[BNW] Enjoyable Deity Games

[vadalaz]

I just never found the opportunity to settle Poldertown. First I had no happiness for it and couldn't justify planting it before Guilds anyway, now I have enough happiness but I need to preserve it because I'm going to war soon. I suppose I could do it for fun when I get an ideology. Right now I'm more interested in getting some Sea Beggars with Logistics though.

 

[venice]

yeah, that's fair. I had no plans for an offensive war, and I was planning on Tradition SV, so settling it was very worthwhile for me.

 

[Nizef]

Here is my report on t100-150:

Spoiler :

t102 Built Hanging Gardens in Amsterdam.
t110 Founded Breda. I am not sure that I will have the happiness for it but I wanted to participate in the quest for the polder dream.
t117 Reached Education.
t129 Stole Compass from Indonesia.
t137 Somebody built Forbidden Palace and England built Machu Picchu. I take a chance and start on a very late Sistine.
t150 Built Sistine in Amsterdam!!!

I am not at all pleased with these turns. I have been fighting with England for the influence over CSs and I am short on happiness. Since nobody has built GMoD I will take a shot at it and I hope to enhance my religion in a few turns. Surprisingly no AI has met all civs just yet. I suspect it will happen very soon though.

 

[Mizzenmast]

Hi everyone. I played my game to about t120, was doing terribly, and realized I had made a bad error in my tech & policy path: I rushed Theology thinking I needed to unlock Exploration early and get early Compass, but in fact my many cities, thin lux spread and lack of other AIs meant I really needed the Liberty happiness next, and could take the extra time to get to the Medieval through Metal casting instead, for Guruship workshops. So, rather than abandoning the project, I reloaded to t83 when I had finished Philosophy and followed this new path. Everything went smoothly this time. (If it wasn’t clear already, I’m not of a competitive mindset, and don’t mind disqualifying my “true” run to reload, hopefully you all sympathize.)

Spoiler 100-150 :

113: Religion has spread to all my cities (enhanced with Guruship and Itinerant Preachers)
119: Enter Medieval through Metal Casting
128: Renew friendship with England
130: Build Macchu Picchu with Liberty Engineer
134: Renew friendship with Indonesia
137: 8th Pagoda purchased
143: Open Exploration
T145, the entire game changes when America founds the WC. I make deals with everyone, the market is wide open:

• Salt to France, Genghis
• Shoshone: Salt swapped for Cocoa
• America: swapped for Furs
• But Rome is crazy, I make 4 pure lux-for-lux trades with him.

No friendships among them, Rome and Mongolia at war. Rome and Shoshone have gone Tradition/Liberty, not sure what victory that implies.

I start the next turn with 19 happiness, from 3 the last turn, and many King Days. Now I sell everything I can to my friends. I propose World’s Fair. Send production to Utrecht.

146: 3rd Prophet born, he will be a Holy Site, I think I will eventually take the Temple gold policy from Piety.
148: Finish Compass, buy a Cargo Ship.
149: Send production to Rotterdam and food to Amsterdam.

The biggest error I made during this time (to my knowledge) was being too shy to sell off my unique luxuries around turn 100 to Elizabeth for lump gold and taking advantage of the UA, because I feared I would go into unhappiness and be stuck there. In fact the rapid Pagodas and early Colosseums meant I was always above 4 happiness by turn 130, and could have made 500 gold! What is worse, I began suspecting my mistake maybe 5 turns after I decided to not renew these deals, and I could have made them now and still profited, but because I didn’t leap on the initial opportunity I had no interest in taking it late and “manifesting” the mistake. I actually love this about the game, it presents many subtle psychological challenges. In my decision to not renew the deals, I chose the comfort of knowing I would stay happy over the worrisome but profitable 30 turns of selling them away. But my comfort was of no value to my empire. And the second half, me not wanting to belatedly renew to deals when they still could have been profitable and safe, is the game testing whether the player prefers a game that follows “neat” lines and pathways without detours/messiness, valuing the useless satisfaction in this, vs. admitting a mistake and making a later play that is still optimal or very good.

I decided to keep all the jungles, I’m still chasing policies and I will want the science as well, probably the whole game. NC will be in Groningen, guilds are in Amsterdam.

 

[Tiberiu]

I’m not of a competitive mindset, and don’t mind disqualifying my “true” run to reload, hopefully you all sympathize.

