All Leaders Challenge 01 - Prince, Conquest, Alexander of Macedon

[Lord Darkview]

Hello everyone, and welcome to the first is what I hope is very many All Leaders Challenge (ALC) threads. In this series, I’m basically doing a “Let’s Play” with emphasis on the plurality of the “us”: I’m going to play through a Civ 6 game, writing narrative, taking frequent screenshots, and frequent stops to ask for input and advice. The inspiration for this is Sisiutil’s All Leaders Challenge series he did for Civ 4 <https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/all-leaders-challenge.168104/>. I hope to improve, entertain, and have a bunch of fun while I’m at it! Maybe others will get to learn a bit as well! (Of course, if I get no feedback, it’s gonna be a real short series!)



Cards on the table: I’m a longtime Civ player who for various reasons never really got to fully experience Civ 6 until recently. I’ve now notched two Culture victories on Prince (around turns 270 and 215) with Pericles and Nzinga Mbande. I’ve still clearly got a lot to learn, especially about the religious system and military systems. I’ve also not gone for the science and diplomatic wins yet, but those appear to be a bit more straightforward.



With this in mind, I think I’ll want to play at least one more on Prince before I advance to King. I also think it should be military-oriented and aiming at a domination victory. I’m not sure which leaders are best for that though, though some seem to stand out. I’ll also play on standard size and speed, and maybe a typical continents map. This shouldn’t give me any kind of pronounced advantage or disadvantage to conquest. I think I’ll also keep disaster intensity at 2, though would be willing to notch it up or down. I like Barbarian Clan modes, but am not sure I want to experiment with others yet.



So I guess the first question for everyone: which leader should I pick to learn the military side of the game?

 

[vorlon_mi]

I'm currently playing on Prince difficulty also. I won a Domination victory with Genghis Khan (Mongols). When I played Ambiorix (Gaul), I conquered a fair number of cities (4 original capitals) but was actually pursuing a religious victory. If you eliminiate the civ, it doesn't count towards your victory; it's better to leave them with two cities, but following your religion. I've also had good military success (taking over my own landmass on a continents map) with Tomyris (Scythia). Either of the Roman leaders will give you a good start towards a Domination victory.

 

[Daniel Boone]

You could also go with Macedonia or the Zulu for a domination game.

 

[Lord Darkview]

Glad to see a brisk response so early! So let's just list out the options so far...

• Gallic, Ambiorix
• Macedonian, Alexander (one day, we'll get his dad as an option)
• Mongols, Genghis Khan (can't they start calling him Temujin already)
• Roman, Julius Caesar (guess I gotta make an account for this one)
• Roman, Trajan
• Scythian, Tomyris
• Zulu, Shaka

(I'm listing by civ first because I'm old-fashioned and think of the options in terms of civilizations more than individual leaders. Insert some polisci rant about trends and forces versus great man theory here.)

I think maybe I'll go for Alexander first, to force myself to build more encampments and use more cavalry than I usually do. Alternatively, it looks like Ambiorix might force me to be less bad at tactically moving about. Both seem like good lessons.

Edit: Addendum: So I decided that Ambiorix's district limitations are actually very complicated, and probably not a good thing for me to be practicing with during my training period. Likewise, I'm not sure how Shaka and Tomyris's style would work to train me on transferable warmongering basics (though definitely looking forward to trying them later). That leave the options of Alexander, Temujin, Julius, and Trajan. Julius is out because making a 2k account is a chore, and Trajan is... well, he seems a bit dull, and I did get a few games with him back in Vanilla.

So Alexander it is! Next post, I'll include the start.

 

[Lord Darkview]

Okay folks. Here we go! I overcame a last minute urge to click the heroes mode box (given Alexander's famous fascination with a possible divine ancestry), started us in, and was greeted by this map. I saved, captured the screenshot, and resisted the urge to move the warrior.

So, surveying the surroundings, I see what may be a trace of desert to the south. Settling in place would give me immediate access to three 4-yield tiles, though only one is a 2p tile. Another option is to cross the river towards the NE, and this would give a second 2p tile, but might sacrifice in terms of long-run value. A third option is to settle to the W, which would increase the number of 4-yield tiles; but this would move me away from the river and fresh water. I think I should move the Warrior onto the stone to the W, and unless that reveals something extraordinary, either settle in place or to the NE. I'm leaning towards settling in place, but I could easily be convinced the move is right.

Let me know what you think! The save fileis attached, but if you play a shadow game, please no spoilers!

 

[Daniel Boone]

I think you would settle in place, unless your warrior reveals something crazy past the stone. The 3 4 yield tiles that you’ll have immediate access to will help your capital grow, and you won’t waste a turn moving across the river. If you need the extra production, you can buy the tiles, they’re much cheaper in the ancient era than later in the game.

 

[Lord Darkview]

Despite feeling exhausted after a long day, I didn’t want to take longer to get this show on the road. I picked up my laptop, Moonlighted into Civ 6, and got us started. Apologies in advance for any screenshot weirdness; the Print-Screen key acts weirdly in Moonlight.

Following my inclination (and no objection from the hivemind, plus some endorsement), I first moved the Warrior west. What did I see?



Good land, but nothing like an immediately accessible 6-yield tile to change things. With that, I settled in place.

I started a Warrior first. I know Scouts are the usual option, but Warriors can upgrade well and save me build time in prep for an early war. I figure I’d follow it with another Warrior or a Slinger, and then a Builder. At that point I realized we haven’t discussed early research. Well, Hetairoi require Horseback Riding, and Hypaspist require Iron Working. I let this set my early priorities. Similarly, between wanting a builder to hook up those strategic resources, and wanting the Agoge card in preparation for early war, that meant Craftsmanship would be a priority as well.

