[BTS] Earth18 - Persia (deity)

[sylvanllewelyn]

Thanks @Gumbolt for confirming that no ships are required for domination victory. Now I can try to win domination on this map the "classical" way.

 

[Gumbolt]

I think even with 1-2 vassals the Southern America and Australia should give quite a bit of land. Aztecs and Americans are not good at using that land. Not sure going naval invasion is good as Aztecs and Americans will spam military. I would expect the Aztecs to wipe out or vassal the Americans on most games. Especially on deity level where AI spam units. Monty could have 20-30 cities by 1300ad. With probably 2 vassals so I doubt he would capitulate very quickly.

I think if I play earth 18 at deity again I would pick a nation that has no super strong uu at start. Russia could be interesting. Maybe Indians too with such a weak start with all the jungle. ALbeit the fast worker could have some use. With any AI warrior based start the first thing to do is try and take down one of them quickly. The three stong AI here will be China, Russia and maybe Mongols if they grab a lot of land. Interesting map. Maybe trying Aztecs on deity without always war mode. The issue there might be huge stacks of AI units and vassals. ALso their tech advantage by time you have astronomy. I struggled on always war mode with Aztecs as the other 15 AI spammed so many units and teched much quicker even on immortal. Maybe taking down from China was a better idea. Minute I took a city it just sent 15 AI running towards me. Fun and games! I seem to be playing civ 4 for obscure challenges these days.

 

[Harv]

I think if I play earth 18 at deity again I would pick a nation that has no super strong uu at start. Russia could be interesting.

I guess this rules out Inca - or Mali.

Earth 18 is, well, Earth 18. I suppose it is kind of like its own game. When I checked Ice Age Earth, I noticed that it has only 14 players. I wonder if the Earth18 map would be better if we reduced the number of civs from 18 to 14.

Spoiler :

2 Africa
Egypt
Mali - Replace with Zulu

4 Europe
Rome
Celts
Russia
Vikings

4 Asia
China
India
Korea
Babylon

3 New World
Natives
Mayans
Incas

That leaves us with one more choice. Maybe throw in either the Greeks or Turks.

I don't know the AI that well. How many cities does it need to present a good civilization and how many does it need to present an overpowered civilization?

After that, I would think of a couple of modifications to the map.
Connect Europe and Africa through Gibraltar. Isolate the Mediterranean Sea. You can still access the ocean through the Mediterranean, but you need to control a tile around Gibraltar.
Connect North and South America with a jungle hill instead of a mountain.
Allow two mountain passes for the Inca.

Maybe I run a test civilization from Easter Island to determine who is still overpowered.

Going back to your question, there is something interesting to be said about India:
The typical Earth strategy is to rush a neighbor, but it does not appear that India has that option.

 

[Gumbolt]

Indian start: If you settle on the ivory you instantly start with -1 food due to health. So 15 turn worker even with the ivory. So at size 2 you will have same issue as already at negative health cap.

You would have to wait for iron or phants to break out. To take the jungle land you would need early IW. Least starting traits with spiritual are good?

You could settle 3S for the plains hill and no health issue due to the river. You could aggressively settle near Persians and try a warrior rush. Not sure this would work on deity. RNG gods. Of course you could grab the horse this way? Again might be painfully slow with no food. On deity AI will reach archers quicker.

Ultimately without IW and no horse this will be a tough start. Self teching IW is never a good thing. Meanwhile you have huts that could well spawn barbs on higher levels. Not sure what is best here!