What's most important is to have fun! I doubt anybody here would judge or even have any reason to do so! I am still interested to see how your run ends, with a reload or without a reload! And also in the story and general strategy.

However I am curious to know what do you mean by "terrible", it was such awful that you didn't think you could win? Or simply you had to struggle so much that it wasn't fun to you to do so?
I ask because comebacks from bad positions are very possible in this game in Single Player due to bad AI mostly. Before this game a few months ago I won the Deity Challange Lineup with Zulu (it's a public game challange from these forums), after I lost my capital and 2 cities, and was left with only a small expansion. I had conserved my elite army and could recover. And I've won games at the limit, where I had to destroy or block Spaceship parts from a runaway AI in order to prevent loss. I like struggles such as these, but I expect that not all people do, or have to.

 

[Nizef]

I don´t think anybody will be holding it against you, Mizzenmast. This is no competition and I agree with @Tiberiu that the main goal is to have fun. Based on the discussion so far, it seems to me that #147 is fulfilling just that.

 

[Mizzenmast]

I am curious to know what do you mean by "terrible", it was such awful that you didn't think you could win? Or simply you had to struggle so much that it wasn't fun to you to do so?

I haven’t seen the Zulu game you posted, I will certainly check it out. I did see your game as India AGAINST the Zulu that had a similar large initial setback with an epic recovery (or are they the same?) You are right that such games are full of drama and make for the best tales and, not to mention nail-biting stretches of uncertainty over how a military campaign will turn out/if it will be enough, even as you laboriously move all your units and have to strive for perfection with every move. That makes waiting to see if you build a Wonder feel like watching a microwave.

To answer your question,

Spoiler :

My game was possibly winnable, but was very far from what it could have been, because despite some Pagodas, I found myself playing in unhappiness up until I quit, and was losing huge food dividends from this every turn (and didn’t have enough production/gold tiles to make playing in unhappiness less bad.) I was chasing Compass instead of Metal Casting, but more crucially I had favored Optics and built Lighthouses over Construction for Colosseums. Not only did I forgo the opportunity to fit Colosseums into my build orders optimally for a happiness-poor wide start (after Monuments, Faith buildings, and Library, instead I built useless food buildings), but I also skipped Meritocracy for Exploration opener (this was the worst error, and went in tandem with rushing Medieval through useless Theology). Early Galleasses from Compass were not an option by the time I researched it because I still had so much infrastructure to build. To wait for myself to tech Construction, THEN build the Colosseums, and play through that unhappy morass, and narrativize it, and then stick with the game, was not appealing… Also, I took Guruship in the first playthrough as well, and realized I really wanted chase Workshops to get that online faster.

And since I had the widest settle of our playthroughs, I wanted to put some respect on that approach and show that it can be lightly competitive. I have to say, I am really pleased with the religious domino effect that taking 2 in Piety gave me, I am beginning to think that if you hug the left side only (Mandate doesn’t seem worth it on its own), the tree is acceptable for a wide empire with decent gold tiles.

Your own latest update has some interesting moves. I like your Breda location that grabs the Stone for a stoneworks, I was thinking of splitting my own tundra city into 2, with that being 1 spot. But by your own admission you are in kind of a strange spot with the nice, fat capital but late/small expos. You also take some bold risks like selling the Temple to explore more, which is fun and would have certainly paid off if there were other civs to meet, and will now be very interesting to see how you overcome your demos.

 

[Tiberiu]

I haven’t seen the Zulu game you posted, I will certainly check it out. I did see your game as India AGAINST the Zulu that had a similar large initial setback with an epic recovery (or are they the same?) You are right that such games are full of drama and make for the best tales and, not to mention nail-biting stretches of uncertainty over how a military campaign will turn out/if it will be enough, even as you laboriously move all your units and have to strive for perfection with every move. That makes waiting to see if you build a Wonder feel like watching a microwave.
To answer your question, [...]

Thanks for answer, I can understand your frustration. I'll put spoiler here to write more details and to not make the post take up space.

Spoiler :

About the recovery game, no it's not the same as that one with India. You can see a few pictures here about the game I was writing about. https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...i-strategy-part-1.655650/page-3#post-16085110

I know what you say about staying in unhappiness, it happened to me too in this game but of course not on the same scale as I had fewer cities. Wide is surely possible but is more demanding than tradition...in a way, to avoid headaches, each city needs a unique luxury... I was hoping to meet more civs and trade for happiness but it never happened, and I didn't adapt in time. Yes, Breda was settled for the Dyes and to act as another city that can send cargo food to the capital later, but it's a mediocre city. We'll see how it goes. I'm confident it will turn out ok in the end.

