all of my homeland cities were connected by rail by the end. After unlocking the victory on turn 40 though, it took 14 turns to travel and use the great banker which was a big time loss.
Next time, a more aggressive approach would probably be for the best. Overall it was a fun game though. I think comparing the modern age is a good way of showing how well you set up in the previous ages. However, I think having multiple saves for difficulties is not the best idea since I prefer when everyone is on the same playing field.

 

[ABigCivFan]

Deity save, turn 39 Econ victory.

Since I was too lazy to unlock America in Exp age, so I took Mughal in modern mainly for the gold bonus. Befriended all 4 remaining AIs, and just Max gold, spam traders, rail stations, factories. Befriened a science and a gold CS, dispersed the rest. Rushed Oxford to get 2 techs toward factory. Had 7 cities running factories. Took 8 turns just to establish 4 world banks. Ended with +5942 gold per turn.

Spoiler Turn 39 Victory :

 

[cas]

However, I think having multiple saves for difficulties is not the best idea since I prefer when everyone is on the same playing field.

I don't think anyone is comparing the deity and sovereign saves against each other.

 

[Calcifer]

Deity, T56 economic victory

• What Legacy bonuses did you chose and why? What other start up things did you do at the beginning of the Modern Age?

Toshakana golden age (30 converted wonders for +120 science, culture and gold​

1 Diplomatic attribute​

2x Economic attribute​

Land of opportunity​

1 Expansionist attribute​

Lyceums​

2x Scientific attribute​

• Which Civilization did you choose and why? Do you think your choice of Civilization in the Modern age had an impact on your overall game?

Took America as planned to take advantage of prospectors and resource slots in unique quarter.​

• What was your plan for achieving the Victory Condition? 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?

Spam prospectors in the first turns to grab resources, beeline factories, press next turn for the next 27 turns.​

• Early order for technology/civics? What did you later prioritize for technology/civics?
• How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
• Did you settle more towns/cities in the Modern Age? What was your mix of towns vs cities?
• What were key production/purchase focuses?
• What government did you select? Which bonus did you chose most and why?
• Any other good info?

Not much to say, the game plan was pretty straightforward.​

Chose elective republic for science boost, I probably made a mistake by choosing culture at the second golden age to get to fascism earlier which in hindsight didn't make any difference (Pachacuti doesn't have any problem with production), I could have probably unlocked factories a couple of turns sooner.​

I realized only halfway through the modern age that the best way to win economic earlier is by eliminating other civs. With that in mind I should have probably gone Mongolia in exploration and do some conquering there.​

• How did you focus your use of influence?

Got a couple of city states early, then I focused on endeavors to keep relationships healty enough to not go to war and lose trade routes. A couple of increased trade route limits to the civs with more factory resources. At some point Harriet declared war on me and I dumped the excess influence on war support.​

• Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into, how did you deal with it?

I stupidly lost one turn because I tried to move my banker by foot between two adjacent capitals, there was a cliff I didn't see so he embarked and I had to disembark.​

• Did you enjoy the game?

Honestly victory conditions are so shallow that playing with the focus on just one path is extremely boring. It doesn't help that economic is basically done once you unlock factories, all is left to do is clicking end turn and move your banker. Thank god Harriet declared war on me, it was a breath of fresh air.​

• How do you feel about comparing turns in the Modern age only? Do you think it devalues the previous ages or do you think it allows you to better focus on preparing for your victory?

In my games I tend to prolong the previous ages to get maximum legacy points, I never to go for shortest game possible so I wouldn't know if it's more or less fun.​

• Do you like having multiple difficulties for the same game? Would you still play if your favorite difficulty wasn't available or would you wait for the next game?