So I kept exploring in a relatively semicircular path. I didn’t capture enough screenshots the first few turns while I got into rhythm. I think I got a relevant Eureka from the first tribal village, and then dispersed a barbarian encampment started by a Slinger. As much as I like leaving these to become city states later, this was just too close, too early.



That tribal village netted me a builder.



Certainly saves me a bit of time. I debated holding it a bit to hook up strategics, but from that old maxim regarding a bird in the hand, I quickly farmed the tile to the SW of Pella, made a camp to the SE, and built a pasture to the E; this earned me the inspiration for Craftsmanship and eureka for Horseback Riding. Speaking of which, as I was doing so, I finished Animal Husbandry. So, do we have horses?



Not in the immediate vicinity, but there’s plenty more to explore. In the meantime, I switched paths to pick up Mining on the way to Bronze Working. A tribal village had provided the eureka. I knew this detour could be costly, but with no guarantee of horses, I wanted the ability to locate iron ASAP as a plan B.

My warriors also found a natural wonder, and a friend.









Heh. Friend. Dido ain’t far away, as the minimap shows. Tyre was a very costly effort for historical Alexander, but I intend to get after it far before they have the formidable walls and moats they had in his time.

My other warrior was exploring to the north, and encountered another wonder and a tribal village adding a late Scout.



My first warrior then found horses. They aren’t exactly on the way to Tyre, but they’re not too out of position. I should probably plant my second city hereabouts.



With that news, I stopped the Slinger I had thrown in the build queue at Pella, and switched to a Settler. Timing was good, as the city had just grown. I also emphasized production.



10 turns isn’t tomorrow, but it’s not forever. It would have been 14 if I’d let the city governor’s priorities stick, but then it would grow before then maybe? I’m not sure how that mechanic works. My scout also found a village that said it gave +1 population, but Pella remained at 3. Not sure if the settler interferes with that. If so, this is some really opaque mechanics, and I hope Civ 7 goes back to something a bit more transparent.

Code of Laws unlocked our first government, and I went with the defaults.




Yes, I know Alexander would prefer to style himself a god king, but he’d also like to be at war, and the production will help us get there sooner.

My scout arrived too late to drive off the barbarian scout, so we may have some irritation coming from the east..


That said, the encampment is pretty far out there, and with any luck I’ll have horses online in time to make them a nonfactor.

It was only turn 17, but this felt like a good place to pause and check in, giving everyone a chance to criticize my mistakes and recommend changes in direction. Whatever Civ 6’s flaws, the early turns are a lot more interesting than all the previous games.

Find the save file attached. I’ll play some more today or more likely tomorrow night, so feedback is welcome.

 

[Lord Darkview]

So I was wrong, and actually ended EOT 19, which is basically on turn 20. Serves me right to wait until the morning and draft a post from screenshots.

I actually only played 5 turns for this morning session, since I was left with a few interesting decision points. So, this is a learning experience in terms of how much I should play before asking the group.



This was not one of them. The Phoenicians torched the slinger, the camp, and then the scout committed a suicidal vengeance attack. Small matter, since I didn’t need the eureka. Still, the gold and XP would have been nice.

But if you look at what the scout has revealed there, you’ll see Horses! And it’s on a much more direct route to Tyre. This is likely where my settler will head.



The following turn I found Valetta, and I was not the first to do so. They were wanting a trade route.

The following turn, I found Granada, and an inspiration for Political Philosophy.



This reminded me that I might want to look at my Civics tree, which I hadn’t in a bit. I was so tunnel visioned on Craftsmanship for Agoge and Military Tradition for Flanking that I neglected Early Empire for Settlers.



I ended up switching gears, but this is probably a mistake. First off, I’m only likely to crank out 1-2 settlers more before I’d acquire Early Empire anyway, and second, just getting State Workforce faster for the governor title may be relevant.

This reminded me to return to Pella, where a little bit of reprioritization helped get a pop point just before the settler.


The second the Settler came out, I sent him on his way, with the Warrior for escort.



I flagged two possible locations to settle. The southern location is slightly better, but it’s also likely to be slightly more antagonistic to Dido, and will be under loyalty pressure. Rushing to the governor may matter.

There’s also the option of settling another city between these. The AI recommends a city by the lake, which I was honestly thinking about in exactly the same location. It could help shore up loyalty, and give a bunch of possible chops (though it might be lackluster after). That would mean cranking another settler.

I also shifted my research from Bronze Working to Archery to head for Horseback Riding. I think that’s correct. I’m likely to lean on cavalry in these early phases, based on the land. And my slinger is about to come out, so maybe I can get the Eureka and speed it up.

So, here’s the outstanding questions:

1. Do I forward settle Dido as planned to claim the horses? If so, do I claim the northern or southern spot?

2. Do I plant a third city before prepping to go on the offense? If so, where?

3. Do I continue head for Military Tradition, or detour to Early Empire or State Workforce?

I might wait, I might press on later if I have free time. Either way, curious what the group says, provided this post makes it through moderation fast enough.

(By the way, does anyone know what it takes before not every post of mine has to get mod approval? I looked, but I must have missed it. I feel silly having to ask.)

 

[Daniel Boone]

I would keep going for military tradition, you’ve already invested a lot of culture on that path. I would also settle the northern location near Dido. Since you’re not gonna have a governor soon, you’re not going to be able to protect it from flipping.

You should try to get another city by the lake while you go for horseback riding for your hetairoi. If you can attack Dido before she has walls then they should take her out pretty easily.

 

[Lord Darkview]

So I picked up where I left off. I was greeted by this tantalizing prospect.



I’d had the opportunity to nab a Worker from their neighbor a few turns before, but with 1 charge, it hardly seemed worth it. With 3 though, well, some Civ 5 lessons die hard. I took the worker. However, that success was maybe more trouble than it was worth. The worker and its warrior were driven far into the north by the forces of Granada and a nearby barbarian encampment’s that I was in no position to eliminate. They had to take a very circuitous route back, and only returned home near 30 turns later. There would be other repercussions as well.



