Community Deity Game #21 - China

DanQuayle

Prince
Joined
Oct 18, 2015
Messages
550
Welcome to the twenty-first installment in the Community Deity Game series!

CDG 21 - China a.k.a “Chu-Ko-Nuts”

We aim to post an interesting challenge twice each month. We try for a variety of starts and difficulties. There is a suggested Victory Condition and a list of Achievements for each map, so each game has a theme or gimmick to it.

Please see the CDG Series Discussion Thread to express yourself if you have remarks and ideas. Some maps use mods. Please note that maps you wish to share must have the DLC map packs disabled, so those who do not have them can enjoy the challenge. To do this, you go into the DLC option from the Main Menu and untick the options for ‘Explorers Map Pack’, ‘Scrambled Nations’, and ‘Scrambled Continents’. You will need to do this every time you start a new game that you might want to share.

When posting about your victory, please begin the post with the turn number, victory condition, and achievement points in bold text, e.g. “T247 DiploVC, 10 points”. This is so the kind volunteer who updates the finishers spreadsheet can see it more easily.

Also please provide a screenshot of your victory turn, and maybe more related to the achievements and keys point in the game — because it’s fun to read for all of us! Restart and reload as you like, but in your write-up (which does not have to be long) please describe the challenges you faced.

We welcome all comments and questions, but please use the SPOILER tag if you attach a picture, make a comment about which civs are in the game, about natural wonders, locations of ancient ruins, terrain features, luxes, resources, etc. In short, if it’s information you can only know by playing the game, don’t spoil it for others by divulging this information in the open. Thank you for your co-operation, and have fun!

Spoiler UA, UU, and UB :
Art of War: The Great General combat bonus is increased by 15%, and their spawn rate is increased by 50%.

Chu-Ko-Nu: A Chinese unique ranged unit. Replaces the Crossbowman. It may Attack Twice (in one turn), but has lesser ranged strength (14 vs. 18).

Paper Maker: Unique building of the Chinese civilization. Replaces the Library. It gives +2 Gold and has no maintenance.

Spoiler map type and settings :
Standard size, standard speed, standard number of civs and CS. Strategic resource balance. Map type is AMBalance Pangea v1.

Spoiler difficulty :
Easy

Spoiler starting location :

Spoiler achievements :
  • CB Rush: Get 6 Composite Bowmen on (or before)
    Turn 55 (4pts)
    Turn 60 (3pts)
    Turn 65 (2pts)
    Turn 75 (1pt)
  • Chu-Ko-Nu Rush: Research Machinery on (or before)
    Turn 90 (4pts)
    Turn 100 (3pts)
    Turn 110 (2pts)
    Turn 125 (1pt)
  • The Silk Road: Connect X cities to your capital with roads
    15 cities (3pts)
    12 cities (2pts)
    9 cities (1pt)
  • Range: Get X Chu-Ko-Nu with the Range promotion (can be upgraded)
    12 Chu-Ko-Nu (3pts)
    9 Chu-Ko-Nu (2pts)
    6 Chu-Ko-Nu (1pt)
  • People's Liberation Army: Finish the game with X Chu-Ko-Nu (can be upgraded)
    20 Chu-Ko-Nu (3pts)
    16 Chu-Ko-Nu (2pts)
    10 Chu-Ko-Nu (1pt)
  • Blitz: Win the game on (or before)
    Turn 140 (5pts)
    Turn 160 (4pts)
    Turn 185 (3pts)
    Turn 220 (2pts)
    Turn 270 (1pt)
Total 22 points
Quick combat and quick movement are on (change them if you like).
Game Version - 1.0.3.279
Downloadable Content includes: Wonders of the Ancient World DLC. Gods and Kings expansion, Brave New World Expansion. The map packs are intentionally excluded.

Before you download the map, please take a moment to speculate here in this thread on your initials thoughts plans for the game. Will you settle in place?

