Babylon

[Txurce]

I just played Babylon on Emperor, going for a science victory with some changes in my usual strategy based on my recent experiences with India and the Aztecs. I still went for the NC, but built a granary to take advantage of two wheat. Whenever possible I built food improvements, and had two Maritimes as allies for most of the game. Otherwise I played my usual game: 4 cities, Tradition picking up a temple, then the Oracle when the GL was gone. Other wonders included the Sistine Chapel and, with a 9-tech lead, Cristo and the SoL. My tech pattern basically went from Philosophy to Civil Service to Acoustics to Scientific Theory to Fertilizer (I switch these sometimes) to Railroads to Rocketry to Robotics, then Satellites and straight across to the end.

On the SP front I've quit using Patronage to milk Tradition, the left side of Liberty, a couple in Commerce, and Rationalism asap. By building an early landmark and a free temple, I'm able to cruise with no more culture buildings until late in the game, and still wind up with about 2 unneeded policies. I take as many Cultural CS as possible - usually two alliances and the rest Friends.

In this particular game the capital has an odd start - on the coast with too many mountains nearby - so I wound up using two other cities for my last two SS parts - a first for me - and my fourth city had no hammers to speak of. I launched in turn 244, beating my old record by 9. This was due to more food early, even though I wound up at only 20, 20, 20 and 18.

I'm curious as to how others play Babylon for a science win, and whether building a couple more cities is worth it for even more science.

 

[iWant921nooow]

I dont got any of the DLCs (Im a broke student , will get them soon) so cant share any babylon strategies. But yea, thats pretty much how I usually do with any civ. What do you do with the free GS (iirc they should get a free GS with writing)? Maybe there's some interesting things you can do with it.

What speed do you play at? I usually dont look at which turn I finish my games so I cant tell from there (but id guess standard speed).
How come your cities didnt get more pop than that? Happiness issues or food?

I once tried a weird science victory strategy. I quickly took all tradition policies except oligarchy. Went through all the peity policies really fast and then to freedom. I didnt go for rationalism at all . This was with Washington, with the new pioneer fort, I simply grew my cities as much as possible. I cant really tell right now if this is better than the usual rationalism play. Ill start looking at what turn I finish the spaceships and see which one is the fastest

Sorry, was a bit offtopic. But try science victory with peity if happiness is what prevents you from getting bigger cities, maybe it turns out to be good (it is definitely more fun to get bigger cities )

 

[Txurce]

I dont got any of the DLCs (Im a broke student , will get them soon) so cant share any babylon strategies. But yea, thats pretty much how I usually do with any civ. What do you do with the free GS (iirc they should get a free GS with writing)? Maybe there's some interesting things you can do with it.

What speed do you play at? I usually dont look at which turn I finish my games so I cant tell from there (but id guess standard speed).
How come your cities didnt get more pop than that? Happiness issues or food?

I once tried a weird science victory strategy. I quickly took all tradition policies except oligarchy. Went through all the peity policies really fast and then to freedom. I didnt go for rationalism at all . This was with Washington, with the new pioneer fort, I simply grew my cities as much as possible. I cant really tell right now if this is better than the usual rationalism play. Ill start looking at what turn I finish the spaceships and see which one is the fastest

Sorry, was a bit offtopic. But try science victory with peity if happiness is what prevents you from getting bigger cities, maybe it turns out to be good (it is definitely more fun to get bigger cities )

I play standard speed on continents, with a standard map 90% of the time.

I use the GS for an Academy, because that seems to be the best use of the beakers so early in the game... especially since I'm going for a Science victory with them.

My cities didn't get bigger because I lacked rivers except for a one-tile one in the capital, and didn't have very fertile territory. I eventually capped the capital to let the others catch up, since I needed the hammers for fast SS parts builds. (I micro-manage the hell out of the Science end game.)

I agree it's more fun to get big cities, and could see a Piety/Commerce approach working roughly as well as Rationalism.

 

[Seek]

I'm curious as to how others play Babylon for a science win, and whether building a couple more cities is worth it for even more science.

I think so, given the map of course! The last game I played with him I had seven or more cities. Agree Liberty, Commerce and Rationalism seem like the best SP trees to go with for him, but I wouldn't discount the benefits of patronage - it can easily replace what you'd gain with Tradition I think. One other thing: An isolated start is actually really beneficial, and if there is only one other civ nearby, rushing with bowmen can be very effective.

 

[Txurce]

I think so, given the map of course! The last game I played with him I had seven or more cities. Agree Liberty, Commerce and Rationalism seem like the best SP trees to go with for him, but I wouldn't discount the benefits of patronage - it can easily replace what you'd gain with Tradition I think. One other thing: An isolated start is actually really beneficial, and if there is only one other civ nearby, rushing with bowmen can be very effective.

I will try to be more flexible with regard to increasing city total. Four just happens to be what I almost always need to take every luxury within reasonable range, assuming some tile purchasing.

I'm interested in the idea of not using Tradition. Is the thinking that extra culture, food and GE don't contribute as much to science as Commerce, for example?

It almost never occurs to me to rush even an isolated civ early on, because to me the turns spent building units could be better applied to every other sort of growth. Of course I've never added up the hammers, which is what it mostly comes down to. You'd be saying that three bowmen and a couple of spears make up for building a couple of settlers and growing those cities to whatever size they happen to be - including the probably relatively huge enemy capital, right?

 

[Thalassicus]

Rushing a citystate could also be an alternative.

They fall easier than a major civ, you don't lose a DoF partner, get less of a diplomacy hit (if it's not protected), and the capture provides a big bonus. Killing 1 cultural citystate in the Medieval era is enough culture to instantly fill out a few policies in the Commerce tree. Then you've got an extra city producing science! It does require a military investment though.

 

[Txurce]

Rushing a citystate could also be an alternative. They fall easier than a major civ, you don't lose a DoF partner, and the capture provides a big bonus. Killing 1 cultural citystate in the Medieval era is enough culture to immediately fill out most of the Commerce tree, and then you've got an extra city producing science.

That's an interesting left-of-center strategy... especially if I have already built a decent amount of units.

 

[Kevin J]

Wow Thal, I didn't realize killing city states was so potent in your mod. I'm going to try that out my next game .