[BNW] Enjoyable Deity Games

[raider980]

EDGE#76: War academy, Part 4. Mongolia.

I finished the GotM domination by Winged Hussar and it was great fun so am in the mood for more domination on horseback.

I'm on like turn 180 and its been a very strange Deity game so far. Every single AI civ wants to be my friend; all of them are offering me DoF. I guess they're scared of the Mongol Horde. Unfortunately, I accepted them... and they last forever on Epic speed, they even go into the negative time left so I can't even tell how long they're going to last. I have the Keshik tech but my production is not great so its going to take me awhile to build up an army. Hopefully some DoF's are expired by then.

 

[Nizef]

I finished the GotM domination by Winged Hussar and it was great fun so am in the mood for more domination on horseback.

I'm on like turn 180 and its been a very strange Deity game so far. Every single AI civ wants to be my friend; all of them are offering me DoF. I guess they're scared of the Mongol Horde. Unfortunately, I accepted them... and they last forever on Epic speed, they even go into the negative time left so I can't even tell how long they're going to last. I have the Keshik tech but my production is not great so its going to take me awhile to build up an army. Hopefully some DoF's are expired by then.

There are probably better persons to comment on this DoF issue. In my own experience, they end 25 turns after the turn they are supposed to end. It is a bad bug and I have come to the conclusion that I only accept one or two DoFs. Mostly for the reason that I want to be flexible. But when you get going... you have probably scouted the good "Keshik-land" to the N. Also the light blue lady might need to expect your visit and maybe the orange guy to the SW?

Anyway, when you start your first war, it will not take long before some of the AIs will denounce you. I had a DoF with the light blue lady but she still backstabbed me.

I had so much fun with Denmark in EDGe72 that I am playing this one next. Wish me luck!

I wish you luck. If I recall it correctly, you will need it!

 

[beetle]

Thanks @Nizef. Game keeps crashing ~T173/174. This has happened before, but previously I had been able to work through it, by restarting computer and going back to an earlier save. No such luck this time. Too bad. I seemed to be on track for clearing the starting continent. No idea about the other continent though.

EDGE#74: The letter A
As a contrast to the previous game, this is harder than average (a sh-t ton harder actually). At the same time it is one of the most memorable games I have played for a while. I finished this one last night and I was so upbeat that I wanted to share it right away. Tiberiu and others who like decent challenges, here it is! It seems to me that every game I play with this civ is very fun. Here you are playing as Carthage on a Hellblazer´s Pangaea map (v.7) with Standard size and Standard speed.

Trying this one now, but I very much struggle with CV. I had to reinstall the HB stuff for some reason. I never had that problem before with HB maps.

 

[Nizef]

Thanks @Nizef. Game keeps crashing ~T173/174. This has happened before, but previously I had been able to work through it, by restarting computer and going back to an earlier save. No such luck this time. Too bad. I seemed to be on track for clearing the starting continent. No idea about the other continent though.

Trying this one now, but I very much struggle with CV. I had to reinstall the HB stuff for some reason. I never had that problem before with HB maps.

This was terrible news. I don´t know, if I can help you with the Denmark game. It is unmodded after all. Regarding HB maps (and all other types of mods), I have come to the conclusion that I will not use them, more than on the odd occasion - exactly to minimize the risk for technical issues. HB maps are, in my opinion, "better" than unmodded maps, at least I enjoy playing them once in a while and one of the biggest advantages is those islands off the Pangaea coast.

