[BNW] Enjoyable Deity Games

[Nizef]

Here is a recap of all games in the Enjoyable Deity Games Experience (EDGE) series so far:

1. Korea (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
2. the Shoshone (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with Really Advanced Setup (RAS))
3. America (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
4. Denmark (Continents, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
5. Byzantium (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS)
6. Germany (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
7. Polynesia (Small Continents Plus, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
8. Brazil (Continents, Standard speed, Large size, Modded with RAS)
9. Mongolia (Pangaea, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
10. Spain (Terra, Standard speed, Large size, Modded with RAS)
11. Carthage (Continents, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS)
12. the Aztecs (Lakes, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
13. England (Continents, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS)
14. Korea 2 (Small Continents, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS)
15. Venice (Fractal, Epic speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS)
16. Egypt (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS)
17. the Huns (Oval, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS)
18. Japan (Hellblazers Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded both with RAS and Hellblazers map script)
19. China (Pangaea, Epic speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS)
20. Babylon (Hellblazers Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded both with RAS and Hellblazers map script)
21. Polynesia 2 (Hellblazers Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded both with RAS and Hellblazers map script)
22. Korea 3 (Hellblazers Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded both with RAS and Hellblazers map script)
23. Russia (Hellblazers Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded both with RAS and Hellblazers map script)
24. Portugal (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS)
25. France (Lakes, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
26. Germany 2 (Lakes, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
27. England 2 (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS)
28. Sweden (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
29. Arabia (Sandstorm, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
30. the Mayans (Tectonics map, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with both RAS and the Tectonics map template)
31. Ethiopia (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
32. Assyria (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
33. Poland (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS)
34. India (Pangaea, Standard speed, Small size, Modded with RAS)
35. the Aztecs 2 (Hellblazers Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with Hellblazers map script)
36. Morocco (Sandstorm, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
37. Babylon 2 (Large Islands, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
38. Spain 2 (Inland Sea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
39. Greece (Fractal, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
40. Carthage 2 (Fractal, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
41. Indonesia (Archipelago, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
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)
80. Indonesia 2 (Small Continents, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), No Liberty challenge
81. Portugal 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
82. Japan 2 (Ice Age, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), No Order challenge
83. Persia 2 (Random map, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
84. the Netherlands 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
85. Denmark 3 (Tiny Islands, Standard speed, Large size, Raging Barbarians, Otherwise unmodded but Rotate Starting Position was used)
86. America 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Large size, Unmodded), No Tradition challenge
87. the Incas 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
88. Korea 4 (Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
89. the Ottomans 2 (Continents, Standard speed, Large size, Unmodded)
90. Arabia 2 (Lakes, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
91. Ethiopia 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Pantheon challenge
92. Greece 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
93. France 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), CV challenge
94. Siam 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded),Incense challenge
95. Byzantium 3 (Continents, Epic speed, Large size, Unmodded)
96. England 4 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
97. Sweden 4 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
98. Babylon 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
99. the Zulus 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Large size, Unmodded)
100. Germany 5 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), CV challenge
101. Brazil 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
102. Austria 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
103. England 5 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, modded with RAS and Acken´s balance mod)
104. the Celts 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
105. Rome 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Large size, Unmodded)
106. Songhai 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
107. Poland 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
108. Russia 3 (Lakes, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), DomV challenge
109. China 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
110. the Aztecs 4 (Lakes, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), DomV challenge
111. the Shoshone 4 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
112. Korea 5 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
113. the Mayans 3 (Continents, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
114. Assyria 3 (Continents, Standard speed, Huge size, Unmodded), Partial domination challenge
115. Japan 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
116. Egypt 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded)
117. India 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Religion challenge

The subseries MIDGE consists of:
1. Finland (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size. Otherwise unmodded but the civ to play is Finland)
2. The Papal States (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size. Otherwise unmodded but the civ to play is The Papal States. You also need Austria-Hungary.)
3. Phoenisia (Continents, Standard speed, Standard size. Otherwise unmodded but the civ to play is the Phoenician civilization.)
4. Norway (Ice Age, Standard speed, Standard size. Otherwise unmodded but the civ to play is Norway. You also need the modded civs Finland, Iceland and Scotland.)
5. Belgium (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Otherwise unmodded but the civ to play is Belgium)

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#118: Time for Clausewitz (Authocracy and DomV challenge)

The headline could also have been "back to basics" or something similar. The start looks average at first glance but it might be useful to scout around a little before settling the capital. As an example I moved two times before settling myself. And I didn´t regret it! This game is designed to have a warfare focus. Obviously it is up to you how to do it but there are three additional challenges: 1. You must choose Authocracy as your Ideology and 2. The designed VC is DomV and 3. You must conquer the CS of Wittenberg. We play as Germany on an unmodded Lakes map with Standard size and Standard speed. QC and QM are turned on and all VCs are enabled as usual. I added Rome to the line up but otherwise the AIs are fairly "nice". Unfortunately Venice is one of your opponents but I hope you will enjoy this game anyway. Will you conquer from the get go or will you build your core cities first? This game has potential and I would argue that this is a good game for players who are unsure of their warfare skills on Diety. Experienced warmongers will have an fairly easy journey and your target should be to finish well before I did (on t274). Once in a while it is so nice to boost your war machine with Lightning warfare, Total war and Clausewitz´s legacy. Can you resist the chance to attack with Panzers with seven moves and two attacks while also ignoring ZOC? This is action all day long and I am sure you will enjoy the ride!

