A Greece Monarch/Marathon UHV Walkthrough

Hickman888

Prince
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Oct 13, 2019
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Hey all! First post here. I thought I would show you guys my method of knocking out the Greece UHV, as it took me several tries to get a system in place that I can be proud of. As this is a marathon game, some strategies may be different in relation to a normal paced game.

I begin the game by settling Athens, and sailing my other settler over to establish Byzantion. Barbarian chariots with 5 strength frequently appear in Anatolia, so I dig in my army in Byzantion. I notice that The Oracle has yet to be constructed, so I immediately begin its construction, as well as hooking up my marble resource. I am planning on using my Oracle to provide me with Calendar and Construction, so therefore I begin teching for Bloomery. (There is a hidden iron in the hill to the north-west of Athens). Lo and behold...
Spoiler :
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The Oracle also provides Great Prophet points, who can be used to dual-bulb Literature and Priesthood. Therefore, after researching Bloomery, I begin research on Concrete. When my Great Prophet is born, I utilize that satisfying dual-bulb...
Spoiler :

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Athens is my designated "science" city, as the palace provides an extra 8 commerce for free, making the construction of a library here worth the investment. Byzantion is a food-heavy city (with the fishing boats), making it perfect for training a couple of settlers and an extra worker. After my Great Prophet is born, I begin heavily going in on science specialists, as the Great Scientist can be used to dual-bulb Mathematics and Philosophy. I need to make sure that Literature and Mathematics are researched before Rome spawns in 760 B.C., otherwise I will fail my first victory condition. Luckily, with two turns to spare, Socrates is born...
Spoiler :

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With research in Concrete complete, Athens begins to construct the Temple of Zeus. I'm also teching for Contract, followed by Generalship, as I am trying to grab the "Conquest" civic ASAP. I manage to build the Statue of Zeus and adopt "Conquest" within a few turns of each other. The time has come to forge Alexander's Empire...
Spoiler :
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After conquering Anatolia, I make my way down to conquer Sur. I always try to conquer Sur on the same turn that I declare war, otherwise their War Galley gets out and begins to pillage my fishing boats. Since Babylon won't accept Open Borders, I declare war on Babylon, and move into position beside Sur. It falls on the same turn I declare war, like I planned (they usually only have a solitary archer or two defending it, anyways). If you notice Phoenicia sending another war galley your way, ask for peace. I found that he'll readily accept peace, as long as it has been a turn or two since you conquered his city.
Spoiler :
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With Phoenicia captured, I move onto Jerusalem and easily capture it. Although it is not required, you might find it wise to capture it, to expedite movement from Sur to Egypt, and back again.

Anyways, my army marches into Egypt, and captures the cities there as quickly as possible. The goal here isn't to capture all of their cities, but to collapse them as quickly as possible. This depends on how stable they are beforehand, but you'll usually have to capture their capital, along with another city or two.
Spoiler :
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After the Egyptians collapse, and with control of Egypt established, I move my army back to conquer Babylon. Luckily for me, the Babylonians collapse before my army even arrives. Even luckier for me, the Persians conquer the city for me, with my army right outside the city...
Spoiler :
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Time is of the essence, and you must move quickly when playing as the Greeks. After conquering Babylon, I move into the Persian empire, trying to conquer cities as quickly as possible, while minimizing losses as much as possible.

The supply lines from the Persian Empire are now too long, and the army I have now is the army I have until the end of the game. Additional military units won't be able to reach Persia fast enough, and will also cost additional upkeep, so now is a good time to switch to building your wonders. (Colossus, Parthenon, Statue of Zeus, and Temple of Artemis). You should also be finishing up your technologies very soon.

Alexander's empire is very costly to maintain. Even with "Conquest" providing extra gold on conquest, you'll still have to steadily decrease your tech rate as you advance. You can sell techs to Rome or Carthage for extra gold if you are really short. (You will be)

Persia's cities fall, one after the other, until I reach the end of the known world, and Alexander finally manages to catch up to King Darius of Persia...
Spoiler :
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With the battle won, you might realize that your tech rate is at 0%, and you are still in the red. Just like in real life, Alexander's soldiers have had enough, and they beg to return home to their families and homes. One by one, your troops will disappear, until your army will become a shell of what it once was. (Even my Great General-led Hoplite was disbanded...)
If you timed it right, your technologies and your wonders should be completed right about now. If not (like me), you'll have to wait a few more turns to finish your wonders. Remember to chop forests to speed construction.

