[BNW] Enjoyable Deity Games

[Nizef]

I hit a road bump in #141, but overall it's going well

Spoiler :

I made a modification to my self-imposed rules: all GWAMs should be turned into great works, and all GSEMs should be planted, not just Musicians and Scientists.

Colossus had been built earlier and I just missed the notification apparently. I also decided against Oracle because there was still so much infrastructure to build everywhere.

I beelined Metal Casting and timed it with my next policy to open Exploration. 5-city NC on turn 100; Compass - Machinery - Education next, taking the +3 hammer policy along the way. I really liked my 5-city empire in early Renaissance - top food and hammer demos, pretty much all infrastructure built in time, and a nice army as well. I attacked the Netherlands with XBs and ran into a lot of resistance. William had Defender of the Faith and an endless stream of Pikemen.

Then the road bump happened - Attila declared war on me. Why me and not his neighbors I'll never know - he appeared friendly the turn before, and now during the war there are no red diplo modifiers. Anyhow, he moved in with 5-6 Triremes. I'd been planning to attack England after the Netherlands, so I sent my ships to sail around the continent. This meant I had nothing to kill the stupid Triremes with. Attila plundered all my Cargo ships and pillaged all the Pearls, cancelling a few lux trades. The timing was unfortunate, because I was razing a Dutch city at the time, so I temporarily had 15 unhappiness.

Attila sent in a couple of Caravels and Galleasses a few turns later and then there was nothing. This was the extent of his attack - 6 triremes, 2 Caravels and 2 Galleasses. We're still at war because Attila wants me to give up a city. He'll pay for this soon enough.

Anyway, I crushed William and let La Venta do the dirty work of eliminating the Netherlands. England is next, but I need to make 1000 gold first to steal two of Lizzy's city-state allies. My level 3 spy died on a 85% coup attempt unfortunately.

View attachment 596812 View attachment 596813 View attachment 596814

This ruleset is quite interesting. With a start as good as this one, you can still be competitive with Deity AIs in terms of food, production and army strength, but I think there's not much you can do about the shortage of gold until much later in the game.

Wow. That was a very efficient CS! It is not often you see them conquering TWO AI cities.

 

[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
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
137. Greece 3 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 49
138. Ethiopia 4 (Ice Age, Standard speed, Standard size, Unmodded), Page 49
139. Ethiopia 5 (Earth, Standard speed, Huge size, Modded with Y(n)AEMP map pack, 21 AIs on the map), Page 50
140. the Mayans 5 (Pangaea, Standard speed, Large size, Unmodded), Page 50
141. Byzantium 4 (Fractal, Standard speed, Large size, Unmodded), Page 51

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
6. Tibet (Pangaea, Standard speed, Standard size, Otherwise unmodded but the civ to play is Tibet), Page 49

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#142: Danish Dynamite (CV challenge)

My trilogy with large maps comes to an end with this contribution. Here we play as Denmark on an unmodded Fractal map with Large size and Standard speed. QC and QM are enabled as usual. In my opinion it maybe is a little bit more demanding to go for the midgame wonders on a large map than on a standard sized map. Thus, also here the task is to go for a CV but with a twist. A secondary task is to conquer either London (typical Vikings stuff) or Rome (for the more advanced Vikings). Let me add, that Augustus has a Salt start and at least in my game he performed fantastically until I decided he had to go. That is why it might be useful to use some Artillery (obviously unlocked at Dynamite) or some other key military tech to curb the ambition of the Roman empire. Btw. Danish Dynamite refers casually to their national football (soccer) team, which is gearing up for the upcoming European Championships next month.

It sounds a little rough, but to your aid you have a nice starting area and a peninsula all to yourself (okay, some CS as well and you are not allowed to attack Byblos and they have to be your ally at the end of the game). So we are back to an earlier theme: all that land! There is also a nice NW for you to take advantage of. Furthermore there are 6-7 luxuries for you to utilize and as a comparison, I went 4 city NC and settled a fifth directly afterwards with no happiness problems. Better players might go for six or even seven cities here. I solved it by taking a former Polish city from Rome as my sixth core city. Despite the secondary rule of going after Rome (or London), I would say that this one is easier than #141 and I enjoyed every turn of this game. I am sure you will too. Enjoy!