My scout also occupied this encampment. I debated dispersing it, but decided I wanted 50 gold more than 10 XP on a scout. I realized a few turns later that it was probably too close to the city I wanted to found, but no big deal. I’d have horses online by then. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?



Well, damn. Does raiding a camp spawn more than just the one defensive unit? If so, lesson decidedly learned! Thankfully, the AI is not too bright, and I was able to withdraw with heavy damage. I decided to head for the lake city site.

It was still a major disappointment, and even finding another natural wonder did not brighten my mood.



In Civ 5, I think this would have affected happiness. I don’t think there’s any such perk in Civ 6. Maybe I’m misremembering. Anyway, that same scout was roaming the north and northeast, and found plenty of encampments and other things of note, starting with Pedro here.



Meanwhile, I’d sent a freshly produced Slinger north to try and rescue that warrior and captured worker. He failed to do that, but he took out some Granada warriors, which was worth a eureka.



I forget at times they don’t have to be barbarians you take out.

Still, I wouldn’t mind. Remember that band? They traveled further west, to Pella.



So now there were actually three camps agitated: the one immediately north, one you can’t see to the south, and the one I raided to the east.

You might have noticed that there’s a hint on some units of mine in the southwest of the screen. Wasn’t I settling the lake city? Well, since I was on the run from the barbarians and expected to get another settler out soon anyway, I might as well head south to grab that first source of horses.

Also, you might have noticed I continued working on Foreign Trade. I realized that given how this mess was panning out, rushing to Military Tradition was probably less valuable than getting an initial trade route online to start roads. It was going to be a while before I had my military online, unfortunately.



My fleeing warrior and worker pair in the north detected a trace of American culture as well.

My scout kept doing his thing, and found several more city states.





I also finally made peace with Granada.



I also had founded my second city. I’d considered putting it on the desert tile adjacent the lake to immediately secure salt and mercury, but realized those weren’t my priorities. I immediately purchased a builder to start amassing a herd of horses.



See that barbarian Horseman though? Yeah. We’ll get back to him and his friends.



We finally met Teddy, and I immediately sent a delegation.



I had no intention of sending one to Dido, but I figured I ought to send one Pedro’s way…



Huh. I’ve never seen that before. But the very next turn…



I wonder if this is about Granada? If so, I had no idea raiding city states had this kind of repercussions and, while that’s a good thing, it would be nice if it were more transparent. Not like we ever officially had a peace deal, or they had a Suzerain or anything.

Anyway, I was getting ready to add another city…



But so were the barbarians…



No joke, I’d fought off a Warrior and a Horsemen from that same tribe befe these guys showed up. Stone Cloud indeed!



How the hell do they have such an inexhaustible supply of units when I only just got Horseback Riding after practically beelining it and nailing every eureka on the way!? Horse Archers too? Goodness, I know we’re around the right time for the late Indo-European invasions, but come on!

Anyway, I added that third city adjacent the lake, as discussed. Dido was thrilled, I think. Not sure why.




And this got Early Empire, and my first governor title.



Also, after a lot of opportunistic attacks and taking cover by my warriors, combined with the arrival of my archers and a huge amount of help from Hong Kong, it looks like we are finally ready to route these barbarians. Oh, when I say a huge amount of help from Hong Kong, I’m underselling it. They had easily a half-dozen units in the field and cleared at least three barbarian units on their own. I don’t think Chalkidiki would have survived if not for them. I’m half ready to propose a marital alliance after all that (the other half being my actual spouse would actually kill me).



Anyway, this seems like a good spot to end. There’s 7 turns left until the age ends, and a Golden Age would be a long-shot at best. Two Hetairoi are under construction, and I might be able to buy another or a builder to get chopping at Methone. I also have a governor to pick, and new civics. Bronze Working may also reveal iron for Hypaspists.

So, questions for the next turn set:

1. Should I try to achieve a Golden Age? If so, how should I plan on doing that?

2. Is it too late for an attack on Tyre? If so, can I do it purely on the back of Hetairoi? How many will I need? And will this collapse in the face of walls, or will it just get slower?

3. Should I produce my units, or plan on chopping them? Does Agoge help chops?

4. Should I go for Magnus for better chopping and settlers (I think some may be needed), or Pingala to help make up for what feels like anemic science and culture at this stage?

5. Civic-wise, should I grab the immediately available Military Tradition, or start steering for Political Philosophy and Autocracy?

6. What should I be shooting for tech-wise after Bronze Working and Iron Working?

 

[Daniel Boone]

If Tyre gets walls up, you’ll need your Hypaspists and some siege units as well to take it. If you feel ready to attack now with hetairoi, then I would attack. If you don’t think you’re ready yet, then I would get bronze and iron working for hypaspists, then head to engineering for catapults.

 

[Lord Darkview]

So, starting in, I knew I had some decisions to make. There was still a window for early war, but it could be closing, and I’m not experienced with how to prosecute it. Still, I had ideas, and could do research, which reminded me Basilikoi Paides were a thing. So I needed to get those online fast as well.

I elected to go for a Magnus-oriented strategy: I didn’t think there was any other way to really get a military online in the next 10 turns or so. I would produce some builders, then chop out an Encampment, Basilikoi Paides, and Hetairoi in at least two cities. With 3 or so Hetairoi, I could think about going on the attack.



“Leave your bronze for iron…” I ain’t got either of those yet! Well, shouldn’t be long.



I did start to hook up some luxuries, but my cities were starting to grow beyond my amenities, and I had a need for precious metals. More importantly, you can see I threw a couple of builders in the queue, which along with the one stolen from Granada earlier would serve me well.

