BOTM 26 Final Spoiler

[Niklas]

BOTM 26 Final Spoiler

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So how did you fare?

 

[neilmeister]

Diplomatic victory in 1760.

My expansion was rudely halted by running out of cash. The maintenance & civic costs were crazy. So I kept the same 6 cities for the whole game.
The AI civs were serious peacemongers, as I still only had warriors and dog soldiers at the end, and no-one ever declared war on anyone else.

 

[PutCashIn]

I too had a culture 'victory,'

Which is quite debatable as Mansa had his last city go Legendary that turn (or is it the turn after because there is parity between human and AI?....or is it a win because my city had slightly higher culture growth per turn...?)

Either way, when I look atthe victory screen the 'win turn,' I find mansa's 3rd legendary city has ~54,000 culture, so maybe he used an artist during the 'AI' phase.

I have attached an image, if that helps any civ wonder peoples.

 

[kcd_swede]

^That was as close as I've ever seen, PutCashIn... nice job! BTW: how many religions did you have?

............

As I mention in my first spoiler, I started out with REX to block off land for 9 cities. I only had 1 religion (Bhudism caught from Persia) in the beginning, and the rate religions were going, I was worried that was all our continent would ever see. Fortunately, Ethiopia founded Taoism and it spread to me. But that's it... two religions.

I lost the Liberalism race by a lot (I was just starting Liberalism = 5 turns). So I switched immediately to tech Nationalism directly. I was first to Nationalism at least.

I had built the Pyramids in the capitol (fairly late, after founding the stone/cow city to the northeast between Ethiopia and Persia), and that netted me an unplanned GE exactly the turn I got Music (not first ) and so the Sistine Chapel was GE-rushed. It also netted me an unplanned GE exactly the turn I got Nationalism, so the capitol got the Taj for extra GA points and a free Golden Age, which I used to go the USuff and bought a whole bunch of temples/cathedrals before switching back to Repr.

Why is it that 4% GE chance translates to 3 GE's over the course of the game? (Third GE used for Golden Age which I starved some cities to get max GA points that are doubled during a GA). In addition, my first GP was a scientist used for Academy, my second GP was also a scientist used for another academy, and then my next to last GP was a Priest who was settled for a few measly Sistine culture points. Everything else was GA's... 4 settled and rest bombed (1-4-1). (Since when is 3GE out of ca 16 GPeople equal 4%???).

Hermitage was in 2nd city to go legend. My very last GA did not get to the city in time to help the victory date, so I starved the capitol for nothing ... left it on the table as game ended.

My biggest mistake... and it was a BIIIIIIIIG one, was forgetting to go back and get Liberalism to use Free Speech. I was in Bure for about 30-40 turns AFTER flipping the culture switch (turning off research, culture slider to 100%). I was wondering why with all these cottages I was only getting like 400 cult per turn in the 3 legend cities. Then I saw that I wasn't in Free Speech, and required 4 turns to tech Liberalism and then 1 turn of anarchy to get the civics switch. That plus the 30-40 turns not getting double culture meant my victory was delayed unecessarily by at least 10-15 turns, maybe more like 20 turns.

Otherwise, the (for me) slow finish was due to lack of religion (only 2 at game end). Before flipping the switch I had 8 cities and only one place I could settle the 9th... down at the southernost glacier tile. He could work the silver and stay size 1... all I needed him to do was USuff rush-buy two temples. Anyhow, my maint costs were too high to keep cult slider at 100% all the time, so poor tile-planning cost me some as well(there was actually a large number of unused tiles in the center of my civ, but noplace that was 2 tiles from all cities domestic and foreign).

I had the Swedegone Paya early in a periferal city, and so was running OR without monotheism and later Pacifism before Philo. Not sure that was smart... Don't really need/want lots of GPP before the GPFarm is ready to make artists.

Made a lame half hearted attempt at the Parthenon late (AD era). I did not try it earlier because without marble or IND trait I figured I would not get this wonder. I would have if I had started it when I usually start it... but didn't since I started only very late. It could have helped a bit, but not a gamebreaker, surely.

