[GS] Court of love

[Alashiya]

how can I use Eleanor's ability to flip the loyalty of opponents cities and achieve conquest by the power of love & culture alone?

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Build Theater Squares in cities near your target and fill them with Great Works. Also use the traditional flipping tools to make it easier.

 

[Alashiya]

Build Theater Squares in cities near your target and fill them with Great Works. Also use the traditional flipping tools to make it easier.

thanks, which governer will make that easiest?

 

[IvoryPavane]

Also I’ve found the city flips much much easier if they share your religion, so might be worth investing in a few holy sites.

Bread and Circuses can help too

 

[BenitoChavez]

thanks, which governer will make that easiest?

Pingala's 2nd tier promotion allows you get get more great people points in the city he is stationed in. One of Amani's 1st tier promotions gives -2 loyalty to nearby cities you don't control. Both are good choices when playing Eleanor.

This is my pseudo-guide to playing as Eleanor. I only played 1 game with her at the time I wrote it, but I've replicated the results since then so it seems like a good strategy.

I had great success flipping cities in my Eleanor game. I conquered 4/7 AIs in my immortal game before I accidentally won a culture victory. This is my quick and dirty guide.

I basically built a theater district in every city, got the divine spark pantheon, had founded a religion and got cathedrals and the belief that allowed me to purchase Theater/Campus buildings with faith. That gave me lots of GWAM points and plenty of space to put Great Works. With only those buildings each city can hold 7 GWs each. If you have 2 cities in range of an opponents city that's -14 loyalty for them. 3 cities is -21 loyalty. That plus using spies to remove governors and reduce loyalty even further was generally enough to flip most cities, even very high pop ones. For spies I leveled them up by stealing gold and once they were maxed out on promotions I sent them to nearby cities I wanted to flip, sending two spies to a city, one to remove governors while the other spammed reduce loyalty missions.

I found Theaters and Holy Sites to be the most important districts to build in every city with a few Campuses to keep up in science. Entertainment districts and the Bread & Circus promotion can help flip cities but I found it mostly unnecessary as long as I had enough GWs. Similarly building lots of farms for high pop cities can help as does having golden ages but again GWs and spies were the main thing. Building the Oracle is also really helpful for great people points. Other wonders with GW slots I built in border cities and chopped them out with Magnus, but if you don't get those wonders it isn't a huge deal. Using apostles and missionaries to convert enemy cities can also help exert more loyalty pressure.

Once I flipped a city I used the religion governor (forget his name) to faith buy Theaters and Holy Sites and faith buy buildings within them using my religious beliefs (faith generation was really important). Then I moved all my GWs into the newly flipped cities and also sent my spies to a new city I wanted to flip. Rinse and repeat to conquer the world.

 

[Jewman]

I'm finally getting around to Eleanor. I got a strong start but weak area to expand into nevertheless doing quite well, I founded a religion, got 5 cities down (4 core cities and one city that's nestled between other civs and city states which will be my springboard for later flipping). I built audience chamber on purpose (probably my first time ever.) I'm wondering if the -2 loyalty will affect how much pressure I put out, i suspect it does but the amenities and housing we're crucial to the low housing start I got). I've founded a religion with choral music and cathedrals, have good faith generation, have divine spark, got early writers, apadana and oracle. Missed on Great Library but oh well.

I'm currently going for intelligence agency for my tier 2 building even though I have good faith generation to buy an army. I have alliances with all my neighbors (culture alliance only with the one furthest away) so I don't think I will need an army. This has to be the correct choice, right?

I have Amani set up with her promotion and I'm waiting to hit a renaissance heroic age to get the ball rolling. I weirdly hit a classical golden age which screwed up my whole timing interestingly enough lol. I'm wondering what I should be doing at this point to speed up my strategy of flipping. I have missionaries ready to convert the border cities when I think I can flip them.

Are there any wonders I should be going for? Focus on spies? What helps me in tech tree? Very unfamiliar with this type of play style but I'm warming up to it.

 

[BenitoChavez]

I'm finally getting around to Eleanor. I got a strong start but weak area to expand into nevertheless doing quite well, I founded a religion, got 5 cities down (4 core cities and one city that's nestled between other civs and city states which will be my springboard for later flipping). I built audience chamber on purpose (probably my first time ever.) I'm wondering if the -2 loyalty will affect how much pressure I put out, i suspect it does but the amenities and housing we're crucial to the low housing start I got). I've founded a religion with choral music and cathedrals, have good faith generation, have divine spark, got early writers, apadana and oracle. Missed on Great Library but oh well.

I'm currently going for intelligence agency for my tier 2 building even though I have good faith generation to buy an army. I have alliances with all my neighbors (culture alliance only with the one furthest away) so I don't think I will need an army. This has to be the correct choice, right?

I have Amani set up with her promotion and I'm waiting to hit a renaissance heroic age to get the ball rolling. I weirdly hit a classical golden age which screwed up my whole timing interestingly enough lol. I'm wondering what I should be doing at this point to speed up my strategy of flipping. I have missionaries ready to convert the border cities when I think I can flip them.

Are there any wonders I should be going for? Focus on spies? What helps me in tech tree? Very unfamiliar with this type of play style but I'm warming up to it.

Other than great works, spies are the most important thing to flip cities. You want them to be fully promoted with the Covert Action (better at reducing loyalty) or License to Kill (better at removing governors) promotions if possible. If not your spies are going to have a poor success rate when running missions. Wonders are optional but can help with loyalty pressure if you can use Magnus to chop out wonders with great works slots in a border city. The techs/civic to shoot for are any ones that give you an additional spy, or if you are going for a particular wonder. Radio is important to pick up for Broadcast Centers so you have slots for works of music.

