A Mughals Game

[Fresol]

Hi everyone, this is going to be the third episode of my Illustrative Strategy Guides for Dawn of Civilization series. I hope you have read my first two games on Portugal and Moors and like them. The intention to start the series was to provide help for those who have trouble finishing UHVs and are looking for some help/tips, and that to entertain those who want to read about a game without having to/can't afford to spend hours playing the game themselves. Also, I usually forget about the games I've played after a while so why not take some time to post them here? They'll live longer.

As the title says, in this thread I'll post my Mughal Regent/Normal 600 AD game played on SVN revision 971. There's been an overall buff on research speed lately so it's a very good timing to play a Mughal game.

The game is currently still in progress, with 2/3 UHV goals achieved though, so I think it's pretty safe to start posting now. I plan to finish the story before the end of next week.



Here we are, dawn of the Mughals.

 

[Fresol]

First, let's review Mughals' three UHV goals and do a quick analysis:
1. Build 3 Islamic Mosques by 1500 AD.
2. Build the Red Fort, Harmandir Sahib and the Taj Mahal by 1660 AD.
3. Have more than 50000 in 1750 AD.
The 1st goal implies at least 12 cities and the Music tech. The 2nd goal requires the techs Patronage, Engineering, Military Tradition and Constitution. The 3rd goal says you should raise a number of Great Artists, build all kinds of buildings, fund or even build . 50000 is quite an astonishing number for those who see it for the first time.

 

[Fresol]

With the UHV goals in mind, let's move on with our game.

On the first turn, Delhi is starving because there's no tiles to work. It's good time to change civics.



We adopt Theocracy-Fanaticism. The Mughal UP allows you to ignore ALL penalties from non-state religions, both the unhappiness and instability, which is great. Theocracy+barracks gives you City Raider II siege elephants, but Fanaticism is only my personal preference. Organized Religion would do just fine.



All troops head for indie Bhopal! Except some defending units, the indies in Lahore have quite a few units and will try to attack us. We have 4 musketmen, 3 siege elephants in our starting stack, bring them all to the battle. We have a few flipped units, bring them safely to our main stack.

Meanwhile try to settle Srinagar, chop the forest first.

 

[Fresol]

Take Bhopal straight without bombardment. Bombardment demolishes buildings inside the city, doesn't it? Let Delhi work the tiles while Bhopal is in revolt.



Srinagar settled. Build barracks there. We'll whip some units later.



We meet the Khan. I've spent some money in converting him to Islam, so that he stays pleased with us.

 

[Fresol]

On the third turn Lahore flips to us. Delhi, Lahore and Srinagar are our "Core" cities in determining expansion stability.



We can get Feudalism and Meditation from Mongolia quite reliably. But not Engineering.



Sending the flipped chariot to the Persian Gulf, we meet the Arabs in Masqat.



We upgrade the 2 flipped catapults to siege elephants. We lost 1 siege elephants in the battle of Bhopal, and are whippingtraining more in Delhi and Lahore. We are going to take Pataliputra next for the shrine .

 

[citis]

When did you completed the 2nd goal?

 

[Nyayr]

That 50k sounds almost impossible, compared to lets says the French who have to have was it 30k? in 1700? Who start much earlier... I'd think on autoplay the Mughals mightbe more fun.

I noticed your civis screen looks different from mine (which is typical civ4 one)

 

[Fresol]

When did you completed the 2nd goal?

In 1635 AD, it's quite close to the deadline even with the tech rate buff.

Also I noticed I got 1 additional turn of Golden Age because 2/3 UHV GA triggered right when the Taj Mahal GA ended.

 

[citis]

English conquerors, world wars, 50k, it isn't so easy. It is doable, but you might need to reload at some point, so I advise you to end the game first.

In 1635 AD, it's quite close to the deadline even with the tech rate buff.

That's the date I managed it too. In my first attempt Arabians built Taj Mahal in 1580(!), that why I asked.

 

[Fresol]

English conquerors, world wars, 50k, it isn't so easy. It is doable, but you might need to reload at some point, so I advise you to end the game first.

You are definitely right. I underestimated the English TC troops, so I need to load a previous save and start again from there. On the other hand, I'm quite ready for the culture goal.