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

Spoiler :

Moved to the coastal hill and settled t1. I sent my Warrior W/NW and he found Uluru very early. You know me: I had to build a Settler at pop2 and in the end this decision was good, because it gave me a competitive religion. Second expand coastal to the S for Wine (and Marble in the fourth ring) and third expand inland to the E for the river system and Spices. 4 city NC on t88 and I built Hagia Sofia afterwards. Rome had a go at Poland while Attila and Dido had some inconclusive skirmishing. Education on t109.

I got off to a great start in the midgame, hardbuilding both Sistine and GlobeT. Later I also got Louvre, Eiffel and Broadway. I stayed clear of the wars except for this one thrust into Rome (Poznan), while trying to keep Augustus busy. He fought wars against Babylon, Poland, England, Sweden, Cartage, the Huns and the Netherlands, usually 2-3 opponents at a time. And still Rome only gained momentum! They built a truckload of wonders (GL, GW, Pyramids, Terracotta, Notre Dame and LToP very early on). Expansive AIs with Salt starts can for sure spin out of control. Poland was decimated to one crappy city and Sweden was restricted to 4 cities. William made a brave effort but at the end it was not enough. Even Napoleon was run over by the joint forces of Audustus and Attila. Such a sweet duo! Only Babylon followed me into Freedom, while Rome and Carthage went Authocracy. The rest of the pack went Order. Funnily enough, at the end both Rome and the Huns were unhappy! Rome took -96 from public opinion to end 20 below zero, while Attila took a hefty -117 to end the game four points in the red. That is what it takes for a Deity AI to go unhappy!

I could have turtled to a SV / CV but I wanted the game to be more active. Besides the culture output of Rome was massive and taking the city of Rome was an attempt to shorten the game. Whether that was the case is debatable but at least I had a lot of fun! I had to take two other cities before I more or less ended the game with the capture of Rome. Really fun game, thanks to Rome being so strong and I really liked my starting area. I would hope for more starts like this one. The only drawback was that I had very limited use of Berserkers and their unique abilty. It took me until t308 to win but that didn´t matter. I had a memorable game! SP: full Tradition, full Aestethics, Exploration opener, full Rationalism and Freedom 9.

 

[vadalaz]

Looking forward to playing this one. I'm on turn 213 in #141 and my endless war with Attila made me think about how nice it would be to have Honor finisher to make one-shotting his embarked units a bit more rewarding. Definitely going full Honor in #142.

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#143: Shuffle this! (CV challenge)

After the three large maps we are back to standard size and also this time around we use standard speed and QC and QM are enabled. But this time the map template is Shuffle. To fit the random theme, I chose to go with Venice. After only a couple of rerolls, I got the start that I now present to you. I have not played this civ for a CV on Deity before and that is exactly what we are doing here. The starting spot is very good and that is of course needed in this case. You will have inital growth and good production both early and long term. It is also interesting to go with a map that can offer absolutely anything and where you have no prior knowledge. As a comparison, it took me until t292 to win but as it many times is with my games, I got bored of turtling and thus I recommend to do as I did: conquer a couple of cities. With three MoVs, my total city count was six and thus I reached some sort of critical mass. Maybe it is all clear to you, but I still mention that I used internal TR to boost the population growth in the expands as well. This will increase the chance that the puppets work other specialists than the Merchant slots. I am sure you will have a casual and fun ride that is not too demanding. Enjoy!

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

Spoiler :

SIP of course. I went directly for a Worker and that turned out to be a good call. We spawned on a rather small island. For the first time in a long time, I didn´t get a religion in this game. As a matter of fact, my cap NEVER had a religion in this game. This meant that GPs had to be purchased in the puppets. I slightly beelined Optics and got my first MoV about t55. I puppeted Wellington to secure the inital island and also because there were really no other geographical option. NC on t77 and Education on t113. I built some Galleasses early and went to pay Napoleon a visit. Both Paris and Orleans fell in a few turns only. Poor France got eliminated all together when Gajah sailed in and took Lyon as well.

