Apollo Harmony Tips/Strategies?

[Elz Majesto]

Hello my fellow CivMongers,

I am trying to nail my first Apollo/Harmony win, and I am having serious tech and affinity issues.
After failing at too many Protean and Terran landmasses (standard), I opted for an Atlantean Map, Small, but the AI is still getting T220-240 Victories.
Slav
Artist
Retrograde
Pioneering

Build Que:
Explorer
Explorer
Soldier
Worker
Colonist
Trade Depot
Convey/Vessel
OER

Tech List:
Embarkment Tech (Forgot Name)
All tech tier 1 ring>Affinity Techs

What am I doing wrong?
Thanks!

 

[chazzycat]

are you on quick speed? Those seem like pretty fast AI victories otherwise.

It's hard to say exactly whats going wrong with this info, but I think the free worker is a stronger opening option rather than pioneering tech. You could try that. It doesn't require any techs to start improving your land, so the worker is pretty nice.

For me the biggest key to success has been rapid expansion. Trade routes (and other factors) seem to really favor wide over tall at the moment. The health penalties don't really kick in till -20.

 

[Elz Majesto]

are you on quick speed? Those seem like pretty fast AI victories otherwise.

It's hard to say exactly whats going wrong with this info, but I think the free worker is a stronger opening option rather than pioneering tech. You could try that. It doesn't require any techs to start improving your land, so the worker is pretty nice.

For me the biggest key to success has been rapid expansion. Trade routes (and other factors) seem to really favor wide over tall at the moment. The health penalties don't really kick in till -20.

Thanks Chazzy,
I will try opening up with the worker. And no, that is actually on Standard believe it or not. It was Franco-Iberia, and she had maxed out her Affinity and had some Xeno Titans protecting her mind flower. She also spammed out cities like Hiawatha would do in CIV:G+K....

 

[chazzycat]

huh, that's far better performance than I've seen so far out of the AI, albeit in a small sample size. My last 2 games both finished around turn 250 with no AI close to winning. One of those was on Soyuz too. Maybe I'm getting lucky...

 

[Elz Majesto]

huh, that's far better performance than I've seen so far out of the AI, albeit in a small sample size. My last 2 games both finished around turn 250 with no AI close to winning. One of those was on Soyuz too. Maybe I'm getting lucky...

She started the Mind Flower on T220, won on T240.
Truth be told, she probably could of started it earlier, like T180, but I think the AI lacks the Teching and Production beelining that a human player would do to hit an early VIC. Did I mentioned that she city spammed like crazy too? lol..

 

[bruntfca]

Hello my fellow CivMongers,

I am trying to nail my first Apollo/Harmony win, and I am having serious tech and affinity issues.
After failing at too many Protean and Terran landmasses (standard), I opted for an Atlantean Map, Small, but the AI is still getting T220-240 Victories.
Slav
Artist
Retrograde
Pioneering

Build Que:
Explorer
Explorer
Soldier
Worker
Colonist
Trade Depot
Convey/Vessel
OER

Tech List:
Embarkment Tech (Forgot Name)
All tech tier 1 ring>Affinity Techs

What am I doing wrong?
Thanks!

Don't forget to build the Earth Relic. +2, then +3 culture is quite a lot at the start of the game, gets you down the affinity tree faster.

Try getting alien nest location starter. It will help keep your explorers alive, the location of the nests also gives you a reasonable idea of map density/layout and where to go.

 

[Chaleb]

You don't need that third Explorer or Soldier. Build OER or Explorer first, followed by whatever you didn't build first. That extra culture will let you get that free Colonist and worked very fast. Also, start with a worker as your last bonus instead of pioneering, as not having to hard build it at the beginning will save you more than the free tech.

 

[BroOfTheSun]

I've found that Franco-Iberia can have "quicker" wins because her AI focuses on building, maybe more than others (don't quote me on this, this is just my feeling).

I'm winning on Soyuz pretty easily, and getting ready to go Apollo. Trade Depots are first build in every city. It gives production, and gets the trade routes going. Pretty much build everything else much faster with a trade depot and some routes going.

Build trade depots...

 

[chazzycat]

Disregard my comments...just realized I had the difficulty levels messed up in my head. I thought apollo was the emperor equivalent, not deity. so turn 220-240 victory could be normal.

 

[s0nny80y]

Settling for titanium for a whopping 5 production plus terrain (Engineering) really helps.

Contact victories are the least time consuming and perhaps the easiest.