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

Spoiler :

Settled t2 off river to get Uluru in the third ring. First expand lakeside to the N to pick up three different luxuries and second expand to the SW for Salt and Bananas. I stole workers only from Wittenberg and stayed at war with them until XBs, when I conquered them as a fourth core city. Early BO was Scoutx2-Granary-Settler-Archer-Settler. I was unlucky with the first barb camps I cleared (no free units) but eventually I got two Hand-axes from camps. 3 city NC on t80 and Education on t108. However, I had several detours (Sailing, Iron Working and Construction) so this was a very good opening with my standards. Sweden was gone very early. They had no chance against Rome. It was nice to notice all the CS nearby. Later they would come in very handy. I got a good religion with OwN/Tithe/Pagodas/RC/IP.

The midgame got off to a nice start when I conquered Babylon with XBs and also took Dur-Kurigalzu from them. I didn´t see any other "easy target" so I took a break from wars and reached Industrialization on t159. The most crazy thing happened: I had 21 instant Coal (three already improved sources). I had only funds to buy one Factory but even with hard building two, I got to choose Ideologies first. After that I beelined for Dynamite and conquered the Netherlands and Arabia with those. After that I had to prepare for the long coming war with Rome, since this game basically was a two horse race. I decided to wait for Atomic units.

The final part of the game was about sweeping the rest of the floor. I used Rocket Artillery, Bombers and Panzers to take 12 cities from Rome by attacking with two armies from different directions and also taking Stockholm, before finishing the job with first army taking Venice and second army Jakarta. I had eight trade routes going to CS so my production bonus was 40%. Building Bombers and Panzers took 2-3 turns depending on the city. Crazy! I took 16 cities in the last 25 turns (I recalled Gustav to life and donated a bunch of cities to Sweden to maintain my happiness). Not bad. The only problem with armies like this is that the game ends so soon! SP: full Tradition, Patronage opener, Commerce 4, full Rationalism and Authocracy 8.

 

[raider980]

EDGE#118: Time for Clausewitz (Authocracy and DomV challenge)

I'm playing this one; not doing too well but just ran into an interesting situation. @Tiberiu, not sure if you've tried this one but I'm at a point where I may be able to use your citadel mastery; so if you have tried it I have a screenshot spoiler of the map below.

Spoiler :

I have been at war with Sweden for 2500 years. I stole a worker from them early on and had planned to attack quickly and take them out so I just stayed at war. The turn where I was going to move into position to attack Stockholm, Gustav built the Great Wall. I almost rage quit but attacked anyway, and failed spectacularly. I lost like 5 brutes I had gotten from barb camps (not that big a deal since there's no iron anywhere to upgrade them), lost my scout promoted archer, so I had to back off. I stayed at war to farm XP and try again with XB.

Around T140 I was about to give up, make peace and pull my units back because Gustav had gotten XB and Pikes. But then he decided to send an escorted settler towards me so I went to kill it. Before I could, he plopped a city down right next to two of my CB and a Spearman. So I took the new city easily. I realized I now have a city only 5 tiles from Stockholm and I also have 3 Great Generals and 2 highly promoted XB, one with logistics. I'm debating whether to try and citadel my way into Stockholm and try for it now. But I'm not sure where to put the citadels or exactly how to go about it.

Spoiler T140 The Eternal War with Sweden :

 

[Tiberiu]

@raider980

Spoiler :

Fun game you're having. Judging from the screenshot it looks like you might have some problems because science seems a bit low, but I think you can certainly use the generals to capture Stockholm if you really want to. Unfortunately there don't seem to be that many wonders inside, but having the Great Wall can't hurt...

Seeing how you are surrounded by City States it looks as if Sweden is your natural enemy, given the situation, so in my opinion it's a good idea to try to put those generals to good use. Keeping them around doesn't bring that many benefits, after all. I think the safest way would be like the one I put in the screenshot because this way you can have the advantage of the river that flows there and at the same time but if you want to try to risk a bit you could try buying the Hill and only going for positions 2 and 3...You save a general to use another way but it requires more time and of course the annexation of Birka...