I got off to a great start in the midgame, hardbuilding both Sistine and LToP. Globe went too early for me as did Uffizi. However, I got Louvre, PorcelainT, Big Ben and Eiffel. I was stupid enough to build Broadway as well. With limited resources and little faith it would have been better not to build it in order to get the powerful late game GMus earlier. In the end it did not matter much though. The AIs entertained themselves with a lot of inconclusive wars. I was third to Industrial and bought three Factories instantly to secure to be first to pick Freedom. William followed but the rest took other paths. Washington was the only real threat but it was easy to get him to fight Gajah and so they did for most of this 6.000 year journey.

The AIs struggled on this watery map and when I bulbed my GMus they had a few spaceships parts at best but that was it. Even with different ideologies (and through one denounciation) I still had OB with Washington and only had to sail my GMus to their destination. All in all this was a nice and easy task after the rather more complex games recently. In this and in the next game (#144) you will see just how different Shuffle maps can be! SP: full Tradition, full Aestethics, Commernce opener, Exploration 4, full Rationalism and Freedom 8.

 

[vadalaz]

Finished #141 with a T285 CV

Spoiler :

No worker steals, no gold from AIs, no bribes, all GSEMs planted, all GWAMs turned into great works. I liked the ruleset, I thought it slowed things down to a very enjoyable pace. But my impression might be skewed by the map, which was fantastic and probably in my top 3 maps of this series.

I had a very strong religion and by T250 I was making over 100 gpt from Tithe. This allowed me to focus on internal trade routes and not worry about gold too much. Without Tithe this game would've been a lot more difficult, especially maintaining alliances with city-states and gaining control over the World Congress.

As I reported earlier, I attacked William first and had La Venta eliminate him from the game. With the Netherlands gone, there was little religious competition in the region, so eventually Shinto spread to Babylon and in the late game Nebby actually proposed it for World Religion, while I proposed International Games. Good timing.

After I was done with William, I sailed most of my ships to London. Meanwhile Attila attacked me for absolutely no reason and sent a fleet of Triremes to ruin my day. War with the Huns would last over a hundred turns, from Galleasses to Battleships and planes, and result in Attila giving me 4 cities in a peace deal, one of which I would raze.

London with its Great Wall and Longbows would've been a nightmare to attack with a land army, but it was very easy to conquer with Frigates. The next big annoyance was Rome expanding all over the map, including the island east of what used to be the Netherlands. I couldn't allow that, especially since that island had two Antiquity Sites.

I think I razed five or six Roman cities (and La Venta actually puppeted one), but I also liberated Zurich at least four times during that war. This removed all my warmonger penalties and allowed me to maintain a few game-long DoFs.

Darius was the tech leader for a very long time. He beat me to Cristo Redentor by a few turns and got both Radio wonders uncontested. I only surpassed him after I built labs and got a wave of RAs pushing me to Radar and beyond.



Had a super strong World's Fair, although I didn't get Natural Heritage Sites passed. I thought the AIs would be pretty lukewarm about it, but they invested most of their votes to block it. Full Tradition, full Exploration (excess policies, although I did dig two hidden sites), full Aesthetics, Freedom to Media Culture. Constantinople was making 800 tourism and 800 science in the end. Cultures to beat were Morocco and Persia, both with 42k. Gold is low on the screenshots because I'm paying something absurd to Attila for open borders, 360 gpt I think?

 

[beetle]

Well, I have lost #141 twice now. Cheating to abuse map knowledge, and thus buying an early Settler, hardly made a difference. (Different AI won, but both by SV, around T330.) Both games were my usual Tradition Turtle. That play style has yet to bore me! But I also assumed that #141 had to be OP, and as such, could provide me a benchmark for my laziest and fully peaceful play. But I get to SV by T325 most games, so I am frustrated that I this map has vexed me twice!

I think the lesson I am inclined to take away is that I should always be harassing my AI neighbors! I look forward to playing #142 or #143, in the spirit they are offered.

 

[venice]

Really interesting questions. My own take on this (and I would like better players to comment as well), is that Observatories are great and I settle next to mountains, if the rest of the tiles are good enough for growth and hammers. However, earlier I gave up some good tiles for an Observatory but nowadays I really try to calculate the opportunity cost.

