[BNW] Enjoyable Deity Games

[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
77. Brazil 2 (Pangaea, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
78. the Shoshone 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
79. Assyria 2 (Terra Incognita, Standard speed, Standard size, Otherwise unmodded but Rotate Starting Position was used)

 

[Nizef]

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.

The save file seems to have a different starting position?

 

[beetle]

The save file seems to have a different starting position?

So sorry about that! Fixed! The game you downloaded was no good, as the start turned out to be too isolated.

I still don't get Denmark, why do we start in the water just out of bombard range?

You end your movement in water (when you can) because then the next turn you start with extra movement. Three move in the beginning, then four (and more) after Astronomy. Moving from water to land is one move (no matter the terrain) and you keep moving (so 2+ more move that turn). But if you are at war, you need to be very careful of ranged attacked (when embarked). It really changes up your usual pathing.

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#80: The pain, part 1 (no liberty challenge)
Here the task is play as Indonesia on an unmodded Small Continents map with Standard size and Standard speed. QC and QM are turned on and all VCs are enabled as usual. I really wanted a map that we have not used much in this series, so thus I picked this one. The starting position is okay, there is definitely room to expand, many resources can be found where you would expect, so surely this is a nice ride. Well, NO! There are some nasty limitations down the road. In addition it is not allowed to open up Liberty! This is a much harder game than many others in this series. If you feel like giving yourself a rough challenge and some grey hair, this is the game for you. "Enjoy!"

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

Spoiler :

Settled a one tile to the E on the coastal Copper hill and then Scout-Monument-Granary-Settlerx2-Archer. First expand next to the NW and the second five tiles from the cap for well protected internal trade routes. Later I added a fourth city S on the coastal tundra to hook up Wine. Luckily I managed to build HG to finally get the capital to grow steadily. NC on t91 but I beelined heavily and thus it took me until t125 to reach Education. I don´t know if I have ever won a game with a worse turn count for Universities. Fortunately the AIs were doing badly as well. I got the fourth religion with Earth Mother/Tithe/Mosques/Ascetism/IP. Siam came to visit with quite a massive army already on t90 but the combination of Pikemen and Archers had no chance against my CBs. All in all a really bad start.

The midgame offered a painful path to meet the others and catch up in techs. Much to my surprise I built Sistine on t160, I have never managed it so late on Deity before. Napoleon gained territory on the expense of the Incas and Carthage, however both of them remained in the game until the end. I settled a fifth cith to the E of the capital to hook up the Coal. I never bothered to utilize the UA, since the islands were quite crappy. I was fourth to Industrial and third to Modern. France took Order but I was confident that I could stay happy and went Freedom instead. Luckily Venice and Carthage followed.

What should I do with the endgame? Well, I reached Atomic on t270 (probably a personal record slow) and I had to optimize my science output more than I usually care to do, just to win the game. My gpt was good so I could buy three spaceship parts easily. I also had a strong religion which gave me 3 GS and 2 GE and thus I was able to launch on t316. But this was a pain all the way until t290 or something like that. Many AIs had several spaceship parts and actually Venice was doing very well. France was expanding and their culture&tourism was very strong. SP: full Tradition, Commerce 2, full Rationalism and Freedom 8.

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#81: The pain, part 2 (the parking brake is still on)
Here the task is play as Portugal on an unmodded Pangaea map with Standard size and Standard speed. QC and QM are turned on and all VCs are enabled as usual. Your capital will be very, very good and there is enough space for at least 5-6 decent cities. In addition you have a peninsula that rightfully is yours but you need to share it with a couple of CS. Just as a hint, it is beneficial to make a trip to Vatican City, not only to sort out religious issues.

But why is this painful? "Do you have any uranium?" the bearded guy asked the farmer. "What is that? We breed horses!" the farmer replied. So the bearded guy had to walk along the road to the nearest city. On a busy street he asked a merchant: Do you have any oil to sell? The merchant looked at him with a surprised expression and replied "What is that? But I have some prime horses for you. Come and have a look." The bearded guy politely turned the suggestion down and continued his journey. In the next city he asked an important looking official: "Where can I find some coal? The official, giving him only a short glance, replied: "Is that the black disgusting thing? Yeah, I have heard some rumours that our neighbours in the yellow kingdom have some." My dear reader, by now you know the theme here. In addition there are other annoying limitations down the road, some of them really surprising. All in all, this is a rough journey, with or without a beard.