I only play deity so I'm happy I can also play deity here.​

 

[vitorbaixinho]

Deity turn 66

What Legacy bonuses did you choose and why? What other start-up things did you do at the beginning of the Modern Age?
I chose the Golden Age Universities legacy for as much Science as possible. I also captured Himiko's last city, which eliminated her — leaving only 3 opponents. I didn’t engage in any more wars after that.
I believe the remaining legacy bonuses were all point-based, maybe one that gives Science from Quarters.

Which Civilization did you choose and why? Do you think your choice of Civilization in the Modern Age had an impact on your overall game?
I chose Nepal, but if I could, I would’ve picked the United States to have Factory Resources closer to the borders.

What was your plan for achieving the Victory Condition? 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?
My plan was to discover Factories as quickly as possible and then trade with other civilizations to get the maximum number of Factory Resources.

Early order for technology/civics? What did you later prioritize for technology/civics?
Academics, then I beelined Mass Production.

How did the leader bonus and civ unique ability impact your plan/play, if at all?
It didn’t impact my play very much.

Did you settle more towns/cities in the Modern Age? What was your mix of towns vs cities?
I settled one more town to get 3 more Factory Resources.

What were key production/purchase focuses?
Science buildings to reach the Factory tech faster, along with Gold and Influence buildings.

What government did you select? Which bonus did you choose most and why?
+20 Science and +20 Culture — for the bonuses themselves.

Any other good info?
There were no Science city-states. Not great info, but still relevant.

How did you focus your use of influence?
Befriended a couple of city-states and improved a lot of relations.

Any surprises/frustration/elations you ran into? How did you deal with it?
None that I can remember.

Did you enjoy the game?
Yes, but I’m going to generate a new one to try and improve while waiting for GOTM 7.

How do you feel about comparing turns in the Modern Age only? Do you think it devalues the previous ages or does it help focus on preparing for victory?
I feel it does devalue the earlier Ages a bit. But yes, it lets you focus more freely on preparing for the Modern Age.

Do you like having multiple difficulties for the same game? Would you still play if your favorite difficulty wasn’t available, or would you wait for the next game?
I’d play anyway. I love the GOTMs. I also used to enjoy the Hall of Fame challenges.

 

[GoblinMatron]

Deity - Economic - Turn 42

Legacies:
military (2): 2 expansionist attributes
cultural (3): 2 culture per relic, 1 cultural attribute
economic (2): 2 economic attributes
scientific (3+1): golden age universities, 2 scientific attributes

Plan:
- Research Mass Production quickly to get the economic legacy points.
- Use trade routes to get the factory resources.
- Eliminate some civs to have fewer capitals my great banker has to travel to. (I completely forgot about this aspect in the previous ages)

Setup:
Have 3 cities and give all other settlements a town specialization to benefit from the attribute points that reward that.
All my 5 Army commanders spawn in Athenai that I captured late last age. So I have to move them to make war on other parts of the map

Civ:
Meiji Japan
I knew I had to go to war and Japan seemed good for that. I tried air warfare for the first time. It was fun.

Techs:
Steam Engine - Military Science - Industrialization - Combustion - Mass Production

Civics:
started with the 2 Japanese, dont remember the rest

Government:
Bureaucratic Monarchy

Game:
T 09: I research Mass Production
T 18: I have enough factories to work all factory resources that I will get, which is 23.
T 35: I finish the conomic legacy path
T 42: World Bank

I did not think enogh in the previous ages about the victory condition and that every other civ adds two turns to the game. So I eliminated 3 civs this age.
I also would have liked to have access to more factory resources this age, should have planned that better in the previous ages.

How do you feel about comparing turns in the Modern age only? Do you think it devalues the previous ages or do you think it allows you to better focus on preparing for your victory?
I liked that I did not feel forced to eliminate at least one civ in antiquity. But overall it made me care less about (and so have less fun in) antiquity and exploration. It was still very fun.

Do you like having multiple difficulties for the same game? Would you still play if your favorite difficulty wasn't available or would you wait for the next game?
No, I disliked this aspect. I would play any difficulty.