Chines Petra Pyramids

GKShaman

Prince
Joined
Jun 22, 2013
Messages
350
Tech 1: Mathematics for Petra
Boost: Build Three Different Districts
Effect: Boosts all Deserts 2 food, 1 production, 2 gold.

Tech 2: Masonry for Pyramids
Boost: Build a Quarry.
Effect: All builders get an extra charge and a free builder.

CIV 6 Choice: China
Reason: Builders get an extra charge and can be used to add 15 percent completion to Ancient and Classical Wonders.

Basic BO: Build Scout-Builder-Slinger- Slinger/Warrior (Based on Barb type) - Slinger (Optional) - Settler - Builder
Techs: Luxury and Bonus Techs Then Go for Bronze Working, Astrology, Writing for the three Districts. Try to find another civ, a natural wonder, kill three barbarians with the scout, warrior and two Slingers for all the boosts.

Then Beeline Masonry and Mathematics. This is where people give order preference. I personally like Petra first since it provides for an amazing city. Pyramids is nice with the extra builder charge but Petra is the more vital desert city wonder. Then Pyramids. Use as many Builder charges as necessary.

Enjoy the sick city! Here is a sample snapshot. Remember to build them next to each other so a theatre square can be put up later!
 

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So basically, your strategy is ... to build a wonder.
Yeah.
Well.
Sure Petra is nice if you can get it on a nice spot. I wonder thought on what difficulty you play? There is nothing wrong with playing on Prince, but when posting strategies (or even simple tips) it's interesting to let people know whether they still work on higher difficulties or not. In my experience Petra is very hard to get on Immortal and probably impossible/extremely situational on Deity. This is especially true if you try to build it in an expo.
Do desert areas have to be free of districts to get the resources?
Yes, Petra increases the tile yield so you have to work the tile to get the bonus.
In addition, flat desert without resources can't be improved so they will stay 2f/1p/2g for the entire game, not too great. The best tiles for Petra are desert hills and oasis. Resources like incense on flat tiles are also ok. Flood plains don't work with Petra either.
 
So basically, your strategy is ... to build a wonder.
Yeah.
Well.
Sure Petra is nice if you can get it on a nice spot. I wonder thought on what difficulty you play? There is nothing wrong with playing on Prince, but when posting strategies (or even simple tips) it's interesting to let people know whether they still work on higher difficulties or not. In my experience Petra is very hard to get on Immortal and probably impossible/extremely situational on Deity. This is especially true if you try to build it in an expo.

Yes, Petra increases the tile yield so you have to work the tile to get the bonus.
In addition, flat desert without resources can't be improved so they will stay 2f/1p/2g for the entire game, not too great. The best tiles for Petra are desert hills and oasis. Resources like incense on flat tiles are also ok. Flood plains don't work with Petra either.


So I forgot to add this: China can build great wall segments on flat desert to add culture and gold. I believe 1 culture and 1 gold with the right techs.

In addition @LorD - I have achieved Petra with Immortal. I normally play on Immortal and Emperor. I heard on Deity the AI get THREE settlers and 5 warriors? Thats just weird. That force any human player thats close settled to war within 40 turns.

As for the strategy - yes its a strategy to build two wonders and transform crap desert into awesomeness and give culture, food, production, and gold to a city. Also you do realize worker charges can be boosted to a wonder based on China's ability? This makes it even better and easier to get the wonder.
 
In my experience Petra is very hard to get on Immortal and probably impossible/extremely situational on Deity
Not as China... the whole point of China is to get at least 2 early game wonders. Pyramids and Petra is what you most likely want to go for.
 
So I forgot to add this: China can build great wall segments on flat desert to add culture and gold. I believe 1 culture and 1 gold with the right techs.
Good point for the Great Wall! I rarely bother with Petra because i rarely have enough good tiles but unique improvements can change this. I guess Egypt could also use it (if they can build it) with their sphinx.

As to being able to build it, well, sometimes i saw it gone even before i had mathematics so it definitely requires a very fast beeline to mathematics that doesn't seem possible if you also try to maximize Eurekas but probably with some luck (first contact with a scientific CS, science resource in capital radius) and saving 2 workers for rushing, you're right that China could probably get it.

And yes, on Deity AI start with 3 Settlers now :eek:

EDIT. Just tried to actually get Petra in a recent Immortal game (as Greece so no bonus) and i managed to get it (couple jungle chopping involved) so it's indeed possible if you get Mathematics early and the Eureka is possible in the way if you get all 3 early districts so you need a Holy Site. Still probably luck-dependent cause if an AI actually tried hard to get it, i doubt i could have built it in time but with China and some science boost (CS, Resource, good campus spot) it's probably much more reliable.

Doesn't change the fact that it's quite situational as you need to have some desert, preferably with hills and resources as you won't be able to put Great Wall segments everywhere but it's probably more reliable than i first thought.
 
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Petra is awesome if you have multiple desert hills and an oasis or two. On vanilla desert tiles it's pretty underwhelming given the large investment. It's a little sad that China's wonder bonus is only for ancient/classical eras, which have very few good wonders. Their main bonus is probably the free builder charge, though 10% better Eurekas isn't bad, either. All things considered, compared to many of your other options China is pretty weak.
 
I build Petra + Pyramids in my fifth or sixth city in my current Immortal game with Scythia. It's definitely possible... seems like the AI didn't have a good desert spot.

I had a natural wonder in it, too. It gives +2 food to every adjacent tile and I can tell you: that city is just plain crazy. :)

BTW I like the China strategy. Guess I will try it soon.
 
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