Deity England Playthrough

[Minh Le]

Hi guys.
So the patch is released. Its time for some more recording . Sorry no commentary because I speak English like an infant . This time Im gonna play as the England, one of the civ which got some very interesting change in the patch.

Spoiler England - The Spy Master :

Soooo England lost her advance action at the start of the game. It was moved to Banking, but what she gained?
- She now have a spy at the start of the game, and her spies are 25% more effective (perform at 1 rank higher than normal). It means English spies will steal things 25% faster and harder to catch. Its awsome. Compare to the lv2 spy as before, the new UA is much stronger. The starting lv1 spy is as effective as the old lv2, but all future spies will be much better than before.
- New UB: the White Tower. Awsome NW which give tons of Science and buff castle and armory and constabulary... It will be a lot of science and 9 culture/city .
England's kit is much stronger than before.

Here's the part 1, I will try to upload 1 part a day if Im not too busy.

I used Comunitas map this time and got a really strong start with tons of fishing boats. Perfect opportunity to try God of the Sea since it had some change as well. And I was able to found a religion with only 3 cities. Indonesia forward settle me like an ******* ... He will pay the price now. Although Im gonna go for aggressive warmongering this game, I picked Progress instead of Authority because: 1, There is only one CS nearby so I will have trouble demand tribute; 2, Most of my war will be naval battle, so I dont really need Authority much. 3, Progress works very well with England, stolen techs give culture too . My spy already did a really good job stealing tech, we will see how the game go.
Edit: Turn 0 save added.

 

[randomnub]

Ow, you could have succesfully defended Makassar and killed some ships with your own fleet, or at least retreat the garrison . It felt as if you tried to use garrisoned ranged ships as in vanilla

Weird map, that sea is gorgeous but I'm unsure of Hasting's value. On a God of Sea start I usually go for Fishing before Pottery, in your case churning out 3 boats before working on settlers. Pottery is a tech that most AIs take first so could have been stolen, but I'm not sure of the timing there. I just like to work improved fish asap and forward settle with an embarked settler later.

England surely looks like heavily buffed by this patch.

 

[Minh Le]

Ow, you could have succesfully defended Makassar and killed some ships with your own fleet, or at least retreat the garrison . It felt as if you tried to use garrisoned ranged ships as in vanilla

Weird map, that sea is gorgeous but I'm unsure of Hasting's value. On a God of Sea start I usually go for Fishing before Pottery, in your case churning out 3 boats before working on settlers. Pottery is a tech that most AIs take first so could have been stolen, but I'm not sure of the timing there. I just like to work improved fish asap and forward settle with an embarked settler later.

England surely looks like heavily buffed by this patch.

Haha Im kinda drunk last night so Im a little clumsy. I dont think delay pottery is a good idea. I will end up with even less space to settle, and I dont know when I can discover someone's capital to spy on. Sometimes I just cant find them very soon.
P/s: About religion choice, Im torn between Coucil of Elder and Theocratic Rules, also Inspiration or Dilligent. What do you think?

 

[TranceBlossom]

Would you ever consider Tradition with England’s new kit? I think overall they prefer wider play, but with a food-heavy start with no room for peaceful expansion (like the one you had) I’m curious if you think Tradition could work.

 

[Minh Le]

Would you ever consider Tradition with England’s new kit? I think overall they prefer wider play, but with a food-heavy start with no room for peaceful expansion (like the one you had) I’m curious if you think Tradition could work.

Yeah. Tradition and gunning for a culture/science victory is definitely possible. But this game I want to try for a progress warmongering game and aim for Domination/Diplomat victory.
England is very flexible.

 

[Minh Le]

Yesterday was a busy day. However I still got some time before sleep to make a new part. Im kinda tired because of all the day work, so I didnt think much. I just play. And suddenly I realize Im in the between of Persia and Songhai .. They will declare war on me no matter what I do. That's for sure. I just hope they wont do it at the same time .
Songhai is big after eating Brazil and Polynessia. He litterally built all the wonders now.
My plan gonna be trying to defend myself, build a strong navy and take Songhai capital which has 999 Wonders in it .
Here is the 2nd part:

 

[Minh Le]

Hi guys.
Part 3 is up. The unevitable war with Songhai has started. I have pretty good possition to defend by having sea separate our cities. Persia started to move troop to my border, he probably gonna declare war next, but Songhai already want peace so I dont have to deal with the 2 of them at the same time. Im gonna take Medan before peace out with Songhai though.

 

[Minh Le]

Hi guys. Part 4 is up. Hope you guys enjoy it.
Persia joins the fun and send a real army toward Jakarta to feed experience to my units. I was able to reform and take Defender of the Faith, so its gonna be a bit easier to defend now. I took Medan and peace out with Songhai. Medan is a very good city with 3 Crabs, Im gonna annex it soon. Finished Navigation at the end of this part so Im gonna have Ship of the Line next and go for offensive. Persia gonna pay the price for declare war on me NOW.

