I'm working on a new HOF attempt, seeing whether I can beat my old deity score with the 1.17 patch.
I've been playing a huge map with 60% water to give the maximum scoring potential. 16 Civs for maximum complexity.
I'm using 5 billion years, warm, and wet settings, to increase the maximum population potential. I didn't think those settings would make the game harder or easier. As things turn out I think they do make it a bit harder. Most of the Civs get very good start positions with these settings. So the AI Civs, with their deity advantages, get off to a roaring start! I think that may work against score - it pretty much eliminates any chance of getting the jump on a rival early on. A long stage of careful buildup is necessary before there's any chance of competing with them. But with 1.17 and without pop rushing perhaps that is unavoidable anyway.
I'm playing a Pangaea map. Archipelago would offer more scoring potential (lots more sea in one's territory) but would I think be very much more difficult with these settings. Continents would offer a little more scoring potential but I played that way last time, decided to try Pangaea this time.
I'm on my third try now. First try I played Japan. Got smeared around 300BC. I refused an extortion demand and soon afterward I had a large number of Civs ganged up on me. I was far from equal to any of them in strength, the situation was hopeless.
Second try I played the Chinese. Got to about 500AD but I was just too far behind in growth and development to have much hope of reaching a conquest. I was way behind in culture which was really hurting. I shouldn't have tried as China, I did it just to see, but it just didn't work as well for my style.
In my current try I'm playing as Japan again. This is my favorite combination I think: Religious and Militaristic. This time it seems to be working. I'm approaching 1400AD and am by a large margin the strongest Civ, approaching 1/2 of the world in my borders.
It is a very tough game with 1.17! I haven't use the remaining pop rush trick since it is clearly an unintended exploit. Without pop rushing the whole approach had to be different. The game has had a few phases:
1) Survival. Science at zero, saved up money. Expand and build. Gave in to all extortion demands using the money saved from science. Built some temples very early to get a culture head start on the AIs and maintain parity in the long run. Extremely careful trading of maps in one crucial turn (right after all the AIs learned Map Making) gained tech parity at that point. After that I maintained tech, just a bit behind, with careful ongoing trading.
2) Get size parity. Attack a neighbor. I did this when Samurai became available, to trigger a golden age. That was 430BC. I attacked a neighbor who was already at war with another Civ and had some resources I wanted. Fought enough to eventually get a leader and build Forbidden Palace in the territory captured from my neighbor. In this stage I captured cities - had fairly high culture and hadn't been able to devote any resources to building settlers for a raze and replace approach.
3) Build infrastructure and maintain tech parity. Research rate still zero. During this stage I fought a few opportunistic wars with neighbors who were already under attack, gaining a bit in size and luxuries, then traded peace for tech and sometimes a city or two. I traded maps and occasionally a resource (e.g. horses to a far away weak Civ) for tech. Just barely hung on to tech parity in this phase! The tech pace is stunning. By 300AD everyone in the world knew Steam Power and Nationalism. Although I did no research, I did build libraries and universities during this stage. They help with culture and would eventually be needed for research. During this phase I tried to build a strong infrastructure for the coming stages.
4) Take the tech lead. This was about 500AD. I traded heavily for Scientific Method once it was available. I'd saved a leader - used him for Theory of Evolution. I sold Atomic Theory for a small fortune and started research on Radio at 100%. Some turns later I sold Electronics for another small fortune and some side techs. From that point onward I've managed to (barely!) maintain a tech lead. I've been able to sell each new tech I research for some gold (after the first two sales usually not as much as the research cost, but enough to still keep my science at 100%), to include side techs in the trades, and to build up a nice cash reserve. I applied cash to aggressively building up infrastructure during this phase. I used a leader from a minor war to build Hoover Dam, crucial for building up production.