I also changed civics to Ilkum to improve worker production rates.

And assigned Magnus. He went to Pella first, since I felt it would come online quickly, and then would still produce well after I moved Magnus. I also started to head for Political Philosophy, and started flipping techs and civics around to try and get mileage out of eurekas and inspirations. I might have missed a few, but it mostly went fine.



I also had to start buying wooded tiles. You can’t chop them for benefit beyond your borders anymore. This along with future upgrades would make me very gold-hungry, and I sold with abandon everything that wasn’t a strategic resource in active use.



And here I thought we weren’t getting along! Though we might not be for long, for reasons that will soon be obvious.



So, where do we have iron?



Well, damn again. If I’d claimed that city I wanted earlier, it would have been in easy reach.

This left me a choice. I could crank out a setter, hope to establish that city before anyone else, get iron online, and go from there. Or I could just take it from Hong Kong. And I really liked Hong Kong. Didn’t I say something about a marital alliance last time?

Then I remembered that Alexander only wedded Darius’ daughter after he had conquered all of Persia. Well, with that in mind, I set my sights on Hong Kong. Hopefully it wouldn’t delay me much more than founding an extra city would.



Magnus is in control! Let the deforestation commence!

(I actually saved and immediately reloaded here when I thought Magnus’s chop bonus wasn’t being added. It was. My error. I replayed exactly the same, so no save-scumming here.)

The encampment came online, and shortly after the Basilikoi Paides, and finally Hetairoi.

And right around the turn of the era, we discovered State Workforce. I felt this was a good time to switch policy cards. Builders were done, and it was time to make units. I slotted in Agoge and Urban Planning. Of course, yours truly has a literacy glitch, and forgot that Agoge does nothing for cavalry. If I’d been paying attention, I could have had that card earlier, and had even stronger forces. Well, lesson learned.

I also recruited Pingala. He sat on the sidelines for a turn while Magnus finished up in the capital, then replaced Magnus as the latter headed south to Chalkidiki. I hoped getting him a few titles would make up for any deficiencies in my science and culture development. Campuses and Theater Squares weren’t exactly a priority.

Speaking of which, at the same time, we officially entered the Classical Era! I did not secure the golden age, and while I had a deluge of points in the next turn, this wasn’t a situation where I just missed it.



I thought for a while before selecting Free Inquiry. I thought I was likely to get more Eurekas than have cities building districts. I could certainly have been wrong, though I definitely managed a few over the rest of this session that way. And as you’ll see, I racked up a LOT of era points, and this may have been irrelevant.



Political Philosophy opened up the first governments, and Oligarchy felt the clear choice for its combat bonuses. I didn’t have a ton of great policy cards to throw in, but I elected to collect Envoys. I figured I could stockpile them, then insert the doubling card later. I also realized that focusing on sending too many envoys right away might be wasteful if they were lost to declarations of war.



Not all the troops I wanted were ready, but I had a pair of archers, a warrior, a hetairoi, and another hetairoi on the way, and the Hong Kong army was all trapped wandering the field. It was time.



The Hong Kong army didn’t last long in the field, and the hetairoi racked up a bunch of kills. This would accelerate me towards my great general.



Somehow even this scout got me a free military unit, which was yet another hetairoi.





I hope these guys are as good as advertised. I also added a battering ram, and may add another. I don’t have catapults at the end of this session, but I feel they’re not that long away.



I also earned my first great general. Trung Trac does not have a great retirement perk, but she will probably just be leading forever, and she’s perfectly capable at that. Alexander can’t be everywhere at all times, after all.



Warriors did pretty well fending off barbarian scouts from the east, but not the northwest. I’m not too worried with my military finally swelling in power, but it’s a thing to be mindful of.



So while this is going on, I methodically took out each of Hong Kong’s units in the field, pillaged their few tile improvements, and finally captured the city purely on the strength of three hetairoi.

Their mines meant a eureka, but there were other perks as well. Iron was the reason I started the war, and we captured a builder which could hook up the iron again quickly. The city also has a second iron mine to the south, which we can also hook up.



While my units took a beating, I lost none of them. In exchange, I got a great general, and enough iron to run this war for a while. I emerged from the war with four or five hetairoi, a battering ram, three archers, and three warriors waiting to be upgraded with hetairoi. They would need a few turns to recover, though.



I did some exploring around Tyre, and there really wasn’t much to see. She did get very defensive though, and I had to make a deceitful promise to withdraw my troops. Less than five turns later, we were at war.



Bad news Dido: I think you’re delivering your prophecy to the wrong leader.

The army moved swiftly, and unfortunately for Dido, she was busy with other projects.





On the way, I pillaged a bunch of things, including a holy sight. This let me pick a pantheon.

Now, most of my preferred choices were gone, but God of Craftsmen potentially added something, and so I took it. I’m mostly intending to ignore religion this game anyway.



We quickly surrounded the city. Pedro took notice.



Quite right.







And that’s where I called it. I played one more turn to see things in a post-war moment. Before we go, a quick glance at the empire.



And at our nearest neighbors and unexplored territory, if we are to truly take this To the World’s End.





So now, where do we go from here?

1. I have this huge army. Defensive numbers are starting to go up on city states, and to some extent Brazil and America’s cities. I think I should press on, hitting Brazil next. Any reason not to?

2. There’s still a lot of open land. Do I start cranking settlers to backfill as well.

3. Should I add infrastructure, or just keep adding units? I know I want to add a bunch of Hypaspists, another Battering Ram, and when the tech is done, a bunch of catapults.

4. Should I leave the barbarians alone until they form city states? They can be a thorn, but I think I have the troop quantity to check the damage they can do until they mature.

5. If I exhaust my rivals on this continent, any advice on prepping for the intercontinental invasion that will have to happen next?

