Deity Toku

[yyeah]

Maybe i said something wrong, but thats what i meent beeline alpha ( had to res agc and mining ealier). And then go for Construcion.
I dont know is Construcion better, depends on target. And i wanted to take out Zara becouse i hate him i hate hes culture, expand rate etc etc. I just hate this ai . So i wanted to have something stronger then swords.
Iam playing now i went allmoust same path at begining ( agc-mining-hunting) then Alpha, Math, Construcion. But i didnt settle this east rice spot, GK DoW on Hatty Shaka DoW on Hatty and Saladin DoW on Shaka .
Basterd Zara allrdy had maces wheni attacked him ;p.
So far i took 3 hes cities and 2 big stacks will c, ha have Engi allrdy but iam full out so maybe i can pull this off Samurais in 6 turns

 

[Anysense]

Settled two cities as you suggested. Fish-silver spot in the north and at the border with Zara 1S from copper. I will certainly lose it to his culture, at least he will get it much later than if would settle this city himself.
Finished GK, bribed Saladin off war with Hattshepsut, I don't want him to become stronger. On the contrary Shaka was helpful. I build very few new units, mainly built forges, levees and factories. A few CR3 rifles and trebuchets were enough to beat Hattie.
Relations are not completely spoiled. I can make Shaka friendly through gifting him fascism and adopting police state. Probaly diplomatic victory is a good shot here. Or launch spaceship in 17xx? I haven't been winning peacefully for nearly half a year.

Spoiler :

Zara is ahead in tech, though not too far.

Spoiler :

Also its time to change civics (GA has just begun). I think of US, bureau, emancipation, state property, theocracy. The latter is of course for diplo bonuses.

 

[Anysense]

I am too lazy for space race so...

Spoiler :

 

[Kaitzilla]

I am too lazy for space race so...

Spoiler :

Very nice!
Deity is pretty tough with these settings.

 

[BornInCantaloup]

gg, Anysense !

I don't think Space is appropriate for a Pangaea map. Diplo is just fine !

Maps like these are heavily dependent on the RNG : religious spread and diplo situation can make for very different games.
So, I don't think this is a map that one should try to force a strategy upon. Better to read the map and go with the flow, rather than going head on.
Things like that make shared wars most appealing and Confucian peacemongers the juicest targets.


@ yyeah :
You didn't say anything wrong, I guessed wrong.
Alpha --> Construction may be the best path to Construction.
I've got a habit to trade for Alpha with Maths/HBR when going for Construction, so... this is where I misunderstood you.
Alpha beeline is reason enough to skip BW.


@ 1220 AD, slowly making progress :

Spoiler :

Got a tribute from Saladdin for peace, after he broke a few stacks on my newly captured hill city : Beshbalik.
Pushed on my monster stack, got Karak, another city, split the stack, got one more :

Spoiler :

Two more cities to go, then I'll take peace for Astronomy.
I'll let Hattie kill Genghis and capture a city swarmed in Arabian culture.

Kills, Losses, Infrastructure (aka Hill Cities FTW) :

Spoiler :

Keeping control over the tiles is pretty hard, despite investing a lot in early culture.
I may not be building enough troops RIGHT NOW. I could use Cavalries, even though they die :

Spoiler :

Tech situation, now going for Steel. I'd like Communism but I feel like I've got to upgrade some of these 20 Trebuchets :

Spoiler :

Not a huge margin. Got Rifling over most AIs, that's about it.
Zara got Sci Meth just this turn, this is what happens when the map is a whole time world war.

Now got to ponder my next target. Can I make use of the army I got now ?
Zara is at war with Cyrus (might gobble him entirely).
Hatshepsut has the Jewish shrine. These two AIs control many of our tiles.
Shaka has very few cities.
Saladdin hates me.

Save is attached, if you wanna peek in.

 

[Anysense]

Zara became way too big, religious victory seems possible though. First thing that comes into head is to bribe Zara off the war with Cyrus and gift him New Sarai. This diplo bonus will most likely be useless, anyway I see no other use for this city. Then Finish GK and proceed dowing Saladin. The folowing actions depend on whom Shaka is going to DOW. If he declares on Saladin then you can make Shaka vote for you, in different case simply stomp him. However I am not quite certain whether you can get the majority you need to win.
Btw its impressive how many units you killed! Also I have noticed that you built only one warrior and 6 archers. You had your cities defenseless till archery?