It looks as if it might take a while until Stockholm falls as judging from the turn time, it won't be very long until Sweden gets better units or an Arsenal so it could turn into an attrition war where for a while it will be ok even just holding position and killing units without losing any yourself, trying to get a promoted army from all the fighting and spawn a few more generals. You would need a few more crossbowmen to have available to rotate when they get injured, and having a melee unit (even a pikeman with Shock and Cover 2 to have fortified adjancent to the city could work for a while I think unless they have Tradition+Oligarchy). I think at least 6 crossbowmen fighting in that area would be a minimum to have just to keep position, naturally it would be great to send as big of an army as you can. Sweden has at least a general so if they use it to build a defensive citadel don't forget that you can in some cases try to citadel bomb and "steal it" and make use of it.
If you manage to place a citadel adjancent to the city and keep a fortified unit there, each turn will pass in your favour, it will be hard for them to be dislodged. If possible, consider building roads and forts in the area to boost your fighting mobility and options, so to speak.

I see Babylon to the right side of the map, they usually do well and build many wonders. If that's the case in your game, maybe another plan could be to conquer Wittenberg instead, which gives you that faith wonder, and then use your generals to try to capture Babylon.

It would be interesting to know how your game evolved. Fingers crossed :

@Nizef Thank you Nizef, you are very kind and encouraging.

 

[Nizef]

Yes, the science output is so important. As a benchmark for you raider, on t137 I had four cities pop 18-13-13-4 and my science output was 177 per turn. The pop 4 city was Wittenberg. My army consisted of 7 XB, 4 Knights, 1 Pikeman, 1 Hand-axe and 1 Warrior. Traderoutes were going with food to Berlin and Hamburg while I used one for CS quests. Munich was growing nicely without any boosts.

 

[raider980]

Hahaha, I am so bad at warfare in Civ 5, even city states can beat me. My population and science are always low, probably the main reason I'm not good at Deity. I must have forgotten to save my Edge 118 game from my screenshot and there were no autosaves so something weird happened. I went back to a previous save...

Spoiler :

...but Gustav didn't send the settler in the same direction. On my third attempt I gave up and just continued. He eventually sent another settler to a different spot that was close so I took that city and attempted the citadel tactic. I failed miserably. It may have worked back around T150 but since I had to wait longer for that second city Sweden just had too many units by that time. They pushed me out of my citadels and pillaged them. Funniest thing was while I was busy with Stockholm, Gustav's CS ally Geneva sent a large force to Hamburg - captured it and razed it to the ground! I didn't have any units close enough to save it in time. I failed Edge 118 by loss to a city state!

Spoiler T177 Loss to CS :

Spoiler T190 Continued a bit :

 

[Tiberiu]

It happens... I think you can surely find some improvements in your game if you want to. Find a general strat that you enjoy and practice it. Since you noticed there might be a problem with population...you can test the strength of food focus in a game and see how you like it. Just settle as many cities as you have caravan slots and send them all to the capital with food all game long except ahead of and during world congress projects. This is a tradition strategy of course as you will really feel the power of Monarchy. Enough army to defend the caravans and the cities and you should have a comfortable game. My goal is to try to have 35+ pop in capital in t200 if non coastal and 45+ if coastal. This works best if you build Temple of Artemis but it's a very reliable strat even without it and I should say, don't build the 3 guilds in the capital as they lower the food too much and don't work any specialist in capital unless there are no more food tiles left.(guilds can be sold and rebuilt in capital later). The closer the cities are to each other, the better, as caravans will be safer and you can defend easier, but you will have to micromanage all cities so that you maximize food - with priority on the capital. Last I should say it pays off to buy luxury for 28 gpt to trigger we love the king in capital.

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#119: What a mess! (DomV challenge)

This was intended to be a sister game to #118 with a good start and some "nice" AIs. In a way it was, but my own game was nothing like the Germany game... So, here we play as the Zulus on an unmodded Lakes map with Standard size and Standard speed. QC and QM are turned on and all VCs are enabled as usual. The designed VC is DomV. I added Arabia, Venice and the Netherlands, since they were present in the previous game as well. My own game turned out to be much more of a struggle than #118. In the end I secured a DomV but it was a mess of a game. However, there is potential in this one as well. I only hope that you execute it better than I did. As a hint, it might be a good idea to put a little more effort into the culture game. Again, this is action all day long and I am sure you will enjoy the ride!

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

Spoiler :

SIP. In hindsight a two or three move to the N might have been an option. First expand off river to the SW for Kailash, Cotton and Silk and second to the N along the northern river. Fourth religion with EM/Tithe/Pagodas/+2 Culture from temples/IP. I stole workers from both England and a CS. Early BO was Scoutx2-Shrine-Granary-Settlerx2. Askia and Elizabeth had an early war, which left her crippled with only one distant city. 3 city NC on t88 and Oracle before that. Education on t110 and when I managed to hard build Sistine, life was looking good. However, my cities were not growing fast enough and that would come back to haunt me. I also planted a fourth city up N for Copper. That I should have done much earlier.