About piety - I honestly think Piety and not Exploration was the mistake in your game. Exploration does have a happiness policy as a follow up, it's not so bad imho, especially since the lighthouse gives some food potentially. Going all-in and founding religion via culture seemed like very logical to me with the Sacred Path pantheon. Maybe you thought religions would expire quicker than they did, but then, the pantheon choice doesn't seem so good anymore. I could be wrong, just sharing thoughts here.

I am curious to see how things evolve when the game gets more complicated, what ideology each of us chooses, what victory we go for, etc. Playing it in rounds like these of 50 turns creates a sort of tension and entertainment.

 

[Mizzenmast]

About piety - I honestly think Piety and not Exploration was the mistake in your game. Exploration does have a happiness policy as a follow up, it's not so bad imho, especially since the lighthouse gives some food potentially. Going all-in and founding religion via culture seemed like very logical to me with the Sacred Path pantheon. Maybe you thought religions would expire quicker than they did, but then, the pantheon choice doesn't seem so good anymore. I could be wrong, just sharing thoughts here.

Yes,

Spoiler :

my approach to religion was very uneven, at first I was thinking I didn’t care if I got one or not, and just wanted lump culture in the early game from my pantheon and borders in specific cities.(That was not very farsighted though as a religion proved invaluable.). But when I got the big Prophet ruin that further incentivized religion, I had already gone Monument-first in my expos, Pagodas was still un-taken, and I was in a prime postiion to take Piety same turn and have wasted 0 production on faith buildings before that. The reasoning was, if I secured a faster religion via Piety that got me Pagodas over Mosques or Cathedrals, it would be equivalent to a +1 happiness bonus “of Piety” similar to the one you get from Exploration. But, I did also feel pressured to go wider as a response to taking this policy to capitalize furthest on the per-city gains, and it was initially perilous, and would have been just atrocious if I got bad beliefs.

And thanks for the link!

 

[beetle]

I'm kind of surprised that everyone seems to like that dyes spot up north. I avoided that like the plague because it just doesn't have that many tiles to work. I guess If you are liberty exploration it could work, but man, I hate that spot.

It is because if I don’t take, another civ will. I settled on the hill, even though that gave up the Lighthouse (etc.) for buffing the nearby fish. My expos are all weak, so that city (Breda) fit right in!

My Polder city (Utrecht) will eventually be awesome.

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#148: Fast forward (CV challenge)

I kind of liked the recent game with the Celts and I wanted another one in the same style. Thus, I now present this game with Sweden on a Tilted Axis map with small size and quick speed. The starting location is very, very good and even if you do not believe me, this IS in fact the first roll! If you just hurry a little bit, you will get one great expand to the S and after that you have room for 2-3 further expands. This "smells" Tradition but of course I will be delighted, if you get something else to work. I handpicked Denmark (for being the real life neighbour and also with Christian Eriksen in mind), France (for their culture) and Poland (also for their cultural abilities). However, your closest neighbour is none of the above.

I rarely think of Deity on quick speed as easy, but this was in fact very easy. This is probably one of the easiest games in the whole series! It took me until t183 to win, but as usual I messed up the late game and I would have had all the pieces to win some 8-10 turns earlier. Anyway, this is a fast and furious game that will not take that many hours to finish. Try it out and experience the power of Sweden. Enjoy!

(For those of you that are not into football (soccer), Denmark played their first match in the ongoing European Championships and Christian Eriksen is one of the best players in his country (and in fact in the whole of Europe). However, Mr. Eriksen´s heart litterally stopped during the game against Finland, but timely emergency efforts to save his life were fortunately successful. He is now on his way to a full recovery.)

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 one tile to the S along the river. It turned out to be a fantastic spot. Japan was quite close and I hurried a settler to the coastal spot to the S, with Kilimanjaro in the second ring. I met Kathmandu and Geneva early and got first pantheon and later I got the second religion (EM/Tithe/Pagodas/RC/IP) after Denmark. Second expand coastal to the W and 3rd expand to the SW after NC for a canal city and Sugar. William had a rough time as France and Poland killed him early. I built the Oracle and Hanging Gardens early on.