 

[Nizef]

Here is a recap of the games in the Enjoyable Deity Games Experience (EDGE) series so far in 2020, (games from last year are listed on page 9 of this thread):
42. the Mayans 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Piety challenge
43. Siam (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Patronage partial challenge
44. the Shoshone 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
45. Poland 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Honor challenge
46. the Netherlands (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Liberty challenge
47. the Aztecs 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
48. the Celts (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
49. the Zulus (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Aesthetics challenge
50. Austria (Pangaea, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
51. Persia (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
52. the Ottomans (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Religion challenge
53. Rome (Fractal, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
54. Songhai (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
55. the Incas (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
56. Russia 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
57. India 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), CV challenge
58. Germany 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
59. Byzantium 2 (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Religion challenge
60. the Iroquois (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Aesthetics challenge
61. America 2 (Pangaea, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded), DomV challenge
62. Sweden 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Petra challenge
63. Morocco 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), partial Commerce challenge
64. England 3 (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), partial UN challenge
65. Portugal 2 (Continents, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), partial elimination challenge
66. Egypt 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
67. Polynesia 3 (Archipelago, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
68. Sweden 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
69. Germany 4 (Pangaea, Epic speed, Large size, Unmodded), War academy, part 1, DomV challenge
70. the Huns 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), War academy, part 2
71. Spain 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Huge size, Unmodded)
72. Denmark 2 (Lakes, Standard speed, Standard size, Otherwise unmodded but Rotate Starting Position was used)
73. Venice 2 (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), DipV challenge
74. Carthage 3 (Hellblazer´s Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with Hellblazer´s map script), CV challenge
75. China 2 (Pangaea, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded), War academy, part 3, DomV challenge
76. Mongolia 2 (Pangaea, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded), War academy, part 4

 

[mbbcam]

Playing on MacOS might be problematic. I gave up doing that eventually, and I now only play on a Windows Virtual Machine running via Parallels. It works pretty well (so far). I got the impression that on MacOS the game seemed to crash sometimes during the Autosave process. But that is just an impression.

On the HB maps, I like them, but I read somewhere that they were optimised for six players. They do usually seem to have a lot of space, which commonly gets filled up by AIs that go Liberty -- and all the others that have high expansionist tendencies.

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#77: Going bananas
Here the task is to do the unexpected! You play as Brazil on an unmodded Pangaea map with Standard size and Epic speed. QC and QM are turned on and all VCs are enabled as usual. There are several targets to fulfil: 1. You have to be the ally of Prague at the end of the game, 2. You have to conquer at least one City State, 3. You have to conquer at least two capitals and one of them has to be London and 4. You have to win the game in less than 500 turns. As you can see, it is out of the question to turtle to a SV or CV. However, it is allowed to reach any of the victory conditions. As a benchmark, I needed 470 turns to finish the game myself. I know some of you are not too thrilled with Epic speed, but this is action with twists and turns all day long. Please try it out!

I played according to HOF rules and submitted my win. There is a short recap behind the spoiler.

Spoiler :

Settle hill/river/mountain on t1 and then Scoutx2-Granary-Worker-Archer-Settler. I bought one Settler on t14 (hint, hint). I stole 1 worker from a CS and 1 from Mongolia. First expand 5 tiles to the N and the second 4 further tiles to the N. Oracle on t108 and fourth religion on the same turn (Earth Mother/Tithe/Pagodas/Plowshares/Messiah). NC on t127 and a third expand to the E on t138. Education around t160. I joined a short war to cripple Indonesia but gained only experience myself. Solid opening though.

I went for the upper half of the tech tree and built Sistine on t215. Second war against Indonesia earned me Makassar but I burnt it to the ground. Within 20 turns from that peace treaty, England had built Forbidden, Himeji, Uffizi and Louvre and the game took a turn that I was not too comfortable with. CV chances were looking bleak indeed. I built PT, was first to Modern and also built Eiffel. I worked very hard with my Culture output and researched the bottom half of the tree to be relevant in upcoming wars. I was the only to pick Freedom, while England and Polynesia went Order and the rest either went Authocracy or never made it so far. Not ideal! However, happinesswise this was not a problem. Culture output during golden ages are just awesome! This was mostly calm before the storm.

The endgame was eventful. During the mongolian war, I conquered Wittenberg (t332), Hsia, Tabriz and finally Karakorum on t377. Then off to England and I liberated Cape Town on t394 and took London on t403. After this, I played peacefully to win a SV on t470. I was on track for CV as well, but that would have taken me a lot longer. SP: full Tradition, full Aesthetics, Commerce 2, full Rationalism and Freedom 6.

