Deity Challenge Lineup #43 Japan

[Grendeldef]

Terra is basically double Pangaea where the second continent is smaller and crappier while Terra Incognita starts with the same premise BUT the second continent may not exist at all or if it does it may have two halves which require Astronomy to move between them.
In other words with the options I used here the map may end like Pangaea, Continents or Small Continents which I see as a welcomed unpredictability. Out of the past DCLs the Indonesia one was an interesting one to me. Even better if there was a Terra/Continents hybrid like 3 roughly equal continents separated bye seas starting locations on only two of them.

I also continued my game up to late 4C NC and the only thing I can say for sure is that this won't be fast whatever I decide to do.

 

[Sclb]

The 2nd continent on this map is settled at the start, just like a continent game. Contains

Spoiler :

2 civs, and pretty sure the viking will kill the other dude. It's also reachable with trieme, which is pretty interesting.

 

[beetle]

On other words with the options I used here the map may end like Pangaea, Continents or Small Continents which I see as a welcomed unpredictability.

I like it! But this map has no Cocoa. It does have Bison. Does TI ever give you Cocoa? I notice that it predates the patch that added Bison and Cocoa into the standard mix.

 

[Grendeldef]

Had to make few maps to confirm but as I suspected the resources & luxes are independent from the map scripts ie the game version dictates what luxes & resources are put on the map so yes, Cocoa amongst other later additions can be found on TI maps.

 

[Sclb]

I should also confirm that there are 18 CS on this map, more than usual, but has nothing to do with map script, it's just a setting. Several CS can spawn on the same small continent/island, in addition to on the 2nd large continent. I like this more than usual Terra.

 

[beetle]

Had to make few maps to confirm but as I suspected the resources & luxes are independent from the map scripts ie the game version dictates what luxes & resources are put on the map so yes, Cocoa amongst other later additions can be found on TI maps.

Thanks for checking into this. I guess I never noticed, is it is common for standard size maps to omit a lux or two?

I like this more than usual Terra.

For sure! But then, Terra is generally pretty terrible for any civ other than Polynesia (as was the case with aforementioned DCL#10). I think I may like this script (with the settings Grendeldef used) better than any of the stock options!

As I grind my way to the further away caps, I am finally spotting the latter era resources. I had more turns than before, but I am not going to finish in time. I am still conflicted as to how a player of my mediocre skills can win this map. I am doing better with money this time, having opened Commerce instead of Aesthetics, but now I am back to thinking a CV run is the way to go. I cannot hope to take any caps before arty + bombers, and I cannot hope to take out the faraway runaway at all (at least not before he wins by CV). But I think that if, after Radar, I beeline Internet (as opposed to just pursing more and more military techs, as I did with my current game) I might do well enough capturing WW to win by CV.

 

[Nigel_Tufnel2]

t133 - Tremble at the sight of my mighty Lib-Piety empire!

Spoiler :

Not a lot good going for this map/civ. Uluru was pretty nice, so I got OWN, Mosques and Pagodas, Tithe, and am trying Def of Faith for the first time. Attila has been prancing way superior units forever, and bribes keep getting more expensive - no extra hills for ranged fire. The other nice thing is the terrain near Belgrade. I got 4 Workers by lurking 2 E of Uluru to heal a Scout. Stole a Worker from Dido with the other Scout, and miraculously fought off 2 Warriors and barbs near Wellington until Warriors could make a convoy. Thus I had a hard time scouting at all as 4 barb camps must have spawned 25 units, including Horsies and Swords while I still had Warriors and Archers. I was over my unit cap a lot, and had to settle S and E first, ugh.

After L side Liberty (Tradition obviously better with only 4 unique lux), I decided this game was going to suck a lot, so I decided a very late Sacred Sites strat was in order. It will be nearly worthless, and Piety is awful on Diety, so it sounded like a good move. Probably had a t100s NC and just got Education t133. Had to go hard lower tree to get Markets everywhere, production is mostly awful too, so Workshops before Unis.

Shaka took Dido's cap and an expo, and will roll up Alex soon. He coveted my land from his expo 20 tiles away without scouting or an embassy. Dick. Not sure how long I will play this, I guess I always assume the worst and then win, but really - no local iron?!? My first Samurai will have to get his sword rusty building fishing boats.

Spoiler :

 

[beetle]

I decided this game was going to suck a lot, so I decided a very late Sacred Sites strat was in order. It will be nearly worthless, and Piety is awful on Diety, so it sounded like a good move.

You have me cracking up! Thanks for sharing! I must have gotten lucky with the northern neighbor, as he is all in your grill. Makes me feel better about my terrible game!