 

[Jewman]

Other than great works, spies are the most important thing to flip cities. You want them to be fully promoted with the Covert Action (better at reducing loyalty) or License to Kill (better at removing governors) promotions if possible. If not your spies are going to have a poor success rate when running missions. Wonders are optional but can help with loyalty pressure if you can use Magnus to chop out wonders with great works slots in a border city. The techs/civic to shoot for are any ones that give you an additional spy, or if you are going for a particular wonder. Radio is important to pick up for Broadcast Centers so you have slots for works of music.

Okay, it's a spy game then sounds good. It's ironic that Eleanor replaces Catherine but is just as reliant on a spy game apparently lol

 

[SupremacyKing2]

Other than great works, spies are the most important thing to flip cities. You want them to be fully promoted with the Covert Action (better at reducing loyalty) or License to Kill (better at removing governors) promotions if possible. If not your spies are going to have a poor success rate when running missions. Wonders are optional but can help with loyalty pressure if you can use Magnus to chop out wonders with great works slots in a border city. The techs/civic to shoot for are any ones that give you an additional spy, or if you are going for a particular wonder. Radio is important to pick up for Broadcast Centers so you have slots for works of music.

Okay, it's a spy game then sounds good. It's ironic that Eleanor replaces Catherine but is just as reliant on a spy game apparently lol

Spies do play a big role but don't underestimate the power of Court of Love. In the right circumstances, it can definitely make a difference. I played a game when Court of Love caused me to snowball in my city flips. Like with all loyalty issues, it really depends on the position of the cities and what they have. French Eleanor is the best at this game since she also gets France's wonder bonus. Mid-late game, you want to focus on wonders with great works too. You also want to forward build your government plaza in a city as close to the border as possible so that the city can get additional great works there too. The combo of theaters with great works and wonders with great works, you can have cities with a good deal of great works exerting loyalty. It also helps if you flip a city that already has a theater district in it because then you can just shift your great works forward and push your loyalty deeper.

EDIT: The other thing with Court of Love is you kinda have to wait a little because you want to place great works in cities that are as close as possible to other civs. So you should wait until you have cities that you know will be border cities, pressed up against the border of another civ. In the early game, you probably won't see any effect but you will see a difference in the mid-late game when civs have filled up the entire map and your cities are pressed closed to another civ.

 

[Jewman]

After quick research, Bolshoi, hermitage and oxford the only 3 wonders with great works slots in midgame. St. Basils and Mont St. Michel if you've got relic generation. So really France's bonus only helps you for 3 wonders, which is something I guess but really not that great. Not that workshop of the world is any good at all lol.

With the massive cultural output I should have no issue getting Bolshoi and Hermitage, Oxford may be tougher.

Do you ever build archaeological museums? I have divine spark so it doesn't really seem to make any sense but just wondering.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

Do you ever build archaeological museums? I have divine spark so it doesn't really seem to make any sense but just wondering.

I do. Especially if you have an expansive empire, you'll have lots of archaeological sites.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

After quick research, Bolshoi, hermitage and oxford the only 3 wonders with great works slots in midgame. St. Basils and Mont St. Michel if you've got relic generation. So really France's bonus only helps you for 3 wonders, which is something I guess but really not that great. Not that workshop of the world is any good at all lol.

With the massive cultural output I should have no issue getting Bolshoi and Hermitage, Oxford may be tougher.

Do you ever build archaeological museums? I have divine spark so it doesn't really seem to make any sense but just wondering.

Arch Museums are superior to Art Museums because they are easier to theme and it's sometimes easier to procure an Archaeologist than a Great Artist.

 

[Archon_Wing]

Archeology, but that is mostly because artists are useless. I mean, you could just delete every artist you come across and probably not win 1 turn later, lol. Espeically if Donatello is one of the first 3. Nobody wants his useless sculptures. Well maybe Kongo.

 

[Jewman]

wow good thing I asked first, I saved the game right before humanism so I could've made a huge error going for art museums.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Also, a Grt Artist gets you 1 era score, but an Archaeologist gets you 1 for each artifact.

 

[Jewman]

Also, a Grt Artist gets you 1 era score, but an Archaeologist gets you 1 for each artifact.

also did not know this.

 

[steveg700]

Do you ever build archaeological museums? I have divine spark so it doesn't really seem to make any sense but just wondering.

The downside of archaeologists is, supposedly, that artifacts are in contention and another civ could get the jump on you in digging them up. In practice, it's like virtually every other competitive element of the game: the AI just doesn't have its act together well enough to compete.

Certainly works of art should generate more culture and tourism than artifacts, because they are a bigger pain in the neck to acquire and theme.

 

[Alashiya]

Admiral Tojo gives a +5 loyalty bonus if retired if playing as Eleanor England you wont have a shortge of great admirals

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Admiral Tojo gives a +5 loyalty bonus if retired if playing as Eleanor England you wont have a shortge of great admirals

I haven't found that the loyalty from admirals works offensively. Only defensively.

Has anyone else observed that?

 

[BarbarianHunter]

I found the problem with archeological museums was that you can't move artifacts to or from a museum unless it has the max 3 artifacts. This got me a museum on the loyalty front, but no ammunition until I extracted 3 artifacts. Art museums are easier to stock.