 

[Nizef]

Especially to beetle and Tiberiu, but also all other readers, who would like to contribute: I think it would be time for another game with Arabia and/or Assyria. Do you have games you would like to share?

 

[Tiberiu]

I don't have a game with them particularly interesting but I think I would play a game with Assyria so I'll wait for what comes up with them and try it out.

 

[Nizef]

I don't have a game with them particularly interesting but I think I would play a game with Assyria so I'll wait for what comes up with them and try it out.

My own pipeline consists of the Netherlands, the Shoshone, Siam, Indonesia and Japan at the moment. I have ready solutions for the three first, but I am only starting to look for maps for the last two. And of course, you don´t have to limit yourself only to Arabia/Assyria. My own thinking behind it was, that they have not been present in this series for a long time.

Edit: I played the Portugal game, but I did not last long: Shaka came to visit me on t73...

 

[raider980]

There are probably better persons to comment on this DoF issue. In my own experience, they end 25 turns after the turn they are supposed to end. It is a bad bug and I have come to the conclusion that I only accept one or two DoFs. Mostly for the reason that I want to be flexible. But when you get going... you have probably scouted the good "Keshik-land" to the N. Also the light blue lady might need to expect your visit and maybe the orange guy to the SW?

Anyway, when you start your first war, it will not take long before some of the AIs will denounce you. I had a DoF with the light blue lady but she still backstabbed me.

I wish you luck. If I recall it correctly, you will need it!

Keshik's really are op; its so unfair to the AI. There's nothing they can do against a Keshik army. Even when they're only hitting a city for 10 damage, they get to move in, attack (twice with logistics) and move out of range - even in rough terrain! The blue lady actually put up a good defense with Knights, Pikemen, XBows and Muskets; but none of that mattered with my Keshiks. With another Civ I probably would have given up and backed off.

I never replay games because once I've seen the map its no fun for me to explore the same thing again. But I think I'm going to try this one again. I was not very good at planning out my attack. I failed to attack the obvious Civs because of the DoFs. And I didn't realize Chariot Archers upgrade to Keshiks, I'm going to try that with Honor.

 

[beetle]

Especially to beetle and Tiberiu, but also all other readers, who would like to contribute: I think it would be time for another game with Arabia and/or Assyria. Do you have games you would like to share?

I will try rolling some Assyria maps. Prolly it will take me all weekend to end with one I think worth sharing.

 

[so_what]

Tried EDGE 42 piety challenge.

Piety is a weak policy but it is still somewhat playable with Maya and FoY in the game. I didn't open with Piety (not good enough to make that work since it would delay early game snowballing immensely) so I can only follow the second rule (that is closing Piety by 9th policy).

Played till 133T. Not sure if I would finish since I have been rather busy lately.

Spoiler EDGE42 T133 :

Playing a wide piety science game, I opened with liberty and picked up collective rule before going down Piety Tree.
Managed found second religion with tithe, pagoda, and later enhanced it at 80T with mosque and 30% distance.

Map was pretty bad with lots of jungle but the capital is somewhat decent. I managed to build the pyramids, oracle, and grabbed a GE from the 86T long count. Used the GE to build Borobudur to snowball the faith game.

There were not many piety AIs in this game. Thus, I could afford to take the other policies (mandate of heaven and theocracy) first and used reformation to close piety (which I took Jesuit Education). Otherwise, I would have to take reformation first to secure Jesuit Education, the rest of the reformation are near useless for SV.

I had a couple of wars with my neighbours Brazil and Cathrage. Took out Brazil's capital around turn 100 but Cathrage is too strong for me to take down, so I made peace with her.

Entered Renassaince at 133T via acoustic (an average timing) and opened Rationalism in the same turn. I have bought pagodas, mosques in all 9 cities. I have bought 2 universities and can buy 3 more.

 

[Nizef]

Tried EDGE 42 piety challenge.

Piety is a weak policy but it is still somewhat playable with Maya and FoY in the game. I didn't open with Piety (not good enough to make that work since it would delay early game snowballing immensely) so I can only follow the second rule (that is closing Piety by 9th policy).