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

Spoiler :

SIP and then Scoutx2-Monument-Granary-Settler-Archer-Settlerx2. First expand next to the W near the NW and the second six tiles from the cap coastal to the NE on the flatland. Third expand inland near the mountain range. 4 city NC on t94 and I managed HG in Lisbon. Education on t117 and I had a lot of catching up to do. Discovering Assyria to the E was not nice, and even if I met Morocco early, I was not pleased to find out that Spain was more or less my neighbour to the W. I tried to stay out of trouble, but stole workers from Morocco and Wittenberg early. Nice religion with OwN, Tithe, Pagodas, Plowshares and IP. The map offered some nasty surprises and the usefulness of the UU and UI were very limited, not least because Assyria and the other AIs conquered many CS.

In the midgame my cities were growing nicely but happiness was fast becoming an issue, even with Pagodas. Assyria was expanding a lot and they seemed interested in my territory as well. I diverted them to Carthage and France. I settled a fifth city took hook up the Marble. I should have gone to war with Vatican city but they were well protected by AIs, so I tried to manage without it and happiness was a theme for a long time. Spain attacked me out of the blue, but I was just about to get XBs and Had no problem to defend myself. Morocco also seemed interested to try, but they went to war with Spain instead. Venice and Spain also had a brief war with each other. Morocco and Venice went Authocracy but all other AIs went Order, so I had to go down the Order path myself.

More or less boring and annoying end game. I played badly and had bad culture output. Thus, I only managed five points in Order and missed out on Spaceflight pioneers. Assyria was running amok but fortunately they were expanding to the E. I had to hard build all spaceship parts and it took me until t319 to do so. None of the AIs were close to a win at that point. SP: full Tradition, Piety 2, full Rationalism and Order 5.

 

[Nizef]

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

If you can sustain the happiness, you could probably found 8-10 cities yourself. And to do that with the Shoshone!

 

[so_what]

Completed EDGE42 (piety challenge) with a SV.

Spoiler Mid-late Game :

Replayed a few turns to enter Renaissance at 133T via Banking. After that, I got carried in mid game science by faith buying 5 universities. I opened order after buying 3 factories at 147T. Soon later, I bought 5 public schools with faith.

In the meanwhile, Dido finished off Brazil and got a little too strong. At 182T, Dido launched a surprise attack on me. Fortunately, I had spare production for units after buying schools and taking 5 year plan. After defending for 9T, Dido still refused to peace out. At 191T, I researched plastic and bought labs with faith and gold.

Spoiler End Game :

10 turns later, after the bulbing of scientists, Dido is still not willing to peace with me. Fine, I said. I built some xcoms, upgraded my riflemen, artilleries and gatling guns. Dido had stacked defence - Himeji Castle, Red Fort, Defender of Faith and plenty of rifleman. However, she stood no chance against an information era army and lost 8 cities in less than 20 turns. I resurrected the Brazilians and sold some of Dido's cities to Indonesia and Inca.

I launched spaceship on the same turn I took out her 8th city at 227T. True to her fate, Dido left the continents to spend her life in her 9th (last) city, a one-tile island in the middle of the sea.

End game policies
Liberty - 3
Piety - 6
Rationalism - 6
Commerce - 1
Order - 6

 

[Nizef]

Completed EDGE42 with a SV.

t227! Very impressive. So 9 cities and then you focus on science as much as you can? How could you save up so much money already on t147? 3 factories is like 3150 gold. Where did you send your trade routes? Did you take a loan from an AI or was your income just that good? I would like to learn these tricks myself.

 

[so_what]

So 9 cities and then you focus on science as much as you can?

To be more exact. My building priorities are food > production / happiness > science for early-mid game. Late game (Scientific theory and later) is purely science/gold focus.

How could you save up so much money already on t147? 3 factories is like 3150 gold. Where did you send your trade routes? Did you take a loan from an AI or was your income just that good? I would like to learn these tricks myself.

I borrowed about 1200g from Inca and produced the rest (a lot of them are sales of spare lux and strategic resources). Inca was a friend because we were fighting Carthage at the same time.

After my friendship expired with Inca (around 145 turn), I bribed him to attack Indonesia before I declared war on Inca. This allowed me to default my payments and also made a friend with Indonesia by fighting a common enemy. Sneaky trick! Later, I borrowed about 2000+ gold from Indoneisa to buy labs + upgrade units. I didn't need more than that as I can also spend faith on lab.

