MyOtherName
Emperor
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2004
- Messages
- 1,526
The current popular strategy for culture victory (see beta gauntlet I or this S&T thread). The basic idea is
Ironically, culture isn't really needed, except as a way to research civics!
Storing the relics
The complete list of relic slots is (?)
So, unless you're playing Kongo, you need to build several holy sites with temples to store your relics.
Obtaining relics
For a hall of fame win, this is surely going to be all about using Kandy's bonus, whose exploitation is beyond the scope of this post. Otherwise, relics will be obtained by the martyr promotion on apostles — this promotion creates a relic when the apostle dies in theological combat.
The ways of getting the martyr promotion are (?)
Getting those tourists
You want contact with every civ — in general this requires the cartography tech to allow units to cross oceans, although some map scripts (or blind luck) will let you achieve contact without needing to cross the ocean.
Some of the modifiers you can play with are
Coming up with an overall plan
The most basic research plan seems to be
You need theology early enough to be able to start building temples. Cartography unlocks the endgame where you race to contact, convert, and trade with the other civilizations.
Currency or celestial navigation is to unlock the districts that increase trade routes. You would like to be able to establish one trade route with every rival to maximize the trade bonus.
Options for further civic research may be
For intercontinental trade routes, you'll want trade route access to the water on each coast via
The main victory plan doesn't put too much stress on your production and gold. As long as you get the temples, faith production, and additional trade route capacity, you're free to do other things with your economy. It may help to snag a couple extra sources of tourism, such as a handful of additional wonders, or a couple theater squares and ampitheaters to hold great works of art.
- Use the religious belief that triples the tourism of relics
- Use the martyr promotion on apostles to create relics
- (Optional) Use the city state Kandy's suzerain bonus (a relic every time you discover a natural wonder) to get relics too
- Contact all civs and get the positive tourism modifiers
Ironically, culture isn't really needed, except as a way to research civics!
Storing the relics
The complete list of relic slots is (?)
- The one general purpose slot in your palace (five for Kongo)
- One slot for every temple — holy site building unlocked by theology
- Two slots in Mont St. Michel — a wonder unlocked by divine right
So, unless you're playing Kongo, you need to build several holy sites with temples to store your relics.
Obtaining relics
For a hall of fame win, this is surely going to be all about using Kandy's bonus, whose exploitation is beyond the scope of this post. Otherwise, relics will be obtained by the martyr promotion on apostles — this promotion creates a relic when the apostle dies in theological combat.
The ways of getting the martyr promotion are (?)
- Making a lot of apostles, expecting a random subset of them to have martyr as an option
- The Mont St. Michel wonder, which gives the promotion to all apostles
- The city state Yerevan's Suzerain bonus, which lets you pick apostles' promotions from the complete list
Getting those tourists
You want contact with every civ — in general this requires the cartography tech to allow units to cross oceans, although some map scripts (or blind luck) will let you achieve contact without needing to cross the ocean.
Some of the modifiers you can play with are
- -50% for differing religion
- +50% for shared religion (sometimes?)
- +25% for trade route
- +25% for open borders
Coming up with an overall plan
The most basic research plan seems to be
- Direct early civics towards theology and political philosophy, taking care to collect inspirations
- Direct science towards cartography and either currency or celestial navigation
You need theology early enough to be able to start building temples. Cartography unlocks the endgame where you race to contact, convert, and trade with the other civilizations.
Currency or celestial navigation is to unlock the districts that increase trade routes. You would like to be able to establish one trade route with every rival to maximize the trade bonus.
Options for further civic research may be
- Divine Right for the Mont St. Michel plan
- Exploration to get the merchant republic government for trade routes and favorable civic slots
- Humanism to unlock more theatre buildings to top off your tourism
For intercontinental trade routes, you'll want trade route access to the water on each coast via
- a coastal city
- a near-coastal city with a placed harbor (it doesn't need to be finished)
- a trading post in a foreign city that meets these conditions
The main victory plan doesn't put too much stress on your production and gold. As long as you get the temples, faith production, and additional trade route capacity, you're free to do other things with your economy. It may help to snag a couple extra sources of tourism, such as a handful of additional wonders, or a couple theater squares and ampitheaters to hold great works of art.
