[BNW] Enjoyable Deity Games

EDGE#136 - T219 Culture Victory

Spoiler Maximum Greed Game :

I settled on the desert hill on t1 and was immediately thinking this needs to be a Petra cap.

On t11, my Spearman found GBR and my scout found Mt. Sinai. Nothing like having >1500 gold that early. I would be the first to find FoY a few turns later. That's a bit OP.


I bought a Settler, then Worker, then another Settler to grab the decent land between Sweden and my Cap. I timed that really well and was able to plant the city and shoot Sweden's Warrior who was escorting a Settler and my Spearman finished him off for another free Worker. I had already stolen one Worker from Sweden and got another 2 from a CS, so my tiles are up and running. Sweden would shortly thereafter become my lifelong friend.

Cap's BO was Scout - Scout - Shrine - Settler - Settler - Granary - Library - Watermill - Lighthouse. I had found a Sailing Ruin and purchased a Work Boat to get the Whales online.

The massive Science boost from 2 GBR tiles was almost comical. Techs were going in a fraction of the normal time, but going 5-city Tradition meant I had to delay growth in my expos for several turns. I was able to grab a lot of techs like Optics and Bronze Working that I normally have to delay, so now the Cap is cranking out some good growth and production.

I got 1st and 2nd Profits from OWN and took Pagodas and Monasteries to make those Wine tiles more useful (although I wasn't able to work them until later than I had hoped). Tithe, Defender, and Sacred Sites for a near perfect religion. I would end up planting 6 Holy Sites.

I was heading towards Currency for my Petra build and noticed on t46 that Temple of Artemis was still around, so I decided to get greedy and had it built on t54. Max Greed Petra came next, then Oracle, NC on t82 and Great Mosque, Universities on t92, and we're off to the races......or so I thought.

Here's my empire on t100:


Hiawatha had an unusually strong early game and even though I was on pace to hit Printing Press on t117, he beat me there on t114 and GE'd LToP. I was furious, but since I had Sweden as an ally, my Great Person generation was still good. I had an Engineer laying around for Globe and then hard-built Sistine. At least I was able to propose World's Fair. but having it so early meant it was going to be very challenging to get to Radio before the 2nd Conference.


Thankfully, Hiawatha's neighbors took turns fighting him with no prompting from me. I had very good relationships the whole game, including an enduring friendship with the other game leaders Hiawatha and William.

At this point, my cities started stalling out due to a lack of good tiles to work. The whole mid-game seemed like a struggle, but part of that was because my tech was so badly outperforming my production.

The rest of the game was pretty routine. Beeline to Radio. Use some of my massive FPT to buy Engineers for those Wonders. Freedom, get the Archeologists out, and then just wait for IG. Production picked back up in my expos after Freedom, Chemistry, and Fertilizer so IG was a breeze.


Several turns later, I bought 3 finishing Musicians and sent them to the nearby Dutch lands.


This game was clearly dominated by Spain's UA and the massive Faith and Science. I didn't do much else particularly well, but that fast start was all I needed.


Due to the mediocre lands, this game was both overpowered and underpowered at the same time, and I think the biggest challenge is adjusting to the faster tech time. I did consider a 6th city on the desert/river/mountain area to the West, but I decided the slower Culture and Tech times weren't worth the upside.

Have fun guys, this is a wild ride.

 

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
131. Indonesia 3 (Tiny Islands, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 45
132. the Incas 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded, Raging Barbarians), Page 46
133. Siam 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 46
134. Arabia 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), DomV challenge, Page 47
135. Persia 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), DomV challenge, Page 47
136. Spain 5 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 48

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

 

I've started #136. A great game indeed. [edit: there was no mention of Raging Barbarians in the presentation of this game! I only found out in turn 45, this didn't affect much of my decisions but if I knew it from the start I could have considered Honor opener and my warrior almost died because of unexpected spawn. I think it's best to mention non-standard settings beforehand.