Some more, general tips I've learned in my several marathon games as Greece...
  • Gold is easy enough to come by before you begin building your empire, but after you begin conquering, the city maintenance will quickly drain your tech rate down to 0%. Therefore, make sure you only have a tech or two left to research before you begin to conquer, because you will be stuck at 0% research when the empire is finished!
  • If you are about to settle a city on a forest, why not chop it before your settler gets there? It's free production!
  • Utilize double-bulbing with your Great People/Oracle as much as possible. I didn't realize that a Great Person could bulb two technologies at once when I first started playing as Greece... a game changer!
  • Be as efficient with your army movement as possible. Build roads in front of your warpath. When you conquer a city, its borders will momentarily expand for one turn, giving you control over the roads around it. Utilize this as much as you can, to slingshot into enemy territory.
  • Not a major tip, but I found that by running a minimal tech rate in the lead up to my libraries construction, I had more gold to draw from to max out my tech rate upon its completion, thus giving me more bang for my buck. Here in the classical era, every beaker and gold counts!
  • This strategy still relies on a large amount of luck. The Oracle being available at start is hit or miss. My Great Prophet only had a 75% chance of being born, as I had to speed his birth up by running scientist specialists. Likewise, my Great Scientist had a 75% chance of birth, from my Oracle providing prophet points. I also reloaded a save a time or two in my military conquests, to save a high level unit that managed to die at 95+%. (Looking back, I don't think it would've mattered though). Even if the Oracle is not yet built, you can still use a Great Scientist to dual-bulb Mathematics + Philosophy, and then an artist to bulb Contract + Aesthetics. There are still plays to make here, but it is tricky!
  • For your army makeup, I'd recommend about 4-5 catapults, and the rest Hoplites. I never built companions, so I am unsure of how useful those guys are. Two of the catapults, with a barracks and the "Conquest" civic, can be promoted to bring down 16% defenses a turn, and your other catapults should be promoted dual city raider, to soften up any big SoD you come across. (Catapults have a 50% retreat possibility, and with a dual city raider promotion, there is usually an 80% chance your catapult will survive attacking a city with no defense.
  • The Conquest civic is Alexander's favorite civic for good reason... The +50% gold on city conquest, along with the free XP given, are both incredibly helpful for building and maintaining that empire on marathon speed. Also, I sacked almost every city I conquered, to accumulate as much gold as possible.
  • Get open borders as much as possible.It leads to friendlier relations, and you don't need Rome or anyone else prematurely declaring war on you.
  • Build your wonders towards the end of the game, when your military is all trained up. I built the Statue of Zeus in my game early-ish, simply because I wanted to see it get some use (no city revolt upon conquest) although it really is not necessary for victory.
  • Persia and Egypt may both have several cities in their core, therefore making it harder to control their areas, and to collapse them. This is another luck factor. The best you can do, is give yourself as much time for conquest as possible, so that you're not a few turns too late. (Like I was, in several games.)

Review: Probably my favorite civilization to have played in this mod, and the first that I have really dived deep with. Their victory criteria is both fun and (very) challenging, and nothing is more satisfying than looking at your Hellenistic empire after it is all said and done.
Spoiler :
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I think I would only prefer two things change with the Greeks, to make it just a little easier.

First, allow the Oracle to be consistently built by the Greeks by moving it up in the tech tree. I know I played as Babylon before, and they basically need that wonder in order to achieve their own victory condition. However, if Babylon could somehow be adjusted to be able to win without the Oracle, it would give the Greeks an easier time of researching their techs before Rome spawns, and also have the happy effect of being more historically accurate.

And second, allow Greece enough time to be able to build their wonders before engaging on their conquest. In most of my games, I built all of the wonders in the last segment of the game, which is quite sad because the Statue of Zeus and the Parthenon both have incredible synergy with the Greek goals. Maybe I wasn't playing efficiently enough, and I'd love to hear your guy's thoughts on this, but in my experience, the wonders are the last priority of the Greeks. I would recommend giving the Statue of Zeus double production with marble, instead of ivory, and maybe giving the Greeks an extra worker or work boat or something. I'm not sure.

Anyways, seeing how I sunk so many hours into mastering Greeks, I thought I would post this little guide to give everybody else some pointers. Feel free to ask any questions, although I am still relatively new at this mod. :)
 
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