[BNW] Enjoyable Deity Games

The first 99 games in the Enjoyable Deity Games Experience (EDGE) series are presented on page 25 in this thread. The newest additions after that are:

100. Germany (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), CV challenge
101. Brazil (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)

 

Hi @bobbobbybobbob , what is your channel if I may ask? It would be great to be able to watch a game I actually played. It'd be a big help in figuring out why I'm so far behind others if I can see the same game and turns.

 

EDGE#102: Bad Boys Waltz

We have had so many games with good or excellent starts that I just had to produce a game with a craggly start. So, this is a game with Austria on an unmodded Pangaea map with Standard size and Standard speed. QC and QM are turned on and all VCs are enabled as usual. All AIs were selected randomly and I must say I was not pleased to meet any of them... Shaka forgot his dancing shoes so he didn´t show up but most of the bad boys are here. It is your responsibilty to make sure that Maria Theresa enjoys her waltz. Can you do it? This game has a rough start, a rough set of AIs, your lands are rough in general and don´t get me started on the luxuries or rather the lack of them. Even the CS nearest your lands are mediocre, if you would like to annex those that makes the most sense geographically. But if you feel like throwing a bucket full of horsesh*t on yourself, then this is the game for you! Any win is a good performance here! I rarely do so poorly that I only enter Atomic as number three, but here I had to carve out a win from the only thing I had going for me: the terrain is very good for defensive purposes. There are pictures from t107 and t318 for you to laugh at. Enjoy it if you can and remember that I warned you!

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

Spoiler :

SIP and then the BO was Scoutx2-Shrine-Granary-Settlerx2. I stole one worker from Persia and two from Vatican city. I got a good religion (Religious Idols(yeah it was crap but good enough)/Tithe/Pagodas/Plowshares/IP. My religion spread to 21 cities at the end of the game. 3 city NC on t85 and Education on t116. At this point I was really thinking about giving up but then I thought that I should give it a try. I was last to Renaissance by a mile but thankfully the AIs enjoyed all those wars between themselves. After NC I settled Linz to the S and annexed Kyzyl. Rough start! Egypt was in the game but I met them 4-5 turns before Attila wiped them out.

In the midgame, I was able to build the Uffizi on about t155 (quite late) much thanks to the fact that the AIs didn´t go for Aesthetics. I also bribed Hiawatha and Augustus to have a go at Darius and eventually he dissappeared from the map as well. Wars were long and intensive in all possible combinations and I could stand on the sidelines and watch all the madness. I was fourth to Industrial but had instant Coal and thus I was able to choose Ideology first. I figured that Freedom would not be a popular choice and thus I went for the safe bet and took Order. Hiawatha and Augustus went Authocracy while Attila and Washington joined my club. Surprisingly Alex was the last to choose and he went Freedom which he tried to shove down the throats of us all thanks to all those CS votes in the WC.

In the endgame, I just tried to focus on a SV (first I tried to go for a CV but Greece and the Iroqouis both had impressive culture pools). Alex conquered America (left them with one city at the end of the world) and Rome got the upper hand against Attila (but he finished on 3-4 cities). Augustus and Hiawatha entered Atomic before me and I had to use two GS just to ensure that I could build HST instead of them. At the end they all hated me but I bought myself a nuke and after that they didn´t dare to attack. Still it took me all the way to t318 to launch. My cities were just that bad. I also annexed Vatican city just to improve my science output. For sure a rough ride and it could easily have ended in catastrophy but I tried to keep the AIs busy with wars and I was able to divert their attention most of the time. SP: full Tradition, Piety opener, Patronage opener, Aestethics 4, Commerce 2, full Rationalism and Order 5.

 

Finished Brazil map on 213. Start was very slow, had to build a worker! Lost oracle as maya and inca went wonder crazy, managed to scrap last religion.

WC was WR -> IG, was going for airports + hotels but when you are brazil turns out science is relevant past hotels...Target was 12k culture in Maya & Inca so perhaps autocracy futurism may have been better than order. Coal was a nightmare!

I think with optimal play & luck sub-200 possible on this map...

 

That is a very impressive finishing time! Congratulations! Do you have a picture or two picture from your midgame (I mean t100-t140)? I would enjoy that and I am sure most readers would enjoy it as well. Thank you for trying out the game.