Anyhow, the game seemed to be played as an "Always Peace" game. No wars anywhere the whole game, although that Dutch guy was in WHEOOHRN for most of the game. My friendly relations with Persia got lost when he went to Free Religion. Ethiopia was such good friend that I got a DP with him - perhaps that is why Dutch Boy never declared war. I was very suprised that he kept Bhudism the whole way rather than change to Taoism which he founded ... it wouldn't have mattered to me except for 1 turn anarchy to follow him.

I always feel naked without some military, so I probably had twice as many units as would be most efficient (avg about 2 per city).

With 20 turns to go I had another "Oh crap!" moment, as a Pirate (I suspect my friend from Ethiopia was harboring these terrorists) came and started pillaging my norther (non-legend) wheat/fish city's fishing boats. Oh well... I can probably survive 20 turns to finish with no seafood, right? But the stupid pirate was intent on sinking triremes instead, and died attacking the third. (Had two totally unecessary...for barb protection early, and uilt a third upon seeing the pirate). Maybe capt Jack Sparrow got panicked when he saw Mansa's destroyer enter my Capitol's coastal waters.

Anyhow... with this set-up I am kind of disappointed at my finish date being later than 1800AD. My mistakes alone (I almost always make these or similar mistakes when playing a culture game in a single 4-hr session!) cannot account for the delay, though. I can only assume that the AI competition were hand-picked to compete for the goodies (religions and wonders and free X for being firsts) that make for fast culture games, and were given sweet spots to aid them in beating us to those goodies. I got no goodies... and if not for the unusual prevalence of GE's feel like the Sistine and Taj would have been missed as well, in which case culture VC would have been very tough just to win.

At the end, Mansa was the biggest culture competitor, with one city about 40 turns from legendary, and then 100+ for the other two. The UN was built about 1810AD, and with no war that could have been an easy way to lose. However, the winner of the UN presidency (Mansa over Zara Y) carried it by only a handful of votes, meaning that the world was split enough that Diplo VC wasn't an immediate danger to me. Only ever saw votes for trade stuff and global civics... the global civics aimed at slowing me down, I'm sure, so I just defy them (running 100% culture lets you get away with that). The space race was looking like Lincoln would win... he had two thrusters and one or two other parts by game end, nobody else had any. No war led to no vassals led to no dom/conq worries.

The most satisfying moment was 10 turns from finish, when the 15-pop Persian Forbidden Palace city joined my empire. I had been waiting a long time for that!

My next 2 cities went legendary 6 and 7 turns after the Capitol.

I'm sure my finish date isn't that great, but its emperor level so any time I win I'm pretty happy about it.

The only main drawback of the culture VC is that I never got to see/appreciate the whole map. I got a map of the other continent, but other than seeing who was on it, it didn't really matter to look at the micro-situation to see just what kind of challenge the map-maker was trying to make for us. I'm sure it was great though.... thanks for a good game.

 

[adrianj]

Grrr, database errors are making this spoiler quite difficult to post.
First spoiler can be found here.

*** Session 3: 1 AD -> 500 AD ***

In 50 AD I learn Code of Laws, and bulb Philo, founding Taoism. With 3 religions and soon to be 6 cities I feel I can probably work a cultural victory. Keeping my neighbours happy will be the tricky part I think.

Next tech goal is to be first to Music - I'm skipping Civil Service for now.

City #6 is founded in 150 AD claiming iron and wheat to the west of Cahokia. My legendary cities will be Cahokia, Chaco Canyon (floodplains) and Snaketown (floodplains + iron/wheat).

Zara demands that I convert to Buddhism - I can't afford to really upset him so I switch. Darius is still pleased with me at least.

My first GArtist is born in 375 AD, and is settled in Snaketown.

Come 500 AD I'm in Organised Religion and Slavery, furiously whipping out missionaries and temples.

*** Session 4: 500 AD -> 1200 AD ***

I don't have contact with the other continent, so I don't really know if I'll be first to Music. At least I don't think I've seen another GArtist born elsewhere yet. By 880 AD I know that I've been beaten to it. The race is on to build Sistine!

