Crocivfanatic deity challenge #1

[crocivfanatic]

Some people complain about lack of deity challenges so i made one. If it will be interesting to people, i will make more.

So here is details:
You: Jayavarman VII
Opponent: Gandhi
Custom city states: Vatican Mohenjo-daro vilnius zanzibar Yerevan rapa-nui
Ruleset: Gathering Storm
Game dif: Deity
Disaster intensity:0
Start Era: Ancient Era
Game Speed : Standard
Civilization Slots: 2
Map: Pangea
Map size: Duel
Victory Conditions: Religious victory
No Barbarians
Other settings: default/standard

Goal: you need to beat my win, which is turn 209.

Story: Gandhi seems to be man of peace, but also quite ignorant - he was asked multiple time to stop spreading his religion, yet he keep pushing. Therefore, he need to shown how this isn't right, and it shall be shown what true religion is.

Strategy: build stonehedge at start(otherwise is mostly like fast loss), speed up astrology research by discovering natural wonder, try to get religious settlements as pantheon,
and as religion picks take cheap missionaries, +4 faith for world wonders, synagogue and ignore terrain cost.

 

[kaspergm]

Why not make it 4 players and add Russia and Ethiopia to make it extra masochistic?

 

[crocivfanatic]

Why not make it 4 players and add Russia and Ethiopia to make it extra masochistic?

It will be in next iteration

 

[Oberinspektor Derrick]

Strategy: build stonehedge at start(otherwise is mostly like fast loss), speed up astrology research by discovering natural wonder, try to get religious settlements as pantheon,
and as religion picks take cheap missionaries, +4 faith for world wonders, synagogue and ignore terrain cost.

This strategy can be changed I hope, or is this part of the rulebook?
I think that should be a relatively doable win without stonehenge, as I personally think that it would probably set me back to get Stonehenge over just rushing a religion off of my standard 2-3 city holy site rush that I usually employ on deity.
Technically the religion pops faster with stonehenge, but my main gripe with that wonder is actually having enough holy sites with shrines and temples past that, and a general lack of settled cities.
I also assume its allowed to go to war with him?
Because that is usually a very easy way to prevent missionaries and apostles from running around unchecked.

Either way, fun initiative.


Edit: Any chance you could share your game seed? That way the challenge will be more consistent for any other attempts, rather than including the element of map spawn RNG.

 

[crocivfanatic]

This strategy can be changed I hope, or is this part of the rulebook?
I think that should be a relatively doable win without stonehenge, as I personally think that it would probably set me back to get Stonehenge over just rushing a religion off of my standard 2-3 city holy site rush that I usually employ on deity.
Technically the religion pops faster with stonehenge, but my main gripe with that wonder is actually having enough holy sites with shrines and temples past that, and a general lack of settled cities.
I also assume its allowed to go to war with him?
Because that is usually a very easy way to prevent missionaries and apostles from running around unchecked.

Either way, fun initiative.


Edit: Any chance you could share your game seed? That way the challenge will be more consistent for any other attempts, rather than including the element of map spawn RNG.

Strategy is just suggestion, not rule and yes it is doable without stonehenge. It just seemed to be easier that way . I did not save game and i started new challenge already so gameseed not available in autosaves either.

 

[Oberinspektor Derrick]

No worries, but do keep the seed in case you post a new one.

 

[Oberinspektor Derrick]

Fun challenge, really enjoyed it.
Turn 80 win, converted 4 of India's 6 cities by the end of the classical era (hence a majority of his cities, triggering religious victory):

Went for very aggressive fast 3 cities (no barbs and Gandhi after all), then finished up holy sites in two of them, then started banking faith.
Timed a Moksha x4 promotion (patron saint) with Yerevan suzerain, and had a golden age with Exodus of the Evangelists.
Could have done without Exodus golden age though, it probably just saved me 3-4 turns from the faster movement speed on my apostles.
3 apostles would have been enough, as with the dual promotions of proselytizer+translator on two of them, meant that India's cities flipped on the first spread every time.
Two of my apostles were debaters, and I ended up not using them for more than a single missionary kill.
Could probably have saved a bit of time by cutting down on a few cities (3 minimum though), and just spamming prayers near the end instead of settling and building up more holy sites.
Could also have saved time by not waiting for patron saint on Moksha, I think a few proselytizers (single promotion) would have been enough.
I lost out on Stonehenge (after I had my religion), and that is the biggest save I could perhaps have made, if I had gotten it I could maybe have gotten an early debater and really mowed down India much, much earlier (turn 60 perhaps, but this is subject to RNG on the promotion and missionaries running into me).

Beliefs picked: Work Ethic + Itinerant preachers.
Pantheon: Sacred path.

Map seed in case anyone wants to try it with the same map:
-1884189871 (map seed)
-1884189872 (game seed)

 

[Benevolent Dictator]

Turn 122 Victory on console using Oberinspektor's seeds.

Didn't get the same map though despite playing on Default settings as described above. I also did play with all NFP Game Modes off. My map didn't have Pamulakke.

I very nearly had my Religion wiped out early. Built my first Prasat in the capital & immediately built my first Apostle. Got unlucky & didn't roll Debater.

A wave of Indian missionaries instantly appeared. I only had two cities at this point, with my second city due West with its own Holy Site & Shrine minus a Prasat. Also had two Settlers venturing out to found new sites near rivers.

Took River Goddess as a Pantheon to compound Khmer unique abilities with HS & Rivers. Missed out on Feed the World.

Took Choral Music & Missionary Zeal as Initial Beliefs.

My lone Apostle was immediately surrounded by a wave of 5 missionaries.

He couldn't fend off the conversion, even with Moksha's 2nd +10 CS ability. Unfortunately I soon learned the +10 CS ability is paradoxically given to your opponents in the city once they convert.

Fell back to the second city with the lone Apostle, moving Moksha there. Waited a long time building up faith for a second Apostle & later a Guru. Was very tempted to buy a Missionary several times in the last holdout city in case of conversion to have some charges, but held out.

My two roaming Settlers got held up in place for dozens of turns because I feared settling a new city would get instantly converted and result in an instant loss.

Was finally able to fend off the endless waves of Missionaries against my second city, mostly because they'd get distracted reconverting closeby City States.

Bought a second Prasat with Gold. Eventually got 4-5 Apostles and a Guru. Settled the two extra cities and converted them for some breathing room. Cleared Hinduism from my own Capital again.

Pushed into Indian territory. They had 8-9 cities total. One small forward settled city had already flipped to Buddhism from Missionary wars. They had 3 cities with 11+ pop. Used a Prosletizer to empty all 3 & a Translator to flip to Buddhism.

Didn't encounter an enemy Apostle until I'd already converted 3-4 cities. Was actually surprised to see the end screen on Turn 122 with the final flip.

Thanks for setting up the Deity challenge. First one I've been able to participate in on console. Look forward to future ones.