 

[Nizef]

Hello,
I wanted to mention that I am, at the moment, working on a full Let´s play series on Youtube under the name Nizef G. I am playing Mongolia on Deity/Standard size/Epic pace. Do not think that you "have to" check it out, I am creating it mostly to prove to myself that I can do it, but obviously I also hope that new Civ 5 content will be appriciated. So far, there is about 6 hours of content (first 215 turns and already two full blown wars) and I will try to upload the newest episode as soon as I have played it. Special thanks to Tiberiu for inspiring me to create content myself!

The downside is of course that there will be no new EDGE games until this LP is ready. But I hope that there already are many interesting challenges for you to try out.

 

[mbbcam]

@Nizef I took a very quick look at the beginning of the videos and I thought that you ought to know that the sound is not very clear. I found it quite difficult to follow the speech at times. The gist is understandable, but I found that some parts got lost as they were rather indistinct. It seems to be a problem that afflicts quite a few videos of Civ. By contrast I note that Filthy Robot's sound is always very clear, and he uses a headset, so perhaps a separate mike is necessary for best results. But thanks for putting in the time. Always interesting to see how other people do things.

 

[Nizef]

@Nizef I took a very quick look at the beginning of the videos and I thought that you ought to know that the sound is not very clear. I found it quite difficult to follow the speech at times. The gist is understandable, but I found that some parts got lost as they were rather indistinct. It seems to be a problem that afflicts quite a few videos of Civ. By contrast I note that Filthy Robot's sound is always very clear, and he uses a headset, so perhaps a separate mike is necessary for best results. But thanks for putting in the time. Always interesting to see how other people do things.

Thanks for the feedback. I use a headset and I also "clean" the sound after recording but it is probably a combination of two things: I am not used to speak up loud for myself and the quality of the gear I am using. The first probably being more decisive than the latter.

EDIT: The sound quality of the intro is bad. I am not sure why. However, I checked the other parts and it seems to me that the sound is understandable during the first part of the videos and when I get more concentrated on the game (and probably unfocused on the commenting) the sound quality gets worse.

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#82: Big in Japan (No Order challenge)
Here the task is play as Japan on an unmodded Ice Age map with Standard size and Standard speed. QC and QM are turned on and all VCs are enabled as usual. You will probably not settle more than 3-4 cities yourself. What you do after that is up to you though. There are several viable paths to follow. You will have a nice capital (at the end of my game it was pop42) and a peaceful neighbour. But you have to plan ahead carefully since you are not allowed to pick Order as your Ideology. Pick Freedom for a peaceful CV/DipV/SV game or go on the offensive with Authocracy. As a hint, it might be useful to conquer your neighbour´s capital and maybe also one of Belgrade/Milan/Vilnius. This one has a high satisfaction potential! Enjoy!

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

Spoiler :

Settled t1 on the Silver hill to the N (absolutely the best spot: 4 Fish, 1 Whales and 1 Gold in range) and then Scout-Monument-Shrine-Granary-Settler-Archer-Settler. First expand on the coastal Silver six tiles to the SE and second five tiles to the W on a desert hill. I got the fifth religion (Religious Idols, Tithe, Plowshares, Ascetism and Messiah). Not a strong one, but at least I got one and I also kept it in my cities to the end. 3 city NC on t85 and Education on t113. next to the W near the NW and the second six tiles from the cap coastal to the NE on the flatland. Third expand inland near the mountain range. 4 city NC on t94 and I mI stole a worker from Venice and one from Belgrade but otherwise this was peaceful.

In the midgame I built Sistine in Kyoto (t136) and Petra(!) in Tokyo (t121). I continued with my peaceful play and stayed friendly with all AIs. I was second to Industrial and also second to pick an Ideology. Obviously I chose Freedom. Siam also went Freedom, the Incas and Songhai went Authocracy while the other AIs picked Order. Only the choice of Persia was really significant to the flow of the game. I did not bother with units until after Ideologies, but then I had to build a lot since Persia, Siam and the Incas were piling up the pressure.

Peaceful but still nerve wrecking end game. I won a SV on t318 but getting all the techs took forever with just 3 cities. It would definitely have been better to conquer Venice and one or two CS for a bigger empire. However, sometimes turtling can be quite fun: several AIs were plotting against me and Persia was on the brink of attacking at least three times. At the end my cities were pop42-34-28. SP: full Tradition, Aesthetics opener, Commerce 2, Exploration 3, full Rationalism and Freedom 8.