Spoiler links to previous threads in CDG series :
CDG1: Persia, Oct. 31st, 2015, domination, Pangea, hard, map by Consentient
CDG2: Assyria, Nov. 15th, 2015, science, Pangaea, medium, map by Consentient.
CDG3: Ethiopia, Dec. 2nd, 2015, culture, NQ Pangaea, hard, map by Consentient.
CDG4: Spain, Dec. 17th, 2015, domination, NQ Pangaea, medium, map by Consentient.
CDG5: Indonesia, Jan. 2nd, 2016, culture, NQ Continents, hard, map by Consentient.
CDG6: Zulus, Jan. 15th, 2016, domination, Oval, easy, map by Consentient.
CDG7: Shoshone, Feb. 2nd, 2016, culture, Oval, very easy, map Created by Enslingkorp.
CDG8: Austria, Feb. 15th, 2016, science, Pangaea, very easy, map by IronfighterXXX.
CDG9: Brazil, Feb. 28th, 2016, culture, Pangaea, medium, map by Blatc.
CDG10: Denmark, March 14th, 2016, domination, Lakes, hard, map by Beetle.
CDG11: Venice, April 1st, 2016, domination, Archipelago, very easy, map by Wild_Woojsha.
CDG12: Byzantium, April 15th, 2016, domination, Continents, very hard, map by Beetle.
CDG13: Inca, April 30th, 2016, culture, Pangaea, medium, map by Shark Diver.
CDG14: Celts, May 18th, 2015, domination or culture, Oval, hard, map by Consentient.
CDG15: America, May 30th, 2016, diplomacy, Mesopotamia, medium, map by Beetle.
CDG16: Sweden, June 14th, 2016, domination or diplomacy, HB Continents, medium, map by Consentient.
CDG17: Germany, July 2nd, 2016, diplomacy, Pangaea, easy, map by Dan Quayle.
CDG18: France, July 14rd, 2016, diplomacy, HB Continents, hard, map by MaxAttack.
CDG19: Ottomans, August 5th, 2016, domination, Continents, medium, map by Beetle.
CDG20: Portugal, August 20th, 2016, domination, Pangaea, medium, map by Beetle.
 

Attachments

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Oh, such a beatiful starting location ! So many good spots to settle on. I'm hesitating between settling in place and the two hills NW. Settling on silver would be great but that would take two turns so the timing for the 6 CBs before T55 would become tight and the wine will be very far... I think I'll settle in place but it will depend on what my warrior uncovers at T0. As the game won't be long I probably won't be building a water mill anyway so settling next to a river is probably not mandatory. We'll see...

I'm also tempted to build a shrine, only to get the culture from the silver and to get faster through Liberty but that's really a big gamble.

Does this map have strategic balance for iron ?
 
Thanks Dan! Link to video has a typo.

I will SIP and try honor for my first run at this map.

For The Silk Road achievement, can those be conquered cities, or do only self-founded cities count?
 
Got my 6 CB turn 52 (well the map helped a lot but hush) but Machinery before turn 90 seem very very hard to reach. We'll see

Edit : indeed got Machinery turn 95 only, but below 90 is definitely doable with more optimal play
 
Little unrelated, first time seeing Acken play... The fact that he beats deity is cool and all... but the speed at which he is playing in that China game is mind blowing. :hatsoff:

Subbed to his channel.
 
Little unrelated, first time seeing Acken play... The fact that he beats deity is cool and all... but the speed at which he is playing in that China game is mind blowing. :hatsoff:

Subbed to his channel.

I think the recording is sped up. Could be wrong though
 
Well I've tried 3 times to get the comp bows before turn 55, just seems impossible. I did manage it turn 61, that's about it.
Spoiler :
Not even sure moving the cap to Lake Victoria is worth it. Also liberty is a must if you want to make comp bows that early, but even then... it's just seemingly impossible to get done :p
 
My Liberty game suffered from a terrible happiness crash (tried for 4 cities) and then the last religion went on T91 just as I was about to close out the Tree. I reloaded and tried Tradition, as usual. I got a religion from quarries. That should work for Honor as well.

I only had 4 CBs on turn 75. I could have six archers, but not be able to afford to upgrade them. Or hard build CBs, but not that early. Quite the Catch-22!

Tradition has been going much better for me, but still quite slow. I bee-lined Machinery right after Philosophy, but it still took me to turn 117. I should get 1 point from C and D each as well.

I got the 20 CNK (E/PLA), and if I can keep them alive, that will be about it for me as far as achievement points.
 
Getting CB before turn 55 is not impossible : the main problem is getting enough money to upgrade your six archers and for that you just have to scout the map, really. I indeed suggest going liberty and scout aggressively. How many cities to settle for optimal play is debatable though. I settled 3 besides Capital but it didn't got me to Machinery before turn 90 so...


Envoyé de mon iPhone à l'aide de Tapatalk
 
Nice map, although I feel like I'm progressing slowly.

Spoiler :
Managed to get 1pt for 6CB on t75 and 1pt for Machinery at (precisely!) t125, as science was pitiful before NC (90-something) and liberty finisher scientist. Science agreement with Maria helped a bit.