 

Finished the most recent Siam game with T202 Diplo, using this Liberty-Patronage strategy.

Spoiler :

The strategy works well and this was a good map for it, as there are lots of resources to sell and you're surrounded by city-states.

4-city NC Liberty, settled another expo after NC and conquered two more cities. First was the Mongolian campaign in which I liberated Colombo and got a 12-pop Turfan in a peace deal (I think my capital was size 11 at the time). Kamehameha had a very strong army and eliminated the Mongols.

I researched Machinery shortly after this war and chose Japan as the next target for the chain-denounce and DoW. Taking Kyoto was very easy, for some reason Oda only had a bunch of spearmen defending it, perhaps he hadn't researched Civil Service and had no iron? It also helped that I got a Siege Tower from one of the CSs, so the city fell to crossbow fire in 2 turns.

Overall I had a pretty slow start with a T117 Education, but Scholasticism helped me catch up and reach Sci Theory on T151, Plastics on T176 and Info era on T186. I hit some nice numbers in the mid-game, like 1000 bpt before labs and over 800 cpt during the World's Fair.

Religion: DF / Tithe / Pagodas / 15% production / IP
SP: Liberty 6 / Patronage left side / Rationalism 6 / Order 8

Screenshots:

Spoiler T100; I'll lose Borobudur to England. 32 bpt from 7 CS allies :

Spoiler T150, bulbing ST next turn. 83 bpt from 11 CS allies :

Spoiler Victory. 193 bpt from 16 CS allies :

 

Once again an astonishing result! Siam really had the possibility to shine in EDGE#94 and I don´t think it was an exaggeration when I stated that you can rule the world with Cotton and Incense alone. Nice pictures and write up. Thanks!

 

It was bobbobbybobbob but he might have deleted his channel permanently as it cannot be found anymore. Or maybe only changed name if that is even possible on youtube.

His channel might be https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDPJST4VkhJvpx-M2nkWl2g
though not sure

 

Thanks, he sent it to me too.

 

I finished edge 101 with Brazil! Like always I finish later than others, with a 298 CV. Cool game!

Spoiler :

I moved from the coast to the mountain, most probably bad decision overall. I got Sacred Path pantheon for a sort of roleplaying with those improvements, desert folklore was better. I liked seeing Venice as neighbour since he doesn't take up space and I hoped he will build many wonders for me but he only built 3, which I never captured anyway... He was annoying since he killed off 4 CSs but at least he kickstarted my early game with 3 caravans giving 6 science each.

Early game I got wonders: Artemis, Pyramids, Oracle, Hanging Gardens and then 7 more settlers, first one collective rule. I founded 9 cities but 7 would have been better. I also misplaced their locations a bit, Manaus makes no sense. I hoped to spread my religion but it was poor decision and I struggled with happiness as a result, not to mention increased tech costs, etc. My scouting was okish but I failed to make contact with Carthage for a very long time and this allowed this civ to become a bit too strong and build too many wonders, while I felt the lack of this trading partner. Carthage killed Portugal, Assyria eventually killed Maya, Mongols crippled Inca with my help.




Middlegame, I tried to just focus science and I took Freedom ideology. The Mongols started to kill off some of my CS allies and this was quite bad, Venice also killed 2 of my CSs and 2 from Carthage. Poor decision to pass International games too early even with rushing Internet since I had too little tourism, I should have just built Bombers as soon as I could. I built around 15 eventually, in order to hold off the Mongols, who seemed to summon endless Infantries and Machineguns out of thin air. They didn't do any damage to me but Mongols got strong by killing others, even taking 3 cities from Carthage late game.





Late game I planted a lot of great people in my capital to increase my Tourism. I made the mistake of not finishing Aesthetics so I was never able to get myself Writers and Musicians when needed. Still, even with questionable decisions, I was clearly way ahead of the others and they barely reached Atomic Era in the end while I had almost all techs. Should have most probably bulbed a few more Scientists. Carthage paid 300 gold per turn to me for the last 30 turns and I stole 10.000 from the mongols after they became afraid of my 7 atomic bombs built just for fun. Mongols finished the game with 11 wonders and Carthage with 14, 1 musician was needed for concert as Dido had 55.000 culture.

