[BNW] Enjoyable Deity Games

[Shark Diver]

@raider980

Spoiler :

I am happy you are enjoying the game. Smart move right there with Seville, a better decision. You could eventually even expand to the spices, who knows? (with writer and artist guild there) Stealing luxuries early game from CS is very cool I think. I don't even understand why I didn't settle in the same spot, really. I guess I wanted to work the NW.

In my opinion it is never worth taking missionary enhancer. Messiah at least lets you get more Holy Sites that in turn boost your faith output. If you want to spread well I think you're better off with 30% farther and also it is nice to deny it to somebody else.
If you don't mind a few comments and critique, what I do not like about your empire is that you don't have a worker in the capital and it is low population and a lot of good tiles are not improved. This means you most probably you won't build a few wonders that you could have built... When you have granary resources it really pays off to not delay to build it, it's an investment that should quickly pay dividends.
Have fun! I am sure you will have a good game.

I agree with everything Tiberiu says here. Excellent advice.

My go to Enhancers are:

1. DotF: If I've got a strong Religion and I'm not worried about spread to my cities, I love the sense of security this gives me. Makes the game less stressful.
2. Religious Tests: If a neighboring Civ founded before me, and I know I'm going to have to fight for my religion after I take advantage of whatever goodies the AI Religion gives my expos.
3. Cheaper Prophets: For the reasons Tiberiu laid out, but also for the help in defending your own religion.

I rarely take Spreads Further. As alluded to a few times on this thread, I don't really like giving my good religions to the AI. I want it to be just strong enough to convert the nearby CS. That usually gives me ~8 cities with my religion, which is ally enough to keep my religion intact. I will confess to never discovering the mechanics of Spreads Further, so I could be missing something here. Does anyone have any insight here?

 

[Tiberiu]

I will confess to never discovering the mechanics of Spreads Further, so I could be missing something here.

Your religion sends pressure to 13 tiles away instead of just 10. Depending on placement of cities this can be more useful than 25-50% faster spread. For example when there are many cities at 11-13 tiles away from the holy city (or any other of your religion).

 

[Shark Diver]

Your religion sends pressure to 13 tiles away instead of just 10. Depending on placement of cities this can be more useful than 25-50% faster spread. For example when there are many cities at 11-13 tiles away from the holy city.

When they are counting tiles away, are they measuring from borders or from City Tile?

 

[Tiberiu]

When they are counting tiles away, are they measuring from borders or from City Tile?

From the city tile

 

[Shark Diver]

From the city tile

Thank you. That's useful info that I didn't have to go find myself.

I should add that I find the other Enhancers mostly useless, as I don't normally spread my religion. The rare exceptions are when I have a monstrous religion or someone beats me to Tithe and I take the Culture from spread thing. I just find that there are better uses for Faith than making a few bucks on Tithe.

 

[Nizef]

Thank you. That's useful info that I didn't have to go find myself.

I should add that I find the other Enhancers mostly useless, as I don't normally spread my religion. The rare exceptions are when I have a monstrous religion or someone beats me to Tithe and I take the Culture from spread thing. I just find that there are better uses for Faith than making a few bucks on Tithe.

I agree that it is not useful to spread your own religion in every case. However the synergy with Tithe, albeit situational, can be very valuable. I think of #105, where I was making 155 gpt from Tithe alone. Just as a reminder. Also World Church might be an option when you want to spread your religion.

And think about the statistics in @Tiberiu´s game #126.

 