I went all in for the midgame wonders and got Sistine, LToP, GlobeT, PorcelainT, Taj Mahal and Louvre. Napoleon got Uffizi but I had to check whether this was a game on Deity or not! Casimir had problems with France and they had a lengthy war. The war was quite even but slowed both AIs down. France recovered faster and was actually first to pick an ideology (thanks to his 400 million Coal mines), while I had to buy the necessary Coal from them. I went obviously Freedom while France chose Authocracy and Denmark followed on the french path. Having no Coal was annoying but at least there is Aluminium and Oil in abundance!

I was first to Modern and built Eiffel, Broadway, Christo, SoL, SOH and CNTower. France and Denmark jumped on Poland, eventually wiping them off the face of the map. Thus we were down to 3 AIs plus me. The GMus are of course not very impressive on quick speed, but one from the Guild and two bought with faith ended the game on the spot. Surprisingly easy game! SP: full Tradition, Piety opener, Patronage opener, full Aestethics, Exploration opener, full Rationalism and Freedom 8.

 

[Tiberiu]

I'm kind of surprised that everyone seems to like that dyes spot up north. I avoided that like the plague because it just doesn't have that many tiles to work. I guess If you are liberty exploration it could work, but man, I hate that spot.

I agree!

Spoiler even Vilnius thinks it's bad :

 

[Nizef]

EDGE#147: Here is my report on t150-200:

Spoiler :

t151 WC founded by England.
t157 I built GMoD in Amsterdam.
t171 RA with America.
t173 Opened Exploration.
t174 I was 3rd to Industrial. No Coal and no chance to buy it either.
t181 America has 2 Coal to sell.
t186 I buy 1 Coal from England.
t193 America picks Authocracy.
t196 France goes Order.
t199 Rome goes Order as well.

I will finally be able to pick an ideology on t201. Also the demographics are slowly moving in the right direction. Still this feels like a slow game.

 

[vadalaz]

My T150-200 of #147:

Spoiler :

T150: Decided to go Harbor - Barracks - Seaport - Armory in the capital. I need the XP buildings for Sea Beggars more than I need an extra Galleass. Bought open borders from Genghis, then denounced him. Everyone on the map hates him, so I'll pretend that I do too.

T151-160: Everyone's happy I've denounced Genghi and I get a couple of DoFs. Navigation finished on T156, and I declare war on Indonesia on T157. Jakarta can only be shot from 2 tiles by Frigates so I don't even bother until Sea Beggars arrive. Just picking off stray units and farming a GG instead. Vilnius razes the city of Batam.

T161-170: I get my first couple of Logistics Beggars. I take the happiness policy in Explorations, most cities already have all relevant buildings at that point, so happiness goes way up.

T171-180: Spy steals Economics from Washington. Captured Jakarta on turn 178. Bought all of Elizabeth's CS allies and declared war on her. World's Fair passes.

T181-190: I win World's Fair. Elizabeth sends a fleet towards Amsterdam and plunders three trade routes and some fishing boats. She loses all her ships for it and I'm getting ready to take her cities. No coal anywhere, and none of the AIs have it either. I send a Great General to Jakarta to citadel a coal tile. Opened Rationalism, took Secularism.

T191-200: Buying AIs' coal and connecting my own as well. Factory in Amsterdam finished, the other two are three turns away. Oxforded Dynamite, building up a land army. Captured York and London. I probably want Nottingham as well because it has Machu Picchu and Petra.

It'd probably be better not to Oxford Dynamite here and just outtech the AIs to Stealth&Nano but we'll see how it goes.

 

[Nizef]

I agree!

Spoiler even Vilnius thinks it's bad :

View attachment 599667

I would like the CSs to keep the AI cities they conquer instead of burning them down.

 

[beetle]

My EDGe #147 T200 screen shots shows that this is the part of the game where I have fallen so far behind players like @vadalaz and @Nizef.

In my game, Gajah is giving Elizabeth a very hard time. As I expected, some people are seeing the reverse. Early, I had planned to war with both of them, once I got Sea Beggars online. That will not be happening because the production of my coastal cities is so weak. And now Liz I feel bad for, and my Scouts (!) triggered the move-or-dow demand from Gajah; so nothing for me to do but turtle. I will be at war with Pocatello for the next fifty turns though, since I cannot stand letting him nibble at the fringes of my territory. But again, all incomes are terrible, so it might be a 100 turns.