The midgame got off to a nice start when I conquered London fom Askia with XBs. But I noticed that I needed to focus on my science game, not only to catch but to actually pull ahead of the AIs. Industrial on t165 but I needed to improve the Coal before I could reach Ideologies. As in the previous game I picked first and chose Authocracy again. This time only one AI took Order but ALL other AIs went Freedom and eventually I was taking -42 in unhappiness pressure and had to switch to Freedom myself. Askia was the bad boy and after reaching Dynamite, I went for Gao, taking four other cities from him in the process. I really needed to push my science and didn´t go to war again before Atomic.

The final part of the game was about doing all the hard work, since I didn´t do it earlier. Arabia had to go first, since they were in danger of winning a CV. With Rocket Artillery, Mobile SAMs and Infantry they were no match, they had only GWI and a few GWBs. Then I picked up the pace and sent my experienced army towards Istanbul while assembling a second army for Venice. Istanbul fell easily and 1st army continued towards Amsterdam. Venice proved to be a tough nut, since Enrico defended with Battleships and GWBs. Eventually I got the task done but it took me something like 20 turns or so. 2nd army needed to rush down south to attack Morocco. I spiced up the 2nd army with a few Nukes...Amsterdam fell on t307 and Marrakech on the following turn. 1st army was great (three RAs with logistics and +1 range and some experienced Tanks and Bombers) but especially the last war against Morocco was a complete mess. But in the end I got the job done. Late game warfare is very nice even with a rather unfocused approach. SP: full Tradition, Honor 3, Commerce 2, full Rationalism and unusually Authocracy 6 and Freedom 5.

 

[Nizef]

Tip of the week:
Turtle lovers: the Celts in #48 and Babylon in #98
Versatile challenge: Denmark in #72 and Siam in #94
General´s choice: the Aztecs in #110 and Germany in #118

 

[TMNTurtle]

Some nice developments here, congrats to @FritsF1 for some absolute tenacity in dealing with #93, thats a tough one. Bonus points for going liberty on the first try, that was pretty damn ballsy. Also for sticking with the plan and not chickening out by launching. Reminds me a bit of my second deity win on DCL#4 Sweden, that map was also a **** (<- insert your preferred expletive here) and I'm pretty sure it took me more than 4 tries.

Also nice to see another culture victory on #70 from @Tiberiu, I've tried that one myself and got a very convincing T11 expo by way of battering ram. Unfortunately took a bit of time to finalize the military campaign since I'm no Napoleon, and therefore not sure whether I will indeed finish it. Also bonus points for going for a CV, an unlikely choice it seems to me, but then Vadalaz has already shown what a great science civ they are under ideal conditions so I suppose in hindsight that it's no surprise that they are capable culturemongers.

BTW your Zulu game was of course simply bananas.

As for @raider980, yeah thats rough, but at least I feel better knowing that even though warfare is not my forte, I am at least, not alone in suffering from a somewhat unusual condition (warfare seems to be by comparison, with a bit of a margin the most favoured win condition in the civ V community, followed by science).

Here's a short story of a mistake I made some while ago on a very ancient EDGE-map. Civ for me is very much an on-off thing and currently I've all but replaced it with the equally addictive and interesting habit of editing wikipedia. I don't know how long it will last, but I hope to get around to playing them Assyria maps in the near future to hone my lackluster military skills.

Spoiler EDGE#6 - T152 Concede :

BO: scoutx2, (stagnation) shrine, scout, (3pop) settler x2, ? (+bought a few workers), (4pop) settler.

Tech pace: T103 Edu, 1 uni bought T122 natural ratio, 133 bulb secularism, T152 bulb ST.

T78 Oracle same turn snipe, heck! I needed that! T84 ah, an egyptian caravan, now I get it. T85 buying Siams last copper and DoW for cap WLTKD, theres no way he can touch me with these mountain ranges! Double DoW Gajah/Harun (he sacrifices 2 of his own caravans ), peace is not locked for 10 turns so I guess this was somehow not a cooperative war?

T97 same turned Hagia. Late Petra gets sniped. I make the mistake of going architecture after observatories instead of PP. Not the right call with Ramses and he even went aesthetics, dumb mistake. T152 bulb ST as I lose my southern expo to Gajah.

So I think I went a little heavy on the caravan plundering leaving me with no friends, except poland who was too far away to be relevant. I think going observatories before ST was correct here to slingshot into the late game where I could've picked up some wonders without getting sniped (after 3-4 hurtful mishaps). Also I had generals due to all the wars so I could have picked up coal instantly for a strong order end game. I guess settling the southern expo flatland and coastal was a mistake, also I should've not bothered with the wonders and built some more castles and troops, since in a way I was already winning and by turtling a bit too hard threw it away.

I understand why this could be advertized as a liberty map, given the space and plenty of luxuries and horses, but the thing is when analyzing for good city spots I think it looks more welcoming to a wide tradition game. I do however think that 4city NC was a mistake, better to go for 3 cities, pick up oracle and maybe try for a petra gambit. Also, building a banana-shaped empire while pissing off the civs on both ends (and the middle too) might not have been the best modus operandi.