Played till 133T. Not sure if I would finish since I have been rather busy lately.

Seems to me you are doing fine. Actually it seems to me that you are in a very strong position. How many cities before NC?

 

[so_what]

How many turn before NC - my cities are still building libraries. For wide empire the priority of NC is not very high. You can even build it in industrial era if there are other things to build.

 

[Nizef]

How many turn before NC - my cities are still building libraries. For wide empire the priority of NC is not very high. You can even build it in industrial era if there are other things to build.

Now when you say it, at least Tulum is still building one. Will you finish Liberty after Piety, and what other SPs are you planning to use?

 

[so_what]

Will you finish Liberty after Piety, and what other SPs are you planning to use?

No. I have already used 9 policies (3 in liberty, 6 in Piety). The remaining should be Rationalism, Ideology, and maybe 1-3 policies in Commerce for purchase discounts.

For fast SV/DipV/Internet CV, you only have rooms for 8 policies (9 with Oracle) before Rationalism/Ideology.

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#78: All that land
Here the task is play as the Shoshone on an unmodded Pangaea map with Standard size and Standard speed. QC and QM are turned on and all VCs are enabled as usual. There is only one target to fulfil: You have to be the ally of Valletta at the end of the game. As the game progresses you will probably prioritize it anyway. Otherwise, just enjoy all that land to expand. This is why I love to play this civ! The map will offer you a surprise or two and at least I liked it a lot. Quite an easy task but you will also like it. Enjoy!

I played according to HOF rules and submitted my win. There is a short recap behind the spoiler.

Spoiler :

Settled a coastal Silver hill on t2 and then Pathfinder-Archer-Granary-Settlerx2. The position of my capital was probably a bad decision, staying on the river would have been better. I stole onw worker from the Incas and 4-5 from Ormus. Fourth or fifth religion with Religious Idols/Tithe/Cathedrals/Ascetism/IR. Oracle on approx t80, 4 city NC on t91 and Education on t106. Solid opening. First expand to the SW for a coastal city and then two along the same river E and SE of the capital. After NC I added a fifth city on the desert pininsula to the W. Venice aquired Ormus andin a short war I conquered it for myself. Enrico had a bad time overall and France took him out early.

The midgame offered a lot of wars and I tried to stay out of them most of the time. The Incas had a fantastic game and I was worried that they would declare war on me as well. However, I diverted their focus to Mongolia, Brazil and Portugal. When we reached Ideologies, they picked Order and I followed. After that we were Best Friends Forever and basically the game was won already there.

The endgame was uninspiring and I made an unfocused SV routine to win on t306. I built a lot of wonders and spread my religion to the Incas and it was the most common religion in the world at the end with 18 cities. SP: Piety 2, full Tradition, Commerce 2, full Rationalism and Order 6.

 

[beetle]

EDGe79 Assyria: Terra Incognita, hand-picked AIs. Standard size/speed/temperature/rainfall, Medium Sea Level, Strategic Balance, Old World is probably connected, New World might not exist, Players start anywhere; Raging Barbarians.

I used Rotate Start Position to pick the spot I liked best, and SIP is inland on hill/mountain/river. I played 100+ turns to make sure the map is interesting. I am a poor warmonger, but I took three cities (two with the UU) by T113, so I think this game is worth sharing! I did two city Liberty NC and a few expos (haven’t decided how many yet) after that. I was able to steal some early workers from AIs, but missed a religion and Pyramids.

Have fun!

Spoiler screenshot of starting location :

 

[raider980]

EDGE#78: All that land
Here the task is play as the Shoshone... enjoy all that land to expand.

You had me at "enjoy all that land to expand". Lots of land is what I always look for. And Shoshone is a bonus.

I'm still playing the Portugal game (the opposite of "all that land") but its a wild game so I'm continuing, I'll have a write-up on it soon; and also started the Denmark game. I still don't get Denmark, why do we start in the water just out of bombard range?