Spoiler :

I settled Barringer Crater early, and he complained, but Tilly let me live. Then I got another expo down for the only plot with two bits of iron. It is tough map!

 

[Nigel_Tufnel2]

Nice settling, beetle!

Spoiler :

I couldn't even scout N until I had my 3rd city down, I think. I was tempted to put down 8-9, as I met Monte and Harald early-ish (hence SS idea), but I knew it would piss off Attila way too much. He now has 10 cities. I have kept him in almost perma-war with Shaka, but all his units are still on my border, even though Shaka just settled twice in his face and Attila is moving an unescorted Settler to shoot the gap. WTH?!?

BTW, I went Jesuit Ed instead, but what good will 6 Unis do costing me 12 gpt at this point? Last bribe cost 2 lux and 9 gpt. I explored past Monte on the other continent, but there are currently only 4 CS. Only one quest completed. Makes me yearn for the Rome and Polynesia DCLs...

 

[beetle]

Nice settling, beetle!

That’s all the encouragement I need to post a screen shot! Here is where I am on the same turn you shared, T133. I went 6 city Liberty (4 policies, then Tradition opener, then finished for Academy on only dry grassland near cap. NC is late, won’t be done until T150, and I have no trade routes -- but otherwise I am okay with it. I will be adding a puppet city before too long.

Spoiler :

Alex will soon put down a city between Carthage and Utique, on a lux free spot on marsh and plains. Just because he can. Other than than, I was pleased with how I captured almost all the bonus tiles and cut off any spots for an AI to settle near me.

 

[Nigel_Tufnel2]

The N neighbor took out the CS before I even busted the fog...

 

[Sclb]

One of the side effects of disabling diplo V would be UN session every 10 turns in the atomic era, which was helpful for timing IG perfectly. Normally WL votes would alternate every 10 turns. The other feature of my game was for pure RP purposes, to go full honor, autocracy domination based CV with cult of personality. Revived 2 civs so that I would have 2 enemy targets for total of 100% increased tourism to last civ to get influenced. That is in addition to TR/OB bonus, and on top of winning IG, won in approximately 6 turns after IG without any GM. I also find that Aesthetics is useless for domination based CV.

Spoiler :

Start was rather slow. Settled capital close to Uluru for the religion that includes Pagodas. Pantheon has extra food from camps, enhanced with RC. Pretty essential for wide liberty. Slow NC at T109 with 5 cities GE rushed, and later expanded to 8 cities core empire. Stole workers off closest CS and Attila, and he never liked me the entire game. Attila was able to settle the spot near Barringer Crater so it would be problematic as it provides easy way for him to citadel bomb Tokyo, which was my only coastal city with significant hammers so most of my wonders were built there. My capital (Kyoto) wasn't coastal and lack hammers, so it only built some minor wonders such as PT. It would be more fun if I was able to move my capital to Tokyo as real Japan did. I did not build any early wonders, due to pretty late start. It did not matter, as the game plan was domination in the modern era.

Early to mid game was all about keeping enough happiness while bribing civs to fight each other so that Dido and Attila wouldn't plan an invasion. But Attila DoW me anyway, but he sent no units and accept peace soon after I bribed others civs against him. Dido was easy as she was between Shaka, Genghis and Alex. Eventually she was able to take out Alex and got into a stalemate with Genghis. Attila on the other hand took out Shaka early and was competing with Harald. While Harald on the other hand took out Monty early and had an entire continent to himself. It is also very weird that Genghis built a lot of wonders.

Harald, myself went for Autocracy, Genghis for Freedom, Dido and Attila went order, so based of my past grudges with Attila, he'll start to either invade me or citadel bomb me, so better get ready for invasion. So got DoF with Harald, and pretty much he'll be my war partner for the rest of the game. With the tier 3 autocracy cult of personality, every common enemy we fight will gain an additional 50% tourism to Harald. Except it's too early since I have almost no tourism at this point, but it's something to note.

I upgraded Samurai to modern units, since they haven't done anything other than building fishing boats. Once I get an air force, Attila fell pretty quickly since he had no air defense. Meanwhile I built a navy for Dido, and attacked her as soon as I had carriers with Zeroes protected by subs and complemented with battleships. My army/bombers moved through former Shaka lands and met up with navy when both invaded Genghis. In the process, liberated some of Alex and Shaka's cities. Eventually both Dido and Genghis was eliminated, as both eventually went atomic era and I didn't want them to get nukes or build wonders. Sold off razed cities to Harald to minimize happiness hit.