As always, the save file is attached.

 

[Daniel Boone]

As long as your economy is doing fine, I don’t think there’s any reason why you shouldn’t attack Brazil. They’ll probably get walls up in some of their cities by the time you get there, but that won’t be a problem once you have catapults.

You should definitely build up your infrastructure in the cities other than your capital. They’ll be so much better once you’ve got some districts in them. Make sure to build encampments with Basilikoi Paides in the cities that are producing units. They’ll help your science output.

What you should do with the barbs is up to you. If they get too annoying you should be able to clear them out pretty easily.

You’ll need Cartography to cross oceans, but you’re not too close to that yet, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it right now.

 

[Lord Darkview]

Before we get going, I do want to thank Daniel Boone for being so responsive. While I’m not following every suggestion precisely, it’s definitely help keep me on track. Hopefully others start to chime in as well. It gets more fun that way!

Anyway, reading his comments had me realize that while I “get” unit combat mechanics, I don’t really understand city combat. So I did some research on City combat mechanics, which made Walls look pretty scary for my forces. With my army composed of mostly hetairoi, I’d only have the single battering ram and three hypaspists to force entry to a walled city. I’d definitely want to start building catapults soon, and be careful to stay under the trebuchet technology to avoid needing to spend a lot of hammers. Per the Domination Guide (that was until yesterday seemingly open access), it’s better to build more early units and upgrade them than to build more advanced units. For the same reason, I wanted a lot more hypaspists.

Well, actually, I wanted more of everything, but you can’t have it all.

Which brings me back to economics. I definitely wanted to get 1-2 more unit-production centers online, and get the economy online in the rest. I also wanted to backfill open area with cities that contained at a bare minimum commerce hubs or harbors to maximize trade routes, and maybe encampments for unit production as well. Also, I needed to climb towards cartography for the inevitable intercontinental invasion. All while I still need to finish exploring this continent, and conquer my neighbors.

So I’m listing it all out here, in semi-priority order.

1. Conquer Brazil
2. Build more catapults
3. Build more hypaspists
4. Get 1-2 more unit-production centers online
5. Backfill cities
6. Explore continent
7. Build trade route infrastructure
8. Tech for intercontinental invasion

Seems like a lot to do, but if prior Civs have taught me anything, it’s that conquest brings land, and land is power.

Anyway, since last time my post probably had too many screenshots (it forced me to remove some), I’ll try to use a bit more narrative and fewer images.

Early on, Pedro had this to say to me:



I have no idea what he meant by this. Maybe he was observing that I wasn’t building any tall buildings? I had other things on my mind. My armies began to move across the plains to Brazil.



I never really leveraged Great Generals before, so this was new to me:



By the end of the era, I’d gotten three of these awards. Pedro wasn’t please with me though.



You want a formal war? I appreciate the invitation!

Anyway, one of the barbarian camps got all civilized.



Welcome, future client-state! Anyway, I’d just picked up Military Training and slotted in Raid when I got some news …



Yep, that’s right. Teddy just invoked the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine all over Brazil! Which meant the race was on!

I declared war a turn or so later. Belem quickly fell, but it was in such a terrible spot that I simply razed it, with the intention to later refound it slightly south.



Not to be outdone, the Americans razed Manaus, also in a terrible location. Pedro, you’re criticizing my building habits, but you can’t even see to it that your people have fresh water!?

Anyway, my troops arrived at Rio De Janeiro, and made quick work of the defenses. He had a lot of archers and some chariots and horsemen out in the field, enough to protect the settler stack that founded Salvador Da Bahia. This was annoying, and I lost an archer there, but it wasn’t a real problem. It was also located in a pretty bad spot.



I probably should have just left them to stew there, but my hypaspists crossed the gap, trudged into the rainforests, and made quick work of it.



On the domestic front, I finally backfilled some old techs and added Feudalism, then started to churn out a few workers. I also got a few of my less militarily productive cities to add settlers, and started to backfill a few cities. But war loomed.

Roosevelt had a fair-sized army in the field, but it mostly consisted of archers, many levied from Hunza. I could wait until the levy lapsed, but I’d still have to fight them in the coming war. I decided to take advantage while they were relatively exposed.





My column quickly moved north, taking out a bunch of archers and an opposing great general, and suffering basically no losses in the process.



Still, the Americans got some help from another red-bannered team.



Barbarians started arriving in force to the northwest of my capital. I had to redirect the trickle of hypasists from the front. And soon they had crossbows and men at arms, making for a tough fight.

Still, that wouldn’t stem the tide across the continent. My forces arrived outside of New York, pillaging heavily, and then taking the city using the only siege unit I had: a battering ram.



After I took New York, our cavalries battled for the field: me looking for opportunities to pillage, and them looking for opportunities to snipe units. Their elite charioteers, The Lava Hammer, took out a contingent of hetairoi, but The Red Raiders took a bloody vengeance for their comrades:




My catapults were taking a long time to make the long journey across the continent. Making good road networks is harder in Civ 6 than it’s been in literally any other game, and it’s a major thorn for all kinds of play, but especially militaries.

I took a brief autosave reload due to a literal misclick (an accidental left click moving a hypaspist out of position against barbarians), and finished Machinery and Apprenticeship. I took a turn cycle with the Professional Army card plugged in, and upgraded almost every hypaspist and archer in the empire to men at arms and crossbowmen.

Unfortunately, my catapults were slogging across the continent, and the only one that arrived at the front became a casualty during the fight over Washington. Nonetheless, my siege tower (once the previously mentioned battering ram) served me well as I took that city, and the next, and the next.