Building it may prove to be a big mistake - it's such a big ask and my production isn't great. With a huge amount of whipping, particulary catapults with a lot of overflow, I build Sistine's in 1130 AD in the GP Farm and breathe a sigh of relief. Now I can switch back to Pacifism/Caste and start generating artists.

*** Session 5: 1200 AD -> 1510 AD ***

In 1260 AD I generate another GArtist. I suspect that rather than using this one for a bomb, I'll start a golden age - I'm hoping that this will propel me to be first to Liberalism, and I'll also get a couple cathedrals built during this time.

Alas, it is not to be - I am beaten to Liberalism in 1280 AD. Luckily I hadn't yet burnt the GArtist for the golden age, since now I'm thinking I won't use one. I'll wait till my cities are much bigger and use it to whip some more cathedrals.

In 1300 AD I meet Willem van Oranje. I buy his world map for 160g hoping to sneakily get circumnavigation. I do manage to import copper from him as well as some other resources, which is nice for building taoist pagodas and buddhist stupas

I launch a golden age 5 turns out from Liberalism, since I know I'll have a civic switch at that point anyway.

By 1510 AD I've learnt Nationalism, and the teching has stopped - I'm now focussed on Culture. By my reckoning I have about 100 turns to go.

*** Session 6: 1510 AD -> 1834 AD ***

During this stage its just a matter of getting the most culture and trying to stay out of any wars. Having an AI at pleased and begging occassionaly helps with this, forcing 10 turns of peace.

I'm particularly nervous when I see Darius has airships, cannon and riflemen in his border cities. In 1800 AD I sign a defensive pact with him, which alleviates that fear.

All up I produced 15 GArtists. The first three were settled. One started a golden age, and I bombed some 6-0-3 at the end and actually finished with one spare... No matter how much I micromanaged in the last 10 or so turns, my cities 2 and 3 went legendary at the same time, 1 turn after the capital.

*** Summary ***

Final result: Cultural Victory in 1834 AD, score of 23896.

Despite breaking up this spoiler into 'Sessions', the truth is I played the entire game in one session (4 hrs, 15 min). I just like to break the spoiler up for readability.

Things I could have done better:
1. Ummm, protect my workers in the early game! Ie, don't move a worker into a forest that has fogged tiles adjacent to it.
2. Respect the barbs a bit more in general. Very early on I lost one of my dog pair en route to choke Darius - except they didn't move as a pair. Halfway there the trailing one was attacked by a lion and panther in the same turn, and died.
3. Made better use of my great people. Ie, a 'spare' Great Artist!? With better planning this could have been a merchant and run a trade mission (Temple of Artemis was built by Darius) and I most likely would have been first to Liberalism.
4. I could have expanded a bit more aggressively at the start if I wasn't wasting time on failed attempts at Stonehenge and Oracle - I only had 6 cities for the whole game.

Things I did well:
1. I think my diplomacy was pretty good this game. I kept myself out of wars despite a power ratio of less than 0.5 to everyone and an army of mostly warriors and chariots.
Small tip for others that haven't already read this elsewhere: once you learn currency go to every AI who is pleased and ask if they can spare 30. Often they'll give it to you and you'll have 10 turns guaranteed peace. Then hit ALT+M and set a reminder to do the same in 30 turns time. Repeat throughout the game.
2. The way I built the Sistine chapel in the GP Farm (capital) - possibly not the most optimal place but it was my best city at the time, and through 2 pop whipping catapults and getting lots of overflow it didn't actually take all that long, and the catapults kept the city happy.

@kcd_swede

My biggest mistake... and it was a BIIIIIIIIG one, was forgetting to go back and get Liberalism to use Free Speech. I was in Bure for about 30-40 turns AFTER flipping the culture switch (turning off research, culture slider to 100%). I was wondering why with all these cottages I was only getting like 400 cult per turn in the 3 legend cities. Then I saw that I wasn't in Free Speech, and required 4 turns to tech Liberalism and then 1 turn of anarchy to get the civics switch. That plus the 30-40 turns not getting double culture meant my victory was delayed unecessarily by at least 10-15 turns, maybe more like 20 turns.