Lastly, can someone please explain this to me???

 

[Nizef]

About that worker. Well, my thinking is, that it originally is a siamese worker. Then a barb came along and stole it and brought it to a camp. Later Indonesia cleared that camp and took the worker for themselves

 

[Nizef]

Carthage is next on my drawing board. I hope to deliver something slightly unexpected.

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#120: There is no business like Salt business (a.k.a. Who needs harbors with a start like this?)

I am the first to admit that this is not the way to play this civ. But the start is very good (if you settle to the E on t1 or t2) and your first expand will be one of your best ever. Could you turn down Kilimanjaro with 1-2 unique luxuries, a river and on top of that two Salt tiles and some convenient hills? Furthermore you will have a peaceful AI right at your doorstep. Make the most of that in the early game. The start was too good to turn down, even if you will have to play Carthage in a way it was not intended. Here we have an unmodded Pangaea map with Standard size and Standard speed. QC and QM are turned on and all VCs are enabled as usual. I chose Rome (of course) and Morocco as AI opponents. The start is so good that you can go in any direction you want. I decided to only settle two cities myself and then help myself to other interesting cities, eventually finishing in a DomV. But you can definitely go down a peaceful route as well. Strangely enough, there are three coastal civs on the map, but only one of them got a coastal start (and even that one had some severe complications). Enjoy your unusual ride with Dido. I haven´t seen her happier for ages. Hopefully you will get into the same mood as well! Have fun!

I played according to HOF rules and also submitted my game. There is a short recap of it behind the spoiler. EDIT: Much to my surprise, nobody has ever submitted a Deity DomV on a standard sized map with Carthage before. There were three DomV entries on duel size, one DipV on a huge map and my SV on standard, but that was it. I wonder why? For some reason I always have really exciting games with Dido, but maybe I am the only one? I hope not. I vaguely remember that many players liked EDGE#11 and hope that you will find #120 interesting as well.

Spoiler :

Settled t2 on the river/hill to the E. 3 Salt tiles, Sugar, Flood plains Wheat and a long river system. I have rarely had better starts. First I was shocked to see that Austria was only five tiles away, but they were very co-operative. First I took their workers (two) then I made peace and sent a trade route as soon as possible. Fast expand along the river for the amazing Kilimanjaro spot. Austria settled the coastal spot with Fish and Marble, but that was okay. I was going for Vienna anyway, so taking Graz in the process was not much of a detour. 2 city NC on t73 and I started my CB assault on Vienna a couple of turns before that. They had some Horsemen and a couple of Swordsmen but my army conisted of eight CBs, 2 Swordsmen and a Pikeman. Vienna rushed Walls but that didn´t help them much. Then I conquered Graz at the coast before making peace. The early trade route really helped me and I reached Education on t108 after detours for Iron Working and Optics. Not bad with only two core cities! Vienna turned out very nice, because they finished Petra about five turns before I conquered the city. Fourth religion with EM/Tithe/+15%Production/Culture from Temples/IP. One of my best starts ever. Anything else would have been abysmal with a start like that.

The midgame was all about growing, catching up and allying a couple of CS. Mongolia entertained most of the AIs with countless wars and only England had time to discover new techs. I went straight for Industrialization, building LToP on the way. I had instant Coal but had to hard build my Factories. Even so, I was first to choose an Ideology. As I am on Authocracy mode these days, that is exactly what I picked. Then beelining for Dynamite and I knocked on Elizabeth´s door. Her "protests" were lame and London fell in a few turns. However she assembled a formidable resque force and I had to make peace soon. Then I beelined for Atomic Units (Rocket Artillery, Bombers and Tanks). Morocco took out Portugal but otherwise all the AI wars resulted in absolutely nothing.

The final part of the game was about sweeping the map. Mecca lasted four turns, Rome three and Karakorum one turn. Then I had Morocco left and they had a LOT of units. I built some nukes but I also needed to take 5-6 cities from them (including Lisbon). This took me something like 18-20 turns. So no action with Qinqueremes this time but a lot of action anyway. Ridiculous start which turned into an easy game. I finished on t294 but I could probably have done it earlier, if I had optimized my actions better. Now I took a low risk strategy and executed it with patience. Fun game all in all. SP: full Tradition, Honor 3, Commerce 2, full Rationalism and Authocracy 8.

 

[beetle]

I have not played an EDGe map for quite a while. Thought I would try this Carthage map since I am so poor at DOM.

I am the first to admit that this is not the way to play this civ.

I might not ever have played Carthage on Pangea before!

But the start is very good (if you settle to the E on t1 or t2) and your first expand will be one of your best ever. Could you turn down Kilimanjaro with 1-2 unique luxuries, a river and on top of that two Salt tiles and some convenient hills?

I read this clue wrong, but I did send my Settler east. Took the neighbor quick enough. Now I am waiting on Artillery.