Wonders built: 13
Policies: Liberty 6 / Tradition 6 / Freedom 11 / Rationalism 4 / Commerce 1 / Exploration 1 / Aesthetics 3.
Religion: Sacred Path / Tithe / Pagodas / Asceticism / Religious Texts

 

@Tiberiu I see you planted a LOT of GS instead of bulbing them. I wondered what the calculation was. I usually assume that I get more beakers by bulbing.

 

Yes, I know I don't use GS right. I know they give more science by bulbing, at around 50 science per turn each, they would need 200 turns to yield 10.000 science so bulbing instantly for that amount makes sense since the game ends much quicker than that. In this game I wanted the 14 tourism each improvement gave because I had few artifacts and works of art. Another downside of planting them could be that enemy spies should steal techs quicker due to high potential in the city...

 

Finished #86 America with a T210 DomV, trying a Liberty - Piety start

Spoiler :

Somewhat slow early expansion, because I really wanted the Pyramids here and built them on T42. Normally I also try to buy a settler in the early game, but this time I bought a Granary so that my capital would grow while it was building the Pyramids.

Ashurbanipal didn't scout his surroundings at all, I got 3 or 4 ruins there, one of them a lucky 60 faith ruin. I founded the third religion on turn 50, but unfortunately Pagodas were already gone. Only Sejong went Piety, so at least there was little competition for Reformation beliefs and I got Jesuit Education.

I planted my 8th expo on turn 84 and then took Karakorum on turn 97 to get my core 10-city empire. Genghis left his capital undefended for some reason, so it was a quick and easy capture.

Spoiler T100 :

I upgraded to XBs and attacked Korea next. Meanwhile I'm researching the lower part of the tech tree and stealing the upper part from Assyria. At this point I'm preparing my cities for unit spam. I'll get Workshops, Markets, Banks and Barracks up in most cities, then only build units. Jesuit Education takes care of Universities and Public Schools.

After I'm done with Korea, I attack Genghis again to liberate Vancouver and get a road to Mt Kilimanjaro. Minutemen with Altitude Training are really fun units.

Spoiler T150 - building a wave of Banks :

After winning World's Fair and getting all the buildings I wanted, it was time to steamroll. First I built a wave of Cannons as I was approaching Dynamite; then a wave or two of Minutemen before getting Rifling, then some Artillery and finally Cavalry. I went Order to have really good production even in the smaller cities.

Spoiler T180, a wave or Artillery coming :

I built a few Frigates and bought some GWBs in the end, but I didn't get to use them much. Sweep order: Karakorum T97, Seoul T133, Assur T174, Athens T180, Tenochtitlan T195, Paris T197, Ulundi T203, Stockholm T207, London T210.

Spoiler T210 :

Policies: Liberty 6 / Piety 5 / Rationalism 5 / Order 5
Religion: DF / +2 gold per city / Mosques / +1 happiness shrines / IP

 

MIDGE#1: Meet the happiest people on earth in the sauna

Welcome to an EDGE subseries, which I decided to call MIDGE (Modded Interesting Deity Games Experience).

After spending so many hours in Civ 5, I started to look for ways to bring new elements into the game. First I thought that I would play this game as #103 for a very specific reason. However I reconsidered and now present this game as part of this new subseries. Later this year, in December, Finland has been independent for 103 years and I wanted to celebrate that also in this forum. Thus the task in this special assignment is to play as Finland on an otherwise unmodded Pangaea map with Standard size and Standard speed. QC and QM are turned on and all VCs are enabled as usual. I chose Sweden as one of the AIs but the rest of the AIs were generated randomly. Here you can go in any direction you want but the designed VCs are CV or DipV. In your report I would also like you to write the turn on which you met Ife. This map seems to be very well suited for peaceful play, because I played the start several times and I was able to get one of the three first religions on all occasions. Furthermore the AIs are not especially interested in the early and midgame wonders, so hard building some of those you never go for normally, might just work on this map.