 

[beetle]

Inspired by a the recent Tiny Island thread, I am rolling a map for Denmark, which featured recently in the EDGE series. @Nizef do you want me to share the map in this thread?

 

[Nizef]

Inspired by a the recent Tiny Island thread, I am rolling a map for Denmark, which featured recently in the EDGE series. @Nizef do you want me to share the map in this thread?

Yes please. I actually work on a similar map myself but with the more "standard" Polynesia. I had a lot of fun with Denmark in EDGE#72, so please go ahead.

 

[Tiberiu]

I started playing #78 with Shoshone. I was attracted by the start location, which contains a lot of useful things. - mountain, river, marble, cattle. Unfortunately, few forests.

Spoiler :

I was tempted to settle on the marble but went for the hill next to the mountain eventually. I was curious to see if I can build The Great Library on this start, but thanks to a ruin that gave Calendar just 2 turns before Writing finished, I ended up choosing Stonehenge instead, as it was much safer and I was a little lacking with the GL requirements. This was also interesting, as I normally very rarely go for Stonehenge, since ruins can't give Calendar in my usual Archery-Mining tech order. I skipped shrine, and got a pantheon with the help of a ruin, and Stonehenge gave me the religion. Not sure if I could have even gotten one otherwise in this map without too much investments.
Luckily, I met everybody quite quickly, so I could keep track of what they were building, and seeing the opportunity, I also built Temple of Artemis and Pyramids afterwards. I went with Liberty - Citizenship - Representation at this point, and since I also saw that the 2 civs that took Tradition were delaying to build the Hanging Gardens, I took Tradition in order to give it a shot, and I managed to get it. Having a free garden so quickly, and with 3 engineer points is great, and the first engineer came out on T80, possibly my fastest engineer ever!
This will be a great game, my plan is to only build cities near the mountains, not sure if 5,6 or 7, and then just rush Astronomy, then go for Globalization. Getting a quick victory will depend on whether I can keep peace with Inca in order to skip having an army. Currently I'm friends with both Inca and Brazil. The Mongols are proving to be a useful tool to keep Pachacuti busy. I attacked Ormus for a worker and for pillaging and XP, but since he is maritime I might be better off trying to get him as an ally later.

While I'm here, I'll say kudos to Nizef for his new yt channel, and hoping to see it grow over time.

 

[Nizef]

The Great Library is a dubious gamble on Deity. EDGE#16 is designed for building it but otherwise I never bother. The fastest I have seen an AI build it, was on t26 on Epic speed!

 

[Tiberiu]

The Great Library is a dubious gamble on Deity. EDGE#16 is designed for building it but otherwise I never bother. The fastest I have seen an AI build it, was on t26 on Epic speed!

Yes, of course. The fastest I've seen on standard speed is T22. I'd never try it in a "competitive" game, but for fun/variety/experimentation purposes, I like to try to build it with the Shoshone, since no other civ has higher overall chances to get it, I think. Failing it does make the game a bit harder but it's not the end of the world and that's why I am willing to do it. I personally like not what GL gives but what it unlocks, especially with access to coast: the Collosus, my favourite "impossible to build" wonder. I think the chance to get GL with Shoshone is only around 60% which I would not describe as reliable but still decent for a casual Deity game. In a "serious" Shoshone game, I would much rather upgrade more Pathfinders to Composites instead of using ruins to boost GL chance by taking population+culture. I plan to play another Edge Shoshone game where I'll try exactly that, to get one "Chuck Norris" composite bowman, with survivalism 2 before upgrading.

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#83: Going random
Here the task is play as Persia on an unmodded map with Standard size and Standard speed. QC and QM are turned on and all VCs are enabled as usual. I rolled a random map and obviously you can check it out when you start the game. However, here the idea is to have no knowledge of the map when you start! After scouting around it is quite obvious anyway. And this is rough! Even really good players will have it all to do here. Do you like founding a religion to aid your game? Well, I was not even close and as a measure, the Mayans also failed to found one... It is of course important to meet the AIs as early as possible. Good luck with that! There is only one aggressive AI on this map. Surely it can´t be your neighbour? So what do you have going for you? There are three really good spots for cities and you will have your share of strategic resources. You are also playing as one of the most versatile civs. All in all I would call this a tough challenge. Enjoy!