EDIT: I enjoyed this game very much. Thanks again @Nizef!

I won before SB and only used XCOM for one cap / one turn – so a little bit faster for me than usual. But, still after having to vote against myself as WL, so not as fast as I would like.

I will probably try the most recent Zulu map next.

EDIT: Zulu map lots of fun, but game is silently crashing just as a I on my final push. T360, but for a nice change, I was going to win before the Clauswitz boost ran out.

 

[Nizef]

Tip of the week:
Sailors ohoy: Polynesia #7 and Persia #83
Son of a preacher man: the Mayans #42 and Byzantium #59
Phantom of the opera: the Celts #104
Complete madness: Portugal #65 and Egypt #116

 

[beetle]

EDGE#104: The world is a dangerous place
Many of the recent games have been aiming at peaceful journeys. However, that is not the case here! The task is to play as the Celts on an unmodded Pangaea map with Standard size and Standard speed. QC and QM are turned on and all VCs are enabled as usual. I selected three opponents myself: England, Rome and the Zulus. The aim of the game is to win a DomV, alternatively any VC is okay as long as you have conquered the city of Rome. The romans were Boudiccas main enemy after all. The start is very nice and you should be able to expand peacefully to 4-5 cities. Prepare well and hit the road when you feel you are ready. As a hint, Shaka has a good starting position and seems to do well on this map. What could be better than that? Enjoy the mess you are going to create!

Trying this one, HCA again. But I think just three cities. I might not ever try DOM again without a Salt start. These EDGE games have really spoiled me!

 

[Nizef]

Trying this one, HCA again. But I think just three cities. I might not ever try DOM again without a Salt start. These EDGE games have really spoiled me!

Yeah, I agree that Salt is kind of ridiculous. The problem with Deity is of course not that you can´t overtake the AI but that you are so helpless in the early stages (no chance on early wonders etc.). Salt is no magic solution but it makes catching up, just that much faster. Thus, opening up more options for the average Deity player in the midgame.

Nice to see players go for HCA in this series. After my violent spell (EDGE#118, #119 and #120) I hope to present something more in line with the upcoming Christmas holiday. What I have been working on is Tradition opener and then full Piety before going anywhere else. It seems to be quite rough, at least with my skill level...

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#121: The Miracle of Christmas (Piety and Cultural Victory challenge)

I had to think about the headline here, but I hope that readers of other religions will accept this for what it is: a game without real life intentions.

Let me be frank: this is a daunting task! I think it will suit the upcoming holidays just fine: since almost nobody is travelling this year, you will most likely have time for one of the toughest tests of this entire series. Here the idea is to play as Ethiopia on an unmodded Pangaea map with Standard size and Standard speed. QC and QM are turned on and all VCs are enabled as usual. The fuIl challenge is to pick the Tradition opener and go full Piety after that. Only your eighth policy is free for you to choose yourself! Those of you who would like to take the "light" challenge could of course finish Piety with your tenth policy. However, it is not allowed to take more than two points in Tradition or Liberty at any time during the game. Why am I so hard on this? Well, the whole idea of this game is to go for the suboptimal Piety tree and make it work regardless of all the limitations and problems that will occur later in the game. As stated in the headline, the aim is to win a cultural victory regardless of your struggle. To your aid you have a nice starting location (no Salt though), a pretty easy pantheon pick and a fairly isolated starting area because you only need to define your borders in one direction. My own game was a nerve wrecking excercise but despite of starting the game with the hand brake on, I still managed some of those valuable midgame wonders and felt pretty confident of winning even, if it took me forever to finish.

It seems to me that this game is hard for several reasons. It is not just the Piety thing, there are some real cultural powerhouses on the map and a couple of warmongers as well. At least I had to manage my foreign relations with more care than I usually bother to do. Some of the AIs will interact early to push far ahead in tech count before the catch up process will even start. Early scouting is always important but here I felt that it was even more important than usually.

I have uploaded more pictures than usual for you to compare (at the moment when you think for yourself that this game is just garbage and use all those ugly words that should not be used, especially this time of year). As a benchmark, I built the following wonders: Oracle, Hanging Gardens, LToP, Globe Theatre (GE rush), Louvre (GE rush), Porcelain, Eiffel (GE rush), Broadway, Redentor, Neuschwanstein, Sydney OH, CN Tower and Great Firewall. Will you do it better? And can you finish before t343 when I finally won? All in all I challenge you to go in directions you normally wouldn´t go and I hope that you will like the end result even if the journey might be quite bumpy. Still I hope that you will have fun!

Merry Christmas and Seasonal Greetings to all readers of this tree! Take care of yourself and your loved ones.

I played according to HOF rules and also submitted my game. I know that the finishing time is poor, but I wanted to prove to myself that I can do this while also using all limitations described above. There is a short recap of it behind the spoiler.