Spoiler my turn 25 :

I moved on the hill and worked the sheep to produce faster scouts. My warrior found a ruin and also a swedish scout and I Dowed for ZOC, which earned me 1 population. He then continued to the W and I found Mt.Sinai for 500 gold. I bought 3 scouts with the gold, a gambit which would pay off in the end. I built the Shrine ASAP and with the 8 faith from Geneva I took Desert Folklore. Doing a rough estimation, I expect DF to be better than OWN by the end of this game, but I also taking it to deny it to others.

My second scout went to the North coast and he found a ruin with a crude map that showed me 1 tile of GBR. Best crude map ruin ever. I found the other tile next turn and with the gold I bough 2 settlers.
I remained at war with Sweden and stole 2 workers and I am killing his units. My plan is to cripple Sweden and capture their good cities and then befriend them for the rest of the game. I am having Petra in mind in Barcelona but I know it is very unlikely. Still I will tech for it just in case.

I was not sure my 3-scout gambit will pay off in the end but I found FOY in turn 25 for 500 gold so I can say I am very much content now. I traded 1 scout for 1 worker from china.
Before this last 500 gold, I was desperate for gold to buy the tiles so I Dowed Netherlands for 1 caravan and France in hopes of selling a Wine soon.
This should proceed well now.

Spoiler turn 64 Petra! :

I had a choice of building Temple of Artemis my favourite wonder, or Hanging Gardens. Since there was one more civ I had not met, I decided not to risk it and built Hanging Gardens. I was right, as ToA went shortly after. I have met Theodora since then.

Turn 64 Petra, but in my capital. It would have been impossible to build it in Barcelona, no forests. It felt good to beat the Iroqouis to it, they have started it at the same time but I had Representation and Artistocracy. England and China capitulated their gold to me. I will now attempt the impossible and try to build Chichen Itza. Normally I would go for the Oracle but if there is a game where I can build Chichen Itza and maybe Alhambra, it is this game. We will see. Hopefully I can also catch Machu Picchu in time. I will have to find the right moment to deal with Sweden. I have around 8 chariots now, I will build as many as I find horses for.

 

I finished #136 with a T195 Order culture victory, but I think I should've just gone for Futurism.

Spoiler :

Strange and kind of disappointing ending. I had Airports and the Internet by T190, and then I won on turn 195... just as I completed International Games. You can see the free policy icon on the victory screenshot:

Spoiler T195 :

So IG was completely unnecessary here. I think Futurism might've been good because only William had high culture (13k in the end), so I could send all Musicians to him and the rest of the AIs would probably fall to passive pressure and Futurism.

The expansion and development phase was the real highlight of the game. I settled in place, found GBR quickly, bought a settler and a scout with GBR gold. The initial plan was to get Petra in the capital and Colossus in Barcelona; but then I found Sinai for another 500 gold. I bought another settler and planted it in a somewhat unconventional spot with 3 mountains in its first ring:

Spoiler T50 :

I stole two workers from Sweden, and Gustavus lost some units by slamming them into Seville, so he offered me 100 gold and 6 gpt for peace, which I gladly accepted. I finished Petra on turn 69 in Seville, stagnating the city on 4 pop by working 2 sheep and 2 mined hills. I got Colossus on the same turn in the capital. I kept Cordoba and Toledo at 1 pop for a while, so that they'd flip to my religion quickly and start pressuring cities around them. OwN / Tithe / Pagodas / 15% production / IP.

I was pleased with the city spots I chose, but buying tiles in Seville and Cordoba (riverside plains next to Geneva) was really expensive. T97 Education with detours for Iron Working, Engineering and Optics.

Spoiler T100 :

Madrid and Seville shared the wonder-building duty while other cities were busy catching up to the big two. T148 Radio, adopted Order, researched Chemistry and took Five-Year Plan for massive production as World's Fair was just a few turns away. Teched towards Archaeology while building World's Fair, then spammed Archaeologists.

Spoiler T150 :

Diplo wasn't hard to manage. I had DoFs with William, Theodora and Gustavus. Elizabeth didn't do anything, and the other three kept fighting each other.