I did wonder why you chose to get nationalism before liberalism? I suppose you had plenty of GEs to build Taj - but earlier Hermitage is insignificant compared to free speech.

(I almost always make these or similar mistakes when playing a culture game in a single 4-hr session!)

Me too! Although I think I spent 30 minutes of that on the last 10 turns desperately trying to make use of the spare great artist I had.

@Niklas:

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It didn't affect me at all, but is this relevant to a Final Spoiler?

 

[Niklas]

@Niklas: It didn't affect me at all, but is this relevant to a Final Spoiler?

In a perfect world, no. But it's standard procedure.

 

[cas]

1834 culture victory. 6 cities...5 at the end. Only two religions on the continent combined with no marble/stone/copper made this game much slower than it should have been. Multiple mistakes...missed CoL and Philo by 2 turns each, underestimated the other continent liberalism <1200AD (had it 1 turn from completion researching PPress), bad placement of Herm & Globe, etc.

I think the only World Wonders I built were Parthenon and SPaya.

The Dutch DoW in 1818AD but I had anticipated it with defensive pacts (Zara/Lincoln) and he did not land his troops in the first turn. So I emptied my southern coastal city by the silver and of course the AI took the bait. The second wave was very small and he kept quite a few troops in the captured city. Eventually Zara's SOD made it across the continent as well as several destroyers harassing the Dutch naval vessels.

Should have won this game at least 30 turns earlier, but I played sloppy.

cas

 

[lymond]

1931AD Cultural Victory

First of all, two first with me this game. My first Cultural Victory - just never even tried it before. Also, my first win on Emperor - I think. I know I haven't won Emperor plus xOTMs yet but I do quite well on Monarch now.

It was clear to me fairly early that this was going to be a military game. Space Race was in reason until I found the AIs overseas, especially Mansa. As usual, Mansa was teching at a phenomenal rate once discovered.

With that map layout, expanding as fast as possible toward Zara and Darius was key. However, I still don't do a great job of this and let them take up to much land. It was really baffling, once I discovered Zara's capital, how quickly he was able to settle in a southernly direction toward me. It doesn't seem possible. I had to squeeze Snaketown to the north near the fish and hope I could maintain some borders and pop the wheat. Over time I did.

I was able to squeeze out 7 cities. Not the most ideal placement for them but Mound City had tons of flood plans to work. I really regret no grabbing some land west of the ice furs. I just shouldn't have let Darius get that much land. Regardless, I had a enough land to at least go for cultural and just try to keep the peace.

Darius, Zara and I were all Hindu for some time which helped keep peace. In fact, I was never at war the whole game. Mansa was surprisingly the most unfriendly for some time due to religion and well, we just never hit it off. My main concern was when Darius founded and switched to Christianity. Of course, I was happy when it spread for more temples and cathedrals, but I was worried he would attack any moment even at please. I'm not sure what his diplo modifiers are in the game. Anyway, he never attacked and I continued to throw him small gifts here and there.

Surprisingly, I was able to maintain decent research up until the critical Biology before going into serious culture only mode. Up until that point, Zara, Darius and shockingly Willem didn't tech that well at all so I had lots of trading partners. Willem usually does well but I get the impression that his land was not very suitable.

Held defensive pacts for a long time with Darius and Zara. Zara popped out for a time to fight with Willem. Mansa and Willem were at war for a very long time. Luckily, I was not forced into war by these pacts.

The only wonder I built was The Great Lighthouse, which of course was useful. I could have used more coastal cities though. I did take over an Ethopian city north of Mound City (one of my culture hogs) which had UoS and Chitzen. UoS was nice for a while until I was forced into Free Religion. At one point I was the only Civ with a religion as I was trying to hold out as long as possible to run Pacifism.

A couple of Persian cities was have probably flipped to me soon if the game progressed much longer.