[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), Page 1
2. the Shoshone (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with Really Advanced Setup (RAS)), Page 1
3. America (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 3
4. Denmark (Continents, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 3
5. Byzantium (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS). Page 3
6. Germany (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 3
7. Polynesia (Small Continents Plus, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 4
8. Brazil (Continents, Standard speed, Large size, Modded with RAS), Page 4
9. Mongolia (Pangaea, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 4
10. Spain (Terra, Standard speed, Large size, Modded with RAS), Page 5
11. Carthage (Continents, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS), Page 5
12. the Aztecs (Lakes, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 5
13. England (Continents, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS), Page 6
14. Korea 2 (Small Continents, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS), Page 6
15. Venice (Fractal, Epic speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS), Page 6
16. Egypt (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS), Page 6
17. the Huns (Oval, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS), Page 6
18. Japan (Hellblazers Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded both with RAS and Hellblazers map script), Page 6
19. China (Pangaea, Epic speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS), Page 7
20. Babylon (Hellblazers Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded both with RAS and Hellblazers map script), Page 7
21. Polynesia 2 (Hellblazers Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded both with RAS and Hellblazers map script), Page 7
22. Korea 3 (Hellblazers Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded both with RAS and Hellblazers map script), Page 7
23. Russia (Hellblazers Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded both with RAS and Hellblazers map script), Page 7
24. Portugal (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS), Page 7
25. France (Lakes, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 7
26. Germany 2 (Lakes, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 7
27. England 2 (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS), Page 7
28. Sweden (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 7
29. Arabia (Sandstorm, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 8
30. the Mayans (Tectonics map, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with both RAS and the Tectonics map template), Page 8
31. Ethiopia (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 8
32. Assyria (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 8
33. Poland (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with RAS), Page 8
34. India (Pangaea, Standard speed, Small size, Modded with RAS), Page 8
35. the Aztecs 2 (Hellblazers Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with Hellblazers map script), Page 8
36. Morocco (Sandstorm, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 8
37. Babylon 2 (Large Islands, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 8
38. Spain 2 (Inland Sea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 8
39. Greece (Fractal, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 8
40. Carthage 2 (Fractal, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 8
41. Indonesia (Archipelago, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 8
42. the Mayans 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Piety challenge, Page 9
43. Siam (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Patronage partial challenge, Page 9
44. the Shoshone 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 9
45. Poland 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Honor challenge, Page 9
46. the Netherlands (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Liberty challenge, Page 10
47. the Aztecs 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 10
48. the Celts (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 10
49. the Zulus (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Aesthetics challenge, Page 11
50. Austria (Pangaea, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 11
51. Persia (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 11
52. the Ottomans (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Religion challenge, Page 11
53. Rome (Fractal, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 11
54. Songhai (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 11
55. the Incas (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 11
56. Russia 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 11
57. India 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), CV challenge, Page 11
58. Germany 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 11
59. Byzantium 2 (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Religion challenge, Page 11
60. the Iroquois (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Aesthetics challenge, Page 12
61. America 2 (Pangaea, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded), DomV challenge, Page 12
62. Sweden 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Petra challenge, Page 12
63. Morocco 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), partial Commerce challenge, Page 12
64. England 3 (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), partial UN challenge, Page 12
65. Portugal 2 (Continents, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), partial elimination challenge, Page 12
66. Egypt 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 12
67. Polynesia 3 (Archipelago, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 13
68. Sweden 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 13
69. Germany 4 (Pangaea, Epic speed, Large size, Unmodded), War academy, part 1, DomV challenge, Page 13
70. the Huns 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), War academy, part 2, Page 13
71. Spain 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Huge size, Unmodded), Page 13
72. Denmark 2 (Lakes, Standard speed, Standard size, Otherwise unmodded but Rotate Starting Position was used), Page 13
73. Venice 2 (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), DipV challenge, Page 13
74. Carthage 3 (Hellblazer´s Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Modded with Hellblazer´s map script), CV challenge, Page 13
75. China 2 (Pangaea, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded), War academy, part 3, DomV challenge, Page 14
76. Mongolia 2 (Pangaea, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded), War academy, part 4, Page 14
77. Brazil 2 (Pangaea, Epic speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 15
78. the Shoshone 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 15
79. Assyria 2 (Terra Incognita, Standard speed, Standard size, Otherwise unmodded but Rotate Starting Position was used), Page 15
80. Indonesia 2 (Small Continents, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), No Liberty challenge, Page 16
81. Portugal 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 16
82. Japan 2 (Ice Age, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), No Order challenge, Page 16
83. Persia 2 (Random map, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 16
84. the Netherlands 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 17
85. Denmark 3 (Tiny Islands, Standard speed, Large size, Raging Barbarians, Otherwise unmodded but Rotate Starting Position was used), Page 17
86. America 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Large size, Unmodded), No Tradition challenge, Page 18
87. the Incas 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 18
88. Korea 4 (Pangaea, Quick speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 19
89. the Ottomans 2 (Continents, Standard speed, Large size, Unmodded), Page 20
90. Arabia 2 (Lakes, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 20
91. Ethiopia 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Pantheon challenge, Page 21
92. Greece 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 21
93. France 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), CV challenge, Page 21
94. Siam 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded),Incense challenge, Page 22
95. Byzantium 3 (Continents, Epic speed, Large size, Unmodded), Page 22
96. England 4 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 23
97. Sweden 4 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 24
98. Babylon 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 24
99. the Zulus 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Large size, Unmodded), Page 24
100. Germany 5 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), CV challenge, Page 25
101. Brazil 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 25
102. Austria 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 26
103. England 5 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, modded with RAS and Acken´s balance mod), Page 27
104. the Celts 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 27
105. Rome 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Large size, Unmodded), Page 28
106. Songhai 2 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 28
107. Poland 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 29
108. Russia 3 (Lakes, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), DomV challenge, Page 29
109. China 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 30
110. the Aztecs 4 (Lakes, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), DomV challenge, Page 30
111. the Shoshone 4 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 32
112. Korea 5 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 32
113. the Mayans 3 (Continents, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 32
114. Assyria 3 (Continents, Standard speed, Huge size, Unmodded), Partial domination challenge, Page 33
115. Japan 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 33
116. Egypt 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 33
117. India 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Religion challenge, Page 33
118. Germany 6 (Lakes, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), DomV challenge, Page 34
119. the Zulus 3 (Lakes, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), DomV challenge, Page 34
120. Carthage 4 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 34
121. Ethiopia 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Piety and CV challenge, Page 34
122. the Mayans 4 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), CV challenge, Page 35
123. the Ottomans 3 (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 37
124. the Aztecs 5 (Lakes, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), CV challenge, Page 38
125. Mongolia 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 39
126. Spain 4 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 40
127. America 4 (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), SV challenge, Page 40
128. Egypt 4 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 40
129. Morocco 3 (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 40
130. the Huns 3 (Fractal, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 42