 

[Fresol]

We have established contact with China through its vassal Tibet. They are doing quite fine in this game.



Meeting Tibet itself.



Guns Not Butter! I decide not to be greedy. I'll train muskets and get a free Pinch promotion.



Take a look at the available tech trades. Engineering and Paper are the ones we really want and need.

 

[Fresol]

A peek into the Seljuk lands. It's good to have Mongolia as friend not foe.



Pattala is settled. Alternatively you can settle 1W, it doesn't make much of a difference.



Revenge of the indies! Rumor has it that they want the city of Bhopal burnt to the ground. Luckily we have enough garrison units.



Garrison doesn't deal well with peasant revolt I guess.



Meanwhile we have taken the double shrine city, Pataliputra.



We need more Islamic missionaries to spread the religion.

 

[Fresol]

Meeting Khmer. It doesn't seem like they have benefited much from the overall tech rate buff.



Our first Great General is born!



And he leads our most elite siege elephants unit.



Largest civilizations of the world... we have a long way to go. Surely we have the potential.

 

[Fresol]

Kolkata conquered.



A peek inside the city.



Tibet is willing to trade Engineering to us, this is indeed good news.



...



Meeting the Indonesians. They have Compass for trade, which is good. I was more expecting to get it from the Chinese.



Meet the Turks. They are keeping us from contacting the Europeans. Mehmed II is such a stubborn one.

 

[Fresol]

The Russians aren't too friendly either. So long for our exploration to the West.



Our next target city is Pagan, with the Shwedagon Paya inside of it. The Shwedagon Paya unlocks all religion civics, and would allow us to switch to either Free Religion or Scholasticism. War with Khmer is one-sided, the siege elephants are truly great at sieging cities.



Our reward for having 8 musketman units.



And an overview of our cities.

 

[Fresol]

Taking Mumbai, without bombardment. City Raider II Siege elephants are very reliable in combats.



Meeting Thailand. They have the stone resource we need to build the Red Fort and the Wat Preah Pisnulok, so taking Ayutthaya is almost a must. There's a 10 turn peace period for new born civs so we'll have to wait a while.



We have conquered Pagan.



With the Shwedagon Paya inside of it.



Khmer capitulates. Agreed.



Huh, the value of Shwedagon Paya seems to have decreased a bit already.



But not entirely. We are switching to Monarchy+Secularism!

 

[Fresol]

Taking Hyperabad.



And Bengaluru.

Did I mention the Chinese stack before? The Chinese have sent out knights, a crossbowman and a single bombard to try to take the indie cities in the subcontinent, luckily the AI is programed to not attack the city until the city defence is below a certain level. Otherwise I'd have lost a indie city to the Chinese and it'll the a huge problem in the long run.



Madras is captured and burnt. Too much overlap, and I can afford to raze a city or two now.

 

[Fresol]

Naresuan offers Paper. But we want more than just a tech from them!



Our second GG has turned into a great medic so he gets to live.



Madurai taken and burnt to the ground.



Italy has become a vassal of the Ottoman Empire.



Visakhapatnam is settled to replace Madras.



Italian conquerors in Mexico!

 

[Fresol]

Obviously Optics is a good tech toi have.



A overview of global tech pace in 1450 AD.



After taking the whole Indian subcontinent, we are now ready to invade Thailand.



Khmer marathon!



Our 1st Great Artist is born in Delhi. The Opera House is already built there. Although theaters and mausoleums are being built in all cities after Islamic temples, only Delhi with Opera House can hire mass artists. This situation will change after Wat Preah Pisnulok is built.

The Great People Points in Azimabad has been polluted by the shrines pretty bad, so I hurried the Great Artist in Delhi to avoid having a Great Prophet in Azimabad. Even so, there's only a 50% chance to pop a Great Artist in Azimabad later.

It is not unacceptable to have a non-artist type of Great Person, we have enough culture output to achieve the 50000 goal.

 

[Fresol]

The game is pending here. I've decided to reload to this turn, and to apply a better overall strategy to the game.

Citis has posted his Mughal historical victory in the 1.12 UHV thread. For those who are interested you should take a look a it.

Why Mughals, citis? Why now?