Roosevelt would take a devastating peace deal, leaving him with only New Orleans and nothing else of value. I could have wiped him out, but there was perhaps less profit in it, more risk, and frankly more tedium. If I need the era score though, wiping him out is an option. Speaking of era score…



I ended the last era at something like 84 of 46… I’ve never overshot the mark by that much before. I picked Free Inquiry, but it is likely in retrospect that I should have picked Monumentality to generate a lot more builders. Still, science crept up, and by the time I called the round, I was making a fair bit of it.



The upgrades allowed me to finally push back that barbarian menace, and track them back to their encampment. I’m debating if I want to disperse this and found a city here, or if I want to just keep them bottled up for 20+ turns until they civilize.

Not like I don’t have enough other places to settle. I want to plant at least three cities on the western land near the coast.



I also placed one more towards the eastern side, and think I might want another two there.



That said, I did mention things were becoming tedious earlier, and I’m feeling it a bit. Maybe it’s just that it was four hours for about forty turns, but they did seem to drag after a bit, mostly from having to manage every unit. I’ve got like a half dozen Catapults, and a huge number of hetairoi and men at arms.

So when I look at the goals I’d set out at the start of the round, it looks like I accomplished the first 6, plus other things (e.g.: conquering America). Trade route networks will take a few more turns (silly me only just got the Harbor techs), and then I need to think about finding the other civs to invade them. I could also just settle down and use my commanding land advantage to just go for the science win, but that actually seems slower and against the spirit of the playthrough.

So, from here, what should I do to prep for launching an intercontinental invasion in the medieval-to-renaissance era?

What techs do I need?

How many more units and in what composition do I need them?

Do I need a navy?

What infrastructure and techs should I prioritize to get there?

 

[0urBall]

Hi
Thanks for doing this @Lord Darkview, I subscribed as soon as I saw it even though I haven't posted up to now

My 2 cents below:

So, from here, what should I do to prep for launching an intercontinental invasion in the medieval-to-renaissance era? - You probably need to figure out which way the other continent is, so I'd plant a city on the west and east coast, build a galley/quad in each and start to scout around for you other victims/civs

Do I need a navy? - Yes, as the AI is hopeless at navy, it should give you a big advantage

What infrastructure and techs should I prioritize to get there? - It might be an idea to put together some sort of state of the empire post, to show what stage you're at, so then we can chime in about where you need to go next in terms of Tech/Civics

 

[Lord Darkview]

Today I learned user tagging is a thing here. Thank you, @0urBall .

I think a State of the Empire post is a great idea. I haven't done them for two reasons. First, I was a bit concerned that it might violate some official policy on double posting. Mods seem to still need to approve every individual post I make, and I didn't want to upset them. (Correction: this one seems to have gone right through!)

Second, I'm actually not sure what to include in them. Sisiutil used to show:

1. A zoomed out map of the empire, both with and without resource overlays. I don't think Civ 6 supports zooming out far enough to do this well once your empire covers most of a large continent.

2. A cities report. Definitely doable and probably useful.

3. A civics screenshot. I could do one for the government easily enough, though I doubt it would effectively show every unselected option.

4. A foreign relations report. I'm not sure there's a great way to capture this in a single visual.

5. Active trade deals and resources. There might be a way to do this, but I haven't looked.

6. Relative tech progression by all Civs. Also not sure how to adequately display this.

7. Victory condition progress. I can do that, but I'm not sure there's actually enough info here to be useful. Might need to explain highlights in text.

8. Relative military power. Also not sure if there is a clean way to demonstrate this.

9. Espionage. Also not sure if there is a clean way to demonstrate this.

I won't have much time in the next day, but I could try to put something together. Certainly quicker than playing another round!

Questions before I do:

1. Did I leave out anything critical?

2. For those things that I'm not sure how to display well, do you have any recommendations?

(Edited to fix formatting issues, and correct a statement in the second paragraph.)

 

[0urBall]

No problem @Lord Darkview, I didn't know it was possible too, I just took a shot from using it in Teams
From my memory, Sisiutil used to use the state of the union screenshots to help with the next decisions in his games, as the VC was not decided before the games were started. But judging by the thread title you have already made that decision. So I would say as you'r going for Conquest/Domination, the only resources that need to be displayed would be the strategic ones when the Techs are discovered that reveal them (Niter and Oil especially). But at this stage, as you have basically taken over the whole continent, it might not make a huge difference to future decisions.
I do notice that you don't hve the HUD enabled, which can show some of the points you have made (Diplo and relative military strength especially). I'm not sure if you're aware of it, but you can enalbe the HUD in the below in-game options:

For this game I would say trade deals and espionage would not be too useful, but future games may require it. The VC screenshot could be a good idea, but probably only in the late game if an AI civ is making progress on a VC that you are not, so you might need to figure out how to stop them.

I would suggest playing as far as Cartography, if you don't have it already, and seeing where the other continent is/other civs are. Then if that's not a long playthrough, it would be a good plae to decide how to conquer the rest of the AI's

 

[Lord Darkview]

Thanks everyone for your patience and input.

So I hadn’t played in a few days, due to being over-obligated in real-world stuff. I decided I would play a short round, followed by a state of the world.

Part 1: Round Narrative

First, I went in and made the UI tweak recommended by @0ddball. Then I started appraising the state of things.



I relocated Victor to San Francisco to secure its loyalty. This wasn’t enough, and I’d also have to buy a monument there.

That American builder just out of reach taunted me, but small loss. Otherwise though, my economy was in bad shape, only barely in the black by tribute from the Americans. So economy and exploration were the priorities. That meant Celestial Navigation for Harbors, and the Cartography were priorities. So were Settlers to finish claiming the continent.



Speaking of claiming the continent, I elected to clear that encampment by Pella. It was too close for comfort. I also felt like I’d want the era score, and the port. In retrospect though, I probably should have just left it besieged, and eventually conquered it when it flipped to save the settler.



No sooner had I removed that irritant when another cropped up.