What about the headline? Well, in the United Nations annual World Happiness Report, Finland has been measured to be the happiest country in the world three times in a row (latest in March 2020). Many of us here in Finland think this is hilarious, which in itself probably adds to our score in the measurement... well, I don´t know. In this game it gets even more hilarious, because despite the fantastic start, one of the early problems is actually the lack of happiness. Irony! Obviously, a more or less mandatory experience in Finland is to try one of our many saunas, preferably heated to somewhere between 80-110 degrees on the Celsius scale. In fact, in a population of only 5,5 million we have an estimated 3,2 million saunas! I prefer lakeside/seaside saunas with the possibility to have a swim in between. Do you have any idea how we go about this in the winter, when many lakes are frozen? I am sure you are a little worried by now, but the hardliners actually cut a hole in the ice before having a swim. And no, no dry suits or anything like that is used. Only shorts or a bikini is "allowed" and in good and familiar company both swimming and being inside the sauna should be a totally naked experience. After this rather long and non-standard introduction, I will round off with a more technical description:
- This civ is available in the Steam library under Hypereon´s Finland (v. 4).
- The UA is to get culture from unimproved forest tiles (+1 cpt). This means that the Deer tile is probably better to work on t0 than the Salt tile.
- In addition, working these unimproved forest tiles will generate unique Rune singers which behave as normal GWs. The Rune singers sing lines from Kalevala, our national epic. Maybe you can do it better but I generated 3-4 during my game.
- The UB is, surprise surprise, the Sauna, which is a Shrine replacement and on top of the normal 1 fpt it has a slot for a Rune singer.
- The UU is the Sissi, (ridiculous when pronounced in english) which is a Machine Gun replacement.
- All units also get unique promotions based on the culture output and they get a defensive bonus near the capital.

Since this is a modded civ, there are also some small problems: 1. the Saunas are not shown in the culture overview screen but Rune singers placed in a Sauna will be added to your culture and tourism output anyway, 2. Some earlier users of the mod reported that the units in the starting screen sometimes get various "empty" promotion slots on t0 and that the only way to tackle this was to restart. However, this problem did not show itself to me. 3. Once it happened to me that I could not capture a CS worker with my Archer (also the move option only suggested ranged attack).

If you give yourself the chance to have a go with this civ, I am sure that you will enjoy it! The start is fantastic, you have reasonable land to claim, you might get some early wonders and you will catch up nicely. However everything is not as smooth as it seems! I also uploaded pictures from t106 and from the CV win on t290 for you to compare. This is a good one, have fun!

There is a short recap of my game behind the spoiler.

Spoiler :

SIP and then the BO was Scoutx2-Sauna-Granary-Settlerx3. I stole one worker from Siam on t5 (!) and four from Ormus. With the Deer tile and getting o culture ruin on t1, I got to choose my first policy on t3! First expand to the N next to the lake (no unique luxury but flood plains wheat and more Salt), second expand to the E (lakeside next to the Silver) and third expand further to the N for Gems. Four city NC on t94 and Education on t108. I built the Oracle before NC and GMoD afterwards. The AIs did not go for religion in this game and the last one went on approx t150! Nice start and I was more or less on par already when entering Renaissance. The name of the game was to keep Darius busy though, because he had a very good game.

In the midgame, I built Sistine, Uffizi and the Louvre and was first to Archeology by some 7-8 turns before Darius. I had open borders with him and hastily built three Archeologists to claim some AS in his territory. This was in fact important for the game in my opinion. All in all I managed 16 AS which was a good result compared to how I usually perform. I also built a fifth city and conquered Venice as a sixth city. Venice had Coal in the third ring and it also had some Aluminium. I was fortunate to get one of Ram´s sources of Coal (two tiles NE of the Silver) as well. Sweden had a bad time in the hands of Assyria and Persia. I also kept Darius busy with attacks on Siam and Carthage. Still Darius was in the tech lead with 2-4 techs and I was number two. Since I beelined Archeology, Siam was first to Ideologies and picked Order. I played it safe and also went Order, while Darius and England chose Freedom. Assyria went Authocracy and Dido followed me to Order. Sweden was out of it and Venice didn¨t get that far before the end of the game.

In the endgame, I tried to stay friendly with Persia (important to have open borders) but still activating them with wars against everybody else. Darius was up for the task and reduced Siam to two crappy cities and they had massive culture and good science output as well. I tried to time the International games well (when I had the production capacity to have a shot at the win). I managed to win with merely 30 hammers in front of Assyria and Darius was also less than 100 hammers off the pace. After that my GMus were worth almost 10.000 tourism each and I easily overtook Darius culture of 63.000. Very nice game and not too easy despite the magnificent start. SP: full Tradition, Piety opener, full Aestethics, Exploration opener, full Rationalism and Order 8.

 

Interesting. I might have expected the UU to be a sniper, like White Death https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_Häyhä