A 2 to 1 ratio of workers to cities boosts city efficiency.

Use money for buying colonists and workers, assuming you're geopolitically secure.

Second ring improvements, such as domes, biowells, manufactories, academies will make the most efficient use of income. Those four really complement each other well too...if manufactories hurt your health, biowell. Domes, properly teched give one energy bonus and provide defense especially if you're going tall, plus the +2 culture is valuable.

Keeping borders closed keeps even friendly nations from scouting your lands.

Contact is super easy.

Reroute trade routes to wonder building cities when necessary...Hutama's 5 TR's can feed a 6 city nation (the capital included) quite nicely, all the other cities can focus on international trade. You did mention Atlantean, so I assume you're settling for coastal cities. Coastal cities near titanium.

Like Bruntfca said, old relics rock. Build them initially to help your city land grab from AI. And most of the prosperity tree is pretty good, just make sure to open another virtue if you can achieve the tier one synergy for a free virtue, to help you continue into prosperity.

 

[Elz Majesto]

Settling for titanium for a whopping 5 production plus terrain (Engineering) really helps.

Contact victories are the least time consuming and perhaps the easiest.

A 2 to 1 ratio of workers to cities boosts city efficiency.

Use money for buying colonists and workers, assuming you're geopolitically secure.

Second ring improvements, such as domes, biowells, manufactories, academies will make the most efficient use of income. Those four really complement each other well too...if manufactories hurt your health, biowell. Domes, properly teched give one energy bonus and provide defense especially if you're going tall, plus the +2 culture is valuable.

Keeping borders closed keeps even friendly nations from scouting your lands.

Contact is super easy.

Reroute trade routes to wonder building cities when necessary...Hutama's 5 TR's can feed a 6 city nation (the capital included) quite nicely, all the other cities can focus on international trade. You did mention Atlantean, so I assume you're settling for coastal cities. Coastal cities near titanium.

Like Bruntfca said, old relics rock. Build them initially to help your city land grab from AI. And most of the prosperity tree is pretty good, just make sure to open another virtue if you can achieve the tier one synergy for a free virtue, to help you continue into prosperity.

Thanks! Can't wait to play later and whop some AI

 

[Mysticforce]

OER first
Explorer second
Worker (if you don't have the free one)
Trade Post

Go down the Prosperity virtue tree - this will line up nicely with the free colonist. From there, build cities, get trade routes up ASAP. Don't bother with a military, unless you are boxed in by aliens and/or AI, until you are almost Affinity 4. Once you grow to at least 7 cities, you are well on your way to victory.

Make a point to finish quests ASAP - they are by far the best way to level affinity. I had one Apollo game when I hit Affinity 13 before the highest AI hit 7.

 

[KiNg_]

Another great thing for wide empires is the Gene Vault. It's very easy to get and 10% growth in all cities is great. The purity point will make your explorers alien immune. Then if you're lucky you could try your luck at the Ectogenesis pod if the AI haven't built it yet as that will boost your farms up until you can viably spam biowells.

 

[Karl0413]

* Pick a worker at the start along with retrograde thrusters. Allows you to get a good solid base of operations quickly and get the ball rolling faster.
* Recommend researching Chemistry first for lab and recycler and petroleum.
* Recommended initial build order: Old Earth Relic, Explorer, Clinic, Worker, Soldier, Lab.
* Choose the first five virtues of Prosperity first; make beeline for free colonist. Use soldier to escort free colonist to suitable city site.
* Choose +1 culture and +1 health for OER and Clinic quests.
* Research Pioneering.
* Build trade depot and two convoys-trade vessels. Then build two more colonists and two more workers. Use trade units to grow these two cities fast. First things built at every subsequent city should be OER and Clinic.
* After Pioneering research Engineering. Build Thorium reactors and labs at all cities.
* Research Physics, have your capitol build four rangers to garrison in all your cities.
* Research Computing and build spy agency as soon as possible to outsource your R&D.

That should get you off to a good start.

 

[Elz Majesto]

Thanks for all the great replies!

I managed to pull a Harmony T274 Transcendence Victory late last night (4am to be exact) on Apollo thanks to the information here!

Let me share my thoughts:

Standard/Small/Apollo/Atlantean
Polystralia
Artist
Continental Surveyor
Worker

Que:
OER
Explorer
Clinic
Soldier
Settler
Trade Depot
4trade conveys*
6 Trade Vessels*

*The Aliens had an acquired taste for my trade routes which is why I had to build so many (did not have enough energy to rush buy) in the early game. Usually the Aliens leave them alone, but not last night.