The subseries MIDGE consists of:
1. Finland (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size. Otherwise unmodded but the civ to play is Finland), Page 26
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.), Page 27
3. Phoenisia (Continents, Standard speed, Standard size. Otherwise unmodded but the civ to play is the Phoenician civilization.), Page 27
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.), Page 29
5. Belgium (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Otherwise unmodded but the civ to play is Belgium), Page 30

 

[Nizef]

If things go well, the next game will be a journey with Indonesia.

 

[Shark Diver]

I've got a bit of a problem with the Morocco game.

Spoiler Sacred Sites Bug? :

In my game, Songhai had taken Jesuit Education and I had Sacred Sites. He easily spread to my Northern expos and I faith-bought Uni's in both and the Public School in one and then converted it to my religion. The faith-bought Science buildings are not being given the Sacred Sites tourism bonus.

I focused a lot of my strategy this game on getting additional tourism from faith-bought science buildings. If these don't count for Sacred Sites, a fundamental assumption I've been championing was wrong.

Is this just a bug or was I wrong in thinking that science buildings counted? I would have played the faith and culture games much differently if I knew I was wrong.

I'll convert the other Northern expo after faith-buying the Public School in a few turns. That may answer my questions.

 

[Tiberiu]

I've got a bit of a problem with the Morocco game.

Spoiler Sacred Sites Bug? :

In my game, Songhai had taken Jesuit Education and I had Sacred Sites. He easily spread to my Northern expos and I faith-bought Uni's in both and the Public School in one and then converted it to my religion. The faith-bought Science buildings are not being given the Sacred Sites tourism bonus.
View attachment 584569

I focused a lot of my strategy this game on getting additional tourism from faith-bought science buildings. If these don't count for Sacred Sites, a fundamental assumption I've been championing was wrong.

Is this just a bug or was I wrong in thinking that science buildings counted? I would have played the faith and culture games much differently if I knew I was wrong.

I'll convert the other Northern expo after faith-buying the Public School in a few turns. That may answer my questions.

Not a bug, these are not supposed to give tourism. The tooltip should have been more specific.

 

[Nizef]

I've got a bit of a problem with the Morocco game.

Spoiler Sacred Sites Bug? :

In my game, Songhai had taken Jesuit Education and I had Sacred Sites. He easily spread to my Northern expos and I faith-bought Uni's in both and the Public School in one and then converted it to my religion. The faith-bought Science buildings are not being given the Sacred Sites tourism bonus.
View attachment 584569

I focused a lot of my strategy this game on getting additional tourism from faith-bought science buildings. If these don't count for Sacred Sites, a fundamental assumption I've been championing was wrong.

Is this just a bug or was I wrong in thinking that science buildings counted? I would have played the faith and culture games much differently if I knew I was wrong.