Spoiler :

Settled t1 on the hill to the N. Even if my BO was Stele-Scout, I was only the third to chose a pantheon! That has not happened with Ethiopia before. First expand to the S for Wheat, Marble, Truffles and coast. Second to the N along the river for more Gems. Third to the E for GBR and Sugar. I built a Caravan directly after the settlers and Gao was a "gold mine" - or rather an invaluable science boost. I beelined Philosophy which made it possible for me to get the Oracle (t81 or so). My expands were small and they had many things to build. Thus, I built Hanging Gardens while waiting for Libraries and NC (t102) after that. As you can see from the pictures, I was last in tech by a million miles on t115. However, I got lucky with some helpful tech steals right after that. Abysmal start, but I was determined to make it work (I had several failed attempts on similar maps before this one). Dido killed Sweden very early on and she had a huge fight with Suleiman as well. Fourth religion with TotG/Tithe/Monestaries/RC/IP and To the Glory of God as Reformation belief.

The midgame was all about securing some key wonders. Sistine went fast but much to my surprise Morocco entered Printing Press only a coupe of turns before me. This gave me the courage to go for LToP (I have noticed that GT usually goes before LToP and figured Morocco would go for that one. However, I finished LToP on about t148 and rushed GT since Morocco was not building it. Sweet! At this point a CV was "back on track". Then I went for Industrialization before Archeology and thankfully had Coal nearby. Much to my surprise I was able to win the World´s Fair before that. I reached Archeology VERY late (t190 or so) and immidiately rushed Louvre before building Museums. Then I really had to struggle to get enough AS. My scouting had been adequate and I was able to secure 10 AS (three of the last one inside Dido´s borders). The AIs were in no hurry to pick Ideologies and conveniently let me pick first (also t190 roughly) and obviously I went Freedom, which luckily was Morocco´s choice as well. At this point the foundation for a CV was ready. However, Morocco had an huge culture pool while my science output was embarrassing.

The endgame was exciting. I tried to push my science output as much as possible but still it took me until t270 to reach Internet. At this time I was still only third in tech! After this it took me another 73 turns to win. I know that is bad, but I had to overcome Morocco´s culture of 88.000 to win. That took a lot of time. Near the end I noticed that I needed to use my last GMu for Dido instead (she was embargoed, differing ideologies and obviously no open borders after me stealing three of her AS). With all her Nukes and Tanks I had to time it so that I was sure of winning the next turn after forcing my GMu inside her borders. She was really wild all game. There is a picture of her Christmas presents to Askia as well. I rarely see the AIs use such a number of Nukes. I think that she thought it was New Year´s Eve and mistakingly used Nukes instead of firecrackers... I only went to war once during the game. That was when everybody jumped on the poor Suleiman. I didn´t even send any troops (though I had Nukes) but eventually he sued for peace by gifting Ankara to me. This was the kind of stuff that usually happens on Prince or King and not Deity. My religion was strong and it helped me, especially in the form of Great Persons: 2 GEs, 1 GS, 1 GA, 6 GPs and 3 GMus. Extremely interesting and difficult game and I am happy to have overcome my fear for Piety!

 

[TMNTurtle]

Posting some old games, which I'm almost sure I haven't yet reported on. This is mostly as an excuse to wish you all a very, merry christmas!

Also hoping to report on some succesful ethiopian adventures, but that will have to wait until after the festivities.

Spoiler EDGE#98 Babylon - T256 SV :

Nice ruins: reasonably early culture and 1 or 2 pop.

Tech Pace: T84NC, T103 Edu (misqued delaying it by one turn), T155 ST, T165 Oxford radio

Policies: full Trad, Ratio/Commerce/Freedom

HG gambit pays off, with a 2 city Oracle into NC and 2 more cities planted thereafter. During renaissance I need whales, which takes too long to improve so I buy boudicas for 28 gpt, then denounce and make war, which makes Augustus super happy with me. The deal pops 2 WLTKD for whales and 1 for getting my last salt back =)

T163 I diplo the huns and science funding passes with 3 yay 2 nay. I forgot to write down plastics timing and such. Endgame is standard Ratio/Commerce/Freedom with loads of gold.

9 WWs built: HG, Oracle, Sistine, Taj M, PT, Eiffel T, SoL, Big Ben, Hubble ST

Spoiler EDGE#106 Songhai 4th attempt - T256 SV :

Tech Pace: T111 Edu, T121 Perfect Ratio, T138 secularism, T160 ST, T170 Oxford Radio, T200 Bulb plastics

Policies: full Trad, Ratio/Commerce/Freedom

After a thousand years of silence on the Zulu front there is some scuffle in early renaissance bringing my expo down to 20 hp, but I don't think there is any real danger so I complete sistine during the war, which turns out to be the right move as Shaka already had enough. Unfortunately I oxford radio the turn before WC so the aesthetics fanboys who also control the worlds CSs suddenly get all the votes, meh. Some more scuffle again right before plastics, but I don't even need to call in the legionary cavalry.