Spoiler :

• T151 meet Pocatello
• T153 Jakarta builds Sistine Chapel
• T157 finally get a Cargo Ship to London
• T158 meet Genghis
• T159 WC founded
• T161 open Rationalism
• T163 I think am going to help Liz fight Gajah
• T164 GPr born finally, enhance with Choral Music and Messiah
• T165 Pocatello has Settler off the coast of Groningen; I tell him not to settle near me, but he declines; move units to coast
• T167 Pocatello settles Washakie three tiles from Groningen; denounce him
• T168 Pocatello has another Settler to my S
• T169 Pocatello settles Timbisha to my S; DOW
• T172 agree to DOW Genghis with Washington and Augustus
• T174 Pocatello settles Hukandeka to my N; capture one of his Settlers
• T175 Liz has a couple settlers on my borders; she declines my request not to settle near me; I buy the hill tile in the 3rd ring of Ultrecht; install Liz as WC host
• T176 Washington builds Uffizi; Pocatellow thinks I should be giving him all my cities for peace
• T177 I see where Liz is going (4th ring Salt near Amsterdam), I borrow money from her to buy the two tiles (Fish and hill) that I care about
• T178 Pocatello builds Red Fort, so that will make recovering my land a little more tedious
• T179 Amsterdam natural borders expand to the 4th ring Salt tile, but still I need to buy more 3rd ring (fifth and deer) to keep Liz uninterested
• T181 Pocatello and Washington have DOW’d Genghis, so I do the same
• T185 Economics unlocked, Polder yields go from 4 to 7; Almaty offering Keshik now; lol, Scout lands on Genghis island, oops
• T186 Pocatello only asking for a couple of cities now
• T187 Genghis offers 1 gpt for peace
• T188 switch to wealth production and make peace w/ Genghis for 6 gpt
• T190 adopt Cultural Centers
• T192 WF starts
• T193 Rome adopts Autocracy; Rome and Indonesia both have Coal, but I have nothing to offer for trade; GE born; Brandenburg Gate goes
• T194 get first Keshik from Almaty
• T195 2nd place in WF, keep going
• T197 Navigation unlocked
• T198 Augustus has twice my hammers in WF
• T199 Scouts (!) trigger move-or-demand from Indonesia

 

[Tiberiu]

My turn 150-200 for #147.

Spoiler :

151 - Sold writer's guild to rebuild it in the capital. switched to Chivalry to be able to steal Banking.
152 - 29)Stole Banking! 30)Phisics started. Globe Theatre goes to England.
153 - bad luck with a camp that appears in one small coastal tile near Vilnius and spawns a trireme that now threatens to maybe pillage Breda's sea route. I waste 220 gold for trireme to mitigate damages.
154 - Uffizi goes to rome.
156 - Mongolian spy steals the secrets of.... Optics! poor Mongolia..
157 - Vilnius cleared the camp, now gifting him the trireme away again. Phisics finished, next resuming Machinery.
158 - 31)Printing Press started.
159 - Pisa goes to England.
160 - 9)Rationalism opener. Hard policy decision. I can open rationalism or go for Exploration, Commerce, or try to finish Tradition but it will take ages to do so.
161 - Taj Mahal goes to America. I can't take more loans...and I don't want to bulb the Artist yet. I gift 2 archers to CSs and sell my shrine. I sell open borders to England in order to be able to take more loans. My external debt is very good now, 100 gpt.
162 - 32) Economics started. Macchu Picchu goes to England. I gift away 2 spearmen. My only unit is now the Scarcher. I buy a fish and a work boat. I am very close to insolvency, I am delaying the Artist bulb until I can't hold anymore.
163- Everybody has now enhanced religion except me, and all 3 other buildings are still available! Mosque, Cathedral and Monastery. This is extremely rare, I have actually never seen this before.
An indonesian settler wants to expand in my territory and I can stop him by buying terrain near him. But I am broke and I can either sell my monuments, bulb the Artist, or things like this. Instead, I will denounce America's enemies, Rome and Mongolia, and then sell my war declaration against them for 11 gpt. I get back some iron and horses and eventually make the gold to purchase the tile but I have to work "Wealth" for 1 turn regardless, I am completely broke for 1 turn and lose 20 science from budget deficit.

