All four exploration legacy paths on deity with Teach and the Pirates?

[Marcus Montis]

I must admit I was really looking forward playing with Teach and the pirates on deity level. Normally I manage to score all four legacy paths in exploration when the set-up in Antiquities is right. Plenty of options for the modern age . But I was curious on the economic and military paths. Could they be managed in every circumstance?
Will the AI players go for treasure fleets I can capture? And will there be enough before the age ends? And how about the military path…No settler production at all. Do I need to be dependant on capturing cities and suzeraining independents (and then incorporate them)? Can I be in time to get this one as well? I didn’t know but I was certainly going to try. Looked like fun!
So I started as I normally do in Exploration. Put my science on shipbuilding right from turn 1. And put my religion civics as first priority (before going for the specific pirate civics). Spend my money on a few extra sloops to start massive exploring right away. Hoping for a few independent ships to pick up along the way .
Everything went as planned it seemed. Unfortunately the AI players were not much interested in exploration. But I did discover three friendly and three hostile independents along the way. Ok…no razing, but diplomatically try to win them over. They all had at least one treasure resource. But the problem is, suzeraining them, and incorporation. That means shitloads of influence. And the hostile will take a lot of extra turns.
In the meantime I got two buccaneers as soon as possible. Waited two extra turns for the science to give me carracks. Then send them out with a sloop and a carrack to cause mayhem wherever possible. Just a note for the designers: the relationship penalty for being such a rascal is relatively low. Only four relation drop for raiding a trade route? Historically this may be accurate, but game wise it’s hardly a problem.
And then I discovered there was an added bonus I completely overlooked… When I went through the pirate civics (which I don’t consider to be that great, but they are definitely fun enhancing) there was one tiny aspect that changed my view completely.
Buccaneers get the option to found a (coastal) settlement once per game.
Problem solved. I had discovered a few perfect settlement sides (one with three, and one with five treasure resources). I play on a huge map, so I need 6 distant land settlements (with my religion) to score the 12 points needed for the military path. Provided you don’t capture an AI one.
So I managed to score all 4 legacy paths again, and had a lot of fun.
For those players interested why I focus on religion first, before doing the pirate civics?
I have a standard strategy for exploration. Basically it means keeping the peace in your homelands and maximising trade and development.
Science path is first go for shipbuilding, then immediately go for increasing the number of specialists in cities. This way you set the basic for the science and economic paths. When exploring, go for 6 distant land settlements all with your religion. Try to get a treasure resources on all six, and if you have two or more? The better for you . And why full religion first in civics? If you do that, you will always be the first one to get the Dhawa belief. IT IS AWESOME! Produce trade routes and you will convert the cities of your trading partner. With a bit of luck you will be the first to get the belief that gives you relics when you convert a settlement with an altar or temple. Sure to catch at least 3 relics every 4 trade routes. Otherwise the one converting 10+ urban is a nice one as well. And the civics that boost your hometowns are super if you quickly convert all your own cities. My experience with the AI is that it is not particularly active with religion. More of a nuisance than an actual strategy. So you will be first if you focus on it. And that means a very easy legacy path on culture.
But of course it all depends on your set-up at the end of Antiquities.
Hope you enjoyed reading this post.
Here is a veteran Civ Player right from the start with Civ 1 getting me hooked. I really love Civ 7 and the new concepts.
But I do find it a lot easier to play on the hardest level compared to Civ 6.
Regards, Marcus

 

[MutilationWave]

There is a mod called deity++ that adds many more extra difficulty levels. At two above deity the other civs get +12 CS! This is the highest I can go and win. Thought you might be interested. I've also played since the first game when I was 12 years old.

 

[Marcus Montis]

Wow! Didn't know that. Thanks! Actually - I haven't used any mods at all. Where can I find these? Apparently there are some mods that can give you a tool tip with information what the effects are of certain social policies etc. That would be very usefull. Considering going beyond deity level; it would be so much more entertaining if the AI would simply be better at strategic level than just adding bonuses. Would be major fun if the AI is re-evaluating it's relations when you are leading a victory path in modern times. Just imagine you you being in the lead for an economic victory and several AI (even your "friends") would declare war just to try and capture some of your factory cities

 

[MutilationWave]

If you have the game on Steam @Marcus Montis you can click it in your library then click on the workshop tab. You can browse mods there. Click subscribe to add them to your game. I highly recommend all of Beezany's mods, especially City Hall and Map Trix.

To see exactly what policies will do for you, get Leonardfactory's Policy Yields Preview.

I'm running over 20 mods that only change the UI, not the game. I couldn't imagine playing without them, especially the ones I mentioned.

If you're not playing through Steam, you can get mods right here on CivFanatics. Go to the Customization forum under Civ 7 and get the mod manager, and you can browse mods right here.

 

[Marcus Montis]

Great! Thanks. I noticed that you can access them by means of this forum as well. But I am on steam so I will use that platform.

 

[Marcus Montis]

There is a mod called deity++ that adds many more extra difficulty levels. At two above deity the other civs get +12 CS! This is the highest I can go and win. Thought you might be interested. I've also played since the first game when I was 12 years old.

Cool! I think we are roughly the same age then. I really liked Civ 1. And that one was particularly tough on the hardest level. I still remember that once I tried to nuke a city defended by a phalanx. The nuke had strength 99 and the phalanx 1. But the phalanx won. I am just imagining a spear being thrown at an incoming missile Unfortuantely for the city, the nuke still exploded.
The one that really did it for me was Civ 2. Just the fun with the animated advisors, the cinematics when you build a world wonder. Such a great game. I remember selling Magic cards just to get the money to buy Civ II

 

[uppi]

In my Teach/Pirates game, I managed to get ships quite early on the coast of an island just two deep sea tiles off the coast of Xerxes. And Xerxes wanted to settle that, of course. So he kept donating settlers to the cause. With the first one, I made a settlement on that island, which served as an ideal base for harassing Xerxes further. And then I sent the other settlers towards my lands to settle the islands in between. Tonga map hacks definitely helped in locating the ideal spot for intercepting, though.