I'll convert the other Northern expo after faith-buying the Public School in a few turns. That may answer my questions.

Even if it doesn´t explicitly say so in the game, I have always had the impression, that the SS bonus only counts for religious buildings.

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#131: From seawater to interstellar dust (SV challenge)

This game is a strange one. On this type of map the start is bound to be slow, and at least in my own game the start was very slow. Still, this game is one of the easier ones in this series. The AIs have a rough start as well and it seemed like they struggled to compete. Anyway, this time we play as Indonesia on an unmodded Tiny Islands map with Standard size and Standard speed. QC and QM are turned on and all VCs are enabled as usual. The idea of this game is to go for a SV as mentioned in the headline. I think that a DomV in particular is a little bit too easy and I hope that you primarily focus on your own science game. Then we come to this with strategic resources. Horses and Iron will not be your problem but then you need to be very creative about Coal, Aluminium, Oil and Uranium. Also with these limitations, I hope that you will find this game relaxing and fun. Enjoy!

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

Spoiler :

SIP. BO: Worker, Shrine, Trireme, Settler (at 3pop), Granary and then Settler, Worker, Settler, Worker, Library and Settler. I was last to pick a pantheon but thanks to Mt. Kailash I got the third religion with OwN/Tithe/Pagodas/RC/IP. Interesting neighbours: Spain, the Aztecs and Mongolia. Will this be a war game? 5 city NC as late as t110 and I reached Education on the abysmal t127. Much to my surprise, the AIs struggled a lot already in the early game and I was fourth to Renaissance. I hard built Sistine and with better planning I might even have got the other midgame cultural wonders. However, this was supposed to be a scientific game. I asked Genghis to have a go at Ram and he decided to turn that into a genocide. China beat was first to choose an Ideology and went Order. I chose Freedom on the next turn (about t190). There was no other way to get Coal, so I sent a Settler over to an island near Lisbon and settled on the Coal. With better city placement I would have had 3 Coal myself, but it was in the fourth ring unfortunately. Anyway, after building Factories in all my core cities, I sold this new pop2 city to Genghis and he paid me 34 gpt for the joy to burn it to the ground. Genghis had a good game, conquering several CS and the whole of Siam and having a go at Monty, Maria and Elizabeth.

Even if I reached Plastics only on t237, I was already now so far ahead that no AI could do anything. So I just continued focusing on my science game and tried to ally a few CS. Riga was needed to get Oil and Vilnius for Aluminium. I also built some Museums and Broadcast Towers and filled them, to defend my culture against the most unlikely cultural forerunner: Monty! He managed to get influencial over two AIs and he had a strong religion as well! Then I performed a slowish SV routine ending in a win on t306 and even the most advanced AI was 14 techs behind. As an alternative I could have gone to war with Battleships against Frigates. On Deity! This was indeed a very easy game despite the rough start. SP: full Tradition, Patronage opener, Commerce opener, full Rationalism and Freedom 8.

 

[Shark Diver]

Not a bug, these are not supposed to give tourism. The tooltip should have been more specific.

Well crap, I would have played this game much differently had I known this.

 

[Tiberiu]

You've shared a couple of screenshots where all of your cities are working Science instead of building stuff and things. Is that something you do just late game or do you mix it in and ignore non-essential buildings?

I am playing a game now that made me think of this question that you asked to vadalaz, and I wanted to share some thoughts.

It is a 22-player game, and I was 4th to get an ideology, and I will only have 1 free tenet. If I was just 1 turn quicker to radio it would have accounted for 1 extra tenet.
I used a scientist to bulb Electricity, timed with Oxford. My capital previously built some buildings like Garden and Market, Amphitheatre. I am quite sure I could have managed to get 1 turn faster if I just worked Research in my 4 cities instead of building non-essential things.
I think the Research project is something I've been underestimating until now. I am not a science player, but I think this trick might be just what I need to improve my chances to get faster Radio in future games. For me, whether I have 1 free tenet or 2 feels radically different. With 2 tenets you have the option of taking something that you know for sure will be pressured - by offsetting it with 2 happiness tenets. With just 1 tenet, this might not suffice.
Also, I think 1-2 extra turns can be cut by being able to buy the Schools as they become available, even if it means taking huge loans. This, I did in 2 of my cities, and I think it was worth at least one turn.
It is fascinating how just a single turn can have such a big impact on some aspects of the game - whether you have a religion or not, whether you are first to ideologies or not, etc.

