BlackBetsy
Emperor
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2005
- Messages
- 1,049
After many, many false starts on C3C Demigod, I finally beat that level. When I first tried to do a HOF game on Demigod a while ago, the AI early advantage was just too much for me to overcome to come up with what I consider a decent domination victory. In fact, I've gotten my ass handed to me by the AI swarms on Demigod more than once (makes me very hesitant to move up much or play GOTM 43). The fact that Demigod is tough for me makes me question my skill as a player. Quite frankly, my aggression level is probably set too low. Or I'm not throwing out enough maps.
So I finally went for what I consider to be the "easiest" victory condition - Cultural 20k. Picked "Small" world archipelago 60% land because 3 AI civs in those conditions will give me a lot of early buffer. Picked three expansionist civs - Arabia, Zulu, and Mongols as opponents, no goody huts. Can't remember world settings, although I'm sure I had 5 billion.
Using Babylon (cheap temples, libraries, universities, cathedrals and research labs, SGL probability), I set Babylon as my 20k city, cranking out a settler first to get a worker pump (Nineveh) going, and then going right to temple, Pyramids, etc. Used the Masonry gambit to try to get the early SGL.
No luck on SGLs the entire game. Built every damn improvement and wonder by hand.
Palace - 4000bc
Temple - 2900bc
Pyramids - 1550bc
Oracle - 1075 bc
Great Library - 110 bc
Mausoleum of Mausallos - 50 ad
Library - 70 ad
Colosseum (lost out after wonder cascade) - 210 ad
Sistene Chapel - 520 ad
Cathedral - 530 ad
University - 650 ad
Shakespeare - 1340 ad
Smith's Trading - 1515 ad
Intelligence Agency - 1640 ad
and that was all for culture. Babylon passed 20k in 1902 for a 4th place (meaning last place) Small Demigod 20k victory. Had I got a SGL from any of the 6 or 7 techs I got first (I think Banking, Free Artistry, Economics, Masonry, Literature, and maybe 1 or 2 others), I would have pulled a 19th century score. I would have had to do better on science, though, to get myself into the 18th century.
Babylon was actually building military units for much of its history as I fell waaaaaay behind in tech in the industrial era and had no culture buildings to build (Arabia was building the Internet and I was 2 techs away from the modern era when I closed out the victory).
I should have used Babylon as a settler pump and Nineveh as my 20k city. It was on the coast and had good productivity potential with a couple of mountains (one with iron) a hill, and 2 wine for extra food.
Oh well, back to the drawing board. The Octathalon is done (although no wins at C3C Deity or Sid yet, but the HOF folks are lenient). I'm probably going to go for a historographic victory on Huge Monarch (most of my games are on Monarch anyway, it's fitting that I do so)
Any tips on which are the best worlds for milking? Isn't it archipelago? Or continents?
I'm attaching my finish .sav so you can see my pathetic little continent that weathered the storm. I chose the island fortress strategy and wound up with a ton of infantry guarding the borders at the end. Luckily, the Mongols weren't so bright on science, either, and I was trading two luxes to the Arabs, so they wouldn't invade.
So I finally went for what I consider to be the "easiest" victory condition - Cultural 20k. Picked "Small" world archipelago 60% land because 3 AI civs in those conditions will give me a lot of early buffer. Picked three expansionist civs - Arabia, Zulu, and Mongols as opponents, no goody huts. Can't remember world settings, although I'm sure I had 5 billion.
Using Babylon (cheap temples, libraries, universities, cathedrals and research labs, SGL probability), I set Babylon as my 20k city, cranking out a settler first to get a worker pump (Nineveh) going, and then going right to temple, Pyramids, etc. Used the Masonry gambit to try to get the early SGL.
No luck on SGLs the entire game. Built every damn improvement and wonder by hand.
Palace - 4000bc
Temple - 2900bc
Pyramids - 1550bc
Oracle - 1075 bc
Great Library - 110 bc
Mausoleum of Mausallos - 50 ad
Library - 70 ad
Colosseum (lost out after wonder cascade) - 210 ad
Sistene Chapel - 520 ad
Cathedral - 530 ad
University - 650 ad
Shakespeare - 1340 ad
Smith's Trading - 1515 ad
Intelligence Agency - 1640 ad
and that was all for culture. Babylon passed 20k in 1902 for a 4th place (meaning last place) Small Demigod 20k victory. Had I got a SGL from any of the 6 or 7 techs I got first (I think Banking, Free Artistry, Economics, Masonry, Literature, and maybe 1 or 2 others), I would have pulled a 19th century score. I would have had to do better on science, though, to get myself into the 18th century.
Babylon was actually building military units for much of its history as I fell waaaaaay behind in tech in the industrial era and had no culture buildings to build (Arabia was building the Internet and I was 2 techs away from the modern era when I closed out the victory).
I should have used Babylon as a settler pump and Nineveh as my 20k city. It was on the coast and had good productivity potential with a couple of mountains (one with iron) a hill, and 2 wine for extra food.
Oh well, back to the drawing board. The Octathalon is done (although no wins at C3C Deity or Sid yet, but the HOF folks are lenient). I'm probably going to go for a historographic victory on Huge Monarch (most of my games are on Monarch anyway, it's fitting that I do so)
Any tips on which are the best worlds for milking? Isn't it archipelago? Or continents?
I'm attaching my finish .sav so you can see my pathetic little continent that weathered the storm. I chose the island fortress strategy and wound up with a ton of infantry guarding the borders at the end. Luckily, the Mongols weren't so bright on science, either, and I was trading two luxes to the Arabs, so they wouldn't invade.