Lincoln was my main rival as far as culture V. It looked like Ghandi for a while. It's interesting how the AI always seems to be a few turns behind you when you when especially in comparison to other here who won Cultural Victory's almost a century earlier than me. I've never understood the mechanics of how that works. Anyway, I'd say my main issue with not finishing sooner is simply not focusing on this earlier. Luckily, I started soon enough to win. Also, of course, I popped a few non-Artist great people along the way which decreased the amount of bombs I could lay down.

Fun game which allowed me to really try out a new strategy and work on my diplomacy. I don't recall a game that I was not in a war at least once or attacked at some point.

Oh...I did win the Liberalism race. I didn't think I would, but I was running a lot of scientist in my cap and built research in some cities. This was nice, but focusing on it probably just took away from winning cultural earlier. I took Economics and the free Merchant was nice for another GA. I ran I think 3 or 4 GAs during the game to boost GP production - and switch civics. Economics is generally something I never thought of taking with Lib, but it's not a bad tech if your peaceful and the GM is nice to have.

 

[kcd_swede]

@kcd_swede I did wonder why you chose to get nationalism before liberalism? I suppose you had plenty of GEs to build Taj - but earlier Hermitage is insignificant compared to free speech.

Just a brain fart. I seldom play for culture and "free speech" is often a civic I neglect until very late and only if I have tons of mature cottages. I thus see Liberalism as something enabling a free tech, and forget about the civic enabling aspect. Weirdly, I remembered that Nationalism is critical for Hermitage (whereas in a non-culture game I usually only look to the Taj). If I broke my play into several sessions, I probably wouldn't make such mistakes since the first thing I do on starting a session is evaluate my position and try to figure out what I should be doing (which is often not the same thing as what I was doing).

But I'm busting a gut trying to complete HoF challenger games so the time I usually dedicate to the XoTM's is suffering a bit, even though I try to prioritize the XoTM games. Too many games I want t olpay, too little time.

193AD Cultural Victory

First of all, two first with me this game. My first Cultural Victory - just never even tried it before. Also, my first win on Emperor - I think. I know I haven't won Emperor plus xOTMs yet but I do quite well on Monarch now.

Congratulations! Playing these games and following the spoilers is a great way to improve quickly. I know its been a great help to me!

 

[beestar]

The two-religion cultural victory, and the power of the pope

I haven't gone for Cultural in a long time - I haven't yet done it on Immortal - so I thought this Emperor BOTM would be a good refresher. Here's a hint about how it went, courtesy of a recent TMIT post:

Note: with 2 religions you can get 1800's finish times in culture, and this will generally win you the game below deity. Cathedrals in 2 cities, artist bomb #3 (or get 9 cities, put cathedrals in all cities, and spread the bombs)

At 50BC I only had 6 cities, but I expanded right in Darius' face (and close to ZY - the jungle kept him from settling too close to me). The frontier cities were oppressed by foreign culture, but I knew that my slider would eventually claim full BFCs:

Spoiler :

The only two religions on the island were Buddhism and Christianity, so I had only 2 Cathedrals for most of the game. Fortunately, Darius built the AP in Buddhism, so I got some extra hammers, and I built U of Sankore for a bit of extra research as well (and culture from Sankore itself).

This was the first time I built a lot of Wealth in the supporting cities to run a high slider. Sistine Chapel made a big difference, especially since I could work all my cottages and still had food leftover for extra artist specialists.

Things that went well

The AP rocked. I had >50% Native American culture in the Persian capital of Persepolis, and got an Apostolic Palace reassignment vote in 1685AD. ZY and I both voted to reassign the city to me, and oddly Darius voted "no" rather than "defy" - I guess he felt Persian citizens who adopted North American fashions and attended North American ball games might as well join my nation . Result: I got the shrined Buddhist holy city, and the AP itself!

Spoiler :

In 1790AD the AP voted to reassign Passagardae to me as well, with the (shrined) Christian Holy City, and the Heroic Epic I was never able to build myself.