Plastics after Archaeology, then Radar and Internet. I didn't pay much attention to this part of the game and made some mistakes that probably cost me a couple of turns.

Overall a fun game, especially the first 100 turns that force you to think about how to make the most of your mediocre land and fantastic NWs. It's an interesting puzzle.

 

Nicely done again.

Spoiler :

If anyone wants to know why Vadalaz finished 25 turns faster than me with a very similar approach, check out how much more Pop he has than me at t100. And I beat him to education (probably because he was smart enough to think to detour for Colossus).

What's with Hiawatha owning Cordoba?

 

Needed one more concert tour on someone, it didn't really matter who, so I randomly chose Hiawatha and gifted him Cordoba. Earlier I had faith-bought musicians in Seville and sent them to William, but this last one was a natural musician that spawned in the capital.

 

EDGE#134 - Not sure I'm going to finish this one.

Spoiler Really Annoying Game :

As I said earlier, this game has some of the most annoying neighbors ever.

Venice MoV'd 2 early CS allies from me.

Shoshone is forward settling everyone and stealing tiles with his UA. They are also OP and have double my hammers leading up to WF.

Nobody will war Shoshone, and I can't get horses to do it myself. None of my CS allies have any, and nobody will trade them. I was in the mood for some Cameling but this map has rendered that impossible.

My Petra cap is nice, but everything else is blah. Just not enjoying this one.

 

Finished #136 Spain with a T 186 domination.

Spoiler :

After Petra I built Maccu Picchu, Chichen Itza and Alhambra. This was the first time I build these last two, and I have to say, Chichen Itza was really strong, as from around T 110 I was in a long golden age of 70 turns. Took Artist from Liberty finish too.

Sweden attacked me with Swordsmen around T85 but I had my archers ready and I pillaged his Iron supply with a scout and a chariot. So he was easily defeated, but I didn't capture his capital as he had Oligarchy and archers couldn't take shots from the city. I upgraded the chariots to conquistadors and they were very strong, they even captured a few small cities by themselves.

Religion: Desert Folklore, Tithe, pagoda, mosque, IP. It was true that DF was better than OwN eventually but I had no use for faith.
Policies: Tradition 2 / Liberty 6 / Honor 3 / Patronage 1 / Rationalism 2
158 education / 165 NC/ Oxford ~180 for Dynamite

order and time of city captured: Netherlands 150 / Paris 165 / Stockholm 175 / Beijing - 180 / Onondaga 185 / London 186 / Constantinopole 186.

I took hold of FOY in turn 100:


In Turn 121 everybody capitulated except Hiawatha. I didn't want to make peace with William, but I did after he sent a Caravel and he was about to pillage my sea routes. I captured him after the 10 turns passed.
I had 8 chariots and I upgraded to Conquistadors. They were very powerful all game and work well with ranged units like archers or composite bowmen to shield them while they shoot.



Final empire:

 

Deity GotM (TSG 203) is up.

Still struggling to get a CV off this map, sorry to say. But I really appreciate the savefile! I would much rather have a map worth playing three times, than three goes with RNG.

 

MIDGE#6: Wibes from the roof of the world (war assisted CV challenge)

Our subseries has been on the sidelines for a while and thus I wanted to create something for you to chew on. And what could be more demanding than a war assisted CV? Here the idea of the game is to settle the good spots (probably 3-5 cities), try to catch up and snatch some midgame culture wonders and take it from there. But, at least in my game the competition for Sistine/Globe/LToP/Uffizi and Louvre came from no other than my neighbour Ram. He has a fantastic capital and can crank out any wonder in no time. So, as an additional target #1 for the game, you must conquer at least the city of Sukhothai and in my game I had to take out Siam completely because of their huge culture pool (they had almost 100.000 when I finally conquered their last city. In practice this means, and it is intentionally created this way, that you can´t go only for the techs on the upper half of the tree, but you have to put some effort into war techs as well. So this will set you up for a slightly longer game than you are used to, I would assume. As additional target #2 you also have to get your own religion, playing as this civ would be pretty useless otherwise. And as #3 you must fill out the Piety tree during the game. In my own opinion this is in fact a quite demanding and very fun game!