Money and happiness are good, enough to grow. It doesn't show on the screens but that's because I've just annexed Vienna) I've taken all but one Ethiopia's cities and Vienna. On t127 I have about 10 Cho-co-nuts and 2 more CB ready to upgrade. Only half of them are on the verge of getting Range though so that achievement is also not easy))

Settled 4 cities, puppeted one and annexed two capitals. Went full liberty, opened commerce. Taken temple of artemis (useful for choconuts) and mausoleum (meh!)

Now I'm pausing to think what to do next. Shaka is in full swing with his special units, and his army is twice as big as mine. So I might want to go after Maria with her tasssty spices and incense, chichen-itza and pyramids. On the other hand shaka might be more difficult to check later... Lots to consider.

My empire (bigger pics open on click):




 
Alright I took 3 capitals by turn 150 ish but let city-states take too many cities haha.

Doing this fast is very hard. If I had played right I maybe would have won like turn 180 or something. Turn 66 for 6 comp bows, turn 100 machinery. Crushing the map with choks but man is it tedious. The way the AI laid out their cities is so annoying lol.

I did go liberty, got pyramids and just an army of road-spamming workers. Very strong, very easy, but I overextended too much and was building crap that wasn't helpful when I should have just been making more choks. I had like 30 and THAT'S NOT ENOUGH I NEED MOAR. Haha.

I might try this again and be more careful, I dunno.
 
I had a bit of an advantage this game since I had revealed the whole map beforehand to see if it would be a good candidate map for the CDG.

Spoiler :
After playing the map a bit, it definitely felt bigger than I originally thought. There was also quite a lot of rough terrain in some parts, not making it a completely ideal map. However, on the bright side, it didn't have some difficult choke points like in the previous DCL16 game near the Iroquois. Despite the large land mass, only one other AI decided to go Liberty in my game (Portugal). There was also a lot of ruins laying around. I got at least one pop and one culture ruin. I had lots of money early on thanks to duplicate mining luxuries. I also secured a DoF with Portugal early on for an easy +240 gold. Paper makers also helped with gold. I decided to hard built the Pyramids this game since Florence had a quest for it and didn't plan to attack Portugal for a while.

Overall the map felt really easy with an early push, however I am not sure how it will turn out if you start you CKN push later or if it looses steam down the road.

Achievements
  • CB Rush: Turn 55 (4pts)
    Sent an early science leech caravan after planting first expo
    Upgraded 7 archers and still had some spare money
    Also went Bronze Working before Construction for Spearmen for the first push
    Map was also picked, because you do not need early Trapping
  • Chu-Ko-Nu Rush: Turn 90 (4pts)
    Picked this map for this challenge since I thought it had the potential for early Machinery
    Barely got it on turn 90
    Wanted to try out my strategy of hard building the NC and saving a Liberty GS for a Machinery bulb. Finished NC T78 which got delayed a bit by constant city conquest which kept increasing the production cost.
    Researched Sailing after Philosophy for an additional TR which I used as a food route to capital since population was low (since I had hard built both the Pyramids and NC), but in retrospect I think it was a mistake. So I think an even faster Machinery might be possible on this map. Also, my science leech caravan got plundered by barbarians at some point.
  • The Silk Road: 15 cities (3pts)
    Kept 2-3 meh cities for achievement, but it turned out to be a good choice in the end since they blocked settlers from other civs from expanding (and thus cutting off my city connections).
  • Range: 9 Chu-Ko-Nu (2pts)
    Despite going left side Honor after Liberty, Military Tradition was not early enough for most of my 2nd army of Chu-Ko-Nu to get Range in time. Austria and Portugal also didn't have large armies to get experience from.
  • People's Liberation Army: 20 Chu-Ko-Nu (3pts)
    Didn't really need any more. Only Shaka had a really large standing army.
  • Blitz: Turn 140 (5pts)
    Getting both early CBs and early CKNs helped getting a fast finish time. Only the Zulus offered a worthy opposition. I also faced the Honor variant of the Zulu and not the Liberty one which I feel is much stronger.

Spoiler :


 
I stopped in here yesterday and couldn't resist - especially since DQ drew direct parallels with DCL #16.

I haven't played in a while, but still managed Construction T55, NC T78, Machinery T99.

Spoiler :
Right now, I'm having to tackle the Zulus, which is obviously gonna be the hardest part of the sweep. Addis, Marrakesh and Vienna are mine.
 
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