 

[yyeah]

Zara on this map is unkillable ;p i meen as 1st target. Tryied sword rush failed hes settling Copper imidietly and allso going for BW, my Construcion failed he got Engi but i still think that i could pull this out but AP saved him, same thing with my Engi Samurai attempt, i allso went for MT after few turns Zara -> Rifling.
I dont know hot to take this guy out, he got great land hes techin rly fast and hes big.
i think i have enough trying, or maybe last try on him maybe i have an idea.

Edit.

Spoiler :

Now i was a little bit more ... determinated

 

[BornInCantaloup]

Zara became way too big, religious victory seems possible though. First thing that comes into head is to bribe Zara off the war with Cyrus and gift him New Sarai. This diplo bonus will most likely be useless, anyway I see no other use for this city. Then Finish GK and proceed dowing Saladin. The folowing actions depend on whom Shaka is going to DOW. If he declares on Saladin then you can make Shaka vote for you, in different case simply stomp him. However I am not quite certain whether you can get the majority you need to win.
Btw its impressive how many units you killed! Also I have noticed that you built only one warrior and 6 archers. You had your cities defenseless till archery?

If think I'll try and get a military victory. Zara is big but if I can secure enough land in the East, then I should be able to invade him.

Spoiler :

I can't bribe him off Cyrus, I don't think I can. I've bribed him off once and he re-declared. Now I only have Rifling to offer, and I'm not willing to.
Gifting cities is a possibility but it would only make the culture situation harder : I'd rather sacrifice a couple cities and let them work only a couple of tiles, rather than gift them and have other cities pressured.

Regarding the early game, yes, I managed with two warriors only, one in the NE and one in the south. That allowed me to start on Granaries early, which is good. Had basically 0 barb encounters.

Killing units in defence has proven to be a nice practice.
The key is to have a critical mass of units to absorb collateral damage (siege helps since it's immune) AND to have fit defenders all the way through combat.
The finer point of killing stacks in defence is two-fold :
- no war weariness suffered from fighting in the homeland ;
- fortify + hill bonuses.

Regarding the next war target, I think invading Hatchetsoup is the right call :
It will free up dozens of tiles for my southern cities,
I'll get the Jewish shrine in the deal,
I'll get the Sistine Chapel,
She's likely to have the weakest army, compared with Shaka (Rifling) and Saladin.

So, by 1320 AD,
I've just been elected AP resident,
Zara has killed Cyrus entirely,
I've DoWed Hattie, sniped a border city (former Mongol city),
And prepared the invasion of Holy City Memphis.
It goes like this :

Spoiler :

Hattie has suicided 19 units in this attack. 2 of her Cuirassiers retreated.
She's got some units trapped in Arabian culture in the North-East. (I may want to watch out for this, she may regain border control at some point, then I'll need some Riflemen in the north).

Culture situation in the east :

Spoiler :

Need some garrisons to prevent city revolts.

Key to advance in the field has been to obtain that critical mass of units as early as possible, this 50-units stack.


EDIT 1380 AD update :
See, we're not just gaining cities, there, but also a belly for our Empire : tiles that developped cities can work straight up. An underlying problem with our Empire has been that it was just a stretch of land.
Also, Spiral Minaret & Sistine Chapel can make a big difference when Jewish buildings are spammed every where.

Spoiler :

Also, Memphis :

Spoiler :

11xp canons don't die much. 5xp Rifles can get Combat 3 out of the gates, or Drill 3, or Pinch and +.
Toku has some tremendous Rifles. I wonder if I can take the Combat 3 ones to the March promotion with great benefits.

@ yyeah :
Killing Zara by the early ADs looks very promising.

 

[BornInCantaloup]

Stack vs stack,
Buying time technology :

Spoiler :

Shaka's stack (from war against Saladin) appeared last turn.
I lacked units in the area to defend Turfan. Still, I gathered as many as possible in the city.
But also two baits :
- A rifleman 1NW of the city (lacked 1 move to reach the city) ;
- A worker 1S of the city.

Result :
Shaka's whole stack takes the worker bait, giving an extra turn to assemble sufficient numbers and defend.