I managed a Culture victory in 1908. I took the advice from the announcement thread and settled Carthage 1W of the Settler starting position on the PH Marble. Went Masonry-
BW-Agriculture and Worker-Warrior-Great Wall to get the Barb problem mostly solved. First neighbour met was Willem, then Mansa, Elizabeth, Pacal, Darius, Ragnar and Wang Kon.
Utica was founded 1S 3E of Carthage on the PH Warrior starting position. Hadrumetum was then founded 5W 3N of Carthage, close to the Korean city of Pyongyang which resulted
in a culture war of the Horse tile. Pyongyang initially grabbed the Horses, but my superior culture meant that it flipped to me just four turns after losing control of the
other Horse tile, the one west of the Dutch Empire. I had founded Hippo on that tile in 500 BC, but those bastards revolted and joined the Dutch Empire in 100 BC, a mere 16
turns later! Argh!
Anyway, time progressed peacefully until 640 AD when Wang Kon didn't want to share his secret of Philosophy. Bad move, for which he had to pay with blood. Pyongyang was
attacked in 660 with Catapults, Numidian Cavalry, Axes and a Swordsman. Wonsan was attacked and liberated in 920, and in 1180 Seoul was captured. After that Wang Kon, who
still had two cities on the mainland and one on the island to the south, peacevassaled to Mansa, and Mansa declared war! Mansa was a bit of a nuisance as he was slightly
ahead in tech but I managed to fend off most of his attacks, whilst taking over the remaining two Korean cities by 1410, one of which was the Taoist Holy City (Nampo). Peace
with the two was made in 1410 and Wang became my vassal instead - with a single city on the island to the south. Although, there was another city on that island, inhabited by
people who were in no mood for negotiations...
It was at this time I decided to try to go for a Culture victory, as I had wonders in Carthage (GW, GL), Utica (Mids, Statue of Zeus, Spiral Minaret) and Hadrumetum
(Parthenon, Mausoleum of Massulos, Sistine Chapel) and Judaism (SR), Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism and Christianity all spread in my lands. In 1470 the remaining Korean city
Cheju was captured by the neigbours who weren't in talking mode, and the Korean Civ was destroyed! I happened to have a Galleon with a Numidian Cavalry onboard in the
neigbourhood, and the amphibian attack was at 99% made it an easy liberation of the former Koreans.
Time passed on and life progressed, Mansa was ahead in tech and suddenly started to build a strong army, which he thankfully directed at Willem. Willem lost The Hague and
Amsterdam before peacevassaling to Mansa, and then Hippo (!) became the Dutch capital. For me it was a case of building culture-enhancing buildings in my 3 leading cultural
cities and still having an army strong enough so nobody would want to attack me. Creative Constructions was founded in Kerkouane in 1775, where Wall Street was being built.
Incorporating that into my three cities, who by then all had triple cathedrals, gave a big boost to the culture output. In 1882, Sid's Sushi Corp was founded in Kerkouane,
and it was quickly spread to the key cities. Late in the game Mansa and Willem declared war on Ragnar and Pacal (who had a Defensive Pact). Mansa managed to capture a Viking
city, whilst Willem lost Nijmegen to Pacal. London was actually the first city to achieve Legendary culture in 1884. Hadrumetum achieved it all by itself in 1905 and Carthage
and Utica followed in 1907, thanks to Great Works of some Great Artists.
This was a fun game, and it was the first time I went for a Culture victory. 13 Wonders, in addition to the ones above were Eiffel Tower and Hollywood in Carthage, Broadway in Utica, Rock N Roll in Hadrumetum and Cristo Redentor in Kerkouane.
) only a couple AIs ever considered going after me, and a quick change or gift of gold kept me safe. Don't remember how many wonders I built and I can't access save to check, but I'm 100% confident it's not enough for the special award.
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