Current state of the Malay UHV

[Apple111111]

Is anyone else finding the second goal of the UHV impossible, at least without having to resort to extremely gamey mechanics, or getting extremely lucky with the AI resources?

Playing on regent/normal by the way. Higher difficulty might actually make this a bit easier.

Essentially, 14 unique happiness resources required is insane…

Of the four games I’ve tried and failed as the Malays, here are the resources I’ve succeeded in getting.

-Spices (Available in Malay peninsula)
- Ivory (Available in Malay peninsula)
- Dye (Available in Malay peninsula)
- Gold (Available in Sumatra)
- Incense (Borneo)
- Gems (Borneo)
- Pearls (Philippines or spice islands, personally prefer Philippines)

Together, that makes 7/14, which is only half, but a solid start.

Now for the ones that can be reasonably traded:

- Jade (Mongols the majority of the time)
- Cotton (Mongols or Cholas)
- Opium (Mongols)
- Silver (Mongols, the majority of the time, though they might miss this one)

All that adds up to 11 resources, which are more or less reliable, but still, there’s three left, and your options here are very limited.

- Wine (Cordoba will usually have this if you can sail around, Mongols probably have about a 50/50 chance to have wine in time.)
- Tea (There’s probably about a one in three chance India will still hold tea by 1300, if you do it a bit earlier maybe you’ll have a chance, but then Mongols won’t have wine or silver)
- Silk (Silk road eats this off the Mongols, so unless China is somehow still alive or you’re willing to conquer south China, Japan or India for it, it’s not happening.)
- Amber (You’ll have to conquer Pagan if you want this, which is probably not happening, with their massive army. No AI has enough Amber to trade.)
- Tobacco (Reaching the American East coast in time probably isn’t feasible.)
- Cocoa (I could see this as a possibility, but unfortunately Aztec conquerors don’t fire if it’s 1300 or before.)
- Fur (No AI will have this, but this surprisingly not too unreasonable, since you can ship a settler and worker to Siberia, and that’ll work.)

Even with the semi-reliable fur and wine, that only brings us to 13 happiness resources, and I don’t see a way to get a 14th without having to restart over and over again until AI conditions are ideal.

Overall I’m really not that keen on this UHV as relying on AI luck really isn’t the way to go. If I had control, I’d probably change it to something like 12 unique resources, or add 100 or 200 year to prevent having to rely on sheer luck. Maybe even trying to something else like building 10 plantations or something, which would be similar without AI reliance.

However, if there is a strategy out there to be this one that’s at least 50% reliable, it’d be great to know. If anyone in the comments has beaten this UHV and has a strategy, I’d love to hear it!

 

[a pen-dragon]

I did this a few times 1-2 months ago, so on a different version. What I wrote about it is here. I usually did not have much trouble to trade for silk. Remember that it is only for this UHV goal, so it is acceptable to agree to an otherwise very bad deal to get it. Give the Mongols sufficient other things and you will get that trade.

In my experience either the Arabs, Turks or Mongols will be willing to trade Wine.

Concerning Tea, there are multiple resources in Souther China. In the current status China is frequently too incompetent to keep that Area.

This still depends a little on luck, but I do not have a problem with that. Also consider that this version is currently under developement and that how the Game usually plays out is subject to change. This is especially relevant for Tea in China.

In conclusion any change to this UHV would need to come after balancing the rest of the game.

 

[Apple111111]

Yeah I’ve been doing economically abysmal deals with other mongols and gifting them techs, I think the problem is just right now, China consistently collapses by about 1100, I think there were some changes to China in the past that puts a lot more pressure on them to collapse, particularly the new barbarians ensure that they never make it to south China. Mongols seem to be doing fine right now, though similarly to China, they won’t manage to succeed in reaching the south by 1300.

I guess I’ll just wait for a couple of months before this UHV is in a state where it’s achievable again with a solid chance.