I exterminated them a few turns later. That’s one tile off from the city I razed, and not actually any better placed.

So when my next opportunity to change policies arrived, I was… decidedly unenthused.



I took the opportunity to make some upgrades (likely also a mistake, but I figured Knights can clear barbarians pretty quick). I considered changing governments, but I didn’t want to lose access to any Oligarchy card bonuses that might help in combat later. That said, Merchant Republic wasn’t that far off at 12 turns. I’d likely outrace my tech to Caravels, though.

I founded the first of the cities I wanted.





It would take a while to grow. Those scaling district costs weren’t fun, and I did a quick swap and picked up Mysticism so I could swap in the Veterancy policy and hurry them along a bit.

I also felt some sting from my incorrect decision to not take Monumentality, which left me short on workers as a number of natural disasters hit.



On the bright side, those cities would need the fertility bonuses in the long run.

I was also thinking about envoys and city states, but there really didn’t look to be many great opportunities as Teddy had sunk his hooks into the most interesting candidates. Exterminating him might make sense on that angle alone, and doing so should probably be done before anyone is the wiser. I kept my troops arrayed on the border, ready to strike when the moment was right.



Of course, he just really wants this end, doesn’t he?



I’m letting this go for a bit, but I think not for long. The gold ain’t worth the attitude.

Also, we had an opportunity to hire another Great General.



I love the variety among these. Anyway, I turned this one down. While it would have supported Renaissance units, I’d rather wait until either that’s necessary or see if I can snag the next era along.


I then founded yet another Alexandria.






I should come up with some better names. How about Alexandropolis?

Anyway, I finally broke into this camp.



Right before dispersing it, I realized this is absolutely an ideal one to leave to mature for a bit. I don’t want this land, but don’t want the AI taking it either. I could simply besiege it with my units. What’s 50 turns, anyway?



Hey! I just fixed that!

Anyway, I played on a bit and, with the advent of Exploration, I called the end of the round.

---

Part 2: State of the Empire, 540 AD

Let’s begin with Victory conditions. We’re about halfway to a Domination victory. Someone’s a bit ahead of us in science, which is relevant information from a military standpoint: I needn’t be worried the other continent is heavily armed with gunpowder weapons yet. No one else has made enough victory progress to be worth mentioning.



In terms of City States, there’s not a lot of low-hanging fruit here until we get rid of Teddy. His gold is helpful, but no longer essential.


I have 15 cities, and expect to settle another 4 or 5 in the next dozen or so turns. After that, I’ll be done with settlers for the foreseeable future.



The report tells me a lot, especially about gold flow. It also serves as a good glimpse at the state of the army, which clearly needs to ramp up in preparation for the inevitable invasion to follow. I expect to primarily be adding men at arms, and catapults. This will likely follow the last round of settlers and trade route buildings. Unfortunately, districts are indeed quite expensive at this stage. But that money is critical to enable the sudden upgrades that will be required to all the catapults and cavalry, and then required again once gunpowder is available.



Cities are finally growing, but many of them are working awful tiles. I’ll definitely need to sneak in some workers. I may also need to try to get a golden age for monumentality. I’m just shy of guaranteeing at least a regular era right now.

And finally, a quick tour of the empire! Beginning with the south, our “home territory.”



The center, where I expect to place another city or two. The one near the three rivers and volcano will provide an important industrial zone if we hit the late game.



Now, the northern part. I expect to establish at least one city on the coast to the southeast of New York.



And finally, the eastern part of the continent. I expect to settle at least two more cities: one on the easternmost peninsula, and another on the coast to the southeast of Amphipolis.



My priorities for the next session are to eliminate Teddy, finish establishing my economy and new cities, and make scientific and military preparations for an overseas invasion.

Questions:

1. Is the above priority list well-considered? If not, what should be changed?

2. Is there any reason not to adopt merchant republic as a government right now?

3. Are the military plans appropriate given what we know of the state of the game?

4. What could go wrong to derail us at this point?

Save file is attached.

 

[Daniel Boone]

Your priorities look good to me. You should definitely go to merchant republic, you’ll lose some of the oligarchy combat bonuses, but the extra card spots will make up for it. Take out Teddy, then build up your economy and head for cartography to start attacking the other continent.

 

[Lord Darkview]

540 AD (turn 138) - 1270 AD (turn 188)

So I started with the government change.



I noted that I had the Oligarchic Legacy card available, which would supplement my war efforts. It was not time for that, though. I didn’t need to slot a bunch of currently useless military cards either. So it was a nice bonmus. In retrospect though, the builder card wasn’t doing much for me.

Then I had the option to recruit a great person.



I turned down Omar Khayyam. In fact, I turned down many great people over the round: Gaius Duilius, Colaeus, and El Cid. I tend to not like random eurekas and inspirations, and also didn’t see much benefit to a bunch of faith and the fact that I already had the continents luxuries. In retrospect, turning down the generals and admirals was a mistake, though. I had tunnel-visioned too hard on the passives from the post-Renaissance period, when there was a very high probability that this game would end in the Renaissance. Even when it did end, forming a Corps would be worth a lot on an upgraded unit. Well, lesson learned.

Then I looked to New Orleans. The extra 40-something gold flowing per turn from America made me hesitate a few turns, but not long. I realized I couldn’t risk the other continent witnessing my conquest, if they were already out there. The problem was that my catapults were across the continent. They might have been here if I’d considered further in advance, but I hadn’t. So I’d have to make do with the four men at arms, and other nearby support troops (including the siege tower).



Unfortunately, the odds didn’t look good.



I debated holding off for those catapults, and decided there wasn’t time. That, and Granda lay between us, and was not going to help my advance. In fact, they sniped a catapult on its way, and were lurking around one of my newer cities. I decided I’d have to move fast.