About NWs (in the context of them being "nearby"): If available with even subpar tiles, I always settle Uluru and most of the time also Mt. Kailash, both for the obvious benefit of a religion. FoY is unfortunately very rare but it definitely belongs to the "always settle" group. GBR, KSM, Kilimanjaro, Victoria, Sri Pada and El Dorado are NWs I try to settle most of the time but I will probably be a little picky regarding the tiles in the vicinity. GBR with Spain, as in EDGE#136, is of course outright game breaking as most wonders with Spain.

Mt. Fuji and Mt. Sinai are a little more situational but I try to settle them maybe half the time. The rest of the NWs I rarely settle, with the possible exception of Old Faithful, because of the additional happiness every now and then.

I very rarely consider NWs that are far away. Maybe I should be more active with those but it always brings a lot of security issues and other practical things into the equation.

I'm not a great player by any stretch of the imagination, but I find that when playing catch-up science, as we tend to do on Diety, an observatory capital is VERY worthwhile if at all possible. That extra modifier helps immensely in the middle game. I find that settling a wonder early, even in a weak spot just for wonder panth can sometimes get me a religion if I have otherwise weak faith dirt, so I like to consider that, but it can backfire pretty hard if you don't get religion, and you still often need a few shrines, so it can be quite costly to do it as well.

 

[Nizef]

Just wanted to inform you that EDGE#29 (Arabia) is being played on Youtube by PC J Law. Check it out if you are interested:

.

I'm not a great player by any stretch of the imagination, but I find that when playing catch-up science, as we tend to do on Diety, an observatory capital is VERY worthwhile if at all possible. That extra modifier helps immensely in the middle game. I find that settling a wonder early, even in a weak spot just for wonder panth can sometimes get me a religion if I have otherwise weak faith dirt, so I like to consider that, but it can backfire pretty hard if you don't get religion, and you still often need a few shrines, so it can be quite costly to do it as well.

The catch up can be dealt with in several ways. In the early game (roughly t50 on standard speed), I prefer a trade route to a nearby AI. This is usually enough to be on par around t120-150 with a 4 city Tradition start. If there is a logical spot for a city with an observatory, I will almost always go for it but Astronomy usually comes a little later in the game and is more helpful for pulling ahead from the AI than to catch up.

 

[FritsF1]

Lost and won #141

Spoiler First try, lost at around t65 :

When I saw this I switched to military production immediately, but it was too late. William could not be bribed, DoWed and took Adrianople. There was no way I could get the NW back before building NC so I gave up

Spoiler Second try t304 SV :

This time I settled a bit more safely, on hills and at a more distance of the AI. My two scouts got archer promotions. With two archers and a warrior I killed a few of Williams units and took a settler.

Usually I like to turtle, but this was not the best map for that. Usually I try to bribe the AI to do the battles for me, but this time I tried to have enough weapons to defend myself. Around turn 220 I was the only one with Freedom and had a revolutionary wave going on and was being embargoed. Nebu was doing great, first in culture, science and military. He was close by so I decided to attack him to slow him down a bit. I took one city and peaced out. I really would have liked to get his capital, but he had an endless amount of units, so that would be very costly. After denouncing the Huns the other AI’s became more friendly, got some friendships and RA’s and the embargo got lifted.
Near the end Nebu became very annoying and stole my land with aluminum and NW and kept buying my CS Ally. A few times my spy got a successful CS coup to get my happiness up again, but was killed in the end. Two turns before the end Atilla and Nebu teamed up to DoW me. I didn’t bother to upgrade weapons or put up a defense for those last turns and just launched.

Go for Order (one free tenet) instead of Freedom (two free tenets) would have been better. Keeping happiness up with a revolutionary wave did cost a lot of policies and production.

I think the lesson I am inclined to take away is that I should always be harassing my AI neighbors! I look forward to playing #142 or #143, in the spirit they are offered.

I agree, I think I should have been way more aggressive on this map

This was an interesting challenging game, thanks for the map.

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#144: Space missionaries

This is the second part of a trilogy with Shuffle maps, just to show you how interesting and different these maps might be (thanks go to PC J Law for opening my eyes). In fact, #144 could probably not be more different compared to #143. For only the second time in this series, we play on Quick speed but the size is still Standard and QC and QM are activated as usual. We play as the Celts with a fantastic Salt start and I hope that you will not be distracted by the nearby tundra. You have space for five cities or even six but the number of unique luxuries might restrict you. The good thing is, that it is up to you! You can go in any direction here but I played this game to a SV after so many CVs lately. Your closest neighbour is one of the peaceful souls of the game and you have many CSs nearby as well. I will be disappointed if you do not like your part of the map. Have fun with this short and furious ride. Enjoy!