Spoiler :

The AP also generated a religious defensive pact between ZY, Darius, and myself. This was great as none of us could declare on the other, without being jumped by the third. I'm not sure what my army of warriors and archers brought to the table, but ZY's machine guns were good for the Buddhist Alliance's power rating

Sailing Caravels to the other continent was surprisingly useful. I was able to tech broker six or seven techs. ZY at Friendly was willing to trade me Astronomy and I got overseas trade routes and resource trades. And I founded a city on the other continent solely to catch Hinduism for my third religion.

Got Liberalism in 1290AD for Nationalism and Hermitage (a painfully slow build with no marble and not a lot of hammers)

Challenges

As predicted in the first spoiler, I missed founding Islam. On top of previously missing founding Taoism, Christianity, and Confucianism. So only 2 religions for most of the game.

Missed by a few turns on Oracle, Stonehenge, and Statue of Liberty. Got Music quickly but wasn't first. Basically a general lack of focus.

Mistakenly thought I was isolated in the early game.

ZY's privateers were an unpleasant surprise in 1510AD so I had to trade for Chemistry, and spend some hammers on Frigate defense.

Result

Cultural victory in 1808AD (T273). Would have been a bit better if I actually managed to found a religion in the beginning ...

Some stats:

Spoiler :

13 warriors, 12 workers, 11 settlers, 11 GA, 10 christian missionaries, 10 workboats, 9 frigates, 7 hindu missionaries, 5 buddhist missionaries, 5 GS.

Killed 9 barbarian warriors, 6 privateers, 4 lions, 3 barb archers, etc.

Lost 3 frigates, 2 galleons, 3 warriors, 2 caravels

Improvements: 40 towns, 30 farms, 24 mines, 17 villages, 21 workshops, 9 fishing boats, etc.

Built: 12 forges, 11 granaries, 11 courthouses, 11 buddhist monasteries, 10 buddhist temples ... love that AP hammer bonus.

12 cities built, assigned 2 Persian cities by AP vote, flipped 1 Persian city.

47238 points, 2525 base

Main civics: Monarchy, Bureaucracy, Caste System (and Slaving), Mercantilism/Free Market, Pacifism (some OR). In the end game I switched to Rep for a while to get some extra research out of my GA farm, and finished in Universal Sufferage to accelerate temple / cathedral purchases.

Wonders: Sistine Chapel, University of Sankore, Parthenon, AP (captured by AP vote), Chichen Itza (captured by AP vote). National Epic, Heroic Epic (captured by AP vote), Moai Statues.

Techs: Stopped at Liberalism, basically, but there were plenty of great trade opportunities and the beakers were still coming in from the artist specialists running through an Academy - so I managed to still get Constitution, Democracy, Chemistry, Replaceable Parts, Mil Trad, and Rifling (and Steel for the heck of it on the last turn)

 

[beestar]

BTW, it seems that a city you capture by AP reassignment gets to keep producing culture from its buildings (e.g. Buddhist temple). Is that true for flipped cities as well?

I also got to keep a National Wonder (Heroic Epic) in one of the AP-reassigned cities, since I hadn't built it myself already. Could be annoying if I wanted HE in a different city.

 

[adrianj]

@beestar - that's really cool about the AP reassigning cities to you. Especially when going cultural it seems this could be a great way of expanding without building military!

Perhaps a new cultural strategy could involve prioritising Theology (bulb perhaps?) and building the AP to guarantee it.

I've never had a defensive pact option with it. Is this when some (or all?) members have Military Tradition that it becomes available? Another great reason to be the pope!

Great finish date by the way

 

[PutCashIn]

You definatly keep national wonders, even ones you dont have the prerequisists for yourself, like Forbidden Palace when you only have 6 cities.

In this BotM i had a city flip to me and it had many culture producing buildings in it, but I still had to build a theater there...so I dont really know for sure about what culture buildings are kept in a flip...unless the AI hadnt built a theater...which would be a shame for civ4 AI standards, which I find generally pretty awsome.

Oh, and KCD, I had just the one religion, Budhism, untill someone from the other continent spread hindu to my capital.