Here we play as Tibet on an otherwise unmodded Pangaea map with Standard size and speed. Their UA is to get one faith and one food from each mountain tile and their religion will gain additional pressure (only 10% more than usual). Furthermore, there are only a few mountains in your starting area, so you will not be able to gain much from this. Their UU is a slightly more mobile Knight replacement, so nothing special. The UB is nice though: this Temple replacement (Chorten) will gain additional faith during your journey through time and it has a slot for Great Works. But again, it does not feel OP. Six out of the seven AIs were chosen for their regional relevance (at least China, India and Siam will appear) and by chance the last AI is not very far off either.

The link to this civ: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=140851009

Keep in mind that this is a modded civ and there might be some problems. I encountered two problems myself. Firstly and more importantly, the first time I loaded a saved file with this civ, I faced "empty" action slots. However, I went out to the main menu, chose the mod again and loaded my save file and everything always worked on the second attempt. I am not sure if this has something to do with the mod or with my computer. Secondly, and this might be interesting for you, if you want to create a game of your own with this mod, the mod sometimes "forgets" about starting area rules. Thus, before rolling the map that is presented here, I got starts next to NWs and one time even next to a CS settler! So you can get fantastic starts if you are interested.

I am sure you will have a fun ride if you give this civ a chance. Enjoy!

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

Spoiler :

Moved two tiles to the S and settled t1 on the forested hill. Nice starting area but a little shy on production in the long run. First expand to the E to pick up Silk and more Salt and second expand to the SE for Wine. Unfortunately Polynesia beat me to the Incense spot to the S. I should have settled that earlier but I was afraid that Ram would come dancing with his settlers. 3 city NC on t80 and Oracle before that. I reached Education on t103 and got to Acoustics (after some detours) on t124. I started on Sistine but Ram beat me to it by 4 turns. Then I went for Globe but Ram beat me to that as well. Fortunately I at least got LToP. However Ram got Uffizi before I even had the tech. I went for Industrialization first (and yes there is Coal) on t160 and went for Archeology only after that. I rushed Louvre with my LToP GE and at least I got that! Mongolia had a go at Indonesia and Japan took out China all together. I chose TtGoG as my Reformation belief. Otherwise my religion consisted of EM (DF might have been better) /Tithe/Pagodas/RC/IP and I was third to choose a religion after India and Indonesia. Oda and Ram got the last religions.

I was first to choose an Ideology and went Freedom, while the annoying Ram, by far the cultural runaway, inexplicably went Authocracy together with Genghis. India and Polynesia followed we into Freedom, while Japan and Indonesia took Order. Ram and Gandhi reached Modern before me but I was still able to rush Eiffel. However, Gandhi beat me to Broadway. I had come to a crossroads. Settle for a SV or going after Ram? I chose the latter option and built up my army. First I had a warm up against a CS, which fell in 4-5 turns. Then off to Ram. He had GWBs and Triplanes when I first attacked and he has very smart about attacking my Artillery. He was also fortunate because I had very little help from my own Triplanes and AA Guns. Ram was strong and he was able to take out India while fighting me.

I beelined for Rocket Artillery before going down the CV route. This made all the difference and finally I could break through, taking one city before reaching Sukhothai. The war was won but I still needed to mop up the rest of his cities. My friend Oda and the evergreen Genghis helped me out but this clean up operation still took surprisingly long. When Ram was gone on t305, I only need to crank out some GMus to win. I sent one to Japan and one to Mongolia. Then I gifted a crappy city to Indonesia and forced two GMus inside their borders on t320. Game, set and match! Overall hugely interesting and competitive game and I had a really good time. I hope that you will find this exciting as well. For a faster finishing time I should have gone for Ram much earlier but then again lategame warfare is just sooo enjoyable! SP: Tradition 2, full Piety, full Aestethics, Commerce 2, Exploration opener, full Rationalism and Freedom 7.