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

Spoiler :

I settle off river on the hill to the S on t1. Riverside might have been better but this was still a good spot. Met Brazil and France very early as well as the nearby CSs. First pantheon but Egypt still got the first religion. I got the second one with EM/Tithe/Pagodas/RC/Tithe. 3 city NC and a fourth city afterwards. Egypt didn´t have time to enjoy their religion very long beacause Alex wiped them out roughly on t50. Had no idea that a Shuffle map could end up as a Pangaea look alike. Education on t77 but it was still good enough. Oracle before NC.

I got Sistine, Uffizi and Porcelain and had the option of going either CV or SV. I decided it was time to go for a SV. I was first to ideologies and chose Freedom. Siam join the Freedom club while Alex went Authocracy and the rest of the pack all chose Order. My culture was good and I never had more than -10 from ideology pressure. That was easily countered by Pagodas and Ceilid Halls. I tried to keep Alex busy for the entire game and he was winning more space but never spinning out of control. I sat on the sideline and waiched the world burn while my worst encounters were some intruding barbs.
I built a ton of wonders and ended the game with a very normal SV on t202. I was not impressed with my result but I played extremely fast and missed things here and there. I would say that this game offers a lot of different possibilities. You can do as I did or engage in wars with Alex. That might be a tough one. Or you could definitely achieve a CV here. DipV might be the most difficult one since Greece is in the game. But whetever you decide to do, you will have a fun and fast game. SP: full Tradition, Piety 2, Patronage 3, Aestethics opener, Exploration opener, full Rationalism and Freedom 8.

 

[Nizef]

Next up are the Shoshone and the Netherlands.

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#145: Tricky positions

This is the third and final part of a trilogy with Shuffle maps, to show you how interesting and different these maps might be. Again, this one is very different from the two other games. Now we are back to Standard speed and the size is still Standard and QC and QM are activated as usual. We play as the Shoshone with a tricky Salt start and (again) I hope that you will not be distracted by the nearby tundra. You would assume that you are not settling more than 3 or max 4 cities yourself because the starting area is very restricted. But you will get a nice capital and one great expand. The additional space need to come at the expense of the nearest AI. Despite this, I think that you will love the map!

I played this game to a very late CV even if a SV might have been a better option. The CSs had a rough time in my game and of course a DomV is always possible. The first question you have to answer is where to settle. I took my time and settled only on t3. What will you do? This one is not easy and you will need to think forward in a slightly more precise way than in many other games in this series. Hopefully, you are up for the challenge. Enjoy!

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

Spoiler :

I settled coastal but off river to the SW on t3. It was definitely challenging to choose a spot. First expand to the S by the river to pick up Cocoa and the second expand coastal to the E to pick up Marble. Only 3 city play and NC on t82. I tried to keep it simple, sending an early TR to York and befriending the nearby CSs. Found out that we were only three civs on the starting land mass. Still the neighbouring land mass was very close by and I could meet the next three AIs quite early. Education on t111 but I had some detours before that. Third religion with EM/Tithe/Pagodas/RC/IP.

The midgame started well with me getting Sistine but then I had to wait until Porcelain and Louvre for the next ones. Only a few conflicts in the midgame but the AIs were still not doing too well. They didn´t have the land to spam a lot of cities. Much to my surprise France got the better of Monty and eventually the Aztecs were the only AI not finish the game. I was first to pick Freedom and simultanously bribed England to take on Polynesia. England went Authocracy while William followed me into Freedom. The rest of the pack went Order. I got only a couple of AS and eventually even made the decision to go full Exploration for the extra AS.

In the end game I got all wonders I wanted but my science was extremely slow, so I decided to take some cities from England, ending up with both York and London. Elizabeth ended the game on one city. Just as I was tuning in to a peaceful CV endgame, the Incas and America attacked me and we had a furious war for 20-30 turns. Only after that, could I tune in to the CV path. Thus my win came very late (on t 332) and I even had to build the Great Firewall just to make sure that no AI got it. I would rank this as one of the the slightly more demanding games in the series. SP: full Tradition, Patronage 2, full Aestethics, full Exploration, Rationalism 5 and Freedom 6.