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

Spoiler :

SIP (Yes I actually settled on spot. That is rare). Then Scout-Worker-Shrine-Granary-Settler-Archer-Settler. First expand coastal near the Salt and the second further S next to the Ivory for all those Fish tiles. Unfortunately I failed to get the pantheon I wanted (faith from Gems and Pearls). I am not sure that would have given me a religion though. They went crazy fast. 3 city NC on t82 and I built the Oracle afterwards. Slow but solid start. I opted to settle a crappy city to the W of Persepolis for the Iron and the Dyes. That city never grew beyond pop10. Until Astronomy I only met Carthage! However also the AIs had trouble to find each other. By now it was obvious that I was playing on a Tilted Axis map, either with small continents or archipelago flavour.

In the midgame I built Sistine ON T151! I also built the Louvre and the PT. However I missed out on the Eiffel tower by one single turn. Second to Ideologies and I picked Freedom. My science output was abyssmal well in to the Modern era. I tried a Frigate attack on Pacal but never accomplished much. In the aftermath Dido attacked me and we were at war for 50 turns or so. I had to defend me with all I had. Dido had a fantasic game and she ended it on 33 cities!

My science was not good enough for a rapid SV win, the only VC achievable at this stage. So I had a nerve wrecking end game and finally lauched on t331. India was the cultural forerunner and Byzantium put in a solid performance. However my win was uncontested in the end, since also the AIs had trouble with this map. At the end my cities were pop28-27-24-10. SP: full Tradition, Patronage opener, Aesthetics 2, Exploration opener, full Rationalism and Freedom 6.

 

[raider980]

I played both Edge 65 Portugal and Edge 78 Shoshone. Two games that couldn't be more different but both fun in their own way.

Spoiler Portugal, Edge 65: Lost by resigning :

The first few turns of the Portugal game were awesome, but it went downhill fast after that. Where the Shoshone had "All that Land", Portugal had none. I couldn't even found a second city. I moved the settler south and founded Lisbon on the sugar to get a 3 luxury capital. Then I discovered El Dorado and I thought, yes I can buy a settler and start out with two cities; but that didn't happen because France forward settled me and there was no good city spot left.

T61 France attacked but I fought him off easily. Shaka then DoW Napoleon so I pushed on Orleans. Shaka takes Paris and we're both fighting for Orleans - and on T86 I get it!

Meanwhile The Iroquois, also at war with The Zulu, have been taking Shaka's cities near them. So, since I knew the game was long lost I decided to have some fun and I DoW Shaka. I killed his troops near Orleans and advanced on his closest city. That was a long siege of Bulawayo - it took 60 turns and 3 Citadels for me to capture it. By that time he had Impi so the city exchanged hands a few times but I couldn't hold it. And at this point, Shaka brought the pain.

Spoiler Retreat! :

Spoiler Oh no :

Spoiler Looks like I'm done for :

But The Iroquois had made peace with The Zulu quite a while ago - so I bribed Hiawatha to attack. Hiawatha to the rescue! I played for a little while longer helping Hiawatha destroy the Zulu which was great fun.

Spoiler Me "helping" take the Zulu capital. :

Spoiler Shoshone Edge 78 :

Lost to SV by Elizabeth T328 - with 6 turns until I would have won the World Leader vote!

I loved all the land to settle. Ended up with only 6 self founded cities though because everyone else loved all that land too. After building the required early stuff I spammed settlers and had all 6 cities by T108.

• T39 took my first settler way down south by all that salt before Portugal could get it to found Te-Moak .
  
• T65 founded 3rd city by a mountain range north of Te-Moak.
  
• T76 founded 4th city - not exactly in the location I wanted because Pacal had gotten a settler there - but with the Shoshone UA I was still able to grab all the luxes from Pacal.

Social policies were full Liberty, two in Patronage, full Rationalism and only 3 in Freedom to get the bonus influence from unit gifts to city states once I decided on going for a Diplo Victory. I decided on Diplo because I was behind in science and I had quite a few CS allies - but also Genghis had captured 4 CS that I could liberate and get their votes. Also, France had taken out Venice before they could grab any CS.

It was a pretty smooth game until England and Portugal joint DoW me. But I was friends with The Inca and France by then so they joined in on my side. France got the canal city of Portugal's that I had wanted. That meant I only had once coastal city to build ships. So I built a land army to make the trek all the way to Mongolia and liberate the CS I needed. I couldn't do it by the first WL vote so had to wait until the second one. I would be able to secure all the votes needed for the second one - when England launched her space ship. So close - it was a very fun game that went down to the wire.

Spoiler T328 Loss :