 

[m4gill4]

193AD Cultural Victory

...

Surprisingly, I was able to maintain decent research up until the critical Biology before going into serious culture only mode.

That's a typo, right?

Biology before 193 AD, that's impressive!

 

[azzaman333]

Bleh, lost to Zara's Spaceship in 1921AD, with Mansa's 3rd about to go Legendary.

Early game I got sucked in by the juicy floodplains, and as a result didn't expand past them. On the bright side, I managed to squeeze 3 cities on the floodplains, plus the silver city down south and a city near the fish, although Zara had taken the prime location for that city before I got there. Despite all my poor play, I still won Liberalism, and was a tech leader right up until the first couple of Apollo Programs had been built. Unfortunately, I didn't have the land, the food or the happiness to be able to keep up once they all were trying to win the game. And even with my Levee'd floodplains, my production was nothing compared to the AIs, especially Zara.

 

[lymond]

That's a typo, right?

Biology before 193 AD, that's impressive!

I'm a Supahstah! Nah, just a typo. thanks, it's been corrected.

 

[Rusten]

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Nice way to dodge flaming.

I eventually decided to go for a VC I haven't played for in maybe as much as 2 years and I sure know when to pick them. I figured I'd be in the clear with 60+% of the total land, but no -- never trust a map maker!

 

[whb]

Almost a space victory in my second game on Emperor level...

...but sadly India went cultural a few turns before. Not so much I could do about it -- they were the massive nation on the other continent, and also my competitors in the space race (for most of the game I was behind, but the AI seems to be fairly bad at the industrial/modern era letting me catch up in tech, and manage a better space race).

Oh well, should have gone for cultural like every man and his dog said they were going to in the pre-thread -- that'll teach me for being contrarian!

Still ... I'll wait with baited breath to see if I get rewarded with a beautiful green ambulance...

 

[Vynd]

Moved 1 NW at start, saw the huge flood plain, and settled in place. Despite emphasizing expansion over everything else I was only able to secure five city sites around Cahokia: one due west on the flood plain, two to the north and two to the south. I guess my REX needs work. To be fair, losing my first two Warriors to animals did not help, also Darius and Zara seemingly made a point of sealing me in.

I had no religions, didn’t think I could stay ahead of larger empires in tech at this difficulty, and am a poor warmonger. So diplomatic victory became my goal. That meant teching toward Mass Media, maximizing growth, and trying to cultivate some Great Engineers to rush the UN.

Toward the later goal I tried to get the Pyramids, but missed out. Same went for Hanging Gardens and Hagia Sophia. Thus I had to rely on singleton Engineer specialists. This meant a specialized GP Farm wasn’t really workable, and I didn’t develop one until I had a National Park near the end. Wasted great wonder hammers aside, things worked out okay. I generated a couple of Great Scientists early and made Academies while fumbling with the Wonders, and after that I was able to get a couple of Great Engineers to save for later.

While all this was going on, in the early ADs I discovered that Darius had left some land free at the far western end of the continent, near a Barb city. I hurried a couple of Settlers and some units over there and picked up three halfway decent cities. The maintenance hit was worth it for the Sugar, Cows, Ivory and other resources. I eventually built the Forbidden Palace over there.

I was somewhat behind in tech the whole game but able to get the occasional trade going to stay within sight of my neighbors. I found the other continent around 1000 AD and was happy to see that the other AIs had favorite civics that were compatible with each other. I didn’t have any trouble getting them to like me. My main concern was that they might like each other even more.

As it developed though, it was pretty smooth sailing. With everyone happy with me I was able to get a vast array of resources, which in turn enabled densely populated cities. I had a bit of a scare when William and Mansa developed Mass Media while I was still researching it, but they obligingly traded it and I rushed the UN in Cahokia. Zara was my opponent and while no one disliked him, everyone liked me more. I won my diplomatic victory on the first vote, in 1650 AD.

 

[PutCashIn]

Great write up vynd, good insight (for me at least) into how to tackle a Diplomatic Victory, something I'm not good at (being nice to people, mwahahahaha).