 

[beetle]

Thanks again @Nitzef, of the three Shuffles, 145 looks most interesting to me, so I am playing that one next. Despite the obvious compromises, SIP.

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#146: The unlikely warmonger (a.k.a. Is this the true spirit of Adwa?)

This is a "bonus challenge", because for the fourth time in a row we play on a Shuffle map. Again, the map is very different from the three that I have presented before. This time we play as Austria with Standard speed and Standard size and QC and QM are activated as usual. The start is good but as with #145, you need to think twice on where to found your expands. As a hint, I strongly recommend that you settle a canal city as I did. There is room for you to settle a nice number of cities but then you can´t be afraid of tundra and ice. Remember that you don´t need to found every city yourself. Instead you can take advantage of the UA. And then to the headline. There is one true warmonger and two AIs that usually are in the peaceful end of the list. However, in my game one of the two, went on a warmonger spree like I have never seen them do before. Hopefully you will also get to experience a little of that. Anyway, I think you will like the map and your opportunities. Enjoy the ride!

I played this game to a late SV but I suspect that a CV might have been a better choice. I also played according to HoF rules and submitted my win. There is a short recap of my game behind the spoiler.

Spoiler :

I settled on t2 off the coast along the river. It might have been my first mistake but I really liked the tiles my cap have to work. First wxpand to get a canal city and second expand all the way down in the tundra for Victoria. The Netherlands are my neighbour to the N and they didn´t have much land to settle and in the end their journey ended long before the game ended. Fifth religion wirh EM/Tithe/RC/Plowshares/IP. All buildings had been taken unfortunately. 3 city NC on t92 and Education on t113. I used the UA to get Bucharest as a fourth city. So far I had only met England, the Netherlands, the Huns and Sweden.

I didn´t go for the midgame wonders at first, but neither did the AIs. Thus, I engineered Sistine on t148 and hard built Louvre approximately on t190! Ethiopia turned out to be the unlikely warmonger of the game, waging war against China and France. Later they attacked the Netherlands together with England and William´s game ended already in the late midgame. I was first to choose an Ideology and went Order for a change. Elizabeth went Authocracy and Ethiopia picked Freedom. The rest of the pack join my Order club and thus I never had much ideology pressure. I also settled the island to the SW to pick up Marble. I had luck with the AS and was able to fill all Museum slots.

In the end game Ethiopia continued their wars attacking Sweden and the Huns! I tried to stay clear of the madness but built a plausible defence anyway. I could have sniped La Venta as a sixth city but I didn´t bother with that. Ethiopia ended the game with three capitals and 50.000 in culture. My SV routine for Order was abysmal and thus it took me until t319 to get a fairly uncontested win. Nice map and interesting possibilities. SP: full Tradition, Piety 2, Aestethics 2, Exploration opener, full Rationalism and Order 6.

 

[vadalaz]

I started #142

Spoiler :

Spoiler Self-imposed rules :

No bribes
No worker steals from CSs; worker steals from AIs are allowed after planting the first expo
No white peace bug abuse
All GSEMs must be planted, all GWAMs must be turned into great works
Cap on net total gpt from AIs at 10 gpt per era
Cap on total lump sum gold from AIs at 1000 for the entire playthrough

Scout x2 - Settler for Uluru. Turn 50 religion with OwN / Tithe / Religious Centers. Haven't enhanced yet because I spent 200 faith on a missionary to ally Byblos and Sofia. The militaristic CS gifts Kris Swordsmen which can then be upgraded to Berserkers, so that's pretty cool. But for some reason Sofia's borders refuse to grow to the Gold tile.

Once again I'm stuck in a war with the top army AI. This time it's Casimir, who crushed Rome early and was one turn away from eliminating them when they made peace. Cas is topping all demographics with pretty ridiculous numbers, he built Great Wall and he's just entered Renaissance through Gunpowder. Lovely.

I went Tradition opener into Honor. I really don't know how to play Honor properly, perhaps you need to go to war super early, like turn 30? Doesn't make much sense for this map though, the AIs are all far away and there's some good and uncontested land to settle. I guess the free GG was nice, as it allowed me to steal some good tiles from Ormus.