 

This particular thread has been viewed more than 100.000 times by now. I thank you all for reaching this milestone, and I hope to be able to provide some interesting games in the future as well. At the moment I am trying to get something nice going with Greece.

 

EDGE#137: The middle of the world

Here we start in the middle of the map, which is always interesting. Some AIs were chosen manually based on their regional fit. Thus Assyria, Byzantium, Egypt, Persia and the Ottomans will appear. What a lovely bunch! At least my own game was fiercely competitive and several AIs seems to do well. This will also mean that your own development will be above average. As an example, I reached Industrial on t158 and Modern on t188, both decent numbers for me.

This time we play as Greece on an unmodded Pangaea map with Standard size and speed. You can go in any direction you want with this one but, if you go down a peaceful route, I would like to see a little bit of conquering as well. You will have easy access to three capitals, so you should be able to take at least one of those. In my game, I conquered two capitals and kept my eastern neighbour as my BFF and eternal trading partner. Hurry up with settling the nearby spots and you will set yourself up for a nice game. And the starting location is among the best: coastal, river, hill and 3 Salt. You can´t turn this one down. Enjoy!

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

Spoiler :

SIP of course. Third religion with EM/Tithe/Pagodas/RC/IP, pretty much optimal. First expand coastal to the E for Cotton and Ivory. I settle on the river only four tiles from the cap but it was still the best spot. Gustavus was a little annoyed at first but when I sent him a TR, he became my friend fast. Second expand to the W off river (the CS were too close). I knew this would not be my best city ever but there were Copper and more Salt and I bought a couple of riverside tiles to ensure even a little bit of growth. Third expand to the S for Truffles. SO, now I was in a situation where Argos was close to Istanbul and Sparta near Stockholm. What could become of that? I built Oracle on t78 and NC on t89. Education on t110 but I took detours for Optics and Iron Working before that. Good start.

Suleiman was getting restless and I suggested that he would let out some steam by attacking Egypt. He did and was able to get Memphis in a peace deal after a long war. To my surprise he burnt it down (pop 23 at the time) and I had settler ready to claim the spot for myself. Assyria and Suleiman had a tough war and Theodora and Elizabeth showed some girl power when they thaught Persia a lesson. I went Freedom and Assyria chose Order but the rest of the pack went Authocracy! I beelined Dynamite to get my happiness problem under control and I was able to take Thebes in due order. It helped for a while, but eventually I was taking -40 in ideology pressure and I had to switch to Authocracy. I kept Egypt alive with one crappy city. What about the wonders? Well, I hard built Sistine (t136) and rushed Louvre (t176) and got 5-6 wonders from Thebes but that was it. Assyria was doing very well in techs and Byzantium cranked out every wonder there was (Eiffel on t185!).

In Modern Suleiman and Theodora backstabbed me but I was not too worried: she could hardly send any troops and Assyria was willing to give me a hand. Eventually I countered and a long battle ended with me taking Istanbul and Assyria gobbling up the rest (10 cities or so). Then I sent him after England and he took them out late in the game. Assyria also beat me to Hubble, which is very rare. I had kept my winning options open but after that I went all in on a CV. I needed to win the International Games to make it happen and to the surprise of nobody, Theodora was also interested in winning it. It was built in four turns but luckily I beat her to it by some 40 hammers. After that, it was just to wait and send some GMus inside the Byzantine borders. After using my fourth GMu for Byzantium (their culture pool was over 66.000), I still needed to wait another four turns to overtake Egypt (with their one crappy city). Poor play by me. If I had taken better care of the late game, I should have sent a Diplomat there ages ago and perhaps also converted their city to my religion. Notably, Assyria had all techs but one (99%) at the end of the game and they had built five spaceship parts... I had all the techs for a SV as well but still needed a couple of parts. Very eventful and interesting game, which ended in my CV victory on t307. SP: full Tradition, Patronage 3, full Aestethics, Commerce 2, Exploration opener, Freedom 6 (and converted to Authocracy 4).

