Elodie the Mighty

[Agent Miles]

Happy New Year to all!
The CW I have read stated that Elodie has the weakest signature ability. I did an analysis and came up with a strategy to optimize her skill. I then won a Harmony game on Soyuz with just 3 cities in 286 turns. I started with 5 virtues in Prosperity and then took all the Might virtues. I quickly maxed out Might with the two synergy bonuses where you get a free virtue as well as two more free virtues from Elodie's ability. Might grants two free Affinity level ups. I timed these to get Harmony levels 11 and 12, for a big advantage over the AI. Check out the saved game below.

 

[Agent Miles]

This strategy worked for Arshia as well. Ironically, Elodie had 4 times the number of cities I had, but still could not fight through my defenses. Might also grants a 20% boost to Affinity xp, which gives about an extra level for every 6 levels.

 

[Agent Miles]

Suzanne in just 263 turns. This is sort of a "one size fits all strategy". Worked for Daoming. And the Brits. It took the Russian 300 turns, but victory none the less. Han Jae Moon in 290 turns.

 

[Agent Miles]

Kavihta took 311 turns, but I did some diplomacy and formed an alliance of the 3 strongest against the 3 weakest.

 

[Agent Miles]

Worked for Ebner.

 

[Agent Miles]

Yeah, the strategy worked for Reji.
Worked for Sam, too.
To close it out, the strategy worked for Hutama in just 275 turns.

 

[vorlon_mi]

You've been busy, @Agent Miles !

Let me see if I understand your approach. You described your path through the virtues, first 5 in Prosperity followed by maxing out Might.
Is that correct? That's similar to what I do, usally balancing the early Prosperity to get more expedition modules with getting a key Might virtue to gain science from every alien killed.

Let's dig a little deeper. You mention that your first game with Elodie was a Harmony/Transcendance victory. Only 3 cities in < 300 turns is impressive. Nearly all of my Harmony victories take more turns. Only having 3 cities means that you would have (at most) 6 accelerator buildings; again, impressive. If your Mind Flower (and your cities) are inland, your defense would be stronger. I agree (and have used) that the affinity bumps in Might are very strong. Did you get any affinity boosts from Progenitor ruins or Alien skeletons with explorers?

What about your offensive wars / battles? Did you fight many? Most of my defensive wars at Soyuz happen because another sponsor thinks that I have forward-settled them. (They're not wrong!) But if you limit yourself to only 3 or 4 cities, forward-settling is off the table.

What was your path through the tech web? Harmony requires the most techs to research.

 

[Agent Miles]

I'm retired so I just decided to make a run of it. The strategy is quite good.

"Let me see if I understand your approach. You described your path through the virtues, first 5 in Prosperity followed by maxing out Might.
Is that correct?"
-Yes, that is it.

"That's similar to what I do, usually balancing the early Prosperity to get more expedition modules with getting a key Might virtue to gain science from every alien killed.
Let's dig a little deeper. You mention that your first game with Elodie was a Harmony/Transcendance victory. Only 3 cities in < 300 turns is impressive. Nearly all of my Harmony victories take more turns. Only having 3 cities means that you would have (at most) 6 accelerator buildings; again, impressive. If your Mind Flower (and your cities) are inland, your defense would be stronger. I agree (and have used) that the affinity bumps in Might are very strong.

Did you get any affinity boosts from Progenitor ruins or Alien skeletons with explorers?"
-Yes, some Affinity boosts seem to be programmed in.

"What about your offensive wars / battles? Did you fight many?"
-I only attacked an opponent city to end a war. Twice I had to destroy an opponent's Victory Wonder. I would send in a sub unit to scout the area. Then I deployed a Cobra hover tank for a strike. Finally, a carrier with three air units moved to within 12-14 tiles. I then DoWed, bombed the VW and destroyed it with the Cobra. The carrier and the sub would usually get out okay and sometimes even the Cobra.

"Most of my defensive wars at Soyuz happen because another sponsor thinks that I have forward-settled them. (They're not wrong!) But if you limit yourself to only 3 or 4 cities, forward-settling is off the table.

What was your path through the tech web? Harmony requires the most techs to research."
-I try to get level 2 in all of the Affinities to get the initial Hybrid Affinity bonuses. Then I concentrate on Harmony techs. The 20% bonus from Might aids in this. The best thing/exploit I do is to take Bionics ASAP. I then build the Institute. I beeline Transgenics and Swarm Intelligence while a certain quest randomly happens. This quest grants a free tech. I take Nanotechnology, saving thousands in Science and then finish out the tech requirements for the Mind Flower with Nano Robotics. This worked so well that a few times I had these before I was 15 in Harmony.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Thanks for responding. A couple of follow-ups:

Affinity Boosts from Expeditions: I found this forum post interesting, where they list the potential rewards for each expedition type and the probabilities. Sometimes I get luckier than other times.

Destroying an Opponent's Victory Wonder: Yes, that approach sounds familiar. Yes, I use a sub when I can, if I chose an archipelago/Atlantean map. If I've chosen a Protean/pangaea or Terran/continents planet, I may not be able to scout it with a sub. I will often have a spy in an opponent's capital and/or largest city as they get close to 15 affinity. Sometimes my spy can see the wonder, sometimes not. The AI likes to build its wonder close to another city, or just out of visibility range for a spy. Yes, air attacks to damage the wonder and a hover tank to kill it. Yes, the hover tank may be on a one-way trip

Bionics and Institutes: That's an approach I have not tried. Other folks posting here have emphasized the benefits of beelining Computing, to get spies out. I love to build trade routes, so I emphasize Ecology to get the Ultrasonic Fence and protect my trade convoys from aliens. But a 3 or 4 city "tall" strategy would allow the player to build some of the other buildings and avoid the unhealth challenges of the "wide" strategy that I embrace.
I also like your plan for getting the Harmony techs. Ensuring that you have the pre-reqs for Nanotechnology before the "free tech" quest comes thru is good planning. Having to self-research both of those techs have always been the most time-consuming parts of my Harmony wins.

 

[Agent Miles]

You are welcome!