Challenge: A Billion of People!

[AnotherPacifist]

Yeah, figured you had Sushi (much better than Cereal). Interior of South America can be very fertile after all that jungle is chopped (one city can use all of its tiles for farms).
Too bad you didn't have the majority of NAm which would have made things even easier.

 

[civ_king]

HOLY CRAP!!!! A city on the French Uranium with a full BFC can get to size 42

 

[Wessel V1]

There are some very angry French and Russians either side, it got a bit dicey towards the end, they might have something to do with it

Even worse: I think the French also have figured out how to use ranged combat!

Spoiler :

Yangon. Tehran (if the Persians are out; I couldn't really care as Civ V seems so unappealing to me).

Archers firing arrows across a tile the size of Belgium.

It appears that you greatly underestimate the firing skills of the famous Dutch archers.

 

[youtien]

I'll try on English.

 

[Wessel V1]

Question: is it allowed to play RFC:M on normal speed? I haven't played it much but if the turns are quicker, I'll try that in stead of BtS 1.187

 

[blizzrd]

I'll try on English.

I currently am also trying England.

 

[LuKo]

Question: is it allowed to play RFC:M on normal speed? I haven't played it much but if the turns are quicker, I'll try that in stead of BtS 1.187

Yes it is, as Marathon changes nothing (and makes the game quicker).

 

[KMRblue1027]

I'm guessing epic/marathon speeds are out of the question?

 

[Jusos2108]

I am trying this with India.

 

[Wessel V1]

I am too, but it is much harder than I'd have expected, especially because India is a 3000BC civ which means no city development in colonies at all, and massive maintenance costs.

 

[Jusos2108]

Yeah, I've noticed the same thing. I am skeptical about reaching 1 billion.

 

[Wessel V1]

Probably things get easier when Biology and Medicine are researched. However, Portugal has taken a large chunk of Brazil, which I suspected to host 200 million people. So far (1700 AD or some time later), the only colonies I've got are Jakarta, Buenos Aires and New Orleans...

 

[Jusos2108]

I am at ~1700AD too and I've got the same colonies except Netherlands beat me to Jakarta and annoyingly France has founded Fort Detroit.

 

[youtien]

I'm at 1800 AD, as French, destroyed American, achieved domination history, being unstable (-39) and in golden age, and my pop is just above 0.5 billion. Saved 10 great person in case of collapse. Damn, I razed too many cities. This is hard.

 

[AnotherPacifist]

So it seems that
1. Larger cities (>size 30) account for much more population than the number would indicate (compared to usual city size like 20)
2. Most cities cannot get that high unless you have Sushi (or maybe Cereal) and biology
3. You need a lot of them (15+)
4. You need enough time to be stable to grow them (so 3000BC civs are going to be doubly hard due to starting out a pop 1 with no infrastructure, and just forget about small civs like Maya, Ethiopia and Mali with intrinsic stability problems)

 

[Jusos2108]

Yeah, as India my stability isn't the problem rather the skyrocketing maintenance costs. It is 1800 and I have India (Dilli 1SE, Dhaka, Chennai hill, S-tip 1NW from cow, Mumbai and Takhashila), Gwadar, Samarqand, Constantinople, Buenos Aires, New Orleans and the city between Chicago and Denver (it has 3corn, 2wheats and a cow). Nontheless, I quit the game because I don't have rifles yet.

I am going to try another civ.. Any ideas?

 

[Wessel V1]

Japan wouldn't be hard I guess, and England of course. I think I'm going to do England to get the feeling.

 

[youtien]

My English strategy:

Found Southampton, Newcastle, Dublin and BUDAPEST(you can get there before German does). Caste system first, research meditation - civil service, then paper (to trade with French for calendar). One galley go to Mali to trade for DR. Get aesthetics from Russian.

Switch to bureaucracy & slavery, beeline for gunpowder, then build up an army to conquer Rome, then Istanbul & Athens. English should conquer Alexandria as well (but I didn't) , for stability and wonders there. Then Astronomy...... get both conquerer event, conquer Aztecs, befriend with Inca. I got one settler to Winburg(South Africa) 10 turns before Astronomy, should wait.

French: settle Amiens (NE) . Tech line same as above. Raze Bona Mansio, another settler go to Budapest as well. Conquer Rome, Istanbul (Hagia Sophia is important for +50% work rate), Athens...... it is easier than English because you get more starting force and cities. Liberalism for democracy (destablize slavery but provides security bureau).

This strategy has some problem: later astronomy, and you get too many cities too soon.

Spanish should be even easier: settle at coast, conquer Alexandria ASAP. And their settler map is huge.

Next time I'll try a 3000BC civ and get 10-12 decent city first, then found Sushi co., then start expand via conquest. China & Greek should be easiest. Anyone want to try Romans and found all the sweet spots in Europe, flip to later civs, then retake...? I think I'll just conquer Asia and N. Africa and Greece.

 

[AnotherPacifist]

Actually as England you can settle Kiev first also, and if you're lucky, Reval. Just don't found Newcastle till later.
10 cities max until Biology, Communism, Nationalism, AL. Found Sushi. Then conquest/domination as usual.

 

[blizzrd]

My English strategy:

Found Southampton, Newcastle, Dublin and BUDAPEST(you can get there before German does). Caste system first, research meditation - civil service, then paper (to trade with French for calendar). One galley go to Mali to trade for DR. Get aesthetics from Russian.

Switch to bureaucracy & slavery, beeline for gunpowder, then build up an army to conquer Rome, then Istanbul & Athens. English should conquer Alexandria as well (but I didn't) , for stability and wonders there. Then Astronomy...... get both conquerer event, conquer Aztecs, befriend with Inca. I got one settler to Winburg(South Africa) 10 turns before Astronomy, should wait.

French: settle Amiens (NE) . Tech line same as above. Raze Bona Mansio, another settler go to Budapest as well. Conquer Rome, Istanbul (Hagia Sophia is important for +50% work rate), Athens...... it is easier than English because you get more starting force and cities. Liberalism for democracy (destablize slavery but provides security bureau).

This strategy has some problem: later astronomy, and you get too many cities too soon.

Spanish should be even easier: settle at coast, conquer Alexandria ASAP. And their settler map is huge.

Next time I'll try a 3000BC civ and get 10-12 decent city first, then found Sushi co., then start expand via conquest. China & Greek should be easiest. Anyone want to try Romans and found all the sweet spots in Europe, flip to later civs, then retake...? I think I'll just conquer Asia and N. Africa and Greece.

I think you conquered too much land that belongs to another civ's core area too soon. I'm playing England and have gone for my first 20 cities within historical limits and my stability is still Stable well after Astronomy. I have Assembly Line and Biology and 20 cities and all is still currently going well.