 

I am trying this map next, thanks again @Nizef for keeping this thread going. I am not playing as much as I used to, so it's nice to have your stock of Salt starts! I will settle 1 tile NE (to get mountain in range 2) and run Tradition aiming for CV.

 

Hello everybody,
We are starting a succession game https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/deities-on-earth.668250/#post-16052828 and so far it is only the four of us (vadalaz, Shark, raider and me) and we would like a couple of additional players (one or maybe two). We are going to play as Ethiopia with a Salt start... Check it out and join the fun!

 

What is a succession game? (Not that I would be able to participate, but I don't know what the term means.)

 

It's a singleplayer game played by a group of people, where each member of the group plays a number of turns, then passes the save on to the next player. The most important strategic decisions are made as a team in the discussion thread.

 

Thank you!

 

EDGE#138: The spirit of ice-wa

The spring has finally truely come to Finland and thus I dare to publish this game. After all we are playing on an unmodded Ice Age map with Standard size and speed and even if the land you have at your disposal is comparatively good, you still need to make the most of it. However, so do the AIs and this is by no means the hardest challenge in this series. As you already understood from the title, we are playing as Ethiopia. I like this civ and find them fun to play. With this setup, the target is to go for a peaceful victory and I went for a CV myself. It took me until t314 to win, but I messed things up a little bit. I think it is possible to win much faster here. Anyway, regardless of what you decide to do, this is probably something you have not done before! I mean, having Haile running around in snow and tundra is no everyday event. Take on the challenge and give this map a chance. You will have a strong religion and you can even boost your play with two high quality NWs if you want. As with Japan in #82, the land is better than most maps of this kind. Enjoy your snowmobile ride!

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

Spoiler :

SIP. Second religion with EM/World Church/Pagodas/Plowshares/IP. One expand near Kailash and one four tiles to the W of Addis Ababa. 3 city NC on t88 and I reached Education on t108. Oracle before NC I should have settled El Dorado as well but a barb camp prevented me from finding until I researched Optics. Fourth city to the SE of the capital to prevent England from settling it and then I settled a fifth city when I found no other way of accessing Coal. Fairly nice neighbourhood with England, Venice and America. Washington also started slowly but we will come back to him.

I built Sistine and Uffizi in the midgame and reach Industrial on t163. Washington was gaining momentum and I had to bribe him to go for Songhai and the Netherlands instead. England and Venice were skirmishing but nothing decisive. I was first to pick an ideology and obviously I chose Freedom. America, Babylon and Venice all followed in my footsteps while England opted for Authocracy. Persia and Songhai took the Order path and WIlliam... well he didn´t get to enjoy that too much.

Louvre went before I could do anything but instead I beelined Radio and got both Eiffel and Broadway. The production in Addis Ababa was good enough for decent wonder construction times. I was doing a normal Internet beeline routine when Washington decided to attack me. His army was strong and he easily managed to fight a three (and sometimes even four) front war. This reminded me of what Shaka can do at his prime. Luckily all that excerise slowed him down and the game ended while we were still at war. I made a mess of my late game but I had a really fun time regardless. Interesting map with two NWs nearby and many possibilities. I really hope you try this one!

SP: full Tradition, Piety 3, full Aestethics, full Rationalism and Freedom 6.

 

Thanks @Nizef as this is, of course, just the right civ to give me the patient between rounds of our mutual succession game!

 

EDGE #1 t322 SV

Spoiler :

Playing with Korea is great fun. First my goal was a CV, build the Sistine Chapel, Uffizi went a few turns before I finished it. Then I switched my goal towards a SV. Freedom seemed to be the best choice combined with Korea’s UA, but the pressure was high, near the end the I got -39 happiness from autocracy pressure but stayed in the positive. The fountain of Youth was great to prevent happiness problems. I used a Great Engineer to build the Statue of Liberty but it went to Byzantium the next turn. The plan was to loan some money to buy the spaceship parts, but all my friends were broke because of all the wars. Hard building would have been a bit easier with the Statue of Liberty so I should prioritize this more next time.