 

[Shark Diver]

It is a 22-player game

I don't even want to know what motivated this choice of settings. In fact, I didn't even know that was possible.

I've been incorporating working Science in the midgame since I wrote that post. It seems to work when you have strong expos that aren't always playing catchup on production.

It is fascinating how just a single turn can have such a big impact on some aspects of the game - whether you have a religion or not, whether you are first to ideologies or not, etc.

Absolutely. That's the snowball effect. I spend a lot of time doing math for things like Social Policy and Tech timing. It makes a huge difference.

 

[Shark Diver]

EDGE#129 - t245 Culture Victory

Spoiler Strange Game :

I moved the Settler one spot for a better Petra city. Found Mt. Sinai pretty quickly and since I got to Pop 3 pretty early, I skipped Shrine in my BO and put out an early Settler to settle the Wonder.

This would have been a Liberty game for me had I not done the early Settler, but I went with 4 City Tradition, and then dropped a 5th city down South after NC.


Settling Sinai got me 3rd Pantheon, and I took God King. I ended up debating whether this was the right choice all game. The early bonuses definitely helped me through a strong early game despite imperfect terrain and mediocre Worker acquisition. Problem is my neighbor Songhai got 1st Religion and had very quick spread. I ended up going with Tithe, Pagodas, Mosques, Defender, and eventual Sacred Sites.

Songhai spread to my 2 Northern expos early, so I faith-bought 2 Unis with his Jesuit Education, but this would slow down my purchase of Pagodas and Mosques (and thus slow my midgame Culture) and I was still buying 480 Faith buildings in the Modern Era. I did end up winning the Faith quests, but that's because Songhai was eliminated early. I had a good religion plan but not enough faith to pull it off well, never getting over 80 FPT.

This is not a peaceful world.....except for my little corner. The only War I participated in was joining the dogpile on former friend Songhai so I could steal a fresh Prophet to plant. I had DoF with my whole continent while everyone else was at near constant war. RA's galore, and my GPT just barely kept up with the need until my gold really kicked in late game. Zulus eliminated Carthage midgame. Songhai got eliminated early, and the Dutch got crippled early by Ottomans before elimination early.

This became a 5 Civ game very early and made for some interesting game mechanics. Here's the 2nd Conference with only 1 proposal to vote on (because Songhai was gone so was their proposal). It's also notable how few CS were still in the game.


I built almost all the Wonders I wanted, including a late MoH, whose gold really carried me all game. No religious Wonders, which sucked but was never an option. All the other expos got their important buildings up "just in time" but I was forced to use a lot of internal TR's instead of taking advantage of the UA.

I wasn't first to Printing Press, but Ottoman's were deep in war so I still went for the Wonders. I had an Engineer for Pisa, hard built Globe, and GE'd Sistine. That got the game back on track Culturally (barely). Having to complete Piety instead of getting into Aesthetics earlier also slowed Culture, and my policies were all a bit late all game.

The world was such a violent place that WF took 17 turns. Once I got into the 800's, I just built a bunch of other stuff.


IG on the other hand, was incredibly fast. I don't think I've ever seen an IG where every Civ got the CS influence.


From there it was really just about watching my tourism slowly take out Portugal and England and lament my lack of faith to buy more than 1 Musician.


I didn't have to build many units because I had 3 long-time Military CS allies. I got gifted a ton of mounted units, and given the terrain, I could have defended any land incursion. I was also early to subs, so not as worried about the coastal vulnerability.


It was a pretty good Cap that got everything built "just in time" (common theme this game). I ended up working Science for the final 15 or so turns, and also did so a bit midgame.



Diplo was almost perfect this game. My faith choices were questionable, but the strategy worked, albeit slowly.

I'd give it a B+ performance.

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#129 - t245 Culture Victory

Spoiler Strange Game :

I moved the Settler one spot for a better Petra city. Found Mt. Sinai pretty quickly and since I got to Pop 3 pretty early, I skipped Shrine in my BO and put out an early Settler to settle the Wonder.

This would have been a Liberty game for me had I not done the early Settler, but I went with 4 City Tradition, and then dropped a 5th city down South after NC.
View attachment 584802

Settling Sinai got me 3rd Pantheon, and I took God King. I ended up debating whether this was the right choice all game. The early bonuses definitely helped me through a strong early game despite imperfect terrain and mediocre Worker acquisition. Problem is my neighbor Songhai got 1st Religion and had very quick spread. I ended up going with Tithe, Pagodas, Mosques, Defender, and eventual Sacred Sites.