Spoiler T100 screenshot :

Gdansk's borders never grew to the Salt tile and the city only had an Amphitheater. Lame!

 

[Nizef]

I started #142

Spoiler :

Spoiler Self-imposed rules :

No bribes
No worker steals from CSs; worker steals from AIs are allowed after planting the first expo
No white peace bug abuse
All GSEMs must be planted, all GWAMs must be turned into great works
Cap on net total gpt from AIs at 10 gpt per era
Cap on total lump sum gold from AIs at 1000 for the entire playthrough

Scout x2 - Settler for Uluru. Turn 50 religion with OwN / Tithe / Religious Centers. Haven't enhanced yet because I spent 200 faith on a missionary to ally Byblos and Sofia. The militaristic CS gifts Kris Swordsmen which can then be upgraded to Berserkers, so that's pretty cool. But for some reason Sofia's borders refuse to grow to the Gold tile.

Once again I'm stuck in a war with the top army AI. This time it's Casimir, who crushed Rome early and was one turn away from eliminating them when they made peace. Cas is topping all demographics with pretty ridiculous numbers, he built Great Wall and he's just entered Renaissance through Gunpowder. Lovely.

I went Tradition opener into Honor. I really don't know how to play Honor properly, perhaps you need to go to war super early, like turn 30? Doesn't make much sense for this map though, the AIs are all far away and there's some good and uncontested land to settle. I guess the free GG was nice, as it allowed me to steal some good tiles from Ormus.

Spoiler T100 screenshot :

View attachment 598307

Gdansk's borders never grew to the Salt tile and the city only had an Amphitheater. Lame!

It is interesting that the games can turn out so different from the same start! Casimir had absolutely no chance in my game and here you are in a totally different scenario.

 

[mbbcam]

@vadalaz peddroelm was the best player of Honor that I can remember, and he seemed to wait until Crossbows before starting his full out conquest. There is a thread on the forums explaining his strategy https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...-city-industrial-era-domination-guide.529482/, and he made numerous videos that show it. One of them is this: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFWnpbmrXTopBRamdS8ITzq5LGjnE-7tN

 

[vadalaz]

@mbbcam thank you. That's a viable strategy, and a fun one to execute, particularly in the late game I imagine.

I feel like it's almost too reasonable though, if that makes any sense. I think there has to be an all-in, extreme Honor strategy that really capitalizes on the tree's advantages. If you're waiting for Crossbows, you might as well go Tradition or Liberty, reach Machinery faster and have a stronger empire.

 

[mbbcam]

@vadalaz You're welcome!

I've played Honor a lot, though not with a lot of success because I am just not a good player. I have tried various ways of going about it, though usually right side of the tree first, rather than left side. Something that can make quite a difference is having a CS nearby on which you can safely train Archers without getting them killed. Archers are quite fragile, and very vulnerable to Horses. You practically have to have one Worker dedicated to baiting so you can kill enemy units. If you can get some of your ranged units up to Logistics by the time you get to Machinery it makes them a lot more effective. That is an argument for taking left side first, but Culture and Happiness can be a problem (both are helped by taking right side first). The problem is almost always that the AI gets Muskets and/or Knights soon enough to really slow down progress. Moreover, Line of Sight makes it tricky to use Crossbows effectively against cities. There always seem to be forests and hills in the way. Then the AIs typically get flight much earlier than you do, which makes life really complicated.

Probably the strategy would depend to some extent on the Civ you are playing, and where they are placed. If you are on the coast you have to think about having a navy as well as an army. If you start a killing spree you had better have a lot of troops because you are likely to get dogpiled. And you may lose all your trade routes, so the Honor finisher of getting Gold for kills becomes the only way you can get any at all. (That might be one argument for going Honor first, rather than Tradition, but I would like to try an Tradition-Honor strategy -- I've never really attempted it before.) I have had some successful games using Honor-Commerce-Autocracy, and the late game does tend to be quite entertaining with Tanks blitzing everything, but it takes a long time to get there, and is quite hard work. It feels like skating on thin ice for most of the game. I think I will have a go at Tradition-Honor.

I will be interested if you come up with a better way -- as I feel you very likely will!