Here I'm gonna share some tips about defending (with picture):

Spoiler How to defend effectively :

Here you can see my defensive line against the Persia:
- The tanking line: Use your highest combat strength units here. The knight is actually defend more effectively with 25 CS compare to the Longsword with only 20 CS. You should position your units in a way so they only take at most 2 or 3 hits a turn (my knights have only 2 open tiles infront of them) so they dont die immediately on one turn.
- Reserve Units: Remember to keep some units as reserve (the yellow circle) so they can replace front line units to heal.
- The killing force: They will be ranged/mounted units who can safely deal damage (the yellow triangle). My crossbow also act as medics.
- Use recon units: Recon is useful, remember to use them (the red circle). They can spot enemies reinforcement so you wont advance reklessly and put yourself in vulnerable spot which is the main reason for losing a war and rage quit . They can also kill those lone siege weapon and pillage enemies traderoutes, strategic resources.
- Use Fort and Citadel: Forts and citadel in the key stratagic location is the key factor which can make an impossible war possible. With 1 fort my ship can rotate and attack the enemies. With 1 more fort and a citadel I can move my ship through and attack Ecbatana with my naval supperior. If I cant use my navy this war will be impossible.
And remember to never let your city surrounded. You can have 3 or 4 open tiles so your city can take some dmg (city with full defensive buildings is quite tanky), but no more. And dont let enemies siege weapon to freely shot at your city.

 

[Minh Le]

Hi guys. I finally got some time for another update of the playthrough.
The war with Persia continue in this part, and he stands no chance against my Ship of the OPness. What really worry me is Persia is having a defensive pact with Songhai, and I dont want to have to deal with both of them at a same time. So I try to dragging the war and pushing further into Persia's territory, hopefully I can take his capital before war weariness becomes too much. I stop at the 3rd Policy Tree with all three can have their use.
- Rationalism: It can help further my tech lead and the wonder gives 2 more spies, also level up all my spies so my new spy will start at lv3.
- Imperialism: More movement and combat strength for my navy is very welcome. Its not the matter of if, but the matter of when I will have to settle it one and for all with Songhai, and he's a very tough opponent.
- Industry: More infrastructure, more gold and most important is more culture. I need to catch up in policy.
What do you think? What tree should I pick?

 

[Minh Le]

Hi guys;
Here's another update.

I decided to take Imperialism because I will have war with Songhai very soon. Actually I must war with him now, since Im close to Dynamite and I'm at the peak of power with Cruiser. Cruiser upgraded from Ship of the OPness have immediately 2 shots/turn, with England UA, Great Lighthouse, Imperialism and Promotion, they will have 8 move, and 2 range, an absolute monster. I will easily have complete control over the sea with them. On the other hand, the Battle Ship comes very late and come at the top of the tech tree where the tech path leading there doesnt unlock any defensive building, so I wont get it for some time. I have no chance fighting Songhai inland because I went Progress Vs him Authority, so his land army will be much stronger, also his UA will give him a great advantage. One more anoying part of Songhai UA is the War cano Promotion for all of his land units which makes them very durable in transport. The war with Songhai will be very tough, he also has Fealty and his cities have almost double CS compare to mine .

 

[Minh Le]

Hi guys;
I got a few more updates on this:
Part 8:

Part 9:

Part 10:

The war with Songhai continue. My goal is to take his capital with load of Wonders in there. English Navy dominate the map now. I can overpower Songhai thanks to them.
One more cool thing about Ship of OPness is you dont need to go down the Targeting line to get Logistic, you can go for Bombardment and have some very strong city destroyer with 2 shots, it makes a huge different, especially with an opponent as strong as Songhai who have a capital with 120 CS and tons of units, production, gold to creat even more units.
Im fighting with Songhai on 3 fronts now. It's exciting, it've been a long time since I have such a large scale war which will punish me hard if I make a few mistakes. I have to take Jenne first so it wont produce 2 units/turn to throw at my back. Also I need to protect/liberate my ally CS. War weariness is kicking in but im sure Songhai is also suffering too, so I can continue the war, because he is the only competitor now. As long as he is suffering the same as me, its ok.

 

[Minh Le]

Hi guys, this series is finished.
Here are the parts:
Part 11:

Part 12:

Part 13:

Part 14:

Part 15:

Part Final:
https://youtu.be/oPBwOtJ5Xok
This was a very fun game. I was lucky to have a map that allowed my navy to dominate the battle field. Otherwise I dont think I can ever win against a runaway Songhai, definitely not on land. I could aim for a diplomatic victory in this case but he will just eat all the city states.
England is much more fun to play with now. Her kit is very flexible. I can steal a great work every 9 turns, while early game I can steal a lot of techs, or if Im ahead I can rig election and enjoy nice rewards from the White Tower and having ally CS is never a bad thing. England can go either wide, tall and can gear for all type of victory condition.
I've played a lot of Civ lately, so Im gonna take a break and wait for the new patch. In the mean time Im making a Total War Rome 2 Playthrough using DEI mod, its also a outstanding mod for Rome 2 just like VP for Civ 5. If you play Rome 2, you can check it out.