I was able to expand to 9 cities, and all but one had access to Xenomass. I ended up with 60+ Xenomass and I was able to build 5 Xenotitans to protect my borders and Mindflower-it was awesome

I could fine tune and optimize for a lower turn victory, since 274 is high-but the AI in this game was not able to run away like in my last game until it was too late, and I kept bogging down the leader into proxy wars with sweet bribes..

Also 9 cities with mind stem knocked my MindFlower countdown to 17! I was expecting it to be in the 20-30 range based off of my contact Victory, but 17 was a welcomed surprise.

Also-Harmony has a building quest that can increase your trade routes yield by 20%!
I took that along with the Industry virtue that boost Internal TR, and I was sending 20
hammers to my capital.

 

[Adino]

ELZ I recommend against getting the clinic, two soldiers can stand against most alien forces. One can get overwhelmed and killed. Also I like to research the following techs on every affinity.

Pioneering
Planetary Survey (Unless I don't need it, map dependent)
Ecology (then build 1 fence, this is sooo worth it. I sell it once I get the buildings quest.)
Engineering
Robotics

If you get these techs you can almost win the game on Apollo by just teching randomly after this point. Just build 30 cities before the computer builds 3, its surprisingly not that hard.

 

[teqofc]

Also, you should have a strike force handy for these cases where the AI can pull off a win before you. Elodi usually gives me the most trouble. Lately were both going for a Transdedence Victory and she built the Mind Flower before turn 200 but fortunately for me she was a neighbor and I had a lot of Cobras These are awesome but can't get until 13 in harmony. They levitate and I selected +1 movement for all terrain and bonus damage/defense in miasma.

Spoiler :

 

[Elz Majesto]

ELZ I recommend against getting the clinic, two soldiers can stand against most alien forces. One can get overwhelmed and killed. Also I like to research the following techs on every affinity.

Pioneering
Planetary Survey (Unless I don't need it, map dependent)
Ecology (then build 1 fence, this is sooo worth it. I sell it once I get the buildings quest.)
Engineering
Robotics

If you get these techs you can almost win the game on Apollo by just teching randomly after this point. Just build 30 cities before the computer builds 3, its surprisingly not that hard.

I will try that on the next playthrough! Thanks

@ teqofc>Should I give my cobras the pillage free movement also? i forget the promotion choice

 

[pwoz]

I found xeno swarm the first 1-2 AI's. By the time I got to the next set of AI's I had the supremacy hybrid Xeno Cavalry (12 harmony 3 supremacy, I think) with the flanking bonus and the rest of the game was just a mopping up exercise. Their strength was about 2x any city I faced.

 

[sherbz]

Thanks for all the great replies!

I managed to pull a Harmony T274 Transcendence Victory late last night (4am to be exact) on Apollo thanks to the information here!

Let me share my thoughts:

Standard/Small/Apollo/Atlantean
Polystralia
Artist
Continental Surveyor
Worker

Que:
OER
Explorer
Clinic
Soldier
Settler
Trade Depot
4trade conveys*
6 Trade Vessels*

*The Aliens had an acquired taste for my trade routes which is why I had to build so many (did not have enough energy to rush buy) in the early game. Usually the Aliens leave them alone, but not last night.

I was able to expand to 9 cities, and all but one had access to Xenomass. I ended up with 60+ Xenomass and I was able to build 5 Xenotitans to protect my borders and Mindflower-it was awesome

I could fine tune and optimize for a lower turn victory, since 274 is high-but the AI in this game was not able to run away like in my last game until it was too late, and I kept bogging down the leader into proxy wars with sweet bribes..

Also 9 cities with mind stem knocked my MindFlower countdown to 17! I was expecting it to be in the 20-30 range based off of my contact Victory, but 17 was a welcomed surprise.

Also-Harmony has a building quest that can increase your trade routes yield by 20%!
I took that along with the Industry virtue that boost Internal TR, and I was sending 20
hammers to my capital.

I lost my first apollo game much earlier than turn 274. I took out African capital as they were winning and on a much higher affinity level than anyone else. I was just about to finish the emancipation gate, and then the AI won a contact victory on about turn 224.

I really think they need to sort the end game out. It doesnt work very well and its difficult to see who is nearly at the winning post. The AI victory progress sits at 80% forever, then they win. It all feels a bit half baked.