164 - another Artist is born and I decide to bulb him as the overall losses were too much. I can now push my debt higher and higher. I buy a market in second city with the new loans.
165 - approaching 200 gpt debt to England. I hope to reach at least 500.
166- Sell caravan and buy a cargo ship.
167- an american Prophet is coming near the coast. I have a huge temptation to buy a scout and prepare to capture him. But enhancing my religion doesn't really help me at all and I doubt he has 4 charges. I don't need more wars right now.

170 - 33)Acoustics started. Economics finished brings me from -70 to 0 thanks to 12 Polders being worked in my polder city. I gift 5 gold to America to try to have good relations.
171. 34) Stole Steel! 35)Gunpowder started. I avoid discovering techs so that my next spy steals faster. Debt almost 250.
172. The golden age finishes and I lose the ability to increase the debt bubble. I would like to keep the artist a few more turns to get the bonus production during World Fair which starts in 7 turns but if I don't drain England's gold reserve I am afraid she will start buying CSs including Vilnius. I hate to do so, but I bulb right now. There is no time to lose.

174. Congress in session and I choose America as the host.
175 - debt close to 300 gpt. Indonesia covets my lands and turns hostile.
176 - 36)Industrialization done by Oxford! 37)Chemistry started. No coal around, too bad. Gunpowder finished. 2 american prophets are wandering my lands doing nothing, I should maybe just take them and enhance my religion. But I want to give Washington more time to make me his friend. Debt passes 300 gpt.

177 - America DOFs me! This is wonderful! I only need to get some coal from somewhere and then I DOW England to death. Selling workers and maximizing my ability to take loans. America has 2000 gold in reserve waiting to be taken but I don't have the funds right now.
178 - Defensive Pact with England to cover against Indonesia who seems to prepare to DOW. Almost 350 debt.
179 - final Golden Age turn. Indonesia settles the city of Ambon in my region.
If I want to win World Fair I have to destroy my own sea routes right now and nullify my debt by attacking England. She has a massive fleet and a few important CS are her allies.
If only I had coal, I would have had an ideology and Voluntary Army opportunity. Without coal, I must wait patiently until somebody gets some. I'd rather play it safe then throw my position after all this work. I have 800 gold in reserve which should allow me to avoid insolvency for a few turns.

180: I vote yes to World Religion (England) and yes to World Fair (America) for diplo boosts.
preparing production Overflow. England is digging in my terrain...

181 - 10)Commerce opener. Time to take a policy and I am forced to open commerce to try to survive until the next Golden Age. Napoleon has Coal but I can't get it for now. I created my first work of art with a writer. I was keeping 2 writers in case I win world fair but this won't happen. They have been blocking an English settler for hundreds of years.

182 - world fair might not be completely lost as France put 1% and Rome 3% only in the first round while I put 6%. The rest put 0%. Porcelain Tower goes to France.

183 - 38)Metallurgy started. france puts 2% england 6% rome 5% and I put 4%. This is bad but I am still leading and Chemistry is done for a small boost. England is becoming unbearable, their archeologists have reached my capital city. Normally I should forget about it now and just put the 350 required for Silver medal but I'll try. France is building 4 factories and they will soon have an ideology. I need to hurry if I want to be the first to choose.

184. America settles the city of Portland near my capital. Rome put 7% in World Fair. It is clear I can't get more than Silver in this game si I stop putting more production in. I notice Indonesian units near Vilnius and I assume Gajah mada is ready to attack. It will backfire since I have Defensive Pact with his neighbour. I sign defensive pact with America too since Vilnius is their ally.
England has 3 coal and I trade my sugar for it and some gold, even if I go unhappy.

185. Spy reveals Indonesian army is heading for a surprise attack but we don't know the target. really, spy?
I decide to sell my city of Groningen to America for 115 gpt. I take loans and buy 2 factories.
I sponsor a few wars. America wants only 3 gpt to attack rome. And Mongolia wanted a salt to attack France, and I have many salt. I think I just threw World Fair away. I revert to trying for a miracle and put more production into World Fair.

186 World Fair is at 84%...I will fail it but I still put production at least to make sure I get my Policy.

187. 11)Rationalism-Secularism. England wins world fair with 882 and I and Rome get Silver medal. I sell the city from near Vilnius to Indonesia for 29 gpt and then denounce him. I need to rush ideologies and the National Wonders, especially the spy agency. I take loans and buy a factory and next turn I should be first to Ideologies. Debt is still around 300.

