It would seem from the posts so far, that the Khmer are not all that popular. I rather like them as they offer a very effective peaceful alternative to warmongering, religion + reliquaries.
I ran a game through on emperor in honor of the game of the week. I wanted to be sure to found a religion and hopefully get reliquaries, so I chose emperor and built 2 holy sites right off 1st thing. It worked. By the end of the game my relic farming netted me 13 relics yielding a staggering 312 tourism per turn. Who needs archeological museums with that kind of religious tourism? The penalty was finding myself behind on science entering the mid game, but that made things interesting ;-). Shaka just finished his spaceport as I crossed over the line to a cultural victory. Not a particularly quick victory, but a victory none the less.
I think the online speed made me think I was expanding faster and extracting more science and growth than I actually was relative to the AI’s, shrug. With the low science per turn and cultural/religious win strategy, I couldn’t advance when a neighboring AI (Aztecs) declared on me (twice), but with Khmer’s higher population cities, who needs to?
The condensed version:
Pantheon: River Goddess (+1 amenity for holy sites adjacent to a river).
Founded religion: BARKALOS!!!
Follower belief: Reliquaries
Holy building: Stupa (+3 faith / +1 amenity)
T1 Govt. building: Audience chamber (+1Amenity and +4 Housing in cities with governors).
T2 Govt. building: Grand master’s chapel.
This mix made +3 district “tall” Khmer cities both highly productive and manageable due to plentiful amenities.
This is one of the smallest clusters of cities I’ve ever finished with. 9 total, 8 of which I think were completed before year 0. I annexed the 9th, Tlacopan, from the Aztecs in 300AD with a defensive knight rush.
I had never really had allot of success with purposefully trying to get a missionary or apostle killed in the past, but found myself pleasantly surprised when my missionaries were engaged and eliminated by AI apostles on a fairly regular and repeatable basis. Monastic isolation also helped with the religious victory hedge, should a cultural victory prove elusive.
I made a video series for the Let’s Play section of the board yesterday with Montezuma and thought, why not do one with the Game of the Week as well? No narration, just gameplay (4 hours approximately). I think the first clip could be considered interesting as it’s all settlers and holy sites with a splash of war at the end. Perhaps it’s something more akin to the saying “that kid has a face only a mother could love.” Shrug.
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/face+only+a+mother+could+love
The changing slogans of Jayavarman VII.
“A chicken in every pot, a holy site on every river,” morphs to “CHARGE!!!” as Montezuma takes Bandar Brunei and menaces Angkor Thom with multiple sword units.
BARKSLOS!!! Spreads throughout the land, Dreadlord Montezuma sues for peace, and the knights of Khmer distinguish themselves in battle!
Khmer media sources are reporting the unusually longwinded Aztec leader was stupafied as to how the people of Khmer could carry on with such a long and arduous war and still be happier than his own subjects.
Do it for for BARKALOS!!! my son.
The relics start coming in.
BARKALOS!!! reliquaries triumph Over Zulu spaceports!!!