Thanks but no thank you, these are my lands!

Only Sejong offers me RAs and I feel like I'm repeatedly signing that deal with the devil himself. Also, it's hard to get CS allies in the early game and in the mid/late game as well, as Lizzy and Harun monopolizes them. BB gets sniped, yes yes, of course Elizabeth goes for the roleplaying now. As the game goes towards its conclusion I realise that I don't have the proper cash reserves and promptly disband my entire army and start selling infrastructure.

Reliquaries without fresh water was perhaps not the best idea. The combination of no fresh water, only one RA-buddy, difficulty securing happiness to grow during the midgame and only one observatory slowed things down a bit, but not at all as much as I would've expected. I guess the extra jungle-tiles really pulled through.

End game scientists: 8(maybe 9?) natural, 2 faith (2.2k unspent with 1 GE bought), 2 Hubble

8 WWs built: Oracle, Sistine, LToP, Taj M, PT, Eiffel T, SoL (engineered), Hubble ST

Nice to get a clean science endgame, no serious mistakes or miscalculations this time. Despite being a few turns later on the mid game timings I managed to catch up in the Songhai game, having planted one extra city. I would've thought that Babylon with HG and science funding should've been faster, especially with slightly higher total pop (115 vs. 106). But then of course, I had LToP in the Songhai game. Also, I played #106 one or two weeks after #98, so that might also have played a part.

 

[Nizef]

Posting some old games, which I'm almost sure I haven't yet reported on. This is mostly as an excuse to wish you all a very, merry christmas!

Also hoping to report on some succesful ethiopian adventures, but that will have to wait until after the festivities.

Spoiler EDGE#98 Babylon - T256 SV :

Nice ruins: reasonably early culture and 1 or 2 pop.

Tech Pace: T84NC, T103 Edu (misqued delaying it by one turn), T155 ST, T165 Oxford radio

Policies: full Trad, Ratio/Commerce/Freedom

HG gambit pays off, with a 2 city Oracle into NC and 2 more cities planted thereafter. During renaissance I need whales, which takes too long to improve so I buy boudicas for 28 gpt, then denounce and make war, which makes Augustus super happy with me. The deal pops 2 WLTKD for whales and 1 for getting my last salt back =)

T163 I diplo the huns and science funding passes with 3 yay 2 nay. I forgot to write down plastics timing and such. Endgame is standard Ratio/Commerce/Freedom with loads of gold.

9 WWs built: HG, Oracle, Sistine, Taj M, PT, Eiffel T, SoL, Big Ben, Hubble ST

View attachment 579241

Spoiler EDGE#106 Songhai 4th attempt - T256 SV :

Tech Pace: T111 Edu, T121 Perfect Ratio, T138 secularism, T160 ST, T170 Oxford Radio, T200 Bulb plastics

Policies: full Trad, Ratio/Commerce/Freedom

After a thousand years of silence on the Zulu front there is some scuffle in early renaissance bringing my expo down to 20 hp, but I don't think there is any real danger so I complete sistine during the war, which turns out to be the right move as Shaka already had enough. Unfortunately I oxford radio the turn before WC so the aesthetics fanboys who also control the worlds CSs suddenly get all the votes, meh. Some more scuffle again right before plastics, but I don't even need to call in the legionary cavalry.

View attachment 579239
Thanks but no thank you, these are my lands!

Only Sejong offers me RAs and I feel like I'm repeatedly signing that deal with the devil himself. Also, it's hard to get CS allies in the early game and in the mid/late game as well, as Lizzy and Harun monopolizes them. BB gets sniped, yes yes, of course Elizabeth goes for the roleplaying now. As the game goes towards its conclusion I realise that I don't have the proper cash reserves and promptly disband my entire army and start selling infrastructure.

Reliquaries without fresh water was perhaps not the best idea. The combination of no fresh water, only one RA-buddy, difficulty securing happiness to grow during the midgame and only one observatory slowed things down a bit, but not at all as much as I would've expected. I guess the extra jungle-tiles really pulled through.

End game scientists: 8(maybe 9?) natural, 2 faith (2.2k unspent with 1 GE bought), 2 Hubble

8 WWs built: Oracle, Sistine, LToP, Taj M, PT, Eiffel T, SoL (engineered), Hubble ST

View attachment 579240

Nice to get a clean science endgame, no serious mistakes or miscalculations this time. Despite being a few turns later on the mid game timings I managed to catch up in the Songhai game, having planted one extra city. I would've thought that Babylon with HG and science funding should've been faster, especially with slightly higher total pop (115 vs. 106). But then of course, I had LToP in the Songhai game. Also, I played #106 one or two weeks after #98, so that might also have played a part.

I agree with your analysis when comparing the Songhai and Babylon games. However, I offer one additional thought: the Songhai game has the benefit of trade routes to Korea while the Babylon game was short on early trade routes. What do you think?