5) Take the power lead. I was not the strongest or largest Civ by a fair margin yet. I planned ahead, working toward throwing the world into massive war a bit after 900AD. I set up an MPP with a very strong neighbor, Iroquois. A few turns later I took some additional MPPs with a couple of distant rivals. I made sure everyone was involved in some MPPs, trying to reduce the chance of a premature war. Just before the MPP with Iroquois expired I declared war on our mutual strong neighbor Russia. Iroquois and Russia had MPP as well but that didn't matter - when Russia attacked me next turn, Iroquois went to war with them. Soon after that, when my Iroquois MPP expired, I also declared war on my former friends the Iroquois. The result was that on the next turn, my two strongest neighbors were at war with each other, and much of the rest of the world was at war with both of them. Wonderful stuff! When the dust settled a bit after 1200AD, I was by a slight margin the most powerful Civ. (But still had to worry about the other Civs deity bonus of course!) Was the largest by a wide margin - I'd taken almost all of the ex-Iroquois territory and some of Russia's. And I still had a slight science lead. The world was at the Nuclear Power stage by this time.
Since then I've been increasing my lead. The major concern I have at this point is taking out my major rivals before they stockpile too large a nuclear arsenal. A massive nuclear war could still blow this game.
I had a very bad moment in 1255AD. America, my strongest remaining rival, had cancelled our MPP a few turns before. She still had many troops in my territory. Without warning she declared war. I was quite surprised, thought we were on good terms. But I couldn't really blame America - I had to admit that this was just the kind of maneuver I would pull.
On the turn that America treacherously attacked me she captured 5 of my cities and razed an additional 5. One of the razed ones was one of my core cities near my Forbidden Palace. America also moved a stack of 55 tanks into a forest beside one of my boundary cities, a few jumps from my Palace, ready to clobber my crucial boundary city next turn.
To make matters worse, America had MPP with two other Civs and ROPs with almost everyone else. So as soon as I retaliated I'd be in an unwanted war with 3 Civs.
Quite a bit of damage! I thought I was toast at this point. But I had too much time invested to give up without at least trying. I went into panic mode. I used about 1/2 my cash reserve (had 9000 gold saved up at the time), plus some resource trades, to buy alliances against America from four other Civs. (One the second largest rival, the other three small players but important for eliminating ROPs with America, particularly the ROP which had allowed the large tank stack to arrive at my doorstep.) I used most of my offensive units' moves to kill off the scattered American units in my territory. I used a few infantry to fortify key points, then used the remainder of my infantry (about 25) to defend the town under attack. Moved all my artillery (about 10) there and shelled the tanks. Used about 10 remaining unused offensive units to weaken the incoming tank stack. Then crossed my fingers and ended the turn. The American tank stack attacked but failed! I ended up with about 10 wounded infantry left. Most of the tank stack remained alive but was wounded. (Many had retreated after going down to 1HP.) They had nowhere left to retreat and I destroyed all of them in the next two turns, as well as finishing the cleanup of the damage America had done. Phew!
I've now taken advantage of all the warfare resulting from that treacherous act! I've razed and resettled most of the holdings of the two Civs which were MPPd with America. Across the world from me, America remains at war with her strong neighbor, drawn in by my alliance. Don't know yet what the final result of the game will be but for the moment I'm back in control and am now by a wide margin the most powerful and largest Civ. The next trick is to avoid the remaining Civs from ganging up on me, and to pick them off without triggering a nuclear war.
I guess this may all sound like a more interesting game than my 1.16 HOF game. That game had less phases, it was ongoing conquest from fairly early on. This game is definitely harder. But it is also less fun. Generally I like a harder game, that isn't the problem. But with 1.17, the ways I've found to address the new challenges have ended up feeling somewhat predictable and tedious. Only the tricky diplomacy required at various stages remains about as much fun. Research is less interesting. Ancient Times and Middle Ages are not much fun, they just whip past before there is time to enjoy them. There are key events where everything hinges on catching trading opportunities the moment they appear - these are out of proportion and tedious to track. The other Civs have a more homogenous feel - it is necessary to really work at it to eventually force them apart into distinct entities, from the single big AI they feel like at the start. I would've enjoyed playing another game similar to my 1.16 HOF entry. This game, I'm having less fun as it goes on and I approach control. Now it is going to be just fight fight fight with Modern Armor. I have a good chance at beating my previous score but, if finish this game, I sure won't want to do it again with 1.17.
I should be finished in another day or two hopefully, I'll post a link when I do. I really want to install the patch just for the stacking of the workers, but will play through with 1.16 as thats what I started with.
Hopefully they fix that soon, as the stack movements and automated worker changes really would help.