Songhai spread to my 2 Northern expos early, so I faith-bought 2 Unis with his Jesuit Education, but this would slow down my purchase of Pagodas and Mosques (and thus slow my midgame Culture) and I was still buying 480 Faith buildings in the Modern Era. I did end up winning the Faith quests, but that's because Songhai was eliminated early. I had a good religion plan but not enough faith to pull it off well, never getting over 80 FPT.

This is not a peaceful world.....except for my little corner. The only War I participated in was joining the dogpile on former friend Songhai so I could steal a fresh Prophet to plant. I had DoF with my whole continent while everyone else was at near constant war. RA's galore, and my GPT just barely kept up with the need until my gold really kicked in late game. Zulus eliminated Carthage midgame. Songhai got eliminated early, and the Dutch got crippled early by Ottomans before elimination early.

This became a 5 Civ game very early and made for some interesting game mechanics. Here's the 2nd Conference with only 1 proposal to vote on (because Songhai was gone so was their proposal). It's also notable how few CS were still in the game.
View attachment 584801

I built almost all the Wonders I wanted, including a late MoH, whose gold really carried me all game. No religious Wonders, which sucked but was never an option. All the other expos got their important buildings up "just in time" but I was forced to use a lot of internal TR's instead of taking advantage of the UA.

I wasn't first to Printing Press, but Ottoman's were deep in war so I still went for the Wonders. I had an Engineer for Pisa, hard built Globe, and GE'd Sistine. That got the game back on track Culturally (barely). Having to complete Piety instead of getting into Aesthetics earlier also slowed Culture, and my policies were all a bit late all game.

The world was such a violent place that WF took 17 turns. Once I got into the 800's, I just built a bunch of other stuff.
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IG on the other hand, was incredibly fast. I don't think I've ever seen an IG where every Civ got the CS influence.
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From there it was really just about watching my tourism slowly take out Portugal and England and lament my lack of faith to buy more than 1 Musician.
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I didn't have to build many units because I had 3 long-time Military CS allies. I got gifted a ton of mounted units, and given the terrain, I could have defended any land incursion. I was also early to subs, so not as worried about the coastal vulnerability.
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It was a pretty good Cap that got everything built "just in time" (common theme this game). I ended up working Science for the final 15 or so turns, and also did so a bit midgame.

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Diplo was almost perfect this game. My faith choices were questionable, but the strategy worked, albeit slowly.

I'd give it a B+ performance.

I must say, you did very well with Morocco. I thought that you would appriciate the relatively peaceful corner as I did the same. However, my city output and overall growth was outright bad compared to you.

It is interesting how much the game dynamics change when 2-3 AIs are put to the sword. If you ever get to #116 with Egypt, that is completely crazy. My game ended with only two AIs on the map (and I played peacefully for a CV). In the newest addition #131 with Indonesia the World´s Fair was in fact so slow, that I had to check whether the settings were on Deity at all. It took almost 20 turns to finish, even if I put in roughly 1000 hammers!

 

[Nizef]

Shark and I are playing the same map at the moment. So probably the next addition to this thread will be with the Incas.

In the meantime, tip of the week:
religious affairs: EDGE#42 with the Mayans, EDGE#52 with the Ottomans and EDGE#121 with Ethiopia.

 

[Shark Diver]

Shark and I are playing the same map at the moment. So probably the next addition to this thread will be with the Incas.

In the meantime, tip of the week:
religious affairs: EDGE#42 with the Mayans, EDGE#52 with the Ottomans and EDGE#121 with Ethiopia.

Let me just add that I'm having a freakin blast with this Inca map. #1 in Demos by Renaissance. And there are a lot of strategies that will work on this one.

 

[Shark Diver]

I just finished the Inca game I gave to Nizef for this series. I'll wait until he posts the game for everyone before I do my writeup, but let me just say that I am throwing down the gauntlet. I played this map pretty close to as well as I can, and if anyone can beat my finishing time, I'll be very impressed. It's pretty rare when I can finish a game in 24 hours and also get a full day's work in, but this one was just too much fun.

How often is it when you get a great map, with a strong Civ, and almost every decision point turns out correct? That was this game.