Thankfully, humans are capable of realizing their stupidity, while AIs are always capable of finding new ways to demonstrate it!



That’s right. I’d forgotten Oligarchic Legacy! Also Raid, though the latter was probably a wash over Conscription: I only got to pillage one campus and trade route. Turns out upgrading hetairoi to knights had a real drawback with the lost movement point.

But the AI also graciously moved its sole contemporary unit out into the field in a failed effort to snipe my only Hetairoi in the operation.



The Red Raiders survived, and their comrades demolished the exposed unit. With that, I surrounded the city, and found my odds significantly improved.



Afterwards, I began waging peace. I began by spreading envoys around. It’s impossible to have enough of those things. I also continued my construction of harbors, commerce hubs, and traders; a very slow-going process at this stage. And finally, I began settling the last of my cities.



I founded this city as planned. Actually, the computer recommended founding it on the marble, which I did, immediately rethought it, and loaded the autosave. I liked my original location better. I also don’t consider it save-scumming to reload for actual misclicks, UI issues, or when you reconsider without any actual new information having been gained (I did each of these once over just a few turns; I find the Civ 6 UI more frustrating than any Civ since Civ 3).

So we added Alexandretta to the mix. Don’t let it fool you though. Alex still has a thing for Alexandria as a name.





Alexandria Propthasia is going to have an extremely high-yield harbor and shipyard. While I know people say to avoid settling on the coast, I think a high-yield shipyard does a lot to compensate for that, and is one of the things that pushes me towards it.

Alexandria in Aria has some potential, but not a lot. It’s mostly there to grab the land, and discourage any cross-continental colonization by the opponents.



I guess Aiani is not an Alexander-derived name, but he might have just looked at this site and not been in love with it. I also moved inland from my original target location. Harbor-adjacencies are handy and all, but immediate fresh water would be nice, and the ability to eventually work more land was potentially valuable.

With this, I noticed the era tracker: 8 turns left and needing one era point. I hungered for monumentality–better late than never! I also decided this was a good point to retire for the evening. When I picked back up, I set the following goals:

1. Achieve another golden age (1 point should be achievable with a naval unit purchase or something).
2. Finish settling the last cities (I’d have 3 settlers coming out in the next few turns, which would be plenty).
3. Improve the economy (a lot more harbors, commerce hubs, traders, and workers).
4. Gear up for war (encampments, a lot more units, generals, and admirals).
5. Find an enemy and prepare to invade (mass by a coast).

I needn’t have worried about the first one. Finishing my next harbor triggered a eureka for cartography that finished it. The plus Imani taking suzerainty of Samarkand pushed me well past the golden age target. Claiming Samarkand also revealed another nearby island-continent.



Four tribal villages to potentially pick up, though one would be overtaken by Samarkand. I deployed knights to claim the others, and determined I’d put a city on the southern inlet where it could claim a 4-adjacency harbor. I wanted to settle another as well, but where was less clear.

Not wanting to waste the Eurekas from these villages also meant I finally started to scoop up the cheap techs I’d been waiting on completion of. That meant finally obsoleting catapults, and soon moving onto others like Gunpowder. To me, this was fine.

More barbarians moved in.



While I can keep them bottled up easily, it may not be worth it anymore. Granada and Valetta can certainly handle them, but waiting 50 turns in hopes of a city state might be a bit long. I’m trying that elsewhere now, and it’s time consuming. I might want these units for the intercontinental invasion.

Omar Khayyam and El Cid soon got picked up.



I gladly took Amina. She’d likely serve for the rest of the game, and if not, an envoy is never bad to have. I also scooped up Irene of Athens: just having an extra governor to control the loyalty of freshly conquered cities on another continent seemed like it would matter.

The age turned, and I seriously considered Sic Hunt Dragons for a moment, before I recalled how long I’d been waiting for monumentality. I estimated it was worth at least 36 builder charges in the next few turns (by Liang and Feudalism), and potentially a lot more even by slow accrual in the conquered Holy Sites.



I also got a bunch of new Eureka quests, and expected I should be able to complete most of them.



I also switched up my policies. Completing the last settler freed up some slots, and I realized I’d likely soon come across more city states where I’d want the free envoy possibility. The more I play, the more I think the +2 influence per turn is a trap. Anyway, in a few turns, I expected to switch heavier war production again, at which point relevant cards would go in for that. The reality was that my economy was starting to hum, and with discounts would be able to upgrade everything in a very short span.



So I set about founding the rest of my cities.



Pydna claimed some niter, and niter was going to be very important.





The niter also made my decision on Dion.



I also managed to pick up O No Yasumaro, who founded Olympiansyncretism.



A bit late, but I’m not complaining. The name is certainly a mouthful. Also, why is there not a horse icon, so I could have Alexander name the religion after his steed or something?

Speaking of silly decisions…



I’d eventually get this worker back and sink a bunch of barbarian ships, but this was still a silly blunder. Also, the barbarians seem to have spies, since they always showed up right as some building had been finished or repaired in the harbor. Eventually though, my quadriremes got the better of them.



I also picked up Zhou Daguan, though I’m not precisely sure where to use her yet. I also added Gustavus Adolphus as an additional general. Having more than one is certainly handy.

So I spent this round building up cities, exploring, and upgrading units. Niter was a real bottleneck. By the end of the round, I only had about 9 coming in per turn, leaving me well-shy of the upgrade pace I wanted. Realizing I was going to have to make do with fewer units, I shot all the way to Line Infantry,

I also finished circumnavigation, and met the rest of the cast…











While some of them like Rome indicate industrial roads, I feel like I might now be at least an era ahead of them.



I’m glad you feel that way, because geography and the accessibility of your capital makes you a very appealing first target.

Anyway, with the Renaissance suddenly ticking down (did I really play a whole era without a war?) it seemed like a good spot to call it for now.