After seeing the University + Wats with Reformation thread I just wanted to try if Wats with Legalism is any good and I would like to make it as efficient as possible. Hoping you guys can help me out. I'd be really happy if people actually try it out and post their results.
I've tried it three times, 2 times on Emperor and once on Immortal on Standard Pangea. Executed the plan around turn 130, it's actually easier on Immortal because Civs are less broke. Played out one game on Emperor to a 310 SV with very little RAs (Civs too broke for me to finance everything) or stealing because I was so far ahead of AI. I never had coastal cities, which was a pretty big hit in getting the number lower. Your cities need a couple of turns to pick up after finishing the opener. Getting your expands on fresh water tiles is really important but Siam has a good starting bias for that. You can go Great Library, if you have a good start. Had Marble one game and it was basically free.
Policies
I decided going Liberty is a good idea. You want all your 4 cities up as soon as possible or Legalism will be too fast and you will be getting free Amphitheatres in your expands. Get production policy, free settler policy, worker policy. Open up Tradition. Get the happiness Liberty policy because you will need that happiness since you are getting 4 cities up. If you take cheaper policies policy, you'll get legalism too fast and will be getting Amphitheatres instead of Wats. Legalism finishes right about when you get all your Amphitheatres. After that you can do whatever you like but going into extra growth for capital is probably good idea since you tend to be a bit behind, then finish Liberty or start Rationalism, if you got the techs up that fast.
Tech
Get mining first then go Agriculture into Writing into 1 luxury tech or Archers into Philosophy (you time your Philosophy with your estimate of when Libraries will be built in expansions). Get up to Roads and then get Amphitheatre tech. After that tech up to Unis as you see fit but you can't really get other tech than those necessary for it or your timing will be off.
Build Order
Scout, Monument, Worker (stealing a worker would be really good, I just never got an opportunity), Settler, Settler (1 Settler grows with policy active - after first one spawns, you get your free Settler so you can pretty much settle 2 cities at the same time). Build a Granary and then Library. After Libraries are finished in expands, get NC. Fill up time until that happens with stuff you need at the time.
Set your expansions to production and don't actually switch to growth tiles because you need to build a lot of stuff and you'll also have issues with happiness, especially, if you hit spots with multiple copies of the same luxury. The build order is: Library, Granary or Monument depending on happiness , Amphitheatre, Market/Circus/Colloseum. Change citizens with happiness amounts after Library is finished.
After NC is done you want to get a caravan up and grow the capital. On good starts, where you have a good mix of production and growth tiles (things like Salt, Wheat, Marble, Cows) you can go for Oracle which usually finishes around the time you get Legalism, thus allowing you to snowball even further with an additional policy. You can finish Liberty for the Great Person (I get Great Scientist for the Academy) or go for growth in capital. Great Pyramids are also an option, if AI is mostly going Tradition. I'm pretty sure Oracle stays open longer if no one is Liberty as well.
Working improvements
Obviously, any Luxuries take priority. In a normal game, you'd usually improve a good food tile first. But since we won't be working them for some time, you want to improve a hammer one first. After that set up for quick growth for when you'll be able to afford it happiness wise. I like to chop out the place while building NC. After the place is a bit set up, rush roads or you'll go broke.
Some stats
NC finished by turn 80. Whole strategy finished by turn 130. You save 640 hammers and 8 upkeep gold with Wats. Your capital has 8 population, expands range from 4 to 6. You have 70 beakers, 100 if you employ the specialists.
Any ideas or changes?
I've tried it three times, 2 times on Emperor and once on Immortal on Standard Pangea. Executed the plan around turn 130, it's actually easier on Immortal because Civs are less broke. Played out one game on Emperor to a 310 SV with very little RAs (Civs too broke for me to finance everything) or stealing because I was so far ahead of AI. I never had coastal cities, which was a pretty big hit in getting the number lower. Your cities need a couple of turns to pick up after finishing the opener. Getting your expands on fresh water tiles is really important but Siam has a good starting bias for that. You can go Great Library, if you have a good start. Had Marble one game and it was basically free.
Policies
I decided going Liberty is a good idea. You want all your 4 cities up as soon as possible or Legalism will be too fast and you will be getting free Amphitheatres in your expands. Get production policy, free settler policy, worker policy. Open up Tradition. Get the happiness Liberty policy because you will need that happiness since you are getting 4 cities up. If you take cheaper policies policy, you'll get legalism too fast and will be getting Amphitheatres instead of Wats. Legalism finishes right about when you get all your Amphitheatres. After that you can do whatever you like but going into extra growth for capital is probably good idea since you tend to be a bit behind, then finish Liberty or start Rationalism, if you got the techs up that fast.
Tech
Get mining first then go Agriculture into Writing into 1 luxury tech or Archers into Philosophy (you time your Philosophy with your estimate of when Libraries will be built in expansions). Get up to Roads and then get Amphitheatre tech. After that tech up to Unis as you see fit but you can't really get other tech than those necessary for it or your timing will be off.
Build Order
Scout, Monument, Worker (stealing a worker would be really good, I just never got an opportunity), Settler, Settler (1 Settler grows with policy active - after first one spawns, you get your free Settler so you can pretty much settle 2 cities at the same time). Build a Granary and then Library. After Libraries are finished in expands, get NC. Fill up time until that happens with stuff you need at the time.
Set your expansions to production and don't actually switch to growth tiles because you need to build a lot of stuff and you'll also have issues with happiness, especially, if you hit spots with multiple copies of the same luxury. The build order is: Library, Granary or Monument depending on happiness , Amphitheatre, Market/Circus/Colloseum. Change citizens with happiness amounts after Library is finished.
After NC is done you want to get a caravan up and grow the capital. On good starts, where you have a good mix of production and growth tiles (things like Salt, Wheat, Marble, Cows) you can go for Oracle which usually finishes around the time you get Legalism, thus allowing you to snowball even further with an additional policy. You can finish Liberty for the Great Person (I get Great Scientist for the Academy) or go for growth in capital. Great Pyramids are also an option, if AI is mostly going Tradition. I'm pretty sure Oracle stays open longer if no one is Liberty as well.
Working improvements
Obviously, any Luxuries take priority. In a normal game, you'd usually improve a good food tile first. But since we won't be working them for some time, you want to improve a hammer one first. After that set up for quick growth for when you'll be able to afford it happiness wise. I like to chop out the place while building NC. After the place is a bit set up, rush roads or you'll go broke.
Some stats
NC finished by turn 80. Whole strategy finished by turn 130. You save 640 hammers and 8 upkeep gold with Wats. Your capital has 8 population, expands range from 4 to 6. You have 70 beakers, 100 if you employ the specialists.
Any ideas or changes?
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