188. A very important turn - I can choose any ideology, with 2 tenets. I choose Autocracy and decide for pure Domination Victory. Freedom into Voluntary Army and domination is also possible but I want to be certain I become tech leader too. Friendship with England expires and I renew it. I can't wait to backstab them. If I build Brandenburg gate I am set for a crushing late endgame. I am going to 12) industrial espionage now as main source of technological progress. Also took 13) +1 happiness from national wonders.

189 - Stole Acoustics! which was already started. My priorities are now Brandenburg Gate, Spy Agency, Heroic Epic and then mass army.
190 - 39)Military Science started! America founds St. Louis in my zone of influence, stealing a Fish...too bad I didn't get to buy it in time. England has 2k gold in reserve waiting to be taken as loans and my Artist will spawn next turn.
191. France takes Order. Wonderful news! Nobody has Commerce, I could try to get Big Ben before Brandenburg. 4 City States desire Big Ben, including 2 religious ones. I could maybe enhance religion. Artist bulbed. Open borders with England finally ended, it was extremely annoying. I now have more than 400 gpt debt to England, very nice! I now have a good reserve of 1600 gold. I'll try to save up some gold to buy the Police Stations.
193. Started work on my third wonder, Big Ben! My debt to England has reached 500 gpt, which was my initial target. Increasing it further is no longer beneficial so I try to keep it at this amount.

194 - Indonesia makes fatal mistake and together with France DOWS America. As a result, both I and England declare war on Indonesia. Sea routes destroyed. I am brought to -200 gpt. This is exactly the diversion that I needed to be able to DOW England and nullify my debt. I will be insolvent in 3 turns anyway and then war would have been very likely. A very fortunate event for me!
I used my 1000 gold reserve to steal Sidon from England. Instantly getting to +300 gpt in my empire. Time to start the World War. Put Indonesia is at war with everybody, and everybody else is in at least 4 wars, except England as nobody wanted to DOW. I will DOW Rome and Mongolia in 2 turns when the peace expries. I capture an archeologist who was trying to dig in my lands.

195 - 40)Stole Architechture! Sell Archeologist for 50 gold.
196. England's fleet has arrived at the gates of my capital. I quickly buy Walls, bring my Scarcher home and upgrade him to Scomposite. Castle will be ready in 2 turns and next turn I'll buy a Galleass.The world is now in chaos.
197 - All 3 cities are now under siege. But I can just throw money at them. upgrade Scomposite to Scrossbow. Buy walls in Polder city.
198 - England adopts Order and gives me Dissidents (-5 PO). She also builds Louvre. Capital at 75%. Sidon at 50%. Producing a galleass and saving gold for Arsenal. I want to start building Brandenburg in 2 turns. Big Ben at half produced has to wait. Engineer spawns, one more manufactory.
199 - Peace with Indonesia. Sidon gives me a Samurai which is exactly what I need soon to rebuild my Finishing boats in the capital. Sidon will most likely die next turn which isn't a problem as I'll just liberate him soon.
200 - 41)Fertilizer started. things are looking ok as I am first to Military Science and I expect to conquer London and Jakarta in my next session. Golden Age ends.
I make peace with England and France and take enough gold from them to buy 2 cargo ships. One for production to the capital and others external. It is also time to replace all trade posts with farms.

 

[venice]

I had a similar problem to @ beetle in that I failed to win worlds fair, in my case by about 100 hammers to Rome, whereas @valadez won it. I suspect that is part of the reason he is doing so well here and we are doing less well.

 

[beetle]

I had a similar problem to @ beetle in that I failed to win worlds fair, in my case by about 100 hammers to Rome, whereas @valadez won it. I suspect that is part of the reason he is doing so well here and we are doing less well.

When I read @vadalaz write-ups, I am reminded of the quote about the winds and seas always being on the side of the ablest navigators. OTOH, isn’t Hanging Gardens and Hagia Sophia being available mostly luck? Tell me it is mostly good luck!

Game was crashing and I really wasn’t enjoying the map anyway. I am replaying Liberty, all cities coastal. Stealing Settlers from Indonesia like a boss. But I underestimated how much Liz hates the spying, and now Gajah is not giving her a hard time like he did with my first run.

 

[venice]

I think another problem was that you seemed to not have an ideology yet. I rushed for one, picked up third order and popped a writer to try to keep happy and growing.