Timed IG vote soon after my final conquered city ended resistance, and rushed hotels/airports in the most important ones after winning IG easily. In the meantime, tech Internet, so it was very quick game after that point. Especially with the additional 100% tourism to Harald since we both DoWed a revived Shaka/Alex. Internet+IG alone got me to 1864 tourism, and with the OB/TR/autocracy bonus, got to effectively 4660 tourism against his 50k culture. Basically ended the game very soon after winning IG.

Built most wonders after modern to increase my culture since +culture to WW was passed. CN tower was massive boost, as well as Prora for happiness, and Big Ben for mercantilism synergy. Usual PT also. Neuschwanstein is also huge in Autocracy games since castles are +3 . Eventually everything +culture was passed in the WC, along with WR/WI. Managed to flip Dido to autocracy during the war when the combined pressure was too much for her. Got so many SP that I had more than 100 at the end. Full commerce along with most of the happiness policies from autocracy. Full liberty and full honor also. Rationalism up to secularism.

In keeping with the RP, no nuclear weapon was every used.

Spoiler :

 

[stormtrooper412]

so the cult of personality does indeed stack per number of common enemies. Good thinking leaving them on for the sake of making use of that perk

 

[Iberian]

@SCLB

You are the first person I have seen who plays like I do. I love going wide liberty and conquering everything in site without burning the world down. I almost always go for a religion just to get the pagoda's because wide empires need that happiness.

The biggest downside is that it takes at least 2x as long in real life time to play.

 

[Sclb]

@SCLB

You are the first person I have seen who plays like I do. I love going wide liberty and conquering everything in site without burning the world down. I almost always go for a religion just to get the pagoda's because wide empires need that happiness.

The biggest downside is that it takes at least 2x as long in real life time to play.

Yes, although I could've just conquered the remaining 2 capitals with nukes and end it really quickly with DomV, I took the long route and almost fully integrated my conquered empire for the more fun CV.

 

[beetle]

Turn 449 Domination Victory. Yes, it takes me just that long!

I thought I could get a CV just by finishing Aesthetics/Internet/NVC and then wipe someone out. Unfortunately, the neighbor and the faraway runaway where both influential over me. So I started working on caps, but it was very slow going. And I had to make sure no one killed off the civ. He was down to a single city at one point, which would have handed the fairway runaway a CV if he was killed.

First screen shot is one amusing development. I gifted a cap to a civ that I had recalled to life -- because I was about to loose it back to the faraway runaway anyway.
Two turns later, that civ DOWs me. I had a rocket launcher in the cap when I gifted it -- so I just bombed myself, stepped out of the city, and took it with an XCOM. Very silly. (So I reloaded to avoid that nonsense.)

 

[consentient]

I like this map already. Easy to make a great start, but the midgame will be tough. Certainly pre-Artillery warfare will be hard. Maybe Bombers (accompanied by UU) is the way to go on this map?

T145 Update

I found it easier going than I thought. As always, NE neighbour is a pushover, N central neighbour was paid to war simultaneously to his West leaving his E flank exposed. His capital was sniped, peace quickly made. He has like 15 cities so don't want to get bogged down in a series of razings. So I drop S and take out The Mythical Backstabber a turn after our DoF finishes, her capital is sniped too.

But my always best buddy stands between me and the only other threat on this continent, and the guys on the other island love me completely, and I'm points leader, so I'll probably just concentrate on infrastructure until Flight now, I think.

All I can say is that Japan have gone up in my estimation. Their UA is stronger on Deity than I thought. You just need spam. If in doubt, do what Oda does when he's against you. The Samurai that have survived are hard as nails. Not quite as good as upgraded Jags, but not far off.

 

[consentient]

T217 Domination

Japan's UA has gone waaaaay up in my estimation. If you spam units you get an edge that no-one else has. Bushido city charges are really fun.

Grendel didn't disappoint in providing a really fun map, but the AI tech pace was too slow because of constant wars between all factions. Definitely a map for people who want to play with self-imposed limits, I think.

I could have won a lot faster (maybe 20-25 turns) but I totally messed up the invasion of the other continent, and I wasted too much time liberating the CS that Genghis had puppeted.

This map is probably doable within 20 turns of hitting Artillery, and a better player may be able to hit Dynamite earlier than T167, which is when I did it.

Liberty, Commerce, with spares going to Trad Opener, Rat Opener and Exploration Opener. 4 city NC, with Oracle into Lib finisher for NC.

GREAT FUN! Makes me want to roll another map. Who's up for a Zulu DomV race?

 

[stormtrooper412]

Jesus, that was savage

 

[Grendeldef]

Damn it, I need to find more time to play this to finish if it is as fun as Consentient makes it sound - I love the enthusiasm.
My game is still idling somewhere around the NC but I'm generally pleased getting people introduced with a 'new' map script which I prefer over the built-in ones.